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Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sun, 19 May 2013 17:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/18/tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-two http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/18/tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-two Kelly O <p><small><em>EDS NOTE: <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/16/triumphant-return-of-tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-one">Entry #2</a>, from Zack of the Ex-Girlfriends. You should listen to them <a href="http://ex-girlfriends.bandcamp.com/">right here</a>, <br />and then read on! &#8212;Kelly O</em></small></p> <p>"We wake up to two pugs named <strong>Dave Grohl</strong> and<strong> Chris Shiflett</strong>, taking turns sitting on our foreheads. Our first show is in Ikebukuro, at a bar called <strong>The Manhole</strong>&#8212;a tiny smoky basement bar beneath an optometrist's office. All six bands get a 20-minute sound check (that the other bands watch, dutifully) followed by a meeting that apparently happens before every show, wherein each band is introduced to <strong>everyone in a huge circle</strong>, and then they welcome us to Japan. The level of commitment here is humbling&#8212;playing a show is a seven or eight hour chunk out of the day, not the two or three hour <strong>stumble-into-the-Comet Tavern</strong> shit that we're used to. Every band we play with is incredibly polished. Before the show, we go to a bar to eat, and our waitress comes out with <strong>a live squid in a bag</strong> for our approval as she brings our drinks. We nod like we know what the fuck we're looking at, and half an hour later it comes out, sliced up and raw. Halfway through <strong>picking meat off it's back</strong>, a stray chopstick pokes the squid in the face, and Pete swears he sees it move. We ask if its still alive, and our friend Yuto says, "Just a little bit." </p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/bcd6/1366333151-pug.jpg" alt="Dave Grohl is a pug!" title="Dave Grohl is a pug!" width="500" height="396" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Ex-Girlfriends</li><li class="imageCaption">Dave Grohl is a pug!</li></ul></div></p> <p>Our show is amazing, everybody's <strong>super-enthusiastic</strong>. Afterwards we go to an after-party&#8212;called "uchiage"&#8212;that's all-you-can-drink-AND-eat for 25 bucks. They teach us how to yell <strong>"SIT ON MY FACE"</strong> in Japanese. We get tanked and video tape a urinal with a built-in video game that measures the<strong> volume of pee</strong> in the bowl."</p> <p><strong>Quote of the day</strong> "There is nothing like a bidet to wash the shame of beer shits off your ass."&#8212;<em>Mike Loftus</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9738/1366333215-manhole.jpg" alt="manhole.jpg" title="" width="500" height="667" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">ex-girlfriends</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9d11/1366333256-squid.jpg" alt="Its alive!" title="Its alive!" width="500" height="354" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">ex-girlfriends</li><li class="imageCaption">It's alive!</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/18/tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-two#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16531236&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> On Tour Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/18/tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-two?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16531236&id=comments 0 Tour Diary: Seattle's Ex-Girlfriends Go to Japan, Entry Two Dave Grohl is a pug! Ex-Girlfriends Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:30:48 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/16/triumphant-return-of-tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-one http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/16/triumphant-return-of-tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-one Kelly O <p><small><em>EDS NOTE: Entry #1, from Mike of the Ex-Girlfriends. You should listen to them <a href="http://ex-girlfriends.bandcamp.com/">right here</a>, <br />and then read on! &#8212;Kelly O</em></small></p> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/d2ba/1366155072-poster.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/d2ba/1366155072-poster.jpg" alt="poster.jpg" title="" width="200" height="270" /></a></div>"After <strong>14 hours of flying</strong>, and countless hours spent waiting around, we finally landed in the Narita International Airport. The flight was star-studded. We took the sightings of both of <strong>Rihanna</strong> and <strong>the Pharcyde</strong> on our plane as omens of good luck. One of the dudes from Pharcyde was even nice enough to switch seats with me so that Chris and I could sit together. We took advantage of the free beer and <strong>laughed ourselves to sleep</strong> with <em>Mrs. Doubtfire</em>, <em>Beverly Hills Cop</em>, and Xanax. </p> <p>When we got to Narita, after a short wait, our friend Hiroki drove us straight to a punk show, where <strong>he fed us many Budweisers</strong>. <br />Let it be known, that we hadn't eaten in quite some time. The possibly least responsible member of our band proceeded to get smashed. Chris fell in love with a super sexy bass player, and was super pissed when we made him leave." &#8212;<em>Mike, guitar</em></p> <p><strong>Quote of the day:</strong> "The best part about people thinking you're Kurt Cobain is that when you can't get it up, you don't have to be embarrassed&#8212;you can just pin that shit on him" &#8212;<em>Chris, drums</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/c40d/1366155973-group.jpg" alt="(L-R) Zack Marley, Peter Christensen, Chris Byrne, Michael Loftus, and Elizabeth Marx" title="(L-R) Zack Marley, Peter Christensen, Chris Byrne, Michael Loftus, and Elizabeth Marx" width="500" height="508" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">photo by Hiroki Okano</li><li class="imageCaption">(L-R) Zack Marley, Peter Christensen, Chris Byrne, Michael Loftus, and Elizabeth Marx</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/16/triumphant-return-of-tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-one#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16509231&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> On Tour Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/16/triumphant-return-of-tour-diary-seattles-ex-girlfriends-go-to-japan-entry-one?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16509231&id=comments 0 Triumphant Return of Tour Diary: Seattle's Ex-Girlfriends Go to Japan, Entry One Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:08:09 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/30/karriem-riggins-round-the-outside http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/30/karriem-riggins-round-the-outside Larry Mizell, Jr. <p>You might recall that the last time I hit the road with Shabazz Palaces, I wrote a couple tour diary entries on Line Out; well, I really don't have time to do that this time, but I can definitely tell you that the shows with <strong>The Helio Sequence</strong> (I love these dudes) have ranged anywhere from cool to a-fuckin-mazing, that our spin through Florida was a much-needed holiday in the sun, and that my music selecting in the van has been pretty damn good, as usual. Long drives have given me an excuse to play, besides a great deal of Prince's and Lil B's catalogue, all of <em>Alone/Together</em>, that <a href="http://www.karriemriggins.com">Karriem Riggins</a> album from last year that I never peeped:<br /><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gaVhHlO0Dxo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /></div><br />Also I want to shout out our voice of reason on the road, the SIRIUS-made navigation system that we like to call <a href="http://www.tahiryonline.com/newsite/">Tahiri</a>, seeing as the brothers in the wine-colored van deeply appreciate her counsel. There's certainly a ponderous, philosophical heft to her phrase "stay on the road." I will.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/30/karriem-riggins-round-the-outside#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15884403&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary Video http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/30/karriem-riggins-round-the-outside?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15884403&id=comments 0 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:56:03 -0800 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/12/21/the-passengers-ted-narcotics-taxicab-music-show http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/12/21/the-passengers-ted-narcotics-taxicab-music-show Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2320/1356051350-music-570.jpeg" alt="TED NARCOTIC: Living life unfiltered." title="TED NARCOTIC: Living life unfiltered." width="300" height="250" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Kelly O</li><li class="imageCaption">TED NARCOTIC: Living life unfiltered.</li></ul></div>I don't exactly remember the first time I got a ride from Ted Narcotic, aka Theodore L. Higgins, aka Yellow Cab number 352. It was probably late and probably downtown. That's where he usually turns up.</p> <p>But I clearly remember his vague resemblance to Iggy Pop&#8212;long hair, gently weathered face&#8212;and his boyish friendliness. I also remember the music playing on his car stereo: <strong>fuzzy, stripped-down, bluesy rock 'n' roll </strong>that wrapped its hazy arms around vocals that were half-sung and half-spoken, which also bore a resemblance to Iggy Pop. I leaned forward and asked the driver who it was.</p> <p>"That's me!" he said, smiling. At the end of the ride, he handed me two home-burned CDs, pulled out a marker, and signed them "Ted Narcotic."</p> <p>I remember a few other cab rides with Ted over the years&#8212;he's a memorable guy&#8212;and, one recent rainy night, I hailed a cab downtown. It was Ted. He drove a friend and me home while playing another one of his songs, this one with a glazed, tinkling piano/guitar combination that sounded like the Velvet Underground. As he gunned up a hill, his voice warbled over the speakers: "You say you want something wholesome... Well, I'm reading your letters from a prison cell. <strong>Is that wholesome? I'm stuck in Folsom.</strong>"</p> <p>At that moment, he made a hard but smooth left turn, cutting in front of oncoming traffic that a nonprofessional might have paused for. "Nice," my friend said. "My turn?" Ted asked, grinning into the rearview mirror. "Or my turn of phrase?"</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-passengers/Content?oid=15565485"><u>Continue reading &#187;</u></a></p> Interview Road Diary 206 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/12/21/the-passengers-ted-narcotics-taxicab-music-show?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15582276&id=comments 0 The Passengers: Ted Narcotic's Taxicab Music Show TED NARCOTIC: Living life unfiltered. Kelly O Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:07:00 -0800 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/10/31/crypts-recap-blood-tetrahedrons-tonight-at-chop-suey http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/10/31/crypts-recap-blood-tetrahedrons-tonight-at-chop-suey Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/e5a4/1351723771-cryptstour12.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/e5a4/1351723771-cryptstour12.jpg" alt="CryptsTour12.jpg" title="" width="250" height="360" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Radjaw</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div><a href="http://cryptsmusic.tumblr.com">Crypts</a> have returned from tour mobility and have a show tonight at Chop Suey with Ononos, Haunted Horses, and Battle Stations. Crypts&#8217; tour manager Radjaw dispatched the following notes from the road.</p> <p><em><strong>San Diego</strong></em>: We smoked DMT and smeared blood onto ourselves. A big Mexican guy kept screaming at Steve the whole set and calling him a faggot. It got heated and slightly physical. Steve gave him the mic and started throwing saliva at him. He swung the mic at Steve. I grabbed him around his head and security threw him out. He bitched and moaned at us the whole time we loaded out. When he asked Omar Rodriguez Lopez for a signature, Omar signed his name then scribbled it out while saying very evil things in Spanish. </p> <p><strong>Did the DMT make u feel like you were on a tropical beach?</strong></p> <p>Yes. Nick entered into a geometric world of shapes. 3D hexagons and tetrahedron spheres.</p> <p><strong>Describe the beach. Was Steve nude?</strong></p> <p>There was no beach. Steve didn't do it. He watched.</p> <p><iframe width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/D5SpPtcCgHY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><em><strong>Sacramento</strong></em>: Palm trees and too many BP gas stations. Weird futuristic bar with dining tables and red swirly walls. It tried, yet lacked of <em>Clockwork Orange</em> nostalgia. Nick came out with his modular thing. I had to wake up the sound engineer to let him know the show was starting. I asked him to cut the house music and kill the lights. It took him a good five minutes into Nick&#8217;s set to understand what was going on. We went back and forth about the lights -</p> <p>Me: "Can we have it all dark the whole time? We will make our own lights."</p> <p>Sound Man: "You got it, no problem."</p> <p>Me: "Why do you keeping putting lights on when I asked you not to?"</p> <p>Sound Man: "Cause it looks bad ass!"</p> <p>The fire alarms went off because of all the smoke, right when song 4 was over. Sound broke down too, to peace, quiet, and confusion. People weren't sure if it was part of the act or a legitimate problem. Weed smoke filled the air and people seemed anxious for more music. Now Crypts could do no wrong and the crowd was hyped. Yet they only seemed to buy Omar Rodriguez Lopez merch.</p> <p><em><strong>Santa Ana</strong></em>: Macklemore played upstairs and we played downstairs. 1200 kids lined up outside and every single one ran past our soundcheck in pure jubilation. Disregarding the neo goth sounds of Crypts. </p> <p><em><strong>Los Angeles</strong></em>: We got four free joints. Chelsea Wolfe and Ben gave us a 20 sack. Security guard gave us his joint.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/10/31/crypts-recap-blood-tetrahedrons-tonight-at-chop-suey#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15153238&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tonight Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/10/31/crypts-recap-blood-tetrahedrons-tonight-at-chop-suey?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15153238&id=comments 9 Crypts Recap: Blood Tetrahedrons. Tonight at Chop Suey Radjaw Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:20:44 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/23/russian-circles-euro-tour-diary-pt-1 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/23/russian-circles-euro-tour-diary-pt-1 Brian Cook <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/8a14/1335199666-tumblr_m24v8es9gq1qgz64qo1_500.jpg" alt="tumblr_m24v8es9Gq1qgz64qo1_500.jpg" title="" width="400" height="400" /></div><br />When the band I play in, <strong>Russian Circles</strong>, announced our European tour with <strong>Deafheaven</strong> for Spring 2012, Grant Brissey asked me to write a tour diary chronicling our trip. I was a little hesitant at first. For one thing, I&#8217;ve typically tried to keep my band business separate from my music writing. Additionally, my bandmates aren&#8217;t the kind of people that want all their day-to-day business made public. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that most tour documentaries and diaries focus on either the luxuries of wildly successful artists or the trials and tribulations of struggling acts. There aren&#8217;t a lot of stories of financially sustainable working bands out there. Presumably, that&#8217;s because our stories aren&#8217;t particularly interesting. We&#8217;ve figured out how to tour in a manner where things are relatively stress-free and efficient. We aren&#8217;t partiers. There&#8217;s no cocaine or groupies in the green room. We sleep in hotels and travel in vans. <a href=" http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/complaints-box/Content?oid=13323006" target="_blank">I can&#8217;t promise this will be particularly insightful or even remotely honest.</a> But this is how we roll.</p> <p><strong>Seattle to Chicago to London to Prague</strong></p> <p>My flight itinerary is SeaTac to Chicago to London to Prague. I leave Seattle at noon on April 2nd. We&#8217;re scheduled to get into Prague early afternoon the next day. The rest of the band lives in Chicago, and I meet up with them at my layover at O&#8217;Hare. The last time I flew out of O&#8217;Hare, three separate strangers asked if I was a DJ. Not wanting to get caught up in those conversations again, I choose a seat at the gate next to a guy that looks like <strong>Wayne Coyne</strong>, figuring he&#8217;s less likely to ask me dumb questions. </p> <p>Mike (guitar), Dave (drums), and Che (sound engineer) show up twenty minutes later. Winds up it was a mad dash scramble for them to get to the airport, with the inevitable last minute pre-tour errands taking longer than anticipated and the realization that they&#8217;d left my bass guitar behind just as they were getting on the freeway for the airport. The tour talk catches the ear of the Coyne-look-alike, who winds up actually being <strong>the real Wayne Coyne</strong>. Oops. He is pretty friendly and chats for a bit before there&#8217;s an announcement that the flight has been delayed. This means we will miss our connection. Our London to Prague leg is rebooked for a flight five hours later, which is kind of a drag, but it means we&#8217;re less likely to lose luggage due to a short layover. </p> <p>Fortunately the flight to London isn&#8217;t too packed. After a couple glasses of wine, half a Xanax, and knocking out a chunk of <strong>Jean Genet&#8217;s &#8220;Our Lady Of The Flowers,&#8221;</strong> I pass out for around four or five hours. That&#8217;s more sleep than I typically get on international flights, which is a good start to the tour. Jetlag on these European tours is always brutal. This is my tenth tour in Europe, and I&#8217;ve come to accept that there is no ideal way of beating the time difference. I know I&#8217;ll be exhausted mid afternoon and wide awake at 3am for the next week. But getting a little sleep on an overnight flight and forcing myself to stay awake the whole next day will help with the adjustment. All things considered, I arrive at our final destination feeling pretty good, which is a rare feat in my experience. The girl at the immigration booth in Prague scans my passport without saying one word to me. In fact, she never even looks up from her cellphone. There&#8217;s no one at the customs gate so we just walk through. It won&#8217;t be nearly this easy getting back into the U.S. </p> <p>Our driver Tomas Mladek pick us up from the airport and deliver us to the hotel where we meet up with the guys in <strong>Deafheaven</strong>. We check into our rooms and head out to a nearby bar. At this point, it&#8217;s almost 9:30 at night the day after I left Seattle. My body doesn&#8217;t know what time it is though, and my plan is to get drunk. My experience is that no sleeping pill works as well at conquering jetlag as a couple of shots and a few beers. The bar is a smoky dive in the basement of a theater. Some drunk dude is enamored with our sound guy Che, presumably because there aren&#8217;t a lot of black guys with dreadlocks in Czech Republic. He tries to impress Che by singing a medley of <strong>Bob Marley</strong> songs. We exit the conversation as politely as possible. </p> <p>Pilsners and shots of a Czech plum-based moonshine are consumed. I leave the bar a little before midnight and score exactly eight hours of sleep. Success. </p> <p><strong>Day off in Prague.</strong></p> <p>Actually, it&#8217;s not much of a day off. We planned to get into Europe a couple of days early so that we could adjust to the time-zone change, dial in our rental gear, and practice our set a few times. We go by <strong>Nomads of Prague</strong>, the company we always rent our backline from. One of the co-owners, Tschepitz, played in a band called <strong>Lvmen</strong> that toured with my old band on our first European tour. He left the band a while ago to focus on Nomads, but he mentions that he started playing with Lvmen again a few months ago because <strong>their previous bass player was beheaded in an elevator accident</strong>. </p> <p>We get our gear and head to a studio we&#8217;re renting for the afternoon to rehearse. The load-in and set-up process is long and difficult. Mike drops a speaker cabinet on this thumb and his thumbnail immediately turns black and blue. Dave shipped his back-up drum kit to Europe and apparently it arrived in Prague pretty badly beat up. Fortunately, it&#8217;s a stainless steel Ludwig kit, so it stood up to the abuse pretty well, but a bunch of the hardware is pretty fucked. One of my amps won&#8217;t turn on. Mike&#8217;s amp makes a pretty bad buzzing sound, which winds up being from a missing pre-amp tube. Then we blow all the power in the studio. It takes a good three hours and a run back to Nomads to get everything up and running. By the time we run through the first song, we&#8217;re all exhausted and Mike&#8217;s thumb is throbbing with pain. We learned on the last tour that it&#8217;s definitely preferable to arrive in Europe a few days early and to rehearse on the new gear before heading out on touring, as opposed to just showing up and immediately heading out on tour. Today reinforces our decision. If we&#8217;d left for tour this tired and unprepared, we would be seriously bummed. It takes a good five or six hours before we&#8217;re happy with how everything sounds, which is roughly equivalent to playing five or six shows before feeling confident on stage. By the time we get back to the hotel, it&#8217;s 11pm. There&#8217;s no need for alcohol tonight; I pass out immediately.</p> <p><strong>Prague, Czech Republic</strong></p> <p>Mike wasn&#8217;t so lucky with sleep last night. His thumb hurt so bad he couldn&#8217;t sleep. He eventually wandered out to the bar and ran into the Deafheaven dudes, who&#8217;d been there drinking all night. He made his way back to the hotel after the bar closed, but the pain in his thumb still kept him awake. <strong>So he set off on foot to find a hospital in the early hours of the morning.</strong> Unfortunately, no one at the hospital spoke English and he couldn't arrange to see a doctor. He then got lost on the walk back to the hotel, and once again the language barrier hampered his mission. He eventually found his way back in the morning. </p> <p>We spend the morning running more errands while Mike makes a trip to a hospital with Tomas. He eventually shows up at the club with a giant splint on his finger. Apparently, he has a fissure fracture on the tip of his thumb. The doctor didn&#8217;t speak much English, but he was able to communicate to Mike that he shouldn&#8217;t play guitar. There&#8217;s an awkward moment where we have to consider canceling the entire tour, but Mike decides to see if he can play guitar without putting any stress on the thumb. It&#8217;s rough, and we have to cut a few songs from the set, but we&#8217;re fortunate that it&#8217;s the thumb on his fretting hand as opposed to his picking hand, so he&#8217;s able to get by. </p> <p>It&#8217;s a nerve-racking day. We make an announcement at the beginning of our set that the show might be a bit of a struggle given Mike&#8217;s condition. But we manage to get through the songs. There are definite fuck-ups here or there, but that&#8217;s inevitable for a first show of tour. The audience is awesome; they applaud and cheer during the fuck-ups, knowing what we&#8217;re up against. It feels triumphant, all things considered.</p> <p><strong>Vienna, Austria</strong></p> <p>This city has always treated us well. On the drive we cut down Mike&#8217;s finger-sized splint so that it fits his thumb a little better. The club is located in an abandoned slaughterhouse. After it was an abattoir, it was a squat. Now it&#8217;s a legitimate multi-building complex with four different stages, a few different bars, and an apartment building for touring musicians. We&#8217;ve been bumped up to the third largest room, which is both encouraging and a little anxiety-inducing given that we&#8217;re still dealing with the handicap of Mike&#8217;s thumb. The show still winds up going well. </p> <p><strong>Munich, Germany</strong></p> <p>I wake up with a sore throat, a cough, and a bangover. I&#8217;m generally pretty lucky with not getting sick on tour. But the bangover&#8212;that stiff soreness down the neck and spine from headbanging&#8212;is pretty impossible to avoid after those first few shows. I feel like shit. But we get loaded into the club and things sound pretty good on stage during soundcheck. I take some European ibuprofen with codeine in it but it doesn&#8217;t do much to assuage my back pain. </p> <p>The show sells out. We&#8217;re still playing an abridged set because of Mike&#8217;s thumb, but it works out well because there&#8217;s an early curfew to make way for the dubstep party in the venue after the show. We load out immediately after our set. The air outside smells of smoke, to which Kerry from Deafheaven remarks &#8220;<strong>smells like there&#8217;s another bonfire at the library tonight</strong>.&#8221; </p> <p>I haven&#8217;t had much to drink tonight, but due to the empty stomach, I&#8217;m feeling pretty buzzed. So I&#8217;m easily convinced by the Deafheaven guys to check out the dubstep night. It&#8217;s sparsely attended, but the lightshow and soundsystem are out of control. We wind up dancing, first jokingly, then, as is often the case at these European dance nights, very seriously. George from Deafheaven does the lizard crawl across the stage at some point. I wind up riding on his back. Not my proudest moment.