I was on a boat in the ocean exactly once in life. We were far enough out that we could not see land. I was told it was a rather calm sea that day. I still puked over the side. I caught an amber-jack, that apparently was not good eating because of a potential parasite? I am deathly allergic to shellfish, and I am not a fan of the beach. I have probably only had rum a handful of times and it was always mixed with Coke or Dr. Pepper. Still though, who doesn’t love the romance & adventure of pirate imagery, and pirate songs?
This collection of thoughts, reflection, & feelings is delivered not unlike catching a glimpse of a ghost ship in the mist on the barely discernable horizon. Sometimes it’s just hinted at on the whispers of the wind or waves of the open sea. Then, all of a sudden you’re in the crow’s nest surveying the chaos of the poop deck in a storm or in the captain’s quarters as he sips rum and recounts tales of anarchy, punk rock, rebellion, & love by candlelight. Maybe it’s the brig? Or a deserted island. It’s left to the reader to fill in the gaps as they dream of their own adventures, shenanigans, & longing. Who can’t relate to a journey, physical or metaphorical? What is the line really? Get lost in this book, & create your own treasure map to get out or to get further lost. 🏴☠️
Curses, Cutlasses, and Cauldrons by Joel Fatal, Local Troublemaker
After you read Joel’s book, you’ll probably want to listen to my “Let’s Get Scurvy 🏴☠️🦜“ playlist, and maybe even try my treasure map maze (from my book, You Can See Yourself Out). Tell me what you like from the playlist & make suggestions for more songs in the comments!
It took me forever to get into podcasts. Some I have been enjoying lately are Chris DeMakes a Podcast, One Hit Thunder, & more recently A Band Called Punchline. (The former two break-down & deep-dive into songs in totally different yet incredible ways… I highly recommend them to musicians and fans!)
You can listen to all of these anywhere you find podcasts, but I do mostly all of my listening on Amazon Music.
I have absolutely no idea why I didn’t get big into Punchline in the very late 90’s or early 00’s. We all frequented the same places. I had to have seen them. I was active in AiXeLsyD then Gasoline Dion at the time. Their music is in my wheelhouse. I have heard a lot of Chris Fafalios because he produces on Chris DeMakes a Podcast & co-hosts One Hit Thunder. Chis is a great co-host with Matt Kelly & producer with involvement in 2 quality shows. This came up, and I was like… I have no excuse to not check this out as I love music, music documentaries, stories about songs, stories about playing & touring. It’s a no-brainer, right?
Well, I’m 3½ episodes in and the name-dropping alone is mind-blowing. Laga, Logic, AMC, Berlin Project, Mr. Smalls, Soundscape Studios, Garfield Artworks, Josh Bakaitus, Drusky, Joker Productions, mp3.com, practicing in McKees Rocks, and more I am surely forgetting. It puts me back into the days when I worked on the assembly line at Sony with Alf from Circle of Dead Children, or when me & An-Die ran into the Zao guitarist at Westmoreland Mall. Everyone was in a band. Ha ha. I remember Dirtbag Rob saying he had an AiXeLsyD T-shirt or patch before he was in the band.
I was at so many shows at Laga. That’s where I got to see Doyle play the Misfits intro in their green room one time. I remember Logic from that killer Take Me To Your Leader compilation CD. Man I miss punk comps. AiXeLsyD was practically the house band at AMC for a bit. We played every open stage we could. Berlin Project always worked the crowd well. I remember playing Mr. Small’s at least once with Gasoline Dion, not sure if Ernie and the Berts ever played there or not. I also remember being in the back for some reason. Maybe hanging out with Dethlehem? Me & Jason were hanging out with Next Stop Detox when they recorded at Soundscape in McKeesport. I was in Detox for like 30 seconds and recorded a single at Studiophonix in Mt. Pleasant. I think Gasoline Dion played Garfield Artworks… Maybe EaTB too? I know I saw a bunch of shows there. Ernie and the Berts recorded drums there once, I think? (It’s oddly not on my places I have played map.) We practiced at the shady ABC Storage in McKees Rocks and up in Allentown for a bit.
It makes me think of all the cool bands & all the fun times we had back then!
But, the cool part is hearing Berlin Project’s story, from the guys themselves. They seem like genuine nice people who set out to make some music, make a living doing it, and accomplished that! It’s presented documentary style and sort of gives me NPR vibes.
I am rooting for them every step of the way while I listen, When they talk about literally losing a tire off their van, using calling cards & pay phones, running up cell phone bills in the Nokia brick & flip phone days, purposely putting music on Napster just to get it out there, paying way too much for recording, sleeping on floors & booking tours, meeting other great and not-so-great bands… it all just hits. I am not and never was a pro touring musician, but I get it. I respect the hustle, and I appreciate the insight & shared experiences.
If you were around the southwestern PA scene in the late 90’s or early 00’s, ever picked up a guitar (or bass or drums or keys or horns), or are a fan of punk, indie, & DIY… you gotta check this out.
It’s on a bunch of platforms, so find it how you find yours… or start here:
I’m starting to dive into their stuff. I really dig the old stuff on their bandcamp that they sort of don’t recognize as much any more. Check out their website. I also want to see their music special on Amazon Prime. Punchline fans, what are your favorites? Can you make me a top 20 playlist in the comments? What are your memories of seeing them play or hearing their songs for the first time? What about if you played your own shows in & around that time?
I guess I never did update, lots of the listings are down or read as “Temporarily Unavailable.” I would like them to read as “⚠ 404 Page Not Found.“
I did get two short emails from the offender. Thank you to Jakob Mewes for reaching out! I never did hear back from Jakob after reaching out for further details. Did you Google AiXeLsyD and/or Gasoline Dion and find me here? I’d love to know!
I did get two emails from Mr. Heppke.
From: Kurt Heppke <mail@kurtheppke.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Subject: Re: Unauthorized Use of My Artwork in Your Book – DMCA & Cease-and-Desist
To: Eric Carroll <red@acted.yo>
Dear Mr. Carrol,
I'm sorry for using your trademarked images and I really want to apologize for that. I took the images from Pinterest and did not check the license. I made a mistake.
I have requested today that the book be stopped selling immediately and will send you confirmation as soon as I have it.
I hereby give you written confirmation that I will no longer use your work.
I also confirm the immediate cessation of any further use or reproduction of your work in any form.
I am truly sorry for the trouble I have caused you.
I would like to make one more point about your WordPress post " Stolen Mazes! (Someone took my art.)". It gives the impression that I have flooded half the world with my books. No. I've sold the book 8 times in the last 3 years. So I think the damage is limited.
That's not an excuse!
Anyway, thank you for your patience and kindness and I will definitely change my behavior when it comes to checking licenses.
Best regards
Kurt Heppke
---
Kurt Heppke
Tel: +## ### ########
Mail: mail@kurtheppke.com
Homepage: www.kurtheppke.com
And, then this, referencing the photo below:
From: Kurt Heppke <mail@kurtheppke.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: Unauthorized Use of My Artwork in Your Book – DMCA & Cease-and-Desist
To: Eric Carroll <red@cted.yo>
Dear Mr. Carroll,
I have withdrawn my book "Labyrinthe" from sale and would like to inform you of this, as promised:
Labyrinthe
Leichte Schwere und ganz ganz Schwere
ISBN-13: 9783756233120
Verlag: Books on Demand
Erscheinungsdatum: 30.06.2022
the German sentence:
"Wir haben Ihr Buch wunschgemäss für Bestellungen aus dem Buchhandel gesperrt. Auch die Listung für den internationalen Vertrieb und der E-Book-Vertrieb wurden damit automatisch ausgesetzt."
means:
"We have blocked your book from bookstore orders as requested. The listing for international distribution and e-book distribution have also been automatically suspended."
I would like to apologize once again and thank you for your patience and kindness.
