PINHEAD GUNPOWDER is Aaron (Cometbus) Elliott, Billie Joe Armstrong, Bill Schneider, and Jason White. The vast majority of lyrics are written by Aaron, and to me, have the amazing spirit of COMETBUS in them. PINHEAD played at 924 Gilman, the collectively run punk performace space in Berkeley whose history can be read in the book 924 Gilman. Needless to say it was the performance space that birthed a legacy of bands, and for that, 924 Gilman merits a trip there, regardless who is playing, if you find yourself in Berkeley. As both a GREEN DAY fan and an even larger COMETBUS fan, this was not a show I could miss . The show kicked off rather…well…mellow…as a sing-a-long (!?!?!?!?!!!) while GILMAN got itself together with the sound. If I remember correctly, we sang “My Boot in Your Face is What Keeps Me Alive”, “Find My Place” and “Achin to Be” sans mics. Then, with working mics, Billie and Jason quickly got into a zone, Bill jammed like a mofo, Aaron kicked in with drums POUNDING it out and the show really began. The rest of the show was a bit of a blur, with highlights for me including LANDORDS and LOSERS OF THE YEAR, MPLS SONG, WESTSIDE HIGHWAY, ANNIVERSARY SONG, and NEW BLOOD. I could have lived without 2nd STREET, MAHOGANY and BIG YELLOW TAXI and would have preferred KATHLEEN, SWAN SONG and KEEPING WARM IN THE NIGHTTIME.

There was a bit of crowd surfing and the heaving of fans towards the stage throughout the show which probably crushed a fair amount of people. A Gilman friend dropped me a tip on where to stand and it worked like a charm…I was magically moved from the side wall behind some people, to where I ended up - sitting on the stage at Bill Schneider’s mic stand (thanks again for that tip.) One of the cheesiest highlights for me was my screaming out the words to LOSERS OF THE YEAR at Aaron, and getting a smile out of him for a split second before he reverted back to angry punk dude. It was, for me, a once in a lifetime show and something that will be close to my heart for a long time and probably life-changing in ways I havent even realized yet.

[Me at Pinhead Gunpowder 2/12/10]

Now there WAS luck involved for this next east bay event I attended, the COMETBUS art show. How it coincided with me being out there for the PINHEAD show was like a perfect alignment of the stars. So, yes, Im a COMETBUS fan. I cant remember how I found his zine but Im sure it was from something GREEN DAY related. How to describe COMETBUS zines? Im not quite sure I have the words…I could sit here staring at this computer screen for a solid week trying to finesse a pithy statement to describe it, so in the interest of getting this on to NWWM, I implore you to just pick them up and read them. They are heartwarming, heartbreaking, insightful into both the individual and collective human experience, and they make me laugh…and laugh HARD…and they make me think…they have layers upon layers to them which make reading and re-reading them pure joy.

So, clearly I give the pieces written by Aaron and his tribe of contributors some real brain-time, however, what I NEVER kicked around in my brain was the artistry of the covers for his zines. I never thought of them as, well, as art, I just never thought much of them at all. That ended the moment I stepped into 1-2-3-4 GO RECORDS which is displaying the art creations of Aaron Cometbus - musician, writer, AND artist. It was like seeing a side of someone that was always there right in front of me, but I had always overlooked it. Aaron pretty much pulls his skirt up and lets us into his creative panties. He writes in his intro to the show “my medium - pen, paint and xerox - was probably my mother’s fault. She was an artist, working in fiber and textiles. I was inspired by her use of shading and ability to define form with just a few lines”. He then adds “Through distorting an image, I try to bring out some darker, more vulnerable truth hidden underneath the surface. I like to combine different moods and different faces - unlikely combinations that mix pleasure and a sense of dread and unease”. Aaron uses multi-layers of imagery in his art in a very parallel way that he uses the multi-layers in his writing. Now having gotten a peek at Aaron’s creative panties, all those COMETBUS zine images make so, so, so much more sense to me now. I left 1-2-3-4 GO RECORDS absolutely GIDDY! I was just made privvy to this amazing secret that really was never a secret to begin with.

I will leave you with the PINHEAD GUNPOWDER cover Aaron created for SHOOT THE MOON. The photo on the left is the original photo which looks to have been in some fishing related book. The image on the right is the altered image and album cover. It is difficult to see via this photo captured from my phone but you can see how he created a much “darker” image from a completely emotionally-neutral image….the face of the man is now hidden, the tools in front of him have a menacing feel to them. I was really quite taken by seeing the original images next to his creations. It heightened for me the complexity of his images in a way I had never been able to appreciate before.

Shoot the Moon album cover, artwork by Aaron Cometbus

The Aaron Cometbus art show runs thru February at 1-2-3-4 Go Records in Oakland.

Yes and no. In the end it was Saint Jimmy who imploded, but he came from a real person. He was a live wire of emotions wrestling against any effort to keep him under control. That’s the kind of thing they have to deal with, and it nearly drove the band apart. How could it not, trapped in that stupid maze of regrets and aspirations, all the while knowing there was a way out, if they could find it. Ironically that way was Jimmy himself. A raging, spitting boy with fire in his eyes now contained by a degree of isolation. The artist always knows what makes his brainchild tick. Sometimes it’s best to give him a lead and let him run with it. Saint Jimmy did, straight off the edge of the world. He served his purpose, just like Christian and Gloria are serving theirs.

That’s what really floors me about Green Day. They keep going into the strange half-lit world at the back of the minds. Nobody said they had to. They just keep digging while we wait safely on the other side of the caution tape. Showing us all how to deal with our own live wires. Carefully, and with a lot of patience. Because even our darkest moments are just that. Fleeting.