my new homepage

hey MOGWorld bloggers - i figured for the '06 i'd start a personal webage aside from the myspaces of the world...

check it out and let me know what you think...but please keep in mind that it's a rough design...

http://www.geocities.com/amargosa69/PersonalWebsite.html

The Best Shit

I'm the late one this year, so I'm gonna give you the quick version of my 2005 BEST OF. As per the last few years, I have picked a #1 Best Of for the year and then everything after is in the usual no particular order. I've no doubt I've missed a bit here, but I have been thinking about this a bit, so here goes:

ALBUM:

1. DOVES "Some Cities" (this one creeped up on me as the year progressed to be my album of the year)
2. LEANDRO FRESCO "Luz Sin Calor"
3. DK7 "Dismantled"
4. OASIS "Don't Believe The Truth"
5. HALLOWEEN ALASKA "Too Tall To Hide"
6. NEW ORDER "Waiting For The Sirens Call"
7. GREG DULLI's "Amber Headlights"
8. REVENGE "LIVE: NO PAIN NO GAIN"
9. JOHN CALE "Black Acetate"
10. FLAVIUS E "Conjunction"
11. MIA "Arular"
12. IAN BROWN "The Greatest
13. COLDER "Heat"
14. The Best of 16 VOLT
15. DEPECHE MODE: Playing The Angel

The Most Anticpated Records of 2006: Razorlight, Chemlab remixes, Cerati, Morrissey, Muse, aggression remixes, and of course, what I hope wil be called KASABIAN 2. Also, if the Roken album actually sees the light of day in 2006, I will personally buy it for Brandt. EDIT: G rightly points out that also on the anticipated list are new albums from Richard Ashcroft (which I actually heard most of and why I didn't put it here) and of course the Twilight Singers...

FILM:

1. BATMAN BEGINS/REVENGE OF THE SITH (tie)
2. CONSTANTINE
3 KISS KISS BANG BANG
4. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
5. ELECTION
6. SIN CITY
7. WEDDING CRASHERS
8. 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN
9. SERENITY
10. SKELTON KEY
11. SPL
12. TRANSPORTER 2
13. LORD OF WAR
14. 36 Quai des Orfèvres"
15. HARRY POTTER

Special Mention: ROBIN'S BIG DATE
My fanboy sense tingle in 2006 for SUPERMAN RETURNS, CASINO ROYALE and X3

GIGS:

1. JOHN CALE at St. Ann's
2. DOVES at Beyond the Narrows
3. KASABIAN at Beyond the Narrows
4. IAN BROWN at Webster Hall
5. OASIS at MSG
6. GOLDFRAPP at Nokia
7. BAUHAUS at Nokia
8. RAZORLIGHT at Bowery
9. KASABIAN at Bowery (both nights)
10. NEW ORDER at Hammerstein
11. Gallo/Sean Lennon at Tonic
12. DURAN DURAN at MSG
13. U2 at Meadowlands
14. DIE WARZAU at Don Hills
15. ELBOW at Hiro

DVDs:

1. BATMAN BEGINS/REVENGE OF THE SITH (tie)
2. CONSTANTINE
3. UNDECLARED
4. GATCHAMAN box sets
5. LIFE AS WE KNOW IT
6. ECW
7. WRESTLING SUPERSTARS OF THE 80'S
8. SIN CITY DELUXE
9. MOONLIGHTING Seasons 1 and 2
10. AMERICAN GOTHIC
11. DURAN DURAN Live in London

TV:

1. MY NAME IS EARL (*TV SHOW OF THE YEAR*)
2. 24
3. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
4. NYPD BLUE final Season
5. SMALLVILLE
6. SOUTH PARK
7. CLONE WARS
8. BOSTON LEGAL
9. WILL AND GRACE
10. ENTOURAGE

Extra:

Videogame of the year was THE HULK
Surprise of the Year was the aggression reunion
Disappointment of the year was still the lack of a HF album
Wrestler of the Year is Samoa Joe
Trip of the Year was Japan/San Fran/San Diego/LA
Cartoon of the Year is Teen Titans
Man of the Year was Vincent Cassel
Woman of the Year was Robin
Kid of the Year was my Nephew
Villian of the Year was Anus Mcanus
Hero of The Year was me of course

Happy New Year

F

The OTHER remix album

As fate would have it, the Chemlab remix disc, ROCK WHORE VS. DANCE FLOOR (by the way, that title came about when Jared used that phrase in an Email and I wrote him back saying "that HAS to be the remix album) of which I spent the year plus putting together, is finally available for pre-order. This is Invisible's "press release" on it:

NEW CHEMLAB REMIX ALBUM!!!

This week we are getting ready for the upcoming release of Chemlab's "Rock Whore vs. Dance Floor" CD, the remix companion of 2003's "Oxidizer". The CD is now available for pre-orders in the Ui Web Store, and while the CDs will not ship until late January, if you order the CD now, you will get a free download of the first two tracks from the album right away!

And here's the final tracklisting:

Track Listing:

01. Monkey God [Monkey Scratch Mix] - by Needleye
02. Atomic Automatic [Our Glitch Mode Squad is Dangerous Mix] - by Cyanotic
03. Black Snake [Gun Remix] - by Terrorfakt
04. Scornocopia [Glitchstar Mix] - by Christ Analog
05. Binary Nation [Renegade Mix] - by The Aggression
06. White Room [Cash for Oil Remix] - by Cubanate
07. Scornocopia [Scorpio Remix] - by Die Warzau
08. Megahurtz [Caliopenis vs. Cocktopus Remix] - by Adam Grossman
09. Binary Nation [16 Volt Max-Out] - by 16 Volt
10. Queen of Despair [Lay Back and Rock Mix] - by .mnpltr.
11. Megahurtz [mindFIELD Aurora Mix] - by mindFIELD
12. Force Quit [Lickthevelvetpouch] - by Ipecac Loop
13. Scornocopia [London Sin-Phony Orgasmus Mix] - by Dave Suycott
14. Binary Nation [Demento Mix] - by Kill Memory Crash
15. White Room [Haloblackattack Remix] - by haloblack
16. Black Snake [Tenderbender Mix] - by Meat Curtain
17. The Moon [Suture Remix] - by Deadliner

INV/UI are doing another one of their ticket "offers", which I normally would never post here, but since it means tickets to see the aggression as well, I feel obligated to whore it up a bit:

CHEMLAB SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY!!!
We have a limited number of FREE TICKETS to the Chemlab show in NYC on January 7th at the Downtime with Re-Inforced, Ascension of the Watchers (Fear Factory, Killing Joke, Still Life Decay), and The Aggression. The show begins at 9pm, and is 18+. In order to get the free ticket to the show, you must make a $15 purchase from the Underground Inc. store (the face value of the ticket), and add the ticket to your cart before checkout. There are only 12 tickets available.

Anyhow, it's a nice feeling to start 2006 with two releases that have occupied the last couple of years of my life. Now we gotta get the other stuff out!

F

My Best of 2005 (in no particualr order)

Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Sigur Ros - Takk...
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Halloween, Alaska - Too Tall To Hide
Clue To Kalo - One Way, It's Every Way
Cass McCombs - PREfection
The Killers - Mr. Brightside Remixes
Billy Corgan - The Future Embrace
Autechre - Untilted
Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak Of It Again
Alarm Will Sound - Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin
AFX - Analord 12"'s

- Ash

The Best Of 2005

Because it's Christmas, I'm in Chicago and I have a whole morning to kill drinking coffee and listening to music, I wrapped up my year-end best of lists for your enjoyment. Happy holidays!



BEST ALBUMS OF 2005:
01. M.I.A. — Arular (XL)
02. Dead Meadow — Feathers (Matador)
03. The Tears — Here Come The Tears (Independiente)
04. Broadcast — Tender Buttons (Warp)
05. Leandro Fresco — Luz Sin Calor (Casa Del Puente Discos)
06. Delia Gonzalez And Gavin Russom — The Days Of Mars (DFA/Astralwerks)
07. Stars — Set Yourself On Fire (Arts And Crafts)
08. Echo And The Bunnymen — Siberia (Cooking Vinyl)
09. John Cale — Black Acetate (Astralwerks)
10. Doves — Some Cities (Heavenly/EMI)

BEST SINGLES OF 2005:
01. The Tears — "Refugees" (Independiente)
02. Doves — "Black And White Town" (Heavenly/EMI)
03. New Order — "Waiting For The Sirens' Call" (Warner)
04. Broadcast — "America's Boy" (Warp)
05. Stars — "Ageless Beauty" (Arts And Crafts)
06. Cass McCombs — "Sacred Heart" (PREfection)
07. Out Hud — "One Life To Leave" (Kranky)
08. The Arcade Fire: "Neighborhood Number Three (Power Out)" (Merge)
09. Death Cab For Cutie — "Soul Meets Body" (Atlantic)
10. Echo And The Bunnymen — "Stormy Weather" (Cooking Vinyl)

Honorable Mention: Kasabian — "Club Foot" (BMG)

BEST ALBUM TRACKS OF 2005:
01. Leandro Fresco — "Top Less" (Casa Del Puente Discos)
02. The Tears — "Autograph" (Independiente)
03. Oasis — "Turn Up The Sun" (Big Brother)
04. Dead Meadow — "Such Hawks Such Hounds" (Matador)
05. Amusement Parks On Fire — "Solera La Reina" (V2)
06. John Cale — "Woman" (Astralwerks)
07. Echo And The Bunnymen — "Of A Life" (Cooking Vinyl)
08. Halloween, Alaska — "Drowned" (East Side Digital)
09. New Order — "Who's Joe?" (Warner)
10. Oasis — "Love Like A Bomb" (Big Brother)

