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Polluto : Issue 1 Available Now
2008-01-17 05:43:00
Polluto, the hottest and freshest underground literature magazine to jump out of the U.K. since, well...forever, Is now available for purchase to us dirty nose Americans and the world. The debut issue features: * world Fantasy Award-winner, Jeff VanderMeer with 'Finding Sonoria'* Rhys Hughes with a brand new novella* Steve Redwood with 'To Die with Dignity' * Sandman and 2000AD illustrator, Vince Locke* underground icon and poet, RC Edrington, bringing you a column based on a life with heroin* singer Patti Plinko of Patti Plinko & her Boy, with a thought-provoking column: 'Is that all there is?'* Paparazzi Whore-frontwoman, Micci, asking the music industry: 'Is it art?'* a range of known and unknown talent, showcasing their artistic talentsSo get your butts over to the website now and order your copy today: Polluto!RC Edrington
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Zygote In My Coffee: 100th Issue
2008-01-17 00:08:00
The print edition of Zygote In My Coffee Issue 100 is now available from Tainted Coffee Press for $6...this includes shipping and handling. This issue, which is limited to a press run of 100, is packed full of your favorite small press and Zygote authors. This is a must own collector edition, so hurry before the are gone and order yours now: Tainted Coffee Press.There is also a small online edition of the 100th Issue of Zygote. You can go read that here: Zygote 100th Issue. Of course both issue versions include pieces by me. Check it out.RC Edrington

Underground Voices: Stories from the Asylum
2008-01-16 23:54:00
Underground Voices: Stories from the Asylum is now available at Amazon.com. This is the 2nd anthology of short stories published by Underground Voices...which has been my favorite lit journal since its inception. While I have no pieces in this anthology, I guarantee it is a must read. And a steal at $9.95. So hurry over to Amazon and grab a copy. For more of the best "underground literature", also check out Underground Voices Magazine. It continues to publish my most exclusive pieces FIRST.RC Edrington
More About: Underground , The Asylum

SIRIUS Radio Firefox Add-On
2008-01-12 08:42:00
Want to listen to Howard Stern on SIRIUS Satellite Radio , but don't want to fork out the cash to put a receiver in your car or buy a home unit? Not a problem. SIRIUS now offers an online subscription service for $12.95 per month. Howard Stern is worth that price alone, but once you start tuning into the 75 commercial free radio stations you will find SIRIUS radio the only thing you listen to online. To check out the available channels just head over to SIRIUS.But to be perfectly honest, I was not all that thrilled with the online player. In fact, I found it somewhat annoying having to keep a tab open in my browser just to keep the player going. A downloadable standalone player is currently in Beta stage, and I can't wait for the release. Fortunately, one of the geeks over at Firefox couldn't wait either so he designed an add-on for the Firefox browser that you can control right from your MENU. This add-on also allows you to have 10 presets, and offers a quick list of all availabl...
More About: News , Sirius

FireBug To Release Full Length Album
2008-01-12 05:24:00
Coming in 2008 the band Firebug will be releasing their first full length album, "Season For Change". Having heard a few tracks off it already, I can honestly say this is my most anticipated album release of the year.To get an idea of what this band is all about, check out one of my earlier reviews: Hope For The Music ally Jaded. Better yet, cruise on over to Firebug on MySpace to read tons of reviews and listen to some song samples.Firebug | Rock Music RC Edrington
More About: News , Release , Full , Album

