1/22/2003 11:08:23 AM

Peter and I took a trip up to New York yesterday. The early afternoon was occupied by sifting through galleries in Chelsea, the highlights of which were the Tim Gardner and Michael Craig-Martin exhibitions, held (respectively) at 303 Gallery and Gagosian Gallery. The late afternoon was spent being herded around NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center, waiting to see Interpol perform on “Last Call with Carson Daly”. The vast majority of the audience was Interpol fans, which pretty much precluded them from being Carson Daly fans, so there was a marked lack of enthusiasm for the non-Interpol portions of the program. The band played “Obstacle 1” and “NYC”; the show will air on Friday night, so check your local listings for the time and listen for Peter and me whooping it up.

1/20/2003 02:25:49 PM

The Relapse Contamination Festival took over the Troc for the weekend and what a wicked weekend it was. To avoid exhaustion, I pared it down to the essentials and saw only seven of the fourteen bands that played. And I was more than satisfied.

I began the weekend’s festivities Saturday night, battling over parking with the cursed throngs of Philadelphia International Auto Show-goers, arriving just as Alabama Thunderpussy finished up and Cephalic Carnage prepared to take the stage. Neither of those bands ever really piqued my interest, so their antics merely served as mild amusement while I awaited the mighty Mastodon, whose Troy Sanders sports one of the greatest metal faces I’ve ever seen as he bellows through their punishing, one-syllable-at-a-time lyrical repertoire. That I had any opportunity to see said metal face was lucky indeed, as my view of the band was obstructed through much of their set by not one but two seven-foot-tall women. Still, whole amazon tribes would not stop the metal assault from penetrating me; they were eventually shuffled out of my way by the inevitable pit-induced crowd sway. And then came Neurosis. I’ve missed their shows on a number of occasions since I was first made aware of their existence about eight years ago, and they were kind enough to consolidate the intensity of all those missed shows for my initiation. Were it not for the giggly stoner dipshits that flanked my left, I might not have been so sure the world wasn’t ending. I’d have liked to check out 27 at the after-party up in the Balcony, but there just is no following Neurosis.

On Sunday night I confirmed the Eagles’ loss before leaving for the show, securing a drive unobstructed by face-painted merrymakers overturning cars in anticipation of the Super Bowl. Today Is The Day made a whole bunch of scary noise that was way better live than it is on their records, at least the later ones. The microphone was halfway down Steve Austin’s throat for the duration of their set. High On Fire was likewise impressive; the surprise this time was that they’re only a three-piece. That’s a lot of power for a three-piece. As for The Dillinger Escape Plan, I’ve never seen them put on anything short of an awe-inspiring show, and this one was no exception. Relatively new singer Greg Puciato handled the new Dillinger/Patton songs well and went on to joke that the next album would feature Sebastian Bach (wow, two posts in a row with Skid Row references!). My Philly faves Dysrhythmia kicked the ass of the packed after-party, as they seem destined to do at every show they play. They’re recording with Steve Albini next week. I can’t wait to hear what that sounds like.

1/11/2003 12:09:45 PM

I had a dream that Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row fame) moved in with my next door neighbors. In the dream, I was really excited to tell the world about it here on my web site, so out of respect for the “dream me”, I’ve decided to tell the world (or at least whoever reads this site) about it anyway. Here’s hoping that in subsequent dreams, Baz and I can belt out the classics together on his deck, whittling away at those hot summer nights with a capella renditions of “Youth Gone Wild” and “Midnight” (“I’m the only thing you need / Upon your love I feed!”) in two-part harmony. I sing a wicked guitar solo.

In non-hair metal news, I’ve been applying myself somewhat dilligently to my ActionScript self-education, the most immediate results of which will be found in a new collaborative site that will be public oh-so-soon. I’m currently plowing through the errata-filled (but otherwise enlightening) Drag Slide Fade: Flash ActionScript for Designers, to be followed by ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide. About a year and a half ago, my attempt at the first edition of the latter book only got me about a third of the way through it, so everyone wish me well to keep me motivated this time.

1/7/2003 12:47:32 PM

Sonata for the Unaware, the new k10k issue by carbonatedjazz, is the best issue I’ve seen in a long time. There are three simultaneous video clips of public places in Philadelphia; the candid movements of the random people who appear in the clips generate varying bass notes, percussion, and tone frequencies. The 4MB download might scare off the dialup crowd, but it’s totally worth the wait.

1/5/2003 12:20:32 PM

I guess it’s been pretty quiet around here. In the last month: I braved the Philadelphia blizzard fallout to get to the sold-out Interpol show at Gasoline and was rewarded with a terrific performance. I caught the final two Andrew W.K. club dates of the year and even got kicked out of one of them (apparently the Chameleon Club in Lancaster has recently found reason not to tolerate members of the audience getting up on their stage). I saw Gangs of New York and forgave most of the superfluous Hollywood glitz for Daniel Day-Lewis, who was ssoooo awesome.

The holidays were way better than I thought they would be. Time spent with family and friends was great and I scored some good loot too. I did a small series of two-color screen-prints to give out as Christmas gifts. The images were based on pictures I had taken around Conshohocken earlier in the year. I forgot how enjoyable screen-printing can be; there’s something kind of cathartic about relinquishing precision to hand-cut paper and stencils that will never produce the same result twice. The remaining prints will be posted for sale on this site soon.

Our New Year’s party had a somewhat disappointing turnout considering the monstrous guest list, but I don’t think that stopped anyone from having a good time. I think there’ll be pictures and video posted somewhere online soon. There’s a lot of leftover beer, so drop by if you feel like getting your drink on.

Yesterday my roommates and I drove up to a community center in Northeast Philly to rock out as extras in a Trauma Queens video shoot. Free food plus cute girls equals good day.

What to expect from ROb in the new year: Version 3 of this site. Version 2 of the BREDSTIK Entertainment site. Version 1 of a new collaborative site that should be going public in the next two weeks or so. A big, fat, fucking moustache. A move to Chicago…?