Steve Albini on Jughead's Basement

Moral Crux on Jughead's Basement

Lillingtons start off my paid journalist career!

I now work for an online musical journal called Rock And Roll Globe.  I am actually a paid music journalist for the first time in my life!  Unbelievable, right?  Once I was offered the position I knew I had to start with an article about The Lillingtons.  It turned into two articles.  Here are links to part I and II.

Punk Rock Nuptials Part I

Punk rock Nuptials Part II

Welcome to Jughead’s Basement Episode 28 Featuring Pansy Division's record Absurd Pop Song Romance, released on September 8, 1998, 20 years to the date of the release of this podcast. It was their last record on the label Lookout Records. This podcast features interviews with all the band members performing on Absurd Pop Song Romance, including Jon Ginoli, Chris Freeman, Luis Illades, and Patrick Goodwin plus later member Joel Reader, and lastly engineer Steve Albini.

 Editing: John Jughead, Paul Joseph, Jason Brow, and David DeFault.

 Please support Jughead's Basement by becoming a patron at Patreon 
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Or a one time donation at (a book project that also funds the podcast):
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Real Kitchen - Fake Prison

This is my mother and my father. My sister Jeannie found these pictures. My mom is in a real kitchen. My dad is in a fake prison.

Last night I was trying to convince my mom that she needs to see people, get out of the house, do something that will take the place of the job she no longer has. Her memory is going quick, and I feel she needs to keep her brain active. She pointed her face towards the ground and spoke quietly under her breathe, as if to herself, but I was listening, and I heard her words.

She said, “I’d love to write a book, maybe about my life, but it’s not so interesting. I wouldn’t know what to write.”

I said, “Mom your life is definitely worth writing down, just start making a list of things you’ve done and you and I can hash them out later.

She restated that there really isn’t anything to say.

Mom, I would love to know more about your life before your kids were born, just your experiences alone before you were a mother would, I’m sure, make a fascinating story. But take that out of the equation and just remember the things you have done since, for others, at the sacrifice of your own wants or needs:

1. Dad left you with 5 kids to raise on your own. You had to go out and find yourself a new career on your own, to keep us fed and clothed. How did that feel?

2. Dad was married and divorced prior to you and he married two more times after you, and you never remarried. You barely even dated. Why was that?

3. Our house and lives were chaos, and you kept it together, even while two angry sons, going through their own personal hells, were taking drugs, beating each other up, and bashing down walls, and breaking doors. You had a teenage daughter too. She was lost and trying to find herself. The arguments with her were less violent but just as epic. We are stubborn and proud. And on top of that you had two younger children that you had to keep close and keep safe. You remained calm and loved us all. And even invited some of our friends to live with us, to keep them safe from their own fucked up situations and families. Many of those friends STILL ask about you and visit you, and think of you as their mother. What do you suppose that is all about?

4. Years and years later when dad got sick you took him back into the house and you nursed him until his death. That couldn’t have been easy. He lost his mind and could barely change his own clothes. You helped him to keep his dignity in the last days. Why did you do that?

5. Dad had three other wives, why didn't they do what you did?

6. You befriended Dad’s first wife. You two became best friends. That alone is a story in itself. What did you two talk about? What brought you together?

7. You not only became her best friend, but you were put in charge of her finances and legal affairs when she started to shows signs of Alzheimers. You were there as she slowly became a shell, and didn't know who you were anymore. You had to take care of the bills afterwards and helped to put her to rest with her only daughter.

8. Her only daughter, Nancy, died right when she was getting sick. You helped to take care of Nancy before your own children were born. Her death alone was hard on both of you. But having to deal with your best friend, her mother, losing her memory and asking you constantly when Nancy was going to visit. That couldn’t have been easy.

9. You visited her every day, as your own health declined. And now your best friend is gone and your own memory is fading. Mom? That has to hurt.

10. You have lived an important life, Mom. And you didn’t have to be famous or controversial to have lived a life worth writing down. You are more important than that.

This is my short story of my mom’s more detailed story. I did not say all of this as eloquently, to her, in real life, but I think the feeling was there. Maybe someone, maybe even me, will read it to her, for the full affect.

