12 May 2025 6 min read punk

Rag Mag 15

Hey Punk, are you on the rag? Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there. I know some of our readers (and several contributors) are the coolest and best moms out there. I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful day and got a chance to relax because you work so damn hard raising these awesome kids. To quote the dearly missed Mother’s News, Every Mother is a Working Mother. Also, shout out to the guy wearing a Married With Children No Ma’am shirt to the flea market on Mother’s Day, wow. And happy birthday to Salty Dave and Wasteland Chick. Keep sending in events, flyers, art, columns, etc. We love seeing new stuff coming in. Quick note, with the warmer weather and schedules getting busier as we approach summer, we are switching to a bi-weekly schedule for Rag Mag. We will see you back here in 2 weeks. Let's kick this week off with a new Splinters by Leela Corman, Wasteland Chick reviews Chappell Roan’s Red Wine Supernova, Dottie takes a visit to 40 South Street, and Creature’s Double Feature.

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Dottie says Welcome to 40 South Street and remember corporate shopping still suxxxxxxxxx

“Splinters” by Leela Corman

Wasteland Chick

Gravity Falls and Beetlejuice: The Musical? The special interests are colliding! Pray for us all! Salutations, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers and mother-like caregivers out there as Bob’s Burgers puts it. I guess I’m in a Beetlejuice: The Musical mood since my birthday was last Friday and among the cool gifts I got from cool people, a Beetlejuice: The Musical record was one of them and now I can’t stop singing “Dead Mom” and “What I Know Now”. Also among the records I got, I received the Chappell Roan album, Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess, which is awesome. So, today we’ll be reviewing that classic Chappell hit, “Red Wine Supernova” by I literally just said her

name. Anyway, let’s start with the rhythm and melody, which I give a 9 out of ten. It’s vibe-able, country-guitar focused, and has nice beats and stretches when the singer breaks into chorus. It kind of gives off the vibe of “getting drunk and horny under the dizzy chandelier lights” if that makes sense. Next, the lyrics, which I give a 9 out of ten. They amazingly capture the feeling of vampirism, lesbianism, and sex driveism. A little explicit? Yes. But awesome? Also yes. Time for the overall review: I give this song a 9.8 out of ten; The rhythm and melody are vibe-able, dizzy, and grand piano-esque, and cool. The lyrics are lesbian-focused, vampiral, and sexy, the perfect(ish) combination. What are you looking for? We’re scavengers, fellow Wasteland Chicks, so let’s find out (Guess who watched “Road Warrior” for their birthday? Can you tell?). Bye!

Sincerely, Wasteland Chick (We made it to the top 31!)

This was a nice week with Mother’s Day, Wasteland Chick’s birthday (and a couple parties for her) and sunny, warm weather on Sunday. With the chaos going on, trying to focus my mind on the good aspects of life and embracing spontaneity and adventure. In that spirit, it reminds me of when I got to see the absolute legend Linda Sharrock in a random pizza parlor 2 years ago. It all started off by swinging by Analog Underground in the early afternoon on a Sunday only to find it locked up with a sign that just said, going to see Linda Sharrock in Warren, RI. I immediately looked up where she was playing and all I could find was an even listing for Linda Sharrock at the Warren House of Pizza. I figured the worst that could happen is nothing was going on and I could swing by In Your Ear at least.

Photo by Creature

When I showed up, it was just an empty pizza parlor and someone was setting up in the corner by the window for the show. I grabbed a seat and ordered some food and waited to see what was going to happen as I didn’t see her or anyone that looked like she may be with there yet. For those unfamiliar, Linda Sharrock is a jazz singer that has been described as singing like Albert Ayler plays, primal screams and moans and pure emotional power. The 1969 Sonny Sharrock (her husband at the time) LP Black Woman is not only one the best guitar albums of all time, Linda’s voice makes this one of the best albums of all time period. Her voice has a way of drawing you in and taking you on an emotional journey.

Anyway, eventually I see her being pushed across the street in a wheel chair and into a tiny pizza parlor for a group of 20-30 jazz fans comes a living legend. She was very quiet at first and I wasn’t sure how much her stroke from a decade or 2 ago was still impacting her as she sat alone not talking to anyone. But all doubts were lost when the music started. She may not have the voice she did in 1969, but it is still a hell of a voice and I’m so grateful I decided to race to Warren unexpectedly. They played for a solid 30-40 minutes and she showed she still has the ability to transform a room with the power of her voice. Magic.

Photo and Video by Creature

Got a new stylus and after a lot of swearing and some bad soldering, my turntable is back up and running and ready for records of the week. I was reading the latest issue of Record Time magazine and the article on SST records reminded me to pull out the Divine Horsemen - Middle of the Night LP featuring Chris D. . As much as I love the Flesheaters, the first few Divine Horsemen records are my favorite period for him, with his poetic lyrics showing through. Great stonesy, bluesy, rootsy punk (typically bad words to yr. dear ol’ editor, but it really works here). In particular Julie Christensen and Chris D.’s voices really suit each other and the mood perfectly.

Next up, I couldn’t escape the “D” section because I flipped right to The Dogs - Different LP and had to pull it out. A little more 60’s garage rock on their first LP following their more punk hits on Melodies Massacre (which recently got reissued as an LP). Really good garage/punk rock record with sharply written songs and solid production. I picked this up at the old Second Coming shop on Mass Ave in the early 2000s and it’s been my favorite record of theirs since. I love the look of each member on the cover, who’s giving the hardest of Paddington stares.

Soul song of the week is Do You See My Love (For You Growing) by Jr Walker & the All Stars. One of my favorite songs from their “Smooth and mellow” period. First got turned onto this song by the excellent cover on the Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black covers album. What a groove on this one.