Mama Rocks the Fox: SPeCiaL GueST BLoGGeR!!!!

 

Mama Rocks the Fox!!

Thanks for the invite to guest blog on my recent concert filled week. I hope the vast reading audience will like it so much they clamor for more. About the blogger, I am mother of one half of rawk talk and I have a long history of concert attendance. In fact, my very first concert was September 16, 1964. As a sixth grader I traveled by Greyhound bus from High Point, NC to Baltimore, MD to see the Beatles on their first American tour, but that story is for another episode of Rawk Talk. 

Saturday November 8, the spouse and I attended the Aretha Franklin show at the grandly beautiful FoxTheater in Atlanta. This was the day after my birthday so as a part of the festivities we splurged on orchestra seats and dang, scored second row, center. The crowd was mainly silverbacks, like us, but there was a sprinkling of 30’s and 40’s as well, which always makes me happy for some reason. I also noticed those pathetic few who wanted to introduce the grandkids to classic soul. Sad for all of them. They had the poor little urchins dressed in their starched khakis, mini Brooks Brothers, Sunday dresses and hair bows. I guess just to make sure the evening was an unforgettable trip into the fires of hell for the little ones. The groups were the usual mix of single ladies, gay couples, multi-cultural, mixed race, and plain vanilla like us. Hats were a frequent fashion statement as were bald heads. But unlike most Atlanta events, people dressed up. They were here to see a Queen.

The deservedly named Queen of Soul was looking good. She has experienced undisclosed health issues and whatever it is has not damaged her voice one bit. She has, however, lost a shit ton of weight. Her breasts, previously the size of large watermelons are now down to the size of large cantaloupes. 

She danced, played the piano, and sang like it was 1971, never missing a high or low note. She opened with a Jackie Wilson tune (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) and the crowd stood and moved their (mostly) arthritic bones in excitement. Arriving center stage she shed the first of 3 fur coats that eventually landed on the grand piano. I was kind of hoping she would get carried away and toss one to the crowd but no such luck. 

 She was backed by a 19 piece band and three great backup singers. The classics mixed throughout the show never failed to bring the crowd to standing while singing along and finger shaking, fist pumping and dancing in place. Chain of Fools, I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You) Freeway of Love, and she closed with the requisite RESPECT. But there were some great surprises. Her rendition of Sam Cooke’s You Send Me was flawless and left me wanting a much longer version. And she really delivered on Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, a song that is perfect for her strong, powerful voice.

 Aretha was the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She grew up singing gospel like so many of her peers. Her career includes 112 charted singles and she has won a total 18 Grammies. The show we saw reflected both her otherworldly talent and the beauty and assuredness of a woman who knows she is loved and revered.

Contrast that with Wednesday night, November 12, 2014. Again we are out of the house and off to the Fabulous Fox Theater. This time to see an all-star tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Because we spent so wildly on Aretha tickets we had decided to pass on this show but then slow ticket sales forced them to reduce prices. I think they needed a crowd since this concert was filmed. Anyway we bought tickets the week before the show and ended up 10^th row orchestra. Our seats were on the far right aisle which turned out to be a great thing. Due to so many artists participating in this show the side door of the Fox (facing Ponce) was turned into stage door for the night. So here comes all the stars, standing beside us, posing for photos with fans and looking rough as hell.

The crowd was so interesting that I randomly noted sights seen on the Facebook for all to enjoy. Let me share.

As for the demographics? A few folks our age, no people of color, mostly 40 and 50 something from (I hope) far, far OTP. They stood for most of the show and raised one arm in the air, either pointing to the sky or fist pumping. This was the pretty universal audience stance throughout. And really, people did yell Free Bird. Of course it was kind of legit and not a joke. 

The entertainment started early, 7:30 and went until almost midnight.

The show opened with Randy Houser rocking Whiskey Rock a Roller. Every act following delivered flawless versions of Skynyrd classics. Blackberry Smoke (from Atlanta) tore up Working for the MCA and Jason Isbell killed I Know a Little. Trace Adkins rocked What’s Your Name. A duo of Charlie Daniels and Donnie Van Zandt energized the tiring audience with guitar solos on Down South Jukin. The spouse and I loved Peter Frampton’s wild bluesy Call Me the Breeze. 

