Passing the Baton in Broad Channel

Bill’s house in Broad Channel is a pretty sacred place for us. We played one of our very first gigs there, and have taken great pleasure in watching it become a haven for all sorts of freaks since. It sits on a lump of land in the bay by JFK, and is sort of the love child of deepest Lon-GI-land, and Sweethaven from the Popeye movie. To inaugurate September, last Wednesday a bunch people from near and far converged at Bill’s for a show, I was particularly interested to see Relay for Death on the weight of the write up on Hanson’s website for their new LP. I knew from the weight of their mixer that this was not going to be another pedal chain uroborous. Not just a box fan turntable, but a box fan turntable with its original cumbersome floorstand, and a nest of technotlogy that would get the Michigan broken cable blue ribbon.

Me and Bobby B, played some loud noise for a few minutes to get things started. Maybe too loud? Neighbor hackles are up. Andy works the situation outside, the tolerance for weekend fun is being tested tonight. Oh yeah, forgot to mention Bill isnt even home. He is at work and has lent us his home, and also filled the fridge with beer. Cut that shit out Bill, or you might get taken advantage of someday! Next Jesse De does some nice stereo drones while the ground shifts and tilts as it always seems to under Dylan and a borrowed guitar. Damn good for winging it. All quiet on the western (northern) front (yard)??

Bleak End at Bernie’s would be Ossian from Los Angeles. He is far out, so far out it seems they didn’t want to let him on the plane to New York earlier in the day. Also he is almost too tall for Bill’s freakishly low ceiling. With just a drum machine he belted 2 short tunes, followed by an animated recital of Shakespeare, if I remember correctly. Andy is now out in the street being berated in stereo by a couple guys (Dwayne and Eddy?) employing strong accents, and honest to god threats to the electrical supply of the goddamn house. I actually do respect that they didn’t want to call the cops, and were ready to do their own dirty work, even if I wanted to tell them both to cram it…SHOWS OVER!

SHOWS BACK ON, after a long cruise across the Rockaways, mercifully dodging a “safety checkpoint”, and $2.75 later.

Generation, who had changed into his outfit at Bill’s, delivered some rough odes to heartbreak and the like if I am correct. Like a demented Chippendale, he stripped, sweat like crazy,  did a shit load of pointed martial arts robot dance moves while projecting his voice madly, peppered with a bit of concealed wanking. There was a puddle of sweat on the floor after. Check out Ryan’s site/blog/thingy www.thegeneration.org,  lots of twisted photos hops and other debris data.

Slasher Risk, our ostensible hosts were up now. They set up, played and broke down in record time, with their new explosions drum kit. I had just seen them bust it out a few days prior and it sounds like explosions. Just huge ass explosions. Add the guitars you know they know and there you go. Slasher risk is always good.

Relay for Death should have played WAY longer, they instantly created a really sick frame of mind augmented by slideless slide projections and a fucking fog machine. Fog machines pretty much universally mean you are going for it. Just as predicted, it was extra dark, scratchy and fragmented. This would be just right in the Red Barn at Hampshire College, after the barn has burned to cinders post atomic airburst or plague laden asteroid strike.

Grip a copy of the LP if you have the chance, gonna be a classic. One side is like when you have fallen asleep listening to one of the 4 Eno vocal records, and 2 hours later the needle inexplicably jumps from the runoff groove onto the label. Waking you up paralyzed by the sight of that little demon bugger sitting on your chest while the horse sticks his dead eyed head thru the drapes just like in that painting from your  art history book. The flip feels like everything is going wrong in the next room and its only a matter of time maybe before it knocks on your door, slides under it, seeps thru the wall,  or sputters in thru the vents, or shit,  its probably here already and you are just fucked.

Hand Rendered Useless closed it down with a real serene churchy vibe that was a total departure from the norm as far as I know. Ryan, I like the straitjacket bust out style better, but man its your birthday now and you can do whatever you want. I kept expecting him to tear off his shirt, but it never came. And that’s good, like the unexpected. With that, I gotta be at work in a few hours and split man.

Andy’s zipcar had been remotely disabled for late return. That’s the world you live in now. How long until you can be remotely disabled?

Relay for Death will be playing NYC again this weekend, and you should by all means check it out. Details will be added right here.

Just like in Conan when they are hanging around a fire and Subati tells him “Chew slowly, its the good stuff”