The original article I wrote about Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash appeared in 2002 in an ezine called “Changes In Time” based in South Florida, commemorating the death of Waylon and the 70th birthday of Johnny Cash.  Some readers of CIT were upset that an article about Country singers was appearing in a Goth ezine, but the Editor graciously stood by the article.    When the death of Johnny Cash followed a year later,  it seemed like an era was over.    Nearly a decade after their deaths, Cash and Jennings still cast a giant shadow over the music world.

I certainly don’t fall into the common trap of calling something “Goth” just because  I feel some affinity with it, but I do  believe that the same principles  that led to the creation of the Goth Culture are shared by other people, too, and this makes us all sort of comrades-in-arms.   I first discovered the music of Outlaw Country when I was a teen.   A good friend of mine named Farley Howard introduced me to singers like Waylon, Willie, and David Allen Coe. I’ll probably lose what few Goth points I have left, but the first concert I ever attended was when Farley and I went to see Willie and Emmylou Harris perform at the Greensboro Coliseum.   (Farley later got a full scholarship from Harvard.   I got a bus ticket to basic training at Fort Sill, OK.)

The Outlaws gave me the first intimation that there were alternatives to the pop mainstream.   This was probably why going even further was easier when I discovered Punk and, later, Goth.     You will seldom hear singers like Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash on today’s watered down, pop-country radio.    Yet they packed venues to the very last, and their album sales roll on today, regardless.

Jennings played bass for his childhood friend Buddy Holly during 1958-59.  Jennings had a close brush with fate in 1959, when he was scheduled to be on a plane chartered by Buddy Holly.   J.P. ‘The Big Bopper” Richardson was ill, and Jennings willingly let Richardson have his seat.   The plane crashed, taking the lives of all aboard.  Later, he roomed with fellow nonconformist Johnny cash.  Refusing to change his style from Country to Pop as the owner wished, Jennings left A&M records for RCA.  In the 1970′s, Jennings finally broke completely with traditional country music. Instead of the usual boring, weepy strings, Jennings added the electric bass with blues and rock rhythms, creating a sound that later became known as country-rock, embodied by performers such as the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Steve Earl.  Kicking a cocaine habit in the eighties, Jennings founded the Waylon G.D. Jennings Production Company.

Wearing a black cowboy hand and leather vest, Jennings looked and sounded like no one else.   Fiercely independent, Jennings steadfastly battled the record companies for control of his music.  He refused to record with the usual session musicians, and was highly critical of the Country Music Association.   A champion for lesser known song writers, Jennings embraced the Outlaw movement created by people  like Willie Nelson, who had fled Nashville for the freedom of Austin, Texas.

Typically, Jennings was the first to call fellow performers to task when the scene got out of hand, condemning their excesses and posturing in songs like “Luckenback, Texas”, and “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?”  Jennings felt  a strong sense of community, refusing to attend award ceremonies because he felt that country musicians should not compete with other.   True to form,  when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame,  Jennings sent his son to pick up the award, joking that the audience wouldn’t want to hear what he had to say anyway.

Johnny Cash was known as “The Man in Black”, and there has been no one else quite like him.  Like Jennings, Cash was a maverick who openly disdained the conventions of Nashville music.   Along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley, Cash signed on with Sun Records, home of the original Rockabilly sound.  In the early ’60′s, Cash collaborated with Bob Dylan and even appeared on Dylan’s album “Nashville Skyline”.    He wore a long black coat, in stark contrast to the gaudiness of most Country performers.   In 1979-80, Rockabilly emerged again from the ranks of Punk, eventually spawning Psychobilly.  Punks were trekking down to stores like Rock On Records in Camden Town to snap up records by Lewis, Perkins, Presley (especially the  “Sun Sessions” LP), and of course, Johnny Cash.  “Brand New Cadillac” from the Clash’s “London Calling” LP, was nothing less than classic Rockabilly.  From there it was a straight line of descent down to the Cramps’  “Sheena’s in a Goth Gang” of 1997.

In 1985,  Cash and Jennings formed The Highwaymen along with fellow Outlaws Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.   From 1985-1995, they released three albums: Highwayman, Highwayman 2, and The Road Goes on Forever.    Cash’s “American Recordings”, released in 1994, has a cover that is more “gothic” in a purely American way than any other album cover.   Accompanied by only his guitar, Cash’s voice rolls out of the darkness like the approaching Apocalypse, not the special-effects laden razzle-dazzle Apocalypse of today’s cyber world, but the Apocalypse of old-time preachers, mountain bards, and nightmares of our childhood.  Scorned by  country radio,  “American Recordings” impressed fans old and new, as did the follow-up album “Unchained” in 1996.  Cash’s albums included covers of songs by such diverse artists as Soundgarden and U2. In 2000, Cash included an impressive rendition of Nick Cave’s “Mercy Seat” on the album “Solitary Man”.    Later, he evocatively covered Nine Inch Nails “The Hurt”.

I’ll never forget standing on a street corner in Camden Town in 2002, listening to Cash’s rendition of “The Hurt” coming from a nearby store.   When I was in High School, I was in a very short-lived band and sang “Folsom Prison Blues” in the school talent show and later during an appearance on the local radio station.   Never in my wildest, most demented  dreams did I ever imagine that nearly thirty years later I would be in the UK, dressed in black, listening to Johnny Cash.   But somehow it was fitting.

According to Cash, his dark clothes and stark music were symbolic of the poor, the dispossessed, and the unfortunate.  Over 50 years after the release of his first single, the enigmatic Cash remains an original who has never been copied.  Musically, he has influenced scores of artists across a broad spectrum of musical styles.   On the liner notes for ‘The Essential Johnny Cash”, Cash is praised by such diverse figures as Leonard Cohen and   Goth-poet Nick Cave.

To paraphrase David Allen Coe, if that ain’t Goth, you can kiss my….

Every so often I will read a music review that I find simply amazing.  I have to wonder if the reviewer actually listened to the album at all!   Their comments seem to have no relationship to the music.  Song titles will be mangled.  Non-existent instruments and vocals will be mentioned.    There are also reviews that consist of two or three sentences which are so general as to be meaningless.   “This is great Goth music!  If you like the Sisters of Mercy you’ll love Band X.”    Well, not necessarily…. could we have a bit more information please?   One of my favorite negative reviews was of a Deathrock band where the reviewer fumed and complained  because the vocals were “high pitched” and the album didn’t “rawk”.  Huh?   The reviewer obviously didn’t listen to much about Deathrock at all.  Another such interview railed that a CD was “monotonous” and I truly had to wonder if all he did was listen to the first 10 seconds of each song.

I will be the first to admit that I certainly have many faults as a reviewer.  Nevertheless, I try to adhere to a few basic rules when writing a review.   I research the band to gain some insight on where they are coming from, so to speak.  I will often listen to a CD for an absurd amount of time (my apologies to the bands), to get a comfortable understanding and appreciation for the music.  Only then can I deliver an informed, relevant review.  Sometimes, the mundane world doth intrude, as we used to say in the Renaissance faires.  I may be painfully  slow to complete a review or an interview.  This is my fault entirely.

Some people may be forgiven for believing  that I suck up to bands, because my reviews are almost always laudatory.  The reason for this is that I do not do negative reviews.    If I truly do not like a CD, I  do not  review it.     Regretfully, I  hear many more albums than I review.   But  if I feel no affinity for the music, it would be a disservice to the bands and fans  for me to review it.   On a few occasions I have had to do quite a bit of soul-searching over this.   Some reviewers seem to think they must tear a CD apart every once in awhile to show they have “teeth”.  Oh please.  I want to turn people on to to good music, not discuss music  I  get nothing out of.  After all, to paraphrase Lawrence of Arabia, my time is limited.   Regardless of what I think of a band’s music, I have no desire to trash them out. At least they are doing something.  I might not like their music, but others may. I will leave it to an appreciative fan to review them.  Fortunately, this has created very few awkward moments for me.  I will not pretend to like someone when I do not; or pretend to like music that I do not.  I am sure that this comes with a price, but it is a price I am more than willing to pay.

In the past, I have reviewed music available in the mainstream because they originated in the underground, or they have connections to the Goth scene.    These days, I don’t waste my time. I only review underground music.   If an band is available in major music outlets, information on them is easily found in the mainstream media. They don’t need underground support, and they usually couldn’t care less about it.   It’s sad when bands forget or move past their underground roots, but it happens.  I prefer to concentrate on bands that support the underground and are part of it.

