easysubcult

2011 WAS A DECENT YEAR

2011-12-31T10:12:00.008-05:00

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.....

.........................december 3 2011............................

2011-11-24T09:20:00.003-05:00

12/3/11

BROTHER JT
PHOTON BAND

at
Independent Space Gallery

mod jams all night like this one

$5 dont be a tosser.

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

2011-10-16T10:45:00.007-04:00

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.

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

2011-10-02T08:31:00.004-04:00

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

click here now to help us

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

2011-09-24T15:37:00.004-04:00

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

BEACH CREEPS

2011-09-06T20:16:00.005-04:00

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

2011-08-04T08:41:00.003-04:00

"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

07 / 26 / 11

2011-07-18T18:04:00.004-04:00

* * * *

please click every line

D CHARLES SPEER & HELIX

BROTHER JT

DANGERBIRD

W,E H,AVE H,EAVEN

july 26

the burner's hall

(southside) bethlehem pennsylvania

* * * *

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

2011-05-27T18:10:00.004-04:00

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

"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

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

2011-05-23T15:18:00.009-04:00

{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

****

LONDON TO OXFORD TO PARIS IN AVRIL 2011

2011-04-17T10:06:00.016-04:00

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

**********

I'M READING AT OXFORD UK APRIL 9TH

2011-03-27T08:36:00.012-04:00

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

WE HAVE HEAVEN Feel The Power LP

2011-02-01T07:29:00.004-05:00

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!

2011 IS GONNA RULE

2011-01-18T10:42:00.007-05:00

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!

TULIP HAS A ROOM by jon vance

2010-11-21T11:37:00.006-05:00

jon's book TULIP HAS A ROOM is at the printer now.
american type:writer No. 020
if you ever heard MOSS ICON or had the extreme fortune to have seen them, then you know jon was a total madman with the lyrics. the oddest, coolest lyrics back then (1988 especially, considering how dire and ridiculous most of the hardcore scene was during that year).
i'm extremely chuffed to get to put this out. 70+ pages of words and cabalistic illustrations, by a guy who's survived since then and is still kicking now, as mysterioso as ever. so just like back then, readers will be left thinking 'what is up with this guy?'
order it now at EASY / AMTYPEWRITER

oh yeah, you know whats up with him? he's supposedly a direct descendant of Edgar Allan Poe. haunted........

just watch this old MOSS ICON jam and dig the words. an 18-19 year old hardcore kid was thinking all that? wtf...

PARIS TO BARCELONA (on the hipstamatic)

2010-11-03T07:41:00.010-04:00

i flew to Paris to meet Beth and read some of my words at Culture Rapide. Beth had been travelling for 3 weeks already by this point. we had a flat up on the top floor or an old joint in the 1st arrondisement.
we tripped out allover the city, from belleville to bastille (where we hooked up with Bimbo Tower and discovered the awesome FAREWELL POETRY); from montmartre to the sorbonne, like all city lovers.
i love Paris.

******
we booked south to Rennes le Chateau, the little tiny mountaintop village of mysteries in the Languedoc, and checked out the sacred geography and the holy mountain of Bugarach as well as the history of the Cathars and the fucking papist crusaders who killed them off & gouged out their eyes & burned them alive. but obviously, though in secret, that gnostic religion still survives to this day, and from the tops of magically arranged mountains its still a holy place....

******

Collioure is a pretty little port town on the Mediterranean, where the pyrennees tumble into the sea, just above the border with Spain; where fauvism was invented, because of the fantastic light, colors and wind....

******

we snuck into spain. and the locals said 'catalunya is not spain!'
but one thing was certain: Barcelona rules. i could live out the rest of my life living between Paris and Barcelona and the geography in between. and making wads of cash....

we were so sad to leave.............

WE WONT BE HERE AUGUST 28

2010-08-22T11:41:00.003-04:00

WE WONT BE HERE FOREVER but i will be in philly on august 28th reading from that book of mine at brickbat books with DRAGON TURTLE and FURSAXA and ZILLIONS, so i'm hoping that you would make it and i was happy that you could.

AMERICAN TYPEWRITER

2010-08-11T14:09:00.004-04:00

i am american. my type is writer.
WE WONT BE HERE FOREVER (my book) is sold out from Future Recordings but is now out and for sale on the cheapo new AM.TYPE:WRITER / EASY SUBCULT shopping site.
i'm reading from it on saturday august 28th at brickbat books. my good friends from the poconos and brooklyn DRAGON TURTLE will be jamming behind me and supplying the soundtrack to the ether.

next project out soon on AM.TYPE:WRITER is TULIP HAS A ROOM the first book by none other than Jonathan Vance who was of course the amazing lyricist madman behind MOSS ICON, one of the greatest bands ever in the entire 50 year history of rock music.
you know that band right? you'll want to pre-order Vance's book for sure.

this is a photo of jon vance:
the site isnt so happening looking yet but it will be. lots of old obscure easy releases are going to get rereleased and lots of shirt designs are gonna be produced in the studio after our travels are all done so sit tight my friendly patrons.

go HERE to buy some stuff. thanks.

VIRGINVILLE 2010

2010-06-06T09:20:00.002-04:00

WE WON'T BE HERE FOREVER is almost OUT.

2010-04-25T14:56:00.006-04:00

the Easy / AM.TYPE:WRITER soft cover editions of We Won't Be Here Forever arrived yesterday. actually they arrived during the week but we were living in philly for work; but since virginville is such a cool little chill place and our friends wayne and jen can go and pick up our mail at the tiny post office, they brought the big old box of them down to slingluff gallery in fishtown for me because we were supposed to meet up there on thursday but we never did because we had to work 12 hour days on different sets and locations for this robert di niro, bradley cooper movie we're both working on which is going to be sooooo amazing.

someone said we wont be here forever was 'like richard brautigan + phillip k dick'.
i want the story to be like mark e smith + zecharia sitchen + goethe's Truth and Fantasy From My Life. you decide.

once i package the MINUS PILOTS CD soundtrack with the books, perhaps employing a colour obi or 2 inch band around the book i'm not quite sure, they will be for sale to my friendly patrons. email easysubculture@gmail for further instructions. one day i'll have a shopping site at easysubculture.com and it will be easier than ever.

i'm not sure when the colour edition of the book on the Future Recordings label will be available, but go there for buying info on that edition. they will be sure to look rad. and future recordings is a very cool label.

WE WON'T BE HERE FOREVER

2010-03-01T08:09:00.003-05:00

out soon on The FUTURE RECORDINGS label, the hard cover version of WE WON'T BE HERE FOREVER , packaged with a CD soundtrack by MINUS PILOTS from England. We Won't Be Here Forever is a long short story or a short novella written by me in Virginville and Philly in the last half of 2009. the illustrations are by me as well. and beth added watercolours over them. hope you will both buy it as well as dig it.
There will be a soft cover edition on EASY SUBCULT / AMERICAN TYPE.WRITER too eventually. those will be a little bit cheaper of course, and will also come with the MINUS PILOTS thing.
but the first edition ones on Future Recordings will look amazing so get that one if you can. and there will be a book release somethingsomething in philly this spring too. i'll keep you posted. i like keeping you posted....

go here: http://futurerecordings.bigcartel.com

WELCOME TO PHOTO DUMP 2010

2010-02-11T09:44:00.002-05:00

2010 is all's abouts outside so far.

VIRGINVILLE FILM FEST 09 DVDs ARE HERE

2009-12-06T13:55:00.003-05:00

the DVD comp of films from this year's VIRGINVILLE FILM FEST have arrived at easy HQ and are ready for you to buy! just in time for you to give as christmas presents. relive the greatest moments from the 2009 virginville film festival in the comfort, safety and warmth of yr own home during the holiday season. films included are by the following filmmakers and all of their films are great: mike shellito, paul meatsquat dworakivsky, burt dodge, wayne miller, the oakenors, kristi robbins, james ravelle, simon nagle, eric de jesus, dave keller, bryce katzman, james jewell, mary jo rosania, shemp, james antonson, dan leathersich, andrew and brett amey and last but not least, dionne lennon. all the commercials by the VVFF's sponsors are included too. get stoked. get nostalgic for summer evenings on the farm watching films under the stars as the threat of rain causes everyone to bite their nails off!
each DVD is $10 post paid or $5 if you can stop by & get one of us in person. you may paypal the $10 to
VIRGINVILLEFILMFEST @ GMAIL . COM
we ship the same day. how's that for service? and by all means, get in touch for the 2010 film fest! make a film, contribute to the community, or just come and hang out and loll around in the grass while watching everyone's films!

go here for more info on the festival.

TRISTAN EGOLF R.I.P

2009-11-29T11:14:00.006-05:00

i came across my old blog while googling for criticism of Tristan Egolf's last book KORNWOLF. i'd totally forgotten i was writing that little blog 4 years ago. but i was chuffed to remember the below post. i wrote it immediately after getting home from Tristan's memorial. its so fuct to think of how early he took his own life. could he have been one of those authors with 10 or 20 more novels in him? or hundreds more stories? we'll never know. his oeuvre consists of just 3 novels and a messy, sad ending.

***
i just got back from Tristan Egolf's memorial service in lancaster, pa.
it was a beautiful Indian Summer day in that cool, little and old city center. it was a perfect fall day.
lots of peeple were there. lots of peeple from almost all areas of Tristan's life and historical trajectory.
i hung with my friends from philly, representing the Friz scene which existed in 'PhilthTown' from 1993 maybe to 1994? i mean the first Friz scene which was centered around the Friz on 13th and walnut above that liquor store next to the Indian joint on the south east corner of walnut and juniper.
the stuff that went down there and was created there and was said there was totally bitchin' usually. on afternoons in Art's stewdio in front of windows open, letting the sound of philly in the early 90s wash over us and go thru us. or late nights in the big room hanging out and doing stuff like listening to records or watching something or cooking or watching art cook or simon eat. or talking. always talking about all of the above. or late at night watching bands play and watching the scenesters of the early 90s philly scene do their thing. (i got a big lump on my forehead from a big mug some one threw during a kitschchao show at the friz.)
i knew Tristan within this millieu.

and i knew and cared about almost nothing else but this millieu for a long time.

within this scene most everyone was committed to living the life.

he was crazy good times and smart. he was determined and fearless. and he was mellow, physical and bouyant.
we were friends and co-conspirators.
kitschchao were fierce and tristan was funny and terrifying as their singer.
i did the cover of their 7".

this afternoon i saw peeple from this ancient era all together in one place for the first time since those times. it was not unlike a show at the friz or a late afternoon lounge out on the Friz's roof, a football field long and wind swept within the caverns of original early 20 century skyscrapers up walnut street, hair always blowing in the sun; or the rare hang out in Big Greg's room. or sitting together drinking & talking in the big room or around the 16 track recording board. always talking about everything.

but this afternoon it was way more sad and sedate and brightly lit.

***

click the below for part of an interview we did when he was in KITSCHCHAO. man, how messy those times were...

check out DTO, which is the band Tristan was singing with when he decided to call quits on life. they feature Jason from KITSCHCHAO. theyre pretty excellent. Jason owns Trinity Framing in philly. give them yr business.
Dave from KITSCHCHAO runs the KC myspace. go listen to the jams by clicking here.
the last time i saw those 2 ex-KC dudes was at Tristan's memorial. how are you guys doing?

and check out KITSCHCHAO's 'peter stumpe' 7" on compuliv. thats song is the first manifestation of tristan's kornwolf compulsion. he had its since childhood. i did the cover. that was so long ago now...

SLEEP WALKING IN MY DREAMS

2009-11-23T18:08:00.006-05:00

its true, i'd been doing that. every night. its hypnotic. so i started taking photos while walking around inside my dreams.

"i know i'm talking in my sleep. and sleeping in my dreams. i'm dreaming on my feet. i don't know what it means." ~RAIN PARADE

(download the emergency third rail power trip LP right now)

MARBLE SHEEP, MAGIC & SUPER FRIEND POWERS ACTIVATE

2009-11-10T06:46:00.013-05:00

what a beautiful week.
it started below the fairie hill in virginville.

jenny's dogs were pulled toward it by the magikal powers.

on friday, the big show at secret art space.
first WHH concocted psychedelic sound sculptures.

marble sheep from tokyo, on their first ever trip to the usa,
completely sent everyone into an eyes-closed, goa style trance of total liberation

they had tons of captain trip products you never see in the USA.
"green = psychedelic long tunes"

the next night it was north 4th st, just above girard ave in philly.
it was linda's birthday weekend.

afterwards it was another party for linda at the RUBA.
it was a very very late night.

and in the brilliant light of the following morning
it's obvious linda will have a good year.

~~~~~~~~

and thanks to Radio23, you can jam out to the whole marble sheep show in bethlehem forever!
heres the link (scroll down a bit).

NIGHT OF STAYING PSYCHEDELIC & O'HARA

2009-10-11T14:07:00.007-04:00

i can't believe THE MARBLE SHEEP AND THE RUN DOWN SUN'S CHILDREN are coming all the way from tokyo to bethlehem, pennsylvania but i shouldnt be too surprised because bethlehem and the whole lehigh valley have always been pretty happening with underground shows; going all the way back to the sikedelic 60's.
it's going to be the night to stay psychedelic all the way until daybreak.
i love this tokyo band like no other tokyo band; and i could legitimately say that one listen to andy perseponko's copy of Whirl Live was 50% of the reason beth and i moved to tokyo. (25% was MAINLINER's mellow-out record.) (and the other 25% was called "philadelphia in the late 90s".) from their monolithic early stoned out 80s jammers thru their 90s grateful dead fixation to their present psychedelic speed freak-outs, i love it all. all that long, inky, black japanese hippy hair flowing like sea weed out of an old Hokusai print. its probably not as long anymore, and maybe a little gray, but still, its all beautiful, transcendental jams.
also playing is FURSAXA, WE HAVE HEAVEN and PLASTICCRIMEWAVE SOUND. november 6th at secret art space is going to be so awesome!

watch this amazing version of 'rain'

__________________________________________________________________

yesterday i hit Saucony Books in good old kutztown and scored this whole box of John O'Hara works, fresh from some deceased collector's shelves i can only assume. all first editions / first printings too.
i am very stoked to grow my own O'Hara collection so much in one day.

F U C T

2009-10-05T17:20:00.006-04:00

a slide i took of jon ajax skating at the Trench with my dad's ziess ikon 35mm in 1983 is now the front side of a tee designed by erik brunetti of FUCT.

erik was probably at the Trench when i took this. everyone used to hang out there. every lehigh valley punker would make his or her way to that spot along route 378 in bethlehem to hang out and meet up and skate and screw around. brian plebani (MFC, etc) took a zillion skate photos there and one of his is emblazoned across a black 100% cotton FUCT shirt too. its rad that brunetti is immortalizing that idyllic, innocent and ancient LVHC scene on the new FUCT 'streetwear'. check out brian's blog with his old photo here. he was another of the OG LV punkers, another of the many oldhead locals that i hope are living well and healthy and happy forever and ever....

WHH . GOODNIGHT STARS GOODNIGHT AIR . ART DIFURIA

2009-09-20T14:36:00.004-04:00

off south st on a saturday night.
noise noise noise and melodies.

ART DIFURIA solo set with guitars like the air pushed out from beneath the wings of a million white winged moths.

GOODNIGHT STARS GOODNIGHT AIR doing his thing. could be harsh sheets of white noise and could be beauty washes like air over mountaintops. hopefully both together.

WE HAVE HEAVEN noise, guitars, taped spoken voice, tabla and loops. with just a pair of flabby wings...

september 26th at brickbat

http://brickbatbooks.blogspot.com/

GROOVY TIMES ARE HERE AGAIN

2009-09-20T09:02:00.003-04:00

they discovered one black saturday the mobs don't march they run, they run.

but you can excuse the nervous trigger man just this once for jumpin' the gun.

DARK CIRCLES from the LV at JB's one night last week. they are really really good in a semi-rural creeped out Broadcast kind of way. kyle page's drumming is excellent with brianna edwards's awesome hush loop vocal breaths

groovy times groovy times

PHOTOHUT BREADMACHINE for 9/8/09

2009-09-10T08:19:00.006-04:00

BREADMACHINE is a free noiser band from the Lehigh Valley of PA. they were around and active awhile ago but disappeared. but now, like spirits compelled to return from the afterlife, they are back.

WELCOME TO PHOTOHUT 3 Women

2009-09-10T08:05:00.003-04:00

Jackie and Dave's wedding was sweet. it was nice to attend ~ and to see these three women together for a few days too. they've known each other for 20 years and are still buds. i've known them as this triumverate for nearly that long and theyre still cool together. its like The Witches of Eastwick or something out of Macbeth, right?

i asked her to do this

WELCOME TO PHOTO HUT for 09/02/09

2009-09-03T14:16:00.007-04:00

OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD came by the farm (Eckerton Hill Farm) again yesterday. what a good time.

heres what we all scarfed down, under the setting september sun:
Eckerton Hill tomatoes with capers & croutons made from breads by 14 Acre Farm; followed by cuvee chardonay by Pinnacle Ridge Vineyard, followed by halibut with an okra pesto (made from Eckerton Hill basil); followed by some chamburcin by Pinnacle Ridge, which got all the meat eaters salivating for a whole lamb raised right over the hill from Eckerton. then some more wine (Pinnacle Ridge pinot noir). then a desert of berries from Eckerton and peaches from Scholl Orchard. the presiding chef was Dave Pasternak from Esca.
super good times. and the best way to eat. i mean, outside on a nice evening on a farm field from which all the ingredients come....

stoked for next year's already.

WELCOME TO PHOTO HUTon 08/31/09

2009-09-01T22:45:00.008-04:00

night time is the right time

to pull all the dimes from yr pocket

nighttime's the right time

to climb on the rocket

nighttime's the right time
to pull your shoulder out of its socket

nighttime's the right time
to learn a new language

-will oldham

RISE ABOVE RISE ABOVE

2009-08-05T07:59:00.005-04:00

'be more than a witness' ~ Flipside fanzine....
making fanzines was a big part of my life for years and years. writing and then laying-out the printed word will always be a part of my life. the whole self-publish, DIY, 'do what thou wilt' aesthetic of rising above and being yourself and being alive, it hasn't stopped yet. some of my old fanzines are part of a show that opens this friday aug. 7th at home and planet gallery on the southside of bethlehem, pennsylvania...
"We Are All In This Together: Zines For Subcultural Solidarity" A show curated by Hannae Pavlick

some very limited edition boxsets of RAW POGO ON THE SCAFFOLD will be available for purchase by every epicurean art collecting patron. and 3 giant raw pogo covers will be mounted on one of the walls. the opening is from 7pm to 10. the show runs all month.

and i will also have some of the boxsets for sale at the big LEHIGH VALLEY PUNKER REUNION in emmaus park on saturday aug. 8th. if you were one of the weirdo crazy downtrodden punker kids in the 80s you'll know how funny and great this could be. like getting revenge after 25 years ('and you won't know what hit you') ('we're tired of being screwed')

COUNTRY / CITY SUMMER NEVER EVER END

2009-07-31T17:34:00.002-04:00

wheat in light in our northern liberties crash pad. he passed away gently at the height of the summer. he lived to be 87 years old. i wonder if any of us will ever beat that...

eckerton hill farm, virginville. about to be swallowed by a summer storm.

summer 09, never ever end.

MY ARMY

2009-06-28T08:25:00.006-04:00

this is my crew. they back me up. gotta stick together gotta stick together gotta stick together like glue.
( top floor ballroom studio summer 2007 )

V.V. F. F.

2009-06-13T07:59:00.006-04:00

once again its time for the VIRGINVILLE FILM FESTIVAL. its the 5th fuckin year! we are proud of ourselves because now its widely and rightly considered the best night of every summer.

watch these excellent promos for this year's festival, made by our by our friends Simon Nagle and Paul David.
Simon did the first one. Paul did the second one, employing footage he shot for a forgotten student film in 1991 while the First Gulf War was just starting on TV. well, the the land war was just starting and we had been staying up all night watching it on CNN between games of Megamania on the Atari 2600 (it was so fitting and natural to be playing that game between the all video of smart bombs hitting tank columns and bunkers on CNN) (i'm writing a novel about just that right now!) this was at 5012 cedar ave in west philly. i'd spraypainted "draft beer not me" and "fall down not out" on the basement walls. we thought we might all get drafted. we just wanted to screw around and make films and play music. that house was so cluttered but i could still ride bikes all around the 1st floor. the film Paul was making starred me and simon together. and in an excellent & weird arc of years and time we are all still together, involved in making films and projects and scenes; though now older and more spread out than all in the same house in the middle of the night, while The Gulf War II, started by the son of the Architect of the First Gulf War', like a fucking shiny hand me down or inheritance, like The Widow's Son, continues to slog forward...

NEW WHEELS

2009-06-04T23:30:00.006-04:00

a 24 inch GT cruiser is my new wheels for the summer of 09.
( ( ( ( plus an ancient newporter slalom deck, mike rimm's painted hand & mug and john graff's cabinet doors from his early 80's norfolk scene days.) ) ) )
(the studio's already a museum)

T O K Y O ALL CITY LOVERS

2009-05-09T21:28:00.005-04:00

tokyo was at once both teeming with peeple and things, and gentle as tea or mellow as a stroll in a leafy wood

WHH // GSGA // A. DIFURIA // FILMS

2009-04-14T18:22:00.003-04:00

april 25th at Secret Art Space on the southside of bethlehem pennsylvania.
GSGA, WE HAVE HEAVEN, ART DIFURIA of PHOTON BAND fame and 2 little films by me. come make time for spring. it will be haru ichiban that evening....

and the night prior (the 24th) WE HAVE HEAVEN plays with MICAH BLUE SMALDONE & LORD DOG BIRD at hard bean.

southside bethlehem happens

2009-03-22T10:01:00.011-04:00

VIRGINVILLE in PHILADELPHIA

2009-02-08T10:28:00.006-05:00

ATTENTION : ALL-CITY LOVERS of PHILLY!!!!

The VIRGINVILLE FILM FEST best of...
favorite films from the past 4 festivals!!!!
Valentine's Day evening at STUDIO 2728
8PM 2728 W.Girard Ave Philadelphia PA

come for a romantic night of films and music.
try to resurrect a hot summer night in Virginville on a cold winter night in Philly.
with Garth from POOR LUTHER'S BONES

RSVP virginvillefilmfest@gmail.com

THE LAST DAY OF 08

2009-01-03T16:36:00.016-05:00

what a worrisome, strange & excellent day the very last day of '08 was. i played music with paul meatsquat and we took our cat to the vet.

our cat's name is Wheat. thats him with the tennis ball.he's getting very on in years. he was born on 5th and girard in philadelphia in the late autumn of 1991, when that particular stretch of girard and NoLibs in general was cooler and full of soul.. he's the sweet and funny and sometimes vicious little cat that beth and i have shared and have looked after for as long as we've lived together. now he needs help with his kidneys.

and beth was coming down with a cold and could hardly speak. or when she did she whispered from deep down in her lungs.

the Sun was slanting sharper and sharper by the time i got to the quarry bluffs overlooking the little old town of Egypt, PA. what a cool looking little town, straight out of the "Pennsylvania Protectorate" of John O'Hara. then back up a hill and down again over the mighty Lehigh river and into the town of Northampton, home of THE RUSSIAN MEATSQUATS of yore. i've known paul meatsquat forever, since we were both little hardcore children, but i'd never played music with him. i was seriously chuffed to play with him today. he's an amazing and jazzy drummer still. and i suspect he will be right up to the day he finally dies. that's him seriously killing his drums at a show at west catty in 1984 or 85.
what did our improvised jams sound like? like the LVHC brand 20+ years after its conception in the first few years of Punk Rock Senior High; i mean they sounded 20+ years older and 20+ years less spaztic.... just paul and his drums and me & a guitar and an akai headrush. my last act of 2008. please download and try to enjoy.

download or listen this bit of a spazzed but mellow jam by us 2 ex-punkers

in a few hours i rang in the new year surrounded by friends at dave and kristy's cool haus behind all the pine trees in stony run again. just like 365 days and nights prior. but unlike last new year's eve, beth stayed home in virginville chilling out with throat soothing tea. kara and james were there, on a stopover in the middle of their endless travels. kara wanted a cigarette and i obliged. we blew spiralling smoke signals up into the perfectly clear and frozen night out on the porch. then she immediately fell ill, the poisonous nicotine and tobacco smoke shocking and awing her system. time for another purification fast, the perfect way to start a brand new year... later kristy got everyone together and called our home number so we could yell new year's greeting at beth through the magic of telephony. she was already crashed out. we yelled into the answering machine.

i snuck home in the first few beats of 2009 by way of the twisty little farm roads that squirrel over and around the soft PA Dutch hills that lay between stony run and virginville. i avoided the drunks and the cops on rte 143. ice kept crystalizing in rad freeform patterns right across my windshield. it was so quiet and cold and holy. and i avoided the deer.

and btw, 3 days into '09 and Wheat seems to be doing a lot better, beth's gotten her voice back and i've finally finished my library edition of the Gibbsville, PA Stories, John O'Hara's 864 page epic collection that no other writer will ever come close to equalling as fiction and history in a million fucking years.

EMPTY TREES EMPTY TREES

2008-10-26T08:40:00.002-04:00

i highly recommend you go over to EMPTYTREES and check all the newer & weirder lehigh valley subcultural artifacts to listen to and look at. run by Tim HemingwayCats, its one nice dude's ongoing attempt to document his surroundings within a scene thats going to be gone before you know it like always, except this time Tim has the brains and foresight to try to record it all with a rad little Zoom recorder. lots of great live shows at muscle beach, shannonsylvania, eckhaus, kalat gallery, etc etc. plus some cool philly shows.
support the scene before its gone or before yr gone........

S H O W O K T 17th KUTZTOWN

2008-10-14T07:03:00.003-04:00

FURSAXA ; WE HAVE HEAVEN ; ILYAS AHMED ; RAFI BOOKSTABER
psike-out city small town setting. hexes and hexes of good vibes on you...
this friday october the 17th at 9 peach st 19530

BORN OF JACKALS

2008-09-28T08:39:00.003-04:00

this film was my entry in the 2008 virginville film fest
born of jackals is what i was. jackal was the singer of YDI. he was one cool but scary looking mother to my 14 year old eyes. YDI slouched to bethlehem and played the first hardcore show in LV history. i was born of jackals that fucking night. i murdered my old self and came reborn into the world a full on HC kid. but now my eyes are older and see many things all over the world and for miles & miles & miles & miles & miles....

09.06.08 girard avenue philadelphia

2008-08-27T15:07:00.004-04:00

this show at studio 2728 opens september 6th 2008. 2728 girard ave philly. saturday night all right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~27.28~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAINE and HAIR and EXILE OSAKA

2008-08-25T13:33:00.003-04:00

hanging out in the state of Maine for a while is nice and mellow and mellow and sweet in the summer.
getting to the top of mount cadillac was exhilarating even tho it was as crowded as osaka station during rush hour.
but my hair was looking pretty okay late at night in the full moon light that was reflected off the ocean and into my face, like a million colored light down a shopping street in japan...
check out exile osaka fanzine again, this time in internet form. and read matt's well written blog about japan and film, the Osaka Film & Booze Club

AMERIKAN GOTHIC 2008

2008-08-10T11:32:00.003-04:00

my famous and death-defying little brother Jay took our photo the other morning when he visited beth and i at eckerton hill farm. we were knee deep in shale and tomatoes. the sun was at 10 o'clock. pulpit's rock was at our backs and sharp's ridge had our left side covered. the temperature was a perfect 80 degrees and red tailed hawks circled skyward riding down drafts above blue rocks campground.
my farmer tan was starting to turn into sunburn.
eckerton hill is owned by tim stark. its a pleasant if back-breaking place to work in the summers. and its weird and good that its now one of the most famous farms in amerika. read tim's just-released new book. he owns eckerton and he is also the dude cool enough to allow us to hold the film festival there every summer (which, considering the insane amount of peeple that descended on this year's fest, is very, very nice of him. or crazy of him)

me + FUGAZI +london, england

2008-07-24T20:02:00.004-04:00

i'm in this old fugazi footage from their first or second show in london in 1988....
you can see me at various points throughout the program, i'm jamming it as an american kid away at school in a foreign metropolis.
i cmpletely forgot until i saw myself in this that some dude kept pointing a camera at me. maybe because i was wacked out of me head on LemSip and hash33sh.
i went to this show sick as a dog and almost dead, with lawrence and ed shred from SINK and The STUPIDS, etc. ... and aaron hegarty who was a really cool dude who sold american hardcore records in a stall below the flyover in portobello rd.

it jazzes me up and freaks me out and almost saddens me all at the same time, to see this and to see myself so long ago. a whole different world and lifetime ago.... end on end on end on end on end

HOMEBASE IS WHERE THE ART IS

2008-07-21T15:16:00.004-04:00

friday july 11th at homebase was goodtimes all around. ray broke edge but he broke it with my black flag diy red wine.
my pieces will hang till august. some are still up for grabs. $100 each for the drawings, which exist under silicone, glass and plaster.... and since peeple have been asking me about it, the trench installation in the window can be yr's for a mere $5000!!! hook it up skater.
oh yeah, guy hoops, brent burke, mike kaine were all there with me. the first time we were all in the same room together since SUICIDAL at west catty in 1985, when we were little hardcore children!
stay free....

PHOTOS, DRAWINGS, HEALING, HISTORY...

2008-07-04T15:42:00.005-04:00

show at homebase (14 w. 4th st. on the preferred southside of bethlehem). opens friday july 11th. lots of my little drawings and photos and healing vibes. come after 8 to drink some wine with me. don't forget to look in the window. if you were around back in the dark days you'll know what historical landmark its supposed to make you feel the love for....

VIRGINVILLE 08 PROGRAM!!!!!!

2008-06-15T21:30:00.002-04:00

FINALLY, HERE'S THE PROGRAM FOR THE FESTIVAL!!!!!!
these are the films that will be shown at the fest .
not neccesarily in this order but close to it.
there are a helluva lot films, right? so you'll stick around we hope, and see some cool stuff:

thanks to everyone who submitted films. when you meet thefilmakers, thank them for sharing the vision of a starry night watching films on a big screen underneath the moon!

