HAPPY HOLIDAZE from Peter... all the best
http://menchetti.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/menchetti
jueves, 27 de diciembre de 2007
HAPPY HOLIDAZE
back in Reno
Buenos Aires was cool -- really cool. My room and my housemates were awesome. But I was sort of out of steam. Then my mom called and left me a message asking, even though she knew that I wasn't planning on it, "aren't you coming home for Christmas?"
I got to thinking that the best possible thing to do at this point was to go back to Reno, see my family and old friends who would all be back in town for the holidaze, recharge, work, go see the taxman who recently made a personal appearance in my place of business (!), and get some work done. Then maybe I could head back out in January. I could also look for and reserve a place for the big fuckin party I plan to throw to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sticker Guy! in March.
So here I am in Reno. I surprised the shit out of my mom (but didn't give her a heart attack after the taxi driver, who was also a mother, warned me that she would think she was seeing ghosts), went out and saw old friends at the bar (and almost got into a fight with a really stupid fucking kid), and just slept 14 hours. Now I guess I should go to work.
First I'll say a little about my ten days in Buenos Aires. 15 million people, big fuckin' city. I had a really hard time orienting myself for some reason (usually I'm pretty good at that). I found a GREAT color lab to develop my weird outdated professional 120mm slide film rolls (I'll eventually post the pix to my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/menchetti). I met Pirulo, owner of Rastrillo Records, and his girlfriend Vanesa, who had me over to their house for an asado (all Argentinians eat is meat, it seems). They were super cool and so were all their friends. I saw LOS PEYOTES in their hometown -- they were great, though they didn't blow my mind as much as the first time at the Funtastic in Spain (but there were other reasons my mind was blown there). I met Nico and saw his band MOTORAMA, who played with the SICK SICK SINNERS, a psychobilly band from Brazil who I also saw at the Goiania festival and walkin' down the street in their hometown of Curitiba. I had sort of made fun of them because they have that haircut and all the tattoos and talk in these corny psychobilly voices on stage -- but they were extremely cool guys and I actually got to like their band a bit the last time I saw them, when the sound was exceptionally clear (and apparently somehow they got the message because they spoke in a normal voice between songs).
I walked around BA a ton and biked some too. It's definitely worth a visit, but plan on partying all night and doing some shopping by day, because there ain't much to do to cool off -- no beaches or anything like that, and the river is ridiculously polluted. I snapped a picture of a shoe and a dead animal of some sorts floating in the brown water.
I really dug the Argentinians and their Spanish accent is the coolest sounding that I've heard. It's got a real singsong rhythm -- the millions of Italian immigrants in the 20th century definitely left their mark. They even say "que cosa?", which is 100% Italiano. They also say "vos" instead of "tu" (you) which must be some sort of Portuguese (from você) influence?
A multi-city ticket was less than half of what a oneway ticket would have cost me (and also cheaper than a roundtrip, for some reason) -- so on the 9th of January I have the option to fly back down south to San Jose, Costa Rica. I think I'll bust my ass and get my work done so I can do that. It's cold here. Then I can continue my South American trip, heading south again, but this time on the west side through Colombia, Peru, Chile, etc.
Oh yeah -- and since both my mom and my dad told me they read this blog I have officially changed my mind and don't feel like a total geek writing it. So there.
I got to thinking that the best possible thing to do at this point was to go back to Reno, see my family and old friends who would all be back in town for the holidaze, recharge, work, go see the taxman who recently made a personal appearance in my place of business (!), and get some work done. Then maybe I could head back out in January. I could also look for and reserve a place for the big fuckin party I plan to throw to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sticker Guy! in March.
So here I am in Reno. I surprised the shit out of my mom (but didn't give her a heart attack after the taxi driver, who was also a mother, warned me that she would think she was seeing ghosts), went out and saw old friends at the bar (and almost got into a fight with a really stupid fucking kid), and just slept 14 hours. Now I guess I should go to work.
First I'll say a little about my ten days in Buenos Aires. 15 million people, big fuckin' city. I had a really hard time orienting myself for some reason (usually I'm pretty good at that). I found a GREAT color lab to develop my weird outdated professional 120mm slide film rolls (I'll eventually post the pix to my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/menchetti). I met Pirulo, owner of Rastrillo Records, and his girlfriend Vanesa, who had me over to their house for an asado (all Argentinians eat is meat, it seems). They were super cool and so were all their friends. I saw LOS PEYOTES in their hometown -- they were great, though they didn't blow my mind as much as the first time at the Funtastic in Spain (but there were other reasons my mind was blown there). I met Nico and saw his band MOTORAMA, who played with the SICK SICK SINNERS, a psychobilly band from Brazil who I also saw at the Goiania festival and walkin' down the street in their hometown of Curitiba. I had sort of made fun of them because they have that haircut and all the tattoos and talk in these corny psychobilly voices on stage -- but they were extremely cool guys and I actually got to like their band a bit the last time I saw them, when the sound was exceptionally clear (and apparently somehow they got the message because they spoke in a normal voice between songs).
I walked around BA a ton and biked some too. It's definitely worth a visit, but plan on partying all night and doing some shopping by day, because there ain't much to do to cool off -- no beaches or anything like that, and the river is ridiculously polluted. I snapped a picture of a shoe and a dead animal of some sorts floating in the brown water.
I really dug the Argentinians and their Spanish accent is the coolest sounding that I've heard. It's got a real singsong rhythm -- the millions of Italian immigrants in the 20th century definitely left their mark. They even say "que cosa?", which is 100% Italiano. They also say "vos" instead of "tu" (you) which must be some sort of Portuguese (from você) influence?
A multi-city ticket was less than half of what a oneway ticket would have cost me (and also cheaper than a roundtrip, for some reason) -- so on the 9th of January I have the option to fly back down south to San Jose, Costa Rica. I think I'll bust my ass and get my work done so I can do that. It's cold here. Then I can continue my South American trip, heading south again, but this time on the west side through Colombia, Peru, Chile, etc.
Oh yeah -- and since both my mom and my dad told me they read this blog I have officially changed my mind and don't feel like a total geek writing it. So there.
lunes, 17 de diciembre de 2007
Uruguay... Buenos Aires
I haven't posted in a while. That's largely because I was completely unable to. After I left Porto Alegre, I went to La Paloma. Crossed the border on a very comfy night bus, on which I made a new friend that was to be my travel companion for Uruguay. Funny: when we got off the bus Monday morning, it was sunny and warm. It took us about an hour and a half to get to La Paloma, where it was also sunny and warm. I was really psyched to get out onto the beach and try to surf. By the time we checked into the hostel, and put on our beach clothes, the clouds had rolled in and it started to rain. The weather on this trip has really not been good to me... geez! Any time I get near a beach everything turns grey. It's as if God wants me to drink all night and sleep all day...
Anyway, La Paloma was pretty cool. There are a lot of really interesting, imaginative houses there. I suppose most of them are vacation houses, since the town felt really deserted still in early December. Apparently it gets full around Christmas and through January. This would be a great place to come with a group of 4-10 friends. You can rent a whole house with a barbeque in the forest with the sea visible about 200 yards/meters away for less than US $20 per night. And while there wasn't much to do at night while we were there, you could tell that there would be during the season. We walked past a construction site of a REALLY cool beach bar/discoteque/concert space. All wood, with straw roofs... very aesthetically pleasing, like most of the little houses in the area.
The real highlight of the Uruguay beach stay was a place called Cabo Polonio. Not listed in any guidebook, as if some sort of traveler's secret, it is undoubtedly one of the weirdest and coolest places I have ever been. To get there, you have to take a 4x4 taxi, because you have to get over South America's largest sand dunes. Cabo means cape; a piece of land jutting out into the sea. This cape is a nature reserve, so the land is owned by the state. But for years a colony of hippie / fisherman / weirdos has lived here in homemade little houses. Without running water or electricity. We rented a little house to spend the night in; the owner had to do more than leave us the keys and some towels -- he had lots to explain. Like how to pump the water into the tank for the shower, or how to get the water from the well to dump down the toilet when it's time to 'flush'. He left us with a few candles, loaned us a lighter, and pleaded with us to be careful not to burn his little place down.
Adding to the weirdness and coolness of Cabo Polonio was the colony of sea lions that live out on the rocks out past the lighthouse and on a pair of islands just off the coast. The ones by the lighthouse are quiet -- sleeping? The ones out on the islands are all wailing about something. And you can hear it all the way in 'town'. So it sounds like there's always either a party or maybe a football match going on in the distance. It's sort of eerie. But it's a good thing that the sea lions are in the distance, because they smell really bad. Swines of the sea?
Nightlife in CP was strange too. We went to a bar, where the walls were made of plants and the blind owner had a pet penguin (!?!). We didn't hang out too long there -- we were beat because we had walked all the way to the end of the dunes some 5 kilometers down the beach. But it took us an extra hour to get to our house because, in the dark, we couldn't fuckin find it for the life of us.
Next stop was Montevideo. We spent two nights here. Stayed in a hostel -- a really good one, but I still was left swearing that it would be the last one I stay in. I just don't ever want to hear another dude with an acoustic guitar play Bob Marley songs again -- ever! I'm always tempted to stay in hostels because besides it being cheaper, there's a much better chance that you'll meet some other travelers -- which can be nice if you're traveling alone. But with a few exceptions, I never seem to find anyone that I really want to meet in the hostels. It's sort of a catch22 -- I definitely want to meet people, but I'd prefer that they be locals. Part of seeing a place is meeting its people -- not just other travelers.
Anyway Montevideo was cool. Went to a bar called Clash City Rockers and saw a band. They were okay. The bar was really cool. I ran into Marcos from Motosierra there who informed me that I was to be the DJ the following night at their gig in a joint called Barraca. Nice! That gig ended up being good, Motosierra was of course great, as well as the band before them, Oro Tractor. Pappo's-inspired S.American Sabbath-flavored blues rock'n'roll! They were awesome enough to talk about making records with. Unfortunately my DJ set was a total no-go, because the mixer was totally fucked. The only way to get a decent sound out of it was to push down on the gain knob. With your finger. The place emptied out onto the street between bands before my futile attempts to balance some sort of weight on the knob could produce a decent sound.
I ended up staying up all night with Marcos and friends of Motosierra... when I got back to the hostel it was 10:30am. I packed my bags and split on a bus for Colonia. After a quick walk around the town I got on the Buquebus for Buenos Aires. I write from my room in San Telmo -- an extremely spacious, relaxing room with a double bed, a couch, and a cat. I think I'll hang out here for at least ten days...
