ATONAL BONER THIS WAY COMES

the fabulous sexy return of shronk rockers THE ATONAL BONERS!!!!
thursday jan 11th!!!!!

abe gibson-vocals!!!!!!!!&drums!!!!!!!!!
jesse thomas- gtar!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ezzy lange- bass/gtar!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bar vertigo!!!!!!!!!!
oh shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

future days and sounds

a lot of tumbleweeds blowing thru my barren blog but here's a little news...

i've got 2 shows coming up on monday the 8th of january.

the first is a duo w/fred lonberg-holm (vandermark five, peter brotzmann tentet)
i'll be playing acoustic gtar
& fred will be playing the cello
we start at 7:30 pm
at myopic bookstore (upstairs)
1564 north milwaukee avenue
chicago il
free show

i hope to see you all there.
for more info:
www.myopicbookstore.com
www.fredgigs.blogspot.com

then i'm headed over to elastic in logan square
to play in a sextet with:
paul giallorenzo-synthesizer
bill mackay (darts & arrows) -e gtar
brian labycz- electronics
jason stein (bridge 61) - bass clarinet
charles rumback (darts & arrows) - drums
i'll be playing e gtar for this one....
at 9:30 pm
2830 north milwaukee avenue
chicago, il
$5
www.elasticrevolution.com

a little later in the month the atonal boners will return with the sweet shronk live and at month's end i'll be reading in milwaukee so stay tuned friends!!!

poems online at word riot!!!

more of my restless wandering poems found a home, go check out 'flying into windowpanes' & 'miles of wires (and pipes)' at:
www.wordriot.org

two poems in the new OVER THE TRANSOM

the latest issue of OVER THE TRANSOM (#16)has arrived at my door with two of my poems included-'electricity' and 'whacking at spiders with an old shoe'. this issue also features work from: charles p. ries, john grey, guy r. beining, and arthur winfield knight...
if you'd like to purchase a copy send $5 to:

OVER THE TRANSOM
825 bush street #203
San Francisco, CA 94108

ways and means duo w/abe gibson & pamela osbey

i will be performing new and newer poems this evening(as will pamela osbey) at the muse cafe with the ways and means duo of dan godton and joel wanek making music along with us.

you can catch all the action tonight
tuesday november 21st
muse cafe
837 north milwaukee avenue
8-10 pm
$3

robert altman r.i.p.

i was just watching one of his films last night and this morning my computer is telling me that american film directing legend, robert altman has passed away.
for all of my cine-obsessed friends out there i highly recommend nashville, the player, and particularly his take on the stories of raymond carver- short cuts. if you haven't seen these films there is a gap there, folks.....

gibson/lange/thomas at myopic bookstore

3 dudes...3 electric gtars

monday november 20th
7:30 pm
myopic bookstore
upstairs
1564 north milwaukee ave
chicago, il, usa
free show

www.myopicbookstore.com

Neil Young - Tell Me Why

this one too...

Groove is in the Heart - Dee-Lite

the world needs a little of this on this monday...

malachi ritscher 1954-2006

from peter margasak's the meter column chicago reader nov 10 06:

A Final Protest

last friday morning during rush hour a man set himself on fire near the ohio street exit on the kennedy expressway. he hadn't been officially identified at press time, but members of the local jazz and improvised music community say they're certain it was malachi ritscher, a long-time supporter of the scene who recorded more than 2000 live shows. bruno johnson, who owns the free-jazz label okka disk, received a package monday from ritscher that included a will, keys to his home, and instructions about what should be done with his belongings. johnson, a former chicagoan who now lives in milwaukee, started making calls and discovered that though police won't confirm it was ritscher until they get the results from dental tests, an officer told one of ritscher's sisters that all evidence points to the body being his. ritscher's car was found nearby, and he hasn't shown up for work since thursday.what's more, on ritscher's web site chicago rash audio potential, a compendium of invaluable show postings, artwork, and photography, are a suicide note and an obituary. both indicate that he was deeply troubled by the war in iraq, and pinpoint it as a motive for suicide (though no method is specified). a note found at the scene of the immolation reportedly read "thou shall not kill."

