1. LA GRITA - Protesto 2. ESKAPO - Wind Of Hell 3. KILLRATIO - Made By Hand 4. BRUJERIA - Anti Castro 5. STREET WALKER - We Can't Win 6. BOMB RAID - Hellfire Children (demo) 7. GUYANA PUNCHLINE - S.S.B. 8. SPITBOY - Removal 9. LOS CRUDOS - Illegal Y Que 10. WORD SALAD - Rights Revoked 11. CAPITALIST CASUALTIES - Greedy Bastards 12. SACRILEGE B.C. - Heed No Warning (demo) 13. URBAN DECAY - The Ghost Of You 14. DEAD & GONE - No One 15. LOGICAL NONSENSE - Enough Is Enough 16. BRAINOIL - One Leaf Untouched 17. STORMCROW - Reflection Of Shit
1. ANGELO BADALAMENTI - Audrey's Dance 2. THE CREATURES - Inoa'ole 3. EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN - Dingsaller 4. SLEEP - Anguish 5. BUZZOV-EN - Forget It 6. CRUEVO - To Kill The Dawn 7. HELLSHOCK - Bloodsuckers 8. PHANTOM LIMBS - Romance 9. THROBBING GRISTLE - Six Six Sixties 10. HIGH ON FIRE - Master Of Fists 11. KYLESA - A 100º Heat Index 12. SLAYER - Seasons In The Abyss
1. GRIMPLE - But If You Weren't Here 2. MINUTEMEN - Life As A Rehearsal 3. RITCHIE VALENS - Framed 4. X - Adult Books 5. CHUCK BERRY - Brown Eyed Handsome Man 6. D.O.A. - Prisoner 7. THE DAMNED - Problem Child 8. ELVIS COSTELLO - Big Tears 9. FISHBONE - Ugly 10. MEGADEATH - Peace Sells 11. PHC - Vampires 12. PINS OF LIGHT - Empire 13. PRINCE BUSTER - 7 Wonders Of The World 14. QUEEN - Another One Bites The Dust 15. DAVID BOWIE - Let's Dance 16. NEUROSIS - Stones From The Sky
November 14th, 2009 at 924 Gilman, UGZ Presents CHRIST ON PARADE, ELDOPA (1332), ACEPHALIX, STREET WALKER, and WAR TRASH. It's been a long year of booking and promoting, and even though we (UGZ) booked fewer shows than we did in 2007 and 2008, it was more of a roller coaster ride this year because attendance at Gilman has been inconsistent, resulting in smaller draws. Last year at this time we were cruising, having already had a dozen or more huge shows, eight or nine of those having been sellouts. We went on to have one of the most successful years in the history of the club, and for all the news and worry about the economy, we really weren't fazed by it at Gilman.
In 2009 that hasn't been the case, and obviously there are all sorts of factors that don't necessarily have to do with the economy that have hurt the club, some of our own design, but there's just no ignoring the effect the economy has had on Gilman in 2009, and even though it took a little longer to reach us, it definitely has. That said, we are still doing better than when I arrived at the end of 2006. When I became Head Of Booking at Gilman in December of 2006, the club was showing a loss of (approximately) ten thousand dollars for that year alone. In one month, UGZ shows almost single handedly generated enough money to cut that loss in half, but the club still lost (approximately) $5000 for the year. Later I learned that this wasn't out of the ordinary for the decade, and that few volunteers were aware of just how desperate things were becoming. It's almost a victory of sorts that only two years later most of Gilman's staff is at least of aware of how much we need per show to keep our rent and overhead in check. So what's my point? The point is that even though we're having an off year thus far at the club, it's been much worse, and we still have two months left on the calendar to turn things around as we head into 2010.
There are three UGZ Presents shows this upcoming weekend on November 6th, November 7th, and November 8th. Not to mention some very interesting looking bills put together by my fellow Gilman bookers to close out the year, so keep an eye on our calendar and The List, and do your best to support the cause as things wind down in 2009.
