17 Mar 2025 12 min read punk

Rag Mag 7

Creature here to welcome you to issue 7 of Rag Mag. Thanks for all the support! Just to lead off, solidarity forever and solidarity worldwide. Keep fighting back and doing what you can. We are all we got. This week we have the second installment of Pearls of Wisdom from Joe Sutton, Splinters from Leela Corman, Wasteland Chick covers the Roky Erickson classic Starry Eyes, and, as always, Creature’s Double Feature and a bunch of upcoming shows, film screenings and events. Keep sending in events and column ideas. Speaking of which, we have two new columns this week, Film Freak with Coco A Go-Go and guest column “F*^%$ING tax season!” by Cheyenne. Check it out and see you soon punks.

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“Splinters” by Leela Corman

Wasteland Chick

Please, I’ve gotta get this pokemon out of me! Salutations, Wasteland Chicks. Welcome back. Before we begin, let’s play a game: What hyperfixation came back this week that Wasteland Chick didn’t expect? If you guessed pokemon, then you would be correct. Straight outta nowhere, I tell ya! Anyway, today we’ll be reviewing “Starry Eyes” by Roky Erickson, and no the song’s not about the Sprite rip-off being poured into someone’s eyes. Thank god. Anyway, the melody and rhythm are a 8.6 out of ten, it feels a lot like “77 Sunset Strip”, but replacing the 50’s beach with 50’s love song. It has that “50’s love song”, “50’s love ballad” feel to it that just pleases the ears. Next, the lyrics: The lyrics are a 9 out of ten. And, as I’ve said time and time again, the lyrics themselves are a bit repetitive, but very vibe-able and cool. They are a nice love tune to whoever “Starry Eyes” is. Fun fact, me and Creature will often vibe to this, more often than not on our way to pick up pizza, but it has basically become our song, which rules. Anyway, overall, the song is a 9.5 out of ten, very vibe-able, very 50’s-ish, and a perfect thing to listen to on your way to get pizza, or to mentally hum while looking at the stars in Maine. Hope this review isn’t mediocre, Wasteland Chicks. Bye!

Sincerely, WASTELAND CHICK

Pearls of Wisdom - An unnecessary run-through of every release on Killed By Death's mop haired sibling. - by Joe Sutton

Snips - 9 O'Clock.

Don't judge a book by its cover - or a record - or a record who's cover sort of looks like a promotional poster for a Yahoo Serious movie.

Snips, the alter ego of British musician and composer Steve Parsons - Also known as Mr. Snips and Mr. Shades, released this, his second of five solo singles in 1980. Not that he wasn't busy before or after that. This series is going to bring us a lot of strange connections - We'll see a Bay City Roller and members of Slade amongst others, but this could be the only time in the series to have connections to both The Wombles and Cream - At least it was Ginger Baker and not Eric Clapton. Phew!

For those who like their power pop layered in synths (and hey, when it works, it works) this waver-popper is the culmination of both solid songwriting and solid production (we'll see Midge Ure a little later on when we get to the Rich Kids) and is one of those songs that will stick with you not only because it's so catchy, but also because it has really interesting lyrics and an almost warble like inflection in the vocals.

The first time I heard 9 O'clock, I was so immediately caught by two specific lines. The first, "love is dirt and what's worse, it hurts" because it's just such a perfect, almost snotty take on the ol' I'm having a rough time with this relationship trope. The second, has always caught me by its sheer specificity. "I need you. At Nine o'clock. NOT six. NOT seven. NOT eight. Nine o'clock". Maybe I'm just getting old, maybe Snips has a very busy day, but I'd be okay hanging out at six these days - heck, five works even better.

A sign of the times and of the times to come, there is also an amazing Cinéma vérité music video for the song with Snips singing at Top Shop, going up and down escalators and being kicked out of lobbies all while not breaking character, flinching or stopping his performance once. Though I'm sure when the cameras stopped rolling, he did receive a fair amount of guff for trespassing and generally, causing a ruckus. All of this, while looking almost exactly like Michael Des Barres' villain Murdoc on Macguyver. It is seriously great.

This single and most of his discography are easy and affordable grabs - I counted 10 copies of this for sale in the US for mainly under five bucks and I've found a lot of his records in the wild, so they must have imported a fair amount of them.

If I haven't convinced you yet, wouldn't it just make you feel happy to know you had a Powerpearls disc in your collection from the man who composed the music for Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf?

I'll be back soon with another single, but NOT six, Not Seven and Not Eight. Not yet at least.

Ever since junior high I rarely left the house without a camera. Oftentimes it was a disposable camera, then the 35mm and polaroid I saved up for in high school. I loved photographing my friends doing really anything . When I started going to shows I quickly learned I loved photographing bands and the crowd. Snapshots and portraits are always what pulled me in. Over the past year I’ve been going through 25 plus years of film photos. Some of the people in the pictures are still with us and I’m so grateful to have captured our youth. Some of the people on these rolls of film are no longer with us so their photos have become even more cherished. Maybe you’ll recognize someone in one of these photos, or maybe that someone will be you! - Coco

Kelley and Linda, Ralph’s Diner parking lot. Worcester, MA . Summer 2024 ( 35mm)

This was a super fun night. My band Electric Street Queens played with friends Cigarette Camp, Orange Whip and Gossip Collar in the Ralph’s Parking lot on their new stage. It was one of those perfect summer nights, not too hot, not too cold. Everyone was out having fun the whole summer ahead of us. All the bands killed it. A bunch of us went to a late night diner after . Perfect night.

Patty and Selma , Halloween 2008 , Jamaica Plain, MA ( 35mm)

This was a really fun halloween house party in JP. I brought a disposable camera to it. I love how illuminated everyone was cause of the bright flash. It was a beautiful night so we were all hanging in the backyard before ending up at the Jeanie Johnston. My roommate Abby ( in blue) “lost” her wig on the walk home . The next day I was out and about and I saw it sticking to a light above Herb’s TV Repair. I however sadly couldn’t get it down.

Salty and Joe , Old Colony Tap , Provincetown, MA 2022 ( Fuji instamax wide format)

Old Colony is one of my favorite bars ANYWHERE. I often find myself daydreaming of the slanted floors and summer. The seat in the window is the best cause you can just watch everyone walk down Commercial Street. They got a great jukebox.

Sherman performing at Mad Monster Party , Myrtle , East Providence 2023 ( 35mm)

This was from the first Halloween party I threw at Myrtle a few months after they opened. I only took a few photos all night but they were all of Sherman performing. I love how they’re the only thing that came out so it looks like they’re floating in space.

Casey as Anastasia , Jamaica Plain, MA 2005/6 ( 35mm)

This is from a series of portraits I took of Casey when he was working out looks for a character for a video he was working on . I loved the way the blue clothing and eye shadow popped with the red lipstick . He looked so sad in the photos , totally embodying the character. This was right before we moved in together. He was living across the street from me so we were constantly over each other's houses working on video projects. I really miss living so close to him.

F*^%$ING tax season! by Cheyenne

Every single individual person who lives inside my phone seems to be contractually obligated to piss me off today

Im just trying to buy build or barter for a shelf to put the cookbooks in my kitchen on—

but instead of a place for my channa masala recipes all I get is

incessant textual messages from my boss about shit that doesn’t really matter and isn’t urgent at all

news of an orange man and a wannabe astronaut/tech mogul/henry ford/whateverthef#%k changing what words are legal to say or write or teach in schools

the state of Mass telling me that I’m overdue on my f@%king excise tax

or the Brighton library telling me they found my car registration hidden in the pages of the book I returned 3 weeks ago – like GURRRLL! JESUS H CHRISTMAS!

I can’t make heads or tails of my days, or my nights, and ain’t nothin right!

