FIVE QUESTIONS: NaNa (Spider Problem)

NaNa
drummer
Spider Problem / Mikki and Mini / Puss n Boots / The Jew Cocks

1. Background:

Well... let's start from where this "crazian" (crazy + asian) came from! I'm originally from Kagoshima, Japan. At age of 10, I fell in love with rock n roll when I first saw David Bowie at his concert in Japan. I started playing the drums at age of 15 by my mom's suggestion who got me into the rock n roll world.

At age of 18 I moved to LA with nothing. No family, no friends, even no English... just myself! I still don't know why and how I did it! I guess I was just an idiot. Ha ha ha! Didn't know anybody, didn't know what to do...playing music is the only way to make some friends and communicate with people. " The Magic of Music" really cheesy way of saying... but it really is. It can connect people & people no matter who you are, where you're from. And also can change people ( but not the world unfortunately...).

Anyway..., about 2 years ago, I met Eric Stiner through his friend (I didn't even know his friend. It was totally out of nowhere. ) and we formed a band called Kill Kill Kill. After released 3 albums and did a couple of shows and sessions at KXLU, I left the band for good and joined such an amazing band Spider Problem! This is the band I mainly play and mostly known as a drummer from.

Hey! My first show with Spider was actually a Mouse show Fiend Folio! What a crazy community...

I hate people ask me what kind of music we play. I really don't know how to describe it. But all I can say is, I've never seen a band like SP out here before! [The band] has a great music, performance and looks! Since I'm heavily influenced by 70's glam rock, The looks is as important as the music and the performance.

We did tons of crazy things last year (I'm not talking about drugs or typical rock thing. Actually I'm the cleanest drummer you'll ever see! ). SXSW, tour w/ The Germs, Bizarre Magazine, Californication sound track etc... This year, we have tons of shows as always and new EP & vinyl and more cool things are coming! So, keep your eyes open!

I never imagined I would be busy drumming and playing around.... Currently I've been working on some cool projects with super cool musicians! One is called Puss n Boots! I started it with Roy Fielden from New York. I really hope the White Stripes doesn't exist... It's a dark heavy noisy punk duo. But I think the chemistry of a young Japanese girl and an old British guy makes this band more interesting! We have a lot of shows are coming here in LA and NY in March!

And another one is called Mikki and Minnie. It's a side project of Anthony Anzalone from Mikki and the Mauses. We just started and have been just recording some weird stuff. So, we don't even know what is gonna happen... I'm just so happy that I can create something with somebody who's really talented and I look up to as an artist and a person!

And... it's the last one! I just joined a band called The Jew Cocks . [Uhhhh... ~Mouse] Two drums and two basses! Sounds already fun, doesn't it!? Formed by Dan and Bobby from my favorite band Stab City and their friend Todd Sender. A group of great talented musicians! I feel like I'm taking a free music lesson. It's also hard to describe our music. Well, we also have some shows coming in the end of March. So, the best way to find out who these freaks are is to come to see our shows!!


2. Name one album you feel is critically under-rated and one album that is critically over-rated. Defend your case.

There are a lot of albums that I listened to and didn't like. And also there are a lot of albums that I love! So I really can't tell which one would be....

But since David Bowie changed my life, I have to say that the over-rated album would be his every album from David Bowie to Heroes! (I don't like his 80's stuff... Wait! then under-rated album would be his 80's stuff....!?) Sorry I can't pick one. Because every single album sounds so different and has a different concept or style. And they are so good. And he even changed his looks in every album. Who does something like that nowadays?? Even back in 70's, nobody did something like he did. He is an total artist and entertainer!


3. What about today's music climate dissatisfies you? What do you long for in the music past or hope for in the future of music? Think about the big picture.

What dissatisfies me is an industry! They don't care about music anymore. Especially here in the US, all they care about is "$"! They (even sometimes venues) don't treat musicians as who they are.

And even the audience bothers me sometimes. I go to see shows or play shows and all I see is people are having fun in a different way... All they wanna do is just to get drunk and hang out. I'm not saying that's not a good thing. What I wanna say is, if you go to see shows, enjoy the music! I really don't see a lot of people truly enjoying music nowadays.

I'm a huge music fan. I still buy CDs & vinyls and listen to the whole album. But people just download singles... as a musician, music fan, the way of people listen to music makes me really sad...

But... there's a hope! I think the music scene is great! I see tons of new bands on the magazines every month. Well, it's really hard to find a really good band and also really hard to survive. But makes the scene come alive. Even the small LA local scene is great! I've seen a lot of great bands and great talents!! And there are also a lot of great music websites and blogs who support musicians.

So, I just hope that the support system, whatever the industry or the audience or the venues, for the musicians and the bands will be better and more for music!


4. Is it important for culture-at-large to always have new bands and new songs? Why or why not?

I think it's a really silly question...... Of course, Yes!! What? Are you telling me to live with just a "memory of Michael Jackson"?? No way...

I know the music scene or industry is not like 70's or 60's anymore. And there are not gonna be "brand new music" or "brand new" sound. But I think the current music scene is great! Still excites me and makes me happy every time I discover a good new band or song! It's a history, generation thing!

