dancing in a void.

Saw ADULT. last night when some dude was giving away free wristbands for FUCKING AWESOME FEST. my friend that hooked me up with a band the previous day had a friend that wanted to see ADULT. so i had to rely on either getting one from a friend or getting it from dude in a blog. i really appreciate the folks of eatthiscity for allowing me to have an extra wristband. when i called the dude about the wristband, i went inside while doing so, but when i went inside, my neighbor told me she had an extra wristband, so then i didn't need the eatthiscity one...how lucky is that? anyway, i saw the Pizazz (one of my former roommates is in that band...i really love them...they sound like weezer mixed with the buzzcocks in all the good ways), Silverghost, F'ke Blood (pronounced FAKE BLOOD), and then finally saw ADULT. i must say, they are the most energetic show i've ever seen...ever. i mean i've seen them before, but it was for their Decampment trilogy movie at the DIA. so Adam from ADULT. was talking with Matt Smith from the ever awesome Outrageous Cherry/ THTX/ Volebeats/ owner of Car City Records, and i thought that was like the detroit version of Andy Warhol meeting with Bob Dylan, so i had a friend take a picture of them. later on, she asked Adam if he would be in a picture with me. i didn't even request to have a picture taken with him...i mean it was a real awkward experience, but he's a really nice guy, as is Nicola.

I DON'T WANT TO GO INTO THE DARKNESS!

today started out terrible and i was feeling really down especially because there is a one venue festival going on over the weekend and i thought that i was going to miss my favorite musician in the fest (Juiceboxxx) until when i was making a "bored movie" on the compy and my friend called up and was like "I HAVE AN EXTRA WRISTBAND...YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY $20 FOR 4 DAYS!!!" and i responded with a shrill "!!!" and he told me "COME ON DOWN, MIKE DONIGAN!" much like bob barker's voiceover guy on the price is right. so i went down and saw tiny masters of today and was thinking "ok, so who else is playing...." thinking juiceboxxx had already gone on as indicated on his myspace page. i then was shocked when a friend of mine showed me the schedule and found out that i had IMPECCABLE timing because JUICEBOXXX WAS 15 minutes away from playing!!! SO then my friend told me juiceboxxx would be staying at his apartment...goddamn you, robbie dwight! he was going to have a lil shindig at his place but he never picked up. so i rode my bike through the wasteland that is the north end (close to the highland park/ new center border) with my friend brad and i feared for my life as i do every time i ride my bike at 2 am. THE END.

Hausu (1977).

this is something i need to see in my lifetime. it looks AWESOME!

there's no such thing as magic!

Martin (George A. Romero, 1977). The film before the even more campy Dawn of the Dead. Cast mainly with family members of the cast with a super low budget in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Sometimes, when I get super depressed I watch this movie, and it makes me feel a little bit better. It's possibly the trippiest movie I have (I would have said owned, but it's actually my father's...he is a huge George A. Romero fan...when Land of the Dead came out, he and I went to see it).

for some reason...

today i had this fascination with the rainbow herbicides that were used in the Vietnam war by the US. then, it occurred to me that i really should have paid attention more to "silent spring" by Rachel Carson when i was taking environmental science class in high school. if you haven't read it, i strongly suggest it, as it is still a topic that needs to be read about, that is, until harmful chemicals aren't used as herbicides on plants anymore. from the rainbow herbicides to Ghostbusters, and then to Ginsberg's "Howl"...seriously, i read all of "Howl" today...god, today was boring! it probably wouldn't be so boring if i could sell my french book back and get some money, but c'est la vie, eh? i officially hate the french department at wayne state university for not allowing me to sell my book back!

a list of good synth records to own:

Sparks "No. 1 In Heaven"

anything by Kano (if you can find it...not the rapper)(probably the easiest 12 inch to pick up is "it's a war" or "i'm ready")

Lio "Amoreux Solitaire"

Erasure "the Two Ring Circus"

Book Of Love S/T

Fun Fun (or anything with them on it)

Yaz (also goes by Yazoo) "Upstairs At Erics"

Tom Tom Club S/T

Scars "Author! Author!"

Wire "154" or "Chairs Missing"

Ryan Paris "la Dolce Vita"

Tuxedomoon "Desire"

Section 25 "From The Hip"

New Order (obvious must) (section 25 and New order can be blocked into the endless void of great factory records albums that everyone needs).

Antena "Boy From Ipanema" (again, although it was on Factory Benelux)

Quando Quango "Pigs and Battleships"

the first three records by madonna (those are a must)

Gino Soccio "Outline"

Mino "Nez en l'air"

"AY PAWLIE I GOT YOU THIS ROBAWT... YA LIKE IT? HE'S GOT A CAKE FOR YA!"

yesterday when i went to that wooden wand/ infinity people/ aran ruth show, when i saw some tool type guys at the bar from the class of '89 reunion, for some reason i started talking like sylvester stallone in rocky IV to my friend Bog. I kept on saying "Ay Pawlie, i got you this robawt...ya like it?"

