For the Junk Drawer

So, Its been awhile since we checked in with some good junk for your jones.

First off...you can't get this in stores (yet) but I just caught Midnight Masses. My boy Eric plays guitars and I admit I've been fronting on them for a minute. Imagine the beach boys doing goth rock with thrashing guitars at a funeral. Good stuff...even if it sounds creepy. They have no more NY shows this year...but check 'em out soon as you can.

Okay down to business what have wee been coating our eyes and ears with recently?

THE FEELIES - CRAZY RHYTHMS - I've been a big Feelies fan since that old 80s flick The Smithereens (you don't know it? loser.)Out of print for a minute, Bar None wisely re-releases this post-punk essential complete with downloadable extras (why not just put 'em on the CD?). "The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness", "Fa Ce La", and "Original Love" have been long time faves. Eccentric Jersey nerd rawk from the golden age of post-psych, post-punk rock experimentation.

IGGY & THE STOOGES - RAW POWER - This was the first Stooges album I owned. And I came onto it real late in the game after Iggy had remixed it. I'm also a Bowie fan (not the biggest, I more respect dude than get all giddy over his music). There was of course the period in which Bowie and Iggy were collaborating and it made me really want to hunt down the original version of this album which Bowie mixed. I finally found it on a recent trip to Amoeba Records. And you know what? The Bowie mix sucks goat balls. He turned the Stooges rhythm section into a very polite affair with barely noticeable kick drums. So why am I talking about it? It makes me appreciate Iggy's mix that much more...but also goes to prove sometimes its great when an artist can get back in and tweak an already classic album.

DESIRE - SELF TITLED I'm a big fan of the Italians Do It Better label. Their brand of light disco rock somehow affects me a lot more than the last ten years of mediocre house music. Produced by Johnny Jewel of The Chromatics and Glass Candy (both on the same label). This is more moody music that makes you uncertain if you should dance or if you should curl up on a couch and cry about some bullshit. The thing I love about the singers on the label is that quite honestly most of them aren't great (well actually I think Ruth Radelet of The Chromatics is actually quite good), but there's an emotion and aesthetic that just works with Jewel's lazy moody production. Not a classic...but a great listen while we wait for The Chromatics' follow-up album.

AUGUSTUS PABLO PRESENTS ROCKERS INTERNATIONAL 2 - I haven't whipped this album out in a long minute. This was the first Pablo record I ever bought. And I'm on my second copy due to sneak-thievery. I hate it when music writers say "....is worth the price of admission alone". But Jah Levi's (Pablo protege Hugh Mundell's toasting alias) Selassie I Veranda is probably the only place that tired phrase really works. So sez me. Not sure its still in print on CD, but worth looking for if you like your roots reggae heavy complete with dub versions blessed by Augustus Pablo's haunting melodica.

MOVEES

Okay I'll keep it short...this post is already running long and I have a lot of loafing to do.

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO - Hen's Tooth in their wisdom released my favorite Charles Bronson movie. What's it about? I dunno. Bronson killing chumps. Seriously though nice little forgotten 80s political action thriller based on the political turmoil in Central and South America (a little discussed sub-genre of 80s films) complete with Bronson's signature "I can't act...I just kill people with perfected nonchalance" bit. You can't lose...if you're into that sorta thing.

MEET THE FEEBLES - I pawned my original copy of this because it didn't have chapter selections (I know...what can I say I'm a geek) and it drove me mad. Such is the way of grey market releases. This is one of Peter Jackson's earlier films. I found a used copy while flipping through stacks of crap. The guy next to me saw me grin when I pulled it out the bin and declared "NICE!! That movie is so vile" Yes it is. Imagine the Ego Trip editorial staff making a feature length episode of The Muppets (this is years before the Dave Chappelle Sesame Street parody and Greg The Bunny). More eye rot.

Okay das all....

P.S. sorry no images...Blogspot's been acting all crazy won't allow uploads. Had the ill Feebles screenshot too. Oh well.

Reunited and it Feels so Gewd

So..Lots of things going on as was mentioned last post. A little more detail is called for...

