A friend gave me his extra copy of this while I was in Nashville. Almost half way through it and finding it really enjoyable. I used to get the Toxic Shock catalogs in the early 90’s and they were the first mail order I ever purchased from. When taking my maiden voyage across the states in the late 90s I stopped by the Toxic Ranch store in Tucson and Bill was very kind and helpful.

Toxic Ranch closed in the 2000s due to his wife’s medical problems. Every chapter begins with a journal entry from that time period, documenting their struggles during her hospitalization and rehabilitation. Then flashes back to the story of his life, their business, and his relationship with punk. It’s very sweet and inspiring with some great stories about the early punk scene.

    Randall read this too. good book, quick read. lot of interesting early days history of the store/label

    19 days later

    Anybody familiar with Bernardo Zannoni? I'm reading My stupid intentions, a dark fable about a beech marten. It's reallt great. The vibe reminds me of Agota Kristof's Twins Trilogy which I read a long time ago, but loved back then. Apparently Zannoni's book will be turned into a movie, which will either be amazing or horrible.
    I recently finished a book by Olga Grjasnowa, a novel about the Arab Spring in Syria. I did not like how it was written, but perhaps the translation didn't do the story any favors. Whether it has been translated into Engish I do not know. The title would translate to 'God is not timid'. Anybody read that one? I'd be interested to read someone else's take on it.

    Read 'Never Understood' by Jim and William Reid yesterday. History of the Jesus and Mary Chain from the brothers themselves. Read it in one day. Was good; covered a lot of ground. Nothing earth shattering but recommended if you're a fan. The small photo section is pretty nice, mostly unseen personal photos.

    The problem (I guess) with being around when certain bands were current is that you're already aware of a lot of what is written about. Noticed this in certain 33 1/3 books too. You're reading and "I knew that anecdote" etc. That said, a lot of insight into the band/brother dynamics and how eventually things fell apart. The rise, the fall, the redemption.

    I just finished CHERRY by Nico Walker. It’s pretty smoothed over by some editors to make the lead more likable, but the idea that he typed the whole thing out in prison without a computer over the course of many years inspires.

    halfway through Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum and surprised to be super into it... felt like reading a big nerdy ass book and then kinda seeing now that it's a (loving) parody of the conspiracy thriller which has been really funny to see the whole Knights Templar conspiracy shit turned over in this way.. really tearing through it after limping through some stuff lately.

    • Clif replied to this.
      • Edited

      BARELY HUMAN That's funny that I just grabbed The Name of the Rose out of a free book box. Actually looking forward to getting to it this summer.

      I also got Frank Herbert's The White Plague in that same free book hual. it is more interesting than I thought it would be. a lone molecular biologist unleashes a plague on England and Ireland that only kills women because an IRA bomb killed his family in Dublin. of course it spreads world wide. First half is interesting how a lone madman could basically change the course of the world. Herbert's libertarianism and psuedo sexism come through the second half, which gets a bit pedantic. overall a more enjoyable read than i was thinking it would be. I am sending it to one of my really smart science friends so he can pick apart the DNA research sections. sharing seems the proper thing to do with a book of this type.

        • Edited

        Nathan Loud NO MORE BOOKS, IT'S OFFICIAL.

        If you figure out how to do that, let me know. It's become a worse habit for me than buying records and keeping up with my purchases seem even more of an impossibility.

        New book on Lollapalooza just came out. Read it cause I went the first few years so was interested. Was a "read in a day" book. The people you expected would be raging assholes are in fact, raging assholes. Learned a few things (like Korn apparently objecting to Jon Spencer being above them on the bill so JSBX's management was like "we have a contract, you can buy it out otherwise we will show up & play in the spot contracted" which would've made Korn cry I guess). After 94 or 95 I wasn't paying attention to what was going on with that tour so it was kind of interesting to read about the behind the scenes stuff. Not sure I'd 100% recommend the book; it was fine. Would've been more entertaining with more of the debauchery included. The SPIN article from a few years back had a good amount of that.

        The Glen E. Friedman Bad Brains photo book arrived today. Looks pretty nice, haven't cracked it open yet.

        I just ordered TROUBLE BOYS on The Replacements. I remember someone's comment on the band being "Bruce Springsteen for nerds who collect punk 7 inches" and thought that was the funniest thing, but I love any book about a band struggling with addictions of any kind in parts of the planet that aren't NYC or LA. Stoked for the read.

        • Clif replied to this.

          dr_chile it's a great read. you'll enjoy it. even the later days stuff.

          Clif That's funny that I just grabbed The Name of the Rose out of a free book box. Actually looking forward to getting to it this summer.

          ah sick! i was really surprised to enjoy Name of the Rose when I read it... bought it cos a friend at a record store said it was his favourite book, and got really into all the psychedelic esoteric shit.. probably the first time i'd really tried to care about all the squabbling about bible interpretations and the like, maybe cos the stakes were set so high in the book, spooky potions abound! haha. hope you enjoy it once you get to it

          • Edited

          Nathan Loud Burning Down the Haus is a great read. most of the bands mentioned are of the street/ crust variety, which is not really my thing. However, the dedication it took to stand out in that regime and the shit those punks went through is inspiring. the commitment they had to have to put on shows and just be punk because they knew they could get tortured for it. worth reading for that perspective alone

            Been scoring a bunch of books at the thrift stores, so reading all these a bit at a time:

            Crate Digger - Bob Suren
            Life Against Dementia - Joe Carducci
            The Phil Spector Story - Rob Finnis
            Blues From the Delta - William Ferris
            Out of the Basement - David A. Ensminger

            Clif

            Intriguing! Perhaps I need to add this book to the pile... 😥