Start the Trip

A lot to catch up on! There's the big trip, of course, but the few days before it were pretty busy and I wasn't able to get 'em on here either! Let's start with Sunday over a week ago. I went to the Memphis for Bernie meeting. Accomplishing stuff. It ran a little long but I went straight over to the Roundhouse Revival #2 to man our booth. Well, it was pretty late in the day and there wasn't much going on anymore. Stayed a little while but left after maybe an hour. That night Mary Beth and I watched The Duke of Burgundy and it was pretty fucking phenomenal.

Monday after work, Mary Beth and I went to Schweinehaus for horror movie trivia! Jacques and Paul met us there for our team. We were pretty damn badass, we won first place! I use "we" very loosely. Paul was a fucking master at this shit, knowing all kindsa shit. He was definitely our secret weapon. Jacques was the runner-up in the horror knowledge. I knew all the stuff that everybody else knew.

Tuesday was the Run the Jewels show. It was really good. I actually ran into some of my former students! And they seemed pretty excited to see me so that was nice. They were the EMC kids, see. One was the first president of the club (Dave, talented visual artist, he's the one whose painting I saw at the airport). Another wasn't actually my student, but he was in the EMC. The other was my student, bright kid but slept all the time. Can't remember his name though I remember HIM very well. He didn't say much to me other than that he was selling crack now. It was really nice to see them. There were a few openers for the show. The first was a rapper who did a pretty short set. He wasn't terrible, but mostly his stuff was just there. He started out wearing this cool spike mask that was a nice effect. That was my favorite part. Next was Fashawn. He was pretty good. His dj (DJ Fresh) was really good. Especially his solo part. He came out with a sampler riggeed on a big strap-on thing that looked like a boombox for a solo bit towards the end. That part was fucking badass as fuck. The last opener was this band called Boots (actually, I think Boots is the name of the rapper/singer dude). And the main guy was the weakest part. His vocals left a lot to be desired, but I liked a lot of the music. The drummer was great, stuttery electronic-inspired beats while simultaneously playing a sampler keyboard. There were some nice synths by the girl members. Anyway, Run the Jewels were really good. There was this girl who kept spilling beer on Mary Beth right before they got started and she was getting pissed off. Once the show started I think she started flinging beer everywhere and especially on me. Anyway, we went towards the back like weiners, but it was a better spot than the packed crowd. As was expected, Gangsta Boo came out and did "Love Again (Akinyele Back)" with 'em. That was pretty badass. I picked up a couple shirts. Yeah, good show.

I'd been putting in some extra time on Monday and Tuesday so I was able to leave a bit early on Wednesday. Came home, grabbed Mary Beth, and we were able to get out of the city and make good time and get to Asheville before midnight (their time). We were able to get a pretty cheap hotel at the Mountaineer Inn (the one with the huge neon signs of the mountain dudes).

Okay, so now we're to the big day of Thursday. This was the most fun day of the trip. A pretty awesome day all around. Mary Beth and I got up after sleeping in a bit (the long drive was piled on after several days of being up late and not enough sleep). We went straight to 12 Bones. Now that they have a second location, it's not so crowded anymore. Had some really good barbecue and off to do other stuff. I'd been curious about seeing the Make Noise factory place thingie. It recently moved to West Asheville (a part of the town we'd never been to). At first I was a little nervous and unsure 'cuz it's just in a building without any sign or anything. I mean, I knew it was the right place but wasn't sure if it was an open-to-the-public kinda thing. Well, I did something the old (young?) me never would have done, just opened the door and walked in. I was like, yeah I'm not sure if you let people look around but I'm just wandering off the street and was curious etc. The guy was real nice. Asked me if I knew their modules. Told 'em the one I have and the ones I want. They have a display system over to the side and he gave me a demonstration of the Phonogene and the René. After showing me some stuff, he let me play around. Mary Beth had followed me inside by this point so he gave us dual headphones. I know it's not a huge business, but was surprised that the "assembly line" was just two dudes at a table soldering and all that stuff. Pretty cool to see. Anyway, that was a really awesome bonus for the day. The place is also right across the street from Harvest Records. Hadn't been there before, but now I finally found Asheville's good record store! It was really fucking good too. Here, let me show you just how good: ... Ooh. I'll start a new post...

Autechre! Fucking Autechre and the Rest!