Midnight calling is cfree, and I derive no income whatsoever from the ezine whatsoever.  I do it simply for love of the Music and the Underground.  I am more than happy to support a band by buying a CD or merch, but since my funds are limited  I am very appreciative when a band gives me a CD to review, and on the rare occasion when I am given free entry into an event.  (Thanks, Emma!)    I also deeply appreciate it when a band provides a link to an interview or mentions it on their website.  Much like in the underground poetry scene, the only acknowledgement many of us receive is from our fellow travelers.   However,  if a band or artist is unpleasant to deal with, I will spend my time and efforts elsewhere.    Life is too short.   Those who are more concerned with scene politics than their music do not need me.  I’m sure Rolling Stone has them  on speed-dial, anyway.

Unfortunately, not everyone who frequents the Underground is there for the music or culture. Some promoters and DJ’s who tout themselves as leaders of the underground have the attitude of :  “Just shut up and buy our tickets/pay our cover.”    They exhort us all to “support the scene”, but these Bottom-Feeders are in it for profit and ego, not love of the music.   Gee, if our only role is to throw money at someone, we can just run into to the mall.  At least it has a food court.    Personally, I will not support anyone who abuses or takes advantage of bands.    I don’t care what their “status” is.  I once heard that a friend of mine, who is also very involved in the underground, and  I have  “bad reputations” because we don’t kowtow to the “right” people.   Oh yeah?    I have a novel idea for these types.  Try treating people decently and keeping your word.

There are too many DJ’s who do not support new music.  Refusing to introduce new music  is doing both the bands, the fans, and the subculture a grave disservice.  This also gives casual club-goers the erroneous impression that “there is no new Goth music” and contributes to the vicious cycle of ignorance.   If it’s on your flyer: play it.  If not, don’t say it.   Enough with the latex clad girls wearing Nazi-looking hats on the flyers.   Leave that for the Fetish Nights.  And please, don’t put Siouxsie, Robert Smith, or some model with a mohawk  on your flier if all you play is Electro-Dance.

I extend a heartfelt thank you to all the bands who make the music that has made our scene what it is today.    Sometime in the early ’80′s this music  changed my life forever.   And thank you to all the DJ’s, promoters who support them.  Thank you to all the fans who have made it a part of their lives.  And thank you to all the readers of Midnight Calling Ezine. Without you, MCE would not exist.

On that note, I will close this somewhat rambling monologue.  Don’t mind me.  Halloween is fast approaching.

When I first heard of Puckett’s Farm Equipment in Charlotte, NC my first thought was that a farm equipment store was an odd place to have live music acts.    But soon I discovered that the original farm equipment store had been turned into a bar and music venue, a being a history buff, I was intrigued  by the fact that the bar is in the original building. According  to their website, Puckett’s Farm Equipment  features 21st Century Honky Tonk.   truer words were never spoken

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Puckett’s is not in the depths of urban Charlotte, but was quite easy to access in a fairly rural, picturesque area.  There was handful of vendors outside in the relentless heat, and I met the owner of the hot rod magazine Backstreet Havoc, knowledgeable  and amiable Matt Knowlson.  Matt is an awesome individual, and I could easily have spent the evening in conversation.     The music was  beckoning, and I soon wandered inside to find a laid back and comfortable bar and stage.

