July 2010 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
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Monday $1 Schlitz Nite<br />
Tuesday Tikioki (Tiki Drinks & Kareoki)<br />
Wednesday Heidi + Skwirl<br />
Thursday $2 Tecate Nite<br />
Friday Skwirl + Something Fun Nite<br />
Saturday Dance Parties<br />
Sunday Hangover Tavern w/ DJ Pasta<br />
facebook.com/thesaintbar<br />
twitter.com/saintbar<br />
myspace.com/saintbarnola<br />
961 St. Mary, LGD, New Orleans
STAFF<br />
Publisher/Editor in Chief:<br />
Leo McGovern<br />
leo@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Associate Editor:<br />
Dan Fox<br />
fox@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
REVIEWS EDITOR<br />
Erin Hall<br />
erinhall@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Contributing Writers:<br />
Carlton Barzon<br />
carltonbarzon2007@u.northwestern.edu<br />
Michael Bateman<br />
crawstika@gmail.com<br />
Bryan Davis<br />
thebryandavis@gmail.com<br />
Emily Elhaj<br />
alhaajj@gmail.com<br />
Laine Kaplan-Levenson<br />
lainekaplev@gmail.com<br />
Dan Mitchell<br />
danmitchell@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Sara Pic<br />
sara.pic@gmail.com<br />
Mike Rodgers<br />
mike@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Brett Schwaner<br />
brett@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Mallory Whitfield<br />
mallory@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Derek Zimmer<br />
derek@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
FEATURES:<br />
ANTI-News_page 6<br />
Some of the news that’s fit to print.<br />
Quintron & Miss Pussycat Go<br />
On Tour_page 16<br />
Q&P embark upon another adventure.<br />
Eyehategod_page 18<br />
It’s a classic tour with the metal marauders.<br />
COLUMNS:<br />
The Splash Zone_page 10<br />
A look at the month in theatre.<br />
Guidance Counseling_page 11<br />
Maddie Ruthless answers your questions.<br />
The Goods_page 13<br />
This month in fashion.<br />
Slingshots, Anyone_page 14<br />
Derek returns, reinvigorated.<br />
Photo Review_page 28<br />
The month in photos.<br />
REVIEWS (pg. 21):<br />
Albums by Happy Talk Band, Devo, Hank<br />
III, Lovey Dovies and more...<br />
EVENTS (pg. 24)<br />
<strong>July</strong> listings for the NOLA area...<br />
COMICS (pg. 30):<br />
How To Be Happy, K Chronicles and a special<br />
guest strip by Will Frank.<br />
Ad Sales:<br />
ads@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
504-881-7508<br />
Cover design by Dan Fox w/ photos<br />
by Josh Sisk.<br />
We like stuff! Send it to:<br />
4916 Freret St.<br />
New Orleans, La. 70115<br />
Have listings Send them to:<br />
events@antigravitymagazine.com<br />
ANTIGRAVITY is a publication of<br />
ANTIGRAVITY, INC.<br />
Resources:<br />
Homepage:<br />
antigravitymagazine.com<br />
Twitter:<br />
twitter.com/antigravitymag<br />
4<br />
INTRO<br />
Was your last weekend of June anything like mine It started<br />
promising enough with a quiet dinner at the mid-city Mona’s<br />
with the folks, a feast which ended up fueling a real Friday night<br />
rager. My room-and-bandmate, the newly minted “Uptown” Izzy and I hit<br />
up the Local Skank CD Release party at the Blue Nile, and did those ladies<br />
(and one dude) ever deliver. There’s something so basic and fun about what<br />
they do that even the crustiest old cynics should crack a smile watching this<br />
band. I highly recommend tracking down Lewis D’Aubin’s video footage<br />
from that night; it should be on Vimeo. Try “Bummer Pie,” one of my new<br />
favorite songs. A great set by a great band, but we were not satiated. Not yet.<br />
With more whiskey than hope in our hearts, we raced down to the Saturn<br />
Bar hoping to catch a piece of Evil Army, but lo and behold they hadn’t<br />
even started yet! We caught the entire set and Izzy has the cut on his head<br />
to prove it. Probably happened during one of Rob Evil’s dive-bomb solos.<br />
After that we caught the end of Michael Bateman’s Bounce Night at the<br />
Saint, then (finally) headed home where Izzy shoveled Ben & Jerry’s into<br />
his face as we belted out a real doozy version of “Across the Universe” for<br />
the 4 track. Saturday was a much more relaxed affair spent with my dog Chloe at the Riverbend dog beach, taking in a little Juan’s (Jerk nachos<br />
every time!) and revisiting the Wire. David Simon you evil genius! Sunday was Webb’s Bywater Anniversary party, and after playing a quick set<br />
with the Lovey Dovies (an hour after waking up no less!) I melted into the afternoon with everybody else after gorging on Billy Bones’ crawfish, a<br />
great performance by Imagine “the” Band (my favorite part his “cape,” which he insisted was beaded up like a Mardi Gras Indian’s. “Jacque-mo-fina-nay<br />
motherfuckers!”) and finally, an amazing set by Eyehategod, a band I’ve been a huge fan of since I discovered how rotten I like my music. It<br />
was great to see how fresh they sounded even coming off weeks’ of tour and playing in a sweat-soaked, cramped space. All in all, an epic weekend<br />
of family, friends, music, food and even an above-ground pool to soak in late into Sunday night—under a full moon, of all things. One month in and<br />
I can say this summer’s not getting away from me. It’s not escaping a lot of bands, either, who are taking off for far-away lands, a tradition as old<br />
as the power chord itself. When we found out that Quintron & Miss Pussycat and Eyehategod were going on tour at the same time, we had to ask<br />
them to document their travels and damn, did we ever get what we asked for! Feel free to live vicariously through Isabel Theriot’s accounts of the Q<br />
& P tour or truly appreciate your A/C as Gary Mader and Mike IX Williams rehash their travels with EHG through the Midwest. They’ll be playing<br />
together in October—a real clash of civilizations to be sure! We also have tour reports from Maddie Ruthless, Thou, writer Dan Mitchell’s travels to<br />
Tennessee for Bonnaroo; even Derek, our own straight-edge Jedi ninja, took off for the beaches and revolutionaries of South Central L.A. So whether<br />
you’re staying or going, try to enjoy this precious season; if you can’t get in the van, at least make a day for tubing or a bike ride through the city.<br />
Or don’t. Either way, nothing’s gonna change my world. —Dan Fox, Associate Editor
ANTI-NEWS<br />
PAUL COLLINS’ BEAT & A BRIEF<br />
INTRO TO POWER POP<br />
It’s been months<br />
since I learned<br />
that M. Muscle<br />
somehow stumbled<br />
into promoting a Paul<br />
Collins’ BEAT show.<br />
What have I learned<br />
over this long wait A<br />
lot more people than<br />
I would’ve guessed<br />
have no idea who<br />
Paul Collins or his<br />
Beat are! People who<br />
should know better,<br />
too, that have never<br />
sang along to “(I<br />
Wanna Be with a)<br />
Rock ‘n’ Roll Girl”<br />
--- a Mod Dance Party<br />
MVP by the by. How<br />
is the quintessential<br />
L.A. Power Pop<br />
group, championed<br />
by none other than<br />
Thee Eddie Money<br />
in their early days,<br />
unheard of I don’t<br />
know. Maybe just<br />
as few people know<br />
what Power Pop is.<br />
Excuse me if the following tangent is unnecessary:<br />
Greg Shaw of BOMP! fanzine did his best defining the Power Pop sound in early 1978, when Collins was still<br />
playing with The Nerves [another very important band of the New Wave]. It took him 6 pages to make things<br />
crystal clear. In short, it’s the girl-crazy, skinny-tied, angst-ridden, cleaned-up punk kid of early Who/Beatles/<br />
Byrds and the Ramones. “Power Pop” can be used to describe anything from the Raspberries or the Romantics<br />
to punkier bands like The Undertones (“Teenage Kicks”!!!). But, for me, the first records that come to mind are<br />
Flamin’ Groovies’ Shake Some Action, the Nerves’ 7”... and the first Paul Collins’ Beat LP, which lies proudly upon<br />
the tuff’er, hard rockin’ end of the spectrum [i.e.: the kind of Power Pop band that will get laid after a gig]. I kinda<br />
can’t believe that the man behind that album is playing here. He’s even doing a special mini-tour of a whole lotta<br />
Mississippi, plus Memphis and Mobile! Nuts. Get to studying: I went down to check out the local disco show / I<br />
saw all the people dancing on the floor / I wish there was an easier way / to meet the girls of today / And if I had a<br />
chance / This is what’d I say / I wanna be with a rock ‘n’ roll girl / I pick up the phone and get a dial tone / I call<br />
up the number, but nobody is home / But I saw it on my TV / They said there’s someone for me / I wish she would<br />
answer / and give me her name / I wanna be with a rock ‘n’ roll girl / I see them walking, one by one / I hear them<br />
talking, man they are dumb / I wish there was an easier way (hey HEY) / to meet the girls of today / I really wanna<br />
talk / But what can I say / I wanna be with a rock ‘n’ roll girl Repeat. An important note: the first Paul Collins’<br />
Beat album was issued as simply The Beat. They later prefixed their name with P.C. due to the success of the other<br />
[English] Beat. Ya know, “Mirror in the Bathroom” THIS IS NOT THAT! Go skank somewhere’s else. —Michael<br />
Bateman<br />
Paul Collins’ Beat will be playing at One Eyed Jack’s on <strong>July</strong> 24th. Opening are King Louie’s Missing<br />
Monuments and closing the show will be Quintron & Miss Pussycat. Find out more at paulcollinsbeat.com.<br />
TRAVEL GUIDE:<br />
A LOOK AT CHICAGO’S<br />
PITCHFORK FESTIVAL<br />
We are now in the thick of things with respect to summer, and as I mentioned<br />
in last month’s issue, on the musical front, summer means it is time for<br />
festivals. With dozens of festivals across the country over the course of these dog<br />
days, you may find it difficult to choose which ones are truly the ones to attend,<br />
based on musical lineups, the atmosphere of the events themselves and the costs<br />
associated. To me, the lineups are really the selling point of the festivals. And when<br />
Pavement announced last fall that they were planning on reuniting and playing<br />
shows throughout <strong>2010</strong>, including a multitude of both domestic and international<br />
festivals, I made a promise to myself that I would do everything in my power to<br />
find my way to one of these shows to see them live for the first time. Not only do I<br />
consider Pavement to be the quintessential American band of the 90s, the decade<br />
I grew up in as a child and then as a young teenager, but they are also one of my<br />
favorite bands of all time, regardless of time-period or genre. So, when I learned<br />
that I was to have the opportunity to attend the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago<br />
to report for ANTIGRAVITY, I became ecstatic, for the headlining band on the<br />
final night was slated to be none other than Pavement.<br />
There are hundreds of music media outlets in this country, whether they are<br />
blogs, websites, magazines, fanzines or radio broadcasts, and they all serve<br />
different purposes with respect their reach and their goals. While this publication<br />
aims its sights primarily on local New Orleans happenings and events (and does<br />
a damn good job to boot), others focus on the broader national and international<br />
musical sphere without giving specific mind to any city in particular. Pitchfork<br />
Media falls into the latter group, and is not only one of the more influential daily<br />
media sources, but also seems to cause more shit talking and hatred than any other<br />
outlet I can think of. Many people feel the writers are pretentious tastemakers and<br />
concern themselves with only the next up-and-coming group or artists, the hipster<br />
mentality so to speak, without paying mind to the past. People who feel these things<br />
about Pitchfork, in my mind, are fairly closed-minded and obviously do not read<br />
the site or their interviews, with artists new and old. While they lack good coverage<br />
in certain areas of music, metal and punk come to mind, the aim of this outlet<br />
is to be as informative as possible, with respect to music, and highlight what, in<br />
their mind, is relevant to both their readers and to the general musical psyche.<br />
Aside from providing the public with free, daily, year-round musical factoids and<br />
coverage, Pitchfork also knows how to through a festival. This year is no exception.<br />
Marking the fifth-year anniversary of the festival, held each year in <strong>July</strong> in<br />
Chicago’s Union Park, the festival is one of the better American music festivals<br />
of <strong>2010</strong>, boasting a diverse line-up of both new acts and older revered ones.<br />
The headliners, Modest Mouse on Friday, LCD Soundsystem on Saturday and<br />
Pavement on Sunday, add up to be the best grouping of artists the festival has<br />
ever featured, with the daytime sets leading up to the headliners absolutely packed<br />
with acts worth seeing as well. Over the course of the weekend, fans will enjoy<br />
sets from respected, loved and established groups and artists such as Broken<br />
Social Scene, Liars, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Panda Bear, Raekwon,<br />
Lightning Bolt, Big Boi and Wolf Parade. And of course there are the newer<br />
groups present as well, like Bear in Heaven, the Smith Westerns, Girls, Titus<br />
Andronicus, Sleigh Bells, Surfer Blood, Neon Indian and Major Lazer, just<br />
to name a few, that are sure tear it up during their allotted set times. This year’s<br />
Pitchfork Music Festival, set in beautiful summertime Chicago, amidst crowds of<br />
approximately 50,000 strong, is sure to be a weekend well worth experiencing, to<br />
say the least. —Dan Mitchell<br />
6
JUST FILLING SPACE: LIGHTNING BOLT<br />
to-the-wall and exerting ever last ounce of effort for the sake of<br />
their performance.<br />
So, get ready New Orleans, because Lightning Bolt will be<br />
playing at their seemingly ideal venue in town, the Zeitgeist, in<br />
ANTI-NEWS<br />
Lightning Bolt, since their inception over fifteen years<br />
ago, has made a journey of pushing the limits within the<br />
constraints of performing in a two-piece rock group. Whether it<br />
be sound decibel barriers or musical structures, this duo, made<br />
up of Brian Chippendale and Brian<br />
Gibson, has never stopped at anything<br />
less than what they deem acceptable,<br />
rarely concerning themselves with<br />
outside opinion or advice. Their live<br />
shows are the stuff of legend and<br />
rightfully so, since their on the floor,<br />
in-your-face approach connects them<br />
directly with the audience in a way<br />
that few bands have ever attempted<br />
before, and in a way concerned with<br />
“making the whole scenario good. And<br />
that’s exciting,” explains Chippendale<br />
on their DVD The Power of Salad,<br />
speaking in reference to the power and<br />
intention of their live performance. The<br />
reason for the excitement is because the<br />
‘making the scenario good’ has very<br />
little to do with turnout or feedback, but<br />
rather the excitement concerns itself<br />
with a sharing, on a common ground,<br />
of a possibly unknown or untapped<br />
understanding of what shared musical<br />
experience can be. It does not matter if<br />
they play in a club, at a house party in<br />
rural Texas or on John Peel’s doorstep<br />
waking Steve Albini up with their<br />
racket; they never shy from going ballsonly<br />
a matter of days. When I mean ideal venue, I refer to the<br />
large space of the place and the openness that it offers to a band<br />
like Lightning Bolt. When Chippendale spoke about “filling up<br />
space,” as quoted above, he was referring to his drumming and<br />
drawing style and I think this idea he offered<br />
years ago to elucidate his method works as<br />
a perfectly telling way to think of the band<br />
in general. Wherever they find themselves,<br />
Lightning Bolt immediately goes to work<br />
with their sound to fill the space with as<br />
much energy and excitement as they can<br />
possibly muster. Couple this with the vigor<br />
and verve of those in attendance, and you<br />
have one of the most densely packed fronts<br />
of animation imaginable. With too much<br />
existing in the world to be disillusioned and<br />
pissed off by these days, at least we have<br />
people like Chippendale and Gibson, guys<br />
who are working for us and with us, with<br />
a goal of “making the scenario good.” We<br />
need more of this ‘good’ in general, but I<br />
think that of all major cities in this country,<br />
New Orleans understands the importance<br />
of shared celebration and merriment in a<br />
communal setting better than any other.<br />
It’s good for the soul, so to speak. This is<br />
the New Orleans show of the summer,<br />
in my opinion, so come one, come all, let<br />
Lightning Bolt lead you into the ether, let<br />
them fill your head and soul-space with<br />
music, and let them blow your eardrums and<br />
minds while they are at it. —Dan Mitchell<br />
7
ANTI-NEWS<br />
THOU / MOLOCH WEST COAST<br />
TOUR <strong>2010</strong>: A HIGHLIGHT REEL<br />
For the past seventeen or eighteen days I’ve been traversing the country with my band Thou and our pals<br />
Moloch from the U.K. More harrowing insanity has transpired in that time than can fit in the space that the<br />
ANTIGRAVITY overlords have allowed me. Thus, I give you a meager sampling of our time on the road.<br />
The Terrible. U.S. Border Patrol: they did not seem convinced that there was no marijuana in the van. Tires: we<br />
experienced a blowout in the middle of the desert and our spare was only half-inflated. Luckily, about thirty kids<br />
stuck around to watch us in San Diego though we were hours late. Two shows a day, nearly every day: a brilliant<br />
plan put together by local punk/small-time criminal Bryan Funck. It looked fun on paper. Sleeping in/around the<br />
van: our drummer was nearly vanquished by a skunk in California after a failed attempt to sleep near the ocean—<br />
still better than a filthy crustlord mansion. More wild animal attacks: I learned that rabid dogs in Tijuana don’t give<br />
a fuck. Folk punk bands: still hate ’em... except for O Haste Annihilation and the Let Down. Overnight driving:<br />
Albuquerque to Tempe is a painful stretch. Cruising through the mountains and desert at five A.M. while listening<br />
to Om Conference of the Birds was transcendental. So was getting to sleep at nine A.M.<br />
The Joyful. Hiking in the<br />
Redwood forest: best cure for a<br />
hangover ever. Two vehicles: eleven<br />
people don’t fit in one van. There’s<br />
Kia Crew and Van Kru. Van Kru<br />
is all about driving in complete<br />
silence and daytime drinking. Kia<br />
Crew is all about listening to bad<br />
indie rock and jumping off bridges.<br />
California: it’s seventy degrees and<br />
sunny right now in Berkeley. Two<br />
shows a day: okay, sometimes it’s<br />
fun. All four of our L.A. shows<br />
were amazing, despite the fatigue.<br />
Road friends: a fourteen year-old<br />
kid hitchhiked to Portland to see us<br />
play; Jello Biafra’s drummer came<br />
to our Gilman Street show and we<br />
got to see all of our friends across<br />
the country, including some NOLA/BR ex-pats. Carpinteria, California: beautiful beaches, seals in the ocean and I taught<br />
a bartender how to make a Mint Julep. Salem, Oregon: on top of getting to see our really good friends in Leech, some guy<br />
cut open his arm and wrote “Hell” on the basement wall in his own blood before the show started. Wait, maybe that belongs<br />
in the “terrible” category. Mexican Border Patrol: getting in was a piece of cake. They didn’t even ask for our passports.<br />
Downside: two seventeen year-olds with machine guns standing nearby. Tijuana: everyone was super friendly; we ate<br />
amazing homemade burritos and I remembered that we left the cymbal bag at the venue before crossing the border. Whew.<br />
Meth Leppard: one of the few bands we’ve played with that truly sound exactly like you think they do. Record shopping: I<br />
was really close to buying five Madonna 7” singles at a dollar a pop. They didn’t have “Get Into the Groove.” Deal breaker.<br />
Not having to endure my bandmates’ penchants for Morrissey in the van: speaks for itself. Glory is the road. —Andy Gibbs<br />
CREEPY CRAWL TO CREEPY<br />
FEST <strong>2010</strong><br />
Have you been craving an all-you-can-eat style buffet of this<br />
city’s best punk rock bands Or are you wondering just<br />
what the fuck “punk rock” means these days Well, the second<br />
annual Creepy Fest should satisfy you either way: a five day<br />
celebration of simple, timeless thrashing and bashing with all of<br />
the gore, guts, fights, shit, piss, dreads, moshing, shredding, beer<br />
and generally not-giving-a-fuck any degenerate could dream of.<br />
Let’s get right into this impressive line up, shall we<br />
Day 1 at the Circle Bar features Portland’s Guantanamo<br />
Baywatch, winning the “best band name” contest outright.<br />
Locals the Dives and the Unnaturals kick off the fest. I caught<br />
the Unnaturals a while back and with their tight surf-punk<br />
sound and their very able covers of the Dead Kennedys and<br />
Dick Dale, won me over immediately.<br />
Day 2 takes us to Outer Banks, that crazy little dive bar off<br />
of Tulane Avenue that’s hosted some great shows—and a few<br />
chicken drops—over the past couple of years. (Don’t know what a chicken drop is Google it.) Concrete Shoes play good fightstyle<br />
punk and let you know exactly how they feel with songs like “Ditch that guy.” Donkey Puncher (contender for worst band<br />
name) and Hattiesburg’s Nemesis Destroyer lead off the night’s debauchery.<br />
Day 3 brings us uptown to the Saint for The Bills, Makeshift Lover, Toxic Rott and Dem Nassty Habits, Brian Turd’s band.<br />
Some of you may remember—and plenty definitely do—that Brian was murdered a couple of years ago in the Irish Channel,<br />
leaving behind a legion of friends, fans and this chainsaw of a band.<br />
Day 4 is at the Bayou Park Bar, a new venue on South Jeff Davis and Broad that’s already being called the next Dixie<br />
Taverne. let’s hope Bill Heintz has recovered from the Bills’ previous night’s set for another go-round with the Pallbearers<br />
(pictured) who will be fresh from tour and seem to only be gaining steam through the ages. Face First, Crotch Breaker and the<br />
Vapo-Rats round out the night’s lineup.<br />
Day 5 is billed as the Poots’ CD release party and they share their penchant for adolescent, angst-ridden Recess Records-style<br />
punk with Chalmette’s Dummy Dumpster. Grrl punks the Split()Lips and the globe-trotting Red Dons complete this short<br />
week of mayhem. If you catch all five days you’ll start to see a lot of familiar faces, since many of these bands are different<br />
combinations of the same members—just another part of that beautiful, incestuous smorgasborg of raw talent festering in this<br />
city. —Dan Fox, Photo by Gary LoVerde<br />
Creepy Fest <strong>2010</strong> kicks off on <strong>July</strong> 14th and runs through the 18th. For information on venues, times and other details, check<br />
out myspace.com/aysia999 and myspace.com/86dproductions. There are also a ton of flyers around town because, amazingly,<br />
some people still actually do this.<br />
8<br />
RECYCLING AS AN<br />
A R T F O R M — W O R N<br />
AGAIN RETURNS<br />
Press Street is probably New Orleans’ most unsung art philanthropy<br />
collective. Since 2005, the group has dedicated itself to supporting local<br />
artists and promoting arts education. The collective is best known for its annual<br />
24-hour Drawathon event (which attracted over 500 participants in 2007), the<br />
Antenna Gallery of Contemporary Art, and for the publication of Revacuation,<br />
a graphic novel by local artist Brad Benishek that puts a post-modern fantasy<br />
slant on post-Katrina New Orleans. On <strong>July</strong> 24th at the Howling Wolf, Worn<br />
Again, the city’s foremost sustainable fashion exhibition, will be throwing a<br />
party to make sure Press Street keeps its community mission alive and look<br />
drop-dead sexy while it’s at it.<br />
“There’s lots of recycled fashion events in New Orleans,” said Elizabeth<br />
Underwood, the director of this year’s event. “But we don’t want to see clothes<br />
that are made to be worn once. We’re not looking for shoddy craftsmanship.<br />
We want to make people rethink what’s trash and what they’d wear. We try to<br />
get rid of the word ‘trash’ entirely.”<br />
The party, now in its fourth year, is the brainchild of Garyt Shiflett, who<br />
envisioned the event as both a challenge to the city’s vast pool of talented fashion<br />
designers and as a fundraiser for nonprofits doing community-based work. Past<br />
Worn Again parties have benefited the Virginia Breast Cancer Institute and New<br />
Orleans Recycle for the Arts, among others. The momentum and consistency of<br />
the Worn Again is giving it the cultural leverage to confidently bill itself as the<br />
“French Quarter Fest of Recycled Fashion.” It’s a label Underwood embraces<br />
and affirms by asserting the competitive nature of the show.<br />
“Not everyone who submits will make it to the runway,” said Underwood.<br />
The judging process for entries is extremely selective, both in order to<br />
encourage creativity and<br />
to maintain a strict quality<br />
control. Nearly all (about<br />
90 percent) of material<br />
at the show is recyclable<br />
and all the designs are<br />
open for bidding. Despite<br />
the uptight façade,<br />
Underwood maintains<br />
that the focus is primarily<br />
on fun and having a good<br />
time.<br />
“I’m a huge DJ fetishist<br />
and the Recycled Dance<br />
Competition makes<br />
for a huge party,” said<br />
Underwood. “We all get<br />
a buzz from each other<br />
celebrating the community<br />
that’s supporting us. Last<br />
year’s theme was a bordello<br />
and this one’s is a Russian<br />
fairy tale. Everyone in New<br />
Orleans wants to be a star.<br />
We like that, but we try to<br />
keep things humble.”<br />
Veterans of previous<br />
shows will be happy to<br />
hear of a familiar lineup of<br />
favorites while Worn Again<br />
virgins should keep an eye<br />
out for names such as Sarah<br />
Dunn, Cree McCree, Leigh<br />
Reveley, and Laura Keith,<br />
who are all award-winning<br />
past designers competing<br />
again this year. Another designer of past Worn Again glory is Mallory Whitfield,<br />
who will be on this year’s jury. All of them will be tasked with making a miracle out<br />
of clothes that even Thrift City would turn away and that, according to Underwood,<br />
is exactly what makes the show political.<br />
“At its core, it’s political because it’s about sustainable creativity. Let’s<br />
rethink where we buy our clothes. We want it to be a free party where people<br />
get a break and wake up energized for the fight.” —Carlton Barzon; Pictured:<br />
Alicia Zenobi<br />
The Worn Again Fashion Show is scheduled for Saturday, <strong>July</strong> 24th at the<br />
Howlin’ Wolf. For more info, go to thegreenproject.org.
