West Indian Girl

san fransico was a blur. we had to meet downtown at 10 am to load the van! unfortunately for us, the cargo elevator was broke so we had to move everything down via the small regular elevator which really sucked ass. i tell you what though, the guy we had working with us, troy (in the picture above) was the proverbial “gift from the rock gods”. this guy is the best tech/driver you can ask for. troy is a total pro and has been doing this kind of work for 15 years so this was no big deal for him. considering the fact that most of the friends we have had help us get way too fucked up to actually help at the end of the night, troy was a welcome addition to the crew. he even drove us all home from frisco at 2 am and unloaded the van back in la at around 8am. crazy trip. i expect we will be seeing troy on the next tour. thanx man.

anyway, on to the show, the fillmore was pretty cool. tons of history as well as tons of cool pictures on the walls of everyone that has played there. it’s just one of those “one of a kind” rock clubs that you have to see to believe. kinda surprising how bassy and boomy the stage sound was though. it was really tough to get into the sound on stage but maybe that’s because our monitors were all jacked up. it was weird – you would think at a place like that your stage sound would be great but it wasnt…maybe next time though. aside from that the crowd ate it up like a nice pot brownie and we were all cool. i never left the club the whole time we were there – we all just hung out in the dressing room and partied. our dressing room was freezing but they had a little heater (see below) going on which became a little campfire for us.

As far as who we saw down there – well, marty diamond our booking agent was there…that was an unexpected surprise. our 2 favorite fans from san francisco, amy and andrew were also there. that’s them in the first picture. those guys are awesome – expect to see a&a backstage at every sf show. my other friend andrew warren from jambase was there too. jambase is such a great site by the way – go check it out. oh yeah, chris’ friends melrose and janice were there as was ryanne and tom – part of the lewscious organization. overall this show was great but it was a blur and then we were home. good times. enjoy the pics

andrew and amy = best friends in sf

band photo time – i’m glad we take these

soundcheck – new stencil on the keyboard…fresh

i love seeing shit like this

happy st patrick’s day

bernie and q

lewscious.org

can i get a lewscious?

—F.TEN

Hey, our song What Are You Afraid Of will appear in tonight’s episode of Point Pleasant on Fox 9PM est. Check it out and tell me how it is cos i won’t be able to….we have rehearsal . —F. TEN 3:09 PM

days off in between shows suck. i woke up so late today – i was confused. i took my truck into the shop for a tune up cos it was confused too. at midnight carter picked me up and we went to see our friend chris cuseo’s band knife fight. cuseo is pretty sick on stage…pure rage…it’s intense. their drummer rocks too. shit, this guy’s massive and pounds his drums like he’s beating someone up. you should check out cuseo’s art too. after that we went to st nick’s in my hood and i had some tequila and corona and listened to ac/dc on the jukebox. some random guy named lauren kept talking to us about music….he was wasted and on the verge of annoying until he bought us a round. lauren you’re all good now. i love playing the “name that song the fastest” game. i always win. i’m sick of always winning. will someone please beat me….hmmm i think i used that same line with mistress evil the other night. chris dropped me off around 2 and i made him the best caprese salad. it rocked. we sort of had a bachelor/metro moment about cooking and stuff. it was kinda funny. anyway, check out tony…that’s the face he gives me all the time when im in here on my computer ignoring him. that’s chris and his new buddy below.

—F.TEN 4:08AM

LONG LIVE LOS ANGELES!

What a great time we had at the house of blues last night. we opened for gomez and once again it was amazing. the gomez fans were incredibly receptive and so much fun. seriously, they are some of the best fans ever and it was a pleasure playing for them. so many surprise guests where at the show…errol and kavi flew in from ny and it was great to see them. sort of a historic moment just because it was kavi’s first time seeing us – i’m glad we were able to represent. hey kavi and errol we love you so much, thanx for being there!! i would also like to thank matt, ray, brien, and dayna for showing up – it’s great having you guys there. everyone had a blast!

our live show is really starting to come together. for all you bootleggers out there our set stayed the same as solana beach – Still Lost, Trip (extended version), Miles From Monterey, Hollywood, Green, Northern Sky, and What Are You Afraid Of. i would also like to thank bernie, marcos, brooke, tommy and chocolate for helping out. that’s julie (above) with chris, she bought our last cd that night. ya know what, that reminds me…thanx to everyone else that came up to the merch booth and bought a cd or t-shirt. we really appreciate it! and oh yea, big thanx again to jade howe for showing up, i’m glad you got to see us on a bigger stage, especially when we were all (coincidentally) wearing your shirts. on the stranger side of things, when i went upstairs at the end of the night i saw ashley simpson hanging out with chris carter. wtf?

