While working at WSBF-FM in CLEMSON, SC, I was able to do a phone interview with Davey Pierce, bassist for OF MONTREAL.

For my first interview ever, I was live on-air with the bassist of one of my all-time faves. Say what you will about Of Montreal being over-hyped–they put on an art piece of a show.While Kevin Barnes has taken over most of the songwriting, members of the band still play an enormous role in creating their theatrical stage presence. Join me as we talk to Davey about their crazy stage setup, and the surprising secret behind their ideas…alcohol and volleyball.

Note: the interview starts about a quarter-way through the file.

Full Transcript: (Audio)

Nichole Bennett: We are here with Davey Pierce, the bassist from Of Montreal. How are you Davey?

Davey Pierce: I’m doing pretty good. How are you?

NB: Great. I actually caught your show at the Tabernacle in Atlanta last Saturday.

DP: Oh, did you?

NB: I just wanted to say that it was fantastic.

DP: Oh thank you so much. Yeah, that was fun for us, having our friends Limouzine open up for us. We were sort of star-struck by them. They were pretty awesome.

NB: Yeah I really wanted a pair of pink pants like that.

DP: Spandex Man Dot Com.

NB: Noted. I’ve actually caught you guys on each of your tours and this seemed to be the craziest yet. I was wondering how much prep work goes into your stage show?

DP: A lot actually. We worked on the ideas for this tour for a good two months before…trying to get the logistics worked out. Like, you know…Kevin wants to hang himself…how do we do that? It’s still in the process of being perfected. Everytime we go back home we go back to our welder and say “Hey what we have here isn’t working…we need you to make it work a little better.” By the end of this tour, everything should be goin pretty smoothly.

NB: Awesome. Well, I guess that gets me to my next question. So, where do these ideas come from? The hanging himself was Kevin’s own?

DP: Yeah, the hanging himself was Kevin’s idea. It started with Kevin saying he wanted to do that, and everybody threw in ideas of other ways to off yourself. It’s gotten a little bit of negative stuff. Up until the Tabernacle show, we did a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. People were upset that we would do a suicide scene and then cover Nirvana for some reason. The ideas…We also play volleyball a lot, and there’s a lot of drinking involved. While we are doing it, we all just spout out random ideas. Eventually, half of them come into play.

NB: That makes a lot more sense now…that volleyball is involved.

DP: Oh, volleyball is always involved.

NB: How much do you guys vary the setlist from show to show?

DP: We can’t really vary it too much because of the way the show is set up. It’s weird for us. Normally we would play a different setlist every night. But this one has to be so structured to have all of the little sketches happen on time every time. We can’t vary it too much. We try to a little bit.

NB: What direction does it go from here? Crazier and crazier?

DP: Yeah hopefully. It’s constantly evolving everyday. We’ll say “you know, leading up to this part I want to do this other little thing.” It just kind of snowballs and snowballs. Now we have six performers, and it’s kind of crazy. Hopefully it will get bigger and bigger, but you never can tell.

NB: I’ve heard rumors of a live DVD. What can you tell me about that?

DP: We shot a show at The Avalon in Los Angeles last year at the end of the Hissing Fauna tour. We recorded the Atlanta show at The Tabernacle last weekend. Hopefully it will be a two-show double-disc DVD showing about it. Where we were and what we are now and what’s going to be in the future. I’ve seen the footage from the first one. I haven’t seen the second one yet. The first one looks incredible. Our video guy, the guy who does all our live stuff, is editing it now. I went through and mixed all of the audio. It’s gonna be pretty awesome.

NB: Oh cool. Well, thank you for joining us today. Listeners, once again this is Davey Pierce, the bassist from Of Montreal. Thank you so much for your time.

DP: No problem. Thank you

Members of THE HELIO SEQUENCE chatted with me on the back porch of THE EARL in ATLANTA, GA before their show.

Even when my questions were about trading cars for dinosaurs, Benjamin and Brandon took me seriously. That’s no surprise, considering how carefully they consider their music–from songwriting to production. From their past jobs as instrument repo men to coming back from a lost voice, these guys have been nothing but sincere. Read on to learn about everything from their tips for success as an independent artist to their plans for making revenue from dinosaurs.

Thanks to the sweethearts at Sub Pop who were kind enough to blog about this interview.

Special thanks to Matt Crisler for taking photographs of the interview and for being my concert buddy.

Full Transcript: (Audio)