Lines Between The Fix
2008-01-08 22:09:00
today's writersare self-centeredno talent hackswho believethey're the nextBukowski, Ginsberg,or Walt Whitmanwhen in realitythey are nothingbut common house fliessucking the sugary sinewsoff a dead corpsethe pabulum they puke upeven more meaninglessand contrivedthan the corpsefrom which they suckI lack the timeand energyto be the next anybodyI barely have timeto flick these scabsinto this worn tissuebefore it's timeto hustle upthe next $20to feed the cursethat aches my veinsRC Edrington
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After Allison
2008-01-07 22:26:00
she bled outin her mom'swalk-in closetdraped onlyby the soft greenaura of a CD playerthat seepedmuch like her bloodbeneath the thin sliver of doorthe razor bladea clichedpunk rock charmshe once hung aroundher syringe scabbed neckon a gold chainshe'd yanked from some guitar playeras he prematurelyejaculated into herdyed red hair her blood blackin the greentinged shadowsblacklike hot oilthat seeps from beneaththe cracked underbellyof a woundedmotorcycleI pulled a rigfrom a blood wet pocketin her slippery jeanscaught a veinto somewhere warm& far awaystill not sureif I cried ordialed 911afterstill not sureof much of anything afterRC Edrington
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Crack Mouse (Working Draft)
2007-12-27 21:38:00
The box was 10" x 10". One inch deep. Black lacquer outside. Red inside. No lid.I rented the bedroom from Mike, who lived in the other bedroom. Besides owning the house, he owned the bar just north of it where I served up water downed booze to the local Mexican and Native American population of the neighborhood. The fact that he and I were the only white people (other than police) that seemed to ever enter the bar has absolutely nothing to do with this story, nor anything else for that matter.Mike also owned the liquor store south of the house. I managed the liquor store while I tended the bar and Mike laid in the total blackness of his downstairs bedroom until 2 pm, sleeping off a night of cocaine and the bad memories of a slow, brutal divorce.The box was my bonus. Well not actually my bonus, but the receptacle of my daily bonus. I would place my box unseen on the wooden floor beneath the TV stand. When I arrived home from the bar at 4pm, a rainbow scaled chunk of white would be si...
More About: Draft , Mouse , Crack , Working , Workin

Punk Rock Tidbits: The Minutemen
2007-12-15 09:52:00
D. Boone, guitarists/vocalist for the "punk" band The Minutemen tragically died in Tucson, Arizona on December 22, 1985. However what most punk fans of the era fail to realize is that perhaps the greatest live musical representation of The Minutemen, the album "ballot result" released in 1987, was spawned when a Tucson DJ released a bootlegged live album (see picture above right) recorded when the band played for a radio broadcast on the FM station KLPX.I was a huge fan of The Minutemen at the time, Tucson was my hometown, and I knew D.Boone. Here are the facts as I recall them:1. The Virgin Vinyl Show was a Sunday night radio show hosted by DJ Jonathon L. At the time this was the only radio vehicle that brought the growing "punk scene" in Tucson, Arizona new music. Sometime in 1984 The Minutemen played a live set at a local Tucson recording studio called the Sound Factory that was broadcast on the Virgin Vinyl show. 2. The show was recorded at the Sound Factory and The Minutemen we...
More About: Music , Punk , Punk Rock , Rock , Essays

Notes & Scribbles
2007-12-12 22:17:00
At the moment I am in the middle of a short story entitled "Crack Mouse". As with all my scribbling, it is based on a real life event. I will publish a working draft here soon, but to read the full story I will let you know what magazine will be publishing it.For those of you in Tucson, Arizona...The Knitters will be appearing at Club Congress TONIGHT! Call the club for all the details. Also, don't forget X will be headlining a New Year's Bash at The Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California. Contact Ticketmaster for those tickets. X also has a lot more tour dates planned for 2008 (along with some Knitter's shows thrown in for good measure). To keep track of the greatest band not in the Rock n Roll Hall of fame: X (the band).RC Edrington
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FIREBUG - Hope For The Musically Jaded
2007-12-03 07:52:00
It is difficult for someone who has been rotting away on this planet for four decades to get excited about new music. It all sounds derivative and unimaginative. Any new landscape it promises to take you down, turns out to be the same old smoke filled barroom with a new coat of paint. It would be easy to blame the new bands themselves for this, but the truth in most cases is that those of us who believe music is the only true higher power available to rape or cleanse our souls depending on our needs at the moment...have simply become so jaded we refuse to give up our old gods for new.Enter Firebug. For you jaded old fools like me, ask yourself what would have happened if Kate Bush had hung out with the cool kids smoking dope and listening to Led Zeppelin records instead of taking piano lessons with the prim and proper art house geeks? She would have produced a song like "Been There Before" available for a free listen on: Firebug's Site. A beautifully haunting song tinged with a en...
More About: Hope , Jaded

A Nap With Ken Kesey
2007-11-29 05:48:00
I love the familiarity of used bookstores. Regardless of what state or town I find myself in, I know just a few blocks away in any direction I can find an old rundown building tucked away on some un-swept street packed to the rafters with books. These places even offer numerous nooks and crannies where I can read a little, scribble a few words, or just take a short nap. Having slept almost everywhere from boarding houses at $10 a night to the most luxurious of Las Vegas casino suites, I can honestly say you won't find a better place for a nap than a niche in some old bookstore.The sleep is cleansing. It is in these places surrounded by the words and thoughts of millions that we stop trying to learn new things, but actually go back over our life and try and remember the things we once knew, but time somehow tricked us into forgetting we lost.Seeing a battered copy of Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" on the table next to me brings to mind a quote by Kesey's I remember...
More About: Prose , Essays

