Reading back over the blog from end to end, a question jumped out at me and then wouldn't leave me alone. Why was it such a big deal that the Nightmares covered "Suffragette City?" Well good gawd awmighty, lemme see...I was in the 7th grade in 1974, and me and my one little girlfriend I grew up riding horses with in Kingsport were the only ones in our school who liked T. Rex and Gary Glitter and Lou Reed (oh yes, Lou had a heavy eye make up period) and well, gosh, Bowie too, and "Suffragette City" was a way we defined ourselves to ourselves in a lovely world of androgyny where girls could be boys and boys could be girls in a mixed up muffled up shook up kind of a way, you dig? Now a lot of water HAD passed under the bridge in 12 years, so there was no approximate meaning that could ever be the same, but still...it had to be an omen, like. To walk into a redneck bar called "Cowboys" and hear it? Creapin' fuckin' jesus, how absurdly cool was that? It was a moment of absolute sublimity, surrealness in spades. And guys, if you want to take this as a hint for the set list...I'll make you some cookies? Better yet, I'll tie an apron on you and teach you to make them yourselves, so you never have to be without cookies again. In fact, I think it would look awfully cute if you wore aprons to the gigs...Ah, the good times. Let them roll.

Pen names? Multiple personalities? Lives lived in alternate universes that occasionally converge in terrifying twists of the space-time continuum? Grievous lapses in your own so-called memories? Oh my little brothers, it is better you don't know.

First off James, don't blame me.... you entered "the scene" of your own volition.

Second, as I have said before, it's ok to say "FUCK" here, "Brook" rarely censors; see: F**K, F**K, F**K....Aww come on Brook,

Anyway, in answer to your question, several of us have discussed "Elizabeth Williams" and I have yet to meet anyone who knows her. Based on this I propose that "Elizabeth Williams" is a pen name, or as the french say: "le pen name", for none other than "Brook." Now no doubt Brook and Elizabeth will both deny this, BUT ISN'T THAT JUST WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT A GHOST WRITER AND A PEN NAME TO SAY?????? Also we must examine the possibility that "Brook" is a pen name for none other than JULIE FANN! Ask yourself, have why have you never seen all three of them together???

Finally, Who the fuck are Gretchen and Nina???

It's kinda funny.
I moved down to the area, kicking and screaming, expecting to find barefoot and inbred inhabitants of the Appalachia.
Imagine my surprise to discover a group of people that not only accepted, but embraced me.

Bill Edwards introduced me to the scene but I would like to extend thanks to Gretchen and Nina for welcoming me into this surreal existence.

I just have one question.....
Who the **** is elizabeth williams

This is so weird and funny, I have to tell. I received a press release at work about this group in Florida who are worried because a company down there is making what they called “an Osama-bin-Laden doll”. Out of curiosity, I called the company, which is nothing but two or three guys renting out a space somewhere. The guy I talked to said the dolls originated in Europe, and they decided to make and market them here too. (the legalities of that would be iffy I would think.) The supposed “Osama” doll is just a doll that’s supposed to be an Arab. Is wearing a turban, and when you press a button, it says “Why you talk in front of my back?” and also “I order cheeseburger, but, no meat please”. The guy played this for me over the phone. Other dolls the company makes are a Jewish American Princess doll who says (he played all these back to me), “I don’t care if it IS circumcized, I’m not putting it in my mouth.” Also, a horny Chinese guy who says, “Don’t worry. I put peanut oil on it, and it slide in reeaaal easy.” Also a redneck doll named Bubba. Can’t remember what he says but something having to do with a remote control and beer. The dolls cost $14.
Re: SoCon hoops. the sports guys here at the paper are really into it.

that would be

Screaming Brian and the Howling Tomcats

but that would really be "Screaming Brian and the Howling Tomcats of Doom" but we had to shorten... people thought it would be hard to fit on a sign.

***warning***advertising***
btw, I don't believe it has been mentioned, if your interested in coming to the nightmare reunion shows, you can purchase tickets at http://brianandthenightmares.com/

look for great things from the ETSU men's basketball team this year.

Hoo boy! I can't wait for them reunion shows!

We know what happened to the Nightmares,,,what happened to the Bucs???

RE: thelittlevillage - "There is one other band but their name escapes me..." !!!!????

Punch 'n' Judy?
Final Curtain?
Giant Spider Invasion?
Electric Middle Earth?
Andy Boy?
Stinky Finger?
The Fucking Prudes?
Floyd Eats Mayberry?

How about the earliest version of the Nightmares that played at the McDonalds opening. What was it...?

Screaming Brian and the Howling Tomcats?
Howling Brian and the Screaming Tomcats?
Tomcats Screaming and Howling at Brian?

Help....

the hari-kari thing refers to the repub revol -- old political thread. ignore. we're done talking about that. lets talk about happy things like music and drugs and ed snodderly's butt.

this is funny...

http://www.thelittlevillage.com/soconhoops/viewtopic.php?topic=1595&forum=4

"Oh, Brook. In November '94 did John have to hide the hari-kari knife?"

what's this about?

Thank you!!!

Aw...you guys are so cute...

Am attempting to hack the NSA super computer in order to run the permutations. Charts and diagrams to follow....

Tony, while you are figuring that out take some time to ponder wheather Brook or Elizabeth is the one to be doubled over in Elizabeth's prior request......

Amazing what sleep will do. I just spent the weekend in Atlanta at the downtown Hilton, in a very nice room. After working a bazillion hours during the election while suffering from lung snot, I finally relaxed in the BEST possible way, so now have a renewed appreciation for all things indulgent.

Politicians are nothing but great big wads of chewing gum on the sole of the go-go boot of life, but everyone seems to think there's just something wrong with the dance floor. Doesn't compare to everyone else's commentary, but oh well. Go Miami.

Totalitarian --
The scorched political landscape the Republicans have created since Whitewater, the Impeachment and the stolen election, has been totalitarian in tenor and I would say, stated goals. Now they have control of all three branches of govenment as well as the mainstream media. The usual wackos like Rush Limbaugh, and Roger Ailes' Fox News channel is frightening enough, but add to that the ever present drum beat coming from right wing (mainstream) takeover of the Wall Street Journal and the NY Times and you have no outlet for reasoned discussion of the matters which concern most of the american public.

So, not totalitarian just because it's wholly a Republican-run show now -- but totalitarian b/c that's what the likes of Richard Mellon Scaife, Ted Olson, and Dick Cheney have been playing for since the downfall of poppy Bush and some would say since Watergate.

That is a tradition dating back to 1992, when Newt declared the Dems to be Totalitarians as a result of Republican losses in the House, Senate and White House. I don't subscribe to that notion now anymore than then. I also beleive that winning by less than 1% nationwide does not a mandate make!


When I was a child in the Boy Scouts I fished the rivers and lakes around here. In high school we would skip out early to get to the Steam Plant in Rogersville in Feb. when the stripes were running out of Cherokee lake to the warmer water by the plant. I once caught a Sauger and it scared the hell out of me as their markings look alot like a rattle snake.... I think the fish around here that puts up the best fight, pound for pound, are the brown trout in the watauga river. Carp and other bottom dwellers are often beaten on the rocks by fishermen locally. Carp were imported from Japan, and are choking the waterways of the south.

I caught a fish too. A bunch of us went to Watauga Lake, put worms on a hook, slung them into the water, shoved the pole handles into the ground and propped the poles up with forked sticks. Then we went into a nearby cave, built a fire and got drunk and stoned all night. The next morning we all went down to the lake to gather up the poles, but my line was caught on something. I said, "Hey, my line is caught on something." Tom said, "It's not caught, there's a fish on it! Reel it in." So I did. Pulled out a seven or eight pound bass, which we fried and ate with scrambled eggs. Since my presence wasn't actually required to catch the fish, I decided to just for-go that part of the experience from then on.

Why is it that when your side wins an election it is democracy, but if the other side wins an election it is totalitarianism? Inquiring minds want to know.

Damn that's a hell of an image....... anyway, I disagree Elizabeth, when the Democrat party effectivly reaches out to the middle ground we win. This was the way Clinton wrested the White House from Bush the First. Bush the Second can be beaten the same way, with the same issue. Note I say issue. The Democrat party is a big umbrella, with alot of folks under it. Each wants it's perspective to the forefront, and each has some validity to their position. But when we smother ourselves in issues we lose focus. The single Republican issue in the last election was "We are very American and we should go to war with Iraq because Bush Says So. If you don't support our drug plan/tax break/etc., you are not a very good american."

