We agree with George Carlin: You need a place for your (punk and metal) stuff

By Cat and Andy

The late, great comic George Carlin is one of our favorites and he liked to talk about "stuff."

"That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? ... That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time," he said.

We at There's Something Hard in There have a lot of stuff ---- and here's some more of it:

* Small 23
Back in the mid-'90s when we first got the tape of "True Zero Hook" ( which was obtained as a promo cassette from a Big Drill Car gig at Berkeley Square), it quickly became one of my (Cat's) "go to" selections on late-night listening sessions. We did not have these matches and beer key chain back then, but I could have used the opener in those music endeavors in the accompaniment of beers, and the matches for lighting candles or whatever...

* Manitoba's
This business card reflects a sack full of memories. Whenever we get to New York, this is a must-hit spot for us. Dictators singer and ringleader Handsome Dick Manitoba is usually there... one time, he and some buddies sang some a-capella songs at the top of their lungs. Another time, Cat visited with Jayne County, who was DJ'ing.

Manitoba, Dictators rock the Crocodile in Seattle, (Cat Rose photo)

Also in the main photo, this Fastbacks matchbook celebrates their '95 tour with Pearl Jam, the Go-Go's guitar pick comes from the band's recent Seattle concert, the Estrus matchbook was up for grabs at Fallout Records in Seattle and the Circle Jerks-named Golden Shower of Hits was a short-lived record store in the Greenwood area of Seattle.
In a November 1995 San Francisco Chronicle story, Fastbacks guitarist Kurt Bloch mused: "It'll be fun. I've never played an arena rock show before. But I saw enough bands in the '70s to know how it's done. I can be like Ted Nugent or Jimmy Page, or Rick Nielsen. . . . It'll be fun to get to pretend I'm a rock star."

Lulu of the Fastbacks in July 2011 in Seattle (Andy photo)

* Monster Magnet
When Andy brought this classic mobile home (which he received from A&M Records after reviewing some albums for the newspaper), it was a hit at the place we lived at the time. Our abode (which we called the Greenhouse) was set up more like a bar with a pool table in the living room and a full wall of music paraphernalia and other ephemera. It fit right in.

* fIREHOSE/Battalion of Saints
While Andy checked out fIREHOSE with the Honor Role guys at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica in '86, they procured these "baseball cards." Couldn't find a Mike Watt one, though, but that's OK.
As for Battalion of Saints, no band Andy knew of had business cards in the early '80s, so this was fun to have and flash around every so often to those in the know.

* Venom/Slayer/Exodus
This gig at the Hollywood Palladium in April of '85 was not only raging, but it also resulted in Andy finding perhaps the most apropos item ever on the dance floor afterward: a metal pentagram. Can you scream, "Black metallllll!?"

Venom's Mantas at the Hollywood Palladium. (William L. Tuck III photo)

Cheers! A Dusted Angel beer koozie.