Thanks for your support

Thanks to all of you for the support you gave me during the death of my uncle, Jack Bondi. I took the site down for about three months in memorial to him. He was an outstanding person, and my family and I miss him deeply. I appreciate the emails of condolence you sent my way. We will move on, but not forget him.

J, Darren, Eric and I have begun work on the next Report Suspicious Activity record. It's slow going, mostly because J's studio has been booked, and we haven't been able to get in. Right now, we're sidelined because I broke my left hand in a bicycle accident on the Brooklyn Bridge, and can't play guitar until it heals. But we have tracked four songs, and are gearing up for more.

This record is different from the first album. J and Eric are also writing songs, and all three of us are handling lead vocals. Here's demo of a song we haven't recorded yet, called "Sinking Now." The sample is from the old Isley Brother's hit, "Who's that Lady?"

Since I can't write music with guitar right now, I've been playing one handed piano, and overdubbing it. You can get a feel for this here, called "Responsible." This song will not, however, be on the new record.

Paul Rachman and Steve Blush's new documentary about the 1980s hardcore scene is currently being privately screened by Sony, the distributor, here in New York. I'm featured in several interviews in the movie, and Articles of Faith appears a couple of times live. Bad Attitude is featured in the soundtrack.

Tonia and I saw it a few weeks ago in Manhattan, and overall we were impressed. There is some astonishing footage of both the Bad Brains and Black Flag. It reminded me just how amazing the Bad Brains were, and I had a lot of laughs seeing how friends from the old days had aged. The film will certainly become the definitive video document of the hardcore scene.

It goes into wide distribution in September, and you should keep an eye out for it. The MySpace site has a trailer that's interesting.

One thing to bear in mind: that scene where the police bust the punk concert didn't happen in Los Angeles at a Black Flag show--that is an AoF gig in Philadelphia, in 1984.

Underground Communique Records, out of Chicago, has just released a tribute record to the great '90s Chicago outfit, Pegboy. The chief honcho at UC, Justin Schwer, asked me to participate a few years back, and I kicked in one track, a cover of their song, "Method." I met Justin on the brief RSA tour in February, and he's a great guy and probably a big reason the Chicago show was such a success.

If you get a chance to buy this record, make sure you pick it up. The Rollo Tomasi track, in particular, is worth the price.

So RSA played four live dates in February: Baltimore, DC, New York and Chicago. We had to cancel four shows due to the fact that J and his wife had just had a baby two weeks earlier, and to the East Coast Blizzard. But it was terrific to play out live again, especially with such a pro crew.

I met quite a few new friends, and reacquainted myself with quite a few old ones (still trying to figure out how John Stabb remembered that kiss from 1982). Jeff Pezzati's new band, The Bomb, played all the shows with us, and it was inspirational to see him on the stage again.

Hopefully, we'll be able to play out again in the future, if jobs and family allow. Look for something from us this fall. And oh, btw, if you're from Europe or Japan, we'd love to come over.

Thanks to Mikey Snot for the snaps.