ANTI-NEWS<br />
GETTING SLUTTY FOR A GOOD CAUSE: NEW ORLEANS<br />
BANDS RALLY AROUND DAVE “DEE SLUT” TURGEON<br />
Anyone who’s seen 47-year-old Dave Turgeon—aka “Dee<br />
Slut”—perform onstage knows he’s not a man who can<br />
be stopped very easily. His antics with a 100-ft mic cable at<br />
the Hi-Ho Lounge in March were some of the most memorable<br />
of the venue’s fourth annual Raise the Dead festival, which<br />
should only be expected of a man who was once invited to try<br />
out for the lead singer position in Black Flag.<br />
“The man is absolutely crazy,” said John Hartsock, the Hi-<br />
Ho’s owner. “We had to put together this cable to let him sing<br />
in the street. He couldn’t keep still. He was running out side<br />
and singing to people in the street. That’s what music used to<br />
be. I just wish I could understand the lyrics.”<br />
Turgeon’s iconic role as the founder and frontman of The<br />
Sluts, one of New Orleans’ first punk bands, has cemented him<br />
firmly in the annals of local pop music history, but his roots<br />
here in Louisiana have never been shakier. The BP oil leak<br />
in the gulf has decimated the Louisiana fishing industry, and<br />
Turgeon’s livelihood as a seafood dealer is drying up along<br />
with it.<br />
“Nothing in the world could convince me so many people<br />
could all be this stupid,” fumed Turgeon. “Everyone from BP,<br />
to the Coast Guard, to the politicians; it’s almost like they want<br />
it to happen. I’ve watched friends of mine lose everything. I’ve<br />
had to lay off my own son.”<br />
Turgeon espouses the same anger and cynicism that fueled<br />
the Sluts’ uniquely buffoonish brand of hardcore punk and<br />
helped define the underground rock scene in New Orleans in<br />
the early 1980s. Inspired by West Coast punk godfathers Black<br />
Flag, Turgeon formed The Sluts in late 1981 after dropping<br />
out of high school. The group quickly moved from playing<br />
backyards to clubs like the Rose Tattoo and The Steamboat<br />
in a matter of months, and became staples of the local sound<br />
alongside other bands, such as The Normals and Shit Dog.<br />
“It was a family deal,”<br />
said Turgeon remembering<br />
the old shows. “The Normals<br />
were big in town and we’d<br />
open for bands like Black<br />
Flag, Minutemen and D.O.A.<br />
a lot. The California scene<br />
was coming to New Orleans.<br />
We did a lot of free shows<br />
and benefits in Fat City, but<br />
you’d have to get a ride for<br />
those because the cops were<br />
efficient. It was constant fun.”<br />
The Sluts went on to<br />
tour both the West and East<br />
Coasts extensively, living out<br />
of their van and booking their<br />
own shows as they went,<br />
but Turgeon’s penchant for<br />
raucous performances made<br />
him just as many enemies as<br />
friends.<br />
“The Circle Jerks, Black Flag<br />
and the Minutemen were awesome friends with us,” remembered<br />
Turgeon. “Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys told us we’d never<br />
play with him again after getting in a fight with the crowd. When we<br />
went to D.C., we thought Ian MacKaye would be cool, but we did<br />
not hit it off well at all. But the Bad Brains were all incredible guys<br />
when we played with them Christmas night.”<br />
Turgeon plans to bring the current incarnation of The Sluts to<br />
the Hi-Ho again <strong>July</strong> 3rd as part of a benefit to put his business<br />
back afloat and hints his frustrations may result in some new<br />
Sluts’ material.<br />
“I could definitely let out a lot of anger on some new<br />
Sluts songs,” said Turgeon. “I can’t wait. The greatest high<br />
is having a mic in your hand.” —Carlton Barzon, Photo by<br />
Gary Loverde<br />
The Benefit for Dave “Dee Slut” Turgeon will be held on<br />
Saturday, <strong>July</strong> 3rd at the Hi-Ho Lounge with The Sluts, Die<br />
Rotzz, Guitar Lightnin’ Lee, The Unnaturals, Miss Kitty<br />
Lynn, Velveteen Elvis, The Bastard Sons of Marvin Hirsch,<br />
Lonely Nights and DJ Team Hardhat.<br />
9
THEATRE<br />
COLUMN<br />
NOTES FROM<br />
THE SPLASH ZONE<br />
by SARA PIC<br />
SARA.PIC@GMAIL.COM<br />
VISIT WITH SOME ZOMBIES<br />
This month, I’m featuring two new exciting theatre projects<br />
that will add to the already diverse range of theatre we are<br />
lucky to have available to us in New Orleans.<br />
The Elm Theatre was founded earlier this year by Garett<br />
Prejean, co-Artistic Director, along with Prejean’s childhood<br />
friend Joe Buch, co-Artistic Director. Prejean is a native<br />
to Baton Rouge but lived in Chicago the last several years.<br />
While there, he worked at the prestigious Second City and<br />
also ran his own theatre company which featured all original<br />
works. Elm Theatre is “dedicated in bringing stories to New<br />
Orleans emphasizing on the social and cultural barriers that<br />
affect our surroundings.” The Elm Theatre has its own studio<br />
space on Julia Street, which Prejean chose in order to help<br />
invigorate that part of the city, already rich with visual arts,<br />
with theatre as well. The theatre has been offering classes in<br />
acting since its opening but is now launching onto the theatre<br />
scene with its first full production, Blackbird by Adam Rapp<br />
(writer and director of many plays as well as the film Winter<br />
Passing, which featured Ed Harris, Will Ferrell and Zooey<br />
Deschanel). Blackbird, directed by Laura Hope, who is also<br />
Professor of Theatre at Loyola University, is set in the late<br />
‘90s in New York in a squatter’s tenement, where two people<br />
reside, an Iraq War vet from the first Gulf war (played by<br />
Prejean) and an ex-stripper heroin addict (played by Becca<br />
Chapman, who was in Bang The Law, part of the New<br />
Orleans’ Fringe Fest, and Goat in the Road Productions’<br />
recent student playwright showcase, PLAY/WRITE). As<br />
Hope describes it, the play is a love story “about two people<br />
who no one else loves and no one else would. All they have is<br />
each other—not even electricity or plumbing, they are living<br />
hand to mouth. The play explores how lonely people are and<br />
how much we all need love, but sometimes it’s not enough.”<br />
Prejean adds that part of why Elm Theatre chose this as their<br />
first production was because it was about people who are<br />
otherwise forgotten or looked down upon in society. The<br />
theatre’s mission is to break down social and cultural barriers,<br />
because, as Prejean describes, “once we do we set ourselves<br />
free.” Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Baton Rouge,<br />
Prejean considered people like the characters in Blackbird<br />
his friends. As Hope elaborates, “We pass people like this<br />
on the street every day, and it is worth giving them back their<br />
humanity.” As a new theatre company, Prejean acknowledges<br />
this is a weighty subject, but considers it to be a vital topic.<br />
And though he plans to continue to focus on producing<br />
dramas with serious subjects, he does have a sense of humor as the theatre also produces a show called I SAW<br />
YOUs, which are readings from craigslist personal ads.<br />
Not a new theatre company but a new collaboration, Southern Repertory Theatre has boldly expanded its<br />
line-up by becoming the resident theatre company at Le Chat Noir.<br />
Mark Routhier, Associate Artistic Director, is in charge of the new programming which will be shown at<br />
Le Chat. As Routhier describes this new venture, it is part of “an effort in the entire theatre community towards<br />
collaboration and sharing of resources.” Routhier is already putting plans in motion for several exciting new<br />
programs at Le Chat, including a Wednesday night soap series about crazy old money New Orleans families<br />
called Debauchery by Pat Bourgeois; a monologue and slam poetry series on Thursdays; and possibly a latenight<br />
comedy series in collaboration with several local theatre companies. Routhier is especially excited about<br />
a “ten minute play project,” where six playwrights (with two alternates) are delivered a theme, possibly New<br />
Orleans-centered, and who then have one week to write a play on that theme, which will then be directed and<br />
cast by Routhier. Local playwrights Lisa Shattuck, Michael Santo’s, Gabrielle Reisman, James Bartelle,<br />
Pat Bourgeois, Brian Sands, and alternates Madison Curry and Jim Fitzmorris are on the bill. Routhier<br />
says that in general Southern Rep at Le Chat will be looking for edgier plays that maybe wouldn’t be as<br />
suitable for Southern Rep’s main stage. They are coming out strong with their first full production at Le Chat,<br />
Zombie Town, a play about an earnest San Francisco theatre collective, the Catharsis Collective, who travel<br />
to Harwood, Texas, to interview the surviving residents about a recent zombie attack. The collective has then<br />
come to New Orleans to share with us the healing power of theatre through the interviews with the survivors<br />
(tongue firmly in cheek, of course). As Routhier describes it, Zombie Town is a “mix of Waiting for Guffman<br />
and the Laramie Project.” Lest you worry that because this play takes place after a zombie attack that there<br />
might be no actual zombies in the show, Routhier assures that there will be surprise guest zombies in the show.<br />
And for those of you keeping track, this is my third time writing about zombies in this column which is not<br />
even a year old yet. And that’s how you know that theatre really is good in New Orleans!<br />
Blackbird opens Friday, <strong>July</strong> 9th and runs through August 14th on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at<br />
8pm at the Elm Theatre, 220 Julia. Ticket prices are $15. Student and industry discounts are available. Also,<br />
if you bring in a flyer, which will be papered around town, you get a $5 discount. For more info check out<br />
elmtheatre.org.<br />
Zombie Town runs <strong>July</strong> 1st through <strong>July</strong> 18th on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at<br />
6pm at Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles. Tickets are $20, though there may be special discounts available via the<br />
theatres’ websites, southernrep.com and cabaretlechatnoir.com.<br />
10<br />
Send me press releases, vague info on shows, or theatre/performance art news or gossip! Holla at sara.pic@<br />
gmail.com.