The new bands or new songs keep the music history and the scene going and alive. I really like reading old musicians or new musicians' interviews or watching a music documentary. Even just a Rock history, It's really interesting. We can't end it now. I mean, how can we?? There is my favorite Japanese rock magazine called Rockin' On. My mom used to read the same magazine when she was my age. So, I wanna see MY kids reading the same magazine 20 years later! ;)


5. Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a walrus? Assume they are both healthy, adult specimens. The fight takes place on the beach with no trees (advantage: walrus) but there is one natural bludgeoning weapon, a piece of driftwood (advantage: gorilla). Defend your case.

I think a gorilla wins. He has arms & legs and can move easily. And has a weapon, too... but I wanna see a walrus win and how he wins!

YOUR WEEKEND PLANS - Pehrspace, SNAP photo show opening

Saturday, February 27th

In the past I've booked almost all these bands myself. (Blue Jungle, in particular, is worthy of more praise than they've been given.) For the noisy, yelpy crowd.

Saturday, Feb. 27th
Spider Problem
Las Quince Letras
Blue Jungle
Manhattan Murder Mystery

Perhspace
325 Glendale Blvd
Echo Park, CA
9pm
$5
All Ages

Sunday, February 28th

Los Angeles scene photographer Benjamin Hoste will be opening his new photo exhibition at Origami Vinyl. The Exhibition (which features photos of Silversun Pickups, No Age, Crystal Antlers, Dan Deacon, and more) goes on through March 28th, but at the grand opening you can enter a raffle to win a print of Brian Aubert (Silversun Pickups) or Jeff Tweedy (Wilco). You can also enter online, for a total of two chances to win.

The opening event also feature bwank spinning all vinyl, and some drinky-drink. (Colt 45 and wine) Hoste is a friend of mine, but beyond that, I will personally vouch for the quality of his work. (He's shot for CGT before, too.)

Sunday, February 28th
SNAP Opening Event
6pm - 8pm
live DJ
beer and wine

Origami Vinyl
1816 West Sunset Blvd
Echo Park, CA

SAVE THE DATE: March 12th! Mouse's 28th Birthday Abomination!

I turn 28 next month. Good lord.

In honor of my aging (two years until my hand starts flashing red!) we'll be throwing a little shindig at Pehrspace. The flier looks like a "chill-wave" album cover. (lolz) There will probably be free cake. I might add a guest DJ to that flier.

Downtown / Union you already know as one of my favorite local indie rock outfits. They're a duo at their core, though I have no idea what kind of lineup we might see. Matt Eckel, the singer of Jack Wilson Jr., sends me amazing deep thoughts emails at 1am sometimes. His band plays rock influenced by R&B, like the 'Stones, and they are impossible not to love. Stoned At Heart features most of the members of Underground Railroad to Candyland. They will be similar, but different, which is awesome.

Please come. Thx.

Mouse's 28th Birthday Abomination

Friday, March 12th
Stoned At Heart
Jack Wilson Jr.
Downtown / Union

Pehrspace
9pm-ish
$5
All Ages
Bring Your Own Constitution Check
(of-age adventurers only)

Signals announce tour, SXSW dates

Signals

Considering The Mae Shi are one of my all-time favorite bands, it's a crime that I haven't been able to see Signals yet. That the band (composed of former Mae Shi members) played with The Henry Clay People, one of my other all-time faves, just last week makes the crime even more egregious.

I know the Signals guys to be incredible performers though and don't doubt for a nanosecond that any of these shows would be worth the time of Austin-bound readers. For myself, that March 2nd date looks like a perfect time to break the show hiatus.

The band's debut single (debut signal?) "Silverfish/What Dreams" comes out March 22nd in the UK on Moshi Moshi. In the interim, you can download this sweet Sparks cover.


3/2 LOS ANGELES @ The Smell w/ Juiceboxxx
3/3 TUCSON @ Club Congress w/ Leslie and the Lys
3/4 ALBUQUERQUE @ Warehouse 508
3/6 LUBBOCK @ Bash Riprocks
3/7 OKLAHOMA CITY @ Conservatory w/ The Show Is The Rainbow, The Toasters
3/8 LAWRENCE @ Replay Lounge w/ The Show Is The Rainbow
3/9 COLUMBIA @ Mojo's w/ The Show Is The Rainbow
3/11 KNOXVILLE @ The Pilot Light w/ The Show Is The Rainbow
3/12 ATHENS @ Farm255 w/ The Show Is The Rainbow
3/13 ST. AUGUSTINE @ Harvest of Hope Festival
3/14 NEW ORLEANS @ Blue Nile (NOLA Showcase) w/ The Show Is The Rainbow
3/15 BATON ROUGE @ Spanish Moon w/ The Show Is The Rainbow
3/16 AUSTIN @ Scoot Inn (Panache SXSW Pre Party) w/ Oh Sees, Golden Triangle
3/18 AUSTIN @ Domy Books (The Smell Party)
3/18 AUSTIN @ TBA (Moshi Moshi Party)
3/19 AUSTIN @ TBA (SXSMess Party)
3/19 AUSTIN @ Beauty Bar (Panache SXSW Official Showcase)
3/20 AUSTIN @ Spiderhouse
3/21 AUSTIN @ Beerland (Panache Hangover Party)
3/20 EL PASO @ TBA w/ Gun Outfit, Dozal Brothers
3/23 PHOENIX @ Manor House w/ Get Down! To Brass Tracks, Gun Outfit, Naïve

FIVE QUESTIONS: Edgar Acosta (The Sonnets)

Edgar Acosta
The Sonnets
guitarist, singer

1. Background:

My name is Edgar and I'm in The Sonnets, based in L.A. I play guitar and sing (half the time), and write half of our songs. We're also currently in the market for a good, groovy, minimalist drummer (somewhere between Ringo and Meg White). Our sound has been described as "punk Beach Boys."

