Chill weekend. Watched the TEN which was mildly mediocre except when Justin Theroux was onscreen. Been cranking out the Screen Vinyl Image remix which I just finished the first big round of and sent along to B. However, after weeks of being MIA I made it back to B's to throw down some HF. I went with the idea that I would be crooning, but B had other intentions. He wanted me to strap it on...the bass that is...and help him crack the last remaining piece of music to be written, the chorus to what is called Creation Phase. And dammit, what happens when two men strap on their guitars and jam? The magic, my friends. It's a corker. It's New Order's REGRET if Geordie from Killing Joke played guitars on it. Think on that, wanklad. I'm blasting it nonstop and feeling we got it down. We're gonna have to do more with it, but we got the demo parts down and have finally, after years, made this song happen. I'm over the fucking moon. oh it's rock n roll. You have may have heard of it. We do that here in MOGworld.
Then we grabbed Al, took it to PT and ate the real shiz pasta. Venison is the new rock.
Bite me, I gotta go keep it Bourdain now.
F
16.3.08
11.3.08
The Shoegaze Kegger
I'm going to try and get back to this blogging business on a more regular basis, but don't count on it. Shit is crazy and it will get crazier. But that's life and that's why you read my egomaniacal self centered rantings, right Bob?
Anyhow, nephew was here last week, as mentioned, and man I have a lotta fun with this kid. He's just a good boy and very smart and charming. Sorry, I'm bragging, but he's my nephew so screw you.
Friday night we took him to see the new Stephen Chow movie, CJ7. As with all things Stephen Chow, this is highly anticipated, and Cam and I recalled the time when we saw KUNG FU HUSTLE in LA years ago when he was a wee thing. Anyhow, CJ7 is a fucking mess, but it's a lovable mess. The little girl playing Stephen Chow's son (yes that is correct) is a super talented kid. Amazing. Chow picked a great actor for the role. In fact, all the kids in this are awesome, especially the lead bad guy kid. There is some truly funny laugh out loud stuff in this movie. You have to have some balls to play homage to your own movies, though it was more, as some would say here, parody (For the right reasons). But the movie has huge holes in it, often goes off on tangents that never gel, and the biggest crime of all is Stephen Chow is barely in it and when he is, he's not really the Chow we love till the very end. I think he might have made a better movie if he hadn't cast himself as the father, but then, without him in it, the movie doesn't play here. Makes sense? Danny said it best: "I enjoyed it, and there were parts I really liked but that doesn't make it a good movie"
We were in bed by 10 on Friday night right after the movie cause nephew had a 6:40am flight back to Montreal. So, up at 4am and off to LGA. The weather was massively shit and flights to the Canadia were being killed left and right, but we got lucky as that 6:40am flight I was dreading to get to ended up being the only flight to make it through. Now with an unaccompanied minor, the guardian (your hero), has to wait until the flight actually "pushes back" (meaning take off to you citizens), so I was there till after 7 eating freshly made Auntie Annie pretzels and listening to beats. Then I went home and tried to sleep, but that didn't work, so Irene and I, in the screaming angry rain, went to the Bo to have lunch with Carol and Frank who were in town. After we downed our sizzling rice, Irene went to work and took our umbrella with her. Thus, the HOP was put to the test and it came through with flying colours. Soaked on the outside but dry as the Kidd on a Thursday on the inside. But man it fucking sucked out.
I went home, dried the hop for a bit, but then found myself surprising Irene at her store with her phone, which she had forgotten. I felt I was doing a nice noble thing, but again the weather hugged a ball and made this into a long drawn out experience. I think karma will reward me for this, probably with a good Irene home cooked meal later.
I just couldn't get any momentum, and since our evening plans were in the city, B brought his ass my way to work on the latest remix. We spent maybe 8 minutes on the remix and the rest watching Cerati videos. It was just one of those fucking days. His girl couldn't get back to Bklyn so she joined us for a sushi meal. Then she tried again to go to Bklyn while Brandt and I took the train to midtown for a gig...
And there we were, in Hell's Kitchen entering a strange office building literally up the block from my old friend Frank's place. Why were we there? Well, I recently made contact with a cool band called Screen Vinyl Image who I think are from the DC area. Back in the day I would network all the industrial bands at gigs and clubs. Now in the myspace era, if I like someone, I just shoot them a line. Sometimes a band will respond, other times, they won't. But in the last few years, I have met some cool people. Jake from SVI is one of them, and HF will be doing a remix for them. So I was excited to see them play and to meet them for the first time.
We entered a loft filled with adults. Not hipsters. Which was the first positive. Second, it was $20 to get in. What the fuck you ask? Well, it gets you in and then you can drink all you want. Yuengling, no less. from a KEG. Thus, the shoegaze kegger is born. Believe you me, B and I drank more than $40 worth of that. And food. This was kinda classy and unpretentious. The DJ was also fucking awesome. At one point, he played Kasabian's STUNTMAN, so this guy knew his shit. The vibe was good.
Going early paid off as we saw two other bands play who we both felt were awesome. The first one, THE DECEMBER SOUND, was the revelation of the night for me. Brit inspired. Walls of sweeping guitars, electronics, Girl bassist (every band this night had a girl and every band had a couple in it), JAMC rocky MBV stuff. Extremely well done. Tight players. Great vibe. They rocked. CD obtained. If you saw them, you'd get why I liked them. Check it: http://thedecembersound.com/
After that was SOUNDPOOL. Poppier, talented, professional. Well rehearsed. Great visuals. Girl singer. Amazing drummer. Good tunes, great guitar playing. B fucking marked out for them, and he should, they have what it takes. They even release albums in Japan. It was their loft and their release party. CD Obtained. Observe: http://soundpoolmusic.com/
It's interesting, I liked December Sound better live, but on CD Soundpool is produced better. Both are going to be a lot of fun to follow. More on both in the future. Oh my GOD, let me mention now that the guitarists have more foot pedals than a roster of a major record label combined. Ash would fucking FREAK and all those aggression shows where we waited and waited for him and his fucking pedals mean dick compared to the sheer amount of pedals these people have. Dude from Soundpool has two fucking suitcases of pedals. Seriously. However, unlike Ash, they come prepared and with everything working so there are no "OH I KNOW" moments. Ash, take note.
SVI came on and it was like watching a pop version of Suicide. That's a compliment. Jake and his girl really have some good songs. Tons of gear. Again, something Ash would love to see. They only have an Ep and a single (the song CHASER, which we are remixing) so to hear the newer material was very interesting and exciting, because they are taking steps forward. I loved their set and loved meeting them after.
It's so funny, all those years ago, when we had drum machines and later drums with backing tracks, clubs and bands looked at us like we were from another planet. Now it's great to see young bands trying different approaches to music, using technology in a smart and exciting way without forgetting good writing, and coming up with fresh ideas and good songs. It's rare when it happens but it's always great finding something new to like. All Hail the Shoegaze Kegger!
But the night was not over as then it was Hell's Kitchen back to HF HQ area in Brooklyn to go to the bar I only know as "the place we went to for Matt's birthday" where Irene was with her crew celebrating young Nick's birthday. Nick is quality and knows his food like a champ so he is worth bringing it to BK for. And now at this point, I was pretty tipsy, so I kept it real hiding in the corner with Roger, Meggs and B and occasionally popping out to discuss the awesomeness of Jess' infant niece Zoe (aka Zozo). Then we reached the late evening, the bar was closing, we were out of it, and I realized I had been up for 24 hours straight.
Back to the city and passed out till Sunday afternoon. The rest is lazy ass history.
Things are crazy. They are about to get fucking crazier. I'll keep you posted, asshole.
F
Anyhow, nephew was here last week, as mentioned, and man I have a lotta fun with this kid. He's just a good boy and very smart and charming. Sorry, I'm bragging, but he's my nephew so screw you.