Virginville Film Festival 2008 Program

1. Boys (trailer)-Neil Cleary-Task (1:23)
2. The Good Life Pt. I & II-Wayne Miller (8:50)
3. Peeled Grapes-Ryan Watt(11:15)
4. Big Dutch Hotel-John Nelka and Fred Tamari (8:01)
5. Photocopy Movie-Eric Prykowski (3:20)
6. Captain Comet-Brother J.T. (12:05)
7. Born of Jackals-Eric de Jesus (7:04)
8. The Coprophagia Kitchen-Mike Shellito (3:27)
9. 2 Ramps, 1 Room-Nick Stain and Homebase (11:00)
10. Kutztown-Jen Lindsay (4:12)
11. Punkin Pie Hubbub-Paul David (12:36)
12. Timelessness-Mary Jo Rosania (4:27)
13. Willow-Kate Balsley (2:24)
14. Rod, Stewart and the Mummy-Mitch Csanadi (5:30)
15. Hexenwolf 2 Bloopers-Elizabeth Duby (6:36)
16. Skateboard-Dave Keller (2:36)
17. Deitsch Eye for the Jersey Guy-Dan Leathersich (14:30)
18. The Haunted Hat-James Antonson (5:37)
19. Night Over Shell's-Denise Vacca (12:41)
20. Thumbprint Moon-Sharon O'Connor (9:28)
21. Speaxxerfone-Carl Franke (13:22)
22. Slow Ride-Tim Showalter (7:29)
23. Ironicality-Bryan Shaefer (5:03)
24. Currents-David Kresge (9:21)
25. I Wish I Were Only Sleeping-The Oakeners (6:00)
26. Real Real Friend-James Jewell (4:19)
27. The Belly Friends-The Pippens (5:23)
28. A Deeper Shade of Soul-Tim Carr (13:23)
29. Brogue-Jason Prugar (10:15)
30. Film-Simon Nagle (who knows what its called?)

a DVD compilation of all these films and more will be for sale at the fest. hook one up along with the v-ville 08 tee shirt!

june 28th at 8pm. VIRGINVILLE is where you'll wanna be.

~eric/beth/wayne

VIRGINVILLE '08

2008-04-05T10:07:00.004-04:00

this is where you'll want to be, laying on a blanket under the stars, on June 28th this summer.

for info on attending, submitting and sponsoring and etc, go here

CULT OF THE MOON is out now, so is WHH

2008-03-16T19:47:00.004-04:00

Cult Of The Moon, my book on SLOOOW LEY LINES is out now and so is a WE HAVE HEAVEN cassette, on SLOOWTAPES. you can hit the link to the right to see what distros should have them.
here's the label description:

"Eric de Jesus
Cult Of The Moon
Sloow Ley Lines - B
Drawings, photo’s and lunar stories by Eric de Jesus. Half black & white, half full-color. Let your moustache grow easy. Bound together by the hand."

in other news, i'm pretty fagged, fammed and fashed after this weekend....

WORK (carpet to cobblestone)

2008-02-26T08:01:00.006-05:00

worked on a set at kitchen sink fabrication in philly last week. one of the deals was to create a cobblestone roadway out of a 40 x 14 foot chunk of carpetting.
it went from this
to this

i'm about to wood grain my laptop. it'll look like i'm walking around with a chunk of oak. or staring at a block of oak....

FURSAXA at muscle beach

2008-02-13T09:29:00.009-05:00

FURSAXA at Muscle Beach in allentown, pa on february 7th 2007
(it was an unusually warm night in the wharehouse. there was an overflow of the good vibes. everyone was in a good mood. and tara levitated us to another, brighter level...

there are more of my little videos here
...and i can't wait for the spring.

SUNRISE OVER PHILADELPHIA

2008-02-01T08:22:00.002-05:00

stayed at carrie's loft in port richmond this week cuz we were working on the set for Seeking Solutions With Suzanne. this is how it looked out one of her windows on tuesday morning at 6:45am....
and here's how carrie's foot looked at black floor gallery a couple years ago:

WORK

2008-01-25T09:12:00.001-05:00

100 color images by shaun mcnally, made into wallpaper by easy...
we're currently tricking out this and other walls in a restaurant being started by shaun himself, so you know it will be an excellent & flakey experience. we are gonna project and paint a big image of a creepy-looking kid on a sliding board on the opposite wall. the place is on main st in bloomsburg, pennsylvania ~ right near the university. you better go there when it opens ya'll...

TOKYO SUBWAYS

2008-01-21T07:12:00.001-05:00

maybe almost 10 years ago in tokyo, Beth was standing on a ginza line platform at omotesando dori station and i took this photo with a disposable 3-D camera

i love this photograph, this moment in the history of the world.

SARAH JOHNSON spazodelic @ muscle beach

2008-01-14T15:06:00.003-05:00

started the year off alright by going to see SARAH JOHNSON at muscle beach. man, were they spazzed out. but with one of the greatest drummers i've ever seen (since maybe seeing jim kimball behind the kit on the LAUGHING HYENAS first tour, which was what, like 20 years ago) (if you click their name, look at the entry for 4/1/88. that was my house)....
total japancore '98 vibe. i mean like MANIA ORGAN, SKULLCALIFORNIA, SLEEPING BEAUTY, SPACE STREAKINGS etc. all brash and fast and with the quickness and colors and kaos pad.
please enjoy this little video i shot:
********************************************************************************************************************

xplanetx/fursaxa/wet hair/etc

2008-01-10T14:01:00.001-05:00

i am xplanetx and i am back.
come to this show at muscle beach. i will be looping out some transcendental noise.

in addition
Fursaxa
Secret Abuse (jeff of impregnable/deep jew, also runs callow god tape label)
Evan Miller
Wet Hair (mem of rac oo oon)
Nimby

february7th around 7pm and on the D/L so shhhhh on the address, but holla and i'll tell you how to get to the Beach

20 years of new years eves

2008-01-01T09:20:00.001-05:00

OMG! ok wtf. its 8am on january 1st, 2008 and (like in an old Conflict fanzine) i'm going to try to recall every single new years eve since 1988. oh man, 20 years of new years eves. theyre always such anti climactic social events. and i always wake up the next morning in a new year, thinking i have to start getting something thats not going, more going, or get jamming on the words for real...
i hope i can even remember every year.

1987>1988 somewhere in jersey
MUGFACE was playing in some girl's garage at a party in western jersey, just over the delaware river from easton or nazo somewhere. it was a pretty lame party. i wasnt so into singing anymore. there was a lot of snow. the girl's house was out in the middle of the snowy woods and her parents were nowhere in sight. i was in a weird mood but i always was then. MUGFACE was pretty much over with by that point. or i was over it. that band only lasted from june 87 to early winter 88 if i recall correctly. this was probably the last time we actually played in front of peeple.
monto and bobby and alex ilchuck and a bunch of other LV dudes were there. and kira and icky and some other lancaster skins.
