do the funky penguin pts. I & II

i'm starting to get over the jet lag. i had part two of my root canal this morning. it was great, or, it wasn't terrible and painful.

i'm spinning next thursday night in echo park. I want to put together an "america" set, since thursday night is the night before july 4th. some things in the crate so far:

'star spangled banner' - jimi, probably the rainbow bridge one, not woodstock
'the americans' - a canadian talks about how great americans are, "even though they've been kicked around a bit lately," over an orchestral march, off a 45 on westbound, early 70s?
"we the people" - the soul searchers
"funky president" - james brown
"american justice/fight" - scream

this is a bar without a dance floor, just cats playing pool and hanging out, so these dont have to be disco killers. the hipster vibe is heavy, though. it's hard to tell if it's 83 or 2k3 in this place sometimes, so i can't/won't play 'born in the usa,' because it'd be way too easy. but still: help! suggestions...I'm doing 12-close, and it's a holiday that friday.

nyc

wow. what a weekend. i'm still recovering. thanks to everyone who came out to the recoys show on friday. thanks to noah for putting me up most of the weekend. thanks to liz, alissa, pico, haylz, and jinners for having friendships with me where links count. it was great to see all of you. it's pretty silly that i don't live in new york.

there's a couple things going on behind the scenes that i can't talk about right now, but they will be good.

oh, yeah, my friend nuria is the literary editor of a tattoo/piercing fetish site, evilBADevil, and it just launched a few days ago. check it out. it makes my hoohah go woohah!

The Scrum

the scrum steals my point about governors vs. legislators becoming president. or makes the point that i was hinting at.

whoa

thanks to everyone who came out to the recoys record release party. it was the most people the band ever played for. here are some pictures from the show and a few from later that weekend. click the image below to go to the photo gallery:


some things to look for:
1) the recoys disappearing in some of the photos like marty mcfly in back to the future.
2) a profesional rodeo rider in a hugh mcintosh t-shirt.
3) max and I popping a bottle of Moet to celebrate the release of the record. attmittedly the bottle is 'independent record label' sized. we're still going to make the 'coys recoup it. suckers.
4) notorious rockers and rock-bloggers all up in the crowd shots.
5) the love. look for the love.

from a gray day in the land of KDAY to BK, what you say?

as i was driving to work this morning, i passed a fourty year old woman having what appeared to be a really pleasant conversation with the 101 freeway. she was gesticulating, and every once in a while would lean in as if to tell the freeway a secret. the freeway smiled back in a patronizing way, and shared with her the secrets of ten thousand motorists, alone in their cars, as if to let her know that its lips were in no way sealed.

in three hours i get on a plane headed back east. tomorrow, i'll visit my grandmother for what will likely be the last time. on friday, we're having the record release party for the first release by my record label, realistic records. this is the first project i've been involved with in a while that has come to fruition, completely blossomed into what it was supposed to be, and i'm proud and excited. i'll be spinning records at the party if everything goes according to plan. i'll play 'get out my life, woman' by iron butterfly early on in the night. i just picked it up for $1, and it's funkier than my socks. on saturday and sunday i'll relax and catch up with the friends i never see any more. on monday i fly back towards the left coast with the rising sun pushing the plane back home.

anyone want to buy a monie love 12"??? what about a recoys record???

b

it's early evening here, and the sun is creeping along the long reception table toward my elbow, shoulder, ear.

ahh, the clouds came in and i was distracted by this place, and now it is time to go home. the sun never hit me.

holy poop!

the recoys records got here. they look great. the first mailorders were shipped 20 minutes ago.

i went to a party at a car wash on saturday night. kool keith was there just kicking it. i mention that because that's been on my list of things i want to do in this life, being at a party where kool keith was there just kicking it. i'm successfully crossing things off 'the list' much more quickly than i thought i would. i'm guessing, however, that my personal jet pack and condo on the moon are still a ways off.

get 'em while they're hot

we're accepting pre-orders for the Recoys LP at the realistic records site. order now and your record will be shipped out the second we get them. check out the mp3s on the left to check out what you're getting. if you want to order more than one at a time, e-mail me and we'll figure it out.

ok, fine, I'll do my own research.

since no one stepped up to do my research, i'll do it myself. just a sec.

ok, i'm back. so in modern/post-modern days there has been one president elected directly out of a position in the federal legislature: ex Senator John F. Kennedy. before that you've got to go back to Warren Harding, who was also a senator. other than that there have been a grip of governors, a war hero, and a few veeps.

now THAT'S realistic!

potus question

because i know you guys dig research: Which Presidents of the US were not Governors (or VPs) before being elected President? or, When was the last time a President was elected out of the house or the senate?

I ask this because everyone in recent memory has been a governor, other than bush 41, who was VP, ford, who wasn't elected, and before nixon i can't do this off the top of my head.

all is quiet on the western front.

