REVIEWER MAGAZINE ~ Send submissions with bios and contact info to PO Box 87069, SD CA 92138.

new site

2009-06-08T02:12:00.000-07:00

We're done here!

You can go to ReviewerMag.com/press now!

No more posting original articles and editorial feeds here. Reviewer Magazine went online first nine years ago. Tried out the ease of a GeoCities site for a few years, moved over to Livejournal and stayed there until April of 2009, then came here to blogger.com because it seemed to be where the action was as far as online journeling. After one of our other blogs mysteriously became inaccessible here at blogger.com due to a password not working, it was finally decided to place all content at our own website.

So now visit ReviewerMag.com/press or go through our main page and check out the new blog. Most of our online archive stretching back to 2004 should be up there, if there are links or images that are nonfunctioning let me know: editor@reviewermagazine.com.

(ad) James Haitchwai

2009-06-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

James Haitchwai

Catchy, passionate punk/pop/folk artist
ISO help w/promotion/exposure/possible distribution.

myspace.com/jameshaitchwai
JamesHaitchwai.com
jamesmichaelhaitchwai@yahoo.com

book review

2009-06-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Last Stage

by Jim Cherry

reviewed by Kathryn Reade

Michael Gray, a 30 year old liberal arts student, losing support from his parents and unable to further his degree. He is at a crossroads with his girlfriend and life. He comes up with an idea.

Through kismet he meets a younger group of musicians and plots to turn his idea into the dream of a lifetime. They form a tribute cover band of the legendary Doors, Jim Morrison in particular. The band tours and Michael Gray lives out his simpatico with Jim Morrison.

The tour leads the band to various venues, ending ironically at the famed Whiskey a Go-Go where the Doors first played and had their start. Unfortunately for Michael Gray and his Jim Morrison personae it is the end, but he has his kicks before the whole shit house goes up in flames, to paraphrase Jim Morrison.

I recommend by Jim Cherry for anyone how has a dream or if your a Doors fan. Cherry has well researched his subject matter and placed it in a well written 240 page book.

jymsbooks.com
THE LAST STAGE on Amazon
at Barnes & Noble

New Music from Austin, TX

2009-06-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Service Industry

Review by Jude Huzicko

In the 70s and 80s, Bruce Springsteen and John (Cougar) Mellencamp became champions for the working class through songs that people could relate to. The lyrics were about the life and times of rural American society, and it’s not surprising that they were forever adopted into American culture as the voice of the blue collar.

Enter “The Service Industry,” an indie rock band out of Austin whose latest album, “Keep the Babies Warm,” showcases their diverse sonic influences and ability. They are an act with definite opinions, and I wish that I could’ve spoken with them before writing this to pick their brain. I will be the first to admit, on first listen, it all seemed a bit forced. But after reading about them more, and listening more, the earnestness of their lyrics began to shine through. They are a collective of ideas and ideals on the state of the nation who has managed to put to words and harmony thoughts and feeling we all have; no-holds barred, no B.S., take it or leave it riffs and rhythms that make their music easy to relate to. There isn’t anything false about their music, it comes from the heart and soul. “The Service Industry” is empathy for all the blood and sweat and angst and doubt we all feel.

The album runs the gamut of sonic appeal that for ultimately comes together in “Liquid Meat Into a Form,” an utterly melancholy, delightful harmony between Mike McCoy and Julie Lowery that is both hard-hitting and delicately beautiful. The track is jumps out as a sound to be reckoned with and demands the attention of the listener, at first for the subtle crashing kettle and classic strumming sound of a lazy summer day in the south, combined with endearing vocal harmonies. But then, as you delve deeper into the song, it stirs something inside of you that makes you want to take action. And that is the sign of a great song or great album, the one that moves the listener, whether it’s hurt, love, anger, disbelief, sadness or anxiety. “Keep the Babies Warm” will almost definitely move the listener to one of these areas, most likely all of them.

new work

2009-05-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Transplant, by Justin Andrew

limited edition of 150 handprinted CDs

myspace.com/justinandrewmusic
cdbaby.com/cd/justinandrew
elbo.ws/artist/justin-andrew
[This review will be up soon... for now click the images below and see the excellent piece of art that is this CD.]

Click the images to enlarge.

Click the images above to enlarge.

Memorial Day, 2009

2009-05-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Oldest To Die In Iraq

"He had a big heart."

By Jim Kavanagh

from www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/15/oldest.iraq.fatality/

(CNN) -- Army Maj. Steven Hutchison fought battles in the jungles of Vietnam. Then he fought an epic battle on the home front. And at age 60, he still wasn't done fighting for his country.

Maj. Steven Hutchison served 22 years in his first Army stint, then returned at age 57. He died Sunday (5/10/09).

The battle ended for Hutchison on Sunday. He died in Basra, Iraq, of wounds from a roadside bomb in Al Farr. He is the oldest U.S. service member to die in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Hutchison joined the Army in 1966 and served two one-year tours in Vietnam, according to a news release from Fort Riley, Kansas, home of Hutchison's 1st Infantry Division, the famous "Big Red One."

Over the next 22 years, he was a platoon leader in Germany and commander of a basic training company at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Along the way, he earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Delaware and became an assistant professor of military science at Claremont College in California. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal, among others.

Hutchison retired from the military in 1988 and took up the quiet life of a college professor. He taught at several small colleges in California and became a researcher for a health care company in Scottsdale, Arizona, said his brother, Richard Hutchison.

But Hutchison felt compelled to re-enlist after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. His wife, Kandy, vetoed that idea, however.

That decision proved fateful as Hutchison was able to stand by his wife's side through her battle with breast cancer. She died of the disease in January 2006.

The always-athletic Hutchison channeled his grief by whipping himself into shape and returning to active duty at age 57 the following year, his brother said. Military rules say retirees may be recalled up to age 64 for general officers, 62 for warrant officers and 60 for all others.

Hutchison served a tour in Afghanistan and then was sent to Iraq, where he was part of a team training Iraqi forces to secure their own country.

"He's been a soldier his whole life," Richard Hutchison, of Mesa, Arizona, told CNN affiliate KNXV-TV.

"He was a great guy," he told CNN. "We hung around together, we went to the movies together, went out to dinner together. He loved to shoot pool; we used to shoot pool all the time, either at my house or at his house. He was just a great friend and a great brother."

The soldier-psychology professor, who is also survived by two daughters and two half-siblings, had a mischievous side, too.

"He liked to tease me about him being younger than me, even though he was five years older than me," Richard Hutchison said with a soft chuckle. "He would tell everyone he was the youngest one. And they would believe him. Made me feel real good."

Richard Hutchison plans to fly to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware over the weekend to claim his brother's body and return it to Scottsdale for burial.

The last communication the brothers had was a routine e-mail Steven Hutchison sent from Iraq about two weeks ago. He rarely wrote about his experiences in Iraq, Richard Hutchison said.

However, there was one matter on the ground that the soldier involved his brother in.

"When he was in Iraq, they found a dog and were taking care of it. He sent me an e-mail asking me to send some dog food and dog supplies," Hutchison said. The Army made Hutchison's team give up the dog, but they left it in good hands, his brother said.

"He had a big heart."

band review: METRIC

2009-05-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

Metric, Featuring Emily Haines

review by Tim Fennell

Photos from myspace.com/metric. Click the pics for the larger versions.

I see HUGE commercial success for this group of musicians, and I am encouraging every person reading this to go to myspace.com/metric after you finish reading this review. I like it, I like it a lot, and out of all of the 15 tracks I've just listened to, quite a few of them repeatedly, I am realizing that Metric has figured out and designed formulas of writing music that not only takes your breath away, but also leaves you pissed at the world, and happy to be alive all within the same hour or so that it takes to listen to their catalog of music that is posted on myspace. They have written and recorded stories of your life, cleverly.

The single "Help I'm Alive" might sound familiar to you as I notice it has over two-million plays, which I'm not surprised about because its a cool, cool, song. It's sonic, it's chilling. The bridge of the song has a dismal monotone passage that sets up the chorus brilliantly, and screams radio hit. This song leaves me grinning at the thought of Metric getting into a bar brawl with Flyleaf and Paramore, and Metric tossing them around like rag dolls. "Satellite Mind" proves to me that "Metric" is a super group of musicians, who possess stellar minds for experimentation in merging electronic with straight up rock 'n roll. "Gold Guns and Girls" is making me wear out my repeat button. Its addictive. The lyrics of the chorus ask “Is it ever gonna be enough?" - and the answer is no, not right now. I think I need to hear it about 10 more times. But thanks for asking. I especially love the chorus of the very next track, "Gimme Shelter" that also asks you "who would you rather be, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?" Great question isn't it? I dig this band, I think fans of Bjork, Faithless, and DJ Shadow would especially enjoy Metric as well.

Metric's music has feel, it has atmosphere, there is a groove, and did I also mention that Metric is fronted by the insanely talented Emily Haines? Folks might know her from some of her other projects that include Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton, and also Broken Social Scene. Emily is no stranger to success and the spotlight; she is the daughter of Canadian poet Paul Haines and sister of Canadian television journalist Avery Haines. Her brother Tim Haines is the owner of Bluestreak Records of Ontario, Canada. I strongly urge listeners to plug into the music of Metric and other projects featuring Emily Haines. It's good. It's really good. If you have come here to find about unique bands and truly great music, go to myspace.com/metric, and pay attention to upcoming printed issues of Reviewer Magazine and ReviewerMag.com to hear and see more of this ridiculously talented group of artists.

~TF

Photos credits - At top, Emily Haines crowd surfs off a stage, by jameslooker.co.uk. At bottom, the band METRIC, by andrewkendall.com. (Click each pic to enlarge.) Both photos are from Metric's myspace page at myspace.com/metric.

OB Heathen Parade bonfire

2009-05-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Bonfire of the Heathens

Video by the totally amazing Reviewer Rob
taped on 5.16.09, 11:55PM

The Ocean Beach Heathen Parade is an annual affair that takes place in San Diego, California, every May on Newport Avenue. It culminated like this on the beach near the lifegaurd tower this year. It's a carnal celebration with a varying theme. This year it was Clowns, while a previous year's theme was Smurfs.

Andy Milonakis, King of Random

2009-05-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

Andy Milonakis,
King of Random

by Jaime Winters

A few years ago my brother showed me this hilarious video of some pudgy kid playing the guitar and singing about how everything is gay (The Super Bowl Is Gay). I couldn’t stop laughing! Then a couple of years later I saw The Andy Milonakis Show, and I was like, "WOW! IS THIS REAL? OR AM I TRIPPING?”

Andy Milonakis’ viral videos gained the attention of Jimmy Kimmel, and Milonakis appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show between 2003-2004. His own Andy Milonakis Show aired on MTV between 2005-2006. He has since been in feature films, including Waiting, Still Waiting, Two Dudes and a Dream, and Extreme Movie. According to his recent Twitter (05/14/09), Milonakis was just fired from the LOST movie. Bummer.

The Busboy’s Paradise EP was the last official rap release Andy Milonakis appeared on. He has since collaborated with J-Kwon, Kyle Lucas, and Dirt Nasty. Currently you can purchase an MP3 of his latest song, "Let Me Twitter Dat."

