9.8.22

The future of this blog

 

I've been pairing down quite a bit of stuff this year.  I don't do regular Trip 248's or Live At Underground Records anymore.  Primarily making time to work on more of my own music since I've got 100 times more than I've done in 40 years that has yet to be released.  This blog has been going on, used either sparingly or a lot over the years, for decades now. I thought about archiving the posts, which will definitely be done, and not doing new posts here anymore, retiring it, like other things I've slowed down or quit doing to free up more time for personal music. To start with I didn't use this blog much then for a while I used it quite often. It's served as an original sounding board to the A&R Report to a personal journal and relative publication to the Underground Sound, mostly used for reviews, all over the period of it's life.

What I will do with it I don't know.  Like the live shows, the mix shows and whatever else may be attached to the past I can't just stop them all together no more than I can just stop breathing until it's time. The reviews will revert back to being in the Zine more than separated and appearing here. Some may still show up here as well as an occasional article. The service has easy to use editing and controls offering simple, good looking markups.  The colors may be standard but it worked for me to create attractive published pieces. All in all it's something else to keep updated and active, so as my use here has slowed considerably recently, the Underground A&R Report, like the playlists, mixshows which followed the old Underground Records stuff when I did work for other bands in booking and distribution, has become part of the legacy of the whole.

The Underground Sound Webzine I'll still do, probably always will, it'll be the central vehicle for reviews, rants & articles here on in.  I've streamlined so I can get more promotional stuff from bands and labels in front of more eyeballs, because that stuff still pours in.  Being in the music industry for over 40 years, I quit looking at this as any type of business a long time ago, but the things I have done over the years have served to bring forth new stuff "up from Underground" as well as help some of us who've been around a long time remember and enjoy stuff from way back when up until the present, and what is to be seen and heard tomorrow.  

The online offering now as you start in from the Underground Records dot org homepage through the non-passkey public entrance link is a different spotlight each hour, a forum section for talk about the bands I've seen, admired, listen to and worked with, the 21st Century Scroller over on Telegram lets me keep a home feed using even more of the promo stuff sent to me than ever and it's all tied in to The Underground Sound. That's enough for me to keep up with, as I work to get my songs recorded, and more stuff out, which was the whole reason for Underground Records to start with, a label and vehicle to market and promote my art in music & publication.

It's been a lot of things along the way. I hope some of you have enjoyed and are enjoying it.

Stay Cool & Rock On.....

TW

Review: WIZ KHALIFA - MULTIVERSE

Wiz has not only held but expanded the definition of what he does keeping a classic base of rhythm & blues, while mixing in finer elements of hip hop and a bit of modern jazz giving his stuff a defining brand.  After you listen to this album a few times you start hearing stuff in there you didn't before. Melodies layered up nice and smooth, blending as another dimension to the underlying music using counterpoint strikes, or if needed, something with more soul, keeping a slight dissonant edge, so you don't get too distant from zoning too hard.

While this album contains the harder Bad Ass Bitches hit, coming in at under 2 minutes here, you have a whole work of  richly embossed real estate to check out before you get there deep in the second half of the album. Before you get there by track nine there's interest in the scene which has been built exemplified on We're Not Even. Then right away on the next number the gospel gets told to the street as Wiz opens up on the heartfelt Homies, bringing his spot on timing & poetic rhyme to the stage. It's a song any OG can relate to, you've been there, you know these things Wiz raps about. It's life man. More of that comes in strong on Mirror, almost hinting at acapella, almost....then here come them Bad Ass Bitches. Oh Yeah.

Now we're in these modern alley ways. Wiz doesn't have to tell us about these ways, it's everywhere. What's cool is the last three or four leading up here have progressively got more what people think about being something you hear more of when you think "Wiz Khalifa".  See he's built another set of nuggets before he goes to the known hand, hangin' out smokin' watchin' purple rain. Then he funks you on Goyard Bags, messin' with that head.

Strong bass anchors a more ethereal Nobody Knows, going back again to a personal scene, serving Wiz well on this his latest in so far a 20 year career. He then brings it to a close with something coulda been new way back when but is new now, as the album ends on song 17. Run done till the next one, and you know Wiz will have that motherfucker rolled.


REVIEW: ODD MEN OUT


 

Odd Men Out - Odd Men Out

Rising above the plains in a plume of smoke rides the riff; glancing side views of a deep stone. It's telepathic so you don't even have to answer the phone or look at the email.  It comes upon you like a flush of cherry pepper fire after the taste buds have tempted the licking sauce which peeks out when it sees fit. All running down yer tayters filling each ear with distinct instrumentation. A more forceful pan I have not hear much since the late 70's Ted Templeman era. I just wanna fade things a bit to ease me ears.

Alas seems it is all split hard. But just the hard guitars. Otherwise the band tears it up pretty much each song.  It'll have a cool lead in there, some nice harmonies, great drive. A bit heady like those records you remember from the 60's.  Great go-go dancin' stuff.  OMO got the chops, a fine taste for reverb & solid songs.  The tinge of psychedelia in there is nice, it could definitely be the Yardbirds in more than one spot. A few others elsewhere.

Last song on the A side, Can't Get Over, is a mid tempo power blues number that shines well for Odd Men Out. It really pours on the overdrive adding force to already strong harmonies, with a couple tempo changes nudging up the arrangements into an interesting groove, full of jamming from start to finish. On the B side, Big Worries Big Troubles combines hard lead guitar throughout complimenting a driving rhythm section showcasing tight drum rolls & everything weaving together.  Odd Men Out fit as players together well, each instrument showing the skill of the musician in an open almost ad-lib at times framework of songs.  Not so much jazz but you hear it in there, as well as surf, garage and british invasion flavored rock.

The record improves sonically a bit as you go along and there's not really a lacking song too bad anywhere here. A couple drawn out yadas, but yeah it happens. The crazy go cat shows up for a spin on No. If there is nonsense for no reason, it is here. They finish it out rough shod with Knock On My Door, keeping the ambience thick as they jam off into the sunset. Outta 10 I give em a strong 7, maybe border line 8.

https://oddmenoutlondon.bandcamp.com/album/odd-men-out

21.5.22

Review: Double Cheese - Thee Black Album

Fringe psychedelia bringing stepping stones disguised as biscuits & quantum layers fronting as fish & chips.  The carnival spins off with a lurch doing "Jail Time", a gazer ditty shifting quickly into a likely amphetamine induced rave up; a nice intro to what lies ahead. Vintage leslies colliding readily into a portage with cheesy (no pun intended) layers of melt flow forth from "Mean As Fuck" reminding me every bit of the haggard hags of me youth who got off on back handing the kiddos if anyone acted up, which was often.

All of far bearing fruit on the piss off "Bite It" which despite starting on a dirge gains speed, momentum and an almost undeniable force before we arrive at the minute mark. Soon as the churn gains what sounds like stabs at back-grounding, we are aloft in this virtual aeroplane, looking for a field in which to crash and readily burn. Sweet as honey and sour as shit. Sleeting sideways wrapped in raw bacon setting the scene for "Pills and Wine", which is famously known as both a good time and a fatal overdose.

Side one (or A3 as the anglish plainly state it so) ends for me with the straight scene out the window with "Sound Of The Underground" bringing visions of pogoing grimwallas strung out & broken down on the vintage. All said for side one I gotta say the numbers I give mean nothing as 5 goes to one to two to four and as I said ending on three.  A triumph of modern society indeed.

B side kicks off with the scene cleanser  "Talk, Drink, Bleach" which is always a torrid affair down on the skids of the old towne when the bobbies arrive to sweep the streets. The following "Mash Potatoes" could be a love song, or it might not be, and I'll stick closely betting on the latter.  Sounding every bit the bathroom scene we arrive at "Lightnin' Never Strikes Twice", a spinning dervish setting up closer "HIYW", an appropriate burner for the bonfire as the dancing continues all day and night, stopping only as the freakout reaches capacity or the patrons fall aside as the wired wind down after a night, or two, or three, of well earned merry madness. 

 

https://www.dirtywaterrecords.co.uk/ 

 


 

4.3.22

The Treatment & Tinnitus (EEHD)

 

 

Damage to my hearing is the main reason I have stopped doing regulars of the Weekly Live At Underground Records (LAUGR) and the monthly Trip 248 shows.  It's also why I will be mostly concentrating on working on my own music in the recording studio, or anything else using sound as a vector.

These injuries, via The Treatment, both the brain injury related (hearing) and physical introduced or worsened ailments (see Issue 70 of the zine - http://undergroundrecords.org/archives/issue70/damages.php) are the largest impediments to me gaining employment, and have been for many years.

The hearing problems are probably related to brain damages which result from having electromagnetic weaponry such as used in The Treatment (aka Havana Syndrome which has been all over the news for years now) used on you.

Those severe hearing problems recently resulted in me having to turn down two possibilities for employment; one to do sound full time for a local club, and one to be the soundman for a band on tour.  I've also had to curtail, almost completely stop my work in the recording studio.

This type of tinnitus is completely different, as well as vastly amplifies the well known tinnitus you get when working with sound at significant volume over the years most musicians and sound guys can tell you about. It is progressive, as in gets worse, and goes far beyond the eeeeeeeeeee type screaming tinnitus sufferers complain about.

EMF produced tinnitus is way louder than anything else, and distorts sounds; it completely screws up frequency coloration and destroys enjoyment of even listening to music, much less working with it in a production atmosphere.

Forced exposure to EMF problems were listed on my applications for disability, the one filed in 2021, and EMF exposure was also listed on my 2014/2015 application.  Both denied, though the 2021 one (http://undergroundrecords.org/disability/index6.php) is particular in that is shows continuing nonsense by the US Government, both through it's arcane nonsensical SSI application and to the deeper fact that higher echelons in The US Government (those who are allowed access to the highest archives of classified material) knows all about the damages EMF weaponry causes, and not just from what it's own employees tell it, and the effort it has put into "understanding" WTF these weapons are.

It knows exactly WTF these weapons are and the damages they do. Because it not only has paid for production of this type of weaponry, some known to the public, but has many years of development of ALL KINDS of electromagnetic weaponry under it's belt. Much of it done in secret.  Some insights can be found as public knowledge, both in the weapons it states it turned down, such as Medusa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEDUSA_(weapon) ), but also in the directed energy weaponry it touts, openly and freely, it has developed for war time use by its military. This includes surveillance uses of microwave weaponry like in filling/flooding techniques relative to things such as celldar.

From the beginning that it would tell you, the media, and the world, it doesn't know about these "mysterious" weapons supposedly used on it's employees; such uses and damages resulting in the way too limited "Havanaact" Papa Joe signed into law not too long ago, that it keeps up this charade via the media and denial of ANY help whatsoever to someone like me (who has far more multi-party witnesses than most of the employees of the G), some who are on video statements that have been openly available to the public for many years, in 2022 and beyond, is high level treason & criminality.

But I've been over all that, many times before and it's all available as public statements. I hope treatments such as listed in the science article at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.758575/full can help not only tinnitus sufferers but those of us with what I call EM (Electromagentic) Enforced Hearing Damage (EEHD) which in the coming years you will hear about from individuals claiming to have "Havana Syndrome", which CAN BE VERIFIED by existence of very specific injuries. All of us deserve the best science can offer in treatments, because EEHD is a living hell.

On a side note, frequency manipulation is common today in audio and device fingerprinting (search audio frequency fingerprinting). Some of the drm uses include a type of surging of certain frequencies throughout a song, which it's claimed for many a listener cannot tell because it's "out of range". Well yes, many can, it makes songs imbued with it sound like total fucking shit to highly trained ears, especially through certain frequencies and multi-spectral resonance resulting therefrom, which is done on purpose.  

My condition can pick that type of fingerprinting up right away.  Worse, many daws incorporate this type of "silent" fingerprinting.  Both need to stop.  I have found listening to such purposely manipulated shit via audio will make EEHD more painful than it already is. While seemingly it being done for drm purposes seems legit (drm can be done in a much more effective manner, this is street level greedy punk ass destructive shit), daws doing it, and other computer programs doing it when you do things like transfer or convert audio, especially without you knowing, are absolute crimes.

There will be lawsuits about this "silent fingerprinting" bullshit in the future, as there is a possibility it can be viewed as a sonic weapon, which may injure a person's hearing with exposure over time.  Mine was already injured before this type of finger printing via daw became common or I ever noticed it, now I can tell when MFers are using this type of fingerprinting quickly and easily. 

