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Tour Blog; DAY 15: LONDON. Daily Affirmation vid #2 Girl's head explodes PLUS we get new Jersey Shore Nicknames
Posted on July 19, 2010 at 01:26 AM
11am Wake up in
my dry sub-Saharan bunk with my stocking cap pulled down over my face, sarcophagus
style… slept like a buried Pharaoh.. arms crossed over my chest.. silence. just the distant hum of the diesel bus engine and my irregular pulse thumping my inner ear. Cringe. Heartbeats wig me out. Once i got so bored waiting at Walgreens that i put my arm in that 25cent blood pressure machine and had a gigantic fucking meltdown in front of a bunch of old people. never again.
Lying there in the dark I also remember that yesterday I officially gave up trying to keep my clean and dirty clothes separated, which helps to explain why my entire wardrobe now smells like the dinosaur egg exhibit at the Museum of Natural History –
-Can't remember any dreams from last night, as usual. But I look at the log on my piece of crap terrorist phone and laugh at a long senseless text i sent our Tour Manager at 4am:
"Jack, FYI new band policy; Part I. On all KH print materials from this point forward, 'soundcheck' must be spelled 'SoundCZECH'. Part II: Please start referring to all band members by our new Jersey Shore nicknames; Greg: “The Decision,” Mat “The Complication,” and Dan “The Mortician.” Pls make one up for Maddox. i'm too tired."
I kick open the curtain, withdraw to the lounge and start my day in the sophisticated, regal manner to which I’ve now become accustomed: a full-flavored loose leaf Tibetan tea, a delicate blueberry confectionery, and a wonderful YouTube vid of some girl getting TREATED.
Daily Affirmation vid #2
(I don't know about the "roll," but she definitely gets the "stop" and "drop" parts right.)
15 viewings
later, after smearing away my sweet, insensitive tears of joy, it finally registers: We're actually back in London. Bloody LONDON, Oi! Mecca! Home to 90% of my idols; origin of
the accents and styles we’ve been "borrowing" our entire career.
We’re parked outside the venue, the beautiful Electric Ballroom. Bus is pretty much empty.. Greg is exploring Camden Market… Dan and Garrett are visiting the Gibson Guitars showroom. Maddox is getting his nose pierced. I post up at a cool pub called The Camden Eye and start work on a piece for Rock Sound Magazine that’s 2 weeks overdue.
(Like a masochist, I also decide to check up on some Fbook updates. Tension headache in 3, 2, 1, there it is!)
Back inside, we got a chance to spend time with some members of the KHK street team
We shared some touching stories, saw some impressive tattoos, and even got a cake
The show was MASSIVE and so much fun…
Following the melee in Manchester, I assumed that the London crowd would be subdued by comparison.. but I was immediately proven wrong. WAY wrong…
First time I got within snatching distance of the barrier, I got devoured by trap door spiders in the front row —pulled me in to the pit - drawn and quartered.. got kiss-raped by something with a mustache...-army ants and killer bees - broke my suspenders....stole my bracelets, but I emerged back on stage somehow clutching a brand new pocket watch… Fair trade? i guess. Buddhists would say I never truly owned those things anyway. ;)
Another personal highlight was covering my favorite pop song of all time, ‘Just Like Heaven’.
-Afterwards we took pics and autographed misc body parts behind the club for another hour after the show- dripping my radioactive sweat on to many fans whom i recognize from previous tours... their excitement was so genuine and contagious that i hated leaving.
Our official Post-show-party was held at Bungalow 8… Many close friends drop by, including trouble-maker Taylor the Terrible from Disorder Magazine
Our fav birthday girl, Chloe Little, hosts the night --in a white vinyl dress w a Masonic eye painted on it
Greg spun a sick set of dirty indie electro... then we both mug it at our table, totally entertained by certain guys whose wealth and entitlement we certainly may envy.. but whose dance moves we certainly do not.
We toast to another wonderful London experience, and it's off to Birmingham we go, old chap...Cheerio!
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Tour Blog; DAY 13,14: NEWCASTLE, MANCHESTER; Instant Cure for Morning Sadness, Carbombs, Meat is Murder
Posted on July 1, 2010 at 05:22 AM
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NEWCASTLE
Morning coma in my fishtank bunk.
Consciousness seeps back in like a carbon monoxide leak. My lashes slowly unzip - crusty black venus flytraps - and my tired frog eyes survey my environment for any shapes in the darkness. None.
