Blazing Wheels and Barking Trucks was my introduction to so-called Skate Rock. I say so-called because it’s not a very cohesive term, more of what can’t be defined as opposed to a specific genre. At the time it came out, it wasn’t important that the musical styles weren’t conventional matches. It was as if having the nerve to listen to such a mess of disparate tunes was enough declare yourself a weirdo, well that and your skateboard. Seems unfathomable now though. Why must I babble on when Last Days of Man on Earth is much more succinct. You used to be able to buy a shoebox full of old Skate Rock cassettes from Thrasher. They should do a proper rerelease of the early stuff on CD. Until then you have get yours from Last Days of Man on Earth. Anyone heard the most recent Skate Rock?

Check out this 10 minute Tommy Guerrero interview on NPR. It’s pretty good and only has a minimal amount straight media kooking on skateboarding. I had 412 spam mails waiting for me in my junk mailbox this morning. Somehow, when sifting through them I managed to pick out one email as being potentially mislabeled. The red flag was a subject line reading Guerrero on NPR. So thanks for the tip Day Reah. This is a good place to mention that if you are contacting SnA try and stick something in the subject line that will help me fish it out of the junk mail if the spam filter catches it.

Riot Fest 2006 is over. Jake Burns from Stiff Little Fingers sang vocals on Raygun’s version of Suspect Device. How’s that for a special guest? Amazing. Long set, quite possibly their last ever. There are videos up from the Oct 19th show and the Holyy Lazarski Nahani show. Nothing from last night though. The Riot Fest video crew was in full effect taping for a DVD release, but I like free. One item I sorely wanted but didn’t manage to catch was a stupid little clacker in the shape of hands that said “Spank you very much – Naked Raygun.” Almost as good as the famous “Get a haircut” combs they gave out once. On the drive home after the show the local commercial alternative radio station played at least one of the songs recorded from that night’s show. Sounded pretty good. I think Neil is going to write up the event. I’ll post more pics from the Holyy Lazarski Nahani performance later in the week.

Hokey smokes Bullwinkle! Walking up to the Subterranean to see Naked Raygun’s not so secret show under the Ukrainian translation of their name and we see Seattle’s Briefs on the bill as well. With the Bomb also playing… What a stellar line up!

I’m outta here for the weekend. Back to Chicago to see not one but two shows by Chicago punk legends Naked Raygun. The first one being a formerly semi-secret but now blown out show under the assumed name of Holyy Lazarski Nahane which is Ukrainian for… Naked Raygun. That’s yours truly on the right, stinkbugging a frontside air on a Naked Raygun skateboard. Say what you will about the Haggerty-less lineup, I’m excited about this show. Day two is Riot Fest. Also looking forward to seeing Chicago’s Effigies as well. No idea what the lineup is. Some other two bit punk group will be playing…oh yeah, 7-Seconds! They have a pretty darn good recent release so I’m looking forward to that too.

This may be old news to you Social Distortion fans. I’m a fan but I don’t feel the urge to see them live anymore. Austin360.com reports: Last year, Ness’ better judgment went downhill in a hurry resulting in injury and a last-minute phone call to a fill-in guitarist to save the Social Distortion tour from being detoured. Which made me jump to the hasty and obvious conclusions: Did he have relapse or run in with the law? Turns out he was skateboarding with his son. “I was helping my son do an eighth-grade school project,” Ness says. “We went downhill skateboarding and I was filming him, and I just ate it going about 25 miles per hour. I broke my wrist in about four places.” Skateboarding under the influence of good intentions is better than wiping out on drugs, which is what Ness was doing early in his career. I wonder if he has any of the old Skull Skates Social Distortion boards laying around. Earlier in the article the author says that Ness laments having his tattoos. Oh well. Photo by Shigeo Kikuchi. Story by By David Glessner for Austin360.com. Read From punk riot to family man

I know we’ve covered this twice already. But since I have a weird and vague, sideways personal connection to this story I feel like I need to chime in again. Big Black, by the way, was one of the highlights of the 25th anniversary of Touch and Go Records. Rob Dyrdek and Steve Albini? Now there’s a reality show I would watch.

The Minutemen. I think the first time I ever heard them was on a Skate Rock compilation. They were always championed by Thrasher. The DVD of the documentary has been out for a while. MC weighs in with a review of the 2 disc DVD, which you can buy from the web site along with some pretty cool looking skateboards that say it all. Check it out.

I know she was an important figure in the NY scene but I can’t stand her. It’s very fitting then, that she headlined the last show at CBGB’s before the urinals and everything else got packed up and shipped to Las Vegas for what will likely be a very cheesy tourist trap incarnation of CBGB’s. The International Herald Tribune says of Smith: Smith refused to wax very nostalgic, instead claiming at a pre-show news conference which doubled as a soundcheck that “CBGB’s is a state of mind” that will carry on elsewhere for a new generation. She later noted with relish that CBGB, at 33, was the same age as Jesus. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Oh god, shut up! Assorted links to CBGB’s stories, including one in China after the jump.

Handsome Dick Manitoba – What a great name for a guy fronting a band with the also great name of The Dictators. The impending death of CBGB’s is all over the web now. I’ve been ignoring most of it, but hey, how can I not post a pic of the Dictators who helped start the CBGB’s, especially when Handsome Dick is featured in the Restaurants section of New York Magazine, and The Dictators are playing the second to last show at CBGB’s. Photo by Delissa Santos, poached from New York Magazine.