Head Like a Hmmmmm???

One of my top 3 favorite bands, A.F.I., has covered Tnert's staple "Head Like A Hole".

I don't know what to say. Parts of it are ALRIGHT...some parts are mad gay.

I'd like to hear others opinions. Let's discuss.

www.afireinside.net

(you may have to pick Light or Dark...pick either, wait for the page to load, and it's listed right there under Latest News.

Vacation Diary Day 10

This was the best day so far. Woke up. Skip work out while Irene was at a business thing. Watch more of THE OFFICE (Matt is right...genius). Listen to Ass Cobra. MORE Sith pix leaked (controversy amongst the fan geeks goes big time). Share with Matt. Nice Day out. Wes Anderson is today's celeb sighting as we see him hail a cab. Irene and I meet Brandt for lunch at spurs. Discuss music, upcoming gigs (reminder: Kasabian tix go onsale on the 8th) and people who are making us crazy. Go for eye exam (prescription hasn't changed) to get new contacts. Went to Irene's eye doctor who is basically Gary Cole from Office Space. Hit Virgin, get remaining DVD's: GARDEN STATE (top movie this year possibly), ANCHORMAN (unrated), and the now classic NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. Finally make it to Myers of Keswick. Tons of goodies. Home. Not feeling good, might have caught irene's flu. More OFFICE (already on second series). Shopping with Irene (girly shit). Movies, finally, see CLOSER...brief review: CLOSER is a very good film, though not the great movie I was hoping it to be. I had some issues with the story (things happened too quickly, not enough info about the character's lives before all this shit goes down), and when discussing it with Irene after, she brought up some good points that countered a lot of my other problems. She's been hanging out with film people way too much. Anyway, I finally get Clive Owen now, as he is a superstar and Nat really holds the whole movie together. Jude was a pussy (that was the character), and Jules was dressed weird and was good until she became Julia Roberts about 3/4 of the way in. Clive deserves an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. After, spend some time with Peter Saintface (who is also a big fan of the Manics album, thus finally something for us to agree on). Then off to get a couple of slices of Pizza, hit the pub for a few pints. Ian Brown's SOLARIZED is on constant rotation in the pub and it just makes a pint that much better. Home. Office. Really not feeling good. Bed.

"ASSHOLE!"

I DID go to work, but some cool shit happens. Luckily this vacation diary ends Sunday, so here goes: Woke up. Work out. LURCH, CHILL. Go to office, buy tons of comics (New TEEN TITANS is insanely good). E-mail banter with Ash, he's working on MOG-X. Meanwhile, Digital Brothel drops a line to tell me to get my ass in gear with the aggression remix album and prep. Aces. Discuss new remix from Cyanotic. Where's Jared? Spoiler stills from the SITH make it online, hours of speculation ensues (not just by me)...

...WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOGGY BLOG BLOG FOR THE FOLLOWING FRANK JEFFREY DESANTO THEORY: Hello, I have a new theory regarding STAR WARS spoilers: I think these few guys who keep throwing out high res stills and spoilers that reveal some plot and characters are actually sent this stuff by Lucasfilm as a clever way to build fan buzz. As some of you may know, I have some insight into these things. I'm convinced that when you see images on a site like this, http://www.aptirrelevance.com/sw-archive/searchresults.php?browse=rots they are deliberately sent out to the internet fan community. Am I complaining? No, but once again, Lucas and friends find new ways for me to lose hours of my life. RESUME BLOGGITY BLOG BLOG...

...Wrote some more, ironing out some points. Forcing a deadline of like 1/11. Tried to read all my new comics on train, but there were just too many. Home. Evan has new CONSTANTINE game preview. Scary and fun game. Like the movie (yes, I saw it like ages ago, asshole). My word of the day is asshole, cause it's used in the videogame repeatedly, which of course I ended up repeating nonstop. Asshole. Anyway, this takes up hours. Sushi. Home. GTA. Watch first two episodes of THE OFFICE (genius). Stare at SITH photos again, some new ones pop up, thats like 5 today. One is now wallpaper on laptop. Blog. Bed. Asshole.

Vacation Diary Day 9

Woke up. Tea and Rice Krispie treats at Irene's store. GTA (on second to last mission). Stare at Simon Gallup's new bass. Lunch with Dad. Start watching HK flick. Order Long Awaited Revenge Live CD. Watch 24 Season 4 preview (Season is gonna be blow away if it's as tight as what I just watched). Blog responses. Write more sequel ideas. Answer E-mails. More writing, including some lyrics that popped into my head. Make fun of Matt. Cook Christmas dinner leftovers. Watch LOVE ACTUALLY. More writing (hours pass like minutes). Discuss New Years with Lurch (idiot). Check plane flight status for Brandt (with no explanation). Finish watching HK flick (EXPLOSIVE CITY, great opening, then eh). Ponder Jet Li disappearance (since found). GTA (closing in). Bed

Simon's new bass

http://www.gibson.com/email/xpress_oct2704.html

Scroll down a bit...

Notice

There will be no Vacation Diary Day 8 entry as I went in to the office. However, there will be a Day 9. A preview: I woke up.

F

Vacation Diary Day 7

Wake up wayyyy late. Work out. Listen to Kylie. Come back to find message from irene, whose back is out again. Go up to get her. Listen to Primals. Tea and Rice Krispie treat at her store. Buy books (U2: SHOW, MEN OF TOMORROW, and GTA STRATEGY GUIDE). Run to Best Buy. Buy DVD's (Chris Benoit, ELF, and DODGEBALL). No fucking NAPOLEON DYNAMITE or fucking ANCHORMAN. Home. Chinese take away. Watch DODGEBALL extras (pretty funny, doesn't make me miss playing). Irene naps so I watch Benoit DVD (awesome). GTA. Listen to Libertines. Read Spanish Language interview with Mani. Mani says: "I believe that if Kasabian manages to make good a second disc, they can be greater than Oasis, greater than no other group" He also goes on to say its they are the only other band he would play in. That WILL happen. Watch. Not now, but way down the line. I called it here first. Eat Caviar (rapidly running out). Listen to Yorn. Find G and I in the background of a photo from MSG in the U2 book (had Irene double check to confirm). Very small, but funny. Irene stuggles off the couch (intestinal fortitude) to make some new meal involving potatoes, leeks, and eggs. On paper, I should hate this, but I don't when I eat it (ask for seconds). Watch Ali G movie: INDAHOUSE, which I got for Irene on DVD. Pretty funny, plus hot chick from Boston Legal (not on tonight) is in it. Bonus (inform Lurch). Listen to Manics. GTA pissing me the fuck off. Vent to Pearson. Talk to Matt and Brandt about various things. Realization of the day: No matter how little I THINK I'm doing on "vacation", I go and write this bullshit and I see I'm actually still busy as fuck. Weird. Where's Ash?

Vacation Diary Day 6

Christmas. Wake up late. Presents (score). GTA (stuck on stupid mission featuring annoying David Cross). Breakfast. Stewart Manor (rough hood where I'm from. Ghetto). Exchange holiday texts with pallys. Chas calls (sweet). Presents with folks (score). Family arrive. Eat. Discuss Episode 3 with small cousin. Eat. Back to city. Watch 24 season 3 DVD extras. Mark out. GTA. Ponder tomorrow purchases. Read reviews of Moz at Earl's Court (positive). Bed.

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Vacation Diary Day 5

Thought I woke up early. Didn't. Ash again proves himself as the best kind of comedian with his set ups on this blog. Skip work out to clean apt. This takes longer than I thought. Occasional NME peek and chat with Brandt about recent vinyl purchases. The entire day is about how THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE CAN GO FUCK THEMSELVES. Express mail, which was supposed to be there yesterday at NOON with nephew's presents has YET to arrive. The asshole I dealt with last night, HAROLD, did not look into it at all and took no record. What's the fucking point of a tracking number if you cannot track the package. And just to make it worse, there's a SECOND package to the nephew they can't find. Temper goes sky high. Irene calls to try and calm me, thats when you know its bad. Order Pluck. Eat Pluck. Wrap presents for Irene (not an art). Discuss Antonio Bandares Cologne with G via text. Quick stocking stuffer shopping trip to Duane Reade. Jon Spencer is there doing the same thing it seems. Give building staff Christmas cards (and $), and run to LI for nice dinner at place near my folks we've been going to forever. Possibly mob (not MOG) related. Back at folks for some presents with smaller friends of the family. Borrow car, drive home. More postal service bullshit, but now it turns out the second packge WAS brought to the house and no one was home. RRRRRR. Pull big casino heist in GTA. Listen to Blues Explosion. Eat Caviar. Watch Irene wrap presents (art). Christmas. She gives me first present: Gift Certificate to Zakka. POINTS. GTA.

To my friends, family, readers of this site, and in particular to my MOGpac cohorts, I wish you only the best and better.

F

Vacation Diary Day 4

First off, kudos to Todd Ryan for the heads up on the aggression T-shirt. Wake up late (10:30) due to late night GTA progress. Read blog comments. Ash lobs me one, re: Canada, that I hit out of the park. Factor style. Ponder Junk's inability to have us comment on her blog. Brief IM discussion with her, mostly about health and Morrissey. Compare and contrast Emmy Rossum and Anne Hathaway and discuss the forthcoming Oasis album with G. Unshowered, run to post office with final nephew gifts. Listen to Nik Kershaw (allo Chazzy). Postal lady knows me now, busts balls about lack of tape. Smile to avoid overage charges. Charm in full effect. Run back home. Eat Hummas. Speculate DC Comics 2005 with Evan. Work out. Listen to Libertines. Read more of Edge. Shower, at last. Weather is shit. Pizza. Race uptown to buy mom gift. Tree looks nice. Listen to Oasis B-Sides. Hit Japanese bookstore. Stop at Sam Ash, buy giftcard for very musical cousin. Pit stop for Irene gifts. Weather + Midtown + Tourists = pain in the nutsack. Soaked. Listen to Weller. Due to adverse weather conditions, plan to go to Myers of Keswick to stock up on Brit products (digestives, crisps, etc) is postponed. While switching express train, I run into the Riff. Brief catch up. TIme has been kind to her. She is the first person who is not living with me to get new business card (I later find out that this isn't the case). She dates a Canadian. What can I tell you, but at least she didn't mention a certain aggression song. Lawyer texts from Pittsburgh (poor thing). Stop at local newsstand to buy candy but in fact they have the X-Mas issue of NME. To have NME this early in the week is a fucking miracle I can only dare to dream of (obviously the distro folks are rushing pre-holiday, cause I know the next issues will probably come in in mid Jan). Listen to Pet Shop Boys. GTA, slight progress. Caviar cravings through the entire day, but holding off so there is actually some left. Eat Almonds instead (my god, where the fuck are the donuts). Listen to Pete Yorn. Read NME. Feel dirty for reading it this early in the week, as if i would have nothing left to do on the weekend. Laugh at Carl Libertine's christmas stories. Go with Irene to eat at new Italian place on 2nd ave. Good stuff. Angry conversation with USPS re: packages that have not arrived for nephew. Angry Frank. Walked home, good times. Compliment Matt on dissing me on this blog.Listen to Radio Dept. I didn't laugh as much today, but that was because of the rain and tourists. I laughed a lot later. I hate midtown. Today's conclusion: Everything is EXACTLY as it should be...except the album...

