JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #547.178!

ZZ Top – Animalizer (Warner Bros.) :: Includes the hit single “Squirrel Necklace.” (Lester Bangs was one of the great rock writers…)

Lydia Lunch – Video Hysterie: 1978-2006 (MVD Visual/Atavistic) :: Although the picture quality improves as the years progress, there’s something truly horrific about the early multigeneration VHS footage—especially “Orphans” which is reprehensible for its inclusion of actual death scenes. But that’s what punks did back in 1978.

The Comics Journal No. 209 – Who Speaks For Sparky? (Fantagraphics Books) :: David Michaelis’ warty biography Schulz And Peanuts ignited a controversy which is examined here with 100 pages of in-depth debate, including an exhaustive 52-page rebuttal essay by Charles M. Schulz’s son Monte. This issue is a milestone in comics journalism and essential reading for any Peanuts fan.

The Wedding – The Sound The Steel (Brave New World) :: The chugga-chugga good news is that this is one of the few new choo-choo albums released since Trans Europe Express and Station To Station. The shrugga-shrugga bad news is that it’s just another snooze-snooze jangly generic angst album.

Lou Reed & Iggy Pop – The Last Spike (RCA Red Seal) :: Includes the hit single “Last Vein to Cocksville.” (…but I was better.)

SIZZLING SHOW OF THE WEEK: ZZ Top – Live From Texas (Eagle Vision DVD) :: These jamokes can be pretty dead ass dull on stage at times but luckily this ain’t one of those occasions; I guess being filmed by a multicam crew lubricated their level of gregariousness. Everything you wanna hear is here except for “Doubleback.” But that’s tres cool ’cause you’d be too exhausted for it anyway by the end of this hour-and-a-half greatest-hits romp. So crank up the bass to boost the most brutal drum sound on the planet and then stick around for the bonus features—one of which reveals what iconic ’50s movie legend they stole their signature hand gesture from.

Lester Bangs – Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung (Page 180) :: Geddit?

Be seeing you!