WHERE'S IT AT?

LIVE REVIEW: SORRY, THE BATTERY IN MY PEDAL JUST DIED

HOW I QUIT CRACK

//TENSE//

VOIDMATE

live at the mink, houston tx 9-26-09

how i quit crack formerly

houston, now austin at $220/month

liquid sky beats cribbed from the normal

(it all goes back to the normal, look them

up i say)

drones and song

song and feedback

this korg synth says freedom

the make up glows like shiva

this is how we do that dance

tense did their thing

and first just me and jon read up front

then dom then dom then d...

sin realite

if you don't get this - i mean,

why the hell houston press?

why aren't you covering this?

why some post-punk transplants

from jersey need to scoop you?

tense is awesome once again

this is how we do that dance

voidmate - apologies..

its been a tough week.

hung a bit with ralf dead roses after party

dom future somethings did don rickles bit

said hello to jon the wiggins

met people we never before knew

(the importance of living)

missed voidmate. we really

wanted to hear voidmates cover

of 'ouija board, ouija board'

but alas, drove home in mad fog

288 to the city of enchantment

signpost.

this is how we do that dance.

-sharpe james

FISKADORO/SOMOSUNO/COSMIC SOUND @ MANGO'S 10-7-09

MARBLES

lets start collecting marbles

turning sand into glass

25 lbs

ice blue

decorative

marbles for $42

its the stuff of our nuclear dreams

and the old rasta says:

war.

WORKER AND PARASITE MOUSE

THE GATED BALL

PIRATES

...and we live in a world where

people along the somalian coast

are dying of radiation sickness.

and you can't figure out why they are angry?

-sharpe james

LIST #2

tonight @ the 423 gallery:

depeche mode 'black celebration'

!!! 'take ecstasy with me/get up'

the glove 'robert smith 1983 vocal demos'

u2 'war'

ultra vivid scene 'ultra vivid scene'

wire 'send'

and the night is still young

stop.

and the chorus goes -

ba ba ba ba ba bang!

THIS ONE

its time to build this new language

we have no other choice

-sharpe james

LIVE REVIEW: FIRE

LORD JEFF

PRINCE RAMA OF AYODHYA

A THOUSAND CRANES

@ mango's 9-14-09 houston tx

(note: blackie was sick so he had to cancel)..

jen and i started our evening by wandering over to half price books on westheimer. she was checking out books on philosophies of indian cooking. not recipes or anything - we have a copy of lord krishna's cuisine by yamuna devi so we are good there - just the ideas behind it. don't let anyone tell you cooking food is just cooking food. if that were true we'd all starve to death. i was immersed in the photo book yes rasta by patrick cariou. i found the book deeply inspiring (go and read the introductory essay, you'll see). we were both sad that we left empty handed (i should have bought it) but we're on the punk rock budget these days. so went and shared some hummus and headed to mango's.

A THOUSAND CRANES were much different this night than our previous encounters with them. travis performed with members of prince rama in an epic set of improvised mystic song that had me thinking about pharoah sanders hanging out with rasta sects in the hills of jamaica. and i do not mean that in a dub way or anything - but the feeling of otherness, the realization that the world is nothing more than illusion or a cruel practical joke perpetuated by some vast corporate entity on the peoples of the world who fall for it hook, line and sinker. and there was fire. and there were strobe lights firing back at the audience and it looked like travis was leaving his body. optical illusion or seeing some sort of truth i'd never noticed before?

PRINCE RAMA OF AYODHYA was a band i'd heard about from travis and other people in this community since we lost our jobs and started hanging out. they are a trio living in boston (though maybe not for long) made up of sisters tanaka and nimai larson and (secret weapon) michael collins. they handed out small, loud percussive instruments to the audience before their set (actually we reached into a magic bag and pulled them out) letting the audience totally in on the performance. their music was this total maelstrom of drums & drones & spiritual celebration mixed with sci-fi synths. it was like seeing a performance by krishna devotees on mars. it was both stunning and inspiring and its still going on in my head as i type this 10 hours later or so..

