March 2007 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
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vol.4 no.5 march ‘07<br />
your new orleans music and culture alternative<br />
ONE MAN<br />
MACHINE<br />
BLOWS AWAY THE<br />
SOUND EQUATION<br />
ALSO: NEW ORLEANS CRAFT MAFIA<br />
JOSH NEUFELD’S AFTER THE DELUGE<br />
RJD2 I STEPHEN KING’S THE DARK TOWER<br />
www.antigravitymagazine.com<br />
FREE!
PHOTO BY MANTARAY PHOTOGRAPHY
vol.4 no.5 march ‘07<br />
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your table of contents<br />
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AFTER THE DELUGE<br />
N.Y. ARTIST JOSH NEUFELD CHRONICLES THE POST-K<br />
STORIES OF SEVERAL NEW ORLEANIANS_page 12
STAFF<br />
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief:<br />
Leo McGovern<br />
leo@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Associate Editor:<br />
Patrick Strange<br />
patrick@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Senior Writer:<br />
Dan Fox<br />
foxart@earthlink.net<br />
Contributing Writers:<br />
J.D. Alfone<br />
doctorjd@yahoo.com<br />
Henry Alpert<br />
henry@henryalpert.com<br />
Andrew Bizer<br />
andrew@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Noah Bonaparte<br />
noah@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Liz Countryman<br />
liz@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Jenelle Davis<br />
jenelle_davis@yahoo.co.uk<br />
Marty Garner<br />
martygarner@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Lisa Haviland<br />
haves34@hotmail.com<br />
Joseph Larkin<br />
joseph@josephlarkin.com<br />
Dakota M<br />
sil3ntstatic@yahoo.com<br />
Darren O’Brien<br />
darreno@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Jason Songe<br />
jasonsonge@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
J.W. Spitalny<br />
jw@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Mallory Whitfield<br />
mallory@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
We like stuff! Send it to:<br />
131 South Scott St.<br />
New Orleans, La. 70119<br />
ANTIGRAVITY is a free publication<br />
released monthly (around the 1st, like<br />
a gub’ment check) in New Orleans<br />
and Baton Rouge, as well as online.<br />
ANTIGRAVITY is a publication of<br />
ANTIGRAVITY, INC.<br />
RESOURCES:<br />
Homepage:<br />
www.antigravitymagazine.com<br />
MySpace:<br />
www.myspace.com/<br />
antigravitymagazine<br />
FREEFLOATING RAMBLINGS<br />
WORDS FROM YOUR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<br />
To keep with the Saints motif from<br />
the past couple months, here’s<br />
where I am, mentally, with the Black<br />
and Gold: pretty much over the NFC<br />
Championship loss, avidly following the<br />
NFL Combine and paying attention to<br />
every cornerback prospect available while<br />
planning our official NFL Draft ’07 party<br />
(yeah, it’s not until April, but why not get a head start?). Now<br />
that that’s out of the way, let’s get on this issue. On our cover<br />
we have Dan Fox interviewing the guy who can simultaneously<br />
make half a bar crowd throw their hands up in praise while the<br />
other half ponders the wrong turn that got them to the bar<br />
and in front of this giant noisemaking man, One Man Machine.<br />
Yours truly interviews Josh Neufeld, a longtime comics artist<br />
ANTI-NEWS<br />
NEWS AND VIEWS ON AG<br />
NOTABLE UPCOMING SHOWS<br />
4/2: Peeping Tom, House Of Blues<br />
4/4: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Chelsea’s<br />
4/6: Forget Cassettes, Green Space<br />
4/7: TV On The Radio, One Eyed Jacks<br />
4/12: Sebadoh, Spanish Moon<br />
4/17: Adult, The Parish @ House Of Blues<br />
4/20: Brightblack Morning Light, One Eyed Jacks<br />
4/24: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Republic<br />
4/28: Calexico, Fairgrounds Racetrack (Jazzfest)<br />
5/3: Michael Franti & Spearhead, House Of Blues<br />
5/4: Ozomatli, Republic<br />
5/7: Mute Math, House Of Blues<br />
6/1: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, House Of Blues<br />
6/30: The Police, New Orleans Arena<br />
WHY DID LEO SHAVE?<br />
Last month on this page we had a contest in which we gave five choices<br />
and asked you to guess the correct reason E.I.C. Leo McGovern<br />
shaved his infamous beard. The options were: A) He committed a<br />
heinous crime of some sort, is on the run from the law and shaved<br />
to throw off the authorities. B) With no baby on hand, he wanted to<br />
see what a baby’s bottom really felt like. C) A bird had nested in it.<br />
D) While trimming his beard with a pair of electric clippers, he made<br />
the clasic mistake of taking the guard off the clippers to clean up an<br />
area and mistak enly ran the guardless clippers over his cheek, ruining<br />
his entire beard. E) He was preparing for Mardi Gras and didn’t want<br />
King Cake crumbs to build up around his chin. F) He’s not beardless,<br />
the photo is a Photoshopped fake.<br />
Craig Brumfield e-mailed with the correct answer, saying “Answer<br />
D. If that is the case at least it was facial hair and not the mistake I<br />
made while recently cutting my hair and removed the guard.” Craig<br />
will get a nice stack of swag in the mail for his efforts. Also, honorable<br />
mention should go out to Jeffrey of the blog Library Chronicles, as he<br />
guessed the correct answer in a post.<br />
LETTERS TO AG<br />
Every once in a while we do get notes from readers. Here’s one<br />
regarding February’s piece on Quintron and the Ninth Ward <strong>March</strong>ing<br />
Band, from Ann Marie Coviello:<br />
While the idea that the Ninth Ward <strong>March</strong>ing Band is a harbinger of<br />
racial purity in the Ninth Ward seems a little extreme, it’s possible that<br />
the New York Times writer Adam Nossiter may have been reacting<br />
to a whiff of sneering self-congratulations--emanating from so many of<br />
Mr. Quintron’s endeavors—when the band passed him by. Is it just<br />
from Brooklyn, who is working on an online graphic novel<br />
that depicts several New Orleanians’ stories before and after<br />
Katrina (including, in full disclosure, yours truly). Also in this<br />
issue is a feature on the New Orleans Craft Mafia, who recently<br />
returned to duty and is now holding monthly markets at the<br />
Big Top. Our feature review is with Rjd2, whose new album,<br />
Third Hand, doesn’t even come out until the 6th. Boy, are we<br />
on the ball. AG is also presenting a couple of shows this month,<br />
Explosions In The Sky (3/8 @ Republic) and the Walkmen (3/18<br />
@ the Parish), so keep your eyes on our MySpace page, where<br />
you never know when tickets will expose themselves. Keep<br />
your eyes peeled on the AG homepage too, where we have it<br />
on fairly good authority that the date for the next Alternative<br />
Media Expo will be announced soon.<br />
See you out! —Leo McGovern, Publisher<br />
a coincidence that Mr. Quintron used to sport a Hitler mustache<br />
drawn on his top lip with a Sharpie marker? There are core band<br />
members who remain loyal, but there are many out there who have<br />
been bruised by Mr. Quintron’s high-hat treatment of others. In his<br />
perfect world, the Bywater would become a cooler-than-thou contest<br />
of incomprehensible Euro-kitsch and authentic local bounce, minus<br />
the other forms of distressing and distasteful individualism that keep<br />
popping up everywhere in New Orleans. There is no question that the<br />
Ninth Ward <strong>March</strong>ing Band is one of many, many groups that make<br />
a unique contribution to the Carnival season. But for someone who<br />
professes to love this city so dearly, Quintron seems to miss the whole<br />
point of Mardi Gras, not to mention the true meaning of community.<br />
NOTES AND CORRECTIONS<br />
Speaking of our interview with Quintron, we do have a correction<br />
to make. We noted that Lefty Parker is the owner of the Circle<br />
Bar, which he is in fact not. We learned of this evidently popular<br />
misconception after press time, so let us straighten the record by<br />
stating that Lefty is the manager of the Circle Bar.<br />
NEW NEW ORLEANS DESIGN BOOK RELEASED<br />
Following in the steps of Constance, the design book recently released<br />
by Erik Kiesewetter and AG editor Patrick Strange, is Degrees Of<br />
Separation by Samia Saleem. Degrees features graphic designers who<br />
currently live in, are from or connected to New Orleans. The book<br />
is comprised of thirty-three detachable postcards that are based on<br />
those designers’ experiences and reflections on post-Katrina New<br />
Orleans. Degrees was officially released on <strong>March</strong> 1st and the first<br />
hundred people to order online will receive posters by Kiesewetter<br />
and Nessim Higson (iamalwayshungry.com) as well as buttons by<br />
Saleem. To order Degrees or to find out more info, go to www.<br />
degreesnola.com.<br />
STUDIO 60 SEES HIATUS MOVED UP, FUTURE<br />
UNKNOWN<br />
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip seems to be on its last legs. The show<br />
was originally scheduled to go on hiatus beginning <strong>March</strong> 5th, so NBC<br />
could test The Black Donnellys in the prime spot behind Heroes, but as<br />
the network announced that Studio 60 had turned in its lowest ratings<br />
yet it said that it was moving Donnellys up a week to February 26th.<br />
What this means for the future of Studio 60 remains to be seen. The<br />
Matthew Perry-helmed show about a Saturday Night Life-style sketch<br />
comedy show has survived in part because its ratings, while low, is<br />
made up of an affluent demographic that allows the network to still<br />
sell advertising at a high rate. Insiders speculate that if Donnellys pulls a<br />
similar demographic with similar ratings, the network may shelve the<br />
remaining episodes of Studio 60.<br />
04_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
a rose is a rose is...<br />
The crass and provocative ex-lead vocalist for the Sex Pistols and Public Image<br />
Ltd. John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) was encountered at the Swizzle<br />
Stick on the evening of Friday, February 4. Seated at the Loews’ lounge, which<br />
has become fertile feeding grounds for local stalkers as of late, Rotten and a<br />
fellow middle-aged punk/producer conversed in unbridled cockney accents<br />
about their trip to New Orleans and how “incredibly fucked it all is.” It is<br />
believed that Rotten and his associate were in town on business regarding a<br />
band that was playing a local gig; however, details cannot be confirmed since<br />
Rotten “couldn’t recall the band or the venue at which it was playing.” Patrons<br />
report that Rotten’s preferred cocktail for the evening was the Sea Breeze,<br />
a lovely pink boat drink comprised of vodka, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice<br />
and—you guessed it—a carefully placed swizzle stick. As Rotten warmed up<br />
to his fellow admirers, he jovially ordered “Sea Breezes for everyone” and<br />
took liberties with the young but already betrothed local women who “lapped<br />
at his dirty rotten feet.” It is also reported that Rotten would periodically step<br />
outside to smoke what he called “illegal cigarettes” and to press his “quickly<br />
aging punk rock ass” against the bar’s otherwise clean glass window.<br />
Harry Shearer, actor, writer, radio host and champion of the city of New<br />
Orleans, was seen watching the Krewe of Endymion parade on the Napoleon<br />
Ave. neutral ground on Saturday, February 17. Standing with friends and a<br />
woman who appeared to be his wife and singer-songwriter Judith Owen,<br />
Shearer yelled to the floats and battled “angry and obnoxious suburbanites”<br />
for throws. As a part-time resident of New Orleans, Shearer was not immune<br />
to the territorial impulses of the families that surrounded him, “enduring<br />
angry sneers from those who had claimed public property by erecting large<br />
obnoxious LSU tents.” Evidently, Shearer and his fellow parade goers had<br />
enough of the supplanted chair culture, finally fleeing the insanity that assaulted<br />
them every time they accidentally stepped on the corner of someone’s “blue<br />
tarp or plaid comforter.” An eyewitness reports that as Shearer walked<br />
away from the tense domestic mob, he undoubtedly said in his most sinister<br />
Montgomery Burns voice, “Release the hounds.”<br />
James Gandolfini, prolific character actor and notorious boozer, partied<br />
his way into obnoxiousness on the night of Sunday, February 18 at the Krewe<br />
of Bacchus Ball. Reigning as Bacchus XXXIX, Gandolfini was celebrated<br />
all throughout the parade route by throngs of adoring fans, revealing that<br />
America’s fascination with Italian criminality and womanizing truly has no limit.<br />
After the long procession through Uptown, Gandolfini entered the ball riding<br />
“so high on his high horse” that the roof of the Morial Convention Center<br />
nearly knocked the “silly crown off his super-sized noggin.” After settling in<br />
for more drinking and debauchery, it is reported by several trusted stalkers<br />
that the famed fictional crime boss castigated fellow revelers for no apparent<br />
reason and acted as if “playing make-believe for money granted him royal<br />
supremacy.” To be fair, eyewitnesses do report that Gandolfini repeatedly<br />
praised New Orleans for her character and charm and hence proving once<br />
and for all that “our beloved city cannot be faulted for those who come to<br />
steal her spoils.”<br />
Archie Manning, resident football god in the Saints Pantheon and father<br />
to the “Brothers Manning,” was spotted entering a building on the southeast<br />
corner of Washington Ave. and Prytania St. on Monday night, February 19.<br />
No doubt returning from some wild and illicit Lundi Gras merry-making,<br />
Archie and fellow middle-aged cohorts seemed “spooked by the passing<br />
twenty-somethings” dressed in costume and “gripping large bottles of MD<br />
20/20 and Thunderbird.” Briskly ushering his group through the door of the<br />
building, Archie was actually overheard mentioning “Eli and Peyton” and telling<br />
some “funny quip about his dear ole boys.” The stalker writes that Archie’s<br />
companions looked only “slightly amused, probably befuddled about how one<br />
man can dote on his progeny for oh so long.” Lastly, as the eyewitnesses<br />
walked away one tried to congratulate Archie on his Super Bowl champion<br />
caliber semen, but was “matter-of-factly ignored.”<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_05
Mardi Gras snuck up on me this year, as was the case with the majority of people I talked<br />
to over that weekend. It’s only going to be worse next year, since Fat Tuesday falls on<br />
February 5th. Save for a day or two, depending on if it’s a leap year or not, that’s as<br />
early as Mardi Gras can get.<br />
I wasn’t feeling it this year, probably because I attended a joint bachelor party in Monterrey,<br />
Mexico the weekend before. The promoter gave me two beers before I even sat down at<br />
the Mexican wrestling match, and if he was trying to get our group drunk and rowdy, he<br />
sure succeeded. Imagine ten Americans yelling at the wrestlers and pounding the mat, beers<br />
overflowing in their hands. The wrestlers seemed to enjoy and encourage our volume, as I<br />
guess it was our way of affirming and buying into their soap-opera drama. Us pounding the mats<br />
wouldn’t have flown in America. Before any of us could have gotten close to the ring to contest<br />
a dirty move, some security douche would have appeared. Of course, the match was held in<br />
an old basketball gym, so they probably didn’t have money for security. They did have a smoke<br />
machine, though.<br />
Considering the minimal sleep, dark soirees, and power tequila drinking in Mexico, it’s no<br />
surprise I didn’t end up at as many Mardi Gras shows this year as I normally do. That wasn’t the<br />
only reason, though. The concerts didn’t seem special enough. It’s fun to see Rebirth, Dr. John,<br />
and Trombone Shorty, but all they would have been doing is playing Mardi Gras songs. I needed<br />
a short break from all that. I wanted a familiar, safe haven from Mardi Gras, and that’s where the<br />
local venues let me down this year.<br />
I understand that the local funk and brass bands are the big moneymakers during Mardi Gras,<br />
but I wish Superfly or another promoter could have brought in a popular national act for some<br />
preferable rock relief. Mardi Gras time shouldn’t be a regurgitation of the same old local acts.<br />
Where’s Ozomatli, Soulive, Common, Jon Spencer and Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate,<br />
or Busta Rhymes? If the local venues would just take one day out of their schedule to bring in a<br />
large national band, then I think you’d see an even higher demand that they already have for the<br />
established Mardi Gras acts.<br />
A TWILIGHT PURGATORY<br />
The Saturn Bar is open and showing off local music. I went there recently for an awesome show<br />
by The Bad Off and Big Blue Marble. I hadn’t been there in years, but nothing much has changed<br />
except the new performance room. The bar’s still grimy, trashy and cheap, but who would have<br />
it any other way? The place is perfect for bands that can’t expect to draw more than hundredfifty<br />
people. And watching the show from the balcony? Awesome. For a good laugh, check<br />
out this travel article on the bar: chowderheadbazoo.typepad.com/chowderheadbazoo/2005/10/<br />
diveorama_the_s.html<br />
Some cool shows coming up at The Saturn Bar: Happy Talk on <strong>March</strong> 3rd, 00Alex on <strong>March</strong><br />
10th, and Rotary Downs on <strong>March</strong> 17th.<br />
“THAT’S JUST RUDE.”<br />
Lundi Gras night I checked out Morning 40 Federation, who opened for Galactic at Tips.<br />
I thought the crowd would have more of an adverse reaction to Morning 40, but they were<br />
bopping and rocking, just like those by the barricade in front. There was a funny moment,<br />
though, that highlighted the difference between the bands: in between songs, a woman said, a<br />
little too loud, “This isn’t Mardi Gras music.” Vocalist and guitarist Ryan Scully heard it, and said,<br />
“Who said that? This isn’t Mardi Gras music? That’s just rude.”<br />
REVIEWS IN 10 WORDS OR LESS<br />
The Bad Off: Glitter. Axl whistle. Jagger, Tyler. Dark, dramatic. “All this light.”<br />
Little Freddie King: Roadhouse blues. Matching shoes and tie. 66 year-old pimp.<br />
Good Guys: Menacing, somber. headbang-friendly. poppy. Ennio Morricone. Sunglasses at<br />
night.<br />
Jeff Tweedy: “Shushhhhhhh.” “Sir, that’s not going to work. Never, ever.” Engaging, funny.<br />
The Black Rose Band: Interweaving dual guitars. Anthemic. Raw, beer-soaked. Feel-good.<br />
Harahan.<br />
STOP OVERPLAYING, STEWART!<br />
I guess everyone learned something from The Pixies reunion: there’s more of a market out<br />
there for disbanded modern rock bands than you thought. Van Halen, The Police, Rage Against<br />
The Machine, Genesis and Smashing Pumpkins all have tentative tours scheduled for the summer.<br />
I haven’t seen Van Halen before, and I think with David Lee Roth in the mix I’d pony up money.<br />
The Police are scheduled to play at The New Orleans Arena, and I’ve been checking Ticketmaster<br />
every day to make sure tickets haven’t gone on sale, but no word yet. My dad would go see<br />
Genesis, and as for Smashing Pumpkins — Billy Corgan annoys me with all his diary drama, and I<br />
don’t wan to see a second rate version of the band.<br />
Then there’s Rage at Coachella for a one off. I really shouldn’t have sat on my hands for that<br />
one. Coachella is sold out — both three-day and single day passes. I guess I underestimated the<br />
draw of a reunited Rage. I knew people would flock, but who would’ve thought Coachella would<br />
sell out two months before the event? Rage on that polo field is going to be an insane, maybe the<br />
most insane, moment in rock. If Rage comes prepared it should be the most talked about event<br />
for years to come. Now that I’ve done myself in by talking it up, anybody want to sell me a ticket<br />
at face value? Yeah, I didn’t think so.<br />
06_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
the<br />
by patrick<br />
strange<br />
LA to L.A. (For a Short Time…I Think)<br />
Ever since I made the decision to leave New Orleans for an indeterminate<br />
period of time for an indeterminate number of reasons, the reactions I get<br />
from friends and family are as varied as they are unexpected.<br />
Childhood friends have dismissed me with such ease that it yanks my gut<br />
into knots just thinking about it. Co-workers have looked at me with equal<br />
parts resentment and pride, depending on nothing more than how confidently<br />
I can explain to them my plans once I get to where I’m going. Strangers have<br />
wished me luck while gripping my elbows and have hoped for me to find some<br />
definitive answers or at the very least, hoped that I find the time to sort it all<br />
out. And they say these things with the sincerity you’d only expect from good<br />
lovers.<br />
The truth is that when it comes to leaving New Orleans, if only for several<br />
months, people have very definite ideas about if you should or you shouldn’t<br />
go and there’s no telling who’s going to give you grief or wish you happy<br />
returns. I’ve figured out that to many, taking a break from New Orleans sort<br />
of means refusing those you love and people sometimes can’t help but take it<br />
personally. And it kills me.<br />
Sometimes, all you want is someone to say, “I hope this is good for you.” But<br />
I guess it’s not that easy. And in the end, I guess it shouldn’t be.<br />
A dear friend and a man who knows the meaning of loss as Job knew it<br />
once told me that he stays in New Orleans not because he’s necessarily happy<br />
here or he can’t leave for something better, but because he feels he has a<br />
responsibility to the city he loves. As he puts it, “My people need me.” And<br />
that’s it. That’s all it takes. The decision is made and he carries own with a<br />
clear sense of purpose.<br />
I envy him. And I hate myself for not having the resoluteness that seems to<br />
come so easy for him.<br />
I’m an arch victim of mood and I admit that I’ve taught myself not to totally<br />
trust my own feelings, for better or for worse. However, I’m still not so sure<br />
where the boundary lies between loyalty for your city and naiveté about a<br />
given situation. I’m not so sure when work for others starts working against<br />
you in ways that are unhealthy and unrealistic. When does commitment for<br />
one measly specific point of longitude and latitude (granted, it’s a point where<br />
some of the most wonderful, lovely, charmed people eat, sleep and breathe)<br />
become too much? Or does it even matter if it does?<br />
These questions and self-doubts are just the things that make me feel as if<br />
my brain is nothing more than Swiss cheese.<br />
And of course there’s always a flip side: the exhilaration of the moment, the<br />
satisfaction of the struggle, the fulfillment of helping those who need you, the<br />
allure of a damn fine city, but I guess we’ve been through all that before…<br />
I have a confession to make. I’ve been living out of a duffle bag since early<br />
December and the choice has been all mine. I’ve sold or discarded most of<br />
my belongings and I feel good about it….real good. Now, I don’t know if that<br />
makes me crazy or just a spoiled white kid with nothing better to do with<br />
my time or my one-bedroom apartment full of furniture, but if nothing else it<br />
proves that New Orleans gives us something good that has nothing to do with<br />
material possessions or a place to sleep or even a good paying job. I’ve been<br />
happy to just keep holding on.<br />
And it kills me.<br />
I guess what I mean to say is that there are never any answers to this place.<br />
Never any answers about the right thing to do and when to stay or leave or<br />
come back again. Never any answers to this fantastically God-forsaken city<br />
where living/loving it is hard and easy, invigorating and destructive…utterly<br />
natural and completely insane. So, here I go. When I leave for that metallic<br />
monster by the sea it will be with a heavy heart and I’ll try my best to make<br />
the best of it. I’ll do anything I can just to have some reprieve and to try to just<br />
calm down for a little while because I just don’t know what else to do.<br />
I keep telling myself that this isn’t forever. I keep telling myself that this is<br />
just three months at the most and then I’ll be back. But if the past two years<br />
have taught me anything, they have taught me that nothing’s for certain. I have<br />
a sneaky suspicion that there is always something left to lose when there’s<br />
something left to hold on to.<br />
And I guess that’s just what New Orleans does to you.<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_07
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Indie folk from Time Taunts Me (Trekky)<br />
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Post-punk from The Great Escape (Makeshift Music)<br />
Hot 8 Brass Band<br />
Brass as only New Orleans can deliver (from their<br />
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Explosions In The Sky — “Yasmin The Light”<br />
Instrumental post-rock via KVRX<br />
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Wet Confetti — “Donuts And Old People”<br />
Good, Loud rock from Laughing Gasping, (CD Baby<br />
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Klaxons — “Atlantis To Interzone”<br />
New—rave from Myths Of The Near Future<br />
(Polydor)<br />
Pole — “Sylvenstein”<br />
Glitch from Steingarten (~scape)<br />
Visit TWX for these free songs and others not listed here.<br />
TWX does not profit from the information provided on the<br />
blog or from the mpFree column. ANTIGRAVITY is not responsible<br />
for the content on The Witness Exchange. Please<br />
contact the site author if you are one of these artists and wish<br />
to have any links or files removed and your request will be<br />
honored immediately.<br />
Are you an artist with mp3s available on your<br />
web site or another free music service? If so, send<br />
an e-mail with your URL, along with a description<br />
of your sound (press clipping preferred), to:<br />
mpFree@antigravitymagazine.com.<br />
08_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
SOUND ADVICE<br />
ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LEGAL TIPS<br />
BY ANDREW BIZER, ESQ<br />
Dear Andrew,<br />
I’m going to form a band and I just came up with a great band name. I searched the internet and<br />
I don’t think this band name is taken. Should I get the name copyrighted?<br />
Thanks,<br />
Gary G.<br />
Gary,<br />
Band names do not qualify for copyright protection, but they do qualify for trademark<br />
protection. Please allow me to give you a little intellectual property primer: Trademarks<br />
protect source identifications, copyrights protect original literary and artistic expressions,<br />
and patents protect new and useful inventions. You can copyright your songs, trademark<br />
your band’s name, and patent an instrument or musical device you have invented.<br />
A trademark is a word, logo, or design used by a manufacturer to identify its goods<br />
and to distinguish its goods from the goods of others. The U.S. government protects<br />
trademarks to protect consumers from being tricked into buying the wrong product. If<br />
you like Coca-Cola, you look for the red bottle with the word “Coke” on it and the<br />
government ensures that other soda companies cannot put the word “Coke” on their<br />
drinks. The same goes for bands. Bands trademark their names because they want music<br />
fans to distinguish their band from other bands.<br />
Getting back to your original question, yes, I think it would be wise for you to attempt<br />
to register the name of your band. If you plan on investing a lot of time, money, and energy<br />
in promoting your band, and your band’s name, it is important that you protect that<br />
investment. You do not want another band with the same name to come along and confuse<br />