www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm
www.savagesound.com/gallery100.htm

a memorial will be held at elastic
2830 north milwaukee avenue
sunday november 12th from 5pm to 8pm

myopic=gtars X 5

this monday november 13th i will be at myopic as part of a 5 piece gtar ensemble...

the players...

josh abrams
ben boye
cliff ingram
abe gibson
alex wing

the details...

myopic bookstore
1564 north milwaukee avenue
chicago
7:30 pm

Cat Power on Letterman

go ahead, throw yr birkenstocks at me

all right listen up van halen haters of the world-they are going into the rock and roll hall of fame and there is nothing you can do about it. I for one am fucking thrilled (this is david lee roth we're talking about here-not sammy)
what bothers me is what i'm reading from these PC rock writers who are outraged that van halen would be inducted along with their critical wet dream, R.E.M.
this is a no brainer. this is the rock and roll hall of fame not the VH1 hall of fame. Why is no one blinking an eyelid over R.E.M.'s induction?
this whole deal reminds me of an episode in neal pollack's book-never mind the pollacks- where he goes to a house party in athens with the minutemen and R.E.M. is there. Pollack removes michael stipe's tape from the deck and puts on van halen II. stipe is horrified and declares that van halen's music "promotes rape". yeah record nerd, go read it, it's awesome.
don't get me wrong, i've got a few R.E.M. records in the stacks but i refuse to lick their butts as so many "rock" writers do and kinda question their induction among other rock heavies who really deserve it like patti smith and the stooges.

Paul McCartney and Wings - Helen Wheels

nice one dumbfuck

the atonal boners, the greatest band in the world played their first show last night and you missed it!

i sing real good

tomorrow night i will be unveiling my latest group, a shronk rock ensemble by the name of the atonal boners-featuring myself on gtar and vocals, jesse thomas on drums, and chris lange on bass. other bands on the bill-the machinist (a.k.a. brian klein) and sounds happy+william sides...

bar vertigo
853 n western (a few blocks south of the empty bottle at iowa ave)
10pm
$5

i am the new fiction editor of unicorn mountain

you may remember me mentioning unicorn mountain a while back, it's a beautiful 200+ page anthology featuring comics, writing, and a compilation cd with every issue. well, i have become the fiction editor starting with the next issue #3, and this is what we're looking for...

UNICORN MOUNTAIN seeks creators who approach the world with a sense of optimism and child like wonder,people who love where they are from (especially Pittsburgh as the magazine has their global hq in that fair city)- we try hard to distance ourselves from the cynicism associated with "underground" art that can put people off and poison the well...

so kiddos please send your shorte(er) fiction my way at:
abe@unicornmountain.com

check us online at the hot webite designed by mister mike woodfill at:
www.unicornmountain.com

bob dylan - one more cup of coffee

there's a little mister fuckhead in us all

yeah folks you can catch my latest shenanigans as part of arvo zylo's group-mister fuckhead. we will be playing quite the blazing noise set opening for pommel and mcdonald's over at the fireside bowl on chicago's stinkin ass west side. so come on out and don't be a pussy-leave the earplugs at home.....

2648 west fullerton ave
chicago ill
sunday oct 15th
9pm

if you are religious about noise- then this will be an excellent way for you to get straight with the lord this sunday...

The Howling Hex

live at schuba's 9-21-06

chicago guitar ensemble has a myspace page now...

one of these days we'll all agree on a name, in the meantime we've settled on the generic-chicago guitar ensemble. there is now a myspace page up you can check it out at:

http://www.myspace.com/chicagoguitarensemble

right now there's a few photos and a short video of our show at elastic on 9/11/06 and there will soon be mp3's from our 6/23/06 spare room show...

pj harvey _ rid of me

the howling hex last night

had a pretty nice day off yesterday. My friend spencer recently moved to chicago from austin and is staying in a highrise on clark in lincoln park across from the zoo til his place is ready to move into. So i went over there yesterday and we sat on his balcony on the 36th floor and had a smoke watching the sunset and the city light up. needless to say-it was fuckin awesome-i'll even go so far as to say it was awesome to the max!!!!!to the extreme!!!!!!we listened to a bit of the new yo la tengo and bob dylan records and then caught the lincoln bus up to schuba's to see neil hagerty and the howling hex.
Neil had this weird bass/guitar thing going with two amps-playing all the bass parts on the top 3 strings and then soloing his ass off on the bottom three. he had a hot shit guitarist, playing an sg, that looked like one of marc bolan's turds and then a guy who sang, played the tambourine and recited a poem. he looked like that actor who played that speed freak david in drugstore cowboy.at one point he was shirtless...not good. An extra bonus of the night was nori tanaka on drums!
the set started strong with both neil and his other guitarist playing one incredible solo after another over tanaka's locked rhythms. things kinda fell apart in the middle but man they came with it for the last two songs both in a heavy VU vein (think guess i'm falling in love from the another view lp) and man neil's playing was so amazing i thought i might go into convulsions. the triple vocal thing got old quick but overall this was a pretty solid show from one of the most incredible guitarists out there-and i didn't have to wait long for the bus home...

Capain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Detroit '71

jandek at the empty bottle...

got home a little bit ago from seeing jandek play at the empty bottle as part of this year's wire magazine 'adventures in modern music' fest- he was supposed to make it last year but cancelled since he thought hurricane katrina was gonna wipe out his place in houston....never thought i'd be able to get tickets for this thing but it was pretty easy....the show wasn't superpacked like i thought i would be- jandek played first and some people might not have realized this and arrived later- i couldn't tell you who the group was (a bass player and drummer) couldn't tell you what they played which is the appeal of jandek i guess.

i went into this a little scared knowing that he planned to play for 2 hours. i thought it might end up being an endurance test after seeing footage of his scotland concert but actually it turned out to be pretty good-not amazing but i wasn't expecting that. anyone that tells you jandek is amazing or a genius etc-is either on heroin or severely brain damaged...he is what he is- interesting and inspiring to a certain degree but no genius. still though it wasn't predictable like i thought it would be and the band with him added alot and helped to hold the audience's interest. the two hours ended up a treat....

either way i just fucking saw jandek and i doubt the chance will arise again- something to tell my grandkids about after he is elected president of the mysterious sci-fi future...

there really is no reason to stress out

everything is fine

Boredoms - Vision Creation New Sun

not the full 60 minutes but this will do...

touch and go 25th block party

it's how i spent my wekend, it's why i took the time off. my homeboy andy and his lady adri flew in from lawrence kansas via kansas city to take it all in and well here's what i took in...

friday night: i saw all the acts and have to say that the girls against boys set was really the highlight. they did the venus luxure no:1 baby lp in its entirety plus kill the sexplayer and a few others...the shipping news wasn't bad despite a bass heavy sound man (duh, dude turn it down and give us some treble)....supersystem was a huge stinky one...ted leo did his typical thing...and !!! danced their asses off til i went home....

saturday: i caught killdozer who did king of sex as well as uttering the classic-you call this cup of shit coffee?...well i'd rather drink from the dick of a goat
then there was jon langford and kat from the ex's short set that wasn't bad despite an argument i got into w/a dude who spent alot of time manicuring his facial hair-the song i remember was called bouquet of barbed wire, i think...not bad
but really for me and andy and all of us central/southern illinois kids the real treat of the fest was the reunion of the didjits who did not disappoint delivering probably the most kick ass set of the festival. and the most clever insults.
after that i wasn't up close but heard negative approach's plummeling set followed by scratch acid's reunion as the sun set. man it was cold and all i had on was a t-shirt-i really wanted to stick around for big black's short reunion and shellac's set but was so cold and miserable that i had to bail out of there.

sunday: couldn't care less about this day....tara jane o'neill was not bad-had a few good moments towards the end of her short set...seam made no impression...todd trainer's brick layer cake was a damn shame to see...and finally the black heart procession played but even with a coat-it was shitty. so with the rain coming down and no bands to really get excited about it was bye bye to the touch and go fest which was fun but made this goofy mutha feel a little old, you know?....

Battle in Heaven (trailer)

oh my god, the best movie i've seen since 'black orpheus' go rent this now!

The Breeders - When I was a Painter

for all fans of pod era breeders...

jabberwhorl guitar ensemble september 11th!

but wait there's more....after the myopic show there's another one, a big one at elastic. last time we were called s.u.g.e. or gtar army but now we are officially- the jabberwhorl gtar ensemble. this time around the group will feature 15 guitarists from chicago. yeah you read right-15 guitars.

we'll be at elastic in logan square right up the road from the myopic gig-more accurately at:

2830 n milwaukee avenue
upstairs
10pm

not sure about an opener yet but it'll probably be a group bill mackay is putting together, so it'll be good...

their home on the web is:
www.elasticrevolution.com

the group:
abe gibson, alex wing, bill mackay, jayve montgomery, jesse thomas, minh nyguen, brian labycz, brian klein, chris lange, micheal silvestri, brian ashby, matt field, matthew daniel, cliff ingram, and arvo zylo.

so fuck going to see gnarls barkley at the rivieria, forget about vashti bunyan-she's got another show booked on the 12th-come out and see our ensemble...

duo with brian labycz at myopic

after the big touch and go records blowout-goddamn the didjits, and scratch acid reuniting and big black sort of too. not to mention ANDY!!!!!!!!!! so yeah after all this excitement-i'll try to make it continue with a little excitement of my own on monday september 11th...

there will be more music
free music
at 7:30 pm
the group is:
brian labycz: electronics
abraham gibson: e gtar

1564 n milwaukee avenue
upstairs
wicker park
chicago

www.myopicbookstore.com
www.savagesound.com

poetry in zen baby #17

i have a new-er poem appearing in the upcoming issue #17 of zen baby out of santa cruz. the poem is called -'i have been away'

you can get a copy of this mag for a mere $2 or a 3 issue subscription for $5, so why wouldn't ya? he's practically giving them away! get yours now at:

zen baby
christopher robin, editor
po box 1611
santa cruz ca 95061-1611

and for my chicago people- you can also get it at quimby's.....

EUGENE CHADBOURNE - WHERE'S THE STAGE

a documentary about one of the real guitar gods. enjoy this one folks!

music at myopic on august 14th

I'll be performing this upcoming monday evening at myopic books in my first duo with mr. chris lange, the president of the local chapter of the KISS army. come out and check us folks-

we'll be at
1564 north milwaukee avenue
chicago il
upstairs-7:30 pm
www.myopicbookstore.com

poems online in the latest zygote in my coffee

the good folks at zygote in my coffee have been so kind to publish two of my poems in issue #66 of their online poetry zine. you can check out "one for the history books" and "fame! i wanna live forever!" at:

www.zygoteinmycoffee.com

new "official" address

manoman it seems like things are moving slow here....at least we'll be moved into our new place soon......i know the constant address changes of the last couple of years have been a hassle for people trying to find us, so i've finally got a p.o. box that'll stay solid while we move around.....so, it you need to reach us or send me presents, here's the address:

the silver wonder and co.
pitchfork press
p.o. box 146399
chicago, il 60614

july- under the surface...the silver wonder

manoman june turned out to be quite a month, and while july won't be so hectic for me performance-wise, on the homefront there's a whole shitstorm of stuff brewing...

at the end of the month we'll be moving out of this loud ass roach motel and into a bigger quieter place on the far north side of chicago...so only one more month of putting up with constant distractions, lots of roaches, and a crosstown bus ride.

friends visiting-spencer from austin and david from boston-i'll try not to get too drunk....linklater's animated version of PKD's 'a scanner darkly' will hit theaters....and the silver jews will come to town at month's end....if only the cubs could win a fucking game already!

