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I
n the late 1960s, a series of British filmmakers arrived
in the United States who all offered new and vivid ways
of looking at America with freshly peeled eyeballs. John
Boorman turned Los Angeles into a Pop-Art, Technicolor
Alphaville in 1967’s Point Blank; Dick Lester (the expatriate
American director who hadn’t been home in 17 years) and
his cameraman Nicolas Roeg fell to earth in acid-laced San
Francisco, whose discontents they depicted (in 1968’s Petulia)
far more bleakly than did the habitués of Haight-Ashbury;
“Swinging London” chronicler and beat-documentarian Peter
Whitehead captured exploding America between the Tet
An Optimist
Offensive and the early ’68 Primaries in his poetic but hardly-
seen The Fall; Peter Yates transformed the look of the urban
crime thriller a year later in Bullitt; and John Schlesinger
on
offered a sleazy, misanthropic look at America’s urban flot-
sam in Midnight Cowboy.
None however, produced so searing and angry a denunciation
of the New World as Peter Watkins did with 1971’s faux docu-
Two Fronts
mentary Punishment Park, with its invocations of political
concentration camps on American soil, police death-squads
executing activists and dissidents, and the media’s inextri-
cable complicity in both. Whereas most of the other newcom-
ers’ visions were welcomed, Watkins’ was rejected out of
hand. Punishment Park played for four days in Manhattan.
PBS said outright that they would never show it. And so it
vanished into a twilight world of occasional campus screen-
ings—usually with Watkins in attendance—before vanishing
utterly for 35 years. Apparently 1971 was the wrong time for
an Englishman to diagnose, however sagely, the discontents
The little-seen, oft-suppressed of Vietnam-era America.
work of dissident filmmaker Time has either been very kind to his films or very cruel to
us, by making the world so ugly and violent that Punishment
Peter Watkins Park’s recent re-release on DVD has occurred in the most
propitious environment imaginable. Abu Grahib and Guan-
challenged not just the political tanamo are fresh; the Patriot Act and the NSA wiretapping
program hang menacingly over us all; war is back with a
status quo but the form itself. vengeance, and dissent against said war has metastasized,
along with a profound disgust for the complicity of the corpo-
rate media in all the doings of Dubya. Where critics roundly
by abused the film—when they were not ignoring it—back in
1971, many are now roused to feel that Peter Watkins’ vindi-
John Patterson cation may be at hand. And with the gradual release by New
Yorker Films of nearly all his major works over the 34
Arthur// July, 2006 33
last year, Watkins can finally be At 48 minutes, The War Game Park takes elements from the con- haps more importantly, against the a revolution to bring it all down.
reassessed—or assessed for the first was too hot for the BBC, and even temporary political ether, stretches media itself, its owners, its place in
Which brings us to La Commune
time—on his own terms. more so for the politicians of the them to their plausible limits and the political econonmy, and its for-
(Paris 1871) which alongside Edvard
time. Using available statistics and then builds a searing, sun-scorched mal and cultural shortcomings.
Watkins seems to have been born Munch is probably Watkins’ mas-
government documents, Watkins drama within that context. It is In his early work, he merely made
fully-formed as an artist. He terpiece. Six hours long, filmed
showed that Britain, faced with the 1973. The Clampdown on political the process of filmmaking evident
studied at Oxford and the Royal entirely in swooping SteadiCam
possibility of atomic warfare, had dissent has already occurred, under to the viewer, but after his experi-
Academy of Dramatic Arts, becom- takes lasting up to 15 minutes,
settled for the illusion of security in the draconian terms of the anti- ence with The War Game, the craven
ing interested in radical politics and it attempts nothing less than a
its aftermath. Watkins illustrated communist 1950 McCarran Secu- nature of conventional media
cinema. His second short film, a full- recreation of the revolutionary
the effects of nuclear firestorms, rity Act. Interned dissidents are coverage and broadcast institu-
scale reenactment of the Budapest Commune that ruled Paris in the
mocked duck-and-cover safety transported to the Bare Mountain tions became one of his overarching
uprising of 1956, was shot entirely aftermath of France’s defeat in the
drills (a child’s eyeballs melt down National Punishment Park. When themes. He has since worked to
on the placid streets of Franco-Prussian War. This story is
his face), and finished his highly guilt is established, defendants overthrow conventional ideas about
his hometown of Canterbury. It still so incendiary that most French
unnerving polemic with the night- have a choice: a lengthy prison running times—his antinuclear
won him a place at the BBC where schools simply do not address it in
marish image of British bobbies term or Punishment Park. The lat- epic The Journey (1987) lasted 14
his first commission, in 1964, was history lessons, and Watkins is
interning political protesters and ter requires a group of prisoners to hours—and notions of who is quali-
an adaptation of historian John anxious to show how those in pov-
mercy-killing the victims of radia- cross 50 miles of desert without fied to make movies—his Strindberg
Prebble’s revisionist account of the erty and deprivation were able, with
tion sickness with a bullet. The food or water. Survivors can go free; biopic The Freethinker was writ-
Battle of Culloden in 1746. no outside help, to articulate and
corporation pulled it before broad- more likely they will die of dehydra- ten, performed, photographed and put into practice many of the revo-
Culloden, which saw the defeat of cast, claiming it was too disturbing tion or be shot by organized bands edited by a Swedish high school lutionary ideals—feminism, equal
Bonnie Prince Charlie’s invading for the public. Although it won that of police, highway patrolmen and class Watkins was teaching in pay, popular democracy, free state
army by King George II’s brother— year’s Best Documentary Oscar National Guardsmen. 1994. Subsequent experiences have (i.e., non-religious) education for
known ever after as “Butcher Cum- (the closest Watkins ever came Watkins cuts between the gruel- only deepened his antipathy toward all, collectivism, etc.—that would
berland”—was the last battle fought to mainstream success) The War ing desert ordeal—think: Survivor the institutional media, which has sustain the political Left throughout
on British soil, between two armies Game was not shown on British TV with real guns and bloodshed—of sometimes hobbled his career in TV. the century to come.
composed of aristocratic officers for another quarter-century, dur- the condemned prisoners, and the After all, if one of the cornerstones
and feudally indentured English ing which period it was established show-trial of the next batch, which of your aesthetic and political The result is perhaps the purest
troops and Scottish clansmen. Wat- that it had in fact been suppressed is consciously modeled on the method is an abiding distrust of, embodiment of Brecht’s theories of
kins twisted the material by allow- for political reasons, not matters of proceedings against the Chicago and contempt for, the very mecha- Epic Theater ever committed to film
ing his collective cast of performers taste—just as Watkins had always Seven. As always, the cast is col- nisms by which your work will be (Brecht himself once wrote a play
to address the camera directly, to claimed. In addition Watkins had lective, not focused on individuals. made available for public examina- called Les Jours de la Commune for
tell their own bitter stories and even, stood athwart the line separating All the actors are amateurs, cast tion, you may soon find that the his Berliner Ensemble). Deliberately
on occasion, to reach out and tell Watkins’ films always fight on fiction from documentary—it is the for the proximity of their political phone stops ringing. It’s a testament adding the creative anachronism
the crew to get the fuck out of the necessary place to be for an artist views to those of their characters: to Watkins’ stubbornness and of two TV news teams—one right-
way. Watkins is narrator, providing two fronts: against the political denouncing the latter as merely a words and opinions are their own. determination that he ever made wing (and disconcertingly like
context, facts and figures, and the status quo, obviously, but also, variation on the former—and this Antiwar activists, feminists and another film again. Fox-News) and another that’s politi-
future destinies of the participants, only added to the discomfort of the cally engaged with the commu-
outlining class relations between
and perhaps more importantly, union organizers play the prisoners.
Watkins addressed the issue in nards—Watkins puts the innards of
powers that be. Right-wingers, cops, and political
Generals and cannon-fodder. In the against the media itself, its “moderates” play the judging panel
his most personal and lyrical film, the filmmaking and newsgathering
A brief and unhappy flirtation Edvard Munch, a polemical biogra-
brutal aftermath of the rout, the owners, its place in the political with Paramount Pictures produced and the murderous enforcers of the machinery on full display, and while
British regulars are seen hacking phy of the pioneering Norwegian we are never allowed to forget that
econonmy, and its formal and Privilege (1967), an intermittently last shreds of the law.
women and children down on coun- Expressionist, made for Oslo televi- we’re watching a manufactured,
cultural shortcomings. successful satire on rock-n-roll With this 360-degree environment sion in 1973 and released to inter-
try roads and beheading the dead. albeit committed polemic, he also
as a means of codifying dissent in place and the figures within it all national acclaim in 1975 (naturally,
Culloden is a no-budget masterpiece enables us to feel great anguish
(it features the GI rock band The set to run and play and suffer and its backers hated the film and did
of mocked-up war footage that puts when these flawed, but optimistic
previous page Monks playing “Onward Chris- die, Watkins adds his distinctive whatever they could to stymie its
Saving Private Ryan’s opening half- utopian idealists are finally mas-
top: Film still from Punishment Park, 1971. tian Soldiers”!) before Watkins pseudo-documentary overlay. All success). Here was an artist identi-
hour to shame (in addition to his sacred, in their tens of thousands,
right: Peter Watkins on the set of Punishment Park, 1971. left England for Scandinavia, his the major media companies are here fying totally with his subject: like
other talents, Watkins is a world- by Monarchist troops in a Parisian
THis page base for most of the next decade. to film all proceedings in Punishment Watkins, Munch refused to coun-
class director of kinetic action foot- park—another Punishment Park.
above and right: Film stills from The War Game, 1965. There he put together The Gladia- Park. Watkins, as in all his films, tenance any limit or compromise
age). Culloden was also made in full below: Film still from Culloden, 1964. tors (a/k/a The Peace Game, 1969), acts as narrator and interviewer, to his bleak vision, no matter how Before this happens however, Wat-
awareness of what was beginning bottom right: Film still from Edvard Munch, 1974.
perhaps his weakest film, in which and is always behind the (usually much insult and false recrimination kins has also made us feel—through
to unfold in Vietnam. It pulled no
wars between nations are settled handheld) camera, eliciting raw he endured from the artistic estab- endless discussion, argument,
political punches, but its ecstatic
by small bands of warriors on an anger from the prisoners and blithe lishment of his time. This intense violence and peacability—the sense
critical reception was offset by
internationally broadcast TV show. and arrogant fuck-you-so-whats sympathy between biographer that it is possible and desirable to
angry complaints from right-wing
Privilege never really found an audi- from their uniformed oppressors and subject may also explain why tear the old world down and rebuild
MPs and military figures.
ence, and The Gladiators was not (the camera was operated by Joan Edvard Munch is among the greatest it anew, according to fresh and
The fact that Culloden, with its widely shown, though both received Churchill, who has since worked portraits ever created of an artist’s equitable precepts that encompass
heavy emphasis on political some respectful reviews. extensively with Watkins’ fellow life and work. the dignity and worth of every man
revisionism, was made for the BBC alumni Nick Broomfield. Cin- and woman. Such radical ideals
After failing to put together a proj- In the lean years between such
documentary department of the ematographer Haskell Wexler says have been eroded and scorned into
ect about the Little Big Horn in Los projects, Watkins has established a
famously “objective” BBC is indica- he lit the tent scenes for Churchill.) meaninglessness of late, and Wat-
Angeles, Watkins found the backing parallel persona as a media theorist
tive of certain tensions inherent in As the ordeal in the sun becomes kins’ great achievement is to make
for Punishment Park. Filmed in the at his website (http://www.mnsi.
Watkins’ approach to drama. His ever more blood-soaked and them intoxicating once again. And,
Mojave Desert in 1970, under the net/~pwatkins/), decrying the pre-
next film, The War Game, was a fake viciously punitive, Watkins’ “objec- to answer Watkins’ critics, that is
wide, black shadow cast by Kent vailing hierarchical media approach
documentary, albeit using realistic tivity” steadily dissolves and he is not what pessimists do. It is what
State, the Chicago Seven Con- he has dubbed the Monoform. He
scenarios and public information finally reduced to screaming, “Stop optimists strive for.
spiracy Trial, the illegal bombing of condemns the topdown imposition
about the likely effects of a nuclear it, you fucking bastards!” as, within
Cambodia, and the insidious process of political conclusions, the absence Somewhere deep in his despair,
attack on southern England, but was sight of the prisoners’ objective—an
by which the Nixon White House of any entry-point for the passive, Peter Watkins, a man who truly
made within the Plays Department American flag—troops methodi-
sought to arrogate ever more power excluded spectator, and the reliance has no home but the struggle, is an
of the BBC, a cauldron of radical cally beat and massacre the last few
unto itself, the movie showcases as on optimistic, hero-centric narra- indefatigable optimist. His work
productivity that David Thompson, remaining prisoners.
well as any of Watkins’ films the tive forms, as well as the institu- awaits you. Seize it with both hands,
with little exaggeration, has dubbed
essential method which has served No one makes it. (This is A Peter tional corruption and dishonesty because it will change you, and
“the Last Studio” (it also produced
him so well over his career. Watkins movie.) of most state-backed or corporate it will make you want to change
pioneering ’60s and ’70s work by
media outlets. It is a coherent, com- everything else.
Ken Loach, Dennis Potter, Steven Unfolding in a half-speculative, half- Watkins’ films always fight on two
Frears and Mike Leigh, among doz- satirical timeframe that one might fronts: against the political status pelling and highly persuasive diag-
ens of other filmmakers). call “the recent future,” Punishment quo, obviously, but also, and per- nosis, but one feels it would require
34 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 35
PLAYING
DeLappe, however, chooses to play the game
rather differently than most. His virtual warf-
DEAD
ighter—whom he has named “dead-in-iraq”—logs
onto America’s Army and simply stands there
and does nothing. DeLappe nevertheless takes
part in the game in other ways. Drawing from
publicly available rosters of US casualties in
Iraq, DeLappe types out the names of killed
servicemembers into the game’s text message
chat window, entering one name per line. For
example, during one of DeLappe’s missions of
virtual conscientious objection, some fellow
America’s Army players saw this appear in their
text message scroll as they organized for battle:
[US Army] dead-in-iraq
messaged: JONATHAN LEE
GIFFOR, 20, MARINES, MAR
23, 2003
[US Army] dead-in-iraq
messaged: JOSE ANGEL
GARIBAY, 21, MARINES, MAR
23, 2003
[US Army] dead-in-iraq
messaged: DAVID KEITH
FRIBLEY, 26, MARINES, MAR
23, 2003
If his dead-in-iraq character gets killed in battle
or is voted off the server by fellow gamers (a
procedure typically employed with players who
L
aren’t taking the game seriously and thereby
How/+++ ike millions of others around the world,
Joseph DeLappe spends multiple hours
each week logged into online multiplayer
inhibiting others), DeLappe logs back on at
another time and continues where he left off. He
started this text recitation in March 2006, and
protest/ games. His current game of choice is America’s
Army, the squad-based tactical shooter produced
by the middle of May had typed out the names
of over 350 war casualties. He’s inputting the
and promoted by the real US Army as a tool for names chronologically, from the first casualty
is/++++ PR and recruitment efforts. America’s Army has
been available for free download from Ameri-
onward, and intends to type out a complete
naming of the military dead. DeLappe says he
casArmy.com since July 4, 2002, and in its three-
entering/
will continue this online memorial until there are
plus years of existence has developed a devoted no more names to memorialize—in other words,
global following; if nothing else, it has success- until the war stops producing American corpses language, “spamming chat” and failure to follow
tHe/++++ fully enhanced the Army’s brand by associating
it with something engaging, cutting-edge and
youth-friendly. Millions of users who might
in uniform (and at the time of writing this
article, that means he has more than 2100 names
the orders of squad leaders; at presstime, no
administrative authority had yet tried to ban
to go). So DeLappe has found his own way to play DeLappe by citing any of these infringements.
(ViDeo)/++++ not otherwise have a personal connection to
the American military have found one through
America’s Army, creating an experience that owes
less to Quake than it does to the Quakers.
When gaming news-and-reviews site GameSpy
asked US Army reps for comment on DeLappe’s
playing the game: they’ve gone on missions based A media artist and professor at the Univer- project, Public Affairs Specialist Paul Boyce gave
game/++ on realistic contemporary scenarios, learned to
fight together using official Army protocol and
sity of Nevada Reno (a town better known for a
different kind of gaming), DeLappe displays a
a somewhat evasive reply: “America’s Army”
open to virtual participation in an authentic
rules of engagement, and even had the chance to
of/++++
small archive of screenshots from his dead-in- U.S. Army experience to players throughout the
play alongside real US soldiers, who signal their iraq project on his website, http://www.delappe. United States,” he told the reporter. “The Army
participation via exclusive insignia worn by their net. The now-frozen responses from virtual army does not limit participation unless there is nega-
war/+++ online characters. While deadly and chaotic wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan fill the headlines and TV
men range from confusion to anger. “I think they
are the dates of deaths of soldiers,” types one
tive impact on other players’ experiences. As
such, unless an individual uses foul or insensi-
screens, with reports as intimately gruesome as player under the name of hk-burritoman#1. “Are tive language, or is otherwise ruining gameplay
HBO’s Baghdad ER, America’s Army has provided a those real people?” asks BgRobSmith. “U arent for others, the management of America’s Army
counter-image of the military that is as idealized encouraging me to join the service,” messages takes no action.”
as a textbook, as thrilling as a Hollywood movie, one Mojo216. Gen.MstrChief (a Halo fan, one He sees this ongoing, obsessive online roll-
and as addictive as any commercial video game assumes, slumming it PCside) responds more call as digital performance art, a protest, and that the process of performing dead-in-iraq is in
by around. It is a paradoxical media object, mirroring aggressively, texting “dead in iraq shut the **** a memorial, not unlike the live readings of the itself meaningful, even if not all of his activity
Ed Halter its eponymous nation’s own divided conscious-
ness: a game that celebrates realism through a
up!” after each casualty’s name. DeLappe’s dead-
in-iraq never responds to any of these comments
names of the dead that have become standard is visible to other viewers. An important factor,
he says, is that he manually types in each word,
antiwar ritual. “It is like street theater,” he told
illustration by carefully constructed fantasy that omits more or outbursts; he just keeps listing names until me recently, “or having a soap box in the public letter by letter, rather than cutting and pasting.
Geoff McFetridge than it reveals. In America’s Army, characters don’t
end up with brain damage, missing limbs or post-
he’s somehow forced to leave.
The decision to boot players is usually done by
square.” It is also something of a social experi-
ment. “No matter how radical or innovative these
“For me this is kind of like writing something
over and over again on a chalkboard,” says
traumatic stress disorder, or have to deal with an fellow gamers; so far, DeLappe has not dealt with games might be,” he says, “they’re very similar, DeLappe, a Catholic school grad. “I guess I look
administration that sent them to a war that most any higher administrative authority. According they’re very controlled.” Since most memorials at it as a kind of penance.” He reports that he
back home don’t support, and then slashed their to DeLappe, the game’s legally binding end-user happen well after the war is over, a curious part can type in “around 75 or so per sitting taking
veteran’s benefits to boot—because none of that license agreement addresses copyright infringe- of the project is to find out what it means to do a at least two hours before my hands ache” and
would be any fun at all, compared to the high- ment and hacks, but not in-game actions. Within memorial as the war is still going on. doesn’t have a set schedule of when he logs onto
adrenaline, deep-strategy game-time of make- the game, the stated Code of Conduct forbids Like many contemporary artists influenced by America’s Army to continue the project. “It is
believe battle. such things as player harassment, derogatory the history of conceptual art, DeLappe believes a bit depressing to do,” he says, and “not
36 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 37
A BrIEf HIstorY of
something I eagerly anticipate.” And the actions homoerotic image of a terrorist and counter-terrorist
of other players unwittingly add other layers of embraced in a kiss.
VIDEo GAmEs
meaning to the performance: by booting him out Unsurprisingly, dead-in-iraq and Velvet Strike
of their game, they’re metaphorically denying drew the ire of many gamers who accused the artists
AND tHE PENtAGoN
death’s reality, policing their digital fantasyland of ruining their pastime and injecting unnecessary
Valhalla of eternal warriors from any reminder of political statements into entertainment. On her
real-world mortality. website (http://www.opensorcery.com/velvetstrike),
Using computers to make art is not new for Schleiner writes that she received a “flood…of some-
America’s Army isn’t the first convergence of video DeLappe. One of his group of works from the times hilarious hate mail” in response to Velvet
games and the US military—nor is it likely the last. late-90s took the form of customized Apple Strike, and posted some of the best of these “flaming
The very earliest computer games emerged as side-
mice augmented with nipples, vaginas or jewels” for her readers. DeLappe likewise reports that
effects of Cold War defense funding; before the ’70s,
the Unabomber manifesto: a Cronenbergian “other gamers almost always get furious if you do
the Pentagon was the single largest investor in the
comment on how enmeshed these bits of plastic this sort sof thing,” and typically respond by voting
development of American computer technology.
and circuitry become with our bodies and minds. him off the server.
MIT hackers brewed the sci-fi shooter Spacewar! on
He also created a series of abstract motion- Though DeLappe’s in-game actions are only visible
computers paid for by the Pentagon in the mid-Sixties.
tracked designs by attaching a pen or brush to his to about a dozen players at any given time, the dead-
Around the same time, inventor Ralph Baer proposed
mouse and then playing Quake or Chessmaster in-iraq concept itself has taken on a life of its own
the first prototypes for Pong while working for a mili-
2000 with his mouse-marker atop a canvas; here outside of America’s Army. Once news of dead-in-iraq
tary defense contractor.
again, the immaterial and material meet, the hit the blogosphere, DeLappe’s project became an
former leaving its literal traces on the latter. object of intense debate on forums like Gamepolitics.
During the age of arcade gaming and the first home And he has staged “interventions” inside com and Terra Nova, a blog about virtual worlds.
console systems, representatives of the US Army synthetic game worlds before. In 2003, he orga-
approached Atari to see if they’d make a training nized a group to re-enact an episode of Friends
system for the Bradley Armored Infantry Vehicle out inside of Quake for a performance called “Quake/
of their 3D vector-graphics classic Battlezone in 1980. Friends,” which attracted attention from both an
Only a few prototypes were built, however. During art critic for the New York Times and a lawyer
the height of Pac-Man fever, military recruiters sent for Warner Brothers. Another piece involved
representatives to arcades, hoping to sign up the next DeLappe “reciting” the full text of the poem
generation of joystick jockeys. By that time, America’s “Howl” inside the futuristic shooter Elite Force
high-tech military used a number of flight and tank Voyager Online, typing it out by hand, line by line
simulators for training whose graphics outclassed (his character’s name in this case was simply
anything available to mere Nintendos. “Allen Ginsberg.”). Later versions of this idea
PC gaming came into its own just as the Gulf War took an overtly political tack. For “War Poets/
brought US troops to Iraq for the first time. The Medal of Honor,” DeLappe typed verses by World
first-person shooter genre emerged with early PC War 1 poet Sigfried Sassoon into the instant
titles Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. In the mid ’90s, clever message window of the World War II game Medal
Marines modified Doom into a boots-on-the-ground of Honor: Allied Assault. In a three-part series
training device for four-man fire teams. Simply called “The Great Debate,” DeLappe re-enacted
dubbed Marine Doom the mod removed non-regulation the 2004 presidential debates between Kerry
weaponry (so long, chainsaw) and replaced alien mon- and Bush inside of Battlefield Vietnam, Star Wars
sters with generic enemy soldiers. The game saw only Jedi Knight Outcast and The Sims Online. This last
limited use, but inspired others who saw new ways to project involved a bit of improvisation as well:
teach warfare to a generation raised on computers when other players began asking questions to Many respondents were supportive of his project:
and gaming. the virtual doppelgangers of Kerry and Bush, after all, a number of them pointed out, since this
DeLappe ad-libbed responses in character. game is funded by American tax dollars, can’t we
In 1996, the National Research Council hosted a Dead-in-iraq is not the first time an artist do what we want inside of it? And if DeLappe’s
conference called Modeling and Simulation: Linking has imported anti-war protest into a military activity is disruptive, isn’t that was protest
Entertainment and Defense, organized by Michael game space. “Velvet Strike,” a project by artists is all about? “On some level it is obnoxious to
Zyda of the Naval Postgraduate School. The goal was Brody Condon, Joan Leandre and Anne-Marie break into the game with some very real-world
to explore the potential for collaboration between Schleiner, brought a more absurd form of content,” DeLappe says, “but that’s what it’s
the defense sector and the entertainment industry: political action inside the world of terrorist vs. about at some level.” Many have complained, he
reps from Pixar, Disney, Paramount and George Lucas’ anti-terrorist game Counter-Strike (a wildly says, that “‘we come here to escape, so how dare
Industrial Light & Magic rubbed shoulders with offi- popular free mod for Half-Life whose success, you bring this stuff into here.’ I understand this,
cers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard incidentally, appears to have been an inspiration but at the same time, I find escaping from what is
and DARPA. for America’s Army). In 2002, Schleiner began to going on to be problematic.”
Afterwards, Zyda went on to oversee the genesis ponder the growing trend towards war-themed Others criticized the effectiveness of
of America’s Army project, while in 1999 the Army “realism” in games, exemplified by Counter- protesting inside a game that would provide
poured $45 million into USC to create the Institute for Strike as well as the various whack-Osama audiences of merely a handful at a time: wouldn’t
Creative Technologies, a military-enterainment think- online mini-games that proliferated after 9-11. his energy be better spent protesting outside of,
tank that produced, among other projects, Full Spec- In response, the Velvet Strike team offered up a say, a real recruitment office, instead America’s
trum Warrior, the first console game created as both variety of ways to stage actions inside Counter- Army? (On Gamepolitics, another commentator
a internal training system and a commercial product Strike, including downloadable “sprays” that countered this argument, pointing out that, even
(initially for Xbox in 2004). enabled players’ characters to shoot posters though none of them actually saw dead-in-iraq
onto walls, and “recipes” for acting out pacifist as it happened, “here we are talking about it…The
Other branches worked with commercial gaming com- scenarios during games. Schleiner even devel- way to effectively protest is to capture peoples’
panies as well. The Marines helped produce Destineer’s oped a “game within a game”—a program that attention. It’s like marketing, the target changes,
commercial title Close Combat: First to Fight, which also allows players to shoot a hopscotch diagram the idea has to be fresh and new.”)
saw use as a trainer, while the Navy had a hand in the on the battleground floor, adding a subversive However, questions about whether dead-in-
popular SOCOM: Navy Seals franchise. Even indepenetly girlie touch to the ammo-laden hypermasculine iraq or Velvet Strike will attract new converts to
produced military titles like Conflict: Desert Storm or realm. The proposed recipes skew towards the the cause or merely preach to the choir are the
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down tout retired generals as prankish—one suggested that during a battle, least interesting ones raised by these projects;
design consultants. Currently, the Army is looking into you should “tell everyone you are martyrs for they’re probably the most typical critiques of
converting America’s Army into a training device, and peace, then jump off the tallest structure in any kind of protest, virtual or otherwise, and
using Full Spectrum Warrior to treat post-traumatic the level, killing yourselves”—and the original only extend the win-or-lose logic of games onto
stress disorder. sprays have a geek-punk wit, including a childish another level. A more significant issue is raised
—Ed Halter drawing of a pink teddy bear with the slogan by the very possibility of such activity inside
“Shoot Love Bubbles” and another with the these virtual spaces in the first place. 43
38 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 39
There’s a ‘round-the-clock environmental buzz everywhere in
New Orleans if you’ve got the ears to hear it. It’s a deep, almost
sub-sonic, earth-drone that’s especially evident during the
wicked days of summer. It’s in the awesome silence of the
baking, deserted streets at noontime; it’s in the deafening
biological volume of the wild, tropical greenery and of bugs
reproducing insanely; it’s in the groaning of the cracked side-
walks, ancient houses and crumbling cemeteries; it’s in the Do you hear a connection
lysergic-like intoxication produced by the common cocktail of between the feel of New
casual drinking crossed with 100 percent humidity and three- Orleans and the music you
digit thermometer readings. make?
October Language, the stunning debut album from New Orleans Turk: If we were brought up
drone guitar-duo Belong, is a de facto impressionistic field elsewhere, our music would
recording of the ineffable and beautiful noise that permeates sound very different, I sup-
the city. Miles away from the jazz, funk and bounce hip-hop pose. It doesn’t have much
that defines New Orleans music to the world at large, October to do with My Bloody Valen-
Language still manages to be as genius an expression of the soul tine and Fennesz like some
of the city as Professor Longhair’s “Tipitina,” Juvenile’s “Back people say; it has everything
That Azz Up,” Dr. John’s “ Right Place, Wrong Time” or Irma Thom- to do with our surroundings
as’s “Ruler of My Heart.” It’s the sound of sweat, hallucination and environment.
and revelation, and every cat who’s made it through a couple Mike: New Orleans feels…
of New Orleans summers can dig that. worn. There’s a decay in
An orchestra of feedback Belong is comprised of New Orleans natives Turk Dietrich, 28, the city. Things that aren’t
obviously beautiful. Dis-
and Mike Jones, 27. Dietrich—lanky and gregarious, possessor
and humidity, courtesy of of the New Orleans accent that sounds strangely Southern
and Brooklyn-esque at the same time—is the talker of the two.
sonance. [Laughter] And
distortion and buzz and
New Orleans duo Belong Both came back to New Orleans a few weeks after Hurricane
Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and both plan on staying for the
layering sounds. Part of
the city’s visual appeal and
forseeable future. Both are the type of guys who you want to character lies in it’s aged
knock back beers with all night with in a smelly bar, fellas you’d and worn qualities, from
want to have on your side in a fight. Having heard snatches of the degradation and decay
their brilliant debut scant days before a second trip to his old that has occurred over
habitat of New Orleans inside a month [the last being a Mardi time. Like many we see the
Gras visit detailed last issue], your correspondent made a few beauty in this and our music
phone calls and tracked Belong down to a bustling coffee- incorporates this seeming
by house on Magazine Street for a quick talk. Decompressing from contradiction.
Gabe Soria a recent U.S. tour with Ariel Pink and preparing to embark on a
European tour, the band was eager to jaw about video games,
I think that “fuzz” as an
illustration by the peculiar habit of some New Orleans residents of beginning
aesthetic concept is just
coming back.
Arik Moonhawk Roper evenings out at midnight, and plans to attend work parties to
help Ms. Antoinette K-Doe repair the fire damaged Mother-in-
Turk: It’s probably a subcon-
scious reaction to the clean,
Law Lounge. We also managed to talk about music a bit...
perfected recordings of now-
adays. Everything’s so rigid
and manicured in ProTools
to sound lifeless. I think a
lot of people are making shit
dirty again. Bringing some
color to the table, 42
40 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 41
Derrick Jensen continued from Playing Dead continued from
page 30 )... page 36 )...
BASTET
months from now it might have a thirty in the morning. We’re in the What the hell’s wrong Video games have evolved
more profound effect on me when I studio. We’re trying to produce with the Angels? But if you to such a point that they
can distance myself more. and finish tracks. We’re not even do believe that a) there’s are offering possibilities for
thinking about a live show. It’s a going to be a crash and b) activities that go beyond
Why would you stay there when
totally different mind set than what it’s going to be messy and what we typically conceive
another hurricane season is upon
bands would normally do. We have c) the current economic of as traditionally rule-
you? What keeps you in New
a nice collection of pre-amps, a ton system is dismantling the bound games: think of it Arthur Magazine’s Media Imprint
Orleans? ecological infrastructure of as the exploratory logic of
of effects and whatnot. It’s not a
Mike: My family has never lived four-track. We have nice set-up for a the planet, which means the World of Warcraft or Grand
anywhere else. Our roots in the area bedroom studio. It’s not Abbey Road, longer it takes, the worse Theft Auto projected back
go way back. My family’s lived here but it gets the job done. things are going to be, what into a space supposedly
quite a while, some parts for over that means is what you reserved for mere combat
a 120 years. As far as the threat of Do you guys make any of your own need to do is to start finding simulation. DVDs
another hurricane, it is not enough pedals? out what local plants can be And large-scale multi-
to make us move. Living in New Turk: I wish I that engineering savvy, used for antibiotics. What player games have them- The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda
Orleans, you deal with the possibil- but I don’t. [Laughter] are local water purifica- selves seen their share of a DVD by irA COHeN
ity of a hurricane hitting every year. So what are you guys going to do tion systems you’ll be able in-game protests. In January
Celebrated internationally for more than 35 years and
next? Is there anybody you’d love to use. How are you going 2005, World of Warcraft
Turk: Besides the beautiful archi- recently screened at the Whitney Biennial, Ira Cohen’s
to work with in the future? Any to build shelters. How will players staged a massive 1968 film THE INVASION OF THUNDERBOLT PAGODA is
tecture, culture, and food, each of you pull up parking lots march of gnomes in order to
filmmaker you’d like to work with? finally available as a limited edition director’s cut DVD.
which you could go on about end- to make gardens. Learning call for changes in the abili-
lessly, the people are another reason Mike: I’ve never given thought to that DVD FeATureS
self-defense and forming ties of one of the available B High-quality transfer from the original 16mm film, with
Belong: Turk Dietrich (L) and Mike Jones. to stay. kind of stuff. Here in New Orleans committees to deal with character classes; because color correction supervised by the director
you feel kinda isolated from every- the additional violence that all the protesters logged B The legendary soundtrack, newly remastered, featur-
What keeps you here, musically?
where else, so that even happening might (or might not) break onto the same server, their ing The Universal Mutant Repertory Company (Loren
Turk: Having lived in Chicago, you seems like a long shot. But I would out. Getting to know your collective presence caused Standlee, Ziska Baum, Angus MacLise, Raja Samyana,
can’t get away from the music scene do a David Gordon Green movie. neighbors, both human and it to crash. After World of
Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt, Hetty MacLise and
So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh
Jackson MacLow)
there. Someone’s talking about their nonhuman. How’s that for Warcraft’s parent company
“In New Orleans
Turk: I would not turn down Wong- B Two new, never-before-released alternative
music all the time. In New Orleans, Kar Wai. There’s no way. That’s off a start? banned a gay-friendly guild soundtracks to “Invasion” by Sunburned Hand of the CDs
some texture you know? you can mind your business. It’s off In the end, I think the from forming inside the Man and Acid Mothers Temple SWR
you can mind your
the top of my dome. If he called us up
the charts. There’s a motivation to primary measure by which game, certain players sent B Director’s Commentary track by Ira Cohen
Why do you think it’s so appealing? and said, “I want y’all to do two pieces So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh
the isolation, but you’re not doing it we will be judged by those characters to protest at B “Brain Damage,” a new film directed by Ira Cohen and
business. You’re Turk: I think a lot of people’s ears for the film,” we’d be like, “Yeah! For a benefit album curated by
to impress anybody. No one cares. free?” who come after will be the in-game weddings, claiming produced by BASTET created from never-before-seen
like stuff really loud. The depth, health of the landbase. the company was unfairly
original 16mm outtakes JOSePHiNe FOSTer
You must have stacks of tracks
not doing music to maybe, that fuzz brings? You can
layer a bunch of noise, something
Mike: There’s no social ladder to
climb. There’s no reason to be cool ready for a second album. Everything else builds from
there. The people who come
allowing for displays of
heterosexuality but no
B 16-page commemorative booklet featuring mylar pho-
tography and poetry by Ira Cohen and Angus MacLise,
Featuring The Cherry Blossoms, Feathers, Michael
Hurley, Meg Baird, Andrew Bar, Goatgirl, Devendra
impress anybody,
and critical texts by Ian Macfadyen and Allan Graubard
that’s aliasing in a track, it can bury or put on airs. You don’t have to Turk: Yeah, we have a lot a stuff
Banhart, Kath Bloom, Charlie Nothing, Diane Cluck,
after aren’t going to give other orientations. Edward B An original slideshow of 60 mylar photographs with John Allingham and Ann Tiley, Josephine Foster, Angels
other elements of the track and it talk to people about what you do. that’ll probably never get used. A lot a shit as to whether we Castronova, an economist soundtrack by Angus MacLise and original poetry by of Light, Rachel Mason, Pajo, MVEE, Kathleen Baird and
because no one cares.” kinda makes you pay attention, to
work harder as a listener to find the
They don’t care. I don’t know if it’s
an advantage, but I like it. A lot of
of hard drive space filled with stuff
that I don’t want to go back and
voted Democrat, Republican,
Green, anarchist, or none
who studies how culture
and money work within
Ira Cohen
“Part ‘Dr. Strange,’ part ‘Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome,’
Lay All Over It.
All proceeds from sales of this compilation are being
hook in the track. I think that’s one people here are content with just listen to. [Laughter] The next thing of the above. They’re not such virtual worlds, has [‘The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda’ is] so High ‘60s that donated to specific counter-recruitment and pacifist
reason why people love bands that talking about forming a band at a we’re going to do, we’re going to do going to give a shit about noted on Terra Nova that you emerge from its 20-minute vision perched full-lotus on organizations. We hope to assist them in their efforts
are totally fuzzed out and are not … bar. They’d rather drink and hang an EP for Very Friendly, which is a whether we were pacifists similar protests have a cloud of incense, chatting with a white rabbit and smoking promoting peace and non-militarism in the United
it’s a way to make things less obvi- out. UK record label. The way I’m look- or not pacifists. They’re occurred inside games like a banana.... ‘Invasion’ is a languidly opiated costume ball in States. All of the musicians represented here are US
which an assortment of masked and painted bohos, some citizens. Their voices join with many others across this
ous, I think. Turk: I think that over time New ing at it, it’ll maybe be a warm-up- not going to give a shit Ultima Online, Second Life sporting outsize elf ears, loll about a candlelit, Mylar-lined land that freely question and openly oppose war.
Orleans bands haven’t gotten rec- slash-foreshadowing of the second about whether we signed or and Star Wars Galaxies. set, blowing soap bubbles and nibbling majoon.”
You start hearing weirder things in Available August 1, 2006. $12 US/$14 Can/$17 World
ognized, so when bands form now album. didn’t sign online petitions. With tens of millions of —J. Hoberman, Village Voice
there. postpaid. Order direct from arthurmag.com or via
they have low expectations. They They’re not going to give users, Castronova asks, NTSC format only. Edition of 1000. $29.95 US/$34.95 Revolver Distribution.
Turk: Absolutely. It reminds me of Will the second album sound a lot a shit about how hard we “will these cultures begin Can/$39.95 World. Available from arthurmag.com and
have their period when they learn
the effect I get from some Glenn like the first? tried. It’s no good to live in a to think of themselves in through Revolver Distribution. STiLL AVAiLABLe
their songs and feel like they’re
Branca stuff—it’s just like really Mike: I don’t think we have to make groovy eco-socialist utopia terms of statehood?” B The Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival Compilation
good, they do a few shows and then
repetitive for awhile, he’s banging a conscious decision. I mean, espe- with free love if the planet Perhaps in the near B 2 Million Tongues curated by PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE
they don’t see a light at the end of
on the same chord and then you cially since we recorded it in 2004. is toxified. Those who come future, we may have to B Bread, Beard & Bear’s Prayers curated by ETHAN MILLER
the tunnel so the bands just sort (Comets On Fire, Howlin Rain)
start to hear different things that after are going to care about question the authority of
of fizzle away. As opposed to, say, Turk: It’s OLD now. When we get B Million Tongues curated by PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE
maybe weren’t intended to be there. whether they can breathe virtual governments as well
New York. You could play to a hun- into the studio, we have more gear B Golden Apples of the Sun curated by
the air, whether they can as our real ones, as many do
Mike: There are alternate tunings dred, hundred and fifty kids every to play with now… DEVENDRA BANHART
drink the water, whether when discussing the impli-
and the strings are banging against night. You’re constantly getting this Each CD is $12 US/$14 Can/$17 World postpaid, or free
Mike: New interests. the land can support them. cations of dead-in-iraq. But
each other… feedback on your music. Whereas in with new subscription to arthur. CDs are available
Everything else comes from the most powerful aspect
New Orleans… Turk: There will definitely be new
that. This seems so obvious
from arthurmag.com and through Revolver Distribution.
October Language was recorded of DeLappe’s project is that
before Katrina. Did you feel any dif- things in the mix that you may not I’m embarrassed to have to
After a while, here you’re going be it does not offer any easy
think we would do.
ferent about the record after the seeing the same people. say it, but this culture is so pro- or anti-war message. MIMEOS
storm? Were you thinking that it Turk: Yeah, the same 20 people. Mike: Get Juvenile on it. insane it needs to be said. He has simply devoted
was, like, some weird relic of some And it needs to be lived. himself to reiterating a hard In the tradition of the old mimeograph literary scene,
Mike: If they even come. Turk: If we could get Juvey on it, we’d BASTET is now publishing xeroxed monographs. Check
other time or you were you like, reality—these people died
“We’re still going to put this record get him in a slick minute. arthurmag.com for more info.
Turk: Hopefully, people will see what in Iraq—and does so inside
out. It doesn’t matter.” we did. They’ll see that you can do of a game explicitly created B STEVE AYLETT — coming soon
B CHARLES POTTS “Consumer Imperialism”
Turk: I can see how maybe people shit in your house, you can record to aid Army recruitment
B MATTEAH BAIM “The Saddest Joke”
can make that connection, but I it, you can get a good quality album efforts. In a way, isn’t he
B LEE RANALDO “Sorry Matt”
don’t know if it has a deeper mean- together and you can push it out ultimately assisting the
B BROTHER JT “The Jesus Guitar”
ing than it did before it was done. there having never played a live Army’s cause by improving
B ABLE BROWN “Birds and other Notes on the
The record still definitely resonates show and you can get signed. It’s the quality of new recruits? Condition of Humanity”
with me, but having been on tour, different from 20 years ago. From After all, let’s be realistic: B JESS ROTTER “Paradise”
I’ve heard the record so much that the day we decided to get together anyone who is squeamish B JAMES FOTOPOULOS “The Watering Hole”
I can’t really be objective about [in August 2002] we’ve gotten about dying in Iraq at this
it right now. I’m sure four or five together twice a week in my house, point should definitely not
The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda
usually around ten o’clock at night sign up.
and we work until four, five, five
42 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 43
majority would be 18–30? But we definitely recruited a lot of Yeah…?
new fans off of that acoustic record, an older audience. And
Well, what are you talking about?
this record seems to be drawing in a different kind of audience
That was my opinion at the time. The whole war thing, and
as well, so. You know, we’re just trying to continue to expand
trying to keep us up to date like… If you remember, back in
and not have a ceiling over our heads.
other wars, we didn’t have the opportunity to follow it through
Right. You guys are still having a good time making music after the media, and CNN, and the news—live updates and that kind
all these years? of thing. And I thought that for the most part you know we
Of course. We’re musicians, that’s what we do. It may not were allowed to follow it as best we could through the media
always be great music, but we love making it! [laughs] sources that were feeding us information.
