Short one today, punctuated by some longer music clips, including the last(???) track to be released by The Smudge. He kept it going for 25 years and, as he noted in one of our last episodes, he just wants to shut the fuck up and pump gas for a while. Though I did see he's got some other gigs coming up as Cop Corpse or something. I dunno, keep up with his goings on at his Instagram @wjmartmke, unless he's currently threatening to delete it as you read this, in which case wait a few days and he'll be back.
The majority of this episode is dedicated to his thesis art exhibit in Milwaukee, opening tomorrow, Friday 3/28/2025. If you're in the area, go check it out. It genuinely sounds like a great and thoughtful experience. More on that at the Peck School of the Arts website. He's listed as, William Justice “Bucko Crooks” Mueller II.
He also notes that he'll be playing a bunch of footage we shot in Milwaukee and Fargo last summer. More on that and our corresponding zine, The Arbitrary Art, at my gumroad, which is what this long hyperlink you're currently still reading goes to. Or you can check the trailer first here.
We love Bucko, don't we folks? Go check out thesmudge.bandcamp.com for more. Hopefully his retirement is brief and he has hundreds of more albums for us before 2026.
And, of course, thank you, New Zealand.
