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Monthly Archives: April 2009

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Plain Jane and The Jokes

PLAIN JANE AND THE JOKES “THE JOKE’S ON YOU!” 8-SONG 12″EP
(NORTHERN CALIFORNIA- SICK SOUND, 1981)


Here is a rather rare one from a post-Insults band- the guitarist was Richard B. Shively (aka “Richard Sikk”) from the Insults, along with his wife Deborah on vocals.  It is also on the same label as the 2nd Insults record, which was the snot”Stiff Love” 3-song EP (which you can check out here on the always great KBD Records site).

Of course there is also a bass player and drummer in Plain Jane and The Jokes, but I don’t know who they are since I only possess rips of this rarity instead of a vinyl copy so I can’t check the credits on the back of the sleeve or anything.  Perhaps it was the other ex-Insults (?).  If you happen to know this, or any other information about Plain Jane and The Jokes, please post some comments.

If you are familiar with and a fan of both great Insults 7″s from 1979, you will definitely recognize the similar guitar sounds emanating from Mr. Shively’s instrument.  But while both Insults records were full of wild, off kilter guitar noodling, the playing on this Plain Jane record is a bit more restrained me thinks.  They do cover the Insults’ “Zombie Lover” (the B-side of their 1st 7″) but I prefer the original over this redone version.  There are also two other covers, a funny short one of the Velvet Underground’s long opus “What Goes On” as well as one of the first punk cover songs, that of the Dils’ immortal “Class War”.  Funny cover there, full of sloppy playing and the singer chanting “You asshole, you asshole, you asshole” at the end.  Kind of lightens the mood of the serious and overtly political original if you ask me.  [Speaking of the Dils, I think THEIR live cover of “What Goes On” (see the “What Stuff” comp) was very moody and much better.  But I digress…] Plain Jane was “rediscovered” when their version of “Class War” was included on the beloved Bloodstains Across California comp way back in 1993.  And that probably set off a fire storm of sorts amongst collector scum and sent the price skyrocketing after it languished it dollar bins for 12 years before that.  But such is the nature of record collecting, eh.

Probably my favorite song on this pretty good 12″ is the last one, “I Hate”, which- given that they play three other cover songs- you may assume is a cover of White Boy’s killer 1978 song of the same name (from the mostly-great “:30 Over DC” comp LP which, incidentally, was reissued by Henry Rollins’ 2.13.61 label a few years back).  But Plain Jane’s “I Hate” it is an original, uh, “composition” as are the first four tracks.  This 12″ is definitely not one of my favorite records but overall it’s a fun, somewhat sloppy record that is definitely worth a few spins.  The vocals are bit monotone and Deborah really can’t sing all too well but I think that adds to the charm of this disc.  Thought I’d post it because I haven’t seen it on any of the other 3,000 punk music blogs currently out there.

TRACK LISTING
Agent Orange
Hostage
Soylent Green
I Got Fired
Zombie Lover
What Goes On
Class War
I Hate

/files/98398-90993/01__Population_Zero.mp3″>Population Zero.mp3

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Lou Miami and The Kozmetix

LOU MIAMI AND THE KOZMETIX “FASCIST LOVER / TO SIR WITH LOVE” 7″ (BOSTON, MA- FINAL VINYL, 1982)

     


5.12.2009 UPDATE
I’ve updated this posting by adding an mp3 of the B-side, “To Sir With Love”.  I was about to say “enjoy” but I’m not sure if you’re going to like it- let me know.

Here’s a great song that, for some reason, was never included on a KBD-type comp during the 1995-2000 boom period of those comps, way before blog mania and the conveninence of having old stuff posted everywhere online.  [Come to think of it, in this decade there’s really only been two great vinyl comps of KBD-type stuff- 2001’s No One Left To Blame LP and 2005’s Staring Down The Barrel.  And those were seemingly put out by the same chap.  But I digress…]

“Fascist Lover“ would have fit well on a late 90’s KBD comp, what with its fast pace and especially those thundering, barnstorming drums that really jump out at ya during the breaks (and ESPECIALLY during the last 20 seconds of the song- damn!).  The drumming is one of the highlights for me, right along with the kooky-ass lyrics and the tall tale singer Lou Miami tells about his mother getting knocked up by a Nazi exile in South America after WWII.  Huh?!  Pretty off the wall stuff, especially the chant of “A fascist lover made my mother, and then my mother made me“.  Hilarious.  And, to top it all, there’s a nice sharp gee-tar solo in the middle from guitarist Jack Rootoo (who, incidentally, died in June of 2008.  Lou is dead too, but more on that later…)

Er, but then there‘s the flipside- a homoerotic cover of “To Sir With Love“ that was made famous in the late 60’s movie of the same name with Sidney Potier (?!?).  So Lou Miami kept up the fine KBD tradition of “one great song per record“ by choosing this as the flipside.  Actually, it’s not THAT bad of a B-side I guess- there are ones far, far worse– and I have kind of sort of kind of warmed up to it over the years.  Or maybe just gotten used to it being there.  But it’s still a total departure from the A-side so I have not included it.  If I get some requests to post it, I will then probably toss it on here.

Now, if Lou Miami really released this record in 1982 Boston (some people say 1980), I bet he was a HUGE hit with the muscle-flexing, shaved head hardcore boys club since apparently he was a somewhat flamboyant character and wore makeup or drag sometimes on stage.  Even the sleeve of the record is supposed to look like a Lord & Taylor cosmetics bag, fer Chrissake, complete with a plastic handle at the top- LOL!  All that combined would have no doubt put him on the hit list of the “youth crew of youth“.

/files/98398-90993/02_To_Sir_With_Love.mp3″>To Sir With Love.mp3

ENDNOTES
There is a nice fan tribute page that I got some of my information from for this posting- go here to read the whole thing and to see some rare pictures and flyers of the band.  According to that page and other sources, Lou Miami started playing in Boston around 1978 at famous places like The Rat and he and the Kozmetix ceased to exist in either 1984 or 1985.  Besides the single, they also released a 6-song 12″EP in 1982 on the well-known (but spotty) Modern Method label.  Circa 1985, they released the 6-song “Rituals” 12″EP on Chuck Warner’s Throbbing Lobster label- both of those later records were posted on this blog.  The band also appeared on two comps, the “Sounds Electric” LP on the Revolution Records label and the “Boston Gets Stoned“ LP that was on the Bowtown label and is a bunch of Rolling Stones covers (anyone have any of this stuff?  Both of those comps are probably crap but I still wouldn’t mind hearing em for curiosity’s sake).  According to the above fan page, Lou Miami got into witchcraft (?!) in- where else- Salem, MA and then died in Los Angeles of the ol’- ahem- “natural causes, heart failure” the first week of August 1995, just shy of his 40th birthday.