La La La Luscious

Songs The Clash Taught Us

Strummer Show 2011!

Strummer Show & Clash City Covers shows now on-line!

NYC coverage of Berkeley Rent Board!

Election results!

Jesse's November election picks!

KALX DEATH MATCH TOMORROW!

June 2010 Endorsements!

Bye bye inline hockey - hello ice!

Champeen rematch

West Oakland Toxic Tour coverage = award winning!

Turned in my Gilman keys for a reason.

Playoff MADNESS

Jack Harrison RIP

blah blah

3 nights- 3 roads to The Rock (tm)!

Flesheaters video!

Censorship: What the bleep? Thursday in Frisco!

Zero Boys & Black Fork Friday night!

Death Race!

Luscious on the Air!

Tonight in ice hockey

Hockey bits & pieces

More votes...

Hello RENT BOARD! Hello KALX!

Rent Board fundraiser! Jello Biafra @ 924 Gilman

Jesse For Rent Board, plus Drake, Harrison, Shelton, & Tregub!

End of season ice stats

Today's McDonald's protest

Jesse For Rent Board!

Hear me babble!

Dona Spring RIP

Tie & Jello 5-0

Give Em The Lumber zine- hockey & punk!

Goalie stats

Is this thing on?

2011-12-31T16:42:00.000-08:00

Here's yesterday's special, "Songs The Clash Taught Us", for a limited time!

Friday, December 30 from 6 - 9 pm- Jesse Luscious spins covers of Clash tunes, covers of songs the Clash covered, and features the original versions of some of the many songs the Clash covered as done by the original artists!

Songs The Clash Taught Us download (247 MB 6-9pm)
Songs The Clash Taught Us Playlist

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

image from Strummerville

Last Friday 12/23/11 was my 10th annual celebration of Joe Strummer on KALX, 1 day after the 9th anniversary of his death on 12/22/02. The show ran from 3pm to 9pm and is available as 2 3 hour mp3s below. No repeats!

Jesse Luscious was on the air in 2002 when the news of Strummer's death became known, and immediately began what's now an annual celebration of his music, from the 101ers to the Clash to the Latino Rockabilly War to the Mescaleros, with some surprising stops along the way (Janie Jones & the Lash, Ellen Foley, & the Pogues, to name just a few).

SPECIAL THANKS TO KALX DJS ZAIN, THE BERKSTER, CUPPA JOE & RUBBERBAND GIRL for their help!

The show will be available for a limited time only at the links below!
10th Annual Strummer show download part 1 (166MB mp3 3-6pm)
10th Annual Strummer show download part 2 (164MB mp3 6-9pm)
10th Annual Strummer show Playlist

====> Tomorrow, December 30th, from 6-9pm will be a special program Songs The Clash Taught Us. I'll be spinning covers of Clash tunes, covers of songs the Clash covered, and featuring the original versions of some of the many songs the Clash covered as done by the original artists!

Don't forget to tune in to KALX every day at 90.7 FM or on-line! The weekly Jesse Luscious program is Wednesday 6-9am (Pacific).

2010-12-25T08:09:00.001-08:00

For a limited time you can download this year's Strummer show, and as a bonus, the Clash City Covers show too!

It's all free!

CLASH CITY COVERS:
Jesse Luscious spins 3 hours of Clash & Joe Strummer covers, mixed in with covers of songs the Clash covered, and a special segment, "Songs The Clash Taught Us"!

"Songs The Clash Taught Us" will be some of the original tunes covered by the Clash, like Junior Murvin's "Police & Thieves" & Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac."

SPECIAL THANKS TO THESE KALX DJS, without their help it would've been a VERY short show!
Mack, Cuppa Joe, Citizen Zain, Madame X, & Rubberband Girl!

Clash City Covers mp3 download (247MB, 3 hours)
Clash City Covers playlist

9TH ANNUAL STRUMMER SHOW:
It's the 9th Annual Strummer Show celebrating the music of Joe Strummer and his bandmates in The Clash around the 8th anniversary of his death on December 22, 2002.

Jesse Luscious was on the air in 2002 when the news of Strummer's death became known, and immediately began what's now an annual celebration of his music, from the 101ers to the Clash to the Latino Rockabilly War to the Mescaleros, with some surprising stops along the way (Janie Jones & the Lash, Ellen Foley, & the Pogues, to name just a few).

SPECIAL THANKS TO KALX DJS CUPPA JOE & RUBBERBAND GIRL for their help!

9th Annual Strummer Show mp3 download part 1 (249MB, 3 hours)
9th Annual Strummer Show mp3 download part 2 (243 MB, 3 hours)
9th Annual Strummer Show playlist

Don't forget to tune in to KALX every day at 90.7 FM or on-line! The weekly Jesse Luscious program is Wednesday 6-9am (Pacific).

2010-12-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

From NYC's Tenant/Inquilo newsletter (from the Metropolitan Council on Housing, or Met Council) comes this write-up of our Rent Board campaign!

Berkeley Elects Pro-Tenant Rent Board

What happens when a city elects its rent guidelines board?

In Berkeley, California, it means that a pro-tenant slate won all six seats on the city’s Rent Stabilization Board this month, easily outrunning their three rivals.
The six—five incumbents and one new member—were nominated at the Berkeley Tenants Convention, a gathering of more than 100 people in late July, after 12 potential candidates had been interviewed by a coalition of local liberal and leftist groups. They each garnered more than 10,700 votes; their top rival got about 6,800.

“The point of the slate is unity among tenants and tenant-friendly property owners,” says Jesse Townley, a punk-rock record-company manager who was the top vote-getter. The slate included two tenants, one homeowner, and three small landlords.
This coalition, says Townley, was needed to overcome “the super-anti-rent-control property owners, organized by the Berkeley Property Owners Association.” When the BPOA’s pro-landlord slates won a majority for a few years in the mid-1990s, he says, “rents went up 45 percent during that time under rent control. They basically did everything they could to raise rents as much as they could while staying within the letter of the law.”

The main opposition candidate, George Perezvelez, “ran as neither pro-tenant nor pro-landlord, whatever that means,” says Townley. Perezvelez was endorsed by Mayor Tom Bates and six members of the City Council. Tenant activists believe he was encouraged to run “to drive a wedge into the slate process,” Townley adds.
California law bans cities from limiting rents on vacant apartments, but it lets them reregulate the new tenant’s rent. As Berkeley, a city of 100,000 that’s home to the University of California’s flagship campus, has gentrified significantly, market rents are dramatically higher than regulated rents. However, city residents voted in 2004 to limit annual rent increases to 65 percent of the increase in the federal consumer price index for the San Francisco Bay Area. Thus, the maximum increase for tenants renewing their leases in 2011 will be 0.7 percent.