Pure Liquid Elegance

Hey, I was in one of "the coolest bands of all time in the industrial scene". Some of you were as well. I read it on Ebay! Really.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=307&item=4062192183&rd=1

There are members of the aggression who I don't think have that shirt. I, of course, have 12 of them (no I don't). When I think of the aggression, the word elegant never came to mind. However, should any of you industrial half asses decide to bid on this, please save the Electric Hellfire Club shirt for Tom, thanks.

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Vacation Diary Day 3

What I recall: Woke up early. skipped work out. Checked out pix of new Cramp baby (looks like her dad). Ponder Ash's phrase "Sheer Genius". Shower. Get to post office: mail present for Link baby and big box of fun for nephew (Box 1 of 2). Listen to The Roses. Walk down Park Ave. Bought a cruller from a vendor who called me "baby" and told me "a lot is going on today" yet gave nothing to back that statement up (I did ask). Ignored on street by Michael Saintface (who, to his credit, had his Ipod on, was about 10 feet away and racing like a mexican powerwalker, and just saw me with long hair, which I currently no longer have). Hit Toys R Us: Place blows, they have barely anything I'm looking for (for nephew), in particular a Yugioh deck he needs, and have no fucking price tags. Get nephew and irene some fun stuff. Go to Christmas booths in Union Square, get Irene something she probably doesnt even remember telling me about (but I know she'll like). Points. Skip Virgin and go right to Forbidden Planet. Buy comics and Justice League figure (for nephew), though they lack the Yugioh deck. Read comics while eating in Au Bon Pain (Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Astonishing X-Men are the top choices this week). Go home, research Yugioh. Talk to Tomooka. Listen to My Bloody Valentine. Play phone tag with Link. Discuss babies with Matt. Quote Wes Anderson movies with Murray. Brandt sends random music. Walk down 3rd Ave. Make fun of Fed Ex guy who tries to stop traffic and then drops all the packages off his cart (got what he deserved). Go to Toy Tokyo, end up spending more on myself (Batman Movie Kubricks), but do find the Yugioh deck. Killer. Listen to u2. Go home, lots of mail. Look at new business cards. Fucking Wizard sends me the new issue that DOESNT have the Constantine cover shot. Dicks. Some GTA (beat the mission I was stuck on), Fill out Wizard Awards Ballot (you're welcome, Geoff). Drink Peppermint Hot Chocolate at Irene's store while reading Wizard (takes 10 minutes). Give Irene new business card. She takes me for one of my Christmas presents: CAVIAR at Caviar Russe on Madison Ave (you can never go wrong with this gift), go home bust out the Russian Standart Vodka (thanks to G and Mattagement), and eat said Caviar and drink while irene shops. Read u2 article in Rolling Stone. Listen to u2. Blog. Check out photo of my cousin's cute kids. Have funny IM exchange with The Junk. Watch WALKING TALL with The Rock (so so). Jot down sequel ideas for a movie no one has seen. Talk to Aero. Listen to Suicide. Make fun of Brandt.Read more of Wizard (10 minutes). Didn't laugh as much, but was triumphant in the present purchasing so today is considered nothing short of a full success.

F

Vacation Diary Day 2

Again in no particular order: Made fun of Matt (Nivek comment). Worked out. Made fun of Brandt (re: breakfast). Pondered where the Chemlab site went. Showered. Listened to Depeche again. Got haircut (short). Ate Chinese food (good fortune re: using my imagination to bring success). Christmas present recon. Bought wine. Watched HK movie I couldn't watch yesterday (A1: HEADLINE, not a bad thriller). Very little GTA. Went uptown. Went to Citicorp building with Irene. Checked mail. Talked to nephew (re: Christmas). Pondered stage moves for future reference. Reassured D'orge again. Watched Pete Doherty on BBC newsnight. Couldnt understand half of what he said. Called Link. Saw photo of Kruger baby in snowsuit (looked like kid in Christmas Story). Listened to Babyshambles. Watched Irene wrap (art). Made tea. Read a few chapters of Edge's book (very good). Ordered take away. Received text messages from Costa Rica. Blogged. Discuss hair with G. Watered banzai (with water). Watched NYPD Blue. Laughed a lot all day...

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Vacation Diary Day 1

Not in Chronological Order: E-mailed Ash. GTA. Listened to the aggression. Worked out. Listened to the Libertines. Went to Post Office and mailed Christmas gifts to Leo, Cameron and new Cramp baby. Listened to Depeche. Made soup. GTA. Tried to watch a HK movie but didn't make it. Texted Chad. Watched South Park Christmas Episode (Very funny) with lads. Had Hot Chocolate at Irene's store. Talked new Cramp baby with Kruger. More GTA. Watched Irene wrap gifts (an art). Discussed Genius of Paul Heyman with G. GTA. Found out it snowed from Mattagement (doing his job). Listened to Lurch talk about some chicks mom trying to get with him. Talked GTA and Television writing with Pearson. Hung up new movie poster. I blogged. Twice. GTA.

Meanwhile, the world has finally caught up with me, as reported on the NINhotline: "Gem Archer records with Nine Inch Nails. ProSound News has a little article about the recording party going down at The Village in Los Angeles. Gem Archer, from Oasis, recorded tracks with Jeordie White on the new Alan Moulder produced NIN album, With Teeth."

Ok like I wasnt doing the whole britpop/industrial Hybrid under the guise of Brithop for like the past 10 years. "With Teeth" is the first red flag of Trent Wackness in 05.

F

"Was I Invited Onstage?"

The Holidays, while the busiest time of year for my significant other, are in fact the easiest time of the year for yours truly. Thus this leaves me vulnerable to do things I normally wouldn't do, i.e. workout regularly (and be complimented by my friend/bartender for looking "fit"), transport thousands of dollars of chocolate in a rented van through New York City on behalf of my lovely significant other (yes Brandt was shotgun), and cook dinner for The Kidd, only to watch him order Japanese food. Anyhow, those are stories best left to your imagination as the fleshed out versions are nowhere near as exciting, despite my having a life that is, as we used to say in the early charting days of the aggression, better than your year. These days, I tend to use the words "lucky" and "fortunate" to avoid anonymous douchebags posting here trying to cut myself and the MOGpac down.

Anyhow, I do work on music, despite what seems to be a lack of current output. The loops for HF are finally done and sound good. Brandt, who is on his way to Chicago for the Christmas thing, is now about to start prepping for the mixes. We spent the day yesterday backing up all of our respective hard drives to make sure we both had every current version of every current thing pertaining to this album...and then some. I have a rough draft of this Implant Remix done and now Brandt will work his magic on that. We're missing the deadline for that one I'm sure, but I'm working on 3 different things right now and I can't lose focus. One of those key things is MOG-X aka THANK YOU, MOSCOW. I will reveal no more till it is fully ready to be revealed. Ponder.

Meanwhile, Brandt has already upped the stakes in the "Buy F.J. An Awesome Christmas Present Competition" by delivering THIS; http://www.kidrobot.com/images/specimages/s-swnyc-2.jpg Frank White never looked so good!

On Saturday Night, while Brandt too his lameass to the Pixies, and Mattagement cockteased but back out of an appearance (which i would think is true club superstar fashion), I took my girl and the ladies of Internationalpoontang.com to the LAMEST VENUE IN THE WORLD, the hipster doucheathon known as Piano's to see my favourite band Saintface perform their first last gig of the year. They were raw and tight and entertaining and the money was well spent just to see the special kiss between Poontang Dorg and Mr. Saintface himself (thus the opening quote above). However, my ears are still ringing cause they can't mix sound in that hipster douche dive. That places skeeves me beyond belief. This evening was the first time i was able to discuss the Saintface album AT ALL, which I did with the bassist and keyboardist, both of whom I respect immensely. My dear friend the singer is avoided at all costs when it comes to this topic, which is by his own request. It looks as though our New Years will be spent with these lads as they perform at the much better venue Don Hills.

I have mentioned my two new favourite TV shows this year LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (featured in today's New York Times) and JACK AND BOBBY, both of which are on the bubble, but I have yet to mention how much I love BOSTON LEGAL. No show makes me laugh as hard and watching James Spader and my hero William Shatner interact this week is a gift from god. This show is a camp classic with two brilliant actors playing to their smarmy strengths and trying each week to sleep with women (of course Spader gets the amazing british chick) and ruining people's lives. This show is nomiated for multiple Golden Globes (including both actors) and is the best guilty pleasure on TV today. This show should have a long life. I could do 10 pages on this show, but I'll stop here and tell you to tape it weekly.

And now I must venture back to the land of GTA: San Andreas! I've just reached the point where we meet a character voiced by Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, which to me is too funny. With the Roses and Primals on the soundtrack, having Shaun William Ryder's unique voice talking to me via a video game is very very enjoyable. He already is a character, so this makes sense.

F

What I've learned from...

...Serge The Summer Dog (aka Ruffian aka Rough Stuff): Never jump onto my owner's desk thus knock a bottle of cider onto his laptop that is being used to do the entire Hypefactor album. I know all the music is backed up on 3 different
external drives, but dang, I don't wanna live my life in the cage (and not the cage reffered to back in the day). Note to puppies: away from the desk. OK?

Meanwhile...

The loop editing/tightening is just about done, except the epic THEY'VE JUST and it's now time to put all these airtight music parts (drums and loops) back into the main song files. We don't have any arranging to do, but the sheer size of this album makes it so that Brandt has to be careful putting stuff together. Also, it has been decided, to keep the record consistent, Charles will be brought in to re-play the remainder of the bass lines he hasn't performed on. Right now, the record is down to an amalgam of he and I playing rythmn tracks, sometimes in different parts of the same song, and it just sounds awkward. Again, ego is not the issue here, (and believe me I'm more than content playing F-bass and singing), it's what is best for the song and Charles is quite simply the best bassist we have. This period of the record, easily the most frustrating, has also been in the most educational and we're learning many things we will need to avoid when it comes time to to the next record.

Has anyone heard of the Scandanavian band Radio Department? Not too shabby shoegazing stuff that evokes Slowdive and MBV without being a ripoff. They're someone to watch.

F

Junk Revisited

I gave my side of the London adventures and how we met my dear friend Ashley Junkee a while back, now here is her take on that wonderful warm week in London 2001:

http://www.ashleysaunders.com/ashblog/

She's a top chick. Enjoy!

F

Hang The DJ!

It was another long and poo-filled day (thanks to the Summer Dog) of editing loops at the Birdcage. While I commanded the main computer to tighten the loops to CREATION PHASE, Brandt, with an assist from RJ of Westchester, was able to install Live into my computer so I can cut the workload in half. Today, I'll be back to load the loops and various sound files into my own computer so i can work this week on wrapping all these loops up. I plan to be working day AND night on these. Meanwhile, I still have a remix to finish and another non-HF project that's about to start, plus MOG-X. The Dance Card is crazy full and I'm starting to lose a little sleep over these things...

The evening was spent in midtown last night where ASH took to the DJ booth for the first time in ages. The last two times I can remember him DJ'ing were at Detour as a lead up to an aggression show there and then before than in the loft in my old Apartment on New Years. FYI, when midnight stuck, he played the Star Wars theme. Aces. I still don't know how we got away with a full PA in that apartment. But anyhow, Ash spun a really impressive set that encompassed his diverse musical interests. While he played stuff that he personally likes, he never aliented the audience (which I would probably do. Kasabian B-sides can only go so far). Besides bookending the set with his own electronic material, he was able to give an exlcusive preview of the MOGpac's 2005 musical output by including material not only from his projects Ass Cobra and Carbon Framework, but from a certain band you've read about on here called Hypefactor. It was great hearing THEME FROM J BAR from the first CD early in the set and then later, Ash added demos of LENINGRAD and THEME FROM PROPAGANDA to the set. It was a treat and knowing that Ash had chosen those songs for his first DJ set in ages was a honour. His set was very indie early on and then developed into mostly electronic stuff as it progressed (it was an electronic music night, so he worked his way to the point). You'll want to hire this man for your next art fag party! Anyhow, it was a good time and seeing Mattagement and Chazz only made it better.

The previous evening saw us checking out OCEANS 12. It's no secret that I consider OCEANS 11 (the Clooney Version) a minor modern classic of breezy harmless filmmaking that only got better with repeated viewing. OCEANS 12, while not a classic, is a worthy successor that was again fun and harmless and good for some laughs. There are some GREAT cameos (Topher Grace, who I think is going to be big start, maybe Tom Hanks size, was again hilarious) and since Julia was with children when making the movie, the eye candy falls on the Zeta-Jones, who is keeping it real. Also keeping it mad mantasy style was Vincent Cassell who was fucking awesome in this. I don't think I had ever seen him speak in English, but the man is Charisma times 100 and within 30 seconds of him being on screen you knew why the Belluci would make a baby with this man. I would too, if it were possible. Anyhow.

And in the "BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER" Department: Dan Hamill sets the stakes high this year by presenting Irene and I tickets for Ian Brown live at Webster Hall in February! DANG!

F

Guest Blog: GUTTERBALL VINNIE aka G

Courtesy of internationalpoontang.com:

Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:41pm
64.236.245.243

Ian Brown (ex. Stone Roses)
Saturday February 26, 2005
Webster Hall
Doors: 6:30pm
$30 in advance/$35 day of show / 18+

Ian will not only be playing selections from his new album, "Solarized", but will be playing some Stone Roses classics he's been doing over the past few months throughout the UK. This will be an event not to be missed - Tickets are on sale now!!

Take it from G, one of the few people in America ever to see the Stone Roses (don't believe me, just ask F, he was there as well) This show has Dickie potential Dorge!

G

This Saturday

http://www.transelectronic.org/index.php?catId=festival

Return to the Alcoholic Playground

Took a trip to the East Village the other night, obviously without Peter Saintface, and proceeded to inadvertantly drink myself silly. I started out with Irene and the Ladies of Internationalpoontang checking out some music that included the worst guitar player I have ever had the misfortune to witness. I can't name names simply to protect people i DO like, but there are people I DO NOT like who have completely justified my dislike of them personally by not being able to back up their musical boasts. When your bandmates apologizing for your total lack of talent all night, you have a fucking problem. And you wonder why certain GREAT bands, see above, wouldn't hire you.

Anyhow, after drinks with the ladies, it was time for the lads as I met up first with Ash and the legendary R.J. at One and One for a few drinks, before catching up with Brandt and seeing the very cool band known as Out Hud perform at the Mercury Lounge (sans R.J. who was ticketless, though I did try to get him in with some smooth talking which I guess wasnt smooth enough). They were very 90's but very good, but they, like the other band I recently saw that is going unnamed, have a member who's stage presence is so atrocious that it hurt the gig for me quite a bit. Not good. However, I like Out Hud and would see them again. Gotta grab some of their stuff.

Then poor Ash and Brandt, like G and the Kidd did post-Han a few weeks back, had spend the rest of the night into the next morning in the pub listening to me pontificate about life, music and lives in music. I used to be a melodramatic drunk, occasionally a really gay drunk, and occasionally a very pissy drunk (dont put me near Jag, ask Ash and Dulli), but in my more content later years, I slip into some old wizard mode and try to be some Obi Wan type, dispensing information and advice (good or bad I have no idea), to my younger mates like it is candy. Since I have spoken or socialized with all four mates since their time with me at the pub, I think all is well!

Tidbits;

*Just saw HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS again so Irene could check it out. She lost her shit and now hates Andy Lau, who until tonight might have been her favourite HK movie star. I think thats a sign he acted quite well. The movie is just as good the second time. Give Zang her Oscar!

*Speaking of Andy Lau, I just watched him again in Johnny To's new romantic Tragicomedy YESTERDAY ONCE MORE, which is about the reconcilliation between a divorced couple who used to be thieves. Cute stuff, not the director's best, but again a clever concept. It's just not as good as this years other Johnny To movies: BREAKING NEWS and the uplifting THROWDOWN, which is in my top 5 this year.

*A potential Top 5'er, OCEANS 12, is out this week complete with trailers for both BATMAN BEGINS and CONSTANTINE, both of which I have a personal attachment to.

*However, the trailer to my THIRD most anticipated movie of 2005, THE WEDDING CRASHERS, has hit the net. Seek it out, it has classic written all over it.

*The Durans are playing the fucking GARDEN in April. Mission Accomplished, lads.

*I am having trouble bringing myself to see CLOSER, but thats for reasons of me being hesitant of seeing certain acquiantences sans clothing in some way shape or form when you feel that they are still 12 years old.

*The Lab is about to go operational in the next week. Think Spring, is what I have been told.

*The long discussed MOGX has suddenly again gained momentum.

*Dan Hamill, would i would never allow to touch me physically, has touched me emotionally with a recent E-mail. Revealed soon!

Meanwhile, everyone introduce our newest studio addition: SERGE THE SUMMER DOG, a very young and energetic Huskie who very handsome and locks its owner out of the apartment, thus forcing him to call yours truly to come down with keys. Moveltov, Papa Summer Man. However, I hope this causes no delays with the record!

F

Neighborhood Explosion!

At Irene's prodding, we checked out our old friend Mr. Jon Spencer who has recently shortened his band's name to the simple, yet effective Blues Explosion. It had been some time since we had seem them perform, it was in the neighborhood (Irene saw Mr. Spencer and his son on their way to the gig, and then later saw Mr. Spencer's amazing wife, Ms. Christina Martinez) and plus he IS our neighbor (we literally live on the same block), so Irene felt it would be nice to see what the Blues was all about these days. As they have done so many times in the past, the Blues Explosion played a sweaty, energetic, set of the dirty rock n roll they are known for. I'm not familiar with the new album, and I wasn't a big fan of the previous album, PLASTIC FANG, but my god do I love this band and John Spencer's Elvis like stage persona never grows old and in fact he's so good at it that he's made it his own. However, the crowd was easily one of worst I have ever been a part of. Hipster douches and just plain douches alike half filled the venue and just had no energy. They were a bunch of dead fishes and it really hurt the gig. But you can't stop a great band, the Blues Explosion are just that and I will be happy to tell Mr. Spencer the next time I see him at the market.

Meanwhile, the Holiday Season, as always, just makes things crazier than normal, which in some ways is good and other ways a pain in the ass, which is usually the case when the end of the year crunch starts to effect the music. Recent gigs, weddings etc, have made it a struggle to sit in one place for any long period of time to really focus on the record. You have to steal each moment you can to get things done. We've been trying to do that quite a bit. I spent many hours in the Birdcage (now currently in mid dog-proofing), watching Mr. Gassman perfect every loop that will be heard on this album, making them as perfect as perfect can be to fit with the now perfect drums. I'd say we're about mid-way through that process and the tougher loop songs (LENINGRAD, SOLAR) have been tackled. We have so many intricate little details to ge through, but we're making the right progress. Heads are on straight, things are happening. Progress will be made. I even made a chart of all things to make sure we don't forget anything and that we can set our plans and schedules accordingly. My mom would be proud!

F

The loss of a friend...

it is with great sadness that i say that i have lost one of my closest friends. though we've only known each other for 8months, it seemed like a lifetime - in a good way. we shared so many great times together, i don't know how i'll get by.

i'll miss you, my dear friend.

Post Turkey Stress Disorder

Yes, still here and plenty left to say for the big fishes in small minds...

Good and bad notes to post from the Hypefactor camp. The drum editing, thanks to Brandt (with a Melodyne tutorial from Ash), is finally finished and ready to be placed for mixing. The problem is that our song files for mixing are HUGE, and we, not being millionaires or having friends at Digidesign or Cubase, must learn to work with our limited resources (when I say "limited" I need to state for the record that we as a unit are quite fortunate in the amount of stuff we DO have). This has led to much discussion as to how to approach the mixing process using what we have. I think the approach Brandt has come up with, despite many revisions, is a solid one...IF the computer co-operates. Thus lies the big problem. I spent an entire day at the Birdcage yesterday (more on what I was doing there in a second), and B seemed in total control of the situation and the second I left, his computer and, in particular, Cubase itself, decided to crap out, of course always right when we need it most. Ladies and Gentlemen, technology at it's finest. My immediate concern were for the actual sound files and their possible corruption due to the computer's problems, but Brandt points out that they are kept on a separate hard drive and are secure. Where I last left off with B, he was running scans and all that shit while putting a call into Ash (who is usually quite dependable in these situations). I think our devoting the holiday weekend to getting the album ready to mix is in semi-jeopardy now, sadly. I'm trying to be as NOT frustrated as possible by trying NOT to let this series of unfortunate events crawl under my skin and make me mental....too late!

