The MC5 deserve more credit for simultaneously creating punk and metal. Dig the fancy footwork and the state-of-the-art live video editing! Kick it out!

I was listening to my brand new iPod shuffle (the greatest Christmas gift of all time), and I stumbled on a rare gem. The MC5 have a great song called Looking at You from their album Back in the USA. It may be the perfect song! The driving bass line never changes, which is just fine with me. The lyrics are hormonally inspired, as you can see below. Rob Tyner's unique voice is unparalleled (that's him on the left), the drums are pure punk rock boogie woogie, and there are even three Wayne Kramer solos set on fire by Fred "Sonic" Smith's endless crunch. Where has this song been all my life? How did I miss something so awesome? Was anything better in 1970? Not much. Tell me if I screwed up any of the lyrics. I hear that The Damned recorded a version of this song ...

Looking at You
by The MC5

When it happened
something snapped inside,
made me want to hide.
All alone on my own, all alone on my own.
I stood up on the stand with my eyes shut tight.
Didn’t want to see anybody.
Feeling happy, having a good time, now hey!
Doing alright, doing alright, doing alright, doing alright.

I stared into the dancing crowd.
Felt like screaming out loud.
I saw you standing there.
I saw your long, saw your long hair.
Opened up my eyes baby, you made me realize,
all I want to do now, all I want to do now girl,
is look at you, looking at you babe,
look at you, looking at you babe.
Yeah, hey, hey!

I stared into the dancing crowd.
I felt like screaming out loud.
All I want to do, all I want to do, all I want to do
is look at you, looking at you, babe,
look at you, looking at you babe,
looking at you, looking at you, looking at you baby,
you baby, you baby, you baby, yeah!

Datarock - New Song

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I'm still contemplating whether I should go see Datarock for New Years in Philly, or sit out the fun and chill at the homestead. As a big Devo fan, I really like bands that put on silly costumes and rock the house.

Speaking of which, legendary local band High Karate rocked Mojo 13 last week with their reunion gig. They donned their 3 spirits of Christmas costumes for the gig, which made the occasion all the more festive. For a band with 3 members in 3 states across the nation, it's amazing to see them come together so perfectly with such minimal practice time together after more than a dozen years. I love their mashup of Manic Depression with the words for Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee.

For now, to Datarock or not to Datarock, that is the question ...

I know this is old news, but my art show at the North Wilmington Library in November was awesome. More people turned out than I could have imagined. The curator said I had more people than she's had for any other artist's receptions, so what more could I want? You can't tell it from this picture, but I had a nice group of groovy people show up from near and far. The city of Wilmington sprang for several bottles of wine, and everyone had a blast. I even showed my clay animation (look up delawareeditor on YouTube) on a big TV for the kids. Hopefully they weren't too traumatized by the gooey violence.

The world's most famous wife beater Ike Turner died at 76 yesterday. He could rip it up on stage too. Look at Tina go! As somebody who respects a good spasm, I can't take my eyes off her. These people drip cool. The people in the audience are going nuts! No wonder. This is the real deal, music to shake you. It's sad to see him go, even despite all the brutal violence he perpetrated against this talented woman.

I saw The Sword in Philadelphia last night and was not disappointed. I love the dueling lead guitars! Plus, the opening band Valiant Thor, who also did the dueling lead guitars with a slightly more punk rock twist, was very awesome as well. I also loved to watch the teetering girl in the front row stumble on stage with that bewildered look of a young person encountering Jack Daniels in all of his powerful, debilitating glory for the first time. She had that perplexed look we've all seen before from the inside. I hope she made it home safely. The Sword rocks! I'm looking forward to their new album in March!

The balls in my doodles are becoming breasts. I like breasts. Actually, I love breasts!