'Newer! Bigger! Better! Fester!" from THAT DOG that dog - An actual band for only 18 months now, the huge buzz surrounding THAT DOG is justified! From folk to punk, from fast to slow, from intense & angry to delicate & beautiful, their debut is a varied, yet cohesive platter, highlighted by gorgeous vocal harmonies & the use of violin as lead instrument. CROW My Kind Of Pain - With its combination of achingly beautiful & highly confessional lyrics against a dense, raging guitar-wall, CROWs much anticipated (after 6 years of touring & Australian EP releases) full-length debut is aptly titled. Produced by Steve Albini. flufs fab new longplayer formats - CD/CASS/LP with an extra track if you buy it on vinyl - watch for different artwork & titles! (CD: Home Improvements; CASS: Stocking The Lake With Brown Trout, LP: WhHey On The Moon). The cream of the San Diego scene! SMUDGE Impractical Joke - Yeah, Yeah, we've all heard what Aussie Tom Morgan has done with Head Lemon Evan Dando. Now hear Morgan & his band, SMUDGE. This 5 song CDep prefaces their upcoming LP Manilow & contains 4 exclusive tracks! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! 'Now V/ith Floating Slugs & Tiny Green Specks! ®Q@§8@Q®§8.@0@§8 HUEVOS RANCHEROS MARCH i @ UBC PIT PUB MARCH 4 @ HUHGRY EVE FURNACEFACE MARCH 10 @ UBC PIT PUB MARCH II ® HARPD'S (Vietaria) MARCH 12 @ TOWH PUMP CHUNE MARCH 29 @ TOWN PUMP MARCH 31 @ UBC PIT PUB CRAIN APRIL 5 ® STARFISH ROOM Maltaoc! New Album! Crusade! April! Tie More You Buy, The More You Pay!" Underselling Ourselves Since 1987" Merlin A unique hybrid of metal, hip-hop, soul and pop. Includes "A Noise Supreme", | "Pushfir" kT^w and "She Makes Me Work"' F@CK THAT BULLSHIT SEATTLE SCENE March 1994 Issue #134 TPi — Reveen the impossibilist STAND GT Of Tuning Forks and Chicken Coops... ....8 Airhead Cowshead Chronicles 5 5 HOWARD RHEINGOLD subtext 7 Whistling a New World Order Tune... ..10 Classical Beat 15 TIMOTHY LEARY Tuning In To the Man Who Drop ped 7" Vancouver Special 16 18 Out .12 Under Review Real Live Action Spinlist On The Dial 19 20 21 22 STUFF WE LISTENED TO > Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Pns He.id Flop The Great V.iledictio Traversal of Route 7 Mark Lane rVHIL DnDa n EPF gan V E PU syCh or Lc VI:, Sl< TTING THIS THING T( ainsaw Eleventeen Deadbo ve Not Lisa Merge Hoove y for the Holy Ghost The L JGETHE ItShrunke r The Lun ee Harve Oswald Band A Taste of Pnso n Me =it Bt at Manifesto Asbestos Le. d Asbesto edRa esBossanovaRedRedMea limmvwin TABOO TRIBAL WARE Body piercings and Branding by Mike Bear Walsh trained by Fakir Musafar Taboo Tribal Ware By Appt. Only is in the process of relocating, and win Fully Guaranteed temporarily be working on ' 7 / ^ - *■ ■ ** ■ ■ ■ ~ - ** a house call basis. We're ft A 7 • A 1 ^ ft sorry for any inconvenience. "VI w A w V m She is the goddamnedest woman I've ever seen! ON SALE THIS MONTH: PAVEMENT o CrooikedRan&oo*erfRan $9^7LP/cass$14.92 CO JAWBREAKER • 24 How Revenge rterapy. $8.78 LP/cass $13*1 CO SLANT 6» Soda Po^ip Off...., '1 FLUF ■ Home /mprovemenf. MOUNTAIN GOATS Beat^ Rat Sunset... ....$839 LP/cass $10.96 CO ....$9.65 LP/cass $14.92 CO $8.78107CD FLYING SAUCER AHACK ^sa^AnacL. VICTIMS FAMILY "ftodateta* $9i7LP/cass$11.84 CD PORTASTATIC ■ I Hope M Heart Is m m $9.87 LP/cass $13.81C0 VIC CHESTNUT ^ uticuhcd CC NOVA 0 Mitalt Dispatch $13.81 CD I-THE MIGHTY HUNTER MI(* A ********** AAA*** Sputnik (Black E>« Productions) Black Eye arose from the ashes of Tragedy Strikes Press, an Ontario small comics press who picked the wrong name. I remember seeing a copy of their Sin comic and being TRUE COMIX FACTS: The husband and wife ^ani that I'd bet my money on would be Bill 'Zippy' Griffith and his wife Diane Nooniin: I recently got Rip Off Press lo express me Diane's True Glitz the utterly devastating, fabulous tales of Didi Glitz, socialite extraordinaire. This comic is four years old now bul still available! Didi is of a 'certain age', and a swinger. The situations are funny-sad with cartoon sex galore ...Ion Lewis has published True Swamp through his own Peristaltic Press (it wasn't in my dictionary). Nice job, lovely color cover and the 'hero' is a frog. The animals use an odd barter system of trading thoughts of cities in place of payment — well of course, where would they hold their money (ha ha). Peristaltic PO Box 95973, Seattle, Wa 98145...Big Mouth is drawn by Pat Moriarty and written by celebs. Number 3 features the words of Bukowski, Rollins, P. Bagge, Dave Greenberger and even Penn & Teller. Rumour has that Slash fellow from Guns and Roses penning a strip...I doubt I would ever purchase a comic titled Crap, but wilJ admit I enjoyed perusing JR Williams title (the #2 issue at that) and was surprised to see JR portray the lives of five room-mates with such hilarity and aplomb. Great artist, juvenile title...Julie Doucet's Leve Ta Jambe Mon Poisson Est Mart! (lift your leg my fish is dead!) is a collection of her earliest mini-comix and anthology art published by Drawn and Quarterly...Now, Endsville is a hilarious collection of cartoons by Carol Lay published by Kitchen Sink. Lay pokes fun at family relationships and the title story involves ghosts TRUe&LiTZ and deception in love... I had eagerly awaited Diva from Starhead Comix (PO Box 30044, Seattle, WA 98103) which features Fiona Smyth, Dame Darcy and Ellen Forney. Ms. Smyth's work has been collected in her own hook Nocturnal Emissions and I enjoy the big page reprints inSnipehunt. Her tale here. Sugar Sandwich, comes as a slightly tnppy letdown. Dame Darcy. queen of the Roller Derby whose own Meat Cake comic is publisher! by that other Seattle comics co. is found here with dramatic odds and ends Ellen Forney comes across as a real toughie who wrestles her pals, look for her own solo book Tomato to be published by Starhead this Spring...I've been buying The Comics Journal for about a Caiman issue for me to finally actually purchase one and I can't recommend this magazine highly enough. The letters column and editorials can be somewhat over the top. but in terms of info on the comix world, you can't do belter. For example the Dec "93 issue featured interviews with not only Michael ' Madman' Woodring...Speaking of Madman the first three issues of Allred's series have been collected by Kitchen Sink who until now published this zany superduper hero. Starting in April Madman Comics will appear, published every second month by Dark Horse...Babble- On Press is new to Vancouver and publishing Rubberneck a collection of comix mostly by Julian Lawrence which includes an eye-opening look into the sordid world of panty hijinks in Japan...Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman began the tres left- wing World War 3 Illustrated 13 years ago. Kuper's innovative stencil style of cartooning is an acquired taste for the reader. He's completed five issues of Bleeding Heart his mostly political somewhat autobiographical storyline for Fantagraphics and in the coming months will release IViM Kingdom which promises more of the same and erm.bunny rabbits...Colin Upton and Roberta Gregory are among those cartooning in Skunk a new take-off on the "funny animal" genre of comics, and keep a look out for a collection of Ms. Gregory's Naughty Bits this Spnng. what people are reading Ever wonder What People are Reading? I do. The fine staff of Discorder look lime between edits, NBA JAM games, layout, and long discussions on why Macs rale the world, to write and tell subtext. Most of them even put down their computer manuals for this assignment The World of Pooh - A.A. Milne with illustrations by F.. II. Shepard See. with me it's either Pooh or feminist theory and after silling/suffenng/sleeping through Naked twice, I should probably be working on my Naom i Wolf book rather frolicking in Hundred Aker Wood, bul there is just something aboul Pooh and Piglet and Christopher Robin. Pixih is the ultimate easy going, straight thinking, problem solver and even though he is a bear of little brain, he always seems lo gel by somehow We should all be so lucky. The perfect book for a rainy day or when you are down. Pooh will make everything better. Tiddley pom (Lane Dunlop) Maurice - EM. Forster movie by the astounding Mer- chanl/lvory team originated as an excel- ivel by one of their favourile au- EM Forster. A humourous, disturbing, and, ultimately elating insight into Ihe life of a homosexual Englisliman al Ihe beginning of ilns century, Maurice was written in 1913 bul lay unpublished until Forte.', death in 1970 The best part aboul Maurice is Ihe eternal optimism of Us ending. Forster is always good for a laugh, a lift, and a mental prod. Thanks Ed. (Tama Alekson) Even Cowgirls del the Blues - Tom Robbins I'm reading (or should 1 say Irving lo read I have lo milch il from my roommate whenever she puts it down) this in bils- and-pieccs. but I like il so far. Il seems lo be shaping up mostly as Ihe story of Sissy. Inldihikcr supreme, bul there is also a lot of lime spent al Ihe Rubber Rase Ranch. Al the catch line on Ihe back says. That have been many greal drivers, bul only one greal pxssengcr" (Robin Beech> Slacker - Richard ("Dick") l.inklaler Oh, 1 know this is so unforgivingly "Generation X" of me. but I this us one of tlie few print publications I've wanted lo own in a long lime In fact, this hcxik is even more enjoyable than tie movie itself: il lends itself perfectly lo five-minute browses. Linklater includes biographies of Ihe cast based on his original inter- incorporaled their own lives intolheircha acters. Also included is a history of ll film's production and long, slow road to release and distribution Even enjoyed the foreword by Doug Copeland. (Anthony llempell) Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie In 550 pages of luciously interwoven h lory and mylli Rushdie breaks all former molds and lakes us lo places our unaginations and intellects never knew existed This hook is pure delight yet leaves me depressed knowing lhat the aulhor lives in hiding from a group of zealots who warn lo ouilaw beauty 1 think I'll go read Winnie the Pooh again (Ace Wakey) Aldus PageMaker User Manual 5 A hefty 46X pages of raw eye popping data from our good friends al Aldus Corp. Tlie toy of knowledge is fast at band. So far I'm about half way tlirough and. yes il is reading like st mind that, as always, we have the best interests of our readers in we learn about our software, tlie quicker we can pump out this lovely magazine lo you Ihe people. Did I mention ue do beta testing'! (Mark Pi lorn March -*i^ By: Grant Lawrence Just an hour outside of the frothing, cultural metropolis of Montreal is a wee, Scottish burg on the Ontario-Quebec border. A completely rural farming community, Glengarry, Ontario boasts of two major exports: corn...and Canadian punk rock misfits, the Stand GT. Members of this hick, backwoods, Canadiana band actually live on farms, crop corn (or is that husk?) and go so far as to even practice their melodic form of pop rage in a chicken coop! Though true to their Glengarry roots, Montreal is Stand GT's gigging homebase and where they first garnered modest attention through two 7" releases on Montreal's En Guard Records. On the strength of those records the band hit the road for a couple of cross Canada tours, even managing to head south to Seattle. It was there where Top Drawer Records fell in lust with the group and quickly offered to put out the Stand GT's first international release. On their last X-coun- try tour Discorder managed to tie down a couple of the rural rock'n'rollers... \ iscorder: Who am I talking to? m Chris and I play guitar and attempt vocals... m Glen, I play drums. We're missing Colin, our new bass player, and Doug, our lead guitarist/ vocalist. What's with the new bass player? C: Unfortunately, the day before we left [on tour] our old bassist phoned us and said he couldn't make it, for reasons unknown. He flipped us all out since he left it to 24 hours before we left. Needless to say, you're furious at the guy? G: Extremely. I don't ever want to lay eyes on him again. C: We don't like to sling shit so we decided we'd keep this, sort of, low- profile but we do have things to get off our chests. Obviously touring is a huge commitment. G: 100%. Especially setting it up. C: What initially crossed my mind was all the kids setting up all-ages shows. It's one thing to cancel a bar show but when it's all-ages show, like a lot of these shows have been, it's we who are really screwing over the promoter. Our credibility would have been nil right across the country. I