Feed Us A Live Insect

Friday, March 27, 2009

Become a pie

"Did you ever want to become a pie? You came to the right place!"

LINK

Friday, March 20, 2009

The way the music was kissing the audience

Gunferty has found what is probably the best thing written by anyone about anything of all time, ever.



The cross a frightening forest with talking trees, Muchin Land, made up of small children, and a Poppy field that soon turns into a field made up of snow. The backdrops are vivid, filled with bright colors creating this fairytale world that exsist over the rainbow. The end of the play is left without a conclusion.


YES.

The Trouble With Jazz

From Sex And Social Health: A Manual For The Study Of Social Hygiene, copyright 1924 by Thomas W. Galloway. Mr. Galloway's book just came to my bench today for repairs and I stumbled across the following admonition on the subject of Jazz (emphasis mine):

Dancing.--Specifically to take up the much fought-over problem of social dancing, I am myself an utter believer in the value of it. In our War Camp Community Service during the war we did our utmost to see that the soldiers and sailors in the camps had an opportunity to dance, taking care, at the same time, in the selection of the girls, in supervising the kind of dancing carried on, and in knowing how the girls got home. It was the opinion of officers and men that dancing properly looked after in this way had a most beneficial influence.

The kind of dancing is of great importance. At the beginning of the war I wrote to the Superintendent of West Point to ask him what their regulations were in that respect. He sent me an interesting little statement accompanied by illustrations of his own, the most important feature in which was the existence of a daylight zone between the dancers, a very wholesome regulation.

Another vitally important element is the kind of music. The trouble with jazz is that it depends for its attraction on the direct, almost physical, effect of certain kinds of sound. It is, whether in a good or bad sense, purely sensuous. It is the kind of noise which is used to heighten the intensity of orgies among savage tribes. It is not adapted to civilized society and should not there be admitted--least of all as an accompaniment to the dancing of young people.1




notes:
1. Thomas W. Galloway, Sex And Social Health: A Manual For The Study Of Social Hygiene (New York: The American Social Hygiene Association, 1924) 311

Some live audio from Recording LA


Photo by Jeff Koga, from Recording LA

A couple of things--thanks to keen-eyed Cobra Lily Agnes for noting that audio of our March 6 show at the Where Gallery was recently posted on the Recording LA blog, which specializes in, natch, downloads of live shows recorded in our fair city. I did not actually know that our whole show was recorded, so this is great to hear. Please take a look, and, as for myself, I'll be at the Gallery tonight for the last week of performances. LINK.

There's some other interesting things in the Recording LA archives, too--I (also) didn't know that they recorded the Undercovered show from last month at the Eagle Rock Lanes, for instance. This, if you hadn't heard, was a show featuring local bands playing sets entirely made up of covers of other local bands' material. We were fortunate enough to have Flying Tourbillon Orchestra (with Angela Correa on guest vocals) cover "Oh No, Everything Has Changed," and that (along with a slew of other good stuff) is there for you to hear. Please take a look. LINK #2

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Footage from the Where Gallery show

I have been delinquent in posting lately...

Our pal Johnny sent us this footage of our recent acoustic set from the Where Gallery near Sunset Junction. I'm on banjo, Mary's on snare (and snare alone), Ray's on guitar, and Jillinda is on accordion. Thanks Johnny!

The two sweaters=unintended. But it worked out.



Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Early acoustic show this Friday

Hi all--

A little note--we are playing a rather different show for us on Friday, an early (9 pm!) acoustic set as part of a photography exhibit you may have heard about:



The Where Gallery (if you weren't there for the show's opening last week) is right where Griffith Park meets Sunset, across from the 99 cent store. We've been working on an acoustic set for a while and this will be the live debut--I want to tell you what's involved but it's supposed to be a surprise, and anyway Monolators haven't tried playing a show like this yet--very different than our normal setup. So you'll just have to come and see. I hope somebody tapes the show, we're extra excited about this one!

We go on first, at 9pm--One Trick Pony and Voyeurs are at 10 and 11, respectively. I believe that the show will start promptly at 9 (it seemed to last week, anyway, which meant that I missed Divisadero, much to my regret). Come look at the pictures anyway! I spotted myself in a crowd shot watching Bodies Of Water. In it (according to Noah of HCP fame) I look like a 70-year-old Don Knotts. Which is exactly the image I'm trying to project, so: mission accomplished!


LINK