Ah Costumes. Such a decision. When you’re a small child, it means everything. when you need to be Lionel from the Thundercats, you NEED to be Lionel from the Thundercats. I guess it fades a little as you get older. One year, I was a pretty accurate Frank Zappa, and painted my friend Dave as Gene Simmons from kiss. Thats probably the only Halloween I remember from Middle School. What did I do those other years? Oddly enough, I have no idea. I know I saw Moe one year at the Hammerstein, and the theme of the night was Willy Wonka, so I wore a crazy pink jacket, what ever happened to that thing?
During The band years, we dressed as Skeletons once, and found industrial strength theater makeup, so it wouldnt run as we sweat profusely on stage. Lo and Behold, it worked! It also refused to come off for a few days in certain areas, so i had some eyeliner on for a few days.
Tonight, we are not a character, but a concept. The Cuica and I are doing her weekly run to a bar through the city. My vote was to have someone wear devil horns, and we could be the Van Halen Song, Runnin With The Devil. I lost. The winning concept was to all carry Scissors. Yes, we are Running With Scissors. Beat that!
I had a dream where someone said to me “Dont be afraid to turn off your snares”. I wish I could remember who said that, it seems pretty important. Maybe it was my long lost spiritual guide trying to contact me from the great beyond, I’m pretty sure thats it.
My earplugs melted. The dryer is at fault, but we talked about it, and he totally didn’t mean it, so its cool. Its not so much a tragedy, as a sign that I needed new ones anyway. These were pretty old, and my ears have certainly changed shape. I can actually recall the first show I ever played with them, at the old Birch Hill. (wow, there is some Jersey History for you) They no doubt saved me some serious hearing loss, and spared me the pain and humiliation of wearing those bright orange or green foam things which do nothing but sound like you have your hands over your ears.
I just wonder if that will happen to any of these downtown venues. I mean, it no doubt will. Pianos, Bowery, The Mercury Lounge, while they don’t exhibit the same excesses, they have the same esoteric “cooler than thou” attitude. Hipsters are certainly the new Hair Metal kids, it’s only a matter of time.
the random article function on Wikipedia is good for several minutes of hilarity and education. for instance, Hits You Missed, Volume 2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hits_U_Missed_Vol._2
At first glance, i figured, its some obscure Booty Tracks. But, upon closer inspection, it is a compilation from artist “Masta Ace”, who- little known fact- was actually the only opponent to Czech politician Petr Cibulka, just after the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
What slightly irks me about Masta Ace is this: Volume one was a collection of his own songs, volume two is collaborations, all featuring Masta Ace. Now, this is all well and good, had it not been an idea, thought up several years back by myself and Eric “T Bone” Tarn. Our first album with the JC Kings will be entitled “Greatest Hits” and the 2nd will be “Greatest Hits Volume 2″. Slightly ambitious for unknown artists to set out to create an album solely of hits? Youbetcha. Are we up to the challenge? I can’t believe you even asked me that question.
I think its time for an Old School Hip Hop Fued. Freestyle throw down. Where else, but the JSQ. You know where to find us, Ace, just take the path train from your supposed native Brooklyn (we know you’re either from Ohio or Texas like everybody else) and we’ll tear it up in front of the Hank Aaron statue. Paul Wagner will beatbox, as your jaw drops in astonishment. Our lyrics to the classic HTML (hoes to mah left) will rain down upon you like bullets that work in front end web development. Not even Count Itoh Sukeyuki can save you now…
Yes yes, its Wierd Al’s Birthday. I remember listening to this on cassette, possibly in the late 80’s/ early 90’s and rocking the fuck out. Did I know who Devo was? Absolutely not. Therefore, weird Al was the genius behind this music. In Boston, there used to be this awesome music store on Newbury Street, which had one of those original yellow Devo jumpsuits, with the name still stenciled on. It was not for sale.
So, halloween. I really have no clue. Last year, I decided to go as Prince the day before, luckily i had a semi beard happening, so i turned it into a mustache, donned the velvet pants and snakeskin jacket, and printed the Prince logo, turning it into a sort of necklace. TB definitely beat me though, with the costume of “3 collar douchebag”. I was thinking of going as Slash, and breaking out the leather pants, but i really dont think i can find a top hat this late in the game. Dilemmas, Dilemmas.
I had to cancel a recording session with the one and only BUD this weekend, because of a last minute jazz station broadcast emergency gig. Its always a huge dilemma, whether to be like “nah jazz station, find someone else” because i would much rather be creating some spacey sounds…but then what if they find some other engineer type dude, and i’m left out in the cold, sleepng late on weekends, eating chinese food christmas day instead of working….wait…what?
Go ahead and look, I’ll wait. Yes friends, this is my former residence, on Diamond Street in Greenpoint. I’ll be honest, I’m a little honored. I used to tell people “look for the place with the weird looking lion heads on the front gate, and the birds above the door. No one missed it. Although I think I only had about 3 visitors, because the place had no living room and was very tiny. Gawker even posted something on it…
Yes, the ugliest building in Greenpoint, was once occupied by New Jersey’s Favorite Jewish Son. It doesn’t get much better than that.
One comment on the Curbed.com post was as follows:
I walk past those ornate gates every day, and I truly appreciate the fact that it isn’t yet another Stepford house. God, the commenters on Curbed suck (except for the few defenders). You’re like those horrible yuppies who move to St. Marks Place, then sit in the Starbucks cracking jokes about how the local ‘weirdos’ need to grow up. Go back to New Jersey or Ohio or wherever you’re from! Let Greenpoint spread its gilded eagle wings and soar!
Retail is quite a thing. It can inspire letters of hatred to the CEO and Founder of Best Buy, or it can warrant letters of praise to the genus of Steven A Jobs. Its all about the experience. As we all know, Wal Mart is just not cutting it. There is no vibe, no experience, nothing unique. Target is where it’s at. Tar-Jay as we call it here. You never know when you’re going to find a cookie jar shaped like a lion that talks, or the greatest dishsoap ever created in a generic target brand. One time TB and I made a Target excursion, and discovered they had a full on grocery store, which we completely took advantage of, although it did feel a little strange. If only target could combine with an awesome grocery store, many problems would be solved.
But in Springfield NJ, on the site of an old abandoned golf driving range…the two worlds appear to be colliding. This lot sat there for a bit, soon to be torn down, when suddenly a Target Coming Soon sign appeared. I honestly thought to myself “now if only a grocery store were close by, I would be all set.” Lo and Behold, 2 weeks later Whole Foods Coming Soon. BOO YA. I’ve been imagining all the delicious meals I will make. The new lunch location, the amazing soups, oh man, it’s almost too much to handle.
Now, let me just say that I fully support the Mom and Pop operation over Target any day. But there really just aren’t any around, which I know, is paradoxical, due to the influx of the big box retailer.
I woke up at 6am today, and for some reason decided to stay up. Its now 6:51, and the sun is rising. I feel like I should be doing the Karate Kid Crane Pose on a beach or something, but instead I’m eating cereal and going to a gym in Springfield. If you think about it, its basically the same thing.
Its Sunday, I’m writing from job #2 in midtown. My first job out of college was here, digitizing old cassettes of jazz interviews, you can read all about it on these here pages. The project finished last year, I took another full time gig, then recently, some more tapes resurfaced, which i agreed to complete.
My plan was to go to Teaneck to play a telecaster once owned by Jeff Tweedy, but I fought it with all I could and passed. Because really, I don’t need another guitar just yet, and I also don’t need to spend $2500. I’ll eventually get a much cheaper telecaster, and beat the hell out of it to look old, and that shall suffice.
I learned some interesting news, this building is being torn down. I’m not sure how to take it. This has been a fairly consistent place in my life, longer than i’ve lived in any location post parents house, I’ve had many important conversations here while waiting for tapes to import. There has been some talk of moving the studio to New Jersey, prehaps even the JC which would make life easier, although I will miss being here, going to the deli around the corner late at night to get a chicken sandwich, perhaps even a jamba juice.
Friday night the Cuica Sugimoto, Sara Q Robinson, and the Senior Sugimoto Father, went to see Rodrigo y Gabriella at Roseland. This was an odd occasion where our musical tastes intersected, world music and heavy metal references. The crowd was abysmal. One of the worst I have seen. The band consists of just 2 guitars, no vocals. So when a frat guy in front of you, tying to untie the belt thing on his girlfriends shirt, will not shut up about god knows what, its going to put a small damper on the experience.
One thing i did not understand, is that apparently they have this sort of theme song, which they play about 6 times throughout the night. This, along with teases at the end of their songs, referencing various metal anthems. It will go like this:
Flamenco sounding song —> Intro to Reign In Blood—> Bouncy ROdrigo y Gabriella theme song. Curious indeed.
Well, what can you do. You can get a Jamba Juice, thats what you can do. And thats what I will.
You will just never get more badass than that. You will also never get more badass than Web Master T Bone for updating and blocking the spam on the comments.
The point is, the comment spam is gone. So I would greatly appreciate it if you’re reading any of this, leave a comment, let me know whats happening.
TB and I just had a discussion of how good on the internet triumphs over evil, this is his theory, based on the fact that spam eventually gets blocked, and DRM eventually gets removed from music. I’m not 100% sure of this. I’ll have to have an answer to you in a few years. Internet commerce really just started to take off in the last minute or so, and we need to see the global impact that has before any definitive statements are made.
Tonight we are going to see Rodrigo Y Gabriella, a Spanish guitar duo. I heard a broadcast of Mountain Stage where the host described them as “Flamenco”, to which Rodrigo quickly interjected. “iIwould like to just clarify, we are not flamenco, we are more influenced by Thrash Metal.” He was not kidding in the slightest. This was straight out of spinal tap, but more authentic. They did throw in a metallica reference here and there, to which I was slightly amused.
This new blog format from the TB is pretty awesome, Especially since I am now able to upload images. Here is one just for good measure, we call it “at one with nature”
