Local Man Blows Two Drink Minimum Out of Fucking Water

DALLAS – Local man Shane Whitlock recently blew the two-drink minimum at a small, laid-back music venue clear out of the fucking water, according to secondhand-embarrassed witnesses.

“I should be hailed as a hero, not a villain,” shouted a shit-faced Whitlock while fleeing the scene. “I’m a huge supporter of local music so I know how venues like The Hideaway Lounge rely on customers purchasing alcohol in order to pay for all their business shit. But instead of thanking me, they 86’d my ass just because I had a few extra drinks, got belligerent, attacked the bassist, lit a few fires in the bathroom, and blah blah blah. If they don’t want courteous clients like me helping them reach their financial goals, maybe they shouldn’t have a policy which is clearly daring me to drink like someone’s got a gun to my fucking head.”

Whitlock’s last remaining friend, Corbin Bush, explained how his pal has a history of getting hammered at establishments with a drink minimum.

“Don’t listen to a word he says,” stated an exasperated Bush who was attempting to locate his plastered friend. “He likes to pretend that he’s guzzling beer and doing tequila shots to help them keep the lights on, but I can confirm he only does it to show off his drinking prowess like it’s some kind of twisted badge of honor. Nobody else will hang out with him anymore because of shit like this, and now you can add me to that list. I still don’t know why he thought urinating behind the bar was a good idea. It was not.”

Renowned hospitality expert Vanessa Burns described how “drink minimum” policies are necessary, but can attract the wrong kind of clientele.

“The cost of owning and operating venues has been increasing for years,” described Burns. “So ensuring that each customer hits a minimum alcohol purchase is necessary to help pay staff, musicians, and other overhead expenses that owners incur. But that policy can also attract people who take it as a challenge to consume as much as they can for no other reason than their out of control egos and very serious substance abuse issues. If you’re drinking to the point of pissing yourself in public, then you’ve got big problems you need to address.”

At press time, Whitlock had stumbled into a buffet restaurant, whose all-you-can-eat policy he was also planning to exploit.

Scented Candles and Polyamory Are Great, but Am I the Only One Who Joined This Coven To Eat Children?

Well, boil, boil, toil, and NOT SO MUCH TROUBLE apparently. Ever since I was introduced to the tale of Hansel and Gretel as a child I knew I wanted to be a hill witch. Think about it, this lady has a whole house made of delicious candy, but she just uses it to lure children so that she can cook and eat them? Children must taste pretty fucking good!

Imagine my delight to discover there was a whole coven of Wiccans (that’s PC for witch) who meet at a used book store cafe within walking distance to my house every Tuesday night! I couldn’t wait to go learn some cool spells, consort with ravens, and hopefully pick up some decent child cooking tips (marinade or dry rub?) Instead what I found was an assortment of doughy goth swingers who, while VERY nice, seemed to be into the witch life for other reasons.

I’m not trying to knock “The Coven or the Raven’s Crook” or trying to talk any shit against Lady Tabitha, head mistress of our order and crafter of fine scented candles available now on Etsy. I’m just starting to wonder if these witches are ever going to take off the kid’s gloves. Or, wait, are you supposed to wear gloves when you eat kids? I don’t even know!

It’s not that it’s been bad. I’ve made a lot of solid friends in the coven. I’ve learned a lot about crafts and mooncycles, and I’ve joined a pretty sexy polycule within the group. It’s honestly been a blast, but I’m still pretty eager to become a bride of Satan worthy of the fear and scorn of entire villages, or at least the dipshits in my apartment building.

I’m seriously starting to doubt if this group shares my core values. Last meeting Lady Tabitha was giving us an earful about the harmful effects of negative witch portrayal in the media. I chimed in with “Good point, we don’t want mortals knowing what we’re up to, that would make it very hard to eat their children” Everyone laughed, but it was like a wholesome laugh? Like it wasn’t a “tehehe I’ll get you my pretties” laugh as I expected. I don’t know.

At least I’m finally getting into The Cure.