Polluto Issue 1
2007-11-25 12:32:00
For information on how you can subscribe to this out of this world new non-mainstream literary journal, just click here and have a look around: Polluto EnjoyRC Edrington
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NASA Ordered To Open UFO X-File
2007-11-24 02:05:00
On December 9th, 1965 residents of the small Pennsylvania town Kecksburg claimed to see large blue lights in their sky. This was followed by a fireball crashing into the woods. Witnesses will tell you armed soldiers began to immediately cordon off the area, and shortly a large acorn shaped metallic object with strange hieroglyphics was quickly driven away on the back of a lorry. The local people were told not to say anything about what they had seen.NASA has been recently ordered to open their X-File s and solve this mystery. NASA's public liaison officer, Steve McConnell claims two boxes of papers from the Kecksburg incident are missing. Washington judge Emmett Sullivan refuses to accept NASA's claims that the papers have been lost and has given NASA until the end of year to locate these papers and release then under the freedom of information act to journalist Leslie Kean. "Something came down that night," said Kean. "Nasa has been stonewalling and now it's required to do the s...
More About: Weird , Open

Crash & Burn
2007-11-20 14:00:00
Having used the Windows operating system since almost day 1, total crashes no longer surprise me. In fact, they are expected. Regardless of how hard you work to maintain a clean and stable registry, Windows has always obeyed the second law of thermodynamics. This law in short states that in all closed systems chaos increases.My life is a perfect example. I don't grow fond or attached of material things. I have difficulties even liking people. At any moment at any given time my life can change so dramatically that I can just find myself somewhere owning nothing. I guess I am the follower of the song line: "freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose". I love my freedom.Anyway, my computer crashed last night. I had to totally reformat the hard drive and re-install everything from the ground up. This is something I am familiar with. Of course I back nothing up to disk. I don't even make back-ups of any of my writings. However, I do save everything of any importance to an on...
More About: Crash , Burn

Polluto Magazine Update
2007-11-15 00:29:00
First. Ignore everything in this post. Click on every writer & artist link on the Polluto Links page. Read the mission statement. The magazine speaks for itself. Now I can babble.Underground literature exists at the mercy of it's readers, as does underground music or anything that attempts to deal with the NOW instead of the PAST. Or actually attempts to discover that past in FRESH ways.Ignored with no support from the masses the Sex Pistols get steam ironed into Nirvana, then burnt CD after CD into 99% of all current bands. Then you have perhaps a decade of boredom to await a spark of something new (which in reality is at least a decade old).Enough hyperbole and let me pass along some basic things I know or have not mentioned in a previous post found here: Polluto to LaunchThe updated Polluto cover by Dave Migman can be found here: Polluto Issue #1. It comes complete with updated SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.Advanced orders can be placed for £8 British Pounds. A PayPal link is provided t...
More About: Poetry , Magazine , Prose , Update

Zygote In My Coffee Summer/Fall 2007
2007-11-11 07:46:00
Zygote In My Coffee has just released their 4th print issue. This issue is double the journals normal size, I assume because unlike the first three journals which represented one quarter of the year...this issues tackles Summer and Fall .Despite being twice the size at over 150 pages of some of the best small press literature out there, Brian has managed to keep the journal at the same low, low price of $7. And yes kids, that includes shipping.All back issues are also available for you slackers, so don't forget to take Brian up on his standing offer of two issues for $10. You won't find a better literature buy anywhere on this planet or another. You can also secure a two year subscription (8 issues total) for the price of $35.Soon, Zygote will also be celebrating the online publication of there 100th issue. To commemorate this event, Brian plans to print a 100 limit run. As a contributing author, I know my copy is tucked away to be mailed. Don't miss out on a piece of small press ...

