*UPDATE* Heavy Night at the Masque

Editor's Note: Not many people seemed to get this one. Literally. So, the idea is to go over to uber-blog PunkNOTprofit and download F-Word's 1978 "Like it or Not (Live)" album which, if you haven't heard of these guys, is one of the best punk rock albums ever to come out of the LA scene, IMHO. Get it here: http://punknotprofit.blogspot.com/search/label/F-Word but keep in mind that the commentary that goes with the free download is basically erroneous. Rik L. Rik went on to sing with San Francisco's Negative Trend shortly after F-Word broke up... it was Negative Trend that Shatter, etc., later Flipper members played for, not F-Word. If you want to hear Rik with Negative Trend, get the classic "Beach Blvd." compilation from Posh Boy Records.

Man, it was pretty heavy at the Masque last night. Kind of a weird mix of hippies and art school types milling around and, from the get go, it just seemed like there was trouble brewing. The few dyed in the wool punks who turned out basically had to instruct all the hangers on how to pogo... lame. But the billing lived up to its hype. UXA opened and seemed to put on a good show but, since I got there a little late, I missed most of it. By all accounts they were worth checking out for sure and I could tell they got things off to a good start. The Controllers then proceeded to rip through about ten songs in fifteen minutes and definitely got the crowd into it. A lot of the hippies split after their first song but I could tell that most of the art school fucks were gonna go home and cut their hair first thing after the show.

F-Word

F-Word closed the place down with a raucous performance! They were absolutely aggro! They had everyone in a frenzy with favorites like "Hillside Strangler" and, by the time they got to "Government Official," you could tell the LAPD guys posted at the door were gonna try to shut the place down. In true form, Rick L. Rick, who I think is the best front man in punk rock hands down, saw the opportunity and the band launched into the club classic "Shut Down." The confrontation was on and everyone started throwing bottles at the police... there would have been an all-out riot if Rick hadn't intervened and calmed everyone down. No one got arrested as far as I could tell, and the real drama seemed to be among the F-Word band members. I guess the word's that Dim Wanker's gonna call it quits. Too bad cuz F-Word are the best LA punk band today, in my opinion. But fuck it, we're all gonna die anyway, right? Stoked I got to see a good show from these guys before they get all hippie on us. All in all, it was a pretty heavy damn night, as usual, down at the club.