Jesus, where do I begin? Last night, and at long last, Irene and I made the trek to Harlem to the legendary Apollo Theatre to see Morrissey take to the stage for the first time here in many years. We’re both sick with colds and the weather was crap, but we were psyched.
There was a large line to get into the venue and who of course was at the near front of this line? None other than Peter, Joe and Michael, three-fifths of my favourite band Saintface. Decked out in identical denim, the lads were, to say the least, excited. It was an NME moment. To say Saintface loves and has been influenced by Morrissey/The Smiths would be an understatement compared to one describing me as a “casual” Star Wars fan. These guys were ready to rumble. Little did I know what was to come…
This was my first visit to the Apollo and I was shocked at how small this venue was. However, my shock turned to pure joy when I discovered that our 4th row Orchestra Left tickets gave us an extremely close, unobstructed view of the stage (this moment was observed by Joe Saintface from the last row of Orchestra Left). I’ve had some choice seats before (i.e. the legendary Depeche Mode Jones Beach show a few years ago, thank you Matt Gentile), but these were CLOSE. Needless to say, Irene and I were buzzing when we arrived at our seats while former NY Doll David Johansen was playing.
In between sets, a disgruntled Peter Saintface came by (did I mention, all the way from the last row of Orchestra left) to tell us how inherently wrong it was that we had better seats than the Saintface crew. Without saying so, my dear friend was saying “motherfucker, you don’t DESERVE those seats” (and quite frankly, I concede that those lads are more hardcore than I could ever be and deserving of the best seats). In another NME moment, I told him which band he should stick with if he wants to see some rock n roll up close. All light-hearted though, I’m just busting balls, because quite honestly, I know we were all happy to be there.
Finally, the lights went down and the intro music began. The die-hards ran to the front as did part of our row, giving Irene and I a lot of room to watch the show. Suddenly, Michael Saintface appeared next to me. His genuine excitement for the imminent arrival of Morrissey reminded me of when my mom took me out of school to see the first showing of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in 1980. He’s already an intense dude, but this was pure love (though slightly scary), and I must admit, it was infectious. Before I could even respond, Michael had run to the dead center of the security barrier to join his two bandmates as they welcomed their idol to the stage with hundreds of other screaming fans. We were close, but Saintface was now closer.
And there he was, Moz himself, looking lean, handsome and stylish. And honestly, with this crowd, the man could do no wrong. Granted, he’s not the wildman of the olden days, but he commands the stage in a unique and special way. His band, led by the ever-talented Boz Boorer, was tight and kept the pace up. The addition of a keyboardist (who also played horns and bongos) was welcome. And the fans, including the three members of Saintface dead center, went ballistic. Morrissey delivered a great performance. His show was centered around his forthcoming album and I’m happy to say the songs don’t suck. He chose his set list carefully, a Smiths song (THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT) here, a solo classic (EVERYDAY IS LIKE SUNDAY) there. It was enough to keep us engaged and entertained while serving as a reminder as to why this man deserves his status as “legend”. We sang along, we laughed, and we had fun.
But the fun came not only from the gig, but from the audience…A guy seated in the row ahead of us decked out in a painted denim jacket that said MORRISSEY IS GOD, had run to the front to deliver Moz daffodils (someone had to). While his friends stayed in their seats and kept bringing him drinks, he patiently waited for Moz to come near him. This dude’s hard work paid off as his love of Morrissey was consummated not only when Moz graciously accepted the flowers, but then later allowed this man to kiss his hand. The look on this guys face when he turned back to his friends was priceless. His patient friends were very excited for him and I have to admit, Irene and I were quite happy for him. It’s rare when you can feel that kind of pure joy for someone at a gig.
After years of being pissed off by his 45-minute sets of the past, Moz played a very full and hearty set. He returned to the stage to do the Smiths’ classic HAND IN GLOVE, which for old fan like me, was a welcome surprise.
Even better was when Moz ripped off his shirt and threw it into the front row and left for good while several fans, like SHARKS, jumped for the shirt. Now normally I wouldn’t even mention such a thing if it hadn’t been for the fact that of the half dozen or so fans fighting for a piece of this shirt, the scariest, most intense fan vying for a piece was none other than Michael Saintface. Now, at this point the houselights are up and this shirt is STILL being violently fought over. These fans are not letting go! Security can’t even break this one up. They’re rolling over the seats! Upon realizing Michael was in the thick of it, Irene and I rushed over to cheer him on. “C’MON MIKE! DO IT FOR SAINTFACE!”, we yelled. Pieces are broken off, and some fans are leaving, but Michael, reaching levels of TAXI DRIVER era Deniro ferociousness, is still struggling to get him some Moz. Suddenly, the joke wasn’t funny anymore.
Peter jumped in on this chaos when, after 10 minutes of struggle, it came down to Michael vs. one very aggressive woman. Little did Michael know that this woman is Saintface’s ASCAP rep who handles their publishing!!! Realizing this, Peter started asking Michael not to KILL this woman, thinking of course they will never see any publishing money. Eventually, thanks to Peter, they were able to each get a small piece of the shirt. I don’t think Michael spoke after this, but as I said to him on the way out, “Man, I’m glad your own our side!”. Joe Saintface, non-plussed by any of chaos, quietly convinced a roadie give him a set-list, so he was quite happy.
Later, as Peter was walking out with an oversized mounted poster of Moz on the cover of Spin (given to him by the same ASCAP rep!), he informed us that this fight for the shirt is a regular tradition amongst them. Go figure. Also, and I’m warning those of you who are going to see Moz this week, Michael Saintface is going to be BACK for another show (not sure which). When the shirt flies, RUN. Let the man have it, for God’s sake! He’s a good guy, but he’s got a bad case of Moz-it is! (I hope he takes this all in good fun!)
To say Irene and I were entertained by both the show and the events afterwards would again be another understatement. To the guy with the daffodils, I applaud you. To Saintface, It was an honour to see you leather clad warriors lose your cool and be true fans of music for one night.
And to Morrissey, all is forgiven.
F
4.5.04
2.5.04
Hey Paco!
It's a lazy day in MOGworld as Irene has been downed by a mediocre 2am cheeseburger that didn't agree with her (damn you Gramercy!) and I'm just flat out beat. We enjoyed seeing the entire MOG collective last night for the KIDD's birthday; however I am sad I missed Dan Hamill lapdance both men AND women. I'm sure all I have to do is ask...
With Irene asleep, I've just finished watching Serpico, completing my inadvertant study of old school Al Pacino movies. GodDAMN, he was so good when he was young! I also used this weekend to catch up on recent Korean cinema. I watched first watched NATURAL CITY, which was described to me as the Korean BLADE RUNNER. Sure enough, it's almost the same plot, just with a few different twists, and not neary as good a film as Ridley's masterpiece. However, it looked fantastic, it was bloody and violent and I had fun watching, but it lacked substance. Next up was the highly recommended 2009 LOST MEMORIES which was pretty good, but not the classic I was told it was going to be. It had an interesting plot, but it meandered on. Plus it was shot on video, which was a big problem for me. However, I think Korea is the next big center of action movies, they just need to focus more on the stories and characters cause the directors are quite good and the ideas are very original (except when they're ripping off BLADE RUNNER).
Anyway, I made two pit stops into the studio this weekend and here's what went down:
LENINGRAD, originally known as TWO BASS, has finally been edited down to an acceptable length. It's original running time was over 7 minutes and after some rough vocals and some notes from Ash, I realized that this song would work better as an instrumental at a shorter length. Brandt and I had gone over the changes a few weeks ago with Ash and I pointed out what I planned to do, but I made sure to give myself some time to go over the track to make sure those changes are right. I got in front of the computer and it got it down very quickly to about 4 minutes plus change. It's tight now and I think it's going to work out great when we have the final drums in there.