Honorable Mention: MIA — "Ten Dollar" (XL)

BEST REISSUES/LIVE SETS/GREATEST HITS:
01. New Order — Singles (Warner)
02. Kraftwerk — Minimum-Maximum (Astralwerks)
03. Chris Connelly — Lounge Ax, Bottle, Elsewhere — '94/'01 (Self-Released)
04. Diplo — Money Studies: Mr. Wes Pentz Live In Montreal 2004 (Hollertronix)
05. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds — B-Sides And Rarities (Mute)
06. Cocteau Twins — Lullabies To Violaine (4AD)
07. Slowdive — Souvlaki (Sanctuary)
08. Morrissey — Live At Earl's Court (Attack/Sanctuary)
09. Various — DFA Records Holiday Mix 2005 (DFA/EMI)
10. The Young Gods — XX Years: 1985 - 2005 (Play It Again Sam)

Honorable Mention: Ian Brown — The Greatest (Polydor)

BEST GIGS OF 2005:
01. Kraftwerk (Hammerstein Ballroom, June) *
02. New Order (Hammerstein Ballroom, May)
03. Diplo (Rothko, June)
04. Oasis (Madison Square Garden, June)
05. Dead Meadow (Mercury Lounge, March)
06. John Cale (St. Ann's Warehouse, November)
07. MIA (SOBs, June)
08. Doves (Bowery Ballroom, March)
09. Kasabian (Bowery Ballroom, May)
10. Bauhaus (The Nokia Theatre, November)

* Huge props to Ash whose idea it was to see this gig!

MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2006:
01. Morrissey: Ringleader Of The Tormentors (Attak)
02. Kraftwerk: Der Katalog (Astralwerks)
03. Gustavo Cerati: TBA (BMG)
04. The Twilight Singers: Powder Burns (One Little Indian)
05. Kasabian: TBA (RCA)
06. Roken: TBA (Label TBD)
07. New Order: TBA (Warner)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

May you all have a wonderful year and don't let any crepe intimidate you!

That time...

It's been a fun week of old friends and long walks. The lawyer/agent/advisor dropped in for some brunch on Monday with Irene and myself on Monday. I skipped Jury Duty for this, so that should show you how highly regarded the L/A/A is here at MOGworld by myself and the S.O. Anyhow, we chatted the morning away while dining on the lovely French brunch at Les Halles (where we brunched with said L/A/A's sister just a few weeks ago). It's good to be able to just take some time and catch up with the old school. Speaking of the L/A/A and the old school, please direct your attention to the following website: www.myspace.com/virustwentythree. This is a good for a laugh thanks to my only pal Leo.

The transit strike kicked in on Tuesday, which made the walk to Jury Duty a chilly experience. Because I know that area downtown so well, it's easy for me to navigate and time it properly, so I was making it down there in under 45 minutes. However, the mornings have been rather fucking freezing. The way back isn't so bad as it's usually warmer in the afternoon and I make the various pit stops (New Green Bo, the DVD stores etc.)

Tuesday saw the former lead singer arriving from his OTHER home in Delaware where we will be joining him and his family in the new year for a few days. He writes, he makes babies, he has a good life. A long evening at Poetessa where we talked shop, ate and drank well and argued over Star Wars. His son's first words will be PREQUEL if i have anything to say about it. This was a very fun evening in which I lent him a series of films by my favourite HK director Johnnie to.

Speaking of Johnnie To, I finally saw his long-awaited new film ELECTION, which centers around two gangsters and their quest to become elected chairman of their "society" (read "triad"). It's an awesome and fresh exploration of the underworld, and it's code of ethics which is undercut by a shocking ending that honestly freaked me out. To's "Deniro" Simon Yam again stars and the other Tony Leung (the taller older one, not the handsome fucker from Infernal Affairs and 2046) finally impressed me after like 20 years. Louis Koo, star of my fave film last year THROWDOWN (also a Johnnie To film), is in this as well, but is underused. Supposedly there is a 3 hour version of this movie and a sequel in the works (which might explain the abrupt ending). Also, I was VERY happy to see the legendary David Chiang (star of all the great 70's Shaw Bros costume dramas). Great filmmaking. Johnnie To is the most unique director on the planet right now. His range is astounding.

The OTHER great Hong Kong movie of the year is called SPL and also stars Simon Yam. This time though, he plays a cop who teams up with his successor as squad leader, played by the slightly gay yet insane martial artist Donnie Yen to take on his rival, a gangster played by the my childhood hero Sammo Hung. The movie wasn't as action packed as I had hoped, but when there's action there is FUCKING ACTION and is intense as fuck. I jumped out of my seat several times. It's brutal and the fighting has gone to a new level. It's basically an 90's HK action movie with modern sensibilities and better storytelling. The actors are great and for the first time in ages, I was truly excited by the action I was seeing. No doubt with Sammon Hung and Donnie Yen involved, the shit is off the chart. This is getting released in the states and totally deserves it.

Now I must leave you as Uncle Duty begins yet again tomorrow...My your holidays be bright and wonderful.

F

AT LAST.

The new Aggression CD, "Revisionist History", will be officially released on 12/27/05 on Digital Brothel Records. The CD features Remixes from Cyanotic, Converter, Needleye, Vtg, and many more. It's a real booty shaker.

CDs are in stock, and even though it's early, CDs will begin shipping as the orders roll in. So, get your shop on!

http://www.digitalbrothel.com/shop.html

-Rob

PS: Please add DBR as one of your friends on myspace. http://www.myspace.com/digitalbrothel

Sing Your Life

You would think after an afternoon of Karaoke (aka aggression rehearsal) the last thing I would want to do would be to sing covers while drinking all evening. However, my girlfriend's girlfriend came to town from Boston to spend her 30th birthday with us. After a very enjoyable Cuban dinner, and some erratic planning (which Lurch, the evenings organizer, handled like a fucking pro) we found ourselves in a Chinese karaoke bar...Instead of getting in depth or getting into what a rip off this place was, I will let the photos do the talking:

The Birthday Girl


Nicole Kidman (Lurch). Ewan Mcgregor (G) start things off with a bang. It can't get gayer than this...


Yet it does!!


You won't see a singles ad for this man in Billboard anytime soon..


The Ladies, The Ladies...(and some guy who was wayyyy to into this for his own masculinity)


"THE KAMIKAZI GOD...HIS HATE'S INSIDE YOOOOOOOOU"

He can't dance, but he sure can sing, Good God, it's EVAN!


Dan Hamill and unknown "friend" (This is a Queens thing).

The duet EVERYONE was waiting for, Evan and the Kidd!


Three Dicks singing Dickie...


Lurch's attempt to sing through his armpit ultimately proved to be frustrating and rather sweaty..


Hey Budday, it's Murray! ("I'm gonna drink some free beer and get the fuck out our here as fast as possible")


We're obviously in the wee hours of the morning now...


And finally, a little something for the ladies...


A fun evening that if I recall ending quite early in the morning today in McDonalds with me drinking beer and eatin fries before dancing in front of a full cab for my girlfriend's amusement. Good times. Happy birthday to SK. Hopefully she had a good time and didn't beat anyone.

F

The Cowboy Way

You know, I had to read this blog just to remember what the hell I have been doing and where I left off. This required considerable thought. This Jury Duty thing is really fucking me up. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it quite a bit, and there are some really goood cases, but there's just so much I need to get done and believe me, being that close to Chinatown isn't helping as I have been eating well and buying too many DVD's. The potential transit strike was (and is) a looming threat and a cause of unnecessary stress at the moment. Combine all this with Christmas shopping, releasing two remix CD's, designing aggression Tshirts for the gig, rehearsing for the gig, and all the usual work and family related stuff and you have a busy existence. As always, I don't mind, but it's hard to get a decent sleep at the moment and with the impending arrival of coolest nephew on the planet for Christmas this week (this time with his mother), rest is not in the cards. This coming week also sees MOGworld cameo appearances from Lawyer/Agent/Advisor and Original Aggression Singer turned father of 2. These are welcome visits.

Irene and I took a quick walk in the rain last night to see The Donnas at irving. I know, you're thinking "Frank, why the fuck did you go see the Donnas" and you're right. However, my dear friend, Chicago's own Paris Trout is their tour manager and he dropped a line to say hello and we wanted to steal a few minutes to catch up. So, I didn't pay for the Donnas, and I'm sure this is kinda obvious, we're favourites during THE GOLD STREET YEARS. Anyway, they are ok live, nothing great, I'm not rushing back to see them, but the guitarist, though totally unoriginal in what she plays, is a fucking superstar. A total monster on the guitar. She needs to do a solo record ASAP. Anyway, "poor" Paris has to spend most of his time on the road with these ladies, which as I'm sure anyone would agree, is a better playing job than doing sound for Acumen. Paris is a hardworking motherfucker and a genuinely nice guy living his dream. He's earned all his success and I wish him more. He's all growns up now.

I'm a Christmas present shopping machine, I'm excited to be ahead of schedule and not doing this two days before said holiday. I can rest easier knowing the kids have toys, Irene has clothing and Danny has HAVOC on DVD. Yes, asshole, I got you something.

F

Indie Cock Rock

So I'm watching "Last Laugh '05" last night on Comedy Central - mostly for the sake of catching DCFC who were scheduled to play. The vocals were real shaky and Ben's acoustic guitar was messed up, so towards the end of "Soul Meets Body", he rips off the guitar (to the screams of excited fans) and throws it to the side. After the tune, he picks it up, smashes it and then kicks it across the stage. I immediately thought of Ash...

Cowboys and Geishas

It's been a busy week as you've been reading. Jury duty has been robbing me of my mornings, which is usually when I get the bulk of my work done (reading, music, E-mails, etc.) So I've been cramming quite a bit. Luckily, we have been able to catch up on some movies.

First, Irene and I went to a screening of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, from the man who brought you the HULK (seriously). By now you have heard about this film I would think. It's the "gay cowboy" movie, but it's a lot more than that. It's a subtle and expertly told love story between two men in a time and place where men where MEN and anything else resulted in fates worse than death. While I thought the first half moved a bit slow, it was intentional, and it made the second half that much stronger. Very quickly, the "gay" thing doesn't matter because it's about two human beings who are soulmates unable to live the life they want together. It's a risky movie and in my mind, it paid off. The emotional weight of these two men trying to live "normal" lives (wives, kids, etc) is very powerful and very moving. Easily one of the best films this year and Heath Ledger, who I've never enjoyed or thought much of, is incredible in this movie and easily deserves an Oscar Nomination. The valuable lesson learned, however, is this: No man, gay or straight, can deny sex with Anne Hathaway (by the way, I'm going to try and have G do a guest review of HAVOC here soon). Anyway, Ledger at least deserves a nomination, if not the Oscar itself.

I never read the book MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (for the record, I don't read books), so I have nothing to compare the movie against, but I thought it was a bit slow, sometimes too slow, and never really build momentum. It just sorta plods on and it's a shame cause there are SO many good actors in this movie. Let's face it, Zang Ziyi is going to be the biggest female Asian star on the planet soon. Her English has improved tremedously and she commands a screen like few actresses can. Danny is now in love with Gong Li cause he loves dominating bitches and she too is excellent in this film. Unfortunately, like in BATMAN, The Watanabe is underused cause here is another Asian star who reaches out from the screen and grabs you by the lapels and commands you to give your total focus. He's amazing but sadly not in the film enough. I walked out of the film and never really thought of it again other than I was excited all of these great actors (including Michelle Yoeh) were getting work in Hollywood films and being treated with respect.

I'm sorry these reviews aren't too in depth, but thats what Lurch is for.

F

A Musical Journey

Depeche Mode. Legends. There's no doubt of this. How many times have we seen them? 5 times? 10 times? They're just awesome. Their catalogue stands the test of time and by all convention, they should be long gone. There is no logical explanation for their selling out every arena on this planet (literally) still let alone two nights at Madison Square Garden other than they are simply fucking awesome.˙So this time with a good, upbeat, solid album called PLAYING THE ANGEL, the excitment for DM was at a fever pitch morseo this year than previous tours. For the record, unlike every other tour I go to see, I successfully avoided hearing anything of the setlist before the gig so I could go into it spoiler free (a miracle). Special thanks to my LA friends who saw them a few weeks ago for staying true to the gag order.

Things started off well. I liked the 50's kitchy sci-fi set. Only Anton Corbijn could get me to like that kinda shit. Their video displays also were super. DM had great intro music, which many of you know I'm a sucker for. It set the tone and they busted out the first two songs from the new album. Ash immediately pointed out that A PAIN THAT I'M USED TO came across like VIOLATOR era DM, which is obviously a good thing. You gotta do the new songs, thats the business. They thin went into JOHN THE REVELATOR, which is a decent song with the energy the previous few DM albums had been lacking. However, the lack of backup singers beyond Gore and that annoying fucking keyboard player (more on him in a bit) took away from this song (All of the new songs, musically, came across much better live than on the album. I attribute a lot of this to the fact that biggest drawback to the new album was the lack of live drums, something I believe both Brandt and Michael Ex-Saintface agree with me on)

The first obvious thing is that Dave is so insanely on that it's shocking. He's a million times better a singer and frontman now than he was during their heyday. He's got his confidence back in a big way. On the hits tour he seemed hesitant, on the Exciter tour the material seemed to slow him down. This time they have it right. Dave is a beast and a handsome one at that. He's got, as Danny Boy would say, IT. Unlike other stars with drug problems, Dave is MUCH better clean than he ever was on drugs. Kudos.

Wisely, they then busted out a few classics (QUESTION OF TIME and POLICY OF TRUTH) before going into a slowed down version of PRECIOUS. I actually liked this because it made sense as they went into an awesome version of WALKING IN MY SHOES from there. After, the new track SUFFER WELL (one of Dave's tunes, all of which I'm a fan of on the new CD) came across much better than it did on CD with better programming and live drums. Let me state here that DM's drummer, Christian Eigner, is excellent (and also Dave's co-writer) and really kept things together.

They had momentum, they had the crowd and then they let Martin take centerstage. I have no other way to say this other than the two songs Martin did here sucked the life out of me. His gimmick is old, he just looks tired and his solo songs on this new album, and I HATE to say this, blow. Between that solo album last year and his solo songs on the DM album this year, the guy just lost it. I hate typing this but its true. Dave's songs have a life and energy and if I have said this once I sad this a dozen times, Dave should have been allowed to write half the record.

Here's where I have my biggest complaint, and it's the same complaint from the last few tours. This keyboardist they have, Peter Gordeno, is quite frankly, the worst. There were noticably missed parts, technical errors etc. and this wasn't the first time I've heard of this problem with him (friends of ours from Seattle said the same thing). Unlike this awesome drummer, the shit he plays is weak, the embellishments he tries take away from the songs, and worst of all, he acts like he's "in" the band. And none of this was more obvious during the solo stuff with Martin. He looks like the love child of Yanni and Peter Gallagher.

Dave came back to do an super version of his tune I WANT IT ALL, but it was the wrong tune for that spot, they needed something to get the momentum back. Happily the remaining third of the set were the hits, which I am grateful for, but it seems to be the same hits they play every year. Again, not a complaint, but busting out stuff like STRANGELOVE or IN YOUR ROOM or ITS NO GOOD would have been a bit more diverse than the same exacty versions of WORLD IN MY EYES and I FEEL YOU. Don't get me wrong, all of this was fun, but I wanted a bit of a changeup. However give them props for throwing PERSONAL JESUS and ENJOY THE SILENCE in the main set. And again, Dave carried this like a general going into war. He focused on his singing and shook his ass like a man. This man is a rock star and has the talent to back it up. I'd also like to add that Fletch, who has done little to none musically for the last 20 years to the point where he makes Mike Hess seem musically prolific, was fucking awesome with his new "listening to my headphones" gimmick as if he were a DJ. Hilarious. I respect that.

The encore started off poorly with a GREAT song SOMEBODY, ruined by the Elton John treatment of this douche keyboard player and Martin. I never saw Matt so mad in my life. Seriously. Well, at least in this country. Anyhow, the big "surprise" older than old song was JUST CANT GET ENOUGH was short, sweet and fun, but and I think this photo sums up Ash's reaction The remaining encore songs were EVERYTHING COUNTS and NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN were solid, fun, but again, reliable and the same versions we've heard since Alan Wilder left. Then, inexplicably, they stayed on and did the closing track from EXCITER, which is called GOODNIGHT LOVERS. I dig this song, but they should have done it second to last instead.

And that was it. I know this sounds like a lot of complaining but its not. Do I love Depeche Mode? You bet. Will I got back when they supposedly tour again next year? You bet. But I would have preferred a riskier set (delving further into BLACK CELEBRATION and some of the older singles would not have killed them) because they have a fucking amazing frontman who can carry this band another decade or two just based on his talent. They will now tour the next year plus and make tons of cash and they deserve every penny of it. The new album is good, the show is good, but what is next? Honestly guys, it's time to either get Alan Wilder or Flood back and give Dave more control. It's time to take some risks. They have what it takes. And when they do come back, I'll be there.

F

Ho-mode

If anyone runs into the members of Depeche Mode sometime soon, please give them this message: "Phone Alan."

The Alan in question is, of course, Alan Wilder, the band's former keyboardist and in-house virtuoso whose departure in 1995 precipitated Depeche's slide into stadium-sized mediocrity. But while his former bandmates have had a decade to acclimate themselves to Life After Wilder, it appears to have been a futile exercise: His absence was as tangible as ever at Madison Square Garden last night, when the 2005 incarnation of Depeche played the first of two sold out shows promoting their new album, "Playing The Angel."

True to form, a large contingent of the MOGpac — F, Irene, Matt, Ash, Lurch and myself — shelled out obscene amounts of money for this show, hoping that the band might have finally found its way out of the musical wilderness. Our expectations were buoyed by the fact that the album isn't bad. Sure, it never had a chance of living up to the marketing hype — billed as a return to the "Violator"-era sound that elevated the group to iconic status — but it was a marked improvement over 2001's fabulously dull "Exciter." Adding to the excitement was singer Dave Gahan's renewed passion for the group, no doubt partly driven by his new role as a songwriter, a first in the band's 25-year-history.

