I've Got A Straight Edge + Minor Twang

As a test of will power I'm going straight edge for about a month, until the Super Bowl. During this span I will also go vegetarian. The vegetarian thing is easy because I grew up in a nearly vegetarian household. Not drinking, however, will not be so easy. What the fuck do straight edge people do for fun? I'm totally serious - I want answers to that question. I mean how much fun can going out to eat and watching movies be? Anyone know of any athletic leagues I could join, or something like that?

And on that note I'd like to introduce you to Minor Twang. Minor Twang covers all of your favorite Minor Threat songs but with a country & western twist. The result is both funny and quite enjoyable. Take a listen, you might actually dig it.

MP3:
I Don't Want To Hear It - Minor Twang
Guilty Of Being White - Minor Twang
Minor Treat - Minor Twang
Straight Edge - Minor Twang

New Years Eve Trash

New Years Eve is the most over hyped bullshit party night of the year. Most of the time you drop a few hundred bucks on clothes, drinks, and covers and what do you get? You get shit hammered before the ball even drops, hook up with some random person, and forget the whole damn thing the next day.

This year I wanted to avoid that fate so instead of going big I went small. I rounded up the troops and we headed to Rififi for the Trash NYE party. The way I saw it was I already know what it's going to be like and the prices are nice and cheap so I don't have to nurse a $15 corona all night. Plus the Burning Angel girls were going to be there and Jess was DJing so the music would be good.

So that's what we did, we went to Trash and had some fun. It was just plain fun, no stupid shit happened, no friends acting like assholes because they "took advantage" of the $150 "open" bar. It was just another night at Rififi but with a midnight champagne toast...and that's exactly what I wanted.

Trash NYE

I'm Back Bitches (Catching Up)

So after a few weeks without an internet connection I'm back in action. Sorry it took so long but it's Time Warner after all. Anyway, so much shit has happened in the past few weeks. Let's see now a president, a dictator, and a godfather are all dead.

Gerald Ford was not a good president and he let Nixon off the hook which basically gave future presidents the thumbs up to be corrupt scum (right Georgie boy?). But hey, the guys dead and that sucks - we still have Betty though and she's pretty badass.

The dictator was none other then Saddam. Now the guy was scum and did lots of horrible shit but did he deserve the death penalty? I mean Amin killed way more people then Saddam and all he got was exiled. The fact is the only dude that ever brought stability (and secular government) to that region is now dead.

Iraq may not have been paradise with Saddam but it's way more fucked now. Oh and now it's a breeding ground for terrorists which is the complete opposite of what it was when Saddam was running things. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not sticking up for the guy. But by dictator standards he wasn't so bad, there are a lot worse out there in the world right now.

Sorry for the political shit but I predicted all of this Iraq shit in 2002 (I even gave a speech about it) and everyone thought I was crazy. Well who's crazy now, mom? Huh? Who's crazy now?

Anyway, fuck all that shit. The godfather died and that is way more depressing then all this other crap. James motherfucking Brown is dead! I don't even need to say anymore then that. Perhaps the most innovative song writer of modern music. He did shit no one ever even thought of before and people still can't replicate it. He said fuck melody, fuck your time signatures - James didn't need that shit. He had rhythm that you just couldn't write down on paper and he helped us find out we did too.

In other news the Republicans used their final days in power to further invade our privacy. Now they can search your mail without a warrant. Seriously, that's a major crime and now they can do it on a whim. It's getting to the point where shit's going to go down and it's going to get ugly. I don't think the kids these days are quite as peaceful as the hippies were. Those fuckers didn't grow up playing 1st person shooters and Mortal Combat. Hopefully the Democrats will step up and make some changes before a leader rises up amongst the people and the shit hits the fan.

Damn it! Again with the fucking politics. I apologize about that but I can't help it. Anyway, there was one more thing I wanted to bring up. Oh yeah, apparently it's a new year.

So that's my rant for the year, I'll try to keep those to a minimum and focus on pop culture. Here's James:

MP3:
It's A Man's Man's Man's World - James Brown

Get Up - James Brown

New Years Eve Festivities

Here are the parties you should be hitting tonight.

Manhattan:

This is where I'll be at kids. I'm avoiding the big crazy parties this year. If you want fun without spending a fortune then this is it.

Trash @ Rififi

If you want non stop action then Motherfucker is the clear choice.

Brooklyn:

If you don't want to leave Brooklyn I suggest you hit up the Crashin' In party.

Crashin In - 12 Hour Party

Be Back Soon

Immediately after getting back from the holidays I had to move to Greenpoint. Why am I telling you this? Because I don't have a god damn internet connection until next Thursday. I'll try to get a few posts up but it's highly unlikely. I feel cut off from the world right now - that's kinda sad, isn't it?

Back On Thursday

Merry Fucking Christmas

Merry Christmas chumps! I was going to wait until Christmas to post this but then I realized no one is going to see this shit on Christmas, except for the Jews that is (Happy Hannukkah). So here is my favorite new CHristmas video, by the Sin Destroyers. I also wanted to post an MP3 of my favorite Christmas song by Fear but I couldn't find one so here's a live video instead.

Sin Destoyers - Gifts To The World



Fear - Fuck Christmas

Moving To Greenpoint

By the end of the month I'll be living in Greenpoint. As such I need to move my shit and there are some things I want to get rid of. Here they are and they're yours for the taking - if they're worth taking.

1. Old school monitor - Samtron
2. 3 CD racks with individual disc slots, each hold about 50-100 discs. I get new discs on a regular basis and its a pain in the ass to rearrange those things.
3. Iron
   

Actually that's it, I thought there would be more but I guess not. Anyway, I'm in the east village near Tompkins Square so drop me a line if you want either and are in the hood.

Musebox Mistletoe Makeout

Last night I was sitting home trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the night. Then, right on time, Tom (Radio America and BSC writer) called me up and told me he was partying at Lit. The funny thing was I RSVPd earlier and was going to end up there eventually anyway so I made up my mind and went to Lit.

When I got there I went to the bar and grabbed a free Sparks or two. I went looking for Tom but didn't see him and then I saw some people going into a little room in the back. The room was the "band room" and that's where Tom was. I didn't even know there was a band room at Lit - you learn something new everyday.

So I went back there and hung out and drank. There was a fairly large tub of beer back there for the band. Howeever most of the people in the room were not in the band yet everyone was sucking down the freebies. So I joined in and grabbed a brew. By the time Aarktica came on I had a nice little buzz going.

They played very moody atmospheric music and were pretty good if that's you're thing. The funny thing is the singer was all tatted up and wearing a Danzig shirt. You don't see too many metal heads fronting bands like this - it was kinda refreshing. Then they covered a Misfits song and I really got into it. I can't even remember what song it was but it was the weirdest Misfits cover ever. At first it felt a bit blasphemous but it grew on me and by the end I was up front singing along.

After that it was back to the band room for more beer. For the rest of the night there were beer bottles handed to me as soon as I would finish. Needless to say I was totally shit faced by the end of the night. I completely missed Nous Non Plus, which sucks because I've been hearing good things about them.

I have no clue what time it was when we left but I was gone. This morning was pretty rough as well but I guess I should know that by now.

Aarktica


Backstage - drinking the band's beer




Digital


Tom from Radio America

I Heart Brooklyn Girls

I saw this posted on Fleshbot (yeah, that's right) a couple of days ago and I've been meaning to post it. Some photographer put together a calendar of tasty Brooklyn girls, each representing a 'hood and an era. I'm particularly taken by Miss Park Slope. I think Miss Williamsburg looks more like a Miss Bushwick. And where's a tall blond Polish girl representing Greenpoint? Anyway it's a cool calendar so check out the girls of our borough.

Link:
I Heart Brooklyn Girls

GBH 2006 Top Video List

GBH put together a list of the best music videos of 2006. Even after seeing 10 million "best of 2006" lists this one stands out. Take a look and check out some of the videos.

Link:
GBH Top Videos

Tickle Me Emo

Wow, Mad TV did something funny! I've actually seen "Tickle Me Emo" icons and shit like that before so I can't give them points for originality but still, it's good.

Fox Sports Loves Dischord!

Apparently somebody over at Fox Sports used to be a punk rocker. Check out this little blurb from a recent article.

It's no surprise that there's some unrest among the Redskins fans. They put all their eggs in the Joe Gibbs basket, and the faith was not rewarded. I'm sure Daniel Snyder will try to solve the problem by throwing money at more free agents; it's one of the NFL's most predictable rites of spring. Which overrated wide receiver will the Redskins embrace this year? I shudder to think. Look at the make-up of this team, and you'll realize that the Redskins will always be a minor threat unless they can build some depth. There's really only one word to describe this franchise right now: fugazi.

And the kicker is it's about the Washington Redskins, as in Washington DC. Is Aaron Shatz the pen name of Ian MacKaye?

***Update: A reader pointed out that fellow DC punk label Teenbeat has a few bands snuck in as well icluding Unrest & Eggs. If you spot anymore let me know.

Link:
Redskins Fugazi (Read #23)

Related Post: The Evens (Ian MacKaye) @ NYU