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Email from the edge: Rock journalist takes on a deranged REO Speedwagon fan club president & wins!
10.07.2016
09:51 am
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REO Speedwagon back in the 80s.
 
Back when I was attempting to finish college (unsurprising spoiler alert: I dropped out) I met future long-running rock journalist Ken McIntyre and since hooking up back in Boston in the late 80s, we’ve been close pals (despite losing touch for a while when I ran away from home and landed in Seattle in the late 90s). Penning for Classic Rock Magazine and Metal Hammer for the past decade under the very metal moniker “Sleazegrinder” my heavily tattooed BFF has interviewed pretty much everyone that had a hit record in 1976. McIntyre has pretty much seen it all but nothing could have prepared him for his bizarre interaction with a woman named “Kathy” who was running a Yahoo-based REO Speedwagon Fan Club back in mid-2000s.

So brace yourselves DM readers because when it comes to levels of insanity this email exchange is beyond bat-shit crazy and truly the product of a dangerous mind.
 

The amusing cover of REO Speedwagon’s 1979 album ‘Nine Lives.’ Former REO guitarist Gary Dean Richrath is pictured front and center.
 
When McIntyre got the assignment to pull together a feature for Classic Rock on REO Speedwagon (a band responsible for various relentless earwigs back in the 1980s such as “Keep on Loving’ You” and “Take it on the Run”) he reached out to “Kathy” to see if he could get ahold of former REO guitarist (and the writer behind “Take it on the Run”) Gary Dean Richrath to get “his side” of the REO Speedwagon story. What you are about to read is a verbatim transcript of McIntyre’s email correspondence with “Kathy” that quickly spiraled out of control and devolved into a slugfest of epic proportions. So fire up your bong or grab a drink (I’m quite sure it’s noon somewhere) because you’re going to need it. Here we go!

McIntyre: Hi Kathy, I’m wondering if you can help me out…I’m a writer for Classic Rock magazine, and I am working on a feature on the band for the May issue. I’ve spoken to Bruce and Kevin, and I would love to speak to Gary to get his side of the REO story. Do you know how I can reach him? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Ken McIntyre

Kathy: Hi Ken: Sorry, but Gary is a gentleman, and prefers not to respond to Cronin’s slamfests. Glad to see they’re using you to hype the new album. It’s going to need a lot of help, since their last live album, “Arch Allies” sold less than 50,000 copies—with the help of Styx.

McIntyre: Jesus, Kathy. They are not “using me” for anything. It’s an objective story on the history of what, apparently, is your favorite band. Thanks for the jaundiced comments. Wish Gary had the chance to speak for himself.


Kathy: Hi Ken: How many times do you think Gary ‘s been asked these questions over the last 18 years? How many times does he have to get slammed by Kevin before he’s had enough? JESUS is right! I get tired of it myself. You’re telling me that in this interview with KC that has nothing but glowing reports about Gary, and how that offer is still open to re-join the band? When the day after his VH1 interview he threatened to sue them and demanded a re-edit? And told fans the next day that Dave Amato was in the band “forever?” Forward it to me, and I’ll run it by Gary. Until then…. good luck! LOLOLOL!


McIntyre: You obviously have some sort of bizarre agenda. And you can keep it.


Kathy: And you obviously don’t know much about the history of this band. Good luck promoting the UK tour.


McIntyre: Can I just ask, out of curiosity, why you would be so rude to a complete stranger asking for simple information? It seems odd to me.


Kathy: Sorry, but I answered your questions honestly and forthrightly. If you want to be pissed off about not scoring an interview AND throw a tantrum by trying to insult me, that’s seems counter-productive to me.


McIntyre: Kathy - I am not pissed off at all, nor am I throwing a tantrum, I am just trying to figure out why you are being hostile. I have no agenda one way or the other. How would I know whether Gary has been answering the same questions for 18 years? I am not a member of the REO fanclub. It doesn’t matter to me whether I “score an interview”, or not. I certainly get paid the same whether I talk to Gary or I don’t. I was simply trying to get both sides of the story. What is odd is that you are treating me like I am from some enemy camp. And Kathy, that is not answering my questions honestly and forthrightly. Honestly and forthrightly would have been, “Sorry, I choose not to help you with this matter.” That would have been fine. Instead, you chose to be needlessly aggressive. I would really like to know why. What have I done to you, except ask a question?


Kathy: You claim you’re not pissed off, throwing a tantrum, or a member of the fan club. Our records show you just signed up tonight. You’re batting 0-3.


McIntyre: Aye yi yi, I signed up for the Yahoo group for research. And you have no evidence of the other two. I meant ‘fan club’ in the metaphorical sense, which I’m sure you knew. That hardly counts as ‘0-3’. Prior to receiving my assignment for Classic Rock, I had not listened to, or thought about, REO Speedwagon for 20 years. I had no idea Gary left the band or who he even was a week ago. I am from Boston, which is not exactly REO territory. Whether you choose to believe that or not is your business, but it’s the truth. My pen name is “Sleazegrinder”, after all, which certainly doesn’t sound like the sort of person who would normally listen to Midwestern arena rock, does it? I have had to soak up as much info as I can about the band, and the Yahoo group was one tool for that. What I don’t get is why you wouldn’t want to cast a better light on “REO fans”. Are they all like you? I would not feel welcome at an REO show if they were.

I just wish you would act like a real person instead of whatever mawkish persona this is. If you are just trying to ward me off the Richrath trail, congratulations, you have done so. But I would still like to get to the root of your rudeness to me. Do you honestly think I have bad intentions?

Thanks,


Kathy: Gosh, Kevin forgot to tell you about Gary ? Sounds like a riveting interview!


McIntyre: Incredible. What a remarkable horror you are!

Jesus CHRIST. Now I need a drink. And somehow the well-chosen words from McIntyre’s SOL salutation “remarkable horror” barely seem to scratch the surface of this 80’s throwback trainwreck. After pouring through the “REO FANS” site it appears that “Kathy” has moved on to other things, perhaps a job with a cable TV company in which she can use her unprovoked argumentative communication skills to talk customers out of cancelling their service or an operator for a suicide hotline.

H/T: Rock journalist Ken McIntyre

Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.07.2016
09:51 am
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Christian fundamentalist group reveals what we already knew: Thom Yorke of Radiohead is EVIL!
08.08.2016
08:34 am
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Thom Yorke is EVIL! (not really).
 
My DM colleague Tara McGinley posted about the unexplainable image of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on the cover of an Iranian sex manual called Marital and Sexual Problems in Men back in 2015. And since McGinley and I share many of the same curious interests, today I’d like to share another instance of Yorke’s visage being utilized to disseminate religious propaganda, this time by a Christian fundamentalist group called Generation for God. For some reason the group somehow wants us to believe that vices such as drug use, atheism, witchcraft and of course pornography have manifested themselves on Yorke’s mug. 

Because Radiohead is about as Satanic as ABBA I found the claim that Yorkes’ face was a conduit for all things Satanic rather amusing to say the least. Generation of God sent the strange image out via their page on Twitter which depicted Yorke’s face as possessing (or perhaps “possessed of” in this case) the following eight things that Satan will use to “enslave and destroy you”:

Pornography
Atheism
Avarice (aka Greed)
Disobedience to God’s Law
Witchcraft & Tarot
Idolatry
Drugs
Unforgiveness

I’m going to go out on a big fat fake plastic tree limb here and say that I’m pretty sure many DM readers are big fans of most of the vices noted above so this “revelation” by GOG isn’t so much unflattering as it is straight up silly. And as you might imagine the response from fans of the band to the tweet were as hilarious as the original one from the goofy God groupies. So much so that I highly recommend you read through a few of them here.
 
H/T: Digital Music News

Posted by Cherrybomb
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08.08.2016
08:34 am
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Snake Oil: Use some ‘Blood of Jesus Anointing Oil’ and you too will stop seeing snakes!
08.02.2016
01:49 pm
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(Clears throat)

“In 1972 God spoke to Rev. Woody Martin and told him to lay hands on the building that is now Victory Temple Worship Center, a center of signs, wonders, and miracles following the spoken Word of God.”

