CRAP TV and Free Tracks

From WesternPAJuggalos.com. Some of the latest action out of Camp Sorg:

It's been a crazy weekend. CRAP played to the biggest stage, then the smallest private party, and we have plenty of footage to share! Here's just the beginning of all the Halloween weekend footage we have...

CRAPTV Xtra: Halloween House Tour - Big Daddy Shit takes us on a tour of this guy's front yard and all the crazy decorations they have set up at this party we were invited to play.
CRAP TV Xtra: Helloween Freestyles - Some freestyles from Helloween Mayhem in Geneva, OH, including Big Daddy Shit, Big C of Legally Insane, and Maniak.
"Helloween Mayhem" Live - Holly Dolly, Psychopathic J, and Triggga perform the title track to the free CD they were handing out. (Sorg's on that shit too).
No Clue - Got some really decent footage of No Clue's set, including "In the Attic", a fresh remix, and some sweet stage wears.
CRAP TV All Access: Helloween Mayhem - Clips of CRAP, Ghetto G, Legally Insane, No Clue, and Maniak performances from Friday night.

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The included tracks comprise of the Helloween Mayhem show from October 26, 2007 at The Hot Spot in Geneva, OH. And now they're yours to download! Get them here!

Here's what's included:
1. Intro
2. Helloween Mayhem (feat. Holly Dolly, Triggga, P.J. Bozac, & Sorg)
3. Brain Analysis (feat. No Clue Crew)
4. Shot in the Dark (feat. P.J. Bozac & Mike Kerrison)
5. Let the Games Begin (Feat. Triggga)
6. No Clue Sampler
7. Triggga Sampler

Download the album!

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And finally, we're in the final production stages for the next WPAJ/Deface DVD release:

What the hell was that again?

Crazy. Craz-y. CRAZY!

This was a rough week. A lot of shit went down. A lot of work was thrown down in the day job. Some meeting stuff learning some new tech. And everything prepping for these shows. Fuck.

So tonight, we head straight out of work, grab up my fellow Crapper and Silent Ninja. We head up on a 3-ish hour drive (with food stop) to Geneva, OH up on Lake Erie. We got a little lost. The place wasn't as obvious as I would have liked.

We walk into this place, which is aparently an arcade/pool hall out front. But you walk in the back, it's a HUGE performance area. I'm talking this is a glorified warehouse with a massive stage. This place is bigger than Mr Smalls or the Rex Theater combined. Friggin' sweet. But I don't get a minute to enjoy it. We walk in, and I'm told to get on stage. Huh...

So I have a short hookup with the sound guy. He insisted we use the corded mics already on stage. (CRAP is not a fan of corded mics. The need for movement in our high energy, fan interactive, show is crucial). And there are foam tombstones all over the stage. Wow. So we get out there. This place has the craziest echo I've ever fucking heard. And they're not using the monitors. Trying to sync up our flows with the bounce off every surface in this place was a hell of a challenge. If we played this place maybe a year/year and a half ago, I don't think we would have been skilled enough to adjust and roll with it. But we still nailed most of our set.

For all of the pre planning, worry, and bullshit leading into a show like this. And to walk right in. I love the comfort I feel when I walk on stage and start throwing down some Disco Ball like it was a second skin. As feared, the crowd was lacking, but we had a good bit of the crowd right up front. There were some way too young girls up front grinding the shit out of each other almost the entire set. Toilet paper was flying (with a lot of room to sail through the space. And we got to Monkey Flings Poo, we were joined on stage, without provocation, by Psychopathic J, Duck, and a butt load of other ninjas from the backstage. All helping to toss TP and end the set with us. I just had to stop and take it in, as I tend to do when we get to this point of the set. It really garners the feeling that your doing something right if these guys are having a blast with what we're putting out there.

So aparently a few groups (on this packed ass show) had dropped off. A disturbing trend in these Ohio shows we keep doing. But that's alright, that helps me narrow down who to work with and not to work with. (we'll have a blog on that at a later date, perhaps.) So Triggga went on. Don't think anyone else. We caught some Legally Insane, Holly Dolly, Maniac K, and finally, No Clue.

Legally Insane are fucking there. They brought so much energy to the stage, I'm becoming rather excited on seeing where these guys are going. Their acepella song (not sure if it was on purpose or a result of the CD player acting up). And now Holly Dolly is rolling with them. I'm always going to be supportive of any females getting into the biz. She's got some good songs, but I think she needs to build that on stage confidence. It'll come, I'm sure. Can't wait to see where all these guys/gals go. No Clue. Holy Shit. This was the first seeing the new streamlined, 3 man team. With their butcher getups, some remixed tracks or two, and the new tracks for halloween (complete with "brains" being fondled and smashed all over the stage) these guys just felt like they had a new level to their usual energetic vibe. Maniac K did some freestyles with Jeff/Big Daddy Shit and tracks whenever the mic was free. Good stuff. Horrorcore. Needs some hooks. But dude can go.

And tonight I finally got to hook back up with Duck and the Chicken Scratch crew, the LI and No Clue Crews, and shit, we actually sold some merch. Altogether a decent show. And most importantly, fun as all hell.

I loved the feel of the place, but one thing is for sure, we do this place when there's people attending the area in season (summer). Maybe next time.

Holly Dolly Interview

Sup guys. We're back with another interview. This time, we're sticking local and talking to a fellow performer from this Friday's Helloween Mayhem in Geneva, OH, and part of the L.I. Crew, Holly Dolly! Scope out her Myspace Page, and hit up that Tech N9ne show in Cleveland, OH for another chance to catch her.

The Forgotten. The Unconnectable.

Admittedly inspired by Justin Kownacki's recent post, (read it as a slight prerequisite, perhaps)

But as I read about this, and the concept of Pittsburgh, and other burghs in between our wet borders, being referred to as "flyover states" to the tech community at large that appears to matter, I tend to think back to my days back home, before relocating to the city for education and career prospects. I recall all that I had to learn and accomplish on my 28.8 modem, then blazing fast 56k. Then devised a way to use the underutilized "Shotgun" modem. (2 56k modems, using two phone lines, combined for speed. Tight). Waiting for my html pages and lax use of graphics in design to keep that speed up. Setting up a rather choppy video stream for fun. Spending all night to download a couple songs via Napster. (yeh, the real one that started the stir.)

While I'm in a fly over city, It is ripe with new tech, and people excited about new tech. The people and things happening in this city. Businesses, bloggers, Podcamps, Geek Nights, User Groups. More and more, these are at my fingertips.

And back home, it's still rocking the internet like its 1999. Sure, my dad has DSL now. Barely. It's unreliable and hardly on. If I were back home, I might insist on going back to dial up for the update in reliability, as apposed to what's available at the end of DSL radius. Ok, there's cable internet in at least the next town over. About 7 miles away. But who wants to live there. And who would you have your geek gatherings with. What work would there be for a video/web producer? The occasional small business looking to join the web revolution with animated gifs and glorified online brochure?

So while we look at the plight fly over states, we also might consider the "drive through towns" that lack the access to "join the conversation". Look at one of those light maps sometime. You can look at how much of our landscape lacks the capabilities due to lack of access and remoteness. They're not all Amish y'know.

(And if you're Amish, and offended, what the hell are you doing on a computer reading this. You're Amish...)

CRAP TV Episode 16

Featuring footage from last weekend's Rockin' the Suburbs!!

Haunted House Juggalo Nights!!!

SupYours truely will be attending the ScareHouse (meetup at 7 PM). Pick a night and come out to hook up with some ninjas!

And from Saturday's CRAP show...

Killa C Interview

Back again with the interviews. This time, we have the real Dirty Thug himself, Killa C, who's opening for some dates on the next Tech N9ne tour in the Midwest. Scope it.

We are also still working on Danny Diablo, Mower, and a few other underground acts in the coming weeks. So stay tuned right here for the WPAJ Interview.

The Pajama Jama Match of Ages...

I swear I could write a post like this every three months...

I like being a wrestling fan. And being a fan for so long (since at least Paul Orndorf/Hulk Hogan Saturday Night Main Event Cage Match Classic in the 80's) and I find that all of these "internet marks" seem to be so jaded. Now that everyone is "in on it" everyone analyzes, pokes, prods, postures, disarms, and generally bitches about wrestling. No, it's not like back in the day. If that's what you want, go rent some old PPVs and Anthologies.

So tonight, we had a crazy WWE pay per view in No Mercy. We went in not knowing anything about how a new champ would be crowned after John Cena's freak injury from Monday Night. We were opened with Randy Orton being handed the belt. Triple H talking Vince into getting a shot at it. Triple H winning the belt. Defending against Umaga. Then losing his third match of the night, and the belt, back to Randy Orton in one of the best Last Man Standing we might have ever witnessed.

And in between? We had surprise tag match, a sloppier, but interesting women's title change, pizza vomit, Irish trickery, an ECW dud, and a pajama jama match that made Batista look like Tarzan. All intertwined with our story of the night, in the Triple H title encounters.

But some were not as happy with the show. I'm glad to know I'm not the oddity that enjoyed the night. And I may have a lesser opinion if I had personally shelled out the $40 for the show in my own home. But without that weighing in the back of my mind. I could sit there, eat my pizza at Fox and Hound, take in the action and the surrounding reactions in the room from the other wrestling fans. I'm not a fan of Randy Orton. Really at all. Though I respect some of the things he's done. (the asshole can sell like a champ sometimes) I was happy to see Triple H have his 11th(I believe) championship, and have to be almost killed after three matches. You know this is going to lead to further matches, and they can only go up from here. (Hell in the Cell, anyone?) Fantastic.

So please, friends. Let yourselves be fans again. Remove yourself from reality, and buy into the fantasy that is the whole reason you started watching to begin with. Otherwise, shutup and start watching some UFC...

Fantastico!

I learned this evening, that my brother had started "blogging". I am happy as can be. My brother has never been the most "outward" of people. I always worried that I had no idea what this guy was thinking half of the time. An introvert of sorts, though coming out of his shell as I subject him to my outward friends here in the city since he moved in with us last year. Like the jawbones thing. I hope it would be all therapeutic.

Anyways, this is another example of the greatness of this whole "social media" thing we're all trying to figure out. Any time any one of us and use any of these tools out here to get something off of our chest, or just express yourself and explain your ideals, that is a victory. And that is something worth being involved with.

And to all these people talking about Twitter being some sort of "marketing tool" or "Social experience". Fugg that. It's the thing I use to tell them I had a good sandwich. And for people to tell me how good their sandwich is. Ok, it's more useful than that. But people, don't take these things so seriously. If you're not having fun and excitement with using social media, then you've missed the point.

The value of censorship

So I found myself more and more facing a delema. Censorship. Let me explain.

It started as, on a whim, I recommended that we persue this Rockin the Suburbs deal going on in Rochester, PA in just over a week. It had a spot open. It's being headlined by Sponge. And our friend CRA$H was on the bill. So they were open to having non-bands involved. This guy aparently loved our concept, but not our language as this is billed as an "all ages/family" event. Ok, we've done TV, and I get the impression this won't be nearly as strict. No problem.

So this other group comes on our radar. Doing some pretty cool things, from the looks of it, with music and art in the Pittsburgh area. Same situation. But this time, I'm feeling preached at for my language choice.

I've stated many times, we went into this whole "rap group" thing with no plan. No style. No idea. We had a handful of beats and figured out what to do with them. We wrote and sang what entertained us. There's no marketing plan here. But now we have to consider these things.

I had a recent discussion with one of my cohorts in music about taking on too many of these censored gigs. I believe the comment was "if they don't want to book us for being us, then why should we change. We make this music for us." That's true. We started making this for us. And maybe a little bit of the rockstar feeling being on stage performing. But the more people that are listening out there, the more rewarding.

Now, I don't condone repackaging, or overall changing ourselves to get in these people's faces. Our approach to the Rochester show, for instance. We took a look at our song cataloge, and determined what songs would and wouldn't work. I'm not apposed to dropping an F-bomb from a song. They were likely inserted for flow, and there's plenty of replacements. And I realize that live, most listeners won't realize the difference. It's not like we're all over the radio and everyone knows the words. And our representation on stage doesn't change. We still have our individual styles. The toilet paper. The guy int he monkey suit. The show and material is not misrepresented.

Now, I would never expect a Dr. Espling or Pumpkin King to do the same. Those are acts that are hinged on the horrorcore, or "murder rap" genre. If you wanted to make that family friendly, you'd probably be better off leaving it on mute. There's that line. But acts like ours, or NES's nerdcore style, and especially emcee lb's style, are all broader and can reach much more of an audience.

In no way do I intend to do these kinds of shows on a regular basis. It would drive me nuts. But if we can do this every once in a while, getting ourselves in front of a few more faces that would have never have seen us otherwise, I don't see a problem.

Now, perhaps next time, I'll analyze how CRAP has become role models for the youth of this country....

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Side Notes:

• BIG thanks to Nate Da Mac for his latest contribution to the CRAP awesomeness. This GTA-esque image is the best I've seen in a damn long time. This guy always delivers something that represents our group.
• I got to attend my first Geek Night at the Church Brew Works and got to catch up with Cyntha, Norm, and for a brief minute, John from my Podcamp and Twitter ventures. Good beer, good conversations. Loved it. I'll be back in December for sure.
• No, I hadn't "podfaded". I was simply sick. I had a hellacious bout with vomiting last week and really, just now, am returning to my regularly scheduled stomach tolerance.
  
• I have started work on the upcoming, epic, fist ever, RWF DVD. The Sorgstock 2006 Anthology. I have the matches collected, and have over an hour and a half of backyard wrestling. The menu is designed, and we'll be doing brand new commentary this weekend. And most likely sell this thing at shows at a ridiculously low price. After that, my personal DVD projects will be: CRAP TV Volume 2, then Sorgstock 2007 Anthology: RWF