Some of you may have noticed the announcement in our “coming soon ” section that I would be posting an interview with Silver Jews frontman David Berman.  Some of you may have even been eagerly awaiting to read it.  Berman prefers to stick exclusively to email interviews because he feels that they give him more time to answer any questions in depth and prevent him from repeating himself.  I met with Berman in October after an amazing performance in Seattle and spoke with him about how I had been in contact with Drag City records and would be sending him my questions via email.  He expressed interest and told me that he loves to receive interview questions while touring because it is one of his only creative outlets while on the road.  Berman is one of my favorite songwriters and I put a lot of care and thought into my interview before sending it out to the contact from Drag City.  From there, I waited.

I never got my interview questions back but I’ve received a lot of emails responses that simply state that they, “Haven’t heard back from David, yet“  I was concerned that my questions were too intense and that I had been too personal with the angle that I had taken so I sent the following email,

“I was wondering if there has been any headway as far as the David Berman interview questions that I sent out a while back.  I’m beginning to worry that my questions have offended him in some way, or that there is an issue with the interview.

Please let me know if you have any information because I was raised by a Jewish mother and I am neurotic.

Thanks ”

I got the following response,

“I don’t believe it has anything to do with you. David has been EXTREMELY slow to respond since he’s gotten back from tour. He’s not responded to others as well. I think he is taking a mental break, but I will continue to follow up. ”

That was on October 30th, 2008.  David and Silver Jews have a show scheduled for the 31st in which they will be performing in a cave in Tennessee.  I felt that it would still be a great time to post the interview and that I should try and follow up with the status at least one more time.  To my surprise, before sending my email, I found out that Berman officially dissolved the group today via a message in the Silver Jews forum section of Dragcity.com.  He further posted an extremely personal message to his fans about his personal life and his father.  I will continue to try and contact David, hopefully with better results.  I know that some of my questioning referred to the future status of the group.  I guess that we all know the answer to that question now.  It is clear that he has been busy with introspection and Drag City is still an amazing label.  They have been extremely accommodating and helpful in other ways and continue to represent many other  terrific groups.  This is clearly a turning point is Berman’s life and, whether the interview ever gets posted or otherwise, I wish him and his wife/bassist, Cassie, the best possible success in their lives and their future endeavors.  We also thank him for the tremendous contributions that he has provided to the world of music, literature, and as an individual as a whole.  Simply based on the brief interraction that I have with Berman, he was very generous with his time and energy.

Here is exactly what David C. Berman posted last night on the Silver Jews bulletin board: (more…)

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Sometimes there can be a fine line between idiocy and genius.  I’ve had people try to convince me that George W. Bush must have been brilliant to come across like such a clueless dipshit, but I don’t buy it.  Whether it stems from nature or nurture, the exploitation of a people’s trust, powerlessness, and limited education, for personal gain, is more of an automatic and selfish response than an ingeniously devised political tactic.  I believe that his transparent buffoonery wasn’t intentional, but rather, unavoidable, like a menstrual stain seeping through a pair of linen culottes. Ironically, while the former President’s attempts to present himself as a scholar backfired by exposing his inadequacies, others, like the comedy duo of Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim, have actually utilized absurdity and foolishness to spotlight their intelligence for composition, timing, and astute observation.  Obviously, self deprecation and a low brow approach to comedy aren’t enough to create something of quality, or even something that is funny or entertaining.  Ralphie May and Larry the Cable Guy are prime examples of those attempts gone wrong.  However, when fused with a well-constructed format and a fresh delivery, as Tim & Eric have been able to do, it is possible to tread the high-wire of comedic lunacy strung by legends like Charlie Chaplin and Jerry Lewis, without falling into a moronic cesspool with Jaleel “Steve Urkel” White and Joey Lawrence.

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The major news from this week was obvious to anyone that’s been paying attention.  Tearful speeches of hope and redemption poured through the airwaves and moved all of us that were watching the national broadcast.  The struggles ahead are clear but the idea of “CHANGE” remains the focus.  At a time where there are feelings of being backed into a corner with no way out, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel.

Of course I am referring to when, underwear designer, Shawn from Tool Academy was caught point blank and confronted in a room by his other “real” girlfriend Aida right in the middle of apologizing and pledging his loyalty to Jaimee.  OMG! WTF! FTW! PWND! ROTFLMAO!  What are the rest of those acronyms the kids are using, these days?

Oh yeah, in less prominent news, Barack Obama was also innaurgurated as the first African-American president of the United States ever.  Some of you might have missed that but, apparently it went down yesterday.  I think that it may have gained coverage on some of the other stations that aren’t VH1.

Other nations around the world seem very supportive and enthusiastic about the new presidency, except, of course, for the Iranians’ burning of Obama’s image in effigy.  I sent an email out to our writer DW. Patton in Japan to see how the country is responding to the news, if at all.  However, based on a recent discovery posted today, I think we may already have our answer sooner than expected.  Gamu Toys, a provider of anime and robot action figures, just released their version of a fully-poseable Barack Obama action figure today.  They seem to clearly view the role of his presidency and as a public figure more in the light of a John Woo film.

Below is a copy of the product page for the doll.  It is a choppy read due to the fact that I used an automatic translator for the original text, which I’m assuming was written in Japanese.

Enjoy,

-Dead C

■ DiD US Presidential Election 2008 Barack Obama ■

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The interview below was conducted by one of our newest writers, Dr. Radical, back in November during Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX.  We had hopes of posting it earlier, however, Dr. Radical was struck by a vehicle which held the transcription time back a bit.  He is fully recovered and we are pleased to provide his first work for the site to you now.  We feel that he did a tremendous job.  He didn’t come away with any current photos of the group so I contacted The DM vocalist Rodney Anonymous to see if he had any available.  He didn’t seem to know where they were located and responded by saying the following in an email:

“Can’t you just use a picture of the Jonas Brothers…or porn?“

Hence, the header photo.  All other images featured are courtesy of  photographer Nina Sabatino (aka: Dean Clean’s sister).  More of her work can be viewed through her Flickr account by clicking here.

Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy it.

-Dead C (more…)

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Much of Brian “Buckethead” Carroll’s popularity has risen through his temporary stint as the guitarist for AXL Rose’s makeshift post millennium disaster that he is still stubbornly referring to as Guns N Roses.   However, if you were a fan of Buckethead’s work prior to this, his inclusion in the group may have actually come as a surprise.  Being introduced to his music through previous releases such as  Bucketheadland (feat. Bootsie Collins and released on Avant-Jazz Sax legend, John Zorn’s label),  Monsters and Robots (featuring Les Claypool), and DJ Q-Bert’s animated turntable masterpiece, Wave Twisters, I myself was shocked by his involvement in GNR.  That is until I realized that, if Bon Jovi called me up and asked me to join him in a country-rap project, I would do it just based on the sheer novelty of the whole experience.  My friend Lars gave me a report on the GNR show that he saw featuring Buckethead on guitar by saying, “I still can’t tell if this is the best show I’ve ever seen or the worst“.  Based on what Lars had seen, he theorized that the tour wouldn’t last much longer due to Axl’s inability to restrain Buckethead or Carroll’s long-time collaborator, drummer Brian “Brain” Mantia, to his satisfaction.  Of course, his prediction was right yet, Buckethead seems to still be primarily associated with the corn-rowed has-been. I may be wrong in my assumptions but, I doubt that there are really too many consistent fans of Buckethead’s music.  His discography spans over 100 different albums in varying genres, including classic metal, electronic, funk, ambient, dub, jazz, and more.  This means that, even if you have heard multiple projects that the musician has been featured on, you still may not have a complete grasp of what he is capable of or that you have had much more than a glimpse of the overall scope of Carroll as an artist. (more…)

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Much like they did with their reunion announcement, Phish non-challantly posted the above video featuring skywriting over the live favorite “Punch You in The Eye” this morning, to inform fans of their intentions for their 2009 Summer Tour.  You will notice that there are no West Coast show dates as of yet but, we expect them to hit up this side of the country in the fall.  “Why?” you ask.  Because it makes sense based on their history and track records.  That and because I don’t have it in me to travel the distances that I used to and risk being incarcerated.

The following photo and information is taken directly from Phish.com: (more…)

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