Physical Graffiti And Me

  

The universe works in strange ways.  Decades ago, I became the owner of some abandoned beat-up albums.  They still played, so I was happy enough.  Among them were some albums by Led Zeppelin.  Living near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA at the time, Zep was shoved down everyone's throat by the local radio stations ("Get the Led out on WDVE!"), and I wasn't a fan.  Still, my pal DeeDee liked them, so I figured I'd give them a listen.  The first album was the best.  Stuff like "Communication Breakdown" sounded like punk rock a few years early.  In any case, Zep won me over.  The early albums were the best.  Some of the later ones were boring.  The songs were too long, and none too good to begin with.  One of those records was Physical Graffiti.  In my case, the album I got only had the second record of a two-record set.  The album was one of their most popular but not one of my favorites, I figured maybe because I didn't have the first record.  Anyhoo, years later, I had too many records, so I shed some.  Graffiti was one of them.  I don't recall what happened to it.  It might have been sold at a garage sale with the warning it was missing a record.  Maybe I gave it away to somebody.  I doubt I threw it in the trash because the album sleeves were awesome.  You could arrange them in different ways, so different images appeared in the tenement windows (the cd version is nowhere near as much fun).

In any case, years pass, and I'm at the public library.  The friends of the library have a little bookshop and always stick a little cart out with rejects of stuff they think they can't sell but apparently don't have the heart to just chuck, so they leave it out for anyone who wants it.  In any case, I'm looking at this cart, and I spot Physical Graffiti on cd.  I know I don't have that album, so I take it, apparently having forgotten I used to own half of it.  I take it home and find out the reason it was on the free cart, which I did think was odd that even the seventysomethings who staff the bookshop wouldn't know Led Zep, was that it was missing a disc.

Which disc?  The second one.  So decades later I finally got to hear the first half of the album, which is better than the second half but still not too good ("Kashmir" which I already had on MP3 is on it and the highlight of either record in the set).  So it took decades and it was out of order, but I finally did get to hear all of Physical Graffiti (I also later listened to it all in order on Spotify, which didn't change my opinion of it).

It's just strange that I got two free copies of the same mutilated Led Zep double album in my life and between the two I got the whole album.  I didn't keep the cd one.  I kept the case for when one of my double cd cases break.  The booklet, liner tray, and disc went in an envelope, which I'm currently looking for a good home for.  If you have a copy of Physical Graffiti that's missing the first disc, get in touch.  I might be able to help you out.

If you want to listen to music made since 1975, then please give my latest latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

If Resumes Were Truthful . . .

This is another refugee from Frighty #5.  It's a silly thing about how resumes often spin the truth for job candidates, just like job ads spin the truth for companies.

Job Applicant

Why do we still put addresses on resumes?

It's not like you're going to mail me anything!

719-266-2837 * myemailaddressIonlyuseforjobapplicationssoIdonotgetspamfromyouon myrealemailaccount@gmail.com

CAREER SUMMARY

Unfortunately, not being born independently wealthy, I've had to have a series of shitty jobs which have left me skilled in bullshitting, pretending to work, making fun of my incompetent bosses, waiting for private equity to buy the company so they can run into the ground and lay me off before selling it to an even worse private equity, drinking free company coffee no matter how awful, and pretending to give a shit about the slack motherfuckers I inevitably have as coworkers. I look forward to another horrendous and humiliating experience at your company.

EXPERIENCE

Drug Dealer, Self-Employed: Cleveland, Ohio, 2002-2025.

*Sold the best dope in the tri-state area.

*Never got arrested.

Reason For Leaving:  Fuck you, anyone who voted for legal marijuana!

Pre-Arrangement Advisor, Some Awful Cremation Company Named After A Mythological God: Some awful little strip mall in Parma next to the nail salon, I think I lasted a month in 2023.

*Put up with the boss's stupid ideas.

*Tolerated the British bitch that pretended to be the receptionist.

*Sold overpriced cremation plans.

*Laughed when the funeral director quit a week after I started.

*Endured the failed preacher who didn't know anything about sales but somehow was the regional manager.

Reason For Leaving:  It was commission only and they had me calling people who died a decade earlier for leads.

Corporate Jobs I've Successfully Repressed In My Subconscious, Various: Ohio, 2002-2022.

*I don't even remember my bosses' names so if you ask me to list some contact info for references I'm just going to Google stuff randomly and make shit up.

Reason For Leaving:  Typically because I hit my breaking point but sometimes for more money.

If you want to read more workplace funnies, then please read my novel Edna's Employment Agency.

Geese On The Roof

  

Click on the image to make it bigger.  This is a little comic strip I drew for Frighty #5.  Yes, I was thinking of doing a fifth issue of Frighty and still might.  This issue would be all solo, so I wouldn't have to worry about disappointing any contributors if it never came out.  But all my freetime seemed to disappear with the spring, maybe because of gardening (only so many hours in a day), so the pieces I wrote, though not exactly timely, such as the article of the missing church peace pole, might be better off being run on the blog, before they seem retro.  So here's another one.  There are probably a couple of more coming up in subsequent posts.

You can still print out the first four issues of Frighty (check the Library page for download links), and if you still need something to read, then read The Front Yard War or one of my other novels!      

