Artists Interviewing Artists

I got back on the wagon this week on one of my many, many ventures, the WPAJ Interview, when I had a chance to talk to J.East from right around here in Beaver County.

So why did I go into this extra podcasts on my plate? Of course it started when I was litterally handed an opportunity to interview some Suburban Noize artists (with no help from Doc, no prodding by me. Let's say it made me feel special) I really didn't think I was interviewer material, but what the hell. If it bombed, I didn't have to post it. After Potluck, Dogboy, and a couple Kottonmouth Kings, I was in the flow, on top of some interviews I've done in a group setting on the Mayhem Show with wrestlers. It sort of ended up weekly via the schedules. And it seemed like a good idea. Finding talent was going to be a problem. So why not tap the underground and local scenes? I've always had an interest in promoting the unsigned long before my own foray into getting on stage. It was the perfect setup. Bring the downloads in with the big names, and squeeze in as many of the smaller artists as I could to help give them a fan boost, get them in people's ears, on itunes, and who knows how many directories.

And I genuinely enjoy talking with others in similar, or more advanced stages, of this music biz. I do have a sort of stock questions for the smaller artists, geared at getting to know them for the audience, or even still for myself. But many of my questions are genuine, as I'm still learning myself (and recognize I have a long way to go). I've sat in and listened to a few interviews Doc's done, and being an artist and producer in his own right helps the interviews come off smoother it seems, and there's a connection there. I'm still trying to get my groove, of sorts, but it's coming.

So here I go, rebooting, of sorts, with hopefully a straight set of local artists. I'm still hearing the waves made by the DaButtonPusha interview a couple months back, and the Marz interview where he called Violent J a straight bitch. Who knows what is going to unfold over the next few months...

This and that...

Ah, hell, I guess I did forget to post last night. Let's see what's going on.

I received an oppurtunity to do a promo music video for the Hollywood Balds tag team. I'll let you guys know how well that goes in maybe a week. Right now, just looking for a reliable way to rip these DVDs for raw footage.

I'm looking into Adobe Flex and if it's something I could be interested in, or maybe get into for real. I've heard a few things about it via Josh Sager and it's peaked my curiosity.

I've returned to my Nintendo Wii Sports ways. Boxing is my bitch!

That's all I got right now. I'll have something more substantial later, I'm sure.

J.East Interview/WMS Episode 93: 2Guys1Mayhem

Doc Remedy and Sorg bring you the Mayhem!

Part 1: We discuss a lot of non wrestling, including the Steelers and Heroes, then get back in the habit with Jericho, Flair, and more!

Part 2: Lunchbox joins us on the phone, then we dive into a pile of fanmail. And is Doc Remedy creepy?

New Videos! We also have some new videos from the BlogTV off air!

Doc Remedy watching 2 girls1cup.com
Sorg and Doc Remedy getting groovy!!

And scope out my latest interview with local rapper, J. East on the WPAJ Interview.

Why does Glenn Beck hate me?

Glenn Beck. Seriously. You don't seem to be such a bad guy. You think illegal immigrants are bad. That our government doesn't have our best interests at heart. That we need to get off of foreign oil and be smarter about energy and innovate in this country.






These billboards have been plastered throughout the Pittsburgh region. Everywhere I go, they're there! I think there are three of these billboards within a mile from my own home! Very disconcerting to say the least.

But why do you want to cut me, sir? I am just your average, humble Hip Hop CRAP Star. I don't want to change the world. I just want to get on stage, have some fun, and have toilet paper thrown at me. It's the friggin' American dream! (as in, I'm American, and I dreamt that)

So take that finger pointing smirk and put the knife away, sir. CRAP has feelings too...

5 Finger Death Punch Show

Well, what better way to cap off a rather icky weekend then some fucking metal. Thanks to the Doc (Dr. Espling), I had the chance to go to the 5 Finger Death Punch show tonight at Mr. Smalls. I was able to sit in on his interview with singer Ivan Moody (formerly of Motograter) and drummer Jeremy Spencer ( formerly of W.A.S.P.). They were great guys, and I got to learn a bit about them. Yes, that name is from Kill Bill. And yes, this new moving "Bled" Ivan is involved in is going to kick ass.

The night kicked off, after a long wait, with AcidFace. Doc said he didn't expect much from this group from the sound of their Myspace Page. I had spotted this guy with a Dr. Dre shirt, cheetah headband, and interestingly high hairstyle, and was surprised to see he was the lead singer of this group. Fantastic. And their sound was tight as hell, though leaning towards the more scream-heavy than I prefer. But damn, were the guitars excellent!

Following were The Autumn Offering and Oblige. Neither were very much my taste, but enough to get my head bobbing. Oblige didn't have much of an energy from the crowd until they started covering some Pantera at the end of their set. Again, not my taste, but worth a look.

And finally, Finger Death Punch came out, and the crowd got moving. I don't know if it was just in comparison with the rest of the show, but these guys proved to show the other groups how it is done. They had amazing energy and just the right set to get people moving the whole time. But..6 songs? They did four, maybe five songs, did the fake out walk off, then came back and played two more. Apparently, these guys are fans of the "leave them wanting more" philosophy Doc and I were talking about earlier in the night.

Fantastic night, either way. I was introduced to some really good groups, one local, one national, that I'll be keeping an eye on.

You can't do it all yourself.

Yeh, I've piled my plate pretty high with the things I choose to involve myself in. Just look at my links on the right. I'm the sole operator of many of those sites. And I've been hard pressed to pass responsibilities onto others to help maintain these things. It's hard because often these projects may not be as important to others as they are to me, so getting some undivided, and continual commitment to keep these things rolling. This is what I spoke about when Dawn brought the concept of "Podfading" to my attention back at Podcamp Pittsburgh 2. I've had as many as 8 posters on WPAJ at a time, only to have most fade of after a while.

So I've finally come together with my latest move to help this. The WPAJ message board has been a plague to my online existance for a great while. Everytime it was back up and gaining steam, something would happen to it. Or we would be overrun by spammers and bots. And just generally ornary people. But no more! Now, I finally got hooked up with another local Juggalo site, GZNinjaz. You may remember the guy behind this site as the youngster who's mom supported his interests in ICP and web design from the City Paper article on Juggalos that I also shared a few paragraphs in..

"The NEW WPAJ Board!! After fighting and never having enough time to manage and learn the phpbb system enough to fend off spammers, and generally annoying passers by, I've been brokering a deal with some ninjas here in the area to lend a hand in the board duties.

And we have something even better. Much like the good old days when we were affiliated with the seperate SnackzBoard, WPAJ is proud to announce with those crazy ninjas from GZ Ninjas have upgraded their forum to the new and improved Industrial Mayhem! This is your one stop shop for the WPAJ society.

So head over and sign up. This board isn't going anywhere anytime soon! "

I am also glad to see they are broadening out this board, in name and content, to more musical genres than just "Juggalo", much like I have on my own WPAJ. Hell, when was the last time I've interviewed someone from Psychopathic Records? When have I ever? I talk to the artists that are good enough to give me the time of day to help promote them. Suburban Noize, Suggardaddy Productions, local and national indy musicians. w

What Sorg is Thankful For.

Meant to do this last night, but the triptophan kicked in and I hit the sack.

• The lovely Missfit - She's my anchor. Keeps me grounded.
• My father - I am very thankful to still have him, and as much of him as possible, after a recent scare of infection that turned out to be mersa, taking a couple of his toes. As a side note, I am also thankful for the "High Impact Hand Safety" videos I had been subject to at work, which prepared me for seeing his foot unwrapped.
  
• Good friends - I'm glad that I've had Chachi, Will, and Jeff there through the rough times this year, when others have turned their back on me this year.
  
• The Chance to Live some Dreams - Whether it be on stage with CRAP, in the ring or backyard with my friends in the RWF, or speaking at Podcamps, it feels good to be in the position I'm in in these cases.
• The fans The people out there that actually respond and reciprocate with the things we're doing. Not that I wouldn't still do some of it, but it makes it easier to dedicate time to something you know people are interested in.
• To have a job that's worth a shit - It's hard at some times, and I almost lost my job because I sort of went off the deep end this year. But I still have it and I can still say I have a job that's not bagging groceries. Not that I'm not looking forward to something new and different on the horizon sometime, but I've held a job for three years and grown from it. Regardless of how long I do end up sticking around, at least I can look back fondly at my years there, I believe.
  

It's been a really hard year for me. I've lost some people in my life this year and have worked hard to try to keep it together. This year, more than everything, I need to sit back a minute and take stock in what I do have.

Lunchbox Gets Full Throttled

Here's some visual flavor of Lunchbox's reaction to the Full Throttle Bad Mother drink he attempted to drink on this week's Wrestling Mayhem Show...

That drink gets...

Wrestling Mayhem Show Episode 92: Fully Caffeinated

The entire fearsome foursome of the Wrestling Mayhem Show return and bring meaning the the term "mayhem" in our name.

Part 1 We test out Hogan's energy drink and it might have gotten us high. Wetalk Jericho, Survivor Series, and other random things, catching upwith Chad the Shad, and the such. Music by Basick Sickness.
Part 2 Lunchbox almost dies at the hands of a new energy drink, we get thereturn of VimMail, and I'm sure we piss somebody off along the way.

Props and plugs go to our new friends and listeners, including folks from EWF in Indiana, Keystone Championship Wrestling here in PA, and of course J. East from Beaver Falls, PA.

Check out all the action at www.WrestlingMayhemShow.com and download the shows right here.

Survivor Series

I don't intend this to be a "wrestling blog" but it is one of my passions, so why not. And I figure PPV recaps would be a great filler of content. So last night, the 3 M's (Mike, Missy, and Matt), head down to Washington to scope our the Survivor Series at "casa de Weekly Feature" with Chad the Shad and Doc Remedy.

The Miz vs John Morrison vs CM Punk for the ECW title. This match has some of the greatest talents coming off of the minuscule ECW roster. And the pot was sweetened further with Miz and Morrison winning the Smackdown titles the Friday previous. We had a good dynamic between the three, with some newer moves and almost a show stealer. It was a blast to count how many times Miz got jacked in the head. CM Punk maintains the championship and represents straight edge everywhere.

Ten Diva tag match. A 5 on 5 affair with 20 boobs in the ring going at it. We get a look at the best the women have to offer, with Kelly Kelly throwing in some new moves, and some good action by the usual greats, Victoria, Beth Phoenix, Melina, and Mickie James. Fast paced, sort of short, but Mickie's new finish of the HLA kiss then kick to the face is priceless women's wrestling.

Cade/Murdoc vs Holly/Rhodes. For some reason, Heat was host to a great looking 3 way tag match for #1 contender. Decent enough of a match. Murdoch doesn't kill anybody with his new flippy move.

Survivor Series Match Probably the best traditional SS match I've seen in years. After the crazy clean sweep team DX made last year, this year saw Triple H's team down one, due to Matt Hardy's "injury", then taking the big man, Kane, and Mysterio out right off the bat. Jeff Hardy gets to stick around to share the spotlight with Trips. Great to see someone behind the younger Hardy. Great action all around.

Hornswaggle vs Great Khali Shane showed up out of nowhere. Finally! And of course Vince joins him at ringside. They introduce and posture to have the shortest McMahon's back. Match was as good as it could have been. Then Finley comes out and wrecks Khali with the Shelalie. Great ending, and can't wait to see the custody battle that will ensue...

Orton vs Michaels for the WWE Championship. A complete 180. Ground moves. Holds. Michaels shows Orton how one really does a headlock. This was starting to look like Rowe/Reyes of recent IWC shows. The fake out kick for the win made sense. Good stuff.

Undertaker vs Batista in Hell in the Cell It's the new cell, so you know no one's getting out of that thing. About 30 feet high. Holy shit. The match was pretty good, but just felt forced. Taker does a good job of carrying Batista to a good match. Blood, weapons. Nothing really out of the ordinary, until Edge pops up out of nowhere and destroys Undertaker, handing Batista the win. Excellent return for the Rated R superstar, back to save Smackdown.

Blogging is Jericho!!

Sorg has internet. Sorg must blog. hmmm...

Well, just back in from Greenville/Jamestown and sitting down to watch the Steelers game (ouch, so far), and thought I'd keep the daily deal going.

First I want to share this video...



That's right. Delirious with Chris Jericho. I know that video comes up often over on the Wrestling Mayhem Show Myspace page in the comments, and for great reason. It's freaking hilarious! I thought this video would be appropriate considering this is the eve of the return, the 2nd_coming, if you will, of one Chris Jericho. And why not mix it with Delirious. One of my favorite indie wrestlers out there today!

First, Chris Jericho. I was introduced to "Lionheart" Chris Jericho back when I got back into wrestling once we emerged from the dark ages and actually got a satellite and could watch it again in 1996. This one of the exciting new wrestlers in WCW at the time. The smaller, high flying, more exciting. Nothing really stuck out, to be honest, except he would come out and just lean into the fans for a moment and just envelope himself in them upon his ring entrance.

Jericho grew through the years, gaining more of a whiny, I'm better than you personality until finally, the Iatollah of Rock and Rolla debuted in WWE! It was an exciting time of people starting to jump ship BACK to WWE after a mass exodus of all of its 80's and early 90's starts left to build WCW to it's only height in the business. And Jericho had an amazing run in the fed, up until his voluntary departure after an under appreciated three way with John Cena, and Christian (not a TNA star) two years ago.

It's a bygone conclusion that it is Jericho. For all the secrecy over the last almost 2 months. And subscribers already receiving the Chris Jericho WWE Magazine coming up. Can't wait.

Loves me some Shmuffinz...

Yeh, I'm a day late. Kind of zonked out early last night after along day and a long ride up here to good ol' Jamestown. But we'll get a 2for1 today and I'll try to get back on later tonight as well. But as far as I can tell, my day blog buddy, emcee lb's, blog isn't even up. Go Friday.

So this morning, my brain is working just enough to bring you: the excellence of Sheetz!

Why? Because that was probably the highlight of my day yesterday when we visited the Moon Township Sheetz on our way up last night. I've always been a fan of Sheetz. And here's why:

Touch screen ordering: Because honestly. Who wants human interaction with a conveniene strore employee. If there's anything Clerks has taught us, that's it. Plus having the entire menu at your fingertips on this device give you a small sense of being on the edge of technology.

Food selection: I, for one, am a big fan of their MTO subs. The meatballs are amazing, and my regular choice. But there's more! From Fajitaz, to Shmuffinz, to various other food items intelligently marketed with the letter "Z". And if you happen to attend one of the newer Sheetz, as I've noticed in Western PA, they seem to toast all of the hot subs. A difference from the likely microwaving of these sandwiches. It makes a difference.

Cleanliness: This is one gas station that you typically don't feel like you're going to get hepatitis from being around the toilets. And that makes a big difference in coming back. I hate not having one in the South Hills area on my commute route to work. Sunocos around there aren't the worse, but feel severely more limiting in gas station experience.

FU, Starbucks! Now old and new stores are being retrofitted with the new Coffeez bar. And new Sheetz have a great sense of atmosphere that would rival any Starbucks for comfort while you are on the road. But they're not the only one taking the Starbucks opposition route. So is McDonald's. But that's another story.


Gas station innovation. I discovered that the location we were at last night now accepts cash at the pump! And aside from that, I'd already seen the MTO order stations out at the pumps. And you walk into this place and see four giant HD screens visually shouting the specials in your face while you order your food.

So now that I've more or less wrote a resounding advertisement for a gas station, of all things, I suppose I should think of something more earth shattering for my next trick.

New Kids like wut!

Oh yeh, it's Blog time!!! Where you been!

Where've I been? Running around Robinson Township, that's what. Y'know, scouting some future opportunities, looking for an elusive new iMac for the office, lunch at BW3, reminiscing some New Kids on the Block with the staff, picking up some prints for the latest Deface Marketing/Wrestling Mayhem Show release, having some dinner with the beautiful Missfit at Quaker Steak, and had an all around good time.

While at Buffalo Wild Wings, however, there was an interesting collection of music going on. N'Sync. Then some good old "The Right Stuff". My coworker asks "who is this, Boyz II Men?" to which a nearby waitress exclaimed her recollection of New Kids on the Block. Our own waitress returns and said coworker asks if she knew what it was. Then stories of everyone's recollection of the NKOTB and the sleeping bags and who knows what they've had back in the day. And of course, I exclaim my memories of watching the cartoon on Saturday mornings in my youth.

So yeah. I'll admit it. I watched the New Kids on the Block cartoon. But come on, I had a whole 3 channels (when the wind blew the right way) to watch on Saturday morning. Sometimes there's a tough choice in the scheduling. And maybe there was a scheduling conflict with nothing good for the half hour amongst them as I awaiting The Real Ghostbusters, or Fraggle Rock cartoon. Perhaps the next exciting episode of the Care Bears. You know. The good stuff.

But come on. As a musician, you draw from all sorts of genres. And somewhere, when writing something catchy, like stuff about monkeys flinging poo, there was a little bit of NKOTB hook ingrained in the back of my conscienceness.

oh, and this is sweet..

The healing power of music

Today I went into the usual work day, ready to go (read half a sleep and not wanting to be there. Apparently I did my finest pretzel imitation wilts I was sleeping.) I came in to find my itunes library corrupt. Awesome start. So all of my podcasts were gone, feed-wise. I resubscribed to all I could think of, but alas, I know I'm missing quite a few. So I dove back into my music library and went back to some tried and true Twiztid. I haven't listened to enough of "my music" in recent weeks. I don't know what it is. Being busy. Not being the one driving the car most of the time. (leading to a lot of radio time. Ugh). I've been stressed. From lack of this music, and recent going-ons that have been driving me nuts the past few weeks.

I've had a history of the calming effects of music. And some think it to be odd that my healing agent of choice, stuff like Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid, would calm me so. It's violent, and colorful, and loud. But that's the point. All of that pent of aggression (of which I have a lot, apparently) gets out with this music. I finally gave ICP a chance after a break up in high school that had me pretty bad off. But the music helped. I took on these guys, and dove back into my faves in Nirvana, The Doors, and the like. I might have doubled my CD collection during the course of that year. And I went to my first ICP concert (preceded only by REO Speedwagon and Billy Ray Cyrus, of course) and my world was changed.

This was my first big concert. I'd seen maybe my friends playing their small gigs at the time. But the energy of the Nautica in Cleveland packed with fans, many in face paint and soaked with Faygo. And Biohazard with their giant circle pit. I was hooked. And have attended scores of shows since. I'm somewhere in the double digits of ICP/Twiztid shows. Including 5 Gatherings. Type O Negative, 4 or so Ozzfests, Flogging Molly, Kottonmouth Kings, Warped Tours, Green Day, Marylin Manson, and who knows who else.

And now I found another outlet in the production and performance of music. For all the shit I have to go through for some of these CRAP shows, it's all worth it when I get on stage, get right into my zone, and deliver with a show. It's that performance high, and the ability to outlet some of that aggression that just piles up from dealing with work, family, or whatever else has been pissing me off lately.

Back in the day, I recall getting together with my friends back home, and we would jam music and pretty much put on a kareoke session with each other. Music was bonding. We have videos of us in redicous glasses and hats and whatnot.




New feature, perhaps. I think on various blogs, I will pass along a photo or video from the past. there's a couple in this post already, but why not, here's another:

Yep. There it is...

Joining the Revolution!!

I attended the most recent Blogfest (celebrating 3 years strong!) and was inspired by the Ms. My Brilliant Mistakes, and Mr. Have a Good Sandwich on this "blog a day" concept. Eh, why the hell not!

So tonight, on the air, I entered into a Twitter-pact with Mr Thoughtful Nature of Man on the Wrestling Mayhem Show to post a blog a day. So here's the start of the rest of my blogging. I swear I'll come up with better cliches.

In other news, there's been an interesting email exchange about the state of Podcamp Pittsburgh inspired by Mr Podcamp, Chris Brogan's recent post about he future of the event, and its evolution. Very interested questions about success and its future are being discussed. It feels like much of the blog world sort of dropped into this state of second guessing itself all over the internet the last week. What is "success" for us. Have we rolled over the hump. Are we really making a difference? Are people committed to this, and is it for the right reasons.

For me, I think the goals are clear enough. As long as I can justify my own purpose and effort, what more do you need. Do you feel a sense of accomplishment? Are you happy with your handful of friends checking out your thoughts? Or would you rather aim to reach thousands? For me, most of my "success" has stemmed from things I've simply enjoyed (ie. writing down my thoughts, talking about things I enjoy, etc) have ballooned into more success than I expected. I've succeeded in any accomplishment by feeling this justification, and enjoying every twist and new association stemming from it along the way. This "New Media" has delivered at every turn the more I learn just what I can do with it.

Like my parents before me...

Well, as some of you already know, I made an emergency trip back home to Jamestown, PA for some family issues I have to help deal with between my father and grandmother’s conditions. It’s Saturday night (no internet, so this will be up in due time) and I was talking with my dad. I love it when I get him talking about things “back in the day.’ It always seems hard to get him to that point over the years.

But my dad had a fairly good career. He’s been a machinist since before I was born. Working at several companies before settling at Hodge Foundry right in Greenville up here for 15 years before his unfortunate accident several years ago.

But he was telling me about the machinery he would work with large machines and computers. And the codes he had to learn to program these machines to cut product into precise configurations. Something about “G-Codes” and, originally, code that came in on paper tapes. And then being replaced by CNC machinery, I believe, that did most of this process itself, needing merely a “button pusher” to operate it, thus ending the need for specialization. And I know from previous discussions about his success in his field, and staving off being laid off due to his being such a specialist.

Then I look at my mother’s career as a CAD designer, and realize where my penchant for technology came from. It’s a different generation of technology. And maybe they’re not on the cutting edge of knowing how to deal with it. (that’s why I’m here to help them with that). But they were along with technology to make a living, and it’s great to realize that. Now both me and my brother are following in their footsteps. Him with his aim to do Game Design with his current schooling, and myself with my fingers in so much Multimedia-centric objectives.

New CRAP Pics

A little late, but we have new pics up from all of the Halloween festivities at www.monkeyflingspoo.com.


Helloween Mayhem
October 26, 2007


Private Party:Speers, PA
October 27, 2007

Why TNA is good for you.

I know. I've said it before. After long standing by it. Fuck TNA. The horrendous gimmick matches, the multiple screwjob finishes and shitty storylines. It just broke my support for the fledgling company. Then something else happened. Bound for Glory.

I've sworn off buying the PPVs for a few months now. Between the quality and the waning proceeds due to Talkshoe's new payment policies. (we used to be able to buy both companies' shows, but that's another post). I had missed, then heard the greatness of this show. So I gave it a shot. And I was back. But scepticle. As I've said on the Wrestling Mayhem Show, I've been hurt by plenty a' friend and female by putting my faith in a hurtful relationship. TNA was no different, in my view.

But after that, then another 3 weeks of shows (two of which I just watched tonight), here's a list of everything right with TNA:


Team 3D/X-Division/Motor City Machine Guns Yeah. It started out looking like another calculated burying of the X-Division talent to further an "established" guy's storyline. And you hated Team 3D for it. Congratulations. That's exactly the feeling they want from you. Then this week, the X-Division strikes back. Triple X carrying tables to the ring. Motor City Machine Guns on the mic and laying down the challenge, letting us know the real reason they raise their hands. Great stuff.

AJ Styles/Tomko vs LAX Anything to get AJ Styles from underneath Christian's shadow (as entertaining as it is). LAX always deliver, and Tomko isn't half bad himself. AJ/Tomko could be one of the better thrown together teams since Eddie/Rey. Kind of sad the Steiners got involved. I hope LAX get another match for those belts.

Christian Cage He's Christian Cage. He's under the radar of the title history, but has as big of a mouth as ever. Great matches with Samoa Joe, edging himself into the title tournament, and it looks like a ladder match in the future.

Kurt Angle Once again, there's way too much of him. Almost every commercial break is a segment of Kurt doing something. But come on. Somehow Borash has become his stooge. Somehow almost the entire roster gets som face time and interaction. Face it, this is sports entertainment, and this is Angle entertaining.

Black Machismo/So Cal Val lock eyes A spin off from the aformentioned Angle-overloads, after we have Jay Lethal go into a weird flashback about Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania,

Jimmy Rave Something about Hemme being called "Red Snapper", but it was really about fishing. Something else witty happened at this point I a) don't recall but know I loved the comment and b) no show recap saw worthy of repeating...

And for Lunchbox: Christy Hemme I think they killed her off of TV this week when Amazing Kong bent her in half. You can start watching now, sir.


So there you go. Give the TNA another chance.

DJ on a budget

Finally, a blog that isn't an advo for one of my projects...

I thought it would be somewhat interesting to talk about how my first experience DJ'ing went since a fateful day in high school at the Language Clubs' formal dance that kinda sucked.

So we were approached to play a show in Speers, PA at a private party a collegue from wrestling was throwing. He was looking for live entertainment and throws some crazy parties. This guy, let me tell you about this guy. His christmas party we attended (his second of the season, a week after the New Year, and Vimal attended with us) was like walking into a Christmas tree. The Halloween was no different. His front yard was like walking through a haunted house-field.

Well, a week down from the show, I get a call that the DJ backed out. I did what I could and hit all my contacts with equipment with little luck. So I considered the spare equipment in my basement and said what the hell. Let's take an assessment here...

2 Pioneer speakers from a home theater system (given to me by my boss)
1 box speaker from an '80's era stereo
1 JVC home theater amp (given to me by my more immediate boss)
1 5 disc CD player (just in case)
2 laptops
1 portable hard drive with my 14,000+ song collection
1 4-channel mixer from the studio (for CRAP/Mayhem Show recordings)
3 wireless mics (for CRAP performance, and one "just in case")

result? Enough music energy to fill a garage and front yard of 60+ party goers with some musical energy. Fantastic. One laptop was to run the music via itunes and my packed portable hard drive. The other to network (via firewire) and preview any tracks we weren't familiar with before putting in the play list. Laptops and mics fed into the mixer, then to the amp.

It wasn't the fanciest of setups, but it served the party well. And we even did our CRAP set on it. And at the end of the night, someone wanted our card to get us in the future. Maybe a nice side business here in the future?

The party was fun overall as well. Great spread on food, treats, costumes, a whole setup of costume contests, etc etc. It was a nice, non-alcoholic kind of party that you could take your kids too. We even got to talk with Captain Jack Sparrow!

CRAPTV Episode 17: Halloween

The weekend's crazy shows, with appearances by Duck and the Chicken Scratch Crew, No Clue, Legally Insane, Holly Dolly, Darklord X, and Captain Jack Sparrow!