Days of Lore

Sweating to the oldies
In honor of Celebrate Older Adults Month, I’m about to kick it old-school up in this bitch. Whaddya say? Because old is the new young; what’s old is new again; and as they say, things do get better with age. Take Harrison Ford—he’s 107 years old and still kicking ass. And the Rolling Stones … well … Shine a Light is playing at the Pageant!

And the older you get, the faster time flies … thus expediting the aging process and, hence, making you a better person. Let us take our proverbial walkers down the long and winding road to senior citizenship.

In the garage
You know, I just love the old-school sounds of garage rock—that ramshackle brand of rock ’n’ roll born in dingy practice spaces in the early ’60s. A few of my personal faves: The Sonics, Love, The Seeds and The Pretty Things (it helps to have a “the” in the band name.)

Nowadays, the term “garage rock” doesn’t quite hold the same meaning, but there are still bands keeping in the spirit of that old bubblegum pop played through warbling speakers. Right here in Chico, Candy Apple (no “the”) unequivocally set out to play garage rock, and have done so with great success.

And beyond our city limits there is a new band that’s about to release its debut record, Stop Drop and Roll!!! I predict that the Foxboro Hot Tubs will be the hottest new thing in garage rock. I mean, they’ve got success written all over them—hooks, heavy reverb, lightning-fast guitars and drums, and the band is fronted by the singer from Pinhead Gunpowder!

What’s old is new again, indeed. How do I know they’re going to be huge? Just listen: www.myspace.com/foxborohottubs.

Jingle hell
The members of Metallica may be getting too old to play metal (or are they?), but they’re not too old to release their classic albums on vinyl.

The band dropped its first two records—1983’s Kill ’Em All and ’84’s Ride the Lightening—on vinyl in April, and is set to do the same with the brilliant 1986 opus Master of Puppets June 17 … which happens to be the date City Councilman Steve Bertagna said he will announce whether he’ll run for re-election.

Of course, Bertagna is known for the classic jingle that went with his 2004 campaign. It was catchy but lacked oomph. I propose using my favorite cut off the album—“The Thing That Should Not Be”—as the official 2008 re-election announcement song. The metal gods would surely pass it 7-0.

Sunday dirty Sunday
Clarence Reid is definitely old-school. The guy has written songs for Sam & Dave (Stax Records, famous for their version of Isaac Hayes’ “Soul Man”) and KC & the Sunshine Band (current casino circuit, and authors of “Boogie Shoes” and “That’s the Way I Like It”). Uh huh.

Throughout the ’70s, Reid was known as Blowfly—a foul-mouthed solo artist, whom some consider the OG of dirty rap. This guy was putting out nasty records on his own label before Luke Skywalker even knew what a kitty cat was.

Of course, Skywalker later would use samples of Blowfly’s songs (as would Wu Tang Clan, DJ Quik and Beyoncé, to name a few), and in 2005 Blowfly signed to Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles (Fleshies, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club). He recently released Blowfly’s Punk Rock Party, where he dirties up some classic punk songs.

Blowfly’s a bad mutha … shut yo mouth! And he’s coming to Chico … to soil up our Sunday. In fact he’s performing with the Confederate-flag-waving punk rock band Antiseen as well as local merrymakers Gorgeous Armada, one-man noisemaker The Show Is the Rainbow, and the banterrific Dr. Becky Sagers Ph.D.

Are you kidding me? That’s Sunday, May 18, 7 p.m., Nick’s Night Club.

Filth flarn filth