Yesterday marked, in my mind, a pretty historic moment as for the first time Brandt asked me to record HIM playing guitars. Usually he just goes and does his own thing, unless we're jamming or writing, but he's never asked me to play producer for his guitar playing till now. Due to a computer crash some months ago, some of the parts to THE MORNING AFTER THE LIFE BEFORE has to be re-recorded, and then several other parts had to be re-recorded to fit Ash's new basslines. I recorded a LOT of Brandt and all of it was quite awesome. The song rocks, and like every other song, it's going to blow up when we have the final drums in there.
I don't think Brandt has much left to do other than re-track a few things here and there, but then its on to the final drum editing. Once he's done with that, I'll start on the final vocals. We've started to talk about HOW to release this album, and right now we're leaning towards putting it out ourselves just to avoid the problems I've had over the years with labels. I'm at that age where the record deal means less and putting out a finished album that I'm 150% happy with means more.
Now I must make soup!
F
With Irene asleep, I've just finished watching Serpico, completing my inadvertant study of old school Al Pacino movies. GodDAMN, he was so good when he was young! I also used this weekend to catch up on recent Korean cinema. I watched first watched NATURAL CITY, which was described to me as the Korean BLADE RUNNER. Sure enough, it's almost the same plot, just with a few different twists, and not neary as good a film as Ridley's masterpiece. However, it looked fantastic, it was bloody and violent and I had fun watching, but it lacked substance. Next up was the highly recommended 2009 LOST MEMORIES which was pretty good, but not the classic I was told it was going to be. It had an interesting plot, but it meandered on. Plus it was shot on video, which was a big problem for me. However, I think Korea is the next big center of action movies, they just need to focus more on the stories and characters cause the directors are quite good and the ideas are very original (except when they're ripping off BLADE RUNNER).
Anyway, I made two pit stops into the studio this weekend and here's what went down:
LENINGRAD, originally known as TWO BASS, has finally been edited down to an acceptable length. It's original running time was over 7 minutes and after some rough vocals and some notes from Ash, I realized that this song would work better as an instrumental at a shorter length. Brandt and I had gone over the changes a few weeks ago with Ash and I pointed out what I planned to do, but I made sure to give myself some time to go over the track to make sure those changes are right. I got in front of the computer and it got it down very quickly to about 4 minutes plus change. It's tight now and I think it's going to work out great when we have the final drums in there.
Yesterday marked, in my mind, a pretty historic moment as for the first time Brandt asked me to record HIM playing guitars. Usually he just goes and does his own thing, unless we're jamming or writing, but he's never asked me to play producer for his guitar playing till now. Due to a computer crash some months ago, some of the parts to THE MORNING AFTER THE LIFE BEFORE has to be re-recorded, and then several other parts had to be re-recorded to fit Ash's new basslines. I recorded a LOT of Brandt and all of it was quite awesome. The song rocks, and like every other song, it's going to blow up when we have the final drums in there.
I don't think Brandt has much left to do other than re-track a few things here and there, but then its on to the final drum editing. Once he's done with that, I'll start on the final vocals. We've started to talk about HOW to release this album, and right now we're leaning towards putting it out ourselves just to avoid the problems I've had over the years with labels. I'm at that age where the record deal means less and putting out a finished album that I'm 150% happy with means more.
Now I must make soup!
F
27.4.04
Fan Friendly
This warm and sunny morning started off with a chance run in on the corner of 17th and Park Avenue with the wonderful Robin, who as I learned in this brief time spent with her, is quite "busy and jangly". Where I'm from, these are good things, but obviously not in certain dim places. I always enjoy my time with my multi-talented bandmate and friend. If I can take one thing from this conversation, which included everything from comparing ipods to discussing school and New Jersey, it is that I wish the aggression a long eternal slumber in the annals (not anals, Dan Hamill), of history. See my previous post regarding "missing being in a band". I'd rather go back to High School, or maybe early college cause there were girls then. Anyhow, in the words of Greg Dulli, actually some French chick he recorded...goodbye motherfucker.
