The Cazart Chronicles has officially moved over to Substack for the time being. I'll give it a try and see what it feels like to minimize the amount of Google in my life.
Hopefully, it will be an easier experience for everyone involved. I'll leave this space shuttered but not dismantled in case Substack doesn't work out.
All previous posts have been migrated over and will also remain here.
Here's the link to the Substack Page:
https://thecazartchronicles.substack.com/
I had a recent run in with a record from my youth that I hadn’t listened to in several years. There was enough Nine Inch Nails activity happening of late that I decided to give The Downward Spiral a listen again.
Back in my teen years, before I knew anything about anything about music and life in general, I drilled that record into my head to the point of burn out. As a kid that grew up without MTV, it was difficult for me to track down music and somehow I landed on The Downward Spiral and it stuck. I more than likely came across Nine Inch Nails through my sister and what Trent Reznor was doing at the time sounded new and different compared to anything else I had encountered before that.
Over time, I lost interest in the music because it felt like it wasn’t for me or I just wasn’t getting the new music. I don’t know if it was because my musical palette was expanding or what but the only thing that still grabbed me was the Broken EP. I can say that it was partially because I went off the punk rock deep end and never looked back.
I really couldn’t get into their live show the few times that I saw Nine Inch Nails. The band entered that phase of reworking the songs so I couldn’t figure out what was being played until the vocals kicked in. I can completely understand reinterpreting songs to prevent boredom and to keep progressing as an artist but it felt like it was going over my head. I checked out for a while to the point where I pretty much forgot about the band.
When Nine Inch Nails showed up as the musical guest on one of the new Twin Peaks episodes I decided to dip my toe back in to see what the band was doing. The song they played on the show sounded like an actual song instead of a meandering synthesizer soundscape so they had my attention. This was also around the time that Nine Inch Nails was releasing a series of EPs or something along those lines so I ponied up my five or six dollars and downloaded the most recent one. Sadly, I was not impressed.
I threw on The Downward Spiral to see how it would sound after all these years but it felt like it didn’t hold up for me. I don’t know if it was left over from my teenage burn out from having listened to that record so many times or if there was something else about the record that wasn’t sitting right. And to be fair, I was listening to a lot of Suicide and Alan Vega records at the time. Vega’s final album, IT, was a new benchmark and sounded like the brass ring that Trent Reznor was always reaching for and coming up just short. Add to that my fascination with the weirdness of Boris, it felt like I may have outgrown what he was creating through no fault of his own.
I still considered myself a fan of Trent Reznor because he was able to carve out a place for himself in the world of film composing and I really liked his approach to it. He figured out the subtleties of the task at hand and was still able to leave his signature on it without being overbearing about it.
What got me recently was the Nine Inch Nails tribute record that Allie Goertz put out called Peeled Back. The record was a series of stripped down covers that spanned the band’s catalog and was really well done. The deconstruction of the songs helped renew my interest so I gave The Downward Spiral another listen and I was able to hear it differently.
That’s one of my favorite things about music. Time and circumstance can change the perspective of the listener and the way a record lands on the ears. That’s why I always have a tendency to go back and relisten to certain bands or records instead of writing them off completely. Music is a personal journey and there is a certain amount of push and pull involved, if the listener is active and trying to find something more than entertainment to occupy the silence. I wouldn’t say that I’m back into Nine Inch Nails completely but I am having a good time going back through the old records and getting caught up on the ones that I missed over the years.
Nine Inch Nails did announce a tour recently that was obviously going to skip Pittsburgh because it’s rare for a worthwhile tour of that size to actually land here. The closest show is at the basketball arena in Cleveland so I thought about getting tickets and heading north for a minute. That is until, in typical fashion for this day and age, people were complaining about exorbitant ticket prices and immediate sellouts so I decided to spare myself the frustration of trying to figure out how to sign into the TicketBastard application.
In yet another marvelous tale of a douchebag getting his comeuppance, the one time, replacement singer of The Misfits keeps having his shows cancelled on him. If he wants to tour and play shows, might I suggest maybe not being a vile piece of shit that’s an outspoken member of a white supremacist hate group?
From the looks of things, the show that was supposed to happen in Pittsburgh played musical chairs with multiple venues. If I have the timeline correct, it was scheduled at a place called Side Quest, which used to be Cattivo. Side Quest pulled the plug when they figured out what this dickhead was all about and probably because they wouldn’t be able to guarantee the safety of their usual patrons if the homophobic incel army would show up in their dumb uniforms of khakis and polo shirts and want to try to start something.
