Johnny Richter Interview...

I had a chance to have a quick talk with Johnny Richter of the Kottonmouth Kings and Kingspade this evening. Click below to scope it out!

What is takes....

...to be married...I just celebrated my 3 year wedding anniversary with my amazing wife, Missy. We've known each other for, what, 8? Wow. And sometimes I wonder if I'm a good husband, and sometimes we fight.

So what is the secret? How the hell did we last so damn long already? We've seen each other through school, family issues, and the struggle of our budding careers. There are things about each other that drive us batty.

Missy is very, hm, "straight laced", I guess you could say. She's smart, precise, intelligent. And dammit, she can cook. Oh, and don't forget those amazing blue eyes. She always wants to get things done, perhaps to a fault.

Me? Aloof is a word that's been brought up. I'm always wanting to entertain myself. Get out, enjoy the world. Even when she thinks we should just sit in a night. I'm looser with responsibility, probably to a fault.

So we've established we've driven each other to the brink of sanity the last few years.

Interests? We both enjoy varying types of music. As well as creating and performing it, most recently. Varying types of video games. She enjoys wrestling, just not to the extent I do. Similar movies. She likes Tigger. I like Ninja Turtles...

So what's the point? Yeh, basically the point is I have no idea what makes a good relationship, and how we can still feel like it's the first date sometimes. We just "are", I guess.

Quote of the Day: "When we have a daughter, I will call her 'Karma'. So when she starts dating, I can say 'Don't fuck with Karma!'" ~ My lovely wife.


Oh, and we just started calling my brother "Emily" tonight.

More 3 year old wedding photos at www.sorgwedding.com.

Dogboy interview

I had the chance to interview Dogboy from Suburban Noize Records. I was introduced to this guy as he opened for Kottonmouth Kings a few months back and had a chance to talk to him this week. I've had a hand in interviewing a number of artists and wrestlers in the past year, and this is quite possibly my favorite interview to date.

Know something...

It's such a fantastic thing to know something. Something that people don't know and need to be taught. Or at least desire to be taught. I've had my share of this in my life.

I guess the earliest inclination of this is knowing computers. I can't tell you how many friends' and family's computers I've de-spywared, repaired, and reformatted over the years. Unfortunately, like most tech heads I know, you start to cringe at everyone's insistence that you help them in their technological ills. But thankfully, I enjoyed every chance I got to crack open a new machine and see different configurations and have a chance to work with, and troubleshoot some new hardware. And see what kind of crap different manufacturers may have junked up a brand new computer with. My good friend Chachi started playing around with computers around the time I was heavy into them in high school, seemed to fall out of it for a bit, and now knows more about networking than I ever did.

Time went by, and I'm out of the Art Institute. I was "discovered" by Bryan, who, at the time, was just getting Cinemanix up and running. After aiding in getting his website up and running, I was asked to do a pair of teaching sessions about Macromedia Dreamweaver (yeh, it's Adobe's now) . First, with a guy currently in the trade of web development, using Adobe GoLive. He had found most of his freelancers used Dreamweaver, and wanted to bridge the gap. Second, a Fox Chapel high school teacher wanted to upgrade his Web Building class from Frontpage to the more robust, and industry standard Dreamweaver. I dived in, not knowing if I'd have to teach these guys HTML from the start, since I had little background information going in, and ended up learning a little bit in the meantime.

Then Podcamp rolled around. I volunteered the Wrestling Mayhem Show crew's services. I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't know if the information, or ranting, we dealt out would be informative, but we were bound and determined not to be boring. We brought Pocky, our Japanese candy of choice, to share with the crowd, and somehow ended up demonstrating a chop, incurring some "fan interaction", our theme, and allowing the audience to "woo" and we'd inflict chopping violence on each other. We followed this up with Bootcamp in April. This time myself and Will, talking about being a niche, and how to maintain it. We didn't know what to expect. It was early, I was sick. But we talked, and answered questions, and came to found we had fans of our first presentation. And people asked questions. And I was complimented a couple times at a recent Podcamp Meetup on our presentation. I'm glad to see it wasn't all interpereted as show. And now we are already discussing what other topics we can cover at Podcamp. Will even wants to do his own session.

And even more recently, I'd found myself involved with a freelance job doing a documentary for the Sarah Heinz House. I found myself teaching a "computer fearful" woman how to use her new laptop, use Adobe Premiere to edit and capture. Just today, I thought someone from the video industry how to setup his laptop to record interviews and such on a portable basis for a podcast-type presentation. Both have had nothing by resounding compliments for me. Some of the kids also have taken an interest in "what I do". Asking questions about why I'm in this job, what I like about it. One of the kids wants to do video when he's older.

In house, I've been taking in new music endeavors, helping my friends with the knowledge I garnered in creating our first album for CRAP. From recording, to song ideas. I learned from Dr. Espling, and built on his knowledge, now I'm sharing that, and hope to build something with these new participants in this endeavor.

The Mayhem Crew are learning, little by little, how to do the show, so maybe if I have something important that comes up out of no where, they can carry on with out me, as scary as that is...

I never fancied myself a teacher, really. But then again, I never saw myself getting in front of a classroom, or getting up on stage and singing about monkeys that fling poo. But I look at it, it's a really good feeling to be looked upon for information, and be able to provide it sufficiently. I read a recent blog about "Sharing your Superpowers".

Teaching people what you know. Because it's valuable to someone.

Communications from the sky...

My dish man arrived Sunday afternoon and installed my new oval decoration on my front porch, and I now watch WWE RAW on my nice new Dish system. And as I pondered this today, Missy helped me realize, I had been getting TV from satellites all the time. I just cut out the middle man and get it straight from the sky instead of over land lines.

Why did I switch? Well back up to my letter to Comcast for that final straw. But thus far, fairly happy with my Dish selection. I needn't buy any equipment. The prices seem to be cheaper. Retarded tiers of channels, like Sci Fi for watching ECW, are nonexistent. There is hardly a channel I wish I had that I didn't right now. SIRIUS radio feeds. Kick ass DVR HD box. And this fascinating thing that I have four TVs hooked up to two boxes.

Now to cancel Comcast...

I found the hip hop!

Over a year ago, I was on my WesternPAJuggalos.com message board and proclaimed "Where's the hip hop in Pittsburgh?" in my vain attempts at finding someplace for our little rap group to play. And finally, I think I found a few promising places.

Now, granted, CRAP isn't your "typical" hip hop/rap group. Hell I don't even know what to call us. Alternate Rap is about all I can think of. I don't know how we're going to roll with these groups we're booked with the next couple months, but I'm definitely not afraid to try. Every opportunity to get on stage and rock a mic is worth it. But with the friends we had, we ended up on a number of shows with other "white boy rappers" from the area over the past year and a half, such as No Clue, MCK, Triggga, and of course our friends in Twisted Thoughts, including Dr. Espling, our official "producer". And I think getting the 15-ish shows we've had at this point help.

If you're a rock band, you have an easier time, it seems. There are plenty of bars playing scores of rock. From cover bands, to Blackmarket Bodyparts-style metal. 31st St Pub, Battle of the Bands shows, all kinds of opportunities. Twisted Thoughts ended up doing bar shows with these kinds of bands half the time, it seems, because there was no one else even close to like them until we all started doing shows together.

hkan Hip Hop and Hookah Series
www.myspace.com/hiphop412

I heard of this before, but was very iffy about it. But when Basick Sickness took over running Pittsburgh's only weekly hip hop showcase, we actually made contact when he contacted me at my WPAJ address about posting some info. A couple cordial emails later, we were finding ourselves putting together a 5 year WPAJ Anniversary show. Granted, the hkan typically doesn't run "our style" of rap, we came and had a good time. It's a small, clubby venue, but it's something else when that room is full of people digging your shit and everything's just crazy, as I witnessed the week before our show.


Hip Hop Buffet Series
http://www.myspace.com/jpbinc

This one is put together by Da ButtonPusha. An 8 show series running April-December, in conjunction with her contacts at Pittsburgh's cable access channel, PCTV. This seems to be a great opportunity, get your stuff on TV, another showcase for hip hop music in the area. They record the shows, put it on DVD, and there's a chance to get your name out there.

What else can you do?

Really, aside from things like this, artists really just need to band together and start putting their own shows together. Bring a showcase of groups up to Mr. Smalls and promote the hell out of it. Find a Fire Hall you can rent/book and build a show. Find someone with a field and build your own SauceStorm or Sorgstock type event. Everyone says this is the only surefire way to make sure you're playing in front of someone.

That's something I'm hoping to build with my friends in N.E.S. and emcee lb, and perhaps another on the horizon, if all goes well. Whether we end up putting these guys under the Deface Family banner, or not, doesn't really matter. It just matters we all work together to reach all of our goals. And there's always Dr. Espling, who's not nearly done with his musical endeavors. I've never seen someone so intent on picking up the pieces and moving on when a venture falls through for him. He's had partners come and go and stays the same, and keeps rolling.

And one can't discount the efforts by our friends in No Clue and MCK. These guys are obvious that when I set up an event, they do whatever they can to make sure it happens on their part. From Psychopathic J going over the top with the blood at Sorgstock, to MCK helping us get our Release Party and 'stock running smooth with the sound. Amazing guys, all of them.

CRAP TV hits with some quickies!!!

We finally got some CRAP - based videos over on the YouTube from Sorgstock.  enjoy!!

Monkey Flings Poo
Cell Block 6

Big Daddy Shit "Dicktoad Sweetass"