Berlin Weekend

The weekends in Berlin have had a certain magic in the month of May. Everyone has had its own special brand of magical realism, where something fun is happening every minute even though noone is actively trying to have fun. I went from stressing over medical bills on Friday afternoon to dancing in a field an hour outside of Berlin til the sun rose. Then Saturday, Abe Vigoda came to town and we ended the night at the weird old factory complex in Friedrichshain, hanging out in a squat bar with an unfriendly dog and an assortment of crust punk hairdos. Sunday, I went to a tour at Hamburger Bahnhof to see the Steiner Tapes, Bror's 7th birthday party, and saw John Wiese and Matmos play. One of the guys from Matmos really reminded me of Steve Albini, probably mostly because I have been watching kerosene on repetition.

Monumental

Joe Duke Hate Shirt

I made this shirt. h-a-t-e.info
Check out his band Free Beer

Liverpool Cathedral

My friend Jackie likes to tell the story that within the first hour of moving to Liverpool she came across an unattended car on fire, right next to the train station. I was watching an excellent documentary by the BBC about British synth bands and came across this image of debris burning in front of my favorite place in Liverpool, the Liverpool Cathedral. It reminded me of Jackie's story, just a pile of burning trash with noone attending to it. This angle is also unique because it is the same angle I most commonly looked at the Cathedral from during the two months I lived there while at a residency. I took a picture of myself standing in the barren dirt pit where the fire in this video is burning. Annoyingly I can't find it, so I just have this memory of taking this photo, to accompany this video still of whatever used to be in that space burning down.

I had a dream about dioramas last night

Parents' First Trip to Berlin

My stepdad was a hidden Jew in Holland during WWII so if it wasn't for me living in Berlin he would never have come to touch German soil. A lot of people who come to Berlin like to get tripped out by imagining the sounds of Nazi boots in the streets. In his case, this memory is real, although he admits that it gets mixed with the hundreds of movies you see on the subject.
When a kid in Rotterdam, he was standing outside when hundreds of young German soldiers gently parachuted down into the town, occupying Holland and consequently ruining his childhood. Last week, while my parents were researching for the book he is writing about his life, he saw footage of this same event, and was shocked at how closely it mimicked what he remembered. I was a bit worried, I thought he should never watch this again so that the film does not erase his true memory. "Well", he said, "the memory and the film were so close. We bought the DVD, I can't wait to watch it again."

What I miss about America

This song on the radio while I drove down a Los Angeles highway.

Sewn Leather

Sewn Leather and DJ Dog Dick came to town this weekend. I didn't shoot this video, but it pretty much sums up how Griffin killed it this weekend. Best live show of 2011.





I did an interview with Griffin in the stairwell of where they were staying after hanging out in Haseheide and eating Vietnamese food. This was my favorite line from the interview, really excited to edit the whole thing.



I would say the appeal of Sewn Leather and ultimately Griffin is his high energy approach to life. Spending ten minutes with him makes you want to ride a train, drink some mate, and possibly end up trapped in Idaho for three days.

Excellent Blog Material

Jean Luc Godard in LA

TEARIST - In Black (Disposition)

Released on Altered Zones
From TEARIST s/t EP released on PPM
Production by Pastor Alvarado
Location Take Off! in Van Nuys, CA
Much love and thanks to Will, Yasmine, Pastor, Genn, Jordan, and Luis

RAMESH ROMEO VOID

Created by me.

Isn't this cheating?

Did youtube create this music video meme of people just reediting obscure movies into music videos? Is this a new meme, or has it been around for a while?

Purity Ring- Lofticries from David Dean Burkhart on Vimeo.