1. TEENGENERATE - Talk Talk Talk Talk 2. BLACK FORK - Silicone Wetnurse 3. GRIMPLE - One More 4. PLAID RETINA - Lesson To Teach 5. SPECIAL FORCES - Brew Crew 6. SUBHUMANS - Mickey Mouse Is Dead 7. PAUL EVANS - Happy-Go-Lucky-Me 8. 3 FINGER SPREAD - Pickin' Up The Soap 9. MELVINS - Honey Bucket 10. NOOTHGRUSH - Useless 11. DEAD & GONE - World View 12. CODE OF HONOR - Death To You 13. CRIMPSHRINE - Can You Feel That 14. DEAD KENNEDYS - Hyperactive Child 15. FEAR - Responsibility 16. G.B.H. - Slit Your Own Throat 17. KWIK WAY - Go Die 18. RORSHACH - Synthetic Intelligence 19. MINOR THREAT - I Don't Want To Hear It (demo) 20. MOTORHEAD - No Class (live)
1. SMOKEHOUSE ROUND MIDNIGHT - Intro 2. LOS CUNOS ELECTRICAS (UK) - Lunacy InL'Orcy 3. SMD (Pico Rivera, CA) - Patience 4. MELEE (Allston, MA) - Life Is What You Make Of It 5. ZERO CONTENT (New York City, NY) - Head Skin 6. ASTRID OTO (Asheville, NC) - El Sob 7. SHITLOADSOFFUCKALL (Canada) - Your God 8. SLOWDEATH (San Diego, CA) - You'd Look Good In A Coffin 9. URKO (UK) - You're A Cunt 10. SOCIAL INFESTATION (Georgia) - Helpless Hopeless 11. MEDICATION TIME (Oakland, CA) - Sorely Resentful 12. GRIMPLE (Oakland, CA) - System Fuckers 13. ZERO CONTENT (New York City, NY) - Viva Zapatos 14. LOS CUNOS ELECTRICAS (UK) - Piss Stain 15. LEMUR MUTATION (Castro Valley, CA) 16. HEAD HITS CONCRETE (Canada) - You Came Searching 17. CATHETER (Denver, CO) - Sit Back And Look 18. CRUDE (Japan) - Stand And Fight Again 19. FRACAS (Alameda / Oakland, CA) -Rats 20. LEMUR MUTATION (Castro Valley, CA) 21. EXITWOUND (Oakland, CA) - Friend Indeed 22. BEWARE (El Monte, CA) - Five-O 23. ANTIWORLD (Portland, OR) - The Day It All Went Wrong 24. DISCORDIA (Mexico) - Vida en Cadenas 25. LANA DAGALES (Oakland, CA) - Fish And Game 26. BRAINBLOODVOLUME (Oakland, CA) - Destroy Fear 27. LAST SUPPER AT RICH'S POTSTICKER HOUSE - Outro
This episode of Multimedia Disorder features the first UGZ aka Urban Guerrilla Zine compilation ever released. We put this out back in 2000 as a companion piece to issue ten of Urban Guerrilla Zine. There was also a photocopied booklet that we called Urban Guerrilla Zine ten point five, a half issue that was mainly included as an extra through mailorder. The front cover of Urban Guerrilla Zine number ten featured artwork by Judd Hawk back before anyone other than REINA AVEJA (his wife's band) was using it, and on the back cover we had a skate photo of Dave Chavez, who we profiled in the zine. An interesting side note to that front cover is that the band COACCION used that same artwork for the cover of one of their CDs, and I'm pretty sure they took it directly from the zine. I always meant to ask Manuel about that.
