Self st_rage | spiel log by Kevin Seconds….

Somehow, shit got fucked up with me.

I’ve been playing music in some form or another since I was 14 years old. For those not in the know reading this, that’s 33 years. And I’ve been one of the lucky ones. Lucky because I started a band that caught on with a few people around the planet several years ago which means that people buy our records and come to our gigs.

Notice how I didn’t speak in past tense right there? I didn’t because people still buy my band’s records and people still come out to see and support us when we play live. A healthy shitload of people, actually. I’m not blind or stupid or delusional. I realize that the biggest reason anyone (at least those who I’m not related to or who are close, loving friends) is interested in me personally has to do with my involvement in 7Seconds and, while I’m not always satisfied and happy with that fact, I understand how it is and I just work with it as best I can.

Unfortunately, about 10 or so years ago, I fell in love with songwriting and recording and the concept of me going out as a solo performer and doing my thing live, alone, un-bound by band members, large amounts of gear and volume and that has been a big struggle and continues to be for me. Part of the reason for that struggle is my severe insecurity about where I sort of “fit in” musically and what direction I should go in.
I don’t care to sound or look like anybody else and when asked, I don’t even know who I’d consider an influence, at this point. As much as I would love to have that whiskey/cigarette-throat, rough punk rock Johnny Cash folk-dude deal down, and as much as I know it works for a shitload of good punk rock solo songwriter out there, it’s just really not me.

I was talking to a pal last night and I remarked that part of my problem is that, for all the Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Joe Strummer and Billy Bragg that I love (those 4 dudes seem to be the sort of gold standard for most successful punk rock musician gone solo artist types), I too love and listen to large helpings of old bluegrass, country and gospel music, as well as Elliott Smith, Daniel Johnston, Jonathan Richman, John Doe and Brian Wilson.

But I don’t think I really sound like any of those cats and I’m really starting to think that might be part of why I’m not really clicking with any noticeable audience at the moment. Either that or it’s because I have been a lazy motherfucker who has done little to promote myself outside of Sacramento county in 10 years, despite having 2 solo albums.

I don’t know. I do honestly believe that, as much as I love the punk rock/hardcore scene, I need to stop worrying about and catering to it. “It” barely exists in my real adult world, if I’m being totally honest with myself. I love the music and it’s energy and I always will and I love so many of the people I have met and still know because of this big scene we all created for ourselves. But fuck, punk in 2008 is about as polar opposite to the punk I ever really gave a shit about in the first place and at 47, it’s retarded to even try and grasp or rail against the new version.

Do I think most of the band I hear nowadays suck ass? Yes.
Do I think all punkers should come together under one big united tent and hug and hold hands? Of course not although there was certainly a time I did and I’m glad and grateful that I possessed at least a shred of hope and idealism in my life to believe in it all.
Does the emo and/or indie sound, style, sexless-ness and lack of humor, which has unfortunately infested much of current punk/hardcore, make me queasy and want to blow up things? Absolutely.

Anyway, it’s taken a few years and a few shows (and a split album with Matt Skiba) to finally come to the realization that the majority of newer punk kids don’t want to hear the type of adult-y music shit I do away from the loud guitars, frantic beats and anthem-y shouted out choruses and I can’t say that blame them. At the same time, I know my solo shit’s really good and I love it as much as I love anything I’ve ever done with 7Seconds so I gotta keep on with it. I just need to find the right ears and I’m going to work my balls off to do just that. There have been some recent bursts of people really getting and liking what I’m doing these days. It started becoming apparent when I went over to England a couple of years ago and reared it’s head again at the Bob Mould show I opened at a year or so ago. More recently, it’s been at the True Love and at last week’s big Friday park show here in town. People actually came up and seemed genuinely surprised and happy about the songs and performances and almost all of them were folks over the age of 30. And whatever it means, I dig the positive feedback on my solo material, especially from older people who have lived life a little and have gone through a myriad of musical trends and styles only to come back to the conclusion that no one really can beat a Neil Young, a Robyn Hitchcock or a (dare I say it) Bob Dylan in terms of songwriting and performance.
As much as I wish I didn’t, I really need feedback like that at this point.

I’m still a punk rocker and I’ll always be one, whether I like it or not. And I still make good punk rock music. But all signs point to the reality that punk rock kids of today aren’t buying what I’m selling which is sad and somehow liberating at the same time.

In a nutshell, it truly is now time for me to find out where I am and where I feel like standing.

While I still can stand.

I was just in Southern California.

I left early yesterday morning for Orange County and it’s ridiculously named John Wayne Airport. Who gives a flying fuck about John Fucking Wayne?!! Really. I think maybe New York should change LaGuardia to Robert DeNiro International Airport.

Now that I think about it, we should change the name of our airport here in Sac to Molly Ringwald International Airport.

Anyway, I flew down to take part in the ‘Beautiful Noise’ show at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, a tribute show, in memory of an old pal, M.I.A./Naked Soul/Jigsaw singer Mike Conley. He died very tragically recently and it turned out that he didn’t have any life insurance which make life just a little tougher for his 2 daughters. A few of his closest friends, including my other buddy (and record label boss) Joe Sib, came up with a few great ideas to try and raise some big money to help out Mike’s family, did a great deal of groundwork and contacted various folks to be involved. I am honored to be one of those people.

The plan was to get all the various former members of the great Vegas/O.C. hardcore band M.I.A., along with members of some of Mike’s other bands Naked Soul and Jigsaw and do a big-ass reunion show. The guys from M.I.A. decided to invite guest vocalists to sing in place of Mike. They had original singer Todd Sampson sing the majority of the songs, while I sang “New Left”, “Angry Youth” and “Tell Me Why”, with Jello Biafra getting up and singing 4-5 M.I.A. songs before busting into 4-5 Dead Kennedys songs, backed by M.I.A..

As if that wasn’t crazy enough, they also got the dudes from Dramarama to make an appearance, as well as the the Cadillac Tramps.

Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t enough, they got fuckin’ Social Distortion to do an all-acoustic set.

