Memories. Like the Colors of My Mind....

 

So my ex-wife(who has wisely decided to have nothing to do with me anymore)dropped a bunch of photos from 1979-80 in the mail to me. The envelope just contained a bunch of priceless pictures from my past-when I was in college in Atlanta circa 1980ish. There was a green sticky attached to the back of one which said,"I thought you might want these". She thought right. Since she could have burned them instead of taking the time to send them to me, I am once again in her debt and I am sharing some of them with you, you little lost 13 year old web surfer you. Enjoy-this is what rock and roll used to look like---more or less....

Oy to the Vey

 

Alan Venable and I at a Club in Atlanta '80-81(Think it was "The BIstro" which was run by "Baby" of "Baby and The Pacifiers"-not kidding)

 

My First Band:"The Fixx"-1981(Before the other guys from England ruined the name)

 

Ramones at Atlanta Agora Ballroom 1980

 

 

Dee Dee in Flight(Atlanta Agora Ballroom 1980)

 

New Barbarians at Atlanta Omni 1979 or 80(I think)

 

 

 

Happy,Happy-Joy,Joy!

 

 

 

I Am Blessed....

Too much is occuring to report timely. Since my last dispatch, "Kill A Love" received it's first air play on a COUNTRY station (98.3 fm WLUS-see www.us983.com and click on 'Homegrown Hour'),The Friggin Whatevers and I played a rockin gig on March 15 at The Pourhouse in Raleigh(videos can be found on Youtube under montywarren1960),got booked to HEADLINE at The Pour House on May 31,2008 for an allstar reunion to celebrate the release of "Trailer Park Angel"(distributed worldwide by Burnside),reunited with my long lost mate, John Bemiller-one of this country's best all around guitar players(we were in "The Fallen Angels' together about 15 years ago and he received recent national recognition in'The Hell Hounds'),received an offer of promotional help from a Spanish rock star(Phil Wolf of WeRComin-look him/them up on Myspace),got tickets to take my friend and producer, Jack Cornell, to see The New York Dolls for Jack's birthday present,and this is all just off the top of my head.
In addition to the above,I've maintained my professional business practice and, at the same time, maintained my cool(more or less) in the face of adversity.
Who the Hell am I and what have I done with your regularly scheduled blogger???

 

Happy Anniversary!!!

A year ago today my life changed-I played with Terry Anderson and The Olympic Ass-Kickin team(Jack Cornell,Dave Bartholomew,Greg Rice)for the first time and the universe,as I understood it, exploded. 1 year to the day after I first shook their hands,the first commercially packaged CD of "Trailer Park Angel" arrived in my mail box. And get this...same day as that: this month's Uncut Magazine featuring-on the COVER NO LESS, Mick n Keef! If that isn't a sign of something I don't know what is!
One year after meeting these guys,I have a completed record that is going to be released-WORLDWIDE(by Burnside Distribution)May 20. This means that y'all can right now go to your local Target,Best Buy-what have you, and place an advanced order for "Trailer Park Angel" recorded by "Monty Warren' on "Doublenaught Records"and they should be able to find it in their computer(or at least by April they probably will be able to find it). In the last few days, several COMMERCIAL radio stations have expressed an interest in playing the record-and we have not even started making any 'come ons' to them. Virtually every single radio,music or media person who has heard this stupid thing has gotten excited...so, damn it-guess I will too!
Since my last dispatch, things have happened at such a brisk pace I couldn't keep up with it on the blog. I've formed a hellava backing band called "The Friggin Whatevers" and we've played several great gigs-each one getting even better than the preceding gig,received the warmest possible reception form the great rockin folks of Raleigh,N.C. and my outlook on life has radically changed from a year ago today.
Today, I am grateful to have gotten to know the most sincere, funny, generous,giving and intelligent folks in Raleigh who seem to genuinely root for and help each other rather than to backbite and sabatoge each other out of petty jealousies. I am grateful to still have great clients and co-workers who continue to support me and root for this music thing while sticking with me professionally too. And I am grateful to have,finally,some validation that what I have spent my life believing would be music that most folks would relate to and enjoy-seems to have turned out to be correct(though,it is still way too early to probably reach this conclusion safely-but it's my blog so screw you).
To all of the folks who have helped make me a happy person for once in my life-I will never forget you or be able to repay or thank you enough. To all of those folks who are beginning to get on board and have expressed excitement and enthusiasm-I love you more than you know. To those folks who yawn or dismiss this-know what? I forgive ya-why do you think we're called "The Friggin Whatevers"?
So keep checking www.trailerparkangel.com for more videos,new tracks,tour dates, record sale and merch info..and advice column updates.
I luv ya-even if I shouldn't.

