March 8, 2002, 5:23 p.m.
The entry about "political"art will be back with even more reflection
and other responses from a variety of perspectives. And even though
I am currently afflicted with the worst writer's block ever
(dissertation, how you do me wrong), I am super excited about the
interview I am doing with Dean Spade, Craig Willse and Ananda LaVita about
the "pee free" incident. I love smartie-pants kids so
much.
1:16
p.m.
On the plane from Cleveland to Denver I made
a list of my favorite records that I could remember (I'm notoriously
absent-minded about films, books, and records):
X, Aspirations, LP -- Australia birthed
some amazing punk rock. I heard this one day over at the Maximum
house and had to stop in my tracks to
ask what this wonderful noise was. Sparse, smart, and sarcastic, this
album gave me my bad-day anthem, "I Don't Want to Go Out." When I
play this in the car I both sneer and sing along, real loud.
The Ex, Blueprints for a Blackout, LP
-- I used to listen to this record before getting into bed which is
insane, because really, have you heard this album? These aren't
lullabies. Screeching, droning, thumping songs about the ravages of war
and capital, which are (as ever) relevant to the contemporary situation:
"What do you mean / by progress on human rights / when US backed regimes
/ continue to fight / against civilian opponents / agains their own
citizens / you terrorize the country / for freedom and democracy / the
American way of lies / to justify the next My Lai / I remember the
wars you want to forget / I remember the lies that you spread / I
remember the blood that you still shed / US President, your hands are
wet." Scrabbling At the Lock is my second favorite The Ex album, though really, it's so
hard to pick just one or
two.
Huggy Bear, Taking the Rough With the
Smooch, EP -- BEST DAMN RECORD EVER. Seriously.
Listening to a tape of this record on the plane I had to physically
restrain myself from shouting, screaming the words: "This is
happening without your permission / the arrival of a new, renegade /
girl boy hypernation!"
Crass, Penis Envy, LP -- Pure
nostalgia, this album is nonetheless the best LP Crass ever produced (I
think). Eve Libertine's vocals ooze with palpable scorn as she shreds
the institutions of marriage, monogamy, and comfortable, middle-class
lifestyles in a nuclear age. No one
escaped unscathed.
Skull Kontrol, Deviate Beyond All Means of
Capture and ZZZZZ
LPs -- I can't actually distinguish one Skull Kontrol
song from another, let alone choose between the two albums or even
decipher the lyrics, but I love these frantic, noisy, out-of-control
records nonetheless.
Zero Boys, Vicious Circle , LP -- This has to be
the quintessential early 80s US punk record, fuck Black Flag and those
meathead muscle boys from Southern California. The Midwest produced
stringy, pretty punk boys who gave us the archetypal snotty, nasal
vocals and sped-up, two-minute songs about Reagan-era angst and "the
Pope, the President, and the big rock stars who made a lot of money."
And the Zero Boys hailed from Indiana, which is one state over from DEVO
(Ohio).
X-Ray Spex, Germ-free Adolescents, LP
-- When Poly Styrene intones, "my mind is like a plastic bag," I feel
comforted, somehow. Everyone cites "Oh Bonage, Up Yours!" as the
X-Ray Spex song, but
I think the title track "Germ-free Adolescence" is my favorite.
Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual, LP --
When I was in fifth grade I really believed you could tell
about a person according to
which pop star they identified with most: Madonna or Cyndi Lauper. (Actually, I
thought the same thing about Michael Jackson or Prince.) I came down
on the side of Cyndi (and Prince), what can I
say?
Honorable mentions: Anything by God Is My Co-Pilot, Pat
Benetar's single "Invincible," Bikini Kill, the Detriot Cobras' latest
LP, um, I know I'm forgetting so much else.