« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »
October 23, 2005
Greetings from Reno, wait, Boise, oh, uh, Portland and...
Perched in some dudernet cafe in downtown Reno - hello!
The RADICAL BROS fall tour proceeds apace. The Volvo (or, Brolvo, as it has been affectionately dubbed) is performing like a champ, stuffed to the gills as it is with rock and rockers. Bit of a lowrider at this point, but nevertheless cruising right over the Donner Pass with nary a blown valve. Knock on hard plastic dashboard. Tighten the bungie cords. Turn up the AM radio.
We've had a real cool, if not somewhat surreal, time - myself, Max and Eric are all committed to having fun on this tour. I mean, our musicianship has been relatively loose, if not ass-ish, so why not, right? I dunno, people seem to get the vibe. Our first night out, at an all-ages show in Grass Valley, CA, the keyboard stand collapsed on Max (resulting in a huge, percussive crash) during our cover of "Billie Jean" - precisely in rhythm! Epic jam. I mean, it could not have been timed better. Without missing a beat, Max promptly grabbed the mic and yelled, "Thank you, good night!". The assembled crowd of kids and duders (and their parents) went apeshit. Someone soberly told us later that it was the most rock & roll thing they had ever seen. Not so sure about that, but it kinda set the tone for the rest of the tour: barely controlled chaos, openly nurturing entropy, dancing on the bar, cats and dogs living together, you get the idea. Modest, yet determined self-destruction.
Anyway, I started this entry months ago. The metaphorical and literal dust has settled, my friends. But! Here's some pics from The Crocodile in Seattle and the Silverlake Lounge in L.A.:
(photo by Curt Doughty - thanks, Curt!)
(photo by Delia Walowski - thanks, Delia!)
I needn't ramble on about the mildly sordid details of the tour: cemeteries in the early hours of the Boise morning, "Keep the positive vibes!", dragging semi-unconscious drunk girl-friends back to pristine mid-century apartments (not what you might think!), "Um, OK if we play here tonight?", sneaking in and out of Mormon McMansions, "I could smoke you guys out tonight if you wanted...", aborted Wings covers, stolen AC/DC tshirts, sunsets, sunrises, heartbreak, etc.
(photo by Curt Doughty)
The tour was a bit of an extended rehearsal/social experiment. I guess it succeeded on those levels. Max has some awesome new songs that I routinely slaughtered on the bass guitar.
(photo by Curt Doughty)
Honestly - we were pretty awful, all things considered. Our reach exceeded our grasp. Or is it the other way around? But we totally had fun - and by the time we hit Billie Jean, so did (most) everyone else. Maybe we'll do it again sometime soon. Rad thanks to Max and Eric for covering my meager charms with their amazing musical kung fu. Thanks to bands and friends for helping us with floors and fun. And thanks to you if you were there. Radical bros, indeed.
(photo by Delia Walowski)
Thank you! Goodnight!
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 06:10 PM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2005
You can't deal with my infinite nature, can you?
Jack is home sick today - chest cold. Bummer times. But he was pretty stoked, I think, to just be able to lay around on the couch, reading or watching PBS or Hot Wheels World Race. One of the few times we actually let him get all passive in front of the picture radio is when he's sick and needs to rest. But it's kinda scary when six year olds are all fist pumping "YES!" when you tell them they are too sick to go to school. Easy duder, you've got at least twelve more years of education. Assuming the economy doesn't collapse, plunging the country into feudal anarchy. Or global warming triggers a sudden ice age. Or nuclear war. Or all of the above.
Whoa, sorry. Pass those pills over here, please.
Went running with my friend Andy last night and promptly negated any health benefits by sitting around drinking PBR and watching I Heart Huckabees. Which was stellar! Couple of affirmations/confirmations after seeing that film:
Dustin Hoffman -
Jude Law - Can he deliver a performance? (check)
David O. Russell - one of the most talented writers, and certainly one of the most intellectually kinetic directors since, say, Woody Allen circa Stardust Memories? (CHECK)
Naomi Watts - still crushing on her? (CHECK!)
I mean, how does a director maintain that kind of pacing and momentum so consistently? All the actors seemed so buzzed and engaged. I really liked Flirting With Disaster and Three Kings, but this movie's shaolin is superior. Too bad it kinda got overlooked when it was out. I think it played for, like, a week in Sacramento.
OK, this post is rather weak sauce, little more than an excuse to put up a pic of Ms. Watts. However, I will triumph again in glorious explosions of staggering blogulous ostentation again. Or something?
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 11:05 AM | Comments (4)
October 01, 2005
Dig Enki Bilal
Ski & I just watched this surreal sci-fi film called Immortal directed by a Czech-born, French-raised comic artist named Enki Bilal. Holy crap. Total weird freakout fantasy. I can't really explain it adequately, but it involves a foxy, mystical, eugenically altered blued-haired being, overweight mutant politicians, a cryogenically frozen social reformer who compulsively quotes Baudelaire, and the ancient Egyptian god Horus looking to get totally laid in 2095 New York. Oh, and Central Park is some kind of intra-dimensional psychic no-man's land, kinda like the Zone in Tarkovsky's Stalker. Plus, Charlotte Rampling is in it! Charlotte effing Rampling!
Anyway, I gotta find some of his graphic novels translated, 'cos my French is for crap. His stuff looks a lot like one of my favorite artists, another French comic writer-illustrator named Moebius. Enki Bilal - anyone heard of him? Here's a few things I found on the dudernets:
...and another:
and yet another:
OK. I've had my fan boy moment. And how are you? New podcast coming up soon.
YOUR FRIEND,
DANA
Posted by dana at 11:13 PM | Comments (2)