Onward, Ho's.
Then next time I checked email, I received this epic from a fan, who after much praise for the Chemlab album, writes:
"Alright, this was not the original intention to write this message to you, it was because of the Hype Factor EP which is just not leaving the "right-next-to-the-stereo-pile", I'm not even thinking about putting it on the "2nd-next-pile", no f'n way. I'm still caught in the beauty of it. I have told you before, it's true and by the time you might have gotten tired of people telling you such BUT, F.J, it is such a won-der-ful record, simple as that. Also, I recently discovered I never saw the beauty lying in your voice before this effort? I've tried a dozen times to write this sentence without it sounding so damn gay but I failed, can you xqs me? I maybe miss the appropriate words (no native speaker here, sorry) but damn it's such an honest effort, I can onnly presume this was the most personal piece of music / lyrical work you've ever done? By the way, "thieves" (which I'm sure isn't only my favourite on "the distracted lover") made it right into my all-time-favourite-achy-breaky-sour&sweet-luv-tunes-ever". What an amazing, amazing song. Thank you so much, F.J., I msut be getting repetitive, excuse me, but you know, I kinda had to let you know. Again."
Well, if I know the new album will sell ONE copy, here's the dude that will buy it. This letter makes everything we do worth it! And no I haven't grown tired of people telling me that they love DISTRACTED, the problem is, the only person who tells me that is Brandt! ;-)
This could be a good day.
F
Onward, Ho's.
Then next time I checked email, I received this epic from a fan, who after much praise for the Chemlab album, writes:
"Alright, this was not the original intention to write this message to you, it was because of the Hype Factor EP which is just not leaving the "right-next-to-the-stereo-pile", I'm not even thinking about putting it on the "2nd-next-pile", no f'n way. I'm still caught in the beauty of it. I have told you before, it's true and by the time you might have gotten tired of people telling you such BUT, F.J, it is such a won-der-ful record, simple as that. Also, I recently discovered I never saw the beauty lying in your voice before this effort? I've tried a dozen times to write this sentence without it sounding so damn gay but I failed, can you xqs me? I maybe miss the appropriate words (no native speaker here, sorry) but damn it's such an honest effort, I can onnly presume this was the most personal piece of music / lyrical work you've ever done? By the way, "thieves" (which I'm sure isn't only my favourite on "the distracted lover") made it right into my all-time-favourite-achy-breaky-sour&sweet-luv-tunes-ever". What an amazing, amazing song. Thank you so much, F.J., I msut be getting repetitive, excuse me, but you know, I kinda had to let you know. Again."
Well, if I know the new album will sell ONE copy, here's the dude that will buy it. This letter makes everything we do worth it! And no I haven't grown tired of people telling me that they love DISTRACTED, the problem is, the only person who tells me that is Brandt! ;-)
This could be a good day.
F
26.4.04
PUNISHMENT
My Significant Other, a fine woman, ventured via Chinatown bus (the in thing to do, and extremely cheap) to DC to check out Neubauten. She and her friend Lauren have a Neubauten tradition where they get drunk and check out a few of their gigs. Personally, having seen them perform once before many of you were in nursery school, I think getting drunk and watching them is some form of torture. Not to say I don't appreciate them. As Dan Hamill put it: "It doesnt matter what the tradition is, its just good to have tradition" I, being someone who has never seen Greg Dulli perform while being sober because of "tradition" (with the exception of that one Pigface related incident which you can read here somewhere) cannot argue, especially in light of my recent actions in Brooklyn (see previous entry re: Twilight Singers at Warsaw).
Anyhow this was the first time Irene has gone out of town since she moved in. It's usually me leaving for LA and her staying here, but it was shocking to see how quickly I regressed to being a 15 year old again. When I wasn't working, I was either buying or watching Kung-Fu movies, playing videogames, reading comics, surfing the web (more ebay shit), eating unhealthy, and playing music at indecently loud levels. This was all done in the company of either Evan, G or both.
Though I have to admit, it was fun watching the directors cut of WRATH OF KHAN and reciting the dialogue for G and Ev during the entire movie. However, I missed being an adult!
Ok so then, mostly out of obligation to my non music profession, Evan and I went to check out THE PUNISHER late Friday night. I don't know what I did to piss off God, but making it throught his movie earns me the right to change my second initial to Jesus. Everyone involved with this movie should be shot, especially Travolta (who should fire EVERYONE who works for him NOW for letting him do this piece of crap). Poor Thomas Jane. He's a nice man who was right for the role but was saddled with a script that was seemingly re-written to be as shitty as possible.
Someday, THE PUNISHER will be taught in a classroom (probably by me) about how NOT to make a comic book based movie. Utter shit.
We were saved somewhat the next day when me and my two pals went to check out KILL BILL VOL.2. I don't think it's any secret that I am not a big fan of the first volume. I thought it was predictable, not too clever, and the action was so-so. Overcritical? Yes, of course, as its QT going onto my turf of Asian Cinema. Anyhow, Volume 2 is a very enjoyable film that is tight and fun, character driven and filled with great action. IN particular, the throwdown between Uma (looking better than ever) and Darryl Hannah (looking scary as fuck) was excellent. Also, Vol 2 made perfect use of Gordon Lui and Michael Madsen, which is what I really needed from this movie.
OK, QT, now save Travolta again and go make the Vega Brothers!
Meanwhile, my Ebaying has gone totally overboard. I have won a dozen Jackie Chan photobooks and two stunt crew tshirts. It's very weird that this has all kicked in, though I think it has to do with the fact that JC has just turned 50. FIFTY! I remember being a kid and him approaching 30 and thinking that he was only going to make 3 more movies or something. JC, despite that my girlfriend has to wake up every day and stare at a wall of JC pix and posters, is still the man!
F
Anyhow this was the first time Irene has gone out of town since she moved in. It's usually me leaving for LA and her staying here, but it was shocking to see how quickly I regressed to being a 15 year old again. When I wasn't working, I was either buying or watching Kung-Fu movies, playing videogames, reading comics, surfing the web (more ebay shit), eating unhealthy, and playing music at indecently loud levels. This was all done in the company of either Evan, G or both.
Though I have to admit, it was fun watching the directors cut of WRATH OF KHAN and reciting the dialogue for G and Ev during the entire movie. However, I missed being an adult!
Ok so then, mostly out of obligation to my non music profession, Evan and I went to check out THE PUNISHER late Friday night. I don't know what I did to piss off God, but making it throught his movie earns me the right to change my second initial to Jesus. Everyone involved with this movie should be shot, especially Travolta (who should fire EVERYONE who works for him NOW for letting him do this piece of crap). Poor Thomas Jane. He's a nice man who was right for the role but was saddled with a script that was seemingly re-written to be as shitty as possible.
Someday, THE PUNISHER will be taught in a classroom (probably by me) about how NOT to make a comic book based movie. Utter shit.
We were saved somewhat the next day when me and my two pals went to check out KILL BILL VOL.2. I don't think it's any secret that I am not a big fan of the first volume. I thought it was predictable, not too clever, and the action was so-so. Overcritical? Yes, of course, as its QT going onto my turf of Asian Cinema. Anyhow, Volume 2 is a very enjoyable film that is tight and fun, character driven and filled with great action. IN particular, the throwdown between Uma (looking better than ever) and Darryl Hannah (looking scary as fuck) was excellent. Also, Vol 2 made perfect use of Gordon Lui and Michael Madsen, which is what I really needed from this movie.
OK, QT, now save Travolta again and go make the Vega Brothers!
Meanwhile, my Ebaying has gone totally overboard. I have won a dozen Jackie Chan photobooks and two stunt crew tshirts. It's very weird that this has all kicked in, though I think it has to do with the fact that JC has just turned 50. FIFTY! I remember being a kid and him approaching 30 and thinking that he was only going to make 3 more movies or something. JC, despite that my girlfriend has to wake up every day and stare at a wall of JC pix and posters, is still the man!
F
23.4.04
FOR-LOOOOORN
Again, it what seems like a decade, the main Factor principles of Brandt, Ash, Robin and myself gathered for the first official HF photo session. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this band in its short lifespan has yet to have an official photo. Everything you have seen so far, including the pix in the DISTRACTED sleeve come from other sources (ie. videos or candid shots). Sadly, despite my begging and pleading, Peter Saintface bowed out; most likely to prep rough mixes for me to hear (HINT). Meanwhile, Brandt enlisted his friend Kathie-Rose (forgive me if I've spelled your name wrong) to take said shots. Thank God this nice girl has the patience of a saint to deal with us.
A few days earlier while planning this, Ash had a smart idea to put us to work in the studio as we are all rarely in the same room at the same time. Based on that, Brandt, as usual, smartly did the homework and had everything ready and waiting for us. This evening would also give Robin the opportunity to hear some of her drum work for the first time ("wait, I played on that?"), and for Ash to review his basslines from 2 weeks ago that we all love ("eh, I'm not feeling it").
Though we all agreed on our love for the new bridge in CREATION PHASE and Brandt, in one his "Ideas that F.J. thinks is stupid when he first hears it but is later proven wrong" told us we would have to write a new outro to the song in a different key because that new bridge ended in a different key. I, of course, was like "that's stupid", but thats what I always say. However, then we got it going. As usual, the mandate of pushing these songs forward is proven to be successful as the new outro is awesome and allowed me to get some cool "F.J. bass" in there. The song BLOWS up at the end. I'm loving it.
For every great moment like that, there's some frustration. On another song, SOLAR, we decided to have Robin re-track her chorus basslines against her new drums. This proved tough. What she originally had was a very simple line that I felt drove the song perfectly, but Ash felt there could be more to it in a "dub" sorta way. After Robin's many attempts, Ash took over for awhile, but he couldn't quite crack it either. I think we all liked where he was going, but it just wasn't getting there. Honestly, I think we should go back to the simplicity of the original bassline, but we have to at least explore every angle before committing. We owe these songs, and each other, that much.
During all this, Kathie-Rose, took what seemed like a million photos. She's very sweet, very cool, but I think was upset to learn that Ash, Robin, and I all hate The Pixies. What was interesting was that after 10 years on and off working together, Ash and I didn't realize that we both hated them. I was convinced he loved them and he thought I loved them. EH! BOTH WRONG. This was a big bonding moment, for Ash, Robin and I. We spent a good half hour RAILING on The Pixies. Enjoy the reunion, Brandt!
Anyway, the evening ended late with Kathie-Rose taking more "band" shots. I think she coulda kept going all night taking pix, but my crew was getting cranky so we called it a night. FULL SUCCESS.
During this, I realized the only thing I miss about the aggression was the comraderie of being in "the band" with my friends. However, after hearing tales about certain mates other bands and the drama and high school kiddie shit that goes on within their unit, I was suddently quite happy to just have a "project" that is evolving into a band that will only have people who WANT to make the best possibly music they can.
Music should be the escape FROM the drama of the everyday, right?
In other news, I have regressed to my 15 year old self once again and I'm suddenly buying rare Jackie Chan movie programmes from Japan. These highly collectable books were my teenage obsession, but my collection was far from complete. On a whim, and encouraged by my significant other, I went on Ebay only to find that two places in Japan have unloaded TONS of them. So far I have yet to lose an auction, but I doubt the rent will be on time, especially now that I've found someone selling Jackie Chan stuntcrew Tshirts (I have the ORIGINAL from the early 80's!). I'm in trouble to say the least.
