Sunday, August 23, 2009

This Pile of Skulls



As far as heavy music goes, Kylesa's Static Tensions is one of my favorite records so far this year. It kinda really reminds me of Disengage at times. That's a good thing. I know nothing about Saviours, but I think Red Fang might be totally awesome. You probably couldn't make a pot brownie big enough to get me into Lionize. Sorry dudes.



It's cool how people fucking flip out and love the living shit out of Converge. However, as maniacal as fanatics get about them, my motherfucking jam has always been High on Fire. I listen to The Art of Self Defense at least once a week, every week. I recently revisited Surrounded by Thieves, and it kills me how far out ahead of the pack these dudes were then.

Speaking of dudes way far out there ahead of the pack, KEELHAUL absolutely slayed on Friday. You can tell they've been touring, as the set was so tight and crafted from start to finish. Triumphant Return to Obscurity is absolutely fucking awesome. Grip that shit as soon as you can.

Here's the black and whites, if you were there on the 21st, or hit The Grog this week, you either gripped them, of still can probably grip prints of these. There weren't a lot. I didn't keep any, so... I dunno. Booya:





Speaking of being high on things like fire and pot brownies, I recently had a strange request. I was asked if I could draw on my friend's 16 year old niece's back brace that she has to wear after an injury sustained from a near fatal car crash. So, being a paraplegic, and having had to wear a back brace myself at one point (the second time I broke my back), I guess I kind of jumped to the conclusion that she was paralyzed in the accident. So, for two weeks I mentally prepared myself to talk to a girl who was newly paralyzed at about the same time in her life as when I initially broke my spine. It was a pretty strange feeling, and I was sort of slightly apprehensive. Not that I was worried about it, but I definitely felt odd. I thought a lot about that time for me; about returning to high school after and how that felt, how little I actually cared about it. I was pretty absorbed in relearning how to live my life and figuring out the parameters for everything. It's such a drastic change, depending on the circumstances.

Anyway, this friend and her niece were both getting tattoos/piercings, respectively, so we set up a time to do the drawing at a Tattoo Parlor, Addicted Body Art Studios, in Parma. Holy shit, I can't tell you how relieved I was when the niece showed up WALKING around in her back brace. It was so weird. I had built this tension in my mind and it turned out to be for nothing. Probably a question I should have asked in the beginning. Hell, my friend may have even TOLD ME she wasn't paralyzed and I maybe just didn't listen, due to being a dummy and hearing "near fatal car crash" all at once. I was so relieved that she's not paralyzed. What a trip.

The niece is a big Bob Marley fan, which I knew from my friend, so I drew this jam on the brace. Kind of a crummy blurry photo, but it's the one I got:



No, you're right. I'm a shitty photographer. I should really only be allowed to draw things. At all. Here's me and a cat in my lap in The Cave:

1 comment:

Jen Kaplan said...

Back braces suck. Luckily I never have broken my back, but I do have a bad case of scoliosis and had to wear a back brace in my sleep for a year and a half to stop my curve from getting worse. The brace bent me in a weird way so it painful to sleep. Looking at that back brace makes my back hurt.