Urban Guerrilla Zine compilation number one was originally comprised of bands whose members had contributed to the zine, no matter how small that contribution might have been. Aaron from ASTRID OTO had written column, Pat from GRIMPLE contributed poetry, Jake from EXITWOUND wrote reviews, and later Ruben (Exitwound, Cruevo) became a UGZ columnist as well. Paul from MEDICATION TIME and CRUEVO contributed an article or two as the "Unknown Controller", and so did Joe from FRACAS. Greg from LANA DAGALES, and later BRAINOIL, did all the mastering for the CD. LANA DAGALES has one track on the compilation, but Greg is also responsible for the LEMUR MUTATION tracks. The list goes on and on. Some of the other bands that didn't have direct links to UGZ until the compilation came out were BRAINBLOODVOLUME, who kind of evolved into LAUDANUM. I ended up booking a majority of LAUDANUM's shows for the next several years after that, especially their non-bar shows. Another band along those lines was DISCORDIA who I didn't really know at the time we (Jake, Greg from Lana Dagales, and myself) were compiling the comp, but soon after it came out I began to bring all the bands that featured ex-members of DISCORDIA (who had already broken up by then) up to the Bay Area for shows, bands like BUMBKLAATT, COACCION, and MASSAKRO. Jake introduced me to SMD, BEWARE, and SHITLOADSOFFUCKALL. Those were bands that he met back when he was in OPPRESSED LOGIC. I eventually convinced BEWARE to make the drive north a couple of times, and I booked a bunch of big shows for SMD after the comp came out. CRUDE from Japan appear on the compilation because I was a big fan at that time, and recently I was finally able to book a show for CRUDE at Gilman, so it was like things had come full circle. In the case of the CRUDE anyway. Jas (R.I.P.) from URKO was a contributor to the zine, and he appears on the comp as a member of URKO and LOS CUNOS ELECTRONICAS (it's supposed to mean The Electric Cunts).
"El Topo" is a picaresque journey past the principal myths and symbols of human culture, shot in the style of an incredibly bloody, violent Italian Western. People are going to it for all sorts of reasons. As a greasy, grimy, gore-dripping Western, it works just fine, and not even the early Clint Eastwood films had so much sweat and sadism.
As a kind of freaked-out philosophical catchall, on the other hand, it inspires people to invent or discover hidden meanings and secret levels, and as soon as we all finish figuring out "American Pie," I guess "El Topo" will be the next symbolical biggie.
Shot on a fairly large budget in Mexico, It began its American existence as an underground cult object, playing midnight shows in New York for six months. It surfaced to a normal run last November amid loud controversy. Its director, author and star, Alexandro Jodorowsky, was attacked in some quarters for using the symbols to make the violence digestible, and in other quarters for using the blood to sell the symbols. I don't think you can take the movie apart that way; "El Topo" is all of a piece, and you've got to take the concrete with the fantasy, the spirit with the flesh.
Jodorowsky lifts his symbols and mythologies from everywhere: Christianity, Zen, discount-store black magic, you name it. He makes not the slightest attempt to use them so they sort out into a single logical significance. Instead, they're employed in a shifting, prismatic way, casting their light on each other instead of on the film's conclusion. The effect resembles Eliot's "The Waste Land," and especially Eliot's notion of shoring up fragments of mythology against the ruins of the post-Christian era.
Jodorowsky's hero, El Topo (the mole) devotes his life to a spaced-out quest that's first cousin to the journeys in the Ring trilogy, "Stranger in a Strange Land," maybe "Easy Rider," certainly "2001," and most obviously to the goalless, introspective missions of Eastwood's Man with No Name.
The movie begins with an observation about the mole (he spends his life digging tunnels to the sky, and when he finally sees the sun, he goes blind), and then sets its hero to actual and symbolic tunnel-digging. What he digs his way into and out of, mostly, is the Italian Western genre. The movie has echoes here of Godard's "Pierrot le Fou," in which the characters make their way out of a gangster movie and into a musical, and wind up against their will in a Western.
