Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sept 30-Oct. 2nd - A lot of (q)rap to do!

So the end of the month is approaching.  While some of us, like me, will be still mourning the end of the summer, the rest of you can enjoy a Qrapload of things going on the final weekend of September. 

I will be playing two shows that weekend.  One will be for the 10th Annual Spanapalooza.  The Second will be at the Launchpad with Filthy Still, Arroyo Deathmatch, and Doomed to Exist.  I will be posting on those shows in a week or so. 

So some folks new to town, that haven't succumbed to the lazyness that we are, have created the ABQ Zine Fest.   I could try to write here about the fest, but i am not a writer.  I barely understand english, even though it is my native tongue, and would not do it justice if i did.  So here is a link to the fests website for you all to view and peruse for your pleasure:  http://www.abqzinefest.com



Although i am not a zinester so to speak, i do have a great appreciation of zines.  Many of the bloggers of today would have been the zinesters of yesteryear.  Many of the Zinemakers of the past are blogging now.  It's just like how the Fedex of today was the Kinkos last year.  The nice thing about blogging today is that it doesn't require the access to a photocopier and a grip of paper.  However it does require access to a computer, internet, and very often an account with a very large corporation.  While zines required the use of a bunch of dead trees (unless you are lucky enough to have a great supply of recycled paper, and even then those are dead trees), the blogging today most often requires the use of technology reliant upon burning coal and/or nuclear power.  One is very lucky if they are able to access electricity generated by clean and renewable means.  Either way has a trade off. 

Another trade off is the level of access.  This blog is easily accessable by all with an internet connection without the use of the postal service even though there are only four people that only occasionally read it.  A zine was most often locally traded and readership beyond was mostly done via trades with other zinesters though the postal service, travelers, or touring bands.   But there is that middleground, or commonground where the two work with and complement eachother.

Zines are hardcopies, a permanent snapshot of art and wordmithing.  Blogs are an ever evolving wordsmithing and art.  Both can be used to prolong the others existence.  Most importantly both serve to simultaneously promote and preserve the ideas and imagery.  Both are the most free of all places to record, promote, and debate any and all ideas.  The true 'fifth estate'?  Who cares.  The freedom should exist beyond the estates of protection of freedoms to the actualized promotion and experience of freedom.  Zines and blogs both come close to a realization of those freedoms.  Sadly blogs, being accessable to all with access to the internet, are easily followed and searched by many government and private entities as well.  This often leads to corporate as well as internal and self-censorship due to the fear of government and corporate repressive actions.  Zines have an ability to carry ideas beyond the fear of repercussions.  Zines do not have to mask ideas and concepts in metaphor, they can be more direct. 

Where i grew up it was hard to come by people that shared and expanded our beliefs and interests.  Zines were often a resource and medium where we could exchange the information, ideas, and ideals.  It was (and still is) a subculture that has a common interest in, and use by, other subcultures.  Those things are still done today on blogs.  But i believe that it is important that the use of both the electronic and paper mediums is essential in inching our way to freedom while at the same time providing ourselves some sort of reprieve from the oppression of state and business. 

Anyways...

Down below you can check out the schedule of events from the zinefest that i ganked from their facebook page.  But here i present you with one of their promo videos which is just one of the reasons you all should attend this.








for those of you, like me, too lazy to click on the link and view the website here is a summary of the schedule that i ripped off from their facebook events pages:




abq zine fest (((DAY ONE))) Zine Mixer @ Cellar Door
Friday, September 30 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Location:
            Cellar Door Gifts & Gallery
            147 Harvard Drive Southeast

7 pm -- 10 pm      Zine Mixer
            ((((((((LIVE MUSIC BY)))))))))
            * THE SCRAMS
            * LADY URANIUM  and MORE!!!

Meet fellow zinesters, trade zines, get good swag, live music, eat, drink and sign up for the 48-hour ZINE CHALLENGE and sign up to compete in the ZINE OLYMPICS (conceived by Billy)!

What's this??

The ABQ Zine Fest is free festival about zines and the people who make them, read them and distribute (distro) them. The ABQ Zine Fest is a three-day event held at Cellar Door Gifts & Gallery, The Harwood Art Center and Winning Coffee. The three days consist of tabling of zines workshops, panel discussions, informal gatherings and sale or bartering of zine-inspired DIY crafts.



ABQ Zine Fest 48-hour Zine Challenge
Friday, September 30 at 7:00pm - October 2 at 3:00pm

Location:
            Albuquerque Zine Fest
            Cellar Door Gifts & Gallery

Our own Erik Gamlem is your fearless leader for ABQ Zine Fest 48-hour Zine Challenge! Are you ready?? On September 30th, opening night of the FIRST EVER ABQ Zine Fest, Erik will be on hand to zine-you-up for this challenge. You’ll have two days to crank out a zine. On October 2nd those brave enough to take on this challenge will have the opportunity to read from their zine at the closing ceremony of the fest at Cellar Door, Sund...ay, October 2nd! Come one come all! Good times, folks!

((((((((((HERE ARE THE RULES!))))))))))

            48 Hour Zine Challenge!     Rules! DAMN THE RULES!

You have 48 Hours to create your Zine.
            Your Zine can contain whatever content you want. It can be pictures, drawings, text, collage, a combination of, or include those things never imagined before in a Zine. Your Zine can be any of any dimensions. Half Page, Full page, micro, macro. Whatever size you want. Be creative, think about geometry. Maybe something awesome will work. The Rhombus is really hot this year. So are Zines. I really like Zines. Think spatially. Your zine must include 8 printed pages in whatever orientation you so desire. You may work alone or in teams.


You must have fun!

Awards will be given for the following:

            Best in “SHOW” – awarded for the best use of visuals in the zine. Show us the story, give us a visual representation of what your zine is about. This could be for the best drawing, cover, photograph, insert, etc. Whatever makes our eyes dance.

            Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie I Need Some More – awarded to the zine we want to see another issue of because it made us laugh, or cry, or pound our fists against the wall like a Black Flag record.

            The First Annual Bruce Springsteen Award – Have you ever heard that song “My Hometown” off of Born in the USA and it’s all this massive romanticism about where a person comes from in this heavy melancholic way? That’s where the inspiration for this award came from (I was hung over when I wrote this, shoot me). This award is for the zine that best captures the feeling of “home”, whatever home may be. Maybe it’s about loving Duke City, maybe it’s something about home. Maybe it’s just a sentence about a lover from the past that reminds us of a home we once had.


abq zine fest (((DAY TWO))) ZINE FAIR & ZINE OYMPICS @ Harwood Art Center
Saturday, October 1 · 11:00am - 4:00pm

Location:
            Harwood Art Center
            1114 7th Street Northwest

10AM -- 4PM
The Harwood Art Center

A zine-filled day of selling, workshops, zine trading, and a zine-inspired DIY emporium. AND . . . The First Annual ABQ Zine Fest OLYMPICS hosted by Billy McCall!

FREE ADMISSION!!!
(Donations accepted!)


abq zine fest (((DAY TWO))) DIRTY ZINE READING @ WINNING COFFEE
Saturday, October 1 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Location:
            Winning Coffee
            111 Harvard SE

7:00pm-10:00pm
            It's still DAY TWO of the Fest!
            After spending the day with us tabling and competing in the ABQ Zine Olympic Games,             @ the Harwood Art Center, it's time to . . .
            Turn down the lights low . . .

We know you like Dirty . . . Nasty . . . Filthy . . . Zines . . .
Listen to the sorted, twisted and sexy tales zinesters with a
certain . . . disposition.
7:00pm-- 10:00pm
Winning Coffee
111 Harvard SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106

((((((This event is a 21+ event!!!! NOT for KIDS!))))))))


FREE.
Donations (of money) encouraged!!!



Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore Reading at Cellar Door Gifts & Gallery
Sunday, October 2 · 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Location:
147 Harvard Drive Southeast

AN ABQ ZINE FEST EVENT
ABQ ZINE FEST PRESENTS READING BY ACCLAIMED WRITER, ACTIVIST, FILMMAKER, (((((MATTILDA BERNSTEIN SYCAMORE)))))
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2nd @ 5pm CELLAR DOOR GIFTS & GALLERY 147 Harvard SE
Suggested donation for this event is $5-$10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Space is limited.
This event is sponsored by the generous support of Self-Serve Sexuality Resource Center!
...

“Like William S. Burroughs meets David Sedaris, offering a sort of surreal urban grit with poisoned-arrow that stings and sometimes reveals.” -- San Francisco Chronicle


Praise for So Many Ways to Sleep Badly (City Lights Press):

"A gender-bending novel [that] unearths subjects still relatively untouched in popular culture... you're not going to be reading anything similar elsewhere."
--The Times (London)

“When I read the first chapter of the newest novel by San Francisco poster child for surviving-and-thriving gender/queer punks everywhere, I felt like I was being yelled at by an excited, manic friend who was pacing around a roach-infested kitchen, occasionally breaking into a runway walk while wearing hot pants made of burnt rainbow flags… The rapid-fire, honest glimpse into the post-gay ruins of San Francisco will likely break even the toughest punk heart.”
-- NOW Magazine (Toronto)


Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s exhilarating novel is about struggling to find hope in the ruins of everyday San Francisco -- battling roaches, Bikram Yoga, chronically bad sex, NPR, internet cruising, tweakers, the cops, $100 bills, chronic pain, the gay vote, vegan restaurants, and incest, with the help of air-raid sirens, herbal medicine, late-night epiphanies, sea lions, and sleeping pills. So Many Ways to Sleep Badly unveils a gender-bending queer world where nothing flows smoothly, except for those sudden moments when everything becomes lighter or brighter or easier to imagine.

Writer, activist, artist, filmmaker and social critic Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is the author of two novels, So Many Ways to Sleep Badly and Pulling Taffy, and the editor of five nonfiction anthologies, most recently Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity and an expanded second edition of That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. Utne Reader recently named Mattilda one of “50 Visionaries Changing Your World.” Her next anthology, Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?: Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform, will be out just in time for Valentine’s Day 2012 – talk about romance! Say hello at mattildabernsteinsycamore.com.

For more information about ABQ Zine Fest please visit http://www.abqzinefest.com or abqzinefest@gmail.com
This event is sponsored by the generous support of Self-Serve Sexuality Resource Center!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Pinata Protest (Accordian Punk) visits el norte.

Pinata Protest (from San Antonio, TX) is going to be playing at Plaza Espanola on Sat. Aug. 6th
Free show, open to the public!
Also appearing will be Imperial Rooster.

http://www.reverbnation.co​m/piƱataprotest
http://www.facebook.com/pi​nataprotestband


 

Screw the Q and drive north for an hour to catch this!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Friends need some help...

"On their way to Savannah, Georgia yesterday, Transient was in a head on collision when an SUV flew over the medium and landed on them. Krysta had to be airlifted to the hospital. We are all relieved that they are alive and doing ok. Krysta had to have surgery on her wrist and her hip put back into place. The van has been totaled and we need help getting them home safely and also help pay for some medical bills."

http://www.transientbrutality.com/blog/?p=369

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Small Bones * Ronoso * Streights * Young Guns - Aug 1.






Small Bones - Punk from New Orleans featuring a former resident of New Mexico that used to play in City is a Tower amongst other bands during his time here in Burque. You can check some out here http://www.myspace.com/smallbonesnola

Absence Part 2

At the end of may a couple of fires broke out in western Arizona that went untamed for weeks.  The smoke from those fires traveled all the way into western and central New Mexico and settled in the valleys.  The smoke was so thick that at times you could not see more than a block away.  It also made the evening sun disappear on several occasions.  Ash fell and covered our plants, cars and sidewalks like it was a January snow.  The smoke made it hard for even the most healthy of us to breath comfortably.  For those that were old, young or of poor health, the smoke was dangerous.

In may my cat Tabitha a.k.a. 'Gata' turned 22.  I adopted her in June of 89 when she was between 4-6 weeks old.  She moved with me to Albuquerque in 1995.   Over the last 7 years she had settled into her age.  She slowed down a bit.  She lost most of her hearing and developed cataracts last year.  But she was still getting around the house.  Thanks to the smoke from the Arizona Wallow Fire she developed respiratory distress and died June 6th.  Those of you that aren't close to your pets will not understand.  Those of you that are close to your pets understand the devastation. 

My house has been quiet and lonely since.  I have begun to adjust.  And resuming posting to this here blog is part of me getting back into a more normal pattern.

Let's see if i can maintain this blog a bit more consistently from here on out.

And about the fires in Arizona.  Screw you Gov. Jan Brewer.  You should have made more of an effort to get that crap under control quicker.  You did not declare a state of emergency, which allows you to activate the national guard, until the 7th of June a week and a half after the fire began.  By the time you declared a state of emergency the fire had already grown to over 200,000 acres.  Then what did you do?  Sat and made a few phone calls to the feds?   Our governor, who i don't really care for, was down at the AZ/NM border even before the fire crossed into New Mexico to get an up close look at what was going on.  She was at least pro-active.  Even though hers and your powers as governor are not extensive when it comes to forest fires, she was at least ready and quick to make any and ALL resources available to the fed incident commanders.   

Gov. Brewer - screw you and the dumbass that started the fire! 

Absence Part 1.

So i skipped out on posting for the last couple of months.  I call it procrastination.  Things got a little down for a lot us here in New Mexico, the lack of rain, fires and the resulting smoke, motorcycle accidents, friends and companions passing on.  So here is the first posting that i have been putting off for a while now:


Back in May ago I was getting ready to write a few posts about some of the bands from Espanola, NM.  This northern New Mexican town has had several bands that I have been familiar over the last decade of so.  In preparation for this I contacted Pat Clements to see if his band Osoatomico was still active.  He wrote back explaining that Osoatomico was defunct, but he was working on trying to get something new started.

Two days later he died in a motorcycle accident.

I first met Pat a little over a decade ago when my band at the time first played in Espanola.   We hit it off pretty well, as we did with most everyone in Spana.  I think the first band that I remember him in he was playing bass at the time.  Later he was in Gloryhordeorchestra, playing bass as well.  The last time I saw him play was when one of my bands shared the stage with him at a show down here.  At that time he was in Osoatomico and had switched to playing drums. 

He was very talented and, as with most talented artists and musicians, was emotionally volatile.  It just comes with the territory.  I think we had the volatility in common.  Don’t be mistaken, there was no violence or hostility.  It was more like he wasn’t able to restrain his emotion.  It is the type of emotional and passionate explosiveness that can make it hard to work with others, but it’s also what helps drive creative process.  He had a passion for music and motors.  He was interested only in the quality of the music that he was playing, and in the quality of the bands that he listened to.  He didn’t give a crap about popularity.   It is those qualities that made me respect and appreciate him.   Not many people are that genuine. 

Over the years I would run into him on campus when he was going to school down here, or we would run into eachother at shows down here or up in Spana.  It was always great running into him, and I would always hope that I would run into him at the shows up north. 

He was a big guy with a big personality.   Our community lost something big when he passed.  From everyone in our bands here we send our condolences to his Family and Friends up there in Spana.  If his loss hit us this hard we can barely begin to imagine how devastating the loss is for you all.  Please, take comfort in knowing that he did make an impact on many people.  He made a contribution to our lives that can be looked back on by all of us as something real and tangible.  We all benefited from knowing him.   He was genuine. 

Here's a couple of videos of Osoatomico at Burts Tiki Lounge.  He was playing the drums.
 



 Osoatomico at the Espanola plaza

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Death, Thrash, Black, and who knows...

Sepultura * Belphegor * Hate * Keep Of Kalessin * Neuraxis * Bonded By Blood @ Sunshine Theater, All Ages / Bar with ID $20.

Why the hell am i writing about a 20 dollar show at the sunshine for Sepultura?  I really like two of the openers. 

Of key interest for me is Neuraxis, from Montreal, QB.  They should be playing mostly new material off of their new album 'Asylon'.   The album has had mixed reviews, but i have been digging on it as much as i did their previous release "the thin line between".  Hell, it had some guest vocals from Luc Lamay (Gorguts-  you fans of jazz should be listening to them).  Labeled as Technical Death Metal, it gives a bit of a wrong impression.  They are a lot more melodic like alot of their other French Canadian death metal contemporaries.  They are not "technical" in the sense of bands like Viraemia or say locals Vale of Miscreation, and Fields of Elysium (which if you haven't seen either you are missing out).   Here is a taste of a new one from Neuraxis:


Hate, from Poland has pretty much adopted the stylings of their countrymates Behemoth.  In a way you can call them Behemoth Jr.



Belphegor... There ain't much too say about them.  One of those bands that occasionally dumped into the "real or not" debate.  Just watch the video.  My only hope is that they are as goofy and entertaining as in this video.  Are they legit?  Who cares.  It's fucking awesome.

Sepultura - I think that i have only liked two of their songs since Max departed ways.  The first time iI saw them was 20 years ago in Gallup.  It was them, Sacred Reich, Sick of it All and NAPALM DEATH.  This will probably be the first time i'd have seen them in about fifteen years. 

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Busy weekend

There is a lot going on this weekend.  Starting tonight with the crabwalk which was the previous posting.  But as a reminder the Crabwalk is tonight April 21st THURSDAY at the Peace and Justice Center. 

FRIDAY-April 22nd... eh, i am sure that there is a lot going on and i along with you and others will find something interesting or at least a bit fun.

SATURDAY- April 23rd-  I have been waiting on this for a while now.   Prison of Sound will be playing at the Blackbird Buvette, with Gregg Turner doing his solo acoustic set, and Night//Terrain.  An odd mix, of AmRep style Noise Rock, a solo acoustic set, and a heavy doom band.  Being only a few days after the crabwalk, the mix of genres should go rather well.  And for those of you wondering why i am hyping this show- I am in Prison of Sound as well.

Prison of Sound:
http://www.myspace.com/prisonofsound

Greg Turner: Ex-Angry Samoan, current and continual Math kicker.
Check his current band: http://www.blooddrainedcows.com/

Night Terrain: Terror. Trains. Metal.
http://www.nightterrain.com/


Then for you grind heads
SUNDAY - April 24th  Some might call it easter i think.


Violence of Humanity will be playing with locals Laughing Dog, and Brainrot.
Violence of Humanity- Grind from Portland, Features members of Transient, who some of you might remember from their show with Elitist,  at the PandJ a few months ago.  They will be playing with local grindveteranos Laughing Dog, as well as our introduction to Brainrot.  I got my first taste of them last night while listening to KUNM overnight freeform.  Chaotic and eloquent Noise-Rock. Starts at 8 and is a loose $5.  All Ages.

Friday, April 15, 2011

3rd not-really-annual CRABWALK. April 21 Thurs.

A Night of All Local Sounds (from several genres)
Free but donations welcome

Crabwalks gather a bunch of diverse bands (usually 5, mostly local) into a space where they can all set up at once, then play in round-robin (usually pentagram) fashion, one after another & back around again. The audience is at the center of this vortex, and the resultant energy builds in a really fun way. Often the bands join together for a massive improv by the end of it. Crabwalks always leave me feeling great about the local music scene. They’re also often the source of new connections & goodwill between disparate scenes & individuals. So that’s what a Crabwalk show is, and this one looks to be no different.
Featuring:
-Chemtrail Pilot (lone-wolf hiphop crew- www.myspace.com/chemtrailpilot)
-Bud Melvin (8-bit hacked Gameboy accompanied by banjo/uke= magic! www.myspace.com/budmelvin & www.budmelvin.com)
-Iceolus (proggy high desert “burnt sienna” metal - www.myspace.com/iceolus)
-Javelina (songstress Emma Arsonist- www.myspace.com/emmaandbryce has some tunes up)
-Lobsterbreath (mad scientist culture jammer- www.myspace.com/lobsterbreath)
-Cinik (solo experimentalist- www.myspace.com/cinikalstudios)
-Guest appearance by Blacker Guise (www.myspace.com/alangeorgeledergerber)

text taken from the facebook event page.  probably by DCat.