Stolen from somewhere..."The Symbolic Lotus of a Thousand Colonels."

More Wacky Social Commentary!

"This is the real battle occurring on planet Earth. The winners and losers of this battle are what truly determine the "evolution" of societies and the world. Now, and in the past, most of what is being sold is trash, as it usually denies and oppresses that which is capable of believing and attaching meaning - you and your mind. Your mind and everyone else's minds are the true source of any quality of life that will ever exist. Solely and completely. Recognition, education into the functions, and empowerment of minds results in success, decency, morality, strength, sanity and greatness. Denial and suppression of these things results in failure, perversions, immorality, weakness, insanity and mediocrity. Materialism as a belief system has the effect of denying these things."

"This is not an argument of materialism versus spirituality. Almost all historical periods, even when characterized by "religious" or "spiritual" influences, have been actually "materialistic" because Man's mind was largely neglected and oppressed in favor of arbitrary belief systems about the physical universe and man's relationship to it. The history of this planet has been mainly characterized by the use of force against Man and his mind to alter belief and behavior, whether these forces were "religious", "political", "economic" or "social". Any perceived dichotomy of "materialism" versus "spirituality" is an illusion and is not part of this discussion. Materialism here means the viewing of everything as inherently physical, with the neglect of man's mind a usual by-product of such a view. Religions have done this as much as any modern "scientific" materialism. "

...uh, cool. I wish I knew where I got the above quotes from because I think it's good food for thought(no pun intended). Since I'm getting all quote-crazy (or lazy) here's a great, and much shorter one from a formerly brilliant comedian...

"The Theory:

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends up. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death. What's that, a bonus? I think the whole life cycle is backwards.

You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating.........you finish off as an orgasm."

-George Carlin

Yes you guessed it...I have nothing to say right now but I didn't want ya'll to think I forgot about you. I'm greatly looking forward to this weekend for many reasons including: seeing my brother Andy and his family who are moving back from Cincinatti after years away, a four-day weekend, and having money for the first time in weeks. I think Kara and I are going to go to a cook-out at my folks place much like most people.

Young Steve Alba.

I'm coming out of retirement...

That statement is really applicable to most aspects of my life at this time but I'll focus on the area relating to the cool photo above(which was taken by the great Glen E. Friedman and hastily edited by myself). I'm itching to do some "real" skateboarding again for the first time in years. I never lost interest in it, but I haven't skated more than a day or two a year for some time now. Reasons for this renewed interest are numerous but include feeling like getting back to my roots, having friends that are into it/back into it, needing some exercise, missing the feeling of skating, availability of good decks and wheels again, the explosion of cement skateparks, and the movie Dogtown and Z-boys.

Having said that you might find it strange(if you're an obsessive old-school skateboarding nut like me) that I chose to have someone other than Tony Alva, Jay Adams, or another of the infamous Z-boys pictured above. I thought this was a very cool photo of a great pool-skater, and he is riding an Alva board. Not only that but it reminds me of the time I was skating at the best ditch in the world(or at least Dallas), whip 'n dip and some smartass "new school" skater kid thought he was insulting me by calling me Steve Alba because of my "dated" skate-style. I'd be willing to bet that in the 15-ish years since then he has either got a clue and loosened up his trucks, quit skating( because how fun can it be to ride on a board that doesn't turn), or become a roller-blader(yechhh!). It makes me feel fortunate to have been exposed to real skateboarding just before the advent of the new-school. The guys I skated with were old-school even for the time. Their trucks were so loose they were about to fall off, and they had little or no desire for their wheels to leave the ground. It was a real education in carving, grinding and riding ditches and parking garages. Thanks especially to Dave and Mandon.

I also skated with some guys that were more into street-skating and that was fun too but I'm glad I got the foundation I did by just riding a skateboard the way it was designed to. There's a kick-ass new cement skatepark in Allen which is about 30 minutes North of here that I'm dying to ride. I've got to get a good set-up before I do though. Right now all I've got is a 4-foot long Powell longboard, and a popsicle board and neither of them would do for carving transition. I'm currently researching all the "pig" boards I can but the Factory 13, Deathbox, and Alva boards are looking pretty good to me. I really don't care what I ride as long as it's fat and feels good when I'm grinding coping. I'm actually on the lookout for ditches and abandoned pools a lot lately as I drive around. I wonder if I can wash my salty, smelly old rector pads?

