Environmental rape, gross overspending, and stealing land from native peoples: these I can understand (understanding and condoning are two very different positions) because they are products of base capitalist greed, an entity anyone in the 21st century should be well acquainted with.
What I really don't understand about the Olympics are the vast quantities of people who are willing to stare into their television screens, begging those who share the country they were born in to win their event, and in the event of their defeat, disregarding those that might achieve more than their fellow countryperson and simply focusing on how at least "one of their own" won a silver or bronze.
There is a very big difference between the athletes that compete in the Olympics and those who watch them. It appears as though the watchers have lost all respect for real athletic prowess and the people who have an actual capacity to show them how far human potential can be stretched, in exchange for this weird thing called "patriotism."
Citizens of the world: raise your standards!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
From Teenage Sex Pistol to Folk Troubadour: Former bass player and songwriter from the Sex Pistols goes acoustic in Guelph
At the Guelph Youth Music Centre (GYMC), considerable mystery surrounded what Friday evening’s events would entail. Advertising for the show could have been described as minimal (consisting mostly of a few flyers in Guelph’s downtown shop windows), and the GYMC—in all the glory of its theater-like seating—wasn’t exactly the quintessential punk haunt. Smokers shuffled cold feet in the snow outside the entrance, chewing over whether there would be a bar: “There’s gotta be. It’s Glen Matlock. He’s a Sex Pistol for chrissake!”
Glen Matlock has a special place in Sex Pistols history. As the bassist for London’s seminal punk band, Matlock wrote most of the songs on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, but punklore has it that he was excommunicated from the Pistols in 1977 for liking The Beatles too much. The truth, as Matlock tells it in his autobiographical I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, is that he left because he was “sick of all the bullshit.” Whether or not that “bullshit” had anything to do with guitarist Steve Jones’ frustration over Matlock’s insistence that he learn Beatles chords for Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, will be debated for as long as the Sex Pistols remain relevant.
Making his way up to the same kitchenette counter that’s open to everyone else in the GYMC lobby, no one recognizes Matlock as the mere footnote in punk rock history that he has been reduced to by some storytellers. But many are aware that this is the man who begat a new sound, and the bassist who could actually play it.
With psychedelic country rock band The Sadies opening, there was not an electric bass in the building. Sadies bassist Sean Dean played an upright acoustic, but it did more than keep the beat, it served as a subtle but downright reminder that it was not 1976, and that this would not be the same set from an early Sex Pistols gig. No one is dressed in robes that are straight out of Malcolm McLaren’s clothing boutique ‘Sex.’ There are no ragged fishnet shirts, no bondage belts jingling among the mass, and leather, if present, is brown and well kept, not tattered and black with haphazard stud jobs. Perhaps this was a crowd that grew up and beyond the unforgiving nature of Johnny Rotten, much like the man they had come to see.
When Matlock was done his sound check, a lone bagpiper blasted into the room and erupted into a rendition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Fusing folk method with a classic rock anthem, this was the perfect harbinger for what was about to come.
Matlock’s acoustic show proves that music doesn’t have to be vicious to be punk. Making a point about punk aesthetic in an interview with Max Chambers, he points out that, “People talk about punk as a musical style, but also there’s a spirit involved in it.” He cranks out covers of Sex Pistols songs like “Pretty Vacant,” “God Save the Queen” and the Monkees’ “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone”— a song that every Sex Pistol can say they’ve spent some time with (even Matlock’s bass incompetent, yet crowd pleasing successor Sid Vicious covered it during his brief solo career).
To the accepting crowd that sings along, Matlock has no problem disciplining the audience for their lack of familiarity with the chorus to Small Faces’ “All or Nothing,” looping the chords ad nauseam and saying “I can do this all night,” sitting back on the Sadies’ bass drum to further his point until he got the response he wanted.
Despite the demanding nature he took on during “All or Nothing,” Matlock is anything but arrogant; he is cheeky, but humble. Matlock proves he’s above his Sex Pistols celebrity even when he’s not playing the traveling troubadour. In response to Haiti’s earthquake in January, he’s teamed up with Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Mick Jones (The Clash), and Shane MacGowan (The Pogues) to cover Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You,” which is set for release later this month.
Originally posted @The Ontarion
Glen Matlock has a special place in Sex Pistols history. As the bassist for London’s seminal punk band, Matlock wrote most of the songs on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, but punklore has it that he was excommunicated from the Pistols in 1977 for liking The Beatles too much. The truth, as Matlock tells it in his autobiographical I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, is that he left because he was “sick of all the bullshit.” Whether or not that “bullshit” had anything to do with guitarist Steve Jones’ frustration over Matlock’s insistence that he learn Beatles chords for Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, will be debated for as long as the Sex Pistols remain relevant.
Making his way up to the same kitchenette counter that’s open to everyone else in the GYMC lobby, no one recognizes Matlock as the mere footnote in punk rock history that he has been reduced to by some storytellers. But many are aware that this is the man who begat a new sound, and the bassist who could actually play it.
With psychedelic country rock band The Sadies opening, there was not an electric bass in the building. Sadies bassist Sean Dean played an upright acoustic, but it did more than keep the beat, it served as a subtle but downright reminder that it was not 1976, and that this would not be the same set from an early Sex Pistols gig. No one is dressed in robes that are straight out of Malcolm McLaren’s clothing boutique ‘Sex.’ There are no ragged fishnet shirts, no bondage belts jingling among the mass, and leather, if present, is brown and well kept, not tattered and black with haphazard stud jobs. Perhaps this was a crowd that grew up and beyond the unforgiving nature of Johnny Rotten, much like the man they had come to see.
When Matlock was done his sound check, a lone bagpiper blasted into the room and erupted into a rendition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Fusing folk method with a classic rock anthem, this was the perfect harbinger for what was about to come.
Matlock’s acoustic show proves that music doesn’t have to be vicious to be punk. Making a point about punk aesthetic in an interview with Max Chambers, he points out that, “People talk about punk as a musical style, but also there’s a spirit involved in it.” He cranks out covers of Sex Pistols songs like “Pretty Vacant,” “God Save the Queen” and the Monkees’ “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone”— a song that every Sex Pistol can say they’ve spent some time with (even Matlock’s bass incompetent, yet crowd pleasing successor Sid Vicious covered it during his brief solo career).
To the accepting crowd that sings along, Matlock has no problem disciplining the audience for their lack of familiarity with the chorus to Small Faces’ “All or Nothing,” looping the chords ad nauseam and saying “I can do this all night,” sitting back on the Sadies’ bass drum to further his point until he got the response he wanted.
Despite the demanding nature he took on during “All or Nothing,” Matlock is anything but arrogant; he is cheeky, but humble. Matlock proves he’s above his Sex Pistols celebrity even when he’s not playing the traveling troubadour. In response to Haiti’s earthquake in January, he’s teamed up with Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Mick Jones (The Clash), and Shane MacGowan (The Pogues) to cover Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You,” which is set for release later this month.
Originally posted @The Ontarion
Friday, November 6, 2009
Still Here
6:30am
Ice on the windows this November morning. I can see the shining horizon of far off corporate and apartment building lighting through thick concentrations of tree branches. The sky is pink and yellow with a few clouds. Soon it will turn blue and those far off notions of night will disappear, kind of like the reverse of that 6th century BCE enlightenment from flat-to-sphere earth. Daytime makes me feel smaller.
Ice on the windows this November morning. I can see the shining horizon of far off corporate and apartment building lighting through thick concentrations of tree branches. The sky is pink and yellow with a few clouds. Soon it will turn blue and those far off notions of night will disappear, kind of like the reverse of that 6th century BCE enlightenment from flat-to-sphere earth. Daytime makes me feel smaller.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Kick Out the Jams
So, I posted this Sunday, but I should have included an update on the current issue of the Undercroft. I attended an editorial meeting, and I can now say with complete confidence that the premiere issue of the fourth volume of The Undercroft, "Kick Out the Jams: The Culture Jamming Issue" is now out. This issue includes feature articles with topics including the tactics of culture jamming, the permaculture movement, that big old spooky recession, as well as the process of societal labeling. There's also a description of Global Aware - an organization found in one of downtown Toronto's coziest communities, Kensington Market - dedicated to facilitating workshops on activism, media, and all kinds of great positive thinking, which the Undercroft staff recently visited for a workshop.
You can find the new issue at several locations, including Sideshow Tattoos in Georgetown, The Altered Native in Georgetown, the drop-in center at St. George's church in Georgetown, the Off the Wall youth centre in Acton, Dermagraphics by Paul in Milton, or off of any POSSE outreach worker outreaching on the streets of Acton, Georgetown and Milton this Summer. I will always stress that anyone seeking to make submissions should do so, and if you wish to make contributions, please email posseproject@aztec-net.com.
Cover art by Tyler Klumpenhower. Layout by Tom Beedham.
----------------
Now playing: Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution - Here's To Life
You can find the new issue at several locations, including Sideshow Tattoos in Georgetown, The Altered Native in Georgetown, the drop-in center at St. George's church in Georgetown, the Off the Wall youth centre in Acton, Dermagraphics by Paul in Milton, or off of any POSSE outreach worker outreaching on the streets of Acton, Georgetown and Milton this Summer. I will always stress that anyone seeking to make submissions should do so, and if you wish to make contributions, please email posseproject@aztec-net.com.
Cover art by Tyler Klumpenhower. Layout by Tom Beedham.
----------------
Now playing: Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution - Here's To Life
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Cattail Manifesto
Cattails just look like feces speared on blades of long grass.
Like natives displaying the heads of unsuccessful colonizers,
maybe this is nature's way of saying
"back off shitheads!"
----------------
Now playing: CR Avery - Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Monday, June 29, 2009
Bless My Eyes (All Three of Them)
Forgive my procrastination. But not without a product to behold. And thus, I give you my vision. This image came to me in the dark nothingness of an otherwise (exempting this product and the monetary gain my education depends on this job at the warehouse for) unproductive repetition. My job involves an incredible amount of rigid standing, myself allowed only to rest and sit for a total of an hour out of the ten I work there daily from Monday to Thursday, weekly. I am curious as to whether or not this lack of mobility has effects on my blood circulation. I think I receive a lack of blood to my brain, resulting in a state of euphoric creativity. Not entirely fruitless, I am prone to twirling and weaving narratives and - in this case - images into my conscious mental faculties, with hopes of preserving them long after as though part of an infinite scroll that can be added to or referenced for all of my existence. I am not as good with paints as I would hope, so the image is definitely lacking in comparison with the one my mind offered. I hope you can enjoy my toils.
----------------
Now playing: King Crimson - I Talk To The Wind
----------------
Now playing: King Crimson - I Talk To The Wind
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Cog.
Neglect is terrible. I feel dirty and unpolished.
Work at the wood moulding warehouse has been taxing, but the repetition is meditation. I've been having visions lately, and I promise to get painting and posting soon.
Some old but still relevant news: for those of you who are familiar with my work with The Undercroft, I just finished the new issue (Volume 4, Issue 1), "Kick Out the Jams: The Culture Jamming Issue" a couple of weeks ago and if I'm not mistaken it should be at the printer getting copied for distribution or already hitting the streets of Georgetown, Acton, and Milton as I type these very words. Some newer and more relevant news: the next issue is focusing on community. I'm excited. If you want to make contributions, send here: posseproject@aztec-net.com.
Life updates aren't my bag, but they feel necessary right now. I'll get something real up here soon enough. So if you haven't already switched off, stay tuned.
----------------
Now playing: tool - The Patient
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
