A Few Words for the New Year

Dear 2010:
I am going to kick your ass. As soon as you open that door to the new decade, I’m comin out swingin. No more dancin around all this madness. It’s fuckin go time.
Much Respect, THE SMOKESTACK

So… there’s a few words from this month’s ‘Few Words for Twenty-Ten.’ Check it out on page 3 in the latest print edition of Thee Kitsap Smokestack… out now, with three new distribution locations around town.

And if you still not sure how to spend your last few hours of 2009… we’ve got you covered with a cache of some of the many New Year’s Eve happenings in and around Kitsap County in The Good Times Calendar.

James Hunnicutt on recording w/ Jayke Orvis, the Winterland Tour and life @ 36

~’The Winterland Tour’ | Flyer @ myspace.com/jamesabilly~

Earlier this month — a few days before his 36th birthday — local old school sanger James Hunnicutt was flown out to the East Coast to play a few tunes w/ Jayke Orvis (of the .357 String Band/Goddamn Gallows fame), for Orvis’ “forthcoming solo album ‘It’s All Been Said.’

Afterwards, Orvis had some nice things to say about Hunnicutt on the alt country underground internet radio station Outlaw Radio Chicago — somethin’ to the effect: ‘we could all learn a lot from a guy like James Hunnicutt’ … ‘he’ll make you a better person just by hangin’ out with him.’

SavingCountryMusic.com calls Hunnicutt “the continuously most underrated talent in the underground country world.”

Here’s some of James’ thoughts on the east coast/Jayke Orvis experience…

BIG UPS AND MANY THANX

~ Assasinator/Supporter: Parris Shepard | Photo: Dorothy Mack~

Many, many thanx to all those who came out to the Christmas Eve Eve Smokestack Benefit @ the Charleston last week. With the insanely badass support from our readers, supporters and sponsors — and of course the cats and the Chuck and the bands that played that night — we raised enough to money to cover the printing costs of our January edition.

Which means — you’ll be ringing in the New Year with a new Smokestack. The next print edition is out Dec. 31 @ an expanded roster of locations. Check back with Thee Smokestack In Print for the upcoming locations… and check out Witchburn, YIA, Pivot Point and more, LIVE tonight in Kitsap (for more see our running concert calendar here and @ myspace.com/kitsapsmokestack).

Support a Free Local Press!!!

~Smokestack Benefit, Dec. 23 | Smokestack~

‘Tis the season for benefit shows. And here’s announcing a smashing Christmas Eve Eve line up for the first-ever Smokestack Soiree… A benefit for Thee Kitsap Smokestack which came into existence at the insistence of the cats at The Charleston Music Venue, who graciously — almost Santa Clausianly — approached us about hosting a benefit to support the ongoing costs of manufacturing and maintaining a free press in print and online.

An incredible indelible line up of local musicians have stepped up to support the cause.

You can do your part by jumping in the pit — with a $5 cover charge. Doors are at 7 p.m. Dec. 23 at the Chuck, 333 Callow Ave. in Bremerton. All Ages, Bar w/ ID.

In the mean time… check out these tunes:
James Hunnicutt — myspace.com/jamesabilly
Mike Moen Defense Fund — myspace.com/michaelfrottage
Cuntry Cuntroll — myspace.com/cuntrycuntroll
Flex — myspace.com/theflex
The Assasinators — myspace.com/assasinators
Legends On Heroin — myspace.com/legendsonheroin
Erik Anarchy — myspace.com/erikanarchy1

Ladies and Gentlemen: James Hunnicutt

~Old School | Faust Photography~

Following a massive ‘All By My Lonesome’ tour — James Hunnicutt shows Bremerton the love with two shows tonight (Dec. 11) …

Hunnicutt opens a night of psycho/rockabilly @ Winterland w/ Hard Money Saints and Eugene’s Sawyer Family and later @ the Chuck w/ Generation Decline, The Assasinators, Seattle’s Streetwalker and the return of The Flex — now Mouth @ the Bremerton Pyrate Punx’ One Year Bash.

The Winterland show is $5, 21+, starts around 9:30…
The The Chuck is All Ages, bar w/ ID, $6, doors @ 7 p.m.

See myspace.com/jamesabilly for more on Hunnicutt.

He’ll be crooning @ the Charleston again the next night (Dec. 12) for an easy-on-the-ears acoustic evening w/ Randall Kimball, Razors and Red Flags and more . . .

