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Monday, May 23, 2011

Crooks and Perverts


On November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press, President Richard Nixon said:

People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got.

Crook is a bit outdated, the kind of word you may have heard around my home during my childhood, along with other words like floozy, gallivanting, tramp and shindig. Today, a crook seems rather benign, perhaps someone prone to petty crimes like swindling a customer or shoplifting.

In a world of alternative lifestyles and extreme behaviors, pervert is also much less meaningful than it once was, bordering on the quaint.

Coming up with a good name for a music group is difficult - akin to finding a catchy dotcom not yet registered. There are inanimate objects - The Doors, The Cars and Rolling Stones; insects - The Beatles, The Crickets, The Hornets, Iron Butterfly, Adam Ant, Hungry Locust, Spiders from Mars; automobiles - R.E.O.Speedwagon, The Cadillacs, The BelAirs, Fleetwood Mac; animals - The Monkees, The Animals, The Byrds, The Eagles, The Turtles, Stone Ponies, The Black Crowes. The categories, single word names and simple phrases are endless, including the vulgar, irreverent, angry, defiant, lovely, ironic and nonsensical - The Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin, Leftöver Crack, Pavement, Mötley Crüe, et. al.

When I first heard Crooks and Perverts play, they immediately exuded a feeling of authenticity. When I spoke to them, I learned that their members are from Georgia. They have a unique blend of authentic southern roots, rough country boys with an urban sensibility and musical sophistication - I recently saw them in Matt Umanov Guitars sampling the wares.

However, regardless of changing times and mores, I would still be wary of anyone who calls themselves a crook or pervert :)

Note: Crooks and Perverts are now based in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and can be seen playing the streets of New York City. You can find their website here with music samples, videos, etc.


Related Posts: The Real Peel, Tired of Crumbs, Street Poet, Makes Me Stronger, Famine and Feast, Sieve, Street Magic

2 comments:

Leslie said...

Everyone likes a good down and dirty name for a band, usually the weirder the better. I thought the name 'Excoriation' would be a great punk band name, but even my crazy drummer work mate thought it was gross and over the top. Call me weird but I still think it's a delightfully disgusting name.

chickenunderwear said...

I knew a bunch of pre-med students who named their band "Bowel Sounds".