From “A Quest for Caffeine on Interstate 64: A Love Story” by Hatton Jordan:
So, I take a chance ----I make the trek to the Exxon 6 miles away and I’m shot down again like I’m at the Playboy mansion. CLOSED! But, at least this one looked like it HAD been open 4 hours before. Anyway, I head back to the highway (2.4 miles away) and head east on 64. And I'm thirsty, pissed and frustrated...not because I had no luck finding a Coke but because right NOW my gas light is on. I even heard it giggle. Damn! i can see it now, my car is gonna putter to a lame stand still---my tank will have no gasoline and my stomach will have no soda.
From “How to Drink” by Brendan Kennedy:
The next morning I woke up, my friend had left and I hurt. My body felt like a used washcloth. Laughing hurt. Laying down on my back caused me to feel as though I couldn’t breathe properly. For the next week, I felt as though I could only breathe normally if laying on my side.
After about a week, you can bottle your beer. Siphon the beer (with a sanitized racking tube) into a sanitized bottling bucket (one that has a spout on the bottom). Boil one cup of corn sugar in two cups of water. Cool this and mix it in with your beer. Sanitize your bottles and caps. Fill the bottles up through the neck with beer. Place a sanitized cap on top and crimp the edges. Repeat this until your are out of beer. Let sit in a dark warm place to mature and age for two weeks. After this stage is over you will be able to enjoy your beer properly.
From “Loveless” by David Fisher:
While Loveless may have received unanimously positive reviews upon its release, it failed to make a significant impact in record sales, especially in the United States. Alan McGee claims that the album initially “did about 100,000 over there.” Granted an indie label selling 100,000 records in America or anywhere for that matter is quite fantastic, however, Loveless did have major distribution in the States. My Bloody Valentine’s American label, Sire/Warner Brothers, was surely expecting the album to make a larger impression than it did. What we must take into account, of course, was a 1991 event that no one in the music industry was expecting—mainly, the explosion of the Seattle grunge scene. Obviously, the bellwether of this scene was Nirvana. My Bloody Valentine released their seminal work in the colossal wake of Nevermind—Nirvana’s multi-platinum chart-topping album that would ultimately abolish 80s mainstream rock and cast a giant shadow over the rock music of the 90s. Nevertheless, while the masses instantly felt Nirvana’s influence, the grunge scene did not have a lengthy duration. Kurt Cobain’s dying wish to burn out rather than fade away may have come true. Despite the magnitude of Nevermind, we realize it was a product of its time. The ageless quality of Loveless, however, has caused a new generation to discover the album and grasp its importance.
From “Righteous Indignation” by George Smith:
Usually, when some soulless legislative body made up of shell-of-a-man politicians does something inhumane, I get indignant about it, stay p***ed off for a spell, and thank a God I’m not sure exists that they’ll certainly see an eternity in a sea of licking flames, should the old tales be true.
But every now and then, some needless act of malice on the part of an elected body is so absurd that I can’t help but spew forth several hundred words of hateful, misanthropic rhetoric on the issue.
One such example of blatant disregard for anyone not pulling down a huge income took place in Las Vegas, where the city council, in its infinite wisdom, made the act of feeding the homeless a crime punishable with six months in jail and a thousand dollar fine.
From review of the Knife’s “Silent Shout” by George Booker:
For all of the iciness of The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the songs here are also bold. From a minimal, atmospheric opening, many tracks are liable to attack suddenly with aggressive beats and disorienting, tweaked vocals. This is a masterpiece of dark pop, and one of the most remarkable things about it is that it is the rare crossover-ready electronic album with the capacity to scare. Both the songwriting and the uncanny creepiness here are insinuating and unshakable.
Refreshingly, the thrills here are not of the jackhammer, raging male libido variety. The Knife, a brother-sister duo, once refused to attend the Grammi’s (Sweden’s version of the Grammy’s, they are from Stockholm) to protest the focus on penis dominated acts, sending in their place two stand-ins in gorilla costumes. Relative youth mascot Guava hipped me to something striking: all of the heavily processed vocals, encompassing feminine and masculine registers, are performed by Karin Dreijer, the sister, capable of being menacing, seductive, and emotional both alternately and simultaneously.
From interview with Dr. Sparkles by Ty Bliss:
Doctor Sparkles is an enigma. He is an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a pair of silver bell bottoms, platform shoes, a 5 gallon top hat and a pinch of glitter. He is the alter ego of Christian mystic, osteopathic physician, acupuncturist and award winning singer songwriter Kevin Patrick Baiko: a hard working, skinny, fun loving father of two. To unravel this ukulele playing, philosopher, scholar and lover of psychoactive plants would take the interviewing skills of a Dan Rather, the investigative tenacity of Bob Woodward and the pure genius and wit of a Kurt Vonnegut. I perform poorly at a local bar on Tuesday nights doing something infrequently described as “comedy”. But come on, if Katie Couric can interview the top stars in Hollywood how hard could it be? I’m sure anyone could get through a sound, delving interview with a celebrity without asking completely pointless open-ended questions and actually personally offending the interviewee right?
Kevin Baiko has cut two CD’s to date: “Dirt and Divine”, an angst, haunting folk-rock record and “fools gold,” a hicky, fun folk-rock record. Dr. Sparkles first CD “Sail Away” is a pseudo-psychedelic, island breezy, folky, Latin influenced ferris wheel ride for the child within. A musically sound, witty masterpiece.
I was taking a break during band practice Sunday night when I decided to check my E-mail. I don’t care what Booker says, “The Glum Drops” are going places. I don’t think he understands the post-punk pre-frap indie noise pop-rock scene in VA’s western Green Run area, but he could at least acknowledge its existence. We’ve got a distinct sound that I think will really catch on, although there are times when I fear as soon as frap comes we’ll be yesterdays news.
Anyway, e-mail read : yada yada – tonight around five so I told MC and Biz Karat I had to cut out. I was tired, unprepared and my emphysema was acting up again. To top that I was…nervous. I mean this was my first celebrity interview and I respected this man. This man who sings the praises of non-judgmental Christianity, responsible drug use, and wealth of other ideas there-to-for disassociated from each other in the minds of all save for a few enlightened geniuses. He was kind of my idealistic rock god and I was about to meet him at his HOUSE. I wrote out a few questions in the car, took a deep breath, and chilled out. He would want that for me.
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