the ever circling skeleton family

Drugs has Human Eyes.

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:22:32 -0500

Drugs has Human Eyes.

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:22:05 -0500

Proof.

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:20:58 -0500

Proof.

thirteencandlez: separated at birth OG frownsmiler

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:41:35 -0500

thirteencandlez:

separated at birth

OG frownsmiler

bowiesongs: The future started here: Peter Cook in Bedazzled...

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:27:04 -0500

bowiesongs:

The future started here: Peter Cook in Bedazzled (1967), the secret inspiration of everything from Ziggy Stardust (compare Cook’s suit to the one Bowie wore on the TOTP “Starman”) to Ian Curtis.

YOU FILL ME WITH INERTIA

Rowsdower, Rowsdower Rowzzer Rowzzer, Rowsdower Bowszer...

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:34:40 -0500

Rowsdower, Rowsdower

Rowzzer Rowzzer, Rowsdower

Bowszer Bowszer, Bowzdower

Zappidby Zabbity, Zowsdower

Bippity Biddity, Rowsdower

Boppity Bopiddy,

Rows

Dower

Rosdower. Killed yr father.

nedraggett: For my review today — just one element of something...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:12:52 -0500

nedraggett:

For my review today — just one element of something very live wire, alive, and indeed fierce.

I’d heard a bit about Mykki Blanco randomly through ILX but it was this excellent profile last month that really made me go “Wait, I need to pay attention.” Michael Quattlebaum Jr. speaks of his alter ego the same way other performers speak of theirs, simultaneously in and out of character, aware of its construction. To quote a chunk of it:

While Mykki Blanco may be female, she is not always a girl. She can be a glamazon in a bandage dress or a tomboy goth in combat boots and black lipstick. Intellectually and aesthetically, Quattlebaum’s persona has more in common with Kurt Cobain wearing a dress onstage than it does with RuPaul’s Drag Race.

“In all my press releases, I make them use the word ‘her,’” Quattlebaum explains. “Even if you’re looking at a picture of Mykki Blanco shirtless in baggy pants, you are going to say ‘her,’ because language doesn’t mean anything.”

…

Quattlebaum isn’t interested in traditional activism. He says he hates the word “queer”—”I use it only because it exists”—and the field of queer studies along with it. “I have a lot of problems with the academic queer community because it’s a community that exists completely removed from reality,” he says. “Those kids who are selling their bodies on the West Side Highway, on Christopher Street, they don’t even know what the fuck queer theory is.”

That’s part of a larger overview and discussion, and if some or all of this intrigues or challenges or both, then do read the whole thing. To my mind, this challenge of connection is something that in my own (extremely limited, from-a-position-of-implied-power racially/sexually) way I have attempted to address. And may well constantly fail it; I always must go through a process of learning. It never stopped with the degree, any degree, and I hope it never does.

With that as prologue: the first single from the new EP, Betty Rubble: The Initiation has appeared, namely the more or less title track itself minus the Flintstones reference. I’ve had a chance to hear the whole and in its own kaleidoscopic fashion it’s absolutely compelling — look and listen for it next week. As a selection from it, “The Initiation” grabs attention from the start with the rasped directness of “Hell is chilly, MOTHERFUCKER” and then plays on assumptions and constructions from there — hitting Latin phrases like an invocation from something both formalized and ritualistic in a high church and a collapsing-new-buildings sense.

The easy assumption could be Catholic guilt if you like, but keep the quote above about language in mind — if “Carpe diem” is the only phrase that may immediately resonant in terms of its functioning as a loanphrase in English, the question is how much does the exact meaning of the whole have to resonate. When the shift to a mix of English, Spanish and more happens, fluidity is constant, underscored by the staccato scraping sound, a skittering high pitched rustling and bold electronic punches through the mix. On its own it’s compelling; part of the whole, another twist in an eight song overview.

So yeah, I could go on. I have. But engage directly yourself, and twist the results, let them twist you, whatever you choose.

“Language doesn’t mean anything,” in this context, is getting tattooed on my soul.

Really very on the brain.

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:04:23 -0500

Really very on the brain.

Dogue on the brain.

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:03:31 -0500

Dogue on the brain.

On the brain today.

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:01:48 -0500

On the brain today.

fantagraphics: Holy smokes, has it really been 20 years since...

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:10:50 -0500

fantagraphics:

Holy smokes, has it really been 20 years since the “Hateball” tour with Peter Bagge & Dan Clowes? Our old pal Devlin Thompson of Bizarro Wuxtry in Athens, GA shares memories and photos of their stop there.

Clowes had hair?

An Open Letter to White Male Comedians

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:16:51 -0500

An Open Letter to White Male Comedians:

nedraggett:

Hey guys*: Listen, I know you’re mad at me. I mean, maybe not me specifically, but a figurative “me” — the type of woman who thinks she’s funny, who thinks she understands comedy, who has opinions (and shares them) about what kinds of jokes comics “should” or “should not” tell.

And from there Lindy West has at it. Very well at that.

Wouldnt it be nice if this was the final word on the matter?

cakechicago: We Love Quimby’s! You Should Too! Quimby’s 1854 W....

Wed, 08 May 2013 22:53:06 -0500

cakechicago:

We Love Quimby’s! You Should Too!

Quimby’s

1854 W. North Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773-342-0910

Monday - Thursday: 12pm - 9pm
Friday: 12pm - 10pm
Saturday: 11am - 10pm
Sunday: 12pm - 7pm

Quimby’s is an independently owned bookstore that sells independently-published and small press books, comics, zines and ephemera. We favor the unusual, the aberrant, the saucy and the lowbrow.

Home Away From Home.

cakechicago: Chris Ware’s cover for the New Yorker celebrating...

Wed, 08 May 2013 21:46:30 -0500

cakechicago:

Chris Ware’s cover for the New Yorker celebrating Mother’s Day. Excellent!

Oh, jesus christ, this is beautiful.

bobdobalina: [Peanuts, September 18, 1994] HOLY SHIT Best...

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:45:42 -0500

bobdobalina:

[Peanuts, September 18, 1994]

HOLY SHIT

Best Week Ever was fun while it lasted. here is to hoping for a repeat.

Whoops!

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:19:27 -0500

Whoops!

And he won’t play live whyyy?

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:11:57 -0500

And he won’t play live whyyy?

“…thank you everybody.” And then disappears.

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:07:00 -0500

“…thank you everybody.” And then disappears.

So classy.

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:56:40 -0500

So classy.

Aw Yiss.

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:55:15 -0500

Aw Yiss.