The new edition of the Hatchet Herald is out today, and consists of a variety of topics! Covered in today’s edition are:

• Riddle Box Tour / Hallowicked
• The March
• Big Ballas Xmas Party
• Juggalo Day/ Weekend
• mention of a new artist
• and more

You can read the full Hatchet Herald below.

What the fuck is up, fam?! This is your pal J-Webb coming atcha with an overdue Hatchet Herald. I skipped a few because there wasn’t really anything to report or elaborate about except about the 2^nd leg of the Riddle Box tour and Hallowicked 2016 … and who wants to read something saying “Buy your fucking tickets now before it’s too late!!!! AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGH!” Obviously part of showbusiness is selling tickets to the Big Show and so we have to be all super hype to make everyone invest in a ticket, but is that worth devoting an entire Hatchet Herald too? Fuck no.

But fuck it. The Riddle Box Tour and Hallowicked are now finished and as we wrap up the ending of 2016, it’s a time of reflection and more importantly, a time of anticipation for 2017. 17. THE sacred number of the Dark Carnival. Consider this: 2017 will be the only time IN THE HISTORY OF OUR LIVES that we will experience Year 17. Something big is on the horizon, fam. Some of it is definitely anticipation and stomach butterflies about the Juggalo March on Washington, D.C., which goes down the weekend of September 15-17 in our nation’s capital. We’ve never done ANYTHING like this before and we don’t know if we’re going to fall on our ass or hit the moon. But as we plan for the Juggalo March, we’ve noticed a definite adjustment in the karma around Psychopathic headquarters. We can literally feel that 2017 is going to be unlike any other in our storied history – creative new products, a Juggalo Weekend that’s going to kick fucking ass, the first West Coast Gathering, a new artist who will revealed in the not-too-distant future, the March, and so much more. The funny thing, just working around the office, Violent J and Shaggy have been walking around saying that it’s going to be raining diamonds every day in 2017— a phrase they haven’t used regularly since the 6^th Joker’s Card dropped in 2002. Violent J and I had a brief conversation and he told me that the positive effects that this coming year will last for the rest of our Juggalo lives. He didn’t elaborate even when I pushed for more details—he just gave me an enigmatic smile. So even *I* don’t know what’s all in store for next year…I just know I believe him when he says it’s going to be a year that will change the trajectory of the Juggalo Family forever. It’s a fucking head trip, man.

I’ll take a quick pause to remind you that the annual Big Ballas Xmas Party is being held at longtime ICP haunt Pop’s in Sauget, IL, and goes down on December 17—tickets are available here: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=6952725&REFID=clientsite

The evening will include Oddball Wrestling, ABK, Blahzay Roze, and of course, your friends the Insane Clown Posse doing holiday songs and some of their RAREST SONGS in their catalog, which as you know, has a LOT of hidden and forgotten gems. Ballas is always a fun ass night—J and Shaggs walk through the crowd and just chill with everyone and it’s a laid back, casual Juggalo Christmas party. Some people have been bitching online that Ballas is being moved out of Detroit but here’s my retort to anyone who’s pissed that we’re taking ICP traditions and sharing them with the Juggalos in the other parts of the country: WHY SHOULD ONLY CERTAIN AREAS GET TO ENJOY THE DARK CARNIVAL MAGIC?? Detroit will always be the homebase of ICP and Psychopathic Records, but we want to be able to share these traditions with those Juggalos who can’t always get to Detroit. It’s only fair. That’s why we’re also holding Juggalo Weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida. One, Detroit in February is FUCKING COLD AS MY EX BITCH’S HEART, and two, Florida has always been one of our strongest Juggalo states. So the Sunshine State gets to experience the magic of Juggalo Weekend on February 17 and 18. On night 1, it’s a dual headliner with Shaggy 2 Dope performing a rare solo set as well as a set from Psychopathic veterans TWIZTID! Night 2? Ahhhhhhhh shhhheeeeeit, fam. Dark-fucking-Lotus will be performing the wicked shit classic “Tales from the Lotus Pod” IN ITS ENTIRETY! And one more thing: There will be a highly limited collector’s item available at Juggalo Weekend that will only be available for ONE TIME ONLY! I’m not going to give it away but let’s just say that if you’re a collector, you are going to want to get your hands on this Secret Item. That’s the only hint I’m dropping here or will EVER drop about this exclusive and limited piece of merch. Just get those tickets now!

Day 1: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1342679?utm_medium=bks

Day 2: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1342683?utm_medium=bks

So that’s the general news/info on upcoming events. Oh shit! Almost forgot to remind everyone that ICP’s long out-of-print original version of A Carnival Christmas EP” will be available on 7” vinyl on Black Friday. It’s currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/Carnival-Christmas-EP-Vinyl/dp/B01LY6PZS4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478294798&sr=8-1&keywords=icp+a+carnival+christmas and will also be available at most indie record stores as well as Hatchet Gear! And final reminders: Remember that Violent J’s audiobook of “Behind the Paint—Expanded and Updated” is now available via digital download at many audiobook sites, including Audible and iTunes. And the action figure-style USB drive is still available at Hatchet Gear. Whichever way you prefer it, you need to get that shit! It’s an audiobook unlike any other!

In closing I wanted to share with you a thought that came up in a discussion that I had with Violent J today. We spend a LOT of time talking about music since we both love and appreciate so many of the same artists – Michael Jackson, Prince, and the Beach Boys just to name a few. But today we got to talking about punk rock and the punk subculture which history remembers as exploding in the UK and New York in the late ‘70s as an expression of anger and rebellion from the young people who were living in an economic dark age of high inflation, crime, gas shortages, and rampant unemployment (for more on this, I recommend Jon Savage’s excellent book “England’s Dreaming”). Myself, I believe the first real punk rock bands were the MC5 and the Stooges, but as a resident of Detroit Murderous, I might be just a LITTLE biased.

But no matter where it truly started, punk has always been a philosophy of rebelliousness against the mainstream establishment and generally a way of young people saying to the older generations and the general public: “Fuck you.” While bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The New York Dolls, Fear, the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Big Black, X-Ray Spex and many, many, many other bands get name dropped as being the titans of the punk ethos, it seems to me that the most punk band working today is … Insane Clown Posse.

Think about this: The original punks were despised, arrested, spat upon, and jeered by “normal” God-fearing citizens. After punk got watered down, exploited and morphed rather clumsily into New Wave around 1979, the whole movement by and large lost much of its bite (except maybe in L.A. where legendary bands like The Germs, X, Circle Jerks and more were just getting started). But today, the question of “What modern bands truly embody the punk philosophy?” often gets debated and argued over, usually by hollow-chested nerdies who use a blog strictly for writing about how “overrated” the Sex Pistols are (as a former newspaper editor, I used to encounter these cretins a lot. A LOT. They are exhausting).

Now think about this: What subculture today gets harassed, banned, labeled “criminals” and “degenerates,” and—in many parts of the country—can be arrested or escorted off property for wearing a certain logo?

Juggalos.

That’s it, friends. In a country where wearing the Hatchetman can lead to your arrest, inclusion onto a fucking stale gang list, or being fired from your job, or losing custody of your kids, being a Juggalo may be the most rebellious cultural act of the present age.

Sure, there’s plenty of hipsters who will spit out their soy lattes and cough on their Cinnabon-flavored e-juice at the mere notion that Juggalos are the last true “punks” in the world, but fuck ‘em. Punks were never considered a gang, investigated by the FBI, or subjected to the abuse and the harassment that Juggalos have endured for years.

And that’s why the Juggalo March is so important—to show the world on the grandest scale imaginable who we are and what we are NOT. This is why we need all of YOU to plan to be there in D.C. this coming fall. Because together we will rise above the din of voices that would try to silence us and call us “criminals,” or “gang members.” And I think the great John Lydon/Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols said it best in 1977 about what the March is really saying to the naysayers about us not being a gang but a family: “WE MEAN IT, MAAAAAAAAN!”

And we do. We really fucking do.

Websites:

• hatchetherald.com