John "Bloodclot" Joseph, street hustler, drug addict, brawler, product of his environment, but perhaps best known as the frontman of The Cro-Mags. John wrote a book about his tumultuous life and it is every bit as great as it is disturbing and thought-provoking. And get this, the writing is blunt, comprehensible, and engaging as can be. John's literary voice is that of a dude on the street just spilling it, telling you ribald inner city tales that make you wanna squirm away before he kicks your fucking teeth in. There are no justifications, no apologies, no excuses, just a whole lot of "Here's another fucked up thing I did to survive," and survive he did. Judge not the man, just sit back and let him tell you how it went down. Brutally honest, matter of fact, and seriously fucked up. Here's the book on tape version with John himself laying it down. Killer.
42 comments:
This is a GREAT book!
Righteous. I have a bit of an audiobook addiction, and this will soothe the monkey on my back quite nicely. Thanks Aesop.
Is there a free user limit on mediafire? D/l the first two parts fine, but can't get the last two.
Thanks a million, Aesop. I heard about this book and have been wanting to read it for a while. Being able to hear it read in his own voice adds something more, though.
Awesome.
I've been trying to find the book on tape version of this uploaded anywhere online for a while. I just gave up or forgot about it though. Glad to see it on here!
My favorite part is one of the guys he used to hang out with in Times Square was nicknamed, "Computer."
The first time I heard this I listened to each part several times— unusual for a spoken word release. This hits me a lot harder than Rollins did some 13-15 years ago. If everything he says is true, this dude really lived like a real punk in every sense— meaning it had everything to do with violence, insanity, crime and survival with music being a the minor backdrop, not the soundtrack and reason for being. He's gagged on a wider range of bitter pills than the few most of us have only dabbled in. Young punks would do well in checking this out and understanding life is bigger than punk, a few years in it becomes about responsibility, involvement and making your community a better place. I feel really bad he had to endure what he hed to growing up, especially the foster family he and his brother stayed with in NY. But his last laugh is this book, as he moves on and doesn't wallow in the moral situation of his experiences. Inspirational.
His new band isn't bad, I'd consider checking them on the strength of this book, as unrelated (or not) as that may be. They DO have something of a NYHC beatdown feel with cut-time breaks and heavily detuned guitars.
JMD
Royal Oak, MI
file # 4 is down
It seems to work fine, perhaps try it again.
thanks so much for postin this
"2nd Album Went Multi-Cardboard"
The actual book is fetching pretty high prices on Amazon. Hopefully a reprint will happen.
Thanks for this.
I think I will wait till the traffic on this one slows down. I see this going with me on my trip to Washington state.
Thank you in advance.
-jabladav
Many thanks Aesop, I can't wait to hear this. Age Of Quarrel is one of my all time favorite albums, and every bit as brutal now than when I first bought it when I was in High School back in '86.
Cheers,
Jim.
You KNOW how I feel about this book/audiobook/band/dude.
One of the greats for sure.
Cro-Mags changed my life in a few ways, and JJ is the real deal for sure.
Wow, thanks! Can't wait to listen to this!
Awesome. Thanks for postin' this. I love the Cro-Mags logo Sean Taggart did for them.
Thanks for this.
I'm halfway through and it's great so far! Thanks a lot for posting it.
Jesus fucking christ his childhood was just too harsh. This is a pretty compelling audiobook, Aesop. Thank you!
this has been a pain to download.i finally got it to load into my itunes. but it won't play for some reason. if anyone has advice i'd gladly take the help. otherwise this is my favorite blog. thanks for all the great stuff.
---freakyagent
My advice for freakyagent would be to forget about iTunes altogether. If you ask me, it's just a giant pain in the ass that's rarely worth the trouble. I can open these files with any number of media players. Time for a switch, no?
Cannot wait to read this. Speaking of Rollins, anyone got a link for "get in the van" as read by henry rollins? I spent a while looking for it and just couldn't find it up anywhere.
@prosthetic eyes: Try this http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7IT9A0WX (not checked). If it doesn't work, do a google search for [ mediafire "get in the van" rollins ] or something like that - there are many many results.
And thanks for posting JJ's audiobook man. I spent all night listening to it, couldn't stop. Now I'm at work, not being able to keep my eyes open. Cheers!
I like how he says in the book that he wishes 42nd street would go back to being the shithole it was with all the pimps and druggies, etc.
Then on his myspace he talks about how Krsna is the way to save mankind.
Typical, unintelligent scumbag. He's the real deal, yo!
read this last year, funny, surreal and weird more often than not inadvertedly so!
For anyone having a problem downloading this (ie only being able to DL parts 1 & 2 or something) you can try this link instead: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8GOY98FT
I found that when I looked at the file info for the book on my iTunes. The comments section had a link to the blog where this was originally uploaded I guess and the link was there. It's not split up in parts so it will take longer to download most likely or at least seem so.
This is awesome....I listened to the whole thing in one sitting while home from work. It is really cool to hear such a detailed history of John Joseph's life, what the scene was like and the birth/death of Cro-Mags. I thought John was really honest, forthcoming, and surprisingly introspective throughout. Telling it like it is without making any apologies.
Thanks for this!
Listened to parts 1 & 2 today. Downloading part 3 now...can't wait to hear the rest. Compelling and riveting stuff...there were more than a few moments where I found myself holding my breath. THANKS!
Thanks Aesop! Great shit from your blog as usual. (I've never had problems downloading from the Hearse and using itunes btw)
Thank you very much for uploading this awesome book. He is a incredible great storyteller.
Thanks, Aesop. This really is a great great listen. I do not own any Cro Mags, and have never been interested really, but this guys tale is crazy. I will be checking them out now. I love how he describes his first trip, listening to Floyd...haha I think everyone goes through that one.
i never listen to a cro mags recording, but i listened to all 5 hours of this
I saw the Mags on that Motorhead tour he talks about. They were awesome and blew Motorhead and Megadeth off the stage. Crazy to hear how they did that tour in a shitty old van. this book has me listening to Age Of Quarrel daily once again. Thanks for posting this!!!
thanks for posting this, JJ is the man. Bloodclot!
Thanks much for posting this. I enjoyed all 4+ hrs. of his storytelling. I kept hearing his gnarled voice in my head days after i had listened to the entire thing. Strangely, I found myself digging harder on Bad Brains than Cro-Mags after listening. Good thing.
Took me a little while to get through it all, but what a wild, weird life - and tales well-told. I laughed out loud (sometimes unwittingly) more than once.
The whole "spit Oreos" thing still sticks with me, for some reason...
Thanks for posting!
this rules. thank you.
I just found this book at a chain music store in New Hampshire for retail. I just looked it up on amazon and it's going for $120 new! What a steal. Can't wait to hear him tell his story after just finishing reading the book. Thanks!
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