Jughead's Basement - Sub Genre - Lo Fi Interviews with JONAH RAY

Welcome to Jughead’s Basement, sub genre Lo Fi interviews with Hi Fi guests.  Since my band podcasts take an incredibly long time to record, edit and produce, I have decided to explore a sub format where I perform interviews that are a bit more off the cuff, and the guests are encouraged to ask me questions too.  These interviews incorporate all aspects of entertainment, not just music, but theatrical, film and Tv performers plus writers and behind the scenes folks.

I took a trip to Los Angeles to conduct my first 4 in these series, and each time, for different reasons my skills with a professional microphone bottomed out, and in each case I ended up with less than quality recording with some of the funniest smartest hard working entertainment people I know.  I want the interviews to be spontaneous, so instead of trying to redo the interviews I decided to leave them as be, and do what I could to make them sound better.

This second episode is with Jonah Ray, actor, comedian and writer.  Jonah hails from Hawaii and ventured out alone to Los Angeles to make a name for himself.  He considers himself a fan boy.  He definitely knows more about punk rock than I do.  He co-hosted the Nerdist Podcast, plus Comedy Central’s The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail. He has a hilarious parody show on Seeso called Hidden America with Jonah Ray.  He has a podcast of his own called Jonah Raydio, and most important to my girlfriend, he is the current host on the well received reboot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Netflix.

My friend Pam put me in contact with Jonah, on his podcast Jonah Radio he had played a song by my band Even In Blackouts, then I started hounding him to include me in almost anything he was doing.  Eventually he put me on his podcast, which lead to me meeting his friend David Lyons, who invited me to stay at his house in Los Angeles.  He lives less than a mile away from Jonah, and it just so happened that Jonah was coming over to get David and his tools to enlist him to help panel his closet.  This interview took place before the carpentry began.

The microphone problem in this interview had to do with me using a microphone for Jonah, that made clicks and hisses, then 45 minutes in, when my computer fell asleep and I pressed buttons to reactivate the screen, I accidentally shut down the mic.  So after 45 minutes the episode goes mono and is recorded predominantly from my iPhone sitting just a little bit too close to my side of the table

Jughead's Basement - Sub Genre - Lo Fi Interviews with DINO STAMATOPOULOS

Welcome to Jughead’s Basement, sub genre Lowfi interviews with Hi Fi guests.  Since my band podcasts take an incredibly long time to record, edit and produce, I have decided to explore a sub format where I perform interviews that are a bit more off the cuff, and the guests are encouraged to ask me questions too.  These interviews incorporate all aspects of entertainment, not just music, but theatrical, film and Tv performers plus writers and behind the scenes folks.

I took a trip to Los Angeles to conduct my first 4 in these series, and each time, for different reasons my skills with a professional microphone bottomed out, and in each case I ended up with less than quality recording with some of the funniest smartest hard working entertainment people I know.  I want the interviews to be spontaneous, so instead of trying to redo the interviews I decided to leave them as be, and do what I could to make them sound better.

This first episode is with Dino Stamatopolous, writer, producer and reluctant actor.  You may have seen him as Starburns on the hit show Community.  As a writer he is known for his work with Ben Stiller, Dana Carvy, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, and the Mr. Show with David Cross and Bob Odenkirk… amongst others.  He has also reached out into production with his company Starburns Industries with his writing friends and collaborators Dan Harmon, Joe Russo II, James Fino and Duke Jonhson  Starburns Industries birthed Dino’s very own Morel Orel and Frankenhole, along with Dan’s Rick and Morty, and Charlie Kaufman’s oscar nominated animated film Anamolisa.

Dino is also the author of a Graphical novel called Trent: A light tragedy with music, which was originally performed in an earlier incarnation at the annoyance theater in 1990.

In 2004 my friend Steve Walker directed my play Four Clowns and a Bench in Los Angeles.  The play was a success but the audiences still did not come.  When Steve came back to Chicago to report on that status of the show he told me one of the highlights was on a night when there was only about 4 people in the audience, he heard strong supportive laughing from beginning to end.  And the close of the play, this man named Dino Stamatopoulos stood up and gave it an ovation.  I said that was cool, but had know idea who Dino was.  We had gone to the same college, Columia College in Chicago, but I didn’t know the lore of the man.  When I did a little searching I decided to send him a message and thank him for coming.  He responded immediately and thanked me for the play.  We have been in contact ever since.