</p> <p>I retire to the band apartment upstairs when I realize that it&#8217;s only Korey from Deafheaven and I still dancing, and that we&#8217;re no longer amusing each other but now just genuinely dancing. Kerry and George are with some random German dude who&#8217;s pouring the liquid contents of a prescription bottle into mixed drinks. Apparently it&#8217;s codeine or something comparable. They offer me some, and given my sore back, it sounds like a good idea for a second. But I wind up passing on the offer and head to sleep. </p> <p><strong>Dresden, Germany</strong></p> <p>I feel genuinely shitty this morning. The cold now includes that general full-body achiness of the flu. Still, I&#8217;m faring better than George, who&#8217;s white as a sheet and spent the morning throwing up from whatever is was that that German dude poured into the mixed drinks. He apparently had a few glasses of the stuff. Glad I passed on that one. </p> <p>Never played Dresden before, though we&#8217;ve always had good shows in the neighboring city of Leipzig. Loading in and setting up is painful. I feel alternately cold and feverish. But the turnout for the show is great, and by the time we take the stage I feel way better. </p> <p>We get our first dose of German honesty tonight. German fans have this habit of complimenting and insulting you at the same time. &#8220;Show was very good. But why so many new songs? I like old album better.&#8221; Thanks, man. I remember reading a <strong>Melvins</strong> interview where they mention the same thing. Still, it&#8217;s better than the guy that told Deafheaven he liked their band but they sounded like shit that night. And as they tell you this stuff, they&#8217;re always asking for an autograph.</p> <p><strong>Berlin, Germany</strong></p> <p>We blow the power three or four times during soundcheck. The main problem seems to be turning on too many devices in too short of a time. This does not bode well for the set. The sound engineer for the club apologizes and acknowledges that it&#8217;s been a problem the club has tried to correct for some time. We also have a problem with our lights blowing both the house fuses and burning out the bulbs. We decide we have to scrap them for the night and rely on the club&#8217;s lighting setup. The lighting guy seems like a bit of a dick, and despite reiterating that we want the lights as dark as possible and as much stage fog as possible, we get the exact opposite. But at least the power doesn&#8217;t blow. </p> <p>We have to get up at 6:30am to drive to Warsaw tomorrow. We get to our hostel around 1am, and my cough keeps me awake until 6am. </p> <p><strong>Warsaw, Poland</strong></p> <p>There isn&#8217;t much of a highway system in Poland, so even though the distance from Berlin to Warsaw isn&#8217;t too bad, the drive takes forever. For a significant stretch of the drive, the road winds through a forest where prostitutes wait on the side of the road for lonely travelers. I try to catch up a bit on sleep on the loft of our Sprinter van. I have really intense dreams during the drive, which I&#8217;m not sure are the result of being sick or being extremely exhausted. At one point I get sleep paralysis, and I lay half-awake on the loft unable to move. </p> <p>Not sure if the club is a squat, but there's lots of concrete and lots of dirt. Mike is still struggling with his thumb, and during soundcheck he mentions that some issues with a past repetitive stress injury are resurfacing due to the way he has to contort his hand to avoid using his thumb. He seems a little stressed out and mentions the possibility of having to cancel shows if the problem worsens. He switches to a different guitar in hopes that having a less neck-heavy instrument will alleviate some of the issues. Dave and I had assumed that the situation with his thumb was improving, so this new information is disconcerting. </p> <p>This is our first time in Warsaw, and it&#8217;s a packed house. But we have another long drive tomorrow with bad roads tomorrow. Dave and I share a room and nervously talk about Mike&#8217;s condition. There&#8217;s the obvious concern for Mike&#8217;s well-being and the acknowledgment that it might be better to cancel shows now and let him heal as opposed to having him continue playing and risk long-term damage. On the flipside, it would suck to lose thousands of dollars by canceling a tour over a hurt thumb.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/23/russian-circles-euro-tour-diary-pt-1#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13439647&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/23/russian-circles-euro-tour-diary-pt-1?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13439647&id=comments 10 Russian Circles Euro Tour Diary Pt. 1 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:11:34 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/14/the-shuffle-overton-berry-trios-hey-jude http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/14/the-shuffle-overton-berry-trios-hey-jude Brendan Kiley <p>On the way to work this morning, the Shuffle gave me this:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lEYFnA0Q_oI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>That bass is the perfect sound for walking to work on an overcast autumn morning.</p> <p>Yesterday it was <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/13/the-shuffle-come-dancing-by-the-briefs">The Briefs</a>, today it was the Overton Berry Trio. The Shuffle must be in a local mood.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/14/the-shuffle-overton-berry-trios-hey-jude#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10355901&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/14/the-shuffle-overton-berry-trios-hey-jude?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10355901&id=comments 1 Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:44:17 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/24/i-drove-the-wrong-way-on-i-90 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/24/i-drove-the-wrong-way-on-i-90 Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/24/1306259727-wrongway.jpg" alt="Thanks a lot Thom Yorke." title="Thanks a lot Thom Yorke." width="450" height="200" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Thanks a lot Thom Yorke.</li></ul></div></p> <p>This past Friday, I drove the wrong way on I-90 for two and half hours. Mad Rad and SOTA were in Bozeman, MT and we had a show in Spokane, WA. Instead of going west, I went east, toward Billings and the Dakotas. I had no idea. Nor did any of the seven others in the van. It was raining hard, the wipers were on high, I was in a tunnel of road doing 80 mph on cruise control, and making good time <strong>(going the wrong direction)</strong>. We were listening to Radiohead and <a href="http://www.lymbycsystym.com/SR/news.htm">Lymbyc Systym</a>. Thom Yorke will do that. He&#8217;ll lock you into to a highway, whatever direction you&#8217;re headed. I would have kept going too, for another quarter of a tank, had people not needed to pee. The day, like the music, was grey and muzzled. Clouds and mist hung from the hills. I had manipulated the van sleekly through traffic and massive grim tankers, through the pouring rain and wind. Satisfied such good time was being made.</p> <p>I walked into the gas station mini mart to go to the bathroom and look for wasabi peas, and asked the attendant how far to Spokane, expecting to hear an agreeable distance. Like 4 hours. The woman behind the counter (who looked like Shelley Duvall from <em>The Shining</em>) said, &#8220;10 hours.&#8221; I said, &#8220;No, Spokane, <em>Washington</em>.&#8221; And Shelley Duvall said, &#8220;Yeah, like 10 hours. You&#8217;re pretty much in Billings.&#8221; She was strange and overly generous, as if she wanted us to stay, and <strong>play doctor with her</strong>. We should have only had 4 more hours to go. She had to have been wrong so I took out my phone to GPS it. The GPS would make everything straight. My GPS said, &#8220;540 Miles. 8 hours and 39 minutes.&#8221; (Don&#8217;t know where she got 10 hours from.) Oh my fuck.</p> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/24/1306259874-wetnwild.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/24/1306259874-wetnwild.jpg" alt="Font is kind of boring. Not so wild." title="Font is kind of boring. Not so wild." width="250" height="297" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Font is kind of boring. Not so wild.</li></ul></div>Thaddeus from SOTA looked at me and said, &#8220;Dude we&#8217;ve been driving the wrong way.&#8221; I instantly deflated. And GPS&#8217;d it again. Same result. How? How did I go the wrong way? I couldn&#8217;t have been driving east. Now we were probably going to miss the show that night. Great. The other guys didn&#8217;t know. They were leisurely urinating, and browsing the aisles for snacks. <strong>Fuck my fucking fuck.</strong> </p> <p>I thought my best bet was to quietly inform the guys in a one on one manner and say I&#8217;m sorry. The only one I was worried about was Radjaw. He was going to be quite displeased, and probably call me a moron. But I deserved it. I was responsible, and was right about Radjaw. He was quite displeased. We were <strong>closer to Dakota than Spokane</strong>. I was called names &#8212; Magellan, and Mr. I-90. Mostly, it was the quiet that hurt. The stinging silence of tense disbelief. The van was refueled, for a zillion dollars. I went in the bathroom, took a picture of the condom dispenser, and we got back on the highway, going west. Someone else drove.</p> <p>The math of mileage was computed to see if the Spokane show was doable, and it was decided we would give it a try. After a couple hours, I begged to take over the wheel so I could right myself, and speed. Driving back through Bozeman was not pleasant for me. We drove through dusk into dark and into mountain passes. Driving through pitch-black mountain passes at night in a speeding, heavy van that doesn't handle well is a process that raises blood pressure. We ended up making it to Spokane and the venue with time to spare. I was redeemed, somewhat. </p> <p>Things to note about highway driving: 1. Always check your entrance ramp. 2. Be careful when you listen to Thom Yorke. 3. Watch your caffeine levels. Because if you go the wrong way long enough, you&#8217;ll end up in the Dakotas with Shelley Duvall serving you wasabi peas and pounds of organic corn. She&#8217;ll be overly generous, <strong>then she&#8217;ll straight up chloroform you</strong>, cook you in an oven, and serve you as meat pie.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/24/i-drove-the-wrong-way-on-i-90#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=8301202&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Business Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/24/i-drove-the-wrong-way-on-i-90?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=8301202&id=comments 20 I Drove the Wrong Way on I-90 Thanks a lot Thom Yorke. Tue, 24 May 2011 11:12:29 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/19/in-missoula-killing-bears http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/19/in-missoula-killing-bears Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305834412-missoulapaper.jpg" alt="MissoulaPaper.jpg" title="" width="450" height="278" /></div></p> <p>An antler hunter shot a sow grizzly bear in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area on Sunday. <strong>The antler hunter was not Terry Radjaw.</strong> An unidentified Missoula man encountered the bear and two cubs near the Boyd Loop Road. People were in the vicinity and they saw the bear come after the guy. FWP game wardens determined the sow's death was justifiable self-defense.</p> <p>The second bear death involved a 2-year-old grizzly that had killed chickens earlier Saturday and returned to the same property three miles east of Ronan late in the afternoon. The bear was then shot by the landowner. There is a huge increase in chicken production in the Mission Valley and the bears have keyed into unprotected chicken coops.</p> <p>In non-bear news, Missoula's <a href="http://www.wantagetotalfest.blogspot.com/p/about.html">Total Fest Music Festival</a> is happening August 18 - 20. Ten years and running. Get there. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Palace-Lounge/98981579399?sk=info">The Palace</a> is an excellent venue to play. Justin the soundman is the man. He dials in golden levels, is nice as hell, and accommodates your every audible need. Now I'm going to go try to find out what an antler hunter is.</p> <p>((More Missoula pictures after jumping, including one of a Glow in the Dark Tickler Ring dispensing machine.))</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305834749-missoulahills.jpg" alt="Sun, sky, hills, bears eating chickens, and people needing to take it easy on the energy drinks." title="Sun, sky, hills, bears eating chickens, and people needing to take it easy on the energy drinks." width="450" height="338" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Sun, sky, hills, bears eating chickens, and people needing to take it easy on the energy drinks.