And Gahan, to one's surprise, has lost none of his vigor as a performer, despite the best efforts of middle age, comfort and sobriety. His stage presence is so intense and commanding that the big screen projections — a staple of stadium shows for the poor saps in the nosebleed seats — are practically rendered moot. More importantly, Gahan can actually can sing, and when he does he fucking means it. The man is justifiably a star.

But not even Dave's persona was enough to elevate Wednesday's show beyond passable, a problem that comes right back to Wilder. It's not only that Depeche is musically adrift without his musicianship, his stoic professionalism or his acute sense of production values. It's that while Wilder was in the band, he provided a vital counterweight to the group's prima donna, songwriter and guitarist Martin Gore.

Everything wrong with Depeche's latest show smacks of Gore's aesthetic: every conceit, every outrageous costume change, every schlocky visual. He walked onstage Wednesday evening in an outfit that resembled a Roman warrior crossed with a Chelsea rent boy on club night. Never one for subtlety, Gore's costume included a pair of diminutive black angel wings. You know, like the album? Nevermind.

Compounding the embarrassing visual spectacle was the set, a cartoonish amalgam of curved steel and blinking lights that could have been plucked directly from a sci-fi b-movie or the production lot of Star Trek. The coup de grace was the giant silver "space egg" hanging behind Gore, replete with neon lights that flashed words like "sex," "love" and — in case you missed the first reference — "angel." Having seen U2's "lemon" gimmick in person, I was afraid it would hatch at any moment. And I am ashamed to add that the blame for this design probably lies at the feet of Anton Corbijn, the band's longtime artistic director and a favorite of mine.

But it was the music itself where Gore's bombastic presence inflicted the most damage. The two hour set included three songs where Gore sang lead, much to the delight of many screaming girls who were overcome with memories of prom circa 1989. And while he belted out the slow dance numbers, he crippled the show by relentlessly chipping away at its momentum. No doubt, the good songs were great: "Everything Counts," "Walking In My Shoes," "Never Let Me Down Again" and "A Question Of Time" packed as much punch as ever, although Gore fucked up another classic — "Enjoy The Silence" — by adding a terrible Chic funk guitar to a jam during the song's bridge. In the interest if candor, I will be the first to admit that I never liked Gore or the fey persona that his fans adore. But Wednesday's show confirmed what I always suspected: Martin is an insufferable putz, and when he isn't kept in check, the band he founded suffers for it.

I The Jury

JURY DUTY occupies my mornings at the moment. Grand Jury no less, which is actually kind of cooler than regular jury duty because you hear lots of cases and you dont decided if anyone is guilty or not, just if they go to trial or not. I can live with this. I can live without some of the people on the jury, but this is life. However, for all the inconvenience this causes, the courthouse is literally a 4 minute walk from New Green Bo, so I'll be drowning in Sizzling Rice Soup for the rest of the year.

I big FUCK YOU to Lurch who hasn't or somehow lost the blog entry that detailed our Friday night that included a very drunk G, the legendary Murray, a styrofoam fight on 14th Street, several lesbians and a chick who looked like Ed Norton. As per MOGpac rules, the drunkest is getting pushed into the nearest pile of trash, and Danny was the winner this week:



So last night, Irene, Philip (my stylist, seriously), and several others made it to the Nokia to check out Goldfrapp's US appearance this year. For the record, I am not too educated on this band beyond their first album, which is super and the new album, which Irene plays a lot and I like a lot. Honestly, I got the tickets for Irene, but man, was I glad I did. I know I was in for a fun night when we hooked up with current and former members of Saintface who were giddy in a way that can only be compared to me at an advance Star Wars screening. Anyway, they come on with a full band, and they were fucking excellent. The sound was crystal, the presentation was incredible and dang this chick can sing. Anything a human being can play was played: drums, guitars, bass, violin, you name it. Why the fuck is the fucking weak ass Bravery opening for Depeche Mode and not this? Theyre on the same fucking label for fucks sake, Mute (who's boss, Daniel Miller, was chatted up for a bit by Peter Saintface.) Anyhow, this was a pleasant surprise and one of the best gigs I saw this year for sure.

My dear old friend Chris Connelly has a new CD out called "Lounge, Ax, Bottle, Elsewhere - 94/01" which is a sweet disc of rare tracks, demos and live tunes during his solo career available only on his website www.chrisconnelly.com. The tunes on this rival his best work and he just simple never fails. Having met him when I was a tender yet INDUSTRIAL (rrrr) teenager, he remains a sweet guy who lives for his music. Also, the late great William Tucker pops up here, which is an added bonus). Music this good is why I will not be attending the "Revolting Cocks" gig next year. What I woulda paid to see Connelly open for Cale this year in Chicago!

F

Ego. Justified.

The aggression rehearsed again today. It was quite possibly the fiercest, tightest and mega in the entire history of this band. It's gonna detonate and detonate like a motherfucker. In the meantime, Rob at DBR reports the following:

"The Aggression's new CD, "Revisionist History", is up for preorder at the DBR Shop. $12US, shipping & handling included (for North America). 15 tracks with Remixes by Vtg, Cyanotic, Converter, Needleye, etc. The Cyanotic remix can be previewed on the DBR Myspace Page. I'll try to have some other clips up on one of the sites soon. The CD is estimated to be in my possession before the end of the year, so I've set the tentative release date as 12/31/05. CDs will start shipping as soon as I have them in hand. Any questions, just ask. Thanks for your continued support!"

GET THAT SHIT.

F

P.S. Welcome to the blog Damon (Robin's S.O.). Also there was an extremely entertaining evening to report about last night, but I think Lurch will be guest blogging. Special kudos to Irene who bought me the new series of Star Wars Kubricks AND had the magical Kubrick fattouch and bought a set that contained the variant chase Han Solo Endor figure. GENIUS.

1/15/06

BUSINESSMOZ

Brandt points out this:

Statement from Morrissey
30 November 2005

Statement from Morrissey:

The latest statements from M Joyce on a BBC 6 radio interview as faithfully reported on the MorrisseySoLow site have been brought to my attention and I feel I should make this reply as an attempt to put the matter straight.

1. From '83 to '87 M Joyce happily and willingly received 10% of Smiths recording royalties.

2. In '89, as is documented, Joyce sued Morrissey & Marr for 25% of Smiths recording royalties.

3. In '96, Joyce took his claim to court - and on the basis of the 1890 Partnership Act the judge awarded Joyce 25%.

4. In '97, M Joyce was paid 215 thousand pounds from me, and 215 thousand pounds from Johnny Marr.

5. In '99, Joyce appeared on British television and made the statement: "There was no contract saying we were gonna get 25%."

6. In 2001, as a final payment of back royalties, Johnny Marr paid Joyce 260 thousand pounds, plus "costs." At this time I was in the US and was not served with court proceedings, so Joyce obtained a Default Judgment. He then put forward a claim from me for 688 thousand pounds - well above and beyond the amount Johnny Marr was ordered to pay. In my absence, the figure was not contested.

7. Since 2001, and because of the Default Judgment against me, Joyce has taken out Third Party Orders against the following societies: my personal bank account in England, Smiths royalties from Warner Music, my personal PRS royalties, my personal PPL royalties, and he has attempted to seize UK concert fees from venue to venue. This money, to date, totals 700 thousand pounds. This figure is in addition to the figures mentioned above.

8. By grabbing the full total of Smiths royalties from Warner Music (and this means that when the public buy a Smiths CD in the UK, the royalties go to Joyce, and have done so since 2001) Joyce has knowingly deprived Andy Rourke of his 10% Smiths royalties, and has deprived producers John Porter, Stephen Street, Grant Showbiz and Steve Lillywhite (for "Ask") of their entitlements. Joyce did not declare to the courts that others - namely, the above - were also beneficiaries to the Warner Music royalties.

9. In 2001, Joyce attempted to seize both my mother's house and my sister's house by claiming that I had taken my assets out of the UK; he made this claim even though he had direct access to all of the above – which are in the UK. Joyce eventually dropped both of these claims due to lack of evidence, and he refused to pay the 150 thousand pounds that it had cost me to defend his groundless claims. Joyce also dropped his claim as co-composer with Johnny M on Smiths compositions, and Joyce also dropped his claim for Producer royalties on Smiths recordings, and Joyce also dropped his claim for a share of Artwork payments given to me for providing Smiths record sleeves. There were, in fact, no payments to me for Smiths Artwork. Joyce made a further claim for 25% of all Smiths t-shirts sold during the '83 to '87 period, even though there was no evidence that any royalty for t-shirts had been received by either myself or Johnny Marr.

10. In legal fees alone, Joyce has cost me 600 thousand pounds - this is quite apart from any payments made to him, and is quite apart from any money seized by him. In total, Joyce has cost me 1 million, 515 thousand pounds. This is an approximate figure - it could even be higher.

11. The Joyce action is continuous. Because of his Default Judgment he continues to take my royalties, and the royalties of others mentioned above, from Warner Music - consequently I have not received record royalties since 2001.

12. Since 2001, the money claimed by Joyce is charged, to me, at 100 pounds a day in interest.

13. During the Smiths' lifetime, when Joyce willingly took a 10% royalty, he did not contribute towards any expenses of any kind, did not take on any Partnership duties or responsibilities, and he received his 10% as gross earnings.

