Wednesday, November 16, 2011

10/10/10


I was riding my bike to meet my buddy Nick for brunch. Crushin' it down Telegraph, crossing the intersection at 29th. Door flies open on me, pushes me off my bike and into traffic. I hesitate to say I was lucky; if that were true, then I wouldn't have been doored in the first place. However, I managed to not be run down by fellow cyclists and automobiles. More shenanigans followed, not the least of which being the offending driver trying to convince me that I was fine while I flailed and emitted pre-vocal gutturals in every direction, and EMTs arriving and trying to cut my clothes off and attaching a fucking neck-brace that increased my pain in every way. Nick was good enough to come down the street and pay for a taxi to Highland Hospital. What an experience... all of the staff act in this kind of harried and hard-hearted yet sweet and endearing manner... there's a million people hurting and bleeding in the ER and they aren't staffed enough to deal with everyone with nearly enough efficiency and they know it. It felt a little bit like Southern Hospitality's sort of stern kindness, but sideways.

Anyhow, that very day, I was supposed to play a show at the Uptown in Oakland with New York's Child Abuse. Needless to say, as I couldn't raise my arm above my shoulder without debilitating pain, I was not going to play the drums that night. No Babies practiced without me and played the show simply as 2 guitars, vocals and the occasional snare hit. I didn't even mind too much that they didn't want to pick me up from the hospital (FUCK YOU GUYS), sort of. The recording of that, you can listen to here. (I will insert the download link in a short time.)

I got some pain meds, laid in bed for a couple days (the days of my living underneath the Purple House were still in effect) and went about re-upping my food stamps at the Social Service Office on San Pablo, sorry libertarians. While waiting on my number to be called, I got a telephone communiqué from one Mose Witner, who wanted to put together a 10 drummer daytime public performance on October 10th 2010 at Berkeley's Willard Park, in the tradition of the BOADRUM performances in New York, LA and I think that year, in Japan.

I told him I had been doored, and that, gee, I'd have to think about it. I had my bodily safety to consider, not to mention feeling a little funny participating in borrowing so heavily from the BOARDUM idea, but I'll be goddamned if the allure of participating in some guerilla public performance, and of course, testing my ability to drum at all three days after being assaulted by an automobile. I eventually called him back and and told him to count me in.

I showed up just before noon, having stuffed my Frankensteinian drum kit into my tiny 2 door car. We tried to keep it subtle as more and more drummer started arriving, as to not attract police attention, but eventually there were ten full drum kits set up in the sunshine of the day in the middle of a public park. Some ogled and made sour faces, but most people seemed excited about this unplanned fun about to happen.

Jacob showed up and between he and us drummers, we worked out a loose structure and composition to attempt playing. Here are the filmed results, a little shaky, but fully ecstatic.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

we hold these truths to be self-evident







Talked to my friend Mikey from high school about our friends who had so much potential and then sacrificed their beliefs, morals and minds for a stab at stability. They've flipped a switch in their brains just to survive. How long can you think critically and not act before you just turn off your give a fuck meter? Don't ever fucking settle. Get a cat or something.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

why do all the boys just pass you by?



The Shower Scene From Psycho were a post-punk band from the 80s Melbourne, AUS "Little Band" scene. Imagine lots of amateurs with funny electronics, keyboards & drum machines, most of which had never touched a musical instrument before. A lot of the bands only played a couple shows, with new bands being formed rapidly & super incestuously with members shifting to instruments they'd never touched before. It was twee and punk as fuck. This band reminds me a lot of the Cardiacs, if Kurt from Glee was their singer. Feedback Jack really rips up the guitar on this track, which is a cover of the 60s band The Seekers, who were also from Melbourne and the first Australian band to chart in the US & UK.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Everything Is A Lie, So Everything Is True - podcast #3

No Babies - Morlocks Take Manhattan (munted)
Lucrate Milk - Dritte Blind Meuse
Magma - Udu Wudu
Major Lazer - Halo (Beyonce cover)
Calvin Johnson featuring Mirah - I Don't Want To Have To Ask For A Valentine
Lady Saw - Squeezing Me
Grauzone - Eisbaer
Pure - No's Knife
Ec8or - Cocaine Ducks
Cardiacs - R.E.S.

