where its at

WHERE ITS AT - WINTER WONDERGLAM - TONIGHT!!

tonights the night of the annual winter wonderglam. 9pm sharp at rudz $5 cheap... VRS//FISKADORO//CHELSEA HOTEL//DEAD ROSES//AFTER PARTY... dress well.

WHERE IT'S AT TONIGHT!

after party (kirston otis of fiskadoro, ralf armin of dead roses and a million other great bands) are playing at deans credit clothing tonight. thou shalt not kill..except is also on the bill. the show is FREE.

this will be the first after party show in 2 years.

i'd post the flyer but i can't find where i put it.

LETTER TO THE WIRE

published in october 2009 issue.

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

LIVE REVIEW: GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TOM

//TENSE//

FUTURE BLONDES

AFTER PARTY

A THOUSAND CRANES

DJ CEEPLUS BAD KNIVES

@ mango's houston tx 7-24-09

A THOUSAND CRANES opened up with a brave set of burning incense, sacred drones, guitar feedback and travis kerschen expressing complete and total love for all humanity & animals.. and forgiveness of all abusers and enemies. his vocal style is somewhat reminiscent of jon vance of the legendary late 80s/early 90s hardcore band moss icon. his stage presence is undeniably intense, just staring at the audience through dark glasses while beats and noise envelop us. one of these days they will release an album, and based on the cdr's i've heard, it will be tremendous.

AFTER PARTY is a side project of ralf armin's amazing band dead roses. this was drum machine driven and made me think of the music wire may have made in that 7 1/2 year period between '154' and 'the ideal copy'. they just came back from a short tour and were really strong. this is totally a dance band and i hope to hear more from them soon.

FUTURE BLONDES is based around houston legend domokos. when i started hanging out a few months ago dom was the first person i met. meeting him has opened doors. name dropping him has gotten us bank loans. name dropping him has gotten us better drugs. name dropping him has gotten us locked in an infamous mexican prison. right after i met him he left town for a few months, but he's returned and last night was his first show since coming back. as he chanted like jah shaka in an echo chamber, a guy alternating between a moog liberation and a fucked up spray painted guitar played with drum sticks, and tina from how i quit crack niced up the dance.. it was scary and awesome (in the original sense of the word). this was the band that should've played that scene in 'fire walk with me' where the dialogue had to be subtitled. i felt wasted afterwards. and it was a good feeling.

i had never seen //TENSE// perform but they were really great. a boy girl duo, playing behind programmed rhythms attacking drum pads.. i originally started thinking heaven 17, but ralf armin corrected me saying it was more german than that. think some kraftwerk offshoot i missed out on, the beats were motorik.. maybe a touch of soft cell but way more aggro then marc almond ever got. even when almond was fucked up on drugs. afterwards, the gentlemen half of //tense// gave me a cdr that i'm listening to as i write and its really good. will discuss this in the future.

also, i don't want to neglect mentioning DJ CEEPLUS BAD KNIVES who did a dj set between bands. for some reason this reminded me of the time brandon pkH and i saw sonic boom do a solo spectrum set in nyc w the long lost philly noise band un & a duo of alan licht & loren mazzacane-conners opening. in between those acts dj spooky spun an awesome set. dj ceeplus's set was nothing like (never seen spooky scratch) that but it worked in the same way. i don't believe i'm explaining it well... i'd suggest you see him dj. i mean, that fucked up intro to 'oh bondage up yours' would've been worth the price of admission even if the show wasn't free.

ok. yeah...

-sharpe james