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Such success! There will be photos in the future. In the meanwhile the newlyweds are abroad, I am off to beautiful Wisconsin for wedding #2, and here are some bits to examine: The BUY page is redesigned in a straighter fashion, so if you have a 'Jackson' or two itching you please do send it our way! Vinyl copies of the first LP are extremely limited and will not be re-pressed any time soon. Also there is a new mp3 from our newest LP "Origin & Tectonics" - if you didn't catch it on Brian Turner's blog, here is the drummer-favorite "Rumble Ring" for your pleasure. Furthermore... posted by elvis ORIGIN & TECTONICS, track the eighth, as it appears: "Birdman and Snakearms"
posted by chauncey PRESIDENTIAL FAECES IN FOECUS
DON’T RUN Don’t run Steven posted by cansafis CONGRATULATIONS CHAUNCEY & MICHELLE!! Off to the wedding, slightly more formal photo may follow, catch you all next week.
posted by elvis ORIGIN & TECTONICS, track the seventh, as it appears: "Lost in the Fog"
posted by chauncey LOCAL SCENE 8/18/07 As would be the norm prior to an church engagement, I preceded with some righteous preliminary beers affront the 49ers v Raiders exhibition game at the fine Toad's establishment. Breaking in my wedding suit after picking it up from the prince of a tailor Andreas Gorges (look no further), I discussed the finer points of neighborhood living with bar-owner Steve and wine-regular Joseph, who lived in the apartment next to mine during the early '80s ($190 for a studio, if you care to get teary on me). Joseph now spends his pillow-time just north of the lower Haight, and helped build the Toronado bar but now strongly suggests the Golden Cane for Friday night adventures (he will not go on the record re: other nights of the week due to a lack of empirical data). I headed west on 24th St. not quite assuming 'rock and roll time' on the 2015 kickoff for the self-proclaimed "Fingerstyle Guitar Summit", but willing to play my chips as they would fall. It turned out well, as headliner Peter Finger was wrapping up his first set as I walked in a little past nine. After two killer closing tunes and a brief intermission, Finger, Gerken and Baughman took the stage for a second set of round-robin solo numbers. It was quite informative for me to see & hear three very different solo guitarists next to each other, which elucidated many divergent streams that would otherwise be obscured over time by reasonable levels of mastery within distinct solo sets. Baughman has a fine approach, incorporating various traditional guitar musics from America and the continent, and draws some nice sounds from his well-loaded guitar arsenal. He inadvertently pulled out a banjo number on a bizarre fretless nylon string, which was strange and pleasant. His stage banter and general demeanor well complimented his humble but highly accomplished approach upon the strings. He would be a fantastic guitar instructor or wedding-man, if he's in the market for that sort of gig. Gerken, on the other hand, gave a distinct impression of being a bit large for his britches, pulling off very complicated numbers but having difficulty riding a strong rhythm and also hitting some 'clams' in his admittedly highly technical arrangements. He is a serious & accomplished guitarist, but next to Finger and - to an lesser extent - Baughman, the taste of over-reaching was rather pronounced. It was very likely nerves amidst the intensely quite room and excellent guitarists on stage - I certainly empathize! That said, when he employed his percussive-harmonic approach to the instrument, particularly on the twelve-string, he clearly showed that he has much to offer if he just slowed down a bit. Still, Finger's masterful performances threw Gerken's aesthetic into sharp relief, as he managed to evoke both jaw-dropping awe and serious emotional elements with his gorgeous and technically fantastic melody lines and highly coherent rhythmic chops. He was pulling off some incredible palm-muted banjo shreds that ended up down the gullet more like Burnside or Mustaine than Satriani & co. As he climbed chops-mountain he never even came close to losing a serious kick-drum beat beneath it all, with not a bum note to be heard in the room. He had some modest tuning problems on the third string (it's always the third string!) that almost seemed like a jest as he effortlessly corrected them mid-performance, as if he was throwing a bone to the admittedly younger compatriots to his left & right - handicapping the race in a tasteful manner. Finger was playing a guitar that he built with his own hands, and although both Baughman & Gerken extracted some fine tones from their boxes, this guitar was in another league. Seeing the three performers play in sequence on the same stage over multiple rounds clearly drove home the point that it is not just how well a man knows his instrument (although this is most of the equation), it also comes down to how sweet the axe, and this was one sweet axe. I was struck by the unanimous adherence to the cutaway model among all three performers, which always struck me as aesthetically problematic, but when you see players like these guys utilize the additional near-octave on the top end that is opened up by the cutaway design, it is hard to argue otherwise. During the intermission I managed to purchase a CD by Finger from his wife - the last remaining item upon the table. It is no wonder that the modest audience was hungry for more, as Finger's composition, sincerity, performance and stage presence never even allowed the "Fahey question" into the room. This is contemporary fingerstyle guitar in the upper echelons, incorporating traditional approaches - including rock and roll, an unfortunately neglected legacy in these idioms - and he invests an emotional content and melodic sense that is as compelling as it is technically awesome. Highly recommended. posted by elvis TANKERTOWN weekly web comickxs
posted by elvis PRESIDENTIAL FAECES IN FOECUS
Steven’s shadow had it bad for him posted by cansafis Tiny Mix Tapes has an lengthy interview with us featured upon their site. Thanks to Chizz for being a real pro and DJ Preisser for rocking the tiki bar so hard. Enjoy!
posted by elvis For further weekend 'wasting, the original NO DOCTORS PROMO VHS from 2002 is remastered and digitized for posterity on the nets. This is the definitive pre-HUNTING SEASON visual document with glimpses of the band on-stage and off, plus abundant CLXPS sightings. Shot by many, edited by few, seen by even fewer until now. Some folks think they're analog-hard but did they ever devise a 21st century promotional item on videocassette? Well alright!
posted by elvis ORIGIN & TECTONICS, track the sixth, as it appears: "Joe Houdini" Bear! Bear!
posted by cansafis RETURN OF THE CURSE OF THE BOOTLEGGER'S GHOST The irregular bootlegging of the king anti-blog 'anon' author behind the "Findings" page in HARPER'S now carries an extra-enthusiastic recommendation that you subscribe to their fine magazine, as they have now archived their entire fucking catalog online for subscribers. Still so cheap, now super-value size.
posted by elvis LOOK WHO'S BAR KING NOW It's Singlez Nyte at "lSLA CASTIMALATIDA" (Next to ISLA BONITA) QUAN's brother, TUAN, wants in on the action. It seems the bottle wasn't shared last hillbilly's holiday and rather than hoot, holler, and hide, the T-Man took to twirling "Tuands". Tango! The glass pipe snaked-eyed "Sheif" is having a look in your direction. Before brotherly blows beat both Bens beyond "busten" a need is net, and in outwards does his dupliciousness howl. Out and out further he chuckles. IT IS HAPPENING !!!!
And so is the way the twin tearns. HAND OVER AND OVER AGAIN
posted by cansafis TANKERTOWN weekly comicxks
posted by elvis I am pleased to present the conclusion to the irregular series of reports from abroad c/o kevekev.com as he once again spends his summer traversing the West Asian lands. What really happens! -ed. (archive of previous installments) Islam in Yo Face! pt. 10 - Baltimore, MD For those interested, the Turkish elections went boringly smooth. I managed to get some paranoid - though highly intelligent - rants on the elections out of some hippies who ran the hostel I was guesting at. They said that the party in power, the AKP is a dangerous group who are slyly in favor of "creeping Islam," which has been infiltrating Turkish society since the 1950s (after the Islam colonic that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk administered in the 1920s). Frankly, I don't buy it. I had a long time to think about my trip on the way back to the states (30 fucking hours from hippie door to my door), and I will leave you with my two big discoveries of summer 07 journeys: 1. If the place is not literally on fire, you can go there. When I told people in the US I was returning to Iran, everyone said "don't go, it's too dangerous." I went anyway. When I told people in Iran I was going to Lebanon, everyone said, "don't go, it's too dangerous." I almost listened to them, but still went. I can honestly say I was never in danger during my entire two months of travel. Moral of the story: if you want to go somewhere, do it. Don't listen to the news, the State Department, your parents, your barber, or even your bartender. 2. Islam is an interesting religion, but "Islam" cannot explain the Middle East. As a sociologist, I like to constantly point out how places and people have more things in common than differences, and that variation within a place is always greater than variation between places. That being said, variation exists - lots of it - and so if one is interested in understanding different ways of life, economies, and politics, one needs to explain social variation. However, going back over my musings this summer, I fully believe that "Islam" cannot perform this task. How to explain, for example, all the faction-based strife in Lebanon, or the success of the center-right AKP in Turkey, or the subsidizing of staple goods in Iran, or the shitty air in Egypt? If you answered "Islam" to any of those questions, you'd be an idiot. Rather, Islam - or, more accurately, the Islam of that place and that time - colors and contours the happenings of the Middle East. It's an old saw that everything in politics is local, but there's enough truth in that to tell Sean Hannity (or some cantankerous mullah) that Islam is not the answer to any serious question about this area. This is no different from any religion, of course. If I asked you why the US is in Iraq right now, would "Christianity" be a valid answer? Of course not, we can see right through that. But when it comes to Islam, most people in the States have a big black box in their brain and thus are vulnerable to the bullshit out there in the media. Islam is as stupid, interesting, and mysterious as any other world religion. Why should someone like me, who spent a good portion of my youth laughing at born-again Christians (and their rock bands in high school), be overwhelmingly deferent towards Islam? I read up on it, know the basics and can converse with the devout, but let's not get all weepy here. It's used and abused just like any other big set of beliefs. So, next time you catch yourself giving "Islam" as an answer to a question, check yourself. I want to personally thank to all the readers who sent me emails during my trip, which is incredibly easy since nobody sent any. Also thanks to Elvis who both convinced me to write, giving me an excuse to opine and work on my poo jokes, as well as edited my missives. I like a band who puts their friend's self-interested overseas jaunt over their own album release (still new! still un-sold out! --ed.). Joltin' Joe Biden (D-Delaware) tells a story like this: back in 2001, George W. Bush calls him up and asks Biden to "brief me on Europe." Biden asks why and Bush says he's going to Europe for the first time. Biden asks, "first time as President?" Bush replies, "no, first time ever." When you travel around the world (remember: Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Iraq do not count) you drop any and all bullshit about American exceptionalism real fast. It should be required before you get your driver's license or office in congress. Kudos to those with the ballz to do it. Now, I'm off to a shooting range in Maryland to take out some Osama-shaped targets. (the full 07 travelogue will remain archived here for permalinkability) posted by kevekev.com B-BALL HERCROTCHULES Part 6 being a collaborative 'jam' inspired, executed & convoluted amidst
posted by cansafis BRAND NEW MUSIC VIDEO dept. The environment felt like a stillborn flame. Watch for the CLXPXS and play it loud. Mad props to Chauncey for owning the tambourine like a rattlesnake! You are presented:
Audio recorded by Eli Crews aka The Man at 'New, Improved' during the ORIGIN & TECTONICS sessions. posted by mr. brian TANKERTOWN weekly webcomicxks
posted by elvis ORIGIN & TECTONICS as heard by the inimitable Joseph S. Harrington (to be published in the forthcoming issue of Kapital Ink) “Origin & Tectonics” Y’ meet a lotta interesting people in San Francisco—just walkin’ up the street you could run into Joel Gion or Craig Ventresco. You could also run into midwest transplants No Doctors (Chauncey Chaumpers: voice, guitar, piano; Elvis S DeMorrow: guitar, bass, voice; Cansafis Foote: saxophone, voice; Mr Brians: drums, voice) as Tony Millionaire, the man w/ the biggest dick in San Francisco, did one day. From there—well, after they all sucked it that is—it was a short step to getting the esteemed “Maakies” master to draw the cover of THIS, their new alb (and obviously the shit you’re holding in your hands is capable of drawing doodles on your skull in its eye-popping excellence!) But that’s only one part of the deal w/ the aptly-named Origin and Tectonics—the music is the other half, and this is the Docs’ most fully-realized work yet. They start right out w/ tacos blazin’ on “Yerba Buena” which tackles the immigration issue by finally bringing fucking ELECTRICITY south o’ the border. A prairie dog’s eyeview from the faux “border” of the meat packing district. This is the Motown—or is that Mobtown?—“dance” mix. And don’t think these guys don’t have it in them to provoke jigging faster than a bottle of Carlo Rossi at a Swamp Witch Revival recording session. “Lost in a Fog” is a full-blown blare that honks from the same honky heartland that produced the E Street Band and Asbury Jukes. And see if you can resist jigging to the Beefheart/Devo/Same Band gouge of the “Birdman & Snakearms” (a modern-day ROCK ANTHEM complete w/ “eclectic” tinkles of triangle!) True to its enthno-inspired name, “Yardin” sounds like something the Sun City Girls wouldn’t disown. Double-entendre’d meanings go a long way in this wild-eyed celebration of agrarian pursuits that brings to mind the words of Anthony Bourdain: “I like farming communities everywhere. We share a certain world view over a host of burning issues.” The plaintive ballywhack of the sea chantey “For You” is as “earnest” as a case of the piles (featuring additional acoustic frinka-plinker from Mr. Brians). Another perfect examp o’ the Doctors’ weird artistry is the Velvet Monkey-delic peel of “Invisible Clopes” where Beefheart and the Magic Band frolic on the desert with Ornette Coleman. Good ol’ Van Vliet himself would tell you that the PLANTS on the desert are the cause of the ELECTRICITY. “Tunin’ the Sundial” ANSWERS the question while setting the controls for the heart of the sun. Triceratopsian stomp (and you KNOW where the horn is going!) Horns? Did someone say horns? Oh yeah, No Doctors is JAZZ (altho’ less so this time around unless Borbetomagus is also “jazz”). Really these guys are just like a great amalgam of all the major movements in avant-garde music over the past thirty years. At times they remind me of the VoidOids two-stepping over a field of burning American flags. One thing’s for sure—the Docs have a lot more than stethoscopes and heart pills in their seedy little leather MD’s bags. It’s what’s known as a REMEDY—be it the dancing fandangos of “Lost in a Fog” or the Zappa/Soft Machine live-at-the-Albert-Hall effects of “Man’s Eternal Quest for Salty Pleasure.” Here, and in other places, they don’t turn their backs on Steely Dan, and neither should you. Even though they have names like Chauncey and Elvis, they’re regular ol’ greasemonkeys who even like heavy metal. On “AAO,” their metallic opus, the guitars actually STUTTER like all great heavy-mental, from the Troggs’ “Feels Like a Woman” to the immortal Budgie. Play it between a slice of Ocean and the Sword. Then there’s “In an Opal”: beautiful intro w/ vocal genius to rival the great masters: Gibby, Lemmy, Joey and of course Danzig. Wrangling guitar, like someone burned the American flag emblem off of Neil Young’s dusty blue jeans while he was wearin’ ‘em. Clowns like the Hold Steady (and other Americana slobs) could really learn a thing or two from these guys. Best use of horns n’ grunge since Lou Reed’s underrated Street Hassle. These guys are the Duke Ellingtons of raunch. This is the funky-junkie-punky-monkey-flunky opus of the season. You don’t need a doctor. You don’t even need viagra. Take up thy stethoscope and walk. --you can buy it here. posted by elvis ORIGIN & TECTONICS, track the fifth, as it appears: "Tuning th' Sundial" We've only begun Tuning th' sundial, How foul is this trash? Tuning th' sundial, Sand fall in the lantern,
posted by chauncey TANKERTOWN weekly in th' comicxkal style
posted by elvis B-BALL HERCROTCHULES Part 5 being a collaborative 'jam' inspired, executed & convoluted amidst
posted by cansafis |
