Harmony in My Head Transmission.
Well folks, here are the notes. It was a long weekend at the station as Engineer X and myself were in there last Saturday and Sunday pre-taping the next two shows as I will be out of town and didn’t want to do re-runs. So, we went the extra mile and spent a good part of the weekend at the studio putting together two good shows of music. To make where I am clear, I will paste the recent as a few days ago newsletter at the bottom of this so in case you don’t get it from 2-13-61, you can read it below. It has all the shows and info for early October.
Thanks for listening. Later in October, Heidi threatens to make another appearance. We’ll keep you posted. I hope this finds you doing well. I hope you enjoyed the show tonight. Henry

Motorhead – Love Me Like a Reptile: Great track off of Motorhead’s Ace of Spades album. It’s a great one. What a band, Lemmy, what a man.

Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit: From the Commodore box. This was one heavy song. Heavy now and ten times that when Billie released it.
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
Blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Composed by Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allan)
Originally sung by: Billie Holiday

This is from the http://www.strangefruit.org/billie.htm site page:
Excerpted from Billie Holiday: Singer, by Bud Kliment, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, New York, 1990.

On December 28, 1938, Café Society opened its doors. Holiday was an immediate sensation. Most of the clientele had never heard a singer like her before, and their enthusiastic response was instrumental in transforming her into a star.

Holiday wound up staying at Café Society for nine months, doing three shows a night. One night a customer named Lewis Allen*, who was a poet and schoolteacher, showed her a poem he had written. The poem, entitled "Strange Fruit," was a protest against racial brutality. The words describe lynching in the South, and the strange fruit of the title refers to the bodies of lynched blacks hanging from the branches of a tree. Holiday was moved by the poem and, with the help of Sonny White, her accompanist at the time, she adapted it into a song.

Allen's powerful imagery made "Strange Fruit" one of the most solemn and startling songs ever written. At first, Holiday was hesitant about performing it. But then she relented. She still felt bitter about the circumstances that had led to her father's death, and it was easy to recall the many times that she had encountered racial prejudice while on tour. "I'm a race woman," she once said, and "Strange Fruit" enabled her to express this sentiment to her audiences.
Holiday introduced the intensely emotional song into her act with some trepidation. "The first time I sang it I thought it was a mistake," she said. "There wasn't even a patter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began to clap nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping."

Josephson, Café Society's owner, witnessed the song's effect on the audience and felt it fit right in with the club's liberal atmosphere. He insisted that Holiday close each show with "Strange Fruit." When the moment for the song arrived, table service would be suspended and all the lights in the club would be turned out except for a pin spotlight on Holiday. She would keep her eyes closed during the song's long, instrumental introduction. Then, full of emotion, she would begin to sing.

"There were no encores after it," Josephson recalled. "My instruction (to Holiday) was walk off, period. People had to remember 'Strange Fruit,' get their insides burned with it."

*Other sources document Lewis Allen as a pen name for Abel Meeropol. Abel Meeropol was a Jewish school teacher in New York who wrote the poem, Strangefruit as a result of seeing photographs of a lynching.

Blue Cheer - Summer Time Blues: From the Vincebus Eruptum album. A classic of sorts depending who you talk to. This one was out of print for some time. I never really started listening to them before Dez in Black Flag played this album to me and I was hooked. I don’t have all their albums, I have this one and Outsideinside and they’re both cool but this one is the one for me. In 1984 I think, we played in Northern Cal. and met Dickie Peterson, the original bass player. He was hanging out at the show. He came backstage and announced himself and said something like, “Blue Cheer!” and he hung out with us for a little while. Apparently Summertime Blues was a Top 40 single for them in the late 60’s. Can you imagine this song on mainstream radio now?

Nena – 99 Luft Balloons: Of course, Nena! Why?! I used to antagonize audiences before Black flag shows by playing this song in its English version and when the CD came out, I was in Germany and it was really cheap and so I got it. I have had it long time. I just thought coming out of Blue Cheer into Nena would be like biting into a twinkie and finding a dead mouse in it. Bracing and unforgettable.

The Ramones – Heidi is a Head Case: From the Mondo Bizarro album. This is a song for Heidi, I figured I should play this one, seeing that I was going to play the Puppies, Heidi’s band.