Right Leg Pursues Solo Kick-Drum Career After Dramatic Falling Out With Rest of One-Man-Band

CHELSEA, Mich. — The right leg of local One Man Band “Dandy Dale’s Ragshackle Ramtime Revue” is leaving to pursue a solo kick drum career after citing irreconcilable creative differences, sources confirmed.

“We all got along great for a while there, but in the past year or so, ol’ Righty would begin snapping at some of the other members of the band. Vicious stuff,” said Dandy Dale’s lead vocalist, his own head. “The final straw was when he put right arm in the hospital, for moving the slide of my trombone too flashily…Right leg’s always been about the fundamentals, he hated the pageantry that went along with the Dandy Dale sound. So now I guess it’s time to dismember this member. It’s gonna hurt to see him go…especially if the doctor only uses the local anesthetic.”

Dale’s longtime roadie for the Ramtime Revue, Dougie Shermans, expressed relief at the lineup change, if only for his own benefit.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t quite know why Dale’s really ever needed a roadie for this outfit…and I mean outfit in the sense that he wears most of the instruments in a wacky suit contraption,” said a hushed Shermans. “I’m happy to see Right leg branch out. It is incredibly talented but also a bit volatile. On more than one occasion my rear end got a swift kick from Rightie because its kick drum was really the only thing I ever had to load in and out. But with it hitting the bricks, I’m on easy street from now on. My spine oughta remember to send a thank you note to his leg.”

Foremost Michigan surgeon Dr. Henrietta French explains why she’s elected to help the leg embark on the upcoming solo journey.

“As long as all parties are in agreement, this amputation should indeed provide Mr. Dale, all his remaining body parts, and his departing right leg, with creative peace,” said Dr. French. “This surgery is not cosmetic, it’s merely artistic. Plus, most band breakups are typically covered by even the cheapest health insurance options. Not many people know that. The Beatles could have really cleaned up if they had the foresight to fall off that rooftop while calling it quits.”

When asked if it had any final sentiments for its old band members, the departing leg simply raised a solemn middle toe.

Opinion: That Jump Rope Rhyme About Me May Be Factual, But It’s Still Hurtful

Listen, I know it’s all in good fun and I should be a good sport about this, but I would like this assembled Parent Teacher Association to come together and ask all those damn children to stop using me as source material. That jump rope rhyme they are incessantly chanting may be factual and only reflect the truth, but it is still hurtful.

And yes, I can appreciate that it is quite clever, especially considering that it was written by children. That’s not the point.

The point is that when I have to hear children rhyming “Turn around, touch the ground/ that guy just gained thirty pounds/ because of his divorce, of course/ he also looks like a horse” on seemingly every corner in this town, it is very unpleasant and very rude.

My facial resemblance to any kind of animal is my own business, certainly not that of jump-roping little jerks.

It’s a medical condition.

I do not deserve to hear “Double decker, double Dutch/six months since last human touch” just because I have to leave the house and we apparently live in the fucking jump-rope capital of the goddamn world.

Oh, I can’t prove the rhymes are about me. Okay so “Got his license took away, crashed into the old Subway, no more meatball sub footlongs and so we hate him with our song” is about some other guy who did that? Maybe some other guy who has apologized profusely for it, many times, to this very assembly? I don’t fucking think so!

I’m sorry for cursing. The rhymes are getting to me. None of you can understand what it is like to be ceaselessly mocked by the piping voices of children every day, the sound of feet rhythmically hitting the ground, and the terrible sound of jumping ropes. None of you!

You all think your precious children are harmless with their little games and taunting, accurate rhymes of “skipping feet, skipping feet/ that guy’s dad was a deadbeat,” meanwhile I’m crying in the men’s room at work remembering how Dad never even came to my baseball games.

Oh, sure, I’m a monster for trudging on their wellspring of creativity, especially one that’s generated lines as memorable as “halitosis is atrocious halitosis is ferocious/ but that’s nothing compared to that guy’s breath, Jesus, get that man some gum!” That one doesn’t even rhyme!

It’s a medical condition.

Fine, none of you will reign in your children and their savage, meticulously researched song games. I just hope none of you ever have to deal with something as painful and cutting as I do.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go plead my case to that caricature artist who makes everyone look like me, no matter what.

