SOTW: Live at the Necropolis: Lords of Synth

Three legendary synth musicians compete in a cosmic battle for synth dominance, in this recently-unearthed concert from 1986. Watch Full Episodes: http://asw.im/5ZNTTG SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/AdultSwimSubscribe About Adult Swim: Adult Swim is your late-night home for animation and live-action comedy. Enjoy some of your favorite shows, including Robot Chicken, Venture Bros., Tim and Eric, Aqua Teen, Childrens Hospital, Delocated, Metalocalypse, Squidbillies, and more.

There can only be one Lord of the Synth. 

Agents of Chaos - Mick Theebs

Mick made a small series featuring cats. These will be on display and available for purchase on August 28th at the Paradise Art Festival. 

Cats are agents of chaos. They have a mind of their own and subject others to their will. They are impulsive, fickle, and flighty. They are a perfect representation of the temperament of inspiration. 

Satirist In Residence- Kevin Higgins

It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to share the poetry of the best thing to happen to Ireland since fermentation, the whip-smart Kevin Higgins.

Kevin Higgins is co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events in Galway, Ireland. He has published five collections of poems: The Boy With No Face (2005), Time Gentlemen, Please (2008), Frightening New Furniture (2010), The Ghost In The Lobby (2014), & 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins. His poems feature in Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Bloodaxe, 2014).  Kevin is satirist-in-residence with the alternative literature website The Bogman’s Cannon. The Stinging Fly magazine recently described Kevin as “likely the most widely read living poet in Ireland”.

Visit his website here.

Follow him on Twitter here.

 

Traditional Los Angeles Curse

May the lawyer with the pec implants
trade you in for a Guatemalan waiter. 
May your alimony settlement slot neatly
into the speedos of the dwarf you marry next, 
as he makes off down the highway
on his miniature Harley-Davidson.  
May this be the start of your
getting beaten up in parking lots phase. 
May you bring home the dough
to have your chest reupholstered
by starring in porn versions
of Charles Bukowski stories. 
May a curtain straight out of
a Tom Waits song come
crashing down on you
in a motel near the airport.  
May even the Chihuahua
who called the ambulance
be found to have been
not be entirely innocent. 

 

Resume

The weekend I worked as a lifeguard
no one dared go for a swim;
even the bacteria at the bottom of the pool
kept an exceptionally low profile.

During my time as a hired assassin
I only succeeded in blowing
a hole in my own ceiling.

Since my brief stint as a priest
guys have been coming up to me
in car parks, claiming to have been
the sole member of the congregation
during my one and only sermon.

That morning I spent directing traffic
I saw not one car or heavy goods vehicle,
despite it being rush hour.
Not so much as a passing bicycle.

For legal reasons, I can’t comment
on the winter I bluffed my way into a job
as a part-time weather forecaster,
predicted sun the day of
the eighteen hour blizzard of hailstones,
because the investigation
into those matters is ongoing.

With all this, my love life thus far
has been a speed dating session
to which no one turned up but me.

If you want something not done,
call, and I won’t be there.
Spend the next forty eight hours
watching the phone in the hope
I never get back to you.

 

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Rhapsody for Self #Hillary2016

