Thursday, September 1, 2011

In Loving Memory: Joey Kohut

It’s been a couple of weeks since Eddie “The Editor” Chops contacted me to let me know La Palabra was going back into print, and that I could write about anything I wanted to. I was psyched to hear it and excited at the prospect of another dozen or so people trying to decipher my ramblings. But here we are less than a week before the deadline, and I’ve got nothing. I’ve been having trouble getting ambitious about much of anything as of late. For those of you who don’t know my cousin, former band mate and longtime best friend Joey Kohut died in early June during the zine’s sabbatical. His years of alcohol abuse had caused him to have seizures on a pretty regular basis that were eventually fatal. Now I’m not here to demonize alcohol (it’d be career suicide in a zine whose board of directors is largely comprised of a group called The Somerville Town Drunks) I’m here to point out that there’s really something to the theory of drinking being a serious problem when you do it alone too often. Those who knew Joey prior to his reclusive last few years knew a fun loving, confident, dynamic little imp of a man who while very much an instigator would happily offer whatever assistance he could to friends and strangers alike. He threw all of himself into everything he did. Sadly that last part remained very true with his drinking. It began as with many of our peers in high school as a rebellious thing. In the beginning the goal is to get as drunk as possible as fast as possible preferably for as little money as possible. Eventually the connoisseurs learn what they like and what they don’t and only go with the former. As crazy as it sounds they might even moderate their intake and savor things. But Joey was always “all or nothing” and looked at such things as half-assing it. In many facets of his life this mindset was admirable, but when pertaining to his love of straight vodka it was not conducive to longevity. When he and I first became enthralled with punk rock and ska followed very shortly by learning about the existence of the local scene it provided us with all of the excitement and catharsis we needed. Our fascinations with the genre and the culture seemed to be focused on different features of it. While I was more into the camaraderie and the actual creative output Joey seemed much more interested in the chaos and the rebellion. Binge drinking was definitely idealized among the factions who focused more on that particular element of things. When the passions for the music and culture were combined with the drinking Joey’s outlook on attending shows gradually shifted. They started out being expressly about the music. Shortly after that it remained mostly about that with the added incentive of being able to get drunk before, during or after the show. Somewhere a little further in those last two parts were reversed and shows became a place to drink with the added incentive of seeing bands. Not much longer after that he decided he’d cut out the show part entirely and just focus on the drinking. The money spent on gas and the cover charge seemed better suited for purchasing alcohol and holing up in his room. Readers if you take anything from this please avoid that path. Everybody’s got their vices, and that’s fine, but don’t live solely to feed said addiction. I was told this was a double issue, and that I could contribute two articles if I saw fit. This more melancholy offering was to mourn the death of my cousin by circumstance and friend by choice while the second one is about celebrating his life.










Joseph Walter Kohut was born January 25, 1983 in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was born six months prior. My mother and I flew out to visit my newborn cousin and his parents, but for obvious reasons I don’t remember this trip. Somewhere shortly after this they all moved back to Jersey where both of their families lived. Many of my earliest memories of family outside of my parents are of bonding with the cousin of mine I was closest in age with at our grandfather’s house. However since we were both only children and not accustomed to having to share anything be it toys or attention we didn’t much care for each other in these earlier years and would often fight. I don’t remember when Joey’s parents divorced, but it was definitely sometime prior to his being old enough to attend school. After that my parents always tried to include him in things we did as a family and in time we grew closer. As my father would make me mixtapes of songs he thought I’d enjoy from his records I’d copy them for Joey, so we bonded predominantly over music since well before either of us took up an instrument, but once I got my first guitar and he quickly followed suit we became pretty much inseparable. We’d each boast at our respective middle schools to our classmates about the band we were in with our awesome cousin despite minor details like not even knowing basic chords yet or not having a drummer. In the years that followed we got better and had been in actual full bands together from 1996-2008. Somewhere closer to the beginning of that time we became aware of the local punk and ska scene and quickly switched over from ripping off Nirvana style riffs to trying our damndest to write punk rock. Shortly after the turn of the century he realized he was much better at drums than guitar. For as close as we were and for all the common interests we had we were also very different. Joey was fearless and indestructible when it came to anything on wheels. From what I’ve heard from mutual friends of ours that went to school with him he also didn’t seem to be messed with much as he seemed to know from much earlier on not to show any sort of reaction to douchebags trying to get a rise out of him. He also from his youngest days on through his last years never grew out of his love for any toy that transformed from one thing to another, anything pertaining to martial arts, horror movies or weapons. In 1998 he was the first of us to chop the long grunge hair we both had into a mohawk. He shaved my first one in for me the following year. He also lacked any sort of fear/level of caution for handling animals domestic or otherwise. Part of me always laughs thinking of how he should have parlayed that into a career as one of those animal experts you see on talk shows just without the knowledge they exhibit just him being like “umm yeah this is an alligator. They hate when you taunt them like this”. One of an infinite amount of fond memories I have of him involves a trip we took to Merrill Park nearby his house where we often grew up killing time looking at the various animals. One of the small turkeys got loose, and he just scooped it up without any hesitation and walked around carrying it for a while. The turkey seemed oddly at ease with this. Joey’s summation “yeah he’s chill. He’s just like “hey what’s up? I’m a turkey”. After he returned the bird to the proper side of its enclosure he wanted to playfight. He fancied himself a master of several forms of martial arts despite having only seen movies as opposed to taking any kind of formal lessons. His usual go-to style was drunken fist as he’d seen Jackie Chan’s “Legend Of Drunken Master” a few dozen times too many. I, who actually had taken karate for a few years from elementary school into my early teens, would humor him and impress people watching by being surprisingly nimble and flexible for a fat guy. This particular bout however ended with me splitting my pants when trying to perform some kind of head level kick. He was both a blood relative and my best friend, and the world will forever be a much lamer place without him. IN LOVING MEMORY OF JOSEPH KOHUT 1983-2011.

