November 2009 - Antigravity Magazine

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PHOTO BY MANTARAY PHOTOGRAPHY
STAFF
PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF:
Leo McGovern
[email protected]
ASSOCIATE EDITOR:
Dan Fox
[email protected]
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Emily Elhaj
[email protected]
Erin Hall
[email protected]
Nancy Kang, M.D.
[email protected]
Dominique Minor
[email protected]
Dan Mitchell
[email protected]
Sara Pic
[email protected]
Mike Rodgers
[email protected]
Brett Schwaner
[email protected]
Tom Sowders
[email protected]
Mallory Whitfield
[email protected]
Derek Zimmer
[email protected]
Camera Obscura: Dressed for a lighthearted party_page 16
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COVER:
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www.happyburbeck.com/
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COLUMNS:
FEATURES:
ANTI-News_page 6
Have listings? Send them to:
events@antigravity
magazine.com
Guidance Counseling_page 10
Some of the news that’s fit to print.
ANTIGRAVITY is a publication of
ANTIGRAVITY, INC.
The Nose Knows dishes advice.
Mirliton Festival_page 17
RESOURCES:
Getting squirrelly.
High in One Eye_page 18
Dr. Feelgood_page 12
A Westbank rock duo...
Homepage:
Twitter:
twitter.com/antigravitymag
MySpace:
Appearing at the Bookfair...
That sneaky, sneaky Derek...
Fringe Festival_page 20
The Saints’re looking good...
Homefield Advantage_page 14
Where adventurous imaginations lie...
myspace.com/antigravitymagazine
Things that make you say, “WTF”...
“Slingshots, Anyone?”_page 13
Ethan Brown_page 19
antigravitymagazine.com
The Goods_page 11
What a weird vegetable...
REVIEWS (pg. 24):
Albums by Alec Ounsworth, Andrew WK, Boris, Immortal, Om, The
Flaming Lips, The Way and more...
EVENTS (pg. 28)
October listings for the NOLA
area...
COMICS (pg. 34):
Egad!, How To Be Happy,
K Chronicles, Firesquito.
Photo Review_page 36
The month in photos.
J Yuenger’s Crossword_page 38
Can J stump you?
INTRO
W
ow, what a wet and wild October that was. I’m writing to you from just before a
massive Halloween weekend that is sure to be epic. I, myself had the pleasure of
spending a good part of this past month in the Living Room Studios, a temple to all
things sound-related and one of the most pleasant studio experiences I’ve ever had, considering
how nerve-wracking it can be when your own creation turns on you and starts eating your
brain from the ears in. Chris George and Daniel Majorie are surely doing the Lord’s work over
there (Sorry to get all religious on you but they did build it out of a church). And even though
I’m ultra-familiar with their work, I have a new appreciation for the time and effort they put
into the bands that are lucky enough to find themselves within those walls. Those warm, colorcoordinated, well-lit, tastefully decorated walls.
Any-fucking-how, let’s revive quickly for November. As you’ll see within these pages, we
have a lot to clue you into, like dipping into some of the featured exhibitors at this year’s NOLA
Bookfair. Every year this event impresses and inspires and I look forward to roaming Frenchman
street and beyond in search of some good reads, illustrations and other things entirely. We also
check in with some great bands and even get into some funky theater courtesy of Sara Pic. Sweet
Breesus this old town’s got some life left in it after all! —Dan Fox, Associate Editor
4_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
ANTI-NEWS
HATEBREED TELLS YOU TO “GET UP! ROCK ART CIRCUS FOR THE WIN!
STAND UP!”
f you haven’t yet visited Steve Williams’ annual Rock Art
I
t might be difficult
to
remember,
but there was
a time not too long
ago when musical
turds like Fred Durst
reigned over what was
known as “metal”
in the collective
consciousness. Pissass
rhymes
and
chugging riffs were
“heavy,” as far as
most people could
tell.
From
that
murky,
nu-metal
funk of the late ’90s
Hatebreed
came
screaming out of the
gate.
Reclaiming
the aggro slash-andburn of hardcore
and fusing it with
groove metal shred,
Jamey Jasta and Co.
injected a little vitriol
back into metal at
a time when dropD tunings and “rap
rock” ruled the heavy
music
landscape.
Hatebreed’s speedpunk tempos helped lead the way back to something real, reaffirming hardcore’s place in the rock
world while their representation of the working class sound and aesthetic their New England
punk forerunners codified had an enormous influence on metal-core. After several years of
silence, 2009 has been a busy time for the band. Their cover album For the Lions, with its nods
to Slayer and Metallica, hinted at a more dominant metal tinge to their music and their newly
released self-titled record makes good on that promise. Always derided as a little one-note,
Hatebreed is their first album where diversity is an appropriate adjective: sometimes shedding
some of their speed for strength, hitting snarling breakdowns and letting the solos soar, it’s as
metal as the band has ever sounded without losing their hardcore roots in the mix. Hatebreed’s
brand of riot-rousing punk metal and anthemic, “Get up! Stand up,” vocals translate into a
crushing live show and their invigorated heavy metal sound only adds to their stage power.
Tracks like the amphetamine thrash of “Hands of a Dying Man” or the snarling punk of “As
Damaged as Me” should whip the crowd into a fierce mass. —Mike Rodgers
PLAY CANNIBAL CORPSE OR WE’LL
KILL YOU!
O
kay, so these guys I knew in high school used to prank call a local disc jockey at
106.1FM, back when it was an alt-rock station (Remember when they used to do
Zephyr Fest with awesome bands? Those were the days, man…). Anyway, I forget
the jockey’s name (it was something terribly inane, as I recall), but my friends would always
threaten to kill him if he didn’t start playing Cannibal Corpse records immediately. They would
sometimes call with the same threats, using Napalm Death in the place of Cannibal Corpse.
It was hilarious at the time, especially considering that on-air deejays in the mid-1990s were
a stoned, docile lot, content to play Porno For Pyros all afternoon. Geez, maybe those days
weren’t so rosy? Hatebreed joins Cannibal Corpse for their latest assault on the Crescent City,
along with Unearth, Born of Osiris, and Hate Eternal on Wednesday, November 18th at the
Hangar. Twenty-seven bones gets you in the door and showtime is 9pm. If you’ve been storing
random cow parts in your freezer for a special occasion, defrost them and bring them to this
show. —Brett Schwaner.
6_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
I
Circus at The Big Top, you need to get with it, man. The
Fall event has become one of the city’s best art openings,
filling The Big Top and taking over much of Clio Street in
years past. If you’re looking for a post-modern freak show
party featuring fire breathers, gypsy dancers, aliens, and giant
cockroaches, this is where you need to be. Oh, and there’s art
too. Featured artists this year will include Mark Mothersbaugh
of Devo and Tom Drummond of Better Than Ezra, and
more local artists than you can shake a stick at. The Rock
Art Circus, despite the hoopla, is really a homegrown event,
open to anyone with an appreciation for the fine, subcultural
mayhem. Scheduled performers at this year‘s even include: The
Unnaturals, Manwitch, and Suplecs, along with a burlesque troupe and a few surprises. Circus horror rock
dress attire recommended. The art exhibition itself will run through the end of November. The 2009 Rock Art
Circus is scheduled to open at 7pm, but expect the party to last until whenever Suplecs finishes their set, which
is set to kick off at the stroke of midnight. —Brett Schwaner.
The Rock Art Circus will be held on Saturday, November 7th at 7pm at The Big Top with Suplecs, The Unnaturals,
Manwitch and tons of artists. For more info, go to 504whatstyle.com.
WHEREVER NEKO CASE MAY ROAM
W
hile probably best known
for her contributions to
Canadian indie heavyhitters The New Pornographers,
Neko Case has long been an
accomplished solo artist. With over
a decade of recorded material (seven
albums) under her belt, she is a road
warrior if there ever was one. Known
for her powerful vocals, her dazzling
stylistic range and her exquisite shifts
from sunshiny pop to organic folk
and country, she is currently touring
in support of her latest solo album,
Middle Cyclone, released in March
of this year. The tour will bring her
through New Orleans, where she will
appear on Saturday, November 21st,
at Republic, with openers Deer Tick.
The metaphor of a cyclone is fitting
for Case, whose own style and history
are as free flowing and uncontrollable
as a force of nature. She’s stated that
she doesn’t write love songs; that
she’s not that kind of girl. But some
of her best recent work has fallen
into a more tender category. It’s been
nice to see that the soft-spoken Neko
is just as powerful as the bombastic
one. And in a smaller venue like
Republic, she should be able to really
shine. Deer Tick should fit nicely on the bill with their slightly grimy folk sound. Both acts prove that being
“folk” doesn’t always mean knitting scarves in a corner or strumming your acoustic guitar in the park. They
bring strength and raw emotion and expert playing to a genre that is all too often dismissed as delicate or
anemic. —Erin Hall; Photo by Jason Creps
Neko Case plays Repubic on Saturday, November 21st with Deer Tick. For more information on Neko Case, go to
nekocase.com.
MIKE THE WARRIOR IS METAIRIE
A
t long last! Mike the Warrior returns to be crowned as the king
of Metairie! His band, In Tomorrow’s Shadow, was founded
in Metairie in 2004 and, in the following years, would help
revive the waning Jefferson Parish underground hardcore scene. Since
then, the Warrior’s beard has grown proud and true, a glowing beacon
of hope in a time when Metairie has been taken over in the omnipresent
shadow of the Macy’s parking garage (Metairie’s first 21st century
landmark?). Mike the Warrior and In Tomorrows Shadow return to
the High Ground (formerly Cypress Hall) this November to where
the legend first began. They are joined by Smiley With A Knife, who
are four well-mannered young gentlemen with magical technicolor
instruments, and also by Further Reasoning. Further Reasoning has
been recording its debut album for, like, five years now or something
silly like that. That’s a long time to work out the finer points of fast
pop-rock, leading me to believe that this record may end up being New
Orleans’ own version of Chinese Democracy. After this show, everyone who is of age should walk to the nearest
Metairie gas station and get down with a Good Humor bar or a Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich.
In Tomorrow’s Shadow and Further Reasoning will appear at the High Ground on November 6th at 7pm, along
with Smiley With A Knife. For bonus recordings, courtesy of Smiley With A Knife’s Patrick Bailey, be sure to
check out myspace.com/hereliesloomis. Showtime is 7pm, and all ages are welcome. —Brett Schwaner
ANTI-NEWS
A FAN’S NOTES ON HOME (THE BAND)
H
OME has been important to me for over fifteen years, ever since, after growing up in a
Florida retirement community, I finally dragged my guitar up to Tampa, to attend college and
participate in a “real” music scene. Of the bands I encountered there, it was not unusual for
the two that were making real names for themselves to share a bill: grindcore legends Assuck and lo-fi
prog-pop band, HOME. This was in the very early ’90s, before most Floridians understood the “lo-fi”
aesthetic. Most of us still viewed Pearl Jam as an alternative, whereas HOME was tuning in to some
band called Sebadoh, and these other dudes Pavement, whose albums really sounded shitty to me
then. But we loved HOME’s double guitar attack, with their tuneful verses leading into big shouting
hooks then into creative noise freak-outs—artsy aggression that sounded totally fresh to us in Tampa,
Florida.
In their first couple years, HOME composed and released eight cassette tapes featuring over a dozen
new original songs apiece. On these recordings (labeled only with Roman numerals) HOME’s singing/
songwriting team of Eric Morrison and Andrew Deutsch exhibited a Lennon-and-McCartney
dynamic: Morrison wrote sprawling and angular experimental pop suites, while Deutsch perfected
sensual ballads and hook-based three minute rock gems. Utilizing ultra-primitive but hyper-creative
tape recording techniques, HOME cranked out eight homemade “albums” of music that all sounded
like it needed to be made: songs that not only overcame all recording limitations, but made those
weaknesses into psychedelic strengths.
With ramshackle live shows and not much self-generated hype, HOME grew very popular locally.
I’d never before witnessed a creative, original band organically grow popular because they deserved it.
It was fascinating and downright moving to watch, and made you feel like all one needed to succeed in
music was good music. Which we all know is patently untrue.
After the release of the HOME VI tape, the band deeply puzzled many of us in Tampa when Morrison
completely abandoned the guitar for piano and synthesizer and Deutsch cut down on strumming big
loud chords to focus on a tasteful, melodic style that strove more to compliment the songs. At first,
many of us wondered why HOME would mess up a great, seemingly fresh formula that we loved. As
a big fan of guitars, it was tough for me to finally realize that, though HOME’s songs had mellowed a
bit, they’d also become more thoughtful, adventurous and interesting, with just as many hooks.
Eventually, HOME’s lo-fi tapes somehow found their way to the Sony-owned Relativity label, who
commissioned the boys to record their first official digital album, HOME IX. Instead of blowing their
advance money on one shot in a nice studio, HOME did a rare thing in this time before laptops and
bought a small studio for themselves—whether they could really operate it or not. The resultant HOME
IX, though a bit muddy, is a brilliant, fun and fully memorable psychedelic journey. No major label
would pay an unknown band to make such a thing today.
From their creativity to their stylistic choices, HOME certainly never seemed to be from Florida,
and so around 1995, HOME became the first people I ever knew to move to New York (back before
Williamsburg became the destination spot for result-oriented musicians). From afar, we all watched
HOME get written up in SPIN, Village Voice
and Magnet as they released progressively
cleaner but consistently adventurous and
beautiful albums on labels like Jet Set, Arena
Rock and Cooking Vinyl. Of 1996’s HOME
XI, The Chicago Tribune very accurately
wrote: “Home has developed a refreshingly
scattershot sound that wanders erratically
through folky balladry, prog rock, ragged
pop, and unclassifiable experimentation.
Though somewhat reminiscent of indie rock
obscurantists like Pavement, Home is both
more ambitious and more consistently tuneful
than many of its trendier peers.”
Around this same time, the band was
invited to tour Europe with the Flaming Lips,
who also took HOME to the Leads Festival
(incidentally, when they all returned from
that tour, the Flaming Lips stopped being a
guitar band and started on their more HOMElike musical path; I’ve never considered this
a coincidence). One of The Lips’ Conan
O’Brien performances featured the HOME
boys dancing around wearing the bunny
heads. To return the favor, Lips producer
and Mercury Rev member Dave Fridman
produced two HOME albums. HOME’s last
pass through New Orleans came on their
tour opening for Granddaddy—with whom
HOME also shared a bass player on that tour,
as their longtime killer bassist (and manager of Kim’s Records on St Mark’s Pl.) Brad Truax was busy
with his second job road managing a then little-known Animal Collective—a job to which he now
devotes a lot more time.
All this to say that HOME’s show at the Hi-Ho Lounge on Sunday, November 8th is a rare and
special chance to see the best unknown pop band that I can’t even suggest my friends Google. This
tour celebrates the digital release of HOME’s first cassette tapes (I - XIII), on Brah Records. —Michael
Patrick Welch
7
antigravitymagazine.com_
ANTI-NEWS
A TOUCH OF NOIR: THE NEW ORLEANS INDIE ROCK COLLECTIVE RETURNS WITH A
NEW MIX-CD AND THEIR THIRD ANNUAL FESTIVAL
T
he New Orleans Indie Rock Collective was formed two-and-a-half years ago as a way to unite
and galvanize the local independent music scene. Their stated mission is to “build an infrastructure
for and raise awareness of the New Orleans indie rock scene.” They’ve accomplished this through
releasing sampler CDs featuring local bands, presenting local and national indie shows at multiple venues
and hosting festivals to give local bands the opportunity to introduce themselves to new audiences.
This November will see the birth of the group’s third annual festival, dubbed NOIR Fest. In conjunction
with the festival, the third sampler disc, aptly and ironically titled Hipper Than Thou, will be released. Featured
on the album are Generationals, Club of the Sons, The Buttons, Giant Cloud, One Man Machine, Hurray
for the Riff Raff, Loren Murrell and Gamma Ringo.
The festival itself will be happening on November 21st and 22nd at two different venues. The showcase on
the 20th will take place at One Eyed Jacks. Opening the bill is former City Life frontman Leo DeJesus with
his solo act Vox and the Hound, followed by One Man Machine, then Glasgow and topped by headliners
Gamma Ringo.
The showcase on the 21st will take place at Blue Nile. Opening that night is Loren Murrell, followed
by The Givers, then Giant Cloud (recently signed to New Orleans label Park the Van) and headlined by
Hurray For the Riff Raff.
NOIR Collective member Nick Thomas explained that when booking a show, the Collective attempts
to aggregate the bands in a way they think will benefit the audience most. “They all fall under the umbrella
of New Orleans indie rock bands,” he said, “but they may be different sub-genres or from different parts of
town so that different crowds kind of coalesce and someone who would go see Glasgow but wouldn’t come
out for One Man Machine are there and, maybe because of that, One Man Machine has a new fan now.”
“That was sort of the impetus for us to start the collective in the first place,” Thomas said. “We wanted to
take our somewhat fragmented scene and bring it together.” When choosing bands for the samplers and
festivals, Thomas explained that he likes to include “bands that are all about the cause.” The cause, he said,
in one word, is “team-player-ism.” Hence, he aims to feature bands that “are about making the scene grow
instead of just worrying about their own success.”
In addition to a number of interesting art collaborations (including pairing bands with live theater
performances and having them score an independent film) the NOIR Collective is currently in overdrive
planning their ambitious and sprawling Spring festival, which will be called Foburg, a twist on the traditional
spelling for the neighborhood in which it will take place. The festival will fill between ten to fifteen venues on
and around Frenchmen Street (including some specials shows on the Steamboat Natchez) between March
12th and 14th 2010. The Collective’s goal with Foburg is two-fold. First, they want to create a “pre-SXSW
festival” by pairing Louisiana bands with national bands that are routing through New Orleans on their way to
8_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
Austin for SXSW the
following weekend.
Second, they want to
bring attention to the
fact that “Frenchmen
Street
is
slowly
dying,”
Thomas
said. He pointed
out that most of the
clubs on the street
have seen declined
sales in the last year.
The Collective will
be working with
the
neighborhood
association to help
improve the street
and assure each
club has the proper
licensing as well
as introducing the
club owners to the
possibility of hosting
indie shows at their establishment. “The street has been traditionally jazz, but we want
to show these owners that this kind of music can work for them,” Thomas said. Foburg,
while a seemingly epic undertaking, seems to be shaping up nicely. While the NOIR
Collective will be facilitating the planning of the event, programming partners will
produce the shows themselves. Some of the likely partners include Static TV, Defend
New Orleans and yours truly, Antigravity Magazine.
So with a full slate for the rest of 2009 and the 2010 calendar filling up quickly, the
NOIR Collective has its work cut out for it. But the members seem to be up to the
challenge. And hopefully the city’s music fans are too. See you at the show. —Erin
Hall
ANTI-NEWS
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS BRINGS SCUMBAG ROCK TO THE BIG TOP
H
ear ye, Hear ye, my fellow scumbags! Our ship has
finally come into port! I, Brett Schwaner, author of this
article, hereby declare Wednesday, November 4th to
be a day of great feasting and celebration for those of you who
are prone to sleeping face down on the floor or spitting Pabst
Blue Ribbon all over your friends and loved ones! On this day,
it shall come to pass, that Off With Their Heads shall once
again make a tour stop in New Orleans and all shall be righted
for those whose beards are mighty and true and also shitty. Do
any of you remember the last time that Off With Their Heads
played in New Orleans? Probably not. It was on Halloween
night back in 2006, not long after SAW III was released. That’s
right. I remember that night clearly because I had quite a jolly
to-go chalice of tequila at my side (my costume that year was
“low key and socially-tolerable alcoholic”) and also because
there were all of six people watching Off With Their Heads
play a blistering set of four songs in six minutes. Yeah, I’m
pretty sure they hated our city and the shitty way that we
all collectively sometimes “go outside” when bands that we
don’t recognize are playing. In defense of those who do “go
outside,” I can get with the idea that most of those bands do
suck balls, most of the time. Back in October 2006, the name
Off With Their Heads wasn’t all that well-known outside of
the Midwest and blatant indie-punk nerds such as myself who
peruse the Recess Records distro catalog. I first heard of Off
With Their Heads in the summer that year, just a few weeks
after they’d released their first EP, Hospitals, which is really
a landmark in the genre of scumbag/jerkface underground
recording. I’d read somewhere that Alex Ulloa, formerly of
Panthro U.K. United 13 and Black Cougar Shock Unit, had
joined Off With Their Heads, so I checked them out to see what
was what. As it turned out, Uloa left Off With Their Heads
after less than a year and recorded all of two tracks with them,
neither of them all that great. In fact, Off With Their Heads
has had something in the neighborhood of twenty or twenty-
five members since
their early, superobscure demo days.
They’re like a modern
day Chumbawamba
or Wu Tang Clan
(allegedly,
there
are,
like,
four
hundred
members
of the Wu Tang
Clan, or something
absurd—just
check
the Wikipedia, fer
serious).
During
that
time,
Ryan
Young has been the
group’s lone constant
member, somehow
surviving long enough
to pen some of the
most gut-wrenching
punk songs of the
last five years. When
my friends ask me,
“What does Off With
Their Heads sound
like,” I usually reply:
“Dillinger Four, but more vicious and bastardly.” In some
ways, that description does hold a good bit of water (the
two bands are both native to Minneapolis and are both very
bastardly), but there’s more to it than just that. It’s more
sardonic than it is sarcastic, and, despite the dark subject
matter of many of their songs, there is definitely a humorous
edge to what they’re doing, even if we‘re talking about pop
songs about heroin overdoses and suicides. Plus, like I said:
it’s good music. Highly recommended if you’re the kind of
person who constantly teeters on edge or occasionally passes
out from drinking too much PBR and/or Miller High Life.
Come see Off With Their Heads for yourself at The Big Top
on Wednesday, November 4th with Smalltown and The
Rooks—neither is a shitty opening band you‘ll have to “go
outside” for. Showtime is 7pm, and all ages are welcome.
Don‘t fuck up by not going. —Brett Schwaner
9
antigravitymagazine.com_
COLUMNS
ADVICE
GUIDANCE
COUNSELING
this month’s trusted advisors: the nose knows
THE NOSE KNOWS ANSWERS
B
elieve it or not, people used to blog on paper. But unlike such a weird, sinus-invoking
name like “blog” they were called “’zines,” which is simply short for “magazine,” the
thing you’re holding in your hands right now. One such publication keeping that printed
flame alive for over four years now is The Nose Knows, which you might have picked up around
town, maybe at the counter at Flora’s, maybe from their table at this year’s (or any of the
past years’) New Orleans Bookfair or maybe from that bartender who thought you were cool
enough to have hers. Picking up a copy is like picking up a secret off the street, but one that
someone wanted to share. Personal, hand-written and drawn from the infinite spectrum that is
the minutiae of everyday life, TNK is a pulpy scrap of sunshine. Maybe the committee that runs
TNK—Happy, Asia, Robin and Charlie—can clear the air for this month’s advice-seekers.
Dear AG,
AG, what’s up with all this hipster hate? Someone wrote in last month with a simple question [“What is
a hipster?”] and those guys in Suplecs gave a really snarky, mean answer. Everyone goes around saying
“hipster this” and “hipster that” but I think they’re really talking about themselves. What’s up with
that?
Robin: They are kind of talking about themselves, or at least an idea of themselves. Everyone
hates hipsters because we fear that is what other people see us as. Basically, a hipster is anyone
doing anything “hip.” A follower of fad and a bit of a faker. No one wants to be a follower of
fad. We want to be trendsetters. You can’t define who a “hipster” is because it is in the eye of
the beholder. I was confused at first when I heard an art girl call what I would call a “crustie”
a “hipster” because I have always considered hipsters to be stylish and clean, etc. The art girl is
afraid she might be seen as a striped-sock-wearing, smelly girl playing at being an artist and I am
afraid of being seen as a rich girl wearing designer glasses playing at punk rock.
Asia: If you are reading AG, you probably know the answer to this question. Reading cool,
alternative, local music magazines automatically makes you a hipster. Yes, I am talking to you,
large tourist from the Midwest who picked up AG on Frenchmen Street! Now go get yourself
some skinny jeans and quit being such a smart ass!
Dear AG,
I found my boyfriend’s porn. Now, I’m not against porn but I have to say I was a bit surprised when I
noticed that all the girls were...“chocolate.” I am not, which of course leads me to wonder if he’s really that
into me. I haven’t confronted him yet but I really want to... Should I freak out or just leave it alone?
Happy: When you say “chocolate” I am going to assume that you mean Black. Also, when you
say “found” his porn, I am going to assume you were snooping around under his bed without his
knowledge or permission and now you intend to use what you found there against him. It’s like
reading someone’s diary and then making fun of their punctuation: it’s not fair. So: say he left
his pornos on the back of the toilet and you stumbled upon them and got some insecurity. Don’t
“confront” him, all angry because his private business makes you uncomfortable. Talk to him
about it like a sane person, man. You don’t have to start yelling just because you have feelings.
Asia: Just be glad it isn’t “tootsie roll” porn, if you get my drift.
Dear AG,
How much pot do you have to smoke before you’re smoking “too much”?
Charlie: I am going to assume that you are not the pot-head but are writing in out of concern
for a loved one (no pot-head I have known has ever worried about “too much,” let alone had
the wherewithal to write into an advice column about it). So I will give you some insight into
why your concern is ill-founded. Once, in a muddy field, alongside an Alabama highway, I
thought that I saw a camel being led on a rope by a man. Like for camel rides and shit. It turned
out to be a fat man carrying a cardboard box on his head but for as long as I live I will cherish
that moment of wonderment and joy at what an amazing world we live in where even in backcountry Alabama we can all ride camels.
Asia: Too much is if you get the DTs when you try going a couple of days without smoking.
That’s just science, man.
Robin: There is no such thing as too much, man.
10_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
COLUMNS
THE GOODS
by miss malaprop
FASHION
[email protected]
GETTING SQUIRRELY
J
essica Mehrtens’ jewelry designs, dubbed Squirrel Bunny, are the kind that you can’t help but fall
in love with the instant you see them. They’re just so simple, sweet, and undeniably adorable.
Who wouldn’t love the perfect storybook whale or teddy bear, handcrafted from sterling silver,
to hang around their neck and brighten their day? I recently caught up with Jessica, a New Orleans
native, to find out more about how she got started as a jewelry artist and what’s up next for her line.
Miss Malaprop: Can you tell me a little about your background as an artist and
jewelry-maker?
Jessica Mehrtens: I started to create when I was a kid. I really enjoyed spending my free
time drawing (I especially enjoyed drawing turtles), making things out of whatever random
objects I could find, and using my imagination to invent all sorts of strange ideas. I was
lucky because my parents
and teachers encouraged
my
artistic
interests,
which allowed me to
participate in many fun
art classes and programs
as a kid. In high school
I attended NOCCA (The
New Orleans Center for
Creative Arts) for visual
arts, where I learned
more than I could
have
ever
imagined,
endured many brutal
critiques, and came to the
realization that I wanted
to study art in college.
I then went on to earn
my degree in visual arts and graphic design at Loyola University in New Orleans, where
I had some of the best teachers ever! I finally discovered metalsmithing and jewelrymaking in 2005, after being forced to finish my last semester of college at LSU after
being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I signed up for a metalsmithing class at LSU and
became obsessed with it immediately! I excitedly went on to take more metalsmithing/
jewelry-making classes at LSU and Delgado, and have loved doing it ever since!
What inspires your work?
I try to keep my mind open and let everything I come into contact with influence my work. I
am especially inspired by animals, everyday found objects, music, the juxtaposition of childlike imagery with dark imagery, vintage and new toys, cloud shapes, shadows, vintage patterns,
tattoos, children’s books, bugs, and various types of illustration. All of these different inspirations
make their way into my drawings, which eventually become jewelry pieces.
What do you do when you’re not working on new jewelry?
When I am not creating, I spend many weekday hours at my day job doing graphic design and website
maintenance for a local jewelry store. I like to spend the rest of my time finding new music and going
to see live music shows, drawing, studying American Sign Language and Deaf Culture, collecting
toys, watching YouTube videos with guinea pigs, squirrels, bunnies, pygmy marmosets, or any other
kind of animal in them, going to the public library, finding treasures on the ground, finding treasures
at thrift stores, reading about and looking at outsider art, people watching, laughing at stupid things
with my friends, saying hello to people I pass on the street, drinking caffeine and eating tacos...the list
really goes on and on. I never really find myself getting bored!
What are your favorite things to do in the city?
One of my favorite things to do in New Orleans is people watch! I recommend people
watching in New Orleans to any native or tourist. You will never get bored when
observing, listening to, and meeting the awesomely unique people of this city. I
really love walking around in different areas of the city and looking at houses, people
and animals, taking pictures, wandering into shops and corner stores, and finding
good food to eat. I also love being at the Fly, looking at birds and other animals at
Audubon Park, City Park, and Lafreniere Park, canoeing in the swamp, and going
to shows at the Hi-Ho Lounge, Dragon’s Den, the Saint, One Eyed Jacks and any
other place with unique musical performances.
Do you have any favorite local artists or designers?
Some of my many favorite local artists and designers are the designers at Dirty Coast,
all of the talented jewelry and metal artists at Magazine Metals, Alan Gerson, Tom
Mathis, Thomas Mann, Margo Manning, Tom Varisco, Terrington Calas, GoGo,
the tattoo art of Randy Muller, and all the artists that create the anonymous graffiti
art that help to make the city look awesome.
What are your plans for the future of your company?
First and foremost, the plans for the future of my jewelry-making is to keep it moving forward and
never allow myself to become unmotivated or bored with it. I really hope to have my jewelry in
more shops and galleries in the future and I am looking forward to participating in some of the local
art markets very soon. I am also planning on starting to sell my drawings/illustrations in addition
to my jewelry pieces, which I am very excited about.
Where can people find your work?
People can find my work online at squirrelbunny.com, Magazine Metals (2036 Magazine St.), the
annual Antigravity Alternative Media Expo, REDUX in Portland, Oregon (811 E. Burnside St.),
and Symmetry Jewelers. I also hope to participate in some of the upcoming art markets in New
Orleans so keep an eye out for me—you may just find me there sometime soon!
11
antigravitymagazine.com_
COLUMNS
MEDICINE
DR. FEELGOOD
by nancy kang, m.d.
[email protected]
BOO AT THE ZOOPHILIA (I REALLY LIKE
ANIMALS) AND OTHER WEIRD SEX ACTS
I
hope you had a nice
Halloween. It marks
the beginning of cool
weather and general festive
fun holidays running up
to Mardi Gras. In regards
to pleasurable activities in
general, let’s discuss sex acts
gone awry. There are men
who like feet, women who
like whips. But when does
this pass from bedroom fun
into a psychiatric disorder?
Paraphilia is a medical
term
that
describes
recurrent, intense sexually
arousing fantasies, sexual urges or behaviors generally involving:
1) nonhuman objects, or
2) the suffering or humiliation of oneself or one’s partner, or
3) children or other non-consenting persons.
Paraphilias can cause distress or serious problems for the paraphiliac or their
associates. Some people undergo intervention to alter their behavior. These
interventions may be voluntary or involuntary, such as hormonal castration as part
of legal sentencing in pedophilia cases.
But the line between normal sexual behavior and a psychological disorder is
blurry. Decades ago, homosexuality was listed as a paraphilia. This designation,
fortunately, was changed in the ’80s. Role-play, and I’m not talking D&D
here (or am I?) between consensual adults is not necessarily paraphilic. There
is a movement against labeling these behaviors as psychological disorders.
There are those that even think Pedophila is just simply a sexual preference.
Hmmm.
How many different kinds of paraphilias exist? There are more than five hundred
documented kinds of paraphilias. Here are a few. This list may come in handy as a
conversation started at the Thanksgiving dinner table!
Exhibitionism: recurrent urge to expose one’s genitals to an unsuspecting person.
Fetishism: use of inanimate objects (such as shoes) to gain sexual excitement.
Frotteurism: touching or rubbing against a non-consenting person.
Pedophilia: adult sexual urges for prepubescent children.
Masochism: recurrent urge of wanting to be humiliated, beaten or otherwise made
to suffer for sexual pleasure.
Telephone scatalogia: obscene phone calls.
Necrophilia: desire for sexual activity with corpses.
Zoophilia: sexual urge towards animals.
Coprophilia: sexual urge to eat poo poo.
Klismaphilia: sexual urges for enemas.
Emetophilia: sexual urges towards vomit.
There are a few idiosyncratic paraphilias reported, including a man who had
sexual urges involving sneezing (bless you!).
How do you get a paraphilia? One explanation is there is a short circuit as an
individual is coming into understanding of his or her own sexuality. For instance, a
boy might feel sexual feelings towards a girl. But the only thing he knows is his own
body, a penis. Then, in his mind, he projects the image of his own sex onto the object
of his attraction. This may lead to a life-long sexual preoccupation with women with
penises, which harkens back to this person’s first sexual awakening. Pretty deep.
Or take for instance serial killer, necrophiliac and foot fetishist Jerry Brudos.
When he was a young boy, he found a cool pair of high-heeled shoes at the dump.
He brought them home and played with them (his mom only wore flats). When
she saw her son playing with women’s shoes, she beat him and screamed. Forever
burned into little Jerry’s brain was the idea that women’s shoes were very very bad.
This led to a lifelong obsession with feet and shoes. He ended up killing women,
cutting off their feet and keeping them in the freezer. When he had a little free time,
he photographed his secret shoe collection on the disembodied feet. It’s always the
mom’s fault.
Good news! There is treatment for paraphilias. In the past, surgical castration
(cutting off one’s nads [cajones, family jewels, dangly bits]) was advocated as a
therapy for men with pedophilia. Now this is seen as cruel and unusual punishment
(ya think?). There are drugs that block sex hormones, so-called chemical castration
that is less drastic. Some even use Depo-Provera, the birth control injection, to
decrease sexual urges in men. Others use traditional psychotherapy (talk it out) or
group therapy (talk it out with other Coprophilacs).
Well, have a swell Thanksgiving. Think about your mother’s high-heeled shoes
and start a great conversation about how your mom made you a sexual predator.
Excuse me, I have to go sneeze.
