WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Wild Live Zounds on Saturday For Shock and Awetober!

To be more specific, this past Saturday, Terre T hosted on her Cherry Blossom Clinic, 2 live bands::  Wild Flag (all female quartet containing members of Sleater-Kinney, Minders and Helium) and UK DIY anarcho punk rockers Zounds! Yowza, now that's a show! I was asked to engineer both, and responded with a HELL YES, and so our work was cut out for us! Check out the archive of the program. Shock and Awetober, indeed!

The Best of the Northwest - Joe Preston and Seattle's EMP

I made a quick visit to Seattle's Experience Music Project not long ago. The current main exhibit is titled: NIRVANA: Taking Punk To The Masses, and coincides with the 20th birthday of the band's Nevermind record. The exhibit not only has tons of Nirvana memorabilia, but is really a goldmine of great music sources from that same period of time. The facility is right next to Seattle's Space Needle (it's that dented looking brass thing to the right of it), and is full of cool exhibits having to do with music and film. Here's a giant guitar sculpture that lifts 35 feet into the air like a stringed cyclone. In the lobby they were showing parts of the movie Avatar, but the filming was of the actors pretending to fly, pre-special effects. Interesting the prep involved and the faux wetsuits they wore that tracked their body movement so it would be easier to morph them with their rendered additions (wings, dragons, etc.) at a later time. Something about it reminded me of a short I saw once that was the filming of the dubbing of Poltergeist. It was a hilarious process actually. You'd think that dubbing a film is at least some kind of large production? That is what I thought and I was certainly proven wrong. Imagine a group of people sitting in a room all on folding chairs facing a screen. On the screen is a tickertape of words going by, and the lines spoken by each actor are in a different color and run across the screen in a different vertical position. The voice actors focus on their lines and stand up and shout them at the screen. There is a condenser microphone mounted in front of the screen in a central location. People were standing up, saying their lines, and sitting back down. They weren't watching the movie - it wasn't even playing! They all had scripts on their laps and were facing forward as if they were forced to. When the movie got a little nutty, those people were standing up, shouting their lines at this screen full of text, and quickly sitting back down again. It was surreal and deflating all at once- not exactly glamorous! It may be the same kind of activity going on at the stock market right now, and you know I'm not gonna go there!

Ivan Julian and Deniz Tek at WFMU and at the Bell House-> The 1-2 Punch

Before the storm, I was given the opportunity by fellow 'FMU DJ's Terre T and Joe Belock to engineer 2 sessions. Check the blog posting here for the FMA tracks of Ivan Julian's live set from the Cherry Blossom Clinic! A mere 5 days later, Deniz Tek and the Golden Breed occupied the very same room and blasted out a set of 5 killers for Joe's Three Chord Monte program, which are posted below for your ingestion -check out the interview as well in the archive! Both guitar heroes along with their bands combined for a live perfomance at Brooklyn's Bell House - and as it turned out it was the only of 3 shows they had scheduled together that survived the weather! Here's some of the best shots of both bands at the Bell House (Fleshtone Keith Streng joined Deniz & Band for a couple of songs), copies of the juicy set lists; yes, Deniz Tek covered both the Stooges and the Vibrators, and Ivan Julian played Voidoids faves plus tracks from his new release: The Naked Flame. I've included photos of each band with their hosts from each WFMU set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Deniz in the Live Room at WFMU;Deniz with Joe;Terre with Ivan Julian & band

 

When the forces of nature prove to be too much, the FMU archives are there to document it all!

 

Bell House set lists at right!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No guitar strap? No problem! Ivan Julian and band at the Bell House.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deniz Tek and The Golden Breed at the Bell House -Keith Streng guest gtr, center.

Here are the FMA tracks from Deniz Tek's set:

Alice Cooper's Fall Fashions Are A Hit!

Alice Cooper's show at the Community Theatre in Morristown could have been a fashion event! The first  item revealed was the "Spider Jacket" (right), with performance of Black Widow accompanying it, the extra arms may be ineffective for some, but Alice wore them elegantly, and stylishly. Throw in some sparklers for good measure, and Alice is on his way to a stellar fashion season! There was the "New Song" jacket, which I failed to get a photograph of - Alice's runway technique is a little to fast paced...let the audience savor, Alice, savor!! It was a black pleated denim jacket with the words NEW SONG spray painted in stencil lettering on the back in large white letters. Here is a photo of the shirt underneath, which reveals the title of said new song.."I'll Bite Your Face Off" (pitcture disc out soon).....Boas are back, but not the feathered kind. Alice adorns himself with a live creature...much more attractive than the minks and foxes of old!

Studded oversize top hat. This is an example of an article for high end fashionistas: only the daring can really pull this off, Alice Cooper included, but not many others. While it may look great on the runway or on the stage, the combination of spikes and the size itself ranks it right up there with Fergie's daughters hats at the royal wedding. NOT the regular guy look, although Alice wears it well. Do not try this at home, or even at a Destruction or Watain show.

Per Billgren

 

 

Kyle Knodell

 

 

The Wondrous World of Bosch or Welcome to Hell!

Recently I went to The Netherlands for the Roadburn Festival. Thanks to Duane Harriot for running the Fun Machine for a week and not wrecking the gears! Last weeks episode was a full three hours of music and photos from the most enjoyable fest I have ever been to, and if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it (not because it's my program, mind you - it is my taste, but it was really programmed by those who put Roadburn together- thank them, not me)!

Since last year's festival was disrupted by a pesky volcanic eruption, I thought it would be wise to take an extra day ahead of the festival and eliminate the stress factor. I made my ever important sleeping bag connection ahead of time, and decided to head over to the town of 's-Hertogenbosch to check out the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center.

All of Bosch's works are in name museums, so I was not sure what to expect. This town probably would have no one paying attention to it except for their famous, intensely talented son. I'm not going to even go into describing his artwork here; if you are unfamiliar, go check out a link or two and get the scoop on this man.

The Art Center is housed in what had once been a church. It looks like a church, but when you step inside, all your senses tell you nearly right away (there's a large red curtain that separates the entrance from a lot of the exhibit area) that you may have actually stepped into a delightfully quirky version of hell. There is a telltale sculpture outside as well to tip you off, that in most ways, this was not going to be a religious experience, at least of a churchgoing nature.

The helpful women at the desk were concerned with the size of my backpack and could see I was being taxed by it's weight. They took it off my hands immediately although there was no coat room. The entrance fee was laughably cheap and I was given an audio guide to boot.  It was when I got to the other side of the curtain that I thought to myself "I'm going to be here for hours and hours"...

 

 

Introducing Saul Bass

By Pat Kirkham

I believe that there are very few artists in our time who have created as memorable a series of designs and objects. Saul Bass truly shaped the vision of our time. (Milton Glaser)

Great people like Saul Bass should be immortal...The incredible wit of Saul, his intelligent ability of reaching the essence of things, to grab form and content in powerful meaningful ways. (Massimo Vignelli)

 

When Saul Bass (1920-1996) died these tributes were among the many sent to his wife Elaine with whom he collaborated from 1960 onward on film titles and on a series of short films. I knew him in the last five years of his life and came to greatly admire both him and Elaine as I wrote articles about the film title sequences they were then creating for Martin Scorsese. Before he died, Saul was working on a book about his work, including that with Elaine, and since 2003 I have been working with their daughter, Jennifer Bass, on a book (to be published this coming October) about all the main areas touched by his enormous talent and creativity.

One of the most famous, influential and versatile visual communicators of the twentieth century, Saul worked as both graphic designer and film-maker. During a sixty years working life he produced a body of work that is as diverse as it is powerful. He set up his own design office in 1952 and one of the joys of my research has been to unearth many of Saul’s advertisements from the 1950s. They show him developing identities for companies and products just as he did from 1954 onwards for film when the flame around a rose was made to move at the opening of Carmen Jones. It was in the mid-to-late 1950s that he expanded the boundaries of graphic design to include film title sequences, a genre that he transformed.

He made his name with title sequences, posters, and trademarks of reductive and evocative intensity created for films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and Otto Preminiger’s The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Circulated worldwide, they provided some of the most compelling images of American postwar visual culture. By the late 1950s, Saul was probably the best-known graphic designer in the world. He went on to serve as visual consultant on five feature films (Spartacus, 1960; Psycho, 1960; West Side Story, 1961; Grand Prix, 1966; Not With My Wife You Don’t, 1966) and direct the now cult feature film, Phase IV (1974). From the 1960s Saul also became known as a leading designer of corporate identity programs, for companies and institutions as diverse as Quaker, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, Bell Telephone, AT&T, Minolta, the Girl Scouts and United Way and further enhanced his international reputation.

Elaine joined the office in 1956 and together they created an impressive series of award winning short films, including the Oscar-winning Why Man Creates (1968), Notes on the Popular Arts (1977) and The Solar Film (1981), and an equally impressive series of film titles - from Stanley Kramer’s Spartacus (1960 – Elaine directed it while Saul was at the World Design conference in Japan) to Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence and Casino in the 1990s.

Besides the areas already mentioned, Saul also designed packaging, retail displays, a modular hi-fi cabinet system, album covers, book covers, sculpture, lettering, typefaces, tiles, toys and a postage stamp. He illustrated a children’s book and, in collaboration with architects, designed play environments, a proposed pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair and a series of service stations. His versatility was often remarked upon, as was his problem-solving approach to design. In 1954 American Artist attributed the ‘underlying logic’ of his work to a ‘searching mind...always inquiring into the reason for things’. Forty years later Scorsese referred to his ‘searching eye’. Both mind and eye are central to an understanding of this versatile man who made a distinctive contribution to the visual vocabulary of postwar America.

Saul received many prestigious awards, including Art Director of the Year (1957) and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA, 1981). He took pride in recognition by his peers and gave back a great deal to the professions and institutions with which he was associated. He was active in the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) as well as the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and poured his prodigious energies into the Aspen International Design Conferences and helped establish the Sundance Institute.

Liberal by outlook and disposition, he had a strong moral backbone. He disapproved of advertising that used snobbery, social status or gratuitous sex to sell goods and refused assignments that offended his ‘conscience or sense of fitness’. He cared about things and gave his services free when asked to design posters, logos and invitations for not-for-profit causes in which he believed. His friends and colleagues described him to me as “A man who speaks up to the world”. “An artist with a soul”, “A person with a conscience” and “An artist with a capital A”. He was all of those things, and more. Most people commented upon his warmth and generosity. Robert Redford talked of “a spiritual energy. One that comes from the soul...an energy born out of talent, generosity, curiosity, wisdom, experience, joy”.

A born communicator (in later years he preferred the term visual communicator to that of designer), his large expressive hands painted their own pictures as he talked. He taught from time to time, mentoring many would-be designers and film-makers including USC student George Lucas. The number of people with whom Saul kept in touch after first meeting them when they were fledglings in their field is remarkable. It can be explained in part by his sociability, but he was also conscious of the importance of mentors in his own life, especially Howard Trafton Gyorgy Kepes who helped him transform from a talented designer into a contender.

Never happier than with an audience of young people, his last public appearance, in March 1996 (a month before his death), was a ‘master class’ presentation and discussion at the School of Visual Arts, New York, where a retrospective exhibition of his work had just opened. Those lucky enough to get a seat, squeeze into the aisles or stand in the stage wings, will never forget that tour de force, his humor or his humanity. Visibly ill, and present against doctor’s orders, he gave his all (as always), insisting on the primacy of integrity and curiosity and conveying his love of process in design and film-making. He made the audience laugh while he made us think. Afterward, he showed infinite patience with each and every question and remained behind with students until the janitors closed the hall around him.

Saul was a master of the dialectic of content and form. He went straight to the kernel of a design problem and then transform it into compelling pictorial signs. There is no definitive Bass aesthetic but recurrent elements include a strong tendency towards a single strong image, reduction, distillation, economy and minimalism – features associated with Modernism – and a concern with fragmentation, layering, addition, ambiguity, montage and metaphor – features more associated with post-Modernism, but which were much in evidence by the 1950s. Wit and humor is never far away. Nor is finely-honed lettering, a passion since his boyhood. 

Not too long before he dies he told me:

In the final analysis, content is the key and I’ve always looked for the simple idea. That is what I did in the ’50s and that is what Elaine and I do now. We have a very reductive point of view … We see the challenge in getting things down to something totally simple, and yet doing something with it, which provokes;… a simplicity, which has a certain ambiguity and a certain metaphorical implication … the idea that is so simple that it will make you think – and rethink. … It’s a risky business: we’re improvising and never know if it will work out.   

Watch more on Network Awesome

Read more in Network Awesome Magazine 

 

The Week In Live Music Photos

This week was juicy in terms of live shows to attend, I wanted to go to many, but have yet to clone myself and my jet propulsion unit is still at the shop. I cheated a bit, by having a band on the Fun Machine, to be able to provide you, the listener with some tracks aside from these pix, so here's a quick rundown!! Sunday March 27th, I caught Thin Lizzy at the Starland Ballroom. Brian Downey, Scott Gorham and Darren Wharton, all from the Lynott era were joined onstage by Marco Mendoza, Vivian Campbell and Ricky Warwick. The show was great, the set list was very different from the Sykes/Gorham era that ended rather unexpectedly the summer of 2009, and all is well! Here's a few shots from the show! Tuesday, Batillus made their way to Jersey City to douse the Fun Machine with some gasoline, torched

 

SXSW 2011: A Visual Landscape

I'm trying a new approach for this post. For multi-band events, my posts tend to be very very long, and the time it takes to do seems to make the effort moot, because they publish so far after the fact. So here are photos of some of the bands I took in at SXSW: bad vantage points are why some bands didn't make the cut. Here it is chronologically!    Below: 1/2 of Italy's The Secret, Keith Morris of Off!, Easy Action

    

At The MET- Guitar Heroes Exhibit

Currently there is an exhibit entitled "Guitar Heroes" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It runs through July 4th, and if you have any thought about a music exhibit "fitting in" to the premise of an art museum, think again. The show is put together with the utmost detail, and my accompanying photos are going to focus on that exact thing, in a different way; detail...after all, you all want to visit the MET and behold the show for yourselves- from the craftsmanship of the luthiers of northern Italy years ago right up to the Four Seasons guitars created by John Monteleone, I'd hate to spoil all the up close opulence with some quick pix.

The exhibit is divided into 5 parts: two historical eras; and then focusing on three primary Italian-American craftsmen in New York: John D'Angelico, whose New Yorker guitar model Chet Atkins likened to owning a Rolls Royce; James D'Aquisto, who offered special innovations like sound holes that can be opened and closed to create tonal differences; and John Monteleone, whose varied background in his father's design workshops opened his mind to liquid design sensibilities, as shown here on 2 detail shots of the Sun King guitar.

 

70,000 Tons: Metal Mutiny on the High Seas

1 cruise ship, 4 days, 42 bands, 2,000 people. Welcome to my recap of the 70,000 Tons of Metal "vacation event!" Check out the giant photo album, and this week's edition of Diane's Kamikaze Fun Machine with 70,000 Tons of tuneage! When the cabin was booked, about 20 bands were listed for the cruise. The promise was 40; it was so far off that it didn't feel like it was real. At that time, Death Angel (photo at right), Iced Earth, Fear Factory, Agent Steel, Testament, Exodus and Forbidden were some of the already confirmed bands. I don't remember worrying  if they would really book a full 40. The lineup was already more than adequate! The crap weather hit the Northeast just in time, and a Miami/Cozumel retreat looked like a pretty damn good idea. I had my misgivings, of course...this whole concept was such foreign territory in terms of how things were going to work in the collision of the cruise and metal worlds-and I thought it might not be pretty. I anticipated fights, things getting broken, people and suitcases going overboard, lots of vomit ... there definitely were things that lent themselves to going wrong. 

Dianekamikaze's 2010 Best of List

Amazing Releases::

Ludicra - The Tenant

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow

Tinsel Teeth - Trash As the Trophy 

Hail of Bullets - On Divine Winds

White Drugs - Gold Magic

Electric Wizard - Black Masses

Child Abuse - Cut And Run

Triclops! - Helpers on the Other Side

Horseback - The Invisible Mountain

High on Fire - Snakes For The Divine

 

 Amazing Experiences::

Easy Action LIVE on WFMU

Hugh Cornwell LIVE on WFMU/and interview

Coliseum LIVE on WFMU

Bleeding Ears Fest on WFMU (Wizardry pictured below)

Batillus and Kowloon Walled City LIVE on WFMU

Iron Man LIVE on WFMU

Away from Voivod interview

Justin Broadrick interview

 

 