Unfortunately, Andy didn’t seem too keen on interviewing via phone, but I did receive a MySpace message on 03/07/09 with the following answers to some of my questions.

Listen to Andy Milonakis’ sick tracks: myspace.com/andymilonakis
And subscribe to his You Tube channel: youtube.com/andymilonakis

the interview:

 Jaime Winters: You started your comedy career by making funny videos for the Internet. You have since been in major motion pictures, yet you continue to post random silly videos on your You Tube channel. Why?

  Andy Milonakis: Your question implies that YouTube is there for people who haven't already "made it" but that's not true at all. There are plenty of popular music groups, actors, directors, etc... The internet is taking over and people are starting to watch You Tube more than TV. So to answer your question, I have no idea. It's fun. I've been making stupid videos for the internet for years before You Tube and I'll be making them years after YouTube, ALL PRAISE OBAMA. CAN WE MAKE INTERNET VIDEOS? YES WE CAN.  

JW: Is that your music studio I see in your videos?  

AM: Yes, I'm currently making music errrday  .

JW: You've said you gotta call people out sometimes. Have you had to be blunt as fuck lately?

AM: Yes, actually my bluntness is at an all time high. Pun kinda intended after formation of sentence was completed. Fuck people. There are a lot of sucky people in this world that think they can be an asshole and get away with it.... I like to call them an asshole and perhaps get one of my large friends to break their arms so they realize they can only get away with it sometimes.

  JW: What's your favorite prank pulled?

  AM: I guess the pizza guy coming when I was tied up and I had peanut butter on my face because it was my first prank for the show and we had to do it 5 times because every time I dropped the Chinese food on the floor, it was so heavy and greasy that it made a loud thud so I started laughing and ruining the gag every time, it took us hours to get a good one.  

JW: Do you consider marijuana a drug?

  AM: Marijuana is good for you, it's like water but it's dry. The only thing is these Hollywood hookers don't suck your dick for weed, only coke. DAMN, I wish coke was as good as weed because I'd be getting my D essed a whole lot more.   

JW: If you are as into weed as it seems, have you been to Oregon?  

AM: No, does Oregon have good weed? I want to play Oregon Trail while smoking weed. YOU KILLED 2 CARIBOU. YUMMMM, I WANT TO EAT CARIBOU. Your wheel axle is broken. DAMN I GUESS I SHOULD CHILL IN My WAGON AND SMOKE MORE WEED.

  JW: I know you like space science. What do you think about dark energy?

  AM: It's kinda like, I don't know It's 11am, I went to bed 2 hours ago, me and my friends killed 6 bottles last night and my head feels like a Miley Cirus AIDS test.

  JW: You post rap songs on MySpace regularly, any forthcoming albums?  

AM: Yes, hopefully in about 3 months, then I might plan a tour.

AM: I'm hung over, I deleted the questions I didn't want to answer, hope that's enough for you. pEACE

The Grams and Chuck Schiele

2009-05-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

Chuck Schiele of The Grams

Winners of the 2006 & 2007 San Diego Music Awards

Reviewed by Dr. Yobb

This is one guy who makes me proud to be living in San Diego. Chuck Schiele’s music reminds me of how good music used to sound, greats like Dire Straits would be big fans of Chuck Schiele. His music is textural and atmospheric while still being catchy and enjoyable. The use of violins and slow melodies brings an air of relaxation, while still rocking out. His accomplishments throughout his career are a real inspiration and sign of the many possibilities available to those who work hard in San Diego.

Hailing from Ocean Beach, Chuck has been a huge part in bring local music into the spotlight. With Beach Music Mafia, Chuck’s own promotion and event organization group, he has helped to bring into focus the wealth of talent within San Diego. Chuck also opened his own full service recording studio in 2005, Studiob-92107 and continues to be a leader and inspiration to musicians and fans alike. His now defunct band The Grams were winners of the 2006 & 2007 San Diego Music Awards. Their sound is a mix of genre bending blues, soul, funk, flamenco and rock that really just makes me want to dance! They are a group of great musicians, with signs of their talent pouring through the sounds. I’m really glad I found their music and am looking forward to hearing more things from Chuck Schiele. If you’re in town be sure to look him up and be sure to see him live!

myspace.com/chuckschiele
myspace.com/thegrams
myspace.com/beachmusicmafia
myspace.com/studiob92107cs

Below: a photo of Check Schiele, from somewhere on the interweb.

Reviewer Magazine GETS SQUIRRLEY!

2009-05-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

The White Squirrels Of Missouri

By Psychokitty
From Suburban Blight

Yes, white squirrels in Missouri do exist. In one particular town, Marionville Missouri.

Founded by James MARION Moore in 1854, the "land of seven springs" first saw settlers as early as the 1830's. Early settlers established homes due to the abundance of the clear, fresh water provided by the springs in the area. One of the main springs is located just below the entrance of the City Park. Others are throughout the Park and surrounding countryside. A teacher's college was established in the 1870's, but closed its doors in 1924. The campus was taken over by the Methodist Church and many of the college buildings were converted into a retirement community which still exists today. In the area that is now the City Park, a creamery was established in 1911. It was ranked second in the state, producing over 38,000 lbs of butter in 1913. Several other businesses called the area home to include the Honey Creek Bottling Works and a tomato-canning factory.

Visitors to Marionville are attracted by the fine, old Victorian architecture and to catch a glimpse of our white squirrels. The totally white creatures roam the streets and yards. They are protected by City Ordinance. The white squirrels have been here, reportedly, since the late 1800's. Pictures of them have graced magazines, newspapers and even appeared on the 1915 Marionville College Yearbook. They have received national recognitions and have been the subject of several television documentaries. White Squirrel memorabilia: t-shirts, ball caps, etc can be purchased through several local businesses. The official city flag also proudly displays our white squirrel.

First established in 1925 as the Methodist Home for the aged, the Manor complex has grown and evolved into what is today, the Ozarks Methodist Manor.

Located in the heart of the community, the complex is located on the former site of the Marionville Collegiate Institute. The first student graduated in 1879. By 1924, tax-supported high schools were in almost every town and the institution relocated to Carthage.

Today, the Complex maintains 58 cottage units for independent living, a 58 bed healthy care facility, 45 apartments for assisted living, and an administration building. Visitors to Marionville can usually be assured of a glimpse of a white squirrel or two somewhere on the complex.

Among the white squirrels, Marionville also has their annual Applefest.

If you travel through Missouri, I suggest you google a map of the small but growing town and stop in for a spell. If you are lucky, you just might spot a white squirrel.

IN THE NEWS: Genetic Patents

2009-05-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

health industry technology

ACLU: Human Gene Patents Infringe Speech

By David Kravets
from wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/aclu-human-gene-patents-infringe-speech

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Patent and Trademark Office and a research company awarded exclusive rights to human genes known to detect early signs of breast or ovarian cancer. The group claims the patents violate speech by restricting research.

The novel case, if successful, opens the door to challenges of a host of other patented genes: about one-fifth of the human genome is covered under patent applications and claims. The ACLU’s case is believed to be the first to challenge a patented gene under a civil rights allegation.

"... About one-fifth of the human genome is covered under patent applications and claims."

According to the federal lawsuit, (.pdf) filed in the Southern District of New York, the First Amendment is at stake because the patents are so broad they bar scientists from examining and comparing the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes at the center of the dispute. In short, the patents issued more than a decade ago cover any new scientific methods of looking at these human genes that might be developed by others.

“All identifying of differences, including those that are found in the future by anyone to correlate with an increased risk of cancer, are patented. Myriad did not create any of the differences found in the genes. Nature did,” said the suit, referencing patent holder Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City.

The ACLU, representing dozens of patients and researchers, said the case challenges the legality and constitutionality of granting patents covering the “most basic element of every person’s individuality.” The civil rights group maintains that, “What is patented is the abstract idea that nature has made the two genes different in a manner that increases that person’s risk” of cancer.

The patents at issue gave Myriad Genetics a virtual monopoly on such predictive testing for breast and ovarian cancer, according to the suit. Women who fear they may be at an increased risk are barred from having anyone look at their BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes or interpret them except for the patent holder, which charges about $3,000 per test.

Myriad, which had issued a cease-and-desist order to Yale University scientists researching the genes, did not immediately respond for comment.

About 10 percent of women with breast cancer are likely to have a mutation inherited from their parents in the genes at issue, according to the suit.

Patents for exclusive genetic testing have also been issued for a host of genes, including those related to cystic fibrosis, heart arrhythmias and hemochromatosis.

The Patent and Trademark Office first issued a patent for a human gene in 1982 to the Regents of the University of California in connection to a hormone promoting breast development during pregnancy.

die hipster scum

2009-05-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

cartoon found on someone's myspace:

2009-05-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Cyberset Music presents Pete Ardron Inside The Voice Inside

Review by Tim Fennell

This recording comes to us from Cyberset, a label that promotes themselves as developing the careers of artists that are creating music that "emphasizes community, personal growth, social conscience, and ecological awareness.” I think this is fantastic. I truly believe in spreading a word through the music, I really do.

From the Cyberset website: "No stranger to creating sacred chill spaces and taking an audience on an aural frequency mind trip, Pete Ardron has been doing this for more than a decade and released outstanding albums on Liquid Sound, Universal Egg and Ultra Vista Recordings. Cyberset has licensed two of his latest creations that will please most ambient, downtempo and chillout aficionados.
Inside The Voice Inside takes a listener into vocal atmospheres, deeply dubbed grooves, jazz inspired rhythms and pretty much influences from all sides of electronica, all wound together into an intricate and delightful listening experience that will elate and enlighten as easily as it will chill."

This record holds a background track for the applications of yoga, massage, jogging, tennis lessons… perhaps some light yard work? However, if you want me to tell you what I think is exciting about the record, I can't. This is nothing I haven't heard before. It sounds like something one would hear in a Pepsi commercial, or something you would hear just before your favorite motivational speaker jumped on stage to teach you how to fix your life. (Here's where the "create" discrepancy returns.) Quite frankly, it sounds like something anybody could do, so long as they have a Macbook with Garage Band and Fruity Loops plus a simple ability to copy and paste, and -bang! - “Check out this song I just created!" I'm sorry, CD this is not my favorite! I felt it could have reached a much better potential, and it took a long time getting to the point. Loop, sample, loop, sample, all day long. Makes me yawn. Go see what you think about it at cybersetmusic.com/?p=312 and at myspace.com/cyberset. I take consideration that it is filed under as Ambient/Downtempo/Chillout, fittingly so. I do think and hope that this record will contribute to the improvement of something, and for that I will give it 5 stars. The music, however... not so much.

~TF

[Editor's note: Eh, perhaps electronica wasn't the best choice of review material to give Tim Motus to write about. I however find this stuff lovely, but hey, to each their own cup of tea. So maybe next time I'll look for a dance-clubber to take the it, LOL! :) Tim's ear-scorching North County San Diego dark metal band MOTUS can be found on myspace at myspace.com/motus. ~RR]

Reviewer Choice: Emily Haines

2009-05-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Emily Haines of Metric

Review by Joyce Damaged
Photos of Emily Haines by Reviewer Rob

Good-morning/evening lost and found souls of this planet we call Earth. My name is Joyce and I have been given the task of writing a review of talented writers, artists, and musicians alike. This week’s topic will be focused on MUSICIANS.

