I was born in 1935 so I guess that makes me an old man. I've been one for so long that I don't even give a shit anymore, I guess. Since this is my first article for usounds, they told me to give a little personal  history.

Basically I don't remember shit until the 60's, which were basically just a long purple (and occasionally magenta) haze. Then there was the 70's. I made the mistake of moving to a commune run by this nutcase named Martin Del Barton who thought he was Jesus. It was my chore every morning to wash his feet with my hair. He would stroke my neck and call me Mary. I thought I was getting salvation but meanwhile the fucker was robbing me blind. It was the last time I took any religion with my bourbon, if you know what I mean. Actually you probably don't.

During the 80's I spent most of the time in Latin America in seclusion. Most of the time I read novels and tried to write my own. The result was a 600 page unpublished tome entitled "The Masturbation Chronicles" Maybe that's all we should say about that.

Then the 90's showed up. In '89 I was in Costa Rica living with a nice local girl who looked 19 but was really 14. Oh wait it was the other way around. Anyway after things went sour down with her and her father, I decided to return to my birthplace: LA, CA, USA. For a while all was fine. I fell into the music scene with reckless abandon. Because I had spent most of my life either drugged-out or in isolation, I didn't (and still don't) have many musical hang-ups. I went to lots of underground shows where I was usually the only bald guy puking in the bathroom all over his cheap wing-tips. All the other bald guys seemed to have their shit together a lot better than me.

Anyway I thought the 90's were going to be my decade. Hell, I was 62 years old but I was in the prime of my life. I played kind of a Bukowski figure to the young punx in the scene, furnishing them with stories of debauchery, lechery, and gluttony that they could only dream of. Most of it was made up, but how the hell did they know? I was old and I could spin a yarn and that's basically all it takes.

So now we're here, 1999 and what the fuck happened? I thought this was going to be the time that the underground really took on the mainstream and made a lot of people question their beliefs-- but it was all a facade. Instead the mainstream took the underground, stole the soul, and packaged it for every fucking mall in America. Pretty fucking smart but it's ruining the kids today. Back in my day, revolution was for the few and it changed you. Now everything's extreme, everything's cool, everything's dope, everything's da bomb. Well wake up America, before you die in your sleep.

Of course the underground still exists. In fact it's probably stronger than ever in some ways-- the problem is that corporate America has gotten so good at approximating it that people think they're underground when they're really just in a windowless cell waiting for trial. There's a huge difference, young punx-- hear me now when I say this, even in my cracking voice, because those fluorescent lights will kill you in the end.

 

Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star: A Black-power album that's not afraid of success. Interesting how SPIN, ROLLING STONE, review it like it's about the hip-hop revolution. Well maybe some of it is, but get real muthafucka! When the revolution comes it won't be in your magazine. Probably not this one either though. Anyway this album is also filled with some of the best rhymes and smoothest beats of the year. Haven't been this excited by Hip Hop since KRS-ONE's first album when I was 58. By the way the Mos Def Body Rock single is also worth your dough.

Radio Khartoum presents the flight of everson k: the most perfect little 3 inch CD you'll ever own. From 60's surf-roq to le internacional underground to tripped out jungle with actually decent vocals, this album is the steal of the century, a must buy for anyone with a brain in their head.

Spectre, The Second Coming: From the darkest depths of the Crooklyn Underground comes Spectre with his 6-feet-under beatz and dubbed out freakazoid death squad. From the great Wordsound record label.

USOUNDS || 1999