alex and kira and maybe dave folk started blowing up sticks of dynamite out in the woods and laughing like crazy. huge booming concussions rolling out into the still night air. that was the best part of the whole evening. the girl who lived there was pissed. but those kids did not care. after we played i stood outside in the snow under some trees and smoked a bunch of wzzd with a new jersey girl in a burgundy bomber jacket. she had a bleach blonde chelsea cut. i had an inca hat. my ankles were freezing because i stopped wearing socks. i was thinking i had to start splitting the scene. those guys were blowing shit up and laughing like crazy. the girl whose house it was was freaking out because she thought the cops would come. i can't remember how i got home to bethlehem, or if i even did go home, but i was wigging out.

1988>1989 in bethlehem
just back from London for the holidays where paul david and i missed getting blown out of the sky on pan am 103 by a mere 2 days. i mean our flight was pan am 103 but 2 days later. what a wasted, funny, crazy awesome school year that was.... hung out in my room at my parents house with tara m. back in notting hill a week prior, i'd hollowed-out a cheap leather belt and filled it with portobello road hazh to smuggle onto the plane. there was so much that it snaked all the way around my waist; but it being just 2 days after lockerbie, airport security wasnt so hard assed in checking american college students returning home for christmas (they actually regarded us with pity & solemnity as flight 103 was filled with college kids whom they presumed we knew). (we did know a couple of them.) tara and i were lighting that shit and blowing long trails of smoke out my bedroom window as the clock struck midnight. my parents were having their filipino new years snacks in the dining room below us. we were jamming the just released first THEE HYPNOTICS single i'd gotten 2 weeks previous at rough trade. i couldnt stop listening to it because it was so awesome.
after tara left i stood on the roof of the house at 3 in the morning and looked up at the moon and smoked the very last of the Silk Cut cigarettes from london.

1989>1990 in philly
living on 19th and girard with andy clees. we walked to a party at the swinging bachelor pad (yeah right) of lars, chris & noel on 21st and cherry. everyone was stoked to ring in the 90s. all those west chester peeple were having a blast. they drank so much and reveled in early 20s debauchery and wantonness. lars lit his own coffee table on fire and burned a giant hole in the living room carpet. me and andy and elysia and art hung out together and scowled like jerks as we were wont to do back then. there was a street fight outside. we watched it with glee after heading onto the balcony to listen to all the celebratory gunfire going off in the sky over north philly, filling the crisp air with showers of glistening lead like philly style new years snowflakes.
i slept for one whole day to start the new year.
then, drowzy and cold and full of a Dew Inn breakfast on 5th and Girard, me, simon, andy, art & elysia took off to DC to see the DUSTDEVILS and UNREST at DC Space. and the DUSTDEVILS that night were one of the coolest bands i had ever seen.

1990>1991
i can not remember what exactly went down. but it involved spraypainting antiwar punker slogans on the basement walls of the house in which i was living (5012 cedar ave) since the gulf war part I was about to begin. "make home brew not war!" "fall down not out!" if i had only known then what a tremendous year was in store, i would have surely not cared about any wars ever!

1991>1992
fully ensconced in the Pine Street Revolution Grrrl Style Now scene thanks to Beth, she & i went to a party at Tania and Sharon's pad on 9th & Pine at which various northeast philly HC scenesters were getting loaded and asking me what i thought about their post LEGITIMATE REASON and PAGAN BABIES bands (like Groovy Monster, natch). that northeast dude Meatball was there, extremely wasted. Flyers jerseys. and baseball caps and bomber jackets. it all seemed so incongruent and excellent up inside a posh pad on 9th and Pine.

1992>1993
(journal entry 1/1/93)
"it comes screaming in on new years eve. i put up the balloons with anne & noel & bob all day, too hung over from the night before in the same company (sitting in a circle in lars' kitchen drinking by candle light). drunk on a mixture of everything on offer at (my sister's) house on Corinthian, we split for lars's pad. the new year comes in with me hugging beth, mistakenly gulping champagne that re-emerges in my nose as chris k. is shoving his tongue into simon's ear for fun; and people of my fucked generation hug and kiss, celebrating another milestone toward destiny fate & destruction...."

1993>1994
andy, elysia, beth & i went to a party at linda and noel's house on 5th & washington. we are almost late because me and andy were listening to the HELL NO record on 22nd and walnut for far too long ("its like their influenced only by FUGAZI and NEGATIVE APPROACH and no one else!" i screamed amazed) (that would not be a big deal nowadays. actually, once through the preceding 15 years, it would be fucking gross). lots of drinking. lots of trips up washington to some corner bar for gimlets, which are fucking gross. lots of gunfire celebrations from the high rise projects up the block (theyre torn down now). lots of funny kids from the projects running around or hitting up the chinese take out next door. the scene is half sketchy and half joyous. and the Mummers are starting to blare way off on 2 street as the fireworks over penn's landing go off. but the smells coming up out of the gutters along washington ave were making me feel sick.

1994>1995
beth and i threw a little new year's party in our new pad on 21st and South (2 floors above the old Hot Club, yo). some select friends came by for drinks and mellowness. my messenger coworkers filled our hall with bikes and it was hard to get from one room to the other.Tammy had just passed away (from a stupid, accidental OD) and alex was still really messed up about it. we had cajoled him into coming, just to get his mind off stuff for a little while. he got so drunk and maudlin he almost fell backwards out the window while leaning back against it. i felt bad for him... in the middle of the night a tremendous fight broke out down in the street. that wasnt cool to see.

1995>1996
i remember being in the middle of the living room at lars' and anne's house on 15th and Locust, hugging beth just as the bell dropped. i remember a few hours later after most of the peeple had split, lars or somebody handing us 2 tabs. with surprisingly little trepidation (i mean me and that kind of psychedelic activity had not hung out together for a long long time by that point) we stuck them on eachothers' tongues....