While this was all going on, yours truly has been chained to his own computer, this time for the purposes of remixing a band called Impant, who some of you might know. Jared set this up, as they will be doing a Chemlab remix in return. I'm pleased with the way it's coming out and it's allowing me to get back into the computer music groove. It's been awhile and it's been fun thus far. Hopefully, I won't jinx it.

And now for some advertisements:

FINDING NEVERLAND might be the best movie of 2004. I have to go back and look at what else came out this year, but this movie rocked my ass. They might give Depp his Oscar for this one, simply cause he doesn't do anything crazy other than give a beautiful and thoughtful performance that is unlike his usual fare. And Kate Winslet can act more with her eyes than most actors can do with their entire persons. Great film.

Thanks to Dorg of internationalpoontang.com and her singnificant other, Mr. H of St, D's, Irene and I have been able to relive our UK trip by purchasing bags and bags of crisps, digestives and good UK candy at Myers of Keswick on Hudson Street here in the big city. Huge props for this.

Now, eat your leftovers, bitch!

F

Regarding this Blog

When one person, for whatever reason,
has a chance to lead an exceptional
life, he has no right to keep it to
himself.
-Jacques Cousteau

(Thanks, Wes)

GIG OF THE YEAR: REVEALED!

Kasabian at Bowery for their first ever (and currently only) US gig. There's nothing better (and extremely rare) than seeing a highly anticipated band show up and be lightyears better than the (already amazing) record and be better than anything you could have ever hoped. Also, not only do they play like it's their last day on earth, they're nice guys as well (well done Brandt).

The future of British rock music is secure at last. Without a doubt they are the only band worthy of the title "The new Roses" and the only band who could possibly be "The new Oasis". The potential for massiveness is, well, massive.

Gig of the Year. Band of the Year.

F

Delay of Game

After much deliberation culminating in a band discussion last night, In Loving Memory have decided against playing at the The Tank on 12/11. The majority vote is that although the songs are strong as instrumentals, they are tailored for a vocalist and therefore will be best represented with strong vocals.

A thousand thanks you's to all who provided advice and insight.


We'll see you soon.


Ash.
ILM

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: REVEALED

Despite very tough competiton from Kasabian (who are already "Best New Band Since Oasis" and might also end up being gig of the year next week), and now having heard 3/4 of the new U2 album (which is great), The Official Album of The Year without any hesitation (at this moment) is the new MANIC STREET PREACHERS album LIFEBLOOD.

First a bit of backstory on my history with this band: I tried to get into them early on when they were new (thanks as always to the NME). At the time (early 90's) they wanted to be as big as Guns N Roses and went so far as to try to be a UK version of them, though their fashion sense was a bit spotty. However, they made good press, as they had a thoughful singer (who often reminded me of a young Tom Whitfleet), an intellectual douche bassist with a big mouth and stupid political views, a drummer who never spoke, and a guitar player/lyricist who was handsome, eccentric, possibly gay or bi, and extremely tortured to the point where he was scary (just seek out his infamous NME interview where he took a razor and carved "4 REAL" into his forearm in response to the interviewer calling them posers. Not pretty). His name was Richey and like the douche junkie Peter in the Libertines today, he was the star of the band (though Richey never was kicked out). I largely ignored their initial albums, even after Richey fucked off and left not only the band, but seemingly the world. Literally. Long rumoured to be a suicide yet occasional "sightings" hit the papers every few years, always without merit. Not a joke, not a publicity thing.

Anyhow, something weird happened after Richey disappeared: the Manics suddently became huger thanks to two excellent rock albums, EVERYTHING MUST GO and THIS IS MY TRUTH TELL ME YOURS. These are two must have albums that deal with serious adult issues ranging from womens rights, to politics, to everything in between. Their sound changed to a more lush pop sound, but their messages were clear. They also got smarter in how they got their views across, making them more personalized and easy for a listener to relate to. People "got" songs like A DESIGN FOR LIFE and YOU STOLE THE SUN FROM MY HEART. With this change, they hit the upper echelon of British Rock music. Megastars. Arenas. I mean, Ian Brown was opening for them! Come on...And guess what? I missed all of this. I read about it, but never got the albums. Thus, and for the record credit has to go to Dan Hamill, who was the original Manics fan and during our our adventures at Gold Street I got to hear THIS IS MY TRUTH and was hooked. I then bought a used copy of EVERYTHING MUST GO and I was a confirmed fan. I was ready for more and eagerly awaited the next release...

Anyhow, after this amazing run of hit records, they, meaning the douche bassist Nicky Wire, who I can't stand, became more outspoken, more political and surprisingly anti-american in the press. To the point of annoyance. Total turn off. He never even spoke about music anymore it seemed like! They even did a song called MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES, which was pushing it, and then went to Cuba to play for Castro (now even considered by the band to have been a bit over the top). They also became way too conscious of the fact that their original fanbase, now tiny compared to the legions who got into them with EVERYTHING and TRUTH, considered them sell-outs and no longer punk. So in a rare feat where a large band listens to the diehards, the band decided to "got back to their roots" (which never really works unless you're U2) and did a "punk" album called KNOW YOUR ENEMY, which was sonically the opposite of the two previous lush, angelic albums and it fucking backfired. There are two great songs on it, OCEAN SPRAY (a very touching song about a parent with cancer) and BABY ELIAN (about that little Cuban kid, you know that story), and the rest of it is just a huge mistake. I think Dan Hamill liked it. I hated it and so did the masses. To me, it was over.

The album flopped and I feel pretty much killed them to a serious degree worldwide. Thus comes the subsequent hits package, called FOREVER DELAYED, which is actually excellent and shows that even the early period that I didn't like had some amazing moments. It also had a new song, called THERE BY THE GRACE OF GOD, which was, guess what, a "return to form" to the excellent production and musical style of the two hit albums. Suddenly I became excited again, especially when I heard that they were working on songs in New York with Bowie's producer Tony Visconti. That just made sense.

And thus here they are with LIFEBLOOD, a beautiful, romantic, and angelic pop album that sees the trio comfortable with making adult music that is moving and full of, well, life. It also shows them expanding their sound to fit a nice 80's influence as well; there are beautiful keyboard parts, nice piano's etc. It's very warm, very well produced and unlike THIS IS MY TRUTH, exists on a less grandiose level, thus making it easier to feel. And guitarist/singer James Dean Bradfield lets loose on this album with some amazing guitar work and his vocals are amazing.

My biggest problems with this band, they lyrical content, seems to have been addressed as well. Yes it has its political songs (I.e. THE LOVE OF RICHARD NIXON and GLASNOST) but instead of being forced down your throat, they go back to telling history lessons and examining the world we live in. It's done with taste and class and is well written. The album is balanced with wonderful personal songs, in particular the lead off track, 1985, which examines the world in that year and how it compared to the visions of Orwell and Nietzsche. The exclamation point of this whole song is what is mine (and possibly Brandt's) favourite lyric this year: "Morrissey and Marr gave me choice...in 1985". It's brilliant. After being so anti-American for so long, and I know they still are, they do a wonderful song about the victims of 9/11 called EMPTY SOULS which is very well done, and not cheesey and not a ballad. This song, third on the album, is where you realize this album is very very very special. I don't want to get too much further into the album, but it encompasses everything I love about this band. It's touching, the musicianship is excellent, and is everything this band should be doing at this point. Best of all, the closing song, CARDIFF AFTERLIFE, finally addresses Richey head on in an attempt to give some closure to such a a sad loss. Again touching, again without any pretention and truly "4 Real".

In the cover art of their albums, the manics usually have a quote from some philosopher that sets the tone and mood of each album. I always thought of this as pretentious, but when I saw Descartes quote in the front of this album, it said everything about the mindset of this band: "Conquer yourself rather than the world". And they've done it.

Even though they are currently playing arenas in the UK this Christmas (with the excellent Razorlight opening), the album is getting largely ignored or panned by the UK press, mostly because everything is youth oriented and the manics have no direct connection to the current crop of musicians (i.e. the Stone Roses to Kasabian, The Clash to The Libertines etc). My gut tells me that their due will be coming in the years ahead. But these guys were never fashionable to begin with. They never fit in with baggy or with Britpop, and will always be the outsiders...at least until the bands they influenced come to the forefront years from now.

F

What goes around...

This came to the aggression band E-mail account this week:

"Hi.

I am not sure if this is properly aimed, but I am trying to get in touch with Thomas Whitfleet, and this seems to be the closest I can come to a functioning email address for him.

If it is, then I would really appreciate it if you could tell him that I say hello and pass along my contact information, as we tend to lose touch for long periods of time.

If it is not, then I apologize for taking up your time.

Thank you for your help, either way.

All best,

NAME WITHHELD FOR LEGAL REASONS"

Luckily, Tom has large cash sums on his person at all times, so I'm sure all the alimony shit can be handled. I full expect a similar Email in the future directed to the Kidd from a certain young lady from an internet cafe in Moscow introducing him to his son or daughter (or both).

F

Hypefactor Loves Vagina

I just stumbled across this quote by Mr. Louche in a recent Chemlab interview:

"FJ’s side project called Hypefactor is also delicious and cool in a very Euro-‘lectro way without being wimpy in the least like so many of those bands are…no dick sucking."

Sorry fellas, no head for you. It's called the Birdcage for a reason.

xoxo

F

Petition For Growth

I get nostalgic during this season.

I was looking through photos and came across some from the MOGTrips, in particular shots from our Russian adventure. And I realized something that I feel strongly about. I feel so strongly that I'd like to use this space for a petition:

Dan Hamill should grow his beard again.

It's a GREAT look for him. He looks like one of the guys from Sigur Ros or something. Very classic, yet very current.

Please add you name to this petition if you feel as strongly as I do.


Ash.
------

PS, rumor has it that In Loving Memory (fondly known as Ass Cobra on these pages) will be performing for the first time on 12/11 at a space called The Tank. It will most likely be a stripped down setup, with me on guits and electronics, Thom on additional guits, Charles on bass and Robin on drums. Our set will most likely be entirely instrumental, as we haven't finalized vocalist decisions and because of this haven't made a decision about adding a dedicated keyboardist/electronic percussionist (it's long story.) We feel very strongly about the album's worth of instrumental material that we have so far, and would like to present it at least once in this format.