So yeah, this was a big fuckin’ show and I have to say, it went off almost flawlessly. I did ok with my part but I had no time beforehand to completely memorize the lyrics and I ended up using a lyrical “cheat sheet” for some of the words and that kept me pretty much stuck to the mic and standing in one place. I also became painfully aware of my current excessive weight and sciatic nerve pain a couple of hours before I went on and that got into my head a little bit too. But Todd and Jello were GREAT! Both displayed huge amounts of energy (Todd’s voice was completely gone but he still sang his heart out!) and I have to say that despite the fact that he’s got to be 50 and is packing some extra poundage on his once-fit frame these days, Jello still sings great and performs like a motherfucker! he really made the best of the situation and the crowd loved every minute of it, especially when he dove his ol’ fat ass onto their heads! But truly, I enjoyed talking with and getting to catch up  with him a little. Can you believe that I’ve known this guy for nearly 30 years?

The M.I.A. dudes sounded better than ever and handled the weight of this whole event very very well.

I have to say that I was pretty much blown away by the Cadillac Tramp’s set. 7Seconds played with them before and I remembered them being good but they really put on a great show, sounded awesome and were funny as hell.

Social Distortion were great too. Mike Ness walked out in flip-flops with Johnny Two Bags and a guy on stand-up bass and the crowd went apeshit. Mike looks quite a bit older and a bit out of shape these days but his voice is still so good and distinctive. They played very traditional sounding country western versions of other people’s songs, along with their own. I thought they sounded pretty magnificent actually.

The show was a huge success and ended up raising about $35,000 for Mike’s family. Pretty decent for one show.

I’m really really happy to have been involved. I had very mixed emotions weeks leading up to the show and my sadness over Mike’s death and overall dread of trying to help take a really horrible and shitty situation and turn it into something warm, loving and positive really started to kick into gear this past weekend.

I regret that, in recent years, I was so shitty at staying in touch with my old pal Mike, a good, good dude, punk rock soldier, surfer, club owner and family man. I guess all I can do now is work hard to stay in touch with all of my other old So Cal & Vegas punk rock buddies I’ve known all these years and who I was fortunate enough to have been able to hangout with once again last night in Anaheim.

Click HERE to listen to part 1 of this show’s podcast.

Click HERE to listen to part 2 of this show’s podcast.

Iggy & The Stooges - TV Eye
Pegboy - Strong Reaction
The Damned - Neat Neat Neat
Sundowner - My Boatless Booze Cruise
Hanover Saints - Cheap Plastic Heroes
Doggy Style - Rookie Cop
Swingin’ Utters - Movers & Morons
The Muffs - Everybody Loves You
The Bodies - I Gotta Go
Bastards Of Young - We’re Alright
Deathcycle - Punk Is A Joke
Nirvana - Territorial Pissings
The Pagans - Dead End America
Monster Squad - Till The End
The Descendents - Good Good Things
White Flag - Instant Breakfast
The Cramps - I Can’t Hardly Stand It
Samantha Marie & Tom Knockoff - Jackie Chan
Government Issue - Hall Of Fame
Anti-Heros - Phoenix Program
Sex Pistols - EMI
District Of Columbias - Devil In The Details
Champion - Looking Back
The Buzzcocks - Promises
Chelsea - Urban Kids
Surrogate Brains - Extreme Racial Pride
The Ramones - We’re A Happy Family
Pressure Point - Face In the Mirror
The Clash - Protex Blue
Tim Barry - 222
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers - Pirate Love
Crushstory - Spook-Out
Sick Of It All - Step Down
Slapstick - Almost Punk Enough

A little over 2 weeks left and then this album, this crazy fucking album that nearly killed me dead, will come out all over the place.

I haven’t been terribly excited about too many things in a good long while.

I am for this pup.

Hey, here’s a GREAT idea! How about someone from the News & Review just answering a couple of simple, not so unreasonable questions? No one’s being attacked or bashed here. And if I’ve exhausted Nick or anyone else with my continued spiel and curiousity, I’m real real sorry but….well, oh well.

And no Jackson, I don’t fuss much over the mostly overstated “feud” between the old Loft (I have no idea how to refer to it so I use that as an easy identifying tag but I’ve never meant it as a slag) and SacPop/True Love scene (which in itself isn’t terribly easy to pin down when you really stop and think about who was actually involved in that whole thing years back) but I do have fun with it occasionally, as have a few people on both “sides”. I like and respect many of the folks affiliated with the “Loft Scene” (and for the record, when I speak of the Loft in the present tense, I’m not really referring to people like Scott Soriano and Craig Usher, both who have been very cool to me but more like the scene it has kinda spawned, the sorta Loft-ees-Who-Are-Now-Well-Into-Their-30’s set or whatever) and I like and have supported quite a few of the underground bands and musicians who have come out of that scene.

So no, this isn’t exactly about me having a beef with that whole deal. And yes, I made mention of it in my last post but I was being silly and I thought that was obvious. I’ve made no bones about not caring much for some of these folks and the feeling is mutual. But many of these people are great and I respect what they put into the local music/art/commerce community.

Anyway, my major source of dissatisfaction for the past however many years here stems from not having that good a read on the Sammies nominating process and yet being invited and attempting to take part a year here, a year there. And it’s not like I’ve just sat around talking shit on the event all this time. On a number of occasions, I have tried to just get into the overall “celebration” of our great local music scene…y’know, be a team player dude and get involved, whether it was as a nominator, a presenter, a performer or a nominee. But there are questions so many people in the music scene have about the whole thing and it would be dandy if someone who does know could just speak up and get us all on the same page. Maybe the process changes year by year. Maybe there’s no true, defined process. Maybe I’m just a big party-pooper who doesn’t enjoy fun. I don’t know.

I also don’t understand how certain bands that most of us have never heard of, local music people and SN&R readers alike, can be nominated. I don’t even feel like I’m making a blanket accusation here but it sure would be nice to know how that all works because I KNOW, when I have participated in the nominating process, I’ve seriously and carefully thought out my selections, considered the bands/musicians who have rocked my old ass and who really made a splash that year within the local music community and worked hard to NOT make my choices based on friendships I may or may not have with people here. I’ve chosen plenty of folks who I’m not friends with and have even picked bands who aren’t my particularly cup of tea but who I knew worked, played and promoted themselves hard and took this whole Sammies business seriously. I know this thing can’t be perfect and as I stated before, I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t do much better if I was in Nick or anyone else’s position but I want to know what the criteria is here and I would like to be able to make up my own mind about the Sammies, based on what I come to learn.