The point I wish to make is this: Joyce is not poor, unless, living as he does in the Cheshire green-belt, he lives beyond his means. Somehow, he appears to believe that he should have equal financial status to both myself and to Johnny Marr, even though Joyce has done dramatically less than Johnny and I to attain the positions we now have.

Joyce is not poor because of one reason - me. His career now is the fictitious position of an unpaid ex-member of the Smiths. He has also pursued all of his claims on Legal Aid.

I don't make this statement in search of sympathy from anyone, but I wish that the people at MorrisseySoLow who support Joyce would at least get their facts right before they say anything. Even with his 10% share, Joyce was wealthy. Now, he is extremely wealthy.

What more does he want?

I have fought the Joyce action as much as I could over the years, but the simple truth is that, under British law, the word of a judge will not be overturned. In the absence of any evidence from the 1980s, the judge in this case relied upon the Partnership Act of 1890 to help Joyce win his claim. Joyce has exploited the judge's final verdict in order to get as much as he can from me, from Johnny Marr, and also from Andy Rourke.

Finally, Joyce does not have the legal right to sell unreleased Smiths material - it belongs to Warner Music. Joyce did not pay for the recording time under which any demo material was recorded. Furthermore, Joyce cannot sell any unreleased work by Johnny Marr or Andy Rourke without, at very least, their permission.

Thanks for reading this,
MORRISSEY.

REMIX HELL

Down to the wire on what will hopefully be the last two CD's of my "industrial" career for the forseeable future. This week I signed off on the aggression's REVISIONIST HISTORY, which is a remix retrospective CD. Artwork's all good, mastering is great, and DBR has sent it off to the plant. With this CD I think almost everything we ever did would now be available in someway on CD (Except the pre-whiteline rarities, but Ash is handling that). Rob at DBR is confident we'll have it in time for the gig, which would be a super way to cap everything off. This is truly the end, kids, so make sure you grab this disc and make it to the show on 7 January.

The other remix project in my life, Chemlab's ROCK WHORE V. DANCE FLOOR is currently being mastered and the Louche sent a draft of some of the artwork. I'm pleased as fuck with the artwork, again by BURNLAB, who is fucking awesome and someone I hope to recruit down the line for some of the other MOG related projects. I think Louche didn't like the first master that came in, so it's being sent back for another run. I believe the release date is now the last Tuesday in January. Unfortunately, and don't ask me how things got to this, as my involvment is more focused on HF and the aggression at the moment, but the originally planned 2 disc set is now down to one. What pisses me off is that this decision shoulda been made LONG before yours truly handled 30 plus fucking remixes from a seriously talented group of people. Hopefully this leads to a second disc, but for the record, this decision was not mine, and I did not pick the final tracklisting (though all of the remixes on the final are great). Even my new remix got cut, so direct all your shit to the H-Bar ;-)

And just to make sure there arent any bases left uncovered, I have an older HF song out to some remixers now, just for the fun of it...I think it's time for a remix break after this.

On another note: A special fuck you to VH1 who promoted Joy Division/New Order appearing on the 2 and a half hour UK Music Hall of Fame Awards program and then edited out their appearance. Great work, dumbfucks, cause I really needed to see Ozzy do like 4 songs. CL-ASS.

F

History, Revised...

For the first time in almost 3 years, the aggression got in a room (an extremely small one) to rehearse. It's like falling off a bike. Special thanks to Mattagement for handling the business and the Entenmanns (http://entenmanns.gwbakeries.com/)

Here's a quick recap:

The Kidd, always a size freak, complained about his "Irish Keyboard":



Boss MOG tried to be Peter Hook all day while Ash was almost arrested again for spousal abuse against his guitar:




Tom showed up with a monthly LIRR pass:



But in the end, the true highlight was that the drummer made it.



Thanks to her, the aggression will go out in style and go out like champs. Destruction is imminent.

F

Get Stellios On The Phone ASAP

Members of New Order, Stone Roses and The Smiths search for vocalist
Freebass - a supergroup consisting of New Order's Peter Hook, The Smiths' Andy Rourke and The Stone Roses Mani - are on the lookout for a singer.

The band are looking to complete their line-up with a fresh face.

"We want someone young with something to say. Someone new," Peter Hook told filer-mag.com.

"I think the problem is that the three of us have such a pedigree of vocalist, that if we come out with someone that's not good we'll obviously be slated! You've got Ian Brown, bloody Bobby Gillespie, Ian Curtis, Bernard (Sumner) and Morrissey. Those are big shoes to fill, especially collectively," he said.

Hooky described Freebass' sound as "(sounding)like New Order with a bit of the Stone Roses and a bit of Smiths and some Northern Soul."

The star went on say the songs the supergroup have been working on contained all three bassists playing together.

"Mani does the low part, Andy Rourke in the middle and I do the high bit. But it works out quite well," he said

Caught Up

Yes, yes, I know. I've been out of contact. For this, I apologize. Last week was a bit rough, and while I cannot in any way shape or form complain about my life in general, I would like to vent about my shit day Friday when, at 8am on my way to Long Island for the funeral, the car (which I borrowed from my folks decided to take a dive and overheat IN the Midtown Tunnel. Friends, this SUCKS. I was stuck for ours, thus missing the funeral, for which I am gutted, as you can see in this picture here My only consolation was that I made it to the wake the day before to pay my respects, but I feel horrible still about missing the funeral. Luckily, Frank DeSanto Senior (or as he likes to refer to himself as "the Father, NOT the son" has an office nearby in Long Island City, but at the time was waiting in Stewart Manor to have breakfast with me. Kudos to senior for saving the day and bailing me out. What I learned was being stuck in LIC in a suit in a white BWM sucks major. However, it took hours, and even now, days later, the car is still fucked. To Robin, I aplogize, but I take great comfort in knowing a unified MOGpac were there to support you.

I spent the rest of Friday comatose on the couch watching the entire life story of Bret "Hitman" Hart on DVD. I was in no shape to be social as the emotions of the week just caught up to me and kicked me in the ass at some point while sitting in the car that morning. However, I have a nice girlfriend who makes sure I eat and play videogames and forces me to work on music, so life isn't that bad. I apologize to the nice international couple known as Liz and Purse for missing their anniversary, especially because their wedding was the coolest, most stress free wedding I have ever attended. Possibly lifechanging despite the cupcake on Lurch's back. Thats for another time, friends.

So Saturday, despite being a bit down still, yours truly made a rare appearance in Harlem to the home of Evan to play videogames on his new Xbox 360 with him, Lurch and Danny Boy. It's a sweet device,the 360, but I won't be getting one. I'm waiting on PS3. Once bored with Xbox, we played Smackdown Vs. Raw 2006 and I was a happy mark. We went out for soul food and then G, Lurch, myself and Irene had a very fun evening back at MOGworld eating Pizza and watching the legendary Paul Newman in SLAP SHOT, which is quite possibly the greatest sports movie ever made. Bar none. ok? Saturday, thanks to good friends and good times, saw the first signs of light at the end of my currrent depression tunnel. Now let me add that I'm being a tad melodramatic, per usual, because i may have had a shit week, but those are so rare that I have very little to complain about. But I'm allowed every now and then. Sometimes. Rarely. Occasionally.

Echo and the Bunnymen showed up at Irving and it was a mixed affair. I love them, I like the new album a lot, but the sound was crap, the pace was a bit Eh, and I think I was just tired. I've seen these guys at their height, it's a tough standard to hold them to. Set list was weird, but when they played the hits, they hit hard. Ending a set with OCEAN RAIN is always a smart choice. Nowhere near as good as when we saw them in the UK, but they certainly didn't suck.

I failed the mention that gig of the YEAR was last weekend and it was Mr. John Cale. John Cale was gig of the year. He was cooler now than he was 10, 20, 30 years ago. He was fierce, his band was tight and he played an excellent set of his classics as well as new material from his awesome BLACK ACETATE album, which is certainly in the top 10 this year. If i had only one complaint, it was that he didn't do enough of his solo (meaning just him onstage) pieces. However, considering that he OPENED with the Velvets VENUS IN FURS, how awesome his band was, and the fact that he ended it by himself performing I KEEP A CLOSE WATCH, I must officially declare this GIG OF THE YEAR. Basically, he ruled it, made you realize that Lou Reed is a poseur, and that living across the street from this man for 7 years was the best. I'm sure if Danny Boy was blogging this one, he would mention Mr. Cale's super head of hair.

There's a lot to look forward to this holiday weekend. The aggression rehearse for the first time in 3 years on Saturday (provided everyone shows up), Evan has secured a copy of Raw Vs. Smackdown 2006 for my ps2, and there might be some Turkey fun with my small cousin. Also, there is a WWF pay per view this weekend, which I am excited about because after a week of heartwrenching Eddie Guerrero tributes this week, I am excited about wrestling being fake again.

See you soon.

F

Sadly, our beloved drummer Robin lost her mom this week. Any lady who gives birth to someone as great as Robin and then allows the aggression to rehearse in her basement without complaint for years is certainly deserving of sainthood and will be remembered fondly. She often distracted the Kidd quite a bit during rehersals when the sweet smell of her cooking permeated the basement. Our thoughts are with Robin and her family.