My toes are claustrophobic in my socks. too drained to do anything about that right now. Vital signs. Affirmative. I’m technically alive, tho this information gives me no sense of relief.
Diagnostics check. the usual; a variety of sharp and dull pains, dehydration, melancholia, nothing major… but I’m thinking carpal tunnel, brain cancer, tapeworms, earwigs, scurvy, 8ball hemorrhage…
Roll over on to my back. Jaw into my chest and open my laptop on my stomach. Pupils hammer shut as the screen fires up. I have 19 chins.
My E.T. finger grazes the touchpad, and just when you’d think a giant grin might be impossible this early… I click on the video I’ve been watching 10x every morning for the past week.
SOLID GOLD
Now, I don’t believe in ‘daily affirmations’ per se. I do however believe in what the Germans call Schadenfreude… the act of “deriving joy from other people’s pain”; Especially when the “other people" in this case is a complete chode who goes on stage dressed like a Nat Geo photographer.
Try it with your coffee every morning. It’s a great way to start the day…
We’re in Newcastle!
Great
memories of this town; VERY die-hard fans; high-energy shows. Always.
3PM Greg and I are running late for an interview at Metro Radio… we love Alan, the quirky host. As usual, when we arrive, we spends more time on air discussing ghost sightings, anti-aging secrets and Zeitgeist conspiracies than music...
Blackberry still not working. T-Mobile put me on “aggressive customer” list again. Weird. i never even raised my voice last time.. all I said, very calmly, was, “you people make me want to go on a killing spree.” “What did you say sir?” “Nothing.”
-So for the
rest of the tour I’m resigned to use this pathetic pay-as-you-go ghetto phone
like a fucking insurgent. Every time I pull it out in public, people look at me like
I’m gonna detonate a carbomb – and u know what, after struggling with this thing
for an hour to send ONE text, I wish I DID have a carbomb. I’d tape it to my
dick. Send send send
Just SOME (all) of this phone's spectacular features:
-monochromatic display!
-holds up
to 40 names and numbers! (up to 9 characters each)
-Games such
as Snake-xenzia! Dice Game! Settings!
-Caller ID!
Interview over, we passed by the historic Castle Keep; last time we were here I perched alone on one of the ledges for a long while, overlooking the River Tyne… Strange, simple, and uninteresting as that sounds, it was a personal highlight of the last tour for me.
Back at the
venue we settled backstage to prep for the show, which we knew would be, in the words of our Brit comrades, "absolutely mental". (never pronounce the T in mental)
I’d been given a stuffed panda bear as a gift from a fan...brought him on stage and oddly it was a real comfort... I relate to animals that have dark circles around their eyes...
The Newcastle crowd began jumping in unison to the songs, buckling the floor… and tho we’ve seen this before, it’s never been quite THIS intense… Richter Scale level... at some points it was difficult even to keep balance on stage...
We can’t
wait to play here again.
MANCHESTER
Oh Manchester…
(or as locals pronounce it Manchestaahh) -Home to so many of our musical
idols.. Stone Roses, Smiths, New Order, etc… -this city also produces the most
beautifully vicious of all the UK crowds…
Typically stormy English day as our bus pulled in, but my spirits were high… you see, I'd just landed a “huge” fish on janky-ass Bass Strike on the janky-ass Playstation 2, and was filled, unexpectedly, with an alarming amount of pride. Just beaming. I mean, i took a picture of the screen.
Bass Strike is one of the only games on the bus, and it was designed in 1991… it’s so obsolete and janky-ass in every possible way. Janky-ass graphics, janky-ass sound, janky-ass concept, etc... but I love it… I love that I’m the ONLY FOOL IN THE WORLD addicted to this obscure, janky-ass game. I defy you to name any video game more irrelevant and janky-ass than Bass Strike. (and pls don't say Burgertime… Don't ask why, just please don't.)
Hustled
thru the rain to the Whitworth Art Gallery (best carrot cake and Earl Grey tea
of my life in the café ) –cool exhibition. Along the way I passed the Holy Name
Church on Oxford Road, (the very church immortalized by The Smith’s in their
song, Vicar in a Tutu.)
In the past, our shows at in Manchester more closely resembled rugby matches than concerts, and thankfully, tonight was no exception… Its one of those cities where the roles are reversed… the crowd IS the entertainment, and i'm just a spectator... I get to stand back and watch as our crew and local security attempt/fail to hold back the storm.
AFTER shows in Manchester, I have 2 traditions…
Tradition 1: I spend about £45 calling my mother back home in Boston and gushing about the night…
she always says, “Oh Matthew, you LOVE Morrissey! I’m SO happy he was there!” “no.. mom.. he’s FROM here…” “what darling?!” “Nevermind!”
Tradition 2: We walk in a pack with friends and crew like stormtroopers down Oxford St.. first to Big Hands (fav local pub of Elbow, The Doves, etc…) Then on to La Qila- our favorite Indian restaurant on Curry Mile. On this particular night we connected several tables (next to Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United), -where all 21 of us thoroughly enjoyed sweating to the painfully spicy Vindaloo curry, sharing cheap wine and even cheaper gossip… xo
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@ Molly-Rose. @Hitch Fan. @ Raccoon Society,
Hey Hitch Fan & Raccoon Society, Hey Molly-Rose :)
¶
I perused a quote about reason and faith, here, so just wanted to leave a quick insight. Times still ticking. So, get ready, like the countdown goes, remember get your dose of Caffeine and ample supply ready, time is here and now, handy keys to the DeLorean, ready, count it down .... 4,3... is seven,2,1... twenty-one go!
¶
Bringing in “reason” as a debatable perspective is an arbitrary moot inception of hanging on over a cliff after getting caught in suspended animation. In earnest, I’d rather crony up with a like-minded anarchist that befuddles the imposition-ers of faith is somehow equatable to ever be torn asunder by absence of reason as a supposed and dull exploitive of why not to have faith or presumes faith constraints reason. How tired and bored is that perspective, faith is sans reason, etcetera, as how tired and uninspired the word medley of “how tired and uninspired” is in a sentence. Truly, think, open-mindedly, if you are going to stand to incept reason into the mixture.
¶
Faith is not constraint of reason. Human expectations are the constraint of reason. When you expect an outcome, expecting defies the natural progression of reason and the possibilities of reason, cause and natural common-sense by reason. Esp if an expectation is only geared or rendered for a specific outcome that is meant to propagate a furnished idea – that is what constraints reason and undermines reason. Faith itself is not a constraint in and of itself.
Faith scrutinizes reason in the same manner that reason scrutinizes faith. Even if you are construing my comments in a sense of Biblical faith, (my own affections on Faith is, faith is faith, regardless of own individual’s personal sentiments) it should be applied to bare it as a pertinent truth of your conscience, if it is in tune with your own accordance of Faith. The insight is similar of a notion and passage Mat Devine shared in a previous entry, from the Bible in 1 Thessalonians “"Test all things and cling to that which is good." 1 Thes. 5:2
¶
The insight is, by mere contemplative states of the least of reality that is truly, utterly, ever known or knowable is dependent upon the realization those that follow the limited intelligence of humanity are no different or variable than those who believe in an infinite power or being. Except, that, the latter ones are not contained w/ limits of other people’s interpretations as to what the individual(s) believe or have faith in believing. In other words, of course, there is an open defiance of censorship. As the effect of censorship in many formulations is non-productive or progressive, plus attempts to suppress individuality and environmental compatibility and functionality. Individuals have an innate right and will, to believe / have faith in what sets their own life in accord with how they truly feel and be able to live according to a sound in-tact own conscience. The utopic is it ought to be a morally/ethically approach that is not projecting undue negative renderances into another person’s life. Give and take , choose battles, our world is further everyday from a utopia considering the majority has shunned itself to ignoring the dystopic qualties that are here right now and that media at large has veiled in elaborate dunce cap shrouding that dystopic societies are in the future although the dystopic future written about as Fiction is actually happening now. If you need hot lead dead giveaway tell-tale, read the Hunger Games. Reality shows and a corresponding match like Survivor and the way our governments handle it citizens and slowly revolve into revolutions is starkly illuminating in contrast to what science and governments would sooner have you believing recently. Citric awakening happens, just like heads up 7-up, goes round by round like kisses on the forehead of what you’re willing to fight for and go to battle.
¶
Morning tune ready for the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkb0kDacjs
¶
Personally, I think, plus, prefer, to be limitless w/ willingly choosing to have faith in an infinite that harkens possibilities that exuberate all realities and endless potential for the greater good and bless those who are willing with talents that incorporate into their environments rather than something that devoids humanity of its own existence and destroying itself within by the contraptions of limiting itself like is so often seen and has already been duly established by the acts of science and people having a follow mentality to the state of science and scientists own propulsions of ideas and constructed basis’s that are feasibly assembled for mass production to the herd mentality that those of lower I.Q’s or sheer follow mentality will gobble up without having to test and proof it and prove that the theory itself or basis of scientific belief is sketchy. Esp taking into vantage perspective, equal opportunity intelligent licensures that can compute the information readily on-hand and disseminated to be shredded apart by the citizens sans academic luxury degrees handling inspecting statistics, quantities and exacts, in other words, the scientific misnomers blatantly compiled as derivations alleged to be fact sans exact intricate intra-acted ways of actually testing and provable.
¶
Thus this ///.... “"Faith is the surrender of the mind; it's the surrender of reason, it's the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It's our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me." ~ Christopher Hitchen ...////
The quoted sentiment is also a mentality that ought be evenly distributed and thus applied to science in the same rigor of scrutiny; otherwise, science in a whole would be an easily reasonable standing on reason sham completely. People whom fully put their faith (be earnest and real, that that’s what is happening) into science, as a bunch of atheists often do blindly, are, again, as I wrote briefly to “Fellow Heathen” no different than the people they claim they are different from whom have faith including certain atheists that are attempting to devalue those individuals whom believe faith in God or deity/deities, et al. So, let’s prevent the ostracization by some ethos that eludes incorporating the fragility of the argument done towards only shunning the hypocrisy of its actions in statement, as is clear with the ///....“Of all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated.”...//// bit of the quote. Anyone with a brain embedded permeating reason plus own foresight is able to tear it tinker tape red, pulling apart the fallibility of the application of exclusion. So, well, let’s say it for what it is, for those who may get a bit riled or bewildered by the notion that that Hitchens quote has to be able to stand soundly to its own accord and then some to win over anything in such a debatable topic of query. Which whoever posted it aka the person behind “Hitch Fan” left it to, what is surmised as an attempted permissive gainer for something it isn’t rather than be seen for what it is. It is what it is; so let it stand to be, and let it be what it is.
¶
So, what to do, what to do…carry a smile, just smile at all times, esp. smitten. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKrbAUjBbvU&ob=av2e
¶
Charles Kingsley, said, ///....“And we shall be made truly wise if we be made content; content, too, not only with what we can understand, but content with what we do not understand—the habit of mind which theologians call—and rightly—faith in God.”...////
If you consider the application of – ///....“we shall be made truly wise if we be made content; content, too, not only with what we can understand, but content with what we do not understand”...//// – you would sooner or later come to deriving the conclusion, if you apply it to theologians that it would then need fairly be dispersed to be applied to scientists and science’s schematics, as well.
¶
Since, yes, a bunch did catch the flip-syde subtleties and am no longer so-so much M.I.A on-the-grid stats as prior (except at a backwards C//S, let those bones right ;) and sticking true and loyal to odes n’ codes Patrick Henry stylistic lovers “Give me Liberty or Give me death” stance of a prose writer and a bit of an unconventionalist, by art and its unconfined nature, I’d rather par up with movers and doers and standers, with the following quotes. As, this vantage scope of the playing field is where and why art comes into play and tests the grounds. Art endures. Art offers the companionship of the formidable connections of now, urgency and longevity. Legacy – such a regale atoning attenuation intonation inflection to the word while delivering an infliction to naysayers. Cruxly, appropos, regardless, if all there is, is this, every day, every time, I’d rather know within all is aligned in my soul anytime death knocks. Just, must gotta have something to share and faith upon for all those marvelous and wonder-filled death feats after-all. Nil sin Numine.
¶
Maybe humanities’ expectations need to be readjusted? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO1OV5B_JDw
“Skepticism Is The Beginning Of Faith.” ~ Oscar Wilde
¶
///....“In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.”...//// ~ Blaise Pascal
¶
///....“I heard once of an American who so defined faith, "that faculty which enables us to believe things which we know to be untrue." For one, I follow that man. He meant that WE SHALL HAVE AN OPEN MIND, AND NOT LET A LITTLE BIT OF TRUTH CHECK THE RUSH OF THE BIG TRUTH, like a small rock does a railway truck. WE GET THE SMALL TRUTH first. Good! We keep him, and we value him, BUT ALL THE SAME WE MUST NOT LET HIM THINK HIMSELF ALL THE TRUTH IN THE UNIVERSE.”...//// ~ Bram Stoker, Dracula
¶
///....“We fall from womb to tomb, from one blackness and toward another, remembering little of the one and knowing nothing of the other...except through faith.”...////~ Stephen King
¶
///....“That in such righteousness /// To them by faith imputed they may find ///
Justification towards God, and peace /// Of conscience.”...//// ~ John Milton
Ciao.
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///catch the captcha exjst9////