Amazing Opportunities::

Engineering: The Sights on WFMU- Evan "funk" Davies program
Engineering: Rapp's Boat Yard on the Passaic River/Billy Jam special program

Engineering: The Communion on My Castle of Quiet

Engineering: Oblivians on Cherry Blossom Clinic w/Terre T

Engineering: Styrenes on Cherry Blossom Clinic w/Terre T

Amazing Live Performances::

Accept and Kings X

Laurie Anderson

Sleep, Doomriders, Unearthly Trance

Thrones and Christian Mistress

Watain and Goatwhore

Amazing Festivals::

SXSW: Dark Castle, Roky Erickson, Torche, Voivod, Weedeater, Coffinworm, Blower, Motorhead, Salome, Iron Man, Pierced Arrows, Sons of Hercules, Hickoids, Withered, Fucked Up, Jim Jones Revue, Tombs, Batusis, Goatwhore, Dixie Witch

see blog posts on SXSW here and here and here

High Voltage Fest: ELP, Opeth, Down, Focus, Gary Moore, Cathedral, Saxon, High On Fire, UFO, ZZ Top, Argent

see blog post on High Voltage Fest here

Posted by dianekamikaze on January 01, 2011 at 12:00 PM in Art, Billy Jam's Posts, Diane Kamikaze's Posts, Live at WFMU, MP3s, Music, Photography, Radio, Travel, WFMU Annual Favorites Lists, WFMU in General, William Berger's Posts | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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untitled
2010
Chemically altered chromogenic development print
24" x 20"

pillar
2010
Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development print
40" x 60"

new hole (sky)
2010
Chemically altered chromogenic development print
26" x 40

- - -

Work by Chicago based artist Curtis Mann.
If you're in Chicago check out his exhibition "everything after" at Kavi Gupta Gallery.
Wish I could see it in person, the installation photo's look amazing, though.

If you swung by WFMU's 2010 Record Fair back in October, you may have noticed Eilon Paz's Dust & Grooves photo booth setup near the pizza dept.

Eilon snapped some amazing photos of Record Fair attendees showing off their purchases, and has just posted the pics here for your amusement.

Thanks Eilon!

Hope to see y'all at our 2011 Record Fair, slated for Oct 28, 29, and 30!

WFMU is taking pledges RIGHT NOW to send Station Manager Ken aloft with helium balloons! Pledge now to help us reach our goal by noon! For every $1000 we raise, we'll fill up a balloon and tie it to Ken, who is in the WFMU parking lot in his favorite lawn chair. If we're successful, Ken will lift off!

Click here to pledge or call 800-989-9368! Live video feed of the whole debacle below, and photos from the parking lot scene here (courtesy of Jeff Moore)...

 

Halloween weekend has passed us, and I had to update you on my exploits at The Chiller Theatre Expo! Check their website, as many fans contribute their own photos-my interests may not be the same as yours! I got my Paul  Revere and the Raiders- Greatest Hits LP signed by Mark Lindsay (at right)! There was an I Dream of Jeannie reunion that I did not partake in, but had to walk through and take a look at Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman and Bill Daily. I also did get to meet Richard Roundtree (photo below), Patricia Quinn- photo below (Magenta from Rocky Horror), Zacherley the Cool Ghoul, Ernie Hudson, Patty Duke, and Gomez Addams himself-- John Astin! He and I had a lovely conversation about headstands; here's what he told me..."I was always pretty good at doing them, so whenever the story called for it, I just popped up and did one. Every so often if I was tired or not feeling 100% I would have them put one of those donut shaped pillows under the carpet, but for the most part, I did all my headstands without a worry." He said it had been awhile since he'd done one, but wouldn't rule out ever doing one again, "never say never, there's no fun in that!" He is heavily associated with the John's Hopkins Theatre Department in Baltimore, and Mr. Astin performs a one man Edgar Allan Poe show from time to time that I have not gotten a chance to see, but would love to. Keep your eyes peeled for this guy, upside down, or right side up! Below is a YouTube clip of him reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" a couple of years ago. I had Chiller originator Kevin Clement on the Fun Machine a couple of weeks ago because Chiller celebrated it's 20th anniversary this year, check the archive here- and here's a pic of the cake! 

I was also thrilled to see that one of the sharks from JAWS was there, and proceeded to ham it up... you're welcome!

There were about a million great shows that I missed this week: Goatwhore at Europa (friend review: "One of the best bands I've seen this year"), Buzzov'en at Public Assembly (friend review: "pretty close to great"), The Vibrators at the Bell House, etc. However I did have the extreme pleasure of attending several shows. I got out to see Accept and Kings X at BB Kings on Monday. As expected, Kings X went on at 7:53 for an 8pm time slot. Vocalist Doug Pinnick (pictured right) requested the AC be shut off for the sake of his voice; the club complied and we all got sweaty! But in the mood of the set, they were upbeat and spot on. Kings X reminds me of a mellower, more heavily grooved Queens of the Stone Age, but originating years and years prior. They are a band that probably never made a ton of money, but are amazing players and always put their heart into their shows. Satisfaction level: 4/5, Surprise level 2/5. Next: Accept took the stage with new vocalist Mark Tornillo. This could have been wrong, jokelike, corny, cover band-ish--I mean it really had the potential to be terrible. I know Tornillo has been with them for more than a year now, and by the way, their new album Blood of the Nations is GREAT but a presence like Udo Dirkschneider's gotta be missed, no? Hell no! Purists, don't sell yourself short of a great time, expand your horizons and go see Accept- you'll have a blast!! Tornillo, who hails from NJ; has pulled this off perfectly! He had been the vocalist for TT Quick - a band that never really got it's due back in the day.

It would not surprise any of you to know that I am a record collector. Many of us here at WFMU would lead much more spacious and comfortable lives if our record collections didn't take up the square footage it did. So be it. I am always reading the latest articles on how to take care of these precious pieces of vinyl better; how to resurrect a bit of warped garage sale vinyl, and the safest way to re-stick labels to said round flat plastic pieces. I read this article a little while ago about using wood glue to remove dirt from records. My brain kept bugging me to try it, so after about a year of dawdling, I did. Read the entire article if you wish, it's very informative as to why wood glue won't adhere to vinyl, and other questions you might have before diving in. As interesting as it was to do, I heard no difference on my subjects! I could see a bit more of a sheen to them, but I recorded each record before and after and found no real noticeable difference. I did this experiment with a couple of garage sale 45s, and maybe they were as clean as they were going to get. Regardless, I thought I'd show y'all some of the progress pix I took-of course, the result could have been far better, but you, dear reader, get me with failure as well as with triumph. The first pic is the glue application before the "easy removal tags" have been added. The second photo is (yes, eagle-eye, it's a different record) how the record looks in it's drying state: glue smoothed out by use of a credit card, and easy removal tags in place. The last two are before and after shots of one of the 45s I used in the process. Slight difference in sheen. As for my garage sale "finds", I'll share with you this week's lot: a Phil Silvers die-cut cover of the Broadway show Do-Re-Mi, which was about jukeboxes and part of the "music industry". The record is in great shape, and I love the Hirschfeld-esque illustration of Silvers on the cover. A second art-related find is the album by Sailcat, with cover art by none other than Mad Magazine's Jack Davis - see an amazing collection of his works on this Flickr album I found. As far as 2-pieces go, Sailcat pales in comparison to Dark Castle- live pics here, who are on tour with Nachtmystium and Zoroaster into October. Photos taken from the Knitting Factory show this past week. Top pic = Dark Castle, bottom pic = Nachtmystium. And, no, the vocalist for Nachtmystium does not sport a mohawk; it's just one of those action photos! Dunno if you'll hear Sailcat on a future edition of the Fun Machine, but you can be sure there'll be some Dark Castle, Nachtmystium and Zoroaster soon! Out of the three, Zoroaster has the most recent release (their third), is called Matador and is on the E1 label.

