Friday, October 28, 2005
Paul Slavens and Lon Chaney
I'm slowly emerging from my zombie-like haze and it feels very nice. I've been getting out and socializing more and more, like last nights trip to The Dallas museum of Art, and a couple of other spots. Mark Sharon (who happens to have been my college roommate) and I went to the DMA for a showing of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME starring Lon Chaney, but with the added bonus of having a live soundtrack performed by a group of local musicians. This film was originally silent and the new score written by the versatile Paul Slavens made the already amazing even more so. Paul played piano, and did some vocal sound-effects I believe while backed by a "super-group" of primarily Denton-related musicians that are mostly known for their work in various punk/rock/indie/experimentalish bands that I have seen many times over the years. Bands represented include Baboon, Mission Giant, Ten Hands, The Dooms U.K., March Arc, Brutal Juice, The Banes, and others I might be unaware of. The added touch of a talented female vocalist that employed the subtle use of an effects processor along with other analog keyboards, and equipment complimented the piano and rock-oriented instrumentation. I'd love to see this kind of thing catch on.
Lon Chaney has always been somewhat of a hero to me and this might be his masterpiece. I had never actually seen the film but I knew the stories of Chaney suffering the 40-pound hump strapped to his back while performing his own death-defying stunts. Sure he's an amazing stuntman, and special effects make-up artist but you don't hear much about his acting ability. He somehow managed to take what could be a very one-dimensional cartoon of a character and make him multi-faceted, and likeable despite his gruesome appearance. He actually gets you to empathise with the deformed, and surreal hunchback primarily through the use of body language and facial expression. I don't think I could ever watch this again without some type of musical accompaniment and that would still never come close to the soundtrack I heard last night.
I was coerced into going to The Tom Tom Noodle house in the West Village, which is a part of town I usually avoid like the plague for a late meal after the show. The lure was 1$ sushi and we missed the mark by a couple of hours but still managed to avoid doing the dishes in lieu of payment. Though it was chilly on the patio the warm sake and excellent food worked together to keep us happy. I had an amazing dish that is supposedly the most popular dish in Malaysia called Beef Rendang. It was basically a curried-beef dish served over a large portion of jasmine rice and garnished with bits of mango. I highly recommend it. I even managed to run by Stout on Greenville Avenue to catch a few songs by my friend Jeff Hill's band The Sutcliffe's. Jeff was rocking the key-tar(keyboard worn like a guitar), vocals, harmonica, washboard, and Fisher-Price xylophone in fine form. I slept eventually...
Lon Chaney has always been somewhat of a hero to me and this might be his masterpiece. I had never actually seen the film but I knew the stories of Chaney suffering the 40-pound hump strapped to his back while performing his own death-defying stunts. Sure he's an amazing stuntman, and special effects make-up artist but you don't hear much about his acting ability. He somehow managed to take what could be a very one-dimensional cartoon of a character and make him multi-faceted, and likeable despite his gruesome appearance. He actually gets you to empathise with the deformed, and surreal hunchback primarily through the use of body language and facial expression. I don't think I could ever watch this again without some type of musical accompaniment and that would still never come close to the soundtrack I heard last night.
I was coerced into going to The Tom Tom Noodle house in the West Village, which is a part of town I usually avoid like the plague for a late meal after the show. The lure was 1$ sushi and we missed the mark by a couple of hours but still managed to avoid doing the dishes in lieu of payment. Though it was chilly on the patio the warm sake and excellent food worked together to keep us happy. I had an amazing dish that is supposedly the most popular dish in Malaysia called Beef Rendang. It was basically a curried-beef dish served over a large portion of jasmine rice and garnished with bits of mango. I highly recommend it. I even managed to run by Stout on Greenville Avenue to catch a few songs by my friend Jeff Hill's band The Sutcliffe's. Jeff was rocking the key-tar(keyboard worn like a guitar), vocals, harmonica, washboard, and Fisher-Price xylophone in fine form. I slept eventually...
Monday, October 24, 2005
Saturday, October 22, 2005
...Latest victim of "art" filters.
Mimus is one of the first, if not the first character that my best friend and I created together. Colin and I met when we were just about to enter junior high. We bonded over a love of rock and roll, comic books, movies, and general lunacy. We both had older brothers that were quite influential to our interests but when we got together those interests grew exponentially. We were both aspiring artists of roughly the same ability, but Colin was also quickly becoming an accomplished guitar-player. Even before we began to create our own comics we were in the habit of creating characters for as yet unnamed projects. I remember many a conversation that began, "We could have a guy that...", and went on to describe some unusual character. The concepts discussed were often visual in nature so it's only natural that we both gravitated to being cartoonists. Ironically the first project we ever worked on together was a "film" entitled THE BATTLE OF ZENON, which was named by Scott Franzke, who along with his brother Bobby, Colin and myself comprised the film crew. We never got further than the creation of a miniature set which was comprised of dirt, and Star Wars toys painted to reflect battle scars all placed on a card table.
Colin and I progressed as artists, and unintentionally as writers as well. Encouraged by local small-press publishers, and cartoonists we met at The Dallas Fantasy Fair we created Milk Vampire Babies which was a magazine sized, and fairly ambitious project for a couple of teenagers. The final product, which was put together with help from my brother Andy under the Permanent Press imprint, was a bit rough but the experience gained was indispensable. Next we did the mini-comic MIMUS which got published by Starhead Graphics in Seattle. Starhead was a small-press comics label that was started by a couple of guys that used to live in Dallas, and I've since forgotten how we hooked up with them. As cool as that seems now we decided that we could easily self-publish our own stuff in exisiting formats we became familiar with through the mini-comics scene and so Permenant Press was reborn. We got reviewed in a few related publications and began to get orders from all over the country to our amazement. This was by no means a lot of interest but to us it was the coolest thing in the world.
Colin and I started doing more comics on our own, as opposed to as a team, but we continued to record our silly, and sometimes disturbing music under the name THE SONS OF GRAVITY. The name is laughable now, but to my addled teenage mind it was perfectly appropriate. As time went by Colin went away to college at The University of North Texas in Denton, while I stayed at home to complete my senior year in high school before going to North Texas after two years of community college. We rarely spoke during this period, and by the time we met again we had changed in unexpected ways. I had grown up a bit and become invloved in a serious, but ill-fated relationship, all the while partying with old high school friends. Colin had immersed himself in bohemian college life with all that comes with it. Without going into too much detail, Colin had a mysterious, life-changing experience that would permanently alter his behavior and life. It was years before we had a "normal" conversation but we eventually began to speak farily regularly.
Recently Colin has been putting together a new mini-comic called PERMANENT PRESS PRESENTS, which showcases many of our characters in new stories, some old sketchbook pages, and other loosely related comics. He has asked me to contribute but up until now I have been extremely lazy about producing artwork. The reasons for this are numerous but I am attempting to break the cycle. It's not much, but the drawing of Mimus is one sketch on a page I'm working on of our old characters. This is just the beginning.
Colin and I progressed as artists, and unintentionally as writers as well. Encouraged by local small-press publishers, and cartoonists we met at The Dallas Fantasy Fair we created Milk Vampire Babies which was a magazine sized, and fairly ambitious project for a couple of teenagers. The final product, which was put together with help from my brother Andy under the Permanent Press imprint, was a bit rough but the experience gained was indispensable. Next we did the mini-comic MIMUS which got published by Starhead Graphics in Seattle. Starhead was a small-press comics label that was started by a couple of guys that used to live in Dallas, and I've since forgotten how we hooked up with them. As cool as that seems now we decided that we could easily self-publish our own stuff in exisiting formats we became familiar with through the mini-comics scene and so Permenant Press was reborn. We got reviewed in a few related publications and began to get orders from all over the country to our amazement. This was by no means a lot of interest but to us it was the coolest thing in the world.
Colin and I started doing more comics on our own, as opposed to as a team, but we continued to record our silly, and sometimes disturbing music under the name THE SONS OF GRAVITY. The name is laughable now, but to my addled teenage mind it was perfectly appropriate. As time went by Colin went away to college at The University of North Texas in Denton, while I stayed at home to complete my senior year in high school before going to North Texas after two years of community college. We rarely spoke during this period, and by the time we met again we had changed in unexpected ways. I had grown up a bit and become invloved in a serious, but ill-fated relationship, all the while partying with old high school friends. Colin had immersed himself in bohemian college life with all that comes with it. Without going into too much detail, Colin had a mysterious, life-changing experience that would permanently alter his behavior and life. It was years before we had a "normal" conversation but we eventually began to speak farily regularly.
Recently Colin has been putting together a new mini-comic called PERMANENT PRESS PRESENTS, which showcases many of our characters in new stories, some old sketchbook pages, and other loosely related comics. He has asked me to contribute but up until now I have been extremely lazy about producing artwork. The reasons for this are numerous but I am attempting to break the cycle. It's not much, but the drawing of Mimus is one sketch on a page I'm working on of our old characters. This is just the beginning.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
GANG OF FOUR!
If you've been living under a rock for awhile you may not have heard that the incredible Gang of Four are back together and playing shows, in addition to putting out a new record of re-recorded versions of their classics. To this you might say, "Yeah, and...?", and I would in turn reply with the order, "Go see them play live immediately!". Seriously, if you have any kind of appreciation for live music, do yourself a big favor and check 'em out if you can. I dragged Bob along to the show, and even though he was unfamiliar with the songs, he enjoyed it quite a bit, and that says a lot. You know, the kind of show where after the first few notes, or beats of a new song the venue is littered with groups of friends giving each other the "Dude, it's this one!" look.
I'm going to rip-off some other reviewer of this particular tour and say that Andy Gill prowled the stage like a panther, or some sh*t, and was the first to take the stage, staring with a convincingly menacing look into the crowd. He did this as he played the first few jagged notes to one of their best songs. You'll have to take my word for that as I can't for the life of me remember which one it was. I CAN say that it's on Entertainment, and if you like I can try to recall which ones I'm sure it wasn't. That's easy because nearly all the songs they played where from that album, which is rightfully considered to be their best work, with Solid Gold right behind it.
Aside from being really tight, really rocking, really punk, and really funky these elder statemen of punk( sorry, I hate that phrase too...forget it ever happened.) were suprisingly hip, and energetic too. Vocalist John King prowled the stage like...uh, ran all over the place, did a lot of "hands in the air" disco contortions, did the crouching-froggy sideways leaping thing, and generally sang his ass off while often glaring over the upturned lights under each microphone. This dramatic lighting was among many of the effective elements forming the minimal aesthetic of the stage presentation that would go un-noticed if you didn't really pay attention. In an odd, couple of psychic moments Bob and I each got flashes of both Bauhaus, and Cheap Trick which surprises me in more ways than I can describe. And since they are so integral to the sound of the band I have to mention bass-player Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were cool too...
I'm going to rip-off some other reviewer of this particular tour and say that Andy Gill prowled the stage like a panther, or some sh*t, and was the first to take the stage, staring with a convincingly menacing look into the crowd. He did this as he played the first few jagged notes to one of their best songs. You'll have to take my word for that as I can't for the life of me remember which one it was. I CAN say that it's on Entertainment, and if you like I can try to recall which ones I'm sure it wasn't. That's easy because nearly all the songs they played where from that album, which is rightfully considered to be their best work, with Solid Gold right behind it.
Aside from being really tight, really rocking, really punk, and really funky these elder statemen of punk( sorry, I hate that phrase too...forget it ever happened.) were suprisingly hip, and energetic too. Vocalist John King prowled the stage like...uh, ran all over the place, did a lot of "hands in the air" disco contortions, did the crouching-froggy sideways leaping thing, and generally sang his ass off while often glaring over the upturned lights under each microphone. This dramatic lighting was among many of the effective elements forming the minimal aesthetic of the stage presentation that would go un-noticed if you didn't really pay attention. In an odd, couple of psychic moments Bob and I each got flashes of both Bauhaus, and Cheap Trick which surprises me in more ways than I can describe. And since they are so integral to the sound of the band I have to mention bass-player Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were cool too...
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Zee moment of truth...
Who knew that the hardest part of the whole "seat-of-my-pants" recording project I've been yammering about would be deciding which mix to use?....And it's dri-ving me cray-zee! Matt sent me two final mixes to choose from, and in the simplest terms one of them is kind of rough, and the other is a bit overblown. I was ready to go with the latter until I played it for my friend Bob and he preferred the stripped-down version. I'm usually all for a less is more aesthetic when it comes to music and many other things but somehow this case is different. Maybe it's because I can't really look at the song objectively any more, who knows? I'm sure you've had the experience of being so close to a project that you can't get back far enough to look at it, well that's what I'm going through here. So what did I go and do? I sent both versions of the song to 5 friends and/or relatives to get their opinions. This accomplishes two things: I get to show off, or perhaps show how truly stupid I can be, as well as getting the feedback I need from a group whose opinons on music I respect.
It's going to be really interesting to see what kind of a response I get. Not only from the folks I've mentioned but from other friends, family, and fellow contributors to this project. I can't wait to see my parents faces when they hear this thing. My Dad listens to light alternative or something on the radio, while my Mother is into horrible young country, Celine Dion and other mind-rot. They won't really have a context to judge this in so it could go in any direction. Most likely they will smile, and nod with some sort of vaguely positive, obligatory response. I'm looking forward to hearing what my nephew has to say. Jonathan is a very cool fifteen year old with good taste in music. He's also an aspiring musician amongst many other talents.
The best thing is that I'm finally starting to feel like I'm using my creativity again. In addition to the music thing I've been slowly getting back into working on my more natural aptitude; drawing. I've been completing a two-page story I did most of a few years back for a comic my old friend Colin is putting together. Colin is an extremely talented artist and guitar-player, as well as being very influential to me in my youth, which I'm almost completely in favor of. It's like a Garagepunk forum dork-out month around here but I wanted to mention that the image above is what I drew today to label the excellent cd I recieved from rontokyo a few months back. Yeah, I'm kinda slow...
It's going to be really interesting to see what kind of a response I get. Not only from the folks I've mentioned but from other friends, family, and fellow contributors to this project. I can't wait to see my parents faces when they hear this thing. My Dad listens to light alternative or something on the radio, while my Mother is into horrible young country, Celine Dion and other mind-rot. They won't really have a context to judge this in so it could go in any direction. Most likely they will smile, and nod with some sort of vaguely positive, obligatory response. I'm looking forward to hearing what my nephew has to say. Jonathan is a very cool fifteen year old with good taste in music. He's also an aspiring musician amongst many other talents.
The best thing is that I'm finally starting to feel like I'm using my creativity again. In addition to the music thing I've been slowly getting back into working on my more natural aptitude; drawing. I've been completing a two-page story I did most of a few years back for a comic my old friend Colin is putting together. Colin is an extremely talented artist and guitar-player, as well as being very influential to me in my youth, which I'm almost completely in favor of. It's like a Garagepunk forum dork-out month around here but I wanted to mention that the image above is what I drew today to label the excellent cd I recieved from rontokyo a few months back. Yeah, I'm kinda slow...
Friday, September 30, 2005
I've just returned from Mecca...
...no not actually the holy land but a holy land amongst Dallas' diners, The Mecca. It's been around for at least 20 years (I'm guessing), and despite the fact that it's basically in the neighborhood I grew up in I've somehow avoided it until now. It's in a cool, two-story building on a slightly disreputable street known as a good place to run into ladies of the night, Harry Hines Blvd. It's your typical diner/greasy spoon, maybe a bit cleaner but with great food and a decent ambience, if you will. I had the stuffed bell pepper, with whipped potatoes, green beans almondine, rolls, cornbread and iced tea...TASTY!
In other culturally significant news it seems that THE ROCKENING will be held in Memphis this year, rather than New Orleans for obvious reasons. Here' the scoop via Eric Oblivian on the Goner board:
at the risk of blowing scott's thing... (it's now SCOTT'S THING!), here's what he's working on (THIS MAY CHANGE, and BANDS ARE NOT PLAYING IN THIS ORDER necessarily... )
Thursday Oct 27 @ Buccaneer TearJerkers ,River City Tanlines ,Dutch Masters ,Die Rotzz, Redondo Beat Friday Oct 28 @ Hi Tone King Louie One Man Band, Carbonas,Tough & Lovely, Jenny Jeans ,Live Fast Die Saturday Oct 29 @ Hi Tone Quintron, King Khan & BBQ Show ,Black Lips, Kajun SS
maybe after parties, goner instores tba. stay tuna.
And for those of you keeping score at home I should be able to post an Mp3 of my song for the UNDER THE COVERS comp. by early this week. (Anybody know how to?...e-mail me PLEASE!) Matt's too busy to finish the mixing right now. Coincidentally, Sundazed Records has just released a 45 rpm/7- inch single featuring songs by the 1960's incarnation of West Texas' own Sparkles and wouldn't you know it but the song I'm covering (HIPSVILLE 29 B.C) is on the sucker. I gots to get it...
In other culturally significant news it seems that THE ROCKENING will be held in Memphis this year, rather than New Orleans for obvious reasons. Here' the scoop via Eric Oblivian on the Goner board:
at the risk of blowing scott's thing... (it's now SCOTT'S THING!), here's what he's working on (THIS MAY CHANGE, and BANDS ARE NOT PLAYING IN THIS ORDER necessarily... )
Thursday Oct 27 @ Buccaneer TearJerkers ,River City Tanlines ,Dutch Masters ,Die Rotzz, Redondo Beat Friday Oct 28 @ Hi Tone King Louie One Man Band, Carbonas,Tough & Lovely, Jenny Jeans ,Live Fast Die Saturday Oct 29 @ Hi Tone Quintron, King Khan & BBQ Show ,Black Lips, Kajun SS
maybe after parties, goner instores tba. stay tuna.
