#ruixzine

[ruixzine]

RUIX 2.0

Hey, pals. I’ve decided to bring back the Ruix blog. So let’s delve into the last nine or so months and I’ll fill you in on some lost time.

First of all, I’ve decided to resurrect the Ruix blog for a couple of reasons. I’ve recently been invited to participate in the music and film review blog for the record store, Twist and Shout, where I currently work. (More on them in a while). Before I do that, I’d kind of like to begin writing and producing content just for practice’s sake. I ain’t written shit for months and it’s starting to bother me. So, I’m going to start writing some thoughts out here. Some of it may be long winded and unnecessary, but hey... so is my personality, according to many of you. The other reason is because I realized that just because I moved out of Dubuque, doesn’t make me any less affiliated with Ruix. Ruix the zine, will hopefully always continue in some form or another whether I am contributing to it or not. But Ruix, as a concept, has always been about art and music, DIY aesthetic and above all, collaboration among friends and peers in our community. In that respect, I’ll always be connected to Ruix, so why not continue the blog from Denver? (Plus the word itself, ‘ruix,’ is a word my younger brother made up when he was a kid to mean penis, so there’s that).

Which brings me to my first point. My girlfriend Kim and I moved to Denver in August of last summer. Most of you reading this probably know that. We moved at a time when not only my brother and sister-in-law moved there, but also some of my best friends, so the timing felt comfortable. I also graduated from NICC last May and promptly got into the University of Colorado Denver out here so that I could pursue my bachelor’s degree in Media Studies. I also got into my “dream” school (I put that in quotes because I only recently decided it was my dream school), Emerson College in Boston which was super exciting and unexpected. However, I opted for Denver because I believe the average price for a one-bedroom apartment in Boston is around $200 million a month. So here we are. And honestly, I do not regret the decision in the slightest. It’s gorgeous out here, everyone we’ve met are super cool and I got a really rad job.

Oh that. Yeah, I got a job at one of the largest and most reputable record stores still left in this country, Twist and Shout Records. It’s a job that I love, that I’ve been doing for over a decade, I love all of the folks that I work with, I get a killer discount on shit and, as I said before, I get to do a little writing for them. If I had one gripe, it would be that the pay isn’t great (which is really less of a gripe and more of a factual statement about a common thing in retail) so I am on the lookout for a second part-time job as of late. So if anyone I know in the Denver area is reading this and has a lead on an investment banking gig or a lawyerin’ gig or maybe a CEO-of-a-Fortune-500-Company gig I can apply to, please let me know. 

(But in all seriousness, I am actually looking for bartending or barbacking jobs at the moment).

I’m playing music, which feels good. I started playing with one Mr. Jeremy Brashaw back in October or so and it’s been a hell of an outlet for both of us, creatively. Recently, Drew Bissell, the aforementioned pal who moved out here at the same time, started joining us and the shit we’ve been coming up with has been incredible. It’s largely improv, with some written parts Frankensteined together to make for, what I like to call a cross between Pharoah Sanders and Lungfish... or something like that. Anyway, it’s great. And we hope to debut it live sometime in April when our pal Bob Bucko Jr. comes out here on his spring tour.

I’ve also been playing with a Denver garage band called The Trip that is made up of a couple of new pals that I met out here, one of whom I work with. We had our first show not this past Saturday, but last Saturday on February 18. (I missed a Tracii Guns/Phil Lewis reunion L.A. Guns show to rock with these guys. If you know me, you know that’s a big deal). Anyway, it was a really fun show that was NEARLY thwarted into not being so fun by a person literally shitting on the floor of the bar. I’ve been going to shows most of my life and playing shows for most of THAT time, and not ONCE have I ever seen literal fresh human shit laid upon the floor. It was during the second band. I was walking over to meet one of my bandmate’s wife and out of nowhere the smell hit us, as we were shaking hands. We all tried to brush it off and act like nothing was off, but then I started gagging and had to go outside which, in retrospect, I hope my friend’s wife didn’t take offense to. Kim was the one that pointed out the ACTUAL shit on the floor, being smeared around by oblivious dancing showgoers. The bartender came out with the mop bucket and the whole bit. The smell never really got completely out of there either. But all-in-all, it’s a pretty funny story to tell. And by the time we got onstage, the dookie was cleaned up and it smelled mostly like Pine Sol in there (which, in a way, is just as bad because I knew what that Pine Sol was covering up, but I digress). Popular consensus was that the culprit was a homeless (or homeless-looking, at least) dirtball that had already been kicked out once before, came back in and dropped a grudge-deuce in his JNCO’s, plopped it onto the floor in the middle of where people were watching the show, and bailed.

And THAT was how my very first show in Denver went down.

A lot has happened to both Kim and I since moving here and I don’t want my first entry back to be a TL;DR. So, I’m going to end on the shit story note. However, as I said, I plan on being back here more often to update you all and perhaps even relay some more stories from our first 6 months as Coloradoans as often as I can (maybe not every week, but often). I think I covered the most important bullet points, anyway. For now, I’d like to leave you with a recent obsession of mine, a song that has served as a soundtrack to much of our life since we’ve been here (for better or worse). Enjoy.

[ruixzine]

Week 45, 46 and part of 47

Hello everyone. A lot has happened DAAC-wise and also me-wise the last few weeks. I know I keep repeating these long hiatuses from the blog, and for that I apologize. It’s likely most don’t notice, but I still get anxious, particularly with myself, when I can’t keep up the routine. It will more than likely happen again at some point, but I’m going to stop apologizing for it. Call it a late resolution.

Anyway, the most prevalent reason for the absence, aside from it being the last few weeks of my final semester at NICC, is the Project I Music Series Mentoring Program. We are officially looking down the barrel of the final week of the program, culminating with the show at Smokestack next Sunday, May 1. These kids have come into their own over the last 12 weeks and formed bonds with each other, both musically and as new friends. Not to mention the bonds we the mentors have formed with them. I couldn’t be more stoked to have been a part of this program and couldn’t have asked for a better group of students. I think I can safely speak for all of the mentors when I say that we are proud of the work and effort that the students have put forth. So, again, please come see the result of this extraordinary program on Sunday May 1. This is, obviously, an all-ages show and the doors open at 5. 

Also, Drew and I spoke with a handful of the students last week about their thoughts on the program. That conversation will be available soon as the next episode of the Ruix Podcast. 

Speaking of the Ruix Podcast and hiatuses, the show returns after a month-or-so-long absence with Episode #22. In this episode, Andy Schneider (aka Riff Worm) from Snuff Queen, Sludgeburner and Woress joins me for a discussion on music and skating and drinking and other cool shit. Plus Matt, Drew and Bob are there hanging out, tossing their two cents in here and there. It’s a hilarious conversation and it’s up and available now. Check it out. 

Another reason I wasn’t able to put anything up, at least last weekend, was the arrival of yet another corporate cash grab known as Record Store Day. Listen, I have a love/hate relationship with RSD. I love it, because the store I work in (and record stores all over the world, really) make money that day. And I like to use the day as an opportunity to reward our customers with deals, grill burgers and dogs (weather permitting) and maybe showcase a band for an in-store. Because record stores SHOULD be celebrated. But I hate it for basically everything else that it has become. Every Record Store Day, there’s a line out the store prior to our opening. That line consists of MAYBE 2 or 3 people that come in the store regularly to spend money. The rest are these once-a-year motherfuckers that are probably just there to buy shit and flip it on eBay the next day. I can’t confirm that, but whatever. It sounds like I’m complaining about the store being busy, I’m sorry. Not what I mean. Ok, so that’s annoying enough, but I can deal with it. Then the questions start, “did you get that Black Keys 12″ single?” “Did you get that Celine Dion/Anal Cunt Side by Side 45?” “Did you get that dollar sign-shaped Jack White LP filled with real infant tears?” First of all, NO motherfucker. Every Record Store Day exclusive release that we got is sitting together in the same area like it is EVERY FUCKING YEAR! And even if I am hiding something, there’s a reason for it. Maybe it’s the one item in a barrage of ridiculous and overpriced other items that I WANT for myself. So why would YOU be the one to get me to hand it over? Like I’d be like, “Oh, yes of course. Right this way. We keep those under the counter for the jerkoffs that think to ask for them.” Then, you say no and you get these uppity pricks giving you negative Yelp reviews or talking shit on Facebook (both of which has happened recently). People are shitty. Oh, and also, no one in their right mind should be paying between $12 and $15 for a god damn 7″. That’s just rape. But anyway, it was a good sales day, all things considered. And the folks that stuck around and bullshit all day and killed beers and hot dogs with us are the ones we appreciate. 

Let’s see, what else?... So Bob Bucko and I recorded five songs for a Dirty Swears EP last weekend with one Mr. Matt Hohmann. That’s pretty cool. I imagine that will be out in digital form fairly soon and some sort of vinyl incarnation sometime after that. Maybe, knowing Bob, in cassette form as well. Who knows? But look for it soon.That will lead into another recording session with Matt next weekend with my brother Ben Eagle and his pal and ex-Hans Helmut bandmate Joe Marxen. They’ve written some songs and asked me to play drums with them, so we’ll see how that goes.

I’ll tell you one thing though. It’s nice to be playing drums sort of regularly again. After the disbandment of Legal Fingers which, again, ended kind of shittily and put kind of a bad taste in my mouth, I didn’t really have any interest in playing much anymore. Then I started working more closely with DAAC, doing this blog and the podcast and just sort of got occupied with other things. But even just sitting in, playing with some of the students from Project I kinda stirred some feelings up in me. It’s just good to be back, I guess. Now, even some final Legal Fingers shows and recordings before I leave town are possibly in the works. It’s looking good. And if it doesn’t happen, I’m fine with that too. I’m trying really hard not to get worked up anymore (as if my Record Store Day rant above wasn’t an indication of that). I’ll never not be annoyed by little things, but I’m trying to not let those annoyances occupy all of my attention and make me lose my mind. 

I went to see a couple of shows over the last few weeks too. Here’s a couple of rapid fire show reviews real quick before I wrap things up. 

Thursday night, I went to RibCo in the Quad Cities and saw Reverend Horton Heat, Unknown Hinson and Nashville Pussy. Lucky Tubb played too, but we got there too late and we missed them. I haven’t seen Nashville Pussy since I was in high school. They were great. Still the same dumb lyrics, but such a blast live. The singer Blaine, at one point, poured a bunch of beer into his hat that he’d been wearing and sweating profusely into for the entire show and chugged it.. That got me a little queasy. But not as much as the “spit tricks” asshole from Goddamn Gallows, which was the last time I was at RibCo. Reverend was great. I’ve seen him a handful of times as well and he’s always fun. Unknown Hinson, who I’d been looking forward to, came out and played a very short set with RHH as his backing band. That was rad, and kind of the reason I was there... but way too short. It would have been cool to get a whole set. Ultimately, I had a lot to drink, had a great time, bought an obscene amount of gas station bullshit to “snack on” on the way home and passed out before I got to eat any of it. Oh, and I very nearly got arrested for public urination behind a Casey’s outside of Davenport. So there’s that.

Two weeks ago, I went to see Marc Maron in Iowa City at the Englert. He did almost two hours and it was mostly new material. It was really great, and over early. So it was a nice rare occasion when I do not return from Iowa City drunk. The opener, whose name escapes me, was actually really funny too. Unfortunately, this was the only Mission Creek Festival event I got to go to... And there were quite a few artists this year that I would have loved to check out if money and time weren’t a thing. Black Milk and Guilty Simpson would have been cool. Deer Tick probably would have been all right. MAYBE Kevin Smith, though I tend to kind of think Kevin Smith would suck to listen to speak. I liked the An Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs back in the day, but I FUCKING HATE COMIC BOOK MEN MORE THAN GOD DAMN ANYTHING! And listening to Kevin and his spazz friends on that show gives me a migraine like nothing else, so perhaps it’s best I didn’t go see him. My biggest regret, of course, is not going to see my pal Bob Bucko open up for Faust. I would really have loved seeing that. Based on pictures posted from the event online after the fact, it looked like it was a pretty damn good time. Oh well, you can’t go to everything, I guess.

Well, I s’pose that’s it for now. Pretty long-winded, but again, that’s three weeks’ worth of shit to get yakked out of my system. I’ll see ya next time, whenever that ends up being.

[ruixzine]

Week 34 & 35

Eh.. I guess I was kidding when I said I was going to get back to a regular Friday thing with these posts. You know, I have every intention of updating the blog every Friday, but since I have the day completely off sometimes I get to drinking early... which leads to, y’know, not getting really anything done.

But that’s OK, I definitely wanted to pop on today and remind everyone one last time about tonight’s Music Series XI show down at the Ruix Space. It starts at 7:00pm and it will feature Dubuque bands Young Indian and Snuff Queen along with Madison, WI’s Tyranny is Tyranny. I love all these bands and I’m looking forward to a hell of a show. I’m also going to sit down and chat with Tyranny is Tyranny for an episode of the Ruix Podcast, so fancy that.

Speaking of which, the latest episode of the Ruix Podcast is now available as of today. This one features my conversation with the latest incarnation of Dubuque’s very own legendary sons, the Mississippi Band. This trio, the Mississippi String Band, is made up of Dave Hummel, Bill “Cricket” Davis and Dale Beeks. The fellas came down and performed at the DAAC Studio space for an InHarmony segment and we figured we’d hammer out a podcast interview out at the same time. This was an exciting episode to get to do. I remember seeing Mississippi shows when I was a youngerman. My brother took me to a few of their shows even before I was old enough to do so (which we do talk about in the show). They’re great musicians, great folks and they’ve got some great stories of shit they’ve seen and done over the years. Check it out when you get a chance.

Episode 19

I’d also like to take a minute to talk about a new development with us here at the DAAC. This has been kind of in the works for a little while now, but I didn’t want to bring it up until all the loose ends had fallen into place. We’re going to be starting a mentoring program at the Space. This will involve working with kids of about high school age, teaching them some essentials of playing an instrument and being in a band. The mentors involved will be myself and a bunch more local musicians, many of whom have been guests on the Ruix Podcast. People like Al Johnson, Erin Hedley, Case the Joint, Kristina Castaneda and more. This is an exciting endeavor, people. I have not really gotten the chance to try my hand at teaching before. Well, that’s not true. I did try to give drum lessons to this kid I went to high school with many years ago. I actually only lasted one session because I hated it so bad. But I don’t think that’s any reflection on me as a teacher. Sure I have a short fuse, but I mean the circumstances surrounding this lesson was enough to drive anyone away. I had to go to his shitty house and try to teach him basics on a cheap kit, all the while instead of listening to me and what I would try to tell him to do, he would just start hammering every drum and cymbal (because of course that always sounds awesome)... then the guy’s dad kept coming down and interrupting, by yelling at him (the guy) or even, in one instance, his dad came over and farted on him... LOUDLY... filling the room. It just sucked. It was not a good experience. But I have come a long way since then and even though I still get frustrated easily, I think the fact that I’ll be teaching at our familiar space and working with a kid who’s not an idiot will make all the difference in the world. Well, I guess the kid could be an idiot. We’ll see. I hope not.

On the music front, have I mentioned that I have begun playing again? Well, I have. It’s nice to get back to regularly playing drums after almost an entire year of not doing it. It’s not that I didn’t have the chance. I mean, I was asked a few times to play with various people. I get offers. It’s just that after the break-up of my last band, Legal Fingers, which still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, I wasn’t super into playing anymore. And that’s the truth. If anyone reading this ever asked me to play over the last year and I gave you some bullshit excuse like, “I don’t have time,” or what have you, then I was lying. I admit that to you now and I’m sorry. The truth is, I just honestly felt no passion anymore. I felt nothing, really. I absolutely did not want to get behind the drums under any circumstances. And then, I started in with my DAAC-related work and hosting the podcast and whatnot and I just developed other interests and playing music got pushed even further back on the priority list. Anyway, the point is, I’ve been playing with Bob Bucko lately in a 2-piece bass and drums duo we are calling Dirty Swears. For the most part, it is kind of like playing in a Bob Bucko Jr’s Greatest Hits band because we play many songs from his past bands. But it’s super fun. And some of those old songs have become something entirely different than when he first wrote them because of the feel that I bring to them. So, it’s kind of like we’re writing together again. Also, we play a few Old Panther tunes, which is a band we used to be in together years ago, so some of it came easy. But it’s good to be playing again and I can’t think of a guy that I’m more comfortable with or I’d rather be playing with than Bob. The debut show is February 12 at Rozz-Tox in Rock Island, IL opening the Multiple Cat’s record release show. Believe me, I’ll be plugging this more as it grows closer.

See you all at the show tonight, I’m assuming.

That’s it.