Why hello there. I seem to have fallen off the map again. Perhaps literally — ever had a dream where you found yourself someplace supposedly familiar yet completely alien?
In my dreams, New Haven, Ct. is incredible… filled with turn-of-the-century brick brownstones with curved windows and intricate wrought iron scrollwork, criss-crossed by cobblestone streets and curved byways. Better yet, the town centre opens out on a beautiful vista of open ocean (!), presided over by soaring skyships with crimson red sails.
Where did this steampunk-New-Haven-that-never-was come from, I wonder? (It certainly bore no resemblance to any parts of New Haven I’ve ever seen —what a resolutely charmless city.)
On a more quotidien note, my computer curled up its virtual toes and I’ve been trying to rebuild my music library. I stumbled across some old and new favorites in the process.
Dress Up As Natives I discovered on the Typical Girls mailing list. Don’t know much about them, except that they hailed from early ’80s Pittsburgh and played incredibly catchy, skewed art punk.
Rema Rema predated the Wolfgang Press and included Adam & the Ants’ Marco Pirroni and Gary Asquith from Renegade Soundwave.
I do hope the Cramps need no introduction. This beautifully unhinged live performance is from the unreleased Urgh! A Music War soundtrack. R.I.P., Lux Interior.
Dress Up As Natives, “You Had to Be There”
“The Cramps, “Tear It Up (Live)” (from Urgh! A Music War
IMAGE: NEW HAVEN TRAIN SCHEDULE, 1962