yeah, umm….wasted

great picture of errol and mariqueen

backstage, robert james zones it all out

another moment with brooke

carter, heidi good times and kavi

a site i never get tired of seeing –

downtown LA 3am with tony…still wasted

are you listening to your inner lewscious?

this saturday we open for gomez again in san fran …can’t wait! — F.TEN 4:59AM

what a difference a day off and a good sound check can make! last night we played with gomez in solana beach at belly up and the show rocked. the gomez guys were cool and the people that worked at the club treated us great. thank you all – it was appreciated. we went on stage a little bit after 9pm and played still lost, trip, monterey, hollywood, green, northern sky, and what are you afraid of. the gomez crowd was very warm and embraced us with a huge hug – we made tons of new fans and even sold out of cds! gotta love all the love washing ashore in solana beach.

during sound check some of our biggest fans in san diego showed up – tommy, charlie, cameron, chaz, emma, olivia, and savanna you guys all rock! even though the club wouldnt let them in cos they weren’t old enough they hung out at the door and watched our sound check from far away. we played 3 songs for them — it’s too bad they couldnt see the real show. i think we will play an all ages club around there soon and maybe their high school dance later this year 😉

after the show this couple on the right (i have no idea who they were) bought chris and i a drink called a car bomb. i never had it before – you drop a shot glass filled with baileys and whiskey into a pint of guinness and slam it – sort of tasted like chocolate milk. probably the last thing i needed really but it seemed like a good idea at the time. maggie chang (over on the left) came down to see us too. it was nice to spend time with maggie cos it seems like it’s been years since we last hung out. thanx maggie! anyway, let’s talk about how much i really like the girls’ shirts we’re selling. i think they’re pretty sly and incredibly boob friendly. check out dana (below) in one. they’re soft and tight and perfect….the shirts i mean. oh yeah, chocolate and marcos were at the show helping out. chocolate sold a ton of merch and marcos drove the truck down and helped move all our gear. thanx you guys.

on a strange side note – right before we left town, marcos and i had a little chat with blues guitarist roy gaines in the parking lot of a mcdonalds on labrea ave – he was driving a white rolls royce…classic.

rob and mariqueen backstage – warming up

bernie who has been giving us some great sound

yen and maggie i love you

mariqueen and brooke sharing a moment

remember to listen to your inner lewscious

—F.TEN 6:45PM

last night we played in costa mesa at detroit bar. personally, i thought the show sucked ass. it was definitely not one of our best shows (especially when compared to our last show in LA). i would give it a 6 out of 10. i’m not sure what our problem was last night but i’m pretty sure a lot of it had to do with the crappy sound check we got. it was cut way too short by the club and im still trying to figure out why – we didnt even get to run through a full song. hmmm, i feel like we let our fans down and that’s not cool. im just bummed because people paid money to see us and we didnt put on our best show due to sound problems that could have ben avoided with a decent sound check. oh well, with that said here are a few good things to say.

let’s start by mentioning my friend tana who really helped me out in the morning by picking my ass up and getting me over to the truck rental place. he then met rob and i downtown and helped us load the truck. (those are GOMC road cases in the truck in case you were wondering) he also ended up doing some lights (below) and loading out. thanx tana!

chris carter with lyndsay and eugenius

stephan – the man behind the visuals

rob and lewscious before the show

pre show pose down

my friends from the oc – sean and josh

ladies and gentlemen…

—F.TEN 5:04AM

ok people – check this shit out. we just bought some of the best road cases ever made. EVERRRR!!!! they’re made by a company in anaheim called GOMC (get off my case) and their cases seriously fucking rule — they’re big, tough, chunky and durable. the 3 guys who own this company (ed, mark and kevin) are all musicians…and pretty successful ones at that. maybe that’s why they know how to make such good cases — cos they’ve been touring for years. ed’s band is zebrahead mark’s band is reel big fish and kevin’s band is lit. if you haven’t heard of all three of these bands then your musical knowledge is sorely lacking. on top of everything else these guys are also some seriously funny mother fuckers. in the picture above ed is standing between chris and i and kevin is the one pinching his nipples. anyway, here is the number to call if you want some great cases 714.865.0967 ask for ed and tell him west indian girl sent you. right now they’re making us a kick ass merch case and i’m psyched to drive down to anaheim to get it…now that’s a weird thought isnt it. is it possible to become addicted to buying road cases? i want a GOMC road case for my brain—F.TEN 2:42

