I h8 teenagers

Just got back from the Need New Body show at Go!, and it was a better show than when I saw them last a couple of months ago at Kings.

I missed the opening band, Make Believe, a band I heard is from Chicago. Cy Rawls told me they were good. Anyway, it's always a jolt to my senses when I go to a show and most of the crowd looks very young. I wasn't annoyed until early in the Need New Body set, when the singer invited this kid, who couldn't have been older than 16 or 17, on stage and let him dance. It obviously went to his head because for the rest of the show, he would dance spastically and arrhythmically in front of the stage, especially during slow songs you can't dance to...and including breaks between songs. Every so often, he would peek back to see if people were watching him. I felt like slapping him upside the head and telling him that nobody gives a shit about him - that they came here to see the band, not some teenage hotshot-wannabe.

It was also so fucking hot in there I decided not to stay for Hella. God, I hate stupid teenagers.

Republicans are idiots

As I was wasting time just now listening to MPEG stream samples from Aquarius Records and simultaneously surfing the web, I came across this blog, Flirting with Sophia, and its latest entry intrigued me. So I decided to copy it and post it on my blog. (I'm citing where I got it from, so it's not plagiarism!)

I guess the information comes from last week's Economist, but basically it reaffirms what I have long suspected - that Republicans in general are less intelligent that Democrats, or at least more liberal-than-Republican-types. I don't necessarily like the Democratic party, but I'm definitely not a Republican. I think the majority of them are idiots. Here's the post:

"So Democrats really are smarter":

Presidential vote and states average I.Q:
(national ranking, state, presidential choice in 2000, average I.Q)

1 - Connecticut (Gore - Democrat) 113
2 - Massachusets(Gore - Democrat) 111
3 - New Jersey (Gore - Democrat) 111
4 - New York (Gore - Democrat) 109
5 - Rhode Island (Gore - Democrat) 107
6 - Hawaii (Gore - Democrat) 106
7 - Maryland (Gore - Democrat) 105
8 - New Hampshire (Bush - Republican) 105
9 - Illinois (Gore - Democrat) 104
10 - Delaware (Gore - Democrat) 103

40 - Alabama (Bush - Republican) 92
41 - Louisiana (Bush - Republican) 91
42 - Montana (Bush - Republican) 90
43 - Oklahoma (Bush - Republican) 90
44 - South Dakota (Bush - Republican)89
45 - South Carolina (Bush - Republican) 87
46 - Wyoming (Bush - Republican) 87
47 - Idaho (Bush - Republican) 86
48 - Utah (Bush - Republican) 85
49 - Mississippi (Bush - Republican) 85

I'd be curious to see the whole list, but I don't want to pay the fee on economist.com.

New template

I wish I knew enough html and shit to make my very own template...however, since that last template was ugly, I switched over to this one. Yup.

Gangsta

One of the three schools I work at is this high school whose population is about 75% black, 15% Hispanic, and 10% white. I didn't notice this as much last year, but this past school year it's been impossible not to notice. The majority of the black guys (and some white dudes) wear baggy, oversized white T-shirts every day, oftentimes ones that come down to their knees. I think I might've seen on the news last fall that this is a "gang" style. Although most of these guys most likely are not in gangs, anything "gangsta" is deemed cool.

Jay-Z had a baggy white T-shirt on in some of the pictures in his album, The Blueprint...but that was from 2001. So I wondered if maybe the white T-shirt thing was hitting North Carolina 2-3 years late and that NYC was past this trend. So I asked this 16-year-old recently transplanted freshman from Brooklyn what the deal was with these white T-shirts, because he wears one most days as well. He said that it's just the style these days...especially when most people don't have much money to spend, they just spend a few bucks on white T-shirts. But that reason doesn't make any sense to me since most of these kids also wear these really expensive throwback jerseys, and the white T-shirts that they wear don't look cheaply made, like a Hanes or Fruit of the Loom. My guess is that these kids buy these shirts for at least $20 each from the same stores that carry the throwback jerseys. I personally think they look stupid, especially when they come down to the knees. It'd be cooler if they all had flat tops and dressed like Dwayne from A Different World.

Random notes and observations

I had to go to Wilmington this weekend to take care of some business. Here are some random notes and observations:

There were tons of people in Wilmington. It's that time of the year when tourists come in flocks to the North Carolina coast. I need to hit the beach before I move, but I'm not sure whether I want to go where there are tons of people like there were this weekend in Wilmington. There's bound to be even more next weekend for the Memorial Day weekend.

If there were less rednecks (and white people in general) in Wilmington, it would be awesome. Still, a nice town. Market Street near the downtown area is beautiful with trees' limbs hanging right over the street, kind of like East Franklin Street here in Chapel Hill.

Commercial radio stations have such stupid nicknames, like "The Buzz" or "The Point" or whatever. It's the same in every city. Wilmington's classic rock station is called "The Bone." Not only might this be the dumbest, but it's possibly the funniest.

It was weird how sunny and beautiful it was in Wilmington and in the Triangle area. In between I drove through one of the worst sudden downpours and thunderstorms in quite some time.

Bush's "covert propaganda" on the elderly deemed illegal

Bush is an evil bastard. So are most Republicans.

Happy People

The new single from the most famous golden shower giver in the world, R. Kelly, "Happy People," is basically the sequel to his last big hit single, "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)." When I first heard this, I thought it was yet another remix to "Step in the Name of Love." I liked it so much that I had to buy the single so I can listen to it nonstop. Goddamn, both songs are so fucking good...maybe even golden shower good.

Cute

I dislike the word "cute" in describing women - I prefer to use beautiful or pretty or hot or fuckable or gorgeous, etc... For some reason, I don't like when "cute" is used to describe someone attractive, unless it's a girl calling me cute. So I rarely use it. But last night at Go! I saw the cutest band ever, ex-Girl.

They're an all-female art-punk-rock trio from Japan. They have this schtick in which they say they're from the planet KeroKero via Tokyo, and they wear these homemade space-age costumes when they perform live. And their show last night was a lot of fun mostly because of how cute they are. The bass player (and leader, I suppose), Kirilola, is the cutest; she's beautiful and I decided I want to marry her. I wonder if she's into Korean guys...

Sickest movie ever

I just saw the sickest movie I've ever seen, Ichi the Killer.

Based on the cult manga comic by Yamamoto Hideo, the movie is about this mentally (retarded and) unstable young man whose alter ego is this vicious killer intent on killing all bullies. I'll spare you a synopsis, but you can go to the website listed above, or go to allmovie.com, or IMDb, or just do a google search for real reviews and stuff.

I read one (positive) review that called director, Takashi Miike "a sick bastard," and I agree completely. It's the most violent movie I've ever seen, and the violence against women was very difficult to watch. Yet, the movie is actually psychologically deep, and it has a weird and open-ended finish...actually the whole movie is weird and open-ended. It's also so ridiculous that I found much of the movie and the violence (except the rapes) hilarious. I'm going to watch this again tomorrow before returning it.

Fire Rummey and get rid of Dubya

How the Department of Defense mishandled the disaster at Abu Ghraib

How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib

There's no crying in rock 'n' roll

Rock 'n' roll according to Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx:

Q: Have you ever thought of writing songs for an emo band?

A: No, because there's no crying in rock 'n' roll.

WXYC - Wednesday May 12, 2004 (6-9 PM)

I went into this show thinking this was my last radio show at WXYC, but I treated it as any other show that I've done, except I knew I wanted to play more local Chapel Hill bands and I wanted to play two bands my friends are in, Billy Schuh and the Foundry and Mahjongg, both of which I played. I didn't get to play as many Chapel Hill bands, but I did end my show fittingly with "Wrong" by the Archers of Loaf from their first 7" single. (The only other local band I fit in was Cold Sides.) After the show, I was a little bummed out...but, alas, Evan and Andrea walked in, and they said I could sub for them before I leave. I'll gladly take them up on their offer. Here's the playlist:

H = Heavy; M = Medium; L = Light; S = Single; R = Request

<6:00>
Rah Brahs - Arty of the Irst Art
(M) Male Slut - Industrial Noise Blues (off the Tracks & Fields comp)
Nels Cline Trio - Cropped
(H) Biota/Mnemonists - (No title - Track #9)

Pearls Before Swine - From the Movie of the Same Name
(H) Devendra Banhart - Insect Eyes
Harvester - Beautiful Crystal

(H) Jason Forrest - Big Outrageous Sound Club
The Raincoats - Shouting Out Loud
Max Romeo - Valley of Jehosaphat
Shuggie Otis - Aht Uh Mi Hed

(L) Sentinel - Ancient History
<7:00>
This Heat - The Fall of Saigon
Sun City Girls - Space Prophet Dogon

(H) Gino Bordin et Son Orchestre Hawaien - Hawaii-Marche (from the
comp, Steeling Round the World Hawaiian Style)
Ballake Sissoko - Deli
John Fahey - Desperate Man Blues
(R) Destroyer - The Music Lovers

(M) Urban Myth & Steve Beresford - Passage
Wolf Eyes - These Girls of Mine
(S) Cold Sides - Insight
Force MD's - Let Me Love You
(H) Konk - Alien Jam

(R) Camera Obscura - Keep It Clean
(L) Igloo - Frog
<8:00>
Billy Schuh & the Foundry - Buy/Sell/Trade
Mahjongg - Aluminum
(H) Mission of Burma - Wounded World

Leroy Sibbles - Express Yourself (from the Studio One Soul comp)
(M) Keith Hudson - Flesh of My Skin
Tino Dia Kimuezo - Kibela Kiame (from Soul of Angola comp)
Whistlin' Alex Moore - Chock House Boogie

(H) Jimmy Martin - Hit Parade of Love
Okros Ensemble - Cigany csingeralasok (Gypsy jumping dance from
Transylvania)
Slavic Soul Party! - Seva
(H) Leandro Guerrero (with Conjunto Alamo) - La Ratita (from Accordion Conjunto Champs comp)

Iron and Wine - Each Coming Night
Jeffrey Fredericks/(Un)holy Modal Rounders - Robbin' Banks
Flamin' Groovies - Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

(R) The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
Archers of Loaf - Wrong

Missed Opportunity

Aside from my first year here in Chapel Hill, in which I was pretty unhappy with things and missed Missouri with a passion, I've had very few urges to go visit Columbia (MO) since most of my friends there had moved on to bigger and better places. This past weekend, even though I had a pretty good time here, was one of those few times that I really did wish I was back in Columbia.

Around this time every year, there are traditionally one to two free music festivals held at the University of Missouri, or Mizzou, as us Midwestern rednecks like to call it. One is called "Springfest" and is sponsored by KCOU, Mizzou's reputable college radio station, and the other is called the "Missouri Derby," sponsored by the university via the College Music Committee. This year they combined Springfest and the Derby by having a Springfest stage and a Derby stage with each stage alternating with little to no breaks in music from 4:30 on. And they had free food! The two big names on the Derby stage were Common and Jurassic 5. The Springfest stage featured Mahjongg and MISSION OF BURMA!

Not only did I want to catch this show at the place where I spent some of the greatest years of my life, it would've been a grand reunion of sorts. I already knew there were a few friends from all over the country flying/driving to Columbia for the weekend, but I just found out that there were even more people from my days at KCOU in Columbia this weekend. Goddammit, I don't know when something like this will happen again. I wish I could turn back time and party with those folks again.

R.I.P.

Just a few weeks after the queen of rocksteady, Phyllis Dillon, died, the great Jamaican producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, founder of Studio One Records died yesterday at the age of 72 at his home in Jamaica. In less than a month, Jamaican music has lost two of its most important pioneers. Damn.

Goddammit

As I pulled out of my parking spot and shifted into drive at the post office, I noticed in my rearview mirror that this white Camaro was pulling out, and my worst fear came true. She fucking hit me. Luckily, it was the parking lot and it was at a low speed. There doesn't seem to be any structural damage to either car, albeit some light scratches on my bumper. I didn't really know what to do besides yell many profanities inside my car. I just got her name and home and work numbers, and I wrote down the license plate numbers. Should I have called the police to get this on record?

End of an era?

Last night my Detroit Red Wings were eliminated from the NHL playoffs. Although they "only" won three Stanley Cups in the past ten years, they've arguably been the most dominant hockey team since the early 90s.

Partly due to the huge expansion of the NHL since the 90s that drastically watered down the talent, hockey's been difficult to watch (especially for those not familiar with the sport) because it's so defensive with reduced offensive flow. But I've always followed the Wings.

(For those of you not into hockey, in my opinion, until this boring, defensive style of hockey took over, there was no sport that compared to NHL hockey. It was by far the most exciting game to watch - more than NCAA basketball and the NBA playoffs. Now, unless Detroit is playing, even I can't watch it unless I'm actually attending a game.)

Now, due to the impending lockout next September and the fact that the aging stars of the Red Wings aren't getting any younger, this team seems like it's going to be broken apart. I have a feeling that this is probably the end of what may have been the greatest era of Red Wings hockey.

This is how I prefer to remember this era:

A Southern Season

I swear that I'm not gay, but I love grocery shopping. Today, when I went to University Mall to find a Mother's Day present, I decided to check out A Southern Season for the first time. How the fuck did I not go to this place in the four years I've been down here?!?! I basically drooled the whole time I was there, from all the different salsas to imported handmade pasta to $10 pasta sauces to other foods and wines from the South and around the world. I lost myself for an hour, and I actually enjoyed it as much as I do shopping for music. But I'm straight, I swear!

Who are you?

Unless you leave a comment, I don't know exactly who reads this weblog. This blog gets an average of seven hits per day, and through the sitemeter tracker that lets me know these statistics, I can tell if the reader is someone I probably know (if it's a direct hit or through a friend's blog's link) or if they're total strangers. For example, I've found many times there are those who stumble across this blog who I guess are either in a band or someone who's interested in a band or artist. I'll know this because there have been times when someone will look up a band or song on Google and come across my blog...most likely because of the playlists from WXYC I put up.

So, for those of you who come across Action Potential as a Google searcher, welcome to my stupid blog. My name is John, and I'm the handsomest motherfucker alive. If you're confused by the playlists, they're playlists of my radio shows on WXYC, which is the best fucking college radio station in the world and the best station not named WFMU. And I say all this with all due respect to KCOU, where I DJ-ed from Fall of '96 to August 2000 and to which I'm forever indebted. And also with all due respect to WCBN, KZSU, KUSF, and WXDU. But WXYC has got to be the best college station - I can't imagine a better station, at least musically.

I think I may have only one more show left at WXYC (next Wednesday 6-9 PM Eastern Time), which is very sad.

Bush To Iraqi Militants: 'Please Stop Bringing It On'

from The Onion

WASHINGTON, DC—In an internationally televised statement Monday, President Bush modified a July 2003 challenge to Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces. "Terrorists, Saddam loyalists, and anti-American insurgents: Please stop bringing it on now," Bush said at a Monday press conference. "Nine months and 500 U.S. casualties ago, I may have invited y'all to bring it on, but as of today, I formally rescind that statement. I would officially like for you to step back." The president added that the "it" Iraqis should stop bringing includes gunfire, bombings, grenade attacks, and suicide missions of all types.

Mexico, underwear, tits and ass, and bibles

Since I found Jesus Christ in a haze of marijuana smoke one night in which the Jesus on the back window this Mexican's car started talking to me, I've decided to give up drinking except on Sundays in which I have a sip of the blood of Christ at the 11:45 mass at the Newman Center. But I might make an exception tonight.

First, I'll attend Tom and Jessica's annual Cinco de mayo party for some tequila and free food. Then I might go to Hell, where it'll be "Porn Night," where there'll be events such as Porn Trivia and "Porn-aoke" (porn karaoke), and I think they'll be giving away free porn. I'll just stand outside the door and pass out bibles.

Then, to finish off the night, it'll be the second annual Underwear Party at Jason and Whitney's. My friends, Tim, Todd, and Isaac, will be DJ-ing. I've actually been debating on whether to go to this or not because I'm out of shape, especially around the midsection, but, whatever, I'm going. I'll just stand outside and pass out bibles.

Of course, the heavy rain outside could change my plans...