Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 WAS A DECENT YEAR

THIS IS SOME OF WHAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR:

snowboarded lots of farm fields around kutztown with wayne miller.

went on a lot of hikes with beth and friends all year.

the WE HAVE HEAVEN record came out on caesar cuts and easy. and got nice reviews in vice and terrascope...

got to be included a cool exhibition at oxford, england. got to hang with lisa and john from SLEEPS IN OYSTERS who were the curators. and got to read from my book with john and ray playing the musical backdrop.

went to Paris again and read my writing at culture rapide for the 2nd time in 6 months. thats a nice high for any stupid american dude. and got to hang out with james and kara in the city of light!

was honored to help out with linda & rob's wedding! what a beautiful day and night that was, up on penny's hill in the magic realm of kempton, pa. as well as the next morning at robin hill campground.

so relieved and grateful that PJ let us hold the Virginville Film Fest at his place in 2011, after the original farm location fell through. and you know what, PJ's might be a superior spot!

was honored to be the bestest man at art & nancy's wedding. i got all teary and emo giving the speech. what a spaz...... but the choice of Glassbern was a sweet spot for a summer wedding for sure.

worked on some show for the NFL Channel. no one there even seems to like football....

swam in the creeks and went tubing a bunch, and picked a lot of tomatoes in the summer.

got to be in my brother's wedding too, and hang out with family on a perfect afternoon in early september. this was the summer of weddings.

got to hang out with my sister and her kids, all the way back in PA from australia. that was awesome.

worked on Silver Lining Playbook, another amazing cinematic creation starring de niro and cooper. got to spend a lot of time in the creepy norristown state mental hospital.

and to top it all off, my mom bailed and broke her collarbone so i've got to spend more time with her than i ever have. that put my excellent year in some sort of perspective.

and now today, the last day of the year, its like 55 degrees outside and beth and i are going hiking. before the big parties.....

Sunday, October 16, 2011

..............................F U R.......................................

furry friends.
Beth's is on the left, mine is on the right.
hanging at Blind Willow Books' gallery.
during the launch party for their press's newest issue of Fraktur.
Blind Willow is the coolest shop in Emmaus. go look and buy some books.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

............#OCCUPY YR HOME............


we want to occupy yr shirt drawer, book shelf, record collection and mind.


click here now to help us

Saturday, September 24, 2011

W,H,H // SHINJI MASUKO 10/5/11


WE HAVE HEAVEN
SHINJI MASUKO
(of The BOREDOMS and D.M.B.Q fame)

maybe another band?

GoodWeekend warehouse in allentown pennsylvania

10/05/11

never forget

Thursday, August 4, 2011

BLISS WAS IT IN THAT DAWN TO BE ALIVE, BUT TO BE YOUNG WAS VERY HEAVEN


"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven.
Oh! times, In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways Of custom, law, and statute, took at once The attraction of a country in romance! When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights, When most intent on making of herself A prime Enchantress--to assist the work, Which then was going forward in her name! Not favoured spots alone, but the whole earth, The beauty wore of promise, that which sets (As at some moment might not be unfelt Among the bowers of paradise itself) The budding rose above the rose full blown.
.."

William Wordsworth 1888


Friday, May 27, 2011

......................VIRGINVILLE 2011......................

***************

"OUT ON THE GRASS, UNDER THE STARS, AT PJ's FARM JUST OVER THE HILL FROM KUTZTOWN, USA."

* * * yes its at a new location this year! email for directions to PJ's farm!!! * * *

JUNE 25TH AT NIGHTFALL, BUT COME EARLY TO HANG OUT, EAT SOME GRUB, BUY A T SHIRT AND A DVD (OF 2010'S FILMS) AND SUPPORT THE COOL INDIE PROJECTS & BUSINESSES THAT SPONSOR THE FESTIVAL.
AND MEET SOME NICE NEW PEEPS OR DUDES YOU HAVENT SEEN SINCE LAST YEAR'S FEST.

ITS GOING TO ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL NIGHT OF
UNITY, PEACE, CREATIVITY & (UNDERGROUND) CULTURE

HIT THE VVFF MYSPACE FOR MORE INFO, OR EMAIL THE VVFF HONCHOS FOR SUBMISSION INFO + DIREX TO THE SECRET FARM

Monday, May 23, 2011

.............................( ( ( TOKYO ) ) )...........................