Best regards
---
Kurt Heppke
Tel: +## ### ########
Mail: mail@kurtheppke.com
Homepage: www.kurtheppke.com
And this was in there:
✍️
I did not reply, as I am still salty about it. A little theft is still theft. I know Joe Wos sent something over to the effect of a Cease & Desist or DMCA, and Brian Hilbert commented on my last post. I never did get a comment from Sean C. Jackson. Not sure how many other maze artists were robbed. I never did track any others down.
I’m sadly still morbidly curious to get my hands on a copy of this outrage. Share your stories of art theft in the comments, or comment here if your stuff was also uncredited in this book!
Inspired by the comments on a reddit post, I wanted to dig into some pre-“punk” proto-punk. I set Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to the task as I’m fascinated by their ability to parse & compile information if prompted accurately. (I’m also fascinated my their penchant to provide completely incorrect or even made-up information. Some time I will have to blog about my experiment in having them search restaurant menus in an area to see if they serve shellfish. Copilot recommended some seafood places, so clearly it wants to kill me.)
I added my own stuff that some of them disagreed with, but it is my list after all. 🤣 Going back to little Richard and including Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” were points of contention, as I would expect from a conversation with people.
Music snobs aficionados, audiophiles, and punk rock gatekeepers will argue all day every day about the origin of punk… but for me, to be clear, it’s the moment that the Ramones’ self-titled album dropped. So, with that in mind I gave the language models this prompt:
There is and always will be constant debate, but if we agree for the premise of this exercise that the Ramones self-titled debut album was the first punk album… What are 25 songs that should belong on a proto-punk or punk precursor playlist?
I would assume bands that get mentioned as the progenitors would most likely include The Kinks, the Sonics, Link Wray, The Stooges, the MC5, the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, & more I’m sure to be missing. Maybe even the band Death who hailed from Detroit MI?
All songs on the list should have been released before April 23, 1976… and be listed in order if release date by single or album, whichever dropped first.
This has been corrected for my typically egregious spelling/typing/lack-of-proofreading errors. After tossing the rules to the wind, keeping to the spirit of punk rock, we arrived here:
“Little Demon” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1956)
“Tutti Frutti” – Little Richard (1955)
“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” – Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)
“Rumble” – Link Wray (1958)
“La Bamba” – Ritchie Valens (1958)
“Love Me” – The Phantom (1958)
“Louie Louie” – The Kingsmen (1963)
“Surfin’ Bird” – The Trashmen (1963)
“Baby Let Me Take You Home” – The Animals (1964)
“House of the Rising Sun” – The Animals (1964)
“I’m Crying” – The Animals (1964)
“You Really Got Me” – The Kinks (1964)
“Gloria” – Them (1964)
“I Can’t Explain” – The Who (1964)
“Dirty Water” – The Standells (1966)
“My Generation” – The Who (1965)
“Strychnine” – The Sonics (1965)
“I’m a Man” – The Yardbirds (1965)
“We Gotta Get Out of This Place” – The Animals (1965)
“96 Tears” – ? & The Mysterians (1966)
“Wild Thing” – The Troggs (1966)
“Complication” – The Monks (1966)
“Psychotic Reaction” – Count Five (1966)
“Pushin’ Too Hard” – The Seeds (1966)
“7 and 7 Is” – Love (1966)
“I’m Not Like Everybody Else” – The Kinks (1966)
“You’re Gonna Miss Me” – The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
“Talk Talk” – The Music Machine (1966)
“I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground (1967)
“Doctor Please” – Blue Cheer (1968)
“Sister Ray” – The Velvet Underground (1968)
“Fire” – The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968)
“Jigsaw Puzzle” – The Rolling Stones (1968)
“Kick Out the Jams” – MC5 (1969)
“I Wanna Be Your Dog” – The Stooges (1969)
“Little Doll” – The Stooges (1969)
“TV Eye” – The Stooges (1970)
“Paranoid” – Black Sabbath (1970)
“Get It On” – T. Rex (1971)
“School’s Out” – Alice Cooper (1972)
“Suffragette City” – David Bowie (1972)
“Raw Power” – Iggy & The Stooges (1973)
“Search and Destroy” – The Stooges (1973)
“Personality Crisis” – New York Dolls (1973)
“Jet Boy” – New York Dolls (1973)
“Urban Guerrilla” – Hawkwind (1973)
“Violence” – Mott the Hoople (1973)
“Cum On Feel the Noize” – Slade (1973)
“Editions of You” – Roxy Music (1973)
“Ooh La La” – Faces (1973)
“Subway Train” – New York Dolls (1974)
“Hey Joe” – Patti Smith Group (1975)
“Piss Factory” – Patti Smith (1975)
“Roxette” – Dr. Feelgood (1976)
“The Next Big Thing” – The Dictators (1975)
“Chez Maximes” – The Hollywood Brats (1976)
“After Eight” – Neu! (1975)
“Ghost Rider” – Suicide (1977)
“Little Johnny Jewel” – Television (1975)
“30 Seconds Over Tokyo” – Pere Ubu (1975)
“Burn My Eye” – Radio Birdman (1976)
“Politicians in My Eyes” – Death (1976)
“Cherry Bomb” – The Runaways (1976)
“Roadrunner” – The Modern Lovers (1976)
“She Cracked” – The Modern Lovers (1976)
“Shake Some Action” – Flamin’ Groovies (1976)
“Blank Generation” – Richard Hell & the Voidoids (1977)
“Anarchy in the U.K.” – The Sex Pistols (1976)
“Sonic Reducer” – Dead Boys (1977)
“Neat Neat Neat” – The Damned (1977)
“Chinese Rocks” – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers (1977)
“Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads (1977)
I used Tune My Music to import it to Spotify from a text file, then copy to Amazon Music from there. I tried to go to Amazon first, but it messed up quite a bit of the songs. I did have to add “7 and 7 Is” by Love manually as it shows as “Seven and Seven Is” on Spotify. It weirdly plopped a Bob Marley song in that spot. Amazon was full of weird covers and the wrong songs when trying to import from text.
So, what do you think of the list? What’s missing? What needs added? Are my parameters skewed? Do you not accept anything past the date of what parameters were set? What obscure band that 14 people heard at the time is missing from this list? Don’t come at me with the Sex Pistols over the Ramones. Should we whittle it back to 25? Only have 1 song per artist? Come at me with healthy discourse.
I have been slowly working on mazes for a second book, and contemplating how to compile my stack of older ones for a third. (Some of which have definitely ended up here over the years.)
I didn’t include solutions in my first book, as they are very small and relatively easy to navigate… and I was in a rush to kind of test the process and see how the KDP model of print-on-demand publishing worked.
I reached out recently on Reddit & Facebook to solicit advice on solving mazes, and got some great insight. (Check out r/mazes on reddit if you’re so inclined, there is a bunch of cool stuff!)
I learned that I draw perhaps a little more chaotic than some of my forward-thinking fellow maze artists. I generally keep a bunch of open paths from each end, then connect them. Sometimes, what I thought was an open path… is apparently not. I even just recently learned that at least one of my mazes in my first book is impassable – oops! 🤣
I plan to do better with this next book, to make sure all the mazes are passable, and to include the solutions. If you have any advice for a guy that doesn’t absolutely love solving mazes to solve his own mazes, please drop it here in the comments!
In my solicitation for advice, I realized that I have been seeing a lot of fantastic work by other people over the last few decades, and not sharing any of it. Here I will rectify that. Please, check out the following!
MerioKodo – Mazes with secret codes, to unlock several levels of puzzle solving.
Mazetoons by Joe Wos – Inimitable cartoon themed mazes by an award-winning & record-breaking artist.
That’s a super random & not complete list. Please, let me know in the comments who we should all be checking out, especially if it’s you & your projects!
Most people are apparently dimwitted, and when you post “bank” or “mattress store” as a reply to the inevitable “What is being built by the old ____?” posts on local Facebook groups or Nextdoor, they have no idea you are joking.
Let’s, as a society, start providing real information. Usually, it is easy to obtain through a search of township meeting minutes or real estate development sites.