If I was a audio equipment computer software/hardware developer I'd stay far away from this stuff. That includes owners who use this stuff in their "products and assets".   Millions of listeners catch on it won't matter how big of a gangster you are, related lawsuits could destroy a large part of multiple industries.

26.2.22

Maddog Cometh (satire - or maybe not?)

and here we are.....and there we go.....get ready, for the Maddog is ready to howl.......aaaaaauuuuuuuuuuooooooooo! (echo)


Nostradamus sed long ago (so they say):

"When the tiny bear from the city of the big winds takes the crown ye shall know the end is nigh. A large bear from the East will foul the eagle’s nest, and the confused eagle will lose its way. A college with no class and no intelligence will give a grand prize to a misogynist lout.

An angry toddler of more than 70 years will leave a gold tower for a white house. His nasty lies will shriek at night, like a demented bird calling to all who would listen.

England, too, will stumble as it falls prey to a siren call to walk backwards. France will hold firm in the centenary year of a great war, yet Anatolia will suffer as the scribes look out from prison cells.

As the eagle in the West still flies erratically it lands on a great dome. Under the dome a snapping turtle seeks to roll back eight years of progress — cheered on by a Beauregard with no regard. The minions of the turtle and the terror toddler will leave the sick along the roadside as they rush to heap gold upon the lords and nobles.

The righteous shall prove neither right not just — mocking the scribes and scholars who warn them of the terror toddler. Families will sit around tables laden with plates of poultry, but the families dare not speak of the deceits and horrors that encircle them. They know not which of them has drunken the foul delusions from talking foxes, squawking boxes, false pages and whispered lies.

An ice queen from the eerie north will leave the schools in the cold, shining warmth only on the superior private academies. The great denier from a trembling land of black slime would sooner blind himself rather than really see the warming black skies. A bespectacled dancer with good hair will cheer the great denier in incomprehensible and stumbling blather.

Heed this warning, for these are the signs of madness and decline."

From The West of The West, Maddog cometh.....
 
 

 
 
 

13.2.22

Final weekly and monthly shows

[2/13/2022 5:36 AM]

After months of consideration, I have decided to end LIVE AT UNDERGROUND RECORDS, the final show will be this Friday, February 18th. My worsening health conditions have made it where my time is limited so I need to work on my own music and complete the archives of the Live show plus finish up a couple of individual projects I am working on for other artists. 15 years is not a bad run, at all, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for the memories! LAUGR 2007 - 2022, choose LiveMe at rockfest.org for the last stream this Friday Night beginning at Midnight. 
 
The forum at
https://t.me/joinchat/Cei-TFPGrqkIjndrBwNqsA will stay open for a while as I place links to the Archives there and on my other sites. In a way, the ending is just the beginning as the legacy will live on. ROCK ON! ` TW http://www.rockfest.org Phone lines will be open for the final show, as always 770-427-4023.
 
The Monthly Trip 248 has also reached the end, since 1979 I have did that show, and it too will be coming to a close. 43 years of the legendary show have been a blast! The final playlist will be out in a few weeks. Time now to take care of the life worth of recordings done, ready, and still to be done, of my own stuff. Look for new recordings out soon.
 
Appreciate all the listeners and support over the years. I'll never forget you!!
 

 Spike - LAUGR Mascot 2007 - 2021
My companion till the end of time!
I LOVE YOU SPIKE!

2.2.22

LAUGR 407 2/04/22

 

LAUGR Feb4th (actually the 5th) 2022

Midnight till 3am choose LiveMe @ rockfest.org for stream

This will prob be last show, utilities getting cut off in coming week! 

New music from: CORE, TRANSFORMATION, THE GREAT RUSE, RAMDISC, SNAKE WALKER, SHADOW CAT

Phones: 770-427-4023

 


 

21.1.22

TRIBUTE TO MEAT LOAF tonight!

Tonight on LIVE AT UNDERGROUND RECORDS:

A three hour tribute to MEAT LOAF

From his mid-70's recordings with Ted Nugent (yes, Uncle Ted) to BAT OUT OF HELL III, the Underground pays tribute to an icon of Rock N Roll, Midnight east coast time till 3-am, Live At Underground Records.

Use the LiveMe app or webpage listed @ rockfest.org, you can also find your way around @ https://www.liveme.com/us/v/16379891308348392571/index.html?live=1  phone lines will be open for discussions of the music, life & times (boy were they ever different times) of MEAT LOAF. 

 


 



13.1.22

Add Me On Space Hey


 

https://spacehey.com/underground

Sound Issue 71


Issue 71 is at http://undergroundrecords.org/sound/index.php
 

4.1.22

Review: Deviant Process - Nurture

Some of the better top notch technical progressive metal out there at the moment. Neo-classical fugues & the occasional psychedelia yearning, if the prog masters of old were beginning today, they'd be a lot like Deviant Process.

The fans though would definitely have to appreciate the hard-edge, because this band is it every turn of the corner. The Canadian's death metal growl is a wild animal on the prowl.  It's like a battling instrument amidst the whirlwind, as the band shows chops and composing skills far above many of their contemporaries.  At a few spots it runs into itself and runs off the rails a bit, but that makes it more exciting because you don't know wtf to expect.  It'll thrash a bit, rip a bit, jam a lot, take chances and experiment.

 It's a well needed kick in the ass if you're tired of play by the numbers and want something unique and new.  For the heavier heads, this is it.

https://deviantprocess.bandcamp.com/ 

 


 

 



27.12.21

I Love You Spike, I will never forget you, I will always be with you.

Spike had been sick for a couple of years but only got real bad the last couple of months, a week even it seems.  Bad enough to where I couldn't watch him suffer...

He was too good a boy to have to lay there panting hard, gasping for breath.  The Cancer had reached a point in his body where he really couldn't walk, it was a chore for him to go out to the gardens and back for a while, then we didn't even go that far.  

Though it was obvious he didn't feel good for a long time, when I had to help him down the steps and hold him up so he could use the bathroom I knew it was a matter of a short time....

He had quit eating pretty much, and lost a lot of weight. His strength was failing and he began to look at me with pleading eyes to help him. On December 27th a little past noon, his physical pain ended via euthanasia.  It was a hard decision, even though I knew deep down it was the right one.

Spike was a tough dog, and he was my friend for 15 years.  In fact he had just had a birthday.  Now it was time to say goodbye, during Christmas at that. I churn through what if I'd shoulda done this or that, but I'd known for a little while, I was gonna lose my buddy.

6 months ago an experienced vet told me with how far advanced Spike's cancer was it was 6 months or so. Even two weeks ago, Spike was still very active, then he just went down.  I knew it was time.

My loyal friend went through a lot with me. I'll always blame myself for not doing Spike better, I tried to give him a good life but I didn't spend money with doctors or vets.  In the time Spike started showing signs of cancer till he died, early on his cancer may have been treatable....

All I had to give him was Love, he returned it a hundred fold.  I am blessed to have been able to take care of him, love him and share my life with him. I miss you my friend! 

I Love You Spike!

 

***************************************************************

 

Spike loved these Christmas Cakes I had in 2021, here is a picture of our last one we ate together...Little Debbies....


 

We had already tore through a box, and he liked them so much I could use a bite to bribe him to walk a bit the past few days. I saved the last cake for today. In the hour prior to the vet showing up, we shared a cake, as our final meal together. 

I can only hope any of you have a friend like Spike was to me.  He wasn't just a dog or pet to me, his Spirit was strong and he had a somber remembrance, like the spirit you know, wherever you feel it. 

Yesterday, we had our final walk through the garden, these are the final pictures of Spike 12-26-21, he was goofing a bit, wallowing in the leaves, he walked back to the house after I got out a Little Debbie's Christmas Cake out.



I want to thank everyone who has helped us over the years, there have been a few.  God Bless you!





3.12.21

LAUGR Show #400

 HEAVY DOSING T'NITE!

Live At Underground Records show #400 tonight beginning at Midnight. Featuring me ranting as usual, and new music from : Rhetoric, In Mourning, The Raw, Peppersteak, Bestial Invasion, Shimp, Velja, Guerilla Noir. Phones 770-427-4023 Listen to the stream at https://www.liveme.com/us/v/16379891308348392571/index.html?live=1 or choose LiveMe from rockfest.org
 

 
 
 

23.11.21

Review: The Gold Souls - '94 Chevy

Customized soul ride down southside, downtown and out in the country for smiles and favor rolls all around. Lawdogs always surmisin' the horizin, but the really cool ones always just shake their heads & maybe buy you shots @ the rock n roll show or let 'cha roll to cruise the scene another day. They know it ain't worth crimpin' styles and ruinin' day glows.

Good stuff on the funky front.  Recommended 420.

Contact:
Google Drive w/ Music and Pics:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1RMdq7TI1mgKA2k0ITQ8r7GhL44UsDGk6

-Album released October 29th
-Tour the first 2 weeks of November

Be sure to follow all things The Gold Souls here: https://www.thegoldsouls.com/music

Guitars Forever Marketing & Promotions
Scott Thomas
sthomas9@austin.rr.com
512-787-9277
http://bit.ly/ijPsEP

 


 

29.10.21

LAUGR 10/30/21

Tonight on Live At Underground Records:

New stuff from:

Stigma Deus

Woe Unto Me

Plastic Diety

Delta 8

Stiv Hey

Omnium Gatherum

Among Your Gods

Los Angeles


Plus:

The US Government continues to deny acknowledging Havana Syndrome, nor offer ANY help to non-government employees & their families concerning damages caused by exposure to EMF, some victims exposed far longer than those covered under #Havanaact.  Which ACT does NOTHING to address pain & suffering relative to civilian citizens.  In fact, evidence shows civilians pushing for some kind of relief are instead investigated as CRIMINALS. All this time KNOWING, for a fact, the US Government has and uses, and/or ALLOWS USE OF these same kinds of weapons on said civilians!

No disability, no acknowledgement, WHATSOEVER.  EVEN FOR PEOPLE COMPLAINING OPENLY ONLINE ABOUT USE OF THESE SAME WEAPONS MANY YEARS PRIOR TO "HAVANA SYNDROME".  http://undergroundrecords.org/disability/index.php

Join US Tonight on LAUGR as we go deeper, beginning @ midnight @ https://www.liveme.com/us/m/u/1125014112464674816/index.html?live=1  studio phones:  770-427-4023, beginning @ midnight EST.

The Treatment - http://undergroundrecords.org/archives/issue70/sound2.html

 


 

 


25.10.21

Sin City - Things I Left Behind


 

'Ol boys sing of pullin' slick nes, sick ones and who knows WTF ones. Nice little ditty for fans of modern country like the commercial radio stations won't play. F'em, we've got tha internet!!!

 

Contact:  https://sincity66.bandcamp.com/track/things-i-left-behind

James Sullivan - Light Years

Solid release all around.  some bits  big jangly n light for me tastes but some parts fit like a glove for anyone that likes a bit of blast with their corn flakes N ketamine.  Stand outs include B7 Totally Bored seemingly a Cobain tribute (has to be), the ambient psychedelia with a hint of retro flowers on B8 Man In Black, the power beat pushing A5 Guided, and the modern cowboy twang (or is that Drivin' N Cryin'? circa Whisper Tames The Lion....") into some college smileys of B11 In The End.

As one can tell I prefer the driving heavier numbers, but that's just me.  Many will enjoy more sugar on them cornflakes. I'll take a few more shots of Adrenaline. Worth the spin and as a collectors.

Contact:  https://stardumbrecords.com/







Review: Jules x La - Picture Me Gone

Oversexed groove n glide; both cornered & set free by electronic bliss. The song swells and swirls with a kick beat to the heart. A classic erotic gem. http://www.julesxla.com/

This review will appear as part of Issue 71 of The Underground Sound http://undergroundrecords.org/sound/index.php

 


 

15.10.21

10/15 LAUGR: Clubhouse chats, reggae & buttermilk bisquits

 


Plus new music from:


Dribble2Much

Spanky

OG3 

Manudigital Meets Rastar AllStars

Gibblety

Hanl LAmure

 

Beginning @ Midnight, Choose LiveMe link @ http://www.rockfest.org  use app for best kbps streaming.  Studio Phones:  770-427-4023


22.9.21

Review: Various_Artists_-_You_Didnt_Think_We_Could_Take_It__(Subsonics_Tribute_-_Vol_2)

That there is a volume two is surprising to many (tongue N cheeky here).  Unless one understands the obvious inspiration Subsonics (sometimes called The Subsonics) have had over the many years. This collection of tributes is delightful to listen to, full of surprises, and a fitting dedication all around.

Ugly Sounds - I Can't Get Out kicks off the set with a true to original take. Like most of the cuts on the album the focus is on the punk stylings (punk style!!) of Subsonics, but there are definite detours, and nice ones they are (nice punks!!).  Those come a bit into the album though, because following is Kid Congo Powers  remaking I Made You A Clown, which is a bit more "alternative" with touches of a far away rockabilly flavor.  Transitions complete come track three Bang Bang Babies - Frankstein, a fuzzed out smooth flowing take ready made to float over the college airwaves of the 90's.

From there things get experimental with the excellent  See Thru Honda from Disturbios (haha yeah!).  It's like side one covered the various blood types, and considering this is a Subsonics tribute, that's cool and spot on in ways need considering when one talks of diversity. Punk is back though with The Mings blasting legendary Pretty Pills, another mirror in many ways of the original.  While cowpunk shows it's head, but with a touch of sweet not bitter on Wallacy Williams - Cruel Is The Night.

Side two kicks off in retro style with Oubliettes covering Shady Side Of The Street.  It could be Ritchie Valens day at the sock hop.  Not to be outdone, more 50's style but "hard rock" cuts in with an instrumental, Colt Cobra doing Red Rose.  Which since we've gone around the block now, it's expected and delivered the punks show up again, behaving, on Reptilians From Andromeda - Eyeball.

Next up we have Reptilians From Andromeda contributing Eyeball. True to form again, the simplistic steady beat, stereo distortion with a bit of the same on the vocals plus a little reverb, the spirit of Subsonics lives on!  As it does as well in the following Electric Shit With Walter Daniels putting La Bonda... on the chopping block.  You get the AM radio in a passing car about 3am kinda feel. A slice of heaven to be devoured!

Comedic feel on a serious as an overdose topic closes the album out with Black Mekon - Do You Think I'm A Junkie. As a tribute, this is a great album.  Can't say I've heard Volume one, though I may have.   Volume two though, double thumbs up!  Long Live Subsonics!!!

 


 https://mandingarecords.bandcamp.com/

12.9.21

Choking on that Gummit DEW

My answer to the email follows

-------------------------------------------------------------

From: Joel M. Moskowitz PhD [mailto:jmm@berkeley.edu]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2021 7:59 PM
To: CHE-EMF
Subject: ‘Havana syndrome ’ and the mystery of the microwaves (BBC News)

 

My comments:

 

For the past several years, the press has been told by U.S. government officials that the "Havana syndrome" was likely caused by a sonic weapon deployed by an adversary, and more recently a high-intensity microwave weapon. However, a recent report by Adam Entous in The New Yorker suggests that during this period our government officials' working hypothesis for the origin of Havana syndrome has actually been microwave surveillance, not a microwave weapon:

 

"Senior officials in the Trump and Biden Administrations suspect that the Russians are responsible for the syndrome. Their working hypothesis is that operatives working for the G.R.U., the Russian military-intelligence service, have been aiming microwave-radiation devices at U.S. officials, possibly to steal data from their computers or smartphones, which inflicted serious harm on the people they targeted. But American intelligence analysts and operatives have so far been unable to find concrete evidence that would allow them to declare that either microwave radiation or the Russians were to blame."

 

If Entous is correct, then why have our government officials encouraged the press (and the National Academy of Sciences) to report microwave weaponry instead of microwave surveillance as the likely explanation for the Havana syndrome?

 

If microwave surveillance technology is the source of exposure for the syndrome, and if only a minority of individuals are susceptible to developing serious symptoms associated with exposure to low-to-moderate intensity microwave radiation (i.e. "microwave syndrome" or electrohypersensitivity), then the extent of surveillance could be widespread.

 

In an interview with an Associated Press reporter in December 2017, I hypothesized that the syndrome is due to exposure to low-to-moderate intensity microwave radiation used for surveillance rather than a high-intensity microwave radiation weapon:

"'This makes me think the victims may have developed electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) from exposure to electromagnetic fields in the embassy,' Joel Moskowitz, a community health professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told Daily Mail Online. 

'This happened during the Cold War to personnel stationed in the US embassy in Moscow when the Soviets were bombarding the embassy with microwaves to monitor oral communications in the ambassador's office.'"

For more information about EHS see the following open access paper written by Dr. Dominique Belpomme and his 30 co-authors:

 

Belpomme et al. The Critical Importance of Molecular Biomarkers and Imaging in the Study of Electrohypersensitivity. A Scientific Consensus International Report. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021; 22(14):7321. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22147321

When will our government fund the research needed to diagnose and treat electrohypersensitivity (EHS)?

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‘Havana syndrome’ and the mystery of the microwaves

Gordon Carera, BBC News, Sep 8, 2021

Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials have all been trying to find out what causes "Havana syndrome" - a mysterious illness that has struck American diplomats and spies. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it is some new and secret form of surveillance - and some people believe it could even be all in the mind. So who or what is responsible?

It often started with a sound, one that people struggled to describe. "Buzzing", "grinding metal", "piercing squeals", was the best they could manage.

One woman described a low hum and intense pressure in her skull; another felt a pulse of pain. Those who did not hear a sound, felt heat or pressure. But for those who heard the sound, covering their ears made no difference. Some of the people who experienced the syndrome were left with dizziness and fatigue for months.

Havana syndrome first emergedin Cubain 2016. The first cases were CIA officers, which meant they were kept secret. But, eventually, word got out and anxiety spread. Twenty-six personnel and family members would report a wide variety of symptoms. There were whispers that some colleagues thought sufferers were crazy and it was "all in the mind".

Five years on, reports now number in the hundreds and, the BBC has been told, span every continent, leaving a real impact on the US's ability to operate overseas.

Uncovering the truth has now become a top US national security priority - one that an official has described as the most difficult intelligence challenge they have ever faced.

