Bulletin Board of Bad Behavior

On Jan 30th the last friday of the month I'll be DJing at the George and Dragon Pub in Fremont. Music starts at 9pm. A lot of my soccer friends will be there and it's a bit of a going away party for me. Mark your new calanders and try to make it. We will even have a section roped off for the VIPs. Very Intoxicated People.

When are you leaving town? I can't make the party I will be in Mexico.

Mexico seems to be the hot spot for the Pax BB crowd.

Sun, water, booze, prostitutes, mexican food, and reefer.

mccutcheon, where are you going? i never pay attention to anything anymore. when are you going? i'll come see you at the g&d. its like four blocks from my house. and i never see you anymore.

Hope to see you all there tonight.

i'm coming and i'm bringing a crüe with me.

Hey McC, I neglected to mention...
Had a great time tonight. I am glad I'm not asleep yet.
The thing I need to get across here is first of all, you
played Thieves Like Us, that's great!!

But also I've been needing to confess that that the only other thing I REALLY feel like listening to these days besides John Cooper Clarke backed by The Invisble Girls (Martin Hannet, Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks, Steve Hopkins whoever he is, and Bill Nelson formerly of Be-Bop Deluxe)
is...

CHIC.
Yes I have finally gotten around to investigating CHIC.

Late 70's DISCO EXTRAORDINAIRES,

CHIC.

Yes they are known for the feel-good disco tunes "Good Times" and "Le Freak" but I'll tell you something. Every time I hear "Le Freak" I spend the first half of the song thinking "oh, this is 'Funkytown'" before I realize halfway through that it's not Funkytown! This has happened to me for years! Ha ha.

The point is, the first three Chic albums are a must have.
Of course 90 million British bands were influenced by them.
Typical. I'm just saying I have gone a little chic over Chic.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that Chic.

Chic Chic.
CHIC.

Well despite the lighting problems, the blown speakers, not getting any 'both' feedback it was a lot of fun. I was told that there was a twenty mintue wait to get inside, and the fact that it was rigged to play outside so as you walked up from off the street you could hear blaring tunes was super cool. And did I mention all the free Guinness I could drink? Thanks to everyone who came. And Nabi I'll be seeing you in NYC.

Certainly I was glad to see so many people out. I knew Tommy was in Mexico, but it occured to me...where was Mav?

It was a great night. Even the door man was someone who I used to work with, although I'd never really had a chance to have a real conversation with him. His new bride was also there, and she's coming back to my company. So it was interesting to be out with the usual crew but at the same time interact with these other folks about work-related things. The night seemed perfect, really. Thanks for playing the Damned, as well, McC.

I know you have a CD for me. I don't have one for you yet. I suspect that in all the stress you probably won't have time to meet up again before you go. I understand that.
The only song I know to share with you right now is a John Cooper Clarke track that really sounds like the Mondays to me. I gotta say if anyone thought heroin was glamorous they ought to hear the last John Cooper Clarke/Martin Hannett album from 1982 "Zip Style Method". What a disappointment!!! Ouch. They weren't even trying. Yuck.

Still the first two John Cooper Clarke CD's (thankfully they are available on CD) are spectacular. Best thing I've heard in at least ten years. Sometimes, even in 1978, it sounds like stuff that could have been recorded 10 or more years later.

Also McC, I'll have to check out British Sea Power again thanks to you.

I just want everyone here to understand that Martin Hannett produced Happy Mondays "Bummed". He also produced the Stone Roses early on, amongst a zillion other bands. I got Stone Roses "Garage Flower" recently, which has a lot of the Hannett produced tracks. It's not their best stuff, certainly but any true Roses fan ought to rush out and get "Garage Flower" before it becomes just another high priced bootleg again.

Again, I wonder, where was Mav that night?

For those who have seen 24 Hour Party People, I just want to make clear that somehow the John Cooper Clarke/Martin Hannett stuff didn't come out on Factory Records. If it had, I would have heard it sooner. If you can find Clarke's "Disguise In Love" and "Snap Crackle and Bop", I am totally flabbergasted at these albums.

You can say what you like about Hannett (I actually don't feel Happy Mondays benefitted from his production of "Bummed", though I do love them) but you can't possibly predict what Joy Division (who had all their stuff produced by him) or early New Order would have been like without Hannett. It's only through this John Cooper Clarke experience that I've realized it's really difficult to separate Hannett from the way these bands sound on record. I'm just saying even Joy Division, as legendary as they are, would have been a completely different sounding band if it hadn't been for Hannett.

Sorry I missed it...I was (and am still) in the Evil Heat. I'm coming back tomorrow (Tues) so I think there should be another McCutcheon DJ party this weekend.

Look forward to seeing you again, Mav! Good to hear from you.

I also feel I've neglected to clarify that it's not just that Martin Hannett produced John Cooper Clarke. It's that with Clarke, Hannett proved himself once and for all to be an
amazing bassist and synthesizer experimentalist in his OWN right.