So let’s stop with all the personal nonsense, the defensiveness and melodrama and maybe get someone over there who can help many of us local music lovers come to understand just what the Sammies means and how being involved/nominated even means a damned thing? Is that such a huge, difficult request?

And I know Nick is doing his level best with this big thing and I truly don’t know him well enough to dislike him enough to attack or bash him. It sucks that he’s in the middle of all this but if he doesn’t know the long history of local music types talking shit on the Sammies (obviously not as much as people who LOVE the yearly event) year in and year out, someone who does know should have hipped him to it. I would enjoy sitting down with him or anyone else involved or anyone else who cares enough about all this stuff to take the time and do so.

Eric Fate commented to an earlier post:
“Guess what one of the first questions was asked of I and everyone else when the original invite list went out? “Is there anyone we forgot to invite, and how do we get ahold of them?”

Here’s my response:
“Guess whose job it ISN’T to put the Sammies people in touch with people who SHOULD be invited?”

Mine.

I also wasn’t able to participate in the one-night only back-room nominating process because I was working and even if I hadn’t have been, I wouldn’t have participated for a few reasons.

First, I don’t drink so hanging out at a bar with people who are drinking kinda sucks.

Secondly, I don’t enjoy dining in public with people I don’t know.

Thirdly, the mere thought of hanging around in a room of so-called local music experts and nominating worthy candidates together like one big happy family makes me a little nauseous and uncomfortable. Call me a snob, whatever. That just doesn’t sound like fun to me.
Yeah, yeah, I know, Nicholas Miller made several calls, text messaged, e-mailed and paid many follow-up visits to people who didn’t make the party. He even claims he made several attempts at contacting me although the only evidence I have of that are the 2 business cards he left at the True Love and the one he handed me way back when. He never called or e-mailed me that I know of and that’s always the best way to get ahold of me (e-mail, mainly).

As mentioned before, I’m sure it’s a tough job for the SN&R to get representatives from every pocket of the local music scene to come in a pick who they think should be nominated but I’m sorry, I’ve got enough shit on my plate as it is, I’m a busy fuckin’ guy. Why should it be my duty to let the Sammies folks know who else should be invited to their little nominating pow-wow?

And nominating for people like me (y’know, guys who dont have a record label roster to try and take of) isn’t that easy of a task. I book local musicians at my ALL-AGES venue. I play local musicians on my weekly radio show and I do my best to cover a wide range of acts. Sure, I have my longtime musician pals I’ll always book at my place when I can but I am always open and willing to book anyone who works with the sound/size limitations we have, not just my buddies I want to give a helping hand to.

Oh and by the way, and for the sake of doing my part to continue the fan-flamage of the grand and age-old Loft vs Sacpop/True Love vs anyone else “beef” (yes, you are free to detect my sarcasm here), before anyone tries to accuse me of ONLY booking/helping my buddies, just remember this, for every David Houston, Anton Barbeau and Kepi Ghoulie I have booked and/or featured on radio shows past and present, I have done the same for Knock Knock, Agent Ribbons, Jay Shaner, Th’ Losin’ Streaks, Jackpot, FM Knives, The Snobs, Chelsea Wolfe, The Bananas, Deluxe, Rock The Light, Baby Grand and on and on and on. There is much I love and listen to and support within our local music scene that DOESN’T quite sit snugly in my warm and clique-y little comfort zone.

Can everyone listed on the nominating committee invite list say the same?

Anyway, here are a few genuine questions I have and would love to have answered. Maybe then I could fully get my head around this whole Sammies thing and not mouth off about it as I do from time to time.

What is the criteria for becoming a Sammies nominating person? What experience, knowledge, skill and/or background must you possess to be considered by the SN&R? Is it just writers and promoters? DJs and bloggers? Friends of SN&R writers? Who else and what makes them qualified? I mean, if just about anyone out there can be a nominator, anyone who loves local music or whatever, why would I bother participating? I could poll 100 people standing in line at my coffeehouse and probably get just as valid of a response.

What makes it worthwhile, unique or honorable?

And how come live sound people and recording engineers aren’t invited to participate? Someone (I believe it was local singer-songwriter Nolan) asked that question on another forum recently and I thought that was an excellent suggestion. They do sound for and record us musicians in town. Wouldn’t they have a pretty good idea about who’s worthy of a nod or not?

(By the way, it was Nolan who asked the same questions on this very blog a week or so back and no one from the SN&R ever responded. At least not on this blog, they didn’t.)

What is the criteria for nominating the actual musical candidates? When choosing possible candidates, what should be taken into consideration? Experience? Talent? Popularity? Hard work?

How is it justified that a band or performer who has been around for a few years, who plays legit venues that are open to the public (and not just a small handful of invited friends) and who have worked hard to develop a following can be ignored when newer, less established acts can get a nod in their first year?

Does every single nominator, regardless of whatever music scene/whatever they represent, pick someone in each category? Does someone who is more interested/involved in Indie or Hardcore music have a say in who gets nominated in the Jazz or Americana category? Or does the SN&R ask experts of each style of music to cover only the style of music they are more familiar with?

And what happens when there are more Punk enthusiasts then Hip Hop enthusiasts at the meeting? If 6 of the Punk enthusiasts like Artist A in the Hip Hop category but the 2 Hip Hop enthusiasts prefer Artist B, does majority “win”, even if the Hip Hop enthusiasts are more familiarized?

In the past, when I have participated in the nominating process, I recall being sent a list of categories via e-mail and asked to submit names that way and that was good for me because I could sit down in my own environment and actually put though and effort into it. The only drag for me was when it came to categories I’m not very familiar with, stuff like Country, Hip Hop and World Music and I had no clue who to write-in. Was that process a flawed one? Is this why it has changed?

