ear damage

El Cantador Viedo

2009-04-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

El Cantador is a local band I've meant to get around to interviewing or reviewing if they have anything out for a while, it just hasn't happened yet. For the here and now, the least i could do is repost their new video for the song "Glean."
http://www.myspace.com/vivaelcantador

"Glean" - El Cantador - Music Video from Climenole, LLC on Vimeo.

Gerard Damiano article

2009-04-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

now that #23 is done i see the Damiano article has a few typos and missing lines (maybe a lot of missing lines), so i'm reposting it here...

This article was supposed to have been out at least at a few issues ago, but due to space limits I put it off for a while. Looks like I put it off so long that the subject of it has passed away. Director of the highly revered and reviled porn movie Deep Throat passed away from stroke complications in Fort Myers, FL in October 2008 at the age of 80. The incredibly limited amount of press coverage about his death most certainly is understated considering Deep Throat’s iconic and influential status in American pop culture, not to mention scores of other classic and high-quality porn productions like the seminal Devil in Miss Jones, For Richer, For Poorer, and The Story of Joanna, all staples of the classic ‘golden age’ era of porn and stepping stone for much if not most of what good was to come for the porn industry for generations.

In the past few years in the porn industry there’s been some what of a resurgence of plot oriented movies, or at least plot oriented vignettes or scenes. Eon Mckai, Octavio Winkytiki, and others kicked down a lot of doors and won much acclaim with ‘neo-realistic’ and artistically-minded skin flicks like 2006’s Girls Lie and The Rebelle Rousers. In late 2007/early 2008, Alt Porn starlet Joanna Angel produced and directed a spoof of a spoof of the ‘Not Another..’ series, another Porn Movie, which was surprisingly heavy on plot, dialogue and slapstick comedy, and alt-porn actors and actresses such as Charlotte Stokely, Tommy Pistol, Dana DeArmond and others have established a new era of mainstream accessible, internet-savvy adult-entertainment stardom more geared toward the punk/indie/alternative crowd, a genre that hasn’t always been a priority in the porn market.

Ask any of these people; especially the directors and producers, what their biggest influences and inspirations to make a “different stripe of porn” might be, and overwhelmingly the answer would be “golden age” porn of the 70s and early to mid eighties. Back in the days when, at its peak, porn stars’ popularity rivaled that of many mainstream stars (Linda Lovelace, Annie Sprinkle, Seka, Candy Samples) and directors like Larry Revene and Chuck Vincent made it a point to make the best films they could and had dreams of making mainstream Hollywood take interest in producing adult cinema. But probably no director was more adamant about the possibility of porn becoming true cinema than the man responsible for the classic and highly controversial Deep Throat, Gerard Damiano. As was stated in the 2005 biopic Inside Deep Throat (and probably numerous other places), Damiano 1st took interest in making porn while working as a hairdresser; he would listen to the laments and gossip of his married female clients, and felt they could be inspiration for porn films. After directing a handful of ‘loops’, or short porn vignettes and stag movies and discovering Linda Lovelace in a loop exercising her oral talents, Gerard was impressed and quickly set out to make a movie squarely centered around Linda’s ‘skill’. In an interview Roger Ebert conduced with Diamano in the mid-70s, he stated, "I wrote the film for Linda.If it hadn't been for her, uh, this particular skill she had developed, there wouldn't have been any 'Deep Throat. At the time, my partners said the title was no good, but I was adamant: I said it would become a household word. And it has. Not only in the Watergate case, but last week we were No. 6 across in the New York Times crossword puzzle."

Indeed, Deep Throat was a movie pretty much for and about Linda Lovelace, whose character was named simply “Linda” in the movie. He wrote the movie around her talent, in which the plot dictated a woman who couldn’t find the sexual pleasure she was looking for and discovered her clitoris was deep down near the bottom of her throat. Deep Throat also starred porn legend Harry Reems in his 1st big porn role as the doctor that Linda goes to see about her condition. It pretty much doesn’t have to be reiterated that Deep Throat would become a classic and well known porn movie for a number of reasons; crossover appeal, possibly one of the 1st with a cohesive plot, and an overall decent film production, not to mention reportedly being on of the highest grossing films of all time ($600 million vs. how much it cost between $22-$25,000). Of course, it was mentioned in Inside Deep Throat that the mob had financed the movie, as it had financed most porn movies up until that point, and seeing as how Deep Throat has made so much money made the movie a special project for its underworld lenders. Although the mob put up all the money for the initial production fees, Lovelace was only paid $1200, Harry Reems around $200, and Damiano was reportedly given $25,000 which may have actually went right back into the production of the movie. As Damiano would go on to direct more movies, he would usually write and produce for the most part on his own.