So spaketh the poorly-designed website for Rev. Martin’s Bible Deliverance Ministry, located in the town of Lenoir City, Tennessee. It goes on to inform the reader that:

In his first service, God opened the blind eyes of an eight-year-old girl by the “laying on of hands.” Victory Temple is a Bible-believing Pentecostal Deliverance Church where expectations are met through Christ. Thousands have come to Jesus through anointed radio broadcast, publications, television, and miracle crusades. Precious souls have been delivered and set free by the power of God.

Rev. Woody (who also is known as “Prophet Martin” for reasons that are unclear) has another method of achieving unspecified Jesus-related goals and stuff and that is his “The Blood of Jesus Anointing Oil.”

Despite the apparently pedigreed name, “The Blood of Jesus Anointing Oil” is just regular olive oil and red food coloring. Prophet Martin admits to such in the description.

“It is regular olive oil which represents the Holy Spirit and a special coloring to make it look red thus we call it “The Blood of Jesus Anointing Oil.” There is no virtue or healing in this oil, it is a point-of-contact and an act-of-faith.”

You see, for it to work, you only have to believe! (And if it doesn’t work then obviously you are not believing HARD ENOUGH.)

“The Bible says in Mark 6:13, “And they cast out many devils, and ANOINTED with oil many that were sick, and Healed them!” Jesus’ disciples used this unusual ministry to bring healing and deliverance to the sick and oppressed. They would anoint them with a little oil that God had blessed by His Holy Spirit. The oil alone had no power, but when saturated by prayer, it became the Holy Spirit’s point of power for bringing deliverance to people.”

It’s not like he and his wife can legally be, you know, accused of cheating anyone with such an honest description, right? And if it works, then it works, right? Who am I to shit on an old couple’s hobby? Besides that, the first vial is free for the asking. (They also got “healing” DVDs, Rev. Woody’s music, ways to lose weight through the Lord, all kinds of stuff, in the online store.)

Some of the many uses for Mr. and Mrs. Woody Martin’s “The Blood of Jesus Anointing Oil” are the warding off of witchcraft, protection from the evil eye, reversing bad luck and the effects of evil hoodoos, leprachauns and so forth. But it’s also good for the removal of snakes.

You heard me right: The removal of snakes. Apparently this shit works great for that. Listen to the testimonial below and praise Jesus!
 

Above, Mrs. Woody Martin proudly reads a letter from one of their satisfied “Blood of Jesus Anointing Oil” customers! Use this oil and you, too, will stop seeing snakes!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.02.2016
01:49 pm
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Florida man changes his name to ‘Kraftwerk’
07.22.2016
10:37 am
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The competition for the world’s biggest Kraftwerk fan just went up a notch—maybe three notches. A man in Florida posted a Flickr set depicting his own everyday life as a robotic humanoid wearing the red and black uniform that the German quartet donned for the band’s iconic 1978 album The Man-Machine.

The gentleman in the pictures appears to have changed his name to “Kraftwerk” (although the picture of his driver’s license with his new name looks suspiciously ‘Shopped to me). In the pictures he is depicted going record shopping (clutching an LP of his beloved Man-Machine, of course), as well as consuming a chicken salad croissant and a cold brew coffee and even sleeping in his bed (yes, wearing the ridiculous red shirt and black tie under the duvet).

Amazingly, he neither depicts himself using a pocket calculator, nor riding a bicycle. There are also zero traffic cones in the pictures. However, there is an automotive theme to the gallery—he is shown in the driver’s seat of his “truck” and also putting “petrol” (not gas?) in his tank as well as paying for it with a “debit card.” Surely all of that qualifies as some kind of reference to Autobahn?
 

 

 
More pics after the jump….....

READ ON
Posted by Martin Schneider
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07.22.2016
10:37 am
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This guy collects and EATS old military rations dating back to the Civil War
07.05.2016
08:49 am
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The Internet was built to make celebrities out of people like YouTube user Steve1989 MREinfo.

This YouTuber has developed a significant following for his video posts showcasing his collection of old military rations. What makes his videos remarkable is the fact that Steve1989 MREinfo EATS the contents of the rations once he opens them on camera. Though these MREs and rations were made to “keep” for years, they were not meant to “keep” for several decades. Most of the videos on Steve1989 MREinfo’s channel depict him eating food that is very obviously no longer edible to regular human beings.