now that’s a truck full of GOMC

Once again I’m back but this time with a very special friend of the band and official photographer. It’s my pleasure to have the sixth installment of 10 with TEN be with the incomparable and gifted photographer Marc Goldstein. This interview took place at L.A.’s premier organic vegan restaurant, Real Food Daily.

Marc, ever since our shoot for BPM magazine you have become part of the family. Not only are you my favorite paparazzo but you are one of the more interesting people to have a conversation with – intelligent, witty and not short on opinions. Your way with words is matched only by your way with the camera. Say fromage and start talking.

1. How and why did you become a photographer? – tell me a little bit about your vision or philosophy when you are behind the camera? I had always fiddled a little with cameras, but before the dawn of digital photography, it was an expensive occupation. At the time I got my first digital camera in 2001 -a Nikon Coolpix 990- Patrick Kahn launched thebookla.com, an infotainment online magazine. We had this idea to do photographic event coverage and post them online within 24 hours. No one else was doing this at the time and it became very popular. While it was primarily a hobby to get my head out of storyboarding for commercials and music videos, I became serious about it, and people started to take notice. I stuck to my guns and focused on the subject I cared most about: music, particularly the dance scene. In a town filled with exhibitionists and attention mongers, I made a lot of friends this way, discovered the natural relationship between cameras and beautiful women, and enjoyed the fact that producing a photo takes seconds, while an illustration sometimes takes forever. I mostly enjoy the fact that photography is a never ending challenge that you must constantly overcome and can be applied to so many aspects of human life. When shooting, I look for the memorable shot that will make me, the subject and the viewer go “wow”. Sometimes you get it in one shot, sometimes it takes hundreds. There are elements you try to control, others that happen almost by accident. There’s some magic in there, and you hope to get lucky with the outcome.

2. Give me three good reasons why I should like the French besides french fries, champagne and the movie Amélie? Give me a break. I despise most things French because as a whole, there’s a cultural arrogance and a xenophobia that is out of place in a 21st Century global culture. Still, when you break the crust, you will find proud, warm hearted, fun loving, and incredibly hospitable people. It’s not easy to carry two thousand years of history in the collective subconscious. What I miss most is the lack of sexual hang ups and the food. French fries were invented in 1682, in London, by an East End manufacturing company called Fish & Chip, Ltd.

3. Are there any specific photographers that inspire you? What else inspires you, film, music, art? The two photographers that inspire me the most are Helmut Newton and David La Chapelle. There are of course countless others whose work humble me to the point were I want to sell my equipment and go sell some fruits at a street corner. There’s a deep respect amongst photographers, knowing that we’re all engaged in the same voyeuristic pursuit of the perfect image. When you’re an artist who works and lives amongst your peers, you’re in good company. As for inspiration, I am just compelled to do what I do. It’s visceral, I’m not sure where it comes from.

4. Are you always looking at life through a lens? do you see a possible picture in your mind where ever you go? Yes. There are more snapshots in my brain than in my computer.

5. Tell me a little bit about your equipment? how big is your lens? do you have a wide angle? are dark rooms scary? Hmm.. Tell you about my equipment, how big it is, and what I think of dark rooms? Are you propositioning me Fran?

6. If you weren’t a photographer what would you be? I would be happy not to have to carry 40lbs of gear at events.

7. African tribes believe that when you take a person’s photo you are taking a piece of their soul away from them, what do you think of that? I would say they have a point.

8. In your opinion what is the current state of affairs in music today – What are your favorite bands and what are you listening to lately? From a business stand point, the music industry is in disarray, too big and too stiff to be able to adjust to new times, has gouged prices across the board blaming file sharing for all it’s shortcomings, while the artists and the consumer get the shaft. Yet at the same tie, because of the availability of affordable recording technology and independent distribution networks, there are more artists putting out music than ever before. I think these are transitional times and that the battle will be settled on the internet. My personal forecast: within 5 years, in a new song driven market, the online music store replaces the local retailer, artists are no longer dependant on a label for distribution, and labels will cling on to survival exploiting mainstream America, until it catches on, then they’ll go belly up. There goes Mr. Big’s dental plan and Lexus… Right now, here are the 3 CDs I can’t live without: Daddy G: DJ Kicks, Ulrich Schnauss: A Strangely Isolated Place, and High Contrast: High Society.

9. What makes the French the most romantic people on earth and how can you be French with a name like Goldstein? And yet another French cliche. I think there’s a deeper appreciation between men and women, including their differences, as well as better manners: we don’t call women bitches or hos, unless there’s no other alternative in the French vocabulary. This and the fact that the culture is more into being than becoming. I guess it makes romance a little easier. My last name is Jewish, which isn’t a nationality. My father was a Jew from Romania who survived the camps, my mother a protestant born in Nazi Germany. I was born in France. Go figure.

10. What is your favorite Marc Goldstein photo and why? Also, who or what was your favorite subject to shoot and why? You bait and I bite… 😉 It is the baptism photo of you and Robert in the water surrounded with flowers, and its companion, the 4 lads holding candles. It came out of the ether, and was perfectly executed to my greatest satisfaction. Also for the fact that these photos were met by some fierce adversity from the label, concerned that it was too edgy and that it could potentially hurt your career. I wonder what the Red Hot Chili Peppers had to put up with when they posed naked with a tube sock. Certainly didn’t hurt their career, did it ? I think that Rock n Roll has lost its soul due to too many boring publicity shots. My all time favorite subject was a coverage for URB magazine of an underground female boxing club downtown. Real.

Bonus Question: Describe in detail the moment you first heard West Indian Girl? Driving back into the Sunset from Coachella, the endless field of rotating windmills providing a surreal landscape. Juxtaposed to the music… Sounds like… Sounds like Jane’s Addiction meets Steely Dan… What are they called again… West Indian Girl… Dope.

thanx goldstein this has been great.. hahaha i bet everyone that reads this goes “really, french fries weren’t made in france?” — F. Ten 4:50PM

well, we just resumed practicing on a regular schedule again. normally we rehearse in the evenings – i would say from 9pm to 3am usually. our studio is so cold it becomes almost unbearable. we need to buy space heaters that work.

i got an interesting comment to a post the other day and it got me thinking. the comment was from a dude that goes by the name of Afrakkah-Dukkah. haha, i like that name. he said he would “appreciate any trivia or stories about the songs, the song writing process or the recording process, (what instruments used, what recording equipment– I read an interview where you guys said you used all real instruments– really like to know how you pulled this off with the layering) or how you manage to reproduce this album sound live”. i thought it was cool that afrakkah was requesting specific info cos most people dont – they just read my babble. so, in honor of the dukkah i’m gonna try to drop some “musical” knowledge every now and then so you guys can see how we do things west indian girl style. im going to start by describing a new song we are working on called (working title) i hope i dont forget – personally i like calling the song i hope but who knows if either one of these will end up as the title. if you were at the last los angeles show you saw us open the set with this jam.

so…how did this song become a song you ask. well, this song started out when rob started playing this ambient sort of riff/texture. he asked mark and i to play something “dubby”. lewscious kicked in with a solid simple beat and i played something that was loose, sparse yet flowing. i think the bass line is pretty average but everyone else seems to love it and it sort of provided the meat to which the song revolves around. it reminded me of a gang of four meets U2 bass line when i first played it. i guess that’s where you can say i drew my inspiration from. normally i’m not thinking of another group’s sound but for some reason i kept thinking about 2 specific songs… weird. anyway, we jammed on that for a while and recorded it. then, at the next practice carter joined in and we played it forever. after a while when u play the same riff over and over u just need to go somewhere else with it — the change forces itself. so when we were in this jam rob and i and started experimenting with changing chords – just testing out what path would work. the part we were looking for turned into the “chorus”. this chorus has a real unusual structure to it because the chord change is actually starts on the same note that the verse starts on so when you hit it the song slowly changes gears rather than immediately jumping into a chorus. for a second after it hits you arent sure whether its the beginning of another verse or not. anyway, at first rob wasnt into the change because it seeped into a “chorus” but carter and i lobbied hard for this. finally after experimenting with other ways and notes we decided on the original way. the thing to note here is that there was something special or vibey about this change and that’s what makes it a classic west indian girl part. it just has this vibe to it. it was like butter. sweet and smooth. anyway, the chorus is highlighted by playing a D chord half way through it—- thats the chord that makes the chorus so gratifying for me. i love going to that D and hearing how it just steers the song in different direction.

so now we have 2 parts to this song that we would play over and over — eventually and naturally some vocal ideas started popping up. rob and mariqueen just started singing some great parts over the chorus. this song is perfect for mariqueen’s voice. we then started to restructure and restructure it. right now we play it by starting with rhodes, bass and drums….guitar comes in after 4 and then we bust into an instrumental chorus one time. i still think one time is too short but for now we go only once and then the verses kick in. we deliberately wanted to wait with vocals so we could establish a musical dreamy vibe. after another chorus we kind of got stuck. on our last tour we actually played the structure described above just to see how it would fair live. after the shows we realized we needed something else. this missing part was discovered in the same way we discovered the chorus..by just jamming. the strange thing about this new part is that carter and i are playing a chords progression completely different from the guitar chords rob is playing.. somehow this works – it’s all part of the west indian girl sound….it doesnt seem like it would make sense on paper but it does sonically. right now we lead into this new part with a tiny bridge and land on an A – lewscious then starts to pulse his kick drum and we break into an electro sort of french pop change. we jammed on this for a while and lyrics started coming out of robs’s mouth. so that’s where we are with this song as of right now. it is far from finished. the lyrics will probably be the last thing to get solidified. i’m not sure we all know what the current structure even is. i will let you know after the next practice.

on the stranger/funnier side of things we are now trying to figure out who is going to direct the video for what are you afraid of. presently we are getting video treatment ideas in from a bunch of directors and writers. they are all so different. some are interesting and some are complete pieces of dog shit. it is going to be a tough decision. i would rather do a video for hollywood myself. — F. TEN 4:36AM

ok, well our show schedule for january has been announced and im bummed cos we only have 4 shows. they are great shows though and will be a ton of fun but there are only 4 of them!!! so here is the deal. our first show is in costa mesa at detroit bar. on thursday the 13th. i really enjoyed playing there last november. we are playing with a cool band called the album leaf on sub pop records. this show, which is being presented by KCRW,(thanx kcrw!!!!) is a no brainer. come on, 6 damn dollars to see this bill is a fucking steal. get ready cos we are bringing the visuals too. yup, stefan viterstedt is gonna be there to freak your brains out while we play. this show is gonna be dope – speaking of which, you might want to smoke some before we go on.

ok- the next 3 shows we are very happy and honored to be opening for gomez. what a perfect bill – it will be real nice to play in some bigger venues. thanx for having us on the bill with you gomez!!! the 3 shows are as follows – sat the 15th in solana beach at belly up, monday the 17th (MLK day) in hollywood at the house of blues, and sat the 22nd in san fran at the fillmore. we all hope to see you there, and remember – don’t be shy, come up and say hi —F.Ten 12:01AM

look at their coach and decide

musicians arent supposed to like football. i cant help it. blur, oasis and rod stewart love soccer and i love to hate this football team. robert james thinks it’s like me being a frat boy but hey i cant help it and i highly doubt i would be mistaken for a frat boy. anyway, the vikings…these guys are always the underdogs and i can relate to that. whatever — this is my journal and there are gonna be blogs about random events in my life along with everything west indian girl. if i just kept it about music it wouldnt be real cos its not always about music is it?…if my fish dies you will hear about it..if i go for a walk and trip and fall in dog shit i will probably mention that as well cos its funny. with that said i’m accepting all bets – especially from packer fans. it’s going to be tough to win in green bay considering the nfl has a sickening love affair with brett farve. how many questionable calls will go against the vikings this week….i can’t wait to count. conspiracy…yes —F.Ten 8:42PM

ok – so as a follow up to my post on new year’s eve i thought i would let you see the difference between the shots i took (hack) and those that marc (pro) took. go look at the 2 pics i posted and compare them to the 2 that marc took. mine really suck – i just wanted to post some good ones for you to see. the first is of the crowd from the roof of the pegasus building and the second is from the main stage while oakenfold was spinning.

these last ones are of me on the job

career day: what it’s like to be a photographer’s bitch

—F.Ten 7:58

Danm… check these TSUNAMI VIDEOS out. This guy’s blog is awesome —F.Ten 1:39AM

here are 2 more great links my friend doug just sent me: one is a link showing animation of the cause and the other is for BBC News which has great comprehensive coverage. thanx doug! —F.Ten 5:12PM

well, i spent new year’s eve helping out my friend (photographer) marc goldstein. he was shooting a big concert event in downtown L.A. (check it out- Giant Village 2005 ) and i had no plans so we were on. i thought this would be a very interesting and entertaining way to spend the night and it was. besides – look at marc on the right – how was he planning on taking 1200 pictures while carrying around all those bags and cameras? goldstein did work his ass off though – we were there at 5:30pm and we didnt get home until 5:30am. i think we took a ten minute break. we had all access so it was pretty cool.

this is a picture from the roof of the pegasus building. i should really post some of marc’s pictures cos there is just something very wrong with me posting my crappy pictures when i was there with a professional photographer taking great pictures. oh well…you make do. i saw a bunch of djs that i normally wouldnt see – especially from the angle i got to watch them. check out the view (below) from the main stage when paul oakenfold was playing.

During oakenfold’s set and the crystal method’s set i was on the stage to the back right. it was pretty interesting checking these guys out because it is so radically different from a band but still kinda the same. it’s weird. i did enjoy oakenfold’s set though – i thought his mix of “new year’s day” by U2 was really fucking cool. for some strange reason when i looked at him i kept thinking he was Napoleon. i also kept thinking that he actually believed he was god. it was comical. but little god’s rock. oh yeah – as far as some of the other performers go – i thought jason bentley’s set was very musical, digweed’s set jammed but i wasn’t sold on the killers like everyone else seemed to be. every song sounded like a lame version of their hit song that i cant remember the title of. i do like that song though. too bad i missed them playing it and had to sit through 6 songs that kinda sounded like it but then just fell flat.

anyway, thousands of people were there but i only bumped into a few people i knew. early in the evening i ran into steve who used to be in a band called the symptoms. he was bartending at the main bar. steve rocks. then, way later around 3am i got a

call from carter…somehow he ended up there too. we met up for a bit and eventually i ended up driving him home too. all in all it was a good time…tiring, but a good time. on a side note i quit smoking again. so far so good—F.Ten 9:36PM

Haha, i love this 10 with Ten stuff. Next up, the man you’ve been waiting for, the co-founder of west indian girl, my main man and long time friend (drum roll please) mister Robert James. This interview took place at urth cafe in los angeles. It seems like he eats there almost every day. Anyway, rob’s time in the sun has finally come so hold the sugar and dial your mind.

1. Describe your role in the band? That’s a really good question, Mr. Ten. Maybe we’re all just human transistors, human conductors…connecting people…connecting realms. Maybe, I’m the guy who makes sure our antennae is up and running properly. You know, when you turn on the car and the thing pops up. Who knows? Maybe the little world of West Indian Girl is encased in a magical bubble and you and I are like ambassadors to the outside world. Ambassadors of sound and dreams.

2. When you’re on stage do u feel more like Morrison or Morrissey? Neither one of those blokes played guitar. So I would say neither. I’m a guitarist first, synthesizer geek second, vocalist third.

3. Do have any guitar heros/inspirations? Also, when you’re in the middle of ripping out a huge solo, what exactly is going on in your brain….what are you thinking about? Never got into the whole guitar hero thing. I was more inspired by hearing a great band with great songs. Like the Clash. They were a guitar driven band, but you really didn’t think of them that way. It was about the songs. The whole point to kicking out a huge guitar solo is to in fact turn off your brain. Turn off your ego. Remove all thinking processes and not think at all. Eventually you’ll be free enough to channel sound…channel energy. That’s the best. Because it’s ever changing and always fresh.

4. There has been way too much talk linking west indian girl to psychedelic drug use… can you comment on that? What? What you say? What’s the question? Shhh, must be very quiet, there’s flying rabbits about. (ha ha) Ah, you know, people will believe whatever they want to believe. I say, to each his own. The planet is filled with billions of people with millions of cultures and customs. Who am I to judge. In the end, we’re just creating music…music fueled by emotion not by drugs.

5. Do you have any super powers or abilities that you bring to the band – like levitation, ventriloquism, or tantric sex breathing techniques? My motto, all that can be imagined…will eventually be. What you wish for does indeed come true…but these things take time, sometimes centuries. I’m trying to get West Indian Girl to use telekinesis as a form of communication. So far, the results are encouraging. Get back to me in 10 years on that one.

6. Is there anything special that you would like all your female fans to know? Well, let’s see. I think the female form is beautiful. Very, very beautiful. I love everything about a woman from her beautiful head down to her lovely toes. I’m pretty sure we’re on the path to a matriarchal society. Let’s face it. Women are generally smarter, more non-violent, more compassionate, less racist, more sensitive, have a greater sense of intuition, inherently more psychic, peaceful by nature. When people talk about the earth, do you ever hear them say “Father Earth” ? No, they say “Mother Earth”. “Mother Nature”. There’s a reason for that. Because women can save the planet. They’re here to protect the planet. Yeah, it’s true. And you know, all women eventually realize this. Women are the most powerful creatures on the planet…even the most powerful man on earth can be brought down to his hands and knees by the right woman.

7. I understand you don’t eat sugar — how do u satisfy your sweet tooth? Well, the truth is I don’t eat refined white cane sugar. It doesn’t do me right. Aside from the luscious fruit smoothies here at the Urth, I love dark chocolate…preferably organic. But you know, sometimes all it really takes is a warm, wet, wild kiss on the lips from my little honey to satisfy my sweet tooth.

8. What would be your ideal show to play – where, when, who’s the opening band? Massive desert party on a full moon during summer. Either that or hot summer night on the beach in Ibiza or any tropical island. Digweed/Sasha would open and then join us for our second set. We would groove til the sun came up.

9.What are you listening to lately – who are your favorite bands out right now? I just heard the new Ghost record and it sounded great. I like Fischerspooner. I’ve been meaning to check out the new Orbital record but I haven’t got around to it yet. Call me old-fashioned, but I bought Brian Wilson’s lost album Smile. I like a couple of tracks. The harmonies are beautiful. You don’t really hear vocal harmonies like that nowadays. I remember Jimi Hendrix describing it as a barbershop quartet on acid. It’s true most of the lyrics are idiotic, but the harmonies are incredible.

10. Describe the last show you went to – did it suck? Our labelmates Phoneix show at the Troubadour was awesome. I would describe it as neo-soul love making music. You can’t help but move your ass and dance. They grooved. But more recently, I went and saw Sir John Bardy at the Belmont. He’s great. That guy’s got the velvet tongue. His songs are like long lost tales…like you heard them in some ancient life. I like music that makes you feel like your stepping out of time.

rob, thanx man – this has been an vague, yet lucid sugar free experience.

— F. Ten 3:03PM

photo credit for the live shots – the one and only marc goldstein (again!)

Hey, I just thought i would share this email with everyone. My friend Renu sent it to me. I think it’s great and she rocks.

“Dear friends and family,
The tsunami in southern Asia and Africa may be the
worst natural disaster of our time. More than 116,000
lives were wiped out within hours.
Rising to this challenge is at the heart of global
leadership, and the world is depending on us. The
U.S. government can lead billions of dollars of aid
into this relief effort, if it chooses. Americans are
generous and ready to step forward, but the U.S.
Congress and the Bush administration have made a weak
initial contribution to the effort — first offering
$15 million and then $35 million when they came under
pressure. Clearly, we can do more. (To put it in
perspective, we’re spending $35 million in Iraq every
7 hours, and the Bush administration is about to ask
for another $80 billion to cover the next installment
of this occupation.)
Let Congress and the President know that Americans are
supporting strong leadership on this relief effort,
at: http://www.moveon.org/tsunamirelief/
You can also make donations to many reputable and
effective organizations:
Red Cross:
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
Oxfam:
https://secure.ga3.org/02/asia_earthquake04?source=aqt04_mo
UNICEF:
https://www.unicefusa.org/site/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=duLRI8O0H&b=277271
CARE:
https://donate.care.org/05/20180000/?source=170570020000
Thanks for your concern,
Renu”

Here’s another link i found with a bunch more ways to help. http://tsunami.com/ Funny/sad thing about this is that this site is normally for a computer company called Tsunami Computing. Since they have had so much traffic they have put this page up which is really cool of them – basically every way you could help out. —F.Ten

here is part of a follow up email i just got from renu:

“You should post the links to the sites where people
can donate. Death toll keeps changing and US just increased their
pledge to $350MM so some of the facts are already
dated. Also let people know they should check if their
company matches their donations. I was able to double
my donation to Red Cross (because my employer
matches).”