Back again, with our last update before the holiday weekend begins. Our present to you this year is the latest installment of TV AS EYES from senior staffer Rob Vertigo. This time Rob digs deep into the pits of Eighties Shot-on-Video atrocities and unearths some real gems. The KBD of VHS collectorscum perhaps. And trust me, from what I’ve managed to see of these online and in-person, they’re worth seeking out. I hope you enjoy, and thanks to Rob for sticking with us during a rough year. We’ll be back after the long weekend with another update, more reviews, Favorites of 2011 and other stuff in the near future. Thanks to everyone for all the support and Happy Holidays to you all.

Before there was TB there was BG. As Joe Domino succinctly summed it up:

“Blank Generation was an e-zine dedicated to the Renaissance of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Since its launch in March, 1999, Blank Generation has become a collective for opinionative fanatics of good taste in music. On December, 2003 Blank Generation closed due to lack of time and interest.”

I found BlankGen when I first got the internet (a webTV console) and one of the first things I searched for on the web was info about Teengenerate, who were then my favorite band. I reached out to Joe via this new and exciting thing called e-mail, and I ended up doing some writing for the site and got to become acquainted with fellow music fans like Todd Trickknee, Eric Lastname, Steve Strange, Jeff G., Shaun Anagram, Troy C., Man Mountain Mitch Cardwell, Icki and more, the guys who became the core of Termbo once Joe decided to close down BG. Needless to say, there would be no Terminal Bordeom without Blank Generation. So thanks Joe Domino, wherever you are. Before the OnOn Switch site died (which was housing the BG archives) I acquired the files for the site, which Justin Collectorscum (another guy who Termbo owes a big debt to) outfitted for the Termbo archives for all to enjoy. So take a look at the early days, a lot of this stuff is pretty funny and sometimes even really good. Early Firestarter and A-Frames interviews, high-larious columns, old reviews…I was always fond of the interview I did with Mark Sultan before he became a doo wop superstar. And Obsessive/Compulsive Rock’n’Roll will forever be one of my favorite columns (both Icki and Cardwell years). Check it all out here. We’ll be back soon with some interviews, columns and/or more reviews.