Damiano’s 2nd big movie, 1973’sThe Devil in Miss Jones Starring Georgina Spelvin, is also hailed as a classic in the plot driven porn realm, and considered by many to be much better than Deep Throat. Instead of going for comic turns as he did with Deep Throat, Miss Jones is the story of a single woman in her 30s who’s bored with her uneventful life and decides to kill herself. Once she’s past the ‘white light’ she finds suicide has technically damned her soul, she gets her life back briefly to engage in her choice of deadly sin, lust, to at least say she had some sort of pleasure in life. In her short time back on earth, Miss Jones takes advantage as she has varied sexual experiences, including lesbian, 3-way, and even a bowl of fruit and a snake. Once Jones’ time is up, she has truly earned her spot in hell. To this day The Devil in Miss Jones is regarded as one of porn’s all time greats for its concept, sex scenes, and cinematography, as it has several similarly acclaimed sequels (none involving Damiano) and a 2005 remake, The New Devil in Miss Jones.

Although Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones are Gerard Damiano’s most well-known films, he’s been involved in countless movies at least up until the mid nineties. For Richer, for Poorer, for example, also stars Georgina Spelvin as a disenchanted divorcee trying to get her sexual stride back. In true Damiano form, this flick is fairly well acted, has a solid plot and has some particularly well shot scenes. Damiano also directed what may be one of the strangest porn flicks ever, Let My Puppets Come, with a plot, ironically enough, about a production company owing the mob a lot of money and making porn in hopes of quickly raising cash.

Just like the way it was depicted in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights, by the time the 80s rolled around the porn industry was moving from shooting on film to videotape and was making most if not all of it money from VCRs and VHS. In many cases, a very small amount of money was used to produce a porn flick, and more often than not you could tell from shoddy, less than sitcom quality sets and chintzy high school audio-visual club production. There would be relatively few porn actors and behind the scenes people that broke though to mainstream Hollywood to varying degrees, like Traci Lords and Ron Jeremy. Harry Reems, fresh off being the 1st actor ever to be prosecuted for being in a film in 1977, and despite support from many big name Hollywood stars, was actually initially cast as the Coach in the movie Grease, but the higher-ups at Paramount Studios put an end to that notion once they found out about it. Some would have cameos in mainstream movies here and there like Bobby Astyr, Georgina Spelvin, and Hershel Savage, who was in the original Debbie Does Dallas as well hundreds, and maybe thousands of other porn movies. Besides a handful of movies by Damiano, Revene, fem-porn pioneer Candida Royalle and others that were edited for an ‘R’ rating for brief runs in mainstream theaters, their dreams of porn and ‘legit’ cinema coalescing into one were largely unrealized.

As the “me” decade wore on, sex scenes in many movies would become longer and more explicit, or “hardcore” with any sort of plot taking a backseat. Once VCRs became more affordable and porn was finally able to be viewed in the privacy of your home and more easily attainable than ever before, not to mention counting for over 2/3 of rentals and sales in the video market, the industry was making more money than it had ever seen, and with all the money up for grabs, this meant more studios and more competition. Ironically, overall quality of much of the product of this era was on a continuous downward spiral.

By the mid-nineties, porn enthusiasts tired of insipid plots rejoiced at the advent and popularization of ‘gonzo’ porn, i.e., porn with very little or no plot set-up and extreme, extended close-ups of penetration, considered to be started by John Stagliano, and its more disturbing aspects personified by figures like the highly controversial Max Hardcore. Before long, studios in a race to get more consumers to view their product would start to become increasingly more specialized with content. If you wanted to see a porn flick catering to a certain fetish, (real breasts, fake breasts, feet, S&M, etc) there’s a laundry list of genres out there that have accommodated the viewer’s special needs and requests in the mid to late nineties and 2000s more than any time before. Around the same time gonzo was enjoying its reign as porn’s biggest single commodity in this “fast forward to the good part/ADD” society, the amateur/ ‘reality porn’ market was making major waves. The amateur genre would especially take off from the late 90s on as technological advancements like inexpensive and easy to use digital cameras and the ability to upload videos online made porn more of a democracy. Not only that, many porn viewers would begin to tire of silicone breasts and plastic surgery-riddled models that would become the norm in the VCR era, longing for all-natural features that were the norm in the ‘golden age’, not to mention the all but absent ‘every person’ normal body types that way more people have than the typical porn or Hollywood star. Apparently people seeing models in movies that actually looked like them and the possibility that they too could participate made ‘regular people’ take unprecedented interest porn.

In theory, eventually the same thing that would happen with gangster rap and many self marketing indies taking advantage of the internet happened to the porn industry; reluctance to break out of a comfortable formula and lack of technical experience. With gangster rap, initial pioneers like N.W.A. and Ice-T wrote albums depicting a harsh and disturbing urban lifestyle with originality and social insight. Once it was discovered the highly debated genre was profitable, dumbed down acts with lowest common denominator lyrics about bitches and trigger happy violence take priority over much of any social content, and so-called gangster rap has more or less droned on with the same subject matter for well over 15 years. The short explanation pretty much being; a few pioneers against all odds make something profitable, with countless imitators following suit, afraid of rocking the boat and disrupting the cash cow. Also, by the late nineties, as record companies would become increasingly irrelevant as a result the of internet and inexpensive sound recording methods, more and more novice ‘garage’ bands would record and produce their own music, and sell their wares and promote themselves on websites. While a band being able to operate outside of a big dinosaur label is by all means good, at the same time, a bigger label often has A&Rs and talent scouts who have a pretty good nose for what’s gonna sell, if nothing else, and while a whole lotta shit has been released on major labels, they’ve probably prevented a lot of shit from being heard as well. Having said that, many amateurs and low rent gonzo studios don’t have the money or guidance to make a product that’s going to have a lasting shelf life, that is if they haven’t already made an uneducated porn viewer feel like he just wasted his money.

For less than inexplicable reasons, gangster rap isn’t selling like it used to, and big ‘dinosaur’ labels aren’t counted out as extinct just yet, and many porn fans weary of the megalomania and sometimes sub-standard production value of gonzo and amateur porn pine for feature length adult film, something that’s been neglected foe quite some time, but recently has been making somewhat of a comeback.

In 2005 the 1st installment of the story driven, big- budget movie (by porn standards) Pirates, unexpectedly became a major hit in an era it was pretty hard for a feature to stand out. A year earlier Eon Mkcai would direct his 1st big movie for VCA, the plot-heavy, indie-youth subculture sensible Art School Sluts, was and unexpected hit and garnered as much acclaim for fans and forward-thinking industry types as it did revulsion from smut peddling big-wigs and hacks. More of the same has happened with some of Eon’s and Vivid-Alt’s subsequent releases like Girls Lie, Dana Dearmond’s Role Modeling, and Rebelle Rousers. Punk-porn Godfather Rob Rotten, who won an AVN (Adult Video News) award from out of nowhere in 2000 with the Suburbia- inspired Little Runaway, has been another controversial but highly successful commodity. Along with conceptual and punk rock themed gonzo titles like Scurvy Girls, Swallow My Children, and Fuck The System, Rob’s Punx Productions has released Porn of The Dead, and most recently The Texas Vibrator Massacre, both horror-themed full length features that had studios and execs up in arms and threatening never to let his films see the light of day, only to have overwhelming positive response once they finally were tuned loose on the buying public.

Within the time span of 2004-2007, gonzo’s dominance began to slip somewhat, and many, producers, studios, and especially directors, like Rotten, Mckai, Joone, (who directed Pirates) Eli Cross, and others feel the time is right to attempt to usher in another ‘golden age’ of high-quality, plot oriented, feature length porn movie. As Woodman Entertainment’s Richard Sharp noted; “In the sea of gonzo people don’t really notice you. Consumers seem to be returning to features as a result of what some have called ‘gonzo burnout.” In this day and age more women and couples are more interested in watching porn than ever before, which would certainly get studios interested in producing story-driven material. Apparently, and hopefully, the demand for a porn film that could rival the production value of any Hollywood movie is high, and with some new blood and fresh ideas, maybe, just maybe, Gerard Damiano’s dream isn’t a dead one after all…

ear damage #23 out now

2009-04-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

so yeah, it's finally done. ints w/cheetah chrome, baby sinead, and an articvle about deep throat dierector gerard damiano. as welll as all the usuall stuff.

2009-03-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Bloody 98
4 Song CDEP

From the remnants of Mobile’s local legends The Hormones and rockin’ alt-country four piece All Get Out emerges Bloody 98, a great melding of its forbearers. For a disc that’s only four songs long, its jam packed with punkabilly attitude, tales of barroom brawls and the pitfalls and depression brought on by having to make a living via the daily grind. The Duke boys would be proud…anyway, as was aforementioned, there’s a good bit of diversity here for only four tracks; “love me” is mainly an up-tempo cover of a rockabilly classic, Heart of Dixie” is a country-rock love letter to southern living, “Hell and Back” is a high spirited romp about blowing off steam after 40 hours of clock puching, and the surprisingly dark “Call the Law” could easily be the theme for criminals on cops, or Run Ronnie Run. Definitely looking forward to anything else they put out.
[CS] myspace.com/bloody98band

Elika cd review

2009-03-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Elika
Trying got us nowhere cdep
Fiercely Indie

Man, these guys can say they cut their teeth on Brian Wilson, Ian McCullough, and Nico all they want, all I’m hearing is 90s to current melancholy Radiohead-influenced Madonna. A lot. I mean, the similarities between the queen of pop or whatever the hell it is she’s called and Evagelia Maravelias are uncanny. Even though I never been too much of a fan of the ‘material girl’, it’s not to say I could never get into a band like Elika, but the mood probably would have to strike me 1st…
[CS]

myspace.com/elikamusic
fiercelyindie.co.uk/elika

MW Ensenble cd review

2009-03-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

MW Ensemble
Apartment or Nepal
Ionik/75 or Less Records

This short disk is long on beautiful, emotional sounds. A cross between chamber music, pop, and indie, these different elements of MW Ensemble come together for some pretty challenging and entertaining listing.

[CS]
myspace.com/neubasicreaders
ionikrecords.com
75orlessrecords.com

The Points cd review

2009-03-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Points
S/T
Mud Memory Records

Judging by the album cover here (probably one of the more interesting album covers I’ve seen in a while), Washington, D.C. based band The Points must have had a pretty bad breakup with their former female keyboard player. Aside from the pointedly flippant (no pun intended) album cover, song titles here could very well suggest a laundry list of misogynist rants and jilted mantras (No Girl, Not Your man, Never Trust my Heart, etc). Either that or they got a pretty provocative marketing scheme going on. While their music isn’t quite as adventurous as their A&R antics, its still thoroughly enjoyable if you’re in the mood to hear a meshing of Ramones, “Beat Off” era Queers, early replacements and retro-garage like the Mummies. Clearly, the Points aren’t treading any new territory with their sound, but a band like this is best put to use in sweaty clubs belting out raw tunage than locked away in a studio anyway.

[CS]

myspace.com/thepoints

3/12 -3/7 amb show recap(no fun, ill ease)

2009-03-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

No Fun, Secret Cities, others,3/7 & Ill Ease, Super Nice Bros, Group Hug (also Cheetah Shine’s Scizo Disco, 3/12 @ AMB

March 7 at the Music Box was a local ‘super group’ night of sorts, with various members of Nuess Ardentes, American Suicide, The Wednesdays, and Hibachi Stranglers playing in new or different bands. Maybe with all the familiar faces from the Cellblock days all the way back to the mid nineties, it was a class reunion of sorts, then again maybe it was a collection of old farts…Up 1st was Secret Cities, which included much of Nuees Ardentes’s old line up, including Steven Marler and Michael Clark, with mobsux alum Couchdute (don’t know his real name). Secret Cites played an expectantly tight, proficient, and energetic set of indie/alternative to kick things off. Next was (if I remember correctly) was North Alabama’s Satan’s Youth Ministers, who looked like some sort of drag queen revue, but ironically, sort of reminded me of Antiseen musically. A little gimmicky, and gimmicks tend to be a big hit here in Mobile, but they had some pretty good music and was definitely a hit with the crowd. No Fun took to the stage a little later, certainly the most anticipated band of the night due to this being their 1st public performance. Featuring Roy from CCUSA and American Suicide and Chris and Matt from the Hibachi Stranglers, No Fun served up more or less straight ahead punk infused rock, topped off with a high pitched cover of MC5’s “Ramblin’ Rose”. Despite a false start or two, No Fun proved to be a lot of fun.

The show on March 12 didn’t’ have quite as much of a turnout, but definitely held its weight in entertainment value, and for anybody that was there, at least you got to see some different bands…Anyway, this was one of the pretty few and far between shows that I dj’d (Schizo Disco), I like to think people enjoyed what I was playing for the most part. I play lots of different stuff but the dance-oriented stuff seems to be more popular now, which I guess has been the case for about the past year or so. I’ve heard a few in the local hipster circles that early, rock influenced Sparks is great, but everybody on the dance floor seems to go for No. 1 in Heaven. Well, enough about me, ‘cos what I was doing was only intermediate entertainment anyway…the band that kicked this shin-dig was Central Alabama’s Group Hug, seemingly one of many bands lately playing at the Music Box that wear costumes and cross-dress on stage. The lead singer soon shed his goofy looking unicorn get- up and got down to the business of rocking the crowd. Group Hug played a pretty tight, streamlined set of melodic alternative-sounding music, one of the best sounding live indie bands I’ve heard in a while. Of course I haven’t been to any other venues beside AMB in at least about 8 months now, but I think that’s still saying something…up next was the band (or maybe really just the musician in this case) that I’d really championed for this show was Ill Ease, aka Liz Sharp. I have to admit I was a little disappointed to see she was by herself and to a degree depending on loop machines to compensate for lack of other musicians, and she didn’t play any of her songs from her album The Exorcist, which is a few years old now, she arguably put on the best performance of the night. Despite a relatively short set and a few hindering technical difficulties, judging by crowd reaction, Ill Ease was one of the high point for the month of March for the local dive-bar scene. Up next was another excursion into cross-dressing, Tommy Valentine (Has Lost His Kitten) Tommy belted out a few early 70s pop type songs and kept reiterating about his lost kitten between songs. Finally was Super Nice Bros, who brought the good time party vibe of the night to its apex with, well, their good time party music, their ever popular hybrid of 80s funk and R&B and indie sensibilities.

