Rag Mag 45
Whats up rag mag readers ???? Hope everyone is surviving this fucking HEAT. Creature and I dj'ed at Myrtle this week and it was super fun. We even ended the night with the Jaws theme and a guy at the bar laughed so it was worth it. Tommy then mixed the Jaws theme into " Love to love you baby" by Donna Summer. Truly the summer mash up we all needed. Anywho thanks Tommy and Natalie for having us!
If you're like me and living in a sweltering apartment and on a budget you might also be coming up with cheap ways to stay cool. My favorite is swimming. I'm extremely lucky to have a public pool down the street from us. But hey maybe you do to. I LOVE SWIMMING. I'm constantly in the water and can't tell you how good it makes me feel after. I also love the public pool because you're just beating the heat with your neighborhood. Today two little kids were excited to show me how they weren't afraid to jump in the water today. Then they started showing off with spins etc while cheering . It made my day! Since I don't want anyone to roast , I wanted to pass along the list of DCR public pools for all of MA. check out if there's one near you!
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/dcr-swimming-schedule-2026
Another Place to cool down is the Library . The library rules in general but unless something gone crazy they usually have the AC blasting.
The heat sucks and it effects us all in different ways so be kind to one another . Stay cool out there - Coco
What's up punks? Creature here. Heat wave melted my brain, so I don't have much to say this week. Woke up on the 4th of July and immediately put on the Crucifucks, so let's let Doc Dart have the intro (glad to see things have changed since he wrote this in 1984):
You make things miserable every day
You make me sick with the things you say
You stand for the anthem at the old ball game
And your pledge of allegiance is so fucking lame
This kind of freedom is perfect for you
As long as you can get away with what you do
But everything you do is in such bad taste
And it's your fault the media is such a waste
Be a good American (fuck off!)
Be a good American (go to war!)
Be a God-fearing citizen (kill someone!)
Or kill yourself
'Cause you're such a fucking bore
You nearly drove me crazy in your asshole schools
Grooming us all to be fucking fools
Working for the government as zombie tools
But we won't be satisfied 'til we trash your rules
Put a gun in my back and I'll do what you say
But I'll burn down your house if I get away
Throw me in jail and I'll spit in your face
'Cause anarchy is gonna take your fucking place
Be a good American (fuck off!)
Be a good American (go to war!)
Be a God-fearing citizen (kill someone!)
Or kill yourself
This week we have The Fight Report with Chessy Renee, Medium Regular with Dottie, Wasteland Chick, and Creature's Double Feature.
Soundtrack to this week's issue: Sometimes there's thought to the soundtrack and other times its the 250th b-day of the USA and you play the Crucifucks because the world is so fucked, and then Wisconsin makes me think of Madison's finest Killdozer, and then you see that Necron 9 12" on Unlawful Assembly in the same box and play that because they hate pigs almost as much as Doc does. Rinse and repeat. (The Crucifucks - Wisconsin, The Crucifucks - s/t, Killdozer - Intellectuals are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite, and Necron 9 - People Die).
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 cosmic freaks. Ol' Dot here. I know what you're thinking. Hun, we haven't heard from you in a minute - what gives. Honestly , even mediums gotta take a break from cruisin the astral plane sometimes . Lately it feels like I'm stuck in 93 traffic when I'm psychically whipping around the cosmos. But what are ya gonna do. My brain feels like a friggin egg on hot asphalt because of this heat wave so I can only spiritually guide one group this week and thats the CANCERS. Not for nothin hun , you guys need it. I once dated a cancer and when they broke up with me out of the blue I asked why ? A week later they left a 5 minute message on my answering machine listing all the ways they thought I sucked . A week after their tires were mysteriously slashed. The universe works in mysterious ways. ANNNNYWHO Cancers its your season so listen up! The rest of yous, stay cool stay cosmic. - Dottie
Cancers , Where do I begin ? Your symbol is a crab representing your protective shell , but girl I've been pinched by a few of you too. Water is your element which honestly must be nice in this heat . Lately you've been feeling overwhelmed and weighed down . It could be the late stage capitalism and the heatwave or you could just be doing some soul searching hard to say. Known as a compassionate sign , turn some of this compassion onto yourself. We're all just trying to get through the day - even you . Its your season do you're thing. Also stop leaving unhinged voicemails.
The Fight Report by Chessy Renee
What power DO you have?
Welcome to the thunderdome, punks! This week’s story comes from the ring - with me being one of the unsuspecting fighters.
Someone picked a fight with me the other day - it felt weird because normally I know what a fight is about when I get called into it! This was over something serious that I have known about for a while but I wasn’t expecting this person to be pissed off at me about it.
I found out this guy was around who I haven’t met in person but have talked to online a bit. Our back and forth has been related to him needing info that I don’t have - but I’ve been trying to get it out of the people who have the info - they have mostly been keeping me in the dark about it, though.
Since I saw the guy around, I thought here is my opportunity to meet him in person. I thought, yeah! It would be good to introduce myself and apologize in person for the frustration of the whole situation.
Turns out - he is much more pissed than he had let on up until now! He laid into me. He did it with a smile and laughed his way through the conversation - but like a scary kind of laugh. He asked me a lot of rhetorical questions; I was on my heels the whole time trying to keep up with his train of thought. He told me what I had done was messed up and that it’s not good to treat people this way.
I allllmost cried!!! but I did my best to keep my cool. I tried to explain that the people in power were keeping me just as much in the dark as him. I tried to express that even though my situation was different than his that I felt a serious level of insecurity and confusion from the position I am in as well. It didn’t really help him to know this, though I think it helped me to say it and be honest with myself about the cognitive dissonance I’ve been carrying.
We basically shook hands at the end and parted ways, both upset but without a resolution.
His muted but obvious anger really shook me. I left wondering: do I have more power or influence than I think I do?! Could I have made the situation better earlier on? Am i complicit somehow in what this guy was pissed off about?
I think maybe? Probably. I don’t know!! I’m still figuring that all out.
But for now, I am happy that guy said something to somebody - even if it had to be me. We all need to stand up for ourselves a little bit more.
The usual - great causes to stand up for:
Feeding your neighbors - Food Not Bombs, Community Fridges in your area, or the Greater Boston Food Bank, RI Food Bank
Events with Boston Jewish Voices for Peace
Wasteland Chick
NOOOOOOO! LOCK ALL THE GATES! GET HIM OUT! Greetings and Salutations, fellow Ghost Zombie Jesus-Born, George Washington-baptized, all-American WC’s. Happy Fourth of Jaws-ly! Welcome back from one sand-covered, patriotic raccoon. Me and Creature hit the beach earlier today and I am completely coated in sand. Hopefully it doesn’t ooze through this review. Speaking of oozing, today we’ll be reviewing the cult-classic-for-the-wrong-reason movie, Spiderman 3. And in case you’re wondering, hell yes it is the weird Tobey Macguire pelvic thrusting one!
Okay, anyway, let’s do a skim because all of the saltwater has gone directly to my brain: Apparently Mary Jane has gotten a job on Broadway but has a terrible voice or just sings weirdly generic and evasive songs (guys I heard that they say love is wonderful and that’s what they say) and gets fired, but Peter Creepy-Smile Parker has the wonderful narcissistic advice of “getting back on her horse like spider man would”. Wonderful. Also there’s a sand guy that possibly killed Uncle Ben so many years ago? Seriously, WHAT is Spiderman’s true backstory? Find out on Dateline tonight. Whatever, anyway, now there’s ~angst~, my favorite meal ever, and that sets up a reason for the black venom space goo that hitched a ride on the back of Peter’s moped to take over his spidey suit and give him incredible emo powers. Anyway, to make a short and poorly told story even shorter, Peter starts using the suit more and more and is about to propose to MJ, but then he kisses Gwen Stacy at a spider man fest, and she breaks it off due to the omelette-dropping influence of Harry Goblin. Oh crap! I forgot to mention one of the funniest parts of this entire movie! So Harry Goblin is amnesic for most of the movie until he remembers how spiderman killed his father in the movie I didn’t watch and goes evil, but the way he gets amnesia is hilarious: He’s chasing spiderman in a fight, and then spidey smacks him with a web and he cartoonishly smashes into a metal pipe and just fricking dies.
Anywhoozle, after Harry pulls a vehicle disappearance and enjoys the HELL out of diner pie, Peter loses his goddamn mind, especially since Eddie Brock (unfortunately not Tom Hardy 😞) stole his job and stuff, and decides to put some dirt in his eye. Then, oh my god, then, he feels the power of the black venom suit and begins to thrust and flirt with random, very uninterested girls on the street, and then, discovers his new emo look at a clothing store (that is going out of business) and begins to FULL THRUST IN FRONT OF THE STORE WHILE EVERYONE IN THE VICINITY IS VISIBLY FREAKED OUT. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. And now, for the best part of the movie: Peter takes Gwen Stacey out on a date at the jazz bar MJ works at now, and then, to get back at MJ, he interrupts her song by aggressively playing piano, then shouts “DOUBLE TIME” and starts backflipping and spinning around the restaurant while someone in the background cheers “That’s so hot!” No. No it’s not. Then he whispers, “Now dig on this”, and basically makes out with Gwen Stacey and completely humiliates his ex-girlfriend. It’s wonderful, or so they say. So this is about where the movie stops being funny and is just giving Peter a pity party despite him being a selfish jerk the entire movie, with Aunt May telling him to “forgive himself”.