In the version according to Jodorowsky, the West is peopled largely with corpses of men and animals and the survivors are gross, obscene caricatures who follow phony gospel-mongers and practice slavery. When El Topo moves out of this world, he goes first to do battle with the Four Masters of the Desert (who have black-magic connotations probably inspired by the work of Aleister Crawley), and later to help free a colony of deformed and incestuously mutated cripples.
These quests supply most of the film's generous supply of killings, tortures, disembowelments, hangings, boilings, genocides, and so on. "El Topo's" violence is extreme and unremitting, and more calloused even than Ken Russell's in "The Devils." And yet, somehow, "The Devils" came over as a violent exploitation film, and "El Topo" doesn't. Maybe that's because Jodorowsky dazzles us with such delicate mythological footwork that the violence becomes distanced, somehow, and we accept it like the slaughters in the Old Testament.
I'm not sure. "El Topo" is a movie it's very hard to be sure about after a single viewing. It weaves a web about you, and you're left with two impulses. One is to accept it on its own terms, as a complex fantasy that uses violence as the most convenient cinematic shorthand for human power relationships. The other is to reject it as the work of a cynic, who is simply supplying more jolts and shocks per minute than most filmmakers. The first impulse seems sounder to me, because if Jodorowsky were simply in the blood-and-gut sweepstakes he could have make a much simpler, less ambitious movie that would have had the violence of "El Topo" but not its uncanny resonance.
Alexis Arguello was one of my family's favorite fighters when I was growing up, and one of mine as well. He was like the counterpoint to one of my family's other favorite fighters Roberto Duran. Alexis Arguello was always described as a gentleman, but of course he knocked people out for a living, or at least beat them badly. He was one of the best of all time, and so he usually wasn't at the receiving end of the punishment being dished. Alexis Arguello, like most dominant fighters, eventually moved up in weight from his legendary stint as a 130 pounder to challenge Aaron Pryor. Aaron Pryor was an unpredictable fighter with a whirlwind style that would baffle and wear down opponents, but none as great as Alexis Arguello. Their first fight was classic. Action packed throughout, the fighters set a relentless pace that eventually caught up to Alexis Arguello in the later rounds. For some reason, Alexis Arguello's vaunted one punch knockout power and devastating body shots had little or no effect on Aaron Pryor. Oh, but then there was video of Aaron Pryor being given a mystery bottle of some substance in between rounds.
"Not that bottle, the other bottle. The one I mixed."
Aaron Pryor was a great fighter (make no mistake), but some things add up and others don't. He was later busted for cocaine possesion, and then it became more clear that he might of had an added advantage that fateful night. Boxing is a crooked game, as is MMA today (where there are rules, but the enforcement is selective), but much worse. That fight was an all out war, and Alexis Arguello never came back in later fights as strong and unstoppable as he had been for the past decade.
That is a quick rememberance of a fighter that mattered when boxing still mattered, and especially in family's like mine where boxing was the number one sport. After boxing, Alexis Arguello got into politics, which goes along with most folks assesment that Arguello was one of the most intelligent fighters ever. Alexis Arguello reecently passed away at 57, and his death went almost unnoticed, which is a little sad for a fighter that would inspire my family to make enchilada dinners and throw parties on some of his bigger fight nights.
I'm going to start to write my dreams down when I wake up, then post them here. This is my third attempt.
ONE
I'm wandering through an outdoor market. I might be in India. Everyone is haggling. There is effusive arm waving. The action is at the human organ tent. My attention is drawn to freeze dried "pregnancies". They're pink. I watch a freeze dried "pregnancy" reconstituted by the seller. Initially it looks like a fetus or a seahorse, but once reconstituted, it becomes an entire pregnancy.
TWO
Two cats are seated at a table in a restaurant. They are chatting away, using a series of clicks. When the waiter takes their order, they speak French.
I'm going to start to write my dreams down when I wake up, then post them here. This is my second attempt.
ONE
I'm walking across one of those fenced in overpasses.
TWO
I'm seated in a classroom behind a desk that opens up so that you can store stuff inside. A hand is holding up "pretty" food in a single serving tupperware container.
