Joshua, who is here with me, has been posting a much more positive version of our experience here
And he is also making weekly videos of our time here; which he has told me I can totally rip off to post here (One of these is abit NSFW, and to my parents who will surely see these, I am heartfully sorry in advance....Just close your ears and pretend it isn't happening. You know, pretend you are catholic....):
Denman's Boo Boo from Joshua Stephens on Vimeo.
Chiapas Week One from Joshua Stephens on Vimeo.
Maybe my blog will be more chipper next week....(Start holding your breath now....)
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Trying to find that place that I am already at...
So I made it to Mexico, and here I am, in a cafe with internet that flickers like an old lightbulb. And I can't help but feel abit like that constant flux myself.
I'm not sure what I expected this trip to be like, and I can't say that I know anymore now than before I left.
Let's back up a little. I do feel very lucky to be here, and I definitely think it is very important to listen to and learn from the Zapatistas. Even if people don't necessarily agree with them, everyone should at least learn about their struggle to overcome their place as a societally steamrolled indigenous peoples facing a certain type of genocide (as they have for generations), to a people who have risen up to make their voices be heard for their own dignity, liberty, and justice, and by doing so, create a new type of community devoted to the acquisition of these fundamental rights, for all people.
I must admit there is nothing more vicerally moving than watching footage of a group of girls, all around the age of fourteen, tear through a barbedwire fence, and screaming and swearing at the top of their lungs, attack a heavily armed group of soldiers, with only their voices and their bare hands. The disconnect between this and the average act of the short minded US activist is that this is a direct action to merely attain survival. There is nothing symbolic, romantic, or cavalier about this. The Zapatistas rose up because they were simply tired of dying, and dying in total silence. Therefore, this is a totally justified act with a direct effect on these peoples' lives.
It has been painfully difficult to get the information that the people running the school have been constantly trying to inundate me with, because it is all in Castellano ("Spanish" in the colonial). Now it's true that the reason I came here was to learn this language, and there is plenty of hand holding in certain classes, but when the Zapatistas really try to drive home their experiences and struggles, and then use their answers to challenge you to recreate your own world, it is completely in a language I am still painfully rudimentary in understanding.
Normally it would be up to others whose Castellano is in a much more stable place to translate this tantamount aspect of our being here, however, often there seems to be much resentment about having to carry the weight of the "slow" members of the group. Which is where my only conflict in being here comes into play.
Now I can't really say that the promontories and I know each other well enough to get along, since at the moment we have no shared language. But they have all been nothing but nice, and patient, and generally pleased that I have come to learn from them. No, my problems come from the typical place: gringos. I have never felt so pre-judged and constantly persecuted by such a hyper-"radical"-political group of people in my life. And because of this two things have happened: One is that by day two I had a serious depression trigger that I am still feeling the wounds from, and two is that since I feel so marginalized in the group, I don't feel like I have the right to be participating. For someone like me who runs the spectrum from "Doesn't get along with many people" to "Fucking hates everyone," it's very difficult to over come this jagged wall of Jersey Barriers in order to listen to the people I truly do want to interact with. This is something I hope to remedy next week, as it will be an impossibly long, and heavily hearted, fruitless month here without this personal reconciliation.
Being in San Cristobal for the weekend has made me realize how murky and unreadable my feelings about this trip are so far. The good news is that this gives me sometime to get a hold on things before, in typical style, my depression takes over. The bad news is that there is that slim chance that the horrifically later will win out. Of course, losing my ipod, which is a constant source of maintaining my frail sanity, will be a serious blow that I don't know how I will deal with yet (and yes, this means I lost my ipod here, week one.)
I can't really embrace some black metal, luciferian dogma here, and become an isolated stoic with a potential will to power. I am just going to have to figure out how to suck it up, and move on.
Once again, my mind works in such bizarre ways. One would think that being in a place where the toilets have no seats, there is only one place to get drinkable water due to amoebas, only being able to shower, wash clothes, and shave once a week, and die in the heat of the day, only to freeze in the cold of the night, would bother me. But these things really haven't (yet). I just take this part and parcel as part of the experience. No, it's my necessary interactions with spiteful people who come from the the same place I do, that are trying to tear this experience from the seams for me, who shatter my stability.
I suppose I thought I would be able to use this escape from my environment to help me reflect on finding the path where answers may lay, to a time in my life when I am beyond lost, confused, and frustrated by where my existence is at. Of course there is such a child-like naivite in that type of logic. I have neither left reality on this trip no more than I have put my personality on hold. Which is another reason that I feel my sentiment is too in flux right now to get even the simplest hold of.
