"You can get hurt foolin' around with that little town flirt" - Del Shannon

News item the first: I interviewed New Found Glory today. Once that's up on the Racket site, I'll post a link.

News item the second: Joe Dunn, Jeff Rowland, Mitch Clem, and Zach Miller are probably the best cartoonists working right now. This is not including the Family Circus comics I cut out and to which I add different dialogue - "Who touched you, Billy?" "I Don't Know!"

News item the third: Taking out the beer bottles to the recycling bin tonight, I spied the moon, and it looked like the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. This feeling was a passing one, but it was still pretty fuckin' cool.

News item the fourth: The CD player in my new car doesn't take too kindly to CD-Rs, so I've been playing whatever "real" CDs I have in my collection. Considering I haven't really bought any CDs since my senior of high school, I've been listening to a lot of mid-80's hardcore and post-punk. ("Gee, Matt, what did you listen to when you were 18? Agent Orange and Joy Division? Douchebag.") While it means I've rediscovered New Mexican Disaster Squad, it also means the only indie CDs I have are Pavement. If anyone wants to send me a "real" CD, I'll hook you up with the address.

News item the fifth: Sammy's in love with me, but I don't care about her feelings. If she can accept me and my back fat and my rotting-meat farts, well, I suppose I can cuddle with her too. But I'm still giving her an Abe Lincoln when she's asleep!

So anyway, I've been drunk since about 3 PM, which means 11+ hours of alcohol-induced whatever. It's mostly consisted of farting and listening to Sonny Rollins. But rather than drunkenly wasting a post about my favorite tenor sax-blower, I decided to write about Del Shannon. Who the fuck couldn't write about Del Shannon, regardless of substance abuse (on the part of the abuser, that is)?

Basically, any Baby Boomer that kills himself gets points from me, but Del Shannon especially. After he put out a Tom Petty produced-record and nobody cared, he put a gun in his mouth. That takes guts. Not even Tom Petty put a gun in his mouth after his last album, as would any respectable artist would after such a boring effort.

Naw, kiddos, Del Shannon practically bridged the gap between the 50's and 60's. He was involved with the initial rock 'n' roll movement, but he was also the first American artist to cover the Beatles while they were still leather-jacketed pissants playing for beer money in Hamburg. He was also the first to introduce the synthesizer into a pop hit with "Runaway," which I'm sure you've all heard.

You could go on and on and on about Del Shannon about his place in pop history, but the blunt truth remains: this muhfuh can SING. Dude had a killer voice. Not bad for a guy that has "Shannon" is his name.

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/5138191/Del_Shannon_Little_Town_Flirt.mp3.html

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/4698017/Del_Shannon_Hat_s_Off_to_Larry.mp3.html

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/1351882/Del_Shannon_Keep_Searchin_.mp3.html

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/4179296/Del_Shannon_So_Long_Baby.mp3.html