{click on each photo to see the whole picture. i dont know why they dont fit...}

beth and i contributed to this nice benefit show in Tokyo. it just opened on saturday. its curated by tetsunori tawaraya of the rad band 2UP. its to help out our fave country after the crazy earthquake and tsunami of 2011. if yr over in that part of the world, go check it out and buy some pieces. lots and lots of cool folks are involved, from all over. i wish i could be there. i would buy brian chippendale's cool drawings. and then i'd go and scarf down as much okonomiyaki as i could fit in my face and then stock up on as many SunKus's kombu onigiri as i could fit in my luggage....






these are brian chippendale's deals.
sorry but it looks like they were already scarfed up by someone....



these are beth's drawings:


cool little kids like this (and their loved ones) shouldnt have to be affected by stupid earthquakes, tsunamis and fuckin radiation!!!!!



check the show here

and check tetsunori's band on VICE TV here



****

Sunday, April 17, 2011

LONDON TO OXFORD TO PARIS IN AVRIL 2011


the trip was so good. we got back 3 days ago. London to Avebury to Oxford to Paris, the weather was just so perfect. we felt blessed by the powers that run the atmosphere. (i mean, we went to London and got tans and sunburn?) even though when we went looking for Rob Ryan's studio in Hackney, no one was home when we got there.

beth and i even got to sit in on the planning sessions for the royal wedding. don't ask, but we were invited.


when i was at Temple U London a lifetime ago and living in Notting Hill, i used to walk this road down Kensington Hill every day to school, and then back up every night after hot knives sessions at Decolator's flat in Earl's Court. christ that was eons ago now.... and RIP Paul Decolator.

on the first night in London, we got to see Patrice Chaplin speak about her books. we got to meet and talk with her, at Watkin's in covent garden, right near where i used to work for a jazz mag. she is one cool woman who's lived a pretty ideal life. we want to our lives to be like hers in City of Secrets and we feel super fortunate to now call her a friend.


*******

i felt so grateful to be have been included in Editions Of You in Oxford. it was a really great day and we met lots of good folks and bought lots of artfully produced books and zines and cds and vinyl and tees. afterward, i felt so good and happy walking around that beautiful town and then up headington hill in the night, sleepily talking Dickens and books with john from SLEEPS IN OYSTERS. walking along leafy walks uphill toward Dial House, the pretty B&B where they put us up, complete with a sweet green english garden and CRASS records scattered everywhere, i wanted to stay there forever.....

roy DIASONIC on guitar and laptop electronix, John SLEEPS IN OYSTERS on drums

Oxford is so totally cool looking and pretty (coming from someone like me who grew up in late 50s beaver cleaver suburbs in eastern Pennsylvania).




'are you awake?' this is Dr Lisa Busby of the Popular Music Research Unit at Oxford Brookes. she curated and ran the whole Editions Of You shebang. check her out in SLEEPS IN OYSTERS of which she's one half

we stopped at Avebury on the way to Oxford and got blown away by the ancient stone circles that once pulled lightning energy out of the cosmos to fertilize the land, as well as powering up the testes & ovaries of the prehistoric dudes and dudettes that lived there. totally the best fertility machine forevz, so be careful while there.

*****

then we split to Paris and hung out with James and Kara and checked out their current lifestyle. and i read at Culture Rapide again. let me tell you how much i love Paris in the spring when flower petals fall to the streets in such numbers its like a snow storm of fragrance on a warm spring day. and hanging out with james and kara, and hitting spots together in the 13th where they live, and then Bimbo Tower to score recs and deliver Jon Vance's and my books, because Bimbo Tower is into American Type:writer even though the Am.Type books are in english, it was a sunny aweso day for sure.


this is the scene outside Culture Rapide at intermission. the Paris scene is currently blowing up.

james and kara and glasses advertisement in the City of Light

the first thing we did in Paris outside Gare du Nord station was take pics under that stupid space invader graff thats everywhere




below is the reading at Culture Rapide. i asked james to play a little acoustic accompaniment. he sounded good. i read bits from Return Of An Oldhead specifically for james and kara, because maybe they were feeling homesick for pa dutch country, maybe they'd wanna hear the words "hexen baerk" ring out in the night air of Paris, for old times' sake... this was the second time in 5 months i've read there. i dig that scene even more now. awesome people from all over who are into writing and literature, plays and poems, in cool Parisian surroundings....



good times.
good times forever. and kicks. and creativity. thats what i wish for everyone. Paris makes me feel so positive and true... and oh yeah, Francois at Bimbo recommended the new FEELING OF LOVE record and i must say that he was right because it is really really cool and good. go get it here. been jamming it nonstop since leaving Paris, you know how it is.............
because,
"life, life, life is the only thing worth living for...."
-FLIPPER

**********



Sunday, March 27, 2011

I'M READING AT OXFORD UK APRIL 9TH



Oxford was dubbed 'The City of Dreaming Spires' by poet mathew arnold...

and so i'm extremely chuffed to be invited to read some bits from WE WON'T BE HERE FOREVER during the Editions Of You exhibit at O3 Gallery in Oxford Castle, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England in a week. because the original Future Recordings hand made hardback edition is so excellent looking. i'll be reading and john from the pretty great SLEEPS IN OYSTERS and ray of DIASONIC fame will be doing a one-off improv collaboration as the live-jam soundtrack. MINUS PILOTS couldnt make it but this will still be good. can you come to oxford? please come!
the exhibiton looks pretty rad too. it opened this past saturay. lots of cool stuff to look at, including the WE HAVE HEAVEN record that's just out on Caesar Cuts and EASY. my cover design that was silk screened so well by chris reject is displayed for all to see (and for sale for all to buy. so is the soft cover EASY edition of my book).
here's yr schedule if you can make it: CLICK
HERE



after hanging out in oxford & london, beth and i are gonna take the eurostar to paris and visit james and kara, 2 kutztown chums who are currently living the life in the City of Light, gawd bless their fortunate heads. i'm gonna read at Culture Rapide again. i'm gonna read a few really 'pa dutch country' pieces for theyre enjoyment, because maybe they miss the way the soft hills look and the sound the peepers make now that its almost spring for real.

this is also like a big serious landmark commemorative trip for us too. it will be 20 years since beth and i started hanging out. 20 years since beth's birthday party on pine st that we split from with out anyone knowing and took off to the atlantic ocean...20 years, wtf. i cant believe how fast time flies. from 10th & pine and all over philly to tokyo to NYC to virginville to oxford, to london, to paris and so many far off spots in between, total All City Lovers. (for the next 20 years and 20 after that gawd willing.)
life rules 4 lyfe 4 evz

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

WE HAVE HEAVEN Feel The Power LP



OUT SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON
(like in 5 days)
we wanna play some release shows. how about in a downlow yoga studio?


i designed that rad looking
mehndi-handed cover
chris reject at xLVANx is screening them, i screened the labels, CAESAR CUTS is putting it out,
you will be able to get one from them soon.

we support the People Power movement in Egypt and for all people!!!
because they are being reasonable by demanding the impossible. and getting it!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

2011 IS GONNA RULE

its a new year and there are some new things coming...

this is a photo by jared stimpfel who recorded WE HAVE HEAVEN for a grateful dead tribute compilation on Nice Pooper 'zine's label. click on it! he's a rad dude and a seriously great drummer (for SECRET CUTTER who are great as well)

the WE HAVE HEAVEN album on the CAESAR CUTS label will be released shortly. its a serious jammer with 2 epics over 10 mins each, and 2 jammy almost pop ditties that are much shorter. chris giordani of SOARS recorded it in 2 sessions; one featuring rachel lambdin's psychedelic violin and the other featuring renee uzzardi's classical vedic tabla that she studies half the year in Varnasi, India. the whole thing will trance you out. go to CAESAR CUTS soon for buying infos...
and of course, THE EASY SUBCULT will be selling them too.

***

2011 should also see the release of art books on AMERICAN TYPE:WRITER Press by 3 of today's brightest subcultural stars and legendary heads; BROTHER JT of the original sins and the creatures fame, ERIK BRUNETTI of FUCT fame, and BRIAN PLEBANI of Fractured Seconds fame. look for these graphically inspiring and mentally head warping books to drop before summer.
and of course you can still get TULIP HAS A ROOM by Jon Vance of MOSS ICON fame. its a great collection of writing by another legendary head.
and get my book too if you havent yet!