In one recent video Steve1989 MREinfo eats a cracker dating back to 1863. That’s an goddamned old cracker.

You have to appreciate someone who is so into their extremely specialized interest and collection, who literally risks his life to consume food which, in most cases, is likely spoiled. When it comes to obsessing over the history of military food, this guy is the real deal.

Here he tastes some 65-year-old food, which he’s clearly disgusted by:
 

 
Much more after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Christopher Bickel
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07.05.2016
08:49 am
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Kooky lady convinced her toaster possessed by Satan
06.28.2016
05:03 pm
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This classic example of WTF vintage television originally aired on The Today Show back in May, 1984.

The “Richard” this lady keeps referring to off camera is Richard Dominick, a guy who later worked as a producer for Jerry Springer, a fact that will surprise absolutely no one who watches this amazing clip.

You’ll note the distinctive lack of skeptical follow-up when she presents the “Satan Lives” toast to the camera. I guess what happens afterwards vindicates that approach.

It’s only a minute long, just play it…
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.28.2016
05:03 pm
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Chemtrail activists outraged over tacky hotel room artwork
06.27.2016
08:51 am
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A Change.org petition was recently created by an activist demanding that Marriott hotels remove artwork hanging in some rooms which normalizes and “promotes” the government’s secret use of “chemtrails.” Chemtrails are, according to theorists, “long-lasting trails left in the sky by high-flying aircraft consisting of chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed for sinister purposes undisclosed to the general public.”

Conspiracy theorists, depending on which ones you ask, believe that chemtrails are used by the government for solar radiation management, biological warfare, or psychological, weather, or human population control.

The hotel room artwork in question is a photograph hanging over the bed’s headboard of a blue sky streaked with clouds and jet contrails.
 

 
The creators of the petition appear to be threatening a boycott over the “outrageous” artwork:

Marriott’s newly decorated “chemtrail rooms” promote chemtrails and geoengineering by making guests grow accustomed to the sight of chemtrails (as if this is a natural occurrence!) This is outrageous and they should not be promoting this government secret agenda. Please sign to boycott Marriott and raise awareness of the global issue of chemtrails. Whether intentional or unintentional, promotion by Marriott and corporate America will not be tolerated, or the public will hit where it hurts…in their wallets.

This petition is not a one-off. There are several anti-chemtrail websites that have expressed shock over the hotel chain’s use of this artwork. The website ChemtrailsMustStop.com has an open-letter to Marriott expressing similar intentions to boycott:

Because you now adorn your hotel rooms with pictures of chemtrails, we thought it was necessary to inform you [Marriott International] that you will now lose a LOT of business.  There are presently millions of Americans who are hip to the poisoning of the atmosphere via chemical engineering operations.  All of us detest this covert military operation.  As a matter of fact it is the single environmental advocacy that everyone joins once they hear about it.  That’s because it is very easy to see the chemtrails on any given day as they are forever right in your face.

I guess the question remains for conspiracy theorists: what is Marriott’s stake in normalizing chemtrails to their guests? How might they be colluding with the one-world government to promote weather and/or population and/or thought control?

The truth is out there if only we could have the front desk give the sheeple a wake-up call.

Posted by Christopher Bickel
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06.27.2016
08:51 am
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Outsider: Meet David ‘Rock’ Nelson, the new Ed Wood
06.24.2016
02:30 pm
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David “Rock” Nelson is a manic former Marine and aspiring boxer and he just might be the new Ed Wood. Although it’s hard to tell just how much of an effect getting hit in the head repeatedly had on him creatively, the former Golden Glover has been making his amateurish DIY camcorder monster movies since the early 90s. His insane films often star himself, his off-again/on-again girlfriend and his barely indulgent (now deceased) elderly parents who seemed more perturbed, if not totally disinterested at what their weird adult son was getting up to. His baffling and inept work makes almost no sense to anyone except for (maybe) David himself, and therein lies the charm of his peculiar “school” of no budget cinema, a genre in his case, where he resides most assuredly alone. People have been making bad monster movies for decades, but nothing like this.

