Rag Mag 35
What's up punks? Cannot believe it is already halfway through February, feels like New England has been nothing but snow for a couple weeks and yr ol' pal Creature has been feeling stir crazy stuck inside. "politics" is feeling so overwhelming at this point with all of the (extremely obvious) revelations in the (still illegally redacted) Epstein files about the horrific and revulsive deeds of the rich and powerful. In times like these, it seems harder to find the good in the world, but luckily we all got a wonderful Valentine courtesy of the anonymous high school student in Chicago who punched that Nazi troll in the face. Thanks for the hope kid, and remember, there is no such thing as the paradox of tolerance. Tolerating all but the intolerant isnt a paradox, its just what tolerance is.
This week we have new art from Coco Roy, The Fight Report by Chessy Renee, Wasteland Chick, 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.
“Be my baby” hot glue and felt by Coco Roy
“Wild rose” 27x40 inches hot glue and felt by Coco Roy
Wasteland Chick
I swear I’ll review that episode next!! Greetings and salutations, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Welcome back! Hope you all enjoyed the brief interlude of movie reviews, but now we’re back to the classics! The subject of today’s affection is “Hill to Die on” by the gay gem great “Rebecca Sugar”. Let’s start with the rhythm and melody, which I give an 8 out of ten. I love the piano ballad mixed with the rocking guitar beats, especially the bridge’s guitar solo. It really adds a nice genre mix to the whole song! Next we have the lyrics, which I give a 9.5 out of ten. Rebecca Sugar is really good at writing songs about the joys and struggles of creativity! The lyrics to “Hill to Die on” effortlessly describe having a deep-seated passion for something, and how you sometimes need to let that go in order to creatively express yourself. I really like Rebecca’s delivery on a lot of the lyrics, as she uses a lot of whispered words and happy exclaminations. Alright, time for the overall review: I give this song a 9.666667 out of ten, the rhythm and melody are an excellent mixture of piano and punk, and the lyrics amazingly display the joys of having a creative passion. I’ll be back with more Rebecca Sugar and Two Face Batman episodes, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Bye!
Sincerely, Wasteland Chick
The Fight Report by Chessy Renee
Keeping one eye open…at all times
The Fight Report
It feels like it’s been a sleepy little February so far, and a sleepy little Valentines weekend. I haven’t read enough and I haven’t learned a whole lot this month so far - but I did learn that there is a rumor that J. Edgar Hoover was black. Unproven, but that would be wild, right?!
Anyway, I almost got into a fight today, sort of. Maybe it was the warmth of the sunny day today or something, but something kept me from it. I don’t know what.
I was at the library again, but today I was nursing a bad stomach ache. I was trying to use a scanner but honestly not really focussing on the task in front of me. Also in front of me was a man who I do despise. He’s probably been working at this library branch since before I started going in, and he’s got some -tude on him, dude. Like all the time with this guy.
I love a grump - but this guy has got a “who the f&^# are you” attitude that I don’t think is right for the library. The library should be a space for everyone, dude, and you seem to have a problem with each and every person who comes into it.
So as I sat and grumbled over my worrisome bowels, he was assisting people who came up to him at the desk, and after a while of dismissing the patrons one by one, his eyes found me and he asked: “Can I help you with something?!”
I said “uh… no, thanks, I’m just scanning.”
And that was it. I left soon after because I wasn’t going to do well being there much longer. But no muss nor fuss over this man really; no drama or nothin.
And I thought about who this man is - maybe he’s just as affected by the state of the world as I am. Maybe he is redirecting his frustration over things that he can’t control toward the people who are around him and the things he does have some semblance of control over. Maybe the order of the library gives him a tiny sense of order when he feels chaos in other parts of his life.
But also - he should stop being such a huge asshole. Whatever, both things can be true.
To keep it short and sweet (my little sweeties!) - You don’t have to fight every minute or every day. You can choose your fights and your moments. It’s important to let smaller things go, that’s part of being good at fighting. Just don’t forget to fight (for something serious) and don’t be petrified into complicity. Stay vigilant and keep on talking and acting - do rest!! But keep one eye open at all times.
Things are bad right now in New England, in America and in a whole bunch of places, and we are the people who have got to fight to make things better. So take care of yourselves and keep fighting out there.
Hope all you lovers are holding each other tight through it all, and hope all you fighters are tearing shit up! And to everyone who falls in the center of the venn diagram, HELL FUCKING YEAAAH!! See you out in these streets!