Peace Poles

At the church up the street, the peace pole ended up on the ground before vanishing entirely.  For those who don't know what a peace pole is, it is a pole that has the message "May Peace Prevail On Earth" in different languages.  One side might have English, another Russian, another Japanese, and so on.  The poles started in Japan, which is quite appropriate, since poor Japan is the only country to ever be nuked during wartime.  The idea caught on and even spread to the nuker country, which is us, the USA (yep, we're the only country to ever have attacked someone with a nuke--let's hope it remains that way and by remains that way, I mean 1945 should be the last and only time that someone gets nuked).  By the 1980s, peace poles were spreading across America, primarily in response to Reagan's saber-rattling as The Cold War wound down (there are those who will argue that Reagan's antics caused The Cold War to end, but it's more likely he prolonged it a bit since even by the 1970s the Soviet totalitarian system was breaking down, but we ignored those signs since that didn't fit the whole wartime planned obsolescence idea our economy was based on--and still is).  I remember the poles being controversial which tells you what a weird society we live in.  Some factory in Mentor, Ohio (and probably in every other Congressional district area) can be cranking out bombs and crap to blow people up with, and that's hunky-dory, but some church folks or other peaceniks stick up a piece of wood with a peace slogan on it and people get upset.  Despite the controversy, the poles spread across the country.  After The Cold War ended, the poles stuck around but seemed to not attract as much attention, which brings us to our photo above.  The pole had been on the ground for a few weeks at the time of the picture.  I'm not sure if it just fell over or it was taken down in solidarity with or protest to Trump doing insane shit such as kidnapping a world leader and launching missiles randomly or whatever the fuck he thinks he's doing in Iran (what he is doing is wasting a lot of our money and probably blowing up some nice folks along with the nasty folks he says he's attacking).  Some liberal churches exist in America but the majority of Christianity probably skews politically conservative to the extent that you could swap out Jesus for Zeus and most of them wouldn't notice.  This one's a Methodist church, and apparently a lot of right wing Methodists have left the mainstream church in recent years to form their own holy roller conservative versions (mainly, they seem to be mad that the mother church was accepting gay clergy).  So my guess is that this church didn't take down the peace pole to support Trump.  More likely, it just fell down.  I suppose I could ask them but I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings when I rebuff their invitations to stop by for a worship service.  They do seem like a nice church in that they have food pantries and whatnot, but still I tend to avoid adults with imaginary friends and that's ultimately what the superstitiousness of religion boils down to.  Actually, strike that, as a novelist, I probably have imaginary friends, but I avoid large groups of people who are organized around their imaginary friends.  Hmm . . . might have to strike that as well.  I do attend the occasional comic book convention, and that is a large group of people organized around imaginary friends.

Anyhow, back to the peace pole . . . it's still on the ground or was before it disappeared entirely.  Even before it was on the ground, it was basically obscured by the bushes you can see above it in the photo.  If one has a peace pole, one should really have it displayed, and this one was pretty covered up.  I don't know why it was just on the ground for weeks instead of being disposed of quickly.  It would take me about a half-hour to dig a hole, throw it in the hole, fill in the hole, and have it be back in business.  I was tempted to just go do it one night, but they have a nice garden, and I suspect I'd have probably put it somewhere that would irritate the gardener, plus it may be nice but it's probably not legal to go around fixing people's peace poles.  Maybe they ordered a new one (they cost about $275 or so, though I suppose you could make your own more cheaply), and they're waiting for it to arrive, but it's been months now and, as far as I can tell, no new peace pole has emerged to replace the old one.

Regardless, it's kind of a bummer to see that peace pole just on the ground or, at the time of this writing, vanished entirely, but it is fitting for the time of this writing, with Trump bombing Iran.  Of course, it's times like these when people do need to be reminded that peace is better than war.  It's cheaper as well (Trump's asking for another zillion dollars or whatever for his war currently).  I suppose if I get some free time, I ought to call the church and ask them if they still have the peace pole.  If they don't want it, then maybe I'll just stick it in my front yard.

For more reading on war and things people stick in their lawns, please read The Front Yard War.

drinkdrankdrunk: "I Met Brian Fugett" by Pat Simonelli

I met Brian Fugett.  I didn't know him but I met him.  We can start off this story in 2004 when I started my e-zine Literary Vision.  Back then I started at Yahoo.Com, paid the 30 bucks or whatever, and boom!  I was in business!

Now I had never run a website before so I learned as I went.  Some Brit-based site led me to my co-editors Zeke Iddon (fiction) and Kelly Hallam (poetry).  I was the one to blame for non-fiction.

Fugett and I were both living in Northern California.  He was in San Francisco and I was in Sacramento.  His lit mag was called Zygote in My Coffee and was the hottest thing running.  Brian was a cartoonist.

I remember the poets flocking to get a poem in Zygote.  It struck me as annoying at first, then I thought--why wouldn't they?  They want to have their art shared with the same scene that I'm in.  So with age came respect.

I was a huge fan of one of Fugett's cartoons Danny's Big Banana.  A hilarious action figure sketch.  It still makes me laugh today, just thinking about Fugett taking the time to set up those shots!

One time he gave me the chance to write a Danny.  2005, if you're taking notes.  I don't have Internet this second but it's gotta be out there somewhere.