If you’re the sort of cultural miscreant who goes in for, say, Andy Milligan films or the music of Jandek, then maybe the cinema of David “Rock” Nelson is for you?
 

 
More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.24.2016
02:30 pm
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If you like ‘Heavy Metal Parking Lot’ now there’s ‘Trump Parking Lot’ (no heshers, lots of racists)
06.17.2016
11:51 am
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Michael Galinsky has documented many moments of political tension, from Klan rallies to Occupy Wall Street. Tagging along with a friend who worked for Reuters, Galinsky showed up at the Donald Trump rally in Greensboro, NC on Tuesday. He applied for press credentials as they were driving to the venue, although his plans from the beginning were to shoot something more akin to Jeff Krulik and John Heyn’s “Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” the legendary underground film made in the parking lot of a 1986 Judas Priest concert.

But whereas “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” is bust-a-gut hilarious stuff, Galinsky’s quietly observational footage of the Trump rally will probably just make you sad. He writes:

I had applied too late which was fine, but I still tried to talk my way in because there wasn’t much happening outside. When that didn’t work I sat down in the shade to figure out a plan of action. After about a minute of watching people trickle towards the venue, I heard a man yelling, “White Power!” I grabbed my camera and approached. He was wearing a big cowboy hat and a Willie Nelson shirt with Willie giving us “the finger.” Still, I wasn’t sure if he was being ironic until a minute later when the cops approached. They explained that we as citizens do have “free speech,” but that his incendiary language was dangerous and therefore prohibited. It was kind of a surreal conversation (see the video), and as I listened, it dawned on me that I wasn’t going to be allowed there much longer either. I was right. After they gave him and his friend the heave-ho, I was told I had five minutes to leave. I tried once again to get in with credentials, then I headed for the parking lot.

I often enter these situations with a vague idea of what I plan to shoot but try to remain open to what comes. I ran into a guy selling shirts and talked to him for a bit. They were vulgar, anti-Hilary shirts and people heading into the event loved them. I started to think about the people who sold things at the event and followed this up with another guy selling shirts. A few moments later, I saw a group of people who were representing the Militia Movement. I talked to them for a bit, and then a roving protest showed up. It was a loud mass surrounded by police. Having spent time with the militia guys, I observed the protest from their perspective for a while.

This event was taking place just days after the horrific events in Orlando, and this was largely an LGBTQ-led protest. After having filmed at dozens of protests, I get a little spooked around cops. These guys were generally working with kid gloves, but I still felt a bit unsure about going to shoot with the protesters as they were surrounded by masses of cops. I’m a “non-credentialed” journalist, and as such, I’m more at risk in these situations, so I try to be very cautious. The protesters set up shop across the street, and I made my way across the street to shoot a couple of people being interviewed by a local news channel. I like to shoot media doing interviews because it gives a context to the situation and how that situation is being portrayed.

And now without future explanation, because of course, none is really necessary, witness the pathetic gene pool who support Biff Tannen sorry, er President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho whoops, I mean Donald Trump as they cavort and gather and hoot and holler in “Trump Parking Lot.”

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.17.2016
11:51 am
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What kind of person is dumb enough to become a Scientologist?
05.20.2016
11:39 am
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If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, depending on where you live or what you’ve “liked,” lately you may have seen several promoted tweets and sponsored posts put out by the Church of Scientology disparaging the reputation of Scientology leader David Miscavige’s father, Ron Miscavige, himself a longtime Scientologist who left the Church in 2012. The senior Miscavige has recently published a rather damning tell-all memoir, Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, about his sociopathic seed and the authoritarian sci-fi religion of which he is the “ecclesiastical leader.” The Co$ social media alerts wanted to make sure that you’re aware of some things in his past to discredit him as his book climbs up with NY Times bestseller list. Miscavige Sr.‘s story was featured on a riveting recent segment of ABC’s 20/20 newsmagazine as well, something I think it’s pretty safe to say that his thin-skinned, used-to-getting-his-own-way, nasty-little-man son didn’t like very much.
 

 
Much much (maybe too much) more after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.20.2016
11:39 am
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