― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 26 June 2004 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― twelve, Saturday, 26 June 2004 19:52 (nineteen years ago) link
When it comes to drugs, I think what people put into their bodies is their business. His drug probs were addressed in the article, and I said that nothing really justifies being an addict. However, if he hurt other people because of it, then their anger with him is justified (like his former bandmates or his real friends or the people he stole records from). Greg's obviously no saint. Since I don't know many of these stories to be true (Maria does), I didn't want to talk out of school.
Like many rock scenes, the kind of drugs you do seem to define your social life, and once you get hooked, quitting means getting brand new friends, behaviors, etc. In a town as small as Philadelphia, this is not easy. Getting hooked on heroin is stupid for sure, but getting clean is probably ten times harder. (Not that I'd really know). Leaving town was probably the smartest thing he ever did.
What I was getting at was people who have had no dealings (good or bad) with Gregg just talking smack (no pun intended) about him because it's fun or it makes you feel superior (other than talking about the merits of Delta 72's music, which is what ILM should be about).
I just didn't want to add another knee-jerk Gregg Foreman knock-knock joke to the discussion.
With that said, I think Jon Spencer and Ian Svenious and Gregg Foreman were the right kind of frontmen for a particular place and time.
― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 26 June 2004 20:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 26 June 2004 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 26 June 2004 20:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― daria g (daria g), Sunday, 27 June 2004 09:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― daria g (daria g), Sunday, 27 June 2004 09:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 27 June 2004 16:00 (nineteen years ago) link
totally OTM. hahahahaha.
i was a huge fan of the delta 72. they moved to philly shortly after i came here for college. they definately had an energy that was lacking in local bands at the time. sarah stolfa was inspiring to me, at a time when few girls took to the stage in philly. [well, that hasnt really changed all these years later]
i still think "rich girls like to steal" is a mighty song.
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 27 June 2004 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― eedd, Sunday, 27 June 2004 17:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Sunday, 27 June 2004 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― sherm, Sunday, 27 June 2004 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link
Even though I have a closet of vintage dresses and go-go boots and about a zillion records from that time period and its 11 revivals,I can totally relate to not feeling hip enough for the room. I always had a mixed relationship with the scenes that sprang out of The Delta 72 and Gregg's early party, "Uptight," which later expanded under the umbrella of the behemoth Making Time. I loved the music, I loved the fashion, and I loved the energy, but I hated the people and the overall vibe. I found those people really unapproachable, and I'm sorry, when you dress mod or '60s in general and get caught up in it all, a big part of it is having a sense of humor and fun. They also didn't support other similar parties going on by people way more knowledgeable, yet less fashionable or "cool." And you couldn't seriously talk about music with those people or damn near anything else. It's sad, how what started off as something very exciting sucked the life and the soul out of the scene, and now all people want to do is go to DJ nights and be hipster fashionistas.
― Sara Sherr, Sunday, 27 June 2004 23:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 28 June 2004 03:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― daria g (daria g), Monday, 28 June 2004 05:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― daria g (daria g), Monday, 28 June 2004 05:24 (nineteen years ago) link
back on topic: i think i got to see each of ian s.'s bands live up to and including the make-up wherein i lost interest. no idea what the bands he's in now (weird war and scene creamers) are like. i have no problem with people into fashion, except that they tend to not tolerate those that aren't in the know (like me). i mean, that quote above in the gregg f. piece about "shlubs think they can go onstage looking like superchunk roadies" is kinda funny, but ultimately telling about that kind of mindset that a lot those d.c. fashion club kids had/have (curmudgeon alert!).
as far as baltimore scenesters giving attitude (all too familiar with that too), well that's lame. just stomp on their toes or slap them out of their pouty reverie and remind them what city they're from. despite the efforts of certain d.c. wannabes (*cough* convocation of.. *cough*) baltimore is too working-class for any amount of posturing like that to be taken seriously locally.
― sherm, Monday, 28 June 2004 07:26 (nineteen years ago) link
Sounds like Philly has a similar relationship to New York as Baltimore does to DC.
― Sara Sherr, Monday, 28 June 2004 22:25 (nineteen years ago) link
just noticed that i still have my copy of the first n.o.u. 7", probably the best thing they did. i have to hand it to them for not sounding like every other d.c. band and doing something original. the metamatics are probably the only other one i can think of that did this.
― sherm, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― benito mussolinington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link
(When you said Goodwill I hope that was code for 'a microwave oven.')
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 03:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― daria g (daria g), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:17 (nineteen years ago) link
m.
― msp, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 13:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― hexxy, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:07 (nineteen years ago) link
Ian Svenonius POX:
"Last Train To Cool""Joy Of Sound" "Pow! To The People" "Born on the Floor""AK-47" "Baby It's The Best""Mockingbird Yeah" "Depression III""I Am Pentagon""Caught Up In The Rapture"
― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― andy, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:37 (nineteen years ago) link
"They Live by Night""Today I Met the Girl I'm Going to Marry""Cool Senior High School""Evidence Is Everywhere""How Pretty Can U Get""Spectra Sonic Sound"
xpost - I know the Metamatics have a record, that's what I had heard originally but it wasn't mine and I don't have a turntable, had thought there might have been a reissue?
― daria g (daria g), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 19:42 (nineteen years ago) link
daria - the metamatics s/t is lp only, which is a shame. saw them at fort reno and they were really good, like the contortions but noisier. the singer was also in all scars and i think he does solo electronic stuff. only just learned of the et at it band which also has a girl who was in meltdown and i went to school with. i may have seen the early incarnation of meltdown, they went by the name pleiades, it was pretty cool to see those teens get up and play like that.
anyone remember the happy flowers?. they were kinda like the wolf eyes of the late 80s. they may be my favorite dc band, though i guess technically they were from virginia so they don't count.
― sherm, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― girls are gay, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:25 (nineteen years ago) link
not sure if ian and michelle were/are a couple but i always just assumed it.
also, apparently meltdown has a cd out on the archigramophone label.
― sherm, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 21:06 (nineteen years ago) link
Metamatics have a discography CD on Troubleman Unlimited that is amazing (and contains their songs from the split 7" they did with The Make Up, on Svenonius' Black Gemini label). Metamatics drummer Malcolm McDuffie was also in Crom Tech. The singer, Chuck Bettis, now does experimental electronic noise stuff as Trance & the Arcade.Gabe Andruzzi now plays in the Rapture. Anyways, yeah, Metamatics were awesome. I only got to see them once -- opening for Fugazi at Fort Reno (Summer '93 I think), but it was an amazing show.
As you can tell, I am super into all this DC stuff...
― Neb Reyob (Ben Boyer), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 22:01 (nineteen years ago) link
sherm, i think it shut down about 4 years ago for shows. i dont know if seth and the revolving cast of characters still live there anymore. one of the housemates didnt want live music and there was always the fear of being shut down by the cops due to zoning issues.
man, i really miss that place.
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 01:12 (nineteen years ago) link
Never saw Happy Flowers, but a few years ago they played some reunion shows as an opener for Yo La Tengo. Apparently the one whose stage name is Mr. Anus has a doctorate in something and is doing professional stuff at a think tank. (Wonder what his resume looks like.)
― j.lu (j.lu), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 01:26 (nineteen years ago) link
mr. horribly-charred-infant runs the official happy flowers website. "Dr. Anus" hahaha
― sherm, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 03:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jez (Jez), Thursday, 1 July 2004 05:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Neb Reyob (Ben Boyer), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:50 (nineteen years ago) link
one of my roommates is an art transporter/installer and he says he sees the guy pretty frequently at openings and such. always flanked by two attractive girls and looking and smirking at him like "you know who i am, guy who's into punk rock. yeah, this is what i've got going on."
― circa1916, Sunday, 28 March 2010 12:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Not rushing to the defence of IS but I always feel like this kind of thing says less about the guy who can supposedly transmit convoluted sentences with his facial expressions and more about the guy who thinks he's interpreting them
― Not a musician, but I thought of Justin Fashanu for some reason (DJ Mencap), Sunday, 28 March 2010 12:22 (fourteen years ago) link
well, i know my roommate pretty well and he's a smart dude and i trust his takes on things and he and i both still dig Ian Svenonious and his bands. it's just an image to laugh about.
― circa1916, Sunday, 28 March 2010 12:28 (fourteen years ago) link
but yeah, the dude is known to go to openings with a girl on each arm. come on.
― circa1916, Sunday, 28 March 2010 12:29 (fourteen years ago) link
the svenonius book 'the psychic soviet' is totally hilarious.
― *makeitplop* (haitch), Sunday, 28 March 2010 12:44 (fourteen years ago) link
i really enjoy his interviews on the vice tv. he's a funny guy!
― circa1916, Sunday, 28 March 2010 12:47 (fourteen years ago) link
lol @ his new band's song "600,00 Bands": http://www.myspace.com/feltletters
"fifty thousand sound like Can/ fifty thousand sound like Manfred Mann"
― ruh roh I'm having a scooby snack (some dude), Sunday, 28 March 2010 13:48 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zz74pBb4ZA
― Tilda Swinton Wreck Up A Dread Dub (admrl), Wednesday, 8 December 2010 23:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I love all the songs on the Felt Letters MySpace page but I sort of doubt they'll ever put anything out besides that one 7" (which would be a real shame): http://www.myspace.com/feltletters
― She Got the Shakes, Thursday, 9 December 2010 00:00 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2011/02/25/ian-svenonius-on-the-bruise-cruise-maybe-this-is-the-first-step-of-indie-rock-going-vegas/
He's emceeing the Bruise Cruise--garage and indie bands on a Carnival cruise ship
The Black Lips, Surfer Blood, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, The Strange Boys, Turbo Fruits—and Vivien Girls
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2011/02/25/im-on-a-boat/
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 26 February 2011 00:57 (thirteen years ago) link