Eagles Pic Of The Week

Here's your Eagles Pic Of The Week. It's a cute puppy. Take it or leave it.

And don't talk to me about yesterday. It's like Kevin Mitchell (allegedly) told Dwight Gooden after he (allegedly) decapitated his own girlfriend's cat in a(n allegedly) drunken/coked-up rage while he (allegedly) held her (and Gooden) at knifepoint for hours back in 1986:

"Yesterday never happened."


[Cute puppy picture provided by listsrv.cmsu.edu/archives.]


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Eagles Pic Of The Week - REDUX!

In the interest of thoroughness (or thorough-tude, or thorough-ity, or whatever the correct word might be), above is the pic of Trotter's interception against San Diego that I had initially wanted to include. The Eagles photo page, however, didn't have it available until I had already posted. So... blame them, not me.

All I'm saying.

FLY EAGLES FLY!!! Bring on Denver next week!


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Eagles Pic(s) Of The Week

Wow.

Wow, what a game. If ever there was a representation of how football (and really, professional sports in general) acts as a piece of theater, this game was it.

The setting helped... Zack had gotten wind of The Town Tavern, a bar in the West Village that houses an Eagles fan club. They gather to watch every game, and those sporting Eagles gear get Yuengling at Philly prices ($2 pints, $7 pitchers), and FREE cheesesteaks at halftime. Of course this does not come without the usual New York qualifiers - namely that the Yuengling tastes old and vinegary, and there is no such thing as a passable cheesesteak outside of Philadelphia and its outlying suburbs. But hey, this dude was absolutely not complaining. Avoid the wings though... Town Tavern uses a barbecue/wing sauce hybrid that tastes like musky ass.

But enough about the tavern and its sub-par menu... The game was outstanding. Granted it was not without the usual frustrations inherent to being an Eagles fan. In a seesaw battle fraught with sloppy offense, bad penalties (not to mention flag-happy officials... TWICE they threw the flag, consorted on the sidelines, and then announced "no foul on the play"... WTF, officials?!), and wacky plot twists, we managed to eke out a VERY necessary win.

Some fourth quarter highlights, courtesy of philadelphiaeagles.com:

On first down from the 21-yard line, Tomlinson ran left for a loss of one yard. On second down, Mark Simoneau blitzed up the middle and hit Brees as he threw knocking the ball in the air. Jeremiah Trotter picked off the pass at the 25-yard line and ran it back to the 23-yard line...

On fourth-and-2, Kaeding's 40-yard field goal was blocked by Mikell. Matt Ware picked up the ball and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown...

On third down, out of the shotgun, Brees found Caldwell on coverage by Brian Dawkins. Sheldon Brown came up and stripped the ball, which was recovered by Darwin Walker at the 19-yard line.

The officials reviewed the play, and the play stands.

The Eagles kneeled on the ball and finished out the game.

Wacky plot twists, indeed! How often do you see a) Trotter getting a pick-off (his first of the season), b) a BLOCKED FIELD GOAL (!?), and c) a CRUCIAL forced fumble, ALL within the span of about 10 minutes of football time? I'll tell you how often: NOT often.

So it was a hard-fought victory for the boys in midnight green. This is no time to get complacent... this game clearly highlighted some issues that we seriously need to address. Here's my laundry list for the week:

- Where the hell is our running game? Westbrook was an absolute non-factor, while McNabb wound up airing the ball 54 times. Yes, you read that right.

- On the topic of Westbrook... Why the hell have his hands turned to rubber? The guy has not consistently caught passes all year. Not to mention he can't cut the way he used to and has gained weight and lost some speed. None of that will get you a new contract, B.

- Why all the penalties? Flag-happy officials aside (Zack and I figured they just didn't make their quota last week and were making up for it today), how the hell do you get called for an illegal shift twice in the same half?

- Why the hell am I saying "the hell" so much? I've managed to fit it into every one of these laundry list items.

SO... now that I've turned the "Eagles Pic Of The Week" into the "Joe Pretends He Knows Enough About Football To Legitimately Rant About It Of The Week," here's our pics. Yes, plural... a game like this requires it...



Jeremiah Trotter, whose fourth-quarter interception sparked the madcap series of events that led to the win.




Chargers Kicker Nate Kaeding watches as his 40-yard field goal attempt is...




...BLOCKED by Quintin Mikell, recovered by Matt Ware and returned 65 yards for a game-winning Eagles touchdown! (smaller photo at top of post, Dawkins in the background)




Sheldon Brown strips Reche Caldwell of the ball, not only preventing a touchdown, but ensuring that the remaining 1:34 would be run out to cement the Eagles victory.


And this one is just for my own enjoyment... Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson was hoping to break the standing record for touchdowns in consecutive games (18). The Eagles defense held him 34 yards on the day, only 7 of them rushing.



I like to think LaDainian went into the locker room and cried.

I also like to think we'll be returning to The Town Tavern for future games. It's like a little Philadelphia Embassy here in New York, save for the bad food.


[Photo acknowledgements: philadelphiaeagles.com, nfl.com, and philly.com.]


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Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno!!! - REDUX!!!

The trip home...

Okay, so maybe I built up the suspense for this one a bit too much, but it is one of those New York "bizarre in an under-the-radar kind of way" tales. So......

I left Southpaw and couldn't find Cory or Ignacio. While searching I turned my phone on and discovered a text from Cory. He had gotten kicked out for smoking. I couldn't believe it... I had never actually seen that happen at a show before. I've been to a ton of shows, even since the smoking ban, and I STILL see people whip stuff out all the time, with total impunity. But this particular time the wrong person apparently saw him and he wound up leaving. I still don't know all the details but the cynic in me can't escape the feeling that it has something to do with his race. Which fucking infuriates me.

So, I got him on the phone and he turned out to be home already. He didn't know what had happened to Ignacio, and neither did I. He's still a ghost.

I did, however, get ahold of Ben. When I got him on the phone the first time, he was really short and said "yeah, can't talk now, I'm making deals, I'll call you back." After about 10 minutes of wandering around Brooklyn, I got him on the phone again, and he was a little more coherent. We played "find the landmark" for awhile and eventually met up. The "deals" he was making were the most ridiculous thing...

He had bumped into a guy on the street named Pablo, and somehow in their random conversation Pablo found out Ben's a writer. He offered Ben a million dollars to write his life story. Ben couldn't believe it, and kept seeking affirmation from Pablo's friend, a Mexican guy who spoke no English, that Pablo refered to constantly as "Pablo's helper." He just kept shrugging. So, Ben chatted with Pablo for awhile, and got a business card with contact info and everything... He's going to call him soon and see if the million-dollars-to-write-Pablo's-life-story deal still stands. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway at that point, we were still deep into Brooklyn and needed to get home. According to this sign, it was 185 degrees. Um?



On the way, we passed the latest 97.9 MEGA advertisements. NTG fans know Ben and I have some BACKSTORY with these ads, but unfortunately this round doesn't highlight (or even include) Luis Jimenez y Moonshadow. WHICH SUCKS.







"I used to work near here," Ben commented as we walked toward the subway. "The Brooklyn Bridge is just up this way..."

So we wound walking across the bridge at around 2:00am. I've only walked the span once before, and it was during the day (in fact, during the Second Annual Two Man March), so seeing it at night was pretty cool.





Once we hit lower Manhattan, we made our way to the Canal Street 6 station.



Ben picked out this spot for him and I to shoot our first video, once we... uh... write some songs. Although that's not fair... we've got "Defiant Reliance." Best song in the world. 122 seconds of pure awesomeness. I'll try to put up an audio clip of it sometime...

And then Ben ascended to Subway Heaven.



We hopped off the train at 86th and walked to Midnight Express, because there's no better way to end a night.

By the time we left (oh, I don't know... 4:30-ish?), my head was absolutely pounding. I was beginning to get sick, I could feel it. I hailed a cab, and was treated to 5 minutes of Indian music. My driver explained who it was and a bit about the rhythm they were playing. That dude really loved his music. I appreciated it.

Then I came home and passed out.


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Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno!!!

If any band's live act can be labeled "essential" (if only because they self-release SO MANY cd-r recordings that it's difficult for anyone but fetish-level cultists to keep up), it must be Japanese psych-rock collective Acid Mothers Temple.

Before Wednesday, I had seen AMT twice, and both times left me beaten and near-deaf by the impenetrable wall of noise they create. Needless to say, I insist on seeing them at least once every time they come around. The lineup is pretty standard: a guitar, a bass, drums, some vocals, and an echoplex (which is sometimes switched out with a second guitar). But in the midst of their onslaught, it becomes practically impossible to determine which element of the sound is coming from which instrument or player, and I've learned to not even try... just stand there and let it wash over me. The live show becomes a wonderful endurance test.

They hit New York this year in their newest configuration, Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno, which differs from their previous configuration, Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO, only in the addition of a second drummer (!!!)(those who know me know that multiple drummers onstage is one of my favorite musical situations) and occasional extra guitars. As if that aforementioned wall of sound needed to be stronger or louder...

I rolled down to Southpaw in Brooklyn with Cory, Ben, and Ignacio (friend of Cory's from kickboxing/jujitsu classes) to be summarily destroyed by AMT's latest New York City visit. Before the show, I had all intentions of checking them out the following two nights at The First Unitarian Church in Philly, and Knitting Factory (back in NYC). Buuuuut... Well, the Wednesday show worked out a bit differently than I had originally planned. Pentax was well active, and I even went the extra technological mile for this show... That's right kids, NTG is proud to include some VIDEO CLIPS! Moving up in the world, we are... Keep your eyes peeled for them throughout the post...

