Showing posts with label VII The Chariot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VII The Chariot. Show all posts

Friday, February 7, 2020

Chris Isaak, Mr. Bungle @ the Fonda 2/05/20, NCBD



I've been pretty well obsessed with Chris Isaak's 1989 album Heart Shaped World of late, and "Kings of the Highway" is the major impetus for that. This song is so fucking haunted it's unbelievable. For a song I'm fairly certain I never heard upon its release - I would have been thirteen, and while I knew and loved "Wicked Game" as it drifted from radios and tv alike that year, I didn't go any deeper than that - the soft, airy guitar, minor chord inflections, and perfectly reverberated drum kit creates a sonic space that, in my head, summons so many sense memories of my life at the time that it's as close to time travel as I've come. This goes beyond nostalgia; this is something else, and it's tied into how a scrawny Midwest metalhead kid came into contact and fell in love with David Lynch later that same year. Maybe these reveries of the past are firing off, careening backward through the time stream and colliding with my younger version, effectively priming me to be in the right place at the right time, that fateful Sunday night when I wandered into the living room and plopped on the sofa across from my Dad, only to get slowly engulfed in what he was already watching - ABC Sunday night movie, the two-hour pilot of David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks.

Whether that's massive hyperbole or not, one thing is for sure. I'm not gonna talk about Judy.

**

Speaking of Peaks, here's a head scratcher Mr. Brown brought to my attention recently. CBS recently stopped the 26-year, independently run Twin Peaks Fest. The plan, apparently, is for an official Fest to start up this spring, held in all places, Graceland.

Yes. That's right. Graceland.

Now, at first this just strikes me as all kinds of sad and bizarre. The sad doesn't alleviate the more I think on it, but the Tennessee part eventually turned on a little light bulb. If you've kept up with anything that's happened online with Twin Peaks over the last few months, there was a flurry of activity back in early October that suggests there may be more Peaks coming (read the article HERE), and while it's all conjecture, what if some element of the next chapter takes places in Graceland?

At this point, only the Owls - and probably Carl Rodd - know for sure.

**

NCBD: I had a handful of items to pick up, and with my pull slowly being split between The Comic Bug and my DwC co-host Mike Wellman's new Atomic Basement shop in the LBC, I've been behind. Here's what I landed in the last week:



Black Stars Above has now replaced the in-hiatus Criminal (see below) as the most bang for my buck every month. The story continues to unfold in a creepy, confounding way, and this third issue incorporated about six pages of prose. No idea where this is going, but it also occurs to me we have a Lone Wolf and Cub-like scenario similar to what Disney did recently with The Mandalorian, except replace Baby Yoda with what I'm kinda thinking of as Baby N'yarlohotep.


Going back and re-reading all of this currently Criminal "Cruel Summer" arc in anticipation of this final issue, I have to say, Brubaker and Phillips may have topped themselves. This one is Grand, capital "G" intended.

A new book in Joe Hill's Hill House imprint at DC, I had to bite back my aversion to monthly big two books when I saw A) Kelley Jones is the artist on Daphne Byrne, and B) there were no snickers ads in the book. Not really many ads at all (still more than there should be for a book that sports a $4.99 cover price). So far, I'm hooked.


Gideon Falls is as fascinating as it is perplexing, and with the conclusion of this fourth volume, I intend to go back and do a serious, deep-dive re-read before the new arc arrives in May.


TMNT continues it's fracturing of the traditional mores and paradigms of the TMNT universe, and it's just as good as it's ever been.


And with that, we have no more Trees on the horizon for some time. Sad face emoji.

**

Wednesday, February 5th my good friend Dave flew out for an extended weekend of not one but two of the three Mr. Bungle 'reunion' shows happening here in LaLaLand. The show is, exactly as the remaining members advertised in advance, a full-on thrash show, so I wasn't expecting to hear anything other than their Raging Wraith of the Easter Bunny demo - re-worked by Dunn, Spruance, and Patton with the help of Anthrax's Scott Ian and Fantomas/Slayer's Dave Lombardo. This first show was great despite the fact that for a large part of the show, all I could hear was Lombardo's drum kit, and I'm looking forward to tonight's, hoping there will be some covers or surprises exclusive to each night. The highlight of Wednesday's show for me were never-before-played Eracist, and Speak Spanish or Die, a re-worked version of the title track from SOD's 1985 debut album.



That's the entire set on youtube, however, I've dropped you in at the aforementioned cover song.

**

The first 'teaser' from the next AHS dropped recently. I must say, if Season 10 is even half as good as Season 9, I will be happy.



It feels a little early for this to have teasers for this one, and I haven't looked around online for synopsis, but this looks like a very high concept season.

**

Playlist:

Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World
Chris Isaak - Eponymous
The Great Old Ones - Cosmicism
Testament - Night of the Witch (pre-release single)
20 Watt Tombstone - Wisco Disco
Cash Audio - The Orange Sessions
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead - X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
Simon Bonney - Past, Present, Future
Zonal - Wrecked
Mol - Jord
Steely Dan - Aja
Billy Joel - The Stranger
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Zombi - Shape Shift
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
Boy Harsher - Careful
Barry Adamson - As Above So Below
Me and That Man - Songs of Love and Death
Faith No More - King for a Day

**

Card:


Sevens follow me these days. Even in the Major Arcana, I'm never far from Netzach. There's a little lesson about this card, that you shouldn't confuse the armor you use to face the world as your real self. I'm not sure how that relates exactly, but it's good to contemplate that from time to time.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

2019: August 24th The Mandalorian Trailer



One and a half years ago I sat in a movie theatre in the South Suburbs of Chicago and took a killing blow to my nostalgia-based love of Star Wars. Today, watching the trailer Lucasfilm released for The Mandalorian, I feel that love intensley rekindled. Not rekindled in a capacity that will see me paying ~$20 for the next installment of the film franchise, but in a way that does what this new series was quite transparently made to do: reach back into my nostalgia bunker and pull out a big ol' pile of my childhood guts. I count quite a few checks in boxes I'd forgotten I have:

Boba Fett (in visage if not character, which in my opinion, is a fucking brilliant way to fan service us without a retcon that resurrects the ill-fated bounty hunter).

IG-88. Kicking ass and taking names, no less.

That squid-faced guy from Jedi.

Cantinas filled with wretch scum and unabashed villainy.

Oh yeah, and then there's the fact that Werner Herzog plays a heavy. Herzog and Star Wars? Talk about two things I never knew I wanted before seeing them with my own two eyes.

So yes, I will definitely be on board with the Disney steaming app for this one. No doubt. And I can appreciate my rabid fervor as nothing short of nostalgia - I'm fine with that.

**

Today is day number 2 of Dead Milkmen Appreciation Week here on my page. For today's entry, I went with something newer - Fauxhemia, the second track from 2011's The King in Yellow. Once again, the Milkmen totally nail relatable lyrics. The entire album is quite adroit at that - surely one of the Milkmen's greatest strengths. What's more, this album really excels at striking a track-by-track synthesis of the two main song archetypes the band's songwriting typically manifests, which I'll trace all the way back to their 1985 debut Big Lizard in My Backyard (long my favorite by the band) to define: there's the biting, often hysterical social commentary in tracks such as Violent School and Right Wing Pigeons, and the more straight-forward, emotionally melodic numbers like Tugena. And the synthesis really works, perhaps on no song better than this one. In my head, when the "Your 300 lb Psychic Baby..." line comes up in the chorus, I immediately picture the cover of Big Lizard, except with the giant lizard replaced by a giant, fat baby, and it always makes me laugh.



**

Playlist from 8/23:

The Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil
The National - High Violet
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color
The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard in My Backyard
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
INXS - Kick

**

Today's spread:


Something I'm working on isn't working, I'm trying to force the issue, and that's not going to work. So the question then, is what do I need to re-think? I think there's an underlying current here of anxiety concerning Ciazarn, because Grimm and I are attempting to get this up on its feet by September. That feels like I'm trying to force that deadline, and I think this spread is telling me what I already know: push it back.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

2018: Tuesday, December 18th



Aaaannnddd... the dream is over. Back to work today.

I'd never heard of Demdike Stare before last Thursday night. We were sitting around in the hotel room in Wisconsin after spending the day at House on the Rock, and I happened across this, which led me to the group's 2018 album Passion, which is fantastic. Reminds me a bit of the first time I heard Adult, way back on the Erase Errata remix EP that has since disappeared from this reality completely.

I think.

Playlist from 12/17:

Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
Calexico - Even Sure Things Fall Through
Calexico - The Black Light
Exhalants - Eponymous
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Do Not Pass Me By, Vol. II
The Knife - Silent Shout
Cash Money (Audio) - Green Bullet

Card of the day:



Right now, I'm reading this as successfully reintegrating back into my routine, which I have seem to done fine.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

2018: October 2nd



Hallelujah, it's October! Yeah, I know yesterday was the first, but it took me a day to realize we've finally arrived. The year is on its way out starting now, the seasons will change (well, not really for those of us who live in LaLaLand), and everything just gets better. Darker. Cooler. What you can expect to hear a lot of on this page in the coming 30 days?

Type O Negative
Bauhaus
Miranda Sex Garden
Fields of Nephilim
Trust Obey
The Final Cut
Ain Soph
More Sisters of Mercy and I'm certain I'm forgetting some major stuff. But I like surprises, so that's good!



I watched The Summer of 84 yesterday, the new film by the directors of the much talked about Turbo Kid, which I still need to see. 84 was derivative as all hell - think heavy Stranger Things vibe mixed with The Burbs - but it was a really fun, well-made flick that scratched my 80s nostalgia itch (which I'm thinking might disappear at some point if there's too much of this kind of thing). And I LOVED the ending. Recommended if you're not looking for something new but something engaging and fun:



NCBD tomorrow and it's a big one:

A Walk Through Hell -  The only book I currently think about all month long between issues!

Batman/The Maxx Arkham Dreams - my most eagerly anticipated book in ages!

 Die! Die! Die! #3 will be the determining issue as to whether or not I continue to read this one.

Super psyched for my friend DJ Kirkbride's new book, Errand Boys!



No, that's not a Walking Dead one-off featuring Princess, that's the Bill Sienkiewicz alternate cover!

Playlist from Monday, October 1st:

Pale Sketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Nothing - Dance on the Blacktop
The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Behind the Music
The Ocean - Anthropocentric
The Ocean - Fluxion
Perturbator - Terror 404

Card of the day:


The Will to drive, to conquer, to complete. That's what I'm channeling today, as I'll hit my writing time hard, nearing the end of the layout of the chapters for my newest project, the final re-vamp of my now 6 years in the making novel ShadowPlay Book One: Kim & Jessie.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

2018: June 27th



Finished Orphan Black last night. Wow. Great ending. Really satisfying. I mean, we're not talking Six Feet Under or Breaking Bad here, but really good. Loved this series. The above track was in the fourth to final episode, at Felix's Gallery show. Good stuff. I'll miss these characters A LOT. That said, coincidentally enough, this comes out today:


Comic adaptations that continue shows we love are hit and miss and even as good as they can be (Dollhouse), they're not the original. That said, I can't pass this up just because of the seemingly crazy synchronicity of K and I finishing the series a few weeks (at least) after SSN 5 hit Prime one day before the first issue comes out.

Playlist from 6/26:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
Radiohead - Kid A
Portishead - Third
Chromatics - Night Drive
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Card of the day:


From the Grimoire: "Emerging victories from a trying time; big change; think things through."

Pulled this right before a friend at work walked in and expressed concern about a situation taking place. He keeps talking about jumping ship (my metaphor, not his, but the sentiment's there). I told him thought he should hang tight and assess, which this Pull backs up.