The punk legend writes in from his - shockingly - first ever tour!

November 5th, A day I will never forget as long as I live. In England , where I hail from, this day celebrates the discovery of a plot to blow up Parliament, the equivalent of blowing up The Senate AND The House of Representatives in one foul, murky swoop. The perpetrator of this filthy, foiled deed was one Guy Fawkes, a disenchanted member of the 16th Century body politik. For his part in this devilish Middle Age 911, he was hung,drawn,quartered and burnt at the stake for good measure. Every year, children all over England build giant bonfires and put a “Guy” on the top. Before they burn their “guys” ( made of old clothes and rags) they traipse their neighborhoods crying plaintively to one and all “penny for the guy mister, penny for the guy”. It is a kind of very English trick or treat where children are openly allowed to beg without shame or parental censure.It is also an opportunity for the tight-fisted bastards in the local community to be outed by their callous disregard for children and their need to buy candy!. Around the same time Africans were being transported to The Americas to build the New World. The British, along with the Dutch/French/Spanish/ and Portuguese were the main transporters of this human cargo, as many as 50% of whom would not survive the hellish trip across the ocean.

Faaaaast forward a few centuries and and I ( Englishman by birth, but Irish/Italian/English/ /Viking/ and French by heritage) am on the road with my happy band of New Yorkers , collectively known as The Homosexuals.

Born out of the ashes of my first band The Rejects in 1978, The Homosexuals has always been both a writing vehicle for myself and a refuge for creative artists to express themselves. With the birth of Pop Culture in the 60’s came a new kind of imperialism, engendered by the “establishment” gaining and maintaining control over the means of production and distribution and then selling their ” Packaged Pop Revolution” through their cosy incestuous relationship with their bedfellows in the ” new media”

I was born in 1950 and I was one of the original children of the sixties…10 years of age in 1960…. in 1970 ..20 years of age….. I was one of that generation that was raped and deprived of MY cultural revolution by the descendants and heirs of the physical and economic architects of The British Empire!!!!!!!! A bold, sweeping claim that I will elucidate on further another time…if anyone wants to argue before then..well you know where to find me sucker!!! Laughs Out Very Loud!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, back on the road.. the latest and very best incarnation of The Homosexuals is ON the road doing the Faith, Hope and Love tour of the East Coast. I am the only “original’ member of the band but I have difficulty seeing a band in such fixed, static unforgiving terms.I am an artist who expresses myself at any given time with whatever colours/tools/characters that are at my disposal. The modern day bunch of “guys ” that I am ensconced with in this creative metal oven are Mike Dos Santos of Apache Beat and formerly The Realistics///// Travis Harassment of Unsacred Hearts and Dave Seagull, Travis’s lifelong friend and fellow Heart from Large Island !!!!!.. With Dave’s soaring seagull guitar solos, Mike’s majesticically impressionistic bass and Travis’s terminator elevator drum ballets, we have lovingly cut a swathe through the East Coast of America’s political and emotional psyche. First we visited The Oxfam Cafe in Medford where we played with the lovely femme fatale duo of Boshra and A.J on bass and vocals…Boshra and A.J were officially “depping ” for Mike until he could catch up with the tour after finishing Apache Beat’s hot new video.

As an artist I can only ever truly write and perform by being in touch with the female, intuitive side of my own nature. To play with female artists is a double whammy, especially when they are as wide open to the elements of the creative universe as these two mighty maidens of musical expression. I will be posting relevant photographs and more detail and poetic ephemera in both this dimension and various hyper dimensions, possibly at the same time..( somethongs you just have to take my word for, even althougth I dont ask for it…………

The Oxfam Cafe is literally a room on campus run by the wonderful Kelly and her talking wig.WE played.. on the floor,very punky 1977 style in your face with no separation from the audience. Kelly provided various tins of household gloss paint and glitter and I invited members of the audience to paint me and liberate me from my Guantanamo Bay coveralls through loving applications of life giving art.. connecting with source..Duly liberated The Homosexuals set the room on fire and gave new life and encouragemenrt to the D.I.Y afficionados who had travelled long and hard to make connection and commune with us on our journey back to the spiritual source of our gifts.Some have still not discovered the means to do this without without chemical fuel but they are young, as I once was, and in these momentous days of change and hope, then we trust that the right things will happen when needed and not just when desired………….

the beginning of the next installment …
Next stop was Danbury to The fabulous Heirloom Arts Theatre, a former Vaudeville Theatre

THE HOMOSEXUAL TOUR DATES
Nov 5 2008 Cleveland, Ohio Beachland Ballroom
Nov 6 2008 Chicago, Illinois The Hideout
Nov 7 2008 Pontiac, Michigan The Pike Room
Nov 8 2008 Columbus, Ohio Cafe Bourbon Street
Nov 12 2008 Baltimore, Maryland Talking Head
Nov 13 2008 Washington, DC Velvet Lounge
Nov 14 2008 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Danger Danger Gallery
Nov 15 2008 New York City, New York Cake Shop