The microphone problem in this interview had to do with me accidentally deleting all the audio files from his microphone while uploading them into my editing program.  So it is fairly ironic when we joke about it being MY podcast, because little did we know at the time that MY iPhone used to record myself, placed in front of me, would be the only surviving audio recording

Japanese Experience: Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor

So I had a ringing in my ears for two weeks. I went to the Japanese Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor. He sat me down and immediately started digging into my ear, performing a major excavation. There were two very cute assistance standing over me. The doctor began pulling dark wax and hair out of my ear, then he stuck two sticks up my nose. I asked one of the assistance if I looked "kawaii" That's cute in Japanese. She laughed. Then he proceeded to put a tube in my ear and blew air through my sinuses. That hurt something fierce and I did all I could not to openly cry. He poured some liquid into my ear, stuck in some cotton, and then he said some Japanese words I couldn't understand because my ears were full of liquid and cotton, and because he said them in Japanese. One of the nurses led me to a comfy chair facing a blank wall and closed a curtain. I had no idea what was going on. 20 minutes later one of the nurses came back for me, bowed, and signaled to me, by waving at herself in an upside down manner, to proceed back into the main room. She put me on a spinning chair and spun me towards the doctor. He told me to tilt my head. He pulled the cotton out of my ears, along with a nest of brown crud and goo. I glanced at the pretty nurse and she smiled. I was not looking for a date, but if I was, I don't think this would have been the right moment to ask. Then the nurse, in silence, signaled for me to follow her. She led me into another curtained area where three other people were sitting at what looked like a sterile non alcoholic bar for addicts. She stuck two tubes up my nostrils and told me to breathe, for three hours... (she meant three minutes.) Vapor was forced into my nose, and the four of us sat at the bar not looking at each other as water poured from our mouths like we were starving dogs salivating. Then one of the nurses stood me up and pointed to the exit door. I paid a woman at a counter some Yen, and then I left.

Sometimes in Japan you have the most humbling experiences. The ringing in my ears is mostly gone, so that's good. Oh by the way, I told the doctor I was in a band and I had probably lost some hearing, and he said, "Oh." That was it.

Sludgeworth's Losers Of The Year

I only hint at it in this Jughead's Basement Episode, but I booked the one and only Sludgeworth tour.  By this time in Chicago punk history, I was booking all the Screeching Weasel tours across the country, and don't get the wrong idea, it was NOT easy.  Through most of the career of the active Screeching Weasel we did not have it easy as a touring band.  We were forging a new path along with The Queers and other bands from Lookout. (This is not to say that our predecessors, bands like AOD, Black Flag, and Angry Samoans, hadn't made it easier for us, but at the time it felt we were on a different track, and the work that these bands had forged dissipated and did not seem to help our hunt to book shows from the midwest to the coasts.)  This was before Sludgeworth was on Lookout, and they trusted me to book a tour for them.  It was hard, and at the end of the day, I hated the idea of booking shows for other bands.  I wasn't able to be there to make sure that everything was Ok.  I did not have the passion I would have had if it were my own band.  And even more so, I didn't have the hunger for making cash off of bands, that is needed to be successful.  I had always thought I had failed them, I had failed one of my favorite bands.  It took me to when I finally conducted these interviews, over 25 years later, to realize that they not only understood that they were an unknown band, but that they also had some good times.  Good times that they still remember to this very day.  I did not get to put all of this into the podcast, but when I presented the question about the tour, about my humility as a failed booking agent, they eschewed this take and dwelt more on the nostalgia of their youth, and they were thankful for the opportunity to see the country, and to tour with their best friends.  I think because of that, this podcast will over time, and when I accumulate at least a hundred of them, it will still be at the top of my list of completed podcasts.  My passion for telling these bands stories helps in some way.  It makes me happy.  And I hope it makes you happy too.