EVERYBODY LOVES OUR TOWN

Danny Bland, of Cat Butt/Dwarves/Best Kissers in the World fame, has a novel coming out this summer via Fantagraphics. The audio book sounds particularly exciting:

An exclusive roster of legendary artists, musicians, actors and friends have lent their support and donated their talent by reading and recording chapters of the book including Dave Alvin (Blasters, Knitters), Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers), Duff McKagan (Guns & Roses), Donal Logue (Sons of Anarchy, American Splendor), Blag Dahlia (Dwarves), Wayne Kramer (MC5), Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers), John Doe (X, Knitters), Jacob Pitts (actor, Justified), Damien Echols (West Memphis Three), Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age), Rob Delaney (comic, Twitter superstar), Lou Beach (author, artist), Steve Earle (singer, songwriter, actor), Mark Boone Jr. (Sons of Anarchy), Aimee Mann (singer, songwriter, actress), Marc Maron (WTF podcast), John Sinclair (White Panther Party, MC5 manager), Lew Temple (The Devil’s Rejects, The Walking Dead), Mark Arm (Mudhoney) and others t.b.a., with a portion of the proceeds benefiting MusicCares, a non-profit organization helping musicians and roadies gain sobriety and obtain medical care.

fantagraphics:

Fantagraphics Books to publish In Case We Die, a novel by Danny Bland

Dwarves skate deck, for sale here.

Sub Pop print ad for the Dwarves and L7.

(Source: facebook.com)

Courtney goes to the record store.

Philadelphia’s Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction gallery’s ongoing Sub Pop Art Debt show. (Via the Sub Pop Facebook page; photo by Daniel Abraham)

Sub Pop 1989 CoCA show t-shirts, designed by Jim Sorenson. (Photo courtesy of The Strangest Tribe author Stephen Tow)

Blag Dahlia of the Dwarves, on tour in Europe.

“[The 1991 Motor Sports concert] was an alright show, until some little cunt in the audience threw a 7-Up bottle and split my forehead open during ‘Let’s Fuck.’ I did finish the song before I went to the emergency room and got my head sewn up. The other thing I remember was that the Dwarves had like a $100 guarantee. And I think Nirvana had like $1,000. And I remember [Dwarves singer] Blag haggling with Krist over money before the show, like, ‘Could you kick us another hundred bucks for gas money?’ And Krist was not having any of it, until I went to the emergency room. When the Dwarves came to pick me up after the show, they said, ‘Hey, we got another hundred bucks out of Nirvana because you got hit with a bottle.’ I guess that was worth it.”

—from my interview with ex-Dwarves bassist Salt Peter

(Pictured: original poster art by Jim Blanchard; from the Experience Music Project permanent collection)

“I would never wear [the Sub Pop] shirt that said LOSER. I felt like, Hey, I’m reasonably good-looking and cool, why would I label myself a loser? I never really identified with that side of rock and roll—“Oh, I’m such a loser” or “I’m so put upon by the jocks.” That’s sort of the essence of grunge, and part of why I never really identified with that very much. I was like a little Charles Manson in high school; I had girls following me around, I dealt drugs, and I didn’t feel like a big loser.”

—Blag Dahlia of S.F. punks/onetime Sub Pop signees the Dwarves, from Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge