Hungry Beat

Saint Etienne is working on a documentary about the 80’s UK underground, of all things. Damn, is it that time for our generation already? They’re looking for clips, flicks, memorabilia, so start diggin in the closet.

One of our current film projects is Hungry Beat – a documentary about the UK 80s underground music scene, from Postcard to the Stone Roses. It will include the labels, fanzines and groups who created a parallel world in a particularly bleak time for anyone who didn’t vote Conservative and dig Phil Collins. When independent was a state of mind and not a genre. We are looking for any footage that people might have from the era, especially super8 film or video of gigs. Please get in touch! ( hungrybeat myspace ). Hungry Beat will be completed in 2007.

Live from New York….You’re Fired

Mercury retrograde is no joke. It always kicks my tender Gemini ass, but this round feels especially wicked. Somewhere I read that Geminis rank in the top percentile for shrinks and breakdowns; something to do with our hypersensitive nervous systems over-absorbing everything around us.
For weeks now, I’ve been pacing internally to burn off the excess anxiety. To little avail. I felt something was coming to an end. I thought it was about me. Turns out, it’s just work. In one week, I’m hit with the announcement that my fearless leader (and subject of an adolescent straight boy crush) is quitting and that we’re “re-branding” our text chat and psychic products – i.e., firing about 100 people in 3 countries. All this just weeks before the holidays. As a spic and homo, I’m overly sensitive to evil corporate shenanigans and these changes are wreaking havoc on my well-being. It’s distracting me from writing and socializing. It’s as if all the anxiety from everyone I’m responsible for is seeping into my consciousness through the endless IMs, emails, texts and phone calls. It also has me wondering about the larger picture and my place in it. When shoved against a rock and a hard place, solipsistic intellectual masturbation makes for a cozy blanket. On days like these, with the shorter days and waning light, the winds and rains and cold, it can drive a sensible Po-Mo Homo to curl up and drink and drink and drink and smoke and smoke and…..stare in bittersweet conflicted envy at the faux castle outside his window and the people cocooned in its luxury condos. *Sigh*

Live from New York….You’re Fired

Mercury retrograde is no joke. It always kicks my tender Gemini ass, but this round feels especially wicked. Somewhere I read that Geminis rank in the top percentile for shrinks and breakdowns; something to do with our hypersensitive nervous systems over-absorbing everything around us.
For weeks now, I’ve been pacing internally to burn off the excess anxiety. To little avail. I felt something was coming to an end. I thought it was about me. Turns out, it’s just work. In one week, I’m hit with the announcement that my fearless leader (and subject of an adolescent straight boy crush) is quitting and that we’re “re-branding” our text chat and psychic products – i.e., firing about 100 people in 3 countries. All this just weeks before the holidays. As a spic and homo, I’m overly sensitive to evil corporate shenanigans and these changes are wreaking havoc on my well-being. It’s distracting me from writing and socializing. It’s as if all the anxiety from everyone I’m responsible for is seeping into my consciousness through the endless IMs, emails, texts and phone calls. It also has me wondering about the larger picture and my place in it. When shoved against a rock and a hard place, solipsistic intellectual masturbation makes for a cozy blanket. On days like these, with the shorter days and waning light, the winds and rains and cold, it can drive a sensible Po-Mo Homo to curl up and drink and drink and drink and smoke and smoke and…..stare in bittersweet conflicted envy at the faux castle outside his window and the people cocooned in its luxury condos. *Sigh*

Egg Citroen

More from the early cheerleader files.

The Egg’s (remixed) “Walking Away” is featured in a slick ad for Citroen cars.

Edison Woods on WNYC SoundCheck

From the early cheerleader files, local lo-fi darlings Edison Woods continues charming the world.

Edison Woods

The eight-piece band Edison Woods features the vocals of Julia Frodahl and members of Antony & The Johnsons. They join us with a live performance.

Edison Woods’s Web site

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Mama Mia

Feliz Dia de los Muertos

I’m skipping Halloween, but I will be having a few moments for my aunt Tere, Regan, Adam Goldstone, and Alan J. Here’s a little background on Day of the Dead.

On November 1st and 2nd people remember those who are deceased. November 1st is considered the Dia de los Angelitos—the day to remember children that have died, November 2nd is the traditional Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead).
Pictures of the deceased are placed on Dia de los Muertos altars with their favorite food and drink. Candles to light their way home, and soap and water to freshen-up after their long trip back are also often placed on altars. Trinkets they were fond of, symbols they would understand, and gifts are left to communicate to them that they are always in the hearts of those they left behind, and that they are still part of the family even though they aren’t physically with us any longer.
The Aztecs beliefs were very similar to the Aboriginal beliefs of Australia. This life is considered to be a dream and when you die, you awake to your real life.
Day of the Dead began as an Aztec celebration originally celebrated in August. Skeletons and skulls were used as symbols for death and rebirth. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it and considered it a “moving-on” to a higher level of consciousness. When the Spaniards came and converted the Aztecs, the Aztecs incorporated the symbols of the crucifix and devil into the celebration, which the Spaniards moved to November 2nd.

The devil did not exist for the Aztecs until their conversion to Christianity.