It’s a mystery to me

Beyond being myself, I haven’t really done.

Tonight, ended oddly, somehow perverse, somehow prophetic and somehow irrelevant. I went to the US Christmas/Mastodon/Neurosis show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. This in itself was already a strange concoction of the evening. What was surprising, and yet admirable, was both the last two acts had fuck ups.  And they didn’t attempt to hide it, it was ok, and fixed, and let’s move on. It was terrific. It provided the, if only momentary, humanity of the event itself. The crowd certainly blanketed any conscious attempt at being so. For the most part they were, well, dignified.  It was a glorious event. A wholesome escape in the norm that has become northern Brooklyn. It made me gag a little. Thankfully the event was maintained by persons of color, other wise the event would have been entirely void of any.  Pathetic. As much as I love to pretend I’m helping the bands performing, I’m equally hurting the neighborhood they are playing in. And I have no way of justifying it other than I’m not helping out some mega conglomerate company.

Opinions and rants aside, it was a night of who you know or where you go.

I ventured to my usually watering hole, Duff’s, after making a more than needed stop into San Loco for some dinner around 12:30am. When I got to Duff’s it was typical. A handful of people who are quickly introduced by the lovely Tracy. Then all hell breaks loose. By mid bite of my third and final taco, Bill from Mastodon shows up. And slowly the deluge of fans and cling-ons show up at Duff’s. Thankfully, I know the bartender and the members of the band.  I spit with Stella and Brent for a bit, who eventually exit into the remainder of what of is Thursday night. I stumble around and somehow make myself useful enough that JD (the owner) decides I can drink for free for the rest of the night. Great. Jimmy, I drove my car here. What the hell am I gonna do with free drinks. Fuck it, it’s Thursday, I drink.

All in all, it was nice. I got to, if only briefly, chat with Stella, Tracy, Brent, Bill, Dave, Joel, Brann, and Troy. And some other random girl so messed up all I wanted to do was kick her in the head. No, I mean it. This girl was so out there it was getting on my nerves.

Anyhow, it was nice to be me yet have, what some who see as cool, happen to me.  No complaints. Well, maybe I’ll regret the staying up late when I have to get up for work, but that’s par for the course.

Nine Inch Nails Open Source Remixes

nin remixes

After months of deliberation of nearly 200 fan submitted remixes, “The Limitless Potential” open source remix collection is finally available. This 21 track collection of the very best Nine Inch Nails remixes can be downloaded absolutely free from Painful Convictions. Thanks to Trent Reznor for providing the Multitrack files to the public to do with as they will, and the many talented artists who remixed the tracks.

Several judges took countless hours to review each of the 200 mixes and came up with a list of 21 “best of the best” remixes to be featured on the site. Taking home the 1st place Hot Topic prize package is Dirty Scarab for his version of My Violent Heart (Prevention; Rejection). The 2nd place runner-up Faction package goes to the version of Vessel (Losing Control Remix) by Pushing Reality. Congratulations to both prize package winners for creating exceptional remixes and also to the 19 other winners that are featured here today for creating quality remixes.

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