Time Travel

I didn't think it was possible, but for one magical night it was 1992 in San Francisco again. The city was transported back to a time before the Dotcom Boom brought clueless Hipsters and sky high rents and housing prices to town... a time when S.F.'s music scene was magical and there were at least twice as many venues and warehouse spaces where bands could play. For one magical night it felt like The Scene when I first moved to S.F., when GOOD music and EDGY art intertwined with like-minded people who Umlaut could relate to... a time when I met souls who became some of my dearest friends. Time Travel does exist... sometimes.

Ufomammut / Acid King
Varnish Gallery, San Francisco
October 24, 2009

I arrived at Varnish early so that I could hang out with Acid King (because 2/3 of the band are like family to me) and also to meet Ufomammut and watch their soundcheck. They were visiting all the way from Italy for the first time and this was 1 of only 2 Stateside shows they were playing. Without geeking out too much, it was an extremely cool scene with poster art on display from the Italian artist collective Malleus (which includes 2 of Ufomammut's members) and Umlaut friends Secret Serpents.

This will definitely go down as one of my favorite nights of the year! So many friends from different eras of my life were in the house; journalist friends, band friends, music scene friends, and some of my best friends. Everyone gathered together with other like minded people for loud music and art appreciation. DJ's Justin and Heather pulled off some amazing transitions in their spins prior to the bands playing... Arthur Brown's 'Fire' into Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 'Stargazer'... and then playing all of Side 1 of Slayer's South Of Heaven after an obscure Folk Rock song. Brilliant.... AND Dust was also in the mix!

Dust - Hard Attack album!

Their spins definitely set the tone and the mood for the rest of my evening.

According to the Umlaut Archives this was at least my 27th (!) time seeing Acid King dating back to the very beginning in 1993... Amazing.. AND this was only their 2nd hometown show in 3 years. What's up with that? Despite the downsized sound system due to the small space, The King got into an insane GROOVE right away and it was one of those sets where I found myself closing my eyes and getting swept away on their volume wave. The King have been one of those bands who I've followed since Day 1 and it's really cool how their sound and style has developed over the years to become what it is right now. Magic flying carpets do exist... at least this one woven out of volume and weaved by Lori, Joey, and Mark. Wuv you guys! Awww...

Ufomammut had me hooked during their soundcheck... when my first reaction was "Holy fuck... listen to Poia's guitar TONE"... Crushing. Besides dealing volume with their band, Poia (guitar) and Urlo (bass/vox) are also members of the Malleus artist collective whose work was on display. Their presence tonight was a really inspiring combination of their music and graphic art. Despite playing on borrowed equipment, the Italians laid down a road that was paved with volume and my head was immediately immersed in their GROOVE.. and their brand of Doom Metal is simply on another level from other bands in the genre like Sunn O))) IMO. My head was blown, dude.

Ufomammut Soundcheck

Unfortunately, I had to make one of those tough life decisions halfway through Ufomammut's set because I had a ticket for the WAY sold out Mummies reunion show across town at Bottom Of The Hill. I was so torn... but the Mummies are one of my all-time favorite bands.. and as I looked at my watch and it was nearing 11:30pm and friends who were at the Mummies texted me they were about to go onstage, I sucked it up and quickly left the gallery.. with the Italians' volume following me down the street and I imagined volume fingers trying to grab my shoulders and pull me back to their show.. Seriously.

Ufomammut CDs were 2 for only $20 (including a CD / DVD set!)... What a bargain!! On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Unfortunately, the amazing vibe of the event was tempered by the knowledge that the space Varnish occupies, as well as the entire block of buildings around it, will be demolished by next June to make way for the new Transbay Bus Terminal; the anti-eminent domain protest sign at the gallery's entrance said it all. So much for a revitilization of S.F.'s soul... but for one night all was right in the world on Natoma Street.

I ran 2 red lights on Potrero Avenue after coming off the freeway in my mad dash to get to the Mummies. HOWEVER, I made sure no one was coming in either direction of course... I simply treated the red lights like stop signs. Whew... I feel better admitting that... and about 20 minutes later I was walking into...

