From the Desk of Joe Carducci...Joe's note, from the fairly new blog that he writes for called The New Vulgate
I guessed/predicted in Rock and the Pop Narcotic that regarding Black Flag there was never enough sales for the real publishing industry to ever write a check to get to the bottom of the band's story. Back in the late 1980s when I wrote R&TPN only Faber & Faber was even issuing original music titles, and indeed they were the only publisher to take a look at my manuscript. But the 80s/90s roll-out of Tower Books, Barnes & Noble, and Borders did spur a short golden age of the music section in book stores. That's over now. But Omnibus in the UK, which once had the only book on Black Sabbath in print, now issues the first comprehensive book about Black Flag, first in the UK, soon here. Spray Paint the Walls is very well reported and assembled by Brit music writer Stevie Chick, author of the better of the recent Sonic Youth books. Neither Greg Ginn nor Henry Rollins sat for interviews but their voices are included from earlier interviews, and more importantly Chuck Dukowski spoke to Chick - a first I believe. The story, laid out from the band's earliest practices in 1976 to its end ten years later, makes a far more dramatic book than the usual shelf-fillers with their stretch to make the empty stories of various chart-toppers sound exciting and crucial and against the odds. I read a rough draft; I'm sure most of the minor Anglocentric miscomprehensions of timelines, causalities and geography are still in it but the book is powerful because it does the story justice. And those miscomprehensions are shared by most American music writers as well so what the hell...
Excerpt: Black Flag Polliwog Park episode from Stevie Chick's book.
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here's the other note i posted:
Finally a biography of Black Flag, the most important band of my generation. Here's an advance peek of the cover proof with my photos. I've got word from a very trustworthy knowledgeable source, who has read an advance galley, that the book (although a few minor inaccuracies) is GREAT.
It's being released in the next month or so, you can advance order it on sale here.
There are two small photo sections with some pretty rare and cool stuff, out of the 400+ pages of the book. Here are two more of mine (out of 8 or so you'll also see inside).
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