Patrick of Digital Ferret Fights Back for all Home Owners!!!

Patrick has let me show my work at Digital Ferret a few times, and I consider the man a pal and a great guy to do business with. So when I heard about this, I couldn't be happier:

"It's not clear how this story will turn out, but right now Patrick Rodgers is living a pay-back fantasy probably shared by millions of struggling U.S. homeowners.

Frustrated by a dispute with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and by his inability to get answers to questions, the West Philadelphia homeowner took the mortgage company to court last fall.

When Wells Fargo still didn't respond, Rodgers got a $1,000 default judgment against it for failing to answer his formal questions, as required by a federal law called the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

And when the mortgage company didn't pay - does something sound familiar? - Rodgers turned to Philadelphia's sheriff."

Read the full story on Philly.com!

Also, I want to note that the one thing that is getting lost in all of this is that Patrick owns and tuns Digital Ferret. The place is AWESOME! Spread the word!

DVD Funhouse - The BEST Movie Store I've Ever Seen

I was in New York City yesterday, just walking around and having a good time. Walking towards the Flatiron building, I stopped in a cafe that was across the street from a place advertising $5.99 DVD's. Just for the hell of it, I decided to walk in, expecting nothing more than a ton of used DVD's.

Nope. $5.99 for brand new DVD's.

Now, there are used DVD's from Blockbuster for $3.99, but they also had brand-new DVD box sets as cheap as $5.99! In fact, they have the entire Aeon Flux series for only $6.99! Amazing!

I wound up picking the following because I either couldn't find it this cheap, or anywhere else:

1. The Ben Stiller Show (All 13 Episodes)
2. Hamlet 2
3. Chasing Amy
4. South Park Imaginationland Uncut
5. Samurai Jack Season 4 ($6.99)

The last one was the most shocking for me. Animation fans and anyone who grew up at the turn of the century knows that Samurai Jack was a show that never got the respect it deserved in the end, and no proper series finale. The final season is only of legend to me, and now, after nearly 10 years, I finally get to see it! $7 was incredibly cheap, especially since most places price it at $30+!

The Ben Stiller Show was another personal highlight as well. I wanted to watch it for years, and the cheapest I had seen it was $20. Throw in Andy Dick as a cast member, and it has to be good!

Chasing Amy is a personal favorite of a film, and I've only had the VHS for 8 years. Again, the cheapest I've found this DVD ever. Its cool I finally get to catch Hamlet 2, and the copy of Imaginationland I got came uncensored and with commentary, which, if history has taught me anything, will be better and 100% different than if I bought the season they were in. Plus, I can toss it to a pal when I'm done. :)

The DVD's are all Region 1 so they will play in your DVD player. If you can, spend the $20 to go up there and stock up! They also have recent releases up there, like Bruno, and a bunch of others.

DVD Funhouse
655 Sixth Ave
New York, NY 10010

GWAR on Fox News. No, Seriously. GWAR ON FOX NEWS!

AWESOME! "If the Rolling Stones could play their instruments, they still wouldn't be half as good!" Its a great interview and I don't want to spoil anything for you, just check it out and enjoy.

GWAR RULES!!!!!

HOLY CRAP! This is My 300th Post! How To Celebrate....

Wow, 300 posts! 300 nuggets of semi-useless information about anything and everything I could come up with over a 2-year period!

How to celebrate... Oh, I know! WITH GIR FROM INVADER ZIM!



ENJOY!

Slipknot Calls Coldplay "Music To Wipe Your Ass To"; Self-Important "Music" Fans Cry

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has slammed Coldplay – accusing them of making “music to wipe your ass to”.

Taylor made the remark when asked to comment on Coldplay's latest album 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends'.

“That is one of the most self-celebratory pieces of **** I’ve ever ******* heard in my entire ******* life,” Taylor said on MTV2's review of the year.

“Go suck a ******* ****. Are you watching Martin? Suck it. Go eat a bag of ****. I ******* hate that album. It’s music to wipe your ass to.”

Coldplay's fourth record is the fastest selling album in the UK this year, spending four weeks at number one when it was released in June.

It has also topped the charts in 35 other countries, and has sold over two million copies in the US alone.

Source: Gigwise.com

The article neglects to mention that Coldplay is being Sued By Joe Satriani For Plagiarizing "Viva La Vida".

