I'd feel remiss if I failed to mention the passing of Blue Cheer's Dickie Peterson last month. Peterson was bass-man for the incomparable trio, which was as responsible as any other when it comes to the establishment of everything from acid rock and heavy blues to the noise and heavy metal genres. On those first two albums, Vincebus Eruptum and Inside Outside, the blues obsessed boogie hounds reduced rock 'n' howl to its most primal thudding-caveman essence. Sure Led Zeppelin and some of them British boys may have been better players with louder dynamics, but it could be said none was ever as truly visceral and stupefied to the bone as The 'Cheer in their heyday back in the late '60s. No small wonder so many of my favorite British heavy guitar bands from the '70s (The High Tide, Motorhead, Uriah Heep, etc) owed Blue Cheer such a debt. And lets not forgot that the god of dark noise, Keiji Haino, has said Blue Cheer is the single biggest influence on his own amazing power trio, Fushitsusha.

This clip of "The Hunter" from '68 says it well. Godly:


I loved 2012. Really. It's a Roland Emmerich flick, so yes, it's pretty laughable. Still, I dig watching two things more than most -- John Cusack shouting at his family "LETS GO GO GO!" and California cracking in half and falling into the Pacific. I don't know if I'd say it is genuinely good, but it's probably the best thing ol' Ro's done since Independence Day. Haha. 2012. Heightened solar activity and galactic alignment. Continental displacement theory. WOOHOO! If only, baby! Never know these days. Anyway, if you want to get the overall POWER and DRAMA of said film minus the ass-numbness that comes with watching it for two and a half hours on the big screen, check out this trailer, which is the best I've seen and packs more cinematic punch in just over 2 minutes than the actual 150 min version in theaters right now. I suggest watching that sucker in HD and dig that ominoud sound design!

And then there was this: the video for The Flaming Lips' "Watching the Planets," which could almost be a short concept film about Womblife itself. It's uncanny...and very cool. Courtesy of nme.com.