Entertainment and Media

I think it's abundantly clear to everyone that despite his name, Iggy Pop has nothing to do with pop music. As the lead singer of The Stooges and on his own, he earned his title as "Godfather of Punk". And he has what is currently the most overplayed punk song ever- "Lust for Life". Hey, Carnival Cruise Lines, what could you have been thinking about using this song?!?!? It makes sense in Trainspotting, but a hell of a lot less sense for your commercials.

If I remember correctly, some of the band members of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are in NOFX. Personally, I haven't heard a lot of NOFX, but I respect the hell out of Me First, so I'm sold! lol

There's something lovely and perfect about The Pogues. I strongly believe that punk was a natural evolution for Irish folk music. I know, I'm going to have to back that statement up. Both have simple, repeated lyrics, music that is fast without necessarily being complex, and is passionate. If you still don't understand, listen to The Pogues "If I Should Fall From Grace with God", and it will become much clearer. One step up and it's hardcore punk. One step down and it's traditional Irish music. The balance is perfect.

Okay, I'm about to admit my ignorance here, so you can see all of the coincidents that have been circling in the last few days.

On the way home from our Thanksgiving trip, we were listening to NPR. They had a guy on there, and I was wondering why my husband didn't turn the station. All in all, the guy had no particular style, and it just seemed like he did whatever he wanted. He was talking about folk music, and my husband has NEVER professed an interest in that before. So I listened without much interest, until the song "Johnny Appleseed" came on. Now, I didn't know the name of it before this, but I knew that song from HBO's "John from Cincinnati". I wanted to find out who the guy was, so I could check out some of his other stuff and see whether the stuff I had already heard on the show was a fluke, or the norm. They said his name was Joe Strummer, and I laughed to myself at how clever it is for a folk music singer to be named Strummer.

I got home that evening, and I'm only halfway listening to the tv when I hear them talk about a documentary that is showing on HBO (or something like that). And of course, it was about Joe Strummer. I figured I misheard, and it couldn't possibly be about the same guy. So I put it out of my mind until I heard it again the next day.

On Sunday night of each week, I start thinking about what topics I want to cover the next week. Because I just got the Dropkick Murphy's CD, I knew I wanted to do punk music. So I start trying to think of all the punk bands I've ever heard of, and come up with ones that I can actually write about. And I was nervous about The Clash, because I knew that I couldn't just ignore them, but I knew NOTHING about them. lol So I got on the web to check them out, and lo and behold, guess who was their singer?? Yeah, if you're reading these entries about punk, you already know more than I do. Joe Strummer. Who was also briefly in The Pogues, which is my next entry...

Sometimes when I encounter a lot of coincidents, I wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something, or send me some kind of message. But what in the world could it possibly be trying to tell me about Joe Strummer?!? lol

I don't know how I first heard of Henry Rollins. It sure wasn't from Black Flag. It wasn't from hearing him speak. All I know is that I watched "Lost Highway" and saw him in it, and I already knew who he was by that point. But where that knowledge came from... I don't know.

I've been trying to catch up by listening to some Black Flag. Pretty cool.