Last month, Billy Jam had asked me to help him with a remote broadcast on September 10th, to which I obliged happily, not entirely taking note where it was going to be. I put the date/time in my schedule and was going to get the details closer to the broadcast. I got directions emailed to me a day before the remote and the descriptions "treacherous", "fire trap", "sketchy", "caution", "down the cliff",  and "deadly", were all within the body of this email. As was "X Ray Burns"... I thought to myself "this is either going to be a blast, or it'll be the last day of my life!" I packed my bathing suit and went headfirst into the broadcast that Billy titled "Dirty Jersey: Throw the Needle in the River": featuring Bill Rapp, Wheeler Antabanez, The Two Maks (Weird NJ), X-Ray Burns, Diane Kamikaze, DEMER, & Gentrified. All NJ aficionados, homeboys, homebodies, historians, hooligans or devotees, in their own way. If you haven't checked out the archive of the show, check this minute long YouTube blast for a taste of how the entire 3 hours went down - and literally almost washed down the river if it weren't for some quick troubleshooting by Liz Berg back at the compound.

Curtis Mann's Attempt to Destroy What's There

untitled
2010
Chemically altered chromogenic development print
24" x 20"

pillar
2010
Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development print
40" x 60"

new hole (sky)
2010
Chemically altered chromogenic development print
26" x 40

- - -

Work by Chicago based artist Curtis Mann.
If you're in Chicago check out his exhibition "everything after" at Kavi Gupta Gallery.
Wish I could see it in person, the installation photo's look amazing, though.

Pics from the Dust & Grooves booth at the Record Fair

If you swung by WFMU's 2010 Record Fair back in October, you may have noticed Eilon Paz's Dust & Grooves photo booth setup near the pizza dept.

Eilon snapped some amazing photos of Record Fair attendees showing off their purchases, and has just posted the pics here for your amusement.

Thanks Eilon!

Hope to see y'all at our 2011 Record Fair, slated for Oct 28, 29, and 30!

Pledge to WFMU now to send Ken up with helium!

WFMU is taking pledges RIGHT NOW to send Station Manager Ken aloft with helium balloons! Pledge now to help us reach our goal by noon! For every $1000 we raise, we'll fill up a balloon and tie it to Ken, who is in the WFMU parking lot in his favorite lawn chair. If we're successful, Ken will lift off!

Click here to pledge or call 800-989-9368! Live video feed of the whole debacle below, and photos from the parking lot scene here (courtesy of Jeff Moore)...

 

Chiller Theatre 20th Anniversary

Halloween weekend has passed us, and I had to update you on my exploits at The Chiller Theatre Expo! Check their website, as many fans contribute their own photos-my interests may not be the same as yours! I got my Paul  Revere and the Raiders- Greatest Hits LP signed by Mark Lindsay (at right)! There was an I Dream of Jeannie reunion that I did not partake in, but had to walk through and take a look at Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman and Bill Daily. I also did get to meet Richard Roundtree (photo below), Patricia Quinn- photo below (Magenta from Rocky Horror), Zacherley the Cool Ghoul, Ernie Hudson, Patty Duke, and Gomez Addams himself-- John Astin! He and I had a lovely conversation about headstands; here's what he told me..."I was always pretty good at doing them, so whenever the story called for it, I just popped up and did one. Every so often if I was tired or not feeling 100% I would have them put one of those donut shaped pillows under the carpet, but for the most part, I did all my headstands without a worry." He said it had been awhile since he'd done one, but wouldn't rule out ever doing one again, "never say never, there's no fun in that!" He is heavily associated with the John's Hopkins Theatre Department in Baltimore, and Mr. Astin performs a one man Edgar Allan Poe show from time to time that I have not gotten a chance to see, but would love to. Keep your eyes peeled for this guy, upside down, or right side up! Below is a YouTube clip of him reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" a couple of years ago. I had Chiller originator Kevin Clement on the Fun Machine a couple of weeks ago because Chiller celebrated it's 20th anniversary this year, check the archive here- and here's a pic of the cake! 

I was also thrilled to see that one of the sharks from JAWS was there, and proceeded to ham it up... you're welcome!

