Rag Mag 44

What's up punks? Writing this intro late Sunday night after getting back from a fun crust punk/hardcore show at A1 still buzzing from the violence and friendly vibes of that space. Great way to spend a sunday night for sure and they added bikes and car tires to the pit. Rag Mag is playing some records at Myrtle on Thursday July 2nd with DJ Waxxx Lips and DJ Creature. Punk/Garage/Girl Group sounds all night long. Come party After Dark. This week we have The Fight Report with Chessy Renee, Hooked on Sonics with Velvet Deluxxx, Wasteland Chick, and Creature's Double Feature.

Soundtrack to this week's issue: I asked DJ Waxxx Lips what to play for After Dark and she said punk / garage / girl group sounds. Way too many to list, but I grabbed a few platter paks of punk and an assortment of 90s garage punk, garage and girl group records from the long boxes plus some new records I can't stop playing:

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

Whats up my Rag Maggies ? Happy Summer Solstice ! It is officially summer and I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine. In Boston the sun is out , the people of the world cup are partying together and its Pride . Despite everything there is a lot of joy and love in the air and I hope you're feeling it too. This week I saw some live music , partied with our Scottish friends , jumped in the freezing ocean with some friends - was a pretty sick week.

Monday night I caught Orange Whip , Adult Learners and The Cowboys at Deep Cuts in Medford. Was a fun night with a lot of friends. Orange Whip kicked off the night and I still have their songs stuck in my head. Have I told you how much I love Kelley's voice ? Well I LOVE KELLEY'S VOICE!!!! and those catchy riffs are how you say - Magnifico! Have you picked up their 7 inch yet? WHY NOT ? you can also stream it here if you can't wait to the next show

Up next we got Adult Learners and it was their 7inch release - congrats guys! They provided a energetic set keeping the crowd bopping along. They even had a song about Mr. Peanut - how delicious. If you didn't get a chance to pick up their new record, its okay, they play often but you can also give it a listen here courtesy of Saccharine Tryst Records:

Closing the show we had The Cowboys on tour from Indiana. It seemed like it was a lot of people in the crowds first time seeing them and they were pretty psyched. Who knows maybe they are coming to a town near you! They also just put out a new record check you their band camp!

Next up we have some world cup madness. Boston has been electric this past week plus. I can't tell you how healing and heart warming it is to see everyone repping their home team, singing , dancing partying with each other. No fights just hanging. The attitude is different people feel lighter and kinder . Seeing Scotland, Morocco, Haiti, Iraq , Cape Verde , Norway, Brazil , Norway, Mexico Jerseys every where . People cheering each other on.

The Scots have drunk the city dry and covered it in cones. Its been such a fun thing to experience everyone coming together. also NO SCOTLAND NO PARTY!!!!!!

Now to talk about more music . Since its the last week of Pride I wanted to share some songs from one of my all time favorite bands , that happens to be a queer band. Thats the mother fucking B-52's. Some of my earliest memories are listening to this band in the car with my Dad. He used to have a hardware store and I would go to work with him and sit behind the counter drawing and listening to music. The B-52's were on heavy rotation . I loved their songs and I would just picture what they looked like in my head. When I finally saw them it was everything I wanted in more. The wigs, the outfits , the humor the fucking TALENT. Kate and Cindy's voices still give me shivers.

Its impossible to pick one song , so heres some of my favorite videos of them.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy. HAPPY PRIDE

this is one of my favorite concert videos of all time

The Fight Report by Chessy Renee

Organized labor and fighting for what’s right - over and under the radar

In my search for some fights to get into this week, I actually found some recent news on local fights. I was looking at the site for Labor on the Line, an outlet for labor news, and poking around the site I found out that in May rideshare drivers in Massachusetts won union recognition. This is the first step on the long climb toward creating and ratifying a first union contract through a collective bargaining process - very awesome!! Congratulations to those organizers!

That same article also reported potentially good news that larger tech companies like Microsoft are realizing AI’s monetary costs are maybe higher than they anticipated (oooh!) though the effect this could have on their employees is still up in the air. Also, that pres Dump and Ion Must are continuing to ruin the lives of federal workers - by silencing good people who call out wrongdoing. Man, fuck those guys.

I’ve got a healthy sense of wariness when it comes to the government, regardless of the administration, but from what I can tell many federal jobs draw in people who want to serve others by working within the system to get them what they need. While that is not my thing, I believe in the necessity of some people working the paths that are currently in place to get immediate needs met - but always while others are demanding and strategizing and organizing for a new and better system. Federal jobs and the people who do them firmly fall into the latter, obvi, and I can respect that.

With that, I hope that federal workers are finding ways to keep serving all the people who our administration hates in spite of the tightening choke hold from the government - YOU GO! I cannot even imagine the mental fortitude it would take to do that - but to those of you who are showing up for the weirdos and the broken people and the under and over medicated of us - fucking thank you to those of you who continue to show up through all the daily bullshit. I hope you have a big bowl of ice cream at the end of every day, because you deserve it.

And you know what punk, you go have a big bowl of ice cream too - and fucking do something good for somebody!! GO RAGE DUDE! Go pick a fight.

Things to get into: Feed your neighbors - Food Not Bombs, Community Fridges in your area, or the Greater Boston Food Bank, RI Food Bank

Check out the events with Boston Jewish Voices for Peace

Wasteland Chick

~Let us be les-bi-anssss~! That kind of rhymes with seventeen, right? Greetings and Salutations, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Welcome back and happy pride! Yours truly just got back from an epic providence pride fest and night parade, and I must say, I feel especially glamorous and gay. Anyway, today we’ll be reviewing the song “Naked in Manhattan” by the amazing lesbian great, Chappell Roan. Firstly, let’s tackle with a ten pound metal door the rhythm and melody, which I give an 8 out of ten. I like the vibrant synth tones under the vocals, and the overall slow ballad to wild joy balance the song carries in its lyrics.