And for those of you keeping score at home I should be able to post an Mp3 of my song for the UNDER THE COVERS comp. by early this week. (Anybody know how to?...e-mail me PLEASE!) Matt's too busy to finish the mixing right now. Coincidentally, Sundazed Records has just released a 45 rpm/7- inch single featuring songs by the 1960's incarnation of West Texas' own Sparkles and wouldn't you know it but the song I'm covering (HIPSVILLE 29 B.C) is on the sucker. I gots to get it...
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Losin' It
...is the title of a cheesy, "coming-of-age" movie from the early-eighties that starred Shelly Long, and Tom Cruise before they were very well known. For some reason certain scenes from this film have been etched on my brain. The plot involves a small group of high school buddies that make a trip to Tijuana to lose their virginity. They somehow run into Long's character and one of the guys actually ends up "losin' it" to her instead of the obligatory hooker. Various memories include a rather racy song performed by the dj guy at a strip club/whorehouse that cleverly uses the word "Tijuana" in place of the phrase "Do you wanna?"(as in "Tijuana take your mother to the gang bang? Yes you do, it's been a long time since she had a screw..") and a scene in which some thugs have hoisted one of the kids into the air with a crane at a junkyard, and while preparing to fry his genitals with a blowtorch exclaims, "You are huugge!!" in an exaggerated Mexican accent(this was in response to the fact that said teen had stuffed his pants). It's one of those movies I'm not sure if I'd enjoy today, but I sure loved it as a youngster. The title also describes my current mental state pretty accurately.
Matt and I got the drums recorded last weekend but we haven't had a chance to do the final mix. He's got his wifes' whole family from Houston at his place right now to wait out Hurricane Rita. We had to haul all his recording equipment over to a friends place to use his drum kit. I managed to bang out the rhythm without too much trouble, and I'm anxious to see what it sounds like with the other tracks. There was one casualty in the form of Matt's monitor. He clipped the corner of the driveway when we pulled in after the recording and the base of his clear, plastic Mac monitor was broken. This was slightly ironic as Matt had stated earlier that Mac products are quite durable. I still think the Mac cult is mostly an image/ aesthetic thing. They make some cool stuff but the cultists are usually a bit snobbish in my opinion. That doesn't mean I wouldn't mind having one of those I-Pod Nanos though...
Matt and I got the drums recorded last weekend but we haven't had a chance to do the final mix. He's got his wifes' whole family from Houston at his place right now to wait out Hurricane Rita. We had to haul all his recording equipment over to a friends place to use his drum kit. I managed to bang out the rhythm without too much trouble, and I'm anxious to see what it sounds like with the other tracks. There was one casualty in the form of Matt's monitor. He clipped the corner of the driveway when we pulled in after the recording and the base of his clear, plastic Mac monitor was broken. This was slightly ironic as Matt had stated earlier that Mac products are quite durable. I still think the Mac cult is mostly an image/ aesthetic thing. They make some cool stuff but the cultists are usually a bit snobbish in my opinion. That doesn't mean I wouldn't mind having one of those I-Pod Nanos though...
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
"Things Are Getting Better"
Things ARE getting better, and that is also the name of a song on the Kinks, self-titled first album.I've got a Kinks sticker on my car that I made at work( I do that kind of thing for a living so it looks berry professional, thank you!), so you could say they are one of my top five bands. I feel like a bit of a poseur about it though as I only have like three of their albums. This is something I plan to remedy just as soon as the finances permit though. Despite the lack of Davies-penned albums in my collection I feel that I am entitled to display his bands logo on my vehicle. The only other stickers presently on my car are an "anti-Bush" sticker a friend made, and a Riverboat Gamblers sticker. I have two of the three Gamblaz' albums and I have seen them a gazillion times so I feel fine about that one, and I want the world to know that I hate GWB so that's great too. I'm at that crucial point in stickering ones car where I might start to become one of those guys with a lot of stickers on their (insert car synonym here). I'm trying to keep it minimal you see.
