NIGHT OF STAYING PSYCHEDELIC & O'HARA

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'

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

VIRGINVILLE in PHILADELPHIA

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

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

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

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