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This week my feed was largely populated by comedians talking about How Bad All This Is. They were donning their maroon shirts of war, they were speaking way too close to the camera, and they were PISSED.
Admittedly the Jimmy Kimmel firing paints a pretty grim picture of the road ahead. Not that I care about Jimmy Kimmel or any TV show really. (Like most millennials, I do not own a TV that has “channels” and instead rely on a series of several dozen streaming apps that let me microdose my media.) It’s more that it’s another alarming sign of the government consolidation of our nation’s networks, media conglomerates, and social media companies that distribute information and entertainment. You know it’s dark times when you morally have to side with one of the late-night Jimmies. (Please note: If this had happened to Conan O’Brien, I would have made January 6 look like Mardi Gras.)
In his Garbage Day newsletter this week, writer Ryan Broderick said we will all soon “need to figure out how to get news and information to people without YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, broadcast TV, cable, or corporate streamers.” I don’t know what the answer to that is exactly. Real-life organization and mobilization, probably. But it also involves independent broadcasting and self-publishing. As The Onion owner Ben Collins said the other day: “There’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people to build on the rubble of what’s being destroyed before our eyes. Private corporations bending over to forcefeed everyone government-approved speech is evil and amoral, but more than anything this creates boring, inauthentic, unwatchable shit.”
(Hm seems like a good time to remind you that you can upgrade to a paid ZERO CRED subscription which helps me immensely.)
Aaaaaanyway, this is a longwinded, unnecessarily soapboxy, and semi-related way of mentioning that I brought my podcast back this week. My friend David Anthony and I started NO DISRESPECT (formerly No Plus Ones) way back in 2017, ran it off and on for a while, then stopped for no real reason in 2023. Then on Friday we dropped our first episode in almost two years.
The joke we always make is ha ha yes just what the world needs, another podcast. Because yeah we get it there are a million podcasts out there, and there will soon be a flood of new, fake ones thanks to an AI company that plans on launching 2,000 AI-hosted shows churning out 5,000 new episodes a week. Here’s what their founder had to say about it:
“We believe that in the near future half the people on the planet will be AI, and we are the company that’s bringing those people to life.”
What the hell are you talking about? There will be ZERO AI people in the near future. AI people aren’t real! These are just nonsense thoughts you said out loud. Look I can do it too: I believe that in the near future, almost half of alligators will be cowboys. A third of our dreams will be made of fruit. Ninety percent of hammers will have souls.
But robot podcast hosts aside, I don’t care much for most of the human-driven podcasts these days either. I don’t want to hear celebs yakking it up with each other and pushing out all the indie podcasters in the process. My dude Chris Gethard dropped some real talk about this recently while being a guest on, go figure, a podcast:
And I have no use for the many, many dumb chuds with popular podcasts that clog up my feed. All the Rogan lackeys. The Theo Vons and the Andrew Schulzes of the world. A bunch of dumb-as-rocks guys whitewashing rightwing propaganda through Just Askin’ Questions convos. Bleh. I am so sick of seeing their faces in my feed with their little words scrolling along the bottom. Which is another thing I hate about modern podcasting: Why is everything a fucking 60-second close-captioned video now?
So, David and I decided to bring our little podcast back, if for no other reason than to return to podcasting’s roots: two faceless idiots chattering on about absolutely nothing for an hour for your amusement. We are lazy, we don’t try very hard, and we make no effort to promote ourselves. No ads, no sponsors, no videos, just yakking it up for the love of the game.
Get it through whatever godawful company you get your podcasts from. (Apple, Spotify, etc.) Don’t bother telling us it sucks. That’s the point!
THE ARMED GOES HOLLYWOOD
I just walked in from seeing The Armed in West Hollywood. Meghan O’Neil from Punch has been doing vocals on this run and she absolutely rips. A person stagedived on my head twice while I wasn’t looking (that’s a real fool me once situation so that’s on me) so I’m gonna go tend to my aching neck in a minute. But first here are some photos.
I guess there’s a good amount of crossover between Armed fans and ZERO CRED readers because a bunch of people stopped me at the show to chat and say nice things. Thank you!
NEW TUNES THIS WEEK
Radioactivity - “Time Won’t Bring Me Down”
Radioactivity quietly announced that their first album in ten years will be released in October and dropped the first single, “Time Won’t Bring Me Down.” In case you’re unfamiliar, Radioactivity features members of the Marked Men, one of the most influential garage punk bands of all time.
I checked my archives to see if I had ever photographed Radioactivity and realized yes, I had, a week before the pandemic started. So uhhh here’s hoping this album rollout goes a little smoother.
The Cowboys - Captain’s Easy Downfall
Bloomington’s The Cowboys dropped a new album this week if you’re looking for lo-fi punk tunes that will get stuck in your head for days and days and days and drive you to madness.
Chelsea Hodson - “Belong To Nobody”
Two years ago I talked to author and friend of the CRED Chelsea Hodson about launching her indie book publisher Rose Books. She has since published books by Geoff Rickly, Chris Norris, Ashleah Gonzales, and has one in the chamber with Scott McClanahan which I will be reading the literal minute it comes out next summer.
Anyway, Chelsea has decided that publishing domination is simply not enough of a flex, she must also drop a banger track as well. We get it dude you’re talented.
Very Mazzy Star. Very staring out the window on a rainy day thinking about how you still haven’t finished your novel.
READING PILE
Luke O’Neil - We Had It Coming
We’re a little over a month away from the release of Luke O’Neil’s new book, We Had It Coming. Luke very kindly sent me an early copy and every night before bed I read a couple of his short stories and then proceed to have the most fucked up dreams imaginable. Probably unrelated.
Luke has been dropping a few early looks in his newsletter Welcome to Hell World, like this one. Vignettes and glimpses from the edge of civilization. Nobody’s doing it like Luke right now.
Here’s an interview I did with Luke way back in 2019:
NO NEW DANZIGS
If anyone was hoping I’d have volume two of my illustrious photo zine People Standing in Front of Danzig’s House for sale this Halloween I am sorry to report that I did not meet my deadline to get it done in time. Sorry! Look, maybe I could’ve rushed it out, but I am not gonna half-ass the artistic process, okay? I believe in providing you, the consumer, with only the highest quality images of people standing in front of Danzig’s house. So, next Halloween maybe?
In the meantime, I did get volume one reprinted and restocked in my store. And I still have ten 6x9” prints of the cover if you’re feeling artsy.
FOLLOW ME
Real life: PO Box 11352, Glendale, CA 91226
Five punches on my ‘Not A Poser’ card gets a mention on socials.
Ten punches gets a free zine.
Twenty-five punches gets you photographed in front of Danzig’s house.
See where I’m going here…?
Cool chatting with you at the show. Sorry there wasn’t enough time to warm you Tony Wolski was jumping in our direction. That fucker is a barn stormer.
Oh shit new Radioactivity -- thank you!