12_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
COLUMNS
LOCAL MUSIC
“SLINGSHOTS, ANYONE?”
by derek zimmer [email protected]
THE POLICE WILL NOT BE EXCUSED
O
ne weeknight not too long ago, I ventured out to table a show some old friends from
my bygone high school days were playing at the Big Top. Like the loitering delinquent
that I am, I showed up about two hours early, but the Big Top nonetheless welcomed
me in, provided me water, and allowed me to set up my Iron Rail table and hang out. As the
show commenced, while relaxing on the couch inside the space, glancing around at all the art
and reflecting on how stimulating and comfortable an environment Big Top is compared to 95%
of other New Orleans venues, I noticed one thing that caused me to gag slightly: an on-duty cop
patrolling the show.
“Security” for an all-ages show at the Big Top...This was some Twilight Zone shit! This was
like doin’ a little puff-puff-give on some O.G. kush, only to realize—like Smokey from Friday—it
was laced with angel dust! In other words: it hit me like a ton of bricks. To make matters worse,
before I could really compose myself and figure out a way to intelligently approach the situation,
this police officer made her way over to the table where myself and the members of The Silent
Game—whom she soon began talking to—sat on the couch. I sat stoically nearby as they chatted
about bands and shows; she name-dropped Fugazi, and I silently threw up a little bit in my
mouth. I do that sometimes. I like to call it the “Silent Throw-Up Game.” Peering curiously at
the contents of the table, she then asked who was manning this one. Of course The Silent Game
guys all pointed to me. Great...
I must have been exuding some unfriendly vibes myself—either this or she noticed my visible
retching motions as I tried not to erupt with bile—because after only a few seconds this cop asked
me, almost provokingly, “Am I making you uncomfortable?”
Clearing my throat, I replied, “Yes—you are, actually.” As I let this comment drop, I could
feel the awkwardness emanate out into the air—as if I’d just farted into the PA in the middle of
an acoustic folk set. For clarification, I added,
“I’m just wondering who exactly you’re here
to police?”
“Well...” She went on to give some bogus
explanation involving the need to protect
“minors,” essentially, from themselves. Now,
before I begin casting stones from my tower
of moral superiority, I want to be clear about
one thing: I respect and support the Big Top
and the folks who run it. They have shown me
nothing but complete kindness, and I know
they have also put up with a lot of stupid
bullshit to make tons of all-ages shows happen
at their space—antics which are included but not limited to: morons tagging the bathroom,
damaged art, and temper tantrums and flying drums from one particular ninny baby touring
band (cough, Japanther, cough). I realize—from a pragmatically realistic standpoint—they must
toe a fine line in order to keep their space running—even if this sometimes entails compromises
which I, in my idealistic naivete, disagree with. Nevertheless, I do really appreciate the Big Top’s
continued support of NOLA’s sometimes not-so-grateful punk scene.
With that said, rather than using this writing to criticize said amazing space (or even any
individual police officer) and instead using it to perhaps open up a discourse on the impact of
police, do please allow me express two hypothetical concerns I have. Well, three, actually—if
we’re counting the fact that I believe these uniformed gang members to be a legitimate threat to
the youth of America. Firstly, as a friend and I later discussed, use of “security”could potentially
do a disservice to the local DIY community by portraying non-bar shows as hassles to book or
events meant strictly for pre-teens. Additionally, I believe this mentality reinforces the ageist
notion that teenagers aren’t thinking individuals who can make rational decisions for themselves
but rather liabilities warranting constant chaperoning. I mean, where are we, anyway—Cypress
Hall?! How many amazing shows have I attended at the Big Top—since age fifteen, might I
add!—that were totally inclusive (Mike Robinson even brought his toddlers out to a show once,
for crying out loud!) without the coercive presence of law enforcement?!
Yet despite how plainly I illustrated that her company wasn’t welcome near me, this cop
just politely refused to move on and do whatever it is that cops do. She said as though speaking
aloud to herself, “I love books—couldn’t imagine a world without ‘em.” I pondered quietly to
myself, How about police—could you imagine a world without them? I sure can! She continued,
“I would just have to kill myself.” No comment. “Or someone else.” Well now—you can already
do that, silly!
She turned to the guys sitting next to me and commented (though obviously still directed to
me), “I’m just doing my job here. I’m just a person in a monkey suit.” Lingering about for a
few more awkward moments, she turned to me and added before leaving, “Well, I’m sorry I’m
making you uncomfortable.”
Apparently not sorry enough. Later on in the night she came over once again—this time to buy
a book! I contemplated telling her to put away her money and please leave me alone. Deciding
my point had already come across—not to mention that little good could come from upsetting
someone wielding handcuffs and a gun—I took her money and gave her the book.
As if this weren’t bad enough, it actually gets worse. The show drew to its close, and I walked
from the venue with the stack of literature in my arms and began loading it all into my basket.
I wanted to make it speedy for fear that what’s-her-name might walk over and try to talk to me.
But sure enough, there she was shadowing me quicker than I could say “Oink, oink.” “You need
help with anything?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“You gonna be able to carry all that on your bike?”
“Yeppp.”
“OK. Well, you have a good night—and good luck.”
I can’t purport to know this police officer’s intentions or circumstances. Whatever the case, the
significant and fundamental thing to note here, I think, is that I felt an underlying sense of being
preyed upon. Her standing over me made me feel threatened and uncomfortable, and she knew
it—not only through my body language but through my directly stating so! Yet still she persisted,
which I’d classify as predatory behavior not unlike any standard cop entitlement complex. I
unlocked my bike and pedaled away, cold as ice.
Despite my dichotomous personality, I don’t think I see the world in black and white, and I
don’t feel I blindly hate based on a prejudice. This could explain why my objective, scornful way
of handling the situation caused this conflicting guilt trip, leading me to go so far as to disavow
my general rule of not voluntarily talking to cops in favor of perhaps engaging this one in what
could—by some small chance—evolve into a meaningful dialogue. After all, at the end of the
day there really isn’t enough venom in my soul to make me hate cops on an individual level. I
just wish they would quit their stupid jobs. Before reaching the next block of Calliope, I turned
my bike around and decided to approach her this time, where she stood in the road.
I began: “Look: I know you probably see me as this bigoted, young and foolish kid...”
“No, actually,” she replied immediately, as though anticipating this. Her face was stern but
not unkind. “You wanna know what I see? I see a beautiful, brilliant young man with plenty of
good ideas...”
Oh, god. This lady was layin’ it on thicker than the fat on a slab of bacon! If I didn’t watch
myself, she might ask me out on a date next! Well, she didn’t, but soon enough did proceed to
ask me—as though subtly interrogating me—other questions. How old was I? What was my name?
(I knew she already knew this; someone had told me they overheard her outside ask a member
of The Silent Game. Hmmm....Surreptitious, anyone???) Did I go to school?
Perceiving this conversation to be headed nowhere and that I was being—to put it in colloquial
terms—”mind-fucked” by Officer Friendly here, I ended the discussion and walked away. I’d
attempted to have a conversation with a human being and not with a “cop,” but—whether because
of my own hang-ups or because she actually
was manipulating me (which, granted, may
not have been the case)—this proved useless.
You know how after an argument is said and
done, you always think of all the rebuttals you
should have told the other person? That’s kind
of how this interaction was—but worse. I felt
like the whole way I’d initially dealt with the
situation—my blatant rudeness in the face of
her ingratiating “bigger person” routine—was
foolish. And riding away after talking to her I
only felt more foolish! But I didn’t beat myself
up too much about it: after all, it’s hard to
have a valid discussion when the entire dynamic of the interaction is based upon a presumed
hierarchy—not to mention when you’re literally attempting to combat an entire socio-economic
structure!
I wanna rap this one up with another little blurb that happened later that week, at another
show I tabled at—why, wouldn’t ya know it!—the Big Top. I saw no cops at this one—well,
unless you count the show’s illustrious promotor, Bryan Funck...Ah ha! I jest! Chris Clavin (of
Ghost Mice/Plan-It-X records) was doing his solo thing and playing with a new sloppy pop punk
band called Imperial Can. My friends’ bands, The Rooks and acoustic sing-songies Sorority,
were also playing. In addition, there was a German anarchist dude touring with Chris doing
spoken word/a capella.
During his solo ukelele set, as if we were all roasting s’mores around a campfire rather than
sitting on the floor of an art gallery, Chris told stories about living in punk houses, that life
phase of breaking things just for the sake of breaking them, and supporting emotionally unstable
friends—all beautiful things. But it was during his other band Imperial Can’s set earlier in the
night that he said something that really resonated with me more than anything else. He told the
sparse crowd of people encircling them: “You know, lately I’ve found within the punk scene
it’s become ‘uncool’ to be offensive. That it’s not okay to offend someone even when they’re
threatening or hurting you. And I say it is. So that’s why this song’s called ‘Sometimes a Fuck
You is Called For’.”
And this really got me thinking about my interactions with that police officer. About the way
one of my friends said to me, “She’s just doing her job. It’s just a job.” I ask myself: How can
we now so easily criticize past monsters like, for example, the guards at Dachau who too were
just “doing their job,” yet we can’t seem to be honest enough with ourselves to admit that our
society’s armed protectors uphold one of the most fucked up systems on the planet—doing so at
the expense of people of color, the poor, and anyone else who poses a threat to the status quo?
Because when I look at them, all I see is a line of congruency connecting that past oppression
to the present. Not to mention, as someone who identifies as a punk, I see them as contrary to
my own do-it-yourself ethic: after all, a large portion of the delusive powers cops wield are the
ones we delegate to them to handle situations for us! The police have spawned an entire culture
of fear—and subsequently a self-perpetuating system of yet more policing. I mean, in case you
haven’t noticed, we are living under possibly the most police-occupied city in the United States
right now. As prevalent as the humidity in the summer heat, as ubiquitous as those mix-drink
hand grenades on Bourbon Street, this authoritarian fascism is everywhere. It already parades
itself through the streets of our neighborhoods, drawing us under its auspices nearly wherever
we go. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to be made uncomfortable in my own community—the
one safe space I feel I have—by these smug purveyors of inequality without doing whatever in
my power to make them uncomfortable right back!
Closing remarks: If one really desires people to see beyond the “monkey suit” and instead see
one’s humanity, then—wow, here’s an idea—try taking off the monkey suit! Until then, there
will be a barrier preventing any sort of meaningful connection. How amazing of a person one
is deep down , in this context, seems kind of irrelevant to me. Because of what they represent,
by virtue of their job description, I can only regard those wearing a badge with suspicion and
mistrust. Finally, I too believe that a Fuck you is sometimes called for. So to those who maintain
the status quo with violent coercion or simply the threat of violent coercion—here’s mine...
“If one really desires people to
see beyond the “monkey suit” and
instead see one’s humanity, then—
wow, here’s an idea—try taking off
the monkey suit!”
13
antigravitymagazine.com_
COLUMNS
SPORTS
HOMEFIELD
ADVANTAGE
by leo mcgovern
[email protected]
WHAT A YEAR, SO FAR
A
s I type this, the Saints are 6-0 and heading into a Monday Night Football
showdown with the Atlanta Falcons. Personally, I’m still a little high from
the awesome comeback against the Miami Dolphins, not just because we
came back to stomp Andy Bizer’s favorite team, but because I think the Saints
cemented themselves, both around the NFL and with any remaining doubters
back home, as a very good team with a realistic chance of making a deep run into
the playoffs. Why hesitate to use “great” to describe this Saints team? There’s
only one reason—we haven’t done it yet. The New England Patriots circa 2003
and 2004 were called great because they’d already won tons of big games in the
regular season, the playoffs, and a Super Bowl—we haven’t even won a playoff
game since the 2006 season. When will we In last month’s column I talked about
how I couldn’t help but doubt our defense (just a little bit—I have been touting
them all year long, after all) until we had a 14-point lead and I didn’t worry about
it evaporating in a couple of series. Well, that moment came in the Dolphins
game when, after Drew Brees lobbied Sean Payton to go for a touchdown from
the 1-yard line at the end of the first half, I turned to my buddy and said, “We’re
winning this game.” There was no doubt in my mind and, obviously, I wasn’t
disappointed.
The most impressive thing so far about this 2009 season is we’re winning games
we’d have certainly lost in 2007 or 2008. A close game in the 4th quarter up in
Buffalo, with the wind blowing and keeping Brees from getting on track? Last
year that’d have been a devastating loss, but this year the running game breaks
out and clinches the game for us. Down 21 points in Miami, with everything from
instant replay equipment inexplicably failing in the 1st quarter to basic four-man
defensive fronts befuddling our offensive line for nearly a half? Last year I’d have
been disgustedly playing Halo 3 by the 4th quarter, but this year I’m steadfastly
believing the Saints would come back. Why? Right now, the Saints just have it.
They have leaders on both sides of the ball in Brees and MLB Jonathan Vilma,
they simply have a defensive coach, Marques Colston’s back to full strength, S
Darren Sharper’s playing like Josh Bullocks wishes he could’ve when he was
here… I could go on.
But, really, all it means is we’re 6-0. We still have two months to go until we
get into the playoffs, and a lot can happen in that time frame. But, for the first
time in…well, forever, I’m not waiting on the other shoe to drop, for the Saints
to become “the same ol’ Saints.” I’m anxiously awaiting the rest of the season
because this team has a real chance to be great.
SEASON TICKET HOLDERS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Did you know that season tickets are sold out for the Saints? Did you know there’s
a 50,000-person waiting list for season tickets? I did, and it’s why I continually
scratched my head during the last couple of games in the Superdome. Really,
I’ll try to be as cordial as possible but, season ticket holders, what the hell are
you people doing? Several sections around 634 had multiple New York Jets and
Giants fans in attendance. Season tickets are sold out, and have been for a long
time. This shouldn’t be happening, and if you’ve tossed your tickets away, I’m
blaming you. Can’t make it to the game? Give your tickets to a fellow Saints fan
who wants them! Don’t want to go to the games? Then give up your tickets and
let them go to the next person on the list—there’s supposedly 50,000 of them.
How’re your tickets winding up in the hands of opposing fans? I’d rather your
seats be empty at the game than see your tickets go to Jets fans. Or, worse, Atlanta
fans. Really, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
NOTES:
—Thomas Morstead’s tackle of Giants WR Domenik Hixon was Toby Gowinesque.
—One of the particular benefits of beating the Giants, at least if they return to
being a power in the NFC, is the Saints gained a potential tie-breaker for homefield
advantage in the playoffs. tough to beat a team twice in a season; if not for Roman
Harper’s strip sack of Eli Manning at the end of the first half, the second half
would’ve featured a steady diet of the Giants’ running game. After seeing a little
vulnerability in our run defense in the Dolphins game, I wouldn’t want to see
twenty or thirty second-half runs by Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw in the
NFC championship game.
—Being 6-0 has suddenly started a lot of “undefeated season” talk. Personally,
I think it’d be poetic if the Saints end the regular season at 15-1, before going
on to win the Super Bowl. It’d be nice, in reflecting upon New Orleans’ first
championship, that we remembered what losing felt like one last time. Wouldn’t
it be almost perfect if that one loss becomes symbolic as the last of so many?
14_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
17
antigravitymagazine.com_
FEATURE
MUSIC
CAMERA OBSCURA: KINGS AND
QUEENS OF SCHMALTZY LIVING
interview by dan mitchell
photo by donald milne
C
amera Obscura, currently a fivepiece out of Glasgow, Scotland,
has spent the better part of 2009
touring in support of their gorgeous,
graceful and epic fourth album, My Maudlin
Career. It is the record fans of previous outings
have been waiting for; huge in scope and sound,
with string arrangements uplifting almost every
track yet intimate as ever, with lead singer/
songwriter Tracyanne Campbell continuing to
showcase her ability to create some of the best
melodramatic pop to be found. After enjoying a
stateside release on 4AD/ Merge on April 20th,
the band’s already toured the U.S., beginning
last May and going through over twenty cities,
and are close to completing their second tour
of Europe. November 18th at Tipitina’s marks
the launch of their second American tour,
which will take them through fourteen cities
alongside opening act The Papercuts. Needless
to say, they’ve been a busy bunch over the past
six months. ANTIGRAVITY was afforded the
opportunity to steal a few precious moments
from Tracyanne only minutes before a soldout show in the seaside town of Morecambe,
in the eastern Lancashire region of England, at
a local library.
ANTIGRAVITY: You released your new album stateside back in April
and you’ve been on tour pretty much ever since then, in both Europe
and in the States. How has the touring been going for you; has it been
enjoyable thus far?
Tracyanne Campbell: Yes, it’s been enjoyable to a certain extent, but I’m
also starting to get a little bit weary, you know. I’m looking forward to
going home for a couple of days. In a few days time, we are going to play
in Glasgow and we get to stay at home for three days.
How did you first link up with him?
He was suggested by a friend named Steven, who thought he [Jari] would
be a very good match for the band. And he was right.
So, do you have any future touring plans with the band after the end of
the American tour in early December?
There will be more touring next year. We are going to Australia and New
Zealand. There are a couple of festivals lined up. No solid tours as of yet,
but I’m sure something will come about; even more touring in the States.
There are a lot of lush string arrangements on the most recent album,
how is that going to translate as far as [Camera Obscura’s] playing of
the songs in a live setting?
Well, we don’t take the string quartet on tour because we can‘t afford it.
