BREAKIN' BACKS UNDER BLEARY BROOKLYN SKIES

so there was this show a couple weeks ago. it was amazing. and so we have some video of The Goddamn Rattlesnake performing with Joey Royale of The Lonesome Doves (watch for the flying tackle). hot damn. sweaty fishermen.

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i wish i was just posting this for the hell of it. . . but i smell something coming off the horizon. and it's not just how the sky goes pitch black over the lake at night, even while the clouds glow pink from the power plant nearby. it's time to hunker down, sharpen your knives, and get sleep while you can. damn i wanna watch some post-apocalyptic movies now.

• Rasputina - Bad Moon Rising


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SANTA SLIPPED ME A ROOFIE FOR XMAS

coming home for the holidays is always interesting on one level or another. mild family drama mixed with running around repairing bird feeders and building picture frames is a bit more fun when you're not really really sick. but whatever, i can't complain. although i didn't expect to have some cheery 21 year old look me square in the face at some random retro cleveland bar and say "i guess you wouldn't know, it wasn't really your era." i'll admit i was unaware that half a decade equaled an era nowadays. but regardless i still didn't have a clue what tv show she was talking about.

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the fact that my little sister is dating the lead singer of this band has nothing to do with the fact that i am posting it. i swear. really. it IS an xmas song. really.

• Head Of Femur - Christmas With Cliff, Connie, And Carol


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TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS TO BE AMERICAN

you know you're back home in ohio when you see a yard display of Santa kneeling beside baby Jesus (with his hat off, of course) and a municipal "no hunting" street sign within the same ten minutes. and this is just after watching someone dressed as an elf be escorted from a shopping mall by the cops. welcome home.

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another gem in the mellow-and-not-too-christmasy category. possibly my favorite Feist song.

• Feist - Lo How A Rose Ere' Blooming

(and for everyone who has asked me for the track list to the Xmas '05 mix, email me and i'll send it your way.)


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HERMITS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MY BEST FRIENDS

here's a video of Big A little a at the perviously mentioned S. 5th show. it's very hard to capture the fervent energy and gripping beat of Aa (three and a half percusionists, two vocalists, keyboards, distortion. . . all mixed up like a tornado in your living room). I've never felt that any of the few recordings i've heard do them a bit of justice. . . so i guess this is my weak attempt to present a more complete picture of what they are capable of. keep in mind i shot it with a digital still camera and had to compress the crap out of it to fit it on to Vimeo. so "quality loss" is an understatement. but regardless i think it's pretty fun.

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xmas just keeps coming. and so we have rockers that probably aren't very close to any sort of hand-to-mouth living singing about being homeless. hmmm. but it's at least something that doesn't sound like every other xmas track out there. and the premise is unusual.

• The Black Halos - Homeless For Christmas


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BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS CAUSE IT LOOKS GOOD WITH YOUR NEW SHOES

photos from friday's show on S. 5th. it was a packed rager with a great after-dance-party.

in one day (yesterday), i was semi-doored, hit by a car, elbowed in the face, bit so hard i still have marks, and threatened by some dude with a metal pipe. interestingly, i walked away from all of it with minor scratches. sometimes it seems as if life likes to throw a lot of shit your way, just to watch you dance. . . no real harm intended.

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in the interest of cultural diversity and political correctness, here's a Kwanzaa song. in the interest of non-political correctness, here's THIS kwanzaa song.

• Shirley Q Liquor - 12 Days Of Kwanzaa


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WHOA DEATH.

photos of O' Death by the sucka

holy crap. i believe christmas is coming a week early. because i got some gifts for you. sunday. you ain't got shit to do. you know it. why not come on downtown and experience what may be the best live performances you have seen in quite sometime. i am so freakin excited about this show. kicking off the evening is the ever stylish. all too friendly. brownbird rudy relic. this is a man. a guitar. a kazoo. and voice so smooth it makes velvet blush. just watch to see how wide this dude can open his mouth. pretty wide. a dentists dream. secondly. all the way from new london connecticut. the most dangerous trio of mountain dudes ever to stomp a stage. the can kickers. busting out old time traditionals with the energy of a natural disaster. its like a hurricane. a volcano. and an earthquake. but less inconvenient. and no one dies. they just smile. stomp their foot. and think about how much the can kickers are kicking their asses. i mean last time i saw these guys they led a crew of drunkards up stairs. out a door. into a street. and then broke stuff. nuff said. now when i was asked to play this show i was excited. until i found out that i had to go on after the can kickers and before o'death. the pressure is on. o'death has been nothing but top notch during their last 57 shows and miraculously they keep getting better. bastards. they invited me to come listen to their new record. which is going to slay everything that walks by the way. i think it was some sort of cruel scare tactic. trying to convince me to leave the game now or choke on the dust left behind by their brutal romp. bastards. don't get me wrong. i love them to death. but it is just absolutely wrong how goddamn amazing the music they are making lately is. i feel like calling the authorities and pressing charges. for i have been violated. yeah. so i am gonna play. poor boy ain't gonna be there. he is on sabbatical in the hills of vermont. eating soup and listening to reggae. so. the croz and i decided that we were gonna pull out the big guns to fill the shaggy one's void. we got some surprises. special guests. new stuff. old stuff sounding new. this is going to be like no other rattlesnake show you have ever experienced. i am having trouble waiting. it is going to be sure to leave you felling satisfied. nothing but positive vibes will be emitted. and we will be sure to look as amazing as possible while doing so. so. i will see you on sunday. you can buy me a drink while i dance with your lady.

sunday. dec. 18th
7:30pm. $8
knitting factory (tap bar)
74 leonard st. ny. ny.

o'death. (the almighty.)
the goddamn rattlesnake. (the haggard.)
the can kickers. (the righteous.)
brownbird rudy relic. (the classy.)

special late night performance by the defibulators.

hosted by the good reverend joseph royale.

be there.

much love.

