Science Friday!!!

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

What made you so lucky to get that love?

[Bizarro]

Someone is probably going to make an inspirational sports movie about this. And justifiably so.

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

He should be banned for taking HGH.

[Doctor Rock]

What made you so lucky to get that love?

I'm cute. 

[Doctor Rock]

Ok, so... After waiting an ungodly amount of time for them to start (doors opened at 9 o'clock, I was there at half past nine, the first band started at, what, quarter to eleven?) the first band went on.  They were locals, they were called USA Out of Vietnam, a veteran Montreal musician called Jonathan Cummins was part of them.  He has played with a shitload of local acts (the Doughboys, Treble Charger, Bionic, The Besnard Lakes, etc.)  I couldn't tell at first if I liked them or not: they were way too fucking loud!   Two 100 watt Hiwatt halfstacks, one hard hitting drummer and a refrigerator-like Ampeg SVT, all cranked and going at the same time in a small venue.  It wasn't even funny loud.  It was PAINFULLY LOUD!  And I forgot my foam earplugs.  I had to go to the bathroom and plug my ears with toilet paper.  Yeah, that bad!  After that, I decided the band was boring: kind of an old school heavy-metal and stoner rock hybrid with atmospheric passages.  No hooks, no memorable riffs.  And I was mad at them for almost ruining my hearing.  Fuckers!  After their show was over, I went over to Jonathan Cummins and I told him "man, no disrespect meant, but you were too loud".  He agreed and said he was sorry.  I don't think they are going to change, though.  I think they enjoy it that way.  

The mighty Oneida at least didn't waste any time setting up, and they went on soon after: besides the three core members, the band was augmented by a synth player, an extra guitar player and, on occasion, a bass player.  It was crowded up there.  Hanoi Jane started by giving us a pep-talk about loving each other, and that we should get closer.  And then, preaching by example,  after hugging all the members of the band, he came down amongst the audience, and started giving hugs left and right.  I was right in front of the stage, so he gave me one on his way out and another on his way in.   

[Doctor Rock]

It was a very good show, you could tell they were having fun up there.  They like to stretch out their songs, so that, for instance, UP With People, which last something like 4 minutes on record, went on for something like 10 minutes on stage.  They're not really jammy in the traditional sense: they just play the same riff over and over again, with enough small changes thrown in to keep things moving forward.  So they didn't play that many songs.  But it was good.  At one point, in a moment of chill-out weirdness, the keyboard player started vocalising into the mic through an electric ventilator.  It was a weird sound, a bit like the wail of a distant banshee. 

Anyway, we asked for an encore, and we got one: "this song is about feeling good the natural way"... And they started playing Snow Machine, an oldie from one of their first records, a song about cocaine abuse. 

[Tripp]

SOunds awesome..

[Doctor Rock]

SOunds awesome..

What?  I can't hear you! 

[Tripp]

SOUNDS AWESOME.!!!!!!

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

I am an idiot who thought Hanoi Jane was a woman.

I am much less excited about the hugs now.

[Doctor Rock]

I am an idiot who thought Hanoi Jane was a woman.

I am much less excited about the hugs now.

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

I prefer to imagine Hanoi Jane this way...

<a href="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/2656318/metacafe.swf" target="_blank">http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/2656318/metacafe.swf</a>

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

I'm gonna review another comic book now!

Young Liars: Daydream Believer by David Lapham



Either Lapham didn't know Young Liars is a TV on the Radio EP or the title is a tribute?

This book employs a gimmick not used often enough.  Every issue suggests a soundtrack of 2 songs, and there are some pretty cool tunes.

"Let's Dance" - David Bowie
"Atlas" - Battles
"Frankie Teardrop" - Suicide
"Another Morning Stoner" - Trail of Dead
"Strange" - Wire
"Mad World" - Tears for Fears
"Rocks Off" - Rolling Stones
"Bone Machine" - Pixies
"Shaking Hell" - Sonic Youth
"Oleano" - The Fall
"That's When I Reach for My Revolver" - Mission of Burma

I just posted that list of songs to justify talking about comic books in the main isle again.

This a Vertigo book (an imprint of mainstream DC, publisher of Superman Batman etc.), which means genre stories with adult content.  Young Liars is sort of a grimy noir.  The principal character is Sadie the chick on the cover, who has a bullet lodged in her brain, which makes her a totally impulsive thrill seeker and kind of touched with innocence.  She is oblivious to her impending death as the bullet moves.  Somehow the injury also made her a superhuman fighter.

Every other character in the book is a complete scumbag.  Her supposed friends are a bunch of users.  Wannabe rock stars, a groupie slut, a junkie queen, an anorexic burnt out model, and a rich party boy who has get rich quick crime.  I guess the real main character is suicidal, codependent creep who somehow has the simple-minded Sadie under his control.  Enough awful things happen to him that you somehow start to feel that he could earn redemption.

This collection reprints the first 6 issues of the series and only costs $9.99.  Two more volumes come after this one to collect the complete 18 issue story.

The story is obviously over the top, but I liked it enough to want to check out the rest.  I'm not a Vertigo guy, but this is one of the best series I've read from them in a long time.  I don't like Y the Man or Fables.  Lapham is a better writer than those guys.  He's also a cut above the typical bad boy writers.  There is a certain integrity that I think a lot of those guys lack. 


He's not as lurid an artist as he is a writer.  There are certainly much filthier Vertigo artists.  He shies away from looking at the very worst stuff.  But plenty of horror is suggested well enough.  Yes, this a mainstream book, but it will make you feel pretty dirty and disgusting pschologically.