hopefully i can get michael c ford's chapbook 'to kiss the blood off our hands' w/ bonus mini chap 'the marilyn monroe concerto' out by the end of the month and follow it up soon after with steve dalachinsky's 'trust fund babies'.....

machines are humming here at HQ and finally after 10 years of big talk- i've finally got my record label up and running.....it's called the silver wonder recording co.

here's a list of our first releases:

swr01- robert o'neal- shadowboxing
swr02-steve dalachinsky/loren connors- thin air
swr03- abe gibson/paul giallorenzo/brian dibblee- live at 3030
swr04- abe gibson/alex wing/bill mackay/jayve montgomery/brian labycz-5 gtars
swr05-fred lonberg-holm/eric leonardson-tba

mike woodfill will be designing a website that we hope to have up pronto and you can purchase discs there. check out the other site mike designed: www.unicornmountain.com

so if all appears quiet this month- i assure it is not, under the surface of things, i'll be churning out the goodies to you fine folks.....

Luc Ferrari r.i.p.

i just heard luc ferrari referred to as the late luc ferrari, a sad and devastating thing to hear.

if you're not familiar with his work- i won't make an ass of myself here trying to describe the music he made, but i will urge you to check out some of his sounds

several years back blue chopsticks put out his-cycle des souvenirs (1995-2000) an incredible record full of whispers and firecrackers (literally).

there is a photo on the back cover of him sitting on a ledge in headphones w/tape recorder and microphone recording the desert

luc ferrari dead...why couldn't it have been wayne coyne instead? or that aging drunk ron wood? or eric "fartbag" clapton?

S.U.G.E.

folks a dream come true for ol abe- been working at it with alex wing for awhile now and we've managed to put together quite a guitar army.....

we are calling our group suge, or - subtext unleashed guitar ensemble and you can see us this friday night (june 23rd) in chicago at the spareroom
2416 west north avenue
chicago
8 pm

the first incarnation of suge will feature:

abe gibson
alex wing
bill mackay
jesse thomas
chris lange
brian labycz
jayve montgomery
matthew daniel
brian klein
ben boye
matt field

and we are still waiting for confirmation from several other guitarists.

fuckin exciting shit, eh?

jack "shitbag" white

Am i the only one who's had enough of this fucker?

I've never seen a person conduct himself in a more idiotic manner.

Hey, I'll be honest- I had problems with this weinerboy from day one. The first reason he gave me to wish ill of and on him was when he butchered "one more cup of coffee" a perfect song that should have been left alone.

Then there was the time i accidently saw the white stripes- i had a free sxsw wristband a few- shit , maybe five years back and went to room 710 for the sympathy for the record industry showcase- the headliner was a personal favorite-bob log and right before him were the bellrays (everyone was saying they were like the mc5 w/aretha franklin as their lead singer- they were alright) and before them were those sorry ass stripes. They played a sloppy shitpile of a set and frankly I felt that the drummer should have left stage embarrassed. And jack "shitbag" white (if that is his real name) wasn't playin shit.

Then there was his involvement with hachetfaced talentless texan actress renee zellwegger- which luckily didn't produce offspring.....

followed soon by a sickening display of ridiculousness of suing garage rock legend Billy Childish for plagarism. Which to me is like john denver suing bob dylan- I MEAN, COME ON. I read jack's stupid ass comments and you can too at:

www.theebillychildish.com

and now i'm hearing about some fight w/the von bondies and jackie boy trying to act hard (behind his lawyer) He marries a model and starts swinging his little dick around...

Jack, just because you are from Detroit doesn't make you a bad ass. I'll gladly take off these thick glasses and kick your ass all over the MTV video music awards.

You're a chump- you've burned all your bridges and there's no going back now.

Say hi to Neil Sedaka and Herman's Hermits for me in the bargain bin you hack because that's at the end of your road-Jack(ass)

Daniel Carter's 'Work In Process'

the churning continues here at HQ...yet another new chapbook to entice you good folks with. I am referring to work in process (volume one) by daniel carter who is an amazing writer and quite a musician to boot. He has played in Test and Other Dimensions In Music as well as in various ensembles including Matthew Shipp, Federico Ughi, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, & Alan Silva.

Two recent recordings featured Daniel that I highly recommend are "let's be still" on yo la tengo's 'summer sun' lp and the record he did with matthew shipp and the anti pop consortium is fuckin dynamite!

As far as I know this is the first collection of Daniel's writings to be published in a single edition, and it is planned that more volumes will continue this work in process....Get yours now for only $3! For order info contact me at:

pitchforkpoetrymag@hotmail.com

For more info on Daniel try these:

www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/dcarter.htm

www.furious.com/perfect/danielcarter.html

and check out his page on the aum fidelity site at:

www.aumfidelity.com

first public poetry reading since 1998!

alot of excitement in my life this week with the trio playing tomorrow night and then on sunday....

i'll be reading poems at myopic bookstore (mostly from my new colection-"the glass onion effect in the new millenium") with a guest, Charles P. Ries from Milwaukee who has appeared in the pages of the pitchfork poetry magazine...

you can catch all the action this sunday june 11th
at 7pm
myopic bookstore
1564 n milwaukee avenue
chicago

www.myopicbookstore.com

and for more on Charles click these:
www.literati.net/Ries/
www.pitchforkpoetryprojects.com/poetsphp?id=226

a splendid time is guaranteed for all

The Hits Just Keep On Coming!

here are the details on my upcoming show at elastic.......

the group:
paul giallorenzo-synthesizer
brian labycz- electronics
abe gibson- e gtar

also playing will be the duo of eric lenordson and fred lonberg-holm
tuesday june 6th
show starts at 9:30
at elastic
2830 n milwaukee avenue
logan square, chicago

www.elasticrevolution.com
www.savagesound.com

hope you see you there!

Matthew Sheahan's Poems For Toiling In Obscurity

I can think of few birthday presents nicer than getting some time to get some things done, and that's exactly what went down today folks as I celebrate 31 years here on earth with both feet on the ground....

After nearly two very freakin frustrating years, I am back in business with the release of Matthew Sheahan's "Poems For Toiling in Obscurity" from Pitchfork Press.

I highly recommend this chapbook (his first) from NYC's "polite new yorker" and member of the punk rock group, Blackout Shoppers.

They are available direct from me (or Matt) for only 3 dollars!!!!!

for more details, please contact pitchforkpoetrymag@hotmail.com

rumblings (towards june!)

had a fit of organization today in an otherwise scattered month- being sick, getting used to having a baby around, working extra hours, etc. i have been run down and it's been pretty quiet but do you hear those rumblings folks? sounds like old abe is ready to run his mouth some more and june proves to be a real hum-dinger (whatever a hum-dinger is. sounds kinda dirty)

anyway here's what you and I have to look forward to in the next few weeks:

I'll turn 31 in about 48 hours.
Dolma will be one month old in 4 days.

On June 6th I will perform some music with Paul Giallorenzo and Brian Labycz.
On June 11th I will be reading poems at Myopic Bookstore w/Charles P. Ries
On June 21st Jessica and I will celebrate one year of marriage.

Poems will appear soon on the wordriot website
and in Over The Transom Magazine out of San Francisco.

and Pitchfork Press will be releasing three new titles
P-015 Poems For Toiling In Obscurity by Matthew Sheahan
P-012 To Kiss The Blood From Our Hands by Michael C Ford
&
P-017 Work In Process (Volume One) by Daniel Carter

So stayed tuned here folks for all the juicy details!!!!!

Sweet Child O Mine

Dolma Echo Gibson

The wait is over for me folks......i can quit worrying and go back to digesting solid foods again. Last night at 11:28 (that's central time people) my sweet sweet daughter- Dolma Echo Gibson came screaming and crying into the world.....

poems in st. vitus poetry review #6

well, i guess it's been out for awhile now, but i'm just getting a copy today, thanks to the sketchy chicago mail....i've got a few poems- 'polluted landscape w/marathon runners' & 'jittery paranoid scenario' in the latest (issue six) st. vitus press and poetry review out of albuquerque, new mexico.

the issue also includes work from gerald locklin, t.k. splake, dave church, a.d. winans, kell robertson, and others.

if you'd like to acquire a copy they are available for $14 from the editor:

Theron Moore
St Vitus Press
7408 Estes Park Avenue NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114

or try emailing him at:

stvitusfan@aol.com

music at myopic on april 10th

okay folks after a long break i am back at it, performing in chicago....

monday april 10th
7:30 pm
myopic bookstore
1564 N milwaukee avenue
www.myopicbookstore.com

the players:
alex wing:guitar
bill mackay:guitar
abraham gibson:guitar
brian labysz:electronics
jayvee montgomery: multi instruments

so come on out- it's a monday, what else are you doing?

this is a free show, and yes, you can smoke (and byob)

new updates to pitchfork website

well folks, i know it's been a while, but it's kinda hard to coordinate with my web dude since he's in New Jersey and I'm in Chicago, but anywho..... there are a buch of new updates to the pitchfork poetry website (mostly photos and bios) so if you sent me stuff many months ago and keep checking the site to see if it's up and it's not.....well now it is. take a little look why don't ya.....

www.pitchforkpoetryprojects.com

in other news at month's end our publishing drought will be over with the release of michael c ford's "to kiss the blood off our hands" which the author himself has said is better than "nursery rhyme assassin"!

also a performance coming up at myopic on april 10th (i'll post details soon)

ugh

why did i drink so much last night? i said give me a beer but the lady keep pouring me shots. big ones of maker's mark, now it's churning through my guts at 11 am and i need to get myself out that door.....

(it wasn't a bad night at all)

on second thought...

it takes a big man to admit that he's wrong (or is that a neurotic, schizophrenic?...anyway...) after the show the other night i felt compelled to give animal collective's 'feels' lp another, closer listen, and folks, it's not as bad as i earlier made it out to be. it's....alright. it...has its moments.

but.....it's not fucking brilliant like sung tongs and don't i, the rock fan have every right to demand consistent brilliance from these people? is that so much to ask?

(for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, that last bit there was sarcasm.....i'm just dripping with sarcasm)

i finally saw animal collective

now i know i have been a bit of a naysayer lately when it comes to animal collective, and according to the little write up in the chicago reader this week i am not alone. their new record-'feels' is a big letdown for me after the amazingly original and multilayered album 'sung tongs', as well for as several other fans of theirs.

the last record was just two guys, alot of sweet acoustic songs (through tons of weird but organic processing) for this new one they've added 2 new(er) members and really created a "big" sound that on record does not translate, in other words...it sounds like shit. i hate it. i even hate the cover art. there are parts that remind me of rush (my one misgiving about our move to canada is the proximity to that horrible fuckin band. seriously!)

so after suffering through my ranting you can see that i had pretty low expectations going into their early show tonight at logan square auditorium. i arrived a bit late, and more that a bit buzzed (give me some time to drink some more of my free fuckin whiskey) AC had already started their set but i couldn't have missed much.

the place was packed, i don't know what capacity is over there so i'll say there were several hundred if not a few thousand people there (a bigger crowd then the boredoms drew) i walked into a huge swelling sound, that droned and pulsated through my body. it was the kind of sound that makes you want to cry-cause you can't control it. it's the kind of sound that makes your knees buckle.

most of the songs they played were unfamiliar to me. i recognized a few from the feels lp that were not annoying live like they are on that shit disc. one of the last two songs they played was "kids on holiday" from sung tongs. a highlight for me. if there was anyone in the audience with cancer, i'm sure that this music healed it.

animal collective are the real deal folks, experience them while you can......