At the Collingwood Arts Center Toledo, Ohio--

Mike Grover was the inside guy at Collingwood.  He helped set up a big reading there.  It was a joint Zygote Red Fez reading.  I met Fugett there.  He waved hello in one of the ancient hallways.  He was--I think--shooting a film.

Leopold McGinnis was there--someday I will learn to spell that cat's name right.  I recently did that with Fugett--after the poor guy was already dead!  Tim Murray was there of Red Fez radio fame.  The lovely Michele McDannold attended as did the non-lovely Paul Corman Roberts.  Wred Fright was there.  JD Nelson came, Frankie Metro and his girl.  So many underground stars!

We had another fun reading in Danville, Illinois, home to Dick Van Dyke and Gene Hackman--I used to deliver newspapers to his kin!  It was outside at Kennekuk State Park.  Fugett read his "This is the damn poem".  It was another lifetime ago and I'm brain injured!  So I have an excuse!

Now that I'm "retired" and have been put out to pasture by the man, I miss my friend.  Yeah I call him that.  His spirit brings me closer to fellow travelers that might've known him better than just met him.

Read his Brian Fugett Poems book, he's alive in that.  Citizens For Decent Literature Press, ISBN 9798999707802 Edited by Aleathia Drehmer and Michele McDannold.

Pat Simonelli is a writer for Literary Vision Press.  Temp address as of May 2026 = 128 Osborne St., #403, Danbury CT 06810 USA.  We are happy to get the former Webmaster of The Underground Literary Alliance back online!

New Hoof & Antler!

The new Hoof & Antler is out.  In this issue of the Mickey Mart newspaper, I wrote an article about QR code scams.   It is an interesting topic, and I could have written more, but there's only so much space available.  One interesting fact that I didn't have time to get into was that the QR code invention was a two-man affair, but one of the pair seems to get a lot more credit, perhaps because the other one left the company where they worked.  Another interesting tidbit that didn't make the cut was that sometimes people get a little too paranoid about QR code scams.  One fellow got a surprise Christmas gift and thought it was a scam, even roping the local tv news into doing a story (not a surprise that tv news couldn't figure out the guy was likely wrong as tv news is usually pretty dumb).  As far as I can tell, no retraction of the story or admission of stupidity was ever released.  They probably just hoped the matter would go away with the passage of time (I hope the guy isn't dumb enough to still think his present was a scam).  Check out what did make the cut and read other fun stuff by stopping by a Mickey Mart.  It's free, though Mickey The Moose probably hopes you buy some gasoline or a cup of coffee or something.

If you want to read something else by me, then get my new novel, The Front Yard War!

New Pop Lit Book Review

  

King Karl Wenclas is revving up the review section of New Pop Lit, so I agreed to write a review for it.  It's hard for independent, underground, and self-published writers to get reviews these days, so any effort to help is great.  Unfortunately, all the indie writers were too lazy to send NPL a book (alas, many are flakes), I guess, but corporate lit swooped in and supplied me with a book, which unfortunately was, like most of the corporate books I see in the public library, not too interesting.  I much prefer to share enthusiasm, but in this case I had none, but a deal is a deal, so I wrote the review and gave my honest opinion.  You can read the review here:  https://newpoplitextra.com/2026/06/05/wheres-chthulu-when-we-need-him/ 

I have seen the book I reviewed at the public library and Barnes And Noble.  It also seems to be selling on eBay and Amazon, which is good for the author, but probably not too good for American literature.  There's much better stuff out there.  I hope the revved up review section helps to point folks to it.  So far, it looks like I'm the only one who's actually turned in a review (it also looks like I blew past the desired word limit and that was after I chopped the dang review in half--apparently, I had a lot to say), but I hope other contributors to NPL soon join in.  If you're an indie author, please get in touch with them to send a copy of your book.  I told the King I'll review a book a year, so I hope to review a book more to my liking next time.

If you want a book more to your liking, then perhaps one of mine will do.  My latest novel is The Front Yard War.      

Wred Fright Novels Available At Roxy's Emporium

On the blog, the past couple of months have been devoted to the new album:  Old New Battered Blue (give it a listen if you haven't already; it's available pretty much wherever you can find digital music), but that doesn't mean there hasn't been other stuff going on, so I'm catching up on things now and the next couple of posts.  One fun thing was stocking my novels at Roxy's Emporium in Elyria, Ohio USA.  My old pals Ken and Suz let Deb, the proprietor, know that she needed to add an author to her cool local writers section:  me!  So I brought over some books.  Ken filmed a funny video they put up at the Roxy's Facebook page.  It is here, though they seem to have missed the "W" in "Wred" (Oh, well, it's silent anyway):  https://www.facebook.com/reel/1669968207532659 

There aren't too many places one can walk in and buy my books.  Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio USA has a few.  At one point, Skylight Books in Los Angeles, California USA had some copies of The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus.  Mainly, I sell my books by mail order/online, but it's nice to be able to walk into a bookstore and find some indie literature, so thanks to Roxy's for stocking my novels!

