Really, what more can I say? Not all that killin much about this year. There were some personal highlights: 1. After four years, I retired from baristadom; now I am just a coffee snob. 2. I started listening to both real black metal (all the fvcking time..), and real DJ's. Thus falling further down the slippery slope of friendless music jerk (and that's fine with me....) 3. I finally got my own frikkin theatre company. (more on that later) 4. I finally nailed down a serious relationship with an adorable girl who I really get along with. (HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! Fuck no that didn't happen....Maybe '08 will bring a worthy opponent.)
I'm already on the bandwagon for resolutions, or, more to the point, I should say proclamations. I've had it, in general, with everything. 2008 (incidentally, the year I hit the big three-oh) will be the year of massive changes. I finally feel like I've been owed alot more, and I'm cashing in my chips all at once.
One big thing that I'm toying with is taking a year off of theatre. For the past ten years it has brought me nothing but frustration. Few and far between projects that I have worked on have really felt fulfilling. It's very hard for me to straighten out what in my brain, I personally could do, and maybe a year or so off would give me clarity in this. Even the company that I helped found, under the very clear vision of Dan VanHoozer, will A. only be around for one season. and B. Has put itself into such a situation right now that is making me want to pull my teeth out one by one. I've been thinking about what I would focus on instead (because I am not capable of just taking time off...) and I think maybe music and/or other art is the answer. I have recently started a band, and though the timing has kept us from practicing alot lately, when we do I feel the kind of excitement that I so desperately look for in theatre. I would also love to toy around with learning how to DJ. Beyond that, I'd love to start screening my own shirts and hoodies, and beyond that, maybe dabbling in the plastic arts some. Who knows, maybe Kylos can start filming that movie that I'm supposed to star in......Whatever I do, at the very least, it will need to be arts related, as I do know that makes me happy.
I'm always broke as hell, but maybe I'll travel more. I finally got my passport in the mail the other day, so the rest of the world can no longer keep me out. First stop: Chiapas, Mexico, which is where I will hopefully be spending most of my April.
Alright jerks, that's it. I need to get ready for the typical lame new years in DC. Tonight I will be going into battle, and then going to a hopefully small but rockin' DJ party at Pharmacy, and then off to the Cat for the aftermath.
As for you: crush it, kill it, destroy it, and get the hell out of my way......
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Well here we are again....
So, here I am am with another seasonal, I suppose, blog. One day I will make myself write at least one small paragraph a week, but until then.........
So, what's new, you don't ask? Well, alot, and nothing.
Currently I am writing on my brand new computron. My poor, sad, old computron put up a good fight, but sadly, went the way of Chrystal Clear Pepsi. My new fangled Mac (hey, I did say it was a computer...) is not a "pro," like it's predecessor, but it is quite amazing. I got the high-end macbook (wait for it......yes, the black one....). Let's see, it's black, everything goes together with these adorable magnets, it has a camera built into it, and jesus christ on a blind date with the holy ghost, it has a REMOTE CONTROL!?!? (omgwtfbbq right?!) So, this should placate me for a while.
Which, I suppose takes us right on into music. Since my life is a perfect concoction of pink cupcake surprises and happy pony hop along dances, I would have no need to fill the void where, surely, a large red heart is embroidered into my white circular belly. In which case I would certainly not need to do anything like, oh say, compulsively bid on black metal albums on ebay. I would never do this, but if I did need this distraction from mortality, I would certainly grab gems like these:
1. Furze-Trident Autocrat MLP (!!!!!!!) (Go find a copy yourself, oh wait, you can't!!)
2. Furze- "S" 7"
3. Bone Awl-At The Ellipse's Arc 7" (What, not cassette you say? No indeed, a 7".)
4.XIBALBA-Ah Dzan poop Ek Double LP (Whenever this comes in......I'm getting worried.)
5.Nachtmystium-Reign of the Malicious PicLP (Awesome.....Just awesome...)
6.Xasthur/Striborg Split 7" w/shirt (maybe not so awesome...I need the new Striborg 7" split on Southern Lord....)
I mean, hey, if I was to do this sort of thing it would be okay because I certainly wouldn't pay say, over $40 for a 7". And even if I NEEDED to, that also would be okay, since I have all this money.......
Beyond that, I've gotten some old (for me) records out and can safely say:
Time Will Fuse It's Worth is a frikkin killer record; 100% solid.
Flowers in the Attic may well have been one of the most underrated bands on the entire east coast. I believe, with (forgive me) trends being what they are now, had they been a west coast band, every kid with the word "doom" on his tongue would own the entire discography (and no, they were not, per se, a "doom" band.) I don't know how many people actually bought their last album, especially considering the problems that the band was having, but it's a solid hell-stomper.
There have been a ton of year end lists floating around, so here is my super ADD, top ten songs of the winter:
1.Agalloch-"Falling Snow"
2.Furze-"Witchboundator"
3.Urfaust-"Der Halbtoten Dichters Schein-Existenz"
4.(DON'T EVEN, EVER ASK!!!) Tegan and Sara-"Dark Come Soon"
5.Bathory-"Die in Fire"
6.Joy Division-"Digital" (DIE YOU HIPSTER SCUMFUCKS DIE!)
7.Saxon-"Denim and Leather"
8.M.I.A.-Paper Planes
9.L'Acephale-"Book of Lies"
10.Weakling-""Dead as Dreams"
Also, I'm still trying to help out Time of the Wolf . I gave their full length another listen the other day, and even with all the insane black metal that I have been listening to these days, it's a solid album. I just need to find more places to send it to. Since the Wargoat radio information has not been updated on the website, I have no idea if Dimitri ever played it there, I never heard back from blackmetalradio.com, and Aquarius is knee deep in both records to review and holiday sales to mail out (mine included!). I wish I knew where to send it to get it reviewed for play on XM. God knows I used to live within walking distance of their DC headquarters, and TOTW beats 99% of the crap they play on "liquidmetal." I should also just suck it up, and send a copy to Oaken Throne. I mean, the chances that it will get reviewed are slim to none, but I suppose it's worth a shot.
It is also worth mentioning that I myself have formed a band. No, it's not black metal, but, shock and surprise, it is droney, doomey, metal-cuspy-and heavy as fvck. It has two basses and no guitars. It's an allstar lineup as well. My friend Adrian, who plays in a noise driven two man piece called Brontosaurus, as well as his awesome solo project Stymphalian Birds & White Stags; my friend Rusty, of Twats fame, now with rock joint, Sons of Guns; and John "Hellhammer Junior" Seager, who drumms for the ever blazing DC crust band Aghast. Truth be told, we have only practiced twice, once to figure out what we were doing, and again, to lay down the beginning of a track. Whatever this beast turns out to be, it will be crushing and epic. I'm excited to say the least.
Theatre: Don't get me started on theatre right now. Except to say that, in true DC fashion, even my own company is trying, with it's own strong breath, to force feeble mortal air into the long dust encrusted lungs of the dead in a pathetic attempt to bring life back into them.
Beyond that, it's alot of biking, and walking dogs. God, I just hope my passport comes through so I can go to Chiapas in March...........
Dear dark-lord, please help me think of a better name for this stupid blogggggggg
So, what's new, you don't ask? Well, alot, and nothing.
Currently I am writing on my brand new computron. My poor, sad, old computron put up a good fight, but sadly, went the way of Chrystal Clear Pepsi. My new fangled Mac (hey, I did say it was a computer...) is not a "pro," like it's predecessor, but it is quite amazing. I got the high-end macbook (wait for it......yes, the black one....). Let's see, it's black, everything goes together with these adorable magnets, it has a camera built into it, and jesus christ on a blind date with the holy ghost, it has a REMOTE CONTROL!?!? (omgwtfbbq right?!) So, this should placate me for a while.
Which, I suppose takes us right on into music. Since my life is a perfect concoction of pink cupcake surprises and happy pony hop along dances, I would have no need to fill the void where, surely, a large red heart is embroidered into my white circular belly. In which case I would certainly not need to do anything like, oh say, compulsively bid on black metal albums on ebay. I would never do this, but if I did need this distraction from mortality, I would certainly grab gems like these:
1. Furze-Trident Autocrat MLP (!!!!!!!) (Go find a copy yourself, oh wait, you can't!!)
2. Furze- "S" 7"
3. Bone Awl-At The Ellipse's Arc 7" (What, not cassette you say? No indeed, a 7".)
4.XIBALBA-Ah Dzan poop Ek Double LP (Whenever this comes in......I'm getting worried.)
5.Nachtmystium-Reign of the Malicious PicLP (Awesome.....Just awesome...)
6.Xasthur/Striborg Split 7" w/shirt (maybe not so awesome...I need the new Striborg 7" split on Southern Lord....)
I mean, hey, if I was to do this sort of thing it would be okay because I certainly wouldn't pay say, over $40 for a 7". And even if I NEEDED to, that also would be okay, since I have all this money.......
Beyond that, I've gotten some old (for me) records out and can safely say:
Time Will Fuse It's Worth is a frikkin killer record; 100% solid.
Flowers in the Attic may well have been one of the most underrated bands on the entire east coast. I believe, with (forgive me) trends being what they are now, had they been a west coast band, every kid with the word "doom" on his tongue would own the entire discography (and no, they were not, per se, a "doom" band.) I don't know how many people actually bought their last album, especially considering the problems that the band was having, but it's a solid hell-stomper.
There have been a ton of year end lists floating around, so here is my super ADD, top ten songs of the winter:
1.Agalloch-"Falling Snow"
2.Furze-"Witchboundator"
3.Urfaust-"Der Halbtoten Dichters Schein-Existenz"
4.(DON'T EVEN, EVER ASK!!!) Tegan and Sara-"Dark Come Soon"
5.Bathory-"Die in Fire"
6.Joy Division-"Digital" (DIE YOU HIPSTER SCUMFUCKS DIE!)
7.Saxon-"Denim and Leather"
8.M.I.A.-Paper Planes
9.L'Acephale-"Book of Lies"
10.Weakling-""Dead as Dreams"
Also, I'm still trying to help out Time of the Wolf . I gave their full length another listen the other day, and even with all the insane black metal that I have been listening to these days, it's a solid album. I just need to find more places to send it to. Since the Wargoat radio information has not been updated on the website, I have no idea if Dimitri ever played it there, I never heard back from blackmetalradio.com, and Aquarius is knee deep in both records to review and holiday sales to mail out (mine included!). I wish I knew where to send it to get it reviewed for play on XM. God knows I used to live within walking distance of their DC headquarters, and TOTW beats 99% of the crap they play on "liquidmetal." I should also just suck it up, and send a copy to Oaken Throne. I mean, the chances that it will get reviewed are slim to none, but I suppose it's worth a shot.
It is also worth mentioning that I myself have formed a band. No, it's not black metal, but, shock and surprise, it is droney, doomey, metal-cuspy-and heavy as fvck. It has two basses and no guitars. It's an allstar lineup as well. My friend Adrian, who plays in a noise driven two man piece called Brontosaurus, as well as his awesome solo project Stymphalian Birds & White Stags; my friend Rusty, of Twats fame, now with rock joint, Sons of Guns; and John "Hellhammer Junior" Seager, who drumms for the ever blazing DC crust band Aghast. Truth be told, we have only practiced twice, once to figure out what we were doing, and again, to lay down the beginning of a track. Whatever this beast turns out to be, it will be crushing and epic. I'm excited to say the least.
Theatre: Don't get me started on theatre right now. Except to say that, in true DC fashion, even my own company is trying, with it's own strong breath, to force feeble mortal air into the long dust encrusted lungs of the dead in a pathetic attempt to bring life back into them.
Beyond that, it's alot of biking, and walking dogs. God, I just hope my passport comes through so I can go to Chiapas in March...........
Dear dark-lord, please help me think of a better name for this stupid blogggggggg
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Well, it's time to justify having a blog again....
So, I'm just dropping a quick "hi" to pacify the blogger masses. I suppose too much has gone on to explain in detail here, especially since I don't have the time. So here are the highlights:
This year I'm helping plan NCOR, the National Conference on Organized Resistance.
Or, as it's trying to rename itself right now:
NCRO, The National Conference Resisting Organization (instance 1: shoot me!)
I am also working with the same group I did last year, in theatre. I suppose I should call it "my group" as we are like minded colleges who formed our own "company." I also suppose I should not call it a "theatre company," as right out of the box, we have transcended that concept. Our first project for the season, is going to be a very interesting photo installation. We are each evolving our own concept for the piece, and when mine got done someone kept using the word "drone" to describe it. The group also looked like they'd just been told that their entire family had been burned to death in a terrible accident. Perfect.......And yes, we have no name.
I'm also trying to learn Spanish. I cannot hear, and it occurs to me that one cannot learn a language without that trait. Most of my tutoring at this point has been comprised of reading complex political arguments, picking out the words that look familiar, and then trying to explain what the article is about. (instance 2: shoot me) At this point, I am either going to have *HUGE* "aha," or a tear-riddled-breakdown.
I am still walking the walk, talking the talk, and sticking it to the man.
Music, music, music, music
Here is the smallest synopsis that I can muster:
Baltimore gutter is amazing. Big hearts Aaron LaCrate.
I cannot stop listening to amazing dj mixes featuring lot's of gun cock and firing effects, and guest tracks by Roxy Cottontail.
Black Boned Angel-Eternal Love/Eternal Hunger, is the best drone album I have heard in a long time. It's so immediate, yet ambient, and viscerally responsive.
L'Acephale is absolutely amazing. I have Mord und Totschlag, and I cannot stop listening to it. It's an incredibly well crafted combination of experimental and true kvlt. I cannot stop, it is so good.
I actually like the new Xasthur album. It is looooooooong, it is aaaaaaammmmmbient. And in a certain mind set, I would cry if I had to listen to this, but as it is, Defective Epitaph and I are in the same place.
I also got the newest Caacrinolas album, Vargtimmen, and likewise I cannot stop listening to it. It's got such a perfect, minimal, eerie, and clinical sound. Rather like an alien operation, full of strange language and tools, only you are the unwilling patient. fantastic.
Finally, fuck a bunch of love life, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, repeat, repeat, repeat, ad nauseum........ (instance 3: shoot me)
well, this could be a whole book if I went into more detail with any of these. Who knows, maybe I will later. In the meantime, keep listening to Weakling, Dead as Dreams
This year I'm helping plan NCOR, the National Conference on Organized Resistance.
Or, as it's trying to rename itself right now:
NCRO, The National Conference Resisting Organization (instance 1: shoot me!)
I am also working with the same group I did last year, in theatre. I suppose I should call it "my group" as we are like minded colleges who formed our own "company." I also suppose I should not call it a "theatre company," as right out of the box, we have transcended that concept. Our first project for the season, is going to be a very interesting photo installation. We are each evolving our own concept for the piece, and when mine got done someone kept using the word "drone" to describe it. The group also looked like they'd just been told that their entire family had been burned to death in a terrible accident. Perfect.......And yes, we have no name.
I'm also trying to learn Spanish. I cannot hear, and it occurs to me that one cannot learn a language without that trait. Most of my tutoring at this point has been comprised of reading complex political arguments, picking out the words that look familiar, and then trying to explain what the article is about. (instance 2: shoot me) At this point, I am either going to have *HUGE* "aha," or a tear-riddled-breakdown.
I am still walking the walk, talking the talk, and sticking it to the man.
Music, music, music, music
Here is the smallest synopsis that I can muster:
Baltimore gutter is amazing. Big hearts Aaron LaCrate.
I cannot stop listening to amazing dj mixes featuring lot's of gun cock and firing effects, and guest tracks by Roxy Cottontail.
Black Boned Angel-Eternal Love/Eternal Hunger, is the best drone album I have heard in a long time. It's so immediate, yet ambient, and viscerally responsive.
L'Acephale is absolutely amazing. I have Mord und Totschlag, and I cannot stop listening to it. It's an incredibly well crafted combination of experimental and true kvlt. I cannot stop, it is so good.
I actually like the new Xasthur album. It is looooooooong, it is aaaaaaammmmmbient. And in a certain mind set, I would cry if I had to listen to this, but as it is, Defective Epitaph and I are in the same place.
I also got the newest Caacrinolas album, Vargtimmen, and likewise I cannot stop listening to it. It's got such a perfect, minimal, eerie, and clinical sound. Rather like an alien operation, full of strange language and tools, only you are the unwilling patient. fantastic.
Finally, fuck a bunch of love life, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, repeat, repeat, repeat, ad nauseum........ (instance 3: shoot me)
well, this could be a whole book if I went into more detail with any of these. Who knows, maybe I will later. In the meantime, keep listening to Weakling, Dead as Dreams
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
*SSSSHHHHH!!* Don't tell anyone I have a crush....
....On every single member of the Rentals.
That's right, last Sunday I parted ways with one arm and one leg for the sake of seeing one band, and above and beyond any expectations, did they ever deliver.
I have to admit, I was "that guy" for the first two bands. I stayed upstairs, looked zombified with boredom, generally forgot to clap, but hey, generally, this was not my scene. Then, after all the hemming and hawing, I finally went down to the stage for the main event as it were. Let me just say, I have never seen a band obviously having so much fun playing, in my entire life. The Rentals put on a show that felt less like the headlining of a large venue, but more like a band hanging out in their practice space and working on some new tunes after having invited all of their friends over to watch.
As black, cold, and dead as my heart is, after the first recognizable chord, it welled up with warmth, and bubbled up beyond a lively red, all the way into a hot, throbbing pink. I was elated, and danced uncontrollably until the bittersweet end. It is a rare show indeed where I wish the band would just come back and play the entire set again.
It was obvious that they had played these songs over and over and over a million times, so they did the only thing they could do, they goofed off. There were tones of in-jokes, winked looks, and out and out shenanigans going on for the whole shebang. But it was always sincere, and inclusive of the audience. Their melodramatic, moog-power-pop just hit you over the head like so much cheap valentines day candy, then fluttered across you like waves of half dead rose petals.
No one acted like a rockstar, and you could tell that they were genuinely excited about playing the new numbers for the crowd. At one point they even covered a Weezer song just to watch everyone freak out. Playing just about everything in toto, they hit the entire first record (of course), mixed in songs from the second, and did all the songs off of the new EP (which is okay, but I enjoyed the new songs better when they were live).
All in all, it was the most fun I'd had all week, and absolutely went down on the list of amazing shows that I've been privy to this year.
It's true:
I don't think
I'll find the love I want
The love I'm searching for
In this machine-oh
oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oooooo-oooooooo
That's right, last Sunday I parted ways with one arm and one leg for the sake of seeing one band, and above and beyond any expectations, did they ever deliver.
I have to admit, I was "that guy" for the first two bands. I stayed upstairs, looked zombified with boredom, generally forgot to clap, but hey, generally, this was not my scene. Then, after all the hemming and hawing, I finally went down to the stage for the main event as it were. Let me just say, I have never seen a band obviously having so much fun playing, in my entire life. The Rentals put on a show that felt less like the headlining of a large venue, but more like a band hanging out in their practice space and working on some new tunes after having invited all of their friends over to watch.
As black, cold, and dead as my heart is, after the first recognizable chord, it welled up with warmth, and bubbled up beyond a lively red, all the way into a hot, throbbing pink. I was elated, and danced uncontrollably until the bittersweet end. It is a rare show indeed where I wish the band would just come back and play the entire set again.
It was obvious that they had played these songs over and over and over a million times, so they did the only thing they could do, they goofed off. There were tones of in-jokes, winked looks, and out and out shenanigans going on for the whole shebang. But it was always sincere, and inclusive of the audience. Their melodramatic, moog-power-pop just hit you over the head like so much cheap valentines day candy, then fluttered across you like waves of half dead rose petals.
No one acted like a rockstar, and you could tell that they were genuinely excited about playing the new numbers for the crowd. At one point they even covered a Weezer song just to watch everyone freak out. Playing just about everything in toto, they hit the entire first record (of course), mixed in songs from the second, and did all the songs off of the new EP (which is okay, but I enjoyed the new songs better when they were live).
All in all, it was the most fun I'd had all week, and absolutely went down on the list of amazing shows that I've been privy to this year.
It's true:
I don't think
I'll find the love I want
The love I'm searching for
In this machine-oh
oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oooooo-oooooooo
More, more, more
It must be your lucky-little-day, because you are getting a two for one. (or hell maybe a three or four before we're all said and done today)
The Application:
Please fulfill all of the following criteria to be considered as an applicant:
1. I am, or am near the age of 30
2. I am vegan
3. I am straight edge (or sober)
4. I do not believe in the capitalist system
5. I am not a christian
6. I am into, or am understanding of people who are into hard, abrasive, or confounding music
7. I ride a bicycle
8. I like to dance
9. I am female
10. I am single
11. I am attracted in some capacity to boys
Thank you for your time
Number of applications sent: ?
Number of applicants fulfilling the following criteria: 0
One: At what point does the blueness of the skin, and the stars clouding the vision let one know that one's breath has been held too long?
And Two: Is there such a thing as a non-christian nun?
Thank you for your time
The Application:
Please fulfill all of the following criteria to be considered as an applicant:
1. I am, or am near the age of 30
2. I am vegan
3. I am straight edge (or sober)
4. I do not believe in the capitalist system
5. I am not a christian
6. I am into, or am understanding of people who are into hard, abrasive, or confounding music
7. I ride a bicycle
8. I like to dance
9. I am female
10. I am single
11. I am attracted in some capacity to boys
Thank you for your time
Number of applications sent: ?
Number of applicants fulfilling the following criteria: 0
One: At what point does the blueness of the skin, and the stars clouding the vision let one know that one's breath has been held too long?
And Two: Is there such a thing as a non-christian nun?
Thank you for your time
B[l]ack log
So, I suppose it's reached the six month point again....that must mean it's time to drop a few lines....BUT WAIT! I HAVE. Sadly, only on myspace. So for all the people that can't hold the unrine in to see what I've been up to, well, mostly obsessing over black metal, but anywho, here ya go:
Black Metal is the new.....well.....you know......
Category: Religion and Philosophy
So, I know I'm all over that band wagon right about now, but as of late I cannot get enough black metal. It's true that when you read Lords of Chaos they say that Amerikkka is the last country to catch the dark-wave, but who thought that in ten years we'd be the ones hanging ten, leading the pack? I mean, the only thing crazier than that is the fact that all the really good stuff (holding it's own might I add, on the world scene) is coming from the west coast!?!
First there is my horrible new, late night, random vinyl purchasing addiction. At this rate I will soon have to learn how to make shelter out of my records. Last night for instance, I came across (lucifer, most of this stuff comes from the Aquarious Records page.) an amazing new find, Amocoma. You'll have to scroll down to find the records, but do it so you can listen to the samples. It hardly qualifies and BM, but more like a quality midwest noise band trying their hand at some of the more popular fuzzed out variety. I mean, you can hardly hear the "anything" in the mix, which for me right now is quite an addictive sound. Let's hope the entire cd-r feels that way. I also grabbed a couple of vinyl releases from the mysterious Bone Awl a band that you either like because you are mesmerized by the music, or because you are even more mesmerized by their cult following. Needless to say, by the time they processed the order, one of the records was already sold out. It's not like they haven't released much material. If you're curious, it's off kilter, lo-fi (there it goes again) black thrash. It's primitive, chaotic, and evil to be sure. I also took a chance on a not so black metal cd-r by a band called Cambodia , who describe themselves as hardcore/metal/shoegaze, and it is rather like a sludge band trying their hand at shoegaze. The misanthropy on their myspace page (they claim to only add people they know as friends. We'll see if they add me. Maybe I should say that I used to help Magrudergrind set up shows in DC; apparently they played together(!?!?)) makes the average black metaler look like a depression councilor. Still and all, I hope for good things from the whole album after getting a crack at a few of the tracks.
In the meantime, I should back up to other recent purchases. I just received the final release from Xasthur on Moribund records. While it is a full lp, it is technically an mlp, since it only has three tracks (and not in a drone kinda way). That aside, it is an addictive album. Simply called Xasthur, I get the feeling he was only trying to fulfill a contract obligation. However Xasthur can't even cop out under those circumstances. There's alot going on here. It's clearly classic black metal, but deeply overlaid with samples, and soundscapes in way that is woven together, and not distracting. The whole album could really be one long track, as that's the way it feels. It even cuts off abruptly on the first side. The vinyl itself is of course, collectable green, and the layout is a simple yet amazing black and white photo of arctic stalactites. I can't seem to get it off my record player. However, it has had to take turns with Leviathan's The Tenth Sub-Level of Suicide double LP. I know, I know, I know, that EVERYONE is doing double lp releases these days (I mean, I even bought the Sunn 0)))/Boris collaborative TRIPLE LP! but it was totally worth it...), however Wrest is actually able to make it work. I dropped it again today, and realized how well crafted the Introit to Fucking Your Ghost in Chains of Ice (How metal is that for a song title???) beginning is. From the there it just pounds the life out of you, before you hit the other side and fall into a more ambient, melodic aftermath. All in all, the whole record is like this, sort of a mini-tour of the genre and artist. Once again, it's a great record, and more proof that the US west coast is where the black metal of today is.
I also bought the new Wolves In the Throne Room double LP release, Diadem of Twelve Stars. It's good, very good. It runs the gamut of the other end of the genre, mixing quality black metal with alot of the popular Neurot Records sound that is frikkin everywhere these days. But don't let that give you a bad impression, this album is all of those things crafted together as they should sound (and not like the last time I saw Pelican live...*yuck!*). Although I'm sort of in a different place with BM right now (really lo-fi, buzzy, experimental), I'm sure I will keep coming back to this album again and again.
I was listening to the newest Wargoat Radio podcast today, and I could not help but notice how many bands on it sounded like Furze a project that I find myself more and more into these days. I can't quite figure it out, except that Woe j. Reaper (really) has mastered the catchiest black metal guitar hooks this side of a nintendo game. Really, the intro to Witchboundator gets stuck in my head all the time. Now I'm not claiming that Woe J. is the originator of this sound; he just seems to be the most popular purveyor of it at present.
Other than that, I just keep searching through the infernal hordes for valiant stand outs. I need to keep myself (or just let go) from buying all those vinyl re-releases of Velvet Cacoon records. I am also hoping to get my hands on the new Deathspell Omega album. Does anyone know if Weakling ever put out a vinyl version of their record? I'd love to get my hands on that......right after I mortgage our rented apartment......
In the meantime
In nomine Dei nostri Satanas Luciferi excelsi!
Denman
Shemhamforash!
Currently Listening to:
Weakling- Dead as Dreams
8:20 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
August 10, 2007 - Friday
I suppose it’s that time again...
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural
So, it's been several months. You know what that means, it's time to post a new blog. So here's what's been going on in my off-kilter world.
First, the good news: I'm not depressed. I don't know what happened, but one day I woke up, and it was just gone. Maybe the CIA chip finally hit a glitch, and until they fix it I can live a normal life again. It's been great except for the comming to, looking around, and going,"what the fuck!? Has anyone been doing any upkeep here!?" So, now I just need to start putting things back together.
Which brings me to the past several months, when I willfully invited the work monster to bring his fat ass right on in, and sit on me.
First, after four years I bid farewell to baristadom. In, maybe, an odd turn of events, I've joined a (basically, anarcho, me included) dog-walking-workers-collective. It's a very progressive, positve situation, that more people should look into. A company, where everyone is co-owner. This means that we all depend on one another to maintain the infratructure, and in turn, we all reap the benefits. Be the middle-man. And, I might add, as of late, no dog has questioned my ability to walk them (as opposed to say, the questioning of my ability to even work a microwave by your typical, spoiled, middle-class cafe customer.) I think this will be good for me, and I'll be happy doing this for a while. Then I will plan the next step.
I also did "butt-loads" of theatre last season. I did a nude Macbeth (FOR EVER) that racked up quite alot of attention, even American Theatre Magazine. It was a great a cast, a great director, and it turned out, well.....you know....Besides that, I embarked on, what went from a fun project, to a serious collaboration. A very artistically trusted friend of mine asked me to hop on board an idea he had. The idea was to do an hour long, original production of Marlowe's DR. Faustus, and hand out popcorn and beer to the audience (well, hey at least popcorn is good). We spent a couple months, "in the room" hammering out the script, and then realized that combined with the rest of our production ideas, had a very good piece on our hands. So we took a month off, and then attacked it like locust. Several more amazing people came on board at that point , to complete the process. We hit the road doing a mini tour of several DC spaces, and by the time we hit the Capitol Fringe Fest, we were playing to sold out, standing room only houses (okay, so the seating was limited, but hey, let me roll around in this for awhile). I made this wack-job lighting rig out of boarderline theatrical fixtures, and random everyday crap. It was all portable, and could be set up anywhere. I then wired it all to reistats (those little dimmery lightey switches you have in your house to "set the mood."), and became part of the show, running the whole thing from the playing space. Plus I regularly got up to confess sins durring the audience participation part of the show, once again, pressing the limits of free speech, and bringing about heretofore uknown grimaces of horror from the crowd. All-in-all, it was one of the most positve theatrical experiences I've ever been a part of. So clearly, we are taking a month off, and then getting the remaining team back together to talk about next season. Awesome.
And speaking of awesome, let's talk about my new musical love. (Well, besides international-indie-dance-music. I love you forever Bonde do Role!!!!!) I cold-heart, black metal. I know it's painfully (pun intened) popular right now, but since it's still in the underground, it's so (add lot's of "O"'s here) good. I remember listening to some black metal in college, but half of it was poser crap, and this was before the new wave of early 2nd wave puritst came out. (If there is no corpse paint and foot long nail gauntlets, there is no balck in that metal!) And while I still need to stay on my toes ethically, I find myself listening to these unholy hordes all the frikkin time. In fact, I'm listening to the Leviathan The Tenth Sub-Level of Suicide double LP right now (and it's amazing!). At this rate, I will soon forfeit my entire band account to bizzare, collectible vinyl. I just got that record the other day (after a looooong fight with UPS) along with my new treasured children, Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem of 12 Stars double LP on green vinyl, and the Horn of Dagoth rehearsal cdr II, totally numbered, and decorated IN THEIR OWN BLOOD!!!(REALLY!!!). Not that it's BM, but I even got the new Sunn 0))) Oracle LP (sweeet sweeet drone will eventually get me evicteeeeeeeeed.) I need to stop now; Just ordered the TRIPLE LP!!! Boris/Sunn 0))) colaboration and the final Xasthur Xasthur MLP. Oh (dark)god, but it's all so good.
I have also been thinking more about politics lately. I am, of course, still correct in my views, but I've decided to educate myself more on them. Study more the beliefs I hold dear. Plenty of kids with a Nausea shirt will just retort,"because it's right." but that doesn't get you very far, even with yourself. I've also decided to try to be a little more DIY. I'm thinking about makeing screens to print shirts, and hoddies for all the random-off-the-radar black metal I've gotten into (just in time for our hoary lords' season of gray despair). Also, I'm looking into cleaning alternatives. I don't care what label says, nothing in there is healthy for you. I cleaned the bathroom with white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. Whadaya know, cleanest it's ever been, without cleaning years off my life. Maybe I will get into more trouble. Could be fun.
I suppose the only bad news was that it was my ten year high school reunion this weekend. Of course there was more chance of me going to mass than that god-forsaken thing. I saw pictures.....everyone looked old....really old....and bad.....reeeeaaaaally baaaad....ugly, scary bad. And then I felt old, and bad, and ugly.......I talked to the only person I really give a damn about from those years, Kyle. After a long overdue conversation I remembered that though I am old, I don't look old, I certainly don't act old, and damn gurl, I look good. (though everyone should donate to the "Feed the Denman Foundation." Oh, and cure Crohn's Disease.) So at 29 I'm an anarcho-straight-edge-vegan-bike-ridding-hxc-punk-(black)-metal-loving-dog-walking-indie-dj-night-scenester. I'm sure as hell not a married-accountant-fat-bald-"tanned"-with-two-point-five-kid-church-going-zombie. And everyday that I wake up still evading that fate I should thank the universe.*WHEW!*
Well that's it for now. I have to go walk some dogs before going to A Different Kind of Dude . It's gonna rock hard.
Werd to yer mother,
Denman
Black Metal is the new.....well.....you know......
Category: Religion and Philosophy
So, I know I'm all over that band wagon right about now, but as of late I cannot get enough black metal. It's true that when you read Lords of Chaos they say that Amerikkka is the last country to catch the dark-wave, but who thought that in ten years we'd be the ones hanging ten, leading the pack? I mean, the only thing crazier than that is the fact that all the really good stuff (holding it's own might I add, on the world scene) is coming from the west coast!?!
First there is my horrible new, late night, random vinyl purchasing addiction. At this rate I will soon have to learn how to make shelter out of my records. Last night for instance, I came across (lucifer, most of this stuff comes from the Aquarious Records page.) an amazing new find, Amocoma. You'll have to scroll down to find the records, but do it so you can listen to the samples. It hardly qualifies and BM, but more like a quality midwest noise band trying their hand at some of the more popular fuzzed out variety. I mean, you can hardly hear the "anything" in the mix, which for me right now is quite an addictive sound. Let's hope the entire cd-r feels that way. I also grabbed a couple of vinyl releases from the mysterious Bone Awl a band that you either like because you are mesmerized by the music, or because you are even more mesmerized by their cult following. Needless to say, by the time they processed the order, one of the records was already sold out. It's not like they haven't released much material. If you're curious, it's off kilter, lo-fi (there it goes again) black thrash. It's primitive, chaotic, and evil to be sure. I also took a chance on a not so black metal cd-r by a band called Cambodia , who describe themselves as hardcore/metal/shoegaze, and it is rather like a sludge band trying their hand at shoegaze. The misanthropy on their myspace page (they claim to only add people they know as friends. We'll see if they add me. Maybe I should say that I used to help Magrudergrind set up shows in DC; apparently they played together(!?!?)) makes the average black metaler look like a depression councilor. Still and all, I hope for good things from the whole album after getting a crack at a few of the tracks.
In the meantime, I should back up to other recent purchases. I just received the final release from Xasthur on Moribund records. While it is a full lp, it is technically an mlp, since it only has three tracks (and not in a drone kinda way). That aside, it is an addictive album. Simply called Xasthur, I get the feeling he was only trying to fulfill a contract obligation. However Xasthur can't even cop out under those circumstances. There's alot going on here. It's clearly classic black metal, but deeply overlaid with samples, and soundscapes in way that is woven together, and not distracting. The whole album could really be one long track, as that's the way it feels. It even cuts off abruptly on the first side. The vinyl itself is of course, collectable green, and the layout is a simple yet amazing black and white photo of arctic stalactites. I can't seem to get it off my record player. However, it has had to take turns with Leviathan's The Tenth Sub-Level of Suicide double LP. I know, I know, I know, that EVERYONE is doing double lp releases these days (I mean, I even bought the Sunn 0)))/Boris collaborative TRIPLE LP! but it was totally worth it...), however Wrest is actually able to make it work. I dropped it again today, and realized how well crafted the Introit to Fucking Your Ghost in Chains of Ice (How metal is that for a song title???) beginning is. From the there it just pounds the life out of you, before you hit the other side and fall into a more ambient, melodic aftermath. All in all, the whole record is like this, sort of a mini-tour of the genre and artist. Once again, it's a great record, and more proof that the US west coast is where the black metal of today is.
I also bought the new Wolves In the Throne Room double LP release, Diadem of Twelve Stars. It's good, very good. It runs the gamut of the other end of the genre, mixing quality black metal with alot of the popular Neurot Records sound that is frikkin everywhere these days. But don't let that give you a bad impression, this album is all of those things crafted together as they should sound (and not like the last time I saw Pelican live...*yuck!*). Although I'm sort of in a different place with BM right now (really lo-fi, buzzy, experimental), I'm sure I will keep coming back to this album again and again.
I was listening to the newest Wargoat Radio podcast today, and I could not help but notice how many bands on it sounded like Furze a project that I find myself more and more into these days. I can't quite figure it out, except that Woe j. Reaper (really) has mastered the catchiest black metal guitar hooks this side of a nintendo game. Really, the intro to Witchboundator gets stuck in my head all the time. Now I'm not claiming that Woe J. is the originator of this sound; he just seems to be the most popular purveyor of it at present.
Other than that, I just keep searching through the infernal hordes for valiant stand outs. I need to keep myself (or just let go) from buying all those vinyl re-releases of Velvet Cacoon records. I am also hoping to get my hands on the new Deathspell Omega album. Does anyone know if Weakling ever put out a vinyl version of their record? I'd love to get my hands on that......right after I mortgage our rented apartment......
In the meantime
In nomine Dei nostri Satanas Luciferi excelsi!
Denman
Shemhamforash!
Currently Listening to:
Weakling- Dead as Dreams
8:20 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
August 10, 2007 - Friday
I suppose it’s that time again...
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural
So, it's been several months. You know what that means, it's time to post a new blog. So here's what's been going on in my off-kilter world.
First, the good news: I'm not depressed. I don't know what happened, but one day I woke up, and it was just gone. Maybe the CIA chip finally hit a glitch, and until they fix it I can live a normal life again. It's been great except for the comming to, looking around, and going,"what the fuck!? Has anyone been doing any upkeep here!?" So, now I just need to start putting things back together.
Which brings me to the past several months, when I willfully invited the work monster to bring his fat ass right on in, and sit on me.
First, after four years I bid farewell to baristadom. In, maybe, an odd turn of events, I've joined a (basically, anarcho, me included) dog-walking-workers-collective. It's a very progressive, positve situation, that more people should look into. A company, where everyone is co-owner. This means that we all depend on one another to maintain the infratructure, and in turn, we all reap the benefits. Be the middle-man. And, I might add, as of late, no dog has questioned my ability to walk them (as opposed to say, the questioning of my ability to even work a microwave by your typical, spoiled, middle-class cafe customer.) I think this will be good for me, and I'll be happy doing this for a while. Then I will plan the next step.
I also did "butt-loads" of theatre last season. I did a nude Macbeth (FOR EVER) that racked up quite alot of attention, even American Theatre Magazine. It was a great a cast, a great director, and it turned out, well.....you know....Besides that, I embarked on, what went from a fun project, to a serious collaboration. A very artistically trusted friend of mine asked me to hop on board an idea he had. The idea was to do an hour long, original production of Marlowe's DR. Faustus, and hand out popcorn and beer to the audience (well, hey at least popcorn is good). We spent a couple months, "in the room" hammering out the script, and then realized that combined with the rest of our production ideas, had a very good piece on our hands. So we took a month off, and then attacked it like locust. Several more amazing people came on board at that point , to complete the process. We hit the road doing a mini tour of several DC spaces, and by the time we hit the Capitol Fringe Fest, we were playing to sold out, standing room only houses (okay, so the seating was limited, but hey, let me roll around in this for awhile). I made this wack-job lighting rig out of boarderline theatrical fixtures, and random everyday crap. It was all portable, and could be set up anywhere. I then wired it all to reistats (those little dimmery lightey switches you have in your house to "set the mood."), and became part of the show, running the whole thing from the playing space. Plus I regularly got up to confess sins durring the audience participation part of the show, once again, pressing the limits of free speech, and bringing about heretofore uknown grimaces of horror from the crowd. All-in-all, it was one of the most positve theatrical experiences I've ever been a part of. So clearly, we are taking a month off, and then getting the remaining team back together to talk about next season. Awesome.
