Din's Bloggy

“Ridiculous” from our show Friday at the East Bay...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:33:00 -0400

“Ridiculous” from our show Friday at the East Bay Express party. It was a mini-Woodstock in Oaksterdam! Oaksterstock? That’s absoid!

My Dinner With Flipper

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:09:00 -0400

So we did this show Friday, outdoors at the Oakland Museum of California, and it was great fun and full of surprises.

I had been very curious as the date approached, because I saw on the bill none other than Flipper was playing. Now, Flipper is a band that if you know about them, you have an opinion about them. Probably as many people love and celebrate Flipper’s existence as there are people who curse them as the foulest outrage ever to walk onstage. Either thing is entertaining, that is, people who hate Flipper have great fun doing so, so that has to be seen as a form of entertainment in itself. A little background might help.

Back in the early 80’s, when American hardcore punk was quickly being defined as very fast, aggressive music, Flipper would show up and do something very different indeed. On a bill with the likes of Dead Kennedys and sometimes ten opening acts, each playing faster tempos and shorter songs than the last, out comes Flipper. Playing slow dirge-like numbers for as long as they pleased, with huge, ugly distortion from not one but two bassists, who by turns howled into a mic while the other played bass lines which evoked doom and catastrophe, they were the noisiest scariest thing you ever heard. It was splendid.

I was loving it back then, even as some “hardcore” kids heckled and threw various items at the band. Flipper’s offense, it seems, was non-conformity. How dare you play differently from the sacred hardcore sound that we have collectively decided is cool? Somehow Flipper knew exactly where that button was and how to push it, and this they did with a certain glee. The more pissed off the audience got, the greater success for Flipper. Dude it was art. It was hilarious, and it was brave. As for me, I actually liked their songs, too. The spectacle was cool enough, but “Ha Ha Ha,” “Sex Bomb,” “Sacrifice” and some of the other tunes they wrote, were compelling and highly original pieces.

After sound check, as Moose and I walked through the parking lot, there was today’s Flipper hanging by their vehicles, so we stopped to chat for a sec. They wanted to borrow our horn section, and asked which Flipper songs we knew! I’m sure Adam knows every Flipper song, but he wasn’t around and we had to split, so the idea never materialized.

Afflicted with a condition much like Spinal Tap’s drummer curse, Flipper has lost several bass players along the way, including founding member Will Shatter (is there a better punk rock name?). Most recently Krist Noveselic has stepped up to the plate, which is perfect since Nirvana were well known Flipper fans. All this added up to a great deal of anticipation for those who knew, balanced by total indifference from those who were there for the many other fine attractions throughout the museum grounds.

It was a beautiful evening, and a surreal setting. I marveled that of the many strange ways we humans self-organize, outdoor summer festivals are among the best.

With little ceremony, under a moon made orange by the smoke of wildfires, Flipper lurched onto the stage and managed in a short span of time to polarize the audience, with some individuals grinning uncontrollably like madmen who were in on a great and terrible prank, and others who could barely turn their heads away as if staring at an awful traffic accident. Add to that some total adulation from punkers way too young to have seen them in their heyday, some real booing and heckling from baffled onlookers, all together creating the strangest sound I think I’ve ever heard an audience make. Flipper it turns out, in their devious way, doesn’t just play music, they play the audience. It was the same thing only different, twenty some years later.

Funniest part for me though was right after the Uptones set: I sat down on a bench in the outdoor backstage area to come down for a minute, and was approached by some adoring young Flipper fans. They proudly showed off their Flipper tatoos, and thanked me sincerely for playing. I was in shock from just having walked off stage, and so deeply amused that these kids thought I was in Flipper, that I just couldn’t bring myself to bust their illusion. They’d figure it out soon enough, I reasoned, as Flipper would be onstage in 15 minutes or so anyway and then they’d see who was really in the band. Then I thought.. wait, they didn’t just watch the Uptones set and think WE were Flipper?? No, no, they had tatoos! That means they have records, probably vinyl they got on eBay and wore out the grooves long before coming to the show. Nope. Only explanation is there really aren’t many photos of Flipper out there. If there was ever a band who would not have an 8x10 glossy (back then) or an EPK (today) it would be them. So, I was in Flipper, for a minute, in the minds of a few sweet kids. They seemed so happy to meet a real live Flipper. Somehow I think Flipper would approve.

