02 Feb 2026 16 min read

Rag Mag 34

Whyte Lipstick at Rag Mag Anniversary Party - Photo by Creature

What's up punks? Another issue, another government murder, another massive protest. the endless shit (and the sheer depravity in the latest delayed file releases) gets exhausting and sickening. what the fuck is wrong with these people? As always, the community defends itself and we take care of each other. keep up the fight and help each other out and stay punk Another jam-packed issue, with new columns from Wasteland Chick, Hooked on Sonics with Velvet Deluxxx, Creature on the Road The Elizabeth's Run Part 5 by Mr. Mittens, The Fight Report by Chessy Renee, and Creature's Double Feature.

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.

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Whats up rock n’ roll maniacs. I hope everyone is surviving out there. The last couple columns we were in school so to speak , so I thought it be fun to take a little field trip. Who doesn’t like a field trip am I right? If it's one thing music taught me ( beyond creativity and having an outlet) its community. One way to support the arts is going out to your local DIY music scene at one of the city’s old reliable dive bars. I love going to local shows. I love being a part of the music scene. It truly brings me so much joy. This week I went to a friends show at the Model in Allston. It was a fun night of garage punk and rock n roll. Also on a side note I hate, HATE having my phone out at shows so these photos are a bit blurry but hey what can you do !Let the field trip begin! - Velvet Deluxxx

First up we had local surf punk rockers PANGS. They were so good! I had seen them play before doing a solo set which was great but it was killer to hear them with a full band playing really loud. I love surfy rock n’ roll so this was right up my alley. They play often so make sure to make it to their next gig.

Pangs surfing through the night

Next up we have LITHOPHONES( ex members of Tampoffs, tokyo electron, wongs) I LOVE this band. Fast fun punk . The set goes by in a flash because I’m moving around so much. I love seeing bands that make you feel like you’re sweating along with them if that makes sense. Can you guys put a record out soon ? Thank you! Don’t sleep on this band.

Lithophones movin and groovin

AND finally we have our headliners PUKE PISSTOLS - see I told you it was a stacked bill! This band is comprised of so many local legends I’ll need another article to list them all. They are one of my favorite Boston bands. Loud, fast, fun Rock N’ Roll. Simon is smashing the drums , Johnny is rippin it on bass headbanging , Andy California is shredding being a wild man and Hilken is a powerhouse on guitar with an effortless cool few can achieve. Go check out their new release on bandcamp ( Link below)

Puke Pisstols shredding

Shout to all the bands for putting on a great show and to all the people that trudged through the snow to get there. Support your local scene!

Puke pisstols:

Lithophones:

@lithophones ( instagram)

Pangs:

Wasteland Chick

Does anyone know if the original comic is real? Greetings and Salutations, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Welcome back! Happy Black History Month and happy it’s-almost-spring! Today we’ll be reviewing something closer to home for about 80% of Ragmag’s readers: The Season 3 episode of Batman the Animated Series “Judgement Day”. Now some of you at home may be wondering: “Wasteland Chick, why are you so inconsistent with your choices in shows and music?” And my response is: “Why ask why? I do what I like.” We enter in on the revamped art style of the show’s third season that makes all of the characters look a little nerfed but that’s okay (Baby Doll’s redesign is unforgivable, however). Anyway, a twinkified penguin and two random cabaret women enter in with Killer Croc and Two Face exchanging black market money shit that is never explained, and the Penguin is left counting the crap in the vault. But suddenly, for no reason, a dude dressed as a judge bursts into the room and I think kills him (they never say if he lives)?! WOAH! Who could it possibly be…. Next, we see Killer Croc tackling a bus for some reason, and the man driving it whips out a gun (?!) and then the Judge guy reappears and says a bunch of m-words at Croc describing his crimes! Also Batman’s there, but that’s not important! A news reporter then broadcasts the funniest thing I’ve ever seen: so apparently the Riddler held up a brunch, and the Judge showed up and stopped him, but all the Riddler did on screen was say a goofy ass line and then the Judge just freaking HANDCUFFS him and drops a giant book on him!! WHAT?! Then, as this continues, this random lawyer guy shows up and is like “Yeah, the Judge and I are partners and stuff, and Two Face better watch out!”, and Harvey Dent is pissed off about that. Anyway, the Judge breaks into Two Face’s empty bar hideout where Batman and Two Face are and tries to kill them, but weirdly the Judge seems to know everything about Two Face’s plans…. Hmmm… Do you know where this is going? Moving on, Two Face kidnaps the lawyer guy in a COURTROOM and prepares to kill him, meanwhile Batman studies the gavel the Judge uses and finds a SHOCKING DISCOVERY!! Batman races to the scene to find the Judge trying to kill him, and it ends with the Judge almost dying and getting unmasked to reveal…Two Face! OH MY GOD! But the episode ends very disturbingly but cinematically, with Two Face court interrogating himself in Arkham and repeating guilty as the screen fades out. Just-just wow 😮. See ya next time W.C.’s! Bye!