The Puppies – Secret Agent Girl: From the amazing Puppies CD. I have played a few of the songs off this record over the year. Great stuff. Heidi gets mad when I go, I think it’s cute. Isn’t she a little dear?!

Isaac Hayes – Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic: From the very cool Hot Buttered Soul album. Like I said on the show tonight, I have had this record since I was eleven or something. It came out a few years before but at one point, my mother was playing it and I kind of wandered away with it and took it to my room where it stayed. Those early Hayes records, Black Moses, Shaft, To Be Continued, they’re great. I hung out with Isaac Hayes once many years ago and wound up talking to him a lot about everything from the Civil Rights Movement to what it was like working at Stax. A very interesting man.

The Lurkers – Freak Show: Early single for the band. The original line-up with Howard wall on vocals is some of the coolest stuff I have ever heard. The first two albums, Fulham Fallout and God’s Lonely Men are mandatory I think. They have been re-issued on Captain Oi with all the corresponding singles and demos. Really cool UK punk rock.

Fats Waller – Christopher Columbus: From one of the RCA/Victor multi CD sets. I think they might be out of print. There’s a lot of Fats CDs and for the most part, they are comps. that are cobbled together although I have never heard a Fats song I didn’t like. Some of the CDs are just instrumentals and that’s ok but what really sells it for me with Fats are those amazing vocals. A genius.

The Januaries – Love Met the Devil: From the album of the same name on Foodchain. I have been a pal of singer songwriter Debbie Diamond for many years and always dig what she’s up to next. Sometimes she calls me up and comes by with new songs she’s recorded. There’s another really cool song on this record called Black Transmission.

Cleaning This Highway – Angola Prisoners: From the Prison Worksongs album on Arhoolie. I have had this record about twenty years now and it’s still great. I remember making a tape of this and Sonny Boy Williamson’s Down and Out Blues albums and sending it to Nick Cave back then. It was and still is, the heaviest blues album I have ever heard. Worth checking out.

Albert Ayler – Ghosts First Variation: From the Spiritual Unity album. Mike Watt turned me onto Ayler many years ago, 1983 I think. Ayler did a lot of recording in the summer of 1964. I think all those ESP label albums were from around that time. This one, Bells, Spirits Rejoice , New York Ear and Eye Control, these are really great. There’s a lot of Ayler out there. The later stuff on Impulse might be a little far out for some people but I think it’s pretty cool. Besides Sprits Rejoice, the album of his I have played a lot is a live album on Impulse called Live in Greenwich Village which recently got expanded to a 2CD set. Worth checking out. Many nights I have spent with this album on loud while writing. Coming soon, the Holy Ghost box set, it’s like ten CDs of rare Ayler. It’s going to be great. A guy named Jeff Schwartz wrote a great biography on the man and sent it to me many years ago, he has since posted it online so you can read it for free. What a man.
http://www.geocities.com/jeff_l_schwartz/ayler.html

The Treniers – Poontang: From the best of on Sony. Really cool R&B from the Trenier Brothers. I have some of the individual albums but this is the best mastering and selection of songs. If you liked this song, the rest is like it. Great honking stuff.

Sinatra – Old MacDonald: From the Swingin’ Session album. What are you going to do?! It’s Sinatra!

Raven – All for One: From the All for One album. This album is awesome. I have had it for years. Earlier today, I looked at it and couldn’t believe I hadn’t bought this one in yet. It is, they are as you believe them to be. Not rocket science or refined but well played and full of energy and what vocals. Solid as a rock with swords in the air!

Vega / Pansonic – Sick Sick USA: I have never asked Alan about this record and don’t know a damn thing about Pansonic. I like the record. I like that Alan never sits still. He’s always writing, painting sculpting, making music. He’s the real deal.

Chuck Higgins – Broke: From the Pachuko Hop CD on Specialty. It has to be worth checking out if it came out on Specialty. That’s the label that put out all the original Little Richard stuff. A guy who used to work at my book company turned me on to this guy. Cool stuff in the Treniers vein.

Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul: From the best of. Bobby and one James Brown go way back to the 60’s. He shared the stage with JB for years doing all those great backing vocals on songs like Sex Machine and Get Up Get Into It and Get Involved. He has always had a great voice and I remember as a kid hearing Sex Machine, wanting to know who the backing vocalist was more than the lead. This best of covers his career and this particular track is classic JBs with James conducting. As good as it gets.