Secondly, let’s move on to the lyrics, which I give a 9 out of ten. I adore the sapphic sexy passion bleeding into each word, and in addition, the hilarious-if-you-play-it-in-public chorus of “Touch me baby!” Additionally, the way that Chappell just drips love for the unnamed song subject is absolutely wonderful! The little descriptions of what the subject likes and how the subject acts, all while being set in the well-known sapphic location of NYC! Overall review time! I give this song a 9 out of ten. The rhythm and melody are somewhat sparse musically but are absolutely carried by the vocals, and the lyrics are kind of embarrassing to play in public and will definitely catch you off guard, but they ooze with subtle love and explicit sex. Beautiful. Don’t forget, fellow Wasteland Chicks, that everyone should love their dead and alive gay sons (or any other gendered persons). Bye!

Sincerely, Wasteland Chick <3

Summer is heating up, America just lost another war that no one wanted in the first place, talk of cutting unemployment, and trillions in obvious grift robbing our country blind, fuck. The hope I have remaining is that these fucks are so fucking corrupt and incompetent that with all the power in the world they still can't do anything right. Stay safe, fight back, and take care of each other. Quick plug here for the Boston premier of the 2025 Anti-Cimex documentary Jawbreaker on June 27th at the Coolidge. C'mon out at midnight to hang with the rapunks.

I also released a new track from my solo project Well Intended called PITH/D. Check it out on my bandcamp.

So much going on the past weekend with Juneteenth, Pride, Illuminated Night Parade, Father's Day, and a crust punk show. So much fun hanging with Wasteland Chick all day at Pride and the parade. Seeing her full of so much joy and proud of who she is, fuck what a good feeling. Plus I got to see a float featuring a guillotine and a steamroller crushing the mayor all while the crowd chanted Fuck Brett Smiley. I truly love Providence sometimes.

Another fun show at A1 with W.E.B.B., Cartridge, Cicada, and Contracharge. Second time seeing W.E.B.B. and glad to see em again. Fun set. Cartridge luckily sounded like the 2 different Anti-Cimex Victims of a Bombraid shirts would make you think - sick. Never heard of Cicada before, but they played a ripping set. Wild, fast hardcore with a loose edge like italian hardcore. Crust punk lives and dies by the drummer and Contracharge have a good one. Classic sounding crust with little rocking motorcharge undertones to keep the kids moving. Check out the video too.

While I have a deep love of kung fu/martial arts/HK action films, most modern films rely too much on quick cuts and editing that make for unexciting filmmaking for me. I heard the hype for The Furious building, but then I saw my friend Eric's glowing 5 star review and knew I had to see it in the theater. Limited release and out in theaters right now, this is the best action film I have seen in forever.

Starring Xie Miao (who's filmography post 1995 Jet Li's The Enforcer I am not super familiar with) and Joe Taslim (The Raid) and an excellent if too short appearance from Jeeja Yanin (Chocolate/Raging Phoenix). The plot is fairly simple, but like Mad Max Fury Road, the story just moves. The plot is that a reporter (Jeeja) goes missing while investigating a human trafficking ring, and her husband (Joe Taslim) continues the investigation. During that investigation, he meets a mute Chinese father (Xie Miao) who's daughter was kidnapped. Together, they fight the entire gang and corrupt cops to rescue them.

However, there is no exposition or complicated plot devices. You know there is a human trafficking ring from news reports in the background of the absolutely brutal fights that happen seemingly non-stop throughout this film and everything else comes in through dialogue. The choreography is gorgeous and they actual film entire sequences of moves, showing the actors and stuntmen actually doing the martial arts being filmed. So many blunt objects, hammers, shoes, ice blocks, sledgehammers, machetes, steel poles, etc... hitting everyone in sight. The action is intense throughout the whole film with the entire thing seeming like a non-stop chase, as Miao keeps writing on a piece of paper "no time". Its hard to build momentum with non-stop fights throughout a film, but they escalate in the third act and it is thrilling. I saw this at a matinee with an audience of 6 or 7 other MMA looking guys and that third act led to a lot of audible groans and screams in the theater. When it was over, I saw two big dudes loudly arguing and laughing with each other about how the big guy would have died in the first scene of the movie which ruled! This one lived up to the hype.

Records of the Week

First up is a reissue I never knew I needed of a 1987 cassette only album by GRC from Rijeka, Croatia. GRC formed in early 80s and per the extensive booklet and liner notes, still continuing as a band today and looking to put out a new album. On Sloboda Narodu, they are playing a mix of dark wave, death punk, early industrial, and post-punk, with that distinctive 80s eastern european feel. Gloomy, morose, angry songs about living under totalitarian rule that still make you wanna dance while you watch your country burn. Killer record.

Next up is the second record by Indikator B - II which makes a great modern day pairing with GRC continuing on the distinct feel of their native Croatia. Catchy, dark punk carrying on the cold vibes of 80s Eastern European punk. Was bummed to have missed their recent east coast tour. Fold out poster sleeve looks fantastic and matches the heavy vibe contained on these tracks. Closing track Ukopani is a banger.

Soul Song of the Day

Soul song of the day is a minor early songwriting hit for Gamble and Huff before they became known for the philly sound even if this song sounds suspiciously similar to In my Lonely Room by Martha and the Vandellas. Candy and Kisses - The 81 is a fun dance number, even if I can't figure out the dance craze I am supposed to be doing from the song. Maybe it's just from growing up near philly where this hit, but I heard this song all the time and always loved it. Time to dance!

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