Be patient while the video clips load, they're worth it! And make sure your speakers are on!


***************

First order of business when I hit Southpaw was to head downstairs to the basement. In the bathroom lounge area, every inch of which is wallpapered with thousands of photographs, they've got my favorite picture of Jimi Hendrix ever. Check it:



The look on his face cracks me up. The venue room itself is wallpapered with show posters:



Even cooler (although sadly I didn't snap it), one of the bathroom stalls downstairs is entirely papered with baseball cards. The unifying factor between ALL of them: they're all lefties. (Get it? Southpaw?)

Anyway, as the crowd anxiously awaited their own sonic destruction...



...we stood perplexed by the futuristic Budweiser bottles they were slinging at the bar:



I had never seen a bottle like it before. While we waited, Ben ranted about the smoking ban... I believe it started something like: "A society in which you can't go smoke a zeppelin in the b-" [VIDEO: THE RANT CONTINUES, :29]

I love how Dead Meadow's "Heaven" is heard to begin juuust at the end of this clip. Here's Ben post-rant:



Cory proudly saluted AMT with his choice of attire:



At long last, Acid Mothers Temple took the stage. Once they started, the noise didn't stop for about 90 minutes.



Here's an early sample of the chaos: [VIDEO: OPENING RIFF, :51]

See, the way AMT plays... I don't want to get too long-winded about this, but essentially, they start off with a simple riff. It's usually very heavy, but catchy and SUPER-precise. Then, they play the same riff for about 20 minutes, slowly building it and adding layers of noise to it, and it builds and builds and builds until it's rumbling inside your head and practically lifting you off the ground. Then they make it heavier. It's a mix of meticulously exact bass and drums, and a chaotic swirl of guitar and echoplex, often mixed with singing, sometimes chanting. It begins, very shortly, to sound almost religious. A full-on show might include only three or four "riffs" that are stretched into entire songs, but the whole show comprises 90 minutes of pure, soul-wrenching greatness.

A standard of theirs is "Pink Lady Lemonade," found on their 2002 release Live In Occident, among other places. This song follows that build-on-a-riff pattern I just described. Check it: [VIDEO: PINK LADY LEMONADE, :30]

I have no shame in admitting that I was crying at the end of "Pink Lady Lemonade." None whatsoever.

Okay, I'm talking too much... Here's a bunch of snaps from the night...

...and yes, in that first one, he's actually playing two guitars simultaneously...





























That last one looks like he's crying out to Heaven. That's about how I felt by that point in the show.

They bashed it out a bit more after that: [VIDEO: MORE BEAUTIFUL CHAOS, :52]

AMT also works a good degree of theatricality into their performances. At the two shows of theirs I saw in 2004 (May 23 at Knitting Factory - my AMT initiation - and June 19 at Southpaw) they performed a brief puppet show in the middle. The puppets acted out a scene from Romeo & Juliet in falsetto, both voiced in broken Japanenglish by the bass player. One of the puppets was a horse, and I can't remember how he got to this point, but by the end of the Southpaw show he ripped the horse off his hand with his teeth and chewed on it, proclaiming "we're Japanese! We love to eat horse! Japanese love eating horse!"

This time around, the echoplex/guitar player vanished for a moment, and reappeared shirtless and wearing a viking helmet:





When they finally wrapped up, they thanked the crowd profusely and gave us all an extended thumbs up, which we all gladly returned.



They played no encore. Really, after a set like they usually play, I don't think anyone could handle one, them or us.




***************

Once the show was over, I noticed Cory and Ignacio were gone, and I hadn't seen Ben since about halfway through the show. I never found out exactly what happened to Cory and Ignacio, but I eventually found Ben. The story of where he wound up, and our entire journey home, is a post all its own...


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Ben & Aimee's Kitchen

Ben and Aimee live in a large 1-bedroom on the upper east side. Ben has lived there since well before I moved to the city, and his couch was my temporary home during my initial move here. Since then, I've hung out there very regularly, and crashed on the couch again numerous times. I almost view their place (which shifted from "his" to "theirs" once Aimee moved in) as a second home, aided in no small part by its warm, comfortable, almost anachronistic nature.

Ben told me last week that he and Aimee will be moving in early November, to a two-bedroom in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. That means, sadly, that they'll no longer be a mere 5 minutes on the 6 away. Of course I wish them the best, and will obviously continue to see them all the time, but I can't help but feel a part of my New York history is vanishing, too. I'll miss being in their place, but I know that their new one will have a charm all its own, yet to be determined.

I unleashed Pentax on their kitchen the last time I was there. Here are some of the results... I think you'll see what I mean about it being anachronistic...































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