Whooooo

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:38:00 -0400

Whooooo:

What a brilliant saga. Shouldn’t someone make a children’s book out of this? And is there anything more poised than this critter?

Mark Morford

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:47:00 -0400

Mark Morford:

has quickly become my favorite columnist. Here’s a bit from today:

“Did you know the AFA recently boycotted McDonald’s? That’s right, this once semi-powerful tub of right-wing brain-caulk recently declared a comestible fatwa against America’s foremost purveyor of toxic foodstuffs because, apparently, some high-ranking McD’s VP just joined the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which, to the AFA, somehow translates directly into free pink condoms and mind-controlling rainbow flags in every toxic God-fearing Happy Meal.

Did you read about that? No? Of course you didn’t. Here is why: No one cared. Well, that’s not quite true. McDonald’s sort of cared, just enough to write up a nice letter of response to Wildmon stating, in essence, that the AFA is a bunch of troglodytic knuckle-draggers with the sociosexual awareness of a fungal spore, and they should crawl away right now before God spanks them even harder with the 2x4 of total irrelevance.”

Ed Haynes breaks it on down

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:53:00 -0400

Ed Haynes breaks it on down: So, how ‘bout that vote in the Senate today?

Amy Goodman on Obama's campaign

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:49:00 -0400

Amy Goodman on Obama's campaign: Good read. I’ve been by turns inspired, puzzled and dismayed by the actions and words of the Obama campaign. Amy Goodman puts it in some historical perspective and offers some timely analysis.

Rockers Revolt interview with Lynval Golding

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:21:00 -0400

Rockers Revolt interview with Lynval Golding: An illuminating interview with one of my true heros. Excellent read.

Ska Fireworks

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:56:00 -0400

Ok, the show last night at Bottom Of The Hill was amazing!

Quick synopsis -

Agent Deadlies - what’s not to love?! Trio of teens with great Op Ivy and Green Day love, chops beyond their years, excellent songs and disarming stage presence a’la Jonathan Richman. See ‘em, don’t sleep on it, these kids have a rare chemistry and if they keep growing at the rate they did since the first time I saw ‘em in March of this year - forget it, they will be incredible in no time.

Coup De Ska - what?! A ska band that plays ska!? Do tell! These kats play ska music, the kind with ska in it. Taking their cues from the Skatalites and other original Jamaica ska acts, playing phat instrumental arrangements of impeccably selected classics, this band provides a service to humanity. Their keyboard player was kind enough to join us on stage for Too Much Pressure at the end of our set, as the Rev. Paul Jackson burned down the building.

Monkey - ay ay ay!! The south bay’s kings and queen of ska were in top form last night, with a finely tuned set of originals and covers that you could only not dance to if you were dead. I think they finished off any dry shirt still in the house.

The crowd was gorgeous. I was reminded again why I love a good ska show so much - the community vibe is unparalleled. So no matter what happened in my day, no matter how rotten my mood, I come away sweaty, smiling and inspired. What’s that worth?

When The Uptones finally hit the stage, the place was so heated up by the first three acts you could just breathe on it and it would catch fire. So, at the risk of reviewing us, let’s just say, it fooking exploded! What fun, what fun.

Last but never least, promoter Peps and the DJ’s set the stage for all the ska fireworks, it ran smooth as silk, not a dull moment in the night. I suppose I’ll sleep now.

Oh Deer

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:34:00 -0400

As I left Strawberry Canyon pool this morning, a young girl, maybe 3, 4 year old tops, and her brother, passed me at the gate and excitedly exclaimed, “we saw a deer! It was right there and then it ran away!” I replied, “oh my, yes, how wonderful,” and they beamed with glee. As I walked to my car she shouted after me, “it was a real one!” as if I hadn’t fully understood.

Tell the Senate to reject stupid unconstitutional FISA bill

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:56:57 -0400

Tell the Senate to reject stupid unconstitutional FISA bill: Sign and pass it on, please.

