Created and run by Gio Tonineli from Pondpatrol.com, GI JOE FEST has provided a forum for enthusiasts of both stop motion animation and the classic Hasbro action figures, since 2007.  What the festival entails is fairly simple: each year open-submissions are accepted for anyone (internationally) who has created a stop-motion film, which includes at least one character represented by a GI JOE action figure.  The submissions close around July, when a pre-selection screening for the festival takes place.  In October, the films are judged and screened at the infamous, Alamo Draft House in Austin, TX.  Beginning early the following year, the final selection of films begin their limited city tour as a festival.

Tonight (Feb. 10, 2010) marks the kick off of the 3rd annual GI JOE Stop-Motion Film Festival, (more…)

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LSD…  it’s a helluva drug.  Back in the day, I did my share (and, perhaps, the shares of a few others).  Some believe that it has the potential to help turn you into such a super genius, that you appear freakishly insane to anyone else that’s not “on your level“.  Then again, it’s always possible that the reverse is happening and they really are going so ape-shit crazy, that it only leads them to believe that that they have a growing mental superiority.  One thing’s for sure; these chemical roller-coasters have the ability to twist up and whack out a synapse, like eating a parasitic egg-salad-sandwich from the vending machine of an interstellar truck stop bathroom.  The reality is that, even with all of the epiphanies and life lessons that one may obtain during these odysseys, there is really no scientific control for the experimenter/guinea pig and, short of a clone or view into a parallel dimension, no one can ever really know if they would have arrived at those same conclusions without the “aid” of the hallucinogen.  The good part is, since there is no way to make that determination, it doesn’t really matter and there are more detrimental things in the world than examining the differences between arrogance and confidence, exploitation and opportunity, respect and glorification, inspiration and contrivance, hustling and…well, hustling.  Despite the blatant self-aggrandizement implied in his stage name, Sean “Har Mar Superstar” Tillmann seems to have an incredibly firm grasp on these concepts and plenty of others.  Of all the electric realizations that I had, however, there is one specific principle that truly epitomizes Tillmann’s career for me: “Regardless of how clearly, simply, honestly, or directly you express a pure truth, it doesn’t mean that anyone else will, necessarily, hear, believe, or even understand what you are trying to relate to them.” (more…)

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On Sunday night, Sean “Har Mar Superstar” Tillmann and his crew of band-mates rolled into Seattle.  The second to last show of their West Coast tour was held at Chop Suey, and it was the fucking jam.  Before his set, I sat down and conducted an interview with Tillmann, which was filmed with a flip video camera.  Two other past Monster Fresh interviewees/friends were also in attendance at the show: artist, Thea Wolfe and musician, Kimya Dawson.  Although it would have been nice to see a little more movement from some in the hipster Seattle crowd, we still had a full-on R&B dance party throw-down.  Some of this was recorded on the flip cam too.

The next morning I woke up with a message from Thea, who had been messaging  on Facebook with Har Mar bassist, Denver Dalley.  They band finally had a day off and wanted to go to a dance party, before heading up for their last show in Canada the next day.  Thea was set to throw it at her house.  Although the last minute party still went down, and went down well, Tillmann’s crew never made it.  After partying and traveling for 6 straight days, their bodies decided to crash out under them and use the day off for what it was intended for… regeneration.

I still need to go through my footage and decide how I want to edit and present the material.  Until I am able get all that shit together, however, we’d like to tide you over  by presenting you with a recently posted Har Mar Superstar tour video that was filmed on a  flip camera of their own.  In this video, taped on Jan. 22nd,  Tillmann shows of his dance skills and expresses his love for pop-star Hannah Montana by singing along to her hit track, “Party In The USA“, while driving a van up I5 to Portland. (more…)

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Earlier this month I began hearing the name “Garage A Trois” thrown around again, which is a band that I wasn’t sure was even still in existence.  The original lineup was comprised of Charlie Hunter (8-string guitar), Skerik (Sax), and Stanton Moore (drums) and was spawned from the recording sessions for Stanton’s first solo effort, All Kooked Out (1998).  During the sessions, Skerik and Hunter, who were featured on the release, ended up recorded a enough extra material with Moore to release a completely separate EP as a trio.  The material, mostly improvised freak-out jazz, was recorded live without overdubs and eventually became the album Mysteryfunk.  In April of ‘98, the trio performed as “Moore and More” for the All Kooked Out record release party in New Orleans, but the group didn’t enter my radar until another New Orleans performance 2 years later.  That show featured GAT being slightly overshadowed as the opening act for the debut performance by another “super group”, Oysterhead (Trey Anastasio/Les Claypool/Stuart Copeland).

Since their inception, the group has gone through a few changes and, with the eclectic and always collaborative band members, it’s often been difficult to even discern what constitutes the use of one band moniker from another.  In 2007, Charlie Hunter decided that, with his family responsibilities and touring, he was spreading himself too thin and could only focus on his main project, The Charlie Hunter Trio.  He took his 8-string guitar with him and, after trying out various temporary members, the remaining members unanimously decided on Marco Benevento’s organ and electronic sounds to fill the huge  gap that had been left.  The last, and first, time that I saw GAT was in 2003, during their tour to promote their sophomore release, Emphasizer.  By that point they had added Mike Dillon on vibraphone/percussion, already making the “TROIS” element in their title obsolete.  They were a tight unit with matching jumpsuits and video effects.  That same year, I was introduced to Benevento/Russo Duo through a performance at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival, in which they brought Skerik out to perform with them.  About 7 years prior, I caught Skerik performing with his outfit Critters Buggin on that exact same stage.  In 2008, Mike Dillon also became an official member of the Critters Buggin crew.  In addition to these acts, Skerik and Dillon perform together as part of Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade and Fancy Band projects, as well as in The Dead Kenny Gs, who’s logo was created by Claypool.  The DG’s, whom Benevento has joined on stage, is a trio made up of Dillon, Skerik, and a rotating third member.  For a while, the spot was filled by Brian Haas of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, but is currently being manned by Brad Houser from Critters Buggin.  This essentially makes the group a “Critters Buggin Trio“, a name under which they have also performed.  The Marco Benevento Trio, in fact, was made up of former-Jacob Fred member Reed Mathis and Critter’s Buggin drummer, Matt Chamberlain.  Confused yet?  You should be…. and I’ve given you the super stripped down version, without even mentioning Crack Sabbath, The Taint Septet, Coxygen, Tuatara, Go Go Jungle, Robert Walters, or any of the other endless twisted associations between the individual musicians.  I’m just going to assume that, if Stanton Moore is involved, then it’s “technically” a Garage A Trois event.  That and the fact that GAT has just released Power patriot, a new album of material, which they recently showcased during a handful of promotional dates. (more…)

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I had a photography teacher in high school that would play a video of  The Eagles‘ “Hell Freezes Over” tour, almost every day in class.  Occasionally, it would be a Billy Joel concert video instead, but it was still pretty terrible.  Fortunately, I was in “advanced photography” and was able to avoid some of it.  This basically means that I would step past the rest of the class and puff chronic herbs out of Country Time Lemonade cans in the dark room.  One day I came to class and was surprised to see that the TV playing  We’re All Devo, a VHS featuring music videos and original SNL cast member turned voice-over actress, Laraine Newman.  It wasn’t too difficult to locate the kid who brought in the DEVO video, because he was the only one that was even paying attention to the screen.  Besides that kid, the only other person that I knew who was really vocal about their appreciation for the group, was my friend Crackbaby G.  It was the mid -90s, and nobody at my suburban high school really gave a shit about the, then defunct, band.  Thanks to Crackbaby, in 2006, I was finally able to achieve my dream of seeing DEVO live for the first time.  This month, I was finally able to combine my love of photography with an opportunity to witness the bands on- stage theatrics all over again.

Much like The Pixies, DEVO has set out on a limited city tour, scheduled to coincide with a deluxe album re-release.  The Ultra DEVO-LUX Ltd. Edition packaging will feature their debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, and the commercially successful Freedom of Choice.  The double re-issue will also contain unreleased material, 2 DVDs, a poster, and a yellow 7 inch vinyl.  The tour itself  involves a 2 night stop in each of 6 different major cities.  The first of the nights features the group performing Are We Not Men? in its entirety, while the second night involves them giving the same treatment to Freedom of Choice.  I knew that DEVO was scheduled to perform a pair of dates in Seattle, but I had also accepted that I was probably not going to be able to see either of them.  I tried to jump on it and request passes the day that the press release was sent out, but it was a difficult ticket to get and the comp. tickets were all accounted for by radio stations.  As someone who used to listen to Are We Not Men? religiously, I was disappointed.  When the day of the show approached and I hadn’t heard any good news, I all but put the concerts out of my mind entirely.  The first night came and went but, on the second/Freedom of Choice night, I received a last minute email informing me that I could be approved for a photo pass.  The problem was that there were no more reviewer passes left.  I’ve had issues trying to enter the venue without a ticket in the past, but I was assured that shouldn’t be an issue.  This also meant that, if I wanted to stay in the venue after the 3-song limit outlined in the photo-policy, I was going to have to do so on the sly. (more…)

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Last I knew of Wolfmother, 2 of the 3 original members left and were touring as part of the new Kid Koala project, The Slew (highly recommended).  I assumed that was it for the band, however, shortly after seeing The Slew live, I began hearing the name Wolfmother again everywhere that I looked.  Apparently, frontman, Andrew Stockdale got himself a whole new rhythm section and busted out a whole new album.  The Cosmic Egg is already being well received and the new lineup/material seems to be garnering rave reviews, from fans and critics alike.  My mind’s been buzzing like a nitrous hit, with all the shit I’ve been dealing with, and in all honesty, I really don’t know what’s going on with the Australian rock revivalists.  Just because we haven’t listened to the new album and haven’t had an opportunity to form an opinion about their current incarnation, doesn’t mean that we can’t kick down a pair of tickets to one of you fans out there that desperately wants to experience their sonic onslaught live.  Shit, one thing that we are sure of is that these guys put on a high energy performance.  If you are already a fan of their music, they will definitely be worth seeing live in person, so…..

Here’s your chance:

This is a very last minute contest that we were only just now asked to hold, so act fast.  It will only run for a couple of days and all entries must be received by midnight on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009.

PRIZE:

A pair of Tickets to the following performance:

Wolfmother @ the Paramount Theatre in Seattle

Friday November 20th

To Enter:

1. Link to our Facebook page by clicking HERE

2. Become a fan of MonsterFresh.com

3. Go to the Facebook discussion board/entry page for the contest [found HERE] and answer the following question:

“What is  a benefit of being raised by wolves?”

Good luck fools!

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