Like I said, I would l truly like to know how all this works and makes sense to the folks at the SN&R and the Sammies committee. I might be one of the few bigmouths dumb enough to speak what’s on my mind regarding how the Sammies work but believe me, there are so many people in this city, particularly within the music scene who think the whole thing is a crock and I think for once, it would be nice of the SN&R to fill us all in, once and for all.

Unlike Eric F, I can’t look at the list of this year’s Sammies nominees and feel like there’s nothing to bitch about.

I mean, there’s always something to bitch about.

Click HERE to listen to part 1 of this show’s podcast.

Click HERE to listen to part 2 of this show’s podcast.

The Crowd - Life’s A Pill
Bad Brains - Re-ignition
Gang Green - Snob
The Snobs - Hybrid Mind
H2O - 1995
A.F.I. - Catch A Hot One
Black Flag - Revenge
Manic Hispanic - Mommy’s Little Chola
Turbonegro - Monkey On Your Back
The Untouchables - Nic Fit
Wasted Youth - Problem Child
Tom Knockoff & Samantha Marie - Johnny Hit & Run Pauline (live in studio)
Tom Knockoff & Samantha Marie - Duchess (live in studio)
Tom Knockoff & Samantha Marie - Jackie Chan (live in studio)
Tom Knockoff & Samantha Marie - Johnny Hit & Run Pauline (live in studio)
The No-Goodniks - Contradiction
Pennywise - Fight Till You Die
The Misfits - We Are 138
Whiskey Rebels - Pass The Ammo
Agent Orange - Bloodstains
Street Dogs - Cutdown On the 12th
The Descendents - Hope
Kevin Seconds & Ghetto Moments - I Feel Done In
The Avengers - We Are The One
The Methadones - Street In My Hometown
Social Distortion - Mommy’s Little Monster
Filibuster - Rat Pack
The Dickies - Fan Mail
Sham 69 - No Entry
FM Knives - Summer Holiday

Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire
The Dils - You’re Not Blank
Husker Du - I Apologize
Street Dogs - Not Without A Purpose
Bouncing Souls - Undeniable
Andrew Jackson Jihad - No More Tears
Youth Brigade - Blown Away
T.S.O.L. - Wasted
Soundgarden - Circle Of Power
The No-Goodniks - So Pathetic
Squirrelbait - Kid Dynamite
Social Unrest - Making Room For Youth
Red Cross - Cover Band
Black Flag - Fix Me
The Dishrags - I Don’t Love You
The Adolescents - Where The Children Play
X - Sugarlight
7Seconds - We’re Gonna Fight
J Church - Girl In the Magazine
Little Medusas - The Little Witch
Cockney Rejects - The New Song
The Ramones - Havana Affair
Kepi The Band - Supermodel
Hot Water Music - Trademark
Decry - Warlords
Kepi Ghoulie - True Love Will Find You In The End (Live, KSSU)
Kepi Ghoulie - Full Serve (Live, KSSU)
Kepi Ghoulie - Sleepy Hollow (Live, KSSU)
Kepi Ghoulie - Wolf Girl (Live, KSSU)

I’ve often suggested to friends in private that I wish the News & Review would just let me organize the SAMMIES every year, “I’d know how to run it the right way”, I hear myself saying, while those friends (mostly) nod in agreement.

Of course, that’s completely stupid. I’m sure I’d do no better or worse than anyone else who has had the job and, despite how I might come across, I do give it up to anyone who puts the time and energy into taking on such an enormous and thankless task.

My public bitching about the SAMMIES is just an extension of what I, and many, many others, have been doing semi-quietly for years now. Occasionally, the subject has popped up publicly on the old Sactolist but this is probably the first time I’ve bothered putting this much time into the subject and sharing it with whomever stops by my blog.

I don’t hate the SAMMIES. I’ve been nominated for awards a few times. I’ve even “won” a couple of times. I’ve been an award presenter and yes, I’ve been on the nominating committee a few times. It’s not that I don’t think the overall idea is bad. I want to believe in the concept because I do want to see the best in local music acknowledged and showcased and why not make a big show out of it with a bunch of smaller ones leading up to it?

This recent situation just annoyed me for a couple of reasons. I got it off my chest and now I’m over it. I’d love to suggest that I have some great ideas on how to make the system work so everyone in the local music scene is happy but I don’t, so essentially I’m just complaining like everyone else.

As mentioned before, I think that many of the nominees listed should be nominees. A few names pop out who I’ve never even heard of. Some just seem like obvious buddy picks. It is odd that punk bands like Whiskey Rebels and Pressure Point (a band that tours constantly and just last year released one of the finest streetpunk albums in recent memory) were excluded.

Same with Sal Valentino who has been playing up a storm and is a virtual r&r legend.

Or the Boats! who play around this area (and out of town) more than just about anybody and are a wonderful band.

And why not just call the Folk/Songwriter category the Nevada City Shout-Out category? You mean to tell me that Sacramento doesn’t have more songwriter folky types than those listed?

Please.

So, thank yous to the fine SN&R folk who even care enough to address all this. I do appreciate that you have responded and I would be happy to sit for coffee with any one of you and shoot the shit about the local music scene, the expired all-ages scene or just about anything else some time. Free time for me is tough these days as I work and book and DJ and try and maintain my own creative life but I’m always up for good, productive, intelligent dialog whenever and wherever I can get it.

I still think quietly getting a bunch of behind-the-scenes people in a room and deciding who should be nominated and calling it a Readers’ Choice deal is lame. Maybe it’s the only way to pull something like this off but that just seems a little, i don’t know. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

It seems that the majority of people who read SN&R are adults and honestly, how many adults (besides local musicians, promoters and writers) do you know even care enough about local music to write-in/vote for something like the SAMMIES. This comes up every year and I would say that most adults I know either forget about the nomination deal, don’t like the choices or don’t give one shiny fuck about them either way. I would imagine that kids might get behind and put some energy towards this type of thing but how many teenagers are reading the SN&R and getting excited about contributing to the SAMMIES? Seriously, I’d love to know.

Anyway, my “beef” has more to do with the nominating committee going somewhere behind closed doors to decide who should get nominated and if you miss the party, you’re ass out. The nominees are posted so that’s that. Even without my work commitments, after combing over the invited guest list and not particularly like the odds of the various cliques, I figured on passing on being there anyway.

