That happened.

Last night we were treated to The Mad Men Follies; Roger performing vaudeville style (complete with blackface), an extended Pete and Trudy Campbell dance sequence (I knew they were just teasing us when he briefly cut footloose in the season premiere), Jersey boy Paul and his drug dealer doing some a cappella, and (my favorite) Joan playing the accordion and singing in French. It was, by far, the sexiest thing we are likely to see on television for quite some time. Joan was pressured by her rapist fiancee into performing, sure, but sexy nonetheless.

I’m getting progressively impressed with Peggy with every new episode. Last night she smoked pot with Paul and his Princeton pal and had a drug-induced brainstorm concerning the Bacardi account. Her new secretary, Olive, sucks though. Mainly because there’s only attractive people on this show, then this old hag shows up.

I could not care any less about the grandpa Gene storyline. Watching Sally read him The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was kinda cute, but watching him hulk around in a geriatric rage over the theft of his $5 was trying. Both him and Sally should be sent away; Gene to a retirement home and Sally to that creepy place in Pinocchio. I don’t care if she’s a girl.

(this week’s screen shots nicked from WarmingGlow, they had just the two I was looking for)

Thanks to everyone who made it out on Saturday night to our Fall 2009 release party. The place was at capacity within 5 minutes of the doors opening and with the great bands, DJs and free-flowing Colt 45 it was hard not have had a good (albeit sweaty) time!

Greg and his date that evening, Lamour Supreme get a little frisky with the giveaway tee we made for the party.

Seeing & hearing  Screen Vinyl Image live is like being immersed in a sea of neon

I know these guys left happy with their goodie bags!

Lemonade are hands down one of the best bands to experience live. As great as their record is, it doesn’t do justice to their live performance.

Thanks to Vice, Colt 45, the bands, the DJs, the Vidiot and most importantly all of you who came out! More pics after the jump.

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Over the weekend I wanted to get some sick tats, good pizza and a cold Zima. I was looking at the galleries at the for tattoo parlor for ideas. I couldn’t decide between a Leprechaun with a dookie chain or Tweety Bird wearing a Puerto-Rican flag. After about 17 Zima’s and 12 Slices at Ray’s (best pizza in NYC. OH! EM! GEE!) I made some less than stellar decisions.  I don’t have any excuse for the UB40 one though.

You go to bed one night, sleep in a little bit later than usual, and when you wake up, the whole fucking comic book world has gone insane.

Disney has bought Marvel Comics. For four-billion dollars. I can’t even afford new shoes, Disney shits out four-billion dollars like nothing. Everyone in the comic book industry is currently running around with their hair on fire, unsure of the ramifications of this acquisition. Maybe we’ll see Wolverine on The View? Maybe there will be even more bureaucracy to suffer through when getting big events planned? Maybe this will allow Marvel to continue to use comic books as breeding grounds for action figures, movies, t-shirts and theme parks while making absolutely no money on the actual paper comic book for a while longer? That’d be great for me. And maybe, maybe we’ll see a fucking Pixar movie featuring Marvel comic book characters, which would send me into insane fits of ecstasy:

When asked if there was potential for cross-polination between Marvel and Pixar, Disney said that Pixar’s John Lasseter has met with key Marvel creative executives recently and the group got “pretty excited, very fast.” Disney will look at all opportunities and thinks there are some exciting product that could come from this sort of partnership.

Can you imagine that shit? Who the fuck knows what’s going on though, or what could happen. Crazy shit for crazy times.

Todd is a fixed gear rider in Florida who every year throws the biggest Florida alleycat event, Fixed Fight. He’s a really rad dude and when Super7 recently opened their Florida store, he was there. At the opening party, Todd won a limited Zagoran kaiju toy. Nice rags Todd!

Check out the rest of the party pics here!

Cave - Psychic Psummer (2009) [Important] // Grade: B

The psych and kraut-inspired genres often leave me a bit conflicted. I find myself either loving or hating them, with little gray area in between. Though it took me quite a few listens to grasp, Pyschic Psummer by Chicago’s Cave is an immersive gem, not perfect, but ambitious, layered and deep.

Cave are one of those local bands that you rarely hear about despite calling the same city home. They move in cryptic circles, playing art loft and warehouse shows, fitting matches for a band with a sound this far off the grid of Chicago’s musical preferences. Heavy guitar mixes with clanging drums, few and far between vocal manipulations and electronic blips and beeps throughout Psychic Psummer‘s six tracks. The band has drawn comparisons to a range of acts including Holy Fuck, Battles, Can and even Kraftwerk. These reference points aren’t too far off-base. Cave are agile and easily move between the organic to the chopped and varied and end at the almost danceable.

The six tracks on Psychic Psummer shift seamlessly from jet-propelled, grinding guitar to glittering tribal electronics. The leading track, “Gamm” is easily the hardest selection on the album and proved a difficult intro for me. It’s not at a complete disconnect stylistically, but would have fared better further down the tracklisting. The album as a whole is a enjoyable ride through spaced-out psychedelia, but it’s  “Encino Men” that sold me on Psychic Psummer.  The most electronic of the album’s offerings, the eight minute opus loops drumbeats, sharp keyboard and alien vocals into a pulsing mix of tribal perfection that proves Cave a musical project ripe with talent and serious about their craft.

Psychic Psummer isn’t an album for everyone, and Cave will probably never find the fanbase to grace Chicago’s bigger stages, but there’s nothing wrong with having a niche and embracing your offbeat leanings. Psychic Psummer is just the weird ride that this city needs to open their ears to possibility.

“A funny thing happened on the way to Mars.”

Inspired by conspiracy theories claiming the Apollo moon landing was faked, 1978′s Capricorn One features something I’ve always wanted to see in a movie: renegade astronauts! NASA is depending on their mission to Mars to revive public and political interest in the space program, but when it’s apparent that the cheapo life support system they bought won’t work properly, they make a desperate move. Col. Brubaker (James Brolin), Lt. Col. Willis (Sam Waterston), and Cmdr. Walker (O.J. Simpson) are pulled from the shuttle minutes before launch and brought to a secret military base in Texas…complete with a Mars stage set! The shuttle is launched as planned and the mission to Mars is completely faked. The astronauts are kept hidden for something like 300 days until the shuttle returns home. But something goes wrong on re-entry and the shuttle burns up. Connect the dots.

Boozing journalist Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould) gets involved when his drinking buddy at NASA tells him about some funny readings which indicate the television transmission is coming from somewhere much more closer than Mars. Caulfield’s investigation sets off a paranoia-fueled chase for the truth that ends with one of the goofiest slow-motion sequences I’ve ever seen. Gould is one of my favorite actors and there really is nobody who can play a smart ass like him (see: The Long Goodbye). O.J. only has about five lines and Brolin is decent in his role as the leader of the renegade astronauts. Telly Savalas has a fucking fantastic small role and watching him and Gould go back and forth gave me douche chills. The movie slows down a lot during the second half, but overall it’s a great piece of ’70s paranoid-thriller. I couldn’t find a shot of Gould from the movie, so here’s one of him circa ’78, looking fresh as always. Check it out on Netflix Watch Instantly or Google Video.

“Grab the eggs.”

I remember attending kindergarten in San Francisco at the Presidio Hill School with feelings of hate and dread. I never understood the other people I went to school with and was pretty sure they didn’t like me.

Army Ants were cheap, unposeable, unpainted figurines of ants holding modern human weapons. The boys of my grade would bring these to school with them and make them fight each other. My parents saw these as being the cheap garbage they were and refused to get them for me.

I wonder about people like Greg Competition and Me. Why do we want to own so many things? Normal people can appreciate a thing of beauty without feeling a need to possess it and fill up their homes with objects. Is it loneliness? Fear of death? It can’t just simply be a fanatical appreciation of the things we find beautiful, can it?

Nicky Digital just uploaded his set of images from Friday night as well. Full color sweaty party fun!

Crowd surfing during the Ninjasonik set!

Special guest during Ninjasonik’s set… Spank Rock!

Carrie & Reed sporting a Mad Decent New Era and an Aquarius tee.

Check out the whole gallery here!

And don’t forget to download Keep Watch Vol. XI: Ninjasonik if you haven’t done so yet.