These here are related linkage:

Pretty cool article I stumbled upon...
http://www.thelandofplenty.org/skateordie.html

See this before LORDS OF DOGTOWN...
http://www.sonyclassics.com/dogtown/

Best Skate mag around...
http://www.concretewavemagazine.com/

Leonardo gets introspective.

'Bout to jump outta my skin!

I realize I've been getting boringly personal, and whiny lately but as this is a non-commercial venture that's probably more about the act of creating the blog than trying to address the "audience" I don't feel so bad. If it is more about the act itself I guess that would make it conceptual and I generally try to avoid that term and things it encompasses with a ten-foot pole. So in other words I'm going through a period of great transition, a crossroads in life as it were. I'm engaging in some cliched "soul-searching" type activities like growing a beard, going on solo walks, listening to depressing music, playing my acoustic guitar a lot, and questioning my beliefs. It's a laugh riot.

I am getting very amped up about my sadly-neglected creativity though. I'm about to burst with the desire to start a band, a loud band, a cathartic, rockin' band. I need to find a drummer that plays like a shitty Keith Moon, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. I'm at the point with my guitar playing where I either need to learn more technical information or start bashing out some rock AND roll(filtered through punk, natch). I vote for the latter, especially since the aesthetic I have the greatest appreciation for stresses expression over virtuosity. I feel like painting, and doing some print-making and other artsy stuff. Hell, even interpretive dance is starting to look good. (This is in jest, of course) I may do some painting, but what I am going to do is finish this comic book that's been hanging over my head for a few years now. That's right, I've had my head so far up my ass that I haven't been able to bring myself to complete a nearly-done comic that will be published upon completion. I'll scan some pages to show you what I'm talking about, but it's based on a local film called CORNMAN: AMERICAN VEGETABLE HERO by Barak Epstein, which is really quite funny in a Troma kinda way. I know Barak wishes he'd never met me because though he's liked what I've done, he wanted it a loooong time ago. I need to finish it so I can start work on my next comic project which will be created entirely by myself. Somebody kick my ass if I'm not done with Cornman by 2006!

http://www.cornman2.com/

Rick Griffin art featured at the Texas Surf Museum.

I'm back, I think...

If I ever again have some kind of weird logic for coming back to work on a Friday when I could have had the day off you have my permission to smack me. At least I will be that much closer to reality when I return after the weekend. Forgive me if this is short, and not to the point. perhaps bordering on cloudy. Kara stayed in Corpus for a bit of an extended stay and when I got to the casa last night I felt like being sociable so I went to Bob's place. I ended up having a few beers and then I didn't sleep very well, so I'm feeling sorta rough today. I don't miss feeling like this and usually worse at work on a daily basis. I'm glad to be a lightweight these days, and for few years now.

The trip was a lot of fun, despite the lack of activities. It was relaxing and I even enjoyed the drive. Kara and I had a good time with Steve, and Ericka. Steve and I even got in some guitar-playing, and skateboarding. We ended up skating a couple of ditches, my favorite one was called HOT LIPS, which seems to be a completely arbitrary monker. Corpus is a nicer town than I'd imagined. It's pretty laid-back, and if you're into the beach thing you can sort of think of it as a poor man's Cali. The architecture seems to have hit a plateau in the 60's and 70's which is mostly a good thing. I guess that's when the town stopped growing, which I believe had something to do with the oil industry( don't most things?). I even visted the TEXAS SURF MUSEUM, which isn't as pointless as it seems. The waves can't really compete with more famous surf towns but you can really surf there. The museum was kinda cool, and they even had some original Rick Griffin art including some covers and illustrations for Surfer Magazine. Rick Griffin was one of the original psychedelic poster artists and underground cartoonists of the 60's.

It was great to see my old pal Billy in San Antonio. It was exactly as predicted and a nice way to break up the drive back home. I ate nothing but Mexican food the two days and nights I was there. I could eat that stuff everyday. We drank beer and listened to good music while filling each other in on the last few years. Bill was living in Brooklyn and hanging out with a large contingent of Denton musicians and artists all loosely related to the former Good/Bad Art Collective. He had too much fun and realized that he's happier in a less metropolitan town. I guess it really says something about Dallas that for years now whenever I visit another place I immediately want to move there. Corpus and San Antone started looking really good to me, but I'm still trying to find some utopia in the Northern U.S.

On a more somber note Kara and I are taking a break from each others company for a short time. Without going into too much detail, it's something that needs to happen if we want our relationship to be successful in the future. We've been dealt a tough hand since we got together and though it will be a big adjustment we both feel it's the right thing to do. Maybe I'll get off my kiester and produce some artwork now.

The cover of this ESSENTIAL album only vaguely relates to the following...

Decompression Time!

Kara and I are leaving tomorrow for a much-needed, and long overdue vacation. I hear Paris is amazing this time of year, but Corpus Christi, and San Antonio are going to be just as good to me. We're going to hang out with her sister Ericka, and Steve "The Boyfriend". It should be fun, as they've lived there a little under a year, so the town is still new to them but they know where to go. I look forward to a little beer drinking, skateboarding, and goofing off around the beach. Steve is about my age and still skates regularly, and fortunately he's into old-school skating like me so it should be fairly mellow. There's a skatepark in Corpus, and I think they have a bowl, which I would be into riding. I'm bringing along plenty of bubble-wrap. I'm going to San Antonio after a few days to see my friend "Wild Bill" Ivy.

I suspect that Bill and I will drink more beer, and eat endless amounts of excellent Mexican Food. I think that's about all there is to do there if you're not into the tourist trip. It won't take much for this to be a successful break. I can't wait to get on the highway and "open her up", if you know what I mean. I expect this all to go a long way to maintaining my sanity. See ya Dallas!!

Good Grief!!

A.D.D. Special!

I'm feeling spread-thin, all over the map. I don't think I've really got a.d.d., but I am easily distracted. I think it's way over-diagnosed. I do think that most people that grew up when I did and watched tons of bad TV have short attention-spans. I also think that there probably are a lot of folks that actually have a.d.d., but I think medicine is over-prescribed. But whenever there's money to be made you'll suddenly find a large portion of the populace that can't help but buy what their selling. This gets me to thinking about the whole "People have always been like this/We are just more aware of it because of the super fast transmission of information" argument. Topics that lend themselves to this are generally of the negative kind such as pedophilia, teen pregnancy/drug alcohol use/delinquency, violence, greed, fraud, and a slew of others. Topics that are perhaps more controversial or hard to classify in nature that prompt this debate include homosexuality, mental illness, child-rearing, materialism, family values, and the mysterious obsession most dudes and some women have with sports.

I tend to lean towards the side proclaiming that people are basically the way they have been since the dawn of time. There are more people alive today than the sum of all people that lived before them (supposedly), so it makes sense that one and all of the many quirks of the hairless ape would be exponentially widespread. This in combination with the fact that for whatever reason bad news is the most popular kind, and the fact that this news can travel the globe instantaneously would create the illusion that the world/this country/kids today are going down the toilet. I won't even get into the fact that I believe the media is intentionally instilling us with an irrational fear. This brings me to something that has been on my mind more and more in the last 5 years, human nature. People never cease to amaze me, and like it or not the ones that have the greatest impact on me are the assholes. I am constantly blown away by the highs and lows of the way people treat others( or themselves for that matter). Let me just say that I am far from saintly, selfless, or philanthropic but I like to think I give as much as I take in most of my dealings with others. I have seen recent examples of extreme generosity(see previous posts) and of extreme selfishness.

I must have been living in a fantasy world to a larger degree than I thought while going to U.N.T. in Denton. That and the fact that most of the people I mingled with were delusional as well (ie. artists/musicians/freaks) made for a harsh reality-check when I moved back to Dallas to become a part of the rat-race. The faster pace, materialism, and lack of a sense of humor or an interest in culture I was accosted with nearly every day caused me to consider relocating many times as I plan to in the next few years. It's really due to a combination of things that I had to deal with more truly evil people in any one of the 8 years or so I've been back than the whole 6 or so I lived in the little college town 30 minutes to the North. For example, I have had far more landlord/housing problems in Dallas. The worst being the cute, little grandma types. They get away with murder because most people are afraid to ask them for anything, and when you do they play dumb like a little wrinkled pro. And don't get fooled if they happen to be "artsy" or liberal or "laid back", they're the most dangerous. I just feel like venting and everybody else is already sick of listening to me. I've got a lot of craziness in my life that is beginning to come to a head right now despite my best efforts. If things get just a little better soon I'll feel like the last few years of struggle have been worth it. At least I'm starting to feel like my cajones are back if you know what I mean.

