Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
One cool thing about doing The Idelic Hour are the small rituals that Jon from The Vinyl District and I have developed over the years. In truth Jon and I have never met in person but each week for the last six years, Jon has sorted and edited my rants. Props to you, Jon Meyers for always taking the time to have a look, take a listen, clear me up, and make me look smarter.
Speaking of smarter, the last few weeks The Idelic Hour has been on summer reruns (the ritual I was referring to at the top of the page). It seems funny when I think about it. “I’m on reruns.” Ha! Truth be told it’s a nice break from the constant search for new music and a ritual that makes the summer feel like summer and therefore healthy—although that could sound absurd.
Good for my soul / Heaven knows she’s good for my soul / Close to my soul / Heaven knows she’s close to my soul / I should have let her know / I should have let her know
Speaking of the absurd, the concept seems to continue in all walks of life. After three days of being at sea and fishing (enjoying another summer ritual) I turned on CNN and watched an interview with Donald Trump and his scary running mate. Are these guys for real? For some reason I then heard the news of Alan Vega’s death. Trump and the band Suicide both have me thinking how fine a line perception can be.
I remember seeing Suicide at CBGB’s around ’76-’77. As far as I could tell they were a complete joke. I mean, this fucking guy Martin Rev playing noise keyboards at ear-shattering volume. I’m not exaggerating! It was like a Star Trek episode where a mysterious and evil alien was trying to crush your brain with noise.
Then this little fucker posing like Little Richard gets up and starts crooning then screaming his head off. People were throwing their beer bottles, screaming back “No, no, NO! Fuck off, you suck! STOPPPPP!!!!!”
Years later the band—and you would have never called them a band in ’77—was revered. I wish Alan and Martin were running for president.
Do something good for your soul this week. xo
The Idelic Hit of the Week: Boys Forever – Voice In My Head
