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Notes From The Underground

Mixed Blessing: A 1998 prediction: The Damones (above) marry the Donnas. Zine-aphobia: Santa Cruz's 'Nightmare' is the answer to our rockabilly dream WELCOME TO THE Nightmare #7 is the definitive psychobilly bible. Psychobilly can be somewhat described as a mishmash of rockabilly, country and punk with more big hair and barnyard attitude. This zine is a perfect illustration of what happens when the seed from the Cramps' Lux Interior's loins escapes the test tube and takes over the world--I implore everyone to be at home before the 5pm curfew, lock your doors and put that Red Rider BB gun with silencer underneath the futon. How can you not appreciate a zine whose motto is "What doesn't kill them makes them stronger"? Fittingly, Welcome to the Nightmare will never be killed by death. It has an awesome review of a raucous M3t3ors show plus an in-depth review of the Mile High Mayhem (a greaser Woodstock last May in Denver that Buddy's Riot also happened to play). Local roots rockers the Haywoods are also interviewed. "Gory Gus and his Pervert Pals," a cartoon about a machine that turns excrement into food, should be on every menu (I wonder what it does with corn?). There's also a helpful Bay Area scene report and some twisted mixed-drink recipes. This zine definitely caters to the converted, but there are already traces of the psychobilly scene expanding its horizons. Did you notice that on the recent Chips '99 reunion show, Ponch, Jon and Grossman all had monster sideburns and Betty Page haircuts? For info, write Welcome to the Nightmare, 1840 41st Ave., #102-350, Capitola 95010. I Spy Here's a heaping helping of fearless predictions for the new year: Colt from the Huxtables gets his eye popped out after being drilled with 20-sided dice at a tragic gathering at the Gamekeeper. Odie abandons Riff Raff to marry both Carmen Electra and Steve Austin and forms a new emo/jock-jams rock band. Riff Raff and Dilligaf merge, forming Dilliraff (other mergers of note include the Muggstables and Lonely Billy Jean King). Russ from Good Riddance is caught covering Joe Sharino covers while accidentally sipping a Giant Gopher at the Jury Room. Spaceboy scraps its guitars for samplers--Spin dubs the band "the next Kriss Kross." Jade, wearing his clothes backward, appears in a movie titled I Still Know You Played in a Hip-Hop Band Last Summer. Monroe, Junk Sick Dawn's ninth drummer in two months, explodes mid-song while Tait, wearing the vital organs seductively draped on his head, keeps on playing. Fury 66 goes Christian rock. In a photo shoot for Thrasher, the members appear clad in yellow and black bumblebee costumes. They cancel a tour with Born Against, say they are born again and release Vespers for Pontius Pilate under the name of Mary 77 on Sessions. After an earthquake followed up by a tsunami, a skate park opens in the spot previously occupied by the Catalyst. Mat from Herbert is bitten by a squadron of rabid doves during an L.A. gig. After a prearranged marriage to the Donnas, the Damones' babies are immediately signed up by Lookout, a subsidiary of the Free Masons, and packaged as a "thinking man's" Hanson. The Peggy Hills get in a vicious fish-and-chips food fight with a gang of soccer hooligans, called the Benny Hills, at Britannia Arms. Upcoming On Friday, Jan. 8, the Criminals, American Steel, Planet A Project and the Volunteers play the SC Vets Hall (7:30pm, $6). Matt Koumaras [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]