Sincerely, Wasteland Chick

Creature on the Road - The Elizabeth's Run Part 5 by Mr. Mittens

The simplest answer is usually the right one, what’s that called? Something’s razor? Hell I don’t know, but I do know that there’s a phrase for it. What do you call a simple answer that solves the problem but makes no sense? There’s probably something, but on the small chance they never got around to it, I’d call answers like this Elizabeth’s razor. There were always 3 Elizabeth Flemings, triplets with identical blood and DNA, but there was only ever one babydoll.

Mrs. Fleming had waited her whole life for a girl, something to dress up and parade around. During her first pregnancy, when it was revealed that the Flemings were going to have a boy, Mrs. Fleming had refused to acknowledge any evidence that it was so. She smiled and cooed at her growing belly, but the word son was quickly shushed and the subject changed. When her son was born, she refused to accept any idea that she hadn’t birthed anything other than a perfect little doll. Mr. Fleming had stupidly assumed that his wife would grow out of this phase once their boy arrived, but he had very much underestimated that woman’s tenacity. An overnight nurse responding to the wailing screams of a baby in distress found Mrs. Fleming standing over her child’s little plastic bassinet, a pair of sewing scissors in her hand. She’d only taken one cut before the baby had wailed so loudly and so frantically that it was inevitable someone would find her even at 3 in the morning. I guess the sewing scissors didn’t do much damage, barely a few stitches along his testicles or at least that’s what he said in his book. After the first incident, Mr Fleming was strongly advised to admit his wife to some sort of treatment program, but I mean even back then who the fuck had money for that. Instead, the Flemings went home from the hospital, Mr. Fleming went back to work, the baby Fleming was left in his mother’s care, and Mr. Fleming's mother was quickly moved into their cramped house to keep everything “safe” while he was gone. Poor old Mrs. Fleming didn’t make it two weeks before she caught her daughter in law trying to dose her coffee with allergy pills. After that, the family decided that perhaps Mrs. Fleming really should spend some time away from the baby.

She got better, or at least it seemed that she had, but I guess that some dreams are just held on to with a tighter grip. I suppose she reasoned that the only way to fulfill her wish was to accept the boy as a minor wrinkle in her quest. Mrs. Fleming moved home after a sixth month stay at a wellness clinic and though she never fussed over the baby boy, she was at least attentive to his basic needs. She even went so far as to proclaim him a knight preparing the way for his princess sister to be. She was pregnant again before her knight had even taken his first steps, and she went above and beyond to make sure that she would get her babydoll. You could pick a gender back then, pretty basic stuff compared to what the people on Zone 5 can do, but I mean they’re so full of money that they could order a baby so pristine that it would never so much as sneeze. The Flemings barely had enough of an income to spring for fertility shots let alone gender manipulation, but she pumped herself full of what they could afford and hoped for a guided miracle. The shots worked, but with the unexpected bonus of two other girls. I bet Mr. Fleming was probably at his happiest just then, thinking that his wife could never possibly tire of three girls. He’d probably thought that they’d come out of this with some added stress and more mouths than they’d intended, but otherwise unscathed. I saw a picture of him in his son’s book holding the girls just after their birth. He looks tired and frazzled, but undeniably pleased with the three little lumps in his arms. He was too busy facing the camera to see his wife’s face just to the left of his shoulder, propped up in the hospital bed, her eyes wide and fixated on the baby closest to her. He should have guessed then that there would only ever be one babydoll.

Don't let the bastards grind you down (but goddamn are they trying). Trying to stay positive in the winter is always a hard battle for yr ol' pal, but looking at all the photos from the Rag Mag party for my column brought a big smile to my face. This week's double feature is about two things giving me hope, our little community and a huge student protest against ICE this week across the nation and here in little Providence.

The anniversary party was a great time and thanks again for everyone coming out and donating so much food. We also have a few zines left, so hit us up if you want a copy. All photos by Creature or Coco.

Gossip Collar

Whyte Lipstick

Ken Baby

Tigers on Vaseline

Crowd

On January 30th, student groups across the country staged a massive walkout protest against ICE and proud to say the crowd in Providence was huge. Just so many damn kids out there in the freezing cold, makes a father proud.

We saw this sign referencing the classic texas punk band AK-47's song The Badge Means You Suck at the protest. Such a banger, but based on the reality of american racist violence. The next day we stopped at an antiques/junk shop and I found an old issue of Rolling Stone with an article about the murder of Joe Torres, which was one of the violent killings that inspired the song. Really cool in-depth article about the killer Houston cops If you've ever wanted to know more about what The Dicks were actually singing about in Hate the Police (or MDC, Really Red, etc.. etc...) Stay pissed forever about this shit, which is the same old fight as now. Keep on keepin' on

Records of the Week

First up is a recent LP by Ayucaba from Buenos Aires, Argentina called Operacion Masacre. Nice raw metal/dbeat, on the English Dogs tip which isn't normally my bag, but these simple riffs, with shredding guitar and some really messed up (in the best way) sounding vocals push this into a keeper. Plus the sick artwork on the immaculately silkscreened package with a massive poster/lyric sheet are worth the price of admission alone.