Beer Taglines

I love beer taglines.  These are some of my favorites:

Miller High Life - "The Champagne of (Bottled) Beers"
New Castle - "The One and Only Brown Ale"
Budweiser - "The King of Beers", "This Buds For You"
Ballatine Ale - "America's Largest Selling Ale"
Colt 45 - "Works Every Time"
Schaefer - "Schaefer is The One Beer to Have When You're Having More Then One"
Schlitz - The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous"
Mickey's - "Fine Malt Liquor"
Schmidt's - "The Beer That Grew With The Great Northwest"
Milwaukee's Best - "Classic Taste at it's Best"
Golden Anniversary - "A Great American Beer"
Hamm's - "From The Land of Sky Blue Waters"
Miller Lite - "Tastes Great, Less Filling"
Old Milwaukee - "It Doesn't Get Any Better Then This!" 
Miller - "It's Miller Time"

Hot Chick Movie Review

Recently I saw the movies Sucker Punch and Whip It, 2 movies my girlfriend and I wanted to see.  I was excited about both of the movies because the casts were loaded with a bunch of hot actresses so how bad could they really be, right?  I mean I've sat though Jawbreaker a couple of time just to watch Rose McGowand and that Gayheart girl, just because I think they're hot.  So if these movies have any plot they shouldn't be so bad.  My opinion of these 2 movies could not have been more different though.  This is what I though of these flicks:

Whip It - Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page and Juliette Lewis are hot enough to make just about any movie watchable.  Throw in Eve, the drunk chick from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Maeby from Arrested Development( What can I say I like her freckles), and a career stunt girl(she doubled for Uma in Kill Bill) and you got yourself a cast.  I'm not gonna lie, I really liked this movie.  The girls all got funny names, like Smashley Simpson from the Hurl Scouts squad and Eva Destruction from the Holy Rollers.  Jimmy Fallon and Daniel Stern (from Home Alone) are also good, plus, I found out that there's a 3rd Wilson brother and he's even funny in it.  It's also got a decent plot, pretty good soundtrack and it's kinda a girl power flick so your girl will probably even like it.  Even the anoying chick from SNL that I can't stand (Kristen Wiig) isn't anoying.  This movie is definatly worth a rental and the time it takes to watch the movie.

Sucker Punch - This movie ISN'T even worth a $1 Redbox rental or the time it takes to sit though it.  Sucker Punch?  That's what this movie did to me.  I remember the comercials and it looked like some blonde chick dressed like a school girl fucking shit up with swords and guns and shit.  I can sit thru 2 hours of that, well,  at least that's what I thought.  The fight scenes are lame and the plot makes no sense.  I've seen cartoons with a more sensical plot.  This movie was a XXX sex scene away from being a porn.  Actually I think most porn I've watched has had better plot lines and acting.  Oh yeah, the acting is terrible also.  Real terrible.  Even hot ass Carla Cugino, who plays some old Russian bag, looks like an idiot in this flick.  Corky from Life Goes On could have directed a better movie.  The cast of girls is really hot, but if you wanna watch something with hot chicks that makes no sense I suggest your local Spanish station.  Don't see this movie. 