Cuz music has a power…? [incredulous] You didn’t think the media was being controlled by
Mmm hmm. It’s a universal language. the military?
Well, it could be. I don’t know.
So what you say with it, and what you do with it, has an
effect…? You didn’t look into it?
Of course. Listen. Are you a fucking government expert?
Right? I’m not telling people to go join the military and then not
[emphatically] Of course. knowing what the military is doing.
I don’t tell people to go join the military!!
So I notice you guys have been really involved with promoting
the military. [1] You don’t think using your songs—the POWER of your music,
Well, they actually came to us, believe it or not. Somebody in which you were talking about—has an effect on the people
the Navy loves this band, because they used ‘Awake’ for three that hear it when it goes with the visuals that the best P.R.
years and then they came to us and re-upped the contract for people in the world use?
another three years for ‘Sick of Life.’ So, I don’t know. They Oh man, are you like one of those guys that agrees with some
just feel like that music, [laughs] someone in that place thinks kid that fuckin’ tied a noose around his neck because Judas
that the music is very motivating for recruit commercials I Priest lyrics told him to?
guess. And hey, I’m an American boy so it’s not… I’m proud of it.
You were telling me how powerful your music was, and what
You’re proud of recruiting your fans into the military? age the people are that listen to it, and you must have thought,
Well, no. [laughs, then playfully] Don’t be turning my fucking ‘Well the Navy sure thought it was useful,’ so you tell me.
words around, you! Hey, listen. The Navy thought…. It’s the same reason why
wrestlers work out to the music, and extreme motorcross riders
Well, tell me what you mean. You said your music is powerful, it’s
listen to the music and do what they do. It’s ENERGETIC music.
got an effect, like you said, and you’re letting the military use it.
It’s very ATHLETIC. People feel that they get an adrenaline rush
The military, who are they recruiting? 18-to-30-year-olds, right?
out of it or whatever, so, it goes with whatever’s an extreme
I guess… I don’t know what their recruit age is. I know it’s at
situation. But I doubt very seriously that a kid is going to join NOTeS
least 18.
the Marines or the US Navy because he heard Godsmack as 1. from “Selling War: How the military’s
Yeah, they do down in the high schools now. the underlying bed music in the commercial. They’re gonna go ad campaign gets inside the heads
My thing is… Listen, here’s my thing with the military. I’m and join the Navy because they want to jump out of helicopters of recruits” by Greg Goldin (March
not saying our government is perfect. Because I know that we and fuckin’ shoot people! Or protect the country or whatever 7-13, 2003 LAWeekly): “The Navy’s
make some mistakes and we do shitty things BUT, BUT. You it is, and look at the cool infra-red goggles. [campaign] theme is ‘Accelerate Your
wouldn’t have your job, and we wouldn’t have our lives, if we Life,’ which promises ‘adventure,
You said to MTV, “We’re not a very political band but we’re sup-
G
weren’t out there protecting this country so we could lead a free travel, career, patriotism, technology,
odsmack are a popular rock band who name is Ted Nugent—we saw no reason to turn portive of the U.S. military and how they approach things.” [2] education, honor.’ Set to music from
have sold millions of records in the United down the opportunity to ask these dudes why life. So there’s kind of a ying and a yang to that. Sometimes
Listen. Someone turned that around. I never said “and how the band Godsmack, a voice-over
States over the last eight years. Their they were doing what they were doing with their it’s not always the best choices that we make, or we stick our
they approach things.” intones, “‘If someone wrote a book
fourth album, IV, was released on April 25, 2006. music. So, on May 1, I spoke with Godsmack singer/ noses in other people’s shit, but at the same time, we protect about your life, would anyone want
It sold 211,000 copies in its first week in the to lyricist/producer Sully Erna by telephone. this place enough that we’re able to like pursue careers and do Okay. So that’s a misquote. Or something– to read it?’”
debut at Number One on the Billboard chart. what a lot of people in other countries aren’t able to do. They’re [interrupting]: Wow, what— 2. From June 19, 2003, mtv.com:
Here, with endnotes, is how the conversation kind of picked and they’re chosen to be whatever they become…
What about this? I’m reading from a Boston Glove review of a “Godsmack will return to the States
Several weeks previous, Arthur had been solicited went: I’m, I’m, I’m proud to be an American, I’ll tell you that. for a headlining tour in the fall, which
Arthur asked singer by Godsmack’s publicist for press coverage. Gods-
mack and Arthur couldn’t be much further apart, Arthur: Alright let me get the tape rolling here. So your country, right or wrong?
show you did at the Tweeter Center. In front of 13,000 people
on May 22, 2003. It said “Godsmack’s ferociously high energy 90-
like the current outing will offer $10
tickets to U.S. soldiers. ‘We’ve always
How you doing?
Sully Erna to explain his ideologically. Godsmack singer Sully Erna has been
outspoken in support of President Bush, the US Sully Erna of Godsmack: I’m good!
Uh, no. Not right or wrong. But I’m proud to be an American. I
love my country. I’ve seen the depressions and how people live
minute set started with video footage of Apache helicopters
honing in on a desert target, interspersed with the words ‘We
been supportive of our country and
our president and stuff like that,
pro-war statements and military and the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
His band has licensed their music to the Navy for
How was the Jimmy Kimmel show on Friday? You
were outside playing, right?
in other countries and how they’re told what to be, and they
don’t have the choices that we have. I do love that about our
will prevail…Stronger than them all.” [3]
Yeah…?
whereas a lot of people, I thought,
lashed out pretty quickly at what we
his No. 1-selling pop-rock use in recruiting campaigns, and some of their con-
certs in 2003, if press reports were to be believed,
Yeah it’s always cool to do that because it’s so set
up for musicians, you know. Big stage, live crowd.
country. So, you know… And I actually sympathize with a lot
of the soliders, and the military in general, that are trained to
So you’re using military imagery with your music at your
did, and I thought the government
did everything pretty cleanly and
concerts? publicly as possible,’ Erna explained.
band’s involvement in military resembled war rallies: jingoism as entertainment
at best, war for profit at worst. Arthur, meanwhile,
It’s not so like indoors with a camera rehearsals. go out and protect FOR us, and what they have to go through,
it’s really kind of shitty in a sense that these young kids have
First of all, it was a COMPUTER image, a computer-animated ‘We have a lot of respect for the
It’s a lot easier. helicopter that didn’t… There was no scene of a desert in there. military and stuff like that, and we
recruiting campaigns. has been firmly anti-war since 2002: we dedicated
an entire issue to the subject in July 2003 (the Yeah. So you got to be back out in front of
to go over there and die, sometimes, for something that isn’t
our fucking problem. And that kind of sucks. So what I have
It was a helicopter that rose up from the screen and scanned just wanted to give them something
back for what they did for us, letting
your fans. the audience. It was an EFFECT. And then it shot out missiles
cover featured a photograph of David Cross as a to do is at least support them, because they don’t have the us live in a free country and that kind
Then things got stupid. war-mad soccer mom, framed by the words “Hoo- Yeah. It was good. It was fun. choice that we do.
that hit the stage. Because the intro to “Straight Out of Line”
has the sounds of like, a war thing going on.
of thing. We’re not a very political
band, but we are supportive of the
ray for Empire! USA - #1 With a Bullet!”), and our What kind of people listen to your music, do They don’t have the choice because…? U.S. military and how they approach
opposition to the Bush administration’s foreign you think? [trying to decide if Sully is dissembling or just obtuse] Oh I see. So it’s
Because they’ve decided to fight for our country. things.’” Source:
policy and the military’s recruiting strategies has Ummm… I’ve seen ’em range as young as 8 and as just sort of a concept thing. [pause] Well, you’ve done a lot to
been constant since then—coverlines like “War Pigs old as 68. [chuckles] So it’s… And they decided to do that because…? help out the guys who are in the military, who are stuck there
in the White House” and “How YOU Can Help Teens … [laughs]… now, whether they chose to be there or they got hoodwinked
Stay Out of the Military” (March, 2004) and “Out, Well, you’ve seen a lot more of ‘em than I have, into being there. For whatever reason, they’re in the military.
by Demons Out! Inside the 1967 Exorcism of the Penta- and I’m trying to get an idea of what it feels like
when you’re out there—to you, on the stage. Do
Of your song…?
Aw, come on. It’s not like that.
And they’re doing their job. You guys did a show for them at
Camp Pendleton called “Rockin’ the Corps.” And so you’ve been
Jay Babcock gon and the Birth of Yippie” (November, 2004) kind
of make that clear. you think there’s a lot of teenagers in the audi- Well I have a quote from you here: “We’ve always been support- doing a lot of benefit shows—
illustration by Although the solicitation for an Arthur feature on
ence? A lot of guys in their 20s? Chicks? Is it a dude
audience?
ive of our country and our president, whereas a lot of people I
thought”—and you said this in 2003, to MTV News, you said—”a
[interrupting] Well, like I said, Listen you know, there’s a lot
of young kids that die for our country, man, and they don’t
Beau Johnson Godsmack was kind of puzzling—usually politically
minded mainstream musicians steer clear of con-
I would say, if I had to guess what our age group is, lot of people I thought lashed out pretty quickly at what we have the choice once they’re in there. So I just feel well
it’s probably between …18 and 40. I would have to did and I thought the government did everything pretty cleanly you know whatever we can do to say ‘thank you for 46
tact with the politically active press, unless their say that’s kind of where we’re at, maybe more, and publicly as possible.” [2]
44 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 45
protecting our country’ is what we try to do. I’m not trying to Why am I here?!? This is the top country in the world,
make this a big political issue. my friend!
Well, why do you think so? Because it’s PROTECTED.
3. From http://archive.unearthed.com/ Okay. Have you done anything to prevent people from joining
?news,2003,05,0000018118. Steve the military? No one is attacking us, my friend. Certainly not Iraq. Every first
Morse of the Boston Globe reviewed No. world nation suffers terrorist attacks. Get used to it.
Godsmack’s homecoming concert at
I am used to it. I don’t have a problem—
the Tweeter Center on Thursday (May To maybe educate them as to what’s in store for them?
22, 2003) before a crowd of 13,000. I don’t have enough education in the military to educate them Get used to it.
“A large part of that crowd—2,000 in anything. [laughs] Sounds like you do.
to be exact—were members of the
military who had bought $10 tickets Would you let your music be used for anti-military recruiting You’re the one that’s saying it’s alright to not know about stuff
in the reserved section on the lawn. advertisements? and then to send other people to die in our name.
Godsmack have taken a pro-military I don’t know, I ‘d have to see what that was about. I never said that! Don’t put fuckin’ words in my mouth.
stance this spring, and they loaned
their song ‘Awake’ for use in a But you’d be open to it? I’ve got it on tape, bro.
Navy recruitment ad. Godsmack’s We’re open to whatever, as long as it’s not a Maybelline com- You’ve got in on tape, bro?!?
ferociously high-energy, 90-minute mercial.
show started with video footage of Yeah.
Apache helicopters honing in on a [laughs] Maybelline’s more offensive than the military…? You got me saying it’s okay for us to attack other countries?
desert target, interspersed with the No. That doesn’t quite go with what we do.
words, ‘We will prevail … stronger I got you on tape saying they’re protecting us by attacking, by
than them all.’” From godsmack.com But the military does. going over there and taking out people.
forum post: “The show was May 23, Listen. Where are we going with this thing? Is this interview Listen, don’t fuckin’ turn my words around to make it to what you
2003. I know, I was there. The video about the government? This sounds like this is a personal want it to be! That’s not what I meant and you know that.
did have a military theme. Besides attack or whatever.
the helicopter there was images of Okay I’m sorry. Then tell me what you meant.
fighter jets, stealths, and troops. Well I’ve never seen such a pro-military band as you guys. [4] Listen, I’m not gonna get into a political fuckin’ conversation
Also not only did the words ‘WE WILL But we’re not! I think [chuckling] you’re making us out to be with you. This was supposed to be an interview about the band.
PREVAIL./STRONGER THAN THEM ALL.’ a little bit more. When we’re asked about something, we just Where is this going?
appear on the screen so did ‘UNITED answer the question. We don’t go spend 23 hours out of our
WE STAND.’” From another godsmack. We’re talking about the power of your music and what you’re
day supporting the military and what they do. We just simply,
com forum post: “Here is the EXACT using it for.
an opportunity came up, they wanted to use some music for a
way I saw the show start in 2003: What is this for anyway? Who are you working with?
“[digital video text starts] / [some- recruit commercial. What are we gonna say, no?
thing about being in this time] / We, I’m working for my own magazine, my friend.
Yeah. How hard is it to say ‘no’?
as Americans citizens, need to unite / What’s it called?
Supporting our troops, our country,
Why would we, though?!?
our freedom / And, in the end, we will [laughing in disbelief] What do you mean, what’s it called? Are you
Because—
prevail and remain…. / Stronger than serious?
[interrupting]: Is it because you don’t feel the same way about
all!!!! [end digital text] [pictures of a Yeah, what’s the magazine called?
the government that we do, makes you right and us wrong?
tank, jet fighters, troops jumping out
of transports & out of helicopters It’s called Arthur Magazine. You guys are the ones that set this up.