The great Son House. I didn’t know until today that any...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:09:00 -0400

The great Son House. I didn’t know until today that any film footage existed of this hugely influential performer. I mean, this is one of the guys that taught Robert Johnson how to play guitar! It doesn’t get any deeper than that. I’ve heard the sound many times, but to see that heavy guitar technique in action is truly mind blowing. Thanks (Fake) Son House for the tip.

An undetermined number of llamas

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:40:00 -0400

An undetermined number of llamas: Hee =)

Bill Hicks has some helpful advice for musicians. Caution,...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:31:00 -0400

Bill Hicks has some helpful advice for musicians. Caution, it’s loud, lo-fi, rude and some may find it horrifying. Replace “New Kids On The Block” with any current mouseketeer level pap, and this tirade fits right in today.

Random music post for the day! This is one of my personal faves...

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:52:00 -0400

Random music post for the day! This is one of my personal faves from the great blue waters of MP3 4U. E. Blake Davis tells the tale of a young lad who goes to meet his skateboard heroes, and gets a whole new perspective on life. Immortal line: “the moral of the story, as it’s been told: never be an asshole to an eight year old.” Tony Alva is a rock and roll star..

Kucinich

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:09:00 -0400

Kucinich:

This guy is a congressman. A representative. A public servant. I’m not sure what most of his colleagues are.

If impeachment is “off the table” as Nancy Pelosi says, then so is law itself.

When Nixon was impeached, it came from the people. The congress didn’t catch up at first. So Pelosi is mistaken. Impeachment is what is required and expected.

When Clinton was impeached, it was for lying about infidelity. Not for mass murder, kidnapping, war crimes, or outing an American spy.

Kucinich got it right. We should support his efforts, and those of his cosigners, such as Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL).

A note on Pelosi: I voted for her and was downright gleeful that they all had to call her “Madame Speaker” after the worst congress in American history came to a merciful end. I cannot know exactly what her motives are on this. Perhaps with Obama in the white house and both houses of congress, the Donkey grows a backbone? I can dream anyway.

"We’re going to need a lot of smart people in Washington to rebuild a lot of things. For those..."

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:16:00 -0400

““We’re going to need a lot of smart people in Washington to rebuild a lot of things. For those of you in law, they are going to need a lot of good, honest lawyers at the Department of Justice. My parents’ generation dug us out of a Great Depression and fought a really ugly war overseas. The task before you guys is to fix the way we do government.””

- Craig Newmark, addressing the graduating class of UC Berkeley, 2008.

Roadrunner, Roadrunner

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:41:00 -0400

Seems there’s a new supercomputer that can sustain a petaflop. I thought a petaflop was something my cat does when he’s happy. Turns out a petaflop is one thousand trillion floating point operations per second. Appropriately called Roadrunner, this beast was designed to run simulations of nuclear bomb explosions, presumably so they don’t have to blow up any real ones to see if they work. The processor was based on the Playstation 3 chip design. Not sure why I find this all so absurd.

Read a fascinating book last year called What The Dormouse Said, which details the role of the counterculture in the birth of the personal computer and computer networks. Much of the saga took place in Palo Alto and Berkeley, involving an unlikely spectrum of characters with vastly different motives, from the defense industry, academia, business and assorted eccentrics. Who would have thought LSD and the Grateful Dead had a hand in creating the instrument I’m using to type and publish this now?

Roadrunner takes up a lot of floor space.

If Moore’s law holds true, we’ll have petaflop laptops soon.

Pop moment

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:02:00 -0400

Some former members of Cake had a band called Deathray. Why they called their band Deathray I don’t know. It’s not deathly music. It’s some high brow bittersweet power pop and I like it. They used to have an mp3 of this up on their site but no more. Found it on imeem. Gorgeous track, brilliant lyrics. I recently have had some insight into what it means when people say love is blind. Then I realized why I love this song so much.

