Emo's and Femmes and Germans ... oh my!

NEED SLEEP!

The last 48 hours have been quite action packed to say the least! Yesterday we drove to L.A. to see the "How To Destroy the Universe" concert at the Echo Lounge near Sunset Boulevard. Okay...maybe we were just there to see Blixa Bargeld, but we kept an opened mind.
The trip was pretty standard...well, with the manditory trip to Claude Bell's Dinosaur Park...

..at our destination, we spent the 2-3 hours we had to wait (damn you time zone!!!) we took in a few of the sites/food then took our place in line. For those who've never heard of Blixa, many of his fans lean towards black clothes and anything somewhat understated. To our horror our line was inhabited by folks who would have been more at home in a rave or a Weezer concert. Yammering like monkeys, they talked about what they did an hour earlier...what they wore...what they ate there...why they ate it...etc. Fighting the urge to strangle them one by one, our traveling companion Jef (yes one "f"...long story) asked a day-glo clad female who they were here to see. "Of Montreal" she snapped. An evil smile came across all of our faces as Jef responded "uh...this concert is for Blixa Bargeld." Their smug faces went totally blank as their leader (not wanting to be wrong) went instde to ask the bouncer. She emerged and didn't say a syllable, but walked off dragging her clan down the street. This happened 20+ times during our wait, but the rest of that is a very long story.
The lounge was populated by chairs and we made a beeline straight to the first 3 seats in the first row. As "The 16s" began the first set, our spirits began to sink as the lead singer somehow aping the vocal talents of Atari Teenage Riot started caterwauling over a disused Joy Division drum sample. It was...interesting, but thankfully over quick. On to the second act, Savage Republic. Picture Sigur Ros and Iron Butterfly eating their instruments while being slowly crushed in an industrial sized press and you've got the sound...but EVEN BETTER it seems every asshole that was mulling about on the street came in and chose to stand DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE STAGE!!! Many of these courteous souls shot smug stares in our direction as if to say "pitiful wretches ... why are you sitting behind me? Can't you see I'm in front of you?" But a rain fell on their parade when Blixa was due to appear. An announcer appeared requesting everyone sit during the performance. And instantly the "in-crowd" transformed into a mass of confused cows. "SIT?! HE WANTS US TO WHAT?!"
The smug glances had turned to pitiful "Can I sit there?" requests. The evil grins re-appeared on our weary faces as the crowd was given an ultimatum "Sit or Leave" Grudgingly they accepted chairs and attempted to stake their claim in front of us...nothing doing...we scooted forward with each attempt at a better seat. But eventually (with much bitching from the "hip" L.A. crowd) Blixa emerged. Although faced with a tough, bitchy, and attitude driven crowd, Blixa's performance was astounding. He appeared solo, armed with 2 samplers and his own voice and it turned my opinion of him completely around.
We didn't wait for the last act and beat it for home. Long drive back...no sleep...but it was worth it to see all the bizarre scenes. In Tucson again, Sheri and I remembered the Violent Femmes were in concert tonight. We thought...fuckit, she saw em an eon ago and I never saw em. Glad we went because they totally made up for the shitty bits of the previous night (minus Blixa of course) and sounded great! An added bonus was that I got to see my ex-roomate Matt again at the concert and we trucked off to his fave bar after the concert. The bar ruled, the patrons ruled and I got drunk and karaoked "Delilah" by Tom Jones! So how was that for a weekend?

later

Konichi-wa Japan!

A violent game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, a masturbation endurance event, a squirrel with big nuts, and pretty girls with pork chops strapped to their heads...what do they all have in common? They're all on Japanese television! And god bless em to have the aspiration to create the bizarre and head scratch-worthy television programs that we in the united states will never have the cajones to attempt. They seem to have the unencumbered freedom to create the nuttiest shows they can dream up without the moral and right (pronounced BORING) society poking it's uppity nose into it. Dammit, I ADORE everything about deranged japanese television! A nation not afraid to grab the TV viewing public by the nuts and heartily twist and we're putting along with the world's most god-awful dreck like seinfeld, suddenly snoozin (err- susan), and any other derivative crap we can steal from the rest of the world. I am very sad to see the US fall behind in the realm of outlandish T.V.! A whole nation sated my recycled crap and Burger King ads with little or no will to revolt in favor of mind altering television!
I say our only savior in this sea of refuse is the bent individuals unafraid to create their own mind bending entertainment is the stalwart souls of public access and the internet (insert hallelujah chorus here)! Just when I begin to lose faith in humanity I turn to the crazies of these two worlds and I can't seem to put gun to temple with the overflow of insanity and bent appeal. A group of people with far too much time and imagination given an outlet for every brain damaged whim. Fuck, how can you not dig that? People you'd avoid like the plague given a chance to soapbox all the crazy voices in their head, and add the most twisted shit you could think of just to grap your attention for the duration of their 15 minutes of fame!
...I salute them all


I leave you with strangeness from Japan:
Sore Loser
Meat helmets?
This is a kids show?
Sorry, wrong answer
I strangely want to buy a toilet

I, Ricky Retardo

...Hokay, Bunnyman Z(short for Zapata) came out of something I did while being a little more tipsy than I should have been. But, I like it.

As for goings on I've been busy (there's a surprise) with putting together some of my art for an upcoming art-rock book being put together by Dark Horse/Sal Canzonieri (of Electric Frankenstein fame) called "A Fistfull of Rock." Am I excited? duh...hell yea I'm excited! And if I play my cards right I may also be in another book about Rollerderby coming later on. And who says working for free doesn't pan out from time to time?
Also after seeing the many other art blogs and the infrequency of my updates, I've decided to post sketches, half done drawings, etc to my blog then archive the finished pieces to my site so none of you think I'm pushing up the daisies somewhere. I figure that would get me into the routine of scanning the damn things instead of letting em lay out on my desk at home.

peace n' chickengrease

2006 - A space cadets odyssey...

...Back for another year of interesting highs and lows after some well deserved time off for good(?) behavior. Can't say I miss 2005, but there was much fun to be had and I don't regret any of it. I spent awhile thinking about the oft maligned (and often broken) resolutions every one of us dream up after waking on New Year's Day with the alcohol fairy doing her best to chisel your head open to stab at the meaty center with her magical pickaxe....but I'm wandering again. My resolution was to further my art career and try my hand at working under my own steam as a freelancer. And with luck make a bit of money at it too. Lofty? Yes. But I'm getting too old to drag my sleepy ass to a 9 to 5 job that has become easy and monotonous. Granted I'm getting bitchier than teenage girl at a J-Lo concert, but as I'm reaching my "Eric Clapton Years" I kinda want more outta my life than just simply doing the same thing over and over each year. Will it happen? Who knows ...but, I'm gonna try like hell to sway my odds.

Joe