The board also adjudicates landlord-tenant disputes and works on code enforcement, such as requiring buildings to be earthquake-proofed.
— Steven Wishnia

(Steve Wishnia is a founding member of 1980s NYC art-punk band The False Prophets)

2010-11-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to you all, I was reelected to the Berkeley Rent Board, along with my 5 fellow candidates on the Progressive Slate. As of tonight the totals (which are pretty much final) are:

Jesse Townley 12,632
Pam Webster 11,660
Dave Blake 11,432
Lisa Stephens 11,037
Kathy Harr 11,005
Asa Dodsworth 10,772

As for the rest of my election suggestions, it was a mixed bag. On the local level almost everything passed, but I was much less accurate at the state level. (Although Alameda County hewed closer to my suggestions than the state- not surprising considering our Bay Area bubble!)

Here's a quick list of who I endorsed, followed by the winner in CAPS.

City Auditor – Ann Marie Hogan HOGAN
City Council District 1 - Linda Maio MAIO
City Council District 4 – Jesse Arreguin ARREGUIN
City Council District 7- Kriss Worthington WORTHINGTON
City Council District 8 - Jacquelyn McCormick, Stewart Jones WOZNIAK

Berkeley Measures:
Measures H & I (schools)- Yes YES
Measure R (downtown)- No YES (don't worry, it'll be back, sigh...)
Measure S (tax on marijuana sales)- Yes YES
Measure T (medical marijuana zoning)- Yes YES

Alameda County:
Superior Court Judge, Seat 9- Victoria Kolakowski KOLAKOWSKI
EBMUD, Ward 4- Andy Katz KATZ
Measure F - $10 Vehicle Fee - Yes YES

State Propositions:
19 - Legalize Marijuana - Yes NO (booooo!)
20 - Congressional Redistricting - Yes YES
21 - Vehicle Fee for Parks - Yes NO (smacks forehead)
22 - Local Government and Transportation Funds - Yes YES
23 - Gutting of Greenhouse Gas Laws - No NO
24 - Repeals Business Tax Loopholes - Yes NO (smacks forehead)
25 - Approval of State Budget by Majority Vote - Yes YES
26 - Extends 2/3 Vote Requirement to All Revenue Items - No YES (this'll be a treat in the next few years!)
27 - Returns Redistricting to the State Legislature - No NO

2010-10-18T03:11:00.000-07:00

Berkeley:
Berkeley Rent Board- Progressive Slate:
Dave Blake, Asa Dodsworth, Katherine Harr, Lisa Stephens, Jesse Townley, Pam Webster
(remember, vote for the candidates whose last letters of our last names spell SHERRY!)

City Council races are ranked choice voting this year, which means you can rank up to 3 people in order of preference for the seat. You can choose 1, 2, or 3 names. I've listed who I would rank (not in all races), in descending order (choice #1, choice #2, choice #3).

City Auditor – Ann Marie Hogan
City Council District 1 - Linda Maio, Jasper Kingeter
City Council District 4 – Jesse Arreguin only
City Council District 7- Kriss Worthington only

City Council District 8 - Jacquelyn McCormick, Stewart Jones

Measures H & I- YES- these reauthorize existing property taxes that support Berkeley schools.

Measure R - NO- this is kind of a waste of time. It's not an actual plan, just a guide for the City Council. There was a 5 year Downtown planning process that had mostly things that everyone liked. Drama ensued. Instead of putting forward the detailed compromise put together by this 5-year planning process, a majority of the City Council put this nice-sounding ballot measure up instead. Send a message that they should either send the full plan to us OR find some courage & vote to approve it or another plan themselves, which they can do.
Not only that, but $25,000 of the $32,000 raised so far has come from one major downtown property owner, Equity Residential, founded & run by by zillionaire investor Sam Zell. If this measure had major green credibility, the lion's share of its money wouldn't come from a slash-and-burn investor like Zell & other major downtown property owners like Lakireddy Bali Reddy. Yes, THAT Lakireddi.
More on Zell:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/media/06tribune.html
More on Reddy (this IS an incredibly biased site, but even so the facts pretty much conform to this site's retelling of the incredibly tragic saga):
http://www.wassusa.com/
No matter what happens, this will come back to voters in one form or another.

Measure S - YES Tax on Cannabis Businesses- legalize it, tax it, help pay for services with it!
Measure T- YES Medical Cannabis Ordinance Amendments- cleans up & clarifies existing zoning language & treats dispensaries like other legal businesses.

Alameda County:
Superior Court Judge, Seat 9- Victoria Kolakowski
EBMUD, Ward 4- Andy Katz

Measure F - County $10 Vehicle Registration Fee - Yes. The state's been stealing- er, appropriating- money from the counties, who've in turn appropriated money from the cities. This is a start to ending that vicious cycle (but only a start).

State Propositions:
19 - Legalize Marijuana - Yes. Legalize it, tax it, regulate it, make $$$ off of it, just like we've done with the much more dangerous and deadly drug called alcohol.
20 - Congressional Redistricting - Yes. Makes the non-partisan commission that redistricts state legislature seats also responsible for redistricting House of Representatives seats. The reason I supported the 2008 prop that created this commission (and won, barely) is the then-current gerrymandering & creation of "safe seats" in the dysfunctional state legislature has inherently undemocratic results.
21 - Vehicle Fee for Parks - Yes. The state's been stealing- er, appropriating- money from the counties, who've in turn appropriated money from the cities, all of whom promise to pay it back with interest (with what money?). This is a start to ending that vicious cycle (but only a start), and the funds stay within the park & wildlife conservation systems.
22 - Local Government and Transportation Funds - Yes. This says that the state cannot steal- er, borrow- money designated for counties & cities in order to balance the state budget. This is a big step forward in stopping the vicious cycle mentioned in Prop 21 & Measure F.
23 - Gutting of Greenhouse Gas Laws - No. Hole in sand, meet head.
24 - Repeals Business Tax Loopholes - Yes.
25 - Approval of State Budget by Majority Vote - Yes. Holy moly, our state budget process is an annual embarrassment and a major impediment to getting incredibly necessary work done at the state level.
26 - Extends 2/3 Vote Requirement to All Revenue Items - No. This would make the current situation even worse.
27 - Returns Redistricting to the State Legislature - No. The whole point of removing redistricting from the legislature is because it was corrupted by both parties gerrymandering ridiculous "safe" districts.