Nichole Bennett: Alright, I’m Nichole, and I am lucky enough to be here at the EARL in Atlanta with members of The Helio Sequence. Would you guys mind introducing yourselves?
Brandon Summers: I’m Brandon.
Benjamin Weikel: And I’m Benjamin.
NB: So, there’s a lot of information online about the story of you guys, and most people who are literate and have an internet connection can look that up. If they were to reenact your story, would they use marionette puppets or sock puppets?
BS: Finger puppets probably.
BW: I was thinking we might as well go all the way with marionettes. Or Jim Henson, you know?
NB: We’re going with muppets?
BW: Yeah, totally muppets, dark crystal, that would be cool.
BS: Lo-fi or big budget.
BW: I think we would get more realistic drumming action with like the Animal thing.
BS: Animal, yeah. Animal could play you.
NB: That’s a good one. So, we settled on muppets? And you guys used to work at a record store together?
BS: We did. It was actually a music store. It was more like a band instrument rental store with some guitars. So we were renting instruments to kids who were beginning band.
NB: Any stories from that? Any funny…or scary stories?
BS: Oh jeez, too many to remember. We used to practice there, which is sort of a story in and of itself.
BW: We actually recorded our first records there. I was a band instrument repo guy for a while.
NB: I didn’t know that existed!
BW: I became responsible for all of the accounts. And there had been people who basically had never paid for years, and I’d have to track them down.
BS: It got to be where you knew these people. It was like “Oh, that woman would come in and say she paid it off and would actually drop twenty five dollars on us.”
BW: Some people would be alright, but some people would be really weird. They’d bring their kid to the front door and be like “This is what happens!” Yelling at the kid because he can’t fifteen dollars a month for a clarinet.
NB: The drama of a music store!
BS: Like “He could have been the next Jon Bon Jovi, but you took that chance away from him”
BW: I have a pretty bitter taste from all that repo business. It’s not my kind of thing.
NB: Yeah, I played saxophone, so that was kind of expensive. But that’s another story.
BS: But you paid for it?
NB: Yeah…upfront. That was not very fun. So, again anybody who is literate and has an internet connection can learn about how you lost your voice and how you gained it back.
BS: Right.
NB: But I was curious about something most others had skimmed over and that is the Bob Dylan connection. You got to read a lot during that time, and his was the first book. And there are some of my favorite Bob Dylan covers on this album. And I read that you gained your voice back by playing a lot of Bob Dylan. Is that true, or am I just making this up?
BS: Yeah, in a way. That’s kind of a gloss over. You know how records come to you at a time when you really need them? I don’t know if that makes any sense. You just happen to hear a record at a certain point in your life, and it means a lot to you. For some reason when I lost my voice…it’s not like I didn’t know who Bob Dylan was before I lost my voice, but I happened to be at the record store, and I happened to come across a copy of The Times, They Are a Changin’ And I was like, I’ve never really listened to this record. I just bought it on a whim, and it really meant a lot to me, particularly the song “Boots of Spanish Leather.” That was the first song that I decided to learn. And then from there, I thought it was interesting to actually put the chords under my fingers and actually learn a song, so I should do more of that.
NB: I really like that. I think that one of the big things music does for people. It’s kind of a soundtrack, in a way. Yeah, I was actually going to ask you what your soundtrack album was from that time, and you just answered that for me.
BS: And other things come along. What else were we listening to during that time?
BW: I don’t know. That was such a long time ago.
BS: I remember listening to a lot of Dark Side of the Moon during that time. You can infer a lot from that, I’m sure.
NB: Oh yeah, I get that in the album.
BS: So we decided to put some extended guitar solos in, and then we cut them all out.
NB: Speaking of the latest record, there’s kind of an almost a paradox between a more polished sound, but you still have that “off the cuff” sound. I heard that “The Captive Mind,” you just recorded.
BS: Yeah, a lot of the vocal stuff was just first take. We would be working on something in the studio, and I would be able to take it home and work on the vocals.
BW: The demos.
BS: Yeah, the demo stuff, really rough. And bring it back and record the real version of it. And when I went to lay down the real track, something was missing from it. Something about the energy or the feeling of it or the meaning. And it was kind of “Well, what if we just redo some of the instruments around it. Lay down the drums again and the guitar and the bass, all kinds of stuff, and just use those vocal takes.” A lot of it ended up like that. A lot of it was first take stuff. It’s almost better that way.
NB: Yeah, you get a combination, almost a paradox between…it’s definitely very polished, like you tweaked it, but at the same time it’s very organic.
BS: That’s probably a lot of the mixing process. We spend a lot of time working it out. We record our own records and mix them.
NB: I think it’s neat when a band takes things from start to finish.
BS: I can’t imagine doing it any other way. It amazes me when a band is like, “Yeah, when we recorded the record we went in for about a week, and then we handed it off to a bunch of people and they finished it for us.” I don’t understand it.
NB: I imagine you would get handed back something totally different than you had actually put out. But you guys have control over that side of things.
BF: Maybe we’re just control freaks.
NB: This record is also more lyrically focused. And I say that, but at the same time, if you took the lyrics out, the songs would be able to stand by themselves. And it’s a little less cluttery. I hate the word cluttery because I do like the older stuff too because it is that way.
BW: Yeah, but when you compare them, that sums it up in a way. We approached the record thinking that way. Bob Dylan is a great example of somebody that makes songs that to us that are really really meaningful. And it’s not so much about the music as the lyrics or the story. And so we thought, we love music with orchestration and all of the crazy sounds, but let’s try to see if we can make more of a lyrical connection. So when we were doing all the orchestration, instead of just throwing it all together and being like “Here’s everything!”.
BS: And having to work the vocals in after that.
BW: It would be like “That’s kind of just getting in the way of it.” It’s really all about the vibe. It had a feeling from the beginning. Whenever we did something that felt like it was changing it too much or it was losing that feeling, we just cut it out. So then it ended up being…compared to the average band there are still more parts and more orchestrated, but for us, it was a little more sparse.
NB: Yeah, I think you can get that. I discovered you guys after you opened for Minus the Bear, and I immediately picked up Love and Distance there. And I never buy albums from opening bands.
Matt Crisler [taking photographs of interview]: Band snob!
NB: That is not what I meant at all. I meant I never buy an album from a band that I don’t even know, like right there, and I did. And I listened to it. And then the new one came out, and I was blown away by how different it was, but it was still you guys. But you guys put it much better than I could. Obviously, I’m very terrible with words.
BW: It’s a good thing you’re a writer.
NB: Yeah, it’s a good thing. I actually really wanted to ask you guys. You did something on this latest album that is sometimes scary for smaller bands, scary for indie bands. I think this was a lot more universal than most bands would go.
BW: Yeah, it’s totally out of fashion.
NB: It’s not very fashionable to appeal to a lot of people.
BW: I don’t know if it’s a question of appealing to a lot of people. I think it’s more a question of meaning.
BS: Well, I think it’s a question of just saying what you want to say. Like, when I’m writing lyrics, I’m thinking something to myself, and I’m just writing. I’m not thinking of something being universal or trying to get to a large amount of people. But I know what you’re saying, I think that a lot of lyrics, especially in the indie world come off as impressionistic. Like, a little image here, a little image here. Don’t do something that is too specific because then you’re going to have to take responsibility for having said that.
BW: Some people do it so well that they are creating a mood, and the only way to keep it that was is by not saying something, by having it be almost sort of more background. Almost commercial. And I don’t mean commercial in the sense of sellable, but commercial as literally in a sense of in the background. Like background when you’re driving, background when you’re hanging out in a bar. Nothing that is really going to get that close to you. Something that is going to be off. You can push it away, and it’s there and it sounds great, feels great, you know. But the moment somebody starts saying something that are personal, that means something, and I don’t think that’s the fad of music right now.
NB: It’s almost dangerous.
BS: Yeah I guess it could be. But more and more, the older I get, the music I am listening to, I’m actually listening to what people say. I’m listening to what is going on behind the sound of something or just “I like how that part sounds” or “That’s a catchy part.” That’s one level of music, and I don’t think you should discount that, especially if you’re making pop music, in essence. But if you’re able to make a song on that level, and then think to yourself “Well, what are they saying. What is that guy saying?” And it may be that I’m not getting anything from that. It doesn’t make any sense, or it’s all mixed up. That, to me, it actually brings the value of the song down.
BW: There are a lot of records, and I’m definitely not naming any names, but there are a lot of records on the surface that I’m really immediately excited about. But the more I listen to the music, I’m like “What is he saying?” It’s kind of killing it for me. The lyrics are either really horrible, or you can’t hear them. Everyone’s hiding behind the lo-fi.
BS: What you are saying is that if you’re saying something, you have to take responsibility for it. And you’re saying there’s something dangerous about it. And I’ve thought about it—that you somehow risk not being cool anymore by not agreeing with somebody. So it’s interesting that more and more, you get less of that .
NB: It’s very fashionable, I think, especially in a lot of hyped bands…We were just talking about the internet mentality earlier with Venice [is Sinking]. To not make sense, to be esoteric, and “Oh you guys, you just don’t get me.”
BW: It’s all very impressionistic.
NB: Impressionistic is a perfect way to put that. So if you were to describe your sound to a five-year-old, what would you say?
BS: I wouldn’t describe it, I would just put the CD on.
NB: I don’t talk to five-year-olds.
BS: No, I talk to five year olds very often. I have a nine month old. I’ll just put on music for her.
NB: So, no need for description…just put it on.
BW: I have a three year old nephew, and he came out to our show in Los Angeles, his first rock and roll show. The first time he’s seen me playing. My sister, his mom, she plays him the songs, and he knows that this is uncle Benjamin’s band. And we were playing the set. We stopped playing after the second song, and everything kind of died down for a second, and I just heard this “That’s Uncle Benjamin!”
BS: And mind you, this is in a three or four thousand person venue.
NB: Do you guys read press about yourselves?
BW: No.
BS: No, not anymore. I used to.
BW: It just bums me out.
NB: Yeah, it would be something that would just tear me apart.
BW: Yeah, it’s really depressing…
NB: I’m already self-critical enough. I don’t need any help.
BW: It would be dumb to say there is no point to music journalism, and I’m definitely not making a judgment of music writing. It’s more of just that I have an understanding that a journalist is a writer, and they have to do something interesting. If you write a bunch of reviews, that don’t say anything, then your job is boring. It’s a realization that somebody writing about music—you can’t take it personally because there’s always agendas just beyond the music. I don’t want to read it.
BS: And at the same time, you can’t truly get away from it. Someone’s actually going to come up to you and say “I read your review in Rolling Stone or blahblahblah.” And then you don’t have to read it.
NB: Since music journalism is so much more accessible with blogs and the internet, do you feel that it is affecting you guys in anyway, even though you aren’t reading it?
BS: I’m sure it helps just general awareness. And the way that people find out about music is all over the map these days. I’ve had people come up to me on this tour and tell me that they found out about us because we have one song on the Google phone. They came to us and asked us if they could include our song, for free, so it comes with the phone when people buy it. I’ve had people come up to me and say that they didn’t know who we were, and I heard you guys on my new phone. I love you guys. I went out and bought your records, and I’m a fan now. You can find music in so many ways. It’s just crazy.
NB: That’s another thing. When bands talk about commercials, they say that people heard their song on a commercial.
BS: I want to find someone who became a fan because of a ringtone.
BW: I think we did! There was a myspace comment once that they had downloaded “Don’t Look Away” ringtone.
BS: They probably meant to download The Chili Peppers.
BW: And then he went and looked at our myspace page.
NB: You guys have been around for quite a while. What advice would you give to a band that is just starting out.
BS: Keep going. I don’t know.
BW: Stop if you’re not good. We usually don’t take support bands on the road with us. So we get tons of local openers. Sometimes people are really excited, and they ask us “How do you hook up with Sub Pop” or “What do you do?” And I think some people want to try to skip steps. They just want to jump up ahead. And all that I can say is some people win the lottery, and some people don’t. Start thinking one step at a time. Book your small show, and get some friends there. Do one thing at a time. Don’t think about this big thing far off in the future. Enjoy making music
BS: And keep sight of that as you keep going because there are going to be people coming along saying “We want to sign you and throw all this money at you.” That kind of stuff happens. We had that happen to us especially early in our career.
BW: We said no.
BS: And we said no. For us, anyways, it was the right thing to do. Some bands can sign some gigantic contract and have a bunch of people throw money at them and get paid. But, I think you really run the risk of falling on your face.
NB: Definitely. Which fictional character is most like you guys?
BS: One character? Or is it a duo?
BW: The three muskateers.
NB: It can be one. You don’t have to pick a duo. You can pick separate ones.
BS: Probably Animal for Benjamin.
BW: Why? Why would that me be? I’m thinking the geeky guy in Real Genius.
BS: I’m trying to think of a fictional character.
NB: It can be cartoon.
BS: Yosemite Sam?
BW: What? How are you like Yosemite Sam?
BS: I don’t know. He’s fictional.
James Sewall [of Venice is Sinking]: Droopy’s good.
BS: I’m down with that.
NB: Okay, if you guys could break any world record, what would you break?
BW: Richest dude in the world.
NB: Richest dude in the world!
BS: Longest touring band in the world. We’ll be 90.
NB: Never stop touring. Do you guys prefer studio or stage?
BW: Both, in their own ways.
BS: Yeah, they are totally different worlds.
NB: As a duo, with a keyboardist/drummer, I’m sure it totally different both ways. And we talked earlier about how you go back in and tweak things.
BS: Yeah, it’s a totally different. A lot of bands come back from touring and record an album, but for us, I feel like the studio process is a lot slower, much more methodic kind of a process.
NB: And at the same time, your live sound is very similar to your studio so. So, whatever magic you guys are working…
BS: That’s what it is.
NB: And if you could turn in your tour van for a dinosaur, which one would you choose?
BS: What’s the fastest dinosaur?
NB: I’ve never seen a dinosaur race.
BS: Because that’s all you need out of a tour van—get to that next city.
BW: You’re thinking you want the dinosaur to be a vehicle?
BS: Well, if we didn’t have a tour van, we’d need something to get from show to show.
BW: I mean, I don’t think a dinosaur is going to work.
BS: We have to trade it in for a dinosaur, though.
BW: If we had a dinosaur, we could open a zoo…
BS: And then from the revenue of that, okay.
BW: We could totally buy a new van. I’m thinking we should go for a big one, like T. Rex.
BS: Okay.
BW: Well, maybe a brontosaurus, though. It doesn’t eat meat. It would be more indie. It would be more cool. A vegan dinosaur. And less likely to eat anyone.
NB: We would like to request a vegan dinosaur, please.
BS: Okay, I’m down with that.
BW: We would have to buy some land.
BS: We could get a loan from the bank.
NB: With the brontosaurus as collateral.
BW: But where would we put the dinosaur while we are waiting for the loan?
BS: This is really tricky.
NB: This question is a lot more complicated that I had originally thought it would be.
BW: Or transportation too. We’d probably have to hire a construction company for it.
Matt Crisler: You could walk it.
NB: Dinosaur rollerskates.
BW: I wonder if you could lease a brontosaurus. Like if we had a huge, a really heavy truck, that we could chain it to.
BS: Or a van…oh damn, we gave it up for the dinosaur.
NB: On that note, we’ll end on if you were any animal, what would you be?
BS: A panda.
BW: I don’t know. A brontosaurus.
NB: Thank you very much for being with me.

Around a table at THE MASQUERADE in ATLANTA, GA members of THE THERMALS talked with me before their show.