The Ruts – Savage Circle: Great song, great band, great album. Their first and only official full-length album, The Crack is one of those must-have record to me. Utterly brilliant. Not a bad song in the bunch. I guess you could call me a fan. Singer Malcom Owen died about twenty-four years ago before the band had even really picked up speed. There’s a real cool re-release of this album that include the great Grin and Bear It album, which has single and live cuts, it’s all on one CD and well worth it.

Louis Prima – Gigolo: From a best of. He did a lot of shows with wife Keely Smith, a kind of Beauty and the Beast thing. There’s some great stuff they recorded together as well. I think she’s still around doing it.

Wesley Willis – Rock and Roll McDonald’s: From the Greatest Hits Vol. 1 CD on Alternative Tentacles. It’s a great one. I can’t say I have all of WW’s CDs. I would like to think so but there’s so many, I know I could get caught out there. I have to have over thirty at this point. He used to come to our shows and I would buy all the new ones he had. He died in 2003. I did the liner notes for his last album. He was the real deal. There’s some website information to be checked:
http://www.alternativetentacles.com/bandinfo.php?band=wesleywillis
http://www.monzy.org/wesley/
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1477150/20030822/willis_wesley.jhtml?headlines=true

Acme Sewage Company – I Don’t Need You: One of the great bands on the Raw Records label. This song was on a best of Raw com. LP. I’ve had that record for at least twenty-four years now. Damn, I’m getting old. Old yes, but not tired of hearing this song. The Punk 77 site has more info., not much but some. http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/acmesewageco.htm

Nico – Valley of the Kings: From her album The End. I have been hooked on Nico since I heard the Marble Index album in 1983 or something. All those Elektra albums, Desert Shore, The End, The Marble Index, Chelsea Girl. It’s far out, heavy sad stuff. There’s on later album I still listen to a lot The Drama of Exile. Great stuff. An interesting doc. on her called Nico Icon, worth checking out. Let’s see if I can find a good bio page, hold on. Damn! This one’s pretty cool: http://smironne.free.fr/NICO/index2.html

The Sunnyboys – Stop and Think: From the newly released 2CD set on Feel called This Is Real. My pal and agent in Australia, Tim Pittman put this out. I had a DCR of CD1 in my car for months. Really cool pop music. They were around in the early 80’s I guess. I don’t know much about them but What I’ve heard, which is about half this set, is pretty cool. Australia has and has had so many good bands, it’s not to be believed.

NEWSLETTER
Hello. I know it’s been awhile since I did a newsletter… so here it is...
As you probably know by now, Johnny Ramone (the guitar player of the one and only Ramones) died last week on September 15th. From what I have read and heard, he died in his sleep, surrounded by friends and family. About a week before he passed away, I was over at Johnny’s house visiting with him and his wife Linda. It was hard to see Johnny Ramone with his hair short and gray. He was thin and in pain. We talked about a lot of stuff: the upcoming Ramone’s tribute show, his health, film, music, and the times we played together. I told him about the time the movie Rock & Roll High School played at the Ontario Theater and how the Ramones walked through the theater right before the lights went down and pretty much the whole place emptied into the lobby. He asked me if I had seen the Ramones documentary, End of the Century (I had not seen it but had heard amazing things about it). He told me he had a copy of the final edit and if I wanted to, we could check it out. So we did. We sat there and watched the whole thing. It was great and it meant a lot to watch it with him. It was heavy to watch him watch himself and I wondered what he was thinking. After the film was over, we talked awhile longer but it was late and Johnny was tired so it was time for me to leave. He said to come by any time and I said how about next week. We made plans to watch a movie and I told him I would call. I put my hand on his arm and said, “I’ll see you soon, young man,” and then Linda walked me out and I went home. That’s the last time I ever saw him. I did call him a few days after our visit to see when was a good time to come over again and he said that he had people coming by for the next few days. Since I had to go east to do some shows I told him I would call him after the show on Sunday and we would set something up. That was the last time I spoke to him. On the day he died, I was about to call him when I got the call that he had passed away. It may sound lame, but it felt good to have the chance to personally thank him for the music and how much it meant and how The Ramones influenced a lot of bands and reached more people than anyone could imagine. He was very humble about it all.