(Cheers, applause) It’s wonderful for you all
        to be here today with me. Together
we can make America
        a house with absolutely no ceilings. 
Such a vision kept my granddaddy
        going to work
in the same Scranton lace mill
        every day for eighty years,
even when it was shut
        for the holidays. If we can bottle
just a little of that spirit of acquiescence
        and allow people purchase it in gas stations,
at reasonable  interest rates, or give it away
        free with the National Enquirer, I know
together we can make America
        a house with no ceilings,
and perhaps no windows
        or doors either. It was faith
such as this made my father believe
        his small business printing drapery fabric
in the wrong part of Chicago
        could, if he scrimped and saved
with sufficient fanaticism,
        enable a daughter of his to one day
become a former Secretary of State. 
        It brings a tear to my eye, even now,
and I know, to many of yours too; 
        those of you who still have them, 
because, as we know, America
        has been buffeted by big winds. 
This time eight years ago she was flat out
        on the washroom floor.     
But we’ve dusted ourselves up;
        and are standing again. Though not as tall
as we’d like to be. America
        is still working its way back to you.
She just hasn’t made it
        all the way across the dancefloor yet.
The challenges we face are new
        and old. We can’t go on forever
re-enacting the War  of 1812.  
        It’s no longer 1791.  Or even
1513 when Spanish explorers first spied
        through the clearing mist
what we now know was
        the electorally vital
state of Florida. 
        Since then many of you
have taken extra shifts, given
        hand jobs, postponed
home repairs, and I’m running
         for President to make sure
all of this continues. 
         It takes a former
Secretary of State to properly
         burn a village.
Who do you want there,
        when the call comes,
at three in the afternoon,
        Eastern Standard Time, 
and something’s going on in the world,
        while you’re all
safely tucked up in bed
        with my husband?
Together we can build
         a shaky but serviceable footbridge
to the third decade of the twenty first century. 
        To this end, I will personally exhume
and fasten to a table
        kindly donated by Walmart
the skeleton of Ricky Ray Rector, before
        a specially invited audience
of major corporate donors. We can do this
        if together we have the courage to be
the as-we-more-or-less-already-were
        we want to see in the world.
Talk to your friends, 
        your enemies, and even
your family. Text “JOIN” to 4-7-2-4-6.
        Sign up to make calls
and kick down doors.  
        (Cheers, applause.)
God bless you and, more importantly,
        me. 

SOTW: Gym Wildlife

The Gym. Millions of homo sapiens frequent this urban wilderness. Today we will take a look into this strange place and show you the gym like you've never seen it before. GEARMARK: http://www.youtube.com/gearmarktv PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/buffdudes OBVS - http://www.youtube.com/OBVStation FIGHT TIPS - http://www.youtube.com/fighttips BRAD GOUTHRO: http://www.youtube.com/bradgouthrofitness VOICEOVER: http://www.youtube.com/wealthypastryprod Special thanks to our Patreon supporter Yousuf Fayyaz!

Where's David Attenborough when you need him? 

NTWON: Deathgasm

http://deathgasmthemovie.com/ Tötal Brütal. High School is Hell! Metal-thrashing Brodie is an outcast in a sea of jocks and cheerleaders until he meets a kindred spirit in fellow metalhead Zakk. After starting their own band, Brodie and Zakk's resentment of the suburban wasteland leads them to a mysterious piece of sheet music said to grant Ultimate Power to whoever plays it.

When Mick saw that there was a movie called "Deathgasm" in the new arrivals, well, he had to see what it was all about. 

Taking place in the New Zealand suburbs, Deathgasm is about a metalhead named Brody who inadvertently ushers in the apocalypse.  One part Evil Dead and one part Tenacious D, Deathgasm is a hilarious gross-out buddy comedy.

The plot isn't anything groundbreaking and is actually riddled with holes and red herrings, but let's be real for a second- are you really watching a movie called Deathgasm for the plot? A kid moves to a new town and makes new friends and bumbles his way into causing the end of the world and has to stop it. Deathgasm adds a metalhead twist on the formula and skewers many of the much-beloved metal tropes like corpse paint, "Satin" worship, and playing music in the woods. 

The thing that really impressed me with this movie was how they played with cinematography. There were plenty of quick cuts and interesting scene transitions that kept the energy up even through the exposition before the demons started running around.

It should be noted that this movie is extremely, excessively gorey. I'm not normally one for such things, but some scenes were so ridiculous and over the top that I had to laugh. There was one part I found particularly funny as the heroes try to fight off a bunch of demons with a stash of sex toys.

Overall, Deathgasm is a silly 90 minute jaunt into the world of black metal, chainsaws, and demon worship. I had fun watching this movie from beginning to end and I don't even usually like horror movies. Check it out! 

Taylor Reviews Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters makes its long-awaited return, rebooted with a cast of hilarious new characters. Thirty years after the beloved original franchise took the world by storm, director Paul Feig brings his fresh take to the supernatural comedy, joined by some of the funniest actors working today - Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth.

