What's up ragmag? With the passage of Trump’s One Big Billionaire Blowjob, the class war has been declared on regular people and these fascists told us who they are. Never forget those evil fucks gleefully laughing about people dying by taking away basic healthcare so that ICE can have 148 billion dollars to build concentration camps in the Everglades. Felony rates in the US are bout 8% and undocumented immigrants are nearly 50% less likely to commit felonies than the population at large. With an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, this translates to less than half a million people. So apparently these fascist piss babies need nearly $300,0000 per felon to “deport” them, despite most of the felons already being in the system. Sounds like more grift and a private army, and modern day slavery to me. Fuck this shit. I've had enough, have you?
We have another packed issue as Wasteland Chick ranks all the Jaws movies, a new Cigarette Camp music video made by Dan Wars, Splinters by Leela Corman, Creature on the Road Part 6 by Mr. Mittens, Film Freak and a new painting by Coco A Go-Go, Part 3 of the Building Infinity art show round up, and Creature’s Double Feature.
Detail from booklet from Necron 9 LP -photos by Creature
Cigarette Camp - Slowpoke ep Music Video - video by Dan Wars
Pals Jeff Poot, Uncontrollable Frank and Jamie bring us a new 4 song ep of their patented Boston copy machine punk which is as fair enough a descriptor as any. Catchy, rough quick punk and the music video has amazing archival footage of friends and punks near and dear to my heart. As the video says, dedicated to Nick Poot, Barker, Ross, Sue, Jimmy Flynn, Jaimie Ewing and all the other punks who left the party too soon. Goddamn it made me tear up to see these faces again. Go to punk shows and have fun with your friends while you can.
Splinters by Leela Corman
Painting by Coco A Go-Go
Whats up film freakers! Its summer , its hot , everything is fucking insane.
This edition I wanted to mix it up a bit . Not only do I shoot a lot of 35mm still film , my main medium is Super 8! This is a short film I made a few years back with the soundtrack by Ice Dragon . Lots of local Boston artists make cameos in the film, see if you can spot them all ! DIY film forever xxxxxx
With all the shit in the world and the U.S. right now, it’s becoming crystal clear that the thing that the administration think is making America not “great” isn’t our shamefully underfunded public schools, unaffordable housing crisis, lack of free or affordable public healthcare. Look at RFK. Talks about making america healthier by blaming autism on vaccines. I don’t even need to get into the ridiculousness of that because the question to me is “Why is seeing people with autism a problem?” We didn’t invent it in the last 10 years. Apparently the issues is because he has to see autistic people now and people are slightly more accepting of it and when he was younger he didn’t see them. I dunno, when I was younger I didn’t see a lot of trans people either, but somehow I’ve been able to gather the evidence that if we had transphobic jokes in movies like Crocodile Dundee without explanation that a whole lot of people knew trans people existed. Guess what fuckheads, if you think the bible is telling you that homosexuality is a sin, cool I guess. Know what it tells the rest of us, that homosexuality existed then as it always has. And you are still as hateful of anyone that looks different from you because of your fucking cowardice and greed. The thing that you don’t like about America now is that everyone that lives here is considered an American. FUCK YOU
Anyway, I was able to catch a couple shows over the past 2 weeks and saw a bunch of friends and some sick tunes. On a Sunday night, headed out to the News Cafe after getting dinner and catching up with a couple of friends in I.C.U. in Pawtucket to see a hardcore show featuring locals Impulse and Skud (who unfortunately I missed) along with Boston’s I.C.U. and B.A.D.G.E. and Quick to Judge from New York. Hadn’t been to the news in awhile and glad it is still going and the same. Best feature for me is the camera on the stage with a tv above the bar showing the show live. Great way for an older punk like me to watch the kids pit from the safety of a bar stool but still see the bands. Impulse were cool and if I was 20 years younger they would probably be one of my favorite locals. I.C.U. were great fast hardcore and it was nice to see Ban repping the Bosstones. B.A.D.G.E. from New York were totally unknown to me and they played fast hardcore punk and were fun live. I grabbed a demo and been giving it some spins. Great night!
Drove up to Allston on a Saturday night to see Cigarette Camp at O’Briens. Didn’t know any of the other bands and pop punk isn’t really my thing, but the kids were having a good time. Cigarette Camp were good as usual and I loved hearing the new songs live. Excited for the new LP coming out (release the Doug mix!), but the new EP on Saccharine Tryst will hold us over. Same ep as the music video above, but on a nice lathe cut records with tons of inserts and stickers as is label head Joe’s way (ed. note - when’s the next power pearls article coming Joe? the readers demand more!).