I had a dream last night where I was in an airport the size of the fleet center (or whateverthe&^%k it’s called now) trying to get a subway tuna sandwich that was gettin packed in a 6oz clear plastic cup with ice in the bottom – while my plane was boarding— then, as I ran to find my gate I got separated from my 2 friends and put my bags down in different places and lost those too. Then my phone was dying and I didn’t have my charger - so I chose to ride down an escalator to look at more gates, but didn’t find my friends/my bags/or my gate. So I had to run around to find the escalators going up, and once I climbed those I was lead to slanted moving screens that projected ads for… probably subway honestly (I was too close up on them, couldn’t really understand what they were selling me). Finally when I got back up to the landing that I had originally been on, I was hot, exhausted, and ready just to lay down give up.

Every single day of my life in this glorious year of 2025, I talk to any friend of mine, whether on my (evil) phone or in person;

the weather could be beautiful or terrible;

we could be fully fed and watered and sheltered and entertained or lacking one or any of these basic comforts;

all of our collective needs could be filled in that moment or not— we all feel this same way I did in the airport dream last night – like f%$king giving up!

The world is pushing us around

and its f^@king PISSING ME OFFF goddammit. IM F#^%#(*#NG SICK OF IT!!

I’m sure you are too.

I have no suggestions, solution, or way of summing this up, really.

Well, I did watch the movie Silkwood at Brattle (https://brattlefilm.org/) the other day and it was f&%#in rad. VERY INTENSE and SAD but also awesome - so if you are up for it - go and watch that (or read one of the books on it – (https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?custom_edit=true&query=karen%20silkwood&searchType= bl&suppress=true )

It feels a little easier for me to get through life to commiserate, so that’s what brings me here. If you feel the same, go write/ talk/scream or make art (or whatever) about it, babe.

And, sincerely, good luck to you!! Cuz every goddamn LITTLE fuuuckinnnnn thing is bullshit rn!

I gotta make something fun or silly in my day

Here’s to hoping this brings some light to your day – and that you can make it through. ~Cheyenne

Yr ol’ pal creature is writing this column Sunday night still a tired from going to a rally at the statehouse followed by hanging out late at Myrtle for Repeat Offenders dj night. Fun hang and great soul music all night long certainly helps drown some of the dread. The other day I saw one of those old “Think Globally, Act Locally” bumper stickers. It’s really wild living in America right now with the internet where you can see how in other parts of the world that is just how people think, while the fascist piss babies and their sycophants in power try to drum up a war against our neighbors. Suppressing education and championing ignorance really fucking works I guess.

Global - Fuck this bullshit trade war with Canada. How it’s possible that I have some form of respect for Doug Ford is wild, but that is the world we are living in with billionaires trying to hoard every fucking thing and strip away everything we have fought for. I stand in support of the people of Canada, Mexico, the EU, Ukraine, Greenland, Panama and everywhere else. USCIS is deporting people against federal judge’s orders, ignoring the rule of law. Fuck.

Local - Went to another rally down at the courthouse as our mayor tried to sneak shameful subsections to undermine an affordable housing law to give tax breaks to wealthy real estate developers and private equity for building luxury apartments in commercial properties. Yeah, I’m sure adding more 3 grand a month apartments will make it affordable for the working class people in our city. Coincidentally his husband is in luxury real estate, real head scratcher why his priorities aren’t on helping the people who actually live in the city. Anyway, see a photo above from the rally and we are fighting back. See link below to a much more detailed article about this and, if your local, the action is now.

Records of the Day from your ol’ pal Creature are going to be in solidarity with a couple of our neighbors that are under threat. First up, a Canadian minimal synth/techno classic I discovered at the old In Your Ear records on Mass Ave in Boston back when I was in college. The Absence of a Canary by Ceramic Hello. This is a nice minimal one to chill too. Love it.

Next up, an old 7” compilation on Darbouka Records outta France, fittingly titled “Panama HC-Punk” featuring 4 early 90’s Panama harcore and punk bands from shortly after the last time the US invaded their country. We got some bouncy punk from Ramiros and P.H.B., thrashy hardcore from Consipracion Piromaniaca and some killer hardcore from Caras de Hambre. Check it out.

https://music.cliggo.com/artist/Various/album/7746609-Panama_HC-Punk

Soul song of the day is going to continue the global and local them, so going with a great song from one of Providence’s own soul singers, Freddie Scott - Are you lonely for me?