Well, well, well...While I try to piece things together, here are some photos that chronicle only the positive aspects of my trip thus far:
So, yeah, these are the people I am staying with, and learning from.......
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
What have I-What have I-What have I done to deserve this....
Even as I write this, I am in, I assure you, excruciating pain. Leaving off all the other problems in my life at this moment, let's just focus on the one that is the super funnest:
My 6mm kidney stone
So I'm technically what one would call "straight-edge." I still use the term, but don't follow all of the rigidity of the dogma. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I do drink coffee, so I guess I'm out as a hardliner (poor me, no pro-life homophobic boneheaded-ness). I have huge problems with taking prescribed drugs, however when dealing with a condition that Wikipedia explains as:
"Colicky pain: "loin to groin". Often described as the "the worst pain I've ever experienced"
One quickly finds a balance between the need to stay sober and pure, and the need to sleep and eat and have horrifically gutwrenching pain subdued.
I held out as long as I could, but after four miserable days, I finally checked myself into the ER on Saturday. I waited four two hours before I politely told the receptionist that I could no longer take the pain. Soon I was lying on a bed being whisked into an ER room. A doctor ran down a list of questions, and then a nurse sprinted in and hooked me up to an IV. I believe I was saying,"Um.....", as she said,"This is morphine; it will kill the pain." And as much as I detest the idea of something like that ever going in to my body (I didn't sleep for two days after I had a resection operation five years ago, and they gave me a button to push for morphine. I had to be long-windedly talked into it), I was soon at a calm I had not felt in four days. That night I actually slept, and I was really hoping to do the same thing tonight.
Before I left the ER they gave me two percocet to get me through the night, and a prescription for vikodin. The morphine finally wore off midday today, and so I quickly took a percocet once the stabbing began. Well, really I took half a percocet, as I still feel uncomfortable about all of this. Within a few hours I soon realized that this was not going to do it, and so I took the other half. A few hours into this a realized that all this had done was make me loopy, and not affect the pain.
As soon as I got home I popped a vikodin. Ahhhh, but really I popped a generic vikodin, as I could not afford the "real thing." I slid right into bed, finally happy for this misery to be over......or so I thought. An hour and a half into it, and I might as well have taken a Flintstones vitamin. I checked the bottle, and it said to take "one or two for every six hour period." After a brief debate, I decided to opt for round two. So now, here I sit, waiting for any of this terrible, degenerate, over-priced medicine to actually do anything, and I fear that wait could be all night.
I understand the process of passing a kidney stone, and I'd much rather pass it on my own without any procedure, however one cannot function under this sort of pain. As a normal, non-privileged amerikkkan, I do not have the luxury of talking to a doctor about proper medication, and then a long day of rest. I have to get up, and go to work. Which is not really something I will be able to do with no sleep.....due to unbearable pain, which magical phaeries will surely not have removed in this time period...........
When does this become worth it?
Curious how all this feels? Just watch this Discordance Axis video; it will explain:
My 6mm kidney stone
So I'm technically what one would call "straight-edge." I still use the term, but don't follow all of the rigidity of the dogma. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I do drink coffee, so I guess I'm out as a hardliner (poor me, no pro-life homophobic boneheaded-ness). I have huge problems with taking prescribed drugs, however when dealing with a condition that Wikipedia explains as:
"Colicky pain: "loin to groin". Often described as the "the worst pain I've ever experienced"
One quickly finds a balance between the need to stay sober and pure, and the need to sleep and eat and have horrifically gutwrenching pain subdued.
I held out as long as I could, but after four miserable days, I finally checked myself into the ER on Saturday. I waited four two hours before I politely told the receptionist that I could no longer take the pain. Soon I was lying on a bed being whisked into an ER room. A doctor ran down a list of questions, and then a nurse sprinted in and hooked me up to an IV. I believe I was saying,"Um.....", as she said,"This is morphine; it will kill the pain." And as much as I detest the idea of something like that ever going in to my body (I didn't sleep for two days after I had a resection operation five years ago, and they gave me a button to push for morphine. I had to be long-windedly talked into it), I was soon at a calm I had not felt in four days. That night I actually slept, and I was really hoping to do the same thing tonight.
