Ten Albums That Changed My Life - by JCE

Not my ten favorite albums, not my “desert island discs,” but the ten albums that CHANGED MY LIFE. Don’t get me wrong, none of these records got me off of a ledge or anything. It’s just that rock and roll music, after family, means more to me than anything. So, certain records that impact how I feel and what I listen to, really do change my day-to-day life on occasion. Here we go:

1. Paul Revere and the Raiders / Greatest Hits – My first LP record. I had purchased quite a few 45 rpm’s, but this was my first full length album. I bought it for their cover of “Louie, Louie” which I could not find on a 45 but I had to have it. My Mom took me to Korvettes department store and I paid for it with nickels and dimes. When I got it home, I discovered that most every song on it was great, especially “Kicks.” And so began my full-on rock n roll addiction. This was released in 1967, but I know I must’ve been more than four years old when I got it, but I’m not sure how old. It’s very fitting that “many now see it as a bold 1960’s rock n roll record with a defiant punk edge” according to one review I just read.

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2. The Beach Boys / Endless Summer – I played this double-LP in my room and day-dreamed about girls for hours and hours on end. I had a little all-in-one stereo that I absolutely loved, and I think my true love for vinyl records began with this one. It had a gatefold cover and great artwork. It was released in 1974. I loved the song “Wendy.” I would have been eleven or twelve years old when I got it. Yep, that sounds about right.

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3. The Cars – My sister Molly went to Boston University (we lived in Virginia). She discovered a local band there called The Cars, right before they broke it big. When their debut came out in 1978, I got a copy on her advice and I loved every song on it from the first day. I had been listening non-stop to the first Van Halen record, which I also loved, and which had been released a few months before The Cars record. The Cars were the band that somehow sent me down the path to punk rock. R.I.P. Molly, I miss you.

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4. The Clash – I probably got this record having never heard any songs on it. It was already older (1977) than the Cars record, but I didn’t learn about The Clash and the Sex Pistols and punk rock until after. I will always love everything about this record. It led me on a direct path to The Damned, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Buzzcocks, 999, Stiff Little Fingers, Generation X and on and on…. HUGE impact on my life.

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5. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers / Damn the Torpedoes – This record just couldn’t be any better. In high school, being a punk and a skater made me somewhat of an outcast. Damn the Torpedoes was one record I could play that I was pretty sure everyone could agree was pure genius. “Here Comes My Girl” was a song that ran a shiver up my back every time I heard it, still does. The record was released late in 1979. I would have been a junior. The record got me through some of those times when I felt a little alone, maybe a little too much like a loner. I don’t know why, it just spoke to me. It still does.

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6. X / Los Angeles – After about a year listening to punk mostly from across the big pond, this record came out and re-energized me. I found it to be scary and dangerous and urgent. It is truly one of my favorite records and one I feel is very important. I consider the Dead Kennedy’s “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” almost equal to this X record, but I got the X record first, so it gets on my list. Both records came out in 1980.

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7. Government Issue / Joy Ride – With my musical tastes firmly entrenched in punk rock, I found myself immersed in the punk scene which was percolating in the city in which I was born, Washington, D.C. The HarD.C.ore scene was very exciting to me, but being honest, I felt that quite a bit of the music itself was not up to par with other stuff I was listening to. Initially, I found it hard to truly enjoy the super-speed, play-as-fast-as-you-can style coming from the D.C. hardcore punk scene. Then I discovered Government Issue. John Stabb (R.I.P.) was spectacular live. This 1984 release had a song on it called “Understand” that really got a hold of me, although every song on the record is great. From this record, I embraced HarD.C.ore and I still listen to a steady diet of it today. I have many fond memories of the scene in its heyday.

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8. The Neighborhoods / The High Hard One – There was a guy in the music scene in Charlottesville, VA, where I went to college, by the name of Maynard. Maynard played in some great bands and he promoted some shows. He started putting up fliers all over town one day that said “Fire Is Coming.” I didn’t know what it meant at first, until I found out it was the name of an EP by a band from Boston called The Neighborhoods. I got very close to a bunch of amazing people in Charlottesville, including, eventually, my wife. We all saw tons of great shows, went to every gig played by our friends in a band called 98 Colours (some of those opening for the ‘Hoods)—it was a great time in my life. Everyone I knew absolutely loved The Neighborhoods upon the release of “The High Hard One.” I must’ve played “WUSA” ten thousand times. This record, for me, was the soundtrack for one of the happiest times of my life. I actually like the “Reptile Men” record even better, but this was the record (1986) that I associate with discovering so many new things and new people and so much new music.

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9. Enuff Z’Nuff – From the hair metal, Sunset Strip, glam and sleaze era, a few bands emerged that were so much more and so far above many bands from that genre. Every song on it is excellent and because of this record, I began listening to some different bands that I may have previously blown off as “not punk enough.” On the more metal side, I discovered The Hangmen. On the pop side, I went back and rediscovered my love of Cheap Trick. I started dating the beautiful woman that has now been my wife for 27 years in 1990. This Enuff Z’Nuff record, released in 1989, was played damn near every single day for the first few months of our relationship. We saw the band at The Bayou in Georgetown as they toured in support of this record. We have a handful of “our songs” but this is definitely “our record.”

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10. Social Distortion – This self-titled release came out in 1990. The album “Mommy’s Little Monster” was released in 1983 and I have been a Social Distortion fan since that time. There are a number of reasons why this record is on my list. This record came out the year I started dating my wife, and like the Enuff Z’Nuff record, it was a record we loved together. The song “Ball and Chain” is one of my all-time favorites, and my wife adores the Johnny Cash cover, “Ring of Fire.” The record also includes “Sick Boy” and “Story of My Life,” which are both classics. My wife and I gave up alcohol for about twelve years, during the time that we conceived our daughter and during the formative years after she was born. We also saw very little live music during that period of time. Upon taking up beer and wine drinking after a long hiatus, the first show we went to see was Social Distortion at the 9:30 Club in D.C. in October 2010. It was so frigging awesome that we have been to see an average of more than a show per month from that day to the present. I recently got my first tattoo, to honor my sister who I lost, and during the process, at my request, the artist played the Social Distortion Pandora radio station. I can’t express how truly integral music is to my daily life, and this very personal experience was definitely enhanced by the soundtrack that accompanied it. This band has meant a great deal to me since 1983. This particular record is the most representative of the impact they have had

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This list is in chronological order.  I cannot guarantee that the list wouldn’t change if I thought about it longer, but I think I’m pretty happy with it.  You might notice there is nothing on the list newer than 1990.  That may be a mistake, as I love and continue to collect music now just as much or even more than ever.  I love music more than ever, but there probably just aren’t that many instances where it can change my life at this point.  My list is heavy on the 1977-1980 releases, but I think that’s natural because when you’re 15 years old, your life is just starting to take shape.  This is a list of records that truly left their mark. - JCE

(editor’s note: JCE thinks it might be cool if some/all of the other Pencilstorm writers - Colin, Ricki C, Anne Marie, Scott Carr, etc. write up THEIR life-changing disc picks. For that matter, it might be nice if we could figure a way for READERS of Pencilstorm to chip in and send their two cents worth on the matter, participatory journalism at its best.)

Little Steven Van Zandt is Playing at the Newport THIS Wednesday Night, and You Should Go - by Ricki C.

Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul will be appearing at the Newport Music Hall Wednesday, November 14th. Doors are at 7 pm, details available here: Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul.

I didn’t see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band for the first time until April 5th, 1976, at the Ohio Theater here in Columbus, Ohio on the Born To Run tour.  Consequently, I never saw the E Street Band when it did not contain Little Steven Van Zandt – or “Miami Steve” as he was nicknamed in those days – on lead guitar & harmony vocals.  Despite everything I read back then in the rock press of the 1970’s before that 1976 tour – about the legendary prowess of Bruce Springsteen as a live performance force of nature from the very beginnings of his career – I cannot believe the E Street Band was EVER as good WITHOUT Steven Van Zandt as they were WITH him.   

People tend to forget that Bruce didn’t play much lead guitar until the Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour in 1978.  That first night at the Ohio Theater, and the next show I saw, in 1977 at Veteran’s Memorial in Columbus (the so-called “Lawsuit Tour” when the E Street Band were scrabbling out a living on the road after being sued by original manager Mike Appel), Little Steven carried the lion’s share of the lead guitar duties in the soul-smashing E Street Band. 

And make no mistake, though Big Man Clarence Clemons on saxophone was undoubtedly Springsteen’s main onstage foil in those mid-period E Street Band days – and I LOVED Clemons’ stage presence & superlative playing – it was Van Zandt who was the Keith Richards to Bruce’s Jagger, that sure and steady hand on the rock & roll rudder that kept everything locked TIGHT and rocking. 

So did it break my heart a little when Van Zandt left the E Street Band in the 1980’s to go solo?  Yeah, I admit it did.  And do I believe for one minute that any of Steven’s “replacements” in the E Street Band – Nils Lofgren, Tom Morello – could (or should) follow five paces behind Little Steven and carry his guitar case, great as they are in their own way?  No, I really don’t.  

And don’t even get me started on Steven’s sartorial style or the verbal brilliance he deploys on his Underground Garage Sirius radio channel.

Anyway, I could go on gushing like a 15-year old girl all night, but here’s the point: If you can’t get yourself out to New York City and the Great White Way to witness Bruce Springsteen On Broadway, at least get yourself over to The Newport on Wednesday night and see some rock & roll the way it should be done.  It can’t hurt ya.  – Ricki C. / November 13th, 2018 

At the NJ Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Asbury Park NJ on May 6, 2018









The Pencilstorm Interview: Jerry David DeCicca - by Colin Gawel

Now residing in Texas, Jerry David DeCicca returns to his old haunt of Columbus for a show Sunday, November 11th at Ace of Cups. (2619 N High St.), 6pm showtime. (Click here for more info ). Jerry is spending the rest of 2018 touring to support his latest record, Burning Daylight, released on Super Secret Records. He was nice enough to tap out some answers to my questions on his phone while traveling. - Colin Gawel

C.G. - You released two very different sounding full length records in 2018. Was that always the plan? What got into you?

J.D.D. - I wrote the songs on Time the Teacher awhile ago, thinking I’d be recording them in Texas with an acoustic guitar - lots of fingerpicking - and some friends. But then the chance to work with some UK producers came up. They wanted to take my songs out of that dude-with-acoustic guitar world (which has always been a bit cliche, but more artistically conservative than ever lately) and create a new world for my songs with piano, horns, and backing vocalists. They removed my guitar. It took a while to make that album. Lots of bouncing files & mixes, that sort of stuff. Then there were big labels interested, because they loved the album, then not interested because I’m, uh, old-ish and lacking metadata and management. (I think that’s a nice way to put it...) So then the producers released it on their own label. Well, that took up a ton of calendar pages. In the meantime, Super Secret Records in Austin asked me to make record for them, so I did that, too. It just piled up. I thought releasing two records - and my best two, I think - in the same year might be cool, especially because of how different the records are from one another. I may have been wrong. The verdict is still out.

C.G. - You recently wrote an excellent essay about your affection for 90's-era Springsteen and fighting your own depression demons in your youth. Did you subconsciously create your own Human Touch and Lucky Town? (Click here to read the essay at Talkhouse.com)

J.D.D. - Well, Human Touch was an exercise. Lucky Town is high art. Darkness & The River are probably better analogies, though I’m comparing them in terms of ideology, sound, and politics more than similar levels of quality. And I appreciate you reading that essay - it was easy to write, tough to live.

C.G. - In related news, you have the drummer who played on Lucky Town playing on Burning Daylight. You always seem to work with an eclectic range of musicians on your projects, what is your process for deciding who plays on what?

J.D.D. - In music, as an artistic pursuit and a marginal career, geography is destiny. I use what’s accessible to me and what feels right. I try not to reach too far away from a home base for collaborators - I’m still more comfortable having looked into the whites of the eyes of players to give life to my songs. Making records with people is still intimate to me. Time the Teacher was full of brilliant strangers, but one of the producers I deeply trust, so that’s what helped me let go of control. The drummer in Burning Daylight, Gary Mallaber, has long been a favorite. He took a bigger leap of faith than me, flying into nowhere west Texas based on a random phone call. I am working with more strangers these days, but that’s because I moved somewhere not knowing many people. But, I’ve got good instincts and music is still my vehicle to make new friends.

C.G. - You seem to spend as much time producing records for other folks as you do recording your own songs. What’s happening on that side of the glass?

J.D.D. - I just wrapped up final mixes & approving masters for two records I produced due out next year. One is a new Chris Gantry record. It’s gonna blow minds, best thing he’s ever done. He had one huge hit, “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife,” that Glen Campbell cut. He was a favorite writer of Johnny Cash and Kristofferson, had lots of other cuts. It’s an incredible album. He’s in his 70’s and one of the best acoustic guitar players I’ve ever heard. The other artist is a guy named Will Beeley. He had two records in the 70’s reissued by Tompkins Square recently. This is his first in almost 40 years. We made it in San Antonio. He’s an over-the-road trucker now. You’ve heard of Americana Fest? All those people are bullshit, playing & writing fan fiction, fashionable garbage cans in the shape of an acoustic guitar. Beeley is the real deal. As soon as you hear his voice you’re reminded that authenticity can’t be defined, but you know it when you hear it.

C.G. - Very cool. I’m excited to check both of those out. Switching gears, as a young man, you worked at Used Kids records during the height of the Columbus Indie music scene, alongside such notables as the late Jerry Wick, Bela K. and Ron House. How did a Springsteen-loving newbee such as yourself land such a prestigious gig anyway?

J.D.D. - They were all music freaks. So am I. Freaks attract freaks. I was friends with you back then, too, so connect the dots…..

C.G. - What are some of the bars & bands you remember from your days on High Street?

J.D.D. - Bars: Stache’s, Bernie’s, Larry’s. Everyone at those places were kinder to me than they should have been. Bands: too many to name, but so many Big Brothers & Big Sisters let me tag along. You were a big part of my development. I was 20 years old when you & Joe began tolerating me. You took me inside your house one night and listened to my songs. After 4 or 5 tunes, you told me none of my songs had a bridge, we talked about Dwight Yoakam, and then you taught me how and why to write a bridge, it’s purpose & content, musically & lyrically. I remember every word, still. You were so right!! I was so excited you told me you liked this new record, because I applied what you taught me over 20 years ago to many of these songs. I owe you a beer.

C.G. - Wow! I do remember that night, though the details escape me now. I don’t know how we wound up at the Watershed house on 65 E Patterson, but I suspect it was late and beers were involved. Ok, final question. If I would have told the 20-year old Jerry that in 2018 he would release two full length records and travel from Texas to play a show in Columbus at a club owned by Marci Mays, what would he have thought?

J.D.D. - I would have said: of course! I knew I was going to make records that were art > commerce, that was the plan. I thought it was going to look different than this - more sustainable, more listeners, more opportunity to explore. But that was the 90’s then, the heyday of music, financially, where money trickled down to weirdos like me. I knew I was going to live somewhere else. I love Columbus, but also obsessed with the adventure of the Next. I mean, when I was 20, I was still a kid. But I knew I valued music as art, that I wanted it to be heavy and deep and be taken seriously. I really do appreciate how sweet you were to me back then. It meant a ton, then & now.

C.G - Always a pleasure, my friend. Safe travels and hope to take you up on that beer soon.

"Burning Daylight" is the title track from Jerry David DeCicca's 3rd album, released on Super Secret Records 28/09/2018. Duet lead vocal, Eve Searls. @jerrydaviddecicca (instagram), www.jerrydaviddecicca.com Vinyl, cd, tee shirts, album credits at: https://jerrydaviddecicca.bandcamp.com/ Video by Kenneth K. Christian (www.kennethkchristian.com)

Rating the KISS Unmasked Draft Albums - by Nick Jezierny

Click here for complete results of KISS Unmasked Fantasy Draft

(editor’s Note: On a 100-degree day in Boise, Nick decided not to ride his mountain bike like he does every Tuesday and chose to sit around in his Kiss boxers and rate these records. “Seems like a productive thing to do,” his wife said sarcastically.)

This is going to be harder than I anticipated – I’ve studied the albums, tried my own crazy formula to rank them (way too complicated and probably too scientific). I thought about ranking all songs from 1-71 and then scoring the records like a cross country meet.

That seemed like a lot of work, and since my love of Kiss sometimes means a song I’m not super-high on one day becomes a favorite the next, I’ve decided I’m just going to go with my gut and that means this: the best rule for unmasked Kiss – the fewer Gene songs, the better.