[CS]

for more photos go here: http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/cheetahshine/312atamb/http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/cheetahshine/312atamb/

jesse jewel on jews

2009-03-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

well, i said i'd try to post an entry on this blog at least twice a week, here's one...although this may not be of much immediate relavence. some of the other youtube videos (which are all pretty much interviews of the performers in his movies)i've posted from blise christie were just kind of random, but with this one theres a small degree of separation i guess you could say...i'd interviewed blaise about a year and a half ago and found out about this chick, jesse jewel, on his youtube page. eventually i got to talking to jesse on myspace and even planned to interview her, but then she started acting all weird when i told her i couldnt find her nonexistent video on xhamster. i asked blaise's ex wife, nico elise, about jesse, and she said she was basically crazy as catshit. judging by this video, who whoulda' guessed?

new ear damage out soon...enough...

2009-02-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

i haven't been on here in a couple weeks, but nobodie's REALLY reading this, so what difference does that make? anyway, just figured i'd let you know ear damage #23 is in the works, if not somewhat behind schedule. hopefully it should be out by mid to late march. for all the fans of 70s punk, i got a special surprise...

r.i.p. lux interior

2009-02-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

i'm sure mostly anyboby reading this by now has heard the news of legendary Cramps frontman Lux passing away of complications of a pre-existing heart condition, thus deepening the ever-present void of punk icons that are dying out. i never was a super-big Cramp fan (i'm mostly familiar with 1986's A Date With Elivs and 1994's Flame Job, and later Pyscadelic Jungle, i'm sure i'm an odball here but i was probably more of a fan of their later, more bombastic material), but thier take on...no scratch that, their all but inventing the phsycobilly genre (although they didn't invent the term), which spawned countless among countless imitators, was never lost on me. The Cramps, along with The Reverend Horton Heat, and maybe to a lesser extent Fear and The Misfits, sparked my intrest in rockabilly and other types of 'roots' music. i never did see them live, which was always on my to do list, and obviously now i never will. i guess i don't have to reiterate Lux's penchant for Iggy-stlye, top-tier showmanship, which even Ian McKaye famously praised. of course i'll always have memories of hearing about The Cramps opening for 311 in New Orelans in the mid ninties, getting heckled and having water bottles thrown at them by future Korn fans. like they say, 'real rock n roll never wins'. then again when was the last time you heard of 311? looks like real rock n roll never dies, as well...

photo by Teresa K., http://punkturns30.blogspot.com/

razorcake review

2009-01-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

just checked my p.o. box and got a pleasnt surprise; the latest issue of razorcake zine with a greatly appricated positive review...

EAR DAMAGE #22, $3, photocopied, 5½” x 8½”, 72 pgsBy Art Ettinger Wednesday, January 14 @ 00:00:00 CST
What separates Ear Damage from other similarly themed zines is its quality writing. It hails from Alabama and is primarily a music zine, with some political ramblings about the Obama/McCain election thrown in for good measure. There are reviews, columns, a sad tribute to a deceased member of the local scene, an interview with Electronic Sulking Machine, and an article about rifts between artists and labels. The writing is informal, but compelling. Plus, there are recommendations of Mobile, AL bands that might not make it to readers otherwise. My only gripe is that a zine this short shouldn’t review every recent release from each of its advertisers. The layout is pleasant. No one will get eye damage from Ear Damage. –Art Ettinger (Ear Damage, PO Box 180323, Mobile, AL, myspace.com/eardamage)

redemption art show

2009-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Redemption Art Show/The Port Wine Stain, One Cut Kill (The Blind Mule)
1/17/09

It seemed as if there were several d.iy. style art exhibitions/festivals this particular weekend, but due to limited finances and not much willingness to get out at all, I only attended one (barely), only the 2nd night of one actually. Sarah P’s latest event, entitled ‘Redemption’, had a few different mediums of art on display, but the main focal point of the exhibition seemed to be ‘installations’ (I put that in quotation ‘cos I only found out the definition last night, at the time of this writing), or artwork involving three dimensional objects…I don’t know, like a department window display, without the tackiness. Anyway, I wont’ even pretend to be some sort of art critic, but I saw many pieces of art that triggered my interest and curiosity nonetheless. Riley Barnes’ untitled piece dealt with redeeming articles of little perceived value into something worthwhile.
Elizabet Elliott’s “Colorblind” addresses cultural and social identity. Much Nikki Burkett’s artwork was main canvas was local super-group of sorts, The Port Wine Stain, as Every member was wearing clothing showcasing her block print designs. There were also installations and other entries by Katie Moody, Jeremy Baker, and of course, Sarah P. Among the more ‘functional’ and practical exhibits’ of the night were local comic Sir William Master’s notepads made from old vinyl album covers and 12-pack beer cartons. Where many other projects reflected the event’s serious themes of ‘redemption’, William Master’s contribution was sheer pop-culture/dime store fun.

Part of the musical side of the event was Adam D’s One Cut Kill, who from the looks of it, at least visually anyway, took a page out of the Bob Log/Evel Kenevil school of dress.
Much less musical and more aesthetic than any OCK performance I ever saw or heard, it definitely gave weight to that old cliché about esoteric forms of rock; sounding like pot and pans hitting the floor. Literally one of Adam’s main instruments was a trash can. Oscar the Grouch must definitely be pissed at what could be called an art student-style gentrification of his community. While the musical quality of this performance was a little in question for me, especially considering Adam’s proficiency on whatever instrument he picks up, his set this night was fittingly another art exhibit, just in aural form.

And of course wrapping up the festivities was probably one of the most anticipated musical happenings of the past year, the debut of The Port Wine Stain. Featuring Jimmy Lee on vocals and guitar as well as local indie vets Trey Lane and Andre D., for anybody that thought it was cramped and crowded in The Blind Mule’s limited space during the art show, they probably found out what ‘crowded’ was all about once PWS started playing. For the duration of PWS’s performance, they crowd remained fixated the bands stage presence and set, which went off largely without any major hitches.

for more pics click here:http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/cheetahshine/redemption/

**photobucket password: redemption

jordan blue on porn (filmed by b.c.)

2009-01-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

The Tiles’ farewell Show, El Cantador, some other band @ (where else right now) AMB12/26/08

2008-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

To top off the 2nd half of a year with seemingly consecutive heartbreaks, Mobile’s best indie rock band The Tiles finally threw in the towel the day after Christmas, after a few long hiatuses in the past year and a half or so. Judging by how many people were crammed into the Music Box that night, you would have never thought The Tiles were even dreaming of calling it a day now! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in that place before, inside or waiting to get inside. Even though I couldn’t stay late, I at least got to see the 1st couple songs of their swan song set, which included “Radio Blast” from one of their later eps and one of the many would-be hits off their lone full length Please.
Even though The Tiles didn’t exactly get everything they deserved locally during their existence, they certainly got accolades from so many other places. They had a great run, no reason to feel so bad and sorry it ended this way?!?

Anyway, warm up band El Cantador seems poised to sort of fill some of the void by the Tiles’ departure, and maybe a few other local bands too, genre-wise. This was only about the 2nd time I’d ever seen them play. They have a sort of country rock meets U2 thing going on…I think.

Weekly recap 12/14/08

2008-12-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

12/6/08: Hibachi Stranglers, The Old Guard, “Dj Hot Lobster @Alabama Music Box

The much talked about and highly attended “last show of 2008” for the
‘Stranglers, and hardcore newcomers The Old Guard, as well as DJ Hot Lobster (HS guitar player Neil) spinning vinyl between sets. Of course The Hibachi Stranglers rocked the crowd as the lone garage punk band in Mobile should, but The Old Guard got a reception from the audience that seemed to be a mixture of feeling genuinely entertained and being lambasted with some of that good ol’ Port City flippant sarcasm. Hot Lobsters play list was, as usual top notch as well.

12/13/08: Night Blind Grayson, The Walking Bones, Hot Hands, Nightblind Grayson @ Alabama Music Box

I was thinking The Walking Bones (who I saw in their hometown of Hattiesburg a while back) was more or less the stars of this show, but it seems Hot Hands (ex-jeanie and the tits, Sharp Objects) stole the show here, at least to some extent. Catching Hot hands’ set on the ass-end, I’d have to say I was impressed with their psych-pop (look like everybody else is call ing it noise-pop) that was actually pretty catchy. I didn’t stick around (anywhere near) long enough for Nightblind Grayson, and I heard they didn’t play anyway. But I stuck around long enough to see most of The Walking Bones’ set, and they seem even tighter than when I saw them for the 1st time barley a month ago maybe ‘cos they have their 1st album waiting in the wings…

Ok, that wasn’t even a weekly recap, more like two random days. There was some other stuff I wanted to see, like the Grayson Capps show at The Soul Kitchen (which I haven’t been to since they moved further east on Dauphin St.) and Renee Arozqueta @ Alabama Music box, but I either didn’t feel like getting out or didn’t have the money…

super aids, LHS@alabama music box 12/16

2008-12-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

...so yeah, this is pretty last minute, but this coming up tuesday two of Orlando, fl's best punk bands will be at the alabama music box...

super aids- loud thrashy,trashy kind of reminisant of bands of the 'skate punk' era http://www.myspace.com/aidsthataresuper

Lybian Hit Squad- defentily a punk band, yet hard to define...a cross between the minutemen and the dicks??? http://www.myspace.com/thelibyanhitsquad

aslo as you may know, tuesday is record swap nite @AMB, i'll be playing some music between sets mainly some new promo stuff i gotten recently

$ not definite yet, but probably no more than 5 bucks, quitew possibly one local band to be named, about 9pm...

MANIQUI LAZER review

2008-12-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Maniqui Lazer
Everythhing I learn on TV
Soundsister Records

These hombres from South of The Border definitely sound like a band you’d see on MTV Subterranean. I’ll take a jab at describing this and categorize it as ‘eletro punk’ (o.k. “lazer punk”) with nods and similarities to xbxrx, gang of four, and maybe at the drive-in. at certain moments Manqui Lazer shines and shows much promise with up-tempo, danceable songs like “dance pills” and tamagotci Manchine” but a litany of instrumental album filler on an 16 track album clocking in at less than 25 minutes is a little annoying. Cutting out the unessacary instrumentals and just making this a cdep would have mage this release from Maniqui Lazer all the better.
[CS]

http://www.myspace.com/elmaniquilazer

Emily Parker on Porn

2008-12-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

Alt porn director Blaise Christie often interviews many of the girls that star in his nior smut flicks on youtube (that's about the only way you'll ever know exaclty who they are!) here's Emly Parker on her view of porn..(don't ask me why i'm posting this...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8DppDrL9YQ

electrofilms.com

RIP Brian Turd

2008-12-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

I 1st met Brain Thickstin, much better known as Brain Turd, I think sometime in the summer of ’96 or ’97 at a ‘GED’party. A bunch of people were standing around, getting ready to go in a shed somewhere and smoke some pot, and someone asked if I wanted to smoke, to which I said no, as I at that point usually didn’t and hadn’t smoked pot in a while. Well within Brian’s earshot, he replied, “Rather smoke crack, huh?” I just kinda walked away. Not a terribly good 1st impression, but for the most part it didn’t last too long. Despite his obnoxious behavior and often imposing demeanor, Brian was actually an easygoing, fun loving type of dude (with the never-ending goofy little kid laugh). It wasn’t long at all before I’d be seeing Les Turds play for the 1st time, debating and talking with him about our favorite bands, and repeatingly telling him I’d never tried coke and didn’t really want too when he’s wave some in front of my face.

Brian Certainly wasn’t much on taking guff, either. I’d seem him throw a few blows and beer bottles over the years. While I’m sure whoever was on the receiving end of his wrath didn’t always deserve it, pretty often they probably did. It wasn’t anything for him to be in the middle of a fight, and sometimes it seemed he had as many friends as people who were offended by his actions.

In many ways Les Turds held down the Mississippi gulf coast/ lower Alabama punk scene with their down n dirty lo fi sound, probably running a close second to The Vomit Spot in terms of overall relevance and yearly reunion shows. Along with Brian’s other attributes he’s definitely made his mark as a consummate frontman, taking cues from Iggy, Stiv Bators, and his idol GG. He walked the fine line of being loved by his friends and fans and despised by those not cued in to his outlook on life.

Brian was shot down while walking his dog in New Orleans mid November 2008. While many may have said he deserved an ass beating from time to time, he certainly didn’t deserve to lose his life. I’m sure while he didn’t have the best life, he seemed to love living it. As far as I know New Orleans hasn’t ever really been a city of upstanding ethics or upstanding law enforcement, but if it wasn’t for surveillance cameras that haven’t been working since Katrina, we might at least have some idea who brought Brian’s life to an end. There’s been a surprising outpour of reaction on Myspace, as well as reports on several different news outlets, and to be completely honest, I don’t think some of these people posting on the net and lamenting how much they’re gonna miss Brain are being completely genuine, as is usually the case when somebody passes. As far as I could tell, Brian was a love me or leave me type of guy. In his passing, it may be that some can’t make their minds up about how they felt about him when he was alive.