Short presentational grey line

Hard evidence has been elusive, making the syndrome a battleground for competing theories. Some see it as a psychological illness, others a secret weapon. But a growing trail of evidence has focused on microwaves as the most likely culprit.

In 2015, diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba were restored after decades of hostility. But within two years,Havana syndrome almost shut the embassy down, as staff were withdrawn because of concerns for their welfare.

Initially, there was speculation that the Cuban government - or a hard-line faction opposed to improving relations - might be responsible, having deployedsome kind of sonic weapon. Cuba's security services, after all, had been nervous about an influx of US personnel and kept a tight grip on the capital.

That theory would fadeas cases spread around the world.

Short presentational grey line

Butrecently, another possibility hascome into the frame - one whose roots lay in the darker recesses of the Cold War, and a place where science, medicine, espionage and geopolitics collide.

When James Lin, a professor at the University of Illinois,read the first reports about the mysterious soundsin Havana, he immediately suspected that microwaves were responsible. His belief was based not just on theoretical research, but first-hand experience. Decades earlier, he had heard the sounds himself.

Since its emergence around World War Two, there had been reports of people being able to hear something when a nearby radar was switched on and began sending microwaves into the sky. This was even though there was no external noise. In 1961, a paper by Dr Allen Frey argued the sounds were caused by microwaves interacting with the nervous system, leading to the term the "Frey Effect". But the exact causes - and implications - remained unclear.

In the 1970s, Prof Lin set to work conducting his experiments at the University of Washington. He sat on a wooden chair in a small room lined with absorbent materials, anantenna aimed at the back of his head. In his hand he held a light switch. Outside, a colleague sent pulses of microwaves through the antenna at random intervals. If Prof Lin heard a sound, he pressed the switch.

A single pulse sounded like a zip or a clicking finger. A series of pulses like a bird chirping. They were produced in his head rather than as sound waves coming from outside. Prof Lin believed theenergy was absorbed by the soft brain tissue and converted to a pressure wave moving inside the head, which was interpreted by the brain as sound. This occurred when high-power microwaves were delivered as pulses rather than in the low-power continuous form you get from a modern microwave oven or other devices.

Prof Lin recalls that he was careful not to dial it up too high. "I did not want to have my brain damaged," he told the BBC.

In 1978, he found he was not alone in his interest, and received an unusual invitation to discuss his latest paper from a group of scientists who had been carrying out their own experiments.

Short presentational grey line

During the Cold War, science was the focus of intense super-power rivalry. Even areas like mind control were explored, amid fears of the other side getting an edge - and this included microwaves.

Prof Lin was shown the Soviet approach at a centre of scientific researchin the town of Pushchino, near Moscow. "They had a very elaborate, very well-equipped laboratory," Prof Lin recalls. But their experiment was cruder than his. The subject would sit in a drum of salty seawater with their head sticking out. Then microwaves would be fired at their brain. The scientists thought the microwaves interacted with the nervous system and wanted to question Prof Lin on his alternative view.

Curiosity cut both ways, and US spies kept close track on Soviet research. A 1976 report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, unearthed by the BBC, says it could find no proof of Communist-bloc microwave weapons, but says it had learnt of experiments where microwaves were pulsed at the throat of frogs until their hearts stopped.

The report also reveals that the US was concerned Soviet microwaves could be used to impair brain function or induce sounds for psychological effect. "Their internal sound perception research has great potential for development into a system for disorienting or disrupting the behaviour patterns of military or diplomatic personnel."

American interest was more than just defensive. James Lin would occasionally glimpse references to secret US work on weapons in the same field.

Short presentational grey line

And while Prof Lin was in Pushchino, another group of Americans not far away were worried that they were being zapped by microwaves - and that their own government had covered it up.

For nearly a quarter of a century, the 10-storey US embassy in Moscow was bathed by a wide, invisible beam of low-level microwaves. It became known as"the Moscow signal". But for many years, most of those working inside knew nothing.

The beam came from an antenna on the balcony of a nearby Soviet apartment and hit the upper floors of the embassy where the ambassador's office and more sensitive work was carried out. It had been first spotted in the 1950s and was later monitored from a room on the 10th floor. But its existence was a secret tightly held from all but a few working inside. "We were trying to figure out just what might be its purpose," explains Jack Matlock, number two at the embassy in the mid-70s.

image caption US Embassy on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, circa 1964

But a new ambassador, Walter Stoessel, arrived in 1974 and threatened to resign unless everyone was told. "That caused something like panic," recalls Mr Matlock. Embassy staff whose children were in a basement nursery were especially worried. But the State Department played down any risk.

Then AmbassadorStoessel, himself, fell ill - with bleeding of theeyes as one of his symptoms. In a now declassified 1975 phone call to the Soviet ambassador to Washington, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger linked Stoessel's illness to microwaves, admitting "we are trying to keep the thing quiet". Stoessel died of leukaemia at the age of 66. "He decided to play the good soldier", and not make a fuss, his daughter told the BBC.

From 1976 screens were installed to protect people. But many diplomats were angry, believing the State Department had first kept quiet, and then resisted acknowledging any possible health impact. This was a claim echoed decades later with Havana syndrome.

What was the Moscow signal for? "I'm pretty sure that the Soviets had intentions other than damaging us," says Matlock. They were ahead of the US in surveillance technology and one theory was that they bounced microwaves off windows to pick up conversations, another that they were activating their own listening devices hidden inside the building or capturing information through microwaves hitting US electronic devices (known as "peek and poke"). The Soviets at one point told Matlock that the purpose was actually to jam American equipment on the embassy roof used to intercept Soviet communications in Moscow.

This is the world of surveillance and counter-surveillance, one so secret that even within embassies and governments only a few people know the full picture.

One theory is that Havana involved a much more targeted method to carry out some kind of surveillance with higher-power, directed microwaves. One former UK intelligence official told the BBC that microwaves could be used to "illuminate" electronic devices to extract signals or identify and track them. Others speculate that a device (even perhaps an American one) might have been poorly engineered or malfunctioned and caused a physical reaction in some people. However, US officials tell the BBC no device has been identified or recovered.

Short presentational grey line

After a lull, cases began to spread beyond Cuba.