I would love to show up and take part in the nominating process next year if I’m invited. I only have one condition: I get to bring a handful of my local music loving buddies along so we can handpick a few bands that WE like and deem worthy of a nomination, regardless of how obscure they are or how big of an impact they have made on the overall local music scene.

Do the Bananas even play Sacramento any more?
(and before you go getting any ideas, I happen to be a big Bananas fan. I just never hear much about them)
And where can one go and see The Mayyors or the English Singles in town? I only hear about them on a local blog or 2. Maybe they’re just trying to keep it “underground”, eh?

And what exactly IS the criteria for a band/musician getting nominated? Is it about how much work and effort a band put into the previous year by playing shows, recording stuff and promoting themselves? Is it about talent? Is it about band and their sizable fanbase? Or is it really about knowing the right people in “high places” in this town?

Anyway, I’m sure we could all just go on and on and on and on about this shit but honestly, I just felt a need to spout my opinion and be done with it. I don’t care if I have pissed anyone off or am coming off like a bitch because one of my bands isn’t nominated (yes, some anonymous douche actually sent an e-mail suggesting this), I’ll still have my own opinions and will keep doing what I do.

I’ve never made my distaste/distrust for the whole SAMMIES nomination process a big secret. The general idea of recognizing our local musicians in such a big way is great and I applaud the SN&R and anyone else for doing that. I just have never felt comfortable with the whole nominating/voting deal.

I won’t even bother getting into how weird and awkward I have felt being involved in the actual ceremony, whether it is as a performer, presenter or just a spectator.

I just wish local music could get that kind of attention and interest the rest of the year.

Yes, I was invited and I thought I had posted an updated version of my original post (the one that I mentioned I was and where I substituted the word “douchebags” for a nicer word) late last night. Apparently I didn’t. I was invited and I declined for 2 main reasons. One, I had to work, distributing News & Reviews to the town of Davis like I do every Wednesday evening. Two, I looked at the list of folks invited to take part in the nominating process, thought of the ones who hadn’t been invited and I just felt queasy and wouldn’t have been comfortable being there.

Guess I squandered away my golden opportunity (maybe even, FOR GOOD) to nominate the musicians I like and am pals with too, eh?

So, why not just let the reader’s nominate their favorites from scratch? Sure, you’ll get a whole lot of people picking only their buddies instead of making choices based solely on the talent, sweat and hard work of local musicians but you more or less get that with a chosen committee anyway and anyone who says that is not the case is a liar.

At least in the past, the nominating committee could make their choices in the privacy of their own place and send it in via e-mail. I don’t like hanging out with people all that much, especially at some bar/restaurant and the thought of hashing out who should and should not be nominated with a bunch of people just sounds dreadful and irritating.

Anyway, there’s not much that can be done about it now. The committee-decided list was printed and the readers can now choose from that list and like it, dammit.

By the way, who on the nominating committee knows/cares about/represents the thriving underground punk/hardcore scenes that includes hard-working bands such as the Whiskey Rebels, Pressure Point and Madhouse Disciples, 3 PROUDLY local bands who work very hard, playing locally, touring and putting out records? I can only assume that since they only play self-produced/promoted shows at halls in the area, and VFW halls don’t count as an “all ages venue”, they were ignored and/or bypassed for bands that play legit club venues. Oh yeah, and house parties in Davis.

What about the open mic hosts? Where were they in the nominating process?

Or Art Luna? Was he even invited?

So yeah, maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention to the SAMMIES nominating process when I assumed that the reader’s got to choose nominees on their own and whomever got the most votes, got in and if I was misinformed, I apologize. I could have sworn it was done like that at some point and not just last year. Am I wrong on this?

If the readers never even had a chance to nominate their favorite local bands/musicians for this year’s SAMMIES contest (yes, I said contest), how can the News & Review call the nominee list they just posted in this week’s issue, ‘Readers’ Choice Nominations’?

From what I understand, it was a bunch of local suppose-to-be-somebodies (writers, bookers, promoters, douchebags) who quietly met in some local pub back room and decided who should be nominated.

At least in previous years, the newspaper PRETENDED to give their readers a chance to vote beforehand. Now, you lucky readers get the privilege of choosing the band that a bunch of local music experts picked first.

In other words, you now get to pick the bands all their friends are in.

Fucking awesome!

Maybe it’s always been done this way. I don’t think so though.

*Podcast of show up shortly

The Bodies - Fighting To The Beat
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis
SS Decontrol - Boiling Point
The Helper Monkeys - 2.99
The Avengers - We Are The Ones
Woody Guthrie - I Ain’t Got No Home In This World Anymore
The Descendents - Suburban Home
Menace - Electrocutioner
T.S.O.L. - The Sounds Of Laughter
The Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia
The Knockoffs - Drive Drive Drive
Youth Brigade - Moral Majority
M.I.A. - Used To Know Me
Nuke & The Living Dead - End Of The World
The Ramones - Judy Is A Punk
D.O.A. - The Enemy
Pressure Point - Skinhead Justice
Rancid - Radio
Slaughter & The Dogs - Cranked Up Really High
The Altruistics (AKA The Laugh Riots) - This Is Where It Ends
Slapshot - Secrets
The Vandals - The Legend Of Pat Brown
Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
NOFX - She’s Nubs
The Clash - Julie’s Been Working For The Drug Squad
Fugazi - Waiting Room
Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
Mission Of Burma - That’s How I Escaped My Certain Death
The Secretions - Fired For A Living
MC5 - American Ruse
Eater - Fifteen
The Stretchmarks - Foreign Policy
UK Subs - Police State

Yesterday was my birthday.

