Photo Album: Roddy Radiation 5/7/2015 Boulevard Trash Tulsa

Excited wasn't strong enough of a word for how I felt when I found out that guitarist Roddy Radiation (Byers) from the legendary 2Tone ska band The Specials was going to be in Tulsa. This was a must see show as far as I was concerned. I had actually had a picture taken with him on the Warped Tour in 1998 with the version of The Specials that was touring at that time. One of these days I'll get it scanned and show it here. I thought about mentioning it to him because he was very accessible in the small space that was Boulevard Trash but ultimately decided to let him be. It's not as if he would remember the few seconds that he took with me considering all that he was done in his life. Seeing him perform in this setting was more than enough for me.

 

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Exercising Demons Zine, Issue Two And A Review Of Issue One

In case you missed it, and you would have had to unless you were at the Tulsa Zine Fest two months ago,  issue two of my zine Exercising Demons is out. The only way to get it is from me or at Holy Mountain here in Tulsa at the extra low, low price of FREE! You heard me right. At some point I'll get around to dropping a few copies off at other places like Boulevard Trash. Eventually.

Yeah I was so focused on getting it ready in time for the zine fest that I forgot to announce it on here. There's lots of cool true stuff in this one plus a fiction piece and it's grown too. Twenty whole pages this go around and I did the artwork. I haven't drawn in over twenty years and it shows. These first few issues are teaching me important lessons about what to do (and not do in some cases) while I try and find my focus for the zine. Issue three is now in the planning stage, I just need to decide what stories I'm actually going to write or re-write in some cases..

Also, I sent issue one to the fine folks at Razorcake (zine, website, record label and more) to be reviewed and they did so online. You can follow the link to give them some traffic for their website by clicking here or look below where I've copied and pasted it. Do both, it only takes a few minutes. I pretty much agree with what Kurt says too for what it's worth. He knows what he's talking about.

EXERCISING DEMONS #1 trade/2 stamps, 5 ½” x 8 ½”, copied, 8 pgs. By Kurt Morris Monday, July 27 2015 This is a short zine with some personal accounts of family as well as some lyrics/poetry. While poetry has never done much for me, I felt like I was being teased with the personal material. There are foundations for some great longer pieces in this material. Don mentions offhandedly his time in the military in places like Germany and Saudi Arabia—there are probably some cool stories there. He also mentions moving around a lot and ponders why we say we’re “from” some place even when we haven’t lived there for years, which would be an interesting thought to explore further. There is also a piece on his father’s eight (?!) wives. I would’ve loved to hear more about that! For a first issue, this shows a lot of promise. Some more extrapolating would’ve been great. Don seems unsure with what he’s doing in Exercising Demons, but I would encourage him to keep going. There’s some good potential here.-Kurt Morris (Don Leach, 1546 S. 79th E. Ave., Tulsa, OK 74112, notmovingpictures@gmail.com)

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Catching Up...............With Some Crappy Photos

There's a lot of stuff I've been meaning to post but just haven't gotten around to so I figured now is just as good a time to get it done. Here goes:

 

 

 

Last month I went to an in-store at Holy Mountain and saw local band Riot Waves who opened for another band.

 





 The other band was another local group, Lizard Police who were promoting their new 7" single. I bought it.

 

 

The end of July brought The Slackers, one of my favorite bands, to town, the first since I moved back to Oklahoma. If you've never seen them you should seriously give them a try. It got me skanking for the first time in a long time and I even knocked some guys beer out of his hand.

  

 

The Last Slice is a Tulsa ska band that opened for The Slackers AND Roddy Radiation as it turns out. I'm fairly sure I'll be seeing them again in the near future. Maybe next time I'll bring my wife and son.

 

Okay, so I already mentioned his name. Roddy Byers aka Radiation was the original guitarist in The Specials and if you don't know who they were then go look 'em up and then come back here. Roddy put on a great show at the new DIY punk and more little place called Boulevard Trash. It's a store too and I scored a Hex Bombs 7" before the show. Seriously, go see Roddy if he comes your way, you won't be disappointed, unless of course you're a twat.



 



The Scotch Bonnets opened for Roddy and were also his backing band. They were impressive enough for me to part with some cash for some of their music.

 

Lastly came Rush, yes a very different kind of music but still a great band nonetheless. According to the band this will be the last big tour for them. They may do some smaller ones or some individual shows but no more huge tours. With that in mind I'm going on a road trip in July to see them two more times.



That about does it, a lot more things went on like my sons birthday, some workshops at TCC and so forth but enough is enough. I'm tired and still have to get back to work.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.