As the moon in June wanes, I wax poetic.
The moon in June shines firstly on D. Boon.
Minuteman D. was an important figure in the history of punk rock & independent music. Boon's solos were very unique, using odd rhythms or scales that were influenced by jazz or classical guitar. He was one of the most technically accomplished American punk guitarists of all time.
4:40 am - Centennial, Arizona - 12/22/1985
D. Boon's life was tragically cut short on a lonely stretch of Interstate 10 in the Arizona desert at the age of 27. He was traveling with his fiance, Linda Kite at the wheel, & his sister Jeannine in the passenger seat. He was asleep in the back of the 1979 Dodge van when a broken left rear axle caused the van to go off the road & roll over. Dennes was thrown from the van & suffered a broken neck.
Jams with Crane & Richard Derrick 11/84-6/85 -
Everyone was There
Fifth Gear
Deadline
The Waiting Stage
Indecision
Theme from Empty Box
The Long Road Home
Take You There
Freedom Forever
Jam # 6
Binky's Round-Up
Too Much Fun
All Over the Place
The Viking Song
Just Around the Corner
As Long As (Parts 1 & 2)
Hammerdown @ The Music Machine 4/5/84 -
Hammerdown I
This Land is Your Land
Hammerdown II
D. Boon @ The Lhasa Club 6/27/84 -
Our New Industrial Direction
That's All There Is
My Part
Don't Look Now
Plight
Corona
Minutemen with Guest Drummer UCLA 1/30/85 -
But First...
I Felt Like a Gringo
God Bows to Math
Themselves
Self-Referenced
#1 Hit Song
History Lesson - Part II
D. Boon @ Home 5/85 -
Many as One
bonus track -
D. Boon - In His Own Words
Enjoy,
NØ
D. Boon & Friends
ReplyDeletexN_1qVeyn40boMqt8eGQ7-ST_mTwWwBaQpw-SykqGQg
Thank you. T'is 40 years ago that we lost one of the most convincing musicians, lyricists of all. In such a minimum of words saying things Most needed a thousand words.
ReplyDeleteIn the nineties I had a real argument that got heated over The Punch Line
I believe when they found the body of General George A. Custer
Quilled like a porcupine with Indian arrows
He didn't die with any honor, any dignity, or any valor
I believe when they found George A. Custer
An American general, patriot, and Indian-fighter
He died with shit in his pants
Thanks, Richard. A finer succinct sentiment which obviously could cause rancor with the unenlightened. A true lyricist says the most best with fewest words.
DeleteTHANK YOU for sharing this generous offering of the great D. Boon!
ReplyDeleteOne can only wonder how much more great music he’d of made if his life wasn’t cut short @ such a young age.
(sigh)
Never know what he might have done, but thankful for what he did that we can all still share.
DeleteJust returned from a short trip and found this. Thanks a lot, Nate, didn't know D. Boon's solo work. Also many thanks for the Soundtrack for a Film, which is great. May well be Factory Floor's most interesting album, but I should check out more of their stuff anyway. Do you happen to have any more albums? Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, FMUC. Hope you enjoy the D. Boon. As to Factory Floor, Soundrack is some of my favorite of theirs. I do have their self-titled, 25 25, Talking on Cliffs, & Lying. Let me know what you might be interested in & I 'll dig them out.
DeleteMany thanks for the offer. 25 25 would be wonderful.
DeleteListening to D. Boon's solo work is really inspiring. This makes me remember doing a fanzine interview with Mike Watt in Berlin the late 80s. He kept talking about D. Boon, how much he missed him and how difficult it had been for him to start playing in a band again. Touching.
And thanks for the Muslimgauze!
Always thinking of you when I share, always surprised what hits the mark. Thanks for the Mike Watt insight. Here's Factory Floor:
DeleteFactory Floor - 25 25, DFA DFA2525, 2016.
https://mega.nz/file/S18kBIBT#EzdCjzdPfStd1-JnNAnHXloSQPyVdgCYF4BG78TkOU0
Excellent! As ever, many thanks!
