No Rules

A carefully calligraphied handbill posted near the corner of Divisadero and Haight:

A Musical Event
A Dance
A Black Celebration
An Observance Of The Full Moon

Your Musical Menu:
The Pink Floyd (When They Had Syd)
The Creation
Prince
Eddie Cochran
The Beatles (circa 1966)
The Who (circa 1965)
Billie Holiday
Depeche Mode
Wednesday Week
The Sugarcubes

Attire: Skin Tight Clothing, Black Preferred, See Through On The Girls, As Little As Possible On The Boys. Drag Ok.
Admission: One Postcard With A Reproduction Of A Work By William Blake

The Games Begin At Midnight

The Club Is Called No Rules

Cindy: This is us.
Autumn: Definitely us.
Cindy: "Carefully calligraphied" is hard to say.

1988ish

Cindy Tears

Just a few months ago I wrote my first crusade. It was about Everything But the Girl and their fourth album, Idlewild. Since then they've released a single in England called "I Don't Want to Talk About it." And Sire added it to the Idlewild CD in America. I believe it's a cover of an old Rod Stewart song. (Editor's note: it was written by Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse.) It's real soft and pretty, unlike most of the stuff I usually listen to. The first line of the song is, "I can tell by your eyes that you've probably been crying forever." Just the other day Autumn said to me, "I've known you for seven years now and I don't think I've ever seen you cry." She's right. I don't cry very often. It's not cause I don't ever have anything to cry about. It's not cause I'm so tough I don't ever need to cry. Oh no. I think maybe...well I had kind of a rough time growing up. I cried a lot when I was a little girl. I guess maybe now I'm all cried out. Not many tears left in these wild brown eyes. Like if I'm fighting with Billy and I get to a point where I'm all upset and want to cry, I usually stop myself cause tears can be used the wrong way. If I start crying Billy's gonna get all, "shit Cindy, I'm sorry" and come over to my side. Men simply cannot deal with a woman's tears. Well I don't need that shit. I can tough out the fight without crying if I have to.

But you know there are those rare times when I do cry and usually it's one big mess. Cindy tears and blubbering nonsense pouring out all over the place. But it has to be a pretty big emotional deal before these tears will start flowing. And it sure is a lot nicer when there's someone else there, you know? It's obvious that Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl knows all about these kinds of things. She has a lot of songs that deal with emotional complexities. So after you've checked out "I Don't Want to Talk About it," you might want to go back to the album and listen to "I Always Was Your Girl" or "These Early Days" or "Apron Strings." These are really amazing songs. And if you ever need to have a good cry, go right ahead. It's good for you. Just don't get your boyfriend's shoulder too wet. They really hate that.

Album Network, October 10, 1988

On Whether Jane's Addiction is/was God...

It all started when my friend Colleen quietly uttered, er I mean loudly blurted, "Jane's Addiction are God" in Album Network. We didn't know the controversy this would cause. C'mon really. The thundering godhead (oops) noise of Perry, Dave and the boys? God? Or maybe they're just U2 from hell. You decide...

"Jane's Addiction - the band that pulls you into your speaker and consumes you until you feel, are, become. ... Put on a pair of headphones, slap in a copy and lose yourself. Jane's Addiction are God...." -Colleen Combs, Cathouse, Los Angeles (Album Network, Sept. 9, 1988)

"Let's get this straight. Jane's Addiction is not God. They're from L.A. for gosh sakes. However when ol' Perry says 'let's rock' in 'Had a Dad,' this U2 from hell launches into some mind jolting stuff." -Esa, Navarre Corporation, Minneapolis (Album Network, Sept. 16, 1988)

"Personal to Esa/Navarre: Cindy says Jane's Addiction are God. Colleen says so too. That's two against one, you lose." -Cindy Jacobson, Leather Trio Prodcutions, San Francisco (Album Network, Oct. 7, 1988)

"Personal to Cindy Jacobson: I need a broader cross section of the electorate before I'm outvoted. However, after repeated listenings, Jane is approaching sainthood and if talk about the live show is only half true, the Jane/Jesus/God Axis thang (as bold as love) may happen. I may have to acquiesce, I may have to succumb. Jane is not yet God, but she can see God from where she's at, mang." -Esa, Navarre Corporation, Minneapolis (Album Network, Oct. 21, 1988)

...And Justice for All - Metallica

Autumn Meredith, Leather Trio Productions.

Boy stuff. Boy stuff... Imagine guitars, bass and drums all locked into a groove, pounding, crunching, punching you in the stomach. This is Metallica's ...And Justice For All (Amazon link). My boyfriend Cliff says it's the best album ever. He also says this about Puppets and Appetite For Destruction. It's obvious he can't make up his mind. Here's what you do. Get the ...And Justice For All CD in your player and punch up track four. This is "One." First you will hear war noises then acoustic and electric guitars swirl around James Hetfield's nightmarish lyrics. Suddenly Lars, Jason and James get locked into a wildly thumping machine gun rhythm while Kirk goes crazy on lead. When it's over you will lay there devasted by this awesomely sonic metal guitar crunching experience. Start, stop, sputter, crash, kill. This is Metallica. This is the sound of my generation. This is boy stuff on overdrive. Thanks to my friend Leah Simon for the CD. ("We love you lots, Leah Simon."--Cindy) Hey radio people! DON'T PLAY METALLICA! You're so far behind anyway. Keep on playing the Doors and Lynyrd Skynyrd all day. We don't care. We don't listen to the radio anyway. We listen to Metallica.

Album Network, Oct. 14, 1988