Elvis Ate Dynamite
Good-Bye Elvis
Category: Uncategorized
-
I promise, dear reader, that this is a nonjudgmental post. Nobody hates a buzzkill more than I do. This is just a post about … not getting buzzed. Earlier this week, the Pogues’ Spider Stacy turned 67 (a wee bit older than I am) and posted a celebratory photo on Instagram. In it, Stacy’s smoking…
-
Cover of the Clash’s London Calling LP featuring Pennie Smith’s legendary photo of Paul Simonon smashing his bass. After two major losses in the span of a week — Raul Malo of the Mavericks and Joe Ely, the Texas troubadour — I almost overlooked a happy occasion: the 70th birthday of Paul Simonon, bass player…
-
I’ve seen a lot of wonderful tributes to the Maverick’s Raul Malo since he passed on Monday evening, but I wanted to share one thing that might get overlooked. It’s a story about a t-shirt, but also about his goodheartedness and genuine decency. I’m so sad that we won’t ever be able to see him…
-
To follow up on Friday’s post about Mavericks’ singer/songwriter Raul Malo, who’s facing a particularly aggressive type of brain cancer, I spent a good part of the weekend watching the livestream of the two tribute concerts at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium that marked the band’s 35 years in the business and Malo’s incredible contributions to country,…
-
I will, in fact, return to our regularly scheduled program of punk rock and loud guitars, but, in light of the rather heavy content I’ve posted lately — and anticipate posting anon — I thought we could all use a break. So, without further ado, I give you this important feral cat update. About five…
-
I promised not to be too serious on this blog, so instead I’ll share this one-panel Far Side comic from about 38 years ago. It’s about grizzlies from hell, but it’s about so much more. As it happens, this comic is particularly appropriate today. You see, in late July 1987, a day after it first…
-
Happy Friday after Thanksgiving, everyone. Hope you had a great holiday, and I hope you’re enjoying some time off. I’m kicking off the holiday season, as I do every year, by playing “Christmas in Prison” from John Prine’s 1973 album, Sweet Relief. It was Christmas in prison And the food was real good We had…
-
Photo: Jennifer and I hanging out with Terrance Simien after a show, Sept. 2025. And it turns out, she still does. Thirty-two years ago, on the night before Thanksgiving, I met Jennifer, my wife-to-be, in a bar on Madison Street in Forest Park, Illinois. Appropriately enough, we met by the jukebox where my longtime friend…
-
Bruce Springsteen sings “I’ll See You in My Dreams” in Dublin Most of the artists I listen to are a good 10 to 15 years older than I am. Joe Strummer, for example, was born in 1952, 10 years before I was, and had he not met an untimely end at age 50, he’d still…
Elvis Ate Dynamite 