On Putting Out A Record

Context:  This was the second unused article that I had written for the now defunct website that was mentioned last week.  When it was written, a few years ago, I had decided not to name the name of the band that this involves.  I have since had a change of heart.  Below is a link to the Bandcamp page where the completed remastering of this project now lives as a free download.  If you want to take the Pepsi challenge and A/B this mastering against the old, I'm sure you'll be able to find the old mastering on the internet somewhere.  There will be a fade out or two that were not present on the original CD.  Those needed to be added to close out the sides of the LP.  Be sure to use headphones or a proper stereo set up.  Laptop/phone speakers don't do the low end justice.

https://thecazartchronicles.bandcamp.com/album/three-sixteen-2014-remaster

     Have you ever thought to yourself, “Wow, that record has been out of print for years.  I wish someone would go through the time, effort and expense of putting together a reissue.”?  I had that idea one day about a record put out by a band I used to work for.  The album only came out on CD in the late 90s so I figured I could put together a vinyl reissue.

     I called in a few favors for remastering and artwork.  I reached out to pressing plants for estimates. Then I contacted the member of the band who was deemed keeper of the tapes when the band broke up.

     I was given the okay to proceed but was informed that there were no longer any master tapes to work from.  The remastering would have to come from the CD which was sonically lacking to begin with.  I ignored this red flag and soldiered on with the project.

     The original recording and mixing was done on a very low budget so there was not much to work with using the CD as source material.  It took hundreds of man-hours and three attempts to restore the audio to the point where it would be appropriate for pressing to vinyl.

     While the unexplainable buzzes, peaks and pops were being dealt with I was going all about town to different record stores to see what their consignment policies were.  Promotional flyers and album artwork were being laid out.  And I was also drafting press releases and putting together a list of media outlets and contacts to send the release to.

     During this time countless emails were being sent to my point of contact in the band. None of which were being replied to.  Yet another red flag that I chose to ignore.

     After four months, everything was ready to go.  A Bandcamp page was set up and the pre-order was up and running.  For 24 hours.

     I gave the Google servers a day to update.  Then I typed in a search for the band and album title to see how far up in the search results the pre-order page would be.  Oddly enough it was fourth on the list.

     Even stranger was the second search result which was a Facebook post from two weeks earlier by my point of contact in the band saying that he has made the album available for a free download on some other site.  Thus making any attempt to raise funds for a vinyl pressing rather pointless.  I contacted the other people that were working on the reissue to see how they would like to proceed. We decided to pull the plug.

     Of all the things that could have killed the project, I did not think that would be one of them. Knowing full well that there was a reissue coming down the line, he felt compelled to give away the inferior sounding product.  I never got a response when I asked him why people would buy something when he was giving it away for free.

      After the whole thing fell apart it took weeks before I wanted to listen to music again.  So much wasted time and effort was extremely deflating.  My lesson had been learned and I have joined the ranks of people that have an unusable master getting dusty on a shelf.

Something Old

Context:  A few years ago, I was approached to write a weekly article for a local punk rock website.  I had gotten the first article in the can and had two others written but in need of editing.  I sent the article below off to the guy that ran the site and he approved.  This happened over a weekend and he was out of town at a show.  He told me that he'd give me access to the site when he got back into town on Monday and I could post the article then.  That was the last I heard from him.  Follow up emails were never returned so these articles sat on my hard drive until now.  I checked recently and the site is no longer up and running.  I figure instead of letting them go to waste, I'll post them here.  I didn't want to change too much in the finished article so I only removed the site editor's name.

First Article Paranoiac Blues

     **** The Fearless Editor suggested I write about music and its impact/influence on my life and the way in which the two are intertwined.

     As someone who has never fit in anywhere since I was in kindergarten, I have a very minimal amount of people that I could willingly refer to as friends.  I would rather spend time with my records than with most people.  If you take care of your records, they will never let you down.

     Even when I discovered the life altering wonders of the punk rock and started going to shows I never felt like I was actually part of a scene.  When I was working shows I still did not have this sense of belonging to something.  It was always about the music.  When the show was over I'd go home.  The music was over so what was the point?

     I find it very difficult to talk about music because it's such a personal thing to me.  When someone asks what I've been listening to lately I always clam up.  It makes me feel like I was just asked what meds I was on to keep my sanity.  And I'm sure people would look at me weird if I told them I only got out of bed this morning because of the first four Black Sabbath records.

     Through the course of my day there are frequent moments where the depression and loneliness start to feel like another person is in the room.  There is no better way to clear the demons out than with a stack of records.   Miles Davis into The Stooges into Boris and capped off with The Melvins.  Who needs friends when you have Fun House by the Stooges?

     Then there are those days when the depression wins and Dinosaur Jr. feels as warm and comfortable as an old sweatshirt.  There is something about that band that feels like home.

     I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that has a few life saving records.  Those are the records that come off of the shelf when everything has gone wrong and you're not sure how to put things back together.  The End Of Silence by the Rollins Band has grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and pulled me out of the mud on more than one occasion.  You've got a guy yelling at you to get up and get on with it over a rhythm section that's locked in and on fire.  What's not to like?  Give a listen to the original release or the demos.  Either versions will claw at that itch.

     Music is what gets me through the bad times and helps me remember the good times.  It can serve as a time machine without the use of a DeLorean and a Flux Capacitor.  It can heal wounds or reopen old ones.

     Music is a powerful force and I can't wait to share some with you.

Cazart.

Records listened to while putting this together:

Le Butcherettes—Cry Is For The Flies

True Widow—Circumambulation

Submachine—In Spite Of Everything...

Zeitgeist—Zeitgeist

The Hollywood Theater Is Under Attack

     The Hollywood Theater, a 90+ year old, single screen movie theater, located at 1449 Potomac Ave, in Dormont, is under threat of a hostile takeover by the Theatre Historical Society of America, which is run by Richard Fosbrink.  The Friends of The Hollywood Theater is the non-profit organization that currently operates the theater and has stated that they were on good financial footing and that this sale was not due to an impending closure.  Fosbrink is attempting to buy the building from the property owner and remove the non-profit group as the theater's operator.

     Fosbrink and his group attempted to buy out the Friends of The Hollywood Theater in early 2017 but his offer was declined because the non-profit was planning on purchasing the building themselves.  Before the non-profit group could get the purchase lined up, Fosbrink came in and bought the building out from under them after agreeing to not pursue the purchase without their consent.

     If the sale goes through, the new owner would turn the theater into a second run theater.  This means that the theater would play movies after their initial run following their release.  This model will doom The Hollywood Theater to failure and limit the films and other events that are currently programmed by the Friends of The Hollywood Theater.

     As a second run theater, The Hollywood would have to sign a contract with a film distributor and be obligated to screen the movie a certain number of times.  This would drastically limit the number of special events the theater would be able to offer due to the lack of flexibility with the distributor and also only having one screen.

     This also puts the theater at a financial risk of being contractually obligated to play a movie that no one wants to see.  If the Hollywood would have signed on to screen Justice League as a second run, after word got out how horrible the movie was, they would have been stuck wasting resources on an empty theater.

     On top of that, the second run model has already failed at the Hollywood.  Before the Friends of The Hollywood Theater reopened it as a non-profit, there was a group from out of town that tried to reopen the theater but closed down shortly thereafter because they went the second run route.

     The main reasons I end up at The Hollywood are for the music documentaries, weird arthouse films and when they screen classic films from my childhood such as Jaws or The Goonies.  I take my daughter to these screenings because there's something magical about seeing Bruce the shark getting blown up on a big screen that a DVD can't match.

     One of the best times I've ever had at The Hollywood was watching my child's brain melt out of her ears while we watched the Star Wars Christmas Special.  The first twenty minutes of non-subtitled Wookie dialogue is one of the greatest worst moments ever captured on film and had her puzzled for days afterward.

     As a second run theater, The Hollywood would also be unable to host one-off screenings of films where the filmmakers are present for a Q & A because they would be forced to show something like that mummy movie with Tom Cruise instead.

     The loss of The Hollywood Theater would also be a loss for the surrounding community.  The Friends of The Hollywood Theater has opened their doors to other non-profits in the area to hold fundraisers for different charities.  A for-profit second run theater would be unable to do this because of their obligation to a distributor.

     This all comes back to the idea that just because you can buy something doesn't mean that you should.  The buyer's initial offer was rejected and his ego couldn't take being told “no” so he went around the non-profit organization and bought the building anyway.  The future of the theater is clearly in danger if Fosbrink takes control.  He has already lied three times in gaining control of the theater.  The first lie was to the Friends of The Hollywood Theater when he said would not pursue the sale without their consent.  The second lie was to his financial backers when he told them that a single screen, arthouse theater could be turned into a profitable second run theater.  And the third lie was to the public when he said that the programming offered at The Hollywood won't change when he takes over.

     I would much rather see The Hollywood Theater operated as “the little theater that could” until the end of time and not a shuttered second run theater that closed after a year.  Just because Fosbrink has the most money in the room doesn't mean that he's the smartest person in the room.

Bob Dylan & Mavis Staples At Heinz Hall

Context:  Much like last week's article, this was written before I had chosen a home for these things or a timeframe for rolling them out.  The show was back on November 6th, 2017.

     Bob Dylan came through town this week.  He stopped at Heinz Hall and brought Mavis Staples with him.

     The problem I always have with assigned seating at a venue is the gamble of who ends up sitting around me.  There's the usual drunks, the mouth runners or the hipper than thou music nerds that try to out nerd each other, to name but a few.  This time out, I was held captive by a mix of all of the above.

     Before the show, it was the music nerds bragging about their overpriced guitars and other equipment.  And also how they only listen to jazz and classical music now.  They feel betrayed by the local NPR affiliate because they have branched out into more mainstream rock music instead of the obscure mid-tempo singer/song writer types or the flavor of the month international fare.  These guys were so cool that they didn't realize that there are different hosts with different tastes that play different music on the station.  And I guess I'm so cool because I can't even remember the last time I listened to a locally broadcast radio station.  They couldn't figure out that there are these things called records, CDs and iPods that play music and render radio pretty much useless if they don't play music that you like.

     Thankfully, Mavis Staples came out and shut these idiots up.  She was all smiles while she shuffled around the stage.  Her voice is still powerful enough to the point that I don't think she would have needed a microphone if she didn't want one.  Mavis had the crowd in the palm of her hand.  Other than getting to hear Mavis Staples tear it up every night, I don't know why Bob Dylan would want to bring her on tour due to the fact that he would have to go on stage after her.  That would be a daunting task to pull off night after night.  Her new album came out recently.  It's called If All I Was Was Black.  I can't wait until I have a chance to listen to it.  Ms. Staples is a national treasure and should be revered as such.

     Then Bob Dylan happened.  Given the amount of shows I've been to, they have become kind of predictable to me.  If the opening act finishes at 8:55, it's a pretty safe bet that the headliner won't go on until 9:30, even if the change over and tune up is done by 9:15.  With this notion in mind, I thought there would be a long wait between sets.  Then I forgot who we were all dealing with.  Bob Dylan runs on Bob Dylan time and you would be a fool to try to tell him what to do.  He came waltzing out with his band almost as soon as the change over was done.  He's Bob Dylan and has places to go and no time to waste.

     When going to see Bob Dylan these days, one must remember that he doesn't care about you and has earned every right to not care about you and what songs you want to hear or how you want to hear them.  Every song has been rearranged to the point where they are unrecognizable until he starts to garble away.  I was able to pick up on It Ain't Me Babe, Highway 61 and one of the songs from Time Out Of Mind.  Everything else was a blur and I was alright with that because the new arrangements are just as good as the originals.  The only thing about them is that they're new.

     This is where the commodification of art becomes a problem for the average consumer of live music.  Most people buy a ticket and expect a note for note reenactment of their favorite songs, forgetting that music is an art form.  Bob Dylan has been doing his thing for fifty some years at this point.  If he wants to rearrange all of his songs so he doesn't get bored then he can do that.  He is talented enough and his band is tight enough that they can pull it off.

     My only concern was that he stopped playing guitar.  He attacked a piano most of the night and occasionally stepped over to a mic stand to croon away like Frank Sinatra.  My concern is not rooted in any musical purist nonsense but more about his health.  It's hard to realize that your heroes have become senior citizens so I'm hoping he gave up playing guitar as a choice and not because of a loss of dexterity.

     Most people still complain that he mumbles and garbles his way through the songs.  If that is an issue with you, then I suggest that you listen to the album of Sinatra covers he put out.  He is in clear voice from beginning to end.  His garbling can then be seen as a subtle fuck you and an act of rebellion towards all of these people that want to hear him play the greatest hits.  He's daring you to come with him as he moves forward and how dare you want to live in the past.

     The most distracting part of evening was all of the people being ejected during Dylan's set.  Upon entering the venue, there were signs posted all over the place saying you will be ejected for taking videos/photos with your cellphone.  It seems that those signs were no hollow threat.  Members of the road crew were posted all over the venue to keep an eye on the crowd.  People were being removed swiftly and frequently. At some point you'd think people would have caught on to what was happening.  Stupid white people.  Given the extreme cost of the tickets, I was on my best behavior so as to not be shown the door.

A Series Of Evenings Not Spent On My Couch

Context:  This was written after I had decided to try the writing thing again but before I decided what to do with the pieces after they had been written.  This may seem dated since the shows were a few months ago but please keep in mind that these are exercises to see if the machinery still works.

     It has been an interesting month or so that has made Pittsburgh almost feel like a real town.  Quicksand, Against Me!, Boris and Dinosaur Jr. have all been through town over the course of the past four weeks.

     For me this was a big deal.  Since the local music scene seems to be hiding under a rock, or only appears when I'm not looking, being spoiled for choice was an odd occurrence.  When all of these shows were announced, I almost decided not to go to them.  I have grown tired of the crowds that come along with live music in Pittsburgh.  There are only so many times I can handle someone drunkenly screaming out, “Go, Local Sports Team!!!” during a band's performance.

     All four shows were at the same venue, Mr. Smalls Funhouse.  Since they started serving food in the upstairs, I've started getting to the shows early to grab something to eat.  They sling a mean burger and I am a sucker for it.

     First up was Quicksand.  I went with the bacon cheeseburger with a side of hummus and pita.  Going to see the reformed line up of Quicksand had me worried.  Given the fact that their previous shows since the reunion have all been at various festivals, I wasn't sure what to expect.  In some instances bands will get back together for festivals because the promoter will make an offer they'd be stupid to refuse.  Then they walk through their greatest hits and call it a day until the next big offer comes in.  I don't fault these bands for this but if you're going to do it, then do it.  Walking through a set for nostalgia dollars is disrespectful to the audience and, more importantly, to the music.

     Quicksand's two albums, Slip and Manic Compression, figure prominently in my brain pan so I was overly concerned that the images in my head were in danger of being sullied.  Within seconds of Walter Schriefels taking the stage, I knew we were all in for a special evening.  The band hit it and hit it hard.  And more importantly, it looked like they were all having fun while playing.  They would play tricks on the audience by starting the intro to Land Mine Spring and then go into another song as the crowd was primed and ready for it.

     This was in stark contrast to when I saw Walter's other band, Rival Schools, a few years ago.  It was towards the end of the tour and the band seemed to be imploding on itself.  The guitar player left the band, for the second time, after realizing that he was in band and might have to go on tour.  The remaining members held it together and went out as a three piece.  Rival Schools was great that night but you could tell they all knew it was the end of the line and they weren't having a good time playing with that knowledge.  Shortly after the tour, they went into the studio and recorded six or seven songs but sputtered out somewhere along the way and the songs never saw the light of day.

     Quicksand seems to be doing things backwards these days.  The tour was announced before the new album was announced and the release date of the album was after the tour which puts the band at a disadvantage when it comes to taking dollars off of folks at the merch table.  But given the history of the band, I think they're doing it the Quicksand way.

     A week later, Against Me! passed through town.  I went with the cheeseburger minus the bacon.

Laura Jane Grace and the rest of the band finally seem to be coming into their own.  After two albums and several shows with the current line up, things are settling in to where they have an opportunity to do something similar to Bob Dylan's never ending tour.  They ended up playing a lot of songs from Reinventing Axl Rose because they were planning to play the album from end to end at this year's Fest, in Florida, and needed to get the songs back into shape.

     The band has a very loose swagger to them these days.  To the point where it sounds like the wheels might fall off a song at any time but they're tight enough to hold it down.  Against Me! is nothing but pure punk rock fun from beginning to end.  The band was all smiles and I swear the bass player is the long lost love child of Dee Dee Ramone and Lemmy, right down to the Rickenbacker.

     Unlike some folks, I could care less about Laura Jane's identity and transition or whatever you want to call it.  If you front a band that's that good, you could be the goddamned Purple People Eater for all I care.  Although at this point, I'm sure the more discerning fashion punkers gave up on Against Me! because the crowd sizes have grown beyond that of a basement show.  And I will say that it is really weird to see the drunk frat boy jocks that normally go to shows to beat up people smaller than they are belting out the lyrics to True Trans Soul Rebel.  I'm not sure but that might be considered progress of some sort.

     Next up was the face melting, Japanese metal heavyweights Boris. Back to the bacon cheeseburger.

     I was the second person in line when the doors opened so I could order my food, slam it down and then take my usual spot behind the soundboard.  When I got up the stairs, I saw there were already three people in line putting in food orders.  My first thought was “Who are these assholes and how did they get in front of me?”  Once my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting I knew exactly who those assholes were.  It was Boris placing their post-soundcheck food order.  I said hello and thank you to the band for coming through town because I'm still not sure how Pittsburgh ended up on their schedule.

     The band Helms Alee was one of the openers.  I'm not sure what happened to this band but they have gotten much better than when I saw them open for the Melvins last year.  Although I was in a pretty shitty mood at that Melvins show so it might have just been me.

     Boris caused so much low end rumble throughout the venue that it gave me a sneezing fit because my nostrils were vibrating from it.  They are a band that could be considered an equivalent to classical music.  There are movements with ups and downs in their music and they effectively use silence as a weapon.  So when the drunken slack-jawed yocal would exclaim, “Woooooo,” during every quiet moment he would effectively ruin the transition to the next movement.   Way to go moron.  Save it for the football game, dipshit.

     They played their new album Dear front to back which was brain crushing.  I have come very close to melting my house while listening to that LP.  It was funny to hear the youths outside, before the show, wondering if they should wear earplugs or not.  It would be a mistake that they'll pay for in twenty years if they didn't.

     Boris played Farewell, from the Pink album, to close the show.  Given the fact that the band almost hung it up instead of releasing Dear, I think it was a fitting goodbye and this tour is their victory lap before they move on to bigger, better and louder things.

     Two nights later, it was Dinosaur Jr.  It was the last night of the tour so there was a definite scent in the air of zero fucks being given.  To give my arteries a break, I went with the veggie wrap with blue cheese crumbles instead of the burger.  Good choice.

     I went to high school with the house sound engineer and he reports that Boris broke one of the PA speakers.  It took most of the previous day to lower the string of speakers from the ceiling, make the repairs and get the string back in place before the internet-teen pop sensation played the night before.  Needless to say, he was not happy about all of the extra work.  My only response was, “Yep, they'll do that.” When I saw Boris at the Grog Shop in Cleveland last year, it felt like the walls were going to cave in.

     Easy Action, from Detroit, opened.  The singer of the band is John Brannon from Negative Approach and Laughing Hyenas.  He is a through and through punk rock/hardcore legacy. I saw them back in March when they played with Dinosaur Jr. at the Beachland Ballroom, also up in Cleveland, and I was instantly a fan.  The Pittsburgh crowd hated Easy Action to the point it was funny.  This bunch of lightweights couldn't handle the band.  Between every song there were shouts of, “You suck!!!,” and the like.

     No one seemed to remember that Dinosaur Jr. couldn't get arrested in their younger days and ended up playing a lot of shows with hardcore bands such as Negative Approach.  When putting this tour together of course Dinosaur Jr. would want to take out a band that they are friends with.  I guess some people were expecting a Dave Mathews cover band to be the opener.  I don't know what these people were thinking and how they weren't able to stomach a straight up rock 'n' roll band.

     Dinosaur Jr. came out and did their thing.  A smattering of new songs mixed in with the greatest hits.  I'm of the opinion that they should drop the old songs and stick to tracks from the four new albums.  But that's just me.  I'm sure they'd be crucified if they didn't play Freak Scene.  As much as I enjoy the old records, forward movement is always more interesting to me.

     To play Left/Right from Give A Glimpse of What Yr Not, J and Lou switched instruments.  The band is at the point where they do what they want, audience be damned, and it was great to hear J play bass.  They also have an extra drum kit and guitar/amp set up.  The drum and guitar techs come out and play on The Wagon to make things louder than they already are.  It was wild to see the drum tech keep time with Murph and the song somehow didn't fall apart.

     The encore is where the night took a glorious wrong turn for the crowd.  Dinosaur Jr. came back out and played an audience request and then John Brannon came back out and grabbed the mic.  To my surprise and great delight they played a few Negative Approach songs which led to the audience booing and throwing things.  They closed out the show with T.V. Eye, by the Stooges, with Dan on vocals.   It was quite the scene to behold watching J. Mascis throw down on those Ron Asheton riffs. Again, the crowd had no idea what they were witnessing and reacted with more booing and went home feeling dejected.  J and company did not seem very animated until they hit those Negative Approach songs.  They suddenly came to life and pushed all of the air out of the room but the dumb ass crowd couldn't put together that they were seeing something really special.  Always remember, if it's the last night of the tour, expect something out of the ordinary.  Like Dinosaur Jr. manhandling one of the greatest rock 'n' roll songs ever committed to tape.