Full of people desperate to rise above their birthplace, the scene produced music that was exciting, often better than it's influences, and always better than anyone involved thought at the time. We were Posers, Mall Punks, Amateur Melancholics, Navel-Gazing Arte Phaggz of the First Order and, if we had quit kicking our own collective asses long enough to notice, musicians, artists and friends.
Some of Those Involved went on to do "big" things. Some died. Most of us got jobs, kids and decidedly unsympathetic guts. So if we aged more like Gene Simmons than Iggy, at least most are (for the most part) no longer constantly drunk, trailing sparks from the fluff and the blotter, or cross-eyed from wubba. A bunch still play music. You should go see them. At least we won't have to hide our beers from Mr. Yancey anymore.
I love you, you stupid, stupid twinks. Rock on.
Mon Mar 10 13:30:52 2008
Please, forgive me.
Thu Feb 21 06:27:28 2008
I've added a new project subnet to the mighty crackrabbit.com dynasty.
Bysshebot is where I'm looking at things lit'rary and attempting to code up a poetry-writing AI. So far I've posted a python module for creating and handling markov chains and dusted off an old Death Metal Lyrics Generator that kind of died aborning a couple of years ago.
Let me know what you think!
Fri Dec 21 14:10:03 2007
Okay, okay, I'm a chowderhead. I finally got off my butt and got firewire so I could grab the first CrackParty videos off of mine camera. Thanks to the talented Miss Andrea Schmalz for doing some of the vidding!
DOD 2005
STC 2005
If you can't play the STC stuff, try downloading miro.
Oh, and the Matinee Idol links below work as well. (blush)
I'll be posting an avi version of the Stop The Car vid soon, my editing software likes .ogg video better and crashed when doing the avi. Sorry.
Mon Nov 5 11:18:13 2007
A most excellent performance by Matinee Idol. This was one of the first times I've actually heard MI through a decent PA with actual non-simians (Micah and Toby) doing the setup and mix.
I think Paul could actually hear himself sing. I know it was the first time I understood several lyrics. I'm glad his parents couldn't when he wrote them or we probably would have heard intros like: I wrote this one on a piece of shoelace stretched between my teeth and a doorknob in Military School.
Decent sound meant Brad wasn't constantly having to turn up his amp (though Murphy's Law was evident in the dying tube.) and we could actually hear his contributions. Bravo! I for one, can now almost forgive your predilection for the Dreadful Grape!
Troy's drumming was fantastic - very crisp and more fluid than I can recall and the shit-eating grin that I first saw on him when he was about 14 playing with Dermatology Update was very evident. Okay fucker, you are awesome, I burn joss at your altar, yea, unto the 7th generation.
John was a little muted at first, but by the time Six Feet Under was finished his attack was becoming more insistent and ... well damn, so much of Jon's playing in the past was kind of muddled behind the atmospherics - I'd be waiting for the next limbic-phase broadcast of harmonics and helldiver slides that I'd miss a lot of what was actually going on melodically, how *pretty* so much of it actually is, how well-thought-out.
Nice build-up eh? Too bad my crappy camera mic makes the whole thing sound like ball bearings in a drain pipe. :-/
Hopefully the guys at the gallery got a better recording - cause let me tell you, the clips of STC that I saw looked and sounded fantastic! I'll post `em when I get `em!
Here it is!
Sat Nov 3 09:52:22 2007
All fun now at Thee Slice starting around 2:30.
Sorry folks! No chilly jackyard backoff this year!
-D
Mon Oct 22 14:21:32 2007
AIIEEEEESHA! Crack Party 2007 flyer available for your download-and-print-me-outing pleasure!
A very nice pdf version available here!
Again, I bow before the Moist Papery Altar of the Mark Utley Flyer.
Ave! Ave!
Fri Jul 27 13:48:45 2007
Okay, this has nothing to do with our pathetic, wasted, youth. It has much to do with my pathetic, wasted, lunch breaks.
SangaMonitor is a little tool that tracks the status of all the publicly readable, hourly updated air pollution monitors in Indiana. I named it for Sangamon Taylor, the annoying and wonderful hero of Neil Stephenson's ''Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller''
To run it you'll need to install python from:
http://python.org/ftp/python/2.5.1/python-2.5.1.msi (windows)
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.5.1/python-2.5.1-macosx.dmg (mac)
Unix folks probably already have python, but you'll need to make sure you have tkinter installed.
Just unzip and click on SangaMonitor.pyw. It is of an unobtrusive size, and will run happily on your desktop, showing levels across the state. One can save reports on individual monitors or complete runs in tab-separated text format.
I am entirely to lazy, unmotivated and bad with money to have included any kind of spyware, trojans or evil voldemortian hell-code in this little program, so don't be scared, please.
Have fun!
Update:
This updated widget with installer may be easier for you windows users to deal with. Just click it and go. No need to install anything else.
Tue May 22 07:28:10 2007
Several people of the Howell persuasion have produced this series of acoustical hum-tooters for your consumption. It's like finding a barrel of Honey Fluff fruit fritters and chocolate long-johns in a stasis field created circa 1988. You don't mind the roaches and the sugar rush takes you back to a time when your liver worked.
http://crackrabbit.com/DangHeathens/
Sorry about the .wma format. I'll see if I can get some ogg-encoded flacs up soon.
Wed May 16 08:19:37 2007
http://flagpole.com/News/Letters/Complaint/2007-05-02
I have never in my life laughed so hard. Please forgive my schadenfreude.
I'm unsure about the accusations in this letter, but man, is it ever True in the higher sense. (And what could be more apropos than Higher Truth on Falwell's Death Boxing Day?)
(From an article in the Flagpole, a free Athens, GA news weekly)
The Classic Center needs money, but Widespread Panic shows are a foolish way to get it. Prior to arriving in Athens, I was lured to a “Rainbow Gathering,” like these “Deadhead,” “Rainbow Family, ” Spreadhead“ types frequent. I got lice, pinworms and Shigella dysentery from these sociopathic slobs, many of whom never bathe, and live in cars. (On trust fund money, as likely as not.) At the ER, the physician said it was a specific strain of Shigella known as the ” Rainbow Runs,“ peculiar to this group, and not found elsewhere on the planet! Topping that, Bubonic Plague (yes, the infamous Black Death) has even been found in this crowd!
It was foolish to use absorbent cloth on the Classic Center seats. (Instead of wipe-able vinyl.) It’s even ” foolisher“ to let those who despise all norms of civilized human behavior sit in them, endangering subsequent users. At the recent Robert Osborne Film Festival, my enjoyment of The Sound of Music was greatly diminished by the nauseating, reeking stench that I was sitting in. Today, I’m sure, it’s much, much worse!
I’m sure I’m not alone. Eventually, the loss of funds from those who don’t want their clothes (or car interiors) all stunk up with human (and animal) excrement, rotting bodily fluids, etc., will negate any monetary profit the Panic shows generate. Besides, it’s just plain nasty!
Suggestion: Thoroughly clean the Classic Center seats (or, better yet, re-upholster them with vinyl) and let all such future shows be held at the county fairgrounds, by the dump, where nobody minds, and the sun, wind and rain will sanitize things.
Gordon Lee Stelter
Athens
Wed May 16 07:05:28 2007
The Rev. Jerry Fallwell awaits the rapture.
Hosanna.
Hosanna.
Thu May 3 17:17:43 2007
Tommy Wedge has lost all his indie cred, man. I mean, getting in Rolling Stone is like, almost an insult. Isn't a myspace page with eleventy-billion friends enough? Now all kinds of goat farmers and stuff are going to know about it. Lame man.
Come on Tommy. Come on home. It's scary out there. Come on back home buddy. The sucking swirling vortex is calling you Tommy.
Don't worry. The vortex is patient. It'll be so totally Shirley Jackson Cannibal Homecoming! I for one, can't wait to devour your rich essance!
(This message brought to you by the Sucking Swirling Vortex.)
I told you guys that getting a haircut would get you ahead. Didn't I?
Some Tunes.
Assorted Crap Found Here.
Thu May 3 11:48:46 2007
I feel all icky.
I've never riz above my raisin. Sun-dried, that is.
Mon Apr 23 07:15:44 2007
Okay, not an actual rumor, but a "yeah, we did it". Unfortunately, I had to put Darby to sleep, so I fell asleep and missed the burning party at the Devonshire's house on Saturday.
How much would you pay for such a tasty, tasty slice of skronk?
Fri Apr 6 09:27:31 2007
Good heavens! It seems that some people are interested in SquirTwinkAnaLactatinGut stuff that has little to do with 80's Evansville Music.
I was happy to note that the AwfulAlliterativeActivity page was untouched.
Perhaps they are poetry fans?
Thu Apr 5 09:12:47 2007
For those of you who enjoy your punk rock literary, somewhat greasy and served chopped and railed on the back of an angry hickerbilly boner, may I suggest making the trip to the Air Devil's Inn on Friday the 13th. Mr. Brett Eugene Ralph is best known in this area for heading Malignant Growth back in the day.
I open the small paper packet
I shoot my arm full of junk ...
I lie on the carpet
and stare at the ceiling,
the cracks and the cobwebs
the plaster a-peelin'
wish there was a language
for what I am feeling
wish there was a devil
to make me a deal and
it ain't easy bein' a punk.
Wed Apr 4 16:11:37 2007
Please feast your eyeballs upon Quinn Dawson's signature treat: Baloney of the Sea
This Taste Sensation is comprised of seafoam green dyed ramen, Oscar Mayer Octopi with mustard features and luscious baloney fish died in various tropical colors.
God hates a smart-ass Quinn. I'll save you a spot by the fire ...
Wed Apr 4 16:02:55 2007
Congratulations to Patti Kiegel on her winning paintings. A couple are included below. (I think Bill would have appreciated the color and perspective!)
Mon Apr 2 09:38:06 2007
Okay, here is the *NEW* *IMPROVED* index page.
Let me know what y'all think. I'm open to suggestions.
The old blogs are not gone, just no longer linked to from the main page. If you want your text, please let me know.