September 2007 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

vol.4 no.11 sept. ‘07CURT KIRKWOOD OF THEMEAT PUPPETSTALKS ABOUT HIS BROTHER CRIS,NIRVANA & THE PERILS OF CELEBRITYALSO: HENRY ROLLINS I GALLAGHERDO MAKE SAY THINK I REVACUATIONSAINT NICK PREVIEWS SAINTS SEPT.www.antigravitymagazine.comFREE!

ON THE COVER:The Meat Puppets_page 18Curt Kirkwood talks about the band’s contemporaries, how having celebrityaffected them and the aftermath of their Nirvana: Unplugged sessionFEATURES:Henry Rollins_page 12Juice by Henry! Juice by Henry!Do Make Say Think_page 14Charles Spearin talks about adding vocals to DMST’s music, how theband records their albums and positivityCOLUMNS:ANTI-News_page 4Some of the news that’s fit to printThe Goods_page 5Ichabods’ t-shirt company comes full circleLive New Orleans_page 6Reviews of Big Blue Marble and Daniel Johnston, A Living SoundtrackPetzcore_page 7It’s time to get hardcore about hardcoreSaint Nick_page 8A preview of the Saints’ September slate of gamesSound Advice_page 9Can your band treat its old drummer like a red-headed stepchild ?The Rock & Roll Confessional_page 11Marty Garner begins his look at the most potentially embarrasing songshe (and you) could ever likeFEATURE REVEW:Revacuation_page 21A look at the sketches of Brad BenischekREVIEWS:Books_page 22Love Without, OvenmanComics_page 23Paul Pope’s PulphopeFilms_page 24Molière, The TenMusic_page 25Albums by: Travis Morrison, Justice, Arizona, MerzbowEVENTS:Listings_page 26Suggested eventsCOMICS:Illustrations_page 30Qomix, How To Be Happy, The K Chronicles,The Perry Bible Fellowship, Loadyour table of contentsGallagher smasheshis way into the Howlin’Wolf_page 16

STAFF INTRO letter from your editorPublisher/Editor-in-Chief:Leo McGovernleo@antigravitymagazine.comAssociate Editor:Dan Foxfox@antigravitymagazine.comAssociate Editor:Marty Garnermarty@antigravitymagazine.comContributing Writers:Henry Alperthalpert@yahoo.comAndrew Bizerandrew@bizerlaw.comLiz Countrymanliz@antigravitymagazine.comLisa Havilandhaves34@hotmail.comAuraLee Petzcoauralee@antigravitymagazine.comMike Rodgersmikerodgers@antigravitymagazine.comNicholas Simmonssimmons@antigravitymagazine.comJason Songejasonsonge@antigravitymagazine.comJ.W. Spitalnyjw@antigravitymagazine.comBrady Walkerwalker@antigravitymagazine.comMallory Whitfieldmallory@antigravitymagazine.comCover Photo:J. Culticeprovided by girlieaction.comIntern:Gino Prodangino@antigravitymagazine.comAd Sales:ads@antigravitymagazine.com504-881-7508We like stuff! Send it to:131 South Scott St.New Orleans, La. 70119ANTIGRAVITY is a free publicationreleased monthly (around the 1st, likea gub’ment check) in New Orleansand Baton Rouge, as well as online.ANTIGRAVITY is a publication ofANTIGRAVITY, INC.RESOURCES:Homepage:www.antigravitymagazine.comMySpace:www.myspace.com/antigravitymagazineIs this 2007 or 1987? In fact, we stepped intothe patented ANTIGRAVITY quantum leapaccelerator (and vanished!), visited 1987, said“Hello” to an eight-year-old me (my adviceto myself? Stay in school, sucka) and broughtback some of the biggest interviews of theday: Henry Rollins, who’d recently quit BlackFlag, just released Hot Animal Machine as a soloartist and issued his first spoken-word album,Big Ugly Mouth; Curt Kirkwood, whose MeatPuppets released two albums in ‘87, Mirageand Huevos, and Kirkwood brother Cris as ofyet hadn’t fallen on any major drug-related hard times; Gallagher, who’djust smashed his last watermelon for Paramount Pictures, in the TVspecial Overboard. We even brought back a preview of the New OrleansSaints schedule—coming off Jim Mora’s inaugural season, in which theteam improved from 5-11 to 7-9, the team was expected to have itsbest year ever in 1987. Would the team make the playoffs? Playoffs?You’re talking about playoffs? Following the Saints’ 34-point loss to theMinnesota Vikings in the wildcard round, we figured we’d leap back to‘07 and more optimistic times for the Saints. Oh, and we brought backCOLUMNanti-news and viewsNOTABLE UPCOMING SHOWS10/04: Rilo Kiley, Republic10/05: Blair, Circle Bar10/05: HR of Bad Brains, Dubb Agents, Fuego, The Bar10/06: Bonde Do Role, Spanish Moon10/07: The Black Lips, the Selmanaires, One Eyed Jacks10/11: The Watson Twins, House Of Blues10/12: Giant Bear, Dragon’s Den10/13: Black Rose Band, Circle Bar10/13: Big Blue Marble CD Release, Howlin’ Wolf10/17: Holly Golightly, the Broke Offs, One Eyed Jacks10/19: Majik Markers, Hi-Ho Lounge10/22: Low, One Eyed Jacks10/25: The Hives, One Eyed Jacks10/26-28: Voodoo Music Experience, City Park10/30: Hank III, Nashville Pussy, Reverend Horton Heat,House Of Blues10/30: Peelander-Z, One Eyed Jacks10/31: The New Pornographers, Emma Pollock, ImmaculateMachine, House Of Blues11/01: Of Montreal, Grand Buffet, House Of Blues11/08: Lyrics Born, The Parish @ House Of Blues11/10: Tegan and Sara, Northern State, House Of Blues11/10: New Orleans Bookfair, TBA11/13: Aesop Rock, The Parish @ House Of BluesNOTE ON THE LAST NOTE FROM LA VISTAPatrick Strange’s fi nal regular Note From La Vista garnereda lot of talk from friends and fans—his move to Los Angelescertainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. Here’s an e-mail from AdamBorden:I came across your AG article while at work today. I reallydon’t get my hands on that magazine enough, but yeah man,great story! Just wanted to say, sorry to hear you’re leavingbro. This truly is a special city that’s grown in my heart morethan ever lately. I’ve been telling myself and everyone aroundme how I plan to get out of here (Louisiana) for as long as Ican remember. Living in New Orleans the last year has totallyaltered that perception. Whether uptown on Bordeaux ordowntown on Esplanade, I’ve had nothing but the most downto-earthfolks surround me and the most amazing music todiscover. My time will come soon to leave as well (because myjob is not forever), but whether or not I come back, I’ll alwaysbe proud to say this is my home Anyway, wish you the bestin L.A.these great interviews, too. Rollins has honed his career as a buttonpusherand, in addition to his continued career as a spoken-word artist,is the host of IFC’s The Henry Rollins Show. The Kirkwood brothers, witha rehabbed Cris, have reunited for their first Meat Puppets album since‘95’s No Joke!. Gallagher isn’t on any TV specials, but he’s going as far asnostalgia will take him, playing small shows to people who rememberhim from his glory years.Focusing on the present, longtime AG readers are no doubt still stungover Filter snapping up Patrick Strange last month, but have no fear—we’vepromoted from within! All kidding aside, Dan Fox and Marty Garner arenow Associate Editors and, as the months move on, the duo will puttheir stamp on AG. Marty begins his new monthly column, The Rock& Roll Confessional—he’ll be looking at those popular tracks you hateto love. Another new column debuts this month—Petzcore, a look atlocal hardcore and metal bands, by AuraLee Petzco. Neither are stylisticreplacements for Notes from La Vista; it’s like a football team—when youlose a star player, you can’t just throw in someone else and expect thesame results. You just hope the new players add something new to theteam, and we think these additions do. Let us know what you think.Next month: Voodoo ‘07! It’s bound to be our biggest issue yet. Untilthen, we’ll see you out!CONSTANCE CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONSThe second issue of Constance, the design and writing journal, isin the works and editors Erik Kiesewetter and Patrick Strangeare calling for submissions. According to a message to their e-mail list: “Constance accepts visual art and writing submissionsfor its second issue, Delicate Burdens. Works of poetry, prose,nonfi ction, graphic design, illustration, photography, painting,drawing, collage and print making are all eligible.” Deadline isSeptember 15th and you can fi nd out more about Constance atwww.weareconstance.org.MERV GRIFFIN PASSES AWAYGame show magnate Merv Griffi n, creator of Jeopardy, Wheelof Fortune and many other television ventures, passed awayon August 12th from prostate cancer. There’s only one way tohonor the late, great Griffi n, and we’ll let the illustrious Milkand Cheese do the talking:Milk & Cheese copyright Evan Dorkin; houseoffun.com04_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNfashionTHE GOODSTHE BUZZ ABOUT ICHABODSby miss malaprop mallory@antigravitymagazine.comIt’s strange now to think about just how much Katrina has changed all of our lives. AsI’m writing this, it’s only a few days until the second anniversary of the storm and it’shad me thinking about the myriad of changes in New Orleans over the last couple ofyears. There have been plenty of negative effects, of course, especially in the arena of locallyowned business, but there have also been some pretty outstanding small companies whohave used Katrina as an impetus to expand their markets and grow their biz for the better.Ichabods is one of those companies.Ichabods opened a brick and mortar shop on MagazineStreet less than four months before Katrina, in the same busyblock as local faves Funky Monkey and Rue de la Course.Artist Chris Reams wanted to offer an alternative to massmarketed,mass-produced “slogan tees” and the storecentered around his original designs, which are printed on soft,vintage-style t-shirts and messenger bags. That particular areaof Uptown didn’t suffer from flooding, but in the aftermathof Katrina, Ichabods received extensive damage from lootersand Chris was forced to close the store. He didn’t give uphope, however. As he told me, he was forced by Katrina“to expand to a global market.” Currently, the majority ofhis business is in sales from out of state, both through hiswebsite (www.Ichabods.com) and through wholesale ordersfrom shops all over the world. Ichabods tees are especiallyhot in Tokyo and Singapore, where Chris says his customershave “a huge appetite for American fashion.” Chris also doescustom screen-printing work for bands and other designers.During Jazz Fest, he designed bags for the Radiators, and hehas also created custom work for the wardrobe departments of local films. Chris says thathe especially enjoys working with filmmakers and musicians: “I feel like we all speak thesame language.”At the end of August, Chris traveled to Las Vegas to show his work to buyers and boutiquesat the Pool Tradeshow, a retail industry event specializing in independent and emergingdesigners. Chris remembers that Pool was “where I was exactly two years ago while Katrinawas hitting the city. I was on a buying trip in Vegas for my store on the 27th-29th, and walkedthe floor in sort of a daze, not knowing what awaited my return. Now I am going back, twoyears later to the day, as an exhibitor, and am proud of that accomplishment.”An accomplishment Chris has not yet achieved, but one dayhopes to bring to fruition, is the ultimate goal of his business.When Chris first started designing shirts, he was finishing hismaster’s degree in Education. He told me his plan at the timewas to become a Licensed Professional Counselor becausehe supposes that he’s “always wanted to be the Catcher inthe Rye and catch the kids before they went over the cliff.”As he recalls, “About halfway through my last semester Irealized that to really help kids with their troubles wouldtake a whole lot more than a series of counseling sessions.”During his graduate internship, Chris said he realized thatthe kids with the most problems were usually the oneswhose parents worked long hours and were rarely home. Hedecided that in order to really help these kids in the way hewanted to, he would need to approach it like a business anduse his art to create a way to give something back. Chris said,“I decided that someday I would start my own after schoolart program and staff it with grad students, like I was. Thebuses will be free, and also the supplies, all expenses paid.”For him, Ichabods is a means to that end.You can see Chris’s passion for helping others reflected everywhere in his work. For onething, he donates $2 for every item sold to charity, allowing the customer to choose whichone they’d like the money to go to. He is currently working with five different charities,four of which are based in New Orleans. Some of Chris’s newest designs reflect his concernfor environmental issues. He told me that his favorite design is one that he created in orderto address the need for alternative energy, which he considers “the most important issue ofour generation.” The design depicts the Statue of Liberty holding a wind turbine instead of atorch; if you visit his website, the homepage also shows images of models wearing his shirtssuperimposed on a backdrop of wind turbines. He sees putting these images into clothingstores and on people’s bodies as a way to help get the message out to a wider audience.“Out west one sees wind turbines everywhere, so we’ve got a long way to go here, but onestep at a time is how you get anywhere.”Chris may be taking things one step at a time to reach his goals, but with customers fromall over the world flocking to Ichabods, I’m sure he’ll be bringing art to kids in no time.FOR MORE MISS MALAPROP, GO TO:Photos courtesy of www.ichabods.comantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_05Photos: BBM by Tamara Grayson; A Living Soundtrack by Zack Smith

