Now that I have 2 jobs I think this whole planner thing might not be so bad. I went to hang my work up at this place in dayton last night. It was okay, but I just feel so over whelmed. So if I'm not seen for awhile I'm probably at studio, the cac, or the esquire. if you can catch me, bring coffee. Aaron you thingy is almost done. yay! I'm some how getting an A in my geology class and I have no idea what I'm doing or what the hell geology is about. But i dono. I'm going to try and convience this dude from sculpture to come and fix my blinds because his girlfriend bitched me out for hitting on him (which I didn't . . . . . come to think of it I don't even know his name), but I figure if I'm going to get yelled at for me something I didn't even do so that she can have drama, I'm going to just piss her off because it's fun and I think that it my be well spent free time. Fin.

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soon, i'll get to see the return of one of my favorite bands ever, skinny puppy. until then, i'll make due with these preview shots from the tour:

• 2004-10-16, Tempe AZ
• i don't know where these are from.... (Boston, I think)

This one's cool:

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Carl Lewis is my new favorite singer!



(not really)

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np: Einstürzende Neubauten Perpetuum Mobile

So, I totally need to catch up, diary style, so this is going to have to be much less detailed than Aaron's blog entries (as mine usually are).

10/21 (thu)

Right after work, Gabe, David, and I went to the Southgate House (after collecting our gear). This was the Sound Off for Kerry benefit I mentioned earlier. Twenty bands, on three floors. I got some pics, which I posted on the Cincymusic Boards. The set was good, though I couldn't hear Gabe too well. (He said he'll be getting a compressor soon, which will help that.) Mike, as I suspected, didn't play with us.

10/22 (fri)

Though I intended to get a nap after work, it didn't happen, as I ended up staying a bit late. I met up with Gabe, and we ate some Indian food, then traveled with Baby Kitty and January Fairy over to the abode of VenomousValdez for the latter's bonfire party. I got the fire going strong (because I'm good at it), but we soon had to leave. (I did get some pics there, too.) Gabe and I went to a friend's birthday party, but left there after only a short time to go play Halo some more.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful, though I did see I Heart Huckabees on Sunday. It's good, though I think at times it tries to be a bit of a funny Magnolia. I recommend it, though.

I also finished the audio books of Fight Club and Slaughterhouse Five. Now I'm listening to John Irving's Widow for One Year, on which the recent film A Door in the Floor was based. Early on (like, 10 minutes into the 24 hours of novel) I could see that the film is very different from the novel. So different, in fact, that it's not even interfering with my enjoyment of the (audio) book. (I do recommend the film, though.)

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now playing: Tujiko Noriko's From Tokyo to Naiagara



It's amazing to me how much sports matter to the average joe on the street. i overheard someone saying how they were tired because they were "at the game last night". After a bit more explanation, he expressed that he felt as if he were a part of history because, for the first time in 15 years, the Bengals will host a monday night football game, and he had been there.



not only am i not interested in sports, i dont even watch tv, generally. apparently it was a big deal, though.

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When I was a kid (in the mid-80s), we had this game called Dark Tower, which was sort of an electronic board game. It had a circular board/map, divided into four country-like areas, through which your character moved in search of keys. In the center of the board there was an actual tower, which was the electronic part of the game. You played your turns on the tower itself, and it determined which events happened to your character on each turn.

Let me see if I can find an image on the web...

Here's an image of the tower:

You can sort of see that the tower window had a central window, in which images would appear (backlit from within) dictating the events/outcome of each turn. [Jeez, in finding that image, i see the cost of a replacement tower is high -- $80 for one that's a bit scuffed, and $125 for one in near-mint condition. i think one of my brothers has our old one.]

Anyway, we loved this game, and played it often.

Where's all of this leading? Well, my brother Joe sent me a link to an awesome Dark Tower Flash Game, with the associated sounds and everything. I highly recommend trying it out, especially if you ever played the original. The only thing it's missing is the rumble of the internal shaft turning, which it did every turn. It's probably what wore out first on these things.