THREE
Water is dripping onto a blue plate.
FOUR
There is a long strand of "purity" that grows every time the word "purity" is spoken.
I'm going to start to write my dreams down when I wake up, then post them here. This is my first attempt.
ONE
I shake the black skull with my left hand. The van is parked outside, and the band is loading out. I walk towards the scene while balancing myself on a handrail. The ground cover is some kind of red flower.
TWO
John Trudell moves north, and there he is a judge. There are soldiers with knives on the end of their rifles. Two runners stumble to the finish line.
The 2008 financials arrived shortly after last Saturday's Gilman membership meeting, and the good news is that we had a gain of $3849.06.
A gain of $3849.06, according to Will's (Gilman's volunteer treasurer) financial report, which may or may not be 100% accurate. Much like 2007's financial report, where Will had us losing $2,752 when in fact we had a loss of $1,752. This report appears to have many of the same oversights and or just a puzzling disregard for decisions made by membership at our bi-monthly meetings.
Most of that is still speculative at this point.
On page two of the 2008 report it lists "out of the ordinary" expenses. Those expenses are: new sound board, cpa retainer, and new trees. All three of these items were voted on at monthly membership meetings, and all three passed with an amendment (made by myself) that these expenses would come out of our savings account, and not our checking (i.e. day to day account), and that they would not be included on our year end financials. So why are they there? If these expenses had been left off the year end financial as requested by membership, then we would have had a gain of $8239.06!
Again, speculative.
On the 2007 financial report, our annual loss was shown to be a $1000 more that it was because a $1000 lawyer's retainer was noted, even though we voted in a meeting that it come out of savings and not be noted on the year end. The rest of 2007's loss (or shortfall, which is the term most used at Gilman) was literally one check cut by the ex-treasurer (without permission from membership) to buy sound gear that we gave away a month later, after a now famous band decided to give back to the club by installing new sound equipment. That means, left to bookers and income from shows, Gilman either broke even or had a slight gain in 2007.
Not speculative.
This is all very inside Gilman stuff and probably boring to most, and ultimately all expenses must be paid one way or the other, but when you have three different bank accounts for three different purposes, then it becomes a matter of making sure everything is managed in a way that accurately reflects the work of club volunteers, past and present. The savings representing the past, and the checking the present in most cases. The third account is the "stoar" account, and that is, as you might have guessed, managed by the Gilman store.
So I guess the good news is that in 2008 we had a gain of several thousand dollars, either way, ending many years of mounting financial loss for the club.
I've been feeling a little down lately, for many reasons, but at least part of it has to do with the way show booking and promotion has been going for me lately, not to mention Gilman's booking staff as a whole, most of whom are new and relatively inexperienced. Okay, let's be honest, most of that staff was brought in to book at the club by yours truly.
On the one hand, it's a cool mix of young and old, male and female, non-PC and PC, Metal and Pop Punk, Hardcore and Ska, but in the end there is a famous saying (that I'm almost certain originated in one of those upper crust east coast Ivy League schools that produce all the presidents of the United States, not to mention Brooke Shields and Tommy Lee Jones): Money Talks And Bullshit Walks.
Hopefully, you are sensing some sarcasm by now.
Personally, I'm not doing so bad actually. I mean, while my shows aren't drawing what they were in 2007 or 2008 (so far), it's not like I've fallen off to the point of consistently losing money for the club. Wait, hold up, here comes a boring diatribe about finances and fiscal responsibility, right? Wrong, because I have something else for you to read instead. It's a column that Ariel Awesome wrote for Maximumrocknroll about the CORRUPTED show we did last year at Gilman, but it's not only about that because that would make it a show review and not a column. So read it, and we'll see you at the next UGZ show: May 1st at Giman with CRUDE (Japan) and HELLSHOCK (PDX). Read It.
