rob roberge's blog

New sex column up at SandM.com

2007-07-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.sandm.com/c/category/instruction-advice/

enjoy-feel free to leave comments there--thanks

Rob

Long Time, no Blog!

2007-07-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

My latest Column is up at Myrareguitars.com...for those not wanting to follow a link..her it is...

Rob's Crazy eBay Finds!

I'm a vintage gear nut, but I'd like to think I'm not a total analog snob. While most of my amps are tube amps (and rare or oddball tube amps, at that), and most of my pedals are pretty old school (mostly home made fuzz boxes and a Homebrew Electronics Power Screamer), I have some digital stuff I really dig.

For instance, the since-discontinued Behringer Vintager AC112, is a pretty great solid state amp/tube hybrid (a single 12AX7 in the preamp stage) with some killer digital effects. You can snag them for under $150 on eBay and they're worth every penny, if for the eleven reverbs alone. Yup, that's right. Eleven reverbs - various models from spring reverb emulation to studio, stage, chamber and plate reverb. And all pretty snazzy sounding. Is everything about it great? Nope - or else I wouldn't own all these Valcos and Magnatones and Silvertones. What doesn't it do? Well, for one, the distortion blows chunks. It doesn't have the richness and depth and dimension when it saturates - which, for me, is the true greatness of tubes specifically and analog technology in general.

Take, for instance, the difference of recording drums on digital versus tape. Push the tape a little hard and you get a warm thick lush saturation. Push the digital too hard and you get that crappy "fcccttttt" sound. Digital does cleans really well, but when you want that sound of tape saturation, there?s nothing quite like the real thing.

This is especially true with tape delay units. Run in front of a good tube amp, a nice tape echo unit can act as a great thickening preamp, along with its more obvious (and intended) applications, such as the delay itself.

What tape delay unit should you get? Got a thousand bucks - then go for the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. It's an amazing piece of machinery and probably the best sounding delay I've ever heard. However, most of us (especially us Valco/Teisco/Silvertone loving dweebs) wouldn't pay a grand for a tape delay, when there are several really cool options available for a lot less money. And add the fact that they sound as good in their own way, and, wow, let's go shopping.

Along with the Fulltone, at the high dollar end of the market, is a vintage Maestro Echoplex. This is the Jimmy Page classic - sounds great. Well designed and pretty awesome. But also really expensive - so, not for us. Another classic, really expensive and not for us tube tape delay? The Watkins Copycat.

If we're going to come down the price ladder, we're going to have to get to the solid state vintage devices. And here, I'd argue, is where a lot of the great deals (and great sounding units) and hiding out, waiting to be snagged up. Solid state tape delay units are a great deal on the vintage market - and since so much of the vintage delay tone comes from the tape itself and not the tube, the solid state is a great, reliable, good sounding option here.

Arguably the most famous of the solid state delays is the Brian Setzer favorite - the Roland Space Echo. This is a killer sounding unit - capable of combining (in the RE-301 model, at least) the slap-back delay along with Roland's awesome chorus effect - quite a combination. These seem to be going in the $450-700 range these days on eBay. Better than the price of the tube units, but still too much for the frugal (i.e. cheap bastards) among us.

So, what's a rockabilly boy or girl to do? Two relatively unsung (but worthy of praise) vintage tape delay models are a good option here. The Univox Echo Tech (reputedly used, for what it's worth, on Van Halen's Eruption - not my cup of tone tea, but one many people love big time). The Univox units go for around $200 (for one needing work) to $350, but they are more often than not broken, or in need of work (more than the other vintage units, these seem to lose a point or two for reliability).

And, last but definitely not least in this roundup is this month's crazy eBay find:

The Electra EP 350 Flat Response Tape Echo. Like the Roland, this is a combination unit (the Electra carries a reverb along with the tape delay, rather than a chorus). Unlike say, an Echoplex, the Electra doesn't use a tape cartridge - but rather has a loop of tape running free on one side, then it gets fed over six heads as it travels around a see-though top (which is just too cool).

How does it sound? Pretty awesome - as good as the Roland Space Echo. Rich, with a fat density and a very versatile (for analog - no 15 second delays here - also no cool "Sound on Sound" feature like an Echoplex, sadly) range of echo tones. The reverbs are pretty cool. There's a standard reverb that sounds very much like one from an Ampeg (the jazzy verb as opposed to Fender's surf vibe), plus a "cathedral" reverb that's very cavernous indeed.

On the echo side, there's the echo alone, or the echo combined with any (or all!) of the reverbs. You can choose several modes - with different tape heads being engaged in a number of combinations. With controls for "Echo" (depth), "Echo Repeat" and "Delay Time" you can go anywhere from a subtle doubling/thickening, to full rockabilly slapback, to full feedback freakout (and NOTHING sounds quite like a tape echo with the "Repeat" and "Delay Time" both cranked and played with it's a zany sonic assault).

For the investigators and hunters among us, who made the Electra? Hard to say. Electra was imported and branded by the St. Louis Music company (of Ampeg fame, among others), but made in Japan at one of the many great effects manufactures there. Probably manufactured at the Shin-ei factory, but that's an educated (or semi-educated) guess. Be on the lookout. These are true Tape Echo units that have that singular vintage analog sound that you can only get from tape, and they can be had for half the price of most other vintage units (the finicky Univox excepted).

Questions or comments? Drop me a line at: robroberge@hotmail.com

or check out: www.myspace/robroberge for more information about my book, blogs and bands.

NAMM show column is up at myrareguitars.com...here's a look without the pics!

2007-01-31T13:07:00.000-08:00

2007 NAMM SHOW – by Rob Roberge

What I learned at my first NAMM show.

· The NAMM show is incredibly HUGE. It’s fitting that it’s across the street from Disneyland, as you end up walking just as much as you would at the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth (not when there’s a million guitars across the street, Walt). On a further plus, there’s a lot less puke and fewer children at the NAMM show.

· Parking is a slice of hell. Maybe two slices. And that’s with Disney running the parking, and Disney does parking with an efficiency that rivals the train schedules of Fascist Governments.

· NAMM is, however, one of the most incredibly organized colossal endeavors I’ve ever seen. We’re not just talking about hundreds upon hundreds of booths with guitars and amps and accordions and ukuleles, but full rooms of grand pianos and other enormous instruments. Add to this the complexity of visitor lists, vendors, exhibitors, performers, and so on, and it’s just incredible that the whole thing comes off without a train wreck of disasters.

· People who wear sunglasses indoors look like idiots. The NAMM show is no exception. Knock it off, people. If you don’t have some eye condition and you’re wearing sunglasses inside during the day, you look stupid. You do not look like a rock star. You look like a guy trying to look like a rock star. Which is really not an admirable goal for anyone over 14.

· The guys at the Eastwood booth were a kick and a half to hang out with for four days. Many laughs, much guitar geek love and a cool surf guitar show for the first two days by fellow Buster Keaton fan Peter Robinson of the CA surf band Surf Cinema. Thanks for the great time, guys!

· Metal and shredding are with us to stay. As is guitar-face. And sunglasses inside. And men in their fifties in leather pants. We can ask why, or we can accept it and move on.

I also learned there were a lot of guitars I wanted. The short list:

A radical Fritz Bros Jimmy Reed Thin Twin model (high end...got a spare four grand for a fellow down on his luck?)

A cheapie (retail under three bills) Dano Pro (in Aqua, and several colors that were not Aqua...which is what happens to me when a guitar is offered in Aqua and/or Sea Foam Green...I know only that it is offered in other, non-essential colors. Aqua, people!). It played really well, and it had an improved bridge over the last re-issues. And it comes in Aqua.

Some very cool Italia models, including an absolutely stunning twelve string electric with a beautiful headstock. Why aren’t there more sparkly guitars in the world? Well, Italia is doing their part to right that wrong. A big sparkly thanks, folks!

See-through Ampeg Dan Armstrong. I didn’t play it, but it’s see-through. That’s enough cool factor.

SEVERAL Eastwood models released at NAMM, but there were also a couple of others that will be ready in April - the AIRLINE Tuxedo “Kay Barney Kessel” Model and the Map Shaped Bass. The Saturn (man, that’s a fun guitar to play...and I got one!), The Town & Country (ditto), but the big hit was the Map Shaped Guitars. I’m guessing EASTWOOD sold out of those at the show. All great lookers and players.

And a bunch more. What else did I learn?

· Peavey continues to make solid, well-made really ugly stuff. 40 years and counting of truly aesthetically challenged design. You would think they might have accidentally made a cool looking guitar by now, but nope, you’d be wrong.

· There was a guy who always dressed in camouflage and sold machine-gun shaped electric guitars. I kept my distance.

· In a world of large booths, Fender and Gibson have REALLY large booths. No stunner there, but the Fender booth did have some cool historic guitars. They also had a new Eddie Van Halen model that costs a lot of money for something that looks like it was made in a high school shop class by a stoner in 1982.

· Randy Bachman seems like a nice guy in addition to being a legend who has played on lots of great tunes.

· I learned there were a lot of amps I wanted.

Again, the short list:

The new. Which isn’t really a re-issue, as I don’t think they ever did a Jet with 6V6 output tubes (a early Reverberocket, yes, maybe a Jet, but I don’t remember that...I’m pretty sure they all had 7591’s). But, anyway, it sounded great, and had only Volume, Tone and Tremolo Speed and Intensity knobs. Cool. Low wattage, few knobs. Gotta love that.

Our very own Don Mackrill’s Airline 18 Watt amplifier. Just a great looking and sounding amplifier. Hand made, with style and care and great tone. What’s not to love? Don, I want one in Sea Foam Green! (Everything should come in Sea Foam Green with a Bigsby option. I’d put a Bigsby on my Sea Foam kitchen table if I could).

Fargen’s 4x6V6 amp. Yummy. Four 6V6’s, which is such a cool way to get to your 30-40 watts, rather than the more conventional two 6L6’s.

What else?

· Joel Weaver of Home Brew Electronics, in addition to making my favorite overdrive pedal (The Power Screamer), is a nice guy. Check out his pedals. Great stuff.

· I begged Groove Tubes...I cajoled JJ Tubes...Nobody is going to make a new 7189A tube. Argh. This is sad news to a Magnatone M10 lover. They just don’t run on EL84’s, no matter how rugged, and there is an ever-dwindling (and ever-expensive) supply of 7189A’s. As my niece likes to say, this news is “poopy.” Poopy, indeed.

· A lot more people that I might have expected wanted Paul Stanley’s autograph. But, hey, it’s a big world. More power to him, I suppose.

· There’s one very cranky and not incredibly competent woman who checks your bags on the way out. There may be more than her, but I kept running into the same one. She would demand I open my bag, not really look in, and then bark at me to move on. I could have had a severed head in that bag for all she knew. (I did NOT have a severed head, for those wondering at home).

· There are a LOT of people who play guitar better than me. That’s not a huge surprise to me, but when they’re all in the same room with you (albeit a VERY LARGE room), it’s pretty humbling. A lot of people who can play out there in the world. Pretty cool.

· I learned that I had to sell some stuff to make some room for what I carried out of there. NAMM is a heady experience, a gear freak’s nirvana (or close...maybe it would be nirvana with vintage axes, too), and a tiring sensory overload that’s a ball.

There’s nothing quite like it, and I can’t wait until next year to see what’s new.

See you in next month’s newsletter… Rob Roberge

Show This Saturday!

2007-01-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hey folks…I’m playing a show with the CHAIRS OF PERCEPTION (that’s me getting to make some big noise with Kevin Barrett and John Talley Jones from LA punk rock legends URINALS and 100 FLOWERS)…this SATUDAY at the BUCCANEER bar in Sierra Madre.

This is a really cool, intimate bar (with PIRATE PAINTINGS!) just on the east side of Pasadena and we're playing with the great JR. JUGGERNAUT and PROJECT K. Get there early as JR. JUGGERNAUT is great…stay late, as, well, so are we.

This show's gonna be a blast...It's a Saturday night...It's free...What the hell else do you want?!??

SEE YOU THERE!

9:30 Jr. Juggernaut / 10:30 Project K / 11:30 The Chairs of Perception / 21+

January, 27 2007
THE BUCCANEER LOUNGE
70 W. Sierra Madre Blvd
Sierra Madre, 91024

Chairs Show this Weds...12/6

2006-12-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

The Chairs of Perception

That’s John and Kevin from the Urinals/100 Flowers, and me…are playing this Weds…

December, 6 2006 at THE WRITER'S GARAGE (Long Beach)

Dipiazzas Lava Lounge, 5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, California 90804
Cost: $5.00 (after 8PM…FREE before)

Mike Martt at 7pm / Pete Weiss reading at 8pm / Chairs of Perception at 9pm / Satellite Dogs at 10pm.