Anyway, La Paloma was pretty cool. There are a lot of really interesting, imaginative houses there. I suppose most of them are vacation houses, since the town felt really deserted still in early December. Apparently it gets full around Christmas and through January. This would be a great place to come with a group of 4-10 friends. You can rent a whole house with a barbeque in the forest with the sea visible about 200 yards/meters away for less than US $20 per night. And while there wasn't much to do at night while we were there, you could tell that there would be during the season. We walked past a construction site of a REALLY cool beach bar/discoteque/concert space. All wood, with straw roofs... very aesthetically pleasing, like most of the little houses in the area.
The real highlight of the Uruguay beach stay was a place called Cabo Polonio. Not listed in any guidebook, as if some sort of traveler's secret, it is undoubtedly one of the weirdest and coolest places I have ever been. To get there, you have to take a 4x4 taxi, because you have to get over South America's largest sand dunes. Cabo means cape; a piece of land jutting out into the sea. This cape is a nature reserve, so the land is owned by the state. But for years a colony of hippie / fisherman / weirdos has lived here in homemade little houses. Without running water or electricity. We rented a little house to spend the night in; the owner had to do more than leave us the keys and some towels -- he had lots to explain. Like how to pump the water into the tank for the shower, or how to get the water from the well to dump down the toilet when it's time to 'flush'. He left us with a few candles, loaned us a lighter, and pleaded with us to be careful not to burn his little place down.
Adding to the weirdness and coolness of Cabo Polonio was the colony of sea lions that live out on the rocks out past the lighthouse and on a pair of islands just off the coast. The ones by the lighthouse are quiet -- sleeping? The ones out on the islands are all wailing about something. And you can hear it all the way in 'town'. So it sounds like there's always either a party or maybe a football match going on in the distance. It's sort of eerie. But it's a good thing that the sea lions are in the distance, because they smell really bad. Swines of the sea?
Nightlife in CP was strange too. We went to a bar, where the walls were made of plants and the blind owner had a pet penguin (!?!). We didn't hang out too long there -- we were beat because we had walked all the way to the end of the dunes some 5 kilometers down the beach. But it took us an extra hour to get to our house because, in the dark, we couldn't fuckin find it for the life of us.
Next stop was Montevideo. We spent two nights here. Stayed in a hostel -- a really good one, but I still was left swearing that it would be the last one I stay in. I just don't ever want to hear another dude with an acoustic guitar play Bob Marley songs again -- ever! I'm always tempted to stay in hostels because besides it being cheaper, there's a much better chance that you'll meet some other travelers -- which can be nice if you're traveling alone. But with a few exceptions, I never seem to find anyone that I really want to meet in the hostels. It's sort of a catch22 -- I definitely want to meet people, but I'd prefer that they be locals. Part of seeing a place is meeting its people -- not just other travelers.
Anyway Montevideo was cool. Went to a bar called Clash City Rockers and saw a band. They were okay. The bar was really cool. I ran into Marcos from Motosierra there who informed me that I was to be the DJ the following night at their gig in a joint called Barraca. Nice! That gig ended up being good, Motosierra was of course great, as well as the band before them, Oro Tractor. Pappo's-inspired S.American Sabbath-flavored blues rock'n'roll! They were awesome enough to talk about making records with. Unfortunately my DJ set was a total no-go, because the mixer was totally fucked. The only way to get a decent sound out of it was to push down on the gain knob. With your finger. The place emptied out onto the street between bands before my futile attempts to balance some sort of weight on the knob could produce a decent sound.
I ended up staying up all night with Marcos and friends of Motosierra... when I got back to the hostel it was 10:30am. I packed my bags and split on a bus for Colonia. After a quick walk around the town I got on the Buquebus for Buenos Aires. I write from my room in San Telmo -- an extremely spacious, relaxing room with a double bed, a couch, and a cat. I think I'll hang out here for at least ten days...
domingo, 9 de diciembre de 2007
Porto Alegre
This is my last stop in Brazil! I don´t really want to leave but I´ve got to keep movin´, I´m already wayyy behind, uh, schedule. Waitaminute, I don´t have a schedule! I don´t even have a return ticket... that´s the way I wanted it... that´s the way it´s gonna be!
Anyway, this place is alright, strikingly different from beautiful Florianópolis... Floripa is clean full of gorgeous, healthy people... Porto Alegre is sleazy and full of hobos with physical deformations. No jokin´! Amazing to see such a difference after just a 6-hour bus ride. But P. Alegre is decidedly more rock´n´roll, tons of bands come from here, I found a gig with 5 bands playing just walkin´ around the town... and instanly made friends... so it´s a shame that I´m not gonna spend more time here.
Last night I spun records (er, CDs... ugh) in a bar called Beco, great party, people seemed to dig my 60s shit after they got over the inital shock of hearing songs with regular instruments. And hey, I realized after the gig that I´ve DJed the last three nights in a row. This trip has turned into somewhat of a DJ tour for me...