Before I left the ER they gave me two percocet to get me through the night, and a prescription for vikodin. The morphine finally wore off midday today, and so I quickly took a percocet once the stabbing began. Well, really I took half a percocet, as I still feel uncomfortable about all of this. Within a few hours I soon realized that this was not going to do it, and so I took the other half. A few hours into this a realized that all this had done was make me loopy, and not affect the pain.
As soon as I got home I popped a vikodin. Ahhhh, but really I popped a generic vikodin, as I could not afford the "real thing." I slid right into bed, finally happy for this misery to be over......or so I thought. An hour and a half into it, and I might as well have taken a Flintstones vitamin. I checked the bottle, and it said to take "one or two for every six hour period." After a brief debate, I decided to opt for round two. So now, here I sit, waiting for any of this terrible, degenerate, over-priced medicine to actually do anything, and I fear that wait could be all night.
I understand the process of passing a kidney stone, and I'd much rather pass it on my own without any procedure, however one cannot function under this sort of pain. As a normal, non-privileged amerikkkan, I do not have the luxury of talking to a doctor about proper medication, and then a long day of rest. I have to get up, and go to work. Which is not really something I will be able to do with no sleep.....due to unbearable pain, which magical phaeries will surely not have removed in this time period...........
When does this become worth it?
Curious how all this feels? Just watch this Discordance Axis video; it will explain:
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
And then some days........
Well, though I have a few more post to edit and homogenize, I have nearly moved all of my musical content over to Aural Suppository. Why all of it you ask? Well, the reason that I started doing the minterviews was because artists I talked about in this blog started finding and reading through google, and while that's great, I want to create a proper platform for that outside of this more personal blog.
And on that note.......Today was the odd kind of day where you can go from Suicide, to New Order,(and I mean Get Ready, yeah, the "car commercial" album....). Maybe therapy is making my mood and emotions yo-yo, but I think it's moving in an "I-think-I-can" positive direction.
So, this morning I woke up in a distant, depressive mood, and plodded through my day with a typical melancholy. I got home, once again, totally exhausted; I have still not recovered from NCOR. I had no time to rest however, since Dan and were meeting to continue the writing process for our next theatre project, and since we did not find any concrete solutions in the last meeting, I wasn't really looking forward to it. However, once I got to his place I felt this strange energy start to rise up in me. And soon enough, I was frantically pacing around, gesturing wildly with a coffee cupped hand.
We still kept hitting a very, horribly, frustrating wall however. We kept talking about meaning, after meaning, after meaning, and in the end two things happened: we meaned ourselves to death, and I don't think either one of us had any clue what we were talking about anymore. At some point I just broke down and said "stop!" We both had researched this project, we both had written mock mini pieces to work from, and we both knew what the hell we were doing. I suggested we acknowledge this, and then forget everything. Throw it right out the fucking window. We just needed to trust our ideas, and write them without analyzing them. And what do you know, we wrote an entire skeleton to work with the group from, in about one simple hour. Good fight; good night.
Which brings me to what could potentially be a slight retraction. I may not totally quit theatre next year. It turns out that Dan is not going to grad school next year, however he is still planning to create his own projects. And while I see our theatre company experiment alot like history views the great communist experiment, I would be willing to keep working on projects with only Dan. This would mean two things for me, one is that I would be less involved with the productions themselves, and two is that most of my creativity would be spent writing. As opposed to holding up a taped together knife, while reciting lines from Hamlet, with my own drool and snot running down my face, wishing I could use said prop to slit my own throat.
Which brings me to my final argument (I don't know either..), how can I do things like this and make a living? Neither Dan nor I want to compromise our work with the commodification required by the mainstream theatre community. Work theoretically equals income, and Dan and I would be working ourselves into the ground. However I'm not sure where the income would flow from. The job I have now is a fantastic model. An LLC, collective, where everyone is an equal partner, who has equal access to all commerce, and also equal responsibility to all duties. We have an accountant, a shared bank account, benefits, paid vacation, an amazing website, business cards, palm cards, and weekly meetings to keep on top of everything. The problem is that we are providing a service; the service of dog walking. Theatre is not a service, and therefore the income source would not be the same. I know for a fact that the model works, I just need to find out where the money comes from. Sure, it would be easy to charge money for the shows, and then use that to fund more shows. However, while I need to be able to do that, I also need to be able to provide a living wage. I'm an anticapitalist, and this is way out of my territory. I've thought about grants, but where can you find someone crazy (I mean, crazy amazing...) enough to fund your projects, plus give each member about $30,000 a year to cover living expenses?