Friday night we took him to see the new Stephen Chow movie, CJ7. As with all things Stephen Chow, this is highly anticipated, and Cam and I recalled the time when we saw KUNG FU HUSTLE in LA years ago when he was a wee thing. Anyhow, CJ7 is a fucking mess, but it's a lovable mess. The little girl playing Stephen Chow's son (yes that is correct) is a super talented kid. Amazing. Chow picked a great actor for the role. In fact, all the kids in this are awesome, especially the lead bad guy kid. There is some truly funny laugh out loud stuff in this movie. You have to have some balls to play homage to your own movies, though it was more, as some would say here, parody (For the right reasons). But the movie has huge holes in it, often goes off on tangents that never gel, and the biggest crime of all is Stephen Chow is barely in it and when he is, he's not really the Chow we love till the very end. I think he might have made a better movie if he hadn't cast himself as the father, but then, without him in it, the movie doesn't play here. Makes sense? Danny said it best: "I enjoyed it, and there were parts I really liked but that doesn't make it a good movie"
We were in bed by 10 on Friday night right after the movie cause nephew had a 6:40am flight back to Montreal. So, up at 4am and off to LGA. The weather was massively shit and flights to the Canadia were being killed left and right, but we got lucky as that 6:40am flight I was dreading to get to ended up being the only flight to make it through. Now with an unaccompanied minor, the guardian (your hero), has to wait until the flight actually "pushes back" (meaning take off to you citizens), so I was there till after 7 eating freshly made Auntie Annie pretzels and listening to beats. Then I went home and tried to sleep, but that didn't work, so Irene and I, in the screaming angry rain, went to the Bo to have lunch with Carol and Frank who were in town. After we downed our sizzling rice, Irene went to work and took our umbrella with her. Thus, the HOP was put to the test and it came through with flying colours. Soaked on the outside but dry as the Kidd on a Thursday on the inside. But man it fucking sucked out.
I went home, dried the hop for a bit, but then found myself surprising Irene at her store with her phone, which she had forgotten. I felt I was doing a nice noble thing, but again the weather hugged a ball and made this into a long drawn out experience. I think karma will reward me for this, probably with a good Irene home cooked meal later.
I just couldn't get any momentum, and since our evening plans were in the city, B brought his ass my way to work on the latest remix. We spent maybe 8 minutes on the remix and the rest watching Cerati videos. It was just one of those fucking days. His girl couldn't get back to Bklyn so she joined us for a sushi meal. Then she tried again to go to Bklyn while Brandt and I took the train to midtown for a gig...
And there we were, in Hell's Kitchen entering a strange office building literally up the block from my old friend Frank's place. Why were we there? Well, I recently made contact with a cool band called Screen Vinyl Image who I think are from the DC area. Back in the day I would network all the industrial bands at gigs and clubs. Now in the myspace era, if I like someone, I just shoot them a line. Sometimes a band will respond, other times, they won't. But in the last few years, I have met some cool people. Jake from SVI is one of them, and HF will be doing a remix for them. So I was excited to see them play and to meet them for the first time.
We entered a loft filled with adults. Not hipsters. Which was the first positive. Second, it was $20 to get in. What the fuck you ask? Well, it gets you in and then you can drink all you want. Yuengling, no less. from a KEG. Thus, the shoegaze kegger is born. Believe you me, B and I drank more than $40 worth of that. And food. This was kinda classy and unpretentious. The DJ was also fucking awesome. At one point, he played Kasabian's STUNTMAN, so this guy knew his shit. The vibe was good.
Going early paid off as we saw two other bands play who we both felt were awesome. The first one, THE DECEMBER SOUND, was the revelation of the night for me. Brit inspired. Walls of sweeping guitars, electronics, Girl bassist (every band this night had a girl and every band had a couple in it), JAMC rocky MBV stuff. Extremely well done. Tight players. Great vibe. They rocked. CD obtained. If you saw them, you'd get why I liked them. Check it: http://thedecembersound.com/
After that was SOUNDPOOL. Poppier, talented, professional. Well rehearsed. Great visuals. Girl singer. Amazing drummer. Good tunes, great guitar playing. B fucking marked out for them, and he should, they have what it takes. They even release albums in Japan. It was their loft and their release party. CD Obtained. Observe: http://soundpoolmusic.com/
It's interesting, I liked December Sound better live, but on CD Soundpool is produced better. Both are going to be a lot of fun to follow. More on both in the future. Oh my GOD, let me mention now that the guitarists have more foot pedals than a roster of a major record label combined. Ash would fucking FREAK and all those aggression shows where we waited and waited for him and his fucking pedals mean dick compared to the sheer amount of pedals these people have. Dude from Soundpool has two fucking suitcases of pedals. Seriously. However, unlike Ash, they come prepared and with everything working so there are no "OH I KNOW" moments. Ash, take note.