Uncontrollable Frank looking tuff
Records of the day are two new hardcore punk releases. First up is the Gritos Norteno LP by Destruxion Amerika, a group out of NYC featuring members of ivy, kaleidescope, straw man army and so many others from the D4MT lab punks. Urgent and raw, with lots of different styles coming though all topped out with fuzzed out guitar and lyrics sung in Spanish screaming about anti-nationalism. Powerful and timely.
Next up is Necron 9’s - people die 12”. Ripping hardcore, but has some crusty discharge heft to keep things punk with their poison idea inspired core. Gut the pig and kill the fucker express the lyrical mood and the kids sound pissed off. Sick as hell.
Soul song of the day is the 1971 hit clean up woman by Betty wright. Recorded for the Alston label at the age of 17, goddamn she had a voice. Spun this during my set at Myrtle and had multiple people asking what it was, so picking this week cuz this song is an all timer and people need to remember. The guitar playing by Little Beaver is stellar.
Wasteland Chick
Best freaking Jaws ending, man. 10 out of ten!! Salutations, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Welcome back to a SPECIAL EDITiON! of Wasteland Chick, ‘cuz today we’ll be reviewing all 4 Jaws movies in honor of its 50th anniversary and Steven Speilberg realizing “Yeah, making good movies makes a lot of money and childhood nostalgia.” Anyway, let's review them worst to best, starting with Jaws: The Revenge, which I give a 3 out of ten and the “Worst Jaws Movie” award. I just don't understand what happens in this one. So, the mom of Micheal and Sean/the wife of the chief from the first movie (I genuinely forget his name, Keith?) loses her son Sean and goes to the Bahamas with Micheal and his wife and daughter who work there, and the shark that killed Sean and other people in Amity (I think) follows them there. Even though the waters in the Bahamas are too warm for sharks and HOW IN THE UNHOLY HELL does a SHARK follow a boat and multiple planes!!! Anywhoozle, the shark attacks a bunch of people and Ellen (Micheal’s Mom) goes to kill the shark and blows it up with the help of Micheal and a weirdly accented “Jamaican” guy. I think these people have a problem with blowing up sharks. Like, seriously, each movie ends with the shark blowing up! STAHP IT! STAHP. It’s a problem. Also, characters hum the Jaws theme and have flashbacks to scenes from the movies that they were not featured in, implying that the characters have seen the movie? What? Next we have Jaws 2, which wins the “Second Worst Jaws Movie” award and a 5 out of ten, because, ehhhhhhhh? It’s not bad, the teen characters are cool and genuinely sweet while they're protecting each other from the shark, but it’s not enough to salvage it. It just feels boring and slow, and as Creature said while we watched this: “It’s just ‘teens go sailing’ the movie.” And it is. Not a bad watch, but damn, man, they couldn’t even use the theme music for half of it! HA! Next we have Jaws 3, which I give a 6 out of ten solely because of the Free Willy ass ending. After the shark attack in SeaWorld (yeah, Sea World), Micheal’s wife celebrates in a pool and the dolphins that she was taking care of earlier jump out of the water in a horrible PNG edit as she cheers “YEAH!” Just, just wow! This movie is supposed to be Jaws 3-D, but since me and Creature don’t own any, the scenes that are supposed to look cool or scary just look stupid. Like the scene of the shark attacking looks like the shark’s just tapping it and it violently explodes, like what?! Also the shark jaws exploding onto the screen is just silly, man. It’s a dumb movie, but it’s pretty enjoyable even without 3-D glasses (it’s actually better without them!) Next, and to the surprise of no one, the original Jaws gets a 9 out of ten and the “Best Jaws Movie” award. It’s just awesome. The shark animatronic is cool, the characters are well developed, Quint is awesome, there’s genuine tension and fear throughout, and it’s overall just a good film. Overall, here’s the final score: Worst- Jaws: The Revenge, Second Worst- Jaws 2, Second Best- Jaws 3-D, and Best- Jaws. Someone should really question Trump’s bossority, fellow Wasteland Chicks. Be sure to. BYE!
Sincerely, Wasteland Chick.
Creature on the Road Part 6 by Mr. Mittens
The old man smiled at me and inched closer to my side of the hood. He leaned towards me, his face just inches from my shoulder. “Bees,” he said after a dramatic pause.
“Bullshit” I said sharply, the tone kind of slipped out before I could catch myself. There hadn’t been bees, real bees since I was a teen and working at that ratty old soda station out by highway 6. I still remember sitting behind the counter stocking tabs of nicotine chew and turning around just as it flew in and headed towards the syrup choked countertop. Me and a driver, some kid in a yellow zip up, stared at the bug in awe. Bees had died out in our part almost completely, replaced by little mechanized silver wisps that flew from plant to mutated plant, but here was a live one hovering gleefully above the layers of colored syrup that I’d been too lazy to scrape off. The kid and I watched it buzz and waver in the air, before it simply flew out the open drive through the window and into the high sun. I’d never forgotten the sound it made, a beautiful warm hum caused by friction and follicles. It sounded unbothered and yet busy, lazily frantic. I never heard it again after that day.
“No it’s not bullshit” the Piney said, his face had softened and he suddenly looked like a much younger man. “My old lady has been watching them for years, watching them regroup and return to the barrens. I thought she was full of shit when she first told me about a small little colony she found out by that abandoned kiddie camp.”
“What. the one with all the little houses and a stupid name?”
The man nodded and moved ahead with his story. It was a compliment, his shorthand, he must know I’m from around here originally, and not some hog driving through this road like it’s a smudge on a map.
“Yeah that’s right, the one over by Palmer’s pond with the dirty water. Anyways she’s been trying for years to keep them going, bringing them sugar water and covering the cabin windows and doors in the colder days. Finally, Jarvis’s old man took a look at what she was doing and told her to stop fussing so much and just let them work it out by themselves. After some real back and forth, they agreed to keep watch over them until they sank or swam. In the meantime we’ve been killing the fakers when we find them. Smashing those little metal shits into circuitry. Now they got honey dripping down the walls son, just oozing with it.” He stopped briefly, and fished a little jar from his back pocket. He held the glass low into the headlights glare and gave it a slow shift up and down. A long red strain of thick honey slid up and down over the glass.
“Holy fuck how is that possible?” I said, bending myself towards the light to get a good look. The old man shook the jar a few more times to my honest delight. I felt like a little kid watching a trick I couldn’t recreate.
The old man shrugged. “Fuck if I know how. I know bats kid, and barely that on bad days.” He tapped his head and pointed to a cluster of bruised skin behind his left ear. “Leuk’s taking over my blood, and there’s something growing up in here.”
I paused and held my breath trying to think of something to say that didn’t sound completely stupid, but the man only waved his arm and brushed me off. Out in these zones, the tumors and blood cancers feed on people like fat leeches, and nothing I said would change the outcome.
He put the jar back into his pocket and then patted me on the back. “Here’s what I do know about this stuff, it dries out fast and once I started tinkering with it I got it to mix just right with my rock salt. You feel that humming in your brain, like you just had a heavy meal and a good sleep?”
I nodded in agreement. Ever since that rock salt had hit my nostrils, I’d been feeling not just alert but awake. My back had loosened, hell even that little twinge in my neck that I carried with me everywhere had started to unfurl.
“Well that’s the dried honey, the what the fuck they call em’? The sugar crystals, yeah they just kind of make you feel…” he paused. “They just make you feel not sore all the time, and not like you’re carrying a brick around your chest. It’s nice right?”
I leaned against the hood of my van and took a long, good breath. I could see the kids up ahead, they were back on the road, the oldest was dragging a net behind him. A slip of cool wind danced over our heads and I felt it graze the tips of my ears. The boys carried on moving forward until we could no longer see them in the glare, but we could still hear them, laughing out there in the dark as they walked. A sickly looking bat with pale wings flew from one side of the road to the other before disappearing into the clouds.
“Yeah man”. I said watching the reeds dance in the iridescent water. “It sure is.”
Finally the old man raised his hand and grabbed his nets from the ground. He raised them over his shoulder and soon he disappeared into the dark as well. I stretched my legs one more time out of habit, and got back into the van. The way I felt now, I could drive for another 12 hours if the mood struck me. I clipped on my belt and put my foot gently down onto the gas pedal. As I reached the bog’s end, I saw the old man entering the trees. I honked my horn goodbye and blew a kiss to my mother, to wherever she was out there in the water, forever melded to the seats of her favorite car.
“Ride on baby, ride on”. I said, as my tires whirred beneath me like a syrup stained bee.
Building Infinity (Part 3) - All photos by Creature
More photos of the Building Infinity art show by the community at Building 8 in Olneyville. I will give credit where I can and apologies to any missed. Get in touch and I will update and credit.
Jim Frain
Angela DiVeglia
Nik Perry
Alex Pizzuti
That’s it for Rag Mag this week punks. Check out the events below and hope to see you there.
Love your work. Just found out one of the owners of Bad Brgr is MAGA and clearly the other owners are okay with that. Sucks to have a fake punk place go under the radar for so long. Hoping that a new venue comes around to replace it soon.