The Mummies
Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco
October 24, 2009

Hell officially froze over on Potrero Hill tonight: The Mummies played again!! Un-be-lievable... For the newbies: The Mummies were a fixture on the S.F. Music Scene in the early-90's and have been one of Umlaut's favorite bands seemingly forever. Last year they played their first shows in 15 years (!) in New York and on a brief European Tour, but they also squeezed in a secret show in Oakland as a warm up... which Umlaut heard about AFTERWARDS. I was beyond bummed.

Fast forward to just over a month ago and I noticed a casual announcement that the Mummies would be headlining this year's Budget Rock Festival in S.F.. DOH!!! Advance tickets to this show sold out literally within hours and they eventually added an early show for this same night down the street at Thee Parkside so the band could simply walk over to Bottom Of The Hill for the late show.

I rolled into Bottom Of The Hill and went straight to the bar... and asked for a water. Amazingly, I had driven across town in time to catch most of The Mummies set and was able to be there for my favorite songs... especially the double shot of 'Stronger Than Dirt' > '(You Must Fight To Live) On The Planet Of The Apes'!! FUN! Amazing!

Pic by Miatomic

It was like no time had passed since The Old Dayz and it was trippy seeing Tina from The Trashwomen in the house since they, along with the Mummies, were a band that helped to define the crazy, eclectic nature of the S.F. Music Scene 15-18 years ago. Time flies, man.... time flies. The Mummies sounded great, played great, were damn funny... and damn ROCKING at a level in that loose Garage Rock way that bands today can't seem to fully attain; despite their gimmicky image The Mummies have never seemed forced.. It's always been like they were from another planet (Well.. Daly City... same thing I guess..). I can't understate what a feeling of amazing deja vu I felt all night... From the awesome and engaging evening at Varnish Gallery to seeing the fucking MUMMIES again! Maybe there is hope to save San Franfuckingcisco from the Hipsters after all... Maybe.

Mummies shirts were $15 and came with one of the best hang tags ever. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. After the show I had to sit in the Prius for a minute or so to collect my thoughts and clear my head... I then said a silent prayer to my long departed Festiva, which had served me so well back in The Old Dayz, and then hit the Start button on the Prius here in the 21st Century and headed back to Casa de Umlaut.

The Mummies Shirt Tag..

The Mummies

Umlaut finally picked up a copy of The Mummies - Runnin' On Empty - Volume One (Estrus Records ES94016).. Vinyl-only just like the Old Days... Uhh, it only came out 9 years ago. Guess I've been lazy.



Side 2 features a live set recorded at the beloved Chameleon (R.I.P.) on Valencia St. in The Mission in September 1991. If I had a dollar for every dollar I spent drinking at The Chameleon I'd have that many more dollars now... or, more likely, I would have spent those dollars drinking somewhere else back then.

I love the liner notes of the album (again, I'm only 9 years behind). They include this historical / hysterical bit that really captures the vibe of S.F. circa 1991:

"For a short while, this meant an easy $75 in each of our pockets... ANYTIME we played. GOT IT? Yeah and READ this Goddamned contract: two FREE drink tickets. EACH, Jack. It also meant playing to a FULL-HOUSE of really COOL people, in (you guessed it) really COOL clothes. Usually, we'd get to the club early, and just check out the COOL shit, DIG? Now, I'm Fuckin' Hemorrhaging, JACK! You have to understand God damn it all, we were part of THE hierarchy of Fuckin' COOL bands in 'Frisco, DUDE. We knew ALL the COOL bands... FUCK! Surf, Punk, Garage... we LIVED it! We ATE it. We FUCKED it Daddy-O."

Last week, Umlaut visited the new deYoung Museum in S.F. for the first time. The new building is like something out of Planet Of The Apes.



Thanks to a Miatomic request, as the Jetta pulled into the parking garage "(You Must Fight To Live) On The Planet Of The Apes" by The Mummies roared from the Jetta's stereo via the iPod... JACK!

[Note: This completes Umlaut's attempt to post something to this space every day for a week... He will now get a life.]