Oh, one other thing: it had this great art, done by Bob Pepper. It's pretty sweet. If you know what the name of that art's style is, let me know. Please.

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Hey, just so's you know, there's a GD Ritzy's in Evansville, IN. I remembered the commercials from when I was younger, but it turns out they're still there. In fact, after a minor abount of searching, I see a lot of them in southern IN and northern KY. [No logo, though, to make this fancy.]



Apparently there's a Zantigo website, but it's not coming up here at work. Check out this site, though, where he mentions Zantigo's existing in Minnesota:

I am talking about the original, perfect creation.. the joy of my childhood existence... the one and only... all but wiped out by coporate shit heads and Challupa purveyors, the Zantigo's Chilito. According to chilicheese.org... Taco Bell killed off Zantigos, but ALAS, there is hope for Minnesotans. The original, wax paper wrapped chilito is still available. The website, listed as Zantigo.net, does not seem to be available... But you can still pig out at the following locations. If you're there around Christmas, I'm the guy with eight chilitos, a root beer and a bag full of Gap boxers.

So yeah, there you are, Erin: vindication.

Oh, and here's this one, too:

Not only is it still around, here's a list of locations.



Burger Chef is actually gone, though.

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After owning this for a couple weeks, I've got to say that not only is Knifehandchop's Techno Gaiden EP worth getting, it's great!



Of note is the Com.a remix -- that thing kills. Kills!

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first off: I'm listening to To Mega Therion, Celtic Frost's seminal 1985 album, one of the first death metal records. somehow i missed hearing this record, or any by Celtic Frost, though I do know "Propagation of the Wicked" as covered by Sepultura. I'm in the mid-'80s section of Sound of the Beast, a history of heavy metal. Not great prose (a lot of simple sentences and high school-sounding, flowery descriptions), but quite informative. Anyway, the bit about Celtic Frost just came up, and I wanted to brush up.

The album is ok; not great, but i like my metal tight, and these guys are a bit sloppy. It's good to hear them, though, and to hear where a lot of other metal bands got their sound. Oh, and dig the Giger cover!

So anyway, as i was up late Friday night, i slept a bit later on Saturday afternoon than i had meant to. you see, The Black Fives were slated to play at Recycled Rainbow 9.0 on Saturday in Cleveland, a four hour drive away. thing is, after Gabe's blowout on Thursday night, he needed two new tires. i called gabe, and we were at a tire place within an hour and a half. after another hour we'd fed ourselves at the food court of a nearby mall, he had two new tires, and we were on our way to Cleveland. rather than go into details about the evening, you can just check out the 10/18 entry on stAllio!'s blog. (it's worth keeping up on anyway; he's a cool dude. like billy zane.)

I will say a couple things about the performance, though. First, the instrumentation:

Harold Knockworthy (a.k.a. Gabe): Korg Electribe; throat mic through Korg Kaoss Pad

Donald Spivak (a.k.a. schädel, yours truly): MicroKorg keyboard; mic'd baby monitor; cd player through Korg Kaoss Pad II

[yes, we like Korg. they should endorse us.]

This instrumentation stemmed from our desire to bring as little as possible on the four-hour drive. We normally have a lot more equipment than this. In a way, it was liberating: no relying on the droney ambience for this set. It forced me to adhere to the RR9 theme, which was "classic literature". I must admit that i didn't really like it, but hey, that happens when you vote sometimes (see: 2000 US Presidential election).