your audience. However, you do not need to register a trademark to have protectable,<br />
exclusive rights in it. By merely performing under your band name, you will automatically<br />
acquire trademark rights in your geographic area of use. However, there are benefits to<br />
Federal trademark registration. If you register your band’s name with the United States<br />
Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), you gain a legal presumption of the ownership<br />
of the name and you gain the exclusive right to use the mark nationwide. Also, if someone<br />
else is using your band’s name, you have the ability to bring an action concerning the mark<br />
in federal court.<br />
The next logical question is how to register a trademark with the USPTO and whether<br />
you need a lawyer to do it. Technically, you don’t need a lawyer to apply for a trademark.<br />
You can apply for a trademark online, at the USPTO’s website. However, the filing fee<br />
is $325.00, and you don’t get your money back if your request is denied. Also, there<br />
are several different classes of trademarks, and you need to apply for the right class.<br />
Therefore, it is wise to hire an experienced trademark attorney (what did you expect me<br />
to say?) to perform a comprehensive search of the USPTO’s records on your behalf. An<br />
experienced trademark attorney knows how to effectively search the USPTO’s records<br />
and more importantly, knows what to look for. Trademark lawyers don’t earn their money<br />
by filling out an application on your behalf, rather we offer assistance before you apply by<br />
performing a thorough trademark search. That way, we can make a reasoned determination<br />
as to whether it makes sense to apply for a particular mark.<br />
Trademark applications are denied when the examining attorney for the USPTO reviews<br />
the application and determines that the proposed trademark is confusingly similar to an<br />
existing trademark. For instance, an application to trademark the band name “the Beetles”<br />
or “Metallica II”, will be denied because those names would cause consumer confusion.<br />
The more unique and fanciful your band name is, the better your shot at getting the<br />
trademark application approved.<br />
Andrew Bizer, Esq. is an attorney admitted to practice in Louisiana and New York. He is currently<br />
an associate at Kanner and Whiteley, L.L.C. He previously served as the Manager of Legal and<br />
Business Affairs at EMI Music Publishing and has worked in the legal department at both Matador<br />
and Universal/Motown Records. When he was an undergrad at Tulane, Andrew Bizer was the<br />
Music Director at WTUL. This column is to be used as a reference tool. The answers given to<br />
these questions are short and are not intended to constitute full and complete legal advice. The<br />
answers given here do not constitute an attorney/client relationship. Mr. Bizer is not your attorney.<br />
But if you want him to be your attorney, feel free to contact him at andrew@bizerlaw.com. Or,<br />
just email him a question and he’ll answer it in next month’s ANTIGRAVITY.<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_09
THE GOODS<br />
WITH<br />
Storyville lives once again in Louisiana. Only it’s not in New Orleans and it’s<br />
nothing like the seedy “recreational” district of yesteryear.<br />
The newest incarnation to bear the Storyville name is a hip boutique just outside<br />
the North Gates of LSU in Baton Rouge. This new shop specializes in t-shirts by<br />
Louisiana-based brands and designers, including local superstars like Metro Three,<br />
Dirty Coast, Ichabod’s and Defend New Orleans. Storyville is also the first local<br />
shop to carry t-shirts from nationally recognized indie clothing label Supermaggie.<br />
Storyville’s motto is “Wear Your Story” and to that end they are making it<br />
possible to truly wear your heart on your sleeve. In addition to the wide selection<br />
of unique shirts by local designers, you can also custom design a t-shirt to fit your<br />
style and mood. Just pick out your design and the American Apparel blank tee of<br />
your choice, and they will print it for you on the spot for only $22. They’ve even<br />
invented some original fonts and graphics all their own, so you can create a totally<br />
one-of-a-kind tee.<br />
I recently made the trek from New Orleans up to Baton Rouge to check out<br />
the shop and I was delighted by what I found there. Located at 236 Chimes Street,<br />
Storyville has taken over the downstairs of a converted home just a few doors<br />
down from Highland Coffees. When you walk in, you will be greeted by one of<br />
eleven Harvey Durham siblings. The store was opened as a labor of love by this<br />
family team, most of whom are either LSU graduates or current students.<br />
The boutique is bright and airy, and it feels more like you walked into a friend’s<br />
house than a stuffy clothing store. Right now one side of the building is set up<br />
for shopping, leaving the other half as a gallery of a few unique t-shirts and art<br />
by some of the featured designers. In the spirit of creating a truly welcoming<br />
environment for college students and other local customers, the gallery side of<br />
Storyville also houses comfy couches, tables and a TV — perfect for hanging out<br />
between classes.<br />
Storyville was created with both the college student and artist in mind. The<br />
store was originally envisioned as both a place where students could hang out and<br />
find a way to express themselves through a personalized t-shirt, and also as an<br />
outlet for up and coming artists and designers from around the state to showcase<br />
their work. Some of the artists currently featured in Storyville are well-established<br />
independent businesses while others are just individuals, including high school and<br />
college students, who are creating what they love in their spare time. The Storyville<br />
team wants to give both groups of artists a place to sell and showcase their work,<br />
side by side. Their hope is that by displaying products from well-established brands<br />
and budding entrepreneurs next to each other, it will help lend credibility to those<br />
designers who are just starting out.<br />
Two of the more established brands in the store are Supermaggie and<br />
Slaughterhead, which are based in Spanish Town and Monroe, respectively. Both<br />
are run by husband and wife teams, and the two companies often collaborate<br />
to create unique handmade wallets, which are silk-screened by Supermaggie and<br />
then stitched together by Slaughterhead. While original t-shirt designs, as well as<br />
handmade felted scarves and flowers from Supermaggie, can be found in shops all<br />
over the country, Storyville is the first boutique here in Louisiana to carry this local<br />
brand. Storyville also stocks vegan-friendly vinyl jumbo wallets from Slaughterhead.<br />
When I was there the store had only one wallet left from their initial stock. It’s<br />
no wonder these wallets are flying off of the shelves, as they are extremely well<br />
made and durable, not to mention super funky and sizable enough to carry all of<br />
the necessities.<br />
If you can’t make it to see Storyville to check out all of the great goods in<br />
person, never fear. They are set to launch their e-commerce site this month. Just<br />
log on to WearYourStory.com and you can purchase tees from any of the featured<br />
designers. Initially the customized t-shirts will only be available at the brick and<br />
mortar store on Chimes Street, but as they expand the website more offerings will<br />
be available for online purchase, including kid’s sizes and custom track jackets.<br />
Business at Storyville has been steadily growing since the store’s grand opening<br />
bash on February 1st. If things really take off, the Storyville siblings have entertained<br />
the idea of expanding the store to include a New Orleans location and possibly<br />
more shops in other college towns. With plenty of clever ideas and more than<br />
enough passion, the new Storyville is a home-grown business that’s bound to<br />
succeed.<br />
10_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
LEARNING THE CRAFT<br />
WITH THE NEW ORLEANS CRAFT MAFIA<br />
The New Orleans Craft Mafia is becoming a creative<br />
force determined to create a welcoming forum for<br />
crafters of all kinds; a force that is committed to the<br />
city its members call home.<br />
Created in June of 2005 and put on hiatus after Katrina,<br />
the New Orleans Craft Mafia culminated its revival in<br />
December 2006 with its postponed launch party and<br />
Christmas craft fair. Founding member Rachelle Matherne,<br />
proprietor of greenKangaroo, was inspired by the original<br />
Craft Mafia which is based out of Austin, Texas. Matherne<br />
places her impetus for beginning the New Orleans chapter<br />
as the “need to support alternative media and things not<br />
always represented in the art world.” This sentiment is<br />
strongly represented in the work and attitudes of all nine<br />
members.<br />
“It has been a godsend,” says Art by Mags designer<br />
Margaret Coble. Coble, a founding member herself, is a<br />
firm believer of there being power in a union. The influence<br />
of Austin’s Craft Mafia got her and the other founding<br />
members thinking about the power of collectives.<br />
“A bunch of women who do this kind of work — each of<br />
them with their own crafty business — banded together to<br />
help each other out…working in a collective is awesome,”<br />
says Coble.<br />
Heather Macfarlane, another founding member, owns<br />
the successful <strong>Magazine</strong> St. shop UP (Unique Products)<br />
along with her artistic collaborator and husband. The<br />
couple has found their experience with the Craft Mafia<br />
extremely rewarding. Coble agrees that it was a minor<br />
miracle that they were able to develop a website, print and<br />
distribute promotional materials,<br />
create a mailing list and then host<br />
a launch party all in the span of a<br />
few months and with half of the<br />
Craft Mafia members residing in<br />
other states.<br />
Being a member of the Craft<br />
Mafia is definitely not an easy<br />
ride, though it is a rewarding<br />
one. Most members don’t have<br />
the luxury of being full-time<br />
crafters and most hold one<br />
or two other jobs as well as<br />
attend college. In addition to its<br />
members’ personal obligations,<br />
the Craft Mafia demands a strong<br />
commitment and assigns each<br />
member a specific job within the<br />
group. Matherne insists that each<br />
member has to pull their own<br />
weight within the organization in<br />
order for it to run smoothly and<br />
effectively, which isn’t an easy<br />
task considering the geographical<br />
constraints faced by the group.<br />
However, this essential support<br />
system allows the members to<br />
utilize their individual talents;<br />
some taking care of publicity<br />
and others advertising or graphic<br />
design. In this way, they are all<br />
able to form an efficient business<br />
and creative support group<br />
while helping each other remain<br />
successful in a difficult market.<br />
Members of the Craft Mafia<br />
have used the group to promote<br />
New Orleans arts and crafts on<br />
a national and international scale<br />
while also helping artists find a<br />
way to continue their creative practices within a troubling<br />
situation. Many New Orleans artists are finding it financially<br />
impossible to return to the city after Katrina, including Allie<br />
Siefel, half of MsPlaced.<br />
“A lot of people in the rest of the country…have no idea<br />
about the struggles that New Orleans is going through,”<br />
Siefel says.<br />
Siefel and the other members understand the importance<br />
of explaining the ongoing situation in New Orleans to<br />
outsiders and find it very important to bring awareness to<br />
New Orleans through their jewelry and crafts. The Mafia is<br />
extremely proud to take on this difficult task.<br />
While perusing the crafts offered by the group, a distinct<br />
theme becomes apparent — the fleur de lis. Each member<br />
has his or her own reasons for creating the signature<br />
symbol of New Orleans. However, most agree that the<br />
out-of-state interest in the icon has been outstanding.<br />
Coble believes that it’s extremely important to make art<br />
and craft objects that have meaning for folks in the post-<br />
Katrina world. For her, the fleur-de-lis offers hope and a<br />
way of connecting to the city while it continues to get back<br />
on its feet.<br />
Part of the Craft Mafia’s community outreach is its<br />
Crescent City Art Market, held every second Sunday of<br />
the month at the Big Top. Here, the members are given<br />
a chance to sell their wares in a positive and enjoyable<br />
environment replete with drinks and a DJ. The Mafia also<br />
encourages other local crafters to apply for a table at one<br />
or all of its events. Not only does the monthly event give<br />
the group exposure, it allows them to search for potential<br />
BY JENELLE DAVIS<br />
new members. They’re always on the lookout and have<br />
added new members by finding unique talent at other<br />
markets.<br />
All the members of the group have far-reaching plans<br />
for work and for assisting with the promotion of crafters<br />
everywhere. One member, Mallory Whitfield, takes<br />
care of her own label, dismantled designs, while running<br />
MissMalaprop.com, an extensive crafters blog.<br />
“I spotlight independent artists and designers from all<br />
over, but I try to especially focus on New Orleans and Gulf<br />
Coast-based artists,” Whitfield says.<br />
Whitfield’s activity doesn’t stop there. She’s also kept<br />
busy with CreativeNOLA, an online group on LiveJournal.<br />
com and several monthly charities that are sponsored by<br />
her blog. Other members teach at local craft stores, work<br />
at galleries and run their own businesses while continuously<br />
looking for ways to expand the craft market.<br />
Matherne beams when she thinks of an “exciting<br />
