Friday, February 3, 2012

Vendetta

Peep the logo.  So good!




I post this in honor of Stuff, the character - who was based on my friends and my dad, but who was also based on a guy we used to know named Tony.  Tony had a hard rock band called Vendetta.  He was from Middle Village.  It's hard to say he was anything but straight up fat, but he was in total denial about it.  He wore his hair in a mean bi-level, not so much because he wanted a mullet, but because he wanted long hair, and the rest of his scalp just wasn't budging.  He'd be bald in two years. This didn't stop him from flipping his hair back like he was Farrah Fawcett, and calling himself a "longhair".  He drove an Oldsmobile that he called the Bluesmobile, and did stuff like sing with intense vibrato "I lo-o-ove you" to girls passing on the street.  Jeff found this guy at Laguardia Community College - when Jeff was in his bleached hair shoegazer phase.  But we became obsessed with Tony - and imitated him to no end, hanging on his every word for material to flip and exaggerate later.  We loved to chill with him - but all we really wanted to do was get away from him so that we could basically paraphrase everything he had said.  We'd get crazy with it and build on everything, creating an imaginary character that was our leader - and we looked to this leader for guidance, coolness, and above all - jokes.  To entertain each other - to this day - we'll still break into what we think Tony would say - in any situation, to our enemies, or as real life advice.

The song is a cover of "Everything About You" by Ugly Kid Joe.  Near to the end of the track, Tony's patented vibrato is there for all to hear.  I feel like I want to convince you that this version of this song is actually sort of a perfect thing.  I always thought the original was cornball - but now I'm not so sure - and this one is made by a bunch of kids from Queens - 20 years ago.  The guitarist was 15 at the time of the recording - he definitely wails but it also kinda sounds like he's fifteen.  And the whole I hate Everything About You from the song is just so Queens and powerful and right.  I got chills while I ripped it from the cassette to my hard disk.

Vendetta Live At Nobody's by Frankie's Apartment