Statewide and Congressional races:
First: Why are the 2 major party candidates excluding Green party Governor candidate Laura Wells from the debates and having her arrested when she tries to enter the hall? It's business as usual from the 2 parties that have a stranglehold on US politics.

Second: Meg Whitman & Carly Fiorina are disasters-in-waiting and I shudder to think what harm they'll do to California. These are excellent examples of why Ranked-Choice Voting is great- vote your heart and vote strategically at the same time- unfortunately that's not available state-wide (yet).

Third: Last election's horrendous Proposition 14 excludes all but the top 2 vote-getters in November elections, meaning future state elections will be all Dem-Dem, Dem-Rep, or Rep-Rep. No Green, no Libertarian, no Peace & Freedom- no way to express dissatisfaction with the 2 major parties.
http://nader.org/index.php?/archives/2201-California-Enshrines-the-Duopoly.html#extended

Even so, you all are on your own for these races- while I'm a proud Green Party member since 1992, the state-wide Green races strike me as quixotic and a huge drain of energy and resources. I'd rather see the excellent Green candidate Laura Wells become a Green mayor (like Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond who's up for reelection, hint hint!) and move up into state-wide office that way. Real political power as a party comes from having... real power. Local race by local race, we and other 3rd parties ought to be battering down the barred doors of the 2 major parties until they cannot refuse us entrance anymore because we are already inside due to voter support.

I'm torn on whether to recommend the excellent Green candidates for these races (Governor, US Senate, US House, State Legislature, etc) or to recommend the mainstream Democrats running against creeps like Whitman & Fiorina.

2010-05-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night!

It's the 2nd KALX DEATH MATCH!

Jesse "The Liquidator" Luscious in a head-to-head musical throwdown with "The Hammer"- wait, she just cancelled- can't stand the heat? Hmm... anyway, The Liquidator will take on all comers, from 6pm- 7pm Friday May 28th on KALX streaming here & broadcast in the Bay Area at 90.7 FM!

(tune in 6-9am for the regularly scheduled Jesse Luscious program on KALX too!)

2010-05-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Short version:
Measure C- Yes
Prop 13- Yes
Prop 14- No
Prop 15- Yes
Prop 16- No
Prop 17- No

Superior Court Judge Office #9- Victoria S. Kolakowski
Board of Education, 1st Trustee Area- Joaquin A. Rivera
State Superintendent of Public Instruction- Larry Aceves

Contested Green Partisan races
Governor- Laura Wells
County Committee- Patti Marsh, Dave Heller, & Greg Jan

Long version:
Since this is a primary election, many of the candidates are party-specific & often unopposed. For this reason I'm only mentioning contested races & non-partisan races.

Superior Court Judge Office #9:
Victoria S. Kolakowski - She's a long-time administrative law judge who is transgendered & progressive.
Website

Board of Education, 1st Trustee Area
Joaquin A. Rivera- He's been an effective member of the Berkeley School Board for the past 12 years- the county needs more hands-on people like him.
Website

State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Larry Aceves- He's been a local Superintendent, teacher, and school principal, & is endorsed by many progressives & major newspapers.
Website

Contested Green Partisan races
Governor- Laura Wells. Of the 2 running, she has the most realistic approach to this perennially unrealistic campaign.

County Committee- 10 are running for 9 seats. All would do a good job, so I'll just highlight the 3 I've worked closely with on both Berkeley & county-wide issues: Patti Marsh, Dave Heller, & Greg Jan.

Berkeley Measure:
C- Yes!
This is a small property tax to replace the warm water pool that's being torn down, as well as renovate & fund the existing municipal pools. This replaces an earlier tax (Measure R in 2000) that was never collected. The collected tax can only be spent on the pools & will ensure a dedicated funding source in perpetuity. The warm water pool is vital for the disabled, people in physical therapy, infants, and children, and all of the pools will be brought up to the highest Green building standards.
Website

State Propositions:
13- Yes!
This gives unreinforced masonry buildings the same existing tax break for earthquake retrofitting as other types of buildings. These are generally brick buildings & susceptible to catastrophic collapse, so this incentive to retrofit is very welcome.
LA Times endorsement

14- NO!
This is a power grab by the 2 major parties & would restrict the general election to the top 2 vote-getters in the primary. For instance, if 2 Republicans are the top 2 gubernatorial candidates, then we'll have no other choices- write-in votes are also banned under this Proposition. Even more expensive state-wide campaigns will be necessary to run a successful state-wide campaign, and third parties will be shut out of the elections and be completely devastated. Less choice, more corruption, atrocious proposition.
Website

15- Yes!
It's a baby step towards public financing of elections- qualified 2014 & 2018 Secretary of State candidates would be given $ collected from increasing state fees on lobbyists.
League of Women Voters Endorsement

16- No!
One of 2 clearly corporate giveaways on the ballot, this is funded by PG&E and is an attempt to squelch the spread of non-profit public power systems (see: Alameda, Anaheim, Palo Alto, etc) which are cheaper & greener than PG&E's system. 16 is all about crushing competition to one of California's most powerful (pun intended) corporations.
Website

17- No!
The other corporate giveaway is just as ridiculous. Mercury Insurance Company is funding this law that would allow insurers to jack up rates on anyone who hasn't had car insurance at any point in the previous 5 years- even if it's because they haven't owned a car or they were overseas in the military. In addition to ensuring more profits for major corporations from us, it'll also force financially strapped drivers to drive without insurance, since public transit is not a viable option in much of the state.
Website

P.S.- I've donated money to Measure C, Proposition 15, & Joaquin Rivera.

2010-05-13T11:26:00.001-07:00

Last night was my last roller game for a while. Concentrating on ice & Summer BASH- yes!

Edit: Friday 5/14 My Silver B ice team gave me MVP for last season (during which we beat the #1 & the #2 teams in the playoffs before losing the finals 3-0). I was shocked & happy!

2010-05-09T23:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a rematch in the Bronze league from the championship game (a 0-0 tie we lost in a shootout)- turns out their starting goalie & a ton of their players moved up a league leaving half a team and half new players to begin from scratch. We won 5-0, but there's no doubt that as they get used to each other that they'll become, again, a team to be reckoned with.

For instance, their goalie (who was the 3rd best in the league last season behind their starting goalie & myself) was rusty- he's gonna be on top of his game in a few weeks. They also picked up at least one player who has a bullet of a shot.

