Michael Knotts second solo album, released in 1994. By the time Rocket and a Bomb was released, people had grown accustomed to Michael Knott's records often being surprising and frequently even alarming. Few were prepared, however, for the shock that would set in upon hearing the opening bars of "Jan the Weatherman" on Knott's second solo record and the discovery that Knott had discovered Dylan-esque Americana. In a move that would shape the rest of his career, Knott turned down his amplifier, tuned out his demons, and crafted a record of stories that was both quietly and deeply affecting. Built mostly around Knott's clean electric guitar and the twinkling organ of Adam Again's Gene Eugene, Rocket and a Bomb is collection of 11 tales about the eccentric individuals with whom Knott and Brian Doidge shared an apartment complex in Huntington Beach, California. There's "Bubbles," a despondent drug addict who is abducted and raped on the very night he decides to clean up his life. There's "Skinny" (aka Steve Hindalong, drummer for the Choir), a smoke-bumming drummer who Knott owes money to. And, most famously, there's Kitty Courtesy, who may or may not have killed her husband and boiled his remains for dinner. Rather than use these characters as an object for scorn, Knott treats them with genuine respect. Witness the tender treatment he gives "John Barrymore Jr.," a delusional old man convinced he's the son of acting great John Barrymore. Over a simply acoustic strum, Knott sings