first heard of you guys, as the Stand, on the last of the infamous Og Records compilations, It Came From Canada V. Why did you add the "GT"? G: Confusion. Bar bands. There are a lot of bar bands called the Stand. And the GT added a little pop-culture to your name? C: Exactly. Sort of like the Dinosaur Jr. thing. Let's talk about your sound. I've heard all sorts of comparisons in describing the Stand GT. Everything from Descendants and Hiiskrr Du to power pop and '60's garage. G: Well, all of our early gigs were widi the Gruesomes in Montreal. C: They were so nice to us, they helped us out by pointing us in the right direction. We were definitely '60's garage when we started out. Did you guys do the whole look: the Beatles' mop-tops and black leather vests? C: We dabbled... I had die haircut. G: Doug had the vest and he's always had a bowl haircut. In grade one 8 ^iscofn/e^ Doug had a Gruesomes' haircut. Who are some of your fave international combos these days? G: Uncle Tupelo are one of my absolute favourites. C: We love Bum, Superchunk, Superconductor, Rocket From the Crypt... But what about your bizarre choice of covers on your 7" singles? Whereas most bands will cover their favourite punk rock songs, you guys have gone and covered a Billy Bragg song and a couple of Pogues songs! C: Yeah, "Boys From The County Hell" and "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" are both Pogues songs. Glengarry, ON, is almost completely Scottish so we've sort of met our Celtic roots half way. G: That was the whole point of covering those songs. We took songs that would make whacked-out covers, anybody can cover an MC5 song or the Rolling Stones. There's no point in covering a song unless you can make How's the Montreal scene these days? C: Terrible. There's no place to play. The problem with Montreal is that it's very cliquey. You've got our label, En Guard, in one corner, Ihe Doughboys crowd in another, the Asexuals over in another... people would just rather go to discotheques. When the It Came From Canada compil; happening the Montreal great, vibrant. Now I that out here on die West Coast and in the Maritimes and we pretty You guys sure tour a lot You just here in August, and that's rare for an independent band from so far away to be out here again C: We love to tour. We' ve come out here diree times now and we've done two Maritii What was your C: Oh, it's gotta be High wood '93! The cheque Paul Hughes [organizer/promoter/shit-sack] gave us bounced had his account frozen! G: I was totally flat-busted broke for the entire tour because of him. C: We're totally pissed. How can this guy... I mean, when he was signing cheques he knew exactly what he was doing cuz everyone we've talked have had their cheque bounce. How could he do thai?! He can't get away with that!!! Let me ask you about your hometown. Is it true you practice in a chicken coop? G: Fact. C: Since 1985 we've been practising in my chicken coop. It's on my parent's farm. That's very Buddy Holly. Arc there chickens in the coop? C: No, but there are a multitude of beet bottles dial are all covered in mould right now. And in the summer we can't practice without heavy-duty repellent or we're eaten alive by mosquitoes. Nardwuar says you, Stand GT, owe it all to David Wisdom. Is that G: Who the hell is David Wisdom? David Wisdom hosts a show on CBC radio called "Nightlines" [Friday and Saturday, 11 pm-4 am] but here's the story: the editor of Cryptic Tymes magazine, a Sir Cryptic AL was on "Nightlines" and gave out his address. Through that interview Cryptic Al met a girl through the mail, named Lisa. He later married her and moved to her hometown of Seattle. It was there that Cryptic Al gave a tape of the Stand GT to Seattle's Top Drawer Records, who have now signed you guys. Therefore, as Nardwuar points out, YOU, the Stand GT, owe it all to David Wisdom. Both: OOoo...Wow! Hooray for the CBC! C: We were so excited when Top Drawer got in touch with us. I had been sending out tape after tape when all of a sudden a cool label from SeatUe writes us and actually wants to do a record! It was great! Tell me about the huge show you played in Seattle. G: The Fastbacks and Bum at the Crocodile Cafe! It was cool. It was nuts! It was the biggest show of our lives. When Bum played all just standing at the front of the stage going, "Oh my God this is the greatest." And then when the Fastbacks c; 1 to stand on chairs to see 'em, it was so packed! But what about the "star"?! C: Okay, I was standing there and one of Ihe Top Drawer guys goes "Jesus, would ya look at that!". /£$<. It was Duff Mc K agan from Guns and Roses, who, of course, was Ihe Fastbacks" original drummer back in the '70's. The guy had poofy hair with a silk scarf ind his neck, a basic glam- rock get up, and he irm, too. This guy is one of the biggest :k stars of the world and he's at gig! I was blown away, even though die guy's a jerk and I hate him. G: And he got up on stage for the Fastbacks' encore which was amazing history since that's the original lineup of that band. Hey, go to Seattle and see the stars! copy of their greal March -*^ MC). Relaying his own experiences on the San Francisco-based WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectroaic Link), author Rheingold describes a phenomenon thai is both ironic, considering the de/anti- buman(izing) nature of technology, yet welcoming. "There is power in the broadcast paradigm when you can give people access to large bodies of useful information.... But the community- building power comes from the living database that the participants create and use together, informally, as they help each other solve problems, one to one and many to many. The web of human relationships that can grow along with the database is where potential for cultural and political change can be found." Rheingold also discusses the origins of our current CMC systems (TnterNet, BBSes) and how passivity, derived from our mesmerization with the technology Bill Microsoft and the gang at AT&T are touting, will have an irreversible effect on the informa- ailable to us, which in mm we may upload to our on-line community. You've seen the ads: Have yi fax from the beach? Have you ever borrowed a book from thousands of miles away? Have you ever tucked your kid in from a phone booth? It's bard not to be a fan of the promised technology. "As commercial organizations—including two of the biggest corporations in the world, IBM and AT&T—take over management of the Net from government institutions, who will gain and who will be denied access? Who will make policy aboul what or do in the Net? Who will arbitrate disagreements about on-line behav Rheingol II Parent, editor of The Whole Earth Catalogue, journalist and consultant to the Clinton/Gore administration's foray into the fibre optic infostructure, Rheingold was in Vancouver recently speaking on Virtual Reality, but not before communicating, albeit offline, with Discorder magazine. Rheingold: The Virtual Reality business has brought me to all sorts of places around the world over a more extended period to talk about the subject but this has been the most intense and extensive author's tour. It has to do, partially, with the fact that I was smart a couple years ago when I started on this and partially because luck is with me; all of these issues that were really kind of technical issues a couple years ago are now in the forefront. The Virtual Community presents a point of view that's quite a bit different from what we're hearing in all the digital superhighway hype that the big companies are putting out and it's different from the national information infrastructure—I wouldn't call it hype- proposals—that the Clinton/Gore administration is putting out. So thai alternative voice comes at a good time. If totalitarian manipulators of population and technologies actually do achieve dominance in the future I predict thai it will begin not by secret police kicking in your doors but by allowing you to sell yourself to your television and letting your supermarket sell information about your transactions, while outlawing measures you could use to protect yourself. Instead of just telephone taps the weapons will include computer programs that link bar codes, credit cards, social security numbers, and all the other electronic telltales we leave in our paths through the information society. And the most potent weapon will be the laws, or absence of laws, thai enable improper uses of information technology to erode what is left of citizens' rights to privacy. Discorder: With analyses like that aren't you jeopardizing your relationship with the Clinton/Gore administration and big business? "Hyper-realists see the use of communications technologies as a route to the total replacement of the natural world and the social order with a technically mediated hyper-reality, a 'society of the spectacle' in which we are not even aware that we work all day to earn money to pay for entertainment media that tell us what to desire and which brand to consume and which politician to believe.... To the hyper-realists CMC, like other communications technologies of the past, is doomed to become another powerful conduit for disinfotainment. While a few people will get better information via high-bandwidth supernetworks, the majority of the population, if history is any guide, are likely to become more precisely befuddled, more exactly manipulated." - excerpt from Virtual Community, by Howard Rheingold "If a BBS (computer Bulletin Board System) isn't a democratizing technology," claims Rheingold, "there is bo such thing. For less than the cost of shotgun a BBS turns an ordinary person, anywhere in the world, into a publisher, an eyewitness reporter, an advocate, an organizer, a student or teacher, and potential participant in a worldwide citizen-to-citizen conversation. The technology of personal telecommuni 10 Gfti&cofnle^ and the rich, diverse BBS culture that is growing on every continent today were created by c$tj*ens, not Doomsday weapon designers or corporate researchers.,.tbere is nc way to stamp out the BBS subcultures unless you shut down the telephone system or go back to the 1970s and un-invent the microprocessor." Well, I'm way out in left field—not left in terms of left and right politics, but I'm an independent journalist—nobody owns me. I would be happy to consult for a big company but I'm going to tell them about the world as I s«e it, In fact, that's the value of hiring someone like me. I must add, upon talking with a lot of people about this and trying to see where we could get some kind of deal between public opinion, the government and big business, that I'm not anti-big business. I think that if you really want to democratize this median so it's not just people who can afford the CompuServe accounts then you have to have ihe economies of scale that these large companies wilh their huge infrastructures can bring to this. Unequivocally now, perhaps more so than when I wrote the book, it's clear that government can't provide this. People don't want to pay taxes to support the technology they don't understand even though it might, ultimately, save tens of billions of dollars in health care costs, welfare costs and local government costs. It's just too esoteric for people lo buy it, I think it has to be privatized. The question is, will we have a diverse system. If I have a bias it's towards diversity. Competition among a large number of providers is healthy and having that large number of people participating in discourse is better than having a few gatekeepers of the mass media managing the discourse. I would like to see some kind of deal where the large companies (the Bell/Atlantics, the TCls, ihe Time/Warners, the Paramounts) can be deregulated to cut them loose to provide this, but regulated to the degree that they are forced to provide a public interest common carrier channel so that you and I and a million other people can ;nls worth in. The downside there, there's a lot of noise, le paying attention to stuff anybody who wants to put their two < of that is that there's a lot of junk ou and you'd be wasting a lot of your lii that you don't want to pay attention t On the other hand, on the Usent command. "Okay, this guy is a probli never hear from that person again. If you want you want them to not hit that K-key. If all you want to d< and rave then, well, everybody can turn you out. Why pn people from ranting and raving if we can prevent having you've got the "kill" i," hit the K-key and you influence people r video BBS, < ir little «paper o Or, you