Sao Paulo - Astronete
Curitiba - Kitinete
Florianópolis - Blues Velvet
Lagoa da Concecao - Clube de Sinuca
Porto Alegre - Beco
Tonight I´m gettin on a night bus, tomorrow morning I´ll be in La Paloma, Uruguay.
miércoles, 5 de diciembre de 2007
Florianópolis
I arrived in Florianópolis the other day. I'm actually staying in a cool little town called Barra da Lagoa. Taking some surf lessons... gettin' better... I think I'll be DJing in a club in town called Blues Velvet tomorrow night... and riding bikes with the fine folks from VIACICLO ( www.viaciclo.org.br). Gotta run!
jueves, 29 de noviembre de 2007
Curitiba
I'm in Curitiba now, and am feelin' much better. I like this town, feels good. And i got a DJ gig in a really cool little bar... it's called Kitenete, some guy posted some photos here. And the owner is gonna take me to all the best record stores tomorrow! I'll stay til saturday and then continue on to Florianopolis.
lunes, 26 de noviembre de 2007
Goiânia (Noise)
For some reason I've gotten into the habit of
updating this thing as I leave places... I've
been in Goiânia (which is pretty much smack in
the middle of Brazil) for three days... I went to
that festival, pretty cool... saw lots of bands,
a couple of which I liked. Tonight I saw
SEPULTURA, "a banda rock mais conhelcida do
Brasil!" All I could think while I watched them
was, "_______ was better" and I filled that blank
with Megadeth, Testament, Metallica, and a couple
of other metal bands I used to listen to, back in the day...
updating this thing as I leave places... I've
been in Goiânia (which is pretty much smack in
the middle of Brazil) for three days... I went to
that festival, pretty cool... saw lots of bands,
a couple of which I liked. Tonight I saw
SEPULTURA, "a banda rock mais conhelcida do
Brasil!" All I could think while I watched them
was, "_______ was better" and I filled that blank
with Megadeth, Testament, Metallica, and a couple
of other metal bands I used to listen to, back in the day...
Tomorrow afternoon I fly back to Sao Paulo, and then grab a bus to Curitiba.
jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2007
Salvador (Bahia)
Oh yeah so I´m in Salvador, in the practice studio of THE FUTCHERS (www.myspace.com/thefutchers). I´ve been in Salvador since Monday... and tomorrow I´m leaving for Goiania. I´m going to the www.goianianoisefestival.com.br
lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2007
basta Rio!
Alright I´ve had enough of this place... I´m booked on a flight to Salvador this evenin´. The gig the other night was cool, the bands were cool, real nice kids... I also found one of the coolest neighborhoods ever: Santa Teresa. Up on a hill overlooking the city. It was dubbed rio´s most "bohemian" neighborhood by Lonely planet... whatever that means...
There are lots of artist types with funny hair walkin around in their sandals... I guess that makes it Bohemian... I was really into the rickety old tram that brings you up there, that feels more like a roller-coaster at times, with the little barefoot black kids jumping on and off and all around it... and the beautiful, crumbling old buildings, and great little bars and restaurants. Rather than "modernizing", people up here have chosen to preserve. Beautiful place, if I ever come back here I´ll be staying there without a doubt.
viernes, 16 de noviembre de 2007
still in Rio... still raining
I'm still in Rio and there's not much of a music scene in this town. They all
told me, but I didn't wanna believe it. There's a pretty cool band called Os Azuis
playin around the corner tomorrow night... it's been raining almost
the whole time i've been here, so what i'd hoped would be a more
sane healthy kinda stay here (on the beach, hiking, surfing, stuff like
that) has been more of the usual -- drinking til 5 and sleeping til noon.
told me, but I didn't wanna believe it. There's a pretty cool band called Os Azuis
playin around the corner tomorrow night... it's been raining almost
the whole time i've been here, so what i'd hoped would be a more
sane healthy kinda stay here (on the beach, hiking, surfing, stuff like
that) has been more of the usual -- drinking til 5 and sleeping til noon.
martes, 13 de noviembre de 2007
Still in Rio
I´m gonna stay here for a couple more nights... at least... I´m stayin at this cheesy, but cozy & friendly joint: http://www.ipanemahouse.com/
Last night a guy from here in Rio was complaining about that song Copacabana... it was hilarious... who the fuck is that song by? Neil Diamond?? Turns out it´s one of Rio´s more violent neighborhoods these days... Ipanema is known because of a song too... it´s kind of an upscale area, which makes me wanna puke with all it´s fancy yuppies shopping for boring clothing... but at least it´s safe.
Last night a guy from here in Rio was complaining about that song Copacabana... it was hilarious... who the fuck is that song by? Neil Diamond?? Turns out it´s one of Rio´s more violent neighborhoods these days... Ipanema is known because of a song too... it´s kind of an upscale area, which makes me wanna puke with all it´s fancy yuppies shopping for boring clothing... but at least it´s safe.
lunes, 12 de noviembre de 2007
Blogs are for dorks - Rio de Janeiro
Okay, so it wasn't hard for me to be convinced that blogs are totally lame. Actually, I had sort of already convinced myself. But a friend of mine's confirmation drove the point home.
SO... I'll keep posting here but mostly just to send links to photos and such... and give a quick update on where I'm at.
Here are some pix from Sao Paulo
I'm in Rio de Janeiro and it's raining. Which is fine, cuz I've got 500 emails to go through...
I've got a Brazilian cell #... +55 11 8214 4715
SO... I'll keep posting here but mostly just to send links to photos and such... and give a quick update on where I'm at.
Here are some pix from Sao Paulo
I'm in Rio de Janeiro and it's raining. Which is fine, cuz I've got 500 emails to go through...
I've got a Brazilian cell #... +55 11 8214 4715
sábado, 10 de noviembre de 2007
Almost forgot... Last night
So last night was good too, by the way... I spun some records in the Astronete around 12.30 -- but just for about a half an hour. I only had the little box of 45s that I bought during my week in New York, along with some Slovenly stuff. I think I did alright, the people that were there seemed to be into it. (This is kind of a boring post, but that probably has something to do with my being bored. I'm at the Inferno club and there's a hardcore punk band playing that is pretty good but they've been playing for an hour already. I had had enough 20 minutes ago.) After me Claudio played and ruled again, though it wasn't the same as Thursday -- the sound ain't bad at Astronete, but Las Vegas's system was really pounding. Next came a duo onstage -- a drummer and a singer playing a moog. They make a horrible first impression by starting their set with a Nirvana cover. They never really made up for it. All night I'm getting a crash course in Portuguese from the Brazilians I'm trying to interact with. Despite my knowledge of Italian and Spanish, it ain't going too well. Like with French, I can understand much of written Portuguese. But I've got no clue how to pronounce it. Or decipher it when it's spoken to me. I'm trying, but it's telling that the phrase I remember best from last night's lessons is "foda se" -- FUCK IT. It was dawn before I snapped the last picture on my Holga and stumbled back to the air mattress at Claudio and Naomi's.
Saturday night in Sao Paulo
Claudio talked me into staying another night here (it wasn't hard) and I'm gettin ready to head out again and see what's happenin out there. The streets are loud and full of people. I'm gonna grab me another Brazilian pizza and head to the Infierno bar.
Tomorrow we're going to eat in an Italian restaurant on top of a tower with a view of all of Sao Paulo. Actually, supposedly this city is so damned big that even from way up there you can't even see the whole thing... it never ends... it's the 3rd largest city in the world after Mexico City and Tokyo, I believe.
viernes, 9 de noviembre de 2007
Brazil - Sao Paulo
I made it to Brazil after a crazy trip which I wrote nothing about except in emails to friends. Here's a good synopsis of what I've been doing since I left Reno in late September:
- buffalo (visit grandma, dad)
- memphis (goner fest - garagerock festival)
- italy (naples, rome, milan... visiting friends and takin care of business)
- valencia (play a gig with my band, record, hang with friends, take care of business, DJ the funtastic festival)
- milan (do laundry, mail a package, see a friend, catch a train to...)
- zagreb (visit a croatian friend I know from Amsterdam)
- belgrade (meet up with my friends from Rome's band, THE INTELLECTUALS, they play here and...)
- sofia (that's bulgaria, second gig of the little balkan minitour)
- crete (one of the southernmost and largest greek islands, to meet up with the "Ship of Fools")
- rhodes (another large greek island, south of turkey. spent a night in the beautiful 'capital' and then caught a ferry to...)
-bodrum (turkey. hung out a few hours here, ate a kebab, checked out a bitchin museum in a castle, caught a plane to...)
- istanbul! (amazing gigantic town, 20mil people (who knew there were so many turks?), met up with a guy from a garage band I found via another friend on myspace, ate a bunch of great food, drank a lot, walked a lot, saw a lot, wow! gotta go back)
- new york city (stayed a week, halloween, the Cavestomp festival to the THE SONICS (they were great!!), friends from Reno and all over comin' too
Here I am now in Sao Paulo, Brazil! I have a 1-way ticket, I'm going to relax and enjoy the spring (!) and investigate tour possibilities for the bands on my label... THE SUBSONICS... THE SPITS...
I'm recovering from last night... first off went and had some Brazilian pizza, which is surprisingly good, they cook it in a wood-fired oven, with a sesame-seed crust, and topped with the hearts of palm trees. Mmm. Bohemia is my beer of choice down here, a nice lager.
Then to the ASTRONETE club, great place owned by my new friends Claudio and Noemi. Thanks to Joe & Xtine for putting me in contact with them... I'm staying in their place, and I'm DJing in their bar tonight (with what few records I found in NYC)!
There was an AMAZINGLY good Clash tribute band playing the 'Nete... they rocked!! Then I ran over to a club called, er, LAS VEGAS (! - don't you think RENO is a better name for a club? It rolls off the tongue much more nicely...) and, wow, there's a band on stage tearing up "Psychotic Reaction" by the Count Five! And as soon as they're done, Claudio starts his record and I swear he was watching my applause for the band because the beat was synced with my claps. Ridiculous! He's a great DJ and I shook it til 5am. Now I gotta recover for tonight. And figure out where I'm going tomorrow. I'm thinking of heading to Rio...
- buffalo (visit grandma, dad)
- memphis (goner fest - garagerock festival)
- italy (naples, rome, milan... visiting friends and takin care of business)
- valencia (play a gig with my band, record, hang with friends, take care of business, DJ the funtastic festival)
- milan (do laundry, mail a package, see a friend, catch a train to...)
- zagreb (visit a croatian friend I know from Amsterdam)
- belgrade (meet up with my friends from Rome's band, THE INTELLECTUALS, they play here and...)
- sofia (that's bulgaria, second gig of the little balkan minitour)
- crete (one of the southernmost and largest greek islands, to meet up with the "Ship of Fools")
- rhodes (another large greek island, south of turkey. spent a night in the beautiful 'capital' and then caught a ferry to...)
-bodrum (turkey. hung out a few hours here, ate a kebab, checked out a bitchin museum in a castle, caught a plane to...)
- istanbul! (amazing gigantic town, 20mil people (who knew there were so many turks?), met up with a guy from a garage band I found via another friend on myspace, ate a bunch of great food, drank a lot, walked a lot, saw a lot, wow! gotta go back)
- new york city (stayed a week, halloween, the Cavestomp festival to the THE SONICS (they were great!!), friends from Reno and all over comin' too
Here I am now in Sao Paulo, Brazil! I have a 1-way ticket, I'm going to relax and enjoy the spring (!) and investigate tour possibilities for the bands on my label... THE SUBSONICS... THE SPITS...
I'm recovering from last night... first off went and had some Brazilian pizza, which is surprisingly good, they cook it in a wood-fired oven, with a sesame-seed crust, and topped with the hearts of palm trees. Mmm. Bohemia is my beer of choice down here, a nice lager.
Then to the ASTRONETE club, great place owned by my new friends Claudio and Noemi. Thanks to Joe & Xtine for putting me in contact with them... I'm staying in their place, and I'm DJing in their bar tonight (with what few records I found in NYC)!
There was an AMAZINGLY good Clash tribute band playing the 'Nete... they rocked!! Then I ran over to a club called, er, LAS VEGAS (! - don't you think RENO is a better name for a club? It rolls off the tongue much more nicely...) and, wow, there's a band on stage tearing up "Psychotic Reaction" by the Count Five! And as soon as they're done, Claudio starts his record and I swear he was watching my applause for the band because the beat was synced with my claps. Ridiculous! He's a great DJ and I shook it til 5am. Now I gotta recover for tonight. And figure out where I'm going tomorrow. I'm thinking of heading to Rio...
viernes, 14 de septiembre de 2007
Rocktocycle / Septocycle blog moved!
I didn't know you could do this...
rocktocycle.blogspot.com
That's where I'll post all Rocktocycle / Septocycle news, photos, videos from here on. WOW! Last night we had the one and only BOB LOG III on the Rocktocycle. He was great! He said, while pedaling, through his plugged-in mic on his helmet (cuz otherwise we just couldn't hear him), that it may have been the weirdest thing he's ever done. The video will be up (there) soon!
rocktocycle.blogspot.com
That's where I'll post all Rocktocycle / Septocycle news, photos, videos from here on. WOW! Last night we had the one and only BOB LOG III on the Rocktocycle. He was great! He said, while pedaling, through his plugged-in mic on his helmet (cuz otherwise we just couldn't hear him), that it may have been the weirdest thing he's ever done. The video will be up (there) soon!
martes, 11 de septiembre de 2007
Techno Ain't Music
This was written for the last issue of Piss Clear at Burning Man 2007, but they ran out of space and couldn't run it. (geez why don't my freakin tabs show up on this thing??!?
TECHNO AIN'T MUSIC
by Pete Stickerguy
First of all, I know that techno is only one of many types of electronic dance 'music' -- the stuff that you hear pounding out across the playa from all of those giant rave camps on the edges of Black Rock City [BRC], and from the sound systems of the majority of the theme camps and art cars of this godforsaken town -- but for simplicity's sake, I'll just use that term. What I'm referring to when I say "techno" is ALL forms of rave 'music' -- trance, house, breakbeat, jungle, drum&bass, happy hardcore, etc, ETC.
A friend of mine once hit the nail right on the proverbial head when I watched him argue to a raver that the stuff he was dancing to was, in fact, NOT MUSIC. He said:
“Okay then, hum your favorite trance 'song' for me.” The raver was stumped for a second. He was smart enough to realize that actually trying to hum a trance beat would have made him look the fool... and then he replied,
"If it has a beat that you can dance to, then it's music."
"No, it's NOT music, it's a BEAT. It's not a song, but a VIBE."
And it couldn't be better explained than that. Because since about 1996, the soundscape of BRC has increasingly become a chaotic clash of thumping vibes. Anyone who has been here a few years can attest to that. On paper, it sounds kind of cool -- chaos is a big part of what attracts me to the desert for this festival year after year. But the omnipresent techno beat can wear on a man, and might make him want to fight.
Last year was the closest I've come to fighting. Someone had the nerve to park their techno camp right behind ours, with the stated intention of having parties from 5AM until "?", so that each morning they could celebrate another sunrise by jouncing up and down to seemingly neverending prerecorded 'songs' on compact disc. For most of the week, I tolerated it, even though, I thought to myself,
"Shouldn't they have been placed on the edge of town like the rest of the big rave camps who have sunrise parties?" Of course they should have. But lucky for them, I was usually out and about during their pathetic, mindnumbing ritual, and by the time 9am rolled around and I was crashing, so were they.
Until one of the last mornings, after one of those restful, mellow nights of sitting around the fire and just chatting with campmates and new friends. I had gotten to bed 'early,' but just two hours later at 6am I was awoken by the thumping of their sound system. Not one to complain, I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. When I awoke at 9am, I wanted to take my earplugs out, but I wasn't going to do so with their crap still blaring. So in good fun, I donned my gorilla suit and went over to them to ask them to cut it. They said they would, but fifteen minutes later when they hadn't, my friend stormed over there and pulled their plugs. A fight nearly ensued; the music never came back on; she became camp hero for the day.
mu·sic [myoo-zik]: the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments.
That's how one dictionary defines music. So now I can hate techno not only because it annoys the hell out of me and makes me want to fight, but because it is, by definition, NOT MUSIC! A techno DJ is not a musician, he's a turntablist, which one DJ Babu once defined as "One who uses the turntable in the spirit of a musical instrument." Noise artists like Merzbow or Masonna don't call the screeching, hypnotic, sonic distortions they make music -- they call it NOISE! (as an aside: the term 'DJ' was coined in 1934 in reference to radio announcer Martin Block, who played records over the airwaves between news flashes. The D and the J stand for 'disc jockey,' and if you see a DJ listed for a party, it does NOT mean that you should expect a rave party. I can't count the times that I've had to explain to people that I'm still a DJ even though my records feature things like guitars, vocals, horns and organs).
Don't get me wrong folks -- I do believe that there is a place for everything at Burning Man (and I'll admit that there are many different, debatable ways to define music). But that's exactly my problem -- if the vast majority of what you hear out here is techno, then what we'll essentially be left with is an 'arts festival' WITHOUT MUSIC! Instead of catchy tunes and killer riffs, all we get pummeled with is a barrage of conflicting beats, which leaves us with a big fuckin' headache. I would never advocate an outright ban on techno -- but I WOULD advocate the imposition, by the powers that be, of guidelines for musical diversity. The BRDMD (Black Rock Department of Musical Diversity) -- who wants to sign up!? We'll rove the playa distributing permits for all of the genres of music that our citizens deserve to be able to choose from, thereby preventing the same old techno crud from emanating from every camp.
Anyway, I'd be willing to bet one of my hairy nuts that the majority of theme campers and artcar drivers who bring techno out to the playa don't even really like it. Okay, so you danced for three hours to it while you were high on ecstasy, but was it because of the 'music,' or because of the vibe created by the entire situation around it: the intense volume that you feel in your organs; the quivering flesh surrounding you; and your intoxicated, pulsating neurons? Are you sure you REALLY like it, people? Wouldn't you prefer to hear some real music performed by some real, LIVE musicians amplified over those towering speaker stacks? You would dance, and you would get off harder. Because recorded music can be good, but it's nothing like a live band, with real instruments. It's like the difference between jerking off and a great fuck.
So we'd be welcome. People would be happy to have us snap their trance CDs in half and hand them a Nathaniel Mayer CD to help fulfill the Soul requirement. Or a Hasil Adkins CD to fill that Hillbilly Country gap, or a copy of the Fucking Champs 'IV', vital for providing our citizens with their Instrumental Metal fix! (I highly recommend seeking all of these artists out, it's well worth the trouble). Violators would simply have their plugs pulled. On the second offense, cords cut!
I, for one, am ready to go to work. If you are too, then stop by Jub Jub (2:00 & LANDFILL) Thursday just before sundown for our first meeting. Tuition is one bottle containing at least 16 ounces of the intoxicant of your choice. You'll be trained and suited up, and by midnight, you'll be ready to hit the field.
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK,
WE SALUTE YOU!
For those about to rave...
we're coming for you.
TECHNO AIN'T MUSIC
by Pete Stickerguy
First of all, I know that techno is only one of many types of electronic dance 'music' -- the stuff that you hear pounding out across the playa from all of those giant rave camps on the edges of Black Rock City [BRC], and from the sound systems of the majority of the theme camps and art cars of this godforsaken town -- but for simplicity's sake, I'll just use that term. What I'm referring to when I say "techno" is ALL forms of rave 'music' -- trance, house, breakbeat, jungle, drum&bass, happy hardcore, etc, ETC.
A friend of mine once hit the nail right on the proverbial head when I watched him argue to a raver that the stuff he was dancing to was, in fact, NOT MUSIC. He said:
“Okay then, hum your favorite trance 'song' for me.” The raver was stumped for a second. He was smart enough to realize that actually trying to hum a trance beat would have made him look the fool... and then he replied,
"If it has a beat that you can dance to, then it's music."
"No, it's NOT music, it's a BEAT. It's not a song, but a VIBE."
And it couldn't be better explained than that. Because since about 1996, the soundscape of BRC has increasingly become a chaotic clash of thumping vibes. Anyone who has been here a few years can attest to that. On paper, it sounds kind of cool -- chaos is a big part of what attracts me to the desert for this festival year after year. But the omnipresent techno beat can wear on a man, and might make him want to fight.
Last year was the closest I've come to fighting. Someone had the nerve to park their techno camp right behind ours, with the stated intention of having parties from 5AM until "?", so that each morning they could celebrate another sunrise by jouncing up and down to seemingly neverending prerecorded 'songs' on compact disc. For most of the week, I tolerated it, even though, I thought to myself,
"Shouldn't they have been placed on the edge of town like the rest of the big rave camps who have sunrise parties?" Of course they should have. But lucky for them, I was usually out and about during their pathetic, mindnumbing ritual, and by the time 9am rolled around and I was crashing, so were they.
Until one of the last mornings, after one of those restful, mellow nights of sitting around the fire and just chatting with campmates and new friends. I had gotten to bed 'early,' but just two hours later at 6am I was awoken by the thumping of their sound system. Not one to complain, I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. When I awoke at 9am, I wanted to take my earplugs out, but I wasn't going to do so with their crap still blaring. So in good fun, I donned my gorilla suit and went over to them to ask them to cut it. They said they would, but fifteen minutes later when they hadn't, my friend stormed over there and pulled their plugs. A fight nearly ensued; the music never came back on; she became camp hero for the day.
mu·sic [myoo-zik]: the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments.
That's how one dictionary defines music. So now I can hate techno not only because it annoys the hell out of me and makes me want to fight, but because it is, by definition, NOT MUSIC! A techno DJ is not a musician, he's a turntablist, which one DJ Babu once defined as "One who uses the turntable in the spirit of a musical instrument." Noise artists like Merzbow or Masonna don't call the screeching, hypnotic, sonic distortions they make music -- they call it NOISE! (as an aside: the term 'DJ' was coined in 1934 in reference to radio announcer Martin Block, who played records over the airwaves between news flashes. The D and the J stand for 'disc jockey,' and if you see a DJ listed for a party, it does NOT mean that you should expect a rave party. I can't count the times that I've had to explain to people that I'm still a DJ even though my records feature things like guitars, vocals, horns and organs).
Don't get me wrong folks -- I do believe that there is a place for everything at Burning Man (and I'll admit that there are many different, debatable ways to define music). But that's exactly my problem -- if the vast majority of what you hear out here is techno, then what we'll essentially be left with is an 'arts festival' WITHOUT MUSIC! Instead of catchy tunes and killer riffs, all we get pummeled with is a barrage of conflicting beats, which leaves us with a big fuckin' headache. I would never advocate an outright ban on techno -- but I WOULD advocate the imposition, by the powers that be, of guidelines for musical diversity. The BRDMD (Black Rock Department of Musical Diversity) -- who wants to sign up!? We'll rove the playa distributing permits for all of the genres of music that our citizens deserve to be able to choose from, thereby preventing the same old techno crud from emanating from every camp.
Anyway, I'd be willing to bet one of my hairy nuts that the majority of theme campers and artcar drivers who bring techno out to the playa don't even really like it. Okay, so you danced for three hours to it while you were high on ecstasy, but was it because of the 'music,' or because of the vibe created by the entire situation around it: the intense volume that you feel in your organs; the quivering flesh surrounding you; and your intoxicated, pulsating neurons? Are you sure you REALLY like it, people? Wouldn't you prefer to hear some real music performed by some real, LIVE musicians amplified over those towering speaker stacks? You would dance, and you would get off harder. Because recorded music can be good, but it's nothing like a live band, with real instruments. It's like the difference between jerking off and a great fuck.
So we'd be welcome. People would be happy to have us snap their trance CDs in half and hand them a Nathaniel Mayer CD to help fulfill the Soul requirement. Or a Hasil Adkins CD to fill that Hillbilly Country gap, or a copy of the Fucking Champs 'IV', vital for providing our citizens with their Instrumental Metal fix! (I highly recommend seeking all of these artists out, it's well worth the trouble). Violators would simply have their plugs pulled. On the second offense, cords cut!
I, for one, am ready to go to work. If you are too, then stop by Jub Jub (2:00 & LANDFILL) Thursday just before sundown for our first meeting. Tuition is one bottle containing at least 16 ounces of the intoxicant of your choice. You'll be trained and suited up, and by midnight, you'll be ready to hit the field.
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK,
WE SALUTE YOU!
For those about to rave...
we're coming for you.
the SEPTOCYCLE
Ok so before the ROCKTOCYCLE was the SEPTOCYCLE... here are some videos of it. Here's a photo of us out in the desert:
And here is text from a flier that I handed out this year at Burning Man '07:
More accurately called a seven-seat quadricycle, this thing was built in Germany. It was dreamt up by Eric Staller, an New York artist based in Amsterdam who specializes in urban UFOs. If you’d like to know how much they cost, check out:
www.conferencebike.com
Please don’t ask me, I’m trying to forget how much I paid for it. Actually I have no regrets. It’s way more fun than a sports car!
The real name is Conference Bike, but that sounded a little too official so I started calling it the Septocycle. Then after mounting a kiddie drumset on the back I started calling it the Rocktocycle.
Unfortunately, I can’t answer your technical questions, because I didn’t build it! The bike is propelled entirely by pedaling. The music is powered by a little boat battery in the back. It was shipped from Germany to NJ on a boat, and then to Reno in a truck! more info:
menchetti.blogspot.com
www.ericstaller.com
And here is text from a flier that I handed out this year at Burning Man '07:
More accurately called a seven-seat quadricycle, this thing was built in Germany. It was dreamt up by Eric Staller, an New York artist based in Amsterdam who specializes in urban UFOs. If you’d like to know how much they cost, check out:
www.conferencebike.com
Please don’t ask me, I’m trying to forget how much I paid for it. Actually I have no regrets. It’s way more fun than a sports car!
The real name is Conference Bike, but that sounded a little too official so I started calling it the Septocycle. Then after mounting a kiddie drumset on the back I started calling it the Rocktocycle.
Unfortunately, I can’t answer your technical questions, because I didn’t build it! The bike is propelled entirely by pedaling. The music is powered by a little boat battery in the back. It was shipped from Germany to NJ on a boat, and then to Reno in a truck! more info:
menchetti.blogspot.com
www.ericstaller.com
jueves, 23 de agosto de 2007
THE ROCKTOCYCLE
I'm going to start a little blog here about the Rocktocycle. This just has to be documented. If you want a sneak peak, take a look at this video link.
(If that doesn't work, go to video.google.com, and search for ROCKTOCYCLE).
(If that doesn't work, go to video.google.com, and search for ROCKTOCYCLE).
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