Sabotage
2007-11-11 04:12:00
My blood has run clean for over a year. Almost two if I discount that one month I melted down and filtered a few bottles of Hydrocodone to mainline. The skin that once hung refugee like from my tall frame has grown back into itself through vitamins and starchy three course meals. My moods no longer at my own command. They are controlled by the various pills stuffed between the holes in my teeth before I sleep to dream of a world in perfect color dressed with happy smiley people who never have bad days. The Ativan I pop 4 times a day assures me everything is just real cool.Real cool is real boring. I still have demons, though they show themselves rarely. I hear them giggling when I sleep. The doctor's answer is pop another Ativan and try to relax back into sleep. But the demons are there. With their teeth like syringes and whispers of an emptiness so black I could melt right into it without hope of every being found.The doctors, the shrinks, the counselors, the pretty little college...
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November Madness
2007-11-07 03:00:00
I am not certain how much time I will have to contribute to this blog in the coming weeks, as I have a ton of projects and priorities pulling me in 100 different directions.I have had numerous print journals request submissions for this month, and I am hard at work on a deadline for a brand new counter-culture magazine due out in January. All of these projects have the major portion of what little time I am able to piece together into any type of cohesive moment, which means over the next few weeks this blog will get the remnants...a catch all for those things that don't fit tidily anywhere else.On a more personal note, I will also be relocating (for the final time (hopefully) over the next several months. This move could place me directly back in the line of fire that is Tucson, Arizona. Of all things that can be said about it. All the good and BAD memories that it ignites in me, the facts remain the facts: it is home.Anyway, stay tune for updates on what I am working on. Thanks f...
More About: November , Madness

for E
2007-10-26 02:13:00
in name only Imarried you lostcocooned aloneinside the false chicof a heroin laced dream& like a thin wispof smoke that dissipatesfrom a tinfoil squarethru a slicedsoda strawlove drifted backto reflect the emptinessfrom which it cameI only in wantof my barefoot waifrain drenched & treading puddlesof charcoalNew York alleywaysbegging forthat final fixbut you refused to bemy black & whiteWarhol splashedlike graffition a 2nd storywarehouse wallyou always morethan a plaid skirtin patent leather knee high boots& I alwaysless thanashes you flickedfrom candy applelipstick smearedBenson & HedgescigarettesRC Edrington
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Eden
2007-10-25 17:45:00
click image for actual sizeColored chalk on blackboard.Just an image that came to me in a smoky room.Many ways to fill the empty spaces...RC Edrington
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Cold Turkey
2007-10-17 11:21:00
a red candle slowbleedsinto a syrupy puddleon a woodentelephone cable spoolas headlightspierce a torn curtain seam& pirouette acrossa wall absentof giraffes birthedby fingers & whisperswhere are yourwhispersyour lipsto tickle ears& tummies bloatedby orange juiceBoone's Farm Sangria & toxic ginthat begs to convulsefrom a thin babybird-like throatonto a frigid cementwarehouse office floorabandoned tohomeless piss& I needto touch you noweven more than I needheroin to touch& caressthis body throbback into submissionalmost...Drug Literature | Poetry | HeroinRC Edrington
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11,000 Year Old Wall Painting Found
2007-10-14 06:42:00
French archaeologists have discovered in Syria what they believe to be the worlds oldest wall painting. Discovered underground, and carbon dated to around 9,000 B.C., the painting measures two square meters. The painting was apart of a circular adobe wall that formed some type of communal living space. Composed primarily of rectangular shapes in red, black and whites, archaeologists have yet to decipher what the painting indicates. However they did determine that the red tint was made from burnt hematite, the white was limestone, and the black charcoal. The humans of the period were not believed to be domesticated and were believed to be hunter/gatherers. A number of human skeletons along with various weapons and flints were found buried under the dwelling.This painting is but another example of humans producing some form of art work or intellectual communication long before excepted scientific and biblical theory gives them the ability to do. Perhaps our entire concept of human his...
More About: Weird , Painting , Wall , Year

Alien Dope God (revisited)
2007-10-14 00:05:00
to fend off the bilethat stings my throatI pierce close my swollentear raped eyesin pretenseI'm some twistedalien dope godthat smearshis slippery fingersthru this warmswamp-like surfacethat belches & burpsprimordial slimefrom its wounded poresto birth some planetinto existenceyour 'I love you, RC'jolts me backto this worn mattress& to the realizationI am only a failed Adamto your junkie Eve& I pray thru heroinwe'll discover some lostforbidden, still& virgin garden...not Hepatitis Cor HIVas I rub cheapWalgreen's antibiotic cremeinto the dampcellulitus soresyou skin-popped to lifeon your once smooth& taut pole-dancer bellyto escapedope sicknesseach time you misseda caved or hidden veinRC Edrington
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Polluto To Launch Jan/Feb 2008
2007-10-12 07:38:00
Polluto, a new underground literary zine, is set to be published on a quarterly schedule by indie press Dog Horn Publishing. For more information on this offbeat UK press, visit their online website.Polluto "...will publish fiction, with a dark or surreal twist; poetry, with a modern, razor-sharp edge; reviews, opinion and interviews; and finally contemporary theory, such as postmodernism, postcolonialism, queer theory, or alternative criticism". Polluto's mission statement goes on to say: "Polluto will be home to strange tales of junkies, parasites, dragons, aliens, prostitutes, mermaids and battered housewives who change into wolves at night-time".Along with some of my newer poetry, I have been invited to write a quarterly column for the journal. This column will be a first person narrative about the day to day life of a functioning heroin addict. No punches will be pulled. I intend to peel back the skin from my veins to dispel the myths, the romance, the chic, and all the other ...
More About: Launch , 2008