DOWNLOAD

Back from a West Coast tour of No Babies featuring Vanessa Harris (Coughs, Sister Fucker) on guitar & Marissa Majik (Awesomes, Punks) on vocals. Needing to record the 5 new songs we wrote! Preparing for another No Babies tour in the UK in April. Nerve wracking! I think our record comes out on April 11, the day before I arrive! Word on the street is that there is a limited amount on see-through red with silver glitter sparkle! Making sweet and savory pies like an MF-er with Vanessa and Kim. Working a semi-new job at which I watch movies all day for cash-monies. Please download this newest podcast aka downloadable mixtape since I think I am so behind the curve that this actually doesn't qualify as a legit 'podcast'. Anyhow, we have a screwed & delayed out version of a No Babies song, the band's very antithesis. Some people actually slow down and drop a million reverbs and delays on a track and people eat it up....try it out, its really fun. Just some classic tracks, some new classics, oldies & inbetweenies. Enjoy.

S

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

podcast #2 - Pistol Grip Coltrane

I made this one while living in the crawlspace under Purple House in September, I think. It was really cold, there were rats coming and asking to borrow flour and a lot of poop and insects smoked cigarettes while I was trying to sleep. John Benson's a really nice guy, don't treat him like a sucker.

John Coltrane - Something or other i don't recall what it is.
Above The Law - Pistol Grip Pump
Barfight! - Barfight
Born Against - Albany Academy
Mosh Groove
Japanther - She's The One
Dead Moon - Its Okay
Arab On Radar - that one about jerkin off
Dark Lion - Burn On Hell
Sea Scouts - Pattern Recognition
"You can close the New York Stock Exchange, shut down the schools in Indonesia."
Czolgosz's Song from Stephen Sondheim's Assassins
Orange Coax - St Petersburg live on ARTFORSPASTICS
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President Of The United States, Abraham Lincoln."
XBXRX - song 2 (Narnack single)
Pine Hill Haints - Catfish Angels

DOWNLOAD

HATCHLING

I made this for Emilio's birthday back in March. It was conceived in Orlando, Florida out of boredom and insanity and about 7 minutes in you can tell exactly when I stopped applying myself 100%. Otherwise, it was a pretty fun exercise to do for someone that I like using the skills she taught me. It also catalogs the exact week for which I was amused by a couple of pop sensations. Making this totally killed them all for me. Inside you'll find hits from Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, Miami Bass jams, Crass, Velvet Underground, Spice Girls, Notorious BIG, Tupac, Calle 13, Frente, the Jackson 5, Billy Joel, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Sean Kingston, BAADDD, Nirvana, Kap Bambino & DJ Scotch Egg.

BIRTHDAY MEGAMIX

Monday, October 18, 2010

No Babies / Whitman 5" split record!




Chris and Rich played in Oakland last night to play a show at the Stanford House in Oakland. They brought the downer jams and HARD. They also brought our copies of the No Babies/Whitman split five inch! Chris put so much of himself into his work as Folktale and as Whitman and I am super proud to have him put out this piece of music and to share its physical and auditory space with him and his song. Our song was originally composed when I went to Orlando to spend time with my grandfather before he died. We had a show booked, and on a lark, I asked Steve Touchstone of XBXRX if he wanted to play drums in No Babies, knowing full well that he doesn't really "PLAY DRUMS" (me neither). Taking the challenge full on, Steve and No Babies went in and wrote 4 whole new songs to perform at the Parkside in SF. This is one we reworked from that set, featuring the oft-ignored bass clarinet. Pick it up at a No Babies or Whitman show, or at .

"This record starts off with the forlorn and familiar plucking of Los Angeles based, Whitman's guitar, which is shortly joined by shaky vocals that deliver some of his most brutally honest and straight forward lyrics yet. Then things take a bit of a turn as your ears get pummled with shrieks of white noise and tape garble. A short but haunting journey, showing you Whitman at his best. On the flip side, current Oakland residents No Babies start their song off with a catchy beat, bass clarinet, and vocals that are surprisingly melodic. This is a pleasant surprise for anyone who is used to thier energy packed live shows, but it doesn't last long, the beat picks up and chaos ensues, leaving you with an exhausted but satisfied feeling in just under two minutes. This is a one time pressing of 549 5" records on black vinyl. They come in full color covers with art by Anthony Fonda and Christopher Payne and include a lyric sheet and MP3 download card." - Folktale Records