Tonight and tomorrow at Santos the O.T.O.'s throwing a festival of experimental musicks by practicing magickians, the first one of its kind. No one on the bill is a member of the O.T.O. though, so this isn't some kind of recruiting gimmick--you really think they'd do that? No, it was put together in a more general way to explore the impact of Thelemic culture on music and art, and maybe to make sure no one mispronounces Crowley's name again, thanks to Ozzy Osbourne. Tonight's performers at the Musicka Mystica Maxima (check out the site--it's just as cryptic and bare-bones as you'd think it would be) are Genesis P-Orridge & Thee Majesty, Amber Asylum, Arrington de Dionyso, Larkin Grimm, and Nautical Almanac.
Between each set there'll also be live ritual action performances including an invocation from Crowley's Gnostic Mass and Crowley's "Hymn To Pan," which is totally worth going to alone, especially if you're into veils and swords and salt.
Norwegian black metal bands don't make it to New York too often, so despite the unfortunate Polish disco venue of Europa, the Urgehal show tonight should be mandatory for any black metal fan. For a band that started in 1992 during the second wave of black metal, appearing with half of the original members is a rare feat. Their obsession with rape and female dismemberment bums me out but I'll let it slide--this is black metal after all. Also playing are the unfortunately named Spearhead. I guess when you are from the UK it's OK for your black metal band to share a name with these guys.
Austin Sherbanenko loves metal. His fidelity to all things dark, heavy, and grim is not up for debate. What is up for debate (at least to some) is whether or not that love should be translated onto a runway. Ever-fearful of being co-opted, high fashion is often viewed as the underground's enemy. Heavy metal fans are just like every other close-knit group, highly protective of their adopted iconography and styles. When one particularly rabid metal fan I know found out I was covering last night's Odyn Vovk show he sent a text exclaiming, "Tell Beverly death metal is a way of life, not a fashion statement." Whoa there buddy, it's not like we haven't seen corpse paint on a runway before. In fact it's usually so comical it's not a threat at all. All of fashion's grim posturing is strictly editorial--it's not like Kate Moss is going to start painting upside-down crosses on her forehead and wearing gauntlets.
Child Abuse is a band that sounds like the reanimated corpse of Miles Davis hatefucked all the guys in Morbid Angel, moved to Brooklyn, and raised the resulting children on Bach, Nintendo, and methamphetamines. Drummer Oran Canfield has had quite the life. His dad is neither a dead jazz musician nor a crazy death metal dude, but someone even more intense: self-help guru and Chicken Soup for the Soul creator Jack Canfield. He split when little Oran was a toddler, leaving him and his brother with their itinerant therapist/hippie mom. By the time he was 13, Oran had done time at an anarchist private school, learned to juggle under Wavy Gravy, and spent two years in the circus while living at a San Francisco punk house. He later dropped out of art school, got addicted to heroin, played in a bunch of noise bands, and almost died on multiple occasions. If anyone's entitled to write a memoir at age 35, it's this guy. So he did. It's called Long Past Stopping, and it's coming out September 15. We talked to him about it.
The Tate Modern owns the archives of Genesis Breyer P-Orridge’s work, but through October 18 Invisible-Exports is showing works of theirs no one’s seen, unless you’ve been privileged enough to visit their home. I’m using plural pandrogynous pronouns here not because I have no grasp of grammar but for reasons you really should know by now. Genesis has been around for decades, pulling off acts of magick and art as everyday life in a couple little bands you’ve probably never heard of called Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, several visual art shows, and an experiment of love that began in the 90s with partner Lady Jaye in which the two collaborated on fusing into a single elective identity through a series of plastic surgeries, hormone therapy, and altered behavior. I could go on and on about it but you can just watch this episode of Soft Focus if you want to know more.
So you watched the Cute Show today and you know alpacas (Vicugna pacos) make loyal and low-maintenance meadow pets. If you get one of the outcast alpacas that has scoliosis or is funky in some way they are cheaper than a lot of pure-bred canines. Second to a baby skunk that has had its stinker removed, I think an alpaca is the greatest snuggler pet. So soft and with a custom saddle you can ride them too!
Our beloved doodler J. Penry has organized a free screening of Wildwood, N.J. tonight at Union Pool. We think it's safe to say that this documentary about psychopathic, poodle-haired, teenage girls hanging out on the South Jersey boardwalk circa 1992 is the rightful heir to the throne of wasted teen trashiness formerly occupied by Heavy Metal Parking Lot. If you've never seen it, we highly recommend you attend. It's at 9 PM, in case your finger's too tired to click below for the flyer and some highlights from the film.
Upon the realization that we were nearing the end of a short and uneventful summer, my girlfriends and I decided a ladies’ trip to the Hamptons was in order. Luckily, my friend Roxy’s parents have a place there, so we made a last-minute decision to pile on the train and head east for the weekend.
When you’re going to hit a correctional officer during a routine search, first stun him with a blast from the assed. In a rare inside look at new gang fight tactics, NYC Crips member Kareem Haskins showed his crew's secret weapon when being patted down by his CO, Mathew Knowles. Haskins then spun around and slapped him. Knowles completed the grade-school regression by getting an ice pack from the nurse and then telling on Haskins. Since this case broke wind, reports are coming in of drive-by fartings across the country, better known as “crop dusting.” No wonder they wear those scarves on their faces.
I'll be on the road for the next month playing keys with my band The Weight, who you may remember from Practice Space on VBS. We're traveling to nearly 30 cities in 19 states and will be passing through a bunch of others. One thing you do on the road is eat at establishments both iconic and obscure, so I'm going to keep you updated about what I’m putting in my mouth.
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