Maximumrocknroll

When I was in 7th and 8th grade, and I first got into punk rock, my main resource for my newfound "hipness" (i put it in quotes casue I was very, very far from being hip) was punk zine heavyweight, Maximumrocknroll. It introduced me to an entire new world that I never knew had existed. I read about all of these cool bands, (cool sounding, cool looking, etc.) and I soaked up as much information as I possibly could. I used to stay up late at night and read about all of these cool shows going on in California, at Gilman St. and wish I was out there. Diving head first into punk rock helped me escape all of the bullshit going on at the time. Even though I never wore a leather jacket and had a mohawk, I really identified with the entire scene and the punk ideals and general outsider point of view. As my musical tastes developed, I sort of outgrew their elitist "punker than thou" shit and branched out. However, every issue I kept seeing reviews of new releases (he usually had at least 1 new release out every month at the time) by some British guy, Billy Childish, and that lead me to check out a musician for the first time who has since become one of my personal favorites. So even though they only really cover hardcore and the type of punk that I'm not really into anymore, I still have a soft spot for the magazine I used to read and re-read over and over again till my eyes were bleading and I had newsprint ink all over me. Anyway, the point is that I was in Borders the other day, and lo and behold the latest issue of the punkest zine out there has a nice long interview with Billy Childish, and a nice picture of him on the cover. I guess I'll have to start staying up all night re-reading this shit again.

I have word (directly from his wife actually) that he is planning a tour of the northeast at some point this upcoming fall as Billy Childish and The Chatham Singers (whitch also features his wife). Albany is lovely in the fall Billy, you gotta make it up here. I got the pleasure of seeing him open up for Modest Mouse (??) at Radio City Music Hall (???????) a while ago, and even though it was totally awesome, I was in the balcony and could barely see the band, which really sucked. I can't wait to see him up close. It would undeniably be the BSE.

Don't forget to tip your bartenders.