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YOU CALL THAT MUSIC?!
(Part one of a two part interview with the HAVENOTS frontman Ryan Ace)

Have you heard the latest single from the HAVENOTS? I hope not. That's because they haven't done anything yet. As of right now, the future of the band lies on a couple of 4-track tapes in some crappy little apartment that has been called 'the bunker' studio. And let me tell you, the name is fitting, seeming since there is a sense of nuclear fallout all around you. The apartment belongs to Nathan Tackett - head of the Peoples Production Group and an all around insane individual. Tackett, feeling the local sound was growing stale began looking for something 'different', Different-he found in Ryan Ace, the 28 year old 'musician' was currently unemployed and looking for a venue. The two gentlemen got really drunk one night back in 2004 and some sort of partnership was born. If you couldn't figure it out already Ace did most of the work on Tackett's 2004 album Metrophobia.
Whereas Tackett is a self-procclaimed rennaisance man, Ace is more of a mad scientist. He's walked out on his partner more than once, only to reappear months later with some fresh concoction up his sleeve.
That would be why the HAVENOTS have NOT released anything yet. So, Tackett is locking up the eccentric artist over the labor day weekend to finally put up or shut up. Oh yeah, and he's throwing his house musician j.r. woolf to oversee production. Confused? No shit, so am I. So I recently took a trip out to the bunker to see just what the hell sense could be made of it.
I found Ryan Ace blasting some Motorhead and chainsmoking in his boxer briefs.

IK: So just what the hell is happening around here?
ACE: Good old fashioned collaboration. The vibes are great, the music is coming, and I'm sober.
IK: cool, have you finished any songs yet?
ACE: we've got a few down on tape so far, but that's it. I think J.R is out at the bar now or something. But let me tell you that guy has been a real guru to me over the past six months or so.
IK: oh yes, mr woolf, how is it working with the bluesman?
ACE: well at first when Nate(tackett) told me I was going to be working with woolf I told him to go fuck himself. I mean, I've got more of an industrial/experimental background and woolf is just straight up blues and rockabilly. Not your most likely of bedfellows. But somehow , it works.
IK:Really?
ACE: First day I meet him (woolf) he's howlin out some Johnny Cash and ripping his lungs out. I set up my equipment -all the keyboards and laptops and shit and he stops me before I can even finish. He tells me 'hey buddy, we're startin from scratch! the shit I like and the shit you like ain't that much different' So he hands me an accoustic and we start strummin out these real oldies. Half the Cash library, some Dylan, Springsteen..that kind of stuff. We probably did that for the first couple of weeks or so. And he was right, I mean you can't tell me that the man in black was not pissed off when he penned his songs or that Dylan'ss voice is not something thatis still true today. Listen to this.

Ace fumbles around with the computer for a second and soon I am hearing something that resembles Dylan's MASTERS OF WAR. It sounds sinister, It sounds like it was recorded live on the sands of Iraq. The once simple guitar line has been replaced with drum machine, twisted samples, and distorted vocals. It stirs up emotion to say the least.

After breaking out of his self-induced trance Ace is up and giddy again.
ACE:I dig it. It's important. that same idealogy he was singing about forty years ago is still something we need to hear today. You just have to change it up a bit.
IK: so woolf has been teaching you a history lesson.
ACE: exactly, it's telling me that the things that I write about better be important too. It's too dated just to be pissed off anymore. You can't cheat the listener. They're a lot more intelligent than a lot of bands make them out to be. Anybody can make a song that will get the peoples blood flowing right here and now. But will they still get goosebumps thirty years down the road when they hear that same song...

Part two of the interview includes a Q&A session with J.R Woolf and will be printed at Idiot Kingdom soon. Also, as this is being printed the EP created by these two unlikely partners will be called RIDING SHOTGUN and will consist of mostly cover songs with some original tunes by both musicians.

I'm feeling a little dirty right now.
okay, let me rephrase that. I'm feeling a little MORE dirty than I usually do. If you really care ot know why I'll tell you:
I signed up for a tiny corner of MYSPACE.COM.
Yes, in a fit of self-promotion (and sheer boredom) I registered to get me a piece of this so-called action. SO I plastered a common mug of myself and a cigarette, typed in some favs (Much like this site), and ran an add for my production company. So far, I'm not impressed. What I thought would be a bustling hub of activity and networking has turned out to be ,well, rather corny. SO far, in the two days since I've signed on, I've received a handful of requests from girls that would never talk to me in real life to be my 'buddy'. Two Rules for anybody wanting to hop on my space and be my 'buddy': 1.) If you're under twenty-one I don't think so.
2.) If ,anywhere in your profile, do you mention gangsta luv, hottie, chillin wit friends',booty, or list Ashton Kutcher, any 'emo'-band, or any Simpson(including O.J.)in your favorites list see rule #1.
Okay, so I wandered on to the site by following the NIN Remix contest -worth checking out- and thought what the hell-If someone as respectable as Trent Reznor is allowing his name to be stuck on it it can't be that bad. I thought it would be great to promote some of the bands that I am involved in. But I just can't shake this cheap feeling about my bones as another line of CUTIE69's, BUNNY4U, and DOPENIGGA01's take a peek at my info.
But it's free and it's a forum.
And don't worry, I'll always feel right at home, here at EBLOGGER. AS long as they let me stay.
As long as I behave, right?

just thought I'd stop by to say a little....

HOORAY FOR RAY NAGIN!!!

looks like the people might actually have a voice after all.
Now lets send those people all our prayers, good vibes, cold hard cash etc...and get that area back on its feet.

oh and p.s. all those people accepting our charity, donations, cold hard cash- be appreciative of it. Don't be spending my tax money on engagement rings when I'm tryin to bust my ass to put one on the finger of my woman!

Thank you,
good night and good luck

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

DUSTIN' OFF THE SONGBOOK
a review of We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
the latest album from Bruce Springsteen

There are few artists that I never question their motives no matter what they release, Bruce Springsteen is one of them. But I will admit I was a little wary when I got my first glimpse at the track list for We Shall Overcome:The Seeger Sessions. My first thought was hmmmm...does somebody need to pay their back taxes or maybe Asbury Park needs a new pavement job? Songs like John Henry and Shenendoah I understood but Froggy Went a Courtin? But I am a robotic fan so I bought it, of course. The day it came out buster!
But after the first listen through I understood it. With the opening chords of Dan Tucker through to the get down goodness of Pay Me My Money DownI was toe tappin my way through a non-stop jam session of the finest Americana. Reading the linear notes reaffirmed my vibe. Recorded over several live sessions at Springsteen's home, The Seeger Sessions brings back that impromptu rompous fire that so much of the overproduced material lacks these days.
And that's exactly what these songs are..traditionals- meant to be played raw. Most of them pushing 150 to 200 years old were well traveled and shared with others in that honest vein that you don't see anymore.
A history lesson? You could take it that way, but you'd be missing out on all the fun. Preachy Exploitation of Black Protest songs? It wouldn't be a Springsteen record if he didn't get you thinking just a little bit over things. Most sing song songs we've come to grow up with are definetely rooted in something dark. But just as the Boss takes you to churn he is buying you a drink at the watering hole and burning the barn walls down.
It does have its flaws. Springsteen's voice just isn't what it used to be , and while it is appropriate for most of these songs, his gravelly manor almost seems to cornball at times. On Eerie Canal he almost reaches a zen-like Tom Waits manner that was much appreciated by yours truly. And the title track has been overdone so many times that this low-key soft version seems more in place rolling through the back of a PSA.
What he does overall with this album is dig down deep into some roots we might have forgotten and churned out some real rockers.

check out:
Mary, Don't you weep
Jacob's Ladder
Eerie Canal
Pay Me My Money Down

THE OFFICIAL LIST OF GODDAMNED GENIUSES

HUNTER S. THOMPSON
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
CHARLES BUKOWSKI
GEORGE CARLIN
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
PATTI SMITH
BOB DYLAN
PJ HARVEY
JOHNNY CASH
HARMONY KORINE
TOM WAITS
CARL SAGAN*

*Hey, I had to put an actual GENIUS on the list.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON POLITICS ...

okay,more like, a few thoughts on Stephen Colbert. Have you seen this guy?! Finally there's a breathe of fresh 'truthful' air, a real rush of reason these days. The guy blows politics right out fo the water whereas the current state of politics mostly blows. He's got enough cynical satire about him to make Johnathan Swift jealous.
Just when i had given up on anything remotely intriquing to wind up on modern programming I found him. But somehow amongst the mindnumbing onslaught of True Crime shows and Home Makeover tidbits I came across this voice of sneering truth.
The man has made a place on my list of the highest honor possible to be labeled a mere mortal-the title of GODDAMNED GENIUS.
Because let's face it - The Daily Show has grown stale. Mr. Stewart has replaced what was once a good half hour of cutting wit with exaggerated facial expressions - he can host his Oscars because he's gone the way of the little brass statue-irrelevant.
With Colbert there's just enough seriousness to get you to think 'hey, wait a minute', but just when you think it's going to get preachy he gets right to the good stuff and he's not pretentious enough to take a hardy jab at himself.
And hopefully you were lucky enough to catch him side by side with the head goon George Dubya himself- they'll be teaching it in textbooks centuries from now.
If you're missing this ray of sidesplitting intellectualism, check Colbert out! You might start caring enough just to vote. See you at the polls.

FUCK THE FOODIES! I'M WITH ANTHONY BOURDAIN! He's the only man I know that can call you a dipshit in a cookbook and then walk you through some of the most fearful of french cousine.

BIG NEWS BIG NEWS BIG NEWS!!

okay..maybe not really all that big, but it is to me and that's all that matters in this little chunk of space.
NATHANTACKETT.ORG is now up and running! Finally, it took me over a year to shit it out but its there now for all three of us to see! It's not much now: just a teaser - some pics, some short stories, some poetry and well, that's about it. But it's a start and soon we'll be rolling with broadcasting original music, a newsletter, and sales info on all the crap I can get out there.
And now that i'm done picking my brain with code and slow software I can get back to the stuff that really matters-procrastinating. Seriously, I'm focusing most of my effort on this blog now, it is the start of the Newsletter and putting the beginning and finishing touches on the next album-let's hope for mid June. But the singles will first be put on the website.

p.s.gotta new job gotta new job gotta new job!