Contradictions in theory

i just spent a whole lot of time this morning telling you/me/everybody that i am NOT famous.  that i don't want to be famous and that i'd probably be okay never knowing what being famous means...and then, 5 minutes ago, i got a myspace message that made me blush...a little.

this, friends, is what i'm talking about.  i'm not gonna stop shouting about what i think and if you, in your heart of hearts, agree with me...cool.  if not, oh well.  i like disagreeing much more than simply getting a "yes" all the time.  my lovely girlfriend karen will advise you that i do, in fact, LOVE CONFLICT AND CONFRONTATION.  anyway, here's the message i got:

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Goes Cube
Date: Mar 31, 2006 3:49 PM

thanks for writing about us on your blog. honestly, i agree with your assessment. the sound was frustrating for us, as well. And i think if we had to do it over again, we'd probably have arranged our set-up a bit different (as in play close together, to physically mix the sound more effectively). but ah well, it was a fun show, and certainly the best bill and most memorable we've had yet.

we've got some fun shows coming up in may and some other cool stuff that we haven't announced yet. hope we did good enough for you last friday that you'll come check us out again (be it live or otherwise).

all the best - and again, thanks for writing about us!
-d
--------------------------------------------------

to see what i said about goes cube (i promise it wasn't that much, really), click me.

okay, i admit...it was kinda nice to have someone write back about something i was talking about.  especially bands that i review a show that i'd seen them out.  it's proof positive that creativity owes a lot to subjectivity.  i'm not saying that artistry is influenced so much by an opinion to change/stay the same/go away, etc., just that it may in fact help the creator in realizing a point-of-view they cannot have: the silent observer.  and the silent observer = that dude jeff.  silent at least until i get home that is.  and for all of this, GOES CUBE, i thank you for listening.

godspeed!

Re-inventing the wheel

okay.  it's time to make some changes around here.  and we're starting with this blog.  maybe it was once cool to see other people (myself included) linking to interesting news stories that we'd read that we wanted you to read.  no more.  i don't care if you read the new york times or the christian science monitor.  shit.  i don't really care if you read nothing but calvin & hobbes collections, et al.  our environment is way to busy worrying about how we look or act to realize that that's not what fucking matters.  i want these things from everyone: to know how they feel, think, speak, wonder, dream, breathe...anything to beat this thing called life from destroying the you you want to be.  maybe it's not supposed to all have a happy ending.   maybe it is.  maybe it's not always fun or exciting (most times, it's even dull and boring).  but it's life.  and i'm not letting anyone off easy.

i am NOT a celebrity.  i'm not famous or infamous or really even known by more than i'd say, 100 people...max.  truth be told, i don't want to be a celebrity either.  now don't get me wrong, i have nothing against being rich or having fancy things, etc., but i don't want to worry about how thin i am or what color my hair is or any shit like that.  who the fuck am i, anyway?  i don't really know.  here's a few things i do know.  celebrity is not a 4-letter word; blog is.  and maybe, subconsciously, i'm lying to you about all of this.  but, how will you know if you don't keep wondering?  this shit is way too important to me that honestly and candidly speaking, i'd actually rather you didn't read it at all.  really.  stop reading.  click back to cnn or gawker or something.  play a crossword.  in the meantime, i'll be here.  writing these things down because i've posted over 100 times, and not 1 of them really has proven to me or YOU of why i am who i am.  and if i don't know the answers...more than likely, neither will you.

i'm not peachy-keen.  sometimes, i like to just feel like shit for no reason.  actually, that's most days.  i think everyone should have a blog/journal/pedestal/notebook.  anything to make people test out what they really want to say.  not what they think of music or books.  what they think of themselves.  so that's what i'm doing here.  i'm going to continue to tell you what i think of you, me, and anyone else i can think of.  because that's what really matters.  you and me, kiddo.  you and me.

godspeed!

From the mind of Cex

TUESDAY 12:38 AM EST

So there's these people, right? They live near you, and you like them, but you don't hang out with them as much as you do with other people in your town. And then somebody is like, "Hey, do you know such-and-such?" And you maybe don't want to say, "Yeah, I'm friends with such-and-such because such-and-such is a pretty popular person and it might be seen as being like bragging or something if you were to tell somebody that you and such-and-such are FRIENDS, when in truth you only see them on your bike on the way to the practice space and maybe haven't hung out with them in a long-ass time or at all. So what are you going to say?

Well, before reading this website you probably would have fumbled around with some bullshit, but check out what you've got in your vocabularic arsenal now, choads:

NEIGHBROS

that's right, NEIGH-BROS.

Me and Marc Miller? Oh yeah, we're NEIGHBROS. Me and Daniel Higgs? Neighbros. Babyleg and I? Oh yeah, total neighbros.

Try it out, it's wicked fun.

his blog is sooooooo fucking amazing.  subscribe to it, fo' sho'!  here it be.

godspeed!

Smells Like Commercialism

get your very own grunge icon kurt cobain "action" figure here.

unfortunately, "action" does NOT include the following:
1. rampant taking of painkillers
2. sex with courtney
3. denying one's iconic status
4. shotgun blasts
5. heroin
6. fighting with axl rose (though i'm sure that's in the works)
7. smoking cigarettes all day
8. smiling ironically at journalists and interviewers
9. "punk"-ing it up with the pacific northwest

i'm not like them, but i can pretend....

godspeed!

-that dude jeff

J-E-L-L-O

can this guy get any fucking cooler?  i mean, the only way that could possibly even come close to happening is if he lasts as long as this guy:

anyways, here's a fiery jello biafra talking about the re-incarnations (or rather, really bad cover bands) of the misfits and dead kennedys.  feel the wrath, embrace the anger, exhale.

03/29/06: No Jello at Fab Mab Show
(You'd Think People Would Know By Now, But...) Here We Go Again
We are getting too many reports of people buying $25 tickets to a so-called "Fab Mab Reunion" concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco thinking it is a Dead Kennedys reunion, therefore Biafra will be there.

Jello responds:
Enough people are confused [that] we need to set the record straight. No, it is not a Dead Kennedys reunion. Yes, I am boycotting the whole scam. These are the same greed-mongers who ran to corporate lawyers and sued me for over six years in a dispute sparked by my not wanting "Holiday in Cambodia" sold into a Levi's commercial. They now pimp Dead Kennedys in the same spirit as Mike Love suing Brian Wilson over and over again, then turning around and playing shows as the Beach Boys. They despise everything our band ever stood for.

"Money Uber Alles" is what all these bands used to stand against. Back in Mabuhay days, no one was more up front about not selling out to Bill Graham than Dead Kennedys and Flipper, especially Will Shatter (RIP). Now Bill Graham Presents has been swallowed and the name is being used as a front for Clear Channel, as nasty a corporate predator as Fox News and Wal-Mart.

It breaks my heart that Dead Kennedys now seems to have the worst reputation of any old punk band trying to cash in on their names, even more than the so-called Misfits. We still get complaints from people who bought tickets to shows expecting Dead Kennedys and getting stuck with the world's greatest karaoke band. Others report someone they know getting ripped off thinking they were seeing me the whole time because no one on stage ever mentioned the singer's name. I guess it's sort of like paying to see Black Sabbath and finding out the singer is Donny Osmond.

So I hope people who go know in advance what they are getting into. As Johnny Rotten said at the Sex Pistols' own miserable Bill Graham experience, "Ever get the feeling you're being cheated?"

godspeed!

-that dude jeff

Party. Be there. Thursday.

godspeed!

-that dude jeff

Refused: Alive is the new dead

okay, for those of you who don't know (and shame on you, you know who you are), refused was a band.  in fact, they looked a lot like this:

anyway, they destroyed themselves almost instantaneously after destroying every fucking crowd they played to.  and now, years after the scars have healed (mostly), a dvd that chronicles their final assault on the senses is finally ready for wide release.  here's a bit from the press release:

refused are dead. they spent their last year in existence touring godforsaken hellholes scattered around the western world. this is their testament.

in 1997, refused wrote and recorded their farewell record, the seminal "the shape of punk to come", hailed by many as an undisputed masterpiece of the genre.

years of intensive touring were finally paying off some and yet within the band there brooded a feeling of bitter fatigue. weary and tired, refused dutifully put on a series of uninspired peformances, grinding what little energy they still possessed down to nothing. when the police officers finally forced their way through the crowd at their very last show with the intention to shut it down, it seemed a fitting end to a story of revolutionary romanticism and merry rebellion.

however, the bandmembers felt liberated as well as conflicted by the intervention, far from the defiant emotions of their audience.

in this undaunted documentary, refused guitarist kristofer steen retraces the steps of how punk rock's brave new sound forged it's way throuch the swamps and swill on their last campaign in europe and america, rushing like mad dogs to meet with their inevitable doom.

view the trailer

if you're not thoroughly convinced that you fucked up by never seeing them live or you don't own any of their recordings, fear not, good citizens.  freedom from purchase is here at last.  one free download for whatever senses are left over from viewing the trailer.

get a taste of the mayhem:

refused - new noise (mp3)

godspeed!

-that dude jeff

March Radness!! by Oh My Rockness!!!

in the inaugural show by our good friends at oh my rockness!, the lineup was almost as impressive as the raw space chosen for the show.  the brooklyn lyceum is a huge, bank-like gutted shell of a building with a basement reminiscent of anything high school about rock and roll.  the smell of fresh, free sparks emanated throughout the building, and dj creature held down the indie rock and avant pop tunes.  after my lovely girlfriend karen and i were there for about thirty-five minutes or so, energy was high and the lights came down.

goes cube opened the night up with a 40 minute set of post-grunge and screamo shouts, but they honestly failed to impress most of the crowd (aside from the one heavy metal dude who popped up every once in a while to bang his head and raise his beer).  i liked the band a lot, the singer had as much energy as the drummer, but the sound mix was awful.  i hoped after their set that the engineers would fix whatever problems they were having.

next up was the big sleep.  i have to admit that when i first sent out invites to all of my friends about this show about a month ago, my co-worker jillian (who, bear in mind, knows a lot of good music, so i'm not ripping on her here) said to me "i love the big sleep".  that movie was amazing.  i didn't bother to explain that it was also a band name, but whatevs.  anyway, the big sleep destroyed.  the 3-piece made enough noise (read: good noise, great sound manipulator and sequencer action) and hammered down an amazingly poppy set of tunes.  synchronization was crucial to the performance, and these three kids had it locked down.  i don't think anyone in the house felt any differently than i did about the set.  way better sound mixing than goes cube, so bravo to the lyceum staff for fixing a potentially horrible experience.

not since going to misshapes a while back did an entourage play very much into my opinions of a band or performer.  but that's exactly what happened with foreign islands.  i bought their self-titled ep a month or so back, and they're one of the only dance-punk acts that can pull it all off.  but the mayhem was inexplicable.  complete with rockstar girlfriends nudging their way up to the front of the crowd for the set...coupled with their own set of photographers (read: pretentious?  maybe), foreign islands scared the shit out of half of the crowd.  the other half was too busy pogo-ing or staring in awe.  microphones were thrown around the area, people were pushed out of the way, and the band itself was so busy running around the floor that i wanted to take bets on which band member would injure himself first.  (un)lucky for all of us, the five guys came out wound-free.

if the other three acts were anything of a disappointment to anyone in the crowd, the detachment kit were anything but.  if foreign islands intimidated someone, the detachment kit ripped his/her fucking head off.  my lovely girlfriend karen was almost driven to tears by the hardcore-ness of it all, but she loved it more than anything.  i have to say that the one thing i noticed more than anything was the other bands so excited to see the kit playing on the same bill that they were on.  their set went on for about 50 minutes, and with only one interruption (thank you lyceum staff for turning the house lights on before the last song), they terrorized both themselves and their equipment.  the lead guitar player came out with a GIANT welt on his forehead from trying to pull off a "krist noveselic-esque" guitar throw into the air.  and come the end of the performance, the drum kit was in complete disarray while a audience member and the band's drummer beat the shit out of the remaining skins.

if you didn't make it out last night, fuck you.  you missed an amazing show from some of the bands that are defining the sounds of rock and roll.  and god forbid any of us pay attention.  something might cause us to do something drastic.  what that is, i just don't know.

godspeed!

Music mag seeks to make reality show that DOESN'T suck ass

Rolling Stone is looking for aspiring amateur journalists to compete for a one-year staff position with the magazine -- while MTV tapes the competition for a new reality series. Working with the magazine's top editors, competitors will hone their writing skills and secure interviews with major musicians, actors, and politicians.

"Throughout our history we have seen the careers of some of the nation's most notable journalists flourish, including Cameron Crowe and the late Hunter S. Thompson," says Rolling Stone founder and publish Jann Wenner. "We're anxious to meet the candidates and welcome them into the Rolling Stone family as they embark on their professional careers."

click to download application

godspeed!

Interesting Village Voice article

for those of you not in the 212, 718, 516, 917 or 646 area codes, you might not have known anything about this subject matter.  for those of you who are in the five boroughs, most of us couldn't deny that this happened.

anyway, here's a little bit from wednesday's article:

Darko says the primary objective of C.H.U.N.K., which currently has 20 members, is to take to the streets with people who love building bikes, and to show others they can live in an urban environment as cyclists. C.H.U.N.K's New York chapter typically rides together once every two weeks, in packs of about eight. Darko says kids sitting on the stoops in Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant hoot and holler as they pass. "There's a real energy from people when they see us ride by," he says.

Businesses hoping to cash in on the cachet of mutant bikes could never grasp the kinship of the clubs, Darko insists. "The essence of any bike group is based on the fact that when you're riding these bikes, because they are made haphazardly, they break down. So we're always stopping and helping each other fix the bikes. That's where the camaraderie comes in." The name "C.H.U.N.K." isn't an acronym but instead a reference to the pieces of tubing, machinery chains, aluminum siding, and other scraps riders weld together. The New York chapter has a work space called the Shack, near the clattering J tracks in Bushwick, where some members also live. "When you're riding a bike and somebody says, 'These bikes are great, can I buy one?' The answer has always been, 'No, but you can make one,'" Darko explained. "And if they're interested, they can come to the Shack and we can build one together."

Darko first learned of the tall-bikes flap at Brooklyn Industries stores from a private listserv dedicated to mutant-bike clubs. He said, "My feeling was, why are there tall bikes in the windows? It is so unnatural to build these bikes for any type of profit." He immediately called Brooklyn Industries' Williamsburg office to inquire about the displays.

now, i'm a fan of groups like this (critical mass, scul, black label bicycle club), and i fucking hate seeing footage on the news of cops throwing kids off bikes and into paddywagons, but i don't side with destruction of property, private or public.  i know that it's not exactly popular to oppose graffitti or anything like that, but i can only think of a few exceptions to my opposition.  one of them is pictured right there.

anyways, read the article, argue with me over the artistic appreciation of graffitti, whatever.  just fucking think about it and let me know.  i'd rather debate it then express my opinion un-fucking-opposed.

think.  speak.  do.

godspeed!

-that dude jeff