Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Chloe

Chloe stood behind Evan as he lifted his brush to continue painting, and placed her right hand on his shoulder. “Do you mind if I watch you paint for a second?” she asked. “No problem,” said Evan, feeling her hand next to his neck. Chloe was a misfit in Brooklyn, or maybe she was just a sign of the changing times. She was a bubbly blond, with tan skin and a curvy body that existed in a world of tall paper thin brunettes with constant frowns and peppered with tattoos. It seemed as if some wicked wizard had magically transported her from a beach in Florida to a cramped L train, commanded her off at the Lorimer stop, and left her to survive by her own devices, which of course she did, with little trouble. Chloe was smart, but didn't mind masking it with her appearance, in fact she used it to her advantage. If anyone assumed that she was dumb because of her tan and blond hair and playful persona, they would soon come to regret it. She didn't just look at things, she cataloged them. They were stored in a permanent record; some metaphysical database, to which only Chloe had access. This is undoubtably what she was doing as she watched Evan paint. He felt his art (and more importantly, the process that became his art) becoming part of that record, and felt incredibly privileged.
Evan loved Chloe. She was the closest thing to a sister that he ever had, and he always wanted to say something about it, but never wanted to risk sounding like a sap. It probably didn't matter, he figured she already knew. He had barely know David without her, and felt as if there was no real way that either of them existed without the other. Chloe removed her hand from Evan's shoulder and stepped back, to observe from a different angle. “I-”, Evan barely got his mouth open before Chloe cut him off. “No, keep going,” she said. Evan nodded his head slightly, and got back to work. The cold sun was burning, the row houses gaining form, the street straight and the perspective perfect. Evan looked at his sketch again and considered the blades of grass. He motioned to Chloe. “Do you like these blades of grass sticking up through the cracked concrete?” he asked her. She answered with a question of her own, “Will they be little dots of bright green?” “Yes, haha, the brightest things in the whole painting.” “That's exactly what I was thinking,” said Chloe, “You owe me a nice dinner when you sell this thing.” At that moment, David returned with the take-out Chinese food.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Evan meets Alex at the party...

“Evan Achilles!” Alex caught his eye's and broke the mental loop he was stuck in with her wispy, high pitched voice. “Alexandra, hey, what's up?” “Nothing y'know... at a party, that's about it.” The two dudes who were talking to her grinned a little, but clearly were annoyed at another male entering the group. Evan shot them an I-don't-know-who-the-fuck-you-are-but-we-comment-on-each-other's-Facebook-status's look, which did little to alter anyone's perception of the situation. “Well, I'm at a party too”, Evan stated the obvious, “So...” Alex interrupted him, “Do you want me to get the door?” Evan realized he was holding an open beer and two six packs, one half full and the other fully full. He had failed his primary mission of placing beers in the fridge. Not a good sign, as life didn't get any simpler than that. “Yeah, that would be great.” Alexandra opened the door and smiled at him, “Mind if I grab one of those?” she asked. “Of course... I mean, of course I don't mind” Evan stuttered. Things seemed to be going terribly, but in handing her a beer, they briefly made eye contact, and Evan felt a million times better.
“Greg”, said one of the dudes, breaking up the split second of silence/eye contact/soul reading in that I'm-acting-like-a-nice-guy-but-I-want-you-the-fuck-out-of-here sort of way that fooled no one. “Evan”, said the other dude. “My name's Evan too”, said our Evan. “Evan-tu is a funny name, sounds Inuit.” joked the new Evan. “Super”, original Evan thought sarcastically, but somehow let slip out loud. “Evan Achilles”, added Alexandra, trying to salvage the situation. “How are your heels feeling?” joked Greg. “I'm sure he's never heard that one before” sarcased Alex. Damn, thought Evan, she's saving the goddamn day. Realizing the risk of getting stuck in the social hell pit of trying to talk to the girl you like whilst surrounded by two d-bags, Evan took bold action, “I'm gonna run some beers over to David and Chloe, do you remember them?” “Oh yeah, of course I do”, Alexandra said, “I'll come with you and say “hi”.” “Nice to meet you guys” faked Evan, giving a salty salute. The pair headed into the living room.
“Chloe, Dave! You remember Alex?” This wasn't the ideal situation, he didn't have her alone, but at least he was in friendly territory. “Hey, how have you been?” asked David. “Good, you know, living life, all that, kicking ass, taking names, forgetting them.” replied Alexandra. Everyone threw back a sip of beer. “I can't believe Tommy's thirty”, remarked Chloe, “I guess we're all getting up there. How old are you Alexandra?” Dammit, thought Evan, I was better off with Greg and other-Evan. Alexandra smiled, “Twenty-four years young, but I consider myself wise beyond my years.” “What do you do for a living?” asked David. Evan wondered if this interrogation was really necessary. “I work in a coffee shop, but I'm a musician also, looking for a band.” answered Alex, “What do you do?” David smiled, eager for a chance to talk about his boring as hell job, “I work in advertising. Actually I work with Tommy. We have fun, but it's hard work too. For example, we're working on the new Jameson campaign, and I like whiskey, but they are trying to appeal to a demographic who-” “He likes to ramble on about his job” interjected Chloe. Thank God for Chloe, thought Evan. Chloe continued, “Anyway, it's so nice to see Evan with a girl.” GODDAMMIT CHLOE, the thought almost broke through Evan's cranium. Alex awkwardly threw back a swig of beer. “Oh, this lady killer? I'm sure he's got ladies left and right”, remarked Alexandra, saving the day once again.