know, there are a jil bands out there who don't have a< means of music distribution, why on ihe Net? If they can find 400, 4,000,000 listeners, fine, let the r decide. I really garage • the not let them go »r 4000, or larketplace fair market- e being a mechanism that can mediate between a lot of different competing sources. I don't believe that a marketplace is a fair marketplace if it's controlled by a few large interests. I'd like to see the large interests, the medium-sized companies, the mom-and-pop businesses and the small businesses and citizens all have some access to this new media. The technology gives us an enormous abundance of bandwidth. It's not like in 1934 when the FCC was created because of the scarcity of tlie airwaves. We now have abundance. Let's have competition in that abundant bandwidth. I think Discorder'& audience is one who probably understands that desktop publishing did not put the big newspapers out of business but it did make ten thousand little 'zines on all kinds of fractions, all kinds of subcultures and all kinds of fringe groups. It gave them power to reach their people and form communities. I think that's an example that people in the pop culture world can understand. The independent music scene is now very different from when rock 'n' roll became big business and you had to be discovered by the big boys. Now, being discovered by the big boys is what you have to do if you want to make a billion dollars but there are a lot of bands that are making a decent living because they have communications and access to people. If we could put the music out there, the video out there, the publications out there in a distribution channel, where you could find three people in Singapore and sixteen people in Rio and forty people in Calgary, then you're in business. I think that's exciting. If F have a bias it's towards the wisdom of a regulated democracy. I say regulated democracy because I don't think that turning everything over to the mob is the answer either. es begin to clash with offiim ual Rape, Virtual Terror- What happens when VR txperien moral standards, Tor instance, Vii ism, Virtual Murder? In regards to Virtual Reality, I think that we have (to ask] some real ethical and mora] questions about allowing people to perform immoral acts that don't have consequences in the electronic world. I have a bias against censorship because I think that rules are something that a small group of people make and a large number of people find ways to get around. Although I think there is a problem with censorship, the problem is less of riglil or wrong. I think that censorship is wrong. I'm not absolute about it but it's less of right and wrong. It just can't be done effectively unless you're gonna recall all of tlie computer chips in the world and tap on every phone in the world. Otherwise, bow are you going lo If it's uncool to do something then you see a lot less of il. On the Net we do have something that I wouldn't call censorship but is censorship; we have moderated newsgroups. A moderated newsgroup is one where anybody can post but the moderator decides whether it's appropriate or not. The fact of the matter is a modi material, ihey people towards mo that we should elir willing to stand tin vsgroup and nobody sends you offensive vhere. They have one cause, and ihey want in towards their cause, and that drives sd newsgroups. 1 don't think that means : unmoderated newsgroups. If you're e you can get the raw, unfiltercd input of attention to it. I think attention is the most powerful have and we should use more of that and fewer rules. More norms. If rules are necessary I think they should emerge from a prolonged and uncensored debate because we don't know much about this medium yet. By making rules about it we're going to drive a lot of that force underground. I particularly enjoyed the ides-of-Marcb forecasting in the latter part of your book? Are you going to be pursuing more of this writing in the nest book [ The Millennium Whole Earth Catalogue]? The premise behind the Whole Earth Catalogue is that people have lost their trust in large institutions, be it government or the church or the corporations, to solve their problems. But we have powerful tools in the world today. If we make those tools accessible to people they will build better lives for themselves and they will, from the grassroots, have more effect on building a better world than working from the top down. So, in a sense, I am putting into practise what I've talked about in the last chapter of the book, which is to put the tools in the hands of people and trust that we'll build something better because of the diversity. It's certainly true in biological and ecological systems. A diverse system is a flexible and robust one and a monoculture is one that can be manipulated and wiped out very easily. I must say that I've never been, primarily, a political person—I'm not one who has gone to meetings or joined political parties. The poiiticai conclusions that I reach in the book surprised me. When I started to write the book aboul this wonderful culture that I participated in. and the more I thought, talked, read and- interviewed people aboul where it was all leading, ihe more I realized that we're at one of those choice points that probably happened generations ago. But people didn'l have the media we have now and we have a unique opportunity lo spread the word that choices are being made and they're going to affect our future. You don't have to start a left-wing BBS or a right-wing BBS. just start doing your own communicating—take the means of production of information, entertainment, news and the distribution of that information into your own bands and let's see what happens We've already seen what happens the other way in Ihe age of the mass media, let's try a new experiment...unless we try we'll never When considering what lies in store with megacorporations taking more control of the Nets, 1 find your statement, "The Net is not only InterNet. You could shut down all the hosts on InterNet and millions of people would still find ways to exchange e-mail and newsgroups," very comforting. It is comforting. It's not entirely impossible. We could be forced to get licenses to run BBSes as it said in the book you had to get a license from the government to ruu one in Japan until 1985. There could be a new political regime, in any country, tomorrow that could decide that this is dangerous and "we're going to listen for digital tones, and if we find you doing il (hen you go lo jail and we fine you." There are a lot of people in the world, myself included, that think this business with unfettered gun ownership has gone amok in the US. But the business belief in citizen ownership of guns is that it keeps the government honest. Well, as we're seeing with the fall of communism and political coups all over the world, guns no longer have the power that communications have. The modem is the militia gun of this new revolution. Let's just make sure that no one takes it away from us. As long as we maintain that I think that there's real hope. In your travels have you found European hackers more overtly political? I think ihe politics of most hackers is anarchy...there's a real dilemma there. The system, InterNet, is largely based on trust and destroying that trust is dangerous to the whole system. I don't think it's innocent exploration to ditch somebody's files or bring their computer system down, it's a crime and it should be prosecuted. However, I don't believe that a fourteen year-old kid. who doesn't know much about the world, ought to be sent to prison, where they can learn to be real criminals, for doing that. I think we need some more creative solutions in regard to sentencing. I also think that law enforcement needs to play by the rules. You're not supposed to be ahle to break into innocent people's homes and drag them off without having a reasonable cause and a search warrant, you shouldn't be able to do that electronically either. I don't want to see people using the Nets to commit terrorist acts. I don't want to see them using the nets to destroy other people's property, I don't want to see them using the Nets to destroy the Nets. But I don't want to see that freedom destroyed by our fear of those predators. I think we need to come up with some rational solution. I don't pretend to know what that Was AT&T-New York's nine-hour breakdown, a few years back, a ploy to get tae Secret Service onboard with the hacker threat? I think it's very unlikely. I think that if this was caused by hackers we would have seen headlines about it. 1 wouldn't quote this as the gospel because I can't give you the exact citation but, as I understand, it was caused by a couple of little AT&T code patches to their system. You've got such an enormously complex software system that no matter how much you test it it's got a bug. okay? You fix that bug &srk spans four d powerfully influenced miilio ns of peopl How about Elvis? What about Elvis? ier or not you agree with his decidedly left brain theories t be denied that he is a highly educated man with some s secular and esoteric knowledge backing up his unique. Hional catch phrases. JntwoH sten, I'm so senile I don't remember what was going last time at this time, so let*s go easy. Regardless, il wouldn't be far from the truth to suggest that Leary practically spawned the sixty's drug counter-culture (he warned: the word drug freezes people like a "Pavlovian dog to a conditioned reflex", says Leary) and emerged as the closest thing to a hierophant that the movement had. Tlie object of phenomenal media attention, his groundbreaking research in terribly taboo fields and the consequent "conversion" of thousands of formerly law-abiding citizens sent the establishment for a loop. They labelled him "the most dangerous man on earth" and have documented his every m< >ve since his researches with LSD began. What about Brian Wilson? Would he be the same today If ho hadn't done ISO in the eo's? I'm a kindly man. I try to say nothing negative about anyone but I've always considered Brian Wilson to be a pathetic moron. It's not his fault. The DNA, you know...we have to have morons out there. I don't think he is a child molester, or anything evil, but his elevator doesn't reach the top floor. i! h. The only hope is dope • What did humanity do before pizza? • Hell is a bum trip • I am Dr. Timothy Leary and the law does not apply to me • Biology is more woman than man At the ripe age of seventy-four, Leary can now enjoy the fruits of his labour. Before his time in the sixties, he comes into his own in the nineties as "real" researchers discover that there's some truth to chaos theory and this zany marriage of traditional science and ancient mysticism. Today, he collaborates with Al Jourgensen [Ministry}, tours with Lollapalooza, and spends his leisure time wilh E langerous man at least he's the toughest. He ; kidnapped by American agents in Afghanistan, made daring ;on escapes at least twice, proved you can be spiritually ightened and still live in Beverly Hills, and worked with the st progressive, smartest artists and scientists in this century. e held my own with the justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, •Weather Underground, the Al-Faiah in Algiers (they kidnapped i also.) and prison guards in twenty-nine prisons on three iiinents." He was sentenced to thirty years in prison for .sesmg two joints ol marijuana (his bail was set at five million dollars) and was field in solitary confinement for >nlh^MJaffiUjmH'ed transmissions was married to Lima ivhM; a psychedelic ;nce at all limes, has lunched with everyone Do you still have a mindblowing experience once a week? I'm hawing one right now, I'll tell you. Happily, the movement he helped start has gained so much momentum and grown so widespread that it seems to have affected a degree of change in the societal climate. In this balmier clime, his ideas (and all other deviant cosmologies, from Reich to Rollins) are no longer so much of a threat to the I've met Frank Sinatra, who is a very mafioso! Dave Pirner [Soul Asylum] and god-daughter Winona Ryder. For fun he continues to lecture to people around the globe and prepare humanity for cosmic conciousness. In these troubled times Leary is still a welcome "hope dealer," a chaos engineer and dissident philosopher. He encourages us to "boot up our divinity," "program our own bio-computer" and, most importantly, to S M I2 L E (Space migration + Increased Intelligence + Life Extension - the expansion of the human species into all space time). What did humanity do before Timothy Leary? Everybody knows that every politician is corrupt and is interested in only one things themselves. And that there is a global sense of suffering and grief because we hate to lose our ideals. But at the turn of the century a new species will be bom. It is going to be born... it is a global language which will be based on Nintendo... Born in 1920 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Leary's life seemed to start when he was thirty-five. Before that he was a "roodess city dweller...an anonymous institutional employee who drove to work each morning in a long line of commuter cars." A former Army psychologist, he began his world famous experiments with LSD and psilocybin at the Centre for Personality Research, Harvard University. Nobody knows what acid is. My advice is do not go out and get acid from someone who walks up to you in a bar in a trench coat and says, "Here's some add." Like anything else that is precious in life, you should know what you're doing. If you're going to share this experience, do it with someone who shares your spiritual ambitions. As a result, everyone from the newly emerging hippies to clerics and their wives began ex|xrimenting with concious- altering drugs in order to implement a rise in planetary intelligence. Now some may argue that doing drugs is stupid, not smart, but Leary only advocates responsible, ritualistic drug use_"a disciplined mystical experience involving withdrawal from social games and interactions." Leary calls these drugs "conical vitamins." As anyone who has taken psychedelic drugs will attest, there are "galaxies within the mind." Take a mind-altering drug and there you are knocking at that archetypal door which opens to worlds visited by millions that have gone before you. fs Prozac the legal LSD of the '90s? Where do you get these questions? Do you have committees of monkeys that type them out for you? I'm not an expert on legal drugs. Basically, I don't like legal drugs. Just think of it. If the government legalizes a drug there's got to be something wrong with it. Think about it...al Leary spouts age-old principles clothed in a model for this generation. Psychedelics provide a short cut to the "post- terrestrial circuits" only previously accessed by years of Yoga science, or what have you. Instant rapture for the I-want-it- now generation. During the psychedelic experience, Leary beleives you "die and are reborn." In the important in- between space, when our "imprinted neurological games" are suspended, we can imprint new games. Let's go back to Prozac for a moment. I'm fascinated that they are learning more about the brain because the brain is a series of a hundred billion computers. I think it's wonderful that there are these chemicals that are obviously designed by DNA to make the brain react this way. So, although I am not giving product endorsements about Prozac, I think, in general, the idea is good. But, off it. I think any psychoactive, psychedelic. lM@Ui t Photographs by Lincoln Clarkes • Fractal imaging by Randy I< psychological drugs should not be sold. It's almost like selling pardonsi like the priest you see sowing sacraments. I think they should be regulated by society. Certainly young people shouldn't take them but the very idea of selling psychoactive drugs is worse than prostitution, in a sense, and I haven't thought this all the way through...so be Even beginning to view our daily activites as games is the first step to detaching ourselves from neurosis, fear of failure etc. Leary provides us with a seven dimensional "game model:" 1. roles being played; 2. rules tacitly accepted by all players; 3. strategies for winning (or the masochistic winning by losing); 4. goals of the game; 5. language of the game; 6. characteristics of space/time location; 7. characteristic movements in space time. Looking at our day-to-day experiences on society as a whole in this manner enables us to make a lateral jump in our thinking that broadens our perceptions and allows us to live Because LSD has the propensity to erase the proverbial chalkboard, in the wrong hands it is potentially the most "potent brainwashing agent in the world." That's why Leary wrote the Two Commandments^for the Nuclear age: 1. Thou shalt not alter the conciousness of thy neighbor without their consent. 2. Thou shalt not prevent thy neighbor from altering their o What the computer and quantum physics has made clear to us, and what neurology has made clear to us, is that the basic nature of the universe is chaos. Our minds think we can't understand it. Computers can't help us. I think that psychedelic drugs allow you to fine tune. You want crazier? Hey, you want the walls to breathe? The ability to precisely and safely design your own hallucinations and communicate them using the new multimedia stuff is a big breakthrough and that will be the language of the future. Unfortunately, Leary can't be everywhere and recreational users are left to their own devices. Everyone who has experimented with these drugs can think of at least one time when they have "broken." Try to explain to someone who has never taken acid what it feels like to have a piece of steel inserted inside your face from eye to lip, or to live in a world full of black glass for awhile. Fortunately, we always come back from these states, although sometimes a little worse for wear. These kind of nasty experiences be represented...come home in glory..." Leary also outlines the eight circuits of the human n system — four terrestrial circuits, and four post-terrestrial circuits which are evolving for use in outer space. The first four deal with "Newtonian time, the whole 'square' mentality...producing an 'adjusted' adult with one personality and one system of coordinates...usually conservative and mildly (or extremely) paranoid." The latter four deal with quantum time and conciousness, ESP, super-intelligence, out-of-body experience etc.. These circuits can be imprinted by drugs, sensory deprivation, shock or near death experience and advanced Yoga techniques. He has written in detail in many of his books about these circuits and they are worth looking into if you have the time. He also predicted the invention of the G pill, a "dying enzyme" that simulates the death experience (see: Brainstorm, an early-eighties sci-fi starring Christopher Walken). He also predicted an immortality pill, or one that would at least extend life to four or five hundred years. He started, among many others, the L5 society: a group of scientists determined to establish the first space city and achieve immortality in this century. I find these possibilities horrifying; the thought of a five hundred year old Micheal Jackson. Barbara Bush or Brenda is too much bear. I„- Io+Pd+M>: (New intelligence - old intelligence + deliberate program for self change + mctaprogramming substance) not the norm. Bad trips are the result of: 1. negative mental states al the time of taking the drug; 2. negative surroundings during the drug trip; 3. impurities in the drug (strychnine, tiny tart etc..) Adm n(vi B3)s. ■ffective cure however, these drugs These two commandments were, of course, wholly ignored by government officials. Leary's worst fears were realized when the CIA's irresponsible drug experiments on innocent North Americans severely traumatized the subjects in a horrifying sci-fi mind rape. Did JFK ewer do acid? I don't know, they say he did. But you "dropped" with Marilyn Monroe, didn't you? On the positive side, Leary's ethical therapy sessions with his many famous and not-so-famous personal patients, his followers at the Millbrook Ashram, and volunteers in an e prison rehabilitation program met with remarkable I was in the cell next to Manson for one night. Legends have developed about that. He did not give me any drugs. I would not take any drug from anyone who does not have the qualities in their eye that I want from that drug. So I never took drugs from Manson. This is "Tim's Tips to the Young," okay? Don't take drugs from Manson. for a bum trip. In a positive « allow us to literally "design new realities" and show us alternate ways at looking at/ex[x-riencing things. Leary's interest in LSD has been over-emphasized. LSD is simply "a tool for focusing in on and fine-tuning the human nervous system. Each nerve impulse acts as an information bit in our bio-chemical electric computer." Amongst multitudes of other essays and books, Leary wrote Info-1'sychohgy, a "manual on the use of the human nervous system according to the instructions of the manufacturers and a navigational guide for piloting the evolution of the individual." Leary encourages us to "study, learn and prepare if you are going to mess with your Are you the Hugh Hefner of LSD? Now that is t award? You've got the award! I want to congratulate you. I have been interviewed thousands of times, and I have met the greatest, professional, crazed interviewers, and you are right up there. You're the »se and paradigm theory by Intermittent neuron-bursts by Nardwuar the Human Serviette I would like to think that in this dav and age you can explore the possibilities of your own mind without the use of drugs. The sum of other peoples' psychedelic endeavours have infiltrated the collective unconcious where, consequently, we till learn from the collective experience. This then manifests on a concious level as well. Via JimiHendrix or virtual reality we can begin to understand, or even have, a psychedelic experience without taking drugs. Leary subscribes to even more heretical philosophies. Namely, that it is the goal of the human species "to produce a serially imprinting, multi-brained creature that deciphers its own programs and decodes the aging sectors of our DNA (assuring lity) until it produces a nervous system capable of using itself as an instrument." Our "evolutionary blueprint" is the double helix DNA (programmer) and RNA (the ■ting principal of DNA). which he belie There were zero psychotic breaks, no suicide.' negative effects on anyone he treated. People w« very carefully through the egoless state which i.< that Leary describes as "chaos." j neuro physical signal sent [s to us from higher intelligences ■*^»*^»*^»*^»*^HfMfMDMfa»r from elsewhere in the I Iniverse. He claims to have had contact with these ultra-terrestrials who tell him to tell us to neurologically prepare ourselves to meet with our "interstellar parents" with whom we share the galaxy. They tell him, among other things (Starseed transmissions, July 23. 1973), to "assemble the most intelligent, advanced, and courageous of vour species equally divided between men and women Let every religion and race Okay, here's something simple. Do the guys with LSD get the most chicks ? The vulgar sordidness of that question is Olympic. Getting chicks? I mean, what does that mean? Getting chicks. That is a very vulgar 50's term. Man, you are out of it! You are really out of it ! Nowadays, Leary talks a lot about chaos, which seems to have some validity. In a nutshell, chaos is "complex events that appear to be random, but which are really organized by some hidden His talk touched on old ideas and new: that language alienates: that the basic function of evolution is the small group: and that the number one cause of dehumanization is the repression of women and children or the gang mentality. He's hip to multimedia artistry and raves. Really, he has so much to say, how can he begin to say it all? As a result, his talk was a little unfocused at times. He'd keep going off on the most endearing tangents and then come back to his main point but not before making a good- natured joke aboul his senility. He is, without a doubt, the most Is G. Gordon Liddy the What is all this bullshit anti-Timothy Leary? about "anti?" Anti-Christ, anti- God, anti-Devil.... There is no such thing as anti- Timothy Leary. You're betraying a feudal, if not worse, theology here. The anti-Timothy Leary, argh. I'll get him and I'll put him on a fucking cross, and I'll put a sword through his side and I will make him a crown of thorns, baby. Are you born a Christian? After the show (despite doctors orders to rest | he could not be dissuaded from going for burgers and beer with the "kids." The kids (including a former guru of Leary's from India who did nothing, but still had a publicist) swarmed around him and lined up out the door, each wilh a gilt, a book for him to sign, or a well thought out question or message. Even if you onlv have Leary's attention for a split second he looks you right in the eyes and you know that his is genuinely interested in you ami what you have to say. He loves everybody ami. in return, is blessed with a multitude of friends and followers the world over. I found it ironic that this man who so fervently believed in .md hoped lor immortality should finally age, after appearing not to for so long. On the bright side, one gets the sense that he already is immortal and that Timothy Leary is just something of an If I sound overly optimistic it's because Leary s enthusiasm is contagious. He says, "You don't have to keep relating the same old misery imprints, you can become immortal and go to the stars... Trust the evolutionary process It's all going to turn out all SAMS INDIE STREET --* ROCK FOR CHOICE Indie Street was brought to you by: Various Artists CAN'T FIND IT? SAM'S has Western Canada's Lamest Selection and Most Comprehensive Request Service iyA!.%f£fi^ irililllKltAXSMlGAXIL ttaflfl l\lIOMli^m^ 1IU,/ l\b^j^/Jlll^V^/ *^-Xv% ello music lovers everywhere, it's almost time for this » moDth's journey into the realms of the local classical music scene. Why almost you ask yourself? Well, it seems that for reasons of a mysterious and editorial nature (it has to do with the alignment of tlie moon and Reveen 's beard, it only happens once every thirty years- ID) the copy deadline for this issue of Discorder has been moved up a week. Now, ordinarily, this would not constitute much of a problem; but in the true procrastinating fashion of a modem grad student it just to happens that both concerts I was hoping to cover for this month are scheduled in the few days immediately preceding the usual copy deadline. Faced with the terror- inspiring image of trying to fill 2000 words i n wlial I hope is at least a coherent way witliout a live review, I decided to take the chance on attending what is for me a new venue: the Werlnesday Noon Hour conceits, put on at the UBC Recital Hall with the cooperation of the UBC School of Music. As it turns out thLs was a wonderful choice ami uncovered a real ly great way for some of you vho aren't sure about your opinion of classical music to gel a taste of some good music at a real bargain-basenent pnce. (If you already know you like classical music, then it's an even better bel!) Besides, wliatelseistlieretodo with lis n-hourbreak you have on Wednesdays between your morning "Literature Inspired By or About Toads" class and your after- and on with Ihe review. The Noon-Hour concerts is staged on Wednesdays at tlie School of Music (that's over by Gate 4 and has the statue of what I think is supposed to be a giant deformed tuning fork out in front). They wouldbe moreaccurately called the "Just- past Noon Concerts," as tlie fonnal starting time is 12:30 with Ihe majority of Ihe audience arriving just slightly late (in other words, being five minutes early wouldseemtoguaranteepremiuiuseating). Ticketsare available al tlie office just to the left of tlie doors to the hall, at the measly price of $2.00 each (about 1 /30 of what you had lo pay for the text for your Toad Literature course). For February 2nd. Ihe concert was a performance of Antonin Dvorak's Trio in F Major. Op.90 wliich iscolloquially known as the "Dumky" trio. Tlie performers were Robert Davidovici on violin (you might recognize the name from previous columns, if you liad actually read the thing instead of using it lo paper-train your new cat, because Mr. Davidovici is Ihe First Violin for tlie Vancouver Symphony); Eric Wilson on violincello (another first-rate musician, previous member of Ihe Emerson Slniig Quartet and currendy a faculty member hereat tlie University of Big Corporations); and Rena Sharon on piano (also on faculty here, and considered one of (lie outstanding cliamber musicians in tlie country). The nicely done program wliich was handed to me as I went into the hall n o tonlyoutlinedthemusicaladiieveiitnlsofeach of the performers bul also informed me that "Mr. Davidovici concertizex regularly". (This was of great interest to me, as I was until that moment under the mistaken impression that people writing about musical events were constrained by tlie accepted rules of vocabulary... this enlightenment makes wriung this column much goodeasier.) Unfortunately the program didn't liave even a small biographical sketch of Dvorak, a late 19th-oentury composer best known for Ills popular 9uiSytnphony"FromtlieNewWori(r' which is filled with nusical tliemes taken from the simple but catchy folk- tunes of his native Czechoslovakia. The Dumky Tno was written in late 1890, and was one of Dvorak's own favourite works; in fact when he accepted a two-year past in the United States and wanted to go on a "fare wel I tour" of Bohemia and Moravia, lie chose tlie Dumky as tlie centrepiece of some 40 concerts which he performed with Ilanus Wilian and Ferdinand Ladiner. In a departure from tlie more classical form, tlie tno is written in six movements, n»st of which contain segments of al leasl tliree different tempos. A slow, majestic opening leads into a second movement in wliichanexuberant folkdance theme alternates wilh slow, lyncal sectioas allowing for a greal blending of Ihe trio's sound. A lively third movement then follows, with a slower inarch like fourth movement contrasting tlie melody on piano agai ivsi iJk ri lyd in uc background of uie stnngs. A more reserved Allegro ensues, ami a wild, fre- brings thi work to ous end which for this performance was almost matched by the applause from a near- capacity audience. The musicians' timing and balance were impeccable, which was all Ihe more impressive considering the fact thai they do not regularly perform together. I would have appreciated having one of the performers give a short introduction to the work, but then 1 hold the apparenUy uncommon view that knowing the background behind the composition of a work helps one to enjoy it Altogether, a really good performance and if it isany representalionoftheusual Wedes.' Thai's il for this mondi, good listening unlil next lime! ■-Kill**- li-r.iffi. Thin aJMfci March -"^ LOOKING for some fun? Big Screen Sports, Great Music, Good Eats LIVE BANDS EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT! ADMISSION IS FREEH MARCH 3 MARCHIO MARCH 1 V MARCH HA, MARCH 3 1 BANDS START §9:30 Welcome back to anodier month of my bullshit!!! First off. let me express how truly excited I am about the extremely audible and visual resurgence the 7" single has made in Vancouver, let alone the rest of the world. Locally and internationally, this format was declared as dead as Victor French by die powers at the controls. Amazingly, die format not only refused to die (like its suffering older brother, the LP) but flourished into one of die coolest collectable ways to release music. Although Vancouver was a bit slow to catch onto this march of defiance, local bands and labels have been quick to catch up and make their international scratch in die world of 7" vinyl One such local label is Scratch Records. For die past few years Scratch has been consistently releasing 7" singles and CDs and has become one of Canada's most original labels just for the sheer diversity of their roster. Their output has increased so much it seems they have at least one new release a month, April '94 is no exception. Scratch's latest 7" is from Victoria's Mexican Power Authority, who have managed to cram an astounding 14 (!) songs onto the seven inches of black wax. Albeit, the songs only range from about 10 to 30 seconds in length, it's still a pretty awesome achievement. In the 14 songs MPA manage to cover almost all genres of music. Most have a basic punk rock root but often stray into power pop, metal, arena rock, classical, and out-and-out hardcore, all the while surrounded by bizarre noises and instruments. This record is a must-have not just for the instant collectibility but also for the originality that is Mexican Power Authority. (Scratch Records, 317 A Cambie St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 2N4). Another local independent label is Wrong Records, the personal home of NoMeansNo as well as several other related projects and artists. Just released is a very cool record from Rob Wright of NoMeansNo in his alter-ego state of Mr. Wrong, a one man show of bass and vocals spawned during the recent hiatus of NoMeansNo. The A side's "State of Grace" is a hypnotic, grindingly good song winch sounds amazingly rock- accessible for this salty, original punk. And if that wasn't enough of a surprise, die B side is a really great Elvis Presley-style love song called "The End the World!" Careful, this one might just make the meanest of you punks shed a tear. Overall. Rob's voice sounds great, as does his legendary trademark bass r^ THE PIT PUB • IN THE BASEMENT OF THE STUDENT UNION BUIIDING, 6138 SUB BLVD. • 604-822-6511 16 yOi/icOfHlef* INTERNATIONAL SECULAR ATAVISM INSPIRA TIONAL CD compact disc out N0W»VQ§f AVAILABLE AT ALL COOL RECOHD STORES [you know which ones) THIS IS not not NOT A MUSIC CD IT IS AN INSPIRATIONAL CD (includes phone call to "BOB LARSON") Learn how to maintain a HEALTHY "HEALTHY" HEALTHY T H R O N T U M ! ! ! BE ONE OF US! BE ONE OF US! BE ONE OF US! BE ONE OF US! WOW! PHONE US!!! in Canada (604) 268-9952 FREE message! U.S.A. (503) 7684001 "-SHRTS OF THIS 'FREE SNOT DE- ;SIGN avaiable at TRACK RECORDS, BOOM CDs, ZULU RECORDS, and "POP!"!!! or send $14* (cash please... we'rea religion) 100%cotton, black orwhite (specify) X-large only... and SEND $5 for real real REAL (it REALLY IS REAL') "mUE^CTUAL^TBOOGERSOFOUR "LORD" the MfSS/MHOLY JESUSTHE WOW'cHRIST--miNG"(ForFREESTICK- EBS OF THE 'FREE SNOT AD send SAS.E.JW0W! ITS REALLY TRUE!!!! X^R ri0*WMM'to fa to*xlr6, UtoioW, vancouVFQfi.C. va • 1Pf.. ™££ VSM! playing. Snatch this one up quick. (Wrong Records, P.O. Box 3243, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3Y4). 1 MR. WRONG] FIGHTS THE SYSTEM Yet another band makes it out of Vancouver to sign with a foreign label! This time it's Strain, who have made it all the way to Heart First in Germany for their vinyl debut. This is very, very heavy hardcore, verging on metal-dirge. Utterly humourless, it's this kind of death-grind that does nothing much more than depress the crap outta me. But, hey, it's out, it's local, and I'm sure fans of their live show will like it cuz this record is produced loud! (Strain, P.O. Box 1457 Station A, Vancouver, BC, V6C 2P7). I recently had the pleasure of tagging along on cub's west coast tour of the US and managed to pick up some cool finds...imagine a mix of the Ramones and the Misfits, then add a heavy dose of Monkees and you'll get Si Groovie Ghoulies This guy and two gals put on an awesome stage show, as I was privy to when I saw them open up for Flop in Sacramento. Both songs on this record, "Hello Hello" and "I Wanna Have Fun," are great representations of the band and are strongly recommended listening for anyone who's into rockin', unpretentious good- times. (Unfortunately, no address). In Berkeley I just missed the Delightful Little Nothings but heard good reports so I bought their EP. The rumours were true, the DLN's are a good indie-beat-pop band more than a lot like Tiger Trap/Heavenly. With a sweet-as-shit girl singer, this melodic, catchy stuff is reminiscent of morning sunshine on a hung-over Sunday (Candy Floss Records, 130 Sutter, 5th floor, San Francisco, CA, 94104, USA). Then there are those who only sing about golf, namely Eddy and the Back Nine, a group dedicated to (I know, I know!)...golf. In real life Eddy is Seattle artist Mr. Edward Fotheringham and the Back Nine are actually Seattle pop-combo Flop. But on this 7" they are golfing '77 punk-style, slicin' out tunes like "Under Ten Handicap" and "Titleist Too." It's fun to hear Flop a lot looser and less serious than on their LPs, especially when it's with a guy who is screaming and iring about golf (just like most golfers - ed.). The sleeve is also hilarious, featuring the group, on location, playing golf! In fact, the whole concept makes this band second only to the Hanson Brothers in that rare genre of sports/punk crossover. (Super Electro, P.O. Box 16606, Seattle, WA, 98116. USA). Now let's get negative. Grenadine are a supposed "super-group" featuring members of Unrest and Tsunami (or is it Salami? I forget...). It's a two- song plodder, co-released by Simple Machines and Teen Beat, that is, simply, totally fucking boring: acousticy, soft perfect- pop that, at this time of night, makes the gin wanna come out the wrong end! (What end is that, Grant?-ed.) Never forget, folks, I wanna rock, always, and people like Jonathan Richman prove that you can indeed harmlessly rock out on an acoustic at low volume. Grenadine, therefore, are shit! (Simple Machines/Teenbeat, P.O. Box 10290, Arlington. VA, 22210, USA). The next review is courtesy of CiTR's Greg Garlick (who loves to see his name in print and enjoys the act of pissing in the BC Hydro Building fountain). He loaned me this available-through- mailorder-only Superchunk Precision Auto, Parts 2 and i. Whoa, weird record. Side one starts off with spacey UFO bleeps then bursts into a two minute punk pounder (Part I) to abruptly segue into the extraterrestrial bleeps again. Side two is a a of side one, where the same song (Part 2) emerges once again from the murky noise. A strange and extremely collectable record, too bad I have to give it back to Greg. Oh well, maybe he'll forget about it. (Merge). Well, two-thirds of the way into the column and I have yet to review any records from Canada outside of Vancouver. They do exist and although this next one may be a little late it's certainly worth reviewing. Montreal's En Guard Records released a 4 song 7" Christmas compilation entitled Merry Goddamned Christmas featuring The Ripcordz (Montreal), Down (Charlottetown), Stand GT (Glengarry, Ont.) and the Naked and the Dead (Edmonton). The Ripcordz' melodic pop-punker is one of the best tunes I've ever heard out of them; Down's amazing mod power-pop sound caught me completely by surprise; and Stand GT's vocals audible for once, and that's great cuz this band rules and they all too often bury some fine singing. Bum look out! Finally, proving once again that pop is growing in leaps and bounds Canada-wide, the Naked and the Dead bring in the last of four cool, catchy Canadian rock'n'roll songs. (En Guard, 1671 St. Hubert. Montreal. PQ. H2L 3Z1). Due to die population difference and their obsession with pumping out volume, one can always find some American rock 'n' roll when something like Stand GT or Down ain't around. Take, for instance, New York's A-Bones who throughout the last year have been constantly spewing out hit single after hit single. One of their latest, "Get Home Girl" b/w "Guess I'm Falling in Love" (a Velvet Underground song), is right up their with the best of em. It's just another awesome A-Bones single, that's all. Good luck finding it! (Bedrock Records, Flat One, 347 Queenstown Rd.. Battersea, London, SW8 4LH. UK). Little brothers to the hierarchy of the A-bones is Hoboken's Swingin' Neckbreakera. I slagged their first single in this column bul they have since grown up a lot as a band and dramatically improved in the process. This is best documented on their fantasuc LP Live for Buzz released last year. This single is e of the same three chord garage rock V roll with an original "Workin" and Jerkin"' on the A side and a great cover of "Good Good Lovin'" on the flip. (Estrus, P.O. Box 2125, Bellingham, WA, 98227, USA). Another band from the New York area is the long-running Raunch Hands, who for years have put out records on the amazing Crypt label of Germany. This double 7", Million Dollar Movie, is one of my first tastes of the Raunch Hands and I'm about ready to barf. Expecting stuff the likes of other Crypt bands like the Devil Dogs and the Blues Explosion. I was rudely awakened to half-baked roots rock that neither impressed nor pleased my delicate ears. The vocals are mostly spoken, sexist bullshit over top of a wimpy, tired-sounding bar band. It's too bad cuz Crypt rarely does 7"'s and usually has impeccable taste. (Crypt, Hopfenstr 32, 2000 Hamburg 36, Germany). Philadelphia's all-girl band the Friggs are back at it with a brilliant four song 10" parody of Cream magazine entitled America s Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine Paroch 10" EP. Though they could have reduced that mouthful, this is a pretty hot piece of rock 'n' roll action. It rocks both on the sleeve and in the grooves, fitting perfectly in step with the label, the ever- impressive Sympathy for the Record Industry. Get this and these at your local record emporium, today. Aye aye. and goodbye. Z ^SMUGGLERS 1 his is how you remove the problctti Close bag with a knot and put in the garbage VANCOUVER HdJilMl INDEPENDENT REVIEWS Rock ForChoice compilation My Body Equals My Choice What a great idea, a Rock For Choice benefit tape to correspond with the R.F.C. benefit show. The three bands that played the show, Kreviss. Tickletrunk and Sparkmarker. all appear as well as Ten Days Late. Fracas, Vinaigrettes, Insult to Injury, cub and Pluto. Comes with some info on the B.C. Coalition for Abortion Clinics and the Everywoman's Health Centre. A great mix of Vancouver and Victoria talent with the proceeds going to a good cause. Go on, buy it now! WfBOyM memk Insult to Injury As We Live Our Lies demo Fourteen songs of great punk/ hardcore with a cool lyric booklet and...well, it's just cool, dammit. Real sincere with the do-it-yourself approach and a lot of personality. The singer sort of reminds me of Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill but the music is much more hardcore and the comparison ends there; sometimes, however, the vocals are real soft and pretty and then turn into a screeching scream. A lot of fun and humour thrown in with a great 18 G&isconlej* array of politically aware lyrics. Support the independent scene. (P.O. Box 21533 1850 Commercial Dr. Vancouver, B.C. V5N 4A0 Canada) Catfish Neighbours And Dogs Listening to Neighbours and Dogs brings to mind a more rock and roll Soundgarden. ..maybe it's the Led Zeppelin that trickles in. Knowing that this is what a lot of bands are sounding like nowadays, it's hard to hear anything that separates them apart. If you go to the Lunatic Fringe you might like this, (c/o Gordon Park P.O. Box 37004 Vancouver. B.C. V5P 4W7 Canada) Smak Rock, jazz, blues, funk fusion with quirky sounds and silly lyrics. 1 think this is what Primus sounds like. The only grounds I have for comparison is that I just can't get into it, 1 don't know why. I was more interested in the cover art and wondering why a Coast J0401ogowasonit?(#l= #703 - 1250 Bute St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 1Z9 Canada) FANZINES There has been a downpour of fanzines in the last little while and us there is little space to work within, I'll review a couple (hat caught my attention and list the others in a less detailed formal: Aim Your Dick #2 (8 1/2 x 11; 40 pgs) P.O. Box 4655. Berkeley, CA 94704-0655, U.S.A. Alternazone #3 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 24 pgs) 222 Mc Caul St., Toronto, Ont. M5T 1W5. Canada Bunyon #4 (8 1/2x11; 32 pgs; $2) Special "high-school nostalgia" issue! Handwritten scribblingsof life and how not to live it. A bunch of comics too! There might be a bit of inside humour but enough common humour to make you smile or say "what the fuck?" (c/o Robert Dayton, 317A Cambie St., Vancouver, B.C. V6B 2N4, Canada) CUM. #6 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 20 pgs; $1) It's been a while but another issue of that piss-everybody- off 'zine is out. Interesting letter from Havoc and interviews with Nardwuar the Human Serviette and the Melvins. Home Cooking with Mike is highly recommended. For some reason I feel that this may be the last issue...maybe not. (2961 PastureCircle, Coquidam, B.C. V3C 2C3, Canada) Exploitation Retrospect #38 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; $2 ppd.) Any 'zine with 38 issues deserves some praise! (P.O. Box 1155, Haddon Field, NJ 08033 - 0708, U.S.A.) FUJ5H3 Flush #2 & #3 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 24 pgs; $1) Getting better with each issue. Flush sure are pumping them out. They complain about not getting any letters, so write them. If you live in N. Van then get involved, they seek contributions. My pick of the month. (P.O. Box 37536, 1520 Lonsdale Ave.. North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 3L7, Canada) s Glue #3 (8 1/2 x 11; 28 pgs; $4 ppd.) Suede, Suede. Suede. If you like the band you'll love the 'zine. I have a real soft spot for this 'zinc. Really dedicated and sincere, and quite different from anything else. I'd love to gel my photo in Glamorous Glue — I want to be adored! (P.O. Box 41023, 2529 Shaughnessy St., PortCoquitlam, B.C. V3C3G1, Canada) Hectic Times #6 (8 1/2x11; 48 pgs; $2) P.O. Box 2652, Santa Cruz, CA 95063, U.S.A. Huge Dead Animal #1 (8 1/2x11; 22 pgs) A potluck of different ideas as put out by one who goes under the alias of "Puppy." Sort of a feminist view on animal rights, veganism, sexual harassment, the "scene," straight edge and herbal medicine. It might sound like it's all preachy but it's okay, it has a lot of personality and sincerity. Very informative. (#618-620 View St., Victoria, B.C. V8W 1S6, Canada) In Hell's Belly #1 (8 1/2 x 11; 36 pgs; Free, if you can find it.) A great first issue. Interesting layouts that catch your eye and guide you through articles on tattooing, body piercing, branding, technocracy, hemp, sexuality and much more. Interesting articles on many untouched topics with a good in-depth view. I can see this 'zine only getting better. Lots of local spodight on various activities and businesses. A good read. (5809 Main St., Vancouver, B.C. V5W2T1, Canada) Panzy #1(?) (5 1/2x8 1/2; 12 pgs; Free, if you can find it.) Poetry and writings and a*cou- pleof revtews. (P.O. Box 33014, West Vancouver, B.C. V7W 4W7, Canada) Pop Gazer #2 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 52 pgs; $2) I really enjoyed this 'zine. It touches not only on music but clothes, television and other North American youth culture- type stuff. Maybe that's a bit sad but I can relate and found it entertaining and fun. An interview with local Daisy Glaze (who I've never heard of until now) and a lot of satire towards the popular music culture known as grunge. Fun to read. (P.O. Box 78550, University Postal Outlet, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 2E7, Canada) ffni fB i IBi.BBI IR Raw Energy Report #1 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 12 pgs; Free) 372 Richmond St. West, Suite #212, Toronto, Ont. M5V 1X6, Canada Virtual Unreality #1 (5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 28 pgs; $1.50 PPd.) #5-1255 East 15th Ave.; Vancouver, B.C. V5T 2S7, Canada Volare #1 (5 1/2x8 1/2; 32 pgs) Reviews and opinions from a very opinionated person. (Box 24, 2147 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, B.C. V5N4B3, Canada) ALL AGES SHOWS March 25-26-27 Battle of the bands. Showcase of premiering talent, low door price, fun time. At the South Wall (Lonsdale Rec. Centre), North Van.. Sat. March 26 Gest Quest Co-op presents Rev- elation Recording Artists Sencefield (ex-Reason to Believe) at the Hastings Community Centre. $6. BEY KIDS! \—} g°t those ::-:::: o DAV BLUES? ® □ check stir cdsBp I I 2003 W.4th Aye. Yan.BJC. 739-9511 COMPACT DISCS IMPORTS TAPES MAGAZINES BOOKS T-SHIRTS VIDEOS ACCESSORIES INDEPENDENTS' MADNESS The Business (Virgin) These seven lads from London always made me smile. Perhaps it was because even in their most serious songs they never really took themselves too seriously. Even so, the Doc Marten-ed yobbo's managed to whip up some great ska stompers like "Night Boat to Cairo" and "House of Fun" that still stand the test of time. The Business is a three CD box-set that stands as Madness' best of their "Best of records. It includes a nifty, 52 page booklet thai spans the nutty boys' career from 1979 to 1986, and their subsequent reunions which act as a sign that the nutty train will continue to roll on. Amongst all the standard hits there are some gems here, like the Italian version of "One Step Beyond," their take on "Swan Lake," and the ska- kazoo version of "God Save the Queen." Sprinkled in between the songs are some interview bits with Madness roadies, fans, relatives, and management people that provide some stories and a bit of background info into tlie evolution of the band. Unfortunately, some of these interviews aren't very well recorded but this is the only bad part of The Business. Clocking in at only ten minutes shy of FOUR hours this is perhaps the only Madness compilation you'll ever need, should you want one to begin with. A. 0. Chapman BABE THE BLUE OX Je m'Appelle Babe (Homestead Records) According to legend, Paul Bunyan, the gargantuan tree- slayer of American folklore, had a pet ox named Babe. Babe wasn't jusl an ordinary ox, though. Babe was a special Ox; Babe was. blue. And when Babe- the Blue Ox roamed the woods with Paul Bunyan, Babe used to sing songs.... liven though Babe was sans musicians with whom to jam (assuming Paul couldn't carry a tune on his axe), it's highly unlikeiy that Babe sounded anything like the band who chase this coloured cow-thing as their namesake. Actually, it's damned near impossible that anybody sounds like the band, Babe the Blue Ox. This trio is definitely Blending psychedelic bass lines witli tribally-peraissive guitar rhythms and a drum inspired by Dante, Je m 'Appelle Babe is an awe-inspiring display of this band's complete disregard for conventional nuisicality; their's if a musical emancipation. Seemingly unaware of today's trend towards formulaic songwriting, the six tracks on this album are like a lunatic's digitally mastered stream-of- consciousness: instruments fade in and out of a dream; lime signatures change almost randomly; soundscapes ebb and flow; thrash guitar intertwines wilh virtuoso bass lines screaming of a childhood tormented by piano lessons; an Ox. tripping on acid, sings; Paul Bunyan screams... Simply, as soon as you buy it, put il in, turn it on and turn it up, you're going to be assaulted and invited into the minds of tliree very talented musicians who will send your mind every which way but backwards. It's hard to figure out exactly what Uiey're saying but ihey say it very well, very loud, and with more style than a rock band from Brooklyn would ever be expected to have. This CD, a follow-up to their debut release Box. shows Tim Thomas. Rose Thompson and Ilanna Fox to be incapable of playing anything Ihal would ever lie heard on lop 40 radio. This is good. Very, very gixxl. Jeff Haas HATER Hater (A&M) Best flung I've heard oulla Seattle in two years. Not even a whiff of grunge to be found. Pavement meets the Yardbirds. Sean Harvey KOKO TAYLOR Force of Nature (Alligator/WEA) Force of Nature, the latest release from the Queen of the Blues, is primarily a collection of tributes to her friends and colleagues, wilh three original tunes by the first lady herself. The two tracks which stand out the most on this recording are "Born Under a Bad Sign" and "Hound Dog," the latter being the Elvis Presley hit but done "Koko Taylor's Way "— slowing it down and making it a bit more bluesy is an improvement over the more familiar version. "Born Under a Bad Sign" hears Taylor teaming up with acclaimed bluesman Buddy Guy for a gutsy rendition of this blues classic in tribute to her friend, the late Albert King. The rest of the recordings range from good but uninspired blues to some outright boring songs. However, die redeeming factor for me is Koko Taylor's raunchy, raucous, rafter-rattling voice. My last gripe is one of personal taste. I don't like to hear the extensive use of horns in blues music, but if you're a fan of that style then you'll probably love Force of Nature. Robin Beech ENIGMA The Cross of Changes (Virgin) Owing h all to dieir original album. MCMXCAD and a hit called "Sadeness," replete widi Gregorian Chants and a drum machine, everyone is, undoubtedly, familiar wilh Enigma? MCMXCAD had a similar feel and, if not brilliant or clever, il had a haunting and attractive feeling to it that ranked it as one of the more enjoyable albums of recent years in my books. Tlie new album. The Cross of Changes, begins with a promise ol an even better album, as H stayed true to the spirit of the firs! album and expands the scope of Ihe Enigma project—the second track, "The Eyes of Truth," is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. Gregorian chants had largely been replaced by a South Asian feel and the music was epic, to say Ihe least. And then something terrible happened. The remainder of the album, with Ihe exception of "Carly's Song" (featured in Ihe film Sliver), is a supercheese collection of niid-eighlies pop-guitar licks. "Curly" Michael Crelu. the brains behind Enigma, must have really flipped out on this one. The new sounds he incorporated on die album, notably the native American and Indian sounds, could have sent Enigma in a wonderful direction but, instead, suck them with tacky love ballads. Guitars which could have lain the foundations to powerful new pieces are wasted in Bon Jovi solos. I wince at the tragedy. Simply, I didn't just dislike this album, I am saddened by it. The promise of masterpiece dashed by a completely unnecessary exploration into bad pop. If you can find an EP of "Eyes of Truth" you are spending your money in a far wiser fashion. If you are looking for that haunting epic feel with a drum machine, look for Lesion or Will and not this sordid crap. Maybe I just don't get it, but I wouldn't want to know anyone who enjoyed the bulk of this album. Gustav ZIPGUN Baltimore (eMpTy Records) Baltimore adds a distinct ; lo the world of punk-pop, delivering a fresh and Northwestern perspective to the already solid foothold established with Zipgun's first release, X- Track Player. Zipgun features members from Tlie Derelicts (Neil Rogers on guitar) and Final Warning (Dan Cunneen on drums), paving the way with ihe wali-wali punk geelar and thuiiipin' drumbeat. From the sound of things, Mark Wooten and Robbe Clark (bass anil vocals, respectively) have been drinkin' a little too much coffee (it's a northwest thing) 'cause every track conies jumping out just like the boys are playing in the living room! Named after their last tour, which was cut short by a week due to Iheft, Baltimore adds 9 new songs to their repertoire. But the real clincher is the organ solos on "I Can't Wait" (with thanks to Tom Price of Gas Huffer fame). Skyler THE LEVELLERS The Levellers (Elektra/China) I was ready to write this album off as a carbon-copy sophomore effort thai broke no musical ground, allow me lo correct myself. This is actually a heavier, louder album than the Levellers' first and most certainly comes closer to capturing the band's exhilarating energy released in their live performance. The title of the first track, "Warning," is an understatement. It serves, somewhat, as the album's calm- before-the-storm as it strikes hard on the second track, "100 Years of Solitude." The barrage of guitars and drums clashing against each other transforms itself into a raucous symphony of calculated The world of which the Levellers sing about is the industrial wasteland of London, and that world hasn't sounded darker or more pathetic—suitable to be spoken by the twisted anti- hero of the recent film Naked. It's the blue-collar existence that the Levellers have taken cause to explore. Where home is the rat infested alleyway, reeking of putrid sewer water spouting out from the broken drainage that the rich politicians always promise to improve. There's no love lost between the band and Ihe polilicos as the lead singer intones about the bitter reality that "there's a law for the rich, and a law for the poor" with cynical restraint on "Dirty Davey." On this album, however, die Levellers are not the rebel band wilh a cause. Rather, they are observers mirroring die plight off their fellow countrymen. The songs are laden with the passion and intensity felt by die folk diey sing of and not for diem. Paolo "Westerberg" reminds me a lot of The Saints. Both bands could pump out a few really great raw and wild songs ("Johanna," "Ron Kinda' World") and a lot of less distinguishable fuzzed out tunes that just kind of passed you by, like Ihe 2:45 AM bus as it pulls out of the loop. The Roaring Third was much of what I expected, at first—a lot of mundane buzzing with a few genuine musical high points—bul after repeated listenings grew on me and I was able to hop on that bus and get home. Tom Milne Javier PIGEONHED Pigeonhed (Sub Pop) Featuring Kim Thayil of Soundgarden on occasional guitars. Pigeonhed sounds like a bad combination of Talk Talk and recent Peter Gabriel. There are a couple of interesting sound effects but most of the songs are uninspired and drawn-out. Al their worst, Pigeonhed presents falsetto vocals, directionless bass synthesizers and sparse keyboard accompaniment. At their best ("Salome"), (hey adequately integrate abstract sounds from a variety of psychedelic moods. Overall, this CD doesn't have much to offer. Ted Koppman PRISONSHAKE The Roaring Third (Shake Records) Prisonshake tends to play straightforward, noisy riK.k that THE HARVESTERS The Edge of Suitability (Infinity <») Bluesy-rock background music which renunds you thai life is a solo mission. It's not usually my type of stuff but The Edge of Suitability is cool enough as a break from the noise of the city, and the clash of feedback and distortion. If your musical taste is diverse enough for mellow grooving you nught check it out. Caution Forest VARIOUS ARTISTS San Francisco House Culture: Phase One (Ultra-Ethereal Records) Ultra-Ethereal Records has put out an ullra-funky slab o' tunes. Tins nine-track compilation of three bands doing three pieces each, as with any compilation, has its weak and strong points. Tlie opening groove is quite catchy on Ihe first listen bul, afterwards, becomes bit of an overworked bore. In fact, almost all of the opening six tracks sound like variations on a single, monotonous dieme. I suppose that is inherent in Ihe style itself that this should happen. Tlie last three tracks show a bit more creativity, however. They still revolve around a thumping and repeuUve bass line but if one is to view that negatively, then that is music itself than anything else. Track seven is a super slick. ultra-involving lune which I like more every tune I hear it. Overall this CD is not that bad. It's perfect to slap on while doing something else besides listening. The repetitive nature of the music makes il not all that intrusive and it does build momentum as it goes. Hey. it got my dad to move his feet and he's a Hank Snow fan Can't be all that bad. now can it'1 Chris Erickson March -et|J Dick Dale & the Deltones The Falcons The Surfdusters Commodore Ballroom Thursday, February 3 Instru-mania hit the Commodore with the return of the legendary Dick Dale. One of my favourite local bands, The Falcons, kicked things off. Their blend of traditional surf and tex-mex styles is at the same time technically precise and incredibly catchy. They whipped off a set of mostly originals, some of which are coming out on a CD soon, and slipped in "Pipeline" and a Link Wray tune as a bonus. Do not miss these guys' next show! The Surfdusters were next, a five-piece which included an organ. Their style was different from the Falcons, with the 'Dusters possessing a busier, rawer style. They covered a Savage Republic tune, which was cool, but overall they suffered from a mix that had too much high end. They also handed out some free cassettes and copies of "Live Wire," a cool 'zine about instro- rock put out by members of both the Falcons and the Surfdusters. One thing I like about this style of rock is the prominent use of vintage gear on stage. In fact between the sets the front of the stage was crammed with techheads, myself included, craning their necks to glimpse the legendary amps and guitars. I almost slipped on my own drool. What can I say about Dick Dale? This guy -a veteran of the Frankie and Annette movies, whose career is resurging incredibly after the blistering Tribal Thunder CD last year — came on and literally blew our minds! Half the crowd was (rugging uncontrollably, and the other half just stood there, awestruck. I assume many of the people there were also in attendance last time, and Dale said that people were following him from show to show, christening them "Dicklieads." He performed the fastest string change I'd ever seen and il was during a song to boot! He also did acool drum solo around the drummer during 'Bo Diddley' which had to be seen lo be believed. If you missed the show, you missed out bigtime. Next time, become a Dickhead. Mofo Reveen the Impossibilist Queen Elizabeth Theatre Wednesday, February 16 I wanted to dis Reveen heavily. I wanted to go, find out that the man is a scam, a fraud, a circus sideshow freak, someone you would pay a dollar to see in a smelly old tent next to the fetal cow with two heads. "Step right up ladies and gentlemen, see the fetal cow with two heads and for an extra ticket, catch circus sideshow freak, Reveen, the Australian hyp-NO- tist. Watch Reveen makehisfamily cluck like ducks while his hair never moves... step right up..." Well, I was disappointed, but not in Reveen: the man is amazing! I will never laugh at his hokey commercials again. I had so many great one liners ready to fire off, and now I can't use them, or at least not until Jello Biafra comes back again. Reveen is pure entertainment. I haven't laughed so hard since dial Simpsons episode where Sideshow Bob had the unfortunate, much repealed accident with the rakes. Reveen knows how to worka crowd, even if his clothing, hair, and social altitudes are frozen in time somewhere around die year of Elvis' alleged death. Beginning wilh a light show thai would make Thomas Edison proud of his invention (not to mention whoever invented the disco ball), Reveen did things dial were fun and imaginative, yet weren't stupid or embarrassing, unless, of course, you were Ihe woman prancing around on stage thinking you were a spy, or were Discorder's own Rosanne, delivering baby after baby after baby because all the oilier doctors were away for the day (I believe the line was "diere are no other doctors and the babies just keeping coming!"). This whole magazine could be filled with incidents of what Reveen was able to entice volunteers to do (for example, I never knew Vancouver had such a large number of Olympic quality ice dancers), bul instead, you just really need to 20 ^mco/h/cj^ CHARTS MARCH 94 LONG VII m 50 1 CUB BETThCOLA MINT 2 ARCHERS OF LOAF CKY METTLE ALIAS 3 POP SICKLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE C/Z 4 ERIC'S TRIP LOVE TARA SUB POP 5 PJ HARVEY FOUR TRACK DEMOS ISLAND 6 MECCA NORMAL FLOOD PLAIN K RECORDS 7 BIKINI KILL PUSSY WHIPPED KILL ROCK STARS 8 FACEPULLER AUDITORY SURGICAL TECHNICIANS BANG ON 9 RAMONES ACID EATERS RADIOACTIVE 10 VARIOUS ARTISTS VOLUME EIGHT VOLUME 11 LOIS STRUMPET K RECORDS 12 ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT ALL SYSTEMS GO HEADHUNTER 13 SUBSONICS GOOD VIOLENCE WORRYBIRD 14 SMUT BLOOD, SMUT AND TEARS SPANISH FLY 15 TIGER TRAP SOUR GRASS CARGO 16 THE MANY LEECH EX 69 17 MATERIAL HALLUCINATION ENGINE AXIOM 18 NEW BOMB TURKS DRUNK ON COCK CARGO 19 REDD KROSS PHASESHIFTER THIS WAY UP 20 UNCLE TUPELO ANODYNE SIRE 21 YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS POPLLAMA 22 THE LEVELLERS THE LEVELLERS CHINA 23 SCRAWL VELVET HAMMER SIMPLE MACHINES 24 CRUNT CRUNT TRANCE 25 MEDICINE THE BURIED LIFE AMERICAN 26 AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE IN PURSUIT OF SHASHMANE LAND ON-U SOUND 27 LES THUGS AS HAPPY AS POSSIBLE SUB POP 28 JAWBOX FOR YOUR OWN SPECIAL SWEETHEART ATLANTIC 29 SNOOP DOGGY DOG DOGGYSTLYE DEATH ROW 30 TEENAGE FANCLUB THIRTEEN GEFFEN 31 VARIOUS ARTISTS TEENBEAT FIFTI MATADOR 1 32 HUGGY BEAR TAKING THE ROUGH WITH THE . KILL ROCK STARS 33 SNFU SOMETHING GREEN AND LEAFY... EPITAPH 34 VARIOUS ARTISTS ROCK FOR CHOICE INDEPENDENT 35 HALF JAPANESE FIRE IN THE SKY SAFE HOUSE 36 SLOWDIVE SOUVLAKI SBK 37 K.D. LANG EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES WARNER 38 ZIPGUN BALTIMORE EMPTY 39 SHAQUILLE O'NEAL SHAQ DIESEL JIVE 40 SHONEN KNIFE ROCK ANIMALS VIRGIN 41 VARIOUS ARTISTS SYNESTHESIA DESOLATION 42 LEE HARVEY OSWALD 8AND A TASTE OF PRISON TOUCH AND GO 43 RASCALZ REALLY LIVIN CALABASH 44 HASSAN HAKMOUN TRANCE REALWORLD 45 YO LA TENGO PAINFUL MATADOR 46 SEPULTURA CHAOS AD. EPIC 47 SINISTER SIX OUTTA SIGHT EMPTY 48 REVOLTING COCKS LINGER FCKEN GOOD SIRE 49 ST JOHNNY SPEED IS DREAMING GEFFEN 50 GREEN DAY DOOKIE REPRISE MARCH 94 INDIE HOME JOBS know this: Reveen is one of the very last of a dying breed of entertainers. He seems to really enjoy what he is doing and does not have malicious intent nor does he deliberately try to embarrass people. On the contrary, he goes out of his way to ensure that nothing too horrible happens to any of his volunteers while giving the audience more enteitai nment than they could get from nearly anything else. It has been three days since I saw him and I think I've acted out nearly the whole show for anyone who has dared to come within ten feet of me. After the performance, Reveen graciously meets with all who want an autograph. Il is no small feat, after a three hour plus performance, to sign your name for hoards of literally mesmerized fans for over an hour I went as skeptical as anyone could and walked away with two programs and a Reveen CD, all of wluch I made sure to get autographed after the show. The sail thing about it all is thai Reveen now spends most of MARCH 94 SHORT VII m 35 1 SWERVEDRIVER LAST TRAIN TO SATANSVILLE EP A&M 2 JALE EMMA 7" DERIVATIVE 3 MARY LOU LORD SOME JMGLE JANGLE MORNING 7" KIL ROCK STARS 4 HEAVENLY P.U.N.K. GIRL EP K 5 THE EVAPORATORS I'M GOING TO FRANCE 7" NARDWUAR 6 BUM/THE SMUGGLERS TATTOO DAVE TOP DRAWER 7 THE BOO RADLEYS BARNEY (. . . AND ME) EP CREATION 8 THE A-BONES HULLY GULLY 7" LANCE ROCK 9 TINY LIGHTS I THINK I JUST WANT TO GO AW \Y7' KOKOPOP 10 BAILTER SPACE B.E.I.P. EP MATADOR 11 MOTORHONEY TAKE 7" LANCE ROCK 12 JAWBOX SAVORY + 3 EP ATLANTIC 13 VARIOUS TERIYAKI ASTHMA IX T C/Z 14 STRAIN DRIVEN 7" HEART FIRST 15 CURVE MISSING LINK EP CHARISMA 16 DIESEL QUEENS/INSAINTS DIESEL QUEENS VS INSAINTS 7" MAX. ROCK 17 APHEX TWIN ONEP SIRE 18 MOTORHONEY TAKE T LANCE ROCK 19 GUS BAD DISCO 7" HEAD RUSH 20 THE STAND GT SUGAR BUZZ 7" TOP DRAWER 21 BIKINI KILL NEW RADIO 7" KILL ROCK STARS 22 RAOOUL FRESH AND NUBILE 7" LOOKOUT 23 THORSEN EGll'S SAGA 7" MEAT 24 BUTTERGLORY OUR HEADS 7" MERGE 25 SUPERCHUNK RIBBON T MERGE 26 ARCHERS OF LOAF THE RESULTS AFTER THE LOAF'S REVENGE 7" MERGE 27 MONOXIDES DROP OF NOTHING 7" SUPERBOB 28 PLUTO PRETTY LITTLE JACKET 7" POPGUN 29 GRENADINE DON T FORGET THE HALO T TEEN/SIMPLE 30 LAMBCHOP NINE T MERGE 31 FIFTH COLUMN ALL WOMEN ARE BITCHES 7" K 32 SILKWORM INCANDUCE CALIFORNIA T ROCKAMUNDO 33 PORK GRAND SLAM BABY 7" NO. 6 34 ALL ABOUT CHAD MEET ME IN THE HALLWAY T SPINART 35 THE MEICES THE MEICES 7" WORD OF MOUTH 1 GOOD HORSEY HOW OSWALD BASTABLE RUINED MY LIFE 2 MARK SPRING CHICKEN 3 HJOULIE PAVEDRVR 4 THE REAL MCKENZIES 1 AM A SCOT 5 SPARKMARKER SPEAKING OF HEROES 6 MEET DAISY SHINY 7 BLAISE PASCAL SPOTLIGHT KIDD 8 TICKLE TRUNK REVOLUTION 8 KID CHAMPION SEVEN FORTY SEVEN 10 ERIC ESTRADA AND THE VELOUR NATION DORK 11 SPIRITUAL HEROINE IN YOUR SIDE 12 THE LEATHER UPPERS 1 DON'T LIKE YOU (VERY MUCH) | 13 CHILDREN OF ATOM AQUAINTED WrTH THE NIGHT 14 TERROR T AND THE BEAT ASSASSINATOR TRUE 2 THA GAME 15 THE VELVETEENS BORN AGAIN 16 DARKEST OF THE HILLSIDE THICKETS TARRED AND FEATHERED 17 BLACK SUNSHINE IMAGES 18 THE GOOCH COMPLEMENTARY NACHOS 18 CHIXDIGGIT WW 20 THE VINAIGRETTES FISHING FOR A TROUT 21 TK5ER BEAT BOUQUETS AND KISSES 22 THE PRISONERS SEXY.HEAINT 23 HUGO TIME Of DAY 24 BRUCE L. ERASER DEAREST 25 THE SURFDUSTERS SAVE THE WAVES 26 THE BIT TUBE SYRUP SCREW YOURSELF DOWN 27 GREEN ACHERS 28 INDIANA • ROAD 28 LAST CRACK STRUCTURES 30 SEX WITH NIXON DAYSTAR HOME BASS COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON 1 RUFF RIDER 2 LENNY D VS DJ EDGE 3 ARENATRAX 4 UP ABOVE THE WORLD 5 TEMPODROM 6 NCO 7 MOBY 8 GTO 6 KEOKI&H.L.S.S. 10 MANDALA SHAGGY RIDIMS EP KICKIN/UK SILENCE OF ETERNfTY EDGE/UK NITR0 9 DELERIUM/GERMANY TRYING TO REACH YOU EXIST DANCE/US THETEMPODROM FRANKFURT BEAT/GERMANY NCOS NOISE CONTROL C&S/US ALL THAT I NEED MUTE/CZECH TIP OF THE ICEBERG LP REACT/UK WE ARE ONE ADRENALIN/US HIGH NOOM EP NOOM RECORDS/GERMANY the year in Las Vegas, performing at one of the hotels there. I was never going lo go back lo that hellhole of a meateating, vegetarian-dinner-less city again, but I may just have lo pack a lunch or two and head to Vegas to catch the man they call Reveen. And this time, I'm volunteering. Lane Dunlop Archers of Loaf Blaise Pascal Thursday, February 17 Starfish Room Having seen Blaise Pascal for the first time on the 14th at the Commodore opening for Therapy? (well, they did steal the show from Swervedriver) 1 was somewhat disappointed by their performance on this night. Unfortunately, a lacklustre, shoe-gaz.ing stage performance combined with a horrible mix of vocals and noise, while heller organized than the previous show, didn't leave a good impression wilh me. Somehow I still have the feeling thai Ihey are belter than this show suggested, so I'll likely see them again sometime in the future. In complete contrast. North Carolina's Archers of Loaf came on stage about five minutes before midnight absolutely full of energy. The vocals were well projected and the guitars and drums nicely crunched throughout Ihe set. Worthy of note was their relatively small and contained equipment: their combo amps and a four piece drum kit proved that you don'l need to have walls of Marshall stacks and a drum cage to rock with a full sound. The songs were as fresh as their latest CD. Irky Mettle, and the set included brief attempts to play Heart and Slayer covers. Most importantly, they had fun. as did the audience which filled the Starfish to aboul 60% capacity, an unfortunately small crowd for such a good band. Brian Wieser DATS RIGHT, BUBALOOEY, DISCORDER SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE STILL AS DIRT CHEAP AS THEY'VE EVER BEEN. YA LIVE OFF IN THE BOONDOCKS SOMEWHERE WITH NO COMMUNICATION WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD BESIDES YOUR MAILBOX? TIRED OF BEING OUT OF TOUCH WITH WHAT'S HAPPENING AT YER FRIENDLY UBC RADIO SOCIETY? OR HAVE YOU JUST RUN OUT OF CHEESE AND CRACKERS? IT DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE FRANKLY, WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHY YOU WOULD WANT TO GET THAT MAGAZINE FROM CiTR DELIVERED TO YOUR PLACE OF RESIDENCE EVERY MONTH, WE JUST GEICHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER PLEASE!). ITS $15 CANADIAN FOR ANYWHERE IN MULRONEYLAND, $15 U.S. FOR THE VICE- KINGDOM OF DANNY Q., AND $24 CANADIAN FOR ALL OTHER PLACES. •SEND IT TO US C/O DISCORDER SUBSCRIPTIONS, RM.233, 6138 SUB BLVD., VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA V6T 1Z1. ON THE DIAL SUNDAYS ARE YOU SEBOUS? HUSK fWJOAM-12:0OPM All of time is measured by its art. Most broadcasting shuns art tor incestuous market-music. This show presenS Die most recent new music Ion around hewortd. Ears open. Hosted by Pad Steenhuisen and Ian Cruthley THE ROCKERS SHOW 12:15-3:00PM Reggae rma all styles and fashion. Mke Cherry and Peter Wiiams alternate as hosts. SOUL CHURCH 3:00-5:00 PM Alternating Sundays with Brent Argo. Vancouver onfy program devoted entirety to African- Canadan and African- American Gospel music. Your rotating hosts are vlnce Yeh. BLACK MUSK 6:0O-8K)OPV Everything from the African-American tradition: Hues, Gospel, Jazz, Soul, R&B, Funk, Hip Hop, and current Dance Tracks. Mouldy vinyl to shiny CD's. Your host LacNan Murray. LULU'S BACK M TOWN 8:0O-9:00PM No cotton a even a coHon poty blend. Virmie Carpett and Somy Prince bring you one hour of pureighbanfc, ban hugging, crooning POLYESTER! GEETANJAU WO-lfcOOPM Geetariali is a one- hour radio show which feakires a wide range of music from India This indudes classical music, be* Hhdustari and Camatic, popular music from Indan movies from lie 1930*s lothe 1990*s, Semi- classical music such as Ghazats and Bhajans. and also Quawwais. Fok Songs, etc. Hosted by J.Drar.APatefandV.Ranjan. RADIO FREE AMERICA 10:0OPM-12:00AM Join host Dave Emory and colleague Nip Tuck for some exkaordnary poiicaf research guaranteed to make you fhiik twice. Bring your tape deck and two C-90s. Originaly broadcast on KFX (Los Altos, Calrforria). MONDAYS THE MORNING SHOW 7:30-J:1SAM Wake up wrth Ihe CiTH Morning Show. Al tie news, sports and weather you need to start your day Pits what's happening at UBC each day with UBC Digest, a fealire interview and more. Topped off with tie BBC World Service News at 8:00AM fcre from London, England. BREAKFAST WITH THE BROWNS 8:15-11 J0AM Your favourite brown-sters, James and Peter, offer a savoury blend of Ihe famiiar and exotic in an exdlingty kisrjousblend of aural delights! Tune ri and enjoy each weekly brown plate special. THESTUPIDRADIOSHOW11:00AM-1:00PM With your host, Gourd. Co-starring Rog, as that guy who hangs around. There is no longer a noon fealire of Crucifix in Your Ear. MEKANIKAL OBJEKT NOIZE 1:15-3:00PM CiTR's onfy all industrial / ambient show with different leabres every week. Wifi your dj pals June and Ren. Sarah is as dead as a bug can be THE MEAT-EATING VEGAN 3:00-4:00PM I ENDEAVOURTOFEATUREDEADAIR.VERBAL FLATULENCE(ONLYWHENISPEAK),AWORK OF MUSIC BY A TWENTIETH CENTURY COMPOSER-CAN YOU SAY MINIMALIST?- ANDWHATEVERELSEAPPEALSTOME. GAY AND LESBIAN POSITIVE. MAIL IN YOUR REQUESTS, BECAUSE I AM NOT AN ANSWERING MACHINE. STRAIGHT OUTTA JALLUNDHAR «:00-5:00PM Let LVs Jindwa and Bindwa immerse you in radoacrve Bhungrai "Chakkh de phutayV Listen 22 §&esco/H/e^ to all our favorite Punjabi Lnes - remixes and originals. Brraaaah! THE CiTR DMNER REPORT 5:0O-5:30PM All the latest on campus: news, sports, an ivdepth interview, theatre or Urn review, edtorial commentary and more. Weekdays witi host Ian Gunn THUNDERSTRUCK 5:3