But I don’t think it matters. We’re not trying to imitate the album when we
play live. The songs were recorded live anyway [on the album], so we are
basically just playing them the way we did when we recorded them—the
strings were recorded last. There are certain songs we won’t play without
the strings, like “Careless Love,” because that would be pretty pointless. I
think people don’t expect, necessarily, when they go to see a band to hear
a band’s record. Well I certainly don’t, I think it’s boring.
Any tricks you have picked up over the years to keep yourself from
going mad on the bus, all those long hours of road travel?
I think it is really just more about getting used to it, you know. Knowing
how to respect each others’ space when we can; it’s difficult to get much
alone time. When you are on tour, you are pretty much with people all
the time apart from sleep. You just have to remind yourself why you are
there. You’re not there to party the whole day and night—it is a job at the
end of the day. And headphones are very important.
Is there anything that you’ve been really liking, as far as other bands’
music or other artists that you have really gotten into?
I really like the last St. Vincent album—it was great. I haven’t heard the
Monsters of Folk album yet, I’m looking forward to that. I’m a big M.
Ward fan. And the Taken By Trees album is really spectacular.
How was it working with Jari [Haapalainen, My Maudlin Career’s
producer] for the second time? It sounds like you guys were very
comfortable together.
Yeah, we are; we have a very good rapport with Jari and we get along
with him. We like how he works and we like how he approaches our
music. You know, it’s a challenge of ours as much as it is a challenge for
him [in making the music], but we have fun.
16_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
Your new album is beautiful and I know a lot of people down here in
New Orleans are very excited for you to come through.
It’s always great to play a town that we have never played before, so it is
exciting for us to come and play there.
Are there any specific venues or cities that you are excited to hit on
the tour this time.
It’s always good to play new places and to the best of my knowledge,
most of them are new to us. We play in New York quite a lot, and I heard
the Brooklyn show is already sold out. It surprises me how often we
tend to sell out shows there. It is a nice feeling, but I’m looking forward
to going to all the places we’ve never been to before. The band really
loves touring in the States, it’s pretty much our favorite place to tour
and to play. We are incredibly fortunate; it beats the hell out of a lot of
other jobs. It’s a nice feeling to know that people are there waiting to see
you. We’re playing in an old town tonight called Morecambe, kind of a
seaside town. We’re actually playing in a library, believe it or not. It’s
very strange. I feel like I’m in a school band or something.
Camera Obscura plays Tipitina’s on Wednesday, November 18th. For more
info on Camera Obscura, go to camera-obscura.net.
FEATURE
CULTURE
THE AWKWARD, LUMPY GREEN VEGETABLE
THAT COULD IS CELEBRATED AT THE
ANNUAL MIRLITON FESTIVAL
by dominique minor
photo by zack smith
W
ith the phrase “Les Bon Temps Roulez” as
our city’s unofficial mantra (and in some
instances, a creed for local policymakers),
it is no surprise that New Orleans offers a
jammed calendar of celebrations centered on our primary
cultural exports: Food and music. In keeping with this
tradition, this year’s Mirliton Festival will offer these things
and more. Add in the temperate November weather and
affordable price tag, and it’s damn near impossible to miss.
The festival, which was established in 1989 by the Bywater
Neighborhood Association, began as an effort to give the
neighborhood a celebration all its own. However, longtime
Bywater resident and founding festival member Mary Cooper
gave a slightly different, yet jovial, take on its origin: “[It] was
kind of a joke,” she said, in a statement on the festival’s official
website. “They have festivals in Louisiana for everything
else, why not mirlitons?” Little did she know that the event
celebrating the eccentric pear-shaped delicacy would grow
into a tradition that has endured for two decades.
The mirliton—which was originally domesticated
in Mexico and is known to most of the country as the
chayote—is also called alligator pear, chocho, choko, chow-chow,
christophene, sayote, tayota, and vegetable pear. But around here
we just like to call it the “mella-tawn.” And although the
awkward, lumpy green vegetable can be eaten straight from
the vine, its naturally bland taste can make this a daunting
task—but one New Orleanians have embraced. We have no
trouble adding flavor to mirlitons. We stuff ’em, pickle ’em,
fry ’em, put ’em in soups, salads and just about any other
cunning, culinary combination your mind can conjure.
Dishes at this year’s festival will be sure to tantalize
attendees’ taste buds with its veritable cornucopia of local
food vendors like The Country Club, The Joint, Markey’s
Bar, Sally’s Country Gourmet Foods, Karma Kitchen,
Satsuma Cafe, Café Roux and Frady’s. There will also be a
selection of fine wines from Bacchanal, gelato from Sucré,
and gourmet popsicles crafted by the folks at Meltdown.
This year will also see the return of Bywater mainstay
Jack Dempsey’s, which will be serving oyster dressing,
stuffed mirlitons and baked macaroni and cheese. Located
at 738 Poland Avenue, the thirty-year-old family-owned
establishment will mark its third year participating in the
festival. Owner Diane Marino said that “getting out to
mingle with the people in the neighborhood” is her favorite
part of the festival.
“The Bywater is this kind of hip area,” said Andrew
Bizer, a local entertainment attorney that aided in booking
bands for this year’s festival. “And the mirliton itself, which
is this weird vegetable, is kind of like a metaphor for the
neighborhood.”
While the Mirliton Festival is a food-centric festivity,
an eclectic mix of local artists and craftspeople, children’s
activities, merchandising booths selling t-shirts, bumper
stickers, and temporary Mirliton tattoos will be featured at
the event.
“What separates the Mirliton Festival from other festivals
is that it’s so laid back,” said Bizer. “We’re not trying to
make a million bucks. We don’t really have a fancyschmancy mission. It’s like, ‘Hey, come to the Bywater and
celebrate the mirliton.’ It’s just kind of relaxed.”
When asked about the festival’s growth over the years,
veteran attendee Alex McMurray responded, saying, “It’s
growing for sure. The attendance has improved and it’s been
more confidently run over the years. It just keeps getting
better and better. It’s at a nice in-between spot right now,
where it’s not too big like, say, Jazz Fest or something.”
“I guess you could say it’s at a ‘teenage’ stage, or a ‘preteenage’ stage,” McMurray added.
Pictured: Hurray for the Riff Raff
McMurray is slated to perform at the fest with the
Valparaiso Men’s Chorus. Other musical guests include
DJ Jubilee, The Happy Talk Band, R. Scully Rough
7, Guitar Lightning Lee, Hurray for the Riff Raff,
Panorama Jazz Band, King Louie One Man Band, and
Ratty Scurvics.” The mirliton is kind of weird and quirky,
as is the music lineup and all that somehow makes sense,”
said Bizer.
McMurray also expressed a hope that the Mirliton
Festival attract more local attendees for this year’s festival.
“I hope there’s more people from North of St. Claude
showing up, which hasn’t been the case too much,” he said.
“I think it should be something for the entire (New Orleans)
community—I think the whole city should show up.”
Seeming to encapsulate that sentiment, a recent post on
the festival’s official Twitter page read, “Where else can u
get food, music, art in 1 of NOLA’s funkiest ‘hoods for only
5 bucks? Huzzah!”
I couldn’t have said it better any myself.
The 2009 Mirliton Festival will be held on Saturday,
November 7th from 11am-7pm at Markey Park (the corner
of Piety and Royal Streets). Admission if $5 for adults
($3 for Bywater Neighborhood Association members), with
children under five admitted free. For more information
on the Miriliton Festival please log on to mirlitonfestival.
com, and for the Bywater Neighborhood Association,
bywater.org.
17
antigravitymagazine.com_
FEATURE
MUSIC
HIGH IN ONE EYE: LIKE A GLORIOUS MESS OF
LACANIAN PSYCHOANALYSIS
by dan mitchell
H
igh in One Eye is not a new band.
In fact, they have been making
music for almost four years under
this moniker. A two-piece made up
of lifelong friends Andrew Landry and Evan
Cvitanovic, High in One Eye has a sound
unlike any other bands in this city. Their newly
released EP, Neon Orange Walker, explores
sonic territories of the Hella, Brainiac or
Lightning Bolt variety, but it is their musical
techniques and off-kilter signature shifting
that truly sets them apart.
18_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
Between them, the duo possesses over twenty-five years of musical learning
and practice, which is impressive given that their combined ages only reach
forty. While their music might sound like a glorious mess to those with
limited understanding of improv and avant-garde music, in all actuality
they are almost scarily tight and precise in their songs. They rarely, if
ever, write out their music, but instead work off simple motifs, which they
expound upon during improvisational jams. This sort of mindset allows
for the duo to expand and push forth their sound almost every time they
play, as “mess-ups only lead to new song parts.” High in One Eye “is not
interested in rehashing the [musical] past,” but rather concern themselves
with constructing a new sound borne out of the incorporation of both
classical and modernist composition—they cite Stockhausen, Cage and
Varese as inspirational figures at the moment—classic movie scores, jazz
and a rejection of all things pop and simple. Landry and Cvitanovic, while
somewhat reserved and quiet in person, are about as ferocious, passionate
and intellectual as one can get with regard to music, both in the sense of
appreciation and application.
Growing up on the Westbank, Landry and Cvitanovic have led musical
lives ever since they were young. Landry started playing the clarinet in
fourth grade and moved on to stringed instruments, primarily bass guitar,
in eighth grade. Cvitanovic, after going to Zeigler’s Music as a five-yearold with his older sister, has been playing drums religiously thereafter. Both
attended Holy Cross High School and studied music at NOCCA, where
they played in a number of rock bands, as well as their high school jazz band,
before forming High in One Eye their junior year, in early 2006. Currently,
as sophomores at Loyola University, they continue their musical studies in
a collegiate format, with Landry focusing on a Musical Composition major
and Cvitanovic taking as many music classes as his Psychology major will
allow. In listening to these two perform, either live or on record, it becomes
hard to believe that they are both so young, especially given their authority
over their respective instruments—while Landry plays guitar in High in
One Eye, it is not his primary instrument.
Neon Orange Walker is a five-song blast of multiplicitous genre-hopping
and razor-edged time changes. It falls into a rock category, but do not call
them an instrumental rock duo—“instrumental music sucks,” according
to Landry. They think of their music as “much more than instrumental,”
with each fragment possessing “different characters within the songs.”
Instrumental music, for the most part, thrives on the recapitulation
of thoughts and progressions so as to make some sort of melodic sense
without lyrics and singing. High in One Eye does not make instrumental
music in this aforementioned way, but instead adheres more closely to a
maunder sensibility with ideas and notes let loose outside of the common
song structure. This is where their idea of not rehashing the past comes
into play; why pin themselves down to a preordained notion of what a rock
song should be when their understanding of music comes from a classically
oriented education and appreciation outside of rock music? They describe
their music aptly when they say, “We are a two-piece, guitar and drumbased, rhythmically driven with eclectic melodies and coarse changes.”
With a new EP all but two months old, High in One Eye have their
sights set on the future tours and recordings. While they perform live in
New Orleans frequently, predominantly at The Dragon’s Den, they are
enthused about their late November tour of Southern Louisiana with the
band Museyroom from New York. Outside of New Orleans, they have
only played in Baton Rouge, so this mini tour is a big step forward. As
far as other plans beyond, the duo are thinking about recording an album
influenced by Lacanian Psychoanalysis, but are not sure they would even
want to release it to the public, but rather have it be a pet project within
their discography. Whether they tackle Lacan or record some of the other
tracks that they have been working with since the recordings of Neon Orange
Walker, the one certitude is that High in One Eye has no plans of slowing
down in the near future. Cvitanovic and Landry, nicknamed Cocaine and
Jalapeños respectively by fellow musicians for their musical styles and onstage personalities, have not received much exposure as of yet, but from the
sound of things, it will all come in good time.
High in One Eye plays The Dragon’s Den on Monday, November 9th with
Many Arms and schnAAk. For more info, go to myspace.com/highinoneeye.
FEATURE
LITERATURE
ETHAN BROWN GETS SET TO SHAKE THE
DEVIL OFF AT THE N.O. BOOKFAIR ’09
by tom sowders
T
he heat has finally broken, and the day is cool and
bright—the way October should be—so I’m sitting on
my back porch with my laptop, smoking cigarettes and
talking with Ethan Brown via Google Chat. Brown
moved from New York to New Orleans a little over two years
ago, after Zack Bowen, a well-liked French Quarter resident and
father of two, murdered and chopped up his girlfriend, Addie
Hall, before leaping to his death from the Omni Royal Orleans
Hotel. In Shake the Devil Off, his third book, Brown complicates
this violent act of seeming insanity, delving deep into the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan and into Katrina’s aftermath, exposing
key problems in the way our government
handles disasters. So while I’m feeling very
alive in the pleasant weather of today, the
topic of conversation, like Brown’s book
itself, continues to haunt me. In anticipation
of Brown’s appearance at the upcoming
New Orleans Bookfair, ANTIGRAVITY
talked to Brown about staying in New
Orleans, being terrified of Mardi Gras and
understanding those seemingly difficult to
understand.
ANTIGRAVITY: Your crime investigations
demonstrate a strong interest in people. In
talking about how Zackery Bowen’s story
initially grabbed you, you mention “strange
and complex lives.” You also say New
Orleans is “without a doubt the greatest city
[you’ve] ever lived in.” Is there a connection
between these two predilections?
Ethan Brown: This is a great question
and I’ll try and take it piece-by-piece. I’ve
written about crime for ten-plus years
now and I am, as you say, very interested
in people. The subject of my first book—
Queens Reigns Supreme—was a federal
money laundering case in New York
involving hip-hop record label Murder Inc.
The feds accused Murder Inc.’s founders—
Irv and Chris Lorenzo—of laundering drug
money for a Queens-based drug kingpin
named Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. So,
when approaching the Murder Inc. case,
I was interested in exploring the charges
against Irv, Chris, and Supreme but, more
importantly, writing about everyone in the
case with empathy and presenting them
as multi-dimensional characters. I think
that this approach worked particularly
well because the feds portrayed Irv and
Chris as hip-hop industry gangsters when
in fact they were middle class kids from
Queens who worshipped Supreme. And
to federal prosecutors, Supreme was just
pure evil—he was essentially not even a
human being. The truth was much more
complex—Supreme was heavily involved
in the streets but he tried (unsuccessfully)
to break into the music business via Irv
and Chris. I should mention, too, that I
interviewed Supreme in federal prison
after Queens Reigns Supreme was published
and he was not only street savvy but highly
intelligent in other areas—we discussed
Jimmy Carter’s views on the stalled
Middle East peace process, a discussion
that obviously does not fit into the crack kingpin stereotype.
This is all a very long-winded way of saying that when I first
heard about the Zackery Bowen/Addie Hall murder-suicide they
seemed like just the sort of characters that I like to write about—he
was a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who was popular
in the military police company in which he served because he had
a charisma and gregariousness that he developed while working as
a bartender in the French Quarter; she was a true Quarter type who
worked several jobs in the service industry and had a moodiness
that was very New Orleans.
So: to get to the final part of your question, I’m not sure that these
two people could have existed anywhere else but New Orleans even
though, obviously, they were not born here and therefore were not
New Orleanians.
You’ve lived in and written extensively about both crime and
New Orleans, but how was writing this book about both different
from any other project you’ve published?
This was an all-around tough project because I had two get two
major historical moments—the federal flood and the war in Iraq—
right. And I knew that if I didn’t get Iraq and the federal flood right
that I would catch hell from New Orleanians and Iraq veterans.
So, while the crime that Zackery committed is an extreme
manifestation of the mental health crisis among Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans, everything that he experienced (alcohol and drug abuse,
abusive relationships, untreated PTSD, even homelessness) is
unfortunately far, far too common among our veterans.
An understanding of Zackery’s case is, I think, very helpful in
understanding this mental health crisis.
Despite Bowen’s violent crime, you say that one of your ambitions
in writing the book was to offer an understanding of who he was.
How can understanding him help people?
Your research allowed you a nuanced understanding of how
Katrina affected the people of New Orleans. Can you say
something about that?
In the book, I focus on the “holdouts” in
the French Quarter, whose experiences
were far from representative of what
most New Orleanians faced during the
federal flood. I think it’s important,
however, to understand that the
holdouts almost instinctually looked
out for each other and created a utopian
community, all without help from
local, state and federal officials. This
is especially important to keep in mind
when law enforcement attempts to
defend its indefensible behavior in the
wake of the federal flood by claiming
that they faced “chaos” created by the
citizenry. That’s not true—in fact, quite
the opposite occurred. In many cases,
law enforcement sowed chaos.
There’s an epic mental health crisis unfolding right now among
veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The most recent
numbers on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) are horrific—
Stanford University just estimated a PTSD rate as high as 35
percent for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. According to Veterans
for Common Sense, “this means as many as 665,000 potential
PTSD patients and claims flooding into VA.” After speaking with
Zackery’s fellow soldiers and reviewing his entire military record
(which included a mental health and medical evaluation just
before he was discharged), I found that he suffered from major
depression and, most likely, from PTSD. During Zackery’s last
medical evaluation before being discharged, he complained of a
number of problems—sleeplessness, numbness and tingling, muscle
tightness—that are classic symptoms of the onset of PTSD.
You moved to New Orleans to write a
book. That’s done, but you’re still here.
Why have decided to stay in the city with
nation’s highest murder rate?