The night is being curated by none other than Type recording artist, io-records founder, and bizarro counterpart of FJ, RJ Valeo. RJ will be performing live, as well as at least two other Type artists, one of them being a young guy named Khonnor. He's an elctronic-folk rock guy whose album has just been released and is getting great reviews. Fennesz and MBV come to mind when listening. Watch this space for details about the show.

Another day...

I know, I'm a TERRIBLE friend for not updating, so here's what the hell is up:

*THE INCREDIBLES is just that, incredible. What a great movie, I was surprised at how adult it was, not in that it was porno, no no no, I mean in that the characters were centered on the adult leads as opposed to the children. It's excellent filmmaking, one of the years best for sure. I can't believe how consistantly creative the guys at Pixar are and how they are able to make movies that really span age groups. It's why you'll remember this movie and SHARKS TALE will be just a memory in a 2 months. However, if the next Pixar movie, CARS, is as NOT funny as the trailer they showed, we could have the first crack in the Pixar armour. However, I would bet in their favour, they just have what it takes. No one can touch them.

*Out of seemingly nowhere (though mostly from Turkey), Mr. Peter Murphy arrives with a new CD called UNSHATTERED and he is just that as well. Reunited with his DEEP collaborator, Paul Statham, Mr. Murphy (he has earned the MISTER cause he survived that Bauhaus reunion unscathed), has created a wonderful album of romantic pop songs that are a natural progression from his previous albums. It's somewhere in the range of his album CASCADE and has a bit of LOVE HYSTERIA in there (mostly for it's positive vibe). While many feel he should go back to the darkness of DEEP, I think he's strongest doing this kind of material. He's no kid either and is successful in crafting mature and, ahem, deep album. And that VOICE, my god, is still just as good as ever. I thought with his previous escapades into middle eastern music, we wouldnt see him doing straight pop music, but here he is doing what he does best. A welcome return and a worthy addition to the best of 04.

*You might want to check out my previous comments elsewhere on this Blog regarding MUSE. We checked them out at Webster Hall last night and it literally was watching an arena show in a small venue. They are prog arena rock and again some of the sounds they create with three simple instruments is insane. 3 guys play with the power of 10. Brandt, who was curious, seemed impressed by the musicianship. As I mentioned to him, theyre not going to be your favourite band in the world (thats reserved for irene, as she is their biggest fan), but you walk out of the gig loving them. And I do.

*HMV was kind enough to not only send me a good copy of ALBUM OF THE YEAR (still coming up with the review) as well as THIS IS MUSIC, which is the singles compliation of The Verve. Man, I forgot how awesome they were and this nicely remastered collection, complete with two unreleased songs, is a great reminder of their awesomeness. The right songs are there, including LUCKY MAN and GRAVITY GRAVE and my personal fave, ON YOUR OWN. It makes me hate both principals of the band: Richard Ashcroft (for his solo career that now seems pale compared to this, even though I love it) and Nick McCabe (douche who broke the band up twice). A must own.

*B and I are trying to get sorted so we can finish the HF album. Things are slow while we work out some new software that is supposedly saving us time. Heading into the cage tonight for more. Lotta Chemlab static buzzing as well at the moment, but im a bit iffy on what I've been receiving and what I haven't been.

I still am checking the mailbox daily for my Cerati hits album and it has yet to show. Speaking of favourite people from Argentina, Leo is playing a gig soon in LA, so check that out. feel like I have more to tell you but I can't think at the moment. Album of the Year soon. SOON.

F

RISE!

The REVENGE OF THE SITH trailer debuted today online and what can I say...Vader, Yoda, Chewie, Padme, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, the droids are all there, they all look either pissed off or in heaps of trouble and that's what a fucking STAR WARS movie should look like! The sith looks like it's finally hitting the fan. Even the die hards can't complain with this one. Matt Gentile is quoting lines...a good sign. Goosebumps at the sight of Vader. Kudo's George, now don't screw the movie up.

Meanwhile, as pointed out at breakfast to my friend Chad, 4 more years of Bush means we get to remain a part of the maturing of the Bush Twins into young women. That could be tasty. Patty Davis anyone?

ANYHOW, we took a trip down the block last night to check out COLDER at Bowery Ballroom. As you may recall (and if you don't jump back to the May 04 section of this blog) Irene and I missed this gig as we were on the other coast and while Brandt and Ash and I'm sure many other douches packed Rothko to check this frenchness out, they were unimpressed. However, Brandt wasnt THAT unimpressed as he's the one who picked up the tickets for last night. Ash went back and forth and sadly didn't make it. It seemed a lot of people were of the same mindset as they barely filled half the place last night. However, there's little to no press for the album here in the states and no promo at all for the tour, which is silly. Anyhow, the addition of Warp Records newest signing Home Video (turned on to us by Ash himself) got us into the venue early.

Home Video have a lot of potential. They're a very young 3-piece which have an EP called, (and this I love) CITIZEN, and it's 5 tracks of exellent electronic rock. It reminds me of many things, which is good, and yet is original. I feel it. it's well produced and has a nice warmth and smooth feel to it. Live, they were a bit too Radiohead for me as the balance shifted a bit more to the rock side of things. It was a bit raw, which could be good if used right. I honestly think they just need some seasoning and a few extra band members. I love the EP and I liked the live show, I think I can love them soon, but they seem to be as old as my first grade going cousin. Watch this space for more on these guys. Oh and they seem to be nice blokes as well as we chatted them up a bit.

COLDER then came on, much later than what we were hoping and I'll be Frank in that I was very pleased with the set. B informs me that they have added a keyboardist since he saw them in May which successfully balances the electronics to the rockness now. The band were quite good in that they all took the material from the album and took them to the next step with the live show. They expanded the arrangements and honestly I thought they improved the material to the point where the album seems like a step backwards to me. The bassist in particular was good. They played a few songs, which I liked quite a bit, which makes me hopeful that AGAIN wasn't a fluke of an album.

Of course this show does have its drawbacks, all of which can be found in the main dude, who created all this, wrote all this and supposedly played all this on the record. He's French, fey and looks like some architecht my dad hired. He has no presence whatsover and the cool emotionless thing wears thin quick. He also sings much higher than on the record. I think the best solution to this douche would be to run his films alongside the music. He's primarily a filmmaker I believe and the record comes with a DVD of his work based on the music. He should consider drawing the focus towards that, as it's a nice match.

I'll be very curious to see what direction Colder goes in next time on both album and on stage.

F

The Morning After...

In keeping with my policy of remaining politically vague, I will say the election results confirm every theory I have ever had about this country, in particular the states in between New York and California. And somewhere, Al Jourgensen secretly smiles.

As Batman has often proven, fear is a weapon, kids.


F

Tidbits

Yes, we've been quite busy here at MOG HQ. Here's a rough sketch of current events;

*Spent some time working with this new silly software Ash sent over for our drum editing. It's much faster than Live, and I think eventually it will rock hard, but we need to log in some hours with Melodyne. We're trying to get Ash in this week for a tutorial. We desparately need to get our momentum back and get to the mix stage of this record. We've been held up way too long for mine, or anyone's, liking. I'm starting to get the live itch. Watch it, bitch.

*Chemlab has become a recent topic of conversation as of late. I can't be a cocktease and hint something will happen when, in fact, nothing might be the case. Anyhow, I've been asked about some ideas that are floating in the ether and my eyes are peeled as to which of those ideas, or a combination of them will float down from the sky and land in your record stores. Some ideas are good, some are not, and I've made my opinion known. Per usual, Louche and I are on the same page. However, as always, and despite some people's extremely misguided opinion, the final responsibility isn't mine (and I like it that way). But I guess thats just me hogging credit like I always seem to do, right pally?

*Thanks to Ms. Bradish, Halloween was a smashing success that saw a revival of Cyndi Lauper's Rock N Wrestling starring Irene as Cyndi, G as Roddy Piper, Lurch as Andre the Giant and myself as Captain Lou Albano. Irene's makeup and costume skills for this endeavor was scary good and I enjoyed my anonymity for the evening, especially when no one in the pub recognized me. Photos will not be made public, sorry. I already scared Matt and and impressed Ash!

*I'm currently floating the idea of a DJ spot. It's been on my mind for awhile. Normally, I would be very anti cause beat matching and that kind of wackassness, but after seeing Peter Hook DJ and a few other heroes, I figure I can plug the powerbook into a sound system and just play awesome songs. What would be my DJ name be?

*Many are thinking about the election. I'm too scared to think of the outcome so my focus is on THURSDAY, which is when I will see the SITH trailer. Thank MOG that in this scary fucking world we live in that we can still see a STAR WARS movie. It's more than enough reason for me to want to live.

*Finally, I ordered Cerati's hits album/DVD as well as my new STAR WARS Kubricks. Where would I be without Ebay?

*Upcoming gigs see us at Colder (with a new band called Home Video opening. Ash slipped me their EP, out now on Warp, and it's super), Muse and Kasabian! The year can't get much better than that.

Album of the Year is coming up, sorry I'm slow. I'm thinking of waiting to reveal it until the u2 record is out to see if that wins out, but Album of the Year is getting destroyed in the British Press and just came out today there, so I'm gonna get this all on E-paper soon and commit it. Soon.

F

PS: You can blame a lot of the lack of progress on GRAND THEFT AUTO SAN ANDREAS. What can I tell you? I'm driving a low rider and pimpin' ho's. MEGA ACE

The Further Adventures of Metal Douchness

Yesterday, I went on about Ross Robinson, Metal Douche Extrodinaire, and how he ruined the Cure this year. In a twist of fate, I just read that REAL producer John Leckie (who has done everything from the Roses and The Verve to Ride, and the upcoming New Order) was once approached by KORN of all people. This is a GREAT story in a really super interview found on the poptones uk site (which is Alan McGee's label/playpen), which also goes into Leckie's work with the Cowboy Junkies, Pink Floyd and others.

Observe: http://www.poptones.co.uk/interviews/qod_john_leckie.htm

Massive massive hilarity.

F

There is No Cure...

First off, a note on the passing of Mr. Peel. Back in the day, nothing was cooler than owning your favourite band's Peel Session. When those sessions basically involve almost every band I have ever loved, this should say enough. My gut says that with this man's passing there are a million great bands we will never know of because Mr. Peel isn't here to champion them. A shame. Rest well.

Onwards...