ADVICE<br />
COLUMN<br />
GUIDANCE COUNSELING<br />
THIS MONTH'S TRUSTED ADVISOR: MADDIE RUTHLESS<br />
THE ROOMIE SWAP DOESN’T EXIST<br />
JIM RUSSELL'S RECORDS<br />
1837 MAGAZINE ST. NEW ORLEANS, LA 70130 (504) 522-2602<br />
NEW ORLEANS #1 RECORD STORE<br />
LARGEST SELECTION OF<br />
USED VINYL LP's, 45's, CD's, CASSETTES, VHS & DVD's<br />
VIDEO GAMES, LASER DISCS, 8-TRACKS<br />
CLASSIC rock, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, COUNTRY<br />
OPEN MONDAY thru SATURDAY 11am-5pm<br />
“Brutal honesty is sexy”<br />
Maddie Ruthless is the kind of girl that can make you feel stupid and lazy,<br />
because at 21 she’s already on top of her game more than you’ll ever be.<br />
With steady gigs around town spinning Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Afro Beat,<br />
Pyschedelic, Tropicalia and New Orleans R&B in addition to fronting Maddie Ruthless<br />
& the Secret Affair, her rocksteady backing band (who just happen to be Fatter Than<br />
Albert), Maddie is taking over New Orleans one irie jam at a time. Also, she’s on tour with<br />
DJ Karo right now, tearing up the West Coast. One dispatch from the road: “a semi truck<br />
hit us and destroyed the car—and tried with us—but our tour soldiers on. DJ Karo and I<br />
have been on a roller coaster of extreme ups and downs but it’s all been very productive and<br />
not boring.” That’s tour for you: cheating death and soldiering on. With such a workload<br />
(and newfound appreciation for life), she’s the perfect person for some lightning-round<br />
summer advice. When she gets back from tour you can look forward to regular DJ gigs at<br />
the Saint and Domino Sound, and the Secret Affair will be dropping their new album, Hold<br />
the Phone, at the end of this month. Cue it up, Maddie.<br />
WE SHIP WORLDWIDE<br />
Find us on MySpace and Facebook<br />
www.jimrussellrecords.com<br />
I got this buddy, great friend, but when we’re out together he always horns in on what’s<br />
going on and makes a huge ass of himself—at my expense. He’s got a woman too so I’m<br />
not sure why he wants to fuck up my situation. So what do you do about a friend who’s an<br />
insanely huge cock block<br />
Outshine, out sass and out the undermining intentions of your buddy. Love is war and it’s<br />
death or glory! Maybe invest in a nice suit and a pocket knife. Just lay it all out on the table.<br />
Brutal honesty is sexy.<br />
If you’re seeing someone but really want to get with their friend, is there any way to make<br />
a successful “swap”<br />
Honestly, it sounds like some hippie to me but if you and your friends are “groovy” maybe<br />
it will work out. Or make a dramatic declaration to all parties over a bottle of wine and a<br />
prayer. Love triangles always work in your favor if you’re the Rocksteady Queen of New<br />
Orleans.<br />
Will you help me move<br />
Hell no! Moving is the worst. That’s why I stay at Nowe Miasto, where I can acquire as<br />
many things as I please until we fill it up.<br />
11
BY MISS MALAPROP<br />
FASHION<br />
THE GOODS<br />
COLUMN<br />
HELLO@MISSMALAPROP.COM<br />
WARMING TO THE CREOLE COTTAGE<br />
The Creole Cottage is a new home décor shop dedicated to high quality, low cost, recycled<br />
furnishings and home goods. Started by a mother and daughter team, Joyce and Summer,<br />
just this past spring, The Creole Cottage has already gained legions of loyal fans who<br />
line up early to get their hands on the one-of-a-kind goods (the shop often sells out of the week’s<br />
inventory in a matter of days), and they’ve already had to expand their shop to a larger location.<br />
The boutique recently moved from its original location at 1029 9th Street to a more expansive<br />
space at 1817 <strong>Magazine</strong> Street. I recently caught up with the younger half of this mother-daughter<br />
creative duo, Summer, who manages marketing and sales for the shop, to find out more about their<br />
new endeavor.<br />
Miss Malaprop: How did<br />
The Creole Cottage get<br />
started<br />
Summer: The Creole Cottage<br />
was an expansion of a store<br />
called Greenhouse in Atlanta.<br />
The owner, Joyce, has been<br />
upcycling home goods for<br />
over fifteen years. She started<br />
off in Atlanta doing street<br />
vending and when the city<br />
changed its rules regarding<br />
street vending, she opened<br />
a store called Antiquing<br />
Atlanta, with two other<br />
partners. The store eventually<br />
grew into a one-woman<br />
business, and changed names<br />
to The Painted Horse and<br />
then finally Greenhouse. In<br />
late 2009, Joyce decided she<br />
wanted to relocate the idea of upcycling furniture to New Orleans, which is her original hometown.<br />
The Creole Cottage was born in February of <strong>2010</strong> and doors opened May <strong>2010</strong>.<br />
You’re already moving to a new, larger location—congrats! Can you tell me a little bit about<br />
what the response to your shop has been like here in New Orleans<br />
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have commented they love the concept<br />
of getting recycled furniture that is in great condition and more sturdy than say your average piece<br />
from Wal-Mart or Target. Additionally they love the price points: it’s not your typical <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Street prices, which can be unattainable by your average working class family or college student.<br />
So we try to make the items look nice and remain affordable.<br />
What goes into your “upcycled” home furnishings—where do you find the original materials<br />
and what do you do to refurbish them<br />
We find goods in Atlanta and surrounding areas. The owner searches for items that have “good bones”—<br />
solid wood pieces, interesting curves and details on chairs, and practical items. Many of these items are<br />
donated or thrown out because the original owner didn’t see a purpose beyond its current look. Joyce<br />
takes the items and with a creative paint technique, some sanding or new fabric choices, transforms<br />
them into items that feel like new furniture, but really are older items with a fresh purpose.<br />
Who is your ideal customer<br />
When the business was started, the idea was to provide items for the working class. Not everyone<br />
can afford $4,000 tables and $7,500 armoires, so our idea was to target those who are working on<br />
a lower budget, but still want a beautiful home. We have attracted young professionals, retired<br />
individuals, college students, realtors who are staging properties, and we even have dealers from<br />
higher end stores shop from us because our prices are low enough for them to make a profit off of<br />
in their stores.<br />
Is there anything else you think people should know about The Creole Cottage<br />
The incredibly positive response from NOLA has left our store empty on a number of occasions<br />
and with the owner being a one-woman-show regarding refinishing items, it has made us really<br />
have to sit back and rethink how we can keep the supply up to par with the demand. We weren’t<br />
fully prepared for such a great response, but for any new small business, it is a great problem to<br />
have. What we’ve found is that those who know about us now are very studious in keeping up with<br />
our website and new items. As fast as we set items down, they can get sold, so we recommend<br />
bookmarking our website (thecreolecottage.net) and checking back as much as possible to make<br />
sure you don’t miss out on anything.<br />
Stop by the new location of The Creole Cottage at 1817 <strong>Magazine</strong> Street, Wednesday through<br />
Saturday, 11 am til 5pm, to check out their ever-changing range of recycled furniture and home<br />
décor, and be sure to tell them Miss Malaprop sent you!<br />
13
COLUMN<br />
SLINGSHOTS, ANYONE<br />
BY DEREK ZIMMER<br />
Last month proved an awfully busy one for a certain funemployed miscreant. To mourn<br />
the passing of my teenage identity and celebrate the beginning of my life as a quasiadult<br />
who didn’t happen to perish at the hands of a taxicab the month previous, I<br />
decided to use my plane voucher to take a little vacation. So I set off—for a place<br />
where the ocean flows in pristine, sludge-free glory. Where the mountains stretch in undulating<br />
masses. Where beautiful women and vegan straightedge kids alike instinctively flock like the<br />
salmon of Capistrano. That’s right. I’m talking about a little place called California. Only a few<br />
days into my adventure I met up with my friends in New Orleans’ most cacophonous pop band,<br />
Caddywhompus, outside Amoeba records one sunny afternoon. After an eventful few hours<br />
spent at the amazing Museum of Psychiatry learning about the dark past and present of one of the<br />
medical industry’s most notorious pseudo-sciences, we hopped aboard “The Lobotomobile”—as<br />
we soon christened the Caddywhompus tour vessel—and drove out to Leimert Park that evening<br />
in anticipation for their first LA show.<br />
Upon our arrival, we figured out that the venue wouldn’t be opening for at least another hour. So<br />
with time to kill I decided to undertake my pre-show tour standby and one of my most cherished<br />
pastimes: a leisurely stroll to explore what the neighborhood had to offer. You know, nothing<br />
clears my head and gets the creative juices flowing like a good walk. And by “good walk” I mean<br />
lighting up some grilled-ass nuggz. And by “clearing my head” you know I’m talking about<br />
getting blazed as fuuuuck on some of that hellifried reefer-tree! But at a glance, I must admit I<br />
felt a bit hesitant to go<br />
gallivanting through<br />
South Central LA alone<br />
after dark; I mean, I<br />
don’t know about you,<br />
but that movie Boyz<br />
N the Hood left quite<br />
an impression. Hence<br />
I resolved to venture<br />
only so far as around<br />
the corner to Crenshaw<br />
Boulevard.<br />
And as usual, the<br />
cosmos offered forth her<br />
unpredictable treasures<br />
like grand hydroponic<br />
sweetness. No more<br />
than a block into my<br />
ambling I stumbled into<br />
a cluster of vendors<br />
JUDGEPEREZREVENGE@YAHOO.COM<br />
BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN<br />
not unlike those set up on any given night on the sidewalks of Canal Street. Hearing the phrase<br />
“COINTELPRO,” I looked about in wonder. Clearly I was in the company of some revolutionary<br />
bad-asses! I noticed a table of paintings with the likenesses of famous black musicians, one of<br />
which I recognized as the very same adorning my brother’s apartment where I was housesitting.<br />
I commenced modestly thumbing through the book of street art nearby. “Look through it. It<br />
ain’t gonna bite you,” said the imposing man in camo fatigues manning the table—who later<br />
introduced himself as the Ghetto Van Gogh. “You lookin’ at it like you scared.” After my long<br />
campaign of tabling books for the Iron Rail Book Collective and harassing people to browse<br />
my selections in sweltering houses and smoke-filled bars alike—at last, it appeared, “the tables<br />
had turned!” The irony!<br />
“You know it’s Malcolm X’s birthday today” said the Ghetto Van Gogh, more like a<br />
statement than a question. I didn’t. “You know who else’s birthday it is today”<br />
I shook my head.<br />
“Ho Chi Minh’s,” he answered, raising his voice as though addressing a crowd. “You know<br />
about Ho Chi Minh He had little kids up in trees dropping bombs on American soldiers. Tell<br />
me revolutionaries don’t come in cycles!”<br />
Remember the feeling of attending your first punk rock show—where it seemed as though,<br />
like Polly and Diggory arriving in Charn, you had discovered a whole new world, where every<br />
interaction and the very air itself felt alive with volatility, pregnant with meaning Such were<br />
the sensations tingling through my nerves as I stepped into a humble bakery on Crenshaw.<br />
Granted, I was the only white kid there, but I felt no inkling of hostility or even skepticism as to<br />
my presence there in that room. It reminded me of a past evening in San Diego where my friend<br />
Joven and I attended a Spanish-spoken discussion on race and class dynamics in City Heights: I<br />
had been an outsider, a minority for a moment within a nation where my skin and class typically<br />
offered me so much privilege, yet the whole experience proved one of the most broadening in<br />
all my short years.<br />
There in that bakery, youths spit rhymes, a dreadlocked man in sunglasses beat a Congo drum<br />
to a piece for his 13-year old daughter entitled “Struggle” and a woman recited a poem about a<br />
teenage girl attacked and murdered in a parking lot on a rendezvous with her boyfriend. I thought<br />
about how far the tragic realities of poverty were from own middle-class upbringing, yet how<br />
greatly they shaped the world around me—and thus myself. After a few more speakers, a lady<br />
named Rah stepped up to the mic, and the emotion was palpable in her voice.<br />
14<br />
LOCAL CULTURE<br />
“I had a speech prepared,” she said. “But you know sometimes the spirit just moves you...”<br />
Her proceeding words resonated intensely with some of my own recent musings: “You know,<br />
it’s easy to come to the bakery week after week and say ‘We revolutionaries.’ But it’s like<br />
church: we leave feeling really good, but we not changing anything. Because if we was, we<br />
wouldn’t be here, in the state we’re in. It’s only gonna change when we take it outta the bakery<br />
and into the street.” I thought about every hardcore show I’ve attended, about the nature of the<br />
do-it-ourselves punk community I identify with—how inspiring it is yet how ritualized it can<br />
be at the same time. About how privilege can so easily make us complacent and blind to the<br />
atrocities that happen every day.<br />
“How many years has it been since Malcolm, since Martin, gave their lives for us” Rah<br />
continued. “And things still haven’t changed.” Drawing her speech to a close, she emphasized a<br />
quote—”Revolution is a process, not an event.”<br />
“So without further ado,” she ended a few minutes later, “I want to introduce our next speaker…”<br />
And out of seemingly nowhere stepped Professor Griff, the “Minister of Information,” from<br />
the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy.<br />
If I could transcribe every word of that half-hour and offer it here, it would surely prove more<br />
profound than any column I might ever write. He spoke about his book Analytixz, a collection of<br />
interviews he has conducted with various individuals over a span of twenty-six years. He talked<br />
about his departure from Public Enemy resulting from an interview with David Mills, a man he<br />
referred to as a “traitor.”<br />
“I constantly question whether or not my<br />
efforts are supporting a scene that exists<br />
simply to perpetuate the status quo,<br />
entertain white people, enforce sexism<br />
and all the rest of the bullshit that makes<br />
me want to puke like a frat boy after a<br />
night on Bourbon Street.”<br />
Interestingly enough,<br />
this deceased journalist,<br />
I later found out, was a<br />
writer for the TV show<br />
Treme, which everyone<br />
seems to be creaming<br />
their jeans over these<br />
days. He also alluded<br />
to the Iluminati<br />
conspiracy of the musik<br />
industry and the ways<br />
the media (“Maniac<br />
European Devils In<br />
Action”) dominates our<br />
psyches.<br />
“If you wake up in<br />
the morning, and you<br />
have to plug yourself<br />
in, turn on, tune in—<br />
you under mind control,” he told the audience. “Some people say they’re not under mind<br />
control—and they’re probably the ones under the mind control!”<br />
He continued, “The first Public Enemy shows, we went out on stage with Uzis and ski masks.<br />
We had to get y’all’s attention. We even hung a klansman at one point! Public Enemy formed<br />
to raise the consciousness of black people and get out of the business quick.” He went on: “But<br />
the industry crept its way in, and our message was diverted by the advent of gangsta rap—with<br />
groups like NWA.”<br />
I stepped out of that bakery after that talk in a daze. Clutching a Public Enemy comic book I<br />
picked up for a friend—signed by none other than the “Minister” himself!—I walked back to the<br />
club where my pals in Caddywhompus were about to play a show, and I felt this renewed sense<br />
of purpose. Inside the space, where the bands were setting up, I noticed a poster tacked to the<br />
wall. It pictured the assassinated revolutionary Malcolm X holding a gun with the caption, If you<br />
are not ready to die for it, remove the word ‘freedom’ from your vocabulary. Indeed.<br />
I constantly question whether or not my efforts are supporting a scene that, rather than<br />
elevating consciousness and arming us with fuel to create a firestorm to purify, exists simply to<br />
perpetuate the status quo, entertain white people, enforce sexism and all the rest of the bullshit<br />
that makes me want to puke like a frat boy after a night on Bourbon Street. Often I need look<br />
no further than most of the shows I attend—or the pages of this magazine, quite frankly—to see<br />
there’s a lot of mindless complacency and not a lot of meaningful dialogue going on. But rather<br />
than deliver a scathing treatise on the need for radical critique in our community—a feat which<br />
I won’t undertake partially because I feel it would be largely unproductive but mostly because I<br />
lack the energy after a long day on four hours’ sleep combined with the start of a summer tour<br />
in less than six.<br />
Only you can decide what steps are right for you to take to live better and be a better person.<br />
However, with so many Clear Channel billboards, the thirteen minutes of commercials to every<br />
thirty minutes of TV airtime, and the barrage of corporate-controlled stimuli flooding our mental<br />
environments as surely as the crude rushing into our Gulf every second, I think it’s high time we<br />
define who the “the powers that be” actually are and—following the wisdom of Public Enemy—<br />
begin fighting against them.<br />
“We want the airwaves back. We don’t just airtime. We want all the time all of the time.”<br />
–Refused
MUSIC<br />
SWAMP ROADIE BADASS:<br />
LIFE ON TOUR WITH QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT<br />
BY ISABEL THERIOT<br />
“The reason I go on tour is for the hour on stage per night... I could<br />
give a shit about anything else.” —Quintron<br />
Hellooooo! My name is Isabel and I’m currently selling merchandise,<br />
puppeteering and acting as a roadie for the Summer <strong>2010</strong> Quintron<br />
and Miss Pussycat tour. I joined Q and P last summer for their West<br />
Coast tour and had a ball and I am thrilled to be on the road with them<br />
again. The original plan was that I would join the tour in NYC on June<br />
11th, but because of some unexpected, super exciting developments<br />
I was asked to do the whole tour. I had to get my shit together a lot<br />
quicker than I thought I would have to! The only small annoyance<br />
was a brutal sinus infection/head cold that I had been battling and that<br />
I’d hoped to get rid of before diving into the controlled chaos that is<br />
tour. But all that aside, I was anxious to get out on the rode again with<br />
Q and P.<br />
Baton Rouge: I had the first driving shift. On the way to Baton<br />
Rouge, Q and P let me know that “Swamp Buggy Badass” had been<br />
selected to be in a scene in the finale of Treme, so we were all in a<br />
very celebratory mood during the drive! We arrived in BR about two<br />
hours before any bands would play to load out and back-line all of<br />
the equipment, which, if you have ever seen a Q and P performance,<br />
you’ll know is a lot of equipment, including all of Quintron’s gear<br />
(Drum Buddy, two Leslies, two organs, car grill, headlights, bass<br />
amp, P.A., fog machine and large light for back lighting during the<br />
performance) and Miss P’s puppet things (skeleton of puppet theatre,<br />
skin of theatre, puppets, lights and all other accessories). It takes us<br />
about an hour to set everything up most nights. Q usually finds a silent<br />
place to hang out and mentally prepare himself for the show and P<br />
puts on her make-up and then reads, naps or keeps me company.<br />
The opening band was a psychedelic/surf/folk rock band out of San<br />
Francisco called Grass Widow; kind of a weird pairing, but the girls<br />
were very nice. The Q and P show started out a bit bumpy when the<br />
CD player that plays all of the puppet show audio broke... I think it<br />
kind of psyched us all out, and we were all already nervous since the<br />
puppet show is brand new and we’d only practiced it twice before.<br />
The puppet show is a collaborative effort with Q, P and myself all<br />
acting as puppeteers. It takes a a few shows to really figure out the<br />
groove of it, so the first shows are hectic enough without technical<br />
hiccups. I was especially excited and nervous about this particular<br />
puppet show because not only would I be acting as a puppeteer, but<br />
I also did the voice for Candy the elephant! Although Q and P had to<br />
jump into the musical portion of the performance a bit earlier than<br />
expected, the show was good. Q and P are working on songs from the<br />
new album on this tour so this first show really let them practice the<br />
new stuff and work out the song order. After the show we crashed at<br />
our friend Willie’s amazing pad in BR. I got to sleep with Cochise,<br />
Willie’s awesome cat!<br />
Austin: We woke up at around 8am to do the drive from Baton Rouge<br />
to Austin. We were all exhausted from being out late the night before<br />
and I had the added bonus of having that horrible sinus infection. Fun!<br />
It was also going to be insane because I would have to drive Q and<br />
P to the airport at 4am the day after the Austin show so they could<br />
fly to a gig in Connecticut. I would then begin driving the van by<br />
myself from Austin to Memphis. With all of this in mind, I think we<br />
all felt a little overwhelmed. Tired or not, we arrived in Austin right<br />
on time. The bar, the Mohawk, is enormous with one small stage<br />
inside and a huge patio and large stage outside. The opening bands<br />
for the night were a Mexican punk band called Ratas Del Vaticano,<br />
who coincidentally opened for Q and P last summer in San Francisco;<br />
Psychedelic Horseshit, who Q and P toured with two tours ago and<br />
the Box Elders, one of P’s favorite bands. They were all great and the<br />
singer for Ratas Del Vaticano told me that I was the most beautiful girl<br />
that he had ever seen and gave me a free t-shirt. Score! We finally got<br />
our chance to properly debut the puppet show and it went relatively<br />
smoothly for our first run-through. Q and P’s set went well; the<br />
audience seemed to enjoy the new songs.<br />
Austin to Memphis: We didn’t arrive at the hotel until around<br />
3:30am, so Q and P decided to pack for the plane while I slept for<br />
about 15 minutes. I dropped them at the airport at around 4:30 am<br />
and headed back to the hotel for a bit more sleep before the ten hour<br />
drive from Austin to Memphis. I was a little nervous about the drive,<br />
being that it was the longest that I’ve done alone in my life, but it<br />
proved to be one of the most relaxing, meditative experiences of my<br />
life. I know that sounds corny, but I seriously loved the drive. I took<br />
all back roads, so I passed through so many cute, quaint towns and I<br />
had the opportunity to think about a lot of things that I often push to<br />
the back of my brain. I also discovered the magic that is Five Hour<br />
Energy (it had me singing every song on the radio out loud) and that<br />
squeezing your butt cheeks together while driving not only keeps<br />
you awake but is good exercise, like a pilates class while driving.<br />
Wheeeee!<br />
Photo by Josh Sisk<br />
16
MUSIC<br />
Memphis: After meeting up with Q and P at the most amazing La<br />
Quinta Inn (which we dubbed the La Shawnka), we headed out for<br />
the most satisfying Olive Garden meal ever. We were all deliriously<br />
tired, so two bottles of wine, a clairvoyant waitress and two hours of<br />
noshing seemed like heaven. After our delightful OG sojourn, we all<br />
fell asleep for about 15 hours... it was glorious. The following day<br />
was chock-full of activity. We started the day with a visit to Goner<br />
Records where we stocked up on the new Quintron single “Tire Shop”<br />
and chatted with Eric Friedl, co-proprietor of Goner. After a quick<br />
breakfast-brunch-lunch, we headed over for load-in at the Hi-Tone.<br />
The load-in was very smooth, since Q and P know the Hi-Tone so<br />
well from playing there gazillions of times. It was after loading in that<br />
I started to feel very bad. My sinus infection was killing me, so I was<br />
popping antihistamines and ibuprofen like crazy. It wasn’t helping.<br />
By the time the show started, I felt like my head was melting. Because<br />
of this melting sensation and because I fell asleep at the merch booth<br />
(oh yes, I did!) I don’t have many memories of the show. I hear that<br />
it was good, though.<br />
Chattanooga: The promoter for the show cooked us a dinner of toospicy<br />
vegetarian chilly, french bread and a yummy green salad with<br />
mozzarella balls and had it all set up for us after load-in; it was great,<br />
great, great. After eating, I decided to take a walk around the city to<br />
stretch my legs and check out what Chattanooga had to offer. The<br />
city is so cute! There is lots of interesting street art, like a frilly dress<br />
made of thin sheets of metal. Also, the city has a free electric bus<br />
transportation system. Very impressive! My favorite part of the city<br />
was the Chattanooga Choo Choo; it used to be the city’s train station,<br />
but it’s since been converted into a hotel. It has a very Shining feel to<br />
it, complete with a grand entrance hall, turn-of-the-century decoration<br />
and a bar with a mirrored back and eerie music. I met up with P on<br />
my way back to the venue and we decided to get a drink at the bar of<br />
the Choo Choo. She agreed with me about the hotel’s creepy chicness.<br />
We had some wine and a hitchhiker tried to pick us up! Anywho, the<br />
opening bands at Discoteca were great. I especially enjoyed Thomas<br />
Function and the band that dressed like gnomes. There was seriously<br />
a gnome-dressed band; they gave out gnome hats. The puppet show<br />
really began to flow nicely by this time. We were really beginning<br />
to actually puppeteer rather than just trying to keep up with the<br />
soundtrack. The audience was really jazzed about the puppet show<br />
too, which was also very heartening. The show itself was big fun.<br />
Seeing Q and P in a smaller venue is always nice. There tends to be so<br />
much energy in the room and people are more inclined to dance when<br />
crammed together with a bunch of other people dancing. There was<br />
one near-catastrophe when a thrown microphone nearly knocked Miss<br />
P’s front tooth out during “Swamp Buggy Badass.” P ended up with<br />
a pretty badly busted lip, but at least all of her teeth were still intact.<br />
After the show, we headed over to good ol’ La Shawnka for Sierra<br />
Nevada in our beds, American Beauty and sleep.<br />
Jessie’s, but our hosts were so gracious and the party was da bomb.<br />
All very hung-over, we headed back to the Earl for a tedious and tiring<br />
load-out. While loading out the day after a show may seem like a<br />
blessing when you are drunk and tired and ready to party, it tends to<br />
be more like hell when you’re hungover and tired the following day.<br />
Plus, if you have a show that night, you end up loading three times in<br />
one day... ugh. After a quick breakfast with Suzy at the Earl, we set<br />
off for Savannah.<br />
Savannah: We arrived in Savannah at around 5 and checked into a<br />
hotel. We were all hungry, and Q and P wanted to have a nice dinner<br />
complete with wine. Q asked the concierge at the hotel for suggestions<br />
and was told that Fiddler’s was the hot spot, so off to Fiddler’s we<br />
headed. We were all impressed with the Grand-Isleish-boat-theme of<br />
the outside of the restaurant. There was a moat, water gushing off<br />
of the tin roof into the moat and a bridge over the moat. It was very<br />
promising. Unfortunately, all of these decorative aspects of the eatery<br />
could not make-up for the Applebee’s-quality food. The water in<br />
Savannah also had a very eggy smell. Q and I dubbed it Fartesian<br />
Springs, water that is unique and diSTINKtive! After dinner, we<br />
headed over to the Jinx for load-in. I was very nervous when we<br />
walked into the bar. Very bad, very loud modern country wafted out<br />
More Quintron and Miss Pussycat tour diary on page<br />
25...<br />
“It’s not like you guys are Metallica or something.<br />
We didn’t think that we’d need extra security for<br />
your show.” —Bartender<br />
Isabel, Q&P and company at dinner with Fred Schneider<br />
Atlanta: We were all excited for the Atlanta show, as we know a<br />
lot of folks there, and Miss P had a special dinner planned for us<br />
with Heather Henson, Jim Henson’s youngest, and Alan Lewis with<br />
the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts. We arrived at the Earl at<br />
about six and began quickly loading into the venue. I know that P<br />
especially wanted everything to be set up and checked well before the<br />
show, since they would be performing in front of Henson, Lewis and<br />
other members of the Center. Dinner was perfect. Green Sprout is<br />
a vegetarian Asian restaurant: all meals contain very realistic-tasting<br />
meat substitutes. It was also very interesting to find out about all the<br />
things that Alan has been doing at the Center and about the different<br />
puppetry initiatives and festivals that the Henson Family Foundation<br />
is involved with. I’m a big Jim Henson fan, so chatting with the person<br />
that runs the organization that furthers his goals was very special. On<br />
our way back to the Earl for the show, Q shared some interesting<br />
German words with me. Did you know that the German word for<br />
“puppet trunk” is “puppe keister” or that “exit” is “ausfahrt” in<br />
German I didn’t, but I’m very happy that I know now. The show<br />
at the Earl was pure magic! My friend Suzy Moran from Atlanta’s<br />
monthly ‘60s dance party Fringe Factory came to the show and so<br />
did all of the members of the Black Lips and Subsonics. Also at<br />
the show were Henson, Lewis and our friend Adrian Barrera, whose<br />
bands the Barreracudas and Gentleman Jesse and His Men opened<br />
the show. Not only was it tons of fun to party with all of these peeps,<br />
but it was great that they were there for a hiccup-free puppet show<br />
and high-intensity, fun show. Afterwards, a few of us headed over<br />
to a bar down the street for a little more debauchery and interesting<br />
pick-up lines. After a long night of partying, we headed over to Jessie<br />
of Gentlemen Jessie’s house for more partying and possibly a little<br />
sleep. We were so pleasantly surprised at how beautiful Jessie and<br />
his girlfriend’s house was! A real grown-up’s house: decorated well<br />
with fancy, vintage furnishings, clean and with a guest bedroom and<br />
numerous other sleeping options! There was very little sleep had at<br />
Isabel with the Maryland Dance Team<br />
17
MUSIC<br />
DEATH TRIP THROUGH THE HEARTLAND:<br />
AN EYEHATEGOD TOUR JOURNAL<br />
BY GARY MADER WITH MIKE IX WILLIAMS<br />
Eyehategod is Mike IX Williams, vocals; Jimmy Bower, guitar; Brian Patton, guitar; Gary Mader, Bass;<br />
Joey LaCaze, drums<br />
New Orleans: We leave N’awlins at two in the morning for our first show of this new tour that starts in<br />
Orlando. What follows is hours of darkness and listening to the controversial broadcast Coast to Coast,<br />
former announcer and real life X-files pundit Art Bell’s conspiracy-driven radio talk discussion of high<br />
frequency destruction, shadow people, cold fusion, solar flare-ups, chupacabras and digressive black holes;<br />
all a prophecy of the high road to inevitable decimation of humanity and all life forms as we know them.<br />
Hence the EHG tour <strong>2010</strong> slogan: “First the Oil Spill, Now This...”<br />
Orlando: We pull up to the first show, all good vibes so far. We’re doing this tour with a couple of black<br />
metal bands (We think. What’s black metal nowadays) Nachtmysium and Withered and they have a<br />
big stage production compared to us, the headlining band. So we watch them load in their stage show and<br />
groan. When the gig finally starts we run into a bunch of old friends from over ten years back that stayed<br />
with us at one time or another. Henry Wilson (Floor, Dove, Cavity), whom we haven’t seen since the<br />
Dixie Taverne days, makes it out to the show as well as Rick from Torche, Rob from Dark Castle and<br />
other friends we’ve made along the way. The last time we were supposed to play Florida, we cancelled<br />
due to an approaching hurricane, leaving many disappointed fans who drove from as far as Tampa to see<br />
us. But they are all here tonight. The first note of shrill feedback sets the crowd on fire, leaving behind our<br />
trail of riff hearing impairment and dysfunctionality in the name of rock n’ roll. One down and we’re off to<br />
a good start. We also find out tonight that Ninth Ward mainstay Mr. Quintron and Miss Pussycat are on<br />
tour in the U.S. as well, only a day or two ahead or behind us. Hope we can meet up with them.<br />
Spartanburg (SC): The last time we were at this club we played to about seventy-five people and got<br />
obliterated on Jagermeister and um, some other shit and Mike and our driver at that time—EZ Money—<br />
threw a bunch of chairs and bottles up on the roof of the joint. To the obvious dismay of Mick, the club<br />
owner, we made our beds on pool tables and a concrete floor while Mick and his friend were “up” all night<br />
making sure we didn’t break into his snack machine or help ourselves to drinks that we didn’t need at that<br />
point. This comes up in conversation immediately. “Man, the last time you guys was here, one of y’all<br />
had puked all over the floor.” He continues in his inimitable Southern drawl, “Yeah, we went to cleanin’<br />
it all up, and it looked like one of y’alls had ate some goddamn silly putty or something.” That was Mike.<br />
The best memory of this show was the barbecue catering for the meet-and-greet and seeing the amazing<br />
anomaly Joe Buck play. He used to be the stand-up bassist for Hank III and now has a one-man band,<br />
although he distances himself from that tag. He had driven up from Kentucky because he heard EHG was<br />
playing and wanted to get on the bill. “Man, I got a kick drum and a guitar; that ain’t a damn band.” Joe,<br />
a beautifully nutty human being, who may suffer from as much mental disfigurement as any and all of us,<br />
lights up a crowd that just sat through two hours of black metal with his erratic, southern country twang<br />
and feedback, burning holes in the souls of an unworthy audience with a distant and furious gaze as he<br />
spews his discontent with civilization, re-enforced by a cannon-like kick drum and frantic riffery. “We’re<br />
livin’ in the Dark Ages man! They’re learnin’ nothin’ in the schools!” Awesome. Pre-show discussion<br />
that day between Mike, Joey and myself of paranormal experiences, old haunted prisons and sanitariums.<br />
EVP: electronic voice phenomena. The electronic translation of voices of those stuck in the middle of life<br />
and death. In the case of haunted sanitariums, what does a paranormal expert say to an apparition There<br />
are recordings of women screaming, murdered prisoners still longing for freedom and those still locked in<br />
psychological trauma, even after death. Joey: “They’d be like, “Are you a patient” And you’d hear a voice<br />
say “yyeess” which he mimics in a voice not unlike Carol Ann from Poltergeist, that will have us losing<br />
our minds laughing and being stupid the whole tour. Yes, we are easily amused and are thankful for this,<br />
given the hours of boredom and delirium that lie ahead. Small jokes make for wasted time, I guess. Joey<br />
puts it best: One and a half hours of fun, twenty two and a half hours of wanting to die. Okay, it’s not that<br />
dramatic but boredom does take its toll.<br />
Raleigh (NC): Today we meet up with Haarp, one of New Orleans’ finest, and Christ is it good to<br />
see them. They will break up the monotony that the two hours of black metal has been for the last few<br />
nights. Not that the BM groups ain’t good, but two hours of anything sucks. I think everyone more than<br />
shares that opinion. Mike got rolled up on after calling Withered out on the ridiculous smoke machine<br />
and light show that we had to wait for them to set up every night. What happened to just getting up and<br />
jamming Funny thing, after Mike said something, the next night it seemed like their show was lessened<br />
a bit. On a positive note, we are lucky to not only jam with Haarp, but also some good ol’ fashioned<br />
Raleigh hardcore courtesy of Stripmines. There is a healthy, early-’80s style Hardcore scene on the<br />
East Coast, primarily North Carolina and Virginia with bands like Plagues, Cross Laws, Government<br />
Warning, Wasted Time etc. Haarp completely devastated everyone. Two songs, the first a 16 minute<br />
new song played flawlessly while Sean meandered through the crowd violently, getting inches from the<br />
kids’ faces... We are in full destruction mode at this point with more than a few hangovers under our<br />
belt. Mid-set, Jimmy’s guitar strap breaks so he pulls up a stool and we finish another great show. The<br />
whole time we are playing, security are flashing lights at us but we don’t realize why. We later find out<br />
it’s because we are smoking cigarettes. You see, the smoking ban is everywhere. At 41 years of age<br />
Jimmy is scolded for smoking by the promoter, who seems to be having a rough night and takes it out<br />
on us. We leave, unwelcome as usual. That’s something we have grown accustomed to (and learned to<br />
find amusing at least) over the years. Fuck them if they can’t take a joke. Plus, this night is meeting a<br />
couple of dudes from North Carolina’s Double Negative, a great band that we want to tour with sooner<br />
than later.<br />
Our worthless nine hour ride to Louisville starts immediately after the show, featuring DJ Lacaze, aka<br />
Lil Daddy LLL (Live Life Loaded), jamming New Orleans’ own UNLV 6th and Baronne and then a<br />
Roky Erickson rock block... I Think of Demons... are you a patient... yyeeess. Then “Daddy sang bass,<br />
Momma sang tenor, sun comin’ up and I can’t decide....” We’re rolling through the Appalachians. Mike,<br />
in a moment of drunken absurdity: “You know somewhere down there [in the valley] some dude’s jerkin’<br />
off to a picture of Jesus.” Jimmy: “Some dude’s jerkin’ off and don’t know his chick’s watching.” Enter<br />
Total Delirium and Insanity Programme One.<br />
Eyehategod in Nashville<br />
The band in Cleveland<br />
Louisville (KY): On the way to Louisville, we find out that Brian, our driver, has not only had a CDL since<br />
he was 17, but also spent four and a half years in the Marines, six months of which he spent driving a truck<br />
loaded with high explosives in and out of Baghdad during the initial invasion of Iraq, while being fired on<br />
by RPGs and other shit that could have made a disaster of the cargo. We thank him profusely for putting his<br />
life on the line, something he says folks seldom do. We pull up to the club, Headliners, for a meet and greet<br />
that we have before some of our shows and the promoter has arranged for catering by Big Dave’s BBQ for<br />
the guests and the bands. We sign posters, CDs and adult diapers for about a half hour (as strange as this may<br />
seem to our fans and friends at home and to us, people want to meet us... yes, we know this is weird) and we<br />
do an extended sound check for our guests. Doors open shortly after and a line from the club door to the street<br />
make their way in. Haarp kills it again, followed by Nachtmystium, who play the best show any of us have<br />
seen them play thus far. The beginning of our set is punctuated by some dude smashing a beer bottle to pieces<br />
over a wedge monitor, glass spraying out in every direction. Where there’s broken glass, there’s fun, right<br />
So far, this has been the best show all around, many thanks to a promoter that gives a fuck about the bands he<br />
books; thank you Terry Porter. Travel note: if you ever find yourself in Louisville, hit up Big Dave’s BBQ,<br />
the ribs were on fire!!<br />
St. Louis (MO): It’s a Monday night in St. Louis. What was supposed to be a four-hour drive feels like ages<br />
and decades gone by. We pull up to the club and find out there are seven freaking bands before us and we have<br />
no free alcohol. We are told there is a convenience store a few blocks away, but that we should not walk there<br />
because we will “get jacked.” We did anyway. Travel note: to see the only “ghetto” in the whole United States<br />
18
MUSIC<br />
times. Mike yelled at the booking agent and threatened to “slap his glasses off his face.” Tough<br />
guy. It was akin to Van Halen on the Mean Streets tour times negative a thousand. Used to be we<br />
were thankful for the few hundred fans that showed up, but the size of this club diluted any hint<br />
of a vibe. We played good at least. Waffle House is calling our name. At least we set off some<br />
giant smoke grenades and M100s outside. That was fun. We got a new driver tonight, some kid.<br />
Dude was born the year our band formed and thinks Hatebreed is a hardcore band. We are now<br />
officially elderly... but top notch cool.<br />
Frederick (MD): Jimmy’s quote for the day: “Eyehategod: born assholes. Born an asshole, will<br />
die an asshole.” Negative pain sets in. The club we play tonight is in bumfuck Maryland in a strip<br />
mall between an adult care center and a Christian church. We are hoping for a picket line, but it<br />
never happens. This is grind legends and good pals of ours Brutal Truth’s first of four shows<br />
with us. Kevin Sharp and gang are the coolest jerks ever and we’re glad to share the stage with<br />
’em. Sherman and the Earthride boys are playing this one as well. Tonight we have EHG story<br />
time onstage with the Una-Drummer Joey Lacaze—something about being in a bunker with Eva<br />
Braun and Hitler, and testing a syringe full of poison on Hitler instead of the dog or something or<br />
other, prefacing each sentence with “So, anyway, I’m hanging out in this bunker....”. Funny shit.<br />
Jim bears his teeth<br />
The guys check out the mint-condition ’74 Thunderbird<br />
with a university, people jogging and a micro-brew cafe, come to St. Louis. We ran into Gary Nicholls, formerly of the<br />
infamous Alcoholic Sluts (who hosted some of the most lawless and greatest shows in NOLA in the early ’90s at RC<br />
Bridge Lounge and elsewhere) and we hang with Haarp. Gary anecdotes us with a tale of a gig gone real bad in NOLA<br />
with the Supersuckers where somebody was an asshole and the band got their merch swiped. ‘Nuff said. Fun times,<br />
good people. That incident is going to be documented in Pat Roig’s book Staple Guns and Thumb Tacks as a story by<br />
Glenn Wilson, so we’ll leave it at that. Shameless plug for Pat’s book. Pat owes us now. Just remember that it ended<br />
with Glenn beating the shit out of them on one Carnival night. This was sadly Haarp’s last show with us and we were<br />
more than a little bummed. The crowds they played in front of have a newfound appreciation for not only New Orleans,<br />
but more specifically “Da Parish.” After the show we head out to the only Denny’s I’ve ever seen that isn’t 24 hours,<br />
then we part ways. Drive safe brethren, the sea is angry.<br />
Nashville: The club we are playing tonight is new, been open for about three months I think, and is called the Muse.<br />
The stage is so small we can barely fit our equipment on it. Some hours later, it’s packed with a new generation of EHG<br />
fans, and it’s going to be a killer show. But things go downhill when we take stage as there is zero air conditioning<br />
or ventilation of any kind. As in a typical summer A/C unit at least. By the third song, Mike is puking the water and<br />
alcohol he’s trying to hold down, wringing out his shirt in puddles in between songs. At one point, we completely ruin<br />
the beginning of our song “Depress” due to poor stage sound, but mostly because we are so hot that it’s hard to think.<br />
Hotter than the Dixie Taverne in August fer sure. So after we finish, everyone is a little edgy as this was our weakest set<br />
of the tour so far, no fault of ours. It happens. Mike and Jimmy get into a bit of a silly row on stage, screaming over what<br />
none of us will completely remember the next day. To add insult to injury, this is the only show so far that was broadcast<br />
and streamed online. Sixteen hundred folks logged on to see our worst show so far; thirty-eight of them watched us fight<br />
on stage—killer!! We are the critical ones however, only judging ourselves so desperately.<br />
Richmond (VA): One of my favorite things about touring is hanging out with old friends that you haven’t seen in<br />
years and years and in Richmond, that’s really all we had to look forward to. Ash from Buzzoven plus Skillet, Laura,<br />
Dave Witte from Municipal Waste, etc… were out en masse. Good folks. But anyway, what’s worse than playing a<br />
club-size show in a 1500-capacity concert hall Doing it in Richmond when the gig got moved around more than three<br />
Philadelphia: On the way out of Maryland we hit the Broadway Diner, a Food Channel-acclaimed<br />
joint with excellent food and an amazing strawberry milkshake. I wake up in Philly two to three<br />
hours later at the First Unitarian Church, a killer all-ages DIY space. the last time we were here,<br />
it was a fantastic show and the show tonight has sold 380 pre-sale tickets in two days! I guess<br />
everyone was waiting to see if we were actually going to show up. This gig was off the hook;<br />
fights and chaos ensued. Packed house. This is the part of the tour where every show will be good<br />
from here on out. After the show, some friends bring us to the Philly cheesesteak hot spot, Geno’s<br />
Steaks. It’s 2:30am and they probably crank out a hundred sandwiches every twenty minutes, and<br />
for good reason. In all honesty, it doesn’t come close to a down home roast beef po-boy, but this<br />
officially completes our visit to Philly.<br />
Brooklyn: En route today to one of our favorite cities to play: Brooklyn, New York. Tomasa<br />
is coming out to this show and Mike’s wife, Kitten IX, is here already for the Philly show and<br />
this one. We are excited to spend a day with our better halves; we’ve only been out for eight or<br />
nine days, but it’s always cool to spend time together somewhere else besides New Orleans, for<br />
something as cool as this show and NYC in general, is going to be. The show starts at 6 and ends<br />
at 10:30; immediately after we play, the club turns into a Polish nightclub. Weird. Following the<br />
show, Mike is supposed to guest DJ at the Charleston. I don’t know what they expect, but I hope<br />
they like the Germs, Middle Class, Juvenile and the Testors.<br />
There is nothing more exciting for us than playing New York. Alway good times with good<br />
friends, and the shows never suck. At the start of the show, there are like thirty people here. The<br />
promoter is running around frantically, hoping to break even on the show. Two hours later, the<br />
club is filled to capacity as Brutal Truth lays it down. The response tonight is overwhelming; our<br />
Northern fans here have so much love and respect for this Southern band of delinquents. Even<br />
Guitar World is here to cover the show, in addition to ten to twelve other publications. We only<br />
have a little over an hour to play to make room for the dance party following. We are rudely kicked<br />
out after we play, but the after-glow of having such a good show keeps the good vibe going.<br />
Off to the Charleston, a metal/punk kind of bar where Mike IX is slated to DJ and where, for<br />
some reason, he gets cut off after fifteen or so minutes for playing “questionable” music, which<br />
was either Venom or Skrewdriver and the hipster Brooklynite kid up before him apparently<br />
doesn’t wanna relinquish his space. Mike says “fuck it” and who cares anyway, there is free<br />
alcohol for the band and entourage and we take full advantage of this until sunrise. I had my first<br />
“Mexican Car Crash,” which is a bottle of Corona inverted into a Margarita. We had planned on<br />
leaving for a hotel in New Jersey afterwards but our driver is exhausted from dealing with NYC<br />
traffic, a hectic load out and a run in with the NYPD; we are a walking talking wreck. We luck<br />
out and stay at a friend’s house five minutes from the club. Thank you, Kirk and Natalia. It will<br />
be hard to top our time here.<br />
Providence (RI): We all have post-New York blues. We leave behind a great time, Tomasa, Kitten<br />
IX and our NYC family. Today is Providence on a Sunday. Another fucking ten-band bill, and<br />
we are all useless and pointless after last night/this morning. We just found out that our New<br />
Hampshire show has been cancelled because of a promoter with cold feet, but if that’s the worst<br />
thing we have to worry about on this tour, we are in good shape.<br />
Despite being completely fucked over from watching the sun come up, we deliver with unbridled<br />
aggression. Good times with Seth from Anal Cunt (who had to cancel their tour because he broke<br />
his leg again), Andy from Glazed Baby and a few other New Orleans transplants. Brutal Truth<br />
slayed tonight and it sucks ‘cos it’s their last show with us. Farewell, Bros.<br />
Milford (CT): As of this morning, we’ve already picked up a replacement show for New<br />
Hampshire in Boston; this is good news. Days off equal no show, no money and usually in a town<br />
where the main attraction is a truck stop or the country’s largest junkyard. We are hurting for a<br />
day of rest, but dammit, it ain’t gonna happen on our watch. There’s rock music to be played.<br />
One of our tires is looking cracked and bad so we pull into some seedy neighborhood on the<br />
outskirts of Providence to get it replaced. In the midst of an overgrown lot across from the shop<br />
is the owner’s ’74 Thunderbird, in mint condition: interior, exterior and engine. If you’ve ever<br />
seen the movie The Departed you know that this area from Providence to South Boston is wellconnected.<br />
The owner already gives off a “goodfella” kind of vibe, gold rope chains and all. Joey<br />
asks him if he is the original owner. ”Nah, nah ya see, this guy in Florida... he, ummm, ‘died’<br />
and I had the car shipped up to me.” It only has 35,000 miles on it; I don’t think we are too far<br />
off in thinking this shop is a mob front. He lets Joey take a picture in the driver seat. “I look like<br />
Donnie Brasco in this bitch.” The old man just smiles.<br />
The show tonight is right around Yale university. Coffeeshops, restaurants and the Daniel<br />
Street Cafe, where we play. Tons of NOLA band shirts and excitement that we actually showed<br />
up. Mark, the promoter, completely hooks us up with beer, vodka, Dunkin’ Donuts and the<br />
healthiest meal we’ve had all tour. The crowd is thick for a Monday night, so we are looking<br />
forward to a good show. I don’t know if people came for a spectacle or if they even care about<br />
or like us. Every single night, even with smaller crowds, people go apeshit when we start. Not<br />
tonight. There’s applause, then silence and people looking at us really weird. Despite feeling<br />
19
MUSIC<br />
“The owner of the hall walks up and tells us to not play another song. The<br />
neighbors had enough of this show and the police are here to close it down. It’s<br />
an honor to know we still have the capability to annoy someone.”<br />
that they were ready for us to be done, the crowd demands<br />
an encore, so maybe they did like us and we just have an<br />
inferiority complex (well that last part is a given). One guy<br />
yells over and over for us to do “Shoplift.” At his request<br />
we play it, while the same guy text messages throughout the<br />
whole song. Was it just something “cool” to yell Did a family<br />
member pass away and he needed to send this text right there<br />
People are sometimes dumb as fuck.<br />
Boston: Pulled into Boston at 3:30; load-in wasn’t until 6. Hours<br />
of nothing to do, as usual. The show tonight is at the Cambridge<br />
Elk’s Lodge, very much like playing at the Jefferson Lion’s<br />
Home or the old VFW hall. The promoter had two days to hype<br />
the show and managed to round up almost 200 people, a lot<br />
of whom traveled from Maine, Rhode Island and surrounding<br />
cities around Boston. There is no stage and the crowd is literally<br />
inches from us. There’s no P.A. so we use two 8x10 cabs and<br />
Jimmy and Brian max out on volume. Mike is screaming<br />
through a distortion-blown stack. Sounds great. About five songs<br />
in, during “Sister Fucker,” the hall lights flicker on and off. We<br />
thought someone was putting on a makeshift light show until the<br />
owner of the hall walks up and tells us to not play another song.<br />
Of the five bands playing, we get shut down. The neighbors had<br />
enough of this show and the police are here to close it down. It’s<br />
an honor to know we still have the capability to annoy someone,<br />
although it did kinda suck that our fans had driven this far to<br />
see us play a few songs. Funny thing is, the authorities didn’t<br />
even know the chaos that was brewing inside the hall, what with<br />
people diving all over us, Joey’s drums getting knocked over<br />
maybe two or three times at least, huge pile-ons and possibly a<br />
fight or two. Perfect.<br />
Rochester (NY): Smooth sailing into Rochester. The posters<br />
for tonight’s show have Mother Theresa on one and Ghandi on<br />
the other; we’re going to hell, I believe. Tonight is a miracle<br />
show; there are only two opening bands as the blackened<br />
ones skip a few shows due to a scheduling conflict. We hang<br />
out with Mike Randolph and some of his drama, a NOLA<br />
transplant who did the first legendary extreme music shows at<br />
the now Katrina-destroyed Dixie Taverne. Actually, he is the reason that<br />
any shows ever took place there in the beginning. Our old pal Dan Lilker<br />
(ex-Anthrax/S.O.D. now Brutal Truth) shows up and we bullshit the<br />
drunken night away. After a sweaty, energetic set and load out (which<br />
is never energizing) we are ready for our first regular night of sleep in<br />
days. Only four shows left... Bummer vibe.<br />
Cleveland: The promoter knows King Louie, Matt Muscle and the<br />
Pallbearers and plays in a band called the Inmates. He also owns the<br />
coolest DIY punk club in town called Now That’s Class, an excellent<br />
setting for tonight’s rowdy show. Openers are the Atlas Moth,<br />
Keelhaul and Strong Intention. Keelhaul played in the basement<br />
of the club, unleashing an assault of heavy yet intricate riffing that I<br />
couldn’t begin to play. Anytime we play in Cleveland, we play with<br />
them; they are like extended family. Tonight’s crowd is a turbulent<br />
ocean of flying bodies and the usual blood and broken glass. A huge<br />
skinhead that nobody wants to fuck with (and I guarantee has never<br />
heard of us before) keeps getting on stage, gets pushed off, gets back up<br />
and is taking up way too much space on a stage with only barely enough<br />
room for five. He decides he’s going to lie down in Mike’s zone. Bad<br />
move. At first none of us know what to do with this dude, then Mike<br />
starts spitting all over him while he’s lying on stage, which then escalates<br />
to the guy catching the iron base of the mic stand in the back. He finally<br />
got off the stage. All in all, a great night, all captured on five camera<br />
angles by our friends at Digital Live. The night ends with (surprise,<br />
surprise!) the fucking bonehead getting in a fight with some guy, then a<br />
bouncer, and then the owner of the club. Wild. Also in attendance,<br />
“Rosco,” a very cool, African-American cop (yes, a cop) that loves our<br />
anti-authority music because he says he ”feels it.” Rosco would show<br />
up for both nights in Chicago as well. We figure we bring in the best<br />
mix of a crowd. Beside the outsiders, weirdos and usual losers that can<br />
relate to us, there’s the crusty contingent, the Pantera fans, braindead<br />
rednecks, the hardcore kids and then the die-hard headbangers. It’s good<br />
to be able to pull folks from different scenes into our little death trip.<br />
Detroit: Riding into Motor City with MC5 blowing the speakers in<br />
our jail-on-wheels, we arrive at the club way too early. Nothing but<br />
a Greyhound station across the street and the bridge to Canada. We<br />
are a little sketched out about this club because of some of the things<br />
we have heard through the grapevine about the owner pulling a gun<br />
20<br />
Above: Mike in Cleveland<br />
on Fang and Verbal Abuse a few weeks back and sending them off<br />
without pay. It’s definitely a strange vibe but we always hope for the<br />
best and we feel like we’re stuck in the ’80s with all the Megadeth<br />
and Lizzie Borden flyers from days gone by. Soundcheck takes about<br />
what feels like two hours as they freak on the feedback and try to tell<br />
us to turn down. Tons of fried chicken, potatoes and dinner rolls for<br />
grub but the only thing weird is that right outside of our green room,<br />
it smells like a meth lab. There are tons of security personnel, and<br />
while they are all cool with us, a strange vibe persists. We’re talking<br />
ten to fifteen security guards—big boys—for a show that draws about<br />
250 people. The show starts off kinda slow, but we are having a good<br />
time hanging out with old friends: Matt, aka EZ Money, who was our<br />
driver from the 2005 End Times tour, Steve from Emetic Records<br />
and other assorted friends from back in the day. After the show, the<br />
entire crew of security thought we were the greatest, had never heard<br />
us before and we’ve made new fans. This is good considering Mike<br />
called out the sound guy for putting some kinda reverb effect on his<br />
vocals. Something like “Hey assholes, would you take that fucking<br />
effect off” Come to think of it, he called out the lighting dude too.<br />
“Hey assholes...” Despite what we had heard, the entire show goes<br />
smooth. No guns, hostility... and we got paid. We find out later that<br />
the soundman and most of security belong to a well-known biker gang<br />
whose name we will leave out; 180 of them had been recently indicted<br />
for human and drug trafficking. Good thing they liked us.<br />
We opt to skip staying at Matt’s house eight blocks from the venue in<br />
a gutted-out neighborhood and take up a nicer offer to stay at a 75-acre<br />
estate in the middle of the woods, thanks to Gordy, of an old Detroit band<br />
called A-Frame, who used to play gigs with EHG in the mid-’90s. After<br />
two weeks of frequenting every shithole hotel on the East Coast, this<br />
change of scenery breathes life into us. We have an entire guesthouse<br />
to ourselves, right outside of a lake and an expanse of trees that goes<br />
on forever. A serene closing to fifteen days of destroying ourselves, the<br />
audiences and everyone’s hearing. Final destination: The Windy City.<br />
Chicago: One thing that I have forgotten to include in this journal:<br />
our first driver bailed on us in Richmond. For what, we don’t know.<br />
He claimed he had a court date but based on the thousands of text<br />
messages he made for his short run with us, his girlfriend probably<br />
wanted him home. We call bullshit. He refused to sleep when he<br />
needed it: why Because he was texting. This became very<br />
annoying when you take into account that Jimmy had to take<br />
his slack a lot of times and he probably almost killed us all<br />
because he texted the entire time he drove. Once in Richmond,<br />
we were supposed to get a fifteen-passenger van and a new<br />
driver. The van we never got, and it was looking like we were<br />
gonna have to take a gas-guzzling RV. The only thing that<br />
kept us from punching the kid in the back of the head was that<br />
he offered to leave his van with us.<br />
We already changed one tire somewhere near South or<br />
North Carolina and while changing the second tire we spoke<br />
of earlier in Providence, it comes to light that one of the rear<br />
shocks is broken off from the suspension. Fast forward to<br />
today; because the shock is just hanging there (it had been all<br />
tour) the alignment is now off and the van wobbles so much<br />
that my teeth rattle. Then it comes: BLOW OUT. We had<br />
only one hour ‘til Chicago, and the fact that the alignment<br />
was fucked wore the left rear tire until it exploded out on the<br />
highway. Long story short, we made it to the club, but the day<br />
wore us all down. We all want to leave this van in Chicago<br />
and burn it on the side of the highway. Oh yeah, by the way:<br />
we’ve had no spare or insurance the entire tour. Strong<br />
Intention pick us up on the side of the road and we pack nine<br />
dumb musicians into one “short bus.”<br />
We are playing two dates in Chicago; tonight we play In the<br />
Name of Suffering; tomorrow Take as Needed for Pain. We’ve<br />
not played some of these songs since our Austin show where<br />
we did the same thing (except all on one night) and haven’t<br />
rehearsed them all tour. Aside from the fact that some of these<br />
songs are like feeding the crowd a huge Xanax, I thought<br />
the crowd ate it up. Everybody is burnt out from a long day<br />
of sitting on the side of the highway and all injuries, mental<br />
and physical, that we’ve collected over the course of this tour<br />
melt away up on the stage. Our fans still loved it; bless them<br />
for not hearing and/or ignoring all of the fuck-ups and missed<br />
cues tonight. We crash at Ron Holzner and his wife Carol’s<br />
house. Ron is ex of fantastically brilliant Chi-Town doom<br />
ensemble Trouble and now plays bass with Earthen Grave.<br />
Mike, being an ordained minister, actually married these two in<br />
unholy matrimony in Tilburg, Holland earlier this year. Their house is<br />
always a good time and a chance to decompress. Their entire—and I<br />
mean entire—house is a taxidermy museum; a sort of animal rescue for<br />
animals that have passed away, been preserved and either ended up in<br />
a dumpster, antique store or auction. I love this house. The first time I<br />
stayed here, I had blacked out after the show and woke up on a couch<br />
surrounded by squirrels, bats, bobcats and a two-headed kitten.<br />
Wake up in the morning/afternoon by the smell of Ron hooking<br />
us up with his traditional get-back-on-your-feet breakfast. Everyone<br />
is in a better mood today and are ready to make the best of this<br />
last show. Mike and Joey do a noise set with Mark Solotroff from<br />
Bloodyminded at 3pm at Reckless Records and their fifteen-minute<br />
power electronics assault, under the name Ten Suicides, has a store<br />
clerk stuffing napkins in his ears and wincing. After that we head to<br />
a burger joint called Kuma’s Corner, where this week’s special is the<br />
Eyehategod burger: a ten-ounce burger topped with bacon-wrapped<br />
dates, pecan crumbles and Dusseldorf mustard. Luke, one of the grill<br />
cooks, hooks up our entire meal. I had the Mastodon burger. Joey said<br />
the EHG burger was pretty damn good.<br />
Tonight we are on fucking fire. If there is any record we lean to<br />
more in our usual set, it’s Take as Needed for Pain and that is apparent<br />
as we play it flawlessly. Some guy comes up on stage to bring us all<br />
shots of whiskey. Mike trusts no drink given on stage due to getting<br />
dosed with something wrong at our 20th anniversary show. The guy<br />
does Mike’s shot with us and walks offstage. Twenty minutes later, the<br />
same guy gets on stage, rips the mic from the stand, throws it on the<br />
ground, gestures “fuck you” and starts walking off stage, only to catch<br />
a good shove from said vocalist that sends the guy flying face first off<br />
of the stage and into the ground. He falls so hard that it looks like a<br />
cartoon, followed by crowd applause. We could not have ended this<br />
tour on more of a solid note. Afterward, we bid farewell to our new<br />
friends in Nachtmystium and Atlas Moth. It’s kind of sad in the end<br />
after making this run and becoming friends through the good shows,<br />
bad shows and bouts of inebriation and hungover days, but home is<br />
calling and we can’t wait to get there. All tours usually end on that<br />
melancholy note, it’s certain to say. On the ride home, we begin to<br />
feel the heat as we approach the South, and it has never been more<br />
welcomed. We pulled this shit off once again.<br />
Find out more about Eyehategod go to eyehategod.com.
REVIEWS<br />
DEVO<br />
SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY<br />
(WARNER BROS.)<br />
Finally, after more than a decade, the truth<br />
can be told. Every man, woman and child will<br />
know the truth about de-evolution! DEVO have<br />
returned and from every angle their new album<br />
is a triumph. It’s always a shame when legendary acts reform for new<br />
glories only to tarnish their legacy with weak records, but like most rock<br />
conventions, DEVO sidesteps this pitfall. Something For Everybody<br />
is pure DEVO, mixing precise pop melodies with weirdo electro and<br />
a deeply cynical sense of humor. The band sounds like they haven’t<br />
lost a step from the early classics. From the quirky man-machine throb<br />
of “What We Do” to the bleepy pop of “Mind Games,” the record<br />
straddles the fine balance between new wave synthesizers and guitars<br />
like the best DEVO music always has. “Human Rocket” propels itself<br />
on an engine of synth percussion while “Please Baby Please” jazzes<br />
up a swing rhythm with Mark Mothersbaugh’s classic snarky delivery,<br />
squelching keyboards and an old school rock solo. At a time when<br />
culture is increasingly commoditized and pop music in particular seems<br />
to be the product of an ever devolving populace, DEVO’s brand of<br />
simple hooks and obtuse, if prescient, subject matter has never been<br />
more appropriate. Despite a few tracks hanging around the middle that<br />
feel less than enthralling, the record is A+ from top to bottom; whether<br />
it’s the dreamy balladry of “No Place Like Home” or the shiny, analog<br />
march and ray gun klaxons of “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man),” Something<br />
For Everybody ranks among the best DEVO albums. –Mike Rodgers<br />
EMERALDS<br />
DOES IT LOOK LIKE I’M HERE<br />
(EDITIONS MAGO)<br />
From the summer of 2009 through the dreary<br />
winter months of <strong>2010</strong>, Cleveland, Ohio’s<br />
Emeralds’ synthetic opus Does It Look Like I’m<br />
Here began to take form and was recorded.<br />
Slowly gathering pace and volume, the opening track “Goes By” is<br />
reminiscent of pixilated static as it begins to take shape into the absolute<br />
cybernetic organism this album is. Elements of both Brian Eno and<br />
Robert Fripp are pronounced, however, this Emeralds album attacks the<br />
senses (particularly on the title track) rather than layering coats of ambient<br />
ganache over your eardrums. Perhaps a departure from their earlier<br />
Hanson Records output, the trio of John Elliott, Steve Hauschildt and<br />
Mark McGuire has honed their craft. The album includes tracks from a<br />
limited 7” release on Wagon Records in addition to tracks exclusive to this<br />
Editions Mago release. Complex organic and digital compositions form a<br />
union not unlike Eluvium’s intricate musical layering, electronic pioneer<br />
Deiter Moebius’ (known for his work with Cluster) work, or fellow<br />
Ohioan and Burning Star Core member C Spencer Yeh’s experimental<br />
musings. In the future, this album will be seen as a crossroads for the<br />
band, marking the period when they graduated from a single synth set<br />
up to a more complicated musical arrangement, forming an original and<br />
intriguing new soundscape. –Emily Elhaj<br />
hank iii<br />
REBEL WITHIN<br />
(SIDEWALK)<br />
There’s nothing quite like good ol’ country<br />
music, and nowadays no one does it better<br />
than Hank Williams III. Rebel Within sheds<br />
much of the gutter thrash that had been creeping around III’s music<br />
and returns him back to Grand Ole Opry territory. It’s interesting<br />
that an artist that so closely hews to the traditional country template<br />
could both be ostracized by the country music world and embraced by<br />
metal heads and punks. Maybe it’s the integrity and honesty that’s so<br />
readily evident in III’s music The haunting “#5” lays out his troubles<br />
with addiction in such a straightforward way that at first it seems like<br />
another love-lost ballad until the bitter mentions of deaths, downers<br />
and needles bare his soul. Assjack didn’t completely bleed the crust<br />
out of Hank though; the title track lets a screaming III take backup<br />
vocal duties before dropping into a swirling, nasty guitar solo.<br />
His voice sounds stronger here than it has since Lovesick, Broke &<br />
Driftin’- his nasal high notes highlight the sorrow of “Gone But Not<br />
Forgotten” and add a douse of hillbilly speed to the tale of Popcorn<br />
Sutton on “Moonshiner’s Life.” The music is topnotch throughout<br />
Rebel Within, hitting those bluegrass tempos and delving deep into the<br />
cowboy singsong dirge of “Karmageddon”. What Hank Williams III<br />
understands is that country music has a place in people’s hearts, and<br />
not that polished, weak ass pop music that Nashville keeps dumping<br />
out, but real country. Music that evokes the hardships of everyday life<br />
with soul. Music about drinkin’ and living life hard.Nobody makes<br />
better country right now than Hank III. –Mike Rodgers<br />
HAPPY TALK BAND<br />
STARVE A FEVER<br />
(PIETY STREET)<br />
Late night Mimi’s bartender Luke Allen’s<br />
succinct, clever and often beautiful lyrics<br />
have helped make Happy Talk Band one of<br />
the city’s very few successful, popular, damn<br />
good original bands that is not fun-obsessed. For that alone they<br />
deserve thanks.<br />
Happy Talk’s last two hearty and consistent albums featured<br />
guitars, bass, drums and warm analog keys playing in an altcountry<br />
style, loyally following around the main guitar on which<br />
Allen probably wrote the songs, alone, in his bedroom. On the new<br />
Starve A Fever, the band – plus auxiliary member/producer Mark<br />
Bingham – stretch out, embellishing Allen’s straightforward ideas<br />
with thoughtful atmosphere. Happy Talk seems to have become a<br />
band with varied but interlocking ideas.<br />
While not as psychedelic as Wilco, Starve a Fever provides a lot<br />
more to pay attention to, musically. On the intros to “Not Accidental”<br />
and “Dr Ike’s Lament” (a song about the ironic insomnia suffered<br />
by the anesthesiologist who puts on the Ponderosa Stomp) the band<br />
plays so lightly it’s almost ambient. “Muggers Waltz” defends its<br />
subject via lullaby with lines like, “Muggers have bedtimes too,”<br />
against a gorgeously recorded odd backdrop of bells and Helen<br />
Gillet on cello. The compositionally eclectic “Fine” sounds so<br />
unique among the Happy Talk catalog that you’d almost suspect<br />
the band wrote it for Allen when he wasn’t around. Surprises have<br />
never been Happy Talk Band’s biggest strength (once you catch<br />
Allen’s drift, you’ve caught it), but Starve A Fever is definitely more<br />
instrumentally interesting.<br />
The expected is also here, such as Allen’s penchant for naming<br />
names: Here it’s “Allison,” “Addy, dear,” “Ramona” (who in<br />
this tale of Bywater recidivism is “riding her bike to the bar” as<br />
the Happy Talk boys sing a drunken gang vocal), and Gordo, the<br />
monkey the U.S. blasted into space. Like a good episode of Treme,<br />
Allen drops New Orleans signifiers like Bunny Bread and “woadie”<br />
on “Answer Me.” Even the stylized country moments (“All Played<br />
Out”) are enjoyable, if mostly for the perfect recording of perfect<br />
guitars played by Bailey Smith (Morning 40’s) and Alex McMurray<br />
(every other band), who provide authentic country tones and solos.<br />
–Michael Patrick Welch<br />
KATZENJAMMER<br />
LE POP<br />
(NETTWERK)<br />
Having first spotted these lovely lasses at<br />
Bonnaroo in 2009, I have been waiting<br />
rather impatiently for their first full U.S.<br />
release. Le Pop serves as a great introduction<br />
to American audiences and an admirable encapsulation of the<br />
group’s vast talent. Comprised of four young women from Norway,<br />
Katzenjammer is the epitome of a musician’s band. Each of the girls<br />
is adept at multiple instruments and they each spend the album (and<br />
live shows) jumping from the accordion to the banjo to the piano<br />
to the larger-than-life balalaika bass (the face of which is painted<br />
like a mischievous cat named Borge Dannson - you can friend him<br />
on facebook…seriously). Their style can range from sugary pop to<br />
Balkan folk and the vocals (also a duty the girls split) echo iconic<br />
female sirens from Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn to Janis Joplin<br />
and Ann Wilson.<br />
After a brief, somewhat creepy, accordion overture, the album<br />
rips wide open with the propulsive “A Bar in Amsterdam,” which is<br />
packed with blistering, mariachi-tinged horns alongside dexterous<br />
banjo and honeyed, but surly vocals. “Demon Kitty Rag” is<br />
dizzying fun – a charming piano jive chock full of tongue-in-cheek<br />
sweetness that never becomes cloying. “Tea With Cinnamon”<br />
is a slow, country-pop waltz with lush harmonies and heartland<br />
vocals. “Hey Ho On the Devil’s Back,” the darkest of the tracks,<br />
has a very traditional European folk sound – high drama, high<br />
intensity and an epic tale of supernatural struggle. The title track<br />
is careening pop chaos that would be at home swirling out of a<br />
French ice cream truck, while “Virginia Clemm” is full of romantic,<br />
Parisian accordion. “To The Sea” is pulled straight from the pages<br />
of traditional sea shanties while album closer “Ain’t No Thing”<br />
practically drips Mississippi Delta blues. “Play My Darling, Play”<br />
channels Celtic guitar while “Der Kapitan” (an instrumental track)<br />
bursts with militaristic horn work. The vast array of influences and<br />
styles these girls have mastered is nothing short of stunning. Their<br />
jovial aura gives each track a signature life and light, allowing the<br />
album to breeze effortlessly from open to close, leaving the listener<br />
intrigued and likely in a better mood. If you’re a fan of multicultural<br />
pop/folk and adorable girls in sundresses, do yourself a favor and<br />
pick up Le Pop as soon as possible. If it doesn’t make you smile, I’ll<br />
eat my hat. –Erin Hall<br />
LOVEY DOVIES<br />
LOVEY DOVIES<br />
(TUFF FUZZ)<br />
A friend of mine said to me recently, “If you<br />
are going to follow in a tradition, Dinosaur<br />
Jr. is a pretty good one to follow.” He was<br />
referring to the Lovey Dovies, the band<br />
that I was currently playing through our stereo at work, a band he<br />
actually thought to be Dinosaur Jr. – perhaps a recording he had<br />
not heard before somehow. I thought it was funny to hear that from<br />
him, because upon first visiting the Lovey Dovies self-titled album<br />
a few weeks before this occasion, I had the very same thoughts.<br />
It is not that the Lovey Dovies sound like a rip-off Dino act and<br />
I certainly don’t mean to slight their sound this way, but their<br />
MUSIC REVIEWS SPONSORED BY THE OFFICIAL RECORD STORE OF ANTIGRAVITY<br />
21
REVIEWS<br />
music brings me to a place very similar to the one I find myself<br />
in when listening to Dino or other likeminded rock acts. There<br />
exists an immediate warmth in their sound amidst the fuzzed-out<br />
maundering of the guitar, the bass-lines that ensure head nodding<br />
(and alternatively banging), and the drums that abuse the cymbals<br />
to wonderful effect and work with the bass to truly drive the music<br />
home.<br />
At a terse 29 minutes over the course of nine songs, the<br />
tracks fly by with ease, while managing to grab your attention<br />
straight off as well. Opener “Sheepskin and Stone” hits<br />
immediately with the undertones of the bass, only to open up<br />
to a head back, eyes-to-the-sky chorus of huge proportions.<br />
Put simply, these guys rock in a way that makes me envision<br />
myself in a car, windows down with buddies, doing 100mph<br />
on the highway, cigarette in hand, on my way to anywhere<br />
that may have me. While “Stained Sleeve” is my favorite cut<br />
at this point (that changes with almost every listen), there is<br />
not a single throwaway track on the album. The Lovey Dovies<br />
impress time and again on this debut album and lucky for us,<br />
they are in local touring mode right now. Go check them out,<br />
because they rule. –Dan Mitchell<br />
Nachtmystium, a metal group formed in<br />
Chicago by primary member/ guitarist/<br />
vocalist Blake Judd, has gone through some<br />
serious changes in sound and direction over<br />
the course of their twelve-year career. Starting out with extremely<br />
lo-fi recordings akin to early ‘90s black metal (think Darkthrone<br />
circa ’92-’93) and moving forward with each release to incorporate<br />
new influences and shed their corpse paint of old, the Nachtmystium<br />
we have today sounds very little like the band of yesteryear. To black<br />
metal purists, this kind of trajectory may seem ill-advised, but for<br />
those who appreciate diversity and forward thinking in their extreme<br />
metal, Nachtmystium should certainly be at the top of your list of<br />
favorite bands. The change from traditional black (i.e. Scandinavian)<br />
metal really started for these guys back in 2006 with the album<br />
Instinct: Decay. Amidst the primordial sludge, new elements began<br />
creeping into their sound that saw the band expanding. However, it<br />
was 2008’s Assassins: Black Meddle Part I that really stood out as<br />
being something entirely different. Praised universally, this album<br />
took extreme metal to a completely new level – a psychedelic one.<br />
So where does a band go after garnering such positive applause<br />
for its newfound psychedelic sound For Nachtmystium, they<br />
go to the chilly, abandoned, industrial buildings of the ‘80s and<br />
make an album at once dreary and hopeless, while, dare I say,<br />
also somewhat catchy. Hardly gone is the edge to the sound; Judd<br />
still coarsely howls over the tracks, spewing lyrics to be described<br />
as desperate and downtrodden at best. And there are moments of<br />
absolute brutality; tracks like “High on Hate” and the pummeling<br />
breakdown on “Blood Trance Fusion” exhibit it perfectly. It is<br />
hard, though, to deny inherent catchiness of the hook during the<br />
tambourine-percussed “Nightfall,” the bounce of “No Funeral” or<br />
the soaring chorus of “Addicts.” I go back and forth with Addicts, at<br />
times thoroughly enjoying the ‘pop’ (relatively speaking) sensibility<br />
running through it and at times feeling a bit disappointed. While it is<br />
certainly no Assassins, it is still better than most metal bands could<br />
ever hope to put together. –Dan Mitchell<br />
STARS<br />
FIVE GHOSTS<br />
(VAGRANT)<br />
Stars may be a Canadian band, but their rise to<br />
fame came after they embraced Europe and its<br />
love of synthesizers. After the release of the<br />
much-acclaimed Set Yourself on Fire, Stars<br />
became one of the best-known Canuck outfits. Songs like “Ageless<br />
Beauty” and the title track made use of dominant synth parts and<br />
well-developed choruses, and they came into heavy rotation around<br />
the same time that Death Cab for Cutie was becoming mainstream.<br />
Stars followed that success with 2007’s In Our Bedroom After the<br />
War, which received a nomination for a Polaris Prize. After a threeyear<br />
hiatus, lead vocalist Torquil Campbell and his band mates are<br />
back with Five Ghosts, which sees the group returning to some<br />
familiar territories and key signatures.<br />
Fans of Stars will not be disappointed by this release; Five Ghosts<br />
has several big numbers that employ soaring choruses and lush chord<br />
structures, qualities that listeners have come to expect from the band.<br />
“I Died So I Could Haunt You” is both moody and upbeat, and it<br />
22<br />
NACHTMYSTIUM<br />
ADDICTS: BLACK MEDDLE, PT. II<br />
(CENTURY MEDIA)<br />
reflects the overall appeal of the band after four full-length releases.<br />
However, the individual parts present on Ghosts never quite click.<br />
The album lacks the same emotional punch of Fire. While Five<br />
Ghosts addresses lots of love and death – see “Dead Hearts” and<br />
“How Much More” – the album ends up falling short of the band’s<br />
desire for intimacy and poignancy.<br />
The songs are all pleasant, but they do not always engage the<br />
listener. Some of the problem is the record’s muffled mixing, which<br />
muddles the melodies and the background voices. However, many<br />
of the album’s weaknesses stem from the group’s construction of<br />
moments instead of coherent musical structures. Sometimes the<br />
band works so hard to achieve euphoria that it loses sight of the big<br />
picture.<br />
Five Ghosts is a pleasant listen, and it will appeal to folks looking<br />
for a down-tempo dance party. However, the emotional melodies are<br />
relegated to topical sensations that fade shortly after the record runs<br />
down. –Bryan A. Davis<br />
SWEET APPLE<br />
LOVE & DESPERATION<br />
(TEE PEE)<br />
Sweet Apple seems like a really good idea.<br />
Pair up Cobra Verde’s John Petkovic and<br />
J. Mascis on a throwback, ‘70s arena rock<br />
project and what could go awry The fact is<br />
Love & Desperation is simply mediocre with a few bright spots to<br />
show you what the group is capable of. Opener “Do You Remember”<br />
is perfunctory, its power pop riffs dotted with piano stabs and an<br />
appropriately hooky chorus while “Flying Up a Mountain” drapes a<br />
pop hook in bluesy crunch. The song provides some of the brighter<br />
lyrical moments of the album with gems like, “I wasn’t born, I<br />
was detached,” defining the tongue-in-cheek approach to grief that<br />
fills the album. “I’ve Got a Feeling (That Won’t Change)” is the<br />
record’s high water mark. The track’s gentle pop riffs and Mascis’<br />
trademark vocals add up to a fun two minutes, but it’s telling to<br />
note that the album’s best song is the one that most resembles a<br />
Dinosaur Jr. cut. The rest of Love & Desperation simply rides the<br />
earlier songs’ momentum. Each one is a slice of radio friendly rock<br />
-- light hearted and fun, but just not very compelling. “Dead Moon”<br />
is a faux-Zeppelin breeze, “Hold Me, I’m Dying” apes a glam rock<br />
stomp and “Somebody Else’s Problem” does its best to sound like a<br />
Cheap Trick deep cut, but nothing comes close to even the moderate<br />
fun the opening quarter provides. Love & Desperation is simply<br />
uninspiring, making Sweet Apple more a diversion than an exciting<br />
new band. –Mike Rodgers<br />
WATAIN<br />
LAWLESS DARKNESS<br />
(SEASONS OF MIST)<br />
“We are the Devil’s emissaries, and we<br />
have come to do his work.” These words<br />
from Eric Danielsson, the bassist, vocalist<br />
and primary spokesman of Watain, taken<br />
from an interview conducted by Brandon Stosuy back in May,<br />
truly explains what Watain is all about, in both their music and<br />
their beliefs. It may be of note to talk about the (real) goat’s<br />
blood these guys spew on crowds at their shows or the fact that an<br />
interviewer found leader Danielsson living in their studio a year<br />
or so ago amongst rotting animal carcasses and “cartons of putrid<br />
animal blood.” Nevertheless, this type of ritualistic living taken<br />
up by these three Swedes is but one facet of the band. The other,<br />
of course, is the music. And if their practices seem extreme, just<br />
listen to their music.<br />
Formed over a decade ago in the Swedish city of Uppsala,<br />
this three-piece – also featuring Pelle Forsberg on guitar and<br />
Hakan Jonsson and drums – has recorded three tremendous black<br />
metal albums dating back to 2000’s Rabid Death’s Curse, and<br />
now unleash upon the world their fourth epic, entitled Lawless<br />
Darkness, here in <strong>2010</strong>. Where past releases, especially 2007’s<br />
Sworn to the Dark, have garnered the band recognition in metal<br />
circles, it is their newest offering that truly pushes Watain past<br />
contemporaneous groups and onto a platform of their own. The<br />
album is ten songs long, not including the bonus track “Chains<br />
of Death,” and runs for a whopping 79 minutes, without a single<br />
track under five minutes in length. While Sworn may have<br />
recalled Sons of Northern Darkness-era Immortal in its intensity<br />
and riffage, Lawless is a bit of a different beast. It’s not that<br />
Watain has lost anything in force and power here – they haven’t –<br />
its just this time around, the songs exhibit a maturity in structure<br />
and sound that proves a step forward for the band. Watain is<br />
perhaps the best traditional black metal group of the past ten<br />
years and this dark, twisted monster of an album only bolsters<br />
that case. –Dan Mitchell<br />
WOLF PARADE<br />
EXPO ’86<br />
(SUB POP)<br />
Since establishing themselves as perhaps<br />
the preeminent indie rock band back in 2005<br />
with the release of their outstanding debut<br />
album Apologies to the Queen Mary, the men<br />
in Wolf Parade have been busy, especially the two group leaders<br />
Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner. Krug, the more prolific of the two,<br />
has released at least eight records with three groups and has put out<br />
one solo record as Moonface, while Boeckner, in turn, has released<br />
two full-lengths with his electro-rock group the Handsome Furs, a<br />
collaborative endeavor with his wife Alexei Perry. So yeah, busy<br />
is one word to describe them. On top of all that, they found time in<br />
their packed schedules to come together to release their sophomore<br />
outing as Wolf Parade in 2008, entitled At Mount. Zoomer.<br />
It has been two years since Zoomer and we now finally get an<br />
all-new Wolf Parade album, an eleven-song collection called Expo<br />
86. To me, it seemed as if WP was not firing on all cylinders on<br />
Zoomer, perhaps due to the members’ involvement in such myriad<br />
other projects. Not to say that I disliked the album, but it lacked<br />
the cohesion and propulsion of Apologies; Expo 86 is another story<br />
entirely. Right from the get-go, with the excellent Krug-led “Cloud<br />
Shadow on the Mountain,” Wolf Parade sound as tight as they ever<br />
have before, and this consistency and solidarity does not relent over<br />
the eleven tracks. As always, the tracks are split down the middle<br />
with Krug and Boeckner alternating as frontmen. This time Krug<br />
takes six cuts, with “Two Men in New Tuxedos,” the aforementioned<br />
opening track and the brilliant closer “Cave-O-Sapien” standing out<br />
above the rest. Typically, Krug gets more praise than Boeckner for<br />
his unique poetics and dense songwriting, but Boeckner stands tall<br />
here with “Little Golden Age,” “Yulia” and “Pobody’s Nerfect” all<br />
working as some of the best songs he has ever penned. On Expo 86,<br />
the men of Wolf Parade work as a team and reclaim their crown as<br />
the kings of indie rock. It feels good to have them back in such prime<br />
form. –Dan Mitchell<br />
XASTHUR<br />
PORTAL OF SORROW<br />
(HYDRA HEAD)<br />
Xasthur has been the hateful center of<br />
the USBM scene. His ghastly howls and<br />
complex, dilapidated arrangements have<br />
earned him a cult following. It’s too bad<br />
then that Portal of Sorrow is said to be Xasthur’s last record, as its<br />
added musical styles and horrific tone push Malefic’s compositions<br />
to new levels. Xasthur has been consistently moving further away<br />
from metal into black ambience, but this record finds the perfect<br />
medium between the two styles. The trappings of extreme metal<br />
– quick tempos, grinding guitars, screaming vocals – are dotted<br />
across the record, but counter-pointed by dark ambience and gothic<br />
towers of sound. At a time when black metal is becoming more and<br />
more popular, it’s interesting to note that Xasthur is pushing further<br />
from the mainstream. The record utilizes acoustic guitars regularly,<br />
adding a level of organic sound. “Broken Glass<br />
Christening” pairs wet-box, blast-beat drumming with distorted<br />
keys to create a pseudo-metal grind that leads to a heavy riff buried<br />
under piano and wails. The addition of Marissa Nadler provides an<br />
interesting juxtaposition within the music. Her ghostly voice floats<br />
above the grimy moan of “This Abyss Holds the Mirror” while<br />
Malefic’s growls lurk below the surface. Xasthur is more concerned<br />
with mood and exploring the more subtle aspects of darkness. Bleak<br />
instead of grandiose, self-hating instead of confrontational, Portal<br />
of Sorrow is despair personified. I wait in anticipation for whatever<br />
direction Malefic takes next. –Mike Rodgers<br />
BOOK & FILM REVIEWS<br />
BRETT EASTON ELLIS<br />
IMPERIAL BEDROOMS<br />
(KNOPF)<br />
Less Than Zero is often remembered more<br />
as a cultural artifact than a novel. It detailed<br />
the vapid, corrupt lives of rich, L.A. teens<br />
in the high and bright ‘80s and brought its<br />
young author into the realm of stardom. Now<br />
over twenty years later, Ellis returns to those<br />
characters to sneak a glimpse of their lives<br />
circa <strong>2010</strong>. And it’s not pretty. Following Clay, Blair, Julian and<br />
Rip once more, Imperial Bedrooms is less the sequel it’s billed as<br />
and more of a vicious comment on both the work that built his career
REVIEWS<br />
and the kind of depraved culture victims that still populate the seedy side of Hollywood. Clay returns once<br />
more to L.A., this time as a screenwriter for a new film cheekily entitled The Listeners. The plot opens like<br />
most of Ellis’ work, narrating the ins and outs of high society in a detached, hyper-detailed way, while a<br />
plot slowly begins to surface. Mystery begins to cloud the book and soon the characters are caught in a<br />
web of espionage, murder and sex that their emotionless psyches are ill equipped to deal with. It’s not that<br />
over the years Ellis has become a different writer – just a better one. He deftly weaves threads of tension,<br />
hidden agendas and surprising, even shocking moments of violence into his milieu of insubstantial parties and<br />
circular conversations, letting the reader come away with not only a breathless new story, but insights that<br />
reshape Less Than Zero as well. There are interesting meta-moments throughout Imperial Bedrooms: Clay<br />
details the book that was written about them and the movie made from the book, taking potshots at the cleanup<br />
job Hollywood had perpetrated on their sad story. It’s just another way that Ellis has improved as a writer<br />
since his debut. At just over 150 pages, Imperial Bedrooms is more a novella than anything, but the story’s<br />
brisk pace, the arid nature of the prose and the initial impact of the book’s gruesome, heartlessly cruel climax<br />
all benefit from the precise, sharp nature of Ellis’ voice. –Mike Rodgers<br />
JUAN JOSE CAMPANELLA<br />
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES<br />
(SONY PICTURES CLASSICS)<br />
“The eyes...speak’” is one of many declarative discoveries in Argentinean filmmaker<br />
Juan Jose Campanella’s <strong>2010</strong> Best Foreign Film The Secret In Their Eyes. This<br />
enthralling tragedy unravels a cloak-and-dagger case alongside the characters left to<br />
piece together the unjust and tragically fatal rape of a beautiful young woman, with a<br />
widower left vengefully frozen in time. Part murder-mystery, part thriller, this picture<br />
is touching, clever and captivating from the initial suffering through a string of hidden<br />
truths that ultimately lead to unearthing the most shocking of secrets.<br />
“His future was full of nothing,” the voiceover narration laments after Ricardo<br />
Morales (Pablo Rago) comes home to find his twenty three year old wife bloody and<br />
mangled across the couple’s shared bed. Morales spends the rest of his life obsessing over the loss of his love,<br />
and Benjamin – the federal agent assigned to the case (and first to arrive at the scene of the crime) – thereafter<br />
spends most of his years consumed by this incident and its key subjects, both dead and alive. Emblematic of<br />
South American storytelling’s convoluted romanticism, Benjamin is so deeply disturbed by this abrupt end of<br />
an affair due to the pent up adoration he holds for his boss, Irene, also entwined in the incident’s aftermath.<br />
Campanella strikes with swift scene transitions and cuts with an unrelenting forward motion, but never<br />
lingers, gracing the audience with few wide shots and a smattering of long takes. Still, as comedy is weaved<br />
into the suspense, one is forced to swallow a strong dose of emotional conflict synced with the thrill. The<br />
Secret also successfully maps out a heavy script packed with conversational dialog and an intellectual voiceover<br />
(providing the audience an intimacy with Benjamin’s inner sentiments and thoughts). In those camera<br />
moments not displayed through blurred close-ups and a frequently hyperactive focus lens, the direction<br />
resembles certain theatrical inclinations, such as blocked shots that produce a premeditated composition of<br />
mise-en-scene. The Secret In Their Eyes gracefully dances with multiple genres and styles, maintaining a<br />
refreshing quality resulting in unpredictable conclusions. The film stares point blank at death, loss, memory<br />
(“or memories of memories”), and challenges one’s ability to live with and without not only the unattainable,<br />
but more importantly, what’s behind closed doors. –Laine Kaplan-Levenson<br />
ROLLER<br />
DERBY<br />
The University of New Orleans<br />
Human Performance Center<br />
(on the corner of Leon C. Simon & Elysian Fields)<br />
s a t u r d a y<br />
07.24.10<br />
Doubleheader!<br />
BERG AllStars<br />
vs.<br />
Oklahoma Victory Dolls<br />
Doors at 5pm<br />
Action at 6pm<br />
Crescent Wenches<br />
vs.<br />
Chattanooga Roller Girls<br />
$12 in advance | $15 at the door<br />
TICKETS<br />
AVAILABLE<br />
Tickets<br />
NOW<br />
Available<br />
from<br />
www.bigeasyrollergirls.com<br />
www.BIGEASYROLLERGIRLS.com<br />
$12 in advance | $15 at the door<br />
23
EVENTS<br />
N.O. VENUES<br />
All-Ways Lounge/Marigny Theatre, 2240 St. Claude Ave., (504) 218-5778, marignytheatre.org<br />
Banks St. Bar And Grill, 4401 Banks St., (504) 486-0258, www.banksstreetbar.com<br />
Barrister’s Art Gallery, 2331 St. Claude Ave.<br />
Bayou Park Bar, 542 S. Jeff. Davis Pkwy.<br />
The Big Top, 1638 Clio St., (504) 569-2700, www.3ringcircusproductions.com<br />
The Blue Nile, 534 Frenchmen St., (504) 948-2583<br />
Broadmoor House, 4127 Walmsley, (504) 821-2434<br />
Carrollton Station, 8140 Willow St., (504) 865-9190, www.carrolltonstation.com<br />
Checkpoint Charlie’s, 501 Esplanade Ave., (504) 947-0979<br />
Chickie Wah Wah, 2828 Canal Street (504) 304-4714, www.chickiewahwah.com<br />
Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., (504) 588-2616, www.circlebar.net<br />
Club 300, 300 Decatur Street, www.neworleansjazzbistro.com<br />
The Country Club, 634 Louisa St., (504) 945-0742, www.countryclubneworleans.com<br />
d.b.a., 618 Frenchmen St., (504) 942-373, www.drinkgoodstuff.com/no<br />
Der Rathskeller (Tulane’s Campus), McAlister Dr., http://wtul.fm<br />
Dragon’s Den, 435 Esplanade Ave., http://myspace.com/dragonsdennola<br />
Eldon’s House, 3055 Royal Street, arlovanderbel@hotmail.com<br />
Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge, 1500 N. Claiborne Ave.<br />
Fair Grinds Coffee House, 3133 Ponce de Leon, (504) 913-9072, www.fairgrinds.com<br />
Fuel Coffee House, 4807 <strong>Magazine</strong> St. (504) 895-5757<br />
Goldmine Saloon, 701 Dauphine St., (504) 586-0745, www.goldminesaloon.net<br />
The Green Space, 2831 Marais Street (504) 945-0240, www.thegreenproject.org<br />
Handsome Willy’s, 218 S. Robertson St., (504) 525-0377, http://handsomewillys.com<br />
The Hangar, 1511 S. Rendon. (504) 827-7419<br />
Hi-Ho Lounge, 2239 St. Claude Ave. (504) 945-4446, www.myspace.com/hiholounge<br />
The Hookah, 309 Decatur St. (504-943-1101), hookah-club.com<br />
Hot Iron Press Plant, 1420 Kentucky Ave., hotironpress@hotmail.com<br />
House Of Blues / The Parish, 225 Decatur, (504)310-4999, www.hob.com/neworleans<br />
The Howlin’ Wolf, 907 S. Peters, (504) 522-WOLF, www.thehowlinwolf.com<br />
Kajun’s Pub, 2256 St. Claude Avenue (504) 947-3735, www.myspace.com/kajunspub<br />
Kim’s 940, 940 Elysian Fields, (504) 844-4888<br />
The Kingpin, 1307 Lyons St., (504) 891-2373<br />
Le Bon Temps Roule, 4801 <strong>Magazine</strong> St., (504) 895-8117<br />
Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 581-5812, www.cabaretlechatnoir.com<br />
Lyceum Central, 618 City Park Ave., (410) 523-4182, http://lyceumproject.com<br />
Lyon’s Club, 2920 Arlington St.<br />
The Maison, 508 Frenchmen St., maisonfrenchmen.com<br />
Mama’s Blues, 616 N. Rampart St., (504) 453-9290<br />
Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak St., (504) 866-9359<br />
Marlene’s Place, 3715 Tchoupitoulas, (504) 897-3415, www.myspace.com/marlenesplace<br />
McKeown’s Books, 4737 Tchoupitoulas, (504) 895-1954, http://mckeownsbooks.net<br />
Melvin’s, 2112 St. Claude Ave.<br />
MVC, 9800 Westbank Expressway, (504) 234-2331, www.themvc.net<br />
Neutral Ground Coffee House, 5110 Danneel St., (504) 891-3381, www.neutralground.org<br />
Nowe Miasto, 223 Jane Pl., (504) 821-6721<br />
Ogden Museum, 925 Camp St., (504) 539-9600<br />
One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., (504) 569-8361, www.oneeyedjacks.net<br />
Outer Banks, 2401 Palmyra (at S. Tonti), (504) 628-5976, www.myspace.com/outerbanksmidcity<br />
Republic, 828 S. Peters St., (504) 528-8282, www.republicnola.com<br />
Rusty Nail, 1100 Constance Street (504) 525-5515, www.therustynail.org/<br />
The Saturn Bar, 3067 St. Claude Ave., www.myspace.com/saturnbar<br />
Side Arm Gallery, 1122 St. Roch Ave., (504) 218-8379, www.sidearmgallery.org<br />
Southport Hall, 200 Monticello Ave., (504) 835-2903, www.newsouthport.com<br />
The Spellcaster Lodge, 3052 St. Claude Avenue, www.quintonandmisspussycat.com<br />
St. Roch Taverne, 1200 St. Roch Ave., (504) 945-0194<br />
Tipitina’s, (Uptown) 501 Napoleon Ave., (504) 895-8477 (Downtown) 233 N. Peters, www.tipitinas.com<br />
The Zeitgeist, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., (504) 827-5858, www.zeitgeistinc.net<br />
Vintage Uptown, 4523 <strong>Magazine</strong> St., askmexico@gmail.com<br />
METAIRIE VENUES<br />
The Bar, 3224 Edenborn, myspace.com/thebarrocks<br />
The High Ground, 3612 Hessmer Ave., Metairie, (504) 525-0377, www.thehighgroundvenue.com<br />
24<br />
THURSDAY 7/1<br />
The Abney Effect, The Maison, 9pm<br />
Gulf Coast Benefit w/ Galactic, Ivan Neville, Coco<br />
Robicheaux, Rotary Downs, Joe Krown Trio, John<br />
Gros, We Are One Brass Band, Young Fellaz Brass<br />
Band, Tipitina’s, 9pm, $15<br />
Natalie Palms w/ The Jamesons, Hannah Kreiger-<br />
Benson, Circle Bar<br />
Paul Sanchez, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Red Dog Album Release Party, The Maison<br />
(Penthouse), 8pm<br />
Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Vivian Green, House Of Blues, 9pm<br />
FRIDAY 7/2<br />
ActionActionReaction Indie Dance Party, Circle Bar<br />
Earphunk, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, Country<br />
Fried, Tipitina’s, 10pm, FREE<br />
Hot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
The Iguanas, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Izzy and the Hesstronics, The Maison, 10pm<br />
Leroy Jones Quartet, Antoine’s Hermes Bar, 9:30pm,<br />
11pm<br />
Lovehog, Underwater Aces, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Robert Meachem & Tracy Porter’s Official Essence<br />
Kickoff Party w/ EF Cuttin’, The Hookah, 10pm<br />
Soul Rebels, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Steve Eck and the Midnight Still, Natalie Mae, The<br />
Long Tangles, Saturn Bar, 10pm, $5<br />
SATURDAY 7/3<br />
AG Strongly Recommends: Benefit for Dave<br />
“Dee Slut” Turgeon f/ The Sluts, Die Rotzz, Guitar<br />
Lightnin’ Lee, The Unnaturals, Miss Kitty Lynn,<br />
Velveteen Elvis, Happy Talk, The Bastard Sons of<br />
Marvin Hirsch, Lonely Nights, DJ Team Hardhat,<br />
Hi-Ho Lounge, 8pm, $10<br />
Art of Luxury Black & White Exclusive w/ Doug E.<br />
Fresh (Live In Person), Juvenile, DJ Biz Markie and<br />
more, House Of Blues, 10pm<br />
Celebrity Day Event w/ Idris Elba, Ryan Cameron,<br />
DJ Biz Markie, Al B. Sure, DJ Vince Adams, House<br />
Of Blues, 1pm<br />
Dappa, Blue Nile (Upstairs), 9pm<br />
Dirty Bourbon River Show Album Release Party<br />
w/ DeBauche and the Tillie Vermillion Burlesque<br />
Troupe w/ Dorian Frost and Jessica Dennuit, Banks<br />
Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Glen David Andrews, Antoine’s Hermes Bar,<br />
9:30pm, 11pm<br />
Legally Blind, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Little Freddie King, d.b.a., 11pm, $5<br />
Marc Stone, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm<br />
Shamarr Allen’s 3rd Annual B-Day Bash f/ Shamarr<br />
Allen and the Underdawgs and Special Guests,<br />
Tipitina’s, 10pm, $10<br />
Spickle, Hostile Apostle, Circle Bar<br />
SUNDAY 7/4<br />
The A-List Special Essence Party, The Hookah,<br />
10pm<br />
Hat Talk and Special Guests, Banks Street Bar &<br />
Grill, 9pm<br />
Lost Grips, Circle Bar<br />
World Be Freeman, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
MONDAY 7/5<br />
Head Case, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
Rooney, The Young Veins, Republic, 8pm, $15<br />
TUESDAY 7/6<br />
Debauche, My Graveyard Jaw, Felix, Hi-Ho Lounge,<br />
10pm<br />
TUESDAY 7/6 (Cont...)<br />
Michael Shaefer, Circle Bar<br />
Open Ears Music Series w/ Music Mash Up v.3.0,<br />
Blue Nile, 10pm<br />
WEDNESDAY 7/7<br />
The Geraniums, Circle Bar<br />
The Mirlitones, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
THURSDAY 7/8<br />
Big Soda Band, PS Eliot, Banks Street Bar & Grill,<br />
11:30pm<br />
Homegrown Night w/ Raw Revolution, Official<br />
Business Entertainment, Tipitina’s, 8:30pm<br />
My Graveyard Jaw, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Proud Father Radical Temple, The Maison, 10pm<br />
R. Scully and the Rough Seven, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Soul Project, The Maison, 9pm<br />
Woven Bones, Giant Cloud, Moon Dudes, Circle Bar<br />
FRIDAY 7/9<br />
Adopt a Unit Fundraiser f/ Fleur de Tease, Morgan<br />
La Rue, Eudora and Depp Soul, Mahayla, Alias<br />
Orion, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Flow Tribe, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Jak Locke Green Genes, The Maison (Penthouse),<br />
10pm<br />
Jamie Cullum, Julian Velard, House Of Blues, 8pm<br />
Krewe of Dead Pelicans Benefit for ProtectOurCoast.<br />
org w/ Pair-O-Dice Tumblers Brass Band, Hi-Ho<br />
Lounge, 9pm<br />
Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Mia Borders, The Maison, 10:30pm<br />
Panorama Jazz Band, Antoine’s Hermes Bar,<br />
9:30pm, 11pm<br />
The Space Heaters, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Terranova, The Bar, 10pm, $5<br />
The Tom Paines Album Release Party, One Eyed Jacks<br />
Walter Wolfman Washington, Tipitina’s, 10pm,<br />
FREE<br />
Yojimbo, The Maison, Midnight<br />
Zing!Zing!, Republic, 10pm, $5<br />
SATURDAY 7/10<br />
Alex McMurray w/ Bill Malchow, Antoine’s Hermes<br />
Bar, 9:30pm, 11pm<br />
B. Sterling Band, Café Prytania, 9:45pm<br />
Benefit for Big-Arian Maecklin f/ Stooges Brass<br />
Band, Hot 8 Brass Band, Free Agents, TBC, We Are<br />
One, Kin Folks, All-Stars, Tipitina’s, 9pm, $10<br />
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, d.b.a., 11pm, $5<br />
Big Rock Candy Mountain, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Bionica, Blue Nile (Upstairs)<br />
ELLE!oh!Elle, The American Tragedy, Through<br />
Heidi’s Eyes, House Of Blues, 6pm<br />
Jak Locke and Green Genes, The Maison<br />
(Penthouse), 10pm<br />
Kevin O’Day and James Andrews All-Star Band,<br />
Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Marlon Jordan, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm<br />
Ola Podrida, Benjamin Jones, Julie Odell, Circle Bar<br />
The Revealers, The Maison, 10pm<br />
Slow Burn Burlesque and Grindin Diamonds Present:<br />
South of Heaven, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Stix duh Clown, Spirit Family Reunion, Hi-Ho<br />
Lounge, 10pm<br />
Turnip Greens, Wilson & Moore, La. Music Factory,<br />
2pm<br />
SUNDAY 7/11<br />
The Geraniums, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Girlfriends, The Dives, Dead People, Circle Bar<br />
Gorilla Productions’ Battle of the Bands, Howlin’<br />
Wolf
EVENTS<br />
SUNDAY 7/11 (Cont...)<br />
Marc Stone, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
The Turnip Greens, Banks Street Bar & Grill,<br />
4pm<br />
MONDAY 7/12<br />
Defend New Orleans Presents Bob Log III<br />
w/ Molly Gene One Whoaman Band, Dirty<br />
Bourbon River, One Eyed Jacks<br />
The N’awlins Johnnys, Banks Street Bar &<br />
Grill, 10pm<br />
The Preservation, Country Fried, Circle Bar<br />
TUESDAY 7/13<br />
Curren$y Album Release Party, Republic, 9pm,<br />
FREE<br />
Open Ears Music Series w/ WATIV, Blue Nile,<br />
10pm<br />
Turnip Greens, Circle Bar<br />
WEDNESDAY 7/14<br />
Creepy Fest <strong>2010</strong> w/ Guantanamo Baywatch,<br />
The Unnaturals, The Dives, Circle Bar, 10pm,<br />
FREE<br />
OTP, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE, Stray From<br />
the Path, Bury Tomorrow, The Parish @ House<br />
Of Blues, 8pm<br />
The Protomen w/ Super 8 Bit Brothers, The<br />
Adventures of Duane and Brando, One Eyed<br />
Jacks<br />
The Unnaturals, Guantanamo Baywatch, Circle<br />
Bar<br />
THURSDAY 7/15<br />
The Abney Effect, The Maison, 9pm<br />
Andrew Duhon, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Aquarium Drunkard Presents Roadside Graves,<br />
Futurebirds, The Blue Party, One Eyed Jacks<br />
Creepy Fest w/ Concrete Shoes, Donkey<br />
Puncher, Nemesis Destroyer, Outer Banks,<br />
10pm, FREE<br />
George French, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Happy Jack Frequency, The Maison, 9pm<br />
FRIDAY 7/16<br />
Big Rock Candy Mountain, Vox and Hound,<br />
Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Booty Trove, Republic, 10pm, $5<br />
Chris Duhon’s Stand Tall Foundation Presents:<br />
The Dynamic Duo of Comedy f/ JJ Williamson<br />
and Debra Terry, House Of Blues, 6:30pm, 8pm<br />
Creepy Fest w/ Nassty Habits, Toxic Rott, The<br />
Bills, Makeshift Lover, The Saint, 10pm, FREE<br />
Felix, Lovey Dovies, Glorybee, Circle Bar<br />
Good Enough for Good Times, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
Groovesect, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Honey Island Swamp Band, The Tangle,<br />
Tipitina’s, 10pm, FREE<br />
Hot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers, Blue<br />
Nile, 11pm<br />
Platform One, Howlin’ Wolf, 9pm, $45<br />
Shannon Powell Trio, Antoine’s Hermes Bar,<br />
9:30pm, 11pm<br />
Southern Gothic Festival, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
SATURDAY 7/17<br />
6 Pack Deep, The Maison (Penthouse), 10pm<br />
A.J. Loria, Troy Turner, La. Music Factory,<br />
2pm<br />
Barbara Menendez and the Help, Carrollton<br />
Station, 10pm<br />
Becky’s Birthday Bash w/ Meadowflow, The<br />
Bad Assets, Banks Street Bar & Grill<br />
Creepy Fest w/ the Pallbearers, Crotchbreaker,<br />
VapoRats, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm, FREE<br />
DJ MC Microphone Off the Dome Emcee<br />
Competition, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Easy Company, The Maison, 10pm<br />
Groovesect, Gravy, Tipitina’s, 10pm, $8<br />
Ingrid Lucia, Antoine’s Hermes Bar, 9:30pm,<br />
11pm<br />
The New Orleans Bingo! Show, One Eyed<br />
Jacks<br />
OTRA, d.b.a., 11pm, $5<br />
Robert Fortune, Blue Nile, 9pm<br />
Southern Gothic Festival, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
The Viatones, Child Bite, Circle Bar<br />
SUNDAY 7/18<br />
Creepy Fest w/ The Poots’ Album Release<br />
Party, The Split()Lips, Red Dons, Dummy<br />
Dumpster, Saturn Bar, 10pm<br />
Kristin Diable, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Lonely Horse, Circle Bar<br />
Marc Stone, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
MONDAY 7/19<br />
Cointreau Presents: An Evening With Dita Von<br />
Teese, House Of Blues, 9pm<br />
Earphunk w/ Special Guests, Banks Street Bar<br />
& Grill, 10pm<br />
TUESDAY 7/20<br />
Clarence “Trixzey” Slaughter’s Exclusive<br />
Birthday Party, Blue Nile, 10pm<br />
Cointreau Presents: An Evening With Dita Von<br />
Teese, House Of Blues, 9pm<br />
Man at Home, Summer Pledge, High in One<br />
Eye, Circle Bar<br />
Open Music Series w/ Naked Orchestra, Blue<br />
Nile (Upstairs), 10pm<br />
WEDNESDAY 7/21<br />
Reverend Beat-Man, One Eyed Jacks<br />
Sons of an Illustrious Father, Meg Roussel,<br />
Mallory, Circle Bar<br />
THURSDAY 7/22<br />
Armandos Comedy/Sketch Show Encore, One<br />
Eyed Jacks, 8pm<br />
Bounce w/ DJ Jubilee, Big Freedia, Jean Eric,<br />
Katey Red, Rusty Lazer, Republic, 10pm, $8<br />
($5 w/ Student ID)<br />
Drivin N’ Cryin, Tipitina’s, 10pm, $15<br />
Legalpalooza! 2nd Annual NOBA YLS Charity<br />
Concert, The Parish @ House Of Blues, 7pm<br />
Soul Project, The Maison, 9pm<br />
Velveteen Elvis, Circle Bar, 10pm<br />
FRIDAY 7/23<br />
<strong>2010</strong> New Orleans Beatles Festival f/ The<br />
Topcats, Chuck Credo IV, Beatin’ Path, Wings’<br />
Thaddeus Richard and Various Artists, House<br />
Of Blues, 9pm<br />
Brass Bed, Empress Hotel, Native America,<br />
Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Quintron and Miss Pussycat Tour Diary, Continued<br />
from Page 17...<br />
of the back door. The people seemed perplexed and joked as P and I<br />
set up the puppet theatre and the bartender seemed like he was waiting<br />
for any opportunity to smash any patron who crossed him. On the plus<br />
side though, Susanne, the bar owner, was very accommodating and<br />
nice and the drummer for the opening band the Cusses was superfriendly.<br />
They really drew a crowd and warmed them up for Q and P.<br />
Despite my initial worries about how Q and P would be received in<br />
Savannah, the crowd went crazy. One red Lycra pants-clad young man<br />
was thrown out for continuously jumping on stage and attempting to<br />
dance with Miss Pussycat. P loved that and I tried to get the fella back<br />
in, but I was told not to interfere. The Jinx is kind of a metal bar, and<br />
the metal-fan bartenders didn’t think that Quintron and Miss Pussycat<br />
fans should be moshing/fighting. Because of this, the bartender took<br />
it upon himself to shower the crowd with water to “cool them down.”<br />
In his words, “it’s not like you guys are Metallica or something. We<br />
didn’t think that we’d need extra security for your show.” I think this<br />
made Q and P proud.<br />
Washington, DC: I love DC, so I was stoked to spend some time<br />
there. We arrived at 5 and headed over to an Ethiopian restaurant for<br />
dinner with Ian Svenonius and Kid Congo Powers. The food was<br />
delish, and the conversation was even better. Ian told us all about<br />
his recent interviews for VBS’ Soft Focus, his last European tour<br />
with Chain and the Gang and he gave us his newest album. Kid<br />
Congo Powers gave us some tips on where to stay in various parts of<br />
Europe... neat! DC was our introduction to Jeff the Brotherhood, the<br />
band that we would tour with for two weeks. Jake, Jaimen and David,<br />
their tour manager, are three of the sweetest people on Earth and that<br />
was immediately apparent. They are big Q and P fans, so they jumped<br />
right in to help P and I set up the puppet theatre and seemed to relish<br />
the chance to watch Quintron do some maintenance on his equipment.<br />
The first band, Peggy Sue (from England), really knocked my socks<br />
off. Their harmonies are pitch perfect and all the members are multiinstrumentalists!<br />
My first Jeff the Brotherhood live experience was a<br />
thrill; they are such great showmen. Their onstage presence actually<br />
reminds me a bit of Q and P: fog, lights, dancing in the crowd... Their<br />
music is awesome: prog-rock/grunge/psych, and it’s so catchy. Oh,<br />
and Jake and Jaimen are cute as buttons, which makes it all the better.<br />
The DC show was also our first meeting with Allen Shepherd, close<br />
friend of Fred Schneider of the B-52’s and an all-around awesome<br />
guy. I loved the DC show for the dancing crowd. They danced<br />
their asses off and I know that Q and P soaked it all in; the crowd is<br />
definitely the variable that can make or break a performance, and this<br />
crowd made the show.<br />
Baltimore: We got to Baltimore about five hours before we had to<br />
load in, so we did some exploring. P and I surprised Allen Shepherd<br />
at the all-organic hair salon that he works at, and he washed P’s<br />
hair with organic shampoo that smells and tastes (yes, you can eat<br />
it) like chocolate cake! Q and P then headed over to Atomic book<br />
store, where all of John Waters’ fan mail goes, and stocked up on<br />
some books for the road. The van is a veritable library, by the way,<br />
since we all pick up some form of reading material at most cities that<br />
we visit. We loaded the gear onto the tiny stage at Golden West,<br />
which doubles as a greasy spoon cafe during the day. The highlight<br />
of the night was the dance team that performed during Q and P’s set.<br />
One of the members of the team had contacted Q a week earlier and<br />
asked permission to perform a dance routine to “Place Unknown.”<br />
Obviously, Q and P were thrilled at the prospect of this. The dance<br />
team exceeded all of our expectations: their outfits consisted of a<br />
neon-colored, geometrical pattern on spandex with correlating<br />
geometrical shapes painted on their faces and bodies! And the dress<br />
that I happened to be wearing that night perfectly matched what they<br />
had on! Their dance moves mirrored their outfits: loud and over<br />
the top! Everyone was really into it. Another very interesting tidbit<br />
about the night is that a baseball-capped Talib Kweli watched the<br />
end of Q and P’s set from the back of the cafe; he arrived and left<br />
very inconspicuously so none of us had the chance to chat with him.<br />
I can proudly say, though, that his head was in a constant state of<br />
bob during the show.<br />
Brooklyn: Our first show in NYC was in Williamsburg at a DIY<br />
club called Death By Audio. The place is pretty grungy but the<br />
sound is great! It’s run by musicians that build and sell guitar pedals.<br />
The show ended up selling out, evidenced by the most continuously<br />
long bathroom line that I’ve ever seen. Golden Triangle opened<br />
the show and chaos ensued. It was particularly exciting when OJ<br />
crowd-surfed while playing guitar. The energy mounted during<br />
Jeff the Brotherhood’s set and reached its peak during the Quintron<br />
and Miss Pussycat performance. There was a near show-stopping<br />
moment when Q’s organ was almost pulled off the stage by some<br />
over-zealous folks in the crowd. The place also went ape shit when<br />
sexy Alix Brown, bass player for Golden Triangle, joined Miss P on<br />
maracas for a few songs.<br />
Manhattan: I was really looking forward to the Manhattan show<br />
at Santo’s Party House all tour for a few reasons: it’s Andrew<br />
WK’s bar and I’d heard that the place was really nice and sounded<br />
great; I knew we had the following day off, so we could stay out<br />
as late as we felt like and I knew that a lot of our friends were<br />
going to be at the show. Santo’s did not disappoint. It’s a big, black<br />
box theatre-styled venue, and the sound is every musician’s dream.<br />
There are speakers everywhere you look. The sound guy, Daniel<br />
Neumann, is super talented and very nice too. I really enjoyed the<br />
first band of the night, Ava Luna. The band consists of three girls<br />
that do back-up vocals, a drummer, a guitar player and the lead<br />
singer who also plays keyboard and tambourine. He’s a nerdy<br />
white kid that sings like a black ‘60s-era soul singer. The girls<br />
reminded me of the Ronettes. By the time Q and P played, Santo’s<br />
was packed! There was a bit of drama when a drag queen who said<br />
she was with the press threw a hissy fit after finding out that she<br />
wasn’t on the guest list. Aside from this minor disturbance, the<br />
show was bushels of fun. I danced my ass off! The last thing that<br />
I remember is eating tons of cheese balls while chatting under a<br />
table with Jake from Jeff the Brotherhood. By far, the most surreal<br />
night of this tour was Monday, June 14th, the night that we had<br />
dinner with Fred Schneider! Allen Shepherd arranged the dinner<br />
per Fred’s request; Fred, it just so happens, is a big Quintron and<br />
Miss Pussycat fan! We met up with Fred, Allen and their crazy<br />
drummer friend at Vinyl in Manhattan. Q, P and I were all a little<br />
nervous to meet Fred, the rock legend that he is, but he was so cool<br />
and laid back; he put us all at ease. We followed up dinner with<br />
drinks at Fred’s favorite French restaurant, where Fred showed us<br />
his bar dance. Imagine the bar is a horse, and Fred is riding it.<br />
AWESOME!<br />
Quintron and Miss Pussycat are still on the road as of this<br />
printing, but will be back in town to play with Paul Collins at<br />
One Eyed Jack’s on June 24th. For more information, check out<br />
quintronandmisspussycat.com.<br />
25
EVENTS<br />
26<br />
FRIDAY 6/23 (Cont...)<br />
Egg Yolk Jubilee, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Glen David Andrews, d.b.a., 10pm, $10<br />
Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Mia Borders,<br />
Tipitina’s, 10pm, FREE<br />
Kyle Turley Band, One Eyed Jacks<br />
Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Panorama Jazz Band, Antoine’s Hermes Bar,<br />
9:30pm, 11pm<br />
Planarian Productions Presents Old School<br />
Bounce Cheeky Blakk, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Rebirth Brass Band, The Lee Boys, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Wolves, Where Republic, 10pm, $5<br />
WCP, The Maison, 10pm<br />
SATURDAY 7/24<br />
Headcase, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm<br />
Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar’s Annual Block<br />
Party Luau w/ The Unnaturals, The Bills, The<br />
Americanos, Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar, 2pm<br />
Eric Lindell, 11pm, $10<br />
Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, Circle Bar<br />
Juice, Andrew Duhon and the Lonesome Crows,<br />
Tipitina’s, 10pm, $10<br />
The Lobbyist, the Auto Pilots, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
(Live in the Den)<br />
Machine Made Slave, Fat Stupid Ugly People,<br />
Moonhoar, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Mia Borders, Chickie Wah Wah, 9pm, $10<br />
Mike Darby and the House of Cards, Banks<br />
Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Mike Dillon’s Go Go Jungle meets Hairy Apes<br />
BMX, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
WTUL Presents: New Orleans Record Raid, Iron<br />
Rail, Noon-6pm<br />
Quintron and Miss Pussycat, One Eyed Jacks<br />
Sasha Masakowski, Antoine’s Hermes Bar, 9:30pm, 11pm<br />
Worn Again nola4, Howlin’ Wolf, Patron Party,<br />
7pm; Fashion Show, 8:30pm<br />
SUNDAY 7/25<br />
Amy Trail Album Release Party, The Maison, 10pm<br />
Marc Stone, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
Mas Mamones, d.b.a., 10pm<br />
Peace of Mind Orchestra, Circle Bar<br />
MONDAY 7/26<br />
The N’awlins Johnnys, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
TUESDAY 7/27<br />
Charlie Louvin, One Eyed Jacks<br />
Open Ears Music Series w/ Dana Jessen, Jeff<br />
Albert and others, Blue Nile, 10pm<br />
Sublime, Rome, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
WEDNESDAY 7/28<br />
Lydia w/ Deas Veil, Rocketboys, One Eyed Jacks<br />
THURSDAY 7/29<br />
Ballyhoo!, Mike Pinto, Howlin’ Wolf (Live in the<br />
Den), 10pm<br />
Colin Lake, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Easy Company, Circle Bar<br />
Will Bernard Trio f/ Coogan and Lott, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
FRIDAY 7/30<br />
Brah, Prytania, Viva Da Lay, One Eyed Jacks<br />
DJ / Drummer Set w/ Damion Yancy & Eric<br />
Rogers, Republic, 10pm, $5<br />
Hot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
John Rankin Trio, Antoine’s Hermes Bar, 9:30pm, 11pm<br />
Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Lillian Axe Album Release Party, Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Papa Grows Funk, The Revivalists, Tipitina’s,<br />
10pm, FREE<br />
Silent Cinema, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
SATURDAY 7/31<br />
Captain Midnight Band, Banks Street Bar &<br />
Grill, 10pm<br />
City Zoo, The Swip, The Maison (Penthouse), 10pm<br />
Dan Rivers, MEschiya Lake, Roddie Romero and<br />
the Hub City All-Stars, La. Music Factory, 2pm<br />
The IQ f/ members of the Iguanas, Antoine’s<br />
Hermes Bar, 9:30pm, 11pm<br />
Jamaican Me Crazy: A Night of Reggae f/ Bo Dollis<br />
Jr. and the Wild Magnolias, Tipitina’s, 10pm, $8<br />
The Mandrake Product, Glasgow, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm<br />
Mia Borders, Rusty Nail, 10pm<br />
Paul Sanchez, d.b.a., 8pm<br />
Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars,<br />
d.b.a., 11pm, $5<br />
Soul Rebels Brass Band, Blue Nile, 11pm<br />
Tony Italiano, Automatic Man, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm<br />
WEEKLIES EVENTS<br />
MONDAYS<br />
Blue Grass Pickin’ Party, Hi-Ho Lounge, 8pm<br />
Brett Richardson, Spotted Cat, 4pm<br />
Dominic Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars,<br />
Spotted Cat<br />
Glen David Andrews, d.b.a., 9pm<br />
Jak Locke, The Box Office, 8pm<br />
Jayna Morgan and the Sazerac Sunrise Band, The<br />
Maison, 7pm<br />
Jazz Vipers, Spotted Cat, 10pm<br />
Mad Mike, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 8pm<br />
N’awlins Johnnys, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
New Orleans Musicians Open Mic Jam w/ Soul<br />
Project, The Maison, 10pm<br />
Noxious Noize’s Punk and Metal Night,<br />
Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)<br />
Open Mic, Bayou Park Bar, 9pm<br />
Trivia Night, Circle Bar, 8pm<br />
TUESDAYS<br />
Acoustic Open Mic, Carrollton Station, 9pm<br />
Acoustic Open Mic w/ Jim Smith, Checkpoint<br />
Charlie’s, 10pm<br />
Barisal Guns, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
(Dark on 6/15)<br />
Brett Richardson, Spotted Cat, 4pm<br />
Cortland Burke w/ Special Guests, Bayou Park<br />
Bar, 9pm<br />
Jerry Jumonville, Spotted Cat<br />
Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, Spotted Cat<br />
New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings, d.b.a., 9pm<br />
No Name Trio, The Maison, 10pm<br />
Open Mic w/ Whiskey T., Rusty Nail, 8pm<br />
The Smoking Time Jazz Club, The Maison, 7pm<br />
Tikioke, The Saint, 9pm, FREE<br />
The Tom Paines, Circle Bar, 6pm<br />
Trivia Tuesday, Hi-Ho Lounge, 8:30pm<br />
WEDNESDAYS<br />
Bionica, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
Booty Trove Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, FREE<br />
Brett Richardson, Spotted Cat, 4pm<br />
Cat’s Pajamas, The Maison, 9pm<br />
Dan Wallace Quartet, The Box Office, 7pm<br />
DJ Lefty Parker, R Bar<br />
DJ T-Roy Presents: Dancehall Classics,<br />
Dragon’s Den, 10pm, $5<br />
Gravity A, Blue Nile, 10pm<br />
Jim O. and The No Shows w/ Mama Go-Go,<br />
Circle Bar, 6pm<br />
Kenny Holiday and the Rolling Blackouts,<br />
Checkpoint Charlie’s, 9pm<br />
Khris Royal and Dark Matter, Blue Nile, 10pm<br />
Loose Marbles, Spotted Cat, 6pm<br />
Lynn Drury and Friends, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm
EVENTS<br />
WEDNESDAY WEEKLIES (Cont...)<br />
Marygoround & The Tiptoe Stampede, All-Ways<br />
Lounge<br />
Mojotoro Tango Trio, Yuki (525 Frenchmen St.), 8pm<br />
Musician Appreciation Night, The Bar, 7pm<br />
Ratty Scurvics Unplugged & Special Guests, Hi-<br />
Ho Lounge, 7pm, 9pm<br />
St. Louis Slim and the Frenchmen St. Jug Band,<br />
Spotted Cat, 10pm<br />
Standup Comedy Open Mic, Carrollton Station, 9pm<br />
Teddy Bear Elvis, The Maison, 7pm<br />
Tin Men, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
United Postal Project, Blue Nile, 8pm<br />
Walter Wolfman Washington and The<br />
Roadmasters, d.b.a., 10pm, $5<br />
THURSDAYS<br />
A.S.S.tronot, La Nuit Comedy Theater, 8:30pm<br />
Brett Richardson, Spotted Cat, 4pm<br />
Classic Country w/ Ron Hotstream, Bayou Park<br />
Bar, 10pm<br />
Come Drink with Matt Vaughn, R Bar<br />
Comedy Gumbeaux, Howlin’ Wolf (Live in the<br />
Den), 8pm<br />
Dave Jordan’s Neighborhood Improvement,<br />
Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm<br />
DJ Frenzi, DJ Daniel Steel, Dragon’s Den<br />
(Downstairs), 10pm<br />
DJ Kemistry, LePhare<br />
DJ T-Roy, Blue Nile, 10pm<br />
DJ Tom Harvey’s Unlock the House, Blue Nile<br />
(Upstairs), 10pm<br />
Exhale: A Ladies Night, The Hookah, 10pm<br />
Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed Jacks<br />
The Fens w/ Sneaky Pete, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pm<br />
Jeremy Davenport, The Davenport Lounge @<br />
Ritz-Carlton New Orleans<br />
LEGIT, Republic, 10pm, $7<br />
Maison Free BBQ Grill Out, The Maison, 7pm<br />
Miss Sophie Lee, Spotted Cat, 6pm<br />
New Orleans Moonshiners, Spotted Cat, 10pm<br />
Ovis, The Box Office, 10pm<br />
Sam and Boone, Circle Bar, 6pm<br />
Soul Rebels, Les Bon Temps Roule, 11pm<br />
Stooges Brass Band, Hi-Ho Lounge, 9:30pm<br />
FRIDAYS<br />
The A-List Unplugged w/ EF Cuttin’, The<br />
Hookah, 10pm<br />
Brett Richardson, Spotted Cat, 4pm<br />
Cottonmouth Kings, Spotted Cat, 9:30pm<br />
DJ Kemistry, Metro<br />
DJ Real and Black Pearl, Blue Nile (Upstairs),<br />
Midnight<br />
God’s Been Drinking, La Nuit Comedy Theater,<br />
10pm, $10<br />
Jeremy Davenport, The Davenport Lounge @<br />
Ritz-Carlton New Orleans<br />
Jim O. and The Sporadic Fanatics, Circle Bar, 6pm<br />
Jumbo Shrimp, Spotted Cat, 6pm<br />
Mykia Jovan and Jason Butler, Blue Nile, 8pm<br />
Open Mic Stand-Up, La Nuit Comedy Theater,<br />
10pm, $5<br />
Ratty Scurvics Lounge, All-Ways Lounge<br />
Some Like it Hot, The Maison (Downstairs), 7pm<br />
Throwback, Republic<br />
Tipitina’s Foundation Free Friday!, Tipitina’s, 10pm<br />
The Way, St. Roch Tavern, 9pm<br />
SATURDAYS<br />
ComedySportz, La Nuit Comedy Theater (1st/3rd<br />
Saturdays), 7pm<br />
DJ Damion Yancy, Republic, 11pm<br />
DJ Jive, LePhare<br />
DJ Kemistry, Metro<br />
DJ Real and Black Pearl, Blue Nile (Upstairs),<br />
Midnight<br />
The Drive In w/ DJ Pasta, R Bar<br />
Hookah Hip-Hop w/ DJ EF Cuttin, The Hookah, 10pm<br />
The Jazzholes, Circle Bar, 6pm<br />
Jeremy Davenport, The Davenport Lounge @<br />
Ritz-Carlton New Orleans<br />
John Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pm<br />
Ladies Night, The Hangar<br />
The Loose Marbles, The Maison, 7pm<br />
Luke Winslow King, Spotted Cat, 3pm<br />
Palmetto Bug Stompers, Spotted Cat, 10pm<br />
Panorama Jazz Band, Spotted Cat, 6pm<br />
Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, Blue Nile, 7pm<br />
SUNDAYS<br />
Acoustic Open Mic w/ Jim Smith, Checkpoint<br />
Charlie’s, 7pm<br />
Attrition, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pm<br />
Brass Band Sundays w/ Hot 8 Brass Band,<br />
Howlin’ Wolf<br />
Cajun Fais Do Do f/ Bruce Danigerpoint,<br />
Tipitina’s, 5:30pm, $7<br />
Drink N Draw, Circle Bar, 3pm<br />
Ear Candy w/ DJ Rik Ducci, The Hookah, 10pm<br />
FabuNOLA Presents Sexy Salsa Sunday, Blue<br />
Nile, 7pm<br />
Free Swing Dance Lessons w/ Amy Chance,<br />
d.b.a., 4:30pm<br />
Larry Scala and the Rhythm Jesters, The Maison, 7pm<br />
Lil People Brass Band, Bayou Park Bar, 10pm<br />
Loose Marbles, Spotted Cat, 6pm<br />
Mambomundo Latin Dance Party, Banks Street<br />
Bar & Grill, 9pm<br />
Micah McKee and Friends, Circle Bar, 6pm<br />
Music Workshop Series, Tipitina’s, 12:30pm<br />
The Palmetto Bug Stompers, d.b.a., 6pm<br />
Pat Casey, Spotted Cat, 10pm<br />
Rights of Swing, Spotted Cat, 3pm<br />
St. Claude Serenaders, The Maison, 4pm<br />
The Sunday Gospel Brunch, House Of Blues<br />
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PHOTOS<br />
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PHOTOS<br />
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COMICS<br />
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