2010-05-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hot damn, the Newsdesk.org project of Independent Arts & Media just won "Best Digital Media Presentation" from the Society of Professional Journalists. Congrats!

INDIANAPOLIS - The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2009 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism.

Judges chose the winners from over 1,300 entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online. The awards recognize outstanding work published or broadcast in 2009.

Digital Media Presentation (Independent)
"The Bay Area Toxic Tour: West Oakland," Kim Komenich, Kwan Booth, Josh Wilson, Newsdesk.org/Independent Arts & Media

2010-04-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

I turned in my keys Friday & resigned from the Board of Directors & as Secretary. It's the 1st time since 1989 that I haven't had keys there & I am completely unaffiliated with 924 Gilman now. I feel a huge wave of relief, although it wasn't an easy decision to make.

Short version:
Gilman's always been a half non-profit, half-tax paying entity. It's been operating as a non-profit under the umbrella of another non-profit for a couple of years, and it's finally really close to being a legally independent 501(c)3 non-profit. This means it can go out & raise funds & in-kind donations from individual donors & foundations.

Part of Gilman becoming a non-profit involves having a Board of Directors (who would probably organize fundraising efforts) and restructuring it's governance structure to accommodate this, as well as rewriting the by-laws to add some tweaks & some major changes. It has been a collective that is run by the 2xmonth collective meetings since 1986, open to all. Before this weekend's by-law changes, anyone who had attended at least one meeting in the past was allowed to vote. I believe that the new by-laws (at least the last version I saw) requires voting members to do at least 1 task a month (which is completely reasonable).

I have a lot of experience with writing by-laws for non-profits & egalitarian entities, reorganizing governance structures, and planning fundraising efforts for these types of places. Doing this for Gilman was my main reason for attending the twice-monthly collective meetings again.

The recent by-law revision that happened showed me that the super-close coordination & collaboration that these HUGE efforts require wasn't going to happen, at least not with me involved. I reached out to the main regular volunteers & asked for us to collaborate, to work together, but was mostly rebuffed.

It's kind of crazy to me that a group of regular, hard-working volunteers would shine on legitimate offers of help to lighten their already heavy load. I was always up front with what I could offer & that I was not interested in personal drama. Unfortunately personal drama created by some of the current volunteers definitely played a part in their reluctance to collaborate.

So I said, fine, here's my keys, here's my resignation, good luck.

I'm ambivalent, because while I feel strongly about Gilman's history, I am very worried by the statements & actions of some of the current volunteers. "Gilman hasn't been run as a collective for 2 years" is one that is factually wrong but fervently expressed by the current Head of Booking. No doubt the recently-passed by-law changes will move the place further in his preferred direction. (By-laws that I happily helped re-write, by the way- I don't think a place should stay sacred & unchanging, especially when a lot of the changes are good ideas)

There's a sense of "us" (the people who can give many hours a week) and "them" (the larger community, including many Gilman veterans who have previously given many hours a week for years- decades- at a time). There's a contempt for the worth of the contributions of "them," even though "they" will be some of the main targets for any successful fundraising effort.

Additionally, there are issues of volunteer retention & volunteer relations- another out-going volunteer said that they were always afraid of being yelled at by their "parents," i.e. some of the main volunteers, if they did something those main volunteers disagreed with.

This disapproval of dissent by the main regular volunteers is not healthy for a community-organized space. I ran into this myself over the past few months when I refused to leave my experience & knowledge at the door & get in line, and instead have a discussion about pros & cons of various things. Nothing I have done is any different than what I or hundreds (thousands?) of past Gilman volunteers have done over the decades. Advocate for a position, go to a vote, & win or lose a collective vote. Rinse, wash, repeat. Democracy sucks, get used to it- or change the rules.

While I will not say that donating to Gilman is a bad idea, I can't recommend it either. That sucks to write after all of these years of being a huge booster, but that's where it is.

2010-04-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, non-sports people skip this.

I play in 2 ice hockey leagues- Silver B & Bronze. The teams are Sardogs & Gulag, respectively. (Silver B is the more skilled league)

These past 3-4 weeks have been playoff season @ Oakland Ice, and both teams made it to the finals with me in net.

Sardogs came in 7th (out of 8) for the season, but we went on to beat the #1 & #2 teams in the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs in tough games. We went to the finals against the #4 team, the Cross-Czechs (made up of Czechs, Slovaks, & some north americans). They were really tough, having 4 high level players, and beat us 3-0. It wasn't for trying though, we just couldn't get through their defense to score. I'm really happy with how I played, considering the # & caliber of shots I faced (25 shots to 10 by us).

Gulag came in 2nd for the season, and we beat the Bronze league Cross-Czechs (they have 3 teams in 3 different levels @ Oakland) 4-0 in the semi-finals. The finals were last night against the #1 team, Gang Green who we've dueled with throughout the season, losing or winning by 1 goal. Their goalie & I were neck & neck for best GAA & Save % throughout the season too. I ended up squeaking out the #1 spot. It was kind of a perfect matchup- #1 & #2 teams, #1 & #2 goalies, a 1-game final.

We played to a 0-0 tie in regulation, then a 0-0 tie in overtime. Both of us were strongly tested by the opposing shooters throughout the game. Unfortunately, I blinked in the shoot-out & let one in. That was literally the game & we lost. It was the best frickin' finals I've ever been involved in, and one of the best games I've ever been a part of. A real goalie battle that was a lot of fun & a lot of work.

Sardog playoff run
Gulag playoff run

Bronze goalie stats GP shots GA GAA Save%

Jesse Townley	Gulag	22	458	33	1.50	0.928
Matthew Powers	Gang Green	16	319	23	1.44	0.928

2009-11-16T16:54:00.000-08:00

My fellow Rent Board Commissioner Jack Harrison just passed away after an illness.

He was a combination of gruff common sense & thoughtful idealism, and I learned a lot from him in the short time that I worked with him during our shared campaign for office in 2008 and during this term on the Rent Stabilization Board.

2009-05-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

Blah, that's exactly how I feel today. Oh well...

2009-05-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

The past 3 days revealed 3 different ways of being a lifer in the music scene.

On Friday, I was lucky enough to hear a preview of the whole upcoming Rancid record, "Let The Dominos Fall." Rancid, as everyone reading this knows, has been a band since 1992, constantly touring & releasing new records. Two of them had been playing in bands together almost continuously since 1985 or so, including Operation Ivy.

The new record was cohesive sounding, even though- like many Rancid records- it skipped from genre to genre. There seemed to be a unified sound & attitude throughout the record, and the band sounded confident & solid in this, their first record with their new drummer.

