Chixdiggit!
Born On The First Of July (Honest Don’s)
by Austin Nash
I was tempted to slip in a reprint of October 1996’s review of Chixdiggit‘s self-titled debut to see if anybody was really paying attention. When I realized that I still would not know the answer, I decided not to. Guilty ’til proven innocent, the way it really is. I’ll just assume that we are all assholes not paying attention to anything, with the more enterprising of us actually accomplishing something. After listening to Born On The First Of July, I realized that that’s exactly what I had here. That reprint would have been a misprint. And there I would have been, being that same old asshole again. My own circular behavior and reasoning is driving me nuts and by the sweet hanging tits of the Virgin would I knock it off!!! Shit, there I go again. Oh hell… how many times did I just sin?
It’s one of those gray Sundays. I’m dead… sober. I’m in a swimming pool and I can see the sun trying to get out from behind the clouds as I struggle to break the surface. But the creeps and murderers have lain cellophane over the water and I can’t quite break through. Having on the new Chixdiggit album makes me feel better though. There’re a dozen or so band photos on the sleeve, and there’s no chix in any of them. Perhaps this is where their humor comes from. Irony and humor are the soul of fiction. All music is fiction, though I have no soul. This just means I can’t listen to anything that is rooted in blues. The Chix certainly haven’t lost their humor and silliness and are not rooted in blues. This is good and inspiring punk rock. Good for me. I listen, write, get up and walk around my apartment, do something stupid like part of the dishes, or wonder why my eyes hurt, then write again. When “2000 Flushes” came on, I actually got up and cleaned the toilet. Realized I was doing it while bent over with that fucking brush scrubbing off the toughest part of the shit ring. Almost fell in and sat down. I guess this is where it ends.
Born On The First Of July. Good album. Good for them, I think out loud. Should do just fine. It’s got all the things that make people feel good, the things that made people dig their first album. It’s easily accessible but not simplistic. Makes me think of summer. As for me, I’m still sitting, buns a-quiver, grunting out the rebirth of one of the shitty punk bands that asked for it. In two days time, they will be floating in Boston Harbor. I might be there, too. Let me fall asleep underneath the surface tension…
(Honest Don’s PO Box 192027 San Francisco, CA 94119)