My bandmate Matthew and I started this about two years ago, but really it's been in the making for about seven years. We were English majors in college and met one day when I was walking by the dorms and heard somebody playing, from the second story, Sublime's "Santeria" on guitar. I started singing along loudly from below. Matthew came out and we talked music and girls.


2. Name one album you feel is critically under-rated and one album that is critically over-rated. Defend your case.

King Crimson's Islands is definitely under-rated. Most say In the Court of the Crimson King is the definitive, watershed prog-rock moment, but Islands really takes you on a psychedelic, disturbing journey, leaving you in peaceful reverie at the end. In the Court is just weird for the sake of being weird.

I'd have to say a critically over-rated album is Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's debut album. I actually do love "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth," but the rest of the album has no definition. The songwriting (as in melody/chords/lyrics) is without clear purpose. But I definitely commend the band for having had huge success without following the traditional indie- or major-label route.


3. What about today's music climate dissatisfies you? What do you long for in the music past or hope for in the future of music? Think about the big picture.

What dissatisfies me is cynicism. The tired "there's no good music being made today" way of looking at things. It's a great time for music fans, and there's plenty of great bands. Unlike in the '60s or '70s, the good music isn't in-your-face and easy-to-see. You have to dig a little more, and be willing to go to random shows in the name of sifting through the bad to find the great. So I guess the antidote to cynicism is just a willingness to put effort into finding what's good; self-reliance.


4. Is it important for culture-at-large to always have new bands and new songs? Why or why not?

Yes, because those with fresh-blood adapt more easily, and are naturally more in-tune with the culture at large. [I love this point. ~Mouse] That means that the struggling, no-name artist lives in the same culture the regular folk live in, so therefore it's just natural for that type of artist to have a more relevant voice within that culture. The old acts who've had success for years (Paul McCartney, U2, etc.) don't live on the same plane as the majority. Their success is insulating, and great art hardly ever happens in a vacuum.


5. Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a walrus? Assume they are both healthy, adult specimens. The fight takes place on the beach with no trees (advantage: walrus) but there is one natural bludgeoning weapon, a piece of driftwood (advantage: gorilla). Defend your case.

I'd have to go with the gorilla. Sure, the walrus has home-team advantage, but even so, a gorilla is still going to be able to move around easier. Also, a walrus would have to be positioned just right to inflict significant damage. A gorilla has many options, including the driftwood, its fists, strangulation, and, of course, its teeth.

FIVE QUESTIONS: Malcolm Sosa (Rademacher)

Here's the first of the CGT Five Questions Series. I've gotten a handful already; I'll space them to two or three a week.

I invite you to participate, here are the guidelines. (And hey, bloggers / labels / publicists can play, too!)


Malcolm Sosa
singer, guitarist / bassist
Rademacher (JAXART Records)

1. Background:

"The band I play in is called Rademacher. I know you (Mouse) know the band, and I am sure some of your readers know the band. But some people who know all of the background stuff about me and Rademacher may not realize that we (Rademacher) are playing in Los Angeles this Friday with several great acts that I personally admire. Those acts would be Radars to the Sky and One Trick Pony. I'll be joining Radars to the Sky onstage for some songs. I believe both the songs I'll be performing with them are going to be on their unreleased new record.

They sound great.

I will not be playing in One Trick Pony. Not that I wouldn't if those guys invited me to play with them. I believe Randy from One Trick Pony is one of Los Angeles's best songwriters. He can also be a jerk. He'll drink your beer. He'll challenge your artistic integrity. But that's ok. Mostly I think of him as an awesome songwriter.

I started Rademacher because no one in my home town of Fresno wanted to let me play in their bands. So I started my own. We have had over 30 members in the band and I am the only original band member. I started off playing guitar, but right now I play bass in the band, but next month I'll be back on guitar and we will have a new lineup and be recording a new record. I am certain it will be the best record I have ever done. It will for sure contain some of the best songs I've ever written.

Describing the sound of the band is tough for me to do. I can tell you that we try to sound like our biggest influences! Those influences include Television, Joy Division and Admiral Radley. I hope that Admiral Radley plays that "I Heart California" song at their show in March at the Bootleg Theater. It is one of my faves."


2. Name one album you feel is critically under-rated and one album that is critically over-rated. Defend your case.

"Describing any one album as "over" or "under" rated seems a bit silly to me. If you listen to what people tell you about music, you might actually begin to believe what people write about music and than you aren't really listening to music anymore. If you listen to what people write about music, that's great. I read about sound and music, but I rarely listen to the music I read about. I prefer to discover new music with my ears as opposed to being sold an idea by a magazine or a fancy blog like pitchfork.

Most importantly, I feel like if you love music, you should be going to shows, listening to songs, and buying records (or even putting on shows and MAKING records) without being prompted. The way you write in CGT, it is more like you are trying to document your explorations in the world of music versus rehashing a press release from Matador or whoever. I enjoy the way you document shows and the trajectory of the LA music scene. Which seems less opressive than the way Pitchfork writes about music. But despite the fact that I "trust" you more than many other music blogs, I still have never listened to Spider Problem.

