Better than a boot on your neck
Kneecap, El Centro, Bad Religion
I’m at the point of my jet lag where time has lost all meaning and I am no longer a reliable witness to my own existence. I’ve been back for over a week, too long to keep using jet lag as an excuse, but then I drove up to, and all over, LA in the rain, which I don’t recommend, and I can’t shake the sense that sinister forces are fucking with me.
I went to the doctor because I injured my knee in Barcelona except I didn’t really injure it, I just have the pain of having been injured, which is something that happens with aging, I guess. You wake up and the pain train is barreling down the tracks.
I was at the boxing gym last night, working on the heavy bag, looking down at the floor, and the stain on the concrete floor looked like Bobby Sands. I don’t know if this is because Nuvia and I went to Belfast and Cushendall at the tail end of our Barcelona trip for a few days and all my friends there were incredulous that we hadn’t seen Kneecap (2024), the fictionalized origin story of the West Belfast rappers who rap in Irish.
So we watched the film a few nights ago and I wasn’t prepared for how gloriously irreverent it is, or how political, but in an utterly punk kind of way. Irish as an indigenous language oppressed by colonizers kind of punk. It is refreshingly straightforward in a way that politics rarely are in this country. If you liked Derry Girls and thought, “Ok, but surely none of these nice ladies have ever had a boot on their neck,” then Kneecap, both the band and the film, is for you.
But what do I know what’s for you? It’s possible I’m the worst guesser at what other people like. I do know something about boots on the neck from my wild sailor days but that’s a story for another time as I’m still feeling the effects of the pneumonia vaccine. I went to the doctor so he could look at my knee and left with a tetanus shot and a pneumonia vaccine, which sounds like a joke but it really happened. The pneumonia vaccine used to be for people age 65 and over but they are now recommending it for people 55 and over. A little info for my fellow ancients in the audience.
The vaccine did a number on me but if I step on a rusty nail I’m covered. We were at a friend’s house and I complimented the salsa and made the mistake of saying it wasn’t very hot, which prompted our host to bring out another jar of homemade salsa, which was delicious but very fucking hot, and at one point I felt my neck stretch as my head ascended into the air, my skull bumping up against the ceiling, and for a brief moment I wondered if my friend had given me psychedelic salsa and then I remembered the vaccine.
I could have refused the vaccine but I’m going on a cruise this weekend and I’ll take whatever they got if it means not getting sick at sea. Did I mention the cruise? No? I will next week and you’re going to think I’m pulling your leg when I tell you. That’s ok because it feels like someone’s pulling mine.
Do you remember the haunted house story I shared with you the last time I was in Belfast and got COVID and was delirious and thought Nuvia came into my room and kissed me on the lips but it wasn’t Nuvia but a ghost? Well, I have new information about that house, but I don’t think I’m thinking coherently enough to do the story justice but man oh man oh man.
I went to see El Centro play at a pizza parlor in San Clemente on Friday and had a blast. They have a great guitar sound that I really like and are going to play the Warped Tour reunion in Long Beach in June. Crabby asked the crowd if they wanted to hear a Minor Threat cover or a Black Flag cover and the crowd picked Minor Threat so Crabby said, “Fuck it, we’re playing both,” and they did. Good times.
A funny thing happened at Gibroni’s, which is the name of the pizza parlor. It was Valentine’s Day so alongside the basketball games and the boxing matches playing on the TVs they screened My Bloody Valentine (2009), which is a slasher film. It’s no more or less gory than other slasher films but it was an all-ages show and there were lots of kids there and the thing that makes My Bloody Valentine remarkable is its commitment to female nudity. There’s one poor woman who’s completely naked for six or seven minutes and very few of those minutes are what you’d call pleasant to watch unless pickaxes turn you on.
The TVs at Gibroni’s are not dusty old sets whose screens are speckled with flour and pizza sauce, but massive, high-def flatscreens so there was no way to avoid this naked woman—I keep saying naked but she was wearing high heels—get chased around by a psychopath with a pickaxe. In the middle of a dramatic scene all the TVs were changed to boxing or basketball and everyone seemed disappointed but also relieved.
One last thing. If you are someone who has enjoyed reading my books and would like to read more of them I hope you will take a moment in the coming days to light a candle or think good thoughts or put positive intentions out into the universe for me. This isn’t typically a vibes-based newsletter, but I’m willing to go there if you are. Meet me in the astral plane, baby, and let the good vibrations do their thing…
News and events
For all the Bad Religion fans out there, I have some news for you. Yes, Greg and Brett are dropping hints that they’re recording new material. Yes, they are going on tour with Dropkick Murphys this summer. But did you know there’s a Bad Religion podcast called This Podcast Strikes First? Well, there is and I was on it and I had a great conversation with the host Jamilah Bourdon that you should all check out.
I’m going to be doing two events on the same day in different parts of the Mojave Desert. Confused? I am too. I’m not sure if I should attempt to explain in my current semi-jetlagged, semi-injured, semi-sick state but here goes.
I’ll be reading on Saturday March 1 at 2pm at the Cathedral City Library with the Starlite Pulp crew: Brian Townsley, Nolan Knight, and Tod Goldberg. Hell yeah.
Then, later that evening at 7pm, I’ll be reading at Art Trap at 61961 Sunburst Circle in Joshua Tree with Gabriel Hart and Brian O’Hare. This event is sponsored by the veteran outreach program Mil-Tree and there will be a discussion on the intersection of punk and military service, which should be interesting.
Thanks for reading! If you’re wondering if you should be concerned for my well-being that’s just a subliminal message to upgrade your subscription. See you on the high seas!
If you liked this newsletter you might also like my latest novel about healthcare vigilantes Make It Stop, or the paperback edition of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records, or my book with Bad Religion, or my book with Keith Morris. I have more books and zines for sale here. And if you’ve read all of those, consider checking out my latest collaboration The Witch’s Door and the anthology Eight Very Bad Nights.
Message from the Underworld comes out every Wednesday and is always available for free, but paid subscribers also get my deepest gratitude and Orca Alert! on most Sundays. It’s a weekly round-up of links about art, culture, crime, and killer whales.
Out of all that feverish material, I must know which Minor Threat and Black Flag songs were chosen.
This is the best newsletter ever.