My dear friends, admirers, haters, subscribers and peers… I’ve neglected blogging for many months. I have this habit of submerging from either public… or online… presence. Lots of reasons, fear, cynicism, anti-socialism, lethargy… drunkeness, hedonism. It always seems like such a daunting task to simply write what the fuck is going off in my brain. But a good friend pointed out, that I am living a fantasy life, and one hell of an interesting one.
But before wasting your time with my rants, let me give you the useful stuff, in digest form. Last night was a night of DJing in Berlin at the deliciously sleazy Berlin Kreuzberg lesbian bar Barbie Deinhoffs. Gene Serene the veranstalter (promoter) of the evening left the whole thing in my hands and I was glad to take over a low key evening of DJing punkrock, discopunk and riotGRRL tunes. But not before she bestowed upon me a copy of Dahlia ‘Electronique Plastique’, a superb example of sexy Diva electropop. I met some new people, got really friendly with the staff who were amazed at my drinking:coherency ratio, especially with these delicious Pampero dark rum shots that Jessica introduced me to (love those encounters where you meet someone for the first time and you both realize “Hey we are friends on MySpace!”). This is a shot, chased by a lime slice coated in raw sugar on one side, and fresh ground espresso on the other. FUCKING delicious!!!
I woke up and headed to the flea market still half drunk, in search of records, art and oddities. On the first corner I discovered a treasure trove of Saudek postcards, and had a German conversation with the old guy about the exhibit I saw in Prague last year. He threw in a few other random cards from his collection I also liked. Moments later, I got a tap on the shoulder form Inga, who is actually my longest and most dear friend in Berlin, without whom, I never would’ve been able to come here every year. She and her man invited me for coffee, but I still had a lot of record shopping to do after a succesful night of DJing. I ended up with Ramones Mania 2LP, Lords Of the New Church ‘Dance with Me (1987 version)’ picture disk, and an oddity of The Creepshow, an old Criminal Damage Records LP. Nothing else really piqued my interest, so I went on my way to see if I could find Inga and Chrsitoph, and sure enough, I did, at a tiny little cupcake shop simply titled ‘Cupcake‘. It was a strange affair, because all the girls were blonde and dressed in rockabilly flowerprint sundresses drinking tea and eating cutesy cupcakes. I sat with Christoph and we let the ladies get their girl-talk on. I ordered a peanutbutter and banana chocolate cupcake dubbed ‘The King’ for obvious reasons, and treated the ladies to my favorite candy which i was thrilled to find on the menu (a product not popularly available in Germany), Reeses Pieces.It was a surreal afternoon in this sweet, bright cupcake shop in the middle of squalid Friedrichshain, with some very sweet ladies and friends. We made plans to go see 28 Weeks Later and get our pseudozombie blood and horror action on. Work off all those cupcakes by lifting heavy popcorn cartons and large softdrinks to our mouths.
I hopped back on the splattermobile (aka my boy-sized black mountain bike) and headed semihomeward and decided on a light dinner of cheese-covered Spätzle, and ran into Goldfish coming out of band rehearsal. It was too late to go drink in Görlitzer park so I headed over to the Speakeasy to find it closed, so back over to my regular WiFi cafe to recount to you this weeks passings.
Not too much going on in the live band action in the past few weeks. The last live show I was at was actually a burlesque show put on at a huge theater, The Wild Rose Review, collecting dancers and performers from around the world, and I was duely impressed by the beauty, grace and talent of all the lovely ladies, and the sleazy wit of the MC. I did spend a lot of time hanging out with Gobsausage from London in August, more trashy electropop and founders of the punk swank fashion line Charles of London, which included a run in with the talented and intriguing Manko Suicide whose radio segments never fail to hit the nail right on the head. Berlin was treated to a performance by one of the best gothic bands performing today, Gotterdammerung from the Netherlands. Not only is their sound harsh, dark and refined but their show is high energy, dramatic and full of black splatter-effect. They have a new album coming out soon, which Marc (aka Marc Bijl)the bass player (an accomplished visual artist in his own right) informed me some of my photos were used. Also rolling through Berlin last month was The Rezurex, at the Wild at Heart, where I also met up with Mad Sin and got some radio breakers for Radio Ghoul School (free internet streaming radio) from the both of them.
Just music? No, theres been quite a bit of film, as well. On the mass-media Hollywood scale, I couldn’t resist the temptation of Transformers. I grew up with these toys and cartoons, so I queued up gladly to see the ‘live action’ (computer animated) adaptation, and was well impressed by the action, the explosions, the inclusion of some of my favorite characters, and the whole concept, i thought done quite well. Though Megatron could’ve used a cooler concept, and an earthly alter-manifestation. Next, Deathproof delivered all that it promised in camp, violence, and heroines. Also worth seeing on the big screen. On the more obscure end, I came across a loaner copy of ‘Valley of The Dolls‘ (which I had never seen) w/ ‘Beyond the Valley Of the Dolls‘, which I was really excited to see again. ‘Valley…’ was a fantastic film about three gorgeous, innocent ladies destroying themselves with fame, booze and pills. I love watching movies about beautiful people destroying themselves. ‘Beyond the Valley…’ continues on the theme (unrelated stories, but its aware of its predecessor) which is even DARKER, throwing in drugs, rock and roll music,blatant sexuality, lesbianism, abortion, and every taboo 1960s Hollywood had to offer, and also introduced to the world the hipster proto-type in Ronnie ‘Z-man’ Barzell. Speaking of movies about self destruction, this movie is possibly on top of the list. I’d also seen a film on Punk In London (Adverts, Lurkers, Stranglers, and more), previews and outakes to the OstPunk: Too Much Future, and watched A Clockwork Orange on repeat.
And of art? At the beginning of the month I DJ’d an exhibit of Jason Atomic’s paintings featuring a live drawing session of afore mentioned Manko and Gobsausage. Aside from the already mentioned Saudek which I’ve already covered in my blog here, presently theres a great exhibit on french masterworks from the New York Collections at the Neue Nationalgalerie, including one of my favorite paintings ever, ‘Pygmallion and Galatea‘ by Jean-Leon Gerome (1890). And I just found out today over lunch with Neurose (Collapsing New People/KomaDisko) that the Joe Coleman exhibit has been extended till October.
Rant…
im drunk all the time, but i rarley have paid for it. i am discovering new music every day, in seedy bars, on european city streets, dimly lit crusty stages, from the hands of my peers, pouring over magazines, playlists and podcasts. i haven’t got a job. i earn my money playing music to the musos, the freaks, the drunks, and the night creatures. i build graphics and programs for the enterprising freaks who havent burned out enough to not set out on their own quests. i turn my obsession with cooking, coffee and booze into raw cash. when i walk down the street, the straight people, the daytime pinstripe slaves look at me in disgust, because perhaps im stumbling drunken to my bed while they are stumbling half awake to their desk and chain. or something like that.
sometimes i feel bad about that. but, why should i? im doing exactly what i set out to do. i am fulfilling all of my prophecies. ive observed the alternatives but none of them seem to work. all the things i do are done blind, because the rules havent been written yet. sure, sometimes the man comes down from his high horse and rattles my tiger cage with his rules and regulations. but, i really have found a way to live on the edge and inbetween the cracks of society. and be that cartoon character that we all seem to create of ourselves in some online persona.
With no real job, im often left alone to my ideas, which seems like a solitary existence unmoderated by peers, friends and colleagues… but in the end of the day, you get what you give. and when my ideas are brought to light, and ive taken nothing but a thought in my head and made it into a physical thing of media or substance, all the things im left without come to me on their own.
Its a kind of magic.
| This Months Top 10 |
| Queens Of The Stoneage - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer |
| Client - Down To The Underground |
| Soft Cell - Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed It Most) |
| Primal Scream - Some Velvet Morning (feat. Kate Moss) |
| Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In A Uniform (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Remix) |
| Blowfly - Punk Rock Is Cock |
| GG Allin and the Jabbers - Dead Or Alive |
| Circle Jerks - World Up My Ass |
| Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers - Born To Lose |
| Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down |
Word of the day:
Pampero :
(Spanish)
1. a cold and dry southwesterly wind that sweeps down over the pampas of Argentina from the Andes.
2. premium rum from Venezuela, often drunk “El Ritual”: rum with lime, sugar and coffee. |
Current Art: Jason Atomic
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Current Music: Soft Cell - Down In The Subway
| Current Movie: 28 Weeks Later |
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Directed by: (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) 2007
101 min
The film starts six months after the Rage virus has spread throughout the city of London. The United States Army has restored order and is repopulating the quarantined city, when a carrier of the Rage virus enters London and unknowingly re-ignites the spread of the deadly infection, wreaking havoc on the entire population. |
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