I just brewed myself a fresh pot of coffee. Nothing fancy, just Folger’s. It’s 8:44pm on a Wednesday night. I have to be at my boss’ house tomorrow morning by 6:40am and I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that not a lot of people would start their coffee drinking at a quarter to nine if they have to be up early. But to me coffee is romantic. And drinking it at any point in the day is expected and acceptable. I think part of this love comes from reading lots of Jack Kerouac when I was in high school. And that extended to when I discovered Aaron Cometbus. He describes himself as a “punk anthropologist”, has drummed in over 30 bands (Pinhead Gunpowder & Crimpshrine are probably the two most recognized) and writes a zine that he’s been publishing for 28 years. He’s also written a few books. Most of his books are about his travels around the US. He usually hitchhikes or bikes or jumps on a train or walks or just gets in a car with some friends and has them drop him off at a random destination. One of his short books was kind of an oral history on the independent books shops of Berkeley, CA. But they all read as if you were a character, as if you are actually a part of something important, or as if you had missed out on something important. He has romantic ideas about everything: he falls in love with punk rock girls very easily, drinks coffee all night in socialist house-run coffee bars, bikes all over whatever town he is in all night, sets up a “story booth” and exchanges stories with people in the middle of the night until dawn, sleeps on floors, sleeps in attics, plays the drums, lives with dozens of people in messy houses. I think it’s just a lot of things I would love to do, but I never had the guts to do. I think if I had done things like that I would have been living a lie because maybe it’s just not who I am. But to me, Aaron Cometbus is one of the most inspirational people I’ve never met. I’ve written him letters and he’s replied. And his hand-writing is unmistakable since his first 40+ zines and books were all hand written and all of the artwork he does for records is done in the same script. I don’t have all of his zines because I didn’t discover him until I was in high school. So I missed like 16 years of his output and a lot of it is hard to find. I think his lyrics from Pinhead Gunpowder, sung by Billie Joe (of Green Day fame), Jason White (of Influents/Green Day) and Bill Schneider may be closer to my heart than any songs ever written. That’s it. sometimes I feel like I fall in love too easily, want to never stop drinking coffee or talking to people or listening to records or being romantic. For those that are interested in purchasing some of the best, cheapest, literate, heartfelt punk rock literature….visit No Idea Records or Interpunk. I would recommend No Idea first mostly because they are the wonderful people that brought us Hot Water Music. Those are good starting places. And pick up the new best of Pinhead Gunpowder, if you like your pop-punk or Green Day with a lot more heart, sweat and spit. Also be on the lookout for vinyl reissues of the entire Pinhead catalog on recess records.
Currently Listening to: Sunn O))) – Dømkirke 2LP (2008)