So yeah, i ended up doing a lot of reading through the baby monitor. I had brought Finnegans Wake by Joyce and Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom and Other Writings by the Marquis De Sade. I've not done that before, and I'm not sure how well it worked. The Black Fives are primarily (though not exclusively) an instrumental act, and I've not been involved in the vocal pieces Gabe has done.

stAllio! seemed to like it, though:

we were at least 3 hours behind by now, as the black fives performed in the basement. quahogs played with a baby monitor, reading literature and generating feedback, while gabe busted out the beats: nice hard sophisticated beats, just the way i like 'em. very good. we ran out to the car after their set so i could trade grant (sic; he means "gabe") a copy of true data for a couple copies of the black fives/fudgie & fufu split 7".

praise from him means something to me. really.

so, yeah, i think we ended up leaving there at like 4am, got back here at 8am sunday, and i crashed. hard.

sunday evening, while my friends were in Cleveland doing the radio show, gabe and i beat another level of Halo. relaxing.

nothing of import yesterday, though i did hang out with Megan for a bit at the Golden Lions Lounge, where Gabe and Jaymie were spinning cds. We're still friends; that's a good thing. I'm proud of my ability to be friends with exes.

had a normal workday today (tuesday); after work i met Baby Kitty at her house for some spaghetti while watching the first 1/3 or so of Ghost World. We had to scurry though, as we were catching the 7:45 pm showing of Garden State. She hadn't seen it; I had. I still like it, though I'm not sure i'll buy it when it comes out. That being said, though, it's a phenomenal first movie for Braff, and I'm eager to see more from him.

After that, more Fight Club audio book, and I finally got to chat with the Toast, who's in the future.

Time is so fake.

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Last Thursday night was band practice for The Haywards, and it was the second practice with new member Gabe. Also, Mike Schottlekotte sat in, as he's apparently in the band now as well (or, "again", as he was in the Haywards a few years back). So, the lineup now is:



David: acoustic guitar, vocals

Gabe: electric guitar

Mike: 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars

Montana: drums and keyboard



We went throught the same set that david and i have played for a while now (almost identical back to when we played in NYC in january), with a few additions. mike played a little here and there, but he was really just getting the feel of the songs, as we don't have in our set any of the songs from his era of the band. Gabe, for whom this was the second practice, was still trying to work out what he should do and when. What he was doing (and Mike, too, for that matter) sounded good, albeit unpolished. This will (i think) turn out very well, once we get things down.



We have a show on thursday at the southgate house, in the lounge. i dont think mike will join us, but it should be good, regardless. the show is in support of kerry for president, and is actually put on by an organization called "republicans for kerry", which is in itself an interesting concept that really says something about our president.



Anyway, that was thursday. Oh, except that gabe had a blowout on the way back from practice, which ran late anyway, so i didnt get home until 1:30 am. no karaoke for me, i guess.



Friday after work i went to Shake It!, as they'd called me to let me know they had received the most recent Björk release on double import vinyl and were holding one for me. i picked it up (at a whopping $30), as well as Fahrenheit 9/11 and a used copy of Fight Club on dvd. i also got various pieces of vinyl, including a 12" of "Grab It" by L'Trimm and a late '80s 12" by Lords of Acid (on the Kaos label, even); i think it was this one, though it didn't have a picture sleeve, and the track list was slightly different. (if you really care, i'll check. :)



After Shake It!, I picked up Baby Kitty from work (she works at the CAC, across the street from a former employer of the The Toast). We watched Fight Club, as she'd never seen it. I like the film a lot, but I'm not really sure which parts are David Fincher (the director) and which are Chuck Palhaniuk (the author, though i can't be arsed to check the proper spelling at the moment). I decided then to download (uh... i mean borrow) the audio book to see (hear?) for myself (i like parenteticals, apparently) (that means bad form in writing, apparently).



After the movie, Baby Kitty went home to sleep, and I went to my girlfriend's apartment. We broke up.



More later; I have to work.

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Hey, way back in hte day there was this young trance act here in Cincinnati called LP. I dug them, even though I'm not a huge trance fan.



Anyway, it turns out they're still around. Check out their website if you dig trance stuff.

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Neil Hamburger had this to say.

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On Tuesday night I made some attempts at attacking the pile of boxes still untouched from my move in April. Funny thing is, I didn't really think about it until about 1 am, but I had been consuming quite a bit of the "gunpowder" green tea Vinnie had bought for me earlier this year. What this meant was that I was very caffeinated by then, and no end was immediately in sight. Good news for moving boxes around; bad news for sleeping at all. So, I decided I'd just call in on Wednesday and continue digging through those boxes.

One good thing: I found my minidisc player, which means that long-lost audio from some shows I've recorded (including DJ Empirical's Birthday show from 2003 and an ECC performance from January) will eventually surface on the web.

Gabe came over late, and he and schädel had a little Black Fives jam session, with Gabe on the turntables and schädel chopping Gabe's audio up with Audiomulch. It was recorded, but not much of it will probably be listenable; there was a lot of peaking.

Wednesday I slept in until mid-afternoon, then met Baby Kitty for a quick thrift store outing, at which I purchased nothing. Baby Kitty did, however, pick up a large bag's worth of stuffed animals for future art usage.

After the thrift store, we met with Gabe and John at their apartment and the four of us attended an early evening showing of La Dolce Vita. This was my first Fellini film, and indeed my first Italian film, I think. It wasn't bad, and I'm definitely glad I saw it, but it's not really my kind of fim. I'll probably try a few more Fellini films before I give up on him, though.

After that we made a short trip to Barnes & Noble, as Gabe needed to pick up a dvd he had ordered. I finally succumbed to temtation and bought the first season of Sledgehammer, which I already own dubs of on videotape. It's a stupid show, but I like it. :)

Last night we had band practice for The Haywards, and in addition to new member Gabe, David just re-added ex-Haywards member Mike Schottlekotte (no, I'm not sure I spelled that correctly). He may not join us for next Thursday's performance, though, since he's so new.

Oh, and we got a flat tire last night, too. Love changing a tire in the rain....

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So, even though I like KMFDM, I guess I don't like them as much as Zac. This weekend I got some pics of his tattoos.

I guess I'm just not the fan he is. But then again, is he on the new KMFDM dvd?

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While I've been meaning to actually use this blog as a sort of journal, I haven't really gotten to do that yet. While my current life events may not be as eventful as McDeviltoast's, there's still some stuff going on. :)

So yeah, this past weekend I went to scenic (ha!) Terre Haute, Indiana, for homecoming. Of course, I couldn't care less about actual homecoming-type activities (I didn't set foot on campus); I just wanted to hang out with friends, especially ones I haven't seen in a few years who may have flown in from other states.

The major outcome of the party: at about 3 am we determined that one can successfully make pre-sweetened tea in a coffeemaker. Here's me sampling the result:

Yes, I look wasted; in actuality I was just tired. I'd had only a couple shots, and was well sober by this time.

Check out Ford in this one:

You don't see him move that fast except in beer pong.

Oh, and my brother Joe was there, too:

His left hand is still bandaged and will be for a while.

For those who don't know: when he was in town for DJ Empirical's Birthday Blowout, he nearly lost a finger in a beer bottle debacle. (No, he wasn't drunk.) Anyway, he severed a couple tendons and some nerves and veins and whatnot.

I got a pic of his hand this weekend, but I don't know whether you guys actually want to see it. The doctor had to cut open his hand and finger to reconnect the tendons, so it's going to be majorly scarred.

The worst part is that he's losing the calluses on his fingertips (that's his fret hand). Suck.

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From the Quahogs Entertainment Group announcement list:

Hello everyone! It's been a while since the last update on the Quahogs Entertainment Group, so I thought I'd keep you abreast of the latest things going on.

» THE BLACK FIVES

Cincinnati experimental electronica duo The Black Fives, featuring Donald Spivak (a.k.a. schädel) of the QEG, will be making a special trip to Cleveland this coming weekend. They'll be performing at Recycled Rainbow 9.0, a mini-festival focusing on audio collage and other experimental music. This will be the Cleveland debut of this lineup of The Black Fives.