Here's how good Harvest Records is: Scientist: Heavyweight Dub Champion, Scientist v Prince Jammy: Big Showdown, Bardo Pond: Peace on Venus, André Stordeur: Complete Analog and Digital Electronic Works 1978-2000, Vatican Shadow: Remember Your Black Day, Peter Zinovieff: Electronic Calendar: the EMS Tapes, Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane: s/t, Yasunao Tone: Solo for Wounded CD, Karlheinz Stockhausen:Tierkreis • Zodiac, Liars: Mess, Pierre Henry: Fragments pour Artaud - Prismes, Run the Jewels: s/t, Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain soundtrack, Bali 1928, Vol. III: Lotring and the Sources of Gamelan Tradition. The guy working there was real nice and was chatting up me and Mary Beth. I got a free t-shirt for my insanely large purchase, then he gave her Mary Beth a free Angel Olson cd per a discussion they were having earlier and my purchase being extra excessive. After that I went over to the Moog storefront. I got a chance to play a few things. I played the Sub 37 and was especially excited to play a Mother 32 (the new eurorack voice). Unfortunately I was a little saddened by the Mother synth. Cool and all and the price is exciting but I didn't think it had enough flexibility (lacking individual oscillator outs/not enough knobs for what's there, etc). Like, they're in the right direction with patch points, but aren't making it modular enough. Anyway, also the feel of the place gets more corporate and disconnected with each visit. I know it's not corporate and they have a pretty good structure for the company, but it does give that feeling in the store. Anyway, I bought a couple cds: Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.: 1970-1973 and Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.: Like a Duck to Water. Okay, then we wandered downtown a little bit. We walked to French Broad and ate and drank so much awesome chocolate. Then we walked down the street to the Orange Peel for the night's show!

Oh crap! I was getting to the barcade in Atlanta when I realized I'd completely forgotten the Asheville Pinball Museum! Put this in the wandering downtown between Moog and French Broad. So we walked by it and looked in just to check it out. Well, it only took a few sections to realize we had to stay! $12 flat fee to play as much as you want. They have a little video game arcade in the back too. I started there. Played some choice classics like Tempest but it wasn't long before I discovered the joys of lots of pinball! It really is a museum. They have games all across the board. They also have some really old machines that you can't play. Everything else you can, and it's still like a museum 'cuz they've got signs telling a bunch of information about the games. I played the Suzanne Ciani game (Xenon), this crazy oversized Hercules game, Whirlwind that has a fan that blows on you, bunch of awesome games, and my new favorite pinball machine...Haunted House! Holy shit! It has three fucking levels. It's insane. Anyway, the place was a blast. Had a great time.

I was surprised we were the first ones there. I mean, it was a little before doors, but I guess there weren't any bigger Autechre nerds in Asheville that night. Got two very similar shirts and proceeded to wait for the show to start right front and fucking center. There was a dj set and the dude was just started and going at doors so that was cool. Something happening right away. Ugh. My fucking computer crashed (and the lj client isn't able to autosave as I go or save a draft at all anymore due to my POS computer's current state). At least I had saved when I had so far when I went to eat dinner. I don't guess I'd written too much since then, but ugh. Anyway. The opening act was Cygnus. He was really good. Relatively straight, but electronic and the kind of stuff Autechre would be into. At times it was a little housey but good with awesome synth sounds. A lot of it was pretty electro. I enjoyed it. The dj dude came back out for a few more minutes while Sean and Rob set up (as in ducked down behind the table and took their laptops out of their bags). While I was out of town a couple of people requested a synopsis of the show on facebook, so I'll go ahead and copy what I wrote over there, "Got a couple requests for a report on the Autechre show so I'll try to make a post here on my phone. I'll start by saying the whole thing was VERY Autechre (what else would it be?). There were no lights on when they played. They also had their monitor speakers right in front f their faces. So it was just two guys you couldn't really see at laptops on a table. Absolutely no 'show' element to speak of (or maybe you could even say the show factor was in the negative). From start to finish it was a fucking sonic assault. Very very dense. There were a few places where it dropped out to just a skeletal beat or some quiet sound, but mostly it was a wall of sounds. And think of the music on all their albums from the past 14 years at their most abrasive machines-falling-apart best and that was the show. My mouth was hanging open with a stupid 'holy fuck' look on my face the whole time. It was really incredible. (I feel I've made up for not being that into it when I saw 'em back in 2001. God, it pains me to say that! I blame the fact that I must have been standing next to a woofer and ONLY heard bass. Anyway, redemption. Now I can equate seeing them with a transcendent experience.)" And we were right fucking there, just a few feet from them! Not that it mattered that much, with the darkness and the speakers in front of their faces, but still. Something else awesome, we were standing on the metal barrier and it had a little bit of a floor to it. At times the sound would vibrate the whole thing and we'd be standing there absorbing all those vibrations. Pretty awesome physical feeling. Okay, fucking incredible show. Yeah. I think that's mostly what there is to say about it.