Yeah. What do you feel about the government? Tell me what—
fully armed, another fighter dropping Hey I was just told to do press today, man. I got a checklist in
Aw, that’s crazy, man! That’s just an OPINION.
bombs, bomb exploding on the front of me, and I don’t have time for a lot of this bullshit.
ground, more bombs exploding, heli- I can back my opinion up from here to tomorrow if you would
copters taking off] [Shannon starts Oh yeah?
like to talk to me all day long.
drum intro to Straight Out of Line] So write whatever the fuck you wanna write, because your
Well obviously you’ve done a lot of research and you’ve—
[Helicopter in video shoots missles magazine obviously is that popular.
and pyro explodes on stage like the [interrupting]: That’s right, because—
It’s doing pretty good—
missles hit there] [song starts]” —got a different opinion. We don’t know that stuff that you
[interrupting]: Yeah I’m sure it is. All 3,000 copies of it— [5]
4. Erna on MTV News, January 22, know, so—
2003: “Unfortunately, there were On our own, without any corporate support.
some really bad things that happened
[impatient]: Why don’t you do some research before you get in-
[involving the Middle East], and I think volved with these sorts of things? You’re talking about young I wish you the best of—… Why would you waste your time
if we don’t cut out the cancer while kids’ lives. You’re talking about kids— calling a band like us when you don’t even give a fuck?!?
it’s still young, then it’s gonna grow to [yelling] Would you rather not have us be protected so they
I certainly do give a fuck. Cuz you know what?
be this entity that we may not be able can come and overrun our country?!?
to defend ourselves against. I applaud What is this about?!?
the government and President Bush Do you know what a “fool’s errand” is?
Because listen, man! You know there’s 2,800 people, my broth-
for doing what they’re doing, and I I’m asking you a question!
ers and sisters, have died over in Iraq? [6]
think our military are some of the
bravest souls, much braver than I No one is threatening— Yeah…?
could ever be.” Would you rather us not be protected?!?
You know 30,000 Iraqi humans WHO NEVER DID SHIT TO US have
5. Actually, it’s 50,000. You know what I’d like, Sully? A Department of Defense, not a died because of the attacks we’ve made over there? [7]
6. The correct number of US deaths as Department of Offense that attacks other countries—sover- [in disbelief] And that’s Godsmack’s fault?
of May 1, 2006 was around 2400. eign nations—who do things in a different way than us, who we
Did you know that 78% of women in the military report cases
7. Although it has been criticized for have no right to go over and invade and change their govern-
of sexual harassment? [8]
grossly under-reporting civilian ments. Would we want someone else to do that to us?
[sarcastic] And that’s Godsmack’s fault.
deaths caused by the initial U.S. bomb- I’m not saying—
ing campaigns, Iraqbodycount.org is No, man—
How hard is that to think about?
probably the best current source on [interrupting, sarcastic]: That has to do with our new record.
how many Iraqis have been killed dur- I’m not saying that we were right on every war that we’ve
ing the invasion and US occupation. created. I know that we’ve been damn wrong at times about Okay, let’s talk about your new record.
8. Source: Department of Defense 1995 stuff— I can’t believe this. This is [inaud]
Sexual Harassment Survey (Arlington, Let’s talk about that new record, my friend—
When have we been wrong?
VA: Defense Manpower Data Center,
—but they have also been wrong too! I don’t trust someone Get a life. [hangs up]
December 1996)
like fuckin’ Sadaam and Osama to come in here and try to
control—
[incredulous] When did Sadaam try to come in here and control
our country?
Dude, [yelling] WHY DON’T YOU GO LIVE IN IRAQ THEN
IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH AMERICA? Why
are you here?
46 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006
June, 2006 47
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Bull Tongue
Byron Coley & Thurston Moore
t
Explore the Voids of All Known Undergrounds
I t
It’s nice to report that sickness has the
most goddamned great locked groove
we’ve heard in years. As good as any of the
500 locked grooves on RRR’s classic 500
Locked Grooves omnibus a few years back.
It’s on the Sought for Slaying LP freshly
Shit is downright brutal with its amplified
pain.
Also intriguing, in a blackened corpse
kind of way, is that which is Montreal, Que-
bec’s akitsa. These dark dream mugs is-
sued a cassette years back called Soleil Noir
minted by Hospital Productions (not to be on a Montreal label (Tour De Garde), which
confused with the Graveyards cassette on made many a noir metal enthusiast’s butt-
American Tapes with the same title which hole pucker. It’s just been reissued as a pic
is only available in the Hospital store on disc on German rotting carcass label, Rag-
3rd Street NYC). Sickness has a sewer full of ing Bloodlust. As far as this shit goes, Akitsa
grey life noise releases and is linked to the has an endearing capacity to fall into hyp-
most ferocious and panting of compadres no-stasis repeato-relentlessness with dead
in that scene. One dude killing it with gore simple crunge n’ blunt trauma riffing. The
stench tabletop and loving it. cult of Akitsa is strong enough where Rag-
Speaking of Hospital records, Pruri- ing Bloodlust has issued Aube de la Misan-
ent master and store proprietor, Dominick thropie, a double LP of demos, comp tracks
Furnow, has finally opened the amazing and way limited CDR heaviness, which really
Hospital store in NYC. Brian from Mouthus gives you a primer into what seems to be
has been keeping us up to date with every Akitsa’s nefarious perception of Quebecois
nail he pounded into the bins of this base- nationalism. Go figure, but go get it for true
ment bordello. It lies below a reggae record underground hell-sludge goodness.
joint called Jammyland and not only does it Chuck Dukowski is a goddamn legend-
serve up a sweet load of blackness, but it is ary figure in terms of American under-
very very neat. It is also the best art gallery groundism. His work with Black Flag, SST
in a city which prides itself in such things. Records, Wurm and whatnot have earned
Unbeknownst to the art scene in NYC, this him a permanent place at some kinda spe-
space has the most absurd and arcane ob- cial table. Anyway, that’s our take. Chuck’s
jets de fetishisme we’ve ever encountered. take is that he has this new band, CD6 (aka
Beautiful box frames containing such brain the Chuck Dukowski sextet) and they’ve
zapping items as Hair Police Mike Connelly’s now released an actual CD after a couple of
torn shirt guitar, Dominick’s first broken-
to-screaming-shit microphones, Emil Beau-
C
lieau’s button down sweater! We picked up
the ash pool first taste of slaughter cas-
sette on Public Altar, which is Dom’s black
metal duo with Kris Lapke (dude who plays
drums on Purient’s Black Vase CD). Dom
explains Ash Pool as a “black metal sound
with more of a ritualized abusive/obsessive
sexual theme of demise vs. the usual satan-
satisfies
ic garbage.” We would have to agree defi-
nitely—pure hell vibe straight to the core
with no time for comic books.
Only other metal we’ve let pass through
the Bull Tongue gate is the weirded-out
lung slime of Bone awl. Two fucking in-
sane bastards from Novato, California who Chuck Dukowski and Lora Norton
go by the names of He Who Gnashes Teeth
(vocals, guitars, bass) and He Who Crushes
Teeth (drums). We haven’t heard their Bog CDRs. Eat My Life (Nice and Friendly) has a
subscriptions, back issues & more available at Bodies/Magnetism of War LP on Goatowa cool, strange feel. Dukowski buckled when
we called it hippie music, but it’s got a real
arthurmag.com
Rex but if it’s anything like the miserable
mung heap of their Up to Something tape free flow, and the graphics (by vocalist, Lora
or the split tape they did with The Rita (Ca- Norton—check her site for examples) look
nadian noise freaks who we wrote about like Japanese hippie space manga to us. The
photo by Nicolas Amato • bigmistake69@hotmail.com last issue), then we’ll fly to Novota and first half of the album is pretty great—loose,
of Becky Stark • lavenderdiamond.com prostrate ourselves, tongues lagging on weird rock moves with almost-‘mersh fe-
hot suburban cement, to get just a taste. male vocals and aggression hidden in the
48 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 49
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Bull Tongue Bull Tongue
smoke. The jazz bits that pepper it make me think tor. Contributors include the immortal val times, but the overall essence here is like a New USA label, IDES, has come outta
of an updated version of the ‘60s band, Womb, or Webber, and Lauren introduces a series of somewhat straighter version of the Strap- the gate with a full steam of face shredding
something. The latter half of the album is more Titcat postcards this time as well. So write ping Fieldhands. They have distinct aural love. Two cassettes: Nursery by Crib Death
jazzbo-specific, meaning that it’s a lot less reliant her today. One of the sharpest U.S. ‘zines to connections to the New Zealand bands of and Sexuality Is A Curse by Climax Denial.
on riff primacy. And when you’ve got somebody come along lately is O Sirhan O Sirhan. The the early ‘90s, but they’re not that far from Crib Death is an ongoing project of Spite
who plays bass like Dukowski, we’re not sure debut issue has a sorta lo-fi look, but the Great Plains either. Records label master and Humectant Inter-
that’s the ultimate best choice. But hey—it’s his contents are “boobs” as hell. There’s an ex- Bradley Lastname has been boiling ruption wizard, Joel St. Germain, and bud,
band. It’s just nutty to hear “My War” played with- cellent piece on Henry Flynt’s anti-racist around in the punk lit underground for a Anthony Miller. The extraction on display
out that insane bass barrage. Anyway, it beats the protests of ’64, a photo essay of Deerhoof good long while, and various booklets of here is a gurgled mouth of cum and beer
shorts offa SWA, and Lora’s images have a real bi- relaxing, a Devendra Banhart sketch- his are hidden around here. His two new- and if you close your eyes you will dig it and
zarre way of sucking you in. book, a long interview (and accompanying est books are pretty slick looking, however, know those things which make reality such
A most exciting music book is The Sound of CD) by sound artist Jorge Boehringer, and even if their content is still quite scabbly. a stone gas. Climax Denial from Milwaukee
Squirrel Meals: The Work of Lol Coxhill (St. Pauli even more. Excellent peeks! The Squeaky Fromme Gets the Grease and has been strafing death waves for years and
Druckerei) by Barbara schwarz. Coxhill’s fan- The fabulous Memoirs of an Aesthete What I Learned About Ancient History from is an entity we never became too acquaint-
tastic arc as a genius of the soprano saxophone label out of England has released a fabulous Marilyn Murray O’Hare’s Rare Coin Collection ed with. Our bad, as this release is easily a
(and other brain/mouth/finger hybrids) is dealt cassette by the fabulous Melanie Delaney (both, Press of the Third Mind) are enter- contender for #1 noise jam of the 06. Usu-
with here in loving detail. There are reprints of who is part of the fabulous Ashtray Naviga- tainingly toxic blends of poetry, prose, cut- ally the sound of a distorted voice from the
interviews, articles, fliers, photographs, record tions. We always thought that these days ups and word games. At times, Lastname dry humped anus of a rotten crone would
covers. There’s an exhaustive annotated discog- AN might be pared down to just founding comes off as drunken blend of Brion Gysin be naught but quaint and hopelessly naïve,
raphy, a chronology, a list of film/TV appearanc- member Phil Todd, but it seems that Mela- and Buddy Bradley, but what’s wrong with but somehow Climax Denial renew whatev-
es, and just a whole pantload of information and nie is indeed a primary ingredient of that that? Nothing. er value this tradition may have warranted
wonder. Miss this one at yr own peril. Another outfit’s contempo primo bliss hiss. Add to Meanwhile, Buddy Bradley’s home team and proceed to rip headlong into a furnace
fascinating research document is the S. Bur- that, the fact that this cassette has Melanie (Fantagraphics) has been publishing some of fucking great noisewaste.
roughs Literary Archive catalogue from the rare partnered with the ultra-fabulous Bridget particularly great stuff recently. One of the Brian Chippendale (of Lightning Bolt)
book dealer, Ken Lopez. This is a detailed look, Hayden of Vibracathedral Orchestra and most beautiful is Jimbo’s Inferno by gary was kind enough to send along a copy of
with historical context, about a very important sweet jesus, you know the unfolding will panter. This is something of a prequel to a recent comicbook called Battlestack Ga-
cache of Burroughs’ letters, manuscripts, record- envelop and save your rotten tongue. We Jimbo in Purgatory and is an equally lus- lacti-crap, which is a lovely exploration of
ings and paintings that was recently sold. Not ev- can assure you. The cassette is entitled cious piece of deluxe hardcover candy. The Gang Gloom’s attempt to sell well-priced
eryone’s cup of jiz, but a great thing for fanatics. Ground Zero Celebration Pessary, it is lov- work itself is not a text-reliant as that other and healthful cupcakes to their neighbors
Lovers of frozen oink should also check out Verk- ingly spraypainted and it moves forward book. Actually, it’s a sustained Jimbo story, (among other things). He also included
sted #4/Sonic North (Office for Contemporary Art with frozen sun guitar/amp melt-zone with more inspired by Dante than writ by him. the first two CDs by Black pus—Black Pus
Norway). This issue of the journal is a compendi- an incendiary ALIVENESS. Nice shit m’lady. But man, it is a pleasure jumbo! We can nev- and Black Pus 2 (Diarearama). Ostensibly a
um of facts and opinions about the state of the Brother JT is best known for his musi- er get our fill of this immortal cave-punk’s solo project, featuring Brian’s drums and
noise scene in Norway. There’s a good overview cal madness, but he has long been a writ- peregrinations. Another sheer stunner is sax playing, the Black pus disks make me
and discography, plenty on Rune Grammofon, er of immense talent as well, although his victor Moscoso’s Sex, Rock and Optical Il- think of an exploding cigar version of that
Lasse Marhaug, Fe-Mail and more. work is usually available only in fits and lusions. Moscoso was both an SF Ballroom old No Neck side project, Safire. Parts of
Mouthus have been simply RAMPAGING starts. His latest booklet, The Jesus Gui- poster artist and one the select group of Black Pus 2 might even get close to a scum-
from burg to burg, releasing Mouthus and re- tar, may actually get reprinted by Bastet at cartoonists who contributed to Zap Com- metal version of Ornette’s recordings in
lated jams (such as Canada’s Cousins of Reggae) some point. Which would be cool, ‘cause ics. This hardcover collects a huge batch of Jajouka. Yum! They’re both just squinky,
on their own Our Mouth CDR imprint. And Im- this is one of JT’s best. It’s basically an ex- its – posters, Color Comix, that legendary chapped-out as hell, and feature wonder-
portant Records released their The Long Salt CD, tended essay on his idea of transcendent bus wraparound, etc. If you like the feel of ful silkscreened covers. Nate Denver from
which absolutely kills from start to finish. We be- guitar playing and drugs and records and eyeballs melting, you’ll be stuck to this for Total Shutdown has a swank volume out as
gan investigating the actuality and whereabouts a lotta other good stuff. Definitely worth hours. well. Wait, you’re not a centaur. It’s a lovely
of Mouthus way back when our first lead came some squinting. JT has another volume out As we go to press, a fucking ashtray load of stories that run 50 words or less, ac-
from Michael Bernstein, who said his groovy as well. Nine (Whatisit? Press) is a lovely col- Navigations LP called Dirt Mummies companied by very stylish illos. Our favorite
group stroke Double Leopards shared a rehears- lection of poems about music, Greg Shaw, And Bloody Amps (Freenoise UK) has just one is probably about Bolt Thrower meet-
al space or some such thing with ‘em. As it turns D.A. Levy and T.L. Kryss. JT has a beautiful dropped out of God’s ass onto our decks ing Jesus, but you go ahead and pick your
out, the Brooklyn community of Double Leps and way of connecting interior dots, and ob- and sweet jehovah if it ain’t the tits of sum- own. This should be out pretty soon from
Mouthus has continued to expand particularly to serving his journey is a real pleasure. mer. Phil Todd goes deep inside the tea- La Mano 21.
