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Friday, July
16, 2004 at 11:54:48 (EDT) |
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Packed like lemmings into shiny metal
boxes
 Another
Siren
Festival is upon us. Tomorrow way too many people will
try to cram in to see way too many bands in an inadequately
small space in Coney Island. It will no doubt be way too hot
and since it's an all-ages event, there will be no beer. What
a good idea!
I have always avoided the Siren festivals for these reasons.
It's just too much trouble, they idea is a good one (free
show, lots of good bands) but it's all at the expense of tolerable
conditions. Even if I get a good spot in the crowd, what if
I have to pee? I'll either never get out or never get back
in again. Living in this city it never ceases to amaze me
how people can't wait to pack themselves into ever-tinier
spaces. We live in tiny apartments, we ride crowded subways,
we go to shows that sell out and are probably over the fire
limit anyway. I suppose the threat of the  crowds
at the Siren Festival probably do keep away a lot of people,
but enough people will not be phased by this to show up and
elbow me in the ribs for 9 hours.
Anyway I bring this all up because Mission
of Burma is one of the bands performing. I'd really like
to see them, and figure this may be my only chance to see
them a) in the next 6 months and b) for free. When they've
played here in the past, they usually end up at Irving Plaza
(bleah) and charge $25 for the privilege. This time around,
some friends of mine will be on the beach nearby, so perhaps
I can seek refuge there. I still don't understand why they
place the stages facing away from the beach. If they turned
them around and opened the cattle pen in which spectators
are forced to stand, then many more people could see the bands.
What's the point of going to an outdoor concert if people
are gonna be all penned up anyway? It's the worst of both
worlds.
Okay, I'm done. Regardless of what I do during the day, I
have to get to Mighty Robot Saturday evening for Oneida's
last show before they go on tour. Not only is it the last
show before the tour, but it's probably their last show as
a completely Brooklyn-based band. After the tour Fat Bobby
will be chasing his dreams to Boston. The band will go on,
but it'll be one of those long-distance relationship band
things. I guess lots of bands do this, even my old band did
it for a while. It'll make things harder on them, but perhaps
it will give their music more focus or something. Anyway,
I gotta see this show, since who knows how long it'll be before
they get back here. Also playing with them are the ever-more-annoying
Ex Models. Sheesh, "I
can't believe I used to like these guys."
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
July 14, 2004 at 13:44:13 (EDT) |
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Adam & Eve ... Adam & Steve
The Senate
has rejected the Gay Marriage Ban that George Bush so desperately
wanted to shore up votes with right-wing religious lunkheads
(this method is also known as "preaching to the choir").
Since this was obviously just a ploy to ingratiate himself with
voters (like he really gives a damn about whether two dudes
can get hitched), I'm glad that it appears this is has been
put to rest for the remainder of this political season. From
the article:
A divided U.S. Senate rejected a bid on
Wednesday to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage,
likely killing the measure backed by President Bush for
at least this election year.
The vote went down at 50 to 48, falling short of the 60 votes
the measure needed to pass. Is it just me, or is everybody
getting sick of how close things have been getting called
lately? Ever since the 2000 election, every time something
goes up for a vote, it barely squeaks by or it barely gets
refused. What happened to landslides? The only landslide I
can think of is the last election when US Representative Edolphus
Towns,  incumbent
Democrat, won against some Republican guy by something like
97%.
I suppose I should look at such even disagreement on so many
issues as evidence that Americans are becoming more decisive
and opinionated, but somehow I suspect that isn't the case.
Rather, it seems they're just getting better at following
orders.
What does Jack Chick think about gay marriage? Well, what
do you think
he thinks about it?
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
July 14, 2004 at 11:43:28 (EDT) |
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You're gonna burn in hell
Thanks to JoshR,
I'm again obsessively reading Chick
Tracts online. Jack Chick's inflammatory comics demonstrate
both his incredible comic artistry and his viewpoint, which
borders on insanity. And not good insanity. This is religious
insanity, which is never much fun. But it certainly is fascinating.
Although deeply dedicated to the idea that devotion to Christ
is the only way to salvation, he views Catholicism on par with
Satanism. In fact, it's difficult to determine which branch
of Christianity with which he feels most comfortable. Perhaps
what he really wants is to begin a sect of Chickism.
His little comic books work off the "confrontational
proselytization" palette, which likes to push your buttons
until, magically, you collapse, admitting that you're a good-fer-nothing,
no-account sinner and you're ready to jump through some hoops
so you don't end up in hell. In some ways his tracts are like
the religious version of Howard Stern; sooner or later he
says something that gets you riled up. For some reason (glutton
for punishment?) I can't get enough of this. His methods are
similar to Brother
Jed and his Church of Nomadic College Campus Hasslers.
 My
new favorite tract is "Love
the Jewish People." By describing God's wrath as
though it was a kind of voodoo curse, Chick basically says
"You better be nice to Jews, since God promised to smite
anybody who persecuted them." Of course, Jews didn't
buy into the whole Jesus-Messiah thing but we get a pass from
Chick because he's afraid God will cause his empire to crumble.
To me, there's implicit anti-Semitism here; even this tract
ends with a reminder that Jesus is the only Messiah and therefore
Jews are getting away with something by not believing this.
So Jews are okay, but Catholics are not. There's something
really insulting here (not to mention countless other such
moments through his body of work), but I can't stop reading.
Despite the intensity of his vitriol in some of his pieces,
Chick Tracts feel mostly harmless. His anger seems humorous
because after all, it's just this little comic book that over-earnest
weirdos leave on park benches for us sinner to find.
Which reminds me, Buzz McKinnon has been bringing Chick Tracts
home lately. He claims he "doesn't know" where he
finds them. Hmmm...
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Monday, July
12, 2004 at 11:20:52 (EDT) |
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I'm your fan
Cobretti at Asterisk, July 10, 2004
You can't really see it in the photo, but Cobretti has two
drummers who share a single bass drum. So they have to face
each other, looking a little like they're conducting one of
those mirroring exercises they make you do in first-year acting
classes. I had long been awaiting this performance, as it
not only marked the return
of Cobretti to the stage, but the return of Jeremy, the guy
who used to sing lead for Bob City. I think he still sounds
good, but the shortcomings in the sound system made it difficult
to tell. But I think it sounded good, so that's all that matters.
The Asterisk space seems to be doing well, too. They didn't
have the deck open, but with the number of people who turned
out for the show, they probably had to let people out there
at some point. The one downside of the space is that it gets
really stuffy, so everybody ends up crowding onto the roof
deck.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Monday, July
12, 2004 at 10:28:33 (EDT) |
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The piano has been drinking Rheingold
I missed this the other day:
 Rheingold
Brewery Marks Return To Brooklyn By Rolling Out First Keg
That's right, they're making Rheingold right here in the
neighborhood in some unmarked building on Waverly. One of
these days I'll figure out which one it is. What's alarming
is that NY1, a mostly-credible journalistic outlet, uses the
contraction "it's" when grammatically it should
have used the possessive "its," a mistake I find
unacceptable in blogs let alone situations in which people
are actually paid to write.
Typos bug me, but I guess what's more annoying is somebody
who feels the need to point them out. No, wait, the most annoying
thing is when somebody spouts about how they can't stand people
who demonstrate poor usage and then in the next line they
screw something up themselves. Their all such jerks.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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