Author Archives for Jay Babcock

A Poem from Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz


At the Office Holiday Party
by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

I can now confirm that I am not just fatter
than everyone I work with, but I’m also fatter
than all their spouses. Even the heavily bearded
bear in accounting has a little otter-like boyfriend.

When my co-workers brightly introduce me
as “the funny one in the office,” their spouses
give them a look which translates to, Well, duh,
then they both wait for me to say something funny.

A gaggle of models comes shrieking into the bar
to further punctuate why I sometimes hate living
in this city. They glitter, a shiny gang of scissors.
I don’t know how to look like I’m not struggling.

Sometimes on the subway back to Queens,
I can tell who’s staying on past the Lexington stop
because I have bought their shoes before at Payless.
They are shoes that fool absolutely no one.

Everyone wore their special holiday party outfits.
It wasn’t until I arrived at the bar that I realized
my special holiday party outfit was exactly the same
as the outfits worn by the restaurant’s busboys.

While I’m standing in line for the bathroom,
another patron asks if I’m there to clean it.

A TESTIMONIAL RIFF: Tony Rettman on SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN, SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE, COMETS ON FIRE (Arthur, 2003)

Above: the cover to Arthur No. 7 (Nov 2003)—artwork by John Coulthart, design by W.T. Nelson

Dark Funk, Gardenfolk and the Almighty Zaps
This summer, underground psych bands SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN, COMETS ON FIRE and SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE ventured across the continent in a traveling caravan of mindblowers. Tony Rettman reports live from the scene.

Originally published in Arthur No. 7 (November 2003)

“Jazz doesn’t have to swing and rock doesn’t have to rock and religion has next to nothing to do with God.” —Richard Meltzer

Yes. Meltzer’s testimonial riff is the kind that can really get you going going gone. Strip music of any elements that seem banal, pretentious or overly cerebral. Twist the sound into something of your own. Create a primal celebration of boundary-less independence. Join the others who’ve walked through the door marked “Free”—and emerge with a blown mind full of free jazz, psychedelia, proto-metal, oddball folk, prog rock, blues, English country rock, funk, mind-numbing drones, electronic music, non-genre improvisation.

In the past few years, a seemingly ever-growing number of underground American artists have been making that trek Beyond, collecting elements from these sounds and shooting them through a post-punk perspective, laying the results down on self-pressed vinyl and home-burned CD-Rs, sold through homegrown distribution networks like Brooklyn’s Fusetron, Arizona’s Eclipse Records, and Massachusetts’ Forced Exposure and Ecstatic Yod.

But a funny thing is happening. Through next to no effort of their own, these freaks are now attracting the attention of curious folk from outside the esoteric, near-hermetic circles that their music was necessarily born from and sustained by. Indeed, the very definition of this genre-obscuring cult movin’ on up happened this July when three of the finest units out of this quote scene unquote descended on Pianos in NYC to strut their stuff: San Francisco’s’ loud-as-hell psychedelic four-piece Comets On Fire, Boston’s 15-member sound collective The Sunburned Hand of the Man and the author of the new chapter of gypsy folk meanings from Santa Cruz, Six Organs of Admittance. This show—the conclusion of a three-week tour—brought together three groups who are aesthetically linked in approach, intensity and a loosely limbed philosophy: Here’s how the whole enchilada—the show, the tour, the bands themselves—came together and got down to getting Free.

* * *

Ben Chasny is Six Organs of Admittance–he is the sole soul responsible for the unearthly and solemn sounds created under this moniker, with others occasionally sitting in on recordings and live sets. Tonight at Pianos in he first and he plays alone, acoustic guitar in his lap, head down and hair in face, with only his black jackbooted heel to keep the beat. “Transcendent” is the bang-on word to describe what Chasny lays out. His music conjures up foggy, half-remembered memories of drunken nights in overlit fluorescent rooms that pulse. Strange feelings that mix danger with joy. And then he busts out with a cover of Neil Young’s “A Man Needs a Maid.”

Visiting with Chasny later in the evening over a beer at the bar, I get some background. Chasny grew up in the woods bordering the northern California town of Eureka, 300 miles north of San Francisco. His musical upbringing was positive hardcore punk, until one day when his hippie father laid dark folk troubadour Nick Drake’s Fruit Tree box set on him. In it laid all the keys needed to open Chasny’s doors wide open. A second turning point came when a friend returned from a journey to San Francisco with a copy of the underground psych magazine Forced Exposure in hand. “That magazine was filled with exactly what I knew was out there but couldn’t find,” says Chasny. “I went crazy and started absorbing all the new sounds they were championing.”