I barely remembered
it was coming a week ago
until a friend suggested,
“someone has a birthday in a week”
which totally stumped me until i realized,
“oh shit, that’s right, i do”
and the only reason she remembered
is because it’s
also her dad’s birthday
and he’s just a year or 2 older than me

that’s right, a friend of mine
has a dad my age

(i’ve already started
getting used to shit like this)

but it didn’t really hit me
until early yesterday
when i woke up
and felt the reality settling in
of me living yet another year longer
and it was only then
that a very slight mopey sadness
seeped into my head
and made me feel,
you know, old

i thought of touching up
the gray in my beard
and looked down at my sagging gut
and pondered exercising.

instead i jerked off
and took a shower.

and afterwards
it all came back to me,
that age-old realization that
i truly can’t do anything about it

i can’t make myself younger
or smoother
or more appealing to
people that are half my age
even if i wanted to

and i’m pretty certain that
i don’t

not anymore
not ever, really

i didn’t get birthday gifts
or a birthday cake
or a birthday blowjob
i didn’t even get that old coy threat
of being birthday spanked

but all the right people in my life
called and e-mailed their thoughts in
some earlier, some later
and it was all very very nice
though not completely expected
or necessary
because i know that they know
how i generally feel about
all of this shit

and i ended up having
a wonderful time on my birthday,
the first 47th one i’ve ever had
that started with me
sweating the day away,
trying to figure out how to get my
ancient car smogged
but ended with me
doing my little radio show
for an audience of people
who live in michigan and florida,
orange county and louisiana,
toronto canada and oh yeah,
sacramento
and few of them
know me personally
and vice versa
but almost all of them
wished me a ‘happy birthday’
and it was nice.

very nice, in fact.

i’m 47 now.
i wonder how my mom feels about that.

Click HERE to listen to part 1 of this show’s podcast.

Click HERE to listen to part 2 of this show’s podcast.

The Avengers - I Want In
H2O - One Life One Chance
Black Flag - Thirsty & Miserable
Peter & The Test Tube Babies - Banned From The Pubs
Avail - On the Nod
Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
Bomb the Music Industry - Ready…Set…No!
Cock Sparrer - Trouble On The Terraces
The Touchy Feelies - Man Of The People
Neutral Milk Hotel - The King Of Carrot Flowers, Part 1
Channel 3 - I’ve Got A Gun
The Adolescents - Kids Of The Black Hole
Brian Hanover - Look Back And Laugh (KSSU performance)
The Boys - Sick On You
The Clash - White Riot
—————
The Misfits - Children In Heat
Agnostic Front - Fascist Attitudes
Red Tape - Golden
Bouncing Souls - Private Radio
Minor Threat - Small Man, Big Mouth
Bullet Lavolta - X-Fire
No Use For A Name - Biggest Lie
UK Subs - Brand New Age
Eddie & The Hot Rods - Get Out Of Denver
Aggro Or Die! - Nothing Left
The Lunachicks - I Don’t Want You
Mr. T Experience - Tomorrow’s A Harsh Mistress
Drastic Actions - Jonestown
Noah Nelson - Dallas Car (KSSU performance)
SNFU - Victims Of The Womanizer
Street Dogs - Justifiable Fisticuffs
Billy Bragg - I Keep Faith

Click HERE to listen to part 1 of this show’s podcast.

Click HERE to listen to part 2 of this show’s podcast.

Blitz - Attack
The Ramones - Babysitter
The Descendents - Hope
District Of Columbias - Set Up For A Fall
Youth Of Today - Make A Change
Wire - It’s So Obvious
Turbonegro - Sailor Man
Anti-Heros - Underneath The Underground
The Copyrights - Face For Radio
The Cramps - Strychnine
Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Morning Coming Down
Rancid - She’s Automatic
Swingin’ Utters - Angels
Aggrolites - Dirty Reggae
The Saints - I’m Stranded
Whiskey Rebels - Lie Cheat Repeat
Dead Kennedys - Stealing People’s Mail
Kepi The Band - Girlfriend
The Offs - Zero Degrees
The Go-Go’s - How Much More
Bastards Of Young - We Want More
Eddie & The Subtitles - American Society
Noah Nelson - The Moon & The Spoon
Noah Nelson - Dallas Car
Noah Nelson - Orangevale, Pt 2
Noah Nelson - ??
Generation X - Day By Day
Sex Pistols - No Feelings
Rocket From The Crypt - Misbeaten
The Blameshifters - Fish In A Barrel
The Zeros - Rico Amour
Las Pesadillas - Girls Running From Bullets

(and yes I know they won’t print the whole thing, if any of it at all)

I read your cover story in last week’s issue and I absolutely take exception to some of the ridiculous and often-times self-serving comments made in the story regarding the lack of all-ages venues in Sacramento.

First off, no one disputes that we need another Cattle Club or Club Can’t Tell in this city for all-ages live music events and if someone could ever find the money, patience and not meet serious resistance from the bureaucrats to put an all-ages venue together, I’d be the first one in line to do whatever I could to support the place. But my gut feeling is that, if it hasn’t happened already, it’s probably not ever going to happen. At least not in our beloved Midtown.

That said, what the fuck is up with writer Nicholas Miller spouting crap like, “There isn’t a dedicated, legit all-ages venue in the city….and it’s killing local music” and “So how’d Sacramento’s all-ages rock-music scene die? Or, who killed it?”? Or Jerry Perry, who should absolutely know better, proclaiming, “For the last six or seven years, nobody has been connecting local bands to the all-ages scene”.

Bullshit. Youngsters may not have a Cattle Club to see/hear live bands these days but to dismiss the idea that there is a living, breathing all-ages scene is this town is clueless and inexcusable.

In the last 12 years or so, I personally have worked my ass off to book all-ages events at whatever local venue would allow me to and it has been a monumental struggle. The original Java City and Capitol Garage, Cambire Cafe, Cafe Paris, the original and current True Love Coffeehouse, Java Lounge and probably a couple more I’m forgetting and nobody with any brains can truthfully say that the all-ages scene during that time was not alive and flourishing. Sure, the venues may not have been the ideal places to see/hear live music but there have been so many incredible, creative, fun things happening in Midtown since the closing of the Cattle Club that certainly was not going on at most of the 21 & over places Jerry books at.

In all that time, I was fortunate enough to have booked everyone from the Yah Mos, Groovie Ghoulies, Popgun and Deathray to Richard March, Onelinedrawing, Jackie Greene and Didley Squat and hundreds more and guess what? It was mainly kids who came out and supported those shows and no one would deny that there were some pretty amazing all-ages scene kinda moments. Many, many kids, in fact. While bands like the Knockoffs and the Secretions were playing over 21 shows at Old Ironsides and the Distillery, they were also playing big shows for the kids at some of the smaller, less important all-ages venues and doing quite well, as were the kids themselves.

