#we jam econo

[marieslocket]

We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen

my dad and I were bonding over bands like the fugazi, dead kennedys, minor threat, and black flag. Showed me this cool minutemen documentary

[saymoretv]

As a young person getting into punk I can best describe my early encounters with The Minutemen as confusing. I found the more groove orientated bass and almost disco-esque style guitar work to be more Funk than Punk. The only discernible punk-trait that I could identify in their music was brevity, but there was none of that obvious expression of aggression, anger or angst that teenage me was craving.

I knew theoretically at that point in musical journey that 'Punkness' was about frustrating and loosening the notions of genre, musicianship and creativity; that it was about reforming and either resetting the boundaries or doing away with them all together, and whilst this revolutionist tendency or ideology certainly resonated (and still does), it also rubbed up against a more conservative tendency; that being, the very teenage desire to identify your style, sound and social scene.

So whilst I knew that philosophically speaking punk was about dismantling fixed ideas around the very ideas of culture, style and music, at same time I was searching for a specific culture, style and music to identify with. And in early 2000's I felt more affinity and association with the types of young US bands that you could stage-dive and mosh to. It was a time when I can say I was definitely more interested in what New Era or Nike's a band wore on stage, as opposed to how far out of the box their music or ideas were. Back tot he present day and although my wardrobe still contains too many trainers and baseball caps appropriate for a man approaching his late 30s, I am relieved to say that when it comes to music, I don't think my tastes and judgements on bands aren't as shallow as they once were, and I think my newfound appreciation for the Minutemen is testament to this.

My re-connection with the band wasn't through the algo throwing up an album to listen to, but was stumbling onto and watching their documentary 'We Jam Econo'. As a band with very strong philosophical and political underpinnings the documentary not only provides context on who Mike Watt and D.Boon are / were as people, but it also helps you understand The Minutemen ideology, musically speaking yes, but also more philosophically. And it was their philosophy on the importance of the democracy musical creativity that most resonated with me. Mike Watt says something along the lines of that 'there should be a venue on every block and a place selling instruments on every other one', his point being that there is a universal value in the act of musical creation, not an economic or cultural value but simply the joy, fulfilment and liberaton of the of collective creative act. And it's this collective act that he thinks all people should have access to and one that needn't be predicated on class, talent or virtue.

Watching We Jam Econo, it's clear how serious The Minutemen were as a band, and how much care and thought they put into the song writing and performances. But what mattered for them, and the joy that came from being in a band who lived and toured 'Econo' was the creative act itself more so than the satisfaction of the artistic outputs or benefits. And so, after almost a lifetime of listening to punk music, I am finally moved to really understand the true liberating power of the ethos of punk - Do it (for) Yourself, and don't worry about how good something is because the joy is in the doing rather than the having done.

Enjoy this music video (FFO: Marx and Troma Films) but do yourself a favour and go watch We Jam Econo.

[littlescaryinternetguy]

Let it also be said: musicians, we're next. It's already starting. Shit is already hard enough, we're between paradigms as the 'book your own fuckin' life' era where you could jam econo and make a living dies (COVID was the final nail in the coffin) and we wait for something else (Bandcamp suggests a way forward). Don't sell yourself and your art to the AI Hoover for forty pieces of silver that will evaporate before you can spend it on Beanie Weenies. We can only make it if we're all on the same page. We have to have each others' backs.

A note to all creatives:

Right now, you have to be a team player. You cannot complain about AI being used to fuck over your industry and then turn around and use it on somebody else’s industry.

No AI book covers. No making funny little videos using deepfakes to make an actor say stuff they never did. No AI translation of your book. No AI audiobooks. No AI generated moodboards or fancasts or any of that shit. No feeding someone else’s unfinished work into Chat GPT “because you just want to know how it ends*” (what the fuck is wrong with you?). No playing around with AI generated 3D assets you can’t ascertain the origin of. None of it. And stop using AI filters on your selfies or ESPECIALLY using AI on somebody else’s photo or artwork.

We are at a crossroad and at a time of historically shitty conditions for working artists across ALL creative fields, and we gotta stick together. And you know what? Not only is standing up for other artists against exploitation and theft the morally correct thing to do, it’s also the professionally smartest thing to do, too. Because the corporations will fuck you over too, and then they do it’s your peers that will hold you up. And we have a long memory.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking “your peers” are only the people in your own industry. Writers can’t succeed without artists, editors, translators, etc making their books a reality. Illustrators depend on writers and editors for work. Video creators co-exist with voice actors and animators and people who do 3D rendering etc. If you piss off everyone else but the ones who do the exact same job you do, congratulations! You’ve just sunk your career.

Always remember: the artists who succeed in this career path, the ones who get hired or are sought after for commissions or collaboration, they aren’t the super talented “fuck you I got mine” types. They’re the one who show up to do the work and are easy to get along with.

And they especially are not scabs.

*that’s not even how it ends that’s a statistically likely and creatively boring way for it to end. Why would you even want to read that.

[kosmik-signals]

The best punk bands don’t look punk. They jam “econo.”

“Their (MInutemen) hard work and relentless, uncompromising pursuit of their unique artistic vision have inspired countless bands. “We didn’t want to be just a rock band,” says singer-bassist Mike Watt. “We wanted to be us - our band.” In the process D. Boon, George Hurley, and Watt proved that regular Joes could make great art, a concept that reverberated throughout indie rock ever after.”

Michael Azerrad, Our Band Could be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 (New York: Bay Back Books: 2001), 61.

[gotankgo]

We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)

[belialjones]

if you ask me what my heart is made out of the answer would be mike’s laugh after D boon says his name after john doe in the song

[danger-jazz]

~D Boon, frontman of my favorite band, Minutemen.~ 

 This was supposed to be posted on April 1st, D Boon's birthday, but I couldn't finish it by then and completely forgot to post it until now. 

[zonecassette]

Suddenly remembered Minutemen are the most important band of all time

[xetastheband-blog]

Top 5 Music Documentaries by Kana Harris

5. Athens, GA: Inside/Out (1987) Directed by Tony Gayton, 1hr 23min. The B-52s and REM put Athens, GA on the map in the 1980s but the reason they were so great is because of the cultural petrie dish featured in this time capsule. Beautiful footage of REM performing in the Lucy Cobb Institute Chapel, live footage and interviews with Pylon, Bar-B-Q Killers, B-52s, Flat Duo Jets. 4. Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, D.C. (1980-1990) (2014) Directed by Scott Crawford, 1hr 30min. This documentary is the most recently made and also the slickest in terms of production. Great energy, this is definitely one that made me inspired to go out and kick ass the next day - no, RIGHT NOW. Although the 80s DC scene was predominately white males, I feel they do an ok job of acknowledging that and admitting that they learned from it, too, which is more important than you might think. Love all the live footage -- this creative amoeba was one of the better parts of the country (USA) for documentation of their scene and they understood the longevity of it, which is very helpful to someone like me who wants to know how everyone worked together. 3. The Shield Around The K: The Story of K Records (2000) Directed by Heather Rose Dominic, 1hr 25m. I watched this movie for the first time by renting it from the local video store because I couldn’t find it anywhere else. I came for the Beat Happening footage, but this is where I fell in love with Mecca Normal. Why isn’t there a documentary about Mecca Normal? Maybe I should ask if I can make it. They stole the show! and from Calvin Johnson, no less! 2. 1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992) Directed by David Markey, 1hr 39min This movie changed my life. I have posted about it before, but the footage of Babes in Toyland playing to a swelling crowd, the Sonic-Nonsense, the un-self-conscious nature of it. It’s great. Or maybe it’s stupid, whatever. Go watch some movies and make your own freaking list, I don’t care. 1. We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005) Directed by Tim Irwin, 1 hr 31 min. My favorite parts of this movie: D Boon met Mike Watt by jumping on him out of a tree. They didn’t know about tuning and just thought “some guys like ‘em tight, and some guys like ‘em loose” D Boon’s mom encouraging them to play music no matter how awful it sounded because “at least [she knew] where he was.”

[bootleg-economy]

[forexbeginnersworld]

An economic analysis of lightning routing

An economic analysis of lightning routing

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An economic analysis of lightning routing

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[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of D. Boon(27 Club) who Died: December 22, 1985 in Tucson, Arizona

Dennes Dale "D." Boon was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Boon was best known as the guitarist and vocalist of the American punk rock trio Minutemen. In 1985 he was killed in a van crash at the age of 27.

Dennes Boon was born in San Pedro, California, on April 1, 1958. His father, a navy veteran, worked installing radios in Buick cars, and the Boons lived in former World War II barracks that had been converted into public housing.

