KPunk's blog

My New Practice Space

KPunk — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:19:09 -0400

My new practice space is in a gutted building that is being renovated. We've set up on the second floor. The whole second floor is open, with huge holes in the floor and ceiling.
No running water.
No heat.
No lights.
Electricity is provided by a single extension cord running down to the basement. We're running everything off a power strip and when we blow the fuse we are plunged into total darkness until someone finds the flashlight and goes down to the basement to flip the fuse.

So fucking punk rock.

Geneva13, Boxers, and Extreme Make-over

KPunk — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:03:32 -0400

So, a few of you know that issue #3 of Geneva13 featured a cover story of the Geneva Boxing Club, the owners/coaches, and a few of their star boxers. Basically, Tim Hill and his wife Michelle, started a boxing club to help troubled kids in the area. They practice in this amazing pit of a building. They have even adopted one of the boxers to help get him out of a bad home environment (his brother just got sentenced for murder). Anyway, the zine ran a cover story with interviews about the Hills and the boxers. Surprisingly, the club is not that well-known by most people in town.

One of the readers was moved to tears when she read the story and decided she wanted to do something for the Hills. So what does she do? She nominates them for the tv show Extreme Home Makeover. We get contacted by the show's producers who want to see the zine. The Hills make the short-list.

Milkshake Blog

KPunk — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:58:41 -0400

When I was growing up, I freakin’ loved milkshakes. Whenever we would go to Burger King near my house, I would get a strawberry milkshake. I always used the straw and would slurp from the edges, where it had started to melt. My favorite bit was at the very end, when the milkshake had melted enough that it was almost completely liquid.

One day when I was in college, my roommate told me he was going to some fast food joint and asked if I wanted anything. I told him to get me a strawberry milkshake. “No fucking way,” he replied. “I’ll get you a milkshake, but it has to be either chocolate or vanilla.” When I asked why he was being such a fascist Johnny Buzzkill, he said “Strawberry milkshakes suck because they don’t even taste like strawberry. You have to either get a chocolate or a vanilla. And really, chocolate is the only flavor that taste decent.” “Whatever, you asshole,” I replied. “Just get me a chocolate one.”

'Selling Out' Is the Only Way to Cash In

KPunk — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:39:12 -0400

Indie Act Seeks Backup Brand
In Today's World, 'Selling Out' Is the Only Way to Cash In

Rock's anti-corporate ethos has softened in recent years (read: totally disappeared in the case of most artists), and labels' opportunities for nontraditional revenue have grown through licensing and branding partnerships. But that hasn't made life any less complicated for musicians trying to retain fans and make a living. As a just-released NPD Group study pointed out, 48% of U.S. teens didn't purchase a single CD in 2007. And while legal purchases of digital music are on the rise, it's not nearly enough to make up for declines in traditional CD sales.

Sock Blog

KPunk — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:24:30 -0500

Today I am wearing plain white athletic socks. It has become really hard to find a pair of non-evil plain white socks. Most of them are branded by some evil athletic shoe company, like Nike or Reebok. I don't want my feet advertising their crappy products. Nor do I want to be endorsing their questionable labor practices. But no-name white socks tend to be made under worse labor conditions. Not only that, they suck. They start getting threadbare after a few months.

I'm glad it is getting colder. That means I can start wearing my thick wool socks. My feet love nice wool socks.

My kid's babysitter wears mismatching socks every day. When we were interviewing her, we asked her why and she replied: "To remind myself daily the importance of resisting social conformity." We hired her on the spot.

Traveling home to the racist, Christian heartland

KPunk — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:12:53 -0400

I was down in Jacksonville, Florida last weekend to visit my parents. I am still trying to process the experience. The presence of Confederate flags has definitely gone down in recent years. I suspect that is a post-9/11 phenomenon, when American flag decals replaced rebel flags. However, I did see one “Remember 9/11” sticker that incorporated the rebel flag. That was just too weird. I also saw two NAAWP (National Association for the Advancement of White People) bumper stickers. The public pronouncement of racist sentiment still surprises me and I’m never quite sure how to respond to a racist bumper sticker (punch the car?).

Geneva13/Utne Reader

KPunk — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:58:37 -0400

Thanks to Miranda the Bastard, who gave them a copy, Utne Reader just posted a review of geneva13, a zine I help put together. In a case of shameless self-promotion, this is what they said:

The unconventional stories featured in Geneva13 make for entertaining reads,whether or not you've heard of the zine's small hometown of Geneva, New York. Art, comics, poetry, photography, and short stories liven up the local zine's debut issue, which boasts a clean layout and first-rate writing. K[-] D[-] and Doug Reilly, the driving forces behind Geneva13, put their genre's culture on full display, publishing an engaging zine history by Anne Elizabeth Moore. Moore, the former publisher of Punk Planet, traces the evolution of zines from sci-fi to punk to Riot Grrrl and beyond. The strength behind this publication may prove to be the diversity of its contributors: "Geneva13 is a love song," writes Reilly in the intro, ". . . and I hope we can get as many people as we can to work on the lyrics." For more information, contact them at geneva13 [at] gmail [dot] com. -- Danielle Maestretti

See Ya Punks

KPunk — Sat, 19 May 2007 13:30:44 -0400

Dear Blog:

I’m outta here – at least for a few weeks. In a few days, I’m off to Uganda and since the internet connections there tend to be slower than molasses, it is doubtful I’ll be checking in much. Which will come as a huge relief to Todd, who I believe blames Mack and Me for making the boards crappy. Hopefully since I’ll be gone for a few weeks, his beloved Sheena will come back. Wait, maybe I’m a fake Sheena account? No, that’d just be too weird.

As you may have guessed, dear blog, there isn’t much of a punk scene in Uganda. Which is a pity really, because Uganda could use some punk rock. There is quite a vibrant music tradition in the region, especially coming over from the Congo, but most of the stuff is a semi-polished blend of bad American R&B, even worse Euro-pop, and traditional African genres. Jose Chameleon is definitely a player, but most certainly not a punk. So hopefully over the next couple of weeks, people here on the Punk Planet will think of me when they’re enjoying their music and think to themselves: “That poor k- ain’t got nothing good to listen to.” Two summers ago I crashed a wedding reception, but all they were playing was incredibly bad American “country” music.

Banned in Belarus

KPunk — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:13:21 -0400

I just wanted to share this fabulous video from the Belarus band Lyapis Trubetskoy for their song “Kapital.” I don't know anything about them (maybe their fans "roll deep" like certain blog-bashing street teamers [sorry, couldn't resist]). But the chorus roughy translates to: "In one hand Snickers, in the other hand Mars. My PR Manager is Karl Marx." If anyone knows anything about the band, please let me know. I'm curious how musicians and youth in Belarus view the world these days.

http://www.cosmosfilm.tv/movies/capital.mov
or
http://vision.rambler.ru/users/lyapistrubetskoy/1/1/

MC Karl Rove

KPunk — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:27:25 -0400

I am actually speechless. Dumbstruck. Horrified on so many levels.