Thank You,Caitlin

A year ago, if you had told me that my first solo record was about to be mastered and prepared for worldwide distribution, I would have asked you to pick me up an extra tube of the same glue you were sniffing. If you would have then told me that,not only would the record be supported by the likes of Terry Anderson(who wrote one of my favorite songs,"Battleship Chains" as well as :"I Love You Period")and Rick Richards(who sang "Battleship Chains"and charted with it,plays with Izzy Stradlin and The Ju Ju Hounds)but that also Caitlin Cary(Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams/Tres Chicas) would play violin and sing a duet with me on it-I probably would have spoken very calmly to you and gently escorted you to the nearest involuntary psychiatric admission.
But life is very,very strange.
Yesterday, I was having a rough day when I received an e-mail from...Caitlin Cary...THANKING ME for "INCLUDING HER" in this record. I was completley sober at the time so i am sure that this was not a delusion.
Ladies and Gentlemen, when you hear the track that she sang and played on you will only wish that, instead of it having been a duet,she would have sang the entire song by herself. She has a beautiful heartbreaking voice and her violin is an extension of that beautiful,painful voice.I wrote the song and have heard it replayed now without her on it probably 300 times. But as soon as she made her appearance, that song was changed forever.
What's more-it's probably the song that was the most painful for me to write as well as the song of which I was most proud when I wrote it, yet was least sure of including on the record-until Caitlin blessed the song with her gifts.
The song is called "Kill A Love" and here are the lyrics:

If you kill a love
It don't die fast
It shakes and it shudders
'fore it breathes it's last

If you kill a love
You'll hurt the most
You'll find yourself haunted
By Love's lonely ghost

Now son, are you listening to me?
You kill a love you will never be free
Now son, better hear what I say
You kill a love
You won't walk away.

If you kill a love
Be ashamed of yourself
Don't look in the mirror
Or up on the shelf
Cuz if you kill a love
And you get up the nerve
You'll find in the long run
You'll get what you deserve

Now son, are you listening to me?
You kill a love you will never get free
Now boy, better hear what I say
You kill a love
You can never walk away
Now son, are you listening to me
You kill that love you will never get free
Now boy, better hear what I say,
Don't you kill that love.
["Kill A Love" Monty Warren/Son Of A Pup Music c 2008]

Thank you again,Caitlin, for making a dream come true.

It's Alive!! It's Alive!!

Silver train is a rollin. Think I'm gonna get on board. Oh yeah....
The offical band web site is now up and provides a much easier link to the Myspace page. Go to www.trailerparkangel.com for all Friggin, all the time.

Peace,love and Friggin Whatever,dude!

It's Not Your Job To be As Confused As Nigel...

Ok,ok-so it's obvious that I need handlers. I screwed up yesterday and gave you, oh gentle reader, the incorrect address to my 'new and vastly improved' Myspace page. The correct address is www.myspace.com/montywarrenthefrigginwhatevers and I'll post a link there from this Blog.
Incredibly, after being up only 1 day-it has already gotten about 130 hits as of this morning. Also,it is a real thrill for me to see the folks who have already enrolled as my 'friends'-a list ranging from some cool bands to my guitar hero and now friend in 'real life', Rick Richards.

I wish to thank again, Dave Bartholomew and Raymond Goodman for helping to set this up in a way so that the general public will be fooled into thinking that I'm an actual 'bona fide' rock star. I am truly blessed to now know folks such as these.

So if you have not yet visited-give it a look. You can hear a track from the upcoming record and see some very cool photos. I'll also post some interesting videos as well as provide show and record release info.

So c'mon in! As it turns out, the water's pretty damn fine. Who woulda thunk it.

Hey! Psst....Wanna Hear Somethin...?