They were on the bottom shelf the day I dropped them off because Deb was planning on reorganizing the local writers section, so I hope no one spilled coffee on them or no kids get to them (they're for mature readers generally).  It's a really nice local writers section.  When I get out there again, I already know one novel I'll be picking up.  The little mall the bookstore is in also has some other cool shops including Voodoo Zombie Video, a fun horror movie store run by Ken and Suz, and a waffle place that looked fun but was still getting set to open the day I was there.

Check out my latest novel, The Front Yard War, which you can now find at Roxy's!  

Old New Battered Blue Out On Spotify

The new album is out on Spotify, so presumably the distributor now has it just about everywhere digital music is available.  There's a zillion musicians out there releasing zillions of songs, but check it out if you like Modest Mouse, The Fall, Wire, Sonic Youth, The Sex Pistols, Flipper, Butthole Surfers, Mirrors, The Damned, Social Distortion, and the other artists Spotify must think I sound like based on their fun Wred Fright Radio.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!  

Old New Battered Blue On Bandcamp!

 

The new album's out on Bandcamp now also.  This one has my secret mastering trick on it (I burn a cd, normalize volume, then rip the tracks from the cd--boy, how fancy!), so it sounds a little less intense than the original recordings on Soundcloud.  Now you have your pick of audio!  The embedded album starts with "the single", but just use the arrows to go back to the beginning or forward to a later track.  It looks like the album's on Spotify now also, but I haven't listened to it yet to make sure it sounds all right.  The next post will probably deal with that.

 

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!   

Old New Battered Blue Out On Soundcloud

wredfright · Old New Borrowed Blue

The new album's out on Soundcloud!:  https://soundcloud.com/wredfright/sets/old-new-borrowed-blue.  It should be on Spotify soon if it isn't already.  By the next post, it'll probably be up on Bandcamp.

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp! 

Music Video For A Song From The Old New Battered Blue Album

 

I chose "Terri Cockring" as the song from Old New Battered Blue to make a music video of because I like the song and thought it would work well with the visual concept of making funny faces while brushing teeth.  It came out pretty well, though I had to brush my teeth twice because the first take was shot at too low an angle (this is what happens when you are your own camera operator).  Since there are no hot chicks in the band (where's Bananarama when I need them?  Probably in England) since the band is me, I had to star in the video myself.  Enjoy and remember to floss!  The album should actually be out in the next post, starting with Soundcloud.

 

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

Old New Battered Blue Liner Notes

  

The liner notes for my new album are done.  They can be found here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/15hyxDRsG0BZoj3vK171KYxrOF0FTH5K0/view?usp=sharing  The album is Old New Battered Blue.  The album will start popping up on various listening services in the next few weeks, but for now you can read about it at least.  I'm probably going to make one video for the album.  Which song should I pick?  Feel free to email or comment if you have a suggestion.

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp! 

Old New Battered Blue Track List

  

The track list for the new Wred Fright album, Old New Battered Blue, is as follows:

1. Dance Party At The End Of The World
2. Unreported News
3. Terri Cockring
4. But At Least You're Not Bitter
5. The President Shit His Pants
6. Crossing Guards Often Have A Thing For Me
7. Partying By Myself
8. Republican Cereal
9. Orange Marmalade
10. Kimberly James
11. Gumshoe
12. Ambulance Driver
13. Staring At Ruby
14. Vagina Dentata

The album clocks in at about 35 minutes.  You can hear the tracks now at https://soundcloud.com/wredfright though I have not created the official album/playlist yet (about three weeks away from that if the current workload trend continues--it's possible the album might even pop up on Spotify between now and then, but I doubt it).  This album is unusual in that I haven't released any new music since I finished the recordings from the album (they are recorded, however, and ready to go--look for them in a few months once I clear out some other stuff also already in the pipeline).  Look for the next post to feature the liner notes for the album.

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

Old New Battered Blue Cover

Here's the cover for the new album.  This is the original image before it got pushed into the standard square album format.  I do miss the days when album covers were works of art or playful such as Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti where one could play with the sleeve to have different figures appear in the building's windows.  However, those days are long gone.  The cd version of Physical Graffiti isn't quite as much fun, and cds in general tend to have less interesting artwork due to the smaller size.  It got worse with MP3s, so I just aim for something that will look decent when at reduced size.  A punching bag, Valentine's Day decoration, and duct tape probably doesn't make for the greatest album cover but when compared with the awful AI/computer art I see these days on other albums, I'm quite happy with it.  Vinyl's comeback has meant that the size of album covers can be restored to their former glory, but with most people experiencing the album as a computer stream, it's still not quite the same.  Spotify (and I'm sure some of the other music streamers as well) allows listeners to click on the artwork for a larger image, but on my monitor at least it still looks about the size of a cd cover.   In any case, it's mostly just packaging, but it's still fun to have an appropriate or intriguing image as part of the total artifact.  Next time, I'll post the track listing.  In the meantime, you can check out the first five albums in the links below.

For more Wred Fright music, give his other albums a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

Old New Battered Blue

A new Wred Fright album should be out soon.  I already uploaded it to the distributor because the last album took two months for them to distribute (that's not a complaint--they're free in hopes, vain hopes in my opinion, we'll all make money from the album down the road--one can't complain when it's free really), so you can find it on Spotify and other places probably in about two-three months unless the processing period has greatly improved or worsened since last year (I would guess worsened as I suspect some people are using artificial intelligence to crank out audio, so there are likely more releases to distribute--I have not used AI as it's not interesting to me as of yet but I won't hate on it as I don't want to sound like a guitarist hating on synthesizers in the 1970s).