This Month’s Special Guest:

~Reverend Leroy Eenk’s ‘Beer Belly Blues’ | Illustration: Bob Gnarly~

This month’s special guest — The Reverend Leroy Eenk — adds a little bit of literary sophistication to the second printed edition of the Kitsap Smokestack Smut Rag, with a couple thousand words on the dangers of growing old and selling your soul to the devil in ‘Beer Belly Blues’ . . .

When Jack arrived home from the tavern, he discovered a small man in a blue suit had stowed away in his coat pocket.

Jack asked the traveler his name.

“Rutherford,” the tiny man replied. “But everybody calls me Smelly … Smelly Jackson.”

“I’m Jack,” said Jack.

“Sorry to hop a ride in your pocket, friend, but as you can tell, it’s hard for a fellow my size to get around these days.”

Having tended pet hamsters as a kid, Jack considered himself an expert at handling small, fragile creatures. He carefully plucked Smelly from his pocket and placed him on a couch cushion. . .

Forging a Fairy Tale in Downtown Bremerton

~Mary Doyle’s making her own fairy tale | File~

There’s been one phrase on Mary Doyle’s mind a lot of late: ‘Don’t let anyone steal your crown.’

Sitting in her checker-floored underground studio in the basement of the Amy Burnett Gallery, she’s got a melancholy tinge of hope in her eye.

“We’re all kings and queens in our own world, right?” she asserts in the form of a question. “You’ve just got to take your crown, and don’t let anyone take it from you.”

Doyle’s moving out of her studio space at the Amy Burnett at the end of the year.

Earl Brewster III’s Bombing Campaign set to go off tonight… Bombs Away!

~The Bombing Campaign | Smokestack~

The Bombing Campaign — a guerilla music/performance art collective six months in the making from the mind of Rewind frontman Earl Brewster III — features: spoken word artists Downey, Al Davis, Chris Fetus, David Olivias and Brewster himself along with rappers Richi from Fat Camp, Pat Makins and Tyroneus from the Game Runnaz Records Crew, the sultry new age folk singer JJ, Brewster with Brian Duclos, Chris Brooks and Eric McFadden in the Last of A Dying Breed and more, all going off at 9:30 p.m. tonight, Nov. 28 @ The Manette Saloon in Bremerton.

Here’s a run down of the explosive amalgamation from our December print edition:

Thee Smokestack In Print — No. 2

~Vol. 1, No. 2 | Smokestack~

Though you might be hard pressed to find a copy, the second print edition of Thee Kitsap Smokestack is out today. Happy Thanksgiving. Find it at the locations listed under Thee Smokestack In Print — probably starting Friday since most are closed for the Holiday.

Winterland will be open later this Thanksgiving evening, however, so you can nurse that tryptophan hangover with a nice stiff drink — or just ditch those annoying relatives. And tomorrow, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., The RockIt Roost will be partying for Black Friday, celebrating their First Anniversary with Silver City brews, champagne and mad deals, including their own version of ‘Deal or No Deal’ — all in-store.

And speaking of First Anniversaries… check out the cover story from this month’s Smokestack In Print: A Gonzo look from behind the patch of the international Pyrate Punx organization. The Bremerton Chapter, Local 029, celebrates its One Year Anniversarrry Bash Dec. 11. . .

THE BREMERTON PYRATE PUNX, LOCAL 029

You may have seen the not so shy pyrate skull and crossbones patches stitched over some of the familiar punks’ hearts around town.

Let me start by saying that WE ARE NOT A GANG.

If you’re looking for a definition, call us a non-profit music productions union. More realistically, we’re a handful of kids and adults who branched outside of what Bremerton had to offer to see what else we could bring to this town. We found the Pyrate Punx, a 12 year old organization that was founded in Oakland, CA. . . .

Stone Axe | In Photos

~Stone Axe | Rudis Puella~

Here’s a bit of what you might have missed — or injected — at last weekend’s Stone Axe show @ the community-salvaged Winterland. Rudis Puella’s got you covered with a full on photo assault from the show, up now in Thee Smokestack In Photos.

Plus Sledge has a review of the madmen of Stone Axe — in addition to the Bombing Campaign and MxPx’s new EP ‘Left Coast Punk’ — in the Smokestack’s upcoming Second Print Edition…. out on Thanksgiving.