The Devil’s Playground Website

Hey y’all, a couple of weeks ago I set up a website for my new warehouse space, The Devil’s Playground. This past Saturday we had our first event and it went off without a hitch!

The Infintesmal Records BBQ V featured a ton of great local (and one traveling) bands, Bold City Beer and good food. The party kept on until about 4am. Thanks to everyone who came out and if you missed it, there will be other parties soon so don’t worry.

You need to pick up the new Infintesmal Compilation, {the real better Jacksonville plan} volume 3. It’s got 34 tracks of the best local music (+ some out-of-town friends) and it’s only $7. There’s even a previously unreleased Chicken & Whiskey song on there!

So from now on, all info on Unit 6 and The Devil’s Playground will be on the new site so add it to your reader, blogroll, links, whatever.

Wambolt Collective

May I have your attention please..

Thank you. I am very pleased, even pleasantly so, to announce a very exciting new venture I have undertaken. I know what you’re thinking and yes I do have a an extremely full plate as it is but this new project is something that will bring it all together.

After witnessing the potential of what can be done with a little space and a whole lot of initiative such as the BBB complex and what the crew at 8B are doing, I decided to give it a go. I am now renting out Unit 6 in the same complex I wrote about on JaxScene (or JaxREAX, whatever). Right now it’s a clean slate but I have some major plans for the future.

The plan right now is to use a portion of the space to build practice rooms for local bands. As of now we are looking at 2 rooms and it looks like they already have tenants. There is some additional space available for artists or anyone who is doing something to further advance the culture of Jacksonville. Hit me up at jack@jackdiablo.com if you’re interested.

There will be shows and parties from time to time and I will be diligent in promoting the shit out of them because I’ll be taking a serious financial hit until it really gets off hte ground. In the sprit of what I feel makes Jacksonville such a great place, I intend on making every show/party free to attend. We’ll be running on donations so if you enjoy yourself and would like to see more events happen, pay what you can or what you feel the experience was worth.

As of now, we should have things up and running around the middle of August. There are some really awesome people working with me on this and I have no doubt that it will be successful with Duval’s support. I should have a name for it by then, you can comment your suggestions.

There isn’t any real thing called the Wambolt Collective but it’s starting to feel like there might be, an off the beaten path nucleus for art, music and culture in our fair city.

Stay tuned for details in the near future and let’s make this happen!

Gainfully Unemployed

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… I am the busiest unemployed dude you know (or don’t know). But who needs a “real job” anyway?

It seems like these posts are getting fewer and further between but I haven’t given up yet and I neither do I intend to. I’ve just been a busy little bee lately with tons of new projects that just keep adding up. But I’m not complaining, not one bit!

So here’s what I’m working on these days:

Chicken & Whiskey

That’s my band and my most creative endeavor. As a drummer, I’m used to the background, providing the rhythm and leaving the creation to the song-writers but this time I get to sing. Well not sing so much as scream, I have no singing voice to speak of but I do okay. It’s a completely different animal to try and sing while you percuss (is that a word?) It’s like throwing another limb into the mix and it’s trickier than you might think. Writing lyrics is hard too so for now I just repeat shit.
We’ve had a good run so far. It usually takes a while for a band to book out of town shows but our first two were in Gainesville and St. Augustine, respectively. We’ve only played Jacksonville twice and our next show is July 28 at Doozer’s Pub with Republicorpse, Time To Die, Buff Clout, and National Dairy. We’ve also played Pensacola, Savannah twice and hopefully Orlando real soon.
So far the feedback has been phenomenal, despite our many fuck-ups and the occasional technical difficulty. Just yesterday we played a fest in Savannah for the 4th and the sound guy turned us off during our last song. Apparently there were some kids returning from some kind of dolphin tour during the middle of one of Big Dunn’s colorful impromptu segues. It was fun though.
Be sure and hit up our MySpace page to hear our crummy home recording and stop by Burro or catch us around town to snag a Florida Is For Haters shirt. We’ll be printing new ones tomorrow with a gnarly design by Dylan, your favorite boozehole bartender (the image up top)!

Burro Bags

Before I moved back to Jacksonville from Afghanistan, I spent a lot of time learning about all the cool shit that was going on here while I was gone. One of them, of course was Burro Bags. Even from 10,000 miles away, I could tell Matt and Chris were onto some serious shit and made owning one of their custom bags a top priority upon my return. In September of last year I had them make me a bag out of one of my sea bags and desert cammie uniforms. It turned out awesome and I still take it with me almost everywhere. Fast-forward and here I am working (and living) as part of the Burro family.
In an effort to enhance online sales and marketing, Matt and Chris sought the aide of GoFresh Design to build a better, more functional website. It looks incredible but takes a bit of work to keep current. Enter me. It is my esteemed pleasure to contribute to the success of the Burro brand through managing all of Burro’s online content, including the blog and Twitter feed. I’ll be tackling the MySpace page and setting up a Facebook page in the near future. Believe me when I say that we are going to be taking things to the next level and beyond as time goes by.

EU

Some time ago, Kellie from EU interviewed Tom and I about JaxScene. While in the photo pit at Harvest of Hope this year, Kellie approached me about doing an album review and I jumped at the opportunity to further refine my writing chops (and get my hands on advance albums). Since then I’ve been writing regularly for the monthly about everything from biking to nightlife to comic books (in this month’s issue). But my main area of focus is music, both local and on a global level. I am constantly running around doing interviews, listening to music, and checking out shows to bring what I feel is the most comprehensive music coverage in Northeast Florida. I have my own page now on the website with all the articles I’ve written and hopefully, very soon we will be launching an all new music page with the help of a very talented cat you call know. But I don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet. Suffice it to say, this thing is going to be big, no EPIC! I am envisioning it as more than just a resource but a portal for the Jacksonville music scene and I couldn’t be more excited about it and the platform it will provide for this city’s talented artists.
I’ve also set up a Twitter account (@eu_music) solely dedicated to the Jacksonville music scene that I update as much as possible about shows each night and other interesting little tidbits.

Urban Jacksonville Weekly

This is my newest endeavor. As I mentioned before, in preparation for my return to Jax I was trolling the interwebs and Urban Jacksonville was the place that turned me on to almost every cool thing I’ve found in this city. So when Joey asked me to be a part of the weekly podcast, I couldn’t refuse.
As “producer” I will be managing the interactive side of things, interfacing with listeners and commenters while Joey, Tony and Jonathan do their thing. I’m sure I will be adding my two cents from time to time and I’ll also have a little segment on upcoming music-related events. If you haven’t seen (or heard) this yet I strongly encourage you to check it out and join the dialogue. No one else in Jacksonville is taking such a unique approach to moving the city forward and I am proud to be a part of it.
Tune in every Tuesday at 5:30 to watch the show or you can subscribe to it on iTunes to download the audio.

As you can see, it’s been a busy summer but that hasn’t stopped me from having the most rad time possible. In the four years I’ve lived in Jax, this is the first summer I’ve spent stateside and so far it’s been incredible.

Adios amigos!

Chicken & Whiskey Are Go!

Aw shit son!

In case you haven’t heard, I gots me a band now. I plays the drumbs (and I sing/shout a little too). We call ourselves Chicken & Whiskey and even though it may sound like a country or rockabilly band, it couldn’t be further.

So, it’s me plus Big Dunn (Roargan) and Chris Williams (Airport Factory). I won’t even attempt to describe what we sound like but if you need an idea just hypothesize on how a collaboration between Dunn and Chris might manifest itself and you’re still probably nowhere close. Or maybe you’re dead on, who knows?

Better yet, come see us play!

We’ve got several shows booked so far including our very first show May 9th in Gainesville at The Kickstand for What The Fuc? Fest along with other Jacksonville superstars, Heavy Flow and After The Bomb Baby. If you can’t make that, worry not, we’re playing at the best damn boozehole in Springfeild, Shantytown Pub, on May 24th with those crazy kids from St. Augustine, Lighthouse Music. Come get your aural fixation doooooods! And bring some cash cuz we’ll have plenty o’ merch. Gots to get paid!

Still not convinced? Well, we put together a little lo-fi home-brewed recording this past weekend and the tunes will be up on the MySpace page after the May 24th show.

But before you start filling in your social calendar for the month of May, you’d better grab a big ol’ fat permanent marker and write BURY YOUR BIKE II real nice and big over May 1-3. It’s gonna be sick! Free beer (no, really – good stuff too), good people, freak bikes, and complete and utter chaos. Don’t miss it, you’ve been warned…

Music Coverage

Good news boys and girls!

Yours truly has signed on as a contributor to EU Magazine to write about shows, local music, and some album reviews here and there! I’m pretty excited about it as it means I will have more access to that which keeps me sane, musica! Look for my album review of the new Decemberists record in next month’s issue of EU and check the website often for more-than-monthly coverage of the Jacksonvile music scene. If you want me to check out your band or do an interview, just get at me.

Tonight I’m heading to St Augustine to cover the Vetiver show at Cafe Eleven. Looks like it will be a good time so come holler if you’ll be there.

Here’s a little blurb from the interwebs:

Vetiver – Chrysopogon zizanioides (previously Vetiveria zizanioides) is a perennial grass of the Poaceae family, native to India. The name comes from Tamil. In western and northern India, it is popularly known as khus, giving the earlier English names cuscus, cuss cuss, kuss-kuss grass, etc.[1] In Marathi it is called Wala (वाळा) Vetiver can grow up to 1.5 meters high and form clumps as wide. The stems are tall and the leaves are long, thin, and rather rigid; the flowers are brownish purple. Unlike most grasses, which form horizontally spreading mat-like root systems, vetiver’s roots grow downward, 2–4 meters in depth. Vetiver is closely related to other fragrant grasses such as Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus), citronella (Cymbopogon nardus, C. winterianus), and Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii). Though it originates in India, vetiver is widely cultivated in the tropical regions of the world. The world’s major producers include Haiti, India, Java, and Réunion.

Oh shit, that’s not about the band. Here we go:

…Tight Knit’s arrangements are rather tightly wound, with the album’s soothing vibe finely calibrated enough to excuse an outlying foray into languid funk (“Another Reason to Go”). Former Vetiver collaborator Devendra Banhart once proposed the term naturalismo for the music coming out of San Francisco’s modern folk scene…

So there you go. Also might be covering The Ting Tings show later this week at Jack Rabbits, so stay tuned!

Midnight Mass + Festival Road Trip

I have been a bad little blogger lately. I can’t even think of a decent excuse for my lack of posting lately. Not going to dwell, though. Onward and upward!

I have several posts I’ve been meaning to write about but I want to get some stuff out of my brain first while it’s still fresh.

Last night was Midnight Mass, the coolest way to spend your Thursday night. If you are unfamiliar with the event, I’ll sum it up real nice and simple for you. We all meet in the parking lot across from the Cummer at midnight on Thursday, every Thursday. I’ve only made it to a handful of rides but there is a pretty strong following that is there every week. Usually around 12:30 (0030 for you military types) we take off and hit the streets to create mayhem and civil unrest. Not really, we just ride around town but it’s lots of fun. If you’ve never ridden through downtown, this is the perfect opportunity because there is hardly any traffic. The locations vary but we stop a few times and hang out and sometimes hit up our local Springfield pub before last call.



Last night was an interesting one. Before the ride even started, two kids were stopped on their bicycles by the po-leese. Between that and the crazy police presence in Riverside last night and all those damn sirens and helicopters and shit, it seemed a little more intense than just an end-of-month quota thing. It’s only been recently that I’ve felt the long arm of the law bearing down, even if just a little. I was harassed at a party for not having a FL drivers license and now they are targeting cyclists? That’s a little ridiculous don’t you think? After a little tall bike joust so Jeff could earn his Zombie colors, as we headed back to R-side another friendly neighborhood po-dogger came behind us and informed us in a commanding southern accent that riding in the evening sans illumination warrants an infraction with a $92 price tag. What he actually said was, “Y’all know riding at night without lights is a nine-tee two dowlar fine?”. Thankfully he didn’t press the issue and left as soon as we acknowledged his helpful advice.

Regardless of all the intrusion, it was a fun time. Always is. If you don’t have anywhere to be Friday morning or an take a day off, you should totally come out. All bikes are welcome and the pace is moderate. It’s not a Critical Mass but it’s a start and tons of fun to boot!

So, this weekend Matt Burro, Christiana and I are doing a li’l road-trippin! Going to hit up Fresh Fest in Tallahassee tonight before we head to Atlanta to have our faces melted at the Scion Rock Fest. Follow me on Twitter for live micro-blogging of both events and check out JaxScene for pics when I get back.





Carry on…

Just Print It!

My good buddy, Tom, has a passion for print-making and collecting. And damn if it isn’t contagious as hell!

Lately I’ve been spending a pretty ridiculous amount of money on prints I’ve found that I simply couldn’t live without. Probably not the greatest idea considering my financial situation, but as long as I tell myself it’s an investment of sorts, I still manage to sleep okay.

I’m not sure what it is about the medium that draws me to it. Maybe it’s the tactility of that heavy paper. Could be the scarcity of a limited run. Or perhaps it’s the beauty of an image created with a limited amount of colors and detail. I’m not an art critic, I just know what I like so the why is irrelevant.

Now to the point.

It’s no secret that these are tough times economically. People aren’t eating out as much, they aren’t buying clothes they don’t need, and I would imagine that for the most part, they have a hard time justifying buying art at a time like this. But printing makes art affordable. You can make a single piece, reproduce it a limited number of times and make your work more accessible to everybody. Seems like a great way to make ends meet while you do the regular art stuff until the economy picks up.

Lucky for us, there are already quite a few folks doing the damn thing here in the Jacksonville area. I’ve purchased prints from Halftone Def and Dog & Pony Showprints that are spectacular. Armageddon Visuals is currently working with local artists who are looking to make the jump and see their images printed as well. I think it makes good business sense and I predict the trend will get even bigger in the near future.

Or then again, I could be crazy, who knows?

Here’s a sample of the posters I’ve purchased lately:



Shepard Fairey’s contribution to Adopt-A-Pet. Already sold out and based on the iconic Obama HOPE image and a quote from Obama about “a mutt like me”. Already sold out of course and proceeds went to pet adoption.



Halftone Def Studio’s 74 Soundsystem poster. I love the gold on black. And dub.



Dog & Pony Showprints turn out some dopealicious gig posters. Very much looking forward to see what they’ve been mysteriously hinting at on Twitter. I hope it’s those Dr. Dog and Black Lips posters!



“Scorpiowl” from John Howard, aka Monkeyink. Gorgeous!



“Peace Bomb” from Methane Studios. Just got this one in today.



“Hare” by James Jean. This guy blows my mind. I fell in love with his covers for Vertigo’s Fables comic, and so proud to own some of his stuff!



“Mr. Jones” by Print Mafia. Gots to have a Dylan poster!



It’s a beard poster, yes! From Beard Revue.

I <3 Twitter!

This particular ramble is in response to a conversation I had a couple of days ago between a fellow Twitterer, myself, and some non-Twitterers.

First, the scene. I was at the Pre-International Noise Conference Show at a house on College Street and had sent out a tweet explaining as much. Two people who follow me showed up because I had tweeted it. That ignited the conversation.

When you mention Twitter these days you seem to get one of three responses:

• OMG, I love Twitter! Follow me, I’ll follow you!
• WTF is Twitter?
• Oh no, are you geeks talking about Twitter again?!

This particular conversation evoked the third response unfortunately. So I began to wonder why this is. I think it has to do with the insider-ness that comes with it. It’s the same thing with Mac-users and LOST-watchers I think. When someone brings it up, those in the know geek the fuck out and those who aren’t groan at having to hear you preach the gospel that is Twitter/Apple/LOST/whatever. And admittedly, I didn’t get it at first either. It’s one of those things you have to try out and settle into before you realize its potential.

I realize I’m probably preaching to the choir here. Chances are if you habitually read blogs, you already tweet your ass off. But on the off chance you stumbled here and are one of the uninitiated, allow me to count the ways I love Twitter.

First things first, Twitter is simply micro-blogging. Because most of us, even my unemployed ass, are too busy to sit down and write out blog posts all day long and some things are interesting but not necessarily blog-worthy, Twitter allows you to put it out there in 140 characters or less. Nowadays people have expanded the possibilities of what you can do with such a simple concept and it’s quite impressive.

So let’s say you are one of my followers. Maybe you are an acquaintance of mine or maybe you like what you read here and we’ve never actually met. Either way, on any given night you can check your Twitter feed and possibly learn of something going on that sounds really awesome that you might never have known about otherwise. Not only that, but I frequently use other programs like Loopt, which interface with Twitter to show you a picture and a Google Map of where I’m at. Now, instead of seeing pictures of an event on JaxScene days after the fact, you can see what is going on as it happens and ensure you are in the place to be. Or, you know, you can just be really witty or share a cool link.

Bottom line is, Twitter allows you to catch things as they happen and with the right device, from anywhere. I think it’s safe to say that at least half of the people I follow locally I met via Twitter. Srsly! So this is a call to all you Jaxvillians out there to give it a try. Sign up and follow me here. And here’s some folks I recommend following:

Locals

• Joey Marchy – Joey writes Urban Jacksonville (duh) and frequently announces secret projects or blogs on the go with his Twitter. A must-follow for all Jacksonville blog-hounds.
• The Urban Core – You already read the blog so this is another must-follow.
• jaxdotcom – This is the Florida Times-Union tweet-machine. It’s pretty cool to get local news updates on the go through this one.
• JaxScene – Duhhhhhhh!
• Jacksonville Confidential – Are you picking up on the pattern here? The blogs are only the tip of the iceberg. All the real action is on Twitter yo!
• JaxBeard – Tweets about beards. Nuff said!

There are several other local movers and shakers that are excellent Twitterers you can check out on my Following page.

Geeky Stuff

• Wil Wheaton – He played Ensign Wesley Crusher on Star Trek:TNG and he’s just a big geek, blogger, actor, and all-around amusing guy. Expect to read conversations between him and his iTunes.
• Felicia Day – The object of every fanboy and geek’s affection. She was in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and produces her own web show about WoW players called The Guild.
• Kevin Rose – This dude is like my age and is like king of the geeks. He created Digg and Pownce if that means anything to you. He also does a webshow called Diggnation with…
• Alex Albrecht – He also does The Totally Rad Show.
• Andrew Baron – He started Rocketboom, an internet pop culture show.

Other

• Warren Ellis – The wildest writer in comics. Man rarely sleeps due to an insane Red Bull addiction and spends most of the day at the pub (he lives in England). The shit he says is the most absurd bunch of nonsense in the Twitterverse!
• Shepard Fairey – Probably not the real Shep but it seems like an official Twitter account for Obey. Pretty much just lets you know when new blog posts are published.

Just so you are in the know, there is talk of a forthcoming Twestival for all you happy tweet-monkeys out there, so stay tuned for more right here or check the source. In closing I’ll send you back to Revision3 for a sweet little video by the good people at Epic Fu about how to be a Twitter power-user. Now go forth and tweet!

My New Favorite Local Band: Buff Clout

It was a cold one last night, but not too cold to stop Art Walk from being dopetastic! If you were too lame to brave a little cold weather then you missed a killer art project in the OLB, and if you missed that, you missed my new favorite local band – Buff Clout.



When I heard them start to play, all I could think of was holy shit, is this happening? It’s not what I’ve come to expect from a Jacksonville band, but then again, I have no idea what to expect from Jacksonville bands. They played two shows of the same set and during the first I mentioned to someone that only real musicians would probably be able to appreciate this. I say that because it is spazzy and mathy. I personally have a soft spot for irregular and constantly shifting time signatures and this duo brought the thunder like Geddy Lee and Neil Peart! They didn’t sound like Rush though. Not at all. They also didn’t sound like Dillinger Escape Plan, which was the other band that came to mind. It is unique and impressive in a way that can only be explained by observation. And lucky for all you toolbags who missed the show, they just so happen to be playing tomorrow night at Shantytown. For FREE!



In other local music news, I was handed a compilation CD last night from a friend I met at the House Show a couple weeks back. The album is for a new local label, Infintesmal [sic] Records who have an impressive list of bands they are promoting. The disc has 24 solid tracks from groups like Tuffy, Honey Chamber, Horse Thieves, and Lazerstar, just to name a few. It looks to be a limited run of 100 and they sell for $5 so if you see this, be sure to snatch it before it’s gone! There’s some really good stuff on here. They also have some shows coming up. I fyou don’t want to see Buff Clout, their band, D.M. Waltz is playing Cafe 331 tomorrow. There is also a showcase show at Shantytown on February 20th.

And finally, Wild Flower, Telepathik Friend, Guardians of the Thickets and others are playing Shantytown this Sunday at a benefit show. Be there!

Beards Are The New Black!

Hopefully you haven’t yet shaved that weekend stubble because it’s time to grow out that beard, son!



The Jacksonville Beardsmith Society is starting a Pub Night on the last Tuesday of every month right around the corner at Steamworks in 5 Points! The group is the local chapter of Beard Team USA, who compete against the rest of the world in annual competitions to determine who has the most rad facial hair. The group has a simple little website up, a new logo courtesy of Dog & Pony Showprints, and a Twitter account you can follow. And of course, there is a Facebook group and a MySpace page as well.

So, if you aren’t keeping track, the meet-up is tomorrow night at 7:30. Bring your bearded or mustachioed face, or just show up and borrow a beard. I guess bearded ladies are welcome too, and of course, chicks who dig facial hair!