Dear Friends,
Proud papa moment last night: TQ’s final high school art show was fantastic. Her school does a really cool thing to showcase the graduating seniors at the end of the year and they get to do a pretty cool installment of their favorite art from the year. It was really great to be in a room surrounded by such good energy. Creativity is in good hands.
*****
The Suns are still a joke, even though they fired a coach who was ineffective at motivating multi-millionaires. Shouldn’t making a shit ton of money to play a game be motivation enough? They won’t get any more money from me.
Not that I’ve done a lot to add to the coffers, but still. I believe strongly in the power of voting with the wallet. Honestly, I don’t think anyone can step in and fix the roster they have. I might even be able to coach them to 49 wins.
I almost typed “49 whines.”
*****
Took my car into Firestone at 35th Avenue and Bethany the other day to get an alignment since I have new parts that need to be adjusted and they quoted me on a job that they say I need that should take about 4 hours for 10 hours of labor. Fuck that place.
*****
Cocaine Baby had a terrible day yesterday. I’m not looking forward to being his teacher today. Only 11 days to go, though. I can do it.
He certainly is not worth losing my job or freedom over, but I certainly wish I was that guy from Kids in the Hall who liked to crush people’s heads from a distance by pushing his fingers together and squinting his eyes.
*****
Some music you just have to experience for yourself. It is so hard to adequately describe that you should just listen to it and make up your own mind. Then there is The Jackofficers.
A short-lived side project of Jeff Pinkus and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, I was in before I even heard it. I didn’t need any proof that I was going to like it. In 1990, when Digital Dump, the only Jackofficers record, came out, I was devoted. I was devout. I would have bought Butthole Surfers toilet paper.
I also suggest listening to it on headphones There is a fuck of a lot going on here. Digital Dump must have taken Gibby and Jeff some time. The software available over thirty years ago wasn’t nearly as good as it is now and even now, I don’t know how one goes about making a record like this without some serious time and attention to detail.
The craziest thing about this wild and woolly conglomeration of sounds is that you could fully dance to it. Digital Dump is chock full of good beats and great drum breaks. It’s also super psychedelic. I used to enjoy listening to this record while tripping. If only I would have had some really good headphones then.
One of my real favorites on Digital Dump is “Ventricular Refibulation.” This one is the sixth track on the record, and I often put it on compilations I would make for people. For some reason, it just speaks to me a bit more than any of the other tracks.
Sure, part of the reason is that it is just fun to say or write the name of the band. While it might have been more fun to also write “L.A. Mama Peanut Butter” on one of those Maxell tapes I liked to use, that track is just not as good. Great name, but the song doesn’t do it for me the way “Ventricular Refibulation” does.
“Swingers Club” is probably one of the more Butthole Surfers-esque songs here. I mean, as a fan of the Surfers, I would have probably figured out that it came from their minds eventually if I hadn’t read about the record before I got it, but “Swingers Club” is definitely right up their alley.
It also has some Gibby vocals on it in addition to the samples.
“Ventricular Refibulation” has a great Pinkus bass line on it, too. The sampled vocals are so good. The line, “It isn’t as difficult for you as it is for a guy like me that’s got to come up here and tell the truth” just fits so perfectly with the music.
“Come up here and tell the truth.”
The song Is quite a sound collage. I love that every time I listen to Digital Dump I hear something new.
It is also no accident that I chose to do this one after Iron Maiden because both albums reference The Prisoner. “You are #6.” What a great song “#6” is.
You really do have to listen to Digital Dump. Towards the end, they do a song called, “An Hawaiian Christmas Song” that makes me wonder about the creative process Haynes and Pinkus had. It’s so wild and out there that it would be great to pick those brains.
I’ve chatted with Pinkus before and he’s a great interview. I could probably make something happen. Maybe…Just maybe.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Ventricular Refibulation
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