Pussy Riot

The anarchist zine Profane Existence slogan was "Making Punk a Threat Again", which is a motto that Russian anarcho-feminist collective Pussy Riot have lived up to. The band itself, a spiritual and musical kin to Bikini Kill and their Riot Grrl ilk, are on trial for launching a guerrilla protest against the dictatorial actions of Russian leader Vladamir Putin at a Russian Orthodox Church.





The fact these women are on trial and facing years in jail for this protest is itself criminal. Of course, this very threat of being jailed as dissidents proves to the wider world how far towards the dictatorial Putin has moved and how enmeshed in his power-grab the Russian Church is. Guardian article here.

FREE PUSSY RIOT

Channel 3 Play Winnipeg!

Okay. Manitobans (hell, Northern Ontarians, Saskatchewanites and North Dakotans too), here's a chance of a lifetime as it seems the papers are all in order for legendary Cali-punk band Ch 3 to play two shows here in Winnipeg!

C'mon out if you can (or encourgae someone esle to do so in your stead) and let's make this night burn like a fucker!

For MRML's rambling on CH 3 go HERE

For show info go here

For the Stylus magazine interview with CH 3 go here

For CH 3's homepage go here.

Green Day: Let Yourself Go!, 2012

So I've been expecing a train-wrecking, shark-jumping, Sandanista-besting nightmare to arise from the forthcoming Green Day three-album [!] onslaught but this song, "Let Yourself Go!" is fucking amazing!





Green Day

The Bob Dylan Comic (1972)

WARNING: This is seventies humour via National Lampoon. While I'm not sure there's a coherent enough statement to be properly offended by here, if you, understandably, feel differently please avoid this curio.

While we had a great reaction to our posting of the Beatles (X 2), The Rolling Stones, the Ramones, Nirvana, Dr. Feelgood, the Sex Pistols and the Dead Kennedys comics (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, all these rock n' roll comics got me to thinking about the Bob Dylan one that I'd once been so excited to find years ago. So now, via punkhart, here it comes.

Gotta say The Ventures of Zimmerman was a huge disappointment when I found it in the coolest comic store I'd ever seen back in 1981. My expectations were high, as I was in my first Dylan-ite stage at the time, I worshiped the artist, Neal Adams, and I was steeped in the adolescent-yet-adult humour of National Lampoon. But something went wrong when these elements combined. At the time, I was let down just because most of the references went over my head, even though I loved that "Gotta watch those parking meters" gag below.

 

National Lampoon (a Judeo-Christian alliance) followed in the Lenny Bruce tradition of shock for shock's sake. So, course the racist jokes were meant ironically back in 1972 (an "Approved by the Elders of Zion" stamp is a wink too far). However, the playing off stereotypes gags already looked wonky by 1981 and by now it just looks dated and hollow. On the other hand, Adams' art is fun and it's a great game see how many of the in-jokes you do get. So enjoy this for what it. Or don't.

So (big breath in) what do you make of this Dylan item?

Is it out-and-out tasteless or a fitting caricature for its times?

That's what the COMMENTS section is for.

London Galling

The Daily Show, God bless it, hammered Mitt Romney on the fiasco-in-motion that was his debut on the international stage.


As Cenk Uygur  says, "To Mitt, we're all Palestinians."


In other news, The Economist, a paper so staidly conservative that someone once said that in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse The Economist would publish an article about the living dead's impact on the bond market, has skewered Romney's economic vision but not without getting a few shots off at his opponent.


Have at me...