the UK and particularly to Double Leps’ Marcia Tom (T.L.) Kryss himself is well-served room pysche of cold and rain-dead Leeds Don’t get too many photo books
Bassett rockin n rollin with Matthew Bower of by The Search for the Reason Why (Bottom and really channels the Flevo mama. Churn- here, but just got a doozy of a collabora-
Sunroof! under the aegis of Hototogisu. Fol- Dog Press). This is not exactly the Collect- ing narcolicious swirls of harmonic high- tion called The Wheels Project (Hoover Flag
low? Anyway what we’re getting at is there’s a ed Works of Kryss we all deserve, but it ness rip off the static needle cling of your Press), with the work of Ken richardson,
new 2LP, Crippled Rosebud Binding with one side is a great sampling of new and old work, sweet-head stylus in a please-don’t-stop- Jasen strickler and andrew M.K. War-
each from Double Leopards, Mouthus, sun- both poetry and prose, with a smattering now-or-never mode. Tasty mung. Recom- ren. The subject of all the pics is wheeled
roof! and the 4th side a collab between ‘em all. of Toms rabbit drawings thrown in. Its a mended cut: “Greased Whistle.” 200 copies transport—from slot cars to monster bikes
Sounds like it could be a lotta pudding to digest lovely collection Kryss writing can be as numbered. Go! to old Cadillacs and onward. The prints
but this monster goes down juicy. Sunroof!, aug- street and real and anyones, but he also The latest installment of sean Casey’s look great, and the organization is good,
mented by Bassett and Vibracathedral Orches- possesses a clarity of spirit that allows him ongoing book-a-month project is Cindi’s Fur too. Some of the b&w images are so total-
tra’s Mick Flower, absolutely stuns with a raw to write about simple beauty without re- Coat (The Chuckwagon), which has some ly out-of-time they look like they might’ve
dimensional take on some tune called Cortez the sorting to cliché or tired imagery. The smell excellent poetry about the workplace. May- showed up in a Robert Frank or Garry Win-
Killa. The record is on Music Fellowship and is the and weight and feel of Cleveland (and envi- be not yr workplace, but you’ll recognize ogrand book from the early ‘60s. But even
fifth installment in their triptych series where rons) permeate the text, but we dont think it nonetheless. You should also recognize the ones that look like they were shot to-
they pair three distinctive mofos to mess your youd wanna have it any other way. Any- it’s a great day when the newest comic/ morrow have a great vibe—Americans and
dick around. Don’t sleep, this baby is already out one serious about reading poetry should zine/whatsis rolls in from Hello Trudi. The their wheels. Damn, but they look tickled.
of print and getting hard to track down. be reading Kryss. Now. new one is called Winter Bender and fea- Been spinning shawn David McMil-
One more lovely, oversized, English language Because of problems with Chuck Cleav- tures e*rock, Jonathan Thomas and len’s Catfish LP a lot lately. McMillen is an
literary/art magazine has emerged from Eastern er as a record dealer, I never bothered to Chase Chivers. We woulda thought there elusive cog in the Texas kosmiche psyche
Europe. Blatt, based in Prague, has a bit more listen to the ass ponys when they were was some Chambers stuff in here, too, but improv scene of Charalambides and Ash
sexual energy than some of its confreres and is around, even though they recorded for what do we know? All we can say is that Castles on the Ghost Coast (of which he
all the better for it. We are none too conversant my second or third favorite Northern Ohio these ‘zines are like a nutty cross between was a member with Charalambides/Scorc-
with much of the material presented, but the record label of the time. Supposedly, they Pettibon, Gonzales, Childish and we dunno es/Taurpis Tula’s Heather Leigh Murray).
prose and poetry and photography and art are all eventually did some major label stuff and what else. Great xeroxed art of the most His participation in the nascent activities
top flight. The format is goddamn elegant as well. almost got popular, but that does not insanely wonderful type. And they just of that scene is fairly revered, but hard
And Michael Jackson’s head looks so cute on a concern us. What we’re playing now is a keep coming. If you like that sorta thing, to track (‘though there have been sight-
deer’s body you might well rethink his whole, uh, 2CD compilation, The Okra Years (Shake It), we would also commend Drawings (Friends ings with such outfits as Iron Kite, Rubble
“situation.” Also, sexy as always is the latest issue which compiles a selection of their material and Relatives). The first issue collects art by and most noticeably with Charalambides’
of Lauren Naylor’s Pretend I Am Someone Else. from their days with that esteemed label. over 20 young bastards, and some of it is Tom Carter and Brian Smith in The Friday
Dreams, fantasies, poetry and collages, all collide As with almost all Okra acts, there is s slight cruder than Rory Hayes crossed with Den- Group, who released a cool LP on Beta-Lac-
in the shadow of Leeds’ largest orgone genera- rural vibe that pops up amidst the daisies at nis Tyffuss. Honest! tam Ring). Emperor Jones has righteous-
50 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 51
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Bull Tongue
ly stepped up to the plate by curveballing yondo sound solicitation. They’ve released
out this McMillan LP, and it’s an excellent a ton of cool stuff already from Kylie Mi-
marker in the diaspora of roving Texas out- noise, Reverse Mouth, Post Blue etc. and
sider music. Side one is a collection of vary- have to date made three Phase! fanzines
ing lassitudes-of-song as ethereal gesture, which have wicked graphix from Smack Mu-
while all of side two is a magnificent heat- sic 7/Blood Stereo’s Karen Constance and
drenched spirit improv of strings, bells and a bitchin’ interview with Charlie Ward of
humidity. A worthwhile sniff of avant-long- Stomach Ache/RRR (!). Athens is officially
horn dream-guh. insane. Welcome.
Not entirely dissimilar is the Since We
Have Fallen LP by Hush arbors. A solo
Photo Bill T Miller
venture by Keith Wood, who you may have
seen playing sweet ripping guitar on stage
with Wooden Wand, Sunburned Hand of the
Man, and Zodiacs (under nom-de-plume
Ezekiel Blackouts III). Hush Arbors is a must
for anyone into super contempo sub-stra-
ta American folk-psyche modernity. This LP
is a numbered edition of 500 and is pack-
aged in a gorgeous letterpress window-
cut sleeve designed by the Blue Barnhouse
gang in Asheville, NC, and released by Har-
vest Recordings also from Asheville. The re-
cordings existed earlier as limited CDR from
Foxglove but those disappeared fast. Now’s
the time to jump cuz this baby is the peren-
Donna Parker
nial poobah.
Mondo Macabro continues to churn
out a truly screwball selection of exploita- Great insanity in LP form is provided
tion DVDs from unexpected sources. Their by Australian Sean Bailey, who records as
latest coup is a double feature of Turkish Lakes. The eponymous Lakes album (Chap-
films Deathless Devil/Tarkan vs. the Vikings. ter Music) is a gorgeously crusty slab of
Deathless features the imortal superhero, mystery meat. Hard to tell at times if Sean
Copperhead (actually the son of the origi- is playing a tipple (ala Ed Askew) or ham-
nal Copperhead, but you get the idea). It’s a mering apart a piano or dancing around in
classic of inexplicable topless spy adventur- front of primitive sequences or what-the-
ism and an excellent opportunity to watch hell? The music has a great, non-generic
Dr. Satan get his ass kicked in weird style. no-wavey punk take on homemade elec-
But Tarkan is the real mindblower here. tronics and vocals pushed to great limits
Huns versus Vikings, two dogs (who are of grit. Incredibly, it includes a cover of the
supposed to be wolves) named Kurt, top- Art Bears’ “Song of Investment Capital Over-
less hijinks up the wazoo, berserk battle seas.” And it’s a tufted winner!
scenes, the best moustache EVER, and an The out of nowhere resurgence of
octopus that looks like a rubber omelet. bone snapping harsh noise maestros
This disk is a real charmer. In a similar vein Mlehst has given a lot of us heads a new
is Sweet & Savage by Mark goodall (Head- reason to kill ourselves. Mlehst were proba-
press). Subtitled The World Through the bly the most intensely skin shredding noise
Shockumentary Film Lens, this is a pretty cut up sounds-from-satans-dick outfit of
thorough overview of the genre of films the ‘90s. We’d relegated them to the mias-
spawned by Gualitiero Jiacopetti’s Mondo ma of past putrefaction, but the Belief Re-
Cane. It feels a little academic at times, but cordings label has recently issued two LPs
we guess that’s probably more a function of Mlehst kill-tunage and they’re both phe-
of how dumb much exploito reviewing nomenal. The Mlehst home label pre-Belief
has seemed since the passing of mags like was called Bandaged Hand Produce, which
Shock Express and Pandemonium. Regard- issued a collection of signpost harshness
less, it’s a great read with synopses and back in the day from Telepherique, Runzel-
critical writing about most of the impor- stirn & Gurglestock, Brume a.o. The Mlehst
tant pics. J.G. Ballard on the influence of dude destroyed all the masters in 2001 (why
mondo-style cinema on his own work, and not?) so we thought maybe this was pret-
pics, too. How can you miss? ty much a final sayonara but this ain’t the
Donna parker has finally released case. Along with these two hellacious LPs,
Debutante (Twisted Village), her debut Mlehst has an 8” lathe coming from Tasma-
LP and it is superb. Feedback oscillations, nia’s stench label Cipher Productions, a 7”
jammed signals, sick battery effects ped- and LP split with Prurient due from Hospi-
al malfunction all through the hands, ears tal, an LP on Nihilist, and a cassette on Spite.
and heart of Donna Parker, who has been Dude is back! Totally tits.
one of the consistent musical highlights Everyone loves obscure little Japanese
of the Eastern Seaboard out noise scene. comic books, do they not? Certainly! And
Produced by Jessica Rylan (who has a duo this little Ranshi by Tetsunori Tawaraya
with Donna Parker called Secret Diary—LP is a very crazy stew of images. Scatological,
forthcoming on Ecstatic Peace) this is the smutty, violent, mystical, ratty and arcane,
record of the summer, with enough beach all at the same time, the story seems to be
blanket noise action to sunburn yr brain about a quest of some sort. Or maybe it’s
from beginning to end. It’s that good. New just about getting out of a rabbit costume.
Greek freako label Phase! has issued Black Either way, it’s possessed of a vibe that will
Black Heart, a 3” CDR of Donna Parker that make yr teeth fill with indescribable flavors.
has some gnarly zap-switching pieces plus Check out his site—it is filled with wild lines
an actual vocal track titled …This Is Why I and scents.
Don’t Sing. phase! records seems to be Man what is up with Filthy Turd? This
gearing up for a sweet onslaught of be- UK phenomenon has released a toiletbowl
52 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 53
//////////////////////////
Bull Tongue
which leans to the Allmans/Dead/Faces side C: Vetiver’s music evokes all those little phases
full of tapes the last year or so and they
C&D
of the highway. And just a few months after or episodes along a dayhike in the country: the
are fascinatingly mundane in their gunk ap- Comets guitarist Ben Chasny’s latest Six Organs initial entry into the wilderness…the part where
peal. Our favorites have been the absolute- of Admittance pan-cultural acid-folk stunner, you’re making serious headway, alone with your
ly hideous split releases he has done with The Sun Awakens. thoughts…the moment when the senses are
F: Not to mention Comets pianist/drummer overwhelmed by the nature stimuli, the dew
Mutant Ape, particularly the Mutant Turd
Utrillo’s nuevo Elton John/Bill Fay song project, and the sap, the sun’s heat and the insects’
Disco Anale CDR on Turddude’s own Volt- Two guys reason together about some new records The Colossal Yes. hum...when you finally you stop for water by a
age Stress*r label. Monsieur Turd has this to C: That one 11-minute song on the Colossal Yes brook, and take a nap in the shade. When Andy
say about himself: “I am Filthy Turd
I am the album? Wow… [listening to “Holy Teeth”] But Cabic sings, “I climbed so high/the sky dropped
whore of mystery. I like making noise.
If Intelligence back to the album at hand. This is total High down to teach me,” he’s tapping into the natu-
you want me to make some noise for
Note: C & D is a dialogue presented as a series of record reviews, Rise/Acid Mothers Temple/Kiss destruction ralist in all of us.
you
you know where I am. Noise isn’t the
and intended to be read straight through… boogie. F: I heard somebody say you could call this kind
F: A strange thing about “boogie” is it’s been of music ‘naturalismo.’
only thing in my life. I spend a lot of time
CONTACTS Not Cool for a period about ten times longer C: I also heard somebody say that the real
picking up signals from foxes, crows and
dogs. This month I’ve been thinking about akitsa: www.akitsa.cjb.net C than it was Cool. [standing up from the couch]
But it never left my behind!
reason music originating from the West Coast
underground—all the aforementioned bands,
C: We resume not far from where we left off slithers into a Hawkwind-Ash Ra Tempel-Stereo-
big girls a lot
. The universe is pointing me in ash pool: www.hospitalproductions.com C: [averting eyes, mumbling] Christ, F. Boogie if Brightblack Morning Light, etc etc etc—is so
last issue. Only without D, our lovable excitable lab-Oneida locked groove around the six minute
the direction of big girls”. You can read full Blatt: www.anagram.cz German, who has vacated the rumble seat to mark, then ignite into dueling guitar spirals, you must but please do it where I don’t have to beautifully gone right now is because of the
on live reportage of Filthy Turd (who cre- Blue Barnouse: www.bluebarnhouse.org return to Der Fatherland to observe the World then some Von Harmonson echotronix. Plus see it. This one [“Sour Smoke”] is like keyboard-
ates a hideous mud bath mess on stage), Cup. In his place, quaffing D’s beers for this issue the kind of casual avant garde move that’s so driven Fela Kuti meets Television. Can a band be
Bone awl:
this good?
Photo Jeremiah Garcia/IceCreamMan.com
Prurient, Jessica Rylan, Emil Beaulieau a.o. www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=14143 only, ladies and gentlemen of the court, may I natural you almost don’t notice it: the electric
present to you: F. birdsong at end of “Jaybird,” a nice fresh-air F: Felavision: I wish they had that on the Dish.
in the latest issue of UK noise skum zine Id- Bottom Dog press:
http://members. aol.com/Lsmithdog/bottomdog F: Happy to be here, C. Those are big shoes to breather. C: Call your cosmic cable company...
wal Fisher. It comes out of Yorkshire, where F: To paraphrase Foster’s: Comets on Fire: it’s
Brother JT: www.brotherjt.com fill. F: A muscle-relaxer for the brain.
all the children born and raised in the last American for rock.
C: Relax. After three beers and the proper audi- C: For me, this album plugs back into what their
20 years or so are seemingly deranged, and Chapter Music: www.chaptermusic.com.au
tory stimulation, your feet will swell to fit. labelmates Sleater-Kinney did on their most Vetiver
infecting the UK landscape with a whole Brian Chippendale:
recent album: laying sweet waste to the center
new bungload of power electronics (al-
PO Box 1361, Providence RI 02901 Comets on Fire of Ted Nugent’s mind by power tripping from
To Find Me Gone
The Chuckwagon: casey.st@comcast.net Avatar (diCristina)
ways the providence of Blighty) and God the top of the randiest redwoods. This is the
Cipher: iheartnoise.com/cipherproductions (Sub Pop) Comets’ answer record, at least in my personal F: The second album from San Francisco’s hazi-
bless them all. We can’t recommend this
Climax Denial: F: After five seconds of this record, I can universe. est, gentlest canyon-folk drifters, Vetiver.
shit highly enough. www.angelfire.com/creep2/climaxdenial C: There’s a bucolic feel to this I love.
confidently say: Comets on Fire, you made an F: I grok that. Fight fire with Fire! Those dark
Swankest punk tease this time is prob- Double Leopards: www.doubleleopards.org noontide chimes at the beginning of “The F: True, but what’s up with the word “bucolic”?
excitable German out of me. Pummely stuff.
ably The intelligence’s Flight of the Don- emperor Jones: www.emperorjones.com C: This blasts off from where their last record Swallow’s Eye,” and the chorus guitars on The sound of words should correlate to their
keys 12” (In the Red). Four skronky gut left off: frequent flyer acid rock mentality, “Lucifer’s Memory”...it’s crystal clear: Cosmic meaning, and there’s something about “bucolic”
Fantagraphics: www.fantagraphics.com
kicks by these Seattle-based zone-bandits. virtuous verses and choruses, oodles of audible soul rock kills pain dead. that always makes me think of a baby with a
Filthy Turd/voltage stress*r: wet, hacking cough.
They sorta sound like they’re whining as http://homepage.ntlworld.com/voltagestressr poem lyrics, spry jams, and serious assblasting. C: And it arrives just two months after the
A couple songs are slow burners... Howlin’ Rain album. Howlin’ Rain, of course, is the C: Whereas this music would more likely cure a
the earth collapses around their extreme- Freenoise: www.freenoise.co.uk
F: ...that put the power back in balladry. new band spotlighting Comets on Fire singer- baby of such a cough. Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire
ly classic sorta West Coast punk-scrubble. Friends and relatives: F: Readers with babies might let us know how onstage at Arthurfest, 2005
C: The album-opening epic “Dogwood Rust” guitarist Ethan Miller’s songwriterly aspect,
And hey, who wouldn’t? On the exact op- www.friendsandrelativesrecords.com it works...
y
posite end of the spectrum is the debut goatowa rex: http://slingshot.to/goatowarex
LP by NYC’s apothecary Hymns. Trowel Harvest records: www.harvest-records.com
& Era (Locust Media) takes up the new-volk Headpress: www.headpress.com
promise of their great 7”, adds some dis- Hello Trudi: www.hellotrudi.com
tinctly Brit-psych tongue-interlocutions, Hoover Flag press: www.fortpointarts.org
and comes up smelling like very sweet hay. Hush arbors: www.husharbors.com
They really approach all this stuff pretty Hospital: www.hospitalproductions.com
straight-on, but the rockist touches (spo- ides: www.idesrecordings.com
radic guitar loudness, wide-ass bells, mo- idwal Fisher: idwalfisher@dsl.pipex.com
mentary pseudo-epic surging) give things in the red: www.intheredrecords.com
a feel somewhat akin to what later period La Mano 21: www.lamano21.com
Pearls Before Swine LPs might have felt like Ken Lopez Books:
with Bill Harkleroad guesting. Very cool. 51 Huntington Rd., Hadley MA 01035
Locust Media: www.locustmusic.com
Hospital records Memoirs of an aesthete: www.hypnagogia.
head hellkeeper, org.uk/memoirs%20of%20an%20aesthete.html
Prurient wunderkind and all Mlehst: www.freewebs.com/mlehst
around nice boy, Mondo Macabro: www.mondomacabrodvd.com
Domenick Furnow, lists his Music Fellowship: www.musicfellowship.com
ã ã Nice and Friendly:
TOP TEN www.thechuckdukowskisextet.com
Lora Norton: loranorton.com
underground Black Metal o sirhan o sirhan:
Skorcherz 7 Garden Ave., Stonybrook NY 11790
office for Contemporary art Norway:
www.oca.no
f AKITSA · Goetie (LP)
Donna parker:
f CLANDESTINE BLAZE · Fist Of The North- www.myspace.com/msdonnaparker
ern Destroyer (LP) phase!: www.geocities.com/phasemag/
f BONE AWL · Not For Our Feet (CS) press of the Third Mind:
f ILDJARN/NIDHOG · Collab (LP)
bradleylastname@hotmail.com
pretend i am someone else:
f MGLA · Presence (MCD) wakeuptomakeup@yahoo.co.uk
f NITBERG · Nitsanger (MCD) public altar: www.hospitalproductions.com
f BLOODHAMMER · Abbedissan raging Bloodlust: www.ragingbloodlust.de
Saatanalliset Houreet (LP)
st. pauli Druckerei:
f BILISKINIR · Hyperborea (LP) Grosse Freiheit 70, D-22767, Hamburg Germany
f SATANIC WARMASTER/GESTAPO 666 · sickness: www.sickness999.com
Split (CD)
Tetsunori Tawaraya:
f COVEN OF THE WORM · 92–96 www.freewebs.com/tetsunori
f WOODS OF INFINITY · Hedja (CS) Tour de garde: www.t-d-g.net
Twisted village: www.twistedvillage.com
Whatisit? press:
130 Buttonwood, Bowling Green OH 43402
54 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 55
C&D
high potency of the marijuana out here. C: Blame it on the beard. Zizek’s basically this su-
C: While I am not stoned at this time, I swear I per erudite dude who is also a willfully contrary
just looked out the window and saw a burrito polemicist commentating on everything under
fly past. the sun as he goes. As he says, “The duty of
F: Yeah, that’s Vetiver, working the California philosophy is to redefine problems, not to solve
tradition: Flying Burrito Brothers, Neil Young, them.” Here he is on a tour of colleges...he sees
the Mac of course, the original Charlatans from a girl carrying some Evian and remarks, “Water
San Francisco... in a bottle —it reminds me of socialism.”
C: And of course the late under-lamented F: This guy’s great! Reminds me of the biting,
Beachwood Sparks, whose final EP had some of death-obsessed comedy of the late great Broth-
this same swooshy nature euphoria and next- er Theodore. I believe Zizek speaks as a friend
afternoon melancholia. Not that this is mimicry. although he expounds with fiendish fervor.
Cabic’s songwriting here goes beyond recidivist
texture gesture. It’s a very subtle, tricky thing
Vetiver does, mellowing the harsh but resisting
the corn. They use violins instead of fiddles.
F: Whoa, this song [“Red Lantern Girls”] is amaz-
ing! It’s like a horse just trotting along, and
then alluvasudden, this squalling and sustained
one-note electric guitar solo [courtesy of guest
Brad Laner (Medicine/Electric Company guitar-
ist-composer)] kicks in and the band breaks into
a gallop.
C: Vetiver: cures coughs, cleanses palates. Use
hourly.
Awesome Color
Awesome Color
(Ecstatic Peace/Universal)
C: Whoa!
F: Yowza!
C: These guys get on that train and ride it back
to Cincinnati 1969! Total Stooges in Iggy’s-Got-
the-Peanut-Butter-Again mode…
F: Yeah, but even more than that— Sound of
Awesome Color
Confusion-era Spacemen 3, especially on this
track “Dinosaur”: that’s the sound of a band re-
fusing to learn more chords or grooves because C: Fiendish fervor is right. Zizek is a pre-post-
they already found the best ones. modern man. He was raised in Communist
C: Concentrating on tone and psychotic drive, Yugoslavia, but when that all went to bloody
like all the greats, like our national treasures hell, he became a Christian atheist.
The Cramps and Tav Falco and of course F: I knew I dug this guy. He’s got some zingers,
the 13th Floor Elevators…Awesome Color like when he talks about being “up to your shit
are…uh…awesome. in ideology.”
C: I’ve got to admit that my inner adolescent C: Zizek cuts through the tripe. Here he is
thinks this is the coolest shit possible. watching an old televised broadcast of Lacan
F: I hope they’re all under 18, and there better giving a lecture. Lacan is one of Zizek’s primary
be some brothers in this band. influences, but he is not in awe of Lacan: “I find
C: This song [“It’s Your Time”] features some his emphasis and gestures ridiculous.... I’m a
actual choogle. total enlightenment person, I believe in clear
C: Which brings us to the question that has statements.”
haunted many a rock fan: what, exactly, is F: Like Zizek says: “I always tell the truth. Not
the difference between the boogie and the the whole truth, because one can’t.”
choogle? C: My favorite part about this film is where
F: Would that be choogie or boogle? Zizek proudly shows us that he keeps his clean
laundry in the kitchen cupboard.
Zizek! DVD F: You’ve got that much in common...
(Zeitgeist)
C: Dude, I’m trying to play this DVD, but you
Beavis and Butthead
totally messed up my system while reconnect- The Mike Judge Collection
ing the TV to the stereo so you could watch the Volume 2 DVD
World Cup in surround-sound. (Paramount)
F: I think that D, absent as he is, would’ve C: Meanwhile, at the other end of the philo-
approved. Anyways, it was worth it to hear sophical spectrum...
the Mexican TV commentators hollering so F: Beer me!
sonorously. C: Y’know, there’s so much product that comes
C: Okay, here we go... This is a documentary out these days, so many records, DVDs and
about Slavoj Zizek, the Solvenian philosopher CDs, but I still feel like there’s a void Beavis &
who’s known as “a one-person culture-muncher” Butthead left that remains unfulfilled.
and “the Elvis of critical theory.” F: Hey, Zizek’s doing his best.
F: He looks more like Klaus Kinski. Or Yakoff C: Hard to imagine Zizek calling Lacan a “dillhole”
Smirnoff. though. It would be so cool if they made a new
Beavis & Butthead movie, like, checking in with
them ten years later...
F: In the meantime, creator Mike Judge is put-
ting out these super-packed DVDs, and it’s amaz-
ing to watch the classic cartoons uninterrupted
by erase-your-blemish commercials.
C: The titles alone are remarkable: “Wet Behind
The Rears”—“Premature Evacuation”—”Here
Comes The Bride’s Butt.”
F: “Bang The Drum Slowly, Dumbass.”
C: I love when the screen goes dark, right
before the show starts, and you can only hear
their immortal “hunh-huh-unh” laughter. Ohmi-
god, I love this one, where they go in to the plas-
tic surgeon to get their “thingies” made bigger,
but [uncontrollable laughter] instead the doctor
gives them boobs! [falls off the couch]
F: Settle down, C. How many brownies did you eat?
Slavoj Zizek C: I dunno. Is the baggie half full or half-empty,
buttmunch?
56 Arthur// July, 2006
C&D
Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan DVD C: I stand in awe of Malinese guitarist Ali C: And he knew how to bend desert air. James Hunter
Farka Toure. His death earlier this year was a
Directed by Robert Millis tremendous loss: his playing was part John Lee Tony Allen People Gonna Talk
(Sublime Frequencies) Lagos No Shaking (Rounder)
Hooker, part original African dance blues, all
F: Feature-length film about a weird three-day sensationally blazing and lyrical and celebratory, (Honest Jon’s/Astralwerks) F: For a moment here I thought this was a
street festival in Thailand, sometimes referred as well as appropriately contemplative and en- C: [listening to track 1] Okay, that’s it. I hereby missing disc from my Charlie Rich box set, and
to as “Mardi Gras from Hell.” Whoa. Talk about trancing, and he was notoriously…well, as they rescind the dance ban. [gets up from couch] I this was 1962. But in fact this is new. It’s just
awesome colors. say, touched. I never got to see him play live, gotta close these blinds. got that sweet soul something, yet it’s got a
C: You see, this is what America should have because I was very foolish in my younger years. F: Mr. Tony Allen is, of course, the brilliant rock’n’roll backbeat, but really he’s singing ex-
learned from pre-Katrina New Orleans. All this And of course now that he’s gone, I finally get drummer and co-creator with Fela Kuti of the quisite torch songs. I gotta say, James Hunter, a
industrial technology and computer whatsits to see him…on DVD. Afrobeat sound. They say he played like four pompadour-sporting white British guy, reminds
and the Intervoid is so much unnecessary fuzz. F: This is a feature-length documentary film drummers, but that was a long time ago. I think me of chiefly of Sam Cooke.
To coin a paraphrase, what the world needs made by a French film crew in 1999, apparently, now he’s up to six. C: The fact that he recorded it at London’s
now is less competitive work-laboring and more around the time that Toure cut back on his C: [air drumming wildly] If only all the songs noted bastion of analog purity Toe Rag Studios
communal partying. international touring in order to work his farm, on here were this good. Unfortunately half of makes sense. Almost nobody does this kind of
F: Preferably in blazing demon masks made not far from Timbuktu. “My main concern here them feature vocals that are just inappropri- music in this style. Hunter’s craft is so fine, his
from cocount husks. is to grow enough food to be self-sufficient,” he ately slick singing with banal lyrics that borrow commitment so total. Listen to “People Gonna
C: Yes, decadence on the cheap. Whiskey says. “Whatever you do in life, you need a full from Fela’s righteousness but not his wit, bite
drinking at dawn and total second-line parades stomach. When you’re hungry, you can’t think or joy in metaphor. But when Rolling Dollar
featuring guitar-and-flute ragas on flatbed about anything.” sings, it’s a vintage Afrobeat clinic session that’ll
trucks, amps powered by car batteries, people C: The whole story is just so perfect you keep make your feet weep.
waving hand-painted papier mache phalluses laughing in disbelief at each new revelation or
with strange tips. When the grid crashes, this is claim—it’s your choice. He talks about being Eccentric Soul:
how I hope we’ll party. Of course we’ll probably the tenth son (the other nine died), the word The Big Mack Label
have to wait til then. You’d never be able to “farka” meaning “resistance,” living in a town (The Numero Group)
get a permit for something like this in public in called “Niafunke” (say it aloud), enduring a F: Talk all you want about digging in the crates,
America, home of the so-called free. childhood of near-slavery (“I had to push a 200lb but first someone’s gotta dig up the crates.
F: I like the Sublime Frequencies approach. barrel of water all by myself”), speaking and C: And the Numero Group’s Eccentric Soul
They stand in awe of this planet’s inhabitants’ singing in three languages but reading none, reissue series—of which this is the latest—is
strange beauty: they bear witness. They just having a grandmother who could communicate excavation par excellence.
say LOOK, they don’t even try to explain—well, with nature spirits, and his year-long stay with F: I’d never heard of the Big Mack label, but
not much—what’s going on. Their approach witchdoctors at age 11. Or when he says, “There apparently even if you lived in Detroit in the
is, This shit is so deep you don’t even have to are millions of things that can be explained but late ‘60s and early ‘70s you probably didn’t hear
know anything about what it is you’re seeing some things can never even be mentioned.” And of it either.
to receive some its power. It’s that rich. They’re there’s the performances, like the one where C: [Listening to Mae Young’s “The Man Put Sugar
busy grokking. They’re feeling fascination. Toure says, “I have to tell you that tonight is In My Soul”] Is this CD on the wrong speed?
F: They are the real human league. different from other nights. It’s true. I’m with F: Only if you can’t dance that fast. What incred-
A Visit to Ali Farka Toure DVD the devils tonight.” He’s totally sexy, abandoned, ible energy. I nominate it as One of the Best
rocking, almost disturbingly unguarded. Songs Ever.
Directed by Marc Huraux F: One thing’s for sure: the guy had huge hands C: Big Mack—more than a burger. James Hunter
(Digital Classics) and beautiful clothes.
58 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 59
C&D
Talk”—his guitar lick’s so tasty, the roll’s so
FILM CORNER
sweet, it captures that swinging moment when
The Bad Guys
ska evolved into rock steady but still bore the
clear influence of American soul records.
F: I would say Hunter is brown bread to Edwyn
Collins wry. The Road to Guantanamo is a thoroughgoing demolition of the lies
C: One more quip like that and you’re going and unlimited incompetence of Powell, Bush and Rumsfeld says John Patterson.
straight into the pun-ality box.
F: I’ve been yellow-carded for wordplay.
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
I Stand Alone
(Anti)
F: Original folksinger Jack Elliott is 75 and from
the sound of things, he’s knocking on heaven’s
door.
C: What a beautiful, perfect album. The songs
here sound happy but the words—about
favorite dogs, old trains, the suckiness of arthri-
tis—are by turns sad and ruminative. He’s know
what’s been lost, and he knows the ramble is
probably nearing its end. But he’s not entirely
sad about it, which gives the songs—and ban-
ter—a mischievous tone.
F: Jack’s just doing the ding-dong-ditch on ol’
Death, I betcha.
Loren Connors Prisoners await transfer to Guantanamo Bay
Night Through: Singles and Collected in Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ The Road to Guantanamo.
Works 1976–2004 // 3-CD box
(Family Vineyard)
“W
C: Slow chilling weird blues arcs carved by e are Americans. We don’t abuse people who are in make for a thoroughgoing demolition of the lies of Powell,
a graveyard guitar instrumental master. No
ghosts, though—just a man before the Big
our care.” Thus spake Gen. Colin Powell in reference Bush and Rumsfeld. American viewers, long accustomed
Empty. to the United States’ grotesque and immoral confinement to our child president˙s characterization of Gitmo inmates
F: Dark, dark, DARK. of “unlawful combatants” at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. as “bad guys,” may find themselves asking how their own
C: Definite dark night of the soul stuff.
Those remarks would have been news to the prisoners who military could be so fascistic, so cruel and, most dispiriting
F: It’s gorgeous, but I’m terrified.
committed suicide there recently, but also to the three of all, so fucking stupid.
Charalambides kidnapped and incarcerated young Britons of Pakistani Named for the West Midlands town where they grew
A Vintage Burden descent known as the Tipton Three—if they’d had access up, the three young men flew to Pakistan, the home of
(Kranky)
to news of any sort at Gitmo. It turns out that, having their parents, to attend the wedding of one of their num-
C: Almost unbearably beautiful new album
from this long-running co-ed guitar duo, now also been deprived of access to lawyers, the Red Cross ber, but also to enjoy a holiday in their land of origin, in
apparently based in Texas. [listening to the or even their own families, the Tipton Three knew as the aftermath of 9/11. Foolishly, they took a side-trip into
perfectly titled 20-minute instrumental “Black little of the outside world for two-and-a-half years as the Afghanistan, where they were caught up in the US bomb-
Bed Blues”] A warm breeze on a summer night,
the windows’ curtain flutters. Outside the tall outside world knew of the goings-on inside Guantanamo’s ing of Taliban bases and cities, and then captured in the
Texan grass sways. You’re sleeping with your girl gruesome Camp Delta. confused retreat from Kunduz.
in somebody else’s bed. The sunrise is cloudy, Not any more. Thanks to co-directors Michael Win- Accused of consorting with Bin Laden and the Taliban,
gentle…
F: Two people underneath the Unnameable
terbottom (24-Hour Party People, In This World) and Mat the Three in fact had watertight, easily verified alibis. Two
Vastness, instead of one. Pure mutual longing. Whitecross, the Guantanamo genie is forever out of its of them were—and how hard is it to check this out?—on po-
C: My recommendation? Give this to someone bottle. Using interviews with the three men, who were lice probation in Tipton for petty criminal acts, the other
you love.
finally released from Gitmo in March 2004, interspliced had a full-time job. That wasn’t enough for their captors,
The Golding Institute Presents with harrowingly persuasive recreations of their journey gut-wrenching proof that American military xenophobia
Final Relaxation to Guantanamo via Pakistan and Afghanistan, and of their extends not merely to hated enemies, but also to valued al-
(Ipecac)
terrifying experiences in US military custody, The Road To lies. Unlawful combatants: meet unlimited incompetence.
C: Informed Arthur readers know that the
Golding Institute is associated with with notable Guantanamo constitutes the first corroborated witness The imagery confronting us in The Road to Guanta-
non-comedian Neil Hamburger. account of America’s Gulag to stand a chance of being namo suggests that the United States has abandoned its
F: [reading sleeve] “Your ticket to Death through widely seen in the United States, whose populace has hith- sanctimoniously proclaimed fealty to such secular gods
Hypnotic suggestion.” This should go over well
with the Doom crowd. Zizek will dig it, and
erto seemed disturbingly content to snore its way through as Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton, only to replace them
maybe Ramblin’ Jack Elliot too!!! [puts CD in the progressive dismantling of its Constitution. with Orwell, Kafka and Koestler. Two years of nonstop
player] The shattering experiences of Ruhal Ahmed, Asif torture, interrogation and physical abuse—stress-holds,
C: Oh dear. I think if you slipped this into
Iqbal and Shafiq Rusal—which included being abducted by strobelights, earsplitting death-metal, enforced silence,
amongst every commuters’ positive reinforce-
ment self-help tapes, you could really change Afghanistan˙s Northern Alliance and sold to US Forces as isolation cells —strongly recall Gestapo or KGB informa-
some lives. Taliban members (for a cool $10,000-per-head bounty—this tion-gathering techniques, Room 101, Darkness at Noon.
F: By “change” I think you mean “end.” is where our money is going?), solitary confinement, tor- All that is lacking are electrodes, waterboards and clocks
C: Give this to someone you don’t love.
ture, 5–on–1 beatings, hoods, shackles, blinders, sensory striking 13. And Big Brother? He’s already here. Learn to
deprivation and being witness to extrajudicial murders— love Him.
60 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 61
1
2
3
4
TRIGGER Do The Math
by Dave Reeves
1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1
HIPPIES
illustration by Cassandra Chae
4
3
2
1
B lackout. Summertime. Popu-
lace accepts that utility compa-
nies have again fried the grid for
Sticks” at a Rainbow Family
Gathering: if you have a Talking
Stick, you get to say something
I’ll give you the basic rules right
quick:
tions in an assailant known as a
“Tennessee Tattoo.”
1. All guns are loaded all the As a liberal you love this weapon
profit. Hours go by. Americans go and people have to listen, and if
time, even when they are not. because it is tacked together with
without television, SUVs, flash-fried you don’t have one you have to
2. You’ll put your eye out. duct tape, clears a room faster
food. Coffee runs out. Shortages of shut the hell up.
3. Fried squirrel is delicious. than Al Gore and, like Karma,
chronic and chronic shortages. Rumor Here’s a list of “sensitive weapons” it doesn’t kill. Use the valuable
becomes news. Alcohol reserves are that even a vegetarian could use A fun thing to do is get a target shock and awe time to duck out
drunk away and the rabble seethe in the near future, cribbed in and put a picture of your least and run run run. Make your way
in the street, commiserating about these last precious moments while favorite politician on it. Practice to Humboldt, Asheville, Lawrence
how it was this very publication that this computer still works. I’ve taking his eyes out from further or Canada. Travel by night. Moss
printed the recipe for the diabolical listed them in the order that they and further away. Try not to blink grows on the north side of the
bomb that left the assholes standing should be purchased, so that you when you pull the trigger! trees.
but killed their precious machines. may gradually warm to the idea sHoTguN sHeLLs
Emergency personnel stay at home According to a guy who lived in a
of being a citizen capable of doing
because, like that great American Okay, now that you’ve purchased post-E-bomb environment all the
what it takes to keep America on
Bob Dylan said, “The cops don’t a toy facsimile of a real gun you’re time, Thomas Jefferson, “The tree
course.
need you and, man, they expect not going to feel so funny about of liberty must be refreshed with
the same.” The National Guard BLoW guN/sLiNg sHoT purchasing a box of shotgun shells. the blood of patriots and tyrants
is busy on the border, the French These aren’t weapons, they’re just from time to time.” The liberty
No big whup. These aren’t even
Quarter and Iraq. Everyone is a ammunition. Nothing wrong with tree is looking rough right now
weapons. They’re fun! When worse
suspect. “There he is! I saw him that. You can still vote Libertarian. because all we feed it is this new
comes to worst and emergency
reading that Arthur!” the mob yells. blood. Blood is fine like wine and
supplies run out, you can shoot Now let’s return to our scenario: needs some age and body to come
And then, dear reader, you realize some apples out of the tree for A mob is at your door demanding alive. I’m sure Bush and Cheney
that when the transistors are dead, food. Added bonus is that when food and water, not that you have wouldn’t hesitate to give some blue
the world is run by a lower phylum the overarmed zealots take power any. Luckily, you took my good blood to the liberty tree, if some
of machine: the gun. and make the Holy Bible the law, advice and got an air rifle and a sharpshooter put a bullet in their
getting that “eye for an eye” with box of shotgun shells. The time
Now I’m not saying you need eye. I’m not saying (in print) that
a slingshot will be more sanitary has come to duct tape a shotgun
to get one, but you can never anybody should shoot the presi-
than using your fingers. shell to the end of your BB gun.
be too careful what with this dent, but good citizen, get a BB
Be sure to line the BB’s path from gun and work on your aim. Soon
Arthur magazine monkeying air riFLe
the barrel so it hits the firing cap we may have to provide a clear
around with these new-fangled Don’t let the word “rifle” fool you. on the shotgun shell. If you wait
technology bombs. Of course you mandate that these criminals will
It’s nothing but a toy which, with until the last minute, it only takes
are scared of guns because the not be able to misinterpret.
a little duct tape, can be modified a minute.
liberal media constantly portrays into a directional claymore mine Hanging chads won’t matter when
people misusing these valuable Once the trigger is pulled, the BB it’s time to hang George, dear
should an emergency situation
tools. The smart hipster won’t let will travel up the barrel and hit patriot.
arise.
crappy television writers’ abuse of the cap. The cap then explodes,
the pistol as a modern day Deus Your dad should have given you a sending birdshot flying to poke
Ex Machina divert her from the BB gun when you were eight, but little holes in everything for about
path of preparedness. Just think since he didn’t love you enough 30 feet square in front of you,
of a gun as one of those “Talking to let you own the gift of freedom, resulting in the distinctive stria-
62 Arthur// July, 2006 Arthur// July, 2006 63
64 Arthur// July, 2006