The Ramones 30th Anniversary Tribute happened on September 12 at the Avalon in Los Angeles. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Dickies and X played great sets and then CJ Ramone, Marky Ramone and long time producer Daniel Ray took the stage and played while different guitar and vocal teams came out and did Ramones songs. Tim Armstrong, Danny Bosstone, Brett Bad Religion, Eddie Vedder--everybody sang and played great. I went onstage with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and we did Judy is a Punk, Commando and Blitzkrieg Bop. It was a rush and over before I knew it. I was standing on the side of the stage catching my breath and Jones said that it was too bad we didn’t have another five songs because we were just getting into it. I got to meet Tommy Ramone backstage, he’s the only Ramone I hadn’t met yet, that was so cool. The evening’s host, Rob Zombie, an extremely good guy, called Johnny on his cell phone from the stage and we all cheered as he held up the phone so Johnny knew we were there for him. When CJ and company went back onstage to do Pinhead I figured it was my time to get out before the parking lot was full of people. I slipped out the side exit and was back in my room minutes later, still sweating. What a night. I’m glad that Johnny knew the show went down and that it was a success. I believe that Johnny he was holding on for the show and once it happened, he let go. What a man, what a band.

Below is information on the shows I have coming up in October. There’s a couple of Mondays that I will be on the road so I will tape the radio shows that I usually do on Monday nights on Indie 103.1 FM in Los Angeles. In case you have not checked it out and want to, I’m on from 7-9pm Monday nights, west coast time. The show is re-broadcast on Thursday nights at midnight until 2am Friday morning, west coast time. You can stream the show by going here: http://indie1031.fm/main.html. You can go to my site and check out the playlists, etc by going here: http://www.harmonyinmyhead.com/.

Some advance warning: We just went over the final proofs for the new version of Get In The Van and it’s pretty damn cool. It’s 49 pages longer, all the Pettibon flyers are in there along with new pictures and the overall book really benefits from Dave Chapple’s redesign. Also, the 2CD set of Come In And Burn is all mastered and off to the pressing plant. Both of these will be available early November.

I wanted to tell you about the trip I just made to Honduras for the USO. Road manager Mike and I spent a few days at the Sato Cano Air force base up in the mountains, an hour and some out of Tegucigalpa. It was cool, but the last trip to Iraq and Kuwait made this trip seem fairly sedate in comparison, although not getting mortared was swell and the food was good. We learned some interesting stuff about what goes into trying to stop the flow of drugs into America. We were told about what sometimes happens in Columbia: The drug movers go up to an owner of a small plane, give him some money, tell him that his plane will be stolen and he’s not going to report it for a few days. The drug guys pack the plane with cocoa paste and fly to Guatemala (there may be other places they fly to but on this day we were told about Guatemala), anyway, the plane is crash landed there and the paste is loaded out. We were shown these insane aerial shots of a plane graveyard where there are almost a dozen crashed planes. One was still smoking. It seems pretty hopeless. It would be cool if no one wanted to get wasted on coke or heroin thus ruining the business for these people. Have you ever heard Lenny Bruce’s routine where no one takes drugs anymore and a Federal Agent tries to give dope to an ex-user and he doesn’t want it? I forget what record that’s on. As usual, as soon as we were done with the trip, we asked for another and hopefully we will be going on one in December.

Show info. (There will be a show in Bakersfield, CA later in the month, when I get the particulars on that one, I will send out the info.)

10/2/04. New York City, NY: I am part of a panel at the New Yorker Festival. Here’s the info on that: Political Rockers: Musicians with a message. Sasha Frere-Jones, moderator. With Carrie Brownstein, KRS-ONE, Krist Novoselic, and Henry Rollins.
1 P.M.

Celeste Bartos Forum
The New York Public Library
Here’s the site: http://festival.newyorker.com/schedule.cfm. If you go to the “Learn More” arrow, it will show you all the events, when, where, etc. I am a KRS-One fan and am looking forward to meeting him.