On Saturday I saw a new band play at Gilman Street. It was Classics Of Love and- speaking of Operation Ivy- is led by that band's singer, Jesse Michaels. While the band covered 2 songs from Jesse's earlier bands (Common Rider & Operation Ivy), the main punch to the stunning show was the new songs. Fast & mid-tempo punk, sometimes with an Agent Orange "Living In Darkness" feel, with a couple of ska-tinged songs thrown in.

It was really great to see an old friend belt out new songs with new heart and new band mates.

Tonight, Sunday, I saw the New York Dolls play in San Francisco. The 2 original Dolls, David Johansen & Sylvain Sylvain, are backed by 3 young Trash N Vaudeville types with solid chops. Always a rock and roll band first, they were loose & moderately raucous, though lead singer Johansen seemed subdued at times, kind of like he was pacing himself. They made silly Rock Faces, pointed at each other in mock amazement during solos, and introduced each other about every other song. Yes, they meant it, or at least most of it, & some of the stuff would've been ridiculous if Ratt or Motley Crue did it, but what are you gonna do? They're the frickin' surviving members of the New York Dolls!

And speaking of that, I was at one of Joshua Ploeg The Traveling Chef's dinners before the show & mentioned to a buddy that I was going to see the band. He responded with a list of the dead members- Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan, & Johnny Thunders. I thought, "Yes, I can name the dead members too, but so what?" Watching the band kick out their songs (some more successfully than others), I realized that if I wasn't worried about "authenticity" it was a really fun show. In other words, if this was some band I just stumbled in to see, I would've been astonished at how rockin' they were. But because of the context & the history, I wasn't letting myself enjoy it too much.

Don't get me wrong, my first NY Dolls-related love is Johnny Thunders, his guitar tone, & the Heartbreakers. And I'm not saying that the 2009 version of the band was incredible- they had a bad habit of throwing in momentum-killing breakdowns in the middle of high energy classics like "Pills" & "Trash." They did NOT want to get off the stage- in fact Sylvain Sylvain stayed on stage between the set & the encore encouraging the crowd to chant "New-York-Dolls," as if that wasn't going to happen anyway.

In the end, they pulled it off, in spite of - or because of- the ridiculousness & grandiosity of their show. They believed in The Rock and they Sold it to us. If I had a dollar for every band who thought they could smirk their way through "The Rock" & ended up stinking, I'd be pretty fucking rich.

To recap: one set of lifers stuck together & stayed consistent, changing or expanding its musical horizons throughout. Another lifer started near the bottom again, with a new band name, new band members, new songs, and just a couple of nods to his long history. A third set of lifers came back together after 3 decades & picked up the pieces/found new pieces and started their engines again. They kept a lot of their history intact- including the band name- but added new songs, new records, & new band members.

We can all identify lifers who have failed in any or all of these 3 situations- heck, music is littered with the bloated walking corpses of bands or lifers who just won't stop doing a bad thing. But these 3 lifers give me & the rest of us hope that yeah, there's always a chance to get back onto the stage, go back into the studio, and keep on creating noise beautiful noise!

P.S.- Check out Josh Ploeg's new band Warm Streams!

2009-05-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hockey update soon- lots has happened. Only I really care about it, but I'm the only one who reads this, so here's a placeholder from the awesome awesome 1980s L.A. band Flesheaters. Someone else on-line described them as holding down the horror side of the X/Blasters scene- this video shows that pretty clearly!

Speaking of this, Mary Woronov of Death Race 2000 makes an appearance too!

2009-02-25T22:37:00.000-08:00

This Thursday 2/26 in San Francisco, I'll be part of the fun, rollicking Censorship panel in San Francisco- Fun? Rollicking? Censorship? Yeah, that's right! Show up & see how we do it!

“Censorship: What the 'bleep', I can't say that?”

Presented by Independent Arts & Media

TIME & DATE: Thursday, February 26th 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Chez Poulet- 3359 Army, San Francisco
DESCRIPTION: Freedom of Speech doesn't mean we can't say or print anything we want. We will discuss what can and can't be said; and if what we aren't allowed to say - should be said or not.

Our panel will tell what they know of censorship from what they have heard and what they have experienced in their lives.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Joseph - Manic D Press
Jesse Townley - Alternative Tentacles, KALX, & Gilman
John Hell - Community micro radio DJ on Pirate Cat Radio
Moderator - V. Vale - ReSearch Publication

2009-02-23T00:48:00.000-08:00

Fucking AWESOME.

end.
of.
message.

2009-02-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

First off- Death Race 2000 is my favorite movie ever. Period.

So I rented the "remake" of it, last year's Death Race, not expecting much. Credits showed that Roger Corman, who directed the original, was involved peripherally, so that was a good sign. The remake, though much more limited in scope than the original, is good- crap, considering how bad it could've been, it's a frickin' masterpiece- and its car effects were super.

What pissed me off though was the smacked-ass director, in some dvd extra, claiming that his version was a broader statement about society than the original. Huh. Sounds like he's never seen the original. That's a broad dystopian vision of a corporate/religious dictatorship pandering to the masses. His is a limited, focused dystopian vision of a corporate dictatorship pandering to the masses.

Little creep. Other than that, Death Race is pretty darn good, but isn't going to knock the original off its pedestal.

2008-12-19T13:29:00.000-08:00

It's the holiday season & that means I'm subbing many many shows on KALX here in Berkeley, in addition to DJing my regular Tuesday morning show from 6-9am. Tune in live either via 90.7FM or on-line at http://kalx.berkeley.edu.

The site streams all shows live, and you can see the last 24 hours of songs on the site anytime. Click on the link to the right to see all of my playlists.

Tues 12/23 6-9am
Wed 12/24 noon-3pm (my annual celebration of Joe Strummer!)
Fri 12/26 9am-noon
Sat 12/27 3pm-5:30pm
Mon 12/29 noon-3pm
Tues 12/20 6-9am
Wed 12/31 noon-3pm
Fri 1/2 3pm-6pm
(all times Pacific Standard Time)

P.S.- As always, these shows are holiday-free zones- that means NO x-mas, hannukah, or kwanza tunes! Rock the radness!

2008-11-23T12:47:00.000-08:00

Going into tonight's game we're in 1st place by 2 points (5-1-2). I had a shutout last week, so my overall GAA is 1.71 (12 goals in 7 games). Tonight we're playing one of the teams tied for 2nd place, so it ought to be a good one. Afterwards, BBQ!