Next up is a reissue of what the label calls the "zoner of zoners" - Total's Sky Blue Void. Total is Matthew Bower from Skullflower, and this record is from 1994 and recorded the same year as Skullflower's monumental Last Shot at Heaven. Remastered for vinyl and sounding great, this is total late night stoned and stare into the ceiling music. I can see how this was created during the same time period as Last Shot at Heaven. Solo drones into the sky blue void - listen to this when you want to disappear for awhile

Soul Song of the Day

The a-side of this one was the bigger hit, but I like the sentiment of the b-side more right now. That's right, this week it's George Clinton's old doo wop soul group The Parliaments - I can Feel the Ice Melting. Doesn't get weird or down like Funkadelic, but this shit rules

The Fight Report by Chessy Renee

Zen And The Art Of Resistance

The Fight Report

What’s up, rag mag? Are you ready to fight? You might be surprised, today I’m looking to chill - but just the right amount… let me explain.

When was the last time you floated in some water? A pool, a lake, the ocean? Have you ever? Man, I hope you have - it’s awesome. I went swimming a few days ago (don’t worry, it was indoors) and for a while I had a lane to myself in the lap pool.

I took the opportunity to stretch out my shoulder with experimental/made up strokes to try to address a work injury that I’ve been nursing for a little over a week. It took me a while to find something that helped my shoulder to actually relax and feel more normal: the move that targeted the area that best was doing breast stroke but upside down and underwater - I think I have a rotator cuff issue, maybe tendonitis? So if you’re feeling weird there too, maybe give that a whirl.

After I got my shoulder to feel more in the socket, I just floated in the pool; up the lane, down the lane and back up again. Luckily it was a slow day at the Y.

As I floated I thought: about calling my senators and reps, about why Boston is so neoliberal, and so conservative as well, and so fucking pro-police, and so zionist, etc. I thought about all of the violence in the streets in the U.S. recently and how NOT new it is, but that it’s good that people are finally waking up to it. And I thought about so many conversations that I’d had recently that always come down to “we know we need to DO something - but what can we do?”

Since I floated that day, a bill that would have given 10 billion more dollars to ICE was voted on in the Senate on Friday and they pushed off the Department of Homeland Security funding section, a HUGE FUCKING WIN - or at the very least a postponing of a huge decision which will ultimately have a huge effect on human rights.

Another thing that went down since I floated around last week: a huge nationwide walk out/shut down happened on Friday, and I heard there was also a protest on Boston Common on Saturday as well. I wasn’t there on Saturday, but I went to Copley for a rally on Friday. Lots of people were there, and I heard Ayanna Presley speak while there. She’s sick!

She talked about everyone needing to rally around their community now more than ever. She stressed how people were out there that day, standing in the cold with signs and whistles, because they give a damn about their community and their neighbors - and that we are gonna need our neighbors when the fight shows up on our door step.

It’s so true. Community is everything. It’s our strength, it's our building blocks. It’s who we know and who we see, and it’s what makes up the world isn’t it? Unless you live on the North Pole, you have neighbors, and you gotta find out who they are and how to build with them.

A few of my neighbors are MAGA guys – idk how to fucking deal with that. But for now I’m trying to build with other neighbors. And that’s the thing - that’s the zen of the fight. If you just blow shit up and spin out and get totally out of control then you won't be able to affect much. You have to be able to take care of yourself and your own shit a little bit to be around to take care of other people. You gotta float sometimes in order to stay in the fight. You gotta deal with your tense shoulder if you wanna punch a nazi (or maybe my neighbor?!), you know?

So, punks. Yeah, you need to fight. But also you gotta fucking float sometimes.

Like a wise clown once said - we all float down here.

Here’re some fights to join:::

AFSC - Suggestions on how to get involved from the Quakers

Call your representatives (IT’LL Be 2 WEEKs till they vote again on the DHS funding, so keep your senators and reps on speed dial) - 5calls.org

Just Bookish bookstore in Boston - Bystander Training Thursday 2/5

Bearing Witness New England - Keep an eye on ICE every Wednesday in Burlington MA

LUCE - If you see ICE (ed. note in Massachusetts) call this hotline

And just some good stuff:::

Frontline Medics - info for Staying Safe at Rallies

June Jordan poem - I Must Become A Menace To My Enemies

And support your local food banks and pantries - or just feed your neighbors, whoever is hungry, you know the deal… noww go onnnn, get outta here!!

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