Filed under: News Ebet Roberts, Redferns The lead singer of Question Mark and the Mysterians , the garage rock titans best known for their 1966 hit '96 Tears,' is outraged that a 17-year-old cancer survivor has been suspended from his Michigan high school for having hair longer than school rules permit. This is not a case of teen rebellion, either -- J.T. Gaskins was growing out his hair for Locks of Love, a charity [...]

Gypsyblood So many shows, so little time. This weekend is brimming with excitement thanks to the brand-new Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements fest happening in Eckhart Park and featuring the likes of Shellac, CAVE, A Lull, Hollows – to name a few. We're also talking about the Reggie's Live stage at the Bash on Wabash featuring White Mystery and tons more shows. Clouds, Schmouds. Let's rock. FRIDAY [...]
Here are February's additions to the celestial chorus.There are a couple of people who died far too young: Clare Amory (35), Canadian folk-singer Diane Izzo (43), English punk singer Phil Vane (46) and grunge pioneer Rick Kulwicki (49) all died of natural causes. Argentinian musician Sergio Embrioni took his own life, and that of 33-year-old harmonica-plating rapper was cut short in an apparent murder. From a personal point of view, I was saddened by the death of Gary Moore, whose Still Got The Blues (For You) is something of a "our song" for Any Major Wife and myself, [...]

Right from the off, with its rinky dink 2 note Vox Continental organ riff and garage backbeat, 96 Tears is just about the perfect record. Released in 1966 by ? & the Mysterians , it was one of those songs like Louie Louie or Wild Thing that went on to be recorded by everyone and anyone with a fuzz guitar and a hip ear to the underground. It has in its time gone on to sell over a million copies and had over 3 million airplays. [...]
For an outfit whose very name professed a preference for anonymity, there's a surprising amount of information available nowadays about this bunch of rockin' Chicano chavales; check out their Wikipedia page for the full Monty. Question Mark himself has gone to considerable lengths to conceal his identity over the years, and why not? It's one [...]

Filed under: News , New Music , Exclusive Over the years, Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell have played together in numerous punk and post-punk bands, including the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, but it wasn't until they formed Crocodiles , a group that pairs pulverizing guitars with '60s-pop melodies, that the San Diego musicians were able to indulge their love of vintage rock 'n' roll. "Rock 'n' roll and oldies and that sort of stuff, we've [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News When Death comes, it wears a sparkly red tie and matching derby. Well, the drummer does, anyway. Saturday afternoon at New York City's Lincoln Center, the other two members of the long lost, back-from-the-grave Detroit proto-punk trio kept it monochromatic, rocking head-to-toe black and flowing dreadlocks. At the top of the set, before the band played a single note, one of the musicians crossed the stage in a monk's robe, signaling the start of the nighttime portion of the 'Detroit Breakdown,' a celebration of Motor [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , Exclusive Steve Shaw Last July, in the span of 15 days, the Gories played Spain, France, the Netherlands, England, Belgium, Germany and Italy. The tour was the Detroit garage-rock trio's first since calling it quits in 1993, and as successful as it was, the band wasn't sure there would be another. "We definitely had a good time last year, but we weren't immediately like, 'We have to [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , Exclusive Last summer, when the Gories got back together and played their first shows in 16 years, they weren't acting on impulse. In the years since its breakup, the Detroit garage trio had grown in stature; virtually unknown in its day, it wound up influencing a generation of bands. Suddenly, there was a legacy to protect. "Over the course of a year of talking about it and thinking about it there was a lot of discussion: Do we [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , Exclusive Dan Kroha cites distance as the reason he and his fellow Gories aren't rehearsing for this month's brief reunion tour , the group's first in a year and second since breaking up nearly two decades ago. The singer and guitarist is the only member still living in the trio's hometown of Detroit, and getting together with co-frontman and guitarist Mick Collins and drummer Peggy O'Neill -- who now live in Brooklyn and New Orleans, respectively -- simply isn't feasible. [...]
Frightened scientists estimate that the Latino/Hispanic population in the U.S. will reach over 24% by the year 2050, making us the second largest ethnic group
(via prismkiller) Just a quick FF today. We needed a short vacation this week in order to let the new Gorillaz' album Plastic Beach sink in. Inititally, we were going to wait for the review to post a track, but since everyone and their mother has posted it on Hype Machine, I figured I'd at least [...]

? and the Mysterians - Smokes They don't make em like they used to . It kills me every time I read somebody describing these combos as "cheezy." Give me a break, stroke the keys and let it roar ya nerds.
Filed under: Rock Almanac Spinner.com : On This Date in 1966: '96 Tears,' by ? and the Mysterians, takes over the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. The Almanac Advises for October 29: "The idea that a man shouldn't show his emotions has fallen out of favor in recent... Read more
Song: Queen B Artist: Jucifer Album: I Name You Destroyer Comments: Grinding, heavy, and unrelenting-- these are some words to describe Jucifer. There blend of alternative and Sabbath sludge takes a little getting used to for the average adventurous music connoisseur. Song: 21st century Ape man Artist: The Time Flys Album: Flys Comments: Neo-Hippy Dippy Garage Rock. These West Coasters are aiming for the Stooges, but come up decidedly lighter in the trousers. Hoepfully we won't be subjected to these guys in [...]

"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts." - Charles Dickens "Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed." - Natalie Clifford Barney "Tears are Summer showers to the soul." - Alfred Austin "Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either." - Golda Meir "It is such a secret place, the land of tears." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery "If a [...]

When I worked at Crescent Golf Range (formerly 2235 Springfield Ave in Union, New Jersey), I had the closing shift. One night I was driving home from work late and listening to Tony Coulter's show on WFMU, and the DJ was going on endlessly about a garage rock band called the Bachs. Tony played two tracks from their album Out Of The Bachs , and I was floored. I'm no garage rock junkie (in fact, the only two LPs I own that I can think of off the top of my head are this one and the Rising Storm [...]
I forgot to do a Monday morning mini-mix this week, and I was inspired by the originals mix I posted last week with Cover Me, I'm Goin' In - so I thought I'd share this, a handful of tunes I hadn't heard in YEARS until I started digging through old songs for last week's mix. I bet you know all the words too. Spiral Starecase - " More Today Than Yesterday " (from More Today Than Yesterday ) The Cowsills - " The [...]

The tears of the world are a constant quality. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. - Samuel Beckett Tears are nature's lotion for the eyes. The eyes see better for being washed by them. - Christian Nestell Bovee There isn't a single human being who hasn't plenty to cry over, and the trick is to make the laughs outweigh the tears. - Dorothy Dix [...]