Royal Trux : Classic or Dud ?

you were there? i was there, too! Or at least I was at the show referred to ... it was like a NMH afternoon residency for a little while. and yeah it was very weird.

pee is stored in the badge

I'm fairly sure this was the last time he played L.A. (I was there, as usual). It was similar to the set seen here.

(I've always enjoyed these two semi-professional live clips from around the same time)

also the charges are ridiculous ... like a cop, with a gun, "fearing for his life" because someone threw a bottle or a rock at him ... ugh, fuck cops.

Kinda gross to be celebrating this event... I don't know the details but a welfare check at 12:30am is most likely noise and/or domestic violence. Friends mentioned he still lives with his wife & daughter, so I wouldn't rush to call Neil a hero, I'd rather hear the whole background first. Like others have said upthread, he's lucky he's white... many less privileged folks die everyday in this country over far less. He needs serious help.

TW, have you heard any details?

my central point is that the cops should not have been the first responders and almost certainly made things worse, given that yes I find his actions inspiring although staggeringly reckless and tbh privileged as I already noted upthread

xxp Policing isn't even in the top 25 most dangerous jobs in the United States, ffs.

The cops in this situation haven't claimed they "feared for their lives" (yet / as far as we know), or were seriously injured. This is all the DPD said in its statement (issued the same day as the arrest):

The three officers involved suffered cuts and abrasions during the struggle. All have been released from the hospital.

you were there? i was there, too! Or at least I was at the show referred to ... it was like a NMH afternoon residency for a little while. and yeah it was very weird.

― tylerw, Thursday, April 20, 2023 4:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

well, i attended one of those shows, at least, perhaps not the same one

xp - okay, but the thing is ... like, dudes get in a fight and a few dudes get "cuts and abrasions" ... generally they walk away and go "fuck that dude" and that's that. But, because one of the dudes was a cop ... I mean, are we just talking past each other here? Or are there folks on this thread who are actually pro-cop?

This wasn't a "fight," I don't know what to tell you. My concern is his condition / state of mind, and how serious trouble he may be in. If we're going to talk about the charges, may as well be accurate.

(and ppl do get charged with assault in "fight" situations, fwiw)

I wonder if we’ll see bodycam footage of the arrest?

Is there a way to find out what happened at yesterday's advisement hearing? Apparently that's when bond is set.

Here is the Denver County Court case history, looks like bond was set for $500?

https://public.denvercountycourt.org/Case/CaseHistory?CaseNumber=23CR02253

Here's a GoFundMe for Neil's legal defence and mental health help: https://www.gofundme.com/f/suk3t-neil-hagerty-mental-health-legal-defense

Thx, just saw Jennifer tweet that (Gerald Cosloy, First donation).

$500 bond seems reassuringly low.

Looking through the names of folks donating, hard not to fantasize about what a kickass benefit EP they could record if they somehow got together in a studio.

Bummer revive, I know, but I've listened to more Royal Trux in the last couple days than I have in decades. Gotta come up w/ a POX...

really glad people are focusing on the legal defense/mental health support fundraising ... my instinct is that the bail was set so low because the charges are mostly bullshit, but we can save the ACAB discussion for another thread

couple of good things if y'all haven't seen them yet — three lobed is donating all proceeds from the (great) hagerty-toth band record to the gofundme: http://threelobed.com/tlr/tlr115.html

same goes for this killer hagerty / ryley walker / ryan jewell collab: https://ryleywalker.bandcamp.com/album/fried-in-denver

and yeah, that $500 bail got my hopes up that maybe it won't be quite as bad for NMH as those charges looked (though I really don't know much about how all this works)

thanks for sharing these Tyler, I've just picked up a copy of the Hagerty-Toth Band record, which I hadn't heard about, sounds like it should be great!

That one is great, I’ve never heard of the other thing, gonna pick it up now…

Auction for Hagerty-Toth Band test pressing to raise funds for NH's GoFundMe:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166050120840

Here’s a question for those in the know: is there much out there (ie formally released, not bootleg) of live Neil solo stuff from any era?

If not, putting out the best of that might be a good way to raise money for him if a label could swing it.

NMH is one of those totemic indie figures who I’ve just not gotten ‘round to in a meaningful way (including Pussy Galore and Royal Trux, and it’s embarrassing to admit that it’s only starting to happen now.

BUT:

That self-titled album of his from 2003 is the one I own and know inside and out. Brilliant and confounding, with tunes that pop up on the mental jukebox at random moments.

Raymond: you might be interested in this--

https://www.discogs.com/master/594330-Neil-Michael-Hagerty-The-Howling-Hex-The-Hildreth-Tapes

Sorry, this is the record I meant

https://www.discogs.com/master/316960-Neil-Michael-Hagerty-The-Howling-Hex-The-Howling-Hex

Thanks HSH, will look into it!

I'm seeing a "campaign not found" msg re NMH from gofundme. Uh oh. I was wondering if this might happen given that gofundme "prohibits raising money for the legal defense of an alleged violent crime." I don't know if that's what is happening here — I hope not.

xxp Raymond that is the best one imho

xp Oh shit

It was up to over $34K last night

JH says on her FB post linking to the gofundme campaign: "The LINK is being updated..... PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER"

oh phew... fingers crossed it's all good

speaking to the concerns abt the charges, as one of the seemingly few ppl itt who has dealt with cops/system in adversarial circumstances as an activist, it is v common for prosecutors to overcharge so that defendants plea out rather than go to trial, this is a cheat tactic to make their conviction rates look good, everybody does it

also $35K is very encouraging

JH says on FB: "Terri (Neil's wife) has to change some of the language.... The lawyers are looking it over and should have updated link sooner than later 🙂 Thanks to Everybody xxx"

good news!

another way to help out: https://www.ebay.com/itm/166050120840

That one jumped up out of my price range (a good thing!) but I did order a regular copy from Three Lobed to help out a little bit.

JH says on FB: "Terri (Neil's wife) has to change some of the language.... The lawyers are looking it over and should have updated link sooner than later 🙂 Thanks to Everybody xxx"

― jaywbabcock, Wednesday, April 26, 2023 8:04 AM (one hour ago

what a relief!

I attended Neil Hagerty's court hearing in Denver this morning. Not much info, but a few updates:

- Neil was not present, but his wife+lawyers were
- His attorneys say he is still not in a state to be advised/testify
- Neil is still in custody
- Preliminary trial is set for 5/8

— Aaron Dooley (@Aye_Doolz) April 27, 2023

Oh man, that's hard to hear

:(

welp, this sucks on the NMH front. pic.twitter.com/DSSqg5c3tB

— QueenCityJamz (@QueenCityJamz) May 4, 2023

Damn, that sucks. Hoping they get a new one up soon that focuses on the mental health help, guessing this is a result of the issue with not being able to raise funds for legal defense of a "violent" crime.

Shit yeah just saw that in my inbox as well

New donation link: https://www.givesendgo.com/NeilHagerty

Additionally, Jennifer Herrema; Neil’s Royal Trux partner and family friend, has donated a free download of an audio track that combines 4 years of singular audio tracks Neil has posted to his Patreon subscribers. The combined tracks highlight Neil’s creativity while illuminating his disconnected mental state.

(I haven’t seen my GoFundMe donation refunded yet…)