For the games that we have specific stats for:
109 shots, 9 goals 1.50 GAA 0.917 Save %

2008-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

In our Bronze ice hockey team, I'm 3-1-2 (3 wins, 1 loss, 2 ties). Not all of the games had shots kept track of, but the goals against average is 2.00 (12 goals in 6 games).

Counting the games that were shot totals kept, I've got a 90.6% save percentage. Decent, but I did better last season. There's more than 1/2 the season left, so there's time to get more shutouts (1 so far this year).

I really love playing ice hockey, even when we lose!

Right now our team is tied for 1st in the league. We just lost 2-0 in the final minutes last night to the other 1st place team. It was our 1st loss of the season (we're 4-1-2).

EDIT: Just realized that I didn't mention that last season (see the 8/11/08 post below) our ice hockey team won the championship for the first time since I've been playing on the team (2+ years, I think? At least 4 or 5 seasons- one in summer & one in winter). It was a great night!

In BASH (Bay Area Street Hockey), the Saturday S.F. league I play in, I play out & am currently the backup goalie. After too many years, I finally scored my first goal on Saturday. Then, our goalie was injured during the game so I had to rush & put on the pads & play the last few minutes of the game. I got the win too!

2008-11-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Slate Mate Igor, I now know our vote totals are increasing as more of the huge backlog of absentee ballots are being counted.

NP - Nicole Drake 23447 18.24
NP - Igor Tregub 23240 18.08
NP - Judy E. Shelton 22702 17.66
NP - Jack Harrison 20111 15.65
NP - Jesse Townley 17381 13.52

Yay us!

2008-11-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

*** Our Rent Board Slate Won!
*** Jesse Luscious back on KALX!

*** Our Rent Board Slate Won!

Thank you for all of your good wishes, volunteer hours, and donations to the Progressive Rent Board slate! It paid off as the 5 of us were handily elected to the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. We will be sworn into office in early December.

#/votes %/votes
Nicole Drake 19256 18.13
Igor Tregub 19138 18.02
Judy E. Shelton 18691 17.59
Jack Harrison 16660 15.68
Jesse Townley 14170 13.34

The local election results mostly hewed to my endorsements, which was a pleasant (& rare!) surprise. The only close Berkeley race that so far isn't going my way is the hard fought District 5 race between Sophie Hahn (yay!) and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli.

With 6,660 ballots counted (absentee & provisional ballots are still being counted) Capitelli has a 400 vote lead. In 2004, 7,700 people voted on this race, and with this year's record turnout the vote total could easily go above 8,000. That said, 400 votes will be tough to make up for Sophie. Regardless of the outcome, she's happy that her supporters proved that there is much more diversity in opinion in our district than previously thought.

Like anyone with half a brain, I'm extremely relieved that McCain/Palin did not win the Presidency. I'm guardedly optimistic about Obama/Biden. The giddiness & joy that swept the streets Tuesday night was intoxicating. We watched the crowd outside of the Guerilla Cafe break into a spontaneous singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" after the night's hip-hop djs finished their set. People were blocking the streets in joy, not in anger or frustration.

Speaking of frustration- with all the good news locally (Jesse Arreguin in District 4!), state-wide, and nationally, one measure- Proposition 8- reminds us that we still have a fair ways to travel until we get to a truly just society. Updates on fighting for equal treatment under the law can be found here http://www.noonprop8.com/ and here http://www.aclunc.org/

*** Jesse Luscious back on KALX!

That's right, I'm back on the air as DJ Jesse Luscious, every Tuesday morning 6-9am, on KALX, 90.7 FM & streamed live at http://kalx.berkeley.edu The 1st show is Veteran's Day so tune in for at least a set or 2 of relevant tuneage.

Thanks to everyone who donated during our recent annual fundraiser- you truly ROCK! If you missed the programming, no worries. You can donate here:
http://givetocal.berkeley.edu/browse/?u=KALX%20Radio

2008-10-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

Vale from Re/SEARCH will be interviewing punk & political icon Jello Biafra about "Punk, Presidential Politics, and Art." It's at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, $7-$10 sliding scale, Thursday October 2nd. Begins at 7pm & will end by 10pm, all ages.

This will be a great, funny, & informative night!

http://berkeleyrentboard.org
http://www.924gilman.org
http://www.researchpubs.com
http://www.alternativetentacles.com/bandinfo.php?band=jello

2008-08-11T00:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out for the rent board convention last week & supported me for the rent board slate.

I'm happy & looking forward to campaigning with the other 4 rent board progressive slate candidates: Nicole Drake, Jack Harrison, Judy Shelton, and Igor Tregub. More info soon on how to pitch in & help elect a solid, diverse slate of candidates to the Rent Board here in Berkeley.

Until then, thanks!

2008-08-11T00:24:00.000-07:00

Jesse Townley	Gulag	14	490	21	1.50	0.957
Victoria Remler	Arctic Blast	9	325	14	1.56	0.957
Steven Nordhavn	Holey Whales	12	420	29	2.42	0.931

Jason Moy	Kwijibo	9	316	29	3.22	0.908
william yeung	OFD/SFFD	13	478	55	4.23	0.885

[that's name, team, games played, shots, goals against, goals against average (per game), save %]

This is how this season's Bronze ice season ended. Above are the top 5 goalies with 9+ games (out of 16 total). My stats include 2 games (both losses) I didn't play, so they're actually better- it's not a big deal but it'd be nice to know what I've done this season in order to improve next season. My actual record was 9-0-3.

Tonight's game verus the Holey Whales ended in a 1-1 tie in a game that didn't make a difference in the standings- the 2nd draw between the 2 teams this season. Next weekend, it's playoff time.

Here are the end-of-season standings:

So yeah, we (Gulag) did well. One of our women started filling in at goalie this season (she lost 2, 7-8 & 6-2, but did a lot better in the 2nd game as she got the hang of it).

2008-07-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Stopped by the downtown McDonald's protest early (around 11am) & was happy to see one of the fired workers, her brother, Michael Delacour, and some other people already there holding up signs & passing out information.

I had to split for work around 11:15 or so, but if you showed up later let us know how it went! Seemed like a good early turnout for mid-day on a weekday since I was there before the announced starting time of 11:30!

P.S.- Here's the information about Dona Spring's public memorial service on Sunday August 10th.

The memorial for Dona Spring will be held
Sunday AUGUST 10th; 2-4 p.m.
at MLK JR Civic Center Park, by Berkeley City Hall;
followed by a reception 4 to 8 p.m. at
North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst and MLK Jr Way.

