Heart of Wood by Rich W.

INTRODUCTION

Easily enough, Rich is a fellow that I have always seen at numerous punk shows not only as a fellow fan, but as a performer also. When he started talking about starting a blog but wasn't necessarily ready, I offered him a spot for whatever he wanted to write on Thwart...! until he gets in a spot to establish his own... So, that's that and read on. Thanks. -Shawn A

9-9-15  5:33 pm

I'm Richard. Rich, to my friends. 

In 1991 I served some time in prison for assaulting a nazi skinhead. Due to a mixup involving a less-than-intelligent police officer, a mix-up in paperwork, and an intractable bureaucracy , i served my time under the name Richard Wood. I was born Richard W-----. All my mail had to be addressed to Richard Wood 247-039. My laminated inmate badge said Wood Richard: 247-039. 

I'm only telling you this in order to explain why some people know me as Rich W-----, others as Richard Wood. Around 1994, i started performing, writing, and recording under the name Richard Wood. It seemed the thing to do.

Now that that's out of the way, I can tell you the thing that'll make you hate me, Ok? I cheated on my last girlfriend. Not just once...that could be counted as an anomaly and written off as a "heat of the moment" kind of thing. No... After spending 7 years together, i had an affair. I slowly, over time, fell in love with another woman...and she with me (unless she actually didn't, but we'll probably get into that later.)  and we had an actual affair over the course of many months. Those of you who wish to stop reading now and find something else to do may certainly do so. For those of you who are continuing on with me,  I imagine i will be explaining many of the circumstances involved in leading to this situation. I'm not going to try to justify it in any way. It was definitely a shitty thing to do. There are countless ways in which i could have handled things differently long before the possibility of falling for someone else even arose. But i didn't.

I'm not going to be naming any of the other players involved, but if you already know me, you probably have at least some inkling. Still... I hope to preserve their anonymity as best I can.

Sleepy Drums - Lucy Review by Andy Breighton

Sleepy Drums – Lucy, CDEP  

Just like my first sip of Kentucky bourbon on this blazing hot midwestern labour day afternoon, the infectious two chord riff from the opening track, “Tired Ties”, forces you into one of those sly smiles that says something really good is happening here.  “Tired Ties” has the kind of catchiness that can easily latch into your mind's music player for the next few hours. The following track, “Bummer”, another upbeat number with some wistful J. Mascis-ish guitar playing again pulls the listener into Sleepy Drums' realm of Pavement-like poppy and soothing abrasiveness.  “Phrase/Rephrase” while adopting a tone of the repentant melancholy of a relationship in miscommunicative turmoil still manages to grab the listener and even toss in a slight homage to the Ramones no less!  This four song EP is closed out by a somber track with nearly undecipherable vocals that seems to be a perfect closer slash come-down for this collection.  Sleepy Drums encapsulates the giddy fun pop bravado that so defined other Ohio groups like Moviola or early Guided By Voices.  So skip the umpteenth Bobby Pollard solo project/release/whatever and blow your 180 gram vinyl reissue money on this instead....and it also has a really cute dog on the cover.  (Andy Breighton)     

Lo Fi City Records

http://loficity.bandcamp.com

http://sleepydrums.bandcamp.com

TianJin Explosion

Introduction. When I post something on the Thwart FB page it's usually something I've already wrote and posted on Thwart. This time, for the short treatise following, things went the other way... I originally posted the following on FB less than a day after the TianJin Explosion occurred. I suppose it's all the banter about the Republican Presidential candidates that really got me thinking. When you hear a Republican say "We need to De-Regulate industry" they are really saying a whole lot. Read on... Thanks. -Shawn

* * *

By now you should've at least heard about the terrible explosions in Tianjin, China... One thing they know for certain is it was a chemical fire caused in part by improper storage and handling of highly flammable components... The dozen plus firefighters didn't know what they were facing which further complicated the disaster. China doesn't have regulations like the US... That's one of the reasons companies relocate there... Less regulations = more profit. US style regulations there would have possibly saved lives if not totally averted the entire problem itself... So next time you hear about how US companies are going overseas due to regulations, think about what they are really saying. Regulations are there to protect and educate the workers and their communities. I bet the people of Tianjin had some of those regulations now...

Joe Annaruma - The Doom Swooner

Man is Doomed CD

By time I was first introduced to Man Is Doomed (MID) it came by way of a new connection via a FB group called BAG... Joe Annaruma... A name that many of you may remember from another past musical group that Joe fronted called Throttle. Joe is a busy, busy man then, just as he is now.

Joe is a librarian in the tidewater region area of Virginia, where he currently operates a blog called The Thugbrarian Review. On this blog Joe expertly delivers regular book and music reviews that are well-written, solid, in-depth breakdowns of the material he features. Joe is still into music projects that tend to stay more on the solo side of things. Isolated Cockpit is one of those efforts that exist in two fields: audio and video. Links are provided below so leave Google alone for a bit...

On The Dream Killer from MID you will find similar overtones and expansions of themes first heard this on Throttles New Freaks on The Block. Imagine if The Rollins Band had less of that Sub Pop sound and a lot less attention... Because there are good, rocking music and bands everywhere. MID is one of those bands and really, somewhere, that matters.

Just as Throttle had beget MID, I'm anxious to see a small selection of what I hear friends m The Dream Killer and how it will work its way into Isolated Cockpit... This writing about MID isn't so much about the band, but really about Joe and his presence in the isolated cockpit of existence. Out there, on the fringe of the fringe there's guys like Joe Annaruma doing it in the small nooks and crannies of mainstream society where they can get stuff done in the fewer, diminishing minutes that a person can steal for themselves from life's carried sources. 

I've always said that the best musician, artist, performer, poet or whatever that's alive is someone that has locked themselves away and n their back porch or a hot studio apartment or someone who society has locked away. Well, now I know that be of those greats.,, His name is Joe and by no means is he a regular.

Check Joes Blog out:

https://thugbrarianreview.wordpress.com

Isolated Cockpit

https://soundcloud.com/isolated-cockpit