Pocket FishRmen, Nomad, 3/15/2018

Last night, Pocket FishRmen took the stage for the second time this SX, at Nomad in a nice line-up including Queue Queue, Suckling, and Dinola. For the record, this is maybe only the second time the FishRmen con moi have played two days in a row, the other time being a West Texas trip in 2013. And it showed last night. I'm going to say, while trying to keep a small sense of modesty and decorum, that we tore the roof off the place. Damn, it felt good to be in a band hitting on all cylinders like that!

The backline drum kit at Nomad was in great shape, stayed in place, everything. I used my own snare and stand, throne and added one cymbal stand. And, puzzlingly, as I was removing my top hi-hat cymbal from the clutch, I dropped the main part of the clutch and could not find it on stage. The sound man and I both looked for quite awhile (the next band didn't have drums, so we had some time). I left the sound man with a clutch of mine to get through today with that kit. Weird.

I didn't use the sampler or lights last night, and man, did that make a difference in setup time! Gotta get an assistant. We dropped "Pronounce" from the set list, as that really does need the sampler for the electronic drum sections. Kinda falls flat without it. The rest was fine. I imitated the other samples as need be; having this new headset mic facilitates that.

Today is a day of rest, as they say. I may go see something later, depending on how I feel. Actually, after three days in a row of it, I don't feel bad at all; yesterday, I was much droopier. The leg is cooperating. Maybe I'll head out later.....hmm.....

Gunny!

Just one more thought for the day, and something I'm been pondering for awhile.

In the big gun debate amid our current culture, I'm not hearing much, if anything, about the conditional phrase which begins the Second Amendment. Let's consider the full amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

While it seems that that first comma might be a mistake grammatically (and was later removed in the version ratified by the states), the "well regulated Militia" part is interesting. I find that entire phrase to the second comma ignored in most Second Amendment discussions. Now, we know that a big intention of this amendment had to do with us liberating ourselves from England and remaining liberated. Not just from England but any other country or collective that wished to take us back over. So, I get why we should all have the right to be armed. But that "well regulated" part....isn't that what many of us want to achieve through Congress now? I admit, it's a tricky amendment to parse, especially in modern times, but I also think there might have just been some future-proofing in what our ancestors put down.

I've been thinking about this more, because the most recent episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" contained a piece where Bill suggested a re-write of the Second Amendment. Being from Maher, it took a comical turn, but he took the concept seriously. I think the idea of re-writing our Constitution, especially the first ten amendments, is a dangerous one. Once you re-write one, you can introduce legislation to re-write any of them. And then we would be in trouble.

That's my gunny two cents for the day.

Pocket FishRmen, The Lost Well, 3/14/2018

Last night was the SX 2018 debut of Pocket FishRmen (for the record, I have three gigs with both bands, totalling six), at the Lost Well, a familiar dive for a lot of us. We were on a Saustex-created bill including We Are The Asteroid, Dinola, Sabbath Crow (who almost live at the Lost Well!), and Cannibal Bitch.  The show got under way at 9:00 and somehow ended before 2:00. Professionalism! Actually, Cannibal Bitch, a two-piece sludgefest, only played about 15-20 minutes. The Lost Well was debuting a new sound system, and fortuitously, we had the same sound man from the White Horse the night before!

Pocket FishRmen had drawn the 11:30 slot; I think we were on by 11:45 or so. Our set was pretty okay, at least by reaction it was. I played fine, but it was a real bitch setting everything up by myself. Brant is always a great help moving gear (Jason helps as well if he's free of his own setup), but getting everything up and running for PF is becoming more and more impossible, if I'm using everything for the show. By everything, I mean the drums, the sampler, the lights, a costume, etc. As a lot of drummers do, I set up offstage beforehand, so I can just put the pieces together on the stage. But the sampler, lights, etc. all need to be done after THAT is done. It takes a crazy amount of time. I need an assistant. Where can I find one?? Aaaahhh!!!

One major distraction last night was these new stage lights that were very bright, one being placed on each side of the stage on the drummer's sightline. So, yes, I was regularly blinded while playing. The sound man realized that; maybe some adjustments to those will be made for future folks. With all these issues, I didn't have a great time but like I said earlier, played okay. All the bands did well, but there was not a huge turnout for the show. I wonder if the whole SX thing isn't a bit watered down; even for "our" shows.

Until tomorrow!

Hickoids, White Horse, 3/13/2018

A show review....well, why not? I want to begin writing something every day in this blog, and this seems a good way to kick it off. Plus, I made a pact with someone last night that I would write at least a page every day. This might not equate to a page, but hey, it'll be a good start. And it's not a movie review.

So, the Hickoids first performance of SXSW last night was at the White Horse, a venue we play a few times a year. They have a mostly solid drum set for everybody to use, but over the years, pieces are beginning to be missing. As I always have to park at least a few blocks away, I decided to pack a suitcase with a couple of stands, drum throne, pedal, etc. and wheel that, along with my cymbal bag/snare drum combo behind me. It worked great. Might have to use that on Saturday, too, we'll see...

The bill was packed with heavy hitters from the start, kicking off with Eightball Aitken about 8:00. He was followed by the Differentials ("driving" as always [ha!]), Corinne Rose (Maria is such an inspiration), Texacala's new band (with Nathan Calhoun, Chelsea Taylor, and Frank Garymartin - solid as ever), Pure Luck (pure joy, more like), and us closing out the night. We finally started around 12:55, according to the clock by the side of the stage.

Cody had set up stage left for Pure Luck and stayed there. Rice set up next to him in his usual spot, putting Tom stage right. I don't know if it was that arrangement or what, but everything sounded sort of "off" to me all night. I still had a good time, played fairly well, but something just sounded weird on the stage - no fault of the sound man, I'm sure.

Here's a little evidence.

The set was a little cornfused as to what we normally play, for sure. One thing that's really starting to bother me is the big pauses between songs when Smitty tunes his guitar. Before he played guitar, he could keep the banter going and everything ran a little smoother, I think. I know Rice and I try to chatter a bit, and if Tom grabs the mic, he'll mutter incomprehensible offerings to the audience. But it really should be Smitty primarily, and he can't really do that and tune at the same time. Gotta work on that.

We did play "Corntaminated" (evidence above link). Smitty also fooled us into thinking we were about to play "Pennsylvania Mexican" but bailed out of it after his usual intro rap. His voice was a bit ragged, maybe he decided against it?

Still, I had fun. Looking forward to the Pocket FishRmen SX 18 debut tonight at the Lost Well. And more writing tomorrow!!

A Show, Health, etc.

Fun, if occasionally cranky, times last night. The Hickoids had the pleasure of playing right before the Dead Milkmen in San Antonio, and I write this several hours later. When we were put on the bill, I was surprised the Dead Milkmen were still playing, as they'd fallen off my radar many, many years ago. Turns out they reconstituted in 2008 (their original bassist commited suicide in 2004) and have played the odd festival or four-show run many times in recent years, even recording and releasing a couple of new albums in the 2010s. They played Austin the night before the San Antonio show, and both shows were packed to the gills. The San Antonio show was quite a sight, and it certainly provided the Hickoids with the largest crowd we've played for....maybe since I've been in the band. Michelle and I watched the DM from off stage left, which was as comfortable as could be, concerning the circumstances. I was pleasantly surprised at how many songs I remembered; I'll have to re-investigate their catalog.

I mentioned the word "cranky" right off the bat, as there were little annoyances that had more to with situation than anything else. The support bands' drummers all had to set up in front of Dean DM's drum set, which pinched things depth-wise a bit. I had a rack tom and cymbal stand arm in my back most of our set. Also, at some point during the beginning of "storytime" in "Stop It," both my right side cymbals had fallen onto my floor tom. I had no idea how it happened; after getting Tom's attention, he set them back up for me. Also, Jeff sometimes announces things cryptically, which for me is "I think I know what's next, but, uh...." He introduced a song as being dedicated to Davy, which used to always mean "Driftwood," but last night it meant "Nightlife." I was sitting there conducting tempo for "Driftwood," until I was finally informed what was really going on. Not the most precise show last night, but it was fun. We were cut off after "Truck." The stage manager started giving the me the cut-off sign right before we hit the bridge of that one. But the show HAD started late; I was surprised we made it as far as we did.

So, I'm a bit tired this morning. And achy. But not breaky. I was recently put back in physical therapy for whatever condition I'm going through at the moment. I'm having nerve issues in my right leg. Luckily, this time it has nothing to do with how my kick drum ankle is responding to my brain. That's all fine at the moment. But my right leg is in at least some pain all the time now. My therapist (same one as last time) has begun thinking it has nothing to with my back and everything to do with my hips and leg being muscularly tight. Whatever the case, I hope I have relief soon. This is slowly starting to drive me up the wall, and I think it's having some impact on my working relationships.

Let me back up a bit. In the summer of 2016, I started noticing some strangeness in my kick drum leg (right), in particular my ankle. No pain or tingling, but a loss of sensation. My usual playing includes some grace notes before actual full strikes on the kick drum. Think of it as a "ba-BUM, ba-BUM," instead of just "BUM, BUM." Well, I had stopped feeling the "ba"s. And this was especially affecting my Pocket FishRmen parts. When I quizzed Jason, the PF bassist, about it, he listened carefully, and said "no, you're hitting all the stuff you normally hit." But the problem was that without feeling it, I didn't really THINK I was doing it, and I started to lose confidence, and as a result of that, started clamming more (a nicer way of writing "fucking up"). In the Hickoids, this was not as much of a problem, but in Pocket FishRmen.....well, there were several songs I just didn't want to play.

I visited my doctor about it, and he suggested physical therapy, and I began going to ProMotion (and specifically therapist James) in early October - right before a Hickoids European tour. He worked on me and gave me exercises to do. After the tour, I continued the PT until sometime in January. I didn't notice much improvement, but, also in January, I bought a back inversion table. Sometime after that, I noticed an easing up of the symptoms, and the full feeling came back to my right ankle when playing. I really don't know if this was due to the months of PT, or the table, or both, but I'm glad that's working again. I can't really use the table much, although I still do from time to time, due to vertigo issues I often get when using it. Sometimes five minutes on the table will cause me many hours of nausea. But I still do it, at least occasionally.

Now, back to October of 2016. A bit after beginning PT for my back and right leg, I noticed a "waking up" of some nerves on the lower right side of my body. In particular, a nerve going down from my right hip into my right leg - I'm assuming, my sciatic nerve. It started as mild discomfort, but has grown over the last year and a half to be a constant pain in my lower right side. That's why I'm back in physical therapy now. Some days, it's painful to just walk somewhere; most of the time, that's not too bad. So James has been working on me again. I had an MRI a couple of weeks ago, and the results showed nothing that should impact my right side. As a matter of fact, I have a herniated disc touching a nerve on my left side, but I have no issues there. Strange. So, James has begun thinking that all this pain might just be my muscles being extremely tight. We'll see, I suppose. I'm glad I have insurance, but these co-pays are adding up! (After the MRI, my doctor referred me to a PA, who had no information to share. They put me on Gabapentin, which I don't think is really doing anything. I have an appointment with this same PA in a week or so, but I'm not sure I'll keep it. That's a more expensive co-pay.)

So, in a nutshell, I'm in pain, but I can play the drums effectively. If I had someone to move and set up my gear, I'd be fine. It's that part of the game that has me worried. I really need to find someone's 21-year-old kid to pay to help me. That would be the best solution!

"Trafic"

Back to the Jacques Tati box. His fifth feature film is entitled "Trafic" and uses as its central premise an automobile show in Amsterdam and the journey auto manufacturer Altra's employees (including Tati's M. Hulot) have getting to the show from France.

I'm watching Tati's films in order of production, albeit slowly. And despite "Trafic" being held in lesser regard than "Mon Oncle" and "Playtime," I think I enjoyed this one even more than the two of them. It's typical Tati, in that the film is full of sight gags, contains very little dialog (Tati's movies are great for non-French speakers who don't want to read subtitles), and plays as a whole....watching just a part of the movie won't have nearly the effect watching the whole thing will. For me, it was only at the 25-minute mark or so that I really started to get into it.

I'm also realizing that trying to talk about a Tati film in terms of examples is almost impossible. Since much of the films are a series of carefully-choreographed site gags and character behaviors, you just have to watch the films to get a sense of Tati, if you haven't. Describing them is futile. That much I know, with one film to go! Check 'em out....

"Acacia"/"The Dorm That Dripped Blood"/"The Gorilla"

Back to the multi-movie posts. Up first is "Acacia," a South Korean horror-of-sorts from 2003 and part of the Asian horror boom. (I keep finding Tartan Asia Extreme discs at Half Price Books for $3.99 brand new, and I can't ever resist them.) "Acacia" concerns the adoption of a boy by a couple who have been unlucky at child conception for years. The boy they adopt is definitely on the aloof side and does a lot of staring at a tree in the back yard. Of course, not long after he's adopted, the couple find out the wife is pregnant, and she gives birth to another kid. And thus starts the fun.

The couple lives with her parents, which seems odd, as the husband has a good job. And the mother has to constantly remind her daughter how the adopted boy is not her own, etc. He usually hears this stuff which can't be good for mental health. Anyway, things ramp up about halfway through the movie with a series of scenes that don't really make sense but do by the end of the movie. It's a good thriller overall, and I give it a B+. I couldn't find the trailer, so here's a whole collection of Tartan releases.....I still have four or five to go through from the aforementioned $3.99 pile.

"The Dorm that Dripped Blood," from 1982, is one of those movies that's both good and bad in almost equal measures. Made during the slasher boom by a couple of UCLA students, it's definitely got the low-budget feel to it, and the Synapse Blu-ray video is grainy and unstable. I think that adds to its charm. There's some nice atmosphere here, with probably half of the movie being shot with only a light or two....probably due to budget. But that works. And the gore effects aren't bad.

The script, though, is fairly horrible. REALLY trite dialog. Cringe-inducing. But the plot isn't bad, and there are a couple of nice "red herrings" set up along the way. I like it overall. B-, maybe. And this is the first movie Daphne Zuniga was in, if you're keeping count.

By the way, the title card here reads "Death Dorm," which was the original title of the film....and this print is the original director's cut. "The Dorm that Dripped Blood" was edited somewhat, and there was a separate British release called "Pranks." Can't find a trailer......

"The Gorilla," from 1939, is a title that I always thought belonged alongside others in the public domain like "The Ape" or "The Ape Man." Turns out it's not a Monogram or PRC picture; it's a 20th Century Fox production. Huh! It's a 66-minute whodunit based on a play (obviously). It's a bit like "The Mystery of Irma Vep," a drawing-room mystery. This stars the Ritz Brothers, who apparently didn't want to do the movie at first, but ended up having to. It also stars Lionel Atwill, Joseph Calleia, and Bela Lugosi, who by this time was accepting creepy butler roles. He actually gets a couple of good scenes, trading off his Dracula persona still.

It's worth a watch, fun in that 1939 kind of way; the last six minutes have two twists. And the Roan-produced copy I got actually looks fairly nice. B- (why am I grading these suddenly?). Here's the whole damn movie!