Dona was an incredible human being and a great leader for Berkeley and
beyond. We will have a videographer present at the reception to record
YOUR remembrances of Dona.
If you have suggestions please call 548-8796. T

2008-07-27T15:48:00.001-07:00

I need your help!

The Rent Board Convention- happening Sunday August 3, 4pm in Berkeley- will choose 5 candidates for the 5 open seats. This Rent Board slate has been the winning slate for the past several elections and has ensured that the Rent Board has protected tenants during the housing bubble as much as legally possible. It's also begun work on dealing with the foreclosure crisis as it relates to rental properties.

There are 13 people competing for the 5 seats- including myself. I will be honored to run for Rent Board if the Convention chooses me- but I will not run if it chooses other candidates. Since the slate is progressive & has been filled with common sense candidates, I'm not willing to distract from the slate's success by running an independent campaign.

I need you- Berkeley resident & Jesse Townley supporter- to attend this Sunday's convention at 4 PM at the North Berkeley Senior Center at 1901 Hearst (c/s MLK Jr. Way, 2 blocks from University Ave). It's open to all & accessible. A donation of $3-10 is requested to cover the cost of the room. Please vote for me - and every other candidate you prefer!

Berkeley Rent Board http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/DepartmentHome.aspx?id=9546

What do I stand for? Here's part of the questionnaire I submitted to the Convention's selection committee:

Q: Tell us about three or more issues that you consider important to tenants in Berkeley.

1. Providing comprehensive disaster preparedness & planning for apartment dwellers. Residents of single family homes are easier to contact, so our overworked & understaffed Office of Emergency Services has not been able to do anywhere near as much effective outreach to tenants of apartment buildings.

2. Ensuring affordable housing that’s actually affordable to residents and potential residents who are earning at or close to minimum wage. The further service employees have to travel to work, the more environmental damage is done to our planet, plus intelligent zoning of appropriate projects in existing neighborhoods will ensure economic & ethnic diversity.

3. Expanding environmental programs in cooperation with property owners & tenants- from solar power to composting to recycling- will ensure a healthier future for all.

4. Ensuring that the upcoming Mitigation piece of the Soft Story Ordinance results in structurally safer buildings for tenants while controlling the costs for both property owners & tenants. Also, ensuring that rental properties with less than 5 units are covered by this or subsequent legislation will lessen the amount of death and dismemberment after the next major earthquake.

5. Identifying non-property tax sources for City revenue. This will increase city funds for city programs benefiting tenants and property owners alike, since there will be less cause for anti-tax groups like BASTA to campaign against necessary revenue programs.

There's a lot more in the questionnaire- maybe I'll post more of it later? Let me know if you want to read more, thanks!

2008-07-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

When I was back east a couple weeks ago, I made time to stop in Jersey City to meet up with Ronen Kaufman. Ronen produces & hosts the Issue Oriented podcast series. (A buddy describes him as the James Lipton of the punk podcast world) We did a 90 minute interview which he (thankfully) edited down by at least a third. We spoke about everything from how local politics is like starting a pit to how to tie art to real life and much more.

Also on the program is Brian Cook of These Arms Are Snakes, Botch, Russian Circles, talking about balancing art with business, punk versus metal and more.

The always-interesting Issue Oriented series has interviewed musicians like the Clash's Mick Jones & Operation Ivy's Jesse Michaels to punk porno star Joanna Angel & punknews.org founder Aubin Paul. The segments are in-depth & never lapse into stereotypical questions like "what are your influences?" Dig in!

Brian Cook/Jesse Luscious podcast:
http://issueoriented.com/wordpress/?p=27
Issue Oriented site
http://www.issueoriented.com/
(You can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, Google, AOL, PodNova, Odeo, etc)

2008-07-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Dona was my political mentor. She was quite supportive & helpful when I was curious about getting involved with local politics and was one of the "good guys." She always stood up for what's right, even when she was in the minority.

Thoughtful, savvy, and caring- that's Dona. She'll be missed.

Jesse

From Lindsay, director of the documentary mentioned below:
Dona Spring, died at 6:30 pm on July 13, 2008 at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, CA. She was still serving on the Berkeley City Council when she died and is the longest elected Green in the United States ( 16 years).

A memorial event and biography will posted in the next month or two.
http://DonaSpring.com

A 70 minute film of her life completed in July of 2007, will be shown on July 18, 2008 see below for details.

Film -- Dona Spring, Courage in Life and Politics - film and discussion
Unitarian Church
Cedar and Bonita
North Berkeley
-- Dona Spring, Courage in Life and Politics --

The film, completed in July of 2007, is about Dona Spring sometimes called the "Conscience of Berkeley", who also happens to be the longest elected green party member in the United States (over 16 years on the City Council of Berkeley).

Among many others, the film shows Dona on TV shows, such as, Oprah Winfrey, Bill O'Reilly and CNN debating the worst elements of the status-quo. Also, Dona is shown with Ralph Nader, Al Gore and Barbara Lee and many local activists.

Dona has been the best vote on the council for environmentalists, peace activists, safe food activists, animal protection advocates and disabled advocates.

The film is 70 minutes and free or a small donation for those who can afford it, at the Unitarian Church at Cedar and Bonita in Berkeley. 7 PM opening remarks and 7:30 PM film showing, Dr. Michael Parenti, author and Berkeley activist will make some remarks before or after the film.

For more information contact:
LDP@igc.org

2008-06-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Last night's ice game was a battle to a 1-1 tie after 60 minutes & a 5 minute sudden death OT. Too bad there's no shootouts in our league, that'd been pretty awesome. I did pretty well, stopped a breakaway by the other team's best player literally in the last 5 seconds of OT.

Their goal came by a surprise to me- which I should've reacted better to but, well, didn't. My favorite Belorussian defenseman was coming back for a puck & didn't realize the other team's OTHER best player was a couple of strides behind him. We all thought he knew & was just playing it off- but the guy lifted it off of his stick about 20 feet in front of me & came around the front of the net, waited for me to go down, and put in the far side. Lazy play by me, I was still in shock. Very annoying.

Besides that, it was a satisfying game. I did my job & turned away flurry after flurry of shots, and a few breakaways. One of our old D, Dan, subbed for us, which is always fun. Plus Harlen, our speedy scorer from 2 years ago is back in town for the summer & will be able to play the rest of the season.

Enough of that, I've got 2 days of Jello 5-0 to handle- that's Jello's 50th Birthday shows @ the Great American Music Hall, tonight & tomorrow. It'll be fun, hectic, and a lot of work. I don't expect to be anything but mentally exhausted by the time I get home tonight- er, Tuesday morning. Rrrrrock!