We mentioned Seraphim has a role in an upcoming indy film. The film, Lifted, just wrapped this week and 'Phim is thankful as the last scene he shot required him to don about 40 lbs. of military gear and stand around in the desert. Academy Award nominee, Lexi Alexander, directed the film. We're hoping for big things as the production team rushes to get a cut ready for Sundance. The dude's first ever film acting role and its with an Oscar nominated director. Kinda badass, no?

Its a principle role, so his ugly mug will adorn the screen for some of the film's most crucial moments (god bless good agents). There's musical involvement as well. We'll definitely get into more detail when a rough cut is done and PR for the film starts kicking up. The bad news...dude caught the Hollywood bug and is now a SAG card carrying nightmare. Letting two members of one of the NY underground's most relentless crews into the Hollywood machine was a mistake suckers. Big mistake. They're more poised than ever to execute the film projects they've had waiting in the wings.

What else? Well...after our re-structuring a few years ago, with Steeples moving behind the scenes to concentrate on film projects, 'Phim and Steeps stepped into a downtown L.A. studio just days ago and knocked out a track for an upcoming compilation. Its the first time the pair have recorded together in 3 years. What's even more exciting is Steeples plans to jump on another cut for Medicine Babies. The guys couldn't be happier....The funny thing is, if it weren't for the film none of it would have happened. So big ups to Lexi for inadvertently making that happen!

In related No Surrender news, Monica Sharp sent out an acapella of 'Carousel' a track for her and 'Phim's High Heals project which caused a little bit of a frenzy. One producer turned a remix around in 48 hrs. We think they're on to something.

Speaking of onto something...man of 1,000 bands, Mr. 'Phim's side project Office Party with Voodofe and Jim Kelly of New Kingdom is generating mega buzz...they've been asked by a subsidiary of a major label to get in the studio and whip up another track quick....we think they're being courted...hmmm.

Not taking a minute to breathe while in LA recently, 'Phim also met with a producer that wants him on at least two tracks for a mixtape slated to feature some of hip-hop's elite including Young Jezzy and Busta....damn and here he was about to quit the game and go run a Mister Softee truck in the islands.

2010 is gonna be a monster year for the crew! Thanks a mega-million for the years of support!!

Simple Simon
No Surrender Tech Services

What Summer?

So we know we promised more and frequent updates...what can I say? We're a pack of filthy liars. Its a sickness, we know. Our disappearing act was all for good purpose we assure you...It simply means we've been busting our arses.

Hope you all had a great summer! Ours here in NY was disgustingly short...and its already getting coldish, but we made the most of it. Since last we checked in, we've moved the chess pieces quite a few steps closer to closing the next record. But we got a gang of work done besides that.

A track with Voodofe, Nature Boy (New Kingdom) and 'Phim leaked..the verdict? The Bangers' DJ Jaclyn gave it the tastemaker nod of approval and 'it boy' visual artiste Mikal Hameed jumped all over it to claim his stake in directing the video...and the track isn't even mastered yet...we think that's a good sign.

Seraphim is also in the home stretch of his EP alongside Brooklyn based DJ Monica Sharp (aka the band of 1,000 names). Three songs are already en route to some hefty name DJ types for remixes. Two more songs and its in the can.

But we've also taken the team deeper into the waters of Hollywood (with a big shout to Costanza Francavilla for that). Steeples has two new movie roles in the bag...we can't really speak on 'em yet until (insert typical industry lingo excuse). Seraphim, however, is nearly done shooting his role in Academy Award nominee Lexi Alexander's next project entitled Lifted. So you'll definitely be seeing and hearing a lot more of the camp in upcoming months.

All that work...and we still found time to chill with our folks Radioclit, Esau Mwamwaya, and Ap Sci a lil sumfin this past summer.

Next up 'Phim, Crunc Tesla, Tes, DJ Empress (yes, that Empress) and the rest of the Vamp Killaz hit Scandinavia in October...

Stay lifted...and stay tuned

No Surrender
NYC

Pay no attention to the video above. There's something goodish on cable. Perez Hilton got knocked out by the Black Eyed Peas OMG!! The Beastie Boys are re-releasing albums you already have. You can youtube how to make a wooble bass like all the UK house and dubstep producers use!! Transformers comes out this week. President Obama killed a fly on national television LOL!! Strawberry Shortcake is good. The banks got their stimulus check...and it didn't bounce YES!! I like maple syrup. Did you hear about Brad? He got the new Iphone...I, know!!! My girlfriend doesn't like the way her hair looks so I gave her $100 to get it done the way she likes it! Kanye is so kewl. I'm going to go see a band that got big 'cuz of myspace...their record sucks but we'll be so cool if we show up!! I should get the limited edition Hitler Nike dunks right? Track suits are soooo 2006. Oh look that guy in the bar is going to take our picture and put it on his blog. Strike a pose....Whatever you do don't pay attention to the video above.

P.S.
My dog actually likes cats...soooo cool

Black Piece

Man...we've been on a grind, but I'm grinding to a halt tonight. For those that have followed us for a minute, you know we are extremely passionate about voicing our dissent shamelessly through our music. But we also recognize our limitations as musicians to simply communicate. Our action comes through creation, and through participation in movements we can get behind (which in the days of pop culture coalitions is tougher to do...an Anti-war protest quickly becomes a Super Value Meal of quasi-leftist idealism, saving the penguins, a virtual circus of conspiracy theory nut jobs, and liberals who will go off to their whine and cheese party when the parade...I mean protest is over).

Sometimes you put the 808 on the shelf, shut off the Digi 002 and speak directly... things can get lost at 130 bpm... If that makes us square...fuck it... just don't get snagged by the square's edge.

What am I ranting about? I came across something that really saddened me in a way that has me really reflecting on this new era of change we've collectively willed ourselves into believing exists. Now, I'm not saying to give up hope...but the statistics of self-destruction among young Black men in New York is wild. Slaughter. Dawn of the Dead. Taken in context with the homegrown violence directly related to racism and unemployment (hick Nazis...fathers killing their families because they're broke, families tossed on the strets) these stats are more troubling. When I walk through Harlem with our peoples still very much tied to the the streets, I can feel they are in an uneasy state which I've never seen. General consensus is that things are going to get worst (read: more violent). Our neighborhoods are hurting. And this isn't just a NY thing. Consider the implosion of Detroit and other centers of Black life in America.

In this era of hope, we still haven't tackled head-on the need to do something to address the needs of our underprivileged communities. Labor statistics indicate there is a grave disparity in unemployment between the races. Its simple...more opportunity...less violence. Education statistics show a nasty story too. Prison stats...hunger...you name it. In this fairy tale America of "no more racism" there still leaves much to be desired. It seems that the government, even with Obama at the helm can (or will) only do so much. That's not a direct shot on O. He's one man leading thousands of bureaucrats in a time of international crisis... but the swell of support for O from within his community was a plea for some answers...for some help. To ignore it is criminal.

After all, we're supposed to help home first, right? Even if you don't care about black on black violence, when we see the activity of violent home-grown terrorists Black and white on the rise...the need to heal the people seems evident. Instead we're trying to preserve our dominion over selling plastic trinkets to the world and the right to make and sell the bombs we don't want other countries making and selling...some bassackwards shit if ever there was some.

Obama put a hefty chunk of change in the wallets of prisons. It appears government is gearing up for a massive lock-down rather than a massive build up of opportunity. When nearly 17% of Black men are out of work...what are the alternatives? That's damn near one in five brothers you meet are out of a job, and on the edge (nearly double the unemployment rate for white men of the same demographic). With no economic relief in sight I smell fire.

I am simply hoping that we can stop focusing so much on trying to save the value of the American dollar and start trying to raise the value of American people. As the bail out tally for the rich fucks that made this mess rises...I know another statistic...guns and ammunition sales are skyrocketing (which means of course black market sales are also skyrocketing). You do the math. This country seems so desperately close to teetering towards Mad Max bedlam. Black on black violence has always been at a shamefully high rate. Violence times lack of opportunity is a recipe for disaster that speaks to our country's true priorities.

When the music dies down, the club turns on the lights and that asshole bouncer starts barking at you to leave...give some thought to after the dance. We still got a shit ton of work to do...or is our future, particularly as Black men to be the mass of disenfranchised (felons can't vote right) broke, violent, unorganized animals the media still loves to portray? I can't call it. I just make beats. But I'll be damned if I pretend I don't see what's up... And I'll be twice as damned if I didn't do the "un-cool" thing and open my mouth about it.

Big 'Phim
No Surrender

ready set...

Eye Drops

Maya Erdelyi is an amazing visual artist, animator, and experimental filmmaker to keep it clinical. Words really can't describe, and we're happy to be working with her (we have another collaboration in planning)....

For now, we hope you enjoy the piece she did for our song "Godda Get It" Produced by Radioclit

Eyece Drops

Here's another video clip of Evil Nine's "Icicles".



Well there isn't an actual video for the Adam Freeland remix...but we think its dope...here's someone's homemade video...well more like static image with Adam Freeland's remix to "Icicles".

Zombie Treats

You ever get that real late birthday or Chirstmas present when you were a kid? Like six months after the fact? Those were great because you totally weren't expecting it..and then BOOM!! It was like your own personal holiday....

A few months ago I was honored to be a part of Evil Nine's latest LP They Live, one of the best reviewed electro-punk records to drop in some time. The duo mentioned, the track I did, "Icicles" was probably in line to become a single off the album....time came and went...never gave it much more thought....and I haven't talked to the guys in some months.

So I'm leaving my Brooklyn hideout and see this package with that Royal Mail thingy that makes all letters from the UK look so official. I peeled it open, and out jumped the latest Evil Nine single....sure enough it was "Icicles" (complete with its own amazing Berni Wrightson meets Lucio Fulci artwork). I flipped it over to check the credits and notice the track remixed by breakbeat LEGEND Adam Freeland...another by rising electro-house star Shir Khan...and yet another by the Evil ones themselves....

Of course I'm a little biased....but I think you should go 'head and cop that bad boy...

Oh...by the way...recorded this past weekend with New Kingdom's Jim Kelly...and rising Afropunkster Voodoofe...and managed to squeeze out a song with my partner in crime Monica Sharp...April showers y'all!

stay loose!!
Seraphim

The whip...and the hand grenade

Slight concern arose here in our mobile office a few weeks back when the big O hired that AIG tool to join his "It Club"...if we had a water cooler...(or a staff for that matter), we'd be ceremoniously forming a white collar crop circle near the microwave and stale donuts to pow wow about how we should both lobby the O congress for a recording budget and issue our protest!!

But we let it slide...after all you have to play politics to be in politics...and in these times...you gotta "dance with the one you came with" so to speak... so we're behind him...but this week was a little hard. He kind of went a little wishy washy on this torture business. You get the feeling his sense of morality is at a crossroads with political posturing (i.e. fear of a G.O.P. backlash), and for the first truly major moral test...our guy may scrape by with a 'C'.

Now I'll be honest, I'm not so naive that I'll feign shock at the use of torture during a time of war, or pretend you can stop it. I mean get real. Its war. Not some heated game of Chutes and Ladders. To dream that torture will FOREVER be dismissed during war is childish thinking. Period. Pain, suffering, violence, blood, death. These are the cousins of war, and wars will be waged until economic wars are no longer profitable...and that becomes the tasty fiction of Political Theorists and Sci-Fi authors. HOWEVER, if you hint that you're going to punish the naughty child...and then don't...won't you just be shouting pale threats into his bedroom and then a little down the lane you watch him bloom into Ed Gein (I know...quantum leaps in logic...but you get the point).

BUT if our boy fails to legally pursue those who may deserve it...doesn't that set change back another how ever many years? Damn this is a tough one...decisions decisions.

Me...I'm thinking all this is a pump fake. After all...the real test of how anti-torture we are as a nation is gonna hit soon. As we bulk up on troops in Afghanastan and the Taliban makes a brilliant military threats to move deeper into that nuclear power called Pakistan. I can see this getting ugly as the Taliban has occupied territory as close as 60 miles from the capital. Though they've retreated this show of power tells us there is more than torture to worry about...and probably a lot of good old fashioned violence waiting ahead. Bottom line is, its not a new outlook on torture we need...but a new shift in conflict resolution. We certainly can't be all anti-torture and pro-let's go hunt people in the mountains far, far away. I mean really, who brings a six pack to an AA picnic? I mean I would, but at least I'd bring Pretzels too and call it a party...not progress.

Do we let our man slide on this one...seems we kind of have to unless we're going to advocate some social uprising to end all violence at the hand of government. That's not really waht we expected to happen, right? So where do we draw the line? And if there even is a line...what's all the anti-violence p.c. bullticky worth anyway?

Yes...things are complicated in this mad world...thank god for the simple things cartoons and sunsets...now somebody quick...get that Somalian pirate dude a reality show, he looks like he's a hoot....

Thumbs Up

Okay...we're really going to try and get regular entries into this thing....


TECH REVIEW

I dig Wired Magazine...enough that I got my dad a subscription a few years back...and brought him into the fold. This month's issue of Wired is guest edited by J.J. Abrams...in what I would usually cry foul as corporate manuevering (his Trek film hits soon and the timing is certainly the device of some cult of doom marketing department...its jokes), but its a pretty good issue.

But...I walked into Other Music (a favorite between class dash) and snagged this month's VICE (a fan since their tabloid days when you could get them at Liquid Sky...downtown vets know the deal...). It was the technology issue...and I gotta say...I enjoyed it more than...or at least as much as this month's Wired. That's saying a lot since there's a Dr. Spock story by Paul Pope in this month's Wired (perfect for when you're tired of reading long winded articles about how much things are going to suck or not in the future) ...Every now and then I think I've read one VICE too many...and then an issue will bring me leaning over the fence in their favor a bit. Man I wish we had this mag when I was in high school.


ANTENNA

Speaking of downtown vets...on my many travels through the NY underground I've encountered the beloved and charmingly eccentric artist's artist Valerie Geffner. Our paths have met on a few mind-warping and entertaining occassions over the years. A few months ago, I had the pleasure of looking hip at the listening party for the first act of her self-described pop-opera Antenna. It's the amped desire of electro crashing against downtempo while flirting with house and every half-living or fully functional form of electronica to emerge in the past ten years. Its like Warhol's take on a Slowdive record tracked in some magic corner of Studio 54 that got a peek into the future. Artsy, with just enough pop. Pop, with just enough art before exploding into pretentious posturing. What? Yes, that means I dig it.

BLAST OFF

Okay, gotta blast off kiddies....so I'll leave you with a present...

Evil Nine feat. Seraphim Video

'Tis the might Seraphim with the mighty Evil Nine.....that's a whole lot of mighty. Slightly truncated version of the song (I think)....but still one of my favorite collaborations of all time....word is bondage.

Told ya we'd post a bunch of stuff to whet your appetite today. Okay so since they keep firing all the chicks that ply me with free booze at our HQ/favorite watering hole... leaving me with nobody to flirt aimlessly with, me and whiskey slinger Matt over at Savalas have bonded over our love of the trashiest most low-brow disgusting (and sometimes previously banned) B, C and D films known to man (and we're slowly dragging Midnight Masses guitarist Eric into the fold). The 70s and 80s were awash with low-budget films either exploiting or reacting in sheer confusion (or both) to social changes clashing against traditional norms....and the silver screens all tarnished.

I was one of those kids permanently scarred (and probably a bit perverted) by Skinamax, Commander USA's Groovy Movies, and a mom who was more than happy to get me out of the house by letting me see trash like Day of the Dead and Demons 2 in the theater. I remember thinking I had gotten away with murder when I rented a copy of Gore Gore Girls when I was all but 12....

My cult film influences run really deep and samples from my stash are found on every record we've ever done (I can hear the lawyers now...I'm too slick chump you won't peep the sample) Hell the un-released but sometimes performed No Surrender tune Black Emanuelle was an homage to the Laura Gemser films of the same name (and a thinly veiled way of writing a song about this Kiwi/Aussie chick I fell hard for a few years back).

Speaking of Laura Gemser, Severin Films who released a lot of the Black Emanuelle movies on DVD have done it again....they have released THE smut legend...the film your mom never heard of and wishes you hadn't either...the film that will probably make you want to take three showers after viewing...the film your drunken dad just might sit and watch with ya until he shoots you a disgusted look and walks out of the room....The Sinful Dwarf. Really ain't much else to say about that. Its called The Sinful Dwarf, what you need a description? There is nothing dignified about th is slice of celluloid mayhem. Just a red-headed step-child creeping out of the film closet to flaunt its blushing bad taste and good fun...

'Phim...yup him

Web Shooter

Check the madness....my inner-geek...can't resist this....Iron Man movie...not a huge fan...The Hulk...didn't bother...Wolverine comes out next month...m'eh.

I'll be glued to my computer screen watching the 70s Japanese Spiderman TV show. Japanese Spiderman has his very own transformer thingy...and his theme song includes lines like: "eyes sparkle with the flash of anger!" and "giving up peace, giving up everything"....and of course the intro chant of "yeah, yeah, yeah, wow!"

You know you're gonna watch it...don't worry we'll be here when you get back. Almost forgot the link First episode is called: The Time for Revenge Has Come! Attack the Iron Cross Army! Our Spiderman just kinda told jokes and fought guys that looked like Scooby Doo villains. Wimp.

Anywaze gots lots of entries coming up....cuz we've been slacking off like good soldiers and consuming pop-culture trash like good Americans....

1st Political Rant of the Year

Frigging jagoff this mayor of ours. Last week he trots around talking about how much he loves the rich and how taxing them is going to trickle down and hurt businesses and workers and blah blah blah. Really Bloomberg? Really? You subscribe to Reagonomics that whole "trickle down" thing that didn't work 20 years ago and let the poor suffer while Wall Street went on a coke binge?

Its amazing to me that we have to put up with "leaders" who trot out in front of the press and tell us these Mickey Mouse stories like we're really still supposed to believe this shit. He's all like "oh the rich do everything for us they keep the economy alive".... if the rich understand they can't be rich without the masses maybe they'd stop bitching about taxes. Poor people pay taxes too and its a hell of a lot harder to fork over 40% of $1,000 than it is to fork over 40% of $100,000. Lets get it right...it is NOT the rich that drive the economy. Its the poor and middle class that buy the Rich's crap and services that runs the economy. You honestly think folks don't see that? I mean really I don't think the makers of Spam or quarter water (its a NY thing) are running around praising the rich for their success.

Then he unveils his new plan to close off 7th Avenue at Times Square. Type of bullshit is that? Oh I get it, you're still mad your congestion fees you tried to push through failed. So now you're trying to create MORE traffic in one of the more densely travelled areas of the city so you can whirl around like Tinkerbell and say "see I told you we need congestion pricing" and the peons and morons in office will go "yeah you're probably right".

I swear it really ain't hard to hate the rich....

wicked random

Ahoy scallywags....

Okay so I said we'd update this thing more regularly....and its been over a month. So sue me, I'm an artist my concept of time is more refined than yours deal with it chum.

Moving right along into "spitting wicked randomness". What nonsense can I cram into this blog....let's see...Well I'm guesting at Winter Music Conference with Leo Tardin who just released a remix EP with neo-house (sometimes indy hip-hop) legend DJ Spinna. And No Surrender's official pixie Monica Sharp will be down there too.....can't wait to watch her pass out on the beach and whip out the magic markers....(or maybe she'll run into that chick from that magazine and I'll get to watch them fight again....heh...just remember to kick HER not ME next time luv). Damn I love life....

Great things are happening on the licensing front...our partners Zero Killed music has been taking meetings left and right and looks like things are bubbling .....Oh and the Italians are flipping out over the Godda Get It video...they think they can get it aired....we'll see.

Okay housekeeping aside, I've been a bit behind on buying junk to review and brag about because I've been real frigging broke. Like that beer and the apple you had was dinner broke....That means I haven't seen the Watchmen movie yet so I'm feeling a little left out but I've been praying to Zeus to send me riches so I should be okay (sometimes you gotta go around the back way, hit up the lesser gods).

But I did hit paydirt recently. I stumbled out of Savalas and someone's angry girlfriend had tossed some poor sucker's Playstation 2 video games and clothes into the street. I have been spending lots of time on my couch drinking cheap beer, playing games and slowly making my way through every DVD I own (no cable ya know). I'm half way through The Fist of The Northstar TV series....watching heads explode is theraputic in a twisted way. This weekend I may even give myself a double feature....Liquid Sky and The Clash: Rude Boy...haven't seen those in awhile. And they both go well with cheap beer. Life CAN be perfect harmony if you let it.

Oh wait, I did splurge a few weeks ago and copped the above re-issue. Richard Simms is a Disco weirdo from the D.C. area that made really strange disco and Prince-esque tracks in the late 70s thru the 80s. I'd heard of him and was curious...I didn't like it the first spin but its growing on me...kinda like how it took awhile for me to get into Liquid Liquid...now whether I'm really into them...or into them cuz music geeks are supposed to be I dunno...that's a question for some idiot Psychology professor. You should check it out though if your tastes lean towards the strange....If you don't like your disco weird....there's this group called The Pointer Sisters...and they are waiting to WOW you friend. Yes they are.

Speaking of strange....more accurately...the beautifully strange I checked out Xaphryn Folicle at Fontana's last weekend....John Zorn should find her and just give her a check to stay in hiding. It will make life easier on those "New Music" snobs. I mean really how do you call it new music and march a string quartet on stage? That's like calling an Atari 2600 high tech. What cuz they bow their viola with a crazy straw I'm supposed to be impressed? Pfffffttt. I kid, I kid Zorn you are God. (sometimes...but only a little more than me....sometimes).

Also been seeing a lot of my once and future crewmates/No Surrender allies Rae Dawn and Tes Uno....feels really good. Love you cats!! And been seeing a lot of Voodoofe and Jim Kelly from New Kingdom....man do we have plans....

Anyway, I honestly don't have much else to contribute to society today, and I'm both nursing a nasty cough AND I'm out of beer...so...until next time....remember kids...Eat your veggies.

Can't fade it....

On second thought

yeah that last post I just deleted just can't live up to the laugh factory that is James Brown + Michael Jackson + Prince + toppled stage set piece....1983 where are you?

Holy Heck and the Pop Cult Blender

Wow man....I totally forgot we started this blog. I did it when I was out of work...and knowing me was like...do I really want to spend the time to do this? This was/is going to be No Surrender's rant box (soap boxes are for guys who dropped out of seminary) and a place we discuss our favorite bits of pop/sub-culture and get nostalgic and tear things down.

Oh and since we abandoned this blog...seems there's another Molotov Magazine that came into existence...like a Brazillian graf mag or something...yeah..no offense guys...keep doing your thing...But just so ya know....I ain't hearin' it so don't bother. Nothing personal.

Moving right along...

The past few weeks of the new year I've been up to my knees in studio tech training (nothing like learning you don't know a damn thing about anything....) working on Mike Ladd's album, racing around Cali with No Surrender, popping up in Honeychild's video, rumming it up for Obama, celebrating my b'day with Monica Sharp, plotting a comp with Voodoo Fe and Jim Kelly of New Kingdom (remember them?) and evaluating the debt to job potential ratios of grad school (being an artist in grad school for the arts is like racing through a mine field blindfolded in a wheelchair.... my dad sure is pissed).

In between that time I've been cleaning out the library looking for crap to hawk on ebay so I can buy falafel and beer (and hopefully keep my car).

Somehow during the couse of cataloging junk to sell not only did I find a bunch of cool crap I forgot I had like Source Magazines from 1992, that Jack Kirby graphic novel Hunger Dogs and an Arthur Lee 7" with Jimi Hendrix on geetar....but I managed to cancel out any money I made by making a stop at Mondo Kim's (R.I.P.) closing sale where I went ape shit on the 50% records and CDs like Just Ice and Warsaw....so now I'm stuck with bills...no money....but I have some cool records to listen to when I pack up my shit pending my eviction notice....

What's the point of this post? Oh. Nothing really. Just burning. Welcome back to Molotov. We promise it won't take two years for the next post....

'Phim