The World Is So Good That Who Made It Doesn't Live Here

I finally had a chance to sit down and watch my copy of last year's Criterion Collection Gummo. Still one of the ugliest yet also most beautiful films I've seen, and the upgrade was just in time. I believe my previous viewing was somewhere circa 2019, at L.A.'s Egyptian Theatre, when Beyondfest brought Writer/Director Harmony Korine in to discuss the film afterward. I wrote about that experience HERE. My old DVD copy was just not going to cut it any longer.

One of Gummo's many joyful characteristics is its soundtrack, and while it led me to several fantastic artists in the early days of my infatuation with the film - I first saw it somewhere around 1999, I think - Mystifier is a band I'd previously not explored. 

Hailing from Brazil, these guys have a pretty interesting history. The song "Give the Human Devil His Due" comes from their 1996 album The World Is So Good That Who Made It Doesn't Live Here. How's that for a title, eh? The entire record is good, but so far this track is still the highlight (although that's very likely due to my identifying it with one of my favorite films).

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Watch:

A Butthole Surfers documentary???? Yes: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt began select screenings in April!

Director Tom Stern has apparently been documenting the band since 1986, so this should be chock full O' historical moments that help cement this band's ironically insane tenure. I'm not sure where to see it at the moment, but I've subscribed to the film's YouTube channel, so hopefully, there will be some news soon. In the meantime, you can read more about the film on its official website HERE.

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Read:

Finally began tapping into the Weird Walk collection released last year:

This is a beautiful hardback book that compiles essays from the 'zine I've talked about here before. The authors cite everything from Jacques Derrida's writings on Hauntology to Julian Cope's The Modern Antiquarian as they set about discussing pre-history, deep time and their theory that to save the future, we must look back at the past. 

This won't be a 'straight-through' read for me. More likely, I will do an essay or two a week while I read other things on a daily basis.

You can check out more from Weird Walk on their website HERE.

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Playlist:

Pelican - Flickering Resonance

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Rollins Band - Human (The End of Silence 1991 Demo)

TAD - Inhaler

White Lung - Paradise

Helmet - Meantime

The Ocean - Heliocentric

Young Widows - Old Wounds

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

Kamasi Washington - Lazarus OST

King Khan & The Shrines - What Is?!

Federale - No Justice

Idles - Joy As An Act of Rebellion

Anthrax - Among the Living

Mystifier - The World Is So Good That Who Made It Doesn't Live Here

David Bowie - Black Star

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Five of Pentacles

• Queen of Swords

• Page of Swords

Intellect over Earthly concerns, or perhaps this is better interpreted as Intellect to hone Earthly concerns.

New Historical Live Butthole Surfers Record!

 

Butthole Surfers released a live album today! Live At the Leather Fly is on all streamers and available for order on vinyl. It doesn't look like distributor Sunset Blvd Records has a web store, however, one thing I thought was pretty cool is their "buy" link takes you to the standard link tree, only the Record Store Day website sits atop all the other links. From this website, you can order the record from a list of independent record stores nationwide. I thought that was pretty cool.

Apparently, the Leather Fly is not a real club, and there's no real record of when this show took place that I could find. Presumably, the liner notes might have something. However, this is the Butthole Surfers we're talking about...

"Back in the 80s Gibby used to fantasize about a nightclub called the Leather Fly. He wanted it to have a stuffed leather fly hanging in front of it." - That's a Paul Leary quote that's on the youtube page for this song. The album has a fantastic track listing, leaning heavily on pre-Capitol Records Surfers (the best Surfers) but with a peppering of what may have been early versions of tracks that would wind up on that Capitol debut, Independent Worm Saloon. I thought about posting something older than what I went with, but this version of "The Annoying Song" is pretty epic, and it just kind of felt right to put this out in the world today.

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NCBD:

I spent Monday-Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio on a totally impromptu trip based around K's Grandmother's failing health, so I did not get a chance to make it out to the comic shop until last night. Here's what I brought home:

The new arc begins and Megatron is back, kicking ass and taking names. This series has a level of brutality to it that I very much appreciate - one major character meets a crazy, violent end in this one, and it adds to the chaotic uncertainty that haunts the characters. That's a pretty cool approach to the Transformers, who historically kind of hit the ground running wherever you drop them.

Lemire and Walta bring us a new chapter in the current story arc, "The Horror Men," and it's more Highway-based X-Files meets Twin Peaks. We're going deep and dancing on the precipice of some answers, but that only makes it feel like we might have a much bigger picture than first alluded to. Love this book so very much.

I'm pretty bummed to see Justin Jordan and Maan House's Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave end. This final issue felt a bit rushed, but that might just mean I need to re-read the entire arc from the beginning. There's a much wider world we're only scratching at here, and I'd love to know more about the lineage of "the Weaver Witches" that we come in at the end of. 

Before I dig into the fourth and final issue of The Hive, I'm going to go back and re-read the entire series. This one has some story compression that I came at lopsided, and when I read last month's issue #3, I felt a bit lost. Really cool story and art, though, and with the collected "Volume One" announced for August, I'm hoping we might get a second volume at some point.

I had completely forgotten James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses started up this week. I know nothing about this one other than it is a double-sized (at least) book. Very much looking forward to reading this.

Oh my! I heard there was a big surprise in this year's Energon Universe Special, but I wasn't prepared for... 

Matt Trakker from M.A.S.K.! I wasn't really into MASK as a kid - there was a limit to what my folks would buy me and I think I somehow inherently understood that to add another toyline to my obsession would seriously delute what I could procure from Joe and Transformers - so I'm not nearly as invested in their presence being brought into the Energon Universe as others might be, however, I think it's awesome this is unfolding the way it is.

 

This is yet another notch in Oni Press's 2025 championship belt! Dark Regards is a comedic Black Metal tale of the forming of the band Witch Taint and, ah, Lance, the King of Black Metal! First issue delivered the goods on satire, so I'm in. 

Very pleased to see Batman: Dark Patterns is going a full 8 issues! 

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Watch:

This is everything everyone is saying it is, and yes, I almost threw up.

 

How I made it 65% of the way through the film without realizing it's a take on Cinderella, I don't know. What I do know is The Ugly Stepsister is fantastic - dark and funny and gross and poignant, and Writer/Director Emilie Blichfeldt is one to watch. For your first film to be a period piece of such social and psychological scope is no small feat, and a lot of props should go out to the cast, as well. Especially lead Lea Myren, who goes through every possible emotion on film, sometimes in the course of a few seconds. The things "Elvira" goes through are... insane. 

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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Black Flag - My War

The Cops - Free Electricity

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Run The Jewels - RTJ4

Death Grips - The Money Store

Death Grips - No Love/Deep Web

This Movie Saved My Life Podcast - Unwatchable II

Crime Weekly Podcast - Rey Rivera Part 4

LARD - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Airiel - Audiotree Live

Airiel - Molten Young Lovers

Les Discrets - Prédateurs

Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood (single)

Killing Joke - Love Like Blood (single)

Killing Joke - Night Time

Killing Joke - Outside the Gate

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth

Rollins Band - Sessions on West 54th (2/26/00)

Henry Rollins & Mother Superior - Get Some Go Again Sessions

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Interpol - Antics

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Queen of Swords

• Page of Swords

• X: Wheel of Fortune

When Emotions affect Earthly concerns, indecision can look a lot like opportunity and vice versa.

Man, this tells me nothing! I think this is work, but I'm so out of touch with the cards and work at the moment, I'm going to have to just keep an eye on my emotions when dealing with certain folks. 

 

God I love this band.

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Watch:

The trailer for Indianna Bell & Josiah Allen's first feature You'll Never Find Me popped up in my youtube feed thanks to Shudder. While I've only watched the first 16 seconds of this, I instantly knew it was on my watchlist for March. 

Hell, this one drops on Shudder March 22 - days before my birthday - and I'm excited enough to know this will most likely be my birthday viewing, which is always something special. 

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Playlist:

The Damned - Evil Spirits

The Neighborhood - I Love You

Butthole Surfers - - Butthole Surfers + PCPep

Mannequin Pussy - Patience

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Freaked! at the Egyptian 1-17-20

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of seeing the 1993 movie Freaked at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Freaked is a film I don't think I had ever even heard of before a few weeks ago, when I caught sight of the screening via Beyondfest's Twitter. Even though I didn't know the film, I saw them tweet that Paul Leary would be present "with his guitar" and bought two tickets immediately.

Turns out, that was a very good thing...

Written by Alex Winter, Tim Burns, and Tom Stern, and directed by Winter and Stern, Freaked is an absolute marvel of practical FX, courtesy of Screaming Mad George, Alterian FX and XFX. The movie is an testament to a Hollywood that no longer exists. Costing Thirteen Million and boasting a cast that includes but is not limited to Winter, Brooke Shields, William Sadler, Gibby Haynes (yes, that Gibby Haynes), John Hawkes, Randy Quaid, an uncredited Keanu Reeves, and so many more, Freaked is absolute madness. And since this was a Beyondfest event, there was, of course, special guests.

The evening began in Peter Seychelle's comfortable study...

No, wait.

The evening began with Burns, Stern, and Winter explaining how Freaked grew out of their MTV show Idiot Box. From there, they played a first pass at a conceptual Rock n Roll Horror Movie they had attempted to spin out of the show, a feature-length film that, well, in their words, "Was basically The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the Butthole Surfers as the cannibal hillbilly family."

The footage was, of course, as insane as that might lead you to believe. They began with this clip from Idiot Box, to clear up a joke at the beginning of the film:



Then moved to the aforementioned Rock n Roll Horror Film, Entering Texas:



From there Freaked played, with a stop motion "Holo Rollins" Henry Rollins discount "hologram" set in time to sing with Freaked, the Rollins/Blind Idiot God title song that plays over David Daniels' brilliant hand-animated title sequence title sequence. During the film, Paul Leary did indeed take the stage several times to play live guitar over key "freak out" sequences.

By this time, I considered my investment to have already paid off ten-fold.

After the film the special guests took the stage and Burns, Stern, and Winter were joined by Catherine Hardwicke, John Hawkes, composer Kevin Kiner, the real Henry Rollins, Lee Arenberg, Megan Ward, and FX maestros Bill Corso, Tony Gardner, and I think Jim Eustermann, although by the time we got to the three FX gurus, things were a bit of a blur.

Every time I get frustrated with living in LaLa Land, something like this happens and I am reminded why I absolutely love living in this city. Special thanks to Beyondfest, Mondo/DeathWaltz, and @troniks on Twitter, who provided the beautiful 35mm print of the film. A wonderful night all around. Oh, and all that wonderful Idiot Box and early Winter/Burns/Stern footage comes from turdburglar27's wonderful youtube channel where you too, can watch Entering Texas.

Song:

While I was at the Egyptian last night witnessing early 90s Cinematic Magic, the Melvins played a pop up LaLa Land Gallery. Here's Inky Psyops and Printed Schemes, a song I am not familiar with at all, courtesy of Baby Gorilla, whose channel is always chock full o' great live music.




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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Towards the Light
Mol - Jord
Godflesh - Hymns
Zonal - Wrecked
Butthole Surfers - Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac

Card:

The Air of Water, a reminder to temper emotion with intellect, not always an easy thing to do.

2018: February 22nd,

Woke up with Coast to Coast, the second track on Tune-Yards new album, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life in my head. I can't find a good version of it to embed here so instead here's the Melvins covering The Butthole Surfers in honor of the fact that the new Melvins album is out soon and features Jeff Pinkus on second bass for the entire album:



So good...


Playlist from 2/21:

Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Tune-Yards - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Brookville - Life in the Shade
Somnium Nox - Apocrypha
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Windhand - Soma
House of Waxwork Vol. #2 OST
Sinoia Caves - Beyond the Black Rainbow OST

New installment of Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is HERE.

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire:

Indicates greater objectivity/clarity
Healthy balance of emotions and intellect
Good time to make decisions
I can see clearly now the rain has gone

Hmm... Well, the convolutions thicken with the prospective move; the place we had settled on is out, a potentially better place has popped up and I suppose this is telling me to balance my approach inspire of exhaustion (which I haven't so much as half the right to claim as K does).

Oh! Check this out - Metallica Garage Days Re-Revisitied reissue; the CD comes in a limited edition long box like CDs used to come in back in the day. $10 bucks for the second of the only two albums by this band you need to own? Check!

Butthole Surfers @ Doornroosje 1985

I never saw them live but out of everything I've found thus far on youtube this clip comes closest to what I always thought one of their shows would have looked like back in the day. Completely fucking insane. How couldn't it be, the original name of the band was The Inalienable Right to Eat Fred Astaire's Asshole. Why the change guys? Really?

Anyway, while googling the aforementioned original band name I found this excellent page HERE that is an oral history of the Surfers. Wow - such a good read. Should be converted into one of those Brilliant little 3 31/3 books.

Also, in researching my missing copy of Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac I found the cover artist's website. Pretty wicked: http://www.macioce.org/