And now for a short selection from the bastardized Whatcha Missed section of this column:

"Spiels of a Minuteman"
By Mike Watt
140 pages
L'Oie de Cravan
 Order from the publisher

Although this short but sweet anthology of punk lifer Mike Watt's work from his time with the influential -- but still overlooked -- Minutemen came out in 2003, there weren't many who noticed. Sure, there were a couple of zine reviews, but doesn't a guy who helped redefined political punk (along the way inspiring bass wizards like Flea, Les Claypool and others) deserve a bit more? Hell yes, he does; maybe Iggy and the Stooges' decision to tab Watt as the bass player for their first reunion and album in decades will bring him the respect he's always earned.

In Iggy, Watt has found a companion of sorts; both were raging against -- and with -- machines before Zack de la Rocha was born. "There are bands that spend more on their videos than they do on their records," Watt told me recently. "Two or three years later, they're defunct; all you know about them is what you saw that one day on television. The art of humans performing for humans is getting lost in the shuffle."

It is the same point that Watt, George Hurley and the late, great D. Boon -- the Minutemen vocalist/guitarist who died in a 1985 car accident -- were trying to hammer home as well. "Spiels of a Minuteman" contains all the lyrics that Watt wrote for the Minutemen, who churned out 11 albums in six years, as well as his diary from a 1983 tour with Black Flag. Although his buddies -- artist Raymond Pettibon, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Richard Meltzer and more -- contribute text and art to the collection, it is Watt's "Tour Spiel" (the title of one of the band's more famous tracks) that is the star here. Whether he's witnessing Henry Rollins being assaulted in the parking lot or helping Boon defend the stage from a neo-Nazi bum rush, Watt's blue-collar reportage is a blast to read.

If you want a taste of the man's penmanship -- the always low-key, self-deprecating Watt calls it "spiel" -- check out his popular Hoot Page. While you're there, order the book, out from Canadian press L'Oie de Cravan. Mike's Hoot Page seems to be the only place I can find the damn thing online (if anyone finds a better virtual sale point for it, e-mail me ASAP so I can add it here). Which just goes to show you that he's still got that indie spirit.

Watt's been a busy man of letters in 2004. His newest album, "The Secondman's Middle Stand," marries Dante's "Divine Comedy" with Watt's own harrowing brush with death in 2000. On top of that, he's recently returned from Ireland for the Bloomsday centennial that celebrated James Joyce's "Ulysses," the sometimes impenetrable classic that hit Watt, along with Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," like a freight train when he first stumbled upon both as a teenager.

"Both were about journeys," Watt says, "which have always attracted me. Maybe because my father was a sailor. He would come home from his tours, take me driving around for hours, and just spiel about his journeys. As in music, tours aren't just about the job. They're about the towns, getting into the spaces between. Same with books."

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