eLitter for the virtual floor!! 

Download some The Syphilitics tracks:
The Syphilitics - Beautiful mp3
The Syphilitics - Hippie Generation mp3

But seriously, I REALLY wanted to watch GOOSE and TIGERLILLIES and REALLY wanted to watch DUPPY A JAMBA... But it just wasn't meant to be. Next time. Seriously. I promise. I really do... But as a special message from me to each of those bands: you dont need anyone's opinion, especially MINE to know that what you are doing is EXACTLY what you want to be doing. I could blame the NICE FLOOR inside the newer half of The Northisde Tavern for me missing EVERYTHING, because there are people out there who turn right around and walk out of places with nice wooden floors, but I'm not one of them. In fact, I DEFENDED that wooden floor and stated that If some fuck was the kind of person who would drive out to California in their car and sleep in that car and live in that car and wear Operation ivy shirts day in and day out... And THEN judge a place because of their choice in flooring... Then they could just piss off. So. I'm NOT blaming nice floor. I'm blaming Liam. I'm also blaming Tommy. While I'm at it, I'm also goin' to blame the weather because that’s a SAFE and AMERICAN thing to do!

We drank, like I said. We Talked. We remembered, We laughed... All like I said we did. Then we left so Liam could get some pants on and grab a bag full of Pabst from his broken refrigerator... Then we went to MURMUR, a spot I been really wanting to check out for some time now but had trouble finally getting out and about with a brain hanging out... With help from Tommy Aches superb Firefighter eyesight; yeah, this guy who played bass in the Syphilitics is now a firefighter in Indianapolis with a wife from Australia that everyone in indianapolis apologizes to for the death of Steve Irwin once they find out she's Australian and not UK-ish. Tommy and his wife have three kids who all have not only their birth names, but weird Australian names that sound like they could be future members of The Cosmic Psychos... And while were there, lets just say that Liam is still around in the Cincinnati scene. he is ‘recovering’ in ways that you wouldn't imagine and has no redeeming qualities that normal people would consider redeemable, except degenerate fucks like myself. He drinks. He prowls (as all panthers do). He climbs when he drinks too much (once again, as all Panthers do). And like you read earlier, he is wearing shorts now from time to time (not as panthers do). To finish this WAY BACK WHEN section, to get onto more important things, like Michas SLEEP ORGY... Mark Zero, the illustrious Mark Zero is also still around in Cincinnati and doing projects with Lil’ Billy Catfish. Mark Zero  has been known to get punched out by females for telling them they were not punk enough to go to a punk-rock fest, uses words like “perhaps” more commonly than is socially acceptable, and even took to calling people “mate” ala Crocodile Dundee (which is unrelated to Tommy Aches Australian love). There are even stories floating about Mark's cat showing up independently at The Gypsy Hut to hang out with some crusty punks and when Mark tried to carry the cat back home, jumped out of his arms and returned to the punx (notice I spell it with an ‘X’ that time). True story that I NEVER get tired of telling.

Liam and Tommy Syphilitic from 
the infamous Club 55 gig with The Slobs 
and The Socials 5/30/1998

But let's get back to the night.

Murmur. Cool fucking place. As far as I could tell. I was feeling good by time I got there, even though I hadn't drank a drop, Liam and Tommy kept a steady stream of Soda to me as they drank beer. I ran into Issac of Murmur in the back lot who told me what Micah Freeman had going on.... and it sounded interesting. But I missed the accompanying poem, so what I was to see was the END result... So I traversed the steps. Those steep fucker's made me proud I was sober. I felt the twinge of a feeling for Liam and Tommy though. And as Issac had best described, the lights were off, Micah was playing some trancelike acoustic guitar while laying down and the crowd were laying down too. On their backs. With pillows under their heads. I went back out to the hallway where Tommy and Liam were. Liam's hard sole shoes were off so as not to disturb Micah's piece. Tommy was hammering PBR’s (AKA ‘Winners”) and I asked for one. I gave in! The whole night I drank not ONE drop of alcohol. So naturally, I blame ART by way of Micah. This is AMERICA and it feels good to place blame! I took the beer and opened it under the disguise of a cough thinking that I didnt want to attract any thirsty sleepers when they heard a beer can open... And reentered to room to sit in a seat while Micah played. After Liam got tired of sending me pix messages of him  “Hanging Brain’ which is the motion of opening up ones fly just enough to expose a protruding ball sack that in turn looks like a brain (hence the term), he and Tommy joined me for Micah's... I don't know what he was calling it, but I refer to it as a ‘Sleep Orgy’ which I ended up really thinking was cool. Micah's playing was soft, and trancelike but with Murmur being on Beekman Street, which is a street traversed by many large trucks and within ear shot of the train yards, there was a bunch of backing noises that accompanied Michas piece that ended up sounding very “natural” as in NATURE. Every once and again, someone would get up from their slumber to go to the bathroom or whatever and return to lay down and resume their sleep... Micah really set Liam Tommy and I into an artistic sense of thinking.

But we didn't fall asleep. I finished my winner and we exited. Behind Murmur is a set of old grown-up weedy railroad tracks. Next to those are an access road and after another larger patch of weeds, the Mill Creek flows and beyond that those train yards. Those AWESOME train yards! Those train yards NEVER quit their screeching and banging and whistling. We three walked up and down the access road talking about rediscovering things that were already discovered and forgotten or ignored, like the access road. Or even the Mill Creek itself. I shared my hopes and aspirations of one day leading a expedition from the Mill Creek's beginnings in Butler county with canoes and kayaks, through Hamilton county and the various city scapes it pierces all the way to the Ohio river. I would document the entire creek using various media methods. Pictures. Journals. Video's. My expedition and I would redraw a map of the creek and document our findings and run-ins with natives and wildlife... I only had one beer up until now, so Im not blaming alcohol. Im blaming Micah and his art... Tommy and Liam could blame the art, but also the alcohol... They were lucky.

Dialogue from “Listen to That Progress”
“I want to climb that high tension line tower” Said Liam.

Out of Liam's earshot, Tommy said to me ‘What he doesn't know is that there isn't any ladders to climb the tower.”

I turned to Tommy and said “I know” but let's walk down there and rediscover that there isn't a way for Liam to climb the fucking thing.

He took a long pull of the winner and agreed.
--------------

So I cant really say this was a REUNION of The Syphilitics, just a JOINING. But even better than getting together with close friends and allies sharing the PAST is getting back in touch with those close friends and allies and creating a new future. New stories to pass down. New times to share before even newer times are created. Yeah, those were times, but THESE are times too!

We found what was already found but discovered what was forgotten.    Shawn Abnoxious 09/11/2008

www.myspace.com/duppyjamba  
www.myspace.com/northsidetavern 
www.myspace.com/murmurmurspace 
www.myspace.com/micahtfree 

Coming soon: How to Hang a brain video! Featuring step by step instructions on how to hang your own brain... Only from the fine feathered friends of THE NEUS SUBJEX....

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