magazine issue #2
tobacco
Distill my Beating Heart By Morgan Polson Six months ago I had my first true introduction to Kentucky Bourbon. My father had always kept a bottle of Makers Mark in the house, but honestly the jet fuel taste of Makers and the “on the rocks” way my father used to sip it completely turned me off of the amber-colored elixir. My mother, on the other hand, always kept vodka in the house, and everyone knows you can mix vodka with almost anything, even koolaid, and it’s tolerable; so when I first started sneaking water bottles out of the house to go see my friends, you can guarantee it was not the Makers I was dipping into. What world-defining event changed my mind about the alcohol? It was money motivated, and quite by accident, actually. I became a waitress at a Bourbon bar on Louisville’s own Whisky Row. My bar has more than 170 different bottles of bourbon and whisky, and I have probably tasted close to 75 of them. We go through more bottles of Jim Beam, our well bourbon, in a week than I can even count. More and more, when I go out to a bar, I find myself ordering a Basil Hayden or Elijah Craig, and skipping the clear liquors, my usual go-to. Lemon and mint aren’t just for my detoxifying smoothie blend anymore; I’ve also started to make my own bourbon cocktails at home, muddling my ingredients and straining the mixture over ice. Bourbon has completely changed the way I drink and dine, and the way I think about my old Kentucky home. ` 95 percent of all of the bourbon in the world is distilled within 50 miles of Louisville, making Bourbon County the bourbon capital of the world. Drinking bourbon and visiting the bourbon trail (or whisky row, in town) is almost like a Communion for Kentuckians, a religious experience that has inspired names like “Angel’s Envy” and “The Devil’s Cut.” The Bourbon trail draws close to a million people every year and the number is growing. There are actual more bourbon barrels in Kentucky than people. Kentuckians have been distilling the spirit since the 18th century. I’m fairly positive that we can say bourbon is bluegrass history, and has been a part of every defining event in Kentucky since… well, since before we were even Kentucky. The first settlers in this area grew corn, and when they were done grinding the corn for grain, trading for other things they needed, and eating all the fresh corn they could handle, what did they do with the rest of their crop? They distilled it, making the first corn whiskies. Once they started aging the alcohol in barrels, distributing it throughout the north and south, (and after they discovered that if you CHARRED the insides of the barrels before you aged the alcohol, adding a unique flavor and burn) it was all anyone could think about. The first consumer protection laws ever in the United States were enacted to protect people purchasing alcohol from these distillers who popped up all over the south. Even the term “proof” was coined because distillers had to “prove” the alcoholic content of their whiskies. Little things we don’t think about, or we just accept because they are so ingrained in our culture, actually originated right here, tied into the history of Bourbon. One of the most famous Master Distillers of bourbon in the history of the alcohol was George Washington, the first president of the United States. He LOVED bourbon, and the only reason his distillery doesn’t exist today is because Martha and he never had any children to carry on his legacy, which is maybe a good thing for us Kentuckians. That is one thing I can say about the Kentucky bourbon distilleries and the families who owned them: they made sure they had time to procreate. I’ve learned so many stories, so much history, so many little urban legends that make life in the south more of a thing of pride for me. For a long time, my anti-south liberalism made me HATE being a part of Kentucky, wishing Louisville would break off and join Indiana, or even better, be our own little commonwealth. However, I have met so many wonderful people, good southern people, through bourbon: tasting, experimenting, through working in the dining industry. Next time you feel a little lost, wanting to escape the state and runaway to Canada, order a shot of Evan Williams 1783 and be glad you don’t have to drink Crown Royal.
“Cave City” by Kennedy Shuck
art by Chris McKormick
“Sonder” by Graham McKillip
Guinea Pigged by Zach Gordon Guinea pigged So vicious, so guilty We’ve all been deceived They want us gone Guinea pigged into thinking that we are free Save your money, Plant a seed Don’t kill what’s not guilty Don’t give into greed burnt branches by Jacqueline Heinzen now i live with his ghost and his photographs. i sleep in his bed, or don’t sleep. i feel the shape of his abused body in the mattress and below that a dark well dug by a squatter, abandoned and reclaimed by some creature who built it a nest of burnt branches he’s still alive down there in that secret darkness that dark pressed open by a thousand shoes on snowy sidewalks of the avenue that burned under the bandages that listened in the cathedral that slept in the velvet of the cello case that ate its way into the bricks and into the lungs of pittsburgh that stood at the window with the miniature animals and the dolls and looked out on the day
Christian Youth Conference by Chloe Forsting A Christian youth conference is in town and they Swamp the streets wearing cards around their necks Like a business convention with lights and sounds Meant to evoke Christ their Lord, a spectacle None of them ought to forget, a journey That takes them through only part of my city, Where they fill the sidewalks looking for food, And maybe some of them look more for God than Others, and maybe some of them think I am a Whore, and maybe some of them think I can be Saved, and maybe they do not think anything of me at All, because these are Christian youth, and they Are still youth, in spite of their Godly spectacle, In spite of their pastors who point in the opposite Direction that I face, in spite of the thick curtain Which surrounds them like loving arms. They might think Of the loving arms they anticipate in the future when They go to their reward, in spite of their speaking In tongues, they want parties in the street, too, praising Christ alone, and it scares me but they are youth like me.
art by Mathias Davey
State Fair, Kentucky 2013 by Yoko Molotov and David Willams It’s time for the State Fair, today is the last day of summer. love all the animals. pet all the animals. cook all the animals. eat all the animals. inflatable prizes on a stick, slowly deflating, it’s the childhood’s defeatthey are lying lifeless in the backseat. guess your birthday, weight or age within 3 days, 20lbs, or 3 years. junk on tables for looks atkey rings, magnets and stickers. Formal complaints. white people. Starving ducklings leap and fall while snotty babies squeal at them. Obama, I’m a friend of Mitch. donate 3$ to the GOP. I fed an estranged Grandpa roasted pecans. country people. concrete floors. legs. legs long and legs glossed. Thousands of people and two thousands of crocs. pillars of ivory, blue and dimpled. sunburn, wife beaters, and university shirts. (THAT’S IT, I’M TELLING MEMAW, your shirts are beautiful) beautiful lips and toothless maws.
Joseph’s Dreamcoat worn in some nobody’s county. you’re my favorite gingerbread girl. lover’s quarrels are illegal, thanks. everyone has the right to be miserable, thanks. bovine pet request, dumb static and docile eyes, do they ever change? does any of it really change? at some point all the cows petted will be digested and shat out. congested aisles, shoving and trampling, the mobilized morbidly obese in carts WWJD? a fat stone in a brainless trout stream. the failing pan salesman hawking his wares, no one in attendance, wearing a headset (a real go-getter) and holding his pan like a flag. the really poor families come to the fair because it’s cheap entertainment, and it’s cheap tradition. and these struggling families trudge proudly in faded Kmart attirean exhibition the pretentious call “people watching”. separating oneself from the herd of undesirables, a pasty man with his head awkwardly on a pillow, trying to convince an apathetic and bloated crowd the perfection of his product, his head a bit like road kill. he’s selling but the crowd walks on-on-on. Was there more guano under the bridge or beyond the gates?
photo by Jennifer Palmer
half-hearted, half-heated corn dogs and overpriced beers, I can never finish an ice cream so I usually leave the cone lying to be sat in. Dead bugs in a box and bug puke in my mouth. A salad made from blue ribbon tobacco and light bulb tomatoes.
everything smells like popcorn, shit and tradition.
Epiphanies of a Space Cadet by Peyton Crenshaw I woke up this morning, though in all actuality it was the afternoon, and decided to enjoy my coffee and cigarette outside. There was not a chair in sight or even a stoop to take so I sat at the top of my driveway where a sliver of pavement was still intact. Twenty-one years old in Kentucky; what the fuck am I doing? Ever since I moved back in with my parents for a temporary sentence it’s been a challenge to find my place again. The busted pavement before my feet is just a mere reflection of this. A cozy little nook of forgotten leaves from last fall lay beside me, nudging nostalgia of this past summer back into my mind. Before I moved back here, my life was entangled with many others who were also wandering and contemplating their own futures. All while sitting upon a fucking porch. I found myself killing time on that porch fairly often. There were some nights where nothing was going so we drank and observed the world that would drift past. Other nights the porch became a hub of activity, giving the bar on the corner a run for its money. I think though it was those slower nights that I began to understand that this simple slice of solitude wouldn’t last forever. Eventually the universe has a way of positioning you to make a decision. I was fortunate to find such kindred spirits but I knew eventually these things tend to dissolve as we all determined our own destinations in life. The porch gave me time to think about my life and the things that I needed to confront to move forward. Moving away from it also helped me understand the important developments it brought me. So what happens next once we take that first step out on our own? Well that I’m not entirely sure of. Life is always changing, sometimes faster than what we are ready for. However as I finish off this coffee and ash the rest of my cigarette I see this as just another step in becoming the person I will one day be.
“Sick Day” by Ryan Reisert
These Two I autoflog like a friar who fell to fellatio one two too many times by letting these songs play the ones we heard in the dark the baby birch and the fucking eternal king and the grimes and the glows of those nighty night lights that cast on your blue veins an idea that you had died peacefully while you slept any more I die while I sleep attacked by wolves like me and a basket of fruit
Burns Like Hell anyone who says they drink for the taste is a god damn liar because if I let a demon take a piss in my mouth in exchange for forgetting my aching blood on the floor I’d say I drink for the taste too.
Steel i’ve hung up these green christmas lights because you had blue and i’m getting a record player because you had one too and on christmas night i put on the green man while he bellows “i can’t lose you” over and over and over in my ears and i listen to it over and over and over and i look at our pictures and i realize that we are over and over and over
METAL
mondays
S/T II by Written Off review by Austin Naamani I don’t want to jump the gun and say they’re the best straight edge band from Louisville, but they’re definitely the only band that I can think of doing it right now. Since releasing their “Louisville Straight Edge” demo tape in 2010, Written Off instantly became one of my favorite straight edge bands to date. If you listened to their split 7” with Out Crowd then you have a pretty good idea of what this new record sounds like. “Self-titled II” brings the fast, catchy, hard rock we’ve come to expect from Louisville’s straight edge warriors. I’m not going hold you hand and take you through this record track by track, however, I will tell you that “Intro/Whatever” is a great opening track to side A that I feel perfectly sums up the entire record - fast and groovy. “Questions II” is a very aggressive track with lyrical content that hits close to home with me. Being the paranoid/anxious/low-self esteem dude that I am, this track speaks not only to me, but to anyone and everyone who has ever felt judged or looked down upon in “the scene”. Now on to side B. Side b is a fucking banger from start to finish, simple as that. I mean the whole record is a banger, but side B really does it for me. “Visual Aid” rules. This record is tight - just buy it ok?
Oh, and if you missed the record release show at Haymarket Whiskey Bar last month then you’re a weenie.
s
Buy it here: www.ironmindcrew.bigcartel.com Listen here: http://sixfeetunderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sfu078-written-off-s-t-ii
The 90’s were good to us, and Louisville group The Teeth are in turn being good to the 90’s. Taking cues from apparent influences like Sonic Youth, The Teeth add an aughty spin to a familar sound and make it uniquely their own. “Sergeant Phoster” or “Don Thundershine” are easily something Daria Morgendorffer would listen to (did Daria even like music?) This album is a big must for local music supporters.
ALBUM REVIEWS
Brennschluss by The Teeth noisepollution.bandcamp.com
Live from the Deep by Shark Week http://sharkweekz.bandcamp.com/ A live recording of some fan favorites and new gems, Paducah’s Shark Week is fun, pure and simple. We’ve got songs about ice cream, pizza, and not one, but TWO about wrestlers. Novel ditties “Lockdown” and “Pokemon Song” stand out musically yet keep the kute kitsch edge. Canaan and Antonya show up at your pool party uninvited, spike the punch, and push you in the water with your clothes on.
White Reaper is drenched in some sort of transdimensional nostalgia we still haven’t pinpointed yet. Maybe this is what punk would sound like if Reagan had been assassinated? Maybe they’re just really fucking good? Regardless, Ken Carla and Saint Nick make better music between the two of them than you and your eight piece high school “ska” band ever did. Two songs on cool blue vinyl not enough for you losers? See em live, they’ve got more there.
The Ratman Cometh (Demo) by Mayonnaise http://mayonnaiseky.bandcamp.com/ I saw Mayonnaise open for Japanese gindcore cuties Sete Star Sept on their southeast U.S. tour and woo boy was I sore afterwards. An impressively hefty offering for a demo tape, tracks like “Stain of Man” bring some groovy droning before spitting in my face and stealing my beer. They play loud, play hard, and play often. If you’re in Lexington, there is no excuse. See Mayonnaise live. Not in Lexington? Better start driving.
ALBUM REVIEWS
CONSPIRATOR / THE CUT 7” by WHITE REAPER http://whitereaper.bandcamp.com/
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
Summer Demo(n)s by Blood Planet bloodplanet.bandcamp.com/ Between White Reaper and Weird Girl, Blood Planet completes the trinity of Louisville’s fuzzheavy powerhouses. Personally I feel it’s one of their weaker releases, but keeping in mind they’re only demos, my worries are cut short and I can listen in peace. The only real disappointment about this two track release was it was over too soon. A quick fix is listen to everything on repeat until they grace us with a full length release.
f(x)=1/x by InfiNowness https://soundcloud.com/infinowness If the ghost of Eyedea slapped some sense in to Mac Miller, you might get Corbin native Jerry Perry’s InfiNowness. Jerry’s lyrics are a refreshing break from this MTV shit you punk ass kids are listening to, and not a single party track in sight! Team that conciousness with amazing sample choices, espcially on “Summer Breeze” and “Everything is Fine”, you’ve got an album that is fit for the Definitive Jux roster.
THE DOPER (GYRATING EYE) by Ma Turner http://maturner.bandcamp.com/ Multi-instrumentalist Ma Turner is never a dull listen. Drifting from IDM pulses to ambient darkwave noise almost instantaneously, these few tracks defy description. For all purposes, this is a good thing. “Antigone”, one of the bouncier bits, is immediately followed by “Crucible Chuck”, a cacophony of elecric blemishes. At the end of it all, you’re left a little perplexed, but mostly thirsty for more.
Worse Than Jail by Wretched Worst wretchedworst.bandcamp.com/ A nightmarish marriage of the best body parts of power electronics and any spare cowboy hats Michael Gira has lying around, Lexington’s Wretched Worse hits you harder than a Frankenstein’ed fist to your noggin. “Sores are Food-Breathing Casket” sounds like a lost scene from Serbian Film and by the time “Hole For A Face” ended I swear to fuck I had a nosebleed.
Hi, my name is Yoko Molotov and I’m a harpy When did you first realize art was something you were interested in doing? I remember crayoning my first image at the age of two, a grinning bearded man with my dad. I had snuck the crayons with me inside of a toy dog. It was honestly around that time. I have always had an insatiable desire to create things, and I never really questioned why that is, or how it has stuck with me my entire life. I was in elementary school the first time I became aware art was a large part of my identity and decided then that I would do art for the rest of my life, and that promise I have kept to myself faithfully.
What are the materials and supplies you prefer? I will use anything to create anything. I dislike the certain elitism that comes with products, and it’s especially damaging in art. I feel it impedes the creative process. I don’t care about using the most expensive gear or materials to create, I just need my art realized. My favorite things are Bic mechanical pencils and Leuchtturm journals, stolen ink pens from offices, children’s water colors sets and watercolor books, recording whole songs with my shitty phone and editing them with Audacity and using a 10 year old, defunct paint program to edit my pieces digitally. It’s all a means to an end, and as long as I am free to create it doesn’t matter what I use. I want everyone to know the fallacy in buying all this expensive crap and that they can create NOW with what they have.
You have a lot of projects in the works. How do you balance music, writing, art, and puppetry with stuff like work and sleep? Discipline. You have to have a fair amount of it to reach your goals and complete projects. I get up early every morning and work on music. Or I focus on another project if music isn’t fancying me then. I write everyday at around 11am. I force myself to keep journals for writing and for drawing and dedicate a small amount of time to each everyday. Even if you do a little, if you do it everyday it adds up and you become a better artist. I keep calendars
You can look at all my junk at www.yokomolotov.net
for projects, big and small and keep deadlines. I keep a journal on me always so if I need to jot down an idea or sketch it’s there and those things become big things, and I stay focused. If I had once piece of advice for an artist it would be to carry a journal. It boils down to if you want to be an artist, you need to create everyday. Even if it’s scribble. And make sure you find time to read, take things in so you can make beautiful, thought provoking things.
You pull off portraiture just as well as you do manga and cartoons. Who or what are some of your biggest influences in these styles? I would say for eastern art, Rumiko Takahashi and Junji Ito. For western, Henry Darger, Will Eisner, Bakshi, Crumb and John K.
What are some big visions or ideas you’d like to accomplish with, or through your art? I want to teach, convince and encourage that everyone can make art. I also want to be the first to draw a dick girl on the moon.
All art by Yoko Molotov. Check out our first issue to see more!
Yo, my name is Jack Scally and I’m selling you garbage. When did you first realize art was something you were interested in doing? When I was born. I came out of there with a pencil in my hand. My brother and my father were artists, but i didn’t really realize until about 8th grade. it was my first art class I had ever taken and my art teacher was ecstatic about me. I won an art contest in 8th grade as well, that was when I noticed I really was into art and it was probably something worth doing.
What are the materials and supplies you prefer? Anything ers right
that now.
I find interesting, I’m Mainly I prefer just the
really into regular ol’
Montana markpencil and pen.
Your first solo show at Greenhaus was a success, I think. Do you have plans for any future shows? Greenhaus was a success, Daniel Duncan was so awesome to set me up at the show, it was originally supposed to be multiple artist show, but I had so many paintings he ushered me in as a solo show. I would like to have more shows in the future, right now I’m more focused in on completing paintings and meditating on my style.
You draw inspiration from a wide pool including Impressionism, Surrealism, and even Grafitti art. What would you say are some of the biggest influences on your work? A broad range of artists, from van Gogh, Alex Pardee, Craola, Esao Andrews, and Nomi Chi. But I constantly search for new artist for inspiration, anything that really tickles my pickle you know? But beyond everything else, I’m inspired by nature and music and world events.
What are some big visions or ideas you’d like to accomplish with, or through your art? I just want to make people happy, and to inspire them. I know that’s really cliche but I love it when I go somewhere and start drawing people around me start to have the need to draw themselves, and it makes me feel great.
Where can fans check out your stuff? http://evolv3.tumblr.com Instagram : _3vol https://www.facebook.com/JackScallyArt
Front cover, back cover, and “Distracted Abscense” art by Jack Scally
TOBACCOMAGAZINE.NET
art by Jack Scally