But this isn’t a new issue and I’ve spoken to Jerry on numerous occasions over the years about the absolute and dire need for a bigger, better-equipped and more established all-ages venue and I have always been frustrated by his fairly blatant dismissive attitude about the smaller venues in town, the cafes and what-not, who have tried to keep at least SOME of the momentum of yesterday’s local all-ages music scene alive. He has stated to me a few times that he feels that by performers playing at the cafes and open mics does little more than “water down” the local music scene and I could never quite understand that thinking.

There have been so many wonderful all-ages happenings in this area, I can’t even begin to list all of them. What about the great Capitol Garage shows that I, and later, Charles Twilling and Brian McKenna put on a few years back? Or the old Big Shot’s gigs? Or the VFW shows that the Pressure Point and Whiskey Rebels have put on? Or the countless Club Retro and Underground shows? And I won’t even go into all the shows that have taken place at small venues like the True Love, Luna’s, the Cool Cat Gallery and Java Lounge.

And what the fuck is up with not even giving Java Lounge a mention? The place has been Midtown’s sole consistent all-ages venue for bands for the last 2 years or so and even took last year’s ‘Best All-Ages Venue’ in SN&R’s ‘Best of…’ issue and they don’t even rate a small blurb?

Am I missing something here?

I take offense at so much of that article, I’m seething just typing this. I have mountains of respect for Jerry Perry, Tim Foster and Stewart Katz. I consider Jerry a good friend and I am the first to suggest to anyone listening that Jerry has done more for the overall local music scene than anyone but much of that article was just so wrong and pointless.

Jerry does the local music scene and this entire city a huge favor by booking and promoting the all-ages summer shows at Cesar Chavez Park year in and year out. He also primarily books many of the area’s best bands (mine included) at 21 & over spots like Old Ironsides and Harlow’s. Since it’s now been proclaimed in big bold letters that the all-ages music scene in Sac is dead or dying, would it then be ok to suggest that people booking mostly 21 & over shows is contributing to it’s death?

Probably not.

Fuck it, I’m gonna anyway.

Kevin Seconds
local musician and all-ages venue operator

Click HERE to listen to part 1 of the show podcast.

Click HERE to listen to part 2 of the show podcast.

Murphy’s Law - Murphy’s Law
Pressure Point - In Their Eyes
Fear - Now You’re Dead
Youth Brigade - Modest Proposal
X-Ray Spex - Identity
Chuck Ragan - It’s What You Will
The Didgits - Max Wedge
Firehose - Brave Captain
Billy Childish & Holly Golightly -
Dr. Know - Boy’s Life
Kepi Ghoulie - Hey Kepi Let’s Go! (live from Java Lounge via cell phone)
The Secretions - Viva La Lucha Libre
The Avengers - Open Your Eyes
Last Chance - Phone Call
Bad Brains - Sailin’ On
M.I.A. - Small Man In A Big World
New Lost City Ramblers - Do You Call That Religion?
The Queers - Overdue
Negative Trend - Black & Red
Brian Hanover - Look Back And Laugh (live in studio)
Brian Hanover - The Crosshairs (live in studio)
Brian Hanover - Laying It Down (live in studio)
Brian Hanover - Stompin’ Ground (live in studio)
The Clash - Janie Jones
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - One Track Mind
NOFX - Golden Boys
Little Medusas - Stuck On Planet Earth
Minor Threat - Filler
U.X.A. - UXA
Social Distortion - Mommy’s Little Monster
Disfear - Overload

…..

I don’t gig on Sundays too often. And beforehand, I felt very apprehensive about tonight’s show for a couple of reason. First, it was going to be me/Ghetto Moments doing an acoustic thing at a bar show, and secondly, it was an event where I would be playing and being interviewed.

The show itself is something Sacramento Bee’s music editor Chris Macias is hosting at Old Ironsides every Sunday called, ‘Sunday Single Showcase’ where he invites 2 different local performers to come perform and talk with him in a sort of talk show format. This week, it’s me and Sal Valentino. Sal’s a rock & roll legend. For those who might not know, he was lead singer for 60’s greats the Beau Brummels and we have become good friends over the last year or so. I gave him one of my songs (”I Love You, I Do”) for his brand new album (’Every Now & Then’, please go buy it HERE) and he is just one of the coolest guys on the planet. It’s an outright honor to be linked up with him.

It was very cool of Chris to ask me but in all honestly, I wasn’t so sure how I felt about it, especially after screaming my guts on punk rock songs the night before.

I met with Al late in the afternoon to practice a handful of tunes for the show. We haven’t gotten to play/sing together in awhile but once we kicked into the first tune, it sounded wonderful and I started getting antsy for the show. No matter what has happened, all the separation and sadness, anger and frustration, I love playing and singing my songs with her and I don’t believe that will ever change. Besides Stevie, my little brother, I don’t lock in with anybody musically, the way I do with her.

Got to Old I and caught the tail end of a Sal’s soundcheck. Like I said, at first, I was kinda sweating tonight’s show but once I go to the club, I started getting psyched for this gig.

Before the show started, Jerry Perry and I started talking about this week’s Sac News & Review’s cover story on the lack of all-ages venues in town. While I certainly agree that we need a big, all-ages venue in this town like we need Bush to NOT be our president, I don’t exactly get the story and why, just now, it’s coming out. More than that, I’m not exactly sure why the writer (and the people he interviewed, including Jerry) felt the need to downplay the few venues in this town who DO book all-ages show, primarily the True Love, Java Lounge and Luna’s. There is absolutely no doubt in anybody’s mind that Sacramento suffers from not having a good-sized live music venue where everyone can go and check out bands but to build a story around the fact that (and as Jerry attempted to justify), because we don’t have a Cattle Club-type venue, the overall all-ages scene is dead basically is utter bullshit. Yes, scenes develop around established clubs but I would argue that it’s not necessarily a venue that makes a scene as much as it’s an iron-willed love and desire amongst people who love music and love the social aspects of coming together with like-minded people, that makes up what we all refer to as a “scene”.

