BAMF

For you emo kids, there’s a book out there. It’s called Nothing Feels Good (taken from the title of a Promise Ring album) by Andy Greenwald, a senior contributing writer at Spin.

The book is pretty much a history of the emo movement and most of the bands involved. It explains the whole development of the genre way better than I thought was possible. It does portrays artists like Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional in a positive light, however. So, for those of you who find emo to be played by “spindly young men… playing recycled Byrds songs, mopers and whiners who couldn’t make eye contact with the audience if their lives depended on it” may want to steer clear. Anyhow… I think the point I was going for here is that the book’s an interesting read, written as it is at the height of a musical movement. Even as much as I detest emo, I found it well-written and damn informative.

The quote, by the way, comes from Joe Queenan‘s Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon. While it was originally directed at grunge rock, I think it applies here. Both are catch-all terms for a series of bands that wouldn’t otherwise be related, and they both seem to be musical movements that have caught on with the exact groups they once tried to avoid (i.e., jocks who listen to Dashboard or Nirvana).

This is so fucking sweet. The frontman for one of my most favorite bands and my favorite radio station have joined forces.

Southern California’s most talked about radio station, Indie 103.1, announced this week that Dicky Barrett will host the morning drive at the station. The Mighty Morning Show, debuts January 31th from 7-10am. Barrett is best known as the lead singer of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and most recently was the announcer on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The Boston native has this to say about his new radio show: “I’m not gonna fuck with the format. Obviously it’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be a morning version of everything that Indie is already. Plus I have no idea what I’m doing!”

“Dicky Barrett is a HUGE talent,” states Michael Steele, Indie 103’s program director. “He’s done just about everything in entertainment, from singing to writing to acting, to managing to producing. This guy has a life of experiences that I can’t to hear about on the air. Indie is all about telling it like it is, and playing music that nobody else will touch. Dicky suits us perfectly! I don’t know what the show format is going to be exactly. It’s up to him. I’ve been a fan of the Bosstones since the early 90’s. There aren’t a lot of guys who are as compelling on stage as Dicky is. You can’t take your eyes off him. That’s why I can’t wait to have him behind the mic every morning at Indie 1031. You won’t be able to take your ears off him, I promise.”

Once again, the amount of rewriting I had to do on this from the original press release was fucking insane. While I love finding out about this shit before most folks, it’s a serious pain in the ass to remove all the unnecessary punctuation, capitalization, and grammatical errors. But it’s a labor of love, so I cope.

LOS ANGELES – A statue in memory of legendary punk guitarist Johnny Ramone will be unveiled by his wife, Linda Ramone in a public ceremony on January 14 at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. The monument will be located not far from where bandmate Dee Dee Ramone is buried. During the ceremony, which will take place from 3 – 5 p.m. there will be speeches by some of Johnny’s closest friends, thus keeping with the spirit of Johnny’s own words written in the stone:

“If a man can judge success by how many great friends he has, then I have been very successful.”

The bronze statue, created by artist Wayne Toth, will capture Johnny in his most memorable image – playing his Mosrite guitar. Johnny Ramone, co-founder and guitarist of seminal 70’s punk rock band The Ramones, died on Sept. 15, 2004 at his home in Los Angeles.

Johnny Ramone co-founded The Ramones in 1974 along with fellow bandmates Joey Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone and Tommy Ramone; the only surviving member of the original band. The band, which gained critical acclaim and a huge following in New York’s underground music scene at the time performing at clubs such as CBGB’s, is widely credited for bringing the “punk rock” genre to the forefront. The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.