The night threatened to pour but did not. Approximately 40 souls attended Dirty Penny’s performance last night at Clinton’s Tavern. Some were fans, others had come for the other bands sharing the stage with DP. It was a shame. It was a rare line-up of talent. …

Waiting outside Glenn’s factory rehearsal space, the sounds of derivative grind core bands fall out the second floor windows like sunlight, just as bland. 
First to arrive is drummer Scott “Candy” Fletcher.  He doesn’t see me as I hold open the doors for him and his gear.  He is concentrating.  He …

Sitting at a wooden table in a plumber’s bar covered in fake wood and the relaxing faint smell of a thousand mopped pukes all point to the jukebox. The waitress drops off our beers. Nidhan’s beer is an ale. His face is rough, gang related, but his …

JC Penny sent me the following message yesterday. I received it at 10:46pm.
BEGIN
Alex, you’ll want this somehow for your book. It’s something I keep yelling inside my head regarding Dirty Penny and my role as front word man: it is that in the ladder of overall quality …

So it’s true. Bassist Sugar Bear has quit Dirty Penny. Yours truly discovered this while at JC Penny’s home sitting across the table yesterday evening while he and his daughter ate fettucini. I was hungry as well and luckily there was a walnut bowl near the flower …

WHERE’S SUGAR BEAR?  DP bassist Jay “Sugar Bear” Larson was not present last night.  I am a little pissed.  I endure countless ignominies following this band around, documenting.  In exchange I was promised complete disclosure, except for bedrooms.  I would write the book and then make enough money to go …

Dirty Penny has released an album for 2008. It is the greatest oeuvre of popular culture since U2. I have played this album over 900 times since receiving it in my hand one month ago. It gets better and better really slowly. It is a weird drug …

I get asked a lot why I spend so much time covering the evolution of Dirty Penny. “Don’t you have better things to do?” friends and my mother say to me. The truth is I spend a lot of time. I basically am allowed to be around …

This rock reporter is waiting outside Glenn’s rehearsal studio, located in an old sock factory turned run down loft/studio spaces for almost exlusively young filthy white musician men. Young women sometimes enter but are ephemeral. The toilets are revolting and shared. The twinkle they get from their …

DP started off the evening with lead vox JC Penny promising “we’re gonna play some ACDC for ya!” to a cheering desperate-for-something-unpretentiously-entertaining Drake crowd.  It was a lie.  ‘Cigarettes, Whisky, and Wild Wild Women’ (TaDa! 2007) began with lead guitar Lovely Louis’ fingers beginning to blur and they were off.
The …