I'm another person who never posted in the introduce yourself thread on the last forum and, this time around, I just posted a video of Jesco White "The Dancing Outlaw" talking about huffing solvents and hallucinating erotic anthropomorphic lizard women. So... here it gooooooooooooooes.....
I live in Seattle. with my GFF of 13 years and our 7 year old son, Ronin. It tends to surprise people, but the boy has pretty eclectic taste in music, and he'll tell you what he likes and what he doesn't. I've always tried to respond to what he's responding to and provide more of that. THe first time I ever saw him dance, he propped himself up to stand at the coffee table and shook to "Contort Yourself" off the James White & THe Blacks album. His favorite jam since he was 2 has been Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," but that might have changed. He seems to like King Gizzard, more recently, and has been really into the Melvins. Other standouts for him are things like The Wipers, Royal Trux, Serge Gainsbourg, Pixies, Battles, Blockhead, and Built to Spill. He used to listen to more Eric Dolphy and stuff like Stereolab or Squarepusher. For a while, he would blurt out "Dirty!" in a Danny Brown voice. If you have kids and love rap, Kool Keith's Black Elvis has no profanity, so it's a good option. He's grown up on that. Ro learned how to rap an entire Czarface song -- "Talk That Talk" -- last year, because I've been using it as a ring tone. He is is currently figuring out Aesop Rock's "Rings" which is crazy impressive -- he's got the whole first verse down. I told him that I didn't think it was possible and, because he's doing it anyway, it actually reopened my mind to what is possible. I have to learn it to help him, so I've surprised myself.
Anyway... we used to do more dance parties and need to get that rolling again, but we share music and, a lot of the time, when I'm buying something, I consider how it's going to play in the house. I don't buy as much droney stuff, these days, and try to pick up a lot of Brazilian and shit like that, which I always wanted to be playing in my home around my kid one day.
When my son was born, I quit my job to stay home with him. I began doing a lot of work in the middle of the night, from writing to editing photos, etc. I generally shoot live concerts. Now that he's in school (1st grade), I'm in a weird limbo, where it's still difficult to get other things going outside of the home, because it's still important to us for me to be here when he gets home, etc., but I can feel fairly pent up in this place. I wrote for a magazine for a little while, doing interviews and such, and have sold some photos to other magazines, here and there, but generally just do stuff for myself. I'd rather cover what I want how I want. I also do a local radio show for a non-commercial station Hollow Earth Radio, out here in Seattle. Again, nobody bothers me and I play whatever I feel like. The link to my website, which focuses a lot on music and visual art, as well as my mixcloud for the show are in my signature, but I've slacked quite a bit on both, lately, due to personal things, including a recent gallbladder surgery and another even more recent "medical situation" that I posted about as the last forum was catching fire around us.
I feel like every genre has something amazing to offer, just like they all have some incredible low points. Mostly, if I'm reviewing something, I just have to believe you, or at the very least, believe that you believe you.
Right now, I'm trying to focus on catching up on some stuff and being more productive on my own projects again. I, basically, chase dead industries like long-form journalism and concert photography, but I still believe in them. It's a struggle to try and pursue something with no intention of monetary profit, especially when you have a family, but I want my son to follow what he believes, too, and it's afforded him the opportunity to meet people that I believe have left impressions on him already -- Stephen Malkmus, J Mascis, Run The Jewels, etc.
Well.. that's that mattress man. Oh... and if you're ever interested in pursuing something similarly, as far as writing, interviews, reviews, photography, etc. I have a number of contacts in that world and I've let a lot of opportunities slide, once I became more of a one man operation. I'm opening myself up to collaborating with people again and just providing access and a platform for those who want one and are on the same page.
Thanks to everyone who stepped up and made the new forum. I, for one, like this place a lot better.