F

"I AM OUTSIDE THE VENUE WITH CARLOS D"

So the AGAIN reunited Bauhaus rolled into town last night. It's a curious reunion (to me at least), as their first reunion, in 1998 was really fucking sweet (check out the live GOTHAM DVD which happily Mattagement took me to the taping of), but then was followed up with..well...nothing. At least Bauhaus wise. Peter Murphy made a few excellent stateside appearances after and I believe we were at the last ever Love and Rockets gig, but I'm curious as to the motivations behind such a tour. The one thing I had heard was that they were touring to make some money to record a new album, which is an excellent idea and something I hope they do.

So we rolled into the new Nokia Theatre in Times Square, which is a great venue if you are as tall as Matt Gentile or taller (Ash will score here), but not so great for us normal-height folks. Drinks are of course way too expensive, but honestly, having a new venue like this in NYC is great, and reminds me of the way old days of going into that same area to the now defunct Academy, which was a great venue (made famous for Ash doing his "running man" dance during a Prototype 909 gig and for some super fucking gigs, I.e early NIN, Duran acoustic, Jesus Jones and the 30 Juliana Hatfield gigs we went to).

But let me sidetrack here for a minute...Dan Hamill, always late, this time RUDELY so, especially since I was holding the tickets, shoots me a text from outside the venue that read: "I AM OUTSIDE THE VENUE WITH CARLOS D" (For the blissfully unaware: Carlos D is the douche hipster bassist from Interpol and local celeb laughing stock and the subject of my girlfriend's recent Halloween costume). We of course think this is a joke but when we head back upstairs the door of the venue, sure enough there's Dan Hamill standing next to Carlos D, who is not being admitted in as a VIP and is forced to walk in with the citizens (and quite despondent about doing so). So is Dan Hamill by the way, but this was rather enjoyable. Danny Boy is being checked for Herpes as we speak.

Just as Bauhaus hit the stage, the venue's staff open the side VIP balcony, and the shorter members of the party (Brandt and myself. Irene doesnt count cause she was wearing heels) were able to secure an excellent spot with a great fucking view from above. So suddenly, this is already a great gig...

So here's Bauhaus onstage and the first thing I'm thinking is: I don't know what drugs they make for the over 45 rock set these days, but fucking AGAIN we have aging rockers looking incredible and healthy. I don't understand it, but I want a prescription in 12 years. (HOWEVER, the wonderful Daniel Ash has lived in LA a bit too long and looks a bit too mall-goth. He's very LA. Irene summed it up best when she described him as looking like a "Goth Tommy Lee" Ouch!) Then the second thing I'm thinking, as they start with an excellent version of BURNING FROM THE INSIDE, is that somehow this mystery drug makes you play better music as well cause these guys are dead on. I'm shocked beyond belief. They were good last time, but not great like this. Maybe it's the venue, but they are incredible.

The one thing that jarred me was that Peter Murphy was no longer the wild frontman of his youth. Instead he's now a distingused older gentlemen who focuses less on his stage persona than he does his singing and in the end, we all win for it, because his voice is in incredible form. VERY powerful. I recalled he was also very calm during his recent solo tours as well and then the realization hit: he's probaby 50 years old and he's acting his age! Why they hell should he roll around like a fucking bat anymore. He's earned it. Smart. I also like his current look, which I can only describe to you as something akin to a French Pervert (and something Dan Hamill should look into).

Anyhow, hat a great set list! Everything from IN THE FLAT FIELD to SHE'S IN PARTIES and one of my true favourites HAIR OF THE DOG was played (which made up for the fact that they didn't play SPIRIT). The sound and lighting were perfect and despite Peter Murphy's elder statesman persona, David J and Daniel Ash turned it up a few notches and really went all out. Kevin Haskins is a human drum machine. He reminds me of Bill Rieflin in a lot of ways. He keeps the ship tight and fierce. I especially enjoyed their giving Daniel Ash center stage for an great version of SLICE OF LIFE. What's a Bauhaus gig without covers? We got ZIGGY, TELEGRAM SAM, and ironically enough a cover of John Cale's ROSEGARDEN FUNERAL OF SORES. Maybe Cale will play it tonight!

With the exception of Daniel Ash's wardrobe, Bauhaus don't play up any of the goth cliches, which I truly appreciate and believe is the reason they have surivived to this day. I never saw them as goth other than the imagry and such, but that's just me. I aways interpreted BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD (which they ended with) as a tribute to a dead actor. Nothing more. They would probably agree with me.

Have you heard about this "Instant Live" CD thing where you can actually buy a copy of the gig you were at like 20 minutes after the show? They had that at this and this is the hot shit. Brandt I decided to do this and after waiting on a huge line (which moved pretty fast once the discs showed up) and it was totally worth it. I'm listening to the gig now and the quality is great and it came in a REALLY nice 2 CD package. I love this new technology and looking forward to it becoming the norm at gigs. (For your industrial goofs: Ex Chemlab drummer Servo is listed the drum tech on this tour on the CD).

So with everyone buzzing from a gig we all universally enjoyed, drinks were had at the wonderful Hell's Kitchen dive BELLVUE, which is my quickly becoming my favourite place to hang with the Pac. Lurch joined us after seeing CAPOTE (maybe he will have a review on HIS blog), and it was great catching up a bit with Mattagement, who is just back from the rioting country of France and is now kicking the aggression's ass into gear, supposedly.

A great night of great music and super company. Certainly one of the gigs of the year.

F

A Great Man Once Said...

"INSECURITY IS THE BEST FORM OF SECURITY ONE CAN HAVE"

Listen, I'm here with bricks...

I'm too lazy to write a review of the Elbow show at Hiro the other night. Irene is writing a review for Filter, so I'll just copy and paste that eventually. However, it was a VERY good show, capped off by an audience member screaming out "FRANK DESANTO!" during the encore. Who was this mark, this fan who couldn't control himself? ASH of course! Then I spent exactly 32 wonderful seconds with him after the gig. Also, his actions alerted many to my presence, luckily not anyone wants to have me, so we got out in one piece. Hopefully no one will do this at Bauhaus. Goths want to kill me. Also, it was really cool to see my cousin Adam at the gig only to find out it really wasn't him. That was great.

Exhaustion regins. The short recap of the weekend goes like this: If this pans out Friday will be remembered as a monumental day for Hypefactor as we might (MIGHT) have gotten the perfect producer/mixer who can bang this baby into the super shape it needs to be in. It's all tentative, but if the tallness comes onboard for this part of the record, I will have less grey hair (while many consider it "distinguished", I am happy to have hair still). Spent Friday night decompressing over wine and pasta at Poetessa (fave italian) with Irene before spending the wee hours editing HF drums till basically my head fell off all the while debating certain aggression-related logistics with myself. Saturday saw me sleep in for the first time in 15 years (till 10am no less) before raiding Myers of Keswick (British food store) for the usual UK supplies (crisps, tea, digestives). The rest of the afternoon was spent with my younger female sibling who for some reason has suddenly become a grown up but no less hilarious to spend time with. More drum edits and then, at last, some New Green Bo to just make my life that much better. Then while my overworked significant other slept, I caught up with B and Al at Mercury Lounge to finally check out Baby Dayliner, who we have recently learned is associated with the single greatest public access show that ever existed, BABY SHOW...ok wait...

**Historical Lesson: Baby Show was a collective of downtown New York kids who put on a weekly public access show which was a combination of hilariously improvised politically incorrect skits, reality pranks, homemade hip hop music, and overdubbed cartoons/TV shows. Usually insane, just about always funny, and truly cutting edge despite the lower than low budget, these guys single handledly influenced the early part of what will forever now be referred to as THE GOLD STREET YEARS (where Dan Hamill and I lived circa 1996-2003). A huge portion of the MOGpac lingo came from this show, which we taped regularly. Honestly, I can't describe it properly, but it was the best shit ever. Over THE GOLD STREET YEARS (always in caps), Danny and I would find ourselves occasionally running into these guys and being vaguely acquainted with them. They also had a dial in number on the show that we abused quite a bit.

It turns out that the up and coming one-man pop act Baby Dayliner was part of this crew. I noticed this when recognizing two of the key members of Baby show, Jer and Tones (seen here with Dayliner) Upon further research, Danny and I learned that a lot of this gang have gone on to a lot of cool shit. Rising Hip Hop star Aesop Rock came out of this crew, as did Entourage star Adrian Grenier. And they all still work together in one way or another, which is pretty cool and almost MOGpac-esque except with less wrestling and more musical productivity.

Brandt had been pushing me to check this guy out long before we made the connection to Baby Show, so I decided to actually be seen in public with him (mostly cause his girlfriend is significantly cooler than he is and she's probably a better engineer) and head to Mercury Lounge. Long story short, this guy Dayliner is pretty funny. He's got some good tunes. All the music is on a CD or IPOD that keeps in a suitcause on stage. And this guy is like a weird love-child combo of Chris Connelly and Morrissey yet he has that Baby Show hip hop slant to him. The presentation feels very hip hop and the gimmick lasts a few songs, but after awhile I kept wondering how great this guy would be with a full band. But that's not his thing. What made this great was the crowd, who were dead into it and were mostly Baby Show alumni. He's got a strong following and they certainly added to the vibe.

I know I enjoyed myself but I don't know if I loved the gig after a few songs. I do find myself since the gig listening to the records quite a bit and appreciating them a lot more. After the gig, I ran into Baby Show Tony at the bar, who remembered the times we had met, but recalled my name being "Arthur" for some reason. Anyway, we spent a while reviewing the history of Baby Show, what's been going on since they stopped doing the show. I bought the guy a drink, we had a laugh and it capped off a fun evening. It turns out he did a bit of the Baby Dayliner music and had a comedy record out called PARTY FUN ACTION COMMITTEE, which I've read is quite funny.

