lee ranaldo has the first issue of pornavida.. when sonic youth came to istanbul a year ago, one day before the gig the promoters held a warming up party at a sleazy, yet expensive bar .. the buzz was SY was going to attend..

now i've been a fan for 15 years, and this was going to be my first ever sonic youth concert.. my wife was kind enough to buy me tickets - she earns more money than i do - and she also took me to the party..

no one actually believed they'd show up.. we were the first people in there, and i drank a lot of beer while chanting "play some sonic youth" (they didn't).. about 2 hours passed, the place filled up with semi-fans, pretentitous art types, trendy yuppies, professional drunks and about 15 real fans.. shentov was there, we had pm'ed later on on the old board..

then suddenly, i turned to a 16 year old girl at a beatles concert circa 1966..

not really..
but, man was i excited..
i started shouting out to lee, then for thurston.. my wife later commented that i had an aggressive aura, and i probably was a little intimidating..

the guys didn't know what to do at that stage..
thurston headed for the bar, got a beer and instantly found himself overwhelmed by groupies.. (for the lack of a better word..)
lee just sort of walked by my way, and stood in front of me..

i tried to collect myself as much as i can..
i shook his hand.. told him i'd been waiting for that day for a very long time.. some babble about my youth.. lee was kind and cool, and listened to me with genuine interest..
afterall, this was the first time for SY to come to istanbul as well..
lee then asked of my wife, who was silently standing next to me, holding my hand.. i'd neglected her, and introduced the two.. a lot "my hero" et cetera were pronounced by then..
i gave a copy of the magazine that i produce - self-published xerox culture thingy called PORNAViDA, and lee thanked me gently..
we saw him later with the magazine tucked in his back pocket.. wow!

kim was cold, and my wife asked her about coco.. kim replied dryly, "coco has school.."
how anti-rock 'n roll is that..
how cool is that..?

steve had gone into the dj booth, looking for some decent music - he failed.. jim was hanging arund kim most of the timei and everyone wanted their photos taken with them, so i moved away..

and thurston..
as i've said, he was at the bar with a beer in his hand, people flooding him.. i have mild agoraphobia, so i wasn't too keen on diving in there.. my wife took me by my hand, and dragged me right in..
she started talking to thurston, and she intoduced me..
"and thurston, by the way, this is my husband..!"

thurston was cool.. i said the same things - not quite intelligent, half drunk and too excited guy babbling - and he was pretty cool about the whole affair..

overall impression of sonic youth from a long time fan..

thurston --> the indie superstar
lee --> the cool guy
steve --> sorry, but kind of geeky, and very polite
kim --> scary, cold, but definitely not rude

i kinda overlooked jim..
i got all their autographs on the gig poster..

the following day, we were the first in line for the concert.. as we were goofing around killing time, a car stopped in front of us and steve got out.. he recognized us from the night before, and chatted with us for a while..
"are you guys the first in line?"
yeah, man..
always...  ¶ 11:57 PM 0 comments

  the OGLé turns 30 with a party... it was a small event, about 10 people in total.. "mucho" booze...

the party music mix was composed of two parts..
the first was the classics and god tunes bundled together..
the second was going to be edgy mainstream..

a lot of the "post-punk revival" stuff.. the bravery, editors, even some arctic monkeys..
pj harvey, dEUS, pixies and a few sonic youth tunes (one was "plastic sun")..
the ramones, cypress hill, beastie boys and beach boys..
obscure dandy warhols songs..
queens of the stone age and eagles of death metal..
graham coxon, the jesus and mary chain, the sisters of mercy..
i snuck in joy division.. "love will tear us apart"
the bossa nova covers of new wave hits from nouvelle vague..
the yeah yeah yeahs, the vines, the hives, and even some placebo..
L7, le tigre, a load of morphine tunes..
weezer, hole, the distillers, add n to (x) and the lemonheads..
some electronica, the chemical brothers, audio bullys and basement jaxx..


the second part was to be mainstream.. but the first part lasted about 9 hours, the sun rose and everyone went home..
if i had the time, i'd have played old prince tunes.. gloria gaynor, village people, ABBA --- before i go on, i must inform you that the majority of this collection came from an anonymous co-worker, who'd placed a folder entitled "it doesn't get any gay than this" on our network..
it would have been a swirlin' disco madness...

as i'd said earlier, my wife bought me a trumpet for my birthday, and everyone at the party took turns to try it..
my wife made a louder sound than me (is it "i"?), and i had to beat her at it.. my poor neighbors..
the theme was "FUCK! I TURN 30 SOON.." as posters and the t-shirt i wore..

cheers guys..  ¶ 12:05 AM 0 comments

  demanding a dream... certainly..

need to work on the new edition of pornavida.. the material at hand needs improvement, and i want to expand the distribution.. too costly..

need new music..

i have turned 30...  ¶ 11:40 PM 0 comments

  a variety of fruit and refreshments...
been trolling on the sonic youth board for too long.. after seeing don letts' "punk attitude" documentary last night, i feel even more bored..

work related boredom.. insert the line here..

need to party hard..  ¶ 12:37 AM 0 comments

  past weekend in blur... blew sunday off with the first season of FUTURAMA, the documentary on ron jeremy, and wes craven's "last house on the left" and some monty python..

on my list remains larry clark, with "kids" and "ken park"..

i also have some exploitation specials.. "freaks" and "cannibal holocaust"..

too much TV can burn your eyes, and numb the soul, and one would be grateful for that..  ¶ 1:13 AM 0 comments