A good friend of mine has just started working as a Creative Memories representative. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Creative Memories is a "photo preservation system" where people make these really elaborate, mostly cheesy photo albums with themed pages, stickers, frames, borders, etc. It's also a humongous home-based business along the lines of Avon or Tupperware. So, I'm thinking - I'd love to do some albums of all my friends, using old flyers, ticket stubs, buttons, and other junk. But where are the "punk" themed pages? Most of the Creative Memories stuff is happy animals and holiday junk. Ducks wearing bonnets. You get the picture. If anyone knows of an alternative, please let me know!
October 2003
A good friend of mine has just started working as a Creative Memories representative. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Creative Memories is a "photo preservation system" where people make these really elaborate, mostly cheesy photo albums with themed pages, stickers, frames, borders, etc. It's also a humongous home-based business along the lines of Avon or Tupperware. So, I'm thinking - I'd love to do some albums of all my friends, using old flyers, ticket stubs, buttons, and other junk. But where are the "punk" themed pages? Most of the Creative Memories stuff is happy animals and holiday junk. Ducks wearing bonnets. You get the picture. If anyone knows of an alternative, please let me know!
This week is a mixed bag at best. On one side we have our obvious Oscar contenders (The Human Stain, Shattered Glass), on the other side we have the boring run of the mill, love your fellow man (or beast), Disney craptoon (Brother Bear), then we have the third dimension of the purely bizarre (Die Mommy Die, Dirt), and THEN we have the stroke-the-director's-ego re-release of a classic sci-fi horror epic (Alien).
My picks for the week are as follows:
1) The Human Stain
2) Shattered Glass
3) Die Mommy Die
And, if all else fails -- Alien (it is Halloween isn't it?)
Continue reading October 31st Film Releases.
Friday November 21, 2003 7pm
Vine Theater
6321 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood CA
$15 adv/$20 door
Freaky films, bands & burlesque all-nighter
Featuring Gitane Demone, Penis Flytrap, and Dirty Sanchez
Mistress Persephone, Julie Strain
"Los Angeles, CA---November 21-22, 2003---Los Angeles-based Anxiety Films is at it again, scheduling their third annual ìShock-O-Rama-A-Go-Goî 24-hour film-a-thon...
Continue reading Shock-O-Rama 2003.
Halloween this year in SoCal / LA area is shaping up to be extra scary with our world on fire and a week of ashes floating through the air, but relief is on the way with cooler temps, a possibility of moisture, and an amazing line-up of Halloween night live music shows and concerts:
-*-*-
Big Sandy & The Fly Rite Boys, Sleazy Surfers - Halloween Costume Contest @ Doll Hut, 714-533-1286
Busstop Hurricanes @ Continental, 714-526-4529
Flogging Molly @ House of Blues - Anaheim, 714-778-2583
Me First & the Gimmee Gimmees on the Jimmy Kimmel Show (find a TV)
Queens of the Stone Age, The Cramps, Tomahawk, Masters of Reality @ Greek Theatre, 213-480-3232
Throwrag, Menace - Halloween Ball @ Alex's Bar, 562-434-8292
Truly Lover Trio @ Purple Orchid, 310-322-5829
Thursday, Thrice, Coheed and Cambria @ Hollywood Pallidium, 213-480-3232
Velvet Hammer Burlesque @ Derby, 323-663-8979
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DJ Wanda, David Irish, and I will be at the Throwrag Halloween Ball at Alex's, and Ms. Lauren will be attending the Velvet Hammer Burlesque at the Derby. Anyone else?
...but a living exhibition of the degenerate soul."
If the average boo-hoo haunted house just doesn't cut it for you, if you truly need something depraved, then the Institute of Mental Decay, sponsored by the Los Angeles Cacophony Society looks to be severely disturbing. They're still looking for participants, so if you have any "medical fetishes, animal costumes, castration fantasies or hospital equipment", they neeeeed YOU. They're also looking for anyone "born with a tail" and "as many monkeys as we can find"....
Happy Haunting! Bwahahahahaha........
Ok, Ladies, I am paging all the Ladies... or Women... or Chicks... or Girls....
The last four or five times I have been to the Doll Hut it has been a Sausage Festival. Yep, men everywhere. At least 6 - 9 men to every woman. Punk rock night, rockabilly, surf, DJ night, psychobilly, whatever the music playing. Men everywhere. Punk rock boys, greaser boys, Butterheads, cholos, skins, even a few normal type males looking a bit out of place...
If you are single and female, the Doll Hut is the place to be. As Wanda likes to say, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."
Movies coming out this week that are either:
a) Worth paying $10 to see in a theater, or
b) Worth illegally downloading off the net (I have no idea how, but I hear it can be done).
In order of preference:
1) Elephant
2) The Singing Detective
3) Kill Bill(its still out and its still amazing)
Continue reading October 24th Film Releases.
According to the Wall Street Journal, companies are offering yoga to their employees on site, recognizing the benefits of keeping everyone in an asana-induced state of Zen. I find this hard to believe, since at my company, you're lucky if you can leave your desk for a glass of water! Who are these companies so that I can go work for one?
Companies Say Yoga Isn't a Stretch
Wall Street Journal (10/14/03) , P. D4; Forster, Stacy
Companies are beginning to subscribe to the benefits of yoga in the workplace, claiming that employees opting to use breaks for office yoga reduce their stress and tension levels and improve their concentration. Some are hopeful that office yoga will reduce health care costs for companies, as many set up yoga rooms in empty offices. Katz Media pays an instructor to teach office workers yoga during the day in its conference room, and employees are appreciative of the company's efforts. According to Yoga Journal, about 7 percent of the American population practices yoga, and many others are willing to try it, but critics are worried that it will be hard to gauge the impact of the exercise on the workplace and productivity. However, companies continue to opt for the service, and insurance companies are beginning to cover the services under alternative medicine coverage.
From the September 2003 issue of Training+Development:
"Intel, Wayport, and McDonald's recently announced plans to enable San Francisco-area locations with Wi-Fi in earnest. ... earlier this year, a select group of New York locations were set up wtih Si-Fi on a trial basis, but the Bay area rollout will be more comprehensive, with some 75 locations being wired for 802.11b technology. Wayport, which is providing the hotspots, is also considering future rollouts of 802.11g or 802.11a.
Pricing is reasonable at $4.95 for two hours of use. Locations will range from 12 in San Francisoco to six in San Jose, as well as parts in between. Locations equipped with the service will bear Intel's new Centrino logo."
For all the single ladies out there... turns out California is the right place to be to meet men, since men outnumber women here in SoCal over any other place. It's like I always say... the odds are good but the goods are odd!
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21 ó Go West young woman, especially if youíre single and looking for love. And if youíre serious about seeking a male mate, go to Orange County or Silicon Valley ó two areas with cities where, in an unusual twist, single men outnumber single women."
Read the full story.
Another excerpt:
"The other four California cities were immigrant magnets ó Santa Ana, Salinas, Oxnard and Costa Mesa ó which naturally attract male laborers, many of them single, foreign-born Hispanics."
I just got back from the 2nd Sunday afternoon/evening of the Hacienda Brothers - featuring Dave Gonzalez of The Paladins and the SoCal famed Chris Gaffney - at the Doll Hut. The Hacienda Brothers played roarin' honky tonky and old time country music. A true delight to the ears on a Sunday afternoon.
The Hacienda Brothers will be back at the Doll Hut next Sunday the 26th of October and again on Sun. Nov. 23rd with The Paladins for a Doll Hut Benefit just before Thanksgiving.
Last week we introduced Google Text Ads on various pages of the Barflies.net to help pay for our server fees. Google uses their marvelous keyword search power to deliver relevant text ads on sites using the text that is on the actual page.
Most of the text ads served have been very appropriate, like links to Meteors CDs, Duane Peter's label Disaster Records, Punk CDs, etc.
Two days ago when Ms. Alex posted about the Exploited / Total Chaos riot in Canada, all the sudden Google started serving ads for a certain barfy Canadian pop chanteuse who now lives and sings in Las Vegas and whose name I won't use for fear of more text ads to her. Exploited Riot = watered down old folks pop????
This is F**kin funny... Google, give us more Duane, Wattie, and decrepit tattooed punk rockers!
I heard about this on the news this morning and figured it was just a certain horrible Canadian singers* fans gone rabid.....
From CNN: Montreal police said the violence started shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday when show organizers told hundreds waiting outside Medley Hall that the bands Total Chaos and The Exploited would not be performing.
"At that point the crowd turned crazy and turned into a riot," Yannick Ouimet, a Montreal police spokesman, told Global Television.
French-language TV channel LCN said Canadian customs officials had barred some members of The Exploited from entering the country.
One witness said the rioters shouted "Let's start a war! We want to riot."
One city block had 24 cars with smashed windows and at least six stores had their windows smashed, Canadian Press reported. Firefighters put out fires in at least four cars that were overturned and set on ablaze.
An unknown number of people were arrested after riot police arrived, Canadian Press said.
Two police officers sustained minor injuries.
*Name has been removed to protect our sanity
Just wanted to let you all know that the new October issue of the Barflies.net magazine is up and ready for your viewing pleasure:
We are featuring:
The Adolescents, The Stitiches, Pistol Grip and Drive By Smile at House of Blues Anaheim
LA County Line CD Release Party - Los Creepers, Penis Fly Trap, Go Betty Go, Slanderin
Las Vegas/Primm 300 Off Road Race
Warped Tour 2003
The Dragons
Black Flag
Tom Ingram Interview - Las Vegas Rock-A-Round
The Bell Rays - The Raw Collection
Manic Hispanic - Mijo goes to Jr. College
Movie Review: Prey For Rock & Roll
Movies for Your Pleasure: Man From Elysian Fields and The Show Must Go Off!
Big thanks to all the contributors and the bands!
Workshops, Luau & Concert
Saturday, October 18 2003
Cerritos & Seal Beach CA
See website (click above) for full details
on activities and performers.
Ever wondered how much you consumed in beverage up to this point? Take the Drink-O-Meter Quiz.
"Track 16 Gallery is pleased to present The Greatest Album Covers That Never Were curated by music archivist Michael Ochs and fine artist Craig Butler. Inaugurated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in June 2003, the exhibition consists of images created by one hundred established graphic and fine artists who were invited to create the definitive album cover for their favorite recording artist. Given no boundaries, these artists had the unique opportunity to create their ultimate fantasy album cover as a purely artistic expression. The exhibition runs from October 11 through November 15, 2003, with an opening reception on October 11 from 6 to 9 P.M."
Track 16 Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue, Bldg C-1
Santa Monica, CA 90404
You have said to yourself, "I don't want to pay for Friendster... I want a social networking site that works..."
I present to you the Barflies.net Tribe: http://barflies.tribe.net
Also, the new barflies.net issue is up with lots of photo essays, reviews, and various fun bits, including Kevin's kick ass "10 Best Adolescents' Shows".
Get your peeps together for some really sweet fun! I find these little devils delightful!
A little somethin' to start your month off in a spoooooky way!