AC virgins can learn more at
www.fat-cat.co.uk

what i did today

woke up
got outta bed
was immediately hassled by wife for blanket hoarding in the night
sat in the back bedroom
stared out into space
got ready for work
went to work via 74 fullerton bus to sheffield transfer to red line train to addison
noticed all the drunks buying cubs tickets (huge lines!)
bought a cheeseburger
ate it
cleaned the bar
drank a superfood
bought a book at bookworks- the key by junichiro tanizaki
went to home depot on halsted
bought a caulk gun
caught the 74 fullerton back west
got the mail
did the dishes
talked to the landlord on the phone
talked to my mom on the phone
cooked eggplant parmasean
ate dinner and talked w/my wife
wrote in my journal
took the dog out to shit
checked my email
supplied cia/fbi with detailed list of day's activities.......

suggested biographies: Rainer Werner Fassbinder/Philip K Dick

this month i've read two biographies of artists that i am obsessed with. one for the past ten years or so and one for the past year or so. Both were insanely prolific, both died young. I'm talking about the science fiction novelist, Philip K Dick, and the German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

the Fassbinder bio I read first a few weeks ago. It's called "Love Is Colder Than Death" and was written by Robert Katz. It details Fassbinder's rapid fire work pace and drug intake. At one point he was doing 8 grams of coke a day! He was rather infamous in West Germany in the 70's as a degenerate homosexual and drug addict who constantly participated in orgies. A fellow Gemini (May 31st) Between 1969-and his death in 1982 he made between 35-40 films as well as the fifteen hour "Berlin Alexanderplatz" for German television. How much do I love Fassbinder? If our child due in 8 weeks is a boy, he'll be Rainer Gibson. So if any of this sounds interseting in the least, I urge you to read this biography as well as to go see his films. Some of my personal favorites include: In A Year With 13 Moons, Fox and His Friends, Ali:Fear Eats the Soul, Veronika Voss, and The Marriage of Maria Braun.

the Dick bio I just finished last night. It's called "Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K Dick" and was written by Lawrence Sutin (who has also written a bio on Aleister Crowley) I had been wanting to read this book for a long time as I heard that it was kind of the definitive Dick bio and has only recently came back into print. I first became aware of Dick while reading in Alec Foege's Sonic Youth bio "Confusion is Next" that Dick's writing was the inspiration for their LP Sister (A reference to PKD's twin sister Jane, who died after living less than a month) Some of the song lyrics were lifted from his texts. Then I moved to Texas and met John Stobaugh who immediately loaned me quite a few PKD novels like: Valis, Ubik, and Martian Time Slip and I instantly became hooked to this wonderful trippy writing that went far and beyond what you'd expect from trashy science fiction. This bio is incredible, the more you read it the more you realize how strange his life really was and how much of his fiction draws from that weird weird life he led. Five marriages, suicide attempts, stays in the psych ward, and communion with divine?alien? wisdom, too weird to get into here. Philip K Dick has been ripped off so much and when you are familiar with his work you can see what a huge influence he's had on things today. This guy is as or more important than Thomas Pynchon, Don Delillo, Jack Kerouac...I'll go so far as to call him the most important American writer of the past 40 years! This bio sheds so much light and is quite interesting even if you are unfamiliar with his writing.

so tell oprah to shove it up her bookbag- you've just found something better to read.......

Derek Bailey 1930-2005

I just found out today that one of the greatest and most innovative guitarists has died. Derek Bailey died in England on xmas morning at the age of 75.

He saved so many guitarists from a Steve Vai/Joe Satriani Hell on Earth by showing us what ....else you could do with a guitar.

There is a nice article and tributes to him in the latest issue of the wire (with edan on the cover) check it out

man versus machine

i can't believe it's actually working. sorry folks but i haven't been able to access this thing for months, on a whim I give it a try and my inane ass is back yapping for yer (dis)pleasure.

the big news out of the gibson household these days.... my boys can swim! my wife is pregnant and has been for the many months i couldn't access this blog, and we are expecting our first child on or around april 24th. so congratulate my ass!