Retro-bution

WORST OF 2009:

1. Getting my CX backed into by oblivious Starbucks motherfuckers while parked in front of the U of T gym .

2-10. Getting my CX backed into by oblivious Starbucks motherfuckers while parked in front of the U of T gym AGAIN. In the same fucking parking space. It goes without saying, Fuck You - Pay Me. It's all stuff I can fix but holy fuck - if you fail to notice a 600 pound motorcycle behind you, you need to pull your head, your Iphone and your latte out of your ass or don't drive a car.

BEST OF 2009:

All the rest.

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This is the first morning of real-deal winter and it's almost mid-December. I think we did pretty good. I've got a stack of neglected books that look like they'll get me through it. It's been a good year. Been catching up with a lot of old friends lately, going back 10-15 years. Also (been home for over a month now so this is very belated but) the UK was amazing. If you ever wonder who the sweetest kids in the entire fucking universe are, the answer is this:

Being out with the guys in Burning Love is great. They have no second thoughts or complaints about nerding out for hours in record stores of the world, jumping into the English Channel just because you're there, or crashing out in a sleep-where-you-fall pile of Mad Max squat punks. And even when shit goes terribly wrong, it's still fun and we go home thinking of the next thing regardless.

Came home from the UK with so many fucking records. We were ditching all our things just to fit more into our carry-on luggage. And I still haven't put these piles away, guess I should make that proper OCD guy list now so that I can, huh? These are from all over the UK, a lot of it from one brotherly Welshman Chris D, and holy shit, the best record store in the UK (Minus Zero RIP), Wax Factor in Brighton:

...Wow.

UK Scores - LP/12":

Slayer - South of Heaven (UK)

Scientist - Heavyweight Dub Champion

JAMC - Sidewalking 12"

Equals - Greatest Hits

The Jam - In the City

Kinks - Lola (Hallmark)

T-Rex - Ride a White Swan (Fly)

Pink Floyd - Relics (MFP/EMI)

Fleetwood Mac - 2xLP of early years (pre-chicks)

Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill

Nightmare - Scatteraw

QOTSA - Songs for the Deaf 2xLP

Motorhead - Bomber (Bronze)

Animals - The Most Of (MFP) & S/T (Regal)

Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy & Never Say Die (Vertigo)

Dusty Springfield - Where Am I Going?

Hendrix - Cosmic Turnaround (favorite JH boot!)

Desmond Dekker - The Israelites

No Mind - Tales of Ordinary Madness

Smiths - That Joke...& What Difference...12"es

Smiths - The World Won't Listen

Joy Division - Still 2xLP

Oppressed - Oi Oi Music (Oppressed Recs)

Social Unrest - SU2000

Cowboy Killers - Press and Run Like Hell

Rot In Hell - Hallways...(ltd cover) LP

Ripcord - In Search of a Future (ltd #172/500)

Heresy - 1985-1987 LP

Motorhead - Japanese Ace of Spades (boot)

Skinhead Moonstomp - Symarip (Trojan orig)

Napalm Death - SCUM (Mosh 3 orig)

Visions of Change - My Mind's Eye

...wait a minute, this is just the LPs and not even all of them. This list is retarded. And no one needs to read it. They get the point: There was lots of awesome records. Let's wrap it up.

Duly noted. Among the 7"es, some of the more notable scores:

Heresy - Whose Generation?

Poison Idea - Just to Get Away picture disc

Poison Idea - Filthkick EP

Blitz - All Out Attack & Warriors

Adverts - Gary Gilmore's Eyes

Smiths - Panic & Ask

Napalm Death - The Curse 7" (7 Mosh 8)

Last Rights - Chunks/So Ends...(Taang, Green)

Voorhees - Violent

Discharge - ST, Fight Back & Never Again

JAMC - April Skies

Pissed Happy Children - Gravel Truck

Neon Christ - S/T 7"

Sabbath - TV Crimes & Paranoid

Thin Lizzy - Cold Sweat & Killer On The Loose

T-Rex - Get It On

Morrissey - Thats How People Grow Up

Unsane - Vandal X/Streetsweeper (Subpop)

Partisans - 17 Years of Hell

Devo - Satisfaction (got it signed at TO show)

Animals - House of the Rising Sun UK

...alright stop it STOP IT!!!

OK, a FEW more, then you have to change the subject.

Cool.

Also completed my Cult Ritual collection (RIP). Now I'm deliberating tracking down the tapes. Also just traded with my friend Juan Perez (aka Willem, a chiseled Mexican boy band member currently living in Holland), who officially has more Cursed/LFD & Swarm stuff than even me, for these gems:

Entombed - Wolverine Blues (Earache)

Entombed - Left Hand Path (Earache)

SSD - The Kids...(eXclaim)

SSD - Get It Away (eXclaim)

Bad Brains - ROIR

Bad Brains - Rock For Light

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OK, I'm done now. THANK you. Fuck. There is apparently more to life than records. But not much more. One good thing about working in a cult video store way past the point when you should have had loftier ambitions is access to Cool Shit. I don't know if it's winter or turning 35 this month, but please, a moment of love and nostalgia for the things that were on non-cable TV at 6am when I was a kid:

...and if you use your head, you'll always win. Jesus Christ, that was a long time ago now. How retro!

Oh hey, the Mature Situations Cracked Pelvis EP is still available, the Old Hands EP is soon to be (on Deranged), the domestic version of the Burning Love demo EP will be out in January and Don't Ever Change EP and first LP (Deranged) are coming soon. Both BL and MS have tons of shows coming up. And, me and Andrus made a two-man Disrupt-worship side project, as yet unnamed. Will post some links when we mix it. Stay sweet.