Okay. And then a bunch of stuff happens, Eddie gets venomized, Harry becomes not evil, Sandman gets redeemed, and MJ gets saved by Harry and Peter after being held hostage. Also, when Eddie dies from getting exploded, you can SEE HIS SKELETON. No I’m not kidding. And then the movie drags to an end with Harry dying, and this review is so freaking long, so I give this movie a 2 out of ten solely for the emo dance scene. Don’t get possessed by goo monsters and pelvic thrust down the street, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Bye!
Sincerely, Wasteland Chick
Drove up to Boston to hang with friends, get (mediocre) nachos from a restaurant that doesn't exist anymore and see a foreign language documentary film at midnight because I'm middle aged and punk and all any of us talked about was why the film was at midnight haha. Fuck we are old. Jawbreaker by Tomas Haglund and Oskar Sjodin is the story of Anti-Cimex and is getting some screenings in the USA (supposedly coming online after the screenings across the US finish up this summer). It was fun to see this in a real theater with punks laughing and yelling at the screen. The movie was fun, pretty quick and did a solid job of showing the reality of being a legendary band to the raw punks. Highlights include them eating some cake and cool live footage. This is almost entirely focused on Anti-Cimex and there is almost no discussion of other bands or the scene (skitslickers isn't even mentioned in the film), which helps the focus, but c'mon, we wanted more about the rapunks. Definitely worth seeing, but hoping there will be a part 2 with more about the scene they came from.
With the stress of the modern world, sometimes you just gotta put on a real zoner instrumental record and read/lookit some zines. Bill Orcutt's new Music in Continuous Motion is a studio recording of him on "four guitars". 12 tracks and most are about 2.5 minutes long. Every song has repeating motifs that build up, warp into something new, and end just as quick. Beautiful sounding record that I can just keep flipping, which is perfect for reading a stack of zines. Mediocridad Innata - 4 by Abraham Diaz is a collection of his "commercial" work, reprinted in a variety of styles, fold out pages, screenprinted pages, off set pages, xerox. Beautiful handmade and his art is wonderful fucked up punk comix. Check out the link to his website below (NSFW! or home probably). Reason to Believe Volume 1 By Joe Curry is a nicely printed collection of punk photographs he's taken over the past 20 years. itc cool that this is mostly of the crowds/moments outside the show, setting the scene. Great photos of the poots. Last up is the latest Record Time from Scott Soriano and company. Fun and detailed columns as always. Covering basically anything that falls under the category of record collecting, this is only partially punk context, but hey, I opined a few issues back about whether Bag of Hammers was the best 90s garage label and the fine folks at Record Time answered my question with a review of every record. Fuck. Learn about how the bee gees were arsonists, a review of 35 rap 12"s about someone named Roxanne, and more. Really good read.
https://buyrecordtime.square.site/
Skip to Content
Records of the Week
First up this week is ACBG - Open Door / Queen of Hearts - 7", an archival recording on 1234-Go Records from one of the best to ever do it, Barker Gee (rest in power). Back in 2013 (?) ish, we saw Barker in Brooklyn and he was talking about how he was playing in a new band with Aaron Cometbus. 13 years later, I finally get to hear it (classic Barker bullshit always being part true). Two lo-fi basement punk hits in classic scrappy, melodic Barker style with enough grit to make you wanna dance. Miss you
Next up is a new tour record from favorites Ferocious X from their recent Pacific Northwest tour. The four song one-side Med Vilken Ratt ep contains the total mangel noise punk as promised with maybe a little less fidelity than on their recent 12". This is a rager and the last track Var Ar Rattvisa makes me want to put my head through a wall. Can't find it streaming so watch this video of them in portland!
Soul Song of the Day
Soul song of the day is Too Shy by The Sensations, still part of the small grip of good singles I pulled thrifting with Mittens. This group is probably best known for being on one of the Eccentric Soul Numero Group comps, but for reasons unclear to me they left this track off the comp. What a shame, this is a great one.
That's it for this week's Rag Mag. Here's some flyers and keep sending stuff in (ragmagclub@proton.me).
Member discussion