So as not to be a complete bummer here's some mindless fun:

http://flashface.ctapt.de/

Ambassadors of Dino Park, and "me" in the future.

Found in the back seat of a tricked-out Delorean!

Yes, the above photo was in fact discovered recently by an anonymous source when detailing the interior of an exotic, 1980's sports car with major modifications including, but not limited to, a flux-capacitor and, inexplicably, one of those dash-mounted, disgusting, plastic spitoons popular among the "snuff-dippin" crowd. (I am aware that this is a probably a run-on sentence!) For those of you who have been spared from being intimately familiar with my face I can attest that this guy looks VERY MUCH like what I would look like with a simulated age-progression of 15 plus years. I hope I mutate in a slightly more pleasing manner, but the truth hurts, right?
In reality the photo is of some golfer who played at the Colonial or something featured in The Dallas Morning Snooze, I mean News.

As this is a limited topic I thought I'd make a quick mention about last weekends very enjoyable trip to Dinosaur Valley Park in Glenrose, Tx. Kara and I were invited to accompany our friends Matt, and Sharon Bagley along with their baby-girl Arabella. We met at their house and went to breakfast at Barbec's on Garland road. Barbecs is a popular greasy spoon famous for their beer-biscuits. We hit the road and about 1.5 hours later we were feasting our eyes on a town put on the map by the fact that there are honest to goodness, extremelly well-preserved Dinosaur tracks, as well as hiking/biking, swimming, and camping areas. The first thing you see when you pull into the park is two big statues. One is a T-Rex, and the other the dinosaur formerly known as the Brontosaurus, and now known as something else. The baby instinctually pointed and babbled repeatedly. We of course hit the gift shop right away. Then we went to the area with most of the tracks which is a shallowish creek. This was my first clue that this day might involve a lot of crossing over slippery, precarious rocks while carrying strollers and other baby gear.

We made the crossing unscathed and headed out on the trails. This was great fun, even with the necessity of carrying the baby-jogger over the harder to navigate sections which were plentiful. Matt, and Arrabella seem to be fairly fearless and I was impressed. In addition to being in contention for cutest baby of all time Arrabella is also brave. She's going to have to be to keep up with her father. Hanging out with Matt is always an adventure, largely due to the fact that he is very active, a free-thinker, and a bit eccentric. Most of the best memories of my college days involve him. We've both come a long way, but I like to think that we've maintained many of the traits and values that were so important to us then.

After hiking for at least 2 or 3 hours we decided to leave and grab some food. We had planned to swim originally but we were all tired, and hungry. Besides that we did all get our feet wet when we removed our shoes to cross the riverish part. Bare feet in contact with rocks that have been rounded off over the years still hurt. Who knew we were so tender? We headed back to Dallas and had dinner at The Lakewood Dixie House. We plan to go back to the park for more, and this time we're going to stop at the CREATION EVIDENCE MUSEUM for some laughs. From what I understand this is the "brainchild" of Dr. Carl E. Baugh who claims to have a master's degree in archeology and a Ph.D. in education from the mythical Pacific College of Graduate Studies. Youv'e got to give it to a guy that would devote a whole museum to debunking evolution in a town littered with evidence to the contrary. I hear they've got some hilariously bad art there. I can't wait. Here's the link, which even I haven't looked at yet:

http://www.creationevidence.org/

The Knights of the New Crusade!

Reviews by !#*$!*@! default!

I haven't been able to buy new music to the degree that I would like to for quite a piece now so I will review two "newish" albums I have been listening to. The first being MY GOD IS ALIVE! SORRY ABOUT YOURS! from The Knights of the New Crusade, and the second being BLACK FOREST from The A-Frames. The Knights are up to something, and what that is, is a topic of debate. On the surface they are an "accidentally" comical, right-wing, ultra-Christian/Fundamentalist garage-ish rock and roll band. They dress as medieval knights in chainmail with helmets made out of what appears to be strategically cut metal buckets. It's a great look. (Get ready to hear elements of zillions of record reviews featuring things that there are no better words to describe...) The sound is stripped-down, no frills, rock AND roll. The players are obviously well schooled on the history of raw, garage rock and they should be. The word on the street is that they are in reality a supergroup of sorts( at least to the relatively small world of garage/punk fans). At least one member of the legendary MUMMIES and/or a former member of the PHANTOM SURFERS are involved. The Mummies pretty much defined early '90's garage rock and were among the most true to the form of a handful of groups doing it at the time such as THE GORIES.

Whether or not they are serious about the "message" they are spreading is obviously a joke in itself. The lyrical content of the album is almost entirely straight-forward, consistent with the Christian image, and seemingly serious other than one use of the word FUCK. The approach and ideology are however WAY over the top, which is a signifier of irony, or social commentary. On this level it seems like a big middle-finger to what is apparently the mentality of the majority of the United States, particularly the Bush supporters. There is the slight possibility that the Knights are employing a brilliant display of double-speak. That is to say that at heart they do have some kind of Christian values and they're pulling the wool over everyones' eyes. They've got the Christian kids listening to good old rock and roll (with punk undertones), and they've got the more open-minded garage rock fans listening to songs about God. They actually played at what is supposedly the most popular Christian teen club in the U.S., THE DOOR, which is here in the Deep Ellum Area of Dallas. Unfortunatley this was a few days before I caught wind, and though I am not a Christian or even particularly religious I wouldn't have missed it for all the SUV's in Dallas. (which I would sell and/or destroy) Either way this is one of the best albums of the year. They've really beat the odds, but by combining a controversial "gimmick", rehashed, and in some cases appropriated(stolen) classic "garage" classics, with a great sense of humour and love of good music these cats have created something new in a genre that is both underappreciated, and overdone at the same time.

http://crusadenow.com/

The A-Frames are rehashing some ideas too but not quite so much with the stealing. I just mean that they sometimes wear their excellent influences on their sleeves. These guys have been embraced by many garage/punk fans and I guess that's because of their minimal, mid-paced, and agressive approach, but I think they would be bigger with the indie/eighties people. It's like a droning, robotic, ominous kinda thing with vocals that sometimes recall early Joy Division. I'll admit that I bought this because I kept seeing their name mentioned amongst other bands that I enjoy, or might enjoy and I found a new copy on Amazon.om for a few bucks. If I had paid $12-16 or so for this I would have been slightly dissappointed as I like to own albums that are at least 90% (oh what word to choose...?) listenable. That's not to say that nearly every track on this disc isn't, but I'm attempting to make a point. The obvious standout song being EXPERIMENT, I wish they were all more in that direction. I'm all for variety in a band or even a album that genre-hops like mad but I tended to like the louder, more tense songs the most. There even were some good ones that had backup vocals by the girl-person in the group but I liked the less "indie" sounding material best. They're on Subpop records(who seem to have gone soft, but in an o.k. way) but played at the HORIZONTAL ACTION MAGAZINE BLACKOUT in Chicago, which is the like the punkest of the punk amongst modern garage-punker types. They're kind of between two worlds and thats a good place to make interesting music.

http://www.subpop.com/scripts/main/bands_page.php?id=442

Hasil Adkins performs, while who I think is writer/director/producer Caleb Emerson does his best "Alan Lomax" field-recording thing.

Underdogs and gutter-punks

The Fringe Media Film and Music Blah-blah was last night and it was perhaps the most well attended of the recent shows. This was due in no small part to the many "friends of the band" Sleezus Fist and the Latter-Day Taints brought in. Some of them were funny too! Like the drunk-rocker girl who tripped in the dark and tried to play it off by remaining on the grimy floor of the Redblood Club, and having what I'm sure was a very important conversation on her cellphone. This was done quite loudly I might add! The short film was forgettable and I didn't stick around to see the band, having gotten my fill via their website, but the feature film made it all worth it. DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS was great, not perfect but very entertaining. If it were perfect I wouldn't be wasting my time writing about it here for all you fine folks(!?!). Perfect films/music/art/books are pretty much covered by many other more capable writers. I love the underdog, and even the most brain-washed and undiscerning of you probably have or will at one time or another. It's that phenomenon that occurs when a creative person or group still has the rough edges, a fire in their belly, and hunger to do it for the right reasons. This doesn't mean they won't, or don't want to sell out it just means they're nowhere near it yet.

I think the guys that made it are out of Rhode Island, and they have had some stuff at Tromadance, and a big movie festival in Berlin. The story involves a loveable, eloquent, homicidal maniac in search of his wife who is kidnapped during an idyllic picnic of a decapitated head and champagne. The evil Dr. Nefarious has seen her own depraved, and cannibalistic acts via his remote viewing technology and must have her for his own. Conflict firmly in place, our "hero" scours the globe visiting different locals on a seemingly aimless quest for her. This does allow for the insertion of many colorful characters, the most entertaining and legendary of which is the recently deceased rockabilly, one-man-band Hasil Adkins who I kind of eulogized in a previous post. As a fan even I was suprised at just how genuinely eccentric, backwoods, and brilliant "The Haze" was, and I kick myself for missing him at last years Las Vegas Rockaround. The film is entertaining, absurd, and funny enough to satisfy those that are already familiar with what comes with watching a low-budget, independent, undergound movie like this one. If you're only used to watching Hollywood mind-rot then stear clear, OR try it out, maybe you'll be converted.
Almost forgot about the gutter-punks. Not much to say but as they are often around when Justin is involved I just think it's funny that they are oblivious to the fact that they and most of the other varieties of "hard-core" punkers have a stricly regimented uniform that smacks of mindless conformity. As I've often heard those that were around before punk broke big the first time (in late '76/early '77) say(approximately) "...the minute you saw mohawks and the standard leather jacket everywhere it was nothing but posers...", and that was a LONG time ago. Or as I used to say in high school, "Everyones trying so hard to be different that they're all the same". I know it's been said before, but what hasn't.

Watch the trailer, and look at the purty pictures:

http://www.dieyouzombiebastards.com/dyzblobby.html

X. They Rock!

X-The Unheard Music

If you've never heard the great, L.A. band X do yourself a favor and pick some up. It's a crime that they aren't more well known, thus the title of the excellent documentary about them. The Unheard Music is without a doubt one of the best rock and roll movies of all time. This is the kind of movie that I think could be appreciated even if you weren't crazy about the band. The band is comprised of Exene Cervenka on vocals, John Doe on vocals and bass, Billy Zoom on lead guitar, and D.J. Bonebrake on drums. If you've seen the film The Decline of Western Civilization then you already know that they left the other the L.A. punk bands at the time in the dust, musically at least. Maybe they couldn't match Black Flag, or The Germs for sheer sonic-attack, or attitude but they made up for it with VERY catchy, well-written and well-executed songs and originality. They also had more charisma than a hundred Erik Estradas on top of musical chops for days.
They took the idea of cowpunk to such a level that it evolved into a rare and listenable mix of punk, early rock and roll/rockabilly, and country with some kind of previously unknown, mutant harmony. Exene who handles most of the lead vocals is backed up by John Doe who knows just how to compliment her often atonal, beautifully droning voice. I know bow down to the blonde god of guitar, Billy Zoom. To say he makes it look easy is a great understatement as he looks straight ahead with a huge, childlike grin on his face never once looking down at the fretboard while he tears off blazing licks and solos like a punk-rock greaser with soul to spare. The whole thing is held together with the steady pounding of Mr. Doe's bass but the real secret weapon is drummer Bonebrake. He has found that perfect balance between keeping it simple and playing his technically superior little ass off. He says something in the film about trying to make up for the lack of other orchestral type instruments. He does manage to work some original beats into what would normally be by-the-numbers rock and roll drumming.
John and Exene met in a poetry workshop and that sentiment is a common thread throughout their music. Emotional without a hint of sappiness, serious without pretension, and "party" music without overt stupidity, X stands the test of time again, and again.