The new album is called Old New Battered Blue, a play on the old wedding advice of something old, new, borrowed, and blue.  It was originally just going to be a collection of some older songs I hadn't given the full solo treatment to yet, but I kept writing new songs, so it's a mix of both.  I originally planned on doing a cover on it (the something borrowed the battered replaced), but I didn't want to go to the bother of paying royalties/getting a mechanical license.  A record company can deal with that accounting; I'd just rather have fun.

In coming weeks, I'll post about the cover, track listing, and liner notes, as well as let you know when it's up on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Spotify.  It's a fun record.  Nothing else really sounds like it even with all the great music being released these days, so that's cool.  Maybe this one will actually get a review somewhere (let's hope they don't just say it sucks or something, but I'd probably still be happy just to finally have a record review six albums in).  There are no plans for a cd or vinyl version (though any interested parties are welcome to get in touch).

For the previous Wred Fright albums, stream or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!    

New Recording!: Vagina Dentata

wredfright · Vagina Dentata

This is an old GoGoBots tune that I felt like playing again since it's fun to play.  It's basically about irrational beliefs like a man's fear of women and people who claim to be postmodern yet still act fairly rationally in expecting toast to pop up toasted when they put bread in a toaster instead of, you know, a lobster or a 1989 Ford Fiesta.  Musically, it's the usual vocals, guitars, and drums, though I used parts from a broken wooden chair for the drumsticks and a coffee can for the main drum.  Chock full o' Nuts coffee is all right, but I can heartily endorse their metal coffee cans when you need a homespun drum.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!   

Spring 2026 Hoof & Antler!

The new Hoof & Antler is out!  In this issue of the Mickey Mart newspaper, I have an article about the mysterious Russian radio station known as UVB-76, the infamous Doomsday Radio!  Check it out and read other fun stuff by stopping by a Mickey Mart.  It's free, though Mickey The Moose probably hopes you buy some gasoline or a cup of coffee or something.

If you want to read something else by me, then get my new novel, The Front Yard War! 

New Single!: Staring At Ruby

wredfright · Staring At Ruby

This song is about the modern corporate habit of having virtual meetings.  I've been in some of these things with hundreds of people, and they are usually ridiculous wastes of time wherein the company could have just sent an email out and saved lots of money instead of having everyone stop doing productive work and waste an hour listening to the CEO talk some drivel.  In this song, the main character gets a crush on one of the coworkers and enjoys the virtual meetings because he can stare at her in a way that one could not do in real life without making someone quite uncomfortable, all the while thinking, "She's so pretty."  I bet this sort of thing goes on a lot and is probably one of the few good things about virtual meetings.  Musically, the song is vocals, guitar, and drums, though I also made good use of the toy piano mat.  I opted not to use the lyrics in the third input part on the recording, but I may throw it in live from time to time.  Lyrics are below:

There are 400 people on this call with Zoom,
but only one who makes my heart go boom, boom, boom!

I'm staring at Ruby.

I don't hear a single word the CEO speaks.
I could stare at her beauty for weeks and weeks.
If people knew I was taking this long of a peep,
they're embarrassed by love these days, so they'd probably call me a creep, but I'd still be staring at Ruby.

She'll never see her very own face,
just the reflection that takes its place.

She's got those 21st Century eyes,
and she's got me full of sighs.
She might even be ruthless, but I'm ruthful.
I'll never meet her in person, life can be so cruel, but I'm happy
staring at Ruby.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp! 

What Wred's Reading: The Fourth Edition Of The Trouser Press Record Guide Edited By Ira A. Robbins

  

This book dates from 1991 and early that year before Nirvana and alternative music in general started selling millions of records (the Nirvana entry mainly covers Bleach).  As a result, it's a treasure trove of 1980s college radio, filled with fun bands and cool music.  It's mainly punk rock and new wave, but it covers reggae and hip-hop as well, generally anything cool and underground from the mid-1970s, when Trouser Press started as a zine, to the publication date.  Covering 2,500 musical artists, the book is a great resource for music if you're looking for something new (albeit that it's old now if it's in this book) to listen to that is likely pretty good or at least interesting.  One nice thing about having this book in 2026 is that it's a lot easier to hear this music than it would have been back then when one had to track down an obscure and possibly out of print record.  Today, you can find most of this music on the Internet somewhere.  I've been getting rid of most of my books because I was tired of dragging them around with me, but this is one I'll be keeping.  When I can't find anything new worth listening to, I'll dip into it and check out some old band that's new to me.  The book is out of print (though available used and even reasonably priced if you dig a bit), but you can probably find the reviews from it at TrouserPress.Com, and they have all the issues of the magazines that predated the record guides there which is very cool of them.  They still publish books today, though the last record guide like this was a volume back in the 1990s covering that Nirvana/alternative music goldrush.

If you want to hear some music made since 1991 that might have fit into Trouser Press's editorial scope also, then give my latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!  And if you want to read some more, then please read my latest novel! 