Punk’s Family Going to Wait For A Few More People to Show Up Before Starting Funeral

BALTIMORE — Relatives of recently deceased punk Bryan Allen decided to postpone the beginning of his funeral until a few more mourners show up, sources close to the grieving family report.

“Mom’s a wreck over all this, and the fact that it’s only us and a few other scattered relatives isn’t helping. I guess people are probably running late or something,” the deceased’s sister Heather Allen said while scanning the graveyard dejectedly. “A few stragglers have come in and I’ve been trying to encourage them to move to the front so it doesn’t look as empty, but I think this might be it. Bryan was a pain in the ass, but he was always going to shows and posting loads of pictures of people, so I thought maybe he had more friends than this, to be honest.”

The sparse guests included mostly immediate family, a few friends, and Allen’s sixth grade teacher, one mourner reported.

“Bryan played bass for us until we kicked him out for stealing cash from the merch sales,” stated Mike Casey, a former bandmate of Allen. “I’ll be real with you, I really didn’t want to come to this because I have a massive hangover and was gonna wash my car today, but his brother texted to ask if I was coming and I couldn’t really come up with an excuse other than ‘I’ll catch the next one’ so I was stuck. His mom seems nice, though she asked if I had any happy memories of him, and the only one I could think of was the time we stole a bunch of sandwiches from Whole Foods and almost fought the security guard, which didn’t seem appropriate given the setting.”

Bob Fletcher, the funeral director who oversaw the service, stated that this kind of thing happens all the time.

“I know it’s tough for the family and all, but we’ve got a schedule to stick to here,” Fletcher said while checking his watch. “I have three other funerals lined up for this church, and if we delay this thing much longer, it’s going to screw the whole day up. I told the family that Bryan’s funeral was going to be at the time we agreed on and that was that. If people want to stroll in mid-Hail Mary, so be it. Everyone’s dead son is special to someone, but in this case–if you can’t fill the room, pick a smaller church.”

At press time, the funeral-goers were in chaos after a mourner attempted to trade drink tickets for more communion wine.

Prospect of Having to Date Again Only Thing Saving Marriage

CHICAGO — Local couple Nicole Vario and Peter Brooks opted to stay together as the mere idea of dating caused both of them to become visibly ill despite their marriage being “deader than disco,” sources close to the pair confirmed.

“I mean it’s not that I don’t love Peter anymore, it’s just that I can’t stand anything about him. It happens,” the 38-year-old Vario remarked while alternating between divorce attorney and dating advice websites. “But I’ve been with Peter since college and I just don’t have the headspace or energy to navigate the dating scene right now. I mean, my single friends tell me what a shitshow Tinder is and setting up a profile with pics that don’t really look like me in real life sounds like an absolute nightmare. Peter doesn’t talk much anymore, but I can still get more words out of him than some weirdo simply DMing me the word ‘hey’ on these apps.”

Brooks could not agree more with his romantically unfulfilled partner’s sentiment.

“I mean, we get along, so it’s not like I’m miserable and we still have sex once every three years, so that’s a plus,” said Brooks. “The dating dynamic has changed so much since I was last single, so it would just end up being this huge learning curve. I’m nearly 40, I’m too old to try and put on airs to impress some stranger on the internet who can’t even look up from their phone for 30 seconds. I’ll take eating dinner with Nicole in complete silence while we rewatch ‘The Office’ for the 75th time over trying to connect with someone romantically online any day.”

Relationship experts note that this phenomenon is hardly unique in the current internet-centric culture.

“Older millennials have survived two economic recessions, multiple wars, and a global pandemic, they’re too worn down and busy to deal with all idiotic bullshit that dating entails,” remarked relationship expert Dan Savage. “As an adaptable group of people, they’re willing to look at every situation analytically to determine the best course of action. Therefore, it’s easy to see with all the instability they’ve experienced why they’d stay in a predictable rut than have to date the extremely online, raving lunatics their age that are still single.”

“Besides, unlike Boomers, at least they acknowledge there’s a problem in their relationships,” Savage added.