SVI came on and it was like watching a pop version of Suicide. That's a compliment. Jake and his girl really have some good songs. Tons of gear. Again, something Ash would love to see. They only have an Ep and a single (the song CHASER, which we are remixing) so to hear the newer material was very interesting and exciting, because they are taking steps forward. I loved their set and loved meeting them after.
It's so funny, all those years ago, when we had drum machines and later drums with backing tracks, clubs and bands looked at us like we were from another planet. Now it's great to see young bands trying different approaches to music, using technology in a smart and exciting way without forgetting good writing, and coming up with fresh ideas and good songs. It's rare when it happens but it's always great finding something new to like. All Hail the Shoegaze Kegger!
But the night was not over as then it was Hell's Kitchen back to HF HQ area in Brooklyn to go to the bar I only know as "the place we went to for Matt's birthday" where Irene was with her crew celebrating young Nick's birthday. Nick is quality and knows his food like a champ so he is worth bringing it to BK for. And now at this point, I was pretty tipsy, so I kept it real hiding in the corner with Roger, Meggs and B and occasionally popping out to discuss the awesomeness of Jess' infant niece Zoe (aka Zozo). Then we reached the late evening, the bar was closing, we were out of it, and I realized I had been up for 24 hours straight.
Back to the city and passed out till Sunday afternoon. The rest is lazy ass history.
Things are crazy. They are about to get fucking crazier. I'll keep you posted, asshole.
F
9.3.08
5.3.08
Items
Uncle Duty is on, hence the lack of updates. Quickly.
*B's birthday was fun. I drank starting at 5 in the afternoon and then suddenly was home around 1 or so. I saw Bob at one point. I drank more sake then you will ever see in your life. Kathie was there but she didn't take my picture. There was a rude waiter at Fiore, but the food is good. I learned about expensive ham from the worlds foremost fake straight man. And there was someone's dumbfuck boyfriend who I had to lecture on the finer points of CLASS. B or Al have told me most of what I am telling you now.
*We've been working on music. About to start two remixes that I am very excited about. I did some more singing, but it needs work. We've started some album art and have pulled the talented Mrs. Brown in for that shiz.
*The Oscars, phew, boring as fuck.
*Peka's new album, SUGAR FREE, is my first album of the year candidate. http://www.myspace.com/pekaproject
*We went to Montreal. Driving up and back were the two best trips I have ever had going there. No traffic, just a little border delay, and that was it. It snowed like such a motherfucker. New discovery: Canadian BUTTER. Amazing as fuck. Irene brought like a shitload of it back, even gave some to my moms.
*My nephew is here and he is a constant source of fun and entertainment. He is also hilarious. He and I were in a cab this morning and they have these TV's now. We have an ongoing gimmick where I turn it off and then he turns it on, etc etc. OK, so...They added a new "Zagats" function to the touchscreen. Cam notices...His eyes pop and he says "IMAGINE IF ASH WAS IN THE CAB WITH US RIGHT NOW? JESUS!"
*I am excited for this new Nine Inch Nails. Forget that it's actually pretty good music and wise for someone at his age to stop singing about his Ice Cream. It's about the business, the use of the net, etc. The idea is great and the way he has made it available is super as it covers every kind of fan that is interested. The entire launch has been an exercise in frustration, for them, for the fans, etc. cause they didn't prepare for the sheer volume of people who would come to the site to get it. After 3 days I still couldn't get it. I had to get a copy of a download fan site just to hear the fucking thing, which I don't mind doing, because, I fucking paid for it. Their shit could not handle it. I'm sure this will be worked out next time. However, he sold out of the 2500 copies of the $300 version, so do the math and this fucking can go pay for the bandwidth to do this right next time. This is a good read: http://www.newsweek.com/id/118786
*Danny is back from Argentina. These are his new friends: http://www.myspace.com/skurkaraskilordi
*I'm finally writing a comic book, a manga actually. Just a short story for an anthology based on a well known property. It's been a blast to do and the script has been received well by editors and peers. I am waiting on notes (and contract) now. Once I sign, I'll tell you. Yes, it's small but fun.