DeleteThanks. Nice interesting thought provoking post. I haven't thought about D. in a long time. Very sobering kick off for June. My mother always promises I'd never live to see 18. I'll be 70 this month. I outlived her.
ReplyDeleteThanks, FGW.
DeleteThank you! Recently i was wondering why teenagers buy Cocteau Twins on vinyl and asked them how they know, is there an netflix series or something around where they are featured? And they say, no, we just dig them. Hope they will explore Minutemen too some day.
ReplyDeleteI heartily agree. CocteauTwins are great but the Minutemen bring home the truth in a much more direct fashion, lyrically & nusically. Thanks.
DeleteIn panic I forget it, in despair I need it, in my mind I save it, and in death I have it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, anon...
Delete“In the Kingdom #19“ by Sonic Youth
Mike Watt’s contribution to this track was the first bass recording he’d done since the death of his best friend & fellow Minutemen D. Boon in the 1985 van crash.
Mike Watt sez to Thurston Moore:
“really... In panic I forget it, in despair I need it, in my mind I save it, and in death I have it.”
Thank you NØ!
ReplyDeleteMost welcome, anon.
DeleteWhat a boon to start this June. I second the sentiments expressed above. What a loss. So much talent, and so young. Had he survived, who knows what D. Boon would have written about our current U.S. mess, but it would have been succinct, insightful, and angry. Working men are still pissed.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I took my teenage son and one of his friends on a trip. They were guitar and bass players. I had burned a CD of songs to play in the car. I wanted them to hear a Minutemen song with the astonishing interplay of Boon, Watt and Hurley really killing it as a trio. After much consideration, I chose "The Glory Of Man". The time monitor, the space measurer...
Another time I met the teenage daughter of one of my coworkers. She was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Party With Me, Punker". I don't think she knew the reference. I doubt that Watt or Boon's family got anything from the sale of the shirt. Still, it was wonderful to see it out in the wild, a unique statement completely out of its original context. And to think that it resonated with a young woman shopping for clothes.
A few years ago, I had a chance to meet Mike Watt. Nicest musician I've ever spoken with, by far. He told our small group that he felt so fortunate to have had the opportunity over the years to play with Boon, Mascis, and Asheton. He could have listed so many more. You could hear in his voice and see on his face a genuine sense of gratitude and near-astonishment at his good fortune. Not that he didn't deserve it, as an accomplished bassist and songwriter, but that it had happened, and not just once. I imagine the grief and loss is with him every day, but so is the gratitude.
Thanks so much for this, my brother. As always, your comments are crystal clear with meaning & emotion. The Minutemen were one of a kind. I have always had the deepest regard for Mike Watt in all his undertakings. He has been blessed times over with the touch of greatness.
ReplyDeleteNathan, thanks for this! The Minutemen are my favorite band of all times, probably my favorite and most inspiring artists of any medium or genre, and have been since that first mind-blossoming listen to Double Nickels at the ripe age of 15. In addition to the boundless musical creativity, I have always thought the Minutemen were a model for how to relate to ideas. In their lyrics and in their interviews and in their actions, they were so clearly open to new ideas, chewing on them, wrestling with them. But they were never ideas in the abstract. They tested ideas, turned them over and looked at what might crawl underneath, saw how they related to the working folks around them and on the other side of the world, and put the ideas into practice in their music, in their tours, with their friends and enemies. Mike Watt is still putting ideas into praxis in his world. In a world of aspirational fascism and the extractive disembodied “logic” of “AI”, I think this remains an even more important way to relate to ideas and your fellow humans.
ReplyDeleteI could ramble on, I’m sure most of us could. I’ve heard some recordings of D. playing solo, but it’s never really grabbed me. I like the interplay, the interaction of the trio too much, I think. But this post has reminded me that there might still be useful feelings and knowledge in this solo stuff, so I’m gonna revisit with attuned ears, thanks to you. We are fucking corn dogs!
Thanks, ABNS for the insightful & heartfelt comment.
DeleteMuch of the material on this share is D. Boon &...so you may like it better than solo material, but nothing will ever compare to Boon, Watt, & Hurley.