Fuck a Record Company

Last Saturday I was ambling along and what dulcet tones doth pass my ear? Why only my favorite song ever “Say it Ain’t So.” So I went to the back of the relocated Clare & Don’s beach shack only to find homie from Convoy playing bongos astride a girl who was just killing it on acoustic guitar Baez style. It really takes balls to cover a song like Say It Ain’t So b/c if you don’t lay it all out it the best you can hope for is a pale shadow. This however was a nuanced celebration, if deferent. I stuck around for a another beer and listened some more. She covered Tommy Tutone’s 8675309/Jenny and I have never heard a cover I liked more. It was slow and sultry downright sensuous. Stuff dreams are made of… but I had to jet and didn’t even catch her name for a shout out. Alas.

I was in Falls Church to go to the State Theater and even though they spell it theatre which is downright socializt, I did have a great time. I remember a few years ago I saw Ozomatli there and the place was so energized that the ceiling began to fall. Just cosmetic but it was pretty funny and a perfect emblem for the fun being had beneath. The State reminds me a lot of the 9:30 Club but classier and sans the grime. Large yet intimate. Relaxed balcony and raucous dance floor ringed with beer distribution. Great place to see a Phish show which I pretty much did. My friend Ben is is a band called Strange Design. Much in the way that Dark Star Orchestra recreates Dead shows, Strange Design recreates Phish shows. All the way down to a killer light show and vacuum cleaner solo. Kinda weird now that Phish is touring again, but super fun and a lot less smelly in the crowd. Prior to the show it would have been hard for me to get too excited about – dare I use the word a “cover band” – if I hadn’t known one of the members. But I must say, maybe because I’m not a huge Phish fan, a lot of the songs felt new to me and the musicianship of all four members is astonishing. These guys are fucking good and they have some original songs coming down the pipes too. With any luck they’ll be able to leverage their success in Strange Design to get their new stuff out. In the meantime though the show is great, and WELL worth the price of admission even for the uninitiated such as myself.

I know it ain’t gonna help help his ego any, but the kid is the best DJ in the city. Lookout for him Fridays at the Reef in Adams Morgan.
2009 Demo Mix pt.1

pt. 2

pt. 3

I love Arlington. I always say I’m from D.C. but that is not quite right. A-town. Retroceded in 1847. Arlington will surprise you with how awesome it is from time to time. My man Hendrick runs a fine arts collective called artoutlet based right here. They do these crazy events that take 1 crapton of work to set up and often only last one night. I keep returning the fairly hard-to-grasp analogy of vomiting pure light. Two years ago they did an event called flux at an abandoned garage behind our old studio. This year they did something similar at a sick studio on Columbia Pike. It belongs to Jazirock. He’s a graf writer and photographer and all around madman visual artist. They got some good press about the event. Flex Mathews (who was just voted DC’s number one rapper BTW…ehem and will be putting out future projects on F.A.R.C.) and I showed up and freestyled with DJ seven in from Japan.

The space itself is bonkers. Dripping visuals blend around corners and give a fluid vibe to the whole scene. We’re trying to set-up some all ages shows soon. I know it’s not that useful now, but there was a bunch of other good stuff going on yesterday…

Flex spent the day teaching kids how to freestyle. I spent the day returning from Philly after seeing my best friend’s MFA thesis show at Tyler. I didn’t really get his exhibit until we had a chance to talk about art and how it fits into our collective understanding about the arc of history. He did a whole collection of art inspired by VA luminaries. My favorite was his Arthur Ashe sculpture. 80’s sportswear is so wonderfully hideous.

Later, I happened upon an African music even at 1640 Columbia Rd. It was transcendental… the leader was playing a wooden tonal percussion instrument, and just putting it all on the line with undulating cyclical vocals… truly amazing – one of those moments wherein you can feel everybody’s attention collapse to a singular point. But it was at a church and all these aging lesbians were there to get in touch with their inner negro and, well world music isn’t really my scene, also I had to get over to a flavor tripping party held by DJ V-Roc, so I only stayed for one song. But it kept a smile on my face hour hours – the kind of experience you can revisit for a week or so before taint can besmirch the power of its memory. As I sipped Guinness that tasted like a blended coffee beverage I began giggling inconsolably.

more pics from jazirock

and check out a similar (but much larger spatially and temporally) art event in Crystal City calledInked Souls bigups to Art Whino for pulling that one off

Asheville holds a special spot in my heart. The first time I visited was for a wedding and I fell in love with the place. It’s about as close as I’ve ever come to the shire. In fact, our buddy Forrest actually lives in the shire:

Forrest made this from garbage. With his hands. All found materials and solar panels. True grit. In addition to being a constructve monster (he built a corral for a rescued blind horse while we were there) Forrest is a nasty fire spinner. He and his troupe had a party and invited a bunch of other talented performers. A veritable congress of anomalies, to borrow a phrase from DBL+.



We did some art

The DJ did his thing for the people.

I spun drop of the ol’ hard stuff too.

We spent a lot of time in trees.



Lookout for chach and P-I and a whole bunch of bohemians round Asheville.

Fresh as hell down der

We just got invited to go back down for a festival of sorts. Can’t wait.

The first time we played Chicago was a fucking trip.

We wound up freestyling for like 4 hours backed by an impromptu band featuring Johnny Marks and members of the other bands that played that night.

The owner of the bar was late and left us out in the hail for like 45 minutes. But then he totally redeemed by being huge and drunk staying open and feeding us booze until 5 am.

Comptroller Records hosted us for their Comptrollin’ On a Saturday Night series. And they we’re gracious enough to let us crash with them again this time. Check them out. They run almost everything sweet in CHI (pronounced “shy”) except Hey Champ but we’ll get to them later

This time was a little bit more serious, though narry more fun. We played KEXP’s Equalizer Series @ darkroom which is a dope venue. Half photo gallery, half bar, half music venue. I instantly felt at home when I walked in an saw a 3ftx5ft picture of tits. Gloriously concentric; infinite in their precision yet simple x^2 +y^2 = 1.

The other acts were Doc Watson, Nikki Lynette, and Shala esq. Everyone was held down by Dj La *Jesus. Doc can flow, and Nikki has mastered an indefatigable pop groove, and frankly I thought Shala Esq.’s hype man was more talented that he was.

We stopped by a kickass local record shop called Dusty Groove which as it turns out is much less of a local record shop and much more of a national distribution channel. They’ve got pandamenisonal in stock.

We had some of the dankest pizza ever made. It was from a restaurant that is the retirement project of one if Chicago’s premiere chefs. You have to place your order when you make reseravtions. No kids allowed. Just serious Midwestern pizza feeding. I passed out in the car on the way home.

Your haberdashery are belong to us.

It’s cold in Chicago – cold enough that these weird stratified ice shelves form every night in gutters. Threw this southern boy for a loop.

We haven’t traveled that much with the metaphysical so when he started talking in his sleep it kinda freaked us out. Especially when he intoned “MURDER” twixt snores. He sure can spin a set though…

We spent the rest of the time in CHI hanging with friends. Our friend Dan of Le Loup fame just moved out there and the aforementioned Johnny Marks is a native son. Johnathon Marks is the best drummer of our generation. I say that without any reservations. He is rhythm. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you will soon. Naturally he’s in all sorts of musical projects. The best known is Hey Champ. The other guys in Hey Champ are rad too. I don’t know Saam that well, but his voice is clear and strong yet has an almost plaintiff wail that I find very sympathetic. He strikes me as the perfect front man for Hey Champ, plus he’s a siick DJ/producer (all of them are — be sure to inspect their remix/electronic side). Crazy Pete and Jonathon were both involved with the formation of mathpanda. Ryn and I got serious about rapping after a series of jam sessions involving the both of them. A bunch of good bands grew out of that time and place. Their manager Brandon is a beast too. They just signed with Lupe Fiasco’s Label FnF. Sky’s the limit mane.

The next day we drove up to Milwaukee and played at a bar called Stonefly brewery. Another dope venue; two small opposing stages, microbrews, and cute waitresses. The other acts were Fresh Cut Collective, and some dude who was completely unmemorable except for the fact that one of his hype men had the sickest shades I’ve ever seen. LED Oakleys SO kitschy – pure gold. Fresh Cut Collective however was outstanding. I think there are like 9 of them and every single performer was awesome. The front man Adebisi killed it. They are one of the best live hip hop bands I’ve ever seen. Hopefully we’ll see them east this summer.

After Milwaukee we went out to do a session with Sean and the boys of Daytrotter.

I cannot say enough about those guys and what they are doing… Spread the word – THIS IS REAL MUSIC for MUSIC’s sake; aural meritocracy. I get blissfully lost for hours every time I visit the site. They epitomize indie credibility and have built an awesome collection of recordings and stories. The whole operation feels like home to so many traveling musicians. Thankyou Daytrotter for keeping it blisteringly real

Hopefully our session will be up in a few months. We recorded some freestyle and hearing that esp. months later is always fun. Good little sprint tour.