for Bridgett
2007-09-29 13:25:00
late nite nicotinejet black coffeefueled byshots of Jim Beamthe worn radio playsthe way worn radiosalways seem to playstatic & soft cool jazztinged by solo sobsof a pawned saxophonein this stale & mustyhotel room& there is nothingon my mindas cigarette smokecurls & driftslike some wayward ghostout this open window& down intothe unlit alleywhere somewhere lostamidst the dumpstersamidst the piss & pukesoaked cardboard boxesamidst the spentwine bottlescracked & bleedingon the trash scarred asphalt likethe homeless fleshthat once nursed theminto emptinessthere is a rosestraining its way upthru the torn membraneof a patch of soilin ache of dawn& I only needto close my drybloodshot eyes& listen in faithto know it's therea faithI once wastedon youRC Edrington

Eddie Cochran: Punk Rock's Granddaddy
2007-09-29 12:23:00
Eddie Cochran was born October 3, 1938 and died tragically in an automobile accident on April 16, 1960. During his 21 year life, and much too short musical career, Eddie managed to lay down a grinding guitar and vocal sound that would become a crucial influence on early punk rock bands. While performers like Iggy Pop can properly lay claim to punks general outrageousness and chaos, it was Eddie's teenage angst that would influence such bands as the Clash, RAMONES, and Sex Pistols. And while Eddie only released one album, "Singin' To My Baby" in 1958, during his short career bands as diverse as the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols covered his songs. In fact, in July of 1957 a 17 year old John Lennon was so blown away by a 15 year old Paul McCartney playing Cochran's song "Twenty Flight Rock" that he asked McCartney to join his band the Quarrymen. The rest is musical history. Cochran released "Twenty Flight Rock" as a single in 1957. The B-side of that single, and the song most...
More About: Music , Punk , Eddie , Eddie Cochran

Still In Hollywood - Concrete Blonde
2007-09-27 00:35:00
Concrete Blonde released their self titled debut album in 1987. I was a burned out mess coming out of the hardcore punk scene in desperate need of a change in sound. After all the aggression and testosterone that poured out of the Los Angeles hardcore scene, it was refreshing to hear Johnette's voice smooth the edges a bit. The album still remains among my all time favorites. It captures a moment and the emotions of a distinct period of time. Very reminiscent of the X album "Los Angeles" released in 1980. Perhaps not in sound, but in its ability to capture the jaded soul of Los Angeles. Some of my best memories of live music came from seeing X and Concrete Blonde play together. While X has garnered critical respect, Concrete Blonde was fairly ignored. This is a must own album. RC Edrington
More About: Hollywood , Music , Concrete , Olly

Coma
2007-09-25 10:49:00
Perhaps sheswallowed themto escape the hallowed boneof moonlight,the skeleton of treesrattling keysagainst herbedroom window,but mostly Rickshe took themto erase you.Two lovers layingin a sleeping rowboatdream of anchors,& tonightI knowshe dreamsof me not you.Your desire to hurt herwas only your fingertrying to push thruthe thin skinof a red balloon,& now she driftsfrom your graspinto gray sky.Rick, her pill bottlemay now be empty,but she is still herelimp & asleepin the white shadowsof this coldhospital roomclutching a sliver of your filthydrunken tongue,ready to carvea thick frownalong the curveof your skinnytattooed throatas the heroin failsonce again to take youto that warmheartbeat embracethat only existsin her arms.RC Edrington
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7 a.m.
2007-09-25 10:30:00
she cuddles nudein a puddle of pillowson the studio floor as tho she's alwaysbelonged therewhile I sitat this wornkitchen table& choke downstale bits of bagelbetween shotsof Jack Danielslast nightshe wanted loveI just wantedto lose myselfinside the acheof her softtattooed skinthis morningI sit & stareat her pale legs& breasts waitingfor her to awake& decide if she still will needwhat I hopeshe doesn't thinkeither of usmay have foundRC Edrington
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