Then the promoter thought they could move it to the Smiling Moose. Since they book a lot of shows at the Smiling Moose, the promoter had the login for the bar’s social media accounts. There was a flyer posted for a minute saying that the show was going to be there until the folks that run the bar started getting a load of shit for it and immediately cancelled it once they caught wind of what was going on.
The promoter used to work out of the recently shuddered Hard Rock Cafe and I’m sure the show was originally going to be there because, from what I was told, this chucklehead had played there before several years ago. Its closing probably sent this whole set of events into motion and I’m glad it did because I would have been deprived of the gut laugh that I’m experiencing in the face of this asshole’s failure.
I had never set foot in the Hard Rock Cafe during the entire twenty or so years that it was open. As someone who is not in the market for booze and shitty overpriced food, I was not going to pay for parking to be a tourist in my own town. I could probably count on one hand the number of shows booked there that I was interested in over the years. Needless to say, I was not of the demographic that the Hard Rock Cafe was looking to take money off of.
I even heard a rumor that the promoter tried to move the show to the DIY space 222 Ormsby. How I would have loved to have heard the lead balloon of how that conversation went down.
In a world in which people still compromise their morals by willingly giving their money to that shitbag Morrissey, I was pleasantly surprised that the show was cancelled. Even though I would really like to know what the advance ticket sales were, if they were on sale yet. Given the large amount of apathy and ignorance in the Pittsburgh area, there always seems to be a landing place for when assholes want to come through town. The people that actually give a shit and try to stand for something in this town sometimes feels very few and far between to me.
I still wouldn’t call this said and done for. There are a few promoters and groups in the area that would be more than happy to overlook the fact that this guy is problematic, and toxic to radioactive levels, and would book him based on his lame connection to the Misfits. I would not be shocked in the least if he ended up out that church in New Kensington. The guy that owns the place does seem to give off the impression that he’s one of those “free speech warrior” types and might have some sympathy. Although, he does have his own history of shitty behavior that he’s trying to deny and look past so booking a band whose singer belongs to a hate group might make it difficult for him to keep that history from cropping back up.
I do find it encouraging and quite funny that this asshole has shows getting cancelled all over the country now. And in typical tough guy fashion, he went to the internet to whine and complain about all of the cancellations piling up. He was pouring the white victimhood on thick by claiming that he was being discriminated against and some bullshit about his own personal safety. I’m sure somewhere in there he was claiming that his rights were somehow being violated. I guess it never occurred to this dipshit that, yes, he is in fact able to say whatever he wants but we also have the right to not put up with his bullshit.
Something else that he’s probably too stupid to understand is why would a venue take on the financial risk involved with booking him? If there is an altercation that violently shuts down the show, the venue is now open to lawsuits from anyone that might end up injured. Legal expenses and insurance hikes are not really worth putting the one time and much less talented singer of the Misfits on stage.
I have no idea what this shithead’s music sounds like and I don’t much care. Something tells me that I’m not missing anything worth hearing. I never got into what was going on with post-Danzig Misfits much like I really couldn’t get into those other bands that Danzig had going. It always sounded like something was missing from both of them so I never bothered.
With this idiot and the lackluster nostalgia laden cash crab of the “original” Misfits hitting up festivals and arenas, I really can’t consider myself a fan anymore. For me, it’s really difficult to listen to those records now with people paying hundreds of dollars to see Danzig gasp and wheeze through forty year old songs and then to have some dumb motherfucker trading off of the Misfits name while out on his white grievance tour. The Misfits would have been better off remastering their entire catalog to make the music sound better and then go back to being the merchandising brand that they’ve become. I know I would have bought all of those records again but probably wouldn’t now.
Of late, there seems to be a growing number of morons calling punk “woke” while at the same time calling this new brand of fascism that we’re stuck in the new punk rock. This again shows that these ass hats never bothered learning the history of anything before opening their stupid mouths.
There were rather well known street fights in the UK in the 70s and 80s when the National Front would try to march and hold rallies. Punks were almost always involved in fighting back against fascist groups. And it is very easy to tell that these idiots never truly listened to The Clash and the words that Joe Strummer had written.
As with most music that eventually gets co-opted by Capitalism, it was started by queer people and people of color and the history of that music is rooted in their experience. The message and the meaning of punk music has been watered down so it can be easily spoon fed to the masses without causing them to have to think about what they’re listening to. This music stands for something way heavier and more important than the soundtrack to getting drunk and partying.
There has never been an ounce of subtlety to any word that Jello Biafra has ever said so I can’t figure out how these dipshits can claim that punk wasn’t “woke” or whatever the fuck they want to try to call it. There are decades worth of songs about hating cops and punching nazis that somehow went over the heads of these bootlickers.
These pigfuckers will slowly start to figure out that we’re not at all like them. Especially when they start getting trounced out of a room. They are a cancer that needs to be quickly removed before they have a chance to ruin local scenes and make it unsafe for the people that really need this music to come out to shows.
In all honesty, none of this really matters and this douchebag having to cancel a tour is the minorest of minor wins but it does serve as a great distraction from the very real attacks that all of our family, friends and loved ones are currently under. I will say that this level of pettiness in finding joy in this asshole's misfortune suits me fine. It’s great to see one of these scumbags eat shit for their actions and for being a terrible person. It has served as a small ray of light in all of the darkness.
One of the funnier things that I’ve heard of late is that a former teacher from the Pittsburgh suburbs wants to return to teaching after he was granted a pardon for participating in the insurrection on January 6, 2021. While everything around us seems to be descending into the dumbest form of chaos imaginable, I found this to be spectacularly dumb and couldn’t stop laughing the laugh of the doomed.
I mean, the astounding size of the great white balls on this dumb motherfucker. He must have to wear a back brace to walk around with them. Simply because you were granted a pardon by your cult leader of a snake oil salesman does not mean you should get your life back. Life is not a video game with a reset feature. This idiot is trying to circumvent the finding out stage of fucking about.
This douchebag wasn’t one of the many aimless morons that got swept up in the events of the day. There are numerous photos and videos from that day showing that he was front and center in an attempt to violently overthrow the government. Now that he obtained a get out of jail free card, he wants to go back to teaching children. I’m still trying to figure out how he was a teacher in the first place. And he was a history teacher, no less. There are truly no standards anymore.
January 6th wasn’t just a field day for white supremacists and, in the aftermath, these shitheads think they can go about living like nothing happened. “Awww gee, Ma, we wasn’t doin’ nothin’. Just poopin’ on the walls and killing cops.” Actions have consequences, regardless of what the current moment is displaying to the contrary. Pleading and saying sorry doesn’t erase the initial act.
These assholes should be ostracized from our communities. Not only for their actions on that day but also for being so easily duped by their false idol. Everyone involved should have faced harsh consequences for the events of January 6th. And I am really torn by saying that. As much as I’m in favor of beating up cops and overthrowing governments, I like my revolution to have a lot less blatant racism involved. I still don’t want to imagine the severity of the violence that would have been brought down by the state if something like that happened during the uprisings in the summer of 2020.
Every politician that enabled and egged on these dipshits should have been forcibly removed from office and made an example of. In one of the greatest displays of fecklessness that I have ever seen, the Justice Department moved at a snail's pace and Congress did nothing outside of a handful of hearings. Everyone that could have done something about it claimed if they did their actions would be seen as political. Well, no shit. It was an act of political violence so the response would be political. No wonder there’s no real opposition being put forth while everything is on fire and being looted by billionaires.
This dumb ass went so far to think that it would be a good idea to be interviewed by the local evening news for some reason. He spent time railing against Critical Race Theory, DEI and trans people saying that classrooms were being infected by them. In a spectacular display of not knowing what words mean, he also said that he wants a classroom full of free thinkers. Free thinking doesn’t mean spouting conspiracy theory nonsense to our youth. From the sound of it, he wants to indoctrinate children by bringing his bullshit into a classroom.
When pressed about his actions on January 6th, he had the audacity to say that he stole a cop’s baton and beat them with it because the cop hit him first. That was downright hilarious. Maybe the cop was swinging their baton because this dumb motherfucker was charging into the Capitol building when he probably shouldn’t have been doing so.
To make things even funnier, he was still clinging to the claim that there were “outside agitators” involved with breaching the building. The only “outside agitators” that were there were the numerous white supremacy groups that were coordinating their efforts. If the great ANTIFA boogeyman were actually that organized, the Capitol would already have been turned into a large community garden to feed the people of Washington DC.
This goofball was definitely giving off the kind of vibes that he would rather get into a fight to prove that he was right than be open to have a conversation about anything that challenged his narrow worldview. With his remarkable lack of self-awareness, he still believes that the 2020 election was stolen even though there was never any evidence to prove it. Unless we’re counting the evidence that was clearly and laughably made up. Which we’re not.
