28.1.07

My Ever Changing Moods

Hello:

It's been one of those months of hell where you get no time to breathe, no time to relax and then eventually, your body just crashes against your will, forcing you to sleep. I thought this would be the weekend where I'd get to lie around and do virtually nothing, but this was not the case.

This was Irene's first full weekend off in about a year, so plans were made. Unfortunately life gets in the way and I found myself uptown unexpectedly hearing pitches via videoconference for hours Friday night (to the studio's credit, they fed us well). Luckily, Irene's focus for the weekend off was never leaving the couch, which was a brilliant idea, and this gave me leeway to still do my normal Saturday afternoon routine of going to the record store and grab the coming week's releases (new Kasabian single, which has a massive awesome B-side that rips HF off) for me and B before spending some time in the studio doing drum edits on LENINGRAD. It was a short trip, but productive, as I am listening to the results as we speak and we get closer and closer to a sound that is big and clean and exciting. So close.

We also went through some of the newer/future HF songs, including a lost classic called THE MAGIC WORDS, which has an interesting history. It started off maybe 10 years as a demo by Tom and Ash as an aggression track and had TONS of promise. Why we never picked up on it, I'm not sure, but I do recall adding some stuff to it later on and maybe even jamming it once or twice at Robins (Ash can possibly confirm that). GREAT bassline from Tom and sweet programming from Ash. Anyhow, it was forgetten in the HF/ILM transition and the cobra's got to it first, played with it for a bit, and then it again fell by the wayside. How this came up in conversation, I don't know, but Brandt mentioned his love of the song and I immediately CHECKED WITH MIKE to see if HF could claim the soon. Getting his blessing took about 4 seconds and within days he shot over the parts and I have been working nonstop on it. I'm really excited about this tune and think it can be a classic!

Finally, Irene and I found some free time and went to dinner at some new Pizza place where A Salt and Battery used to be on 2nd ave. I can't remember the name at the moment and can't be arsed to get up to ask her, so I'll get back to you on it, but it was really fucking good. They built the sweet ass woodburner thing in the place so you can see the pizza go in. They also had what could be the best carpaccio I've ever tasted. These guys are straight up eye-talian and the servings were fierce and we had the leftovers for breakfast this morning. Then your hero proceed to go home and literally pass out for about 12 hours.

I woke up today to receive a most exciting invite from the my fellow Gold Street Boy Gutterball Vinnie, who somehow was able to acquire TWO wristbands for rare acoustical appearance of PAUL WELLER at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square this afternoon. After losing out on getting tickets to see him down the block this week, this was a cool surprise. How Danny snagged the second wristband is beyond me, as it was listed as one per person, but he bought two copies of Weller's new singles thing and they gave him two bands, so naturally he called your hero spur of the moment and I dropped everything (meaning this got me out of food shopping) and there we were checking out Weller. This picture makes it seem further than where we were, but by not going in the main section, we had a dead on clear view, which we didn't expect...



He was joined by Steve Cradock from Ocean Colour Scene, who is a fucking amazing guitarist and they delivered a very brisk and cool 25 minute set. The Ex-pats were in full force, and it's fun going to gigs where we are the youngest there. The disappointment was he did not come back for an encore and everyone kinda just stood there waiting. Fuck that, G and I left, got some hot chocolate and walked back to MOGworld. While walking, this made us laugh:



Then we got back to MOGworld and watched disc one of the bootleg REVENGE/MONACO video collection that G so kindly pulled off bitorrent for me and burned. The second disc was fucked up, but G had as good laugh making fun of your hero's direct ripping off of Mr. Hook himself. What memories this brought back. Later, we were joined by Irene and the three of us met up with my folks (fresh off the plane from arruba) for a nice bite before returning back here to watch the ROYALE RUMBLE, which is never a bad PPV. Then we watched Extras and laughed.

Re-reading this entry, it reads like a phone call home from Russia in its play by play and I apologize for my lack of wit here today. I would like to give a shout out to GUSTAVO YAMATO MACHADO, just born this weekend in VA Beach and a quick Happy Birthday to my friend Frank, who turned 50 yesterday. He and I have a lot to talk about tomorrow if plans go accordingly. More on that soon. Anyhow, I end always on a good note with KRUGER BABY CUTENESS, who I will behold in PERSON this week when I fly to SF for a few days of biz-nez. Stay Golden, San Diego...



F

26.1.07

25.1.07

NEXT OF KIN (aka pathos and pesos!)


Once again, the Gold Street Boys bring the boredom during this lunch time chat. For the record, his IM was totally unsolicited and just came out of nowhere...

G: If I were to do a movie as the son of Kin Shriner called Next of Kin, it would be more appealing

F: Did you create this idea?

G: Who the hell else would have?

F: You better trademark that now and make a deal with Kin

G: Probably so

F: Hes a twin you know and did Justice League

G: That makes for good material. What voice was he on Justice League

F: I cant believe you thought of this guy. He was Green Arrow, really good

G: I could see that

F: Your love of this man is interesting

G: I just read he's coming back to GH, hence the idea

F: You love him and Billy Warlock. The fact that you can remember these people and not your own phone number astounds me. you are some kind of soap opera savant

G: Dude, billy warlock ranks nowhere near my love for KIN

F: Sorry

G: Look at him. He's been going bald for years yet he has so much hair http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/01/daytime_tv_gets.html#comments

F: It looks like the wig is halfway on, but look, he's bad ass

G: Truth. And he's tight with Alec Baldwin. Who needs anything more

F: They roll like MOGpac at the Empress

G: More truth

F: i want to see Kin and Bladwin vs outback steakhouse ninjas from jerse

G: Oh my

F: Right?

G: Maybe they fight valiantly and only Alec makes it out alive, so Alec needs revenge, and who else are you gonna call but the Next of Kin himself

F: oh word, what a set up

G: Money

F: Pesos. im blogging this

G: pathos and pesos!

F: I'm ending it on that cause thats pop worthy



G: Word. We just gotta make sure I have a hot sex scene with Lucy Coe

24.1.07

This man was in the aggression

From Matt Gentile....

22.1.07

BRING IT, SPARKY!

Best. Video. Ever.

21.1.07

Greetings From Asbury Park (aka "Lets RFK")

I am back, slightly scarred, mostly mentally, from joining the Last Days of Disco (G, Lurch and The Kidd) on their sojourn to Asbury Park to see the crap band The Hold Steady. I can say this now because I have now seen them and everything I said in the post a few months back stands. But alas, I was not there for the band, I was there to keep things MOGpac after Paul (who is not MOGpac by any means) pussied out of the trip. I was then asked to step in, because MOGpac can only rely on MOGpac when looking for adventure. I immediately stepped up to the plate and dropped everything I was doing (read: Irene had plans that night with her friends so I was free) to raise the bar to new levels (read: lows).

Things started off in true idiot convention style as (please note I organized none of this trip) we had trouble figuring out where the 4 of us were at Penn Station. Lurch, he being foreign, told us he was on the "main floor", which really helps about as much as Danny in a kitchen or a brothel. Once we tracked said tall foreigner down, we got on the NJ transit.



It was a fun and uneventful ride in which we drank the Woodland Reserve Whiskey that Danny stole from his folks house. The four of us caught up and compared notes and discovered we all had shit weeks recently. I think Lurch declared, as another tall foreigner once said about the aggression, "We Need This". Then we took a cab to our hotel, the legendary Empress. Here's what the Wikishit says about this hotel:

"The Empress Hotel, located on the oceanfront at 101 Asbury Avenue, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, opened as a luxury resort for vacationing families in the 1950s. In the hotel's heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Judy Garland stayed there for a month.
In the 1970s, when Asbury Park began its decline, the hotel began to decline as well, notwithstanding Bruce Springsteen using it on the cover of his 1980 "Hungry Heart" single sleeve. It was very rundown and struggling for business in the late 1980s, and closed in 1988. It reopened in 1991, but quickly closed again. It was abandoned for nearly a decade when, in 1998, Shep Pettibone bought the abandoned building and opened the Paradise Nightclub inside. The nightclub lured crowds of gay travelers away from Fire Island and instead to the beaches of Asbury Park. The hotel portion reopened in August of 2004, and is very popular among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transvestite travelers in New Jersey. The hotel was a typical doo-wop hotel at the Jersey Shore until Pettibone renovated it; today it is a stylish and clientele-savvy destination."

Now who, you ask is Shep Pettibone? You FOOL. I can't even KNOW you if you dont know him. I'll let the Wiki do the talking:

"Shep Pettibone is a record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. His earliest work known to the public was for one of New York City's top disco/dance radio stations, WRKS 98.7 "Kiss" FM, and later as remixer/producer for the disco label Salsoul Records. His prowess at production and mixing led him to work with Madonna in the 1985-1990 era during Madonna's arguably most popular period of creating dance music. Shep's contribution to 1980s club music is too extensive to list completely. He was instrumental in bringing the early underground sound of house music into the pop mainstream by way of a hybrid sound (much to the dismay of some purists who preferred standard disco/dance and R&B). Though he was contemporaneous to others (such as Francois Kevorkian), he is certainly the most prominent DJ/Remixer to bridge the high Disco and House eras in popular dance music."

Those of you who know us now understand that this hotel was straight up MOGpac Thug Style. We arrived and quickly noticed that this hotel has the best lobby EVER. I mean look at this:



Look at those chairs. Look at that rug. Now that is RESERVE. More on this in a bit. We checked in and had some time to kill. The venue is about a half block over from the hotel, so we did what men do: lounged around, drank more whiskey, and watched Smackdown and Teen Titans:





And then we went to The Stone Pony. I had been there many moons ago with Mr. Phingers to see Type O back in the day, but I forgot how desolate Asbury Park is. There's nothing there except broken down buildings and a few clubs. It was also 40 degrees below fucking zero and pitch black. There's a beach though which I am sure is awesome in the summer. This place is ripe for a comeback and I think it gonna happen in this century.

Anyhow, The Stone Pony is a cool venue. I think. I was drunk. I can tell you this, they have the best Mozzerella Sticks EVER. I would go back to see even more shit music just for the sticks. Many drinks were had. We had fun in the back eating snacks, comparing NJ rock Icons to cunts who shall not be named and meeting a young man with an Irish fetish who struck up a conversation with G and I after hearing G saying "IF YOU FEEL IT, THEN YOU SHOULD GRAB IT (in regards to my interest in eating a hot pretzel). Serial. This shit only happens to us. Conincidentally, The Kidd introduced himself as MICHAEL McDOWERY to said Irish freak. They hit it off. As you can see here, good times were had with these two assholes and Lurch:



Then the band came on. And these three popped like schoolgirls. I tried. I don't get it. They look like The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The singer has an everyman charm that is very genuine in a dorky way. Then he sings, and he's incoherent and reminded me less of Jarvis and more of Corky. I made it through three songs and I just hated it. I can't lie. the band is fine, but it's so uninteresting to me. So instead of sitting there looking bored and making my friends uncomfortable, I took the high road and showed them respect by retreating to the bar so they could have fun. And your Hero drank. And drank. I don't know how long the gig was, it didn't seem that long, maybe cause I was having fun regardless, but I did join the Kidd outside for a few smoke breaks during the gig (hes the smoker), and he and I tried to climb a mountain on a construction site and that was not a good idea.

Anyhow, the gig was over and we stayed at the bar to drink more and more. The vibe was good. The locals were nice. Everything got blurry for a bit, but I remember this guy...:



...punching this guy in the face after repeatedly telling him he had "beautiful hair":



Look, I have no idea what the fuck happened. but all I know was in that in a matter of seconds, security had swarmed us and were trying to kick us out while Nickelback (I swear he looked exactly like Nickelback) was yelling at that Kidd "YO BRO WHY DID YOU HIT ME IN THE FACE LIKE A BITCH". All I remember is laughing because all the security guys were about a foot shorter than me and the Kidd wouldn't leave so he could apologize to this guy because supposedly his ski cap of violence (seen above) was over his eyes and he "thought" he was hitting G and not Nickelback.

Might I reiterate that theres nothing in Asbury Park, at least that we knew about, and it was a hundred degrees below zero so of course our ejected asses went straight to the beach. That lasted about 3 minutes while the Kidd sulked about punching Nickelback. So we finally landed back at the Hotel at Club Paradise. The Kidd lasted about 3 minutes and retired to the room to ponder his "violence" and to vomit (which he later denied even happening". The three of did what 3 thugs do in a gay club, we hit the dancefloor. Dancing to Timberlake by ourseleves was actually very enjoyable. Then lurch found the only straight girl in the club to dance with. I wish I had pictures of this, but her two gay friends saw her dancing with Lurch and proceeded to comment that he was gayer than they were. Hearing this, I popped like I was watching Wrestlemania 3 and the two guys, not knowing I was pals with Lurch came over to share a laugh as we all agreed.

The club was fun, but it was over literally after two songs (Sexyback and Nelly's Maneater), because guess what, shit CLOSES at 2am here. What the fuck. There's nothing else going on and you fucking close at 2? We just bought tons of drinks. What do men do?

They retreat to that kick ass lobby and hang out with Donny, the conceige, and wish the departing clubgoers a happy evening. Danny went to the room and brought back some pretzels and we were set, chillin in the lobby. Donny told me the hotel was 1/4 full that evening and two suites were available. I won't bore you with the other stories, but when I yelled YO MYSPACE, YOU WANT SOME PRETZELS to the charismaticaly challenged women who rode the train next to us, to their great shock, Lurch declared the evening over.

But of course that's never the case. All I remember was climbing into bed, just starting to doze off and a flying Kidd soared overhead to deliver a flying elbow to a sleeping lurch. And then, the hotel equivalent of the Royale Rumble broke out. Yep, no hotel room unscathed with the MOGpac. Beating G with the room phone was noteworthy. And the morning came:

I bunked with this guy, who makes noises in his asleep akin to Harvey Keitel in BAD LT:



The Queens slept well:



This is for you Eric Powell. The legend lives:



As Andy Schneider, one half of the legendary Schneider Sisters of Fernwood Terrace once told me:



Your Hero woke up a bit worse for wear:



And after some rest, and some weird storytelling from the Kidd, it was time to check out and boy were we hungry. So we decided to walk in the 50 below zero weather. And for awhile there was nothing but deserted buildings and we reached fork in the road. This was like being the Jersey equivalent of THE WARRIORS (serial). Luckily, a girl at a bus stop told us the right direction to go. The other way would have led us to, in her words, "the bullshit ass ghetto". Lucky. The other option would have led us in direct conflct with The Crazy Outback Shadows, a legit streetgang that rolls in Asbury. We ended up in the cool part of town that had nice places to hang out and we found a nice cafe to get a bite and a bucket of tots. Laughs ensued.

This put us in walking distance of the train station but they dont HAVE THE GODDAMN WAITING ROOM OPEN so we froze our asses off waiting for the NJ transit.

And then we went home:



However, we will be back soon though for this gig at the Stone Pony:



Good times. Thanks for inviting me, men!

F

19.1.07

HIATUS



I'm off to Asbury Park for an evening with The Last Days of Disco. I'll return home tomorrow a very different man.

18.1.07

I'LL SCHOOL YOU!

16.1.07

"YOU WILL PERSEVERE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY"

UNTHINKABLE EVENTS ARE UNFOLDING

Yes, thats how the cable guide describes tonights 2 hours of 24. Last nights 2 hours, watched exclusively on Evan's new HD TV in Harlem, had us screaming our lungs out. Mind you this was after the fucking awesome meal of Chicken and Waffle at Amy Ruth's (Home-Style Southern Cuisine 113 W. 116th St., New York, NY 10026 between Lenox Ave. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. ) and dammit were we full. Anyhow, Jack Bauer came back and his done some of the sickest shit I will ever see on Network TV and goddammit it is so F'n good. Yes, we've seen a lot of this before, but mind you, we're only a few episodes in, and admit it, fucker, you are on the edge of your seat screaming WHAT THE FUCK, just as we have been. I mean, come on, in the first episode he ______ that terrorist in the ________ and then proceed to shoot _______, which you never saw coming and this was all before the shit went down and the dirty.....well, just fucking watch. Oh, and how awesome is Morris. I know!

I apologize for my absence. I haven't been much fun of late, and that's for reasons that can't be posted here. For the concerned, it's all professional related, so everything else is as it should be. Just crazy times. Some days, I just miss playing wii with my nephew, when things are simple and nice and without care. Sadly, the real world even crashes on a dreamer like myself every now and then.

I failed to mention that we checked out CHILDREN OF MEN last week and man it was really good! Alfonso Cuaron is just an amazing director and while I had some issues early on with the movie, I thought he did at tremendous job. Clive Owen was dead on with this and really carried it. My biggest complaint, and this won't spoil it, was that they didn't get as deep into the world this was all taking place in as well as they should. Had we seen the world a bit more, and understood the current world climate, the drama would have been heightened and would have had a much larger impact on the story and characters. It's a minor complaint, but enough for me to keep this from declaring it great. Still, totally worth checking out.

If it makes you feel better, I have been trying to get some music done, mostly in the remix form, but I did FINALLY get back to B's the other day, and it felt great to get back to the songs that are just simply fucking awesome. So much to do, so little time, but it's all so good. We had a fun day playing with some new software and it felt like good progress. We also recorded some guitars and it's great when the pieces just fit together. Someday we will be done. Someday. But with all the shit hitting fans this week, it was a nice escape. Then we ate. MMM.

How are YOU doing?

F

11.1.07

10.1.07

The Obit Begins.

http://theaggression.blogspot.com/

9.1.07

I don't believe ANYTHING that says "HANS SOLO"

Harrison Ford turned down a $47 million pay day to make a new spin-off 'Star Wars' movie.

Hollywood legend Ford, 64, snubbed director George Lucas' big bucks offer in favour of playing heroic archaeologist Indiana Jones again.

However, Lucas wasn't too disappointed with Ford's decision as he was already developing an idea for a fourth Indiana Jones movie with Steven Spielberg.

A source told Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "George wanted Harrison to play Indy but cleverly sounded him out about playing Hans Solo instead.

"Harrison was horrified. After that he was delighted to be playing Indy again. He told George he just couldn't face being stuck in a spaceship with Chewbacca again."

Ford will earn $47 million for donning his famous fedora hat once again and embarking on a final adventure as the whip-cracking adventurer.

Ford and Lucas announced they were making a fourth 'Indiana Jones' film earlier this month.

The movie, produced by Lucas and directed by Spielberg, is due to be released in 2008, 19 years after Ford last appeared as thrill-seeking Indy in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.


This is what it's like talking to Danny, who popped like a bitch for this commerical. As he should. Genius.

7.1.07

RRRR.


MY NEPHEW WENT HOME TODAY AND THIS IS HOW I FEEL...

5.1.07

Earning his WGA membership


Here's #1 nephew at the production office for a project I cannot name at the moment (it leaked somewhere today if you are web savvy). He was a champ all day, 8 hours trapped in a room with writers and producers. He wow'd the whole crew. He shared his chocolate with everyone and got a DVD of a movie ("IT'S NOT EVEN OUT YET", he is happy to reveal). I'm the proud uncle today!

4.1.07

Belated Kruger Christmas


Krugers rocking out to the awesome presents from the NY family!

1.1.07

Oh_Seven

Welcome to 2007. Sorry for the delay, but it's been uncle/nephew week and we have being playing Nintendo, reading comics and doing the things that men do. In between all that I try to work on a remix. We had a special guest as Business Affairs stayed the night with us and while Irene watched Generation J (we've come from me holding a door closed so he can do drugs to my girlfriend babysitting his two year old), BA and I went to the revamped Batcave to check out Jared and co do their thing. I never get tired of Jared or the songs I love, but the sound in the new venue (which visually is cool) blows and well, honestly, there are certain bandmembers working for Jared that should be fired immediately for being just atrocious. But I digress...We'll see more of Jared in 07....

Speaking of 07, we rang in the new year with some great company (the guys), and then an early evening at MOGworld watching the balls drop and eating ice cream floats and drinking after dinner drinks. then the guys did grown up (down?) things while Irene, Cam and I watched the Ugly Betty Marathon. That show now goes on my best of 06...

Speaking of 06, it's over. I'm looking forward to 07, and I like to start 07 with a list of some kind (inspired by listaholic Nick Rhodes) of things I am looking forward to in 07. My list is simple and focused:

The conclusion of the Hypefactor album, the true obsession of my life.
The start of the follow-up
Collaborating with Ash and B for Ash's new CD
The start of Shatterpieces (my suture style collaboration with Jared)
The aggression rarities CD
Some remix work
Anything from Peter Saintface
Jerry.

One thing I am going to do is what I am calling the Aggression Obituary. Let me explain: I have been writing some history down because we had an interesting story before the world of blog and I wanted to start memorializing the band properly for myself before I truly forget. Eventually, it will form the companion piece to the rarities CD and together will serve as the last period at the end of the last sentence in the last chapter of the book. I'd scan photos, but then I would have people who used to play guitar up my ass about not having any video, photos, etc. and that's not my fault guys, you should have been that interested in the last century ;-)

OK super. Remember, The MOGpac 07 will be better than your life. As Always. But I love you for that. I truly do.

F

The Emperor Arrives