Lick Us Back – Reader’s Responses – Column

Lick Us Back

Letters To The Editor

Dear Lollipop Readers,
We understand this “Sam Black Church vs. Taang! Records” thing may be boring to keep reading about. We agreed, as a band, that we stated our final word on the matter in Lollipop‘s September ’97 issue. However, after Curtis Cassella (Taang!’s head cheese) attacked our character in the last issue, we had to respond. We’ll try to make it quick…

Sam Black Church has never walked off stage anywhere, ever! The Chicago show Curtis refers to never even happened, and Curtis wasn’t there anyway. WE were there for three hours and no promoter showed up, the club staff didn’t know of any show, there was no P.A., etc. So we left, but not before signing autographs and hanging out with the handful of fans who did show up. Curtis is, as usual, gravely mistaken.

About our character: We think it likely that Curtis has never played a show with a broken arm or collar bone (as Richard has), done an entire tour with a broken foot (as J.R. has), or performed with a double hernia (as Jet has). In fact, we doubt Curtis has ever done a show in his life, or slept in the grass by the Mass. Pike while his van was towed 300 miles back to Boston, been screwed by sketchy promoters and clubs (or labels for that matter), quit a decent full-time job to go on tour to support releases neglected by a label, put himself in personal debt to promote records the label failed to, borrowed thousands of dollars from family and friends to prove in arbitration that he had fulfilled and legally terminated his contract, endured for 9+ years strong without having a Curtis, who is not in a band, he just takes from bands. Having our work ethic attacked and being called “Rock Stars” by a hot-tub-sitting, Alfa-Romeo-driving, ocean-front-living, trust-funding, Evan Dando hanger-on, Hollywood millionaire is almost laughable. We invite all readers to re-read Curtis’ remarks in Lollipop‘s November ’97 issue. It quickly becomes clear who is “trying to save face in Boston.” It ain’t Sam Black Church. We live here.

Just two last points: If Taang! supposedly has a “warehouse full” of SBC product they can’t get rid of, then why don’t they advertise it? Better yet, why don’t they sell it to us at cost? That way, we can at least supply some of the people who haven’t been able to get it in stores for the past five years. By the way, Curtis also said we hadn’t even sold 15,000 SBC discs. Taang!’s own royalty accountings to us (for what they’re worth) show that over 25,000 were sold by 1996. Go figure… For those of you who want to see “Rock Stars” in person, we’ll be playing various clubs, halls, gyms, garages, recreation centers and coffee shops in the coming year, as we’ve done for the past decade – hauling our own gear, driving our own van, and sharing our gear with hundreds of other “Rock Star” bands out there who believe in what they do, regardless of their vindictive label owner, who decided long ago, he no longer felt he needed to support or promote them. If it is a character debate Curtis wants, he should stick to the “beautiful people” and power brokers of Hollywood and San Diego. Sam Black Church is way out of his league. Thanks for hearing our side. Again.
Sam Black Church “Rock Stars”

P.S. Anyone still seeking the truth about the fulfillment of our contract, Geffen and SBC, our record sales, or any other of Curtis’ “factual inaccuracies,” we will be posting all of this info. on our homepage (www.clever. net//samblack) in the very near future.


To the Pulley reviewer,
All I have to say is that you wouldn’t know good music if your money-hungry boss shoved it up your radio-ready ass. It’s untrained ears like yours that think all punk music sounds the same. If you think about it, all music sounds the same: guitar, bass, chords, varying vocals and varying speeds. Before you try to review a band you know nothing about, try going to a show and see what the music is and what it’s about. Tapes and CDs never do any real bands justice. They only make the robots of corporate music sound the way they do. With that, fuck off and think before you try to sound smart with your bunk ass, bandwagon reviews.
Brett Kennedy

P.S. All bitching aside, bands like Pulley don’t want narrow-minded fucks like yourself to buy their CD in the first place or even try to criticize them constructively.

Editor’s Response: Thanks ever so much for your letter. You’ll be happy to know that we will no longer attempt to criticize any band or artist constructively in the future – since all music sounds the same, we’re just going to blindly write interchangeable reviews of all the CDs that come in, and since they never do real bands justice, we won’t even bother to sully our untrained ears with them, opting instead to use them as portable mirrors and drink coasters. Your other comments were most inspiring as well – our ass is indeed radio-ready, and as a matter of fact, it’s just been placed in heavy rotation on several stations hand-picked by our money-hungry boss. It’ll be opening (so to speak) for The Robots of Corporate Music and the Narrow-minded Fucks on the Bunk-ass Bandwagon package tour this summer. Watch for it.


Hi there,
I don’t usually do this, but I wanted to tell you that you put out one of the best magazines in America – certainly the most consistently enjoyable to read. Your recent story on Lou Reed (iss. #38) is a good case-in-point – the kind of piece publications like Rolling Stone or Spin would be well-advised to run, if they weren’t so worried about getting status bylines. Anyway, just wanted to say that I enjoy the magazine whenever I see it, and thanks for sending it to me (I’m a journalist who ended up on your comp list, much to my delight). I can’t wait to see what you do next.

David Ulin


William Ham…
Boy, did you knock one out on that funky article you wrote about our man Lou. But I am a New Sensations fan, man – so back off. I thought the way you built your piece made for an exciting read and I enjoyed the insights. If I’m traveling and stop to do a show in Boston any time soon, I would love to have it out with a die-hard on all things Lou, but SHH, not in print – gotta keep my public profile as urban legend, y’know (cackle cackle). Ciao.

Frankie Delmane Chicago, IL


Hey Lollipop,
I live in Tucumcari (Indian for “Armpit of the world”), New Mexico, and I don’t get to hear good music as much as you guys and gals in the Northeast do… Man, the article on the Fall (“Totale’s (Re)Turns”, Issue #39) was great. Why the fuck don’t these guys (and gals) get the credit they deserve? Fuck the one-hit wonders, the Fall have done it all and never gave away the dignity. Now where the hell is the Dragnet reissue that Infinite Zero promised?

Kirk Chavez Tucumcari, NM


Aboard the Goodship Lollipop:
I am a 47 year old woman who used to dance and sing along with Ms. Temple in front of my black and white T.V. when I was a little girl. I used to fantasize a lot while I watched Shirley Temple movies. My name is Brenda Carlile and I just wanted to thank you so very much for the happy hours that you gave me as a child. My childhood was not a real great one a lot of the time so Shirley Temple, Bob Hope, and Jerry Lewis were my escapes at times. Too bad that all these people are like dreams to most of us as middle class people. Thanks for all the good memories.
Brenda (McIntosh) Carlile (Mother of 3 children and married for 29 yrs. to a wonderful man)

Editor’s Response: This is just one of the many emails we receive, sent to us under the mistaken impression that, since “lollipop” is part of our address, that this is Shirley Temple’s email account. Don’t think that we’re troubled by this – in fact, we’re more than willing to act as freelance surrogates for Ms. Temple Black. In the future, please describe all fantasies you have while watching her movies, slowly and in a deep, husky voice if possible.