Standing on the street and watching the world move. I felt I was close to life. Human existence for sure, but actual living beings? It wasn't clear at that moment.
I have the kind of dreams that suggest previous incarnations. I am open to suggestion when I dream of surfing in Hawaii or painting in Spain. I'm less receptive when the dreams involve violent confrontations with animals, people and monsters, some of which are invisible, making them the hardest to fight.
The worst dreams are the ones that feel like reality.
So another UGZ Speed Trials has come and gone, and there were some lessons to be learned. Too many to write about here, but one thing is for sure, and that is if it has "UGZ" on the flyer or poster, then I need to be more involved. Not that I wasn't involved, but when you book 40-50 shows a year at Gilman, you begin to develop a system of trusting others to do stuff you used to do yourself because from a time standpoint it just makes more sense to delegate. I'm pretty careful when it comes to delegating some of my responsibilities, but every once in a while I am reminded that you can get a little too detached. You end up delegating things that you probably shouldn't. That said, the last couple of years of UGZ Speed Trials have turned out great, and so I can't totally dismiss my approach to UGZ Speed Trials booking and planning. We just a hit a Friday night bump this year, and so next year we will correct that mistake and bring a whole new approach to how we plan this event. UGZ Speed Trials is an event that a lot of people still love and look forward to every year, and I definitely appreciate that and hope to continue this for as long as possible, with some twists and turns thrown in to keep it interesting.
As many of you who were there know, an altercation occured during IN DISGUST's set when a member of IN DISGUST and one of the Gilman security staff got into it. Aparently these two individuals had a history of not getting along prior to the Speed Trials, which I found out later. One thing I can tell you about Gilman after having dealt with various staff members, and booking over a hundred shows there, is that if you're seen punching anyone (or throwing punches) and no one is punching back, then they will porbably 86 you from the club. NOT the band, just whomever threw punches. The key thing to remember is that at Gilman, 86ing only lasts as long as it takes you to show up to a meeting to say you're sorry (usually). I know it's hard to apologize for some people, but then again it's easy. I'm also pretty prideful, and if I thought I was in the right, then I wouldn't back down or apologize, so I understand when someone decides to just stay 86ed rather than apologize for something they may feel was justified. Whatever, every situation is different. The next meeting at Gilman is April 4th at 5pm is anyone wants to come and express their opinion on this or any other matter at the club.
I have to thank Karen and Alejandra, but especially Karen for the BBQ and food that she came through with at this year's UGZ Speed Trials. Karen has really helped UGZ to take the food idea that we started at local warehouse venues to a whole other level. Contrary to what many people may believe, Gilman hasn't wholeheartedly supported and funded the food, posters, and many of the other details associated with UGZ shows the last couple of years. It took us (myself, Karen, and even Ale) several months of spending our own money to set the example for what could be done, and what needed to be done, and then after several months we began to ask Gilman for little bits of help at a time until in theory we would no longer have to go into our own pockets (for Speed Trials I still do obviously). Posters and promotional propaganda are now completely funded by the club, and have been for a while. Food is almost to the point where none of the volunteers, namely Karen, is losing money. So, that's a little insight into the Gilman universe. We have a list of things we'd like to do or add to the Gilman mix in the coming months, but we'll see how much of that actually gets done, but even if it doesn't, at least we did what we did. Thanks for your support.
JFK was a great film. It was Oliver Stone at his best. I remember watching it once at three in the morning, in a dark empty apartment, and about half way through it I began to feel very worried about all my previous "political" activity. Paranoia set in big time. As I sat there, the apartment walls seemed to suddenly close in on me, and the temperature of the room felt colder. I began to ponder things like how long it might take someone to realize I was gone if I was ever to be gone suddenly.
Now that's a film!
JFK was creepy, thought provoking, and it really played to all of Oliver Stone's cinematic gifts. Nixon was also good, and one of the overlooked gems in Stone's filmography. I'm just putting that out there for anyone who hasn't seen it.
