"Scalito" PS

In an attempt to appease the hardline conservatives who so resoundly snubbed Harriet Miers, Dumbya has pulled Samuel Alito out of his proverbial judicial pocket.

Oh joy.

Alito is apparently so in line with the conservative views of Justice Scalia that he's been dubbed "Scalito".

That's just great.

This fine gent was the only dissenting opinion in 1991 when the 3rd Circuit court struck down a law requiring women to notify their husbands if they planned to get an abortion. Guess what, Sammy. Not up to us.

Women are the ones who carry the child, so it's their decision as to whether or not they have it. As brutal as it sounds, men really have no say. Sure, it's our responsibility once the child is born, but as to whether or not it gets that far? Not up to us.

Haven't been able to do too much more digging about the Alito guy, but he's already got me spooked. One Scalia is enough, thank you.

A back alley abortionist's best friends.

Next is the E

Strange how one's passions can sneak up on one.

There I was on Sunday, hanging around the apartment recovering from a night out of crazy with Bianca. For some reason, I got "Dominator" by Human Resource stuck in my head. A quick leap to the CD collection and the tune was booming through my speakers. The beat suddenly reminded me of LaTour's "People Are Still Having Sex" and it was off to the races from there. The end result?

DJ Abstract 10: E To X Mix

Yes. Step into my time machine and head back to some rave in the early nineties. Man, is this some cheesy shit. Simply awesome. Here's the track listings:

01 Human Resouce - Dominator (Beltram Mix)
02 LaTour - People Are Still Having Sex (LP Mix)
03 D.J.P.C. - Inssomniak
04 Pandemic - Slammin (The Original Sheer Panic Mix)
05 Phantasia - Violet Skies
06 React 2 Rhythm - Whatever You Dream (Dark Mix)
07 Neon - Waves
08 Radio Active - The Eliminator (The Original Mix)
09 Moby - Next Is The E (Long Arms Mix)
10 Beltram Presents Phuture Trax - Future Groove (Maxed Out Mix)
11 New York Style - Shut Up
12 G.T.O. - The Bullfrog (Remix)
13 L.A. Style - James Brown Is Dead



There's even a little surprise at the end, just like finding the prize at the bottom of a CrackerJack's box.

How much fun is that shit?

Sound system rockin':

Various - DJ Abstract 10: E To X Mix
(slave to the rave)

Pailhead - Trait
(I will refuse)

Rekhmire - The Deviant Lounge
(down down down tempo)

Pole - CD 1
(icy slicey)

Bowery Electric - Lushlife
(more vox, less noise, same fun)

Facts PS

From Bianca's LiveJournal:

leave your name and
1. i'll respond with something random about you.
2. i'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. i'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in. (I do reserve the option to wrestle your sister or cute cousin instead.)
4. i'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. i'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. i'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. i'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. if I do this for you, you will post this in your journal.

My results:
1. sweat on a platter
2. taxi driver vs pancena
3. grass jelly
4. bianca, wait, i have money!
5. steven parrino's show talking about comic books
6. wilderbeast
7. why do you keep thinking..."that"?

All I gotta say

They fought the law

It's good to see that the cops in our post-9/11 world are steadfastly providing us with the safest living environment possible. It also seems that cleanliness is indeed next to godliness for these folks. Case in point, my friend Josh, the mad genius behind Bit Shifter, creator of music via Gameboy (as I've mentioned before). One would think that anyone nutty enough to create tunes on little boxes would indeed be a viable threat to our way of life in the Big Apple.

Apparently five-oh thought so too.

Josh and Nullsleep were putting up flyers for their show last weekend and were approached by two plainclothes officers. They were arrested, lead off in handcuffs, and thrown in the slammah! The cops snagged their shoelaces and belts (no hanging oneself over lost flyers in this city; hell no), but neglected to grab Josh's phone... Josh's camera phone...

Doh!