Sunday was a day of semi-rest but mostly more editing and brunch with the younger sister of agent/lawyer/advisor, who is a fucking riot and a fun person to eat outdoors with. Nothing beats escargots on a Sunday morning, kids, and that's not code! Then it was back home to catch up on TV while editing.

I think we're seeing Bauhaus this week and maybe hopefully John Cale if Brandt gets the tickets. Cool gigs are a coming.

F

Dan Hamill and I met 26 years ago this month. This is not us.

PRESSROOM

It's great seeing Ash get some press (Pictued far right). AWESOME!

F

When in Rome...

One more thing that beats The Aggression reunion:

http://www.tonyvisconti.com/news/index.shtml

Snap.

BEST. SHIT EVER.

I thought nothing could top the aggression reunion, but this does:

"Up for auction is Vincent Gallo's sperm. Price includes all costs related to one attempt at an in-vitro fertilization. (A $50,000 value) If the first attempt at in vitro fertilization is unsuccessful, purchaser of sperm must pay all medical costs related to additional attempts. Mr. Gallo will supply sperm for as many attempts as it takes to complete a successful fertilization and successful delivery. Sperm is 100% guaranteed to be donated by Mr. Gallo who is drug, alcohol and disease free. If the purchaser of the sperm chooses the option of natural insemination, there is an additional charge of $500,000. However, if after being presented detailed photographs of the purchaser, Mr. Gallo may be willing to waive the natural insemination fee and charge only for the sperm itself. Those of you who have found this merchandise page are very well aware of Mr. Gallo’s multiple talents, but to add further insight into the value of Mr. Gallo’s sperm, aside from being multi talented in all creative fields, he was also multi talented as an athlete, winning several awards for performing in the games of baseball, football and hockey and making it to the professional level of grand prix motorcycle racing. Mr. Gallo is 5’11” and has blue eyes. There are no known genetic deformities in his ancestry (no cripples) and no history of congenital diseases. If you have seen The Brown Bunny, you know the potential size of the genitals if it’s a boy. (8 inches if he’s like his father.) I don’t know exactly how a well hung father can enhance the physical makeup of a female baby, but it can’t hurt. Mr. Gallo also presently maintains a distinctively full head of hair and at the age of 43 has surprisingly few gray hairs. Though his features are sharp and extreme, they would probably blend well with a softer, more subtly featured female. Mr. Gallo maintains the right to refuse sale of his sperm to those of extremely dark complexions. Though a fan of Franco Harris, Derek Jeter, Lenny Kravitz and Lena Horne, Mr. Gallo does not want to be part of that type of integration. In fact, for the next 30 days, he is offering a $50,000 discount to any potential female purchaser who can prove she has naturally blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone who can prove a direct family link to any of the German soldiers of the mid-century will also receive this discount. Under the laws of the Jewish faith, a Jewish mother would qualify a baby to be deemed a member of the Jewish religion. This would be added incentive for Mr. Gallo to sell his sperm to a Jew mother, his reasoning being with the slim chance that his child moved into the profession of motion picture acting or became a musical performer, this connection to the Jewish faith would guarantee his offspring a better chance at good reviews and maybe even a prize at the Sundance Film Festival or an Oscar. To be clear, the purchase of Mr. Gallo’s sperm does not include the use of the name Gallo. The purchaser must find another surname for the child. Good luck bidding."

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vincent-Gallo-Sperm_W0QQitemZ7558568610QQcategoryZ197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hell. Frozen. Over.

Live, New York City. 7 January, 2006. See you there, bitches.

"No, REALLY?"

George Takei Says He's Gay. I never even once thought this. ever. Someone get Shatner on the phone ASAP.

F

Stalked!

Speaking of fine wool, this was just posted on www.ashleysaunders.com:

503: CELEBRITIY SIGHTING: FJ

I saw FJ walking south on 5th Avenue when I was out for lunch.

He was surrounded by a massive entourage, so it's understandable that he didn't see me. It's probably a good thing, too, because the wind had rocked my hair like a hurricane. So while I didn't get to enjoy talking to him, I did have the pleasure of sending him a stalkerish text about it.

Wool!

Ok, I'm back. I beat the main part of THE WARRIORS and have returned to grace you with the self-indulgence you pay no money to read ever so often here. So I'll get right down to it:

*THE WARRIORS game makes up for the fiasco that is the "Ultimate" version of the film recently released on DVD. Outside the Lucas games and the 007 games, this might be one of the best adpatations I can recall in the videogame world. The guys who did this game LOVE the source material and have created something so true to the movie that the attention to detail to charcters and that universe is occasionaly scary. Three complaints: 1. It's too short (the actual events of the movie are the least interesting parts of the game), 2. The camera needs improvement (difficult when you have dozens of people fighting) and 3. The post-story universe should have been all of Manhattan as opposed to just part of Coney. These are minor complaints, though I feel a sequel to the game could be fucking massive. Great game.

*My non-STAR WARS or BATMAN movie of the year could be KISS KISS BANG BANG, which marks the full-force return of Robert Downey Jr. and the start of a new, hopefully non-insane, phase of Val Kilmer's career. This sharp, witty tour de force by LETHAL WEAPON creator Shane Black, in his directorial debut, is nothing short of hilarious and excellent. I loved this movie beyond words and you can't believe the chemistry between Downey and Kilmer. And I must praise the actress MIchelle Monaghan, (who was awesome in CONSTANTINE before all of her scenes were chopped out), who, along with Rachel McAdams, might be the breakout star of the year. She stands toe to toe with two screen vets and hold her own with no problem. This is a great film and certainly one of my faves this year. Check this out.

*Depeche Mode have a new album out and of course we have tickets for their December 7 gig at the Garden. The new album is being widely praised as their best since VIOLATOR, which is where I start looking for the publicist who is trying to earn a paycheck. (Hello...it was called SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION). Is the new album good? YES! Very good, in fact, much better than the last one, which I liked a lot. Is it their, like, best shit ever? No, but again it's REALLY FUCKING GOOD, and I think people are praising it because it in no way sucks. As I had hoped, Dave wrote a few songs and they are the ones i like best on the album, especially the track NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE. However, Gore should have let him do half of the album cause the songs where Gore sings are the weakest on the record. Anyhow, 25 years and still rolling. The next step though HAS to be a reunion of some kind: either with Flood or, preferebly, Wilder. Until then, it's no doubt the show will be nothing short of great.

*My ALMOST Album Of The Year is Leandro Fresco's LIZ SIN CALOR. Fresco is a well known electronic musician made famous to us via his work as Cerati's programmer, remixer, and as 1/3 of Cerati's awesome, yet still unreleased, electronic project Roken (which also features the talents of Cerati's longtime collaborator Flavius E, whose new album CONJUNCTION, is quite good as well). B and I have been tracking Fresco's records down for years and Brandt has recently become pen pals with the guy via E-mail. This new CD is a super album of warm electronics that just feels fresh and alive. He even samples an obscure Duran album track. The reason this album is not Album Of The Year and it's SO close, is because it's too short and needed like two more great tunes to round it out. It's certainly top 5 of the year. It was a nice surprise to see this come out as we thought between the Roken gigs and Fresco being involved with Cerati's new album, that there was nothing new on the horizon. Brandt loves that this guy sometimes goes topless. www.Leandrofresco.com

*I finally made it to Brandt's new place in Brooklyn, which will be our new recording HQ and it's a pretty sweet space. Very comfortable and a lot more room than the Birdcage. We spent Sunday going through the HF album and what needs to be done and started coming up with a the gameplan to get this fucker on track. It's gonna sound fucking awesome and I'm back at work editing, tweaking etc. This new space will raise the comfort level quite a bit, I think. I want to call it Studio Anus, but I think we need to wait a bit before christening the space. Meanwhile, the dog still wants to eat shit, but I digress...

*Speaking of eating shit, your friend, not mine, Anus McManus wrote me twice recently. In one Email, which was a response to my previous blog entry, he mentioned something about me and James Remar's penis and in the one I received yesterday, he told me he wanted to poo in my mouth and called me a "blog bitch". Sadly I have run out of suspects, but I feel the culprit or culprits were here on Monday night.

*Vincent Cassel has a movie coming out where he beats the shit out of Clive Owen and tries to kill Jennifer Aniston. This sounds glorious.

F

GONE

Ok, you've lost me and you're going to lose me for the time being. Why? The WARRIORS game came out and it's simply the best video game adaptation of a film I have ever played. Most games waste their time trying to milk a feature film into a game, but the folks at Rockstar obviously love that 2 hour movie so much that they have gone and created an entire backstory and spent time actually developing the characters. And is it violent? You bet your ass it is. The very essence of all that is great about The Warriors is captured here. We held "Warriors Night" here on Wednesday night where Lurch, Evan, G and I (Irene wisely went out to avoid hearing us all speak like James "Ajax" Remar) played till the wee hours of the morning. It was a fun and tiring event and now I am way deep into this excellent game. This is truly brilliant stuff.

