Last year I rediscovered my love for this 1990s Boston punk band when someone uploaded their first 7 inch onto a blog. I first heard those songs on a demo tape with a purple J card made at a copy shop. Back then I just thought it was cool that they had songs about Galactus and Gates McFadden. It was until much later that I realized how cerebral their song lyrics were compared to a lot of their contemporaries with similar styles. For a couple of years I saw them play shows around the Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts punk scene. Sometimes I even had the chance to open for them with my band Kid Company.

The Showcase Showdown put out several other records, including the infamous “Merry Christmas I Fucked Your Snowman” single, with “Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh” on the other side. But, these first few songs have always been my favorite. They’re raw and fun, with the sound quality of a damp basement and a four track.  The song I included here is called “Twenty One,” about the quiz show scandal popularized by the movie Quiz Show.

The entire 7 inch, as well as several others are available for download on the Shpadoinkle blog.

The Showcase Showdown’s “Twenty One” is the ninth track on my 2009 retrospective mix at 8tracks.com.

Members of the Showcase Showdown also played in a band called Spitzz.

I first heard of the World/Inferno Friendship Society when I was an undergraduate student in the late 1990s. I occasionally booked shows for bands at my university, letting my friends’ bands open up for the touring acts. Around this time Charles Maggio of Rorschach and Gern Blandsten Records wrote me to ask if I could book a show for World/Inferno. The problem was that they had a guarantee that I couldn’t pay, mostly because there were so many members of the band. I had to decline, because my little show space might not make the money back to pay them. I kick myself for that decision now. I’d have come up with the cash somehow, had I known what I was missing.

I first saw World/Inferno in 2000, at the Middle East in Cambrdige, MA. My friends were in a band called Kolya that opened for them. I was mesmerized by the audacious, energetic live performance. The audience was in rapture, like the crowd at some kind of early twentieth century revival worship. I remember Jack Terricloth spitting balls of fire off the stage. His eyes glowed a fierce red, his skin pale as a ghoul. The other members thrashed and turned out their circus punk orchestral hymns. I was enamored.

Since then I’ve gone to see World/Inferno every chance I can get, first in Boston and now in Atlanta. Last spring they managed to score a slot on Charleston, South Carolina’s prestigious Spoleto festival. We drove up with some friends and spent the weekend at the beach, culminating in World/Inferno’s rendition of “Peter Lorre’s 20^th Century,” a theatrical performance of their Addicted To Bad Ideas album. It was a fantastic show. The kids were all up front while Charleston’s elderly elite watched from above, confused about whether this counted as “high art.” Several people stormed out, but next to me sat a grandmotherly old woman in her eighties or maybe even nineties. She was frail, but her head bobbed along to every tune. She smiled broadly and clapped between the music with the same passion as the young punks up front rollicking around. Her enjoyment made me feel better than any World/Inferno show I’d ever been to.

I’ve written before about how singer Jack Terricloth was an inspiration for the character M.P. Skulker in BORDER CROSSINGS. Apparently, some of World/Inferno’s fans found this and have been discussing our comic over at the band’s web forum.

“‘M’ Is For Morphine” is from Addicted To Bad Ideas, part of their examination of Peter Lorre’s life and story. You can listen to it here while watching stills from Peter Lorre’s Twentieth Century.

The World/Inferno Friendship Society’s “‘M’ Is For Morphine” is the eighth track on my 2009 Retrospective mix at 8tracks.com.

Just got back from MegaCon and before I pass out I wanted to share these sketches and photos from the show with you Constant Reader:

	Dinosaur sketch	Okee Naido sketch
	Captain M.P. Skulker sketch	Teeny Tiny Captain America
	Guy Davis’ The Marquis cosplay

And so convention season begins! From March 12 – 14, 2010 Andrew and I will be at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. We’re assigned to table “Orange 1″ so if you’re a BORDER CROSSINGS reader in the area, stop by and say hello. We have printed copies of the entire first issue available now, as well as a few copies of the prelude story “Diaspora.” Come buy a copy and see how great this story looks in print!

Andrew will be doing sketches, either in the inside back cover of your BC comic or on a separate page if you wish. His sketch work is amazing and last year at Heroes Con one of his pieces (“Astronaut vs. Octopus”) sold for over a hundred dollars in their art auction. He sells table sketches for much less than that and they’re of excellent quality. I happen to know he draws a mean Beta Ray Bill.

See you soon Constant Reader.

I’ve had an interest in Medications since 2/3 of them played in Faraquet. I remember seeing their guitarist/singer Devin Ocampo in 1999 at Portsmouth’s Elvis Room with my friend & roommate Tim (himself a fantastic musician). We were the only ones in the audience besides a family member who lived in the area. Ocampo played guitar and sang in Faraquet and the played drums for headliner Smart Went Crazy. We were stunned by the guy’s prowess at both instruments and went home fans of both bands. In Faraquet, when he really ripped on the guitar he would stomp out a little one legged dance similar to the one Dave Matthews does in music videos. I saw them another time at Boston University in a student ballroom filled with kids. That night I stood behind a gaggle of girls, swooning over Ocampo and how “cute” he was. I was transfixed on his guitar playing trying to figure out how he did half of it. He’s one of those guys people refer to as a “musician’s musician.”

Years later, I found out his new band was playing at East Atlanta’s 529 Club in March. I wanted an opportunity to see Ocampo conquer that guitar again. Edie Sedgwick, another Dischord musician was going to open and I poked around the internet to find out what his music was like, beyond his fabled transgendered performances. That’s when I discovered his videos for “Sigourney Weaver” and “Martin Sheen.” I found dance music stapled onto a pop culture fixation that was really a diversion for lyrics about serious issues. This promised to be a fun night out.

It was. My girlfriend and I got there early, bought tea from the local independent coffee shop (a rarity in Atlanta) and sat in the back during the first band while Justin Moyer donned his sequined dress, a wig and some make-up to become Edie Sedgwick. He had a new album and crooned through even better songs like “Angelina Jolie” and “Anthony Perkins” (included on this mix). Medications performed as his back-up band and then took the stage themselves, switching around instruments almost every song. They performed a much simpler rock than Faraquet, but there is a serene honesty to their songs that still drew me in. They even played Faraquet’s “Study In Complacency.” We both had a great time, bought some albums and Sedgwick has become a fixture for long drives in the car. Both bands make me smile.

You can find Edie Sedgwick’s “Anthony Perkins here. You can find Medications “This Is the Part We Laugh About” here.

Edie Sedgwick’s “Anthony Perkins” is the sixth track on my 2009 Retrospective Mix on 8tracks.com. Medication’s “This Is the Part We Laugh About” is the seventh.