According to childhood friend and future bandmate Mike Watt, Boon was unfamiliar with popular music and had grown up listening to Buck Owens and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Watt introduced Boon to Blue Öyster Cult and The Who. Urged by Boon's mother, Boon and Watt began to learn to play instruments. They learned to play by copying songs from their favorite bands' records. Boon took a few lessons from local teacher Roy Mendez Lopez who taught him rock as well as flamenco and classical.

As a teenager, Boon began painting and signed his works "D. Boon", partly because "D" was his slang for cannabis, partly after Daniel Boone, but mostly because it was similar to E. Bloom, Blue Öyster Cult's vocalist and guitarist.

Boon formed his first band with Watt in 1978, The Reactionaries. The band's members were lead vocalist Martin Tamburovich, Boon on guitar, bassist Watt, and drummer George Hurley. The Reactionaries existed for most of 1978 and 1979, practicing regularly but rarely if ever performing live.

After only seven months, Boon and Watt broke the band up feeling that the traditional frontman-style band was "bourgeois".

Boon formed Minutemen in January 1980 with Mike Watt on bass and Frank Tonche on drums. Tonche was soon replaced by former Reactionaries drummer George Hurley. Their best-known album is Double Nickels on the Dime.

The Minutemen continued until December 22, 1985, when Boon was killed in a van accident in the Arizona desert on Interstate 10. Because he had been sick with fever, Boon was lying down in the rear of the van without a seatbelt when the rear axle broke and the van ran off the road. Boon was thrown out the back door of the van and died instantly from a broken neck. He was 27 years old. Boon’s death caused the band to immediately dissolve, though Watt and Hurley would form the band Firehose soon after. The live album Ballot Result was released in 1987, two years after Boon's death.

Since the first Firehose album, Mike Watt has dedicated every record he has worked on – be it Firehose, solo, or otherwise – to D. Boon's memory. A song on Watt's semi-autobiographical 1997 album Contemplating the Engine Room, "The Boilerman," is about D. Boon; on the recording itself, guitarist Nels Cline plays one of Boon's last Telecaster guitars, which Watt is in possession of. Watt also mentions his fallen friend in Firehose's "Disciples of the 3-Way" (Mr. Machinery Operator) and his own "Burstedman" (The Secondman's Middle Stand).

Boon has been paid tribute by American alternative band Stigmata-A-Go-Go with the song "D. Boon," from its 1994 album It's All True, Uncle Tupelo with a different song "D. Boon" from its 1991 album Still Feel Gone, and Centro-matic's song "D.Boon-Free (A Ninth Grade Crime)" off The Static vs. The Strings Vol. 1. His story is also told in the documentary We Jam Econo.

In 2003, former D. Boon roommate Richard Derrick released the CD D. Boon and Friends, a collection of jam session tapes he recorded with D. Boon, and rare Boon solo performances, as the first release on his Box-O-Plenty Records label. Mike Watt authorized the release and provided technical assistance and liner notes.

He is #89 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time: David Fricke's Picks.

In his review of the band's last album, music critic Robert Christgau described the death of Boon as "a rock death that has for wasted potential Lennon and Hendrix for company," adding that "after seven fairly amazing years he was just getting started. Shit, shit, shit."

[kosmik-signals]

“ Yet as compact as they were, Minutemen songs sounded nothing like hardcore punk. Boon’s guitar was scratchy and wiry; Watt’s bass was busy and melodic; Hurley’s drumming was polyrhythmic and syncopated. Some tracks were like fractured jazz, some like moody folk, some like off-speed funk. They weren’t interested in pure volume or aggression; what drew the trio to punk was the chance to play anything they wanted. “ Excerpt from Pitchfork review by Marc Masters. 

Rated 9.5

(via Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime Album Review | Pitchfork)

[johnporcellino]

NEW CRITERION DIARY up at Ye Olde Patreon Page! 

John reviews Matango, Fellini's City of Women, We Jam Econo, and WC Fields' The Pharmacist.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/50385016

[guerrilla-operator]

Minutemen // Tour-Spiel

Born in the shed with the guitar on

We jammed the schtick to do for gigs

With bits and pieces of the working thesis

We jammed the schtick to do for gigs

Now when we took me and D. Boon and George's stench

We put it up on stage

We'd fight at practice, then jam econo

And spout the tour-spiel

[bluestoy-blog]

Recent Viewing

We Jam Econo a documentary about the legendary punk band The Minutemen.  Mike Watt shows us the exact tree where D. Boon fell out of on top of him as their first introductory meeting that would later gel into a legendary Hardey and Lorel duo status of its own.