Think of the tourists!

I saw this shop in Hamburg a few weeks back. I know they're just German surnames, but I think they should have found a third name and thrown it in the middle. Or maybe they could have gone with initials.

*Expletive Deleted*

I really can't convey my dismay about hearing of the demise* of Godspeed You! Black Emperor without a sh!t load of expletives, but I'll do my best.

I saw this band once, it was April 6th, 2003 in Boston, and it was spectacular. I hadn’t actually heard any of the bands music until the day before I went to the concert. I didn’t know anything about them. All I knew was that people on various message boards that I frequented LOVED this band, and praised them like few others. When I saw they were playing in Boston I had to get myself tickets, even though I didn’t know a damn thing about them. The day before the show I wandered into a local record shop and they had a used copy of F#A#∞ which must’ve come in that day or not soon before, because never before and never after that day have I seen any used copies of any GY!BE records in any record shops. They also had a copy of Yanqui U.X.O. on vinyl, which I picked up for the record player that I had purchased only about month prior to this. I went home and was flabbergasted by what I heard. I had never heard anything like this, and I was going to see it live the next night. It was an exciting day.

The next day I was in Boston looking at Suffolk University (I graduated HS in ’03, so I was looking at colleges a lot at this time), with my parents and my girlfriend. We had arranged earlier in the week for my parents to go out for dinner while I went to the concert with my girlfriend. I didn’t realized how long the band would play for at the time. We were the first two people at the venue (we didn’t have much to do that day after the tour of the school had ended), and we waited for a couple of hours. We were so early that we wandered directly into the venue and used the restrooms while the band set up. I used the urinal right next to one of the guitarist from GY!BE, which I didn’t realize at the time. I don’t suppose it would have made a difference if I did, it’s not like I was going to ask to shake his hand while he urinated. This sort of this was a trend for me this particular spring. In June I ended up peeing next to Michael Stipe of REM fame at a Radiohead concert in NYC, after peeing I washed my hands next to Horatio Sans of SNL fame.

I think there were two opening bands, but I can’t be sure. I know one band was called Jackie O Motherfucker, and they were terrible. I was laughing at the band while they performed it was so bad. I was up front against the stage so it is fairly likely they watched me break into hysterics as they performed. It was unbelievably bad, I actually think it is unfair to call them a band they were so bad. They actually had a record player player. He was a guy that just played a record player. He didn’t scratch like a DJ or do anything. But I’m not going to go into how bad this band was. The reason I went for was Godspeed You! Black Emperor.


This was almost 5 years ago so some of the details have faded, but I still remember how loud it was. I was up front right by Efrin Menuck’s monitor. He is the unofficial band leader. The band played for almost 3 hours, and if their set list was to be believed they only played 6 songs. Words cannot do justice to the power of their music. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before, and their stage show was like nothing I’d ever seen before. They had 3 guitarists, 2 bassists, 2 drummers, a violinist and a violists, and no vocals. The only vocals (not singing) were pre-recorded and came from an MD player that Efrin controlled. This band did things with guitars I’ve never seen before, and have done my best to emulate, if for no other reason than to waste time. For a band of their size they were tighter than many three pieces I’ve seen. This was a group of musicians that sounded like they were born to play together. When I left that concert my ears rang for about a week. It is where I learned that ear plugs are not for the weak, they are for the smart.

Since then I’ve seen other Post-Rock bands, but none of them come close to the grandeur of GY!BE. They really were a one of a kind band, and with the recent announcement of their permanent split I’ll never again have the chance to seem them live. I hope you were luckily enough to see this band before they split, if not you should do your best to find some recordings of their shows. I have a copy of the show I have described above, however I’m in Germany and it is in my closet in Connecticut.

*I know NME is probably the worst music magazine ever, but they are the only source I could find. Hopefully they are wrong.

No more Polaroid.

I don't know about you but I love Polaroid cameras. I haven't had one in years, and I probably wasn't going to buy one anytime soon, but I just found out they are getting the ax, and this is saddening. Polaroids are fun, and people make real artwork with them. It is a shame for them to be discontinued. If you're a fan go stock up on film now. They'll stop making it relatively soon.

Check out this great story for some classic Polaroid commercials and some more info on the demise of the instant photography.

End of an era.

An era is ending right here before our eyes. The last remnants of the WWI generation are succumbing to old age. Being a fan of WWI history this is of great sadness to me. I’ve never met a WWI vet, and my time is running out. I’ll never meet a German WWI vet, the last one died last month. I’ll probably never meet a French vet, they lost one of two last month, and although it wasn’t during WWI, the last soldier from the flag raising at Iwo Jima has also died recently. Of course it is inevitable that they will all be lost sooner rather than later, it is still sad to see the end of a generation. My grandmother told me about the day she read the last veteran of the Spanish American war died, I imagine I will recall the news of the death of the last American WWI vet to my grandchildren someday. If you know a veteran, or in fact anyone who has lived through a major historical incident, ask them to tell you about their experience. It doesn’t matter if they served in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or anywhere else. Once they are gone, so are the stories they can share. The best history lessons I’ve ever had have come straight from my Korean War Veteran grandfather.

Mardi Gras German Style

Thursday saw the beginning of Mardi Gras, which is a big holiday in this region of Germany. They call it Faschnact (or Fastnacht, depending upon where you come from), but it has a lot of the same qualities as what you expect from Mardi Gras elsewhere. It has parades, costumes and bands in the streets and bars performing typical Mardi Gras-esque music. The whole thing is a sight to behold. I’ve got some night photos here, I’ll try to get some shots from the day time before it ends on Wednesday. So here are some shots from Faschnacht in Konstanz.

I don't know how to describe this.

A small street band.



A float, although it was stationary.