I digress. In short, I think that Funkadelic's record Maggot Brain is one of the finest ever produced. There is very little compression on the recording and it begins with a 10 minute guitar solo. It contains positive social messages as well as well as warnings to listeners about the fate of our planet if we continue down our current path of self destruction. The themes, the style and the purpose of the music is eternal. Is that the same as underrrated?

Overrrated? Everything else you hear on the radio."


3. What about today's music climate dissatisfies you? What do you long for in the music past or hope for in the future of music? Think about the big picture.

"I think today's music scene is great in a number of respects. Most importantly the internet and music recording, distribution and everything are in the palm (literally) of just about everybody's hand. That's fucking insane. You and I pretty much have every tool that every label, promoter and company has at their disposal. Twitter, ProTools, and iTunes. There is no advantage to having a "record label" except that *hopefully* your label people know some people with lots of money that you don't know. The few threads holding the record industry together are the few threads that probably helped to bond it together in the first place. Money and friendship. The wealthier you are and the more connected friends you have, the better you will do in a monetary and airplay sense.

Most people start liking a song because they hear it. And then they hear it again. And then they hear it over and over again. You like music because it has been reinforced on your psyche from the very minute you were born. I don't really believe that musical "taste" is something an individual has control over. It is a cultural construct that's built through sheer repitition.

If you are well connected and have the money and you can get your song on MTV, Grey's Anatomy, and all that stuff and people everywhere hear it over and over again, in a sense, you are staking a claim on the musical psyche of this generation as well as future generations. Once we hear a song enough it becomes part of our collective conciousness. These are the sort of songs the advertisers, music placement folks and record labels love becuase they can easily be leveraged into creating more money for their products even if that wasn't the original intention of the artist. Hits tend snowball beyond the ability of the artist to control.

Woops. Maybe this line of thought is a little beyond the scope of the question. Hmmm ... I think the music scene is great because people now, more than ever, have theability to stake their own claim and create their own sound and sell it and change the patterns of the industry as well as the human psyche to create something different and hopefully positive."

4. Is it important for culture-at-large to always have new bands and new songs? Why or why not?

"Of course it is important to have new songs! It is also important to have old songs and to take care of them!

If you don't have new songs and music, and let's face it, most new songs and music are absolute crap, then all the old stuff that is really, really good, wouldn't sound as good anymore. Also, every once in a great while someone manages to put together a new song that is absolutely amazing. Which is just the coolest thing in the universe.

Besides all the fun artistic songs that we listen to, there need to be new songs that actually have a function, like to teach kids skills (like the alphabet song, I personally am working on a QWERTY song), jingles to help people sell products and national anthems to help brainwash and patriotize populations.

Does this make sense? I am very big on music having a purpose. If music has a purpose it is good music regardlessly of what I think of it artistically or whether I like the way it sounds, becuase like I mentioned earlier I believe taste is a learned and reinforced behavior. to really dig music you have to use your head and logic and ultimately you to respect and appreciate the purpose of a song -- otherwise you can't really dig it. The same way I can't really dig Leni Riefenstahl movies."


5. Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a walrus? Assume they are both healthy, adult specimens. The fight takes place on the beach with no trees (advantage: walrus) but there is one natural bludgeoning weapon, a piece of driftwood (advantage: gorilla). Defend your case.

"Walrus wins. I mean, the thing has tusks."

Collected Thoughts 02-17-10 (MASSIVE)

• I already believe this Five Questions experiment was a great idea.

• Must-read by Jeff Weiss in the LA Times. (There is Powers, then there is Bronson, then there is Weiss, and then there is everyone else.)
  

• Web In Front reports that The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra have changed their name to Walking Sleep. I understand the challenges of being in a band called The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra, but in a day when so many bands have the same words in their names (and "sleep" is one of those words), I thought FTO had a marvelously distinctive moniker.

• LOLZ. (Credit Buzzbands)

• Must-read Guardian piece where musicians talk about classic albums they don't like.
  

• Ya'll know I don't like Radiohead. In that link Tjinder Singh of Cornershop perfectly articulates the things I've been trying to say. When talking about Dark Side of the Moon: "Lyrically, it's banal and doesn't say anything beyond "greed is bad". Radiohead are the 21st-century Floyd, which says it all really."
  
  That's it. Thom Yorke is always observing, always muttering wistfully. He never prescribes a cure, he never makes a call to action.

• In my ears...
  
  Ted Leo & The Pharmacists -The Brutalist Bricks. I'm going to do a full-on dedicated review, so you know that means I love it.
  
  Lots of Steve Earle (again) lately.
  
  I can't stop listening to Bee Thousand.
  
  A lot of Lifter Puller.
  

• Live-action Akira news.

• Red Skull is the Captain America villain. I am so very stoked for that movie.

• Spider-Man recasting news?
  

• Spider-Man as directed by Wes Anderson:

• UHHHHH...

• Nikki ran a two parter on the lack of women in "The Industry".
  
  The stats are the stats. I can't dispute them. But anecdotally, I'd say the discrepancy is not universal.
  
  In my four years of working "serious" entertainment jobs, every single one of my immediate superiors was either a woman or a gay man, and only a couple higher-ups were typical males. I've had every unfair advantage in the world, but I'll say that I've had a small glimpse of what it might be like to be a woman in the workplace; I was often sexually harassed and I never felt I had a professional role model that I could completely identify with. I get that completely, and it's helped me to really sympathize with the plight of professional women. (Though my last two bosses at ET were absolutely marvelous, wonderful role models and totally nurturing. Don't get me wrong, I don't think your role models need to be Just Like You, but it does make it that much easier.)
  

• Have you used chat roulette?
  
  Crazy. In ten minutes I got three dudes jerking off, two instances of copulation, two DJ sets, and about fifty guys who looked about my age and demographic who appeared to be sad and or bored. Women were in groups four out of five times. I don't think Chat Roulette is a window into our world or our souls, but it certainly puts a new, meaningful visual to the same personality of the internet.
  

• I'm a bit of a veteran at internet dating. I've had mixed results, overall. This study suggests that women are especially picky about height.
  
  This is absolutely true in my experience.
  
  Internet dating makes rigid standards easier. If you, for example, only want to date true brunettes then you are still likely to still be tempted by the bottle-blonde with the cool shoes at Spaceland if you're two beers into the night. But on the internet, you're never tempted to fudge Your Rules.
  
  A man's height is for The Generalized Woman what a thin waistline is for The Generalized Man. In my six months of match.com, I can not tell you how many kickass-sounding girls I did not even message because their height requirement was a single inch higher than my own. And I know that if we'd been in a group conversation, we'd have hit it off.

• Prehistoric Monster Toads
  

• Horror of Horrors!

• Horror of Horrors x10!
  

• UGH. Vampire ANYTHING can DIE IN A FIRE.

• Die, bloodsucker, die!

• Truly, all those links and vids should convince you that the ocean is a terrible place.
  

• Roger Corman understands horror of horrors: Sharktopuss!
  

• Okay, read this quote: "America has in fact transformed journalism from what it once was, the periodical expression of the thought of the time, the opportune record of the questions and answers of contemporary life, into an agency for collecting, condensing and assimilating the trivialities of the entire human existence, [...] the frantic haste with which we bolt everything we take, seconded by the eager wish of the journalist not to be a day behind his competitor, abolishes deliberation from judgment and sound digestion from our mental constitutions. We have no time to go below surfaces, and as a general thing no disposition."
  
  It's all about the ills of our hyper-digital social media messaging culture, right? NOPE, it's about the telegraph. This is why I don't take nostalgic anti-digital positions seriously. Same as it ever was...

• Robotic surgery is on the rise.

• Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep? The answer is: maybe sometime soon.

• The new GM-NASA robot. Nifty.
  

• D&D on an MS Surface. Drooooool.

• World-wide DIY manufacturing. (Must-read) Crazy.

• ...and nanotechnology will change every product as you know it. The sanitation possibilities alone are mind-boggling.
  

• For those keeping score with CGT's Cyberpunkification of Humanity game, more Augmented Reality ideas. AR + 3D is the future of interface -- with the real world.

• Here's an AR-themed short film:

• Using brain scans, doctors are communicating with human vegetables. Being in a state like that frightens me more than anything. I am no more relieved to learn that the people inside those bodies really do know what is going on. If it ever happens to me, unplug me.
  

• Oh hey, segue! YES!

• Here's a fascinating 1967 CBS report on "the homosexuals".

• Smoking Nazi ammo. It really is a toxic public nuisance.

• This television personality could have been a heartbeat from the presidency. Can you believe it?
  

• Readers of CGT know I am a lefty. But Obama gets no free pass with me, and this is abhorrent.
  

• I've not dropped the Prosecute Torture banner. Sullivan has another great take on the issue.
  

NEW FEATURE: Five Questions -- Bands, please participate!

I'm sure you've noticed the lack of activity on Classical Geek Theatre as of late. There's a multitude of reasons, but the big one is that I've had to reduce my energy spent on music blogging and focus instead on my career goal, which is screenwriting.

The thing is that I've still got about 80% of my traffic and I'd hate to lose the audience. I've worked hard to build a relationship with publicists and labels, and I'd hate to waste that. I'd also hate to lose my attachment to the local music scene because I plan on resurfacing. So here's the deal:

In the interim I am offering a new feature called Five Questions. ANY one member of ANY band can play. Established acts and brand new bands, from LA or anywhere else. Just fill-out the questionaire, include the required info, and I'll post it. Email me here.

Keep your answers brief. (One or two paragraphs) I may edit overly long answers in good faith. I may crop the photos. Make sure you take time to redraft and edit yourself before sending. And please, answer the actual questions.

I don't have time to "deal with" this too much, so if you don't follow instructions (say, you don't send the photo) then I probably will just trash your email. But if you want to play along, it's a free bit of publicity for your band and hopefully we can have an ongoing dialog about music while I write EASTER SUNDAY, my captive horror script.


PLEASE INCLUDE:

• Put "FIVE QUESTIONS" in the email subject
• Your professional name
  
• Your Band Name
• ONE link that has streamable music from your band (myspace, LaLa, etc)
• If you have a label, manager, etc, you may include that info (with links)
• A good photo of YOU (not a band photo), at least 200 pixels wide.
  

FIVE QUESTIONS:

1. Background: What band do you play in, what is your role in that band, and how did you come to join / form the band? Also, self-describe what the band's music is like.
   
   (OR, similar background story for music writers, label owners, publicists, promoters, etc)
   
   
2. Name one album you feel is critically under-rated and one album that is critically over-rated. Defend your case.
   
   
3. What about today's music climate dissatisfies you? What do you long for in the music past or hope for in the future of music? Think about the big picture.
   
   
4. Is it important for culture-at-large to always have new bands and new songs? Why or why not?
   
   
5. Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a walrus? Assume they are both healthy, adult specimens. The fight takes place on the beach with no trees (advantage: walrus) but there is one natural bludgeoning weapon, a piece of driftwood (advantage: gorilla). Defend your case.

EXAMPLE:


Background: What band do you play in, what is your role in that band, and how did you come to join / form the band? Also, self-describe what the band's music is like.

My name is Mouse and I play keytar in the post-noisepunk band Horror of Horrors. I joined-up when our lead singer, Puke Leto II, saw me busking on Echo Park Blvd for Snicker Bars.

Based in Los Angeles, Horror of Horrors is somewhere triangulated between Pylon, Guided by Voices, and The Mae Shi. Lots of post-humanist themes and angular guitars.


Name one album you feel is critically under-rated and one album that is critically over-rated. Defend your case.

I think Green Day's Warning got written-off way too soon. Lyrically, it is the most mature thing they've written. It's poppy, but doesn't have the expensive over-production of their lamentable "rock opera" phase. Warning isn't remarkable, but it is extremely listenable, no matter how uncool it is to say that.

And I know it's blasphemy, but I just don't care for Sgt. Peppers. Whereas on Pet Sounds I can imagine a tortured, mad-genius Brian Wilson doing everything he possibly can to justify his miserable existence, I just feel like the Beatles got lucky fucking around when they made Sgt. Peppers. I really appreciate it as an artifact, but I never want to listen to it.

Don't get me wrong, Sgt. Peppers > Warning.


What about today's music climate dissatisfies you? What do you long for in the music past or hope for in the future of music? Think about the big picture.

Look, it's awesome that music has been considerably democratized. (Well, it's more like a republic) I don't mourn the loss of super-acts that define an era, like Madonna or U2 or Prince. But the problem I see is that music journalism isn't performing its function as a filter.

That hack that writes Classical Geek Theatre is a perfect example. Yes, gonzo journalism is great. Yes, in the year 2010, the writer puts himself into the story. But when the writer does that, no matter how hard she tries to be objective, she has a stake in the justification of the music she covers, because it's also the life she leads.

I don't know the answer... but Pitchfork picks music to justify its own prophesied narratives and the junior blogs aren't picking up the slack. Hopefully tablet PCs will launch a new era of music criticism to match their medium, somehow.


Is it important for culture-at-large to always have new bands and new songs? Why or why not?

I think so, yeah. I believe in Platonic ideals, that songs are "discovered" and not "created". Have all the good sounds been discovered? Most of them. Have all the best songs been written? Most of them. But there's only ten or twelve story arcs and there a few hundred great films. The role of a musician should be to present the same old archetypes in new, fresh, and relevant ways.

I loathe nostalgia. It's stagnation. I don't want someone to make a song that says "Gee, weren't teenage songs of the 60's great?" I want someone to make a song that says "In the year 2010, we need teenage songs that speak to our modern existence. The teenage song is universal."


Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a walrus? Assume they are both healthy, adult specimens. The fight takes place on the beach with no trees (advantage: walrus) but there is one natural bludgeoning weapon, a piece of driftwood (advantage: gorilla). Defend your case.

Well, the thing is, if the walrus lands one blow with his tusk then it is all over. And I don't think the gorilla can pound through the walrus fat. But I'm banking on the gorilla being able to dodge the walrus and eventually using his weapon to go for the walrus' eyes. Match: Gorilla.

We Are the World? Well, yes. Kind of.

The new We Are the World video is out. There's a lot to unpack in this thing.





I'm just going to splat my thoughts and feelings on the wall.

On the upside, this is precisely the kind of thing Michael Jackson sincerely believed in and his "involvement" has been preserved. Janet's duet with Michael in the new one was at the request of their mother. So that's a nice sentiment.

I was four days shy of four years old when the original was released. I can't really comment on the context of that one, though I have a very faint memory of it. Perhaps some of my thoughts on this video could be said of the original, too. I don't know.

Quincy Jones was going to do a 25 year anniversary re-recording anyway. This video wasn't inspired by the tragedy so much as it was conveniently timed. (Though surely the participants would have been different.)

And while the original recording carries a message about the power of music to heal, to bring people together, this recording and arrangement is, rather, disdainful towards the art of song. It's terribly awkward. The singers' voices can barely be distinguished from each other. Perhaps the perceived fellowship in the original was acted, but here it is acted much more poorly. The autotune, the effects, the cute rap breakdown... it all lacks the human essence that makes a charity single so powerful.

My first reaction after watching the new video was, frankly, disgust. I don't doubt the sincerity of any given individual who appears in the video, but the collective effort seems more like a celebration of celebrity than a compassionate plea for help.

Oh, and what celebrity we have to see. An internet meme (Justin Bieber), a "pussy cat doll" (Nicole Sherzinger), corporate child super stars (Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers), a game show winner (Jennifer Hudson), a host of criminals (too many to name), and Barbara Streisand, whose beach front mansion was the subject of internet controversy. I don't think there are too many mansions like that in Haiti. Mary J. Blidge and Tonny Bennet notwithstanding, this collection of disposable "talents" are a far cry from the original "Stevie Wonder / Bob Dylan / Michael Jackson / etc." (And where the fuck is Bono?)

I am not surprised that a charity single became a celebration of celebrity. The conventional wisdom is that it's good when a celebrity uses the power of their personality to raise money for a noble cause. But I can't ignore the elephant in the room, that the grotesque industries created to cater to these very kinds of people largely contribute to the social and political climates that allow for poor folks in Haiti to die in earthquakes by the thousands.

Hey, I'm no better. My dream is to make hundreds of thousands of dollars writing junk entertainment. But if I ever taste success, it is my expectation for myself that I'll never mistake that success for importance. I never want to confuse the very valuable act of telling a story or creating an emotional response in a person with the immeasurable value of a comfortable existence in the American bubble, where how I grew-up and who is in my monkeysphere 75% determines what happens in my life.

Forgive me if I feel like "We Are the World" is akin to graciously gifting a prosthetic to a man whose arm you've just amputated, and then calling the newspaper to tell them about your heroic act. As a society, our tastes are responsible for the culture that rises to the top. The tragic irony of this charity single belongs to all of us.


(You know what I would have done? Had Quincy Jones and Wyclef Jean produce an album featuring Mary J. Blidge, Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Streisand, and the other real talents. Have celebs donate for the production and marketing costs, and donate 100% proceeds to earthquake infrastructure in other poor, at-risk nations)

Show Promotin'

Here's a couple shows worth your time.

On Sports Fandom

Courtesy of Microkhan

"In every city the population has been divided for a long time past into the Blue and the Green factions; but within comparatively recent times it has come about that, for the sake of these names and the seats which the rival factions occupy in watching the games, they spend their money and abandon their bodies to the most cruel tortures, and even do not think it unworthy to die a most shameful death. And they fight against their opponents knowing not for what end they imperil themselves, but knowing well that, even if they overcome their enemy the fight, the conclusion of the matter for them will be to be carried off straight away to the prison, and finally, after suffering extreme torture, to be destroyed. So there grows up in them against their fellow men a hostility which has no cause, and at no time does it cease or disappear, for it gives place neither to the ties of marriage nor of relationship nor of friendship, and the case is the same even though those who differ with respect to these colours be brothers or any other kin. . . . I, for my part, am unable to call this anything except a disease of the soul." ~Procopius, 532 AD

COLTS FAIL

Well, that's a tough loss.

It hurts worse than the past two years, but losing in '05 to the Steelers, and the crushing losses to the Jets and Pats in the years before, hurt a lot worse. The Colts had four defensive starters on IR, plus two key defenders who played with hobbling injuries. They got this far with two virtual rookie receivers. Disappointing ending, but a successful season if you ask me.

The nice thing about losing the Super Bowl (as opposed to, say, the divisional round) is there's no more football season to rub it in your face for a few weeks.

I actually felt Manning played pretty well. The myriad of reasons Indy lost are fairly obvious. Garçon's dropped pass, Reggie Wayne's blown route, and some bad after-the-catch play by Collie were reasons. The one that sticks out in my mind the most is being too conservative just before the half. They should have tried to score.

The bottom line for me is that the Colts were outcoached. Sean Payton's gameplan was really terrific.

And you have to be happy for NOLA and the Saints fans. They're good winners. The two best teams in the league this year played last night and the best one on that night won the game. Can't be too angry about that.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

Let's Go, Indy! GO HORSE!

Collected Thoughts 02-03-09

• Ann Powers' take on the Grammys was perfect. With some exception (her adoration of the Beatles being the strongest), every time I read her words I feel like she is saying what I wish I had the talent to articulate.

• I hate Taylor Swift. I don't care if she's a total sweetheart. I hate that after all the social progress, after all the societal changes, after the Obama presidency, after all of the democratization of culture brought-on by the internet, the poster child for popular American music culture hasn't changed at all.
  
  If America today were to send one musical artist to alien cultures to represent what this country is about, they'd send Taylor Swift, and it would be a gross misrepresentation. I guess I don't "hate" Taylor Swift, but I resent the shit out of her.

• (Inspired by SOS) I will now call all My Bloody Valentine rip-offs "Fruits of the Loomer".

• Afternoons (a pretty terrific band) has become Shadow Shadow Shade (a pretty terrible band name).
  
  I would have gone with "Shadow Shade" myself. Or Laughternoons. Crafter Tunes? After Dubloons. Master Goons. Plaster Dunes. Past Her Dues. Fast Harpoons. Jasper Swoons. Alabaster Ruins. Asp Baboons. Grasp Balloons. Pastor Grooms. Blaster Moons. Azur Blooms.
  
  Or some such thing.
  

• The Happy Hollows re-released Spells on Autumn Tone.There's a new video:

• I listened to that Surfer Blood album on LaLa.
  
  I like it just fine. But if this is the must-have album of First Quarter 2010 then we're in trouble.
  
  Ian Cohen's review of Astro Coast on Pitchfork is I think, for the most part, is completely fair and accurate. It is a pretty good guitar record. It has poppy elements, but so do Ted Leo songs, and I'm pleased that some new indie rock is getting praise. That's a positive development.
  
  But nearly every song on this album sounds like something else, and I don't mean "sounds like Pavement" or "sounds like Guided by Voices". Well, both those things are true, but more so, "Twin Peaks" sounds like a crunchy Shins song, "Take It Easy" sounds like Vampire Weekend done right, and the whole thing just sounds like a hodgepodge of garagey bands I've been seeing at Pehrspace and The Smell for the last two years. "Sounds like X one-hit blog wonder" for forty minutes is a problem. That's not celebrating reheated leftovers, it's celebrating reheated microwave dinner leftovers.
  
  Oddly enough, my biggest problem is the pretty vocals. I wish the guy was talk-singing. With the rad guitar bits I want a singer who sounds like a slacker.
  
  "Fat Jabroni" and "Slow Jabroni" are wicked tracks and I wish the whole album sounded like that. I might buy Astro Coast anyway. Also, Surfer Blood is the perfect name for a band that makes this music.

• The Neuromancer film that might have been.

• I love the guy they've cast as Conan the Barbarian. The Arnold / Dolph template was never right. This casting bodes well for a faithful Howardian adaptation of the character.
  

• I'm probably done buying things related to Star Wars (like, forever) but Adidas' Star Wars kicks are pretty sweet. I'm loving the X-Wing and Dagobah ones. I think the Rebel Alliance hightops are the most rad, but I could never pull that off.

• This is an awesome account of how an every-day guy used the internet and his iPhone's tools to track down and punish a phone thief. It reads like an indie thriller, almost.
  

• Rare photos of famous people.
  

• Creeeeeeepy!

• Mindfuck:

• The human race almost didn't make it.
  

• Horror of Horrors! (Another reason I don't like Orange County.)

• Micro-Horror:

'Corynactis viridis' from MORPHOLOGIC on Vimeo.

• Make no mistake, when dolphins evolve, the rapist water mammals will pull this shit on us. Those things are some crafty mutherfuckers:

• Yes! THIS is the kind of reckless genetic manipulation we should be involving ourselves in!
  
  If we're going to be poking around in DNA, I want dinosaurs riding woolly mammoths and snakes crossed with bats and shit.
  

• Weird space thingy.

• Cthulhu breakdance figures? Weird.
  

• They ask for me by name. Gigolo Joe, what do you know?

• (Side-note: A.I. was slammed by my peers when it came out because Steven Spielberg isn't Stanley Kubrick. That's an absurd reason to hate a film. More and more, the combined visions of Kubrick and Spielberg that produced A.I. are startling prescient. And I will defend the ending of that film to the grave.)

• The Catholic Church is starting to get it: cyberpriests.
  

• Kids these days:

• I really relate to this post on Warren Ellis' blog. It's in part about the digital tools some of us use to connect to society, and how we have to choose those tools. The moneyquote:
  
  "I miss/missed the old feeling of being half-embedded in the informational flow, of being more present in both halves of the world. That’s what leads to my thinking better, and what leads to better writing. And that’s what the first couple of hours of my day has to be about."
  
  Some of you will think that's sad. I don't. It's beautiful.
  

• Another nifty use for Augmented Reality:

• How Children Dream. It's interesting how the Mind's Program unpacks itself between birth and adulthood.

• Muncie, IN. I lived there for four years. Mein gott.

• I know I offend my readership with this, (and half my good friends) but I am a smoking Nazi and I am thrilled about the outdoor ban. I hope it expands, for purely selfish reasons. The most stressful part of my day is any time I have to cross past a Smoker's Cloud on my way into a coffee shop, restaurant, etc.
  
  There's all kinds of cuckoo reasons for my aversion to cigarettes, stuff that goes back to childhood trauma. (If I look directly at an ashtray or a burning cigarette, I involuntarily dry-heave.) It's not my fault I am this way! Still, I would list "fewer smokers" in my top 5 reasons I love Los Angeles. I am cruel and perverse in my hatred of the perfectly normal, defensible habit.
  
  Besides, in fifty years people will look at cigarette smoking the same way we look at asbestos-laden, "germ free" baby nursery paint today.
  

• Lolstrailia. The first worlds' justice systems still don't know how to create sensible laws pertaining to sexuality.
  

• I'm on a "make gay marriage legal" kick again. I have a friend in Chicago, Tom, whom I absolutely adore as an intellectual superior. Tom is gay. Every time I think of Tom, and how society can't let him marry a man he might love one day, I feel like my country is shooting itself in the foot. It's so embarrassing.
  
  Fallows wrote, I think, the ultimate takedown of the opposition.
  

• Here's a harrowing journey into the world of "curing" same sex orientation.
  
  

The Mudkids - "Do It Again (Go Colts '10)"

When I was in high school in the late 90's, The Mudkids were the local hip-hop group. Ya'll might think "hip-hop group from Indiana" is some kind of joke, but The Mudkids put on some searing local shows and released at least three pretty terrific albums. (Check some out on Lala) Rusty Redenbacher was like the poet laureate for the Indianapolis urban youth. I think Russ will grip that the mic to his grave, whether or not he ever gets his proper due.

During the last Colts' Super Bowl run, The Mudkids released a great pep single. And they've done it again:



GO HORSE!

(And props to Russ for rocking the Marvin Harrison [my cat's namesake] jersey in the video, too.)

BROADCAST DELAY

I know, you've missed me. Haven't you? No? Well then, fuck you too!

In all seriousness, I've just been busier than I expected to be. Another too-large Collected Thoughts post is on it's way. Got some AWESOME internets to share with you.

In case I'm late... Colts by 10 if Freeney doesn't play, Colts by 13+ if he does.