The issue to beat the Republican Party is, as it was in 1992, "Gee, you guys suck at running an Economy" This should be our mantra as we go forward from now. With it we can claim the middle ground and the left. America always votes it's pocketbook.
Remind Americans that we have in 2 years gone from a $175 billion surplus to a $350 billion deficit (a great deal of which is due to the tax breaks no one asked for, prior to 9/11). If this is how George balances his checkbook, imagine what he will do over the next 2 years!!! And he will have no one to blame it on except Trent "I can't go to Vietnam, I'm a Cheerleader" Lott. It is also fun to note that George "I can't go to Vietnam, I'm AWOL in Alabama to the point of Desertion" Bush has only one veteran on his forign policy team, Colin "I was in Vietnam defending Bill's right to be a smart ass, so you really should give me some respect" Powell, and he is the one who has spoken against going to war in Iraq......but I digress. We will be back, because they have no one to blame but themselves now, and they suck at taking responsibility too. Most are still trying to figure out how the Democrats are responsible for Enron and World Com....

And another thing, I once wrote an article for PST called "Bass Fishing in America"

FISH.YOU CAN.ICON OF RELIGION. CONSUMED FOR NURISHMENT.SERVED MANY WAYS.VARIETY. FISH.

Well fuck me doubled over, Brook...I had to turn off the tv to read your last blog. I know this is really going to raise hackles, but here goes. What you're saying about Dems courting the "middle" being shit for a strategy is precisely why I waved the Green flag last time. My point now as it was then is that the Democratic party needs to turn left to win elections; this "conventional wisdom" of going for the so-called middle has lost resoundingly at least the last two times. The clinical definition of insanity is repeating the same behaviour over and over and expecting different results. I still maintain that leftists or outsiders had no moral duty to jump on a Dem band-wagon headed in the wrong direction to keep them from losing an election; the Dems had a moral and pragmatic duty to move the party in a direction that would secure the vote that was crucial for them to win. But did anybody learn a fucking thing from all this? Not that I can see. I still vote Dem because I think I'd rather have cancer than polio. So "Fuck that!" works real well for me.

I went fishing once.

Brook: Wow. I'm at work, laying out the front of tomorrow's paper, and have, all week, and especially last night and today, been crying a lot over the same stuff you just said. I feel such despair over our political situation anymore in this country, a country that, in many ways, I've come to despise, and I despise that too. And I have bronchitis, so everything seems ten times worse. would say more but am pressed for time and absolutely, unspeakably, exhausted. Glad you said all that.

For a left-leaning, drug-munching liberal arts student, much of the charm of living in Johnson City, Tennessee was being an outsider. In a small mountain town, you can't hide your true colors; everyone has an ax to grind; and there's plenty of time for the airing of greivances. There were times when I felt like everyone at WalMart or sitting at the red light on Roan Street was a gun-toting, god-fearing, blood-thristy survivalist bent on hunting down dissenters. East Tennessee is as conservative as it is remote. Which is part of the reason why the bonds shared by people of like mind are so special.


Just for old times' sake, I'm going to share something with you guys. I am pissed off. It is November 6 and I woke up to the news of a Republican-controlled government from stem to stern. Some would call that totalitarian. I'm one of them. Brook's not happy today.


Emailing back and forth between blood relatives (who have to listen patiently), I formed a thought that I'm going to share with you guys. It's long. If you don't like it, blog more and it will go away soon enough. It's political... you all knew I would rant politically sooner or later. It's only marginally relevant to the music scene, but here it is.

__________________________

What it means to be an outsider


Lets just face it, Democrats suck at insider politics. You would think that since Al Gore lost the election (it was stolen, I know), we would take a hint that the "insider" game wasn't working so well and realize there is no more room at the "middle." The Republicans have colonized this historically Democratic-controlled territory -- the vast middle ground where Americans frolic happily with 2.4 children and a secure, if not buxom retirement account.


Otherwise knuckle-dragging paleo-conservatives have "rehabilitated" their image by seeming to move to the middle -- adding "compassionate" to the conservative label. They get away with this because no one challenges them in the lie. Thereby a "faith-based initiative" isn't so much the destruction of the separation between church and state because no one stands up to say "NO matter what you call it, it's still state-sponsored religion." An imperialistic campaign to war for booty in Iraq, isn't so much the destruction of the world's collective security, if no one is there to say "NO, we won't let you take the world to war for oil."


How does a Democrat "rehabilitate" their image without a middle ground to go to? The conventional wisdom of "moving to the middle" -- support the tax cut, support the war -- is an mirage. It's a heat wave rising from the newly charred ground after 9-11. Wars and tax cuts for the rich aren't middle-ground issues -- they are the antithesis of it.