And speaking of awesome, let's talk about my new musical love. (Well, besides international-indie-dance-music. I love you forever Bonde do Role!!!!!) I cold-heart, black metal. I know it's painfully (pun intened) popular right now, but since it's still in the underground, it's so (add lot's of "O"'s here) good. I remember listening to some black metal in college, but half of it was poser crap, and this was before the new wave of early 2nd wave puritst came out. (If there is no corpse paint and foot long nail gauntlets, there is no balck in that metal!) And while I still need to stay on my toes ethically, I find myself listening to these unholy hordes all the frikkin time. In fact, I'm listening to the Leviathan The Tenth Sub-Level of Suicide double LP right now (and it's amazing!). At this rate, I will soon forfeit my entire band account to bizzare, collectible vinyl. I just got that record the other day (after a looooong fight with UPS) along with my new treasured children, Wolves in the Throne Room Diadem of 12 Stars double LP on green vinyl, and the Horn of Dagoth rehearsal cdr II, totally numbered, and decorated IN THEIR OWN BLOOD!!!(REALLY!!!). Not that it's BM, but I even got the new Sunn 0))) Oracle LP (sweeet sweeet drone will eventually get me evicteeeeeeeeed.) I need to stop now; Just ordered the TRIPLE LP!!! Boris/Sunn 0))) colaboration and the final Xasthur Xasthur MLP. Oh (dark)god, but it's all so good.
I have also been thinking more about politics lately. I am, of course, still correct in my views, but I've decided to educate myself more on them. Study more the beliefs I hold dear. Plenty of kids with a Nausea shirt will just retort,"because it's right." but that doesn't get you very far, even with yourself. I've also decided to try to be a little more DIY. I'm thinking about makeing screens to print shirts, and hoddies for all the random-off-the-radar black metal I've gotten into (just in time for our hoary lords' season of gray despair). Also, I'm looking into cleaning alternatives. I don't care what label says, nothing in there is healthy for you. I cleaned the bathroom with white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. Whadaya know, cleanest it's ever been, without cleaning years off my life. Maybe I will get into more trouble. Could be fun.
I suppose the only bad news was that it was my ten year high school reunion this weekend. Of course there was more chance of me going to mass than that god-forsaken thing. I saw pictures.....everyone looked old....really old....and bad.....reeeeaaaaally baaaad....ugly, scary bad. And then I felt old, and bad, and ugly.......I talked to the only person I really give a damn about from those years, Kyle. After a long overdue conversation I remembered that though I am old, I don't look old, I certainly don't act old, and damn gurl, I look good. (though everyone should donate to the "Feed the Denman Foundation." Oh, and cure Crohn's Disease.) So at 29 I'm an anarcho-straight-edge-vegan-bike-ridding-hxc-punk-(black)-metal-loving-dog-walking-indie-dj-night-scenester. I'm sure as hell not a married-accountant-fat-bald-"tanned"-with-two-point-five-kid-church-going-zombie. And everyday that I wake up still evading that fate I should thank the universe.*WHEW!*
Well that's it for now. I have to go walk some dogs before going to A Different Kind of Dude . It's gonna rock hard.
Werd to yer mother,
Denman
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
battybwoys rize up wit dem gunz dem dancehall bwoys fi die
Okay,
So what's more disappointing than really getting into a genre of music only to discover that it is totally fulled by hate? When I get into music I take it down with a death grip. I find out who is important in the movement, who started it, and then start downloading as many different examples as possible. So when I started getting interested in grime, I knew that I would have to look up it's more interesting roots of dancehall. Doing this, I started downloading alot of Cutty Ranks, some Lil' Vicious, Ninjaman, and my fave Bounty Killer.
While Looking up more interesting info on Bounty Killer I came across some links to queer groups who had started campaigns to ban popular dancehall artists from playing outside of Jamaica. Then I found these lyrics posted in an article on the Amnesty International Website:
"Bun a fire pon a kuh pon mister fagoty, Ears ah ben up and a wince under agony, Poop man fi drown a dat a yawd man philosophy". What does all this Jamaican Dialect mean?........Well they also took the time to "translate" which goes roughly like this:
(Burn gay men, til they wince under agony, gay men should drown, that's the yard man's philosophy)
Jesus, what the fuck?! I, once again, just don't understand how a people that have surely gone through much persecution and strife can then, in turn, shove this same type of hate onto another similar (I know, only in some ways) group?
To a degree it is certainly true that it is not my argument being a white, straight, middle-class background, straight, amerikkkan, male. However, in so much as people are directly being hurt from this, I feel at least entitled to my two cents.
If this is cultural then I don't have any say since people must choose the direction of their own culture, and it is not my place, as an interloper, to shape that change.
However, what I am more inclined to believe, is that this has more to do with religion (which is cultural true, but you can have one even if the other is torn away), the I would say it is not "............No Masters." But it is "No gods No Masters"
This could be one more way that religion tears people apart and breeds nothing but hate. True many other human movements equally cause the same damage, but religion can unify a people behind a dogma with with blind, and life-threatening conviction faster that just about any other "cause" on earth.
So my advice to the queer community in Jamaica is simple: Shoot Back!
So what's more disappointing than really getting into a genre of music only to discover that it is totally fulled by hate? When I get into music I take it down with a death grip. I find out who is important in the movement, who started it, and then start downloading as many different examples as possible. So when I started getting interested in grime, I knew that I would have to look up it's more interesting roots of dancehall. Doing this, I started downloading alot of Cutty Ranks, some Lil' Vicious, Ninjaman, and my fave Bounty Killer.
While Looking up more interesting info on Bounty Killer I came across some links to queer groups who had started campaigns to ban popular dancehall artists from playing outside of Jamaica. Then I found these lyrics posted in an article on the Amnesty International Website:
"Bun a fire pon a kuh pon mister fagoty, Ears ah ben up and a wince under agony, Poop man fi drown a dat a yawd man philosophy". What does all this Jamaican Dialect mean?........Well they also took the time to "translate" which goes roughly like this:
(Burn gay men, til they wince under agony, gay men should drown, that's the yard man's philosophy)
Jesus, what the fuck?! I, once again, just don't understand how a people that have surely gone through much persecution and strife can then, in turn, shove this same type of hate onto another similar (I know, only in some ways) group?
To a degree it is certainly true that it is not my argument being a white, straight, middle-class background, straight, amerikkkan, male. However, in so much as people are directly being hurt from this, I feel at least entitled to my two cents.
If this is cultural then I don't have any say since people must choose the direction of their own culture, and it is not my place, as an interloper, to shape that change.
However, what I am more inclined to believe, is that this has more to do with religion (which is cultural true, but you can have one even if the other is torn away), the I would say it is not "............No Masters." But it is "No gods No Masters"
This could be one more way that religion tears people apart and breeds nothing but hate. True many other human movements equally cause the same damage, but religion can unify a people behind a dogma with with blind, and life-threatening conviction faster that just about any other "cause" on earth.
So my advice to the queer community in Jamaica is simple: Shoot Back!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Let's talk about Black Metal
So I just read the book Lords of Chaos, and being a fan of black metal, found it quite enlightening. Now don't get me wrong I always knew about the rumors of how crazy the Norwegian BM community was, and therefore was weary from time to time of certain bands. However reading this book has put a lot of puzzle pieces together making me pretty fucking cautious about what bands I entertain.
In the back of the book the authors do a brief summary of the movements through out the globe circa about 2000. They mention america, but say that so far the second BM wave had not largely caught on. Let's fast forward to today.
As of now, at least in the musical underground, there has been a huge revival of black metal. Like I've already stated, even I find myself in the eye of this storm. However, I don't think many US kids get what being into some of this scene has meant, and done in other countries. Or if they do, they are not taking it as seriously as their Scandinavian counterparts (which is a travesty).
Black Metal was founded on the idea of turning away from christ and following lucifer in a bloody war against the heavens. I have no problem with this, and in fact, quite the romantic fascination (though I don't really believe in any of it.) In Norway, when they discovered Venom, no one found an ounce of humor in it. Making good on the promises of albums like Welcome to Hell, the Norwegian BM scene unleashed a slew of grave desecrations, ancient church burnings, and eventually several homicides. Needless to say these were mostly perpetrated by angry youths who lived in a country that had all the catatonic boredom of a US suburb. Like it or hate it this type of environment, in recent history, has always produced movements such as this.
Now here comes the part of the, quite true, story that I don't get. When the original founders of the Norwegian BM scene got a little older they turned this love for Satan into a love for Wotan. Not all mind you, but a number of influential names. And the belief system (some type of Asatru) goes a little something like this: (judeo-) Christianity is a plague on the earth, the way to overcome this plague is by returning to the previous culture, to return to this previous culture we must delve into the fatherland, in order to do this we must believe that our fatherland needs to stay pure, in order to keep der faterland pure we must overcome all other lands. In other words, we begin with, destroy christianity, and end with, kill the jews. I have no idea how this came about.
With the ever reaching influence of people like Varg Vikerns (BURZUM YOU IDIOTS! VARG VIKERNS IS BURZUM, AND ALSO A NATIONAL SOCIALIST!!) much of the modern BM scene has at least toyed with the imagery and language involved with asatru/national socialist aryan supremacy. With this increased reach, and ever growing popularity of all BM this point of view has started to permeate even our own backyards.
I remember flipping through the friends of my favorite local black metal band's ( Time of the Wolf, no NSBM just good old satanism. Everyone should check out this awesome band) myspace page looking for other good area black metal, and comming across a symbol I knew to be quite aryan. Below the image was the exclamation,"Wotan Mit Unst!" (Wotan be with us). I sent this statement to an at the time German friend of mine who sent back a reply that started,"Viking Scum!" She went on to explain that this might fly in the US, but was a very serious statement in Germany. At the time I had little grasp of her letter, but after reading Lords of Chaos I know exactly what she means.
This viking/wotan/NS craze has started to pop up everywhere. The trouble is, you have to know what you are looking for. For example, I listen to the streaming web Black Metal Radio on a regular basis. I've always assumed it was relatively safe. However tonight a band came on called Breath of Sorrows, who sounded like the real deal. Since I like the original sound better than the newer commodified sound, I decided to look them up. Comming across their myspace profile I could not help but notice that one of their friends was "HLP," and while I had no idea what the other two letters stood for, I could have put money on the first. Well, I was right. It took me straight to the "Heathen (anything 'Heathen' is a dead giveaway, as this is mostly a Vikernes term) Luciferian propaganda Army, who actually had the nerve to put Graveland in their top eight. For those of you who don't know, Graveland is Polands biggest NS, asatru, aryan, 14 word following moron. The FP of "Darken" (who IS the band (yea, Burzum part II)) looks innocent enough. Mostly a bunch of dorky, renfair looking Viking re-enactment photos. But even then if you look at the quirky cultural symbols slapped here and there, you might begin to know that something is up. Sure enough, click on any option of his website, and out comes the hate, from very scary beliefs, to his praising a new band for not be too afraid to praise the white man. (I guess he has lost all memory of Hitler's first empirical action)
All of the above mentioned US groups come from Vegas, and as the right wing leaning bands in the DC area mostly come from the suburbs of VA and MD, you can see the trend starting all over again. A lot of these kids come to shows, are nice and polite, are down with kids who have the right idea, and then sport a Darkthrone shirt (a band who thinks anyone who doesn't like their albums must be jewish). I do not shake my head at inverted crosses, pentagrams, corpsepaint, adorning footlong nails, and brandishing swords and axes, but for christ sake let's not start worshiping Odin for the white race.
In conclusion: SATAN YES WOTAN NO!!
(Some bands are just funny. 1349 claims that their name comes from the year when the plague first invaded Norway.....oh and purely coincidentally, according to Wiki, the same year that the Jewish Population of Basel are (I kid you not) incinerated being believed to have brought the plague to Switzerland, aaaand 2,000 Jews are burned to death in Strasbourg.
I also wonder if I get more trouble from this post from the FBI for visiting these websites, or the NSP for saying the inflammatory things.)
In the back of the book the authors do a brief summary of the movements through out the globe circa about 2000. They mention america, but say that so far the second BM wave had not largely caught on. Let's fast forward to today.
As of now, at least in the musical underground, there has been a huge revival of black metal. Like I've already stated, even I find myself in the eye of this storm. However, I don't think many US kids get what being into some of this scene has meant, and done in other countries. Or if they do, they are not taking it as seriously as their Scandinavian counterparts (which is a travesty).
Black Metal was founded on the idea of turning away from christ and following lucifer in a bloody war against the heavens. I have no problem with this, and in fact, quite the romantic fascination (though I don't really believe in any of it.) In Norway, when they discovered Venom, no one found an ounce of humor in it. Making good on the promises of albums like Welcome to Hell, the Norwegian BM scene unleashed a slew of grave desecrations, ancient church burnings, and eventually several homicides. Needless to say these were mostly perpetrated by angry youths who lived in a country that had all the catatonic boredom of a US suburb. Like it or hate it this type of environment, in recent history, has always produced movements such as this.
Now here comes the part of the, quite true, story that I don't get. When the original founders of the Norwegian BM scene got a little older they turned this love for Satan into a love for Wotan. Not all mind you, but a number of influential names. And the belief system (some type of Asatru) goes a little something like this: (judeo-) Christianity is a plague on the earth, the way to overcome this plague is by returning to the previous culture, to return to this previous culture we must delve into the fatherland, in order to do this we must believe that our fatherland needs to stay pure, in order to keep der faterland pure we must overcome all other lands. In other words, we begin with, destroy christianity, and end with, kill the jews. I have no idea how this came about.
With the ever reaching influence of people like Varg Vikerns (BURZUM YOU IDIOTS! VARG VIKERNS IS BURZUM, AND ALSO A NATIONAL SOCIALIST!!) much of the modern BM scene has at least toyed with the imagery and language involved with asatru/national socialist aryan supremacy. With this increased reach, and ever growing popularity of all BM this point of view has started to permeate even our own backyards.
I remember flipping through the friends of my favorite local black metal band's ( Time of the Wolf, no NSBM just good old satanism. Everyone should check out this awesome band) myspace page looking for other good area black metal, and comming across a symbol I knew to be quite aryan. Below the image was the exclamation,"Wotan Mit Unst!" (Wotan be with us). I sent this statement to an at the time German friend of mine who sent back a reply that started,"Viking Scum!" She went on to explain that this might fly in the US, but was a very serious statement in Germany. At the time I had little grasp of her letter, but after reading Lords of Chaos I know exactly what she means.
This viking/wotan/NS craze has started to pop up everywhere. The trouble is, you have to know what you are looking for. For example, I listen to the streaming web Black Metal Radio on a regular basis. I've always assumed it was relatively safe. However tonight a band came on called Breath of Sorrows, who sounded like the real deal. Since I like the original sound better than the newer commodified sound, I decided to look them up. Comming across their myspace profile I could not help but notice that one of their friends was "HLP," and while I had no idea what the other two letters stood for, I could have put money on the first. Well, I was right. It took me straight to the "Heathen (anything 'Heathen' is a dead giveaway, as this is mostly a Vikernes term) Luciferian propaganda Army, who actually had the nerve to put Graveland in their top eight. For those of you who don't know, Graveland is Polands biggest NS, asatru, aryan, 14 word following moron. The FP of "Darken" (who IS the band (yea, Burzum part II)) looks innocent enough. Mostly a bunch of dorky, renfair looking Viking re-enactment photos. But even then if you look at the quirky cultural symbols slapped here and there, you might begin to know that something is up. Sure enough, click on any option of his website, and out comes the hate, from very scary beliefs, to his praising a new band for not be too afraid to praise the white man. (I guess he has lost all memory of Hitler's first empirical action)
All of the above mentioned US groups come from Vegas, and as the right wing leaning bands in the DC area mostly come from the suburbs of VA and MD, you can see the trend starting all over again. A lot of these kids come to shows, are nice and polite, are down with kids who have the right idea, and then sport a Darkthrone shirt (a band who thinks anyone who doesn't like their albums must be jewish). I do not shake my head at inverted crosses, pentagrams, corpsepaint, adorning footlong nails, and brandishing swords and axes, but for christ sake let's not start worshiping Odin for the white race.
In conclusion: SATAN YES WOTAN NO!!
(Some bands are just funny. 1349 claims that their name comes from the year when the plague first invaded Norway.....oh and purely coincidentally, according to Wiki, the same year that the Jewish Population of Basel are (I kid you not) incinerated being believed to have brought the plague to Switzerland, aaaand 2,000 Jews are burned to death in Strasbourg.
I also wonder if I get more trouble from this post from the FBI for visiting these websites, or the NSP for saying the inflammatory things.)
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Movin on up
*I have not proofed this, and will do so later*
So,
I write this in a bare room (save my bag and my bike), with a borowed wifi conection (ah appartment living!). This past week has proved the edict "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." I had two crisies back to back, and then the process of moving. Which technically I haven't started yet. First, we had auditions for my friend Kylos' trailer shoot. He's doing this to use in grant proposals and backer meetings, so that he might shoot the full length of a screenplay he wrote. Ironically enough, (and even more ironic is how every other audition anecdote goes exactly like this), all of the actresses that we saw were a little, well, lacking. However Kylos did show an interest in the barista, who had nothing to do with the auditions, or acting in general (It goes without saying that these auditions were at the Warehouse). After some coaxing, I got my coffee slinging friend to come up and read. And whadaya know, she fit the bill. So that was the last piece of the pie, and we were all set to shoot for the weekend.
On the flipside, we started the last few rehearsals for the Beckett radio play that I'm directing. And after some spotty e-mails, the character of Music did not show up. I e-mailed him again, and still nothing. After night two with no one, both the cast and I felt we could go no further, so I canned the next night and called some other people I knew. The crapy thing about the person who was playing music is that he's kind of a friend of mine. I think he's a great guy, an awesome performer, and a genous musician. Now I haven't lost any faith in him, but it's always frustrating when someone you know let's you down. This is a big deal for me, and I'm also a little nervous about directing again. However, I did find other musicians to fill the roll, who are equally as good. They (or one of them with music from both) are supposed to come tomorow night, so we can finally get the ball rolling. I'm very excited, but I'll also feel better once this one is in the can.
Back to the first story (this will make sense later), I got a very profesional, but panicked voice mail from my friend Kylos on Wed. (the night I finally decided to cancell rehearsal, and look for a new Music) saying that my friend who had agreed to play the female lead in the trailer had dropped out. This was just about the last thing I needed to hear. We were both making a mad dash to find a solution to this since we were slated to shoot on Friday. I called my friend to figure out what was going on, and to try and convince her that the right thing to do was to follow through with her agreement. I literaly used the term "we're fucked" since that was the truth. Her explanations were her explanations, and there was, in the end, nothing I could do to persuade her. (We had re-scheduled the shooting to fit her schedule.) At that point, between my two crisies, I was just about ready to try my hand at noose tying. However, once again, sincronicity landed at my feet. I literally walked out of the cafe after work, and ran into a friend of my, who would be perfect, and showed interest. Of course it would be several days of spotty communication before the deal was sealed.
So about that weekend shoot.......It was a blast. My friend was better than perfect, and everyone else was too. We met early Saturday in a bar at 8:00 a.m., which I found a little disorienting. The first hour was just setting up and figuring out how things were going to look. I ate bagels, and traded smart ass remarks with the rest of the cast and crew. Finally, wethe first shot rolling, and it was like clockwork from then on. We were still waiting for the lead actress to come, but I had told her 9:00 anyway. The funny thing was that no-one really knew if we had anyone until she physically arived. I finally got a phone call, and went out to fetch her. You would have thought I was bringing in the gall who invented the vegan dog; so much applause and hollering. From here on out, we knew that we were actually going to do this thing. We got the next couple of scenes going, and finally put her in one. It totally clicked, and we cried tears of joy. We got done at that location, and took a luch break before the next. Of course that was supposed to be in a park, and not with the inclimate weather that had suddenly set in. We did a mad dash to find a fill in spot, and when we got there the rain had subsided. Go figure. So we lethargically set up for th next scene. When we were finished it was a bright and sunny day, and as such the Los decided that we needed to go to the original site, and re-shoot the scene there. We got through it twice, and the bamafied batteries in the camera kicked the bucket. So that was that; day one, in the can. Today was a much easier day. I got up and lazily pedalled up to bruch. After that I went accross the street to the next shooting location. Parking was a nightmare, things had been left behind, and the lead actress hadn't seen the script yet. By the time we got rolling we had an hour and a half to shoot and leave. You could feel the stress in the air. But not only did we do it, we did it well. I was amazed how quickly we got in there and did the job right. So once again we took a break and got some food. Okay so the break lasted a little longer than anticipated. The half the talent fell asleep (okay one of two), and the rest of us watched tv. When she came to we were ready to shoot the last two scenes, the first of which was a bedroom scene that was about....well....making out. I suppose this should have been hot since she's very attractive, but it just felt like shooting another scene. After that Kylos filmed the "dead naked bloody in a bathtub" scene, which sounded very strange from the other room. And that was that. We were done. I don't know why I can't spend every weekend doing this (instead of working at ANOTHER cafe). I cannot wait to see the finished product.
So onto the last dillema, moving. That girl that dropped out of the trailer three days before the shoot? Yeah, that was my new roomate. However, it's the same situation as with my other friend, just a let down. Getting her to answer her phone calls was abit of a struggle, and a little panicky since she had the keys. The other problem was finding a vehicle to move in. She was using the guys she seeing's van, and I thought I would be able to use that as well. However since I heard little from her for most of the weekend, that was a no go. Once again, FORTUNATELLY, I ran into my amazing friend Rusty on Saturday night, who said that he would bring his bands van around Monday night, and give me a hand. So here I am, in my new room. Still beaming from the great weekend. Releived and nervous about my full rehearsal tomorow, and very, very, very happy to move into a new place. Here's to hoping that this is a trend.
So,
I write this in a bare room (save my bag and my bike), with a borowed wifi conection (ah appartment living!). This past week has proved the edict "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." I had two crisies back to back, and then the process of moving. Which technically I haven't started yet. First, we had auditions for my friend Kylos' trailer shoot. He's doing this to use in grant proposals and backer meetings, so that he might shoot the full length of a screenplay he wrote. Ironically enough, (and even more ironic is how every other audition anecdote goes exactly like this), all of the actresses that we saw were a little, well, lacking. However Kylos did show an interest in the barista, who had nothing to do with the auditions, or acting in general (It goes without saying that these auditions were at the Warehouse). After some coaxing, I got my coffee slinging friend to come up and read. And whadaya know, she fit the bill. So that was the last piece of the pie, and we were all set to shoot for the weekend.
On the flipside, we started the last few rehearsals for the Beckett radio play that I'm directing. And after some spotty e-mails, the character of Music did not show up. I e-mailed him again, and still nothing. After night two with no one, both the cast and I felt we could go no further, so I canned the next night and called some other people I knew. The crapy thing about the person who was playing music is that he's kind of a friend of mine. I think he's a great guy, an awesome performer, and a genous musician. Now I haven't lost any faith in him, but it's always frustrating when someone you know let's you down. This is a big deal for me, and I'm also a little nervous about directing again. However, I did find other musicians to fill the roll, who are equally as good. They (or one of them with music from both) are supposed to come tomorow night, so we can finally get the ball rolling. I'm very excited, but I'll also feel better once this one is in the can.
Back to the first story (this will make sense later), I got a very profesional, but panicked voice mail from my friend Kylos on Wed. (the night I finally decided to cancell rehearsal, and look for a new Music) saying that my friend who had agreed to play the female lead in the trailer had dropped out. This was just about the last thing I needed to hear. We were both making a mad dash to find a solution to this since we were slated to shoot on Friday. I called my friend to figure out what was going on, and to try and convince her that the right thing to do was to follow through with her agreement. I literaly used the term "we're fucked" since that was the truth. Her explanations were her explanations, and there was, in the end, nothing I could do to persuade her. (We had re-scheduled the shooting to fit her schedule.) At that point, between my two crisies, I was just about ready to try my hand at noose tying. However, once again, sincronicity landed at my feet. I literally walked out of the cafe after work, and ran into a friend of my, who would be perfect, and showed interest. Of course it would be several days of spotty communication before the deal was sealed.
So about that weekend shoot.......It was a blast. My friend was better than perfect, and everyone else was too. We met early Saturday in a bar at 8:00 a.m., which I found a little disorienting. The first hour was just setting up and figuring out how things were going to look. I ate bagels, and traded smart ass remarks with the rest of the cast and crew. Finally, wethe first shot rolling, and it was like clockwork from then on. We were still waiting for the lead actress to come, but I had told her 9:00 anyway. The funny thing was that no-one really knew if we had anyone until she physically arived. I finally got a phone call, and went out to fetch her. You would have thought I was bringing in the gall who invented the vegan dog; so much applause and hollering. From here on out, we knew that we were actually going to do this thing. We got the next couple of scenes going, and finally put her in one. It totally clicked, and we cried tears of joy. We got done at that location, and took a luch break before the next. Of course that was supposed to be in a park, and not with the inclimate weather that had suddenly set in. We did a mad dash to find a fill in spot, and when we got there the rain had subsided. Go figure. So we lethargically set up for th next scene. When we were finished it was a bright and sunny day, and as such the Los decided that we needed to go to the original site, and re-shoot the scene there. We got through it twice, and the bamafied batteries in the camera kicked the bucket. So that was that; day one, in the can. Today was a much easier day. I got up and lazily pedalled up to bruch. After that I went accross the street to the next shooting location. Parking was a nightmare, things had been left behind, and the lead actress hadn't seen the script yet. By the time we got rolling we had an hour and a half to shoot and leave. You could feel the stress in the air. But not only did we do it, we did it well. I was amazed how quickly we got in there and did the job right. So once again we took a break and got some food. Okay so the break lasted a little longer than anticipated. The half the talent fell asleep (okay one of two), and the rest of us watched tv. When she came to we were ready to shoot the last two scenes, the first of which was a bedroom scene that was about....well....making out. I suppose this should have been hot since she's very attractive, but it just felt like shooting another scene. After that Kylos filmed the "dead naked bloody in a bathtub" scene, which sounded very strange from the other room. And that was that. We were done. I don't know why I can't spend every weekend doing this (instead of working at ANOTHER cafe). I cannot wait to see the finished product.
So onto the last dillema, moving. That girl that dropped out of the trailer three days before the shoot? Yeah, that was my new roomate. However, it's the same situation as with my other friend, just a let down. Getting her to answer her phone calls was abit of a struggle, and a little panicky since she had the keys. The other problem was finding a vehicle to move in. She was using the guys she seeing's van, and I thought I would be able to use that as well. However since I heard little from her for most of the weekend, that was a no go. Once again, FORTUNATELLY, I ran into my amazing friend Rusty on Saturday night, who said that he would bring his bands van around Monday night, and give me a hand. So here I am, in my new room. Still beaming from the great weekend. Releived and nervous about my full rehearsal tomorow, and very, very, very happy to move into a new place. Here's to hoping that this is a trend.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
The surest way to stop posting on your blog...
Is to start a real one;
I know.
I know, I know, I know at this point I don't even deserve this thing. I have horribly abused my privilege. If there was a social services for bloggs I would not even get a day in court to argue my case (But I may be in court for several charges of neglect).
So, there I've said sorry, and really what's done is done.
Onto the nonsense:
So what have I been up to in the past three years since my last post? Well summer is over thank god. I truly think that there is a direct connection between my depression, and the season of the burning sun. Fall is where I start to feel human again. I know that most of this is due to the fact that with the fall, theatre season gets going again, but I also feel a certain magic in the air at this time of the year. And in particular with this season, I have a lot to feel good about. I have the whole year worked out from here until June. I'm directing a short Beckett radio play as a podcast for the DC Beckett fest., I'm acting and doing lighting design for the Skriker for Forum, then I'm acting in King Lear for WSC, and finally I'm acting in Macbeth (YES I SAID IT: MACBETH MACBETH MACBETH!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!) So, while we still aren't busting down walls of convention, and kicking the crutches out from under the stilted, big budget focused, marketing oriented, "deadly" theatre creating scene that dominates far too much of the land in the District, I am at least working on with some great people on some interesting projects. If all goes well it will be a great year that could lead to bigger and better things.
The same cannot be said for the Warehouse Next Door. Yes, it's official the warehouse as we know it is soon going to shuffle off this mortal coil. Though the music venue as a whole is not going to die I fear everyday that it will not live up to it's previous glory. Here is abit of the backstory, and a little more information. Roughly six months ago our bosses met with each member of the WND individually to broach the subject of moving it from it's current home to the building between that space and the cafe. We all hinted that this might not be the best idea. The acoustics are, to put it mildly, not so good, the space is very small, and finally it just isn't the room that people all over the country have been used to coming to and playing in for the last three years. We scrunched our eyes shut, crossed our fingers, and held our breath. After a week or so.....nothing. We thought we had dodged the bullet, and that would be that. Oh what little naive wrongards we were. Six months later, out of nowhere, the deal was done; I had sent one last pleading e-mail, and was asked again to meet with them (in Disneyworld the meeting would have gone something like this,"Okay, we admit it, you're right. Keeping the integrity of the space is the only way to ensure long-term success. It won't be easy, but we've gone ahead and agreed to your idea to use the time and money that would go towards the change over into making the space better. And we've finally agreed to hire you as the full time space manager and band booker. Now let's get down to business.") I was ready with my arguments to fire off in the name of the Warehouse. "It cost a thousand dollars last month just to run the air conditioning." * * *
And with that I had nothing. Don't get me wrong, kids had agreed to help; they were all gung ho about doing benefits. It was hard to explain to them that while two hundred dollars from a great night is most appreciated, it would in no way shape or form begin to put a dent in the tens of thousands of dollars worth of losses that we've accrued EACH year for the past three years. I am, for the record, not happy about this, and I still smell a certain door in the wind. However, I can at least applaud the Rupperts for keeping the music venue. And though I had threatened to quit should this take place, at the end of the day I just couldn't imagine not being able to set up shows (mostly on my terms, for whoever I wanted, and always always always all ages). So let's look at the future. It's true, the space will not be as large as the Warehouse space we have now, but they are knocking out walls to make more room. They are also getting rid of the seating that is in there now, since we won't need it. My two big sticking points for this change is that we have to have as much space as possible for people coming to see the show, and that we MUST put some sort of warm acoustic paneling in the space. I will try my damnedest to keep as much of the sound quality in the new space as we had in the old. Next, we can't do as nearly as many punk/metal/hardcore shows anymore. But this would have happened anyway, since we need to do more "normal" shows to increase income. I'd rather do about one awesome, aggressive show a week, than not do any shows period. I sadly won't be able to do many random shows for area metal bands anymore, but you know, if Unholy Grave comes back then it's on. We are going to start doing dj nights as well. Smaller Saint Ex style nights in the cafe, and larger Black Cat style nights in the space. That way we could even have a show in the new WND and dj's in the cafe. (I mean c'mon anyone that knows me knows I can't even begin to lie about not liking dj nights.) The biggest change will be that the new entrance will be through the cafe. They're going to knock a hole in the wall somewhere, and make that the new way into the space. This also means that we will not have a bar specific to the Warehouse (if any of you are familiar, Emily is leaving and this makes the whole world cry just a little. It really won't be the same without her.) The cafe bar will now also serve as the music bar. Well that's about all I can say for now. The change is taking place at the beginning of November, and I don't have an eta on the new space yet. All I can do for the time being is take a break from booking, be ready for what's to come, and try not to cry. Even though we still going to be here, I want to thank every band that played the original space, everyone one that came to shows (for sadly there were not enough of you), and mostly everyone that ever worked or helped out there.
Now back to the trivial.
I recently got a new record player. My family was nice enough, about a year and half ago, to buy me a turntable for my birthday. With all their good intentions they had no real idea of what to look for, so what I received was tantamount to what a record player might look like if radio shack manufactured it. Don't get me wrong, at the time I was thrilled, and I put that poor plastic horse to work. Unfortunately that was the one thing the instruction manual forgot to put on the "never" list. It lasted about a year, then became cantankerous, and finally threw in the towel all together. In the six months that followed I was without a way to listen to my beloved vinyl. Which was not to say that I stopped collecting records during that time; on the contrary my lust just increased. So much so that I finally reached my breaking point. I think it was when my parents found my long lost record collection from college (a time when I didn't even have access to a record player, but still insisted on hobbling a paltry collection together.) So I did what I always do in times like this, spent hours on the internet agonizing over which one to buy. Every now and then I'd go to the Technics page and just cry. I knew that had to find something affordable, but I still wanted a dj turntable with direct drive. This pickle cast me to the land of Gemini's, Stanton's, and Numark's, which is what I ended up getting in the end. A Numark Direct Drive, battle turntable. Which I later found out meant,"huge buttons everywhere, and a deck large enough to act as a flotation device." I also realized that my tonka turntable had the one thing this device didn't: an internal amp. Yes, you too can sit in the privacy of your own home listening to music at a level only a dog can hear, lightly floating over a deafening hum. I could have cried. Finally, two weeks later I had my very own wee pre-amp, and was back in the game. And here's what I learned about records and music since then:
Burning Witch rules. Period.
Why do I only own one Venom album?
As my collection of Unholy Grave records increases it only helps me realize that I don't have enough Unholy Grave records.
Underprivileged Nation was better than your sorry screamo band (and they were real punx too!)
We are the people who would like you to know that if you can't see your vision you have nowhere to go. But don't fret this is why we called and this is our chant' the ones who make a difference can dance, dance, dance....
I don't know which is better, the First Two Years album, or Teaching Revenge.
I still think Envy was better live last time than their new album, but who can beat a double colored vinyl limited release?
Late night impulse buys of limited release Pink Razors albums are always a good idea.
Lemuria doesn't play in DC nearly enough.
And Finally, To Live a Lie Records is the best record label in the world, and I will fist fight you if you disagree (oh wait, this excludes any Common Enemy releases. Yes, we finally got those ceiling tiles replaced)
Finally, I'm moving into a new place. I cannot tell you what a good idea this is. When you have a dream that you get into a fight with one of your roommates, and when you wake up you want to start hitting them to feel that joy again, you know it's time to move on. I'm only going to have one roommate now, and however crazy we both are it's at least parallel to the point where we should have few problems. After about two weeks of hard searching we finally found a great, large, two bedroom apartment, with hardwood floors. The only problem? It's in Iceland (read: "Petworth") I now have to live with the fact that it will take me two weeks to bike to anyplace that I need to be. (Note: it now takes me less than ten minutes to bike to Sparkys and the Black Cat from where I live). The two trade offs are the great price, and Christina promising to hook me up with hot ladies if I agreed to this. Considering the later I think that's fair enough. We move in in a week and a half, so it's all going down soon. Whatever happens, I know a change will do me good.
I suppose that's all I have for now, we'll see if I post again in the next six months........
I know.
I know, I know, I know at this point I don't even deserve this thing. I have horribly abused my privilege. If there was a social services for bloggs I would not even get a day in court to argue my case (But I may be in court for several charges of neglect).
So, there I've said sorry, and really what's done is done.
Onto the nonsense:
So what have I been up to in the past three years since my last post? Well summer is over thank god. I truly think that there is a direct connection between my depression, and the season of the burning sun. Fall is where I start to feel human again. I know that most of this is due to the fact that with the fall, theatre season gets going again, but I also feel a certain magic in the air at this time of the year. And in particular with this season, I have a lot to feel good about. I have the whole year worked out from here until June. I'm directing a short Beckett radio play as a podcast for the DC Beckett fest., I'm acting and doing lighting design for the Skriker for Forum, then I'm acting in King Lear for WSC, and finally I'm acting in Macbeth (YES I SAID IT: MACBETH MACBETH MACBETH!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!) So, while we still aren't busting down walls of convention, and kicking the crutches out from under the stilted, big budget focused, marketing oriented, "deadly" theatre creating scene that dominates far too much of the land in the District, I am at least working on with some great people on some interesting projects. If all goes well it will be a great year that could lead to bigger and better things.
The same cannot be said for the Warehouse Next Door. Yes, it's official the warehouse as we know it is soon going to shuffle off this mortal coil. Though the music venue as a whole is not going to die I fear everyday that it will not live up to it's previous glory. Here is abit of the backstory, and a little more information. Roughly six months ago our bosses met with each member of the WND individually to broach the subject of moving it from it's current home to the building between that space and the cafe. We all hinted that this might not be the best idea. The acoustics are, to put it mildly, not so good, the space is very small, and finally it just isn't the room that people all over the country have been used to coming to and playing in for the last three years. We scrunched our eyes shut, crossed our fingers, and held our breath. After a week or so.....nothing. We thought we had dodged the bullet, and that would be that. Oh what little naive wrongards we were. Six months later, out of nowhere, the deal was done; I had sent one last pleading e-mail, and was asked again to meet with them (in Disneyworld the meeting would have gone something like this,"Okay, we admit it, you're right. Keeping the integrity of the space is the only way to ensure long-term success. It won't be easy, but we've gone ahead and agreed to your idea to use the time and money that would go towards the change over into making the space better. And we've finally agreed to hire you as the full time space manager and band booker. Now let's get down to business.") I was ready with my arguments to fire off in the name of the Warehouse. "It cost a thousand dollars last month just to run the air conditioning." * * *
And with that I had nothing. Don't get me wrong, kids had agreed to help; they were all gung ho about doing benefits. It was hard to explain to them that while two hundred dollars from a great night is most appreciated, it would in no way shape or form begin to put a dent in the tens of thousands of dollars worth of losses that we've accrued EACH year for the past three years. I am, for the record, not happy about this, and I still smell a certain door in the wind. However, I can at least applaud the Rupperts for keeping the music venue. And though I had threatened to quit should this take place, at the end of the day I just couldn't imagine not being able to set up shows (mostly on my terms, for whoever I wanted, and always always always all ages). So let's look at the future. It's true, the space will not be as large as the Warehouse space we have now, but they are knocking out walls to make more room. They are also getting rid of the seating that is in there now, since we won't need it. My two big sticking points for this change is that we have to have as much space as possible for people coming to see the show, and that we MUST put some sort of warm acoustic paneling in the space. I will try my damnedest to keep as much of the sound quality in the new space as we had in the old. Next, we can't do as nearly as many punk/metal/hardcore shows anymore. But this would have happened anyway, since we need to do more "normal" shows to increase income. I'd rather do about one awesome, aggressive show a week, than not do any shows period. I sadly won't be able to do many random shows for area metal bands anymore, but you know, if Unholy Grave comes back then it's on. We are going to start doing dj nights as well. Smaller Saint Ex style nights in the cafe, and larger Black Cat style nights in the space. That way we could even have a show in the new WND and dj's in the cafe. (I mean c'mon anyone that knows me knows I can't even begin to lie about not liking dj nights.) The biggest change will be that the new entrance will be through the cafe. They're going to knock a hole in the wall somewhere, and make that the new way into the space. This also means that we will not have a bar specific to the Warehouse (if any of you are familiar, Emily is leaving and this makes the whole world cry just a little. It really won't be the same without her.) The cafe bar will now also serve as the music bar. Well that's about all I can say for now. The change is taking place at the beginning of November, and I don't have an eta on the new space yet. All I can do for the time being is take a break from booking, be ready for what's to come, and try not to cry. Even though we still going to be here, I want to thank every band that played the original space, everyone one that came to shows (for sadly there were not enough of you), and mostly everyone that ever worked or helped out there.
Now back to the trivial.
I recently got a new record player. My family was nice enough, about a year and half ago, to buy me a turntable for my birthday. With all their good intentions they had no real idea of what to look for, so what I received was tantamount to what a record player might look like if radio shack manufactured it. Don't get me wrong, at the time I was thrilled, and I put that poor plastic horse to work. Unfortunately that was the one thing the instruction manual forgot to put on the "never" list. It lasted about a year, then became cantankerous, and finally threw in the towel all together. In the six months that followed I was without a way to listen to my beloved vinyl. Which was not to say that I stopped collecting records during that time; on the contrary my lust just increased. So much so that I finally reached my breaking point. I think it was when my parents found my long lost record collection from college (a time when I didn't even have access to a record player, but still insisted on hobbling a paltry collection together.) So I did what I always do in times like this, spent hours on the internet agonizing over which one to buy. Every now and then I'd go to the Technics page and just cry. I knew that had to find something affordable, but I still wanted a dj turntable with direct drive. This pickle cast me to the land of Gemini's, Stanton's, and Numark's, which is what I ended up getting in the end. A Numark Direct Drive, battle turntable. Which I later found out meant,"huge buttons everywhere, and a deck large enough to act as a flotation device." I also realized that my tonka turntable had the one thing this device didn't: an internal amp. Yes, you too can sit in the privacy of your own home listening to music at a level only a dog can hear, lightly floating over a deafening hum. I could have cried. Finally, two weeks later I had my very own wee pre-amp, and was back in the game. And here's what I learned about records and music since then:
Burning Witch rules. Period.
Why do I only own one Venom album?
As my collection of Unholy Grave records increases it only helps me realize that I don't have enough Unholy Grave records.
Underprivileged Nation was better than your sorry screamo band (and they were real punx too!)
We are the people who would like you to know that if you can't see your vision you have nowhere to go. But don't fret this is why we called and this is our chant' the ones who make a difference can dance, dance, dance....
I don't know which is better, the First Two Years album, or Teaching Revenge.
I still think Envy was better live last time than their new album, but who can beat a double colored vinyl limited release?
Late night impulse buys of limited release Pink Razors albums are always a good idea.
Lemuria doesn't play in DC nearly enough.
And Finally, To Live a Lie Records is the best record label in the world, and I will fist fight you if you disagree (oh wait, this excludes any Common Enemy releases. Yes, we finally got those ceiling tiles replaced)
Finally, I'm moving into a new place. I cannot tell you what a good idea this is. When you have a dream that you get into a fight with one of your roommates, and when you wake up you want to start hitting them to feel that joy again, you know it's time to move on. I'm only going to have one roommate now, and however crazy we both are it's at least parallel to the point where we should have few problems. After about two weeks of hard searching we finally found a great, large, two bedroom apartment, with hardwood floors. The only problem? It's in Iceland (read: "Petworth") I now have to live with the fact that it will take me two weeks to bike to anyplace that I need to be. (Note: it now takes me less than ten minutes to bike to Sparkys and the Black Cat from where I live). The two trade offs are the great price, and Christina promising to hook me up with hot ladies if I agreed to this. Considering the later I think that's fair enough. We move in in a week and a half, so it's all going down soon. Whatever happens, I know a change will do me good.
I suppose that's all I have for now, we'll see if I post again in the next six months........
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Where you at dog!?:
Anyone intersted in my social calander? No? Me either!
Here are some places where I will be this week:
Thurs. 8/10:
The Warehouse-
Fight Amputation
Stifling
Arcadius
Mika Miko
Problems
Fri. 8/11:
The Warehouse-
Din Glorius
Hallway Monitors
The Opposite Sex
Sat. 8/12
*SIGH* Probably the Black Cat-
Mousecrap
Sun. 8/13
? H street?
Okay really this is just a ploy to get people to come out to the Warehouse....so come already!
Anyone intersted in my social calander? No? Me either!
Here are some places where I will be this week:
Thurs. 8/10:
The Warehouse-
Fight Amputation
Stifling
Arcadius
Mika Miko
Problems
Fri. 8/11:
The Warehouse-
Din Glorius
Hallway Monitors
The Opposite Sex
Sat. 8/12
*SIGH* Probably the Black Cat-
Mousecrap
Sun. 8/13
? H street?
Okay really this is just a ploy to get people to come out to the Warehouse....so come already!
A "real" blog
So, I've been feeling the need to write alot of useless crap lately, and as much as I adore my loving fanbase on Myspace I can't fight the urge to have another site designated solely to filling up with more useless crap.
I go a little like this: I'm in my late twenties, but I look like I'm twelve. Consequently, considering how the rest of the world has always treated me, my actions fall somewhere between the age of 12 and 28. Oh well, what can you do. Recently my life itself has been the central concern of all of my neurosees. More specifically, what am I doing with my life? The idea is to work in "the arts," which is why I moved to DC (indirectly from Mississippi, btw) in the first place. In the past three years I have gone from newbie, to slug, to frustrated wreck. Not only am I simply not living the life I want to, but for now I don't even know what that life is. I was many things but at present, I am primarily 1) an actor, and 2) a barista. Now the acting part is certainly one of my aspirations, and recently I have gotten that going again. However the service industry is not anything I aspire to. Though my acting skills do help keep me from tossing searing hot coffee into the faces of about 90% of the people I deal with on a daily basis.
I do imagine that if I was happy with the other aspects of my life, making ends meet hawking hot beverages would be just dandy. But it isn't. It seems to be that I want more. I want to be doing more than this. I would love to get up everyday, and help with creative projects. My problem isn't that normally I want to do specific jobs that I can't get, it's that I want to be involved with specific projects that might not have positions that I am qualified for. The idea is that I will do whatever needs to get done, so long as the overall is important. In the adult world, nine times out of ten, people won't hire someone just because they are reeeelly intetested in what you are doing.
The second problem is this: I am, to say the least, not a very organized person. But the good news is that I realize this and "now more than ever" am trying to do something about it. From calendars to self help books I'm trying, inspite of my best efforts, to get my shit together. I still have a long way to go, but I feel that slowly progress is being had. I also need to find some sort of behavioral therapy for phoneaphobia. (And maybe one for reading and responding to e-mails. But once again, I am trying to address the problem.)
I also book for a local indie music venue. Maybe not for much longer, but in the interum, I've been writing about it alot.
Okay, I don't think anyone needs to hear anymore than that so I'll drop a quick fun-fact check list, and then re-post some of my bolgs from that other place.
Fun-Facts:
1. Even in my late twenties I am still sXe (read "straight edge")
2. I am vegan The scary angry kind: xVx (read....well, you get it.)
3. I'm a damn dirty "punk" who listens to all sorts of grating music
4. I really like vinyl
5. I'm pretty into urban biking
6. That's about enough of that, here are some previous blogs:
First, I am absolutely over "scene," and all the components thereof. About a week ago, we had a nice four-band bill at the Warehouse. It was a good mix of hard bands including two touring bands, who were just doing a weekend or so. The opening band was a two-man drum and bass duo (no, not like that, the instruments.). Attendance has been low lately, so everyone was hoping that people would roll up two support a couple of solid bands on the road. And to everyone's relief they did. There was a solid crowd of about 30-40 people who actually came on time. We only thought the night could get better from there. Now let's go back to that opener. It just so happens that one of the two guys in that band is very rapped up in the 14th-18th street scene. Being fairly humble and well rounded it's not as though he buys into it, but it is very much there. So his maiden set launches to an enthusiastic throng, and goes off well received with few hitches. At that point we were all patting ourselves on the back while the smoking exodus ensued. I helped the next band get set up, and we all waited for everyone to funnel back inside for the rest of the show. Only they didn't. Curiosity piqued, I wandered out myself. There was no one. Everyone had been there to see the first band, and didn't really feel like the rest of the groups were worth their time. Everyone else played for the other bands plus about five people. It was infuriating. Look I want people to support shows more than anyone, but if that is your attitude, don't come. We don't need that kind of shallow see and be scene at the Warehouse. That's not who we are, that's not what we do. At what point in your life does going out not have anything to do with a good time, but instead is replaced by making to all the right places at all the right times over the course of an evening? Clearly they don't even care about the guy they came to see since he spent the rest of the night really embarrassed, and feeling like an asshole. I suppose when I see certain faces at the Warehouse I should realize that the night is going to have nothing to do with a love of music, and everything to do with post-high-school-pseudo-popularity.
Also, it has been a bitch of a summer putting bills together, and getting a good crowd. Bar-none, Sunday was the worst show I've ever put on. I was contacted about a month or so after other bands had put in requests to do a show in Aug. I can't quite remember why, but something in the e-mail convinced me to go ahead and green light this one. I immediately thought about other bands who would work well on the bill, and sent them requests to play. The first set of e-mails rendered nothing. So I went back to the drawing board, and realized I didn't have many options. A lot of bands broke up this past year, and their new projects weren't off the ground yet. Between me the band's booker we wracked our brains out tying to put it together. There were countless let downs and false leads. Finally, at the last minute, I got a well-liked band who was already playing the Warehouse in the same week to hop on. Finally the person on the other end found a band who had actually asked her if they could play. We only had a week until the day of they show, but it was better than nothing. Sadly, it all goes downhill from here. The day of the show I received a phone call from the local band saying that one of them was sick, and they would not be able to play. Shit. I carried the bad news to the space, and started to set up for the show. The touring band finally got there, took the bad news well, and started to set up. Things were running a little behind, so we were all ready for a late start. The band went to eat while we waited for the other group, and the people to arrive. After a while it started to get late, very late...........to the point where the show should have started. The first band hadnt gotten back yet, but it didn't matter since the second band hadn't arrived yet, nor had anyone else had come. Finally the band got back, the second band was a no show, and one person had come to see the show. It was the guy putting the up for the night. They played for the staff +1, and we all tried to act enthusiastic for their out of state band practice. I bought a shirt, and a CD. I mean hey, they were actually a good band. Not that anyone in DC would know. None of the staff took their pay that night, and I went home feeling an absolutely hopeless loss.
This one is just a little thing that set me off, but I think it makes sense in the context of the other two. Last night I had a small three-band bill that I was prepared to be intimate. The first group had set up what they called their "little sound studio," and had asked me when they should go on. I told them I would let them know, and that I was absolutely all right with holding for a while in hopes that more people would come. Out of nowhere comes this voice, I can only be here for another twenty of thirty minutes." This guy was apparently a friend of theirs, and so I said what the heck let's go head and get started. I mean I'd rather let this guy see some of his friends set than wait for a few more people who might not be so into it. A minute later, slow waves of ambient sound came flowing from the stage. I was really getting into it when all of the sudden something jerked me out of my trance. It was a group of three people obnoxiously yammerring away at the bar. As if they weren't in a place where there were about ten people quietly watching two guys produce currents of subtle sound. Then I realized that one of the ringleaders of this party crashing movement was the very guy who complained that we needed to go ahead and start since he would have to leave soon. Yet there he was, back to the stage, straining to talk over the "background music" about condos, skiing, and parking tickets. Maybe it was my mood, maybe it was my tired irritability, but I just wanted to deck him and scream,"HEY ASSHOLE! SOME OF US ARE TYING TO ENJOY THE SHOW!!" Finally he left, as he had promised, and the rest of us were able to get back into the music. I just don't begin to understand people like that.
Finally I should note that there might be big changes at the Warehouse soon. I can't say what, but I may not be part of it if this goes through. Even though it is my boss' decision, it all boils down to lack of support. Yes, there are many things wrong with how the Warehouse operates, but at the end of the day, the bands still came, and they still wanted people to see them. Although benefits could help, at this point I imagine the financial needs to be more in the thousands, if not tens of thousands range. So if anyone knows to how t acquire large sums of money for arts/music community spaces feel free to let me know. Part of me feels like maybe it could be time to move on, but a lot of me doesn't want to walk away from this.
I go a little like this: I'm in my late twenties, but I look like I'm twelve. Consequently, considering how the rest of the world has always treated me, my actions fall somewhere between the age of 12 and 28. Oh well, what can you do. Recently my life itself has been the central concern of all of my neurosees. More specifically, what am I doing with my life? The idea is to work in "the arts," which is why I moved to DC (indirectly from Mississippi, btw) in the first place. In the past three years I have gone from newbie, to slug, to frustrated wreck. Not only am I simply not living the life I want to, but for now I don't even know what that life is. I was many things but at present, I am primarily 1) an actor, and 2) a barista. Now the acting part is certainly one of my aspirations, and recently I have gotten that going again. However the service industry is not anything I aspire to. Though my acting skills do help keep me from tossing searing hot coffee into the faces of about 90% of the people I deal with on a daily basis.
I do imagine that if I was happy with the other aspects of my life, making ends meet hawking hot beverages would be just dandy. But it isn't. It seems to be that I want more. I want to be doing more than this. I would love to get up everyday, and help with creative projects. My problem isn't that normally I want to do specific jobs that I can't get, it's that I want to be involved with specific projects that might not have positions that I am qualified for. The idea is that I will do whatever needs to get done, so long as the overall is important. In the adult world, nine times out of ten, people won't hire someone just because they are reeeelly intetested in what you are doing.
The second problem is this: I am, to say the least, not a very organized person. But the good news is that I realize this and "now more than ever" am trying to do something about it. From calendars to self help books I'm trying, inspite of my best efforts, to get my shit together. I still have a long way to go, but I feel that slowly progress is being had. I also need to find some sort of behavioral therapy for phoneaphobia. (And maybe one for reading and responding to e-mails. But once again, I am trying to address the problem.)
I also book for a local indie music venue. Maybe not for much longer, but in the interum, I've been writing about it alot.
Okay, I don't think anyone needs to hear anymore than that so I'll drop a quick fun-fact check list, and then re-post some of my bolgs from that other place.
Fun-Facts:
1. Even in my late twenties I am still sXe (read "straight edge")
2. I am vegan The scary angry kind: xVx (read....well, you get it.)
3. I'm a damn dirty "punk" who listens to all sorts of grating music
4. I really like vinyl
5. I'm pretty into urban biking
6. That's about enough of that, here are some previous blogs:
Band Happenings
Just a few sad band anecdotes for the week, in sequential order I guess.First, I am absolutely over "scene," and all the components thereof. About a week ago, we had a nice four-band bill at the Warehouse. It was a good mix of hard bands including two touring bands, who were just doing a weekend or so. The opening band was a two-man drum and bass duo (no, not like that, the instruments.). Attendance has been low lately, so everyone was hoping that people would roll up two support a couple of solid bands on the road. And to everyone's relief they did. There was a solid crowd of about 30-40 people who actually came on time. We only thought the night could get better from there. Now let's go back to that opener. It just so happens that one of the two guys in that band is very rapped up in the 14th-18th street scene. Being fairly humble and well rounded it's not as though he buys into it, but it is very much there. So his maiden set launches to an enthusiastic throng, and goes off well received with few hitches. At that point we were all patting ourselves on the back while the smoking exodus ensued. I helped the next band get set up, and we all waited for everyone to funnel back inside for the rest of the show. Only they didn't. Curiosity piqued, I wandered out myself. There was no one. Everyone had been there to see the first band, and didn't really feel like the rest of the groups were worth their time. Everyone else played for the other bands plus about five people. It was infuriating. Look I want people to support shows more than anyone, but if that is your attitude, don't come. We don't need that kind of shallow see and be scene at the Warehouse. That's not who we are, that's not what we do. At what point in your life does going out not have anything to do with a good time, but instead is replaced by making to all the right places at all the right times over the course of an evening? Clearly they don't even care about the guy they came to see since he spent the rest of the night really embarrassed, and feeling like an asshole. I suppose when I see certain faces at the Warehouse I should realize that the night is going to have nothing to do with a love of music, and everything to do with post-high-school-pseudo-popularity.
Also, it has been a bitch of a summer putting bills together, and getting a good crowd. Bar-none, Sunday was the worst show I've ever put on. I was contacted about a month or so after other bands had put in requests to do a show in Aug. I can't quite remember why, but something in the e-mail convinced me to go ahead and green light this one. I immediately thought about other bands who would work well on the bill, and sent them requests to play. The first set of e-mails rendered nothing. So I went back to the drawing board, and realized I didn't have many options. A lot of bands broke up this past year, and their new projects weren't off the ground yet. Between me the band's booker we wracked our brains out tying to put it together. There were countless let downs and false leads. Finally, at the last minute, I got a well-liked band who was already playing the Warehouse in the same week to hop on. Finally the person on the other end found a band who had actually asked her if they could play. We only had a week until the day of they show, but it was better than nothing. Sadly, it all goes downhill from here. The day of the show I received a phone call from the local band saying that one of them was sick, and they would not be able to play. Shit. I carried the bad news to the space, and started to set up for the show. The touring band finally got there, took the bad news well, and started to set up. Things were running a little behind, so we were all ready for a late start. The band went to eat while we waited for the other group, and the people to arrive. After a while it started to get late, very late...........to the point where the show should have started. The first band hadnt gotten back yet, but it didn't matter since the second band hadn't arrived yet, nor had anyone else had come. Finally the band got back, the second band was a no show, and one person had come to see the show. It was the guy putting the up for the night. They played for the staff +1, and we all tried to act enthusiastic for their out of state band practice. I bought a shirt, and a CD. I mean hey, they were actually a good band. Not that anyone in DC would know. None of the staff took their pay that night, and I went home feeling an absolutely hopeless loss.
This one is just a little thing that set me off, but I think it makes sense in the context of the other two. Last night I had a small three-band bill that I was prepared to be intimate. The first group had set up what they called their "little sound studio," and had asked me when they should go on. I told them I would let them know, and that I was absolutely all right with holding for a while in hopes that more people would come. Out of nowhere comes this voice, I can only be here for another twenty of thirty minutes." This guy was apparently a friend of theirs, and so I said what the heck let's go head and get started. I mean I'd rather let this guy see some of his friends set than wait for a few more people who might not be so into it. A minute later, slow waves of ambient sound came flowing from the stage. I was really getting into it when all of the sudden something jerked me out of my trance. It was a group of three people obnoxiously yammerring away at the bar. As if they weren't in a place where there were about ten people quietly watching two guys produce currents of subtle sound. Then I realized that one of the ringleaders of this party crashing movement was the very guy who complained that we needed to go ahead and start since he would have to leave soon. Yet there he was, back to the stage, straining to talk over the "background music" about condos, skiing, and parking tickets. Maybe it was my mood, maybe it was my tired irritability, but I just wanted to deck him and scream,"HEY ASSHOLE! SOME OF US ARE TYING TO ENJOY THE SHOW!!" Finally he left, as he had promised, and the rest of us were able to get back into the music. I just don't begin to understand people like that.
Finally I should note that there might be big changes at the Warehouse soon. I can't say what, but I may not be part of it if this goes through. Even though it is my boss' decision, it all boils down to lack of support. Yes, there are many things wrong with how the Warehouse operates, but at the end of the day, the bands still came, and they still wanted people to see them. Although benefits could help, at this point I imagine the financial needs to be more in the thousands, if not tens of thousands range. So if anyone knows to how t acquire large sums of money for arts/music community spaces feel free to let me know. Part of me feels like maybe it could be time to move on, but a lot of me doesn't want to walk away from this.
Couple 'o' things
Current mood: Listening to The Rentals
Okay, first let me say that I've felt really great for the last couple of days. However, I have to remind myself that this is what always happend. I can't just sit back and say,"Boy am I glad to have finally gotten past that depression stuff." Because I know that in maybe a month or so I'll be right back to,"Boo-hoo, I totally hate myself; I'm totally a worthless human being. Yadda yadda yadda.." I will, for the time being, enjoy this upswing.
I've been working alot this week. In fact, thanks to a scheduling malfunction, I worked a thirteen and a half hour shift on Mon. Add to this the fact that three months ago I thought it would be a great idea to book about four shows every week in Aug. Whew!
So back to the cafe. Thursday was a blitzkreig of customers. We were slammed over and over again. This was, by the by, a shift I agreed to pick up to cover what would have been another scheduling malfunction. What a favor it was. Okay here is the point of this story (No-it's not "I hate work."). At one point a couple of people came in and all ordered a tuna melt and a double machiato. Then another person ordered a tuna melt and a double machiato. Then another, and finally a little over ten people ordered this same meal. They also kept comming back and adding on bottles of water ("okay one bottle of water. What? Okay five bottles of water."), and Odwalla, etc. So I finally had to ask,"Who are you guys?" To which I was told,"Oh, we're on tour," which was of course the answer to my question. In turn I pressed the envelope just a bit further. "Oh? And what band are you in?" And finally I got,"Oh, we're A Silver Mt. Zion." I told her I thought that was cool, and then prayed that all fifty (or so it felt) were done ordering five bottles of water, and five more etc's. That's it, that's the punch line.
Next, speaking of bands in the city, we had a couple last night that went through a very strange situation. They took off to go get food down 7th in Honkietown (read Chinatown), and then decided to go back past the Warehouse in the opposite direction. They got about three blocks up when they were stopped by some police. They were met with the greeting,"Do you think you guys should be in this place?" (The place that's the direction of where I live?) "I mean what are you boys up to this evening." I'm not sure what the response was but I'm sure it was something along the lines of a polite "What the fuck?" Then one officer tossed out,"You know what a peckerhead is?" To which one of the band replied,"No, I guess not." "Yeah, you do. You know what a pecker head is." was shot back at him. Another of the guys said,"Well I think I know what a peckerhead is." The cop said,"Yeah, you know. White power stuff." This is where the needle screeched across the record for the band. "What?", said one of the beareded, short haired party,"We aren't white suppremesists!" The officers simply would not believe that they weren't some sort of Mr. Clean lookin', cherry red boot sportin', Fred Perry buyin', Skrewdriver fan club motherfuckers. Finally protect and serve gave the offering that they could go that way, but at the very least they would have bottles thrown at them. It's good to know that with all the race riots going on in DC right now, that the scholarly researched, fast acting, on point, intellectual protect and serve whose sallary my tax dollars pay so that I can make $15,000 a year working my ass off, really dig deep to understand the subcultures that might cause civil strife. Honestly though, more than angered I am deeply moved by laughter at this little tale.
Dan Deacon is a genius. I cannot express this fact enough. The fact that this guy is not playing sold out shows to thousands (which I would admitingly hate) dumbfounds me. I always forget that when he plays the Warehouse things always go wrong (every show, just the Warehouse, not kiddin'.) So his cd player is broken, and finally we agree that he will use the rack mounted house player. He starts another one of his fifteen minute explanation, thirty second countdowns that everyone has to join in on. This one included being bored and watching tv for a few seconds, then finding your hand gushing blood and being really into it for a few seconds, then being dissiiusioned like when your a kid and your parents tell you that they are renovating a room for a new sibling and then really it's just that they are renting out the room to some guy that is mean to you when they aren't around, and finally, as usual, ending with sassy, sassy, sassy. So we all get into the countdown, acting out the bits as we say sream the numbers, and finally, when we explode with one and the music starts, the cd player skips. Dan stops and we all scream. So we try putting the lost and found clothes under it as shock absorbers. No dice. We put it on a seperate platform. Nothing. Finally Dan has someone hold the cd player for the duration of the show (only dan could get someone to do that.) Next he discovered that the digital screen on the player was broken. Consequently he could see what track it was playing, and therefore what song he was going to do. He began calling it Mr. DJ, and was forced to have a totally random setlist. Next something went wrong with the amps, and finally Dan's vocal fx petal started shorting out. During one of these emergencies he got every one to do "Biggle Hat was Ice-Cream Time(Card Shark Nose Nose)" with him, and it was an amazing moment of crowd participation. Then he went on to jam out more spastic dance songs, so everyone could lose their shit. (I know! And in DC too!) Finally he reached the end fully utilizing his lightbuld/strobing green skull light toggle. We collapsed in a heap of sweaty, wheezing funk. (Oh, and there was nudity...anyway....) Dan has a new cd out that every person in america needs to own. Dan Deacon is a genius.
Finally let me conclude with this: Sometimes we all do favors for people. Favors like letting a nice guy you know do a metal show. You are more than happy, and you do like metal. Then you find out that on that same night, in that same town, The Rentals are playing a reunion show. Since I am so confused, frustrated, and forlorn with my "love life" right now, I could use a little "Please let that be you!"
Okay, that' it. I have not reviewed this for errors, nor have I learned to spell. (Maybe someone can give me lessons.
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