The Dum Dum Boys - Question for Paul T!

ZinZin wrote:

Paul what you write about their mom's house has a weird alienating quality!
Guess this must have been also one of the Asheton quality's Iggy noticed..when asking the brothers to play together in a band.
This 'quality' can also be choking for someone like Iggy...cuz it beholds a conservative attitude
yeah..it's very clear..the perfect ingredients were there for a never ending complicated inter personal thing
..wow..

ZinZin, your comment here is interesting ... at least I think it is... but could you explain it more? I'm not quite sure what you were getting at, all this about the Ashetons' 'weird alienating quality' and a 'conservative attitude'

Nadja wrote:

ZinZin, your comment here is interesting ... at least I
think it is... but could you explain it more? I'm not quite sure what
you were getting at, all this about the Ashetons' 'weird alienating
quality' and a 'conservative attitude'

ahhh...the language you know....to me it's

here is Paul's text again: "I was sitting in her living room with Ron, the
floor is covered with disassembled AK47s and other automatic weapons,
there is a smell of pot in the air, the TV is still on the sci fi
channel, it's around 6 in the morning and she's leaving to go to an
antique fair... she was questiong ROn to make sure he'd feed the cat,
it was very funny."

To me this situation is weird and extreme.
it seems that this scene/situation was prob an usual one for the Asheton's...to receive a guest in.
for hell's sake who wants to receive a guest around 6 in the morning?..while watching a scifi movie and cleaning guns?
a weird household!

Iggy once told in an interview that Ron likes to call him bizarre early in the morning to leave a few messages on his voice machine about Ron's idea's on music and the band...

Ron (and his ma) seem to have a special lifestyle not bothered at all what other people think
could have been they weren't even aware of the weird combination of things at that moment (?)

To me it shows that Ron has a very specific, creative and probably organized way of living. I sense a form/a love for alienation in this...could also be connected to a mental alienation. if so...this implies a limited condition of thinking and living..for others.
A so specific way of living with it's rules could be suffocating for others > what i call (a form of) conservativeness

that doesn't mean Ron and Iggy didn't share a huge creative interest > like the Weirdness...
hmmm...this is going too deep...into psycho stuff.
guess when you understand...you'll understand!

wow.
just wow.

interesting ZinZin! it was just I couldn't make the connection between 'alienating' and a 'conservative attitude'. thanks for clearing it up.

I always thought Dum Dum Boys (since it was spelt "dum" not "dumb") was a mention of their simplistic music style and Scott's primitive beats.

I think Ron has always felt sort of lonely so when The Stooges came along he took a chance and he put his heart into it and felt he could really acheive something then Iggy demoted to him bass and then he Stooges split up. This (I think) probably made a big impact on him. Making him afraid to take risks therefore staying with his mother for a long time.

I dunno, he and scott seem very close, and it shows in the music, so he cant have felt that 'alone'

also i dunno about that whole iggy 'demoting' him being a cause for not leaving the nest for so long - because it wasnt as if james just came in and he and iggy pushing everyone out of the way, the band broke up and not because of iggy because they couldnt get a suitable bass replacement . . . and iggy, lol sort of, well the breakdown, anyway

yeh then bowie came in, and iggy asked james to help him, and when a suitable rhythm section didnt show they asked the ashetons if they fancied doin it, it was ron's decision, granted he may have been pissed at being bass (tho he shouldnt as its no less an instrument - and he showed that guitar isnt his only talent, therefore he can hardly be annoyed that he may have appeared inept at it - he did start on a bass afterall)

anyway, so if he wants to blame someone he should blame himself, he took the job, and i remember him stating he took it/saw it as a job and not like starting up a band with mates, so i dont know how he can be pissed at all, it was a job, he decided to take it and he was brilliant at it - i dunno about it fueling some adult neurosis's that kept him in his mothers house for 30yrs (tho u never know)

HJW

homesickjameswilliamson wrote:

I dunno, he and scott seem very close, and it shows in the music, so he cant have felt that 'alone'

Scott was a heroin addict along with Iggy and James. Ron was the only one who stayed clear of hard drugs which must have been alienating not to mention his prized classic stratocaster was stolen by Scott and Iggy and sold for drugs money. There must have been a sense of betrayal there especially since Iggy split up The Stooges but still worked with James Williamson.

Didnt they fall into heroin (badly) in 1972, not 1970/71 when the stooges spilt up, so i think him and ron were probly still on good terms - tho i get wat you're saying, drug cliques can be as tight as family but as nervous as enemies

but i dont think iggy split up the stooges per se, didnt he have like a mental breakdown or somethin in 1971, or couldnt handle it, plus the revolving door of bassists, and i dunno, amean bowie got iggy a solo record not a stooges record, the fact iggy gave the fingers to bowie/mainman and made a stooges record shows his commitment to the band i think

i see your point tho, if ig did get another chance at a record ron was probly expecting an immediate phone call

HJW

There's no question of the hurt Ron feels about the time of Raw Power, it comes thru in all the interviews he's ever done on it. of course it's not a case of blaming Iggy and/or James either (and of course it was Ron who wanted to bring James in in the first place!) - it's just how things worked out. And, before this, heroin really did make a barrier between him and the others, it couldn't not have, and as you say CF#E that must've been hard for him. And I guess he took the Raw Power 'job' cuz things weren't happening for him elsewhere, that seemed to set the pattern for his career until now...he just didn't achieve much success, until now, but not thru want of trying I don't think
Not to get sentimental, but it's just great the reunion thing happened, and has lasted...it's no more than they all deserve. But I think it's been especially good for the Ashetons

yeh, the reunions a great thing, and it goes to show, amean look at all the 'reunoins' that are goin on, and goin down cos the bastards realised why they split

the stooges are a band,in the literal sense of the word, they all band together, u'no, not one in there unnecessarily or anythin

i think it was a good thing for iggy as well, amean skull ring was good, but didnt provide the record label with the sales, which means iggy coulda been stuck without a record contract and doin bit parts in movies and tryin his best to get gigs, that woulda been shit, its great theyre doin it (tho i'd love to see iggy solo just once!)

as iggy said "its the stooges...we finish what start"


HJW