Of course the lightweight local “journalist” didn’t push back on any of the nonsense this dumb ass was spewing. But, then again, what would be the point of pushing back against this moron that’s choosing to live within his own delusional reality. He would much rather hold onto his white victimhood for dear life than admit that he was wrong about anything. So incredibly wrong that he went to prison for his actions.
I can’t wait for him to file the inevitable lawsuits to get his state teaching certifications back and then to sue the school district to get his job back. He’ll be jumping up and down, screaming and yelling until he gets his way because he got himself a pardon. In his broken brain, that somehow means everything should go back to the way it was before he felt compelled to don tactical gear and start punching cops.
As the days are getting darker and we are being surrounded by a group of the worst pigfuckers and monsters imaginable, I keep thinking of Isaac Asimov’s idea that there’s a false notion in this country that democracy means someone’s ignorance is equal to someone else’s knowledge. Somewhere along the way, we collectively forfeited the ability to call someone stupid and laugh them out of the room for the sake of not wanting to seem impolite. It’s out of this desire to uphold a false sense of decorum that we are so inconceivably fucked and our institutions were unable to prevent the bullies from winning.
In a few days, Leonard Peltier will arrive at his new home in North Dakota. This is something that I never thought would happen since Leonard has been in prison longer than I have been alive.
After almost fifty years, his sentence was commuted from life in prison to home confinement. This is not a pardon or clemency but at least he gets to go home. There are a lot of people making preparations for his release. All of the fundraising efforts for his legal defense have been converted to a care fund to meet his medical and housing needs. Leonard will be well cared for as an elder upon his return.
Leonard’s commutation is probably the only positive thing that will come out of Fuck Face Von Clownstick turning fascism in America up to eleven with his band of unqualified dipshits. Had the cop from California won, I don’t see this happening. There always seems to be this need to curry favor and not piss off law enforcement because these tough guys are so sensitive and have their feelings hurt very easily. The transfer to house arrest was the bone of compromise thrown to the FBI.For those unfamiliar, Leonard was convicted of aiding and abetting in the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation on June 25, 1976. The two people he was accused of aiding and abetting were acquitted at their trial so there is some math that doesn’t add up. How was he guilty of aiding and abetting two people that were not guilty?
The FBI wanted a fall guy for their bungling so they went out and got one. Due to his work with the American Indian Movement over the years, Leonard Peltier ended up with a target on his back and was on the same COINTELPRO list as Malcolm, Martin and Fred long before the incident at Pine Ridge. The government wanted him neutralized so that’s what they did.
Several attorneys involved with the prosecution have clearly stated that they cooked the books in order to get a conviction and have no idea who killed the two FBI agents that day. Witnesses have recanted testimony after claims of intimidation and threats from the FBI. The feds had their story and they were going to stick to it.
All levels of law enforcement and the legal system claim infallibility even when they get caught after the fact. Some prosecutors even grew a conscience over the years and began advocating on Leonard’s behalf but undoing an injustice is way more difficult than screwing someone over in the first place. Leonard was always denied parole on the basis of not showing remorse to the parole board. He was always put into this weird Catch-22 because it’s kind of difficult to show remorse for something that you didn’t do. The board wanted contrition, not to hear a claim of innocence.
Gathering media attention was always difficult since most mainstream outlets don’t question authority and only regurgitate the narrative put forth by law enforcement. Every story was predicated with “Convicted killer…” and not mentioning details of how Leonard was hung out to dry. The media’s access to power is more important to them than the truth so they never dare to challenge what they’re told so as to protect that access. Again, it’s the feigning of impartiality when one side is clearly lying that makes things smell so rotten.
It took a lot of people putting in a lot of work over the decades to make sure that Leonard Peltier wasn’t forgotten. I had run into people who didn’t even know that he was still alive when they’d see me wearing my “Free Leonard” t-shirt. Everyone who chose to get involved kept pushing and kept up awareness, especially over the past few years. Finally, the doddering old man did more than pay lip service to indigenous communities who had bent his ear over the course of four years.
In what might have been his final act as President, Joe Biden signed the commutation order before he walked out of the White House and into what will hopefully either be obscurity or a cell at the Hague.
Leonard Peltier has been a survivor his entire life. From attempts at forced assimilation at a boarding school in his youth to mistreatment and neglect at the hands of the federal prison system. He shouldn’t have had to have been a survivor. Along with all of the other native peoples of this land, Leonard should have been able to live his life in peace but the government and greed had other plans.
Unlike so many other political prisoners in this country, Leonard made it through. And now he can go home to live out his days with his family and his paints.