At press time, Brooks and Vario decided to try to have a baby as a last-ditch effort to avoid dating again.

We Tested Fifty Fuzz Pedals and Now We’ve Been Evicted From Our Apartment

Sup gear nerds! As many fuzz freaks know, every fuzz pedal has a unique sound and character. With so many options available, it can be a daunting task to find the perfect fit for your sound. Fret not! We have personally tested fifty of today’s hottest fuzz circuits from the comfort of the studio apartment we used to be allowed to live in. Here’s what we found!

To start, our main discovery was that fuzz pedals are a lot more expensive than we anticipated when beginning this project. None of our friends were willing to loan us any because we “keep selling them on Reverb” or whatever. Last time we checked, if you don’t ask for your pedal back after three months it’s officially ours. Anyway, no worries, we just opened up a new credit card and off we went.

We tested the tried-and-true models; Fuzz Face, Big Muff, you name it. If you’ve heard of it, we probably dropped over $500 on a vintage one and went to town. These classics delivered the tone we expected. Loud, crunchy, and muddy. We don’t know if it was all the bong rips we took before the session, but at points, we could have sworn we heard rhythmic stomping coming from the ceiling and the walls. During our testing of the Fuzz Face we detected a faint, yet distinct, siren noise as well. Cool!

Next, we decided to try out some newer models. We remembered borrowing a Way Huge Swollen Pickle from a friend a while back so we chained up three Fender Hot Rod Deville Amps and cranked them all up to eleven. To be fair, the tube breakup was pretty intense at this point so we’re not sure what the pedal was actually doing, but it sounded so fucking righteous that our landlord came all the way out from the suburbs in the middle of the night just to hear it herself.

We tried to hook up a Death By Audio Fuzz War as our next test, but our neighbor came down to see what all the fuss was about. The rock and roll spirit overtook him and he started chucking our amps down the stairwell. This must have scared the landlord because she called the cops.

We hope this helped you in your tone adventure and, on a completely unrelated note, if you know anyone with an extra room, we could really use it for our next project!

Review: Primus “Suck on This”

Primus’ explosive debut “Suck on This” is a live recording that perfectly captures the idiosyncratic band and their bassist frontman Les Claypool doing all that signature slappy-thumby-tappy stuff that has characterized the band’s sound since.

The ingenuity of the music is impressive unto itself, but what’s more staggering is the fact that not only had Claypool never picked up a bass before that night, the members of Primus had never even met. Claypool had always wanted to be in a band, but spent most of his time fishing and never got around to learning an instrument. He figured it would be a great motivator to schedule a show months in advance, thinking the pressure would force him to stop procrastinating.

However, Claypool spent the intervening time huffing kerosene and forgot all about the show until the day of. He raced around Berkeley that afternoon, asking anyone he saw if they played guitar or drums. Eventually, he paid a barista and a delivery driver $40 each, with instructions to meet him at the club that evening with their gear.

Claypool showed up at the event wearing only a filthy union suit, with a bass that had been left behind by an old roommate. A stagehand showed him how to strap it on and plug it in, and the nascent bassist began attacking the instrument in a manner only a naive savant could, fueled by self-loathing for not having prepared whatsoever.

He instructed the impromptu band to follow his lead. The drummer and guitarist looked at each other, shrugged, and began playing along to Claypool’s furious, expressionistic string pummeling the best they could. Incredibly, the band’s initial fumbling while trying to find a rhythm in common resulted in a near-perfect recreation of the intro to Rush’s “YYZ”.

Needing to come up with lyrics on the spot, Claypool scanned the crowd, who had been lured there by flyers posted months earlier promising free mushrooms. Seeing a rather plump gentleman who looked to be fond of dessert-inspired the lyrics for what became “Pudding Time”. Someone shouting “You suck!” became “The Heckler”. And a man wearing a bucket hat covered with tackle gave Claypool the idea for “John the Fisherman”.

Somehow, despite all odds, the show and resultant album were a resounding success, inspiring Claypool to quit huffing and begin working on songwriting in earnest.

