John Lydons autobiography. Its great, not just as a piece for understanding Johnny a bit more, but to make sense of the whole early punk movement in England and how the Pistols fit into everything as a whole.
There are a lot of guest contributors too, which makes a nice balance in much the same vein as Dirt (Motley Crue) gave multiple persectives on things. My only complaint, though, is that a lot of these people are not identified or explained so you need to do a quick cross check online or elsewhere to find out who the heck Bob Gruen or John Rambo (no, not THE John Rambo is . . .
Anyway, the book is a must for anyone into the Pistols or early UK punk.
[reply]90’s comics were a dark time, but things turned around in the early 2000’s.
Agree completely. I actually just finished the Alias series from 2001 or so. Really good stuff. Much better writing than Bendis’ later Avengers run. Plenty of really good stuff from that era between the late 90’s crap and the late 2000’s corporate writing by committee.[/reply]
i really liked gotham central, a totally underselling comic at the time. ed brubaker and greg rucka have ended up being two of my favorite writers. what a great series, if you havent checked it out, i highly recommend it. no capes, just hard crime stories set in gotham. really good.
Has anyone actually read the original “Tour Smart?” Apparently Martin teaches a course based on that book at my alma mater, Columbia College Chicago (this may have something to do with all the 5-star reviews there, you probably had to craft an Amazon review for final credit in the class…)
Frankly the book that needs to be written would be the stories of various Invisible staffers over the years, relating to MA’s legendary condescension and drama…the man who could interpret a simple comment like “hey, this new Scorn record is really good” as a personal affront, and reply with “well, what would I know! I only talk to Mick Harris THREE TIMES A WEEK!!!”
Has anyone actually read the original “Tour Smart?” Apparently Martin teaches a course based on that book at my alma mater, Columbia College Chicago (this may have something to do with all the 5-star reviews there, you probably had to craft an Amazon review for final credit in the class…)
Frankly the book that needs to be written would be the stories of various Invisible staffers over the years, relating to MA’s legendary condescension and drama…the man who could interpret a simple comment like “hey, this new Scorn record is really good” as a personal affront, and reply with “well, what would I know! I only talk to Mick Harris THREE TIMES A WEEK!!!”
I read it…well not all of it,but a decent portion…we have had a few detailed discussions about that book and other Atkins “ventures” …
I read it…well not all of it,but a decent portion…we have had a few detailed discussions about that book and other Atkins “ventures” …
Has anybody kept the ‘minutes’ of previous Atkins-related discussions?
Just so I don’t run the risk of repeating something that’s been thoroughly worked over on these boards already.
And also for the record, I have no personal axe to grind with the man. I find his personality to be unnecessarily caustic for day-to-day business operations, and his quality control leaves a lot to be desired, but…I’m not one of those who go on Amazon ‘one-star review’ campaigns that aim at having him deported.
Ah, ignore my previous request, I took the leap and did a keyword search for ‘Martin Atkins’ on here. Suffice to say, there are even more stories of wrongdoing in addition to those already archived, but why continue to flog a horse that has been so thoroughly de-fleshed as Martin has on these boards…
Ah, ignore my previous request, I took the leap and did a keyword search for ‘Martin Atkins’ on here. Suffice to say, there are even more stories of wrongdoing in addition to those already archived, but why continue to flog a horse that has been so thoroughly de-fleshed as Martin has on these boards…
Why continue? Because it’s great material, that’s why! If you got some new stories to share, don’t hold back. I don’t have any personal beef with the guy either. I actually admire him from outside the petri dish. He’s amazing . . . “Tin Man”, “Wolf of Wall Street”, used car salesman hustler extraordinaire.
The Revolution 3 school shenanigans is by far my favorite saga. What a brilliant charlatan of a man. Seriously, I love the dude, though it may come off otherwise as he is endless fodder.
Why continue? Because it’s great material, that’s why! If you got some new stories to share, don’t hold back. I don’t have any personal beef with the guy either. I actually admire him from outside the petri dish. He’s amazing . . . “Tin Man”, “Wolf of Wall Street”, used car salesman hustler extraordinaire.
