September 28, 2002

I had a great day today. I woke up. I went and got the paper. I read the paper, drank coffee and listened to the Rolling Stones. I ate fruit for breakfast with my wife. We talked about what we are doing with our lives. I need to feel like I am a part of a team. Team. I ran. My friend Tom and his wife were in town from Brooklyn, NY. They came over the house and we rapped. Tom is a person I can get ultra heavy with but still keep it ultra light at the same time. Man, that kicks the ass. It is a miracle. I feel invigorated. I listened to last week’s Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show while I worked around the house. The show was funny. I have to remind myself sometimes that the reason that I do the show is that I think it is funny. I told Thea that last week’s show was funny. She said she could not remember.

This is the first Saturday that I have had in forever that I would gladly repeat.

Two hours later: I had to pick up my wife from work. The sidewalks around the store were loaded with litter. There were full Taco Bell Mexican Pizza boxes lying on the sidewalk for all to enjoy along with a ton of other trash. The low rents who shop at my wife’s store got to here again today and she cried for an hour after work. I got to witness my neighbor, Fleetwood Mac Convertible Guy (you remember), push a shopping cart with hardly any groceries in it with his ghetto fabulous girlfriend to his house and then dump the cart across the street. This guy sucks. This is why most of people in the world are assholes. And this is why everybody can bit me. I hate.

posted by Thea at 8:35 PM

September 27, 2002

It was almost amazing. I was lying around doing nothing after working too much today at the job. I was starting to relax. I was starting to unwind. I was starting to think that the reason that I don't do drugs or drink is because I work so much and I am wound up all the time and when I do take a few minutes to sit around on my ass - no work on the house and no writing - I get such a warm dopey feeling that it is just as good as doing super doobies for me. I was feeling good. I was singing along to the Misfits and getting ready to BLOG up some old "Punk Planet" shit and tell you about how good I felt. And then the computer started acting up again and not letting me into WORD 2000. And then I had something to do - fix the computer. And then I felt like myself again.
posted by Thea at 9:00 PM

September 26, 2002

The ultra light version of today is that when life seems to be complete bullshit, it probably means that something can be learned from the experience or some other such nonsense.

It was a big day for me today with the writing. I finished the second draft of “Repetition”. It is 60K words of exactly what I want to say about life with 10K words of crap. It is my job to fix it. Today also marks the day when the “Cauldron” stuff is all BLOGGED up. I don’t know what I am going to do with myself after all of this editing is done in the next few weeks. The ultra light version of me says many wonderful things but we all know the truth.

I wanted to make some sort of statement or something. This is the last thing I will ever write for “The Cauldron”. The song is over.

I just read somewhere that a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I wish I could remember where I saw that so I could give proper attribution. That is a statement. If I had more of a profound streak in me, I would be coming up with stuff like that all of the time. Instead, all I can come up with is if something rocks or does not rock. It all boils down to rocking, I guess, but it would be nice to come up with something like "Life is like a box of chocolates" just once in my life.

I am returning to the land of make believe. It is conveniently located off of I - 80 in New Jersey about an hour out of New York City. I was a citizen of the land of make believe before I came back to Cleveland State to finish my degree. I liked it there. I was an explorer on one day and a circus freak the next. It was fun. Now that I am returning, I can be a detective, Luke Skywalker or a NBA point guard as my ever - changing moods dictate.

I have missed being away from the land of make believe. It has been rough coming down to school, paying attention and talking in class. I have had to be Mr. Good Citizen and that's no good. Who wants to sit in a desk and be told what to do? Who wants to break up into small groups and discuss how violence on television effects children? Who wants to write a paper on one of the Gothic sculptures currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art? Not this monkey, baby.

I am totally sick of reality. I am sick of the impression of realism. I am sick of the meaning of everything. I am sick of dollars and I am sick of cents. I am completely sick of politics and getting there with the Y2K thing. "Yeah, I get to work at a pointless job for the rest of my life. Yippee," said the sucker as the Man pointed to a coffin. Not me, toots. I am already in Candy Land.

I am off in search of mischief. I am going to go home tonight and listen to the Who, eat a big dinner, jog for three miles, watch Pink Panther movies and laugh my freaking butt off. This is how I am going to spend the rest of my life.

Goodbye.

(1998)

posted by Thea at 5:45 PM

September 25, 2002

This is not the last thing that I wrote for the “U.S. Rocker”. I think I had given them some stuff for publication when before they went out of business that never got printed. This is, however, the last thing that I have saved from that magazine. The rest of the stuff is lost to the ages. Damn, that sounds poetic.

I think tomorrow or Friday will be my last thing from the “CSU Cauldron”. I can see this project coming to an end. I have a bunch of little shit from “Punk Planet” from 1998 and then we dive in 1999 - the year we started The Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show. I will also be done with the second draft of the second failed book on Friday. Wow, I say. Wow. I am still deciding what I am going to do with my first failed book – “Pothead/Fathead” – and the rest of my unpublished crap. We will see.

I am listening to “South of Heaven” by Slayer now. That record rules.

Judas Priest
'98 Live Meltdown
CMC International/BMG

The greatness of Judas Priest can not be questioned.

All of the songs on this record were recorded during Judas Priest's last tour. That tour was notable not only for the fact that these probably road weary old metal dogs were actually touring without medical supervision but also because of the addition of new singer Tim "Ripper" Owens from the northeast Ohio area. Much ballyhoo was registered regarding the unusual circumstances involving Owens replacing the godlike Rob Halford. I will add that it is kind of weird and certainly very Cleveland if you know what I am saying. It is like the ultimate singing in the shower experience. If I ever replace Alex Van Halen, I would love to have a version of "And the Cradle Will Rock..." with me playing drums.

“'98 Live Meltdown” is an over two hour long double CD audio event. It has faithful renditions of all the classic Judas Priest catalog numbers. The production is typical of live recordings. It is very clean and somewhat sterile. Sonic imperfections (e.g. the Who's “Live at Leeds” or “Live at El Macambo” by Elvis Costello and the Attractions) are what make the live record charming. Most live records miss the mark. You can't feel enough of the rock and the whole thing has a too processed vibe.

That is to say that this record is not good. It is but it is also no “No Sleep ‘till Hammersmith”. Rob Halford is barely missed on the classics and the songs from last years “Jugulator”, "Blood Stained" and "Burn in Hell", are particularly noteworthy. Judas Priest will not stop rocking.

The last words Owens yells on this set are "Judas Fucking Priest Heavy Metal". I think that pretty much says it all.

(CMC International/BMG. 1540 Broadway. New York, NY 10036.)

(1998)

posted by Thea at 8:11 PM

September 24, 2002

I sleepwalked through today – dead tired from two nights in a row of Guided By Voices and no sleep. I tried to keep myself motivated at work – not as a product of any motivational speaker but in an effort to keep busy so that time will click by a little faster. It was not easy and the day dragged.

I re-read “The Great Gatsby” this evening. It is an amazing book when you don’t have to take a quiz on it every day. My 11th grade English teacher, both dead and nameless, was wrong. Nearly everything that the teacher taught me about this book had nothing to actually do with the book. I am now suspicious about everything that I think I know about the classics. I am going to read them all again before I die just to make sure.

A new season of “NYPD Blue” starts again in ten minutes. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Basketball season is just over a month away. Praise the Lord. Pass the remote. And the people said amen.


from the "U.S. Rocker":

The Multiple Cat
Elements of the Multiple Cat
Guilt Ridden Pop

The cover painting on this keyboard heavy indie pop record is great. The music contained within is average. This record was made by a mixed cast of players with the only constant being bassist/vocalist Pat Stolley. His vocal stylings remind me of the Cure's Robert Smith and the music on songs like "Our Horizon" and "Little Pieces" have a distinctly new wave vibe.

A Pavement influenced is sensed on "What You Know, What You think You Know". At other times, a combination of Luna and Sloan can be heard. The pop music sometimes gets a little too precious. I kept on expecting the lyrics to be delivered in French - very Europeanish.

Stolley's voice is pretty good, his production sensibilities are decent and his bass playing is much better than average. Good bass players are hard to find. I am sure that there is a group of rockers out there who need a good bassist with a pop sensibility. Stolley needs to team up with some rock - n - roll primitives and rock out. This record was a bit too foofy for my tastes.

(Guilt Ridden Pop. 2217 Nicollet Avenue South. Minneapolis, MN 55404.)

(1998)

Shai Hulud/Indecision
split CD
Crisis Records

God bless hardcore for its two bands and seven songs in 15 minutes compact discs. I don't think that hardcore scene is aware of the potential amount of material that can fit on the shiny silver discs. They should fill the remaining hour with sound effects or something.

Miami's Shai Hulud and Brooklyn's Indecision play the new modern hardcore that is equal parts Fugazi sonic dissonance and Cromags metal thunder - fast, heavy and noisy. I would seek additional records by both of these bands.

They could have named this record "The Battle of the Bands with Long Song Titles". Shai Hulud have a song called "The Bonds of Those Who Have No Understanding of Consequence". Indecision wins with more syllables. "Making People Apologize for Accusing You of Things You Actually Did" is their puzzling entry. Indecision also covers SSD's "Glue" if you care.

(Crisis Records. P.O. Box 5232. Huntington Beach, CA 92615﷓5232.)

(1998)

posted by Thea at 9:49 PM

September 22, 2002

Another Sunday where the desire to get ultra heavy is trying to get the best of me. I wonder if I did not work around the house on Sundays, then I would not get so damned pissed off about everything. Is home repair the devil? I can tell you honestly that I would rather be doing something else – anything else. Yeah, working around the house sucks. I am praying for the day when I don’t have anything to do around the house. And I know that the player haters out there are saying, “Yeah, right. The day you don’t have anything to do around the house is the day when you don’t own a house.” And I say, “Yeah, right.”

I am thirty years old and I am not going to ever calm down. “I can’t be satisfied.” Fuck everything. Fuck everybody. Yes, that means fuck you. And I am not taking it back.

from the “CSU Cauldron”:

I do not know why the news that A Tribe Called Quest is breaking up came as such a shock to people. They said, during the press junket for their last album, that they had already recorded the next record and that it would be, due to the group growing up and rapper Phife moving to Atlanta, their last. It is no secret that ATCQ had plenty of troubles with their label, Jive (e.g. not being able to do the “He Got Game” soundtrack per Spike Lee's request due to contractual restrictions). Most groups are free to go after the five records which is the industry standard. Why do you think that so many fifth records for a label are either live records or greatest hits? Its those contracts, baby. I'm sure that ATCQ had options that could only be gotten out of if they broke up and that is why they are calling it quits. I was not surprised at all and I would be even less surprised if they show up on another label after a couple years of contractually obligated silence.

Anyhoo, the release of their last album for Jive in the nineties is a good opportunity for me to write one of those career retrospective things. A Tribe Called Quest is my favorite rap group of all times. Take that Beastie Boys. In my book, they are without peer. The quality contained in the grooves of their five platters rank them super high in not only nineties rap but also the whole of recorded music. Name me another group whose entire output has been so damn good, consistent and also has been released solely in the nineties. You can keep thinking. I have got all day.

Consider this evidence:

“People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” (Jive, 1990). Not as groundbreaking, especially in light of the fact that De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers debuts already being out for awhile, as most would have you believe but a stellar debut none the less. This record has rightfully achieved classic status and is known for such mix tape favorites as "Luck of Lucien", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" and "Can I Kick It?" This record, along with Fugazi's Repeater (Dischord, 1990) and Public Enemy's Fear of A Black Planet (Def Jam/Columbia, 1990), was the soundtrack to my senior year of high school and will remain forever in my heart. This record is also one of the best examples of sample driven hip hop ever recorded. I miss the sample driven pre - Biz Markie lawsuit days badly.

“The Low End Theory” (Jive, 1991). This record is the best album of the nineties. I am saying this with a little over year left in the decade with no fear of a retraction or white out. ATCQ lost one of their group, Jarobi White, on this album and also did away with the posse vibe that dominated the first record. Q - Tip and Phife emerge as two distinctive voices and Shaheed Ali Muhammad blossomed into a production powerhouse. The album's beats are stripped, probably seeing the lawsuits on the wall, to the barest of samples, acoustic bass and drums. “The Low End Theory” has a jazzy vibe that has been copied extensively by Digable Planets, the Roots, Guru's Jazzmatazz project and a score of others. Legendary bassist Ron Carter plays on "Verses from the Abstract". "Excursions" and "Check the Rhime" are also killer cuts on this album. If you have never heard ATCQ or rap in general, get this album to see how great the music can be.

“Midnight Marauders” (Jive, 1993). This album did not grab me the first time around since I had just dedicated myself to rock - n- roll purism. I was residing in a band house at the time with other rockers living rock 24 hours a day. “The Chronic” (Death Row/Interscope, 1992) and “Enter the Wu – tang (36 Chambers)” (RCA/ 1993) were the only hip hop records that were able to break through the wall of guitar amplification I had surrounded myself with during this period of my life. “Midnight Marauders” was too cerebral and too much of a lyrical mouthful for me to get into at the time. I have since come to appreciate the album, especially such songs as "Oh My God" and "Keep it Rollin"'. This record is more of the same style blazed on “The Low End Theory” with little variation of that magical formula. A good thing.

“Beats, Rhymes and Life” (Jive, 1996). I think that I am the one person in the whole world that likes “Beats, Rhymes and Life” better than “Midnight Marauders”. The album is loaded with good songs like "Get a Hold", "Jam", "The Hop", "What Really Goes On" and "Stressed Out" featuring Faith Evens. The album, especially "Stressed Out" was criticized for being too pop and mainstream. "Stressed out" should have been a hit and the rest of the album is better than most records released that year. No, it was not as cutting edge as some of their previous efforts but it was much better than the mediocre notices that it received. The pressure of your own achievements are a tough act to follow.

“The Love Movement” (Jive, 1998). This much delayed record was finally released on September 29th. I have had it for a couple of months because I am on the inside of show business. I have listened to the record about a dozen times since I got it and, I have to tell you, it really hasn't grabbed me yet. I'm not sure it is going to. The record has some good cuts. "Find a Way", the album's first single, has an early 1920s jazz feel with some good rhymes. It is all about love. "Steppin' it Up", featuring Redman and the requisite appearance by Busta Rhymes, reminds me of a blaxploitation film soundtrack. The song has bass and is quite funky, if you don't mind me saying. The rest of the LP is standard fair for ATCQ. It is quality hip hop but it lacks the spark and energy of their other records. “The Love Movement” is also notable for containing the first two Tribe songs that I straight up do not like. "Against the World" and "The Love" really got on my nerves with their overly repetitive nature. I listened to all five ATCQ albums back to back this past Saturday and by the time I got to these songs, I was saying enough already.

Mark my words. “The Love Movement” will not be A Tribe Called Quest's last album. Hopefully, the time they spend working on various solo endeavors will only strengthen their skills for their inevitable return. This album is by no stretch of the imagination, a stinker, but it is not the glory that ATCQ used to be.

(1998)

posted by Thea at 6:58 PM