Night Mode might be the best newish dance party thingy

I attended the initial Night Mode dance party at the Summit last December, and was elated at how packed it was, and the fact they were playing obscure music and people were still having a blast. The actual visual presentation from outsiders perspective might have looked uber-hipster. The last Night Mode on March 9th had retro palm trees and video screens playing lo-fi video collages. The guest deejay was Sofia Stone from Ultramajic Records. Everyone was stylishly dressed and basically looked really cool. But the feeling was super warm, inviting and off the cuff. It looked good but I felt no pretense. This is because the people who put on the quarterly event--DJ’s Noelsferatu, Ethan Eschelon, Dustin Knell, Conner Campassi , and Curator/Think Tank Shirtless Midnight aka Gilberto Covrraubias are really great dudes. There is another Night Mode, May 16th, at the Summit so I met up with the boys to find out why I enjoyed myself so much and why the room was stacked. Noel explained why the party had such a good feel to it, “It’s extremely organic. I think that’s a really important thing. All the stuff we do while mixing is organic. Nothing is forced.”

A tale of two Saturday nights

I have three main claims to fame, such as they are: 1) Jeff Beck, the English superstar guitar player, once sought me out and hugged me on his tour bus after a local show because of a scathing Kenny G review I wrote many moons ago. He even read parts of it to me from his computer. Guess he really liked it. Then we talked shit about Eric Clapton. 2) Joan Jett once winked at me from the LC pavilion stage as she was performing. I was in the photo pit taking pics, wearin' my new groovy Puerto Rican race track hat. But she clearly winked at me. Me. Not my hat. Me. Well, maybe my hat. Ladies love a man in a sharp-dressed hat, to paraphrase ZZ Top. I felt all kinds of special all over. I winked back and then licked my eyebrows, my customary return of salutation, here and in Puerto Rico. And that was that. Never heard from her again. Sigh. 3) G. Love was in my record store the day of one of his shows at the Newport. We bonded over a sweet vintage double-LP John Lee Hooker album I'd brought in from my own collection which he bought. That night, again in the photo pit, he saw me and nodded affirmatively, clearly acknowledging my humble shutter-bugged presence. But no wink. Coowell!

Take Five with Adrian Jusdanis of the APES

 

Has DC Given Up?

I’ve written before about the mess that is today’s DC Comics. Since relaunching all their comics three years ago this September under the “New 52” heading, they’ve been the subject of constant news stories about over-the-top exploitative art, blatantly gimmicky events even for the comics industry, and creators chafing and leaving under unreasonable editorial demands. Marvel is even taking potshots in the theaters by announcing that Captain America 3 will open the same weekend as the upcoming Superman/Batman movie. So what’s the latest bad news? And is it a sign that DC editorial just isn’t even trying anymore? This time it’s the news that September solicits for DC’s comics – the list publishers put out to give comic shops information about what’s available to order – are all about an event called “Future’s End.” What’s been revealed about “Future’s End?” Well, apparently the most important thing about it is there will be lenticular covers and new #1 issues. There are some words about a story that flashes forward five years into the future, but that doesn’t seem to matter that much because no creative teams are listed for any of the books.

The Intoxilyzer 8000, the state's flawed tool in the battle against drunk driving

One in seven Ohioans has one – a life-long legal scar that has become the voodoo of our generation(s). According to the Ohio Department of Safety, more than 1.3 million licensed drivers in the state have at least one “DUI” conviction. This eye-opening number suggests far too many Ohioans are getting behind the wheel impaired.

But percolating through appeals courts across the state is a growing number of defendants who believe they limited their blood alcohol to a safe level. They’re challenging the state’s certified breathalyzer, the Intoxilyzer 8000, claiming it wrongly inflated their blood alcohol level or BAC.

Defense attorneys across the state say the Intoxilyzer 8000 is fundamentally flawed because its main function is based on bad science.

Several judges subsequently ruled in the defendants favor, calling the breathalyzer “unreliable,” which makes the line between illegally impaired and legally able to drive in Ohio (.08 of BAC) not so clear anymore.

Four still dead in Ohio

Back when “tin soldiers and Nixon” were “cutting us down” in 1970, a group of Ohio State University students and campus activists started an underground newspaper in Columbus. Driven mostly by the murder of four students at Kent State – Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, Sandy Scheuer and Bill Schroeder – shot during a demonstration that was opposing President Nixon’s illegal attack on Cambodia and the Vietnam War, the Columbus Free Press was born. Not surprisingly, the Free Press was the first western newspaper to expose Cambodia’s killing fields thanks to international law professor John Quigley’s reporting from Southeast Asia. In the first issue of the Free Press, the October 11, 1970 issue, a Free Press opinion attacked a special grand jury’s decision not to indict Ohio National Guardsmen for the Kent State killings. The Free Press wrote at the time: “The jury conveniently disregarded the FBI report which stated that the guardsmen were not ‘surrounded,’ that they had tear gas, contrary to claims of guardsmen following the shooting.”

Pursuing a championship

 

 

Bedroom Dodgeball and Other Tales

Bedroom Dodgeball and Other Tales

Dear Lady Monster,

Some years ago I had a single sexual encounter with a woman who sought me out for a long time. We finally met, and some months later she took me home. She showed me a photo album full of pictures she had taken of me at a public event several years prior. Things turned sexual and then got strange. She had a large collection of homemade rubber masks. She had over 40 of them, each on their own manniquin head. They were all masks of zombie rats. She insisted we both wear them during sex. I was not comfortable, but I tried to perform anyway. I could not. There is nothing sexy for me about looking down and seeing a dead rat looking back at me during intercourse.

She also thought that randomly throwing deflated soccer balls at my buttocks from across the room, without warning, while screaming, "Suck on Satan's pecker" was foreplay.

ODNR’s Press Release Raises More Questions Than it Answers

 

 

 

On April 11, 2014 the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) published on its website a press release stating that “recent seismic events in Poland Township (Mahoning County) … show a probable connection to hydraulic fracturing.” This finding is of both scientific and political significance. People in cities like Youngstown are voting on ballot issues to permit fracking within their communities, with wells as close as 150 feet of their homes.

 

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS