ABCs...

audio:



A is for Avery.

some will recognize Mr. Eric Avery as the amazing bassist and a founding member of Jane's Addiction.

a few might be familiar with his one-off studio project Deconstruction, which again paired him with Jane's guitarman Dave Navarro.

almost no one will have any idea that he fronted the phenomenal, and indescribable outfit Polar Bear for quite a few years.

well now you know.

today marks the release of his first official solo effort on Dangerbird Records and, allow me to assure you, it's nothing short of awesome.

"all remote and no control"


Eric A @ Blogspot
MySpace


Visual:

B is for Burn to Shine.

the concept, brought together by filmmaker Christoph Green and Brendan Canty (Fugazi), is simple enough: find a house set to be destroyed, gather a unique group of musicians from the surrounding community, set them to perform one tune each, film the whole thing, including the demolition, and put it out on DVD.

well, it's a little more complicated than that, but the results are simply wonderful:









BTS @ Trixie DVD
MySpace


newsish:

C is for Christians... the insane, fascist variety to be exact.

article at the Chicago Tribune online.

real, real, real...

audio:



grunge killed Bell Biv Devoe.

this was good.

grunge killed Wilson Phillips.

this was also good.

grunge killed Warrant.

now, that was fucking amazing.

unfortunately, the loud, flannel-colored steamroller that was grunge also killed a few electro-punk pioneers in the process.

one of them was London's Jesus Jones.

now i know what you're thinking, "the 'Right Here Right Now' band, are you kidding Mr. Pink??"... no, not in the slightest.

some of you may not be aware of this, but, a long time ago, bands used to put out entire albums worth of songs at once, instead of just the "new hot singles" you might hear across the airwaves. many of these tunes were as good or better than those singles you were beaten incessantly across the face with.

no joke.

anyway, Jesus Jones, along with EMF, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, and a few others, were pretty much the electronic equivalent of grunge... just instead of mixing punk and pop with old school heavy metal, they utilized industrial and underground dance.

i'm done trying to convince you, listen for yourself:

Zeroes and Ones
One For The Money
Real, Real, Real

JesusJones.com
MySpace


visual:

"All The Real Girls (2003)"



amazing movie by David Gordon Green ("George Washington") featuring some of the most painfully realistic dialog you never thought you'd want to see in a movie.



"Real Genius (1985)"



the original "Van Wilder".



"Lars and the Real Girl (2007)"



boy meets girl... sorta.


newsish:

the pros and the cons...

audio:



i first heard Toronto's Constantines around 2002 through a DVD for the MichiganFest of the same year and fell instantly in love.

any band that can blend the rugged intensity of Fugazi or NoMeansNo with startling wit and beauty just fucking needs to be recognized, and, at least in indie circles, they have.

look for their new record "Kensington Heights" out later this month on Arts & Crafts.

Love In Fear
Arizona
On To You
Nighttime, Anytime (It's Alright)

Constantines.ca
MySpace


visual:

"Brazil (1985)"



if this isn't my favorite movie ever, it's definitely at the upper half of my top five.

Terry Gilliam has a vision and humor like no other.. and perhaps it's the way so many of his stories end up reminiscent of another of my favorites, Cervantes' masterpiece "Don Quixote".

who knows what makes any man tick, really?

IMDb


newsish:



an addendum to the above, check out this article on Gilliam at Cineleet.