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305836299-missoulaskeletons.jpg" alt="This shelf has it all - rock, striking snakes, evil tennis players." title="This shelf has it all - rock, striking snakes, evil tennis players." width="450" height="338" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">This shelf has it all - rock, striking snakes, evil tennis players.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305834942-missoulaweeman.jpg" alt="I entered Darwin. Really hope he wins." title="I entered Darwin. Really hope he wins." width="450" height="338" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">I entered Darwin. Really hope he wins.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305834990-missoulabuyanything.jpg" alt="Anything." title="Anything." width="450" height="338" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Anything.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305835054-missouladubstep.jpg" alt="Dubstep, coming to a town near you." title="Dubstep, coming to a town near you." width="450" height="247" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Dubstep, coming to a town near you.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305835235-missoulavending.jpg" alt="The greatest vending machine of all time." title="The greatest vending machine of all time." width="450" height="346" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">The greatest vending machine of all time.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305835871-missoulavending2.jpg" alt="Prices for the greatest vending machine of all time." title="Prices for the greatest vending machine of all time." width="450" height="539" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Prices for the greatest vending machine of all time.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/19/1305835968-missoulatinglerring.jpg" alt="It doesnt seem so visually appealing to me." title="It doesnt seem so visually appealing to me." width="400" height="537" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">It doesn't seem so visually appealing to me.</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/19/in-missoula-killing-bears#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=8224618&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Right Now Road Diary RIP http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/19/in-missoula-killing-bears?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=8224618&id=comments 7 In Missoula: Killing Bears Sun, sky, hills, bears eating chickens, and people needing to take it easy on the energy drinks. Thu, 19 May 2011 13:24:01 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/03/towelie-hits-the-pipe http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/03/towelie-hits-the-pipe Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304451027-madnewtowliehitspipe.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304451027-madnewtowliehitspipe.jpg" alt="madnewTowlieHitsPipe.jpg" title="" width="250" height="305" /></a></div>At a University of Oregon party, <a href="http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towelie">Towelie</a> hit the pipe. He hit it long and hard. It was a water pipe, see-through neon yellow, and Towelie stood about 6&#8217;5&#8221;. The party was &#8220;Halloween in Spring&#8221; (Mad Rad and Mash Hall played). Towelie had converted a Styrofoam egg crate mattress pad into his costume. He wreaked of spray paint, and he smoked the pipe through the triangle he had carved in the foam for his mouth. There were 500 people piled into a big frat style house. Sauna level heat, and maxed frequencies in the music cooked crammed bodies: a sardine cauldron of sweated deluge sexualness. Nothing beats the eminence of a good-sprung house party. There was a row of couches separating the area where the bands played. Those couches were destroyed. Buffalo, P, Radjaw, LAR, and Bles were groped thoroughly. P said there was much &#8220;penis touching.&#8221; As in people in the crowd touching their penises. Body on body on body jammed and cubed in a body avalanche. Towelie surfed through intermittently throughout the night and somehow his Styrofoam remained on him. At one point he passed me and said something about a girl in a gnome costume, steak sauce, his semen, and eggs sunny side up.</p> <p>((Pictures of our journey to Towelie after jump. See Darwin sleeping on the beach in LA, and see the guy who tapped his balls when he woke up. His name was Horacio, and he wore a suit for 365 days straight.))</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304451268-madnewlarries.jpg" alt="Larry Mizell: Before &amp; After" title="Larry Mizell: Before &amp; After" width="450" height="300" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Larry Mizell: Before &amp; After</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304454275-madnewvolcanology.jpg" alt="madnewVolcanology.jpg" title="" width="450" height="212" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304451668-madneweugeneradio.jpg" alt="Eugene Radio, KWVA 88.1, the word Sex was chanted" title="Eugene Radio, KWVA 88.1, the word Sex was chanted" width="450" height="338" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Eugene Radio, KWVA 88.1, the word "Sex" was chanted</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304451735-madnewreductionguide.jpg" alt="madnewReductionGuide.jpg" title="" width="450" height="300" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><a href="http://www.outforstardom.blogspot.com/2011/04/destruction-of-suit.html"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304454908-madnewhash.jpg" alt="Darwin and his man, Horacio, an artist from LA who wore a suit FOR A YEAR STRAIGHT and documented it. Click this picture to see it, and hear Ps account of their time together. Darwin, P, Buffalo, and Horacio journeyed after the show through LA to the beach, where they slept. Upon waking, Darwin stood up, in front of Horacio, and Horacio extended his arm and lightly tapped on Darwins balls. Then Horacio asked if they could make out." title="Darwin and his man, Horacio, an artist from LA who wore a suit FOR A YEAR STRAIGHT and documented it. Click this picture to see it, and hear Ps account of their time together. Darwin, P, Buffalo, and Horacio journeyed after the show through LA to the beach, where they slept. Upon waking, Darwin stood up, in front of Horacio, and Horacio extended his hand and lightly tapped on Darwins balls. Then Horacio asked if they could make out." width="450" height="300" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Darwin and his man, Horacio, an artist from LA who wore a suit FOR A YEAR STRAIGHT and documented it. Click this picture to see it, and hear P's account of their time together. Darwin, P, Buffalo, and Horacio journeyed after the show through LA to the beach, where they slept. Upon waking, Darwin stood up, in front of Horacio, and Horacio extended his hand and lightly tapped on Darwin's balls. Then Horacio asked if they could make out.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452342-madnewdarwinbeach.jpg" alt="Darwin sleeping on beach, prior to ball tap." title="Darwin sleeping on beach, prior to ball tap." width="450" height="257" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Darwin sleeping on beach, prior to ball tap.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452393-madnewbeachpeople.jpg" alt="madnewBeachpeople.jpg" title="" width="450" height="299" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452443-madnewlabeachskate.jpg" alt="madnewLABeachSkate.jpg" title="" width="450" height="300" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452479-madnewla1.jpg" alt="madnewLA1.jpg" title="" width="450" height="255" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452535-madnewbigbird.jpg" alt="madnewBigBird.jpg" title="" width="450" height="281" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452579-madnewscientology.jpg" alt="madnewScientology.jpg" title="" width="450" height="278" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304452812-madnewtravisbarker.jpg" alt="Buffalo bites burger at a Travis Barker bbq" title="Buffalo bites burger at a Travis Barker bbq" width="450" height="350" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Buffalo bites burger at a Travis Barker bbq</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304453273-madnewblesssp.jpg" alt="Bles and P and largest mind altering brownie ever created. (Thank you, Vanessa.) They ate it and became a Siamese Moses." title="Bles and P and largest mind altering brownie ever created. They ate it and became a Siamese Moses." width="450" height="292" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Bles and P and largest mind altering brownie ever created. (Thank you, Vanessa.) They ate it and became a Siamese Moses.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304453346-madnewsidewaysman.jpg" alt="madnewSidewaysMan.jpg" title="" width="450" height="205" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304453591-madnewlaroofdeck.jpg" alt="Roofie Style" title="Roofie Style" width="450" height="229" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Roofie Style</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304453416-madnewmashboise.jpg" alt="Mash Hall Boise" title="Mash Hall Boise" width="450" height="272" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Mash Hall Boise</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304454390-madnewwrestling.jpg" alt="Cage match." title="Cage match. " width="450" height="300" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Cage match. </li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304453733-madnewradjawr.jpg" alt="madnewRadjawR.jpg" title="" width="450" height="336" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304453471-madnewnovelites.jpg" alt="madnewNovelites.jpg" title="" width="300" height="400" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304454052-madnewsnow.jpg" alt="P drove the pass. P doesnt drive. But P drove well. Got us through." title="P drove the pass. P doesnt drive so often. But P drove well. Got us through. The Van was solid throughout. Big thanks to Benjamin and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band." width="450" height="213" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">P drove the pass. P doesn't drive so often. But P drove well. Got us through. The Van was solid throughout. Big thanks to Benjamin and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304454217-madnewsawtooth.jpg" alt="Woman working here was raving in the back. Faces of Meth." title="Woman working here was raving in the back. Faces of Meth." width="450" height="300" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Woman working here was raving in the back. Faces of Meth.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/05/03/1304454671-madnewtowlie1.jpg" alt="And then there was Towelie. Darwin &amp; Towelie, love at first sight." title="And then there was Towelie. Darwin &amp; Towelie, love at first sight. " width="450" height="300" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">And then there was Towelie. Darwin &amp; Towelie, love at first sight. </li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/03/towelie-hits-the-pipe#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7972270&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Business Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/05/03/towelie-hits-the-pipe?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7972270&id=comments 6 Towelie Hits the Pipe Larry Mizell: Before & After Tue, 03 May 2011 13:39:26 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/27/im-in-boise-bitch http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/27/im-in-boise-bitch Larry Mizell, Jr. <p><div style="text-align:center;"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:500px; height:200px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/rOTapJYlawU?rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rOTapJYlawU?rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0" /><br /></object><div style="font-size: 0.8em"></div></div><br />That's all I got. The van is starting to eat at our (arguably <em>already</em> negligible) social skills. Radjaw craps like a goose, especially after eggs. Why does he keep eating eggs? Darwin can't seem to bounce back from his excesses back in San Francisco. Trent keeps threatening to moon me. Bles is driving hard, blasting Brandy at top volume, explaining the finer points of Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins' production techniques to P Smoov, who was shaken by a nightmare back in Winnemucca. "That fucking place was haunted", he contends. Meanwhile, I'm in Idaho. I thought I might get to spot one of these "skinheads" I always hear about for once. I don't think this is their kind of place though-there is instead a white bro with dreads; it's been a running joke that such bros keep popping up on this tour. Now they're playing some autotuned reggae with Spanish guitar. Jesus.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/27/im-in-boise-bitch#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7899396&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/27/im-in-boise-bitch?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7899396&id=comments 0 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:14:37 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/26/i-refuse-to-go-on-hearsay http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/26/i-refuse-to-go-on-hearsay Larry Mizell, Jr. <p><div style="text-align:center;"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:500px; height:200px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/2e1HnJMLb3o?rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2e1HnJMLb3o?rel=0&showsearch=0&showinfo=0" /><br /></object><div style="font-size: 0.8em"></div></div><br />It was unbelievably gorgeous in San Francisco today. Last night was a great show, way crackin' for a Monday. The few of us that slept at ol' girl's Travelodge room got corned beef and brisket at Tommy's Joynt, then met up with the less-rested remainder of the group in Delores Park. Everywhere, people were chilling/partying in the sun, hoisting bottles, making out, drum circling, as that good Cali hung unmistakably in the air. A lady with a dread came up selling treats. There was excitement. A graphic design major (don't have enough of those) from Olympia was promising to get all her friends to come to the Oly date. Word. New and old friends were laid out, blinking up at all the unbroken blue. </p> <p>We had to get on the road though. There was whining from that member of our group who now has <a href="http://blackedoutdarwin.com">a tumblr</a> devoted to his trademark intoxicated ridiculousness (of which I've now seen epic examples of. "<em>Now get in the fucking van</em>," I quoted for the tenth time this trip; it's a snippet of Jeff Goldblum dialogue from <em>Deep Cover</em> that's in a great De La song.</p> <p>Crossing the bridge as the sun and the water were freaking each other off fantastically, iPhone selecta yours truly threw this on, one of my very favorite Womack tracks. I love when he starts involving the "little engineer" in the song on the third verse, or just starts talking about whatever like he always does. It was a hit in this van. A night off in beautiful Winnamucca, NV awaits us; tomorrow, a show in that very sexy and tolerant city of Boise, ID. Later.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/26/i-refuse-to-go-on-hearsay#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7880248&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/26/i-refuse-to-go-on-hearsay?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7880248&id=comments 2 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:34:51 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/larry-mizell http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/larry-mizell Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:411px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/25/1303743363-lar2.jpg" alt="lar2.jpg" title="" width="399" height="249" /></div></p> <p>Larry. I have to pee. Can you pass me back that Gatorade bottle up there?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/larry-mizell#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7850711&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Business Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/larry-mizell?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7850711&id=comments 0 LARRY MIZELL Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:45:31 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/re-same-vanblog-larrys-hair http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/re-same-vanblog-larrys-hair Larry Mizell, Jr. <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/25/1303766216-photo.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/25/1303766216-photo.jpg" alt="Click to Enlarge" title="Click to Enlarge" width="200" height="267" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Click to Enlarge</li></ul></div><br />So here we are, speeding through some barren northern Cali farmland; my sinuses have been fucking with me (three nights huffing smokes second- and first-hand, Jurassic jungle pollen and cat dander in a Cypress Park bachelor pad will do that), my voice is only now coming back. I made some tea out of cloves, ginger on Twitter advice from the lovely Choklate; I think it helped but it reminded me of the shroom tea I drank on Orcas Island a million years ago. Also, been gargling cayenne pepper, which is not as fun as it sounds. And last night, through circumstances I'd rather not share, I had to sleep in the van. So, yeah: I'm not necessarily in the goddamned mood for this lanky freak to be touching my hair.</p> <p>Don't get me wrong, Trent is a great tourmate, cheerful and conscientious; he sings little songs in the morning and puts our names in them (today was Lionel's "Say You Say Me"). Everybody took to calling Trent "Plus 1" because at nearly every stop, he's had a lovely young tender breezing with him. One made him a doll! (BonBon, van mascot.) He's like a white Billy Dee Williams in Nike shorts, with Tecate instead of Colt 45. But at the same time, the little songs get fucking old, he stares back with that cult-leader intensity, hogs all the ladies, and now he's got this creepy fucking doll. And now, he's right behind me, touching my hair (black man no-no), asking me these inane questions like a flailing, drum dominating five-year-old that just ate all the Pop Tarts. Why didn't I sit shotgun?</p> <p><em>What are you listening to? Describe it in three words. </em><br />Well, let's see here: if I had to pick three words, I'd pick "the same shit", as in THE SAME SHIT YOU ARE LISTENING TO. Right now, it is the classic Wu-Tang "Killer tape" skit, recreated to<br />great effect <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC-mfShLNQw">here</a>. But you should<br />know this, being that you are directly behind me.</p> <p><em>What do you see out the window? </em><br />Nothing. Grass, fields, sky. The purple outline of mountains. Again, you could've easily handled this one yourself.</p> <p><em>What is your favorite ghetto-tech album of all time?</em><br />You need to ask Darwin that shit, he's right there next to me, watching Jar Jar Binks. I don't know, something by Mantronix.</p> <p><em>What were you thinking about just now, before blogging in response to my blogging that we're on the same blog. </em></p> <p>I was thinking about how nice it was not to be answering any stupid questions. I miss that thought, deeply.</p> <p><em>What is your favorite Lionel Ritchie song?</em><br />If I tell you, will you promise not to butcher it tomorrow morning, while I'm brushing my teeth in some strange kitchen? "All Night Long", or "Easy", if you're counting the Commodores; I certainly am.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/re-same-vanblog-larrys-hair#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7854368&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/re-same-vanblog-larrys-hair?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7854368&id=comments 2 Re: Same Van/Blog: Larry's Hair Click to Enlarge Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:52:42 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/same-vansame-blog-larrys-hair http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/same-vansame-blog-larrys-hair Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/25/1303743233-lar1.jpg" alt="lar1.jpg" title="" width="400" height="300" /></div></p> <p>I am sitting behind <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Author?oid=18608">Larry Mizell</a> in a van. We are driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco. <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/21/madmashradhall-mojave-dictum-sensa">Mad Rad:Mash Hall</a> mobile to next show. I-5 N. Window vision is highway conveyer belt. Buffalo Madonna dropped a chicken sandwich in the van a couple nights ago. The van smells like chicken sandwich. And Venice Beach.</p> <p>I have been staring at Larry's hair for a long time now. I see faces. It's like being at the laser dome, only different. Larry has amazing hair. Inside Larry's hair is a planet of hip hop data, acumen, and insight. If I was to cut off a curl and eat it, I would turn into Wikipedia. I am now going to play with Larry's hair. And touch him on the right shoulder.</p> <p>Larry, I can't believe we are in the very same van, ON THE VERY SAME BLOG. I am blogging about you right now. This is a ripple in time and space and Taco Bell. What are you listening to? Describe it in three words. What do you see out the window? What is your favorite ghetto-tech album of all time. What were you thinking about just now, before blogging in response to my blogging that we're on the same blog. What is your favorite Lionel Ritchie song?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/same-vansame-blog-larrys-hair#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7850688&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/25/same-vansame-blog-larrys-hair?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7850688&id=comments 2 Same Van/Same Blog. Larry's Hair Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:38:33 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/21/madmashradhall-mojave-dictum-sensa http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/21/madmashradhall-mojave-dictum-sensa Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409946-madmashvangrill.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409946-madmashvangrill.jpg" alt="madmashVanGrill.jpg" title="" width="250" height="188" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">From Their Flying Lives</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div>A white van caked with insects shoots through the barrel of the Mojave Desert plane. Eight are within<a href="http://www.madradmusic.com">: Mad Rad</a> : <a href="http://www.mashhall.wordpress.com/">Mash Hall</a>. Vancouver BC &#8212; San Diego, CA. Vegas to Scottsdale, AZ here. Highway 93 South leans through a world of shrubs. The afternoon sun descent creams casted shadows long. Asphalt cracks punch up, hills as horizontal thighs. Uncoiled is the Cookie Snake. To each of the insects smashed onto the front of this van, and taken instantly from their flying lives, I am sorry. There was Ted, a small fly, who had been lazily enjoying the April breeze, and Francine, a mosquito who had just sipped blood from a fine newborn dairy cow. They are gone now, mauled by a 70 mile an hour vehicle, and crusted to its grille and hood. Did they feel it? Did they know they were here? Do they know they are gone? Am I here?</p> <p>There was a problem at the show in Las Vegas. A disagreement? Misunderstanding? Words were spoken. Darwin had started DJ&#8217;ing, and apparently it &#8220;wasn&#8217;t hip hop enough&#8221; for the house DJ. So Darwin cut the track and went with the Chris Brown song &#8220;Look at Me Now&#8221; featuring Busta Ryhmes and Lil Wayne. That wasn&#8217;t hip hop enough either. Or maybe it was too hip hop. The promoter of the show, (Vanilla Ice white guy in dreads who was a &#8220;rapper&#8221;) had a problem with the Chris Brown. More words were spoken. The people at the club were, how you say, &#8220;Being complete dickheads.&#8221; So we bolted. No show was played. Sometimes you have to make that call. </p> <p>Vegas is active. Radjaw fell in a lake at the Bellagio (with his phone), P Smoov got a concussion, Buffalo and Darwin rode mechanical bulls. There were 136 oz frozen drinks called The Scorpion Bowl. Radjaw later put his phone in a bag of rice to whisk the moisture out. In casinos, 85 year-olds attached themselves to slot machines. Vegas sex workers work. Vampires are in. Cover bands play Barry Manilow into the Eagles into Guns n Roses with head set mics and pony-tails. At one point we were walking around trying to find a buffet in the broad day heat of early afternoon. Buffalo says being in Las Vegas is like bouncing around in a pinball machine trying to get the high score. Larry Mizell and djBlesOne from Mash Hall are here, saving all. <a href="http://www.donttalktothecops.wordpress.com/">Don&#8217;t Talk to the Cops</a> (their other thing) is hopping with cuts. Larry is the Speaker of the House, his mind is a Rolodex of info, facts, and knowhow. And no one this side of the Mississippi puts down better upright Bboy dance work than Bles. His collection of moves and footwork is a regal gangly hurricane mirage. </p> <p>Back to van world, Biggie Smalls <em>Ready to Die</em> is the travelling musical companion, coating curves in the road, flattening the land, a juggernaut un-fraught. Biggie-beats are funk based blastings.&#8221;Bullets heat seaking.&#8221; Even dollops of cadent scroll-words. Rhymes cut before and after beats, knot tied, moat-meaty throated. </p> <p>Larry is reading <u>Occult America</u> by Mitch Horowitz. &#8220;The secret history of how mysticism shaped our nation.&#8221; He could be starting a cult. I ask if it has anything to do with Whitney Houston. He says no. </p> <p>Darwin pees in a Gatorade bottle. *Desert Mist* Gatorade bottles make for good pee receptacles. But during the fill phase, there is always the, &#8220;Oh my God what if I have more pee than the allotted bottle can hold?&#8221; Cause pinching off ain&#8217;t fun.</p> <p>((See Pictorials After Jump.))</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303408190-madmashdesert.jpg" alt="Biggie through the barrel plane." title="Biggie through the barrel plane." width="500" height="278" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Biggie through the barrel plane.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303408517-madmashalien.jpg" alt="madmashAlien.jpg" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303408620-madmashpiss.jpg" alt="*Desert Mist*" title="*Desert Mist*" width="400" height="533" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">*Desert Mist*</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303408762-madmashborder.jpg" alt="Canada Border Crossing: Radjanada" title="Canada Border Crossing: Radjanada" width="500" height="285" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Canada Border Crossing: Radjanada</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:462px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303408822-madmashbacon.jpg" alt="madmashBacon.jpg" title="" width="450" height="461" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303408972-madmashextenze.jpg" alt="I asked the gas station owner how these work. He did not know. Probably something to do with Chile Powder. Active ingredient." title="I asked the gas station owner how these work. He did not know. Probably something to do with Chile Powder. Active ingredient. " width="400" height="475" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">I asked the gas station owner how these work. He did not know. Probably something to do with Chile Powder. Active ingredient. </li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409085-madmashsunset.jpg" alt="madmashSunset.jpg" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409197-madmashmashaz.jpg" alt="Mash Hall Rock n Roll High School" title="Mash Hall Rock n Roll High School" width="500" height="363" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Mash Hall Rock 'n' Roll High School</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409576-madmashhotbabes.jpg" alt="Direct To You" title="Direct To You" width="400" height="514" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Direct To You</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409730-madmashvampire.jpg" alt="madmashVampire.jpg" title="" width="400" height="533" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303409831-madmashgodmyth.jpg" alt="madmashGodmyth.jpg" title="" width="500" height="445" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303410102-madmashpandora.jpg" alt="madmashPandora.jpg" title="" width="400" height="600" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303410180-madmashsam.jpg" alt="madmashSam.jpg" title="" width="400" height="533" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/21/1303410316-madmashbonbon.jpg" alt="I keep the back seat real. With my doll BonBon." title="I keep the back seat real. With my doll BonBon." width="400" height="533" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">I keep the back seat real. With my doll BonBon.</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/21/madmashradhall-mojave-dictum-sensa#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7796071&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/21/madmashradhall-mojave-dictum-sensa?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7796071&id=comments 5 MadMash.RadHall: Mojave Dictum Sensa From Their Flying Lives MadMash.RadHall Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:26:51 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/06/tatavla-keyfi-in-istanbul http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/06/tatavla-keyfi-in-istanbul Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/06/1302097305-dude.jpg" alt="dude.jpg" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p>A Saturday night in Taksim, Istanbul turned into an unexpected Persian/Turkish birthday party starring the ever-so-talented house band Tatavla Keyfi! On the suggestion of Olympia/Seattle's own Ian Ackerman (pictured above right, now a resident of Istanbul), we climbed three flights of stairs in a dark alley and <strong>emerged into a club no larger than a standard-one bedroom apartment</strong>. Unfortunately, the name of the club eludes me due to the alcohol-induced brain damage we sustained over the next five hours. Anyway, the club was completely full and we were immediately identified as foreigners/non-turkish speaking freaks. The first two questions we were asked were "Do you have a reservation?" (We didn't) and "How did you find this place?" </p> <p>Luckily, the band's manager overheard the conversation and quickly came to our rescue by seating us at her table. Little did we know that we'd just been sat in the INSANE PARTY ZONE. The 49 year-old Persian woman at the table was visiting for her birthday and special arrangements had been made to make it her best. After a few beers/Rokis, <strong>any awkwardness melted away</strong> and we were all hugging, dancing, and drinking. Some old Turkish men broke it down, hands above their head, feet stomping to music half the speed of any western dance music. Soon everybody was gettin' down to some crazy saz shredding/accordian pumping goodness. The 5x10' dance floor was filled with people hands over shoulders doing a stompy circular can can. We left at 3 am when the food poisoning from earlier that day started kicking in. Hell and a cab ride later, our hostel beds welcomed us with pissed danish teens aplenty. The next two days were spent <strong>shitting water every 20 minutes</strong> and choking down fruit and powerade. Was it worth it? HELL YES. As no photos were captured at this event, please enjoy some evil photos I took in the underground Basilica Cistern instead:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/06/1302097373-ceiling.jpg" alt="ceiling.jpg" title="" width="500" height="667" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/04/06/1302097435-hall.jpg" alt="hall.jpg" title="" width="500" height="667" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/06/tatavla-keyfi-in-istanbul#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7553628&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/04/06/tatavla-keyfi-in-istanbul?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7553628&id=comments 0 Tatavla Keyfi in Istanbul! Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:15:06 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/brain-fruit-road-log-olypub-kolkata-now-in-hd http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/brain-fruit-road-log-olypub-kolkata-now-in-hd Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p><br />Flourescent lighting in bars is hilarious. Who needs that flattering darkness with a heavy red hue? I want to be able to see all the <strong>irritated pores on my friends' faces</strong> as they sip a piss-colored 650ml foil-labeled Thunderbolt. Other highlights included cafeteria-style seating and a <strong>urinal that looked like it got diarrhead on 15 years ago</strong>. When flushing the toilet, I couldn't help but be reminded of that one time I stuck my fingers into a booth cushion at the Cha Cha.</p> <p>The prices were right; I might actually go back there. Plus, I really need a photo of a <strong>baggy-pants Indian bro with a goatee and mullet</strong> wafting his polo shirt back and forth in front of the air conditioner. Lighten up those sweaty pits do.</p> <p>JC/BBO, WMTS shout.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/brain-fruit-road-log-olypub-kolkata-now-in-hd#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7439429&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/brain-fruit-road-log-olypub-kolkata-now-in-hd?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7439429&id=comments 2 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:41:05 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/enter-indian-mcdonalds http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/enter-indian-mcdonalds Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/29/1301423327-img_0612.jpg" alt="IMG_0612.JPG" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p>After a few weeks of Indian food, you need a break here and there. <strong>Ronald, Where Y'at!?</strong> Happy Holi from McDonalds, it's time to go to the local fancy American restaurant. Seriously, <strong>this Indian McDonalds was fancy pants</strong>. Two floors&#8212;what?! </p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/29/1301423280-img_0611.jpg" alt="IMG_0611.JPG" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p>Even though we'd cleaned ourselves of Holi for a second time, <strong>we still looked like some sort of giant, bloody zombie foreigners</strong>. We quickly ordered a pair of Chicken Maharaja Mac meals and a single Mc Aloo Tikki burger (?!!??!) and retreated to a nearby booth. The Maharaja was exactly like a Big Mac, but the patties were all smooth/white/subtly spiced. I'm still not sure exactly what the Mc Aloo Tikki was, but we think it was some sort of dal masala curry patty thing. Weirdest fast food award. I feel satisfied that I can go yet another 10 years without McDonalds.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/29/1301423486-img_0603.jpg" alt="IMG_0603.JPG" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p>Q: Indian spiced fried chicken? <br />A: Does chili go with cheese?<br />I smell Indian KFC in our future.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/enter-indian-mcdonalds#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7432286&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/29/enter-indian-mcdonalds?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7432286&id=comments 1 Enter Indian McDonalds Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:33:00 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/28/brain-fruit-road-log-holi-festival-320-flow-coma http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/28/brain-fruit-road-log-holi-festival-320-flow-coma Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/28/1301336122-img_0526.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/28/thumb-1301336122-img_0526.jpg" alt="Click to Enlarge" title="Click to Enlarge" width="500" height="281" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Click to Enlarge</li></ul></div></p> <p>New friends in Kolkata, thanks to Line Out! Adam and Brandon (from Bellingham &amp; Arkansas respectively) emailed us as a result of this blog. After buying and ingesting some 1 rupee "mystery candy" at a nearby street stand, we hit the streets with these fine fellows on Holi. Every surface was running purple and red with cheap chemical dyes.The group of purple Indian party boys pictured above did us all the favor of making sure we had plenty of heavy metal seeping into our skin and hair. The below photo of Garrett and I in red face is actually taken after we'd cleaned off the first time.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/28/1301336188-two.jpg" alt="Click to Enlarge" title="Click to Enlarge" width="500" height="281" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Click to Enlarge</li></ul></div></p> <p>By the time we were colored, most Indians had already been drinking heavily for about 5 hours (~8 am is when the party began). Instead of drinking, we decide to get some street food for lunch. Most travel books and tech-fabric tourists will firmly warn you against this type of food. My advice is: fuck those people, <strong>if you don't eat the street food you are seriously missing out</strong>. When I finished eating a spicy mutton roll from the corner, I was firmly in the camp of "if this makes me sick for a day, it was damn worth it." And hey, no parasites or dysentery yet!</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/28/1301336379-three.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/28/thumb-1301336379-three.jpg" alt="Click to Enlarge" title="Click to Enlarge" width="500" height="281" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Click to Enlarge</li></ul></div></p> <p>At one point we were lucky enough to run across a huge 20' bonfire in the middle of an intersection. Traffic was light in comparison to the usual madness, but cars and bikes continued to effortlessly wind their way around the fire like it wasn't even there. At the tail end of the afternoon, we retired back to Adam's apartment for an hour or two of cold hard chilling. Nothing to do but kick back and let the sweat on our chemical burns dry until sunset.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/28/brain-fruit-road-log-holi-festival-320-flow-coma#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7416329&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/28/brain-fruit-road-log-holi-festival-320-flow-coma?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7416329&id=comments 0 Brain Fruit Road Log: Holi Festival 3/20, Flow Coma Click to Enlarge Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:23:56 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/disgusting-trainthe-most-interesting-under-matress-find http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/disgusting-trainthe-most-interesting-under-matress-find Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p>Kolkata, North India. We've arrived after almost 3 weeks in India. Time for a quick review. This is where you search "India map" on google and look up the cities before reading any further. Let's start from the beginning:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Kolkata,+West+Bengal,+India&aq=0&sll=30.334954,72.982178&sspn=5.204279,9.854736&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kolkata,+West+Bengal,+India&ll=22.572646,88.363895&spn=2.795083,4.356079&z=8&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Kolkata,+West+Bengal,+India&aq=0&sll=30.334954,72.982178&sspn=5.204279,9.854736&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kolkata,+West+Bengal,+India&ll=22.572646,88.363895&spn=2.795083,4.356079&z=8" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small></div></p> <p>We first landed in the West Coast megatropolis of Mumbai, 7 coastal islands connected by urban development and refuse alike. Mumbai was described to us as "slowly dying" by an elderly Indian man on the train; We found it a masterful juxtaposition of feces-covered dumpster and Bollywood-studded Gucci store with private security. Old tradition in Mumbai is certainly waning and being replaced by a pseudo-western modernity of decades past. Regardless of its somewhat juvenile state, it seems that much of the modern infrastructure shouldn't be regarded as any sort of death. To my eyes, Mumbai is a greying space waiting to rediscover itself as a distinctly Indian social center.<br /> <br />A coincidental meeting with a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU">posh Brit</a> in our rotting Salvation Army hostel turned into an expense-free private tour that seriously topped anything we could have done in 3x the amount of time. I still yurn for our complimentary hostel breakfast: three slices untoasted white bread, a hard boiled egg, a banana, and a cup of scalding tea.<br /> <br /><strong>On March 9</strong>, we took the rail south along the coast from Mumbai to Goa: The land of horrific psi-trance, sunburned ex-pats and party hippies. Tourist culture has irreparably attached itself to this region and bubbled into a tropical paradise for tourists who don't want to deal with "brown people culture." I mean, why not get your $5 footlong and hit the chillin' beach bungalow club for a couple of Tuborgs, bro? The A/C dancefloor is even decorated just like your favorite glow-in-the dark bowling alley. UGH.<br /> <br />Goa was certainly not all bad. We met and traveled with the outstanding Australian native Michael Clarke for several days. Thanks for being awesome Michael. When the landscape was not littered with garbage and human noise, it was quite breathtaking and peaceful. Essentially, if you saw the motorcycle chase video we uploaded below you saw the best thing we did there.</p> <p><strong>March 15, flew from Goa to Varanasi</strong> (Northern India). Varanasi IS India, as well as a city Garrett and I have both vowed to return to in the near future. The city is situated on the west bank of the river Ganga (Ganges) and is considered one of the oldest cities in the world. A beautiful, spiritual center up to it's neck in it's own filth and decay. A piece of intense art if I've ever seen one.<br /> <br /><strong>March 19th, Sleeper Class Rail to Kolkata</strong></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/30/1301533512-img_0515.jpg" alt="IMG_0515.JPG" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p><strong>Fourteen hours on a famously dirty/dangerous train</strong>&#8212;supposedly one of the worst sections in the country in terms of robbery and cleanliness. Note to self regarding Sleeper-Class trips: Wear long sleeves and bug repellent, EW! The upside: Nothing got stolen (thanks to avid padlocking), and I scored a free chai and necklace from a family that wanted me to marry their (thankfully still single) daughter.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/30/1301533586-img_0524.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/30/thumb-1301533586-img_0524.jpg" alt="Click to Enlarge" title="Click to Enlarge" width="500" height="281" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Click to Enlarge</li></ul></div></p> <p>Upon arriving at our usual dingy hotel (375 rp ~ $8 US) I discovered something interesting under my mattress. No, not more bugs; An X-ray of an Indian man's respiratory infection!! Always a nice touch. Thank goodness it's time to play Holi (get covered in crazy chemical dye and light huge fires in the street). Many indians have worked the 364 days since last Holi festival. Religious significance aside, Holi is a highly anticipated day off to party hard starting at 8 am. Hopefully my camera survives.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/disgusting-trainthe-most-interesting-under-matress-find#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7458307&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/disgusting-trainthe-most-interesting-under-matress-find?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7458307&id=comments 0 Disgusting Train/A Most Interesting Under-Mattress Find Click to Enlarge Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:15:00 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/the-mighty-ganga http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/the-mighty-ganga Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/30/1301530349-img_0441.jpg" alt="IMG_0441.JPG" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p>While in the midst of my bhang lassi horror trip, we took a boat ride along the water front in Varanasi. We very quickly found several reasons floating nearby that insured that we were never setting foot inside it. However unsavory to us, The Ganga is truely an amazing gateway through which life and death breath in and of eachother before your eyes. Within a stretch of 100 meters, you see the locals bathing, doing laundry, and releasing the corpses of loved ones. A scene that I will not soon forget.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/30/1301530376-img_0434.jpg" alt="IMG_0434.JPG" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/the-mighty-ganga#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7458153&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/20/the-mighty-ganga?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7458153&id=comments 0 The Mighty Ganga Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:13:00 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/30/fried-indian-cheese-brick-weed-milkshake-sickness http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/30/fried-indian-cheese-brick-weed-milkshake-sickness Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p>I'm sitting at a restaurant one evening in Varanasi and spy the item "special lassi" on the menu. Upon inquiry our suspicions are confirmed that it's indeed the infamous bhang lassi. Of course I decide that it's an experience I need to have while I'm here, so I order a paneer kafka, some roti, and a special lassi. When it arrives, I realize that I essentially ordered a brick of fried cheese and a weed milkshake. All items are consumed and we settle down to play some music for the evening (Garrett had purchased a classical guitar and I had borrowed an Indian Tamboura from a local shop). NOTHING HAPPENS. <strong>Are my THC receptors broken?</strong> Flash forward to the next morning 6 am.</p> <p>We'd awakened early to take a boat trip on the Ganges (details to follow) and I felt like crap. Upon returning from the 90-minute boat trip, I felt worse. I book it up about 200 stairs from the waterfront toward our hostel. Towards the top I can feel my mouth water&#8212;I have about 20 seconds. Somehow I managed to run up two more flights of stairs, unlock our room, not hit my head on the 5-foot tall bathroom door, and <strong>viciously slam dunk the entire contents of my stomach into the filthy toilet</strong>. Observe:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T_PzNsUotVI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br /> <br />It took me about 2 days until I could eat properly and currently even thinking about the taste of Indian cheese makes me nauseous. It's safe to say that may be the last lassi I drink for a very long time.</p> <p><strong>Bhang Lassi: </strong>Yogurt milkshake made with weed powder.<br /><strong>Result:</strong> Inside-out stomach and a day of extreme digestive pain.<br /><strong>Resolution:</strong> Never again. </p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/30/1301528827-img_0370.jpg" alt="IMG_0370.JPG" title="" width="500" height="888" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/30/fried-indian-cheese-brick-weed-milkshake-sickness#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7457964&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/30/fried-indian-cheese-brick-weed-milkshake-sickness?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7457964&id=comments 1 Fried indian cheese brick + weed milkshake = SICKNESS Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:53:00 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/17/brain-fruit-road-log-photos-from-varanasi http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/17/brain-fruit-road-log-photos-from-varanasi Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p>Sorry for the sporadic updates everybody, we're completely failing to develop any sort of narrative sense out of our travels. Strangely enough, I find that fitting as this trip was a dice roll of "what three places do we collectively want to visit the most." Who the fuck cares anyways, we're here to have fun and hopefully survive. Roll with it, we certainly are.</p> <p>Here are some beautiful images taken on and from the roof of our hostel in Varanasi. At 400rp a night (~ $9) I'd say it's a steal. You can see the river Ganges and the cremation ghats below. It's an honor to have the privilege of traveling to the spiritual heart of India and see that energy present in the people here, but goddamn, hippies like none other. Get off your vision quest horse and smell the Buddha tote bag full of credit cards. Regardless, this city alone was worth a year at a job I hated the shit out of.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/17/1300395206-varanasi1.jpeg" alt="Varanasi1.jpeg" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/17/1300395240-varanasi2.jpeg" alt="Varanasi2.jpeg" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/17/1300395308-varanasi3.jpeg" alt="Varanasi3.jpeg" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/17/1300395382-varanasi4.jpeg" alt="Varanasi4.jpeg" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p>Next up: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi">HOLI</a> festival in Kolkata and Istanbul (March 25th).</p> <p>-JC</p> <p>P.S. I think I have about 60 bug bites on my right foot.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g-KPL3Bb36Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/17/brain-fruit-road-log-photos-from-varanasi#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7239434&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/17/brain-fruit-road-log-photos-from-varanasi?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7239434&id=comments 0 Brain Fruit Road Log: Photos from Varanasi Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:58:08 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/we-are-american-celebrities http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/we-are-american-celebrities Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>. &#8212;Eds.</em></p> <p>Posh British host, air-conditioned car, private indian driver, and Paul McCartney's tour guide.<br />look to the right, ghandi's house. Look to the left, stolen motorcycle parts and indian prostitutes (don't let them see your camera or they'll throw rocks at the car). Nevermind the child with no hand and a cleft lip tapping on your window. Mumbai in a dirty hot nutshell.</p> <p>Currently in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_trance">GOA</a>, details to follow if I can remember them.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/15/1300206688-lucky.jpg" alt="lucky.jpg" title="" width="500" height="281" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/we-are-american-celebrities#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7186506&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/we-are-american-celebrities?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7186506&id=comments 4 We Are American Celebrities Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:34:22 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/om-machine http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/om-machine Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/15/1300204719-img_0246.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/15/thumb-1300204719-img_0246.jpg" alt="Sound your orange slices to the motorik beat of Jina. (Click to Enlarge)" title="Sound your orange slices to the motorik beat of Jina. (Click to Enlarge)" width="500" height="282" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Sound your orange slices to the motorik beat of Jina. (Click to Enlarge)</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/om-machine#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7186079&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/15/om-machine?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7186079&id=comments 0 Om Machine Sound your orange slices to the motorik beat of Jina. (Click to Enlarge) Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:05:44 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/08/brain-fruit-road-log-mumbai-dominos http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/08/brain-fruit-road-log-mumbai-dominos Jon Carr <p><em>This is part of an ongoing series in which Seattle duo Brain Fruit travel through India, Istanbul, and Berlin. You can find all the previous entries <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/brain-fruit/">here</a>.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/08/1299616750-dominos.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/08/thumb-1299616750-dominos.jpg" alt="Paneer stuffed crust anybody?" title="Paneer stuffed crust anybody? " width="500" height="375" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Garrett Moore</li><li class="imageCaption">Paneer stuffed crust anybody? </li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/08/brain-fruit-road-log-mumbai-dominos#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7078299&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/08/brain-fruit-road-log-mumbai-dominos?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7078299&id=comments 0 Brain Fruit Road Log: Mumbai Domino's Paneer stuffed crust anybody? Garrett Moore Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:39:00 -0800 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/07/brain-fruit-road-log-postcard-from-india http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/07/brain-fruit-road-log-postcard-from-india Jon Carr <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/07/1299519246-brian-friut.jpg" alt="Brain Fruit: Traversing the Fertile Crescent. What, where" title="Brain Fruit: Traversing the Fertile Crescent. What, where" width="500" height="375" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Brain Fruit: Braving the CRT Monitors of the World</li></ul></div></p> <p>Dearest Readers,</p> <p>I am currently sitting at a computer in <strong>Mumbai, India</strong> that looks to have been manufactured in about 1998; slowly going blind staring at a barely comprehesible CRT monitor (the BIG ones, remember?). Some of you may recognize me (above right) as half of the <strong>local group Brain Fruit</strong>. The man on the left is our ex-drummer and good friend Garrett Moore. Armed with cameras and audio recording equipment, we'll be blogging our way through <strong>India, Istanbul, and Berlin over the next 2-3 months</strong>. This isn't a journal, nor is it necessarily random; We hope to capture everything from the utterly inane, to the most profound. Expect anything, everything, and nothing.<br /> <br />See you out there,<br /> <br />Jon Carr<br /> <br />Comments on the term "vision quest" and white dredded hippies coming soon...</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/07/brain-fruit-road-log-postcard-from-india#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7061272&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Brain Fruit Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/03/07/brain-fruit-road-log-postcard-from-india?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=7061272&id=comments 4 Brain Fruit Road Log: Postcard From India Brain Fruit: Traversing the Fertile Crescent. What, where Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:42:00 -0800 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/19/ice-road-duck-sauce http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/19/ice-road-duck-sauce Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295422971-madchampall.jpg" alt="madchampAll.jpg" title="" width="500" height="264" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Champagne Champagne x Mad Rad West Coast Run</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Quick thoughts back/forward: 1. Darwin&#8217;s ability to drink four glasses of Denny's Cherry Coke, then top it off with a blue Gatorade, and <em>not</em> need to pee is a biological anomaly. 2. Driving these mountain passes this time of year at night makes for tense mobile times. 3. Getting to watch <a href="http://www.myspace.com/champagnechampagne">Champagne Champagne</a> every night was a highlight. Their sound, and their combination are huge, and excavative. King Tut&#8217;s tomb lies deep within the neuron coated lobe folds of Sir Thomas Gray&#8217;s head. A voice that chisels is his, carving and cutting hard material such as wood, stone, metal, and various forms of Earth. Mixed with Pearl Dragon, the slitherer, the combo lifts. Champagne Champagne posits soundwave diesel engines into the hearing air. They are, in my opinion, one of, if not the best thing going right now around these parts. Mark Gajadhar is infiltrating with more and more guitar. In Reno, he hopped on the drum kit, and diced it live. Multipronged Air Bender. More Gajadhar on drums, please. Their set is mostly newer stuff. And it goes off. This is a band that's primed. Two newer, unreleased Champagne tracks:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><strong>Champagne Champagne: "I Fell Through"</strong><br /><embed src="/foundation/audio/player/mediaplayer.swf" width="160" height="20" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="height=20&width=160&file=http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295421941-ifellthrough.mp3&backcolor=0xFFFFFF&frontcolor=0x444444&lightcolor=0xFFFFFF&screencolor=0xFFFFFF&showicons=false&usefullscreen=false" /></div></p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><strong>Champagne Champagne: "Four Horsemen"</strong><br /><embed src="/foundation/audio/player/mediaplayer.swf" width="160" height="20" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="height=20&width=160&file=http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295422034-fourhorsemen.mp3&backcolor=0xFFFFFF&frontcolor=0x444444&lightcolor=0xFFFFFF&screencolor=0xFFFFFF&showicons=false&usefullscreen=false" /></div></p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><object width="450" height="225"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UA8rXA2FDFI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UA8rXA2FDFI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="450" height="225"></embed></object></div></br><br />Pictures and truckstop nymphs after the jump.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295420598-madchampkim.jpg" alt="I followed this truck for three hours and had imaginary conversations with Kim: "Meet me at the chalet for a swim and some cherries later. Lets feed hummingbirds and have expensive cheese on expensive crackers. Don't bring your Shake-Weight." title="I followed this truck for three hours and had imaginary conversations with Kim: "Meet me at the chalet for a swim and some cherries later. Lets feed hummingbirds and have expensive cheese on expensive crackers. Don't bring your Shake-Weight." width="400" height="380" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">I followed this truck for three hours and had imaginary conversations with Kim: Meet me at the chalet for a swim and some cherries later. Let's feed hummingbirds and have expensive cheese on expensive crackers. Don't bring your Shake-Weight.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295405624-madchampchamplive.jpg" alt="Champagne Horsemen Scottsdale" title="Champagne Horsemen: Scottsdale, AZ." width="400" height="228" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Champagne Horsemen: Scottsdale, AZ.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295405898-madchampnorestroom.jpg" alt="madchampNorestroom.jpg" title="" width="400" height="533" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295406024-madchampthomasfade.jpg" alt="Sir Thomas Washing-Tone Gray / Radjaw" title="Sir Thomas Washing-Tone / Radjaw" width="400" height="300" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Sir Thomas 'Washing-Tone' Gray / Radjaw</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295414422-madchamppearl.jpg" alt="Reno, NV: A Pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers." title="Reno, NV: A Pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers." width="400" height="300" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Reno, NV: A Pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295414534-madchampthisiswrong.jpg" alt="madchampThisiswrong.jpg" title="" width="400" height="273" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295414658-madchamptoothbrush.jpg" alt="Someones toothbrush is seeing some bench seat crevice time." title="Someones toothbrush is seeing bench seat crevice time. Totally disgusting." width="400" height="155" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Someone's toothbrush is seeing bench seat crevice time. Totally disgusting.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295414717-madchampcase.jpg" alt="madchampCase.jpg" title="" width="400" height="230" /></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295416496-madchamppdesert.jpg" alt="Through P all deserts are possible. Also, as Douster from Argentina, entering all clubs is possible." title="Through P all deserts are possible. Also, as Douster, entering all clubs is possible." width="400" height="422" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Through P all deserts are possible. Also, as Douster from Argentina, entering all clubs is possible.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/19/1295429441-madchampvegashangover.jpg" alt="Vegas day after. Darwins hangover: Beyond Balls, discovering a new meaning to black holes." title="Vegas day after. Darwins hangover: Beyond Balls, discovering a new meaning to black holes." width="400" height="212" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Vegas day after. Darwin's hangover: Beyond Balls, discovering a new meaning to black holes.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/18/1295416782-madchamptruckstopnymphs.jpg" alt="Who buys truckstop nymphs? Seriously, qui emit?" title="Who buys truckstop nymphs?" width="400" height="226" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Who buys truckstop nymphs?</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/19/ice-road-duck-sauce#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=6371628&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Dust Bin Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/19/ice-road-duck-sauce?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=6371628&id=comments 7 Ice Road : Duck Sauce I drove as close to this as I possibly could and had imaginary conversations with Kim. "Meet me at the chalet for a swim later. We will feed hummingbirds." Champagne Champagne x Mad Rad West Coast Run Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:24:05 -0800 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/13/arizona-border-crossing http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/13/arizona-border-crossing Trent Moorman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/13/1294946693-madradroad5.jpg" alt="madradroad5.jpg" title="" width="400" height="300" /></div></p> <p>The van is pulled over into an inspection area and we get out. Eight inspection agents with flashlights and pistols stand next to the eight from Mad Rad &#8212; Champagne Champagne. The drug dog inside the van is barking hysterically. Like it has never barked before. &#8220;I FOUND IT, I FOUND IT, I FOUND IT, I FOUND IT.&#8221; Loud, clearly enunciated, trained barks. The dog that was inside the car next to us got out of that car and ran inside our van, and started barking. Not good. Multiple dogs going nuts inside the van. I say to the lead agent, &#8220;Beautiful sunset.&#8221; And it was. A pink into burnt orange, light blue becoming dark. The inspection agent did not respond. </p> <p>We had not been stupid. There was nothing in the van. That we could remember. But how thorough had we been? One of Thomas&#8217; bags was of particular interest to the dogs. The agent said, &#8220;The dog is detecting large quantities of drugs in this bag, but there are no drugs in it.&#8221; Thomas had his dirty clothes in it, and shrugged. The agent dumped them on the ground. Dog still going nuts, &#8220;THIS IS IT, THIS IS IT, THIS IS IT. DO I GET A TREAT NOW.&#8221;</p> <p>The van was thoroughly inspected. P had forgotten one item in a forgotten pocket in his P coat. He was read his rights, answered some questions, handed over the forgotten item, and that was it. We were told we could get back in the van and be on our way. I thought for sure we were fucked.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/13/arizona-border-crossing#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=6297291&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Legal Road Diary http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/01/13/arizona-border-crossing?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=6297291&id=comments 12 Arizona Border Crossing Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:30:31 -0800 The Stranger