The republicans are wink and nod when they put "compassionate" in front of conservatism. It's like Jumbo Shrimp. Shrimp can be big -- in relation to other very small things. And so, conservatives can be compassionate -- in relation to other lying, mean-spirited, greedy bastards. Draw a happy face on Jesse Helms and you get George Bush (put a feather boa on him and you get Jesse Ventura). Cross-dressing for conservatives.


And here's the breath-taking irony -- when conservatives LIE about what they really intend to do, people like them better, because they are drawing a happy face on the greedy bastard. Every Democrat should know this and call them on it without hesitation. Nobody wants clear-cutting, corporate-raiding, evangelical theocrats running the country. So, what do we, the Democrats, do as a strategic counter-move? We draw a greedy bastard face on a smiley. By jockeying for the vanishing "middle ground" Democrats LIE about what they intend to do, thereby diminishing their appeal. Tarnishing their image from one of compassion and hope, to one of competition for scarce resources. "As Democrats, we are answering your call to join in the spirit of bipartisanship with our brethren, the Republicans, in revoking your freedoms, raping the environment and eroding the middle class. We know this is what you want or else you won't vote for us." Who in their right mind would think this was a good strategy?


Mondale said today in his concession speech that our ideals are tested more in defeat than in victory. Well, no shit. And I'm sick and tired of it. The environment doesn't have any more time to wait on our ideals. The middle class needs a victory of their own. Now is the time for hope, ideas and action -- outsider politics fueled by the courage of conviction.


It's time for a new Contract For America. Maybe we can call it something less corporate-sounding. I know it's not catchy, but how about, "The Battle Between Good and Evil." When the stakes are this high, there is no sense in parsing words. The time for accommodation is over, and outsider status affords the Democrats the opportunity to lay waste to the strategic disaster of patriotic bipartisanship.


The Democratic agenda isn't about prescription drugs. It's not about deficits. It's not about pension reform (especially when hardly anyone has one). It's about being decent people in a world that requires good citizenship because without civil order, everything goes to hell and that ain't good for business. The republicans want to put the cart before the horse. If it ain't good for business, then it ain't good for you. Well, fuck that. When was the last time a business you worked for gave a shit about you. You are a Human Resource the same way a pencil is a Material Resource. Sharpen it down to a nub and throw it away.


The Democrats have lost their way, so we must help them remember who they are, and I have two words that will help them stay on track. The words are, "Fuck That." Trust me, you'll have the opportunity to use these two words copiously in the next two years of Republican totalitarianism.


When the (Republican) agenda is about to going to war and the Democratic agenda is about to going to war more slowly, you say, "Fuck That!" Say it to yourself; to the television; to the people at the water cooler; and to the people at the protest. When the (Republican) agenda is to drill for oil in the Arctic Preserve, you say, "Fuck That!" When the agenda is confirmation of another wacko wing-nut conservative nominee for a judge-ship, you say... FUCK THAT!


Don't be an outsider because it's what's left. Be an outsider because it's what's right.

I remember Liz Turnbull. I don't remember the group though. Whatever happened to her? Wasn't she with James Woody back then, or am I off base? Didn't he go to school to become a mortician?

Is it just me or does it seem to everyone that the estrogen contingent has issues with the Prudes??? I always liked the shock value presented by any new band, The Nightmares were shockingly slick the first time I saw them, Stinky Finger was shockingly shocking the first time....But after I first saw the Prudes I had to peel my jaw from the floor. They were so different from what everyone else was doing. I agree that they did not take their drinking seriously enough, and they were probably too much Prude and not enough Fucking, but to fault them for being talentless seems, well, kind of mean.....considering that we put up with "The Russ Onks Experience"; or maybe I'm just sensitive to the "Talentless" judgment as it hits so close to home!

Yes, there was a rickety old farm house.
Yes, there were animals looking into the pane-less windows, especially a cow.
Yes, there was the disgusting hamburger you speak of that also sat in the trunk of somebody's car all afteroon before we pulled it out and tried to make hamburgers. It was VERY warm and wouldn't stick together enough to make patties. Franky's mom, Frau Spangler, who was snot drunk and running around with a switchblade (all night people were coming up to me saying "Dude, did you know there's some German woman running around here with a switchblade?") whipped up a tomato sauce and suggested we make sloppy joes! As far as I remember, nobody ate one except me and Roland ( who ate two).

I wonder if we lived.