Coldplay. When they burst upon the music scene in 2000, one thought came to mind: Here comes another slow-motion band based on REM and Radiohead that thinks they can do something "awesome" with their brand of lo-fi, non-offensive, boring rock. They will go nowhere. Then they released that "Clocks" song and wound up staying around to today. Every self-indulgent "music" fan, and I use the term loosely because they think "music" consists of nothing more than mediocre bands and music that don't try to challenge the listener, but instead insults them with nonsensical drivle lyrics.

Bah.

That said, these self-indulgent music-holes aren't going to really care what a group of metalheads in jumpsuits and masks have to say about their latest flavor of vanilla. But, hey, it gave me an excuse to write this and put an album cover on a roll of toilet paper!

THE PHILLIES ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

I love every single major team in this city. For only 2 years did I turn my back on a team (The 76ers for the 2 years before they finally got rid of Iverson), but my love for all these teams knows no bounds. Having the Phillies win... my god, I've never seen this city like this! EVER! EVER EVER! Let me put it like this: If I lived to be 100, I never thought I would see everyone in Philly smile and cheer and be happy! New Years isn't even CLOSE to what I saw here tonight!

NOTHING! NOTHING IN MY LIFE compares to what I saw and witnessed tonight! I.... I'm in tears! Without a doubt, this was the most beautiful moment this city has had in a long time! After all the crap we've been through as a city, we finally have something to celebrate that we can all agree with.

WATCH MY PHOTOS HERE!

It's Official: METALLICA KICKS ASS AGAIN!

8-Album Mind: All Killer Queen, No Filler Punk!

The Plasmatics - Put Your Love In Me: Love Songs for the Apocalypse ♠♠♠♠
Punk-O-Rama 6 ♠♠♠♠
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack ♠♠♠♠♠
Queen - A Night at the Opera ♠♠♠♠♠
Queen - A Day at the Races ♠♠♠♠♠
Punkzilla - The Compilation ♠♠♠♠♠
Queen - Live Killers ♠♠♠
The Plasmatics - Maggots: The Record ♠♠♠♠
The Plasmatics - Final Days: Anthems for the Apocalypse ♠♠♠♠♠

My absolute for The Plasmatics and Wendy O. Williams aside, I'll save my thoughts on their discography for later.

Queen. My god, I can't believe I considered selling these albums! "Sheer Heart Attack" is a classic album, notably for basically creating thrash metal with "Stone Cold Crazy". The way the tracks simply roll by as if it's one large piece of music, culminating in "The Lap of the Gods"... orgasmic. Simply orgasmic.

"A Night at the Opera" should easily become required listening for ANYONE with a taste in music whatsoever! The seamless blend of genres, from metal to hard rock to opera to almost everything in between... this album is simply perfect, not one imperfection in sight, and just going from "Death on Two Legs" to "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" cracks me up! "Day at the Races" is a decent listen. It falls in the shadow of the monolith that is "Night at the Opera", but still works incredibly well. Lets be honest, here; if you reached the top, your not going to duplicate it the next time around.

Also, yeah, "Live Killers"... that was actually one of the first albums I ever bought in my life, possibly one of my first 100 CD's (I've bought, owned, and sold off a total of over 1100 so far, although that's a bit of an estimate. A good one since I own nearly 1000 right now) when I was 14 in 1999. I was never thrilled with the album but, with time, I've basically got used to it. Queens right about the production, it really falls short. Really, I think if the surviving members of Queen simply went back to the master tapes and remixed and remastered it the result would be a million times better. Damn it, take a cue from Dave Mustaine!

Punkzilla and Punk-O-Rama 6 are really good comps of punk songs, both of them simply just being able to bring about some really great artists and really great songs. Punkzilla actually has material from AFI before they, lets face it, sold out their horror-punk style for commerical succcess. They also have material from The Offspring's S/T disc. Punk-O-Rama has a damn good line-up and, really, it's hard to pick any one band or track since they all seem to kick so much ass!

Finally, the Plasmatics. God-damn these comps are good! "Put Your Love in Me" and "Final Days: Anthems For the Apocalypse" are released under The Plasmatics name, but it can be reasonably argued that these are more Wendy O. Willams comps than anything else. After Coup d'Etat, The Plasmatics, for all intents and purposes, broke-up. The story actually is conflicting; the word from Wendy O and Rod Swanson, Rod being the man who created the band, stated constantly that they simply renamed the band. That, despite the fact that only Wes Beech the bassist and T.C. Tolliver from the Coup sessions as the drummer remained. By the time Maggots: The Record arrived, only Wendy and Wes remained and, really, it was just Wendy being a solo artist using the Plasmatics name. That's another day and another argument.

"Put Your Love in Me" is, in essence, what "Fuck You!!! And Loing It: A Wendy O. Willams Retrospective" should have been instead; Not released under the Plasmatics name but under Wendy's. A little over half of the 11 songs are Wendy's solo-work and the stand out tracks really are from her solo-career. The fact that it starts out with the incredibe song, "Fuck that Booty", just simply makes this a damn good comp.

Meanwhile, "Final Days" is THE defineative Plasmatics comp. It features THE best tracks by The Plasmatics group, from the "New Hope" to "Maggots". These really are the best of the best tracks, and I'm certian that a few of them, such as "Opus in Cm7", were never released before. Throwing in a Wendy O, track from her "thrash" rap-metal album (which actually pre-dates Anthrax's "I'm The Man", depending mainly on who you ask) "Lies", an incredible song that sounds more and more like something recorded today and may had inspired Frank Miller's story line about a "fake president" in The Dark Night Strikes Back, right down to Regan himself!

FIANLLY, Maggots: The Record. I don't have enough room or time to just explain this one, so look for a full review later. It is simply brilliant and stand-out track from this thrash metal opera are "Destoryers", "Propogators", and "Finale".

8-Album Mind: The Brainwashed Do Not Yet Know They Are Brainwashed

The Plasmatics - New Hope for the Wretched ♠♠♠
The Plasmatics - Metal Priestess (EP) ♠♠♠
The Plasmatics - Beyond the Valley of 1984 ♠♠♠♠♠
The Plasmatics - Coup D'Etat ♠♠♠♠♠
Punk-O-Rama III ♠♠♠♠
Punk-O-Rama 5 ♠♠♠

Things looking up, business picking up (sort of), and decided to listen one of my favorite bands, The Plasmatics. The Plasmatics are, without a doubt, the single greatest and important bands that you may have never heard of. This isn't just the writings up some deranged fan; this is coming form someone who has dedicated his life to learning about anything and all things metal and punk.

In 1979, The Plasmatics were selling out CBGB's whenever they played and, on the success of some of the greatest live shows ever (involving lead singer Wendy O. Willams slashing tv's with chainsaws), they released a single and an EP. By 1981, Wendy O. had brought the Mohawk into not only punk, but also into pop culture. Before the album was released, she was beaten by Milwaukee police after a show, prompting the album "Beyond the Valley of 1984" to become their best disc.

By 1983, World Domination for this art-rock inspired punk band was within sight! Or, it would have been, if not for MTV refusing to play the incredibly expensive, and equally impressive, video for "The Damned" off the album "Coup D'Etat". The album stripped away some of the punk and added a more metal tinge to the group (or simply brought it out, really) and that album is really on par with Metallica's "Kill 'em All". Without a doubt, The Plasmatics were THE most dangerous band in the world in 1983.

Every hallmark of punk, everything you think makes a good punk show... it most likely can be traced back to The Plasmatics. It is a shame that the annals of music history has almost left this band untouched and unremembered by the punk and metal communities at large, and that the memory of Wendy O's fierce personallity is left to the diehard fans who got to see her and those of use who could only wish we did.

Digital Ferret: As Dark As It Gets

I headed down today to Digital Ferret earlier today to do my review.

The first great thing about this store is that it does something I've never seen any store do before; describe the bands it sells. Granted, right now it's limited to Industrial Music (99% of the store), but it is still incredibly nice! I've seen bands I wanted to get into but know nothing about. The little reviews are great as they have descriptions about the musical output of a band. For example, I wanted to get into KMFDM but had no idea what they sounded like. So after reading a little card, it basically stated that they fused metal with industrial music, their impact, etc... I now own about most of all their CD's (save ADIOS, which I sold. It was bad).

Now, onto the new metal section! Their new metal section is composed on 99% black metal, 1% a few other discs. While I was there, someone else was buying about 15% of their stock. I'm not kidding. "Well, the price is right!" How true it is! If it's "kvlt", it's there for only $9.97!


The space is huge, incredibly clean, and the kind and friendly staff was a pleasure to be with! They constantly have art up, rotating periodically. The t-shirt selection is good, and the magazines and books cater to the goth and metal audience perfectly.

My good friend and I were discussing the possibility of the metal section in the store growing. "As time goes on, their metal selection may improve," he said. "Well, " I replied, "how many industrial music stores are there in this country?" The fact is, there isn't a lot. This store is a treasure for the industrial and goth community, not only in Philly, but also for the suburbs and such. It would be a shame to basically have it become 50% industrial 50% Metal.

At the same time, I wouldn't mind metal just being given a small little alcove at this great place. The metal section, since it is still new, is confined to only a white rack and a small little box next to the counter, but expanding it to include stuff like thrash, alternative, and grindcore.

Digital Ferret is just a great store, and it's worth checking out!

Coming Soon: SKATEBOARD DECKS! SERIOUSLY!

I wish I was lying, but no, I only now stumbled across how to make and sell custom skateboards! Well, after 10 years of waiting and 5 years of trying to do it myself, I finally found that, yes, there is a company online that WILL print and sell your custom skateboard decks!

90% of all the work you've seen from me has been, you guessed it, designed for sneakers and skateboard decks! I see them as awesome ways to express my art and really, just more interesting than a poster.

NOT READY YET! But here's a teaser:

8-Album Mind: Here's to The Old School!

Overkill - Necroshine ♠♠♠♠
Overkill - Killbox 13 ♠♠♠♠
Overkill - Relix IV ♠♠♠
Overkill - Immortalis ♠♠♠ REVIEW
Ozzfest 2002 ♠ SOLD
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman ♠♠♠
Overkill - Extended Versions ♠♠♠♠♠

Overkill die-hards will notice that I skipped two big (and if you follow the band, they're big) releases, namely the incredible album Bloodletting and the live album that followed, Wrecking Everything. They're not here only because today was a kinda throw-away day at work (we're throwing this big-ass party tomorrow), so I decided to save it for when I got home and just draw. Look for them tomorrow or Sunday.

That aside, not much to say today. Killbox 13, Relix IV, and the Ozzfest CD had their last chances today, and it may shock you that I did list Overkill as a possible cut. After Bloodletting, it seemed that age his Overkill like a ton of bricks, their more recent albums being heavy but not as memoriable. Killbox 13 was incredible in every aspect; incredibly heavy, brilliant lyrics, and a very intestesting album. Relix IV still isn't as good to me, and Immortalis still kinda sits (save a few tracks).

It's also worth noting that die-hard fans also don't exactly like "Extended Version" because, like the rest of the BMG series, it's just a live album they already did made into a one-disc comp. Oddly enough, for that reason alone, this albums succeds! It's all killer, no filler, and going from "Hello from the Gutter" to "Elimination" simply rips and tears! Great disc, definitely get this if your either are a fair-weather fan or not!

Meanwhile, the Ozzfest CD is on the way out. When I got this album, it was the fall of 2002 and in the looming shadow of a war with Iraq. The anti-war vibe was strong, not only with the informed public who knew better (the vocal "minority") and the sentiment of that feeling was strong at that Ozzfest, with "War Pigs" opening the album. More than anything, nostalgia has made me keep this disc because man does it suck! Yeah, Drowning Pool covered "Creeping Death", but so what? It was a mediocre cover by a mediocre band. The fact that bands like Adema got record deals is just sad. If anything, I may keep a copy of Andrew WK basically struggling with Kelly Osboure to sing "She is Beautiful" and Zakk Wylde with Soil singing their only decent song "Halo".

"Diary of a Madman" is a simply brilliant album. Now, you may wonder why "Blizard of Ozz" isn't listed first and it's simple; I'm an idiot who thought that not onlt did this precede that album, but I always thought this was an EP. No, you read that right, I always thought this was an EP. But that's only because it's one of the few albums from Ozzy I bought that had the smaller cover. Oh, and I sold Blizzard of Ozz. Why? It was a great album, but it was also the one where $haron Osbourne had the original drums and bass parts re-recorded. If I can, I'll but the ORIGINAL instead.

KICK-ASS! New Larry West Shoe Available, MORE ON THE WAY!!!!

I can now sell SNEAKERS!

Expect a LOT more tomorrow and over the weekend!

Right now, you can only get the "Punk Skull" shoe, but hell, it's perfect for back to school! Buy it so I don't need to start stalking you!!!!