Ghostbusters (2016) is an all-female, modernized reboot of the now thirty-year-old franchise starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the titular busters of ghosts. Right off the bat, you can really feel the camaraderie between all of the actresses, their dialogue never feels forced and the jokes never stray too far from what two friends might actually say to one another. 

While the first two Ghostbusters films seemed rooted in the 80’s goofy action, the reboot finds itself a comedy that happens to keep extensive sections of fake techno-babble and ghost-butt-kicking, but also includes two quite tense moments that actually dial up to decent (albeit small) scares. 

Luckily, the best riffs are not placed in the trailers, or frontloaded, but rather effectively peppered throughout the film. If I was really pressed to estimate, a good 4 out of every 5 jokes landed effectively; there are only a few duds in the system that left me not laughing. Normally I wouldn’t comment on the rest of the audience, but an interesting thing to note was that different movie-goers seemed to laugh at different parts of the movie (from one another) which I had never witnessed consciously before.

I only have three large criticisms about the film, the first of which comes in the form of just how ridiculously stupid Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) is, to the point that it becomes entirely distracting – cartoonish in stark contrast to the relatively grounded rest of the cast. The two other points of contention regard the finale of the film, one in the similarity of the monster design to that of previous films, and the other being the trans-dimension rift-hero-moment I’ve seen in dozens of other films.

Ultimately, I recommend that people go into this movie with an unbiased mind, as the experience is (perhaps) surprisingly pleasant. There are laughs. There are neon-emblazoned action sequences. There are even more laughs. It may not stand up to 30+ years of rose-tinted nostalgia, but it more than holds up its candle proudly and strongly.

FINAL RATING: 7.5/10, worth the price of admission.

TAYLOR RAJ OPERATES A TV STUDIO AND CAN'T ENJOY MOVIES SINCE HE LEARNED CINEMATOGRAPHY. HE'S SCARED ONE DAY HIS SKELETON WILL ESCAPE. YOU CAN FIND HIS INANE RAMBLING AT @TAYLORR37

SOTW: Thunder Road

Officer Arnaud loved his Mom. Send your condolences: Email: jimmycthatsme@mac.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmycthatsme Share Thunder Road on Twitter: http://bit.ly/29IyEaZ Share Thunder Road on Facebook: http://bit.ly/29R8lCC My love to everyone.

We all grieve differently. 

Jaw Gems- Chain of Inspiration

I had the pleasure of chatting with Ahmad Muhammad of Jaw Gems about their work and their upcoming album HEATWEAVER coming out this August. 

Check out their Soundcloud here.

Like them on Facebook here.

Pre-Order HEATWEAVER (Coming out Aug 26) Here.


MT: How did you guys get your start?

AM: The band formed in fragments. I knew the bass player first. Musical friends from Portland introduced me to the genre and the other keyboardist. The common thread that really brought us together was J Dilla's music. At that time in Portland about seven years ago, people didn't really know about him. They didn't know there was this producer that had created this entire style of hip hop and rhythmic cadence and sonic pallette. That really interested us and it was something we were really interested in playing live. All of us coming from instrumental backgrounds and being interested in electronic music. Through the grapevine people directed us to each other because they knew we loved Dilla's music. We had the opportunity to hold a residency in Portland for about 7 years. We played every Tuesday night at this bar playing Dilla and Flying Lotus kind of stuff live. That gave us the opportunity to hone our sound and more and more we introduced our own sounds. We're all beatmakers too, so it was a great chance to adapt the beats we were making to a live setting. We most likely wouldn't have been a band if not for that residency.

MT: How did the band get its name?

AM: Haha. Jaw Gems is playing with the concept of hip-hop artists having gold and platinum grills. It's the idea of having gems in your jaws. We were doing so many hip-hop covers when we first started, it was a name that seemed really fun for us.


MT: It's been mentioned in press that you guys like to hunker down together to make your music. Can you go into detail about how HEATWEAVER came together?