New Recording!: Ambulance Driver

wredfright · Ambulance Driver

Another older song I wanted to give the solo treatment to, this song stemmed from seeing an EMT hit on a convenience store clerk.  It's vocals, guitar, and drum machine, plus a sampling of the Russian radio station The Buzzer (I was writing an article on the station at the time).  

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!  

Political Vanity Update

  

So I emailed or used the website form to contact everyone running for Ohio governor asking for their position on sticking the governor's and lieutenant governor's names on highway signs (if you need a catchup on this saga, click here).

No one's replied back yet.  Given that enough time has reasonably passed for a reply, one can conclude that all of these candidates suck, though I'm sure if pressed some may claim the email got caught in the spam filter or whatnot.  However, clearly, if they don't care enough about a voter when they're begging for votes to at least send a form reply ("Thank you for bringing that matter to our attention.  We will consider it after doing further research" being the bare minimum of courtesy), then they certainly won't be responsive when they get into office, which doesn't inspire hope for the state government's future.  Nevertheless, I'll follow up with some phone calls if I feel ambitious.  It would be helpful, however, if others could join in.  Send them an email.  Give them a call.  Talk to them if you see them in person.  Tell them you want to see DeWine and Tressel as the last names on these signs and then you want the vanity overlay signs gone in 2027.  Otherwise, the campaigns assume it's just a piece of crank mail about an issue that no one else cares about, but I suspect the majority, if not vast majority, of voters would prefer not to waste taxpayer money on political vanity by manufacturing and installing metal signs with the names of politicians on them across the state.  Some may say this is just a small issue when the national government is in massive debt yet still finds the means to go around bombing and terrorizing people around the world, but that's exactly the point.  If government cannot even resolve a simple, small issue such as this one, what hope do we have of them solving any larger problems?

The answer isn't encouraging.  Anyway, on to the candidates.  At this point, they all deserve to get some birdpoop on the metaphorical highway signs with their names on it, so let's do it.  On the Republican side, there's Heather Hill, Casey Putsch, and Vivek Ramaswamy.  On the Democratic side, there's just Amy Acton.  Don Kissick is running as a Libertarian while Tim Grady is running as an independent.  Another candidate, Renea Turner, didn't get enough signatures, so she's out of the running this election year (unless she decides to run independently), so I didn't contact her.  The first thing you have to know is that all of these candidates must be slightly insane because American politics is fairly toxic these days, yet what else can we do?  It's a democracy, so I do appreciate them at least being brave enough to give things a go.  Most likely, the next governor will be Ramaswamy since statewide Ohio is essentially a one-party state, and he seems to have enough money to just buy the Republican nomination.  However, if Trump proves toxic enough, then he might even drag down the Ohio Republicans and, despite the general incompetence of Ohio Democrats, Acton might squeak into office, in which case we can all look forward to being welded inside our homes the next time a new virus circulates.

Yes, it's a depressing election already.  Back to the individual candidates:

Hill seems a longshot.  It's nice that the Republican field offers a choice at least.  Maybe she'll drop out and endorse Ramaswamy before the primary and get a position in his administration.  Sometimes that's what longshot candidates do.

Putsch, smelling like a true believer (however daffy the true beliefs), seems less likely to be aiming ultimately for a spot in the administration but even more of a longshot.  Still, if someone is technically on a ballot, anything is possible.  Most Americans only vote for stuff they see on tv though, which is why a lot of the time political positions in America can basically be bought.  If anyone ever complains about political candidates, point them to the lazy American voter.  Hill and Putsch both have websites; people could research them.

Ramaswamy seems like an Asian Obama.  He's well-spoken and somewhat of an outsider to Ohio state politics, but, as with Obama, don't expect much to change if he gets in.  Maybe he'll allow you to pay your income taxes in crypto currency or something, though that's already in the works.  He seems like a lock for the nomination because he's spending a lot of money to obtain it and seems likeable enough for an Ohio Republican state politician, which is somewhat akin to being more likeable than a head of rotting cabbage.  Alas, almost anyone would be an improvement over DeWine, who combined the worst of both Democrat and Republican (he'll postpone an election because he's worried over germs yet force a woman to bury her aborted fetus).  In any case, Ramaswamy's tied so closely to Trump though that I suspect Trump's unpopularity may sink his candidacy and we'll end up with the awfulness that is . . .

Acton might be the worst Democratic nominee in recent years (I remember her from the virus panic, and, yes, I also remember the time they ran the guy driving around without a driver's license), but she might end up winning by default because no one else bothered running and Trump sank the Repubs.

Kissick (doesn't seem to have a working Website yet--a clue perhaps he's not serious--and no, I'm not linking to fucking Facebook) and Grady not responding surprised me because I doubt anyone else even pays attention to them.  Ramaswamy's probably looking forward to sticking his name up across Ohio and Acton's campaign is probably incompetent in the grand tradition of Ohio Democrats, but I'm surprised not to have heard back from the minor Republicans and the independent guys.  It's not like these guys are busy dealing with other media.  Ohio newspapers are fairly moribund these days, so that's why you get perhaps the best 2026 Ohio gubernatorial race coverage on an obscure blog.  As Trump would say:  Sad.  That's Ohio for you though!

If politics make you cry and you need a laugh, then read my latest novel! 

New Recording!: Gumshoe

wredfright · Gumshoe

This is an old GoGoBots song that was fun to give the solo treatment to.  It's basically an old detective pulp novel (well, a chapter from it at least) in song form.  My kiddo wanted to play something, so that's him on this mat piano he had which we used as a percussive instrument as well.  Otherwise, it's me on drums, guitar, and vocals.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

2026 Ohio Governor's Race

  

No, the pair in the picture are not announcing a bid for governor and lieutenant governor of Ohio, USA, but it is a gubernatorial election year here, which means perhaps we can finally get rid of those stupid politician names on the welcome to Ohio highway signs.  It's been about 3 years since I ran a post about this issue on the blog (you can get caught up on the now-decade-long saga here).  Nothing good has happened in the meantime.  The funny cartoon I sent to my state rep and state senator at the time went unaddressed (both of them, Bride Rose Sweeney and Matt Dolan, kinda sucked anyway, so I wasn't surprised).  Ohio's lieutenant governor filled J. D. Vance's Senate seat, so they made the Ohio State football coach the new lieutenant governor (no, I'm not making this up--they seriously do this kind of dumb shit in Ohio--it's a bit embarrassing) and, of course, spent thousands of dollars probably to change the name on the highway signs.  Worse, Pennsylvania, probably fueled by that current governor's presidential hopes, stuck his name on welcome signs.

Sigh.  Well, let's see if any of the current candidates for governor will do away with the practice.  I'll keep you posted if I hear back from any of them.  Maybe I should hit up the new rep and senate candidates in my districts as well, but let's see how ambitious I feel this year.

If politics make you cry and you need a laugh, then read my latest novel!

New Recording!: Kimberly James

wredfright · Kimberly James

This is another older song I've been playing again, so I gave it the full one-man band treatment.  My kiddo was getting rid of a book with sounds--well, actually, the book disappeared/was destroyed years ago, but we were finally getting rid of the press buttons sounds part--so I made use of it on its way to the trash.  Otherwise, it's the usual guitar, vocals, and drums.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp! 

drinkdrankdrunk: "FREAK SHOW" by The Midnight Rider

ok, ya ready for me to get back to real time and talk about my school?......um.....where do i begin?....my new school certainly has the potential to be the biggest freakshow that i've ever experienced (and you know that's saying something)--like the iowa catholic contingent reminds me a bit of that private school in virginia that fired me back in 1998, but i've never really experienced anything like the kalifornia connection here.....are they on crystal meth or jesus?--i don't know.....are they new age or mormon?--your guess as good as mine (and i pride myself on being able to read people).....the ceo of the company (that is my school) looks like he just stepped out of an infomercial....."ric" is young, handsome, thirtysomething with curly, brown hair and perfect teeth.....he favors $3000 suits and rolex watches and likes to walk up and down the hall talking on his headset.....he is usually accompanied by 2 yes-men/bodyguards in (what i would imagine to be) $1500 suits and faux-rolex watches.....everything ric says is positive/proactive--our school is gonna be "#1 in the midwest" and then "#1 in the united states" and finally "#1 in the world".....if you're curious: ric doesn't know my name yet and i can't say that i mind.....all the rest of them do though--like i think they get punished if they don't know every single employee's name by the end of the first week.....did i mention that ric graduated from the university of phoenix?.....did i mention that they all graduated from the university of phoenix?--actually, i take that back, some of them did their undergraduate work at cal state fullerton before going on to earn their ph.d. from the university of phoenix......you know what that is, right?--like sometimes there are pop ups on my computer that promise a "college degree in 6 months"--well, that's the university of phoenix--basically, it's like taking your classes online instead of having to drive down to the local national business college.....who knows, maybe you'll be seeing my college advertised on a matchbook sometime in the near future.....dude, my school makes kent state look like harvard.....like when i tell people here that i went to kent state, they're like:  "mannnnn, that's a good school, isn't it?"--yeah dude, if you're a drug dealer.....obviously i'm not a financial analyst, but i think the little catholic school that was here 2 years ago was about to go bankrupt--and shady state pounced on the opportunity to buy a school with real athletic teams and a real dorm--if you're curious, the girls’ soccer team only has 9 players and is destined to lose every game by playing 9-on-11.....for that matter, i get the feeling that every team here loses every game they play…..what else?.....you want the attendance figures?--well, enrollment for 2006 is sitting at roughly 30,000 (400 kids who actually live and go to school here and 29,600 online students).....what does an "online student" look like?--well, every motivational speaker that i've heard for the last 3 weeks talks about the day when "online students and their families fly in from across the country to walk across that stage to receive their diplomas," but i'm thinking they'll celebrate by buying a bag of weed......i might be wrong, but i'm thinking these "urban professionals" are really sitting at home in their sweatpants, eating ding dongs and trolling for internet porn in between "classes"......the motivational speakers also claim that "the merging of traditional colleges with online institutions is only a matter of time," but i'm hoping to be dead before that day comes.....did i mention that i signed a form that authorizes company officials to listen in on my phone calls ostensibly for "training purposes".....the company gave me a new laptop too, but i get the feeling that i'll be using it about as much as i use my office phone.....52gs is a lot of money for an idiot-savant like me though.....crowns aint cheap and their dental plan pays 80% of major procedures.....i have a 401k retirement plan as well.....and some of you cynics out there might wonder if it's all about the money.....maybe some of you are even mumbling about me selling out.....well, you just read the introduction--do you see any change?.....for that matter, i'm still looking up 18-year-old girls' skirts although i may have to trade ohio quantity for iowa quality......to tell ya the truth, i like it better than kent state.....the people are cleaner/nicer and the babyjesus has seen fit to finally give me another chance......i hadn't been happy in kent for a long time---like i'd save up the party stories for you, but most days, i'd just be sitting in my hotel room rubbing one out to internet porn as the world passed me by......my new school is most definitely a freakshow, but sometimes circus folk need to count their blessings too