In December 2017, Marc Polymeropolous woke suddenly in a Moscow hotel room. A senior CIA officer, he was in town to meet Russian counterparts. "My ears were ringing, my head was spinning. I felt like I was going to vomit. I couldn't stand up," he told the BBC. "It was terrifying." It was a year after the first Havana cases, but the CIA medical office told himhis symptoms didn't match the Cuban cases. A long battle for medical treatment began. The severe headaches never went away and in the summer of 2019 he was forced to retire.

Mr Polymreopolous originally thought he had been hit by some kind of technical surveillance tool that had been "turned up too much". But when more cases emerged at the CIA which were all, he says, linked to people working on Russia, he came to believe he had been targeted with a weapon.

But then came China, including at the consulate in Guangzhou in early 2018.

Some of those affected in China contacted Beatrice Golomb, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who has long researched the health effects of microwaves, as well as other unexplained illnesses. She told the BBC that she wrote to the State Department's medical team in January 2018 with a detailed account of why she thought microwaves were responsible. "This makes for interesting reading," was the non-committal response.

Prof Golomb says high levels of radiation were recorded by family members of personnel in Guangzhou using commercially available equipment. "The needle went off the top of the available readings." But she says the State Department told its own employees that the measurements they had taken off their own back were classified.

A host of problems plagued early investigations. There was a failure to collect consistent data. The State Department and CIA failed to communicate with each other, and the scepticism of their internal medical teams caused tension.

Only one out of the nine cases from China was initially determined by the State Department to match the criteria for the syndrome based on Havana cases.That left others who experienced symptoms angry, and feeling as if they were being accused of making it up. They began a battle for equal treatment, which is still going on today.

As frustration grew, some of those affected turned to Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specialises in national security cases. He now acts for around two dozen government personnel, half from the intelligence community.

"This is not Havana syndrome. It's a misnomer," argues Mr Zaid, whose clients were affected in many locations. "What's been going on has been known by the United States government probably, based on evidence that I have seen, since the late 1960s."

Since 2013, Mr Zaid has represented one employee of the US National Security Agency who believed they were damaged in 1996 in a location which remains classified.

Mr Zaid questions why the US government has been so unwilling to acknowledge a longer history. One possibility, he says, is because it might open a Pandora's Box of incidents that have been ignored over the years. Another is because the US,too, has developed and perhaps even deployed microwaves itself and wants to keep it secret.

The country's interest in weaponising microwaves extended beyond the end of the Cold War. Reports say from the 1990s, the US Air Force had a project codenamed "Hello" to see if microwaves could create disturbing sounds in people's heads, one called "Goodbye" to test their use for crowd control, and one codenamed "Goodnight" to see if they could be used to kill people. Reports from a decade ago suggested these had not proved successful.

But the study of the mind and what can be done to it has been receiving increased focus within the military and security world.

"The brain is being seen as the 21st Century battle-scape," argues James Giordano, an adviser to the Pentagon and Professor in Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University, who was asked to look at the initial Havana cases. "Brain sciences are global. It is not just the province of what used to be known as the West." Ways to both augment and damage brain function are being worked on, he told the BBC. But it is a field with little transparency or rules.

He says China and Russia have been engaged in microwave research and raises the possibility that tools developed for industrial and commercial uses - for instance to test the impact of microwaves on materials - could have been repurposed.But he also wonders if disruption and spreading fear were also the aim.

This kind of technology may have been around for a while - and even have been used selectively. But that would still mean something changed in Cuba to get it noticed.

Bill Evanina was a senior intelligence official when the Havana cases emerged, and stepped down as the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center this year. He has little doubt about what happened in Havana. "Was it an offensive weapon? I believe it was," he told the BBC.

He believes microwaves may have been deployed in recent military conflicts, but points to specific circumstances to explain a shift.

Cuba, 90 miles off the Florida coast, has long been an ideal site to collect "signals intelligence" by intercepting communications. During the Cold War, it was home to a major Soviet listening station. When Vladimir Putin visited in 2014, reports suggested it was being re-opened. China also opened two sites in recent years, according to one source, while the Russians sent in 30 additional intelligence officers.

But from 2015, the US was back in town. With its newly opened embassy and a beefed-up presence, the US was just beginning to establish its footing, collecting intelligence and pushing back against Russian and Chinese spies. "We were in a ground fight," one person recalls.

Then the sounds began.

"Who had the most to benefit from the closing of the embassy in Havana?" asks Mr Evanina. "If the Russian government was increasing and promulgating their intelligence collection in Cuba, it was probably not good for them to have the US in Cuba."

Russia has repeatedly dismissed accusations it is involved, or has "directed microwave weapons". "Such provocative, baseless speculation and fanciful hypotheses can't really be considered a serious matter for comment," its foreign ministry has said.

And there have been sceptics about the very existence of Havana syndrome. They argue that the unique situation in Cuba supports their case.

'Contagious' stress

Robert W Baloh, a Professor of Neurology at UCLA, has long studied unexplained health symptoms. When he saw the Havana syndrome reports, he concluded they were a mass psychogenic condition. He compares this to the way people feel sick when they are told they have eaten tainted food even if there was nothing wrong with it - the reverse of the placebo effect. "When you see mass psychogenic illness, there's usually some stressful underlying situation," he says. "In the case of Cuba and the mass of the embassy employees - particularly the CIA agents who first were affected - they certainly were in a stressful situation."

In his view, every-day symptoms like brain fog and dizziness are reframed - by sufferers, media and health professionals - as the syndrome. "The symptoms are as real as any other symptoms," he says, arguing that individuals became hyper-aware and fearful as reports spread, especially within a closed community. This, he believes, then became contagious among other US officials serving abroad.

image caption United States Embassy in Havana, May 2021

There remain many unexplained elements. Why did Canadian diplomats report symptoms in Havana? Were they collateral damage from targeting nearby Americans? And why have no UK officials reported symptoms? "The Russians have literally tried to kill people on British soil in recent years with radioactive materials, yet why are there no reported cases?" asks Mark Zaid. "I would probably put on pause the statement that no-one in the UK has experienced any symptoms," responds Bill Evanina, who says the US is now sharing details with allies to spot cases.