In case you haven’t heard yet, here are some fights & fighters to join:::
Watch your representatives closely and call them to put pressure on em - 5calls.org
Bearing Witness New England - Keep an eye on ICE every Wednesday in Burlington MA
LUCE - If you see ICE 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
its been too damn cold and snowy in new england, so we've been mostly stuck in the house for the past few weeks. I got so bored I recorded a new solo album under my Well Intended name called Notes About Natalie Wood. Not sure if releasing this online, but the tapes should be here in a couple weeks if anyone is interested. Here's the first song off it if you wanna check it out.
I actually made it out of the house (briefly) to catch a rare (first since 2018) performance by Jacob B. at Lost Bag space in Providence. I was only able to catch him and part of the second act as I had to make it home in time for a date to watch Batman the Animated Series with Wasteland Chick, but it was great seeing him again in solo mode. So glad I made it out though because it is always wonderful to see him play. He's a good songwriter, but his stage presence and wit are what really shine through in his performances. Great vibes, intelligent and funny lyrics, and started off with a 68 Comeback special joke while standing on this weird circular riser. The little gorilla amp on the ladder seals the deal for me.
We also made it out to the speedshop yesterday and caught the new exhibit "Food that is good eaten together" by Jungil Hong. Its a collection of composed shots of her mother's food and belongings and personal photographs accumulated over 20 years.
The exhibit description said "Accumulation. Attention. Keeping. This exhibition is not about nostalgia, but about proximity - how things gain meaning when they sit beside one another and how care is practiced through repetition and attention."
This one really struck a chord with me unspoken vibes wise. Completely unrelated to my experience, but the feeling/idea I get from the exhibit speak to my love of using cut-up/collage/assemblage techniques and ideas within art/music. Really love this one so check it out while its up in February. Sorry for the weird photos, but the use of the tall space is hard to photograph, but really works in person.
Records of the Week
I usually try to keep my recommendations to newer punk (and related) records, but being stuck inside with so much snow has led me to just blasting Totalitar in my headphones. (Ed. note, just listen to Totalitar instead of most anything else including whatever nonsense I recommend here, goddamn what a band). I wrote a few issues back about how the label Black Editions is doing a 6 record reissue of obscure releases originally on the La Musica Records record, a tiny cassette label run by Asahito Nanjo from High Rise/Mainliner/etc. in the 90s. The label documented the experimental scene in Japan and has been covered in this column before. The pre-orders arrived and while most of the records are still not officially released, I have dived in and these will be in heavy rotation for the next few months at least. Now for the first record of the week, the most highly anticipated release of the batch, Rotting Telepathies Rotting Tapes 2.
Rotting Telepathies was a band led by the poet Michio Kadotani (guitar and vocals) with musical leadership by Asahito Nanjo (bass). Rotting Tapes 2 is a 1982 live performance, the punkest sounding version of the band, prominently featuring hypnotic, heavy bass and drums, pounding away like some post-punk Krautrock group with skittering, stabbing guitar lines and squeals, all with a madman singing over top. As a jazz fan, I would call this record "inside out". highly recommended
vi
At a recent show, I met a co-worker of a friend and we talked about music for awhile. Turned out he is a guitar player, fingerpicking americana/folk style which is outside of my usual musical interests of punk, noise, jazz and soul, but I love talking about music people are passionate about. Of course, a couple days later I got this package in the mail, with my record of the week, Scat Records reissue of the punk/powerpop classic For Almost Ever by The Mice. Eternal thanks to pal Eric Yu for turning me onto this band back in my early 20s. For Almost Ever features six songs, all hits, and Not Proud of the USA is an all-timer poppy punk song for me. The driving force of The Mice is Bill Fox, who has been featured in these pages before and is just a great singer/songwriter, with rural working class americana songs. He has a new record out called Resonance and I love it. Working class songs with a great voice and powerful lyrics. Normally not my bag musically, but Bill Fox is undeniable and such a good songwriter. Check it out.
indiscreet
indiscreet
Soul Song of the Day
Soul song of the day is Sunny by Bobby Hebb. It's so cold, just dreaming of a sunny day outside. It was hit in 1966 and it's such a good song, there's a reason it became a soul-jazz standard.
That's it for this week Rag Mag. Here's some flyers and keep sending stuff in (ragmagclub@proton.me)
Member discussion