The Midnight Rider prefers to remain mysterious.  You could visit his website, but he won't say where it is.  You could read his books, but he won't say what they are.  You could email him, but I'm pretty sure spam@gofuckyourself.gov is not a real email address.  In a world where everyone is repping their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, sex tapes, line of clothing, new microbrew, virtue signals, and overall brand, I find that refreshing.  I am happy to have The Rider ride on drinkdrankdrunk.

Music Video: Having Fun In The Former USA

 

I chose this song for the music video from the Fallout Shelter Ran Out Of Beer album.  I suppose that makes it the single from the album, though "All Roads Lead To Death" seems to be the most popular track, at least based on what Spotify reports.  I like a number of the other tracks as well.  In fact, since I wrote them, I like them all, but favorites do emerge, and this is one of them.  It seemed the most videogenic since I had a location in mind.  I had a job once where I had to travel to various industrial areas around Cleveland, Ohio USA.  There were a lot of rough areas, but one in particular looked like a wasteland.  I returned to that area for this video, and it actually looked better than it did a few years earlier (it appears the city knocked some of the worst buildings down), but it still looked apocalyptic enough that it worked for the video.  I've always found ruins interesting, and here are some industrial variety ones.  The video I suppose counts as a remix of the song as well since I left the train noise in this video version.  So at least now there is a music video from each album.  The next one will be from the next album.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

New Recording!: Orange Marmalade

wredfright · Orange Marmalade

This is an older song I started playing again, so I did a new recording of it.  It's the usual guitar, vocals, and drums.  My kid had an Avengers tambourine he was getting rid of, so I made good use of it as part of the drums.  I always liked this song, so it was nice to flesh out a recording of it.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!

Winter 2026 Hoof & Antler!

  

The new Hoof & Antler is out!  For the Winter 2026 issue, I wrote an article about Annie Oakley, who actually grew up in Ohio.  The newspaper, which is an endangered species--I just heard about the imminent closure of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette--, is free at any Mickey Mart.  This issue, as usual, has a lot of other fun stuff in it as well, so pick one up if you're lucky enough to live in a part of Ohio where Mickey The Moose roams!

If you want to read something else by me, then get my new novel, The Front Yard War!

Frighty #4

The new Frighty is out.  Before I post the link, remember this zine is designed to be printed.  Reading online or otherwise electronically is not recommended.  The Internet is just being used as a distribution method because we're too cheap to pay for postage and printing.  When you print it, print it doublesided, mark it "flip on short edge"--let's repeat that so no one prints half the pages upside down; once again, flip on short edge--, fold it, staple it if you feel ambitious (to anyone who doesn't have a long stapler, you can do this with any stapler you flip open, you just have to staple the zine into a phone book or something, then pull it out and use a pencil or something to roll over and flatten the raised staple edges down--if that makes no sense, then somebody on YouTube probably has a video showing how to do it or just ask me and I'll show you how; just don't get a boo-boo doing it and use a rubber band or some other binding instead if you're worried you will), and you're good to go.  You can make copies if you want others to read it; we don't care.  Just don't sell them unless you're sending the money beyond printing it to us.

The issue was fun as usual, but it's the last one planned.  For something that was intended as a one-off, four ain't too bad.  Maybe some day we'll do a fifth issue, but even if we never do, how about you do a zine using this method and let me know when you publish it so I can check it out?  Thanks again to everyone who helped with this one!  Here's the link for printing/downloading:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y-sXxwkcc9TPr4Xyn57YsVKIwNeBrQtp/view?usp=sharing 

For more Wred Fright writing, then read the latest novel, The Front Yard War.

Music Video: Another Year Without A Valentine

 

I chose this song for the video from the Gang Of Foreigner album.  It was a tough choice because I like some of the other songs such as "Smart Set" and "Cheekbones And Legs" a lot as well.  The video's not the greatest because I'm getting kind of burned out on music videos, but it expresses the idea of the song visually well-enough, and I wanted to have at least one music video for each album.  I do love that Marcel Duchamp heart image.  It was also nice to display one of my beloved Bill And Opus mugs.  Those stickers actually are scratch and sniff, and they smell pretty good.

Next up is a video for "Having Fun In The Former USA".  I shot that footage before but waited because I wanted to release the videos in the proper album order and had to wait for the stores to bust out the valentine displays, which I didn't actually end up using much of, but that was the initial plan anyway.  By the way, it didn't take long.  I was able to get footage right after New Year's, and I probably could have gotten some right after Christmas if I went to the right store.

For more Wred Fright music, give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!