*Last night, we went to the Plug Awards. I have no idea what that is, really, so I showed up at the right moment...the second Nick Cave came on. and Jesus Christ, Nick Cave is a possessed man. Possessed with genius, charisma and talent. He was sick awsome, and while it was only 45 min, we got to see him for the first time in like 6 or 7 years in his only US appearance. And for $10 bucks. He did the best version you will ever hear of STAGGER LEE. It was THAT good, the shit your pants open.
OK, i have to put this kid on a plane at 6:45am.....
xoxo
F
*B's birthday was fun. I drank starting at 5 in the afternoon and then suddenly was home around 1 or so. I saw Bob at one point. I drank more sake then you will ever see in your life. Kathie was there but she didn't take my picture. There was a rude waiter at Fiore, but the food is good. I learned about expensive ham from the worlds foremost fake straight man. And there was someone's dumbfuck boyfriend who I had to lecture on the finer points of CLASS. B or Al have told me most of what I am telling you now.
*We've been working on music. About to start two remixes that I am very excited about. I did some more singing, but it needs work. We've started some album art and have pulled the talented Mrs. Brown in for that shiz.
*The Oscars, phew, boring as fuck.
*Peka's new album, SUGAR FREE, is my first album of the year candidate. http://www.myspace.com/pekaproject
*We went to Montreal. Driving up and back were the two best trips I have ever had going there. No traffic, just a little border delay, and that was it. It snowed like such a motherfucker. New discovery: Canadian BUTTER. Amazing as fuck. Irene brought like a shitload of it back, even gave some to my moms.
*My nephew is here and he is a constant source of fun and entertainment. He is also hilarious. He and I were in a cab this morning and they have these TV's now. We have an ongoing gimmick where I turn it off and then he turns it on, etc etc. OK, so...They added a new "Zagats" function to the touchscreen. Cam notices...His eyes pop and he says "IMAGINE IF ASH WAS IN THE CAB WITH US RIGHT NOW? JESUS!"
*I am excited for this new Nine Inch Nails. Forget that it's actually pretty good music and wise for someone at his age to stop singing about his Ice Cream. It's about the business, the use of the net, etc. The idea is great and the way he has made it available is super as it covers every kind of fan that is interested. The entire launch has been an exercise in frustration, for them, for the fans, etc. cause they didn't prepare for the sheer volume of people who would come to the site to get it. After 3 days I still couldn't get it. I had to get a copy of a download fan site just to hear the fucking thing, which I don't mind doing, because, I fucking paid for it. Their shit could not handle it. I'm sure this will be worked out next time. However, he sold out of the 2500 copies of the $300 version, so do the math and this fucking can go pay for the bandwidth to do this right next time. This is a good read: http://www.newsweek.com/id/118786
*Danny is back from Argentina. These are his new friends: http://www.myspace.com/skurkaraskilordi
*I'm finally writing a comic book, a manga actually. Just a short story for an anthology based on a well known property. It's been a blast to do and the script has been received well by editors and peers. I am waiting on notes (and contract) now. Once I sign, I'll tell you. Yes, it's small but fun.
*Last night, we went to the Plug Awards. I have no idea what that is, really, so I showed up at the right moment...the second Nick Cave came on. and Jesus Christ, Nick Cave is a possessed man. Possessed with genius, charisma and talent. He was sick awsome, and while it was only 45 min, we got to see him for the first time in like 6 or 7 years in his only US appearance. And for $10 bucks. He did the best version you will ever hear of STAGGER LEE. It was THAT good, the shit your pants open.
OK, i have to put this kid on a plane at 6:45am.....
xoxo
F