Omnicircus Performance

In 1982, when I first arrived in Chicago, I answered a flyer in the Gingerman bar for a film looking for a synthesizer player. At the time I was sleeping on the floor of the Leo Lerner Theater box office, very broke, and often drunk. How could I say no? This was how I met the amazing Frank Garvey and his eternal film project - Omnicircus. In 1988, it turned into a live performance project. Think Survival Research Lab meets pre-war Munich and the birth of cabaret.

If you are in San Francisco, I urge you to check this event out. It is bound to entertain, mesmerize, and probably frighten and disturb you in ways you hadn't thought possible in our jaded universe today.



OmniCircus presents another fabulous EVENT-

A surreal anthem to the urban night
THOUSAND FACES BALL
DARK INDUSTRIAL CABARET!

Join Frank Garvey plus the MOTH NOR RUST Band for
2 BIG Saturday SHOWS!

November 1st & 8th @ 8pm

at OmniCircus

OPENING ACT: CUBAN CIGAR CRISIS

THOUSAND FACES BALL is a multimedia performance with
robots, music, projections, dance, performance and video...
Come experience our newest experimental surreal melo-drama
with the new OmniCircus band - MOTH NOR RUST

Featuring Underground Chanteuse and SUPERSTAR OmniDiva of
the Hell-blasted Streets -
JOAN LOON

The FIERY FURY of SPOKEN PREACHMENTS and Imprecations -
Reverand COSMO

The Honorable and Most Beneficial -
Colonel GEOFFREY POND
Of the Commandos of the LAST DAYS;

SARGENT-at-ARMS of the CHURCH of the 7th BARDO -
ARCHDUDE GARVEY

The Birdman of ABRACADABRA -
Dave GURSOM

The LADIES Auxiliary of the
JUNIOR DRAGONS of MYSTERY

And the Highly Sexually Sought-after CAN'T AFFORDIAN of the ACCORDIAN -
SPACE KAT THOMAS

As well as genius Multi-instrumentalist and Insta-mentalist -
COLFAX (aka Daniel BERKMAN)

and LINDEN the Lord of LOW-DOWN

And the Guru of Unholy Groundlings, the Terror and FIRST RESPONSE
PUNISHER of all Evolutionary LOTTERY LOSERS such as SMALL MAMMALS,
BIRDS, MICE and FLEAS...
SIR MONKEY!

PARTY AFTER THE SHOWS!!

$10 suggested donation
http://www.omnicircus.com
Please call 415-701-0686 for more information.

The OmniCircus is located at 550 Natoma Street,
between Mission and Howard and 6th and 7th Streets,
in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) district.
The door is on Russ Street.

Samira Said

Pat Smillie Band - Free Chicago Blues

A big thank you to all of the entertainment at WildClaw's Wicked Winter Carnival this past Saturday night (and Sunday morning, we stopped at 3AM!)

The Pat Smillie Band did a kickass acoustic blues set that rocked the house. Pat is going to be with same lineup in Wrigleyville this Friday night for FREE. Check them out for a great blues night:

PAT SMILLIE BAND (Acoustic set)
Friday (12/14) - 10pm
BRODY'S ON CLARK - 3369 N Clark - corner of Clark & Roscoe

FREE ADMISSION

The Hedrons

I'm writing this in that buzzing glow one gets when you've just heard a new band that is just right, right now. I was checking out who was going to be at Metro and The Hedrons appeared as a second act on a bill. I just missed the show, because I was at the Comic-Con. I went to their webpage where there is plenty of music and videos and holy fucking shit is this just the kind of music I want RIGHT NOW.

Omnicircus Redux

There was a time, 1981 to be exact, when I found myself drifting in Chicago. I had recently arrived from Texas where I had been playing synths in various projects and I had just finished performing and playing in a musical version of Shakespeare's The Tempest. (Don't ask - the last line of The Reader review said, "Stay away in droves.")


Charlie and his Moog Prodigy for hire

I was looking for my next wild-haired art thing and, boy, did I find it. I was drinking (surprise) at The Gingerman, next to Metro, and saw a homemade flyer on the wall asking for a synthesizer player for a movie soundtrack. I ripped the tag off the flyer and called and thereby entered the exotic sphere of Frank Garvey.