Fortunately I have my current job, and it's quite stable, but I need to start figuring this problem out (you know.....before I turn forty)
Well dear reader friends.....Ideas?............
And on that note.......Today was the odd kind of day where you can go from Suicide, to New Order,(and I mean Get Ready, yeah, the "car commercial" album....). Maybe therapy is making my mood and emotions yo-yo, but I think it's moving in an "I-think-I-can" positive direction.
So, this morning I woke up in a distant, depressive mood, and plodded through my day with a typical melancholy. I got home, once again, totally exhausted; I have still not recovered from NCOR. I had no time to rest however, since Dan and were meeting to continue the writing process for our next theatre project, and since we did not find any concrete solutions in the last meeting, I wasn't really looking forward to it. However, once I got to his place I felt this strange energy start to rise up in me. And soon enough, I was frantically pacing around, gesturing wildly with a coffee cupped hand.
We still kept hitting a very, horribly, frustrating wall however. We kept talking about meaning, after meaning, after meaning, and in the end two things happened: we meaned ourselves to death, and I don't think either one of us had any clue what we were talking about anymore. At some point I just broke down and said "stop!" We both had researched this project, we both had written mock mini pieces to work from, and we both knew what the hell we were doing. I suggested we acknowledge this, and then forget everything. Throw it right out the fucking window. We just needed to trust our ideas, and write them without analyzing them. And what do you know, we wrote an entire skeleton to work with the group from, in about one simple hour. Good fight; good night.
Which brings me to what could potentially be a slight retraction. I may not totally quit theatre next year. It turns out that Dan is not going to grad school next year, however he is still planning to create his own projects. And while I see our theatre company experiment alot like history views the great communist experiment, I would be willing to keep working on projects with only Dan. This would mean two things for me, one is that I would be less involved with the productions themselves, and two is that most of my creativity would be spent writing. As opposed to holding up a taped together knife, while reciting lines from Hamlet, with my own drool and snot running down my face, wishing I could use said prop to slit my own throat.
Which brings me to my final argument (I don't know either..), how can I do things like this and make a living? Neither Dan nor I want to compromise our work with the commodification required by the mainstream theatre community. Work theoretically equals income, and Dan and I would be working ourselves into the ground. However I'm not sure where the income would flow from. The job I have now is a fantastic model. An LLC, collective, where everyone is an equal partner, who has equal access to all commerce, and also equal responsibility to all duties. We have an accountant, a shared bank account, benefits, paid vacation, an amazing website, business cards, palm cards, and weekly meetings to keep on top of everything. The problem is that we are providing a service; the service of dog walking. Theatre is not a service, and therefore the income source would not be the same. I know for a fact that the model works, I just need to find out where the money comes from. Sure, it would be easy to charge money for the shows, and then use that to fund more shows. However, while I need to be able to do that, I also need to be able to provide a living wage. I'm an anticapitalist, and this is way out of my territory. I've thought about grants, but where can you find someone crazy (I mean, crazy amazing...) enough to fund your projects, plus give each member about $30,000 a year to cover living expenses?
Fortunately I have my current job, and it's quite stable, but I need to start figuring this problem out (you know.....before I turn forty)
Well dear reader friends.....Ideas?............
Back to basics
Okay,
So I am officially about to delete all of my music blogging on here, and move it to the new fangled blog that John and I have put together called Aural Suppository. I decided that blogging with John would be more fun than me talking to myself about rando records on here. No, no, no...I need this blog all to myself to complain about petty comings and goings in my life that are surely worse than those of a starving child in a third world country. Well, let's do the short list in the interim:
1.I started therapy
2.I survived NCOR
3.I wrote a new short piece that I am using to help write another piece for theatre
4.I am very close now to jumping the border
5.I am about to go back on health insurance
6.My phone broke, I bought another one, it never came, I bought another one, the other finally arrived, I got screwed out of $200. Fuck ebay.
7.As usual, tumult, tumult, tumult..........
But hey, I bought alot of new Martin Deny records with money I don't have, so that's good right?.....
So I am officially about to delete all of my music blogging on here, and move it to the new fangled blog that John and I have put together called Aural Suppository. I decided that blogging with John would be more fun than me talking to myself about rando records on here. No, no, no...I need this blog all to myself to complain about petty comings and goings in my life that are surely worse than those of a starving child in a third world country. Well, let's do the short list in the interim:
1.I started therapy
2.I survived NCOR
3.I wrote a new short piece that I am using to help write another piece for theatre
4.I am very close now to jumping the border
5.I am about to go back on health insurance
6.My phone broke, I bought another one, it never came, I bought another one, the other finally arrived, I got screwed out of $200. Fuck ebay.