Issue #8 Kid Nichols Interview


Bob-Sings/Guitars
Casey-Drums
Kyle-Bass/Sings
Greg-Guitar
LP: Lets start with the standard band interview questions - How did you guys meet, how long you been around, where are you from?
B: I will take the lead on this one
G: Bob will take everyone
B: I'll take the lead and let Greg finnish.  Well me and him (Greg) were in a band together that wasn't very good.  We stopped playing after a while and we asked Kyle, who we knew through a friends band, to play bass and got Casey, Greg's friend to play drums.  Now you guys fill in the gaps.
G: Me and Bob have been jamming in one way or another since we were fifteen, and Me and Kyle were in a cover band for shits and giggles for awhile.
LP: So you guys are all from the same town?
Everyone: Middletown.
LP: So do you guys know Knowshon Moreno?  Is that your boy?
B: He went to high school with my wife's sister.  They were in the same grade.  He's actually a really nice guy.
LP: So you've known each other for awhile and your all from Middletown, How long has Kid Nichols been around?
G: About a year, about a year this month.
K:Me and Greg were in a cover band for like 3 years playing bars and Casey used to come out an see us and we started talking about old punk albums and we started learning them and Greg contacted Bob
B: And was telling them that I missed being in a band and we should get together and make music
K: I did both (cover band & Kid Nichols) for a while and then just backed away from the cover band completely
B: Yeah, you were doing like a 1/3 of one and 3/4 of the other (Eds note- nice math)
K: The cover band just stopped being fun
LP: So I saw you guys opened for TSOL and Shot Baker at Santos Party House- How did that happen?  How sore are you knees from that one?
B: Greg's still cleaning out his mouth in that one.  Very, very, very soft hands.
LP: Not Andy Diamond soft though
B: No his are like babies hands
LP: And very white teeth
B: And a very well manicured moustash.  I must say Andy knows how to take care of himself.
G: I just had an email communication with the dudes from Rocks Off when they were booking the Souls booze cruise and just keep in touch through emails.  I asked him did he have any shows and he said how bout TSOL at Santos.  What was I gonna say "No we don't wanna play with TSOL".  It actually wasn't that hard getting on that show to be completely honest.
B: That was a strange day because I was the first to get there and I didn't know who worked there or who booked the show or anything, so I just walked in with me gear and said to someone "Hi, I'm from Kid Nichols" and the dude was like "Hi, I'm from TSOL" and I'm just like "You sure are, you sure are." It was weird cuz he didn't know who to talk to either.  Those guys were real cool though.
K: They weren't all holier then thou.  They hung out with us for awhile telling stories.  Their tame stories destroy our craziest ones. 
LP: Let's talk about where the name Kid Nichols came from?
B: Me and Greg, when he would be at work and I would be home on the computer, would trade off ridiculous statistics on baseballreference.com and would basically send each other links.  Check out Old Hoss Radbourn or 3 Finger Brown, and Kid Nichols was just one of the guys.  When it came to naming the band I thought it kinda sounded rad.  Me and Greg were dead set on the name but were hesitent to bring up to the other guys.
K:  At first I was thinking Nickels.  Like dimes and nickels.  I was like your not talking about the turn of the century baseball player are you?  It's a rad name.  Why wouldn't I want to be in a band named Kid Nichols.
B: And then Casey was like "sure, whatever"
LP: Drummers never seem to give a shit about anything band related.  Are you a typical drummer or do you actually care what happens?
B: He's the the producer of the band.  He's definatley not the not give a shit drummer.  He gives a lot of shit.
K: The second song we wrote was his song.
C: I stay up till 4 in the mourning cutting up and mixing practices, producing songs and sending out to these guys.
B: It's not just a clever name he IS actually our producer.  He's producing the record.
K: Every practice we have he spends time setting up stuff to record and cuts the stuff up and tells us what should be where. It's rad.
C: Besides that I actually produce the songs that are gonna be on the record.  Recording practice is not much producing.
LP: Should we talk about the album?  Do you wanna talk about the album?  We should talk about the album?
B: Sure we can talk about the album.  We recorded drums, guitar, and bass at the Boombox studios in very very ass south Jersey with our boy Donnie Switchblade, of The Rumblers, and we're doing the vocals with Casey here.
C: Yeah I'm just enginering  the vocals and adding other shit, so right now were still building some of the songs with vocals and harmonies and melodies.  But it's good that these guys are in town.  A couple of nights a week we try shit.  Just hum something, does it fit, doe it work?  Let's try it.  Some shit you like, some shit you don't.
LP: So when can we expect this album to be done?
B: Gun to my head I'd say September.  Well if all goes right.
C: I don't wanna put a date on it.
G: September or October.
LP: I won't print a month.  How about I say a Fall release.
B: Autumn.  A quarter 4 release.  We don't even have a name yet.
LP: So who are the baseball fans in the band?
Everyone: We all are.
B: It's not so much we're fans but stat heads.
LP: So whose your team?
B: (While wearing a Red Sox hat) Mets
G: You're only wearing it to get a rise outta Yankee fans
B: So It would be like you wearing a Braves hat to get a rise outta me
G: Well I wouldn't do it
B: I don't care if you do it.  It wouldn't bother me
G: I'm a Yankee fan, that's why I wouldn't do it
K: Yankees
C: Mets
LP: Anything else you guys wanna say?
G: We're playing the Trash Bar September 1st
K: Facebook.com/kidnichols
LP: Oh shut up.  You didn't just plug your Facebook page.  Wanna plug your Tumblr while you're at it (http://kidnichols.tumblr.com)?
B: What team did Kid Nichols play for Greg?
G: I think the Boston Beaneaters or something
LP: Boston Beaneaters are correct.  They were the Original Atlanta Braves (Kid Nichols picture and retired number are on display on the outfield wall at Turner Field in Atlanta)
G: Good cuz if it were the Red Sox then Kid Nichols would not be the name of the band 
B: Greg won't eat Boston Baked Beans
K: He's a Manhattan Clam Chowder guy