AM: It was sort of like a field trip. We go to a different place and set up all of our gear. We detach from society and try to stay close to what we're making and work really hard on it. We'll also take breaks and watch movies and try to make a fun experience out of it. For HEATWEAVER, we went to the other keyboardist's parent's home in Northern Maine. We were lucky enough to have access to that space while they were away on vacation. We just took over the house- every piece of our gear was there. Over the course of the day an idea would get fleshed out because we were all there. 

MT: How many days were you guys there?

AM: We did the bulk of recording over a seven day stretch. 

MT: You guys did two tracks a day??

AM: Haha. Yeah. A lot of ideas are sort of half formed. We probably played a few songs live. We know how we want them to develop. Since we're all beatmakers, we have a lot of songs that enter the recording process half-done, so the layers are already in place and songs can come together pretty quickly. 

MT: I've listened to HEATWEAVER a few times now and it's hot. To me, it reminded me of early Ratatat. Can you describe some of the influences of this new album?

AM: It's really a reflection of where we are as beatmakers. We all make beats and then we come together and make a record. Often times, a lot of songs start off as beats we made individually that we transform into something else- whether it has more of a live feeling or more of a bedroom beat kind of a feeling. Me personally, I really love Shigeto, Tyco, a lot of stuff on the Ghostly International label and the Brain Feeder label. Flying Lotus of course. I'm a huge fan of all types of ambient music and I think you hear elements of all those things on the album.

From the Album - "Take a Sip of My Wish" Directed and Animated by : Jay Brown & Paul Mihailoff

MT: There are some tracks on HEATWEAVER that I think would be perfect for vocals/rapping. Would you guys ever consider having Vox accompaniment? 

AM: Actually, we've had vocals before. Just a year ago, our buddy Kareem, a fantastic vocalist, was in the group for a while. For about six months, we were exploring including vocals. It was fascinating. He was less of an MC and more of a vocalist/singer. We haven't gone deep in backing an MC, but we're so ready to do that and it's something we've been talking about a lot. Although all our focus is on being an instrumental group live, since that's our home base. 

MT: Being an instrumental act, I'll bet it can be challenging to steer the thematic direction of a track. Can you go into some detail about how songs come together thematically? That is, the feelings communicated through the music.

AM: As far as a record goes, it's a constant chain of inspiration that takes place between all of our ideas. The great thing about being in a band with three other people is that any idea that you have and don't know how exactly to develop, there are three other people who will have ideas for that. And most likely, they'll have really good ideas for that. The thematic development of a lot of the tracks on the album is a  group effort. One of us will start with a new idea and share it with the group and someone else will take it to a new place and someone will take it to another place and the original person will have ideas as well. And all of a sudden it's a collaborative work of art. A lot of our tracks form that way, but others will be driven by one person's vision. There's a lot of variety for how our tracks come together. 

From the album - "Blades Plural" Directed by : Jay Brown Gaffer : Jim Collins Special Effects : David Meiklejohn & Andrea Nilosek On Set Photography : Nicole Wolf Big Thanks : Colin Sullivan-Stevens, David Huot & Tom McPherson

MT: To follow up with this idea of developing themes in your work, how do you guys decide the visual direction of the band? That is, the music videos and artwork?

AM: We have amazingly talented friends in Portland. Who, from the start, have been doing our videos for us. Our drummer, DJ Moore, is really interested in photography and always has really cool ideas for photos and our Instagram account. We have a lot of really cool  photos that were born in his mind. DJ has cultivated our visual aesthetic in a really good way that really fits us.

MT: What words of advice do you have to aspiring artists? 

AM: Keep on making things. Don't let anything stop you from carrying out your creative process every single day. It's super important to show up every day and to try to be close to your creative process. Make it like breathing. Make it something routine. Make it habitual to be making things. Fall in love with whatever it is you do. Fall in love with practicing. If you fall in love with what you do you won't feel like you're working. That's vital. You need to love what you're doing. We live in a world where sometimes we pursue things for the wrong reasons and we get burnt out. Love what you do and show up passionately every day and in time everything has to work out, eventually.

Circus- Mick Theebs

Mick was recently named Poet Laureate of Milford, CT. 

To celebrate this, he is sharing a new poem titled "Circus".

I wake up every morning
to the sight of a massive hourglass
on a shelf over my bed.
I watch the sands sift through the neck
grain by grain
counting down breaths
and heartbeats
and opportunities to create.
Then I drag myself out of bed to start the circus.

When I was young, 
I was told to follow my dreams.
That I could do anything I set my mind to,
but I never did get the hang of being Batman
because my parents stubbornly refused to die
and most of the family money was tied up in property-
specifically the one we lived on.

What they mean when they say “Follow your dreams” is
“Follow your dreams if your dreams are realistic.”
Even then, realistic is another layer of doublespeak
whose translation lands somewhere between
the rock of profitable and the hard place called exploitable.
Because how many cowboys and princesses could the world actually use?

How soon do we tell the next generation the truth?
That they can be whatever they want to be
so long as there is mitigated risk
and a market for growth
and a long enough ramp to get you to the next round of funding
and opportunities to go public
and diversified revenue streams
because the shareholders expect at least a five percent return
at the end of the quarter.

When do we tell them they are teeth in a mouth
that is in a constant state of chewing and swallowing and shitting
and so long as the entire mouth is in working order
each individual tooth is more or less expendable?

When do we tell them they are blades in a combine machine
reaping, reaping, reaping through a field of projected infinite growth,
because growth is apparently the only thing
in the universe that isn't bound
by the laws of matter and energy.

Because no matter how many forests we chop down
or how much plastic we drop in the ocean,
there will always be room for unchecked growth.
And when every inch of this planet is burning neon bright
with Golden Arches and blinking Nike swooshes,
we'll blast off into motherfucking space
and look back at that glowing disco ball behind us
and wonder why the blue planet doesn't look so blue anymore.

When are we going to tell they next generation
that they are to be guided by empty stomach and throbbing gonad,
that they are to drown out the voices in the heads and hearts
wondering aloud if this is truly the best way to live?

When do we perform that about-face reversing the mantra
we've repeated like an actress trying to get her lines just right-
“Money isn't everything”
I guess it's technically not a lie when money isn't everything- 
because what are you going to do with liquid money anyways?
You need to diversify with property
and bonds
and a healthy portfolio of companies in strong industries.

These are the important things in life,
things they should teach in high school.
Why should I bother with math
when I carry a calculator in my pocket?
And don't get me started on the arts.
I mean, what's the point?
All art really is
is a bunch of weirdos with green hair
staring at a shit-smeared wall nodding pensively-
as if it means something.
Because what good has art done for me today?
I can't eat those cherry reds and lemon yellows splattered across the canvas.
And I sure as hell can't fuck  those beautiful marble goddess
with their perfect limbs stretched out in beckoning,
so what's the point?
Why do you want me to think?
Thinking isn't growth and there's damn sure no money in it.

We need to jump start the next generation on The Way It Is™ 
because otherwise they will dream
and imagine and create and have their hearts broken over and over again
until one day they're laying in bed
staring up at an hourglass counting down
breaths and heartbeats and opportunities to create
and they'll heave a heavy sigh before getting up and starting the circus.

SOTW: Illegal Move

Set in a fantastical Chess world, an honorable White Knight must protect his King from his long lost love, the Red Queen. A Film by Sana Srinivasan: www.sananimation.tumblr.com Kyle Lopez: www.lopezkyle.com Original Score: Corey Wallace Sound Design: Nick Ainsworth Voice Talent: Jonathan Harden, Henrietta Meire, Kyle Lopez, and Michael Trikosko Produced at Ringling College of Art and Design © Sana Srinivasan, Kyle Lopez 2016 Facebook: facebook.com/illegalmove/

The things we do for love...

Mad Menagerie- Mark Hannon

Mark Hannon, president of the Coastal Arts Guild of Connecticut (who interviewed me last month on their site here ) was kind enough to share a small series of art here on ALSO THAT.

Mark is a designer and an artist with an incredible range of talent and ability. 

Check out his website here. 

I liked the idea of taking normally unattractive animals and giving them some elegance. This series is inspired by the works of Heinrich Kley . 

-MH

NTWON: Make Happy

This month Mick watched comedian Bo Burnham's one hour Netflix-exclusive special Make Happy.

The thing about comedy specials is you usually know what you're getting: someone standing on stage with a microphone and telling jokes. If you're familiar with the comedian, you may be able to further predict the content of the jokes in advance. Bo Burnham shatters the standard one hour stand-up format in this special, making for a one of a kind experience. 

Available on Netflix worldwide June 3rd.

If there was one word to summarize what sets Bo apart from other stand ups, it's this: Showmanship. Dude knows how to put on a dynamic and engaging program with a hilarious blend of comedy, light shows, and music. It's particularly fitting because a major theme of Bo's work is the nature of performance and how in our modern society we are pressured into performing for each other at all times on the stage of social media. 

There are points in this special where Bo gets serious, where he takes advantage of his place on the stage to do a little bit of social and political grandstanding. Immediately afterwards, he calls attention to how this kills the momentum of the show and wonders aloud as to how he will bring the audience back, making everyone laugh in the process.

Bo has a whip-smart sense of humor and isn't afraid to take risks. He plays with different formats in his jokes, using a mix of extemporaneous crowd-work alongside meticulously pre-prepared songs. One bit in particular that stands out in memory is a part where Bo asks an audience member his name, only to burst into a song about how he had sex with that audience member's mother.

Overall, Make Happy is a fantastic special. It's funny and thoughtful and it's very clear that Bo put in a lot of work and time to make this happen. Give it a watch and you'll find that you've never seen anything quite like it before.

Check it out! 

Good Fortune - Manny Blacksher

You may remember Manny Blacksher from the ALSO THAT Poetry Contest I held last year. You may also remember him from the ebook of his poetry I published here on the site. I'm proud to share his beautiful words with everyone today. 

Manny Blacksher is an editor, freelance copy writer, and researcher living in Birmingham, Alabama. His poems have appeared in Measure, Unsplendid, Works & Days, Digital Americana, and The Guardian's Online Poetry Workshop. He had the exceeding good fortune for Mick Theebs to design his mini-chapbook, earthly Sharpness, in 2015. He is now revising a full-length manuscript.

-MB

Check out this video of Manny reading his poem 'The Procession'.

Editing for Heartache


In Chapter 3, you mastered the “Old-New Contract”
and combined it with strong characters and actions
to give a gas utility shut-off notice
clarity and grace. Think of how a typical
“Dear-John” letter obscures purpose and fixed resolve
with abstractions and meaningless modal phrases:

4.1.A
    Hey, I know things haven’t been good lately. I mean, 
    we tried what Dr. Floss advised. I think we both
    know it’s just not working out. God, I’m sorry, but
    I’ve got to go away. I need some time alone.
        
I’ll bet you’re shaking your head. The lover has missed
a chance to tell the dumpee they will never fix
concrete problems, and the dumper cannot be swayed
to go on with their irreparably damaged
coupling. The letter needs help from a confident
prose editor. Let’s sink our teeth into this draft
and make the story both lucid and dramatic.

4.1.B
    Dear Aubrey,

            I have been thinking of us. A lot.

    We agreed with Dr. Floss to give ourselves six
    weeks to make the important changes we discussed.

You still don’t clean the tub. I found more pubic hairs.
You forgot to pay the electric bill. Again!
Last week, I went down on someone from Marketing.

    Clearly, neither of us wants this relationship
    to change. I hold it annulled by common consent.
    Appeals will be considered for forty-eight hours.
    Please contact me with any questions. 

                        Yours truly,

 

Precision Finish by Cimex


Good that you and I should like surprise.
Repaved, familiar speedways feel new
to old drivers. We gauge each other through
quick looks, customary jokes, apprise
the field: road-worn but going odds are under-            
valued. We’ve bright eyes, firm smiles. We’ll
take Manhattans, and, later, should we feel
the itch, a room to run that circuit. Blunders
of drifting hard through curves have taught us all
the risks incurred by transport on strange beds— 
but what bed’s not strange if one doesn’t park
alone to cool beneath clean sheets? Infested
mattresses race with other bodies, remark
jumping thighs, fast times never bested.

 

The Procession

When they had rested, Jesus left that place,
But Ethel came behind him saying, Lord,
You’ve left your coat, and he replied, I’ll get
Another coat in Pergamum to last
For all the ages. Blessed be the fleece
Of Pergamum. All praise the tailors there,
The skillful needles. Narrow eyes can see            
How best to sew a button. Dust rose up

Before their watchful feet and kissed the sky.
When they had reached the hill where is a well,
They saw a multitude of Pharisees
All spitting beans at ghosts and crying out,
Leave us, Accursed! The Chosen One beheld
These fearful scribes and laughed aloud. He said,
You must not vex the dead, but come away
With me. They went with him but brought their beans.

Upon the road, a stone rolled hard against
The thigh of one whom Jesus loved. Hold up,
I’ve hurt my leg, said the Disciple. Wait,
My thigh is very sore, he told the Lord.
Let’s see how bad it is. The Son of Man
Put forth his hand and touched inside the wound.
I fear I may not walk. But Christ said, Thou
Will soon feel better. Don’t be a baby.
        
Later, they approached a market where
Was every kind of good thing on display,
All very keenly priced. The Lord said,
How difficult it is for wealthy men
To enter heaven, but I really like
This coat. What does it cost? The merchant said,  
Lord, if thou command, how can I not,
But I must sell this wondrous coat to you

For only thirteen silver pieces. Hear
Oh Sons of Judah, Jesus cried, how great
The faith of one who sells a decent coat
To me for six. Forgive your servant’s sin!
The vendor pleaded, Ten is this coat’s price.
Be healed, said Christ, and go in peace with nine.
He bought the coat and both were satisfied.
Ethel said, That coat looks good on you.

When they were on the road, the sun drew down.
The sun was broad and shone upon the fields.
Its light was gold on trees and stones, and wind
Bestirred the grass to din like distant cymbals.
The one whom Jesus loved was muttering,
It’s grown too hot, but Ethel looked about
And said, It feels like keeping promises.
And Jesus said, I know just what you mean. 
                                
Later, when they had reached another hill
Where is another well, a crowd of men
Possessed by ducks accosted them and waved
Their arms in fury. Rabbi, have you come
To foul our nests? The hour is at hand,
The Lord replied, when nests will be subsumed
In cypress boughs, and rivers cover all
The bank, and catfish eat your eggs. Fly south.

The sun was low. Christ said, Those ducks were nuts
—What a world. The Disciple who loved
Him said, You are the meaning in my life,
And Ethel said, You’re my inspiration.
Christ replied, Give thanks to God, it’s been
A perfect day, but I could eat a goat.
Let’s get inside. They shook the dust from off
Their coats and entered into Pergamum.    

SOTW: The Life of Pitti Peacocks

After working in the fashion industry for over 5 years, and regularly attending the biggest fashion shows in the world I started to notice that there was a small change happening in and around the shows. Street style by this time had become a huge industry with photographers shooting for the world's biggest fashion publications showcasing the hottest looks on the street to eager consumers. However, the last few years i began noticing that those attending the shows became all to aware of the photographers. Unlike the cues outside of the city shows, where photographers have a few seconds to snap their favourite look. Pitti Uomo is a four day long menswear trade- show, in Florence Italy It’s a vast space where attendees spend all day walking around, visiting stands, eating in the sun or catching up with fellow fashion colleagues - and so consequently it has become a prime spot for the worlds top street style photographers to document and shoot some of the most stylish men on the planet. It’s become a peacock parade where the men show off their outfits in all their glory hoping to get snapped by the top photographers. It’s quite comical, the way the fully grown men pace around subtly trying their best to get snapped, and it’s the perfect location for this wildlife style mockumentray to take place. A light hearted tongue in cheek look at peacocks of Pitti.

Peacocking ain't easy. 

Oh God, Why? - Keith Roland

Mick tasked Keith with getting weird with his photography in Photoshop. This little series is what he came back with. 

“These photos are self-explanatory. I fucked with them in Photoshop using the rectangular marquee tool for most of them, then I realized I could make it an oval. ”
— KR

Eric Lee Bowman: Deceive The Eye

Mick Theebs: When did you first realize you were an artist?

Eric Lee Bowman: Well, I always knew I was an artist. My parents were both artists and they were both raised by artists. So it's been a part of the family forever. My mom is a painter and my dad is a photographer. My grandfather was a photographer. My grandmother was a photographer and a model. We always had an art cart rolling around the apartment with paints and markers and paper and stuff. Making art was the main thing to do around my house. Making art is just part of the culture of my family.

MT: How do you choose the subjects of your photography?

ELB: I'm doing mostly portraiture with this camera. The medium I'm working with calls for portraiture. It just works very well with the wet-plate collodion process.

Eric goes deep on the Wet-Plate Collodion Process

MT: Where did you learn to operate this equipment?

ELB: When I was in high school my dad set me up with my first camera. He gave me a Nikon FE2 and I was shooting 35mm film on that for most of high school. My dad showed me how to use the camera, my grandfather showed me some stuff with it and that's where it all started. With my current camera, you can't really get glass plates for it and adapting it for sheet film would require a little bit of work. I wanted to shoot on glass plates, since that was what the camera was designed for. So I knew how to operate the camera, I just didn't have film to put inside. So, I took a photo-chemistry course at SVA and studied a number of different antiquarian photo processes from the mid-eighteen hundreds.

MT: What are some of the challenges in working with such unique equipment?

ELB: The camera has a number of light leaks in it so I usually cover the camera with a heavy fabric or a heavy dark cloth, just to keep the light leaks to a minimum. I do occasionally still get a light leak or two here and there. Working with the chemistry is fun and I take a lot of safety precautions: rubber gloves, apron, goggles, and proper ventilation is important too.

MT: What if the camera breaks? How do you find parts?

ELB: Luckily nothing has broken on this yet. Really, there isn't much that can break. The wood could crack if I bend it the wrong way, but I can glue it back together or I can have a carpenter fix it. The bellows can be replaced. I just have to be very careful with the lens. The lens is the prize piece of the equipment.

Eric goes into detail on 'the prize piece'

MT: What are your thoughts on nostalgia and history and its relationship to present culture?

ELB: I know for me, using this equipment connects me to my family. There's a family tradition in doing photography and painting. I see that a lot in my day to day experience. In my apartment, I have something like fifty thousand photographs from my grandfather that he shot. That's just part of what surrounds me every day. Occasionally I'll open up my file cabinet and pull out some photos and that's my connection to the history of photography- through the history of my family.

ERIC SHARES SOME FAMILY HISTORY

MT: And you're absolutely keeping the history of photography alive in a very concrete way. Is there many people that still use this process today?

ELB: Oh yeah, there is a big community of people still doing this. We're connected on Facebook and Instagram and we're all following each other. I think what I'm doing is a little different, using the trick photo processes I'm using. I haven't seen anyone doing anything that kind of thing.

MT: What words of advice do you have for aspiring artists?

ELB: It's important to get stuff made. Just keep making stuff all the time. I've realized recently that if I'm not making it, it's never going to exist. Art is for the most part a physical object. It's something that exists as something tangible. You can have all the good ideas in the world, but if you're not making it it doesn't exist. Ideas are all well and good, but artists keep making stuff.  

Legal Disclaimer: All works above are the property of Eric Lee Bowman and are not to be not to be printed, not to be used for the promotion of a specific project, not to be used for any commercial purpose, and not to be published on any other site or in any other app without the explicit written permission of Eric Lee Bowman.

Special Thanks to Will Star who took all of the photos (that weren't direct scans) of Eric Lee Bowman and his work.