Sunday musings

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:44:00 -0400

Today, I have a chance to reflect over a nice cuppa joe, and tap away on the laptop on my deck in the lovely Skalifornia sun. That is luxury, sirs and ladies, and a profoundly modern experience - to toss some ideas up online from a lawn chair, as text, audio, images or video, available instantly to the world, from a wireless network on a DSL at the end of a copper phone line, sharing random thoughts with friends and complete strangers from here to Timbuktu. What does that mean? What do I have to say? The number of things I think about sharing far exceeds the things I say here. It’s odd. Why have a blog? I enjoy it, that’s a good reason. But what is it for? Remains to be seen. Today I write free form.

Yesterday, I went for a walk through Berkeley without my cell phone. Not by choice - I left it somewhere after the gig on Friday night. As I meandered through the north side streets, I would occasionally reach into my pocket out of habit to grab my cell - see if there’s a text message, or maybe call a friend. And I realized that not having the phone with me, not having those options, actually provided me with a freedom that I had not noticed was missing. It was recognizable - it was the same as walking alone on a late spring evening in the days before cell phones. Back when the phone was something you had at home, and if you weren’t there, you simply missed calls. At least until answering machines came along, and then anyone could leave you a message, 24/7. Now, kids are growing up with phones they carry with them from a very early age, and they don’t know this sensation that I felt yesterday. It is hard to describe but all you have to do to see what I mean is go for a walk without your cell phone. Turning it off doesn’t count. Now I’m not a Luddite, and I do not vilify technology or its place in society, but I do know that the rate of change has increased steadily in the course of our lives, and it shows no sign of slowing soon. So we adjust as we can, excited by the new possibilities, but are we aware of what we may be losing in trade for these new avenues of expression and communication? I can’t imagine a day without Internet now. I mean, I don’t think I’ve had one, since.. 2002 maybe? That’s quite a run!

I foresee a backpacking trip, at least a week away from civilization, somewhere in the Sierras or on the north coast. On this trip I will swim in fresh water - as opposed to a chlorinated pool - and I will experience both bliss and laptop withdrawal, I’m sure of it. I look forward to it. What I do on this thing? Produce music, contribute to websites, write songs, blog, email, chat and skype and read and google things on tangents and research and write and learn and talk and talk and talk. It is my portal to the world. It is my jack into cyberspace, as William Gibson’s classic The Neuromancer predicted. But I don’t have to wait for the interface directly with my brain, that’s immaterial, it’s already a virtual world, I finally understand that. We are not in the room. The room is in us.

So, when it was just me, and no connection to any electronic network, walking alone, I felt like a kid. I was me, at 12 years old, on a weekend afternoon, strolling as my feet steered me, completely free. It was a different freedom from this digital one.

I do love the Internet. If it didn’t exist, and corporate media was the only mass communication available, then the Internet would have to be invented. So it was. So it is. And it is reinvented every day. I haven’t had a television in years. It is an obsolete and shrieking medium of unfettered stupidity. What does the world want? The Idiocracy is upon us, and beside it, a renaissance.

I hear there are more and more reality shows now. I believe Mr. Spock would say, “Fascinating.”

The Coffee Junkie’s Guide to Caffeine Addiction

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:33:00 -0400

The Coffee Junkie’s Guide to Caffeine Addiction:

Having been there many times, I sympathize with the java junkies. I have a cup in the morning, every day, without fail. If I don’t, there is trouble. Anyone who has had the dreaded “coffee headache” knows what I mean. A debilitating throbbing inability to reason, manifested as pain. It happens if you’re a regular coffee drinker and you stop abruptly. Of all drugs, this is not one to go off of cold turkey, unless you have a vacation planned with nothing to do but roll around and moan for three days, a small crew of geishas, a shaman healer and opiates. But don’t despair, cut down, get a medium for a few weeks instead of a large, then drink a small for a while, eventually you can stop without a visit from the java devils. Inspired by this thread, I’ll be losing this monkey entirely soon. Out of curiosity as much as anything. I haven’t had a day without coffee since high school. Wish me luck. Meanwhile, here is a song to sooth the savage beans.

rach:

New York Magazine delves into why we love the jolt of morning coffee—and if that’s a good thing or not. Apparently we are all killing our insides and crashing like propellerless planes because of the stuff. But then, it’s also good for you. But not if you’re nursing. Or needing sleep. Or slightly crazy.