I've really been getting into other peoples blogs as of late and it makes me feel that mine is little more than an online diary. So be it, besides I really only look at mp3 blogs, and I shamelessly download a ton of great music off of them. There are actually too many to realistically see them all(or list them), and there are very few that I can say that I read with any amount of retension of information. I have recently run into a little trouble, however. At first I was playing Russian Roulette with the mp3's I would download, burning them to disc without so much as one listening in many cases. This was done based on band name/song title/ and style, and I had great initial results. There's not much that can go wrong when you have The Wipers, The Big Boys, The Angry Samoans and other relatively well-established artists to work with. It was when I began to get cocky, and/or greedy that I set myself up for a WHOLE lot of song-skipping. It's fun to have a mystery cd to some extent but those little slabs-o-digital fun aren't free, and I guess I'll have to start being a bit more selective.
This Sunday Matt Louis and I really are going to finish up the recording project. Last Sunday got cancelled as the fellow with the drum kit was holed-up watching what I consider to be the equivalent of watching paint dry, The Dallas Cowboys. YECHHHH!!!
I've really been getting into other peoples blogs as of late and it makes me feel that mine is little more than an online diary. So be it, besides I really only look at mp3 blogs, and I shamelessly download a ton of great music off of them. There are actually too many to realistically see them all(or list them), and there are very few that I can say that I read with any amount of retension of information. I have recently run into a little trouble, however. At first I was playing Russian Roulette with the mp3's I would download, burning them to disc without so much as one listening in many cases. This was done based on band name/song title/ and style, and I had great initial results. There's not much that can go wrong when you have The Wipers, The Big Boys, The Angry Samoans and other relatively well-established artists to work with. It was when I began to get cocky, and/or greedy that I set myself up for a WHOLE lot of song-skipping. It's fun to have a mystery cd to some extent but those little slabs-o-digital fun aren't free, and I guess I'll have to start being a bit more selective.
This Sunday Matt Louis and I really are going to finish up the recording project. Last Sunday got cancelled as the fellow with the drum kit was holed-up watching what I consider to be the equivalent of watching paint dry, The Dallas Cowboys. YECHHHH!!!
Saturday, September 03, 2005
For what it's worth...
This was originally posted by Kopper, the fine fellow that runs the Garagepunk.com forum, and is also the host of The Wayback Machine radio show in St. Louis. Like a lot of these online petition/letter sending campaigns I'm not sure what effect it will really have but if it has ANY effect at all than it has served a purpose:
IS IT TIME TO BRING THE NATIONAL GUARD HOME FROM IRAQ? (take action now) After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We must DEMAND that our national guard come home now. http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm The form above will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, and now you can send a letter also to the editor of your nearest daily newspaper at the SAME time, all with one click. Our troops in Iraq need to come home immediately. Not a year from now, not a month from now, NOW now. Is there not a SINGLE politician with the courage to stand up and speak the truth? When enough of US speak up it will happen. We must take PERSONAL responsibility for our government and what it does. Is it the destiny of our country to be utterly destroyed in pursuit of vain foreign conquests, as was Rome so many centuries ago, to where they could no longer protect their own homeland? Is that what is meant by the words "finish the job"? What insanity misled us to this terrible PREVENTABLE tragedy, where pleas for critically needed levee repairs were ignored to finance war profits and tax cuts for this administration's personal cronies. They can't even recruit for the National Guard anymore because it's nothing but a ticket straight to a desert hellhole. Bring the guard home now. We must reach out to our fellow citizens every way we can. Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.
And if you don't think you should care about the people of New Orleans out of compassion for your fellow man, then read this (which I also snatched off of a post made by Don Julio Blanco on Garagepunk.com)...
Mop Top Mike mentioned that he has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who's ever enjoyed jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who thinks of music beyond symphonies or elevators has friends in New Orleans. That music was created by and for the same people who are now homeless, dazed, hungry, and sick. They shared their homegrown music with the rest of us. For that alone the residents of New Orleans deserve our eternal gratitude. The world is a better place because of New Orleans music and musicians. I can't think of another city anywhere that I could make that statement about. Other cities' music histories can usually be summarized neatly in a book or two, if that. New Orleans music history requires its own bookcase.
People today don't realize that 100 years ago, there was no such thing as an improvised solo in band music. That was a New Orleans concept. A group or orchestra playing from head arrangements instead of written ones was a New Orleans concept. Incredibly important, innovative ideas that we now take for granted were not created at the great centers of western culture by comfortable, trained white musicians but rather the sons of slaves and prostitutes in the back alleys and disreputable dance halls in the same neighborhoods that are now underwater. Millions of words have been written attempting to understand how that happened. Nobody has successfully answered that yet. Classically trained musicians in Chicago called this music jazz as a put-down to discourage people from listening to this horrible new sound when it first came there. New Orleanians got the last laugh. They always did. New Orleans has been fighting for its individuality against the ever increasing onslaught of rigid Anglo-American orthodoxy for 200 years.