Painting by Frank Garvey

Why am I telling you this? Frank and his expanded Omnicircus clan of misfits will have an installation of robots, paintings and performing at Acme Art Works on Wednesday, March 21 at 8PM. I haven't seen it yet, but it strikes me as a similar vibe to Survival Research Lab only inside and with less blood, fire and gasoline. All art, revolutionary manifestos, robots, dirty words, flung paint played at 11. I'm looking forward to it.

Check out Lilia Ahner's Flickr set for one of Survival Research Lab's shows. Trust me, if you can't go to an SRL show, at least take a peek at what you missed.

Heroes

One of the cool things I like about the NBC TV show, Heroes, is who does the soundtrack - two of my favorite artists, Wendy and Lisa, also known as The Girl Bros. They first got noticed nationally when they joined up with Prince on his Dirty Minds album and proceeded to create ground-breaking records as Prince and the Revolution. I highly recommend their follow-up albums as 'Wendy and Lisa' and 'Girl Bros'.


Here's Wendy Melvoin, Sheila E, and Lisa Coleman at the Brit Awards 2006.


Wendy and Lisa at the Brit Awards 2006 where they would play with Prince for the first time in twenty years.

Photos © 2006 renata k.

Engel

I've added another song to the First Fear working soundtrack - 'Engel' by Rammstein.



Here's the English translation:

Angel

Who in their lifetime is good on Earth
and will become an angel after death
you look to the sky and ask
why can't you see them

First if the clouds have gone to sleep
you can see us in the sky
we are afraid and alone

God knows I don't want to be an angel

They live behind the sunshine
separated from us, infinite expanse
they must cling to the stars (very tightly)
so they won't fall from the sky

First if the clouds have gone to sleep
you can see us in the sky
we are afraid and alone

God knows I don't want to be an angel

© 1997 Edition Rammstein from the Sennsucht album.



I've seen Rammstein a couple of times now, once at Metro and another time on the Southside in a huge metal sports hall. The Metro show was interesting, because Chicago prohibits pyrotechnics in most venues and the band had to play sans fire. On the next tour around they played at the most out of the way joint around, but they were outside city limits and lit the place up with flames, firecrackers, and pyro from every possible angle and limb. Rammstein is both impressive and disturbing for their way with the audience. The Germanic rally atmosphere is pretty overwhelming and the irony is unfortunately lost on some of the skinhead fans. Scary on many levels.

I'm So Sick

The comic book I'm working on, The First Fear, has gotten another song in the 'inspiration' soundtrack. The band, Flyleaf, has a tune called, I'm So Sick, which works perfectly with where I'm going with the script. Their website has it streaming in the background, along with another song, Fully Alive.

Dementia has played such an integral part of my life the last several years I have decided to incorporate it into the story I'm writing. (And no, I am not the one suffering from the disease.) A meeting I had earlier today delivered the news that we were coming to a threshold I have been dreading for a while now. It's surprising how this phase of the disease has brought on an emotional impact that is far greater than I had imagined. You always think you're prepared.

I've not used my art as personal outlet other than to entertain, shock and amuse the viewer. After 35 years of making things, I appear to be at a crossroad where an emotional investment into this story may be of some use. We'll see.

The First Fear Music

Every major piece of creative work I have ever been involved with, be it an illustration, an animation, a play, a computer game, pretty much anything, has always had music associated with it. Even when I've eventually written the music myself, there's always a work track involved during the creation. It is part of the sensory aspect of the story the fills in a lot of blanks for me creatively.



I've been working on a comic book idea called 'The First Fear' and while the concept is exciting to me there has been a piece missing. Up until this point it didn't have any music connected to it. No soundtrack for the ideas to play against. Until now. I was up late watching MTV2 and saw a great video for Ladytron's new CD, Witching Hour. The song felt right and now that I have it, it is right. The song is called 'Destroy Everything You Touch' and even the lyrics work with the piece. I move forward now with confidence. It is falling together.

Garbage!

After a year of waiting, we will finally get to see the Garbage Soundstage concert we went to. Tonight on WTTW's Soundstage program, Garbage will play and off to Shirley Manson's right, in the third row, you will see Julienne and I behaving badly.