- g.d. rattlesnake

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this here is just a juicey little taste of what you can expect when O' Death's new record kills you in january. learn the words. sing along.

• O' Death - Down To Rest


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STEPPIN' OUT WITH YOUR PITY POSSE

this is kind of interesting, a friend of mine set up a blog where you can call a number and leave a voice message, that is then posted to the site in mp3 format. check out Patrick Borelli if you are curious. this has substantial potential, in the right hands.

also, besides sunday's killer show (info forthcoming), this friday is another great not-to-be-missed show.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 16 NITE:
141 South 5th St, Williamsburg - next to Roy's loft, 'The Woodser'!
'supposed to start at 9' (take that as you will), $5

JAPANTHER
Aa
MATT & KIM
THE GOOD GOOD

damn that's a good line-up.

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this one is for Nick, in case he's feeling homesick. . . the cat parts are so weird and japanese. actually the whole thing is weird and japanese.

• Tenchi Muyo - Jingle Bells


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GOD HATES TECHNO BUT HE LOVES THE STONES

photos from the Kill Whitie Xmas Extravaganza with Avenue D.

you know in those bad slapstick movies where the hapless protagonist finds his car buried under snow from a snowplow, and while he's struggling to dig it out (slipping and falling in the slush), the same plow passes again and coats him in a fresh wall of slush? yeah, it's not nearly as funny when it actually happens to you. trust me.

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so i'm going to be throwing some xmas tunes up here in the next week or so. . . to, ya know, get you in the mood. Rattlesnake should be dropping by soon with a really great gem i've been excited about for a while now. and i've also been working on bringing you some pretty unique and choice songs from some talented "under-the-radar" artists. in the meantime here is possibly my favorite xmas track i've come across this year. the legend of Jesus as a coverup for an illegitimate child. complete with heartbreak. so nice.

• Lou Barlow - Mary


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YOUR HARDSHIPS DO NOT MAKE YOU UNIQUE

photos from the 188 demolition party. it was kind of a bummer some amateurs busted out all the exterior windows so early. if you want to keep a party going, you have to keep it inside. when neighbors hear smashing windows and loud bands, they are gonna call the cops. duh.

so apparently you can now either stream the Sucka Pants playlist (just click on the logo of the media type you want to use), or download the Sucka Pants podcast for iTunes. thanks to Hype Machine for these technologems.

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so this may be the first time i have a real story to go along with a post. okay, well it's not that great a story, but it is legit. i'd heard of The Stranglers here and there, but never followed up. so at one point between artist assisting and the graphic design gig, i was trying to make rent by being a personal computer technician. you know, come to your house, fix your computer, install programs/peripherals, teach you how to do stuff, etc. anyway, i was working for a very nice client one time and her husband offered to show me some of his video work. so he pops on the video for "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers, along with some other late 70s punk music videos. he had some interesting stories of living in london during that time as well. the point being that the video and the stories kicked my ass in to gear and i finally went and tracked down what i could from The Stranglers. nice gems from the birth of punk in the UK, full of lovely metaphors for heroin and uh, female anatomy. enjoy.

• The Stranglers - Golden Brown

• The Stranglers - Peaches

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PUSH COMES TO PUNCH

(for all those asking, it's a squashed pigeon's head)

you know what i love about new york? that when some thugged-out asshole tries to pick a fight with you on the morning train to work, people give YOU dirty looks for the rest of the ride. like it was somehow your fault that this dude wanted to start shit at 8 am. or more likely because they're too chicken-shit to look at "the scary man on the train." ya'll are a bunch of pussy bitches, stick your eyes back in your ipods.

on a better note, here's a little film by Corey Adams featuring total non-pussies, S.T.R.E.E.T.S. + skateboarding at the Georgia Street House in vancouver (download the high quality version here).

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it's getting to be that time of year, xmas and all that. so to kick it off, here is the most offensive holiday song i've ever heard. i think i came across this last year, but was just too put off to do anything with it. if anyone else besides Tiny Tim had done it you wouldn't be hearing it. but somehow that creepy-as-cute dude makes it almost passable. almost.

• Tiny Tim - Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year


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I SECRETLY THINK THAT SOMEDAY SOMEONE WILL BELIEVE IN ME

so in a random series of events, i ended up at the Iron & Wine and Calexico show last night. it was really nice. . . except for the three douchebags behind me (in the new jersey uniform of sports jerseys under leather coats), who just would not shut up. . . or even whisper. one guy kept leaning up against me from behind, even though there was about ten feet behind him. they were probably drunk, and each guy happened to be twice as big as i am, so if i had said shit and it had gotten ugly. . . it would have been me versus about 6 of myself. i decided it wasn't worth it. too bad i didn't have the Rattlesnake there to get my back. THEN i would have had a story for you. instead i have some video of Iron & Wine playing with Calexico. a sneak preview for all you lucky ticket holders for monday and tuesday.

Iron & Wine And Calexico - NYC

oh, and here's one more photo.

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so in keeping with the theme, here are a few covers recently performed live by Iron & Wine and Calexico courtesy of NPR. just more of the sneak preview for those of you heading out to the remaining shows.

• Iron & Wine And Calexico - All Tomorrow's Parties

• Iron & Wine And Calexico - Wild Horses


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