Now, I know how Jerry feels about little venues like cafes and art galleries and what-not. I know that he doesn’t place the same premium on them as he did a Cattle Club or does an Old Ironsides or a Harlow’s. He told me once, back when I was booking shows at Cafe Paris and the old Capitol Garage, that he thought that performers playing smaller cafes kind of “water-down” the overall music scene and I remember feeling so dissed and pissed off because I felt that it diminished all the great stuff that was going on at those places during that period.

But fuck all that shit. For many young performers in this town, playing Old Ironsides or the Distillery or Fox & Goose or Harlow’s is simply not an option. Hell, for many, it’s not even something that they WANT to do. So, with that in mind, where else would a young band or songwriter go to get their gigs in and try and build up a fanbase or even perform for the friends, family, work and schoolmates?

You got it, the coffeehouses and open mics.

All of the top current local acts got a start cutting teeth in the smaller places. Jackie Greene, Didley Squat, Agent Ribbons, Richard March, etc. etc., all former open-mic’ers and cafe dwellers.

You need the True Loves and the Java Lounges and the Lunas just as much as you need the established all-ages clubs and that’s just fact.

Anyway, end of fucking rant. I love Jerry and i consider him a good friend and THE guy who has done more for the local music scene than anyone but damn it, I’m tired of this snobby attitude towards the smaller, pesky cafe venues.

Back to the show…

Sal’s set was great. He had David Houston, Mark Harrod and Larry Tagg backing him and Al sang harmonies and did magnificently. And as always, I enjoyed Sal’s in between banter and think he should probably write a book and go out and do a spoken word tour because it would be highly engaging and entertaining.

Chris M interviewed me and that went good. I love to talk (as anyone who knows me can attest to) but being interviewed is always a sketchy deal and I was glad that Chris didn’t come off terribly nervous and asked some decent questions.

The set went very well. I love when I get the whole band (Al, David & Mark) to play with me and tonight, everything sounded very very lovely. Again, nothing beats singing and playing with Al and we definitely found our little “pocket” and clicked right in during the set.

Overall, the night was perfect. I do feel a little bad that Jerry and I had our little back and forth but it was respectful and thoughtful and there’s always a little room for discourse and even debate in this little weird music scene of ours.

Now for my letter to the News & Review.

Having more than 1 gig during a weekend period is always great for me. Hectic as shit with everything else going on but still great.

Saturday night was particularly insane because besides the gig I had with the Altruistics, local favorites Didley Squat were performing their last show ever at the True Love, outside on the back patio and I had a few things to do to help prepare for their show.

Naturally, I woke up way too late and had a errands up the ass. I grabbed my gear and went over to the True Love to try and set up the stage for the night. We have a GREAT stage (built by the hands of local rockers and all around fine lads in Pressure Point & Madhouse Disciples) but it comes in 2 HUGE sections and weigh a fucking ton and like an idiot, I didn’t really get a crew together the night before to help me set it up so there I was on Saturday afternoon, late as hell and with a 47 year old body wracked in pain, trying to lift the stage segments with members of Didley Squat and their friends (yes, it’s true. The True Love is so lame, we make the night’s performers build the stage they’re actually going to play on). I severely strained my back and wrist (perfect for the guitar playing I would be doing later) but we got the stage put together and soundman Warren B showed up on time and got the sound system up and running.

I’m bummed I missed Didley Squat’s last show. It was very sweet of the band to consider the True Love for the last show, as they could have played just about anywhere else in town but they told me that it meant something to play it at the TL because they kind of got their start playing at the old True Love’s open mic.

I stuck around the cafe as long as I could and helped usher in the 200 or so kids who lined up to catch the show and then hit the freeway and headed for Orangevale, home of Noah Nelson, the family Harrod, my first teenage crush Tina Poole and the controversial Club Retro.

A lot of people I know frown on playing Club Retro because it’s connected with a church of some sort. The biggest beef seems to come from staff members trying to get bands to get to the club early before shows so they can give bands their spiel on the club’s profanity and lewd behavior policy.

I’ve also heard that they try and get performers to pray with them before the show.

I’ve played at Club Retro 3 times now and not once has anybody asked me to kneel and pray with them nor have they asked me not to curse onstage. The staff has always been kind and helpful, the stage is big and fun to play on and the sound and lighting is pretty fuckin’ top-notch, maybe even one of the most professional ones in the area.

On Saturday with my Altruistics, I know that I let the f-word slip a number of times and I didn’t really think much about it either way. I didn’t purposely do so nor did I think to censor myself. I’m not going to do that for a church or for anybody (except maybe a child or a grandma, here and there).

Truth is, if I have to even think about anything while I’m onstage, the gig is a complete wash to me. By now, the Club Retro people are familiar with me and know what I do and probably even what I don’t do and if they choose to let me play their venue, they do so knowing that I won’t do 2 things there, just because of whatever policies they may enforce: pray or censor myself.

Unless, of course, I feel like doing either

Anyway, the show rocked and our set was fun and tight. I managed to down an extra-strength Motrin an hour before show time so I had no sciatica pain to deal with while we were up there. As I’ve managed before, their has been this feeling, over the last 5 or 6 Altruistics gigs, that we’re starting to catch on with people locally and I’m pretty excited about that. Obviously, it would be great to see how we do out of town but for now, getting Sacramentans on our side is first and foremost.

Kepi The Band opened and they just personify fun, fun, fun & rock & roll. I love seeing Kepi minus a guitar, up there bouncing around and enjoying himself as frontman and who can beat that band (Danny Secretion, Jaz Helper Monkey, Dino & Lys)?

The Secretions had the crowd anywhere they wanted them and they knew it. They have definitely become the most popular local punk rock outfit and the touring has really shaped them up into something pretty cool and fun.

I was impressed with the Phenomenauts and their elaborate stage show. They rock it in a sort of weird DEVO/Rocket From The Crypt way but with keyboards and various elements of new wave and psychobilly. Very good and really nice guys too.

Afterwards, I got a text message saying that the cops had come to the True Love and told Didley Squat to turn down. They did, played a couple more songs and the show was over.

I really am bummed I missed their last set….