COLUMNlocal musicLIVE NEW ORLEANSREVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS IIIby jason songe jason@liveneworleans.comDaniel Johnston and Big Blue Marble, House of Blues (8/8)I was really proud of Big Blue Marble on this night. Even though they had very little soundcheckrehearsal time with Johnston, they still managed to turn in an impressive performance as hisbacking band. They rolled with it and showed how tight they’ve become over the past year.Since band recordings of Johnston are rare, the band was charged with making up some oftheir parts shortly beforehand or on the spot. The band showed reverence to Johnstonby affording him almost all of the spotlight, which was cool. Word from the band was thatJohnston’s brother, also his traveling companion, invited BBM to play with Johnston in thefuture and that they were one of the best backing bands Johnston has had.I arrived as Big BlueMarble was finishingthe first song of theiropening set, and it feltlike I walked right intoa cloud of skepticism.Most of the crowd,and especially thetoo-cool-for-schoolhipsters, was notinto it. Still, it shouldbe noted that thosepeople should havehad their mindsopen to an awesomeopening band, and that they were wrong—BBM rocked. They had a violinist on hand, whichadded nice color to the music. Half their set was new songs, which were more epic, loud,and intricate, and half old songs.Johnston walked on stage to a roar, and had a few false-starts for his first couple songs,but it was nice, almost endearing. At one point, someone had to come on stage and helphim turn on his own piano. How cute, and somehow sad, was that? Johnston was delicateand child-like, which along with his earnest lyrics is a reason why people feel so comfortablewith his acoustic pop. For one third of the show Johnston played his guitar or his piano solo,telling very, very rehearsed jokes along the way. For the second third he focused on vocalsand was joined by an acoustic guitarist. Then, for the last third, Big Blue Marble came backand rocked with him on “Casper,” “Speeding Motorcycle,” “Love Not Dead,” and more.How cool was it to see Johnston up there, shaking the mic and getting into it and lettingloose and acting out his lead singer fantasies?Maybe it’s been said before, but one of the reasons Johnston was so powerful this nightwas because he doesn’t have the filter other musicians do. He doesn’t seem to care whatsounds silly, or too personal, or sentimental, or too hopeful. That and the fact that he writessome pretty catchy songs are the reasons he’s one of the most innovative songwritersever. On this night, it seems Johnston would have melted the hardest of hearts. He wasabsolutely fucking relentless in his openness, so if you had ever experienced anything fromhis oeuvre of universal feeling, which, of course you had, then you were suddenly in theboat with him.Johnston seemed pretty stable the whole show, which made for less awkwardness andmore fun to be had. Peace to the man.A Living Soundtrack, Circle Bar (8/23)This is the next band. One of those bandsthat you hear, like Metronome The City orAntenna Inn or Ratzinger, where you go,“Thank God this band lives here.” I know theiravant electro pop is good, but the questionremains: How will everyone else react to it?And maybe that doesn’t even matter now. Thisinstrumental group is on a path to some verycool soundscapes, either way. There’s no way Iwould have thought this before I heard A LivingSoundtrack, but “Thank God Matt (Aguiluz) leftRotary Downs” for this band. They’re rockin’enough for the rockers and weird enough toappease the fans of Radiohead’s more detachedand electronic music.The band consists of two synthesizer players, one drummer, and a multi-instrumentalistthat switches between bass, a laptop, and a synthesizer. The music was especially awesomewhen he would throw the bass into the mix, the intricate line stopping and starting before itshould, which is exactly when it should. A Living Soundtrack brought a crowd to the show,which is pretty cool considering this was only their tenth show. Why are instrumental bandsmaking a splash? Is there a reason for it? I’m not a fan of instrumental rock, per se, but bandslike A Living Soundtrack and Metronome The City are so interesting that they don’t needvocals.Photos: BBM by Tamara Grayson; A Living Soundtrack by Zack Smith06_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNlocal musicPETZCOREINTROby auralee petzco auralee@antigravitymagazine.comBorn and raised in the pleasant suburban town of Downers Grove, Illinois (homeof Randy “Macho Man” Savage! And Emo Phillips!) I moved to New Orleans abouttwo-and-a-half years ago to escape the harsh winters and the reign of terror theChicago White Sox had pressed upon the city. One of the things that’s kept me here inspite of the oppressive summers and palm-sized cockroaches (who knew those thingscould get so big? I sure didn’t) is the DIY/hardcore punk scene. A small but intenselydedicated cadre of people in this city are putting on awesome shows and playing inexcellent bands—all of this under the radar of most New Orleanians. Probably oneof the best shows of the summer (so far) was Comadre, Graf Orlock and JudeFawley at the Dragon’s Den. This venue is quickly becoming one of the best placesin the city to see local and out-of-state punk bands show their stuff. It’s not entirelyuncommon for shows (often of different genres) to be happening on both of its floorsat the same time. Jude Fawley is without a doubt one of the most intense bandsplaying around New Orleans and Baton Rouge right now. Hailing from the backwoodshell of the greater Baton Rouge area, this fearsome foursome plays metallic, drivinghardcore that has the organized intensity of Botch and Breather Resist andalso draws from older bands such as Kiss it Goodbye and Deadguy. Watchingthem play was like watching a barely-contained explosion. Standing anywhere nearthe band while they’re playing and you’re liable to be personally serenaded by theirsinger Matt, who seems to take delight in breaking the performer/audience barrier nomatter how ready you may be to get pulled into their controlled chaos. It’s incrediblyrefreshing to hear and see music like this coming from four guys whose average ageis around twenty-one. Comprised of film-school dropouts and total movie nerds,Graf Orlock played a blistering set of spazzy, grindy hardcore songs peppered withsamples from ‘80s- and ‘90s-era sci-fi and action movies. Musically, they remindedme a bit of Converge and maybe even Creation is Crucifixion. I’m normallysuspicious of bands with too-clever record packaging (their new 10-inch out on LevelPlane has a flip up panel that exposes a facehugger from the Alien movies bursting outof a guy’s stomach) but they certainly backed up their kitschy merch with definitemusical substance. They’ve played here a few times and will hopefully play here more.Their tourmates, Comadre, play a more melodic, noodle-y, but still hard-hitting styleof hardcore that I guess could be compared to the Blood Brothers, if the BloodBrothers were less concerned about being sassy and more concerned with bringingthe proverbial rock. Note to touring bands: If you’re playing in a town where noteveryone is entirely familiar with your repertoire, cover a song by the Refused,preferably one of the ones that everyone knows, because when you do you will geta reaction from the people you are playing for that is unlike any reaction you willever get from playing your own songs. It’s not at all because your band sucks. It’sbecause punk kids everywhere seem to have a predilection towards hearing Refusedsongs played live. Maybe it’s because pretty much none of us got to see them whenthey were around. Maybe it’s because there’s some sort of magic woven into thenotation of their songs. Who knows? All I can say is that when Comadre covered“Rather Be Dead” they created an incredibly cathartic moment that is crucial for anyamazing punk show: when every person in the room, regardless of which side of theband/audience game they’re playing on, is screaming/dancing/moving along in unisonto the music being played. This is why I go to punk shows; this is why I voluntarilysweat through bands I may/may not necessarily want to see; this is why I don’t mindgetting jostled around by the errant arms and legs of people dancing about; this is whyI don’t complain later about bruises sustained from said jostling. Moments like thatare without equal.UPCOMING SHOWSThere are a couple of shows that I’m stoked on coming up in the next month! TheDevil & the Sea is playing with local heavies Haarp and Baton Rouge’s finest,Thou, at the Bar in Metairie on September 8th. And while I don’t know of any localson this show just yet, Coliseum is playing with Mono and High on Fire at OneEyed Jack’s on September 29th.NOLA D.I.Y.Noladiy.org is where you’ll find the most comprehensive listing for shows in theunderground punk/hardcore/metal/ska scene. It also includes shows happening inBaton Rouge and even as far west as Lafayette in the event you’re not living directlyin the city or want to catch bands outside of New Orleans. It’s pretty much your onestopshop for all things local music related. You can even sign up to their e-mail listto be reminded of specific shows you’d forget about otherwise. Wise up and checkit out!MYSPACE ROLL CALLMyspace.com/judefawley; /graforlock; /comadreantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_07

COLUMNsportsSAINT NICKSEPTEMBER SAINTS PREVIEWby nicholas simmons simmons@antigravitymagazine.comHey Saints fans—this issue will hit less than a week before the Saints open the seasonagainst the Colts in Indianapolis and three weeks before the first game at the Superdome,an exciting Monday Night Football match-up with the Tennessee Titans. We’ll be a bitscattershot this month, as I want to fit in some thoughts about the end of training camp andsome “Dos and Don’ts” for home games around the game-previews. Without further ado…TROUBLE AT WIDEOUT IIGoing into training camp, I wondered aloud how the Saints’ wide receiver corps would performin 2007, noting, among other things, the possibility that Marques Colston could have problemselevating his play with a giant target on his back as the no.1 wideout. Going into the season, thebiggest problem the Saints may have is figuring out how to spread the ball around. Turns out,with a QB like Drew Brees, every receiver is a threat (as long as they’re catching the ball and notfumbling—I’m looking at you, Terrance Copper). Most Saints wideouts looked good in preseasonplay. Once Devery Henderson’s hamstring heals, he should continue working on a breakoutcampaign, now that he seems to have put his concentration problems behind him; Colston’s kneeissues look minor, and we know what we have with him already. In preseason play, a few thingsbecame clear: Lance Moore is not only going to make the team and be the no.1 return specialist,he’s worked his way into at least the no.4 WR spot; I was wrong about David Patten, so far as hisbeing washed up. It seems like he’s regained his speed and is ready to be the veteran leader guyslike Moore and Robert Meachem need. Copper will get his plays (as you might guess, I’m not highon him due to his fumbling problems), and Meachem will likely spend a few weeks on the inactivelist. A quick note on Meachem: we were spoiled by Colston’s quick emergence last season, andwith that in mind, no one should have expected Meachem to immediately perform at a high level.We’ve waited three years for Devery Henderson to come around; the least we could do is giveMeachem a season. I still predict he’ll be slowly worked into the offense, and don’t be surprisedif he unseats an underperforming wideout sometime mid-to-late season.SAINTS @ COLTS, RCA DOME (9/6)The last time we played the Colts, Peyton Manning put 55 on us, back in 2003. I don’t knowabout you, but I’m ready to get the bad taste out of my mouth. The Saints defense will bethrown into the fire quickly, and the keys here will be to hold the Colts under 30 points witha combination of causing at least one turnover that Drew Brees can quickly capitalize on andforcing a handful of punts. The offense will keep up, hopefully with a few big TD plays by ReggieBush and Devery Henderson, and we’ll likely need a huge, time-consuming drive to put it away,either in the third or fourth quarter. The analysts will lean towards the Colts, since they’re athome, but I see the Saints eking this one out, 34-27.SAINTS @ BUCS, RAYMOND JAMES (9/16)Jeff Garcia is officially the Bucs’ starting QB, and the Bucs’ defense shouldn’t be very strong thisseason. With all that in mind, the Saints usually seem to have a difficult time with Tampa Bay. Beforethe Saints’ 31-14 victory at TB last season (with most of the fireworks coming in the 2nd half), eightof the previous nine NFC South battles between these two have been decided by 7 or fewer points.Monte Kiffin’s Tampa-2 defense will attack the Saints, and our hopes will likely be pinned on quickpasses, on slants to our WRs and to RBs coming out of the backfield, as well as a running game thatneeds to put up at least 150 yards. Quick, name a Tampa Bay WR…well, there’s Michael Clayton,but he hasn’t been a factor in two consecutive seasons. Journeyman David Boston was arrested forDUI on 8/24 and quite possibly could get cut before the season. Joey Galloway is 35 and his speed’sgot to go sometime. Plus, which Cadillac Williams will show up at RB? The great rookie from 2005or the dud from 2006? The Saints defense should hold their own, and despite Garcia perhapsputting a scare or two into Saints fans I see another victory for us, 27-16.TITANS @ SAINTS, SUPERDOME (9/24)I’ve only got one thing to say about Titans QB Vince Young: this is the game the Madden ’08curse strikes! Young getting suspended for a preseason game after breaking a team rule wasthe precursor—now it gets poured on. The Superdome crowd will be raring to watch ourSaints live for the first time in ’07, and the crowd noise and atmosphere will do in a youngTitans team. Since this is the first home game of the year, here are a few “Dos and Don’ts” foryou Saints fans:DO get loud when we’re on defense. The Saints D will need all the help they can get thisseason. We’re still a middle-of-the-pack defense until proven otherwise, and we’ll need to forcethe opposition into as many mental mistakes as possible. Let’s bang those upper metal walls ofthe Superdome with fury. I’m looking at you, Section 635! DO NOT get loud between playswhen we’re on offense. This includes doing the wave, you knuckleheads. It’s great that we havethe best offense in the NFL, but let’s not tempt the football gods, people. Too many times lastseason did Drew Brees or other offensive players have to try and calm the crowd. Note thatthis does not include chanting “Deuce” or “Reggie,” as long as it’s after they get the ball. DOcelebrate big plays when they happen. DO NOT celebrate a five-yard reception or run, or atackle by the defense that holds the opponent to a two-yard gain, like it’s the game-clinchingplay (unless it is the game-clinching play, of course). In other words, don’t taunt opposing fansfor little things. We’re hopefully embarking on a long stretch of winning football, so let’s actlike winners, eh?Oh yeah, the Saints will beat the Titans, 38-14. See you at the game!08_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNlegaleseSOUND ADVICEREVENUE SHARING WITH EX’Sby andrew bizer andrew@bizerlaw.comDear Andrew,My band just finished recording our debut album and we’re really excited about selfreleasingit. However, our old drummer, who plays on all the tracks on the album, had toleave town and is no longer in the band. So, of course, we have a new drummer who we’reexcited about. Although we don’t expect to sell a million copies, we think our old drummershould get some piece of any money we make off the record because he’s on it. We alsothink our new drummer should be treated as a full member of the band. We’re not reallysure what to do. It is a touchy situation that needs to be addressed. What should we do?Thanks,Gary G.Gary,I’m glad you’ve decided to deal with these issues before you release the album.It is a complicated matter but, with a little effort, you and your bandmates will beable to come to a mutually agreeable solution.Your previous drummer played on the album, and it would obviously becompletely unfair if he were not compensated for his contribution. However, yourcurrent drummer will be making sacrifices in order to promote the band and therecord. He’s the guy who will have to take off from work in order to do that firsttour of the Southeast. You don’t want your current drummer to feel like he’s nota full member of the band. Don’t be like the Rolling Stones, where rumor has it,Ronnie Wood, who joined the band in 1977, didn’t become an financially equalmember until the Steel Wheels tour in 1989. If you want your current drummer tostick around, you have to treat him right.I recommend that you enter into a leaving-member agreement with your formerdrummer, while the current members enter into an interband agreement. Anexperienced music attorney can help you with these contracts. These agreementsare beneficial for two reasons: they force you to sit down and figure out how youare going to handle the business of the band and they also memorialize the eventualagreement so that there are no misunderstandings down the road.The leaving member agreement basically states that your former drummer hasvoluntarily left the group and spells out what, if any, percentages he will be paidfrom various income streams, including album sales. The interband agreement dealswith a host of issues, including how the band’s income is divided and what happensif a current member chooses to leave the band.A lawyer can help you draft the contracts, but you and your band needs todecide the terms. The terms will be dictated by the fact that you are releasingyour first album without the help of a record label and therefore most of yoursales will probably occur at live shows (not to mention the fact that you can counton one hand the number of record stores in New Orleans that sell new releases).When you tour, the odds are that any money you make on album sales will end upgoing straight into your gas tank. Assuming you press less than two-thousand CDs,one possible solution is to agree to pay the old drummer a few hundred dollarsfor his efforts, and stipulate that all income from the CD sales go back into theband fund. Your leaving-member agreement could include a provision stating thatif you eventually license or sell the album to a record company, he would receive apercentage of the royalties, but his percentage would be less than the percentagethe current members would receive.As for your new drummer, the interband agreement could state that he wouldreceive an equal share of all income generated from live shows and merchandisebut receive a small percentage of the royalties generated from sales of your recordafter the initial self-released pressing.There are many different ways to handle this matter, and an experienced musicattorney can help you address all the issues.Andrew Bizer, Esq. is an attorney admitted to practice in Louisiana and New York. Heis currently an associate at Kanner and Whiteley, L.L.C. He previously served as theManager of Legal and Business Affairs at EMI Music Publishing and has worked in thelegal department at both Matador and Universal/Motown Records. This column is to beused as a reference tool. The answers given to these questions are short and are notintended to constitute full and complete legal advice. The answers given here do notconstitute an attorney/client relationship. Mr. Bizer is not your attorney. But if you wanthim to be your attorney, feel free to contact him at andrew@bizerlaw.com. Or, just emailhim a question and he’ll answer it in next month’s ANTIGRAVITY.NEED SOME SOUND ADVICE? SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO:ANDREW@BIZERLAW.COM10_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNmusicTHE ROCK & ROLLCONFESSIONALSUMMER OF “SUNSHINE”by marty garner marty@antigravitymagazine.comFor better or worse, I’ve spent the last three years as this magazine’s Lisa Simpson:the young, self-righteous know-it-all who can’t understand why everyone elseseems to be having so much fun. Plus I go for Leslie Feist like Lisa went for Corey.Of course, all Simpsons analogues stop there: our boss is barely more than half thetyrant of Mr. Burns, Smithers has sailed to bigger and better power plants (go buy thenew issue of Magnet, you’ll see what I mean), and, as you read last month, Bart’s movedout to Hollywood. So it looks like you’re stuck with me for the time being, or at leastuntil Leo realizes that he’s just made an editor of the only staffer who will proudlyadmit to owning the fi rst Third Eye Blind record.As summer comes to a close and I try to make it through September actingcomfortable in my Levi’s, I fi gured it would be best to wish the festering boils ofAugust adieu by paying tribute to that great musical tradition: the summer jam. Take,for instance, Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” It was impossible to walk into any public spacelast summer without your head automatically bobbing to Danger Mouse’s still-funkybeat and every NASCAR dad worth his salt can now do a pretty decent Cee-Lo Greenimitation. “Crazy” was 2006’s “Hey Ya:” a pop song that everyone could like, guilt-freelike a skinny latte and equally delicious (told you; I’m just getting the nerdiness warmedup). These are qualities that we want in a summer jam; there’s no need to get all deepand heavy (which disqualifi es the otherwise excellent “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn andJohn). It’s way too hot to do any real thinking anyway.On that note, let’s now look back to 1998. The overwhelming sales of Creed’s MyOwn Prison the year before had made it clear that popular rock was going to get prettyrough for a while. Brian Setzer was urging us all to jump, jive, and wail in our khakisand Paula Cole won a Grammy for emphatically questioning the whereabouts of ournation’s cowboys. And in Toronto, an unknown brother-sister combo wrote one ofthe best pop songs of that or any decade. I am talking, of course, about Len’s “StealMy Sunshine.”From the bizarre spoken-word intro (“Does he like butter tarts?”) to thefumbling barroom pianos and Burger Pimp and Sharon’s (her real name, probablynot his) sweet-and-sour recitation of the nonsensical chorus, it’s four and a halfminutes of sunshiney weirdness that manages to take itself just seriously enough tostay together. The story being told here is one that is common to everyone: hey,man, summer gets boring sometimes, but our friends are all pretty cool and, if allelse fails, there’s always the beach. And that’s it, really. No questions of ontology,no self-reflection. Hell, there’s not even a hint of a love story. Just a bunch ofpeople hangin’ out, lots of smiling, and, from what I can tell, eating. Somehowthat bubblegum managed to cut through the Jncos I was wearing back then andgot my ass a’ shakin’ and I don’t know that I’ve stopped since. Though I was tooembarrassed to share my love for Len with my fellow Limp Bizkit and Insane ClownPosse fans in ’98 (weird how ironic life can be, eh?), it may be the only song fromthat year that I have consistently liked since its release (with the possible exceptionof the Butthole Surfers’ “Pepper”). It wasn’t until two or so years ago that I wasfinally able to come to terms and admit to my friends that I still listened to andenjoyed “Steal My Sunshine,” that I had flirted with buying a vinyl copy of You Can’tStop the Bum Rush from Rocks Off, and that I wasn’t trying to be ironic in anyway when I sang the song karaoke. I even went so far as to let it moonlight as myringtone until several awkward moments found it replaced with something a bitmore, ah-hem, age-appropriate. Hey, even I have my limits.Sadly, Len failed to produce another song as big as “Steal My Sunshine,” though theywere apparently slated to release a new album—when else?—this summer. “Steal MySunshine” will likely never be remembered as one of the great all-time dance songs(despite being no more or less vapid than “Louie, Louie,” though I doubt that any ofthe Kingsmen went by the name Drunkness Monster). Instead, it will probably besandwiched eternally between Sisqó’s “Thong Song” and Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”on mediocre ‘90s compilations. An unfair deal, perhaps, but maybe in thirty yearsI’ll be able to retain some shred of indie cred for my love of obscure ‘90s pop gems.“Lovefool,” you’d better pay off, too.So what’s the point? To paraphrase the song, don’t let anyone steal your sunshine.Like what you wanna like. That James Dean quote has become fodder for high schoolyearbooks, but that doesn’t make it any less true: Dance like no one’s watching. Becausewe’re not young for long; life’s too short to waste on music you don’t honestly like. Ifyou honestly like Mandy Moore, go see her on September 2nd at the House of Blues.If you think Xiu Xiu is unlistenable or Girl Talk is a passing fad, don’t be afraid to sayso.Autumn is upon us, at least according to the calendar if not the weather; there willalways be time for the National and Sigur Rós and all of those wonderful bands whodepress the hell out of us. For now, let’s just feel the bum rush.antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_11

FEATUREspoken wordHENRY ROLLINS IS GOING TO COME THROUGHTHIS PAGE AND PUNCH YOU IN THE BRAIN!by dan fox fox@antigravitymagazine.comIt’s hard to know where Henry Rollins begins and ends; he’s sometimesmore like a Hindu deity or a comic book hero than a mere entertainer.As a lead singer, actor, writer, spoken-word artist and talk show host,Rollins has always succeeded in creating a hyper reality in which themundane idiocies of our daily routines are drawn to their logical but utterlyridiculous conclusions, kind of like if Jerry Seinfeld had grown up an angrypunk rocker—and worked out a lot. It might be easy to confuse Rollins’ripped facade with some kind of jock mentality, but it’s the intellectual fighthe’s looking for, whether it’s with some right-wing fascist or a punk calling“sell out.” Rollins is most comfortable when we’re not: as an avid cophater,he becomes one on film (1994’s The Chase); as a vocal proponentof trying the Bush administration for war crimes, he nonetheless booksU.S.O. gigs in Iraq; as the lead singer in the Rollins Band he mutates into theintrovert Travis Bickle or the devil-faced liar laughing in our face. WhenRollins visits New Orleans later this month, he should feel right at homeamidst so much anger and happiness.ANTIGRAVITY: Do you sleep? Have you ever said “no” to a project?Henry Rollins: I probably don’t get as much sleep as I need and that will take its toll at somepoint, I am sure. I don’t say no to work very often, unless it’s stuff I don’t want to do. I pass onthe stupid stuff, but most of the things I do are self-generated, like book projects and tours. Icome up with the idea and get it booked or whatever. I am trying to stay active. This is the wayI want to do it.AG: With such a prolific spoken-word history, how do you keep fromrepeating yourself, or at least from having “bits?” Or is that justimpossible?HR: To escape the “bit” thing, which I really don’t want to do, is to keep the story evolving.That’s why I travel the way I do. I am always trying to stoke the furnace, as it were, so whenI go out on tour, I actually have new stories that I am very excited to tell the audience nightto night.AG: In the Boxed Life spoken word boxed set, you had a funny segmentabout a “performance art” piece where you ravage your body on brokenglass and such, and upon being told from a loudspeaker that “Edie Brickellstill lives,” you repeat the whole thing. In this day and age, who would youreplace Edie Brickell with?HR: Well, now that the proverbial substance has hit the fan, I would no longer endeavor toadvantage my enemies with my own destruction, so I don’t think I have a substitute.AG: What was it like working with Michael Mann (director/producer ofHeat)? Did Mann know much about you when he cast you?HR: It was very interesting to watch Mann work. He really knows the A-to-Z of fi lm, so hewas switching lenses and rearranging stunts and being hands on all over the place. It wasreally cool to be in one of his fi lms, small a part as it was. It was a blast to do scenes withAl Pacino, who is very nice to everyone, which made it very cool. I don’t think Mann knewme from Adam.AG: We tend to be kind of slobby, overweight and/or prone to bad habitshere in New Orleans. Can you help us out with a Rollins-style regiment toget us back on track?HR: I try to eat lean/vegetarian for optimum results. I am usually in a result-oriented worksituation, as in a live tour, so food becomes a factor, so I eat to optimize. Perhaps not themost appetizing way to regard food, but that’s me. I don’t know what to suggest. If yousomehow like being a fat piece of shit, then do what you’re doing. If you want to change,then do it.AG: You told Ian Svenonius on VBS’ Soft Focus that youwere trying to give democracy “mouth to mouth.” Wouldyou elaborate on that? Here in Louisiana we’re all feeling alittle bit like we’re on life-support these days...HR: Your Government left Louisiana to die. It’s a soft genocide exactedupon the people of that state. For this alone, Bush people need to godirectly to court and then to prison to serve their life sentences forcrimes against humanity. The Government has proven time and time againthat it will not elevate the lives of a massive demographic in America.Democracy as you knew it or thought you did has been eroding since dayone. The decay picked up speed during Truman and has now fairly guttedthe Constitution. People in your state are increasingly seen as expendable.Of course, these awful people will lose because real Americans will wrestthe country back from them. It’s going to take awhile.AG: That’s a double-edged sword. On one hand you say“your government” and speak of a decaying democracy; onthe other hand you ultimately believe that things can beset right, still. What do you see that makes you optimisticthat we have a fighting chance?HR: Because there are too many people who want change for the betterto be kept down for long.AG: In that same interview, you talked about being put ona “watch list” because of some books you were reading ona plane: Ahmed Rashid’s Taliban and Jihad. What’s a goodreading list of some other material to get someone put onone of those lists?HR: No book should get you on any list. That being said, a book I justfi nished that I think every American should read is Morris Berman’s DarkAges America. Made me have to do a lot of thinking [about] America’shistory of brutality towards other countries [and] the crumbling empirethat America is.Friday, 9/21Provoked with Henry RollinsHouse Of Blues, 225 Decatur, (504)310-4999,www.hob.com/neworleansS.J. with Spiritual Advisor Chris George in early ‘07For more info on Henry Rollins, go to:www.21361.com12_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATUREmusicCHARLES SPEARIN OF DO MAKE SAY THINKIS TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEARTby marty garner marty@antigravitymagazine.comYou know what happensafter rock ‘n’ roll?” a goodfriend once asked me.“All lead singers die.” Hewas referring, of course, to postrock,the catch-all term for diversegroups like Godspeed You! BlackEmperor, Explosions in the Sky, andRachel’s, bands whose only unifyingthread is a lack of vocals (although,according to Wikipedia, the termwas fi rst used in 1975 to describe aTodd Rundgren record).Toronto’s Do Make Say Think are often mentioned in the same breath as Mogwai, Godspeed, and Sigur Rósas kings of the genre. But where these other bands slowly build their albums into cacophonous crescendosthat leave audiences screaming and unable to control themselves, DMST are much more content with thespirit of experimentation that birthed post-rock in the fi rst place. You, You’re a History in Rust, the group’slatest release on Constellation Records, may not provide the stained tear ducts of Explosions in the Sky’s Allof a Sudden I Miss Everyone, but it mines textures and territories that similar groups have not yet feared totread. Rust is a tender record, one that unfolds over many listens as being perhaps more emotionally maturethan the instant payoff of its brethren. Sound boring? It isn’t. The band moves at a pace that is quick withoutbeing hurried, interesting without being anxious. And that’s not to say that Do Make Say Think are afraid ofthe big pay-off. “The Universe!” bashes with the intensity of a split atom, cymbals and guitars and horns fallingover one another to be heard.Rust also marks DMST’s fi rst use of vocals in two songs: the heartbreaking “A With Living” and the fuzzyfree-for-all “In Mind,” which features Brooklyn’s Akron/Family.ANTIGRAVITY rang up Do Maker (and part-time Broken Social Scenester) Charles Spearin to discuss theins and outs of the human mind and the emotion behind his band’s music.14_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATUREmusicANTIGRAVITY: Your records seem to be moreabout textures and emotions than they are aboutstories. From where do you take your inspirationwhen writing?Charles Spearin: We don’t have an initial motive for makingmusic. It kind of comes after the fact. We work for a whileand try to find what’s coming out of the music. We’ll startwith a sketch of the music, either from a rehearsal or anotherrecording, and listen to it [and draw things from that]. There’sa kind of back and forth between playing the music and listeningto the music. You listen to it a little bit and then you have aninspiration from that and then you add to it. There isn’t oftenany kind of motive from the beginning. But, as a record unfoldsitself you start to understand what you’ve been writing aboutand what the pull is and that’s something you discover throughdiscussion and listening as the record’s made. And if we did agood job I think it feels like we’ve discovered what we’ve beentrying to say.AG: So when you start a record, you don’t reallyhave any one story or sentiment in mind?CS: Yeah, it’s really a sense of listening to rough sketches ofmusic that can start out as nothing, basically; it can start asa simple melody or an accident or something. You listen forqualities within that and hopefully find some hope or somethingin the music. Hope isn’t necessarily what we’re going for—it’snot what we’re against, either. Most of the time we’re tryingto reflect life. If you write too hopeful, it gets kind of candyand artificial. In life there’s a constant back-and-forth betweenhope and fear and apathy and all of these different emotions.Basically we set ourselves a week of rest and then we focusentirely on getting a good foundation for the music. There’sno pre-production, so we don’t know what we’re doing whenwe get up there. We write and record the skeletons of songs.Sometimes we have sketches, like I said. We also hope that theenvironment works its way into the music as well. If you wakeup by a lake and it’s beautiful, that’s going to affect the music. Ifyou’re sleeping on a hay bale, that’s going to affect the music.We’re a little romantic about that kind of thing, so it’s nice toallow yourself that option of spontaneity.AG: Why did you decide to have vocals on thisrecord?CS: I think because it’s a little scary. We’d been makinginstrumental music for a long time and in the initial stages wewanted to make albums with just music. Let’s not even botherwith singing. That allowed us a ton of freedom and we felt greatabout it for four records. Then we thought, “Well, we want totry something different here. Let’s do something that we haven’tdone as a band: sing.” Then everyone got really frightened bythe idea: What about lyrics? There are so many bad lyrics inthe world that you don’t want to have four records of beautifulinstrumental music and then have shitty lyrics on top of it. Sowe got anxious about it and it’s always fun to get anxious. Weinvited some friends in who we entrusted lyrically, like TonyDekker [of Great Lake Swimmers] and Alex Lukashevsky [ofDeep Dark United], two brilliant Toronto musicians, and theydidn’t write the lyrics, though Alex helped us with “A WithLiving.” We got Alex to sing that one because we love hissinging voice and we were too self-conscious. Though whentempting direction to go into because it feels so good and youwell up and everything. So we appreciate that but don’t copy it.AG: How do your crowds typically react?CS: We get a lot of compliments and cheers, and that feelsgood. We see a lot of smiles and sometimes we see peoplecrying which is always nice. It doesn’t happen too often, but itdoes happen. People really seem to appreciate it.AG: I read a review of a Do Make Say Think showthat mentioned that you walked up to the mic atthe start of the show and said, “I hope you enjoythe show, because we are going to play our heartsout for you.” Do you find it hard to conjure up thatmuch emotion every night?CS: [Laughs] Yeah, I don’t say that every night, that’s for sure.But we do try; we try every night because music is uselesswithout emotion in it. It’s wallpaper. So we really try to feel itwhen we play. When it’s something you do night after night it’shard to feel those same emotions.AG: One thing that colors your music is this senseof positivity, this overwhelming power of lovethat shines forth in your art. Most critics mentionwords like “glorious” or “blissful” and all of theseother religious adjectives when describing yourmusic. What’s behind that?CS: Probably suffering and depression. [Laughs] You know, youget hints of depression; everybody does. When you experiencesadness and pain and suffering and you pay attention to it andunderstand it and move towards it and explore it and getthrough it…I’m not a therapist at all, but you have to trust that“We see a lot of smiles and sometimes we see people crying.”And hopefully, if we’re listening, we can pick out what soundstoo depressing; you don’t want to get that way in life, but it’sdefinitely healthy to explore some of that. At the same time, youdon’t want to get too idiotic with hopefulness. You want to beable to explore every area of life but not indulge in depressionand not indulge in ignorance, you know?AG: Everyone sounds like they’re having a greattime in the background of the record—the sessionsseem really loose. Do you guys get along well in thestudio?CS: [Laughs] Yeah, we do sometimes. We definitely have a lot oflaughs. We’ve been playing together for twelve years, so we’rebasically family. Some of us have known each other for longerthan that. We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve weatheredenough chaos in the band that maybe we’re a bit more maturenow and can tolerate being packed into a van and traveling longdistances because we know what’s on the other side.AG: How do you guys write your songs?CS: All kinds of different ways. A couple of songs weremostly written by Justin on guitar, like “The Apartment Song”or “You, You’re Awesome,” where Justin comes in and weorchestrate what he has. And there are other times whenthings come out of jamming. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself inthis place where everything feels pretty good and everybody’splaying something that’s unique and fits, and we stop and say,“Okay, do you remember what you’re doing? Let’s stop andremember that.” Then we go into the studio ready to recordit. Other times we’re in the studio and one person will recordsomething and another person will record on top of it andanother person on top of it and the song will take shape thatway, like a sculpture. You keep adding or taking away lateron. For Winter Hymn we had this theme of “Fearlessly add,skillfully remove.” When we went into the studio we tossedon any ideas and eventually just scraped stuff off to find outwhat was in there. You just have to be totally open and let anyidea go in and find which ones work best together.AG: Where did you record the new album?CS: We recorded some of it up at our drummer’s cottage, someof it in a friend’s brother’s barn way out in backwoods Ontario,and some we recorded in a normal studio.AG: And you’ve done all of your records inuntraditional locations, right?CS: Most of them, yeah. We do that for practical reasons.You’re cut off from life and free from distractions and can focuson the music and not have to worry. No phones are ringing,there’s nothing else on your mind. There’s no show tonight.we perform it live, we usually do it by ourselves. Then on “InMind” we all sang it together as a band and we felt like we didn’tchicken out. We’re all really happy with the vocals. I don’t knowif it’s a new direction or anything, but we feel good about it.AG: Is it hard to continue to move forward as aband while remaining true to your own voice andvision?CS: It has been hard because the more we tour, the more postrockwe hear out there. There are so many bands out theredoing this kind of thing, we want to try something else—wedon’t want to get stuck in that genre. I don’t know how itbecame a genre, but it sure did. All over Europe, all over NorthAmerica there are instrumental post-rock bands. We don’twant to pigeonhole ourselves and get stuck.AG: I’ve also read that you’ve called post-rock“boring.”CS: It wasn’t back in the ‘90s, but now it’s 2007. I don’t thinkit’s fair to say that about any genre, though. Like, you can’t saythat jazz [as a genre] is bad, because there’s shit jazz and there’sgreat jazz. Maybe I said post-rock was boring, but I don’t listento a lot of post-rock at home. I don’t have any Mogwai records.I prefer listening to folk recordings. I love old Tortoise records.I don’t even know what’s considered post-rock now. [Laughs]AG: One way that you set yourselves apart frombands like Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You!Black Emperor is by avoiding the whole cathartic,emotional build-up thing in lieu of more nuancedshifts in the sound.CS: That is something we definitely try to avoid because it’san easy thing to do and it’s effective. When we play live, oursongs do that because it’s easy to start quiet and get bigger andbigger and bigger. You don’t want to deprive people of thatemotional release when you get big like that, but it takes moreimagination to come up with a different way of structuring thesong. Sometimes we stick to it, especially on our earlier records,because it sounds really good. We’ve been trying to find otherways of getting emotion into the music or out of the music.AG: Does that make it harder for live audiences topay attention?CS: I don’t know, but I think we do a pretty good job of keepingpeople’s attentions. We put a lot of thought into the set list andwhich songs go well with other songs and that sort of thing.We try to make the whole show an experience without gettingtoo jumpy; you don’t want it to sound like prog rock. You losepeople with constantly changing moods, but you don’t want tooverkill people with the bigger-bigger-bigger-end thing. It’s athere is something on the other side. I’m a Buddhist and I’vestudied Buddhism and I practice meditation quite a bit. I believein a fundamental goodness in people and living things, and whenshit gets bad it’s because there’s some sort of mistrust orsomething like that. I believe that the music can go anywhere inany kind of depression or dark place and that it’s totally healthy.But that’s not where you live, that’s where you explore. It’slike going to the North Pole; it’s nice to see, but you don’twant to live there. So the positivity in the music is having faithin the basic goodness of something that allows you to exploredifferent emotions fearlessly. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to dowith music. But I’m the only Buddhist in the band so everyonewould have a totally different answer on that one.AG: There’s a quote on your web page that says,“When you die, you’ll have to leave them behind.You should keep that in mind. When you keepthat in mind, you’ll find a love as big as the sky.”CS: That’s the lyric to the last song on the record, “In Mind.”It’s kind of a Buddhist sentiment. There’s a Buddhist song called“Eight Things to Remember,” by this famous Tibetan yogi, andthis song is just about remembering that fame and fortune istemporary and your body is temporary and eventually you’regoing to die and all of this stuff will be gone. It’s a very sombersong, but at the end he says “Keeping that in mind I practicedharma,” which is truth. If you remember that all these thingsare temporary, then you can live a more meaningful life. Andthat is what brings you to love. From my practice there’s truthto it, but it’s also easy to forget.AG: I agree. I’m not a Buddhist—I’m a Christian—but I’ve also found that our realization that we’reall going to die, that we’re all equal in that sense,causes us to have much more love and respect forthe world.CS: Yeah, it’s just a basic fact that everything is temporary. It’strue that we’re going to die, and if you try to live with that inmind then I think you’re living with more truth in your life, right?So that makes you a little bit more real of a person, I think.Thursday, 9/27Do Make Say ThinkChelsea’s Café, 2857 Perkins Rd., (225) 387-3679,www.chelseascafe.comFor more info on Do Make Say Think, go to:www.domakesaythink.comantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_15

FEATUREcomedyA MAN AND HIS MELONS: GALLAGHER,THE SELF-PROCLAIMED TASTEMAKERby andy bizer andy@bizerlaw.com16_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATUREcomedyTwenty years ago, Gallagherwas a big deal. It seemed likehis Showtime specials wereconstantly running and he wastouring theaters across America. Althoughhis moustachioed comedic star hasdimmed since then, he still performs allover the country, and he’s playing at theHowlin’ Wolf on September 15th. Duringour conversation, he came off as a selfimportantpopulist, but I’m honestly notsure if he was putting me on the whole time.Whatever the case may be, the guy claimsto have influenced Shamu. Not many cansay that with the confidence that at leastsome people will believe them. Thanks toMatt Muscle and the Goner Board for theirhelp and inspiration.ANTIGRAVITY: So who knew that politicalhumor mixed with smashing fruit could havesuch a long shelf life?Gallagher: [Five-second pause]AG: Hello?G: How old are you?AG: I’m thirty-one. I saw you play at the SunriseMusical Theater with my family when I was tenyears old.G: In Florida?AG: That’s right.G: Are you from that area?AG: Yes. I grew up there.G: The only reason I’m still doing shows is because I don’thave an agent or a manager. So it doesn’t have anythingto do with political humor and smashing watermelons. Idon’t think that’s why people are showing up. People areshowing up because of what you just said. You saw me along time ago and you liked the show then...AG: I did.G: And so part of what happens at my shows is thatfamilies come together. So that’s what it’s about. Theydon’t come up to me and say, “Boy, I can’t wait to hearyour political comments and watch you smash the food.”They want to be there to see me again and talk with thembefore and after the show and take pictures with themand sign autographs. Well, that means something to them.I think. Although you have a lovely question, I don’t thinkthat I’m a normal entertainer where you can say, “Oh,you’re offering them something and they’re responding.”AG: Is that why you think you might not havegotten the respect you deserve from thecritics and your fellow comedians?G: I don’t have any respect for them. They don’t knowwhat’s going on. Between Los Angeles and New York,there’s a vast wasteland that they don’t know anythingabout and that’s why television shows don’t work.Because these people don’t know who these people are.And I do. You look on my website and I’m taking pictureswith them and I’m talking to them. And they respond tome. I won’t be able to do a show in Los Angeles andNew York. Because those towns aren’t real. I work inunbelievably small places nobody has ever been to. I’vedone four shows in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I’llbetcha people go their whole careers and never go to theUpper Peninsula of Michigan.AG: So you haven’t played New York or L.A.in years?G: I played a little town north of New York City and I wasin a dinner theater. I would never be on Manhattan Island.Although, if I walked down the street the cab drivers andtruck drivers would honk at me.AG: But you used to play those cities, right?G: I never played Manhattan Island.AG: Wow.G: Okay, I played one show of twenty-five hundred peopleat the Madison Square Garden. The small room. Twenty-fivehundred isn’t very many when you consider it’s New York.I am just a real guy who works in real towns. [Entertaining]real people. Doing the hard job of making them laugh.AG: So what’s your take on Carrot Top? Is hecontinuing the tradition or ripping you off?G: Well, he didn’t really rip me off right...otherwise he’dhave a huge career. He focused too much on the propsand not enough about anything else, so he’s not me.Plus, I’m not a joke. You can say Carrot Top and get alaugh. I’m not a joke. Like you mentioned, my show hasdynamics and balance to it. I can talk about anything andthen we’re gonna smash food. And that was fun becauseit had variety. His show has no dynamics to it. And he’smade himself kind of weird with pumping up and havinghis eyeliner tattooed.AG: Have you seen recent pictures of him? Helooks crazy.G: Well, I saw him on the [Comedy Central] roast for...that black guy...uh, rapper...AG: Flavor Flav.G: Flavor. Yeah, you don’t want to get on them shows andbe made fun of. Then he got up there and he...he didn’t dohis stuff. He tried to be the other people and it didn’t work.He should have just gone to his props first because he had acouple of funny things like a little car that smoke came outof. They had him on there because they had enough talkersand they wanted someone to do props and of course hedoesn’t even notice that. He wants to be like everybodyelse. But he doesn’t really understand entertainment, Idon’t think. And I do.AG: Other than the watermelon, what is themost satisfying thing to smash?G: I like to hit this mayonnaise jar that I lay on its side,because it blows out both ends.AG: Nice.G: And they hate it. They scream when I put it up there.You take the top off, but you leave the cardboard. I reallylike hitting that lately and I like hitting a bottle of Scopebecause it takes off like a rocket.AG: And what have you smashed that youthought would be awesome, but actually justsucked?G: Ice. Ice doesn’t go anywhere. I tried it the other night.Crushed ice. I hid flour inside a head of lettuce and thatgoes really good lately. I continue to look for new things.I also like to hit nopalitos, which is cactus. That leaves areally snotty string in the air that imitates the distributionof stars in the sky. Big open areas and then long strings ofconcentration. I read astronomy magazines and I happenedto notice the similarity.AG: Do you still have that big, adult-sized bigwheel?G: Yes.AG: Where is it?G: It’s in storage, here in Los Angeles.AG: Do you ever break it out and just ridearound the house?G: Yes, if it’s a big show and if I can drive it there.AG: Who made that for you?G: I had employees that worked for me. But I’ll tell you—they were the guys who made the Gossamer Albatross thatflew across the English Channel by man-power and got the$100,000 reward. When I saw them on TV, I hired them.“I don’t think that I’m a normal entertainer whereyou can say, ‘Oh, you’re offering them somethingand they’re responding.’”AG: Really?G: Yeah.AG: What do you think about Metallagher, theMetallica cover band fronted by a Gallagherlook-alike?G: I like it.AG: Have you seen their act?G: No, but I’ve heard about it and I like it...but you have tosay that I also influenced Blue Man Group, GWAR, InsaneClown Posse...AG: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?G: Well, I think it’s a good thing. Because they draw peopleand the people have fun. I’m interested in people havingfun and having memories and good times. So, if I influencedanother entertainer then I think that’s good. And everyamusement park has a splash ride right now, so I’m sure Idid that. And Shamu didn’t splash anyone before me.AG: Is that so?G: Yeah.AG: You influenced Shamu?G: I influenced entertainment to not be worried aboutgetting sued. Before me, no one would touch a person inthe audience. And now, Steve Wynn built a theater thatdrops kids into a pool of water and they give you towels towatch the show.AG: Well, that sounds very Gallagher-esque.G: Well, I at least influenced the world I lived in and Ithink that’s part of being alive.Saturday, 9/15GallagherThe Howlin’ Wolf, 907 S. Peters, (504) 522-WOLF,www.thehowlinwolf.comFor more info on Gallagher, go to:www.gallaghersmash.comantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_17

COVER FEATUREmusicCOMING CLEAN WITH THE MEAT PUPPETS:CURT KIRKWOOD ON JUST ABOUT EVERYTHINGby marty garner marty@antigravitymagazine.comInterviewing Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets is about as easyas pinning down his band’s ever-shifting style. The forty-nineyear-oldsinger and manic guitarist shifts moods and thoughts aseffortlessly as he does genres, particularly on Rise to Your Knees,the Puppets’ new record. Knees marks the return of Puppet-in-exileCris Kirkwood, whose fame and fi nancial security undid him afterNirvana famously invited “the Brothers Meat” (as Kurt Cobain calledthem) onto Nirvana Unplugged. While his brother used his Nirvanamoney to build a nest egg, Cris came dangerously close to meetingCobain’s fate. He was arrested in 2003 for assaulting a post offi cesecurity guard who, in turn, shot Cris twice in the stomach. Fouryears of jail and detox brought the brothers back together to recordtheir fi rst record together since 1995’s No Joke!The importance of Curt and Cris Kirkwood’s reunion cannot be understated. The Puppets’ early records,particularly Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun, are hugely influential (in addition to the Cobain seal of approval,the band is often credited as being the progenitors of the entire alt-country scene). These records are nothingless than the picture of genre experimentation, as Curt’s guitar playing somehow recalls both Bakersfield countryand Bay Area psychedelia while the brothers’ vocal off-harmonizing changed the way indie rockers sing, mostnotably giving birth to the stoned marble-mouth of Kurt Cobain.Rise to Your Knees is a twisted, frothing beauty of a record that manages to namecheck Funkadelic, Neil Young& Crazy Horse, George Jones and 311, the whole thing reinforced with cheap staples to keep it from splittingat the seams. At times, the band sounds like Nirvana covering Grizzly Bear (“Tiny Kingdom”), other times likethe blissed-out cosmic cowboys that they invented for themselves back in the ‘80s. The swirling guitars andpurposefully off-key vocal harmonies recall the sonic splendor of Meat Puppets II, the record that oh-so-fatefullyintroduced Cris Kirkwood to the world of rock ‘n’ roll hedonism. And if a pun may be forgiven, Rise is somethingof a proverbial phoenix rising from its ashes, where most people expected to find a swan song.ANTIGRAVITY rang up Curt Kirkwood to discuss the power of celebrity, the dregs of addiction, and theferocious Los Angeles magicians in the Go Go’s.18_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COVER FEATUREmusicANTIGRAVITY: Did you anticipate Cris rejoiningthe band?Curt Kirkwood: You know, I didn’t really think about it toomuch. I just wanted to get away from him more than anythingat first, and then once I was away from him it was a matter ofjust getting it out of my mind. I didn’t even think about himgetting back with the band; it just didn’t seem like a possibilityconsidering how much of a mess he made of himself. He was,like, Sid Vicious-bad. I thought he would just die.AG: Did you talk to him at all during those years?CK: No.AG: When did you re-establish contact with him?CK: Last year, around April, I called him up after I was sure thathe was rehabbed. Then we just tried to pick up where we leftoff. Because, really, it’s like being crippled when you’re on heroinfor that long. It’s a cool thing that music’s like that; you can takerefuge in it when things start to suck in other parts of your life.So I was just waiting for him; I didn’t expect it, for sure.AG: Is he easier to work with now?CK: Absolutely. It’s even better. We always had something inthere. Early on, there was always a chance that our bad behaviorwas going to upset the apple cart. We didn’t notice it, really. Wethought we were a lot safer from that stuff than we really were,because we saw people fall all the time, but we were still notreally aware of it. We didn’t know how bad things were reallygetting [with Cris] until shit really hit the fan. I still don’t knowhow long that had been going on.AG: He wasn’t really able to perform his role inthe band.CK: Oh yeah, that was the biggest problem. I had a problem withhim being an addict and everybody else was having problemsand it just got in the way. He was just a pain in the ass. We triednot to get too judgmental, but after a certain point it becamelike he was completely unable to hold up his role and you know,at the risk of being a total gigantic asshole, it’s a lot easier now.AG: You didn’t try to help him with his problem?K: It’s not really any of my business. Maybe it’s just from me beingaround that kind of stuff a lot. And you know, I’ve been around ita lot. I’ve been in the business since I was a teenager. I grew up inPhoenix where there’s lots of heroin, and if people want to useit, that’s their own deal. You’d rather they didn’t, but that’s liketelling somebody, “Don’t drink beer!” You don’t want to be anag. The thing is, we always stayed away from junkies. We alwaysthought, as a band, we were beyond that. We always thought,“Well, we know a lot of junkies in Phoenix. We have friends thatdie every year but we’re not junkies.” And we actually startedavoiding junkies around ‘83 or ‘84, and, at least I thought, peoplewho used drugs and narcotics and stuff. We were trying to stayclear away from them and get them out of our scene becausewe’d been in it long enough to see [what happens]. We getoffered drugs every night. That’s the business, you know. And it’snot just us, it’s Britney Spears, it’s anybody that’s a celebrity. Theydon’t just want stuff, they want to give you stuff too.AG: Why do you think that is?CK: I don’t know. Misery loves company. You know, it’s justone of those things. By and large, people are miserable and theyneed something to make their lives seem shinier.If Curt Kirkwood seems rather aloof towards his brother’s struggleswith addiction, it’s only because he’s recognized how little power hehas over it. A 1998 interview with the Phoenix New Times makesit abundantly clear that Curt loves his brother but had indeed cometo terms with his own powerlessness. It’s not a matter of apathy;it’s a matter of ability—we cannot ultimately take the needle outof anyone’s hands. Kurt Cobain still casts a dark shadow over thegroup; it was on a post-Unplugged tour opening for Stone TemplePilots that Cris Kirkwood (along with STP frontman Scott Weiland)became addicted to cocaine and heroin.AG: How did the Nirvana Unplugged sessionschange your life?CK: Oh, it made it so I didn’t have to work for a while, whichwas kind of interesting. I like to work, but all of a sudden I didn’thave to. There was a lot more money. [Pauses] Well, therewas money whereas before there was no money. [Laughs]. Wehad a name for ourselves throughout the ‘80s, but we neverhad any money. Then all of a sudden we had money and thatgave us a chance to realize that we didn’t have to do anything.All of us in our own way…we didn’t quit, but maybe in a way[we did]. Derrick [Bostrom, original Meat Puppets drummer]really saw that it was a good time for him to get out. Cris usedhis for drugs. I took mine and bought a nice place to live outhere in Texas and hung out. It helped out that way.It also brought a lot of different kinds of attention. It was acool way to experience it, by proxy, because we didn’t have thespotlight on us. I’ve been around long enough to see what thatdoes to people. It’s not the greatest thing in the world. It’s nota totally bad thing, but…They did a poll, and the number-onemost-desirable job among grade-schoolers now is celebrity. Kidsdon’t have any idea. They just want to get attention, but that’snot normal, that’s not healthy. They’re starting to see that withLindsay Lohan and people like that, who get pushed by the pressand the fans who eventually want to see [celebrities] build theirown crucifix and climb up there and use their forehead to put thenails in. They’re saying, “Look, if we put enough heat behind thismagnifying glass, they’ll start to jump around a little bit and it’s justas entertaining as when they’ve got their act together.”AG: Do you think that’s what happened withNirvana?CK: Oh, absolutely. The psyche starts to come apart fromso much attention, and then other things start to come intoplay. Power corrupts, absolutely. Ultimately, it’s an abnormalsituation. I know that with them, there was so much moneyCK: Oh yeah, I spent a lot of time in platform shoes and flaredpants. I graduated high school in ‘76; I was all about that stuff. Ithought it was a lot of fun. The Bee Gees are still a huge favorite.When I first heard “Jive Talkin’” I was all over that crap.AG: So you didn’t buy into the whole “DiscoSucks,” disco versus rockers thing?CK: Oh it never bothered me at all. We listened to so muchstuff like that. I love Prince, for instance. I’m into all kinds ofdifferent music. There’s a heavy dose of Stevie Wonder inmy stuff. I grew up on Stevie Wonder and dissected his ‘70srecords in terms of how to record and track. There are veryfew limitations as to what I could get into in the right frameof mind. The ‘70s were great for that. Don’t get me wrong, Iwas into Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but I loved going tothe discotheques. I loved when they would turn on the smokemachine and you drink tequila and just kind of lose it. I didn’tknow any better; it didn’t bother me at all.AG: Who do you consider to be yourcontemporaries?CK: We have none. We are without peer and always have been.Everyone always says that we’re similar to this band or that band,and I can only say what they say. I mean, I felt a kinship to Nirvana.They had the same names as we did, which is a start. That’s shallow.[Laughs] We saw it right away, we were like, “Well, there’s aKurt and a Kris and they’re hippies playing punk rock music andbeing sneaky-psychedelic about it and it’s all sort of a big trick andeverybody likes them. Isn’t it weird how big they’re getting?” The“We are without peer and always have been.”being made that it was hard for them to take a break. Especiallyif you’ve been poor and you have millions of dollars pouring in,and you’ve got this circus around you of record companies andmanagement who are counting on you to hang one more carrotout there in front of them. It’s deeply, deeply troubling stuff.You read about someone like Elton John and how crazy he wasuntil he became adjusted to how absolutely fucking huge he was,and what that does to someone. David Bowie, same thing. Allthese people. So it’s interesting that Cobain did Bowie’s “TheMan Who Sold the World.” On any level of celebrity, you cansee it. We never had that, though. We had enough [celebrity] towhere we got money and people knew who we were. It’s alwaysbeen that way for me, this cottage industry, so the spotlight’snever really been focused on me.AG: What kind of effect do you think Kurt’s deathmade on the scene?CK: He’s a leader, in a way, to where it makes people think thatthey can get away with something like that. I know that therewere probably plenty of copycat suicides, and I know a fewpersonally. I wonder if that would have happened if the PunkRock Acolyte hadn’t done it, you know? That’s like if the DalaiLama did it; a number of people are going follow. Hopefully,most of them just went on and started listening to Korn anddidn’t shoot themselves.Meat Puppets II marked a definite change for the band. Where theirSST debut was a traditional hardcore record—perhaps the last thingstamped with the name “Kirkwood” that could ever be consideredtraditional—II is full of the spent and bent style that the band wouldbecome famous for. This is a band that has never been ashamedto wear its influences on its sleeves, no matter how many hardcoretraditionalists it may piss off.AG: How is it different being in the scene now asopposed to the ‘80s?CK: In some ways the shows never changed. Audiences havechanged significantly. We used to always be able to piss off thepunk rockers because they’d only like Black Flag and Fear and theDead Kennedys and they would spit on us for being too weird.And then we grew and got covered by Nirvana, then Korn andEminem came around and kids started to realize, “Wow, it’s notall about cliques and whether I listen to disco or heavy metal.”There’s a huge portion of the music-listening world that doesn’tgive a crap about genre rules, and that’s what we were alwaysabout. It’s like MOR radio in the seventies; the playlists werereally cool and you could hear Elton John then Led Zeppelinthen Jackson Browne. It was all cool music and they didn’t playa lot of disco or whatever, but I really liked disco.AG: Really?music doesn’t sound that much alike, but we’re similar in how weapproached it and how stupidly artistic we were about the entirething. I always felt a kinship to the Go Go’s.AG: The Go Go’s? Why?CK: Because they’re magical. They’re pure magic in the sameway that Frank Zappa was pure magic to me. They’re L.A.Magic. My contemporaries now, though? The E Street Band.AG: Really?CK: Aw, yeah. Same deal. It’s an environmental thing. They’rea New Jersey act in the same way that we’re a SouthwesternDesert act. I don’t know about musical contemporaries. For me,it’s more of a spiritual thing. It’s hard to compare styles, becausethen you’re saying, “Who do I rip off?” REM, Neil Young, JimiHendrix, Mike Watt, the Violent Femmes. We genre-skippeda lot. Would we be in the same genre as Wilco now? They getkind of heavy sometimes. Are we like Wolfmother? Sometimes.I don’t know, they’re so young. [Laughs]AG: How do you feel about being considered apioneer of the alt-country movement?CK: I meant to do it. I meant to hook up the whole Neil Youngthing with my Hank Williams fetish. I love that stuff. Therewasn’t much like that when we started except Neil Young. Iheard the high and lonesome in some of those bands like theViolent Femmes. But we got our shit from Carl Perkins. We gotour shit from Elvis. We credited ourselves with helping to startthe jam-punk movement outside of the Grateful Dead—andbefore the Grateful Dead asked us to open for them. Garciawas into that. He saw the continuum and the necessity ofsurrounding yourself with people who are like-minded. It’s notas if after Hendrix died people just couldn’t play like that. Whoelse could? Neil? Where were the rest of these people whocould, like, puke Technicolor like that? I’ve been in other bands.One of the reasons that [the Meat Puppets] stuck together isbecause when we first started playing we realized that we werea great band. We didn’t have anything to do with it; that’s whywe called it Meat Puppets. We were like, “This is way beyondus.” The notion that the three of us could make this glorioussound, like so many of our heroes. We knew we were lucky.Like most great ‘80s indie groups, the Meat Puppets were notoriousfor live shows that barely stayed together; they are nearly as notablefor what went wrong as for what went right. It was not uncommonfor their shows—still littered by the hardcore kids who were pissedoff that the Puppets had slowed the tempo—to end in chaos.AG: The records you did in the mid-‘80s aren’tnearly as punk rock as your first record.CK: Well, it’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to be punkrock artiste, Sex Pistols extravaganza, way beyond. You’re notantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_19

COVER FEATUREmusicsupposed to have conventionality in punk rock. Our thinking was, “If Captain Beefheart is thegodfather of punk rock, why does everything sound like it’s been stamped in a factory?” Whydid it have to be loud and fast, why did it have to sound like rebellion, why did it have to soundaggressive? It doesn’t make any sense. And other bands did it better; Fear was great at that,and so was Black Flag. We didn’t want to repeat that. We didn’t want to just be so forthrightand “Whoo, we’re punk rock.” Even Black Flag used to make fun of all of that. Black Flag drewa lot of morons and they knew it. Punk rock drew a lot of jocks who were just into it so theycould go out and hurt people in the mosh pit.AG: Yeah, I read this article in Rolling Stone about this crew of hardcore kidswho apparently just go out to shows and beat up skinheads. They’ve gotfranchises in all of these cities.CK: Yeah, that’s far out. That’s one of the reasons that we opted out. I got all of my front teethknocked out by one of those idiots early on. And my brother would fl at-out knock the pissout of people. But I’ll take on any skinhead, I guarantee you. Derrick is a very meek individual,but my brother and I are just about as nasty as any motherfucker would want to be. If we gotany adversity, we’d take people out. And that’s part of how we got our reputation, too. We’dcreate serious mayhem around anyone who showed adversity to our music. It was really easyto do, once you’re incensed. I can get myself pissed off; I don’t need to rebel against Momand Dad and society. I hate myself already, you know? I really hated the audiences that werecoming to those hardcore shows. That’s half the reason I did Meat Puppets II. It was like, “Youguys want to see something really boring? Here, choke on this. You’re so punk rock.”AG: Are you proud of Meat Puppets II?CK: Yeah, I’m really proud of it. I’m proud of everything we did. I think the first record’s so coolbecause it cleared the artistic palate for us and freed us up to not have to be punk rock anymore.I still say that we can be whatever we want. I can’t get into the middle of the first album. MeatPuppets II is much easier to get into. We were real intentional about those things. When you havesuccess like we did on Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun—not commercially but critically—I feltreal rectified in having those things get received the way they did. I almost want to try it again,try to make Up on the Sun again. Meat Puppets II would be hard to do again.Derrick Bostrom has declined offers from the Kirkwoods to rejoin the band. Bostrom has instead givenhimself the role of band archivist, posting ancient demos and videos on his blog, meatpuppets.com.In what may be viewed as a passive-aggressive dis on Bostrom, the Kirkwoods’ Meat Puppets site—themeatpuppets.com—bills itself as “the site for CURRENT Meat Puppets information.” Bostrom’srole has been fi lled by Ted Marcus, a former MTV employee and huge Meat Puppets fan whohappened to be working on a currently-in-production documentary on the band when Curt caught himin the studio drumming. “You sick, sadistic motherfucker,” Kirkwood apparently said. “You could playlike that the whole time and didn’t say anything?”AG: Are you and Derrick still close?CK: I haven’t talked to him in ages. He stays involved with his blog, by and large. We went ourseparate ways and neither Cris nor I have seen him since probably ’96. I think he likes it thatway. I asked him if he wanted to get together for this record and he said no.AG: What do you think about his blog?CK: I don’t read it. I don’t care. Not just his; I just don’t do that. I don’t have time to delve intopeople’s opinions and thoughts unless it’s Dostoevsky or something. Derrick is an incredibleartist and even more incredible person. I’m sure his blog is wonderful. He really is one of myfavorites. It’s kind of a shame that he doesn’t push that a little harder.AG: But that’s your music that’s on there; he’s releasing your old demosand instrumental versions of tracks from Meat Puppets II.CK: He does that and it only helps me out. I mean, he’s on those recordings, too. I knowwhat’s there. He’s the archivist, he always was. He’s more reticent to be involved; he’s noteven going to be involved in the documentary that’s being done right now, for some reason. Ithink he just wanted the band to die when he left, you know? I think that’s just how his mindsetgoes: the story’s over.AG: What do you think about the new record? There are some tracks, like“Island,” that seem almost out of place on a Meat Puppets record with theirragged positivity.CK: Sure, sure, that’s a pretty far out little tune. I think it’s a major triumph and a vital, shiningaddition to our catalog. For what we put into it, it came out really good. The other recordsthat we spent so little time and money on also came out that good, so it doesn’t surprise me.In the long run, everybody shits on stuff that’s really done well, whether it’s Limp Bizkit orwhatever, anything that’s well-recorded. People are into it at fi rst and then it’s like, “Eww!”They cost so much and they did all this crap and it’s just not punk rock. And, yeah, it’ll sellat fi rst because they force people to buy it, but what really holds up is garbage. I have theseold Hank Williams demos that are just him and a guitar, and it’s just acetates and it sounds sofucking good. And I wouldn’t want everyone to do it the way we do it. I like the way the LimpBizkit records sound, for instance. But we can get away with making really good records forcheap, and this is one of them. I’m ashamed to say how little this record cost. It’s absolutelyridiculous. In terms of bang for the buck, this is already approaching Meat Puppets II. If you cando it cheap and get away with it, why not? We’re the Meat Puppets, who cares?Saturday, 9/15The Meat Puppets, the Comas,One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., (504) 569-8361, www.oneeyedjacks.netFor more info on the Meat Puppets, go to:www.themeatpuppets.com20_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATURE REVIEWartNot quite a comic but more than just a sketchbook, Revacuation featuresdrawings by Brad Benischek, Bywater resident and artist. There’s nolinear story told in these pages—instead, the vignettes Benischek displaysare at times bleak and at times idealized, a range of emotions any NewOrleanian can relate to. The art itself is raw—while the sketches aredetailed, there’s an unrefi ned quality that invokes indie comic artist JeffreyBrown and never lets the reader settle into a fl ow. To see how beautifulBenischek’s art can be you’d have to pick up the fi rst issue of Constance,where his full-color, impressionistic art shines; that’s not to say these sketches are poor, they’re just notmeant to be beautiful. In fact, the gritty appearance can be construed as a parallel to everyday life in thiscity—the good parts of the day are nice and all, but everything seems to be skewed just a tad, as the focusof everyone’s memories of pre-K New Orleans is never completely apparent in our present life. To fi ndout more about Revacuation, ANTIGRAVITY traded e-mails with Benisheck, who’s busy working on the setof another Katrina-themed project, Fox’s K-Ville. —Leo McGovernANTIGRAVITY: When you and your family left New Orleans before Katrina, youwound up in Los Angeles, where you stayed with a friend. From there, you watchedthe immediate aftermath of both Katrina and Rita—what from that time made youwant to start sketching?Brad Benischek: We were only in L.A. for a few. We drove around for about fi ve weeks and came back thefi rst week of October when the Bywater legally opened back up. Drawing has always been part of the wayI process and understand my surroundings. What kicked off the Revacuation journal was probably watchingthe levees break again during Rita and feeling so helpless and being so far away.AG: Revacuation is more a collection of moments and thoughts than a straightforwardstory—what are the benefits of this format, rather than telling your story in a morestructured manner?BB: I had never planned to write a story or develop a narrative. I was just responding to events as theyunfolded—the mayhem on the news, the stories people kept telling, the mayoral campaign, etc. I’d workall week painting houses, read the paper, listen to talk radio, and then on the weekend I’d go to the coffeeshop and draw—sort of distill all of the information I’d taken it into a couple of drawings. This formatwasn’t a conscious decision. It’s an open form, an immediate reaction. Narratives traditionally have abeginning, middle and an end. We don’t even know where we are in the narrative spectrum of this story.AG: One of the most obvious art choices in Revacuation is that most people arerepresented as different types of animals. Why choose this method, and how’d youdecide which animals certain people would be (or who wouldn’t be animals at all)?BB: It was an intuitive choice. Revacuation is the reproduction of an unedited sketchbook. The fi rst drawing,the bird with some human features, created the direction. It’s not like Maus, in which different animalsalways represent specifi c groups/ethnicities, etc. In Revacuation. animal identities shift around much likeour own circumstances do. In the beginning, everyone was a bird (except the scary government guys),just like we all felt a sort of solidarity with each other. Then as we returned, things started to break downinto groups with different interests. These weren’t conscious choices, but looking back Revacuation. seemspeopled not only with ordinary, familiar animals you see on the street but also ones involved in age-oldpredatory cycles: dogs who chase cats who chase birds. There’s also a certain amount of frustration andtension in these hybrid creatures—having one wing and one arm, you can’t really fl y and you can’t really gutyour house effectively. Some just seemed natural, like Karl Rove as the vicious, salivating dog, Rover. Thescarecrow, government guys and the Bush cowboy were just top-of-the-food-chain creatures disconnectedfrom the lives of the “people.”AG: There are some instances where you show your personal experiences, such aswhen your electricity was mistakenly cut. Certainly most people who’ve lived in NewOrleans for the past two years have gone through the gamut of experiences, and youcould have portrayed that as a general occurrence. How’d you choose which eventsto attribute to yourself and which to make generalizations of?BB: I’d say most art is a hybrid of the two: the specifi c, personal experience and then everything elsehappening around you, which is often too enormous to express except in generalizations.AG: How has living in the Bywater influenced Revacuation? Do you think you’d haveproduced the same book if you’d lived in another neighborhood?BB: Living in Bywater was a huge infl uence. We’re on the edge of the disaster zone, but not in it. The waterstopped a block and a half from our house. If we’d been in the East, a journal might have been low on mylist of priorities. If we’d been Uptown, I might’ve been too busy eating gelato. The Bywater is a very old, yetvery dynamic neighborhood without a fully formed identity, with so many diverse types living very differentlives side by side.AG: Finally, what do you want people to take away from Revacuation? Is there areaction you hope to get from people, and do you expect something different frompeople who either aren’t from or don’t live in New Orleans?BB: I hope people somehow make a connection to it. It’s not as polished and accessible as other workout there now about New Orleans. We thought the scratchy, raw craziness of it might get at the diffi cult,confusing truth of how it feels to be here. It might not be as easy to get for someone who doesn’t live here,(we’ve already gotten an interested, yet baffl ed review from New York) but I hope something from thisexperience translates.For more info on Revacuation, go to:www.myspace.com/revacuationwww.press-street.blogspot.comantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_21

REVIEWSbooksOn Jerry Stahl’s website—www.jerrystahl.com—, right next toa copy of the cover of his latest collection of short fi ction,Love Without, there is a blurb from The New Yorker’s Thomas Mallonthat refers to Stahl as a “Better-than Burroughs virtuoso.” It wasthis quote that fi rst piqued my interest in Stahl’s latest collection,having not been familiar with any of his previous work.Now, I must take issue with Mallon’s ambiguous praise, whichcan be found in Mallon’s review of Stahl’s previous book, I, Fatty.As a longtime Burroughs fanatic, Mallon’s claim brought to mind Burrough’s later work, likeThe Nova Trilogy or The Cities of the Red Night Trilogy, which I then connected to predecessors Ilink to Burroughs’ syntactical and linguistic experimentations, post-modern luminaries like MarkZ. Danielewsky or Steve Erickson. I looked up some more information on Stahl and, much tomy chagrin, realized that Mallon was not referring to any of the artistic progress for whichBurroughs is revered amongst his voracious fan base; Mallon was referring to drug literatureand only considered Burroughs’ reluctantly “beatnik” works like Queer and Junky. I should haveexpected that, seeing that Mallon went on to say, in the same review, that “Stahl has earnedblurbs…from James Ellroy, Hubert Selby Jr., and Jim Carroll.”But in this collection, Stahl has apparently resolved to not limit himself to narcotic culture,instead focusing on sexuality, spirituality, and paranoia. In one particularly brave piece, Stahlconstructs a political satire that echoes the “comix” of legends like Gilbert Shelton or SkipWilliamson, wherein the narrator reluctantly allows himself to be seduced by none other thanour gun-toting vice-president, Dick Cheney.The fi rst couple of stories explore pubescent sexuality. The fi rst of the two pairs a curiousboy and an emotionally distressed, middle-aged widow on an airplane, the latter allowing theformer to grope her openly as they sit in their seats, spectators with mouths agape.Another sexually focused piece as boldly satirical as the Cheney story shows Christianprostitutes, who will do anything except engage in vaginal intercourse, since that would besacrifi cing their virginities. These girls are saving themselves for the hunk known as Christ,pining as girls once pined for Paul McCartney, Robert Plant or David BowieStahl’s best piece, by far, exhibits his inclination toward exploring sexual deviance, but heinfl ects a psychological element that deepens his story signifi cantly. “Jigsaw Music” is a youngwoman’s fi rst-person account of her introduction to a deranged and obsessive neighbor inthe thin-walled apartment complex in which she lives. In the piece, the neighbor offers awooden heart with the narrator’s name carved into it, a project that was, oddly enough,completed before she introduced herself.While the majority of the collection is fairly strong, certain pieces seem uninspired, or atleast forced up to a certain point. These include a vignette wherein an addict blows cocaineinto his middle-aged, hag-like dealer’s sphincter through a straw and another story abouta sadistic, over-sexualized midget. Of course, these are merely short interruptions in theoverall high-quality of the collection, which, when at its best, sings in the raspy voice of ourtroubled times, making a part of the reader wonder, “are they really troubles or just a preludeto a release from suppression, a prelude to freer times?” —Brady WalkerIt seems that the trend in many contemporary novels is to portraya world that is strange and remote from that of the expectedaudience. The purpose of this—if any—could be an effort totitillate tired imaginations that have been resting comfortably onthe easily consumed, recycled plotlines and stock characters ofpopular sitcoms. Perhaps it is an effort to expand the audience’smind through offering a unique and alien point of view to occupy.There are still those gems, however, that make use of identifiablerealism while stretching a long left arm to hold onto the amusing absurdity that the freedom ofcontemporary literature grants to writers’ imaginations. Ovenman, Jeff Parker’s debut novel, isone such novel.I started reading Parker’s novel while I was on a break at work. I’d just stacked five logs intothe restaurant’s pride-and-joy wood-burning oven, where I cook pizzas, calzones, focaccias, andbreadsticks. I hadn’t put any effort into divining a plot or theme from the title, so when I got tothe second chapter, when protagonist and narrator When Thinfinger gets hired at PiecemealPizza, the hippest college restaurant in town, I was pleasantly surprised to embark on an on-shiftreading from a fellow pizza cook.Actually almost anyone (or at least almost everyone I know) could smilingly identify with thedopey narrator: “For a moment, waking up after this caliber of drinking is like birth.”In his mid-twenties, Thinfinger is a high school dropout with accidental tattoos that look likeblurry rows of hedges. He has a girlfriend named Marigold who collects the skulls of exoticanimals, dreams vividly each night of being murdered by her boyfriend, and fractures herspine the day before the actual novel starts. Ovenman plays host to a cast of eccentric twentysomethingsall affecting something of generic countercultures while still managing to stay out ofthe realm of token hipsters, and for all their eccentricities they all seem to be fathomably real.Besides kitchen work, Thinfinger demonstrates unwavering interest in skateboarding andsinging in a hardcore band (wherein most of the members hate him), and he is only allowedto sing/scream the name of the band like a mantra over par music, though he oftentimes pullsstacks of his obsessively scribbled post-it notes (the novel’s most prominent plot-spurring prop)and sings out amateur musings on his mundane life.Anyone who has hated a restaurant job long enough to love it will appreciate this novel forits candid portrayal of average kitchen workers. However, the acute skill with which Parker tellshis story does not change the predictability of this coming-of-age tale.The story rises and falls at time-tested angles and I found myself wishing Parker would surpriseme with something other than cleverness, irony, and Thinfinger’s awkwardness. For instance,several plot elements predictably abide close to the somewhat dated rule of Chekhov’s Gun—all shots being fired sequentially like falling dominoes, separated neatly by chapters, to tie a tightbow around the novel’s first and last pages. This, however, does not affect the grand and final“gun” going off, though several other loose ends could’ve been left to blow about in ambiguity.That being said, Ovenman ranks much higher than most books that go this epiphanic youthroute. There is a lot to be expected of Parker, who possesses an accessible, unique voice anddares to use likable narrators like When Thinfinger, whose narrative is so intimate you can’thelp but befriend him despite the feeling that, if this character were to manifest himself at thesame party as you, you’d probably hate him. —Brady Walker22_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

REVIEWScomicsCalling Pulphope “The Art ofPaul Pope” actually doesthe book a bit of a disservice.It makes it sound like it’s mostlygoing to be a collection of work,both previously seen and never-before-seen, of an immenselytalented artist. That would have been well enough, but Adhouseand Pope go a few steps further and create a book that is aninsight into Pope’s influences and thoughts on various types ofart, accompanied by visual examples, to create a book that is anapproximation of a very good art textbook, an autobiographyand a coffee table art book all at the same time.The images in Pulphope are undeniably evocative andinteresting, ranging from Pope’s rescued drawings as a fi veyear-oldto his work on manga for Kodansha to erotica andeven some of his indie comics work like THB, but they arefar from the only attraction. Pope precedes each of the eightchapters with a two- or three-page essay about the art stylecontained in the chapter, along with thoughts about his process,artists who work in that style who have infl uenced him oreven just his philosophy and how it informs his art. It’s botheducated and educational, as Pope shows off a knowledge ofart and culture that is humbling to anyone who hasn’t formallystudied it, and presents cohesive arguments about form andstyle alongside whimsical stories that reinforce his points. It’sdelightfully fun yet mind-expanding, and to my mind deservesto be put up there with Understanding Comics as a book that allserious students of the comics form should have.Adhouse is a relatively sparse publisher, producing maybe ahalf-dozen or so books in any given year. I don’t know if this isa factor in the careful design work that goes into each productor not, but it’s definitely true that each Adhouse book, fromsingle issue comic to graphic novel to art book, is in and of itselfa unique art object. From the compact hardcover of ProcessRecess to the rounded corners and silver inks of Project Telstar,Adhouse books consistently offer a package that comments onand enhances the material inside. In this respect, Pulphope is nodifferent. The book is oversized, squarebound, printed on topqualitypaper and it really shows off Pope’s art to its best effect. Imight have preferred a less abstract cover that more clearly laidout the contents, and I honestly found the font used for chaptertitles weirdly dated, evoking ’70s Buck Rogers, but at the sametime these are basically personal quibbles. Certainly they fit withthe overall design vibe of the book, which encompasses a widevariety of styles and influences and represents a sort of chaos.Laser-focused essays analyze why each piece remains, enforcingstructure and order on the wildness of the art.Pope’s career is a varied one, ranging from many differenttypes of commercial art (rock posters and CDs, magazineillustrations), pop and fi ne art (prints and paintings) and, ofcourse, comic book art. Pulphope has room for most of theseperiods, although the commercial art, and indeed a goodchunk of his relatively low mainstream comics output, is leftout, probably due in part if not in full to copyright/ownershipissues. What’s left is a lot of his work at its most personal,including a chapter on his experimentation with the Japeneseform Ukiyo-E (which he playfully renames Ukiyo-E-Pope),a chapter on pin-ups (wouldn’t be an artist book withoutthem) and a chapter focused on kid art. The latter is mostinteresting, because he examines not only what it was like forhim to draw as a child but the thought process of drawingas a child in general. There is also a chapter focusing on hiswork for manga publisher Kodansha, with tantalizing glimpsesof a whole body of work that is to this day either unpublishedor near impossible to get for the average American comicsfan. Another chapter covers art as visions of the future andyet another on “design containers,” which is as close as youget to a general dissertation on Pope’s visual style withoutgetting into as many specifi cs as the other chapters. Each onefeatures a thought-provoking essay and gorgeous art piecesthat demand your attention again and again.In fairness, Pulphope is not an art book that I can wholeheartedlyrecommend to everyone. Those seeking only tolook at Pope’s art as art, who want to appreciate the visualswithout looking behind the curtain, would better off checkingout Batman: Year 100 or 100%. That’s not to say there aren’tany number of singularly striking images in this book that anyfan of Paul Pope would enjoy, but I think that reading the bookon that level would probably leave one unsatisfi ed. Instead,this is an unprecedented look into the mind of an artist, tracinghis history through a non-linear exploration of his infl uencesand favorite styles and sharing a unique philosophy that couldeasily be the jumping-off point for dozens if not hundreds ofconversations on the process and place of art. Certainly this isa book that comic book artists, whether neophyte or veteran,would enjoy. I imagine most would fi nd plenty to appreciateand consider. In fact, I’d love to see more of these kinds ofbooks from other artists because each artist’s insight andinfl uences would be so different.It’s rare to fi nd a book this engaging—the last one I canthink that even approached this in-depth and interesting a lookat an artist was Active Image’s Tim Sale: Black and White. Tome, Pulphope is essentially like getting to sit down in a cafe withthe artist for several hours and talk about art, except that atthe end of the chat you have a record of your talk that youcan view at your leisure, and instead of half-fi lled coffee cupsand stubbed-out cigarettes you have a beautiful art object of abook packed with visual delights. —Randy Landerantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_23

REVIEWSfilmSketch comedy is always arisk on screen; even thebest, like Kentucky Fried Moviehave consistency problemsand the same can be said forThe Ten. When it’s funny it’sdamn funny, but when it’s notyou may well be wonderingjust how many more of theseskits you have to sit through.There are ten of them, as the name implies, and each is looselybased on the Ten Commandments. Five are hilarious, threeare forgettable and the other two have Gretchen Moll in them,which make them infi nitely watchable, if nothing else.The Ten comes from the same boys that brought you MTV’sThe State. They bring an A-list cast to the screen includingPaul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Jessica Alba, Moll, Oliver Platt, LievSchreiber, Famke Janssen and Rob Corddry. It’s too good ofa cast for television but doesn’t quite rise to the challenge ofmaking the jump to the silver screen that other cable-basedcomedies (Think South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut) have.Paul Rudd narrates and his disintegrating relationship with exFamke Janssen in favor of Jessica Alba provides the framework.This was perhaps my biggest disappointment. Rudd is usuallyterrifi c in everything from his fi lm work to his bit part onFriends. Here he has nothing to work with until the end, whenhe makes up for it all with a great riff on Woody Allen pictures.Jessica Alba brings nothing to the table. The joke is simply thatJessica Alba is young, beautiful and immature.Casting Winona Ryder in the “Thou Shalt Not Steal” segmentis funny in and of itself, but again the South Park boys did itbetter before in Team America. Highlights include Liev Schreibertrying to get one up on his suburban neighbor, Rob Corddry’sass rape skit and an animated bit featuring a lyin’ rhino.If you’re longing for laughs, The Ten will provide several. Itis quite vulgar and dually exhibitionist. Mel Brooks might havemade it “The Five,” back when he made funny movies. As longas you don’t set your expectations too high, take it for what itis and enjoy The Ten. —J.W. SpitalnyMolière has been calledthe French answer toShakespeare in Love, yet it hasmore in common with thisyear’s Becoming Jane, with thenotable exception that you’llleave the theatre entertainedrather than depressed.Before he revolutionizedFrench comic theatre withhis dramatic satire, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, working underthe stage name Molière, led a bankrupt comedy troupe andwas imprisoned for debt. His debt was paid by a mysteriousbenefactor and little is known about the months after, until hetriumphantly led his troupe on a twelve-year countrywide tourthat culminated with his being named Troupe de Monsieur andgiven his own theatre to practice his craft. Molière examinesthis unknown period, fashioning a fi ctional period comedyout of events that would forever infl uence the playwright’sgreatest comic achievements.The fi lm’s great advantage is that viewers are less likely tobe familiar with Molière’s work than they are of Shakespeareand Austen. Early scenes depicting Molière’s arrest draw morefrom silent comedy than anything we might see at Le Petitthese days and they are truly funny. Likewise, Fabrice Luchini’sFrench nobleman behaving badly gets us because we’ve seenthis sort of thing in Chaplin fi lms. I don’t know a thing aboutseventeenth century stage drama, but I laughed more in thispicture than I have in many summer comedies.The entire cast is top-notch, from Romain Duris as Molière,Fabrice Luchini as his laughable benefactor Jourdain, LauraMorante as the benefactor’s wife (naturally wise to the wholescheme and Molière’s love interest) and Ludivine Sagnier asthe vain socialite Jourdain tries to woo. This is great fun foradults without relying on blue humor or bathroom jokes todraw smiles.We’ve been inundated with French fi lms this summer,but this is one I can comfortably tell you to go and see. Ifyou like foreign fi lms, this is a great diversion—if subtitlesscare you, I’m sorry, because Molière is a gem of a movie.—J.W. Spitalny24_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

REVIEWSmusic2004 found erstwhileDismemberment Planfrontman Travis Morrisonreleasing his fi rst solo record,Travistan, which was given the deathly 0.0 by Pitchfork Media.This roughly amounts to high indie treason; at the height oftheir powers, the Plan were the P’fork set’s biggest band. Bycontrast, a Morrison solo show at TwiRoPa in summer of2005 netted about thirty paid customers, a far cry from thePlan’s heyday.It’s apparent that Travis Morrison reads his own press. All Y’all,which consists of songs written shortly after Travistan’s release,is very much a return to form. Gone are the previous album’sgoofy lyrics—in their stead are stories that are mature withoutbeing too serious and keyboards that soar while guitars drag theirfeet in the dirt. At times it seems as if Morrison and his band, theHellfighters, can’t decide if they want to make nerdy snyth-coreor traditional DC Dischord punk. The schizophrenic approachworks, and we’re left with a record that’s not only brushed withmature keys and jagged rhythms, but that is at times just as goodas the Plan’s magnum opus, 1999’s Emergency & I.Love it or hate it, Morrison’s off-kilter vocal performanceshave long been one his touchstones, and All Y’all is noexception. The music here matches his voice, stuttering andskipping across rhythms. Rhythmic electric piano keeps theentire band from losing control and keeps the music listenable.At times he channels Steven Malkmus, the muttering voice nottelling stories so much as reluctantly admitting to them. Thetension between Morrison’s voice, the angular guitars, andthe calm keys produce a desperate, emotional squall. It’s thatpassion—both musical and lyrical—that was apparently missingon Travistan. The Plan were at their best when they sang aboutgood people in bad places, when the songs were soaked inmelancholy with just a dash of hope and the music soaredand whined along with them. On All Y’all, Morrison returnsto music that truly matters, music that has staying power andrefuses to alienate the listener. It’s utterly engaging.The style is particularly winning in album opener “I’m NotSupposed to Like You (But).” Here the band walks the linebetween lounge and post-punk, sincerity and cheese. It’s atheme that sets All Y’all’s tone while also managing to sum upMorrison’s career with the Plan. Somehow, the entire recordfeels like a triumph, the sound of a man making music for himselfand himself alone. By the time the Hellfighters chug through“Hawkin’s Rock,” Morrison is cruising along with confidence.Sure, the record never quite matches the lonesome groansof Emergency’s “The City” or the nauseous off-rhythmsof “Gyroscope,” but it’s a far more consistent record thanMorrison has produced in the past. The thirty-fi ve year-old isfi nally a bit more grown up and certainly more mature thanhe’s ever been before. Welcome back, Travis. —Marty GarnerIf there were ever a trialconcerning the merits ofdance music in non-dancemusic circles I’d like to play thedefendant. Exhibit A: Justice’sdebut record Cross—a French electronic album that doesn’tventure into disco, features as much heavily distorted bassthrob as it does breaks and manages to be menacing, grandand funky as hell. This is the CD all dance fans need to buy toshow their skeptical friends that it’s not all about sampled soulsingers and 4x4 stepping. Unfortunately, being both French andplaying simple, low-end heavy electronica, direct comparison toDaft Punk is inevitable. And while they share many similarities,Justice carves out its own identity. They’re far tenser than therobotic duo, always keeping a thin wire of jitters and anxietystretched between the kicks and keys. Like the coke-happynephews of Daft Punk, Justice build simplistic song structureslayer by layer until they’re towering masses of smashing drums,grinding analog synths and grunting Mac squelches, but therealways lurks those chainsaw synthesizer growls to sharpen theiredges. That’s not to say it’s all cranked-to-eleven banging; Justicehas an innate mastery of pulling the drama out of a laptop,cutting the beat just when the piano hits and letting it all climbto a transcendent climax, as it does on “Let There Be Light.”Lead single “D.A.N.C.E.” is all slinky bass slide and muted beatswith the opportune key trill to punctuate its incredibly funkyrhythms. Hell, “Valentine” is practically the love ballad of thealbum—its Hammond melody and squeaking Roland horns callto mind a less medieval “Veridis Quo.” Throughout, though,Justice never lose sight of massive, foot-stomping beats. Cross isa dance record that feels like an especially funky rock album—simple riffs, meaty thumps and a dangerous mindset all coalesceinto a heavy record. —Mike RodgersTheir promo material comparesthem to Grizzly Bear andDeerhoof, and while thoseare definitely apt comparisons,Brookyln’s Arizona comesacross more as a modern-day Crosby, Stills and Nash with theirsquiggly guitars, stained glass harmonies and infectious positivism.The five-piece band mines classic rock territory with the sameferocity of the aforementioned acts, but sometimes struggle tocombine their considerable influences into a unique voice. Thisisn’t to say that Fameseeker and the Mono is a bad record; far fromit. It simply stays in the conventions of anti-conventional psychfolk-rock.Weird arrangements? Check. Out-of-key guitar playing?Check. Pretty, anyway? Big check. Perhaps the band simply doesn’tyet have the swagger of a group like Grizzly Bear or the recklessabandon of Deerhoof, but Fameseeker shows considerablepotential. Standout track “Life is Great” spreads a lush, three-partharmony over a leafy bed of tightly controlled guitar squalls andacoustic picking, the sunshine eking its way out of the cornersand recalling Neil Young’s “Down by the River,” if it were a songabout hope and not, um, murder. It is here that the group exhibitsflashes of experience; the vocalists sell the message perfectly andthe band builds beautifully until the song explodes into guitars andharmonies. Elsewhere, songs twist and wrap themselves aroundtheir own structures, acoustic guitars try to keep up with theirnoisy electric cousins, and ska horn sections bounce over splashycymbals and more fingerpicking. In a certain sense, Fameseeker is arecord about beauty and noise coexisting peacefully, pooling theirresources for the common good. Fameseeker and the Mono findsArizona playing in the shadows of some of the most interestingbands around; it’s when they stick their heads into the sunlightthat this band really excels. —Marty GarnerFor the uninitiated or theunwilling, Merzbow recordsare at best a nuisance. Theirimpenetrable walls of digitalsound and grinding metal squallsof white noise are the furthest thing from melodic pop musicas you can get—yet, for those willing to look, Masami Akita’snoise compositions hold an eerie beauty that at times border onthe transcendent. Once your ears and mind grow accustomed tothe swirling and often confrontational sounds, a slow trance-likeeffect begins to take place. The low-frequency thumps becomemore pronounced, the tornado of sound melts into a cloud ofwhite noise and warm shifts in tone and pitch carry the tracks likecomputer-scratch-orchestral compositions. “Merzbear, Pt. 2” laysdown a ceaseless piston beat, driving analog heartbeats beneathspinning screams, drilling noise stabs and ghostly Theremin wails.“Merzbear Pt. 3” finds itself on looser footing—a stumblingbackbeat of laptop-born drums and keyboard squeak crescendosbefore ending its fifteen minutes in an eruption of static, metalspring clangs and hard drive zips. Akita uses his bank of computers,mixers and samplers like a well-oiled machine—each elementworks in perfect harmony to achieve the right levels of noise andtone. All four tracks on the album work together to break downthe listener, forcing their ears to adjust to the foreign noise and,(hopefully), slowly appreciate the wave-like subtleties within theconstantly shifting compositions. No amount of words can reallyprepare a new listener for the sounds of Merzbear—its dissonant,howling violation of tradition is an alien concept in popular musicand makes even the loudest noise-punks look like conservatives.But be sure, there is subtle beauty and an almost mantra-likequality buried beneath the digital rubble. —Mike RodgersMUSIC REVIEWS SPONSORED BY THE OFFICIAL RECORD STORE OF ANTIGRAVITYantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_25

EVENTSNEW ORLEANS45 Tchoup, 4529 Tchoupitoulas (504) 891-9066The Big Top, 1638 Clio St., (504) 569-2700, www.3ringcircusproductions.comCafe Brasil, 2100 Chartres St., (504) 947-9386Carrollton Station, 8140 Willow St., (504) 865-9190,www.carrolltonstation.comCheckpoint Charlie’s, 501 Esplanade Ave., (504) 947-0979Chickie Wah Wah, 2828 Canal Street (504) 304-4714,www.chickiewahwah.comCircle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., (504) 588-2616, www.circlebar.netClub 300, 300 Decatur Street, www.neworleansjazzbistro.comCoach’s Haus, 616 N. SolomonD.B.A., 618 Frenchmen St., (504) 942-373, www.drinkgoodstuff.com/noEldon’s House, 3055 Royal Street, arlovanderbel@hotmail.comDragon’s Den, 435 Esplanade (504) 949-1750,www.myspace.com/dragonsdennolaFuel Coffee House, 4807 Magazine St. (504) 895-5757Goldmine Saloon, 701 Dauphine St., (504) 586-0745,www.goldminesaloon.netThe Green Space, 2831 Marais Street (504) 945-0240,www.thegreenproject.orgThe High Ground, 3612 Hessmer Ave., Metairie, (504) 525-0377,www.thehighgroundvenue.comHi-Ho Lounge, 2239 St. Claude Ave. (504) 945-4446,www.myspace.com/hiholoungeHouse Of Blues / The Parish, 225 Decatur, (504)310-4999,www.hob.com/neworleansThe Howlin’ Wolf, 907 S. Peters, (504) 522-WOLF, www.thehowlinwolf.comKajun’s Pub, 2256 St. Claude Avenue (504) 947-3735,www.myspace.com/kajunspubLe Bon Temps Roule, 4801 Magazine St., (504) 895-8117Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak St., (504) 866-9359Marlene’s Place, 3715 Tchoupitoulas, (504) 897-3415,www.myspace.com/marlenesplaceOne Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., (504) 569-8361, www.oneeyedjacks.netPravda, 1113 Decatur St.Republic, 828 S. Peters St., (504) 528-8282, www.republicnola.comRusty Nail, 1100 Constance Street (504) 525-5515, www.therustynail.org/Tarantula Arms, 209 Decatur Street (504) 525-5525,www.myspace.com/tarantulaarmsTipitina’s, (Uptown) 501 Napoleon Ave., (504) 895-8477(Downtown) 233 N. Peters, www.tipitinas.comZydeco BBQ and Roadhouse, 808 Iberville St.,BATON ROUGEChelsea’s Café, 2857 Perkins Rd., (225) 387-3679, www.chelseascafe.comThe Darkroom, 10450 Florida Blvd., (225) 274-1111,www.darkroombatonrouge.comNorth Gate Tavern, 136 W. Chimes St. (225)346-6784,www.northgatetavern.comRed Star Bar, 222 Laurel St., (225) 346-8454, www.redstarbar.comRotolos, 1125 Bob Pettit Blvd. (225) 761-1999,www.myspace.com/rotolosallagesThe Spanish Moon, 1109 Highland Rd., (225) 383-MOON,www.thespanishmoon.comThe Varsity, 3353 Highland Rd., (225)383-7018, www.varsitytheatre.comSaturday, 9/1504 Whatstyle Rock Art Circus w/Suplecs, The Big Top, 6pm, FREEAu Revior Simone, Oh No Oh My!, SpanishMoon, 10pmBluerunners, d.b.a., 11pm, $5Bustout Burlesque, House Of BluesDaniel Nardicio Presents: Bianca Del Rio andthe Men of Playgirl, One Eyed Jacks, 9pmDave Fera, Colin Brown, Secret Annex, Circle BarDykes of Hazard Comedy Tour w/ KristenBecker, Slim Bloodworth and Linda Ellis, plusWild Bill Dykes, The Parish @ House Of BluesEOE, Louisiana Music FactoryJohn Boutte, d.b.a., 7pmJohnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, EOE,Tipitina’s (Uptown)Mad Happy, OscillationCommunication, the Get DownProject, Dragon’s DenMichael Darby Band, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 11pmMike Dillon’s GoGo Jungle, d.b.a.Mod Dance Party, Ratzinger, Saturn BarPimps and Hoes Players Ball, NorthgateTavernRefriend Confuzion, Tarantula Arms, 10pmRoss Hallen and the Hellbenders, CheckpointCharlie’s, 7pmSlewfoot, Cary B., Kerry Irish Pub, 5pmZydepunks, Louisiana Music Factory, 3pm;Kajun’s Pub, 10pmSunday, 9/2Ben Steadmen, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pmCitizen Dread, the After School Special, HighGround, 7pm, $6Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pmMandy Moore, Rachael Yamagata, HouseOf BluesNoxious Noize w/ DJ Christion, Hi-HoLounge, 10pmSkychild, Dragon’s DenTin Men, d.b.a., 10pmMonday, 9/3Ben Maygarden, Johnny Jay, Circle BarThe Fens, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pmWhy Are We Building Such a Big Ship?, DidiMau, Snowbeast, Dragon’s DenTuesday, 9/4Ingrid Lucia, Dragon’s DenSlewfoot and Cary B., Kerry Irish Pub, 9pmQuiet Company, Circle BarScary Kids Scaring Kids w/ Boys Night Out,The Parish @ House Of BluesWednesday, 9/5A Living Soundtrack, Meadow Flow, theShowbeast Gallery Tour, Side Arm Gallery,8pm, $5Black Market Ministry, Admiral Browning,Checkpoint Charlie’s, 11pmThe Fens, Circle BarKenny Holiday and the Rolling Blackouts,Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pmSlewfoot and Cary B., Café Negril, 9pmZydepunks, Le Bon Temps Roule, 10:30pmThursday, 9/6American Cheese Trio, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pmThe Devil & the Sea, Haarp, Thou,Renaissance Café, 10pm, $5The Geraniums, Circle BarThe King Hen, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pmMetal Blade Records 25th Anniversary Tourf/ Cannibal Corpse, Black Dahlia Murder, theRed Chord, Goatwhore, the Absence, HouseOf BluesRebirth Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmSlewfoot and Cary B., Apple Barrel, 10:30pmSteve Harris/Joseph Burwell Show w/ actsTBA, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmFriday, 9/7The Bingo Show!, One Eyed Jacks, 9pmBrah, Overtone, Edge Set Mary, The Parish @House Of BluesThe Eames Era, Spanish Moon, 10pmThe Geraniums, Fair GrindsCoffeehouse, 8:15pm, FREEGill Landry, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Gradoux, Tarantula Arms, 10pmHaarp, Thou, the Devil & the Sea, 3846Government St. (Baton Rouge), 7pmHot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pmReception is Suspected, the Bally Who?,Circle BarRookie of the Year, We are the Fury,Rediscover, Reign of Kindo, High Ground,7pm, $8Slewfoot and Cary B., Checkpoint Charlie’s, 11pmSoul Rebels, Dragon’s DenT-Bone Stone and the Lazy Boys, CheckpointCharlie’s, 7pmWhild Peach, Nomadic Soul, White CollaCrimes, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmSaturday, 9/8Art Show Extravaganza, Dragon’s DenCasa Samba Presents: Brazilian IndependenceDay Celebration, the Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmClint Maedgen, Circle BarDenslow Cup, Scotty Karate, Baseketball,Government St. (Baton Rouge), 7pm, $5Domenic, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7mDr. Bones, the Hepcats, St. BernardCommunity Center, 7:30pmHaarp, Thou, the Devil & the Sea, the Bar,9pmHawg Jaw, Evil Army, A Hanging, Banks St.Bar, 10pm, FREEIcon Visuals, Spanish Moon, 10pmJames Singleton/John Hebert Bass Duo,McKeown’s Books, 8pm, FREEJames Singleton and Tim Green Quartet, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmJeff Guitar Nelson Band, Checkpoint Charlie’s,11pmJohn Boutte, d.b.a., 7pmThe Rentals, Copeland, Goldenboy, HouseOf BluesRising Sun, Tarantula Arms, 10pmRotary Downs, d.b.a., 11pm, $5Slewfoot and Cary B., Sean Kelly’s Irish Pub, 10pmTortured By Joy (Film Screening), theConvalescents, One Eyed Jacks, 9pm, $5Sunday, 9/9Anais St. John, d.b.a., 6pmFleur de Tease, One Eyed Jacks, 7pm, 9pmMike Darby Band, Checkpoint Charlie’sThe Other Planets, Dragon’s DenPowerspace, the Secret Handshake, Farewell,The Parish @ House Of BluesThe Red Hearts, Circle BarSimon Lott and Friends, The Big Top, 8pmWashboard Chaz Blues Trio, d.b.a., 10pmMonday, 9/10Bob French and Friends, d.b.a., 9pm, $5Coco Robicheaux, Circle BarThe Fens, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pmGhost Mice, Ned, Gad About Film Fest,Pumpkin, Green Space, 7pm26_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

EVENTSJude Fawley, Hollywood Blues, GovernmentSt. (Baton Rouge), 7pm, $5Simon Lott Presents: the Dark Smile and theMonica H Band, Dragon’s DenTuesday, 9/11Green Lemon, Groovesect, Hi-Ho Lounge,9pmThe Jim Markway Trio, Circle BarJohnny Vidacovich Duo f/ Jacob Fred, d.b.a.,10pmKem, House Of BluesRatty Scurvics and Comrades,Dragon’s DenWednesday, 9/12The Fens, Circle BarGrupo Fantasma, Tipitina’s (Uptown)The Heartless Bastards, One Eyed Jacks, 9pmJacob Fred Jazz Odyssey w/ Simon Lott,the Dark Smile, the Monika H Band, Hi-HoLounge, 9pmKem, House Of BluesKenny Holiday and the Rolling Blackouts,Checkpoint Charlie’sOakley Hall, Spanish Moon, 10pmWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pmThursday, 9/13The American Cheese Trio, CheckpointCharlie’s, 10pmGal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue,d.b.a., 10pmNew Model Army, Vale, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmPaul Sanchez, d.b.a., 7pmRebirth Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmSchatzy, Circle BarSlewfoot and Cary B., Sean Kelly’s Irish Pub, 9pmStephen Marley, House Of BluesFriday, 9/14Beneath the Surface, Checkpoint Charlie’s,11pmBetter Than Ezra, House Of BluesCharalambides, Dragon’s DenEyehategod, K. Lloyd of Buzzoven, BlackMarket Ministry, The BarIngrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pmPapa Grows Funk, d.b.a., 10pm, $10People on the Side, Speaking Braille, theDooms Day Advice, The Parish @ House OfBluesRatzinger, the Coathangers, Les Napoleones,Circle BarRoberto and Lissa, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pmRotary Downs, the Other Planets,Tipitina’s (Uptown)Saturday, 9/15John Boutte, d.b.a., 7pmJohn Vanderslice, Spanish Moon, 10pmThe Meat Puppets, the Comas OneEyed Jacks, 9pmThe Myrtles, Steve Eck, Circle BarN.O. Klezmer All-Stars, Dragon’s DenThe Original 007, d.b.a., 11pm, $10Revolver Presents: Machine Head, ArchEnemy, Throwdown, Sanctity, House Of BluesRosary Falls, In Every Nightmare, SufferStream, Grayskull, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 8pmShannon McNally, Kenny Brown, The Parish@ House Of BluesShinobu, I Sing the Body Electric, Fatter thanAlbert, Citizen Dread, Green Space, 2pm, $3Slewfoot and Cary B., Sean Kelly’s Irish Pub,10pmSunday, 9/16Anais St. John, d.b.a., 6pmMonday, 9/17Bob French and Friends, d.b.a., 9pm, $5Dave Gregg, Circle BarThe Fens, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pmMagnolia Electric Co., DrakkarSauna, Silent Cinema, Howlin’ Wolf,10pmMeadow Flow, BlackbeltMillionaires, A Living Soundtrack,Dragon’s DenSlewfoot, Cary B., Kerry Irish Pub, 9pmTuesday, 9/18Arctic Monkeys, House Of BluesJohnny Vidacovich Duo f/ Robert Walter,d.b.a., 10pmSacred Steel, Persuader, War Machine,Dragon’s DenWednesday, 9/19The Fens, Circle BarKenny Holiday and the Rolling Blackouts,Checkpoint Charlie’sThe Lymbyc System, Epic, Spanish Moon,10pmSlewfoot and Cary B., Café Negril, 9pmTesla, Matt Genovese, House Of BluesWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pmThursday, 9/20The American Cheese Trio, CheckpointCharlie’sPaul Sanchez, d.b.a., 7pmRebirth Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmSlewfoot and Cary B., Apple Barrel, 10:30pmSteve Harris and Joseph Burwell Show w/acts TBA, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmSuplecs, d.b.a., 11pm, $5VH1 Hip-Hop Honors Tour w/ the Roots,Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, House Of BluesFriday, 9/21Big Chief Doucette f/ Juice, d.b.a., 10pm, $5The Buttons, Circle BarThe City Life, Blair, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmEvery Time I Die, Modern Life is War, theHandshake Murder, The Parish @ House Of BluesFishnet Stalkers, Hi-Ho LoungeGovernment Majik, Dragon’s DenHenry Rollins, House Of BluesHot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pmOliver’s Disaster Fashion’s Renew Revue,The Big Top, 9pmRoberto and Lissa, Checkpoint Charlie’sSlewfoot and Cary B., Sean Kelly’s Irish Pub, 10pmZydepunks, Bones, Checkpoint Charlie’s,10:30pmSaturday, 9/22Below C Level, Dragon’s DenThe Bingo Show!, One Eyed Jacks, 9pmBlue Mountain, The Parish @ House Of BluesBones, Spanish Moon, 10pmDamien Youth, Nathan Payne, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmFake Problems, Green Space, 2pm, $5John Boutte, d.b.a., 7pmMike Coscino, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 8pmN.O. Klezmer All-Stars, Circle BarOtra, d.b.a., 11pm, $5Rocky Mt. Rhythm Bums, CheckpointCharlie’s, 11pmSlewfoot and Cary B., St. Bernard CommunityCenter, 7:30pmantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_27

EVENTSVH1 You Oughta Know Tour f/ BrandiCarlile, A Fine Frenzy, House Of BluesSunday, 9/23Earl Can Bird, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 9pmHoney Island Swamp Band, d.b.a., 10pmInterpol, Liars, Sugar MillJohnny Woodstock and the 9th WardInquisition, Dragon’s DenLinnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pmMonday, 9/24Bob French and Friends, d.b.a., 9pm, $5The Fens, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pmSchatzy, Dragon’s DenTuesday, 9/25Average White Band, House Of BluesChris Scheurich, Circle BarMike Dillon Duo f/ t.b.a., d.b.a., 10pmMisery Signals, the Agony Scene, Emmure, Bornof Osiris, Sky Eats Airplane, High Ground, 7pmNovembre, Todesboden, Dragon’s DenWednesday, 9/26Assemblage 23, Suicide Assyst, TorrentVaccine, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmAtmosphere, Tipitina’s (Uptown)Bury Your Dead, Bring Me the Horizon, IonDissonance, Nights Like These, High Ground,7pm, $10Ken Andrews, Charlotte Martin, The Parish@ House Of BluesKenny Holiday and the Rolling Blackouts,Checkpoint Charlie’s, 9pmPinback, the A-Sides, House Of BluesWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pmThursday, 9/27The American Cheese Trio, CheckpointCharlie’s, 10pmDo Make Say Think, Chelsea’s Café, 10pmEyehategod, the Devil & the Sea, RenaissanceCafé, 9pmPat Green, Sweet Root, House Of BluesPalmetto Bug Stompers, d.b.a., 11pmPaul Sanchez, d.b.a., 7pmRebirth Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmThe Starting Line, the Varsity TheatreZydepunks, Old Point Bar, 9pmFriday, 9/28Black Snow, The Run Oft, CheckpointCharlie’s, 11pmEgg Yolk Jubilee, Circle BarFleur De Tease, Spanish Moon, 10pmGlasgow, USAD, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmHi-Five, Spanish Moon, 10pmIngrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pmJodie Fosters Army, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pmJuice, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Los Lonely Boys, House Of BluesNumbers Up!, Side Arm Gallery, 8pm, $4-$828_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

EVENTSPenguin, the Frauds, Tarantula Arms, 10pmRoberto and Lissa, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pmThroughwhatwas, the Judas Kiss, Lex Vegas,Collapse the Memory, High Ground, 7pm, $6The Shadow Gallery, Dragon’s DenSlewfoot and Cary B., Old Point Bar, 9:30pmSaturday, 9/29The Captain Legendary Band, Tarantula ArmsDJ Beat Girl Presents…, Dragon’s DenEOE, d.b.a., 11pm, $5High on Fire, Mono , Panthers, Coliseum,One Eyed Jacks, 9pmJohn Boutte, d.b.a., 7pmJonny Lang, House Of BluesMetronome the City, A LivingSoundtrack, Circle BarThe Public, Parade, Tarantula ArmsRoss Hallen and the Hellbenders, CheckpointCharlie’s, 11pmSlewfoot and Cary B., Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pmSparta, The Parish @ House Of BluesSunday, 9/30Atreyu, Haste the Day, It Dies Today, SoThey Say, House Of BluesFree Jazz, Bra! f/ members of Gravity A,Groovesect, the Chuck Perkins Revue,Dragon’s DenLinnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pmNumber’s Up, Side Arm Gallery, 8pm, $4-$8Schatzy, d.b.a., 10pmTurbonegro, Mondo Generator, One Eyed JacksMonday, 10/1Alice in Chains, Craig Gass, House Of BluesWEEKLIES /DANCE NIGHTSMondaysBlue Grass Pickin’ Party, Hi-Ho Lounge, 8pmService Industry Night, Dragon’s DenTuesdaysKaraoke Tuesday, Tarantula Arms, 10pmWednesdaysDJ T-Roy Presents: Dancehall Classics,Dragon’s Den, $3ThursdaysThe Bombshelter w/ DJ Bomshell Boogie,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)DJ Kemistry, Republic, 11pmDJ Proppa Bear Presents: Bassbin Safari,Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed JacksFridaysDJ Matic, Republic, 11pmFriday Night Music Camp, The Big Top, 5pm-7pm, FREE (Member), $5 (Non-Members);9/7: Schatzy, 9/21: Ingrid Lucia,N.O.madic Belly Dancers, Dragon’s Den,8pmSaturdaysDJ Kemistry, Republic, 11pmSundaysDJ Lingerie, Circle BarN.O. Love Lyricist Lounge, Hi-Ho Lounge,10pm (9/9; 9/23)Noxious Noize w/ DJ Christion, Hi-HoLounge, 10pm (9/2; 9/16)COMEDYSaturday, 9/15Gallagher, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmSaturday, 9/22Mike Strecker, Fair Grinds Coffeehouse, 8:30pm, $12WEEKLYCOMEDY EVENTSTuesdaysAcoustic Open Mic w/ Jim Smith, CheckpointCharlie’s, 10pmOpen Mic Comedy Night, Howlin’ Wolf, 7pm, $5ThursdaysMake Ovis, Not War, La Nuit Theater,9:30pm, $5FridaysGod’s Been Drinking: Cutting Edge Improv,La Nuit Theatre, 8:30pm, $10Open Mic Stand-Up, La Nuit Theatre, 10pm, $5SaturdaysComedySportz: All-Ages Comedy Show, LaNuit Theatre, 7pm, $10Improv Jam, La Nuit Theatre, 10pm, $5antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_29

COMICS30_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative