1-4-2000: The Braincase MP3 Library is now linked up! Check out 50 MP3 previews. It's an audio introduction to a hybrid hiphop scene that's been going on in Oly for several years now, with an appropriately odd connection to the underground of "Music City," Nashville TN! You'll hear music from artists, collaborators and co-conspirators in the Northwest and the South! Hypnotic freestyles from Curious, Oly's girl-boy rap / skating champions. Frenetic madness from Ellensburg's innovative Log Hog. Old school styles from Sandman & Camo (Oly / Nashville). Next-style hiphop / blues / rock from Olympia's Old Djinn Swag. Industrial-hiphop blends from the depths of the Olympia twilight, Kef Gage. Nashville's finest hiphop jug band, the Workhorses of Yesteryear. And there's a couple of preview tracks of South Sound Underground, which will no doubt get your head nodding as you hang out in your swimsuit at the Heritage Park Fountain this summer! Each preview track should only take about 30 seconds to download if you have a 28.8 modem. (2025 note: Wow...) All of the song clips are 40 seconds long.

1-8-2000: The Ideas page is up. There are interviews with Bernie Worrell (from Parliament, Funkadelic, the Talking Heads, and hundreds of other collaborations), Michael Franti (from Spearhead, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, and the Beatnigs, as well as many collaborations). There's also an article by Hijexx, a Braincase operative from Nashville, and some remarks from Miles Davis on music and business.

1-8-2000: ODS lyrics are up for "The Low Tone Revival."

1-9-2000: Check out the one-page comick "Night Madness" by Giles on the Sights page.

1-21-2000: Seven more flyers have been added to our flyer archive on the Sights page, with more on the way soon!

2-1-2000: Welcome to a new episode of the Braincase Collective Information Superhighway Headquarters on your computer screen. You'll be wanting to check out the new MP3s of the month. There are two for February... the mellow "Where R The People" from South Sound Underground (a project by Madd Reign and Kef Gage). Do you know where the keyboard sample in this song came from? And the hectic "Vampire Hunters," an instrumental from Kef Gage. Write your impressions of these songs, and let us know if you like this new arrangement of two mono MP3s, or if you preferred the way it was last month, with one stereo MP3.

In other news, weather forecasters on the radio here in Olympia are into the time of year when they all start making sarcastic remarks about their own forecasts... "For the next three days, more rain. Surprise, surprise." Know what I'm sayin? Oh, we're the boys of the chorus -- we hope you like our show -- we know you're rootin' for us -- but now we have to goooooooooooo!

3-5-2000: Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in the site update. I have been in the midst of moving from house to house, and have also had some difficulties with my Electronic Computer Brain. First my sound card was acting krazy. Then my modem died. Then I got help figuring out what was wrong with the sound card. Then I scraped together enough coins to get a new modem. And now the sound card is down again! So I haven't yet been able to make the MP3s of the month for March. Hopefully I'll get things figured out by the middle of next week. Then you'll be able to hear "Yashiro Feels This," a dedication to Olympia's sister city in Japan by South Sound Underground with guest vocals by Kika; and a new song for the Chinese New Year, "Dragon Deluxe."

In band news, we are currently recording a new Old Djinn Swag album and setting up a national tour for May. Destination: the southland, from whence we came. The album will be released in May and we'll be hitting the road May 12, playing in about fourteen cities. There is no official title for the new album yet, but we are currently doing what we always do, which is thinking up the dumbest and corniest album titles we can imagine until the perfect title magically springs out of thin air.

Kika and I are also working on a new Curious song which doesn't have a title yet but the beat is insanely hypnotic. And I recently started making some beats for a couple of new country songs by Sandman. Are you ready for some fresh rustic country hiphop from Olympia? Stay tuned.

4-2-2000: Click here for a preview MP3 of "Risk Everything," the new album by Old Djinn Swag. It is about 4 1/2 minutes long, with snippets of five of the eleven songs that will be on the CD. It's fun.

 3-25-2000: Check out a new freestyle comick by Giles called "Raise the Roof."

Old Djinn Swag's new album will be called "Risk Everything" and it's about halfway finished. Vocals, samples, synths, and percussive overdubs are currently being blended in with the drum, bass and guitar tracks. The tour is also getting set up, with shows planned for Portland, Ellensburg, Spokane, Missoula, Salt Lake City, Denver, Lawrence KS, St. Louis, Memphis, Clarksville, Savannah GA, Chattanooga and Nashville. Thanks to everyone helping us hook up shows in these cities for our farewell to Earth tour. The MP3s of the month are not currently working. I'll get 'em going soon, though.

5-6-2000: Old Djinn Swag has released their new album, "Risk Everything," and played their last show in Olympia with Log Hog and Matzoh Truck.

5-12-2000: Old Djinn Swag sets out on tour today for Ellensburg, Spokane, Moscow, Salt Lake City, Denver, Lawrence, St. Louis, Memphis, Savannah, Chattanooga, Clarksville and Nashville.

5-23-2000: During their visit to St. Louis, Old Djinn Swag has filmed music videos for their songs "Hybrid Strain" and "Whereabouts Unknown."

5-26-2000: Old Djinn Swag witnesses an old man effortlessly smack out an incredible Hambone in Memphis. Unable to play an acoustic guitar, the old man hands it to a teenage boy who appears to be bored as he plays some mind-blowing blues licks.

6-2-2000: Old Djinn Swag played their final show tonight at the legendary Sweetwater Tavern in Nashville Tennessee. The three lads thanked each other for humoring one another's idiosyncrasies for 4 years 8 months, 2 compact discs, 2 tapes, 2 zines, 2 tours, 235 shows, and many gallons of microbrews.

6-21-2000: While Adrian wanders the desert wilds of Israel and Todd taps into the roots of American music in Memphis, Giles (that would be me) has returned to Olympia to continue drawing "Zoonbats". I've been messing about with the site design. Lyrics to "Risk Everything" by Old Djinn Swag are now available for your perusal.

6-22-2000: Examine the strange evidence in the bizarre 36-day disappearance and reappearance of J. Haley and Giles O'Dell: "We Find Ourselves Lost."