7.As usual, tumult, tumult, tumult..........
But hey, I bought alot of new Martin Deny records with money I don't have, so that's good right?.....
Saturday, February 23, 2008
More to come I swear.....
And speaking of winners, mailorder customers Kraig Keller and Denman
Anderson were the two lucky recepients of $25 AQ gift certificates,
randomly selected from the pool of peeps who sent in their 2007 Top
Ten lists before our deadline last month. Thanks again to everybody
who shared their lists (often with more than ten items, and often
with interesting and/or entertaining commentary). You're all tops
with us. You can view the collected 2007 Customer Top tens here:
http://www.aquariusrecords.org/2007customerfaves.html. Check it out.
DENMAN ANDERSON
1.Ammo)(omma-Go to Hell cd-r
2.Caacrinolas-Vargtimmen cd-r
3.Wolves in the Throne Room-Diadem of 12 Stars 2xlp
4.Harvey Milk-My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love
Could Be (re-release) cd
5.L'Acephale-Mord und Totschlag cd
6.Bone Awl-Undying Glare 7"
7.Time of the Wolf-s/t cd
8.M.I.A.-Kala
9.Xasthur-Xasthur mlp
10.Yelle-Pop-Up cd
11. De Magia Veterum-Spikes Through Eyes Demo, Clavicula Salomonis,
The Blood of Prophets and Saints
Anderson were the two lucky recepients of $25 AQ gift certificates,
randomly selected from the pool of peeps who sent in their 2007 Top
Ten lists before our deadline last month. Thanks again to everybody
who shared their lists (often with more than ten items, and often
with interesting and/or entertaining commentary). You're all tops
with us. You can view the collected 2007 Customer Top tens here:
http://www.aquariusrecords.org/2007customerfaves.html. Check it out.
DENMAN ANDERSON
1.Ammo)(omma-Go to Hell cd-r
2.Caacrinolas-Vargtimmen cd-r
3.Wolves in the Throne Room-Diadem of 12 Stars 2xlp
4.Harvey Milk-My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love
Could Be (re-release) cd
5.L'Acephale-Mord und Totschlag cd
6.Bone Awl-Undying Glare 7"
7.Time of the Wolf-s/t cd
8.M.I.A.-Kala
9.Xasthur-Xasthur mlp
10.Yelle-Pop-Up cd
11. De Magia Veterum-Spikes Through Eyes Demo, Clavicula Salomonis,
The Blood of Prophets and Saints
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Ring-around-the-rosy....
Sorry, for the week + delay on the OvO minterview; I appear to have contracted the plague............All of it will be up as soon as I get caught up with the NCOR work that got back logged last week when I was playing chess with the grim reaper......
Also, it might be noteworthy to both of my loyal readers that my friend John from Mundane Arcana and I have talked about joining forces to create a music blog together. Hopefully that will work out so I can have this one just for crying every time I skin my knee..........
Also, it might be noteworthy to both of my loyal readers that my friend John from Mundane Arcana and I have talked about joining forces to create a music blog together. Hopefully that will work out so I can have this one just for crying every time I skin my knee..........
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
A funny thing happened on the way to walk your dogs.....
Well, I guess it's a two for Tuesday...When it rains it pours, and god knows I can make it rain!
Anywho, here's a funny bit of a story. I was walking these two shoebox sized yappers deep in Petworth today, when I rounded a corner and came across a group of guys slowly making their way towards a car. As I drew nearer one of them gave me a strange wave, and they all cracked slightly crooked smiles at me. Oblivious to anything they might be saying due to my earbuds, I slipped them off and said "hey" as our paths met. One of them slyly says to me,"Ey man, you cuz?" (at least I'm 99% sure that's what he said....Ah my rock n roll killed 1K....) A little thrown off I repeated,"cuz?" Then came the moment of clarity in so many ways,"I see you slinging that blue back and forth in your back left pocket." My brain, and mouth both went,"oh!" (as in ohmygod, that guy wasn't waving at all, he was throwing up gang signs!) "*shaky laughter, shaky laugher* No..." And with that I casually went on my way....all the way to the Giant where I got a black bandana to replace the blue one that previously called my back left pocket home. I should have been tipped off to the intelligence of this move when several months ago, late on a Saturday night downtown, an suv pulled up, and excitedly out of the back window popped a head and yelled,"We're crips! we're crips!!" I suppose live and learn.....don't and end up on the wrong side a bullet. How man times must that nearly have happened to me in this neighborhood ?(or not for the same reason.......)
Well, I'm off to take care of some drive by's......
Anywho, here's a funny bit of a story. I was walking these two shoebox sized yappers deep in Petworth today, when I rounded a corner and came across a group of guys slowly making their way towards a car. As I drew nearer one of them gave me a strange wave, and they all cracked slightly crooked smiles at me. Oblivious to anything they might be saying due to my earbuds, I slipped them off and said "hey" as our paths met. One of them slyly says to me,"Ey man, you cuz?" (at least I'm 99% sure that's what he said....Ah my rock n roll killed 1K....) A little thrown off I repeated,"cuz?" Then came the moment of clarity in so many ways,"I see you slinging that blue back and forth in your back left pocket." My brain, and mouth both went,"oh!" (as in ohmygod, that guy wasn't waving at all, he was throwing up gang signs!) "*shaky laughter, shaky laugher* No..." And with that I casually went on my way....all the way to the Giant where I got a black bandana to replace the blue one that previously called my back left pocket home. I should have been tipped off to the intelligence of this move when several months ago, late on a Saturday night downtown, an suv pulled up, and excitedly out of the back window popped a head and yelled,"We're crips! we're crips!!" I suppose live and learn.....don't and end up on the wrong side a bullet. How man times must that nearly have happened to me in this neighborhood ?(or not for the same reason.......)
Well, I'm off to take care of some drive by's......
Stuff and Things....
Okay, so first let me just get it out of the way: Last May my grandmother on my fathers side suddenly succumb to medical complications. It affected me deeply, and I hopped a plane to MS for a very dreary couple of days.....Yesterday I received a text message that my grandmother on my mothers side was in the ER with serious breathing problems. This grandmother has been in shaky to deteriorating condition for quite a while now.........Let's not have a repeat quite so fast.........
Alright, with that out of the way let's get on with it.
I finally got the last record in the mail from my recent ebay binge. It was the original 7" version of the Furze "S" record. It's not amazing, but it is good. I am glad I found it, and I only had to order it from Italy.
I ordered a couple of new records from Aquarius. Of course I waited one day debating whether or not I should be spending more money on records, so they were already sold out of the majority of things I wanted. But I'm fairly sure I was able to get this:
MINORU SATO (M/S, SASW) + ASUNA Texture In Glass Tubes And Reed Organ
Listening to the samples provided it's very hypnotically enchanting. And rightfully so when you read the description:
For the first track, five harmonic states were recorded separately, using a chord organ to cause sympathetic vibrations in glass tubes, or something like that. Regardless, the result is a dense, subtly shimmering near static drone. Five tones, each layered upon the other, woven into a reverberating tapestry of sound, a glistening dreamlike blur, very Niblock like in it's swirl of subtle overtones, the various tones beating and pulsing almost imperceptibly, 38 minutes of pure glimmering sun dappled soft static bliss.
Anywho, I'm super excited to listen to the whole record.
The ones that I didn't get to in time (ah super limited cd-r's) were from Faunasabbatha records. Both records were eerie, ambient, and swirling in thorny ambient noise.
SORC'HENN Harmonium Pieces & Dead Reveries was the first album. The webstore says, Sorc'Henn are from France, and their particular brand of heaviness, as the title of their disc suggests is all about the harmonium, the piano, and lots and lots of drones. The opening track is a thick cloud of piano overtones, lots of sustain and reverb, a single funereal chord, struck over and over and over, the tones blending into each other, the overtones building up until it's some sort of doomy sonata. And indeed the samples provided sounded something like that.
The other cd-r was WAVERLY HILLS The Nurse Aquarius says, But sonically, Waverly Hills don't so much resemble funereal doom, as they do, modern noise rock, or Japanese ultra psych. The guitars are caustic coruscating streaks of blurred buzz, unleashed in heaving waves, while much of the band's time is spent crawling doomlike through a field of sonic broken glass, the guitars spend most of their time erupting in squalls of near white noise that sound like Keiji Haino fronting the Dead C. Thick clouds of whirling buzz, deconstructed riffage, super abstract percussion, the vocals a subsonic rumble, a blurred low end gurgle (except when it's a haunting ghostlike falsetto!) underpinning the soaring and drifting slabs of buzz overhead. Imagine doom metal being pulled apart, the notes and chords and riffs being rent asunder, the resulting squall still dark and doomy, by way more tripped out and damaged. And the description does not quite do justice to the crushing wall of complex noise that the excerpts held.
At any rate there is a fifty-fifty chance that a few more copies of these will"pop-up" at Aquarius.......
Though I'm trapped in a nightmare scenario where I don't get out on the weekends until one in the AM, I was able to catch some killer djing this weekend. I caught the tail end of the insane Sorted last Friday. It was with the Wasted Youth Crew dj's who turned out to be like ten of the most respected dj's in the area.......I was able to catch two.......It was all the jams and bangers you'd expect from a night like this. It was all really tight, and the crowd was definitely feeling it.
Saturday night I was able to see the majority of the Tittsworth set at the 9:30 (where I never go...). While several dj friends of mine and I have debated his musical selection, I had a blast. Say what you will about a guy who remixes the Cars (who I love) and Milli Vanilli, but no one can argue about his proficiency. Everything was tight, calculated, and smooth. And while I would have liked to hear some gun shots, he did hit several stints of the total crunk that I am so into right now. Go figure, the twenty nine year old straight edger is one of about twenty people still dancing when they force the dj to stop at three fifteen (and yes, at that point he was playing the song from Dirty Dancing, but I think it was his way of clearing out the crowd..)
As for this week, all I have to really look forward to is the Misery Index/Time of the Wolf show on Thurs, as my weekends still are (and still will be, all the frikkin way through the very first night of "Kicks" my friend Kim and Sara's post Pow-Wow dj night of pop, garage, first wave punk, etc. And I'm pissed about missing all but the last hour of this...) still killed for nearly the rest of the month....
In the meantime just keep pushing further into 2000-hate, the year of vengeance
Alright, with that out of the way let's get on with it.
I finally got the last record in the mail from my recent ebay binge. It was the original 7" version of the Furze "S" record. It's not amazing, but it is good. I am glad I found it, and I only had to order it from Italy.
I ordered a couple of new records from Aquarius. Of course I waited one day debating whether or not I should be spending more money on records, so they were already sold out of the majority of things I wanted. But I'm fairly sure I was able to get this:
MINORU SATO (M/S, SASW) + ASUNA Texture In Glass Tubes And Reed Organ
Listening to the samples provided it's very hypnotically enchanting. And rightfully so when you read the description:
For the first track, five harmonic states were recorded separately, using a chord organ to cause sympathetic vibrations in glass tubes, or something like that. Regardless, the result is a dense, subtly shimmering near static drone. Five tones, each layered upon the other, woven into a reverberating tapestry of sound, a glistening dreamlike blur, very Niblock like in it's swirl of subtle overtones, the various tones beating and pulsing almost imperceptibly, 38 minutes of pure glimmering sun dappled soft static bliss.
Anywho, I'm super excited to listen to the whole record.
The ones that I didn't get to in time (ah super limited cd-r's) were from Faunasabbatha records. Both records were eerie, ambient, and swirling in thorny ambient noise.
SORC'HENN Harmonium Pieces & Dead Reveries was the first album. The webstore says, Sorc'Henn are from France, and their particular brand of heaviness, as the title of their disc suggests is all about the harmonium, the piano, and lots and lots of drones. The opening track is a thick cloud of piano overtones, lots of sustain and reverb, a single funereal chord, struck over and over and over, the tones blending into each other, the overtones building up until it's some sort of doomy sonata. And indeed the samples provided sounded something like that.
The other cd-r was WAVERLY HILLS The Nurse Aquarius says, But sonically, Waverly Hills don't so much resemble funereal doom, as they do, modern noise rock, or Japanese ultra psych. The guitars are caustic coruscating streaks of blurred buzz, unleashed in heaving waves, while much of the band's time is spent crawling doomlike through a field of sonic broken glass, the guitars spend most of their time erupting in squalls of near white noise that sound like Keiji Haino fronting the Dead C. Thick clouds of whirling buzz, deconstructed riffage, super abstract percussion, the vocals a subsonic rumble, a blurred low end gurgle (except when it's a haunting ghostlike falsetto!) underpinning the soaring and drifting slabs of buzz overhead. Imagine doom metal being pulled apart, the notes and chords and riffs being rent asunder, the resulting squall still dark and doomy, by way more tripped out and damaged. And the description does not quite do justice to the crushing wall of complex noise that the excerpts held.
At any rate there is a fifty-fifty chance that a few more copies of these will"pop-up" at Aquarius.......
Though I'm trapped in a nightmare scenario where I don't get out on the weekends until one in the AM, I was able to catch some killer djing this weekend. I caught the tail end of the insane Sorted last Friday. It was with the Wasted Youth Crew dj's who turned out to be like ten of the most respected dj's in the area.......I was able to catch two.......It was all the jams and bangers you'd expect from a night like this. It was all really tight, and the crowd was definitely feeling it.
Saturday night I was able to see the majority of the Tittsworth set at the 9:30 (where I never go...). While several dj friends of mine and I have debated his musical selection, I had a blast. Say what you will about a guy who remixes the Cars (who I love) and Milli Vanilli, but no one can argue about his proficiency. Everything was tight, calculated, and smooth. And while I would have liked to hear some gun shots, he did hit several stints of the total crunk that I am so into right now. Go figure, the twenty nine year old straight edger is one of about twenty people still dancing when they force the dj to stop at three fifteen (and yes, at that point he was playing the song from Dirty Dancing, but I think it was his way of clearing out the crowd..)
As for this week, all I have to really look forward to is the Misery Index/Time of the Wolf show on Thurs, as my weekends still are (and still will be, all the frikkin way through the very first night of "Kicks" my friend Kim and Sara's post Pow-Wow dj night of pop, garage, first wave punk, etc. And I'm pissed about missing all but the last hour of this...) still killed for nearly the rest of the month....
In the meantime just keep pushing further into 2000-hate, the year of vengeance
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Two quick things...
First, for the love of god will girls between the ages of nineteen to twenty one, who are REALLY hot, please stop trying to pick me up in the club. There were THREE last night alone. Every time I say no it feels like taking a rusty pair of garden trimmers and clipping one of my fingers off........
Second, I normally never remember my dreams, but I had a kinda strange one last night that just stayed in there. I was at a party that was, I believe, outside somewhere? Anywho at some point I got really tired (I know right....), and decided the logical thing to do would be to go take a nap in a random car. At some point the people who own the car start to get in, but I'm so worn out that I can't open my eyes. I ask who is it, and a girl says,"Who do you think it is?" I guess I was supposed to know, and somehow I thought maybe I did. The next thing I know, we are driving up a winding path on either a large hill or a small mountain. Suddenly they stop the car, and though I don't remember what they said, it was alluding to some sort of ominous plan. Suddenly I am able to open my eyes again, and I see that they have walked off of the road, and gone part of the way down the hill. Um....then explosions start. I dazedly think,"I have to get out of here, but casually so as not to attract attention." At that point someone runs screaming past me on fire. I get halfway down the road, and remember that I've left my bag in the car. I see the cops coming, and debate going back for a second. But if the authorities find my bag then they will link me to this....um....bizarre bombing event....So I calmly walk back, and not only get my bag, but wipe the car down to eliminate any fingerprints that I might have left. After that I casually walk back "into town," and end up at some random house for safety....Where I have to keep this young girl from hooking up with me!.......
christ, that's it I'm going to brunch.......
Second, I normally never remember my dreams, but I had a kinda strange one last night that just stayed in there. I was at a party that was, I believe, outside somewhere? Anywho at some point I got really tired (I know right....), and decided the logical thing to do would be to go take a nap in a random car. At some point the people who own the car start to get in, but I'm so worn out that I can't open my eyes. I ask who is it, and a girl says,"Who do you think it is?" I guess I was supposed to know, and somehow I thought maybe I did. The next thing I know, we are driving up a winding path on either a large hill or a small mountain. Suddenly they stop the car, and though I don't remember what they said, it was alluding to some sort of ominous plan. Suddenly I am able to open my eyes again, and I see that they have walked off of the road, and gone part of the way down the hill. Um....then explosions start. I dazedly think,"I have to get out of here, but casually so as not to attract attention." At that point someone runs screaming past me on fire. I get halfway down the road, and remember that I've left my bag in the car. I see the cops coming, and debate going back for a second. But if the authorities find my bag then they will link me to this....um....bizarre bombing event....So I calmly walk back, and not only get my bag, but wipe the car down to eliminate any fingerprints that I might have left. After that I casually walk back "into town," and end up at some random house for safety....Where I have to keep this young girl from hooking up with me!.......
christ, that's it I'm going to brunch.......
Monday, December 31, 2007
2007: The year of 365 days
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......
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......
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!
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