Rickey Medlocke and Johnny Van Zant crank up the “Free Bird.” Photo: Getty Images/Blackbird Productions

We saw also saw Cheap Trick, Gov’t Mule, moe, Alabama, John Hiatt, Robert Randolph, O.A.R., Warren Haynes, but I’m saving the best for last. Greg was there. If you have to ask Greg who, stop reading now. He played organ and sang in a vaguely gospel style, Tuesday’s Gone. 

  Gregg Allman offered a lovely version of “Tuesday’s Gone.” Photo: Getty Images/Blackbird Productions

Then of course as you would expect it was time for Lynyrd Skynyrd. First every single performer in the show for full stage, rousing, Sweet Home. This nearly drove the crowd to frenzy. And as you would expect, they closed with the redneck anthem, the southern siren song, the heckler’s chorus, Free Bird. 

The evening was one of hair whipping and amazing guitars. It was late and we had to work the next day but we stayed until the lights were up and Roy Rogers was singing Happy Trails to You. 

Reflecting back on this stunning week of concerts I am amazed that I have been lucky enough to see some of the most influential musicians of all time. Their talent and inspiration has been a constant with me as I grew up, raised a family, and worked hard. It has put me to sleep and helped me wake in the morning. And now I am sharing with you gentle Rawkers. Rawk on. 

vinyl roundup: chattanooga, tennessee!

so i made a short trip north to Chattanooga and Nashville a few weeks ago, and FINALLY: merc retro is over, so I feel like I can write about shit again. its about damn time.

i brought some jamz along, since michis car only has cd capability. now personally, my (previous vehicle- i have since purchased a new car with all kinds of new fangled technology) car only has the radio, a tape deck, and luckily, also a cd slot. thank god for the tape deck- i have successfully used my tape deck to transmit all kinds of sounds since before i drove a car with a CD player. when i had nought but a tape deck i just used my tape adapter to hook up my portable CD player. with the wagen i just used the tape adaptor to hook up my ipod, ipad, and even my phone now that the interwebs is available by phone. i also purchased a satellite radio receiver that totally played thru the tape adaptor. i was fully connected up in there, but unfortch the actually driving mechanisms of my poor little old wagon were starting to devolve and really do some far out shit, which I am not going to go into here. im just saying that to say that we had to take michis wagon because it was more reliable despite its stark disadvantage in the tuneage department. so with only cd and radio capabilities in mind i selected a few discs (and burned like two of my playlists to disc) so we would not be stuck listening to country and talk radio once we got too far out.

i brought along these selections:






 Well Hung: a hungarian psych/funk mix rerelease off finders keepers, a fave




difficult to actually find on the innerwebs to share. this was michis "jam"on the journey, and he still has my mf'in cd...

I also felt inspired by hank 3 for the whole nashville journey so i brought along one of his albums, and we played it like twice before michi got crotchety about it.



hank 3 is such a damn cutie, behold:



man so the trip to nashville was actually for a wedding of friends, but you know i gotta werk in some vinyl time. if theres anything i feel like i am a master of, its planning a trip. so for this like two day trip i totally made a fucking pinterest board of where all the record stores are along the way, as well as other points of interest. u gotta maximize your journeys, man.

well my chattanooga pin board was pitiful because i only tagged one place. but it turned out to be a super awesome record store full of great selections and great prices. it was especially weird because it was located in a shopping mall, sort of outside or one the outskirts of Chattanooga. that didnt deter us because we are always down for a scenic drive thru the hood. the place turned out to be awesome- just my kinda spot- a little bit of new stuff, a ton of old stuff, and even some fun merch and gear. they actually had a ton of books and coffee mugs and all kinds of ephemera. turntables and soundsystem components and the like. and the lady running the spot was super friendly and allowed us to play some of the records we wanted to hear.

i really like chattanooga, its just seated in a pretty part of the state and they seem to keep it nice there. thats not to say that it doesnt have a grimy, industrial side, but i like it all. they also have like the fastest, bestest, govt run innerwebs in the universe, and its way progressive for a southern city. we actually went to see jack white perform there a few years ago when he put out blunderbuss, it  was his first tour stop. and he hadn't played out in like ages. we saw him play there and it was pretty kickass, but i digress.

For the Record was the shop we popped in:

view inside (sweeeeet! feelin panicky yet?)

wall of fame

 

picture discs

fancy display

bunch of cool stuff i didnt get, per usual:

michi ended up with probably the best score of this venture: the wattstaxx soundtrack

whenever he has something cool he gets all smug about it and i can hardly stand it, but this really is great. in fact i became completely obsessed with it there for a few good weeks. totally. fucking. obsessed. so wattstaxx was this big ass black music festival in watts california back in the 70s. an award winning documentary was made about it and this is the soundtrack. which is totally killer. and also totally diverse. it is in fact so killer that i had to include four different songs from it, that i love. (you can also stream the entire documentary right on youtubes. peep the hotlink above!)

RANCE ALLEN GROUP



THE BAR-KAYS



ALBERT KING



THE STAPLES SINGERS

so heres what i eneded up with :

i got this used copy of the Graveyard album . we heard graveyard for the first time at the psych fest, although i had read lots of great things and was totally pysched out to hear them .. they really wailed. so i was happy to get this.

next up a cheap lil spooky toof album, to be such a fucking great band from that era, i sure do find their albums everywhere all the time. love them.

so this is probably my most favorite score from that day. im pretty sure its a leftover from their record store day event (not sure actually). but it is a live album from this deep blues festival, and every fucking song on it rules. i picked it up cause it looked cool and it was 20% off ( a new vinyl). then i saw that it featured performances by the buffalo killers and radio moscow and i felt myself getting all hot, like i found some shit i wasnt supposed to have, or like they didnt realize how fucking cool it was and it shouldnt srsly be 20% off. so i got the panic, and it wasnt unwarranted: his album rules. 

omg that alive at deep blues is the shit and a half. its actually impossible to find the versions of these songs off this album online. like i have really tried, and i would just upload it myself to youtube, but im not sure i feel like doing that- i mean who even knows how to do that shit,  right? and what if i get sued? i have no idea. so youll just have to enjoy these versions of the songs, and know that the ones on this album are way better. this album was great because it did come with the mp3 download code, which i think all new vinyl should include. new records are so fucking expensive and even with all my tape adaptor wiazardry i couldnt listen to a record in my car. although they did make those at one point. i have heard from my mom that my dad at one time had one. anyway to mp3 download was way cool because it came with bonus tracks! right awn!!

can you even imagine how much that would suck? skipping for one, then that its like a fucking 45? i guess it was like witchcraft back in the day, but fuck that shit. 

anyway, heres the version of the song that i love on that deep blues fest album, but not that version:

we drove on towards nashville

it was a righteous journey

along the way there were ribs, and sample ribs and a smoke shop with awesome hippy rings.

who has sample ribs?! like that dude brought us over each a rib, then they had an array of dips to try! Shout out the Michis friend, Jerry, our Viethick representative, who recommended this spot .Jim Olivers Smokehouse in Monteagle, Tn- kinda like a real deal Crackerbarrel, but with a buffet.

that sounds horrific, no thanks.

the smoke shop next door was also so intriguing we had to stop in. Also we were so full and miserable we had to move around before we could just get back in the car. The Amish Hippy had an array of junk, vintage shit, custom hippy ass clothing, and pipes, but nothing we really gave a shit about (except awesome hippy rings, but we left those too)

at last! nashville!

it was like pulling teeth to convince everyone to go down to the honky tonks, so by the time we managed to herd ourselves over there it was full of sloppy drunk party mom hen party types and Michi called it "party hell" and that was an accurate description.

the record store open late.. so my pintrest board for record shops in nashville was better, but still teeny. we hit up this one down by the honky tonks at night which was cool because it was saturday night and stil open, we just cruised thru, because i have not yet entered the phase of my life where i am into country and western music, but that may or may not be bubblin up inside me as I blaze on into the years. it was kinda sad in there because saturday night at those honky tonks is like utter tourist Party Hell. so many assholes. so drunk. im talkin frat brothers, hen parties, white pants all night long. people yelling slurring staggering. it could be accurately described as a hot mess. and heres this lil records shop in the middle of it all: big spacious caverous inside, not a lot of selections, and not hardly any customers, while the outside just raged on. it still looked cool with the neon lights though, and i like to think they do a brisk business during the daytime, when people who are actually interesed in that kind of thing are able to get in there.

honky tonks even later. full of assholes on a weekend tho

next day did some records shoppin before we took off to the wedding out in the countryside. we actually hit up jack whites third man records first , a pilgrimmage of sorts i realized once we got there and the shit was BUMPIN.. i dont know why i didnt think that it would not be a total clusterfuck up in there on a weekend. but it was so damn jammed full of hipsters that it was hardly worth going in. but im glad we did. he has a lot of cool shit in there. its a teeny little space in this warehouse complex kinda spot down in the homeless district. it appeared to be the shop, and a venue, as well as maybe recording spot? really a cool space. the inside of the shop was teeny and he had like a system where you could purchase tokens and play with all this little shit in there, like a record your own song booth, like a photo booth but of music. viewmasters, and all sort so of little fun stuff- candy machines full of merch or whatever. but like i said people were jammed up in there and it was irritating. there was also a small selection of records but honestly i think i have everything i want from third man for the time being because i follow them on  facebook and therefore sort of have an idea of whats coming out. the last time dungen came through (four years ago, ahem) they played nashville the night after they played atlanta, and the venue was Dawg's uncles venue. so we drove up there to see them a second night. johan holmegaard told us they were there to record with jack white, which utterly blew our minds. so when i saw that come out i totally snapped us each up a copy. i noticed that it was on the wall in the record shop in nashville and that pleased me greatly.

here that goes (id love to be able to share the song for the b-side of this- its great- and its FUCKING NOWHERE TO BE FOUND ON THE GODDAMN INNERWEB):

scopin out the door at the vault

the next stop was at this grimeys spot. it seemed like a good spot and it WAS but i still didnt buy anything. lots of kickass re-releases, but i thought many were priced high, but honestly a kickass selection, and shit you really dont find all the time. kinda worth it, but left with nothing.

travel buddy

So thats the end of the vinyl bit of the journey. you can only do so much in a weekend, so my pinterest board will have to wait til my next trip up to Music City!

 
finally: a lovely wedding, of lovely people, in a lovely place!

well i guess that was all of the short weekend trip. but it was fun as all shit, and amazing to see old friends and make new ones, and git dressed up, and see some good southern scenery. always love tennessee!!

Piss On It

Piss on, piss on, piss on it.

Man, I hate it when an elderly relative gets too far gone and you have to put them down.  I guess it happens to all of us sooner or later.  But sadly, I think it's time to put Damon Albarn on the proverbial ice floe and give it a good shove into the sea.

My brother (via SMS):  Have you heard the new Damon Albarn album?
Me:  Yes
My brother:  It made me question my entire adolescence.

Sigh.  Here's a sample.



I loved the fuck out of Blur back in the day.  The WOO-HOO song was just like a gateway drug, frankly.  I bought every album and played them to death.  My brother and I regularly watched the DVD with all their videos.  I used to sing "This is a Low" to my babies during lullaby time.  I first cheated on my ex-husband to "Tender."  Good memories.

I mean SRSLY, remember this?  This was totally the shit!



And there, fronting it all, was Damon Albarn, with all his British-Bad-Boy-Sexy everywhere.

UNGH!  With those blue eyes and dark eyebrows, looking like one of those hot-ass trophy boyfriends who probably cheated on you but you didn't care and you just knew he would eventually settle down when you managed to rope him into fatherhood almost completely against his will.  Damn, baby.

And let's not forget Gorillaz, which was also killah, as they say...



Loved them also.

Then he did this collaboration with Danger Mouse, who I adore, called The Good, the Bad & the Queen.  I bought it.  It was ok.  Which, thinking back, was really a disappointment since I loved both of them.  Then he did another side project with Flea and Tony Allen called Rocket Juice & the Moon which I had never even heard of until I started writing this blog entry.  I guess the writing was on the wall.

And that's when XMU started playing tracks from Everyday Robots.  Jesus Christ what a pile of crap.  I mean, honest to God, the new Morrissey album is better than this.  MORRISSEY, people.  Yeah, I said it.  (Shudder.)

(Thanks to my brother for that hilarious fake Morrissey quote.)

Y'all, I don't know what else to say.  WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, DAMON ALBARN?  DOES ANYONE KNOW?  CAN SOMEONE HELP ME?

ROCK N ROLL HELLRIDE: KADAVAR @ the masquerade

[iwishuwould]:  With the Kadavar show looming on the horizon, I'd been on a rock n roll hellride lately.

I guess I got a bad case of the nerves because I could barely sleep in the days leading up to the show. I kept having these off the wall dreams. The first was that we went to the Masquerade, and each band that was gonna be playing had their own bar, with a craft station. The other band touring with Kadavar were Mothership, from Dallas. In my dream their craft station was a tie dye curtains station: FUN.




Well the day finally came and we took our drunk asses down to the masquerade ready for a good time. The shows did not disappoint. We caught the entire Mothership set and it was fucking awesome. I gotta say, I had not heard much from them before hand and I was thoroughly impressed. They did a great deal of shredding and hair tossing (in sync!).

Here goes a shitty picture of Mothership rawking our fucking faces off.

They were great, and they're brothers.... not only did they totally fucking shred, but they also kept syncing up and tossing their hair all around, in a way that was reminiscent of Wyld Stallyns, like so, but with a metric ton of hair:

[area.personality]:  This would be where I drunk tweeted, "#Brothers?  I like where this is going, @mothership!"  For some reason they neither replied or re-tweeted.

[iwishuwould]:  Next up was Kadavar. They also did not disappoint. But more about that in a moment. At this time I would like to say that I thought it was fucking weird that they were playing Masquerade. I would have expected them to play the Earl. They are an awesome band, who should have at least enough fans (in Atlanta) to play the Earl. Its just the best choice. and plus its my favorite venue, and its right around the corner from Casa Nueva. But alas, they are from Germany, and therefore had no way of knowing about the Earl vs Masquerade. Although maybe there is some new thing going around why bands are playing the Masquerade. I've noticed several shows coming up that are gonna be there and it seems like a new trend.....that being said, Masquerade was actually a pretty good spot for this show- there actually were not so many people there as I expected (but it would've been enough for the Earl, IJS). So it was cool to be able to get up close. Also the sound was pretty good. The stage was just like a platform so you were really up close to them. that was fun. 

This shit was highly anticipated by the ladies of RawkTalk (and my neighbor, Thunder). They brought all the righteous jams out (I mean shit, they only have two albums, what were they really gonna do?) But they played a nice long set and lots of songs off both albums, and of course all the "hit singles" (that would be all the songs they got videos for, natch). Leading up to the show I actually tried to refrain from listening to their albums because I honestly had played that shit out so hard when I first got a hold of it, and I really wanted to get myself all in a twist for live version. Which would explain why I mistakenly thought they were jamming at some points, when it was really just songs off the first album. Also shit sounds different live. Also I drank my weight in Jaegar and beers before they went on, as per usual. this is also the reason that I will never be the kind of blogger who includes set lists- like I'd ever remember that much detail! I'm a nerd and a spazz over music, but not to the point where I'm taking notes, and thinking about what I'ma write about it while its happening. I like to let go and let God, as it were, in the presence of live music. That's also why you'll typically only see a couple of shitty photos out of me- just enough to prove to myself that i was actually there the next day. 

speaking of...

Here goes a shitty photo of Kadavar rocking our fucking faces off.

But why be satisfied with my shitty photos when you can watch the whole show all over again! courtesy of this man who filmed the entire thing and uploaded it- RIGHTEOUS:

You can totally hear area.personality holler at 12:43!!!

[area.personality]:  I am like a kitty!

[iwishuwould]:  They were tight as all hell- you can tell they been playin them songs the fuck out cause it was just tight and easy for them. and I think they had a fan going so their hair was like fluffy ass cotton candy just blowin in the breeze. That drummer was playing his fucking nutsacks off- and it looked like he never even broke a sweat. Nice job, Kadavar! 

Following the epic facemelt I wandered down to the ladies room and spotted the Brothers Mothership at the merch table. I had to stop them and tell them thanks for rawking our fucking faces off, and they totally also obliged for a photo. Here we go flossin our earthbling and haiyuh for the camera:

What a nice coupla brothers! Finally, they gave me their business card: wicked logo, yall!

I wandered back to find area.personality and she had cornered Tiger of Kadavar! Now I'm not gonna lie- I totally prepared a gift bag for them (perhaps inspired by my crafty dreams?) that included mixtapes and lotto tickets, along with several other small, ahem, tokens of adoration. So I presented him with the gift bag and told him in some mangled german what was in there. Then I think we begged for a photo, and he took off into the back, and I was like oh shit- are we supposed to follow him or is he running away from us? But we totally followed him and he took us back to get the photo with the bassist, Dragon, too!

Here goes area.personality with 2/3 of Kadavar. Scope their immense height, would you?! When I instagrammed this shit I totally hashtagged it #tallasallfuck #brickshithouse:

[area.personality]:  Like a goddam jungle gym, man.

[iwishuwould]:  Finally here I go with my rock hero, Lupus Lindemann. I was feeling pretty ballsy thanks to a wide array of beverages that I had consumed earlier in the evening, so when I seent him perched by the merch table, I just went right up and said along the lines of "Hey- thanks for rawking our fucking faces off, you guys shred! Hey you just came back from Nepal, right? OMG me too! How did you dig it, man?"

Dawg has the biggest balls of anyone on earth, so she asked him for an interview for Rawk Talk. Miraculously, and perhaps fatefully for him, he totally. fucking. obliged. 

[area.personality]:  Thank ye.

[iwishuwould]:  We asked the hard hitting questions that are on everyone's drunkass mind: what do you like to eat for breakfast? and tell me about your rings? 

(the answers are "coffee" and "this ring is from Tibet", although we had to wrangle those factoids out of him)

Snippets of info that I do know we acquired from this interview are that they have been writing new music in Austin in the time in between SXSW and the start of tour. How many? whats the inspiration? How has success and touring affected songwriting? Where do y'all plan to record the new album? All questions we did not ask.

I also seem to recall a brief discussion about snow on the bluff, and how the drummer was hoping to go drive through it. We did have enough sense to advise against that. As someone who has previously volunteered with the Atlanta Harm Reduction Center, I would advise people driving big ass tour vans full of expensive gear, and with European accents to stay clear of the bluff. you *might* be a target IJS. 

i also felt like a total fucking creeper because i had researched them ad nauseum for my previous piece about Kadavar, so I came off like a total psycho, as was confirmed when Lupus said " i think you know more about this than we do". Sorry. But I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Kadavar are not the first band I have delved into so completely. Before Rawk Talk I was obsessed with Ween, Black Sabbath, Dungen, the Allman Brothers, and Motorhead, among others (perhaps less intensely). I've read books about Ween and Ozzy. Not to mention watched documentaries, and really trolled deep into youtube for new shit to see. I hate to be a creeper, but its also what I was trained to do professionally, although about like neurons, and molecules, and whatever. Music just happens to be a thousand billion times more fascinating so I get to use my science creeper skills for that instead. Deadly combo.

[area.personality]:  I made some memes that I think would be helpful in describing our interview styles at this point.

[iwishuwould]:  after feeling like oh god we've quite possibly blown it- here is Honks giving us a pep talk about the positive power of the pelvic thrust: when things aren't going according to plan, just give a pelvic thrust and all will be right in the world.  (according to ol Honks-a-rino)

[area.personality]:  (Side note:  the Jabba the Hut defense mechanism, pictured here, works perfectly against pelvic thrusts.)

[iwishuwould]:  but to be honest, I don't think a pelvic thrust was gonna fix the lingering sense of dread and defeat that welled up inside of me after that night. I hate to be so fucking emo but I srsly like couldn't even eat for two days after that. (and i always want to eat). so i reached out to homeboy over at monster fresh.

[area.personality]:  It's totally ok to be emo in times like this.  I was drunk FB'ing Dungen at the beginning of the show.  It was exactly like drunk texting an ex on a first date with a new person.  WTF.

[iwishuwould]:  monster fresh is a a blog i like to follow (time permitting). I think i found monster fresh back when I was obsessed with ween, before they broke up (RIP). There was some great photos and the story of Gene Weens epic meltdown. ever since then i follow along, and on facebook too. homeboy is based out of Seattle, so when he has contests or posts about upcoming shows, it generally doesn't apply to me here on the east coast. but there was a contest for a Nirvana book recently and I thought to myself, Shit, I can win that. My sisters are both constantly winning shit online, now's my time. So I entered, and guess what: I fucking won that shit! like so:

so I started this email chat with homeboy from monster fresh. it was educational and awesome. we got some truly sage bloggin advice, that we both swear we will enact immediately (in a few months). The chat petered off, as chats tend to do, and I had not chatted with monster fresh for a few months until i felt devastated by the botched Kadavar interview. so i guess in an effort to cheer myself up I sent him an email to tell him how excited I was about having our first interview, and how bummed I was that we fuct it up. and he sent me back this inspirational tale of his first interview. its such a great story I'm going to share it here, now.


[Monster Fresh]: It was in a college paper.  I used a lot of profanity then too, I'm sure.  I didn't even have anything to record it; it was over 10 years ago.  Eek is like 7 feet or something ridiculous.  Probably not really that tall, but close.  He's a giant black man in a black mesh tank with hardcore scars all over his giant muscly shoulders.  His black leather jacket looked like it was made from half a cow.  We were sitting at little round pedestal table on stools and the table kept wobbling, as did his drink.  Little splashes here and there.  A woman would come up and he'd pause and snap a selfie with her, then go back to chatting.  I had dreadlocks, at the time, so he's spit out some jabber like "Wyo bomba skett, riddle bap danoo" and finish it off by confirming with, "You know dread?"  And I'd just nod.  

The New Jack shit was funny because he said, "I's in New Jack City" and we were just like, "What?!"  That movie was already old at that point and the statement seemed super fucking left field.  So he was like, "New Jack City mon.  Wesley Snipes, Judd Nelson.  I in that film."  And my friend Jon Rainbow (his real name, by the way), just just like, "No fucking way.  I have that movie.  You're not in it"  Then Mouse called one of the members of his Caucasian backing band that he was using while touring the states--they were called the 420 band--and used that guy to verify it.  "What movie I in?"  The guy responded with something like, "Oh shit.  This again.  What's that fucking movie with Ice-T in it, again?"  Then Eek asked that band member why he was asking so fucking pouty and why he's always bummed out.  "Smile.  Why so down?  You one of 5 billions sperm!  You made it!  Cheer up, you made it"

I can't really remember what else we talked about, but he told me that he's toured for so long and loves it because it's like a free vacation, playing spots like Hawaii, etc.  Eventually, he just kind of propped himself up and said, "Where my jacket?"  Then stumbling off back toward the stage was singing, "I got to find my jaacket."  It was on his stool, but he wasn't listening to me. 

Then I went up to him and asked him to sign this book of Mormon from the 50s that I used to get people to sign--Wesley WIllis, Mitch Hedberg, and Ike Turner signed it too.  He said, "I want to be a Moormawn."  And sang, "I got 9 wive."  He signed it to "From Eek-A-Mouse to Chris the eek-a" or something screwy like that.  Then I asked him to pick and sign a move in my 100 Deadliest Karate Movesbook and he got irritated.  "I don't know karate!"  Then we left.  That was that.

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[iwishuwould]:  This story provided me the only laugh I had in those bleak days following the show, and I truly appreciated the words of monster fresh wisdom. It provided me the strength I needed to pick myself up to rawk talk again another day.

I loved his story because it brings all the awkwardness, but its from the artist's side, not the interviewer's side. I wish Kadavar had been the ones slurring their words and going on and on about girly gibberish. But one good thing was borne of this debacle: we have a unified vision of Rawk Talk now. Before we were just bloggin haphazardly, without any real mission. But it has become apparent based on our interview questions that we are truly the Tiger Beat of Stoner/Psych Rock. Its weird to be a chick and be into all this heavy music because, like guys who are into heavy music, you really just dig the tunes, maaaan, and you really feel the sound, and get hype for the rawk, yet, unlike dudes, you get to develop debilitating crushes on the musicians if you like. And you get to look at them all lusty and imagine what their hair smells like, and totally photoshop your picture next to their picture and cackle about it with your BFF, and draws hearts and kittens all around pictures of them, and totally plan how you will ultimately come down on them and destroy them... wait... sorry...I mean all that's if you want to. You can also totally just appreciate the music and all the blood, sweat, and tears (and probably farts) that these guys put into the music, and have a damn good time with it. 

[area.personality]:  It might still be a little haphazard.

[iwishuwould]:  But if you thought that this was the end of our Kadavar shitshow, think again. In only two weeks time from this show we were going to be heading off to the Austin Psych Fest to get our eardrums assaulted by Kadavar yet again!! But that's still not the end of the story because right after that they announced they were coming the fuck BACK TO ATLANTA for ANOTHER show opening for Wolfmother!!!! Talk about shitting bricks! So stayed tuned for the third installment of the Kadavar Saga Trilogy™.........