In this our life.

In this Our Life (dir: John Huston, year:1942).

I have a major crush on Bette Davis. Those gorgeous eyes just kill me. There was a documentary about Bette earlier today and it was disturbing, to say the least, to hear about all of the anger issues that she had in her lifetime. Whatever, though, she was still a great actress!

book of love- boy

just purchased a promotional copy of their first record (with Boy on it). it's so awesome! this whole record reminds me of a john hughes soundtrack. the song after it sounds really shoegazey. check out the song "happy day" by Book Of Love...or just buy this album, i don't think you'll be disappointed.

wooden wand.

yesterday i witnessed my neighbor Aran Ruth, the supergroup of which she is part of ((((Infinity People)))), and Wooden Wand for free at the Garden Bowl. Aran, as always is a fantastic musician and probably always be...you know what, i have faith that she will be an awesome musician forever. Infinity people is Warren Defever of His Name Is Alive, Dion Fischer from The Go, Godzuki, the Dirtbombs, etc., Aran Ruth, and tons and tons more playing relatively simple music that i can only really describe as similar to a Jodorowski soundtrack when he was doing Holy Mountain and El Topo. there was a harmonium, guitars, tambourines (of which Warren was passing off to people off in the audience, including me), synthesizer, etc. it was like a hare krishna psychedelic rock band. in fact, they even played a hare krishna chant, which was awesome! Wooden Wand (or I guess he's just going by Wand, currently?) was really great as well. This folksy-bluesy, former Kill Rock Stars musician, currently Ecstatic Peace musician really knew how to tug at this cold human's heart strings. the way these two guys in the garden bowl lounge were playing was just gorgeous, and i can't describe how great it was in words. all i have to say is check them out, if you haven't already.

you don't have to be alone joe. hang with me joe, hang with me joe, hang with me joe.

this song is so awesome. i kind of want to find the atomizer record somewhere and DJ just for one night to share with so many the glory that is Bazooka Joe.

i officially am hating life.

john hughes died today.

damn.

i wish i could find my panoramic photo of a taxidermic moose that i took at the natural history museum. this really pisses me off!

downtown synagogue (also known as the Isaac Agree memorial synagogue).

located on Griswold Street. from time to time, the bottom two floors are used but the top two floors have since been abandoned. last year (on a fluke, actually), my friends and i were looking for a place to go after an ill-fated art gallery exhibit showing and ended up driving to a speak-easy style restaurant(D'Mongo's...it's a great place...check it out if you're in the area!) and noticed a bunch of people standing outside of the synagogue. my friend asked one of the gals what was going on and she said "oh, the beekeepers and a few other bands are playing," and we were both like "oh, we know the beekeepers! they're really cool!" so then we just hung out on the first floor and watched the beekeepers set and they suggested that members of the audience go check out the building. two of my friends and i went up the strange jagged staircase up throughout the floors. it is such an interesting building both inside and outwardly. this is the only partly abandoned building i feel comfortable going in at the moment. maybe that will change (seriously, though, look at those colored windows!!! aren't they awesome?!)

La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même (English Translation: "Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even")

Marcel Duchamp, crafted 1915-1923.

hommage à seurat

i just returned from a vacation up north and there was a pretty decent used book store that i went to. they had some interesting books there. i picked up a "Photo Presente Les Grands Maitres De La Photo" book there (second in my book collection behind William Klein). this time the book was a collection of photos by Belgian photographer Jeanloup Sieff. this piece is called "hommage a seurat" and it was taken in 1965. i really wanted to use a twiggy photo that was included in the book that was originally in a copy of Elle Magazine in 1966 but i couldn't find it online and i don't have a scanner (as indicated by the poor photos of my collage).

Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With The Lions.

"Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With The Lions" (John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1969, Zapple Records). this is the follow up to the first, more controversial "unfinished music" album, more commonly known as "two virgins," featuring an album cover of the couple naked. this record is a more personal (even though two virgins was apparently John and Yoko's first date) record as it features heart palpitations of the first of what would later be three miscarriages that Yoko would endure. this record was one of two records released on the offshoot of Apple Records, known as Zapple. The first record was an experimental electronic record composed by George Harrison. two other records on the zapple imprint were planned for release but as the apple label went belly up, the two later records (one record by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and another, a spoken word record by Richard Brautigan) were not released.

note: the latter of the two mentioned was actually released but the Ferlinghetti one was not. the zapple imprint was more for experimental records, in case you couldn't tell.