Well ok Gunnar, since YOU have requested it, maybe I will go into my filing cabinet and see if I can dust off some of my old correspondence dealing in the specifics of Martin’s hijinks. Since you have done us all a public service with your Prongs ComiXXX.
I guess one has to admire the career arc of someone who once, in a rare moment of self-effacement, claimed that he did landscaping for Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres during his Jersey years.
Well ok Gunnar, since YOU have requested it, maybe I will go into my filing cabinet and see if I can dust off some of my old correspondence dealing in the specifics of Martin’s hijinks. Since you have done us all a public service with your Prongs ComiXXX.
SWEET!!! I assure you I will not be the only one looking forward to this as a child waits for Santa Claus.
The new Martin book made me curious to go back and read a little of his very self-congratulatory “Tour Smart” opus (thanks to the “freading” feature from my local library, I don’t have to line his pockets to do so.)
I burst out laughing in certain points, because of the none-too-subtle sniping that Martin does at everyone from Genesis P. Orridge (for demanding as large a cut of the door money for a Thee Majesty gig as for a PTV gig) to Jah Wobble (not named by name, but easily intuited, and called an “asshole”) to Mick Harris (also not named by name, but also easy to intuit from fact-checking.)
I especially had to repress a Dolemite-esque shout of “bitch, are you for real?!” when he claimed that Harris / Scorn had blown off a major portion of the 1997 Pigface package tour and that “nobody cared” by the time he did arrive. Nobody cared, my ass…a very rare U.S. Scorn appearance, vs. the non-stop touring Pigface? Hmm…half the people I knew in attendance went because they thought Mick would guest on drums during the Pigface set.
Anyway - bear in mind that, for any Underground Inc. lawyers in the audience, everything I have heard relating to Martin’s business practices is alleged, and readers should not take it as anything other than gossip or hearsay until binding documentation proves otherwise. Martin’s refusal to make formal rebuttals to the more famous claims against him (the Meg Lee Chin saga, PTV “Origin of the Species” discs being pressed without consent of Genesis P. Orridge) is, to say the least, kind of intersting - but, again, I make no claims to have any solid evidence of his wrongdoing.
(cutting this into two parts to avoid “tl;dr” syndrome)
One section in the ‘Tour Smart’ book mentions the 1997 ‘Lowest of the Low’ package tour, with Pigface headlining and with contributions from Scorn, Not Breathing and FM Einheit (probably the best tour value for money in Pigface’s history, at the very least since Connelly and Ogre left the regular membership.)
That book correctly documents that Dave Wright of Not Breathing was infected with spinal meningitis, rendering him unable to play and with nasty, persistent tinnitus (to Dave’s credit, he was back in action for an excellent set opening for Einsturzende Neubauten at Cabaret Metro in '98.)
Martin’s concerned account in that book jars with another one that was sent to me circa 2003, which I’ll repeat verbatim:
"Do you remember how people on the internet were campaigning and sending money to a collection fund for Dave? Loads of people sent money, some over a hundred bucks personally. Martin was on the road sending inspirational messages and rallying the crowd, being really ‘cool, supportive,’ according to Meg [Lee Chin], and then the collections were sent to Invisible after the tour so they could be sent to Dave.
Some time later, Meg was talking to Dave and jokingly said ‘so, how much did ya get?’ Dave said ‘eight dollars.’ She asked him again, thinking he was joking, and he said ‘no, seriously. Martin gave me eight dollars.’ I can even tell you what I bought with it - two packs of cigarettes and a bottle of Coke.’
Martin had somehow justified it to himself that he should keep the money intended for Dave. Dave, who is now deaf and can’t make music. Dave, whose last album is on a shelf because releasing it would release him from his contract, so he can’t even add those royalties to his income."
That’s some pretty shady shit…I remember talking to Meg at a Connelly show I went to once and she did not have nice things to say about Martin whatsoever heh…
Actually, Dave Wright is totally still making music as Not Breathing. One of my noise buddies, Breakdancing Ronald Reagan, has played a couple shows with him recently. I was totes jelly.
