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From The Desk Of OFF!: El Rey Is The King!

Some artists deal with the subject of mortality in delicate, reflective brushstrokes. OFF! bandleader Keith Morris confronts it roughly the same way a hungry pit bull meets a T-bone steak—with fang-gnashing ferocity. To wit: multiple compressed assaults from the band’s new sophomore salvo, Wasted Years (Vice). Because, at 58, the Circle Jerks/Black Flag vet (who still maintains a spin-off combo dubbed Flag) has faced his own frailties, overcome most of them, and simply accepted—then soldiered on—with the rest. Morris, guitarist Dimitri Coats, bassist Steven Shane McDonald and drummer Mario Rubalcaba will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on them.

ElRey

Morris: I really try to watch as little TV as possible seeing that I can’t stand 98{e5d2c082e45b5ce38ac2ea5f0bdedb3901cc97dfa4ea5e625fd79a7c2dc9f191} of the Fox News and reality pablum that passes itself off as television programming. My girlfriend digs shows I’d grade C- to F+ so when she’s not looking and I get the chance I turn to channel 145, film director Robert Rodriquez’s new El Rey network. I’m not a big fan of his films, but this is a crazy channel to hit up forra’ rock-’em sock-’em kung-fu brawl, action jammed, shoot ’em up, blood-sucking vampires, bodies flying everywhere, buildings getting demolished, streets in flames, car chase, all guns blazing, delinquent girl gangs, stuff being destroyed, Friday midnight movie or Saturday matinee teenage rampage fest with small doses of nudity. Everything your parents wouldn’t give you their permission to view as you were growing up. Some of the flicks I’ve enjoyed so far include the Shaw brothers’ (who are the Kings of Chinese martial-arts movies) The Dragon Missiles, The One Armed Swordsman and Legendary Weapons Of China. Also viewed the insanely brilliant Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon, Kurt Russell as the mercenary Snake Plissken along with Issac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef and Ernest Borgnine in Escape From New York. There’s also totally badass Japanese martial artist Sonny Chiba as The Street Fighter, Roddy McDowell as the television Vampire slayer in Fright Night and the exploitive high school girl-gang versus the macho bad boys versus the uniformed L7 authorities in Switchblade Sisters. Of course, I need to mention Soul Brother supreme, Rudy Ray Moore as the Mutherfuckin’ Dolemite! Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!