#god. so much has happened since i first started making digital art it’s insane

[harrylights]

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[popculturebuffet]

Donald Duck: The Call of C’russo Reviewcap (Comission by WeirdKev27)

Happy Halloween all you Happy People! And today we have a special treat, and as tends to be the case it comes as a result of a commission from my good friend, patreon and top commissioner WeirdKev27. If you’d like to commission your own review just shoot me an ask, and if you’d like your own guaranteed review a month simply slip on over to my patreon. Even if you can’t afford enough for a month even a buck a month would be apricated to help keep things going here. 

So this one needs some story: A few months back Kev suggested commissioning this one for Halloween. I was willing to check it out, make sure I had material that sort of thing and at first I was confused since the first half of this comic.. is a  normal gag based Donald Duck comic. Nothing strange or weird, a few hints of something sinister but surely that was just leading to the villian of the week trying to steal the gold reserve with Gelatin or pay off his student loans or something right?

Yeah.... for those of you who haven’t read or heard of this one.. let’s just say it takes a turn. It’s one of the strangest swerves i’ve EVER seen in a Donald Duck story.. and it is not only gloriously batshit, but it’s genuinely effective and scary.  So I was fully on board, and thus here we are. So if your curious, answer the Call of C’Russo with me under the cut and find out what’s so damn spiffy about this story.

So first some backstory: This story was originally printed in Germany in 2004, but got a much wider release in 2016 thanks to IDW’s Donald Duck series, which reprinted and translated Donald Stories. Unfortunately at the time of this writing the issue’s hard to come by since i’ts out of print, and digitally it was yanked off shelves because IDW lost the license, a stiff reminder that I really need to get Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic Book at some point before something like that happens. 

So we open with Donald’s singing annoying the public, business as usual. He’s doing the pre-screening for Mr. C’Rrusso’s armature singing contest. It only enrages the prescreeners who give the poor guy the boot. Me I thought it was beautiful. Maybe they just don’t like art. 

Pure magic. The Boys however did get inside and are the front runner, with C’rrusso saying their three part harmony is his front runner, making his tuining fork hum. 

So Donald is Donald Dejected when he comes across D’mmingo, C’rruso’s idnetical twin brother, simply clad in white instead of black. He offers donald his own audition, complete with his own tuning fork. Because Donald apparently has a sonic scream, the fire hydrant in the alley their in explodes, but D’mmingo says Donald is perfect he just needs his throat oiled and gives him a perfume mister thing to do just that. Tommorow he’ll have the voice of an angel. 

Donald TRIES to sing again but only gets a harsh rejection from the boys.. who are REALLY dickish here. 

Thankfully they get their commpuance the next morning as donald can sing like a golden harp. He naturally aces the audition and C’rrusso kicks the three little douchers to the curb. The boys insist donald COULDN’T be this good on his own and something has to be up. I mean their right something is up, but it starts off from a place of jealousy and not thinking their uncle could possibly have talent.. the same uncle who feeds, shelters, and clothes them despite struggling to keep down a job due to god finding his misfortune hilarious. I mean I do too man but come on. 

They do end up having a point when they find out Donald’s leaving for the contest that night.. on a yacht.. to a private island. You know if I didn’t know where this was going, i’d say this was going to be some version of American Idol where they hunt the loosers a’la most dangerous game.... and i’d not only be wrong but my guess wouldn’t be NEARLY insane enough compared to what’s about to happen. Also with American Idol falling off a cliff they REALLY should consider doing that. Just saying. 

So on the ship C’rrusso explains the absence of anyone else by saying their just shy and that tomorrow donald will win...

The boys hide, hoping they aren’t over there heads because it sure dosen’t feel nice. They awake to donald’s natural singing beauty and find it shifting to his okay aided voice, now aware of the sprays.. but wondering why D’mmingo would do this... as D’mmingo approaches. I have to admit at this point.. the atmosphere really kicks up. You can TELL something bad’s about to happen.. and it’s not the normal bad that would usually hit donald. Granted it dosen’t remotely prepare you for what IS going on, but it nicely eases you into it with atmosphere like any good slow burn horror story. SOMETHING is very wrong with this goofy singing story. 

So while Donald naps the boys sneak around, and find the other contestants are still singing in their cabins.... and that the only crew is C’Russo himself. Things somehow get LESS creepy when D’mmingo sneaks on the boat and swaps out the atomizers, meaning Donald’s voice will go back to normal, something the three little craps revel in.. till their caught by donald. 

Now up till now you might’ve been put off by the whole “donald cheating aspect” I wasn’t because the only competition we see are three throughly awful chlidren he works hard to raise, but the story does actually answer that: Donald admits he’s felt guilty, bu the’s always wanted to win a singing contest. It’s always been his dream. I thought his lifelong dream was to be on the gong show but whatever, point is he plans to give up the prize money, he just wants to be loved. 

So the boys realize what dick’s they’ve been, another point in the story’s favor and decide to reswitch the atomizers.. since D’mmingo was stupid enough to stay on board, meaning they can simply steal the right one from him. They soon make a chilling discovery about one of the contestants though...

Turns out all the “contestants” are simply recordings of other singers from the contest.... and what’s more the “island” they stop at is seemingly nothing in the sea.... until...

Welcome folks to S’pittoo, and to the part where this story goes off the rails.. and from good to great. 

Donald dosne’t listen to the boys about the island having suddenly risen, and goes with C’Russo despite all the alarm bells that should be set off by him saying all the other contestants have gone ahead and ushering donald into an eerie temple. See Donald this is why you only have an IOU where both your kindney’s should be. 

D’mmingo awakes to find Donald singing well but the boys capture him before he can do anything and he begs them to stop Donald. When they ask what harm he could possibly do, they explalin his voice will end the world.... and as for the why.. well your best seeing it for yourself as the boys read a songbook D’mmingo has in his pocket

So yeah at least for this story the Duck universe.. is the dream of an elder god... and if he awakes he will reshape reality in his image. As for Donald every thousand years the two sides of the god’s personality try to find someone to either wake the god or keep him asleep. This time donald just happened to be both. 

So yeah I wasn’t lying about what a swerve this was... we go from a fairly typical donald duck story, if a GOOD typical donald duck story.. TO A TAKE ON LOVECRAFT. It’s a hell of a swerve: while the title HINTS at that, given Duck Comics you know usually don’t HAVE elder gods in them and if they did you’d expect it to be Scrooge outwitting them, not the boys, it’s just a huge punch to the gut, one I expect was fully intentionally. And.... it’s awesome. It’s well DONE cosmic horror, with all the horrifying implications of the genre and a clever concept: two parts of a god’s subconscious, one trying to wake the god because that’s what it logically SHOULD do and reality should becomne a reflection of him, and the latter fighting to stop it because while that’s what should happen logically it’d doom the poor people trapped inside the dream to unending horrors. It’s horrifying as it is utterly fascinating and it’s only now how brilliant it is sinks in, as I was too damn shocked the first time to properly process it. 

The boys aren’t sure they buy the story, but do go to save Donald anyway. We then get a genuinely creepy scene as C’Russo forces Donald, who soon realizes something’s wrong when he’s left singing over a dark pit, to sing, which he only does to not get shot. The boys try to get there in time.. and fail... as...

Donald books it back to the boat, hilariously by RUNNING on water.... because apparently donald is either the flash or jesus, possibly both. or is jesus the flash? Sadly we don’t have time to figure that out as the world is ending.. and things only get more horrific for our heroes as the dream already starts to shift in the dreamers image...

Just.. holy shit... this is GENINELY horrifying, while still not being too graphic for kids. I mean it still clearly scared some for life but props for doing something this geninely unnerving in an all ages comic. 

So D’ommingo fades, as since he’s a subconscious part of the god’s brain, he can’t be awake.. but offers the idea of a lullabye. Donald tries singing but it only wakes the creature more.... and the boys realize his old voice is the only thing that can save the world and end the waking nightmare so the dream that is their lives can continue. Since they don’t have the bad voice maker on hand though, they make one using the atomizer and some lemon juice and tabasco. And with that three 8 year olds and a squaky duck save the world as Donald sings the dreamer a lullabye, restoring the dream.. and us. The crystal city sinks, the two parts of his subconscious agree to play this cosmic game again next time no hard feelings.. and donald ponders the true horror of this situation

Final Thoughts:

This story is a masterpiece. It uses the usual trappings of a donald duck story to slowly lull you in, unease growing.. then throws you into a story striaght out of Lovecraft, and makes it all work perfectly. While the novelty of this story is great, the story itself is fantastic, having all the trappings of a cosmic horror story but for all ages, and having it’s own creative additions to the genre. It also plays as   a light parody from the ridiculous names to donald’s bad singing being the only thing that can save the world, but just enough to fit being a Donald Duck comic without overriding the horror of the situation. It’s a perfect ballance of silly, surreal and sense shattering. It’s a fantastic story I hope gets another translation via fantagraphics, it needs to remain in print and needs to be seen. This story is the finest story i’ve seen in duck comics outside barks and rosa and while outside their wheelhouses it’s one that both could apricate. A true classic, seek it out, it’s in issue 16 of the IDW Comics, 

Thanks for reading.

[th3okamid3mon]

The Lighthouse,  somehow charming to disturbing [SPOILERS]

What happens when you have 2 man inside an isolated house? NOTHING GOOD! NOTHING. GOOD. AT ALL! 

Sinopsis: 

2 lighthouse keepers are doing 4 weeks shift at an isolated and mysterious island in New England while fighting the desires to succumb into insanity. The tension between them grows as time passes, even though they can no longer decipher the time of day. 

Photography, sound and edition: 

BOI, WHERE DO I BEGIN!? OH I KNOW! THE CAMERA. The first thing that intrigue me about this movie is the black and white and that it´s shot in 1. 19:1 (For those who don´t know what that means, its the dimensions you see the movie, for example: a widescreen television in full hd would be 16:9). Seriously, this could possibly fool someone into thinking it´s an old movie, a literal movie from the 1930´s or 40´s. But NOPE! ITS FROM THIS CENTURY! BUT WAIT! THERE´S MORE! 

SO! It was shot using a Panavision Millenium XL2, which it still uses film. Some people think movies are shot with digital cameras now days and that film is completely obsolete. Well, a couple movies have been shot with film and in color. Film can and does have a really good quality, a lot of directors still like to use film to shoot the movies and then transfer the movie to digital. Some directors digitalize the movie, edits it and then imprints it in film! A mexican cinematographer called Gerardo Barroso explain in a conference in 2012 at the FIC UABC (International Film Festival UABC) how he does that because he liked the film more than the digital due to certain details it gives, specially to the colors and general shots, one of the movies shoot completely in film was 2011 Los Ultimos Cristeros. 2011. Let that sink in.  Back to The Lighthouse, this movie was film with Eastman Double X film, this type of film is only in black and white and they also used a custom filter to give the stylization you see here:

They also used a vintage , 1930´s Baltar Lens to give it more the old fashion movies style. This people went full on for the ¨super¨ old aesthetic. 

It looks completely like a 40´s or 50´s movie, but the sound gives it away as a modern film. The shots used were also kind of vintage or old; lots of use of closeups, really open general shots of the lighthouse and the sea, several shots to fill in the spots. Those filler shots are actually used for a very bad trip Robert Pattinson´s character has, imagining having sex with a mermaid and being tangled into octopus and then coming out of conscious not realizing whether he is in the past or in the present. 

The photography works really well in representation the absurdly, horrifying isolation the characters feel and the imagery becomes grotesque with the characters as they become even more aggressive and insane. 

One thing that isn´t as appreciated or doesn´t seem as appreciated is the sound design. Not only the music, all the sounds. The deafening sound of the alarm, the motor that powers the light, the sound of the waves as they turn from calm and relaxing to roaring with fury as if god himself was punishing this men for existing. Every single sound is done with care, nothing was out of place nor excessive. You could say certain sounds become annoying like the seagulls or the alarm but that´s the point. You are experiencing the same annoyances as the characters, you have to know what (at least one of them) they are going through in that isolated place. There´s nothing! Nothing. No other people. Only this old farty man and the seagulls and the sea. And when you are trapped for 4 weeks only listening to that, it can drive anyone insane. 

The editing is energetic, taking care of how every shot works for every moment. At the beginning there´s this unknowing feeling because we dont know the place, the character we follow (Robert Pattinson´s) is walking around, getting to know the place. We see it being a slow edit, it has slow moments, just getting used to the place. As time pass, we can see quicker shots, they dont stay in screen for a long time. There´s more cuts, quicker cuts. When you want a succumbing to insanity sensation of course you need the actors to act and the art design to be showing part of the story and the sound, but timing is important. if you leave a shot too long, it will mean something completely different. It was careful with each and every shot, and the timing was spot on, leaving just the appropriate amount of time to see what was going on and confuse the living shit out of everyone when the characters were tripping horribly. 

Art design:

Every department in a movie is highly important, in this case it was crucial. A lot of investigation must have been done to get the proper clothes, specially if it was gonna be filmed in black and white. You CANNOT use whatever clothes in whatever color, you have to make sure those colors aren´t too dark or too bright, if they are too dark there will be sub-exposure, if they are too bright there will be over exposure. It had to be in a specific palette to make sure the film doesnt fuck up. Not only did they had to search what kind of clothes were used in 1890, but also what the building was made of, the boats, the materials, the food, what did they eat? what did they drink? in what did they drink? HOW DID THEY GO TO THE BATHROOM? Everything was thought out. 

There were certain things like the make up or special effects that kind of confused me, it wasn´t until there was blood involve that caught my attention. In certain scenes the blood is in gray tones, but then when more blood is involve it turns into black, not dark gray, completely black. It strike me a lot. 

SPOILERY, IT INVOLVES PART OF THE END, SKIP IT IF YOU WANT: there´s a part where William Dafoe´s characters turns or is viewed as a octopus and starts spewing ink. Robert Pattinson´s Character is covered in blood as he hits this character and it looked grayish, but when he goes into the lighthouse his face is completely black. I don´t know if it was on purpose, i think it was part of his delusion and hallucination. It popped too much and it was almost out of nowhere. 

All and all, it was done amazingly, they did amazingly with the design of the house and the lighthouse. They dodge a bullet with the boat, i bet that would´ve been a lot more work to design or try to get. I mean, they still got a boat but they only did closeups and really limited view shots, there was no way you could see the boat completely and say if it was a modern model or an old model. The dirt and filthiness gross me out, i left the movie theater feeling filthy and gross, not only for how it looked but also for what I saw. 

Writing and Characters:

As I said before, the film has the vintage, oldy but goody look and aesthetic. That´s really clear, but you have no idea what I meant. They really went full on the look and the writing. Hearing this two actors talk reminds me so much of an old movie. They talk too much! They spew a lot of sentences that sometimes don´t mean much? I mean, William Dafoe´s character talks like a sailor, because he is one and talks with riddles or just rhymes sometimes. At first glance they dont mean much, but if you paid attention to all he says it´s all foreshadowing for the cruel and awful finale. 

The way they speak gets you back, it´s nothing you´ve heard before, by that I mean you would never hear anyone talk somehow like this. I dont think sailors talk like this anymore unless its for a gag. ¨Ya´hear?¨ ¨Ay, sir!¨ ¨YER A FILTHY BASTERD¨ ¨YER NOTHING BUT A DAWG¨. The accents gives a bit more of what era they are in, the writing itself does it though. 

Man, oh man! My filthy pair of sexually charged man. This two are GONE. Or at least William Dafoe´s is. You have an old, obsess man who loves the light and refers to it as his wife; he spews about his life in the sea and eventually you start to think whether that man is just bark and no bite or bite with no bark. Did I mention this man is hella superstitious? Thing he tells the other guy? ¨You better not mess with the ´gulls. They are the spirits of sailors died at sea¨.  He´s been alone for a while and his last second in command was described as dead and mad. HMMM.... Weird! And then you have the new second in command, new, responsible, hard working and has this mysterious vibe, something he is keeping to himself which is eating him from the inside out (if you get it, you get it). 

There´s not much you can decipher from this two. They start as just two man in a lighthouse, one is the boss the other a subordinate, nothing more nothing less. Then they become a bit more friendly to each other, but its more of a job friendly type of thing since it is a job they have to do. Tension begins to boil up when they discover they are alone and isolate for who knows how long due to the boat of provisions not coming after the 4 weeks. This characters dont develop much in the story and that´s fine. Both are not exactly thrilling, it´s what they do that becomes interesting. William Dafoe´s character is shown as gross, apathetic, strict and superstitious as well as stubborn but becomes a little more sympathetic. Why? Because we then know Robert Pattinson´s character a not more. He is (probably) a murderer, he took the lighthouse job with other name because he was a wanted man? and he was escaping his old life. He was already deranged when he got there, he had more probabilities of killing anyone. And then we discovered, the old man had killed before! So non of them are likeable, can be charismatic but not good at all. 

The plot is simple, the characters show emotions and certain 3Dimensionality but since they become even more of an asshole we kind of top caring about what happen to them. I guess the ending is more of delight to audience since we see them both get punish. Then again, I feel more bad about the old man than the new guy. He was an asshole in secret and ended up being an outed asshole. 

Conclusion: 

All and all, this movie is not for everyone. It has a nice pace and it´s interesting. The plot is simple, almost non-existent, what intrigues is the whole eeriness of the place and the situation that becomes super explosive really quick, it´s not a bad thing it´s more of a wake up alarm that hits you with a bat. It has quite the graphic imagery (sex, nudity, masturbation, animal killing in a VERY GRAPHIC AND HORRIFYING WAY, I HOPE IT WASN´T A REALLY ANIMAL MY GOD) that I dont think its for shock value, i think each have a reason to be and I understand it, it doesn´t mean it was shocking and disturbing though. Something I also didn´t expect was the chemistry between William Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, they work really well. Their acting was spot on and well done. Robert Pattinson has done other acting jobs, unfortunately some of those are from really bad movies which is a shame cause his acting is phenomenal. Thank god for this movie,  not to discredit Dafoe but the one shining is Pattinson. 

It is like a love letter to the film making from back in the old days, it could become a good stylization. A lot of movies with this old backgrounds are emerging and I dont see it as a bad thing though I can see it a bit of a problem. I feel it´s saying ¨The old days were better¨ but then again, what era hasn´t done that? Oh wait, the ones where vaccines didnt exist... In all seriousness, this could potentially inspire people to use the old gears or at least achieve this type of aesthetic to tell a story, it´s saying ¨IM NOT OBSOLETE YET, AND I WILL MAKE SURE OF IT¨ Film is an old material to use but it obviously shows it´s still kicking... for now. 

I do recommend it if you like thrillers, it is really eery, it is full of tension and gives you a weird claustrophobic and isolated sensation. 

NOTE: I´d say no minor should watch this, but I feel they would only want to watch it more, here i go though:  If you are a minor, SERIOUSLY, DONT. it depicts graphic deaths, graphic explicit sex scenes and general grossness, they were from the 1890, don´t expect them to be or act clean. I walk out of the movie theater feeling gross and dirty, never felt that way before after watching a movie like this one. 

Sincerely not delusional, TOD.

P.S: Watch kitten or dog videos to ease the utter disgust and disturb sensation of watching a man grab a bird from the throat and stomping it into a rock for at least 2 minutes straight. 

[scullyeffect]

how do you feel about younger people in fandom? like the youngest side that are probably on tumblr i.e 13/14ish?

i don’t know if you mean in the x-files fandom, or just younger people getting involved into fandom stuff online nowadays so i’m just going to go with a generalization. 

i’m nobody’s mother and interests are healthy, and honestly i’m 23 so i don’t know anything about anything yet, but i will say that i live with a 15 y/o girl, a 13 y/o girl, and an 11 y/o girl, and i find myself very sad when all they want to do is go on a phone and watch youtube videos and be online instead of doing something more creative or intellectual.

we had a birthday party for 11 last night, and we had to take phones away from like six 10-11 year olds, which is ridiculous. i do understand that we live in a big city (paris, which isn’t exactly the safest) and lots of kids do things independently (walk to school, walk to friends’ houses, take the métro) so sometimes i worry about 11 (who doesn’t have a phone) if she needs to take the métro alone or walk somewhere alone, and i wish she did have some way to reach me if ever she got lost or something, but 11 is so young.

i think in a world that’s become so increasingly digitized and almost making it necessary to be connected in some way, kids are growing up faster, and some of the posts online and on tumblr talk about things they might not understand yet, and cause them to form opinions based on a text post some 18 y/o wrote. i’m even guilty of this. i’ll get too lazy to keep up with the real world and get my politics from tumblr sometimes, and that’s probably not good, even though mainstream news sources can do the same thing. my mom worked for the washington post, and that’s pretty much the only place i get my news from.

i probably got my first tumblr account when i was 15, and honestly i regret it. i was a pretty sheltered kid/teenager who really enjoyed reading, doing art, writing, and watching sad european dramas about dead sovereigns and suffering artists. i somehow discovered pro-ana blogs (blogs that share and encourage eating disorders to the point where healthy people can begin to actively attempt to follow insane tips in order to lose weight), and since i actually had been having trouble with my own eating habits but never really known that those behaviors were bizarre, i self-diagnosed and was part of that “community” for awhile. 

i was interested/ in love with lots of actors and actresses, and as i made it out of kind of the pro-ana area which i realized which was unhealthy lol i found out about stan culture and just real obsession with movie stars/celebrities. when i was a younger teen i was “obsessed” with meryl streep, which at that time meant that i watched all her films repeatedly. i didn’t realize people cared about the actors/actresses’ personal lives until i got on tumblr, and at the time it was really exciting to discover things about my favorite celebrities (i mean, being a fan of someone obviously isn’t new, but it was to me). now that i’m 23 i find it very invasive and somewhat creepy that we’re so interested in someone’s life, sometimes even more than their body of work. we’ll probably never meet that person, and if we do they’re not going to think about you or remember you forever, because there are thousands of other people out there who feel the same way, and they just can’t keep track (at least the huge stars). 

on the flip side, i think it’s good to have role models and people to look up to, but sometimes there’s a thin line there. i’m blonde, but i dyed my hair brown in my first year of high school because i was obsessed with marion cotillard and wanted to look like her. i kept the brown throughout high school because i liked it, and sort of forgot i ever did it because of her, but now i’m blonde again and it looks so much better haha. ALSO i got really interested in france/speaking french because of her (and juliette binoche), although i had a fantastic and enthusiastic french teacher in high school to help fuel my desire to speak french. and now i’m fluent in french and live in france. wow. so, if there are people you look up to in the public eye and they’re influencing you in positive ways, that’s great! i do get suspicious when very influential celebrities share their political views, though. i think we have a tendency to follow in people’s footsteps either subconsciously or in full awareness. that could be in any field. i like certain authors, and sometimes my own writing is heavily influenced by their work. it’s a natural thing that happens. but voting really should be an informed decision...just my opinion.

let’s talk about “just my opinion”. online bullying is real and can sometimes be rampant if there are dividing views on someone and their perceived private life. for example, in the x-files fandom we will, for the most part, absolutely convince you that mulder and scully are fucking like bunnies, when the show’s own creator won’t lol. but there are also people who think that gillian anderson and david duchovny (the leads) were/are/could be at some point in a romantic relationship with each other. they (anderson and duchovny) even cater to the fans a bit, but at the end of the day that’s their business and they don’t owe us an explanation, and a lot of people in fandom sort of act like they do. the point of this example was that because people in fandom are divided about this point of view, if you talk about one side or the other, there are some people who will come at you and say mean things for not agreeing with you, and try to convince you of a truth they have no real authority to speak about. this is obviously just an example, but online bullying is rampant and is often taken personally and can really affect the person being bullied, especially someone younger who may or may not be already facing that in real life at school lol.

i think tumblr is a good place for people who suffer from mental illness to come together in a healthy way to talk through their problems (god i hope i’m telling the truth), and there’s definitely tons of awareness and support that you’ll get on tumblr that you may not find in the real world. for example, i don’t know anyone irl who has epilepsy who i can talk to about mine. on tumblr i’ve talked with people who understand what i’m going through. i think that self diagnosis online, just as much on tumblr as it is when i cough and search “signs of throat cancer or tuberculosis’, read up on web md, and immediately fear my days might be numbered, is a problem. on tumblr i think we’re introduced to concepts and can sometimes treat mental illness lightly, when it shouldn’t. if you’re suffering from a mental illness, the online world isn’t going to be the place that can completely help you (says the girl who refuses to go to therapy and instead complains online about how she’s not getting any better). 

being online immediately takes us out of life and into a different world. we become observers instead of experiencing the world. there’s good stuff about observation, but being online and attached to a website that is more or less just a vice for people will often make us choose to be on our phones instead of doing stuff in real life.

all of these points being said, i’m guilty of a lot of the “bad/unhealthy” facets of tumblr, but as i’ve “grown up” (unfortunately still staying on tumblr for a good portion of that time) i’ve grown out of a lot of these things and can see the good and the bad that the online world has to offer, and know which parts to stay away from. i can recognize that spending too much time on here does nothing for my desire to stay inside and not experience the real world. it also makes me think a lot more about tv shows/films/celebrities than i need to. but i’ve also made great friends from being on tumblr over the years, and gotten support i definitely wouldn’t have gotten in real life. 

back to my real life. do i encourage the girls i live with to be interested in certain media? yes, especially stuff i feel has a good message. i basically sat the two older ones down and showed them the pilot of the x-files. do they experience the same high level obsession i do with tv shows/movies? no. and i’m glad for that. they like to lose themselves in certain tv shows, but when the tv is off they don’t really talk about it. do i introduce them to things i’m interested in media-wise? yes. do i introduce them to books and music i was/am interested in? yes. have i told them about tumblr? no. they don’t have any access to my online “presence” (they don’t know my instagram, twitter, etc), and i don’t talk about it. when my computer is out and they’re in the room doing homework, i’m usually writing. granted, that’s usually fanfiction, but at least i’m writing something. 

one of the boys i tutor is writing a book (he’s 11) which is basically a self insert that takes place in the harry potter universe. he doesn’t know what fanfiction is, and i haven’t told him (although he’d never type it up and put it online lol he barely knows how to turn the computer on), but i’m so thrilled he’s even writing that i make him sit down and write for 10 minutes before we ever start watching a movie (in english). 

ANYWAY. i’m nobody’s mother and at the end of the day i’m posting this online on my stupid blog where nothing i say matters or has any influence anywhere, but i think kids should be able to enjoy a non-internet related childhood as long as possible. some of us on tumblr are old enough to actually have children that age, and as much as we like having an account on this site, if asked this same question we might not as readily say ‘yeah it’s great! i want my teenagers to have the same experience as me!’

there’s my two centimes. hope i answered your question. JuST MY OPINION.

[lilacskyent-blog]

Breakfast with Alex Wex

People have a million opinions and false facts about the digital world we live in today, and even more about social media. For a lot of people, they use platforms like Instagram and Twitter to follow celebrities, and some use it to bully celebrities. Most forget that that connection can also be used for good. We live in a world of amazing accessibility and, when used properly, could foster a wonderful connection between people. A prime example of this is the Will Smith Jump event that took the internet by storm, that all started with a video message. It’s incredible what can happen when you reach out to people. That was the main thought in my mind before sitting down with Alex Wex yesterday. Alex Wex is an amazing Twitch streamer, and until recently, was a producer for FBE and REACT on Youtube. As of this interview, Alex Wex has fostered a wonderful community through Twitch and Discord known as the Jank Squad, and recently broke his view count record at 210 viewers for his birthday stream, also hitting close to 600 subscribers. Given that I was in Atlanta and he was in LA we couldn’t actually meet for breakfast like I usually do so we had an amazing video chat instead.

So for starters, I just want to thank you for sitting down with me. I’ve been following your work since I first saw you on FBE and I think you’re an awesome dude so thanks. I wanna start at the very beginning because I’m really interested in your story. So, I know you went to high school in Atlanta, GA. What can you tell me about that?

I was actually born in Manhattan, my family moved to Atlanta around pre-K and I lived there up until I graduated from Riverwood High School. All my friends wanted to go to UGA or Georgia Tech but I was really interested in traveling and branching out, so I went to Ohio for college, and now I live in L.A. I made some truly amazing friends in Atlanta, and having this kind of east coast, south culture mixture has made life pretty interesting.

When did you know you wanted to work in entertainment, and what led to you becoming a producer?

When I was a kid, my family liked to record family videos, and I always wanted to see the recording. I had the eye for production pretty early. Once I started high school I got involved in performing, did Grease, The Wiz, and a few other school plays that got me interested in the performance aspect as well. In college, I majored in video production with a minor in film and sociology so I gained real knowledge of the art that happens behind the camera.

How does one go from school in Atlanta to working at FBE?

As I mentioned before I went to college at Ohio University, what got me was their video production department. I actually still work with the head of the department and speak to the alumni when they come here, advising them on some dos and don'ts. As a graduation gift, my Dad gave me an all expense paid trip to anywhere I wanted to go in the U.S for a few days and I chose L.A. So I was here, hanging out with my current roommate Johnny and we just decided to come out here permanently and live the dream. So I packed up my car and drove from Atlanta to LA and started looking for internships while working at Chipotle.I first joined FBE as an intern, then got hired as a PA and eventually was a writer for some of their scripted shows, and I worked my way up until I was offered the producer position. I loved producing because that involved every aspect of working behind the camera, from writing to filming to editing and seeing the baby from birth to fully grown. Being in front of the camera came back when FBE launched the community team and started streaming on Twitch.

Watching Alex grow on YouTube, putting reactors in hilarious challenges, eat crazy concoctions and brave some insane hot sauces that would make Sean Evans proud, his personality radiates through the screen. His passion for both sides of the camera is clear in the quality of every video he makes. However, taking part in one of his Twitch streams gives you an even more full experience. It’s like the difference between a teaser trailer and a full film.

Freddy or Jason?

Freddy is my favorite in Dead By Daylight but I love Jason, in fact, Friday the 13th was the first game I ever streamed. I’d have to say, Jason.

So, we were in high school in the baby years of YouTube, I mostly used it for music videos and anime, I think back then I only followed Phil Defranco and Timothy Delaghetto consistently. Back then, did you ever look at YouTube and think “this is going to revolutionize the world and turn traditional media on its head?”

Yeah, it’s changed everything. Almost every network has a YouTube channel now. Late night shows and things like SNL upload segments that get massive amounts of views. YouTube is still growing, testing out its premium service and channel enrollment and things like that, but it’s exciting to see where it’s going to end up.

It’s even crazier when you think about how much Twitch has already changed the game.

Definitely, I mean we’ve seen what happens when some of the top YouTube creators come over to Twitch and realize that it’s completely different from what they’re used to. It’s more like an improv radio show, you have to be on for two or three hours and avoid dead air, rather than being able to edit something together. It’s hard to be constantly entertaining when you're used to delivering a finished edit rather than a live audience. For example, Logan Paul had over 100,000 people in his first stream but after that, the numbers dropped just cause that’s not his world. Live Streaming is a constant conversation. It’s the opposite of YouTube.

I remember seeing YouTubers flood to Twitch after the adpocalypse and feeling like it made no sense. A lot of vloggers and creators who never expressed any interest in video games were all suddenly obsessed with Fortnite. However, when people like Alex Wex came to Twitch they brought genuine love of gaming, skill, and a great sense of community.

What insight can you give into the world of a producer? Especially on the internet, how to figure out what videos are gonna get views or go viral?

It’s a case by case basis depending on what you make. With Challenge Chalice, we made it during the high point of internet challenges and we had consistent challenges to make content with constantly, but this past year challenges have kinda quieted down so that got more difficult. We revisited and revised a lot of earlier challenges to make them more interesting, and that has to do with being present during every step of the process. You can’t slack off on anything, from script to editing. Being organized is key, and definitely take on the ideas and criticisms of the people working with you. Be flexible and open-minded. It’s not about balance, it’s about harmony.

3 Breakfast must haves?

Bacon

Grits

Belgian Waffles are incredible

Hack-n-slash? RPG? Or FPS? And why?

That’s complicated. Overwatch is one of my favorite games but it doesn’t play exactly like an FPS. For me, hack-n-slash for games like Dead Cells, Rogue Lights, I love games with massive replay value. I’m playing Diablo 3 on switch right now and I love it.

What games are best for streaming? Does the game you play matter?

A little, but it shouldn’t be everything. You want your audience to gravitate towards your personality. Never play something you don’t enjoy playing. I love Overwatch and it’s not one of the current hot stream games but I love playing it. Story games are complicated. If people miss parts of story mode games they tune it out cause they won’t know what’s going on. More than anything put your own spin on what you’re doing. For example, when I do Dead By Daylight I do stream vs chat where my chat helps the survivors escape if I’m playing the killer. In fact, chatting streams are starting to really blow up. It’s more about the person playing than the game they play.

What game has you hype for 2019?

That’s tough, but probably Kingdom Hearts 3. I’m excited for Smash Bros for my last game of 2018 too.

What led you to Twitch?

I’d seen some of it, but Tom had been doing it for 6 months and kept suggesting it until one day I finally did. I had a decent setup with an ultra-wide monitor and Tom’s old video capture device and I started streaming Dead by Daylight. We actually came into the name Jank Squad because of how janky the streams were in the beginning.

What led you to leave FBE and what are you working on now?

I wanted to focus more on my Twitch, and it was exhausting streaming at work on the days when I’m also streaming at home. I wanted to give my audience the most energy I could and be more involved with them as a community. I’m creating new ways to interact with my audience, more active in my Discord, and after working there for 5 years I felt stuck. There wasn’t any new learning experience and things felt a little sour and monotonous with the new direction things were going in. I’m actually getting a new camera and a green screen to upgrade the stream quality. I’d love to make partner with Twitch.

What’s the dream?

I take things to step by step. I’m definitely in a transition right now. I’m looking for another good full-time job at the moment. I’d love to be a full-time streamer but I’d also love to produce my own stuff and then stream after work. Streaming is probably one of the most consistent things I’ve ever done. Funny enough, that’s part of what got me into it cause Tom knew my leisure activity was video games, and streaming just takes that to another level. It definitely takes work, but the community you foster on this platform is unlike any other with the rating system and how everything is set up.

Alright so the zombie apocalypse is upon us and you can have 1 mortal character, one god tier video game character, and one Reactor in your survival squad, who you got?

Kratos from God of War 2 causes his chain blades would tear through everything, my regular would be Leon from Resident Evil 4 cause his aim is amazing and he’s used to zombies, and my Reactor would be Chelsea cause she knows so much about The Walking Dead. That’s my squad.

East Coast or West Coast

East, it’s where I was born and bred.

Top 10 songs or artists on your playlist right now?

Meek Mill- Intro with the amazing Phil Collins sample

Tyler the Creator’s Grinch is great for the holidays

The Cool-Lupe Fiasco

Chance The Rapper’s new songs

Paramore- Ain’t It Fun

You come from the same city I did with only a two year age difference, and you’re the first brown face I saw in relation to FBE and now you’re killing it on Twitch. Do you know how dope you are?

I appreciate that. I like to think I’m dope in some ways but I also do my best to keep it real, keep myself humble, and not letting the numbers get to my head. I hope everyone thinks they’re fucking awesome, cause they are. I have my good and bad days but I like to look at what has been built and keep grinding. Everyone is on a different time stream. I don’t want to rush things, I’m on my own path, and right now I just wanna build this community.

I for one, am excited to see what comes next from Alex Wex, including his stream later this week. You can find him @ItsMrWex

-Strawberry Smirk of Lilac Sky Entertainment

[sosation]

Volume is Power

The following is a transcript of my "Audio Liner Notes" for Volume is Power, the album I released earlier this year under the project titled Temporal Distortions.

The album can be purchased for free on my bandcamp here: https://temporaldistortions.bandcamp.com/

and it is available on all streaming services:

-https://open.spotify.com/album/3983Bepp9uxIv1pb9qaEwY?si=qWpTAozTS2ujMQ79R_FZZg&utm_source=copy-link

-https://music.apple.com/us/album/volume-is-power/1557283830?uo=4

and music videos are up on the Local Famous Records Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRIjOlGfx0M

Volume is Power

Transcript of Audio Liner Notes and Recommended Readings

Hi. My name is Anthony Sosa and you have just listened to Volume is Power. I hope you enjoyed it. I began actively writing for this record in December of 2019. Some of the musical ideas were written in previous bands going back as far as 2009 and others were written after I had started working on the record. As you know, 2020 was an insane year. So, as you can imagine, it affected the writing and conception of what we were working on. When I began writing lyrics it was the middle of the democratic primaries for President. I was a Bernie Sanders volunteer. I wanted to talk about issues in the US and around the world. But then COVID happened and George Floyd happened, and I had to talk about those things as well--If anything, to document this moment in time. Honestly, those events backed up what I already wanted to say with this record: Our system is broken.

Sonically, Volume is Power has a lot of specific influences that influenced specific songs. For each track I tried to lean into whatever influences were present at the time and treat each piece almost as a genre study, though the genres span a narrow spectrum along the “rock” continuum. Time -- was, and will continue to be, an important aspect of the project. Temporal Distortions are happening all around us all the time. This record is essentially a series of distortions, or songs, that span, temporally, from the mid 1990’s to the late 2000’s. There are also audio clips from the 1950’s and 60’s as well as from this historic summer of 2020. Songs from my past still inspire me in the present to create an album for the future which is now here. Now, this album will exist in the past for me but for you this is your present. Maybe, if I did my job right, and you are so inclined, it will inspire you to create something in your future.

I had intended to make this album available for free everywhere, but youtube and bandcamp are the only platforms where I can achieve that. You can always email localfamousrecords@gmail.com and we will send you a free digital copy.

In this Audio Liner Notes track I intend to give credit to all of the amazing artists who helped me create this record. I am honored and privileged to know and have the pleasure of working with so many amazing people and to all of you thank you for giving me your time and energy. Chief among these is Dale Brunson, my colleague and compatriot. I met Dale in 2009 when he was playing in Werewolf Therewolf and I was playing in Housefire and The Raven Charter. We’ve been friends ever since and in 2012 we started a Top 40 cover band called Sweetmeat who is still together as of this recording. Dale mixed and co-produced this record with me and without his patience, insight and guidance this record would have been impossible. I definitely threw him some curveballs throughout this process and he has handled all of it graciously.

I, now, am going to give a track by track breakdown of the record but I am not trying to spend too much time explaining or discussing lyrics. Those are for you to interpret how you will. I’m not great at insinuation, anyway, so I’m sure you get the point. I’d rather discuss the people on the tracks and the musical influences behind them. So:

Track 1 is titled Our Streets and begins with the voice of Rod “Teddy” Smith whom I met on the streets of Fort Worth during the protests this May-July. Rod and I, as well as Defense Attorney Michael Campbell, Christopher Rose and my wife, Amber, started a non-profit organization in the wake of these protests called The Justice Reform League with the goal of advocating for evidence based socio-economic and criminal justice policies at the municipal, state and federal levels and to empower impacted communities through civic education. I, personally, believe that there needs to be more effort put toward educating our community on how local politics actually works, how it impacts us, and how we can get involved and change things. So that is what we are trying to do. I also feel that music, or art in general, can be an educator and is one of the reasons I was inspired to write this record.

In regards to the opening clip with Rod, I actually have hours of footage from weeks of protests in May and June but this clip stuck out to me particularly because it evokes Fort Worth and the particular sentiment I was wanting to express with this record. The piano was played by me, recorded here at my house. At the end of the track are protest chants from one of the larger protest-days this past summer here in Fort Worth. My wife, Amber, and I marched for about 3 weeks before actually beginning to organize. On those later days of the protests I started carrying a battery powered PA speaker on my back in a doggie backpack with a mic and using that for chants and to further project those giving speeches. The album cover is a photo by local photographer Zach Burns capturing me doing just that. Zach being another awesome person I met this past summer. Before I move on, the real first voice (and last) you hear on the album, and multiple times throughout, is of Jordan Buckly of Every Time I Die- my favorite band. Early in the pandemic I paid Jordan $30 on Cameo to say “Temporal Distortions” and to “purchase” a shitty riff idea. I didn’t use the riff, it was god awful like he said, but I made some clips of him because it made me smile.

Track 2 is Daring Bravely.

This song was intended to be a The Raven Charter song and was introduced to the band near the very end of our time together. For those who don’t know, The Raven Charter is the most serious project I have ever been a part of. It was the most important thing in my life for many years. I am not going to use this time to give a history lesson on TRC, though that would be fun. Go check out our stuff if you’re into Prog Rock. So this thing kicked around on my hard drive since 2015, I recorded multiple demos with guitar, bass and drums, over the years and finally settled on a bridge. I didn’t actually write the lyrics until I began working on this album proper in Dec of 2019.

I had the awesome pleasure of doing this song with my boys Daniel Baskind and Erik Stolpe of TRC. Daniel wrote a beautiful solo for this track. It was exactly the energy the song needed and also sounds quintessential Daniel. As I stated at the beginning, I was leaning into the genre for each track and the genre on this track was “Ravencharter” and Daniel nailed it. And Erik, I truly feel, did an amazing job in making this song more than it was. The orchestration and production aspects of his writing for this track are spot on. He really got the vibe I was going for and took it even further. It was great to get to work with both of them again to recreate some of that magic we used to make. The audio clips are from Dr. Brené Brown and her TED Talk “The Power of Vulnerability” from Jan 3, 2011. Funny story about that. When my wife Amber and I first saw Brené’s TED Talks we really enjoyed the concepts she covered. We both came away from watching those remembering the phrase “Daring Bravely,” which is why I named the song that. I like those two words together and the concept they elicit. However, when researching for these Liner Notes I discovered that all along she was saying “Daring Greatly.” She even has a book with that title. So, we’ve been saying it wrong the whole time. Regardless, I prefer “Daring Bravely” because it requires bravery and courage to dare greatly and have confidence and believe in yourself. So be brave. Dare Bravely.

Track 3 is titled Division of Labor.

What radicalized me? Working in the service industry and learning history. This song is essentially an amalgamation of that. The line in the bridge is an Oscar Wilde quote. This was just a rando idea on the guitar that I recorded into my phone on new year's day 2019. Musically, the main guitar riff seemed to me Every Time I Die influenced but when I put drums and bass to it it ended up sounding more like At the Drive In or something, to me. My demo leaned into that a lot more than the finished product. This song definitely ended up in a different place than when I started working on it which is always fun and surprising. Workers rights are very important to me and I tried to put that into this song.

Track 4 is Pay for your own Exploitation.

This is another relatively recent idea recorded into my phone on the acoustic in October 2019. I remember when I did it because my friend and fellow musician/producer Randall C. Bradley from Delta Sound Studios came over and before we could even really greet each other I had to stop and say “hold on I have to record this idea before I forget.” It kinda had an Aerosmith vibe to me when I put it all together in the demo process for the record. Like 90’s Aerosmith. I dunno. I guess really the 90’s are smeared all over this album. Another temporal distortion. And then from the bridge on it goes all ETID. The “sex organs of the machine world” line at the beginning of the song is a Marshall McLuhan quote. The bridge vocals “Politics is war without bloodshed. War is politics with bloodshed,” I heard from Adolf Reed Jr. but I don’t know if he was quoting someone else.

I had the pleasure of working with Double Bear on this song - my Local Famous Records brethren. The gang vocals in the song are myself, Michael Garcia, Brandon Tyner, Garrett Bond, Matt Bardwell, Glenn Wallace, and Dale Brunson and we’re having a lot of fun, if you can’t tell. It makes me happy that we got to work together on this project and I imagine there will be more collabs down the road.

Track 5 is We Make the Past.

This song is essentially a Bush song, or was when I wrote it. Very Pixies influenced. Dale’s production took this a lot further than I imagined in the best way possible. I also showed up to the studio thinking my lyrics were finished but realized I was missing a second verse. The demo version was just like a minute and a half and I extrapolated the rest and got it wrong. Once that started I essentially re-wrote all the lyrics on the spot. The lyrics are meant to be scattered and random, like Gavin Rossdales’, though they come from a book by the late Hatian anthropologist and historian Michel-Rolp Trouillot. Bush was one of my favorite bands growing up in the mid-late 90’s and early oughts. I’ve always liked their raw energy and lyrical strangeness. (The same could be said for my love of The Mars Volta.) So this was my homage to Gavin, Nigel, Dave and Robin and shitty guitar playing. Also, I pronounced “His-tor-icity” wrong. I said histori-ocity and I don’t know why I didn't notice it until really late in the process. Same with “commodozation” instead of “commoditization” Oh well. Making up words is fun too.

Track 6 is Serve-Us Industry. This song was fun. It originally was going to be a new Huffer song. I had the pleasure of being a part of Huffer from 2015-2018 with Chea Cueavas and Jeremy Nelson, and we were working on a new album in 2017. Between Chea and myself we had about 10-13 ideas kicking around. This was one of the ones I had thrown out there. To me it had a Foo Fighters vibe, which makes sense because Chea and I were also playing in The Foo, our Foo Fighters cover band, a lot around that time. I just thought it would be fun to sing about all the mistakes that happen while working in the service industry and having to deal with customers. These lyrics made me laugh and sometimes that’s all you can do.

Track 7 is an interlude titled Employer vs Employee. This is a clip of David Griscom from the Michael Brooks Show episode 145 - Police & the ANC & We Need a Liberation Theology ft. William Shoki & Ronan Burtenshaw recorded on June 23, 2020. I really enjoy David and even though at the time of recording he has been living in Brooklyn for several years he has never forgotten Texas. His insight on economic issues and worker’s rights is immensely important. The underlying music on this track is just myself playing bass and guitar. A bass riff I had laying around for almost a decade.

The Michael Brooks Show has greatly impacted and influenced my life since I became a Patron in Dec of 2019. I wanted to take what was I learning from Michael, David and Matt and their guests and put it into music. Since Michael’s passing in July 2020, David and Matt Lech have gone on to create their own show Left Reckoning. Check them out for leftist theory and international news and analysis regarding the global left. As Americans, we all need a lot more international and historical perspectives.

Track 8 is titled Class Struggle.

This song was influenced by Silverchair's 1997 and 1999 albums Freakshow and Neon Ballroom. At least that’s kinda what I was going for tonally. The quote being shouted by Karl Marx from his Communist Manifesto, with a slight edit. In hindsight I probably should have use “their” instead of “his or her,” but it was an effort to use more inclusive language. I feel like most people hearing this will know that that was Marx, but if you don’t now you do. This track was originally written and proposed to Huffer as an idea in July 2017 but didn’t make it further than that. Dale plays the double stops in the middle of the song.

I suppose I should take this moment to say that this album is my first lyrical endeavor. I have written personal things in the past but never anything for any of the various bands and projects that I have been a part of, save one short lived hip-hop project back in 2010 I did with Aaron Anderson which was never released. So any idea that I “proposed” to any previous band was just music not lyrics. When trying to decide what to write lyrics about it became clear to me that politics and history was what I felt I needed to talk about. As a History teacher, and someone who studied history at the graduate level, I understand that not everyone learns history by reading historical monographs--but rather through pop-culture. So this is my contribution to pop-culture and I hope some people do learn some things by listening to this. And perhaps, then inspired to do some of their own research.

Track 9 is the Stoop Romans interlude.

These are 2 clips from two different performances of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The first is from the 1970 film and the second, I believe, is from the 1953 production. I got them from youtube and you ideally, got this for free, so hopefully no harm no foul. The piano is a repetition of the piano at the beginning of the album. And these clips, to me, summed up the sentiment of many in America in 2020.

That is another thing I want to take a moment to say. The creation of this record and the method of its release is a statement. I do not want to profit from this. That is not why I made it. I made it for the message and I want this message spread as much as possible and the best way to do that is to make it free. So it was a labor of love and I tried to reject the capitalistic game of “the hustle” that most musicians, and artists, are forced to play with their creations as much as possible. It is my gift to you and example that things can be done differently.

Track 10 is Imperialism get Fucking Bent.

Soooo I was reading a lot of Noam Chomsky at the time, what can I say. If you don’t know who that is look him up. He is an important intellectual whose perspectives on recent American history and economics are invaluable. This song was heavily influenced by ETID, though a lot more simple, and was written on the guitar in 2018.

Initially, when I began writing lyrics I wrote stuff about Magic the Gathering, of which I am an avid Commander player, at least before the pandemic. But the tone of the song didn’t match the lyrics so I scrapped them and started over. The clip in the middle of the song I got from the Congressional Dish Podcast hosted by Jen Briney, of who I am a Patron. She got it from the Senate Hearing: United States Strategy in Afghanistan, United States Senate Armed Services Committee, February 11, 2020. The two men speaking are Sen. Angus King (Maine) and Jack Keane: Chairman of the Institute for The Study of War who was appointed by John McCain when he was Chairman to the Congressional Committee on the National Defense Strategy.

If you want to know what congress is up to, which you should, then you should listen to that podcast, it is invaluable. The point of the clip is to demonstrate that these men acknowledge that we will be at war “indefinitely.” They said the quiet part out loud in an untelevised hearing of which at the end of they say essentially “let's not discuss this again publicly.” I’m not a journalist but this is me trying to do my part of getting this information out there. We, the American People, shouldn’t want “preventative war,” eternal war. IMO we should want no war unless all other options have been exhausted. Take those trillions of dollars of our money and give it back to us in the form of Medicare for All, a Green New Deal and free college. Then there will be plenty of money left over to rebuild our infrastructure and provide Universal Basic Income. I believe a healthy and educated populus is crucial to a democracy. We need that in America, desperately. And it would be a lot easier to pay for all of that if we weren’t in Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And that is just for drone strikes. The U.S. military currently operates in 40% of the world’s nations including most of Africa and Central Asia. Check out the Smithsonian Magazine website for info on this. And read Chomsky. Book Recommendations are at the end.

Track 11 is Ka’s Dance. This is a straight up Stephen King love song. He wrote all the words and it’s the 2nd, 5th, and 8th stanzas from Song of Susannah, the 6th book in the Dark Tower series. The clip is from the audiobook narrated by George Guidall (gwidell). This song was another one that was influenced by ETID. Energetically, it reminds me of Jefferson Colby--the band I was in with Matt and Danny Mabe from 2010-2013. Those two have absolutely influenced the way I play and view music, as well as their father Mark Mabe-who taught me how to play bass. Anyway, that is a story for another day, I hope to collaborate with them again in the future. The clip at the end is Captain Janeway and Chekote from Star Trek Voyager.

Track 12 is You Opened My Eyes. I had the honor and the privilege of working with 3 amazing artists on this song: Tornup, Chill, and Canyon Kafer. Christopher Hill, AKA Chill, and I have known each other for years via Dale Brunson and we briefly worked together on a collaborative musician lottery competition thing titled DIG back in 2017 that never happened. I have always wanted to record with him and had a lot of fun doing so. He is one of the best drummers I know and his pocket gave this song the life it needed. Torry Finley AKA Tornup and I met on the streets this past summer of 2020 during the protests and I heard him speak at the public speaking event we held at Trinity Park-- and he moved me. Eventually, we started talking music and I found out he is a fellow musician and bass player as well, I thought “I definitely want to collaborate with this dude.” Fortunately, this opportunity presented itself and, as I am sure you can tell, this song wouldn’t be what it is without him. He performed the first verse. Canyon performed the sick bass solo before the final chorus and I am truly humbled and grateful to have all of these guys on this album.

Track 13 is Fight the Hegemony. This is by far the heaviest track on the album and I essentially shout out some of my influences in the lyrics. Thrice, Glassjaw, and The Used, Dream Theater, Cohoeed and Cambria and other early-mid 2000’s bands still have a big influence on me. My friend and colleague Chris Musso performed the drums on this track. Chris and I played together in Silverlode in 2004 and in The Raven Charter from 2005-2008. We still play together in the aforementioned Sweetmeat, with Dale, and I am super happy to get another opportunity to collaborate together again. As I mentioned earlier, I volunteered and canvassed for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic Primaries in 2020 and the lyrics in this song were inspired by his movement. Now that I am writing these Liner Notes in early 2021 I want to take a moment to reiterate and clarify-- in the wake of the attempted insurrection on January 6th--this song is NOT aiming to inspire violence nor an overthrow of the system by using violence. It is crystal clear to me now how people can read into things and take what they will. These lyrics are about the Bernie Sanders movement. Period.

Track 14 is Simp for the System (Free Market Capitalism Love Song). This is another one of those songs that, musically, was originally written for Huffer, well the bass part anyway. Chea and Jeremy, both had written completely different stuff but I didn’t want to rip them off so I rewrote it and made it as emo as possible. Brand New, was the band I had in mind, circa Deja Entendu. The lyrics are a joke. I was laughing out loud when I wrote them. I had considered just making it instrumental because for the longest time I couldn’t think of any lyrics to go with it. I didn’t want to do “real” emo but I couldn't think of anything else. Then I was like “ well, often these emo songs were about a girl. What if the girl wasn’t a girl but a system that people simp for all the time?” Ta-da. It was actually Dale who suggested the “Hey girl…” rant in the bridge and I think he was onto something. I hope you thought it was as funny as I did.

Track 15 is Cold War Nostalgia. This song is the oldest one on the record and has gone through the most changes- creating nostalgia for me on multiple levels. I wrote the original version in 2009 for my band Housefire. That version was more upbeat and the main verse riff was a dotted 8th note delay melody...very 2009… and Housefire broke up before it was properly recorded. I really liked the song and re-worked it several times on my own over 7 or 8 years until Huffer began working on our new record. I rewrote the track again to be more “Huffer'' sounding by making the bass carry the melody in the verses rather than the guitar. I also slowed it down quite a bit and went for a more rough sound (thinking Refused-esque) rather than polished, uber-compressed late 2000’s scene music. Chea and Jeremy weren’t that into it, and honestly even with the changes it didn’t sound like Huffer so we dropped it. Then, I picked it up again when I started working on this record and tried to put some words to it, and it has now become this sprawling lengthy piece. The original version was a tad over the 3 minute mark and it is now close to 7.

Lyrics were difficult at first. But because the song, for me, was oozing with nostalgia it seemed like a good topic to start with. I had written a paper in my final semester of Grad school in 2018 for a transnational history class about the Cold War- my area of study for my history degree. That paper is my proudest academic achievement to date, titled “National Narratives in Post Cold War America and the Former U.S.S.R.'' and was about the stories we tell ourselves. The ones we tell ourselves at the interpersonal level and the ones our culture, society and leaders tell us at the macro level--and how the totalitarian can affect those stories. This looked at Nostalgia of the Cold War and how that nostalgia is different for the US and the former Soviet states. All the lyrics from this song are taken from that paper- particularly from certain quotes that I quoted throughout. The first verse, starting with “Nostalgia then…” is either Olga Shevchnko or Maya Nadkarni (both are cited) in 2013 from Kevin Platt’s article “Russian Empire of Post-Socialist Nostalgia and Soviet Retro at the New Wave Competition” published in the Russian Review issue 72 no 3. The second verses’ “Does human nature undergo a true change in the cauldron of totalitarian violence?” is from a book titled “Life and Fate” by Vassilli Grossman-- an epic novel about Stalin written in 1960 from someone who lived under him. The only reason it was published was because a friend of Grossman smuggled a copy out of the USSR into the west. One of the few published examples from that period of people questioning the totalitarian state from the inside.

I encourage anyone interested in the full paper to read it, it can be found on my Tumblr blog- Sosations Transmissions.

Now, you may notice that there is phenomenal guitar playing on this track. That is the work of my very good friend Glenn Wallace. Glenn is one of the best guitarists I know. He and I met back in 2004 via Daniel Baskind, Erik Stolpe and Chris Musso from Silverlode and The Raven Charter. The only time we have had the pleasure of playing, or sharing the stage together was in Housefire, so I was thrilled when he agreed to do this song. Glenn was our 3rd and final lead guitarist in the band before we broke up, (following Eddie Delgado and Dusty Brooks). There actually is a video on youtube of one show we played at The Boiler Room in Denton from mid-late 2009. Getting him on this track was something that I had been thinking about for a while but the opportunity finally arose when Glenn, Dale and myself, along with the Double Bear guys: Michael Garcia, Brandon Tyner, Garrett Bond and Matt Bardwell, as well as Erik Stolpe and the resourceful Tanner Hux, decided to start our own record label: Local Famous Records. Now that this relationship has solidified you can expect much more collaboration from all of us as well as more records like this one. Starting a record label with friends has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life and I highly recommend that you try it.

Track 16 is “Be ruthless with institutions, be kind to each other” - is the final track on the album and is a brief quote from the late Michael Brooks from his talk at Harvard University titled: “Michael Brooks MLK Jr. and Love and Power | Class Warfare | Harvard” from the Harvard College YDSA youtube page, recorded on Feb 1st. 2020. I had written a blog about Michael’s passing and how important he was to me personally and to the progressive movement in America today and in the world , and it can be read at the aforementioned Tumblr. I had set this clip aside to put on this record back in May or June of 2020 but after Michael’s passing in July it became clear to me that I would close the record with this sentiment. “Be ruthless with institutions, be kind to each other” is an affirmation I will carry with me for the rest of my life and I will proselytize this message wherever I go. Humans over entities. Always. “The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over all laws and institutions.” As far as the music for this track, it was just me pulling something out of my ass to go under the quote and I did it in one take, on an untuned shitty acoustic (for those familiar, the one from high school and college with the Albino squirrel sticker on it.) I recorded the guitar without any accompaniment into a handheld recording device and just got really lucky that it was an appropriate length. I was going for a Dashboard Confessional vibe and I think I got it.

So that is Volume is Power. Thank you to everyone who helped me create this thing and to those who supported me along the way. I am forever grateful.

Thank you to my wife, Amber, for without her this would not be possible. You are my superhero-bird-watcher, my anchor, my guiding light, my soulmate. Thank you for inspiring me to dare bravely.

Thank you to my parents for allowing me to follow my dreams and drop out of college to pursue a career in music. I know it didn’t make you happy at the time but you believed in me anyway. And thanks for not saying “I told you so” when I decided to go back to school 3 years later.

Thank you to my brother David for all the love and support over the years. For your artistic contribution on Daring Bravely. And for always having the courage to be you.

Thank you to Samantha, Lauren and Matt, for being so supportive all these years. I couldn’t ask for a better step-family.

Thank you to Dale for making this record happen, putting all the work into it that you did, and for putting up with my bullshit.

Thank you to every musician I have had the pleasure of playing with, on or off the stage.

Thank you to Aaron Anderson, Jason Dixon, Andrew Del Real and Anthony Davis for being the first band of dudes I got to do real shit with.

Thank you to the Silverlode/Solace Prime/ The Raven Charter guys: Daniel Baskind, Erik Stolpe, Brandon and Garrett Bond, Brian Christie, Chris Musso, Stephen Thacker, and Brandon Bailey. You guys are my brothers.

Thank you to the guys in Dreams Like Fire, who I only had a brief stint with in 2007 but learned so much from: Alan Mabe, Dathan Martin, Ryan Moody, and Kyle Istook.

Thank you to the Mabe Family for treating me like family and for--literally--teaching me how to rock: Mark Mabe, Matt Mabe, Danny Mabe, Chris Mabe and the beloved Terri Mabe.

Thank you to Chea and Jeremy from Huffer for bringing me into your lives and music. I am so glad we got to do what we did.

Thank you to Neal Todnem and Justin Jordan for being awesome roommates and apart of memories that I will always cherish and for our Tsegull Tsunami.

Thank you to Ben Napier for being a good friend, and at times mentor, and for asking me to be your Bogus “Green Day” cover band. I appreciate our time together.

Thank you to Ansley Dougherty, Nick Wittwer and Scott White for making our rage Against the Machine cover band a real thing, even if only for 2 practices. And to Scott for being my headbang partner at our The Foo and the Kombucha Mushroom people shows. And for trusting me to record some of your demos.

Thank you to Randall Bradley for being such a good friend. I value our talks and our jams and always look forward to hearing that you are in town from Argentina. Your perspective is unique and important.

Thank you to Cody Lee and the 27’s for involving me in your record and to Jaryth Webber for being a badass academic colleague, a badass musician, and for introducing me to Congressional Dish.

Thank you to Ben C Jones for the opportunity to work together on your music.

Thank you to Daniel Kunda for the opportunity to be apart of what you’re creating and for, at times, letting me be your sensei. Your future is bright.

Thank you to Chill, Torry Finley and Canyon Kafer for taking You Opened My Eyes above and beyond where I possibly ever could have. I hope we can do it more in the future.

Thank you to all my Local Famous brothers: Dale, Garrett, Michael, Brandon, Glenn, Matt, Erik and Tanner, for believing in this thing with me and making it a reality.

Thank you to Collin Porter for being a good friend and letting me bounce creative and political ideas off you. I truly value our conversations.

Thank you to Ryan Smith for always being a good friend and for our jammy jams.

Thank you to the bands that invited any of my bands on the road with them over the years--you guys helped make my dreams a reality: Matt and Mike LoCoco, and Danny Borja from Transit Method in Austin; Nick Barton, Trey Landis, and Justin Huggins from Sleepwalking Home in Tulsa, and Johnny Hawkins, Mark Vollelunga, and Daniel Oliver from San Antonio’s Nothingmore. The memories I have from those shows and trips are truly priceless and I am thankful to have those experiences to look back on.

Thank you to Dr. Johnny Stein, Dr. Joyce Goldberg, Dr. Christopher Morris, Dr. Patryk Babiracki, and Dr. Andrew Milson at the University of Texas at Arlington for greatly influencing my historical knowledge and thought that has influenced the making of this record.

Thank you to all co-founders of The Justice Reform League: Amber, Christopher Rose, Rod Smith, and Michael Campbell. And to Thomas Moore from no Sleep till Justice. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to start a nonprofit with and I look forward to our future.

Thank you to Michael Brooks, Hank and John Green, Dr. Cornel West, Slavoj Žižek, Dr. Kevin Dunn, Dr. Richard Wolff, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Fred Hampton, Rita Starpattern and Edward Snowden for being my exemplars, always daring bravely and inspiring me to do the same.

And thank YOU for taking the time to listen to the songs, and this Audio Liner Notes track. If you are unfamiliar with any of the influences I have mentioned over the course of this I encourage you to go listen. And if those bands resonate with you, find out who influenced them- you’ll find more awesome music, more temporal distortions, if you will. I hope you find some inspiration to create your own work, whatever that may be, and to put it out into the world.

Dare Bravely. Salut.

Anthony Sosa

12-6-2020

(Updated 2-6-2021)

Recommended Readings

Global Punk by Kevin Dunn (2016)

The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (1980)

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden (2019)

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolp Trouillot (2015)

Reason in History by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1953)

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848)

Welcome to the Desert of the Real by Slavoj Žižek (2002)

Humankind by Rutger Bregman (2020)

Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman (2017)

The Hawk and the Dove by Nicholas Thompson (2009)

Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs (2005)

Tribe by Sebastian Junger (2016)

Give them an Argument: Logic for the Left by Ben Burgis (2019)

Against the Web by Michael Brooks (2020)

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher (2009)

The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization by Thomas Homer-Dixon(2006)

The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens by Bernard E. Harcourt (2018)

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (2014)

Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff (2019)

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century: by Timothy Snyder (2017)3

Totalitarianism by Abbot Gleeson (1995)

Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post 9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (2004)

Profit Over People by Noam Chomsky (1999)

How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr (2019)

The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom (1995)

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (1977-2003)

[pluckyredhead]

Daredevil 101: Echo

Thanks for sticking with me through “Guardian Devil,” friends. Brighter days are ahead of us! Well, not for Matt, he’s going to continue to be abjectly miserable for about 12 years, but the comics are a lot better.

Today, Matt tries to process Karen’s death with a little rebound in “Parts of a Hole.” This is written by David Mack and the art is a collaborative process between him and Joe Quesada, blending Quesada’s more traditional (though still very experimental for the time) work with Mack’s paintings. The result is a book that definitely has some rough patches, but is visually stunning. (If Mack’s work looks familiar, it’s probably because his Alias covers were the inspiration for the Jessica Jones opening credits.)

[ETA: I was incorrect about the above - Mack did thumbnail layouts but the art is all Quesada.]

Also, it introduces Echo, and she’s the best.

This is how it starts:

Yeah, Matt’s not in a great headspace these days.

I think this page is mostly Quesada, with some Mack influences in the background and hand lettering. I’d love to know their creative process for this story, because this was still the early days of digital art and sending huge files to collab on was no small thing.

With the new headquarters of Nelson and Murdock still under construction, Matt seems to spend most of his time wandering around his palatial home in a robe, playing piano:

This isn’t really plot-relevant, but I couldn’t deprive you guys of it. Also, Matt must have made an insane salary working for Rosalind because he had no savings when she hired him and yet he apparently bounced back enough to get a place in Manhattan with floor-to-ceiling windows and fill it with a grand piano. (Quesada is the king of giving Matt ludicrous, implausibly expensive surroundings; in another miniseries Matt has an entire room dedicated to his collection of Japanese armor and weaponry.)

Matt is not the only piano player in this story, though. Meet Maya Lopez:

Maya is Cheyenne (and presumably Latina, going by her last name, though that’s not confirmed in the text). She was born deaf, but she can remember and perfectly mimic anything she sees. When her father, Willie “Crazy Horse” Lincoln, was killed, his employer became her legal guardian. Once the guardian realized she was a prodigy, he spared no expense getting her the best schools and tutors to allow her to develop her gifts to their full potential.

Maya is a celebrated concert pianist, boxer, performance artist, and more. Her body does everything she asks of it, and audiences love her story of overcoming the odds. (Don’t let the childish drawings fool you - she’s about Matt’s age. I like the conceit artistically, but it does make her come off as much younger than him or somehow emotionally arrested. I mean, I guess she is, since she hasn’t made peace with her father’s death, but no one’s more emotionally arrested that Matthew M. Murdock.)

And who is her munificent guardian? Oh, just Wilson Fisk.

Fisk’s narration at the bottom picks up some of the themes of “Guardian Devil” - that Matt’s problems are because the women in his life have failed him - and it’s gross. Also gross? That he’s about to pimp out his foster daughter in yet another effort to destroy Matt from the inside. STOP TRYING TO BREAK HIS HEART, WILSON. JUST FUCKING SHOOT HIM.

But yeah, even though Fisk does seem to genuinely care about Maya - and she loves him and has no idea he’s anything but a legitimate “spice dealer” - he also recognizes that Matt will be drawn to her due to their shared life experiences, and so he sends her to see him on some legal pretense.

Before that, though, Matt and Foggy have a client (who they’re seeing at Matt’s house, since the office is under construction). His name is Lenny, he’s a former employee of Fisk’s who wants to flip on him, and he’s got a speech impediment that Matt has no trouble with but Foggy can’t quite get a handle on:

The bullet grazes Matt’s cheek - and kills Lenny. Matt suits up and takes down the sniper - a weirdo of a hired killer named Murphy - but it’s too late to save their client.

The next day, Matt’s a little stiff and concussed, but Foggy’s a mess:

I think Foggy’s OTT emotional reaction here is supposed to be comic relief, but it’s worth remembering that in the last storyline Foggy was drugged and sexually assaulted, arrested on false charges, fired by his own mother because she thought he was a rapist, and lost his second best friend in the world to a horribly violent murder. So yeah, not a shock that he’s fragile right now:

Anyway, drink it in, friends: Matt holding Foggy while he cries and then someone assuming they’re boyfriends. Also, presumably Matt heard Maya come in but decided that Foggy was more important. Aw.

Maya tells Matt about the flimsy legal pretense Fisk sent her there on and they make plans to meet to discuss it in more detail while he’s wearing pants. (She’s an expert lip reader so as long as they’re facing each other there’s no problem with communication.) Matt is charmed because Maya is adorable and smells really good and Matt is profoundly vulnerable right now and also, as Wolverine once put it, “the biggest himbo that ever wore a pair of tights.” (That line is CANON, folks!)

Next, Maya goes to see Fisk and ask him a very important question:

Who killed Maya’s father? Why, Daredevil, of course.

Having a specific person to blame has a profound effect on Maya. She does her best to process this new information through her art, in a one-woman show she writes and choreographs called Echo:

The handprint on her face represents the bloody handprint her father left there as he died. (This page is pure Mack, btw.)

But just performing it isn’t enough. She needs revenge.

But first, she needs to meet Matt Murdock for coffee!

I love Maya’s description of Matt up there, which could come out of pretty much anything on AO3 today. (Maybe Charlie Cox really took this comic to heart while he was researching the character?) I also love that she is serving up a serious 1999 Look (TM) while he looks like a pallbearer.

Anyway, they are utterly smitten with one another and it’s super cute. They agree to see each other again and part happily.

A few hours later, Echo attacks Daredevil:

Right, so Matt obviously knows immediately that it’s Maya - I’m not even sure he knows she’s wearing a costume. (And the handprint doesn’t really hide her face anyway.) But unless Maya stops for long enough to read his lips, she’ll have no idea it’s Matt (even though he tries to tell her right away, which is admirable, but dude, don’t ever tell Foggy about that).

I have to say, Maya’s costume makes sense for “I’m a dancer in the late 90s who is gonna go do some parkour and kill a guy, what do I have in my closet that works?” but it’s pretty half-assed design-wise. It’s...a sports bra and pants and Docs. The feathers are a really lazy “Also, Native American!” addition. My kingdom for a redesign and series by a Native artist. (Maya’s plotline here only touches on her Cheyenne heritage in passing, but there’s a later vision quest storyline that’s...dicey.)

The fight is broken up when some kids appear and Maya doesn’t want them witnessing violence. Matt’s left trying to figure out why Maya’s trying to kill him.

Meanwhile, the Lenny case isn’t over! See, Lenny has a twin brother named Larry, and both he and Murphy (the sniper) are willing to testify against Fisk. The DA’s office makes Foggy a special ADA due to his familiarity with Fisk’s history and general badassery. To rattle him, Fisk hires Rosalind:

The absolute pair on you, Franklin. My God.

Taking this case is a sublimely shitty move on Rosalind’s part, of course, on multiple levels. (And yes, I know I said last time it would be the last time we saw her, but I’d forgotten about this. She’ll be back one more time in a few years, too.)

Foggy loses...and kind of flips out, openly calling Fisk a murderer and accusing him of buying off the jury. It’s not stated outright, but I have to imagine his mother coolly opposing him in court after abandoning him without a second thought didn’t help his emotional state.

As Fisk leaves the court, he’s attacked by Larry, looking to avenge his brother. Daredevil shows up, but too late:

Fisk falls into the river and is presumed dead. Matt takes the gun from Larry and is photographed holding it - and Maya, seeing the photos and the headlines, thinks Daredevil just killed her second father.

Meanwhile Foggy, still in his role as an ADA (with no acknowledgment from the story that he used to be DA), is tearing through Fisk’s organization while, uh, Matt faps to it:

ILU FOGGY YOU BEAUTIFUL AVOCADO

Oh, but Fisk’s not dead, of course:

Nope, just hanging out in the sewer eating rats. This is like the third time, idk why Daredevil characters always end up in the sewers but they super do.

Oh, and we get so Fisk backstory which clearly informed the show:

Baby Fisk kills some random dude with a hammer, not his dad - we don’t actually know what happens to his parents - but the hammer is there, as is the working class household full of fighting.

Meanwhile, Echo goes after Daredevil again - but when the cut from the earlier bullet graze opens up on his cheek, she remembers Matt’s injury and finally recognizes him:

Sigh. Did we really need that much sideboob, Quesada?

Anyway, Maya finally draws the inevitable conclusion: Fisk killed her father, not Daredevil. It’s not entirely clear why Willie would’ve asked his murderer to care for his child or why Fisk did it (side note: I’d love to know what kind of relationship, if any, Maya had with Fisk’s son).

And so Maya finally confronts her father’s killer:

Maya leaves town to figure herself out. Matt returns to the slow process of healing. And Fisk? Fisk gets the ironic ending. I’m not sure exactly where Maya shot him, but, well...

Next up: Bendis!

[theseadagiodays]

April 27, 2020

Art Became the Oxygen

It is true that artists, many of whom rely on public gatherings for their livelihood, are some of the hardest hit during this crisis.  Yet, it’s musicians who are toiling away in basements to serenade us through isolated days.  It’s comedic actors who are offering us essential nighttime laughs.  And it’s visual artists who make meaning from this madness with images that inspire, console and provoke.  The individuals of the creative community are like the unsung frontline workers of this pandemic, only without any salary to support their craft, or a 7 pm cheer to motivate them.  Yet still, they make things because they must, just as artists have done since the beginning of history, particularly in times of strife. (SEE: https://usdac.us/news-long/2017/8/9/art-became-the-oxygen-free-artistic-response-guide-available-now)

In previous periods of economic hardship, the US government responded with forward-thinking programs like the WPA (Works Progress Administration) of Roosevelt’s New Deal (1935 to 1943).  It was designed not only to fund huge infrastructure projects, but also to employ thousands of artists, musicians, writers, and theatre performers to stimulate the economy.  Legacies of this program include Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God; Jackson Pollack’s Composition with Pouring; and Mark Rothko’s earlier urban studies like Entrance to Subway, where you can see the seeds of his famous color studies from later work.

After natural disasters, senseless violence or war, artist activists have also rushed to the front lines, time and again, to help rebuild communities by activating their social imaginations and stimulating their civic agency with creative collaborations.  

Philippe Thiese gathered digital stories of Hurricane Sandy volunteers in this short film: https://www.sandystoryline.com/stories/sandy-volunteers-remember-the-storm-and-explain-how-they-got-involved/.  

The siblings of Eric Garner, a young African-American man killed by unjust police violence in 2014, came together in grief to write the song, I Can’t Breathe,based on his harrowing last words.  Their music served as a rallying cry to a community berieved and betrayed by their law enforcement: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eric-garners-family-drops-moving-new-song-i-cant-breathe-192574/

And when a 2011 tornado took 161 lives in the small town of Joplin, Missouri, mural artist Dave Loewenstein asked kids about their dreams for the future of their town, resulting in this stunning piece, The Butterfly Effect.

So, in the great hope that we’ll kick this virus’ butt, and we will be left with a glut of ventilators, how about we use them to revive our society’s artists, since they are the vital oxygen that feed our souls.  

In Vancouver, we are already lucky enough to have our City government responding with funding for the Murals for Hope project (#makeartwhileapart), which is transforming solemn, boarded-up shops and restaurants into colorful and encouraging messages that can help sustain us until their doors reopen again.

Geoff and I are also trying to do our small part to stimulate the creative economy, while beautifying our home in the process.  We are very excited to have just commissioned a mural artist to spruce up our tiny backyard space, which we’re transforming from a gravel parking spot into our own tropical oasis.  Here are some inspirational images as well as a shot of the yard in its current state. And hopefully, I can post the finished product, which will be painted onto the rotting fence, in a couple of weeks.

April 28, 2020

Art of Relationship

This period is not just requiring us to get creative with keyboards and canvases and cameras.  It is forcing us to re-examine the very patterns that make up our daily lives and fit them all inside the same four walls with the same self, spouse, and/or kids, 24/7.  Suffice it to say, this is no small task.  But, if any of you are like me, the grand solutions have sometimes involved tiny changes.    

Personally, my greatest challenge has been to find ways to carve out slivers of shared pleasure amidst my partner’s insanely stressful, often 13-hour work day, now that the pandemic has his team at our local transit authority in serious crisis mode.  Of course, I’m a firm believer in hard-work.  The pursuit of a classical musician requires many years of 5+ hours-a-day of practice.  But I’m also a fun-lover, and a huge proponent of life/work balance, particularly having had to learn this the hard way, thru a chronic overuse injury.  So, for me, Geoff’s manic schedule during the first month of isolation seemed far from optimal. And while this was especially difficult for him, it compromised joy for both of us.  

Seeking guidance as we adapted to the new normal, we found a great online series by Esther Perel, whose regular podcast, Where Should We Begin? always leaves us with sound, simple dance steps that we can apply to the Art of Relationship.  Here, she has created a 4-part series that specifically addresses problems which co-habitators might face in our current reality.  https://events.estherperel.com/april-2020-webinar-resources/?fbclid=IwAR0kRHkuQvEGxcpNuHvPKmmExamZ2Jj_EMZzR-zGp8eDejCR94hE-ZvGYjY

Inspired by her wisdom, we decided that the 7:30 am meetings, which had been occupying our kitchen and bleeding into our morning coffees, every day, could be skipped for a 15-minute walk thru our neighborhood park.  And, let me tell you, what a difference a quarter of an hour can make!  

April 29, 2020

Finding Variety in Repetition

It occurred to me, the other morning, that this experience feels a bit like fasting.  Since college, I’ve routinely devoted a week, every spring, to some kind of dietary shift, for my general health, and as a general mindfulness exercise.   While I’ve tried versions of the Wild Rose and other popular cleanses with some benefit, the method recommended in Staying Healthy with the Seasons has always suited me best. It requires you to slowly wean off many foods (meat/fish, then sugar/alcohol/coffee, then dairy), gradually move to only liquids, eventually evolve to a middle day of just water, and then similarly reintroduce each food gradually.    What I’ve loved about this approach is how much more aware of my cravings I become, how much I notice the “manufacturing of consent” that happens all around me to inspire my “wants”, and finally how various symptoms are suddenly absent once I’ve eliminated certain foods.  Consequently, the slow reintroduction of foods allows me to notice, in much more specific detail, which foods stimulate which responses in my body (IE. huge bursts of energy from fruit; afternoon crashes from sugar; indigestion from soy; sustenance from bread and pasta - NOTE: Contrary to the wheat-vilifying trends that currently prevail, I typically thrive on an anti-Atkins diet, as someone who reaps tremendous fuel from carbs).  

The parallels we are experiencing now relate to the stimuli that we’ve been “denied” by our self-isolating reality.   Speaking for myself, instead of travelling frequently, as I often do, or eating at different restaurants every week, or working at a different café every day to switch up the creative energy around me, I have had, like everyone else, to learn to find sustenance and interest in a much less diverse set of circumstances.  I am eating at Chez Me three meals a day.  We are grinding our own beans and whipping up our own daily lattes.  And most all of our daily walks and bike rides now start from our home.  

But even within the boundaries that we can reach from the nexus of our own address, we have been able to slowly expand our radius of exploration to corners of our city that we had never seen before.  This has felt a bit like switching to a vegetarian diet and gaining new appreciation for the crunchiness of a snap pea, or the filling nature of a portabello mushroom.  

In these explorations, we have discovered infinite surprises which include a cliffside view of the Fraser River from Everett Crowley Park (top image), an old landfill-turned-lush green space in Vancouver’s southeastern-most quadrant.  We’ve seen old growth forest that we had no idea existed so many kilometres from the shore, in Burnaby’s Central Park on our city’s eastern border.  I’ve spotted my first-ever fisher (weasel) sneaking around beachside boulders on the northern edge of the city.  And closer to home, I’ve noticed the whimsy of our neighbors’ gardens in far greater detail than I had ever looked before (as in the Gaudiesque, smiley-face hedge pictured above).  Our ventures from home have been guided by little more than our edict to “follow the pink”, as in the most blossoming streets.  And to document these journeys, I’ve been mapping the various routes we’ve taken.  Interestingly, the trajectory somewhat resembles a many-petaled flower.

Looking for minute changes in what seem to be patterns of sameness is also the secret to one of my favorite movements in music and design: Minimalism. Perhaps this is why Max Richter and Steve Reich have become the soundtrack I’ve turned to most during the pandemic.  Because their music trains our brains to find beauty in repetition while seeking excitement from the subtlest nuanced shifts.  

Meanwhile, I know that many of us would love for there to be a magic wand that could lift all of our restrictions over night and allow us to return to exactly “the way it was before”, in the same way that I long for a mocha frappuccino when I fast.  However, what we have been hearing from our leaders is that the more likely and safe choice will be to move into a gradual re-opening of our cities - a slow reintroduction of certain freedoms.  So, the lessons we can learn from fasting and Phillip Glass ought to prove very useful as we try to be patient and appreciative of this prudent approach.   Then, once we begin to shop and drive and socialize more, perhaps this perspective can allow us to also more clearly notice how we respond to each stimuli as we re-engage with it, And hopefully it will inform a new normal that can be more sensible and moderate and in harmony with this planet that we call home.

And, in case you’re curious to listen to a little minimalist fare...

Notice how welcomed the first chord change is in Max Richter’s Catalogue of Afternoons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubjylmxrj9o

Or drape yourself in his hypnotic music like a warm duvet with his 8-hour lullaby, Sleep: https://open.spotify.com/album/0JLN7JryQ2T7lBEYIrSQF1

And for a mind trip of the eyes and ears, try Steve Reich’s Piano Phase on marimbas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3QoM7dgs_0

April 30, 2020

Film Festivals for free

Pahokee, at this year’s live-streamed Vancouver International Film Festival

Done wondering if Carol Baskin killed her husband?  Couldn’t care less if Giannini and Damian actually ever get married? Well, for those who’ve exhausted the Netflix catalogue, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy film from your home. Lots of festivals have generously uploaded their content online.  So, whether it’s mountain adventure, short films, foreign movies, or arthouse you’re looking for, here are some easy ways to link to those that are totally free:

Banff Mountain Film Festival - https://www.banffcentre.ca/film-fest-at-home

Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto, Venice, Berlin and others have collaborated to bring an awesome line-up of livestream videos to the world in their 10-day We Are One Festival, starting on May 29th.  While the festival will stream for free, viewers will be asked to donate to the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 solidarity response fund.

If you happen to remain gainfully employed, and it’s important to you to keep supporting independent film making, Vancouver International Film Festival has created a rental-fee structure for a number of films that they’ve now made available for streaming, too: https://viff.org/Online/default.asp

And Sedona Film Festival has done the same - https://sedonafilmfestival.com/mdfhome/

May 1, 2020

Boredom Killers: Ping-pong, birthday song, and Magritte gong wrong

Combing the internet for creative inspiration that I can share with readers has truly been a joy.   It’s also got our own creative jucies flowing.  So today, I thought I’d post just a few of the ways we’ve staved off boredom over these past weeks.

Tennis is one of our true passions.  It’s actually sort of how Geoff and my relationship began.  Given that we didn’t want our paddle skills to get too rusty, we didn’t let the fact that our little laneway house couldn’t fit a ping pong table stop us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kait-zCV94s

Coming from a huge birthday-celebrating family, I’ve tried to make sure that friends with birthdays during quarantine could still feel pampered on their special day.  So, 6 of us put together this silly ditty for our good friend Roger: https://youtu.be/EZKyrdOlvPk

And, we’ve jumped on the art replication bandwagon too.  The Met & the Getty Museum have both followed the lead of the Dutch gallery that first initiated the Instagram art challenge which asks people to recreate famous pieces of art with only 3 objects from their home. https://www.instagram.com/tussenkunstenquarantaine/

Here’s Geoff and my attempt with Magritte’s Lovers. The challenge also asks for participants to create new titles, so this is ours, Kissing Strategy for Stay-at-home Lazy Toothbrushers.

[rainydawgradioblog]

RDR Essentials - Metal (01/13)

RDR Essentials is a weekly newsletter of alternating genres that outlines key releases of the past month, upcoming events around Seattle and happenings in the specified music genre.

Made in collaboration between Rainy Dawg DJs and the Music Director.

Releases:

Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race

If you’ve been paying attention to metal recently (or at all), you’ve probably heard of Blood Incantation - the Colorado death metal band that has some “next big thing” buzz about them. While they formed in 2011 and released their first demo in 2013, their 2016 release Starspawn really put them on the map. Subsequently, people have been waiting with bated breath this release for the last few years. So when it came out in November (well, it leaked in October), everyone pretty much went insane. Clocking in at a relatively short 36 minutes, this album is chock full of both classic death metal riffs and genre fusing synths. The prevailing sci-fi theme makes it a little weirder than a conventional death metal album (the cover art is by famed sci-fi artist Bruce Pennington), which works to its benefit as the band experiments with the genre over the track listing. Even the album structure is unconventional, with only 4 songs (the last one being 18 minutes). We start off with Slave Species to the Gods, one of the more conventional cuts out of the four and the first single to come out. Despite its “conventional” tone, it’s death metal done right, and any self-respecting metalhead will be in the pit hearing it live. The next track, Giza Power Plant, is where things start to get weirder. It’s still got the death metal heavy riffs and chugging, but there’s a middle-eastern vibe throughout the track. As the song goes on, it deteriorates into death-doom and closes with some heavy synth well-suited for the sci-fi theme. Not to say the record isn’t death metal at its core, but it’s a fusion of the outer space vibe with contemporary death metal tropes that separates it from the rest of the field. The third track, Inner Paths (to Outer Space), is (almost) entirely instrumental. It starts off with some synths and a jammy, catchy buildup that morphs into one long, heavy growl over a dark riff. The last track is 18 minutes, and it’s really like two great death metal songs that are linked together by a John Carpenter-like horror movie theme. This track is an odyssey, from quiet, clean guitar playing to insanely loud, heavy riffs multiple times over the 18 minutes. The only criticism one could levy against the album is the short runtime and the lack of a really big, hard-hitting song. I felt as though the length is closer to that of an EP, since many albums in the genre tend to be reaching an hour. And despite the quality track listing, it lacked what their 2016 release Starspawn had, which is an incredible single. To be fair, “write an amazing, approachable death metal song” isn’t a great critique or an easy task, but I felt as though one would have tied the album together more and increased the runtime. Overall, it’s a great LP that is an incredible fusion of death metal and sci-fi themes, and a probable contender for genre album of the year.

Favorite tracks - Giza Power Plant, Inner Gods (to Outer Space)

- Bobby Baraldi

Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas

It’s finally here - the new Cattle Decap album. After The Anthropocene Extinction blew everyone away, Death Atlas has been on everyone’s radar since its announcement a year and some change ago. In case you’re uninitiated, Cattle Decap formed in 1996 as a relatively straightforward deathgrind band with a vegan/straight-edge stance. Since then, they’ve morphed from pro-animal to anti-human and their music has changed from pretty direct death and grind metal to absurdly technical, unique, and progressive. At this point, they’re almost synonymous with “extreme metal.” Death Atlas is their 8th album, and it’s full of apocalyptic themes and dizzying, break-neck musical passages. Something that Cattle Decap has done here that’s a little different from previous albums is the incorporation of black metal components into the songs, which further emphasizes the overall doomed theme of the album. And while their previous albums have emphasized motifs, this LP is truly conceptual in tone and narrative. We start off with one of several radio-type passages about the dangers of climate change, accompanied by sinister synthesizer. Then, The Geocide blows the listener away with a 30 second blast beat and vocal shriek combo from the start, which is jarring yet goosebump-inducing transition to say the least. From here, we venture all over different extreme metal styles in every song. From contemporary melodic death-black metal fusions on Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts to the neck-breaking slam riff at the end of Bring Back the Plague, there’s something musically here for all metalheads. Vulturous stands out heavily, with and excellent combination of snarling vocals, breakdowns, and lightening fast riffs accompanied by your typical blast beats. Travis Ryan is perhaps the most versatile vocalist in metal, and he shows his range all over this track as well as the rest of the album. This ranges from goblin-like shrieks and spoken word to guttural slam to almost goth-like singing and choral parts on the end/title-track Death Atlas. For me, this vocal performance is part of what makes the album stand out from its contemporaries. The guitar work is also amazing per usual from Josh Elmore and newcomer Belisario Dimuzio; not only technical, but also tasteful. But OH MY GOD - the drum and bass work really come through on this record, making everything so heavy and giving that extra punch when the song really calls for it. Something that always irks me about metal albums is that the bass tends to get buried in the mix, yet here Olivar Pinard’s bass (of Cryptopsy fame) is usually clear and adds so much more to the dark and foreboding feel of the album. The bass aerobics are in perfect unison with the hyperspeed and strong drumming of Dave McGraw, which makes the slam passages incredibly hard-hitting. Of course, a review of this album wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the last two songs: Time’s Cruel Curtain and Death Atlas, which are foreboding yet melodic, and the black/death metal combo almost comes across as wistful. It’s as though Cattle Decap is sad that humanity is blowing its chance. Anyways, the TL;DR is that it might be AOTY for me and many other metalheads.

Favorite tracks - The Geocide, Vulturous, Bring Back the Plague, With all Disrespect, Time’s Cruel Curtain, Death Atlas

- Bobby Baraldi

Lamp of Murmuur - Chasing The Path Of The Hidden Master

Little is known about Lamp of Murmuur. Besides the fact that they hail from Olympia and are signed to all star black metal label Death Kvlt Records, there is nothing but their music to fixate on. This is lack of identifying characteristics is a virtue that many black metal artists have attempted to pull off. There is something truly mystical about hearing the screams of a faceless entity, like a ghost that you can hear but cannot see. The production is raw, with shrill guitars bouncing off the walls of an ice encased fortress and vocal shrieks that pierce like a razor. The drums, though just barely audible, peak their heads out over the mix, giving the album a far-away ambience. Basically, this album sounds like what black metal should sound like. Riff wise, this album sounds like it takes inspiration from 2nd wave bands like Taake, and especially Satanic Warmaster. It’s the perfect combination of aggressive, melodic, and frozen. Although it appears that there is a paywall to listening to the full album, one can purchase it digitally for as much as one wants to give. If you listen to this and enjoy it, I would highly recommend checking out Satanic Warmaster as well as the other artists on Death Kvlt Productions.

- Zac Weiner

Painboys - In Agony

Local blackened hardcore act PAINBOYS are back with a ripping follow up to there last demo Ritual Torment. This new project features some new production which in my opinion is a major step up from their previous releases. The album opens up with the doomy “Bleeding Throne” which features a foreboding riff before turning into a filthy punk stomper. My personal highlight is the song “Necrogoatchrist” which features one of the best riffs on the album and a seething vocal performance. The Painboys manage to create a stormy and apprehensive atmosphere all while maintaining the aggression of hardcore punk. It's quite a novel sound that is dark and befouled, while still being moshable and fun. Its as if they want us to rejoice in the picture of filth their songs paint for us. The vocals on this album are also a real highlight. It's hard to find a unique voice amongst the immense backdrop of black/death influenced metal bands, and this singer totally pulls it off. Finally, every great metal album comes with a kickass cover. The depiction of the ghostly ritual that accompanies this album is the perfect visualization of ritualistic onslaught this album brings. Purchase a tape from their bandcamp and support this local band!

- Zac Weiner

More New Essentials:

Officium Triste - The Death of Gaia (death doom)

Oath of Cruelty - Summary Execution at Dawn (thrash/death)

Witchbones - The Seas of Draugen (blackened death)

Carcariass - Planet Chaos (prog/tech death)

Iron Curtain - Danger Zone (thrash/hard rock)

Haunt - Mind Freeze (hard rock, doom)

Upcoming Releases:

01/17: Kaoteon - Kaoteon (blackened death)

01/24: Midnight - Rebirth by Blasphemy (black and roll)

01/24: Invictus - The catacombs of fear (death metal/thrash)

01/31: Reaper - Unholy nordic noise (blackened speed metal)

Events:

01/18: Portrayal of Guilt, Street Sects, Haunted Horses, Blightmaker @ Substation

8PM / 21+ / $14-18 / Hardcore

02/10: Soulfly, Toxic Holocaust, X-Method, Madzilla @ El Corazon

6PM / AA / $20-25 / Thrash

02/16: Vale of Pnath, Gorod, Wolf King, Aphelion, Pound @ El Corazon

7PM / AA / $13-15 / Tech Death

03/05: Refused, METZ, Youth Code @ the Showbox

7:30PM / AA / $30-35 / Punk

03/17: Mayhem, Abbath, Gatecreeper, Idle Hands @ the Showbox

7PM / AA / $28.50-32 / Black & Death

[mfmagazine]

Mountain Con

Article by David Miller

What are your names and what do you do in the group? Swede: My name is Swede and I play guitar, pedal steel, and regular guitar and banjo. Jim: My name is Jim and I’m the singer and I play a nylon gut string guitar. I play harmonica and I write some songs. Ben: My name is Ben and I play keyboards. Mike: My name is Mike and I play drums. Dustin: My name is Dustin. I do all the turntable and sampler work on stage and the ‘jack of all that’s needed that’s not musical. Pierre was in Montana this day and he is the bass player and genius engineer and as Dustin calls him, “the mad scientist.” You all combine music technology with pop song writing. What is the spark that gets a track going for this band? Jim: Well, a lot of times they start as Folk songs. We’re experimenting more with building loops and experimenting more with what might happen accidentally. Usually we start with songs that can be played with and acoustic guitar, lay it down with a click track and build it up from there. For this next record, we’re experimenting a little bit with going the reverse route to mix things up. When do the samples and loops come in? Jim: Our studio and writing process are inseparable, really, but after we get some chords and lyrics we start our insane process that is too complicated to get into. We won’t bore you with all the details today. But after much obsessing we finally get something that we are happy with and we hope other people are happy with too. What’s happening in the world right now that become topics or themes when you write? Swede: God, open the news paper. Watch CNN. Jim: Our lyrical side of things is usually existing in a different universe than the musical side. The musical side is an exploration of sounds, whereas the lyrical side is more personal. Lyrically, I’ve been dealing what I call, ‘conspicuous appropriation’ or a collage aesthetic that coveys a picture of something that’s happening today. When did Mountain Con start and what was the original idea? Jim: Four of us were in a band in Missoula, Montana where all of us except for Dustin are from. It was a more contemporary early nineties guitar driven rock band kind of thing. We moved out to Seattle when we were 18 and thought that within a year we’d be, ya know, big rock stars or whatever. Basically the whole thing just kind of fell apart. But we regrouped here in about 1998 and it gave us the ability to really rethink how we made “Rock Music.” Mike: We also really liked the beat approach to hip hop and the way that felt, so we experimented with taking Bob Dylan songs or rock songs and applying that to say, Public Enemy and basically trying to get that beat stuck into something that doesn’t fit. Jim: Yeah, that got the gears turning. I mean, when we first started out we didn’t even know how to make a loop. Now we can just about have our way with anything that we want. Tell me about the title “Dusty Zero’s, Dirty Ones.” Dustin: That title really puts together the two worlds of folksy rock and digital production, I mean you got the whole binary code thing that is at the heart of digital based production and sampling, and the human element of what all of do instrumentally and what styles we play. With the declining industry sales and the threatening legal strategies being implemented by record label, how do you guys feel is the best way to get your music to the public? Swede: Well, it almost got to the point with our dealings in LA that we fed up and just wanted to put out the last record on the internet. Dustin: We did the whole shopping thing (delivering demo’s of your music to record labels) with the record and it was brutal. I mean, unless you have a huge fan base and a lot of record sales to show on your own, people in the industry aren’t taking any chances. They got enough problems as it is. So we went to all the local record stores and radio stations and we’ve been getting a lot of great support from them. KNDD has been really helpful to us and KEXP as well. But Seattle and Portland are the only real markets that this record has seen. Jim: The only National grasp that record has achieved is over electronic means and the internet. Dustin: We just got on iTunes three weeks ago and that alone took months because we didn’t have a record company backing us and it’s hard to get the attention of these large companies on your own. Give me your top 3 or 4 hip hop production influences. Mike: I’m into the old school East Coast thing. Like Tribe Called Quest, and Public Enemy. Dustin: Erik B and Rakim. Jim: Digable Planets. Mike: Currently, I like Mos Def’s stuff. He’s got some great stuff goin’ on. But definitely not any top 40 stuff, or at least rhythmically to me that stuff is less interesting. Who would be your dream artist to open for or play with? Dustin: Beck! He would be the dream first choice obviously. Jim: The Dust Brothers are huge. Dustin: We’d love to open for the Roots and Interpol. What sets you guys apart from the rest of the crowd? Swede: We get a lot of comments on, the slide (guitar). A lot of people come to our shows and don’t even know what the hell the thing is. Dustin: If someone knows what they’re looking at on stage, they see a slide, an old Hammond organ, keyboards and drums, and tucked in the back is turntables and samplers. We have such a unique set up live that we just stand out by what we bring to the table. You all have a very pop oriented sound. The Stranger here in Seattle even commented that you had a “cookie cutter M-TV” sound. Where does that come from? Jim: I think that comes from growing up in a small town where, the only outside access was the mass media. So, it’s like it’s in our DNA when we want to arrange a song, we instinctively gravitate to the classics. It wasn’t even until we were 18 or so living here that we had any access to alternative music. Sometimes we hear criticism for that, but we can’t help ourselves and we have no interest in making music that we are not. It’s what’s true to us. What social or political elements do you champion in your music? Dustin: We like to combine social consciousness with good grooving’ music. Really we make party music, but one piece we’re proud of is a song that is a mixture of a beat that sounds kind of like something Outcast would do, and we took some lyrical influence from John Lennon’s “Gimmie Some Truth” and made a song that we really resonate with consciously. Also it was made in time for the elections and we felt very strongly about that outcome in that we didn’t want to see four more years of lying and cheating as demonstrated by the current administration. Tell me about the name “Mountain Con.” Jim: Our Grandfathers worked in one of the largest open copper mines in the country in Butte Montana. It was called “Mountain Consolidated” and we felt like it was a nice big powerful name for a band. Our music is a mine. We dig through the sedimentary layers of culture and make modern music, so we’re a mining project in our own right. For a closing thought, I want to go around and ask each of you this same question: If you could go back in time, what musical movement would you like to visit for a weekend? Dustin: I’d probably go back to the Bronx in the early eighties. I, mean, just the musical invention of plugging in two turntables into a light post on the street and creating the greatest musical art form since rock. Mike: Even though it doesn’t necessarily inform my rhythmic influence with this band, I’d like to go back to late ‘70’s London and be around the punk energy as well as the fashion and design movements happening then. Ben: There were a couple of weeks in the early ‘70’s when Pink Floyd rented a room and started jamming on E minor to A, which became “Breath” from Dark Side of the Moon. I would have liked to be around to see that. Jim: Did they have the Lear Jet in ’66? Because I need to bounce around to a few places if I’m only getting a weekend on this on. But there was like a competition between the Beach Boys and the Beatles and Bob Dylan around that time for the most amazing pop album of all time really. It’s like the history of pop music was moving into a gigantic focal point and after which rock music just broke out into a million shards. So, I’d need a Lear Jet to go from LA, to London, and back to Woodstock NY. Swede: I would have to say Hamburg Germany in 1959 with the Beatles playing at the Kaiser Keller and the Star Club back when they were all hopped up on speed and were still a punk rock band.

[mtg-weekly-recap]

MTG Weekly Tumblr Recap: May 01, 2017

Nahiri the Lithomancer, Sorin Markov and Ugin The Spirit Dragon, Cartoon style. | @pazmonx

This week’s edition of the Recap has dodged the Ban-hammer! Let’s take a look at all the different formats that have been affected by banned and restricted announcements, as well as the heavily symbolism-laden Magic Story and some nostalgic fan-art. Join us for more wrap-ups than an Anointed Procession in this issue of the Magic: the Gathering Weekly Tumblr Recap.

1. Emergency Banning In Standard

Saheeli’s Lament | @planeswalker-umbral​

In one of the more bizarre banning and restricted events, the powerful two card combo of Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian were conspicuously unaffected by the announcement on Monday, April 24, despite the infinite loop being missed by Magic R&D, and therefore not attracting the suite of answers that cards like Heart of Kiran and other standard powerhouses now have to face with the release of Amonkhet. 

This news (or more specifically the lack of news) set many tongues a wagging as the merits and demerits of Wizards declining to meddle in Standard versus getting down and curating the format, with debate raging as to how the current meta with two dominant decks appearing far more prevalent and leading to far less innovation than Smuggler’s Copter and Emrakul, the Promised End (which were sent  to the naughty corner last January) ever did. Just as the hand-wringing and bemoaning three more months of a bland Standard reached it’s peak, Wednesday brought an addendum to Monday’s announcement, Felidar Guardian was hit with the ban-hammer. It is interesting that one of the main drivers for both the non-action on the Monday and further action on the Wednesday was the earliest release of the new set on the digital platform, MTGO. This allowed R&D to see what a potential new standard might look like, and whatever data they drew, they felt it was big enough and scary enough to make the call. So what does this mean for standard? Well, the upcoming pro-tour should provide some answers, and like with many recently shaken-up formats, aggressive decks should see good representation (and some success) while the brewmasters work behind the scenes. Rakdos and Jund discard/hellbent seem to blend the best of Amonkhet and Innistrad themes, as well as many recursive graveyard strategies. Amonkhet also brings with it lots of interesting control strategies the might make more of a splash as the format goes forward, now that a Turn 4 instant kill is no longer a spectre hanging over it.

— Liam W, @coincidencetheories​

2. Bans and Unbans in Commander

Brewing when they unban a combo piece | @phyrexian-without-a-cause

Following the official B&R announcement from Wizards for Constructed formats came one from the MTG Commander Rules committee: Leovold, Emissary of Trest is banned and Protean Hulk is unbanned.

Those who have played with or against Leovold know how insanely powerful he is. With “wheel” effects like Windfall, Whispering Madness, Dark Deal, and Teferi’s Puzzle Box and plenty of control elements, Commander decks led by Leovold easily stripped apart opponents’ hands with efficiency and consistency, making him miserable to play against. It’s only been eight months since Leovold was printed in Conspiracy: Take the Crown, but it was enough to demonstrate his power. At the moment, Leovold, Emissary of Trest still holds its $50-price tag since it is a Legacy staple in many Sultai decks (Reid Duke took down GP Louisville this year with True-Name Nemesis Sultai, which ran two copies of Leovold in the main).

The announcement of Protean Hulk’s unbanning was by far the most surprising B&R change of the week. For those unfamiliar with Protean Hulk’s power level, Flash Hulk was a deck that won the third-ever Legacy GP back in 2007 whose main strategy involved Flashing in the Hulk on t2 or earlier with fast mana (yes, even t0), sac’ing it and tutoring up 4 Disciple of the Vault, 4 Phyrexian Marauder, and 4 Shifting Wall. The artifact creatures would die due to SBA and the Disciples would immediately dome your opponent for 32.

While Flash got banned in Legacy as a result of this deck, the combo dream never died: Protean Hulk returned to the limelight in 2015 when Lantern Control creator Zac Elsik among a dozen other players brought a Modern Hulk Combo deck to GP Pittsburgh. Here’s the basic strategy: after discarding Protean Hulk to a number of loot spells in the deck then reanimating it with and sac’ing it to Footsteps of the Goryo or Makeshift Mannequin, search out Viscera Seer and Body Double, copying the Protean Hulk that just went to your graveyard. Sac’ the Body Double with Viscera Seer’s ability to search out Reveillark and Mogg Fanatic, which you sac’ to ping your opponent for 1. From there, you sac’ the Reveillark to bring back Mogg Fanatic and Body Double, copying Reveillark. Because Reveillark and Body Double can continuously bring back each other, you can bring back Mogg Fanatic an arbitrary number of times until your opponent has been pinged to death.

While I doubt anyone will run this 5-color combo in Commander, the unbanning of Protean Hulk has got the community brewing up what creatures they can tutor up and combo off within their current decks’ respective color identities. Within an hour of the announcement, Protean Hulk shot up from below 4.00 USD to over 21.00 USD, with many eager EDH players scrambling to get their copies. My brother and I jumped on the opportunity and bought 5 copies within minutes of the announcement: I snagged two MP copies off eBay for five bucks total, whereas my brother bought three LP copies from his LGS down in San Diego, CA for about three bucks each. We’ll definitely be looking into making a profit when we sell some of them but not all of them—my brother plans to slot a copy of Protean Hulk into his Rashmi Elves deck and sac’ing to either Birthing Pod, Eldritch Evolution, or Natural Order, fetching six mana dorks and Dryad Arbor and swinging in for a buttload of damage, especially with Concordant Crossroads or Akroma’s Memorial in play. Can’t wait to lose to him like that…

— Vincent B, @the-burnished-hart

3. Legacy and Vintage Bans and Restrictions

Sic Semper Tyrannis (Thus Always to Tyrants) | by @phyrexian-without-a-cause

The most recent B&R announcement has brought with it the end of an era. In Legacy, the linchpin card of the Miracles deck Sensei’s Divining Top has finally been struck down, taking the most prevalent deck, in terms of overall appearances in major tournaments, in the format with it. The reactions to the ban have, oddly enough, been pretty reasonable. Even some popular Miracles players like Joe Lossett have been pretty quick to say that they understand and they saw this coming for a long time. The ban also makes Legacy event coverage a lot easier to do, now that commentators no longer have to try to make activating Top seem exciting. This just goes to show that if you make a road sign and put it at WotC Headquarters, you can achieve anything (please don’t actually make a big road sign and put it out front of Wizards Headquarters).

In the world of Vintage, Wizards has gone after Monastery Mentor decks and slapped Gitaxian Probe and Gush with a Restricted status. Much like with Legacy Miracles, Mentor decks in Vintage have been running rampant and the bans of these “free” draw spells are meant to weaken this Vintage powerhouse. Not much has been said about how these restrictions are being taken, but most people seem to be in agreement with Wizards, or are saying that Mentor itself should have been the one to be restricted, based on the power level of the card. Nevertheless, this seems to be a positive change for the format. 

These announcements have made people in the respective formats, or even outside of them that are interested in them, start experimenting to find the next powerhouse. In terms of how formats are taking their bans/restrictions, Legacy and Vintage seem to be taking their hits well, and, much like what Wizards hopes will happen whenever they make these announcements, the player-base seems to be growing and evolving with these new changes, producing more diverse environments for the people that make these formats their homes. One can only hope that these times of prosperity last, as this writer is trying to buy in to Legacy himself, and is excited at the prospect of jumping in to such a, seemingly, welcoming format. 

— Colin M, @delver-of-seacrest

4. Magic Story Recap

The Hand that Moves - Ken Troop

Decision Paralysis | Original art by Vincent Proce

The plot of this weeks Magic Story, The Hand that Moves can be told simply, Nissa takes Kefnet’s Trial of Knowledge. But it’s the details contained within that are the meat of this tale. Firstly, Nissa finds her way to the temple of Kefnet merely seeking answers to the perplexing questions that surround the entire city of Naktamun and the influence of Bolas. The Vizier of Kefnet tries to ward her away, but her resistance to his clumsy attempts at mind magic as well as her quite remarkable status as an outsider to the usual warrior-caste system allows her to keep him off balance enough to attempt the trial in order to interrogate the God himself. The first bombshell that hits is Nissa’s first vision is of an Angel, who appears to be none other than Emrakul herself. Now there is obviously much illusion and subterfuge within these trials so there is no clear inference as to whether this appearance is Nissa’s fear, or even something more sinister, considering in The Promised End Nissa appeared most affected by the influence of Emrakul, as well as Nissa’s formative years on Zendikar where the Goddess Emeria was revered even among her people. Who does this version of Emrakul represent, or is she not even part of the test and something Nissa had latent inside her since Innistrad? Equally as strange is the affirmation that the Angel brings: “I can do anything I want. Anything at all. Remember that.” Visions and symbolism follows, with very physical sensations and in the middle of it Nissa begins to study the leylines and see the fabric of the trial, behind the sights, sounds and sensations. The Test seems to fight against her, the closer she pries behind the curtain. Images that seem to be Bolas’s influence across the multi-verse appear, followed by further reminder that the five gods were part of a pantheon of eight. Three figures that might represent the missing deities scurry to escape the protection of the Hekma. A focus on the mining and collection of a strange, blue mineral. A series of images of decay and destruction that if they don’t related directly to the Gatewatch certainly follow their way around the color wheel, then more imagery of the approach of the second sun that is most definitely not a second sun, and then -

Emrakul returns

The angel that is Emrakul that might not be Emrakul ask Nissa if she would be a pawn or a queen in the game. Nissa sees the trap that no matter her power if she falls for this choice she would only ever be a piece to be manipulated. The phrase “Be the hand that moves”  echoes again from the Chess game Jace and ‘Emrakul’ played during The Promised End. Kefnet arrives full of pomp and circumstance demanding to know who was interfering in the Trial, scattering Nissa’s mental defences as Kefnet read her intentions. He declares that knowledge is not a gift to be given but a prize to be earned, and is about to dissolve Nissa’s mind, when “Emrakul”s advice stirs her to action, and she observes that Kefnet’s being is made up of leylines, something she has more than a little familiarity with, as well as noticing that there are several lines that are very off kilter. With a clumsy yet precise manipulation of those wayward leylines, Nissa is able to deflect the God enough that his attention wavered and she became to him merely an initiate who had passed his trial. Presumably the cartouche was waiting for her in the gift shop on the way out…

— Liam, @coincidencetheories

5. Fan-arts…

The Smallwatch | Original art by @erybiadraws

This weeks seems there’s been an interesting and wonderful trend towards the nostalgic, as we have been graced with many a fan-art of characters from our near, and sometimes not-so-near past. @alexgilbertart starts us off with the secretly unraveling Jace, Unraveller of Secrets from Innistrad. Another Innistradi visitor to be featured this week was @azami ‘s study of the studious soratami  Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Stretching further back in the mists of time, @pandoraeve brings us the foremost Praetor Elesh Norn as she dodges the blue shells in a Mario Kart, and @erybiadraws shows us the undulating Ulamog in its full glory.

Finally, a couple of sketches from @dancing-sword, including Garruk giving Chandra animal handling advice, and a drawing of the Tarkirs planeswalking power-couple, Narset and Sarkhan

— Liam W, @coincidencetheories

6.Vanilla Matters.

Murganda Petroglyphs | Original MTG art by Scott Altmann 

The concept of ‘Vanilla’ in Magic is supposedly a simple one. A Vanilla Creature is simply on with no rules text (flavor text is allowed. Vanilla is a flavor, after all). Simply a creature type, a mana cost, power, and of course toughness. No effects on entering or leaving the battlefield, no activated abilities, and no keyword. Nothing. Mons Goblin Raiders, Grizzly Bears, Savannah Lions. The building blocks of a set, and usually filler cards for your limited or standard deck. But two topics have shone the spotlight on the humble Vanilla Creature this week, as @markrosewater​ ‘s Blogatog has been inundated with requests that if or when we travel to Murganda, we continue in the tradition of Murganda Petroglyphs from Future SIght block and have Vanilla Matters cards, or cards that bolster creatures without abilities. The trouble with this, as Mark Rosewater reiterates, is that the creatures themselves can’t grant their fellow vanilla creatures abilities, and there are only so many bonuses you can give to vanilla creatures before you’re giving them abilities, which make them no longer vanilla creatures which means they lose their abilities which means they are once again vanilla and oh no I’ve gone cross eyed. So MaRo has advised us all not to set our hopes too high on a visit to Murganda featuring Vanilla matters, especially as Murganda is already carrying the baggage of being the Dinosaur plane as well as somehow home to the Mimeoplasm. But that doesn’t mean that Murganda Petroglyphs itself can’t see a reprint…

Dovetailing with the discussion on Vanilla Matters was a check in with a recurring favorite of Blogatog readers, the Vanilla Mythic, which is precisely what it says on the box, a vanilla creature, at mythic rarity, that obviously has been subject to much speculation. Mark confirmed in a blog post that the mythic is doing just fine, and that we will see it later this year This has led to new speculation as to just what a Vanilla Mythic might need to be, to justify it’s rarity, starting with @sarkhan-volkswagen​ and continuing on in the various reblogs and replies. 

…and finally: Friday Nights

Noted Magic content creators Loading Ready Run released a new episode of Friday Nights this week, as just in time for Amonkhet’s release. Friday Nights is a series following the group’s misadventures into the world of Magic, which has been running since 2012. This month’s episode is notable for callbacks not only to the eternal conundrum of the proper creature type of the multi-headed Nessian Asp, but also to the fearsome reputation of Kathleen’s Cat deck which first made it’s appearance in the groups short, ‘It’s Magic’ which reflected their rediscovery of the game, way back in 2010.

Thank you again for reading this week’s issue of the MTG Weekly Tumblr Recap. Hope to see you next week!

Interested in contributing to the Recap? Want to keep track of notable posts and trends throughout the MTG community on a given week? Or write a short blurb on a specific topic? Do you just want to make us aware of one specific topic or post? Please PM our main editor @the-burnished-hart or any of our staff writers

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 53 - CAR - Chasing Two

We meet again, Canes of Carolina. Your 53 is our 53 now as we meet for the 53rd game of the season. We already did playoff trash talk for the Canes but I got a feeling there will be more coming down the stretch here. Why do we hate the Hurricanes so much right now? The Skinner stuff is behind us and I suspect his extension will soon be as well. It’s probably the gull of a team as consistently bad as Carolina, perhaps longer than Buffalo has been bad, deciding this is the season to get in our fucking way. Unless one of Pittsburgh, Boston or Montreal hits the skids real hard down the stretch it’s you, me and Columbus for the one wildcard spot left in the East. So fuck you Carolina: this Sabres team has been shit for a solid two months straight but whatever hope I can muster that they still got a chance at the playoffs this year I will sharpen into a fine shiv and run into this cage match with. That hope could have died tonight. For some of you reading this it may have. This game was about chasing two straight wins – two straight wins which would be this club’s first two wins in a row since December. Perhaps they ultimately didn’t get there because they were doing too much chasing so to speak. But what occurred last night was not the performance of a club accepting its fate and tapping out of the playoff race. What happened last night was enough to make the Spartans at Thermopylae proud. Sure, once you explained ice hockey to them and they observed it long enough to understand what being good at it looks like they may have had some thoughts on the Sabres first period and most of their third; but CHIN UP I say to you! Chin up because this Sabres club is not going down without a fight! Honey, we’re going down swinging!  

The Carolina Hurricanes came out shooting like lax southern gun laws to start the first: every puck that a Sabre was not on was scooped up by Hurricane and blown into the zone closest to Linus Ullmark (Thanks Coach, I knew you would make the right goalie decision). The Canes did what any team who watches this Buffalo club knows is the Sabres biggest weakness as of late: turnovers, unforced and not. The team from south of the Mason-Dixon Line capitalized in this brutal stretch when North Carolina’s favorite soft boy Sebastian Aho served up the juiciest pass from behind the net to a streaking Justin Faulk. Ullmark couldn’t get to the other post in time and Faulk buried it. Well beach bodies: up here in New York we got this thing called ice, the game is actually played on it. What followed shortly after the Faulk goal was a penalty on definitely-moonlighting-as-a-vampire Jaccob Slavin which led to a powerplay for the home team that froze Carolina up like a Buffalo Ice Storm. The powerplay was fruitless but the Sabres poured shots on Curtis McElhinney for the rest of the period. Teuvo Teravainen tallied a second goal for Carolina early in the second period. At this point in the night I’m listening to the game on the radio driving up the 190. WGR 550 has these musical interludes as the broadcast returns from break and at this 2-0 dire moment in the second period one of those interludes was a section of “Slide” by Goo Goo Dolls. My throat got real dry and I shed a tear. Is it because I’m an emotional wreck paying attention to the Sabres these days? NO! But a good guess. NO, it’s because I visualized the playoffs like Jack tells us to and I felt it slipping away! But then what happened? Jack’s team came back.

HUT HUT, FIND A HOLE! The McElhinney wall has to come down! FIND A HOLE! Ristolainen from the line: save; puck to Conor Sheary in front: save; puck to Evan Rodriguez who holds and sweeps that puck into the hole like the beautiful Canadian Sniper he is! Now the Canes really froze up like they’d never seen ice before because seven minutes later resident Dad-Bod Jason Pominville collected his own rebound and tapped an equalizer past McElhinney. Tie game you fair weather mother fuckers! Believe it or not it’s hot here for a couple months in each year and you know what I spend that time doing? Oh, not going to the playoffs? You’re funny: you’re a real piece of work for giving more of a shit about NASCAR than the variable 1970s strong man competition of a gun show y’all have for a lineup! Oh, but when hockey players clap a little and slide down the ice into the goal like it’s a slip-and-slide after wins all you guys come running to the arena! I hope y’all don’t make the playoffs just because you’re a bunch of fucking ungrateful slow talkers who like Duke! The game was tied! It was tied going into the third! And then what happened? Well: a relative menagerie of frat-boy-looking Hurricanes capitalized on the Sabres doing Sabres things like turning over the puck and chasing it around like they’re fishing catch-and-release! First it was wrestling team captain and beer-pong champion of the Carolinas Greg McKegg who polished in a loose puck behind Ullmark after being giving ten fucking years to put it in and still bounced it off the post! Then Jeff Skinner had a fucking hulk moment and realized the profundity of the situation he was in and flew off on a breakaway to guide the puck in like a clumsy baby giraffe. Oh no, I know it was art. Please sign soon, Jeff.

Stop those warm feelings for sweet sweet Jeffery because Fergus, Ontario’s High School Quarterback and favorite ginger son Brock McGinn cleaned up a Jordan Martinook rebound right in front of Ullmark to get the visitors ahead 4-3. Do they even have American Football in small town Ontario? Whatever because here comes the President of the punchable face club Nino Niederreiter to capitalize on the powerplay and put the Canes up 5-3 with five minutes left in regulation. Now here is really the moment when I realized this team isn’t going down without a fight: down by two goals (again, which is a concerning problem all its own) this team did not quit. Jeff Skinner emerged from the box beaten but not defeated. But before he gets his time against his former team it’s time for irony to a drop kick you in the balls. Marco Scandella, in a move that will certainly earn him starts for the rest of the season over far more deserving defensemen, gets the puck from Sam Reinhart and shoots low. The puck went in and it was a one goal game now. Irony has a name and it is Marco Scandella. Perhaps it was too late as time now ticked into the double digits in regulation with the Sabres down by one. Guess who you butter-binging, Trump-voting motherfuckers: JEFF MOTHER FUCKING SKINNER! Collect the puck, toe drag, bender: tie Game! It’s like the third act of fucking Miracle beating the team in the red jersey! There was 56 seconds left on the clock! This one goes to OT. And there, well there Teuvo Teravainen streaks into the Sabres defensive zone 2-on-0 and dekes out Ullmark for the game winner. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in this league: one good rush in OT and it’s all over. Carolina wins 6-5.

The Chase for Two straight wins falls flat; but you know what didn’t fall flat? Yea, the Buffalo Sabres. Yeah, they really stunk up most of the third and looked like they were playing hot potato with the puck for most of the first but you know what: that was one hell of a comeback, two if we’re counting game deficits here. Imagine Jeff Skinner pots the OT winner for a hat trick and the Sabres get two points out of this game instead of just one. It’s a whole different conversation then, isn’t it? I’m not rationalizing the many mistakes or playing the what-if game. I’m calling the glass half full and I don’t know about you but I’m not holding my breath tomorrow waiting for Jason Botterill to make a trade as if 95% of the trades he could reasonably make would have any effect on this team down the stretch. We got what we got right now folks and trust me; I am dying for the playoffs too. What happened last night was not nothing and we didn’t get nothing for it either. Carolina, you better watch your back because we’re breathing down it and every game between now and March 16th is going to be an assault on your chances to take that spot from Columbus. The Sabres can certainly get three points out of this weekend’s two matchups and Carolina only has one game in that same stretch so there’s a scenario where we’re sitting here Monday morning and the Sabres are 1 point back of that playoff spot and ahead of Carolina again. Yea, I’m not broken yet and neither should you be. Honey, we’re going down swinging.

Of course everyone in the locker room is going to be disappointed with that result and that emotion is good even if Savior Sam is misdirecting it at Ullmark. Phil Housley was the only postgame interview I was at all embarrassed by. He’s the one misusing players out the wazoo and throwing forward line combinations at Velcro board and seeing what sticks. Put out your best lineup, Phil. This is the team now and I’m not saying it is good enough to make the playoffs having won 9 of its last 28 games but teams not good enough make the playoffs all the time, you can ask New Jersey about that. And I refuse to hop on the locomotive of self-loathing Sabres twitter seems to be on. This game just gave me too much to chew on. Well like, comment and share this blog even if you think I am insane. With this team: sometimes I feel like it. This frickin team! They hurt me over and over and lord knows I’ll still be watching them at my in-laws this weekend. This frickin eternally ass team: Oh the shit I would do for a playoff berth. OH THE SHIT I WOULD DO! Go Sabres! If they make it by one point this game is going to be my masterpiece. Oh god I need them to make the playoffs. Go Sabres! I’m going to repeat it like I’m trying to remember it: Go Sabres! Go Sabres! Don’t go breaking my heart.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Sara Civ is a great follow on twitter. She is one of the better hockey beat reporters out there and if it weren’t for her covering that frickin team I’d probably be mentioning her more.

[acehotel]

INTERVIEW: JUSTIN STRAUSS WITH MICHEL GAUBERT

Paris, France

Michel Gaubert, legendary French sound illustrator, is the go-to sonic maven for fashion designers from Raf Simons to Karl Lagerfeld, Loewe to Rodarte. Music obsessed his whole life, Gaubert’s record collection is a behemoth, physical history of his tastes, as is his Instagram account, widely noted for its originality and idiosyncratic visual vocabulary. For this episode of Just/Talk, Ace friend, DJ and music producer Justin Strauss caught up with Gaubert at his home in Paris to talk about the downfall of Champs Discques, if Paris or New York has better nightclubs and what it’s like to soundtrack a Chanel show. 

Justin Strauss: For me, fashion and music have always gone hand in hand. When I was a kid, I saw The Beatles and that changed my life musically. Seeing the way they looked, how they dressed played a huge part. What was your inspiration? When did your love affair with music and fashion start?

Michel Gaubert: It started at a very early age because my mother was very much into fashion. She had a bookstore, and we would get all the magazines at home, and I was watching those TV programs, and I liked the whole thing — just like you.

I thought there was more to music, more to music than just the actual music. There was also the lifestyle — I mean I don’t like that word, “lifestyle,” but they dressed to represent themselves because I think representation is also a part of it, part of the music, like the artwork on records. I was conscious of that. I think the biggest revelation for me was David Bowie and Roxy Music because they were performers. And then Patti Smith came along with a whole different thing where style meant something. 

JS: So was it David Bowie for you, your inspiration?

MG: Yeah, there was so much about him. I listened to the record Hunky Dory, the back cover with him wearing the large pants and the whole thing… Oh my God it was interesting. Ziggy Stardust came up and I was like “wow.” I loved everything about it, the melody, the lyrics, the aesthetic; it was good.

JS: I was lucky enough to see that show.

MG: Oh you were?

JS: Yeah, like you seeing David Bowie, I had already been into The Beatles and the whole British thing from a very young age, and then as a teenager, I was in this band Milk n’ Cookies — and you know, we just loved everything English; and then David Bowie and the whole glam scene came along and it was everything.

MG: And for me, Roxy Music is the same thing. The first three or four years of Roxy Music was absolutely unbelievable. I saw David Bowie when Station to Station came out and for Let’s Dance. With Roxy Music, I saw them quite early on 1976 in Paris when Bryan Ferry was dressed in military, a black tie tucked in and the whole thing. I liked him when he was with Jerry Hall…

JS: The bass player of Milk n’ Cookies played with Roxy Music on tour before he joined the band. David Bowie, Roxy Music and Sparks for me were the biggest. And our band was discovered by Sparks’ managers so we kind of got to be really involved with that.

MG: I loved the guy who did the Sparks album covers Kimono My House and Propaganda.

JS: That guy, Nick Deville, also art directed all the great Roxy Music album covers and did the Milk n’ Cookies album cover as well. They used a few different photographers but he was the art director.

MG: For Roxy Music it was Karl Stoecker.

And it’s funny because at Raf Simons’ show last February, we started the show with that song from Roxy Music, “In Every Dream Home a Heartache.” Because the collection was very black satin, jewelry, colors, all that kind of stuff.

JS: Well, the cover “For Your Pleasure” with Amanda Lear and walking the black cheetah was so striking, and such an important part of the album experience — how sad that is so missing from today’s music scene, the artwork.

MG: It is. I mean I hate cds.

JS: It’s beyond cds now, it’s just something in the air.

MG: I do like to use them, of course, and also digital files. But I still like vinyl, cause when you get a vinyl it’s the whole thing. It’s fantastic to look at. And cds, they never come close with artwork.

JS: So you’re into David Bowie, you’re into Roxy Music, and how did you start working in music as a living?

MG: Well, after spending time in London, I then went for one year to America as an exchange student.

JS: Where? New York?

MG: No, no, no. I went to California. I was sent to California but I was still in school. When I came back to Paris, I didn’t do much for a couple of years and then I started to work in a record store, Champs Discques. And from then I made quite a few friends and people liked what I had to offer. In those days, the record store was much more than it is now, the ones that are left.

JS: You were a curator to your customers. They trusted you and your taste. And the records you would recommend to them.

MG: Yes, exactly.

JS: It was a great record store.

MG: It was fun, I mean I got to know all the DJs in Paris, lots of people came to that store. It was more than a record store, it was an “in” place to go. From working there I got asked to work at Le Palace.

JS: Had you DJ’d before that?

MG: No, no. I did it because they had the main room and then downstairs a roller disco, and I was convinced it was the right thing to do. So they asked me for a different style of music and I just did it. So, of course, there was lots of fashion there at Le Palace.

JS: Le Palace I always related to Studio 54 in New York.

MG: I think it was better. It was that kind of a place where I think it was more cultural than Studio 54. I think it was more refined. Studio 54 was this amazing place when you walked in but then… I thought the balance was bad.

JS: And musically, what were you playing?

MG: Everything. I was playing Rick James, X-Ray Spex, Devo, Talking Heads.

JS: So it was very much like the Mudd Club in New York.

MG: Yes, it was more like that.

JS: But in a fancier place.

MG: Yes, see that’s what I liked about Le Palace. Okay, you’ve got a mixture of the Mudd Club and then Studio 54. Studio 54 is all about the glossy and Le Palace had the mixture of both — it could be dirty also, which I liked — and why I think it’s better.

JS: I never DJ’d before the Mudd Club either and I just played what I liked. I didn’t know how to mix records.

MG: Boom, boom, boom, like that. It was just to make sure you caught the end of the record before the next one. They would  play weird stuff like Eddie Harris. It was super.

JS: Anything goes.

MG: Everything goes, it was diverse, but I was not playing the Bee Gees. I was not playing that kind of stuff.

JS: Did they play that in the main room?

MG: Upstairs, yes, yes. I mean there was some cool disco stuff but I was more of the alternative thing. And I liked all the new wave, all that kind of stuff, new wave. Gary Numan, B52s…

JS: I guess it’s very similar to what was going on in New York at the Mudd Club, Danceteria, and the Ritz. The Ritz kind of reminded me of Le Palace because the Ritz was an old, beautiful place, kind of like Le Palace, and everyone played there from Human League to Kraftwerk. Back then, I was DJing there at least three times a week. It was crazy, when you think about all the music that came from around that period from so many different places. From punk to funk, to early hip hop, to disco. It was insane.

MG: Yeah, it was a truly crazy era. I don’t want to sound like an old person but it was truly like a beginning of things. I saw a Kraftwerk show in Paris, and they had all those robots on stage and things like that.

JS: Do you mean when Computer World came out?

MG: Probably, yeah.

JS: Because that’s when they played in New York, at The Ritz.

MG: And then I went to New York to the Paradise Garage and they were playing Numbers and all those kids were dancing to Numbers. I said, what?! I like the cross-cultural thing.

JS: I mean that’s funny how our stories are very similar because Afrika Bambaataa used to hang out at the Mudd Club. We became friends and then when I started to work at the Ritz, Kraftwerk were playing and I invited him to the show and that just blew his mind. It was just such a great thing how all the kids who loved hip hop really embraced Kraftwerk.

MG: Of course. A couple of years ago they were sampling New Wave records a lot, all those kids.

JS: Then there was a scene in Paris, I think around the same time, like Z records.

MG: Celluloid Records too.

JS: Yeah, Celluloid Records were filtering into New York and we played all those records at the Mudd Club and Danceteria, they were huge.

MG: Yes, Fab Five Freddy “Change The Beat.” There was good stuff at the time. The thing is, the music in France is different from America. It was more open. I mean America had amazing music, but in Europe there are smaller countries so we were more aware of what was going on around us like what was happening in Germany, Italy and Holland. Plus, in France we were a bit like, deprived musically since we had limited radio and television stations. 

JS: You had access to a lot of music, we didn’t have that.

MG: And in America music was either American or British. The rest was more —

JS: We would have to look harder to get it as a DJ. There were little stores like 99 Records or whatever that would bring in the crazy stuff so yeah, we would find it, but it was harder. So how long did you DJ for at Le Palace?

MG: I DJ’d for Le Palace for about 3 years and then I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I was, at the same time, still working at Champs Discques and I was working at Le Palace twice a week. But then that would fuck me over for the week. At the same time I had some friends who were asking me to do music for a fashion show, and I said, “Okay, sure I’ll do it.”

JS: What was the first one you did?

MG: It was a friend of mine, the brand was called Vestiaire. It means “wardrobe,” basically. It was a men’s show in a restaurant. And then some people asked me to do another one, and another one, and then I started to do a bit more and then I got fired from the record store.

JS: Why?

MG: Well the record store was not doing so good anymore because Virgin came next to it and the owner, unlike us, rather than highlighting all the strong points of Champs Discques, he went to compete with them. Like slashing prices, all that kind of stuff. It was the wrong move, it was more an ego trip, but you know.

So I wasn’t there enough probably so he fired me. So I was like “Oh my God!” That’s okay, maybe it’s the kick in the ass I need.

JS: Sometimes those things are the best things that could happen to you.

MG: Yeah, and after I was fired I was like “Shit, I wish he would have fired me earlier.”

JS: I did the same thing, I got asked by Stephen Sprouse to do the music for his first big show which was at the Ritz, and we opened with “Search and Destroy” by Iggy and the Stooges and it was just like the most amazing thing. I’ve done a bunch, but I got into the remixing thing and that took up all my time so I couldn’t really do it so much.

MG: It’s fun, plus it’s good when you find an alter ego to work with. You know when there is a feeling of trust between the designer and you, both ways, when they trust you because they know when you say something, when you propose it, it means something, and also when you trust them. Then you know you can play for them whatever you think is right, and you feel comfortable in that.

JS: Was there one show that kind of set your career off that was like magic?

MG: Yeah, I think it was the show for Karl Lagerfeld. That one was planned before I left the record store — I knew him from the record store, he was a steady customer. He said “Would you like to do music for my show.” I said “Sure, why not, of course.”

JS: It was huge show obviously.

MG: Yeah, it was a big one and the music was inspired by Malcolm Mclaren’s “House of Blue Danube” and all that kind of stuff. It made my career. I mixed Soul II Soul with Strauss and De La Soul, with opera dialogues, that kind of stuff. It was great.

JS: And were you mixing it live with records back then?

MG: No, no —

JS: You recorded it?

MG: I worked with Dimitri from Paris for the first three years. It was all done reel to reel.

JS: Tape edits?

MG: Yes. It was done like that. I was not able to do it, but he had wonderful fingers and ears.

JS: So now these days when you hear about music and fashion, if there’s some amazing fashion show, it’s probably you doing the music.

MG: There are other people…

JS: Yeah, but you have been super successful at it. Is this still exciting for you?

MG: Yeah, of course. Like I said, when there is this idea of collaborating with someone, it’s exciting. When you know it can push things, like the Chanel show for example, they are big productions. For me, it’s cool, it’s the spectacle. It’s like soundtracking a movie or something that makes it feel different. And then there are people who I like to work with because you know that they have a sense of fashion which is unique and I learn things from them and they learn things from me. So that’s the best part.

JS: Yeah, when those worlds collide and inspire each other. That’s one thing which I always miss about New York and the 80s, when you had Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, all these artists coming to the clubs, being part of the whole scene. Everyone was intermixing and everybody was inspiring everyone else and that’s a great thing.

MG: It’s more complicated now. They have still this kind of thing. I don’t know if it was in New York, but in Paris we had places you could go to every night and see the same crowd. Now there’s not a club like that. There’s places people will migrate from one place to the other depending on what goes on, so it’s a bit different. I like the idea of having one place to go every night, the same place. You know you don’t have to worry about anybody. And you can say "Hi, how are you? See you tomorrow.” Cause then you would dress up, dress up for the other kids and for yourself.

JS: It was like the first time I went to the Backroom at Max’s Kansas City. Everybody knew each other, everyone was like “Oh who’s this new kid?” Any of those clubs like Area, Mudd Club, everyone knew each other.

MG: That’s cool, that’s cool. Everyone knows each other when I go to a fashion party or something, so it’s part work and part fun.

JS: So when you work with a designer now, do they come to you for ideas and inspiration as well? Is it mutual?

MG: Both, both. There are several ways to look at it. Either I come up with stuff or an idea and some say, “Listen, hey there is this track I like. What do you think?” I say what I think.

JS: You do multiple shows every season. Is that something that’s difficult?

MG: Yes and no. I mean, the shows are now ten minutes long. When I started they were like 35 or 40 minutes, which was super hard to do to keep people’s attention span for 45 minutes. But then, the usual was 45 minutes. Now it’s ten minutes and everyone has a very specific image.

JS: Do you ever find they musically crossover?

MG: Not, not really. 

JS: That’s good. Because sometimes there is a theme running through the season and a lot of the designers kind of —

MG: Of course sometimes there is a new big album they all are tempted to use, but I think it’s because of that and also because music is easy to get and not so easy to get. When you are not into music it’s pretty difficult to know what’s going on. People want to make it more individual. If you have a good new record at the right time, then it works. Let’s say I got a record and I know I have a show in three days, then it’s perfectly fine. But if it’s been around for a month, you don’t need it. It’s all a question of timing.

JS:  How do you feel about the way music is heard now and how many people don’t buy music? I mean it’s never going back to what it was.

MG: No, I don’t know if it’s good culturally but that’s one thing. Because, at least, like a lot of music I know from the past I grew up with or listened to when it came out. You relate to what’s around you and what it means at the time. There was always a significant connection to be made somewhere with the music. These days, people listen to music all across the board regardless if it’s new, old, whatever. Sometimes a lot of people don’t know how to focus.

JS: There’s no connection like there used to be. It’s very disposable, I find, and people’s attention spans are shorter because of the internet and everything is quick, quick, quick, they don’t take the time to let it really sink in.

MG: But I do the same thing too, sometimes, because there is stuff I want to listen to. I just do something else and put the record on and listen to it at the same time.

JS: Where do you find your music these days?

MG: Everywhere. Everywhere.

JS: Do you still go record shopping?

MG: Not really. Do you?

JS: I mean I try to. But there’s so much new music that doesn’t get released on vinyl so it’s nice to get the record if you love it.

MG: When I like a record and it’s worth it, I get it. The last one I went to was in January and I went to work in London. I bought some stuff because it’s there in front of you. You know, “I don’t have this” or “I don’t have that” and you just get it. As a matter of fact, I think it’s harder to buy them like that because you don’t see as much.

JS: When I DJ, I bring a small bag of vinyl. It’s still great to play, but a USB stick is life-changing. So many great things have come along with the technology and so many not so great things too.

MG: I think it’s great and I think there are bad things too. I think society is too dependent on the machines and a lot of the things that go wrong are also because of the machines. People don’t know what to do if they don’t have their machine. So basically, and me included, it can’t be just that and no USB stick.

JS: That’s pretty standard. It’s become the standard and not the turntable. When it was changing over and you saw these DJs come in and set up their laptop, wires, pulling out everything and then two minutes later the computer would crash, and there would be nothing. Then they would be like “Can you put on a record?” Because the record always works. People have become too  dependent on the internet.

MG: Everything, people’s minds, fake news. It’s crazy, it’s very, very crazy.

JS: What did you do when you came to New York? What was happening and did you go to the clubs?

MG: Of course. I have a good friend who we stayed with for three weeks. Florent from the restaurant, Florent. And he lived on Lafayette and Spring. So we got there, and there were like three bullet holes in the glass and maybe 25 more on the sidewalk, and we were just like “oh my God.” We went through the East Village and were like, “Where am I?” So the first night we decided to go out because a friend of his was like “Oh my God there is a Dolly Parton birthday party at Studio 54, you want to come?” And of course, I wanted to come. So we go and we took a taxi and the taxi cab driver was like “Are you going to 54? What do you want, quaaludes?” And we went to Studio 54.

JS: When did you go to the Paradise Garage?

MG: That was later. I went in 81. So I went to Studio 54, the Mudd Club was also 81.

JS: When you walked into Paradise Garage was it like anything you had ever experienced?

MG: I remember going up a ramp with candles or lights on the ground, going up that way and then turning a right like this, and then I remember hearing Numbers by Kraftwerk and that completely blew my mind.

I went to the Mudd Club when it was New Romantics time period. They were playing Soft Cell "Tainted Love” like ten times in a row.

JS: I worked there then. Started there in late 79 and played there until the late 1980. I went to the Blitz Club once which was pretty crazy.

MG: In England?

JS: Yes with Steve Strange.

MG: I didn’t go there. I never went clubbing in London really. But in New York, yes, and I went to Pyramid. I went to all the gay clubs. I went to the 12 West.

JS: Yeah the gay clubs were the most forward thinking. Back then The Garage, 12 West, Infinity, all those clubs were known for breaking new music and that’s where you heard all the best new records. Then that sort of went away.

MG: I see it the way it was at Champs Discques. I mean the store was super successful because in France we didn’t have many radio stations that would play that kind of stuff, and there was no way to get music. So we were playing really loud, all day long, the things we liked about every 10 to 15 minutes and people were grateful. They’re like “Oh my God, that’s so cool.”

JS: It was the only way to hear new music. Especially club music.

MG: Exactly, and even in the clubs there was a bit more freedom. Not freedom, but I could play a lot of things whenever I wanted because people were interested in discovering stuff, you know what I mean? Now people want to hear what they know or relate to. People don’t understand. They think a DJ should play whatever.

JS: “What do you mean you don’t have it?” And they hand you their phone. For me and for you I’m sure was the same. A great DJ was someone who would turn you on to new music. I didn’t want to hear only things I knew.

MG: Exactly, me too. I like to discover new stuff and older music I don’t know. There’s so much music. There’s new music, in-between music you forgot about in the past, you know or you forgot about, it’s like a full time job.

JS: Do you ever get involved in actually creating music for shows?

MG: Yeah. But I don’t create it myself. I work with people. I had a good experience with the Chromatics. That was really good and Johnny was super involved in it, that was really good.

JS: Have you ever been involved in mixing records or re-mixing?

MG: No, never.

JS: Produced your own tracks?

MG: No, I really don’t have the time. Plus, I think I would be too demanding, you know what I mean? Never happy with the result or whatever. I can be very demanding.

JS: You basically go from one season and start working on the next… How many shows do you do a year?

MG: Probably 100.

JS: Do you work with New York designers?

MG: Yes, of course. New York, also French designers, we work with Calvin Klein, Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, Michael Kors.

JS: What do you think about brands like, say Kenzo, or so many brands where the original designer is not involved anymore and they bring in new people to re-brand it? You’ve been around to know the original designers.

MG: Yeah, well I think some people do a good job. I mean I like what they do at Kenzo. I like their point of view, I like what they do with music.

JS: They use a lot of original music as well.

MG: Yeah, yeah which I think “why not?” They can use the music on the videos… I like the movies they make for perfume. They have a good thing going on.

JS: You’re very active on Instagram. Was Facebook ever a thing for you?

MG: Yeah. I started doing it on Facebook, but then I find the process on Instagram to be more direct, quicker, easier, and has a wider reach. I think it’s more fun.

JS: It’s one of the best things about what’s going on with the Internet. Communicating with people through images.

MG: Yeah. It’s fun because it’s like a jigsaw puzzle and then sometimes I’m like, “My God this picture, I’m sure I’m going to get this many likes” and it’s like a game. Like, okay I won again.

JS: Do you get disappointed when you get something that you think people are really going to get and then they don’t?

MG: No I don’t. I don’t know when the best time is to post. I don’t know any of that kind of stuff, I’m a very instinctive person.

JS: I see you posting stuff in the middle of the night and then early in the morning.

MG: Yeah, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night for like half an hour and post.

JS: And do you just have a collection of images?

MG: Yeah, I collect them. I do collect and then there are some I research. Music, fashion, architecture, and all of the stuff I like. And of course the way it is when you find something, it leads you to something else, and something else, and something else, and that’s the way it works.

JS: And do you do your own images as well?

MG: Not really. Yeah sometimes I take pictures, otherwise, I don’t create anything especially for that. It’s found. It’s pictures I take, or it’s clippings from magazines, or it’s pictures from a book. This week I’m going to scan a few pictures from books I have, because I know you won’t be able to get them anywhere. So I like to share that too.

JS: You’ve got a nice following. People seem to love what you do and really react to it.

MG: I guess now I have quite a few, and with it comes the other side, I have a few haters.

JS: If you don’t have some haters, you’re not doing something right.

MG: That’s right! That’s what I thought as well.

[megaatomiccollectorbeliever]

The Beat’s Annual Creator Survey Part 2: What will be the biggest story of 2019?

Share this: Continuing with our wide-ranging survey of creators from every end of the business on what happened and what’s coming. You can check out the other parts of the survey here.

Katie Schenkel, writer 2019 Projects: 100 Light Years of Solitude, some unannounced projects What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The phoenix-like transformation of Nancy as a voice for our time What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? DC Ink/Zoom totally making bank

Andrew Farago, Cartoon Art Museum Curator, writer 2019 Projects: Voltron: The Ultimate Visual History from Insight Editions; Batman and Popeye projects; a full slate of exhibitions at the Cartoon Art Museum What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? More women, LGBTQ, and creators of color published major works and won major comic industry awards this year than we’d seen in some entire decades prior to the 2010s. The comics landscape is changing before our eyes, and that’s a great thing. What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Gina Gagliano’s lineup at Random House Graphic will bring even more young readers into comics. That and Raina Telgemeier’s how-to book Share Your Smile are going to lay the foundation for the biggest story in comics in 2024. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? It’s not an election year, so if I can go a week without any major political news or upheavals, that would be great. Who inspired you in 2018? Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Spider-Man’s co-creators couldn’t have taken more divergent paths if they’d tried, but each seemed to be more than content with his lot in life. There are lessons to be learned from both.

Alison Wilgus, Cartoonist 2019 Projects: I just turned in the second and final volume of my graphic novel series, Chronin, which I’ve been working on since 2007. BOTH volumes will debut from Tor in 2019, which is absolutely wild — Volume 1 in February and Volume 2 in September. I’ll also be continuing to put out the Graphic Novel TK podcast with my friend and co-producer, Gina Gagliano! What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Gina Gagliano starting her new graphic novel imprint at PRH. And I’m not just saying this because Gina’s a friend — Random House Graphic was announced in the Spring, and it’s already transforming the landscape of kids’ graphic novel publishing from where I sit. If you’re a cartoonist who wants the resources and reach of a major print publisher, you can count your options on one hand. We hardly ever get major new players like this, and I can’t wait to see how everything shakes out over the next couple of years.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? God who knows. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? I feel no guilt for my pleasures anymore, we all gotta cling to what joy we can on this bitch of an earth. Who inspired you in 2018? My editor, Diana Pho. As I’ve taken on more editorial work of my own this past year, as well as interviewing a ton of industry professionals for GNTK, I have a much better understanding of JUST HOW INSANELY GOOD AT HER JOB SHE IS, as well as being an exceptionally generous and kind member of the larger community.

Rob Clough, Critic 2019 Projects: Continuing to write for The Comics Journal, Comics MNT, Publisher’s Weekly, Your Chicken Enemy, WowCool.com, and whoever else will have me. My own High-Low blog just hit its tenth anniversary, and I plan to keep at that as well as write for my patrons at my Patreon. This is the year I also hope to work on my first couple of books. I will also continue my position as co- programmer of SPX. What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The continuing, massive culture shift in terms of who is making comics and for whom. There are more women, more people of color, and more queer folk than ever in comics, and that number is growing exponentially. Trans creators in particular made a huge impact in 2018. The blowback from the usual quarters was as predictable as it was irrelevant. What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The continued struggle to solve the distribution problem for small-press cartoonists is the big one. There is an explosion of new cartoonists thanks to greater access to comics education, but creating a sustainable market for them all is going to be a real challenge. The festival circuit should be seen as a supplement and marketing tool, not a solution. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Going to an NXT show in Durham. Who inspired you in 2018? All of the other members of #defendthe11, but especially Whit Taylor.

Vita Ayala, writer 2019 Projects: Age Of X-Man: Prisoner X and more Livewire! Also some unannounced things, so stay tuned… What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Too many amazing stories I am looking forward to reading to choose! What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Danny Lore, Matt Rosenberg, Che Grayson, Regine Sawyer.

Madeleine Holly-Rosing,  Writer 2019 Projects: The new Boston Metaphysical Society one-shot, The Spirit of Rebellion (below) and more novels! What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Marvel original line of digital comics What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The growth of independent titles. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Reading more. #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Ted Rall, Cartoonist and writer 2019 Projects: THE STRINGER, a graphic novel where “Wag the Dog” meets “Breaking Bad”, drawn by Pablo Callejo and written by Ted Rall. WHAT’S LEFT: THE FIGHT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY by Ted Rall, about the clash between progressives and corporate liberals. A paperback reissue of THE YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY, drawn by Pablo Callejo and written by Ted Rall. And an as yet untitled novel. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Watching American democracy continue to implode. Who inspired you in 2018? Social media, negatively. The stupidity level finally rose to the level where it became impossible to care what trolls might think. This forced me to think for myself and rely on my own instincts.

Raina Telgemeier, Cartoonist 2019 Projects: Share Your Smile, a how-to comics guide for young creators, comes out April 30th. And my next full-length graphic novel, Guts, will be out on September 17th! It’s a prequel to Smile and Sisters. I’m pretty excited about it. What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? When Stan Lee passed away, the rest of the world, all the regular people I know, were talking about it. His influence went so far beyond the industry. What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? I can tell you something I’m looking forward to! Jen Wang’s new graphic novel, STARGAZING. I got to read an advance copy, and I’m so glad it’ll be out in the world next year. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? I have four events lined up in Texas next year, so I’m looking forward to tacos. All of the tacos. Who inspired you in 2018? Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s Hey, Kiddo is one of the bravest graphic memoirs ever written. It allows kids who suffer from family addiction in silence to feel seen. I’m so proud of and inspired by Jarrett!

David Macho, Jack of all trades What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The batwedding What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Publishers drop Diamond, change distribution, avoid impending death! :P What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? War of the Realms

Todd Allen, Talking Head 2019 Projects: A little more supernatural detective work: What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Taken as a whole, the various launch and relaunch attempts… and there were plenty. What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? How the 2018 launches/relaunches play out and the next wave. It sure feels like it’s taking more and more effort to tread water and this will have a trickle down effect one way or the other. I just hope a Barnes & Noble contraction doesn’t factor into that.

Jordan B. Gorfinkel, Producer, Writer, Cartoonist 2019 Projects: www.jewishcartoon.com/passover What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Pretty much every Mark Waid and Chris Samnee collaboration. Their batting average is off the charts. What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Please God, not Bruce Wayne’s penis. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Catching up on all the Marvel movies while house-sitting for a friend with a huge TV.

Atom! Freeman, Sales and Marketing Maven 2019 Projects: Building Prana: Direct Market Solutions. Creating more resources for retailers and publishers. Building ComicHub into a resource for all in comics. What was the biggest story in comics in 2018 There were SO MANY! Seriously, do you remember a weirder year in the comics industry or was it just me? Valiant, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW… everyone has been affected by this weirdo year. What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? TKO, maybe? ComicHub? Prana? I’m optimistic that 2019 becomes the year of decentralizing power that grows the industry for everyone. What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Watching TKO and the publishers who follow suit break the distribution model and build the entire industry in the process. Who inspired you in 2018? Dinesh Shamdasani. Forced out of the company he’s devoted his life to and even though he has more money than I will ever see, he is seeing the movies he set out to make through to the end and gathering speed to go after the next thing.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle. Share this: Related Read the full article

[comicsbeat]

Continuing with our wide-ranging survey of creators from every end of the business on what happened and what’s coming. You can check out the other parts of the survey here.

Katie Schenkel, writer

2019 Projects: 100 Light Years of Solitude, some unannounced projects

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The phoenix-like transformation of Nancy as a voice for our time

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? DC Ink/Zoom totally making bank

  Andrew Farago, Cartoon Art Museum Curator, writer

2019 Projects: Voltron: The Ultimate Visual History from Insight Editions; Batman and Popeye projects; a full slate of exhibitions at the Cartoon Art Museum

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? More women, LGBTQ, and creators of color published major works and won major comic industry awards this year than we’d seen in some entire decades prior to the 2010s. The comics landscape is changing before our eyes, and that’s a great thing.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Gina Gagliano’s lineup at Random House Graphic will bring even more young readers into comics. That and Raina Telgemeier’s how-to book Share Your Smile are going to lay the foundation for the biggest story in comics in 2024.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? It’s not an election year, so if I can go a week without any major political news or upheavals, that would be great.

Who inspired you in 2018? Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Spider-Man’s co-creators couldn’t have taken more divergent paths if they’d tried, but each seemed to be more than content with his lot in life. There are lessons to be learned from both.

Alison Wilgus, Cartoonist

2019 Projects: I just turned in the second and final volume of my graphic novel series, Chronin, which I’ve been working on since 2007. BOTH volumes will debut from Tor in 2019, which is absolutely wild — Volume 1 in February and Volume 2 in September. I’ll also be continuing to put out the Graphic Novel TK podcast with my friend and co-producer, Gina Gagliano!

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Gina Gagliano starting her new graphic novel imprint at PRH. And I’m not just saying this because Gina’s a friend — Random House Graphic was announced in the Spring, and it’s already transforming the landscape of kids’ graphic novel publishing from where I sit. If you’re a cartoonist who wants the resources and reach of a major print publisher, you can count your options on one hand. We hardly ever get major new players like this, and I can’t wait to see how everything shakes out over the next couple of years.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? God who knows.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? I feel no guilt for my pleasures anymore, we all gotta cling to what joy we can on this bitch of an earth. Who inspired you in 2018? My editor, Diana Pho. As I’ve taken on more editorial work of my own this past year, as well as interviewing a ton of industry professionals for GNTK, I have a much better understanding of JUST HOW INSANELY GOOD AT HER JOB SHE IS, as well as being an exceptionally generous and kind member of the larger community.

Rob Clough, Critic

2019 Projects: Continuing to write for The Comics Journal, Comics MNT, Publisher’s Weekly, Your Chicken Enemy, WowCool.com, and whoever else will have me. My own High-Low blog just hit its tenth anniversary, and I plan to keep at that as well as write for my patrons at my Patreon. This is the year I also hope to work on my first couple of books. I will also continue my position as co- programmer of SPX.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The continuing, massive culture shift in terms of who is making comics and for whom. There are more women, more people of color, and more queer folk than ever in comics, and that number is growing exponentially. Trans creators in particular made a huge impact in 2018. The blowback from the usual quarters was as predictable as it was irrelevant.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The continued struggle to solve the distribution problem for small-press cartoonists is the big one. There is an explosion of new cartoonists thanks to greater access to comics education, but creating a sustainable market for them all is going to be a real challenge. The festival circuit should be seen as a supplement and marketing tool, not a solution.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Going to an NXT show in Durham.

Who inspired you in 2018? All of the other members of #defendthe11, but especially Whit Taylor.

Vita Ayala, writer

2019 Projects: Age Of X-Man: Prisoner X and more Livewire! Also some unannounced things, so stay tuned…

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Too many amazing stories I am looking forward to reading to choose!

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Danny Lore, Matt Rosenberg, Che Grayson, Regine Sawyer.

Madeleine Holly-Rosing,  Writer

2019 Projects: The new Boston Metaphysical Society one-shot, The Spirit of Rebellion (below) and more novels!

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Marvel original line of digital comics

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The growth of independent titles.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Reading more.

Ted Rall, Cartoonist and writer

2019 Projects: THE STRINGER, a graphic novel where “Wag the Dog” meets “Breaking Bad”, drawn by Pablo Callejo and written by Ted Rall. WHAT’S LEFT: THE FIGHT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY by Ted Rall, about the clash between progressives and corporate liberals. A paperback reissue of THE YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY, drawn by Pablo Callejo and written by Ted Rall. And an as yet untitled novel.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Watching American democracy continue to implode. Who inspired you in 2018? Social media, negatively. The stupidity level finally rose to the level where it became impossible to care what trolls might think. This forced me to think for myself and rely on my own instincts.

Raina Telgemeier, Cartoonist

2019 Projects: Share Your Smile, a how-to comics guide for young creators, comes out April 30th. And my next full-length graphic novel, Guts, will be out on September 17th! It’s a prequel to Smile and Sisters. I’m pretty excited about it.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? When Stan Lee passed away, the rest of the world, all the regular people I know, were talking about it. His influence went so far beyond the industry.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? I can tell you something I’m looking forward to! Jen Wang’s new graphic novel, STARGAZING. I got to read an advance copy, and I’m so glad it’ll be out in the world next year.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? I have four events lined up in Texas next year, so I’m looking forward to tacos. All of the tacos.

Who inspired you in 2018? Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s Hey, Kiddo is one of the bravest graphic memoirs ever written. It allows kids who suffer from family addiction in silence to feel seen. I’m so proud of and inspired by Jarrett!

David Macho, Jack of all trades

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The batwedding

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Publishers drop Diamond, change distribution, avoid impending death! 😛

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? War of the Realms

Todd Allen, Talking Head

2019 Projects:

A little more supernatural detective work:

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Taken as a whole, the various launch and relaunch attempts… and there were plenty.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? How the 2018 launches/relaunches play out and the next wave. It sure feels like it’s taking more and more effort to tread water and this will have a trickle down effect one way or the other. I just hope a Barnes & Noble contraction doesn’t factor into that.

Jordan B. Gorfinkel, Producer, Writer, Cartoonist

2019 Projects: www.jewishcartoon.com/passover

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Pretty much every Mark Waid and Chris Samnee collaboration. Their batting average is off the charts.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Please God, not Bruce Wayne’s penis.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Catching up on all the Marvel movies while house-sitting for a friend with a huge TV.

Atom! Freeman, Sales and Marketing Maven

2019 Projects: Building Prana: Direct Market Solutions. Creating more resources for retailers and publishers. Building ComicHub into a resource for all in comics.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018 There were SO MANY! Seriously, do you remember a weirder year in the comics industry or was it just me? Valiant, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW… everyone has been affected by this weirdo year.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? TKO, maybe? ComicHub? Prana? I’m optimistic that 2019 becomes the year of decentralizing power that grows the industry for everyone.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Watching TKO and the publishers who follow suit break the distribution model and build the entire industry in the process.

Who inspired you in 2018? Dinesh Shamdasani. Forced out of the company he’s devoted his life to and even though he has more money than I will ever see, he is seeing the movies he set out to make through to the end and gathering speed to go after the next thing.

      The Beat's Annual Creator Survey Part 2: What will 2019 hold for comics? Creators give thei guesses. Continuing with our wide-ranging survey of creators from every end of the business on what happened and what's coming.

[how2to18]

IT’S 1989. You’re in the middle seat of a Chevrolet Astro minivan, flanked on either side by your screaming siblings. Dad is driving. Oh god, he’s air-drumming on the wheel to “Smoke on the Water.” Again. You look down and see your backpack and your heart swells just a little because a device in that bag is your ticket out of here. Janine K gave you a mixtape of songs by The Cure and said they would change your life. The cassette is already in the Walkman deck. You pop on headphones, press play, and crank up the volume. Hello, freedom.

It’s hard to remember a time before we had the option to curate the playlist of our own minds. We are simply accustomed now to experiencing music in this deeply personal, albeit solitary, way. We disappear into headphones, stream a song via smartphone from the intangible, infinite web, creating a sonic landscape that mirrors our mood. We walk around the grocery store in Beyoncé-land.

But that wasn’t always the case. In her new book Personal Stereo, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow analyzes two major shifts in perspective associated with the 1979 birth of the first solo listening device, the Walkman. First, music becomes a personal experience, and second, music becomes immersive, a means to override — or even negate — the sounds of one’s immediate environment. Listening to music in private was not a new concept, of course, nor was the ability to take music on the road (à la the boom box). However, the idea of making the private experience of music a public phenomenon was groundbreaking. In that sense, the Walkman redefined music: it was a revolutionary tool that offered listeners a new kind of freedom. Music technology today still riffs on the basic concept of the Walkman, only now we have digital access to nearly every recorded song.

To set the stage for the Walkman’s rise, Tuhus-Dubrow takes us to postwar Japan, in a ramshackle office with a leaking roof. Two men are working with umbrellas over their desks. Their names are Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, the founders of Sony and eventual fathers of the Walkman. Personal Stereo is the wild story of the ingenious brotherhood of Ibuka and Morita, of Japan’s ascent from financial ruin to the second largest economy in the world, and of the subsequent pushback from the United States against Japanese-made products. It’s also the story of the “Me Generation” of the 1970s, as well as the exercise craze of the ’80s, and all the anxiety and nostalgia implicit in the beginning and end of an era.

Personal Stereo is the latest entry in Bloomsbury’s “Object Lessons” series, which focuses on the hidden lives of ordinary things. The short book is divided into three chapters — “Novelty,” “Norm,” and “Nostalgia” — which together trace a narrative arc that mirrors the lifespan of a zeitgeist technology turned obsolete. Sub-sections within each chapter have evocative titles like “Trapping sound,” “Remember Pearl Harbor,” and — my personal favorite — “Home taping is killing music.” (One can almost hear record label executives in the age of digital streaming laughing out loud at that last title.) Tuhus-Dubrow illuminates a web of stories connected to the Walkman, her references as ubiquitous as its users. She takes us to a mountain in wintry Switzerland where Andreas Pavel, who would later win a lawsuit against Sony, played music for his lover on his jerry-rigged personal stereo while the snow fell silently around them. She quotes Tom Wolfe and Allan Bloom, along with her own buddy who had his Walkman stolen. After finishing Personal Stereo, I found myself wondering about the secret lives of every object around me, as if each device were whispering, “Oh, I am much so more than meets the eye.”

The most haunting theme Tuhus-Dubrow treats is contemporary nostalgia for analog technology. In 2015, the National Audio Company reported the best year of cassette sales since 1969. Thurston Moore, formerly of Sonic Youth, claims he only listens to music on cassette, and many artists today elect to release music exclusively on tape. Questioning her own nostalgia, Tuhus-Dubrow tackles the murky issue of why consumers would hold on to this outdated technology. Why commemorate an obsolete device? Tuhus-Dubrow suggests we are nostalgic for the Walkman not because it reminds us of a particular time and place, or an early taste of freedom, nor because it was pivotal in defining the spirit of an age, but because we may secretly long for boundaries in a world of limitless access. Perhaps we crave the singular focus that the Walkman’s simplicity forced on us: listen to this one Pearl Jam tape all the way home, because that’s all you’ve got. Tuhus-Dubrow speculates that we miss the time when we could actually touch music — when we had to fumble with a wonky device through a maze of fast-forwarding, rewinding, fast-forwarding again until the click: that sweet spot somewhere mid-tape, the beginning of our favorite song.

As with most generation-defining forms of technology, consumers had conflicting opinions about the Walkman. Because of the newfound personal freedom it offered, the Walkman was considered a threat, antisocial and amoral. “Walkman’s Oblivion” was likened to the escape of taking drugs or dissociating into a film-like hyper-reality. People who chose to withdraw into the private world of their personal stereos, hips gyrating down the street to invisible music, were labeled selfish, hermetic, or just plain crazy. “The history of technology,” Tuhus-Dubrow writes, “is in part the story of normal people starting to do things that used to be considered signs of insanity.” The Walkman’s origin story is as curious as the slew of contradictions surrounding its reception. This little device was seen as simultaneously a quintessential symbol of the United States and everything that’s wrong with the country, a tool both of laziness and of hyper-productivity (think: exercise craze), as well as a ubiquitous symbol of style and status.

Tuhus-Dubrow is a master researcher and synthesizer. It would appear that she has left no Walkman-related stone unturned. That said, if I could request a hidden bonus track to Personal Stereo, I would wish for more of her insightful musings on the mixtape, a phenomenon responsible for more excited swooning, long-shot lyrical (mis)interpretations, and make-out sessions than any other music delivery mechanism. Surely there is a connection to be made between the Walkman’s redefinition of music as personal and the art of curating a music mix specifically for your crush. If the Walkman had never come into being, would it have occurred to us to select and organize songs with such uniquely personal intention? Tuhus-Dubrow does touch on a mix of her own creation, including a stellar lineup of R.E.M. and Beat Happening, but it would be fascinating to read more of her thoughts on the subject. Then again, maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic for Janine K’s mix of The Cure, the one that truly set me free.

In July 2012, for approximately 45 seconds, I erroneously believed that I owned New York City. This brief moment accompanied a runner’s high, as I jogged alone along the Hudson, earbuds blasting “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Sure, the exercise-induced endorphin rush contributed to my delusion, but the truth is I couldn’t have approached that moment of ecstasy had it not been for the ability to disappear into my personal stereo. At the time, I never would have credited the Walkman for my elation, but thanks to Tuhus-Dubrow, an elegant, engaging storyteller who unpacks complex social and political concepts with clarity and panache, I know better now. Personal Stereo is a joy to read.

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Carissa Stolting is the founder of Left Bank Artists, an artist management company based in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a contributing poet to the podcast Versify, a publication of PRX, The Porch Writers’ Collective, and Nashville Public Radio.

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