Interviewing requires asking questions, which requires talking. Talking requires breathing, which is hard to do when you’re continually cracking up. Between discussing lethal doses of vitamin C and the world’s longest burritos, I had more laughs than professionally necessary with the three members of The Thermals. And their show rocks.

Did I mention that Hutch gets bonus points for incorporating a Futurama reference into an interview?

Full Transcript: (Audio)
Nichole Bennett: I’m Nichole. I’m here at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia, and I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by members of the Thermals.
Hutch Harris: So lucky.
NB: So lucky! Would you guys mind introducing yourselves?
HH: I’m Kathy
Westin Glass: I’m Hutch.
Kathy Foster: I’m Westin.
NB: Thank you. Okay so, Hutch and Kathy have been together almost forever and a half, and then we’ve added Westin lately. So, if you had to write your band’s story would it be a pop-up book or a graphic novel?
HH: It’s pretty graphic.
WG: A pop-up graphic novel.
NB: A very graphic pop-up book.
HH: Definitely an adult pop-up book.
NB: With swords in each other’s sides and pull tabs?
HH: With a centerfold.
NB: A centerfold in this pop-up book?
HH: Yeah.
NB: Nice.
KF: Westin.
WG: Yeah, I would be the centerfold, let me tell you.
HH: This would be like the Burt Reynolds centerfold of the seventies:
WG: There would be quite a bit of “popping up” on that page.
KF: Har har har.
NB: (joking) I don’t get it.
WG: Drumsticks.
NB: They’ve already got me, and it’s the first question. This is terrible. Okay, let’s see we’ve got a new record, a new label, a new drummer. We’re not going to go into the new label because you can read about that anywhere on the internet.
HH: Nice.
KF: Thank you.
NB: I’m sure you guys just take turns telling the story.
KF: Yeah.
NB: But Westin just got added recently. What is it like being with these dudes?
WG: It’s totally amazing.
NB: He has to say that doesn’t he? If this was just a Westin interview, if we get him alone, would he say differently?
WG: They let me off the leash for an hour a day.
NB: Aw, do you have a curfew?
WG: They don’t always make me sleep in the kennel. Sometimes I get to stay in the bed.
NB: They feed you don’t they?
HH: Two square meals a day!
NB: Yeah, these guys are much better than how other people treat their drummers. I’m just saying…oh man I can’t speak words.
WG: They give me treats when I’m good.
HH: Me and Westin share a big bag of bachelor chow every morning.
NB: I really wish this was video because [Westin’s drink] is so pink. That’s all of the vitamin C coming out. 14,000 percent.
HH: Yeah looks like it’s coming out too.
NB: So, the new album—it’s not quite as political/religious as the old one, but it still borrows a lot musically and lyrically from The Body, The Blood, and The Machine.
HH: Yeah.
NB: And you’ve got some recurring images: you’ve got the sea coming in and sight/vision coming in a lot. Was this something you guys intended (with the theme), or was that something that just kind of happened?
HH: We just kind of fell into it. We try not to be too premeditated or whatever…not to plan too much and just to see what comes out. But I think in a lot of our songs, there’s vision and water and death in a lot of the older songs as well.
NB: So that was a theme, that just sort of came out of it. You weren’t like, we’re going to write about death!
HH: Well we knew we weren’t going to be as political and try not to sing about religion. We knew what we weren’t going to do.
NB: Yeah, I think that comes across in this new one.
NB: So, if you could break one world record, what would you break?
WG: Besides the ones we’ve already broken?
NB: Besides all of the many that you have.
HH: Probably the…javelin.
NB: Just having one? Or throwing one?
HH: Yeah, yeah biggest collection of javelins in the world. I have like, 730. If you plucked every hair from your head, one at a time, how long do you think it would take? How many hairs are on a head—does anyone know? A million?
WG: No way. Ten thousand? A hundred thousand?
HH: I’d like to beat the world record for plucking. World record plucker.
WG: How about most ripped abs? That would be a good one.
NB: That one has to have a picture with it in the Guinness book. Like, you get one of the really crappy pictures beside it.
WG: That would actually be a centerfold in Guinness book, as well.
NB: Yeah, you might get a whole page.
HH: We’re going to make the world’s longest burrito when we get home.
NB: Worthy record.
KF: La Bamba, The place where we grew up made the biggest burrito in the Guinness book.
HH: Yeah, it was just a big, stinky burrito overheating in the California sun. Well, once it’s been sitting out and it’s been handled by everyone…you know.
KF: A lot of people.
WG: How big around was it?
HH: It’s like a rectangle. They have all these tables lined up.
WG: Was it just like a long snake? Is it like a bean pipeline?
HH: What record is Kathy going to break?
NB: All of them, one by one.
KF: Well the first thing I thought of was sprinting because I used to run track in high school.
HH: Running fast.
NB: Okay, so we have a few new world records to break. Ah, do you guys prefer stage or studio? You do a lot of both.
KF: Stage.
NB: I saw you guys twice at South By. I think I may have seen your first show and your last show, but I’m not sure. You guys played eight times. Was that tiring and a half or what?
KF: It wasn’t too bad. It was really fun. We played mostly during the day.
HH: Yeah, it wasn’t too exhausting. And they’re short shows, so they’re easy. Like thirty minutes tops.
KF: Yeah, they’re usually about half an hour.
HH: It wasn’t too hard. But if we did any more, it would have been exhausting. Two a day, and we were usually done by six or seven at night.
NB: Yeah, it’s the bands that do three or five in a day that go around saying “I think we’re gonna die.”
NB: I think I caught the Terrorbird one.
HH: Yeah that was the first one.
NB: And then I caught Waterloo…the park.
HH/KF: That was really fun.
HH: It was like a festival…really big.
NB: Yeah, I love going out there because it’s like…ooh here is this band that I forgot I wanted to see. I was like a little kid.
HH: We saw Circle Jerks, and they were really good at that show. And Monotonix were really good.
NB: Oh my god.
HH: (Imitating Monotonix frontman Ami Shalev, complete with Israeli accent) “We get kicked out of every show we play”
HH: Yeah, like no shit because you won’t stop.
NB: I was talking to a friend of mine who books festivals in Florida, and he said they had to be really really careful when they book them because they do all sorts of illegal shit.
KF: Yeah they trash the place.
HH: Their mustaches are just huge…they’re like bigger than their heads.
NB: Everytime I see them, their mustaches have gotten bigger. I think it’s getting out of control.
HH: Yeah, they need a separate green room for their mustaches. Yeah, you like my accent?
NB: The Thermals do Monotonix here live at the Masqerade!
HH: (More Israeli accent) “Don’t be ridiculous, we’re the Monotonix!”
HH: They do the dance of joy…they do do the dance of joy.
NB: Yeah, I was in New York, and my friend and I were having a silly string war in the Music Hall of Williamsburg. And we were getting in trouble from the bouncer, and they were saying “You kids are going to pick that up right?” And then Monotonix start coming on and dumping trash, and I’m like “Nope! Not anymore! They just covered up our mess.”
NB: You guys seem to have a lot of fun on stage….and I got that a lot from you guys at South By. What are some of your favorite songs to perform or favorite places?
HH: I like playing all the new songs. By the time you’re playing a song for the first time on stage, you’ve already played it like a hundred times practicing and recording it. The newest songs are always the ones I’m most excited about.
NB: Yeah, I was really excited about hearing the new stuff. And you guys just got added to Pitchfork [Music Festival]. Are there any bands that you are really excited to see there while you’re at the festival?
HH: I hope I see Tortoise. I don’t know if we will, but I really want to see Tortoise because I’ve never seen them.
WG: Yeah, that would be really rad.
HH: Flaming Lips will be rad. They’re always good, Grizzly Bear. A lot of the bands, I’ve seen. Grizzly Bear, we saw at ATP. They were really good. Flaming Lips, we saw at Sasquatch, and they were really good.
WG: I want to be a furry for The Flaming Lips.
NB: Yeah, that’s a good goal. That’s noble.
KF: We’ll have to look at the lineup.
WG: I’m sick of only being a furry in the bedroom, you know.
NB: That’s also the centerfold of the novel.
NB: I read a lot of your reviews, and they call you “punk.” How have you guys felt with that label?
HH: I could do without it.
KF: Yeah, I don’t really think it’s so accurate. Maybe the first two records were more punk.
NB: Yeah, the first two records were more lo-fi.
KF: Kind of noisy.
NB: And we’re getting more polished.
HH: We’re indie rockers.
WG: What does that word even mean anymore?
NB: I really like the face that comes along with the word “indie rockers.”
HH: I mean, punk means you’re in prison, and you’re someone’s bitch. You’re a punk.
NB: Definition of punk, by The Thermals.
WG: Everyone knows that indie rock doesn’t really mean anything.
HH: What, what does indie rock mean? I mean, we are indie…and rockers.
KF: How about we just settle on “power pop”?
HH: I like power pop. I like alternative.
WG: Postpower pop
NB: Power pop makes you feel like a super hero. I like it.
HH: Yeah, totally.
WG: I like whatever is not alternative. The alternative to alternative.
NB: Alt-alt.
WG: Unalternative.
HH: Unalternative?
WG: First option…primary option.
HH: I like anti-punk too.
WG: Anti-punk, yeah. That’s a really good one. That’s even better than post.
HH: Yeah, anti is the new post. The cup runneth over of bad fake genres.
NB: Speaking of press, do you guys ever read your own reviews or read press about yourselves?
HH: Yes, I do. I write most of it.
NB: It’s like Wikipedia, you just edit it…put better pictures up.
HH: Yeah…iTunes, Wikipedia…”The Thermals are the best band in the world”!
NB: I saw that today for about five minutes, and then it got edited again.
NB: The internet is playing a weird role in music these days..we’re almost A.D.D. Something comes out, and you’ve got everybody and their mother writing on their blogs about this new record and then it kind of fizzles. Do you find that press helping you?
HH: Yeah, I don’t know.
KF: I feel like there’s a lot of people constantly reading stuff.
HH: But does it help? There’s a fine line between getting good press and then getting over hyped. Because that’s what makes people stop liking you. And that can make people not get into you if they’ve just heard about you too much, you know? People get turned off.
NB: That’s true. I never thought if it that way.
HH: If they feel like your band is over-hyped, that’s when the haters come out. But that’s cool too. The haters add to the hype.
NB: I think the more haters you have, the better.
HH: Yeah, that’s when you’ve arrived.
NB: When you start making enemies, you are a real superhero.
HH: Totally, you need a nemesis.
NB: You guys turned down a Hummer bit. I like to talk about bands that take a stand for their personal politics. I guess talk a little about that. Most people can read on the internet about how you turned down that bit.
HH: That’s a good way to put it because it is personal politics. It just comes down to what we want for this band, what we want people to think about us. It’s less of a stand and more of us just making a very personal choice about just not wanting to be associated with some things.
NB: Yeah, I got stuck behind a limo Hummer on my way here, and I was like “This is so perfect…I’m going to ask them about Hummers.” I’m glaring at this cherry-red Hummer.
NB: But I find it interesting when bands are more than just a musical unit, they actually take their brand and their personal name and use it for bad or for good. Like, if I turn down a Hummer ad, for some reason, then I’m not going to get that. But if you guys do, then you might get it written about.
KF: It’s funny because we turned it down, and someone did a story for the Associated Press like a year and a half later. And that’s when people were talking about it. No one was talking about it right when we did it. It was just that Sub Pop asked us, and we said “no.” And that was the end of it. We didn’t really talk about it.
NB: Yeah I found very little on it. I find that more interesting than reading a million album reviews.
KF: Yeah, and then a year and a half later this guy was doing a story on bands that had turned down Hummer because they had asked a lot of indie bands, a lot of underground bands. Then, that’s when people heard about it, and we actually got a lot of really positive feedback. People wrote us and told us they were going to buy our album even though they had never heard of us just because we had turned down Hummer.
NB: That’s cool! It works almost in a backwards way.
KF: Yeah, it was unexpected.
NB: If The Thermals had a mascot, what would it be?
HH: That little doll? There’s a girl in Chicago who made dolls of all of us, and she also made Mr. Beardsly. She makes this doll that has a little disguise.
KF: He’s like a gnome.
HH: It’s this weird little red, faceless guy. Mr. Beardsly would be it. He’s been in one of the videos. He’d be the mascot, I think.
KF: I think he’d be wearing a little floral thermal.
HH: Hmmm, he’s gay too.
NB: Alright, and we will end on everyone’s favorite dinosaur.
WG: Sexasaurus.
KF: Someone else asked me that question, and I said Dinosaur Jr.
HH: I think the genital-saurus.
NB: We’re all like four now, I love it.
HH: This is the Kathy look.
KF: This is my constant look on tour.
HH: I also like the Pterodactyl. I named my ex-girlfriend Tara-dactyl. Let me describe Kathy’s look to the tape recorder. She has her hand over her…she’s doing the “I have a headache” look.
NB: It’s like a centralized headache. Right between the eyes. That might be where her soul hurts. Sexasaurus?
WG: Well, we were just listening to R. Kelly in the van on the way here, and there’s the song “The Zoo” and he says “it’s like Jurassic Park, and I’m your sexasaurus.” He also says a lot of other great stuff in that song. I highly recommend it.
NB: I’ll look into it.
WG: *monkey noises*
NB: No dinosaur for Kathy?
KF: Dinosaur Jr.
NB: Perfect. Thank you guys so much for taking the time out of your day.

