Letters To Mister Atakra
(just because you send one, doesn't mean I'll post it)
2/24/03
Sam,
First of all, it was a real pleasure finally meeting you. I'm a big fan of your site & give you (& Kathleen) mentions in my Nubs newsletter whenever possible. Your hi-res pics were greatly appreciated. Will be sure to tell my fellow Nubs about your contribution to a very enjoyable evening. I'm sorry you didn't get to see & hear our friends, The Ghosts. They're in a league all by themselves. I'm sorry the rumor that they would play more didn't pan out. We talked about it the night before, but by the end of the show, everybody was drained. That's not an age-related deficiency - tired is tired!
If it's any consolation, Suicide King NYC's singer sent me the following:
=====
Sorry we couldn't come up and play the other night. We were stuck in LA. Our record is beig finished up and they had me doing the final vocals. It went slower then we expected combined with Chip having a bad case of flu. It just couldn't happen. I am sure we will back in SF soon. Later,
-4way.
=====FYI, you may have thought you were one of the youngest people in the crowd, but I assure you that age is purely relative. The real pleasure we old school / aging punk rockers get from playing to an ever-evolving audience, especially the punk crowd, is that everyone appreciates & enjoys the music, regardless of the messengers' ages. We would be nobody w/o you & everyone like you offering your support, your moshing, & your energy. It's a true symbiotic relationship.
Thanks again & keep up the GREAT work!
To: Mister Atakra
Subject: Re: follow up
I already e-mailed the other guy at the club. One thing I didn't like about the club was they ask how big your draw is. Stupid!! Of course you'll have a bigger draw in your hometown than out of town. Thought that was kind of snooty. Also, whats your address. Billy Ray is driving me fucking crazy with that casio. He keeps playing annoying high pitched amatuer wanna be songs. HELP!!!
Address now so he can send it Tuesday!
From: "gp (tm)" binklefarb@hotmail.com
Subject: Seattle: Tales from the Dark Side...
Mister Atakra:
Sorry about the cash I owe you. I think of it, Often... I am currently residing at the Boylston Hotel in Seattle, Washington. $150 a week, no deposit, no credit check, no manners. Last night four whore-bimbos decided they would pool their whopping intake for the day and get loaded on Mad Dog. When they wuz good and wasted, they decided they wanted some crack, so they started offering $10 handjobs to anyone stupid enough to pay THEM for sex. Handy bitches, soon they had enough money for their prize desire, but by now they were flipped out from sniffing glue and they decided they should arm themselves. A samurai sword. A baseball bat. A frying pan. And a pair of numb-chucks. Out they went. They got their crack and returned home unscathed, then smoked the crack and went apeshit ON EACH OTHER. The samurai sword unleashes a PILE of whore blood in you wield it properly...
- two whores went to the hospital, the other two went to jail...
Great Greg, keep those happy thoughts coming...
From:"The Leftoverking"
Subject: Re: Free Noise Bonanza this Wed 3/6
Pretty funny Sam,
That's the second time I've seen you snag a huge list of non-bcc'ed names and spam them and the original sender with your site to teach them a lesson. I guess some people don't realize that they are throwing everyones adresses out there into cyberspace. Recently yahoo stopped allowing large numbers of names to be blind carbon copied. Kind of sucks, cause now I cant send out my pain in the ass Hitch show announcements through my Yahoo account. Maybe Hotmail is doing the same thing. Anyhow, I checed out the synthpunk group. It's pretty cool. I have some pictures of The Phantom Limbs that I could post there if you want (I took them at that Kimo's show a year ago). There are a couple of them up in the tours gallery at www.thehitchrocks.com in the second group of photos if you want to check them out. Take it easy,
Jeff o The Hitch
Yea, I've been getting hate mail all day from some of the spammies. The best one was from some guy at the Northcoast Journal using an annonymous hotmail account. So I did a little research, figured out who he was, and replied back to his work's email, CC'ing everyone who works there. He wrote back, essentially giving up. I guess people need to realize that including me on their spam messages without asking me, and doing it in such a half-assed way immediately opens them up to my own personal "attack spam with spam" crusade. Hahaha, I kill me.
