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Saturday, November 21. 2009

Are You Rockin’?

There’s this friend back in Milwaukee, Mark Shurilla, who I’ve known for 25 years. He’s a musician and a shameless self-promoter, one of his finer attributes in my book! He was also one of the founders of The Express music monthly in that city, a rag that promoted the local music scene, in particular punk and really hard core metal. Back in the day when metal had several genres like thrash, straight edge and … err … pop I think. No matter.

You’d see ads in there for bands like the Amadots and the Haskels, local area bands mostly, although if memory serves me correctly — and at this age it usually doesn’t — the Amadots were a Chicago band. Whatever, Chicago is a nice suburb of Milwaukee.

Anyway, in 1987 The Express was merged with The Crazy Shepherd, a monthly rag I was associated with for many years and voila! We had The Shepherd Express, a publication still in existence today, although in 1988 we went to a weekly publication schedule.

Shortly after this merger Pink Floyd — sans Roger Waters — went on tour to support their latest album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, at the same time Roger Waters was on tour to support his second solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.

So, Shurilla had this grand idea that he and I should write opposing views about the departure of Waters from Pink Floyd, Shurilla with the enviable side of arguing that there is no Pink Floyd without Waters—since he was the primary creative force behind the band’s music for most of the previous 14 years.

I was stuck arguing that Floyd was a great band with our without Roger Waters, an apple cart that was upset the moment the band stepped on stage without the venerable front man and bass player. I did my best to be convincing, noting with absolute conviction guitarist David Gilmour had created most of the band’s most memorable guitar licks since the album Meddle.

Shurilla and I went to both concerts, the Floyd, which took place in Milwaukee County Stadium and Roger Waters in the Milwaukee Arena. To be honest, I liked both shows, although it was disconcerting to see a session musician in place of Waters and a second (and possibly third) guitarist helping out with all the layered guitar parts we hear in the studio albums.

Waters, on the other hand, engaged the audience in the smaller venue, and in that regard it was a much better concert experience. As I recall, Shurilla and I agreed on that point.

Over the years we saw concerts together, Shurilla continued to do gigs with his Buddy Holly tribute band and his punk and power punk polka band The Blackholes. He never had a bad word to say about any genre of music, but we always know what he prefers. Oh, and he still plays basketball. I think.

Recently I created a Facebook profile and began collecting friends. Unlike MySpace, which is primarily a place to connect with … err … professional models … Facebook is the social network I use to stay in touch with friends. Well, low and behold, Shurilla has a Facebook profile too and soon we were attached to each other’s friends lists.

Now I get notices for his band’s gigs now and then. It makes me smile to see he’s still the same guy I remember from the all those years ago. Well, we’re both quite a bit older now and it shows, but other than that, he’s still asking, “Are you rockin’!” It’s more like rolling now Shurilla, but yeah, I’m rockin’!

Which brings up the point of this short bit of personal history. Not too long ago on Facebook a discussion ensued about some topic, which I can’t find, and devolved into a spate of one-liners by my brother Rick and I (chiefly) quoting and misquoting (mostly) Frank Zappa. Shurilla types in, “Hey Forkes! I have a Phi Zappa Krappa poster! You want it?”

Hell-fuckin’- yeah! I asked him what he would like in return and his reply — in true Shurilla fashion — was nothing. So a couple of days ago a package arrived in the mail and there it was: Phi Zappa Krappa. Mark fuckin’ Shurilla! You’re a good man Shurilla! Thanks for the poster!

Shurilla and I are no longer associated with The Shepherd Express, but with Facebook we keep in touch with a number of our colleagues from those heady, and often poor, days. I should ask him if Anthe has a Facebook profile.

The paper lost one of its music writers to a heart attack a few days ago, Brian Barney, who was also a very popular local musician. I didn’t know Brian, but his passing has left many feeling low. That’s how it is with people who set out to do good for their communities. People truly miss them when they are gone.

Mark Shurilla is one of those guys. He does his best to bring a smile to everyone’s face, although there are a few who would rather just strangle the guy. He often reminds us, through the example of his own personality, not to take ourselves too seriously. On the other hand, he’s quite serious about playing and promoting music and that makes Shurilla a local treasure in Milwaukee. Well that and this Phi Zappa Krappa poster that’s about to get affixed to the wall!

Are YOU rockin’ Shurilla?

Posted by Tim Forkes in The Arts at 12:01 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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