The Bohemian and Pacific Sun are sharing a cover story this week about an awesome Bay Area guy named Kirk Lombard who just published his Sea Forager’s Guide to the Northern California Coast—a great, fun read and I hope you’ll check out my long feature on Kirk in Wednesday’s paper. Had a lot of fun writing it. We did some fishing in Bolinas and he caught almost all the fish. Hilarious stuff. Check it out tomorrow. Today, who knows. The whole country’s in the grip of a post-debate moment that is basically saying that Hillary Clinton demolished Trump last night but of course Rudy Giuliani says it’s all Lester Holt’s fault. I watched the debate but only after it ended, which is to say that I went to Youtube and fired it up and then hit the mute button whenever Trump opened his mouth so I didn’t have to listen to his mindlessly hateful prattle. I’ve been listening to Blood on The Tracks lately and burst out into song during some of his more memorable moments that I had muted, singing, of course, the Dylan classic “Idiot Wind,” which blows every-time he moves his teeth. It’s a wonder Trump can even breath at all (especially given those sniffles)….
Meanwhile, there was a really great piece of mail in my box yesterday, a big box of goodies from Sonoma County heavy-metal veterans Skitzo, who sent a package that included:Â
1. One CD of their Dementia Praecox record, released in 2015.
2. One DVD of Skitzo performances
3. One puke-green Skitzo 45 with a large vomiting person on the sleeve
4. One baseball card of Vixen’s Share Pedersen, from 1991.Â
5. One small plastic rat
6. One Skitzo button
7. A selection of Skitzo stickers
8. A big pile of Skitzo press materials, including a letter from an editor at People magazine from 1999 following a Skitzo appearance on Jerry Springer that included some vomiting.Â
9. Some other weird and random stuff.
The Skitzo record is ferocious and diverse and features new and old songs that date way back to the 1980s—the shrieking, driving “Sick Son of a Bitch” was written about the Ted Bundy trial. I had the record cranked in the car headed home yesterday and then cranked it again for the drive to Santa Rosa today. Darn near blew the windows out listening to “Sick Son of A Bitch” over and over again. My ears perked up about halfway through the drive, about halfway through the song “World War 666,” which features a mention of Donald Trump in there—though it’s tough to suss out the context for a mention of such Satanic import, given the surrounding frenzy of metal and screaming that characterizes the record. Given the song title I’ll go on a limb and say it’s not an especially favorable mention of the candidate, no sir. Sniffle sniffle.
It’s been pretty darn hot out there and when I pulled in to Jack’s for a Coke and a burger last night, with Dementia Praecox blaring down Washington St., the car’s thermometer said it was 101 degrees in Petaluma and I checked out the album sleeve waiting for the grub on the drive-through line—and saw that the guitarist from Blue Cheer, Tony Rainier, plays on Dementia Praecox. Blue Cheer, as in, there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues Blue Cheer. Now let us cheer for blue states and 270 electoral votes, and cooling temperatures, and very loud metal 4eva. Â
Skitzo is celebrating 35 years of vomit-drenched thrash metal with a big event at the Phoenix in Petaluma on Nov. 12—after the election and whatever that might bring, WWIII included but let’s hope not. My colleague Charlie Swanson’s on the case and we’ll have more on the force of nature that is Skitzo in coming weeks, just as we’ll have more on this American Schitzo moment that’s stinking up the joint before our very sniffling noses. Â