From: Kahospital16 (Kristen from the Sixteens)
DON'T TELL ANYONE, SAM, BUT I'M ON THE COMPUTER RIGHT NOW...AS WE SPEAK! HOSPITAL AND I ARE GOING OUT OF THE COUNTRY ON MONDAY SO WE WON'T SEE YOU FOR A BIT BUT TIME FLIES...I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THE ATAKRA SITE IS PURE GENIUS AND I LOVE CHECKING OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY...DARRHLING! OH, YES...& ADRIENNE FOUND MY RECORDING DEVICE SO WE CAN QUIT THOSE SINISTER, ACCUSATIONAL EMOTIONS!
i'M QUITE HAPPY. ADIOS!
KRISTEN/16S
From: unholycadaver@mindspring.com
Subject: show review... possible mistake
Hey there:
This is John From Hammers of Misfortune. I came across a review of one of our shows on your site, and I think you may have us mixed up w/ another band. The review is entitled July 8th, Extreme Elvis, Hammers of Misfortune, Tribe 8, Lost Goat, Ac-Dshe and The Phantom Limbs at The Pound (a cool first-time benefit for THE RAMBLER)...
The review seems to indicate that we played like first or second, to yawns. Actually, we played dead last, at about 1 in the morning, and everyone who was still there was pretty drunk, but I didn't see anyone yawning... and what is Bedroom records? We play like, black metal opera stuff... another reason why I think the reviewer may have gotten us mixed up w/ someone else.
Anyway, no big deal, I can take a bad review, as long as that's actually us being reviewed.
Cheers -JC
Oops, my mistake! I somehow mixed up Hammers of Misfortune with some dyke punk two piece that I was less than impressed with. The changes can be found in archive 8 near the bottom of the page. Wow, how'd that happen?
From: Consuela Hernandez
Oh Sammy...
I think you're so good lookin' in that Babyland pic from the 80's, and I got a good look at the clown sweater too! you look like just the kind of thing I could really get into, maybe you would like to get into a little bean dip with me?Let me know your fantasy, and I'll tell you all my secrets, you can call me
..... Consuela
Babyland pic from the '80s? That was '97. Yes, I must admit that the Clown Sweater mad me feel particularly H.O.T. on that fine evening. Thanks for noticing!
Mister Atakra
http://www.atakra.com/
From: HalSay10
Subject: penis flytrap in sf
hey, i stole your address from a mail you sent deep eynde (great pix, by the way.) anyway, i play drums for both deep eynde and penis flytrap and i wanted to let ya know that p.f.t. will be playing the covered wagon on february 2nd. oh yeah, thanks for having our links on your site! so, hope you can come out!
rawk on, and Hail Satan
penis flytrap/deep eynde
From: Spinach
Subject: spinach
hey, its spinny. why is it in every photo you get of me, i look completely smashed. oh wait. i was completely smashed both times. just wanted to say your sight is really neat. also thought you might like a picture of my cat. i got a pretty good prank to tell you, but dont have time to type it right now. will send. talk to ya soon. do you have icq?
From: "Spazzy Spice"
Subject: Re: pictures of Sam On the Clownsweater page
Dude! You're famous!! :)
http://www.slapda.sh/samatakra.html
Damn, did Tammy Faye ever carry on! My friend Paul, bought her record and got her to sign it and I tried to get her to put on the clownsweater and her sister actually took the sweater into Tammy's seclusion room along with the sweater's calling card but she claimed she didn't want to muss her hair. :(
Were you anywhere near the heckler? Had he been drinking?? I am so glad the ticket got to go to such a deserving fan. Thanks for getting into the clownsweater. :)
Renee
From: "dylan goldsmith"
Subject: generic journal entry
when i first moved to albuquerque, i was only taking two classes at a time. and that is what i will be doing in portland. which is probably good, seeing as i have a million projects lined up. like trying to ferment chiles using a salt cap, which i am currently doing experiments here to see how long i can save salted mashed chiles outside of refrigeration. the salt is antibacterial, and having a heavy ‘cap’ of salt on top pushes the chiles down, driving out all oxygen that could allow bacteria to grow. anyways. guatemala has a long ways to go before there will be any shortage of volunteer work. of course, there in the states would be better than flying thousands of miles to work down here, the only attraction here, aside from getting to be in guatemala, is that the good guys/bad guys distinction is easier where the bad guys are lynching people. i think that arguments against moral realism are easier to make in places where the human right to not be kidnapped and tortured is stronger. in the states, the poor usually don’t know who the enemy is, though here, with the evangelical church’s influence, that knowledge is frequently lost. what can you say to someone that believes in focusing not on this world, but on the one to come?
so, nate is gone, we parted ways in pelenque, mexico. mexico sucked ass, for me. on the way in, thursday, we were stopped by the army/police four times before we got to san cristobal de las casas (yes, in fucking CHIAPAS), only four hours from the border. searches, questions, and one time two guatemalans were ordered out of our bus, and we left without them. they had been at the migration office at the same time as we had, and the officer there gave them grief, but finally stamped there 72 hour passes. i think they bribed him, but that he didn’t give them good enough stamps to fool the police. i still dunno. they made it past the first two stops without problems. busses are 3 times more expensive in chiapas than in guate, and the spanish spoken in chiapas is faster and less enunciated. from pelenque, i couldn’t figuure out how to get to the northern border of guate and chiapas, so i gave up and went south, back the way i had come. by not going the roundabout way that nate and i had taken up, i got to the mex/guate border at La Mesilla at 3pm, sunday. i found out that i could not leave the great country of mexico until i paid my exit fee and got a stamp, which i could only do at a bank. no, there is no bank until 20 km from the border. and no, there is no way to pay the fee on a sunday. yes, the instructions on the back of my entry application said, in english, “the fee could be paid at any of the following banks:” with a list of banks following. but when we had left guatemala, we had paid at the migration desk, gotten a stamp, no prob, bob. prob, bob, cuz you aren’t in guate yet. so i had to take a camioneta (truck with campershell) to the nearest town, 20 km, stayed in the worst hotel so far in my life (squats included), and they wouldn’t give me a key to my room, they would let me in when i returned. which meant that i would have to leave my door unlocked after the kid at the front door went to bed, if i had to pee. which i did, and there were lots of people out and about, noisily drunk, though they had all noticed the gringo that was staying there, the whole town had. so i peed in my beer cans.
next morning, the time had changed. wait, first let me say that the border guard had told me that the bank would open at 8am, so i got up at 630am, tried to find food, found that i only had 23 pesos over what i needed to pay the bank, so i could only buy a tamal for breakfast and wait, worrying that the kid from the hotel would find me and throw at me one of the pee-filled beer cans that i had left in the room. no, the bank does not open until 9am, like most banks. so i waited from 7 until 9am. only it wasn’t 7am, but 6am, cuz the time had changed (they don’t do that in guatemala). three hours later, i got to witness the actuality of what the People’s Guide to Mexico described as that Mexicans don’t believe in waiting inlines. fortunately i had been forwarned, so when sweet little old ladies tried to shove their way ahead of me (hey, i had been waiting the longest), i shoved right back. out of at least 60 people that were there by the time the bank opened, i got number 5. long arms and sharp elbows i have.
the rest of the day went off without much trouble. i easily got thru the migra office, and decided that i didn’t feel inclined to spend another fucking peso in mexico, so i walked to guatemala. 4 km, uphill, in the muggy heat of CHIAPAS. all the camioneta loads stared at the crazy sweaty gringo, determinately making his way out of the red tape. on the way in, nate had comented that maybe cuz of NAFTA, mexico was trying to be a pain in the ass with cops and beaurocracy, just like the USA. maybe so. 100 meters or yards from the actual border, a campesino guy happened to enter the highway from a dirt road, just as i was walking by. i gave him an out of breath “Buenos dias,” which he returned. he asked me where i was going to, and i told him “guatemala,” which he found funny, which is good cuz he had a big machete on his belt. i told him my story, and he sympathized, and said that at least i had made it. “Todavía hay 100 metres, vamos a ver” (there’s still 100 meters to go, we’ll see), i replied. the guate guard at the migra office demanded 20 quetzales until i asked for a receipt, at which time i was told that he couldn’t do that until his comander returned, who was conveniently out to lunch for the next 45 minutes. i could wait, i said. oh no, you go ahead and not worry about it. so i did. just about the only victory for the whole trip was dodging that bribe request. at least i got another 90 days on my passport. sunday morning i am off to guate city. i am afraid that i won’t have the letter(s) of recomendation, so i emailed both old bossses, asking them to fax the letters directly to the office in guate. my old history profesor never replied to my email, oh well. if you want to send snail mail, the address of the hotel is: 10ª calle 3-41 zona 1, Ciudad Guatemala, Guatemala, C.A. i don’t know the name of the hotel.
generic journal entry
From: "Rock Rocca"
Subject: another prank!!!
u should like this one... a couple of my mates and i (when i was graduating) planted some marajuana plants 2 months prior to muck-up day. (australian senior year thing!). when the big night camem we planted the plants in the schools greeen house and then called the cops! the deputy principal almost got fired and to this day (because no-one owned up) they dont know who did it!
cheers, luke!
hope u enjoy it!!!, or even publish it!!!
Well Jake, didn't that sort of thing happen in every high school in the world in the Seventies and Eighties? I know it happened to both the ones I attended (without the almost firings). Sorry, doesn't quite make the grade in my opinion.
Sam
From: "Chris Graves"
Subject: RE: Just saw Gitane
Sam-
Thank you for your kind words regarding Gitane! I will pass the info on to her, and I am quite sure she will be flattered. I have not yet seen the 'documentary' Rage, but I have heard similar reviews on the content. I am uncertain as to why they chose to interview her, yet keep any of her performance footage out of the documentary- it doesn't make any sense. I am Chris by the way, and I am Gitane's friend, roommate,and tour manager. I also run her web site as well as http://www.rozznet.com , http://www.rozzwilliams.com , and http://www.omewenne.com . While visiting your web site, I noticed the section on MIGHTY SPHINCTER and was quite elated to find some information on this awesome band that I remember from my childhood. I first picked up a copy of the MIGHTY SPHINCTER album "The New MAnson Family" in 1987 or 88 at a punk store in Pomona, CA called Toxic Shock (they have since re-located to Phoenix, AZ). I bought the album mainly because of the cover, and later fell in love with band especially the song "Good Morning." Through the years, and because of many moves, I have lost the album, and have been unable to find a copy of the album, and anything else by the band anywhere. I just want to commend you for your extremely informative site on this band- it gives me hope that one day I will again own the LP "The New Manson Family", and will possibly be able to find any of their other material.
Gitane will be playing at The Requiem in San Francisco (Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf) on Saturday August 11th. I hope to see you there!
All the best!
Chris Graves
http://gitanedemone.com http://rozznet.com http://rozzwilliams.com http://www.omewenne.com
From: "Josh"
Subject: hey!
Hi! I'm the guitarist for Ghosthips. Thank you for the wonderful comments about our first show at mission badlands! It made us all really happy. I also really like all the pranks you and your friends have done. They are very inspiring...
-Josh
http://www.tiki-lounge.com/~josh/
From: "e v e"
hey, sup..... haven't been around your place since dave fucking freaked out or whatever (don't bring it up with him, though). just wanted to drop a line to say, i JUST heard the Phantom Limbs 7" (just borrowed a record player, shame) - and it's FUCKING AWESOME. Looks great, sounds great. i love it. that's about it. hope you are healthy and happy.
e v e
p.s. do you like Human Thurma?? my only current rock link, but i'm working on my new site for my longest standing avant-rock group!! sistersound.com - i'll let you know.
From: "Paul Cuervo"
Subject: here's to the worthless opinion of a "cool" california scene robot
hi there, cheers, just wanted to answer a question you threw out to the electronic void, as well as provide you with some information. In answer to your question regarding cruevo's "cancelled" show at the eagle, there was never a 100% confirmation that the band could play on that date. I play in that band, and the booking guy at the eagle was pretty disorganized. Iwon't knock the guy for trying, but we gave him notice of our inability to play and he failed to remove us from the list and all other advertising, so... that leads me to piece of information #1, our web link: http://www.mp3.com/cruevo at that address you'll find .mp3s, current and correct show information, etc. next time you want to go watch us, check there first to make sure we're playing.
#2 is that the sick, impaled, cruevo and brainoil are playing this saturday the 12th at (oh great) gilman. maybe ruben will get arrested again. if you miss that, there's always the party on friday the 18th or that show with crash and burn on the 19th!
#3: we don't just SOUND like black sabbath. we actually ARE black sabbath. i am tony "stubbs" iommi, minus some extensive facial hair, and we'll have it no other way than the early dio "heaven and hell" era sound. all our lyrics are about acid, pot, dragons and wizards. in addition, as you appear not to have noticed, we all wear capes and large medallions, while our singer wears what seems to be a moo moo with floral patterns printed on it and a large cross necklace. we're a veritable murky no-man's land between devout christianity and lunatic paganism. this is all just practice for our annual "ozzfest" "final tour" event, where tickets are a modest $75 each for a spot on the lawn at shoreline.
we will be seeing you, hearing from you, watching you...
end transmission.
From: Christian
Subject: Bottles and Skulls Show
Hello! I'm Christian from B+S, thanking you for the review and quality pics! We are playing Incredibly Strange Wrestling at the Fillmore on Cinco de Mayo w/ Oozies, and Me first and the Gimme Gimme's. The next San Fran show after that is Fri May 18th at Kimo's. I think it might our record release party, but I'll let you know. Did you get a record at the show? Anyway thanks a bunch for the linkage, dirty rock lives!
Christian , and the fellas
From: "The Leftoverking"
Subject: Nice web site!
Hey Sam,
Just a note to thank you for posting the Hitch pictures on your site. I checked the whole place out. Fuckin' cool man. Thanks for coming to the shows. I have to agree that The Phantom Limbs are great. They play some of the most interesting music I have heard for some time. Take it sleasy.
Jeff
http://www.geocities.com/leftoverking
From: "Bob Clic"
Subject: The Lewd
Thu, 01 Mar 2001 00:36:37
Hi Sam, thanks for coming out to the show and reviewing it. Ha, you know it used to be that I would remind people of Tiny Tim, before Stern was famous of course. After a few years I'm finding that I prefered TT to Stern any day.
So yes, it's a wig! Or really I AM Howard Stern, but no autographs please.
When we were on tour in Jan we noticed night after night that after we played a couple people would come over and talk to Sats and I, but they flocked around the new guys. Our best guess is they are just a little scared of us real guys. I figure when they see us pull up and I drop out of the van they're thinking "who's that reo speedwagon guy?" and later they see me setting up gear so it's "ok, he's a Lewd roady", then we start playing and they realise "THATS the fuckin guitarist on American Wino!!". They seem to step back just a bit. The Lewd was always an -anything goes- kind of band, no rules, no uniforms, just Lewd songs. We don't tell anyone to look a certain way, I didn't tell any of those kids to wear spikes and mohawks, thats for sure. Besides, we don't give a shit (obviously), hell, if I cut my hair and wore punk clothes just to please these youngsters....... I'd be a posing phoney. Punks used to be able to tell who was a phoney, perhaps they can't anymore, but I'd know.
We are more popular now, but don't let them fool you, we packed clubs then too. Just look at any of those old live photos or videos. I think over the years that whole "legendary" thing has clearly made a differance, plus well, it sure helps that right now we are the ONLY old SF band together. Unless the Avengers, Flipper or the DKs reform (did you speak to Jello? He was there all night, I think he was suprised by us actually sounding good still, and sure seemed impressed with my sons guitarplaying) there isn't any other old SF hardcore band who could do as well. I don't mean that as snooty as it sounds, sorry, it's just true.
Anyway, I'm rambling on, thanks for coming and enjoying yourself, we're recording a new lp soon, and I'm working on a Poison Idea/Lewd show at the CW. Don't miss that if it gets confirmed.
Take care, Bob Clic