In news beyond everything, in a rare NYC appearance the other night, Bradley J. Fox, fresh from his travels to Paris, Capetown and Bucharest, announced that he and his Wife Dee Dee are expecting their first small Cramp. I feel this child will kick much ass and now I must concede my LA digs to this small baby. My request for bunk beds for the forthcoming infant and I was denied. Luckily, Agent/Manager/Lawyer has an extra bedroom just for me. Irene and I are inching closer to bi-costalness, i think...should know more this summer.
F
A few days earlier while planning this, Ash had a smart idea to put us to work in the studio as we are all rarely in the same room at the same time. Based on that, Brandt, as usual, smartly did the homework and had everything ready and waiting for us. This evening would also give Robin the opportunity to hear some of her drum work for the first time ("wait, I played on that?"), and for Ash to review his basslines from 2 weeks ago that we all love ("eh, I'm not feeling it").
Though we all agreed on our love for the new bridge in CREATION PHASE and Brandt, in one his "Ideas that F.J. thinks is stupid when he first hears it but is later proven wrong" told us we would have to write a new outro to the song in a different key because that new bridge ended in a different key. I, of course, was like "that's stupid", but thats what I always say. However, then we got it going. As usual, the mandate of pushing these songs forward is proven to be successful as the new outro is awesome and allowed me to get some cool "F.J. bass" in there. The song BLOWS up at the end. I'm loving it.
For every great moment like that, there's some frustration. On another song, SOLAR, we decided to have Robin re-track her chorus basslines against her new drums. This proved tough. What she originally had was a very simple line that I felt drove the song perfectly, but Ash felt there could be more to it in a "dub" sorta way. After Robin's many attempts, Ash took over for awhile, but he couldn't quite crack it either. I think we all liked where he was going, but it just wasn't getting there. Honestly, I think we should go back to the simplicity of the original bassline, but we have to at least explore every angle before committing. We owe these songs, and each other, that much.
During all this, Kathie-Rose, took what seemed like a million photos. She's very sweet, very cool, but I think was upset to learn that Ash, Robin, and I all hate The Pixies. What was interesting was that after 10 years on and off working together, Ash and I didn't realize that we both hated them. I was convinced he loved them and he thought I loved them. EH! BOTH WRONG. This was a big bonding moment, for Ash, Robin and I. We spent a good half hour RAILING on The Pixies. Enjoy the reunion, Brandt!
Anyway, the evening ended late with Kathie-Rose taking more "band" shots. I think she coulda kept going all night taking pix, but my crew was getting cranky so we called it a night. FULL SUCCESS.
During this, I realized the only thing I miss about the aggression was the comraderie of being in "the band" with my friends. However, after hearing tales about certain mates other bands and the drama and high school kiddie shit that goes on within their unit, I was suddently quite happy to just have a "project" that is evolving into a band that will only have people who WANT to make the best possibly music they can.
Music should be the escape FROM the drama of the everyday, right?
In other news, I have regressed to my 15 year old self once again and I'm suddenly buying rare Jackie Chan movie programmes from Japan. These highly collectable books were my teenage obsession, but my collection was far from complete. On a whim, and encouraged by my significant other, I went on Ebay only to find that two places in Japan have unloaded TONS of them. So far I have yet to lose an auction, but I doubt the rent will be on time, especially now that I've found someone selling Jackie Chan stuntcrew Tshirts (I have the ORIGINAL from the early 80's!). I'm in trouble to say the least.
In news beyond everything, in a rare NYC appearance the other night, Bradley J. Fox, fresh from his travels to Paris, Capetown and Bucharest, announced that he and his Wife Dee Dee are expecting their first small Cramp. I feel this child will kick much ass and now I must concede my LA digs to this small baby. My request for bunk beds for the forthcoming infant and I was denied. Luckily, Agent/Manager/Lawyer has an extra bedroom just for me. Irene and I are inching closer to bi-costalness, i think...should know more this summer.
F