What has been particularly amazing about
living here for the past two-plus years
is having all sorts of misconceptions/
preconceptions about New Orleans
stripped away. Before I moved here,
I was terrified of Mardi Gras because I
mistakenly believed it to be a city-wide
frat party. So my first Mardi Gras was a
huge revelation—the amount of culture
and tradition piled into Carnival (from the
Krewe of Saint Anne to the flambeaux)
is just staggering. Another big and very
welcome surprise for me is the friends
I’ve made here—I’ve got friends in their
twenties and fifties; it’s not at all like New
York where things are much more socially
narrow.
Interestingly, the negatives for me
about New Orleans are just as strong as
the positives. The crime is a lot worse
than I imagined; it reminds me of early
1990s New York City, except even worse
because in early 1990s New York there
was the fear of a pickpocket or mugger
and here in New Orleans, it’s the fear of
an armed robber packing an automatic
weapon (and worse: a teenage armed
robber with an automatic weapon with
no sense of consequences, nothing to
fear from the criminal justice system and
no sense of the future because of a vast
experience with friends being killed or
sent to prison). The political leadership
of New Orleans is also infuriatingly awful, particularly when you
consider, for example, the profound misallocation of the city’s
resources (the millions funneled to pricey contracts for garbage
collection would be much better spent with, say, the city’s
recreation department).
Ultimately, however, I feel very at home here. When my wife
and I used to come here as visitors we’d feel deeply depressed when
we had to go back home to New York and we’d often extend our
visit in New Orleans. Lurking in that depression was, I think, a
sense that we were actually home in New Orleans—and I think that
feeling has been confirmed in our time here.
Ethan Brown will appear at the New Orleans Bookfair pre-party at
Sound Café (2700 Chartres St.) on Friday, November 6th from 5-8pm.
19
antigravitymagazine.com_
FEATURE
CULTURE
WONDER LANDS: THE N.O. FRINGE FESTIVAL
UNRAVELS TRADITIONAL THEATRE
by sara pic
L
ast year, ANTIGRAVITY
spoke with the creators of
the New Orleans Fringe
Festival, which is now
in its second year. As its creators
describe it, Fringe is a festival
that brings “fearless performers
to fearless audiences.” This year,
AG sat down with five local
New Orleans theater, dance and
musical groups to talk about their
“wild, weird, fresh and original”
shows.
MISFIT LOVE: THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN IDENTITY
Told through puppets, music, aerial dance and stop-motion
animation, “The Pomology of Sweetness and Light,” by
the Black Forest Fancies, is a marionette operetta that tells
the story of the co-development of the apple and American
identity. Most Americans are familiar with the fable of Johnny
Appleseed, but few know about the thwarted engagement to
his would-be child bride, Clara Bell. This love story, the Black
Forest Fancies emphasize, is the core of Pomology. Company
member Pandora Gastelum explains the opera as “A love
story between two misfits, of radically different ages who are
living in a wild frontier world. Despite the fact that their love
was vital and powerful, because of the circumstances of their
lives, they cannot be together.” Originally, Pomology featured
a disembodied male voice for a narrator. That voice is now
gone and has been redistributed to “the widows,” a group
of puppeteers on stage who play the former loves of John
Chapman. Company member Nina Nichols notes this change
is important so that audiences understand that the Black
Forest Fancies are a female-led group. Their interpretations
of popular western fables reflect this, as they are told from a
female perspective. As Nichols describes it, Pomology tells
20_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
Johnny Appleseed and Clara Bell’s story and the story of “the
diversity of apple love. When you monoculture the apple you
lose its sweetness.”
THIS IS A DREAM. THIS IS ALSO REALITY.
“Shipwrecked,” the tale of Ulla, a young girl from another
world and her harrowing confinement in an insane asylum, is
the fourth collaboration between Morella and The Wheels of
If and choreographer Kettye Voltz of Tsunami Dance. Ulla,
played by singer Anastacia Ternasky from Morella and The
Wheels of If, is tragically perceived as crazy because she talks
to the moon. However, in her reality the moon is her friend
who she hopes will deliver her one true love to rescue her from
the insane asylum, as Ulla is from a different world, from the
sea and is landlocked. As Laura Laws, also from Morella,
explains, Ulla is seen as crazy but her reality is different from
the reality the rest of the world knows. Does that make her
insane or is society just forcing its version of reality onto
her? Ulla’s story is told through a combination of music,
acting, film and dance. The dance sequences are composed
by Voltz, choreographer for Tsunami Dance. Unlike previous
collaborations, this show features only non-professional
FEATURE
dancers, presenting a challenge Voltz was eager to take on.
For Voltz, it was actually quite fun and exciting for her to
choreograph dance numbers for people who are not trained
for it. She developed three dance sequences, some of which
are very sensual and others are very funny to show the
different facets of Ulla’s story, which are both beautiful and
dark. Laws asks potential Shipwrecked audience members to
simply come with an open mind. “This is a dream,” she says.
“What you see as reality can be real.”
LEWIS CARROLL, ALICE PLEASANCE LIDDELL AND SYLVIA
PLATH, TOGETHER SEARCHING FOR A WAY OUT
“Curioser: An Historical Inaccuracy,” is a production by
Skin Horse Theater that brings together the characters of
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice Pleasance Lidell
(the real-life little girl for whom Carroll wrote the story
of Alice) and Sylvia Plath (poet and author of The Bell
Jar). Some may be surprised at the placement of these three
real-life historical people on one stage, however, the five
members of Skin Horse believe these three characters have
one critical commonality—they are trapped in a world they
do not wish to be part of and are searching for a way out.
The company members were clear that “Curiouser” is not
a re-telling of Alice in Wonderland or The Bell Jar, nor is it a
biography of the three characters. Though pieces from their
biographies are used, they are taken in order to explore the
larger themes of growing up into a world which offers nothing
to the three characters and is a continual disappointment to
them. One unusual feature of “Curiouser” is that all roles
were cast cross-gendered. As the company members explain,
the roles were cast based on who was best suited for the part,
without letting gender determine who can play which role.
As company member Nat Kusinitz elaborates, “Allowing
physical appearance determining a role is a misunderstanding
because everything else is acting.” The focus instead is on
the commonality between the characters and what they can
offer each other as people who saw the path that society laid
out for them and who had to fight to escape it. A trailer for
“Curiouser” can be viewed on the company’s website, www.
skinhorsetheater.org.
CULTURE
city were invited over for snacks and to talk about some of
the big questions they would like to see discussed on stage.
During this conversation, the concept of “cultural memory”
kept arising for discussion. Cultural memory, as Russo defines
it, is memory that is passed from one generation to another,
especially indirectly. “War” is, as she describes, a “reverse
Pied Piper story. In the aftermath of a devastating war, all
the adults are gone and only the children are left.” There
are no adults around to teach the children anything. Is there
something inside them that will help them get through and
survive, cultural strengths that will lead them forward?
“War” takes the children from the West across the United
States. They begin their journey as an adventure; but as they
move across the country towards California, retracing the
steps of their ancestors, who once moved westward in order
to conquer and take land that was not theirs. This time, the
children are not conquering: instead, as Russo describes, they
are “burying the bones that were left out and planting the seed
to see if something new can grow.” Part of their journey is
also coming to own those memories, coming to terms with
what they saw during the war and accepting that they are a
part of this culture and the culture of the war. But as they
acknowledge their roles, they also have to find some ways to
make amends, to atone. As Russo explains, “It’s like when
people say I never owned slaves so I don’t need to worry about
racism. But you do, because you are dealing with what your
ancestors left.” The children’s journey after the war begins
as an adventure but ends with atonement. “After The War”
opens one week prior to Fringe and runs from November 6th
until November 22nd.
The New Orleans Fringe Festival runs from November 11th
through November 15th. This year, over forty-five groups and over
one hundred shows will be featured at multiple venues. More more
BRING ON THE OPERATIC LAWYERS
Have you heard the one about a couple of New Orleans
lawyers—in a satirical opera? “Bang The Law,” by local
musician Jonathan Freilich, is an opera about a lawyer from
an old New Orleans family who hires a younger lawyer to
help him out with all of his work. The older lawyer tries to
hook up the younger lawyer with a socially upward, mobile
girl, but the younger lawyer already has a thing for a local
bartender. As the opera progresses, their real identities come
out. Freilich clarifies that “Bang The Law” is a satire about
lingering class issues, using elements of opera from over three
hundred years ago. Why lawyers? Freilich explains that the
law profession is really an outsourcing job for government, as
the government produces colossal amounts of litigation. This
litigation requires a certain class of people to deal with it and
because of their positions as lawyers/government workers,
those people march through class lines. Freilich is clear that
these are class lines that aren’t even supposed to be here in
America but in reality still are, which is why “Bang The
Law” is so relevant. Why opera? Freilich describes opera’s
long relationship to carnival; however, this feature of carnival
is one that is not utilized in New Orleans currently, though
opera did use to be big here. People think of opera as long,
ponderous works about heavy subjects like death and love,
when opera can be used to tell many different kinds of stories,
including satires like “Bang The Law” (which, Freilich grins,
also include filthy humor). For Freilich, opera is also a very
collaborative art form that encompasses so many fields
of arts. And art, he says, is as important as knowing how
to eat. In fact, we need art in order to teach us how to eat.
Why satire? Because, Freilich laughs, everyone needs to be
seriously mocked, especially society.
CULTURAL MEMORY, RECKONING AND ATONEMENT
“After The War” is the third full-length show in a little over a
year by New Noise, a collaborative performance ensemble.
As company member Joanna Russo elaborates, New Noise
focuses on tackling “big themes and big questions.” “War”
was born out of an informal conversation that New Noise
hosted, where theater and performance artists from across the
21
antigravitymagazine.com_
FEATURE
LOCAL BUSINESS
by dan fox
SOLID STATE: WEBB’S BYWATER MUSIC
GEARS UP FOR ITS FIRST YEAR
I
t’s a dark and endless gauntlet that any budding entrepreneur faces when they make the
decision to start their own business. Long hours, money hemorrhages and barely scraping
by are only some of the things to look forward to. So it’s especially inspiring when someone
like Paul Webb, who has been grinding it out in awesome band after band for so many
years, takes that leap. Not only has Paul been known to the New Orleans music community
as a workhorse musician (he’s holding down positions in four bands currently: Mountain of
Wizard, Hawg Jaw, War Amps and his flagship group, Spickle) but as a longtime staff member
of the New Orleans Music Exchange, he’s also been a beacon to those in search of some fresh
equipment—or hoping to breathe new life into their old stuff. Walking into the Music Exchange,
with its maze-like walls of amps and PA speakers, it was always reassuring to see Paul because
you knew you’d be treated like a professional, whether or not you actually were one. It also
helped that he’s shared the stages of New Orleans’ dive bars and punk rock clubs with so many
of the Music Exchange’s patrons.
When Paul decided to end his tenure at the Music Exchange and start his own shop, naturally
the buzz was louder than an out-of-whack guitar pickup. But the anticipation of his opening
is nothing compared to the actual experience of visiting the shop: the layout is simple and
organized, with just enough of a selection to pique some curiosity without being overwhelmed.
And the service, of course, is the same as ever, with Paul greeting all the folks who come in like
they’re old friends. Because most of the time they are. And like the pages of a calendar, Paul
is there every day—even during Saints games (Well, he might actually be at Bud Rip’s on the
corner, sucking down a Bloody Mary, but he’ll still open the shop for you and sell you some
strings). ANTIGRAVITY caught up with Paul to talk about the transition from the Music
Exchange to his own business, friends as customers and of course, all that sweet, sweet gear.
22_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
FEATURE
LOCAL BUSINESS
“Everybody has their own certain way of doing
things. They could be right or wrong, I just
wanted to do it my own way.”
ANTIGRAVITY: When did you open the shop?
Paul Webb: I moved into the building on April 15th and
started working on it. Haggled with banks for a couple
of weeks, which turned into a couple of months, then just
one day said, “The hell with it” and started putting my own
money into it. Opened one morning, had a little party and
a bunch of people started coming in. It’s been pretty much
rolling ever since. Just selling what I can, doing as much
repair work as I can, hustling up to Jimmy [Glickman, the
Music Exchange’s owner]’s shop, grabbing all of his repairs,
delivering, whatever. Basically, kissing people’s ass for their
money!
One thing I have to ask: You’re opening a small business
in a terrible economy! Are you nuts?
Uh, no. Because there are ten million musicians in the
Bywater alone and all of my customers still come
to me from Uptown. You might think so, but my
overhead is really low: there are no employees
to pay and I do all the work myself. And I’m
doing what I’m doing in the worst economy. I
opened in the dead of summer because I didn’t
want to get spoiled. I didn’t want to be doing
great and then summer rolls around...
Knowing a ton of people, do you ever find it hard to be a
business person? This is New Orleans after all—everyone
always wants a deal or the “friend” discount.
My good friends don’t give me that kind of trouble. And
everybody else just has to understand. And everybody’s
attitude has been just that. They’re like “Dude, I’ll pay
what it’s worth.” I’m lucky in that aspect, I guess. There’s a
couple of people that want something for nothing but... It’s
like being a bartender at someone else’s bar. You can’t hook
them up. I gotta pay my bills. I’ll take care of you as good as
I can but that’s about it.
Musicians are their own special breed of artist; kind of
hard to sell to sometimes.
So far, I haven’t dealt with any problem customers here.
I’m sure I will eventually once they find out about me. The
Got any exciting repair stories?
I fixed a Roland Space Echo that is a magnetic
tape delay. It uses an actual tape as the delay
medium. A guy brought it in for me to fix and I
was tearing my brains out looking at this thing,
trying to figure it out. I’m looking at the circuit—
just looking at it blind—wondering if anything’s
loose. Then I start thinking: It’s a thirty-yearold unit. I wonder if the tape’s just worn out.
So I walked around the corner to the Bargain
Center, bought a Black Sabbath Paranoid 8-track
tape and cut a 6” length of tape off of it, looped
it together, put it in the machine and it worked
perfectly. That one was fun.
Would you say you have a solid business
model?
Eh, so far... I take a lot of tips from Jimmy. It’s
really shooting from the hip; it doesn’t really
follow anybody’s business plan. It’s more or
less: I’m going to buy this and sell it for a little
more. But my repairs are what keep me afloat:
that’s just my hands. There’s no overhead going
into that. The fact that I can fix everything I sell
is probably the biggest thing. I don’t have to pay
someone to fix it. Plus, being the only one, I can
do it anytime, day or night.
What about some of your signature pieces?
Well, every music store should have a
Marshall amplifier. This one [JCM 900] was
a flood victim but was rebuilt by Ed Blum,
so it’s probably better than when it was new.
I have a really nice Gibson SG bass; I’ve got
a really cool late-’70s Kramer aluminum neck,
headless bass... I have a little bit of everything,
actually. I have an Acoustic 360 bass amp
back there. And if anybody knows what that
is, that’s a monster. That’s like John Entwistle,
CCR, early ’70s, super loud... good stoner rock
cabinet.
What kind of things did you learn from
Jimmy?
How to sell; how to confront people, look people
in the eyes and make it happen. Jimmy’s probably
the best salesman I’ve ever worked for. Yeah,
that’s pretty much it: Say “Hi” to people when
they walk in the door; that’s all you have to do!
He’s really good at saying hi.
Yeah. “Hey buddy!”
Who helped you put the shop together?
Well, Julian from the Black Rose Band and
Tirefire loaned me a lot of tools and gave me a
good day’s worth of work. Greg (from Spickle)
helped me out a couple of days, helping me
frame things up. I hung all the walls, finished
the counters, painted the walls. Again, did it all
myself, saved some money.
What made you want to open your business in
the first place?
I had to get out of the Music Exchange because I was
there too long. No offense to anybody, but I wasn’t going
anywhere. It was either hang sheetrock or give this a shot.
And this seemed better. It’s easy and it’s air-conditioned!
Does being a musician and working at this shop all day
and dealing with the guts of the music biz ever take away
from the joy of playing?
Not really. Sometimes it does, but this is work that’s play.
This is my own thing; this is me. I answer to nobody but
the customer. And I get a good feeling out of making things
work; it’s productive. It’s fun.
It feels like this is the kind of shop where you can bring
any kind of equipment in and you’ll fix it without scoffing
at it or kicking a lot of attitude.
Well, I’ve always hated that. There’s plenty of places, repair
shops in town, that you’ll bring something in and they’ll be
like, “Ah, that’s not even worth working on.” Oh, so you
made enough money this year? Why don’t you close and
go on vacation? I’m not turning anything down. If I can
change a capacitor on a piece-of-crap Crate amp and make
it work and make somebody happy and make a buck? Gold.
It’s also a waste-not-want-not thing. I hate these places like
Guitar Center where they’re like “Oh, you can just buy
another one. They’re cheap enough.” Some people can’t,
you know? Plus, there’s a certain amount of vanity to it.
Yeah, I did that; I fixed that. See that dude playing that
amp? It wouldn’t be working if it weren’t for me!
weirder someone is, or the more of a wingnut, I just try to
enjoy them for who they are.
One nice thing about this place is that there’s very little
pretension. It seems like forever there’s been a disconnect
between people selling gear and the musicians trying to
buy it.
Well, getting back to why I did this, as opposed to staying at
the Music Exchange—everybody has their own certain way
of doing things. They could be right or wrong, I just wanted
to do it my own way.
What made you want to open the shop here in
the Bywater?
Just because there are so many musicians
down here. Musician’s Village is right around
the corner; that’s seventy-two houses full of
musicians, right there. And all the heavy hitters
of New Orleans: Little Freddy King and Chip
Wilson live there. A lot of real deal players
live over there. NOCCA is right around the
corner; Piety Street Studios is right there and
they’ve already done business with me. There
are lots of schools down here. There are tons
of all different kinds of musicians down here.
Rent’s cheap; it’s about half of what you’d pay on the other
side of the tracks. It’s a cool neighborhood; it’s more of a
community down here, I find. Trying to do it Uptown would
be in direct conflict with the Music Exchange and that’s one
thing I swore: I’d never go up against Jimmy. Because you’d
be a moron to do that. Plus, this side of the city has always
needed it. That’s one thing that’s said over and over in this
store: “Thanks for opening; we’ve been needing this for a
long time.” And it works. So far, so good.
Paul Webb’s Bywater Music is located at 3217 Burgundy St.
For more info , call 504-304-5965.
23
antigravitymagazine.com_
REVIEWS
ALEC OUNSWORTH
MO BEAUTY
(ANTI-)
T
aking a break from fronting
Brooklyn/Philly-based Clap Your
Hands Say Yeah, Alec Ounsworth
made a voyage down south for his first
solo release, Mo Beauty. He recorded
here in the Crescent City at Piety
Street Studio, backed by a cavalcade
of venerable New Orleans musicians, including George Porter
Jr. and Stanton Moore. The disc was produced by another album
contributor, Los Lobos member Steve Berlin, and even the cover
photo was shot by local musician and photographer Zach Smith (of
Rotary Downs). With New Orleans’ fingerprints smeared all over
the thing, it is no wonder the finished product has a saunter and
swing unheard in Ounsworth’s previous work.
The album opens with “Modern Girl (…With Scissors),” a tune
that displays a more low key Ounsworth than has ever been heard
on a CYHSY release. He typically has one mode—frantic. But
his quirky signature vocals are rich and deep here, as the slower
beat gives him room to breathe. On “Bones in the Grave,” the first
hints of a jangly Dixieland influence creep in. The single “Holy,
Holy, Holy Moses (Song for New Orleans)” is a tender ode to a
damaged but resilient city. One of the album’s best tracks, “Idiots
in the Rain,” finds Ounsworth slurring and crooning in the vein of
The Bingo Show’s Clint Maedgen while winding through loose and
sloppy cadences peppered with organ and trombone.
On the whole, New Orleans seems to have done two things
for Ounsworth: it reined him in, tempering his tendency towards
overextending his vocals; and it loosened him up, giving him the
chance to explore new vocal avenues that would never have fit with
CYHSY material. From a Celtic march to Dixieland swing to a
sweeping, romantic, Wurlitzer-driven ballad, he got to try a bit of
everything. And what better place to try a bit of everything than
here? —Erin Hall
ANDREW W.K.
55 CADILLAC
(REDEYE)
A
ndrew W.K. is ninety percent
image. That’s not to disparage his
music, which, even at its most simple,
is energetic and creative, but the
persona of the hard partying “artsybanger” has easily been the largest
part of the equation. So it’s difficult
to imagine the auteur behind such tracks as “Party Hard,” “Party
Til You Puke,” “Fun Night” and, ahem, “Make Sex” releasing
an all-piano instrumental album centered around a love for classic
cars, but for good or ill that’s what Mr. W.K. has done. 55 Cadillac
is on the shortlist of most unexpected records of all time but, for
those who know of his classical piano training and background
in avant-garde music, maybe it’s not that unexpected? Even more
surprising than the record’s actual existence is its quality. Far from
the fist pumping keyboard chords that dotted much of his betterknown albums, 55 Cadillac is downright sophisticated. From the
elegant trills and subtle joy of “Seeing the Car” to the repetitious,
tense climb of “Car Nightmare,” the record not only provides left
field thrills but also conveys actual emotion throughout. The jaunty
“Central Park Cruiser,” or the almost clichéd uplift of album closer
“Cadillac” (the only track to feature accompaniment in the form of a
mighty distorted guitar riff at its climax), even conjure up similarities
with the melodies found on Andrew W.K.’s stadium rock anthems.
It’s a forgone conclusion that this record isn’t destined to be a chart
success—in the face of power pop, auto-tuned R&B and cloying
“alt-rock,” there’s not a lot of room for a studied and interesting
piece of piano-based music, especially when it’s birthed by a man
most known for singing songs about parties in unwashed whites. But
that’s a shame, because 55 Cadillac is good, and possibly one of the
most interesting albums in quite a while. —Mike Rodgers
BORIS
JAPANESE HEAVY ROCK
HITS V.1.-“8”
(SOUTHERN LORD)
n their infinite wisdom, both Boris
and their American label have
decided to tease fans with a series of
limited edition singles instead of a
new full-length album. The first has
arrived, and I have to begrudgingly
applaud it. Lead track “8” feints a Feedbacker style drone before
launching into a speed rock jam. Taking the pleasant haze of their
shoegaze songs and filtering a barnburning rock track through it
results in a honey-glazed banger with a killer lead guitar crescendo.
“Hey Everyone” is even more interesting. Sounding like the love
child of Death From Above 1979 and Michio Kurihara, its funky
skank-rock riffs, swanky disco rhythms and stoned “Hey everyone”
refrain are almost nothing like anything Boris has done before, but
still seem perfectly at home in their repertoire. It’s much easier to
accept the disparate nature of these two tracks as a single rather than
as parts of an LP. The remaining volumes are still unreleased, but
with the quality of V.1 I might have to rethink my opposition to the
concept. —Mike Rodgers
I
DEAD MAN’S BONES
DEAD MAN’S BONES
(ANTI-)
D
ead Man’s Bones is a curious
creature. Not only because the
band is made up by friends Zach
Shields and actor Ryan Gosling, but
because these guys do not stray, even
for one moment, from their concept.
Dead Man’s Bones was set to be a
traveling stage production accompanied by music, but the idea was
scrapped when expenses piled up. Instead of calling it quits on the
vision, Shields and Gosling, as Dead Man’s Bones, decided to start
a band and enlisted a children’s choir (perhaps to add character to
their unapologetically amateurish sound). Neither of these guys
have background in music per se, yet they play every instrument
and sing themselves, limiting each song particle to only three takes.
Their vision, the Dead Man’s Bones, is a story about life, love and
death, and a creepy one at that. Whispered utterances from those
beyond this realm, zombies, lost souls, uncontrollable sobbing,
graveyards/stones, blood, sunken ships and unbroken, undead but
ever yearning hearts all surface repeatedly over the course of this
album. And despite all of the weight associated with dealing in
death and unrequited love, this album is ultimately uplifting and
joyous. You can actually hear in the recording how much fun these
guys had making this album. It is not without its serious moments,
just look to highlight “Buried in Water,” but tracks like the 1950s
twilight of “My Body’s a Zombie for You,” the voyeuristic ghosthaunt of “In the Room Where You Sleep” and the pirate ship sway
of the title track suggest that while strict adherence to the vision
remains essential, it is also okay to have a good time with it. Dead
Man’s Bones has a sound and depth to it that is inescapable upon
listening, but it is the singularity and peculiarity of this project that
truly enraptures. —Dan Mitchell
THE FLAMING LIPS
EMBRYONIC
(WARNER BROS.)
E
mbryonic is a ramshackle double
album of progressive head trips,
its music the sound of a future past like
a band together once again, though a
band made up of tripping astronauts
playing on worn out machines filtered
through a cloud of static. Breaking
from their recent pop tendencies, a song like “Silver Trembling
Hands,” uses that static to hide its melodies—from its supernova
opening, past the tense drumming behind a veil of echoing vocals,
to a pastoral chorus, the song is trademark Lips yet more terse and
paranoid than ever. The martial drums and two-step squelch of
“Convinced of the Hex” could be presented as a single, but Coyne’s
disinterested delivery and its paranoid, delusional tone hamstrings it.
Recent tracks like “The W.A.N.D.” made much of a return to guitar
heaviness, but The Flaming Lips have never dug as deep as “See the
Leaves,” which undulates on a mind-bent bass line while Wayne
Coyne invokes death in a monotone refrain: “See the grass, it’s
dying again. See the sun, it’s trying again.” It’s a powerful statement,
all this sadness, madness and gloom from a band so intertwined
with joy, and it’s a testament to the Lips’ talent that it’s a wholly
successful reinvention. Embryonic is a true album—no obvious radio
cuts and a deep, rewarding curve. Like all double albums, there
are tracks that wouldn’t stand on their own: the loose, psych-out
jam of “Scorpio Sword” or the crackly, thumping “Your Bats,” but
like all great albums they aren’t meant to stand on their own. Each
song buoys the ones surrounding it, providing context. In a time
dominated by ringtones, The Flaming Lips have brazenly given us
a complex and challenging double record of futuro-psychedelic rock
and roll. Embryonic is exactly what its name implies, a rebirth of The
Flaming Lips and yet another masterpiece from the group. —Mike
Rodgers
IMMORTAL
ALL SHALL FALL
(NUCLEAR BLAST)
“T
his sounds like Immortal”
were the first words out of my
brother’s mouth when I played All Shall
Fall, and I really can’t sum it up any better
than that. Age may have dampened the
dark hearts of some heavy metal bands,
but not Immortal’s. Abbath’s riffs are still
furiously fast while retaining the kind of heft and heroic strength found
in the best metal, his voice still a croaking corpse; Horgh’s drums pound
like Mjolnir before launching into chain gun blast beats. Unfortunately
Apollyon’s bass is mostly lost in the mix—yet another victim of modern
productions war against highs and lows in pursuit of volume. But even
the slick production can’t take away the invigorated songwriting and
hellish power of Immortal. The minor bits of atmosphere and melody
can’t dissipate the steel grind of “The Rise of Darkness,” while “Norden
on Fire” is Viking metal pure and simple, from its faux acoustic intro,
to its anthemic chord progressions, to its galloping rhythm and neckshredding solo. I am skewed, but how can this not be popular music?
Some might call a crossover metal foul, but only a fool would doubt
Immortal’s black metal bona fides, and besides, from their deliriously
goofy sword and sorcery videos to their traditional makeup and mistfilled photos, Immortal has always seemed like a band having a good
time, taking their music more seriously than the mores surrounding it.
A far better black metal ambassador than Behemoth or Dimmu Borgir,
Immortal’s All Shall Fall is as palatable as Norwegian heaviness can be
without losing its cold soul. —Mike Rodgers
MUSIC REVIEWS SPONSORED BY THE OFFICIAL RECORD STORE OF ANTIGRAVITY
24_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
REVIEWS
JEMINA PEARL
BREAK IT UP
(ECSTATIC PEACE/UNIVERSAL MOTOWN)
B
e Your Own Pet, a garage-rockin’ teenage quartet from
Nashville, broke into the musical consciousness about five
years ago with their brand of catchy yet bombastic punk rawk
music. So great was their immediate impact on audiences in the
live setting that this gang of youngsters found themselves signed
onto Thurston Moore’s label, Ecstatic Peace, before they even
released their debut full-length. This band was no joke; their live shows were scorching, due
largely to front-woman Jemina Pearl’s Joan Jett-style badassery and guitarist Jonas Stein’s
fleet-fingered fretting, and their records exploded from the speakers with a type of energy
and youthfulness few contemporary bands could even wish to muster. Alas, all good things
must come to an end, and so the story goes, BYOP announced their impending dissolution
just over a year ago via the Internet. The question not so much became, where do they go
from here, but rather, where does she go from here? While BYOP enjoyed success and
acclaim, it was always Jemina in the spotlight. Her snarl, her looks, her stage presence; it
was clear from the get go that this young lady was going places. And now, a year after her
band’s termination, we have the first solo album from Nashville’s reigning punk queen.
But before you get too excited about the prospects of Jemina back on the mic, first consider
how integral the rest of BYOP were to making the music happen—very integral, as it turns
out. It will only take one listen to Break It Up to realize that things are not the same. While
change is not necessarily a bad thing, in this case the resulting change is almost painful
to hear. BYOP was always catchy, but never sugar-coated; who wants that in a garagepunk outfit? The old Jemina appears on tracks like “I Hate People,” with Iggy Pop, and
“After Hours,” but ends up drowning in cheap nostalgia and pop-music insipidity on tracks
like the child-like “Nashville Shores” and the Kings of Leon-y, over-produced garbage of
“Ecstatic Appeal.” Break It Up is certainly not a complete failure—she is venturing into new
waters—but it sure does sound like a regression. —Dan Mitchell
OM
GOD IS GOOD
(DRAG CITY)
hen the mighty Sleep broke apart, the separate pieces didn’t quite add
up to the sum of the whole. Guitarist Matt Pike formed High On Fire
and continued on a sludge rock, Motorhead-cum-St. Vitus trajectory, while
rhythm duo Al Cisneros and Steve Haikus formed Om. Retaining the more
pot smoke-infused tendencies of Sleep, Om are in essence a drone band.
Their songs meander in a miasma of Cisneros’ chanted vocals and mantralike song structures before hitting small peaks of bass fuzz and drum snap.
But on God is Good, for the first time Om’s wanderings don’t go anywhere
particularly interesting. How much of this is due to departure of original drummer Haikus is unknown, but
new skinsman Emil Amos is quicker to add a fill or two and the chemistry just doesn’t seem “right.” At
just under twenty minutes, “Thebes” starts slow and builds to not as slow—instead of gradually imprinting
a riff or rhythm before attacking it with distorted bass and simple—if effective—drums, the song starts at a
medium pace and ends there as well. The best Om music is a culmination, as 07’s Pilgrimage showed, letting
a chord progression simmer in one song before boiling in another, each piece working for the next. God is
Good has no context, each track is mostly self-contained, even the two-part “Cremation Ghat,” which begins
as a semi-funky, vaguely Eastern hoedown and ends as a very Eastern sitar jam, doesn’t coalesce. For fans
of the band this record’s a disappointment, but for those on the fence God is Good is definitely not a showcase
for the talents of Om. —Mike Rodgers
W
MEGADETH
ENDGAME
(ROADRUNNER)
T
he history of Megadeth is forever entwined with that
of Metallica. Along with Slayer, they were the driving
forces of ’80s speed metal and, more than any other group,
responsible for the monster mainstream success of heavy metal.
Also like Metallica, Dave Mustaine and company followed up
an intensely creative decade with ten years of lackluster work,
releasing a few poor records that abandoned the core of Megadeth’s sound. Now on the
heels of a resurgence in heavy metal’s popularity and Metallica’s life-saving return to form,
Megadeth has unleashed what is easily their best record since Rust in Peace. Always more
the thinking man’s thrash band compared to their counterparts, Megadeth explored real
world problems, politics and inner demons, as opposed to Satan or ice monsters, and
Endgame continues that trend. The chugging grind of “44 Minutes” is a metal ballad in
reference to the infamous L.A. bank shootout, while “Endgame” is another in Mustaine’s
line of anti-authoritarian screeds, framing a despairing vision of a New World Order of
concentration camps and slavery in a classic metal galloping riff, replete with lead-heavy
breakdowns and finger-burning solos. Forgoing much of the slowed down melody that so
characterized late ’90s metal, the riffs come fast and furiously here—“Head Crusher” is a
full on assault of acrobatic shredding and brutal tempos. Unsurprisingly, Dave Mustaine’s
voice hasn’t fared as well as his other musical talents; his trademark nasal screech makes
only sporadic appearances while his gravelly snarl takes center stage. The record does carry
the sheen of modern studio magic. The production is relatively crushed, underplaying one
of Megadeth’s juxtaposition of heavy riffing and trebly leads. Unexpectedly Megadeth has
delivered one of the better metal records of the year, reaffirming their place astride the
heavy metal hierarchy. —Mike Rodgers
25
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REVIEWS
SWELL SEASON
VOLCANO CHOIR
(ANTI-)
(JAGJAGUWAR)
STRICT JOY
F
rom the stars of a low-budget
indie film to Oscar awardwinning composers, musicians Glen
Hansard (of Irish band The Frames)
and Marketa Irglova probably never
expected what their pairing would
create for them, both musically and
personally. The soundtrack to their 2007 film Once was filled with
powerful ballads, including the Oscar-winning lead track “Falling
Slowly.” After the film’s release, the pair toured as both a band and
a couple, having fallen in love on the set of the film. They have since
split, but remain committed to making music together. And with a
musical chemistry this strong, who can blame them? If it worked
for Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham it can certainly work for
these two. The question remains, though, whether or not their new
album Strict Joy borrows from their situation. The album is just as
raw and passionate as their other work, but there is a thick helping
of sorrow in the mix this time around. Hansard has always sung
about heartbreak. It’s really what he does best—though his voice
lacks a technical perfection, the fervor with which he delivers every
single word, pregnant with meaning, makes the simplest phrase
feel like a life-changing revelation. On the single “Low Rising,”
he channels the best of Van Morrison and throughout the disc
embodies the very essence of a traditional troubadour. Diverging
from some of his similarly themed work, there are no angry diatribes
against a cheating lover here and no finger pointing about the failure
of the relationship. There is only a sad acceptance that things just
weren’t right. In “The Rain,” he sings apologetically, “We’re not
what I promised you we’d be by now.” Later, on “Fantasy Man,”
Marketa sings of “the story of two lovers who danced both edges of
the knife.” The album feels so deeply personal that it’s almost like
intruding on a private moment—a quiet goodbye. But that sense
of reality contributes all the heft and life to the album. It’s real. It’s
something almost everyone can relate to. It wasn’t you. It wasn’t
me. The timing just wasn’t right. Maybe in another life. —Erin Hall
TYONDAI BRAXTON
CENTRAL MARKET
(WARP)
A
nthony
Braxton,
Tyondai’s
father, was one of the premiere
avant-saxophonists of all time and
it is imperative to know this when
approaching Tyondai’s work; he grew
up with greatness. As understood only
as part of the brainy band Battles, those
otherwise unacquainted with Tyondai’s proclivities as an artist may
not realize that aside from fronting the mesmeric mammoth that
is Battles, he is quite the accomplished composer/ arranger. The
colotomic dizzyness and diamond-edged precision of Battles is only
but a glimpse of the genius of Tyondai Braxton. Central Market, his
second solo album, provides a deeper look at Braxton as the artist,
which is where his father comes in; Tyondai Braxton is not some
stupid hipster experimenting with sound who suddenly finds himself
amidst a whirlwind of support and critical acclaim, he is an artist in
a true sense, a learned sense and a practiced sense. While going on a
long-winded explanation of the merits of his artistry over the course
of Central Market may seem necessitous, in all actuality, this record
simply must be heard to be believed. Words cannot do it justice. If
you have ever gotten down with some Stravinsky, Zorn or other
20th century composers of worth and worship, then simply suffice it
to say, you will be ecstatic over Tyondai Braxton’s new seven song
opus. This guy is out of his mind with talent and his musical vision
is as unique as it is compelling. —Dan Mitchell
UNMAP
J
ustin Vernon, as Bon Iver, crafted
one of the more stripped down
and disarmingly beautiful folksyrock albums of 2008 with For Emma,
Forever Ago. The vocals are elegant
and precisely layered and his guitars
enjoy a multi-player piggyback in
their interwoven majesty. These simple aspects in Bon Iver’s sound
prove crucial in understanding Volcano Choir. While certainly not
Vernon’s group, but perhaps rather a group that Vernon joined, it
becomes evident upon listening to the record that these musicians
are all like-minded individuals. Subtlety, emotionality and acute
attention to detail all play guiding roles on Unmap, the new album
featuring Vernon, percussionist Jon Mueller and the remaining
members of Collections of Colonies of Bees. Volcano Choir surprise
and engage through raw feeling and image on this album; poetry
in music without, almost, a single discernable word or standard
musical refrain. Volcano Choir provide a voice to an entire island
of post-rock sound, un-mapping the familiar and replacing it instead
with fundamental particles and burning embers of emotion and
warmth. Fragments fly and morph through the songs and ideas,
“Seeplymouth” and “Cool Knowledge” for example, with a sort of
power and unpredictability that makes you wonder whether these
guys had been tweaking on greats like Satie, Eno and Stockhausen
during their recording process. Animal Collective, at their densest
earlier days, will undoubtedly spring to mind with the loopy
disjointedness at the core of this sound, but Volcano Choir possess
much softer and more human tendencies than AC. Over the course
of only nine songs on their debut record, Volcano Choir achieve what
many artists spend decades chasing— resonation in formlessness
and unpredictability within their musical format (the album); this
one keeps getting better and better the more it reveals itself as the
august and enchanting beast that it is. —Dan Mitchell
THE WAY
HALF AWAKE
(INDEPENDENT)
L
ed
by
singer/keyboardist
Benjamin Arthur Ellis, The Way
is New Orleans’ best guitar band that
features exactly zero guitars. Though a
little bit of six-string might boost their
dynamic, the group’s double keyboard
plus rhythm section attack does give
The Way their own unique dance-rock-soul style. The band’s first
official album, Half Awake, re-imagines R&B and blues music in a
New Wave vein. Ellis, a Caucasian, employs a singing style that
can only be described as Black; sometimes it’s an affected Black guy
voice (undercut by the fact that Ellis often sings through his nose),
but when he lets go and really feels it, Ellis simply sounds like a
badass Black dude—albeit in a New Wave band.
Ellis’ lyrics are sometimes symbolic, but never vague; each song
on Half Awake has a theme, a point, a story almost. The many love
songs (“Baby, I Love You,” “Baby Bluz”) are mostly triumphant
and celebratory, and always direct. Opening track “Big Red Rubber
Ball” is about all the things Ellis refuses to chase (women, rainbows,
the postman) and the one thing he’s powerless to resist (a big red
rubber ball). “Rigamarole” details many of New Orleans’ basic
problems, from potholes to underemployment, over a keyboard
riff lifted directly from Michael Jackson’s “Song in the World.”
But The Way also manage to color outside their own lines without
sounding contrived, particularly on “The Wizard” (a spoken word
tale with sound effects) and the album’s best song, the melancholy
instrumental title cut, “Half Awake.”
The slightly unpolished nature of the recording adds to its charm
rather than detracts, giving it a more personal sound—though
anyone who has seen The Way’s fun and meaty live shows will miss
the satisfying heavy anchor that is Christian Repaal’s bass. On stage,
Repaal provides a huge, important backbone, but on Half Awake
he’s almost nowhere to be found. Also, the unpolished nature of
the drums (more evident at The Way’s live shows than here) can be
slightly troublesome. But then again, many people preferred indy
rock legends Pavement before they got a “real” drummer. So, in the
end, despite some flaws, The Way definitely have enough style and
refreshing originality that only critics assigned to pick them apart
won’t simply consider The Way a good band with good songs and,
now, a good album. —Red LeVine
WILD BEASTS
TWO DANCERS
(DOMINO)
P
erhaps the greatest aspect of
listening to and appreciating music
is that moment when the walls fall
down and your guard is surrendered
altogether. The sound of music truly
reaches your core and reminds you
of the reason you love it in the first
place. While we all absorb sound, whether it be conscious or not,
intentional or accidental, every once in a while sound absorbs us.
In a way that is both disarming and exhilarating, as paralyzing as
it is true, we, the listener, take part in a journey that is a brief yet
revelatory ascendency. In short, it gives us hope. This moment does
not presuppose the “understanding” of the music in an institutional
sense, but it rather makes good on the promise Sly Stone pronounced
nearly forty years ago when he said, “I’m gonna take you higher.”
The first time I heard the single “All the King’s Men,” from the
Wild Beasts’ sophomore outing Two Dancers, that aforementioned
ascendancy enveloped me swiftly and unapologetically. The sheer
power of the vocals instantly melted me and I knew that Two Dancers
was going to be something special. I’ve loved so many albums this
year already that it almost feels silly saying that Two Dancers is the
best thing I have heard thus far in 2009, but the spell has set and I
am in la-la land. This album has a disarming beauty akin to Antony
Hegerty’s records, with lead vocalist Hayden Thorpe rivaling Antony
for most precious and powerful wavering vocals in rock and pop, but
with lyrics like “This is a booty call-my boot, my boot, my boot, my
boot up your asshole,” it is clear that as serious as their brand of
art-rock may sound on the surface, these guys have keen and cheeky
senses of humor. The line “We’re just brutes hoping to have a hoot”
just about cements this sentiment and acts as a manifesto of sorts
for this release. I have, perhaps, never heard a record as consistently
funny, musically proficient and downright breathtaking as this.
There is not another artist or band out there right now, outside of
perhaps Spencer Krug and Antony Hegerty, capable of enrapturing
and transfixing as Britain’s Wild Beasts prove on this newest epic
masterpiece. Two Dancers simply must be heard to be believed. —
Dan Mitchell
NEXT MONTH IN
ANTIGRAVITY:
OUR HOLIDAY WISHLISTS
AND MUCH MORE!
27
antigravitymagazine.com_
EVENTS
NEW ORLEANS VENUES
NEW ORLEANS (Cont.)
MONDAY 11/2
FRIDAY 11/6 (Cont.)
45 Tchoup, 4529 Tchoupitoulas (504) 891-9066
MVC, 9800 Westbank Expressway, (504) 2342331, www.themvc.net
Eric Lindell, Circle Bar
Get Laid, Muhammad Ali, Dragon’s Den
(Downstairs)
Ghost Knife, Go Blind, Statutory Triangle,
Saturn Bar, 9pm
Urbangroovez Presents: Saints vs.
Falcons Hip-Hop Afterparty, Dragon’s Den
(Upstairs)
Rakim, Rhymefest, House Of Blues
River Bent w/ Scott Thompson, Carrollton
Station
Simple Play Presents: Big Rock Candy
Mountain, The Gills, Sun Hotel, Tipitina’s,
10pm, $8
Slangston Hughes Presents: Uniquity,
Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)
TUESDAY 11/3
SATURDAY 11/7
The Jackals, Circle Bar
Red Elvises, DeBauche, Dragon’s Den
The Used, The Almost, Drive A, House Of
Blues
Yussuf Jerusalem, Thomas Function,
King Louie’s Missing Monuments, Saturn
Bar, 9pm
GrassRoots! Presents GRNOLA Bars HipHop Showcase, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs),
10:30pm, $5
Little Freddie King, d.b.a., 11pm, $5
Marc Broussard, One Eyed Jacks
New Orleans Bookfair, Frenchmen St.
PH Fred’s Project Eyepatch Benefit w/
The Round Pegs, Tony Sinopoli, Lynn
Drury, The Self Righteous Brothers, Banks
Street Bar & Grill, 7pm
“Pretty Babies” Art Opening by St. Lewis,
Sean Yseult, Canary Gallery, 6pm
Pretty Lights, Alex B, House Of Blues
Rock Art Circus, The Big Top, 6pm
Shapes Have Fangs, Bipolaroid, Apache
Dropout, The Bellys, Saturn Bar, 10pm
Sick Like Sinatra, Before Dawn, Hi-Ho
Lounge, 10pm
The Silent Game, Gamma Ringo,
Tipitina’s, 10pm, $7
Soul Rebels, Pretty Lights, Dragon’s Den
(Upstairs)
Twangorama
Unplugged,
Carrollton
Station
Zydepunks Acoustic Show, Circle Bar
Banks St. Bar And Grill, 4401 Banks St., (504)
486-0258, www.banksstreetbar.com
Barrister’s Art Gallery, 2331 St. Claude Ave.
Neutral Ground Coffee House, 5110 Danneel St.,
(504) 891-3381, www.neutralground.org
The Big Top, 1638 Clio St., (504) 569-2700,
www.3ringcircusproductions.com
Nowe Miasto, 223 Jane Pl., (504) 821-6721
The Blue Nile, 534 Frenchmen St., (504) 948-2583
One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., (504) 5698361, www.oneeyedjacks.net
Broadmoor House, 4127 Walmsley, (504) 8212434
Ogden Museum, 925 Camp St., (504) 539-9600
Carrollton Station, 8140 Willow St., (504) 8659190, www.carrolltonstation.com
Outer Banks, 2401 Palmyra (at S. Tonti),
(504) 628-5976, www.myspace.com/
outerbanksmidcity
Checkpoint Charlie’s, 501 Esplanade Ave.,
(504) 947-0979
Republic, 828 S. Peters St., (504) 528-8282,
www.republicnola.com
Chickie Wah Wah, 2828 Canal Street (504)
304-4714, www.chickiewahwah.com
Rusty Nail, 1100 Constance Street (504) 5255515, www.therustynail.org/
Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., (504) 5882616, www.circlebar.net
The Saturn Bar, 3067 St. Claude Ave., www.
myspace.com/saturnbar
Club 300, 300 Decatur Street, www.
neworleansjazzbistro.com
Side Arm Gallery, 1122 St. Roch Ave., (504)
218-8379, www.sidearmgallery.org
Coach’s Haus, 616 N. Solomon
Southport Hall, 200 Monticello Ave., (504) 8352903, www.newsouthport.com
WEDNESDAY 11/4
The Spellcaster Lodge, 3052 St. Claude
Avenue, www.quintonandmisspussycat.com/
tourdates.html
Andre Williams, R. Scully and The Rough
Seven, One Eyed Jacks
Bryan Funck Presents: Off With Their
Heads, Smalltown, Caddywhompus, The
Rooks, The Big Top, 7pm
Peaches, MEN, House Of Blues
Underground Railroad to Candyland, The
Opposable Thumbs, Circle Bar
The Country Club, 634 Louisa St., (504) 9450742, www.countryclubneworleans.com
d.b.a., 618 Frenchmen St., (504) 942-373, www.
drinkgoodstuff.com/no
Der Rathskeller (Tulane’s Campus), McAlister
Dr., http://wtul.fm
St. Roch Taverne, 1200 St. Roch Ave., (504)
945-0194
Dragon’s Den, 435 Esplanade Ave., http://
myspace.com/dragonsdennola
Tipitina’s, (Uptown) 501 Napoleon Ave., (504)
895-8477 (Downtown) 233 N. Peters, www.
tipitinas.com
Eldon’s House, 3055 Royal Street,
[email protected]
The Zeitgeist, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.,
(504) 827-5858, www.zeitgeistinc.net
Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge, 1500
N. Claiborne Ave.
Vintage Uptown, 4523 Magazine St.,
[email protected]
Fair Grinds Coffee House, 3133 Ponce de
Leon, (504) 913-9072, www.fairgrinds.com
Fuel Coffee House, 4807 Magazine St. (504)
895-5757
Goldmine Saloon, 701 Dauphine St., (504) 5860745, www.goldminesaloon.net
The Green Space, 2831 Marais Street (504) 9450240, www.thegreenproject.org
Handsome Willy’s, 218 S. Robertson St., (504)
525-0377, http://handsomewillys.com
The Hangar, 1511 S. Rendon. (504) 827-7419
Hi-Ho Lounge, 2239 St. Claude Ave. (504) 9454446, www.myspace.com/hiholounge
Hostel, 329 Decatur St. (504-587-0036),
hostelnola.com
Hot Iron Press Plant, 1420 Kentucky Ave.,
[email protected]
House Of Blues / The Parish, 225 Decatur,
(504)310-4999, www.hob.com/neworleans
The Howlin’ Wolf, 907 S. Peters, (504) 522WOLF, www.thehowlinwolf.com
Kajun’s Pub, 2256 St. Claude Avenue (504) 9473735, www.myspace.com/kajunspub
Kim’s 940, 940 Elysian Fields, (504) 844-4888
METAIRIE VENUES
Airline Lion’s Home, 3110 Division St.
Badabing’s, 3515 Hessmer, (504) 454-1120
The Bar, 3224 Edenborn, myspace.com/
thebarrocks
Hammerhead’s, 1300 N Causeway Blvd, (504)
834-6474
The High Ground, 3612 Hessmer
Ave., Metairie, (504) 525-0377, www.
thehighgroundvenue.com
BATON ROUGE VENUES
The Caterie, 3617 Perkins Rd., www.thecaterie.com
Chelsea’s Café, 2857 Perkins Rd., (225) 3873679, www.chelseascafe.com
The Darkroom, 10450 Florida Blvd., (225) 2741111, www.darkroombatonrouge.com
Government St., 3864 Government St., www.
myspace.com/rcpzine
North Gate Tavern, 136 W. Chimes St.
(225)346-6784, www.northgatetavern.com
The Kingpin, 1307 Lyons St., (504) 891-2373
Red Star Bar, 222 Laurel St., (225) 346-8454,
www.redstarbar.com
Le Bon Temps Roule, 4801 Magazine St., (504)
895-8117
Rotolos, 1125 Bob Pettit Blvd. (225) 761-1999,
www.myspace.com/rotolosallages
Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 5815812, www.cabaretlechatnoir.com
The Spanish Moon, 1109 Highland Rd., (225)
383-MOON, www.thespanishmoon.com
Lyceum Central, 618 City Park Ave., (410) 5234182, http://lyceumproject.com
The Varsity, 3353 Highland Rd., (225)383-7018,
www.varsitytheatre.com
Lyon’s Club, 2920 Arlington St.
Mama’s Blues, 616 N. Rampart St., (504) 453-9290
Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak St., (504) 866-9359
Marlene’s Place, 3715 Tchoupitoulas, (504)
897-3415, www.myspace.com/marlenesplace
McKeown’s Books, 4737 Tchoupitoulas, (504)
895-1954, http://mckeownsbooks.net
Melvin’s, 2112 St. Claude Ave.
28_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
THURSDAY 11/5
Bill Dykes, Tom Gregory, Gym Neighbors,
Howlin’ Wolf
Jesse James and Push Play, The Parish @
House Of Blues
Jimmy Carpenter and Friends, d.b.a., 10pm
Losers Beat Winners, Acorns, Tender
Cobra, Circle Bar
Lovvers, An Albatross, Dark Meat, Saturn
Bar, 10pm
Lynn Drury, d.b.a., 7pm
Silent Cinema, One Man Machine, Geoff
Reacher, Hi-Ho Lounge, 10pm
Tipitina’s Presents: The Listening Party
(A Singer-Songwriter Series), Tipitina’s,
9pm, FREE
SUNDAY 11/8
AIUA, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)
Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 10pm
Mad Tea Party, Circle Bar
Marcy Playground, Republic, 8pm, $15
Mavericks Live 2009 f/ Matisyahu, House
Of Blues
New Orleans Bad Boys of Comedy w/
Skip Guidry, Rude Jude, Howlin’ Wolf
Suicide Assyst, Martin Atkins (of
FRIDAY 11/6
Ministry/Nine Inch Nails), Banks Street
Bar & Grill, 9pm
ActionActionReaction Indie Dance Party, Tipitina’s Presents: Music Workshop
Circle Bar
Series f/ Martin Atkins, Tipitina’s, 12:30pm,
Afro Punk Presents: Saul Williams, The FREE
Parish @ House Of Blues
The White Bitch, HOME, Hi-Ho Lounge,
Big Bang Theory II w/ Monika H Band 10pm
f/ Simon Lott, Metronome the City, a
“Spin-Art” machine, 3D Interactive Art MONDAY 11/9
Installation by Heidi Dumangue w/ visual
projections by Zack Smith, Hi-Ho Lounge, Gregory Alan Isakov, Steve Eck, Circle Bar
10pm
High in One Eye, Many Arms, Schnaak,
Captain Midnight Band, Banks Street Bar Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)
& Grill, 10pm
MC Chris, The Hangar, 9pm, $14
Dirty Bourbon River Show, New Grass
Country Club, 27 Lights, Howlin’ Wolf
TUESDAY 11/10
DJ Mike Fadusia, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)
Hot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm
27 Lights, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)
King Khan and BBQ Show, Those Black Cobra, Black Tusk, Howl, Haarp,
Darlin’s, Missing Monuments, Sex Hex, Hi-Ho Lounge
Spellcaster Lodge
Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jonathan Tyler
Know Your Enemy, Republic
and The Northern Lights, House Of Blues
Lost Bayou Ramblers, d.b.a., 10pm, $5
Go Kart Mozart, Kelcy Mae, Circle Bar
The Parishoners, Banks Street Bar & Grill, Hawny Troof, Rusty Lazer, Saturn Bar,
7pm
9pm
29
antigravitymagazine.com_
EVENTS
Mid-City Zombie Crawl Afterparty, Banks
Street Bar & Grill
Melt Banana, Republic, 8pm, $12
Mod Dance Party, Saturn Bar, 11pm
Noxious Noize Presents: Phobia, Dragon’s N.O. Guitar Masters in the Round w/
Den (Upstairs)
Jimmy Robinson, John Rankin, Phil
Panorama Jazz Band, The Box Office, 9pm DeGruy, Carrollton Station
Son Volt, Peter Bruntnell, The Parish @ Noxious Noize Presents: Noisefest,
House Of Blues
Dragon’s Den
Otra, d.b.a., 11pm, $5
WEDNESDAY 11/11
Strange Journey Fall Tour 2009 w/
Grieves w/ Budo, Looptroop and others,
Cliff Hines Quintet w/ Bionica, Alexis The Parish @ House Of Blues
Marceaux, One Eyed Jacks
The Wailers, House Of Blues
Deadmau5, Burns, House Of Blues
Elvis Perkins, AA Bondy, The Parish @ SUNDAY 11/15
House Of Blues
Fringe Festival, Hi-Ho Lounge
Captured! By Robots, The Parish @ House
Off the Dome MC Competition w/ Truth Of Blues
Universal, Snuff Sugar, Mr. Wayne, The Fleur de Tease Burlesque, One Eyed Jacks
ICU, Howlin’ Wolf
Fringe Festival, Hi-Ho Lounge
TV Torso, Circle Bar
Mem Shannon Membership, d.b.a., 10pm
Noxious Noize Presents: Noisefest,
THURSDAY 11/12
Dragon’s Den
Queen Collection Presents Queen Latifah,
Andrew Duhon, d.b.a., 7pm
House Of Blues
Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes, d.b.a., Rik Slave and The Phantoms Album
10pm
Release BBQ, Circle Bar, 4pm
Fringe Festival, Hi-Ho Lounge
Say Anything, Eisley, Moneen, Miniature
The Hidden Cameras, Gentleman Reg, Tiger, Republic, 7pm, $18
The Parish @ House Of Blues
Homegrown Night w/ Icky Holly, The MONDAY 11/16
Round Pegs, 27 Lights, Tipitina’s, 8:30pm
Perpetual Groove, The Revivalists, DJ Kazu Presents: The Asian Hip-Hop
Howlin’ Wolf
Summit w/ Slangston Hughes, Fo on the
The Swell Season, Rachael Yamagata, Flo, Dragon’s Den
House Of Blues
Larkin Grimm, Circle Bar
Willie Heath Neal, Country Fried, Circle
Bar
TUESDAY 11/17
TUESDAY 11/10 (Cont.)
Dillon, Skerik, Singleton, Dragon’s Den
(Upstairs)
Andrew Duhon, George Stathakes, Hi-Ho The Revival Tour f/ Chuck Ragan, Jim
Lounge, 11pm
Ward, Frank Turner, Jon Snodgrass and
Bella Morte, Ego Likeness, Verailles, Chad Price, The Zydepunks, Audra Mae,
Howlin’ Wolf
One Eyed Jacks
Brian Coogan Band, d.b.a., 10pm, $5
Pete Yorn, Republic, 8pm, $22
The Bruisers, Circle Bar
The Devil Makes Three, Death By Arrow, WEDNESDAY 11/18
Hurray for the Riff Raff, One Eyed Jacks
Flow Tribe, Republic
The Blue Hit, Circle Bar
Fringe Festival, Hi-Ho Lounge
Camera Obscura, Papercuts, Tipitina’s,
Grindin’ Diamonds Presents: “Not the 10pm, $14
Girl Next Door” Showcase of N.O. Dan Auerbach, Justin Townes Earle,
Burlesque, Rubyfruit Jungle (1135 Decatur), Jessica Lea Mayfield, House Of Blues
9pm, $7 ($10 VIP)
Hatebreed, Cannibal Corpse, Unearth, Born
Holderbeast, Bloodchurn, Built to Destroy, of Osiris, Hate Eternal, The Hangar, 7pm
The Parish @ House Of Blues
Ingrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pm
THURSDAY 11/19
Noxious Noize Presents: Noisefest,
Dragon’s Den
Evan Christopher, d.b.a., 7pm
The Pallbearers’ Friday the 13th Album Garage a Trois, d.b.a., 10pm, $10
Release Party, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 8pm Norma Jean, The Chariot, Arsonists Get
Susan Cowsill Band, Carrollton Station
all the Girls, From Legends to Nancy, The
Vinhomudeh, Saturn Bar
Hangar, 6pm
The Tangle, Circle Bar
SATURDAY 11/14
FRIDAY 11/20
Brian Scolaro, Wild Bill Dykes w/ host
Skip Guidry, One Eyed Jacks
Anders Osborne and Big Chief Monk
Fringe Festival, Hi-Ho Lounge
Boudreaux, d.b.a., 10pm, $10
Gorilla Productions’ Battle of the Bands Benefit for Lusher School, Tipitina’s, $25
Finals, Howlin’ Wolf
DJ Soul Sister, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)
Hip Hop for Hope w/ Mia X, Mannie Gordon Gano and The Ryans, The Lost
Fresh, Truth Universal, and many others, Bayou Ramblers, The Box 100s, Hi-Ho
Tipitina’s, 10pm, $10
Lounge, 10pm
FRIDAY 11/13
31
antigravitymagazine.com_
EVENTS
FRIDAY 11/20 (Cont.)
Hat Talk, Birdfight, Self Help Tapes, Banks
Street Bar & Grill, 9pm
Hot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pm
Jealous Monk, Republic
Jean Howard, Crazy McGee, Carrollton
Station
New Orleans Indie Rock Fest III f/
Gamma Ringo, Glasgow, One Man
Machine, Vox and The Hound, One Eyed
Jacks
Train, House Of Blues
SATURDAY 11/21
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“35 Rotations and the Lucky 13,” A
Benefit for the Gulf Restoration Network,
The Big Top, 8pm
Birthday Night, One Eyed Jacks
DJ Maxmillion, DJ Rick Ducci, Dragon’s
Den (Downstairs)
Draw-a-Thon 2009, The Green Room,
6:30am—6:30am
Frontiers: The Ultimate Tribute to
Journey, Howlin’ Wolf
Good Enough for Good Times, d.b.a.,
11pm, $5
Julian Marley f/ Stephen Marley, House
Of Blues
Kiley Michael, Drew Young, Caleb
Guillote, Craig Caliva, Carrollton Station
Louisiana Hellbenders, Circle Bar
The Reverend Spooky LeStrange’s Church
of Burlesque Birthday Extravaganza, HiHo Lounge, 10pm
The Skatalites, Tipitina’s, 10pm, $12
Socrates Johnson and Friends, Banks Street
Bar & Grill, 9pm
Switchfoot (An Evening With), The Parish
@ House Of Blues
The Water Seed, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)
SUNDAY 11/22
Eyedea & Abilities, Themselves, The
Parish @ House Of Blues
Gorilla Productions’ Battle of the Bands,
Howlin’ Wolf
Louisiana Hellbenders, d.b.a., 10pm
Tater Famine, Bastard Son of a Bastard
Son, Circle Bar
White Denim, Brazos, One Eyed Jacks
FRIDAY 11/27
Alexis Marceaux, Circle Bar
J. Tillman, One Eyed Jacks
Panorama Jazz Band, The Box Office, 9pm
Gal Holiday & The Honky Tonk Revue,
Circle Bar
Generationals, Republic
Ingrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pm
Joe Krown, Walter Wolfman Washington,
Russell Batiste Jr., d.b.a., 10pm, $5
M@ People’s Collective, 5-4-3-2-FUN!!,
Jean-Eric, Nari Tomassetti, Dragon’s Den
(Upstairs)
The Misfits, Howlin’ Wolf
Mug’s
Kickball
Pajama
Party
Extravaganza, Banks Street Bar & Grill,
10pm
Papa Mali’s Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra
Live Recording, Hi-Ho Lounge, 9pm
Street Gumbo, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)
The Vaccines, Slack Adjustor, Carrollton
Station
WEDNESDAY 11/25
SATURDAY 11/28
Dax Riggs, One Eyed Jacks
Natalie Mae Palms, Andrew Duhon,
Circle Bar
Eric Cameron Presents: A Night of Drum
N Bass, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)
James Hall (An Evening With), Circle Bar
John “Papa” Gros, Anders Osborne,
John Fohl, Carrollton Station
Silent Cinema, Banks Street Bar & Grill,
10pm
MONDAY 11/23
Americans N France, Circle Bar
Goddamn
Gallows,
Dragon’s
(Upstairs)
Den
TUESDAY 11/24
THURSDAY 11/26
Papa Mali’s Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra
32_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
Live Recording, Hi-Ho Lounge, 9pm
Rebirth Brass Band, Papa Grows Funk,
Howlin’ Wolf
The Self Righteous Brothers, Circle Bar
EVENTS
SATURDAY 11/28 (Cont.)
Rhythm Cruisers, Banks Street Bar & Grill
The Tom Paines, Circle Bar, 6pm
Thanksgiving Blowout w/ New Orleans
Bingo! Show, Tipitina’s, 10pm, $10
WEDNESDAYS
Dan Wallace Quartet, The Box Office, 7pm
DJ Lefty Parker, R Bar
Skinny Puppy, Vverevvolf Grehv, House DJ T-Roy Presents: Dancehall Classics,
Of Blues
Dragon’s Den, 10pm, $5
Gravity A, Banks St. Bar and Grill, 10pm
WEEKLIES & DANCE NIGHTS
Jim O. and The No Shows, Circle Bar,
6pm
MONDAYS
Kenny Holiday and the Rolling Blackouts,
Checkpoint Charlie’s, 9pm
Blue Grass Pickin’ Party, Hi-Ho Lounge, 8pm Marygoround & The Tiptoe Stampede,
Glen David Andrews, d.b.a., 9pm
All-Ways Lounge
Jak Locke, The Box Office, 8pm
Mojotoro Tango Trio, Yuki (525 Frenchmen
Mad Mike, Checkpoint Charlie’s, 8pm
St.), 8pm
Missy Meatlocker, Circle Bar, 5pm
Standup Comedy Open Mic, Carrollton
Noxious Noize’s Punk and Metal Night, Station, 9pm
Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)
Tin Men, d.b.a., 7pm
Phunk Mondays w/ Earphunk, Easy Walter Wolfman Washington and The
Company, Banks Street Bar & Grill, 10pm
Roadmasters, d.b.a., 10pm, $5
Trivia Night, Circle Bar, 8pm
THURSDAYS
TUESDAYS
Billy Iuso, The Box Office, 7pm
The Abney Effect, Hostel
Come Drink with Matt Vaughn, R Bar
Acoustic Open Mic, Carrollton Station, DJ Kemistry, LePhare
9pm
DJ Matic, Hostel
Acoustic Open Mic w/ Jim Smith, DJ Proppa Bear Presents: Bassbin Safari,
Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pm
Dragon’s Den (Downstairs), 10pm
Cottenmouth Kings of New Orleans, Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed
d.b.a., 9pm
Jacks
Open Mic w/ Whiskey T., Rusty Nail, The Fens w/ Sneaky Pete, Checkpoint
8pm
Charlie’s, 10pm
Reggae Nite w/ Big, Fat & Delicious, The Hap Pardo Jazz Trio, All-Ways Lounge
SUNDAY 11/29
Jeremy Davenport, The Davenport Lounge
@ Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
Karaoke Fury, La Nuit Comedy Theater,
10pm
Mixture, Republic, 10pm, $7
N’awlins Johnnys, Banks Street Bar & Grill,
9pm
Ovis, The Box Office, 10pm
Pure Soul, House Of Blues, Midnight
Rabbit Hole, La Nuit Comedy Theater, 8:30
Sam and Boone, Circle Bar, 6pm
Soul Rebels, Les Bon Temps Roule, 11pm
Stinging Caterpillar Soundsystem, AllWays Lounge
FRIDAYS
DJ Bees Knees, R Bar
DJ Kemistry, Metro
Friday Night Music Camp [11/13 w/
Mein 66; 11/27 w/ Washboard Chaz],
The Big Top, 5pm
God’s Been Drinking, La Nuit Comedy
Theater, 8:30pm, $10
Jeremy Davenport, The Davenport Lounge
@ Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
Jim O. and The Sporadic Fanatics, Circle,
6pm
Olga, The Box Office, 6pm
Open Mic Stand-Up, La Nuit Comedy
Theater, 10pm, $5
Ratty Scurvics Lounge, All-Ways Lounge
Rites of Swing, The Box Office, 9pm
Throwback, Republic
Tipitina’s Foundation Free Friday!,
Tipitina’s, 10pm
SATURDAYS
DJ Damion Yancy, Republic, 11pm
DJ Jive, LePhare
DJ Kemistry, Metro
The Drive In w/ DJ Pasta, R Bar
Javier Drada, Hostel
The Jazzholes (1st & 3rd Saturdays), Circle
Bar, 6pm
Jeremy Davenport, The Davenport Lounge
@ Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
John Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pm
Ladies Night, The Hangar
Louisiana Hellbenders, The Box Office,
7pm
Morella and The Wheels of If (2nd
Saturdays), Circle Bar, 6pm
SUNDAYS
Acoustic Open Mic w/ Jim Smith,
Checkpoint Charlie’s, 7pm
Attrition, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pm
Cajun Fais Do Do f/ Bruce Danigerpoint,
Tipitina’s, 5:30pm, $7
Drink N Draw, Circle Bar, 3pm
Linnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pm
Micah McKee and Friends w/ Food by
Bryan, Circle Bar, 6pm
Mojo Triage Jam, Banks Street Bar & Grill,
After Saints Game
Music Workshop Series, Tipitina’s,
12:30pm
The Palmetto Bug Stompers, d.b.a., 6pm
The Sunday Gospel Brunch, House Of
Blues
33
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COMICS
34_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
COMICS
35
antigravitymagazine.com_
PHOTOS
36_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
PHOTOS
37
antigravitymagazine.com_
CROSSWORD
12. Not Cracker Jack—the other one
16. Many of the rock musicians of the British Invasion
were part of this late 1950s music craze
17. “Brother, can you spare a _ _ _ _ ?”
18. Your gin & tonic contains this mild poison
19. A four-sided plane figure
20. “I gar - on - tee !”
Down
1. This acclaimed artist recently released a very strange
Christmas album
2. “Did I do that?”
5. Fake doctor
7. Associate of Charles Manson, recently released after
thirty-four years in prison
8. Zan and Jayna, teenage associates of The Superfriends
13. “I walk on gilded splinters”
14. The inferior crawfish that comes from here must be
avoided at all costs
15. 1898 over-the-counter medical product from the Bayer
pharmaceutical company
CREATED BY J. YUENGER
Across
3. Cumulus
4. This subsidiary of General Motors is going out of business
6. Canal Street landmark, until 1989
8. More Sarah Palin than Sarah Palin
9. This Louisiana “snake” runs from Port Barre to the
Atchafalaya River
10. Tummy controller
11. Short-lived Scooby-Doo rip-off from 1971
38_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
PHOTOS