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[Kevin Coed Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kevin Coed]

I like the Wimpy era Queers stuff. Could never get on board the ones after though.

But I do love the Vindictives. I've even managed to get my eldest son into them too (and the Dwarves and both of then like the Rip Offs. That's proper parenting for you!)

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I like the Wimpy era Queers stuff. Could never get on board the ones after though.

But I do love the Vindictives. I've even managed to get my eldest son into them too (and the Dwarves and both of then like the Rip Offs. That's proper parenting for you!)

I have Got A Record on as I read this, haha. Eerie. Even the early Queers stuff that Joe sang was great too - "We'd Have A Riot Doing Heroin" I'm talking to you. Strange that you said you like Screeching Weasel but then wouldn't like Love Songs For The Retarded...to me there's not a huge difference there.

Finished the book by the way, it sure seems like Appelgren paying Ben and Jughead a ton of dough for their Panic Button label buyout was the final nail in the coffin - that led to lack of cash flow to pay Green Day and Op Ivy royalties due, leading them to pull their albums. Great book.

[Kevin Coed Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kevin Coed]

I've never heard Love Songs For The Retarded, as it happens. Perhaps I'll give it a shot. And, yes, We'd Have A Riot Doing Heroin is a classic. When I used to put on shows that would regularly get played between bands, much to the chagrin of the others doing it with me...

Applegate acted idiotically, but then it probably isn't the best to have someone barely out of school running a multi-million dollar record label.

Oh! Jughead's podcast is called 'Jughead's basement'. I haven't listened to them all but the ones I've already mentioned are all winners, along with an Angry Samoans episode where they all, as you'd imagine, disagree with each other about everything.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Sadly, I'm almost finished with Mick Wall's Black Sabbath - Symptom Of The Universe. This is a fantastic fucking book. As in, hard to put down at bedtime. He covers all the eras - Ozzy, Dio, Gillan, Glenn Hughes, along with some guys that never made it on an album during those later, Iommi-led years. A fully rounded, warts and all picture he paints too, none of the main players come off looking particularly good. Wall wrote that great Iron Maiden book - Run To The Hills among many others and was also a Kerrang! scribe back in the glory days. He actually got his start in the music business as a publicity guy for Sabbath so he knows well all the juicy details. I've learned a whole bunch of stuff I never knew and I thought I was pretty keyed in to the band. Highly recommended.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Another reread for something I've not revisited in 20 or so years:

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I'm about 130 pages into Stephen King's Finders Keepers, the follow-up to Mr. Mercedes. The trio of disparate investigators haven't even appeared yet but it's been riveting all the same. The murder of a reclusive, Salinger-like author and the theft of his safe full of cash and unpublished manuscripts kicks it all off. The killer is occupied now but sure to come looking for his stuff and that will no doubt be bad news for the teen who has them. Typically instant hook King here, you're sucked right in by the first few pages and it's possibly even better than the fabulous first book in this trilogy. A little longer too, always a good thing!

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Been making my way thru Mirrorshades. Which is a mid 80s Cyberpunk anthology. Grabbed it cheap at the library book sale. And so far it has been good. Well besides one story about Houdini.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I'm about 130 pages into Stephen King's Finders Keepers, the follow-up to Mr. Mercedes. The trio of disparate investigators haven't even appeared yet but it's been riveting all the same. The murder of a reclusive, Salinger-like author and the theft of his safe full of cash and unpublished manuscripts kicks it all off. The killer is occupied now but sure to come looking for his stuff and that will no doubt be bad news for the teen who has them. Typically instant hook King here, you're sucked right in by the first few pages and it's possibly even better than the fabulous first book in this trilogy. A little longer too, always a good thing!

I'm looking forward to this one and REVIVAL when they hit paperback, Andrew.

Currently reading:


Been wanting to read this since the Phillip Noyce film came out. It's superb. I almost read it in one sitting but had to break away to get on with some work. I've not read enough by Williams, but the handful of novels of his I have read have all impressed me.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Dead Calm was my favorite of the several Williams books I read, Paul. The Sailcloth Shroud was just a hair behind it. I really need to revisit some of those. I burned through what the library had one hot summer back in the mid-90s. Need to pick up some of those paperback reissues...

Finders Keepers was a fantastic read, really creepy and memorable villain (and the killer from Mr. Mercedes makes a most memorable and spooky cameo too!). Can't wait to see how King wraps up this trilogy - next year sometime I guess.

I'll be starting this when it (hopefully) arrives tomorrow. Typically pricey McFarland book but I've been sitting on an Amazon gift card for a while and burned some of it on this. The subject was too tantalizing to pass on, first book I know of on this.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Another reread/blast from the past:

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Need some help, fellow RSP'ers...I love me some autobiographies of entertainment figures...I've read the Motley Crue book, two of the GnR ones, the Keith Richards one, lots of musicians. I'm also a big fan of Joe Lansdale, Stephen King...Charles Bukowski, Jim Carroll...and I need help finding something else to read. I'm going to read Walk Among the Tombstones as well, but I need some new books to check out. I'm not above the classics, but I definitely prefer a more modern style of writing. Trying to avoid coffee table books as well...I have a couple of the Hammer ones, and they're great, but I do most of my reading in the bathroom or in bed.

Any suggestions?

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

If you don't mind sticking with King, Mr. Mercedes and its sequel Finders Keepers are terrific, Mark. They're a change of pace for King, more detective thrillers than horror. Really tense and fast paced...I loved 'em both. The third and final book in this trilogy will come out next year I assume.

The recent Mick Wall bio Black Sabbath is really good. He's a long time music journalist and also wrote a good book on Maiden and Zeppelin among others. That Punk USA book Kev and I were discussing a page or so back is good - it's on Lookout Records rise and fall. We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut by Eric Davidson is a cool book about 1990s garage and rock and roll style punk.

If you've never tried Richard Stark's Parker novels they're among the best crime books ever - POINT BLANK was based on him. Slayground, The Outfit, Plunder Squad, Flashfire and Butcher's Moon are among the titles. It's Donald Westlake writing under a pen name by the way. Just about all the Scudder novels including the one you're going to read (Tombstones) are good.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Thanks, Andrew. I enjoyed Mr. Mercedes, and as soon as Finders Keepers gets down in price a bit (or available at the library), I'll check it out. I'll check out the punk books as well.

Interested in Richard Stark as well. I'll start hunting those ones down. Our library sure is shitty. :(

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Need some help, fellow RSP'ers...I love me some autobiographies of entertainment figures...I've read the Motley Crue book, two of the GnR ones, the Keith Richards one, lots of musicians. I'm also a big fan of Joe Lansdale, Stephen King...Charles Bukowski, Jim Carroll...and I need help finding something else to read. I'm going to read Walk Among the Tombstones as well, but I need some new books to check out. I'm not above the classics, but I definitely prefer a more modern style of writing. Trying to avoid coffee table books as well...I have a couple of the Hammer ones, and they're great, but I do most of my reading in the bathroom or in bed.

Any suggestions?

I'd echo Andrew's recommendation of Richard Stark, Mark. On the subject of Stephen King, I think his recent novel JOYLAND is one of the best things he's ever written. Also, you might want to look at some of Jason Starr's novels, especially COLD CALLER and FAKE I.D. Those are really good modern crime novels with a good level of dry with (comparable to Joe Lansdale). You might find James Sallis worth considering too, and Walter Mosley's always a good choice (I'm really enjoying his recent series of novels featuring his latest character, Leonid McGill).

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Thanks, Paul! I really liked Joyland as well.