The Chronic Sick—Brighton Bar—LIVE—Feb. 28
Bobby, Greg, Jo Jo and Artie are back and better than ever as they showed a whole new generation of Brighton faithful just how you get hardcore done. With the help of L.A. Gun’s Adam Hamilton at the engineering helm, the band has released their second disc entitled 1982 featuring 14 snarling tunes that grabbed the Brighton crowd in a manner that left no doubt as to who still rules the fucking roost. While most other bands from their time have either faded or become sentimentally whining babies, The Chronic Sick has survived with folklore like fervor, demonstrated by the young turnout (packed) and various websites, MySpaces, and general music-lover hype that hype the importance of their music in the history of Jersey punk.
These Kiss Army maniacs always bragged about being dubbed “The Cutest Band In Hardcore” and before you say, “Who are these Kotex queens?” remember, this is the band that filled clubs with heavy classics like “User,” “Abortion Punch,” “50 Ways To Kill Your Mother” and “I’m A Fuckin’ Pyro” impressing guys like Jello Biafra to the point of gushing to Maximum Rock & Roll magazine that, “This is the best record release of the year.” After 26 years, this is the rare band that still sounds completely viable.
The Chronic Sick took the stage and blasted right off with the hilariously heavy “Cock N Balls,” a love song, really, told by Greg Gory to Greg Gory with the line, “I’m looking in the mirror and lovin’ what I see. A livin’ breathin’ photo of the glory that is me. Tell me that I’m dreamin’, how chiseled can I be? Bitches all are screamin’ that that Gory’s so sassy.” Bobby The “K” supplied his “wall of hornets” guitar trademark as Gory ‘s smart-ass delivery, complete with leather jacket and chewing gum sailed over the Brighton heads and into the pit of moshing kids that probably weren’t even born when these guys were bashing brains on stage.
I was right up against the stage at this point and was baptized in shitty beer, kicks to the ribs and general front row fun, and I noticed that all the tough talking old guys in their leather jackets all stood on the perimeter, too scared to move up front (you know who you are, you pussies).
“User” skidded right into the crowd next, squeezing campy Ramones, Poison, The Offspring and god knows what other influences into 2:14 minutes of tight, giant insect-heavy metal. Other greats were the ballsy Dead Boys delivery of “Perfectly Normal” featuring Bobby The “K”’s crazed lead work and the dead on rhythm attacks from Jo Jo Albano and Artie Bahrs.
Greg proves that even after years apart from this band he still commands the front spot with ease, jumping around and jamming the microphone out into the crowd for the kids to sing along with him.
Time doesn’t permit the listing of everything they played but The Chronic Sick look to be back and I’m glad they’re here. This scene needs an old school kick in the ass and they are just the band to supply it. While they’ve all pursued other things (Greg owns The Brighton and Bobby is a music producer for major films, bands and roller derby) they have managed to survive and continue to give us a clapped out dose of in-your-face rock and roll. I found a post online that states, “Oh man I just love that Greg ‘Gory’ Macolino. Every chick wants him. Every guy wants to be him.” Jacko was not available for comment.
Chronic Sick—1982 is out and available for purchase now—and for a lot less than $14.00 so don’t sit around waiting for it to come to you, hippy, go buy one today. For further info run over to myspace.com/chronicsick.
Rob E. Greenberg—New Jersey Film Producer Wakes Up The Weekend Warrior
The form of karma has taken many fabled shapes and reaped its ultimate payback throughout our existence but the underlying current is always that for some reason, you get what you deserve. Well some get way more than they deserve. Rob Greenburg has taken that theory into his own magical direction with his new film entitled, Saturday Morning a story about a dull, office dwelling loser named Wes Selman that gets a strange birthday present from an uncle to get his house painted forcing him to awake at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. and leading him on a two-hour odyssey through a strange otherworld where everything magically goes his way till 8 a.m.
With a little “instructional” help from a mysterious and portly gentleman (George Wendt who played Norm on Cheers) he finds that by experiment he can get anyone or anything to do just about anything for him but at 8 a.m. on the dot things go back to the way they were; sort of like the Twilight Zone-meets-Cinderella-and-Groundhog Day, Saturday Morning is a cool romantic comedy with a viciously funny twist.
The picture is carried well by the quirky cast as Piscipo’s Selman mischievously finds that he can move right to the front of the line for coffee, score usually unattainable hot girls and get A-list treatment from people that wouldn’t normally give him the time of day. Best buddy and sidekick Frankie Cicotelli (Mandylor), joins in the secret, taking his two-hour window to A.C., winning a bundle before losing it all at 8:01 a.m. And of course, Wes also has to figure out how to keep girl-toy Lisa Mangione (Valerie F. Feingold) interested in his boring persona for the rest of the time in-between Saturdays, which leads to some wacky scenarios between the two actors.
Greenburg has been fighting the good fight since the beginning of this film, getting it released and distributed after taking lots of personal and financial chances to put it smack into movie land. He paid his dues pursuing sitcom writing and working at NBC’s finance department, he worked as a production assistant on Inside Edition and even logged time with the infamous Mickey Rourke on the movie Bullit. Rob decided to make this film himself so he mortgaged his house, assembled a cast and crew, and shot the film. After some major post-production delays, he has finished the film and gained the golden ring of distribution.
Saturday Morning works well with its hip look and eclectic choice of actors including Joey Piscipo, Valerie F. Feingold, Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Ashley Carin, Zulay Henao, George Wendt and the infamous Louis Brancatto, Jr. The special guest spot by Howard Stern’s wife Beth Ostrosky playing a subservient casino employee was hilarious. The film was shot primarily in Westfield, NJ, and has a sunny, surreal vibe all over it; both location-wise and in the directorial feel of the picture.
The one thing I wasn’t crazy about was some of Piscipo’s early inner monologue. It took him a few scenes to get the main character up to pace, but once he did the film rocked.
With upcoming distribution and promotion I think you’ll be hearing a lot more from this Jersey Producer, writer and director. For further information on the movie and where to get it go to saturdaymorningmovie.com.
