On Sunday January 30th, I met with Andrew S. Phillips to discuss his latest project Cat Stories presented by Art for Arts Sake. Caleb Stone (CS) of Professor Calculus was there rudely interrupting throughout the interview, most of his comments have been omitted.
State your name for the record.
My name is Andrew S. Phillips.
What are you doing and why am I talking to you?
I’m doing Cat Stories.
What’s Cat Stories?
Cat Stories is an art show slash benefit. Basically the public submits stories about cats. Happy, sad, whether you love them, whether you hate them, long or short, it doesn’t matter. And then we get all the stories, we divide it among fifteen artists that are in my art group. Each story is going to have its own original, one-of-a-kind work-of-art that’s created from inspiration from the stories.
What’s the name of your art group?
We’re called Art For Arts Sake.
Do you have a website?
We don’t.
Oh.
Thanks for making me look bad.
That’s ok, I’ll edit this out.
CS - But you won’t because it adds character to the interview.
What was the question? Oh ya, talk about Art For Arts Sake.
Hey, let’s start over. I’m not feeling very good about the interview so far.
Ok. Do you just want to talk about Cat Stories then? What are going to be the highlights?
The name of the show is Cat Stories and pretty much the concept behind it is for people to send us any story about cats to catstoriesla@gmail.com. It’s put on by my art group Art For Arts Sake. It’s me and about fourteen other artists – painters, photographers, sculptors, performance artists.
Then after February 12th we’re going to divide up all the stories between our artists and each story we receive will get a one of a kind work of art made for that story. And in our show the artwork will be hanging on the wall and the story will be displayed underneath it. So it’s a good way to see a re-creation of your story. Forty-percent of the proceeds from the show are going to go to the Lang Foundation; they’re a non-kill animal rescue based out of Los Angeles that does really awesome things. We have some surprises in store – open milk bar, giant litter box, maybe some stray cats running around. It’s going to be an awesome event, it’s going to be probably around late March.
So there will be cats at the show?
Well, I was going to have cats at the show but I don’t think the cats would enjoy being at the show very much.
But can you bring your own cat?
I want it to be like that. You know, ‘Hey, bring your cat!’
Do you have the date set?
We don’t yet, but it will be around late March. It’s probably going to be at Mime School. But of course, just keep checking out the Facebook.
How many cat stories have you received so far?
So far I have about thirty-five. We’re hoping to get about a hundred. So a lot of art.
Will there be music at the show?
Yes, there will be music at the show.
CS – Hey, hold on a sec, check out his picture, this chick, S., she and her friend were all about M. for a while, her friend was all on M.’s d. So she came over, and she had a long term boyfriend but her friend was fucking with M. so they both decided to come over to my pad one night. We brought them back one night and we were like, ‘Ya, alright, we both got bitches.’ But then she was all like, ‘No, I’m not going to bone you.’ But we were making out and it was on. So she hops on, just for like a couple seconds and was just like…[unintelligible squishing noise]…and flays around like a fish being electrocuted. It was the worst sex I ever had. And then at that moment I looked over, as this is happening, this very brief moment of passion if you will, I see M. and the other chick looking at us, like shocked. I guess they walked in from the other room. And then she left that night. No, no, no, she slept out in the living room with M. and her friend and then left in the morning and then the next day she got back with her boyfriend who she had broken up with the night before. I can interpret that as a blow to the self-esteem but instead I’m going to think of it as a moment of capitalizing on opportunity.
And you’re helping out a couple.
CS - Ya, I guesss. These rich girls, they have swag. You guys might want to do this interview closer to the event. Andy, you’re trying to promote this event with this interview, but you have no details.
The only thing I’m promoting right now is getting the stories. Send me stories [catstoriesla@gmail.com]
CS - How many more do you need.
Seventy.
CS - You need seventy? How many do you want to have?
Around a hundred.
CS - Thirty is a lot.
I want a hundred. Mime is a big place. And I want it completely filled.
CS - Can’t you just make the art bigger?
There’re going to be different sizes and I’ve already started shooting. Everything is going to be all different sizes.
CS - But what if the idea is just that everything is big.
I want to have various sizes, and there will be very big pieces.
CS - But what if you go from big to very big?
Because small will bring you in. Some stories are small.
CS - Ok, I trust your artistic vision.
I talked to this girl whose mom creates these huge cat paintings and then embellishes them with real antique jewelry and puts them in antique frames. So she’s going to display some of her shit. I got this guy that has a small room in his house that’s filled with two-feet by two-feet pictures of cats. He’s the leader of a cat themed moped gang called ‘The Meowpeds’.
Oh, is he going to be a part of the show?
He hit me up. He said, I don’t have a cat story…I am a cat story. He sent me pictures of his house and I was like, ‘I want you to help me.’
Do you have any cat stories that you want to tell off the top of your head?
I would love to, but really I’m going to leave that up to the show. There’s been a story about cats helping people cope with the suicide of a loved one, there’s a cat that helped people get through their friends getting murdered.
So there’s fiction, non-fiction…
It’s all non-fiction. There’s a story about a cat that disappeared for two years and came back to it’s owner after two years. Some really awesome stuff.
Very touching.
I started posting on cat blogs, recently.
What are some cat blogs you go to?
What was I on last night? The Cat’s Meow?…Something like that.
CS - Here, I found a link to it. The most popular cat blogs on the internet: Blogging Cat, Daily Cat Picture, Derby Sassy Cat, icanhascheezburger, The Daily Kitten.
The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.
CS - See this is what people do on the internet. They make lists.
This is weird. People blogging about their pets lives.
Same concept. Public submitted stories about your worst experience with roommates.
CS - Everybody has one of those. That’s a blue collar art show.
But every show we’re going to do is going to benefit something or some charity. After that show we’re going to do a Slaw Down. Have you heard about the Slaw Down?
No. What’s that?
Ultimate Cole Slaw Throwdown in MacArthur Park. Pretty much it’s a coleslaw cook-off in the summer in the heat. I’m going to rent a donkey. This summer I’m going to try to throw the worst parties ever. No ice buckets. Just summer and buckets of slaw sitting there for hours on end. It’s starts at one thirty in the afternoon when the sun’s high. And there’s no shade. We’re going to do it in the middle of the park where there’re no trees.
CS - Bring your own slaw.
We can’t be sued if we’re not selling anything right? If you bring your own slaw and you get sick then that’s your own business.
CS - If you eat food from a stranger you’re taking that responsibility on.
On Sunday, January 9th, I met with Caleb Stone of Professor Calculus in Koreatown, Los Angeles to discuss his thoughts, opinions, the recent success of ProfCalc, and a bunch of other unimportant bullshit. It was a very good interview (see below).
You recently played a death metal show in the valley.
Ya, it was at this bar called Dublin’s Irish Bar, but we thought it would be way better if it was called O’Darby’s.
Why O’Darby’s?
Just because that’s a really funny made-up Irish name.
Was it a good show?
Ya. It was this bar right next to CSU Northridge so it’s where all the college kids come party. So it was one of those… no bands has a huge draw where they’re like ‘Yo, where playing some underground thing,’ and then there’s a bazillion people there just waiting for them, maybe unless it’s Jay-Z and they put it on Twitter like one tweet. No bands do that. It’s all about playing somewhere that already has an audience and imposing your tastes upon them.
It was you, Mouth of the Serpent, and Isolation and Infamy.
Ya, it was the goofiest thing ever. And there was a huge private party there.
Unrelated?
Unrelated to the metal. And they were all sitting right next to the metal and they had a huge table set-up so it wasn’t like they were going to move. So it was definitely funny to see that, to view the imposition first had. Ya the whole night was pretty fun. I got two phone numbers. The ladies were feeling it. My amp was feeding back a little bit, which I wasn’t too happy about.
Oh, sometimes that’s nice.
No, it always sucks. Unless you do it on purpose. Unless you’re trying to be that rock dude, holding his guitar to the amp: ‘I don’t give a shit, I play shit that sounds bad on purpose because I’m so raw and that expresses my musical attitude.’
Did ProfCalc have to adjust for the metal set?
We’re kind of a metal band I guess. We have enough breakdowns in our music. So no complaints there. It was a good night and then we have an 18-year-old girl’s birthday party coming up, which will be a smorgasbord of moral dilemmas. I love that in LA kids do that. I don’t think that kids in small towns go, ‘Yo, I’m turning 18, I better get seven bands, rent a venue, do this huge blow out thing, get three hundred confirmed guests on Facebook. I think it’s great that kids are being empowered to do that, being empowered to shine in this town. Because not everybody is going to have a highlight in their lives.
We’re all just leaves of grass.
Did you just say we’re all leaves of grass?
Ya.
Isn’t the correct term blades?
Blades, blades of grass, ya.
Are they blades?
Yes.
Ya. Sorry that’s just me Larry David-ing out on you. You’re a killer interviewer, by the way. You just got non-stop questions anytime I stop talking.
Leaves of Grass was a book of poetry by Walt Whitman.
But is anybody who is consuming media these days interested in Walt Whitman references? They want Solja Boy references. You just want to be on NPR.
No, this is the slow interview…the eventual interview. We’ll get the goods eventually. You’ll be playing with Things, Dream Panther, ProfCalc, Alpha and Verbs – Red Fox. That will be a fun birthday for that girl.
Oh ya. Red Fox in the building.
And Truman Peyote, one of my favorite names for a band.
Ya, I met that guy. Did you know that his name is also Caleb?
No, I didn’t know that. I just like that name, Truman Peyote.
Ya, he’s from the East Coast. Maybe he’s cool. I don’t know, I don’t even want to think about what I come off to people as.
What are you working on now? How’s life?
Life’s good. I’m trying to make a conscious effort to eat better. I know I’m going to fail but if you try, you’re at least going to do a little better. And just try to eat less, and I know that that sounds like a dumb, anorexic aspiration but it’s hard to create a diet that’s snack based and wholesome. The way to speed up your metabolism is just eat chicken and rice bowls. Just like seven tiny bowls of chicken and rice a day. But it’s impossible. It’s the inevitable progression of our days that sometimes it’s going to end with booze. And when you get drunk you’re going to eat some shit. Or even if you’re just out and you want to be existing out on the go. If you spend too much time in your room, it’s like living in a bubble. It’s like, ‘What am I doing? I’m living in a rat cage.’ But if you’re out you can’t get any nice food for cheap. If you want to eat healthily you have to be a Bourgeoisy-fuck. So I don’t know what the answer is there. Everything is full of sugar.
And red-40 die.
Ya. You have to work to enjoy the shit that tastes good for you. Nothing that immediately appeals to your palette is going to be good for you. That’s why kids eat chicken nuggets and they’re begging their parents to go to McDonald’s so they can get some toy that comes in happy meals. Oh, did you hear about that?
They took out the toys in happy meals in San Francisco.
No more toys. Oh did they only do that in San Francisco?
Ya.
So white. That’s so white. San Francisco is the whitest-bourgeois-iest place in the world, I went there recently.
You’re about to offend a lot of people in this interview.
No. White-bourgeoisy people will be like, ‘Ya. Right. That’s my shit. San Francisco. White-bourgeois. Keep it bourgy.’
Do you want to talk about ProfCalc at all?
Ya we got a new record and you should care. We try to make enjoyable music for the people to rock on to. ProfCalc is all about parfaits, humanitarianism, and bitches. I feel like we could come up with a lot of permutation with that formula. Prof Calc is all about blank, blank, and blank.
ProfCalc is about a lot of things.
Ya, ya. Prof Calc encompasses all sorts of paradigms of stuff. That was a good one, though - parfaits, humanitarianism, and bitches.
Ya, but when you say it you should be wearing gold teeth.
Do people with gold teeth have sex? Do women find that attractive?
I’m pretty sure that they do.
Can we take a poll? Like, after reading this, to all the female listeners, if you’ve had sex with a man with gold teeth, send an email to email@email.com.
You have a lot of video content on your website.
Ya, I’m starting to get better and editing and making videos. But in order to come up with any semi-decent video content, you kind of have to do something despicable. Like really, you have to film someone who’s probably a really nice person acting like an idiot and put them on the internet for all to so. Or you’ve got to film someone who’s drunk and they’re making a buffoon of themselves. Somebody’s getting exploited on some level.
Not always.
Ya, really. People don’t say, ‘Hey check out this video of this guy speaking eloquently on the topic of religion.’ No. It’s like, ‘Check out this viral video of a drunk guy on a motorcycle getting hit by a donut truck and dying.’ That’s what we want to watch as Americans. That’s what we want. It’s kind of nasty. There was a quote that someone said, from a little while ago, but I think it perfectly sums up the state of the nation. It was like, um, ‘Everyone in America loves a good chuckle. And we’re willing to sell our souls for a chuckle.’ Or something like that. And this guy said this in the 60’s. He didn’t know what it was really going to end up being like. It was preemptive.
Very prophetic.
This interview is like, fucking, Vocab-Energizers: The Interview. We’re letting everyone know that we went to private schools and we got big words. Unnecessarily.
I didn’t go to private school.
Ya, but you went to school in Huntington Beach. That counts.
No.
Oh? Was it raw, dog? Did you have to go through a metal detector before you went to class?
No.
This interview is getting worse.
No, trust me, we’re about to strike gold.
Gold, boobs and weed.
For people who haven’t heard your music, how would you describe ProfCalc to them?
We’re sort of about crepes, really.
Crepes?
We’re sort of like the thin breakfast pancake of bands. We’re sort of like the Good-N-Plenty of bands. We’re sort of like the Jay-Z of ska. We’re like the Isaac Hayes of J-Pop. We’re sort of like mittens of bands. We’re sort of like the that-Lego-that-you-can’t-find of bands. We’re like the bagel of bands. The Jesus of late night, for sure. This is getting hard.
Well, we’re cutting deep here.
We’re like the unnecessarily large parfait of bands. I bet there’re a lot of parallels you can draw when you look deep, you’d be surprised how deep we are in general, as people, as lovers. We’re sort of like the cream cheese of bands. I can’t say these things with a straight face.
You got anymore?
ProfCalc is kind of like the swag hat of bands. We’re like the Gucci of music. We’re like the polo belt of music. We’re also about polo socks.
How’re the women in your life.
Great, I met a girl last night. And I think we’re going to hang out today. I think she’s a keeper, man. Because she was cute, but not too cute where she’s going to be all like, ‘Hey, bla bla bla. I’m a big old pain because I’m so hot and all the guys want me.’ And she loves smoking weed. She just texted me: ‘srsly lets go get sum bud n grub’
Tell her to bring a friend.
I’ve never been that guy who’s been like, ‘Yo, bring a freak for my boy.’ Does anybody say that?
No, just say, ‘Bring a friend.’
Ya, I know. Dude that never works because they always bring someone who’s not the right friend.
Tell her to bring the right friend. You have to word it right.
On Thursday, January 13th, 2011 I met with White Owl Brown (WOB) and Chubby Wings (CW) of Things at the Carlton Apartments near Wilton and Sunset, Los Angeles, to discuss their thoughts, opinions, the recent success of other bands, and a bunch of other unimportant bullshit.
http://sites.google.com/site/thingsbare/
N. Should we get whiskey?
WOB I’ve got to go to work. I work in three hours.
CW Saving children from burning buildings.
WOB I don’t want to go.
CW Feed the masses super-slam meals. What do they call them?
WOB Grand-slams.
CW Super grand-slams.
WOB Most of all, I don’t want to work.
N. Things. Have you been doing anything lately?
WOB Have we eaten anything lately? Ya, just had Chipotle.
CW We split a burrito.
WOB Ask anything you want to know. Anything you’re curious about.
CW Childhood. Trauma’s. Anything you want to talk about. Let’s get it all out.
WOB Bear’s gay. It’s the truth.
CW He’s lesbian technically.
N. Talk about your roots.
CW It’s hard to go back there sometimes.
WOB I don’t really remember much before these moments. Vaguely here and there.
CW I can’t even remember my mom’s voice. I’ll even try to think about the pitch.
WOB I can remember your mom’s voice. ‘Eli!’
CW It sounds worse than that.
N. You just moved to a new place, right?
WOB We have a futon
CW There is a futon. There is a coffee maker.
WOB I had a green light. It got smashed.
CW We got some blue Christmas lights that travel the world with us.
WOB There are no billboards outside my window.
N. Oh really?
CW Yep, it’s big sky country out there.
WOB I have a view of the freeway, the beautiful freeway. It’s awesome.
CW The old 101.
WOB Yep, the 101. Which takes us back to our routes. I’ve grown up along the 101 my whole life.
N. These questions are cutting deep.
CW Getting back to Gilroy, now. And Turlock. Or Turd-lock, as we like to call it.
WOB Remember Fats [Domino]? I haven’t heard Fats in too long.
CW Man, ya. We’d start everyday with Fats.
WOB It’s been like six months. Remember those days? Fats days?
CW That’s a good morning, right there.
WOB Just throw on the record. A double album. That was probably one of the best steals of my life.
CW From where?
WOB Goodwill. I walked out with that receiver, too.
CW They owe it to you.
N. Is Things recording anything new?
WOB Sparsely.
CW We’ve been working on this video. We got through it pretty quick. Just a lot of footage of the city and us being weird in the world. It plays over a recording we did a few months ago. You know, things that bands do and stuff to sell things. Close ups of our faces and butts. Lot of butt-shots. That’s what the people want, you know? We’re taking your advice, the butt shots. We’ve actually put on a little weight so they’d be more impressive.
WOB Better ass.
CW Ya. I had Chipotle today. Just stuff ourselves. Being fat is going to come back in.
WOB Fat is back. There’s going to be a backlash.
CW I’ve already called the double chin fat. That’s going to be forty years from now. People are going to want an extra chin. Just neck beards.
WOB A line beard outlining the double chin. That’s why I’m going to get really, really skinny.
CW That’s what our band’s really about, fashion. That’s what the music’s about, how we look.
WOB Really, mostly. We try to capture that on the recording, what we’re wearing at the time, what kind of make-up we’re into.
CW Like he’ll be wearing a scarf and think, ‘What does this scarf make me play.’ Then I’ll start playing a riff, then he’ll take the scarf and, like, wrap it in a different direction, and it will take the riff with it. We just try to redo that over and over.
WOB What do people usually say interviews? We should read some others.
N. Who are your influences?
WOB Macaroni and cheese. Disney.
CW Robert Mondavi, the wine-ist .
WOB Paul Karcher, Ronald McDonald. Ray Crock
CW Grimace on his bad days.
N. Hamburger Helper?
WOB Ya, especially the mascot. Those mascots, that’s what I used to…in high school, I wanted to be a mascot.
N. Were you the mascot for your school?
WOB No. we didn’t have a team. But I thought when I became an adult I could be a mascot for a real NBA team or a product of some kind. You know? Like maybe I could be that glove from Hamburger Helper. What’s he got that I don’t?
CW That big Hamburger Helper hand just hanging outside Grocery Outlet when people go in. Did you ever go to Grocery Outlet? Is that a Norcal thing?
WOB It’s really a low income area thing. Stale, stale, expired Grocery Outlet.
CW Barely edible food.
N. You were playing some blues at the show last night.
CW Oh, did you hear me? Ya, I was bringing it back to where I came from. This is prison blues. Prison of the mind. That’s where we’re playing from. I was saying, though, if we're going to keep doing that blues, White Owl’s going to give us some hobo-ing.
N. Hobo-ing?
CW Ya, you know…Ho-bo ho-o-bo
WOB Astral hobo blues.
CW Ho-bo ho-o-bo. As-tral Ho-o-o-bo.
WOB Laser guided recyclables.
CW Yep, collecting bottles and cans. Space debris.
WOB All this stuff is just garbage in the future.
CW We're just going to be going around, collecting lost, forgotten satellites and bringing them to recycling centers all across the universe to put gas in our little ship
WOB Those solar panels are going to be worth mad cash.
CW Chevron approved little space station where you and your family live making ends meet off the space trash, of which they call the community you live in. They’re going to call you space trash when you’re older. ‘You been hanging out with that space trash?’ What do you think would be the upper-class planet?
WOB Saturn, I bet
CW Saturn, ya. It's blue. It's got those rings.
WOB Jupiter’s got that huge ring around it too, that’s the mother planet. It’s so big.
N. It's got that big red tornado.
WOB Ya, I just want to be breathed in by that red eye. There can’t still be a tornado, that’s old data.
CW It takes thousands of years to get back to us anyways.
WOB How about that face on Mars, though.
CW It’s still there.
WOB Coffee?
N. Ya, thanks.
CW Yep, we’re playing those blues riffs now. Just blend the blues into jazz seamlessly in a whirl of seamless blues-y jazz.
WOB A soulless blend of blues and jazz.
N. Is that what kind of music are you playing now?
WOB Right now we’re into crotchless. Crotchless pants.
CW Seamless, crotchless.
WOB Seamless, garments. It’s all about fashion, clothing, like we said. It’s like there’s no seam between my outfit and his outfit. That’s what we’re trying to get at. One big double human body sock. One big, consistently constant sock being. We don’t always achieve it. You can see the threads sometimes. Different colors here and there.
CW Sometimes there’s a gaping hole. Right it the middle
WOB But it’s still one. We’re just trying to please everyone, really. We just want to make people happy.
N. What about yourselves? Don't you want to be happy yourself?
WOB I lost my personality to politeness a long time ago. I have no personality.
CW That makes it easier to please everybody.
WOB I just focus on my cheekbones and my facial expressions.
CW The positioning of the scarf. That’s really where most of the expression comes from.
WOB And how my eyes rest looking at the scarf.
N. What about facial hair? How does that fit into everything?
WOB Lately I've been keeping it cleaned shaved. I don't need any of that signaling of my insecurity.
CW The stubble has become a sign of ignorance. You don't want to be caught up in that. You're falling straight into that one.
WOB It's cold on the cutting edge. And the fearful will grow a beard. But then the beard will slow them down and they will no longer be on the cusp, you see? That's why we got these haircuts.
N. I noticed. Both of you got haircuts
CW We're just trying to have a completely clean insight to the metaphoric toothpaste that we're squeezing. We don't want any last little piece of paste in that tube. You got to get the tube completely fresh.
N. How often do you brush? That's called a follow up question.
CW Ya, I see how you are seamlessly moving.
WOB Brush teeth? You mean wash our teeth. How often do we wash our teeth?
CW Sometimes I forget. But I'll usually make up for it later.
WOB I mean, sometimes I am thorough. Four hours a day. But other times, like today I did not brush.
CW I'd say on average, about a day out of the year spent. If you added up all the brushings.
WOB That's all?
CW A full day? Twenty-four hours of brushing throughout the year?
WOB You're not brushing enough. There’s three-hundred sixty five days.
CW You don't think so?
WOB No. You need a whole week of brushing. Forty strokes a tooth.
CW But I really make each brush count. And I brush quickly.
WOB What if our fair astronauts we're going over their equipment with quick brushstrokes.
CW You’ve go to be spry with your brushing. Otherwise it’s going to end up…
WOB …becoming a compulsion? That’s not true!
CW You’re not even really going to get clean teeth, really. Brushing them like that.
WOB My teeth tickle. I think my gums are receding. Then I have this herpes. I have oral hygiene problems.
CW We need a dentist, both of us. My wisdom teeth, they need to fix them.
N. Do you still have some wisdom teeth?
CW I think so.
WOB Some people think his teeth are cute. Little kids like to pet them.
N. How many wisdom teeth do you have between the two of you?
CW At least seven. And that’s including White Owl.
CW We're you singing a lot of In the Flesh last night? Was that not the highlight of the night?
[The previous night, Things played an interpretation of Pink Floyd’s In The Flesh at a show.]
N. Maybe. I'm asking the questions here.
CW Everyone got quiet for a second, remembering that moment in The Wall when they were kids, when they first saw it. Putting everyone up against that wall. This time I had my way.
WOB And you've still got your dad.
CW My daddy's still alive.
WOB How does that make you feel?
CW It actually makes me feel better seeing how I am such a striking resemblance to him these days. It's like looking into the future.
WOB How old is he?
CW He's sixty-nine. Which is a trippy year. You can't tell what you really are at that point. I guess you could go either way. On the brink of seventy.
N. Not quite seventy.
CW Can you put yourself there? Not quite, almost to the expectancy? Unless it’s gotten lower.
N. What is life expectancy? Seventy-two?
CW The last I heard, seventy-two was when we are supposed to die.
N. Let’s talk about 2012, do you want to talk about 2012?
CW I'm supposed to make it to 2056. 2012…I don’t think I’m going to make it.
N. It’s not looking good for you.
CW Ya, we’re on the brink.
WOB That's why we shaved our faces.
WOB We cannot stand down at this time. There’s no other time. The battle’s already begun you can't start it over, now. You can’t run back to get your shield that you forgot. Once it’s already begun you just got to run out there. Welcome death. Welcome it into the room so you can get to know it a little bit.
N. I heard you were shot at last night.
WOB I actually did take some fire. I got hit in the shoulder, I kept playing.
CW One of the guys from The Shrine was rushed to the hospital at about two o'clock in the morning.
WOB Luckily it went through two of the several girls that were hanging on me when I was playing the drums. So it barely bruised me.
N. And the girls?
WOB One girl is in critical condition. One of them is stable. But those are our fans.
CW They were strong girls, too.
WOB This is a battle. It’s a struggle. An ongoing argument about how things ought to be.
CW This shithole. Things are getting harder, slowly and slowly. Like that game Bop-It.
WOB I was playing Bop-It in a Target recently. And I was going on for a long time. And it was good, it was good for my coordination. And I didn’t fuck up, I just eventually put it down.
CW Those are good for your rhythym good for your memory.
WOB What was that other one?
CW Simon.
WOB Simon and Bop-It. We should have both of them. Just no passive activities around here. Why would I take part in something passive like watching tv? It takes up to much of your time and brain. I got fat from watching tv, and I didn’t eat.
CW It depends on what you’re watching.
WOB Ya, I started to watch the Wire last night before bed.
CW When I’m actually in the mood for Lost Highway or Seventh Seal, or something like that and I’m doing something, I think that’s healthy. Having a good background to clean, or draw, do work. That’s when I like tv to take place.
CW It’s just like putting chamber music on. Because you can still read to it. It’s not too distracting. It’s not just a commercial.
WOB Music doesn’t let you do anything to it but just experience it.
CW It’s getting there though. People making soundscapes. It is. It’s funny to walk around Hollywood and seeing ‘Music Business Courses.’ It’s just like, in modern times, what does that even mean? What are we going off of? It’s such new territory in a lot of ways.
N. I guess it’s just another thing for people to do.
WOB Just look everything and all of it. This whole industry is people just trying to cash in on someone’s abilities. ‘How can we spin this as many ways as we can so that we don’t actually doing anything?’
CW ‘How can I avoid putting in a hard day’s work today?’
WOB And in the end they’re consumed by this non-work. They don’t even have selves anymore, their so into their non-work. But they enjoy it. I guess that’s cool, tricking yourself into some strange world.
CW It’s like how cops don’t really help people. That’s too much work. ‘Well, I have this job so the least I can do is just drive around.’
WOB I think I’d enjoy myself a Hollywood job. If things weren’t as crappy as they were. But we know people who want to make movies and we should try to get more excited and try to help as much we can. I just think about how things can be better. But instead it’s just about these people wanting to keep themselves outside of the harsh reality. Of any harsh reality. They live in their imaginations. Which, you know, we do to. We’re doing the same thing, in a way…but it could be good also. But I guess that’s what we’re actually trying to do, to make a new artificial environment inspired by real life that’s better than real life and hope that things catch up to it in a way and even though it won’t be in our lifetime and it won’t be as big as we want it to be, if we can go on doing that, at least that will be out there in the world for people to see. I say we all quit our jobs. Tonight.
N. There’s a lot of people doing good stuff. I was pessimistic for a while. But there’s a lot of stuff out there.
CW There’s a lot of bands going in the right direction. You can’t be mad at a band for not being perfect. We’ve got so many years of the best of the best to pull from so when you see something new, you’re like, ‘Eh, I’ll just go listen to James Brown.’
N. Chum Out, Chum Out’s my favorite band. I don’t really like their music though.
WOB I think I’ve said that same thing, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever listen to them, but they might be my favorite band.’ Their a spectable and they’re really passionate about their take on life.
N. I remember they came in and gave me a three inch record to listen to.
WOB Ya, that green one. That petite sacks side is actually pretty bad ass. Those guys definitely have an act down, a schtick. And I like it’s consistent. They rush in through the door and do not stop until they’re done. I like that, that kind of comedian.
N. I do enjoy them.
CW I think they inspire us to carry on. We're still documenting things. In the form of videos, and words, sounds.
N. A lot of live shows?
CW Ya, we've actually had a few live shows so far this year. Sometimes people even enjoy it.
N. You have fans.
CW Ya, that's kind of a new thing. That there’s actually a group of people who pay attention some of the time. Have a perspective of more than just one show or one cd that they listened to once. And you know...what I like to pay attention to is the other people around us who are making music and they’ve definitely had their influence on us and we’re trying to throw stuff out there, too. It’s pretty interesting. It feels like there’s a lot of relentless people out there. A lot of steps being taken in a similar direction, you know? Like some weird plane that’s starting to be more clear as far as what new music is. Being good at playing something, being comfortable with it. Playing that stuff that you know most people wouldn’t want to hear. Even stuff that you don’t want to hear. I guess I just like annoying music, it just speaks to me more, I don’t know.
WOB Annoying things are still new. People don’t want to go there. But I think annoying is becoming commonplace. Look at all this overstimulation.
CW There are so many sounds out there and bands and different versions of art to make you feel comfortable and safe in this accepted way of expression. Etiquette almost. Noise, and annoying music, is almost like a refuge.