The next day we drove to Atlanta. Had some awesome breakfast at Early Girl before we headed out. We thought we might do stuff before Josh and Jacques arrived in town and we could meet them at the place we were staying, but we ended up pretty much just being stuck in traffic and getting lost (recurring theme in Atlanta). The streets that do have signs have real small signs that are out of the way and frequently (most of the time) behind poles or corners of buildings. So when you're lucky enough to be able to actually see what a street is, you get the pleasure of confusing it with another street that has the same name (or partially the same name). There're even two streets that intersect each other named after two different people...who have the same first and middle name. And I won't even go into (well, just this little bit) about the ridiculous directions all the streets wander about in. But anyway, we finally met up with Josh and Jacques at the apartment (Josh got us a place to stay on airbnb). We were up in the suburbs (Vinings) and the venue was in as much of the same area as anything in Atlanta could be so we didn't wanna get lost or stuck trying to find somewhere to eat so we looked for what was nearby. As pedestrian as it is, I did enjoy getting food at Five Guys. We made it to the venue just before doors opened. We weren't the first there this time, but it wasn't too bad. We were even able to get right up to the stage. I had a bit of unpleasantness where I came down with some diarrhea right when we got to the venue! But at least it happened as early as it did. Okay. The setup was about the same as the show in Asheville. The venue (Terminal West) was actually pretty cool, in spite of it being in a weird part of town that's kinda industrial and isolated (literally nowhere to park except their own garage/pay lot, at least they didn't price gouge). Dustin also EVENTUALLY made it (in time for Cygnus's set even, we were having a running bet that he wouldn't even show up, though). Of the two shows, Asheville was probably a little better (that might also have something to do with that first time experience thing). It was really interesting noting the similarities and differences. I'd recognize parts or sounds, but enjoyed the variations. There were also sections in the Atlanta show that they didn't play the night before. So it was pretty awesome noting something of a structure and how it was changed up. They were both just great fucking shows anyway. Mary Beth even enjoyed noting the differences between the two shows (after I dragged her all over to them!). While she's liked Autechre, she said she may even like them more now. That's nice. This show started and ended later (as was advertised) so other than talking a bit outside the venue, we headed back. Oh, this guy was outside afterwards giving away cds. Josh put it in his player on the drive back for kicks...and it was surprisingly pretty good! I may even try to see if Josh still has it so I can get the dude's name and track him down. I mean, that kinda thing is normally a sign of bad bad things. Well, our great bonding moment happened on the way back. I was raining. That reminds me of something on the way TO the show! There was a busted fire hydrant spraying water all over the fucking place and flooding the road before we got to the venue. That was something. Anyway, back to after the show. It was raining. There was a wreck (I mean, it's Atlanta, there's always a wreck) and the whole road was blocked off. We took a side street to get around, but it happened right before this river or creek or whatever and none of the roads connected back to the other side of the wreck without going way the fuck out of the way. So we did. Ended up on another expressway going around. Well, we're finally getting off to our exit and it's raining and there were no lights outside the city and construction wasn't labeled very well. Josh went off on what he thought was the exit ramp, but ended up being a construction area next to the road next to a big ditch. Went down it a bit before realizing was definitely not the road. He was able to navigate back out in reverse pretty well with his rear camera. But the crowning moment of the night was when Siri said in a flatly condescending tone, "proceed to the road." That was our refrain for the rest of the trip.

Now we're onto Saturday, the full day in Atlanta. And it ended up being a really fun day in spite of Atlanta being Atlanta. Oh, I know I mentioned the shitty roads, but I haven't yet mentioned the shitty drivers! I know Atlanta is notorious for its drivers (taking whatever chance they can get in standstill traffic to whip around at insane speeds and jump out in impossible openings and just whip about all over the road). So naturally any time you look up directions to anywhere, you get to see all the red accident markers dotting google maps all over. That's all, just wanted to throw that tidbit in here. Anyway, I had gotten in touch with Jonathan (Noodles! from the programming class that got me into my job!) and we planned to meet for lunch. So Mary Beth and I broke from the others and met at this Korean taco place he recommended (Hankook Taqueria). It was really good food. It was also great to see Jonathan. He's doing real well. I'd known Cook couldn't place him so he ended up getting a lead on a job from his wife's friend. Actually got real lucky. He's doing qa testing and automation and stuff. We at about talking for almost two hours. It was good. Then it was off to Little Five Points to meet back up with Josh and Jacques for record shopping. First was Wax N Facts but I didn't get anything there. Next was Criminal Records and I got a good bit of stuff (too much) yet again:

Chrome: Feel It like a Scientist, Brian Hodgson and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop: Doctor Who: the Krotons soundtrack, Carter Tutti Void: f(x), Broadcast: Haha Sound, Bardo Pond: Record Store Day Trilogy, Bardo Pond: Yntra, Eliane Radigue: Trilogie de la Mort, Xiu Xiu: Angel Guts: Red Classroom, and John Cage: Shock Vol. 2

Jonathan told me about this Hawaiian ice place that was supposed to be great, but it was closed. Instead we ended up going to this coffee bar place. Next was the voyage back to the apartment. Then it was time to eat! Jacques recommended this Malaysian restaurant and I'd never had Malaysian food before! It was called Penang and it was great! Mary Beth and I both had these coconut drinks where they literally just cut open a coconut and put a straw in it. For an appetizer we had roti canai, which is like a cross between Indian roti crackers and naan and was really good (the menu said something about it being the favorite of Malaysians). Jacques got these spring rolls he let us try that were incredible, they had this crunchy kinda rice inside them, definitely different from Chinese or Vietnamese spring rolls I'd had before. My meal was something called sarang burong, a bunch of stuff inside this nest of taro paste (fried crispy to give it that nest quality). Holy shit was that good! I don't always win the meal game, but I think I did that night. After dinner we wanted to do some barcade action. Damn, just had to go back to write about playing games in Asheville! Okay, now I'm back to Atlanta. We went to this place called Joystick Gamebar. It was pretty cool. Getting to it was a nightmare. I guess it's in an area that's really bumpin' with clubs. We didn't know to avoid driving down the street it's on. Then walking, the sidewalks are overflowing and there are a bunch of clubs around and shit. Given the area, it was pretty packed, but the game selection was pretty good. Quarters were needed here. Josh and Jacques and I got in a game of Turtles in Time. I also enjoyed some Centipede and Defender and Space Invaders and some pinball as well. Never used to be into pinball (aside from the game on the NES which only marginally resembles pinball, great in its own way and interpretation of physics), but recently I seem to be getting into it quite a bit! Picked up a pin with a warped Bart Simpson for Mary Beth. They had a delicious honeyed hibiscus soda. Got to see the bartender harassed by a jerk complaining about "weak ass drinks" to which she flatly said "don't be an asshole." The crowd was pretty bad, but it was fun. Ventured our way back to the car and back to the apartment for sleep. Oh yeah, the bed Mary Beth and I were on was, I think, a converted waterbed (a regular mattress in a waterbed frame, or so it seemed). And a cheap frame too. At one point one of the flimsy boards holding it up underneath fell off.

Okay, so Josh left to go to Florida and the rest of us headed back home! The drive wasn't too bad. Once you got out of the Atlanta area the roads were pretty clear. We stopped for a bathroom break in the Tupelo area and heard amazingly funny contemporary country music playing. The song when we first got out was like "it's hard to be a good wife, it's hard to be a good mom, it's hard to be a good christian." Then inside the store another song was on (about continuing to bone your ex) that literally had the line "why put out a fire if it's still burning?" The motto of fire deparments across the globe. Anyway, yeah, pandercore. Not much else about the drive, oh yeah. Alabama and its several anti-evolution billboards. Jacques coined the phrase "Alabama brain" or "I've got Alabama brain" when he said something dumb or couldn't think of something or whatever. Okay, and home and Mary Beth and I were lazy and ordered pizza and watched John Oliver and the first episode of the second season of True Detective. Back to work today. Pretty fine. All good. Alright!