Stand Alone: My old Skinhead hardcore band.

18 years ago I was in a skinhead hardcore band called Stand Alone. For four teenagers in Indiana who loved Sick of it all and Agnostic Front we were not too bad. Anyways here is a scan of an “article” in Filling the void. FTV was a sXe zine from Lafayette Indiana in 1990. The kids from the band Advance did one issue of it. Some how I still have a copy. Check it will make you laugh.
My old Skinhead hardcore band.

The one of just me is from the show we played with Advance in Lafayette. The one of the whole band was a basement show in Carbondale Illinois. That show was with the bloomington band With Authority.

In the article it says I was replaced. I had gone away for school and Luther Blanton took over and they changed drummers. The band became Dead Center. They did a demo, which is not too bad for what it was. The funny part is Luther and I a few years later would start a Vegan straight edge band Warcry. I sang for Warcry at the first couple practices but when I sarted getting into hardline the band decided to kick me out. no hard feelings. Luther when on to replace me again on vocals.

Jack joined the marines and according to a myspace search I did he is still a skin and played guitar in american Oi band Patriot. Huh. Ryan the drummer moved Jamica last I heard and I have no Idea what happened to Nate. He was really into snowboarding.

Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary!

Lighthouse is a cool little farmed animal Sanctuary here in Oregon. On Saturday members of NW Veg, Try Vegan PDX and viva la vegan went down for a work party. Here are a few of the pictures I took.

www.lighthousefarmsanctuary.org

Happy 25th Randall! Oregon coast!

Hey best friend Randall turned a quarter of a century last week. We also when to the coast and hung on the beach last week. Here are some pictures of sir Randall and the coast. It was rad you have to hike to the beach. Very cool

Earth Crisis signs to century media!

Karl promised us a few things when they played the northwest last year, were off to good start because the first promise of no victory has been fulfilled. Can't wait. This is gonna rule.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=104442

One of the most anticipated and talked about reunions was without a doubt the reformation of EARTH CRISIS, which was followed by a massive North American tour as well as a number of European shows mounting in a truly triumphant return. The pioneers of the hardcore, straightedge movement have now officially made the decision to carry on with the band fulltime and have announced a new worldwide deal with Century Media Records.

EARTH CRISIS has crafted the most angst-ridden and unrelenting offering of its career and this effort is going to serve as a much-needed wake-up call to the masses. The group will self-produce the album and is set to begin tracking next month. Acclaimed producer Tue Madsen (SICK OF IT ALL, DARK TRANQUILLITY, THE HAUNTED) will handle mixing and mastering duties.

Guitarist Scott Crouse comments: "We are very excited to begin tracking our new record and even more excited that it will be released by Century Media. We have been working hard over the last year preparing new material and are scheduled to enter the studio in October. We will be producing this one ourselves and are extremely excited to have Tue Madsen mixing! The new songs are brutal and Century Media is the perfect label to handle them."

EARTH CRISIS' chugging riffs and barked declarations served as the mouthpiece of the militant vegan, straight-edge movement throughout the '90s, detailing the ideas of animal and human liberation, drug-free living, and personal empowerment through hardcore song. This movement spawned activists who took the law into their own hands, burning down fur farms and freeing animals directly. Their vicious debut EP, "Firestorm", was a landmark release for the hardcore scene that combined staccato, solo-free metal with barking, political, and militant vocals. The lyrics centered around the dangers of drug abuse and bringing "violence against violence" to drug dealers and those who would abuse animals: "a firestorm to purify."

Major media outlets such as CNN, CBS and MTV soon started covering EARTH CRISIS and vegan, straight-edge in general. In 1996, the band released its second full-length album, "Gomorrah's Season Ends", a polished and decidedly more metallic affair that produced even more anthems that became singalong worthy staples of their live performances. This exposed the band to a whole new mainstream audience.

Book Review: Super Cell Anemia

Super Cell Anemia
By duncan b. barlow
Afterbirth books
226 pages.

This is a debut novel, but I’ve been following the work of Duncan Barlow the artist for many years. My senior year of high school I would travel all over the Midwest to watch him play guitar in the legendary Louisville hardcore band Endpoint. On the surface Endpoint was just another hardcore act but their emotional shows and genre bending records played with convention. Barlow himself has said it seems like another lifetime. Duncan also played in bands such as the Lull Account, Step Down, By the Grace of God, Dbiddle and my favorite Guilt.

The most important thing for those of you unfamiliar with Duncan’s musical work is that it was always powerful, original and deeply creative. So the when the news came that one of my favorite presses was set to release barlow’s first novel I was excited. The novel Super Cell Anemia proves in the medium of prose that Duncan Barlow is an artist that values creative expression.

SCA is about Giles a germ-a-phobe who is so electrified that he relies on an experimental treatment (involving biting copper) to deal with his rare illness. Giles has moved to Cincinnati to continue this treatment and be close to his doctor. As you read the book you begin to wonder how much you can trust the journal entries that often competes with the present tense narrative.

There are two great strengths to this book. The first is the subtle nature of Barlow’s take on the absurd. I enjoy the over the top whacky-ness of some Bizarro authors like Bradley Sands (also an afterbirth author) and D.Harlan Wilson Especially but this book has different take. Like a slow burn gothic horror novel the moments of the absurd are peppered brilliantly through the first hundred pages. From there the strangeness of the book expands like lungs sucking in a deep breath.
The second strength is the structure. Giles neighbors get stranger, his doctor goes off on convincing pseudo scientific monologues and most unsettling is the half man calico cat Giles knows is stalking him.

This is an unsettling debut in all the right ways. Effectively organized through journal entries, narratives from shifting perspectives, and chapters focused on the various rooms and neighbors in Giles building are an inventive touch that relates to the character nicely. My favorite was room 104 where Giles obsesses over the sound of his neighbors late night pisses.

Super Cell Anemia is a doozy of a character based Bizzaro novel. Excellently written and everything I hoped for when I started it. Duncan Barlow has transcended my perceptions of him as an artist. He is a great novelist who happens to also be a pretty good musician. If you like a strange read this book needs to be on your TBR pile.

Food Fight 5th B-day party pictures

Food fight is a Portland based all vegan grocery store located at the Portland Vegan mini-mall. The store is awesome, picture a 7-11 run by super militant vegans. So they had a fifth birthday party last weekend. Food eating contests, a vegan mexican food truck, a velcro wall, karokee and lots of crusties.

They are awesome so go to there website and send someone you love a care package.

http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/

Photo 1: the Lettuce eating contest, they had to slam a cup of coffee first. Brutal.




Photo 2: Yes that man stuffed a whole head of lettuce in his mouth and ate in like three maybe four minutes.



Photo 3: This is super funny look close...be the abuser in the photo.



Photo 4: The woman from the los groditoes Mexican food truck (who is opening an all vegan truck soon!)won the pie eating contest. 4 pies.