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Friday, December
10, 2004 at 11:30:37 (EST) |
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There is power in a Union
I was saving posting anything yesterday for my trip to the DMV.
My assumption was that it would be chock-full of amusing characters
and exciting adventures from which I could draw several anecdotal
examples. Alas, it was only boring and generally efficient.
It is worth noting that nearly everybody else there seemed to
be having some drama, but there was none to spare for me. It
took maybe ten minutes and seven of those minutes were just
waiting in line.
Despite the rock star antics at the beginning of the week,
the rest of it has been rather low-key and domestic. I keep
cleaning the house in preparation for this party, but it doesn't
seem to be doing any good. The more I clean, the more I realize
how filthy everything is. I guess the best move is to keep
the lights low and burn some scented candles. I guess a lot
of New York apartments are like this: old and poorly renovated,
so much so that no amount of dressing-up can disguise how
busted it is.
In other news you've all no doubt heard about yet another
weird-ass thing to go on in Ohio: the shooting
of members of Damageplan by a deranged fan. Reportedly,
shooter Nathan Gale was upset because Pantera had broken up
and Dimebag Darrel had started this other band, so he jumped
onstage at Alrossa Villa in Columbus, shouted "You broke
up Pantera!" before opening fire. I didn't even know
anybody even really liked Pantera, let alone killing
for them.
 Of
course, the real tragedy going on in Ohio right now is the
possible closing
of the Union Bar's music room. Rented separately from
the ground-floor bar, the performance space has been the best
(and sometimes the only) worthwhile stage in my little former
college town. I saw countless shows there, and my old band
played there for years (and pretty much nowhere else). But
the landlords have declared the rent will triple in a couple
months, after having been at the same price for several years.
The bar does well, but it doesn't do well enough to shrug
off an $1800 per month increase to its rent. It's obvious
the owners want the bar out of the upper room, they probably
want to turn in ito crappy apartments so students who don't
know any better will pay top-dollar just so they can live
near the town's main drag. Why does everything turn into apartments?
I long for the day when a huge apartment building is gutted
to be turned into, I dunno, a marshmallow factory. Anyway,
everybody is getting all riled up about this Union
debacle, trying to figure out if there is any legal recourse.
Lou, currently active in the Army Reserves, has been training
out of state recently, so it seems rather unfair to pull this
now when he can't even come home and deal with it. This kind
of stuff happens in New York all the time, but it seems surprising
to hear about it in small-town Ohio.
 Here's
hoping they find a way out of this. I'm trying to figure out
what I can do, but among other things, I think I'll be winging
my way down to Athens in the next couple months for a Planet
of Pants reunion! I'm sure if we put on a benefit show,
the sheer amount of cash our presence will guarantee means
the Union will have nothing to worry about!
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
December 08, 2004 at 11:00:16 (EST) |
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He's a winner, despite his age
Yea, I'm an old man! Already I'm starting to forget things.
My license expired yesterday so I have to get down to the DMV
today to renew, a la Logan's Run. Mouthy bandmates have been
commanding me to go to the "express" DMV in midtown,
but I don't think there will be much of a line at the Downtown
Brooklyn DMV on a Wednesday afternoon.
Taylor from Maytag
Speaking of mouthy bandmates, the show went very well last
night. I managed to convince Zack he screwed up a song when
it was totally my fault. And it could just be a fluke, but
I did not break any strings last night. In fact I haven't
broken a string for at least a week! Perhaps I'm finally grown
up enough to play the guitar without bashing the hell out
of it.
Maytag
Maytag,
from South Carolina, was kicking off their tour last night.
They had only their guitars and a snare drum, hoping to borrow
equipment from one of the other bands. This should not be
a problem, yet despite the presence of two full, sturdy drumsets
in the Lit storage room, they could not secure permission
to use any from the other bands. This was kind of a letdown
for us, since not only did it mean we'd have to haul our drum
set out of the van to let them use, it meant that there would
be a lot of wasted time when a band finished and had to remove
all their stuff from the stage. Lit is a great club, but there's
not a lot of time for the bands to play, so if everybody shares
the same basic setup, then everybody gets more time to actually
play music. When will these kids learn?
Maytag
Then again, I can't play on any other amp than my own, but
then my amp is but a fraction of the size of the monsters
that many bands use.  I
can understand maybe using a half-stack, but anything more
than that seems awfully excessive. A good rule of thumb should
be: your amps are too large if there's not enough room for
you to stand on the stage.
Okay enough cranky whining. All told the show was really
good. We managed to snare a few people into showing up (thanks
guys), plus our old pal Barbus made it all the way from Cleveland
to see us. He took some pictures of the band:
Buzz the Headless Drummer
Look at those small, yet highly powerful amps!
Took forever to figure out what this was, but now it's my
favorite band photo.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Monday, December
06, 2004 at 14:07:27 (EST) |
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But they'll complain and complain and
complain and complain
Best part of the show was the ceiling Okay people, you've got a lot of work to do this week. First
of all, tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 32 whole years
old, which I believe puts me into this position in which I
can now make demands on everybody about pretty much anything.
I'm gonna be like your grandmother who lolls around on the
divan and says things like "Honey, why don't you fetch
me my Newports, would ya, Sugar?"
To celebrate my induction into the realm of the aged, MOTICO
will be rocking out at Lit
tomorrow night. I see no good reason that everyone within
the sound of my blog could not attend. No excuses! You show
up or our little blog-dance is over! Yes, no longer will you
be able to secretly pretend that I am writing directly to
you; every time you visit hence you will know in your heart
that I am purposefully not thinking of you when I
compose these ever-so-important entries.
Getting old means getting more and more defensive.
Aside from the fact that you all will attend and have no
choice in the matter, the show will of course be fun and will
run no later than midnight, since the DJs that go on after
midnight are the bar's real cash cow. Also, look at it this
way: if you show up to the gig you're off the hook for getting
me a present! What a deal!
Also as I get older I apparently feel the need to prolong
the agony: Saturday night we're having a birthday party here
at Chez Legs. This is a joint venture between myself and Noise
Footprint. Her birthday is next week, so we decided to
join forces so it wouldn't be so egregious.
Plus you get to party with these studs at both events!
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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