.............................( ( ( 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



****

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

**********

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

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!

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!

TULIP HAS A ROOM by jon vance

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)

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

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

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

WE WON'T BE HERE FOREVER is almost OUT.

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.