Emily is the daughter of Canada’s late poet and Jazz lyricist Paul Haines, who passed away in January of 2003, according to his bio on Wikipedia. He was best known for his collaboration with Carla Bley on Escalator Over The Hill.

Emily Haines is an amazingly talented musician with a perfectly angelic singing voice who has been getting a lot of airplay for some time on San Diego's FM radio station 94.9 with "Monster Hospital" and now with "Help I'm Alive." She was born in 1974 in New Delhi, India, and raised in Canada. You can grab tracks from her band Metric at myspace.com/metric. I had the pleasure of listening to her song, "Twilight Galaxy" among many others on her page. I give her 5 Daggers (stars are so over rated! 5 Daggers is the same as 5 Stars). I highly suggest you swing by her page and give her music a listen and add it to your play list, if not then may the Egyptian Plagues be swift and merciful on your soul! I also highly suggest you check out her father’s (posthumously maintained) page on Myspace and show the family some respect at myspace.com/secretcarnivalworkers. Emily's song "Twilight Galaxy" had a groovy uplifting beat that I am sure you will love, but don't stop there, listen to the rest.

Watch Emily Haines. Watch her closely in 2009.

Metric's website: ilovemetric.com

This is Joyce Damaged signing off and saying, "If the bed bugs bite, don't fret, bite back!"

Below: Emily Haines on stage with her band METRIC at the Casbah in San Diego, and above-left outside after her set, photographed by Reviewer Rob, possibly sometime in 2003.

Suspense

2009-05-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

[Show and Tell]

Below: from The Bart Dickson Omnibus (Comix for Grownups), "A Graphic Novella," by Borin Van Loon, 2005, borinvanloon.co.uk, Severed Head Books, 117 Belle Vue Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP42RD, UK.

Tornado Divorce

2009-05-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Below: a press release excerpt and photo from Family, a new monograph by Chris Verene, from Twin Palms Publishers, Santa Fe, NM. www.twinpalms.com

Family
Chris Verene

“Verene walks right into the lives of his folks, showing you how they are, without any embarrassment on either side. Their togetherness is taken for granted so openly that the viewer feels at each moment like one of them, a member of the clan. Verene’s color [is] tender, warm and sensual, though stops well short of being glamorous . . . flooding them all with a strange, sweet romance. These pictures convey his bittersweet fondness for a smaller world in which he grew up but no longer shares, but which has lessons to teach him about the inroads of ageing, disability and other difficulties. People do what they can to help each other and themselves, all from ‘leaking boats.’ Meanwhile, the dark room and the night bring tidings of their isolation. Many viewers are familiar with visits back home in this mood, which Verene renders luminous and fatal.” ~ Max Kozloff, The Theater of the Face: Portrait Photography Since 1900

Thoughts on Mother's Day, by alt-photog Chase Lisbon

2009-05-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

I really love my mom to death.

by Chase Lisbon, from his blog post at Supercult.com

[At right, Chase's photo of his mother, 2009. Click to enlarge.]

I love the hell out of my mother. She got wicked upset with me the other day at one of those restaurants where Koreans make sushi that's filled with pickled this and pickled that. You know the place.

Well I was there with my Mother, Apnea, and Hannah Rose. It hadn't dawned on me that it was almost Mothers' Day ... or is it Mother's day? I don't get paid to know these things. I know that it is at least MY Mother's day, so we'll go with that.

As it was we were sitting around and she was talking about how she was really proud of the show and all. She said she once saw a line two blocks long. She knows what I do for a living, but -being a mother and all- I'm not sure if she was aware of my work reaching an audience beyond our friends and the various girls I bring around on every trip... We started talking about the group picture where she jumped on me and knocked me over. We were wondering what the crowd of people that had come through the doors that night had thought of her. I made the HORRIBLE mistake of saying that they probably thought she was some an "old Pornstar". This REALLY didn't go over well. the crazy thing is, she has no problem with people thinking she was a porn star... It's just the old part. I meant it as in "Ex" Pornstar, you know?

Well, that happened, and she cried the next few times I talked to her. My sister never made it out that night on account of her car being in hiding from the repoman... So that was our early Mothers' Day.

I really love my mom to death. When I was young I was very small. I always looked two or three grades younger than my piers, and we moved around a lot on account of my dad being in the music business.

Today on the farm I found my new baby chicken Penguin dead near the back of the coop. Penguin had one of her eyes pecked out when she was real young and we picked her out because she was the runt of the litter to begin with. Amanda was the one who actually picked her out, but I had already been eying her myself. I think both of us have always been able to relate with the runts.

I'm only bringing this up because I had about as much chance of surviving childhood as Penguin did. The only difference is my mom was there by my side all the time. When I was growing up I didn't have a lot of friends for the most part of my childhood so my mom was my best friend, my mother, and my father. If a couple kids would jump me coming off the school bus and shove my head in the mud my mom would always find their parents and go totally Dolly Parton on them.

I can remember watching my mother crying when I went to my first day of school. Now that I'm older I can imagine how hard that must have been for her knowing what was going to happen to me once I had to really interact with the other children my age. Obviously she knew more about how the world would treat me than I did. I don't remember that day at school, I just remember seeing her when I got off the school bus.

I remember when I was 18 I couldn't wait to get the fuck out of my house. I had a botched surgery when I was 18 and almost died, but I still moved out as soon as I could get on my feet. Everything had fallen apart that year. I think my dad had been caught in his third, forth or fifth affair. I remember sometime around January he left for a business trip but I could tell by the vibe and the way he told me to look after my mom that he wasn't coming back. It's hard to say but I didn't want him to come back anyway.

I think that my father had just been instilled with too many demons at a young age and he wasn't equipped to handle life on tour. There's just too many opportunities for drug abuse and womanizing and I guess it's just no place for a father to be. I'm only bringing this up because I had caught him having one of his affairs when I was ten years old. Sometime around 1986 I guess he had gotten the bright idea to start sleeping with my mom's best friend who my sister and I referred to as our "aunt"- in the way that children do with their parents' best friends. I was also there the day that my aunt's husband came to the house and told my mom about it. I'm not mentioning any of this in relevance to me, I just setting the scene for some of the things I want to say about my mom.

This event would go down as the second or third in a long line of "final straws" and resulted in my mom picking up and moving my sister and me to Atlanta.

Again, this is a horrible thing to say, but I was happy to be living away from my father. My mother was really beautiful and it was good to see her meet up with other people her age in the apartment complex. I don't know why but she seemed really happy. I had met up with a gang of skate rats and was getting introduced to a whole world of acid drops and street plants. My mom fell in love with a young millionaire and was engaged by the end of the summer. His name was Tim, he was also in the music business, and he was the first man in my life not to harbor some sort of unearned resentment towards me. Well somehow my dad convinced her to come back to him. I think a lot of it had to do with constant suicide threats via Fedex, and the fact that my mother seemed to harbor some sort of old fashioned belief that wedding vows were actually vows.

So basically the rest of my childhood, until the day I left that apartment in Maryland, was spent avoiding my father and pitying my mother. I was still too small and too strange for most of the rest of the world, so I think my mother and I kept a stronger bond than most children do as they grow up.

I remember the day that I left the house to move to New Orleans on my own as well as I remember the day I went to school for the first time. My mom had the same tears and the same feelings. Once again she knew more about how the world would treat me than I did...she knew that she would no longer be able to go Dolly Parton on people for me. I think I found that out my first night in New Orleans as I watched my neighbor named "Whip" beat the shit out of his girlfriend in the parking lot in front of my apartment.

So you have to understand I didn't leave the first chance I got because I wanted to get away from my mom, I'm just the type of person that had to get moving and never really stopped too long.

My father fucked up the family enough so that my mother never got remarried or fully over him. A couple of years ago she got contacted from Tim again. Time was still handsome, still rich, and still in love with my mom. He's the only other person in her entire life that she ever had feelings for. The feelings came back, and I finally saw her happy again. He was flying her out to Arizona every other week. I was really happy, and amazed to see that side of her again. The summer of 1986 side. The side of her that spent evenings on the front porch of her apartment drinking wine under heat lightning listening to DOUBLE on the tape deck.

One day Tim didn't call. I was up in New England on a shooting spree. My sister called me worried. My mom was worried. She didn't get on the plane that weekend, and within a few days my sister had found his obituary on the internet.

We'll never understand why Tim would come back for those few months only to die like that. You'd have to know my mom. She's such a fucking good person. She's never done a thing wrong in her life that I know of. Seriously. She's beautiful inside and out.

She was a model for a while, but my father destroyed that for her. The details are vague, but his jealousy somehow stopped her from her a national billboard offer and other national ads.

She was abandoned by her mom and raised by her Grandparents. She was raped twice before meeting my dad. Once was the result of her older sister bartering her to a speed dealer when she was 13.

Maybe this is too personal for you, or you might feel I'm divulging more than I should about another person's life. I'm not telling you anything that she wouldn't over a glass of wine.

My friend Petes said that some people weren't meant to be happy in life. It's their job to help other people, and to live in pain themselves.

The worst crime of all of this is how fucked up and divided my family has ended up after all of this. My mom is single. I mean I can't even understand this. There must be a million men her age that would be willing to give up their Tivo for her. I'm 34 and childless... fucked to all hell. My sister is about to turn 30 and in the same boat, except she's also hiding from the repo man. My dad finally sobered up. He started driving long haul trucks and then mysteriously stopped. He then told me he had a job at Walmart in Arkansas, but that didn't last two weeks. Now he's in Oklahoma with a woman he met on the internet... something about a "Plan not to die alone".

So it was heartbreaking to be at my mom's the other day. It was maybe 60 outside and 50 inside. She told me she hadn't turned on the heat all winter, because of the price of the heating bill. It's just so fucked to see how things ended up. I feel like I should be able to help support her by now, but I can barely support myself. I'm pretty sure that this is due to many years of underlying self hatred and the feeling that I don't deserve to get ahead. You know. Some people think too highly of themselves. Some people think too little. The Bi-polars get it from both side, and some people just need to make enough money for a good psychiatrist. I'm sorry, but this has always been my way of dealing with things. It's easiest to talk to strangers, and a computer screen is a great listener. It's also easy to assume that anyone who would read this far can relate at least enough to get something out of this.

She always had faith in me. She still does. When you love someone so much it's hard to know that one of you will have to be around for the others death. I'm sure that she's the only reason I've made it through some of the times I have had as an adult alive.

If I didn't know her, I would never have believed in people enough to find others like her... if even only two or three. I'm sure I would be a rotten bastard.I'll never understand how my father could have done that to her so many times. To all of us. He must have hated himself even more than I do. Self-sabotage is a hard thing to explain to someone working with a straight head.

Well. For everything a reason, and the reasons are not always revealed. I hope everyone gets to at least meet a person like my mother, and I hope my mother finds happiness again. I hope one day I can take care of her if no one else can.

This song always makes me think of my mother's broken dreams. It's a Julee Cruise song, and the lyrics were written by David Lynch. He must have known her story:

"Shadow in my house.
The man he has brown eyes.
She'll never go to Hollywood.
Love moves me."

Man... Mother's day just got a little heavy. Lil' bit.

I love everyone that's been there for me over the years. I will forever be indebted to my mom for watching over me and making sure I didn't end up like little Penguin.

1/1

Chase Lisbon.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone

2009-05-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

"I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world"

Lyrics: TIME TO PRETEND, by MGMT

youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE

I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life
Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and f*ck with the stars
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars
This is our decision to live fast and die young
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun
Yeah, it's overwhelming but what else can we do
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?
Forget about our mothers and our friends
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone
But there is really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce
We'll find some more models, everything must run its course
We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
I said yeah, yeah, yeah
All right yeah, yeah, yeah
I said yeah, yeah, yeah
Ah yeah, yeah, yeah

Franki Doll & The Broken Toys

2009-05-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Franki Doll in the flesh

Reviewer Rob did a photo shoot and video interview with Franki Doll who is the tattooed soprano lead singer of Franki Doll & The Broken Toys. The Huntington Beach band takes their name from the scene in the Christmas animated TV show Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer wherein The Island of Misfit Toys makes an appearance.

Franki sang a rousing a capella chorus on video and posed for the camera. Very cool and professional. :)

Check her out online at myspace.com/frankidoll, or at her ModelMayhem modeling page at modelmayhem.com/695099.

Check out the photo gallery HERE from the shoot.

There is a Youtube version, but click HERE or click the pic below for the more interesting video in Quicktime.

Above: the heavily edited "YouTube-safe" version of the video.
Below: Franki Doll in performance, an image from her myspace.

great fashion

2009-05-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Thomasscelli Designs

Video interview and reviews by Reviewer Rob

Janese is a fashion designer currently living in Oceanside, north of San Diego, who makes fine garments for fashionable females by rescuing vintage clothes that are given to her from estate sales which she then reconfigures into new outfits. For example, she often makes sexy skirts from dozens of men's ties for about $120 (or $100 if you provide the ties). In an age when more and more people are thinking green and recycling, her style of designing is only beginning to come into its own. Visit her website at thomasscelli.com. You will fall in love with her work immediately. We did! ~Reviewer Rob

[Editor's note: we want to do more coverage of this woman's line so watch reviewermag.com/thomasscelli for a page that will be loaded up in the next few days that will have more videos, pics and info. :) ~RR]

Remembering CBGBs

2009-05-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Burning Down the House

from myspace.com/nycpunk

I realize the few screenings for this movie soldout quickly so I'll share my feedback for anyone who missed it, as I just saw it last night. Although I hate long, intellectualized movie reviews, I found I have more to say than I expected.

First of all, due to the fact that this movie hits New Yorkers on a more emotional level than anywhere else, I'm extremely surprised and disappointed that I saw no attention paid to this film on NY1, the Village Voice or the papers.....especially after the onslaught of coverage or support upon the club's closing. It’s a special movie that deserves more.

The filmmaker Mandy Stein is the daughter of Seymour Stein (Sire Records), a native New Yorker with a lifetime’s exposure to the Ramones, etc., and also made “Too Tough To Die (tribute to Johnny)”. The post-movie panel included Tommy Ramone and Chris Frantz (THeads), but I found more interest in what Jesse Malin and Trigger had to say about other NYC club closings and the sad state of affairs, as well as Mandy’s insights on Hilly (& Muzzy).

As the title suggests, the movie focuses more on the politics and the emotions of CBGB’s latter situation, as opposed to hours of live concert footage (though it certainly includes some). And if you happen to have spent years there, it’s disturbing to watch the place being torn apart, and watch Hilly’s health deteriorate. The ending brought back to me all the frustration and anger we dealth with, towards Muzzy and Mayor Bloomber's inability to negotiate.

Thanks to Mandy for making this documentary which will stand the test of time as a historical account of a universally important rocknroll era, not just a club. It’s a witness for those who never made the trek there, and certainly puts ‘closing’ rumors and questions to rest.

Unfortunately there’s no distribution deal for this film yet, but as soon as any more viewings or a dvd become available, you’ll be sure to know here! I’m sure some of you will find yourselves in cameos.

On a personal note I once again want to thank Kabi, Little Steven, Tommy Ramone and Blondie’s members for their constant support to Hilly and CBGB, when so many others who started there could not be “found”. As well as the CBGB employees and Mandy. You rock.

More info: myspace.com/cbgbmovie

on tour

2009-04-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

introducing

vdelli

This is a great band from Perth, Australia that is now touring all through Germany. They have recently recorded a new album with producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, plus more... see cavemanproductions.com ) and have been signed to German record label Jazzhaus. Check out vdelli.com or myspace.com/vdelli to hear the songs and check out the gigs, photos, and tour info!

The band consists of Michael Vdelli (vocals and guitar), Ric Whittle (drums) and Troy Gennoe (bass and vocals). You can expect to hear a mixed sound of rock, blues, funk and more in this tight three piece with their thumping drum beats, rockin' guitar and groovin' bass!

~ Jess Harris, Photographer

Photos by Jess Harris, Perth, Australia.

message

2009-04-25T02:30:00.000-07:00

talent search

Jim Rose Sideshow

PLEASE...no agents

From:
jim rose assist.
myspace.com/toohotforfizzle
To:
* Reviewer Magazine
Date:
Apr 24, 2009 5:41 PM
Subject:
bands ,performers and wrestlers and fans
Body:
jim rose circus vs. jake the snake roberts..the legends collide U.S tour... starts july 1st...we are proud to say that the biggest agency in the world.(WILLIAM MORRIS) will be booking this tour... if you are in a band AND are friends with a PROMOTER...please have that promoter email yikes555@yahoo.com if your local promoter brings us to your city because of your contact we will put you on the bill..... PLEASE... no agents,or managers etc need to waste their time contacting us... promoters only.... this show is going to be an all out rock circus war...its going to be a blast... BREAKING NEWS... SiNN BoHdI aka.kizarny from the wwe has just joined jim rose circus... to watch jims back from jake...this show is a circus with fist fights... done on stage... not in a ring... if you are a performer circus variety wrestler etc.... please message us here with your city and what you do on the title.. w

CD review (round two): DEAD AISLING

2009-04-25T00:54:00.000-07:00

DEAD AISLING

CD review by Tim Fennell

I am thinking this music would fit well within the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon, Mondo Generator, or any other desert dock stoner-metal but, as we dig deeper and follow this music further down the rabbit hole, we quickly realize that we are wrong and its not quite so easy to categorize. I’m certain DEAD AISLING is trying to make exactly that point as well. The record is a concept that takes you on a ride that weaves through sludge, electronica, desert rock, goth, industrial, and I would even venture to say shoegaze. Tracks one and two pique your interest and make your head bob involuntarily, and by the time song number three, titled "Overcome the Monkey" hits the air, you will be a fan of this band. The next track "Song for a Darkened Sky" is a down shift, and I'm not so sure its the smartest follow up to the previous song, however, when the guitar joins in on top of a slow, dreary and gloomy electronic groove, I’ve got goose bumps, and I am wrong. The album mellows out for a little while and stays that way until "A Broken Body" comes on and lights it up, and showcases the band’s ability to set it on fire. As I listen to this song, over and over, I am reminded of The Misfits while I can hear an influence of Glenn Danzig. I can picture rows of fists in the air, pumping in unison, and I want to be there too. DEAD AISLING hails from glorious Bakersfield, CA, and their profile can be found at myspace.com/deadaisling. I would suggest downloading and taking a listen, and if it is for sale, buy it.

TM

CD review: White Bamboo

2009-04-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

Clare Means White Bamboo

CD review by Tim Fennell

White Bamboo starts off with "New York Night" and immediately pulls my attention towards the speakers. The song’s title is very fitting as I can see the New York skyline in my mind and feel the presence of an old smokey bar room, and its the sweet raspiness of her breathy voice that puts me there. In song number two Clare is telling us stories, and we are hearing them. Fast forward to the albums title track, "White Bamboo” and I'm looking forward to listening to this again as I drive down the coast highway on a Sunday afternoon. This recording is top notch and the musicianship on the record is more than professional and you will hear an array of acoustic guitars, piano, violins, and even mandolins contributing to this piece of art. Clare Means’ White Bamboo is an excellent soundtrack to a warm sunset and pairs quite nicely with an afternoon cup of coffee. There are also some gloomy rainy day moments on the disc, as we are reminded through song of heartbreak and failed devotion, which to me shows this artist’s sense of diversity. Check her out at myspace.com/claremeans. She's worth it!

TF

Emoview

2009-04-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

Blue Skies For Black Hearts

by Megan Trihey

Patrick Kearns arrived out of breath five minutes before 9:30, a guitar case in one hand and his girlfriend’s hand entwined with his other. He just finished playing an acoustic set down the street at Backspace. Ten minutes later, Kearns and the rest of Blue Skies for Black Hearts were on the red-lit stage and playing with no introduction.

The band was playing at Dante’s, a popular Portland, Oregon venue whose interior design reflects its name. The only lights in the dark brick building came from the stage or small candles flickering on the black tabletops. Though the Underworld-esq adornment remained throughout the show, as soon as Blue Skies for Black Hearts begun playing their upbeat classic pop rhythms, it was easy to forget I was in hell.

The music is charming. It’s clearly influenced by everyone’s favorite oldies, a nice contrast to the Emo music that, based on the name of the band, I thought I was going to encounter. But the band does what its name claims and incorporates a duality – the feel-good feeling you get when listening to Blue Skies for Black Hearts and the somewhat gloomy lyrics that are utterly relatable.

“There’s something to be said about saying things in a way that’s easier for people to take but also connects with them,” said lead guitarist Michael Lewis.

The band attributes its easy-going melodies to its dark sense of humor.

“So many people do this Emo thing and it’s like, ‘poor me, and blah, blah, blah,’” said Kearns. “I’m depressed all the time anyway, so it’s kind of like, that’s the dark sense of humor thing, I like to laugh at it and have fun with it and I think that’s the beauty with a lot of the 60’s music that people didn’t get. It wasn’t all happy hippy yay, yay, yay back then either, but they would take stuff that was sort of sad and turn it around put a happy melody under it.”

Kearns, Lewis, bassist Kelly Simmons, and drummer Paul Noel seem to enjoy putting on a show almost as much as the audience loves being the audience. The guys were smiling, laughing, and appeared to exchange inside jokes with mere glances throughout the set, but their energy climaxed during “Siouxsie Please Come Home.”

The tune is about a guy writing to his soldier girl, woefully waiting for her to come home from war.

“I wanted a twist of the sexes,” said Kearns, who wrote the song. “Back in the 60’s when people would write these songs, or this type of song, it was always like ‘soldier boy,’ or this kind of thing so I wanted the soldier to be the girl … it’s something that couldn’t have happened back then and so I wanted to twist it.”

The song is also indicative of the turbulent times in which we live.

“I think in the last decade it’s a little difficult to separate the reality of now and history,” said Lewis. “It’s a recognition of the times we live in.”

“It’s more personal though,” added Simmons, “because it’s between the person writing the letter and the person receiving the letter.”

Kearns admits more was at play when he wrote the song. His girlfriend, Susan, was away from home on a trip, and he wanted her to come home. In addition to his loneliness, he explained he had a strange daydream in which Burt Baccarat was dating Jessica Lynch, the first POW rescued during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

“I had this weird thing in my head,” said Kearns. “If he [Baccarat] was dating Jessica Lynch, what kind of song would he write? So I kind of tried to write that song.”

The collection of thoughts tumbled into “Siouxsie Please Come Home,” which appeared to be an audience favorite and the most-listened to song on the band’s Myspace page. But that’s how Kearns says most of the songs are composed.

“We get pretty interested, I think, in relationships of people in books as well as people we know and that sort of talking and books that we’re reading now, just sort of what’s going on, it starts to filter into the songs in weird ways,” he said.

Blue Skies For Black Hearts’ latest album, Serenades and Hand Grenades, can be purchased on iTunes.

blueskiesforblackhearts.com

-MKT

band review: The Liaison

2009-04-21T01:13:00.000-07:00

The Liaison

by Natasha Jones

Mixing rock and metal to the extreme, reminding me of the Deftones, Incubus, Brigade - those type of bands, now when they told me they were recording and the sound would be more ‘poppy’ it was obvious to me that youmeat6 would come the result, fortunately, or maybe unfortunately depending on how you view it, they’ve taken another route.

First track “We Are…” is punchy and aggressive yet with a moving chorus which should be sung at the top of a hill with the wind blowing through your hair. It’s something about the backing vocals and the guitar in the background going so well with the lead vocals, they’ve really thought about this one whilst writing - something of a rarity nowadays! I can picture this on a big stage very soon, with fists in the air, a feel good song that really sets them apart from a lot of bands doing a similar thing.

“Say Anything” starts with a piercing guitar, it really is a carry on from ‘We Are..’ which isn’t a bad thing at all, I wasn’t sure on the ‘woahs’ at first but they grow on you, and you find yourself singing along in the chorus on first listen! Again, the track dominated by the high-hat and the guitar (in the background), and the brilliantly executed backing vocals, giving their lead singer (Zander) just enough room for breath.

Not to mention their small attempt on the solo’s during the songs, in which the guitar sounds awesome, might I add!

The band will be hitting the road on their UK tour in August, definitely not an act to be missed, check em out at your latest venue, I’m sure they’ll be playing it soon! 

myspace.com/athousandyearsmusic

CD review: DEAD AISLING

2009-04-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Dead Aisling

by Megan Trihey

Dead Aisling’s flawlessly melodic, hauntingly hypnotic self-titled debut album is an essential trip for music connoisseurs who have been begging for a virgin sound amid this year’s painfully mainstream batch of bands.

The album’s first track introduces you to lead singer Adam Richmond’s forcefully gentle voice that will bite your ear one moment only to caress it the next.

Without warning, you’re launched into "Blood and Family," the second track, a furiously catchy song that, while heavy, invites head-banging and table-top dancing.

If you’ve never been scared by an intensely dark and alluring song, turn off the lights and listen to track three.

The chorus of the fourth track, "Song for a Darkened Sky," will inhabit the caverns of your brain for days and you still won’t get sick of it. The smooth electronic melody pushes the band past punk, goth, or rock into a genre that has yet to be coined.

The soft, organic guitar carries track five from one growling verse to the next and is another one that will likely find its way into the depths of your memory and remain there.

On the album’s seventh track, hyperactive barking drums battle the axe for attention and, at just over four minutes long, ends way too soon.

The final track is a song turned into an unforgettable story that will give your feet a break, but not your mind.

After listening to all eight tracks on the album in less than 40 minutes, play it again because if you missed one word or note, you probably missed the point.

myspace.com/deadaisling

-MKT

pop art

2009-04-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Shepard Fairey DJs at Coachella

The OBEY Giant founder and piratey Obama campaign artist who GOT THE PRESIDENT ELECTED will DJ at Coachella tomorrow!

From his website, obeygiant.com:

UPDATE: SHEPARD AT COACHELLA, THIS SUNDAY!!!

Hey people going to Coachella… are you interested in good music, how abou cool t-shirts? I’m DJing Sunday at 2:15 and I’ll be tossing out a few limited DJ Diabetic tees ... Try to check out my set. See you in the desert.
-Shepard

Although most bios of Fairey currently skim over or completely exclude any information about the significant time the artist spent in San Diego, in a very ala' Manchurian Candidate way, during his formative early-to-mid 1990s years before fame took hold, this is from the Post No Bills page at gingkopress.com:

... Black Market, a San Diego design agency Fairey formed with Dave Kinsey and Philip Dewolff and which focuses on the action sport and music industries.
~RR

Above, right: Shephard Fairey, photographed by Reviewer Rob at Fairey's Post No Bills (2002, Gingko Press) book signing at Ducky Waddles Emporium in Leukadia.

suburban sea-caving

2009-04-17T03:48:00.000-07:00

Point Loma Sea Cave Exploring

video and frame images by Reviewer Rob

Did you ever get the feeling that the world was sometimes a place of almost invisible magic and adventure? That just maybe, if you looked a little harder, you'd find hidden treasures that had been overlooked and passed by, and that there was an undiscovered realm right under your feet?

Yesterday I went my the beach on my way home to check the waves as the sun set and noticed a crowd gathered by the cliffs with several lifegaurd and police cars parked in the lot by the big bird rock near Reviewer's world headquarters in Point Loma. So I walked up closer investigate. This area often has cliff rescues by lifegaurds using their boom truck and rappelling gear but that's usually when the waves are huge and people get trapped in a pocket cove and can't get out or climb the cliffs to safety.

The crowd was watching a young guy being pulled out of a hole in the rocks by the officers (see photos/frame-grabs below). Once he was safely out, then up came another, and another. A group of about 10 or 12 young people were caving inside a sea-cliff cave that I park above, and was unaware of, on an almost a daily basis. The police and lifegaurds began trying to figure out what to do about this since, according to one of them, it's "technically" frowned upon.

Then I recalled stories and historical photos that depict a Point Loma of 100 years ago that was a sort of ocean theme-park, built up with a wooden boardwalk, bridges and other pedestrian enhancements.

Above three images were found by Google on legacy106.com, wherein this was posted: "Permission to use these images is granted provided it is attributed as follows: Copyright © 2007 Ronald V. May and Dale Ballou May, Legacy 106, Inc., www.legacy106.com"

Underground passageways

Time and tide has washed them all away, I had been told, except for occasional concrete ruins which can be seen clogging the rock rubble below the cliffs are the remnants of the stairs and bridge footings of the park setting.

Or had it completely disappeared? These guys seemed to have found a secret link to Point Loma's resplendent past.

Click the images below or watch the video on YouTube for the story to begin to unfold.

~Reviewer Rob

Below: 16 frame grabs from the YouTube video.

These photos: above, Point Loma then, and below, now.

Historic Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, California
The ocean park that almost was

The two photos above and story below were found on sohosandiego.org/lostsd/sunset_cliffs.htm ~

Sunset Cliffs Park was originally landscaped in 1915 by sporting goods magnate Albert Goodwill Spaulding at the cost of two million dollars. It was to be given to the City of San Diego with the provision that they maintain it. This bequest consisted of landscaped walkways along the cliffs with rustic railings, pebbled steps and stairways, palm thatched shelters with benches, Japanese-style rustic arched bridges, caves with stairway access, even a 15 x 50 foot saltwater swimming pool carved into the natural rock that cleaned itself with every high tide. This was a major tourist attraction of which there are many postcards from the time around today that attest to its popularity.

The city did nothing to maintain the park and the land reverted to the new property owner, developer John P. Mills. In 1924 Mills refurbished the park and gave it back to the city, again with the provision that they maintain it.

In 1928 Mills requested that the city return it if they were not going to keep it up as agreed. The city's reply was that the deed was vague and ambiguous, and continued to do nothing to maintain it. Quite the opposite, they allowed it to deteriorate and then claimed as an excuse for not maintaining the park that it was eroded and unsafe and then removed most of it.

As you can see by present day photographs all of the footings and cobblestone anchor for the bridge and handrails are still in place. Don't always believe what you're told, this historic site still exists. Instead of eroding away here, the reality is, that tons of fill dirt was dumped by the city on top of the site. This park is a San Diego treasure that would have been private yards as in La Jolla if not for the foresight of the Spaulding and Mills Families.

Currently there is a new plan to develop the park and some of the historic elements should be incorporated into this plan. It is the right thing to do after all these years. It is time for the city to honor its agreements.

shows

2009-04-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

show coverage

Pustules

photos and video by Reviewer Rob

Straight from Lyon, France, bar band The Pustules brought their high-school marching-band horn antics to Ocean Beach and played at the Harp on Newport Avenue on Sunday, the night after grooving a larger crowd up the street at Portugalia. They performed a long set that included many recognizable covers such as "Whiskey Bar" by The Doors and "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys. The crowd was sparse at first, but filled out later, and the band was surprisingly not unpleasant for French people. All considered, it was an entertaining shoot.

I shot a series of performance videos too, which will be edited and posted later, as well as this brief interview HERE.

[Click the image below or HERE for the flash-slideshow portal.]

You can check out the Pustules online at Pustule.org. ~RR

uk scene

2009-04-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

interview: Enter Shikari

interviewed by Natasha Jones

Synth and Metal, a genre that has exploded since Enter Shikari hit the scene, with enough metal for the moshers to get dirty, but enough synth to relax the more fragile; I caught up with Enter Shikari on their recent UK tour where they were debuting some of their second album material, being backstage at the Guildhall - the boys seemed very relaxed even though there were 2,000 + screaming fans just the other side of the wall.

Date: 30th October 2008
Time: 8.30 PM (roughly)
Location: Backstage (Southampton, Guildhall)

What came first the Chicken or the egg?
Rory: Oh no! I think the Bacteria came first, the bacteria in the air
Rou: the Chegg!
Rory: I think the Chicken came from a Newt originally.

How did the band first get together?
Rory: Funny Story actually but it started with a chicken! Nah, it was Primary School really. Chris and Rou went to Primary School together then we all met at Secondary School.

Have you changed your sound since first forming?
Rou: We’ve gone through all sorts of sounds, when we started we were like crisp rock really beasty, then we got into the local punk scene which was straight up hardcore, then added in the electronics and mixed it all in to what it is now.

How was the local scene?
Rory: Yeah it was great one of our major influences really. Most of the bands that we listened to then have sort of faded out and drizzled out. There was a really strong hardcore punk scene, ska, rap. There was always gigs on at this local music club, it’s not closed down but they don’t put gigs on there anymore

What’s the stage banner for this tour symbolize?
Rory: I’m glad someone asked! They’re all like ancient symbols basically from mythology. There’s like 5 strips, the main one which takes up the most space is a message in old Hebrew which means on the 9th the dragon will be born which is the code apparently about 2012. It’s also the guy that decoded it, he’s featured in “We Can Breathe in Space” speaking.

Is that Relevant to the album?
Rou: We haven’t really decided what the artwork on the album will be.

Have you recorded the album yet?
Rory: Nah, we’re recording it straight after this tour.

Where you recording it?
Rou: Isle of Wight, we’ll probably get quite bored, I don’t know what there is to do there.

There’s one theme park, maybe you should visit that? Black Gang Chine
Rory: Ah, I’ve been there quite a few times actually, on family holidays. Don’t you have to walk through some giant legs to get in, haha. The place we’re recording is actually a big manner with beautiful gardens. Half is a B+B and half is a studio and rented out for the public to view.

Supports for this tour, hand-picked?
Both: Yeah.

What are your links to those bands?
Rou: That’s a really good question.
Rory: Yeah, well the only person that’s on every date is DJ PDEX, who is my brother which is a drum n’ bass DJ, cos’ the next album we’re moving more towards drum n’ bass. Maximum the Hormone, from Japan, we played with them over there, thought we’d repay the favour by getting them over here and until now they’d never even left the country, they can speak hardly any English so we have our own sign language with them. Fell Silent, who are some of our closest friends, same as Flood of Red. We just thought let’s bring all our friends on this tour and it’s been loads of fun!

How’s America going? Cracked it yet?
Rou: Nah, we’re chiselling away, forming little cracks. We’ve been over their quite a lot this year for periods, next year after the album comes out there we’ll spend like two months solid touring.

Will you be playing Bamboozle?
Rou: Yeah, there is talk of Bamboozle, and we might do a bit of the Warped Tour, fuck doing all of that!

How has your sound Progressed, from the demos’ to the album, from the album to your new Material?
Rory: From the demos’ to the album there wasn’t a great development, we were just touring constantly, then went to the studio to record, then right back to another tour.

What gigs and tours have been the best for you to play?
Rory: This one’s been really good.
Rou: Yeah, there was one in America in Texas. They have like heard of us for a few years, but we’ve never been there so they were kinda gagging for a gig, it was mental.

If you could make a crisp flavour, what would it be?
Rou: Peanut Butter, because peanut butter rules.
Rory: Tabasco

myspace.com/entershikari

Below: the author, Natasha Jones, caught lounging with her interview subjects, Rory at left and Rou on the right, backstage.

Young and Beautiful, by Fingerpistol

2009-04-12T13:46:00.001-07:00

cd review

Generosity You Can Dance To

band: Fingerpistol
album: Young and Beautiful

Reviewed by Billy Bunker

I wrote a poem in ( I think it was 9th grade) and the teacher called my parents in and told them I'd plagiarized it. I swore up and down that I hadn't and ultimately she couldn't prove me wrong, but I don't think she ever believed me. I think it was sometime around then that I found out I had knack for putting words together in an interesting way. I started playing guitar shortly thereafter. It was a good fit. People are much more forgiving of songwriters than they are of poets. They are also more encouraging of them. I have always felt that being told I was a good songwriter at a young age was as much a curse as it was a blessing. I think for many years I was writing songs partly to live up to their expectations. I think these days I do it mostly for myself. I think the result has been that I'm not quite as prolific as I used to be, but I'm much more satisfied with the result.
~ Dan Hardick, songwriter for Fingerpistol

[A few of the paragraphs below in bold italics are quotes from songwriter Dan Hardick in response to questions in an email.]

Dan Hardick has been a songwriter since he was far too young. I sent him a bunch of questions in an email like I do, and he sent back more insight than any songwriter I've ever known. I think he can find the human side of any situation and put it into a song that makes life worth living. He's a country artist with all the sweet honest observation of a Meiko with a heap of Hank Williams. It's a rare artist can dole out encouragement in a bleak time, but Dan has the gift. He cares. I don't cotton to mindless encouragement, so it takes a rare songwriting voice to get through to me. Fingerpistol has that sound I respond to, though I might have been born in a darker part of town.

I think there was a time when I was trying awfully hard to be clever both musically and lyrically. Somewhere I realized along the way that music isn't a wholly intellectual medium. In fact, at its best it's a very emotional one. Sure, people connect to songs intellectually to a certain extent, but the songs that stay with them usually have a strong emotional aspect. I can sing you most of the lyrics to Jimmy Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw," but my favorite song of his is "West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown," and not because I relate to the character in the song, but because I listened to that song over and over on a long night drive back from Nashville back in the early Eighties and it just sort of captures a mood for me. Same thing for Jimmy Cliff's Power and the Glory" or Bob Seger's "Night Moves" or more recently Death Cab for Cutie's "I'll Follow You Into the Dark." My daughter and her friends sing that one around the campfire and it mists me up every time. Probably the songwriter who brought me the most to this epiphany was Billy Joe Shaver. Like Hank Williams his songs have simple words that pack a huge emotional punch. Sure, I would love to write like James McMurtry, but if I could do that with the force of a Billy Joe Shaver song, shit, I'd die happy.

I've come to think of Dan as a consummate songwriter. It's Wednesday morning and Spring is dawning out my window. I've been exchanging emails with Dan and it's a great privilege. We're talking about Hank Williams, Neil Young, John Prine and John Hiatt. That's the company he keeps in my imagination. His words are that clear and simple. I have no doubt his music will ring true to anyone brought up on country, but I think every rocker with an "anything but country" attitude playing the blues on his Les Paul should listen carefully to Fingerpistol. These songs are better than that clever stuff I hear on the Top 40 radio. A man's reach shouldn't exceed his grasp. I love rock 'n' roll, R&B, and all that pop. Without country music none of that other music would have a heart. Dan is a great example why I have converted to country. The world is too damn tough to pass up a good song.

I asked my wife to marry me the first time I met her, while simultaneously (and accidentally) pouring beer into her best friend's lap.

It helps to have a sense of humor. Life is a long long road. You don't want to take that journey without some music to make the ride worth taking.

What do you love about music? It keeps me company wherever I go. If there's not a song playing outside my head, there's definitely one playing inside it. I also love the fact that music can be incredibly complicated, or incredibly simple.

Dan's songs move me. He knows what he's after. I want to take a chance on my dreams, and love a little more after listening to this album. Maybe Fingerpistol is like a big brother on a disc. Dan seems to know how to live. He is a generous man. These songs are generosity you can dance to. Dan Hardick says it best: "The Fingerpistol is a love gun."

THE SONGS:

1. GOODBYE, MARIE might be written to a girlfriend, friend or a daughter. If it's written to a daughter, it might be what Neil Young calls an "Empty Nester Song." Comes a time to say goodbye and move out into the world. "Goodbye Marie. Go get your share of that big wide world out there. Goodbye Marie." I can't think of a more generous beginning for an album. Parting may be sweet sorrow, but Dan is open hearted in his encouragement. God, I love that about this song. "Don't leave it to fate. Don't look for a sign. Don't wait for the planets to align. If you won't listen to your heart, then listen close to me. Goodbye Marie." There's a brilliant line in this song: "You're spinning around like a clock on the wall, waiting for your dreams to call. Making plans until your plans are all that's standing in your way." Don't let your plans stand in your way! "Were not getting any younger." It's a big world out there. "You don't want to lose that hunger." This song is beautiful. That's a rare thing. Generosity you can dance to.

I asked Dan if this was an empty nester song.

"For me it's sort of an allegory for a lot of my personals regrets, with the wisdom of age making the narrator a bit more generous. I think it's pretty universal. Most regrets are the result of inaction rather than action. That's the one thing I hope to impart to my daughters: If you try at least you won't regret."

2. YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL finds the deeper beauty beneath the skin. The airwaves are full of songs about hot young lovely girls. "Twenty years now where you've been? Down that road and back again. Your roots are showing gray, but does your mind recall the day when you were young and beautiful. Young and beautiful. Young and beautiful." They say beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness is all the way to the bone. "Now what if the measure of what you've done is the person that you've become. In twenty years will you look the same? Will they ask you, 'What's your name?' What's your name?" I don't know about you. This song moves me. I'm gonna take a minute with that little extra water in my eye. "Twenty years now, what's in store? If you're lucky maybe forty more. Knowing what you know now, would you do it again now if somehow you were young and beautiful? Young and beautiful. Young and beautiful? What's your name?" If that doesn't move you now, wait a few years. What's your name?

3. LITTLE BIT OF FAITH rivals John Hiatt's "Have A Little Faith In Me." There's a touch of John Prine in the mix. Dan Hardick lives in the same world as you and me, but he seems to see it better. "No matter what they think. No matter what they say. A little bit of faith from you goes a long long way." If this song is even half true, Dan Hardick is a lucky man.

4. STILL IN TEXAS is that road song through Texas with something else in mind. "I've been drivin' and drivin' and drivin' and I'm still in Texas." Dan may be at the wheel, but he's taking that Interstate of mind from location to location. "Could have gone from Paris all the way to Rome in the time that I've been on this highway trying to get home. And I may be superstitious, yeah but I believe it's a sign when you get a flat tire two miles from the Texas state line." Hey, that's not a road song at all. "Can't seem to get away. Guess I might as well stay." I think that's what they call a geographic. You can try to find yourself somewhere else, but wherever you go there you are. "All you ever been is here." Now, Dan might have bad teeth singing like the Clash if he had been born in Liverpool or Manchester. A good songwriter is good in any style. Dan's country. He's Texas. Ain't nothing wrong with that. He writes a good song. Can't run from that. "I get lost sometimes, but I try not to show it. Maybe an end in sight, but I wouldn't know it." Keep drivin' down that long road. "All you ever been is here."

5. TWO STRONG ARMS takes aim at the co-dependent with a themesong for the beaten woman in all of us. Maybe there's no one to take us to be that bridge over the troubled waters. "She loved a man or so it seemed. What she loved just turned out to be what she'd dreamed." I wrote a monolog on this subject years ago about bad love and a lack of self respect that's wrapped around my dreams. Seems when we think we've found everything, we get nothing but pain. "She wanted two strong arms. No one ever told her that those two strong arms were her own." We face "the cruel world all alone." Dan writes a great love song. This one is that something else. "For years she lived a lie thinking she could change him somehow by and by. But then one day she just gave in, took the kids and promised never to come back again." We all have two strong arms. "No one ever told her that those two strong arms were her own." This song is haunting. It's true. It's something borrowed and something blue. Without that emancipation from the broken romantic idea, life is like a puzzle piece that won't fit snug. This is a beautiful song.

6. SADNESS AND PAIN is the inspirational story of Molly, who knows something about life. In theological circles, this song would be said to be about the Problem of Pain. There's enough darkness here, the light just shines through bright and brilliant. "She's thinking 'My life could be better, but I don't know how.' She's thinking, 'My life is right here and now.'" Molly isn't some happy, pretty, rich girl. She's a girl on her moped about to turn 27. "Molly's got this tattoo on her shoulder that says, 'Touch me and I'll scream.' It started out as a joke at first, but lately it's become a theme. Three months out of chemo and she's still feeling weak. Most of her hair is gone. And she's starting to realize now there's a whole lot in life you just can't count on." This song makes me cry a little, but it mainly makes me want to live. "She's not complaining about the way things are and the way things ought to be."

"She'd like to talk to Jesus!
She'd wants to talk to Jesus!
She'd like to talk to Jesus!
And maybe he could explain
All this sadness and pain."

Actually Molly is a composite. My grandmother died of stomach cancer and oddly, it's sort of a tribute to her - at least emotionally for me. She was 94. You could almost say she died of old age. She was active and involved and interesting all the way to the end. She lived that line from the end of Candide, "Every day we must go to work in the garden." Despite all the ugliness and heartache (and joy too) she experienced in her life, she just kept plugging. Of course, Matthew McConnaughey offer's similarly profound advice as a logo sewn onto his clothing line: 'Just keep livin.'"

Molly is my hero. Dan is my friend.

7. OLD PROMISES is that song from a place where rock and country meet for coffee. "A long long time ago when I used to steal the show I promised I would never be some washed up troubadour, an aging dinosaur, who wouldn't bow out gracefully. Yeah, but here I am singing to you, 'Old Promises are hard to remember." I think Pete Townsend might be singing this song. He said he wanted to die before he got old. He's still singing that song. Some promises are better not kept.

Dan says, "Old promises is sadly biographical."

8. MEDICINE (written by Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass) came up on the album right after I thought he might have learned his philosophy from AA. Nope! "A bottle a day keeps the doctor away, or so my girlfriend says." This song is kind of The Days of Wine and Roses in reverse. "She's cranky when she's sober but so sweet when she's wasted." There may be a tragedy in the making here, but it's not happening now. "I can't stay clean long. I hope she's not angry anymore." Don't try this at home kids. There may be a sequel to this song make you want to cry. This one is sweet and a little woozy. Dan didn't write this song, but it's a good song. Don't try this one at home.

9. WYOMING takes a turn for the fuzz box on the road to Neil Young. "Sweat soaked from the heat. Steam rising from the street. Shoes blistering off my feet. I've got to get out of this hell." It's been "two months without rain." Guess Texas has it's hot days. "Wyoming where I want to be with that big blue sky rolling over me. Miles and miles of beautiful scenery and all of the time in the world." Sometimes life is like a barbecue grill. "Somebody put a fork in this town!" It's done.

10. GET BACK UP breaks out the radio mic for that distant sound that cuts through the nonsense. This is the kind of country Eddie Cochran called rock 'n' roll. "Everyday I'm gonna stand up tall. Knowing that I've paid my dues. When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose." He came across a preacher and asked him "why it is that everybody wants to cause me pain." Well, the same thing happened to Jesus when he was "carrying that bloody cross. They were doing the same thing too. Well, he got back up when they was knocking him down. Well he got back up, when they was knocking him down down down down down down down." Get up!

11. RESCUE is a ballad worthy of Melissa Manchester. "When your mind starts to slip away. When you can't remember things you did yesterday, I'll rescue you." The Hammond organ kicks in for a service in the church of what's happening now. I've warn the groove off my John Hiatt records, so I'll be listening to Fingerpistol when I need that lift. I think the real superhero must be a songwriter.

12. WAKE THE DEAD just might. "We'll wake the dead tonight, roll stones away." If you don't have a heart, you won't write a good song. Dan wrote this one for his grandmother. It Rocks!

Yesterday we buried my grandmother in this clay
Ninety-four years old when she died
Bound to this place with blood and sweat and toil and tears
And nothing much to show for it but pride
Names etched in granite show the ravages of time
Someday these stones will all be gone
Whole lives forgotten & their stories left untold
But still their spirit carries on
In my blood they carry on
We'll wake the dead tonight
Roll the stones away

Tell those sleeping bones that we'll be joining them someday
We'll wake the dead tonight
Put 'em all on warning
We'll wake the dead tonight and rest with 'em in the morning

Singing hey na na na, hey na na na, hey na na na na
Singing hey na na na, hey na na na na
Singing hey na na na, hey na na na, hey na na na na
Singing hey na na na, hey na na na na

We'll wake the dead tonight
Roll the stones away
Tell those sleeping bones that we'll be joining them someday
We'll wake the dead tonight
Put 'em all on warning
We'll wake the dead tonight and rest with 'em in the morning

FINGERPISTOL IS:

Dan Hardick - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica
Suzee Brooks - vocals
Sam Wilson - bass
Jill Csekitz - drums, percussion
Geoff Cline - guitar

ADDITIONAL ALBUM CREDITS:

Landis Armstrong ~ stratocaster
Gretchen Weihe ~ mandolin
Cindy Cashdollar ~ steel guitar, dobro, lap steel
Steve Schmidt ~ organ, piano
Additional vocals on "Wake the Dead" by the Boyland Chorus

Click HERE for lyrics from the album.

All song written by Dan Hardick except for "Medicine" by Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass

art bio with pictures

2009-04-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Suria Kassimi

duesseldorf.de/kuenstlerleben
myspace.com/suriakassimi

Qualification
Art historian M. A.

Education
1975 – 1980 HdK Berlin
1981 – 1986 Ruhr University of Bochum (Philosophy, Archeology, Art history, Roman languages and literature, Political science and Sociology)
1986 – 1989 Italy: Facoltà di Architettura Florence Università degli Studi di Bologna; div. Gallery practical courses in Rome and Bologna
1989 – 1993 motherhood
1998 reaching of the Masters degree

Relevant work experience
1979 – 1987 artshows
1981 – 1986 workshops, organization of readings and discussions concerning art and politics
1984 – today studio conversations with Gerhard Richter, Martin Kippenberger, Jörg Immendorff, Bill Viola, Mischa Kuball and other; publishes partially in Nike, Apex and type forum.
1993 – today scientific cooperate on different museums in NRW ,various publication can be found on the Internet under www.nrw-museum.de as well as in Neusser annual and media publications.
2003 initiate the project "school and museum" in Mülheim/Ruhr
2003 – today teaching art and history of art, various workshop-projects
2004 development of different educational offers for the ASG (education section of the Catholic church) in Dusseldorf,
2005 – today development and realization of special educational offers for the section of cultural development in Cologne;
artshow project with works of the Nazarener printed graphic arts out of the collection Dr. Manfred Becker-Huberti. ( press officer of the cardinal)
2007 art books for beginners: German expressionisms collection supply NRW (in work)
expanse work experience 2002 – today music –theater and art criticism WAZ (West German general newspaper)

Artistic work
Photographs:
I seek to place the picture object in the unclear, in order let especially clearly step forward the moment of the fleeting, the already passed. The actual subject decomposes therefore into bright and dark areas and lines. Tangible, immaterial phenomena do not serve as a formation element in the construction of a new room. In the midpoint, the representation of light, room and time stands. The documentation of the existence is replaced by the description of the subjective perception of time and room and the energy of the light. To such an extent the idea and the movement of light becomes as a visual definition of time obvious.

Painting:
Explored the entire bandwidth of the possibilities becomes of color and color effect, of areas and area effect, of expression and expression effect. I search for formulations, that commute between abstraction and Figuration. So the color plays a role not only as a koloristischer value, but rather the represented translates in its respective appearance forms or however solves itself as a picturesque intrinsic value of the object off in order to realize itself in the picture as a picture. Also here the picture object in the unclear is placed.

Film and Performance:
Perception functions as a dynamic process and permanent sequence of sensations, which constant information is lower puts. Against the background of the artistic contradiction between the objective-ness and the Substitutscharakter for another object, the decision falls out in favor of the reality of the picture, that is subject to artistically verifiable conditions,. To such an extent scenic panoramas that produce a variable optical structure emerge. Suggested movements run at the same time to the artifiziellen construct in the sense of an autonomous picture establishment.

NEW HAMPSHIRE BLACKOUT DISPATCH

2009-04-11T06:35:00.000-07:00

[Last winter, during the ice storm of December 13, 2008, after after a series of texts amid news reports of regional blackouts, Lisa sent in this story about the terrible weather they were experiencing in New Hampshire. Took a while for me to post it but now with the website redesign I think it's finally time. ~Rob]

The Frigid Northeast

Ever The Provocateur, Our Very Own Lisa Carver Finds Ways To Have Enjoyment Amid Cold Chaos And Malfunction

NEW HAMPSHIRE ICE STORM [From 12.13.08 ~Ed.]
BLACKOUT DISPATCH

by Lisa Carver

7 a.m. I realize the alarm should have gone off a half hour ago.

7:01 I realize I’m very, very cold. I don’t think much of it. We have storms, the power goes out, it gets cold, it gets dark. Bad stuff happens in New England. Nature bad stuff: cold, dark. Out west, it’s the humans who riot, and there’s fire. People get thirsty out there. People get greedy. Here, they just get grim.

I go out for coffee. There are fallen trees everywhere! Half the roads are impassible. The traffic lights are dead. A truck almost rams me. Hey, I had the right of way Buddy! You think no light means green light? I will die if I don’t get coffee, so I’m not afraid of you, Truck.

Most of the gas stations are without power, plastic yellow bags covering the nozzles. I’m on Empty. So stupid of me, living in New England, to ever let it get that low. I find a station open, but the line stretches two streets long. I’ll run out of gas idling. It looks like it’s not working the normal way anyway-- two old men are going back and forth with five gallon buckets they pour a small amount from into each tank. The process is interminable. I am an addict. I can’t wait in line. I park and walk all the way in the freezing to Dunkin Donuts. Thank god they have a generator. The line there stretches out almost as long as the one at the gas station. I think about going home and rooting around in the compost pile for old coffee grounds to eat. I pity the junkies. Their dealers might not have generators like mine does.

3 p.m. The house isn’t so bad. Fifty-five degrees. We wrap Christmas presents and use the last of the hot water to wash dishes by hand. The only news I get is over my iPhone, whose battery is down to 20%. It says the work crews are concentrating first on removing felled trees and fallen live wires, and over a million homes and businesses are out of power and can’t expect it back until maybe Monday. One death confirmed so far.

The fish are sluggish; one seems in a coma. Craig uses a power inverter, which converts a 12 volt battery from DC to AC, to plug in the tank heater, but it’s a losing battle, with the cold air surrounding the tank.

4:30 It’s 19 outside and 50 in, and it’s dark. Everyone is reading by candle light. All the hotels are full up or without power. Sadie’s dad has power; I take her there. I’d rather keep her here. Shivering all night long under piles of blankets builds character and realisticness. One should always remember that the apocalypse is only one little twist of man or nature away. That’s how I grew up -- a pawn to sudden disaster, and look how resourceful I became! However, some may consider it child abuse, to keep a six year old in the cold and dark when she could have access to microwave dinners and TV and landlines and computers and steamy baths and the continuing fantasy that everything is always going to be all right.

8 p.m. Craig and I are under all our covers and those of the guest room. We have both cats in with us for the little heat they give off, like Germanic tribes did with their livestock. Outside, it’s ten degrees. We’re listening with great jealousy to the neighbor’s boisterous generator. I’m afraid to have sex because we might undo the careful covers configuration, but we do anyway. Now what? There’s nothing to do but talk, which we haven’t really done since we met two years ago, being too busy watching movies, listening to music, going to parties, working, doing errands, flying places, helping kids with homework. I find out what his favorite number is and whether he’d be emperor if asked. I can’t believe I agreed to marry someone and I didn’t even know his favorite number! But I guessed right -- 8. Because it matches, top to bottom, and because it’s the infinity sign having gotten to its feet. You would think my favorite number would be 0, because I Heart Death so much, but it’s not. It’s 3. I just can’t help loving three. And he guessed right! This feels perspicacious. However, his answer in the affirmative about being emperor gives me pause.

“Emperors can get assassinated,” I argue, “or dethroned and outcast.”

“Yes, but it would be such a high life right up till the end.”

This thirst for glory at the expense of a future is what causes me to fret. But then we move onto happier topics:

“If you had to have sex with a man, who would it be?”

He demurs, but I tell him the situation is you have to have sex with a guy or you die. It’s a hypothetical imperative! Still, he is stubborn, and wishing to keep him alive in my hypothetical world, I answer for him:

“The Neighbor! Then, when you guys are done, invite me over to partake of the fake heat from his mighty generator.”

Saturday

8 a.m. Craig is out looking for a generator. He siphoned gas from the lawnmower in order to wait in line for gas at the pump. There’s no generator to be bought anywhere, so he drives to Massachusetts where he has a little one in storage. He stops at Wal-Mart on the way back, but there are no more flashlights, candles, or D batteries (which the lanterns and flashlights run on). He decides to seek out a more old-fashioned means of survival instead: alcohol. And there, behind the wine, is a hidden cache of batteries! An employee must have stashed them there for his friends and relatives. There was a rampage when people in line saw that Craig had some and he told them where the rest were.

I forgot: the sump pump runs on electricity. The basement has flooded. Craig uses his generator to get the sump pump running and we wet vac the basement the best we can, then use the generator to heat the house up so the pipes don’t freeze, then switch it back to the sump pump. The first day, it took about 15 hours before the house got from 65 down to 50 degrees. I don’t know how much lower it got in the night, because my thermostat doesn’t measure below 50. This afternoon, the little generator got it back up to 65, and it only took two hours of it being off to get down to 52. So it was losing degrees at seven times the speed as before. That’s because once it gets below 55 or so, heat drains from the objects in the room as well as the room itself. Furniture, walls, floors, knickknacks. So when you heat it up again, you can heat up the air but not the objects, at first, and so then when the heat stops pumping, nothing is holding onto it lingeringly. It travels on the air out any leak as fast as it can go.

The refrigerator is at room temperature, so we had to put the frozen food outside. But tomorrow it’s supposed to hit 50! We cook all the meat we can on the propane grill. I only eat farm-raised, so it’s four times the cost of normal meat, plus it’s little bodies that gave their lives for my satisfaction. I don’t want to throw them in the garbage. So I just eat it and eat it. It’s a meatfull day.

PSNH say as soon as they repair one line, it seems another breaks. The temperature hit 40 today, and trees that had bent down with the weight of the ice are snapping back when enough ice melts, whipping lines off poles.

The official death toll is up to four.

It would be anarchy, but it’s too cold for that. No one wants to loot and rape if it means getting out from under the covers. I can’t imagine things like the L.A. riots ever happening in NH. To mess with other people’s things, to take advantage, to not mind our own business and nobody else’s...to walk through an unlocked door just because it’s unlocked...is unalterably antithetical to our nature. It will happen here and there individually...probably by people who spent summers in a city growing up or something...but en masse? A mob? I can’t picture it. Craig says it’s a matter of time. He says in the city, all people need is ten minutes, a brownout, to start asking themselves what they can get away with, where are the police, what happens to alarm systems at the gas station and the bank when the power goes out? One day of battery back up at gas stations, two days at banks, answers Craig. After the first day we started noticing cars parked with their headlights trained on the glass doors of businesses not up and operating. Craig said they’re either security guards or the owners or relatives of the owners. But anyway, Craig grew up in Maryland. He doesn’t really understand these people like I do. These cold, private, unimaginative, morals like metal bars impossible to bend or question, New Hampshirites. Of course, I’m one of those who formed spending summers in cities...mostly in Southern California. So I have a criminal mind. But my other nine months in this state throughout my youth kept that criminality locked up tight in my terrible mind. My body doesn’t listen to it, my hands won’t move.

Sunday

Some businesses are running now. In the haircutting place, Craig is acting odd. He’s trying to hide his face with his briefcase. Finally I figure it out. “You fucked that hairdresser, didn’t you?”

“It was two years ago!”

“She looks sixteen! Two years ago she must’ve been fourteen! What is WRONG with you?”

“She was at least 21, I know because she had to show i.d. to order drinks.”

“Have you ever heard of a fake i.d.? Even if she was 21, she looks 16. How could you get an erection looking at that little girl face?”

While modern distractions hamper intimate, extended conversation, they also diffuse fights. This conversation would have been much better interrupted and resumed at a later date. But there was nowhere to go, nothing to watch, no one ringing our doorbell. I stewed, and Craig disappeared down the only hole he could find: into the opened bottle of WalMart wine. We continue with the alternating heat for two hours, sump pump operating for two hours. We go to bed at 11 and wake up six hours later, freezing. It’s routine now. It’s just life. Except that it’s skimpier, stark. I can’t stop picturing him fucking the little hairdresser, because nothing else tugs at my peripheral vision; the cold somehow firms up the outlines of things; there is no background. Warmth melts things. Cold keeps them solid. The picture in my mind of him on the hairdresser remains steady, frozen, intense.

A friend of mine is a home-care nurse. The old lady she takes care of who is on oxygen is without power as well. My friend tried to keep her in bed not moving so she would be able to breathe okay without her oxygen, which runs on electricity. But the old lady is so senile she kept forgetting there was a power outage and that she is an old lady who can’t breathe without her electric oxygen, so the nurse kept having to push her back into bed. After her seven-hour shift was done, she left, hoping the lady would just sleep, or the family would stay awake and keep pushing her back into bed, so she wouldn’t A. get up and exert herself and suffocate to death, or B. get up and forget to get back under the covers and freeze to death.

Monday

At 1:11 p.m., the power’s back. It’s disappointing, somehow small-feeling. Have you ever gone back to your hometown, back to your old house, your old school, and been surprised at the scale of it all, the paltriness? It was so much lusher in your memory, a jungle of an abusive yet intriguing childhood with hiding places and dangers, and as an adult you see it was just the equivalent of seven or eight trees-- everyone could see you hiding; they just didn’t care, and what and who you thought were so powerful were running solely on your helplessness, and once that disappeared when you became an adult, so too did what they were dissipate.

I turn the radio on, start the washing machine, crank the heat, start going to appointments again. I’m really pretty sad that it’s all over -- the nothing -- but it is only probably a few minutes that I notice that before it -- the noticing -- is washed away in Business As Usual.

They’re barely talking about us on the news at all. I wonder why. Massachusetts is getting so much more attention, and they didn’t have it half as bad as us. Craig says it’s because they complain more. No one here said anything about our suffering. We secretly liked it; it felt like home.

THE END!

beer snobbery

2009-04-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

Cocktail Lounge Ephemera

Below is a piece of paper picked up by Newport Tim, reportedly at The Wits End, a bar on Robinson Ave, where someone has composed a story using all the names of the beers available at the bar at the time.

Click the pic to enlarge.

Cigarbox Guitar

2009-04-07T23:52:00.000-07:00

Keeping The Blues Alive!

Video report by Reviewer Rob

Hopefully this is more proof that the blues won't die off.

I was in La Jolla today checking the waves at Windansea and saw this guy playing a cigarbox guitar/banjo contraption he said he made himself. Said his name was Zach and he'd do a video of him playing it for us... Check it out in hi-rez HERE or by clicking the pic below. Or you can see it on Reviewer's YouTube channel in the window at bottom. It's amazing Americana music with a bit of soul-surf.

:::

Obituary: American Indian Movement leader

2009-04-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

Encountering Bob Robideau

By Suria Kassimi M.A.

Robert Robideau died unexpectedly February 16, 2009, far away from Indian country in a dark, cave-like apartment in Barcelona, Spain. His death became the demented starting point to bring forth the myth of him as the legend of Pine Ridge.

Resurrected as the tireless campaigner for Leonard Peltier’s freedom and true defender of indigenous rights all over the world, Robideau’s death fuels the talk about what it is to be a "warrior," and what it is to fight for the freedom of indigenous people. Robideau was honored to have lived it and was a great role model for AIM members everywhere. How amazing!

Bob Robideau has never been the sunnyboy hero warrior referred to in media reports. Not only was he considered a dubious character holding a truly bad reputation as a political figure, he must have been a ‘nasty pest’ with friends and family. Being a close relative of Leonard Peltier implies a lot of conflict potential and the incontrovertible fact of standing always in second row. This must be rated as a fact, not to underestimate Robideau’s pretense to respectability and brought about his relentless pursuit to surprise with new unknown and outrageous facts which dominated his communication and led him to consolidate various alliances and hatch diverse plots with warring squads. As a result he lost integrity and faith in his own objectives and had to struggle with the reality of that. Doubtlessly Robideau was a forsaken man who got very desperate.

Last spring he published his thoughts about the Anna Mae case in his MySpace blog, which pointed out the involvement of almost all AIM leaders in the killing of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. He received no response to his provocative lecture.

Getting ignored this way left him feeling high and dry. Even if MySpace is not ranked highly as an platform to discuss political issues, Robideau took it personally and reacted with an exorbitant angriness: “Its all about damned Trudell, those idiots need heroes and John became their hero. If you know how to pull their strings you can get those uneducated fools everywhere!”

In early summer Robideau closed down his MySpace site.

Bob worked with me on several art projects concerning native issues as well as others. We were preparing for the international art show for January this year, which took place in my studio in La Palma and presented artworks of more than 100 artists from all over the world.

This particular task evolved into a stage for Bob to perform Robideau, the artist, offering the possibility to make a name only for himself and because of himself, rid of the past!

Besides his interest in education and the effort to gain insight into the history of art and art itself, it was misery and the intense emotion of a keen disappointment that made Robideau concentrate on art and art projects. But it paralyzed his actions at the critical moments.

Stepping out of the shadow of AIM brotherhood became his field of death. The ignorance of his intellectual talents by his AIM brothers had offended him deeply. A lot of his energy went to fight all his frustrated ambitions down. Meanwhile his hopes were centered on starting a new artistic existence.

But life wasn’t that easy for Robideau, and now, events were developing in another direction that would prove as stubborn facts that this fresh European dream was over before the start. Apparently the immutable and sudden end sometimes marks the only solution to a given truth.

For some, it must have an been easy and tempting offer to capture him as a dead man. People who barely knew him expressed their mourning. Those who ignored him for the last years felt free to write statements about their deep concern and their inexpressible sadness about the loss.

The false complaints and lamentations deform the real person so the lifelike Robideau vanished behind a bunch of projections. In the blink of death’s eye the bad guy became everybody’s darling!

This superficial, overdone and commonplace condolement statements pretending to dignify and appreciate him and his life didn’t do him any justice at all, because Robideau was never superficial, not in his good ways and not in his evil ones.

In both ways he never gave up but took a break to come up with something surprising and new.

And again for the last time he put one over on all those comrades, friends and relatives.

Simply by passing away he made exposed people and proved the deep dishonesty he always suspected.

Robideau's strength in provoking all kinds of unpopular or even painful truths has to be honored. He was abusive, violent and dangerous. So don’t worry. He can stand for himself and does not need mendacious propaganda!

~SK

Photos: below, the author with Robideau in Barcelona, last year. Photo by Suria Kassimi, 2008. Click for larger. Above, a frame from the documentary film about the 1970's Oglala iincident.

1000 Teddies World tour

2009-04-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

[art scene]

Opening reception this Thursday, April 9, 6-10PM
with the artist reception April 11, 6-11PM
(with wine and cheese!) at:

Planet Rooth Studios Gallery
3811 Ray Street
San Diego, CA 92104

Click the fliers to see the larger version.

See a Reviewer Magazine video interview with Gustaf Rooth, the owner of the gallery (not the artist of the show) and originator of Ray Art Night, the monthly street fair/party in North Park.