6 hours later we're wandering around Broad street surrounded by Mummers and philly mummers parade fans. it is a spooky cold psychedelic new year's trip. everything is so colorful and real but so weird. its as if we're in a Brueghel painting, surrounded by the saltiest salt of the earth. walking up Locust toward home there are all these dudes in make up and we think theyre following us. we pass jimmy from SUBURBAN UPRISE and we recognize eachother from a different era.

1996>1997
beth worked on the rehab of the Trocadero after the previous shithead owners sold it so we went to the opening party. saw the psyclone rangers singer and he couldnt believe beth and i were about to move to tokyo; as if moving to different cities in different countries were some sort of human impossibility. the whole gala event was a philly scenester extravaganza. so we split early and ended up at art's wharehouse around the corner on 10th and cherry.
i wanted to leave philly as fast as possible.

1997>1998 in tokyo
(journal entry 1/2/98)
"hung out in kameda & kawasaki-shi with jackie and her rich stoner japanese friends. tetsuya and his wife own some company that he inherited. they met eachother on a beach in Bali on some 10 day surf, pot & acid trip. a match made in heaven cuz they are cool. tetsuya's homestay in the USA consisted of underage drinking and drugs in seattle. we hit the temple and wandered around through the crowds, filming mods and kogals and kimonos. we hit the penis shrine and got taco-yaki and okonomiyaki. everything and everyone in the night looked awesome. we fell down on jackie's tatami after, to crash and dream new years dreams. but the first morning of 98 was so glorious, warm and bright. so we went back to tetsuya's and ate mochii & osechii and drank until night. we went to karaoke and screamed STONE ROSES songs and DAMNED songs until me and beth had to split to catch a bunch of empty last trains home. and now i'm exhausted in 1998. but thank god in a different country.
...just got the news from art that andy was shot in the back on new years while he was walking beef... now i remember why we just had to split. fuck. even though it may be boring and clean here, you can still walk down your street at anytime of night. now i'm wigged out in 98..."

1998>1999
after recording a xplanet and bethx demo (the songs "i am the ghost of crispus attucks" and "more pt1"), we slipped around gyotoku and visited all the little old temples and shrines near home. we probably hooked up some kirin out of a machine on the street, and scarfed taco-yaki as we rode around our serene hood's little lanes on bikes late into the night. then we hung with friends and coworkers from the UK, australia and new zealand. oh man... we (xplanet and bethx) were all about being mellow..... KARAOKE IS ASS was the demo.
1999>2000
the Y2K bug hit us in the shins and all our electronics crashed just as we were pulling thousands of dollars out of japanese bank accounts and remitting loot to the USA. so back in PA we hung out in downtown bethlehem and and watched fireworks light up the the jagged steel works across the river with my little brother and his girl....

2000>2001
holy shit i can't remember! maybe beth & i were hanging out in afghanistan in a cave with some peeps or something.

2001>2002
we had a bunch of kutztown locals over for drinks and talk in our first virginville joint, on the sunny side of the legendary witchkraft hill. Fudge Hampton arrived with a lady friend. he goes, "i'm her chauffer. she can drive but she'd rather not drive." kara taught me how to see a person's aura that night. i'm serious. i can still do it if the environment is right. i remember it being amazingly cold outside. friends coming over from tokyo were in for one frigid motherfuckin surprise!

2002>2003
Stony Run power! we hit a party at jim and colleen's pad, which was inside an ancient general store, carved out and fixed up to be one of the coolest rural pads ever lived in by anybody. in Stony Run Pennsylvania. at exactly midnight, jim dropped the needle into the groove of the LP on his turntable and 'new years day' by U2 exploded forth in a shimmering cascade of sparkles and whiskey and ring bologna. i was like whoah.

2003>2004
jim and colleen's again except this time we live above them. and there had been an ice storm so the little village of Stony Run was covered in thick plates of frozen water. after midnight we all took a long walk through fields and up to the old dutchy cemetery. the first day of 04 found me and beth and wayne and jen and paul and robyn feeling pretty uh, slow... on the floor of our pad watching Another State Of Mind. ha ha...

2004>2005
we ate sushi with my sister and her little boys in Bethlehem cuz they were moving to Melbourne, Australia the next day. then we booked to a party at pinky and kristy's place where lots of peeple were having a great time. the jazz dudes that lived upstairs jammed some sweet jams. i sat there amazed by how awesome they were. and to see them on that enclosed porch in the cool little village of Trexler... i mean its like a perfest movie set over there. a movie that would be a little like the Waltons, but located in the Alps.

2005>2006
another year, another party at kristy's, but by this point, pinky had split & hannah was living there. TQI jammed the cool, odd pop-sike numbers. the feeling was sweet but rushed. we took off before midnight to hit the party at pinky and chris's house out beside the Rodale experimental farm. there was ice on the roads as we drove home late in the night.

2006>2007
beth and i just chilled out and stayed at home together. did we? i'm not even sure. but we didnt go to Lala's party.....
i can't believe i'm not sure of what we did just one year ago. wtf memory?

2007>2008
oh it was cold last night.... kristy and dave built a cool house in Stony Run and it was like the first party. TQI jammed out their off-kilter songs when we arrived. dave's guitar is so west coast psychedelic he should be playing on the RAIN PARADE's first (and only great) LP. kim was in there stoking the fireplace. there was a lot of different stuff to drink. tons of antwerp flinders and even boylo from the coal region.
i gave buster the cat a head rub and looked at his aura. he realized at once that i'm a cat whisperer and mellowed out on my knees. once the bell tolled a new year we all walked up the hill to look at Little Round Top and the Pinnacle. its my favorite road almost anywhere. the mountain looked like mt fuji with mist settling all around it. those hills and the others around them form a perfect pentangle of sacred geograph y with real power that you can feel when yr up on top of them.
andrew was totally joking around and making me crack up. locals were blowing up sweet fireworks all around Stony Run. they lit the sky like flares. walking back crunching the snow on the ground, i got this feeling that 2008 would be an alright year.

the end.

holy fucking shit

2007-11-22T12:39:00.001-05:00

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