opportunity” with a major local retailer that the Craft<br />
Mafia has in the works. This opportunity is but one of the<br />
steps that will allow the Craft Mafia members to follow<br />
their dreams of one day becoming full-time crafters.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Back row, from left: Allie (Ms. Placed), Elli (MsPlaced), Rachelle (greenKangaroo), Kelly (Claverie Crafts), Jeannie (Jeremy the Alien Designs), Mags (art by mags!); Middle<br />
Row, from left: Heather (Unique Products), Mallory (dismantled designs), Dawn (Dirty Kitchen); Front Row, from left: Mark (Unique Products)<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_11
AFTER THE DELUGE<br />
A WEBCOMIC TELLS THE STORIES AFTER KATRINA<br />
BY LEO MCGOVERN<br />
Josh Neufeld has become adept at<br />
telling graphic stories of a personal<br />
nature — his comic series The<br />
Vagabonds chronicles his and wife<br />
Sari’s travels around the world, his<br />
artwork frequently tells Harvey<br />
Pekar’s unique slice-of-life stories<br />
in American Splendor, and his 2004<br />
graphic novel A Few Perfect Hours<br />
(and Other Stories From Southeast<br />
Asia & Central Europe) won him a<br />
prestigious grant from the Xeric<br />
Foundation. Neufeld’s latest projects<br />
feature both personal and, for the<br />
first time, communal stories. In early<br />
’06 Neufeld released Katrina Came<br />
Calling, a chapbook-style collection<br />
of prose journal entries written in<br />
late ’05 during a three-week tour<br />
of duty with the Red Cross in Biloxi<br />
and Gulfport, Mississippi. In January<br />
’07 the prologue of Neufeld’s new<br />
sequential art project, New Orleans:<br />
After The Deluge, premiered on<br />
SMITH, an upstart website that<br />
celebrates personal storytelling and,<br />
in 2006, published Shooting War, a<br />
highly acclaimed webcomic about<br />
the war in Iraq. After The Deluge<br />
features several real-life people<br />
affected by Katrina (including AG<br />
editor Leo McGovern), and Neufeld<br />
intends to weave those people’s<br />
stories together in an attempt to<br />
show readers that New Orleans<br />
isn’t a city full of statistics; that the<br />
populace of the Gulf Coast isn’t<br />
simply full of people either with or<br />
without the means and/or desire to<br />
leave, return and rebuild; that our<br />
region, even a year and a half after<br />
Katrina, is brimming with grey area.<br />
ANTIGRAVITY spoke with Neufeld<br />
about the reasons he created A.D.,<br />
what he hopes readers take away<br />
from these stories, and how this<br />
project is different from anything<br />
he’s done before.<br />
12_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative<br />
ANTIGRAVITY: For people who weren’t able<br />
to get hold of your ‘zine, Katrina Came Calling,<br />
tell us a bit about why you chose to enlist in<br />
the Red Cross and where you traveled to.<br />
Josh Neufeld: I volunteered for the Red Cross because I was<br />
absolutely compelled to. The feeling I had was undoubtedly<br />
the closest experience I’ll ever have to a religious calling; in<br />
the aftermath of Katrina I just knew I had to do something<br />
to help. Originally I volunteered at my local (New York<br />
City) chapter, helping evacuees who had made it to New<br />
York with temporary resettlement. Eventually I signed<br />
up for disaster training and deployment to the hurricane<br />
zone. Six weeks after the hurricane I landed in Biloxi, MS,<br />
where I drove around in an Emergency Response Vehicle<br />
for three weeks distributing hot meals to local residents.<br />
AG: How did After The Deluge come about?<br />
JN: I’d long been contemplating doing a comic book<br />
treatment of my experiences in the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile,<br />
SMITH <strong>Magazine</strong> was running a serialized graphic novel<br />
called Shooting War. After that fi nished its run, SMITH’s<br />
Comics Editor Jeff Newelt independently contacted me<br />
about doing their next comic — one about Hurricane<br />
Katrina. The fates were obviously pointing in this direction!<br />
After discussing the project a bit with SMITH editor Larry<br />
Smith, we decided to focus the project on New Orleans<br />
(although it will also touch upon my experiences in<br />
Biloxi).<br />
AG: Why chose real people to use as characters<br />
in A.D., rather than create characters that you<br />
could mold into a dramatic story?<br />
JN: It’s long been my belief as a cartoonist that real people’s<br />
stories are inherently dramatic, and that it’s important to<br />
celebrate real life as much as fantasy/fi ction. (My work as an<br />
illustrator for American Splendor and David Greenberger’s<br />
Duplex Planet Illustrated really cemented those ideas for<br />
me.) With an event as monumental as Hurricane Katrina, I<br />
feel it doubly vital to tell real people’s stories, and remind<br />
readers that the hurricane continues to reverberate in<br />
the lives of millions of folks from that region. And since<br />
SMITH’s motto is “Everyone Has a Story,” that dovetails<br />
perfectly with my goals for the project.<br />
AG: What led you to the people you chose?<br />
JN: From the beginning we felt it important to represent<br />
as wide a range of experiences as possible. We wanted<br />
subjects who covered the gamut: well-off and poor, black<br />
and white, young and old, male and female, those who<br />
evacuated and those who stayed behind, people who lost<br />
everything they owned and those who salvaged almost<br />
everything. The people we ended up choosing came<br />
from multiple sources. Some (like yourself!) presented
themselves early on. Others came via articles, radio<br />
programs, and various personal contacts. We cast a wide<br />
net, did tons of legwork, and, in the end, are taking our<br />
best guess that this mix works — for us, the reader and<br />
the “characters” themselves who make up the mix. It was<br />
only a couple of weeks ago that we “nailed down” all fi ve<br />
main subjects, and got to meet everybody in person on a<br />
short trip down to New Orleans. We felt it was important<br />
to get a sense of people in person, and let people get a<br />
sense of us. The amount of information we took in in<br />
those meetings was truly intense, and we believe will serve<br />
our characters, comic, and readers well.<br />
AG: How close will the comic be to those<br />
people’s actual stories?<br />
JN: I always try to hew as closely as possible to actual events<br />
in my stories. However, there are times when I am forced<br />
to make certain editorial decisions about compressing<br />
events, combining characters, or other relatively minor<br />
details, in order to make a scene work. What’s most<br />
important to me is to remain faithful to the emotional<br />
truth of the events, and to my subjects’ experiences.<br />
AG: How familiar with New Orleans were you<br />
before Katrina?<br />
JN: Well, I had spent about a week there in 2003 visiting<br />
my friend Rob Walker and touring the city. Rob lived in<br />
NOLA for about fi ve years and really loved the city. He<br />
showed my wife and I a great time, talked a lot about the<br />
city’s political and social life, and took us to many offthe-beaten<br />
path destinations. He also wrote a series of<br />
thoughtful essays about the city and the region (which<br />
he eventually published under the title Letters From New<br />
Orleans [Garrett County Press]), which I read avidly. So,<br />
despite my relative lack of expertise about New Orleans, I<br />
felt a great affi nity for the city, which had really imprinted<br />
its character on my psyche. That was in many ways why I<br />
was so horrifi ed by the post-hurricane fl ooding, and was<br />
so motivated to do something — anything — I could do<br />
to help.<br />
AG: A lot of comparisons have been made<br />
between the aftermath of Katrina and 9/11.<br />
You’ve been involved in both. What similarities<br />
and differences do you see?<br />
JN: Hmmm. Without being a resident of the Gulf Coast, it’s<br />
hard for me to make that comparison. Both events were<br />
historical in proportion, and both affected the relevant<br />
urban centers (New York and New Orleans) in profound<br />
ways. But it’s important to remember that 9/11 was the<br />
result of a deliberate attack by a group of terrorists, while<br />
Katrina was the result of a toxic combination of nature and<br />
government neglect and incompetence. Also, as horrifi c as<br />
the attack on the World Trade Center was, the physical<br />
effects were limited to the relatively small area of “Ground<br />
Zero,” while Katrina cut a swatch across thousands and<br />
thousands of square miles. Katrina also directly affected<br />
far more families than 9/11. The burden of infrastructure<br />
recovery and rebuilding is much higher in Louisiana,<br />
Mississippi and the other Gulf Coast states than in New<br />
York. Another major difference between the two events<br />
is the symbolic signifi cance. The attacks of 9/11 were felt<br />
as an attack on our whole country; whereas Katrina laid<br />
bare the realities of decades of poverty, discrimination,<br />
and government corruption within our own country.<br />
AG: How does it feel to be from New York<br />
and tell the stories featured in A.D.? Do you<br />
worry that people might not take it seriously<br />
because you’re an “outsider?”<br />
JN: No, I don’t worry about that — should I? Seriously,<br />
I’m approaching this project in my best journalistic way.<br />
I’m constantly interviewing the subjects, I’ve visited<br />
New Orleans a number of times, done lots of research,<br />
“It’s long been my belief as a<br />
cartoonist that real people’s stories<br />
are inherently dramatic.”<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_13
etc. All the same, as I think I mentioned before, I feel my main<br />
burden is to get to the essence of the story, the emotional/<br />
psychological/spiritual “truth” of it — as opposed to being<br />
obsessed with the literal truth. That said, I am doing my best<br />
to get the basic facts — as well as the details — right.<br />
AG: How does your work on A.D. differ from<br />
The Vagabonds or American Splendor? Is your<br />
preparation different?<br />
JN: A.D. is the first major project I’ve embarked on which<br />
focuses mostly on other people experiences. In my previous<br />
work, I either told my own stories or illustrated Harvey<br />
Pekar’s autobiographical tales. So the burden on A.D. feels<br />
much larger. I really want to “do right” by the stories of the<br />
folks whose tales I’m telling. And given the subject matter,<br />
there’s a lot of extra emotional weight involved. But I’m really<br />
excited to do it: because it will test my limits as a storyteller,<br />
and because it’s such an important story to tell. And, yes the<br />
preparation is quite different from my previous work — from<br />
interviewing folks in-depth about their lives and experiences, to<br />
doing extensive photo research, to weaving multiple storylines<br />
together into (hopefully) one coherent narrative.<br />
AG: What’s the long-term intention with A.D.?<br />
What are the possibilities of a print edition at<br />
some point?<br />
JN: My long-term intention is definitely to publish a book<br />
edition of A.D. For one thing, a graphic novel will reach a whole<br />
other group of readers, and also because I am a die-hard fan of<br />
books and printed materials. There’s nothing that can replicate<br />
the feel of a printed, bound, graphic novel in your hand.<br />
AG: All in all, what do you hope readers glean from<br />
A.D.?<br />
JN: In terms of the form, I’m excited about the platform<br />
that SMITH <strong>Magazine</strong> has built and we’re playing with:<br />
complementing the web-comic with a blog, podcasts, video,<br />
and a rich resource guide. The net sum is something we’ve<br />
been jokingly calling “American Splendor 2.0.” In terms of the<br />
emotional experience of reading A.D., we’ve really just begun,<br />
and even we don’t know how it will end — so in that sense<br />
it’s hard to say. But I’d like to think that New Orleanians<br />
and other Gulf Coast readers touched by the hurricane will<br />
feel that I represented their story well. I also want the book<br />
to reach the eyes and hands of readers all over the country<br />
(and, dare I say, the world), to remind them that the story of<br />
Hurricane Katrina and the city of New Orleans is not over.<br />
The fact is that the eyes of the world were on the region for<br />
a time in the fall of 2005, but as other news events, both large<br />
& small, enter the landscape, people inevitably begin to forget.<br />
For anyone living in New Orleans, the story of Katrina will<br />
play on for generations. That’s a lot of people, and a lot of<br />
lives, in turmoil. My goal is for A.D. to be a document, however<br />
humble, of this period.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
14_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
ONE MAN MACHINE:<br />
DIGITAL SHEPHERD<br />
BY DAN FOX<br />
Sometimes it’s easy to feel like our Scottish junkie friend in Trainspotting,<br />
Mark Renton, who fi nds himself falling behind the sonic curve when<br />
his not-quite-legal girlfriend, Diane, lectures him on the new rules:<br />
You’re not getting any younger, Mark. The world’s changing, music’s<br />
changing, even drugs are changing. You can’t stay in here all day doing a bit<br />
of heroin and Ziggy Pop.” Renton replies, “It’s Iggy Pop.” Diane: “Whatever.<br />
I mean, the guy’s dead anyway.” Renton: “Iggy Pop’s not dead. He toured<br />
last year.” Diane: “The point is, you’ve got to fi nd something new.” While<br />
such a blissfully uninformed diatribe might not lead us all to sell overvalued<br />
rental properties in the UK the way it does Renton, the wake-up call of<br />
the new age is nonetheless upon us. Sound waves are being digitized and<br />
atomized, cosmetically “enhanced,” manipulated and corrected until they<br />
hardly resemble the sweaty stuff that screams from guitar amps and drum<br />
heads or even our own vocal chords. And yet, there is no turning back;<br />
ones and zeroes blanket everything like kudzu. We need a guide, a beacon<br />
in this rapidly expanding universe of sound technology and deconstruction.<br />
We need Bernard Pearce, the One Man Machine, to usher us peacefully into<br />
an era of mutual understanding between man and microchip, to bridge the<br />
divide between dimensions: jazz and punk, Miles Davis and Lightning Bolt, the<br />
trumpet and the effects pedal, even New Orleans, Lafayette, New York, and<br />
the other corners of the nation.<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_15
ANTIGRAVITY: Walk me through your<br />
process for making this first album.<br />
One Man Machine: I bought a bunch of crap, a bunch of<br />
equipment, like a loop station and a mixer, and started<br />
working on songs because I couldn’t put a band together.<br />
Working with the loop station, I was able to create songs<br />
with those loops, have a drum machine and a guitar<br />
going. Really I just wanted to make noise collages. And I<br />
brought them into a studio in Portland (Jackpot!) because<br />
I evacuated [there] after the hurricane. I got my old<br />
friend Jason Robira to come into town from Athens (we<br />
grew up together in Lafayette) and he helped me with<br />
the record there. Some songs came out okay but they<br />
weren’t finished. I took some of those songs to Athens<br />
last October and did another ten days with Jason and<br />
another friend of mine [Jason Trahan] and kind of fleshed<br />
those songs out more and wrote in the studio. A lot of the<br />
lyrics were written on the fly, just trying to be fun because<br />
I have no big ambitions to be a real touring musician.<br />
AG: Why not?<br />
OMM: It’s so crazy. I know, because I’ve owned a club<br />
before and have seen so many bands come and go, bands<br />
that did it forever, like the Poster Children. Like, at one<br />
point they were touring and doing well but just not well<br />
enough. I like to play around Lafayette, go do festivals<br />
here and there, house parties...<br />
AG: But ironically you are good at getting<br />
yourself out there and playing outside of New<br />
Orleans and Lafayette. Do you think you’re<br />
better known outside of Louisiana?<br />
OMM: I don’t know if I’m better known but I played<br />
this festival, Pop Montreal, with Interpol and Beck… and<br />
One Man Machine as part of the festival. It’s the equivalent<br />
of playing Voodoo but the guys at Voodoo — I’m not<br />
even on their radar. But I can send music to Pop Montreal<br />
and they’ll be like “Oh, this is great. You’re from New<br />
Orleans, wow.” I went on a tour in June of ‘04 and played<br />
ten shows in New York, the Knitting Factory [and] shows<br />
in Brooklyn. I think it’s easy for anybody to get out there<br />
and do that shit. I think anybody can book shows... Now<br />
I’m thirty-two and I’ve been doing this for half of my life<br />
and it feels good to just play music. Ten years ago it used<br />
to be like, “Oh God, I want to get on a label; I want to be<br />
in a band and tour and do all that shit.” If that happens,<br />
it’s great. Making a great record, touring the world and<br />
playing festivals, that’s great. But if I play the local bar in<br />
my hometown and have an amazing show, that’s awesome<br />
to me too. I will do it for the rest of my life. Somebody<br />
like Ray Bong... however you feel about Ray Bong, he<br />
loves what he’s doing; he gets a lot out of it.<br />
AG: Equipment and technology are spawning<br />
a lot of one-man bands. Do you find it hard to<br />
“Making a great record, touring the world<br />
and playing festivals, that’s great. But if<br />
I play the local bar in my hometown and<br />
have an amazing show, that’s awesome to<br />
me too.”<br />
stick out at all?<br />
OMM: Well, I’m moving away from the whole thing<br />
now. It started out to be a noise idea and I was going to<br />
have all these drum machines and I did that for a while but<br />
it gets lonely, you know? I don’t think I’m a one-man band<br />
anymore; it’s just not fun.<br />
AG: What gets you in “that place” when you<br />
play live?<br />
OMM: This drummer Endre, he is an amazing drummer.<br />
We never rehearse but because I use loops a lot and the<br />
shit’s so repetitive, it’s easier for him to play along. I like<br />
that; I like repetition. Then you get that kind of hypnotizing<br />
thing going on. John Lee Hooker would play the same riff<br />
again and again and on top of that riff things would change.<br />
That’s what I’ve been working on and am really happy<br />
about... I want to incorporate like forty record players for<br />
a performance. I’m moving away from the idea that I’ve<br />
written songs and now I’m going to perform these songs<br />
live. I am already this artist where I have songs that I’ve<br />
created in the studio or in my bedroom and you can listen<br />
to [them]. And then live I’ll just do whatever I can do live<br />
and it will be totally different from the recorded stuff.<br />
AG: What’s your musical training?<br />
OMM: I took piano lessons for ten years, and then I was<br />
in band in junior high and high school. I learned trumpet<br />
and tuba in elementary school. I enjoyed some of the stuff<br />
because we had a really cool band instructor [in Breaux<br />
Bridge] and we would do a Prince Song or “Doin’ the<br />
Butt;” all this crazy-ass R&B stuff. But my piano teacher<br />
was crazy, out of her mind. She had fifteen cats and every<br />
time you’d get a piece of dust in your eye she’d pray over<br />
it and speak in tongues. When I was a kid I did piano<br />
competitions but it was a drag. I would write crazy songs<br />
when I was a kid, just making noise and I always really<br />
liked it. In Lafayette I started this band Frigg-A-Go-Go and<br />
they had a cult following around New Orleans, Lafayette,<br />
16_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
and Austin. And I always loved crazy rhythms; that always<br />
interested me more than these boring-ass pop songs —<br />
it gets old. That’s why I love Stereolab. Those guys are<br />
pretty amazing.<br />
AG: When you think of someone listening to<br />
your album, what do you envision?<br />
OMM: This new record I think will make people fuckin’<br />
dance. There are some tracks that are straight up dance<br />
songs. As a matter of fact, I was working on some shit in<br />
Athens. The engineer really loved the record and brought<br />
it to his show at the 40 Watt. I happened to be going<br />
through Athens (months after I worked on the record);<br />
he’s playing my rough mix at full volume and I’m in there<br />
like “What?!” and people are dancing and bopping their<br />
heads. But I don’t listen to a lot of pop, like Outkast.<br />
That shit’s psychedelic and out there but I don’t own an<br />
Outkast record. I don’t listen to any Cee-Lo; I listen to<br />
Dischord.<br />
AG: Talk to me about that train song, “New<br />
Orleans to Chicago... Chicago to L.A...”<br />
OMM: It’s kind of about two different women that I was<br />
engaged to, about twelve, thirteen years ago. I took a train<br />
trip to see this fiancée of mine who ended up dumping<br />
me and moving to China and becoming a lesbian! (We’re<br />
still friends.) There’s also this woman who lived in San<br />
Francisco and it’s kind of about her, too. I wrote it in the<br />
studio while I was recording in Athens. That’s basically the<br />
route I had to take to boarding school in Santa Fe, New<br />
Mexico. The only way to get to New Mexico from New<br />
Orleans by train is to go to Chicago first.<br />
AG: Oh man, I thought it was about touring or<br />
something.<br />
OMM: Well, kind of because I actually made that trip<br />
from L.A. to San Francisco last summer with Morning 40<br />
Federation. I was on tour and I got to see my friend who<br />
I hadn’t seen forever, since I first met her. So it’s kind of a<br />
mix-up of experiences I’ve had going out west.<br />
AG: Hey, weren’t you in Wail? What the hell<br />
was that?<br />
OMM: Well, it was Yanni Papadopoulos, the guitar<br />
player from Stinking Lizaveta; Andy Preen, the drummer<br />
from Suplecs; Joe Lally, the bass player from Fugazi and<br />
myself. What happened was, I was setting up shows for<br />
Stinking Lizaveta during Jazz Fest and his band couldn’t<br />
make it. Yanni still wanted to come and I was encouraging<br />
him to just play by himself because he’s really a virtuoso<br />
guitar player and it would be cool for him to do a noise<br />
set. And he has enough fans in New Orleans who would<br />
come out just to see him play... Yanni was the guy who put<br />
the band together. He grew up with Joe [who] had never<br />
played with anyone else but Fugazi. And I’m a big, huge<br />
Fugazi fan and met them back in 1996 when they were<br />
doing one of their last tours. Joe was so nervous; it was<br />
kind of crazy. He was more nervous than I was; I don’t<br />
know, he was almost scared — and I’m not scared to play<br />
music... They were kind of giving me shit the whole time,<br />
they were really nerding out about the shows! I was all<br />
punk rock, having the time of my life, screaming like that<br />
guy in Mangina, just having fun. And these old guys were<br />
really Metallica about it... these little shows at the Hi Ho<br />
Lounge!<br />
AG: When’s the reunion?<br />
OMM: Probably never. Like I said, Joe was so nervous<br />
the whole time and I don’t know if I would do it again. I<br />
love Yanni but to play with him was so... It’s kind of like<br />
playing in a band with your older brother and it’s not so<br />
cool.<br />
AG: What was it like growing up black and<br />
being into punk rock?<br />
OMM: In October I played at the CMJ Music Festival and<br />
I was pretty excited about it. I actually played this Afro-<br />
Punk showcase. This guy, James Spooner from New York,<br />
made this documentary called Afro-Punk: The ‘Rock and Roll<br />
Nigger’ Experience. He grew up in the scene being the only<br />
black kid going to see punk shows. He went around the<br />
country and interviewed other black punks. And I saw<br />
the film for the first time in New York at this club called<br />
the Delancey. It was pretty amazing. I was almost in tears<br />
watching his movie because he interviewed all these kids<br />
who had all the same experiences: “I was the only one. I<br />
was the only one...” You get a hundred different people<br />
saying the same thing.<br />
AG: What were some of those experiences?<br />
OMM: Growing up, I remember being in junior high and<br />
I got in fistfights with other black kids because I didn’t “talk<br />
like a black person was supposed to talk.” Because I used<br />
diction, I got in fistfights. My dad died when I was really<br />
young but he left this great record collection. It had all<br />
this great Miles Davis stuff and all this great John Coltrane<br />
and I was discovering Bitches Brew. There was a lot of<br />
rock energy in that record, or Jimmy Smith, that funk and<br />
rock. Around Lafayette there was no great second line<br />
jazz scene like there is in New Orleans but there was this<br />
rock music that was fresh and original and I started to<br />
discover bands like Fugazi and The Minutemen and all this<br />
amazing, original music. Even the Cure was amazing to me<br />
to because it wasn’t this tired-ass... I never really got into<br />
KISS, you know? So, being black and loving that music was<br />
definitely a challenge. And I had to get in fights about it. I<br />
literally had to beat people’s asses! They would not leave<br />
me alone about that shit... It’s so funny, isn’t it? Race and<br />
music... for some people it’s everything and for me it’s<br />
nothing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
One Man Machine with Mark Bingham<br />
of Piety Street Recording<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_17
ILLUSTRATIONS<br />
18_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
SNAP JUDGMENTS<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Marvel likes to tout The Dark<br />
Tower as a sort of new<br />
Harry Potter—not necessarily<br />
as a book that appeals to<br />
children but as a franchise that<br />
appeals to a wide and built-in<br />
audience, a group of patrons<br />
that will flock to anything new<br />
that has to do with said franchise. The Dark Tower definitely<br />
has that rabid following, but they won’t find anything new<br />
here. While The Gunslinger Born is a good jumping-on point for<br />
readers interested in just seeing what The Dark Tower is about,<br />
existing fans may be disappointed that this first limited series is<br />
but a comic version of Wizard And Glass, the third Dark Tower<br />
novel. Also, don’t be fooled by the logo—Stephen King didn’t<br />
technically write this comic, he simply created a plot treatment,<br />
though he does have final say in what appears in finished<br />
product. Instead, comic veteran Peter David and longtime King<br />
expert and The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance author<br />
Robin Furth script the series. David and Furth do a great job<br />
in recreating the tone and pacing of the Tower novels, and they<br />
easily weave in the words and phrases that are such a large<br />
aspect of the last Gunslinger’s story. Because Born starts early<br />
in Roland Deschain’s life, the reader loses a bit in the setup of<br />
who and what the Gunslingers are. By the time this story is told<br />
in Wizard And Glass, the reader already understands the scope<br />
of the Gunslingers—in a world where technology has long<br />
failed and the earth has returned to a state more like the 18th<br />
century than the 21st, the Gunslingers are a Jedi-like force that<br />
use pistols and an innate ability to scheme in their attempts to<br />
keep peace. Roland’s fighting ability and penchant for violence<br />
are well known by Glass, which makes the love story featured<br />
there and in Born all the more striking. If you’re a regular reader<br />
of comics and already familiar with the artwork of Jae Lee<br />
(Inhumans, The Sentry), the artwork here is everything you’d<br />
expect. If you’re a Dark Tower fan coming to comics perhaps<br />
for the first time, Lee’s artwork is what you’d hope for—clean<br />
and well laid-out, making for an easy-to-follow storytelling<br />
style. All in all, The Gunslinger Born is a solid comic, but the real<br />
excitement will come when new Dark Tower tales roll around.<br />
—Leo McGovern<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This volume, like volume<br />
two, jumps around in time<br />
quite a bit, and while there’s<br />
a lot I like there are a lot of<br />
elements I wasn’t crazy about<br />
either. The sideways-arranged<br />
story of the Druid got annoying<br />
enough that I didn’t read it,<br />
and Grist again teased more of<br />
Jack’s past, but stopped short of providing answers. On the<br />
other hand, the Becky Burdock/Bramble & Son story featuring<br />
vampires, vampire hunters and vampire-worshiping cults was<br />
a whole lot of fun, the Claw’s short-circuiting of a young thief<br />
absolutely hilarious, the Alan Moore-looking mystic Morlan a<br />
lot of fun and the unexpected resolution of the German super<br />
soldier story quite enjoyable as well. Overall, this is a great<br />
read with nice art, although again it’s the kind of thing that<br />
really reads much better in trade paperback. I miss Kane, and<br />
I’d like more answers on the backstory in Jack Staff, but this is<br />
still a really great read. —Randy Lander<br />
With the promise of<br />
weird war tales, I<br />
looked forward to reading<br />
Who Fighter, especially when<br />
I saw that it also included<br />
an adaptation of Heart of<br />
Darkness, the novel on which<br />
the fi lm Apocalypse Now was<br />
based. Not that I have any huge fondness for the novel or<br />
the movie (I haven’t read the former nor seen much of the<br />
latter, although it’s on my list to watch someday), but it<br />
was an interesting idea. As it turns out, while Who Fighter<br />
is plenty readable, it never fully engaged me. Takizawa has<br />
a love for historical detail but at the same time he assumes<br />
his reader already knows the history and, as someone who<br />
doesn’t follow military history, I don’t really know any of it.<br />
The fi rst story is the best, which is about a Japanese pilot<br />
who runs afoul of alien technology, but it never really gets<br />
into truly creepy or mind-blowing territory like I’d hoped,<br />
and instead it plays out more or less along expected lines.<br />
Heart of Darkness is interesting but lacks the edge of madness<br />
that I always picked up from Apocalypse Now, and it makes it<br />
a bit bland. The last story, an eight-pager about tank warfare,<br />
doesn’t really have an impact either. All of these have nice<br />
artwork, particularly the impressively detailed tanks, planes<br />
and other technology of war, but the stories never connect.<br />
—Randy Lander<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
While the fi rst trade<br />
paperback of DMZ<br />
was good, it was uneven.<br />
There are no such troubles<br />
with volume two, which really<br />
takes everything good about<br />
the fi rst volume and raises it<br />
to a new level. On his blog, writer Brian Wood said, “By the<br />
second DMZ arc, I had realized what sort of book I wanted<br />
it to be,” and after reading it, it’s easy to see what he means.<br />
The political machinations and general danger of Matty Roth<br />
and his newfound celebrity journalist role, not to mention<br />
the various factions working at cross purposes and the<br />
constant worry of betrayal, all come through in the “Body<br />
of a Journalist” story. Riccardo Burchielli’s artwork, as always,<br />
is fantastic, bringing the images of a war-torn, third world<br />
version of Manhattan to all-too-vivid life. As a bonus, the<br />
book also includes the “Origin of Zee,” one of my favorite<br />
DMZ stories to date with art by up-and-comer Kristian<br />
Donaldson. It closes out with issue #12, which has Brian<br />
Wood working more in the collage underground format he<br />
used for Channel Zero. While it wasn’t a wholly satisfying<br />
single issue read, it makes a great extra to fi nish out the<br />
trade and packs the whole thing with lots of information<br />
about the world and characters of DMZ. I like the fi rst DMZ<br />
trade, but I love volume two. —Randy Lander<br />
And so ends an era for<br />
Grimjack. Though original<br />
artist Tim Truman had already<br />
moved on, John Ostrander<br />
stuck with John Gaunt for a<br />
little while longer, until the<br />
stories reprinted in this issue,<br />
where he and new artist Tom<br />
Mandrake put him through Hell with another doomed love<br />
and then sent him to his fi nal reward. Or so it would seem. It’s<br />
funny, I bet reading this in single issues was amazing, because<br />
who would have guessed they would do what they did to the<br />
main character? True, the next iteration wasn’t as good as<br />
the original, and in many ways this is the end of the best of<br />
Grimjack, but there’s still plenty of good stuff to come, and this<br />
was a particular high point, taking the grim noir tone of the<br />
series to its logical conclusion. —Randy Lander<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard<br />
both have a history of AIT/<br />
Planet Lar, although most of<br />
my favorite projects from them<br />
have come from Image (Godland,<br />
The Walking Dead, etc.) Rock<br />
Bottom is an interesting story<br />
about a musician (and a bit<br />
of a womanizer) who fi nds<br />
himself turning to stone. The how and why leads him to dig<br />
into his own history and analyze his life, and the same happens<br />
with his best friends, a lawyer and a doctor. It’s an interesting<br />
“real guys” type of story with a science-fi ction element as<br />
its driving focus, and probably the best thing to recommend<br />
about it (besides Adlard’s terrifi c clean-line artwork) is the<br />
excellent writing of human relationships that really makes the<br />
story work. —Randy Lander<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Lucifer was never my favorite<br />
Vertigo series, and by the<br />
end I mostly felt like I was<br />
reading out of completeness<br />
sake. But the final volume really<br />
hits some high notes, especially<br />
with Elaine’s last tale, at once<br />
heartbreaking and uplifting and<br />
human, which is surprising given the godlike scale that the book<br />
always operated on. Carey’s magnum opus, moreso even than<br />
Gaiman’s Sandman from which it sprung, seems like a book that<br />
would reward re-reading all together, and that’s something I’ll<br />
have to do at some point. Even not fully remembering everything<br />
that had gone before, Evensong makes a pretty satisfying ending<br />
for a long-running Vertigo series. It also features some great art,<br />
and finally they get around to reprinting the one-shot Lucifer:<br />
Nirvana with art by Jon J. Muth which was one of my favorite<br />
stories in the book’s run. —Randy Lander<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_19
present a<br />
Double Header<br />
Big Easy v. East Texas Bombers<br />
Tyler. TX<br />
Big Easy v. Green Country Rollergirls<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Tulsa. OK)<br />
<br />
X<br />
20_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
PROJECTIONS <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
The Lives of Others’ upset<br />
victory over Pan’s Labyrinth<br />
for Best Foreign Film honors<br />
on Oscar® night was one of<br />
few surprises at the World’s<br />
Longest Televised Fashion<br />
Show. After all, Pan’s Labyrinth<br />
had already claimed three<br />
statuettes for Art Direction,<br />
Cinematography and Makeup; surely a fourth was a mere<br />
formality. As Chris Berman would say, “That’s why they play<br />
the games.” But the biggest shocker of all is that The Lives<br />
of Others is the better fi lm. Set in the German Democratic<br />
Republic (former East Germany), The Lives of Others centers<br />
on a Stasi (German Secret Police) Captain assigned to spy on<br />
an acclaimed playwright and his actress girlfriend. The task:<br />
gather evidence proving the dramatist is an enemy of the<br />
State. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck delivers<br />
a taught, psychological thriller as Stasi Captain<br />
Gerd Wiesler, brilliantly played by Ulrich Muhe,<br />
becomes increasingly drawn to the artists he<br />
monitors. The nearly colorless palette resonates<br />
the bleakness and paranoia that passes for daily<br />
life under dictatorial rule. The simplest sounds<br />
— a door opening, footsteps on a tile fl oor —<br />
thunder as though heard through a hound’s ears.<br />
Comparisons between Pan’s Labyrinth and The<br />
Lives of Others are inevitable. History has forever<br />
bound them together, for better or worse.<br />
But whereas Pan’s Labyrinth could retreat from<br />
the horrors of war into fantasy, in The Lives of<br />
Others there is no escape. A better companion<br />
piece is Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall. Similar<br />
techniques are used to great effect in both<br />
pictures to educate as well as immerse the viewer<br />
in situations so horrifi c that even the idea behind<br />
them seems unreal, despite clear evidence to the<br />
contrary. Films that fully engage the senses as<br />
they delicately slide from the fi gurative to the<br />
literal, whilst employing historical truths to fall<br />
upon, are as rare as the political atmosphere that<br />
allows them to be created. The Lives of Others is<br />
not to be missed. —J.W. Spitalny<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_21
REVOLUTIONS<br />
<br />
THE OFFICIAL RECORD STORE OF ANTIGRAVITY<br />
MUSIC, DVDS & MORE SINCE 1969<br />
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<br />
RJD2’s third album<br />
marks a departure<br />
from his previous<br />
albums in that singing<br />
replaces sampling and the tone more closely resembles<br />
surf than hip hop, a shift in temperament that can<br />
be traced back to Since We Last Spoke, the sequel to<br />
Deadringer, his debut. The Third Hand strikes a fairly even<br />
balance between quieter, subtle songs and complex, uptempo<br />
offerings reminiscent of RJD2’s early work, with<br />
the experimental nature of his music being one constant.<br />
The retrospective-feeling “You Never Had It So Good”<br />
grooves along into “Have Mercy,” whose layered sounds<br />
invoke synth nostalgia overlaid with the tingling effects<br />
and tempo change-ups that characterize the disc. The<br />
production is smooth — at times, too smooth; toward<br />
the middle of the album, the songs blend almost to the<br />
point of becoming indistinct and older fans may feel<br />
lulled, rather than stimulated. “Sweet Piece” snaps back<br />
to a more diverse soundsphere that is also light and<br />
airy. This stripped-down style constitutes an asset and<br />
a disadvantage, as it requires more of both artist and<br />
audience, but, on balance, it works. —Lisa Haviland<br />
ANTIGRAVITY: The Third Hand is certainly<br />
a departure from the hip hop sound that<br />
characterized Deadringer and, to a lesser<br />
extent, Since We Last Spoke; what prompted<br />
this shift?<br />
RJD2: It’s hard for me to — I can’t say it’s moving away<br />
from hip hop — that’s kind of a grandiose statement, but<br />
I can break that concept down piece by piece. Everything<br />
I’ve done as a solo artist has revolved around making good<br />
songs — clear, precise songs — pop songs, if you will.<br />
With Deadringer, I was making a pop record using samples,<br />
not just beats. With this record, from a conceptual<br />
standpoint, it’s the exact same thing; what’s changed is<br />
how I do that. This album is all live instrumentals, so the<br />
drive has changed.<br />
AG: The Third Hand features some of your<br />
own vocals, as well; how did that come about?<br />
22_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
What sparked your interest in singing?<br />
RJD2: I started doing vocals because I was going to<br />
use them as demos that I was going to get in the hands<br />
of people who could actually sing. In assembling the<br />
album, it sounded weird to go from me singing to<br />
other people singing. It sounded like a compilation<br />
album and I was going for a unifi ed, organic feeling<br />
— to make it sound like an album and not a collection<br />
of songs. Basically, it works much better with just<br />
me singing. I’m sure there’re tons of people on this<br />
earth that could do a much better job singing every<br />
motherfucking song, but I was going for cohesion with<br />
this — and my other — albums.<br />
AG: Do you follow any particular method<br />
in constructing a song, such as building<br />
around a beat, lyric or sample — or does<br />
the technique vary?<br />
RJD2: That’s basically how it exactly happens. At any<br />
given time, I’ll be building drum techniques without<br />
having any strict pattern, except for single hisses or<br />
drum sounds. A lot of times, I’d come up with the riff,<br />
I’d go through the drum programs and see which one<br />
sounded best, and just kind of build on that, writing<br />
the verse and chorus, integrating scratch vocals or<br />
melodies, then redo the set. I’m still coming from a<br />
perspective where the meat of the organic whole<br />
is the harmonic content. I have a very easy time<br />
listening to foreign music. My favorite band right now<br />
is Swedish. Words aren’t the hottest premium to me<br />
— sound, chorus and arrangement are my focus. It’s<br />
not that I don’t care about the words; it’s a question<br />
of emphasis. Bob Dylan would be an example of a<br />
writer — the Beatles, too — where the words are<br />
much more important.<br />
AG: What other musicians have you<br />
been influenced and informed by? And,<br />
broadening the spectrum a bit, has your<br />
work been influenced by other creative<br />
genres, such as film, literature or art?<br />
RJD2: I don’t even know where to start with musicians;<br />
there‘s so many! Since we’ve been talking a little about<br />
writing, I can say that I do get a lot out of literature; I<br />
read a fair amount of Orwell, Jules Verne and science<br />
fi ction. I get a lot out of movies, books and stories<br />
because of the way they unfold and the importance of<br />
time in these works. Books and music both work in a<br />
timeline. Does that make sense?<br />
AG: Yeah, timing strikes me as crucial to<br />
both mediums. It‘s funny that you mention<br />
science fiction because the first time I<br />
listened to “The Horror,” it felt very sci-fi<br />
to me.<br />
RJD2: Yeah, yeah, I can see that. There’s a parallel<br />
between stories and songs for me because a concept<br />
such as foreshadowing or repetition is also always<br />
achievable with sound. The fi rst sixteen bars of the<br />
intro to a song are probably the most important<br />
part because that’s what either attracts or loses the<br />
listener. Timing in a song is critical, basically, as well as<br />
how time is utilized throughout a song.<br />
AG: Looking back, what do you feel are the<br />
strengths and weaknesses of the first two<br />
albums?<br />
RJD2: They’re so special to me — everything I’ve<br />
ever done holds a special place in my heart. Now,<br />
looking back, I tend to critique the audio fi delity of<br />
my previous albums, like “Oh, man, I could do so<br />
much better” because of the things that I’ve learned<br />
since then. “Through the Walls” from Since We Last<br />
Spoke is arguably the least favorite song I’ve ever done<br />
— granted, there are elements I like and the things<br />
that I’ve learned in that process are invaluable, though<br />
there’s the realization that, “Man, I could never do<br />
that again,” because I’ve already done it and am proud<br />
that I did. I am strictly out of samples now.<br />
AG: What motivated you to stop using<br />
samples? I know many legal issues have<br />
arisen around samples…<br />
RJD2: There’s that, the legality issue. There are also<br />
inherent limitations with samples in terms of what can<br />
be achieved. There was a time I was fumbling through<br />
— I didn’t know then what could be done and so<br />
it’s also kind of, “Been there, done that.” I’ve done<br />
it enough that I know how to do it and the whole<br />
process becomes a little less fascinating. The big issues<br />
in music are the things that don’t ever change for me.<br />
The sample is just another tool in my arsenal.<br />
AG: In referencing “big issues in music,”<br />
what specifically comes to mind?<br />
RJD2: Writing songs, creating arrangements. No<br />
matter the form, I still have to make choices on how<br />
to get into the verse, how to get out of the verse,<br />
what the chorus sounds like.<br />
AG: What direction do you see your music<br />
traveling in the future?<br />
RJD2: I don’t have any idea. I’m going to just keep<br />
doing what I do. One thing I’m toying with is separating<br />
acoustic and electronic — doing one album that’s all<br />
electronic and another that’s all acoustic, so that I’m<br />
experimenting with form again.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah<br />
created a buzz in 2005 by<br />
self-releasing their self-titled<br />
debut album via the Internet. By the time David Bowie and<br />
David Byrne reportedly watched the band perform live, Clap<br />
Your Hands had signed with Wichita Recordings (a UK label<br />
whose notable acts have included Bloc Party, Bright Eyes,<br />
and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs). With the release of their second<br />
album Some Loud Thunder, the band delivers a mixed bag. At<br />
their very best, these East Coast rockers are a masterful band<br />
that accomplishes complex sonic dynamics with much subtlety.<br />
At their worst, they delve into lazy faux-Strokes lyricism that<br />
lacks the punch and originality of Brooklyn-based counterparts<br />
TV on the Radio and Interpol (think Thom Yorke without the<br />
neuroses). On “Five Easy Pieces,” a wordplay mantra is uttered<br />
in different pitches while instrumentation in the background<br />
follows basic folk-rock chords that culminate into a distorted<br />
guitar rave-up. On other songs like “Goodbye To the Mother<br />
and The Cover,” an electronic metronome-like rhythm runs<br />
counterpoint to a complex Pink Floyd-like progression.<br />
Unfortunately, tracks like “Some Loud Thunder” and “Emily<br />
Jean Stock” are interchangeable. —JD Alfone<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
W<br />
hile there are certainly<br />
indie parallels one may<br />
draw to the Portland-based<br />
Shins, the group’s sound is<br />
solid and distinctive enough<br />
to transcend the usual comparisons and analogies of that<br />
particular universe. Wincing the Night Away, while working<br />
within a consistent pop-rock framework, is characterized by<br />
diverse songwriting, ranging from the earnest subject matter<br />
and varied pacing of “Sea Legs” to the deep and distant<br />
echoes of “Black Wave.” These musicians are imbued with the<br />
ability to match melody to both tone and lyrical content so<br />
that each song functions as a short story of sorts, with James<br />
Mercer serving as narrator and the music itself refl ecting the<br />
overall journey’s highs and lows via tempo changes and rising<br />
and falling riffs that are complemented by strong supporting<br />
harmonies and effects. Given this structure, it’s no surprise<br />
that the band’s music has been prominently featured in fi lms<br />
— most memorably, Garden State — and television (though<br />
it was put to not-so-good use for that Gap ad). Despite the<br />
album’s whimsical quality, it does not tie up neatly at the end<br />
and instead it remains unraveled and ambivalent; the fi nal line,<br />
“There is a numbness in your heart and it’s growing,” does not<br />
read as dark or self-indulgently emo, however. In keeping with<br />
the rest of the story, the fi nal chapter, “A Comet Appears”<br />
explores the complexity of navigating and negotiating the<br />
universe with bright yet honest brushstrokes and leaves the<br />
door open for future travel. —Lisa Haviland<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The standout moments of<br />
Bloc Party’s 2005 debut,<br />
Silent Alarm — songs like “She’s<br />
Hearing Voices,” “Banquet” and<br />
“Like Eating Glass,” which were<br />
characterized by both melody and energy — seem like very<br />
distant memories after listening to this album, much as Gwen<br />
Stefani’s solo offerings seem to disassociate us altogether from<br />
her work with No Doubt. There is an unfi nished quality to A<br />
Weekend in the City that doesn’t translate as edgy or intimate,<br />
but, well, unfi nished and this quality is perhaps most immediately<br />
obvious in the vocals. In the chorus of “The Prayer,” singer<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_23
Kele Okereke monotones, “I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle<br />
them with my wit,” but any ironic contrast of content and tone<br />
falls short because Okereke simply sounds devoid of energy.<br />
The faux rah rah of “Like drinking poison, like eating glass” is<br />
much more effective in terms of juxtaposition. The music, too,<br />
feels more like background than the proverbial beef, resulting<br />
in an unfocused experience for the listener. In other words,<br />
simultaneous repetition on both the electronic and lyrical fronts<br />
in tracks like “Where is Home?” and “On” make this second<br />
album a double snoozer. There are some interesting effects,<br />
such as the layering of the background vocals on “Kreuzberg,”<br />
but Weekend is regurgitation, rather than innovation — sort of<br />
a watered-down Pet Shop Boys. —Lisa Haviland<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
After several years of putting<br />
their money where their<br />
mouth is with risky touring<br />
fi nanced in large part by themselves and former indie label<br />
Merge Records, …Trail of Dead got their big break in 2001<br />
when major label Interscope signed them. Unlike the majority<br />
of twenty-something bands that fi ll the pages of Alternative<br />
Press as they dispassionately rock out (think the boy band<br />
in the Lindsay Lohan starrer Just My Luck), …Trail of Dead<br />
play like their survival depends on their music. So Divided gives<br />
the listener a fully-blown musical experience in the guise of a<br />
winding concept album, and tracks like “Caught in A Wasted<br />
State of Mind” assert that Keely sings not like he is trying<br />
to connect verses but as though he is singing for his life. On<br />
“Naked Sun,” the band vamps it up by kicking out Jimmy Page/<br />
John Bonham jams. “Life” seamlessly blends out of the prior<br />
song creating a Beatlesque “I Am the Walrus” vibe. The band is<br />
currently promoting their new album while on tour in Europe,<br />
and …Trail of Dead is a living testament, prompting those<br />
voices in the wilderness to never quit. —JD Alfone<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
With a full instrumental<br />
sound, unrepentant<br />
experimentation, and distorted<br />
guitar/vocals popularized by<br />
fellow Philadelphia rockers Bardo Pond, Asteroid #4’s East<br />
Coast roots are undeniable. Nonetheless, in what seems to<br />
be a refreshing trend among other alt bands like Brothers and<br />
Sisters and Pretty Girls Make Graves, the band extensively<br />
utilizes soaring harmonies most commonly attributed to bands<br />
trying to reap the “California” sound. Comparable to West<br />
Coast bands Brian Jonestown Massacre (who are thanked<br />
in the band’s liner notes) and Black Rebel Motorcyle Club,<br />
Asteroid #4 contributes to the psychedelic rock pantheon with<br />
the amazing album An Amazing Dream. Much like those bands’<br />
repertoires, The Asteroid #4 uses overdubbed, haunting<br />
harmonies and sensual cooing that essentially pay homage<br />
to the Beach Boys & Mamas and Papas that are meshed with<br />
lyrics that sometimes betray a dark, jaded and usually cryptic<br />
veneer on songs like “Into the Meadow.” Take, for example,<br />
these lyrics: /Into the meadow, I chased my baby with a rifl e/<br />
Into the meadow, I chased my baby because she hurt me/ In<br />
this writer’s estimation, the lyrics belie a disconnect not to be<br />
taken literally between the lyricist and his lover, a disconnect<br />
that hopefully this album can mend. —JD Alfone<br />
24_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
PREMONITIONS<br />
NEW ORLEANS<br />
The Big Top<br />
1638 Clio St., (504) 569-2700<br />
www.3ringcircusproductions.com<br />
Cafe Brasil<br />
2100 Chartres St., (504) 947-9386<br />
Carrollton Station<br />
8140 Willow St., (504) 865-9190<br />
www.carrolltonstation.com<br />
Checkpoint Charlie’s<br />
501 Esplanade Ave., (504) 947-0979<br />
Chickie Wah Wah<br />
2828 Canal St., (504) 304-4714<br />
www.circlebar.net<br />
Circle Bar<br />
1032 St. Charles Ave., (504) 588-2616<br />
www.circlebar.net<br />
Coach’s Haus<br />
616 N. Solomon<br />
D.B.A.<br />
618 Frenchmen St., (504) 942-373<br />
www.drinkgoodstuff.com/no<br />
Goldmine Saloon<br />
701 Dauphine St., (504) 586-0745<br />
Green Space<br />
2831 Marais<br />
Hot Iron Press<br />
1420 Kentucky<br />
The High Ground<br />
3612 Hessmer Ave., Metairie, (504) 525-0377<br />
www.thehighgroundvenue.com<br />
Hi-Ho Lounge<br />
2239 St. Claude Ave. (504) 723-3113<br />
House Of Blues / The Parish<br />
225 Decatur, (504)310-4999<br />
www.hob.com/neworleans<br />
The Howlin’ Wolf<br />
907 S. Peters, (504) 522-WOLF<br />
www.thehowlinwolf.com<br />
Le Bon Temps Roule<br />
4801 <strong>Magazine</strong> St., (504) 895-8117<br />
Maple Leaf<br />
8316 Oak St., (504) 866-9359<br />
Marlene’s Place<br />
3715 Tchoupitoulas, (504) 897-3415<br />
www.myspace.com/marlenesplace<br />
One Eyed Jacks<br />
615 Toulouse St., (504) 569-8361<br />
www.oneeyedjacks.net<br />
Republic<br />
828 S. Peters St., (504) 528-8282<br />
www.republicnola.com<br />
Sip Wine Market<br />
3119 <strong>Magazine</strong> St., (504) 894-7071<br />
www.sipwinenola.com<br />
Tipitina’s<br />
(Uptown) 501 Napoleon Ave., (504) 895-8477<br />
(Downtown) 233 N. Peters<br />
www.tipitinas.com<br />
BATON ROUGE<br />
Chelsea’s Cafe<br />
2857 Perkins Rd., (225) 387-3679<br />
www.chelseascafe.com<br />
The Darkroom<br />
10450 Florida Blvd., (225) 274-1111<br />
www.darkroombatonrouge.com<br />
North Gate Tavern<br />
136 W. Chimes St.<br />
www.northgatetavern.com<br />
Red Star Bar<br />
222 Laurel St., (225) 346-8454<br />
www.redstarbar.com<br />
Rotolos (All-Ages)<br />
808 Pettit Blvd.<br />
www.myspace.com/rotolosallages<br />
The Spanish Moon<br />
1109 Highland Rd., (225) 383-MOON<br />
www.thespanishmoon.com<br />
The Varsity<br />
3353 Highland Rd., (225)383-7018<br />
www.varsitytheatre.com<br />
Friday, 3/2<br />
Antenna Inn, Fay Wray,<br />
Metronome The City, Howlin’<br />
Wolf<br />
All Time Low, Cute Is What We Aim<br />
For, The Parish @ House Of Blues<br />
No One Goes Home, Run Home Jack,<br />
Ashton, Cities Killed Starlight, South<br />
Of Nowhere, Darkroom, 7pm, $10<br />
Why Are We Building Such A Big<br />
Ship?, Dragon’s Den, 10pm<br />
We’re Only In It For The Honey,<br />
Sustenance, Runoft, Keystone’s, 9pm<br />
Isis, Jesu, Torche, Spanish<br />
Moon, 10pm<br />
Hot Club Of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Mem Shannon & the Membership,<br />
d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Saturday, 3/3<br />
Afroman, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Bonerama, Mid-City Lanes<br />
Landmines, Baby!, Dear Azazel,<br />
Darkroom, 7pm, $10<br />
The Hate Moms, Excuse My French,<br />
Riverboat Jones, Eldon’s House<br />
The Great Belated Portrait Show &<br />
Mail Art Exhibition, Green Space, 7pm,<br />
FREE<br />
I, Octopus, The Brown Stripes,<br />
Rambis, Hi Ho Lounge, 10pm, $3<br />
Guff, Justinbailey, Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
Hip-Hop Throwdown f/ Simple Plan,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Good Enough For Good Times f/<br />
Mercurio & Raines of Galactic, d.b.a.,<br />
11pm, $5<br />
Dearest Azazel, Darkroom, 7pm, $10<br />
Afroman, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pm<br />
Sunday, 3/4<br />
Mista Alien, Worldtalker, Impulss,<br />
Dumo, Young Killa, Dough Boy,<br />
Howlin’ Wolf, 10pm<br />
Fleur de Tease Burlesque, One Eyed<br />
Jacks, 9pm<br />
Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, Dragon’s<br />
Den<br />
Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Doug Trammell, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Monday, 3/5<br />
Ratzinger, Brain Rex, Tchoupacabara,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Maria Taylor, Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
Metal Monday, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Rick Trolsen & Gringo do Choro,<br />
d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Tuesday, 3/6<br />
Sip ‘N’ Spin, ANTIGRAVITY<br />
Edition, Sip Wine Market,<br />
6:30pm<br />
One AM Radio, Silent Cinema,<br />
Blair Gimma, Eldon’s House,<br />
7pm, $5<br />
Diecast, Legion, Sevendust, House Of<br />
Blues<br />
30 Seconds To Mars, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Billy Joel, New Orleans Arena<br />
Drop w/ DJ Proppa Bear, Dragon’s Den<br />
Johnny Vidacovich Duo f/ Robert<br />
Walter, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Wednesday, 3/7<br />
The Lymbyc System, Relay, Spanish<br />
Moon, 10pm<br />
Dancehall Classics w/ DJ T-Roy,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Walter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a.,<br />
10pm<br />
Soul Rebels, The Zoo, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Thursday, 3/8<br />
Charalambides, Green Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, House<br />
Of Blues<br />
Geno Delafose & French Rockin’<br />
Boogie, Mid-City Lanes<br />
Jon McLaughlin, Matt Wertz, The<br />
Parish @ House Of Blues<br />
Explosions In The Sky,<br />
Republic<br />
Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed<br />
Jacks<br />
Friday, 3/9<br />
Glasgow, The City Life, The<br />
Eames Era, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Match Castashadow, Broken Smokes,<br />
Minivan, Big Top, 8pm, $5<br />
Lights Below, Thru It All, Darkroom,<br />
7pm, $10<br />
The Trippin’ Commissioners, White<br />
Colla Crimes, T-Shirt Rebellion, Green<br />
Space, 7pm, $5<br />
The Howlin’ Hex, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Just Chillin’ Birthday Party, Dragon’s<br />
Den<br />
Ingrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Brian Seeger & The Gentilly Groove<br />
Masters, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Throughwhatwas, The Planning Fallacy,<br />
Love and Reverie, This Night Will End,<br />
High Ground, 7pm, $6<br />
Project Color 3, Smiley With A Knife,<br />
Margot, Julie Odell, Tarantula Arms,<br />
10pm, $3<br />
Saturday, 3/10<br />
AllThatFall, Helen Gillet, B.<br />
Killingsworth and T.Smith, McKeown’s<br />
Books, 8pm, FREE<br />
Greg Vendetti, Will Hoge, Howlin’<br />
Wolf<br />
Eric Lindell, The Howling Hex, One<br />
Eyed Jacks<br />
Scouts Honor, Mayhew The Traitor,<br />
Wally Dogger, We Need To Talk, The<br />
Robinsons, Green Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Colour Revolt, Terror Of The Sea,<br />
Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
Below C-Level Presents w/ DJ Skitty,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
John Boutte, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Peelander-Z, The Microshards, One<br />
Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
HR, Tipitina’s, 10pm, $12<br />
Sunday, 3/11<br />
Silence Is Violence, an Anti-<br />
Violence concert, with Hot 8<br />
Brass Band, Free Agents Brass<br />
Band, Glen David Andrews,<br />
John Boutte, Mid-City Lanes<br />
Elvis Perkins, Patrick Watson, The<br />
Parish @ House Of Blues<br />
Lion Of Judah, Jude Fawley, Green<br />
Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Noisefest Fundraiser, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
The Brent Rose Trio, Dragon’s Den<br />
Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Schatzy, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Monday, 3/12<br />
Hopewell, Birds Of Avalon, The<br />
Moaners, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
15 Minutes, Melissa Ferrick, Howlin’<br />
Wolf<br />
Castanets, Audrey Ryan,<br />
Shapes & Sizes, Big Blue<br />
Marble, Green Space<br />
Silversun Pickups, The<br />
Rosebuds, Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
The Broken Bottle Band, Ratty<br />
Scurvics & The Invisible Gambling<br />
Jews, Dragon’s Den<br />
Tuesday, 3/13<br />
Dark Meat, Brainworms,<br />
Heart Attacks, Recovery<br />
Period, Green Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society,<br />
House Of Blues<br />
Kylesa, Stinking Lizavetta, Ghengis<br />
Tron, Child Abuse, One Eyed Jacks,<br />
10pm<br />
Mary Timony, Red Star Bar<br />
Daughters, Pelican, Russian<br />
Circles, Young Widows,<br />
Spanish Moon, 10pm, $12<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_25
Stinking Lizavetta, Kylesa, Ghengis<br />
Tron, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Porsches On The Autobahn, Hooray<br />
For Earth, DJ Proppa Bear, Dragon’s Den<br />
Sip ‘N’ Spin, Sip Wine Market, 6:30pm<br />
Johnny Vidacovich Duo, f/ Mike Dillon,<br />
d.b.a. 10pm<br />
Wednesday, 3/14<br />
Sondre Lerche, Willy Mason,<br />
The Parish @ House Of Blues<br />
Infected, Yellow Belts, Green Space,<br />
7pm, $5<br />
Taylor Hicks, House Of Blues<br />
Magic Markers, Hi Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Deerhunter, 2CV, Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
Zoroaster, Noxagt, Titan, One Eyed<br />
Jacks, 9pm<br />
Dancehall Classics w/ DJ T-Roy,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Walter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a.,<br />
10pm<br />
Fight Amputation, Gunna Vahm,<br />
Arcadius, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pm,<br />
FREE<br />
Zoroaster, Noxagt, Titan, One Eyed<br />
Jacks, 9pm<br />
Thursday, 3/15<br />
Modern Skirts, Ogden Museum Of<br />
Southern Art<br />
The Bombshelter w/ DJ Bomshell<br />
Boogie, Dragon’s Den<br />
Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed<br />
Jacks<br />
Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue,<br />
10pm, $5<br />
Friday, 3/16<br />
Astronautalis, Club Of Sons,<br />
Spanish Moon, 10pm, $10<br />
Eric Lindell, Chelsea’s Café<br />
Rebirth Brass Band, That One Guy,<br />
Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Soilent Green, Goatwhore, One Eyed<br />
Jacks, 9pm<br />
Soul Rebels, N.O.madic Belly Dancers,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Hot Club Of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
New Orleans NightCrawlers Brass<br />
Band, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Saturday, 3/17<br />
VAST, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Diplo, Club Of Sons, Bonde Do<br />
Role, Republic<br />
Aaron Lewis, Sugarmill Room<br />
Jason Isbell (Of Drive-By Truckers),<br />
Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
The Presets, Lo-Fi Fink, One Eyed<br />
Jacks, 9pm<br />
Medicine Women Roots Ensemble,<br />
Dragon’s Den, 7pm<br />
MC Battle w/ Impulss, Dragon’s Den<br />
John Boutte, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
The Iguanas, d.b.a., 11pm, $10<br />
Alabama Thunderpussy, House Of<br />
Blues<br />
Sunday, 3/18<br />
John Digweed, MSTRKRFT,<br />
Ampersand<br />
A Life Once Lost, Norma Jean, The<br />
Chariot, The Handshake, House Of<br />
Blues<br />
ANTIGRAVITY Presents:<br />
The Walkmen, Ferraby<br />
Lionhart, The Broken West,<br />
The Parish @ House Of Blues<br />
The Good, The Bad & The<br />
Queen, Republic<br />
Aa, Pony Pants, Hot Dish, Green<br />
Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Afterhours, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Fat Frog, Dragon’s Den<br />
Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Skip Heller, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Monday, 3/19<br />
STATIC TV PRESENTS:<br />
Panther, The Buttons, Jude<br />
Matthews, Saturn Bar, 10pm,<br />
FREE<br />
Rjd2, Anti MC, Busdriver,<br />
Happy Chichester, The Parish<br />
@ House Of Blues<br />
Cold War Kids, Aqueduct, Delta<br />
Spirit, Tokyo Police Club, Republic<br />
26_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
Sunday, 3/18<br />
ANTIGRAVITY PRESENTS: The<br />
Walkmen, The Broken, Ferraby<br />
Lionheart, The Parish<br />
@ House Of Blues<br />
Over three excellent albums<br />
(ignoring here a recent misstep<br />
of a cover album), the Walkmen have<br />
channeled a feeling between rage and<br />
ennui for young adults who can’t seem<br />
to find their place in the world, except<br />
for maybe on a barstool. With hoarse<br />
vocals and laid-back, jangly guitars that<br />
are equally capable of a punk-rock<br />
attack, the newest release, A Hundred<br />
Miles Off, wanders around Boston and<br />
DC. But it starts off in “Louisiana,” the<br />
lovely and lackadaisical lead-off single<br />
that should go over well here. Three<br />
members have been playing together<br />
since they were Catholic schoolboys in<br />
DC’s the Ignobles, later morphing into<br />
Jonathan Fire*Eater, and somebody’s<br />
somebody’s cousin. So, expect a wellpracticed,<br />
natural performance of band<br />
members who’ve had years to figure<br />
each other out. —Henry Alpert<br />
Hella, The Dirty Projectors, Spanish<br />
Moon, 10pm<br />
The Peculiar Pretzel Men, The Casual<br />
Lust, Dragon’s Den<br />
Jeff & Vida, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Nakatomi Plaza, Kiss Kiss, Paul<br />
Anthony Thibodeaux, Brain Rex, Green<br />
Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Tuesday, 3/20<br />
Six Parts Seven, Apes,<br />
Antelope, Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
Abiku, Mose Giganticus, DJ Proppa<br />
Bear, Dragon’s Den<br />
Sip ‘N’ Spin, Sip Wine Market, 6:30pm<br />
Johnny Vidacovich Duo f/ James<br />
Singleton, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Wednesday, 3/21<br />
Public Enemy, House Of Blues<br />
Antelope, A Living Soundtrack, Phelan,<br />
Green Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Say Hi To Your Mom, Bishop Allen,<br />
+/-, Spanish Moon, 10pm<br />
Dancehall Classics w/ DJ T-Roy,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Walter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a.,<br />
10pm<br />
Wednesday, 3/21<br />
Yip-Yip, Green Milk From The<br />
Planet Orange, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Brian Esser and Jason Temple’s brand<br />
of electronica is something like a mix<br />
between the Buttons, Quintron and Glorybee,<br />
which means it’ll make you want<br />
to dance and simultaneously ram your<br />
head into a wall. If that eclectic and eclectric<br />
combo isn’t enough to pique your<br />
curiosity, Yip-Yip dress up like ninjas<br />
(sometimes wearing all white, sometimes<br />
checkerboard tights) for their performances.<br />
—Leo McGovern<br />
Thursday, 3/22<br />
Copeland, Switchfoot, House Of Blues<br />
The Bombshelter w/ DJ Bomshell<br />
Boogie, Dragon’s Den<br />
Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed<br />
Jacks<br />
Paul Sanchez, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Friday, 3/23<br />
Barisal Guns, Craig Paddock, The<br />
Royal Family, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Blair Gimma CD Release, One<br />
Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Zydepunks, The Juan Prophet<br />
Organization, Dragon’s Den<br />
Ingrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Corey Henry & The Young Fellas,<br />
d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Saturday, 3/24<br />
Whiskey And A Revolver, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
The Public, Blacklist, Rescue Mission,<br />
One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
N.O.I.S.E. (New Orleans Independent<br />
Sound Experience), The Big Top, 4pm<br />
Why Are We Building Such A Big<br />
Ship, Dragon’s Den, 10pm<br />
The Independents, Boogdish, Angry<br />
Banana, Green Space, 7pm, $5<br />
Ralph’s World, House Of Blues<br />
Tab Benoit, Mid-City Lanes<br />
Why Are We Building Such A Big<br />
Ship?, American Gravity, Dragon’s Den<br />
John Boutte, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Anders Osborne, d.b.a., 11pm, $5<br />
Sunday, 3/25<br />
Gov’t Majik, Dragon’s Den<br />
Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Honeydrippers Rhythum & Blues<br />
Band, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Monday, 3/26<br />
The Leah Quinelle All-Stars f/ Happy,<br />
Ed Gray, Circle Bar<br />
AnBerlin, Bayside, Jonezetta, Meg &<br />
Dia, House Of Blues<br />
Metal Mondays, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm<br />
Sista Otis, Chappy, Dragon’s Den<br />
Joe Krown Organ Combo, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Tuesday, 3/27<br />
Drop w/ DJ Proppa Bear, Dragon’s Den<br />
Sip ‘N’ Spin, Sip Wine Market, 6:30pm<br />
Johnny Vidacovich Duo f/ Brian<br />
Coogan, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Wednesday, 3/28<br />
Dancehall Classics w/ DJ T-Roy,<br />
Dragon’s Den<br />
Walter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a.,<br />
10pm<br />
Thursday, 3/29<br />
Corey Smith, The Parish @ House Of<br />
Blues<br />
The Bombshelter w/ DJ Bomshell<br />
Boogie, Dragon’s Den<br />
Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed<br />
Jacks<br />
Palmetto Bug Stompers, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Friday, 3/30<br />
Babes In Toyland (Fashion, art and<br />
music spectacular), Spanish Moon, 9pm,<br />
$8<br />
By The End Of Tonight, Green Space,<br />
7pm, $5<br />
The Fad, Stuck Lucky, Fatter Than<br />
Albert, High Ground, 7pm<br />
Impulss, Psychic Origami, One Eyed<br />
Jacks, 9pm<br />
The Shadow Gallery, Dragon’s Den<br />
Coco Robicheaux, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
COOGS, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Saturday, 3/31<br />
Whiskey And A Revolver, Howlin’<br />
Wolf, 10pm<br />
Pete Yorn, House Of Blues<br />
The Bally Who?, Dragon’s Den<br />
John Boutte, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Juice, d.b.a., 11pm, $5<br />
Sunday, 4/1<br />
Flyleaf, Skillet, House Of Blues<br />
Monday, 4/2<br />
Peeping Tom, House Of Blues<br />
antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_27