Hey folks,

Hope everyone had a good summer...

Wickermania fest was great this year, hopefully the page will be updated soon with some new recordings, etc. I was pretty much the bass session guy all day, played with Jim & Sita, Jow-Jow & Sunburned & had a blast (though I really do miss playing guitar sometimes). There's more bass action on the new Predator Vision II cassette, released by Ducktails Tapes...haven't got my copy yet, but I was there jamming with Matt, Ben & Etienne & it was heavy...

The X-Pluralus Western Mass comp is out at last, & it's an amazing thing to behold...Josh really pinned down a different side of W.Mass sound(s) that folks outside the area might not be aware of...I'd suggest jumping on this quick, pretty sure there's only 500 of them floating around. Something I probably should have mentioned to Josh: my track was recorded at Mystery Train back in 2001, first song of my first solo show ever...

Our pal Troels is out here from Denmark, and if his friend makes it through the clusterfuck that is Homeland Security, they will be filming a documentary on W.Mass (& Vermont & Maine) music, which will hopefully clear up some questions I think we all have...

And finally, I'm going to be DJing at the following event this coming Wednesday (hopefully Conrad will get on the decks as well so folks can check out his "face one inch from the label" cueing style). Been acquiring some sick albums lately, psyched to play them out...

Montague Phantom Brain Exchange 8
Wednesday, August 27th, 9pm Five Bucks
at the Rendezvous
78 3rd St
Turners Falls, MA 01376

Crank Sturgeon
Cave Bears
Tarp
Black Sand DJs
lecture by Christopher Weisman on "Patterns for Nonmusical Sound"

read on:

Woah! NEXT WEEK!  a shitstorm of talent!  a tornado of shizzle!  i
usually send these out earlier - i hope you can still pencil us in. .
.

As Crank Sturgeon has cried from atop multiple altitudes, tears
streaming down his cheek, duct-tape on his crotch, "I am a cardboard
sturgeon every day of my life."  And thus it is spoken.  A high
caliber blackbelt master of the low and middle brow performance arts,
Mister Sturgeon artfully slices & dices, making a more digestable
bolus that has the nutritional entertainment value our audience
deserves.  One of Maine's strangest, he's been droppin his noise tapes
in the foulest waters the world over since the early 90's.  Spastic
Bags of Fun!
http://cranksturgeon.com/hngh.html

Leverett-based Cave Bears have been doing advanced research in
special-people music, and recently they have made startling
discoveries in counter-intuitive composition & non-listening
improvisation, presenting these findings in various odd encampments &
houseparties around the valley.   Currently touring the east coast
this august as a trio of Carrie, Mary, & Nick, the Cave Bears have
been known to pull various degenerates and nonmusicians into their
ranks, making for a very unpredictable, sometimes volatile
performance style.  Also, they have hosted two "Dubious LIftings'
Festivals at their Lab/Shack in the woods this summer, further
enriching the already fertile soil of this valley by pulling in wider
& lesser-known strains from the weirdo diaspora of new england.
http://www.myspace.com/cavebears
http://cavebears.suchfun.net/

Tarp is biscuits n' gravy for synthesizers.  They have a 7" record out
on Breaking World Records / Apostasy Recordings.  Conrad Capistran and
Joshua Burkett make up the two-man-riot of sweeps & boops.  Push a
boulder down a hill, wrestle without a mat.
http://www.breakingworldrecords.com/index2.html

Radical Readout Press author & charming popsong writer Chris Weisman
will be lecturing on "Nonmusical Patterns and Their Musical Use,"
something we've been wanting him to do for some time.

Black Sand DJs Jeremy Pisani & Conrad Capistran will load the decks
with obscure heaviness and as we rock out between sets, there will be
violet custard poofs of light and vines crawling out of the PA
speakers, up into the ceiling.  listen to their sick radio show online
here:
http://blacksand.podomatic.com/

Montague Phantom Brain Exchange is a place where bodied & disembodied brains
& nonbrains can safely gather to deconstruct solutions & create problems
while soaking in an envigorating bath of provocative entertainments. Last
wednesday of every month, 9pm to midnight, at the Rendezvous (bar with
food!) 78 3rd St Turners Falls, MA. A typical evening will include 2 - 3
performing acts, a 15 minute lecture and a DJ.

That's it, take care & all that
Jeremy