Friday, October 7, 2011

the death of jobs... literally

  i'm not at all surprised by the different reactions to the passing of steve jobs. i don't think anyone questions that he was an intelligent man, in the right time and place to make a lot of money. i don't want to get into a debate about his legacy, i'll leave that for, well, every other writer on the planet. instead i want to take a moment to address modern technology and actual jobs.
  i shiver a little when i hear our leaders, specifically president obama, talk about how american innovation will save our economy if it is nurtured correctly.  i think the president misunderstands what technology actually is.  at it's core, technology implies a reduced need for human labor.  eventually, innovation will sink an occupation based economy.  the post office isn't going bankrupt because it's mismanaged, or because pensions and pay are too generous, it's going to fold because of email and the internet.  the idea that "innovation" will make up for the 574,000 good jobs that will be lost when the u.s. post office does collapse is ridiculous.
  don't get me wrong, i understand that technological advances create hiring booms.  the industrial revolution created a boom that lasted for well over a hundred years in america.  think about it beginning in earnest in 1830 with the opening of the baltimore and ohio railroad network (yeah, you could go farther back than that, but i'm using rail transport on a national level as a signifier that industry has really transformed a country), and ending in the 1960's and 70's when manufacturing leaves for asia.  the "information revolution", which the late mr. jobs was intimately involved with, basically is a boom that last from the 1980's through the dot-com crash of the early 00's, a little less than 20 years.  since technological advances by nature lead to newer and more functional technology which thus can be used to create even more advances, something that was considered "innovative" will become obsolete quicker and quicker with each passing generation.  booms created by new technology will no longer last long enough to keep a nation hiring workers for any substantial amount of years.
  i don't know if there has ever been a bigger job killer than the smartphone.  it kills jobs in the traditional internet way; postmen, librarians, bank tellers, anyone who works in the entertainment industry, and of course, retail (all of these are jobs that haven't or can't really be outsourced).  hell, even stockbrokers, think about how little man power it actually takes to run any of that now.  and the kicker is that also kills the need for other electronic products like camera/camcorders and media players.  i understand that it takes man power and human intelligence to produce and program a smartphone, but it doesn't come close to the amount of jobs that it replaces.
  think about the magic pill.  think about if scientists invented a pill that was cheap and easy to produce, and could cure every disease.  maybe it's an enzyme that restructures dna, or a bacteria that kills every virus, bacteria, parasite, and cancer cell without harming the patient, or more likely it will be a cluster of nano-robots, but whatever, just say it's invented.  this is the dream of medicine.  this pill is a fixture, whether it's mentioned or not, in every futurist utopia; and it would mean utter economic collapse under our current system.  collapse for not just for doctors and researchers, but for the janitor who cleans the hospital, the factory workers who manufacture the beds, and so on.  and that's not even considering the strain on our resources and environment that increased longevity would bring.
  the iphone is the closest thing to the consumer electronics version of the "magic pill" that we have yet to see, but it surely is just the beginning.  barring some major global catastrophe, innovation will continue to make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of jobs obsolete with each coming decade.  optimistically assuming that human population plateaus in the near future (which it probably won't), this still presents a real quagmire.  how will we as a planet engulfed in employment based capitalism respond when the need for labor is greatly reduced?
  the irony of a man named jobs pioneering a field that lead to a reduction in the demand for actual jobs is quite astounding.  it's almost too absurd to be real.  but isn't it equally absurd to continue to use employment as means to prove worthiness in a post-industrial economy?  jobs will inevitably become obsolete faster than they are created.  let it also be know, for the record, that steve jobs expired on october 5th 2011.  i just wonder how many other jobs we will lose in the future, and how our global society will respond.
 