In the end it was the water, not conformity, that did them in. They will rebuild. The levees will finally be reinforced, new power lines will go up, shiny prefab houses will replace the 19th Century plantation and shotgun houses out in the West End. Students will file into Layola and Tulane like they once did. But the soul of the city will never be rebuilt. Who in their right mind would want to go drink a 'Hurricane' on Bourbon Street ever again, knowing the horrors and devastation that occured in 2005? The city went from a place of celebration to a place of mourning in 24 hours. This is an irreplacable loss for America.
IS IT TIME TO BRING THE NATIONAL GUARD HOME FROM IRAQ? (take action now) After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We must DEMAND that our national guard come home now. http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm The form above will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, and now you can send a letter also to the editor of your nearest daily newspaper at the SAME time, all with one click. Our troops in Iraq need to come home immediately. Not a year from now, not a month from now, NOW now. Is there not a SINGLE politician with the courage to stand up and speak the truth? When enough of US speak up it will happen. We must take PERSONAL responsibility for our government and what it does. Is it the destiny of our country to be utterly destroyed in pursuit of vain foreign conquests, as was Rome so many centuries ago, to where they could no longer protect their own homeland? Is that what is meant by the words "finish the job"? What insanity misled us to this terrible PREVENTABLE tragedy, where pleas for critically needed levee repairs were ignored to finance war profits and tax cuts for this administration's personal cronies. They can't even recruit for the National Guard anymore because it's nothing but a ticket straight to a desert hellhole. Bring the guard home now. We must reach out to our fellow citizens every way we can. Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.
And if you don't think you should care about the people of New Orleans out of compassion for your fellow man, then read this (which I also snatched off of a post made by Don Julio Blanco on Garagepunk.com)...
Mop Top Mike mentioned that he has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who's ever enjoyed jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul has friends in New Orleans. Anybody who thinks of music beyond symphonies or elevators has friends in New Orleans. That music was created by and for the same people who are now homeless, dazed, hungry, and sick. They shared their homegrown music with the rest of us. For that alone the residents of New Orleans deserve our eternal gratitude. The world is a better place because of New Orleans music and musicians. I can't think of another city anywhere that I could make that statement about. Other cities' music histories can usually be summarized neatly in a book or two, if that. New Orleans music history requires its own bookcase.
People today don't realize that 100 years ago, there was no such thing as an improvised solo in band music. That was a New Orleans concept. A group or orchestra playing from head arrangements instead of written ones was a New Orleans concept. Incredibly important, innovative ideas that we now take for granted were not created at the great centers of western culture by comfortable, trained white musicians but rather the sons of slaves and prostitutes in the back alleys and disreputable dance halls in the same neighborhoods that are now underwater. Millions of words have been written attempting to understand how that happened. Nobody has successfully answered that yet. Classically trained musicians in Chicago called this music jazz as a put-down to discourage people from listening to this horrible new sound when it first came there. New Orleanians got the last laugh. They always did. New Orleans has been fighting for its individuality against the ever increasing onslaught of rigid Anglo-American orthodoxy for 200 years.
In the end it was the water, not conformity, that did them in. They will rebuild. The levees will finally be reinforced, new power lines will go up, shiny prefab houses will replace the 19th Century plantation and shotgun houses out in the West End. Students will file into Layola and Tulane like they once did. But the soul of the city will never be rebuilt. Who in their right mind would want to go drink a 'Hurricane' on Bourbon Street ever again, knowing the horrors and devastation that occured in 2005? The city went from a place of celebration to a place of mourning in 24 hours. This is an irreplacable loss for America.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Obligatory post!
That's right kids, this is that "oh-so-special" blog entry that comes when it's been a while since my last one. Expect little, and you might enjoy it. Which brings me to a bit of advice I think would benefit many of you(this is primarily directed at people that probably don't read this tripe). It seems that there is an ever-growing trend out there, particularly among the young( by young I mean below middle-age...and what IS middle age now?) of feeling unjustly entitled. In other words, everybody wants something for nothing. Well, all I have to say about that is unless you've got dirt on someone, a sugar-mama/daddy, or just a rich daddy, it AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Oh, and if you think I'm going to put up with the behavior that this mindset inspires you can think again. This is where all these "30 thousand-dollar a year millionaires" are sprouting up from. I don't know about anywhere else, but Dallas is literally crawling with them. You might have noted that I've been a little bitter lately. I'm hoping it will subside soon.
In more important matters my deepest sympathies go out to those who have been effected by hurricane Katrina. I don't personally know anyone that currently lives there but it's overwhelming to think about what has happened nonetheless. On the purely selfish side I noticed that on the Goner Records message board that they are thinking about relocating The Rockening from New Orleans to either Jackson, Miss. or Atlanta, Ga. I mention this because I'm really looking forward to it and it would be really cool to meet some of these folks, many of which are going through a very difficult time. This may be a good time for them to blow off some of this tremendous stress and celebrate life with some great music. I'll admit I haven't been watching any of the flood footage on TV but I've seen some photos on the web, and the most connected to the event that I've felt has been from reading personal accounts from the many musicians, and fans on the Goner board. It has been very inspiring to see how generous people have been with offers of accomodations, food, and job leads. For someone who only a few years ago was anti-internet, and particularly anti-forum/chat room (still hate IM/chatrooms) I have learned not to citicize things I don't know about once again. I have this recurring trend where I end up fully embracing the very things I was adamantly against at some earlier point. I don't think of this as a lack of conviction, or flakiness, but as the talent to recognize my ability to be wrong, as well as the need for personal evolution. How you say PSYCHO-BABBLE!?
In more important matters my deepest sympathies go out to those who have been effected by hurricane Katrina. I don't personally know anyone that currently lives there but it's overwhelming to think about what has happened nonetheless. On the purely selfish side I noticed that on the Goner Records message board that they are thinking about relocating The Rockening from New Orleans to either Jackson, Miss. or Atlanta, Ga. I mention this because I'm really looking forward to it and it would be really cool to meet some of these folks, many of which are going through a very difficult time. This may be a good time for them to blow off some of this tremendous stress and celebrate life with some great music. I'll admit I haven't been watching any of the flood footage on TV but I've seen some photos on the web, and the most connected to the event that I've felt has been from reading personal accounts from the many musicians, and fans on the Goner board. It has been very inspiring to see how generous people have been with offers of accomodations, food, and job leads. For someone who only a few years ago was anti-internet, and particularly anti-forum/chat room (still hate IM/chatrooms) I have learned not to citicize things I don't know about once again. I have this recurring trend where I end up fully embracing the very things I was adamantly against at some earlier point. I don't think of this as a lack of conviction, or flakiness, but as the talent to recognize my ability to be wrong, as well as the need for personal evolution. How you say PSYCHO-BABBLE!?
Thursday, August 18, 2005
I can SING! (sort of)
Well, Matt Louis and I wrapped up the majority of the recording last night, and if I do say so myself it sounds pretty durn good. We basically started from scratch as I had my head planted firmly in me arse the previous night but it worked out better this time anyway. We even finally got that "fuzzy" tone I wanted for the overdub of the main guitar riff. But the most suprising part of the whole process was recording the vocals. As far as I know I had never done any kind of decent recording of any of my "music" let alone documented my attempts at serious vocals. If I hadn't been in on all the action I wouldn't have known the voice that emerged was mine. This isn't to say that I sang in an overly affected manner, or that Matt put some kind of crazy effect on my voice, it's just that the sound you get from a decent microphone when singing over your own music somehow sounds better. Of course I'm biased, but it sounds pretty cool.
The only things we need to do at this point are replace the sampled drums with real ones and do the final mix. What's even greater is that Matt says he'd like to do more of this in the future. He's used to playing and recording at the same time so this has been a good way for him to get more experience with recording. I've been really lucky to have friends like I do that can allow me this type of experience. Thanks to Randy Parker and Matt Louis! I can't wait to get the comp. cd and listen to my song amongst all the other contributions.
In more exciting rock and roll news my buddy "Wild Bill" Ivy just hipped me to the fact that the legendary Mummies are supposed to be playing at the Rockening in New Orleans, La. just before Halloween. I'd sell a kidney to be there, but I may be able to avoid that.
The only things we need to do at this point are replace the sampled drums with real ones and do the final mix. What's even greater is that Matt says he'd like to do more of this in the future. He's used to playing and recording at the same time so this has been a good way for him to get more experience with recording. I've been really lucky to have friends like I do that can allow me this type of experience. Thanks to Randy Parker and Matt Louis! I can't wait to get the comp. cd and listen to my song amongst all the other contributions.
In more exciting rock and roll news my buddy "Wild Bill" Ivy just hipped me to the fact that the legendary Mummies are supposed to be playing at the Rockening in New Orleans, La. just before Halloween. I'd sell a kidney to be there, but I may be able to avoid that.
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