Who: The Black Fives and many more

What: Recycled Rainbow 9.0

Where: Cleveland, OH

When: Sat, 10/16

related:

http://recycledrainbow.com

http://onehandrecords.com/theblackfives.html

» THE HAYWARDS

Montana Wildhack, drummer/keyboardist for the Haywards, informed us recently of an upcoming live performance at the Southgate House, at a pro-Kerry show entitled "Sound Off for Kerry". In addition to the Haywards, many many local groups will be performing, including Over the Rhine, the Assponys, Abiyah, and many more. See the flyer for the full list:

http://southgatehouse.com/static/Press%20Release.htm

Who: The Haywards and many more

What: Sound Off for Kerry

Where: The Southgate House, Newport, KY

When: Thu, 10/21, doors at 7pm (18+)

How Much: $10 suggested donation, $5 minimum



Proceeds to benefit moveon.org



related:

http://haywardsmusic.com

http://southgatehouse.com

http://moveon.org

» DJ EMPIRICAL

The next day after that, DJ Empirical will be spinning records at The Mockbee at a benefit for Vinnie Williams, who lost most of her possessions in an apartment fire last month. Vinnie is a local artist and also member of the CEA-nominated band Le TechnoPUSS13S.

At this point we're not sure of the band lineup or the cover charge, but when we know the details, we'll send them to you. Until then, here are some related websites:

http://quahogs-ent.com

http://letechnopuss13s.com

http://themockbee.org

Also, in case you missed it, DJ Empirical was featured in the "Locals Only" column in a September edition of "CityBeat", one of Cincinnati's free papers. You can still read this article online:

"Split/Single: The Many Lives and Love of DJ Empriical"

http://citybeat.com/2004-09-15/musiclocalsonly.shtml

» MONTANA & MCDEVILTOAST

Montana Wildhack also reminded us that even though Montana & McDeviltoast, the dumbtronica duo he comprises half of is on hiatus (due to McDeviltoast's temporary relocation to China), you can still be keep up-to-date on their whereabouts, using a handy new blog:

http://quahogs-ent.com/weblog/monmcd.html

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from Popbitch:

-----------------------------------------------------

Tiger Woods booked Hootie and The Blowfish to

play at his wedding this week.

-----------------------------------------------------

awesome.



not really.

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I have a couple minutes here, so I thought I'd recap some film stuff from

the last few days.



movies in the theater

Code 46: [C]

Boring. I mean, I like Tim Robbins, but he couldn't save the film. The pacing was a bit slow, and the plot didn't stray far from most sci-fi-future-type films. If you're thinking of seeing this, don't. Go buy Brazil instead. They're not the same, except for the goverment-official-falls-in-love-with-a-civilian aspect. Oh, and there's a totally gratuitous shot of nudity. Lame.



The Forgotten: [C]

Julianne Moore did well, I thought. In fact, I enjoyed the film until about halfway through, when it was apparent that it was, in fact, not a psychological thriller, but an alien thriller. Phooey. Even so, I stuck with it, and they did quite well, until they let the alien guy's face slip into alien mode for a second: fired. The only salvageable aspect was that since all of her memories of her "dead" son were slightly overexposed and had an orange-ish tint, so when the final scene (when she has her son) was also that same orange tint, I was able to reconcile it in my head by saying that she's making up that, too, and is actually off in an asylum somewhere.

This just added: apparently Ebert agrees with me. Plus, he (as I) did not know how to review the film without spoilers. Check out the intro to his review:

Warning: This review contains spoilers. If it didn't, I can think of no way to review it at all, short of summarizing the first three minutes and then telling you some very strange stuff happens. My advice: If you plan to see the film (which I do not recommend), hold the review until afterward.

Yep.