Let’s be honest. The Demon struggled mightily between the last makeup record “Creatures of the Night” and the last non-makeup record (at least in this draft) “Revenge.” He was making movies and the 80’s fashion trends didn’t suit him well.

So the record that starts with “Domino” and ends with “Lonely is the Hunter” and has a total of eight Gene songs is automatically eliminated. Not only does it have eight Simmons songs, but none of his best five from this era are included.

  • Thou Shalt Not

  • Secretly Cruel

  • Unholy

  • Betrayed

  • Fits Like A Glove

The highlight of this last-place record in “Silver Spoon,” one of my favorites.

Time to eliminate another record. Two others records have at least five Gene songs, but Gene songs are created unequal. The album that contains two of his epic duds – “Murder in High Heels” and “Any Way You Slice It” – among six Simmons offerings is the next on the chopping block.

While the Gene songs didn’t help — “No No No” is another stinker — it was the lack of great Paul songs that led to its demise. While “Exciter” and “Tough Love” are above-average, they aren’t enough to warrant this record as the winner. And it has “My Way,” which is “no way” in my book.

The next cut was difficult. It would be easy to take an album with five Gene songs, but I’m going a different direction. The album that starts with “Take It Off” and ends with “Carr Jam” is the next to go.

While this album featured a legitimate No. 2 pick in “A Million To One,” there wasn’t enough substance to follow it. I found myself wanting to rank this higher, but there are a lot of forgettable or blah songs, including “(You Make Me) Rock Hard,” “While the City Sleeps,” “Get All You Can Take” and “Who Wants To Be Lonely.”

This disc only had two Gene songs – “Not For The Innocent” and “Spit” – but those aren’t album killers, but they also couldn’t help it stave off elimination.

That leads us to the five-Gene song album that starts with “Unholy.” Between that hit and “Fits Like A Glove,” some of Gene’s best non-makeup work shows up. So does his worst: “Love’s A Deadly Weapon.”

There are some other strong picks – “I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire),” “Heart of Chrome” and “Thrills in the Night” – but there’s too much filler to warrant a top-two finish. I consider “Reason to Live” like much of the “Crazy Nights” record – average at best. “I’ll Fight Hell to Hold You” is a forgettable tune and might be the worst second song on any Kiss record. (It’s worse than “Any Way You Slice It”!)

That takes us to the top two records. Both are strong records for different reasons, but I’m going to eliminate the record that opens with “Crazy, Crazy Nights” and ends with “The Street Giveth and The Street Taketh Away.”

This record had a lot going for it. “I’m Alive” and “Tears Are Falling” are very strong, and two of Gene’s best - “Thou Shalt Not” and “Secretly Cruel” - are as good as it gets from him in this era. I even like “Forever” enough to ignore “Let’s Put the X in Sex.”

What really sunk this record is the inclusion of “Hide Your Heart.” Back in 1989, when I was a senior at Ohio University, Kiss released “Hot in the Shade” around the same time as Ace Frehley released “Trouble Walkin’,” which as you may know, also featured a version of “Hide Your Heart.” I thought Ace’s version was vastly superior to the poppier Kiss version to the point where I dislike the Kiss version. So that was my tiebreaker – “Hide Your Heart” made this record worse than our champion.

Congratulations to the record that starts with the ultimate opening song from the non-makeup era, “King of the Mountain” and ends with perhaps my pick for the steal of this draft, the 11th-rounder “You Love Me To Hate You.”

In between, this record includes “Lick It Up,” “Heaven’s On Fire” and “God Gave Rock and Roll to You II” for hits. If you want some under-the-radar magic, you’ve got “Gimme More,” “Under The Gun” and a not-so-bad “Betrayed” as one of only two Gene songs on the mix.

We can overlook “Radar For Love” and “When Your Walls Come Down” and realize each of these albums has a dud – “Bang Bang You.”

So that’s it. I intentionally didn’t look at the names of the albums or who drafted them. I wanted to keep this on the up-and-up. Really, I’m jealous I couldn’t participate and would have liked to have included “Carnival of Souls” because there are five or six songs that would have been fine additions to some of these records.


Nick Jezierny is a former journalist who has seen Kiss 10 times on nine different tours and in eight different venues in six different states. He works as a Communications Specialist at Blue Cross of Idaho where he writes a Song Lyric of the Day each morning on the whiteboard in his cubicle.