The music was great!    The Throttle Kings from Salisbury set the stage for the night,  followed by the Tremors, blasting their unique brand of  Carolina Psychobilly like combat engineers demolishing the walls of vapid, bland mainstream music.   And DEMOLISH they did!   I have had the pleasure of seeing the Tremors at The Heavy Rebel Weekender, and they are very nice guys as well as talented musicians.   John Howie, Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff was next. John Howie, Jr. brings country music back to where it belongs, out of the clutches of the watered-down travesty that masquerades as “country” on mainstream radio.   Their performance was just fabulous, and songs like “Watch Me Fall” are still running through my head.   As far as I am concerned, people like John Howie, Jr. and Hickry Hawkins are the only Country that matters.   John Howie was able accompanied by his lovely paramour Billie Feather, who  simply blew me away some years ago when I saw her perform with the  B0-Stevens, another great Honky Tonk band.  She has also played with the great Darnell Woodies, and to add icing to the cake, she and John Howie have a Punk band, the P-90s.  This is truly a match made in heaven, and the music proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The Defilers were next, musical fire-eaters straight from Charleston, SC who I have also had the pleasure of seeing before.  They did some rafter shaking and name taking.   This is where it’s at:   burn your radios and disconnect your cable.  Then came the remarkable Sean K. Preston, who kept  the crowd on their feet with their blues/country beat.   Dig it!    Unfortunately, with a drive back to the Raleigh area looming, I had to leave.   I regrettably missed the Dielectrics and Transylvania Transport Company.  But I hope to catch them another time.   I will certainly be returning to Puckett’s Farm Equipment.

Being at  the mercy of my work schedule, it had been a while since I attended the Clorkwork Ball. I had not visited Davenports and Winkleperrys, the innovative Steampunk art gallery opened by Emma Cabrera in downtown Pittsboro, NC.   Feeling a bit under the weather, I nevertheless dragged myself out for the 45 odd minute drive.   It was well worthwhile. Emma was as gracious as ever.     I had a very congenial conversation with Phineas, and met the cutest little canine and her lucky owner.    The store is very quaint and archaic,  filled with wonderful oddities and abstractions.  The Ball was held in the back room (not smoke-filled, by the way), which was soon filled with Steampunk denizens  dressed in their finery.   Dj’s Emmett and Mingan spun the magical and moon-misted Music ‘O the Gears, and much merriment was had by all.     I had not expected live music, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a three song performance by Eli August.   Feeling like a miner who suddenly spies a glimmer of gold right where he has been digging fruitlessly, I knew then why it is that I write upon these pages.   His unaccompanied set was sparse, yet stirring, and I knew I had found something exceptional.  Speaking with Eli afterward was most rewarding, and he graciously presented me with a copy of his CD “Let This House Burn Slowly”.   I could barely wait to get home,  and upon playing it,  I was pleased to find that my intuition was not faulty.   But more on that later, with the review.  Meanwhile, here are pictures of the event.   Steampunk is alive and well in Pittsboro, NC.

From the creators of decadent and dark short films, music videos and commercials – Masque Films is putting on a production you don’t want to miss. Hosted at the ASTO Museum of Art and in association with Mayfield Brewing Co. – Masque Films is at last ready to introduce themselves formally to the public. “THE INEVITABLE UNVEILING: A MASQUE FILMS PRODUCTION” will be on April 3, 2010 at 8pm at the ASTO Museum of Art located at 4505 Huntington Drive South, Los Angeles CA 90032.

“THE INEVITABLE UNVEILING: A MASQUE FILMS PRODUCTION”  will be a night coveted with music by “Machinery of Nature” described as D.E.A.D (Desirable Electronic Ambient Dance). The atmosphere will be set with smoke, mirrors and dark corners and hosted by Masque’s resident vampire Bobby Webstar, with a monologue or two. After guests have enjoyed a glass or two of the fine and exquisitely hand-crafted “Iconoclast Beer” sponsored by Mayfield Brewing Co. they will be delighted to watch “The Masque’s Meow.” Choreographed by Natalie Metzger, the Masque’s Meow is a burlesque trio that will tastefully unveil themselves to the audience.

Masque Films is a team of four professionals with diverse artistic and analytical backgrounds – ranging from fine arts, fashion, experimental cinema and biology, all of which result in rich and inspiring visuals outside the industry norm. Masque Films has created several works that have been screened and exhibited to audiences worldwide, including LACMA and EXIS in Seoul, Korea. Most recently they have been receiving photography commissions and new media proposals, and have submitted work to Cannes Independent, Dance Camera West, Chicago Underground, Los Angeles and the Milano International Film Festival.

Websites of Artists Involved:
• Dubstep music by Machinery of Nature: http://www.reverbnation.com/doornick
•    Mayfield Brewing Company: http://www.mayfieldbrewing.com
•    Burlesque Troupe: The Masque’s Meow: http://www.metzart.org
•    Film Screening by Masque Films: http://www.masquefilms.com