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Notes From The Underground

Voice of Salinas: The zine 'Rapid Voices' features punk-rock musings by four Salinas women. Here's the Skinny: Skinny's hosts a show full of local and NoCal talent, plus Salinas exports a zine THE Red Barons, flying in from San Luis Obispo, landed at Skinny McDoogle's last Friday night and offered funny, twangy love songs about aerial love with WWI spy girls. They reminded of the Hansen brothers, and I can't say no to a band that's named after the fountainhead of all frozen pizza companies. The Muggs, next up, remain one of the best live bands around--period, comma and any form of dignified punctuation you can come up with. You know that bad dream you sometimes have when you show up on a school bus completely naked, with the exception of a headband? Well, all performers should begin having nightmares about having to perform on the same bill as the almighty Muggs. Traci's nimble fret work is like watching a high-speed reel-to-reel of a praying mantis dusting off multiple victims. Unfortunately, Miya's unruly bass cabinet kept her from revving up to her typical amazing pace. Ches is their best drummer yet. He kept the loopy rhythm machine in check with fills not associated with our species and made puttylike facial expressions that would make Jim Carrey hang it up for infomercials. Their "In League" never sounded finer. San Francisco's the Flakes completed the diverse bill. They had the vintage look and feel of a garage-day Kinks, proving once again that the future of rock & roll dwells in the past. The Flakes seethed with the raw attitude, and for a span of 30 minutes, I was willing to believe. Straight Outta Salinas Rapid Voices is a cute first-issue zine put together by four girls straight outta Salinas. It features a history of the Sex Pistols, a punk-rock woman-of-the-month article dedicated to Tilt's Cinder Block, and of course your token "how punk has changed" story. The funniest bit is "The good, the bad-ass and the ugly" bands of December. They toss in a couple spiffy reviews of the Suicide Machines, Avail and the Riff Raff CD release party. You'll be the proud owner of this premiere issue. I wanted more features, but Rapid Voices was free without any advertising dollars, so like Sid said while grabbing a syringe out of the urinal, "punk-rock beggars can't be punk-rock choosers." Send submissions for issue number two to: Rapid Voices, P.O. Box 3556, Salinas, CA 93912. Bits & Pieces By now, you've undoubtedly heard that Saturn Cafe went up in flames. No one seems to be crying over the burnt latté, however, as further talk of a benefit show grows like Aunt Bea's mustache. The benefit show will require all performers to sign a waiver agreeing not to cover Madonna's "Burning Up," X's "Burning House of Love" or vile David Byrne tunes, especially "Burning Down the House." Well, it seems as if one of the predictions from last week has already raised its ugly little head and bit me. Odie has indeed left Riff Raff. Despite talk of being locked up in the Schlep basement as a towel boy, Odie wanted everyone to know that he "went up north to herd sheep." Upcoming On Monday, Jan. 18, Signs & Symbols, the Applicators and the Nervous System play at Pizza Junxion, UCSC at 8:30pm (also live broadcast on KZSC). Matt Koumaras [ Santa Cruz Week | MetroActive Central | Archives ]