LORD JEFF is from northampton, massachusetts near where jen went to boarding school (and a member of lord jeff's girlfriend went to the same school - small world). lord jeff were like booker t & the mg's with a taste for modern r & b (to the point of brilliantly covering i'm n luv (wit a stripper) - if only mike jones was there and we could have screwed and chopped it..) a total garage band writing deceptively awesome songs. this band should play every new years eve celebration until the world ends - i mean, i can't stand new years eve but i could get up for this.

perhaps the highlight of the evening was afterwards, just hanging outside mango's on this warm late summers night with all these people who'd just played and we'd just met. talking about how much public school sucked (or how awesome it was). or how much private school sucked (or how awesome it was). telling tales out of school about born to run, florida, suicidal tendencies, thurston moore, jim jarmusch and college hockey. dude, that is what punk rock is about.

-rich kimball

WHERE'S IT AT?

tonight at mango's -

A THOUSAND CRANES

PRINCE RAMA OF AYODHA

LORD JEFF

BLACKIE

do not miss...

-sharpe james

CARROLL

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/09/14/jim-carroll-obit.html

-sharpe james via canadian media

VMAs

Beyonce's a pro.

-jen kimball

BARCELONA 2006

TV

8 YEARS/NO MORE WAR

8 years ago today were the 9/11 attacks. i witnessed this 10 miles away from the roof of the former balantine ale factory on raymond boulevard in newark, nj (at this time it was an independent chemical distributor selling materials for hair care products). jen was working in linden, nj at the time. we had not yet officially met.

about a month later i remember going to new york city to see a performance by joe strummer & the mescaleros. before the show i was wandering around union square reading placards made by the newly formed NOT IN OUR NAME group. as i was and am punk, this made a great impression on me as a voice of sanity and reason in an insane and evil world.

if anything since that day the world has gotten more insane and evil. the rastafarian concept of babylon is here (as in babylon is the place we are living in) and it is thriving. and we are witnessing this country fall apart before our very eyes.

the mescaleros opened their set with a long and tremendously moving instrumental version of the traditional song minstrel boy, a song which had been on their previous (and best) album 'global a go go'. coincidentally, a bagpipe version of this song was performed at the funeral of firefighters and police officers killed in the world trade center attack.

FISKADORO SAY: STARE DOWN THE MOUNTAINS & END THE WARS!

and to paraphrase the bad brains - lets leave this babylon.

-rich kimball

LIVE REVIEW: PIPELINES

FISKADORO

IN THE POURING RAIN

@423 gallery, lake jackson tx 9-10-09

it was a special occasion last night as friend of the 423 gallery drew j. returned to visit south texas. drew is currently living and working in ohio and has not had the opportunity to see the functioning synth punk of FISKADORO. but not only did he see the duo in fine form on their (literal) home carpet. he got to see them perform a set heavy with new songs (including penelope and back from j.a.)

since it was a party, IN THE POURING RAIN gave a dj set (they are thinking of maybe playing live in band form in the future) that included spins of 423 gallery faves like tortoise, singers & players, bauhaus, wire, split enz, black flag, and even the beatles.

-sharpe james

FISKADORO/IN THE POURING RAIN @ 423 GALLERY 9-10-09

LIST #1

423 gallery labor day weekend playlist:

indian jewelry 'free gold'

fiskadoro 'the ballad of fiskadoro'

the clash 'super black market clash'

the clash 'from here to eternity'

alex chilton 'like flies on sherbert'

craig wedren 'lapland'

owen 'owen'

bright eyes 'digital ash in a digital urn'

desperacidos 'read english speak spanish'

interpol 'turn on the bright lights'

broken social scene 'you forgot it in people'

new order 'movement'

the cure 'seventeen seconds'

hood 'cold house'

new order 'retro: mike pickering club disc'

the glove 'blue sunshine' reissue (both discs)

prince 'around the world in a day'

next weeks show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FQaNllAw0

615

indian jewelry should think about doing a dub mix for their song nonetheless.

-rich kimball

620

so what if you were in a band

where you weren't the key member

and you didn't write the songs

or build the show flyers

could that help?...

just sayin'...

617

i ran this blank page

through a blinder

and it smelled of pasta

then salt

and peppermint

as if this was the world we knew.

MORE CRANES