Sometime ago, I addressed my frustration with the recent Cure album. Within the MOGpac, I wasn't alone in those feelings and this has been discussed at length. As press came and went for the new album, Ash was quick to point out that the wonderful Cure bassist, Simon Gallup, didn't have many kind things to say about the album's producer, Metal Douche Ross Robinson. For example, one article read: "When you speak of Ross Robinson, the producer of the new album, he becomes furious: 'Don't tell me he's a great producer, for me he's only been a nightmare. From my mouth will never come out a positive word about him, he's just an idiot'."

In another article: Simon says: "The tracklisting wasn’t decided by committee this time, it was basically Robert and Ross’ tracklisting, so not all of us agree on it. I think there were better songs, personally, that were left off – more personal songs, I think. It’s a subjective thing. They’ll all end up somewhere; they’ll be on B-Sides and things like that."

Suddenly, hearing the B-Sides, including a track called THIS MORNING (long discussed by internet fans in the months leading up to the album as the best song of all the new material) became a priority. I had to know. And knowing Brandt Gassman, I knew he would have these B-Sides. Yes, he's that type. I had actually refused hearing them when offered, but I went in the other day to the studio I demanded these tunes be put in my Ipod. And what do you know! The songs are fucking AWESOME. I'm not gonna sit there and get into them. It's too frustrating. However, THIS MORNING is the dogs balls. Really ace stuff. Fuck you Ross. Metal Douche Bitchass. And to Mr. Smith I say: Fat Boy, what the fuck are you on about? As I've always said, PRODUCE YOURSELF instead of dealing with some douche who thinks they know what's best for your band. They're usually cracked in the head and think they know what they're doing simply cause they own the gear. Douches.

Speaking of frustrating, I did another round of drum editing the other night. This shit is SO slow. However, Ash, being the kind of person who is helpful in these types of situations, has given us a new program that should cut our time down signficantly called Melodyne. I'm reading up on it now and brandt will be installing it into the studio tonight, so I am hopeful we will be able to move forward with great speed this weekend.

Next, my album of the year: revealed!

F

Learning To Live

Finally, after weeks of discussion, The Factor Machine finally got rolling again today and the tedious shit has begun. As some of you may know, this is the first album I've done where we've been directly involved with the drum recording/editing (the aggression's FLOOD, which was pre-Ms. Emmet, was handled by the talented Jamie Duffy and former Acumen drummer Ethan Novak). Thus, it's a new process for us. Brandt, mostly due to outside intereference (and Lili Taylor), has been slow working on this, but not for lack of trying, so I've interjected myself into the process to take some of the burden off of him. This means I've had to buckle down and finally learn how to use the program LIVE, which Ash has been swearing by for some time.

As I just wrote in an E-mail to Ash "Personally, i still fucking hate that program and I have huge issues with it, BUT I do respect what it does and I'm slowly getting used to it" The program does its job, but I think the functionality and layout blows. It's fine for tech geeks, but for rock n roll...eh. However, we're gonna have some tight ass drums, but it's going to take us to 2006 at this rate. To that effect, I've proposed some ways to work efficiently and methodically to get all this done sooner or later and yes Brandt supposedly has done a lot of the headway already, but I think if we're rolling two MOGpac Moblie Units (tm J. Louche), we can get the workload done. Ash, if you're listening, we're almost ready to give you the parts to PROPAGANDA (which was the focus of my day).

While I did all this, Brand't DJ'd the whole time (You can listen to tunes while editing drums because it's all fucking math anyways) and I got to hear a lot of cool stuff. Little did I know he was getting himself drunk on white wine (spell it with me: L.A.M.E.) and was walking into walls in the village a few hours later. Anyhow he's got a real impressive vinyl collection. We then took a trip to our fave record store, Rebel Rebel, and threw done some cash on the Depeche Mode Remix Collection, which is great. I strongly urge seeking out the 3 CD version as opposed to the commercial 2 CD one as the bonus disc has the best remixes from the likes of Colder, Danny Tenaglia, Goldfrapp and a surprisingly good remix from Mike Shinoda).

After a trip to Little Italy with the lovely Ms. Bradish and before our trip upstate tomorrow to meet the newest LINK, I am spinning Cinerama's TORINO, which, according to Mr. Riley himself (who I briefly summited with last night) is the blueprint for Saintface. I'm a few songs in and I like it a lot and it DOES help me understand the sonic approach to APARTMENT STORIES better, though I think the Face has much better songs and a much better singer.

And before I run, let me shamelessly plug the Cobra's new song, DRIVERS SIDE, which is a sweet slice of freshly served Ass-Rock (or Ash-Rock?) that I feel is the next big successful piece to what is becoming an exciting and almost complete puzzle. This one is sticking in my loving memory. ACE.

F

Yes, I AM in Hyperspace

YES.

The highly anticipated teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith will make its theatrical debut with Pixar's The Incredibles in the U.S. and Canada on November 5.

However, members of starwars.com Hyperspace can see it before then as the full teaser will make its world-wide debut on starwars.com the early afternoon (U.S.) of November 4. This exclusive member-only preview will be in high-quality QuickTime format.

Like you doubted I was a member.

F

A Message From The Old Folks Home...

This started off as a letter to Mark Mohtashemi and then evolved into the following blog blog blog blog blog entry:

If 2004 is looked upon as anything, its a year where the people you least expect to make an impact on you turn around and bitchslap you and say YES FUCKER I AM STILL HERE. The Duran's have done this, the Manics (album of the year, more on that soon) have done this, and Die Warzau has done this. However, if anyone is the Boston Red Sox of music, it has to be my dear old idol Al Jourgensen. Minus his brilliant partner Paul Barker, Al came back this year and delivered a decent album that seemed like a remake of THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE, but we could forgive him for that because he didn't go and remake DARK SIDE OF THE SPOON. In interviews, he seemed very witty and charming and things that we all USED to love him for seemed to be creeping back. Notwithstanding his zombie like cameo at the Skinny Puppy show here a few months back, Al seemed to be "back". This being an election year is never a bad thing for the very political Grandpa Al.

But the first big let down came when the eventual Puppy/Ministry tour didn't happen (for reasons still unknown) and paying 40 dollars twice to see each band as opposed to seeing them together seemed suddenly very ugly (I think I'll be mixing HF tunes when puppy comes back to town). Thus when tickets went onsale for the Ministry show (now with special guests Thrill Kill Kult, which would have knocked me on my ass 12 years ago), I didn't exactly rush to ticketmaster like I did for Kasabian.

However, without my prior knowledge, a directive from Mattagement saw that I would have a ticket for Ministry at easily the WORST venue ever, BB King's. I wouldnt exactly say I was excited. However, I'm in town, Grandpa Al was in town, and there was some vague unexplainable phone tag with Mr. Levi Levi (who I have not spoken to ever except once in a dressing room at the Vic in Chicago some years ago, but regardless blame Jared), so Brandt and I reluctantly set out to see this show.

We arrived to find a very tired looking Thrill Kill Kult playing SEX ON WHEELS. It's still the same formula they have been playing since God knows when. Frankie looked good, but did very little and Marsdon looks like Marsdon, which was cool 15 years ago, but now seems run of the mill gay S&M. LEVI looked like he was having fun, however I didn't care for their backup singer, who I initially thought was pregnant. I feel bad about that. ANYHOW, I think at another venue with a pro-TKK audience this could have been very good as their "oldies" still sounded very fresh.

The wait time was short, thankfully and Ministry finally took to the stage alongside a guy dressed in a suit and cartoony George W. Bush mask. Al then came out and fake beat the shit out of this W impersonator and pretended to ass rape him (which is huge points). Anyway, when Al came out, I was very happily surprised by what I saw. Gone was the near death Jim Morrisson wanna be Al of the Dark Side tour and gone was the bloated and seemingly lost Brando Al of last year's tour. Replacing those charicatures was an extremely healthy and energetic and sharp Al that I have a feeling has been missing for the last 20 or so years. I was shocked. Though a tad too heavy metal looking, his band of young musicians were really tight and really into it. I was impressed.

My only complaint was the setlist which was like the whole new album first (which sounded much better live) and then the "hits". However, its the same hits from the last 3 tours, NWO, HERO, SO WHAT, etc. if anything, he should be preserving his legacy by bringing back older songs like FLASHBACK and BREATHE and side project material like NO DEVOTION and NO BUNNY. He used to do this quite a bit and it made things very interesting. With the recent controversial reissues of the Luxa/Pan material on Ryko (which Brandt, the expert on these things, will destroy I'm sure in an upcoming blog entry), Al should be supporting that as well. Anyway, Al was a ball of energy the whole time, a great frontman who was very appreciative of the crowd and looks very appreciative of the position he's in. He was very inspiring and a there were a few moments where I was wondering where my cowboy hat was and words like "aggression" and "reunion" came to mind (though quickly left when I was back on 42nd street, thankfully). Anyhow...they ended with a ROARING version of HOTROD, and left the crowd very happy (I had actually seen the first time that song was ever played a few years back and it was a fucking disaster).

I bet you 10 bucks, despite being Anti-Bush al secretly prays for a Republican victory next month so he as 4 more years of shit to rail against. Al does his best work when the Republicans are in office! However, if the Democrats win (hopefully) he should bring back the Revolting Cocks (but only with the old gang, not these new kids).

Oh and Levi and I never met up. Next time though, for sure...

Grandpa F

The first MUST HAVE of 2005

LTM are pleased to announce the first live album by Revenge, the electro/hard rock hybrid fronted by New Order bass player Peter Hook between 1989 and 1992.

Following on from the success of LTM’s expanded re-release of the 1990 Revenge album One True Passion, the in-concert collection No Pain No Gain captures the band at their live peak in 1991. The first 8 tracks represent an entire performance at Manchester’s celebrated Cities in the Park festival in August 1991, while the remainder of the CD is culled from a show in Kawasaki, Japan, several months later.

In addition to hi-octane versions of Revenge originals such as Slave, State of Shock and Jesus I Love You, the CD includes storming covers of Dreams Never End (New Order), White Light/White Heat (Velvet Underground) and Citadel (Rolling Stones).

All material has been digitally remastered. The set contains 70 minutes of music and sleevenotes by New Order biographer Claude Flowers, including a new interview with Peter Hook.

mmmmmmmmmmmm.

F

This IS Better Than Philly!!