10/3/04. New York City, NY / Binghamton NY: As part of the New Yorker thing, there will be a book signing happening at 2pm at the Barnes & Noble at 33 E 17th st. The schedule says it’s Krist from Nirvana and myself. The New Yorker site has all the info.
After the signing Mike and I will get in a car and haul ass out of the city to Binghamton, NY for the show.
Forum Theatre
236 Washington Street
Binghamton, NY 13901
Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
Tickets at the Box Office 607.778.1369, or online at www.oddmanentertainment.com (via Ticketmaster).

10/5/04. 9:30 Club Washington DC: WedROCK: Many weeks ago Bob Mould wrote and told me about an event he had coming up in Washington D.C. called WedROCK. WedROCK is a benefit that will raise money and awareness for Freedom to Marry. He asked if I wanted to host it, I made sure my calendar was clear for that night and joined on. If any of you were at the talking shows this year, you heard me express my disgust with people that have a problem with two people of the same sex wanting to get married. Anyway, I am hosting the event, which I guess means that I will be running back and forth between acts, mouthing off and introducing everyone. I think it’s going to be a great night. As far as who’s going to be at this thing, I will paste in something from the site:
"Following the success of its NYC predecessor, DC’s WedROCK promises patrons a night to rock out and speak out against discrimination. Rock legend Henry Rollins will host the evening along with performances by the incomparable Sandra Bernhard, Hedwig and the Angry Inch mastermind John Cameron Mitchell, Husker Dü and Sugar's revered front man Bob Mould, MTV’s Total Request Live heart-throb Ben Jelen, Seattle’s premiere gay alt-country darlins Purty Mouth, electro-clash pop tarts Avenue D and the swaggering atmospheric sleaze rock of Morel!"
If this looks interesting to you, here’s the official site address so you can read more, get tickets, etc.: http://www.wedrock.com/

10/6-8/04. Somewhere in Southern California: I will be shooting three days of the Independent Film Channel’s show Ultimate Film Fanatic where I will be a judge. So far I have been told that one of the confirmed panelists will be Robert Evans--that will easily be intense. I don’t know when the Independent Film Channel will air these shows but when I find out, I’ll let you know.

10/11/04. Baltimore, MD: I am doing a show at the Lyric Opera House. It’s a fundraiser for University of Baltimore Students for Public Interest Law (UBSPI). It was Patricia Mitchell’s idea to book me. This is what she wrote me about the organization. I think they’re really cool and am happy to be part of this.
“UBSPI assists law students who want to help the less fortunate and
underprivileged obtain equal representation in the justice system. We do this by awarding grants to UB Law students who spend their summers working in public interest law. These grants allow students to contribute their talents to organizations that otherwise could not afford to hire summer law clerks. Our grant recipients have worked at a wide variety of organizations, including House of Ruth, Homeless Persons Representation Project, HERO, Legal Aid, Office of the Public Defender, ACLU, and the Public Justice Center.”
Basically, the first endowment fundraiser is this show.
Lyric Opera House
140 West Mount Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm
www.tickets.com / 866-597-4200 the Lyric box office* / Atomic Books (36th Street in Hampden)* / * tickets sold without a fee when purchased in person at either of these
venues

10/14/04. East Stroudsburg, PA: Another show at Stroudsburg, cool.
East Stroudsburg University
Abeloff Convocation Center
200 Prospect
E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301
8:00 p.m.
Tickets at the following locations:
From 8am - 4pm University Center Second Floor from the Student Senate Secretary /
From 4pm-8pm, Monday -Friday, 11am-7pm Saturday and Sunday at University Center Convenience Store on the Ground Level / Online at www.esu.musictoday.com / For questions, please call (570) 422-3396 or (570)422-3055

Europe 2005:
January
11. Hamburg - Schauspielhaus
12. Duesseldorf - Savoy theater
13. Frankfurt - Mousonturm
14. Berlin – Passionskirche

There is a London show on Jan 29 at Hammersmith (the place where Motorhead did the No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith album). I believe that it’s confirmed but am not 100% sure. I have been told that tickets went on sale today in London but I want to hear it one more time so for now consider it a tentative unless you Londoners see it listed. I know that there will be more UK dates as well as some more on the continent. Australia will be later in the year.

Ok, that’s it for now. When additional dates are confirmed, I will let you know. See you down the road. --Henry

.

Thanks for listening.