Rag Mag 27

The No Kings simultaneous protests across the US represent the largest single protest movement in the US ever. Providence organizers estimated over 15,000 people showed up at the PVD No Kings march, which is incredible for our little state. Really inspiring to see so many people out in the streets as the US continues to burn in AI-generated videos fed to our dementia suffering rapist president by the fascist pissbabies currently trying to steal what little us normal Americans still have left. Now they want to starve some of the neediest of us with cuts to SNAP. We have to stand up and fight back and protect ourselves. Protecting ourselves starts with our local communities and the need at foodbanks and community centers is going to be desperate in the coming months. Make sure to donate or volunteer at your local food bank, community fridge, and mutual aid orgs.

Another stacked issue of Rag Mag featuring Film Freak with Coco A Go-Go, Wasteland Chick, Splinters by Leela Corman, Creature's Double Feature and new work from Coco Roy.

Hit us up at ragmagclub @ proton.me with flyers, art, feedback, column ideas, or just to say hi. We archived columns and music reviews on the new site (rag-mag.ghost.io), so check it out.

Whats up freakazoids?! Hope everyone is surviving and thriving out there. Fall is my favorite season but nothing beats playing shows in the summer am I right? Actually , I love playing all the time. Anywho I just got a roll of film back from a bunch of the shows I played this summer so we’re about to get that summer breeze flowing back through our hair my rag mag friends. Also for the film freaks out there, all this was shot on 2021 lomochrome Metropolis 35mm.

The Amazing Andy California , Somerville , MA , 2025 , 35mm

This one is of my bud Andy California. We played a really fun summer fest in a park in Somerville put on by KLYAM. The only thing hotter than the bands was well, the actual weather. It was toasty baby.

I love, love watching Andy play guitar. He can shred like a motherfucker and is the definition of a true performer. I love how his shirt, guitar and hat color coordinate in this pic. 

It was a great performance as usual and at the end he started whipping is guitar around like a giant music mace which was pretty cool.

Johnny and the Foodmasters , Deep Cuts, 2025 , 35mm

This is from the Johnny and the Foodmasters 10 year anniversary party. I had SO MUCH FUN at this. The street queens got to play which was a blast but the Foodmasters ended the night with pure intoxicating fun. My face hurt from smiling and singing so much. They butchered a lot of my favorite songs and I fucking loved it.

Mary, Bushwick, NY , 2025, 35mm

This was taken downstairs in the Bar at Our Wicked Lady after Whyte Lipstick played up on the roof as part of OH! Bondage fest. The night was wild and full of fun, we played we partied, we got tattooed, someone thought Mary was the singer of a Rolling Stones cover band ( maybe she should be?). Do you know Mary ? She’s our drummer and the coolest. I love how this photo almost looks like a school photo with one of those laser backgrounds. 

Francesca, Bushwick, NY , 2025, 35mm

The morning after Oh, Bondage fest. The only way to describe the weekend was magical - it was so fun! I’m so lucky to play so much music with so many cool people. Look how cool Fran looks! Anyways, We had a little too much fun the night before , and this photo was taken right before I had to start driving our hungover asses back through a danger heatzone in a car with no AC.  As AC/DC said, its a long way to the top if you wanna rock n roll….

Splinters by Leela Corman

Nails by Kelley - Coco Roy

Whats up rag mag. Yr ol pal Creature is writing this late Sunday night hoping to get it in before the deadline. Still feeling tired from Coco's wild Halloween show at Myrtle in East Providence Saturday night. So many friends and cool costumes. It was a blast. Ken Baby opened the night with a wild wizard dance. Pledge Pins played a fun set of revved up garage covers and are always a good time. This was Orange Whip's record release show (and damn what a beautiful looking and sounding record it is, see pics below). Kelley was dressed up as Gilda Radner from some witch cartoon none of us had heard of but she looked cool as hell and the band ripped it up. Coco's own Electric Street Queens made it a true Halloween show by playing as Raw Powerage, doing Stooges and AC/DC covers. So much fun and always love watching Coco get the crowd going.

Speaking of local music, in my digging through all of southern New England's finest flea markets and antique stores for records, I came across some cheap copies of local Providence, RI new wave/indie/powerpop compilations featuring bands from the Living Room scene. Also, I found an incredible parody (I don't really see why its a parody myself) pin up calendar with some beautiful art. October is just wonderful.

Anyway, back to the records. I love old regional compilations and seeing what all kinds of bands were around in the local scene. The Living Room was where all the punk/new wave/indie bands played in Providence in the early 80s. Big Bubble Records released both The Living Room: a compilation (there's a partial playlist here: https://www.discogs.com/release/3115932-Various-The-Living-Room-A-Compilation) and 95.5 WBRU - 1983 Rock Hunt in 1983 and 1984 respectively. Big Bubble released a few other cool RI focused compilations that are well worth tracking down as well. Now to get into it, not all of this is good and it really on teeters on being punk, but it is definitely quirky, powerpoppy, and new wave. The Living Room compilation is the better of the two records, with some killer cuts like The Probers pointed sticks sounding Waste of My Time, The Threats Dream girl powerpop, and the Hi-Beams Live in Shadows, a gothy new wave number. The best part about regional compilations is that some of the stuff just isnt for you, but you get to hear stuff you wouldnt stumble upon anyways. Can't say I like Parallel 5ths cheesy new wave cut Carrots and Peas, but it has enough weirdness to put their other records on my wants list. Well worth checking this one out.

95.5 WBRU - 1983 Rock Hunt is a bit more telling in it's 1984 release date and feeling more new romantic than new wave, but still solid tunes that I'm glad to have heard. This record features the Incredible Casuals who's guitarist is the brother of NRBQ's guitarist. Cape Cod legends who have played the Wellfleet Beachcomber every year for over 40 years.

Before getting into the records of the week, Mittens and Wasteland Chick had pieces in the Providence Artists Tarot exhibit at the speedshop curated by Harry Aspinwall. Loved seeing the different approaches from this diverse group of artists. Photos from the show by Creature. I loved Iris Wright's Queen of Wands, up on that pole.

Records of the week

I mentioned blasting The Mice's Not Proud of the USA nonstop a couple issues back, and I've been hitting guitarist/singer Bill Fox's indie folk records hard the last couple weeks. Transit Byzantium is a semi-recent vinyl reissue by Scat Records of a 1998 CD. Unabashedly working class and heart on his sleeve lyrics, excellent acoustic guitar picking and his beautiful, rough-hewn voice. Smart lyrics and you could fool me if you said this was a covers record of old protest folk classics.

Transit Byzantium (2021 remaster), by Bill Fox

18 track album

Bill Foxdancliff

When the world gets me down, I like to blast the the loudest and ugliest shit that I can. Just primal scream of rage against the world. Rusted Shut are one of the worst bands I have ever seen live and their records are some of the gnarliest noise rock ever commited to tape. Rusted Shut's Early Years, Vol. 2, a new collection of vintage 1990s tracks provides the evidence. Raw, ugly and unlikeable, but I fucking love it. As with all things with such a limited potential fanbase, this was limited to 100 copies and is sold out from Tall Texan. I can't find it online anywhere, so just listen to their classic album Dead on Load Records.

Soul song of the day

Soul song of the day is Brenda Holloway's hit When I'm Gone. This is a Motown classic written by Smoky Robinson for Mary Wells to sing, but she left Motown before it was released and in came Brenda. An all timer at Creature's house.

Wasteland Chick  

WE!!! Greetings and Salutations, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Welcome back to the Pre-Halloween RagMag! Today we’ll be tackling with a ten-pound metal door the Heathers: The Musical song “Yo Girl”, which has a creepy vibe perfect for some pre-Hallows Eve. Anyway, first let’s review the rhythm and melody, which I give a 9.2 out of ten. The song has an amazing, spooky, dangerous feel to it, as in this song we see Veronica fully realize what the actual corn nuts is wrong with J.D. Major Oh Crap moment. I love the intense guitar/piano stings when J.D. breaks into Veronica’s house, really showing the danger of this. For the lyrics, I give them a ten out of ten! Firstly, I freaking adore the ghosts of Kurt, Ram, and Heather Chandler commenting/singing as Veronica finally pieces it all together, adding to the spoopy feel of the song. Also, the contrast of Veronica’s mother assuring her that her problems aren’t between life and death, and the ghosts highlighting how J.D. is literally breaking into her house! Like, the lyric “You don’t know what my world looks like” is amazing because her parents are trying to assure her, but they really don’t know what her world looks like. J.D. is literally about to kill her, she has three people’s blood on her hands, so much other shit happened. They really don’t know. Plus, the lyric “Veronica’s gotta be trippin’ on shrooms now” is just friggin’ hilarious to me! HA! Also, I love the lyric “Veronica’s trying to keep him out now, TOO LATE! He got in…”. The vocal climax of “TOO LATE!” and the whispering of “He got in” is amazing, providing the perfect spooky feel. Overall review time!: I give this song a 9.5 out of ten. The rhythm and melody is perfectly spooky and dangerous, and the lyrics provide an amazing feel to the creepy song. Don’t forget to freeze your brain, fellow Wasteland Chicks (hint?). Bye!

Sincerely, Wasteland Chick 🦝 (why haven’t I used this emoji before?)

That's it for this week Rag Mag. Here's some flyers and keep sending stuff in (ragmagclub @ proton.me)