this blog has run it’s course. i’ve started a new MP3 blog here. check it out.
Russian Circles – Malko September 15, 2009
So, I guess Russian Circles have a new album called “Geneva” coming out on October 20th. NME has an mp3 of the song “Malko” from the album and it shreds pretty hard. Check it out here.
Nirvana – Territorial Pissings September 11, 2009
I love this performance, because when it’s done and they go back to the host, he looks like he’s just seen a train accident.
For a Friend (Deceptions of Time) September 9, 2009
My mother—who passed away 10 years ago today—wrote this poem in 1983. She won an Award of Merit in a writing contest for it in 1987. I still love you and miss you, Mom.
For a Friend (Deceptions of Time)
You asked me that I write
this poem for you…
About Yesterday and Tomorrow,
But is either one true?
Yesterday’s gone,
Only a memory of the mind,
And tomorrow will come
Because of what you left behind.
All that you are
Is because of what you did then.
Can you rearrange the how, why and when?
Through thoughts traveled back
You can relive again,
But could you change what you didn’t do then?
Is there a fate
That God does not know?
Is there a God
That won’t let you grow?
Tomorrow will come
On the wings of a Dove…
A future dream filled
With promises and hopes of love.
But yesterday comes
With each passing hour,
Like seasons that move
Over each wild flower…
And every tomorrow
Becomes further away,
Every tomorrow becomes yesterday.
So how can I tell you
Of things that aren’t real,
They exist in the mind
As something you feel.
How can I tell you
But in any other way,
That all that you will be
Exists in today.
by Sally Olsen Kee
1704 Mapleview, S.E.
Kentwood, MI 49508
1983
Eagle Twin – The Unkindness of Crows July 18, 2009
Eagle Twin’s debut album ‘The Unkindness of Crows’ comes out July 21 on Southern Lord Records and it’s a scorcher. Eagle Twin is Gentry Densley (vocals/guitar) from Iceburn/Ascend/Smashy Smashy and Tyler Smith (drums) from Form of Rocket. It’s heavy like a bag of stones.
You can hear the song “Murder Of” now by clicking here.
They will also be supporting Sunn0))) on tour in August:
Aug 6, 2009 Neumo’s Seattle, Washington sunn 0)))/Earth/Pelican
Aug 8, 2009 Independent San Francisco, California sunn 0)))/The Accüsed
Aug 9, 2009 Historic Brookdale Lodge Brookdale, California sunn 0)))/The Accüsed
Aug 11, 2009 Center for Arts Eagle Rock, California sunn 0)))/The Accüsed
Aug 13, 2009 Bluebird Theatre Denver, Colorado sunn 0)))/The Accüsed
Aug 14, 2009 Avalon Theatre Salt Lake City, Utah sunn 0)))/The Accüsed
Interview I did with Steve Duginske 3/2002 July 5, 2009
Back in 2002 I did an interview with Steve Duginske for actionattackhelicopter.com. At the time, Steve was running a small record label called The Great Vitamin Mystery (which is no defunct). His label released some special records in it’s short history, including a collaboration between Early Day Miners and Unwed Sailor, the first ever Racebannon 7″ and a compilation of bands performing music for an eight minute silent Super 8 movie chronicling the last days of Steve’s friend Jonathan HIckman, who died of cancer at a young age. The compilation features songs by Tarantel, Racebannon (as RCBNN), Her Space Holiday and many others. He was also one of the creators of Bloomingtonfest music festival in Bloomington, Indiana. He was a hell of a nice guy. following is the text from that interview:
The evolution of records: A conversation with Steve Duginske
He’s One Mean Kickball Player
by J. Ryan Kee
When I set out to do this interview, I planned to have it be just a record label profile on The Great Vitamin Mystery. Towards the end of my conversation with label owner, Steve Duginske, I realized that I had uncovered so much more. Duginske is not only the man behind the Stateless CD–a collaborative enhanced CD by Early Day Miners, Unwed Sailor, and photographer Chris Bennett–he was also the mastermind behind the now infamous Bloomingtonfest; an ex-hardcore kid who ran Diffusion, a hardcore label; a graphic designer; and the leader of the revolution to turn music CDs into full blown art. Over the last three years, The Great Vitamin Mystery has released only two records, Racebannon’s debut 7″, and the Stateless CD, which may not seem like a lot, but TGVM is all about quality, and not quantity. Why does it take so long for perfection? As Duginske would tell you, the key to making CDs into art, is evolution, and that may take a while. I was able to chat with Mr. Duginske over the phone right before he left for three days in Bloomington, and he clued me in his theory of evolution, his reasons for not continuing Bloomingtonfest, and the future of an infantile, but important, record label.
J Ryan: Who owns and operates The Great Vitamin Mystery?
Steve: Who owns and operates it? Me, just me. Actually, who owns it? The first record, which came out two years ago, the Racebannon record, is owned by the U.S. Government. That one was put out on student loans. Stateless–I can’t remember if I put it on a Visa or Mastercard, but they own Stateless. I’m still paying on both.
J Ryan: That leads me to my second question. How do you manage the finances of the label?
Steve: I operate it, they own it. It’s a great setup we got going here.
J Ryan: So, you’re not actually making any money at this point?
Steve: I don’t foresee that for a long time. From all of the experience I have from putting out other records, like with all the hardcore records I put out, I don’t really ever foresee making money. I’m going to go about it slow, so eventually and hopefully releases will pay for themselves. But as far as me making money from it, I don’t think that will ever happen. I think I always wanted to be at a level where it’s more of a hobby, more than anything.
J Ryan: How many records has TGVM released so far?
Steve: Just the two, so far. Just the Racebannon Master Control Program 7″ which came out in 1998, and the Stateless CD that came out a few weeks ago.
J Ryan: What was it like working with Racebannon?
Steve: Great. Most of the guys that are in that band, were in other bands. One of them being The Watercolor, and they were on a compilation I put out for my hardcore label, called The Fusion. And also, most of those people were in a band called Jaded, and I put out their 7″, which was a split with Witching Hour Records. Those guys were really good friends at the time. James (who is the guitarist from Racebannon) was my roommate, and I just said, “hey, let’s put out a record. I want to start this new label,” and they agreed to it, and that was the first record they ever put out.
J Ryan: Where did you come up with the name The Great Vitamin Mystery?
Steve: That was actually James from Racebannon. He was an Elementary Education major, and he was taking a children’s literature class when he found this book called The Great Vitamin Mystery, which was actually in the special collection library. It was like a hand-made book, only a few exist. When I told James that I was going to put out their record, I told them that it wasn’t going to be on Diffusion, but I still didn’t have a name for the record label. And so, James brought that book home and said “Wouldn’t that be a great name for a record label?”. And so I used it, and it just kind of stuck. I’m waiting for the day when the person who wrote the book will email me or call me up, and says, “where’d you get that name? I wrote a book called The Great Vitamin Mystery, and there’s only four in existence”, you know? (laughs) But, I love the name.
J Ryan: Now, about the Stateless CD. What is the history behind that?
Steve: Well, I use to live in Bloomington, Indiana, and that’s where I lived up until about a year and a half ago. I used to put on this fest every year, called Bloomingtonfest, and two years ago, Unwed Sailor played, right around the same time as Early Day Miners. At the time of the 2000 fest, I was living in Atlanta, and one of the reasons I moved to Atlanta, was because I wanted to quit doing shows. When I lived in Bloomington I couldn’t put out records because I was so involved in putting on shows and working. So, I moved to Atlanta because I wanted to start putting out records again and not just records but projects–I never even said records–I just wanted to do more projects under The Great Vitamin Mystery. So, I asked Early Day Miners and Unwed Sailor if they would release a project, which was originally supposed to be a split release. There was no video or anything, and each band was going to do four songs. The record was supposed to be out a long time ago, but the project just kept evolving. Chris Bennett, who was my old roommate from college, and one of my best friends, knew Dan Burton from Early Day Miners and knew that the bands were having a hard time writing the music for the CD, so he contacted Burton. He told him that he had a film and asked him if he would write music for it. Bennett, who is a photographer, had all this super 8 film that he had just finished editing from all of his trips around the world. So, Burton came up with the idea, “For the split, why don’t we collaborate, and use the film as an inspiration to write the music?” Then, someone came up with the idea of making it an enhanced CD and I had no idea of even how to go about making an enhanced CD. But, we had this friend in Bloomington who worked for an ad agency that said he could do it all for us. You have to compress it, and he had all of the equipment to do it. So, that’s how it kind of evolved, and last month it finally came out.
J Ryan: As I hear it, it is selling really well.
Steve: What have you heard? Tell me! Inform me!
J Ryan: Well, I’ve just noticed that it has been on Insound.com’s top sellers list for the past few weeks.
Steve: Alright! This weekend I hope to find out how well it’s really done. I’m going to Bloomington, and as you know, Secretly Canadian is doing all the distribution for it. Hopefully they are going to tell me something. Hopefully they tell me that it needs to be repressed. That’s what I would like to hear.
J Ryan: It just might.
Steve: I hope so. I know that me personally, I have sold a lot, and that makes me feel good. Back when I was doing my old hardcore label, I would be excited if I got two orders a week. When I first put PayPal on the website for Stateless, I got ten orders in less then five hours. I put all that stuff up, and I had no idea how it all worked! I was getting orders, and I didn’t know how to accept the money or anything! I had to call Chris at Secretly Canadian, because he was the one who told me I should get a PayPal account, and he walked me through it.
J Ryan: Yeah, I was one of those first people who ordered one. I was lucky enough to get one of the signed Bennett prints of Rio Grande Gorge, too! (There were 75 signed and numbered prints given out to the first 75 purchasers)
Steve: Those prints are gone now, and everything! I joked with Chris, when he first started doing this. He was like, “should I just make them all at once?”, and I said, “look, we’ll do 75. Do 20 now, and I’ll email you when we need more…these prints will be here forever!” Now they’re gone! I’m very happy. I get tons of emails from people saying “I love the print, I’ve got it in a frame in my kitchen!”, or “I’ve got it next to my bed”. I love it, I mean that was the whole purpose of it. Hopefully, Chris can make a name for himself, too, by doing this stuff.
J Ryan: It seems that The Great Vitamin Mystery is on a different path than most record labels. What is your whole focus with the label?
Steve: Well, one of the main things I want to do with The Great Vitamin Mystery is I want to do more projects. I don’t ever want to be just music. I want it to be more than just a mass-produced CD, I want there to be more to it. I love getting CDs and records that are on labels that try to incorporate so much more. Like I got this CD from a guy last week who’s a print maker, and he’s just making all of his own CDs. Then, when you open up the CD and look inside it, he’s collaborated with another print maker, and there are all of these different prints in it, all original prints. To get that, you know, is an amazing thing. You’re getting artwork–REAL artwork.
J Ryan: Does that mean that the CD and record artwork should be just as artistic as the music?
Steve: Well, not for everything. I’m not saying that every record label should go out and start doing this. It doesn’t necessarily have to be awesome, I just want there to be more than just music. I want it to be something that’s thought out, not just like “I’m going to put out this record. There, it’s done. The band sent the music, I got it mastered, and we put it out on CD.” That’s what was so great about Stateless, is that it evolved, and that was why it took so long, because it evolved from just a CD into this full project.
J Ryan: So, what other projects are on the agenda for TGVM?
Steve: Well, Chris (Bennett) and I are working on a project right now that won’t come out until January 2003, maybe even March of 2003. It’s the same kind of project as Stateless, in that it’s a collaboration with artists and it’s starting with your base idea and then we’ll think about adding this or that, and then it becomes more of a project.
J Ryan: I think I read about that on your website. So, it’s going to be a benefit compilation?
Steve: Yeah, It’ll be a benefit. This guy that Chris and I knew from high school died of a rare form of cancer. His name was Jonathan, and he actually watched his mom die of cancer, too, when he was a kid. He and Chris were really good friends in high school. One of the last days that Jonathan was really healthy, Chris went out with him and another friend, and they shot super 8 film footage of the afternoon, like a seven minute film. So, what Chris wanted to do, was to have a project or a benefit done in Jonathan’s name, like a memorial, because Jonathan loved art and he loved music. He told me that he had this film footage, and that he wanted different bands to write music for it, to sort of interpret the movie in their music. So, we have been sending out the film to all these bands, trying to get them to commit to writing music for it, and then we’ll put it all out as an enhanced CD. The money will benefit this place called The Children’s Inn in Maryland, which is like a hotel about a mile from The National Institute of Health. This is a place where children with rare forms of cancer and their families can stay for free while undergoing treatment. Jonathan stayed there. It’s like a hotel, except they have kitchens, front porches–it’s just a comfortable place to go after being in the hospital all day.
J Ryan: That should be really cool!
Steve: Yeah, we are going about this totally differently from anything we’ve done before. Chris is trying to get grants for the project, and I have been learning a lot about not-for-profit organizations through my day job at a consulting firm. Chris has this idea that it might evolve into something more, like a not-for-profit organization that benefits cancer research and connects art. That is very far down the line, if it ever even happens.
J Ryan: What else is in the future for TGVM?
Steve: Right now I am trying to get more artists involved with my website. I have a lot of friends who are artists, like Chris, who’s a photographer. I have another friend named Drew, who is a staff photographer for Big Brother Magazine, which is a skateboard magazine. He goes on these tours and takes all of these photos, and some of them don’t have anything to do with skate boarding. He is always complaining because the magazine only wants the skateboarding pictures, but he has all of these other cool photos that aren’t skateboarding photos that he wants to see get exposed. Hopefully, I want to see a lot of other people get involved to a point where we can sell prints on the website.
Also, what I am working on is a summer release from TGVM. I don’t know who it’s going to be right now. (laughs) I have a few ideas, and I’ve been talking to a few people, but as of right now, I am not going to say who or what or when. I just don’t want to jinx things, you know?
J Ryan: I understand! So, tell me, do you feel that the internet and email has been highly beneficial to the growth of the label?
Steve: Oh yes! Oh my God, I can’t even tell you. Not just for the label, but for putting on shows, too. There was a time when I was very anti-computers. But a few years ago, I wised up and, putting on shows became so much easier to do! Putting on Bloomingtonfest became a breeze, and it was all because of the internet. Last year we had sixty bands. With no internet, imagine having to call all of those bands and keeping them informed! With email, I just made a list, and could batch email them all at once! It’s a God-sent some times!
J Ryan: Tell me a little bit about Bloomingtonfest. Now that you have moved, are you going to be putting it on again this year?
Steve: I don’t think I can comment on that. When I was in Bloomington over Christmas, that was the number one asked question. “Hey Steve, how ya doing? So, you gonna do the fest this year?” I don’t think I can, I don’t think I can justify it with myself, because I don’t live there anymore. I didn’t live there last year, but my justification for doing it was basically, I had a vision when I started the fest, that I wanted it to be a certain way, and it evolved every year. Last year, everything was perfect. It was more than music. There was sixty bands, there was a film festival, and almost a thousand people came. So, basically, I feel content with it. But there’s still a small part of me that thinks I can do it just a little bit better.
J Ryan: But you want to quit while you’re ahead, so to speak.
Steve: Exactly. But people still ask me if I’m going to do it, because last year it was like a mini SXSW except it was $20, and not $140, and you didn’t have to deal with all the industry stuff. It was just, shows, parties, shows, parties, kick ball, shows, films, and nothing else.
J Ryan: Well, I missed it last year, and it’s not that I’m bitter, or anything.
Steve: It’s just a fest! There will be others! Maybe there might be another kid that does it. That’s what I was telling people last year. People just kept asking me if I was going to do it again, and I was like, why do I have to do it? I’m just a regular person, anybody can do this. Hopefully, this year, someone else will do it, and hopefully they will ask me for advice, which would be awesome. Then I could guide someone else, and take a vacation and go help, because no matter who is playing I would still go to it, and I would love to see how it would evolve from when I did it. Maybe when I go to Bloomington this weekend, I can tell everybody that you really want the fest to happen again, and maybe someone will get inspired to do it!
J Ryan: Yeah, tell them that I am planning to drive all the way from Salt Lake to be there!
Steve: Maybe Action Attack Helicopter can sponsor it! Kurt can have it at his house in Goshen!
J Ryan: I’ll run it past him. His parents might not like the idea, though! Well, thanks for chatting with me! This was really great!
Steve: No, thank you.
New Black Heart Procession July 3, 2009
The new Black Heart Procession album is entitled “Six” and is due to be released October 6th (pre-orders begin August 1) on the amazing Temporary Residence LTD label. I loves me some BHP.
You can hear the song “Rats” from the album here.
Gaza – Live on KRCL June 24, 2009
Salt Lake City hardcore band Gaza performed a live set on KRCL back on April 17th. They perform some songs from their forthcoming record He Is Never Coming Back due out sometime soon on Blackmarket Activities.
check it out here.
