More Sirhan Tour Pics

These pics are courtesy of the OHSNAP! KID




Sirhan



Wesley, Pauly Walnuts, & Arkell



Le Castle Vania, Buckmaster, & Sirhan

Sirhan Mini Tour Report

This past weekend was a whirlwind of driving, rest stop garbage shopping, eating gator hush puppies, technical difficulties, and sci-fi audio book adventure. The tour's first stop was in Charlotte, NC where we met up with Buckmaster. The show was held in the back of a strip mall at a wedding reception hall. Though this sounds like the typical tour horror story where only 3 people come and had no idea beforehand that there would be music, a lot of people did come out. It was like some secret place to go where only the cool gay kids that look like chubby Andy Warhols with factory girl fag hags wearing silver tensil hair know about.


Charlotte, NC



Buckmaster and Pauly Walnuts


The next day we grabbed up Buckmaster to hit the road and make our way to Atlanta. Along the way we picked up this crazy trucker audio book called Deadlands. It was this crazy post apocalyptic story of these truck driver type characters making their way across the ruins of cities filled with taxidermy stuffed people, "gawdy" whores, and this guy called Trader who was sort of a wreck loose who was really into killing women. Somehow this overtook our lives in the van for the entire weekend.


When we got to Atlanta we dropped h1n1 off to visit his sister who lived there and went to Little Five Points. It was like a flea market of hippie boutiques. And though Matthew and I tried, we could not find a hackey sack.


The show that night was at The Masquerade with our awesome host, Preston Craig. The place filled up to almost 400 people and when Sirhan went on one of the turn tables stopped working. Luckily there was this great MC that kept the crowd hyped while Preston Craig dropped Surkin's White Knight II to buy some time. Unfortunately the turntable somehow actually exploded and Sirhan managed to work through the set on one turntable with help from Buckmaster and Le Castle Vania. And though it could have gone better, the show was pretty good overall with a good reception to h1n1's track 'BUG'.


Atlanta



h1n1 and friend


The next day we were pretty destroyed and started the day out with gator hush puppies before hitting the road to meet up with Flufftronix in Bloomington, IN. There we made it to an uneventful house party (that supposedly got big after we left but fuck it... we were beat). The best part of the day was really when we discovered an amazing Dinosaur Park and saw this fat kid in front of a dollar store on one of those old quarter horse rides. Taking a picture of him was like sneaking a shot of a leopard in the wilderness. We were cautious and pretended to take a picture of the store but I don't think he would have minded either way.

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE -part 2-

Saturday I had to drive to Kosciusko, Mississippi (birthplace of Oprah) to pick my grandfather up from the veterans home he lives in now. After arguing about whether or not I could check him out, we left and wearily drove up the Natchez Trace to his house unoccupied house in Vardaman. But not before we stopped for fried catfish!



Ol' paw paw kind of mutters a lot and has the alzheimers so he asks the same things repeatedly and has to take like sack of medicine a day. We hung out with him until he went to bed around ten at which point we left and drove up to Memphis for another show. A two hour drive from where we were. Basically when in the south, it's easy to calculate any given location that you're at to another point you want to be is likely going to be two hours away.
We hit Memphis again around 12:30 a.m. and got to Murphy's again just in time to see supergroup, The Limes. The Limes are a gnarly southern garage band made up of local legends Monsieur Jeffrey Evans, Jack Oblivian, Shawn Cripps, Harlan T. Bobo, and Quinn Powers. They basically sound like what would happen if CCR got drunk with The Minutemen and decided to form a bar band. It was a good time with the exception of a near altercation with Abe from The Oscars who got kind of surly when Jay Reatard's girlfriend invited us to stay at her place. But we're smooth operators so we calmed Abe down, and kept the lurk to a minimum with no party foul. Though Abe did punch a paper towel holder off the wall and almost got kicked out of Murphy's till Jude put it together for him. See, we're not such bad guys.


We got back to my grandfather's place around 5:30 a.m. and almost died about fifty times on the way. Thus began day two of running on empty. We crashed out only to wake up to paw paw getting up and leaving the house around seven to go down the road to visit a relative. this sounds harmless but he gets confused so that means I had to get up and go with him and give him his medicine. I felt so fuckin' ill from not sleeping and eating fried food that the only thing that made sense was to more. We said our goodbyes to my grandpa since my cousin that lived next to him agreed to take him back to the home. So we drove to my mom's house and crashed out for about five hours (the most sleep we'd gotten since Thursday). We got up and went out to eat with my mom and Elliot at this place called Grill. It wasn't particularly southern so I won't go into detail about the Filet Mignon we had. Just sayin'...
So around ten p.m. we said goodbye to Mississippi and headed back to Memphis to find something to do for our last night. We found the city dead. An unseasonal cold front had hit. That combined with it being Sunday night made for a pretty depressing night with no partys, shows, or even movie theatres that were open late. We found ourselves without a place to stay and playing Ms. Pac-Man at Young Ave. Deli. When we'd given up hope, some Memphis folks i knew dropped in and saved the day. We kicked it with Angry Bob who used to play bass in Death Threat and Pat who bar tended the deli when I used to work there. We got a couple of couches to sleep on and I got punched in the arm and called a fag by Bob. Overall better than sleeping in the truck.
The next day we got up after finally having slept enough to not want to fall over. I know where the good thrift stores are so we did a little record shopping and I ended up spending $87.00 on seven vintage Swatch watches.



We ended the trip by eating BBQ from The BBQ Shop on Madison and letting it settle long enough to eat again at Gus' Famous Fried Chicken downtown. This weekend was the closest I've ever come to forcing diabetes on myself in one go. But that's how the south is... one long death drive filled with great food that'll kill you and random characters who'll let you sleep on their couch.

Super Power Building

While I was reading this I kept thinking "what if they're right?" Its funny to use the word super in front of anything with maybe the exception of SuperMax (or maybe thats the funniest one?) This will be better than a Disneyland, Legoland, The Grand Canyon, and Wisconsin Dells gangbang. I want to enhance my perceptics.
READ IT ALL LAZY BONES

Get Yr. Learn On

http://free-university-in-internet.blogspot.com/

Max just gave me a link to an alphabetic listing of totally nerdy videos. Some promising links include:
Art - Herbie Hancock - "Cantaloupe Island"
Documentary – “The Occult History of the Third Reich”
Technology – “The secret life of the refrigerator”

Enjoy never going out.

SIRHAN ON HOLIDAY!

Dear Select Southern Locales,

Memorial Day Weekend Sirhan wil be in your town. If you are one of the few we'll be visiting, come out and say hi! See you soon!

MAY 23rd -Charlotte, North Carolina --- A Jarrell Affair: w/ Buckmaster & Sleazy Crew

MAY 24th -Atlanta, Georgia --- Masquerade: w/ Preston Craig and Moar


Also, we'll be swinging through Nashville for a day. Not playing but just saying hi and kickin' it with the Sewell Bros.

Bike-In Cinema Presents: FANTASY FRIDAYS!

Bike-In Cinema is going into it's third year of being in chicago this summer and what better way to celebrate than to have a ridiculous monthly party? FANTASY FRIDAYS will be held the last Friday of every month at Dos Butt (2137 N. Milwaukee on The Congress Theatre). Each event will feature two fantasy films followed by bands and DJs performing a loosely fantasy themed dance party.
To attend you MUST RSVP to the Bike-In Cinema myspace or the Dos Butt myspace.
These are
www.myspace.com/bikeincinema
&
www.myspace.com/dosbutt

This is the flyer for May 30th which features The Last Starfighter, The Beastmaster, and live sets by TomTomTomboy, Charlie Slick and Sirhan.



... June 27th:

::::Celluloid:::: - Death of a Cyclist

At the height of political disarray in post-Franco Spain, many of the film studios had been shut down and most of the country's cinema was imports of things such as Italian Neo-Realism. However there were a few directors who sought to challenge the country's current political climate and work outside of a studio. One of these directors was Juan Antonio Bardem who, with his film 'Death of a Cyclist', made one of the most impressive and possibly overlooked films of the time.

'Death of a Cyclist' begins with an adulterous couple driving down a country road back to the city after a secret liaison on the outskirts of town. Not surprisingly given the title, they hit a cyclist along the way. Faced with going to the authorities and being outed with their relationship or leaving the man there to die, they flee the scene, setting into motion a conflict of morality that tests their love for one another and their willingness to "do the right thing".

Soon thereafter, the two main characters realize that their crime had not gone unnoticed when they are black mailed by a man named Rafa who casually drops hints that he knows about their sins. Through much personal turmoil and a few existential bombs, the characters roles become polarized as the man feels the need to purge themselves of wrong doing by going to the authorities, thereby making their love that much more pure and stronger. However the woman in a very Hitchcockian fashion is obviously not amused. In the end their fate seems sealed in an ironic twist that mirrors the original crime.

What really makes the film interesting is that it's casually set against a backdrop of Spanish elite and upper social class that allows a Communist agenda to show through without beating you over the head with it. The typical elements of bigger hollywood films were more predominant than anything. The tale of morality, the secret love affair, and the femme fatale. It's reminiscent of film noir of the time such as 'Double Indemnity' and carries strong elements from a typical Hitchcock film like Psycho where the characters aren't necessarily completely without regret for their crimes but commit them anyway and as usual, pay for them in the end.

color wheel liquified

The Dolphin Prayers

He'd been listening to Vicente Fernández for days. There was something about the way the old cowboy carried a tune. With such robustness. Like peppers. Zesty... but considerate. Fernandez truly was "El Rey". This did nothing to stop the milk from spilling over the edge of Turner's bowl, carrying with it the cereal puffs he was going to have for breakfast. The reaction wasn't sharp. Instead he just stood there knowing the circumstance was out of his control. He could only come in and do a clean up of the wreckage. And though it could be seen as an act of apathy, he knew it to be one that only someone who saw things as they really were could understand.

"Goddamn it Turny! Would you look at this?!? Look at it! This shit is out of control!!!"
"What?"
"These dumb fuckers think they're gonna make it to the next level! They can't sing!"

Turner's roommate Chris was an avid fan of reality-game shows where people went to great lengths to make complete fools of themselves. Prior to this trend in game shows people that didn't win could recieve a copy of the home game. But now they have to settle for a TiVo recording of themselves looking like assholes on national television. And the really lucky ones will live on infamy through the internet. They can be forever "You Tubed" as the ones who didn't make the cut. Even better than that were the people who actually did win such shows and receive marginal popularity among fourteen year old girls who frequent malls and maybe, if even for just a week, will listen to their album that was produced as part of the deal.
Turner never subscribed to such mediocrity however. When asked about these kinds of things, he would casually tell people how he wasn't very internet-savy. He didn't own a cell phone, he didn't have a Myspace page, he didn't personally own a television (he just used Chris' TV for "background noise"), and he certainly didn't play video games. He just didn't have time for that kind of stuff. Or more realistically he was opposed to it on a very ideological level. OR even more truthfully, he was frightened by technology the way a fundamentalist is frightened by evolution.

"Turny... Turny look at this shit! Crazy!"

Turner cleaned up the remainder of the cereal and milk and walked to his room. He sat at his desk and ate while considering his plans for the day:


1. He had to do something about this shoe dilemma. The soles of his Converse All-Stars were wearing thin. Time to buy a new pair. Turner bought these because they're canvas and he's been a vegetarian for almost eight years. He couldn't stand the thought of wearing another living creature as his clothing.

2. He needed to get a new tube for the front tire of his bike. The night before he'd run over some broken glass and punctured his leaving him to walk the remaining two miles back to his apartment.

3. Yoga class at 6.


"Not really that much", he thought. Turner set the empty bowl in the kitchen sink and got dressed.

The bus stop was crowded with people that morning. They must have all had flats. Turner leaned into the corner of the stop and pulled out his copy of "Praying With Dolphins: Realizing Your Inner Zen". The book was one he saw on a coffee table at his yoga class a few weeks previous. He'd heard of people swimming with dolphins to find a cosmic connection but had always written the notion off as... silly. But while waiting for his instructor to arrive one evening, he became completely engrossed in the world of the Dolphin and our place in it. It didn't take much convincing to decide that dolphins truly are the Earth's compass to find it's way back to God... er... the Goddess.

"What the fuck?!? If this bus don't come soon I'm 'on walk this motherfucker!"

Other people at the stop weren't as calm as Turner about waiting for the bus. The guy who yelled had only been waiting for about five minutes at this point. How impatient people are... if only they knew what dolphin prayer could do for them.


11:30 A.M.

The thrift store was always crazy and had a strange old people aroma to it. One that seemed to kind of permeate your being. The kind where you had to go home and exfoliate seniors from your skin. The old Jewish people that were always there were arguing with a man about the cost of a pair of pants. From what he could discern, Turner knew that the argument was about a dollar difference.
The employees were a little old woman who stood just below 5' 5" and the man named Billy, was clearly gay. There's no way he wasn't with that whiney cartoonish voice and his inappropriate sexual jokes to customers. The kind that for some reason just seems more acceptable when said by an older gay man. Sort of like a birthright.

The customer that was arguing the price was a little old man wearing a ratty suit leaning across his walker with a hunched back. His hair was white and crazy and complemented his bugged out blue eyes.

"These pants have an orange tag so they're half off today!", he said leaning over the walker.

"The half off orange is only on Wednesday! Today is Thursday!", the old lady said.

"Well there should be some consideration for age! I'm a senior citizen! What's the senior discount?"

"There is no senior discount. There's only tag days! It's not orange day, it's purple tags today. Purple and green!", said Billy.

"Fine! Take the damn two dollars!", the man said. He shakily pulled out some wadded ones and threw them on the counter. As he left both the woman and Billy shook their heads. Hands on her hips she simply said, "Some people! THE Nerve!"

"He's just mad that the whole world's not gonna bend over and (looking around...) kiss his butt.", said Billy.
It was now that Turner realized Guadalajara was playing over the stores speakers. Also, all of these shoes are bad... strike.

12:15 P.M.

NEW shoes. Check.

12:37 P.M.

The people at the bike shop were somewhat abrasive. All he needed was a tube. the transaction turned into a passive aggressive exercise. He asked for a tube and not knowing what the difference between a 27" and 700c, Turner looked like a new jack to the clerk who sort of laughed and said, "Well a lot of good that 27" will do you on a 700c wheel."
"Some people..."

The day was open. Carpe' Diem and all that. Turner could get lunch, hang out in the park, and (time permitting) read a few chapters of his book. He was up to "Dolphin Meditation and The Path To Enlightenment". If it weren't such a hassle he would have gone to the grocery store to pick up a few things. The trail mix from the bulk at home was nearing the bottom. It was down to stale granola and bittersweet raisins. He hated the bittersweet raisins...
When he was young, his mother fed him a mixed diet of tater-tot casserole (an abomination to foods if ever there was one), tacos (crunchy shells out of the box), and fast food because sometimes you can't be bothered to cook such prepared meals. It was at his own volition that he'd become more considerate of what he put into his body. That's why he'd stopped drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and moved onto drinking organic beers when available.

Crossing the street Turner didn't notice the car barreling down without yielding. A loud squeeling of tires was followed by the abrupt thud and minimal pain that proceeded a flash of lights and then... darkness. At first colors swirled the way they would had he been rubbing his closed eyes while staring into the sun. Then slowly, a form emerged from the darkness. It seemed like a horizon. As though he were on a beach looking into the distance. But the colors were all wrong. A sky that was pink and orange and the water... well the water was space. It was like looking directly into the night sky only in reverse. It was looking into him.
That's when he saw the figure coming towards the beach. riding across the vast cosmos, it was a man. A well dressed man on the back of, a serpent... no. A Dolphin. And as the man got closer, Turner knew that if this couldn't be a dream. He surely had died but he didn't quite remember how. As Vicente Fernández stepped down from the dolphin's back, Turner felt a fear grip him that only came upon meeting someone very important. Someone like the President. Or Presidente'.




"¿Hola amigo. le hace sabe por qué usted está aquí? ", said Vicente.

"Umm... I'm sorry. I only speak English."

Vicente was visibly disappointed. He sighed... "Do you know why you're here?"

"Oh... uh, well I... I guess I've died?"

"You are a thinker. I can tell. Only a thinker would answer a question with another question. That can be good sometimes. No one should go through their whole life blindly accepting all things given to them.", Vicente said while stroking his mustache. "However... I am a lover. Lovers, we do not need to answer these kinds of questions one way or the other. We simply make love. That is why we are so good at it. Do you understand?"

"Understand that you're a lover?"

"NO! You must understand that you waste your life on the trivial. Sometimes the trivial is okay... so long as it's a platform for the meaningful later. But being arbitrary for the sake of being arbitrary... this will do nothing."

"So, I... should be a lover?"

"YES! you should learn to love everyday as a precious gift. Love it just as the way you would love a lady even if it's only for the moment! You must kiss her and let her be if she pleases you no longer but you must still... take her"

"That sounds offensive. I would never disrespect a woman. A woman should be treated with the same respect that I would want her to treat me."

Vicente's look had gone back to one of disappointment. Only this time there was also a hint of anger.

"¡Usted es un coño estúpido! ¡Sea un HOMBRE! "

"I'm sorry... i just don't... um I don't underst..."

"Shut up! Look. This tofu and these canvas shoes that were made by little children in Honduras... they will not define who you are when you die. They will only have been the confines you have placed on yourself. Unless you are a monk, which you are clearly not a monk, there is no reason to punish yourself and subsequently all those around you with your white guilt. Of course you are a son of a bitch. it's like original sin! You cannot escape yourself amigo. But there is no reason for you to create a false sense of superiority by constructing Western liberal values and upholding them as sacred."

"So... wait... I should just, let go?"

"¡Exactamente! "

"Am I dead? What is this?"

Vicente just smiled. He tipped his sombrero.
"Adios amigo!", he stepped back and through his leg back over the dolphin's back. "Just remember Turner, *EEEEEE EEEEE EEEEEE!! EEE!! EEEEEE*"

Then they were off. Back into that swirling vastness. And as turner looked over the horizon he drifted off.

"Oh my God! He's waking up!", said a woman wearing a "Make 7-Up Yours" t-shirt.

"Too soon...", Turner thought.

A crowd of people were gathered around him. As things became more clear, he saw the store front behind the people. he realized that he was lying on the ground in front a Mexican Discoteca. And there... on the door. A poster of Vicente Fernández smiling.

"Are you okay? That woman hit you and drove off.", said the woman with the 7-Up shirt. "I'm pretty sure she was talking on her cell phone and not paying attention. We called an ambulance."

"I... I'll be fine. i think i'll be just fine." As Turner stood up he knew that he was going to have one hell of a bruised arm and leg. "I think things are gonna be alright."

"You dropped your book.", a man said holding out the Dolphin Prayer book.

"Oh... yeah. that's alright.", Turner said. "I'm okay. you can keep it. I don't need it anymore."

self help session #1

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the current indie darlings, crystal castles have stolen a lot of their music from other artists and also have used someone's artwork with out permission or acknowledgement. there's a full story here: 8bit collective.

In other news the world of video gaming just got more interesting with release of Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii. Both are worth your hard earned money in this economic disastrous time. Both have great online features. However, It is summertime and I suggest the "real" world and enjoy the spring before summer hits. Speaking of springtime, Casual Persuasion crew is going to be hitting the road and hitting south again. We'll be heading south in a prius to save gas money but we are going to head out to North Carolina and Georgia memorial day weekend. If you live near or around there, we are still looking for a stop on Sunday, May 25th.
Here's a little blurb on Sirhan, the reason we are going south. Iheartcomix

Besides being in the news for a large number of incest cases recently(here and here), australia has hands down the best clothing out for "streetwear".
PAM
schwipe
material boy
insight
ksubi
there are plenty more but thats just to get you started.
oh yeah, Somebody hook me up with these.

oh yeah here are some tunes to ride your bike too.
a rip of the most important tune of spring.
Pryda: Miami, Atlanta this is an intense mix of lush/deep house with a great electro bass break down. this is sunrise on the beach 4am music, yet at the same time perfect party time hit.
phantasm 2 ending theme song.
nice horror movie music.

Lil' Wayne "lollipop (dj bstee club rmx)
vocoder top 40 hit, clubbed out. a real grower or not seeing how it's the number one song in the country.

Le Night "Dominator (dj assualt vs spruce lee rmx)

dj assualt's still got it.
benajamin theives "texas" sebastian remix
a little throwback.
Santiago & Bushido "headtrick"
this is new chicago house.
Notorious B.I.G. "big poppa screwed by dj screw"
r.i.p. 2 great artists.

thats it. i'm out.

From Charlotte To Memphis...

I moved to Memphis in 2002 which was around the same time that a band from Charlotte, North Carolina moved to town. They had this sticker campaign that just overwhelmed the sidewalks, light poles, and power boxes around Midtown. The stickers were always black and white with ambiguous things on them like old people sitting in a McDonald's with the name 'The Pelicans' on it. It wasn't that it was original because it certainly wasn't. It was just uncommon for Memphis so it was sort an interesting gimmick considering the context of Memphis. Most of the bands and people there are very relaxed about things and don't do flashy things to make themselves so obvious.

I saw them for the first time when they opened up for Melt-Banana at Young Avenue Deli. They were spastic and the East Coast/Southern counterpart to the 8-bit bands from L.A. ala' Retard Disco types like Totally Rad! There were three of them. Two guitarists and a synth player. They all added something to the combo though. The main singer/guitarist, Preston Drum was spastic and had a paranoid energy. The other guitarist, Patrick Joden, didn't sing at all but just seemed in his own world and never opened his eyes. And the synth/singer, Action Jackson Gilman, sang through what sounded like a CB radio over Nintendo sounds. 

Though they were short lived and I only saw them a handful of times, they were a really fun live act. The only recordings they made were two 4 song demos recorded by Chuck Vicious of The Oscars. There isn't any way to get these anymore unless you just have them and for all I know they'd probably like to keep it that way. But unless I hear any protests, here are three of the songs from those recordings.

'Remember Murphy Brown?' is probably my favorite of the three. Hell On Wheels is older and starts out with a sample from The Terminator and Action Jackson sings on it. He also sings over the soft sounds of 'Orange Evening' which is the only slow dance song they ever played.

Like I said, nothing too fancy but it was good at the time and I still think it's pretty fun stuff.

Pelicans, The - 'Remember Murphy Brown?'
http://www.mediafire.com/?ep5dvudjj4j

Pelicans, The - 'Hell On Wheels'
http://www.mediafire.com/?hmjjtodg1g3

Pelicans, The - 'Orange Evening'
http://www.mediafire.com/?jujtasjydw0