AND COMING SOON:

8-Album Mind: Bastard Nation

OVERKILL

• The Years of Decay ♠♠♠♠
• Horrorscope ♠♠♠♠♠
• I Hear Black ♠♠♠
• W.F.O. ♠♠♠♠
• Wrecking Your Neck ♠♠♠
• The Killing Kind ♠♠♠♠
• From the Underground and Below ♠♠♠♠
• Coverkill ♠♠♠

Overkill is, without a doubt, one of my Top 10 bands of all time. Considering what I listen to, it's not surprising. In fact, it's easy to say they have to be Top 5, along with Megadeth, Devin Townsend (including SYL, Solo, etc), The Plasmatics, and Slayer. So don't look for me to harp on albums here, it's just one simple rule: BUY THEM ALL!!!!!!!

Overkill is the incredibly rare band, one that even those in my Top 5 (save Devin Townsend), that can simply release an album on a consistent basis and even their worst is better than a lot of people's best. Since 1985 and the release of "Feel the Fire", you would be hard-pressed to find an Overkill album that didn't sit well with the others. Which brings me to the Surprise of the Day, "I Hear Black". Originally released in 1993, this post-Nirvana disc saw Overkill grow and expand their sound by mixing their metal roots with heavy doses of blues and Black Sabbath. The result is actually mixed; some choice cuts, namely "Dreaming in Columbian" and "World of Hurt", do more than a lot of metal bands could at the time without losing an ounce of heaviness, an even RARER feat!

That aside, the best cuts from today?

Bastard Nation, E.vil N.ever D.ies, Elimination, Time to Kill, It Lives, Cold Hard Fact, Battle, God-Like, Blood Money (THE Most under-rated Overkill Song EVER!!!!), Thanx for Nothing, Solitude, I Hate, and about 50 more I didn't name.

Oddly enough, today wasn't great; wound up getting really angry most of the day and got a last-minute project I needed to do in 2 hours. All-in-all... you know, it was pretty good.

My Ugly Mug is on Cafepress

If you have a shop on Cafepress like I do, then you may have gotten today's newsletter which included pictures of the latest Meet & Greet which I have already posted about. Twice. For one reason or another, they decided to put my picture in there. And already, the requests for dates have... not been coming in. Ladies, don't worry, I'm single! There's plenty of Larry and his Mohawk to go around!

There's only two on their Flickr page, but worth checking out:

Larry at the Bar
Larry just being... Larry

Also, check out the shop often from now until Sunday; I plan on adding and removing products, and possibly re-designing the store. We'll see.

Also, on their competitor side:

I was getting ready to sit down and start this, when I got an e-mail from Zazzle.com.

Turns out they beat me to it! In a few days, you will be able to purchase a custom pair of sneakers based on one of my favorite piece's, "Punk Skull"! Now, some may consider this the ultimate cash-in or selling out. The reality is, this image was pretty much done with the idea that I would eventually put it on sneakers. I've wanted to do custom sneakers for about 3 years... I'm just psyched that I can finally do it!I'll keep you posted on this, but basically, this is the shoe!

MOTÖRHEAD To Tour U.S. With MISFITS, Play Philadelphia; Larry Faints

Unless you've been deaf or dead since 1975 when Lemmy and Motorhead first took the stage, a hipster, or someone who shouldn't be reading this blog, the fact that I'm excited to the point of fainting over this shouldn't be a shock. Simply put, this is EXACTLY the type of music-related news blogs like Philadelphia Will Do, The Clog, and Philebrity should cover but don't.

Fuck it, THIS IS MOTORHEAD AND THE MISFITS!

On September 19th, Motorhead and The Misfits will grace Philadelphia with a concert at The Electric Factory. Yes, the Electric Factory, where every idiotic college jock goes to a show on the concept that "I'm going to see a legendary metal band. Aren't I cool?" These same people have no idea how to behave at a show, and they tend to ruin an otherwise kick-ass show. This time, by the hand of Lemmy, AKA GOD, they are banned.

That's the 3rd Friday of September, so if you can get your Bones or Blood shaken (get it? "Boneshaker"? "Shake your Blood"?) at the kick-ass once-in-a-lifetime-kill-all-posers show on August 6th at the Tweeter Center, and don't worry, your not alone, then this is just as good, if not better! Motorhead doing a headlining set? SIGN ME UP! DEAF FOREVER!

Motorhead and The Misfits will also be playing with VALIENT THORR, AIRBOURNE and YEAR LONG DISASTER... but honestly, so what? Airbourne? Cool, but otherwise, Motorhead slays them all!