Big Daddy Dave Bartholomew,bless his rockin heart,has set me up with a proper Band Myspace Page. This means that, if you go to it, you can hear free samples off of my upcoming record. So, if you're interested, go to www.myspace.com/montywarrenfrigginwhatevers
This will be the 'official' Page and will be updated with more goodies, pics,videos,show info, record purcharse info,etc.

Barry Herndon Rocks!

 

We played Slim's Downtown on Friday and,despite having 2 bandmembers who were sick as dogs,I have to say that we hit it outta the park. The bandmembers of the headlining band, Watershed,turned out to become big fans of the band and were rocking out directly in front of the stage and cheering me on throughout the set. About 20 people approached me after the gig to give us kudos on the set. It was like some kind of dream.
But I want to tell you that this band wouldn't rock like we did without a great drummer like Barry Herndon. This guy is a real pro and is among the first drummers I've played with who understands that "less is more" and hits the livin shit out of the back beat I need. He's also one Helluva nice, level headed and responsible guy.
In fact, I am blessed to be in a band with each of the folks who have stepped forward to help me get this thing off the ground(Joe Yerry-guitar, Lutie Cain-bass) and will provide features on each of them in the coming pages.
Anyway, the record("Trailer Park Angel") is nearly complete and I couldn't be more pleased with the rough mixes I have heard. It looks like it will be mastered the first week of February and may be ready for world release by April. I will post a free sample on my myspace page(search myspace for montywarrenandthefrigginwhatevers if you're interested) in the next day or 2. Artwork and photos are being finished up as I type.
It's all very hard to believe. Meanwhile,gotta get back to real life for a while-as Tom Waites wrote,you gotta get behind the wheel every mornin and plow.

Raymond Goodman Rocks

One of my favorite scenes in Pulp Fiction is the one where'The Wolf' tells Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield to 'get to work' and Vincent says,"'please' would be nice".
Winston Wolf(who has been called in to essentially do the thinking for these two hitmen who are now in a jam and need someone to help them figure out how to get out of it)stops dead in his tracks and says, "come again"? Vincent, steps forward and repeats his request and explains that, although he respects Winston, he does not appreciate anyone barking orders at him and suggests that a showing of mutual respect would be more likely to result in improving Vincent's performance.
Yesterday, I spent all day and most of the better part of the night working with different artistic directors(for lack of a better word),each with different styles and approaches to their craft and I came away with a new appreciation for Tarantino's inclusion of that scene with Winston Wolf in the final cut of Pulp Fiction.
The Wolf proceeds to pointedly explain that, if he fails to include common courtesies in his dealings with them it is only because he talks fast, thinks fast and,if self preservation is an instinct that the 2 hitmen possess, they'd better listen to him and act fast.
Which brings me to yesterday. I spent all day with one of the leading, most sought after rock photographers in Raleigh, if not the Southeast. His name is Raymond Goodman. If there is a 'creative artist' type guy who could have justfified acting like a diva and barking at his novice subject all afternoon, Raymond could
have gotten away with it because his work product is so outstanding and special that he would be in constant demand even if he was a prick(see e.g., stories about Annie Leibovitz). Yet, Raymond could not have been nicer, more hospitible,and more respectful of me and my opinions and visions while at the same time being completely honest and driven by the pursuit of perfection. This, gentle reader(s)is not easily come by in the world.
To again quote from Pulp Fiction, "It is a miracle and I want you to fucking acknowledge it!'

What I Did On Christmas Vacation...

 

Whoa daddy! What a holiday it was. Saw Neil Young at Reverend Ike's Theatre in NYC. Had dinner, lunch, and alot of Vodka with Keith Christopher. Opened for Terry Anderson at his annual Christmas show in Raleigh, which this year took on added meaning since it was also a memorial for Dave Enloe. Dedicated myself, as a New Years' resolution, to continue to piss the world off by having way more fun than anyone else you know can get away with and still somehow be a productive and prosperous member of what is losely known as society...
Anyway, here are a few pics to give you a glimpse into this wild ride. I promise you that '08 will be a Happy Friggin New Year!

Big Daddy

 

Grace (Mrs. T-51) Anderson Leads the Band During 'The Woods" Set-Xmas '07

 

God I Love To See My Girls On Stage!

 

Balloons From My Sister Arrived Just Before Showtime

 

Slick Judge Vic and T-51

 

Pilate Looks Like I Feel These Days