Chartered Trips

Young Diamanda

ZOLA JESUS "CLAY BODIES" MUSIC VIDEO from FUTURE PRIMITIVE FILMS on Vimeo.

So i spend a lot of time railing against the next gen, specifically about how they rely on new media to appropriate their steeze. It pisses me off how easy it is for this Youtube MP3 generation to "discover" albums and bands that most people over 30 literally had to, gasp, leave the house to discover a mere 5 years ago. Kids like Wavves write poorly crafted ironic songs about "goths" where this idiot's only frame of reference for goth is the Matt Skiba solo record he downloaded when he was in highschool (read: last year). Point is my Mom knows a fuck of a lot more about goth than some SoCal pizza party douche born in 89' ever will. This is pretty much how i've been feeling about the internet music scene and anyone born in the 80's for the last few years.

I am excited to say however that last night i finally had my mind changed by a 19 yr old experimental mini goddess named Nika Roza Danilova.  Not only is she young, female, and fronting her own band in a genre (read: industry) where men still run everything, but she is doing all this while living in Madison. Fucking. Wisconsin. Well done lady. I look forward to hearing you create an influential, long lasting body of work over the next decade or two.

I Already Miss You and You've Not Even Gone

In the continuing adventures of karma, good people everywhere are still getting exactly what they deserve, the jerks remain miserable and pretty much everything still happens for a reason.

In case you can't read the fine print here that is a signed European record contract complete with a "key man" clause written for a very special woman (in the photo below) for a little trio from ATL. Fortunately a few former Touch and Go employees are still pulling for these dudes on a daily.

In other related news, the love of my life is moving to Berlin on Monday and i am already planning my German/ Croatian vacation for 2010.

Good luck momma. Not that you need it.... cause in the end, you're always gonna get back all the love you give.

Hunchback

sorry i never blod anymore. and when i do it is usually only about bands i think are cool. so speaking, of here is a new video for a band i think is cool. i can't remember which Philly nut job in my life first told me about this bro, i think it was actually Evan back when he i used to discuss people's demos cause we believed in the system (read: band's needing labels) or some such thing...i saw them play the other night  and it was maybe the best thing i've seen this year. with a full band KV sounds like Spirtualized on a Black Crowes trip. (yes, i like the Black Crowes. still)

Believe Me

Download Lose_it_katie

i am fortunate to have more than one Canadian in my life that inspires me everyday.

US National Park Tour cont....

  k, so after the Grand Canyon putting ever petty aspect of human relationships into perspective and thus explaining the meaning of life to us, we set out to figure out wtf Mormonism was all about in SLC. 

 We didn't get very far into this hot bed of uber conservatism before we were issued our first (and only) speeding ticket. Amazingly, i wasnt driving when this happened even though i was brutally  speeding the whole time i drove because  i don't understand Canadian measurements of distance (or speed) and our van's consol was all in Canada time.  Despite the highways being over patroled,  the state of Utah is pretty gorgeous. Having grown up in the Midwest i am still really used to long drive's being painfully flat and boring. Not the case in Utah obviously.

 We were greeted by my friend's Chris & Anna.

 Who were kind enough to take us out to dinner where Josh was able to order a flight of practically non-alchoholic beers.

 The next day we took a drive out to Antelope island and had our first (of several) encounters with giant prehistoric wild life. I tried to approach this buffalo who i guess thought about charging me about 5 secs after this picture was taken. Whateves wooly mammoth looking motherf***er.

Mike and mini-Mike.

So apparently, SLC was founded when the leader of the Mormons arrived here w/ his people in exile and decided that the lake was the Pacific Ocean. Once declaring they had reached the promised land of California they settled next to this cesspool of a lake in which only brine fish (sea monkeys) can survive. I mean the lake is pretty and all, but it is 1/100th the size of the Pacific, really shallow and reeks of shrimp. 

 
 We made our way to Yellowstone, land of one thousand awesome geysers and more Jumanji type action than any of us had ever witnessed.

 Bison have their own lane on the road through Yellowstone. You can pet them as they walk by. No fences, no zoo beauracracy, nbd.

 That is a grizzly bear. IN THE WILD.

  And that is a wolf. IN NATURE.

 Mike is a PA on the new David Eliade production.

 It was spring so we had a snowball fight.

 The main thing geyser we had gone to see was closed due to pregnant bears but this is what it looks like on the internet:

  Old Faithful was still old & faithful though.

 On our way out of the park we saw the miracle of birth. And after birth.

 

We cruised by Mount Rushmor on the way home too but those dudes looked kinda stale in comparison. I mean we saw a baby bison in it's first moments on earth. Who the f**k is Thomas Jefferson?

 

How i Spent My Summer Vacation (Pt.1 of 8 million)

April 18th was my first official day of unemployment (my last was August 12th). I woke up and immediately flew to LA.

So that i could have dinner with these people.

And go to Laguna Beach.

And look at surfer memorials.

Soon after that we left on our US National State Park Tour.

Beginning with the Sequoia Forest whose whole thing is really big, old trees.

 

The only way into the park is by driving for two hours, doing 20 mph (40 kilometres in this case)up impossibly curvy one lane road on a 90 degree incline w/ an elevation of 14,000 ft. See that winding thing on the right of this photo? That's King's Road.

In fact, the biggest living tree in the whole world lives here, he has a name plate so no one misses him. 

Some of the trees are laying down and are so large you can drive cars through hollowed out portions of their trunks.

 Sequioa bark is the softest bark i've ever felt. it feels like kittens after you put them in the dryer with fabric softener.  this tree trunk is roughly the size of my living room btw.

 
Josh let out a couple primal screamadelicas and then we were on our way to Arizona.

We got to the Grand Canyon the entrance we chose seemed kinda pedestrian at first.

Guard rails, little kids, tons of Asian and Swedish tourists. It was still indescribably beautiful, but seemed a bit closed off.

We saw some people way off the beaten path and thought they were nuts.

Until after about 15 minutes, we became those people.

You can actually sit on the edge of the Grand Canyon. And it is sooooo sick.

 

 

Mike took all these photos, while cautiously urging us to come back from the edge.

 

Sandy kinda looked like this the rest of the trip.

 

If you ever get the chance you should go here at sunrise or just before sunset. The way the light illuminates the colors is a once-in-a-lifetime/ believe in god type of experience.

 

Before we left town we hit the Flinstone Diner.

 

A campground, restaurant, gift shop, and the last place on earth you can get breakfast for $3.

 

 

The gift shop was like a window into my dreams. I spent $80 on tribal paraphenalia.

 Mike did not, but was patient enough to let me do a photo shoot at 9am.

 

After breakfast we were off to SLC on an epic drive day. TBC.

 

 

best of the list

2:58, finally a visual equivalent for a mosh breakdown.

Amen.

i have to admit any time i hear the words "Michal Jackson" i immediately change the channel, station, whatever.  It's been like this since about an hour after it was announced he was gone. So it is quite possible there are other non-believers out there besides me that i have been too impatient to find. This piece on WBEZ/ NPR today though was the first thing i've heard i can truly get behind.

Bedbugs and Ballyhoo

my 'puter is broken but here are some photos of where i've been lately that Sandy Miranda took :

i'll put my own up soon as i can.

Austin in March

Despite the fact the quaint little town (i have really thought of moving to) becomes a never ending  clusterfuck of douchebags for a few weeks,  it is actually really fun to see everyone you have ever known in the span of 72 hours.
What will probably be the first & last TG/QS showcase i ever go to was really poignant.  At the very least i have faith that these three cats will be in my life for the rest of it.   There are gonna be a bunch more Facebook photo albums, blog accounts, and Flikr pages up here soon.

I could type several whole blogs on the subject of work. But i am as sick of talking about it as you are of hearing about it. Also, there are some things in life (many things actually) to "keep off the blog". You can ask me for my photos of Negative Approach anytime though.

The one band i wanted to see the most, GUN OUTFIT, i got to spend more time in a clown car with then at any show.  You can't tell here, but there were 18 people in Judd's rental at the time this photo was taken.
Ok, i did get to see them play half a set at Beerland one time. And it was the best half a set i've ever seen of any band ever. Todd P. approved.
I also got to spend a lot of time telling people i was w/ the Crystal Stilts.
i did get to see some real old friends who are tamed librarian-like versions of their former selves.  This is not insult btw, but i do blame Teepee.  Apparently i missed the Mentors hoods at the afterparty, but it was nice to feel less dangerous/ in danger then it used to for a while.

The most dangerous thing that happened all weekend was the impromtu bb gun shooting range that broke out at the Stange Boy's bbq on Sunday.

That and eating Taco Cabana at 4am were the most dangerous things that happened all weekend. Masks are off now btw, and Mike and i are officially out the closet IRL. (Dunno who that girl is tho.)
The best t-shirt i saw all weekend belonged to one of the Strange Boys who had on this puffy paint number that was an umbrella getting rained on that said "I Don't Mind" below the image.
There was a brief and incomplete Joshua Tree bday weekend reunion as well.
The most important lesson i learned all weekend was that the people that have always had your back will always have your back (and vice versa of course).  A special thank you to Jonny, Phil, Jon Collins & Judd (my two music festival life partners) for taking care of me after i lost my atm card. I swear i am wiring transfering all four of you $20 as we speak. I do not know what i would do without you guys, and i am hoping i will never have to find out.