CATHARTIC WARNING Harvey Dog rambles on and on until Dr. Hawkwind appears and applies some medicine.

Sorry about the delay to all my fans out there! Hahahaha....For some reason, this amuses me.

CATHARTIC WARNING
Harvey Dog is rather stressed out lately due to a situation in his and the Guru's home. Let's just say living with a 21 year old kid with an attitude and all that goes with it certainly makes for stressful times. I hold in my emotions and hope...hold in my emotions and hope...then BLOW UP!!! hold in my emotions and hope...then BLOW UP!!! This is where we are now. One thing that has come out of this for the blog is that it has renewed my interest in music with ATTITUDE!!!!! Classic Punk Rock!!

I believe attitude is a great thing. A necessary thing. You need attitude to change things. BUT BUT BUT there is no reason to hurt people who are just trying to get on with their lives and have no intention of hurting anyone. Let's face it...life sorta sucks, a lot of people suck, and most people just want to get on with their lives with as few problems as possible...but just like hatred can increase exponentially, can peace and love?
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GUILTY VERDICT! I am VERY guilty of staying in too much and hiding away from the world. I should be out supporting worthy causes either through monies or volunteering. I'm trying my best to bounce back from a pretty bad breakdown, so hopefully soon I'll be out there doing my bit to put some positive vibes back into society. If I don't, then shame on me. Currently, I'm just trying to cope and deal with what's going on in my life now.
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When I was younger, I spouted out poetry and wrote about what I thought society's ills are (maybe I didn't have the solutions, but you need to identify the problem before you can solve it, and these are mighty complex problems for anyone) and I supported music and artists that meant or said something. At least if they were sincere and meant it maaaaaaannnn. I definitely got into punk rock (about 79-80) and went to tons of punk rock shows.

During my drunken stint in Toronto, I regularly went to a serious hardcore punk club called DMZ run by serious bikers. I saw some incredibly energetic shows. I remember seeing No Means No, and it was hi-nrg man. It was so hi-nrg I remember smashing my hand into some broken bottles and bleeding a bit.

(Aside: This was common when I was younger. I had so much anger and unhappiness inside of me, I would actually cut myself to try to feel...it's difficult to explain unless you've experienced this yourself. Or felt the need to go this far. It was mainly during my early 20s, but it did occassionally happen all the way to my early 30s. I may or may not explore the psychology of this later. It's not easy man. It's also not easy to understand why my friends thought this was so funny and actually encouraged me in my actions. They didn't realize I would also do it by myself very late at night and not tell anyone. I don't think that's funny. Especially when you have to wear long sleeve shirts in the summer at work to cover up the scars. This happened a couple of times.)

The blood didn't bother me (it wasn't deep enough for medical concern), I just went on drinking and carrying on all idiotic and crazed...it was a huge release of anger and frustration. The way to do it, I guess, is go to the shows, let out all your anger and frustrations and hostilities...let them out...let the sweat pour over them...then actually pinpoint why you are angry and hostile and do something about it. I'm always struggling with my anger. I guess when it comes down to it...I like, and LOVE (especially my sweeties...the Poobahs and the cat) a lot of things about life, but there is this deep rooted unhappiness inside me. It appears hereditary. My Mom strikes me as supremely unhappy. Unfortunately, she's in denial about it while I shout about it!!! As you're reading. If she's not as unhappy as I think, then I'm completely missing the mark and good for her.

I DON'T WANT TO BE UNHAPPY!!!! This is why music is so important to me. It's the one thing that's always struck me as pure. True and sincere. I'm NOT talking about the insincere corporate crap solely out for profits...and I'm not naive. Musicians need to make a living, so I don't put down musicians for "selling out". I blame the marketeers of our culture who seem intent on making the youth more and more stupid and pliable and accepting of their crap. If you don't think there's political motivaton behind this...well, I'd have to say you are unaware. PMRC anybody? I think the reverberations of that are still being felt today. Big record companies aren't going to sign true controversy (they manufacture their own), because they want the government on their side in the fight against file-sharing. This is why we need to support the smaller, more sincere companies out there. Revenant is a great example. The Bear Family release box sets, that you know aren't going to be big hits, but they have found a market of collectors and people obssessed with music. They don't need to be #1 with a bullet...just sell enough to make some bucks, make a lot of collectors happy, and more obscure musicians can benefit from some bucks and more exposure.
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I'm nearing the end of "Fury's Hour" by Warren Kinsella, a well written manifesto about punk rock. He really lambasts the racist punks...and rightfully so! Replacing one system of hatred with another system of hatred, well....what's the fucking point!!?? It's still a system of hatred, and if that's all we're going to end up being, let's get it over with now...let's finish off the job we've started so well and finish off the planet choking with pollution and shit coming out of its rivers and forests cut down and resources raped by greedy capitalists out for themselves. Warren Kinsella's web site.

Things suck, things need to change or our planet will spew us out just like she has with various other species in the past. And that's all we are to her...another fucking species...however, we are the MOST dangerous of species.
END OF CATHARTIC WARNING

What this is all leading to...um...yeh, I'll soon rent out Don Letts' "Punk: Attitude" and give the people what they want!! My opinion!!
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Hawkwind: Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974) **** This may not be the best Hawkwind album, but it's still fantastic. Remember from a previous blog, I mentioned about my luck in getting "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock". Well, Hawkwind was a vital part of my emergence into rock debauchery. There was a nice colour photo of "Space Ritual" with Stacia's breasts full and...out there...all for an innocent 12 year old boy to see.

SIDE ONE (hey, i have it on lp!)
Psychedelic Warlords: absolutely awesome...classic
Winds of Change: beautiful. that's the great thing about hawkwind they can be all nutsy and acidy and they can also make beautiful music.
D-Rider: i guess this is dated and all that...certainly of its time...and it washes into Web Weaver, and....it's beautiful

SIDE TWO
You'd Better Believe It: another psychedelic classic....the beginning of this sounds incredibly familiar...was it before hawkwind or after???? it's great...or did i hear this from hawkwind originally years ago...and as Hawkwind says: "it's so easy to say"....and it's live?!
Hall of the Mountain Grill: hawkwind goes classical and again...beautiful beautiful...
Lost Johnny: classic...i've read lemmy's autobiography and loved it and love Lemmy! i also read mick farren's give the anarchist a cigarette and it's also recommended highly by harvey dog...deviants were awesome too...well, awesome, may not be the right word, but maybe we'll say highly interesting...very interesting...
goat willow / paradox: great ending to a great album.

And remember...Hawkwind loves you. Hawkwind's official web site.
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Ode to my Guru

I am so tired...

ready to quit
give it up

another day
another fight
I'm sick of the fight

sometimes the point of it all
...seems hollow
life seems empty

yet I know
yes!
I know

I do have a reason
to keep on going
even when everything
seems....empty....shallow

I see the Guru
sleeping there
I feel the warmth

I know
I know

that's enough reason
to keep on living.
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