The Recoys LP Rekoys is essentially out. copies are in the mail and we'll start to do mailorder here once they arrive. maybe i'll set it up this weekend. The official record release party is a week from tomorrow in brooklyn and you're all invited. please come by. i'll see you there.

lip synch contest pictures are/will be available on a photolog i'm starting.

my lunch is here. i'm out.

am i missing something?

one of my big gripes with the english language is that sadbeautiful isn't a word, and there is no analog for it in our tongue.

program note

the date for the recoys/chimps show/record release party has been changed. the show is on June 20th, which is great, because now I'll be able to go.

quickies

1.) XM Radio: This is one of the coolest things in the world. a classic rap station and C-SPAN Radio are my top 2 right now.

2.) Root Canal: Surprisingly not that painful. On the down side, that particular tooth will never feel hot or cold again, but on the plus side, i got a vicodin persription.

3.) Lip Synch Contest: This will be a spectacle. I'm DJing the thing and will be one of the judges. If you are in Los Angeles, you are encouraged to attend. It's public, free, and there will be dancing and a beerkeg.

4.) Political Endorsement: Affordable Justice would like to take this opportunity to throw it's considerable political weight behind Howard Dean in his bid for the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States.

5.) Travels: I'll be in DC 6/19-20/03 and in NYC 6/21-23/03. let's party.

The Recoys/The Chimps
if you don't know, i urge you to ask somebody
-------------------------------------------------
fri june 20
kingsland tavern
corner of Kingsland and Nassau in Greenpoint



In the late 1990's the two most important acts in NYC created mass hysteria in Brooklyn and beyond with mind-blowing double billings at Greenpoint's Kingsland Tavern. Friday the 13th both bands will reunite for one unforgettable evening. Bring drugs, baseball bats, and gun powder. No fucking around.


THE RECOYS/THE CHIMPS
9 PM
-----------------------------------------------

politics and moths

i had a hell of a time getting to sleep last night. maybe this is because i slept till quarter of two on sunday, but i blame it on the moths. i usually sleep with the window in my bedroom open, as it gets pretty warm at night in these parts, and i've never had a problem with insects. those of you who live or have lived in southern california will understand: there just aren't that many bugs around. i also like to read in bed for a few minutes before shutting off the light on my bedstand.

i'm lying in bed. it's about 1am. *whathupthupthup*. i turn around. nothing. look harder. oh, a moth in my lampshade. i try to scare him, or shoo him back to the window. it's not happening. i give him a second.....oh well: *thwaaaapt* dead. sorry, little dude. it's amazing how most insects turn to goo when swatted but moths turn to dust.

back to my book. a few minutes pass. *whathupthupthup*. two? coincidence. oh well: *thwaaaapt* dead.

*whathupthupthup*.

this is too much. this is not mere coincidence, nor the draw of a solitary light in a dark night. no, these ravenous fucks have it in for me. i was up against a conspiritorial band of dirty grey clothes-locusts, who had heard the word on the street about my sweaters and the two suitcoats i rarely wear hanging in the closet. i shut the window, thinking it better to take the heat of the night than to suffer a full-scale invasion of those hungry little bastards. I had killed four, and more were banging their sad alien antennaed heads against the window, rap rap rapping, in my head forevermore.

and i tried to sleep, but the scene played out on the inside of my eyelids: i'd wake up all too bright and too early on this monday morning. stumbling back from the shower, I'd open my closet, and from each hanger only three or four errant threads would remain, pointing down towards the floor, where a dozen or more moths, now a foot long or longer, would roll drunkenly around in a pile of their own shit, which used to be my shit, and included the shit that i was planning to wear to work today.

it is tough, my friends, to drift into dreams when that sort of nightmare haunts you.

the time was not entirely wasted. between the bouts of fear and cursing, i drew up preliminary plans to start a shitty little magazine, the realist, "the journal of realistic records," mainly as an excuse. I'm not sure for what, but i promise you it will be a good excuse for something.

eventually i fell into a fitfull unconscious state, and woke up this morning, tired but feeling free. in the light of day i was no longer pursued by hungry behemoth parasites who would eat me out of everything i had.

or so i thought, until i read this.

yes folks, the days are getting darker. this is a naked power grab, in plain view. we, the people, own the airwaves, yet our custodian, the FCC, pays little heed to the fact that (according to NPR) 99.9% of the public comments submitted with respect to the proposed rule changes opposed what Powell did today. rich republicans giving money and power to rich republicans.

on my way to work i decided that there was only one thing i could do in response: go to New Hampshire.

yes, folks, this is an awesomely important election we're coming up on. it will be bloodthirsty and evil come next november, certainly uglier than any in recent memory, if that's possible. but january 27th, during the first primary, in manchester, NH, it should still be wild and bloodthirsty and fun. and i'm going to be there. i'll be covering it for someone. maybe for "the realist." there's a great excuse already. maybe one of you readers works for someone that could use a wet-eared hack on the ground for the primary. maybe just for this web page.

but i will be there, in the brutal cold, to make sure we make it 'till spring.