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Halloween / Dia de los Muertos 2005

Umlaut got carried away while making a Halloween compilation CD. Actually, that's an understatement.. but the end justifies the madness... 60 songs and a running time of 4 hours. All killer, no filler IMO:

1. Highway To Hell - AC/DC
2. Welcome To My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
3. Little Demon - The Amazing Crowns
4. Devil In My Car - The B-52s
5. Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
6. Helter Skelter - The Beatles
7. Release The Bats - The Birthday Party
8. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
9. (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
10. A Fistful Of Terror - The Bomboras
11. Werewolves On Wheels - The Born Losers
12. Scary Monsters - David Bowie
    
13. The Munsters Theme - Comateens
14. Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon - The Cramps
15. I Put A Spell On You - Creedence Clearwater Revival
    
16. Smash It Up - The Damned
17. Black Shuck - The Darkness
18. Extrasensory Deception - Dave Allen & the Phantom Surfers
19. The Creature Stole My Surfboard - Dead Elvi
20. Halloween - Dead Kennedys
21. Psychic Voodoo Doll - Deadbolt
22. The End - The Doors
23. Halloween - The Dream Syndicate
24. Ribcage Mambo - Frenchy
25. Banshee Beach - The Ghastly Ones
26. Evil - Howlin' Wolf
27. Killer Wolf - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
28. Dead Souls - Joy Division
29. Spooks Night Out - The Legendary Invisible Men
30. Jack The Ripper - Link Wray
31. The Munsters Theme - Los Straitjackets
32. Everyday Is Halloween - Ministry
33. Halloween - The Misfits
34. 19 Witches - Monster Magnet
35. Halloween - Mudhoney
36. (You Must Fight To Live) On The Planet Of The Apes - The Mummies
37. Teenagers From Mars - The Network
38. Frankenstein - New York Dolls
39. Up Jumped The Devil - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
40. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
41. Burn The Witch - Queens Of The Stone Age
42. Pet Sematary - Ramones
43. The Halloween Dance - Reverend Horton Heat
44. Dragula - Rob Zombie
45. Halloween (She Got So Mean) - Rob Zombie w/ The Ghastly Ones
46. I Drink Blood - Rocket From The Crypt
47. The Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
48. Creature With The Atom Brain - Roky Erickson
49. Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones
50. Gravewalk - Satan's Pilgrims
51. Halloween - Siouxsie & The Banshees
52. This Corrosion - The Sisters Of Mercy
53. Halloween - Sonic Youth
54. The Witch - The Sonics
55. Werewolf - Southern Culture On The Skids
56. Born With A Tail - Supersuckers
57. No Costume No Candy - Swingin' Neckbreakers
58. Boris The Spider - The Who
    
59. Werewolves Of London - Warren Zevon
60. The Number Of The Beast - Iron Maiden
    

As if to celebrate the season, Bauhaus are back on tour after 7 years. I'm sure alot of the local Goth Kidz spent their meth money on tickets for all 3 S.F. shows (including a Halloween shindig at The Fillmore), but one night of Goth was enough for Umlaut:

Bauhaus
The Warfield, San Francisco
October 26, 2005

Umlaut blew off the 1998 Bauhaus reunion tour and regretted it afterwards. It seems like alot of folks go through a "Bauhaus phase" during their formative years. Umlaut's "Bauhaus phase" was when I was a hungover English / Lit Major in the mid-80's. Baudelaire 'N Bauhaus. I was so fucking *deep* and reeking of LI-TER-RAH-CHA. I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

You'll NEVER guess what color most of the crowd was wearing.... NOPE! It was BLACK. However, I committed a major Rock fashion faux pas by wearing a Who t-shirt to the show. Obviously, I had inadvertently aligned myself with The Mods, but no Brighton-style fisticuffs erupted. Thankfully, like North and South Korea, the uneasy truce between Mods and Goths remains intact.

Something else that wasn't very Goth was The Sheriff & Friends telling Umlaut about a fantastic new restaurant (Medicine on Sutter St.). No matter, Umlaut will dine there soon and will wear BLACK. That being said, have you noticed that most Goth musicians seem to age better than Southern Rock musicians? Discuss amongst yourselves.

The opening shot of Burning From The Inside > In The Flat Field made me want to break out the black lipstick. The band was amazingly tight and sounded phenomenal. I was completely locked into Daniel Ash and David J.'s musicianship. Damn if Daniel Ash isn't my new Guitar God after all these years.

It was cool to see the original Bauhaus lineup onstage with the original Love & Rockets lineup and 2/3 of Tones On Tail. I wonder how many smartass hipsters shouted out "Kundalini Express!" during the show. Leather jackets with the Love & Rockets Express artwork painted on the back = 1.

She's In Parties set off a frothy Goth frenzy that was made more entertaining by a trio of Goth girls on the main floor singing along, complete with Goth hand gestures. It's in the can. During the storming encore of Bela Lugosi's Dead > Slice Of Life > Telegram Sam > Ziggy Stardust I had a brief but very profound flashback of being 25-years old again. I was so fucking *deep* and reeking of LI-TER-RAH-CHA back then. However, I wasn't happy like I am now. I love when music reminds you to have perspective like that. I am your slice of life.

This was my 29th concert this year and I'm 5 behind my pace from this same time last year. I must be getting old. If you bought one of every Bauhaus merch item you would have paid $190. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. A girl on the main floor had a bright red mohawk and a boy had a bright purple mohawk. Too bad they weren't together.

Since Halloween comes but once a year, Umlaut should recount the Halloween gigs he's seen over the years:

Y&T / Motley Crue - Concord Pavilion, Concord, CA - Halloween 1982 - This was a couple of years before Y&T started wearing stupid stage clothes and writing stupid songs. I hated Motley Crue. My friends hated Motley Crue. We had front row seats and were flipping the Crue off as soon as they hit the stage. After several songs, Nikki Sixx stopped trying to win us over and flipped us off and challenged one (or all of us) to come onstage. None of us were that stupid. We continued to flip him off until one of their roadies came over and told us to stop or we'd be kicked out! What the fuck?! I still hate Motley Crue.

Metallica - The Keystone, Palo Alto, CA - Halloween 1983 - The show was sponsored by local Rock radio station KOME (R.I.P.) and a DJ hosted a lame costume contest. Cliff Burton (R.I.P.) watched it from the side of the stage. At the conclusion of Metallica's set, S.F. major rager Rich Birch (R.I.P.) came onstage with a sledgehammer ala the cover of the Kill 'Em All album (Pic by Umlaut). A classic moment. Old Metalheads will remember Rich's quote that was immortalized on the back cover of Kill 'Em All.

Sonic Youth - The Warfield, S.F. - Halloween 1990 - The band came onstage in costume. Kim was dressed in a tight catsuit. Thurston was a mummy. I can't remember how Steve and Lee were costumed. Thurston's costume was simply toilet paper wrapped around his head and street clothes. He started spinning around and around during a solo and the paper started unraveling off him. It looked cool. The lobby of The Warfield was filled with dry ice before the show and the inside was decorated for the occasion. They even handed out souvenir buttons at the door.

The Mummies - The Chameleon, S.F. - Halloween 1991 - The Mummies in The Mission on All Hallow's Eve! While making my way to the gig there was a mini-van on Mission St. that had obviously stopped for a traffic light when something went terribly wrong. It was abandoned in the middle of the street and all of its tires were slashed and all of the windows had been smashed. TRICK! The Mummies ruled.

The Cramps - Bimbo's, S.F. - Halloween 1993 - They were billed as The Creatures from the Black Leather Lagoon (HA HA). A guy in the crowd was in costume as a giant can of beer. The costume was made out of cardboard and at one point he jumped into the pit and started dancing / thrashing around. The band even took notice of the giant dancing / thrashing can of beer as they played. A few moments later there was a small eruption in the crowd and the cardboard came flying up in the air and landed on the stage at Lux's feet. I didn't see what happened to the guy. Twas one of the funniest things I've ever seen at a show.

The Strokes / Mooney Suzuki - Bill Graham Civic, S.F. - Halloween 2001 - Miatomic and Umlaut made fun of Mooney Suzuki (for good reason). The Strokes played their hits. We sat next to Electra Woman but the dominant costume seemed to be Aloof Scenester with cigarette.

Trivia: Umlaut has dressed in drag twice for Halloween. Once as Yoko Ono and another time as a Flight Attendant (complete with fishnet stockings and makeup). Yes, there are pictures. No, you can't see them.


The Halloween Monster House of San Rafael (Pic by Umlaut)

"Bonfires burning bright,
Pumpkin faces in the night,
I remember Halloween."
- The Misfits