Baby Sinead interview in #23 (hopefully...)

2008-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

Just last week i interviewed alt-pornster, Burning Angel alumn and artist Baby Sinead for the soon to be upcoming issue of ear damage, it's just that the interview sort of dissapered into thin air...no, really, i didn't have the tape player hooked up right. Hopfully i can get her this to happen again. until then check out her spiffy blog...

babysinead.com

Bloody 98 @ A.M.B.

2008-12-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Bloody 98 @ Alabama Music Box,
11/29/08

After whatever plans I made to see this band feel though consistently for over a year, my wild goose chase finally ended towards the tail end of November, during ‘Rick Bastards’ b-day party. Of course many of you already know Bloody 98 is ¾ country rockers All Get Out and former Hormones frontman George Kennedy on drums, so in a way I’ve already seen this band about a hundred times in several different incarnations, but whatever. Bloody 98 played second in a roster about 4 bands I guess, and by the time they took the stage, either the 1st band, basically playing what sounded like 90s alternative, took much of the really populated crowd with them or Bloody 98 ran them off with their outlaw country/punk. Either way, they missed out of probably the best band of the night. Along with song from their cdep like “Love Me, Bloody 98 also played quite a few songs that haven’t been recorded yet, as well as a few old AGO tunes.
[CS]

Hormones album review

2008-12-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

The Hormones
Murder Weapon CD
Head Crank Records

Sadly, local vets The Hormones played their (believed to be) last show ever a while back, but they leave on a pretty high note with their last and quite possibly best album, Murder Weapon. Just like their previous album Break-Neck Speed, MW is a full blast excursion into garage punk and hard rock, but Murder Weapon is definitely a leaner, meaner effort compared to Break-neck speed’s emphasis on melody. An even mix of Ramones, Nine Pound Hammer, and The Electric Eels would be a pretty good description. From the balls-out swagger of “Damn Thing” and “Kick Me Out” to the cretinous groove of the title track and the 70s rock-inflected “Space Traveler”, The Hormones rarely disappoint, except maybe this being their final album.

[CS]

myspace.com/thehormonesmusic

Ill Ease album review (once again...)

2008-12-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

Ill Ease & The Racket
Turn it Loose!
Ionik Records

Once again one of Brooklyn’s most prolific (or at the least hardest working) indie rock artists returns with her virtual band and album’s worth of groove heavy, if somewhat repetitive jams. The jump off “Here Comes Trouble (To The Tune of Pretty Woman)” (Which actually sounds nothing like Roy Orbisons’ Pretty Woman), probably has a little more in common with Norman Greenbaum’s classic “Spirit In the Sky”, with its shuffle beat and handclaps, or at least whatever sound effect or instrument it is that sounds like hand claps. Another peculiar track (among many) “Downward Spiral”, is simultaneously simplistic and dexterous. For a song with basically two chords and lyrics that more or less repeats the title of the song over and over, after a couple listens it really starts to take on a dark, hypnotic, and psychedelic feel. Weather speaking on drug addiction, bad relationships, credit card debt or what have you, the seemingly opened-ended statement could apply to many things and relate to many different people. And maybe that’s another deceptively great thing about Liz Sharp’s latest outing; the subject matter is often so vague and one dimensional until it becomes universal and open to individual analysis. How many different ways could “Hate the Game” and “I Might Be in Love” be taken?

Once again, Sharp’s music also has a substantial hip-hop inflection. A woman who could have easily been mistaken as Mike D’s tomboy little sister circa License to Ill Beasties deserves a cameo spot on Run’ House as much as, if not more than, Kid Rock. In a nutshell, while Turn it Loose treads some of the some same rthymiclly regressive territory as 2006’s All Systems a Go-Go, and not as dynamic as The Exorcist, once again Liz Sharp has put together, without a whole lot of help, either, a solid, enjoyable, challenging album that would make somebody like Prince pretty proud.
[CS]
illease.com
ionikrecords.com

2008-12-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

yeah, for anybody intrested, this is what the latest issue of the zine looks like...

my 1st blog post here

2008-12-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

i guess i've finally went and done what the hell i should have done well over a year and a half ago a made a real blog. better late than never i suppose. hopefully this blog will do what the myspace blog couldn't do when i post reviewsm intverviews and other notable stuff...