Unbelievable. I find it stunning that the po-lease would waste time arresting two guys putting up flyers for a 8-bit music show. Boggles the mind. Let's hope there were no violent crimes in that neck of the woods at the time...

For more pics of the Big House, check out Bit Shifter's prison collection.

These go out to all my homies locked down:

Tom Waits - Mule Variations
(1 part whiskey, 1 part gravel, gargle as needed)

Various - Into The Mix
(two discs of prime boom boom)

Rekhmire - The Deviant Lounge
(on the bizarro downtempo tip)

Various - Kikapu Sampler 1-4
(four discs of gorgeous weird)

Droppin' the Doom

It's always been a tradition of mine to go to the movies on Sunday mornings once the weather starts getting crappy. Well, New York has plunged headlong into crappy weather mode, so I took in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's latest cinematic offering, Doom.

It was pretty fun.

Ignoring the fact that this movie is just a rehash of other "scientists mess with forces they shouldn't and pay the price" movies, it was very entertaining. Sure, it's been done before (Resident Evil springs immediately to mind), but it certainly held my interest. I was especially pleased that no CGI was used. This was a good old fashioned "hide the monsters in shadow" horror movie, only with more machine guns and, of course, the BFG. Those familiar with the video game will know that this stands for Big Fucking Gun, but is cutely renamed the Bio Force Gun in the film. The Rock's character, of course, uses the proper nomenclature.

The Rock loves his Big Fucking Gun.


Strangely enough, the plot, while simple, was not completely predictable. While I wouldn't call the ending a twist, it does not go exactly where you expect it to and this is fairly refreshing.

So if you want to relax your brain for about 100 minutes and don't mind an occasional scare (BTW, this won't happen if you are even remotely a horror movie veteran; no new scares here), toddle on down to your local theater and lay down your dollars for Doom. It's a fun ride.

One downside of my outing was, of course, the crowd. I saw the film at the megaplex around the corner from me, affectionately referred to as "The Big Ugly" by my friends and me. This theater attracts a lot of folks who... shall we say... lack certain social graces. Lots of talking to the screen ("Don't go in there!", "Damn, that thing's fast as a muthafucka!"), copious crinkling of candy wrappers (as if these people weren't fat enough already), and small children.

I find that last thing particularly bothersome.

There was one couple who had a really young kid with them. This is the type of movie that parents have no business bringing a child to. There’s lots of violence, noise, and scary stuff. The kid cried out a couple of times and was huddling against his dad for most of the flick.

I've got one word for you, folks: Babysitter.

If you can't afford one, tough; should have thought about that before you had a kid.

Today's motion picture soundtrack includes selections from:

Pole - 1
(electronic minimalism avec crackles and static)

10 Ft. Ganja Plant - Midnight Landing
(s'all aboot da erb, mon)

Analog Pussy - Trance N Roll
(kick snare kick snare kick snare; aw yeah)

Bowery Electric - Lushlife
(not to be confused with John Coltrane, though he'd prolly like it)

Nasum - Human 2.0
(think of it as a meat tenderizer for your brain)

Throw away the key

An arrest warrant has been issued for Tom DeLay.

This day just keeps getting better.

I'd like to mention that I've been watching a lot of Oz on DVD (thanks as always to the fine folks at Netflix). Now I know that the crimes DeLay is accused of (conspiracy to violate state election laws and money laundering) are not serious enough to warrant (little pun, sorry) him ending up in a supermax like Emerald City, but the thought still gives me a chuckle. The pure idea of what folks like Beecher and Adebisi would do to little ol' Tom. I'm sure Schillinger would love him to death, though.

Hell, they're practically brothers in arms.

(For those of you who are unfamiliar with Oz, this essentially means I just called DeLay a Nazi. Ain't I a stinker?)

"Damn. I's gettin' arrested."


Seems to me that each day the White House crumbles a little bit more: DeLay, Karl Rove, the Miers nomination... It's just so sweet to see Dumbya's delicate house of cards (and lies and stupidity) start to wilt like it was caught in the rain.

Now if we can just find someone electable for 2008...

Today's gleeful mockery is sponsored by the letter "P":

Pitchshifter - Industrial
(dark, ugly industrial metal from the early days of PSI)

Plumbline - Circles
(delicate and floating mini-bliss out)

Proem - Socially Inept
(glitchy crunchy tasty)

Prong - Cleansing
(that fist would be mine)

Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
(cause most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps)

Cosmic bliss out

There are times in life when one is so busy doing other things that one becomes increasingly separated from one's true loves. Case in point, me. I've been so busy throwing together spin mixes, breakcore/dnb demos, death metal comps, and generally insane, uptempo stuff that I momentarily lost track of what I believe to be my true calling.

Spinning downtempo.

However, Derek's comment regarding my last post got me thinking...

"I need to do another downtempo mix."

And lo, Saturday was spent putting together DJ Abstract 9: The Gossamer Mix. I shied away from my typical downtempo tasties and went the glitch round this time around.

Here's the track listing:

01 Breaks The Blank Day - Far And Away
02 Neh - Shakeywakeybass
03 Jenglander - Mums Snow Day
04 Neh - Benny R
05 Winterstrand - Hat Das Land
06 Dub Jay - Sixty Red
07 Resilter - Mode-2
08 Marshall Watson - I Could Tell You Everything
09 Kosik - Dust
10 Deru - Echos Of Me
11 A Great White Bird - Floating In Blue And Yellow Water
12 Red Lines - Fear Of Human Contact
13 You Are Not Audio - Untitled 2
14 Ten And Tracer - Fifth Lake And Screams (Original)



This mix leans heavily on stuff from Kikapu, as nearly half the tunes come from this amazing internet label. Everyone should check out their site and snag everything. Great stuff.

This is also the first time I've used one of my own tracks in a mix. The opener is from my Breaks The Blank Day project. It just seemed to fit my mood at the time. If you'd like to pick up the full Breaks The Blank Day CD, you can snag a copy from Worthy Records. It'll put you back $5 Canadian (about $4 US), so no biggie. However, you'll have to mail Worthy the moola. Inconvenient, I know, but them's the Breaks (heh heh).

Also, if anybody would like a copy of The Gossamer Mix for themselves, please let me know.

Hauling down the expressway to my skull:

Various - DJ Abstract 9: The Gossamer Mix
(yeah, I already talked about it)

Godflesh - Godflesh
(when it's time to not be nice)

Main$tream - Truck Drivin Muzak
(hardcore breakcore deathcore)

Blacklands - MP3 Compilation
(expose the darkness of the human soul)

David Kristian - Beneath The Valley Of The Modulators
(more diverse electronics)

Crazed revelry

Hung out with Bianca last night and was regaled with tales of my outing to Byte last Sunday. I barely remember this, as I had entirely too much to drink that night. But I do vaguely recall having a blast. I was pretty far gone (which is pretty sad) as this picture illustrates…



I'm the guy with the cigarette (even though I don't smoke) who looks like a sweaty junkie. Anyway, last weekend has kind of put it over the top. No more heavy drinking. I’ve been good since Monday, so that’s a start.

Part of my 12 step program:

Various - DJ Abstract 1: The Dark Lounge Mix
(on the downtempo tip)

Various - DJ Abstract 3: Twilight Mix
(on the slightly jazzier downtempo tip)

Various - DJ Abstract 8: Black Eye Mix
(sweet melodies... wrapped in concrete)

A Murder Of Angels - In The Air
(the darker side (?!?!) of Derek Rush)

Dream Into Dust - The World We Have Lost
(epic, orchestral, and darkly beautiful)

Elitist PS

Apparently, folks on the coasts get married later than those folks in the middle of the country.

From CNN:

"Later marriage is very strongly associated with higher levels of education," said David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. "That's why people in the Northeast have such a late age of marriage."

The median age for first marriages in the United States is 26.7 years for men and 25.1 for women. That is roughly a year older than a decade ago for both, said Martin O'Connell, chief of the Census Bureau's fertility and family statistics branch.

Men wait longer than women to marry in every state, and no one gets married younger than couples in Utah, where the median age is 21.9 for women and 23.9 for men. At the other end of the spectrum, men and women in Washington, D.C., both wait until they are about 30.

So basically we're too busy getting smarter to bother...

Slip her under the radar?

So Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian.

Oh goody.

And this comes from James Dobson, founder of Focus On The Family, regarding Miers: "...she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life; ...she had taken on the American Bar Association on the issue of abortion and fought for a policy that would not be supportive of abortion."

Double oh goody.

And folks are actually confused as to whether or not her religion played a part in her nomination? Oh please. This is Dumbya's attempt to slip an unknown, ultra-conservative adjudicator onto the Supreme Court while nobody's looking. If Miers is as brainwashed as she sounds (she's sounds like a lapdog to the Prez), her primary mission will no doubt be to advance an anti-choice, anti-gay agenda from the bench.

Here's hoping that never happens.

Besides, this is cronyism at its worst. Miers has been with GW for ages and thinks just like him. He's "the most intelligent man she knows"? You gotta get out more, lady. I would hope that Congress has the sense not to appoint someone who, above and beyond being a religious zealot, has never even been a judge. Besides, anyone who thinks our President has an IQ higher than a grapefruit is seriously deluded and has no business passing judgment on anything or anyone.

Dim.


Keeping me from being nominated myself:

Meat Beat Manifesto - Actual Sounds And Voices
(vintage synths and DA FUNK)

DJ Krush - Krush
(mellow madness)

Fever - Too Bad But True
(it's the shadow; it's the dark)

Lard - The Last Temptation Of Reid
(mate, spawn, and die)

White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000
(bad hair, cowboy hats, 50s slasher flicks and a hot bassist)

Helter Skelter

My morning commute will rob me of my will to live. Either that or it will finally bring me out of my shell and I'll become the mass murderer I've always wanted to be. I bring this up today because of a few simple facts of life.

1) The vast majority of people are selfish, thoughtless, and rude.
2) This selfishness, thoughtlessness, and rudeness is compounded during rush hour.
3) Rush hour in New York is worse than in most places.
4) Rush hour is worse when it's raining.

and

5) It's raining in New York today.

A lot.

Suffice to say there were several times this morning when I wanted to take the stylus of my PocketPC and start stabbing people in the eye. Either that or sell my soul for a fragmentation grenade.

Can't people see the correlation between making room for people to get OFF the train and their own ability to get ON the train? Jesus, these folks are morons. Add to that the wind and the downpour and it's no wonder I'm thinking of making Pol Pot look like a slacker.

I love New York City. I love living in New York City. It would be even better if it weren't for all the people.

I long for some future utopia where humans actually think before they act, pay attention to what's going on around them, and use logic to make things run more smoothly. Until then, I'll just have to keep my misanthropic tendencies in check.

Grrrrrrrr


Helping maintain my sunny demeanor:

Enduser - Calling The Vultures
(hiphop + breakcore = hipcore? breakhop?)

Danielle Dax - Blast The Human Flower
(I'd forgotten all about her until Bianca reminded me)

DHS - The House Of God
(I AM EXCITED...)

Mick Harris & Eraldo Bernocchi - Total Station
(bang clang crash boom bip)

Ice-T - The Iceberg
(freedom of speech... just watch what you say)

Wild and wobbly weekend

Despite the untimely demise of the 2005 Yankees season, I'm feeling pretty chipper this morning. And why, you may ask? I had a really good weekend. There's nothing like great music and good company to make life more enjoyable, no?

I was supposed to meet up with Marti on Friday evening for some piano bar-ing, but she got stuck at work. This was unfortunate, of course, but at the same time fortuitous, for I'd been trying vainly to come up with a way to hang with Marti and yet still manage to take in Derek's band, Dream Into Dust at Cake Shop. With Marti bailing, I got to the show in plenty of time.

I have to say that I'm more and more impressed with Dream Into Dust each time I see them. Their sound is extremely unique, featuring effected acoustic guitar and delicate, aching vocals (courtesy of Derek) surrounded by swirling clouds of noise (provided by Bryin Dall's guitar abuse). Their keyboardist and bassist are also really solid, but in all honesty it's all about Derek and Bryin. They're a fearsome combination. I'd recommend that everyone make every effort to catch them live. I took some pictures with my phone, but they all came out looking like soup.

Alas.

Cake Shop is an interesting venue, but pretty tiny. Saturday evening, however, took me to the opposite extreme as I took in a show at Radio City Music Hall. And what show would that be?

Dead Can Dance.

I had the good fortune to catch them back in 1995, shortly after moving here to New York City. In fact, that was the first concert I saw after become a citizen of our fair metropolis. The band was phenomenal back in '95 and they certainly did not disappoint this time around. They played for almost two hours and were simply fantastic. A heady mix of middle eastern, medieval, folk, and experimental. Just gorgeous. Lisa Gerrard continues to be one of the most adventurous vocalists around, using her four octave range to take us all on a roller coaster ride of sound. Brendan Perry's rugged baritone is similarly compelling, if in a complete different way. They played with what looked like a 25 piece orchestra and filled Radio City with divine music.

The next evening I continued my joust with culture shock by heading to Byte on Sunday night. Byte is a monthly gothic/industrial night similar to Contempt, but on a much larger scale. That is to say three floors of music. I did have quite a bit to drink before I arrived, so it's all a bit of a blur. I do, however, remember dancing and having a great time.

I woke up slightly after noon yesterday (having not gone to bed until about five that morning) and spent the day dawdling around the house. Then I watched the Yankees fall apart once again. Can't say that was any surprise.

But at least the Red Sux didn't make it either...

;-)

Today's audio supplements:

Dr. Israel - Inna City Pressure
(drum and bass meets reggae and dub in some back room somewhere)

Mad Professor - Meet In Berlin At Checkpoint Charlie
(the Mad One dub-izes Puls Der Zeit, a German rock band)

Julee Cruise - Floating Into The Night
(guaranteed heartache)

Various - Gyro Jams!!
(thumping drum and bass)

June Christy - Something Cool
(Peggy Lee-esque beauty and sly winks)

In the ghetto

While it will perhaps make me sound stuck up, I gotta say that I consider myself a fairly sophisticated fella. I know a lot about music. I'm a good cook and I love food. I know more than my fair share about wine. Hell, I can even talk about opera and fine art. In all, it would be easy to paint a picture of myself as a complete (if somewhat tongue-in-cheek) sophisticate.

I do, however, have a dirty secret.

Every couple of years or so I find myself drawn into the sinister world of... professional wrestling.

Yes, I'm one of those guys who can prattle on for hours about the relative merits of Triple H, Chris Benoit, and John Cena. Given my age, I can also reach back and discuss the careers of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Sting, Lex Luger, and many others. If I'm pushed, I can even go back as far as Bob Backlund, Super Fly Jimmy Snuka, The Wild Samoans, and some more Dusty history.

That last bit was a pun only a wrestling fan would get.

I know. It's kinda sad.

I do have to say that my favorite era, wrestling-wise, was the beginning stages of the NWO in WCW. This is a long and twisted story that ends badly, so I'll just skip it. However, I did also enjoy the WWF (now WWE) in the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, I've blathered on like this simply so I can tell you what I did last Friday night.

My friend Rick is also a wrestling fan (more than me, in fact, but don't hold that against him; he's a nice guy and he's also bigger than you). Through some stroke of good fortune, he discovered that there was going to be a wrestling event for charity right near his house. He snagged tickets for himself, his wife, and me (fourth row in fact!) and off we went last Friday.

Now this was not some over the top production like you'd see Mondays nights on television. The event was held in (get this) an ice rink. Yes, a lovely hockey rink (ice removed, of course) in the midst of Jersey City.

Man, oh man.

The main draw of this for both Rick and me was the cast of characters that would be featured that evening. After several no-name curtain jerkers (some of which were pretty decent), the celebs started to show. Plucked straight from the aforementioned 80s and early 90s: Tito Santana, Super Fly Jimmy Snuka, Brutus The Barber Beefcake, Doink The Clown (aw yeah!), Scott and Rick Steiner, Buff Bagwell (whoopty doo...), and Nikolai Volkoff.

Some of these guys are REALLY old. Jimmy Snuka looked mummified.

But we had a blast.

We spent most of the evening screaming insults at the babyfaces (that's wrasslin' talk for good guys) and cheering for the heels (that'd be bad guys). The crowd around us was also really into it and we managed to crack them up a bunch of times. The wrestling itself was nothing to write home about, but the atmosphere and the craziness was so much fun.

Nothing like a little time in the hood to lift your spirits (or your wallet...).

So thanks, Rick, for the keen eye that lead to catching those tickets. I had a blast, even if it dropped my IQ a couple of points for a couple of hours.

Brutus The Barber Beefcake and Doink face off in the squared (and, in this case, incredibly tiny) circle


These did not make the Rock 'N' Wrestling soundtrack:

Front 242 - Tyranny For You
(coming to NYC the end of the month; should I go?)

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
(the last hurrah of decent from these guys)

L7 - Hungry For Stink
(four chicks and a bad attitude)

Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
(RDJ eats fillet of soul)

Aphex Twin - Drukqs
(sprawling and disorganized, but ultimately wonderful)

The good, the bad, and the unwatchable

What a nice weekend.

My Yankees won the AL East (yeah, Boston, you beat us on Sunday, but who finished in 2nd, eh?). Danny called me up out of the blue on Saturday and we went to a great party in Hoboken of all places. Sunday was mellow. I worked on some music and did some reading.

I did, however, take in one of the worst movies ever.

I have to say with some embarrassment that I am a fan of Christopher Lambert. Not a raging fan boi by any means, but a fan nonetheless. Highlander will always be a personal favorite. Yes, the sequels are regrettable to say the least (atrocious might be a better word), but they are still strangely entertaining in a car crash kind of way. I've also enjoyed a couple of Lambert's lesser known films (Knight Moves, for example). However, after seeing his 1999 film Beowulf this weekend, I almost wish Highlander had never been made, for were it not for Connor MacLeod, I'd have never become a Lambert fan and would therefore never have watched him as Beo-woof.

This movie sucks.

We're talking a 50 on the 1 to 10 point Suck-O-Meter.

While the flick is blessedly short (a tad over 80 minutes), it is a trial. Lambert is beginning to suffer from the Steven Seagal "I'm old now, so let's do lots of camera tricks to keep me from looking slow and fat" syndrome, so there are countless shots of pointless acrobatics with his face conveniently hidden by a cloak or some such so we don't see it's some stunt guy. There are a bunch of shots that are simply reused over and over. What plot there is is completely paltry and the actors are either completely over the top or just phone it in.

I almost turned it off.

But I have a certain masochistic streak that forces me to watch bad movies to the end. This was a real challenge, however. I’ll steal from Trouser Press and say that watching this movie isn't like banging your head against a wall; it's like banging your head against the side of a swimming pool – underwater.

So do yourself a favor and avoid this stinker like the plague.

Real friends don't let friends watch Beowulf.


Clearing my mental palette:

Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey - Falling In Love With Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey
(a very young Chairman of the Board weaves his magic tones)

Massive Attack - 100th Window
(after dodging this one for a while, I'm finally getting into it)

Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
(their lyrics still are awful, but the sound is gorgeous)

Knifehandchop - Rockstopper
(he can stop the rock)

Kid 606 - Kill Sound Before Sounds Kills You
(breakcore hardcore slam madness)