The Brown Bunny: [B]

So much has been said about this film that I really don't want to rehash anything. Instead, just go look at Ebert's review of the theatrical release. It addresses a lot of things, but mainly how the Cannes release and the theatrical release (which I saw) are essentially two different films. So, the "worst film in Cannes history" (or whatever Ebert said) was not what I saw, and I wondered when I saw it what Ebert was talking about. So, yeah: just read Ebert's review. I agree with him, mostly, though I do think that the sex was a bit gratuitous, and the film could easily have been edited to an R without losing its effect.



movies on dvd

I caught up on my PT Anderson films this week. Over the weekend I saw Hard Eight, his first full length film. Apparently the studio screwed him over, up to and including changing the title and re-editing the film to be more of a gambler/mafia genre pic. I'd love to see the director's cut, but chances are slim, i think. It wasn't bad, and I could definitely tell it was PT Anderson, but overall, I'd give it a B-, as released.

Also, I finally borrowed and watched Boogie Nights, PT Anderson's second film, and the first one he had control over. It's a great film, with the PT Anderson elements definitely coming out, especially all of the long shots and camera sweeps that I've come to love in Magnolia, his next film after Boogie Nights. The characters here are just as well developed as the ones in Magnolia, though their stories are less coincidentally and more obviously related: this is one group of people, for the most part. Overall, I give it an A, where Magnolia would get an A+.

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phooey! i just opened my HobNobs and they're crumbly! I guess i must have banged them around too much....



(They still taste great, though!)

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My girlfriend Megan and our frind Chris Roesing (a.k.a. Roesing Ape) appeared in a picture on the CinWeekly page. See it here.

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In case you need advice on whether or not to rip that new cd you borrowed from your friend:

The London News Review :: Should I Rip This? v1.0

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Oh, yeah.



I finally, after a minor amount of searching, found more info on some Christian sex ed records I had downloaded from the ECC a while back. The info is here, under the section entitled "Christopher Recordings on Sex Instruction".



A sample:

On the first track, "HOW BABIES ARE BORN," for example:



NARRATOR: Notice how the father introduces the name of God and the divine plan of reproduction early and this identification with God carries naturally through the

discussion.



This first story commences with a father noisily sawing wood when his six-year-old son Billy runs up and implores him to come see the neighbors' new puppies. Not sensing any danger of imminent embarrassment, the father accompanies Billy to view the litter of puppies. Billy is prone to excitement and repeated use of the exclamation "Golly." He also sounds like an adult woman doing an impression of a boy. Apparently audio verité was not foremost on the minds of the Christophers.



On cue, Billy starts asking questions about how and why the puppies were born. Dad gives his stock answer about God planting the seed inside the mother dog, etc. This seems to satisfy until Billy asks the same questions about human beings. Dad issues a similar reply, but adds the detail that "God breathes a soul into the human fetus." The pet cemetary business was never the same.



But then Billy asks the killer question, "How does the baby get out of the mother's body?"



Dad responds nervously that "mommy has an opening between her legs that gets bigger when the baby comes out and then closes back up once the baby is born."



Billy digests this bombshell and then inquires stupidly, "Gosh, does Mom know this?"

Awesome, I've got to say. If you want to hear them yourself, take a peek here.

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So, if you happen to be in China and want your Wayne Butane Fix, go here for some snippets. I don't know how long they are, but hey, beggars/choosers/whatever.

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Only in the south: Man with pitchfork robs bank. Now, that's smart.

AIKEN - A farm implement was the weapon of choice for a ski mask-wearing bank robber this morning.



The man robbed the Security Federal Bank on Richland Avenue wielding a pitchfork with a 4-foot handle, Aiken Public Safety Capt. Wendell Hall said.



"I've never heard of anyone using a pitchfork in a robbery before," Capt. Hall said.



Police set up a mile-radius perimeter shortly after the 9:05 a.m. robbery. The robber ran away with the cash after threatening tellers with the pitchfork. No one was hurt in the robbery.

Of course, he did get away, so maybe it was a good idea.

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