Wanderlust.

Athens, Ohio's "Boogie on the Bricks." View from the south side of the street. Basically like a college street party except the general 21+ crowd gets beyond buzzed on craft beer and jives to daddy rock.

Achtung, I am one step away from finally getting my college degree. I turned in my final paper for my writing and rhetoric class around 7 a.m. today, then blacked out from my iced-coffee fueled all nighter. On the bright side of things my online Shakespeare class will be done in 5 weeks, I somehow found a way to squeeze a little money out of this small town by babysitting two kids, the Etsy store is finally open, and I have all the time in the world to prepare for my move, discover new music, and do a little bit of traveling (on a budget).

Speaking of traveling and music, feels like it's been over a month since I last been to a show (and therefore suffering a dry spell). Being chained to schoolwork was a great way to save money - enough to make it out to these following shows. (Still pretty bummed to have missed Wiccans, Milk Music, and [just now] the Backslider/Disciple of Christ duo these past few weeks.) Hope to see some of you guys out there. I'm looking forward to doing some reviews + photo recaps of these shows (linked for info/ticket vendor):

7.26 to 7.29_ Chicago birthday
7.30_ KVLT V: INTO THE DARK. DAYLONG FESTIVAL feat. Teengirl Fantasy, Pictureplane (!), Gatekeeper (!), Todd Pendu (of Pendu NYC), Textbeak, Funerals, I†† & more @ Double Happiness, Columbus, OH. adv. $10 tickets here.
8.2_ Cold Cave, Austra @ The Grog Shop, Cleveland. $12adv/$14door. Tickets here.
8.3_ Crystal Castles @ Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH.
8.9_ ICEAGE, The Men, White Walls, Unholy Two, Scavenger @ Carabar, Columbus, OH. FUCKING FREEEEE SO DON'T MISS THIS OHIO (but damn that means I have to miss the soon after Avon Ladies show, blech)
8.13_ MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY feat. Dillon Francis, Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross, Bosco Delrey, Kito, Reptar, Lunice, Benzi and Curren$y @ Wicker Park area, Chicago. FREEE
8.19_ bye Ohio

Gatekeeper is entrancing live and I feel like I'm in some sci-fi underworld every time I hear their stuff. The video above is from their set at the Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn. I'm not hard to spot in that video: I'm the one getting my dance on. Particularly excited with this dance marathon and my little break with the astounding bill for the Carabar show. That will spark an exciting overview of booze-fueled fun. As far as the Mad Decent Block Party, Chicagoans looking to gyrate against the August heatwave and are down with moombahton should hollar at me, my crop top, and my air horn. That's not completely set in stone, but I certainly don't want to miss this.

Edit: re-opened my Netflix account now that I'm less occupied. Two thumbs down to the extra charge for DVDs (first world problems); thumbs up to my fattened instant queue dashboard. Which reminds me, I need to check out Spotify soon because everyone's raving over how it's the music of Netflix... yes?

DE RIGUEUR MIX #2: SWEATY SUMMER DANCE MIX

a.k.a. THIS is how you do summer.
From Mad Decent on Vimeo.

It's a little early for me to declare siesta season, but I'm already in that mindset. Probably not a good thing as I still have two weeks before I sit half-asleep and partied out in an ill-fitted green gown at my college graduation ceremony. (What the... ?!) Ramblings aside, nothing screams summer like some sweating body-on-body action, billowy crop tops, lawn parties, popsicles, fireworks, and dance music that will help you dip low, slow and to the floor.

The mix is divided into two parts. Download both for the complete compilation of music that, I hope, you'll want to blast during a joy ride or through your outdoor stereo system. To help you readers discover something new to love, I tried to cover various grounds of music and artists - even threw in some Ohio love with tracks created by friends Cassius Slay and DJ Self-Help. So if you like anyone on this mix, go do some further diggings and buy their stuff/attend their shows.



Stop bumming and start twerking. Mediafire links are below the track listing.

_PART ONE TRACKLISTING
1. "Hot-N-Fun feat Nelly Furtado (Boys Noize Remix)" N.E.R.D.
2. "Masta Blasta (Original Mix)" DILLON FRANCIS
3. "Run Hide feat. Amanda Blank (produced by Diplo)" TROUBLE ANDREW
4. "C'Mon!" TIESTO VS DIPLO (TOADALLY KROSSED OUT REMIX)
5. "BASED" CASSIUS SLAY
6. "Paris Orly" DEUX
7. "Gunbeat Falls" SHABAZZ PALACES
8. "Tent in Your Pants" PEACHES
9. "Time of the Season (Self Help Remix ft. Kain)" DJ SELF-HELP
10. "Green Velvet - Everybody Wants" KID SISTER
11. "Hold On" HOLY GHOST
12. "Jungle First Date" NIGHTBEAST
13. "Behind the Stars" PANTHA DU PRINCE
14. "Ringfinger" NINE INCH NAILS
15. "Tits & Acid" SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO
16. "NYR (Will Eastman remix)" OUTPUTMESSAGE

_PART TWO TRACKLISTING
17. "Chains" GATEKEEPER
18. "Love At First Sight" ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL
19. "Sex Sax" DROP THE LIME
20. "Only Girl Part Two (Rihanna vs The Cataracs)" DOSVEC
21. "Riverside (Moombahton Edit)" DAVE NADA
22. "Look At Me Now feat. Busta Rhymes & Lil Wayne (No Big Deal remix)" CHRIS BROWN
23. "I Got A Lot (New New New)" MIKA MIKO
24. "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" CSS
25. "DVNO" JUSTICE
26. "Something to Do" DEPECHE MODE
27. "Lead Head" //TENSE//
28. "Over (dJ eSenTRiK Remix)" DRAKE
29. "Murderers" JOHN FRUSCIANTE

Get the Mix:
SWEATY SUMMER PART 1 (Mediafire)
SWEATY SUMMER PART 2 (Mediafire)

Despise you - scored at Dude Fest 2008, during which the band blew the crowd to bits. Pretty bummed over missing this year's.
Divisions - Florida hardcore band with a mixture of that lo-fi, sludgy power-violence flavor. Got this shirt when they played the Legion of Doom in Columbus... I'd say almost 2 years ago? My ex may have gotten this for me, that I also don't remember.

What's in a shirt? For one, a statement of interest. Two, a back story of ex-lovers, memorable events, acts of charity, and phasing taste and style.

After reading Lesley Arfin's breakdown of her seemingly depth defying sea of shirts, posted on the Opening Ceremony blog, I cracked open my closet to sift through my own. Few have withstand time since their high school premiere, some have cumulated the stench and stains of crusties and near collapsing venues, and many were defeated by New York City's summer scorch 2010 as they morphed into cropped tanks.

My shirt collection is exclusive to music tees. They're generally more attractive than your standard graphic tee, seem to have more meaning than a shirt that screams designer names (an odd exception to the Rodarte/"Radarte" shirts, for reasons even I can't explain), and versatile in wear. Music tees in particular remind me of music (duh), which then triggers my mind to drop a tune or two, which then triggers memory to reference these tunes to the faces and places I've encountered.

... The point I'm trying to get across is that my collection of band tees is very personal to me. Like music is to many, I see these shirts as fossils of my life's past.


Rusko - Limited edition shirt. Don't usually purchase shirts of the dance genre (as much as I LOVE them), but I couldn't pass this up.
Mad Decent - From summer's Mad Decent block party. VIP access, free beer, and that different sort of sweat one exerts from dancing. The cut of this shirt is perfect for my next invasion on the dancefloor. I need to thanks Jasper for those good times. Also reminds me of the break dancing grandma I wrote about for Styleite.


Hombrinus Dudes - PC Michigan grindcore. Haven't listened to this band in ages, but I do remember their advice on shopping for apples at the farmers' market. June 2006 at the 666 Fest, and Skeletonwitch played as Motorhead.
Scholastic Deth - one of the first few shirts I bought in high school (that mattered). Purchased at Badskulls.com and they may still be on sale. Was obsessed with this band for the longest time and dove into Bay Area hardcore because of SD.
Goat Horn - Thanks to my friend Kevin, "Rotten Roll" was the anthem to my senior year of high school. I later interviewed Jason Decay, the man, the myth, the legend, for ACRN and scored this shirt after asking whether there were still some available. Got the last one in XL white; transformed it into a cropped tank.


Slayer - Recent grab. It was a hand-me-down from my friend Kent. One of the many perks of having guy friends with similar taste is that you fit into their shirts when they no longer can. My collection grows.
Tragedy - a Portland transplant from Memphis, Tragedy is a worshiper of Japanese d-beat. Saw them with my ex when they came to Cleveland on a Monday night. Remember feeling dead the next day. I remember that this show attracted a lot of the clean-cut crusties with freshly bleached hair and covered in oddly fresh crust patches. Masakari played this night and look at where they are now.
Gauze - a semi-recent grab from eBay. Apparently purchased around the same time my best friend/radio show co-host purchased her Gauze shirt. "Crash the Pose" is Absolute Catastrophe's anthem and I'll never forget that.
Katharsis - also a semi-recent grab from eBay. One of my to favs because the shirt is just so sick. It'll remind me how much I enjoy "\/\/orld\/\/ithoutEnd." I've widened the collar and gave the bottom an asymmetrical drape so now it pretty much has a butt flap. Oh well, it looks great with tights and cigarette jeans.