New Years 05 Kind of a "Roughie" Time
Played a piano solo at church that was kind of a train wreck - worst piano solo ever played by me in public.
My daughter sang beautifully tho, accompanied by our friend Emily on guitar.
Afterwards Al and I went to a scurrilous industrial party at an office building partly inhabited by Wolf Eyes members in Ypsi. We had to go, as good friends Iovae, Spencer Yeh and Sarah Cathers were all playing, and other folks we know were there also. I sent Allisyn home early, and stayed to the end myself as I wound up being designated driver for one of my musician friiends from out of town.
It was a very loud and violent night. Out of Wolf Eyes only Dillo has shown any interest in my work, and right
now he's in Bhutan. If Dillo were to hear some of the things his good friend and party host John Olsen was saying
over the mike about him at this event they wouldn't remain friends for long. Olsen did later recount some of the stats about this affair on the HN_AM list:
jesus almighty... polls are in= 9 fights, most violent gig ever.... CSY/ Tovinater gots pics coming soon... total damage night.. not really sure what crappend... details sketchy... total rad time.. best New Years ever!!
among other comments:
Girls fighting: totally cool
Dudes fighting: not so cool
Coolest party artifact: the bloody shirt
Percentage of musicians sponsored by Labatts: 98%
Drunkest out of towner: the chick in the blue sweater
was pure chaos all night...2005 is gonnabe violent i think...went back to the VG compound today to pick up amps and stuff, and it was like a crime scene...the night still ruled though....
I wouldn't agree that it was the best New Year's ever. The fighting was rancorous and some folks got hurt. One woman was blind drunk, bleeding badly from a tender part of her anatomy and leaving telltale stains on the walls and elsewhere - she also smelled like fecal matter. At one point she was being pulled along the floor by some fellow as her friend, possibly her sister, screamed at her "YEEEEWWWW WHOOOORRRRE!!" She looked like she needed an ambulance, but still kept popping up like the Energizer Bunny.
People took lots of pictures, and some of them have been posted on the web. I'm not gonna pass on any links on this page, and I'm thankful that so far I'm not in any of them. It was not my party, yet I was invited, and was largely ignored, which was okay, although I hated getting shocked by the little taser one idiot was carrying around. At one point I said to him "Please - no more."
I don't want to pass judgement on these people, but the party had this cliquish high school vibe about it, and even though these folks were much too old to be in high school, it seemed to retain an aspect of that kind of cruelty. The making of Noise Music as a kind of social event, rather than as an outlet of creativity, is a dubious enterprise at best. The long boring jam at the end where the crowd joined in with various musicians held no surprises for me, as I have been there time and time again for whatever reason.
Some of the folks playing at this event are fairly well-known "noisicians." In the past I have been disappointed that I never hooked up with the Ypsi noise crowd when I lived there, given my long background in making noise music (close to 25 years now) I though there would be some common ground to explore. But I am satisfied with the situation as it is, and certainly have no interest in pursuing this aspect of the local scene any further, if it leads to this kind of debauchery and disease of character.
I now understand the criticism, which has been widely decried, disputed and defended against, of "noise jocks" and "swells" in the local industrial music scene. If industrial noise music were not currently of fashion, a lot of these guys would be playing something else, or seeking another kind of party to raise hell at, and behaving in exactly the same way. It has nothing to do with perfecting a style, a show, or attempting to get across an experience of the avant-garde; it's just a hip, trendy and a breeding ground for poseurs. I'll tend to my own ultra-hip garden, thank you. Sorry if I seem like a wet blanket, but I didn't really have a good time - there was far too much testosterone and "Animal House" type antics for my taste. I don't like being shocked, even mildly, so that someone else can laugh at my discomfort - I don't think anyone should have the right to invade my personal space in this way.
And as for the woman, who may have been raped - I don't know - I hate to see anyone make a terrible mistake like that and then be too drunk to present themselves in a way other than as an object of humiliation. Several folks tried to intercede on her behalf, or at least to remove her from the event, but no one in this crowd seemed to care.
Happy new year to you, too.
Allisyn Loves Her New Computer - Thank You Freecycle!
One good thing right off the bat was that Al got a new (used) computer to start the New Year's off right. It took some fixing up to behave correctly, but it has seven more gigs to its hard drive than did her old IBM, which is on its last legs. She is delighted to be able to play games that she could never access before as her hard drive was so slow.
She got it via
www.freecycle.org which is a mailing list where folks give away stuff that they no longer want. We also got a freezer, a fax machine and two color TVs this way. My wife strongly believes in Freecycle and has encouraged me in the past to pass along the word on these pages, tho I generally do not advocate things here. Nonetheless, it is an awfully good thing, there are regional chapters all over the nation and you should really try it. It keeps good, usable stuff out of landfills and helps us get things we need that we would normally have to find some way to pay for.
Uncle Dave Lewis
Glad to be a resident of Ann Arbor, MI (not Ypsi)