Dan Hamill sums up last night's 1am Twilight Singers gig at Irving Plaza perfectly. I didn't agree at first mostly because I thought the sound sucked (this was a hastily put together CMJ show), the crowed was filled with CMJ douches (alleged music "experts" being in NY probably for the first time is the WORST), I couldn't see the awesome drummer that well (he brings a lot to the show) and I was feeling like ass (though sober again for Dulli). However, when Dulli decided to sit on the edge of the stage and sing TIME OF THE SEASON to the younger ladies in the audience ala Dean Martin (his own words), Mr. Hamill was proven right. Dulli had his backup singer pally with him for this show, which was a nice addition and should be full time (I think the dude, who i was a drunken dick to on the last tour, only pops up for the NY shows). Though the Kidd would argue the lack of of Afghan Whigs songs hurt this current tour, I disagree strongly. Much to Irene's delight Dulli again did the Def Leppard cover and he did an excellent cover of My Bloody Valentine's WHEN YOU SLEEP which then morphed into Bette Midler's THE ROSE. That ain't easy kids. It was awesome watching Ms. Robin Emmet seeing Dulli for the first time and getting it. Another convert. She will take her baby to see Dulli. Soon.

Before this awesome gig, G, Lurch and I checked out TEAM AMERICA and it's very very good. It's nowhere near the level of awesome the SOUTH PARK movie was nor do I think it's as extreme in it's offensiveness. In fact, my biggest complaint about TEAM AMERICA is that it doesn't go far enough. There ARE some great bits, especially the musical numbers, but I felt it should have gone further in it's social commentary. However, you have to give Parker and Stone all the credit in the world because there's no one doing anything like this and on this level, and that in itself is impressive.

F

Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead

After many MANY years, my former neighbor Mr. John Cale performed at the former Limelight last night and gave an energetic and technically excellent performance that many musicians half his age would give their right arm for. Mr. G and I are no strangers to Mr. Cale, as we saw him many many times in the previous decade (my first time was at NYU where his former Velvet Underground cohorts Lou Reed and the late Sterling Morrison joined him). Brandt was new to seeing the man live, despite having been to his home, and this was a really good first gig to lose your Cale Virginity to. In the past, Cale has usually flown solo or gone a more classical route. This time, he was joined by his rock band and they were supurb. It was tight, crystal clear set that saw Mr. Cale looking fit and singing better than ever. He is a virtuoso, and the evening saw him play a range of instruments, including the keyboards, the electric guitar, the acoustic guitar and his trademark viola (which he used on the Velvet's classic VENUS IN FURS, a nice surprise). He played the stronger material from his current album HOBOSAPIANS, and gave the audience the Cale "hits" such as FEAR, CHINESE ENVOY and ANDALUCIA. Though G and were completey exhausted from our adventures with Mr. Dulli the night before, the decision to see Mr. Cale was a solid one. He was very happy to be there, really energetic, and very charismatic and down to Earth. It used to be that Lou Reed was the "cool" one and Cale was the "pretentious" one. My how those roles have reversed in their later years.

Another great reunion has happened with the release of CONVENIENCE, the first album from the reunited Die Warzau. Van Christie and Jimmy Marcus haven't lost a step as this record really encompasses everything that has been great about this band over the years. It has the excellent programming and production Van is known for and the stunning emotional vocals that Jimmy has made famous. What's even more interesting about it is that it's not an angry industrial album. Instead, it's more akin to an industrial 'chill out" album. Very mature and very much two talented adults not trying to sound like they still have the teen angst in them. Like their last album, ENGINE, the new album builds at a nice place to include some great dance numbers and a few ballads. By the midpoint, they have some really heavy stuff going on and then the comedown is just as good as the rush to get there. if I have any complaints it's just that there's TOO much material here to get into. Of all the bands that are making comebacks in this genre, Die Warzau have done the best job of maintaining the spirit and quality of their previous life while creating a record that is modern and interesting. Awesome.

In other machine rock news, after breaking the hearts of his many fans, Mr. Eric Powell today announces his return to his roots. I'm surprised it took him this long. If he's a born again rivet, so be it, we can always use another old schooler. Eric, you know how to find me.

F

Know anyone who fits this description?

http://www.scarysquirrel.org/special/movies/foamy/rant1.html

thanks, mr.

Guest Blog

As I was the only idiot of my crew to NOT skip work this morning, and am semi-exhausted as fuck, my lovely significant other has granted me permission to re-print her LiveJournal entry regarding our adventures last night. Thus while I snooze, Ieave you in the more than capable hands of Ms. Bradish:

"I love Greg Dulli. The guy just rocks.

At first glance, he's an everyman. Overweight and middle aged. And yet, when he walks onto a stage, he oozes charm and sexuality. It's all that rock and roll. He belts, he croons, he screams and he sings straight from the heart and after a minute it's all you see. I can't name anyone else who can make anthemic original songs and an album of covers so distinctive they are almost indistinguishible from their originals. Taking a Bjork song to task is no mean feat, and Dulli achieves this romantically and respectably, in a traditional rock and roll fashion.

In Philly last night, he played to the most motley crew I have seen at a single show. Moms, hardcore kids, frat boys and sorority girls, and a particularly annoying poser douche who was trying to impress two fuckwit college girls by saying things about New York like "Chelsea is so central to everything! I go there all the time." From Staten Island. Riiiiight. One idiot actually tried to ask the guys I came with if she could stand in front because she was a girl and she was short. No lie. She actually said "It's not fair. I'm shorter than you guys, you should let me stand in front of you." F's best friend G, who is actually the quietest of the bunch, said to her "But she already is" and pointed to me standing behind her, waiting to get by. And a head taller. Love it. I thank god every day I am not short.

And all this after a long day and longer week. Work is becoming increasingly less tolerable, the impending holiday aside, and I find myself less motivated to do anything once I leave work. Being that I have tickets to the twilight Singers show on Saturday across the street, I wasn't sure travelling two hours in a car riding bitch in the backseat with four guys who tend to become retards in each others company was the best idea. Yes, I had the next day off, but I wanted to relax. I eventually threw my shit into a bag and hit the road with F, G, the Kidd and Lurch. Yes, these are the names we actually call them on a daily basis. My leg started to cramp only when we hit the Ben Franklin Bridge and I only worried a few times about the Kidd's driving and Lurch's directions. Can't complain.

The bouncer at the door is wearing a Terror hoodie when we get there. I am thinking at this point, it can go either way. Crappy venue with reluctant staff or mixed bag with open minds. Turns out, it was the latter for the most part. The North Star Bar is on the corner of a not so nice area of Philly--which I have been lost in several time in misguided attempts to find the Electric Factory, which is on the other side of town--and split in two. Bar and pool tables on one side, narrow hall for a venue with tiny stage in front and bar in back on the other. There's a tiny lounge on a balcony above the middle of the venue side that provides a nice view of the stage when there aren't eighteen spacehogs and fat girls blocking it. I began to notice here that people in Philly seem to be weird about personal space. It's natural at a show to be crowded and in increasingly close quarters when one gets closer to a the stage. If I got closer than an foot to a person to peer over the balcony, people would start twitching and jerking. Even on the floor, people of the various types mentioned before were quite verbal about the lack of space, despite gaps visible on the main floor and generous elbow room. This is all making me sorry I came and ruining the pleasant vibe of the car ride.

But Dulli makes everything better. The band opened with Teenage Wristband and the crowd just mellowed. People stopped bitching, started moving and singing along. I was worried the stage was too small for the band, as I've always seen them on stages with generous space. But Dulli was nonchalant about the cramped quarters and the sound was surprisingly crisp. I suppose he is very comfortable in his own skin, and by proxy always at ease on stage. He has become less and less intoxicated with every show I see him play and more and more pleasant to watch. Dulli's love of the music is always apparent, and the relationship with his band is palatable and plays into his relationship with the audience. The mean drunk has been replaced by a man who moves you. The next hour and a half flew by save the one minute he spent singing the first verse of Def Leppard's "Photograph" he introduced as the song "from the year most of you were born."

I love this man.

In my love for Dulli I cannot ignore his band. Dulli surrounds himself with talented and flamboyant people who complement his unique disposition. They are described on his website as such:

greg dulli- certo
jon skibic- tesoro
bobby macintyre- pazzo
michael sullivan- carissimo
manuel agnelli- figo

No capital letters. In order, they mean "sure, treasure, crazy, and most expensive." I have no idea what figo means. His drummer, Bobby Macintyre, is insane. The man is looks like a French lothario with tight polyester pants, billowing silk shirts and a scarf ALWAYS knotted at his neck. He is only missing a beret, which would hide the long curly locks that seem to be thinning. He goes from feverishly banging on his drums to hitting a tambourine with what seems to be the entire force of his body. All the while, his outfit becomes soaked, clings to his skin and the sweat that has drenched his hair flies from him with every punctuated move. His new keyboard player is an Italian man, Manuel Agnelli, from the band After Hours that Dulli is producing. We had the pleasure of being introduced to him in London and he has since replaced that touring band member. He, too, has a distinctive fashion sense--what would seem to be uncomfortably tight synthetic fiber pants, a dress shirt, the ugliest tie I have ever seen and another mop of wavy hair what seems to be coming away from the front--that only accents his talent. It was obvious he was excited and nervous to be playing with the band, and sometimes looked like he would rock himself off his little bench. He even hit his head on a low hanging speaker after the first encore. His guitar and bass players are less descript in their fashion but amazingly talented. Jon Skibic is best known for his work with the famed Gigolo Aunts of the late 90's and touring with Juliana hatfield of all people. On stage with Dulli, though, he stands alone and quiet with a Gibson SG and an impressive pedal board, decidely comfortable in his proficiency. But he resembles Benjamin Weinman of Dillinger Escape plan, so his calm might only appear that way to me by the stark comparison. Michael Sullivan, too, is only a lingering stage presence. Mostly because on the tiny stage he was hidden behind Manuel, but in London, too, he seemed content to play his Fender and let everyone else take the spotlight. Dulli, by the way, was in the Afghan Whigs.

The Twilight Singers only get beter every time I see them, and Saturday promises to be impressive."



PS: You can tell if we ever have kids they too will be able to write the longest blog entries ever. EVER.

F

I'm not sure about this....

From toiday's VARIETY: Cue the Jan Hammer music: The bigscreen version of "Miami Vice" is coming together now that casting seems to be under way. Universal is zeroing in on Colin Farrell to star as Det. James "Sonny" Crockett, and the studio is in discussions with Jamie Foxx to star as Det. Ricardo Tubbs in the South Beach sizzler....

Ummmm. I dunno.

F

"YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME BACK"

I'm sorry to use this blog for so many STAR WARS related things, but as you know, in those very few precious moments when I'm not working on music or film (which usually consumes 23 hours of my day), I am thinking usually either about STAR WARS or wrestling or both. You may recall my previous REVENGE OF THE SITH idea that in this new movie, Anakin will actually ALLOW Obi-Wan to escape with infant Luke (Never knowing there is a second child), showing that there was still some good in him. I still believe this could still happen, though of course with a warning from Vader to never return or else, THUS leading to the above quite from the original SW film (aka A NEW HOPE). You were warned Obi-Wan and now you'll pay the price, is basically the theme. The movie will then end with Vader on his Star Destroyer watching them construct the first Death Star (which Obi-Wan will have some knowledge of, thus explaining him knowing it wasnt a planet, but a battle station in NEW HOPE as well). I write this down here so we can all either call me a fool or a genius later.

I'm off to a screening of LIFE AQUATIC. To say I am the envy of my friend Mr. Hamill and a heel to my friend Murray would be an understatment. Of course, I'll report back!

F

Shamless Plug

In the Summer of 2001, the Mogpac took their first ever international trip so the aggression, when it all mattered, God bless 'em, could perform for our friends in the UK. This of course is the stuff of legend, and I'm sure you'll read about it in Tom Whitfleet's book. Of course, being a gang of semi-single rockers on tour at the time, we decided to try our luck and "meet some foreign ladies". So we made our way to Camden, at the legendary Electric Ballroom, to promote our performance to the masses and to socialize with the other bands we were playing with. Ash, being that this man is a chick magnet when we leave the States (due soley to his tallness and state of constant confusion), handed out some flyers to some attractive young ladies. Of course, this being us, we met the only two American girls in the fucking club. Anyhow, these ladies, dubbed Jukee and Ohio (for reasons not to be revealed here), became honorary MOGladies for a few days. Friendships were struck and good times were had (mostly at the expense of some dirty blonde american chick G almost got with and, of course, Brandt). We ate digestives, we drank booze, tried to look cool at the "ultra-exclusive" (or as I was told) Slimelight, and we all hung out on a balcony and were yelled at by locals who were trying to sleep. Then we, being gentleman, walked them to the Earl's Court tube when it opened and we figure that would be that.

While Ohio is probably somewhere in Ohio and hopefully doing well. I'm happy to say that Junkee, aka Ashley Saunders, stayed in touch with yours truly and being from the Tri-State area, this allowed us to occasionally socialize. She joined us for some Depeche Mode, some Saintface, and even a few aggression gigs. I even let her hold the hop once. That reads wrong yet doesn't. Anyhow. She's been through a lot of stuff, yet she remains a big positive vibe and no longer dates douches who aspire to be even bigger douches. She's a lovely young thing and we have many things in common, especially music and the fact that we both have significant others of Asian decent. Her boyfriend, who supposedly is quite quite runs marathons or something seems Ash like in his inadvertant funniness. While we don't see the Junk often, she's good people and we were in the same room watching Morrissey the other night and she texted me to say so. She's more hardcore though as she went both nights.

Anyhow, she's not just fit (though she doesn't know it), but she's pretty funny. And as you've read here, I like women who can write and talk a lot, so I direct you to Junkee's website at http://ashleysaunders.com/ which is is very Morriseey-centric, but clever and witty nonetheless. Check it out and you can aodre her as much as we do. It also helps that she plugs HF on her site as well. She's a good friend and someone I hold in high esteem (despite her small size). Embrace the Junk as some asian dude called Pete does on a daily basis by going to her site.

Also, i would like to state that I love the balls of someone who is not signed to a record deal or in a major motion picture owning a web domain with their own name. While my ego is probably the stuff of legend, I doubt I could take myself seriously on a website called www.FJDeSanto.com. For real! I could only imagine what www.mikevenezia.com, or www.danhamill.com would be like! For some reason, Junkee gets away with this without any sign of pretention. WORD.

F

For The Ladies

Mennin
Originally uploaded by Hypefactor.

LADIES: This man has a PHD and is a self-admitted coward. We once bonded over our love of drama and hot exotic looking women. And then I moved in with one who cooks and lets me watch wrestling and likes good music and he didn't like me anymore. Still, despite always having a girlfriend, he is "single and available" and "looking for" the love of his life. I read this in Glamour this morning. I'm not kidding. He is. Don't believe me? Pick up GLAMOUR with that now brunette skank Bridget Jones Zellweger on the cover and look insdie. They even give him an E-mail DOUG@Glamour.com so YOU LADIES can catch this "man" while he available. DO IT.

However, should you want a real man, E-mail DPJH2@aol.com and ask for GUTTERBALL. Trust me.

F

"I'm not intimidated by the venue. Bob Hope sang on this stage. I don't care, things like that don't bother me."

You may recall my extremely long, yet hopefully entertaining entry regarding our attending the beginning of Morrissey's wonderful comeback tour at the Apollo about 5 months or so ago and all the fun and chaos that transpired. Because of that near-perfect experience, the thought of seeing him at Radio City Music Hall last night was actually a negative in my eyes. I was firm in my belief that seeing him again could only be a let down and we should let sleeping dogs by not tarnishing the memory of a wonderful night (made double exciting thanks to the antics of the passionate members of Saintface).

But then little things creeped in that made me slowly change my mind about buying tickets. He had changed the set list, he opened Reading with HOW SOON IS NOW, the new album was actually quite good, etc. The variables suddenly were all yet again in Moz's favour. I had even received another Internet pre-sale E-mail to get tickets early. However, the icing on the cake came when my significant other, who in the end, like Ash, is a more optimistic person than I am, said "You know, he'll never have another comeback like this again, and at Radio City no less". Suddenly, there I was, in front of the laptop I am typing to you now, purchasing tickets. And dammit, by the time we walked past Jared Leto (Just back from South Africa shooting my pal Bradley J. Fox's new movie LORD OF WAR) outside of Radio City, I realized getting tickets to see Mr. Moz was a super super super smart move.

First, I have no exciting stories to tell. I didn't see members of Saintface (the place is huge), security was too tight for the usual frontstage madness to ensue (only a few runners made it to the stage, and only one got to Moz), and we sat for the whole gig in the first mez (a beautiful view). However, Morrissey and his super crew of musicians blew us away with an excellent set that included the best of the new album (FIRST OF THE GANG TO DIE, I HAVE FORGIVEN JESUS), strong B-sides (THE NEVER PLAYED SYMPHONIES), and some Smiths classics (LAST NIGHT I DREAMT..., and thankfully, the biggest moment of the night: HOW SOON IS NOW). If I have one true complaint, its that he doesn't play enough from his early solo albums (the lack of SUEDEHEAD really upset Irene), though hearing NOW MY HEART IS FULL is always a treat.

But if the Apollo gig was a gig, last night's performance was a SHOW. A true geniuine Morrissey show, complete with Elvis '68 Comeback Special style lights that read, what else: MORRISSEY and dramatically lifted up from under the stage. I can't say enough about his band, which has vastly improved in the 5 months since we last saw them. The sound was incredible, even a bit loud, which was a nice change of pace for the usually reserved Radio City. There were a few freaks, including one extremely heavy Latin dude in a doo rag and a Bob Marley Tshirt on his feet singing at the top of his lungs to every song in tears taking photos of the gig and himself with his cel phone. It started off funny, but it got scary as he never stopped. He actually cleared out a few seats. Also, there was one guy who looked like Eugene Levy at the edge of the Mezzanine doing the DeCaprio TITANIC pose just screaming nonstop, and not in a good way, especially with his belly sticking out. I was covinced this fucker was gonna jump. Who ARE these tortured souls? Why can't they all be like Michael Saintface and just kill people for a piece of Morrissey's shirt. DIRECT your passion, kids!

And what about Stephen Patrick Morrissey himself? I thought he seemed quite pleased playing the Apollo, but he was clearly excited about performing at this legendary venue. After one potential stagerunner was stopped he jokingly yelled: "This is hallowed ground! No smiling, no laughing, no touching! This is RADIO CITY!" He was extremely talkative, funny, and very charming, much more than when we last saw him. He even did a whole a bit about sitcoms ("In Boston I told them that Cheers wasn't funny") and then went on about how much he loved UNSOLVED MYSTERIES. Hilarious. His voice was sharp, he hit the right notes and he commanded the stage. Like he must. Like he always does. Exactly as we all need him to be. The comeback is complete. Irene was right, we'll never see another moment like this.

Until the inevitable Johnny Marr reunion happens. Cause you KNOW that's gonna happen.

F

TIVO slight return

This comes from my agent/lawyer/advisor. I'm not sure where she got this from, but since she's my lawyer, this is her job (and no this was not prompted, she did this on her own will):

"TIVO is a proper noun. It is a name of a company - no different than Sony or Panasonic. If you are allowed to use Google or IBM in scrabble - you are allowed to use Tivo. While it is so popular that the act of using it has become a verb as in "Googling" Tivo on its own is a proper noun. However, Tivoing or Tivoed - I think it could be argued that those are words since they have evolved beyond just the company name into an act."

And Mr. Leo sutra himself has pointed me to the best news of the day;

Bajo el título de "Canciones elegidas 93-04", el músico Gustavo Cerati editará un disco con las mejores composiciones de su carrera solista.

Se trata de una selección de dieciocho temas realizada por el autor, que será editada en octubre en Argentina y en América Latina. La edición incluirá un bonus DVD con todos los videos de la etapa solista del ex Soda Stereo.

Entre las canciones del lanzamiento se destaca el inédito "Tu locura", tema musical del unitario de la productora Pol-ka "Locas de Amor".

El grandes éxitos también tendrá temas como "Amor amarillo", "Pulsar", "Puente", "Paseo Inmoral", el remix de "Tu cicatriz en mí", "Engaña" y "Amo dejarte así". El DVD incluirá videos como "Te llevo para que me lleves", "Lisa", "Tabú", "Río Babel", "Karaoke", "Cosas imposibles", "Artefacto" y "Canción animal" y "Corazón delator" en versiones sinfónicas.

El disco ya fue editado en España, donde Cerati realizará una gira durante octubre en la que estará el 18 y 19 en Madrid, para seguir por Granada, Murcia, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona y Zaragoza.

Al regreso de España, el artista se presentará en Santiago de Chile el 5 de Noviembre y en Buenos Aires el 6, en el marco del Personal Fest que se llevará a cabo en el Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires, con artistas internacionales de la talla de Morrisey, Blondie, Primal Scream y Pet Shop Boys.

En Noviembre, la gira continuará en México, con conciertos en el Distrito Federal, Monterrey y Guadalajara y León.

Por otra parte, el tema "Señales Luminosas", del disco "Siempre es hoy", fue elegido por Chevrolet como banda de sonido de los spots publicitarios para su producto Chevy Malibú Maxx en Estados Unidos.

TRANSLATION: Cerati is awesome and has a solo greatest hits CD/DVD coming out. New song too. Mega

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