Saturday, September 3, 2011

BROOKLYN

last night rocked! we always have decent turnout and a good time playing at bruar falls, and last night was the best yet. we were worried that the true jacqueline might not make it down in time from massachusetts, but they made it ok. most of justice of the unicorns was stuck upstate due to hurricane irene damage, so russ played a solo set to start off the night. he was good given the circumstances, but i was really looking forward to hearing the whole band. hopefully i'll be able to catch them sometime soon.

tru-jac played a really good set as the crowd grew a little bigger, and by the time gold streets went on, the place was really hopping. gold streets were one of the first bands i saw when i moved to brooklyn 4 years ago and they are super nice and always put on a good show. they've been working on a new recording and we can't wait to give it a listen.

we played a pretty good set, i think the philly set was the best we've ever played (and there was no one there to see it!), but thursday in noho, and last night at BF were really solid. gavin had a little guitar trouble, which lead to me attempting to play (and f'ing butchering) the solo in "red car", and we played "love is a losing game" without him, which meant we skipped the guitar solo, which sucks, cause i thought it was awesome. honestly, i didn't know how it would work covering that song, i think we really kinda made it our own.

setlist:

helen of troy
holy bones
omg
red car
sleeping contest
secret show
love is a losing game
sea + enemy
meditation
free love

we had a blast on this little mini tour, but sadly, our days of playing together as a real working band are coming to an end. we are going to put out a 5 song ep over the next couple of months and play a release show for that. jeff and i will keep the planes going, but we're going to need a new bassist and guitarist, as sacha and gavin need time to pursue other endeavors. the four of us have had a wonderful time playing together, thanks in no small part to the mountains of support that we've gotten from all of our friends and fans out there.

people ask me why i still play music after years and years of work with no real commercial success. the answer is that i do it for all the other bands out there who put up countless hours of work for fleeting moments of glory, and for all the people who come out and spend their time and hard earned money supporting unknown acts in tiny bars because they understand that a community is a machine and even the smallest part is necessary to the function of the whole.

if you're a musician out there, on hard times, and someone out there asks you why you still do it, tell them you do it for me. i'll meet you at a show in the stratosphere. i'll buy the first round.

-steve

Friday, September 2, 2011

Northampton

we had terrible luck with traffic on wednesday heading to philly, and we had terrible luck with traffic headed up to noho. about 25 miles into connecticut, we put on "the boy with the arab strap", and the cars in front of us parted like the red sea. we followed it up with el jezel and happy hollows, two solid brooklyn bands. i was hoping to have a couple hours to roam around town before the show, but no such luck. but there was time to down a thai chicken burrito at bueno y sano, which is all that really matters.

sierra grille in northampton is awesome, everyone was super nice and we sold a couple of t-shirts to drunk people. we met the original bass player from sebadoh, he's an interesting guy. i think he fell in love with sacha (but who wouldn't?). a band from boston, "you can be a wesley", played after us and they were pretty good. i'll be catching them in williamsburg at cameo this thursday.

setlist:

i used to live here
holy bones
omg
collide
helen of troy
sleeping contest
red car
secret show
love is a losing game (amy winehouse)
sea + enemy
meditation
free love

we had brunch at the green bean in northampton and hit the road, got back here a little over an hour ago.

we're playing tonight at bruar falls in williamsburg, it's gonna be a great line up. justice of the unicorns, the true jacqueline, gold streets, and the planes. show starts at 8:30!

-steve

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Philly

we kicked off our mini-tour in philly last night to a very small, but enthusiastic, audience.

the problem with going to philadelphia is that you're likely to spend more time getting out of new york then you spend covering the 100 miles or so on the jersey turnpike. this proved to be the case for us, but we weathered the storm. we listened to shark? and clinical trials, two brooklyn bands you should really check out. late rolling into philly, jeff, gavin and myself set a world record for "fastest consumed cheesesteaks" (my first real cheesesteak, from pat's steaks, F'ING INCREDIBLE!!!!!), while sacha waited on the world's slowest prepared taco. despite the traffic and taco (which she said was "the best chicken taco i ever had, and worth the wait), and despite not knowing where we were, we made it to the show on time.

a philly band called "soundwaves" kicked off the night, followed by this dude, alec stewart, then us, then billy (i am not the universe, the dude who set up the show). the projected the phillies game on a white building across the street and cliff lee almost threw a no-no. jeff and i played miss pacman, but my joystick was broken.

setlist:

helen
holy bones
omg
sleeping contest
secret show
collide
love is a losing game (amy winehouse)
sea + enemy
free love
red car

i drove us home with a splitting headache and a stomach full of cheesesteak, gatorade and gas station coffee and kinda wanted to vom, but didn't. after flawlessly navigating philly, we got turned around in chinatown and ended up getting funneled onto the manhattan bridge like a bunch of lost tourists. i was back in williamsburg by 3am.

we're playing at the sierra grille in northampton, mass tonight. we'll catch you on the flip side.

later,
-steve

Friday, August 19, 2011

Changes coming to HBR

hello planet earth and parts beyond,

it's been awhile since i posted anything on here. i'm going to make a couple of changes to ensure that i post more often. for starters, i'm making it the official blog of my band, The Planes. Secondly, i'm going to write about some of the shows that i attend, primarily in the north brooklyn region of earth. Hopefully i won't piss anyone off more than a little.

when and if i get the gumption to write creatively again, i will post that here as well. i hope you've enjoyed my writings in the past, and i hope you're all excited for this awkward change.

regards,

-steve

Sunday, April 3, 2011

beatniks, part 1

jimmie, minkie, and dent set out to become beatniks. what spurred on this desire is anyone's guess. perhaps everyone passes a through beat stage en route to adulthood (except beatniks of course, who are stuck there forever). the thrill of mobility without parental guidance; the personal "on the road". the sudden disillusionment with society; an "america" of your own. the first hit of pot, a "naked lunch" you penned yourself, with little regard for the harnesses of coherence.

for these reasons, and unknown others, jimmie, minkie, and dent set out, one fine april day, to become beatniks.

"what should we listen to?" asked minkie, and the group loaded into jimmie's tan buick. "jazz" answered dent, "the beats loved jazz."

"our lucky day!" proclaimed jimmie, "my grandfather left his old glenn miller tapes in the glove box!"

the gang discussed the lack of diversity in milford (there were not enough black jazzcats like glenn miller), their mutual distaste for the misogynists on the varsity football team (kerouac would have hated them), and whether or not they should attempt to purchase some sort of substance stronger than the shwag that minkie had stolen out of her brother's sock drawer.

after 40 miles of this debate, the conversation puttered to a stop. dent silently wondered how glenn miller's entire band could fit in the underground village jazz joints of the 1960's. minkie fantasized about neal cassidy, as did jimmie...