RVA Magazine Vol. 4 Iss. 1 Three Years & Counting

www.stickyricefan.com

RUSH

EX PLOR ATIONS IN GLA SS 2005- 2008 Ar t a nd w o r ds by Chuc k Scalin

I ’ m a g le a ne r a nd a c ollector, constantly s e a r c hing a nd g a t he r ing found mat erial and v is ua l info r m a t io n t o inc o r por at e int o my w or k .

T he ur b a n e nv ir o nm e nt ha s been my s our ce of ins p ir a t io n fo r m a ny ye a r s w it h it s cons t ant of f e r ing o f t ex t ur e s — r us t , mar k ings, s cr at c hes a n d s t a ins — a ll o f w hic h have become par t o f my v is ua l v o c a bula r y. D uring t his t ime I ’ ve le a r ne d t o r e c o g niz e a nd a ppr eciat e t he in he r e n t b e a ut y fo und in t he or dinar y and t he e p he m e r a l.

Fo r t he p a s t t hr e e ye a r s I ’ ve been ex ploring t he p o t e nt ia l o f k iln- f ir e d glass to expand my p r e v io u s w o r k in c o lla ge a nd as s embla ge.

Se a r c hing fo r w ay s o f inc o r por at ing w hat I had p r e v io u s ly a c hie v e d in e a r lier w or k , I s oon dis c ov e r e d t ha t I c o uld a p p ly paint , add met al f r a g m e n t s a nd g r a p hit e t o t he v arious layer s o f g la s s. T he c ha ll e nge fo r me came in acce pt ing t he int r ins ic b e a ut y o f t he medium’ s un p r e d ic t a b ilit y a nd t o in c o r por at e t hat f eat ur e int o e a c h uniq ue p ie c e .

H o w e v e r, I fo und I w a s no t a ble t o cont r ol t he g la s s a f t e r it w e nt int o t he kiln. T his w as ver y f r us t r a t ing fo r s o m e o ne w ho w as f ully in con 1122

tr ol of the outc om e in pr e v io us w o r k s. T he a lte r a t ions and unex pec te d c ha nge s p r o d uc e d dur ing the firing pr oc ess w e r e no w d e s ir a ble a n d ha d bec om e a welc om e c ha lle nge fo r m e .

Muc h of the c r eati v e wor k in t he s e c o m p o sition s is ac hie v ed after e a c h p ie c e is f ir e d w he n I be gin the pr oc es s o f a d d ing a s s e m bla ge elem ents, dr awing or a d he r ing g r a p hit e to the surf ac e of the glas s. T hr o ug h exp e r i me nta tion, I’ v e de v eloped a p r o c e s s t ha t a l te r s the surf ac e of the gla s s t o r e s e m ble t ha t of a wor k f a bric ated out of m e t a l.

T he cr eati v e Rush c om es a f t e r t he p ie c e is r e move d fr om the kiln with a c ha lle nge o f w he r e a nd how to take the piece t o c o m p le t io n. I n spir a tion for these piec es is d e r i v e d f r o m t he ir r e g ular tex tur es, c olor alt e r a t io ns a nd a c c i de nts oc c ur ring during the f ir ing p r o c e s s a nd r e sult in deter m ining the d ir e c t io n o f t he f ina l a bstr a c t c om position.

On May 2, 2008 Quir k Galler y opens Rush: Explor ations in Glass, an exhibition of wor k by Ric hmond ar tist, Chuc k Scalin. T he exhibition r uns thr ough June 21, 2008.

Quir k is open Monday-Satur day 10am-5pm and located at 311 West Br oad Str eet Ric hmond Vir ginia 23220. 804 644 5450 quir kg aller y.com 13

5 Questions for Ed Tr ask

By Matt Lively

I first heard of Ed Trask when I was in school at VCU in the early 90s. Like every other Richmonder, I saw his work all over town and wondered, “Who is that guy who paints all of those murals?” When I asked around to find out, the answers ranged from “he’s the drummer in that band” to “he’s the cook over at that restaurant”. As an ar tist trying to make my presence known in the world, I was determined to meet this legendary ar t nut who was painting up my hometown and pick his brain, find out some tricks of the trade and see just how to get ar t out into the world! Sadly, when I finally did meet Ed, I was only able to come up with, “Hey, you’re the guy that paints those murals.” I don’t know if I was distracted by his hat or the curious tattoo on his elbow, but I wasn’t able to ask the things that I wanted to know. I finally had the oppor tunity to ask a few questions of the guy I had always heard about.

Matt Lively You have traveled the globe and undoubtedly seen a lot of great places - why do you live in Richmond?

Ed Trask I live in Richmond because I feel it has a social sensibility that is more conducive to how I want to live and is located close to every angle of life I need.

I can surf an hour and half away and see the greatest ar t in a 6-hour radius up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I can also be constantly inspired by the overwhelming number of talented musicians, painters, graffiti writers, fabricators and designers. I love being a graduate of VCU (though I might not fully agree with its business of late), for they yearly produce a talented crop of painters and has placed many of them into the New York beat and path. There is also a nice, conservative kind of money developer in-crowd here that can give endless inspiration to rebel against. I mean c’mon, if you feel depressed you can go to the river. Want to paint a mural? There are endless walls. Want to hear great music that has inspired the world? It’s here. If you have the need to get piss-faced drunk, there are many cheap places. And there cer tainly is a camaraderie in Richmond 16

that I don’t feel anywhere else. I can feel happy suppor ting my family in a cheaper Southern city. I have been here since late 1985, and it has taken a few years, but I love and would do anything for the good of this city.

ML In light of the upcoming 25th anniversary, which is your favorite song from Thriller , and why?

ET I think I only know the zombie thriller video song. I guess that’s Thriller , right? Hell, I don’t know, I wasn’t supposed to like Mr. Jackson in my punk rock circles, and now being a dad, I feel a bit creeped out by his fake nose plastic-assed pedophile ways.

ML If you were in Senator Barack Obama’s position today in this tight Democratic campaign, what would you do to finally put Senator Clinton away?

ET I would force her to be my Vice President, so Bill could work his diplomatic magic and Hillary could help me with her Washington insider ties. This has been a hard election for me, because I was in suppor t of Hillary, but I have been swept up by the Obama message of hope and change. I do feel along the lines of Maureen Dowd ( New York Times ) that Hillary is solely responsible for her own downfall and, if left alone, will simply implode, lose her superdelegates, and finally give in. Barack’s recent speech defending his ties to Reverend Wright was great, and I hate to say it, but you have to agree with a lot of what Wright has to say, maybe not in thir ty-second sound bites taken from one hour sermons, but on the whole, what his congregation stands for and has accomplished.

ML If you never painted or picked up a drumstick, what field would Ed Trask be succeeding in?

ET Plumber, writer, baseball player, mason, baker, hot dog vendor, newsstand owner, soup car t owner, salesman for

anything, teacher, cab driver, salsa maker, hair stylist, lumberjack, lineman, steelworker, professor, drywall, etc. You see the problem is my ADD ass is constantly distracted by something else. And I’ve thought about being all of these things at one time. The idea that I can be an ar tist/musician and be as flaky as I am is wonderful. I also abide by the simple fact that you’re only going to get what you work for, and with a strong work ethic and a bunch of luck, you can be anything you want.

ML You are a Richmond ar t icon, made an entire city your personal gallery, re-routed the Queen, played drums on other continents, have a beautiful family, and you wear a funny hat. What advice can you give a young Richmond ar tist that decides to put the video game controllers down and out-do Ed Trask?

ET Well first off, you could never out-do what I have for a wife and a kid (and kid on the way). I somehow lucked into the greatest wife I could ever imagine having. But, if you really want to out-do me, go buy a bunch of vintage hats, star t painting on walls all over the city (star ting illegally and working up to the legal stuff). Meanwhile, tour seven months out of the year and work any job you can to suppor t yourself until you have a big enough client base to simply paint, play music and work a couple of restaurant shifts.

Then raise a couple of kids (harder than any of the other shit), be a good husband, and still strive to be a better ar tist and person. Try to read as much as you can and travel, travel, travel. Let your life be defined by your experiences with how other people live around the world. If you do all of this, I don’t think it would be too hard to out-do me. I think there are millions of better painters and ar tists out there than me. I know this, but I have found a cool way to paint, play music, survive and have a great life in Richmond. If anybody can live a better life than this, fine. Let me watch so I can learn something.

C he c k out Ed’s ne west wor k . Flower s and Bones: Ne w Paintings by Ed Tr a s k o p e ning Fr id ay, A p r il 1 8 t h, 7 t o 1 0 p m s ho w r u ns t hr o ug h M ay 1 3 , 2 0 0 8 Er ic Sc hindler Galler y www. e r ic s c hind le r g a lle r y. c o m 2 3 0 5 Ea s t B r o a d St . R ic hm o nd , VA 2 3 2 2 3 (8 0 4 ) 6 4 4 - 5 0 0 5 Mr. Tr a s k also has a show in Sa n Fr a nc is c o in Se p t e m b e r a t 1 1 1 M inna G a lle r y .

Go to 111m inna g aller y.c om t o c he c k o ut t his a m a z ing s p a c e .

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19

Ann Beretta New Glory New Union, Union, New New Glory

By Christian Detr es Pho to s co ur tesy o f Ann B e r e t t a B y Christian Detr es

Pho to s co ur tesy o f Ann B e r e t t a

RR ic ic hm hm oo nd nd is is in in aa ss pp aa tt ee oo ff rr ee unio unio nn ss ho ho ww s. s. II tt ’’ ss ss ee ee nn aa llll ss oo rr tt ss oo ff ee vv ee nt nt ss cc oo me me dow dow nn tt he he pik pik ee in in tt he he la la ss tt ye ye aa rr –– II nq nq uis uis itit io io n, n, Ac Ac tt io io nn Pa Pa tt rr oo l,l, ee tt cc .. Ann Ann BB ee rr ee tt tt aa ww ii llll bb ee cc oo m m ing ing bac bac kk tt oo get get her her on on Sa t ur d ay, A p r il 2 6 t h, fo r w ha t is b e in g b ille d no t a s a r e unio n s ho w, but a “pic king up w her Sa t ur d ay, A p r il 2 6 t h, fo r w ha t is b e in g b ille d no t a s a r e unio n s ho w, but a “ pic k ing up w her ee ww ee le le ff tt oo ff ff ”” rr un un oo ff ss ho ho ww ss in in RR ic ic hm hm oo nd nd aa nd nd vv aa rr io io us us Ea Ea ss tt CC oo aa ss tt vv ee nue nue s. s.

CChr hr is is tt ia ia nn DD ee tt rr ee ss Ro Ro b, b, le le tt m m ee aa ss kk yo yo u, u, itit ha ha ss bb ee ee nn fo fo ur ur ye ye aa rr ss ss inc inc ee Ann Ann BB ee rr et et tt aa has has done done anyanytt hing.

W ha t w a s t he m o t i v a t io n b e hind c o m ing b a c k t o ge t he r no w ? hing. W ha t w a s t he m o t i v a t io n b e hind c o m ing b a c k t o ge t he r no w ?

Ro Ro bb HH ud ud dd le le ss tt oo nn II tt jus jus tt tt oo oo kk us us aa ff ee ww ye ye aa rr ss tt oo rr ee aa ll ly ly m m is is ss dd oo ing ing itit aa nn dd ww aa nt nt to t o do do itit aa gg ain. ain. We We kk ee pp tt ss ay ay ing ing fo fo rr ye ye aa rr ss ww ee ww ee rr ee n’ n’ tt oo ff ff ic ic ia ia ll ly ly bb rr oo kk ee nn up, up, ww hic hic hh is is kk ind ind oo ff aa cc oo pp -out -out on on some s ome le le vel, vel, but w e ha d a r e a lly ha r d ye a r a f t e r t o ur ing o n t he T hr e e C ho r d r e c o r d .

We had a mana ger t hat but w e ha d a r e a lly ha r d ye a r a f t e r t o ur ing o n t he T hr e e C ho r d r e c o r d . We had a mana ger t hat ww aa ss ly ly ing, ing, cc he he aa tt ing ing aa nn dd ss tt ee aa lin lin gg ff rr oo m m us, us, aa nd nd tt he he rr ee cc oo rr dd la la bb ee ll no no tt pp rr oo m m oo ting ting the t he rr ecor ecor d. d. We We hit hit aa ww aa ll, ll, aa nd nd ww ee go go tt ho ho m m ee ff rr oo m m tt he he tt oo ur, ur, aa nd nd ww ee aa llll ww ee nt nt oo ur ur ss ee pp aa rr aa tt ee ww ays. ays. We We didn’ didn’ tt tt alk alk fo fo rr aa m m oo nt nt h, h, tt he he nn aa llll oo ff ss ud ud dd ee nn ww ee ww ee rr ee oo ut ut dd rr ink ink ing ing aa nd nd lik lik ee ,, ““ WW ha ha tt aa rr ee we we doing doing her her e? e? Did D id ww ee bbrreeaakk up w e wreeally up aand nd no not t kkno nowwitit?”?”I tI tw wa sa st his t hisr eraelly a llyw ewiredir,da, wakwwkawradr dt hing, t hing,s o swo ewdecided e decided r elov e d o ing t his – but r ig ht no w w e r e a lly ha t e d o ing t his, s o le t ’ s w a lk w ay fr om it until ally lov e d o i ng t his, but r ig ht no w w e r e a lly ha t e d o ing t his, s o le t ’ s w a lk w ay f r om it unt il we we lov lov ee dd oo ing ing ii tt aa gg aa in. in. Wit Wit hh aa llll tt he he oo tt he he rr pp rr oo je je cc tt ss ww ee ’’ vv ee aa llll bb ee ee nn ww oo rr kk ing ing oo nn tt he he las las tt ff ee ww year year s, s, itit rr ee aa lly lly jus jus tt aa llll oo ff aa ss ud ud dd ee nn cc aa m m ee up up oo nn us. us. We We ww ee rr ee jj us us tt lik lik ee ,, ““ HH ey, ey, yo yo uu kk now now II ww as as listening lis t ening tt oo tt he he rr ee cc oo rr dd tt he he oo tt he he rr dd ay ay ;; ss oo m m ee oo ff tt he he ss oo ng ng ss aa rr ee rr ee aa lly lly cc oo oo ll ,, ww hy hy dd oo n’ n’ tt we w e get get to t o gether get her and and pprr aa cc tt ic ic ee oo rr pp lay lay aa ss ho ho ww ?” ?”

LL ik ik ee yo yo uu ss aa id id ,, tt he he rr ee is is tt hi hi ss huge huge ss pp aa ww ning ning oo ff rr ee unio unio nn ss ho ho ww ss rr ig ig ht ht no no w. w. We We didn’ didn’ tt exactly ex act ly ww ant ant tt oo bb ee kk no no ww nn lik lik ee tt ha ha tt ,, jus jus tt in in tt he he ss ee ns ns ee tt ha ha tt ww ee aa rr ee n’ n’ tt rr ee aa lly lly cc aa ll ling ling tt his his aa “r “ r eunion eunion show”. s how ” .

We We ’’ rr ee cc oo m mm m itit tt ee dd tt oo pp lay lay ing ing aa bb oo ut ut tt ee nn ss ho ho ww ss tt his his ye ye aa r,r, m m aa inly inly ff ee ss tt ii vv aa ll dd aa tt es. es. We We jus jus tt decided decided ww itit ho ho ut ut aa ny ny pp rr ee ss ss ur ur ee ,, no no la la bb ee l,l, no no m m aa na na ge ge r,r, no no bb oo oo kk ing ing aa ge ge nt nt tt ee lling lling us us ww hat hat ww ee had had tt oo do do oorr ww he n w e ha d t o d o it .

We jus t w a nt e d t o p lay s ho w s w he r e w e w a nt e d to play, s how he n w e ha d t o d o it . We jus t w a nt e d t o p lay s ho w s w he r e w e w a nt e d to play, s how ss tt hat hat

wo e on would uld bbe on our our ter termmss that that wweerree go gonna nna bbee ffun. un. TThe herree wweerree go gonna nna bbee ppeeoopplele the therree to to play play to to and and people people wwho ho wwaant nteedd ttoo sseeee tthe he bbaand ndss ttha hatt wweerree pplay laying. ing.

We We ddeecided cided to to wwait ait aa year year aand nd lelett’’ss ddoo aa ho hommeettoowwnn ssho how, w, lelett’’ss ddoo ssoommee ssee-cr creett unannounc unannounced ed shows, shows, lelett’’ss ddoo ssoommee bbeene neffitit ssho howws.s. Le Lett’’ss pplay lay aa bunc bunchh ooff fefesti stivvaalsls that that we we lov loved ed play playing ing tteenn ye yeaarrss aago, go, aand nd jum jumpp oonn tthem he m aaggaainin tthis his ye ie dd ttoo ddoo tthe yeaar.r. TThat’s hat’s our our mmindset; indset; wwee pplay lay aallll tthe hessee ssho howwss fo forr ffrreeee.. We We ttrrie he Ric Richmo hmond nd show show for for frfree, ee, but but we we couldn’ co uldn’tt find find aa cclub lub tha thatt would wo uld let let us us do do it. it. We We ar aree ccha harrging ging the the aabsolute bsolute mmini ini-mum mum that that the the cclub lub would would lelett us. us.

CCDD You You mention m ention you you ar aree do do-ing ing aa fefeww other other shows, shows, this this isis going going out out to to mmostly ostly Ric Richh-mond e mond people, people, but but we we hav have aa lot lot of of people people ar around ound the the countr o coun tryy wwatc atching hing our our vide v ideo blo blogs; g s. frFrom om wwhat hat I’I’ve v e seen seen frfroomm the t he rreac eactions tions and and pposting s, ther ostings, theree ar aree aa lot lot ooff ppeeop oplele all all ov over er the the ccountr ountryy tha thatt aarree rreally eally ex exccited ited to to be be aable ble to to see see you you guy guyss aaggain. ain.

TTher r ee aa lot he ree aar lot of of people people that tha t have ha v e ne never v er been been aable bl e to to se seee you you that that ar aree looking looking forw fo r war a rdd to to the the things things their their ooldldeerr bbrrootthe herrss aand nd ssisistteerrss wweerree ttaalklking ing aabboouutt ye yeaarrss aago. go. Wher Wheree else else ar aree yo youu go going ing ttoo bbee pplay laying ing bbeessidideess RRicichm hmoond nd??

RRHH TThe he oonly nly tthing hing ttha hatt isis 110000%% ccoonfnfirirmmeedd rrigighhtt no noww isis the t he Ric R ichmond hmond ssho how. w. We We ha havvee aa sseeccrreett ssho howw ttha hatt II aamm no nott aallo llowweedd ttoo talk t alk aabout bout tthat hat wwillill aalslsoo bbee ha happppeening ning inin RRicichm hmoond nd inin tthe he nex nextt ccooup uplele mmont onths. hs. TTher here’e’ss tthe he IIns nsub uboorrddina inattioionn Fe Fesstti ivvaal l inin BBaaltltim imoorree,, MMDD inin June June,, GGaainesville ines ville Festi Fes t ivvalal inin GGaaine w we inessvville ille,, FFLL inin OOccttoobbeer.r. Ar Aroouund nd ttha hatt ppaarrtticicula ularr ssho how w e ar aree going going to to ddoo mmay b e t w o o r t hr e e s ho w s in e a c h d ir e c t io n.

D o n’ t call it a t our, ay b e t w o o r t hr e e s ho w s in e a c h d ir e c t io n. D o n’ t call it a t our, call call itit go going ing aawway ay aand nd pplay laying ing aa couple couple shows. s how s.

We We’’rree go going ing ttoo ddoo ttha hatt with w it h friends. f riends. II don’ don’tt kkno noww ifif II’’mm aallo llowweedd ttoo ssay ay wwho ho wwe’e’rree dodoing ing ttha hatt wwitithh ye yett.. IItts’ s going going tot o be be aa gr great eat bbill, ill, aa ggrreeaatt wweeeekk fo forr us us -- kkind ind of of aa vvacaacattioion.n; Ag n jus a gaai in justt rreeaally lly good good fun. f un. It’s I t ’ s going going ttoo bbee aa ccooool l ye yeaar.r. NNoo ssttrress, es s, no no pr pressur es s ure,e, no no aany nytthing hing but but us us ha havving ing aa good good time t ime and and rreevvisisititiningg aa ffeeww ssoong ngs,s, and and afaftter er tthis his year year ccha hanncceess aarree ttha hatt wwi illll bbee it. it . No No big big plans plans for for ttoour, ur, no no We Wesstt CCooaasstt,, no no Mid Midwwes estt,, Canada.

Canada.

CCDD IIff aany nybboody dy wwaant ntss ttoo see s ee you, you, they’ t hey’ve ve go gottttaa mmaakkee tthe he ttrrip. ip.

RRHH II ha hattee ttoo ssay ay ttha hatt,, itit rreally eally suc s ucks. k s. We We ttoye oyedd wwitithh tthe he idideeaa ooff doing doing Eur Europe, ope, but but II wwoould uldn’n’tt ccoount unt oonn ttha hatt .. IItt’’ss jus justt aa mat mat-tteerr ooff pplay laying ing tthe hessee ssho hows, w s, having having aa gr great eat ttim imee.. We We ddoon’n’tt wwaant nt ttoo bur burnn out. out . We We played played ffrroomm ‘‘9966 ttoo 22000033,, aand nd wwee wer w eree on on tour t our for for nine nine mmoont nths hs oout ut ooff eevveerryy year. year. TThen hen 2004 2004 wwee pplaye layedd aa ha hand ndffulul ooff ssho howws,s, mmoossttlyly ffeesstti ivvaal l ssho howws,s, but but only only aa handful, handf ul, ffi ivvee oorr ssixix.. IItt wwaass ttha hatt ttyyppee ooff tthing, hing, wwee ccaann pplay lay tthe he show s how –– you you wwant ant us us ttoo ddoo itit..

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C D Considering your past, o bv io us ly yo u ha v e Inq uisition under your belt , yo u ha v e Fo und a tion now, but Ann Ber etta s p a ns p r o b a bly t he lar gest par t of your mus ic a l c a r e e r. W he r e d oe s that band fit em otiona lly w it h yo u c o ns id ering other bands you’ ve p l aye d w it h?

RH Ann Ber etta has a r eally s p e c i a l p la c e . I t ’ s definitely the band that allo w e d m e t o g r o w t he most as a musician, a song w r it e r. I d e f i nit e ly saw mor e of the glow wit h Ann B e r e t t a , t he hig he st of highs, and the a b s o lut e lo w e s t o f lows. It’ s a pr etty extr eme r e c i p e o f e m o t io n with that band. Its one of th o s e t hing s, it s v e r y c lic héd, but I alw ays said a s s o o n it s t o o m uc h wo r k a nd not enough fun. I t hink I s a id t ha t fo r a bout two year s w hen I w a s c o m p le t e ly h a t in g it; finally hitting that w all a nd c o m ing o f f t o u r to not w anting to do it any m o r e . I t w a s a lo n g har d fight to come to that d e c is io n. I t w a s n’ t easy, it w asn’ t something I w a n t e d t o d o o r a ny o f the o t her guy s w anted to d o it . It w a s jus t a ne ce ssit y. We had to stop.

C D Obviously you have be e n p r a c t ic ing, yo u ha d o ne just yester day ?

RH We got to gether twic e. We ha d t he b ig m e e t ing befo r ehand going thr o ug h a l l t he r e c o r d s – w hat ar e we going to play, w h a t a r e w e no t going to play, w hat ar e go ing t o t r y t o p lay ?

We came up with a decision – w e ’ r e d e f i nit e ly 24

p lay in g s o m e t h ing o f f e v e r y r ecor d. Let’s tr y t o p lay s o m e s o ng s w e ’ v e ne ver played li ve or ha d n’ t p laye d in t he la s t t hr ee or four year s of t he b a nd . We ’ r e p ulling s o ngs of f e ver y r ecor d a n d p ic k ing s o m e t ha t m ay b e no one has hear d b e fo r e . N o t s ur e if it s go i ng to make it in the s e t , but t he r e is a ne w s o ng on t he M ys pace p a ge . I t w a s w r it t e n a r o u nd the same time as t he T hr e e C ho r d r e c o r d , it just didn’ t make the c ut . We d id n’ t f ini s h r e c o r d i ng, s o w e w ent bac k la t e r a nd f inis he d it up, s o t hat s ong might get p laye d . We ’ r e no t r e a lly s ur e yet. We’ r e still w ing ing it ; w e ’ r e jus t r unn ing t hr ough e ver yt hin g a nd m a k ing a m e s s of it right now, but ho p e f ully s t a r t ing in a c o up le w eek s w e’ ll s t ar t p r a c t ic ing.

C D T he r e ’ r e a l l k ind s o f la bels that have been a s s o c ia t e d w it h Ann B e r e t t a . You got pop punk, r o c k a b illy, t he n a s s o c ia t io ns w it h a R ancide s q ue s o und in t he p a s t . Of all those la bels, a r e t he r e a ny t ha t f it m o r e t o be t he int ent of w ha t yo u w e r e lo o k ing fo r, or w as t her e any int e nt ?

R H T he f unny t hing is a b o ut t he gener al pr oc e s s, t he w ay w e w r o t e s ongs, it tended to s t a r t s it t ing o n my c o uc h w ith my acous t ic gui t a r, w ay b a c k a s lo ng a s t he band w as e ver a b a nd . Ev e n t ho ug h w e go t r efer ences to T he C l a s h a n d R a nc id , w e a lw ay s got mentioned, as a ny r e v ie w t ha t yo u r e a d , any ar tic le, it w as

a lw ays John Mellenc am p, B r uc e Sp r ing s t e e n, Am e r ic a n r o c k a nd r o ll. T ho s e w e r e a lw ays mentioned in the sam e d e s c r ip t io n o f t he b a nd . T ha t w a s s o m e t hing t ha t I alw ays liked a bout our band , t he f a c t t ha t it w a s a v e r y s o ng d r i v e n b a nd . I f yo u like d punk r oc k, w hether it b e c r us t p unk o r p o p p unk o r p o lit ic al p unk , yo u w o uld pr oba bly like our band. If yo u lik e d o ld fo lk a nd c o un t r y m us ic , yo u p r o b a bly w o u ld like our band. If you like st r a ig ht up Am e r ic a n r o c k o r p o p m us ic , yo u w o uld p r o b a bly like our band.

C D Yo u t alked a bout the highs a nd lo w s o f Ann B e r e t t a . Gi v e m e a f e w ex a m p le s o f the highest of the highs.

RH T he fir st tim e we did any t hing w a s a g r e a t exp e r ie nc e , w he t he r it c o m p le t e ly suc ke d or not it didn’ t m at t e r, b e c a us e it w a s t he f ir s t t im e d o ing a ny t hing. L ik e the fir st tim e we jum ped the b o r d e r a nd w e nt t o M exic o fo r t he a f t e r no o n, s t uf f that didn’ t have anything t o d o w it h s ho w s – o r a s o ld o ut s ho w w e ha d o ut s id e of Ric hmond. During the Oly m p ic s in Sa lt L a k e C i t y w e p laye d a s o ld o ut s ho w. We wer en’ t expecting anyone to s ho w up, b e c a us e w e w e r e p lay ing o n t he b ig ge s t nig ht o f th e O ly m pic s. We figur ed a nyo ne in Sa lt La k e w o uld b e w he r e v e r t he e v e nt s w e r e .

We played a place, it w asn’ t t he b ig ge s t o f p l a c e s, but w e s o ld it o ut . T he r e w a s a time we w er e going on tour no t k no w ing w ha t w a s go ing t o ha p p en, t he n a ll o f s ud den ther e wer e 300, 400 p e o p l e e v e r y nig ht . We p l aye d a s ho w in L o uis v ille , K Y t o a lmost 8 00 people w hen we’ d b e luc k y t o p lay t o 6 0 o r 1 0 0 . I t ’ s a huge f e e ling, it ’ s a ma zing. Bands that we m et a nd a r e s t ill f r ie nd s w it h. Ev e n w a t c hing s o m e o f t ho s e bands that wer e opening up fo r us go ing o n t o b e b ig la b e l a c t s. I n s o m e r e s p e c t s you’ r e kind of envious. A ye a r la t e r yo u’ r e go ing o n t o ur w it h t he m a g a in, a n d yo u r o pe ning up for them play ing a t t he a t e r s ins t e a d o f d ir t y c lub s.

C B Your band mates couldn’ t m a k e it t o d ay. W ha t ha s i t b e e n lik e p lay ing w it h t he m fo r a ll these year s?

RH I’ ve been play ing with Rus s s inc e he w a s 1 5 ye a r s o ld go ing b a c k t o I nq uis i tion. He’s like my br other, a nd he p is s e s m e o f f m o r e t ha n a nyo ne I k no w, but I ’ d

d o a ny t hing fo r t he g uy. Ev e n t ho ug h he c a n b e w r ong quit e of t en, he c a n r e a lly d o no w r o ng in my eye s. I w ill a lw ay s love Rus s t o deat h.

I t ’ s k ind o f w e ir d t o t a lk a b o ut yo ur f r ie n d lik e t hat, but he alw ays e n t e r t a ins m e . D o nov a n c r a c k s m e up r e g a r d le s s of w hat he’s talking a b o ut . T he t hing is, e v e n t ho ug h Ann B e r e t t a ha s n’ t been a band for t he la s t t hr e e o r fo ur ye a r s, t he b a nd ha s s t ill b e en playing music a m a jo r it y o f t ha t t im e . I t hink w he n w e go t o f f t o ur and t hat year of no t r e a lly k no w ing w ha t t o d o – I t hink o f t he t hr e e of us, none of us ha d a ny ne e d t o p ic k up a ny ins t r um e nt fo r s ix m onths, just did not w a nt t o. As s o o n a s t he ne e d t o d o t ha t a g a in c a m e, w e all jus t gr avi t a t e d t o w a r d e a c h o t h e r a nd s t a r t e d p lay ing a nd called it something d if f e r e nt o r p lay i ng c o m p le t e ly d if f e r e nt m us ic o r dif fer ent songs. We c o n t inue d t o p lay m u s ic t o ge t he r t ha t w ho le t im e. We’ ve ne ver not p laye d m us ic t o ge t he r.

C D I s t he r e a ny t hing t ha t yo u’ d a lw ay s w a nt e d t o s ay t o all t he R ic h m o n d f a ns, s o m e t hing t ha t ha s m a d e ho m e m o r e s p ecial than anything else?

R H I d o n’ t k no w. O bv io us ly w e lov e R ic hm o nd , w e a ppr eciat e R ic h m o n d , e v e r y t hing t ha t R ic hm o nd ha s a lw ay s d o ne for us, for me or a ny b a nd . B ut I t hink w e ’ v e a lw ay s b e e n v e r y v o c a l a bout t hat , w e’ ve a l w ay s ex p r e s s e d l ov e fo r R ic hm o nd no m a t t e r w her e we’ ve been. I d o n’ t k no w if it ’ s a ny t hing fo r m e t o s ay ho w m uc h w e love R ic hmond, r e g a r d le s s o f ho w m a ny p e o p le s ho w up o r d o n’ t s how up to the show, t ha t ’ s no t r e a lly t he p o int . We ’ r e go nna ha v e a go o d time with w hoe ver is t he r e . I t ’ s go ing t o b e a g r e a t s ho w – w e go t R PG , Landmines, t w o lo c a l b a nd s. I t w a s t he o nly w ay t o d o t he s ho w, is to get some friends t o ge t he r, p lay t he s ho w w it h lo c a l b a nd s. G uy s lik e R P G , w e’ ve k now n t he m a nd p laye d s ho w s w it h t he m b e fo r e , m e m b e r s of that band I’ ve k no w n fo r 1 8 ye a r s. I t s go nna b e c o o l. We ’ v e s a id t hat befor e, we just w a nt e d it t o b e a c o o l e v e nt fo r us a nd p e o p le c o m ing out t o s ee it . I t ’ s r e a l ly a ll a b o ut o ur f r ie nd s, a nd t ha t inc lud e s e v e r yone in R ic hmond.

25

Talking Purgatory with Shonna Tucker of The Drive-By Truckers

By Erin E. Bryant Photos by Chris Lacroix

The Drive-By Tr ucker s feel like a timeless band. They would have been just as comfor table on the road 35 year s ago as they are today. They seem tireless, having been together for ten years and putting out eight official DBT albums, a fair amount of solo wor k and a collaboration with Bettye LaVette. Brighter Than Creation’s Dark , the latest release by the Tr uckers ucker s is not so much an exception to the rock and roll that we’ve come to expect, but it definitely has a different feel than the previous albums. The Tr ucker s have been through some hard times in the past year, and it shows.

I’ve found that most Drive-By Tr ucker s fans are rabid about their favorite songwriter for the band.

If you’re not a Patter son Hood fan, you are a tr ue blue Cooley kid, and for a time, there were the die-hard Jason Isbell fans. However, ear ly last spring, Jason left the Tr uckers to pursue a solo career, and the Tr ucker s seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. What was expected was a return to the original roots of DBT, with Cooley and Patter son writing and singing the songs. What was not expected was for Shonna Tucker, the blonde with the bass, to step up to the plate and deliver some of the most beautiful songs on the album. With a voice like Tanya Tucker and the patience to know how and when to use it, she adds an amazing new feel to the already solid Drive-By Truckers formula.

So obviously I wanted to talk to her. I caught her on a break from their Home Front 2008 World Tour, and asked her a few questions.

Erin E. Br yant How are you doing today?

Shonna Tucker I’m great today. I’ve got a day off, the sun’s shining, and I’m just drinking tea and hanging out.

EB How’s tour going so far?

ST It’s going great. We’ve got a week off here, and then we’re back at it. We’re going Tuesday to New Yor k to do Conan, and ever ything’s been going great. Good shows.

EB The new material is wor king out well?

ST It’s good. It’s so much fun to wor k it all up and watch the progression. We didn’t know what was going to happen with some of the songs, because they’re a lot different than what we usually do, but it’s going really good.

EB You have an absolutely gorgeous voice. What took you so long to star t singing?

ST Well, Well thank thank you! you! Well, Well, II used used to to do do itit aa lot lot more, more, before before I joined the band. And I think I kind of got put on the backsplash until now. I’ve just been tr ying to focus and cultivate my sense as a bass player, and my par t in this band. It’s just now been time for me to get back into it. It took a lot of courage for me to break the songs to these guys (Patter son Hood and Mike Cooley), because I respect the two of them so much as writer s. It was like, “Ok… here it is!” And they approved. And once we decided to do these songs in the studio, I thought, ok, I’m really going to have to sing this stuff. I’m going to have to practice singing and playing at the same time. It’s a whole new world.

26

EB Do you ever feel like you’re sor t of par t of a “boys club”?

ST It’s absolutely a boys club. It’s pretty stinky, but it’s all about balance. You’ve gotta have something in there to balance everything out, and maybe that’s my par t.

EB Has it been different with Jason leaving the band?

ST Yeah, it’s a lot different. Before his depar ture, it was, you know, ever yone was unhappy in a lot of different ways, and it was a negative energy going through. Ever yone was exhausted from wor king so hard to tr y to make everything ever ything work. Now, everyone is cleansed and feeling better. It’s much more laid back and a positive vibe. We had a lot of rest last year, too, so I think that helped. Ever ything is going well, I think for him, too, on ever y level for all of us. Everyone’s getting to do what they want to do, the way they want to do it now.

EB Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is a lot longer than the last four or so albums that you’ve done. Was it a lot harder this time to sor t of pick through and cull out songs, or did they all sor t of wor k together?

ST Yeah, well that’s why there are nineteen songs. We couldn’t remove any of them. It was like a puzzle. They all just wor ked perfectly together, and we just could not imagine taking anything off of it. One thing that’s unusual about this record is that some of the songs are way shor ter than most of the ones we write. I mean, we’ll put out a long record, but it’s because the songs are five, six minutes long. We have a couple of those on this one, but a lot of the songs are three and a half minute, four-minute songs. I know a lot of my favorite albums, they’ll throw a two-minute song in there and I’m just like, “Aw, that was nice.”

EB So, “The Purgatory Line”. It’s a lot different than what you all have ever done, sor t of an atmospheric, almost intense song. How did that come about?

ST Well, the the way way I Iwrite, write,I don’t I don’tsitsitdown down with with intentions intentions of writing of writing a song. a song.

TheyThey just just sor t sor of come t of come to me.toThat me. song That song about took took about twentytwenty minutes minutes to write. to write.

It wasn’t It wasn’t reallyreally exhausting exhausting to dotoit.do Once it. Once it wasit over was over with, with, and Iand sat Idown sat down with awith guitar a guitar and tried and tried to make to make a littlea little demo,demo, you know, you know, so I could so I could bring bring it to the it toguys, the guys, is when is when I got emotionally I got emotionally wor n wornwith out outit.with It hitit. me It hit then. me Itthen. was like, It wasoh,like, man,oh,I just man,threw I justupthrew my whole up myguts whole hereguts on this herepaper. on thisIt’spaper. just per It’ssonal just per sonal experience. experience.

I think with I think “Thewith Purgator The Purgator y Line”, ywhen Line,I when was growing I was growing up, church up, church was a big was par a big t ofpar myt life, of myand life,it and is still it still with ismywith family. my family.

I think Ipurgator think purgator y fascinated y fascinated me anyways. me anyways.

Like, wow, Like,you wow, could youreally could be really somewhere be somewhere that is that is nowhere. nowhere.

It’s a scary It’s athought. scary thought.

EB Are there any par ticular influences you have with your songwriting?

ST It’s sor t of out of nowhere. My dear friend Spooner, Spooner Oldham, he’s been playing with us a lot recently.

He told me, I think I was four teen or fifteen year s old when he told me this, because I was asking him how he wrote and he said when a song comes, they’re all already there. Sometimes they come floating by, and you just have to reach up and grab it. I think that’s absolutely tr ue.

EB Are you going to continue writing and singing for future albums?

ST Yes ma’am. I really hope to cultivate that and get better at it. This week we’ve had off, and I’ve been home for three days, and I’ve already star ted on two songs. I think it’s something that’s in my mind now, and I really want to go after it. We’ll see what happens.

Pick up Brighter Than Creation’s C reation’s Dark at Plan9 Records in Carytown. drivebytruckers.com .

For more info, tour dates, etc., head to drivebytruckers.com.

I L A K

FEED THE ANIMALS, RAISE THE DEAD

By Lauren Vincelli images courtesy of Gril Talk

Girl Talk is the stage name under which the Pittsburgh based mash-up ar tist and dance maniac Gregg Gillis performs. As a student in Pittsburg in 2000 he began mixing samples and playing par ties. Gillis creates sample-based mixes, in which he uses dozens of identifiable clippings from popular music and your guiltiest pleasures to create new songs. He layers, isolates and combines samples live before his audience.

In addition to his skilled approach to sampling, Gillis is known for his high-energy performances and stage antics during which he usually removes most or all of his clothing. He dances wildly around his laptop, often inviting the audience to join him on stage.

The combination of his polished mixing skills and ebullient stage antics leaves the audience dance-crazed, infected with energy and motion. I dare you not to dance at a Girl Talk show.

Once an engineer in a biomedical research lab, Gillis has quit in order to focus on his music career. After the critical acclaim of his two most recent albums, Unstoppable (2004, Illegal Ar t) and Night Ripper (2006, Illegal Ar t), and several tours with ar tists like Beck, and M.I.A., Gillis has become an internationally recognized performer with little need for a day job.

Gillis has spent the last two years toiling on a follow up to Night Ripper , which he plans to call Wild Peace IV: Feed The Animals, Raise The Dead . Like his last four albums, the CD (and online version) will be released on the edgy, copyright-law-skir ting label Illegal Ar t in mid May. Wham City Records will handle the vinyl release.

In addition to the new Girl Talk album, Gregg Gillis is also working a side project, Trey Told ‘Em. I had a chance to interview Girl Talk via e-mail before he comes to rock Richmond at Toad’s Place, May 2.

LAUREN VINCELLI How did all of this star t?

GREGG GILLIS I heard Kid 606’s “Straight Outta Compton” remix when I was in high school, and it became a huge influence. I had heard appropriation-based music prior to that with rap, John Oswald and Negativland, but that remix was really exciting to me musically. It was the first time that I heard someone completely mangle a song digitally. I got a laptop in 2000 and decided to star t a band where I focused on chopping up songs.

LV The last time we spoke was on the radio in 2005 after an ar t show par ty at Alley Katz in Richmond. How have things changed for you since then?

GG My life turned kind of insane in the summer of 2006 when my last album was released.

I’ve been touring non-stop since then, and things seem to keep growing. I used to have a day job doing engineering, but I quit that in June to do music full time.

LV What has it been like to go from performing in a 500-person venue like Alley Katz, to touring with Beck and headlining Brown University’s Spring Weekend with M.I.A and Lupe Fiasco?

GG I have to point out that by the time I was playing Alley Katz to 500 people, that was already 5 years into my life as Girl Talk. Also, those par ties were mostly attended by people who didn’t know me. Richmond is really one of the only places in the country where I played as a special guest at DJ-oriented dance par ties. Other than Pittsburgh and Cleveland house par ties, I’ve always played rock-style shows with bands. I’ve played Richmond to 10-30 people at least four times prior to the last Alley Katz show.

Prior to 2006, my goal was always to be able to tour the entire country and be able to draw at least 30 people in each city. That seemed really ambitious at the time, to have 30 people in each city want to pay money to see a guy do live remixes and collages on a laptop. So much where this whole thing has gone is completely wild.

LV What’s the deal with the “fake” album leak earlier this in March?

GG Some “fan” made a bunch of pop collage songs and put it on the Internet as my new

album. It spread really quickly. I was into the execution of it, but it was a headache trying to clear it up.

LV Tell us about your upcoming album?

GG Most of the general ideas are compiled from my past 2 years wor th of live shows. I think the flow of it is less scattered than my last album. The song writing feels more organized; but at the same time, the cut-up segments that are included are more in line in some of my earlier work, meaning detailed and intense. Overall, it’s definitely an extension of the style I worked with on Night Ripper.

LV Have you decided on a title for your new album? A release date? A release par ty?

GG I think it’s going to be called Wild Peace IV: Feed The Animals, Raise The Dead . It should be out in mp3 form by May. I’m playing Pittsburgh in May, so whether it’s done or not, that’s the par ty!

LV What are the tracks we should listen out for on the upcoming album?

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GG I’m building the album in large segments. I’ll isolate the tracks at the very end.

LV What can Richmond expect at your show at Toad’s Place on May 2?

GG I’m down for whatever. The audience usually drives the show one way or another.

LV Who is coming with you on tour?

GG I’m traveling solo these days.

LV Are you resistant to being referred to as a “DJ” still? Why or Why not?

GG I’m not offended by the term. I just don’t consider myself a DJ in the traditional sense. I don’t spin records. I don’t play unaltered versions of other people’s songs. When I perform, I only do live remixes and collages. I trigger each individual sample by hand and collage the material together live. I play with bands. I play typical band-length sets.

With my albums, I always aim to make original music based out of samples. If your definition of a DJ is anyone who appropriates music, then I’m cool with being called a DJ. I just never hear people call John Oswald a DJ. I consider him an absolute pioneer for what I’m doing.

Whatever people call him, that’s what I want to be called.

Just to use two popular ar tists as examples, I have always considered seeing Diplo live as a DJ performance and seeing Daft Punk live as a live electronic performance. This has nothing to do with the giant pyramid or glowing outfits either. I’m a big fan of both; I’m not saying one is better than the other, it’s just different. Diplo’s music is more similar to mine, but I feel that the processes I use to do live music are more like Daft Punk.

When Diplo performs live, he basically blends songs into each other. When he plays one of his own remixes, he’s not triggering the samples by hand, he’s playing a finished remix on a turntable. The skill he has is to transition between completed songs. So he may play his remix of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and this means he puts on that song, and then star ts figuring what he’s going to blend into that. If he wants to, he can put on a song, walk away for two minutes, come back, and blend in a new song.

Daft Punk’s music is heavily based on samples. When they play, it’s a live performance to me, because they are triggering individual samples and loops. They are not going to play “One 3300

More Time” from their album. They are going to do live renditions of that material. Just like with a rock band, it’s going to sound different live.

When I perform live, I will never just play a song from one of my albums. You will hear par ts of my albums, but it will be different because I’m doing it on the fly. I also do different renditions of that material. When the par ts change during my shows, it’s because I’m clicking the mouse at that par ticular time. If I walk away from my computer while I’m playing, the par t you are hearing will loop over and over. It’s loop-based software. I need to be there, performing it live, for the music to continue.

LV Other than the brief tour lined up and the new album what projects have you been working on?

GG I’m doing remixes with my friend, Frank Musarra, under the name Trey Told ‘Em. I’m trying to not do any remixes as Girl Talk. I just want to do albums as Girl Talk.

LV I read that you are doing biomedical research in Pittsburg as your day job, is that true?

What made you want to pursue that job?

GG I was. I quit! I took biomedical engineering in college.

LV Did your work colleagues know about your alter ego as Girl Talk? How do they feel about it?

GG They didn’t.

LV What’s your fondest/worst memory of Richmond, VA? GG The best thing I ever did in Richmond was use a rope swing under a bridge to launch myself into some body of water.

LV Anything else you want Richmond to know before you explode on to stage May 2?

GG Feed your children.

For more info on Girl Talk check out illegalar t.net/girltalk or myspace.com/girltalkmusic

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Speaking to the attendees o f t he Te c hno lo g y, Ent e r t a inm e nt , D e s ig n (T E D ) confe r e nc e, Cr eati v e Com m o ns fo und e r, La r r y Le s s ig, s a id t ha t a f t e r b e ing pr esented the business mo d e l o f r e a d - o n ly m e d ia (in w hic h t he c o ns um e r is o nly t hat, a c onsum er of m a t e r ia ls ) t ha t t he w o r ld is no w m ov ing t o w ar ds a r ead-write cultur e, w he r e e v e r y t hing is t a k e n, r e m ix e d , r e w o r k e d and r etooled. Ever yone ha s s e e n m a s h- up s, a n im e m u s ic v id e o s a nd t he like, but after seeing Paul D. M ille r (AK A D J Sp o o k y, T ha t Sublim ina l K id ) p e r for m his r em ix of T he Bir th Of A Nation , e nt it le d Re bir th Of A Nation , two thoughts come to m ind : o n e , t ha t r e m ix ing ha s e v o lv e d o n c e a g a in, into a ne w ar t for m ; a nd t w o, t ha t m o r e D J s s ho uld ha v e d e gr ees in philosophy. Paul M ille r is a na t i v e o f Wa s hing t o n, D C , a nd he cur r ently r esides in NYC . H e w a s a fo r m a t i v e f ig ur e i n e a r ly t r ip - ho p, wor king with Kool Keith am o ng o t he r ind i e b ig w ig s in t he la t e 9 0 s.

His 2005 CD, Dr ums Of Death , w a s p ut t o ge t he r w it h D a v e L o m b a r d o of Slayer, Public Enemy’s C huc k D a nd M e a t B e a t M a nif e s t o ’ s J a c k Danger s. It’s str ange, the n, t o t hi nk t ha t his nex t w o r k w o uld b e ma de a longside a dead r ac is t , D. W. G r if f it h. Sp o o k y ’ s p r e s e nt ation, a r emix of the film, his o w n f r a m e s, t r a c k s a nd s a m p le s, is an hour and twenty minut e s, c o m p a r e d t o t he o r ig ina l f i lm ’ s thr e e hour s. Miller ac ts as a D J a nd p r o d uc e r a t o nc e . T he v e r sion we saw at U of R’s Mo d lin C e nt e r w a s fo c us e d o n t he lov e stories in the film; howe ver, e v e r y n ig ht ’ s v e r s io n is d if f e r e nt .

Anothe r audienc e m ight ne v e r s e e t he lov e s t o r y, ins t e a d s e e ing a dr ama focused on w a r. W ha t M i lle r ’ s w o r k r e p r e s e nt s i s the futur e of m edia. No lo nge r is a $3 0 0 k s t ud io r e q uir e d to pe r for m suc h an ac t – ind e e d , it c a n b e a c hie v e d w it h a $1,500 la ptop. T he next s t e p in M ille r ’ s p r o je c t w ill b e a n o nline r em ix we bsite, w her e t he e nt ir e le ng t h o f b o t h G r if fith’s film and Miller’s add i t io ns w ill b e a v a ila ble s o t ha t the use r c an m ix their own v e r s io n.

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DJ S p o o ky

I a n M . G r a ha m Te l l us a b o ut t he p r o je c t yo u a r e w o r k ing on right her e...

R eb i rt h o f R e m i x Int e r vie w by I a n M . G r a ha m + Par ker P ho t o s by I a n M . G r a ha m

D J S p o o k y T he w ho le id e a is t o s ay d ir e c t o r a s D J, s o w hat I r eally focus o n is c o lla ge , but it s t ill ha s t o t e ll a s t o r y. T he n a lo t of t he mat erial is e d it e d a nd s e q ue n c e d , b o u nc e d t hr o ug h t he s e v id e o - m ixing boar ds. I also c o m p o s e d t he s o und t r a c k fo r e a c h s c e ne , s o I ’ m c hanging it ar ound, e d it ing it li v e , a nd c ha ng i ng t he w ho le f ilm . I t hink in t he near f ut ur e e ve r y t hing is go ing t o b e a b o ut v id e o a nd r e m i x ing. Yo u ar e going to take t his v id e o a nd e d it o r s p lic e o r w ha t e v e r. T ha t is go i ng to be the natur al v o c a bula r y, w he t he r i t ’ s k id s r e m ix ing v id e o g a m e s like mac hinima, or p e o p le w it h c r a z y c e ll p h o ne v id e o.

To m e t he 2 1 s t c e n t ur y s t a r t e d w he n Sa d d a m H ussein’s (execution) v id e o w a s o nline . 9 / 1 1 w a s v e r y 2 0 t h c e nt ur y. I ’ m not saying as a ne g a t i v e o r p o s i t i v e , but t he m e d ia s p e c t a c le , t he r e pet it ion of ima ge , t he w ay t hey k e p t m a k ing t he t o w e r s f a ll, e ver ybody w as like t he 2 1 s t c e nt u r y s t a r t e d w i t h t ha t . I a c t ua lly t hink it ’ s t he micr oc ine m a o f t he s m a lle r s c a le im a ge s t ha t ha v e pow er or des t r uct io n t ha t yo u r e a lly r e a liz e p e o p le a r e d o c um e nt ing e ver yt hing.

I t ’ s a lo ng s t o r y, but D. W. G r if f it h w a s o ne o f the f ir s t f ilm dir ect o r s t o ge t int o t his id e a o f m a s s c ult ur e p r oduction, the fir st blo c k bus t e r. Re bir th of a Nation is a r e m ix of Grif fith’s 1915 f ilm .

I M G Te ll us a b o ut Bir th of a Nation , w ha t is your take?

D J S Am e r ic a ha s a l w ay s h a d a p a t ho lo g ical r ef lection site w it h r a c e . W he n I s ay r e f le c t io n s it e , I mean you have a w e b s it e t ha t ha s t he o r ig ina l a nd yo u have t he mir r or s it e r e f le c t e d . So it ’ s lik e a s t r a nge m ir r o r, lik e a f un hous e m ir r o r. Ev e r y t hing f r o m t he m ins t r e l show, w hic h is the e a r ly o r ig in o f p o p c ult ur e a nd hip -hop, all s or t s of 35

s t uf f c o m e s o ut o f p a t ho lo g y of r ace. You’ ve got As ia n, L a t in o, w hit e , b e c a us e ther e ar e dif fer ent k ind s o f (q uo t e ) “ w hit e ” . All that stuf f is r eally a b o ut a c ult ur e m a d e o f f r a g ment s of ot her cul t ur e s, w hic h is s a m p ling. Am erica is a sampling m a c h ine .

G r if f it h p o s i t s a d if f e r e nt k ind of America. His t hin g w a s t ha t Am e r i c a w a s star ted out as the K K K p r o p a g a nd a m a c hine . T he w hole is s ue of t hin k ing a b o ut r a c e in c ine m a, this is the DNA o f t ha t . H e p o p ula r iz e d t he idea of w hit es being in f e a r o f bla c k s ex ua lit y and violence. It’s t he f i r s t f ilm t o s ho w a c o r r upt election so I c o ul d r e m ix B us h a nd C o nd i R ice in.

T he w ho le is s ue o f s ay ing t hat t his is “ pat r io t ic ” a nd s ay ing t ha t you’ r e “fighting the go o d f ig ht ” … o ne m a n’ s fr eedom fighter is a n o t he r m a n’ s t e r r o r is t , a s we’ ve seen in this a l- Q a e d a , B us h a nd B in L a den, k ind of holding e a c h o t he r up t hing.

T he f ilm ha s r e s o na nc e in t he cur r ent cul t ur e , b e c a us e I r e a lly t hink we’ r e in the er r or o f c o nf l ic t ing f ic t io ns. We alw ays have been, but n e v e r m o r e t ha n t his media landsca pe w e li v e in no w. So it p ulls a par t some of the is s ue s I t hink t ha t go b ac k to the origins o f ho w f i lm a nd p r o p a g anda r eally c hange p e o p le ’ s m ind s, b e c a us e this film w as used t o s e t t he t o ne fo r r a c e and policies. It w as t he f ir s t f ilm p l aye d a t t he White House.

IMG Kind of like the doc ume nt a r y Triumph of the Will - DJS In f ac t, Leni Riefenstahl s ay s s he w a s he a v ily inf lue nc e d by G r if f it h o n ma ny le v els. So pr opa g and a m e d ia , w a r in Ir a q , W M D – a s w e c an s e e p r o p a g a nda s till wor ks fine.

I t ’ s a s t a r t , I t hink a r t is t s r e a lly ha v e t o he l p ge t p e o p le to r ealize we can d r e a m o t he r d r e a m s ; w e c a n ha v e d if f e r e nt p a t h s, s o I g uess maybe I’m an id e a lis t . I d e a lis m is a b o ut p a s s io n a nd info r m a t io n a nd all the things that I ’ m r e a lly d r i v e n by.

I use this film as kind of a b e llw e t he r t hing, t o s ay w e go t t o t hink a b o ut ho w p e op le c an update and dec o ns t r uc t s o m e o f t he f r a m e s o f r e f e r e nc e w e ha v e .

Pa r ke r Ar e ther e any other p r o p a g a nd a f ilm s o r id e a s t ha t yo u’ r e t hink ing a b o ut using in the futur e? Bec aus e it s e e m s lik e t his o ne yo u a r e s ho w ing it in a d if fer ent w ay and at the same t im e o p e ning eye s a nd m a k ing it r e le v a nt t o w ha t i s ha p pe ning now.

Pa r k e r Yo u t hink c o lle c t i v e ly t ha t a s p e o p le w e ’ r e s t a r t ing to w ake up and r e a liz e t ha t t h e r e a r e a lo t o f t hing s go ing o n, e s p e c ially in our countr y b e hind t he s c e ne s, a nd ge t t ing p is s e d a nd r e a liz ing t hat t hey can do s o m e t hing t o m a k e a c ha nge ? I t s e e m e d lik e m ay b e 20-25 year s a go e v e r y b o dy w a s a lit t le m o r e c o nt e nt a b o ut w ha t w a s going on without q ue s t io n ing a ut ho r it y t ha t m uc h, lik e no w m o r e t h a n e ver...

D J S T ha t ’ s w ha t is s o b e a ut if ul a b o ut f e s t i v a ls lik e Bur ning Man or M ic ha e l Fr a n t i’ s Po w e r t o t he Pe a c e f ul Fe s t i v a l; t hey ar e r eally good c a t a ly s t s fo r c ha nge , but p e o p le a ls o ha v e t o t hink of c hange in t he DJS O ne of my f av orite r ec ent f ilm s w a s Memento , w he r e t he c ha r a c t e r k e p t fo r ge t ting. In America memor y is a s c a r c e r e s o ur c e . I t ’ s lik e e v e r yo ne fo r ge t s t he la s t e v e r yd ay. We c a n w a k e up a nd s ay w ha t a b o ut a P r ius, w hat a bout not coup le year s. Whic h is kind o f go o d b e c a us e w e a r e a lw ay s lo o k ing fo r t he ne w ha v i ng a ir c o nd it io ning o n o r w a lk ing. Sim p le , t iny e ver yday t hings, a nd ne ver find it, so a lot o f t he b a nd s no w t hey s o und lik e t hey ’ r e f r o m t he 7 0 s, jus t s im p le s t uf f, but yo u w o ul d b e s ur p r is e d . I w as w alking ar ound or e ver yone has 90s nosta lg ia fo r hip - ho p o r t e c hno k e e p s o n lik e it w a s m a d e in R ic hm o nd o nc e . O ne o f t he m o s t int e r e s t i ng t hings that w hene ver I 1993. America fear s the fut ur e o n a lo t o f le v e ls … t he w h o le is s ue o f s ay ing p e a c e , le a v e N e w Yo r k , yo u r e a liz e t ha t t he r e s t o f Am e rica is car cult ur e, me mo r y, m anipulation of id e a s. Yo u c a n t hink o f o p e ning t he b o ok s 1 9 8 4 , Br ave Ne w s o I a m w o nd e r ing ho w p e o p le a r e go ing t o r espond to the g as Wor ld . Medication like Pr oz a c . . . . p r ic e s go ing up. W h ic h o f c o ur s e , if yo u k no w, if you follow dollar s i g ns, t ha t ’ s B us h a nd his b oy s, t he Sa ud is a nd lar ge oil cor poIMG Pr o z ac is Som a, it is. r a t io ns – s o t he w a r ha s b e e n v e r y go o d fo r business for them.

T hey p r o lo ng it , k e e p t he o il p r ic e up, k e e p t he fear going though DJS It is eerie right now ho w a lo t o f p r o je c t e d f ut ur e s ha v e c o m e ho m e t o r o o s t , but t he m ilit a r y - ind us t r ia l c o m p lex , a nd k e e p e v e r ything a little bit a l so one of my f av orite writ e r s, Ar t hur C . C la r k e , jus t p a s s e d a w ay. H e w a s a r e a l id e a l d e s t a b iliz e d . We ha v e t o s p e nd a ll t his m o ney on cont r act s, and ist. I think we all hav e a gent s t ha t s ay w e w a nt a d if f e r e nt f ut ur e , a nd if e no ug h p e o p le t hey d o t he c o nt r a c t s t hr o ug h t he ir b oy s. Fear is a br and. Its belie ved in that then we’ ll go t ha t w ay, but if w e b e lie v e in a ne g a t i v e a nd d e s t r uc t i v e lik e C o c a - C o la m e e t s So m a , o r w ha t e v e r. Pe ople need dif fer ent a nd we ir d psyc hophar m a, ge ne t ic e ng ine e r ing d o o m , w e ’ ll go t ha t w ay. k ind s o f p r o g r a m m ing.

I r eally think of this mix, this p r o j e c t , a s a n o t he r w ay o f s ay ing a no t he r w o r l d is p o s s ibl e .

I’m an ar tist, this is not go ing t o – e v e r yo ne is n o t go ing t o w a l k o ut o f h e r e a nd s ay, “I’m r eady to join the KKK. ”

T he p r o ble m r i g ht no w i t ’ s l ik e ov e r lo a d for e ver ything, and t h e r e is s o m uc h t o f ilt e r t hr o ug h. We jus t li ve in t his ocean, 37

bombar ded by cr azy infor m a t io n. I t hink hip - ho p, t e c hno, d r um a nd b a s s, a ll the se music sty les, the yout h c ult ur e in t he w ay a r e m a k ing t he ir o w n t r a c k s, making their own materials ; it ’ s d o it yo u r s e lf, z ine s, w e b s it e s, blo g s. All tha t stuf f in the 80s and 90 s, yo u k no w m ixt a p e s, it ’ s a d if f e r e nt m e d ia . We a r e the ne w m edia, the only p r o ble m is t ha t it ’ s t o o m uc h.

When I went down to Anta r c t ic a fo r my o t he r f i lm p r o je c t , t he id e a w a s to do some urban de pr o gr a m m ing, yo u k no w jus t ge t a w ay a nd b e in a n iso la te d c hilled out env ir onm e nt . It d e f init e ly le f t m e f e e ling m uc h m o r e at peace with how tec hnolo g y c a n b e u s e d in d i f f e r e nt w ay s.

I bought a mini-studio down t he r e . We r e nt e d a Rus s ia n ic e b r e a k e r b o a t , w hic h is a lar ge boat. When I s ay huge ic e I ’ m t a lk ing li k e t h e ic e d o w n ther e, t he scale down the r e w a s ic e b e r g s b ig ge r t ha n t his build i ng.

W hile we wer e ther e a 40-mile ic e b e r g b r o k e o f f.

It’s just a har dcor e f act o f li v ing t ha t t e c hno lo g y is t he w ay t ha t we communicate in the pos t - ind us t r ia l, p o s t - e v e r y t hing Am e r ic a , a n d this is just the be ginning So my film pr oject, the idea o f D J ing, t o D J is lik e a s e a r c h e ng i ne .

It’s finding c ool, inter esting t hing s a nd p ulling t he m t o ge t he r, and that’s the mix.

IMG Like Lawr ence Lessig ta lk s a b o ut t he r e a d - o nly c ult ur e fo r c e d on us by media companies, no w w e a r e a t a p o int w he r e a k id w it h a $1,500 la ptop can do the s a m e t hing i t t o o k a s t ud io 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 to d o ten year s a go. Is any o f yo ur w o r k a v a ila ble t hr o ug h C r e ati ve Co mmons?

DJS La r r y blurbed my book Rhythm Science , a nd t he r e a r e e le me nts of the book that ar e C r e a t i v e C o m m o ns. T he r e is a ls o my se cond book ( Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Cultur e ); it’s a bout contem p o r a r y a r t , d ig it a l m e d ia a nd s o und 38

c ult ur e . T he w ho le v ib e o f t he s e k in d s o f p r o je c t s is t o say open sour ce is t he w o r ld r ig ht no w, s o t he w ay w e b e lie v e , w hic h a r e t he s e rip, mix and bur n is s ue s. I lov e t he id e a o f t r a ns it io ning f r o m r e a d - o nly t o r ead and w rit e. I t ’ s a g r e a t m e t a p ho r. L a r r y is a go o d s o un d by t e k ind o f g uy.

I M G I f yo u ha d t o e nt e r t he T hund e r d o m e , in a t w o D J s e nt e r and one D J leave k ind o f s it u a t io n, it c a n b e a m us ic o r p hy s ic a l b a t t le , yo ur c hoice, w ho w ould yo u w a nt t he o t he r D J t o b e a nd w hy ?

D J S I t ’ s lik e T he Wizar d of Oz s it ua t io n, w ho ’ s b e hind t he Bush media thing?

T he m e d ia is a m ix , a nd d o n’ t b e fo o le d , it s a ll a m i x o f e d its. I guess it’s not jus t a D J, but a V J, o r w ho is t he Wiz a r d o f O z b e hind t he c ur tain for this w hole w e ir d Re p ublic a n s t u f f. I w o uld h a v e t o f ind o ut w ho, it ’ s p r oba bly a couple of p e o p le , lik e a l it t le m e d ia c a b a l o r s o m e t hing. I ’ m s ur e t ha t would be the ideal D J I w o uld b a t t le , o r V J w ha t e v e r yo u w o uld c a l l it . M y e ne r g y v er sus their s… the s ho w d o w n.

To m e m us ic is no t jus t a b o ut o t he r D J s, o r w ho is t he c o o le s t , or w ho is making p o p m us ic . I t ’ s m uc h m o r e a b o ut c o m m unic a t io n, s ay ing w e a r e all hanging out on t his p l a ne t .

C l ub c ult ur e ha s a lo t o f go o d t hing s t o o f f e r a nd ha s s o m e o t he r things to of fer. I’m no t t he t y p e t o s la nd e r I b iz a o r w ha t e v e r, but t he la s t c o u p le s p o ts I been ar e like, So ut h Af r i c a , Ango la . I w a s c he c k ing o ut t his ne w s t y le o f Af r ic a n t e c hno called K udur o, w hic h is t his c r a z y int e r e s t ing s t y le o f r hy t hm s o ut o f O o g a B o o g a , or going dow n t o Ant a r c t ic a a nd b r in g t he s t ud io w it h m e , s o I ’ m no t a no r m a l D J. B ut I lik e it , I r e s p e c t it , a nd t ha t ’ s t he c u lt ur e I inha b it .

I w o u ld w a nt t o f ind w ho is t he m e d ia D J, t h e p up p e t m a s t e r.

M uc h o f Pa ul M ille r ’ s w o r k is a v a ila ble t hr o ug h a C r e a t i v e C o m m o ns license. For mor e info r m a t io n a b o ut C r e a t i v e C o m m o ns, v is it w w w. c r e a t i v e c o m m o ns. o r g, and for Spook y’s w e b s it e , djspook y.com

39

For my thir d installment of P ulp To ne s I w a s c o m p le t e ly s e t o n d e a ling w it h politics in one w ay or anot he r. As a r e s ult , I fo u nd my s e lf in a b o g o f 8 0 s politics, anar c ho-punk, act s o f s t a t e d e f ia nc e , t he m e ns t r ua l p a ins o f r io t gir l, and a fe w other sub- s e c t s t ha t w e r e t r uly la ug ha ble (I ’ m s o r r y, I s t ill ne ve r under stood w hy anyo ne t o o k Ant i- Fla g s e r io us ly, EVER ). I n t he e nd , I w as bludgeoned into submis s io n by M SN B C , a nd d e c id e d t ha t t h e e a s ie s t t h in g to do is talk a bout the cir c le j e r k t ha t is t he p r e s id e nt ia l p r im a r y.

Most punk bands in the 80 s w e r e r e b e lling in c o lle c t i v e o b s c ur it y, r e s ult in g in an acti vist outcr y that g r e w int o g r a s s r o o t s o r g a n iz a t io ns (o r in s o m e cases, neo-f ascism) and he lp e d t o c r e a t e a w e a lt h o f go o d . Ev e n g r o up s lik e T he Minutemen, T he Dead K e nne dy s, a nd C r a s s a llo w e d fo r s om e t hing t ha t r ose a bove (!) base politic a l d is c o ur s e , a nd in t he p r o c e s s s ur e ly s e t o f f a lot of light bulbs in people ’ s he a d s t ha t t he c r ie s o f “ F uc k Re a g a n ” d id n’ t q uite mana ge.

So no w w hen I sur v ey the m us ic a l/ p o lit ic a l int e r c ha nge t ha t ’ s ha p p e ni ng r e g a r ding the c ur r ent c am paig n, I c a n’ t he lp but c r inge . M us ic ia ns a r e b e c o m ing glo r ified fundr aiser s for t he c a nd id a t e s t ha t t hey (a nd s ub s e que nt ly, t he ir f a n co ns tituenc y ) suppor t. As a r e s ult , b a nd s lik e T he Ar c a d e F ir e a nd B r i g ht Eye s, both of w hic h hav e lob b e d m a ny a N e r f t oy a t t he c ur r e nt a d m inis t r a tion, ar e the star s of conc e r t s fo r B a r a c k O b a m a . T his d o e s m u c h le s s fo r le g itima te politic al disc our s e a nd m uc h m o r e t o inf us e “ c o o lne s s ” int o t he ca ndid a t es. I’ v e seen public a t io ns t a lk e nd le s s ly a b o ut t he “ C r e a t i v e C la s s ” , a nd the ir inf luenc e on the c ur r e nt e le c t io n, but no w t ha t f r a g m e nt s o f t he un d e r gr o und hav e inf luenc e and a p la t fo r m , w ha t d o t hey ha v e t o s ay ? T he a n s wer seems to be mor e of a n e llip s is t ha n a ny t hin g e ls e , w it h l e g io ns o f W hit e America of fering a g a ping y a w a nd t he n s ho ut ing “ G ay R ig ht s ! ” o r “ Wo r ld Bank!” befor e dashing of f t o buy b e e r in a ha z e o f c o nf us io n a n d s ha m e . T hi s slo g aneering isn’ t entir ely t he ir f a ult , a s m uc h o f i t s t e m s d ir ec t ly f r o m t he hazy jar gon wielded by their id o ls.

Ima ge by Br a nd on Pe c k

T his s lo w c o m p r e s s io n o f p o lit ic a l t ho ug ht b e c o m e s a ll t he mor e c lear w hen yo u c o m p a r e t he Am e r ic a n und e r g r o und t o B r it a in’ s. W hen you dr edge up na m e s f r o m t he 1 9 8 0 s Am e r ic a n und e r g r o und , yo u’ l l e a s ily pop up w it h peop le s uc h a s I a n M a c k aye , w ho m a na ge d t o b e c o m e a n ic o n of his gener ation, a nd w ie ld s q uit e a b it o f le v e r a ge in t he und e r g r o und ha v ing helped t o cr eat e a p o s it i v e , if no t s o m e w ha t s t a t us - q uo, bus ine s s m o d e l a nd political r a ppor t fo r k id s. H o w e v e r, Eng l a nd ’ s 8 0 s p unk s s e e m t o ha v e e nded up in a muc h d a r k e r c e ll. Yo u w ill f in d v e r y f e w le g it im iz e d p o li t ic ia ns in the style of Jello B ia f r a , but in t he ir s t e a d t he r e a r e s o m e ge nuine ly f a s c inating men w ho have b e e n p us he d t o t he f r in ge s, s uc h a s C r a s s ’ Pe nny R im b a ud. Because of the la c k o f blunt - fo r c e im p a c t o ut s id e o f t he ir m us ic , t hey ’ v e e volved into mor e c o m p lex , a nd o f t e n o b t us e , p o li t ic a l t hink e r s. R i m b a ud , a nd to a lesser extent M a r k E. Sm it h o f T he Fa ll, b o t h s t ill a p p r o a c h p o lit ic s a s a f ilt hy and convolut e d s ub je c t . N o P r im e M inis t e r is a s k ing C r a s s, T he K L F, or T he Fall to come a n d m o t i v a t e t he k id s, b e c a us e t h ey ’ r e no t t he r e t o ho m o genize the messa ge.

And ye s, t ha t ’ s ex a c t ly w ha t t he Am e r ic a n und e r g r o und ha s s acrif iced in or der t o b e p o lit ic a lly r e le v a nt .

O f c o ur s e , yo u c o uld d e b a t e fo r d ay s a s t o w he t he r v isible r adicalism is ne c e s s a r y in p o lit ic a l d is c o ur s e , o r w he t he r it ’ s b e t t e r t o take action r ather t ha n e nd le s s d e c o ns t r uc t io n, but t he ha r d f a c t s a r e t ha t Ag ainst Me! simply a r e n’ t t a lk ing t o k i d s t he w ay D. B o o n d id . Yo u’ r e ex p e c t e d to pic k a side and no t w o r r y yo ur s e lf a b o ut his t o r y. T he b e a ut if ul t h ing a b o ut T he Minutemen is t ha t t hey w e r e n’ t c o lle ge - e d uc a t e d k id s w ho w e r e s im p ly b a b bling a bout w hat t hey ha d le a r ne d a b o ut C a m b o d ia a nd Vie t na m f r o m c o ur s es t hat t hey s le pt t hr o ug h. T hey w e r e blue c o lla r k id s w ho ex p e c t e d t he ir a udience to a ppr oac h p o lit ic s w i t h in t e llige nc e a nd t e na c it y, a nd t ha t d o e s n’ t s eem t o be a t enant a ny m o r e . I n t he e nd , I ’ m le f t f r ig ht e ne d o f t he id e a o f a m an put in the White H o us e by a g r o up o f k id s s o inf a t ua t e d w it h t he c ult o f p er s onalit y t hat t hey d o n’ t e v e n r e c o g niz e w ha t t hey ’ r e c ha nt ing. “ Ye s w e c a n” indeed.

41

A Day In The Life Of

Pr abir & The Su bst it u t e s. . .

We ha d jus t f inis he d r e c o r d ing o ur la t e s t a lbum Fi ve Little Pieces and decided it w as t im e fo r a r o a d t r ip. We t o o k s o m e t im e t o go s ho w t he s o ut he a s t w hat our har d w or k s o und e d lik e li v e , a nd in t he p r o c e s s e nd e d up t a k ing lo t s o f p ic t ur es.

T he d e c is io n w a s m a d e t o le a v e t he c a m e r a s in o ur ha nd s a t a ll times, s o you don’ t ge t t o o m a ny s ho t s o f a b a nd p lay ing ov e r a nd ov e r a g a in. Sinc e the folk s t hat have s e e n us o n s t a ge k no w w ha t t he d e a l is (f i v e g u y s t w a ng in’ a w ay and w hat not ) w e w a nt e d t o s ho w yo u b e fo r e a nd a f t e r t he s ho w s. I n t he p r o c e s s w e lear ned it w as an ex c e lle nt w ay t o r e m e m b e r w ha t a c t ua lly ha p p e ne d , b e c a us e m o r e of t en t han not , t he nig ht s b e c a m e a blur.

Enjoy t he p ic t ur e s. . . w e ha d lo t s o f f un t a k ing t he m , w e t hink .

L ov e , P r a b ir, C hr is, C ha r lie , Ro b b ie , a nd Ty le r

40

T he Ric hm ond CD Release Sho w fo r Fi ve Little Pieces will be at Ca pit a l Ale H o us e o n A p r il 18th. Show star ts at 9 : 3 0 p m a nd w ill b e $5. Joining them will be D a v id Shult z a nd T he Sk yline along with Hor s e he a d (w ho w ill a l so be doing a CD Releas e t ha t nig ht fo r Welcome To Hor sehead ) C a p ita l Ale House Downtown M us ic H a ll is lo ca te d at 623 East Main St r e e t (6 t h a nd Ma i n St.) Ric hm ond, VA 232 1 9

41

Cut Cutthe the Architect's Architect's Hand Hand

asasevident evidentonon2004’s 2004’s It It Wasn’t Wasn’tSupposed SupposedToToEnd End This ThisWay Way . The . The problem problem Inbred InbredPneumonia Pneumonia was wasthat thattheir theirindividual individual Addict Addict par partstswere weretypically typically so so self selfreleased released intricate intricateandand viciousvicious myspace.com/ctah myspace.com/ctah that, that,asasa whole, a whole, they they sometimes sometimesdrowned drownedin ina a Cut Cutthe theArchitect’s Architect’sHand Hand gore gorefest festofof noise. noise. per personify sonifythe the sayingsaying “less “lessis ismore”. more”.

When When I I Now Nowwhittled whittled down down firfirststsaw sawthetheband band playplay totothree, three, CTAHCTAH have have half half a adecade decadeago, ago, they they shar sharpened penedtheir their attack attack were werefive fivemetal metal dudes dudes so soeffectively effectively on this on this furiously furiouslytr tr ying yingto to keep keep new newCDCDthatthat you you won’twon’t up upwith with one one another. another. be besure sure if the if flying the flying They Theycer tainly cer tainly wrote wrote limbs limbsare aretheir their s sor oryour your some somememorable memorablesongs, songs, own. own.Seriously, Seriously, bassist bassist 4444

Greg GregBranch, Branch, guitarist guitarist Brian BrianVan VanSprouse Sprouse andand drdrummer ummerBrBr yan yanConner Conner take take17 17minutes minutestotoblast blast through through8 songs 8 songs that that could’ could’veveended endedup on up on any anyof ofthe the post-metal post-metal records recordsyou’re you’recurcur rently rently psyched psychedabout. about.Instead Instead ofof extended extendedpatches patches of of calm calmthat thatbuild buildupuptotothe the apocalypse, apocalypse,however, however, CTAH CTAHonlyonly give you give you seconds secondstototake takea deep a deep breath. breath.

“Havana” “Havana”is probably is probably the theclosest closest CTAHCTAH get toget

to hardcore cr ustpunks Tragedy, but more blast beat than d-beat.

“SickDogSunrise” coughs up bits of technical metal that they somehow chew on while simultaneously roaring from the gut.

“The Gluttons We Are” and “Words Won’t Save My Eyes” are more methodical, like shor t industrial epics ala Ministr y or Godflesh. “Rats On Stilts” is basically the audio equivalent of an ear thquake, a charging mastodon, or Wor ld War

III. CTAH even go with more straightforward stoner rock on “Space Shuttle Hell” but still sound like they’ ll break a string or dr umstick at any moment.

Simply put, Inbred Pneumonia Addict is a triumph for the trio in Cut the Architect’s Hand.

It’s also one more reason Richmond’s metal scene is recognized all over the wor ld.

-Mike Rutz

The Catalyst Mariana's Trench +9 The Perpetual Motion Machine

If you still don’t know who The Catalyst is, you just might be living under a rock. Richmond’s favorite gr unge/punk/hardcore band has been on a roll, releasing three records in the last year, all of which are totally solid. This CD compiles 13 tracks that span three previously released records, the Mariana’s Trench EP, the Band na m e s in r e d a r e loc a l!

split LP/CD with DC’s Mass Movement of the Moth, and the split 7” with Richmond’s own Brainwor ms.

Channeling the sensibilities of influential bands like Bor n Against, Nir vana, and K ar p, along with the precise technical nature of Botch, these guys have been amazing onlooker s all up and down the East Coast, and here in Richmond. If their songs continue to grow and mature the way they

have been, these guys could be the band we’re talking about proudly for decades.

-Brandon Peck

Black Mountain

named bands with their pledging of allegiance to the great big rock sounds of the late 60s and 70s; even more so on this, their sophomore album, than on their self-titled release.

In the Future Jagjaguwar

On In the Future , Black Mountain sounds a lot like the ghosts of music past.

The Vancouver collective has managed to separate itself from the dozen or so other trendily “Black”

Among the various influences on In the Future you might hear a little Sabbath (on the raucous fir st track, “Stor my High”), a dash of Deep Pur ple (the rollicking opening to “Tyrants”, which despite

being hardcore eight cr ust-punks minutes long Tragedy, is nowhere but more near theblast longest beat song than d-beat. on the album), “SickDogSunrise” and a hint of quintessential coughs up bits mid-70s of Rolling technicalStones metal that (“Stay Free”). they somehow There’s chew an epic on piece, while simultaneously “Bright Lights”, clocking roaring from in atthesixteen and gut.a “The half Gluttons minutes, to test We the Are”patience and “Words of the sober Won’tlistener.

Save MyBut Eyes” guess what? are more Like methodical, the rest of thelike album, shor t industrial it’s good.

Even epics myala usual Ministr impatience y or forGodflesh. lengthier“Rats songs On was tempered Stilts” is by basically the heavy the guitar audio s and equivalent the feeling of an of

listening ear thquake, to (at aleast) charging five songs mastodon, in one.orEver Woryldsong War is III. a lushly CTAH even instrgo umented with opus, moreeven straightforward the brief “Wild Wind”. stoner Amber rock onWebber’s “Space voice Shuttle seems Hell”par butticular still ly well-suited sound like to they’ the ll break eras paid a string homage or dr toumstick on In the at Future any moment. , and she channels her inner witchy woman to fine Simply effect, put,especially Inbred on “Bright Pneumonia Lights” Addict andis the beautiful a triumph final for comedown the trio song, in Cut “Night the Architect’s Walks”.

Hand. It’s also one more The reason whole Richmond’s of metal the album scene isis recognized saturated allin psychedelia, over the wordrenched ld. in

prog -Mike andRutz car ries on the fine The tradition Catalyst of stoner rock.

Mariana's It’s a big Trench bastard +9 of The a rock Perpetual album, Motion a fine Machineof emulation example without gimmick. It’s theIf you paststilltweaked don’t know and retooled who TheforCatalyst the present. is, But youat just the might hear t be of living it all, Black underMountain a rock. Richmond’s wants to parfavorite ty like gr it’sunge/punk/ 1969. And 1972. hardcore And 1977… band has been -Megan on a roll, Pettyreleasing three records in the last year, all of which are totally solid. This CD compiles 13 tracks that span three previously released records, the 4 54 5

Fr en c h (K i ss) M i x B y L a ur e n Vi nc e lli

In honor of the r ecent Fr enc h f ilm f e s t i v a l, he r e a r e s o m e s o ng s fo r a ll yo u ne w Fr a nc o p hile s. Fr o m Fr a nc e t o N o r t h Am e r ic a , f r o m c la s s ical to hip-hop and fo lk to punk, these ar e som e o f my f a v o r it e Fr e nc h s o ng s. Yo u c a n he a r t his p lay lis t a nd m o r e a t http://www.last.fm/user/RVAmix/ . Se nd your f eedbac k t o la ur e n@r v am a g.c om . -LV 1. Éd ith P iaf 2. Ya nn Tier sen 3. Ja cques Br el 4. De na li 5. Ar thur H 6. Pink M ar tini 7. Se a n Lennon 8. Ar c hit ec tur e in Helsinki 9. Le T igr e 10. C uiz inier 11. Le s Sherif fs 12. Noir Désir 13. Ma lajube 14. Ma thieu Chedid (-M-) 15. Diony sos 16. Se r ge Gainsbour g 17. Pink Mar tini 18. Flig ht of the Conc hor ds 19. Ar thur H 20. Ja cques Higelin 21. Ma thieu Chedid (-M-) 22. Lo uis Ar m str ong

“ La v ie e n r o s e ” “ La v a ls e d ’ Am é lie ” “A u s ui v a nt ” “ Fr e nc h M is t a k e ” “ La c ha ns o n s e Sa t ie ” (w / Fe is t ) “A ut r e fo is ” “ L’ é c lip s e ” (w / - M - ) “ Fr e nc hy, I’ m Fa k ing ” “ Fa k e Fr e nc h” “ Oh” (w / C ia r a ) “At t e nt io n a t o i” “ Un jo ur e n Fr a nc e ” “ La m o no g a m ie ” “ Qui d e no us d e ux” “ Ta is t o i m o n c œ ur ” (w / O li v ia Ruiz ) “ Je t ’ a im e m o i no n p lus ” (w / B . B a r d o t ) “ Sy m p a t hiq ue ” “ Fo ux d a f a f a ” “ Es t - c e q ue t u a im e s ?” (w / - M - ) “ C ig a r e t t e ” “ B e lle v ille r e nd e z - v o us ” “ La v ie e n r o s e ”

T he Voice of the Spar r ow Amélie Original Soundtr ac k Quinze ans d’amour Denali Adieu tristesse Hang On Little Tomato L’éc lipse EP In Case We Die Feminist Swee pstakes Pour les filles Du goudr on et des plumes 666.667 Club Tr ompe-l’oeil Qui de nous deux La mécanique du cœur Master série: Ser ge Gainsbour g Sympathique Flight of the Conc hor ds Soundtr ac k Adieu tristesse

Pour tout le monde Les Triplettes de Belle ville Soundtr ac k Americans in Paris

3:08 2:00 3:08 4:14 3:48 3:38 3:12 2:53 2:53 4:00 2:48 3:14 4:56 3:46 2:34 4:29 2:51 2:28 3:31 4:15 3:11 3:25

Ink Slingers By: Lauren Vincelli

Photos by Ian M. Gr aham

R i c h m o n d i s a h e a v i l y t a t t o o e d c i t y. T h e R i c h m o n d m e t r o a r e a i s h o m e to over thir ty tattoo par lor s. That’s about one tattoo par lor for ever y 40,000 people! It’s nothing to see guys and gir ls alike with full sleeves a n d c h e s t p i e c e s . N o t s u r p r i s i n g l y, R i c h m o n d i s h o m e t o s o m e o f t h e b e s t tattooer s around. I sat down with a just few of the city’s finest tattooe r s , a n d h e r e ’ s w h a t t h e y h a d t o s a y.

Amy Black Trademark Tattoo/Alchemy - 3125 W. Cary St. - (804)254-9006 - followmyhand.com Mostly custom work by appointment only

A m y B l a c k s t a r t e d t a t t o o i n g i n C i n c i n n a t i i n 1 9 9 7 . S o o n a f t e r, s h e m o v e d t o R i c h m o n d t o b e g i n w o r k i n g a n d s t u d y i n g w i t h w e l l - k n o w n t a t t o o e r, T i m o t h y H o y e r, i n 1 9 9 8 .

In 2000, Hoyer and Blac k (then Amy McFadden) opened Alive, a tattoo studio and galler y tucked away in the middle of Car ytown. In August of 2 0 0 5 , H o y e r l e f t . B l a c k t h e n t o o k o v e r a n d r e n a m e d t h e s h o p Tr a d e m a r k Ta t t o o a n d r e f o r m a t t e d i t i n t o i t s c u r r e n t i n c a r n a t i o n .

A s Tr a d e m a r k ’ s l o n e t a t t o o a r t i s t , B l a c k w o r k s i n a s m a l l , o n e - r o o m s t u d i o. Tr a d e m a r k Ta t t o o n o w a l s o h o s t s A l c h e m y, w h i c h i s B l a c k ’ s e c o f r i e n d l y, s o c i a l l y c o n s c i o u s r e t a i l s t o r e s p e c i a l i z i n g i n a p p a r e l , a c c e s sories and housewares.

A t o w e r i n g b o o k c a s e s t a n d s i n s i d e B l a c k ’ s i n t i m a t e t a t t o o s t u d i o. I t is piled high with books on ever y subject from shar ks and Hokusai to American birds and Alphonse Mucha. Along with the Inter net, the books found on the shelves of Black’s bookcase ser ve as her inspiration for many of her tattoos. She has also been influenced by tattooer s Timothy Hoyer and Tim Lehi.

“Ninety-eight percent of the wor k done here is original wor k,” Black said. The cor kboard in her studio boasts much of her wor k both comp l e t e d a n d i n - p r o g r e s s . S k u l l s , s q u i r r e l s , s h a r k s a n d c h i l d r e n’ s c r a y o n d r a w i n g s a r e t a c k e d u p i n t h e s t u d i o.

B l a c k s a i d i t i s n’ t j u s t h e r w o r k a n d t h e s t y l e o f h e r s h o p t h a t i s u n c o n v e n t i o n a l , b u t a l s o h e r c l i e n t e l e . O n a n y g i v e n d a y, y o u m a y f i n d med-students, principals and adjunct professor s mixed in with the more typically edgy tattooed crowd. Black takes about two appointments a day and r arely takes walk-in appointments.

48

T h e a B r o w n , 3 4 , a m o m w h o ’ s a l s o t h e m a n a g e r a t Wo r l d o f M i r t h , k n e w B l a c k f r o m h e r a p p r e n t i c e s h i p w i t h H o y e r. “ S e e i n g h e r w o r k j u s t m a d e m e r e a l i z e h o w l u c k y I a m t o b e a b l e t o g e t w o r k f r o m h e r, ” B r o w n s a i d . “ S h e t r u l y f o r m s a b o n d w i t h y o u w h i c h t u r n s o u t a g r e a t p i e c e o f w o r k . H e y, she punched me in the chin twice while wor king on my chest, and we’re s t i l l f r i e n d s . A n d y e s , I s h o u l d n’ t h a v e b e e n l o o k i n g d o w n . ”

Fred Pinckard K at i e D av i s S a lvat i o n Tat t o o G a l l e ry - 3 24 S . P i n e S t . - ( 8 0 4 ) 6 4 3 - 3 7 7 9 - s a lvat i o n g a l l e ry .

com Wa l k - i n s w e l c o m e - a p p o i n t m e n t s r e c o m m e n d e d - C u s t o m w o r k o n ly

S a l v a t i o n Ta t t o o G a l l e r y i s a s m a l l , o p e n s t u d i o l o c a t e d i n t h e h e a r t o f Or egon Hill. Owner s Fr ed Pinc kar d and K atie Davis have been at this l o c a t i o n f o r o v e r t h r e e y e a r s n o w. I t i s a l i t t l e o u t o f t h e w a y, b u t w e l l wor th the search according to their clients. “ We w a n t e d t o b e d o w n t o w n , b u t w e k i n d o f w a n t e d t o b e o f f t h e b e a t e n path as well,” Davis said. “The neighborhood is awesome, and it’s quiet.

We ’ r e n o t d e a l i n g w i t h t h a t h e a v y w a l k - i n , g e n e r i c t a t t o o t r a f f i c . A l o t of our wor k is refer rals; people see a tattoo on someone else, and they ask them where they got it done, and that’s how they come to find us, b e c a u s e w e a r e s o o u t o f t h e w a y. ” Pinckard said, “When I fir st star ted getting tattooed, you had to go find t h e t a t t o o s h o p. I t w a s n’ t l i k e o n e v e r y c o r n e r l i k e a M c D o n a l d s . S o , i t was that kind of idea. If you wanted to get tattooed you had to go find the place.” Salvation does not have any flash wor k and puts a strong emphasis on originality in their wor k.

49

The small, open room studio provides little privacy for clients. It does p r o v i d e a c l e a n , p r o f e s s i o n a l , c o l o r f u l a t m o s p h e r e , h o w e v e r, a n d a n e x pansive ar t collection to focus on w hile you get needled by the ar tist of choice. Salvation is also home to Mike Moses, Jimmy Cumber land and the occasional guest ar tist.

D a v i s s t a r t e d a s a s h o p a s s i s t a n t a t E n i g m a Ta t t o o o n B r o a d S t r e e t , w h e n s h e w a s 1 6 . I n a d d i t i o n t o h e r t a t t o o a p p r e n t i c e s h i p, s h e a l s o studied painting and printmaking in college. There, she focused on woodblock prints and etching, which she likens to her day job as a tatt o o e r. “ [ Wo o d b l o c k p r i n t i n g ] a n d t a t t o o i n g a r e v e r y s i m i l a r, ” D a v i s s a i d . “ Yo u p u t a m a r k d o w n , i t ’ s t h e r e . ” S h e s a i d o n e o f h e r s t r e n g t h s i n t a t tooing is wor king with designs from nature.

Fr ed Pinc kar d, Davis’ husband, got his star t in tattooing at a young age w i t h a n a p p r e n t i c e s h i p u n d e r a n “ O l d C a r n e y, ” P i n c k a r d s h o w e d a m o r e serious demeanor and dr yer sense of humor than Davis. He is passionate about his wor k and said that people who are tr uly serious about t a t t o o i n g w i l l d o w h a t e v e r i t t a k e s t o m a k e a c a r e e r o u t o f i t . “ Yo u ’ l l d o i t u n t i l y o u r h a n d s w r i n k l e u p a n d y o u c a n’ t m o v e t h e m a n y m o r e , ” Pinckard said.

One of Pinc kar d’s str engths is tr aditional American style tattooing. “ Tr a d i t i o n a l t a t t o o s a r e b o l d ; t h e y h a v e b o l d l i n e s , r i c h c o l o r s , a n d g o o d c o n t r a s t b e t w e e n e v e r y t h i n g , ” h e s a i d . “A l o t o f t i m e s t h e y a r e v e r y s i m p l y d r a w n . T h e r e ’ s n o t h i n g t o h i d e b e h i n d i n a t r a d i t i o n a l t a t t o o. ”

the door thing you get with some walk-in shops.”

P i n c k a r d s a i d , “ We g e t t o k n o w p e o p l e ; w e s p e n d a l l t h i s t i m e w i t h them.”

Jared K ar nes, 25, owner of Onetribe.net, an organic body jewelr y comp a n y b a s e d i n R i c h m o n d , h a s b e e n a p a t r o n o f S a l v a t i o n Ta t t o o f o r s e v er al year s. K ar nes’ usual ar tist is Mike Moses. “ T h e y ’ r e d o w n t o e a r t h , h o n e s t p e o p l e t h a t w o r k h a r d e v e r y d a y, ” K e a r n s said. “They really care about that per sonal aspect of ador nment, and you will not find anything cookie cutter about their business.”

Kelsey Ir vin, 22, also known as CoCo Car nage of the River City Rollergir ls, chose K atie Davis for sever al reasons. She liked the “clean, safe environment” of the studio and also Davis’ dedication to her cr aft, c o l o r, a n d s h a d i n g .

“K atie is able to express through ar t what I am only able to express through words. She is able to tr anslate what I have in my head into s o m e t h i n g b e a u t i f u l o n m y b o d y, ” I r v i n s a i d .

M at t B r o t k a R i v e r C i t y Tat t o o - 1 1 2 8 N . B o u l e va r d . - ( 8 0 4 ) . 3 5 9 . 5 2 5 2 - t i m e w i l l h e a l . c o m -

r c tat t o o . c o m Wa l k - i n s w e l c o m e - a p p o i n t m e n t s r e c o m m e n d e d - C u s t o m a n d f l a s h w o r k

Pinckard and Davis both aver age about two large-scale piece appointm e n t s a d a y. “ We l i k e t o t a k e o u r t i m e w i t h t h e p e o p l e t h a t w e ’ r e t a t t o o ing,” said Davis, “Really hang out and sit and chat with them for a little bit--catc h up on w hat they’ ve been doing. T hey’ r e pr etty big pieces so y o u s e e t h e s e p e o p l e p r e t t y r e g u l a r l y. Yo u d o n’ t w a n t t h a t i n a n d o u t o f 50

ava i l a b l e .

Matt Brotka has been tattooing for ten year s. Brotka recently retur ned to Richmond from Providence, Rhode Island with his wife, Carole. “Richmond is just a great tattoo town,” Brotka said. “It has always been the

busiest town I’ ve ever tattooed in.” The soft-spoken, but fr ank, Brotka w e l c o m e d R VA M a g a z i n e i n t o h i s s t u d i o a t R i v e r C i t y Ta t t o o t o d i s c u s s h i s j o b i n t h i s h e a v i l y t a t t o o e d c i t y. “ I t h i n k [ R i c h m o n d ] i s a p r e t t y c h e a p place to live so you can buy a house or rent a house or apar tment and still have money left over to get tattoos,” Brotka said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the tattoo convention that they have had her e now for about thir teen year s. I think that brought a lot of attention to Richmond for tattoos. Not only that, but there was a big boom in the late ‘90s that g a v e i t a n a m e . I t s e e m e d l i k e t h e a r t i s t s a t t h a t t i m e , T i m o t h y H o y e r, C h r i s O ’ D o n n e l l [ b o t h n o w a t N e w Yo r k A d o r n e d ] , g u y s l i k e t h a t r e a l l y brought a lot of attention to the fact that Richmond is a talented, real good tattoo town.”

Brotka prefer s to wor k in River City’s closed, office-style studios. Each tattooer has a quiet, private room in which they wor k. This, he said, a l l o w s h i m t o c o n c e n t r a t e m o r e o n h i s w o r k . T h e s h o p i s l i v e l y. J o k e s are definitely cr acked and brightly painted walls highlight panels of f l a s h w o r k a n d b o d y j e w e l r y i n t h e l o b b y. C o l o r f u l s k e t c h e s h a n g i n t h e individual studios.

B r o t k a g o t h i s s t a r t w i t h t a t t o o i n g i n t h e Te x a s p u n k s c e n e i n t h e e a r l y ‘90s in Cor pus Christi. When he was 17, he got his fir st job as a shop assistant and then moved into an apprenticeship when he was old enough.

In his youth, he experimented with building makeshift tattoo machines o u t o f t h i n g s l i k e h a i r c l i p p e r s a n d b a t t e r i e s . N o w, B r o t k a h a s b e e n t a t tooing professionally for over ten year s.

Ask Brotka, and he’ ll tell you that watching a half an hour of Miami Ink d o e s n’ t m a k e y o u a n e x p e r t i n h i s p r o f e s s i o n .

“People now feel that they have to have some insane stor y or sad stor y t o g e t a t a t t o o. O n a l l t h o s e s h o w s ; i t ’ s a l l a b o u t t h e i r d e a d g r a n d m o t h e r or their dead ba by or something. People get tattoos like that all the time a n d i t ’ s f i n e . Yo u c a n j u s t g e t a t a t t o o b e c a u s e y o u w a n t t o d o i t ; y o u can just say wow that bird is cool, or that skull is cool I wanna do that.

People feel like they should have some kind of stor y to do it. T he best tattoos sometimes are just what they are. The positives would be that [those shows] might bring people in that would have never thought of getting tattoos. They would have never thought you could get a really beautiful sleeve or something.”

According to Brotka’s website, his favorite styles to tattoo are traditional American, Asian, and anything with lettering. “I think tattoos should be bold, bright and built to last,” Brotka said. Brotka has been i n f l u e n c e d b y t a t t o o e r s l i k e E d H a r d y, T i m o t h y H o y e r a n d S e t h C i f e r r i .

B r o t k a a v e r a g e s a b o u t f o u r t a t t o o s i n a 1 0 - h o u r d a y a t R i v e r C i t y Ta t t o o. A b o u t h a l f o f B r o t k a ’ s w o r k i s c u s t o m w o r k . R i v e r C i t y b o a s t s a large collection of flash wor k, as well as an extensive collection of body je welr y - one of the lar gest collections on the east coast. Walk-in c lients a r e w e l c o m e , t h o u g h a p p o i n t m e n t s a r e r e c o m m e n d e d . R i v e r C i t y Ta t t o o is also home to tattooer s Jef f Eden, Fr eeman, Br andon Saunder s, Max We t z e l a n d m a s t e r p i e r c e r a n d o w n e r, J e s s i k a S i m m o n s .

With the sudden popularity of reality shows about tattoo par lor s such as Inked, Miami Ink, and LA Ink, the wor ld of tattooing is changing a lot.

Shops are becoming much more customer ser vice oriented, and many viewer s are developing misconceptions about tattooing and tattooer s.

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S c o t t C a l c at e r r a True Tattoo - 6112 Jahnke Rd. - (804) 233-TRUE

myspace.com/truetattoorva Walk-ins welcome - Custom and flash work available.

S c o t t C a l c a t e r r a i s a c o - o w n e r o f Tr u e Ta t t o o a l o n g w i t h Tr i R u f f i n , w h o i s n o t a t a t t o o e r. T h e i r n e w s h o p i s l o c a t e d o n t h e s o u t h s i d e o f t h e c i t y.

Calcater ra puts a strong emphasis on customer ser vice in his shop because competition demands it and also because he wants to provide a clean, f r i e n d l y s p a c e t o g e t w o r k d o n e a n d t o w o r k i n . “ We ’ r e n o t g o i n g t o d o a b u n c h o f f u c k i n g h a n d h o l d i n g , b e c a u s e y o u a r e i n a f u c k i n g t a t t o o s h o p, ” C a l c a t e r r a s a i d . “ T h a t ’ s w h y w e d o n’ t a l l o w c h i l d r e n i n o u r s t o r e , b e c a u s e i t ’ s j u s t a l i t t l e b i t o f t h a t e l e m e n t t h a t s e p a r a t e s u s f r o m a b e a u t y s a l o n .

I t ’ s r e a l l y n o t t h e e n v i r o n m e n t f o r s m a l l c h i l d r e n . We d o n’ t d o a l o t o f h a n d h o l d i n g , b u t w e w i l l m a k e y o u h a p p y. ” Calcater r a fir st noticed his affinity for tattoos when he was about seven or eight year s old. He has been tattooing now for about 12 year s. “When I s t a r t e d g e t t i n g t a t t o o e d I n e v e r h a d t h e i d e a o f b e c o m i n g a t a t t o o e r, ” C a l c a t e r r a s a i d . “ B a c k i n t h e m i d t o l a t e ‘ 8 0 s I s t i l l t h o u g h t t h a t t a t t o o e r s c a m e d o w n f r o m t h e h a n d o f G o d . T h e r e w a s n’ t a l o t o f y o u n g e r p e o p l e i n v o l v e d , a n d i t w a s s t i l l k i n d o f a s t e r e o t y p i c a l o l d d i r t y b i k e r t y p e s . I s t a r t e d h a n g i n g o u t a n d g e t t i n g t a t t o o e d a t t h i s o n e s h o p i n Ta m p a , a n d t h e y a s k e d m e t o s t a y a n d a n s w e r t h e p h o n e s a n d w h a t n o t o n e d a y. E n d e d up doing a couple of small dr awings for customer s while they were waiting and the boss saw that I could dr aw and said, ‘Hey maybe you oughta think about tattooing.’ So I did, and a fe w year s later I w as tattooing.”

Tr u e Ta t t o o w i l l a l s o h o u s e g u e s t a r t i s t s , s u c h a s D C L a s e r Ta t t o o R e m o v a l , w h o w i l l b e a t Tr u e D e c e m b e r 1 3 t h . Tr u e Ta t t o o i s a l s o h o m e t o r e n o w n e d Richmond tattooer Reverend Bob and Bexx.

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Thea Duskin Jesse Smith Ghostprint Gallery - 220 West Broad St - (804) 344-1557 ghostprint.com - ghostprintgallery.com Walk-ins welcome - Custom work only

Ghostprint Galler y may be one of the newer studios i n R i c h m o n d , b u t T h e a D u s k i n , c o - o w n e r a n d t a t t o o e r, has year s of experience under her belt. Duskin has been tattooing since 1995. Ghostprint also houses a n a r t g a l l e r y t h a t D u s k i n r u n s w i t h h e r m o t h e r, G e r aldine.

The smell of white lilies filled the galler y as I sat down with Thea to discuss her new galler y and tattoo s h o p. I t m a k e s s e n s e t h a t D u s k i n w o u l d c o m b i n e h e r love for ar t and passion for tattooing under the same r o o f. I n a d d i t i o n t o h e r s u c c e s s i n t a t t o o i n g , s h e i s a n accomplished ar tist that has shown her wor k locally a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y. S h e s t u d i e d a t t h e I l l u s t r a t i o n Academy at VCU, and is also skilled in f aux finishing and wood wor king.

I t ’ s n o t s u r p r i s i n g t h a t D u s k i n’ s c o m m i t m e n t t o q u a l i t y, c r a f t s m a n s h i p a n d s k i l l i s a l s o a p p a r e n t i n h e r tattoos. She pr efer s a decidedly Japanese style of tattooing, light on outline and rich with color s, but not exc lusively the bold American style of coloring.

Her knack for layering in her stencils and paintings also shows thr ough in her tattooing. Her wor k has been described by sever al c lients as “painter ly”.

Duskin said, “I like to spend as much time with a tattoo as I can and tr eat it like a painting. I like to do like, almost an under-painting and then go back and add depth. That’s another a d v a n t a g e o f w o r k i n g i n a n a p p o i n t m e n t - o n l y, c u s t o m s h o p. Yo u d o n’ t h a v e t o g e t i t i n a n d o u t i n o n e s i t t i n g . Yo u w o u l d n’ t d o a p a i n t i n g i n o n e sitting. If you’ r e doing a full sleeve, it’s going to be multiple sittings.”

I n t h e t y p i c a l l y m a l e - d o m i n a t e d t a t t o o i n d u s t r y, Duskin describes her self as casual and nonc o m p e t i t i v e . W i t h h e r n e w B r o a d S t r e e t s h o p, she aims for a less aggressive, more thoughtful environment—one that is mor e comfor table and b i g o n p r i v a c y. H e r s t u d i o i s i n a p r i v a t e a r e a b e h i n d t h e o p e n s p a c e o f t h e a r t g a l l e r y. S h e tattoos there with Jesse Smith. Duskin relishes the oppor tunity to accur ately tr anslate other ar t wor k into tattoos but loves to do original p i e c e s a l s o.

Be sure to check out “Winter y Mix”, a group show at Ghostprint Galler y featuring wor ks from local and inter national ar tists showing at the g aller y in 2008. Featur ed ar tists inc lude Barr e t t G o r d o n , S u z a n n e W h i t t i e r, J o h n A n d e r s o n , A d e l e C o h e n , P e t e r F o w l e r, C h r i s M i l k H u l b u r t , T h o m a s Va n A u k e n , A n n a K a a r i n a N e n o n e n a n d Peter Butterfield.

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Tiki Madness! Kid Robot Sanrio Strangeco Uglydoll Paul Frank

353.8991 • 3005 W. Cary St. in Carytown Mon-Sat 10am-7pm • Sunday 12pm-6pm www.worldofmirth.com www.bryanandkathrynharvey.net

Wh e r e is Israel?

Wo r ds and im a ges by S. Pr e s t o n D unc a n

This is not a narrative of the reconciliation of the microcosmic turmoil in the Middle Eastern regions of my soul. Compassion with the rubble strewn Zionists and their heavily armed romanticism has come more easily than I expected. Riding down what our dark-skinned and balding, 31-year-old tour guide, Raz, describes as Israel’s “most impor tant highway” on our way to the Mediterranean, I for the first time feel a genuine connection with a land and a people, and it’s nuances are disturbingly familial. It’s a star tling feeling, like suddenly staring down the cliffs that crouch by the road after the expansive tidal vistas of mountain houses and pine trees have stolen any breath you might have gasped with.

I feel as though I have finally discovered a cultural identity under the bleach of my native Americanism, reunited with a family I didn’t know I had spent 24 years searching for. And already, I can’t stand them.

There are many questions I want to ask, all as loaded as the flat top M-16s toted by every congregation of uniformed 18-year-olds in Jerusalem, but I stick to “Efshar lekabel vodka?” It’s eight in the morning and I was drunk at three last night. It didn’t stop the questions. But, you’ve gotta be iron, like a lion, in Zion.

Itamar says I am satlan , Hagar agrees. This word is apparently some “stoner,” which is strange because neither of Hebrew approximation of “stoner”,

the Israelis involved in this consensus have seen me under the influence of anything but Keglevich vodka and immeasurably, stupidly large quantities of Israeli wine. So much wine, in fact, that I at one point declared the biblical milk and honey designation to be a mistranslation. I have not seen much of either here.

Hagar could be 17. Tiny, brown skin, eyes as wide as the smile she wears like a General’s general’s uniform. Itamar has a round face and a voice that’s always telling you everything is gonna be alright, even when he’s calling you a stoner. He’s training to be a doctor, which is only disturbing because he cannot “acetametophen.” translate the word “acetaminophen.”

Both are soldiers in the Israeli Air Force.

Our medic’s name is Alex. Alex carries a large red backpack, the posture of a special forces officer, and a WWII U.S. Army issue rifle that looks so much like the toy I had as a young Davy Crockett enthusiast, I cannot imagine it killing anyone.

On the border of Syria there is machine gun fire whose echoes scurry over the abandoned IDF base at Mt. Bental. Raz is pointing out the flattened ruins of a Syrian town, which he maintains was destroyed by their own tanks, on their way to attack Israel. This, like the concept of being protected by Alex’s rifle, or Raz’s asser tion that the automatic gunfire is the auditory signature of hunters, is basically horse shit. I take a sip of espresso.

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-----------I get drunk and tell Raz that I was anti-Zionist. And it’s not that I suddenly suppor t what the state of Israel is doing, but simply that I feel like a fucking idiot for having ever even pretended to understand the situation here. And it’s not that I understand anything now but just how little I understand.

I get drunk and tell Raz I was an anti-Zionist because I cannot do it sober. Raz lives in a town near Gaza that is hit with a rocket three to five times a day. The air-raid sirens give 1530 seconds notice, but unless his son is with him, he doesn’t run for cover. He does this because he has seen towns abandoned in response to constant attacks, and will not allow his country to gradually erode away. It occurs to me that I’ve never met a patriotic American.

Say what you will about my political malleability. I can assure you that I am as versed as anyone in the pro-Palestinian rhetoric of leftist America, but to be against the existence of the state of Israel is as naïve and unreasonable as claiming that the country doesn’t use excessive force or abuse the basic human rights of the Palestinians.

The problem with the American perspective on the Middle East is detachment. Most of you who consider yourselves to be passionately dedicated to the issue are assuming exemption from this accusation. However, I’m not referring to our emotional investments, rather our lack of physical qualification to fully understand. These countries are ideas, these people symbols, these religions faded playing cards in the antiquated politics of poker-faced sleeve tricks. No matter how passionate we are, our world is intrinsically limited by our media. Regardless of the objectivity or bias of any

par ticular source of information (present one included), the tor tured faces are still pictures, the sound bites are digestible snippets of a dialog that has lasted for years, that is heard in cafés and street performers and spray painted along the walls of Tel Aviv. Ninety percent of communication is nonverbal. You can read a 50-page inter view with someone on everything from their sex life to politics and existential quandaries, and still miss ninety percent of the conversation.

Spending time with the Israelis is like turning the volume up really high because you think it’s just down all the way, right before the first notes of a song crash through your speakers and shatter your woofers along with any buzz you might have had. The clashing of opinion is cacophonous and deafening.

Everyone here has an opinion; when their soldiers go to war, it’s not overseas.

It is impor tant to realize that the soldiers here (and military service is mandatory) were born here. They are not some brutal, occupying force of foreign empire, (although they are cer tainly and constantly manipulated by foreign interests, and have been brutal) but native Israelis. It is also impor tant to understand that everything is seen here through the residual and sinister tint of the Holocaust. An entire cultural consciousness built upon the foundation of a people’s worst tragedy, an identity inextricably bound to genocide, it’s imminence and defeat. Images of concentration camps ingrained as indelibly as Barbie, the set of Friends , or the World Trade Center are into our social vocabulary.

But what does that have to do with the Palestinians?

I don’t know.

We stop in a Druze village to go haggle with the natives in their

roadside market. I buy the type of scarf you would expect an Arab on a camel, or a Food Not Bombs kid on a bicycle, to be wearing. As I get back, Raz looks down at me from where he is standing in the bus. What are you doing with that? That’s the other side’s sheet.

-----------The sun resides in Haifa. It doesn’t pour down from the sky and collect in pools along the low rolling mountains that stretch out from the coast. It takes up residence and shines back at the clouds. The light is a presence in Haifa; it moves through the trees, the air is palpably sweet. The word paradise is entirely too cliché to sufficiently express what Haifa is, which is to say that it cer tainly isn’t paradise, but from the top of the Bahai gardens, it looks like it could be. I wouldn’t leave, but my bus is here.

You can walk down the street having a beer in Israel, which is exactly what we’re doing when we get to the door of the nightclub that has been rented out for our early evening drinking. It’s a basement joint, the type of place with underlit multicolor floor tiles and really bad American pop music from the top of the char ts eight months ago. The bar smells more like last night than tonight, and the drinks have apparently doubled in price in the process of going stale. The Israelis dance by kind of enthusiastically jumping up and down, waving their arms about like Hunter Thompson on ether. My feet stick to the luminescent primaries beneath them. I’m not noticeably intoxicated, but the room warps like a cinematic interpretation of being lost at a carnival. The entire mess of beer-soaked soldiers and American sorority girls are bouncing like the Polyphonic Spree on a sunny day. The tiles are flashing in a patternless excitement, kicked between the percussive mob of rhythmless feet. I’m jumping too. We rise and fall in the gaudy hues and dishwater ambiance. My stomach rises into elation and dips into nausea. Hagar steals my commie hat and I watch it shoot up into the dark and descend back into the light. Tel Aviv is like riding a Ferris Wheel in a war zone.

-----------Maybe it is the way that all my impassioned conversations from the night before 60

twinkle fur tively in the haze of memory like the distant villages we watched while sharing a hookah in the dark unknown hours of the morning, but I wake up thinking about my soul. One of the reasons I came here was to explore the possibility of a spiritual connection with a religion I had denounced long ago (along with every other organized religion). The land here is rich with the history of human spirituality, which a few months ago, for no discernible reason other than a few minor and objectively uninteresting synchronicities, became something very impor tant to me. In par ticular, Kabbalah (emphasis on the last syllable, not the middle) found its way onto my cosmic radar. Jewish mysticism, not to be confused with the new age trend followed by such gurus and sages as Madonna and Ashton Kutcher, is the highest level of Torah study.

Traditionally, only the most dedicated rabbinical scholars were allowed insight into the deeper, hidden meanings of their sacred text. It was believed that only those whose lives were completely devoted to understanding the Torah could responsibly handle the knowledge of it’s true meaning. Kabbalah means “receiving”, as in the direct receiving of complete joy, of the Light. According to Kabbalist teaching, this is our sole purpose as humans. It’s a lot to do with the macrocosm and the microcosm, the duality and the singularity, the archetypal nature of existence and such. It is said that when the Meshioch, or Messiah, comes, it will be widely practiced.

This is of course a grossly simplified explanation of the teachings, as anyone who has seen Pi will be noting. I am unqualified to study or explain Kabbalah. Like the degrees of Freemasonry, Judaism has stages of study, and one must be completed before the next can begin. Kabbalism is the four th and highest degree. I stand shakily in the first. It is the knowledge of the four th degree’s existence that has made the first seem more intriguing, less dogmatic.

This is what I’m thinking about as we enter Zfat, the bir thplace of Kabbalah. Zfat is a small mountain town of narrow stone alleyways, ar tists and Hassids. The windows and doors are painted blue to reflect the heavens, ar t galleries and ar tesian jewelers line the slouching and shadowed edifices of meditating avenues. It looks like a European postcard and feels like a walk along the river. Street performers wear yarmulkas and play reggae/punk hybrids on acoustic guitars and djembe drums, singing in Hebrew.

When or thodox Jews pray, they tend to do a lot of rocking back and for th, shifting side to side and bowing. We visit a synagogue where there is a hole in the hip of the

Bimah, or alter. Someone detonated a bomb in the doorway during a ser vice once.

No one was hit because the congregation was bowed low in prayer. The hole in the Bimah is the only remaining scar from the shrapnel.

I don’t care how you interpret that. There’s just something about this place.

As we are leaving, I watch the sun set in the windows of Zfat like a tarot card framed in its own mysteries.

I wake up in the hills of Jerusalem.

You remember Jerusalem the way you dream about your past. It identifies your soul the way a song can summarize an entire evening, week, year of your life. This is not déjà vu. Somehow, I have become like the blue windows of Zfat, followed the lines and cur ves of time to hills that could only belong to Jerusalem, and ascended the Wall, my hands on the ancient shoulders of a crumpled past. Flowers droop from the stunted growth of history and burst from the cracks in its stories.

I put on tefillin for the second time in my life. The leather straps wound around my arm and forehead unravel my identity and I crash and recede with the oceanic congregation against the feet of the Kotel.

Don’t call it the wailing wall. The guttural exhalations are not cries of desolation and brokenhear tedness, but reflexive attempts to give voice to the voiceless par ts of the soul. There is beauty in this sorrow. They’re not wailing. Don’t call it the wailing wall.

The last standing wall of Solomon’s second temple, it’s western wall, is the closest the Jewish people can get to their holiest ear thly sight: the temple mount. Above the Western Wall, the Dome of The Rock mosque rises gloriously into the sunlight. It is built where Solomon’s temple once stood. History is built on history, each history banging on its side of the wall, divided by the masonry of time. A million Isaacs and Ishmaels pounding their fists on their Holy Land.

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Sababa is the most used, and possibly abused word in Israel. Depending on inflection, it can mean anything from “cool” and “how’s it going” to “kinda shitty actually.” It can be, and is, used in place of basically every linguistic social formality self-imposed by the self-classified first world. A pair of inventive vocalists could have an entire conversation of Sababas . Nobody seems to have associated themselves with a vocabulary standard in which the oratory laziness of employing such a per vasive and ambiguous slang is looked down upon. This matters because Sababa is an Arabic word.

When the Holocaust happened, there were already Jewish settlements throughout Palestine. They were on Hitler’s agenda, but he never made it so far. Most of these settlements were socialistic intentional communities known as Kibbutzim. This was called active Zionism. When the Jews fled the Nazi empire, there was no country willing to accept the majority of them. The notion of safety in a Jewish state gave rise, in the voice of Theodore Herzel, to political Zionism: the movement to establish an internationally recognized Jewish state in the biblical land of Israel. Because of this, when an Israeli talks about protecting their homeland, they are speaking about the preser vation of their people as well. To them, the fate of the Jews is in the lap of Israeli statehood. The line between trauma-obsessed self-victimization and reasonable concern is dragged through a lot of Muslim territory. Sababa?

Everything is seen here through the residual and sinister tint of the Holocaust, and Achmenejad is drawing swastikas on the collective Israeli window to the world. If war with Iran seemed inevitable when Bush placed them on the axis of evil right next to Iraq, (it’s geography, stupid) it is fucking imminent here. Did that maniacal bastard actually hold a Holocaust-denier conference? They don’t like Bush very much over here, but they’d be writing him anthems if he led the charge, motives aside. The tension between Israel and Iran makes the Sunni/Shi’ia conflict seem surmountable.

And then there’s Lebanon. And Syria. And the Gaza Strip. And the West Bank. And Jerusalem.

So where am I? Where is Israel? Where do I find the right stones to balance my experience of the universe as a single, pulsating organism, with my Jewish identity?

What do I do for my people? What do I do for humanity? What sign will I be holding when Israel and Iran go to war? How do I fight for the rights of the Palestinians and for Israel? Will it always be the other side’s sheet?

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Ta les F r o m T ob acco Ave nu e S EA L T ea m P h ys i ca l T r a i n i n g G r o u p a c c i d e n ta l ly s e n t o n Ru s s i a n r ec o n m i ss i o n Se venteen member s of Ric hm o nd ’ s SEAL Te a m P hy s ic a l Tr a ining g r o up w e r e a ccid e nt ally dispatc hed by t he U. S. gov e r nm e nt o n a t o p s e c r e t r e c o nna is sa nce mission to Russia, Pent a go n o f f ic ia ls c o nf ir m e d t o d ay.

T he “under standa ble mix-up ” , Pe nt a go n c hie f - o f - s t a f f G o r d o n F. M c C lo s k y said, took place after tr aine e s und e r w e nt a f ull ho ur o f s t r e nuo us p hy s ic a l exe r cise that inc luded bea r w a lk s, c r unc he s a nd s p r int s, a t w hic h t im e t he member s wer e f lown to an und is c lo s e d lo c a t io n d e e p w it hin fo r m e r Sov ie t ter ritor y.

SEAL Team, as it is known, is a R ic hm o nd b a s e d p hy s i c a l f it ne s s p r o g r a m t ha t mimics t he physical and m e nt a l e nd ur a nc e t r a ining by t he U. S. N a v y SEAL s, the mo st rigor ously tr ained m e m b e r s o f t he m ilit a r y.

Afte r a quic k pe p talk a bout ho w SEAL Te a m t r a ining c a n m a k e t he m m e nt a lly a nd p hysic ally tougher in the ir w o r k a nd s o c ia l li v e s, M c C lo s k y s a id , a t r a ine r pushed a zodiac boat fr om t he b a c k o f a C - 1 3 0 a s t he c i v ilia ns p o s ing a s fr o gme n followed on their w ay t o r e s c ue a d o w ne d Am e r ic a n f ig ht e r p ilo t .

Ar med with w ater bottles, g lov e s a nd a ir- c o o le d , g a s - o p e r a t e d M 6 0 E3 lig h t mac hine guns, the Ric hmond e r s d r o p p e d f r o m t he p la ne und e r cov e r o f nig h t into sub -zer o temper atur es, c lo t he d o nly i n s ho r t s, r unning s ho e s a nd t he sta nd a r d nav y blue shor t-s le e v e d T- s hir t s g i v e n t o a ll m e m b e r s w it h a n a n nua l me m ber ship.

Tobacco Avenue is Ric hmond, Va.’s most accur ate sour ce of misinfor mation.

Go to taric hmond.com for mor e delicious satir e and w ac k y enter tainment.

“ T his is a g r o up t ha t is w e ll a c c us t o m e d t o he a v y e a r ly mor ning exer cise a r o und t he R ic hm o nd a r e a , ” M c C lo s k y s a id . “ U nfo r t un a t e ly, that r eally meant no t hing w he n it c a m e t im e t o s w im und e r a f r o z e n la k e , and using nothing but a s e v e n - inc h t a c t ic a l bl a d e m a d e o f p o w d e r- c o a t e d s t ainless steel, br eak t hr o ug h a t w o - fo o t t hic k s he e t o f ic e int o e ne my t e r r it o r y. ” “Af t e r ha v ing o nly fo ur ho ur s o f s le e p, ” he a d d e d .

SEAL Te a m , w hic h inc lud e s lo c a l bus ine s s p e o p le , s t ay - at-home-moms and yo ung p r o f e s s io na ls, m a d e it o ut o f Rus s ia w it h o nly a f e w s cr at c hes once t he Pe nt a go n r e a liz e d t he r e ha d b e e n a n a c c id e nt , M c C lo s k y s aid. While many of t he t r a ining t e a m m e m b e r s a r e h ig hly e d uc a t e d a nd p hy s ically fit, the gr oup w a s r e p la c e d w it h a c t ua l N a v y SEAL s w ho w e r e m o r e a c c ustomed to coming w it hin inc he s o f d e a t h f r o m hy p o t he r m ia w hile s im ult a ne ous ly dis mant ling a SS- X- 2 7 To p o l nuc le a r m is s ile und e r a ha il o f m a c hine g un f ir e.

SEAL Te a m m e m b e r a nd H e nr ic o C o unt y w a it r e s s, Je n nif e r Lutman, said she w a s ha p py t o b e b a c k t o Vir g inia , a nd w hile it w a s d if f ic ult t o w ak e up befo r e s unr is e a nd s p r int 2 0 0 y a r d s a f t e r t hr e e m inut e s o f sit-ups, it did not c o m p a r e t o ha v i ng t o c ha r ge up a hil l c ov e r e d he a d t o t o e in mud, lug ging a AT 4 lig ht a nt i- t a nk r o c k e t la unc he r o n he r b a c k , a s a s e a of 7 . 6 2 mm r ounds f r o m a d is int e g r a t ing b e lt o f t he e ne my ’ s M 1 3 s e m i- a ut o m atic rif le scr eamed ov e r he a d .

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BOOKS ON WHEELS

SPRING TOUR 2008 Wo r d s a nd p hotos by She lley B rig gs + War d Tef f t

Shelley Once again, Books on Wheels has been for tunate enough to travel outside of Richmond, heading back to New Or leans for our Second Spring Break Tour. This time, we grew a little bit with the addition of a bigger bus (affectionately nicknamed Deez), and great people to help us along the way- Erin, the volunteer bicycle mechanic, and Joel the Inter n. We were also introduced to “blogging” before we left, so keeping up with our stories became a little easier this time around. So here are a few from the road…

Friday, March 7th Richmond, VA to Greensboro, NC Ward We made it out of town by 10 a.m. after loading the bus with our bikes and bags, stopping for coffee, and then going back to home to grab our video camera.

It star ted raining not too long after we left, at which point we were reminded that our windshield shields wind but not water. So Joel the Inter n spent 3 hour s changing out rags and wiping water off ever ything in the front of the bus. Shelley and I silently appraised his hard wor k, realizing that it probably wouldn’t last long when he discovered that this is not a paid inter nship.

We ar rived in Greensboro at 2 p.m. and went straight

to The Hive, a community space that is star ting up a bike wor kshop. As we star ted thinking about how we were going to set up in the rain, Shelley and I realized that this was the fir st event to be affected by inclement weather in the twelve months of Books On Wheels.

Not bad. Luckily, The Hive let us set up inside. And while the rain didn’t make for a typical event, it also didn’t deter “customer s” from coming out. We managed to give away a few boxes of books, fix five bikes, and collect some bike donations, all in three hour s.

Friday was double “booked” for us, so at 4 p.m. Shelley, our friend Scott, and I drove the bus over to Glenwood Public Librar y. We had visited this librar y last year, and Brandon, Greensboro’s most enthusiastic librarian, had been a great host, so we knew we had to retur n this year. Unfor tunately, Brandon was out of town for the week, but before she had left, she made poster s adver tising our retur n. Still, the rain was pretty bad at this point, so the librar y was almost empty. Shelley used the time to catch up on the blog while I asked if we could leave a few boxes of free childrens’ books. “Are you kidding?” the librarian wondered, “with budget cutbacks, we can use anything we can get.” Perfect.

Back at The Hive, Erin and Joel were busy wor king on some great bikes that Phyllis and friends had donated to us. Some people had come by while we were gone and were busy looking through the books, but no bikes had come through. We waited until about 5:30 p.m. before we decided that nobody else was going to come by and that we needed to creatively pack the bus to fit all of our recent donations. Well, planning on leaving ear ly only draws customer s. Right as we packed

up the bike tools, a family of four came through with their bikes, and some kids we met at the librar y finally showed up with a bike for us to wor k on!

The family had a set of ver y nice Giant hybrids, bikes they had bought a year ago but hadn’t ridden once.

The father said that they really wanted to star t riding, and had been inspired to get them out of the basement when they saw that we were in town wor king on bikes. Though the bikes were new (the tires still had that bike store glow), they needed to be dusted off and to get some air. Shelley went over the basics with them (seat post adjustment, quick release tips, tire inflation) and we packed them up.

The kid’s bike needed a little more attention, but Joel the Inter n put his inter n enthusiasm into quickly switching out wheels that would fit the bike.

Meanwhile, I was nur sing my cold and watching with embar rassment as a Hispanic woman going through the books picked up a copy of The Minutemen , a right wing diatribe about “securing our border s”. We get all kinds of donations, and while we tr y to streamline the books we put out, some really hor rible ones sneak past our border s. I mean, we are all about Freedom of Speech, but some voices just don’t need to be speaking through Books on Wheels.

Friday March 7th Greensboro, NC to Pensacola, FL Ward Most people are familiar with the excitement that driv67

er s feel when they cross state lines and the speed limit is increased 5 or 10 MPH. Well, our excitement when crossing from Georgia into Alabama was comparable, but was inspired by the fact that the minimum speed limit was dropped from 45 to 40 MPH. Our new bus has a gover nor on the throttle, making it impossible to go over 55. Shelley says it’s like the movie Speed , only the opposite. Even keeping the bus at 55 is a task, and it’s common that we’ ll look down to realize we are going 45.

There were a few times that night that we pushed our luck, but the new minimum gave us a little more room to play with.

That pretty much sums up our night, having left Greensboro at 8 p.m., stopping outside of Atlanta seven hour s later for a three hour nap, and then waking at 6 p.m. to drive through a sleet (hail?) and snow stor m for the next few hour s. When we refueled in souther n Georgia, a young guy ran up to the bus and waited for us to get out. “This is great!” he said, “I passed you guys like four times last night and kept wondering what Books On Wheels was.”

While Joel gave him a quick r un down of our organization, Shelley, and Erin, and I hung our heads and walked away. He did leave us with this encouragement before hitting the road again: “Oh yeah, that drive from Greensboro is br utal. We left at 1 a.m. and have only gotten this far.”

Saturday March 8th Pensacola, FL Ward Saturday improved drastically once we drove into Florida. The sun came out, we star ted to war m up a little, and we all knew that Ryan Salisbur y’s great mustache and stoked attitude were only miles away.

Ryan took care of us from the moment we drove into town, setting us up with shower s at his house while he ran off to grab a hot lunch for us. We had a moment to collect our selves, and then it was off to Sluggo’s. This was our second time at Sluggo’s, so we knew it was going to be interesting to see how this event differed from last year’s. Our event in 2007 was only Books on Wheels’ second official event 68

ever, so we were still tr ying to figure out how to mar ket our selves. I realize that this sounds funny, but there really is a science to figuring out how to give away things for free. We were lucky enough to have a small ar ticle in the Pensacola daily newspaper, but our only other means of publicity was MySpace. Still, we ended up having a steady stream of people come through, and left having made some great friends.

This year, there was no media attention given to us, but Ryan had gone across the neighborhood with poster s, and Sandy, one of our biggest fans anywhere, had been posting notices of our retur n on-line for the past few weeks. Their effor ts paid off in full! When we drove up to the par king lot, a man named D was waiting for us with his bike. He had seen a poster just the day before, which was great for him since his tires had just gone flat. While Erin ser viced the wheels and tuned up the rest of the book, he told me that he had been “hiking” to wor k since his bike broke and was looking forward to saving some commute time. Then, as if we would challenge his claim, he pulled out his ID. “Today’s my bir thday. I thought it was too good to be tr ue. This is a great present.” He really said that! An unpaid endor sement! We have it on tape!

Meeting D and wor king on his bike was a great omen for the day. For the next three hour s we had a constant stream of visitor s, both people coming to avail themselves of our ser vices and those coming to make donations of bikes and books. Sandy came through with friends. A local landlord brought us a great box of bike par ts he had accumulated from past tenants. Ryan’s roommate Steven, an as-of-thatmor ning unemployed bike mechanic, came with tools and wor ked on bikes throughout the after noon. The sun was out, the company couldn’t have been better, and the event was a total success.

And the night just got better once we packed up and headed into Sluggo’s for dinner and a show. Sluggo’s is the kind of place that just makes you happy the minute you see it. They are a combination vegan restaurant/show space and are always full of great people. We were happy to see that they had expanded their space and had since gotten a liquor license. The food was, of cour se, superb, and the show was great. Really, there is no reason to be in the Panhandle if it’s not to hang out at Sluggo’s!

Sunday March 9th Pensacola, FL to New Orleans, LA Shelley We woke up ear ly to head to New Or leans, being sure to give our selves plenty of traveling time considering that the drive down to Pensacola from Greensboro sometimes felt like we were moving backwards. It was another beautiful day, and Ward was amped to do the entire drive to the Crescent City, so I sat shotgun (the cooler next to the driver’s seat) and played music while keeping Ward company. At one point in the trip, I saw a photo oppor tunity and quickly demanded that Ward hand me my camera located on the other side of the driver’s seat. He grabbed it, stuck it in my hand, and said, “Don’t talk to me like I’m Joel!” For tunately, at the moment, Joel the Inter n was sleeping (as he tends to do) and missed the comment, but the phrase was coined for the rest of the trip as a means for Ward and me to keep one another in check when it comes to respect.

And speaking of respect, let me take a moment to pay tribute to Joel the Inter n’s sleeping ability: He can nap his ass off! It wasn’t long into our trip that another catch phrase developed: “Can someone wake up the Inter n?!?”

We ar rived in New Or leans and decided to take the day off and bike around and relax since we didn’t officially have an event planned. The after noon consisted of eating po’ boys in the par k while explaining to Joel in detail the stor y, line by line, behind Ruper t Holmes’ “Escape,” visiting a casino for free bottles of water, and a shor t but taxing trip to Bourbon St. that ensured we would never retur n.

Monday March 10th New Orleans, LA Ward It’s always great for us to visit non-profit bike collectives in other cities. We not only get to share ideas and stories, but sometimes just seeing what people are doing in their free time to make their communities better is a renewal to the spirit of what we are doing.

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RUBARB is a perfect example. Housed in a garage on the grounds of St. Mar y of the Cross in the Upper 9th Ward, RUBARB has been around for the past 2 year s. We were excited to wor k with them just because of the name, an acronym for Rusted Up Beyond All Recognition Bikes. They had been donated a large shed by St. Mar y’s of the Cross Church, and were using that space to r un an Ear n-A-Bike program.

This is something we have seen across the countr y, and we are basically waiting for someone to donate us a space so that we can star t one in Richmond. The way they wor k is that kids are taught how to wor k on bikes, and after they complete a cer tain number of classes or wor k hour s, they get to pick out a bike. So when they get the bike, it is not only something that they have ear ned, it is something that they have the knowledge to fix themselves.

The Upper 9th Ward wasn’t as decimated as the Lower 9th after K atrina, but there was still a lot of damage, most of it still visible. It is really sad to be in the middle of a neighborhood that should house thousands but has fewer than half of the residents as before the flood. Still, RUBARB did a great job of getting the neighborhood kids to come out and hang with us. Since they all had really tight bikes, most of the time was spent helping them pick out and then car t home piles of books, getting them to give us tour s of the bike shed, and watching Catholic Charities Volunteer s line dance to “Brick House”. Hence another catch phrase: “Those Catholics can dance their asses off!”

Tuesday March 11th New Orleans, LA Shelley Once again Rev. Lar r y had us back for an amazing event outside of Israelite Baptist Church on Mar tin Luther King Boulevard. We ar rived and began setting up a little before the kids came for the after school tutoring program, and had a steady flow of kids and adults for the rest of the day. Many of our “customer s” that day were ones who had hung out with us the fir st time we were there. Ward was for tunate enough to meet and talk to an elementar y school teacher who invited us to her school the following day to bring books to her students and relieve them of some

of the stress of the week-long testing that they were in the middle of. At the end of the day, we received a generous donation of incense for fixing a bicycle, which we never bur ned in the bus, but opening the packaging alone took away some of the smell, of well, just being four people in a bus for a week.

Wednesday March 12th New Orleans, LA Shelley We ar rive at an elementar y school in New Or leans to deliver some books and while we were waiting in the bus for approval to enter the building, a guy named Tony approached us and asked us what we were all about. We told him, and he got really excited about the fact that we fixed bikes, and said he wanted to show us his bike.

We waited in the bus, thinking that he was going to hop around the cor ner and come back with his ride, but instead he retur ned with a small photo album, proudly handing it to Joel to see his photos. As Ward asked Tony if he can pull out the video camera and inter view him, Joel opened the album and looked in disbelief at a photo of Tony pushing a shopping car t. Not sure what to say, Joel continued to stare at the photo, mumbling to himself, “Aww, cool man, yeah, uh...” After Tony and Ward talk for a minute or two, Tony looked over at Joel and saw him staring at the shopping car t photo, and yelled, “Naw man, that ain’t no bike! That’s a shopping car t!

Tur n the page.” To our relief, the next few pages of photos were of Tony and his conver ted bike. It tur ned out that Tony, the self-proclaimed Candy Apple Car t Man of New Or leans, had managed to leave NOLA after the hur ricane, but had to leave his bike behind. Months later, he retur ned to save his bike, and it was now perfectly restored. I think it is awesome that Tony still thinks Joel the Inter n, himself a bike mechanic, thought a shopping car t was a bike.

Inside Sylvanie Williams Elementar y, we had some trouble getting the free books past the principal and into Ms. Burgess’ classroom. (I also think it is awesome that even though Ms. Burgess was in her mid-twenties, she still had us address her as if we were her students.) It seems that the principal had recently received some grants for purchasing books, and for some reason felt that they had enough. Ward 71

said that these were for the students to take home, for free, so that they could build their own libraries. He countered with the argument that the students were in a program in which they got to take home one book after they finished reading it. We were ready to give in and leave, but at the last minute Ms. Burgess came into the office and told us that we were more than welcome to come to her class.

We brought in seven boxes of great books, and she had her class do a few cheer s about lear ning. I even got props for my newly acquired hot sauce holster from an eight-year-old with a Mohawk.

outside of the house that Books on Wheels was to set up at the next day. We relaxed in the bus for a bit before ever yone par ted ways and we got some sleep. For the fir st time I realized that par king on a slope and tr ying to sleep on the loft doesn’t wor k that well, and a good par t of the night was spent tr ying to hold on.

Wednesday March 12th New Orleans, LA to Austin, TX

Ward The next mor ning we woke up to a crowd beginning to for m for the all-day show in Brian’s backyard. He has a really cool goat that chills. Our friends Shell and Jen made sure we had a good par king spot for the event, and we got to meet Stan at his auto body shop who told us all about Brad Pitt filming a movie in his neighborhood and brought us a bike to fix for his niece who was coming into town to stay with him. As we were filming him he let this one slide: “Brad Pitt is going to be all over my niece. Not in a bad way! In a really good way.” We definitely made sure her bike would be fixed and capable of a quick getaway.

Shelley We left New Or leans in the after noon, after having a successful day of showing up at random libraries around town unannounced and dropping off most of the supply of books that we had left. Austin was looking like a ten hour drive, so we figured we would leave and get there in time to get some decent sleep before our event the following day. Erin was leaving us to fly to San Diego for a conference, and it was sad to have her not continue the trip with us.

We got to Austin around midnight to the sweet sur prise of Sam, Star r, Stella, and Stevie, our good friends from Califor nia, meeting us at the bus par ked on 6th St.

Thursday March 13th Austin, TX

Friday March 14th Austin, TX Shelley Friday was our day off in Texas before retur ning home. We left the bus again par ked outside of Stan’s auto body shop, had some coffee and relaxed with Shell and Jen before heading into the chaos of SXSW. The group split up after a while of wandering around, and I headed to meet up with Star r and Stella to help with another for m of providing something free to the public: The Ice Cream Man! The Ice Cream Man had two car ts giving away pistachio, mango, kiwi, piña colada, and strawber r y flavor s. I asked Ward and Joel how much they thought I could eat in one after noon. Ward said eleven and Joel said nine popsicles. I was impressed with their confidence in my ability to take in food substances, but after only four delicious treats, the sugar was not settling well in my stomach and I gave up on my per sonal eating contest. I did manage to give away over fifty popsicles, which is better than Ward usually does with books!

Shelley and Ward Once again, we would like to thank all of our sponsor s and friends who have suppor ted both this trip and ever ything else we do. In par ticular, this trip would not have been possible without the ver y generous suppor t of The Yar n Lounge, Ipanema, Café Ole, Candyland Music, 821 Café, The Jonny Z Fund, Barf Comics, Chop Suey Books, Recycles, Pibby’s, Need Supply, Plan 9, Creatures and Crooks, John the 3rd, The Lodzieski Family, NY Deli, Uptown Color, and ever yone who came out to our fundraiser at the NY Deli.

To get the full scoop on Books on Wheels go to bookonwheels.com, myspace.com/ booksonwheels, or booksonwheelsr va.blogspot.com

Saturday March 15th Austin, TX to Richmond, VA Ward Though we were invited to set up the bus at Water loo Par k, which was hosting a free show including NOFX, The Breeder s, Annihilation Time, and The Muncipal Waste, it was with great regret that we left at 2 p.m. to star t an epic, fun, and sometimes br utal 34-hour drive home. We managed to only stop for gas and two meals. I drove 24 hour s of the trip, Shelley clocked in at 10, and Joel the Inter n drove his fir st and only mile as we crossed into Virginia. As hard as the drive was, the wor st par t was passing Peter sburg. We all silently realized that our tour was coming to a close. Shelley climbed up front to share the cooler seat with Joel the Inter n, and the three of us quietly drove home, lighter of books and bikes, a little dir tier, and more satisfied by the previous ten days than we can ever express.

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