2004-12 Vital Source Mag – December 2004
The Occasion
By Erin Wolf The Occasion re-define the term “noise-rock.” With jangly tambourines, mellow vocals and garbage-can-drum tendencies, The Occasion’s self-titled debut is immense, reflecting the hills of desert sands that grace the cover of their album-completely enveloping and sensory-sweeping. Quietly pretty in spots with the incorporation of twinkly pianos, and psychedelically hard-hitting with enough guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback to make even Sonic Youth raise their eyebrows, The Occasion make music to suit themselves. Vocals range from anguished plodding on “I Can’t Stop Falling” to Morrissey-like lamentation on “Ease Away.” The latter track best showcases The Occasion’s vastness in sound, with its guitars sporadically strumming amidst the soft, steady shake of a tambourine, and with sliding vocal echoes haunting in the background. Upon first listen, it’s hard to accept this band’s unique and ethereal sound, but upon recognizing the intricacies and creativity found in their music, it’s hard not to feel appreciation for this New York quintet. Coloring within the lines is definitely not on their musical agenda-indeed, coloring outside the lines has never sounded so inviting.
Dec 1st, 2004 by Vital Archives
Nina Simone moves Holly Blue
by Nina Simone 21st Birthday April 5th, 1996 “Do you quiver, from your head down to your liver?” – Nina Simone The weather was beautful today. Cold, but the sun was shining on us like a goddamn hero. My senses were all standing on edge, soaking in every detail as I nearly became part of color and sound. The “synchronicity of life”, which Dad speaks so highly of, was so apparent to me. The intimacy of me I’d almost forgotten if it weren’t for my two best friends, some edible fungus, and Nina Simone. It was the best day ever. We spent the daylight sharing our stories, ugly girl truths and all. We danced to Nina, laughed and moved things with our eyes. And when we were coming down my girl’s sang happy birthday to me, after which we toasted our love for womankind with champagne and strawberry’s. Later that evening I could still feel the drug lingering throughout my body. From the intensity in my chest to the electricity in my toes, I knew I was alive. I knew love was with me even though I’d never been more alone (ie. without a boy) in my entire life. I felt a calm, peaceful understanding of myself that I’d never allowed before today. Fully connected with my beauty and vitality, I realized my need as a woman, to appreciate it all, even the desparation of heartache. The same heartache I hear in Nina’s voice, the voice of every woman, vulnerable and strong.
Dec 1st, 2004 by Vital Archives
The Needless Oppression of Ideological Gridlock
By John Hughes I was viewing the movie Motorcycle Diaries recently, watching Che Guevara’s revolutionary consciousness incubate, and I became reflective. Sitting in the dark, I began to wonder what a Great Liberator would look like if he or she arrived in America in 2004. From what would that Che, or that Gandhi, or that Malcolm X, liberate us? By what are we oppressed? Anything? Anyone? Under the spell of that movie, I made a natural jump from South America in 1952 to today. I rummaged through the causes and issues that need a serious boost: the environment, violence, the economy (global and domestic), health care (which is becoming apocalyptically expensive) and America’s frighteningly imperialistic stance towards the rest of the world. But somehow, as I sat holding a good woman’s hand, watching the scene where Che’s best friend danced with a nun, I realized that more than specific relief in any one of our many tactical pain points, we as a nation are in need of liberation from our ideological gridlock. I certainly don’t mean that progressives should give away the store just so they can get along with conservatives. I don’t mean that anyone should back away from a good fight, a good debate, a rousing contest of wills. I don’t mean that we should airbrush differences of opinion in the popular arena, for the sake of a faux national unity. But I do mean something. If a Great Liberator were to come along now, I’d want that person to liberate America from the fact that we are in serious danger of becoming two permanently estranged halves, in a muted civil war for the rest of history. We need deliverance from this fate so we may continue to live out Abraham Lincoln’s dream of harboring, in his immortal words of1865, “malice toward none,” and “charity toward all.” The day after I watched that movie, I was eating lunch with a colleague from my day job, and we invited a brand new acquaintance to join us. This new acquaintance, Tracy, was a warm, empathic woman with a soft laugh. I liked her and we had a nice conversation. My colleague Helen eventually got around to discussing George W. Bush supporters in a stingingly frank manner. She lampooned suburban soccer moms in Hummers, screaming from the sidelines dressed in sweaters and pearls. I joined in, mentioning that often-seen sticker affixed to the back of redneck trucks, of a Ford boy peeing on the Chevy logo, and compared it to Bush’s attitude toward the rest of the world. Helen chipped in with some sort of adjective, like “pathetic” or “disgusting.” We shared a laugh. Tracy wasn’t laughing. She’d grown silent, and watched us through a frozen smile, with eyes glazed. She was a Bush supporter, no doubt, and our friendship with her, ten minutes old, was cut off at the pass. She hasn’t eaten with us again. We are at risk of becoming a nation of two ideological poles, and it’s […]
Dec 1st, 2004 by Vital Archives
Mark Metcalf is the Accidental Actor
Mark Metcalf had been supporting himself as an actor for over ten years before he realized that he really was one. “All during that first decade” he says, “I kept thinking I was going back to the West Coast to get my degree in Marine Biology.” Metcalf, a stage, film and television actor, director, film producer, and now also Mequon restaurant owner and morning radio show regular, was born in Ohio in 1946. After moving to New Jersey with his family in 1959, Metcalf returned to the Midwest to pursue a degree in Engineering at the University of Michigan. It was there he discovered acting. At his roommates’ urging, he auditioned for a theater department production. His motives weren’t entirely pure. “I was convinced when they suggested that the girls in the theater department would be a lot, um, friendlier, than the girls in the engineering department.” He laughs. At 58, Mark is distinguished, a veteran of both his profession and parenthood. Tallish and thin, his dark blond hair is a little long and his attire tasteful, favoring earth tones. He quickly assures me that it only took seconds for his motivations to shift entirely. “I fell in love with acting instantly when I walked into the green room and saw all these people together, laughing and fighting and arguing one minute, and making love on the couch the next. All the vital emotions were right there out in the open. It was a world I had been craving and needing, without knowing it.” Mark was hooked. He moved to New York in the early ’70s and performed in both classical and modern theater. He eventually moved out West to work in film. In 1978, he earned a permanent place in pop culture history as crew-cut fraternity jerk Doug Neidermeyer in National Lampoon’s Animal House. I asked him how he dealt with instant celebrity. “I was thinking moment to moment at the time. After the movie was done, I took almost two years off to produce my own film. I know now that had I continued to act through that period when I was the “hottest,” things may have turned out differently as far as my acting career.” That film was Chilly Scenes of Winter, also released as Head Over Heels. It was a good film, but not a big commercial success. He’s done other directing and producing projects, and continued to act on stage, but the two other roles he’s best known for emanated from the small screen – as The Maestro on Seinfeld and The Master on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. But Mark was unhappy as a television actor. It was a grind, he says, like any day job. Work wasn’t generally awarded on merit, and the professional challenge was, in his words, “less than zero.” When his son was six, he and the boy’s mother, Libby, a Wisconsin native, decided to head back this way. They wanted a healthy place for him to grow up, and knew […]
Dec 1st, 2004 by Jon Anne Willow
December 2004
Dear Readers, It seems like this would be the month to recount a touching holiday memory, wish everyone peace in the New Year, mention that it’s my two-year anniversary with Vital Source and be done with it. But in the words of Chuck D., I’ve got so much trouble on my mind. I’ve been trying, hard as I can, to engage in the same liberal/progressive group hug so extensively talked about in this issue. I’m trying to tell myself that given the choice between the ineptitude we knew and the vote of no-confidence we couldn’t trust, it’s not surprising-and maybe even not the worst thing in the world-that we stick with the leadership we have for another four years. But I don’t know if I can continue to tamp down my uneasiness and be a good national citizen in light of some pretty scary shit going on around the country and in our own backyard. I’m kind of freaked out about Weldon Angelos. He’s the 25-year old Utah man convicted for the first time of selling pot while carrying a pistol in his bootstrap and having more guns at home. Granted, it’s no way to raise a family, and I have a low opinion of him for putting his two young sons in harm’s way, not to mention the example he was setting. But U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell was forced to sentence him to 55 years with no probation because of the weapons possession element, which forced the case into federal court. Now before you dismiss me as a sniveling liberal soft on drug crime, hang on for just a second while we place this in its larger context. Judge Cassell himself, described as a brainy, conservative former law professor, surveyed the maximum sentences for other federal crimes, and this is what he found: Hijacking an airplane: 25 years. Terrorist bombing intending to kill a bystander: 20 years. Second-degree murder: 14 years. Kidnapping: 13 years. Rape of a 10-year-old: 11 years. Selling pot while carrying a pistol: 55 years. Needless to say, Cassell is mortified, Angelo’s family is devastated and people everywhere are starting to call for re-examination of mandatory sentences and the possibility that some violate our Eighth Amendment rights under the Constitution. In the meantime, Weldon’s plans are to sit behind bars until he’s 80 years old and his sons are old men themselves. So much for family values. Speaking of which, I have a good friend whose two sons are teenagers in New Berlin. The eldest is a senior, and he’s had his share of troubles. He’s been picked up by New Berlin’s finest for awful crimes like stealing a hood ornament off an abandoned car, leaving campus for lunch and littering in a Taco Bell parking lot (that one earned him four squads and a canine unit). This week, he received a detention for swearing. The naughty nugget? “Jesus Christ.” Yep, that’s what this seventeen year-old boy said, and the fine administration of New Berlin […]
Dec 1st, 2004 by Jon Anne Willow
Vital Source’s 2004 Holiday Events Guide
The holiday season is upon us and the city is bright with twinkling lights and holiday spirit. Why not take a little time out of your holiday rush to enjoy the city’s many seasonal offerings? Vital Source has gathered together our second annual Holiday Events Guide. From shows to shopping, skating to sightseeing, there really is something for everyone. So take some time to enjoy some seasonal cheer with friends and family during this most wonderful time of the year. For Everyone A Grand Avenue ChristmasCaptain Frederick Pabst MansionThrough Jan. 9www.pabstmansion.com414-931-0808A Victorian Christmas with live music on the weekends. Happy “Hollerdays” 2004Apple Holler – SturtevantThrough Dec. 30www.appleholler.com 800-238-3629 Traditional Breakfast with SantaThe Pfister Hotel, Café RougeSaturdays through Dec. 18, 10 a.m.www.thepfisterhotel.com 414-273-8222Santa and his helpers come down the Pfister’s chimney for a holiday breakfast. Saturdays with SantaShops of Grand AvenueSaturdays through Dec. 1812 p.m. – 2 p.m.www.grandavenueshops.com 414-224-0655 Visits With SantaSouthridge Mall Through Dec. 24, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.www.shopsouthridge.com414-421-1108 A Season of WonderMilwaukee Public Museum Through Dec. 24, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.www.mpm.edu 414-278-2728See the “European Village” and turn-of-the-century “Streets of Old Milwaukee” decorated for the holidays. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., enjoy live hands and craft activities. Milwaukee Holiday Lights Downtown Parks and StreetsThrough Jan. 2 www.milwaukeeholidaylights.com 414-220-4700 Come see downtown dressed up for the holidays. A Schooner ChristmasPier Wisconsin Through Dec. 31www.pierwisconsin.org 414-276-7700Free. Enjoy stories about the Schooner Christmas Trees, arts, crafts and refreshments. Candy Cane Lane92nd – 96th Streets from Oklahoma to MontanaDec. 1 – 30 414-456-5830Holiday lights display for MACC Fund and children with cancer. Christmas In The Ward Historic Third WardDec. 3 and 4www.historicthirdward.org 414-273-1173Experience the Trinity Irish Dancers, fireworks, carriage rides, musical performances and the Saturday shopping extravaganza. Cedarburg Christmas in the CountryCedar Creek SettlementDec. 2 – 3, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.Dec. 4, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.www.christmasinthecountry.org 800-237-2874 Christmas arts & crafts show featuring 75 artists. Holiday Night Lights Milwaukee County ZooFridays and SaturdaysDec. 3 – 18, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.www.milwaukeezoo.org 414-256-5412See the Zoo lit up with thousands of twinkling lights courtesy of WE Energies, along with holiday activities and musical performances. Christmas by LamplightOld World WisconsinDec. 3 – 4 and 10 – 11 www.wisconsinhistory.org262-594-6305Celebrate traditions of our immigrant ancestors in this after-hours lamplight tour. Children’s Holiday FestivalUWM Union BallroomDec. 4, 10 a.m. to noonwww.uwm.edu/events414-229-5538Stories, songs and traditions from around the world. Cedarburg Festive Friday Eves: “Santa’s Workshop”Dec. 10, 5 p.m – 9 p.m.www.cedarcreeksettlement.com 866-626-7005Santa Claus, magic, balloon sculpture and live music. Children’s projects and cookie decorating, wine tasting, complimentary cider and cookies, plus a winter cookout. Breakfast with Father ChristmasOld World WisconsinDec. 12, 9 a.m. – noon www.wisconsinhistory.org262-594-6305Visit with the 19th century version of Father Christmas for breakfast. Face painting, balloons and old-fashioned goodies for the kids. Reservations required. Toys for Tots Breakfast with SantaHilton Milwaukee City CenterDec. 4 and 9, 11:30 a.m.414-271-7250Bring a new unwrapped toy or $5 to enjoy breakfast with Santa. Every child receives a complimentary photo with Santa and a special gift. Brunch with […]
Dec 1st, 2004 by Vital Archives
Rammstein
From the title track that opens this album, you might get the idea that Rammstein remain the same: Till Lindemann growls verses and operatically chants choruses, everyone else stomps up a blitzkrieg behind him, and the song fades in a swoon derived from both beer hall and dance club. Yet even here, Rammstein sound more open, more ready to emphasize their musicality as much as their omnipresent German muscularity. Throughout Reise, Reise, they manifest the playfulness of a band who have realized that their prominent quasi-military discipline-still in force on their last album, 2001’s Mutter-was becoming less an impression they left with others than a repression they imposed on themselves. Of course, you wouldn’t mistake this looser, freer Rammstein for a jam band, but an actual rock ‘n’ roll groove (as opposed to a sturm und drang march) drives tracks like “Keine Lust” and the relatively barebones, acoustic guitar-based “Los.” And it’s hard to imagine the old Rammstein chuckling heartily in the midst of “Amerika,” a buzzing grind that mixes English and German and quotes Public Image Ltd. (“This is not a love song“) relevantly. Reise, Reise does hold onto the metallic-tinged Wagnerian grandeur that immediately distinguished Rammstein from their American peers, while it also brings their previous hints of electronic melodicism-the influence of Depeche Mode and New Order-directly to the surface. Hearing that combination and the flowering variety it catalyzes, you might get the idea that Rammstein have changed for the better.
Dec 1st, 2004 by Jon Gilbertson
Radar Love
By Lillith Branwen We live in interesting times. Our schedules are packed, with every minute of our day taken up with something important. At the same time, we are more sedentary than ever before. We are in our cars or in front of our computers for long hours each day. When we have a little “free time” we tend to spend it with family or friends. For many, meeting new people is increasingly difficult. Enter the Internet. As we turn to cyberspace in growing numbers for our shopping, information and entertainment, we are also looking there for social interaction. I’ve met people from all over the world through professional forums and music fan sites, and I count some of them as friends, though we’ve never met in person. Obviously, I’m not alone in this. For better or worse, the Internet has changed the way we meet and interact with others in a profound way. According to a 2003 study by Jupiter Research, online dating sites attract about 20�f the U.S. Internet population, with the market for those sites showing growth of about 19�o far in 2004. Last year Jupiter estimated that 17.2 million people viewed online personals each month and 2.5 million of them paid for online ads. In 2006, Jupiter predicts, 27.4 million will view online personals and 5.2 million will pay for ads. Meeting people the “new” fashioned way.Thirty-eight million Americans can’t be wrong, can they? (Some would say that depends on your politics, but that can be saved for a different story.) Another study by the Bloodhound Network reports that Internet dating is the fastest area of online growth. Its’ estimates for the number of people visiting online dating sites each month is even higher than Jupiter’s, at thirty-eight million. In our hectic lives, it is appealing to be able skip the bars and the blind dates. Meeting people online allows you to anonymously shop for an ideal partner without a large investment of your time or emotions. Most of us know someone who has tried a hand at online dating. Like all forms of the mating dance, it works for some people but not as well for others. Some people give up after a few failed attempts, while others seem to have enough luck right away to keep plugging away for months, or better yet to settle down with a new partner to pursue a lasting relationship. Wedding Rings…Christina and Aaron Ring are one such “success” story. Christina has been meeting people on the Web since the early days of the AOL chat room and has made lots of friends through various political and social bulletin boards. She says she loves the opportunity to meet people from different places and cultures. “There’s really no feeling that you need to censor yourself or ‘dress up’ in order to gain attention… the online public’s opinion of you is based entirely on how you present yourself verbally.” Her openness paid off when she joined SocialNet.com in 2000. As a […]
Dec 1st, 2004 by Vital Archives
Lydia Lunch
First, Lydia Lunch was the girlfriend of Dead Boys frontman Stiv Bators; then she took over the mic herself in Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, then Eight Eyed Spy; since then, she’s been on her own. But she’s always been a mercurial figure, a no-wave queen and a hot-and-cold seductress. That continues with Smoke in the Shadows, Lunch’s first full album in five years. Slipping into a familiar role-the faded jazz chanteuse, lighting a cigarette with gloved hands and exhaling that first postcoital cloud of smoke-she slips along back alleys drawn from dimestore novels and film noir. She narrates more than she sings, and her lyrics swerve closer to beat poetry than they do to song structure, but with the able co-production of Nels Cline, Len Del Rio, and Tommy Grenas (all of whom also throw in on songwriting), she doesn’t need to be normal. Lunch’s collaborators-including, notably, Cline’s Geraldine Fibbers bandmate Carla Bozulich-supply bend to her strong will, generating atmospheres sodden with sex and death. From the break-in of “Hangover Hotel” to the closing “Hot Tip,” Smoke grovels in bad impulses and bodily fluids, lonely horns and sleazy keyboards. Lunch moves through everything here with the air of someone who craves the guilt that comes with the pleasure. Her trick is to make the listener feel the same.
Dec 1st, 2004 by Jon Gilbertson