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Selections from the Arthur Twitter feed…

Recent (Nov. 17-today) stuff on twitter.com/arthurmagazine

Best “Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters” yet: Episode 5
http://bit.ly/e2TCso

LIBERATION SOUNDS: “One Nation Under a Groove (Part 1)” Parliament-Funkadelic, D.C. 1979 video * http://bit.ly/fPK5Ts

UNTOPPABLE: Parliament-Funkadelic “Aqua Boogie (Part 1)”- D.C. 1979 video * #lookattheladies
http://bit.ly/eCNJjy

Noam Chomsky described it as “the gravest domestic crime of the Nixon administration” * #fredhampton
http://bit.ly/gGJz4R

“Blood Sport: The Louisiana Cockfighters Manual” by Stacy Kranitz, photojournalist and longtime Arthur contributor
http://bit.ly/eUpVVx

The great LYNDA BARRY, interviewed at The Paris Review: “What makes us start drawing and what makes us stop?” “I believe that the arts are like an external immune system. I believe that they have a biological function.” *
http://bit.ly/dGrVqe

I’m tired of shit sucking for all the talented people I know. This country needs a new WPA and it needs it fucking right now. Giving people Google jobs doesn’t cut it. * WPA:
http://bit.ly/g9GqXj

#ediebushwick “new WPA”: we might find the new Jim Thompson (head of the Oklahoma Federal Writers Project, a New Deal program)…

Very sad about the passing of Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson. What a C.V.: Hipgnosis, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Coil and more.

Peter ‘ Sleazy’ Christopherson 1955-2010
http://throbbing-gristle.com

“He was one of his generation’s first openly gay musicians, railing against homophobia and ‘Christian perversions’ such as monogamy, while making music designed to help others live with HIV.” — Dave Simpson on Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson at The Guardian
http://bit.ly/fvCuRZ

Cosey Fanni Tutti & Chris Carter statement on Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson
http://bit.ly/fABPhw

“So worthy of the honoured name ‘Master’”: Gensis Breyer P-Orridge pays tribute to Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson
http://bit.ly/dGNac3

Extensive tribute at Brainwashed * “Peter Christopherson: 1955-2010”
http://bit.ly/exCHuU

“Peace and Love always to you, beloved Sleaz, now with beloved Jhonn, at play in Æon.” – David Tibet
http://bit.ly/hC9CkQ

Coulthart tribute to Peter Christopherson
http://bit.ly/i1rQBH

“DIY Futures: Los Angeles and the Closing of Echo Curio”
http://t.co/1u5m6Zv

[Unsolicited suggestion to musicians: Play by the LA River.]

Dorian Cope at On This Deity on “The avant-garde soundtrack to what is possibly the most extraordinary ‘first date’ ever.” “[T]they dared to mass-popularise radicalism.” * #johnandyoko
http://bit.ly/eeGq3m

n/r: LIFE by Keith Richards. He’s as smart as you thought he’d be. Great stories from Grandpa Rocknroll.

#mongabay Hairy enigma of the Serengeti photographed again
http://sns.ly/EMs61

Planetary treasure Willie Nelson busted by Border Patrol/Texas sheriff for 6oz medicinal herb on bus, out on bail
http://nyti.ms/gQQVcN

“[Willie] could get 180 days in county jail, which if he does, I’m going to make him cook & clean—Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West. “He can wear the stripy uniforms just like the other ones do.” *
http://bit.ly/f3FKtJ

Essential reading: “Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless” #fuckwallstreet
http://nyr.kr/elCWET

“We are experiencing an explosion of Northern Lights”
http://bit.ly/fTb5k2

“As though Ken Russell had dragged some feral boy out of the woods and had him declaim 17th century refusenik tracts over music by the all-time best Detroit rock band…” – Julian Cope’s tribute to ‘Anarchy In the UK’ on the 34th anniversary of its UK release at On This Deity
http://bit.ly/fio2RJ

#roundmyskull Basil Wolverton’s 1930s science fiction portfolio
http://bit.ly/gRTFK2

RIP Chalmers Johnson – American “blowback” theorist/historian, anti-US Empire writer
http://nyti.ms/gYETff

#NatGeoSociety Pictures: Best Underwater Views of 2010 Announced
http://on.natgeo.com/h38Whk

‘Godfather of ecstasy’ Alexander Shulgin suffers stroke * The Guardian
http://bit.ly/ect1oo

Are today’s University of California students the most docile in history?
http://lat.ms/fWzVTU

“The anniversary of Thatcher’s resignation is a date to celebrate and savour.” Dorian Cope on 20th anniversary
http://bit.ly/fK4FkJ

What Primal Scream were listening to during their fantastic Screamadelica period * 2-hour broadcast
http://bbc.in/f6GG5D

Anne R. Dick’s memoir, ‘The Search for Philip K. Dick’ *
http://nyti.ms/eSbBnp

“Humanity is nature becoming self-conscious.” — Elisée Reclus

Fascinating piece on contemporary cherubic countertenor Philippe Jaroussky in the NYT, who sings in a way that recalls the castrati. #TheThirdSex (Castrati were “male singers who were castrated before they reached puberty in order to preserve their high, pure voices.”) Castratism “kept the papal choirs and ducal courts supplied with sopranos for their Vivaldi oratorios.” Finally outlawed by Vatican in 1903. “Yet these maimed idols, these eunuchs to the kingdom of art, continued to haunt our collective psyche…” #KnowYourCatholicHistory #eurobarbarism
http://nyti.ms/9rVhve

#ubuweb “Taliesin West” (1950, Jim Davis), made at the request of Frank Lloyd Wright who trusted no other filmmaker
http://is.gd/hyTfa

#jdsamson LA DJ GIG DECEMBER 10TH IS NOW ALL FEMALE HANG THE DJS! THIS SHIT IS GOING TO RULE DEEPLY FROM WITHIN. AND POUR OUT ONTO THE WORLD.

#ubuweb David Cronenberg lecturing on Andy Warhol [MP3]:
http://is.gd/hu4NP

A smart guy thinks about Glenn Beck – Mark Lilla in The New York Review of Books
http://bit.ly/cEVJS0

Too bad about the cover, but lotta good stuff inside from this crucial member of the San Francisco Diggers
http://amzn.to/cqa2mi

Good to revisit this document regularly, for perspective
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Oldgrowth3.jpg

ALLMANNS Sept 1970 “Whipping Post” Fillmore East live on VIDEO #beautiful
http://bit.ly/cDktL1

#PictureBoxBooks Great interview with Brian Chippendale at Tiny Mix Tapes. Get psyched for book tour!
http://tinyurl.com/38ae7et

#volcanictongue Working our way through the incredible Merzbient box. Massively psychedelic drone/noise constructs.
http://bit.ly/dpp773

“Serge said that from the age of six he was aware that he was an anarchist.” * #onthisdeity #doriancope #knowledge
http://bit.ly/aUEsys

#johncoulthart The great Tom Phillips’ reworks his Humument for the iPad
http://bit.ly/9FSxKs

“In the late ’60s a significant # of poets and artists were among the psychedelic refugees that went to Bolinas…”
http://bit.ly/dkDb0U

“I think in the next three to five years, you’ll see half the bookstores in this country close.”
http://bit.ly/aS2TFT

Inter-Dimensional Music on KRTS Marfa, 93.5 FM

Join me, Arthur Vaultkeeper Daniel “Chambo” Chamberlin, this Sunday 5 December 2010 on KRTS Marfa, 93.5 FM for a fresh edition of “Inter-Dimensional Music.”

Listen for cosmic vibes from Dylan Ettinger, Atlas Sound, Michael Hoenig and Dolphins Into The Future, as well as other radiant jams perhaps best exemplified visually by the above image from the Bottomless Lakes outside of Roswell, New Mexico, a recent stop on my Thanksgiving tour of the riparian canyonlands, high altitude meadows and desert cenotes of the American Southwest.

“Inter-Dimensional Music” floats through the Far West Texas air at 93.5 FM from 9-11pm (CST), and is often available streaming live online at www.marfapublicradio.org.

CF/Chippendale/Fraction interview

CF and Brian Chippendale came by Floating World last month as part of their book tour for Powr Mastrs 3 and If ‘n Oof.  It was great to meet these Fort Thunder legends in person.  We started the evening with each artist doing a slide show presentation as they talked about their work.  Brian shared a lot of really cool early drawings, zines and sketchbook stuff that we’d never seen before.  CF gave a preview of some new paintings he’s been working on. It looks like CF is ready to start experimenting with some new styles.  I also admire that CF was really comfortable talking about some of the more abstract, subconscious philosophies that go into being an artist.  His mystic personality balanced nicely with Brian Chippendale’s sweet punk personality.

Then we were joined by superstar comics writer Matt Fraction (Casanova, Invincible Iron Man, Thor), who moderated an interview with the boys.  It was a a great comics crossover to have one of the top mainstream writers meet with two of the best creators from the avant garde experimental comics world.  We found that CF and Chippendale are actually working in the action genre and Fraction said they were representing the weird comics power of Jack Kirby better than anyone in the mainstream comics world.  For your pleasure we recorded the 60 minute conversation in its entirety.

Comets On Fire/Growing jam session, Summer 2005, 60 mins

artwork by Arik Roper

From Ethan Miller’s Silver Currant blog…

“What I can remember about this session is that it was recorded during the daytime at our practice space on 3rd st. in San Francisco most likely between September 1st and the 3rd of 2005. Comets and Growing had toured the Midwest and Eastern U.S. together in June and July of that same year. This is just a few months later and Growing was out on the West Coast to play the first Arthurfest in Los Angeles which Comets also played…”

More Miller spiel plus a download of the sesh: http://silvercurrant.blogspot.com/2010/08/comets-growing.html