There is no need to speculate that it is Target.
There is no need to tell everyone it is a Dollar General or strip club when it is not.
There is no need to pine for Hills, Kmart, Zayre, Woolworth, Murphy’s Mart, or some other long-gone department store.
If you don’t know, keep scrolling.
If you do know, please post evidence (in the form of a link to concrete proof) to back up the claim.
Also, as an addendum…
Starbucks and Chick-fil-A do not promote unwarranted amounts of traffic. Chick-fil-A is more efficient at directing traffic than the national, state, and local government.
No one cares about township lines. In southwestern Pennsylvania, a building can reside in a township, but have a physical address with a zip code in another town. Any reasonable person will know which one you are talking about by referencing either of these locales. There is no need to point out the difference.
Did we all get that? Am I missing anything? Hit me up in the comments.
I like to make goofy Amazon reviews sometimes. You may have read my blog or review about that damned basketball hoop. (40 people found that helpful!) While I have been waiting for my own review of <shameless plug>my book</shameless plug> to get approved, I found some of my old reviews and I see this one was deemed helpful by 18 people.
I’d like to say I bought these because I dress in all black to be cool like Johnny Cash. My kids say I’m “emo” because I wear black all the time. They are unwilling to accept my explanation of the subtle nuances between emo, goth, punk, and metal heads… who each have their own unique affinity for the macabre.
My dad always said “Never trust a fart after forty” and truer words were never spoken. I work in remote areas and bathrooms aren’t always readily available. Sometimes I am 60 miles and one shart away from disgrace.
These black skivvies help conceal any skid marks. My wife doesn’t need any extra aggravation when doing the laundry.
The boxer-breif fit is nice too. It keeps the frank n’ beans snug. Also with age, Jimmy & the twins seem to bounce all over the place. This is a comforting fit without being restrictive.
I’m excited to see The Batman Flash movie! Michael Keaton is the GOAT. I remember the absolute fervor when he was cast. Everyone was sure he would fail, but he became an icon and ushered in an era of superhero films. Hearing Danny Elfman’s theme gave me chills I tell you.
And I’m excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. These were irreverent films full of insanity & heart.
I enjoyed the other Guardians movies, Gunn‘s Suicide Squad, and I think Peacemaker is the best DC television show ever. I think the soundtrack is better than the GotG movies really. I have really been enjoying the soon-ending runs of Titans and Doom Patrol too. I get that Gunn has virtually nothing to do with this Flash film, but I’m excited to see what he has in store for the DC universe… and have dug his contributions to Marvel.
Is James Gunn the key to Marvel vs. DC at the movies, or the Amalgam Cinematic Universe???
If you don’t know about Pat Finnerty, you should. He has a YouTube channel and he does a series of videos titled What Makes This Song Stink? among others (Now there’s a podcast too!). He has some witty observations, harsh truths, and is just lampooning guitar guy videos on YouTube. The pedal mobile is a thing of genius and pure hilarious delight. He says what a lot of us are thinking. He catches some wild connections or callbacks. He takes a joke way too far, which has always been something I am a fan of. It’s defiant. It’s hilarious.
As someone who has made art for it to mostly serve as a creative outlet that happens to have a very small circle of people who may have enjoyed it to varying degrees… It’s nice to see this guy get traction.
Writing, recording, and performing your own stuff lends itself to a certain level of judgement of others’ art. There’s probably some narcissism in there, but not at an unhealthy level. It’s not necessarily mean spirited, but it can be. I remain humble and understand that my creative output is not for the masses. I cater to a very small crowd with very similar tastes and no hang-ups about production quality. You have to wonder though… on some stuff… Why is this objectively certifiable crap popular? It’s hard to pin. It’s hard to point out.
I have played with some awesome musicians that “get it.” I have encountered many who do not. We are not on the same page. You’re not wrong in your opinions, but then again… you are. Pat gets it. Pat & I would probably disagree on a lot of things…. but we’d both have arguments to back it up. I appreciate his overall music nerdiness.
World (and Lunar) Domination 