Yeah, yeah. Whatever.
Let’s go back to the important part, shall we?
You got buddies in a band called BREAKDANCING RONALD REAGAN!!!???
HAHAHAHA!!!
I’m guessing it’s unlistenable, but I’d really like to see any posters or T-shirt designs they may have.
.
Dude his music is not your thing AT ALL but his internet persona would have you just dying. His posts are the weirdest most fucked up shit in my FB feed. You’d love it. He also has a side project called Youthful Masturbation Techniques. His real name is Johnny Cash, no shit. He opened up a show for Bushwick Bill last year, which had to be the strangest show ever. I’ll dig up some links in a bit. He’s one of the prime movers in the Austin noise scene, puts on several large noise feasts a year and tours pretty much nonstop, like he’s itchy in his blood.
That’s some pretty shady shit…I remember talking to Meg at a Connelly show I went to once and she did not have nice things to say about Martin whatsoever heh…
Yeah, whereas the situation with Dave seems mean, Meg’s claims - again, assuming any of this is true - point more in the direction of major career setbacks.
I know she runs or ran her own “Gearslutz” bulletin board, and may have reprised the story over there, but she claims that a great deal of shit went down after her song ‘Heavy Scene’ was sent to the director of the sitcom “Queer as Folk,” who not only accepted it but played it in show twice, and once for over a minute on prime-time TV.
Apparently, Meg called these folks up once to inquire about a payment, and they said they refused to deal anymore with anyone associated with Martin Atkins, since he’d been calling them repeatedly and being obnoxious / rude in the process of making unreasonable demands. As the story goes, Martin’s heavy-handedness made it so that her song is the only one that didn’t get onto the soundtrack compilation. It’s also been said that the same track was in the running to be the official theme for the Super Bowl (!!) that year.
I, personally, fall more on the quiet side of noise in what I do and what I listen to, but if you’re going to go harsh, he’s probably my top pick. All balls.
Davelybob - speaking of all this stuff - isn’t ‘Rosemary Malign’ active in your neck of the woods?
She had contacted me a while ago via William Bennett, we had many interesting conversations, and she sort of fell off the face of the earth afterwards.
[reply]That’s some pretty shady shit…I remember talking to Meg at a Connelly show I went to once and she did not have nice things to say about Martin whatsoever heh…
Yeah, whereas the situation with Dave seems mean, Meg’s claims - again, assuming any of this is true - point more in the direction of major career setbacks.
I know she runs or ran her own “Gearslutz” bulletin board, and may have reprised the story over there, but she claims that a great deal of shit went down after her song ‘Heavy Scene’ was sent to the director of the sitcom “Queer as Folk,” who not only accepted it but played it in show twice, and once for over a minute on prime-time TV.
Apparently, Meg called these folks up once to inquire about a payment, and they said they refused to deal anymore with anyone associated with Martin Atkins, since he’d been calling them repeatedly and being obnoxious / rude in the process of making unreasonable demands. As the story goes, Martin’s heavy-handedness made it so that her song is the only one that didn’t get onto the soundtrack compilation. It’s also been said that the same track was in the running to be the official theme for the Super Bowl (!!) that year.[/reply]
Yeah,it sounds like some cashola was taken from her pocket…that Super Bowl payment would have been a nice one…incidentally that gig was fun as hell…she came down in to the audience and danced with us most of the night…a fun time…
Yeah,it sounds like some cashola was taken from her pocket…that Super Bowl payment would have been a nice one…incidentally that gig was fun as hell…she came down in to the audience and danced with us most of the night…a fun time…
There have of course been other allegations, dealing with Martin trying to find ways to get songwriting credits for things he had never even touched, and that Meg could prove he hadn’t touched by virtue of those songs appearing in her multi-tracking software in the same form that they exist on CD.
Meg makes good pop music, it isn’t really designed for people like me but it’s clear she puts thought into it. And yes she’s far more approachable and friendly than her ex-boss.