Some instances may be unrelated. "We had a bunch of military folk in the Middle East who claimed to have this attack - turned out they had food poisoning," says one former official. "We need to separate the wheat from the chaff," reckons Mark Zaid, who says members of the public, some with mental health issues, approach him claiming to suffer from microwave attacks. One former official reckons around half the cases reported by US officials are possibly linked to attacks by an adversary. Others say the real number could be even smaller.

A December 2020 report by the US National Academies of Sciences was a pivotal moment. Experts took evidence from scientists and clinicians as well as eight victims. "It was quite dramatic," recalls Professor David Relman of Stanford, who chaired the panel. "Some of these people literally were in hiding, for fear of further actions against them by whomever. There were actually precautions we had to take to ensure their safety." The panel looked at psychological and other causes, but concluded that directed, high energy, pulsed microwaves were most likely responsible for some of the cases, similar to the view of James Lin, who gave evidence.

Short presentational grey line

But even though the State Department sponsored the study, it still considers the conclusion only a plausible hypothesis and officials say they have not found further evidence to support it.

The Biden administration has signalled it is taking the issue seriously. CIA and State Department officials are given advice on how to respond to incidents (including 'getting off the X' - meaning physically moving from a spot if they feel they are getting hit). The State Department has set up a task force to support staff over what are now called "unexplained health incidents". Previous attempts to categorise cases as to whether they met specific criteria have been abandoned. But without a definition, it becomes harder to count.

This year, a new wave of cases arrived - including Berlin and a larger group in Vienna. In August, a trip byUSVice-President Kamala Harris to Vietnam was delayed three hours because of a reported case at the embassy in Hanoi. Worried diplomats are now asking questions before taking foreign assignments with their families.

"This is a major distraction for us if we think that the Russians are doing things to our intelligence officers who are travelling," says former CIA officer Polymreopolous, who finally received the medical treatment he wanted this year. "That's going to put a crimp in our operational footprint."

The CIA has taken over the hunt for a cause, with a veteran of the hunt for Osama bin Laden placed in charge.

Markers in the blood

An accusation that another state has been harming US officials is a consequential one. "That's an act of war," says Mr Polymeropolous. That makes it a high bar to reach. Policymakers will demand hard evidence, which so far, officials say, is still lacking.

Five years on, some US officials say little more is known other than whenHavana syndrome started. But others disagree. They say the evidence for microwaves is much stronger now, if not yet conclusive. The BBC has learnt that new evidence is arriving as data is collected and analysed more systematically for the first time. Some of the cases this year showed specific markers in the blood, indicating brain injury. These markers fall away after a few days and previously too much time had elapsed to spot them. But now that people are being tested much more quickly after reporting symptoms, they have been seen for the first time.

The debate remains divisive and it is possible the answer is complex. There may be a core of real cases, while others have been folded into the syndrome. Officials raise the possibility that the technology and the intent might have changed over time, perhaps shifting to try and unsettle the US. Some even worry one state may have piggy-backed on another's activities. "We like a simple label diagnosis," argues Professor Relman. "But sometimes it is tough to achieve. And when we can't, we have to be very careful not to simply throw up our hands and walk away."

The mystery of Havana syndrome could be its real power. The ambiguity and fear it spreads act as a multiplier, making more and more people wonder if they are suffering, and making it harder for spies and diplomats to operate overseas. Even if it began as a tightly defined incident, Havana syndrome may have developed a life of its own.


--

Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., Director
Center for Family and Community Health
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley

Electromagnetic Radiation Safety

Website:          https://www.saferemr.com

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/SaferEMR
Twitter:            @berkeleyprc

 

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TW Sez:


Using things such as celldar (cellular radar) to do room readings has been known to the government for decades to cause serious disruption and harm to human beings; from causing electosensitivity,  spatial disorientation, audio hallucinations and over time, cancers.


So knowing this, and using these same weapons for surveillance, the US Government wants the narrative on DEW type weapons wielded by enemies instead of surveillance technology their own use, and on their own as well inside the country.

This gives the narrative a standard more acceptable model; bad guys vs US. No doubt many nations use these weapons, but though as your email points out, a few ask about, some theorize, some bandy about tidbits of info and even push the narrative toward surveillance as a focus, the US Government would rather NOT have questioning about their own use of these weapons so DEW is what they’d rather push.

Not everyone affected by microwave weaponry will necessarily have traumatic brain injury or the same physiological experiences. Yet with a DEW model, it shifts away from defensive postures (room readings and the things in them), to an aggressive attack; whereas DEWs are known to use high power, many types of microwave weapons used as surveillance use more sublime applications of energy.

So if you’re wanting to deflect about your own use of radio surveillance weapons (microwave are just one type), stay away from those scenarios which are not easily seen as offensive aggression.

I complained about use of radio weaponry for surveillance purposes many years before Havana Syndrome ever became a “thing”. Already by the time I was raising cane in public, the US Government knew full well what was causing the problems.  It allowed me and the truth to fall down the rabbit hole hoping that's where it stayed.

Only when people began being harmed (and moreseo the PUBLIC finding out, because it's been known for decades their own were being harmed), and increasingly their own, did anything I was experiencing personally gear down. Yet soon enough thereafter standard US Government protocol of physical stalking, using “homeland security civilian assets” - we have a type of stasi rampant in this country no one wants to deal with either - and black bag jobbing become paramount, once the “horse was out of the barn” and “the cat is out of the bag” meant just ignoring and hoping for the best telling whomever folks are crazy and hearing things wasn't really gonna work any longer.
 
You can read about all of that in the zine listed following this rant.

Of course even today the media is still talking about “mysterious weapons” supposedly the government still isn't sure of; this reeks as pure madness. 

That many years have passed and its gone from Congressional task forces to the military/intel taking the reins (if this wasn't so incredibly serious that would be comical) and nothing coming of any of it and on top I take it these government employees are having to sue the US Government to get relief….when all of us knows they know to begin with and have since way before “havanna” since they use the stuff themselves….

Such a coverup and conspiracy of crime is but a pure type of evil.  Perhaps they will come up with something when they are forced to, until then it appears to me they’d rather it all just go away, disappear. Even if they are forced to one day come up with some credible consensus to pass along to the media as a narrative above mere speculation, I will guarantee you their own use of the same stuff will not be forthcoming.

TW
 
My experiences with radio weaponry being used against me inside the United States: