Welcome to Albuquerque

Hello Friends, Readers, Family that actually reads this. I am safe and sound in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s been a pretty strange trip. For one, it’s cold but sunny most of the time. I want to go out more, but when the enticing brightness gets me to emerge from my warm apartment I feel like I am being lied to and so I usually spend the next day holed up staying warm and going through the mountains of stuff I have to go through. Then I watch a bunch of TV (I watched 3 and half seasons of The Office already – lame). The experience has been kind of surreal. Both being in a new place and acknowledging the mountains of my past that I literally carried with me in the form of records, photographs, letters, notebooks, artwork is overwhelming. I need to do a bit better about getting out and about, I’ve only done a little bit of that so far, but I am going make more of an effort this week to travel and see the state and the city.

One of the things I did do last week was go to a show. I found a place called Small Engine Rez. It was an old Go-Kart repair shop that has been turned into a performance space. I felt pretty at home there actually, in the cold, amongst strangers. The kids drinking beer at DIY show was a bit weird. That happened in DC from time to time sure, but it seemed like everyone had a beer in their hand at this show. Albuquerque, from what I gathered has a burgeoning noise scene and both the first two artists, Ryan Dennison and Baby Shampoo did just that. It was interesting, but I’m not sure if I could sustain on those types of performances. We have more work to do. Vegetables were a band from Phoenix, AZ that were like Surf-Pop. They were really great and I will have to track down their 7″ which I couldn’t afford that night. I got some great shots of them too, despite having to use the built-in flash. Closing out the night was Laura Ortman who played sorta a free-form almost gothic like music. She was pretty awesome. I quite enjoyed it when she was playing violin. It was extraordinary. She was accompanied by local musician Raven Chacon, who seems to be quite prolific with his Sicksicksick Distro. They do lots of tapes which is pretty cool. I bought Laura Ortman’s tape Someday We’ll Be Together of which I will give a full review soon.

I’ve also been working on a bunch of artwork as well. One of the reasons I wanted to move out to Albuquerque was to take some time to actually work on art projects that I have been neglecting for the past year. I haven’t done much with the cards, but I am trying to draw, make stencils and do other manipulations of stuff. I’ve also been working on music as well. I wrote three songs already as well as some other manipulation/sample pieces. So the Terrible Tumors has two new demos up on my sound cloud page if your interested in checking that stuff out. I even wrote another April Decca song, which I didn’t think I would do, but it just kind of came out one day. Part of the manipulation/sample project I am working on also includes an idea I’ve had for a while, taking samples from some talking tapes and turning them into a beat. I worked a bunch New Years Eve on that, before drinking too much rum and drawing all night. So between the laziness and the cold and the watching TV I am getting my creative juices flowing. I wish it was more of stream then a drizzle, but I guess I just need to be lucky for what I am getting back.

I also started on the great photograph archive project. The beginnings of which area already up at my Flickr page. That weird walk down memory lane was, quite honestly a bit unnerving as I also found a lot of personal pictures. I wasn’t wholly prepared for that. But it was good, a lot of great shows were remembered. I guess I kind of did okay. I wish I brought my camera to more shows, especially the year I decided not to. But I was burnt out. But there is a serious lack of The Dead Teenagers and Motorcycle Wars in my collection as well as The Dismemberment Plan and Q and Not U, though I did shoot a few of those shows as well, both before and after that year. I also came across the only photos I had taken of Clark Sabine in any of the bands he was in (I sadly never shot any photos of Statehood, which was dumb). It was a show in Arlington with The City The Sea. They aren’t the greatest photos I’ve ever shot. I wasn’t familiar with the band, the space or the people there, and it was not very crowded either, but they are what they are. I will scan the rest shortly and put them on flickr. It was one of the last sets of photos I came across the night I embarked on this project (which also led me to drinking a hefty serving of whiskey) and made the gut wrenching experience of re-experiencing my younger self totally worth it.

So that’s my Albuquerque update for you all. As for KYS, well I have a few more interviews completed, which should be awesome, as well as one from the archive. Not sure what’s up with the reviews at the moment. The beginning of the year is a slow time for new releases, so we shall see. I have another podcast recorded too and hopefully will get that shit up this week. I have my microphones so the sound quality of me talking is better. The content of me rambling, not so much. But you probably gathered that from this post anyway.

Be well people, thanks for stopping by and have a great 2011.

 

Going Out West Vol 7 – The Last Update

Hey kids, so you know how I said I was gonna go see Bad Religion at the Sunshine Theater in Albuquerque last night. And I know I said I was gonna write this thing about Spray Paint The Walls and the OFF Videos and tie all three in. But I am sorry to say that shit is not going to happen. And I know yr all like “Dude, what the fuck? Seriously, I don’t come to this already crappy blog to read about your already boring ass vacation. Top that shit off with the fact that you’ve had the new Kid Cudi and Cee-Lo albums for over 24 hours and we haven’t seen you wax prolific on that science yet? What the fuck dude?” Well, let me address your concerns first and then I will rock my last update to you this morning.

The Sunshine Theater consistently got bad reviews both on the internet (see also here and here) and with the two random people I talked to about it. It seems it has really shitty sound and the staff is out of place most times with how they treat their patrons. At 33, I do not want to be intimidated by asshole kids who think being a prick is part of their job description. There is also no excuse for a poor sound system. Add to the fact that I saw Bad Religion ten years ago, after not listening to them for about 5-8 years and knew 95% of their songs and they weren’t that good then, and they have gotten progressively slower and older, passing just seemed like the right choice. I drank beer, ate nachos and watched a shitload of MTV2 who continually show reruns of Jackass which I fully endorse as the greatest thing ever committed to film, tape and digital video. 50 Year Old Punkers can not compete with hours upon hours of dudes hurting themselves.

As for the Kid Cudi and Cee-Lo albums, I haven’t even listened to them yet. I can’t hook my iPod up to the car I rented and listening in the hotel room is not optimal. There is something non-musical about hotel rooms. I don’t know what it is. But straight up, I will listen to the joints on the plane, make notes for you kids and have some stuff next week for you on those. I will review that Black Flag book and talk about those awesome OFF video’s that will hopefully still be up on the Vice site next week.

In regards to my stay out west, yesterday was a pretty good day. I woke up and rocked a huge breakfast at Little Anita’s which is across the street from me. It is the sister restaurant of Anita’s in Northern Virginia. The food here is honestly a lot better, mostly because the Green Chile out here is outrageous. It has heat and spice and tastes so good. I hope a steady diet of refried beans and chile is a good idea, because when I move here that’s probably all I am going to eat.

After that I headed to the Botanical Gardens, Aquarium and the Zoo. No joke I spent about 5 hours at these three places walking around, taking awesome pictures, smiling at and pushing away kids to get my shots and see cool shit. The Garden’s are a bit bo-bo right now, cuz you know it’s still winter here and not much grows. But it’s a rad set up. The BioPark as it’s called includes a creepy Children’s Fantasy Garden that set a lot of kids crying, an awesome outdoor model train setup, sweet ponds with ducks, and all kinds of other cool stuff. The Aquarium is small in comparison to a  lot of the great east coast ones, but they have a lot of crazy fish and a shark tank. So that’s pretty cool. Then I took a small train that goes to the Zoo by way of Tingley Beach, which seems to be a series of man made ponds for the kids. The Zoo rips, but the Polar Bear wasn’t there and I think I missed like half of it because it’s difficult to navigate and I lost my map and couldn’t find the entrance. Also I am now convinced that Giraffes are from another planet because they are awesome as shit.

After the BioPark visit I headed to a record store called Natural Sound. It was pretty decent, lots of used and new stuff, a little overpriced in the new release area and the selection was odd, but decent. Their used selection was okay and I did pick up a copy of Reject All American by Bikini Kill. If I was already there I would have hit up a few albums, but I don’t like traveling with vinyl or shipping it. The dude manning the counter was cool though and gave me some insight on the local music scene. So that was handy.

After all of this, like i said it was beer and nachos and a lot of TV which felt good. I think today I am going to go to Santa Fe and try and check out the Georgia O’Keeffe museum. There is also a Buddhist Temple out that way I want to check out. So I think that will be my day today. Then it’s probably back for dinner, get all cleaned up and ready for my late afternoon flight tomorrow, which sucks. I am ready to get back to Dixie, work on a few things and prepare for my return. Albuquerque has been pretty good to me so far. My adventures will continue, many of which will be brought to you here in this space. Keep it real folks.

Going Out West Volume 5

Dear readers, thanks for your attention over the last few days. It seems we will be putting in an application for an apartment in Northwest Albuquerque today. It’s a nice, suburban like community about five miles from downtown. Albuquerque is really expansive and everything is spread out. It feels like everything is forever far from each other. But it only took me 15 minutes to go 5 miles in the mist of Albuquerque rush hour last night.

So for those who come for the music, fear not, Friday should bring you a nice long rant on Black Flag, Bad Religion and OFF!. The Religion are playing here in the ABQ on Thursday and I have decided to go. Mostly because Off With Their Heads (winners of the KYS #1 Album of 2008) and the Bouncing Souls are playing. But I just finished reading Spray Paint The Walls, which is the story of Black Flag,  And the OFF videos that I have seen so far are incredible. So there are a lot of parallels. Be on the look out.

Also be on the look out for more posts from my man William F. Willard who has appeared to have left the hotel room in search of the promised wild west. But I like him and his ilk and think he will bring a much needed change to the blog. Also, upon return to Dixie (which looks like I will be there through Thanksgiving), Beau Beau the Cat will be bringing you some of the periodical album reviews. Oh yea I have a few other creative projects to get me between November and my relocation to the ABQ.

So yea, it’s been a weird week so far. I’ve watched a lot of MTV2 and been going to be really early and waking up really early. That part kind of sucks. Anyway, I am looking at least a six month stay here in the wild west. Not quite sure what the hell the future holds. We shall see. Oh yea, if anyone wants to gift me the New Kid Cudi and Cee-Lo Green, I would be stoked. Leave a comment, I’ll let you know where you can send that.

Peace.

Goin Out West Volume 3

William F. Willard here. The editor has really gone off the deep end now. The morning started off way too early. Dehydration kept this rag tag journalistic team up all night (did I mention our fearless editor, Erik K. Gamlem forgot his cord for the camera and as such we are without photos on this excursion, not that chief photographer Erik K Gamlem has taken any pristine shots, save for a few out of the window of our hotel last night. We are in what they call the land of enchantment, and this guy can’t even be bothered to take a few pictures? We are truly doomed).

So we awoke early due to lack of sleep. William F. Willard, prized journalist for sure, does not awake early for any man or child, the right woman however, that’s another story. We mulled about the hotel, catching the new Frodus Sound Laboratories output on the computer stream,  until a breakfast of substance was required to sustain us for our journey. We had Huevos Rancheros and two cups of coffee. So there I thought the fuel would get us through. Little did I know most of my thirst would be quenched not by the great coffee bean, nor the barley and hops that any  first rate wordsmith requires all day, but instead water was all that was on the menu.

Gamlem thinks he did find an apartment however. It’s a quaint place in a yellow and blue building that looks more like a fraternity house for an all gay, all out football team. It’s very colorful. Very blue, and very yellow. But it seems it will accommodate our drinking needs and offer a space to entertain you college co-eds matriculating down at the University of New Mexico.

We missed the new fucking Episode of fucking House M.D. tonight because apparently we are in fucking central time. 7 FUCKING PM. WHO THE FUCK STARTS PRIME TIME TELEVISION AT 7 FUCKING PM? And my illustrious editor doesn’t feel that alcohol is needed to cope with this travesty. If he didn’t have the keys to the rental I would drive that shit to the border and sell it for a six pack of corona and a bus ticket to San Diego. But I don’t know where he hid them. Fuck that guy.

This is a sober, pissed off William F. Willard signing off.

Goin Out West Vol 2.

Albuquerque is fucking really dry. My whole body is dry right now. I have a feeling I am going to drink more water in the next two days then I ever have ever, just to calibrate my existence. I already run pretty dehydrated as it is.

I feel like I am on another planet. Like I walked into some dive bar on Alpha Centauri. It’s desolate and lonely, unlike any part of the world you have ever seen, certainly different than the lush, damp Virginia soil I left behind. Did Ford Prefect pick me up, hand me a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster and set me loose in some strange land? I think so. But in all seriousness, this is a very strange place.

My first attempt at finding local culture was met by dinner at the Flying Star Cafe. This is a bit more upscale and yuppieish, hipsterish then I was in the mood for. Not that the food or the service was bad. It was quite pleasant actually. Nice people, apologetic that they did not have the beer that I wanted. The food was good, more than I want to spend, seeing as steady income is now an issue. But everyone is polite, laid back and drive like maniacs. This was supported by an article I read in the Santa Fe Reporter which indicated that accident rates and DUI arrests are some of the highest in the nation.I followed my meal by a walk through the adjacent book store, picking up, but ultimately not buying Ghostgirl, which admittedly looks a little sophomoric on the surface, but may have been some humorous, light reading apt for a plane. We’ll see how the week goes. I don’t much care for buying books any more. They take up space and the library is filled with ones you can borrow.

I bought water from a Walgreens after a short drive through Old Town Albuquerque, or at least a very small part of it. This is the area I want to live, and the brief driving around it, so far supports this impulsive, unresearched decision. It’s quiet, bare, and homes are unique and seem to showcase the personalities of the people inside them. If I had my druthers and confidence at all about this move, I would buy one of these humble abodes and set up shop, crafting my own unique living quarters to the world. I look forward to more of this city soon.

Tomorrow I hope to at least find the place I like. Do to unforeseen details on my part, I do not have a check book and thus, not the paper capital to negotiate semi-permanent lodging yet. An unforseen road block, but one I am sure there is a solution for. Hopefully the check book comes and Fed Ex can be snappy on the relay. Otherwise, we shall see.

Should there be adventure, it will be told. My compatriot and I will regale you with the lurid details. Though I doubt we are set for much in the way of exciting exchanges. Who knows though, the locals seem to have confidence in me, those that have heard my tale thus far.

Until next time, this is Erik Gamlem, signing out.

Goin Out West Where They Appreciate Me

William F. Willard, KYS Correspondent here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am on site with the staff, contemplating a relocation to this yellow state. I haven’t had near enough to drink to come to terms with the day glow, “earthy” colors of the hotel room, and so far my battered editor, Erik Gamlem, has not had the decency to supply his staff with alcohol, coffee, kind women or anything else worthy of our journalistic talents. A shared 20oz Miller Light at Pappasito’s in the Dallas/Ft Worth Airport is all this rouged wordsmith has had to get him through the gruel.

My sinuses are dry and Gamlem expects 500 words already and nothing has happened. The elevators and automatic doors move slow, but every one drives fast, which considering the surroundings makes one wonder where they have to go. Albuquerque is divided by two interstates, going north and south, east and west and yet it offers only 800,000 people apparently and is a city that is fast asleep at 3:30PM on a Sunday, despite glorious temperatures of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

We are watching Jackass reruns, the room is dark. Nothing is salvaged of our humanity. The wild west this is not, at least not yet, as we are not quite desperate, not quite pushed to our animalistic core. The edge is not far from us. It lingers off in a distance (whose visibility today is 70 miles plus. That’s like being able to see Richmond from Potomac Mills Mall off Interstate 95 south in Dixie), one that seems alien in the massive mountains that surrounds us. Here we find our constitution, or our destitution, which ever script has been written. We don’t know, were not much for reading.

This is William F. Willard for Korrupt Yrself Industries signing off.