I just watched W, which is Oliver Stone's most recent film, and while it's been a long time since I really liked anything he's done, this film seemed promising on paper. Top notch subject matter, top notch actors, and a writer/director who has shown the ability to do something special with those kinds of ingredients before. Unfortunately, I have to recommend that you don't waste your time on W. W is a TV movie at best, but with a big budget cast, and a big budget look. Oliver Stone tries to be way too subtle for most of W, and subtlety has never been a strength of Oliver Stone's writing or direction. There is a lot of stuff he just left out and that's not subtlety, and it's not the Olver Stone we've come to know and appreciate over the years. For that reason, it's actually distracting, and not just an annoyance.
People from Stone's generation had Nixon, but for future generations, their Nixon will be George W Bush. That is important to note, and I'm not sure that Stone and his crew were capable of seeing that the way most of us do now.
In case you were wondering about my last blog - Harmony Korine Part 2 - look no further than a parallel universe: http://blog.wethepunx.com/
Just to update anyone and everyone who follows this blog, we had a final vote this past Saturday for Gilman's Board of Directors, which as you may recall were hand picked in a misguided move by the club's treasurer at the end of last year, resulting in an uprising (I wish) by club membership that forced a proper nomination and vote process to take place. Three of the previously handpicked Board Of Directors failed to muster enough voter support to retain their seats on the board (one chose not to run). The booking department, which had been left off the board by the handpicked, non-democratic process back in 2008, easily attained a seat on the club's Board on Saturday. The new Gilman Board Of Directors consists of four women (all ages), and Pat Wright, who is in his late sixties. The people have spoken.
I feel like drinking some Belgium or Belgium style brews today, but what I really want to know is if anyone is as bummed as I am at the number of first wave punks who are dropping dead all around us? Was it the lifestyle back in the day that did it? Could it have been the stress of eeking out an existence in the post apocalypse of the late seventies and early eighties? Lack of any kind of regular dental and healthcare? No need to answer because I'm sure we all know the answer.
It's Friday the 13th, and so as if the vibrations weren't ominous enough, tomorrow is V-Day. That's right, you sad, lonely motherfuckers. Valentine's Day is here again, and it has to be the most brutal of all holidays celebrated here in North America. It's based on one of the more sacred and bloody mayan holidays found on the "Aztec calendar". History tells us of a two day orgy of sacrifice, where up to 84, 000 lives were sacrificed, according to Ahuitzotl, the great speaker himself. This took place at the great pyramid of Tenochtitlan on February 14th and 15th, 1487.
At this point the details are fuzzy at best, since many of the ancient paintings and carvings were altered by the catholic church during the lesser known, but equally murderous Central American crusades, which have been all but ignored by Hollywood. From what we can tell, based on various prison tattoos and illustrations found in publications like Lowrider magazine, the heart would be held up to the sun in a symbolic manner before it was placed on a plate of chocolate (usually 70% cacao or higher) and poblano chiles before it was pierced and skewered by one long stem red rose. That's right, just one rose, and not a dozen, but there were twelve elders, mostly shamans and astrologers, who would collect the excess blood from the bodies. That blood was mixed with traditional spices and fruit juices, then consumed luke warm by the shaman, who also ate massive amounts of mescaline, which had nothing to do with this particular ceremony really, but it was all good times. The shamans chanted and danced for hours to the pulsing drumbeats of their blood bathed psychedelic hallucinations, and at the end of the trip, they would present roses, that only they could see, to those who were pure of mind and body. Virgins? Probably.
So happy Valentine's Day, and good luck bartering your love and sexual intimacy for meaningless objects like stuffed animals and heart shaped boxes of cherry covered chocolates.
For future reference, Mardi Gras involves a lot of bartering of sexual acts for beads, which have no real meaning or value outside of Mardi Gras, but in New Orleans, in February!? Think about it, and you can even write it off as doing your part to bring one of our greatest cities back to life after the tragedy of hurricane Katrina.