It started with a Facebook status update on 11/22/09 at 11:05pm:

Nan Grogan Orrock Compare record on GLBT issues of Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood. Norwood walked out on a Council vote to provide domestic partner benefits for Atlanta employees, police & firemen. She had no

explanation for her walk in tonight’s debate. See their records compared in my Note

Then came Senator Orrock’s Facebook note; please note this is only part of the FB notet:

It was March 20, 2006 – before Norwood had time to calculate whether it was in her political best interest be a voice for

the LGBTQ community. Norwood was at the beginning and ending of that council meeting. She voted for the legisl

ation immediately before and immediately following this HISTORIC BILL. But Norwood decided she would chose to NOT VOTE for extending these benefits to Domestic Partners.

Procedurally, if she had a conflict of interest on other legislation, Norwood could have requested that these

three items be included in a separate vote. But, she didn’t! When the LGBTQ community had an issue come before the Atlanta City Council that had a direct impact on their daily lives and those of their partners, Mary

Norwood walked out on them. That’s what she does; she walks out.

I noticed a comment to the note: “Mary ‘Walk Out’ Norwood.”  OUCH!

When I sent an email inquiring about the Atlanta Eagle Raid, Norwood responded promptly.  I never received an email from Kasim Reed or Lisa Borders.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to compliment Norwood’s response time once again— I sent her an email in regards to Orrock’s statement.

Let’s see what happens!

On the rickety back porch of THE EARL in ATLANTA, GA Greg Alsop, drummer for TOKYO POLICE CLUB did an interview with me.

We immediately bonded over Christmas pop-up books and then moved on to remark about how music critics are never criticized. Although not at all turtle-like, Greg would love to carry his home around with him. Like many bands with interesting names, there’s no good story as to how TPC got their name, but there is a good reason that their tour van floor is covered in jellybeans.

Special thanks to my new friend John Kurc for sharing his photographs of Tokyo Police Club with me.

Full Transcript: (Audio)
Nichole Bennett: Just introduce yourself.
Greg Alsop: I’m Greg Alsop. I’m in Atlanta, and I play drums in Tokyo Police Club.
NB: Thank you so much for joining me. So I guess just a little bit of background on the band. If you could describe the story of your band, would it be a comic book or would it be a pop-up book? And maybe fill in the details.
GA: I would probably choose a pop-up book. I’m not as familiar with graphic novels as some. I sort of grew up on pop-up books. I had a great version of “The Night Before Christmas” that my mom bought in the seventies that saw me through year after year.
NB: Yeah I make my parents read mine every Christmas.
GA: Yeah, same. We formed in January of 2005. We were all friends in high school. So you could picture us all there drawn in mostly pastel colors. And there’s a little slide arrow of us waving in front of our high school. We’d all just been friends in high school. The other three had known each other since elementary school, and we all just kind of bonded over similar taste in music. We were the only people we really knew in our small town who were into a lot of the new bands that were coming out around that time. You know like Interpol, The Strokes, Arcade Fire… Everyone else was, kind of strangely, into hip hop. It was a bunch of really rich white kids. Just like…beating each other up for no reason. And we were like “I don’t want any part in that.” So, our thing to do on Friday nights was just to gather in somebody’s basement and just play music until our parents told us to stop. Eventually, that brought us here.
NB: Where did the name Tokyo Police Club come from?
GA: There’s no good story.
NB: Is it just words mashed together?
GA: Yeah, it really is just words mashed together. That’s the best description. We should come up with a decent story for it because people ask us that all the time. We’re not a band full of mystery. That’s the problem…very open. And we’ve got nothing to say about our name. We wrote the song “Cheer It On” in May of 2005 and it came to be our first show, and we were like “We need to call ourselves something.”
NB: So how is this tour going?
GA: It’s fantastic. It’s the best. Yeah, we are touring with all incredible bands that we are great friends with. Ruby Coast from our home town in Toronto. Born Ruffians from there also. The Harlem Shakes, who are amazing. Ra Ra Riot, who we’ve been out with before. If I’m missing somebody, then I apologize, but it’s just all incredible bands.
NB: Yeah, I saw that all of your openers are fantastic.
GA: Yeah, we wanted it to be that way. We haven’t toured in a while, and we’re not going to be touring again for a while, so we wanted to make this as fun as possible. Going out on tour can be very exhausting, but when you get to the venue everyday and there’s a bunch of people there that you’re really excited to hang out with it’s much better.
NB: How would you describe the sound of the band, or even maybe the sound that you guys are looking for, to a three year old?
GA: To a three year old? We’re music you can jump around and have fun to, I’d say. You don’t have to cover your ears. We don’t have too many swears. Hopefully they aren’t words that a three year old would be familiar with anyway so it doesn’t really matter. Even if, there’s nothing that you would be shocked to hear a three year old say. It’d be a little more cute.
NB: Three year olds cover Tokyo Police Club.
GA: Yeah, yeah, you could do that. If Kidz Bop or whatever that was decided to do one of our tracks, they wouldn’t have too much trouble choosing, sifting through the lyrics.
NB: Do you ever read your own reviews? I always wonder, as a musician, if you read your own stuff.
GA: Yeah when the album first came out, I did. But eventually it became too difficult separating what they are saying as an actual critique from just journalism. You can’t take it to heart. Sometimes you find reviews that maybe do offer very good criticism that you can use to make better songs in the future. Some publications are just about tearing bands up, and some publications are just about puffing bands careers up. I don’t know. I feel like it’s good to find a middle ground.
NB: I feel like reviewers should also be reviewed sometimes.
GA: Yeah.
NB: They’re never criticized for their writing.
GA: That’s the one thing. That is the one part of the music industry that is completely unnecessary. It’s kind of the easiest job out there.
NB: Yeah, nobody is looking over their shoulder.
GA: Exactly. Maybe that will be my thing…writing in just letters to the editor week after week. More counter-reviews.
NB: What is your favorite flavor of jellybean?
GA: In just the regular variety, yellow.
NB: Yellow-flavored.
GA: Yellow lemon I guess. Or white, I guess. I like white beans sometimes. But if you’re going to go all the way to the Jelly Belly gourmet flavors, Dr. Pepper. We had a bunch. I got a bunch for Easter last year, and they were all nicely laid out in a tray, and within a few hours they all just spilt and were all over the floor. So every once in a while, you could just reach down, grab a couple up and just make a cocktail.
Matt Crisler (WSBF-FM): Do you eat the black ones? That’s the big question as to whether or not they like jellybeans?
NB: Yeah, I like the black ones.
GA: I do, yeah.
NB: My friends would all hand me the licorice ones. And I love food, so I was always like “Give me all of yours.” So, I gradually grew to love them.
GA: Yeah, I will take all of the other ones. But if I reach down and grab one, then I’ll eat it. No problem.
NB: So you guys have a Candyland van with jellybeans all over the floor.
GA: Yep.
NB: So I was thinking about this the other day that pop music, when you think about the word “pop” it has become something totally different in especially the minds of young people these days. Do you have your own personal definition? Or has it become a bad word? It used to be like pop and that meant Brittany Spears.
GA: I definitely agree that it used to be something to approach rarely, and if you were labeled as pop music it was just stuff that was very trite and easily digestible. The definition has become much for vague and all-encompassing. I mean, what do you really consider not “pop” music these days? Clearly if it’s not jazz and if it’s not composed in a modernist classical sense, then everything else can really fall under the pop category. I mean, we label ourselves as pop music. I don’t like assigning genres. Oh it’s like trip-electrocore or something. What are you talking about man? It’s just music, and if you like it, then listen to it. It shouldn’t be something that you try and find a label for and then listen very strictly to that.
NB: One more, and this is the one more and this is the one that I ask all bands. If you were an animal, what would you be?
GA: Me? Maybe a turtle because then when I tour, I can bring my home everywhere with me.
NB: That would be nice.
GA: That’d be the best actually. That would be really great. I don’t think it fits with me any other way.
NB: Thanks so much.

Sliding behind the stage colors of CUT COPY at THE MASQUERADE in ATLANTA, GA, I followed Matt of MATT AND KIM to their Kim-decorated van for an interview after their opening set.

Both Kim and Matt are just as cheery in life as they are on stage. Kim was visiting with some of her old Atlanta friends, so Matt was kind enough to chat with me. We talked about the making of their music videos, pop-up posters, and their obsession with dogs. Most importantly, Matt taught me about the importance of having haters in your life.

Full Transcript: (Audio)

Nichole Bennett: Cool, I’m Nichole. I’m here with Matt, half of Matt and Kim. Thank you so much for joining us.
Matt Johnson: My pleasure.
NB: They just put on a rocking set here at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia opening for Cut Copy. It was really rad.
MJ: This place is cool. It feels like warehouse style shows in Brooklyn.
NB: Did you know that each of the levels have a name?
MJ: I heard there was Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.
NB: Yeah, you guys just played in Heaven.
MJ: Oh really? Yeah it was weird. We were handed all that press for The Haunting, this movie. I don’t know.
NB: You have a notebook?
MJ: I got a notebook! It’s a sweet deal, right? But they had a card that was about…last night we were over at The Drunken Unicorn…on one of the these cards on the back it said that this place was haunted and it’s been falling apart. I was like, “Oh damnit, we gotta go there tomorrow.”
NB: They always say that they are no longer going to have shows. They always say it’s going to collapse, and sometimes it feels like it might.
MJ: The way the equipment goes up and down is so bizarre. Did you see that lift? The way to get everyone’s stuff upstairs…there’s this weird, really janky thing that’s on two wires. I don’t know about that.
NB: So if you were to describe the story of Matt and Kim, or at least the Matt story, would it be a graphic novel or a pop up book?
MJ: I’d say pop-up book only because I’m much more familiar with pop-up books. Actually we’ve been very intrigued by pop-up books. One of the first projects Kim and I did together, before we even tried playing music was that we used to make rock show posters for our friends’ bands in New York that were all pop-up, that had pop-up elements. You could open windows or spin little dials and things like that, and they were all silkscreened. They were awesome except that they would get stolen the first day you put them up. They were a lot of work for the look.
NB: That would be cool for house shows.
MJ: Yeah, depending on the spot. We also didn’t realize that if you put posters up on the street in Brooklyn, it’s a crime. So the cops busted us the first poster.
NB: Man, I didn’t know that. I saw posters all over New York.
MJ: Yeah people, do it, but…
NB: Underground poster putter-uppers. Do you guys ever read your own reviews?
MJ: Well, to begin with, I did. Because when we first started getting reviews and things like that, I was very intrigued. But the thing is we’d get a good review…we’d get band of the week on some website or whatever and then the comments would be hundreds of just haters.
NB: Yeah, only haters comment.
MJ: Yeah those are the ones you want to read. You just want the drama. The nice ones are boring. But all the same, it’s weird because we put so much of ourselves and so much of our time, you know all of our time, into doing this. And it’s not just like hating on the band, it’s like hating on us. But it’s one of those things now. Now Kim gets upset when there’s not enough hate comments. Like on Brooklyn Vegan, it’s the most talked about bands that get the most hate. I realized this when I was looking at an issue of Spin magazine, and it was the reader-voted best and worst bands of 2007 maybe. The lists were almost exactly the same. I think My Chemical Romance was number one on it. They were reader voted best band and reader voted worst band. The list was like exactly the same. Whoever was talked about the most was the most hated and the most liked, whoever was talked about the second most… So, we actually saw a Katt Williams sketch or it’s his standup act. It was actually from here in Atlanta, and he talked about needing haters. “If you only have 15 haters now, you should try to have 20 by summertime.”
NB: I think I’m learning that too. It’s kind of weird the way the internet treats music. It’s kind of an A.D.D. musicality, where you’re like “I’m going to hop on the Hypemachine and see what’s popular this week.” But hate, that’s the key I guess.
MJ: I don’t know. We’ve gone and embraced it. But all the same, it kind of cuts a little deep for me. So I decided it would just be easier to not read it.
NB: How would you describe your sound to maybe a five year old?
MJ: To a five year old? Well, it’s funny because before the band, Kim was a nanny. At the time, I think they were three and four. Now they’re about six and five, but we still go and visit those girls all the time. They’re awesome. They’re the first thing that made me understand parenting. Like, why would anyone want to be a parent? And these two girls are just so cool. And they also love Matt and Kim. I don’t know…how would I describe? Parents come and tell me that they and their kids sing and dance to it. I think it’s funny because the parents like it, and they come to our shows and talk about their kids liking it. So, I think it’s like a sing-along dance party.
NB: That’s a good one. It’s one of the few bands like that.
MJ: Yeah, on the end of the first album, the last track is just us in the studio. I was sick, so I was taking nasal spray and other cold medicines just to keep my nose clear, and I was totally flying on a kite of cold medicine. But it’s just us talking because we were thinking of starting the album with…because we used to always start our shows with “This is Kim and I’m Matt, and we’re Matt and Kim.” But it’s that, and I swear or something. And Kim says, “You can’t swear, Chloe’s going to hear this.” Just because of those two girls she used to nanny she didn’t want us to swear on the album.
NB: Our radio listeners can’t see this, but we are in a magnificent super red van.
MJ: Super red yes!
NB: Oh, is that carpeted wall?
MJ: Oh yeah, that’s a pro job right there, carpeted these wall myself. Kim painted these candy stripes on the back.
NB: Yeah, this is one of the more fancy vans I’ve been in. What do you guys listen to when you’re driving around?
MJ: Well, if you notice, we do not have a CD player or any way to plug in an iPod. We don’t turn the stereo on. That’s a band rule. We don’t listen to music. Everyone has their own iPod. But if you have five people in the van, it becomes a source of a lot of anger having to listen to what other people like. So we decided when we bought this van that we were just not going to put a stereo in.
NB: That’s probably a really good rule. That’s one of the better rules I’ve heard.
MJ: Yeah, so we all listen to our own thing.
NB: What is your favorite dinosaur?
MJ: Dinosaur? I guess the stegosaurus is kind of rad, right?
NB: That’s a good one.
MJ: It’s pretty big. Wait, stegosaurus is the one that has the tail with all the spiky stuff on it?
NB: Yeah. It’s got spikes. I guess we talked about the internet earlier. I know the internet has played a big role in you guys getting your music videos up, which are really fun to watch by the way. Were they as fun to make as they are to watch or is there a lot of work going into that?
MJ: I don’t know. It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, I’d say “yes.” If you ask Kim, she’d say “no.” We just shot another video a couple of weekends ago before we went on tour for a song called “Lessons Learned,” but the last one that has come out was for “Daylight.” Every situation in that was like Kim’s most hated situation. We play inside a dumpster, and we were told the dumpster would be a clean dumpster. But that didn’t really mean clean as much as the large garbage was pulled out. There was this thick inch of grime on the walls, and she was just hating being in there. But if you watch, she’s smiling. There’s different forms of Kim smiling. If she’s very uncomfortable, she smiles. She’s happy, she smiles. When she’s terrified, she gets this crazy squeaky wheel laugh. We went to go see some horror movie in the theater, and as someone’s getting sliced and diced and chopped up—that stuff freaks her out—and she just started laughing hysterically. And people are like, “Who’s that messed-up girl laughing at this stuff?” Oh yeah, so she hated being in that dumpster. She hates getting water in her face. We played in the shower. Whenever she goes swimming—have you ever seen a cat try to swim?
NB: Yeah I hate that too.
MJ: They’re just trying to keep their head above water at all cost. She hated getting water in her face. She’s kind of claustrophobic. She hated being in there. Yeah, so it was her nightmare. Our “Yea Yeah” video was fun to shoot for the three and a half minutes that we actually shot it for. And then the six hours of cleaning up with weird stuff in our hair…it was just the grossest smell.
NB: You guys just came from Austin, Texas didn’t you? From South By Southwest?
MJ: Sort of. We’ve been to Austin twice in the last month. We started this tour with Cut Copy in Austin and then looped over to the west coast. We had a day off between Chicago and Toronto, and we were like “Days off are for weak people.” So we decided we would fly back down on that one day off for South By Southwest.
NB: Yeah, I was like “Where are they coming from?!”
MJ: And then we flew back up to Toronto. We flew Toronto to New York, then over to Boston. We had to drive over night back to New York. And then D.C. It’s been really crazy. But we had the day off yesterday. We just got to hang out in Atlanta.
NB: You guys are sticking around for a little while. There’s some Athens and some Asheville action going on.
MJ: Yeah, well we’ll be back and then we’ll be in the area. We go from here to Orlando, then Miami, then Tallahasee, then Gainesville. Then I think we’ll be back up.
NB: A lot of people skip Florida. I bet they’ll be really happy.
MJ: Yeah, it’s one of those things that to get to the tip is sort of out of the way. But you can also do a lot of shows in Florida. We’re excited to be where it’s warm. Like here.
NB: If Matt and Kim had a catchphrase, what would it be?
MJ: It would be “You can’t threaten me with a good time.”
NB: And I’ll leave you with this last question: If you could be any animal, what would you be?
MJ: I’d have to be a dog. Kim and I are both nuts about dogs. Even though we couldn’t have one because we live in an eight foot wide apartment in Brooklyn, and we travel nine months out of the year. But, we’ll go and get cups of tea and coffee and go to the dog park and just lurk.
NB: Like a child predator, but with dogs.
MJ: We don’t really know the policy. Like when Kim was a nanny, you’re not supposed to go into a playground unless you’re with a child. So are you not supposed to go in the dog park unless you have a dog? Yeah I think we’d both be dogs.

Hi ya’ll!

I’m still in the hospital but my daughter brought me a laptop so I can talk to you. I can’t talk for long because the longer I talk, the better your chances are of noticing that I’m quite confused. I wouldn’t like that at all. They keep asking me stuff like “What day is it?”, “Who’s the president?” and “Where are we now?” I keep crib notes written in the palm of my hand but that only works for 24 hours before I have to get new notes.

I read the shirts of the people asking me those questions and it would seem as though I’m in Los Angeles and it’s November. Imagine my surprise! I thought I was in Atlanta and it was June. Oh well, it could be worse, I could have forgotten that I was divorced and that would suck. Instead, I seem to have a boyfriend and I didn’t even know it!

He’s a very nice man, he comes to see me every single day and I’m impressed with my taste in men. He’s rather good looking and he’s quite tall. He weighs twice as much as I do and I like that in a man. I’m afraid to ask him if we’ve had sex yet but I figure that as long as I’m in the hospital, it isn’t really an issue.

It appears as though I’ve had a stroke but other than a headache, I feel pretty good. My nurse just came in to give me pain medicine so I’m gonna let her. I’m glad that I wrote stuff everyday because at some point, I need to figure out what’s happened to me since June.

See ya soon!

On November 14th, a group of Anonymous protesters  expressed their opinions on Scientology, in Dunwoody, Georgia.  The protesters stood across the street from the Church of Scientology of Georgia.  It was a rather small group of people—about fourteen showed up.  Apparently, the protests have died down in Atlanta, and are not what they were like in the past.  The police do not bother showing up anymore, either.

The protest began at 1:37 P.M. or 13:37 (leet) in military time.   The latter makes more sense.  I found their timing quite clever.  I arrived a few minutes after it started, but only a couple of the protesters where there setting up their signs and flags.  They were skeptical of me at first, thinking I might have been an undercover Scientologist photographer.  I had a good laugh, and assured them I was not.

I stayed in the area from the beginning to the end—about three hours.  Many people drove by and expressed their support of the protest either by honking or giving a thumbs up.  One anonymous protester said, “People just love us today.”

Only a few Scientologists entered and left their building while the protesters were present; it seemed they were waiting for the Anons to leave, first.

The suit, filed by the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, names Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and 48 officers who were at the Atlanta Eagle bar the night of September 10.

“The Atlanta Police Department dispatched about 20 to 30 officers to the Atlanta Eagle, including its ‘Red Dog’ unit dressed in SWAT team gear,” according to a statement from Lambda Legal. “But inside the bar, the APD found no public sex, no drugs or illegal weapons.” No patrons were charged with any crime, the organization said.

During the raid, patrons were made to lie facedown on the floor while background checks were run on everyone, the statement said. “Eagle bar patrons heard antigay slurs; were forced to lay in spilled beer and broken glass; and one was forced to lie on the floor even though he had injured his back in the Iraq War.”

Some of the patrons were retained with handcuffs, and officers used excessive force, including shoving some people to the floor and kicking others on the floor, the lawsuit says. Authorities searched everyone on the property, seizing their driver’s licenses or other identification, the suit says.

“These actions were taken without particularized reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that any individual patron, let alone every person at the establishment, was involved in criminal activity whatsoever,” said the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Atlanta City Attorney Roger Bhandari said in a statement Monday that the city had not been served with the suit or had an opportunity to review it, so he would not comment. Bhandari’s office told CNN on Tuesday that its response was the same, as it had not seen the suit.

The only charges filed were against Eagle employees, for allegedly violating the city’s law about unlicensed adult entertainment “because four dancers were observed, in the words of the arresting officers, allegedly ‘wearing underwear’ and ‘dancing,’ ” the lawsuit said.

“Imagine if the police walked into a Walmart and see someone shoplifting, and because they see what they think is a crime taking place in Walmart, they take everyone at Walmart, throw them on the floor, spread their legs, put their hands in their pockets, take their IDs, put their name in the computer, simply because they’re out of place or someone else may or may not be doing something wrong,” co-counsel Daniel Grossman said at a news conference Tuesday.

The suit seeks damages and alleges that police violated the patrons’ constitutional rights and that the individual officers committed false imprisonment, assault, battery and trespassing. It also requests a jury trial.

“The illegal activity going on in the Atlanta Eagle that night was committed by the APD,” Greg Nevins, supervising senior staff attorney in Lambda Legal’s southern regional office, based in Atlanta, said in the statement. “If it is APD procedure for elderly men and wounded veterans to be thrown to the floor and harassed simply for being in a bar having a drink after work, then APD should change its procedures.”

“People have asked me why I’m doing this,” plaintiff Geoffrey Calhoun told reporters. “I’m not doing it because I have a vendetta against the police. I work for a police department. I’m an emergency communications officer. I do my part to make sure these officers go home. I don’t work for the city of Atlanta.

“I was in the bar drinking beer, playing a video game, and I was dehumanized and humiliated and laid on the floor for no reason,” he said. “That’s why I’m doing it.”

The suit alleges undercover officers entered the bar before 11 p.m. and had a drink, then later “began screaming at patrons and employees to ‘hit the floor’ and get down on the ground.

“Several plaintiffs were in terror and feared for their lives, believing that the Eagle was being robbed or invaded by criminals or gay-bashers who might kill or injure them,” the suit continues.

Other officers came in, including the “Red Dog Unit,” a special force that provides “aggressive police presence” in areas with high drug use, the suit said, citing the Atlanta police Web site. Many of the officers in that unit were wearing black, paramilitary-style clothing not immediately recognizable as police uniforms, the suit says.

While lying on the floor, some people asked permission to move away from the broken glass and were told to “stay down and shut the [expletive] up,” the suit alleges. In all, they lay on the floor for 30 minutes to more than two hours, as they were released one by one or in small groups, the suit says.

Those who asked questions were also told to shut up, threatened with arrest for disorderly conduct or “threatened with violence and physical harm,” the suit says. “Some were retaliated against by being forced to remain at the Eagle long after they had been searched.

“All persons at the Eagle complied fully, promptly and peacefully with all demands made by the officers, no person at the Eagle offered any physical resistance to the officers whatsoever, and none was charged with obstructing the officers in any way,” the suit says.

Police have said that if they go into a bar, it is procedure to have patrons lie on the floor and be searched, and everyone’s identification is taken and checked, Nevins told reporters.

“They didn’t say this the night of the Eagle raid … this happened like a month later,” he said of the police comments. “They had plenty of time to figure out all the facts, and they knew they were going to be meeting with the media, and it was ultimately recorded, and they specifically went on record and said, ‘This is what we always do, this is standard operating procedure,’ and that’s what makes this case so outlandish.”

The suit, filed by the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, names Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and 48 officers who were at the Atlanta Eagle bar the night of September 10.

“The Atlanta Police Department dispatched about 20 to 30 officers to the Atlanta Eagle, including its ‘Red Dog’ unit dressed in SWAT team gear,” according to a statement from Lambda Legal. “But inside the bar, the APD found no public sex, no drugs or illegal weapons.” No patrons were charged with any crime, the organization said.

During the raid, patrons were made to lie facedown on the floor while background checks were run on everyone, the statement said. “Eagle bar patrons heard antigay slurs; were forced to lay in spilled beer and broken glass; and one was forced to lie on the floor even though he had injured his back in the Iraq War.”

Some of the patrons were retained with handcuffs, and officers used excessive force, including shoving some people to the floor and kicking others on the floor, the lawsuit says. Authorities searched everyone on the property, seizing their driver’s licenses or other identification, the suit says.

“These actions were taken without particularized reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that any individual patron, let alone every person at the establishment, was involved in criminal activity whatsoever,” said the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Atlanta City Attorney Roger Bhandari said in a statement Monday that the city had not been served with the suit or had an opportunity to review it, so he would not comment. Bhandari’s office told CNN on Tuesday that its response was the same, as it had not seen the suit.

The only charges filed were against Eagle employees, for allegedly violating the city’s law about unlicensed adult entertainment “because four dancers were observed, in the words of the arresting officers, allegedly ‘wearing underwear’ and ‘dancing,’ ” the lawsuit said.

“Imagine if the police walked into a Walmart and see someone shoplifting, and because they see what they think is a crime taking place in Walmart, they take everyone at Walmart, throw them on the floor, spread their legs, put their hands in their pockets, take their IDs, put their name in the computer, simply because they’re out of place or someone else may or may not be doing something wrong,” co-counsel Daniel Grossman said at a news conference Tuesday.

The suit seeks damages and alleges that police violated the patrons’ constitutional rights and that the individual officers committed false imprisonment, assault, battery and trespassing. It also requests a jury trial.

“The illegal activity going on in the Atlanta Eagle that night was committed by the APD,” Greg Nevins, supervising senior staff attorney in Lambda Legal’s southern regional office, based in Atlanta, said in the statement. “If it is APD procedure for elderly men and wounded veterans to be thrown to the floor and harassed simply for being in a bar having a drink after work, then APD should change its procedures.”

“People have asked me why I’m doing this,” plaintiff Geoffrey Calhoun told reporters. “I’m not doing it because I have a vendetta against the police. I work for a police department. I’m an emergency communications officer. I do my part to make sure these officers go home. I don’t work for the city of Atlanta.

“I was in the bar drinking beer, playing a video game, and I was dehumanized and humiliated and laid on the floor for no reason,” he said. “That’s why I’m doing it.”

The suit alleges undercover officers entered the bar before 11 p.m. and had a drink, then later “began screaming at patrons and employees to ‘hit the floor’ and get down on the ground.

“Several plaintiffs were in terror and feared for their lives, believing that the Eagle was being robbed or invaded by criminals or gay-bashers who might kill or injure them,” the suit continues.

Other officers came in, including the “Red Dog Unit,” a special force that provides “aggressive police presence” in areas with high drug use, the suit said, citing the Atlanta police Web site. Many of the officers in that unit were wearing black, paramilitary-style clothing not immediately recognizable as police uniforms, the suit says.

While lying on the floor, some people asked permission to move away from the broken glass and were told to “stay down and shut the [expletive] up,” the suit alleges. In all, they lay on the floor for 30 minutes to more than two hours, as they were released one by one or in small groups, the suit says.

Those who asked questions were also told to shut up, threatened with arrest for disorderly conduct or “threatened with violence and physical harm,” the suit says. “Some were retaliated against by being forced to remain at the Eagle long after they had been searched.

“All persons at the Eagle complied fully, promptly and peacefully with all demands made by the officers, no person at the Eagle offered any physical resistance to the officers whatsoever, and none was charged with obstructing the officers in any way,” the suit says.

Police have said that if they go into a bar, it is procedure to have patrons lie on the floor and be searched, and everyone’s identification is taken and checked, Nevins told reporters.

“They didn’t say this the night of the Eagle raid … this happened like a month later,” he said of the police comments. “They had plenty of time to figure out all the facts, and they knew they were going to be meeting with the media, and it was ultimately recorded, and they specifically went on record and said, ‘This is what we always do, this is standard operating procedure,’ and that’s what makes this case so outlandish.”

one of my favorite things to do in Atlanta is meet friends at a Persian restaurant and smoke hookah

so fun and relaxing!

ATLANTA—Animal rights groups across the country are urging U.S. citizens to choose turkey alternative, Tofurkey, this Thanksgiving citing animal retribution after vengeful ham attacks southern cooking television personality, Paula Deen. Deen, 62, suffered only minor injuries but was visibly shaken according to eyewitnesses at the Atlanta charity event.

The ham in question was immediately rushed to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where he was tortured by waterboarding and forced to listen to the early recordings of the Bee Gees, namely “Horizontal,” “Odessa,” and “Cucumber Castle” until he came forth with a confession of guilt.

Witnesses reportedly claim the suspect could be overheard exclaiming, “Death to the Infidels.”

Read the rest online at: http://www.jeffreypillow.com/index_files/Page529.htm

Notice of Overbidding Guidelines for FHA Financing

FHA guidelines will limit the underwriter to insuring the loan for the lower of two values; the offer price or the appraised value (displayed as the As-Is Value). If your offer price is higher than the appraised value, the FHA underwriter will require that your buyer(s) cover the overbid amount with a cash deposit. The buyer(s) will not be allowed to build the overbid amount into an FHA loan.

HUD’s mortgagee letter 2000-27 will require that the FHA UW use the appraisal obtained by PEMCO. This mortgagee letter instructs the FHA UW NOT to obtain a new appraisal; nor can the FHA UW request that new comps be pulled and the PEMCO appraisal updated.

If your offer price is higher than the appraised value and tentative acceptance is extended to you, the options available to you are:

1.       Proceed with contract execution. PEMCO will require that the selling broker verify that the cash reserves are available to cover the overbid amount before we execute the contract.

2.       Use cash or conventional financing. All of the guidelines outlined above apply to FHA financing only. A conventional lender will have their own set of guidelines not governed by HUD.

3.       Cancel prior to contract execution. If there is an acceptable backup, we will award tentative acceptance to the backup offer. If there are no acceptable backup offers, the property will be relisted.

 All of this information can be found at www.hudpemco.com.

To purchase a HUD owned FHA insured home contact Rick Duda, HUDREGOV Certified Agent and Specialist

More images from Atlanta:

Street art:

The world famous DJ Smiles spinning at MJQ:

Chops Lobster Bar:

Arrgh:

This past week I was down in Atlanta participating in the final National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC) of 2009. It was actually my last and final grad class that took me to the convention in the first place. Huntington has a partnership with Youth Specialties and as such they hold a couple of classes in conjunction with the convention every year for the past several years.

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend NYWC a few other times in the past, but this year seemed especially unique given the recent “BIG” news to hit the youth ministry world; to which I’ll refrain from commenting further, as there is already plenty floating about the blogosphere.

I arrived in Atlanta mid-afternoon on Wednesday, two days prior to the start of the convention. This was necessary as my class required my attention bright and early Thursday morning. Class was good, very good in fact. The topic was centered around collaboration in ministry and was team taught by Dr. Dave Rahn and Dr. Rene Rochester. Prior to class, I had not met Dr. Rene, but what an amazing woman. Never have I known someone who could so easily converse Scripture into your life. Class concluded Friday afternoon and we were free to now fully engage the whole of the convention.

In a word I’d have to describe NYWC as different. This however, does not indicate a negative. The convention (what parts I engaged) were in fact quite good. Yet, it was different. Likely this had to do with several factors (i.e Mark Matlock as the primary host, or the cutting back of entertainment, the addition of open space, or the downsized expo hall to name but a few). I would on occasion bump into complete strangers who were also attending the convention and for whatever reason they felt compelled to share with me their take on this year’s convention. The common theme, “this year is different!” Fitting I think, given that the theme was Time, and with time comes the end of the old and the beginning of the new.

A few highlights for me: Francis Chan and Donald Miller both spoke on the main stage and were challenging and thought provoking. Andrew Root offered a seminar on the hyper-real generation and stirred my brain entirely. It was also nice to get to be with Huntington friends I only see once in a while as well as be able to spend a good deal of time with my friend and ministry colleague Jason and his friend Nate. The only real down side to the convention this time around for me, was I had to leave my two beautiful girls at home.

All in all, I’m glad to have been a part of NYWC 2009, and while I don’t know what the future holds for NYWC, YS, or even the world of youth ministry as I (we) know it; I do know that God continues to call me to serve teenagers. And for that I am blessed, excited, a bit nervous and grateful.

While visiting my buddy in Atlanta over the summer, we went to pick up his suit from custom haberdasher Sid Mashburn, who’s store interior is visually fascinating. The decor evoked an old American’s (gigantic) closet, with shoes lined up beneath racks of shirts and jackets casually hung on hooks, vintage books, trunks and cameras, and of course a ping pong table in the middle of everything. The clothes are good too…

Seeing the movie “Julie and Julia” a few months ago got me thinking. Cooking? Well, my own culinary efforts are OK as long as there’s a recipe nearby. But I’m more comfortable with a microwave, and I never met a buffet restaurant I didn’t like.

Seeing Meryl Streep’s excellent portrayal of famous cook Julia Child also stoked another memory of an enteprising reporting effort of my younger days that is particularly appropriate this week.

In the fall of 1975, a colleague from the UGA student newspaper (who is now a New York-area reporter for The Sporting News) and I ventured from Athens to Atlanta to interview Pepper Rodgers, then in his second season as Georgia Tech’s football coach. The intent was to have a magazine-style piece in the paper leading up to the traditional game with the Bulldogs.

Then, as now, the status of the Jackets’ and Bulldogs’ programs were an interesting contrast. In ‘75, Tech was having to battle the relatively new NFL competitor, the Falcons, for fans and money, as well as the established winning program of Georgia under Vince Dooley.

And now, Georgia Tech has emerged as the stronger program in the state, being ranked in the top 10 in Paul Johnson’s second season as head coach.

In ‘74, Tech lured Rodgers, an Atlanta native and former Jackets QB, away from UCLA to add personality and spice to a program that had slumped since Bobby Dodd retired after the ‘66 season. Rodgers installed the Wishbone offense, wore his hair in trendy fashion and started associating with entertainment types in Atlanta. He made an emphatic point with a 34-14 victory over Georgia in Athens to end the ‘74 season.

And Rodgers was in top form when he received us in his Atlanta office. He was wearing a shoulder bag, and he immediately related how he met Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts backstage at a recent concert. He allowed Georgia Tech players to listen to rock music in the locker room. (At the time, Georgia did not allow this.) Also, he allowed his players to wear facial hair and have no curfew; it was just the opposite for Bulldog players then. (Vince Dooley had a markedly different style than Rodgers; Dooley had a Master’s degree in history, was a former Marine and wore a necktie on the sideline.)

After some banter in his office, Rodgers drove us to a nearby TV studio for his weekly show taping. Guest that week, was, yes, Julia Child. (I’m going from my original clipping from The Red and Black as well as memory; this is also another reason I will never again leave my house without a camera.) Remember, Rodgers had a mandate to spice up the Tech program. Also, as a former coach at UCLA, he knew all about the glitz and entertainment world in Los Angeles.

He also gave us both T-shirts reading “Pepper Power,” with his pic and a golden wishbone on the front. You’d never believe the grief I got in later years from UGA fans for wearing it. But I’ve never been around a more accommodating or interesting interview subject.

Some other Rodgers quotes from this interview:

– “Notice how I don’t have any pictures on my wall. I don’t believe in the past, and I don’t live in the future.”

– “I would never take another college or professional coaching job.” He was fired by Georgia Tech after the ‘79 season and later coached the Memphis Showboats of the USFL. As a Washington Redskins exec, he paved the way for hiring Steve Spurrier as coach; Spurrier coached under Rodgers at Tech.

Charisma doesn’t line up on the field, though, and Georgia got even for the ‘74 loss with a 42-26 victory over Tech in Atlanta in ‘75. Tech only beat the Bulldogs once more under Rodgers.

Not sure of Rodgers’ whereabouts now, but he certainly left a memorable impression on two young reporters. I got no such warm fuzzies over watching “The Men Who Stare At Goats.”

My best luck has been with blind girls. Not a little blind or sight impaired but totally in the dark.

When I saw the girl on the Gainesville train I was traveling to ‘Hog City’ from Jax from a look-see of cheapo slaves, a bruised lot. The container being disposed of had 2,500 in it and some had trouble standing up. Some of the wretches were sick and most buyers were totally turned off. Some were bummed out because they didn’t speak our language. Those are aspects in my favor (as a slum dog of the slave trade). I even heard Ros a trader from Atlanta say, “The whole China lot has the ’stinks’.” The importers sold me first pick of the first thousand. My shipment to Gainesville was in three double sized trucks heading toward Hog City (Gainesville). I could have gone with the trucks, or on a truck, but if I had I wouldn’t have met Les Eller on the train.

Les got on at Jax, probably from a troop ship, he looked discharged. The girl, who was most interesting, got on at Lake City. The girl was a young blond, stunning I thought, but she didn’t seem to notice me. Well girls did notice me, but stayed a distance away from ‘the ugly, wrinkled dwarf’.

She had no success in begging the money and I planned to step in at the last-minute and offer the toll, for a written indenture — slave dealer that I am I carried blank ones with me. But I’m so much a figure of fun for most young girls that she probably would have bolted and gone in for prostitution, rather than submit to me.

I was amazed when she offered to be the ex-soldiers slave for passage money, amazed. So I tried to be the soldier’s friend and gave him some good advice, about leashing her, to save him toll money, and then on the street offered him a large profit on the girl — she was a good-looking piece.

As a slave most women don’t kill themselves quickly after a dwarf buys them.  But they often DO kill themselves. It’s not very pleasing that women would rather be dead than have to sleep with you.

I had one of my truck drivers follow this Les fellow and as I guessed Les had little or no money.  He rented a metal container to sleep in with the girl, that’s the very cheapest place to sleep in the whole city.  I sent Les a note about a sit-down at my slave establishment, and my shop on Urban Drive and Millhopper  is impressive.  I keep a better quality of male and females out front, but my place is known for cut-rate flesh. 

Maybe Les thought I still wanted to buy the girl when he came to my office.  Of course I did, but he just stood there after I offered him a chair.  I said,  “I have many more women, foreign-born females, than I could ever vend in my store.  So if I can help you get a choice location would you buy women from me and sell them on the street, all day, every day?”

“Sure,” he said, “if their good-looking things that people will buy.  Do I need a license?”  Well he didn’t know about lawless Hog Town.

“No, none of us has to buy a license here, we just pay the toll when we come in or out of Gainesville, and that’s the tax.  It’s one credit, and that’s high, but it’s better than government with its hand out all the time.

If you stay in the city, and never leave, you are tax-free for life.”

I sent him over that night to see the place.  One of my slave men went with him to show him the jewelery corner.  What I didn’t tell him about the area is that I had another slave seller there for two years, until he was murdered early one morning.  Twenty slaves saw it done and they were still standing there two hours later when someone came by and told me, and I got over there.

That’s Gainesville for you, no law and order and one of the corner jewelers did it.  They don’t want girl flesh vended in front of their shop.  So some old paper seller has a plywood thing set up there now.  He was an easy one to run off.  I sent Roscoe my man, around that very night to tell him that someone was going to castrate him tomorrow.  That’s all it took, and Les and I became in charge of the jewelery corner.  Of course I never went there.

_________________________________________________________

Send comments to Ray Cates at rcates2@cox.net

Fax him at: 1-352-629-1573

For links and another story go to: http://unsightlyteeth.wordpress.com

The setlist:

Heroes
Mr. Sensitive
I Did It for You
Lie
Souvenir
Kiss on the Neck
Hot for Teacher
Make Believe
Declaration
Bar-ba-sol
Light On
Come Back To Me

I Did It For You (by lovinliferhb).

Lie (by lovinliferhb).

L alt: cw93nhs

Kiss on the Neck (by lovinliferhb).

KOTN alt: cw93nhs – partial, Hotel California

Hot For Teacher (by lovinliferhb).

HFT alt: rohocop2121

Make Believe (by lovinliferhb).

MB alt: cw93nhs

Declaration (by lovinliferhb).

D alt: rohocop2121

Light On (by lovinliferhb).

Come Back to Me (by lovinliferhb).

Extra (by btl4life220). Some fans waiting by the buses in the parking lot asked GRO for Endlessly. They said ok, found some acoustic guitars and Neal Effing Tiemann, and voila! They were treated to an impromptu acoustic Endlessly and On Your Own.

Extra (by cw93nhs). David climbs on top of GRO’s van.

Located in the preserved & bustling Virginia-Highlands neighborhood in Atlanta, we are excited to have Urban Cottage as our newest Gourmet Retailer of IceMilk Aprons.

Housed in a fabulously quaint cottage set just off the road, Urban Cottage has a myriad of wonderful items, both large & small. Their beautiful furniture is all custom and can be tailored to your every whim – a gorgeous tufted ottoman caught my eye immediately.

You’ll be quick to notice a fabulous selection of carefully chosen books – from cookbooks to home to wedding to idea inspiration – all urging you to flip through. One of my favorite finds was pinched pottery from a local potter in Cabbagetown, with a rustic finish and done in fabulous neutrals. Mother & daughter Silverstein team own this glorious shop, along with the beautifully designed Breathless Paper Co. well worth taking a peek.

We are thrilled to be in the treasure-filled Urban Cottage and excited to have them as a partner – hope you’ll stop in for a visit!

Guide de Voyage Atlanta

Atlanta, « la grosse pêche » est construite autour d’un axe majeur nommé Peachtree street, prolongé au nord, dans Buckhead, par Peachtree road. Cette large route traverse les 3 principaux quartiers de la ville : Downtown, Midtown et Buckhead. Le principal souci dans le centre ville est donc de s’y retrouver avec ces Peachtree partout, car outre la voie principale, plus de cinquante autres rues s’appellent Peachtree a Atlanta ! Et, le pire de tout dans cette histoire, est que, malgré les forets entourant le centre-ville, il est impossible de trouver un seul vrai pêcher (l‘arbre a pêches) dans tout Atlanta !

LIRE LA SUITE : GUIDE DE VOYAGE ATLANTA COMPLET ET GRATUIT

So yes, I’m bogus as hell. It’s been over a month since I last posted. (Did you even notice?)

Well, contrary to popular belief I haven’t been spinning my wheels and acting as if I’m on a paid vacation. Quite the opposite, I’ve been a busy little bee doing academic research chores like applying for grants, editing audio, contemplating my academic future, revising my proposal wah wah wah, woo woo woo.

So exciting right?

But it’s the holidays!! Yippee!!!

And I have a gift for you…a break from my “scholastic” existential navel gazing! I’m going to cut straight to the chase and invite you to listen and enjoy some music from three FABULOUS events I attended recently.

#1 Spreadlove: The Felabration Edition

Spreadlove is one of my favorite monthly events. It’s hosted by one of my favorite DJs, DJ Kemit. October’s installation was a tribute to the incomparable Fela Kuti. So of course that means lots of Fela music, afrobeat, and music from the African diaspora.

As if that weren’t enough to guarantee my attendance spreadlove also featured two of my absolute favorite musicians: DJ Rich Medina and the legendary Roy “everybody loves the sunshine” Ayers.

Check out this video of Mr. Ayers playing vibes and serving as high priest of soul. The feeling in that place was electric.

#2 Reclaiming the “Rock” in Black Musical Expression

The was a phenomenal conference hosted by the Archives of African American Music and Culture at Indiana University meant to explore the legacy and current climate of Black folks who are all about rock music.

Now the absolute best part of this conference is that it wasn’t a bunch of talking heads theorizing about music and meaning, but the lineup was rife with some of my favorite music journalists/bloggers such as Greg Tate and Rob Fields and musicians like Tamar Kali and Linda Tillery.

(get to the music, Freda)

So before this conference I had heard of Tamar Kali (mainly from her appearance in Afropunk) but she did a HELLUVA concert and converted me to her fold. Man alive, her voice is AMAZING. She has the vocal control and range of your favorite soul diva and the attitude that & don’t give a fuck attitude of the punk scene. (I’m street teaming hard right?) AND she be singing about stuff of substance.

Tamar Kali is winning.

#3 Tambor Party

So last Saturday night I roll up in this downtown club called Filter (fka the Mark) and I already knew based on the DJ line up that I would be on the dance floor all night. DJs Tabone and Stan Zeff’s crew did not let me down. It was all house music ALL house music. It reminded me so much of clubs in London where we would dance all night to an amazing mix of house, broken beat, and tribal house. AMAZING.

Two musical moments stick out for me. The first was a special live by Tribe Records UK artist Nathan Adams. I was SO happy he was there because I’ve loved his song “Circles” for years and I never knew who the hell sang it!  Mystery solved.

The second is when towards the end of the night the DJ played the Quintin Harris remix of Donnie’s “Cloud 9.”  I almost broke the heels on my shoes spinning around to this song.

So those are some of the highlights of the last few weeks. Special shout out to Bugz in the Attic/Jazznova event from last week too. And although December is right around the corner, there’s so much to look forward to before 2010 gets here!

~November 28: spreadlove doing a tribute to Native Tongues featuring Phife

~December 12: Tortured Soul live at Apache

Hope to see you soon!

Happy Holidays!

I met with a few places the past few weeks about employment opportunities, but this was an internship that caught my eye. Had a great time with them, and really thought I nailed this one. Well, few places actually send notes these days, so despite the daggers in my heart, at least I know the status and the why.

I’ve been trying to break into this particular area, and since my background is a little spread out, thought this internship would let me in at ground level and focus. Now I keep asking myself how to even get in, when ground level is closed. This isn’t the first internship in this field I’ve gone for either (I was “over qualified” at a previous one!). Where do you go to get a chance?