From The Desk Of The Meat Puppets: The Good, The Bad And The Rack

To have Cris Kirkwood back as the bassist of the Meat Puppets is nothing short of a miracle. The band he founded with his guitarist/vocalist brother Curt in 1980 broke up in 1996 due to Cris’ addiction to heroin and crack cocaine. In the ensuing years, Cris’ life spiraled far out of his control as he lost his wife to a drug overdose and spent 18 months in prison for attacking a post-office security guard. Now, almost four years clean and sober, Cris is gearing up to hit the road in support of the band’s 12th studio album, Sewn Together. Before he does, Cris will spend the week guest editing magnetmagazine.com. Read our new Q&A with Cris and our 2007 career overview of the Meat Puppets.

Cris Kirkwood: Thanks to recent developments in the field of agriculture, human kind has been able to spend a lot less time wandering around trying to scare up something to eat, and a lot more time laying around staring at their belly buttons, which, depending on how you look at it, is either a good or a bad thing. In support of the bad-thing side, may I recommend The Inquisition, a book we found on tour in Amsterdam, a collection of photographs of torture devices from through the ages dreamt up by folks who suddenly found themselves with a lot more time on their hands and decided to spend this novel new leisure time dreaming up fancy gadgets with which to inflict pain on others, including the rack (pictured), the skull crusher and, one of my faves, the anal and vaginal “pear.” Yikes. In support of the good-thing side, please allow me to trumpet the talents of the illustrious Robert Crumb and Zap Comix. Or in support of both, and speaking of Amsterdam, how about that rascally old enigma, Vincent Van Gogh? A tip of the hat to Eli Whitney, John Deere and all the other fine folks through the ages whose hard work and dedication, if nothing else, keep a lot of tummies full.