All ages until 10pm, FREE before 8pm. 562-498-2461

New Column up...enjoy!

2006-12-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

I have a new column up...for fans of guitars, amps, snarky humor, Jimmy Page and/or (on the odd chance) my writing...click here:

http://www.myrareguitars.com/ebaymythsandmisinformation.html

also, check out the guitar store at myrareguitars.com while you're there. My buddy Mike owns the company and he has some GREAT stuff (what with the holidays coming up, you might want to get your favorite guitarist (and/or noir novelist :) something cool.

PEACE

Rob

Reading at The Writers Garage NOV 29th!

2006-11-16T14:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, so lots of people tell me I should give more notice...Well, here's some. I'm reading at The Writers Garage (hosted/started by Mike Martt) on November 29th...less than two weeks. Put it in your datebook now--this is a great weekly night in Long Beach. Usually it's two or three bands, with the reading at 8PM...so come on out every Wednesday, but I'll be reading from my novel in progress on the 29th.

7pm every Wednesday
@ Dipiazzas Lava Lounge, 5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway
Long Beach, CA 90804 - 562-498-2461

Cost Free before 8PM, $5 after

Reading at Book Soup...Sunday @ 1PM...

2006-10-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Come one, come all...I'll be reading from my new novel in progress (the sqallor-laden "Check Engine")...either a funny/sad suicide cleanup scene, or the woman on the Sybian scene...don't bring children unless you want them to grow up and write suicide cleanup scenes and/or women on Sybian scenes :)

AND--I'm reading with the super cool and great Gina Frangello (the editor of the literary journal Other Voices and the author of the brilliant My Sister's Continent), Holiday Reinhorn (author of Big Cats) and my buddy Tod Goldberg (http://todgoldberg.typepad.com). Should be a kick and a hoot. We'll be signing books. Tod and I will probably be talking and accidently offend many people (it seems to happen a lot).

http://www.booksoup.com/author-events.asp

Blog about thursdays show at the Fillmore (where we got to encore on stage with Yo La Tengo, among many other highlights) coming soon.

The Return of Guitar Porn! By Request

2006-10-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

So, very few people may read this blog, but the ones who do were pissed at me for not having guitar porn in quite a while, so here is a long awaited double dose for you git and amp fans...

A mid 1960's SANO guitar (probably a re-branded Goya model), made in Italy with a SWEET, fast neck and a surprisingly deep, bassy tone out of the neck pickup...

Played through its newest friend, a 1966 LECTROLAB S400 which, after a re-cap and a tune up is officially my favorite practice amp ever (kicks a Champ's ass). Great overdrive from an EL 84 output tube through 2 eight inch speakers...and a AWESOME throbby tremolo. If you can find one of these, get one. The re-issues are pretty rad, too, but this original (date stamped Nov. 14, 1966, which makes it five months younger than me-ha!) is just too much.

Coming next: Rejected Band Names!

Upcoming shows. LA/SF...

2006-09-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

A lot of appearances coming up...First...Sunday, Sept 24 at Zen Sushi in LA...The Chairs (me and Kevin/John of the Urinals/100 Flowers...still thrilled these guys let me play with them) with the GREAT Human Hands AND the GREAT Reform School Girls (one of my fave bands in town, with our rocking amazing pal Katrina holding down the thud staff)...and a coupla short openers i don't know yet...

The skinny:

The Chairs of Perception

September, 24 2006 at Zen Sushi
2609 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles, 90027
Cost: $5.00

Doors at 8pm In order of appearance (subject to change): Slo Mo Erotic / Eva Brontosaurus / Human Hands / The Chairs of Perception / Reform School Girls

THEN, the Chairs are probably playing Fri 9/29 at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park...more info to follow.

I'm doing a reading with my buds Tod Goldberg, Holliday Reihnhorn & Gina Frangello on Oct 23rd...I'll be reading from my new novel-in-progress, AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DESIRE...

AND in other (BIG) news...the Chairs are playing the Fillmore (you read that right) on Oct 19th...a Thursday, opening for Yo La Tengo.

More info as it comes...

BIG BOOK GIVEAWAY CONTEST!!

2006-09-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

OK--I will give away my FIRST (and will personalize and sign and doodle on the thing, too) french copy of my novel PANNE SECHE (it translates, roughly, to Brokedown Dry)...TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO CORRECTLY ANSWERS THIS QUESTION (and Kevin Barrett and Kevin Cain cannot, sorry guys, play this, as they have seen me ask this Q before...but you may each have a French copy, anyway.).... Q: WHAT DO EVIL KENEVIL and HANK WILLIAMS (Sr.) have in common? Answer to this blog...as I said, first correct answer gets the French book. And the Cliff Clavin "What are two people who have never been in my kitchen" is not an acceptable correct response... MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW is out in France, and here is one of those Google Tranlated desciptions of it! I love the bio..."It lives in California" After having curtly been made plate by his/her girlfriend. Nick decided to leave for California for all to begin again to zero. Unfortunately for him. Nick is a loser: failed like a gull mazoutée Length Beach, a small seaside resort on the decline, it works as night porter in a hotel art déco stripped plaster in authority of demolition. When it bump not, Nick spends his time to picoler and to take drugs in company of his/her two friends: Joe, a former lawyer in the wind become junkie but which after a fashion try to go up the slope, and Sergei, a Russo-Batavian psychopathe and flambor ready with all for a package of dollars. All dream of the large blow which will make them rich. When Nick falls by chance on an old stock from computers from the FBI, which contain a list of people profiting from the programme of protection of the witnesses like their new identities, it thinks of having shoed the good bargain. Helped of his/her companions in misfortune. Nick decides to find the witnesses and to make them sing. Of course. nothing will occur as envisaged. Loser one day, loser always… Meteor mild nutter, removed from rim account, dry Panne are a little the meeting of the Nickelled Feet and Big Lebowski passed to black sauce… Fasten your seat belts!

Rob Roberge is a novelist, scenario writer and plays of the guitar in a group of rock' roll. It lives in California. Dry breakdown is its first novel to be appeared with the Black Series.

With a Name Like Hitler, it has to be good

2006-08-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

So, there's a new restaurant in India called Hitler's Cross.

“We wanted to be different. This is one name that will stay in people’s minds,” owner Punit Shablok told Reuters. “We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different.”

Hmmm. Different in that genocide, crazy on meth invading countries and starting wars way? Or maybe he just had an unusual flare for spicing his sauces that we're all unaware of.

Hey honey, let's get takeout from Hitler's tonight. Oh, my.

NY Reading

2006-08-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Reading at The Half King was a kick...people there are great, and if any of you get the chance to go, you should...

Also, the weather was great in NY...got to see my agent who i had seen in years and meet my foreign rights agent who is smart and beautiful and if she can't sell my book to those countries other than rockin France (who already has), well there's something wrong with the countries or the book.

A great trip--saw family, met my new nephew (who's enormous...he will crush us all) and got to hang with many old and new friends in the big town.

Glad to be back though. Gayle to hang with...Amps to fix. Stray cats to feed in the yard. And, of yeah, the new book to work on.
RR

NY Reading, August 14th!

2006-08-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts...have been working on the new book and, in general, not keeping up with stuff...

For those of you who wouldn't mind spreading the word to your pals on the other coast :)

i'm reading from MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW (maybe the famed love/enema scene, or the fetal pig selling scene, i haven't decided), and a new section from my in-progress novel-in-stories (a story called INTERSTATE at the moment)...about selling blood and a meth deal gone bad...bring the kids...

anyway, the scoop, the skinny, the inside dope from the inside dope himself: The reading is AUG 14th at 7PM at Sebastian Junger's (The Perfect Storm) bar/restaurant THE HALF KING...should be a fun night...spread the word :)

info:

http://www.thehalfking.com/readings/

Thanks,

Rob

Book info here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060742801/ref=pd_bxgy_img_b/102-3146198-3469700?ie=UTF8

My French Cover

2006-07-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Check it out...my last book (More Than They Could Chew) is coming out in France...here's the cover...out in september

cool

R

Summer Reading

2006-07-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

I just finished Steve Almond's and Julianna Baggott's WHICH BRINGS ME TO YOU, which is pretty fabulous and worth checking out...

And am now reading ONE OF A KIND, the biography of the doomed poker genius/gambling and drug adict Stu Ungar...what an amazing character...

Next...last year's STIFF by Mary Roach...

And a bunch of my student's fine work...

You?

Show at Safari Sam's

2006-06-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

sorry so long without posts...you two people who read this :)

So, the Chairs of Perception (www.myspace/chairsofperception) played Safari Sams last saturday with Savage Republic and it was a fun show. For those of you in LA who haven't checked out Sam's yet, you have to...what a great club...nice people, awesome sound system and free parking...what's not to love...Also, if you get a chance to see Savage Republic, you should...what a fun night out, in spite of one fan in the crowd (and, sadly, the asshole jumped up on stage for a few awkward moments) who reminded me why i don't drink anymore...

no shows or readings for a while, as i have my antoich residency coming up...on June 24th (two days after turning 40...egads), i plan to sleep...before then...no time.

2006-05-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks-

My first novel DRIVE is back in print. Out on Hollyridge Press (who did a beautiful printing of it) in hardcover. Please spread the word! Here are the links:

http://members.aol.com/hollyridgepress/drive1.htm

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097722984X/002-2171199-7093623?n=283155

Thanks-

Rob

Kitten Update

2006-05-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

They are on solid food, and running around the back yard and sleeping in flowerpots...they still need a home...here's a couple of 'em here:

c'mon...you know you want them...drop me an email if yr in socal.

Appearance this Saturday

2006-05-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

So, it's ARTSDAY LA this saturday...and I'm chairing a panel on publishing from 2:15 to 3:00...there will be a Q & A...and booksigning to follow...It's FREE and on the UCLA campus in Westwood...Details:

Writing and Publishing Fiction: A User’s Manual

Novels or short stories? Big presses versus small? Literary or genre fiction? And when do you know it’s time to quit your day job? Established writers reveal all.
Rob Roberge (chair), Kate Gale, Tod Goldberg, Linda Palmer, Mark Haskell Smith

MORE INFO:

http://www.uclaextension.edu/artsdayla/

upcoming shows :)

2006-05-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY MAY 5^th:

I’m reading from MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW (copies on sale) and/or from a new story that’s in the current issue of WASHINGTON SQ REVIEW

Super cool RACHEL KANN is reading, as is the poet CIRELLI!

The night closes with a loud set by me, Gayle and Steve, aka, The Danbury Shakes (myspace.com/danburyshakes)

FREE BOOOOOZEE for those who can still partake…DRINKING GAMES…MUSIC…

WHERE? the found theatre, 599 Long Beach Blvd. at 6th St, long beach, CA 90802
When?: 8PM (SHARP, you people)

Cost: 5 bux

AND THEN,

SUNDAY, MAY 7^th: The shakes and some other fine bands are playing at my bud Steve Almond’s (and his collaborator on their new novel, Julianna Baggott) LA reading…info BELOW:

Six Buck Sunday at Fais Do Do

Contact: Christine Louise Berry

Founding Artistic Director, Smart Gals

323.302.2257

christine@smartgals.org

Los Angeles, May 7, 2006

Smart Gals Supper Club Series Launch @

Fais Do Do

5257 W. Adams

Los Angeles, CA 90016

323.954.8080

Live Music, Live Reading & Supper hosted by Smart Gals at Café-Club Fais Do Do, Sunday May 7, 2006. Doors

Join us for supper, or come just for the words and the music, when Smart Gals hosts a semi-literary Supper Club at Fais Do Do to celebrate the release of Which Brings Me to You, a collaborative novel by Steve Almond & Julianna Baggott. The evening will begin with a live set from local singer-songwriter Holly Ramos (http://www.hollyramos.com/), followed by the sounds of the Santiago Steps (http://www.santiagosteps.com/), the Danbury Shakes (http://www.myspace.com/danburyshakes) and the ever-popular Evangenitals (http://www.evangenitals.com/), all intertwined with readings by Almond & Baggott.

Doors open at 6:30 for supper, and amusements begin promptly at 7:30pm.

Admission: $6.00

Books: $23.95*

*Complimentary individual admission with purchase of book from Smart Gals!

___

3 upcoming gigs...me and/or me and the Shakes

2006-04-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

3 upcoming shows….

one book appearance, one reading/show with the Danbury shakes, and yet another show with the shakes

Saturday, April 29th

10:00 AM - Mystery: Straight Shooters
Dodd 147 PANEL 1011
Moderator Mr. Leslie Klinger
Mr. Rob Roberge
Ms. Barbara Seranella
Mr. John Morgan Wilson

FRIDAY MAY 5^th:

I’m reading from MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW (copies on sale) and/or from a new story that’s in the current issue of WASHINGTON SQ REVIEW

Super cool RACHEL KANN is reading, as is the poet CIRELLI!

The night closes with a loud set by me, Gayle and Steve, aka, The Danbury Shakes (myspace.com/danburyshakes)

FREE BOOOOOZEE for those who can still partake…DRINKING GAMES…MUSIC…

WHERE? the found theatre, 599 Long Beach Blvd. at 6th St, long beach, CA 90802
When?: 8PM (SHARP, you people)

Cost: 5 bux

AND THEN,

SUNDAY, MAY 7^th: The shakes and some other fine bands are playing at my bud Steve Almond’s (and his collaborator on their new novel, Julianna Baggott) LA reading…info BELOW:

Six Buck Sunday at Fais Do Do

Contact: Christine Louise Berry

Founding Artistic Director, Smart Gals

323.302.2257

christine@smartgals.org

Los Angeles, May 7, 2006

Smart Gals Supper Club Series Launch @

Fais Do Do

5257 W. Adams

Los Angeles, CA 90016

323.954.8080

Live Music, Live Reading & Supper hosted by Smart Gals at Café-Club Fais Do Do, Sunday May 7, 2006. Doors

Doors open at 6:30 for supper, and amusements begin promptly at 7:30pm.

Admission: $6.00

Books: $23.95*

*Complimentary individual admission with purchase of book from Smart Gals!

___

Festival of Books...Time & place...

2006-04-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am not a mystery writer, but i am on this panel this coming saturday...odd, but they let me talk and sell and sign books, so who am i to correct?

Saturday, April 29th

10:00 AM - Mystery: Straight Shooters
Dodd 147 PANEL 1011
Moderator Mr. Leslie Klinger
Mr. Rob Roberge
Ms. Barbara Seranella
Mr. John Morgan Wilson

writin' news!

2006-04-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

On the writing front, some news: I’ll be appearing & signing books at the LA Times Festival of Books (April 29-30^th). More info here.

http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/program_panelsSat.html

And some very cool news. Hollyridge Press is re-issuing my first novel DRIVE, and it should be coming out in the next couple of months in hard cover and paperback. More details to follow soon.

Also, the French-language version of MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW should be out in Europe in hardcover in September…coolio

Kittens, anyone

2006-04-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

So, i'm cleaning out the garage and i find this!

Kittens...!

who wants some? they're cute and...well, they're cute...isn't that enough for you stone hearted bastards...help em out...at left, protective, growly mom cat...she needs a home, too...drop me an email if you can help...

Buck Owens...

2006-03-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

RIP...the great Buck Owens died...

And that guy from Creed is still alive?

Jeez.

upcoming appearances...

2006-03-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

Upcoming events in my me-centric universe…

BOOK STUFF:

I’m on the TV!

SAT. March 18^th…I’ll be reading from MORE THAN THEY COULD CHEW (called by various folks, ‘kink-noir,’ ‘a breath of dirty fresh air’…fic pic by the Sunday NY times back in april 2005…) on “Marty’s Corner” (with Marty Shields)…i’ll be doing a short reading from the novel (either the enema sex/love scene or the fetal pigs for sale scene…I have not decided…I also don’t know if there are any restrictions about what I’m allowed to read…), tossing free copies into the crowd (thanks, Danielle at Harper Collins, for my promo tossin’ copies), and then chatting on the couch with Marty about something or other…tune in, or come by the studio for the live taping. More info:

On Adelphia channel 3 (KCAT), the Current Marty's Corner plays EVERY Saturday at 8:00 pm (PST) and every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Midnight. The Previous month's Marty's Corner also plays Fridays at 5:00 pm and 9:00. More info:

http://www.martyscorner.com/index.html

MUSIC:

The Danbury Shakes have 2 shows coming up….The Shakes are a 3-piece of melodic fuzzy garage tunes by rob (g-vox), gayle (bass-vox) & steve (drums…massive cowbell)

http://www.myspace.com/danburyshakes

Hear new tunes! See yet another of Rob’s obscure vintage amps! Get Gayle to flex for ya and marvel at her rock hard gym bod and bass prowess…ask steve for more cowbell!

W/Seatbelt & the Pecking Order (a great band)

When: 3/24, Friday…9PM

Where:

HAROLD’S PLACE, 1908 S. Pacific Ave.

In lovely SAN PEDRO

2^nd show!

SMART GALS Speakeasy…we play from 8:30-9PM…a short set…but come earlier for the art, the cool people, the drinks…3/26 SUNDAY

More info & password at: www.smartgals.org

7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Mt. Hollywood Underground
4607 Prospect Avenue, Los Feliz

Guitar & Amp Porn

2006-03-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun pair...my '66 Harmony H-72 (got on tour back in 87 or 88, in a philly pawn shop--traded it for a diamond earring my grandmother had given me to set in a ring when i 'met the right girl'...i was certain the right girl would understand trading a dumb old earring for a H-72 with a factory Bigsby and sweet sounding DeArmong pickups)...along with a buddy's beautiful late 40's Magnatone amp...i just replaced all the caps and a bunch of other stuff...it's singing...very tweed deluxe tone. Yummy.

Guitar and amp porn

2006-03-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Up for display this week is an early 60's Kay...a killer little amp...tube line-up for the gear geeks...5Y3 rectifier...2 12ax7's, one 12au7 for the tremolo and 2 6V6 for screamin output.

How's it sound? Like a Tweed Deluxe, but with a little more volume...and check out the crazy swirly grill.

next to it is one of my beater gits that i play/abuse in the Chairs...(i didn't want to hit my tele or Jazzmaster with a wrench, as I do in that band for huricanes of noise)....a 1982 squire Bullet 1 (with Telescaster neck...yum).

CTU...Agent Jack Bauer

2006-02-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

A friend send me the list below...for 24 fans...enjoy :)







If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a

gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.

If you wake up in the morning, it's because Jack Bauer spared your life.

Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer killed

Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.

Jack Bauers calender goes from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Jack Bauer.

If it tastes like chicken, looks like chicken, and feels like chicken, but Jack

Bauer says its beef. Then it's definitely f&%#ing beef.

Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

When Kim Bauer lost her virginity, Jack Bauer found it and put it back.

Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour

torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.

1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Sounds like a fair fight.

Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is

because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.

When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists. Jack Bauer

f**king hates lemonade.

Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.

Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves.

Osama bin Laden's recent proposal for truce is a direct result of him finding

out that Jack Bauer is, in fact, still alive.

Jack Bauer once double teamed a girl.. by himself.

Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in Middle Eastern men.

Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because he was shooting at

another terrorist twelve miles away.

When Jack Bauer was a child, he made his mother finish his vegetables.

If Rosa Parks was in Jack Bauer's seat, she'd move to the back of the bus.

Your attraction to Jack Bauer in no way affects your sexual orientation.

Jack Bauer won the Tour de France on a unicycle to prove to Lance Armstrong it

wasn't a big deal. He thinks yellow wristbands are gay.

Jack Bauer killed 93 people in just 4 days time. Wait, that is a real fact.

Simon Says should be renamed to Jack Bauer Says because if Jack Bauer says

something then you better f&%#ing do it.

Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.

Jack Bauer's favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite

color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.

When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jack Bauer jumps out.

When Google can't find something, it asks Jack Bauer for help.

You can lead a horse to water. Jack Bauer can make him drink.

When Jack Bauer pissses into the wind, the wind changes direction.

Jack Bauer can get McDonald's breakfast after 10:30.

When the boogie man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.

Every mathematical inequality officially ends with "<>

Jesus died and rose from the dead in 3 days. It took Jack Bauer less than an

hour. And he's done it twice.

In 96 hours, Jack Bauer has killed 93 people and saved the world 4 times. What

the f&%# have you done with your life?

Jack Bauer got Hellen Keller to talk.

If you spell Jack Bauer in a Scrabble game, you win. Forever.

In kindergarten, Jack Bauer killed a terrorist for Show and Tell.

Jack Bauer can order a Big Mac at Burger King.

Guns dont kill people, Jack Bauer kills people.

Jack Bauer laughs at the movie Mission Impossible. There is no such thing as an

impossible mission for Jack.

Jack Bauer once killed so many terrorists that at one point, the #5 CIA Most

Wanted fugitive was an 18-year-old teenager in Malaysia who downloaded the movie

Dodgeball.

If Jack and MacGyver were locked in a room together, Jack would make a bomb out

of MacGyver and get out.

What color is Jack Bauer's blood? Trick question. Jack Bauer does not bleed.

It would only take 1 bullet for Jack Bauer to kill 50 Cent.

People with amnesia still remember Jack Bauer.

Sun Tzu once wrote, "If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger,

join him. If he is Jack Bauer, you're f&%#ing dead."

Jack Bauer literally died for his country, and lived to tell about it.

Jack Bauer has been to Mars. Thats why theres no life on Mars.

Superman's only weakness is Kryptonite. Jack Bauer laughs at Superman for having

a weakness.

Every time you maturbate Jack Bauer kills a terrorist. Not beacuase you

masurbated, but because that is how often he kills terrorists.

When Batman is in trouble, he turns on the Jack Bauer signal.

No man has ever used the phrase, "Jack Bauer is a pussy" in a sentence and lived

to tel.........

You walk into a bar and Jack Bauer's your wingman, you're probably gonna get

laid.

It took Jack Bauer two minutes to beat a confession out of OJ.

Jack Bauer's family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child.

Once.

After 7 minutes of interrogation at the hands of Jack Bauer, Tom Cruise admitted

that he was gay.

If Jack Bauer was gay, his name would be Chuck Norris.

The Best Club in LA!

2006-02-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

Is going to be the new Safari Sam's...here's an article on Sam and the new club--please check this place out and support it if you care at all about art and music and love and passion in LA--Sam is one of the good ones-

http://www.ocweekly.com/music/music/sam%27s-club_2006-02-16.html

thanks

R

the return of amp porn

2006-02-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Recenty sold this one...a VALCO-made amp head (with 'stage lights') sold through the Mongomery Ward Catalog in the 60's and 70's...Deep, rich bottom...good reverb and hard clipping tremolo...6L6 output tubes...I had it running through 1 15" speaker, but it sounded big through 2 12"'s...a cool amp.

More soon.

new book by a friend...go buy, buy, BUY it!

2006-02-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

So, my sexy, smart, beautiful, incredible friend Joan Kelly's new book The Pleasure's All Mine: Memoir of a Professional Submissive is out (tomorrow, and a fine valentine's day gift for the kinkster smart pervert on your list), and you should go buy it...buy two, so you can give one away...and buy a backup of mine while you're at it :)

Seriously, here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786716487/qid=1139865620/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9083583-0154216?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

or pick it up locally...check out more info here:

sub-merged.net

Rick Dean, RIP

2006-02-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

LA (and, hell, the rest of the world) lost one of our great actors and people last week when Rick Dean, sadly, died. I had the honor of working with Rick on a short movie (the stills here are from that movie, "Honest Pete" with Rick and Gil Gayle) and a play and the enormous pleasure of seeing him in many other great performances. Rick was special. He is, and will continue to be, very missed.

drugs in the water supply

2006-01-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

So, i'm listening to NPR...and the story is there are a TON of drugs in our aquafers (sp?) and water supply...

i have been pounding tap water ALL day and I have decided, while there may be drugs in our water supply, there are not ENOUGH drugs in our water supply

lying bastards on nrp

r

my space

2006-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

OK, you people out there...i just, at someone's suggestion, started a myspace.com thingamabob...so, drop in and be my friend, as now it's kinda pathetic that i have 5 friends...thanks!

Friendlessly,

r

http://blog.myspace.com/robroberge

What's Shakin'? Why it's the Danbury Shakes

2006-01-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks-

The Danbury Shakes are playing FEB 3rd…come on out…at the Din-Din room in
Costa Mesa….(not vegas, as out promo to the right might suggest :)

The skinny:

When: Fri Feb 3rd @ 9:30PM

Where: Din Din at the Bamboo Terrace
1773 Newport Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 645-5550

http://bambooterrace.com/PHOTOS1.html

Hope to see ya there!

The Shakes

wow...official Blues Artist of Mass...

2006-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

are you going to take this lying down, "Little Blue Mike" Mike Dukakis? Get that tri-cone and lay some 12 bar on Beacon Hill! oh, wait...

"TAJ MAHAL - OFFICIAL BLUES ARTIST: The Senate ordered to third reading and engrossed S 2262 designating musician Henry St. Clair Fredericks, better known as Taj Mahal, as the official blues artist of the Commonwealth"

The Danbury Shakes are on line....

2006-01-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

and you can listen to some of our tunes here:

www.myspace.com/danburyshakes

stay tuned for a couple of feb gig announcements, too.

shakely

rr

git fiddles from the far east

2006-01-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

Here's one i let go and i sorta regret it...no, not cause it sounded great, or played well (it was okay at best, in these areas), but because it was soooooo friggin cool looking...with 4 (that's right 4...you Pat Metheny, Eddie Van Halen one pickup losers out there :) pickups...in chrome...great white finish...snazzy switch button on-off for each pickup AND .an overall on-off switch for when you need, need NEED to cover "London Calling" with the coolio Morse Code ending....a whammy bar that makes my beloved Bigsbys seems like a Floyd Rose...made, probably, at the Kawai factory in the early 70's...ah, one that got away...

A friend in Zyzzyva

2006-01-10T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hey folks...I just got this email from my buddy Patty Lin...she's a hell of a writer and worth checking out...so, check her out :) She writes: My first published fiction, a short story called "The Red Trumbull Diet," has been printed in the Winter 2005 issue of ZYZZYVA, a literary journal for West Coast writers and artists. For a list of independent bookstores where you can find ZYZZYVA, go to: http://www.zyzzyva.org/links.bkstores.htm For those of you who don't live on the West Coast, you can order a copy directly from the ZYZZYVA website: http://www.zyzzyva.org/zyzsample.htm To my surprise and delight, the editors of ZYZZYVA have nominated my story for the Pushcart Prize. To find out more, go to: http://www.pushcartprize.com/index.htm One more thing... On Saturday, February 11th, I'll be doing a reading of my work at a monthly literary event in San Francisco called Writers With Drinks. Please come see me if you're in the Bay area! Susie Bright (Best American Erotica) will also be reading that night. For more info about Writers With Drinks, go to: http://writerswithdrinks.com

guitar porn...the late edition II

2006-01-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

Looking for some cool tone that won't cost ya a fortune...? 1965 Airline 1x12" amp...I played this one side by side with a buddy of mine's late 50's Fender Tweed Deluxe and it was ALMOST as good an amp. And since you can get one of these for between 150.00 and $300.00 depending on the condidtion (AND the Airline has tremolo!) and the Tweed Deluxe will set you back in the 2 Grand area...it's a pretty good substitute.

It's a mid 60's Airline, with 2 6V6's for output, a 6X4 rectifier and 2 12axy's in the preamp. Made by Danelectro...much like the Silvertone 1482 (pictured below) but slightly deeper sounding, and not quite as cool looking (check the Silvertone's photo-rad)...

More soon...including some actual writing posts, and some more funky guitar stuff, including my new late 60's/early 70's Montgomery Ward (made by Valco) head....which i'll be playing with The Chairs...

Still using the Magnatones with The Violet Rays and The Danbury Shakes...the Shakes' demo is just about done and will be up at myspace.com soon.

RR

Guest Holiday Guitar Porn

2005-12-27T16:58:00.000-08:00

A reader and pal (and thanks to him) sends this drool-inducing guitar porn photo...and writes:

"Attached you will find a crappy photo of a couple of my rides. 1952 Les Paul, 1962 SG Junior, 1965 SG Standard (Pelham Blue)..."

Wow...some way cool git fiddles there...

Hope the season is treating everyone well...i asked santa for a 52 Les Paul with a Bigsby, but the chubby bastard came up a little short...actually, i didn't want much of anything...the house be full...maybe i should ask for a dumpster...

And I spent x-mass in a baptist church...no kidding...watching, among other things, a baptism and a pretty wretched 'worship' band. Luckily, they weren't putting any really cool equipment to waste...which would have been sad...

Hope everyone is having a healthy and sinful season. Amp pics soon.

Cheers

R

I, Fatty

2005-12-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

So, I'm in bed, with ssssssplitting headache and staggering amounts of phlegm...and on Court TV, there's some show (not a very good one) about the Fatty Arbuckle trials...which reminded me of one of the best reads of the year: Jerry Stahl's I, Fatty. A really great first person account of a life ...Stahl captures a wonderful voice and the prose is first-rate. Worth checking out. So long as you bought mine first--I'm all for helping out a fellow LA-area writer, but me first, after all. And, of course, after you buy copies of Tod Goldberg's new book Simplify...but you've already done that...or, I'm sure you'd be getting a sock full of coal.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582345821/qid=1135311234/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-6454728-9165726?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

the return of guitar porn

2005-12-19T19:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry so long away...but the schedule is getting back to normal...so here's a one of a kind...i bough this beat up one-pickup Danlectro Silvertone Amp-in-Case (a 1963, I think)...needed pickups, a new top...so, I went to a sheet metal scrap yard in Long Beach, carved an aluminum top, bought a Strat replacement pickguard (Mint Green) and drop it in. Here it is...now owned by my bud Katrina...sounds awesome for slide...real Ry Cooder...enjoy...in one of these pics, it's with an early 60's Resolglass Red Airline I used to own, but sold (or traded...i forget) to Mike at myrareguitars.com

Small, strange world

2005-12-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

Check this out...my new bud Craig Clevenger (author of "The Contortionist's Handbook", which I'm reading and is great, and "Dermaphoria" which is on the winter reading list round these parts) writes of the day we met on his site...a cool story...he and Gayle knew each other in the way back machine...

http://www.craigclevenger.com

More soon...Antioch's residency is done, and I have a new super rare Airline 2 6L6 head (with a 6V6 reverb circuit) that I'll be posting pics of soon :)

RR

busy, busy, busy

2005-12-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts (if anyone cares :), but I've been waaay busy teaching at Antioch LA's MFA program, which has been a kick (albeit an exhausting one) thus far. More soon--happy holidays to all...don't shop to much (even if it is your patriotic duty).

R

wow...what a disgusting story

2005-12-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

man...this is something...Check this out about the writer Brad Vice...while some defend him, it's REALLY hard to see how someone with a masters and PhD could not understand Fair Use and Plagarism, when i held my Freshman Comp students to a higher standard. really. it's unacceptable.

http://www.nypress.com/18/48/news&columns/RobertClarkYoung.cfm

surf is always up...

2005-12-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

when the Insect Surfers are playing....

who doesn't like Surf Music? Communists! (except, of course, for the really hep cat daddy-o commies)...

so, if you'd rather not have your love for America questioned, go see the super Insect Surfers this Sat:

WHO: 10:pm and midnight - Insect Surfers 11:00pm - Boardwalkers

WHEN: Saturday, December 10, 2005

WHERE: Purple Orchid, 221 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA

COST: ? (I think this is free, but I am not sure.)

http://www.insectsurfers.com

reverbly,

rr

Show this Friday

2005-12-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

I know what you're thinking..."which guitar will Rob play Friday? I need to know..."

Well, dear reader, i've got you covered...it'll be the old beat up Tele (as it's drummer Steve's favorite D-Shakes tone...) ...i will, without a doubt, break a string or two, so you'll probably see my antique white Mustang...and then, maybe, this one...

it's a heavily modified (whihc is why i got it SOOOO friggiin cheap...had to be re-wired and the mold and gunk needed to go) 1962 Kay Jazz II...notice the funky 'shark's fin' neck inlay...

it rocks...i'm tempted to play it as my main guitar, but the band would kill me, since i haven't practiced with it...but it'll be 3rd string, maybe, Fri.

Come one, come all, this Fri, 8PM, J King Neptunes in lovely Sunset Beach...The Danbury Shakes will be doing new material, a couple of old Hacks favorites, and a couple of choice covers....

what else? oh, South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage...oh, my, the US is BEHIND South Africa in progressive politics. Scary. But at least Cheney's pushing hard for allowing torture. Makes me proud.

A's to the Q's

2005-11-30T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hey...a reprint of the interview I did with Jen at writersbreak.com...

enjoy-

rr

http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/rob_roberge.htm

big changes around here

2005-11-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

ok...now anyone can comment...the reason you couldn't before? well, because i didn't know that i was in charge of that, or i would have let you all comment long ago...it's staggering how little i know.

turkey day was a fun wedding (hey Michelle & Ben!--thanks)...

day after turkey (or tofurky round here) was spent at G's folks....

what else? oh, the Danbury Shake have a myspace.com site:

http://www.myspace.com/danburyshakes

and will soon have mp3's up...

and are playing this Fri at J. King Netune's in Sunset Beach (see earlier post)...cheers

r

guitar porn tuesday...err...wednesday

2005-11-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a day late...but it's my first guest gear...this time from Lee, who's a member of a Magnatone Amp group i belong to on yahoo...without further delay...here's his review of his Lyric 660 (which is like a Magnatone 260...)...Thanks, Lee:

ID-
Lyric Custom 660; Lyric Electronics; Los Angeles, CA

Tube compliment:
3 - 12AX7
2 - 6CG7 (vibrato)
2 - 6L6GC
1 - 5U4GB

Speakers:
2 - Jensen Special Design (we are sure these are replacements for the original Oxfords) Frame codes: 220610 C12-R C8108

Control layout:
Channel 1- Treble/Bass/Loudness; mellow/normal switch; High gain input/low gain input
Channel 2- High gain input/Low gain input; normal/Bright switch; Loudness/Treble/Bass

Super Vibrato:
Intensity control;
Speed control;
Foot switch jack;
Remote speaker jack

Anti-Hum (polarity) switch;
Standby-on/off switch;
Power on/off switch;
3 amp slo-blo fuse;
power lamp

I have photos in the photos section on the home site-(Labeled "Lyric Custom 660").

She sounds really great. JD (JD is John Davidson, who is one of the 2 techs who work on all of my amps. (JD is in San Antonio; the other is Terry Dobbs in Columbus, IN-Both are true Point-to-point, hand-wired, tube amp Wizards) tried her out with some Oxford speakers & raved about the way they sounded. If the sound was better than it is now, I am not sure I could handle it. The sound is nice & clean up to 50%, but after that she starts to really strut her stuff...as JD says, "...Tone to the bone!". Channel 2 (non-vibrato channel) is a little brighter & louder than #1.

The vibrato is "Wunderbar!!!!"...most excellent!!! Really makes my guitars sound out of tune (due to the pitch shifting properties of the vibrato...LOL). I have plugged in one of my OE30 (335 style Washburn/Oscar Schmidt-Washburn 421/423 HB pickups), my '74 Strat & my Kent 821 - 12 string into it & they all sounded tremendous. The 50+ year old P-90's in my '53 Gold Top sound like they were made for each other.

As far as overall volume, it ain't a Twin Reverb (even a Pro), but it ought to be big enough for most clubs-especially with a good extension speaker cabinet. The 260/260A are both supposed to be rated @ 35 watts, so my guess is this is about the same.

I am very happy with the new addition to my "family".

Lee

shh...we're recording

2005-11-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hey there...here's some pics from the newest project...a slow-developing, yet much talked about (between its participants, ant any rate) instrumental cd that i'm doing with Mark Andrea (of don't mean maybe and slight pieces fame)...recording two pieces today, to then send to Mark for overdubs...(and he's going to send some to me for overdubs and overflubs...a modern tech way o' workin)...one titled "This Is Your Brain on Drugs" and one, as yet, untitled...stay tuned for MP3's and details on where/how to order...

equipment notes, for gear geeks like me...my '69 beat-to-shit Fender Telecaster (the only piece of gear i didn't pawn or sell for beer/drug money back in the bad old days) and my equally beat to shit, risen from the grave of amp death, PAC-AMP (i.e., a Magnatone 260)...w alking zombie of an amp...and an awesome sounding one...i should be playing it live on the 2nd (see earlier blog entry) with The Danbury Shakes, if you want to get up close and personal with the true tube vibrato glory of the Pac-Amp. Cheers

rr

sometimes guitar porn comes early!

2005-11-19T10:58:00.000-08:00

i kind of hate folk art...i see it on the antiques roadshow and it, in general, looks like someone's crazy uncled painted something while wearing mittens and now it's worth a ton...HOWEVER,

this is a beauty...wish i could afford it (it's on ebay now)...but there's too many git fiddles around here as it is...

what is it? an early 60's Harmony Stratotone (AKA "The Other Strat")...great DeArmond pickups...killer tone...the ones with the block inlay necks sound and feel great...

they don't all look quite this cool, though...the link is below in case anyone wants to get me an X-mas present :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7366706692&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

The Danbury Shakes are playing!

2005-11-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

Come see The Danbury Shakes in their very first performance...The Shakes are rob, gayle and steve...a 3 piece with a fuzzy, melodic garage sounds...fuzzlodic...like Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Wilco and Pavement got together, and started playing really small places that didn't pay very well...with teh Santiago Steps and The Joshua Lanes...evening starts at 8PM...

12.2.05 (Friday)
j. king neptune's
17115 PCH in sunset beach (562.592.4878)

car still so-so

2005-11-16T15:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry for a lack of posts...not that anyone probably cares...but my car is back and forth to Mr. Lee's shop...argh. The fucking thing is only half-fixed, so i had a traumatic drive to work and home yesterday with no rear-view...lots of blinking lights and a borrowed jump-start charger that the mechanic loaned me (not a confidence-builder).

Stay tuned :)

r

welcome to the neighborhood

2005-11-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

some fuckers tried to steal my car last night...couldn't do it, so they left it in the alley (they rolled it back) after having ripped up the interior, tearing all my wiring harnesses, and smashing my cds...

so, for those keeping score, and if you're yardsaling today, I need:

"England's Newest Hitmakers"
The Autumn Defense's last Album
Dianosaur Jr's "You're Living All Over Me"
"Double Nickles on the Dime" (THEY STOLE MY MINUTEMEN!!!)

and a rear view mirror and a surf/beach parking pass (the bastards).

and how do i stop this blinking 'check engine' light?
r

yet another interview

2005-11-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

my buddy Dave interviewed me over a series of weeks (one Q a day for a while), and was nice enough to send me the transcript...so, for anyone who's interested...(PS...any errors are mine...spelling, and sooooo on)

Q: How many hours a week do you write? How many hours a week would you like to write? (a two-part question)

A: Depends on the week...can be as many as 50+ in a week, if i'm going

really well...and it can be zero...if i'm between things, if i'm busy with

work, or whatever... How many would i like to write: Hmmm. Tough one. Probably about as much as i do...though if i could work a little less, i would write more...or record more music...but i seem to get about a book a year done and that

seems to be pretty good...don't know if i could do it faster if i had more

time...

Q: You said work keeps you from writing now. Do you consider being a novelist a job?

A: yes, being a novelist is a career, if not a job...most writers i know have

at least 2 careers...the writing and what pays for the time to write, if

that makes sense...

Q: Have you ever or do you now solely value lived experience as fodder for your writing?

A: nope, i value life for life and if i can use it for matereial, so much

the better...but i don't plan, say, to take out my own appendix so that i

can write about it...

Q: What changed the intensity of your focus and drive from your twenties

to your thirties (if it changed at all)?

A: intensity of focus from 20's to 30's is easy...quit drinking when i was 27

Q: Was there ever any point at which you wanted to quit writing?

A: Hmmm...nope...it seems to be something i do...

Q: When you begin putting together a story, how does it usually evolve

(e.g. from a single line, an outline, a character sketch)?

A: Usually from a sentence...which gives me a voice...which gets me thinking about who this person speaking might be...voice is everything to me...

Q: As the single line progresses into a voice, then into a character, do the

tools you use progress as well (meaning, do you move from the couch

to your desk, from a notepad to the computer)?

A: you're not bored with my stupid answers yet? i feel like i should be more

exciting...:) pretty much always write on a computer...BUT, before (and during) then...i write on notebooks...also, the insides of books (almost all of my paperbacks have the beginnings of stories on the front and back inside covers...)...napkins and such...i put all of the scrambled notes into a

drawer in my writing desk and every once in a while look through them for

ideas for what i'm working on.

Q: I remember the way your office was set up with your desk on one side of the room and your wife's on the other. Does this encourage a support system you guys have going? Who helps you through the hard times?

A: Gayle is my person i lean on in all things writing and otherwise...and i have a good circle of friends...

Q: Do you have somewhere you go or something you do when you want to empty your mind?

A: re: somewhere to go...i like going surfing or out to the desert to clear my

head...reading is always good...and i restore vintage tube amps, which is a great different way to think for me...can get lost for hours doing it...also, playing guitar...which i do a couple of hours every day...

Q: Do you contribute any sort of diet to your success--keeping your energy level high and head focused (e.g. I once read that Alice Sebold couldn't have written her novel without tapioca and coffee)?

A: diet? hmmm...i don't eat much during the day...or when i write...used to

smoke, but not anymore...coffee...water.. .that's about it :)

Q: What role does your family play in your writing life (motivational, distraction, pain)?

A: family...hmmmm...my folks are very supportive...in general...nice, crazy folks...they let me kind of go my own path, so i've been lucky.

Q: You said you begin with voice. Do all your characters originate from voice or only your narrators?

A: The narrative voice, i think...the other characters sort of establish themselves...i had ideas, for instance, about this one character in the new book i just finished, and about 20 pages after he entered, i realized he was a totally different guy than i at first thought...so, i went back...if i allow them to talk to each other, i find stuff out...learning to listen to the words, as it were...

Q: As you've gotten better at listening to the words, do you make your editorial decisions on instinct? Or is listening more cultivating than just figuring out what to cut and revamp?

A: I think i've gotten better...but it's one of those lessons you (or i, at any rate) have to keep re-learning...the early drafts are always pretty bad...lots of fits and starts and cruddy writing...

Q: Do you ever listen to music when you write? Is there anything you've

learned as a musician that you've transported to writing?

A: always, pretty much, listen to music when i write...frequently what i'm listening to turns into what the character is listening to in the scene i'm writing-ha...so, there's a clue for people who want to know what i listened to during More Than They Could Chew...love listening...the music helps me enter that zen-space i need when i'm writing where i get very focused and tune out the rest of the world.... re: what playing music has taught me? hmmm...good one...i'd say, Listen and Don't Show Off. You are a tool, at service to a bigger whole (whether it be the song or the story...your job is to make it better, not show off how good you are...)...

Q: What about jobs?

A: wow...tons of shit jobs...lot of food service...house and industrial painter...labor pool/day labor...a lot of dull jobs...copy cops in boston...they influenced my writing in that i got to meet a wide variety of folks...and i got a sense of what people have to do for money...which is important to me in my stories...

Sea Foam Green Guitar Porn...for Russ

2005-11-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

Hey Russ...like this, maybe?

wow...

Tuesday Guitar Porn

2005-11-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

For today's entry, we take you in the way back machine to 1962...oh, sure, some minor shit went down...Gary Powers and his U2...Cuban missle crisis...the Celtics won another championship, while Wilt averaged 50 points a game...Gayle's uncle Buddy was boring someone, somewhere (it's a solid bet)...but, the truly important event was the introduction to the world to the futuristic greatness of:

RESOGLASS

which is actually just fiberglass, but that doesn't sound nearly as cool as "Resolglass," now does it. Check this one out:

1962 National (Made by Valco, in Chicago) "Map Shape" short scale Pocket Bass. Gumby headstock...klutson tuners...

how short is short-scale? Try 25 7/8"...almost guitar scale...

two pickups...one great Valco single coil, one under the bridge...one knob for volume, one as a pickup blender switch...

How does it play/sound? Amazing...the pocket basses are one of the great secrets on the vintage guitar/bass market...light, great tone, stays in tune...a wild instrument...

anyone want in on Guitar Porn? Send me an email at

robroberge@hotmail.com

with pic and a short description of your instrument...it'll be fun...oddball instruments most welcome...

Dear Mr. Teriyaki

2005-11-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

well, it's at Lee's Blog:

http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2005/11/dear_mr_teriyak.html

and Tod's Blog:

http://todgoldberg.typepad.com/tod_goldberg/2005/11/authors_behavin.html

And all I can say is i was there and i wouldn't have believed it...but i heard it...an odd, racist, stupid speech by Dean Koontz...these blogs give you the background...but it was truly strange...like a fucking time machine...

in any case, the Men of Mystery thing was really cool otherwise, and an event worth supporting. Mr. Koontz, on the other hand...wow.

guitar porn...the late edition (II)

2005-11-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

hey folks...sorry...been tired and down and late and behind and, well, shit, guitar porn slipped through the cracks...so, here is a link to a great piece by Michael Wright (aka The Different Strummer) on 'Domino' guitars from the '60's.

http://www.myrareguitars.com/eDomino.html

working ona new story (hadn't written a story in almost a year while working on the newest novel)...it seems i have forgotten how to write...bah

HEY...for those with nothing to do (and even those with something to do), Mr. Mike Watt is playing 2, count 'em 2 gigs tonight, one in our fair city of the LBC...check it out:

from Watt's annoucement:

again, on:

friday, november 4

at 9 pm:

_mike watt + the secondmen_

featuring the original secondmen
(pete mazich and jerry trebotic)
in a benefit for the san pedro skate park association
http://sanpedroskateparkassociation.org
at la zona rosa #2
1331 s. pacific av.
san pedro, ca
(310) 547-4423

and at 11 pm:

_hellride_

helping some p.f.p. friends
(stephen perkins and peter distefano)
in a cranking raunch coltrane take
on a stooges point of view!
at di piazza's
http://dipiazzas.com
5205 e. pacific coast highway
long beach, ca
(562) 498-2461

JEWS EATING PORK

2005-11-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

oh, sure...i've done some cool stuff...bands, books, starting a press that lost only a little money...a record label that actually made about 10 bucks so far...but my proudest moment may be contributing to the birth of "Jews Eating Pork."

http://todgoldberg.typepad.com/

Yes. I was there. In the beginning.

Pride. That's what I'm feeling.

Gummi Bear Porn!

2005-11-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

Too cool...many thanks to the super cool Kathy Talley-Jones for finding this...

since i have the most pornographic (i think, anyway) sex scene with gummi bears, you knew i had to love this :) scroll down...see the porno bears on the right...lovin their poly selves...

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0537,dozen,67695,22.html

must see TV

2005-10-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

i've developed (yes, Gayle knows) a serious tv crush on FBI profiler Dayle Hinman...sexy smartpants solvin' crime....such a voice...she can profile me any old time...

http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/body_of_evidence/dayle_hinman_bio.html

this fucking governor

2005-10-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

man...it's one thing to have an honest dispute over issues, but Arnold's latest ads using corporate right-wing shills lying about the current rules for union members is just sick.

everything we value as a society about worker's rights was fought for (sometimes, literally, to the death) by unions and union members. it's a huge blind spot in the american educational system, largely because our schools are being privatized (read: run by business and religion...to teach the propaganda of both parties)...and the history of the american worker is being silenced, along with their current voice.

as the government runs wild with corporate welfare (from the supposedly anti big government right wing), it's astonishing to me that people don't identify themselves as being used by business...unions protect us from being nothing more than tools for the share holders. get fucking angry, people.

and if you vote against unions, don't ever cry when you (and not if) get fucked at the end of your career by the Enrons of the world. you voted for them.

robappalossa (sp?)

2005-10-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

i know, i know...you have the books, the blog, the annoying personal appearances...and yet you need more of me (unless you're tod goldberg, who has, as he points out, spent more time with me than with his lovely wife Wendy over the last few weeks)...lucky you that the cool web site writersbreak.com has seen fit to interview me for their latest Q&A...check it out here:

http://writersbreak.com/Interviews/articles/fiction/interviews_fiction_roberge_1.htm

Guitar porn...a day late

2005-10-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

hey...i'm sick as a dog, so, it's a short git porn day here...a link to my buddy mike robinson, who has the coolest collection i know of...and he's selling some of 'em...check it out:

http://www.myrareguitars.com/inventoryclearancesale.html

if you want to get me a 'get well' present, i'll take the airline in sea foam green :)

what i learned in vegas

2005-10-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

some were lessons re-learned...those being,

1) Francois Camoin, Steve Almond, Erin Falkavitz (i think i'm spelling that right...Erin?), Tod Goldberg, and Gayle are all fucking awesome to hang out with...a great time...great writers, great funny minds, and all E-ticket attractions...

the new lessons...

2) Jeremy Schaap is a really nice guy...and very funny...

3) Neal Pollack gets really good weed.

4) "master of darkness" John Shirley needs to actually read some post-modern theory before he spouts off about it....this from me...the self-proclaimed "puppet of lightness."

5) i seem to be incapable of NOT getting into heated debates (read: fights where i publically call someone a moron...in this case the master of darkness) when i am on panels at the vegas valley book faire...i am now 2 for 2...

6) not EXACTLY a lesson from vegas...BUT...if you drive a subaru, try not to break down 35 miles east of barstow...try not to spend 2 hours waiting for your tow...and try not to pay an obscene amount of money to get the hell out of barstow (well, actually, you have to)...there are not many subarus, or subaru parts, in barstow...if you break down there, try doing so in a 1973 ford pickup, is what i gather...

7) H. Lee Barnes is the writer i'd most like to have my back in a prison break/bar fight or west side story dance/shiv fight...sorry, Tod.

8) if you want food in a hurry, DO NOT hang with me and Tod Goldberg...one at a time--no trouble...but, together, it takes us a tremendous amount of time to find food...i learn this over and over...

9) The Four Queens is skanky...but not as skanky as the El Cortez or Brittney Spears...

10: i can eat 50 eggs in an hour.

this from mike watt, re: raymond pettibon (one of the local great artists)

2005-10-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

in his own words...

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/pettibon/index.html

(check out the video at that link)

Gumby, Vavoom, & Baseball Players

ART:21: Are any of the characters in your work ever heroes? Say the baseball players.

PETTIBON: I'm not in awe of what most people would consider heroes which would be someone of stature and power. In fact those would tend to be people who I don't respect at all. The public has a kind of natural awe of them that tends to be a mixture of fear, control, and violence. You could say the loss of innocence in baseball began with the fixing of the games in 1919 with the Black Socks World Series Scandal.

Players--they all can't live up to be a perfect model hero like Steve Garvey who had an elementary school named after him. But, that actually isn't a good example because he had some pretty major scandals himself. But there's something about athletes and even horse racing. Horses are athletes of sorts too. They can have a heroic stature to me. People usually tend to value an extreme one thing or another, whether it's the intellectual against the athletic. Like the jocks never mix with artists or the people who are studying physics. I admire both, but in a moral sense. I don't have any expectation for anyone other than behaving decently to other people. That's really not the true definition of a hero though.

The heroic has an epic scale to it. If you look at my baseball works, for instance, there is a kind of larger than life attitude to a lot of it. But then not all the works are a pure adulation of the ball players. I mean they go into some pretty sordid avenues. My drawings dwell on that subject quite often as well.

ART:21: You seem to like to mix the underbelly and the philosophy.

PETTIBON: Not always though. And not always in the same drawing. You can look at a lot of my baseball drawings and they don't have that kind of a resentment of most figures that you just automatically want to take them down a notch. There's quite a few that aren't like that.

ART:21: How far back does your interest in baseball go?

PETTIBON: Baseball has probably been my favorite since I was a child. Some of the others, like horse racing--that came in later--but football, basketball, track and field... I'm not obsessed with any of those. The reason why I keep coming back to certain images is probably most often that there's a visual quality that works for me, and that can be as simple as drawing horse races.

I think whether you are throwing the pitch or batting the ball, you do have that sense of movement and for an artist like myself whose work is about that one moment that can be a reason I do that. But sports, and baseball in particular in America, there's a lot more to it, there's a lot more nuances. Not just in the game itself--but that's also important to. My work on the subject does tap into some of the nuances of the game--the pitching of the baseball for instance, or hitting a baseball--but also it says a lot about what goes on off the field as well about the society in general. It's kind of a microcosm of the society as a whole.

ART:21: It's rare that an artist gives equal attention to both words and pictures. Could you have accomplished what you wanted as a writer?

PETTIBON: Yes, if I had to choose. But the point is I don't. I mean I don't feel I'm diluting what I'm saying by doing them both. Im not trespassing on one or the other. To me it's natural. I don't feel cheated. But on the other hand, I spend a lot more time writing than I do drawing. I really wouldn't want to make that distinction or feel the need to separate the two or make excuses. The fact is I make work that requires both except in rare, rare cases.

ART:21: Can we talk about the Gumby theme in your work?

PETTIBON: Gumby? To put it in general terms, you'll see in my work this tendency to take on some very ridiculous subject. Possibly you can look at it as being so far out there as to be kind of just a stray thought. Going back to the heroic figures, you can speak about a wider area of things that happen that puts the responsibility on the shoulders of something like Gumby. It's not done in any sarcastic way. It's not even meant to call attention to itself. All I'm really asking is for you to look at that with the same kind of respect that you would if it was some important historical figure or Greek statue. Or the usual subject matters that artists tend to use.

There's also a reason why Gumby in particular works for me so well. Because it does relate to the way I make work, which has very much to do with words and reading in particular. Gumby is a kind of metaphor for how I work. He actually goes into the book, goes into a biography or historical book, and interacts with real figures from the past and he becomes part of it. He brings it to another direction. And I tend to do that in my work. That's why Gumby is a particularly important figure to me. I have to give credit to the figure of Gumby himself because it's not something that I'm raising up by his bootstraps and putting in this high-art realm. Gumby's creator, Art Clokey, was a pretty brilliant guy, and it wasn't like the original Gumby cartoons weren't worth paying attention to and that I'm rescuing him from Saturday morning children's cartoons.

ART:21: Is Gumby like an alter-ego?

PETTIBON: Gumby represents an alter-ego for my work as an artist. He represents me as an alter-ego. There's actually a lot more to that figure then just 98 ounces of clay or whatever. Art Clokey was into Zen Buddhism and into a lot of pretty deep stuff for Saturday morning cartoons. Clokey was a pretty hip figure in Los Angeles and in the counter-culture of the '60s and the '50s. The beatniks and the hippies. I have a lot of respect and affection for him. And for Pokey as well, and Goo, Prikle, and even the Blockheads. One other thing that I've never thought of, but that Gumby does for me in some of his cartoons, is he goes into a biography or historical book and he interacts with real figures from the past. George Washington, or whatever. And I tend to do that in my work and in my videos as well.

ART:21: In some of the drawings Gumby is paired with a vast landscape. It's like one guy against the world.

PETTIBON: But you know who does more for me than Gumby--Vavoom. When I'm doing drawings of Vavoom I create a situation of putting him in this epic, sublime, romantic landscape and he is this little guy with a booming voice. It's a perspective that has this panoramic scope to it.

ART:21: When did these characters become part of your self or your repertoire?

PETTIBON: I don't know the exact way that works. Usually there's not any forethought. I don't investigate and find the right character that is going to express the way I want to do things. But it starts inevitably with just one drawing. It resonates and it keeps going from there. It snowballs into a persona that I keep going back to. But there isn't any design to it. It establishes it's own kind of momentum and I don't really have to consciously think about it

I get asked a lot on this subject--"Why is that character so important to you?" and so forth. It's not something that I thought was especially important the first time I did it. I may have drawn certain subjects numbers of times but it doesn't mean that I'm to this day obsessed with a character or dwell on it as the subject matter. Or that I'm aching to get back to it as soon as possible. I feel that an artist has so much to see and he just kind of works on. And you could probably say the same thing for just about any subject or profession, including, well, really anything.

Political Cartoons: Patty Hearst & the Presidents

ART:21: There's an anger and a kind of social criticism in your work? Can you talk about that? Where does that anger come from?

PETTIBON: Well, it just wells up from deep inside me so watch out, it's likely to blow any time! [LAUGHS]

I can't really say that it doesn't somewhat come from me, but my work is a lot more impersonal than most people give it credit for. It's not that I'm not angry, it's that it's not a really personal thing. Well, I don't even know about that... I think when anything is worth getting angry about you want to hold back and look at it from a distance and without this emotion, if possible.

ART:21: Is the anger an undercurrent in the work?

PETTIBON: It's a mistake to assume about any of my work that it's my own voice. Because that would be the most simple-minded ineffective art that you can make. That would really be talking down to people, and if I had such a burning need to express my opinions or whatever then I don't think art would be where I'd want to do it. It's not a good area for that. But when we're talking about the schools and gangs and segregation and so forth, those are very obvious problems and no one really needs my weighing in on it. But there's more underlying problems or issues, and those will be the things I would want to cover in my work.

And you know that's what I do all the time. There is a very direct kind of anger in some of my work to figures like Ronald Reagan or J. Edgar Hoover or whatever. You can have a million artists sign petitions one side or another--and so what? You'd really have to go back to the Greeks and the Romans and to the satire or the very personal kind of rancor that they wrote about people of the day to see what I'm doing. The pretentious, the powerful, the decadent and the corrupt. It's not done from analyzing their positions and correcting them or weighing in your own solutions, because it's not the kind of form that works.

It's like when we were talking about heroes and I brought up that the usual person who is considered a hero is really the opposite of what I would consider. And it's a way of trying to break down this kind of natural awe and respect that comes out of a fear or envy. There's this built-in respect that shouldn't be there completely. I told you how much I consider characters like Gumby with respect. And just on the face of it anyone, I think, should compare cartoons to the president of the United States. This one or anything of them really. Those are the real cartoon figures and those are the real ridiculous figures. I want to make works where someone like Gumby or Vavoom or Felix the Cat or whatever comes out as someone to respect and to listen to and you're glad you did when you're given that opportunity.

I've never considered myself much of a political artist. And most of my art doesn't really deal in explicitly political issues. But I'm not going to apologize or shy away from it any more than I would any other subject. But there is no area where anyone is dealing with this in the way I am--which is for once not to assume someone like the President automatically has a claim on anyone's respect, to follow him or to take him seriously. We don't see that at all because the real pathetic thing is this generation of journalists. Not that it was any better really that much before, but it is really incredible today because they probably pat themselves on the back and say, "Well, we're responsible journalists," and really they're just the punks of the political establishment they cover. I'm not trying to encourage art to become political. Just because you're artists doesn't mean you should have a platform. When Hollywood figures or artists decide to get on their platform, often that is going to do much more harm.

ART:21: Anger and humor. It's a delicate line.

PETTIBON: I don't think humor is a bad thing at any time really, or in these times. I make decisions all the time in my work that I won't make fun of someone just for the sake of going for some cheap laugh. I won't do that if it hurts someone who I would feel bad about. If it's based on things that people have no control over. That should be condemned for any reason. We as humans still so often times feel the need to have someone to pick on who is different.

I don't think there is subject matter to consider too important to use humor with. A lot of times, people wonder if any of this was intended--you know, like humor is just by accident all the time and maybe it's not a good thing to laugh, or maybe they're not getting it, maybe they're seeing something in it that they shouldn't. But that's not the case. I have no problems with my own attempts at humor.

ART:21: A recurring subject in your work is Patty Hearst and the SLA. Can you talk about that in relation to your use of humor?

PETTIBON: Patty Hearst and the SLA would really be impossible not to treat with some broad comic aspect to it because the SLA and the whole situation was such a broad burlesque. A lot of the best humor, whether it's the Three Stooges or Moliere, is about someone who is really strident or pretentious. The SLA and a lot of political groups from the '60s and '70s--to any time period--are so strident and they're so full of their own righteousness for the moment. Inevitably a year later, like in Patty's case, she went from being a debutante to an urban guerilla and then back again where she married her own bodyguard.

Any one from groups such as that who have gravitated to the other extreme--such as the current radical right, the reigning power of now, the neo-conservatives--that all comes from a very left wing position. Almost all those guys were at one time the opposite. And so it's hard to take that sort of thing seriously if you can see it from any historical distance. If you look at the Hearst case from the beginning to the end it's like the Keystone Cops. That can happen by chance or by the kind of ideas behind it as well.

Humor doesn't trivialize the real consequences, the people that get hurt, for instance. I'm not making light of that. If I'm going to be condemned for broaching that subject from a comic angle, that is completely absurd. I'm not a fan of the underground or the SLA. Personally or their politics. But to demonize them in particular when you had a war going on that was killing millions--the Vietnamese people and all people who should be allowed to live--it's a way for me to objectify the lines there. To even the playing field a little bit rather than picking one enemy and demonizing them to basically cover your own ass. It's a way of making nothing sacrosanct and above comedy, and at the same time not taking away all their humanity by completely objectifying a whole group of people in a way that makes them totally disposable either. I'm not doing that with any of those groups.

ART:21: Portraying people is always tricky. For instance, some viewers might think the way you depict women is misogynist. How would you respond to that?

PETTIBON: When you get asked something like that you almost expect someone to be disingenuous about it. In my personal life, of course, you can't read my mind... My work really isn't coming from a very personal point so to psychoanalyze my work really isn't going to reveal anything. But then again that becomes a very circular kind of thing because you could say, "Well, maybe it's hidden under the surface and he just doesn't realize it," or whatever. But specifically, like with Gumby, I never had a doll phase or an action figure phase and certainly not now. So that wasn't an obsession for me or a very personal thing. It came out of a certain subject matter used in a certain way. I think a lot of the work that would be considered misogynist comes from a strain in my work that is usually described as a film noir type. Most of my work that would be considered the most misogynist would be work where the women character is like a caricature in comic books, like the Dragon Lady in Melton Kaniff, or a girl usually named Velma or Velvalee or whatever.

I've been asked a few times of my work that all the characters, almost without exception, are white. That's a legitimate question. But there still is an element of caricature to my work and I'm not representing this kind of multi-cultural melting pot in my work just for appearances sake. If you looked at my work based on race, the work would call attention to itself in ways that would make it a completely different kind of work. I don't make any apologies for not doing that because it's for what purpose?

This is not autobiographical work, by any means. Even the emotions involved. If someone thinks they understand me and disagree, then okay. But there's something in the nature of comedy and especially in the element of caricature and cartoons that my work retains. An editorial cartoon is trying to be positive. It's usually really very cloying and sappy and there's no hook to it at all. I also don't like my humor to be in the service of making fun of people based on superficialities. People get picked on or looked down at. I'm conscious about that as a problem.

ART:21: Do you think there are elements of failure and longing in your work?

PETTIBON: Longing yes, because I think it's work that is best when there isn't any final resolution. When you don't finally arrive. And failure...I have to say that maybe that's because this sort of work tends to have more of a negative edge to it. There probably is more failure depicted in my work then there is success.

ART:21: Is there sadness in the work?

PETTIBON: Yeah. I think maybe it's as much as humor. It's just more latent. I think the life of the drawing is that you're always kept in suspense. It's like a serial which goes on from day to day in the paper. There's always something from the sky just about to fall on you. Even though my work is usually just one drawing, it is more of a narrative than it is a cartoon with a punch line and a resolution and a laugh at the end.

- - - - -

...and what gets written about him in papers:

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=3585

RAYMOND PETTIBON

Dispatches from the peculiar world of artist Raymond Pettibon

by Angela Carone

plus

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050929/news_lz1w29large.html

CENTERPIECE
Living large

Raymond Pettibon takes on a project at MCASD (http://www.mcasd.org) - 'I'm doing more wall works because of the opportunity. It's nice to be asked'

By Robert L. Pincus
ART CRITIC

guitar porn...the late, late edition

2005-10-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's an early 60's Airline 3 pickup model (pics from Mike's site at myrareguitars.com)...these were coolio....they look like humbuckers, but that's actually a high octane single coil that can go froma nice round tone to a total snarl and bite...the body is Res-o-glass, which is actually fiberglasss, but with a cooler name. two hollow halves molded and then joined with a rubber gasket like the bumper on bumpercars...one of the most beautiful american made guitars ever...

VEGAS!

2005-10-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

look out dan tanna...i'm in vegas this weekend...with friends Francois Camoin, Darrell Spencer, Tod Goldberg, Steve Almond, and a bunch of other fine people for the Vegas Valley Book Festival.

Vegas is cheap (at leats to get there)...c'mon out...what happens there stays there...including any fiction advice i give out on panels, which if you repeat outside county lines, you will have to be killed.

on the QT, hush-hush and all that.

maybe the coolest record player ever

2005-10-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

check this out...

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-DORMIPHONE-RECORD-PLAYER-w-LAFAYETTE-AMPLIFIER_W0QQitemZ5818798860QQcategoryZ48649QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

is that cool or what?

i may get it...or a close and play.

i just stole this from my buddy Tod's blog

2005-10-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

Tod Goldberg is reading tonight in Westwood from his new collection Simplify, which you should go and buy. And, if you get the chance, ask Tod about genital or anal fisting. He loves those Q's...

This (below) is from Tod's blog.....

Sunday, 7pm, Borders Books & Music in Westwood (1360 Westwood Blvd, just south of Wilshire): The First Official Tod Goldberg Reads His Work In Los Angeles Event. No actors at this one, just me, my god, my country, and my undying faith in the sales power of Borders Books.

What You Can Expect At This Event: 1. Me, reading a story. I've not decided yet what I'm going to read, so if anyone has any suggestions, get them in soon. I'm edging towards "The Last Time We Never Met" but could be persuaded to read "Rise John Wayne & Rebuke Them" but not "Simplify" because, well, it takes about 40 minutes to read that story and even I get bored of that.

2. Some banter. I'm hoping for a good sized crowd and a good sized crowd always means I get to banter. I may even decide to have someone come up and banter with me. If you have any suggestions, or would like to be the one, do let me know.

3. My family. Here's your chance to witness first hand the Partridge Family of publishing. Talk to Lee about fan fiction, crime fiction and TV. Talk to Linda and Karen about art and journaling and travel and inspiration (not of the god variety, but of the creative, though Karen knows some god stuff, too).

4. Me wearing my official "tour outfit." It's pressed. It's clean. It's ready to go. I've tried it out at several events in the Midwest and Bay Area and it's a keeper. Classy, yet sexy. Professional, yet whimsical. Masculine, but tastefully done.

5. Michael Silverblatt. Or, at least, an imitation of him done personally for you, face to face. It's a thing of lasting beauty, I assure you.

What You Will Not Experience: Air quotes, vis-a-vis, motif, theme, a discussion on the latest book by Salman Rushdie (I have lied to people recently and said how much I loved it, but, alas, haven't actually read it), air kisses (If you wanna air kiss me, cool, no problem, but I'm going for the mouth and my tongue is coming with me), me pestering you about whether or not you're writing (this is for scared former students who think I'll badger them about their books...I'll just email you later), mentions of Hurricane Katrina as "our tsunami" or 9/11 as "our Pearl Harbor" or George W. Bush as "our President," any conversations that begin, "Yesterday, when I was re-reading The DaVinci Code..." and fucktards. I swear, all of my events are fucktard free.

So come by Sunday night. Even if you don't want to buy a book and just want to see what I look like in real life, I'd be happy to see you. (And by you, I mean, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. ) And the rest of you should come, too.

guitar porn...the late edition

2005-10-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

here's a mid 1950's Silvertone 1333...it's way Tweed-riffic...

it's also for sale, for any of my local git prn readers, i'll cut ya a deal :)

back home

2005-10-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

back home...too much road food, but me and tod goldberg had much fun and got to read to some folks and make fun of some others...including a VERY scary russian that we met wheile touring a canadian destroyer (hey, it was free)...we did a salon at an urban dwelling, a Q&A, a reading and solo acoustic show in the mission...way fun...

we were put up by the great peter, mary and dinah (and fine dog lucy)...good times...

i ate more fried greasy food in 4 days than i have in the last year. and cheese...the road is nasty for vegetarians.

and i did not sing The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald, but Tod seemed to forgive me. more soon.

guitar porn a day late to follow

r

road trip

2005-10-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

off with mr tod goldberg (todgoldberg.com) to san fran for some readings, a fic workshop, a salon (!?) and no doubt many stops at scenic fun sites along the 5 (harris ranch, the pea soup place...you know the drill)...and my very first ever sober acoustic solo show...i used to do 'em, 20 years back, but, dude, i was sooo wasted....

cheers

to the library

2005-10-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hey folks...our muscle-brained roid-raged fucktard of a governor is cutting good stuff left and right to pay for some rich fuck's gold lined toilet paper (i'm speaking metaphorically here, but only a bit)...so, a plea...help your local public library in any way you can...Money and books, being the best ways...

off to the LBPL to give 'em some of my old books...

check them out at:

lbpl.org

a great local

cheers

r

more from Deepthroat

2005-10-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

My buddy who last week shared the truly frightening dinner theater story about Madame (sans Wayland)...and who i shall from here on in dub "Deepthroat," as he needs to protect his high security super secret job at Cogswell Cogs, and can't be found blogging and needs his ID protected...anyway, he wrote me this AM that Nipsy Russell had died (and, yes, of course, no man is an island, and everyone's death diminished me, and all that, but let's whistle past the graveyard a bit, shall we?)...which led me to write to him:

but nipsey russell was so lame
no one worse on Match Game.

which i thought wasn't too bad...but he topped me with:

That is true he was not
Charles Nelson Reilly, or even Debralee Scott.
His tired rhymes invariably stank
When Gene Rayburn asked him to fill the "blank."

Yes! Out of the park.

any comments or match game related poems are most welcome.

and stay tuned for more from Deepthroat on oddball popular culture refereneces...Good work, son. How does Vice-President Jetson sound?

git porn and recording pics

2005-10-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

tuner and home-made fuzz pedal (and Gayle's shoe)

hey...it's guitar porn day AND a bonus set of photos from the Danbury Shakes recent recording session (check back for links to the MP3's when it's mixed...)

here's Gayle, laying down some fat bottom with her 1962 National "Map Shape" Reso-glass short scale bass...WAY guitar porn on this one...

next is G with her black Supro "Pocket Bass...

that's Katrina, our producer, engineer, recording guru and tone Mistress...

me, with my super coolio Olympic White Mustang...faded to a creamy bannanama...

Steve, drummin...

WEHO Faire

2005-10-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

was a blast...fun panel with Catherine Daly and Mike Watt and Domenic Priore...all smart and interesting, generous folks...also got to see some old friends...(the fabulous Christine Berry of Smart Gals, who rocks, Monica Poling of oncewritten.com, who also rocks...John,& Kev of LA Punk legends, the Urinals...Kathy Tally-Jones who's editing and co-writing a book on said legends o' punk)...my friend and co-plumber Russ...Bobby at the mystery bookstore who never seems to mind that no one wants me to sign my books at his events and...and many other fine buds out in the world of letters).

on a positive note, i wasn't Q'd by any lunatics...which is rare, indeed, post-panel :)

and, along with Watt, i got to meet Raymond Pettibon, who has long been a favorite artist of mine.

a good day...

This tastes a little Seagal-y to me

2005-10-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

My bud Kev Cain hipped me to the scariest energy drink in the world (thanks Kev!)...

http://www.xoxide.com/lightning-bolt-asian-experiance.html

uhhh...yuck.

West Hollywood Book Faire SUNDAY Oct, 2nd

2005-10-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

I'm signing at the mystery bookstore tent at 11AM

on a panel (at 12:45) moderated by the very cool Catherine Daly an with legendary bass player and Tour Spiel writer Mr. Mike Watt...and Domenic Priore who wrote a good book about the beach boy's Smile album...(Was supposed to be Legs McNeil...but, sadly, Legs legged it elsewhere...damn)...

booksigning sponsored by Booksoup after...

see you there...

http://www.weho.org/download/index.cfm?fuseaction=download&cid=2780

the LOST IN SPACE ROBOT..IN PERSON!

2005-09-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine (no slouch of a writer himself...who has asked to remain nameless as he reads this goofy blog at work while he's supposed to be doing something far less important), writes:

"Hey Rob, you've always had an eye on the absurd in our culture. So I'm on the commuter train going home the other night, trying to forget the day I've had and enjoying my free Boston Herald (paper's dying so they give it out free at South Station in the afternoons). Anyway, in the Friday entertainment pullout, next to the ads for the Connecticut casinos, there's an ad for a dinner theatre appearance featuring "the original Madame," promising "no one is safe from her bawdy barbs."

"Now, if you'll think back to when we were kids, on Hollywood Squares and a bunch of other shows, "Madame" as accompanied by her puppetteer, Wayland Flowers, who died of AIDS around 1984 or so. So, the Arlington Regent Theatre is asking people to shell out $35 (hey, includes dinner) for a chance to be insulted by an aged puppet who is being manipulated by some unknown ventriloquist. I mean, okay, so even if we could VERIFY it's the ORIGINAL Madame, she's a.....puppet, right?

"It's like those world of wheels ads every January that promise a chance to meet "The Lost in Space Robot...IN PERSON.""

to all the amps i've loved before

2005-09-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

perhaps it should be AMP porn tuesday...i was slow getting started today, and actually had a request (Thanks, Tim!)...

here's a great amp i sold a little while ago...an obscure, but rad SANO...

specs: these were made by folks who left the AMPEG company in the 60's and are a great and affordable way to get that super Ampeg Reverb Rocket tone at about 60% of the price...this was a twin 12" amp (around 30 watts) with what looked like Oxford Alnico speakers...AMAZING reverb (better than any Fender I've ever heard)...so-so tremolo...super cool swirly grill :)

tubes: 3 12axy's for the preamps and reverb...a 6sc7, i'm pretty sure for the trem...and two 7591's for clean, bottom-rich output...an incredibly clean full sounding amp...not so loud...2-channel, which you can bridge...

if you see them on ebay, you should be able to snatch a mint one for under $350.

why did i sell it? because i had to have this Magnatone 260 i rebuilt...which you can't have...you can't even look at it...move along...nothing to see there...

if anyone out there has some cool or oddball guitar stuff, drop me a line at robroberge@hotmail.com and make your contribution to tuesday guitar porn...

recording

2005-09-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

hey kids, the new band The Danbury Shakes, is recording a demo this weekend...so, stay tuned for mp3's, the new 'myspace' band page, and gig announcements...

also, we're having a new shower unit installed...so, if you hear banging and swearing in the background of said mp3's, well, mystery solved :)

r

read any good books lately...some new reads

2005-09-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer...great book about a young, idealistic, interesting young man who tried to survive off the land in Alaska and died in 1992. Great central fugure...very well written...

The Breaking Point: by Stephen Koch...about the end of the friendship between Dos Passos and Hemingway during the Spanish civil war. Good read...facinating stuff...

Controlled Burn by Scott Wolven...short stories about men at their wit's end, dangling on the fringes of society...it's Denis Johnson meets Ray Carver meets Jim Thompson, an it's done VERY well.

5 reads for writers

2005-09-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I was just asked for 5 great books for writers for an upcoming publication, but you get to read my picks here first--cheers-feel free to add your own...R

These are not the 5 best books ever (impossible to say...and subjective as well), but 5 books that a writer, or aspiring writer, can't go wrong reading:

1) The Great Gatsby: Fitzgerald's high water mark is a beautiful book, full of effortless musical language and some killer scenes. And maybe the best ending ever.

2) Reasons to Live: AMy Hemple's first collection is one of the few books that I have no issues with. What a stunner. So tight, so clean, and so spare. As beautiful and awe-inspriring as that other great force of minimalism--the desert.

3) Revolutionary Road: Richard Yates is so often called a 'writer's writer'. Why? He's among the best stylists the 20th century produced. Such amazingly beautiful work. Yates' beautully-rendered despair is rivaled only by Beckett.

4) Self Help: Lorrie Moore is so good at funny, sad stories. Great stuff.

5) Jesus' Son: Denis Johnson is just SO good. One of the few books I wish I'd written.

6) Darrell Spencer: (Couldn't stop at 5-ha) ANY of his books of stories...Maybe the best short story writer working today.

And a bonus new book... 7) Tod Goldberg's Simplify. A great read.

GUITAR PORN DAY

2005-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

Yet more amp porn...and perhaps some pedal porn later (I need to go now to get my liver ultrasounded...no coffeee...argh...i am groggy and mean, having fatsed since midnight...which isn't really impressive, in any way, but it has me down)...

err...amps, right.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Teisco-Checkmate-30-Guitar-tube-amp-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ7350843434QQcategoryZ10171QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

the wackiest amp ever, maybe!

I Thought You Should Know...

2005-09-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

...it's a few days late for the anniversary, BUT:

SEPT. 14th, 1830...FIRST ACCIDENT CAUSED BY A MOVING TRAIN.

It makes you think. It puts things in perspective. Or maybe not...

Cheers

R

Great Music You should hear

2005-09-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Don't have any Don't Mean Maybe in your collection? You are missing one of the truly great bands of the early 90's.

As a PSA to music fans, everywhere (all four of you reading this, anyway), do yourself a favor and buy one or both of these.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/dontmaybe2

http://cdbaby.com/cd/dontmaybe1

Great Show Sat, the 17th

2005-09-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Come on out...should be a blast...some killer bands playing...

Warning Label Records, Happy Squid Records, and Avebury Records are co-sponsoring a record release party this Saturday, Sept. 17th, at The Echo. Warning Label has just issued a CD version of Happy Squid's 1981 compilationKEATS RIDES A HARLEY, while Avebury has similarly issued 1982's WARFRATTALES.

Both are expanded releases with additional songs and extensive linernotes.Many of the participating bands are re-forming exclusively for this event:check it out!

Saturday, September 17th, 4 pm (yes, it's a matinee show!)

THE ECHO1822 Sunset Blvd. (Echo Park)$5.00 admission -- all ages

Bands, in order of appearance:
S Squad
Earwigs
The Question?
The Last
Wednesday Week
Human Hands
Urinals
Leaving Trains

We expect the night to wind up around 9 pm, so you can still catch that 10pmshowing of DEUCE BIGALOW, EUROPEAN GIGOLO.For more on KEATS, visit www.happysquid.com or www.warninglabelrecords.comFor more on WARFRAT, visit www.aveburyrecords.com

THE GAME

2005-09-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

OK, folks...today's guest for "The Game" is one Missy Nelson...way cool old friend of mine (she ain't old, but we go way back)...great thinker and writer, amazing football prognostacater (sp?), source of many a 'hot librarian' fantasy to University Students in Austin TX, where she lives with Claude, who plays accordian and keys and other things in the Gourds, and Harriet, who does not do any of those things...

NOTE: "The Game" is simple...you must make a choice, and then defend said choice...feel free to post arguments and support. Thanks, Missy, who writes:

Neil Young or Bob Dylan

Damn this is hard....but I have to go with Young. I mean in terms of a desert island kinda thing, not a "who is more important/influential" kinda thing. Bob gets the nod for more important/influential, but in terms of my favorite listening, it's Neil all the way. His range is far greater, his risk-taking is more compelling (think "Trans" and his work with DEVO), and overall, I think he's got a greater body of listenable stuff than Bob. Nothing Dylan has done has wowed me much since Blood on the Tracks, but some of Young's strongest records are from the late 70's, like Rust Never Sleeps/Live Rust. And I think in 2005 I'd twenty times rather see Neil play with Crazy Horse than Bob with any band he can put together. So for range, longevity, and overall listenability I gotta go with Neil.

As for CSN&Y, I think this highlights one of Neil's weaker points - he sometimes isn't very discrimiating about his own output. Maybe Neil is the eternal optimist and thinks that he can actually still make a good record with these guys. Maybe he wants to lend a little selling power to the CSN&Y brand. Or maybe he just likes hanging out with them. I dunno. I liken Neil to a Michael Caine in the acting world - lots of terrific performances, but a fair amount of dreck, too. A solid working musician who likes to rock and likes to stay busy.

Bless Mommy and Daddy and send Guitar Porn

2005-09-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

Today, Guitar Porn is Amp Porn...same diff, as the kids used to say when i was one of em...Here's a new (a very old new) amp I just rebuilt...way cool...a late 1940's "Fidelity" amp...with just a volume and tone knob and a great sound...like a tweed fender champ...yee-haw...tone? Sounds like Neil Young's live rig...

Yummy. Great little amp...if you out there have any broken things that look like this, send them my way...:)

8" alnico speaker...good growl...

Tube line-up, you ask? (Well, maybe only Mark Andrea is asking, as he's the only tube amp geek like me I know who might be reading this...)...but, for Mark, at the very least...

7F7 (odd, but effective preamp tube)...5Y3 rectifier...sounds chewier with a 5U4, though...and a single 6V6 output for crankin' overdrive.

And it's way cute...

Writer's Faire

2005-09-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Was mucho fun...Tod Goldberg moderated the 'writing funny' panel i was on, and it was a kick (including a very stuffy tweed suited guy who seemed to wonder why no one writes like Noel Coward anymore and what is going on with all the potty humor...to which i say "Good day, sir.....I said Good DAY!"

The day was long on friends and smart good writers (both faculty and ex-students)...and blissfully short on lunatics who wanted me to read their collected works, written on diner napkins and the back of tree bark...egads.

AND...my buddy Russ gave me a college text (with ooogie pics) on Fetal Pigs (for the majority of folks out there who haven't read my novel...there is a sub-plot of sorts that deals with, you guessed it, Fetal Pigs).

Thanks, RUSS!

As no one out there has given me any gummi bear porn, this currently is the coolest book-related present ever.

Good seeing y'all.

R

Tommorow: More GUITAR PORN (actually amp porn tomorrow :)
WEDS: My buddy Missy plays "The Game" with the subject being "Bob Dylan/Neil Young?"

UCLA EXTENSION Writer's Faire

2005-09-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm on two panels tomrorrow...writing the first novel is one...and writing funny (or some such thing) is the other, with my bud Tod Goldberg...the writer's faire is free, full of some great panels...check out the whole listing here:

http://www.calendar.ucla.edu/event_detail.cfm?MeetingID=85895

and if you're a friend and you see me being cornered by a lunatic after a panel, come over and save me. cheers

r

Help 826LA help others.

2005-09-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, 826LA is one of the great things to happen to the LA-area literary community...ever. They are great people...they do wonderful things, and now, not content with helping just locally, they're pitching in with aid for people who need it most at the moment.

From their newsletter below--and please help, if you can. All best & thanks,

Rob

826 MOBILIZES TO HELP KATRINA EVACUEESLike everyone in the country, 826 National is stunned by the destruction and displacement caused by Hurricane Katrina, and we want to help. We know that providing basic needs and medical supplies is the first priority of the Red Cross, yet we are also aware of the power of storytelling and we’d like to help create a setting where students can start to write. We would like to complement the ongoing relief services by offering storytelling & bookmaking opportunities for young Americans waiting in churches and at the Astrodome in Houston.We are planning on working with a minimum of 200-250 students a day. In addition to multiple storytelling and bookmaking sessions per day, our team will establish stations where young people can come and learn how to craft their own books and journals in creative and gorgeous ways, draw cartoons, and write poems. We will also take hundreds of coloring books and crayons to offer as a positive distraction. We understand that this volunteer work will only be a tiny portion of what will need to happen in order for these young people to feel safe and complete again, but we still would like to participate in giving them some of the attention they deserve right now. Assuming that we are able to raise the necessary funds, our team will leave for Houston on Monday, September 12th. We hope to work with people in Houston during this time of crisis, and leave our teaching tips and tools behind as communities rebuild.If you are interested in donating funds or sponsoring the trip for one of our volunteers, please visit

www.826LA.org/donate

Please write “Hurricane Katrina” in the space allowed for the “In Honor” section. We are also looking for people to donate frequent flyer miles for plane tickets to Houston. Please contact Pilar Perez (pilar@826la.com) for more information.We would also gladly accept donations of supplies anytime before the end of the day this Friday. Supplies needed include crayons, pens, pencils, notebooks, construction paper, glue, scissors (safe kids' ones and adult ones), watercolors, watercoloring paper, and paint brushes.

Sex & Drugs

2005-09-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

No rock and roll today, but in this episode of "The Game," i asked a reader, who is in the know on such matters:

Better for fucking: 'Ludes or alcohol?

And the answer (and all you need to know about our guest expert is that she's way hot and smart and knows of what she speaks)....

"re: blog - ludes (highly predictable: take lude, wait 3-5 minutes for it to come on - fuck your brains out - pass out - wake up hangover-free)

alcohol (highly unpredictable....drink, wait 30 seconds or never to come on...maybe fuck your brains out, maybe go home pouty, pass out - wake up with hideous hangover and look for car)...

Have to go w/ ludes on this one."

A public service...but since you can't get ludes in the US anymore, you people will just have to fuck sober. But a good fuck should get you plenty high...if it doesn't, you're doing something wrong.

C'mon out for Los Blips

2005-09-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

As Austin TX's amazing Gourds (http://www.thegourds.com/) have been known to say..., "C'mon Motherfucker, where the party at?"

Well, wednesday night, it's at The Key Club with my buddy Steve's band (he's also in one with me and Gayle...The Danbury Shakes...more info soon)...or, as I like to think of them, Steve's other band :)

This below is from his announcement...speading the word...see you there-

What: A musical extravaganza with the indie-rock sensation Los Blips (I play drums...)

Where: The Cat Club, West Hollywood, CA, USA

When: Wednesday, Sept. 7, 11:00 pm (yikes!) Okay, okay, I know it's late for some, but hey, what's life without a little unpredictability. Besides, it'll give you a good excuse to go in late towork the next day and see less of your boss! And wouldn't that be grand?The particulars --

The Music: Los Blips play guitar-based indie-rock, melodic, sometimes loud... no, mostly loud. And fun, don't forget that -- we're FUN with acapital F.

The Cat Club: A cool joint very close the Whiskey A-Go-Go on Sunset Blvd. --8911 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood CA 90069 to be exact. (You can mapquest it if needed).It's 21 and over so unfortunately the kiddies have to stay at home playing Grand Theft Auto. But that means you can have a cocktail or two as long as you keep your wits about you. Oh, and it's $5.00 to get in. Yes, I'm sure there's a guest list somewhere,but after all is said and done, you can't even get a Sunday paper and a goodcup o' Joe for that in this town. And this'll be WAY better than that Soduku thingy that's all the rage these days.Okay, so we'll see y'all there!On the Flippy,Steve
http://www.myspace.com/degreezero