Is it me or has filmmaking taken a turn for the worse lately? Admittedly I'm more out of the loop than I used to be in terms of films, especially indies, and filmmakers, but could that explain how films like Wanted end up being what that film is, as opposed to what it could have been? Vague enough for you? Digression is imminent. Seriously though, watch that film and imagine what the original treatment or script must have looked like. There are some seriously dark, inventive ideas wasted in that commerce driven hack job of a film, and it frustrates me. Remember when filmmakers used to dread the "suits" visiting their sets? Now it seems they eagerly rewrite scenes, or even entire scripts with them. Product placement has overstepped it's bounds, and then overstepped whatever integrity the James Bonds series had left, and I know that's not saying much, but let's digress.
I just watched Casino Royal finally (the newest version), and what a pile of shit that was. 007 drives what? His cell phone is what brand? Nice _ _ _ _ _ laptop. I'd originally written a paragraph where I named all the items' brand names I just made reference to. How insidious is that? Even I almost, subconsciously, included product placement in this blog.
Not that any of this is connected, but did you watch the 2009 Grammy Awards? The Jonas Brothers duetting with Stevie Wonder? Al Green and Justin Timberlake? My entire life I've heard older folks talk about the good ol' days, and I was always interested in their take on changes in American culture and society, but I was never entirely convinced that them old days were all that. How about the degrees of racism, sexism, homphobia, etc.? Plus, I'm way into technological advances, and can't imagine having to live in a time prior to all the innovation we've experienced over the last twenty years. That said, you can finally see that there is a clear cut division in terms of people who were born prior to, and grew up prior to, and were socialized prior to the advent of the internet as we've known it for the last two decades. That's it, period. You could probably go back and say, for instance, there was the pre-industrial revolution generation and the post industrial revolution generation. That might be a valid comparison, but when you have an entire generation of persons who can justify, or worse yet equate Stevie Wonder with the Jonas Brothers, then you're fucked. On some level, you're fucked, whether you actually listen to or give a shit about either the Jonas Brothers or Stevie Wonder. None of that matters, you're fucked. It's gone beyond ADD, which is a big copout for my younger peops, and it's gone beyond minor differences like a push lawnmower versus a gas lawn mower. The 2009 Grammy Awards were truly an eye opener. Justin Timberlake duetting with Al Green, while being backed by Boyz To Men was only the tip of the iceberg on a night that featured Lil Wayne duetting with Alan Thicke's kid, and then both of them duetting with various New Orleans' jazz legends in a misguided tribute to the birthplace of Louis Armstrong, and former hometown of the legendary Fats Domino. Let us not forget the ghost of Huey Long, and the ghost of Huey Newton for that matter.
It's true, the ZERO BOYS are playing two west coast dates, both of them at Gilman on February 20th and 21st, 2009! This is it, two shows in Berkeley,CA, and that's all. No San Francisco or Los Angeles this time around. Check out the flyer (above) to see who else is playing, times, and all that. I do have to point out that BLACK FORK is co-headlining the first night!
LAUGHING DOG (NM) MAGGOT COLONY ENDLESS DEMISE (L.A.) STRAINS OF THE APOCALYPSE BASTARD ASS (L.A.) I'ABHOR (L.A.)
JUDAS SEMTEX VEST (L.A.) CARvsLOS (Floor)
and then...
March 21st, 2009 at 7pm
IN DISGUST KILL THE CLIENT (TX) POPULATION REDUCTION FINAL DRAFT (L.A.) SFN (WI) HUMMINGBIRD OF DEATH (ID) TERRORISM (L.A.) SIDETRACKED (WA) BRUCE CAMBELL (L.A.) THOUSANDSWILLDIE (Floor) MIGRAINE (Floor)
March 22nd, 2009 "Speed Trials Hangover Show" + bands and location TBA
We had a bunch of bands fall through, but we hope to still end up with 10-12 bands a night.
