Peter Laughner: August 22, 1952 – June 22, 1977

Peter Laughner was a founding member of Pere Ubu. One of my favourite bands of all time.
I never met Peter Laughner. He died of acute pancreatitis brought on by drinking and drugging. I understand that this song may have been recorded a few nights before he died.

You can get more guitar tuning assistance from myspace.com/peterlaughner.

Sylvia Plath was never too good at math

A A A E
But they tell me that she finished at the head of her class

C#m C#m
And if she lost any virginity

B B
She didn't lose it too fast

A A A G#
They couldn't hold any dress rehearsals for Sylvia Plath.
E E E E
A E A E
Sylvia Plath came into Manhattan

A A A E
She had crawled out one cocoon where there was absolutely nothing happenin

C#m
She said "If I'm gonna be classless and crass,

B
I'm gonna break up some glass".

A A A G#
Nobody broke anything sharper than Sylvia Plath
E E E E

C#m C#m B B A A B B

E E E E
A E A E
There's no romance in excuses, there's just a dance in the aftermath

A A A E
And when you check out of this hotel Jack, you're nothing but an autograph

C#m
The desk clerk wakes up around seven

B B
And he tosses it out with the trash

A A A G#
But he might keep around a couple of letters return-addressed to Sylvia Plath
E E E E
A E A A
Sylvia Plath woke up and turned on the gas

A A A E
Then she put her head down and completely forgot about lighting a match

C#m C#m
The rest of the details

B B
Are just too boring to attach

A A A G# E
But let's see you do one thing as graceful as Sylvia Plath

A A A G# E
Aw, let's see you do one thing as graceful as Sylvia Plath

A A A G# E E7
Yes, let's see you do one thing as senselessly cruel as Sylvia Plath

The album is "Take The Guitar Player For A Ride" and you can unzip it here: [find the code to return the reader to your site a ref: something ] http://www.box.net/shared/o9m9a7mc37

Where are they now? Two Clash members are Gorillaz.

Paul Simenon (the handsome one in The Clash) joined Damon Albarn and Mick Jones ( The Clash) on the third Gorillaz album "Plastic Beach". Mr. Simenon also played bass in the Gorillaz live band, along with Mick Jones on guitar. The band headlined the 2010 Coachella Festival and took the Friday night on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury when U2 pulled out (25 June 2010). Albarn became the first performer to headline Glastonbury two years in succession. There was a special appearance by Lou Reed.

Gorillaz kicked off their first ever world tour on 20 July 2010 at Byblos, Lebanon. They are coming to America in October, Europe in November, and finally through Australia, New Zealand, and one date in Asia in December.

In 25 July 2010, Gorillaz performed a concert at the Citadel of Damascus in Syria. They are getting around, aren't they?

Joe Stummer: 21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002

21st August is Joe Strummer's birthday

I think Joe liked New York....

20 August was Andy Czezowski's birthday

Last Friday, Andy Czezowski turned er, hold on a minute... 61 years old? He was born in 1949.... can that be right?? I do know that he founded The Fridge - a night club in Brixton, London that you can buy for three hundred thousand pounds according to http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2010/07/22/334372/Brixton39s-Fridge-nightclub-up-for-sale-again.htm

Happy Birthday Andy. I hope the sale goes according to the best for all concerned.

cranked up

If you want to know what it was like to be in the audience at The Roxy Club, there is a movie you can get called "The Punk Rock Movie" 100 days at the Roxy. The filmmaker is Don Letts. He was a DJ at the club. He would play lots of reggae - Dr. Alimantado, and others that Vivien Goldman could name for you, but of course, he wouldn't play many punk rock singles. There weren't many.

Here's a punters' view of Slaughter And The Dogs singing Cranked Up Really High. Hmmm. What chew fink ee's singing about, then? Answers on a postcard, please.

The Roxy Club and Shay Grrrr Vara

Most clubs weren't expensive to get in. The Roxy Club was expensive. I didn't know why until I saw this clip on uTube (see below). It was over one pound fifty pence to get in. I think you had to be a member. You came in the door and there was a pool table. And you went down a rickety staircase. The "stage" was under the staircase. There was a bar. There were toilets where you went to get the rest of your outfit on, a drink from someone who had brought a bottle of something in, some more safety pins pinned in your outfit, more eyeliner, a haircut like one of the punters if you didn't like yours, and later on in the evening a dunking in a sink for a coating of sugar water on your mohican to stop it falling over. You might even spend a penny. Apparently the "tired" people sleeping on the floor had bought heroin in there. I had no idea. I heard a welsh accent once and assumed they were tired from their train trip to London. You might be able to use to the loo but you might not because people might be shagging in there. I always thought the worst bit was when Don Letts got this really bright spotlight and shined it into the crowd. He was the DJ. I found out later, of course, that he was filming. But it was a bit bright for me. History buffs might like to know that The Roxy was in the same space as an underground (literally) gay (remember when being gay was something secret?) disco with a name that sounded like Shag A Rama's that was a play on the name Che Gerr Vara who was that handsome Cuban bloke on a t-shirt that you could buy in the hippie market bit of High Street Kensington. I didn't know who he was. But I knew he was a revolutionary. Punks liked revolutionaries. Revolutions. Not wearing flares was being revolutionary. Patti Smith sang about revolutions. Revolooooootions. oops. I digress. Here is Andy, the owner of The Roxy: