Welcome back, Lab Girl Ilsa!!!

(Wallpapers downloadable HERE.)

Sorry for the programming change, but my favorite movie posters list is proving more challenging than I thought it would. I also apologize for the long stretches I've gone without posting. Life has been... complicated, and I've been a lot more tired than usual.

Anyway, we're here at the end of another decade — the first decade of a new century, I have to add. It has been a wildly tumultuous decade for me (and for the planet), even though there were times when it seemed absolutely nothing was happening. This was the decade that I moved to California, the decade that my children were born, the decade that saw most of my friends not only get married but have children as well. We had two historic presidential elections here in the US, although they are historic for vastly different reasons. This decade had 9/11, Katrina, the tsunami, more devastating earthquakes than I want to think about, the wars, the market crash and yet more crap.

I'm really glad that it is ending, and I look forward to finding out that the first decade of every century blows chunks. Of course, the second decade of the twentieth century brought the first world war, so maybe I should be careful what I wish for.

Regardless of how I feel about the decade itself, I am compelled to reflect upon it, to take stock of its lessons, and, of course, to make pointless favorites lists. Brace yourself, because they're coming: favorite movie posters, favorite comics, favorite tv shows, favorite music, etc. I'm making lists, checking them twice... wait, no, that's what I'm doing for the kids' Christmas. Well, I'm making lists anyway. And posting them here.

Just came to my own friggin' blog to post and got hit by a commercial. Livejournal, we might be parting ways.

In the meantime, here's a picture of an actual product found on the shelves at Ralph's. (I was buying vitamins for the kids.)




Something about this strikes as both very Victorian and very modern at the same time. And, y'know, hilarious.

Tomorrow, I hope to post my list of my favorite movie posters of the decade. It might be the next day instead, just because I have to winnow down the list.

Saturday I woke up for the trip to Pensacola. The contents of the truck were pretty much untouched from the night before; all ready to go! The weather was alternating between a light mist and an annoying drizzle as my colleagues showed up to pack up the trailer and get on the road. We completed this task, bringing the entire show (with the exception of the video screen, which they said would be furnished) and everybody crammed into the extended cab of the truck - rather a tight squeeze for the guys in back, but we were aiming to cut the bottom line in any way possible (good thing we did, too) as we were getting a percentage of the door take. The show had been set up and promoted by Mike Ensley, the Pensacola based horror host of Nightmare Theater, on which he plays the Baron Mondo Von Doren (a VERY minor demon, who is plagued/assisted by 'El Sapo', a Mexican wrestler of dubious origin, played by Chip Chism.)

After a nice cruise down to Pensacola (with a midway stop in Mississippi to stretch our legs and eat), we arrived at our destination in a commercial/residential area: the Creative Instinct Warehouse. This was a club set up in a large sign-shop warehouse. A large roller door opened from the parking lot into the warehouse, which was lined on both sides with double-scale 60's B-movie posters hung from the ceiling. Below, both side walls also featured backlit panoramic posters of a Halloween graveyard scene. The end of the warehouse had a loft accessible by stairwell with an alcove below, where the video projector was aimed. We were performing atop the loft, and our video would play underneath our feet!

Dr. Z hung the C.O.G. banners on either side and our faithful roadie Dustin began hauling stuff up the stairs. After we were set up, I helped our opening act Clay Martin Croker with the direct box interface from his 16mm projector to the PA. Then we jumped in the truck and hit the Crystal Burger for our USDA year's supply of yummy grease!

When we got back, Croker was showing all kinds of cool stuff on his 16mm projector, including cartoons, Saturday morning trailers and ads from the 70's, and an entire episode of Ultraman! NICE. One downer came through about this time - back in NOLA, Jeannine's car was stuck in the flooded uptown streets and wouldn't start. Bummer... my Sunday would be occupied with that salvage when I returned.

The place wasn't nearly as crowded as it could or should have been, and Mike Ensley apologized to me, saying that he had done all he could but the weather was evidently keeping people inside their homes. But we were having a great party, the venue was warm and hospitable with free beer from a keg, and people who were there were loving it.

At around midnight, the cartoons ended and we took the stage. The place got a noticably more crowded as we began to perform a good sounding, entertaining set. It was quite novel being 12 feet about the crowd, though the novelty wore off quickly; I think we do better close to the audience. The audience's attention was divided between us on the loft up above, and the screen below. Our lobotomy patient did really well as well... the encore was our new song Zombie Apocalypse Barbecue and it was quite well received!

At some point around 'Placebo' a cop showed up, unbeknowst to me, and asked the owner of the place to turn down the music. The owner, who was really cool to us all night, unfortunately didn't really know how to work his own sound system, and turned the PA all the way down. He was pretty frustrated that it had no effect on the guitar amplifier, which wasn't even miked, and I quickly restored the volume to 95% of where it had been (not even knowing the circumstances of the problem until after we got offstage. Nobody got in trouble though, and I never did figure out who would have complained.)

Afterwards, we talked to Clay and Mike, took pictures with various people, and I got a nifty autographed picture of Space Ghost and Zorak talking about the C.O.G. That's going on the wall in the Secret Lab for sure! Also shot some material for an upcoming segment of Nightmare Theater.

The road home was easier than the way up... must have been a tailwind or something! We got in at 7:30AM... (and when I finally woke up, the car was soaked but startable after a new battery. Whew!)

This weekend was something I'd been anticipating for a while... C.O.G.'s last hurrah for 2009! We'd scheduled a show for Pensacola with our old friends from Nightmare Theater, and it didn't take much effort to jump onto a pre-existing bill in New Orleans the night before. As usual, things never quite go as planned...

Friday I was pretty keyed up; Maison Musique was the current name of a long-time favorite venue on Frenchmen St. The place is an large old building that could have once been a hotel or a theater, with enough room inside for more than one stage. The guy running the place had deflected my request to set up a show on a weekend a couple months prior (telling me he'd have to try us out on a weekday.) I responded by putting C.O.G. onto a bill with some friends' bands, including The Local Skank, a ska band whose album I'm producing, followed by Clockwork Elvis and reunited New Orleans ska band RF7.

My new policy of accepting gigs without vetting them with the band also worked out unusually here; for Dr. A Rachnid told me that he had a Christmas party planned for the night we were to be in Pensacola, and that he'd be content to sit both nights out if it meant a chance to actually watch a C.O.G. performance in town. We'd miss him, but the show must go on!

When I got to Maison Musique, I finally got a chance to glance around. A small stage in front of the venue adjoined the front window, next to their capacious bar. A very large room opened into the back of the club where a nice big stage equipped with a PA and monitors sat ready. A table onstage told me that a D.J. had been there. The main area had a balcony accessible by stairwell. Other than Filbert and I, the place was relatively empty, but a trad-jazz band of 60 something year olds was setting up in front and the bartender was serving one of the few patrons at the bar. When I asked where we could bring in our equipment, the bartender pointed up. Hmmmmm.

Upstairs, through a couple doors, there was a separate bar in what had once been a kitchen. A tiny stage had been installed in what must have been a bedroom, with a little Behringer vocal practice head and some speakers of unknown manufacture. The place was all hardwood and rang like hell. A guy that Filbert knew was setting up drums for RF7. When he tried out the drums, it was really sharp and painful, just like I dislike it. Ouch! He then set about trying to repair the P.A. I was thinking, "Man, this was going to suck..."

Over a game of pool in the adjoining room (utilizing the one intact cue out of 10 that were there), Filbert and I discussed what we should do. We weren't in much of a position to demand that they let us use the main room; they had the trad-jazz band going in there and the two rooms were continuous, so once the rock music started up, it would have been all over for the older folks downstairs. On top of that, they weren't charging admission for the front bar but the rock bill had a cover that would have to be enforced. Filbert thought it was all-or-nothing; either attempt to set up the full C.O.G. show (which after two hours was still packed up in the truck) or just split. Cancelling a gig, ANY gig, is NOT my style. Not even an option. We'd do SOMETHING - but what? Acoustic C.O.G.? Cowboys of Genius with a washtub and tamborine? Hmmmmm...

A couple calls later, I had a plan and somebody to fill in for Drumbot! D.C. Harbold, the leader of Clockwork Elvis, is also drummer for The Junior League, as well as being a friend and fan of the C.O.G. He'd already be there for Clockwork, and had listened to our music. Problem Solved! D.C. would become 'Dr. E' for the night and after a quick 1 minute runthrough, we had 4 songs that he could play with us. Without unpacking ANYTHING but the guitars, costumes, and an amp head, we managed to thrill and confuse a small but appreciative crowd (about 80 people showed up.) No lights, no video, no Theremin, no drumbot. But we still had a blast and the audience loved it too!



I could barely hear my vocals - a far cry from the conditions I'm used to. Good thing we kept it to four songs; I'd have blown my voice out with any more, and I had to be good for Saturday night. Filbert was in fine fettle, telling people not to touch or even look at his new guitar, the 'Fargenargler', which he'd purchased from the famous Yngwie Flattstein. We performed 'Death to the Angel of Death', debuted our new 'Zombie Apocalypse Barbecue', rolled through 'Born in the South', and finished with our signature 'Science Party'. It was sloppy and punked out, but the crowd reaction was stunningly positive! Sheesh... we might have to do that more often, just to stay in the mix! After the Local Skank got onstage and began wowing the crowd, we flew home to save energy for the following night; we'd need it!

Next post, rainy Saturday night in Pensacola with Zorak...

Shoot. Sorry. No time right now, but I will be back soon. Hope everybody is having a good holiday.