Also brilliant is Joss Wheedon's SERENITY, which I loved in a huge way and is certainly going on my "Best Of" list this year. Sadly, the movie is not being seen by the masses and is, in fact, a big ass flop financally, but the movie is excellent. It has its moments where it seems too much like a TV episode (FYI, I have never seen the original series this is based on), but storywise, acting wise, etc this is a wonderful new universe that sadly will probably only live on in comics and novels. I think it was promoted wrong and promoted like a TV series and all targeted to the fanboys. There's much more to this awesome movie than the masses will ever realize.

Went to a screening of BREAKFAST ON PLUTO, and it was really enjoyable stuff. Cillian Murphy shows all the reasons why he was NOT cast as Batman playing a trannie searching for his mother in 70's era UK. The movie is very good and Murphy is a wonderful actor, but I have to say the movie's best moments were all in the second act when a shockingly good Gavin Friday appears as an Irish musician with a few secrets to hide. He's electric onscreen and his new songs are solid (I hope there's a soundtrack). Bryan Ferry also pops up for a cameo and is really sleazy good. Qui Gon speaks through the force in this film as a priest. All in all a good small movie with some great acting.

On the music front, I'm happy to report that I sent the Chemlab Remix album in for mastering this week and am hoping to get back the mastered copy of the aggression's remix album sometime next week. So that's two almost out the door! More to discuss in the coming weeks, I think.

Ok, so I apologize NOW for the lack of blogging due to the Warriors. If you want, I will unblock the blog so Anus can post and keep you all company. How's that?

F

"The Worst Night Ever" as told by Lurch, guest blogger

“A man’s dreams are an index of his greatness…in Shatner.”
Chinese fortune cookie, with addendum

Greatness takes effort. Left to its own devices, life is more likely to settle into its own grey torpor…a needle tic above or below the zero point separates how we feel about ourselves following a day on the couch watching “Girlfriends” reruns. But to really achieve an extreme, you must dream, aspire, and execute, whether it involves a trip to Russia (as our good friends Frank and Dan have experienced), or to truly, truly, have the worst day ever.

I have known Frank and Dan for sixteen years. During that time, we have shared many experiences, including the rise and fall of Frank’s first auspicious band, the emergence of the International Man of Mystery, too many dawnings of new years to count, and the revelation of Crazy Scarheaded Bitch on “Melrose Place” (come back Marcia, all is forgiven). And as men who have known how to live, it’s only fitting that we know how to really suck. It begins with an email exchange on Thursday:

“Hey guys…should we go see ‘Domino’ before the reviews sap our motivation?”

Let’s parse this out. Together, we are planning, a day in advance, to see a film starring Mickey Rourke, DBag aka Mr. Kari Wuhrer nee Mr. Tori Spelling, Ian “That’s EyeAn” Ziering, Keira Knightley’s fleabites, Dabney Coleman, and Walken. Actually, that cast is a good reason to see the movie. But it is already being identified as a crime against god and nature, sharing space with “Elizabethtown” as the only things on earth with lower approval ratings than Dubya. We are planning, with full knowledge that given time, wisdom will set in, and as reasonable men we will spend our time on other worthy pursuits. Given, as a unit, we’ve seen “The Specialist” (and one of us gave it a standing ovation), “The Quick and the Dead,” and “Johnny Mnemonic,” but we were young then and unaware of our mortality. Now, we are older, wiser and sadder, and spending our finite time on earth not only planning to waste two of those vital hours, but anticipating the chance to squander those hours.

That fateful Thursday email was only the first. Over the course of the next 24 hours, we three exchanged many more emails planning this. A plan which took a vital turn when Dan writes the fateful words:

“Dulli might make a surprise visit at Mighty Fine tonight.”

To parse this brief email…’Dulli’ is Greg Dulli, rock hero and one of the three people I would want to be if I were not me (along with Maxwell and Robbie Williams, although Robbie’s falling fast off the new single). Mighty Fine is the new band of a member of the Twilight Singers. I should note that I didn’t know which member he was, but Dan and F. did. Again, we have no enthusiasm for Mighty Fine. But perhaps the slim promise of Dulli, rock hero, will save us from our rendezvous with Domino.

Instead, Frank ups the ante, mentioning that Mighty Fine goes off at 9:30/10, meaning we can make a 12:05 of Domino. That’s right…we’re now planning a doubleheader. Keep in mind that as a rock hero, Dulli probably doesn’t get up for brunch until 11. We are explicitly discussing the fact that this is not happening, because a truly sucky night must be premeditated. For the next six hours, we are desperately attempting to get on the mailing list for a nonexclusive event at a random NY club in the Bowery like it is the Meatpacking District and we are looking to have our asses in Gawker Stalker. Six hours.
At 8, Frank, Dan, Irene (because every bad scene needs a celebrity hostage), and I meet at New Green Bo (we’ll leave this free of the suckage…it was the best, as always). Then we make our way to Crash Mansion. Crash Mansion is like the basement of a frat house (believe me, I know), only with more fake slate. The scene is actually a battle of the bands. The first band is basically the Gin Blossoms, only without the guy who drank himself to death writing hooky songs about drinking oneself to death. The lead singer might be the guy from Coheed and Cambria, which means sounding like the Gin Blossoms is kind of a step up. It’s lovely though, compared to the follow up band, the Paul Rudd Experience. It turns out that Paul Rudd is a fan of bands that sound like what would happen if X and The Killers had a baby, and that baby was retarded. We also begin accumulating victims, as Brandt and Alison appear in promise of Dulli. Our ears are bleeding. We sit and stare at each other, in mixed disbelief, horror, and abject hilarity.
And then out comes Mighty Fine.
Mighty Fine is in fact fronted by a member of the Twilight Singers. A touring member. A backup singer. I observe this to Dan.

“Yeah. That’s him.”

“Dulli’s showing up to support a backup singer on one of the tours? From three years ago.”

“Probably not.”

But did that stop us from scoping the door and feeling our collective hearts leap every time we see a fat white guy in a suit come in the club? And trust me, a lot of fat white guys hang out at Crash Mansion. Mighty Fine is…fine. They are audaciously mediocre, with lots of dance moves bitten off Prince, and an ersatz Afghan Whigs song that just makes you long for what you’re not getting. Similarly to how BFF Fuss misses Otis Redding every time she hears an Afghan Whigs song.

Oh, and their set is punctuated now with cries from Dan of “Liars!” and “Where’s Dulli?” But the front man made out with some random girl in the audience (read: plant) so bully for him. And his fucking hoax fucking emails. I can’t wait to actually start sending my bank account number to that mother fucker who’s trying to escape Nigeria.

Sour, beaten, depressed failures, we leave the safe refuge of Crash Mansion. Frank begins blaming Dan (inappropriately, I think). I laugh. Brandt and Alison leave (wisely). Irene prepares her celebrity escape to Brooklyn. We walk, walk, and continually question, ‘are we really going to do this? Are we really going to see this movie? This is the shittiest night ever, and we’re going to make it worse.”

The 12:05 Domino was showing in the attic of a Loews. Most of the escalators were turned off, meaning we had to walk half of the seven floors. I stopped for popcorn and coke (TO MAKE SURE I STAYED AWAKE), so I made it just in time for the start of the film.

“Domino” is ugly, both in aesthetic and overall crapulence. At no point does any recognizably human behavior occur. In fact, until the last twenty minutes of the movie, I don’t remember there being any actual cause and effect in the movie. That is, people simply do things, like look at each other, with no sense of what those looks mean or imply about the relationships between the people or reflect changes in the way they relate to one another. For a film described as ‘shamelessly violent,’ there is very little action. That might have interfered with the looking. It plays with time and sequence and frequently undoes the truth it just told, which might be interesting if the movie, you know, “had a plot” or “said something.”Keira Knightley’s narration is second only to Mila Kunis’ narration in “American Psycho 2” and I say that not to be show offy or obscure, but to accurately convey where this movie sits in the history of cinema. The movie trades in the notion that you have seen this millions of times before, so it can skip all the bits that happen in other movies. Which basically constitutes everything that is not posing. Perhaps this is notable for a movie about a model turned bounty hunter. Basically, I liked this movie a lot better when it starred Shannon Tweed.

There are two possibilities for “Domino.” Possibility A: it is too advanced for me. It is possible that the film is a complex satire about style, celebrity, and the ways in which we see each other, and how those perceptions defy simple notions of cause and effect…that our stereotypes override our ability or even need to observe others’ behavior or that we even react to one another. Possibility B: it’s a noisy, incoherent pile of suck. In favor of the second opinion...even with the appearance of Keira’s breasts, I was begging God for the movie to go as fast as its editing suggested, and to just end.

Final review honors go to Frank, who after the film stated, “Just punch me in the balls a thousand times.” The studio should feel free to use that as its pull quote.

Our exquisite planning came to pass. We didn’t believe the hype about Dulli showing, and sure enough, he didn’t. We believed the hype about “Domino’ sucking, and it did. Of the billion things one can do in New York City, the greatest, most alive city in the world, on a Friday night, this is what we chose to do. But this is not a cautionary tale. As I said, this night was a function of existential choice and aspiration. Instead, this is a way of purging the trauma. I’ve spent another 1300 words reliving how we planned the suckiest night of entertainment in our shared lives, encouraging you to read it like I was Naomi Watts and some crazy greasy little girl was going to kill my kid if I didn’t pay it forward. The thing I love about these friends of mine is that they are unashamed to dream, because that is the measure of greatness.

We dream big. And our dreams suck.