Semi Social Calendar This Past Week

There were about a million great shows that I missed this week: Goatwhore at Europa (friend review: "One of the best bands I've seen this year"), Buzzov'en at Public Assembly (friend review: "pretty close to great"), The Vibrators at the Bell House, etc. However I did have the extreme pleasure of attending several shows. I got out to see Accept and Kings X at BB Kings on Monday. As expected, Kings X went on at 7:53 for an 8pm time slot. Vocalist Doug Pinnick (pictured right) requested the AC be shut off for the sake of his voice; the club complied and we all got sweaty! But in the mood of the set, they were upbeat and spot on. Kings X reminds me of a mellower, more heavily grooved Queens of the Stone Age, but originating years and years prior. They are a band that probably never made a ton of money, but are amazing players and always put their heart into their shows. Satisfaction level: 4/5, Surprise level 2/5. Next: Accept took the stage with new vocalist Mark Tornillo. This could have been wrong, jokelike, corny, cover band-ish--I mean it really had the potential to be terrible. I know Tornillo has been with them for more than a year now, and by the way, their new album Blood of the Nations is GREAT but a presence like Udo Dirkschneider's gotta be missed, no? Hell no! Purists, don't sell yourself short of a great time, expand your horizons and go see Accept- you'll have a blast!! Tornillo, who hails from NJ; has pulled this off perfectly! He had been the vocalist for TT Quick - a band that never really got it's due back in the day.

The Great Glue Gimmick and a Bit on Graphics

It would not surprise any of you to know that I am a record collector. Many of us here at WFMU would lead much more spacious and comfortable lives if our record collections didn't take up the square footage it did. So be it. I am always reading the latest articles on how to take care of these precious pieces of vinyl better; how to resurrect a bit of warped garage sale vinyl, and the safest way to re-stick labels to said round flat plastic pieces. I read this article a little while ago about using wood glue to remove dirt from records. My brain kept bugging me to try it, so after about a year of dawdling, I did. Read the entire article if you wish, it's very informative as to why wood glue won't adhere to vinyl, and other questions you might have before diving in. As interesting as it was to do, I heard no difference on my subjects! I could see a bit more of a sheen to them, but I recorded each record before and after and found no real noticeable difference. I did this experiment with a couple of garage sale 45s, and maybe they were as clean as they were going to get. Regardless, I thought I'd show y'all some of the progress pix I took-of course, the result could have been far better, but you, dear reader, get me with failure as well as with triumph. The first pic is the glue application before the "easy removal tags" have been added. The second photo is (yes, eagle-eye, it's a different record) how the record looks in it's drying state: glue smoothed out by use of a credit card, and easy removal tags in place. The last two are before and after shots of one of the 45s I used in the process. Slight difference in sheen. As for my garage sale "finds", I'll share with you this week's lot: a Phil Silvers die-cut cover of the Broadway show Do-Re-Mi, which was about jukeboxes and part of the "music industry". The record is in great shape, and I love the Hirschfeld-esque illustration of Silvers on the cover. A second art-related find is the album by Sailcat, with cover art by none other than Mad Magazine's Jack Davis - see an amazing collection of his works on this Flickr album I found. As far as 2-pieces go, Sailcat pales in comparison to Dark Castle- live pics here, who are on tour with Nachtmystium and Zoroaster into October. Photos taken from the Knitting Factory show this past week. Top pic = Dark Castle, bottom pic = Nachtmystium. And, no, the vocalist for Nachtmystium does not sport a mohawk; it's just one of those action photos! Dunno if you'll hear Sailcat on a future edition of the Fun Machine, but you can be sure there'll be some Dark Castle, Nachtmystium and Zoroaster soon! Out of the three, Zoroaster has the most recent release (their third), is called Matador and is on the E1 label.

Put the Needle, the Baseball Bat and the Canoe, in the River...

Last month, Billy Jam had asked me to help him with a remote broadcast on September 10th, to which I obliged happily, not entirely taking note where it was going to be. I put the date/time in my schedule and was going to get the details closer to the broadcast. I got directions emailed to me a day before the remote and the descriptions "treacherous", "fire trap", "sketchy", "caution", "down the cliff",  and "deadly", were all within the body of this email. As was "X Ray Burns"... I thought to myself "this is either going to be a blast, or it'll be the last day of my life!" I packed my bathing suit and went headfirst into the broadcast that Billy titled "Dirty Jersey: Throw the Needle in the River": featuring Bill Rapp, Wheeler Antabanez, The Two Maks (Weird NJ), X-Ray Burns, Diane Kamikaze, DEMER, & Gentrified. All NJ aficionados, homeboys, homebodies, historians, hooligans or devotees, in their own way. If you haven't checked out the archive of the show, check this minute long YouTube blast for a taste of how the entire 3 hours went down - and literally almost washed down the river if it weren't for some quick troubleshooting by Liz Berg back at the compound.