6-30-2000: Check out the Mugavari Remix of "Hybrid Strain" by Old Djinn Swag. And listen to "Yashiro Feels This," a dedication to Olympia's Japanese sister city, by South Sound Underground featuring Kika. It's all in the new South Wing of the Braincase MP3 Library. ;)

7-1-2000: Another place to look for Braincase MP3's is now the MP3 Jamz section of Rapstation.com

7-2-2000: The rarely-heard ODS freestyle, "1-900-ODS-4-YOU" (1998), has been added to our MP3 library.

8-6-2000: More MP3s have been added over the past month. There are currently two pages where you can find Braincase MP3s. This page has a plethora of brief, lower sound quality previews. And this page has full quality, full-length songs accompanied by previews of each. Enjoy. Issue # 2 of Zoonbats is now available for $2. The first issue has entered its sixth printing! Thanks. There are a couple of new South Sound Underground songs in the works this month.

9-5-2000: There is a new South Sound Underground EP with four songs! "Yashiro Feels This," on CD from Hypno Cookie Records.

22 Sept. 2000: Kika (of Curious) moved to Spain early this summer. She's probably visiting Prague around this time in order to participate in the protests against the IMF / World Bank. Just before she left, she finished the second issue of her amazing zine, Tracks.

360 (of Old Djinn Swag) is in Memphis, occasionally jamming on Beale St. and soaking up the players' knowledge of blues and the history of the Memphis scene. He's also been to the Rev. Al Green's church services a few times and says the band is incredible.

Camo (of Sandman & Camo, Workhorses of Yesteryear, and most recently Baby Stout) has sent me a fantastic live recording of Baby Stout, the Nashville-based hybrid hiphop band he's playing with. Other band members include Rev. Asher Dudley (of the Workhorses of Yesteryear) and Rebecca Stout (from Circus Inebrius, and formerly The Shakers). Baby Stout is hotter than July and i'm happy that i'll be remixing a song or two by them for an upcoming EP release. Stay tuned for more info about this latest phenomenon from the dirty South.

Here in Oly, i have been hard at work mixing new South Sound Underground songs. We recently released the first EP, "Yashiro Feels This," on our new label, Hypno Cookie Records. It includes four songs, two of which are already in our MP3 Library. Last week i finished an even newer track, "Get Up Y'all," featuring Sandman and Madd Reign on vocals and Flip (alias Crawfish Man) on bass and acoustic guitar. Another step forward in the inevitable blend of hiphop and country. I've got another song in the works featuring more vocals from the gourmet chef, Onion.

25 Sept. 2000: A new South Sound Underground song, "Get Up Y'all," has been added to the MP3 library. Check out the updated Links section.

12 November 2000: Are you looking for new MP3s and RealAudio by Baby Stout, South Sound Underground, Kef Gage and Old Djinn Swag? Visit their pages at Rapstation. Rapstation is a great site co-founded by Chuck D of Public Enemy and they've done a lot to help indie hiphop. Highly recommended!

The zine catalog is up for your perusal.

Also, stay tuned for new music from Tiger Mountain, a collaborative internet project bringing together folks from here in Oly as well as Log Hog from Ellensburg and Hijexx from San Francisco. Anyone else want to get in the mix? All i know for sure is that it's going to be some pretty fast BPMs!

16 January 2001: Chuck D (from Public Enemy) has named Old Djinn Swag's song "Set It Down" one of his "100 Supreme Best MP3s of 2000." Hear the song here, and read Chuck's list here. Thanks Mistachuck!

Listen to the new Kef Gage track, "Reactor D6R Meltdown" at Rapstation.

Also, check out two new songs from the South Sound Underground: "Season of the Flip," featuring Sandman, and "Dragon Deluxe."

11 March 2001: Braincase Collective accepts responsibility for the recent 6.8 earthquake in the Northwest. As you know, the epicenter was located 5 miles north of Olympia -- at our bass response research laboratories. It seems that Mr. Kef Gage was perfecting his EQ'ing techniques and simply pumped the bass a bit too loud. We apologize for any inconvenience, and promise to just use headphones from now on.

360 recently finished recording some songs with the Ron Franklin Entertainers at Willie Mitchell's studio in Memphis. Willie Mitchell is the great producer who crafted the sound of artists such as Al Green and Ann Peebles during the heyday of Hi Records.

Some people have recently inquired as to whether there are going to be more Baby Stout MP3s available any time soon. All I know for sure is that they're still perfecting an upcoming EP.

As for myself, I am continuing to work on Zoonbats in several capacities. There are going to be two new issues of the zine coming soon -- a revised version of issue #2, with better artwork in the flashback sequence, and issue #3, which I'm now about four pages into. If you've already bought the original version of issue #2, don't worry -- I'm devising a scheme which will enable you to get some cool Zoonbats freebies by answering some trivia questions which can olnly be answered by people who have the first printing of issue #2. And the revised version of #2 will definitely be worth getting even if you already have the first printing. If you're in Olympia, checkout my art show this month at Otto's (111 Washington St.). I'm also collaborating with some great folks at a local Flash animation studio, developing a web environment for the upcoming Zoonbats website. Look for that this summer.

18 October 2001: In spite of the rather nerve-wracking news of the world lately (and might I suggest that you balance your televised news intake with news sources that are not owned by giant corporate conglomerates which stand to profit from war?), some great things have been going on in recent months. You can take the delay in the update of the website as an indication that these artists and good folks, myself included, have been very busy with actual artwork, instead of having time to mess about with the site. Nevertheless, I'm going to get back to updating this more regularly -- in fact, I've already done a lot of behind-the-scenes archival work.

Throughout much of the year, several folks have been working on something called the Men's Violence Prevention project. Adrian (a.k.a. Madd Reign) and I have been producing beats, recording and mixing vocals for a series of songs aimed at young men to question issues of violence, harassment of women and gays, rape and mainstream media. These songs are eventually played as part of workshops with young men in high schools and juvenile prisons. Vocalists for the project have been Sandman and Caution. One of the most unusual events I've experienced that has arisen from this project was an opportunity to be interviewed by a Parisian television newsmagazine -- something along the lines of a French 60 Minutes. Maybe I'll eventually see some footage of myself with a French voice dubbed in, talking about fresh beats and feminism. Anyway, it's a great project, and for me it's been a lot more inspiring than playing out in clubs was over the past year. If you get a chance to hear any of this stuff, you'll recognize some recycled South Sound Underground beats -- but there's a lot of original beats in there, too. MVP was devised by Todd Denny. Read more about it here.

Speaking of Adrian, he and Kerry announced they're going to be getting married next summer! Yeah! And I've managed to collect some classic, rarely heard Madd Reign solo joints for your listening pleasure. Check out his beatmaking and harmonizing skills on the songs "Detox," "B-Brawler," "Spooky Shadows," (coming soon) and the South Sound Underground track "R U With Me?"

Speaking of South Sound Underground... SSU's great bassist from N'awlins, Phillip (a.k.a. Flip, a.k.a. the Perplexor, a.k.a. Crawfish) has recently been playing as part of the rhythm section of the Foote Street Soul Revue. On the skins? None other than the great 360, Mr. Todd Loos, of Old Djinn Swag and RFE. Along with Palu on guitar (and I might add that Palu is a great bike mechanic), they form the core of a large group of soulful collaborators who number so many that I hesitate to name any of them until I compile a complete list of all of them. I will mention that they have been cooking up some sizzling versions of classic songs by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Ray Charles, the Meters, Albert King, and many more. For those of you who can get here, they'll be playing at my house (on Foote Street, of course) this Saturday. For those of you who can't, Adrian will be recording the whole affair and I hope to score some MP3s. Also in attendance will be the scholar of soul, DJ Shannon Wiberg, spinning rare and beloved records into the night. You can listen to Shannon's wonderful and long-running show, Soul Kitchen, Tuesday nights on KAOS 89.3 FM. Yes, I believe they do stream it over the web, hence the link.

When I was in Nashville this past summer, I had the rare opportunity and distinct pleasure of attending a Baby Stout show in person, at 12th and Porter. What can I say? These kids are so damn fresh. Among a couple of new dizzifying rock songs, they dropped a fantastic cover of the Blondie song "Heart of Glass." I also got to check out a Spat! Records showcase and scored a compilation disc featuring dharmakaya, Spider Virus, The Obscure, Rebecca Stout, psomni, Fall With Me, and the Carter Administration. Good stuff -- alas that it contains no contact information. Perhaps you can find some information on these bands at Popshot.net, the new incarnation of the late great Nashville webzine Bombast-xxx. I'll link some of those groups as soon as I find any websites. Anyway, I loved the whole vibe of the Spat! Records artists -- mutual acceptance and support of very diverse styles. It reminded me of what we were trying to do when we started Braincase, and various aspects of Olympia, as well as the Wonderground Collective begun by Cindy Wonderful, Rainbow Sugar and friends in Denver. Also while in Nashville I hooked up with my man Tray Suiter, formerly of 12 Volt Negative Earth, and got some recordings of one of his many ongoing projects, Nuthanger. Damn, I wish I had some sort of teleportation device to move through all these cities and catch more shows in person.

I'd also teleport over to Ellensburg to check out what's going on in the Bombshelter. I do know one thing -- Log Hog is finishing up their first 12" vinyl release. I believe it will contain original versions of "Wahka Wahka (Jellybean)" and "Natural Born Pranksters," plus a remix by the great turntablist Dynomite D, and a remix by yours truly. For the official info on Log Hog, you should bookmark Puppetfangghost Records. You can also find various MP3s of theirs at rapstation.com, garageband.com, and the generally worthless mp3.com.

Speaking of Ellensburg, I have been checking out a lot of stuff being done by Filmwave. Those cats are prolific and are building their skills all the time. See for yourself.

As for the archival work I mentioned above... I'm archiving everything I can that's been done by these artists in the past seven years. Look for MP3s of music by Fantom Movers (Chicago, 1994) and Curious (Oly, 1998) at rapstation.com. I have previously had some "preview" snippets of Curious tracks, but these are the full songs. (Speaking of Curious, where is Kika? No one seems to know for sure. In case she checks this site, I'm sending some love. I heard from Quinn she was freestyling up a storm down in California earlier this year.) I've also begun working on archiving some of Sandman's back catalog, including a rare '98 cassette release that I produced some beats for... back in the days of my 8-bit Mirage sampler.

More of the Old Djinn Swag back catalog has been turned into MP3s, also at rapstation. However, it's damn nigh impossible to archive all ODS material at one website, for the simple fact that all music websites seem to have antiquated record industry notions of "genres" as their guiding principles. Until there is a marketable term to describe bands that play more than one boring style, diverse bands will continue to get the shaft. All of the blame can't rest on the music industry, however... listeners need to develop a certain capacity to think of music as music, rather than music as something that is contained within stylistic boundaries. Yes, there are some ways in which describing music in a certain way is useful -- primarily to musicians studying their roots -- but it has really become a hindrance to a lot of artists, and has eventually put some of my favorite bands out of commission because there is no way to function professionally in that sort of divisive environment.

I know the Flyer Archive has had that "coming soon!" tag for a long time now, but it's true. I've got a lot of that stuff scanned and just need to design the page to contain it.

One final note... the 18th annual Olympia Film Festival is currently going on, and I'm excited for this Saturday, when I'm going to see my man Ron Smith's first documentary film about El Salvador, entitled "Resistance as Democracy." Ron and I were in the early Nashville industrial bands Now Fear This and Dark Silent Hammers way the fuck back when. (This was back when groups like the Grinning Plowman, Dessau, Morning Glory Circle, the Shakers, Clockhammer, Jet Black Factory and a lot of others were planting seeds in our musical minds... not to mention Mel and the Party Hats, our primary influence at the time.) Unfortunately, no known recordings remain of our early exploits. So much for foresight. Anyway, I'm proud of Ron for continuing to bring the realness and I'll try to get a link for his documentary.

29 November 2001: Last month's party with the Foote Street Soul Revue was a great time! The gathering was designed as a one-night-only soul food juke joint, complete with $2 plates of fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and locally brewed beer. The music was, of course, superdynamite. I've gotta hand it to everybody who put this together -- it was superb! Folks were dancing late into the midnight hour. People have been asking around, wondering if there will be any more performances -- no one seems to know for sure. But I did get a copy of the excellent recording provided by Mr. Madd Reign, and I'll be putting up the MP3s soon. Phillip, a.k.a. Flip the Perplexor, has provided me with a credits list of the numerous musicians that played on various songs. I also hope to get a scan of the beautiful flyer designed by Jamie Valentine.

Phillip was one of the main organizers of the Foote Street Soul Revue, and I spoke with him about perhaps doing an interview about the whole event... I think it could be interesting just to look at one way in which folks from several different 'scenes' came together to create something with one another. Lately, he's been organizing a samba/jazz ensemble, so perhaps there's more amazing musical events on the horizon...

Speaking of Madd Reign, he's been working on more solo recordings recently, including one track with some trap kit contributions by his fellow ex-Djinn, Todd Loos, alias 360. I've heard some of the tracks, and they're fresh. My perception is that he's experimenting with more sparse, spacious rhythmic constructions. Then, there are some other songs he's done which are more humorous, and feature very impressive forays into vocal harmonies. It's good stuff and I have made MP3s of a few of the songs -- I hope to find space soon where I can make them available for download.

I, too, have been working on some new recordings. It's a secret project of sorts, which (hopefully) is going to come to fruition soon. I want it to be a surprise, but I will say that I've been joined in the studio by Madd Reign, 360, and Sandman in recent weeks. I'd like to make some CDs to pass around, 'roundabout New Year's time. Then I'll start putting up some MP3s of this mystery music in early '02.

It was a fun surprise to see Cindy Wonderful, of Rainbow Sugar, in town a few weeks ago. Apparently she's looking to move to the Oly area some time soon. She floated me some of her solo music that she's worked on recently... very fresh beat collages, super high energy. It's good to hear all this music being made, all over the map.

I've added a link to a page for the Olympia band La Di Da. My friend and collaborator J. Haley is among this group, and I really admire not only their music but their post-futuristic touring and performing tactics. Aside from having already set up a couple of sub-underground proto-punk-style tours throughout the Northwest so far, I happened to glance up in downtown Olympia the other afternoon to see them playing, apparently unannounced, with full stage set-up, on the sidewalk in front of a bank. Aside from collaborating with me on the project entitled We Find Ourselves Lost, J. Haley was also a member of the Modern Day Inventors, featured on the 1997 Braincase Collective compilation tape / zine Sasparilla. Aside from all that, he's been consistently brewing up all sorts of experiential art for years, and hopefully some day soon there will be some sort of documentation of all this that I can link to.

Let's see here... I've got a bit of a quandary. I've been collecting as much music as I can of the strange band Nuthanger, thanks to my friend Tray Suiter in Nashville. So far so good; the MP3s are made and ready to go. The music is bizarre, and tight -- reminiscent of Mr. Bungle in some ways, yet with its own distinctly Nashvillian / Eastern European Bloc flava. But these cats are on and off the radar so sporadically, and I don't have any song titles, images, etc. Nothin' but the raw musics! What can I do but try to get in touch with the elusive Mr. Suiter, and wait?

Stay tuned for close to 50 new MP3s of various artists before the end of the year. Also, thank you to everyone who's downloaded the MP3s of all the different artists represented here. Within this year alone there have been over 1500 downloads so far.

8 December 2001: Are you really ready for some superdynamite soul?! Then direct your attention to the Foote Street Soul Revue juke joint page. Now available for your perusal are MP3s of the entire show, as well as the fantastic flyer designed by Olympia artist (via Kansas City and Memphis) Jamie Valentine! Ten classic super soul jams performed by the Foote Street Soul Revue: Ray Charles, Albert King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Meters, Otis Redding and more get their propers, Olympia-style. You can practically smell the fried chicken and cornbread...

I mentioned last time that I was working on uploading some of the solo recordings of Madd Reign (of South Sound Underground and Old Djinn Swag). Well, three of them are now available! Yup, they are as fresh as a trio of golden-brown buttermilk biscuits just a-steamin' in the mornin' sunlight! Listen to them and see if you don't agree with me. And stay tuned... he's cooking up more songs even as I type this.

Well, the "secret" project I wrote of previously has been revealed to be a new 16-song Fantom Movers album entitled "Maybe, Baby." This is the first new release since 1997, and it features collaborations with Sandman, Nerviz and Sloe-T (of Log Hog), Madd Reign, C.A.U.T.I.O.N. (collaborator on the Men's Violence Prevention project), 360 (of Old Djinn Swag, Ron Franklin Entertainers, and the Foote Street Soul Revue) and J. Haley (of La Di Da). I'll put up MP3s of some of the songs after the first of the new year. In the meanwhile, you can check out some of the earlier lo-fi releases from FM via this strange new page.

Speaking of Sandman (and Camo), I've made MP3s of his most recent album, "Until the End of Time." This album is a masterpiece of old school hip-hop, with superb production by Carl Dexter of the Little Hollywood collective. It's also a showcase of the fantastic beatboxing and vocal scratch skills of Mr. Cameron Davi, a.k.a. Camo (also of Baby Stout, and previously a member of the Workhorses of Yesteryear). Check out these MP3s, Sandman's web page, and the Little Hollywood collective.

One other thing about Sandman... I had the great pleasure of seeing him perform in Seattle last night with Log Hog and Kirk Dubb, featuring mixing between sets by Dynomite D. It was a fantastic show. And miraculously, Sandman was not stranded in Seattle when I accidentally took his car keys with me back to Olympia at two in the morning. (slapping forehead)

Well, that's 42 new MP3s in a single day. Hmm... no record labels hook you up like Braincase Collective, major or indie. That could be directly related to the fact that Braincase Collective is not a record label. Happily, no one knows what Braincase Collective is exactly... other than the collective that just hooked you up with 42 MP3s, out of pure enjoyment.

2002.08.17 — The zine/CD combo "Ghost Ship" is nearing completion, featuring photos, writings, comics, and illustrations plus a compilation disc with Joe Noname, Hunt Style, Log Hog, 3 Eyed Banditz, Focused Few, Pirates, Cindy Wonderful, Salt Pork, Fulminantes, Tek Specialists, Baby Stout, Schönheitsfehler, Delegates of Culture, and U.Y.O. Look for it wherever fine zines that include CD-Rs are sold! Or try to find me before I move away from Olympia in the next few weeks!

2002.09.01 — The 2002 edition of the Foote Street Soul Revue has completed. This year, with 360 in Memphis, Flip Perplexor a.k.a. Crawfish was the driving organizational force. At the same time, previous and new participants met to discuss songs and rehearsal schedules of the various musicians (e.g., this year there was a full horn section, there were vocal harmony rehearsals, etc). There were so many musicians who wanted to take part, we were able to rotate in and out on various songs so people could alternate between playing and dancing in the audience. Although this time we didn't have the extra deluxe accommodation of having barbeque airlifted in from Memphis, nevertheless the basement venue at Foote St. was packed and we all had a blast. This has been such a cool project to be part of, and I think not too many people can say they've been in a soul ensemble composed of not only co-workers but also a bunch of the regulars at a restaurant! Major props to Flip for taking the lead on year 2 for an unforgettable experience, especially prior to both of us leaving Olywa in various directions - he is heading to his hometown of New Orleans, and I'll be moving to Orlando. As I said in the Ghost Ship zine: Bye bye Olympia, I'll miss you.

2003.04.16 — Greetings from the sunny sunshine state! As I continue my studies in animation, I have had a little bit of time to draw more Zoonbats. And I am now the proud caretaker of a Vestax PDX-2000 turntable, adding some scratches to a few songs with a new album taking shape. The turntable arrived without a weight on the tonearm, which the seller said was an accident and it's now on its way. In the meanwhile I am using some of my modeling clay as a tonearm weight... XD whatever, it works for now!

2003.05.14 — Some new Fantom Movers testmixes are making the rounds on Garageband... be on the lookout (listen-out?) for "Main Bounce Bass (89 Style Remix)" and a new song, "Is It Time to Be Free?"

2003.08.08 — I received a care package from the Northwest containing the four volumes of Log Hogs "Bald Caps" series - so great to hear their latest musical evolutions, and only the Log Hog crew could be prolific enough to put out a quadruple album!!

2003.11.27 — Hello again earthlings, I have emerged from a cocoon of intensive animation studies with good tidings once again! Always on the lookout for a way to parlay what I'm doing into something that can benefit fellow artists, I schemed and dreamed up an animated music video for Nashville's Baby Stout, for their song "Good Clean Fun." On a recent trip up there I was photographing Rebecca, June, Asher, Camo, and Derek for references to build 3D character models of them and then mapped out a music video which will appear to be a series of show flyers that come to life. The first minute or so is finished, but it will take a while longer in production to get the completed 3-minute song fully animated. Also, while visiting in Nashville with Asher and Camo, I got to hear the advance mix of a new Sandman album produced by Nervous: "Slippery Goodstuff"! We were amazed by Nervous's production skills, and falling over laughing at Sandman's lyrical prowess. Super excited for when this comes out!

I'm also graduating from animation school soon and my classmates have honored me by voting for me to be the class speaker at our commencement ceremony. Then begins a bit of a whirlwind as in January I'll be packing up here in Florida, heading up to Nashville to visit with family, and then driving solo across the country en route to return to Olywa once again. I got a chance to speak with Cindy Wonderful and it sounds like she is getting settled into Olympia and finding lots of good collaborators already. And it sounds like Nervous and Blandow are in the area as well. I'm not sure what I'll do for work once I get out there but I am psyched that the punk hip-hop contingent seems to be hitting a new level of vivacious creativity and I hope to be a part of it when I get back there!

2004.01.30 — I've returned from the abundant sunshine of the land of my birth and am back in the cozy, drizzly winter of Olywa. Excited to reconnect in person with all of the artists who I have been communicating with via email while I have been in Florida! The drive across the country was epic, with snow and sleet as I was coming across the Texas panhandle... visiting with friends and warming up for a couple of days in West Hollywood, exploring the zine scene there and observing in a coffee shop that everyone there was really working on screenplays! As I continued up the coast and stopped at a rest stop in the home stretch, a random guy approached me and told me I looked like Jesus. Then he paused and, in a kind of shy and reverential tone, asked, "...Are you Jesus?" XD

After arriving back in Oly, I'm settling in for a brief sublet, somehow brokered by Sandman in a murky and unclear deal, at [redacted]'s house, where I've been able to set up and continue working on the animated music video for the Baby Stout song "Good Clean Fun." I also added some scratching and did the final mix on the Scream Club song "If You Want It" featuring Beth Ditto. 

2004.02.11 —Today I spent hanging out with Cindy and Sarah, who together are the band Scream Club. We were re-recording some vocals, for me to basically clear up the mix on the album they’re working on. It took us a while to get things organized in a way, to figure out exactly what needed to be done. One particular situation required a very unusual procedure. They had a finished mixed track with vocals, and an instrumental track, but they no longer had the a capella. So Nervous advised Cindy to tell me to invert one of the two tracks, and then mix them together, and that would silence the instruments and leave only the vocals. It took a few tries to get it right, but it actually worked almost perfectly… you could only hear very faint music in the background, perhaps about as much as might sometimes bleed out of the vocalists’ headphones. I was amazed. We tried that with a couple of other songs, but it didn’t work as well, for some unknown reason. Anyway, it was great that it did work on that one song because that one had all these guest vocalists from LA on it and it woulda been probably impossible to get everyone to redo their parts.

So then it became clear that several of the songs needed to have the vocals re-recorded, so we went back to their place and did that well into the evening. It went pretty smoothly and basically just involved me setting the levels and rolling the tape. They know what they’re doing on their end, so I got to just basically hang out and enjoy listening to them rip it up in person. I just felt good, like this kind of environment was what I was hoping to build up in Olympia for so many years, it is very satisfying to experience it in some state of fruition. Also, the fact that they can actually rock the mic, just by listening to their intonation and tightness I can tell they have taken it seriously and done some studying and a good amount of practice and they have respect for the form. What more can you ask?

2004.02.23 —On Friday night, Cindy and Sarah came over around midnight to listen to some of the mixes that are close to being done. They seemed delighted with “Gossip” and “Little Piece,” less happy but perhaps all right with “Peepee,” and there were big problems with the mix of “What the Fucking Shit.” But overall I think they’re happy that things are going in the right direction.

They left close to two, which is when I headed over to Madd Reign's place to hang out with him for a while, as he was staying up all night in preparation for an overnight shift at Haven House the following night. I played him the rough mix of “Cinnamon Bun,” my hot new ridiculous song. The cinnamon bun, I explained that I had just decided, is when you are licking your baby’s ear in a spirally motion. Its overall structure definitely mirrors my recent immersion in Outkast and Timbaland as far as listening has gone. Madd Reign and I had a quietly hilarious time, cracking each other up with our remarks on music and late night television. I left close to 4, and wasn’t up and about the next day until around 2 pm.

That evening was the night of the show at the Track House, featuring the Female HipHop Alliance first, then a couple of other bands, then Scream Club. I got there a bit late, but did catch the last several songs of the Female HipHop Alliance. Actually, as I type this, I’m waiting to go to their meeting tonight, which is open to guys, too. I was surprised to see Zen there in a furry hat singing the choruses with them. The sound system didn't have much treble. But as I said to Cindy and Sarah later on that night, better to have bass and no treble than to have treble and no bass, as is the usual case with punk soundsystems. Anyway… it was a good performance, and afterward I went up and said hi to Zen. She suggested that I make some beats for them. So that’s what I did yesterday and a little bit today as well, cooked up the two beats that I codenamed “Dizzy” and “Extend.” I am so happy to see hiphop flourishing here in Oly.

2004.02.24 —We seem to be in the midst of one of those classic yet rare Oly windstorms. It’s really howling out there, and all the windows in this old house are rattling and bumping around in their frames. There is a loose latch on the screen door out front, and a minute ago the wind began blowing it around, making a big racket. Then, as I was getting up to close it again, the wind slammed it shut just as I got there. I have good memories of a week-long windstorm in ’96, and I wonder if this one will last for days like that one did.

Well, the FHHA get-together last night was really pretty cool. When I arrived there, there was Rachel, the DJ who I had seen previously at the Mark a few hours after they had played at the Trackhouse. I had just gone up to her and said their music was superb, and then went on my way. But she remembered me, and seemed very welcoming and happy. And there was also a woman named Greta, who I believe goes by the name Ruby Valentine in performance. So, the place where it happened is now known as the Love Nest, which was formerly Praxis, a small warehouse-like or garage-like space in the alley behind the Olympia Fireplace Supply store, across the street from Orca Books. It seems to be their apartment as well as a performance space.

When I got there, I said that Zen had suggested that I come by, and introduced myself. Greta said that Cindy and Sarah had said good things about me to her. I asked what they usually do on Monday nights, and Rachel said that it’s usually just for dancing, but that it all depended on who showed up and what they wanted to do. Then she began spinning records and the other ladies were starting to dance a bit.

Zen showed up after a while, and I spend a good amount of time talking with her in the kitchen. She was telling me there’s this professor of music at Berkeley who is like 85 years old, but is some kind of professor of hip-hop and he’s doing a seminar in Seattle some time soon. I asked her how did she get into hip-hop. She said she had always listened to it, but had never really thought she could MC or hadn’t really tried to, but a friend of hers kept encouraging her to come by and try it out and she finally did. She said she thought it was cool that they had established the FHHA here and she hoped to establish another one when she and her partner move to Ohio (for them to go to med school). She also said that guys had approached them to see if they could collaborate, which was cool because for a long time she felt like the ladies had been outside knocking on the door. We also talked about freestyling and how similar it is to jazz. I suggested we get together sometime and just put on a beat and have a conversation in rhymes. She said she could teach me some about jazz singing too.

When Rachel came back in, she put on the disc that I had brought that had “Dizzy” and “Extend” on it. They really seemed to take an instant liking to “Dizzy” and began dancing around in a circle and singing along with it. I was totally taken aback by how they were spontaneously coming up with these incredible melodies and layered vocal parts and doing this circular dance. I mean, from what I’ve seen over the years, they have something really special with that degree of comfort, fun, trust, and freedom amongst each other. Personally, I was experiencing a very humble feeling and was just grateful that they liked the beat. They were just cruising on it for the whole 15 minutes that I had it looped, what they were doing really sounded incredible. After it finished playing, Zen asked me did I have any ideas in mind for what they should do on it, and I was just like, no, what y’all did was just beautiful, do anything you like with it. They started the next one, “Extend,” but weren’t feeling that one as much at that time and decided to go back to play with “Dizzy” some more. Around then I decided to take off and let them continue on their own. I walked back out into the nighttime, i’m sure with spirals emanating from my head, just amazed at what they all have put together there.

2004.03.02 — Rolling on. I've been continuing to work on the animated music video for Baby Stout "Good Clean Fun." Nervous shared his video camera with me and we got some footage of walls and windows with flyers on them. I'm going to create animated flyers and then motion-track and composite them into the live action footage. I’m running a render right now, which will take all day, which I could have gotten right overnight if I’d taken a couple extra minutes to adjust the camera. Anyway, its always a process of learning to do things more efficiently, I guess. Hopefully you make progress along the way. I just get antsy and want to get the part done.

I moved over to the ABC House over this past weekend, out of the house on the eastside where I began my stay here in late January. The whole situation there seemed to turn sour with about two weeks to go. Along with two other guys, I was subletting a room there while the usual residents, "Lady" and "Gentleman", were on tour with [redacted group]. I was subletting Gentleman’s room, but the whole situation had been arranged by Sandman prior to my arriving in town, so it was all set up without me ever having spoken directly to either of them. Well, as it turned out, Gentleman and Lady apparently had this huge falling out while on the road and decided not to live together anymore. In fact, Gentleman came back to Olympia, but thankfully arranged something else for himself and didn’t come back to the house saying, “you gotta leave, dude,” as I had briefly envisioned in an anxious daydream. Nevertheless, the situation did get complicated when it came to light – one day prior to Lady's return on the 15th of February, that she was under the impression that I would be gone by the time she got back. Eventually everything got “worked out” in that I was able to continue staying there through the end of the month, but it just made for a bad overall feeling… even though Lady and I had a couple of good conversations during the time she got back, the whole feeling of my presence being an only marginally welcome surprise just took the wind out of my sails, and I was glad to get out of there. Doubly so, due to the fact that a mouse ran through my room one day while I was there.

The best part of staying at that place was getting to know the other guys subletting rooms there, Sam and Will. I’m also trying to cultivate some more gregariousness which I know is within myself somewhere. Sometimes when I’m alone, I think to myself that I should channel some more of Wayne Molly through myself when I’m talking with other people, but I have yet to actually remember that consciously when I am among others.

Will gave me a copy of a zine he had edited… actually, he wrote and illustrated most of it, and there were just a couple of contributions from other folks. It is called, “This is the Life,” and it is an account of his visit to and activism in Palestine and Israel. He was a friend and fellow activist with Rachel Corrie, the very young woman who got killed by an Israeli bulldozer that was there to destroy some Palestinian houses that they were trying to protect. It’s quite an amazing zine. I talked with Will a little bit about the whole situation over there. Most of his friends seem very engaged with the issues there and want to be directly involved. I understand how people can become sincerely involved in struggles that are far from their own home. But… you know, it’s a different thing with the arts and with direct action. As an artist, you never have the quantifiable certainty that what you’re doing is really making a difference. I don’t doubt it, personally, although I’ll never know the degree to which I’m influencing things. But artists never have the confirmation, really, of the effects of what they’re doing.

Sam was a good natured cat. He was gone for days at a time, working with a small demolition company, tearing up a house near Port Angeles. Then when he was back, he practiced the acoustic guitar for hours each day. He said he had recently experienced a numb feeling in his hands, which raised all sorts of red flags in my mind as I recalled the things I had heard 360 and Flip saying about their experiences with carpal tunnel syndrome due to playing instruments with less-than-ideal form/posture. Sam seemed to think it was more related to his demolition work than to his guitar-playing, though. But he said he was looking into acupuncture to treat it. He was excited about Zoonbats when I left out some copies of the two issues, and talked with me about some ideas he’d had for a graphic novel.

Zen seems to be on fire with her new endeavors in hip-hop, which is great. Last Wednesday, she called and left a message early in the day, prior to my waking up (which admittedly doesn’t mean it was really very early), asking if I had any loops that the FHHA could use for an intro track. I took the opportunity to just head down to the library, checked out the maximum allowed 10 items, all music this time, and came back and did some samplesourcing. I pretty much spent the whole afternoon cooking up a new loop. Then I met with her that evening at Burrito Heaven, as she was on her way to practice, and gave her the disk.

On Friday, I went to their show at the Eagles’ hall. That seems to be the hip new venue. (I was speaking with Diana Arens at the Brotherhood the other night, and she mentioned that she had set up a show there a couple of weeks prior. I mentioned that I’d noticed since I’d been back that a lot of cool shows had been going on there. “Did some punk kids join the Eagles?” I asked, to which she replied by raising her hand.)

I was glad when the FHHA began doing their thing and I could dance. I guess they had about ten ladies up thereI really enjoy what they’re doing and appreciate the meaning of their rhymes, when I can hear them through the usual not-so-good sound punk rock systems. They did their thing with my "Dizzy" beat so I was glad and humbled I got to be there and see dozens and dozens of people dancing to one of my beats. So, that was cool. What they’re doing vocally over it is really incredible.

Zen invited me over the next night. After a brief fiasco in which I realized that I didn’t remember what street she was on, I got there and she was playing some of the music that she wanted to sample. Mostly stuff off of Buddy Miles’s album, “Them Changes.” Well, first she smoked me out. So anyway… She had ripped these songs and, in some cases, just little snippets of songs, onto a little MP3 recorder that she let me borrow. She was singing along with parts and delivering some of her lyrics, which are really incredibly beautiful.

I told her how I thought they, the FHHA, had something really special going on with the level of comfort and trust and enthusiasm they had together, that I had seen a lot of bands that did not have that combination. We got to talking about moving on in life, getting connected with the source, and manifesting things.

When I got home, I was feeling pretty down, in kind of an outrageous way. You know, my room here at the ABC house is a room that has what I think is called a “dormer” window, the kind that juts out of an angled room. So the ceiling in my room is really unusual, all angled in different ways, and there are only certain parts of the room where I can stand up straight. I have to duck to get through the doorway. So I was feeling all down, and thinking about what a weird manifestation this is, of my perpetually feeling like I don’t fit in anywhere, and now I literally do not fit in my own room, my own vehicle is a bit too small for me, etc. Anyway, the next day I was thinking about it and I’ve just come to the conclusion that late in the evening is when I will typically start to feel a bit lonely and depressed. So, I pretty much just need to recalibrate that to a feeling of well-being of some sort.

On Sunday, I went downtown and Meilani hooked me up with some breakfast at Otto’s. Spider was there - she invited me over to talk with her. She says she runs all the time now. I told her that Flip and I had been visiting down South and would always have a good time reminiscing about her and the Soul Revue. She’s living in Portland, and was up in Oly for the annual drag show at the Capitol Theater. I was telling her about what I’m doing here, and how I’m feeling uncertain that I’m even on the right path. She said, “How could you not be?” I got her number and we made some tentative plan to get together next week when she’s back in town. She suggested that Madd Reign could get together with us and we could play with the four track some more. It reminded me, and I was surprised to have somehow forgotten, of the time he and I went over and just gave her some tips on how to use a 4-track that she had just gotten. And she also had a Casio SK-1 that I was showing her how to use the synth on it. I had forgotten that that little thing had some very cool features.

So, I was still feeling some residual downness from the previous evening, and had a vague idea of going into Phantom City to buy myself a DJ tools record, but even as I thought that I was questioning the whole concept of buying something to make me feel better. But I went in there, for the first time since being back, and was looking through the records. Lots of good soul reissues. Kanako came up to me looking very happy and said, “I heard Cindy and Sarah play one of your new songs on the radio.” She said she thought my music had really evolved and it sounded good. So I was just taken aback and thanked her. I complimented her on her accomplishments - she’s very matter of fact about what she’s done, at least as far as running a business is concerned. But to me I think it’s the more intangible qualities of what she’s done, like she’s got a whole community that loves what she’s done, and she herself has been so very supportive of so many different people, that is what I would really tip my hat to her about.

I went over to the Yashiro garden to talk to Soul some. Immediately as I entered, I was aware of a degree of beauty that I think I had been disregarding prior to being there. I was struck by all the raindrops on the tips of needles and leaves.

After this I headed on, feeling better for having been there. Being Sunday night, Shannon was going to be spinning at the Brotherhood. went up into the booth and that guy Dan Menashce, a good political/humorous rapper who I met at the FHHA/Scream Club show at the Track House, was up there talking to her. Diana Arens showed up with a friend, and I went to say hi to Diana and she invited me to join them.

2004.03.10 — I've started settling in to my temporary sublet at the venerable ABC House, taking up residence in an upstairs room while setting up a small recording space in a vacant basement room. I'm now underway working on an animated music video for the Scream Club song "If You Want It," featuring Beth Ditto of The Gossip. (Coincidentally, after Old Djinn Swag's final tour, Madd Reign sold the van to The Gossip!) For this video, we're going for a hybrid 2D/3D approach, where Olympia has been re-envisioned as a paradise for punk jewel scarabs. We spent an afternoon taking photos in the ABC House basement for the main characters of Cindy and Sarah, and then walking around to various locations in Olympia that will be turned into plants and flowers.

2004.03.25 — The ABC House is a venerable collective household on Olympia's west side, not far from the rickety and sagging temporary 4th Avenue bridge that is replacing the classic bridge that was destroyed in the earthquake. It's a huge house, and has been home to many creative people through the years. Current residents are very, very quiet, and any movement (walking across the hardwood floors, or, say, hypothetically, in a bed with someone) results in creaking noises and other sounds that echo, undampened due to the almost total lack of carpeting or other fabric surfaces, throughout the entire place. I was recently summoned to a house meeting where I was mildly admonished for a friend and I creating a bit too much rhythmic creaking above someone else's bedroom late at night, and, as a temporary guest just learning the ropes, apologized for my restlessness. So I've learned, if you're doing something that might make a fair amount of rhythmic noise (let's say, rapping with someone, or something), special accomodations must be made using the considerably more soundproof basement rooms, off the main area where basement shows take place regularly.

I recently heeded this advice while recording the vocals to a new song, "Let It Rock," based on a hyperkinetic "Vanishing Point" sample, and was relieved that my superfast yellin'-at-the-top-of-my-lungs vocals thanfkully didn't seem to faze the rest of the household from my setup in the basement.

More good news is that the household approved my request to stay on for a few weeks more, in order to have time to complete the animated video for "If You Want It." I initiatlly thought I could complete it in 4 weeks, but now it looks like it'll be closer to 6 weeks.

2005.01.30 — Be on the lookout for Crunks Not Dead Records! Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable recently approached me with a cool request – they like the title of my song "Crunks Not Dead" from the Super Summer Slammer Series and wanted to know if they could use it as the name for a new record label that they're putting together. I said yeah, as long as I can be involved! So I've been turning my attention to some behind-the-scenes tasks... creating a logo and website, coming soon at crunksnotdead.com!

2005.02.21 — This week I've been putting together a beautiful website for Memphis, Tennessee's The Valentines, the awesome collaborative duo of Jamie Valentine and 360! Check it out here.

2005.03.02 — Recently reached a major milestone in a new project that I'm cooking up with Sandman. We have been working on a cover of "Highwayman" by the country supergroup the Highwaymen, a.k.a. Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. It was a song that Nervous reminded me about one time when I was visiting the Bombshelter/Ice Cream Room in Ellensburg, WA – a unique pop-electronic-country fusion originally written by Jimmy Webb. I began playing around with trying to record a cover of the instrumental using the new Alesis Micron analog-modeling synth. It came together pretty well, so I pitched it to Sandman and got his feedback on who we should try and get to do the vocals. The resulting lineup: Andras Jones, myself, Sandman, and Calvin Johnson of K Records, Dub Narcotic Sound System, and Halo Benders. And to bring it full circle, Nervous helped engineer the recording of the vocals at the ABC House. It was really cool to get to see the different processes everyone had for warming up and singing their parts. Anyway, I'm super psyched about this being included on the upcoming (return to) the blackhole... (of outerspace.)

2005.05.04 — Exciting new developments from the world of Crunks Not Dead... I'm helping Nicky Click put together the CD package of her debut album, "You're Already a Member." She has a very expressive drawing style with heartfelt illustrations and we're working together to get the cover, booklet, U-card, and disc surface prepared. In the same timeframe, I'm getting to hear the mixes as she works with Scream Club. At any given time here at Funtabulon I am hearing beats coming from two or three areas of the house that are affiliated with many bands and artists... it's a punk hip-hop electro heaven!

2005.08.02 — I'm psyched to be developing the CD packaging artwork for Microscope Dragons, an awesome new concept album being developed by Nervous, Sloe-T, and Blandow Charismium of Log Hog and affiliated Puppetfangghost Records artists. Additionally, Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable of Scream Club are collaborating. For this artwork I'm going for a cel-shaded style that shows the MDs as well as their friends and foes. Keep an eye out for it when it is released by Crunks Not Dead Records!