MICROMONDO

OK, so apparently Gabriel got the message that I wanted you all to see the videos that happened from the MicroMondo project he did. If you've forgotten already, just scroll down a couple posts...

Here's the website. Check out the videos.

He wants to do this in other places, if you are interested in doing it in whatever city you live in, get at me, or him.

I really love this one-

Summertime Mix

With my excess time, I decided to put together a mix of songs that I have been listening to lately. Some of these songs are old, some are new, all are fantastic. Its only up for 7 days so get it while you can.

Part one

Part two

Oh and I know one of the songs didn't make it. Not sure why, but High Places wouldn't compress... So instead of 27, there are only 26 songs.

Loves!

UPDATE- If this has a problem, let me know- kenconsumer @ gmail.com, I saw that there are already 65 downloads as of Tuesday night and they only allow 100, so if it don't work, email me and I'll repost. CIAO!

No More Prisons

In America, we face over population in our prisons for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that we do not actually rehabilitate our prisoners, we just perpetuate the idea of being in prison as a safer place for habitual prisoners... The Netherlands with their lax drug laws and insistence on education and reformation have obviously been doing something right-

http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_prisons_for_lack_of_criminals

Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals

Published: 19 May 2009 16:31 | Changed: 20 May 2009 15:35

By our news desk

The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's research department expects to continue for some time.

Belgian prisoners

Some reprieve might come from a deal with Belgium, which is facing overpopulation in its prisons. The two countries are working out an agreement to house Belgian prisoners in Dutch prisons. Some five-hundred Belgian prisoners could be transferred to the Tilburg prison by 2010.

The Netherlands would get 30 million euros in the deal, and it will allow the closing of the prisons in Rotterdam and Veenhuizen to be postponed until 2012.

Festivals

As of this moment, Terrible Eagle will be playing 3 festivals this summer-

July 31 @ klangtherapie
Aug 14-16 @ Dockville
Aug 28 @ Rospi in Liberta

If you are around Germany or Italy then, come hang out.

More reasons to LOVE Veneto

My friends here in Veneto are a part of a creative collective called Madcap Collective. They all do really cool stuff and the sense of community that they create is truly wonderful. Last Sunday they celebrated their 6th(?) birthday by throwing a party in Mestre at Villa Francin, the place I played the previous Sunday with Federico (who is part of the collective and is also the man behind Father Murphy, which is touring the US in June.) Chris, Nolan and I loaded up and rode out for the joyous occassion.



This is Gabrielle. He is a part of the collective and makes videos and does really cool video projects. He had a couple pieces, one that had me singing "Love Me Tender" to a statue and Federico as a young Hitler and another public video project. The public project was really great. He put a bunch of objects in a box and left them out in a place with some rules. Essentially, to be a part of the project, you had to a make a video using all the objects in the box and shoot it at the space where the box was. Some really really great videos came of this. I wish I had a way to show them to you, but alas I do not, so you are going to have to trust me. He is hoping to continue this project in places around the world. New York, Hamburg, Berlin- I'm lookng at you...



Blake/e/e/e playing. I think I may tour with them in October for a while. Real cool.






After the party was over, some pizzas were had. Ahh pizza...

On Saturday of this week, Paola brought me to a really killer spot. It took us about an hour or so to get there from Castelfranco, but it was totally worth it. What you are looking at below is the Veneto region from on top of a big hill/mountain. It was really magical.



The reason we came here was to see this (below).





Apparently, this guy lives/lived somewhere near this place. Rubbio possibly? Anyway, he did all this in like 1990. Shit is totally cool. We spent a couple hours just hanging around in it. Te top thing is called Cava Colorata, the one with the metal stuff, I have no idea. Both equally amazing.



Ciao Ya'll!

Its Been a While Since I Seen You Smile

Dearest Friends,
I am sorry that I have not been updating this blog for a while. Sometimes, it slips my mind or I run into internet problems, or things just don't work out... Here is what I have been up to for the last month. I hope to be more regular, but maybe I won't. Who knows?




So, I was in Texas for a while. I got a chance to hang around at my Dad's ranch some and fish and stuff with him and my brother Jim.



Then back in Houston, I hung with Kyle at Big Star Bar while he DJed out of the back of his truck. Pretty fucking cool if you ask me.
After Texas I went back to New York and we had a party at the Firehouse.



This is Eli from Columbia. She had a poem written on her arms.






BuddyHollyCost played his unique brand of noise rawk on the roof.




The next day, the Psychic Ills were playing at Mercury with Spectrum.
After New York, I flew to Munich and took a train down to Vicenza, Italy to stay at Chris and Toni's place for a while. Erin from Hamburg flew in and we went to Treviso to play with Federico from Father Murphy in Mestre as Terrible Father.




On Friday and Saturday there was a noise (and I mean hardcore noise) festival in Fontanelle that Fede took us to out in an old Italian villa surrounded by grape vines. It was totally surreal.



Paolo after the Terrible Father show in Mestre at Villa Francin.



Federico back at his place in Treviso. I think he was pontificating on the importance of sobriety...
On Monday we came back here to Vicenza and went for a walk. The image below is of a statue on a church at the top of the hill. If you look at the statue, you can see that he has his skin slung over his shoulder like a cape or something. Fucking weird!




Vicenza from that hill (above) and the Church (below.)




I really like this little skull and crossbones thing they have near the train tracks.

Erin and I went over to Venice on Wednesday and Thursday. Below are a bunch of pics from there.




Look how angry this seagull looks. It was hilarious watching him run the pigeons off from the food.



These are all disposable razors. Looks like someone has been throwing them there for years. Weirdo.






This is from the Rialto at night. Breathtaking...