2008-06-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

One of the semi-regular writing gigs I've got going on is for Give Em The Lumber, a hockey-related zine done by Chris Dunlap, winger for an ice hockey team called Kwijybo & writer for the NOBOSS (Network of Bay Area Collectives) newsletter. It's a fun zine, even if you can't really find it anywhere besides local zine stores like Needles & Pens and the occasional ice hockey game @ Oakland Ice.

For GETL #2, I retrofitted my 2007 Loud Fast Rules magazine column about sports in punk music to focus solely on hockey content in punk & oi. I totally forgot about the Atom & His Package song "What Do You Do If You Weigh 1500 Pounds? You Play Goalie"- whoops! Anyway, here's the column:

PUCK ROCK RULES OK!

Crossover between The Jocks ™ and The Punx ™ is a lot more common then you’d think. Most of the crossover comes in the more macho subgenre of oi music, since many of those bands came out of working class Britain and were fanatical soccer- er, football- fans. In terms of punk bands- not oi bands- doing sports songs, the attitudes of most punk bands from the 70s through the 90s was anti-sports (see classics like the Dead Kennedys “Jock-O-Rama.”). Despite the anti-sports attitude of most US punk bands from the late 1970s onwards, the seeds for hockey to meet up with punk in North America was already sown with the release of 1977’s hockey movie “Slapshot” starring Paul Newman.

Most obviously, the thuggish Boston band Slapshot toured starting in the 1980s with hockey sticks they brandished on stage, although they generally stayed away from writing hockey-specific songs. Their logos have included a broken goalie mask and an altered Boston Bruins logo, and much of their art and album titles have hockey references. Much later, 2 punk bands from the Northeast dropped the gloves lyrically: The Zambonis and Two Man Advantage. Personally, I like the Zambonis better- after all, they have a song that uses the Zamboni as a metaphor for love! They also cover the classic Stompin Tom Connors song “The Hockey Song” (Stompin Tom is the Johnny Cash of Canada). Two Man Advantage are harder and punkier. The Zambonis, like many of the other bands mentioned here, have played at hockey games both for charity and for profit.

Getting back to “Slapshot” the movie, I’ve gotta assume that if you’re reading this, you’re familiar with the 3 Hanson brothers, but just in case let me describe them. Totally nerdy (complete with thick taped-up glasses), the Hanson brothers are completely geeky and childish off-ice, but on-ice are complete goons who kick ass. In one unforgettable scene, they instigate a huge brawl before the game even starts! Personally, I think the attractiveness of the Hanson Brothers for the punx is summed up by these lyrics by The Freeze from their classic song “Broken Bones,” after the narrator is beaten up by rednecks at a party:

The broken bones begin to mend and the bruises slowly fade.
I feel perversely satisfied with the friends I haven’t made.
I’ve since taken up karate and I’ve bought myself a gun.
Next time they want to beat up a punk I’m going to have myself some fun!

There’s a band called The Hanson Brothers who rock, they’re a Ramones-style side project of Canadian legends Nomeansno. With 3 partially-themed hockey records under their belt, they are one of the most prolific sports-themed punk bands in terms of sheer number of songs about a particular sport. (Like The Zambonis, they also cover Stompin Tom’s “Hockey Song”) Live, they wear hockey equipment and the art combines Ramones-style graphics and ice hockey.

Staying in the great white north, it’d be criminal for me not to mention another long-running Canadian punk band- DOA. Like soccer and the British oi scene, hockey seems to permeate the culture enough that there’s not even a need to have a lot of songs specifically about the sport. DOA sold DOA hockey jerseys for years before putting out any tunes that were actually about hockey. The first one may have been 2000’s “Give ‘Em The Lumber” from their ‘Festival of Atheists’ release. Another long-running Vancouver band, The Smugglers, have their own ice hockey team which plays in an annual ice hockey tournament against other Canadian underground bands in Toronto.

The Hanson Brothers are also the organizers of the Puck Rock compilation series which came out in 1994 and 2000, and featured hockey songs from bands from both the US and Canada, including The Hanson Brothers, DOA, SNFU, Muscle Bitches, Huevos Rancheros, The Riverdales (aka the Screeching Weasel Ramones side project), Pansy Division, The Smugglers, and a cover of wrestler Freddie Blassie’s “Pencil Necked Geek” by DOA leader Joey Shithead with Canadian indie popsters Cub. Pansy Division- the famous homocore band from San Francisco- mention hockey in both their ode to the mullet “Hockey Hair” and their ode to Canadian beefcake “Manada”!

Heading into the late 1990s and back south of the Canuckistan border to Beantown, this next band probably needs no introduction to fans of current punk rock or oi. The Dropkick Murphys have done baseball (“Tessie”), boxing (“Warrior’s Code”), and hockey (“Time To Go”). They’ve used Boston Bruins soundclips as far back as the 1997 version “Caps And Bottles.” Their song “Nutty” is the Boston Bruins theme song, and they’ve played during and after Bruins games and done charity work for the team.

Speaking of punk or oi songs that are officially sanctioned by a major league team, the last on my list is The Boils, from Philadelphia. The Flyers heard the band’s ode to the team, “(Broad Street) Bullies,” and asked them to write a new anthem for the team. That became the title track of their new 2007 cdep on TKO Records, “The Orange and The Black.” Now, the band is playing at Flyers games in addition to their regular shows.

This is a short look at hockey and the punk rock, but these are the most prolific and talented hockey-loving weirdoes. I’m sure I’ve missed some bands, but hockey seems to be one of the only sports that punk & indie bands write a lot of songs about. Oddly enough (or maybe not so oddly since these others are SO mainstream) more popular sports in the US like American football, baseball, and basketball have little or no representation in the scene.

- Jesse Luscious, goalie

P.S.- Don’t be fooled: the Minnesota indie band Hockey Night has absolutely zero songs about hockey. What a waste of a name!

2008-06-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I'm assembling this blog is to keep my stats straight for my various hockey teams & leagues. I'm a hockey goalie that plays ice, roller, & street hockey around the San Francisco Bay Area. All of the leagues have stats, but most are not super accurate or have mistakes entered that never get fixed.

It's nice to be able to track how I'm doing & see where/how I can improve, so please excuse the hockey stat posts. If I can keep them private on here somehow, I will.

Arctic Blast

Holey Whales

Gang Green

2008-06-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Mish mash- that's the plan for this blog.

Questions? Me too. Okay, more later!