mikl-em’s vox in a box

Happy 2008!  We had an amazing night last night, hitting Bourbon and Branch's 20's-themed party. Everyone was dressed to the 9's.  Danielle and I went with our friends William & Jen and Danielle's sister Nicole (visiting from NYC).

Here's a short video I shot between the Moroccan place we ate dinner and the bar:

So 1977 is considered by me at least as the pinnacle of "Real Punk Rock".  Whether it's "Never Mind the Bollocks" or "The Clash" in the UK or "Blank Generation", "Young Loud & Snotty" or "Marquee Moon" in the US, '77 was the year Punk exploded, with no apologies, no feelings, and with a genuineness that managed to grab attention away from the  high budget Rock Elephants the likes of ELP and King Crimson.  You may not like it.  Or understand it.  But you had to deal with it. 

The Saints were a band from Australia that heard the call, as many did, from the early Ramones and Sex Pistols releases and sped their sound up to make a brilliant raucous ruckus.  Here are two great songs by them.

I've made my 4th annual compilation of Xmas tunes this year.  Great mix of the weird, twisted and the classically wonderful.  Great finds this year include a new hot album of Christmas tunes by Reverend Horton Heat, a couple tunes from Christmas Time Again by the 80's southern Alternative Pop greats the db's (and friends including indie godfather Alex Chilton singing Mel Torme's The Christmas Song below

Alex Chilton sings The Christmas Song

Lots more Xmas (and other music) in my audio section.  I'll be adding several more holiday favorites, check 'em out. 

Hiya.  It's Christmas Day in the morning, the afternoon, dusk, evening, midday into the late night.  All day long Christmas.  Let's call it that, it's on the calendar.  It's a night when Jesus H Christ wasn't born in a manger any more than you or I was.  It's a pagan party down that's been lashed to the Christian dogma with sticky tape of gifts and a  nailgun purchaseable at yer lo-cal Sears store.  Here's a popular web reference on that point, and may I particularly highlight the next generation, you could even call it the resurrection, of the Christian co-optive streak:

The current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes. This story is meant to be a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and modern day globalization, most notably the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.

DUDE!!  Here's the specific link to that section.  Christianity capitalizes on the Pagan Party and now piggybacks on Capitalistic Marketing Ubiquity.  Next step, reclaim Valentine's Day for the Saints and turn "Administrative Professionals' Day" into a worshipable form.

strolling through Yerba Buena park

1 comment

Danielle had a great inspiration to get a bunch of friends to dress up in period costume to go see Marie Antoinette, the new flick by Francis' daughter.  Since we have a lot of friends with great taste and love of costumes, this was a brilliant plan!

Watch the video, and if you enjoy there are 3 more in the video section.  And there's a set of pix on Flickr for your enjoyment as well.

Party of Special Things to Do

The White Stripes

This is not new, folks.

We are finishing up our run of "Young Frankenstein:  the Play".  It's been a riot.  In a good way.  I play the monster.  The rest of the cast is incredible.  We have such fun.  Check out Scott Beale's great post about it and the pix he shot and put up on flickr.  Great stuff.  Long live The Dark Room.

Bwaaaa-haaaa!!

more later.  mkl.