SCORE: 9.5 flat wound bass strings out of 12

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Kanye West Doubles Down With Confederate Flag Jorts, Swastika Adorned Fedora

PARIS — Kanye West continued to cause a stir at Paris Fashion Week when he followed up his controversial “White Lives Matter” shirt with a new outfit featuring Confederate Flag jorts and a fedora displaying the Nazi flag, multiple sources report.

“We knew Kanye would really be trying to push the limits of style during his visit, but we didn’t expect him to dress like a guy that burns tires in his backyard for fun,” said Paris Fashion Week organizer Darcy Manon. “We should have seen this coming when he drove up to the event in a lifted Dodge Ram with multiple pairs of truck nutz hanging from the bumper. We thought maybe he was being ironic at first, but then we read all the bumper stickers on the truck and realized he’s completely lost his mind. But he did look good when he was wearing Balenciaga.”

Defenders were quick to point out that West’s clothing choices do not condone slavery or the mass murder of over six million Jews.

“Everyone is being way too sensitive, Ye is shining a light on the fashion of underprivileged bog people who reject societal norms and create their own incestuous communes,” said Twitter user @LilJake4354311 in a string of tweets. “He’s always been way ahead of the curve. People are roasting him now, but in six months those same people will be wearing Confederate flag shirts, shoes, and have a sticker of Calvin pissing on the American flag.”

A representative from the Southern Poverty Law Center admits they have an entire division dedicated to the rapper/fashion designer.

“Whenever he steps outside we have a team ready to point out all the hate speech he is displaying. Whether it’s a MAGA hat, a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt, or if he’s goose-stepping around Los Angeles in a replica Nazi uniform,” said legal analyst Devon Miller. “It’s exhausting trying to keep up with him, but no matter what he does people still support him. If he starts a ‘Heil Hitler’ chant at his next concert there will be thousands of so-called progressives chanting it right along with him and calling him a misunderstood genius.”

At press time, West announced a new collaboration with Stormfront which will only be sold on message boards on the dark web.

Slash Rips Shredding Solo Wearing Top Hat President Lincoln Was Shot In

WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian Institute presented guitar icon Slash with the rare opportunity of performing while wearing the exact top hat Abraham Lincoln had on the night he was assassinated, multiple outraged sources report.

“It’s a wicked honor to be able to wear such an iconic top hat, history was made in this hat not once, but twice,” Slash said while adjusting his poofy hair under the historic cap. “I feel like I’m honoring one of the greatest American presidents with a 12-minute solo and everything is made better because the hat is aesthetically pleasing as well. They told me it’s a good thing I quit smoking too because they didn’t want any extra holes burnt into it. I just felt like I was channeling Honest Abe the entire time I was rocking, though I had a weird urge to look over my shoulder the entire time I was wearing it.”

Gail Stenson was present front row and center for the historic performance and felt a little uneasy about the decision to let the guitar god wear the assassinated president’s hat.

“I was given free Guns N’ Roses tickets and was a bit reluctant to go in the first place,” Stenson stated. “When they announced Slash was wearing the same hat Lincoln was killed in, I felt even more uncomfortable than I was prior. I mean sure, they’re both recognized for wearing tall hats, but come on, a man was killed in that hat, but after seeing the thing in person I sort of get why he was shot. If you were sitting behind him at Ford’s Theater that night you wouldn’t have been able to see shit. At the end of the day, I just wish they gave it to someone with a better reputation than Slash, like Jamiroquai or something.”

Curator at the Smithsonian Institute Roger Fellows gives a little insight into the history of musicians using presidential artifacts during certain performances.

“It seems like many individuals are making a fuss about the Lincoln/Slash performance, but little do people know, this sort of thing happens quite often,” Fellows said while stepping down from a tall bookshelf. “Very few people are aware that prior to Bruce Springsteen’s DWI, he had been drinking bourbon straight from president Grant’s personal flask. Also, nobody knows that those are Eleanor Roosevelt’s prized handkerchiefs hanging off Steven Tyler’s mic stand. The artifacts in the Smithsonian are fair game to anyone with enough money to pay for them.”

At press time, it was said that Axl Rose had to cancel a show the next day after reportedly being stuck inside president Taft’s bathtub again.

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