It was a little awkward.  The crowd that was there was there to see Descendants of Erdrick, a local video game music cover band.  So while I performed they were setting up out front in the parking lot, distracting folks from my performance (which was really just me playing back tracks because I was missing everything from my rig except my laptop).

Regardless, I had a blast looking around this store (there’s a museum in the back) and trying not to go apeshit buying vintage video game crap.  I picked up a nice A/V cable for the Commodore, a couple Atari 2600 games I had lost at the firteen house, and a replacement 72-pin connector for my NES.  And this isn’t even the main store!

Yeah, so I do stuff on the kitchen counter.  Exchanging the connector was a bit more work than I thought it would be.  Somewhere around 20 screws later I got the old one out and popped the new one in.  It’s supposed to make your NES load cartridges like it’s brand new!

Oh, look at that!  I can’t tell if it’s better or worse!  Balloon Fight was the only cart I could get to load cleanly enough to play.  It didn’t last that long either.  How do I justify buying a power pak if I don’t even have a working NES?

At least I had fun at the store.  Descendants of Erdrick kicked ass and it was nice to see Herr Prof in meatspace once again, think it’s been about three years! Wish I was better at remembering to take pictures.  :D

And, around the age we got the NES, other computers found their way into our home.  I enjoyed the Apple II/e, spent a lot of time dorking around on that thing, but I always found the games laughable.  The Commodore 64 was definitely better, but you could start loading a game, go take a poop, and still wait for it to finish loading sometimes.  And even with these ‘better’ computers around, I still would go back to the VIC for it’s ridiculously large onscreen characters, writing BASIC programs that outgrew it’s limited 3.5kb of RAM.  Whether the program was any good or not, it didn’t matter, I  won the RAM battle.  :D

And then my teenage years came along, I was onto DOS based PCs and sold that crap Apple.  Somewhere in my early 20′s, I dug all my old computer stuff out of the attic. Most of the C64 disks were damaged, but all of the VIC’s datasettes were sound.  Somehow, both machines actually turned on and worked after five years in a Michigan attic?!  I had a decent job, went shit wild on eBay, and started collecting VIC20 anything.  I taught myself 6502 Machine Language and started writing real programs (not many).  The VIC is a staple of my live set, controlling it’s voices with the keyboard and Atari paddles.  I’ve gone through four of them since I started playing out around 10 years ago.  Good thing they’re cheap!  ;D

But I  digress.  If, as the media put it, Steve Jobs is solely responsible for home computing as we know it today, it had a lot to do with direct competition from Mr. Tramiel.  The Commodore PET and Apple II were both released in 1977, but the VIC-20 was the first computer to sell a million plus units, and the C64 still holds the record for the most units sold of any single computer model (don’t know if that excludes iPhones).  Commodore fell apart in the 1990′s, then Jack acquired Atari and ran that into the ground too.  The computer market grew some new legs and stomped on some conventional business strategies.

What a crap!  This next cartoon will set it all straight though!!

Important note : Microsoft was there in 1977 and on to supply Commodore with it’s BASIC kernel, mostly programmed in ML by Bill Gates himself. Bill, get outta my life!!

teh Melvan

I was kind of blown away by this ebay auction.  Since I’ve been at work today, there have been 24 additional bids taking the price from $14k to $20.8k with 6 days to go.  So what’s a melvan?  It’s a van that was used by the Melvins for touring purposes.

It hasn’t been driven in 14 years.  The Melvins still tour and are not looking back.  So why does anyone care about this dilapidated junk?  Because the Melvins did a lot of gigs and tours with Nirvana.  Not only did the late Kurt Cobain drive it sometimes, but he also drew a mural of KISS on the outside using permanent markers stolen from a store that Melvins’ frontman, Buzz, used to work at.

Shouldn’t this thing be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?  Well, maybe.  I went there once and I was told to leave because my beard wouldn’t fit through the turnstile.  Plus, the RnRHoF is a rather clean place – they prefer memorabilia, not evidence of a true rock and roll lifestyle.

The seller’s biggest fear over this auction is that someone will blowtorch off Kurt’s artistic merit and scrap the rest of the melvan.  Who would do such a thing!  Doesn’t everyone have a space in their garage to house unusable large vehicles?

Allz I know is I wanna roll around in the back of the melvan where there are most likely sex stains from real-to-god rock and rollers.

P.S. – the melvan’s license registration expired on April 1994, the month that Cobain died.

DJ and I looked on…  This is the underground working on love of a culture and not money.  Ultimately, we decided we wanted to, and could try, to build something similar back home in Ann Arbor, MI.  There are four main components necessary : the artists, a name or title, a venue, and a regular monthly slot.

8static is a chiptune event.  Ann Arbor and it’s vicinity has less chip artists than a luddite convention.  We obviously can’t do a monthly chiptune event.  So what do we want?  What are we?

Both of us perform as one-man-bands!  DJ’s project, Scared to Death, consists of himself, guitar, bass, circuit bent keyboard, and a drumset.  He uses loop pedals in an alchemical method to create an atmosphere and pulse that he then plays drums over.  I, myself, take the stage with chiptune and laptop compositions layered with my custom VIC20 chip instrument, ukulele and voice.

Essentially, we realized we didn’t want traditional bands which is still a pretty open invitation.  To try and quantify what’s acceptable I came up with a genre list : chiptune dubstep trip-hop synth-pop idm breakcore circuit-bent noise one-man-band ambient experimental.  LoBlast is a steady, public outlet for bedroom musicians.  …or something like that.

A couple weeks after our trip, and without much brainstorming, I came up with the event title “LOBLAST”.  LO is an abbreviation for LO-FI (opposite of HI-FI or “high fidelity”) and also for being “low” on the musical industry food chain.  BLAST is another good fit in all it’s connotations “I had a blast!” or “That boombox blasted me!”  So, one slow night at work I drafted some simple logo designs.

A few months roll by and I finally brave the adobe illustrator.  I still feel like a blind mule every time I try to use it, but practice makes perfect.  Huzzar!  Teh pen tool!  :P

…then you export something and import that thing-a-ma-jig into photoshop… and style the shit out of it! :D

I’m not happy with the ‘LO’ part, but that’s what I get for not following my own mockup examples!  I am happy with, however, the legibility of the logo.  I thought maybe the broken ‘A’ and the connected letters would throw people.  I’ve been assured it’s an easy read.  I suppose if people can read the 80′s NASA logo they can read LOBLAST.

For a venue, we’re lucky to have access to the 8ball Saloon hallway.  We both work for the Blind Pig, a local club, which is typically closed on Sundays.  The 8ball is in the basement, completing the complex with a cover-free bar, bathrooms and an alley entrance.

Last summer, a party got busted and the bands still wanted to play and the peeps still wanted to party.  With the owners permission, the party moved to the 8ball hallway.  This incident began an outlet for the Blind Pig staff, many being musicians, to host free shows and help sell $1 PBR’s.

Sometimes a touring act will get a show upstairs at the Blind Pig on a Sunday making the hallway that connects the two bars unavailable.  On very rare occasions these shows can drop on the calender a few weeks before.  So that’s a slight strike against us.  But, overall, we have a solid venue for ages 19+ on Sunday nights.

We decided to requisition the last Sunday of every month.  Our second loblast event  is already upon us!!  D:  Time is flying!!

DJ suggested a Missile Command theme for the flier.  I had a lot of fun making it …and… I think it works!  So come on down and enjoy cheap beer!  :D

I’ve never watched the show and I don’t really intend to.  These reality shows take too much attention. I’d rather waste 22 minutes watching their non-linear, immersive ancestors: game shows.  Well, I don’t want to watch those anymore either, but NumberWang is alright. ;D

The Big Brother casting call (deadline April 23), I am sure, is overloaded with 1,000s of auditions.  This first round can be done by going to select locations across the country, each on a single day, or by snail mail.  Reqiured are a filled-out 13 page PDF questionaire and a 2 minute maximum video.  The remote locations film the video for you.

So, last Wednesday, I drive up to the Pontiac Silverdome with my thickly application.  One hour in the minivan, a giggle at the gate security, and then I drive upon a cluttered parking lot and a line of humans spilling out the side in the rain.  “Can I go pee before I get in that line?”

“What are you here for?”

“Big Brother audition.”

“This line is for America’s Next Top Model.  (indecipherable directions on how to find the lavatory here).”

Yay.  I go pee pee!! :D  Then, I check in and wait an hour to record my 2 minute maximum video.  I was given a MetroPCS shwag slap bracelet and then asked to fill out another form so I could have my picture taken.  Oh, but moments later I find out this form is for metromix.com and not the Big Brothers.  Oh, bother!  So I stole my picture from their article about myself and hundreds of other hapless wannabe television contestants.

Empty stadium in the background, check.  Slap bracelet, check.  Stupid grin, check.  I was so checked out that I only spoke for about 30 seconds when I finally got my turn, saying something like this —

“…but I’m not from Detroit.  I’m from Ann Arbor and everyone calls me Langel.  I work as a bouncer in a club that fits about 400 people.  I’ve never seen your show before, I have no idea what I’m trying to get into.  But my ‘strategy’ would be something like trying to get along with everyone because we do have to live together while getting eliminated.  I don’t like people, maybe that’s why I’m a bouncer.  But drama is worse than people.”

…and I’m sure I said a little more but this was four days ago.  :)  Maybe I should have stalled and relaxed for a second which would have resulted in my making an ass of myself  in front of the camera, probably more what they are looking for.  But who knows?  Perhaps the whole point of the video is to simply see which applicants can be interesting in front of a camera and give them an excuse to actually flip through their giant application.

I wouldn’t be surprised, for the semi-finalist interviews, that they might only give two or three days notice.  That’s a quick way to weed out those who don’t have the love.  LOL!  If I am called upon, I’ll be traveling to Chicago self-paid.  The finalist interview is in Los Angeles, lasts about a week, all expenses paid.  And, if you actually get on the show, you get some kind of stipend for only the time you exist on the show, paid out once the final episode airs.

Horray for waiting!  Man, all I want is to say “I’m not here to make friends” on national television.  :(

I WANT TO GET EXCITED!!!