Gargoyles - Without End (SFTRI, 1992)

On a typical night at Route 44 'round '97, I was drinking Budweisers in the back room and listening to one of the bartender's (Larry May) famous mixed tapes. While kickin' out to jams by The Kids, F-Word, X, and The Germs, I was hit upside the noggin' with "California Stars" ("Can't wait another minute to get out of Frisco/'Cause we're not just a one-town band/Gonna hold my breath til' I'm back in L.A./And I'm doing everything I can"). It rawked with the raw power of The Stooges and punked like Adolescent brats in battalions!

Several years later, a pal of mine named Mike Frame mailed me this hard-to-find cee dee. He'd picked it up at Amoeba Records in San Fran for 33 cents while on tour. As I reacquainted myself with track #2, I remembered a conversation I'd had with my friend jOhn. He came to the conclusion that John Ritter had never left the state of California. Made perfect sense to me, for Ritter's laid-back 'tude and aw-shucks demeanor were SoCal personified.

Yesterday, I dug Without End from the archives of my dresser. "Michigan" ("Iggy's from there/Alice Cooper's from there...") reminded my TV eye of Ritter's last role as a sportswriter from the Wolverine state on "8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter." Dunno if Ritter and Pop were on friendly terms prior to the former's death trip, but the Ig and his disciples are shaking hands with appeal on most of these seventeen toonz. "Runnin' Down" grips with the firmness of non-LP trax "I Got A Right" and "Gimme Some Skin." The Kill City cova blisters 'n' callouses. "Fistful Of Sand" grains with more than a touch of the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer." "Out Into The World" nails like the Jeff Dahl Group's Scratch Up Some Action.

Living with little dolls Janet and Chrissy: musta been a fun house.