PBS DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: “Collapse” – Are We Doomed?

Posted: April 21, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Doug Lewis, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

via Doc Soup: “Collapse” – Are We Doomed? | Doc Soup | POV Blog | PBS.

DANCING WITH CANCER (part 4) – Grateful For This

Posted: April 20, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Bailey Rye, DANCING WITH CANCER, Doug Lewis, Malia Luna | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

This is Part 4 of the series, Dancing With Cancer. Here is Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. More here and here.

On December 20th, 2002, I arrived back in Los Angeles from a 6 week work trip in central Europe. That next morning I woke up with a pulsing pain that reached from my right kidney down to my groin.  There was something about it, this pain, something about how deep it felt in my body and the resonance of it, the way it carried through my system. This was something new, something untold. It didn’t have a beginning or an end, it had a pulsing quality to it and felt ‘eroding’. The pain persisted throughout the holidays, then soon after the new year I had a first visit to the doctor.

Over the next 4 weeks the news went from ‘nothing’ to ‘maybe something but not major’ to ‘something there but no worries’ to ‘you need to see an oncologist’. I was introduced to oncologist Carol Nishikubo at St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, CA, a kind and caring woman who took her time with me, answered my questions, ordered more tests and when she realized how my condition was beyond the scope of her abilities to diagnosis and treat, referred me to the next and higher level of the medical gods.

Around the end of the first week in February, 2003, I found myself at UCLA Medical, in the office of Fred Eilber, chief surgeon of the oncology department. What I remember most about meeting Fred for the first time was his handshake, it was firm and solid, and I liked the way he looked me in the eye – there was a moment of recognition between us, something that said, ‘I know you and you know me’. Fred took the envelope of x-rays I had brought with me and left the room.  He returned five minutes later, brought the lights down a bit and gave me the news, flat out and straight up. He said it was serious, a leiomyosarcoma in my inferior vena cava, that I had 6 months max to live and how was Tuesday of next week to operate?

Right then a lot of things hit me at once, but most of all I knew how Fred’s frank delivery was reserved for someone like me, someone who he knew could take the news in this way.  I was a tough guy and he knew it. I was smart and I was a fighter and he knew that also. When I said to Fred, “Ok, I understand…let me think about”, Fred reached out and placed his hand squarely on my shoulder, gave a firm squeeze and said, “Doug, you don’t have time to think about it.  If I could I’d operate tomorrow, that’s how serious this is.”

From somewhere in the small cubicle of Fred’s office, there in the bowels of UCLA oncology, the wind begin to howl in my ears and over my skin, it ran through me, hot like a fire in my veins and forced me to recognize the size and scope of the moment and in an odd and determined kind of way it reminded me how I’d been here before, at this door swinging between two worlds, sitting square in the face of something larger than myself. Life is big and wide and deep. You either do or you don’t, you will or you won’t, you either make it or break it. At once I saw the depth of it all, how far I would be falling, how steep I would have to climb, how long the road of return would be.

On the drive home, back to Venice from UCLA, I thought most of all about my daughters, Malia Luna and Bailey Rye, who at the time were 12 and 11 years old.  What to say…how to assure them…

Turns out, when you’re a father, there is no choice but to be a hero; you set your sights high, aimed squarely on the mountain top of recovery and return, and make your way there through the fog and the pain and the cold and the night. You may lose sight but that’s ok, you keep going, one step forward, then another.  You fall and get dusted, then you crawl until you pick yourself up and wheel a turn against every grain of pain to get there, back where you began to begin again, back to a place of breath and love and light and air. This is how life is.

A year later, having found myself teetering on the edge of recovery’s road, my daughter Bailey came home from school and gave me a printout of this essay she wrote for a class at school. Her words lifted me like hot air in a big balloon and I wept, realizing how great this gift of life is and how magical it is we even breathe at all, and how God IS Love, and Grace and Beauty, all at once.

By Bailey Rye:

Like most children, I have been influenced by both my parents, and I admire them both tremendously, but in this case I want to talk about my father and how he overcame his difficulties.

Last year, my father was told he had maybe six months to live. They said he had terminal cancer, and even after they had removed his kidney, he would still die. It was a really rare cancer, and not many people have had it, but the ones that had, have not survived. It was a really awful surgery, and he went through a lot of pain, but through all of this, my father seemed really confident, and that everything would be all right. Instead of us telling him it was going to be okay, he was the one who was telling us. He told my sister and I that he knew he was going to get through it no matter what the doctors said, and something about the way he said it, made me believe him. And not just because I wanted to, it was because there was something in him that made me feel confident and safe. And he made me feel as though he might know more than the doctors did.

It turned out he did know more than they did, at least in terms of himself. Luckily for us, my father isn’t dead. Far from it. He is now completely free of cancer, and has a free bill of heath. Even when everything was against him, my father stayed positive and determined. He remained certain of his own recovery. I am sure my father was frightened sometimes, but that didn’t did not stop him from doing everything he could to get well, and looking into as many ways as he could to get rid of the cancer. He never gave up, he never lost hope, and he believed things would turn out right in the end, and they did. These are the qualities I admire in my father. I hope he has influenced me. I hope by being around him through this terrible illness, that his heroic spirit has rubbed off on me, because that is what my dad is, he is a hero to me.

Thanks for tuning in…
Doug Lewis
April 20, 2012

Malia Luna, Doug Lewis, Bailey Rye
Image by Cara Tompkins 

Bailey Rye

DANCING WITH CANCER (part 3): The Kindness of Strangers – Mel Gibson at the VAC

Posted: April 15, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cara Tompkins, DANCING WITH CANCER, DOG LIFE, Doug Lewis, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Venice Arts Club Music | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

This is part 3 in an ongoing series titled Dancing With Cancer. Here is Part 1 and Part 2. The introduction to this series and to this blog is available here.

It was mid-December, 2009 when Mel Gibson and his then girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva knocked on the door of the Venice Arts Club in Venice, CA. Mel had heard about the VAC through Michael Ruppert, a regular at the VAC and a founding member of the New White Trash, one of several music projects produced by the VAC. Being a Sunday evening, it was a slow night, with perhaps only a half-dozen people in the studio. I answered the door, greeted Mel and Oxana then ushered them through the studio and into the backyard where a fire was blazing in the outdoor firepit.

I can tell much about people according to how they react to the VAC dogs, especially to Squishy, a pit bull with a poker face.  It’s typical of Squishy to wait until the other dogs have made their introductions before coming around and introducing himself.  His big mug can be intimidating, and on more than one occasion someone visiting the VAC has refused to enter, simply because of catching sight of Squishy.  This was not the case with Mel, who, upon spotting Squishy, let out a big chuckle and made his way over and introduced himself to the Squish.

It was a great start to a fun evening, all of us sitting around the fire, telling stories, playing music. Oksana explained how she was looking to re-mix a track off of her recently released album, Beautiful Heartache, and would the VAC be interested in the project?  In getting to know Mel, it turned out we had both lived in the same area of Sydney (Paddington) at the same time back in the late 70′s.  I mentioned Zelda the ‘cat lady’ and he knew exactly who I was speaking of.  Small world. Mel took a genuine interest in the years I spent fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, turned out his love of Australia was equal to mine.

Somehow Mel and I got on to speaking about my bouts with cancer.  When I told him I had twice been given 6 months to live and had pulled through on both occasions, he let out a low whistle, put his arm on my shoulder, looked me in the eye and just kind of nodded his head.  And that was that, no more was said about it.

A short while later Venice guitar god Michael Jost showed up, unpacked his axe and played for all of us.  Fortunately, mix-guru Andy Kravitz was in the house, at the board, and was able to capture the moment.  From that, CAMPFIRE SONG was born and now appears on Volume 6 of the VAC MUSIC PROJECT. Mel makes a cameo appearance at the end of the song with some words of praise for Jost’s playing. Around about midnight, Mel and Oksana said their goodbyes and drove off. And so ended another evening at the VAC.

The next morning around 10am my phone rang from a number I didn’t recognize. I answered and said hello.
“Doug, it’s Mel.  Thanks for last night. How are you?”
“Mel? Fine, how’s everything?”  My mind was racing; having figured that he or Oksana had left something behind I walked outside to check the grounds for anything stray or out of place. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Doug, I want you to come up to my house, there’s some people I want you to meet.” Mel asked if I could make it the next day. I said yes, he gave me the address and said see you then.

I spent the rest of that day thinking, WTF? My first thought was that I had mentioned to him about an Australian writer he had never heard of and that he wanted more info.  So the next day, armed with that writers book, I drove up to Malibu and found his house.  Mel greeted me at the front door, gave me a bear hug and invited me in. He then introduced me to his family, who were there for the holidays, including his kids, his sister and  his father.  Mel then ushered me into another room where a team of health care practitioners were waiting to discuss my health/cancer concerns and offer advice and information on various forms of treatment.  After a while, Mel stuck his head in and asked me if I was hungry.  I said sure. He went into his kitchen and proceeded to make me a sandwich which he brought on a tray with an iced tea!

This went on for several days, each day I would meet with experts in the field of health and healing, all of whom had insightful information  about treating cancer and maintaining my health. And each day Mel would offer me whatever it was I wanted in the way of food and drink.

In the end I realized there was no motive to Mel Gibson’s generosity, he was simply doing what he was able for someone in need of what he had to offer through what he could arrange.  His cause for concern followed by his acts of kindness were genuine and touching and real.  I am sorry to hear about his ongoing troubles.  The Mel Gibson I know has a heart as big as a house and a warm and generous spirit geared towards sharing light and love.

Doug Lewis
April 16, 2012

CAMPFIRE SONG – Venice Arts Club Music Project

VAC BACKYARD  Image by Cara Tompkins

MICHAEL JOST at VAC  Image by Cara Tompkins

SQUISHY!

SQUISHY.2  Image by Cara Tompkins

DOUG LEWIS  Image by Malia Luna

 DL AND SQUISHY  Image by Cara Tompkins

DANCING WITH CANCER (part 2) – “You Must Do The Thing You Cannot Do”

Posted: April 14, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: DANCING WITH CANCER, Doug Lewis, Fell Music | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

As described in the ABOUT section of this blog, in 2006 I was confronted with what felt like, at the time, insurmountable odds relative to my survival. Cancer (Cancy Wancy) had again come-a-calling and brought with it a diagnosis similar to the one received back in 2003 – 6 months,  max. (Dancing With Cancer, Part 1 is here).

Some things you write down, a word, a clue, a quote, a statement, and like a raft on a sea you cling to those words, that idea, in much the same way a shipwrecked sailor clings to a point of light on a darkened horizon, as a way forward and a direction home through the fog of long night. I remember always a conversation I had thirty years ago with my friend, the jewelry designer, Esmeralda Gordon.  We were chatting about one thing or another, philosophically speaking, when Ez said to me, “you know, Mr. Dougie, it’s not about survival, it’s about development.  Another friend, Mark Bautzer, chimed in, “that’s right, baby, it’s all about evolution.”

This thought, this idea of survival vs development, or evolution, has served me in such a way as to provide distinction and clarification through times of personal trouble and uncertainty. It has allowed me to move forward into unguarded territory and to surrender myself to the situation at hand, to commit to the effort and embrace the experience of developing an expanded set of tools, a way of thinking, a path of proceeding past the edge of the darkness and beyond the seen into a realm of accepting what unknown lies ahead.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

FOUR, the final album of the FELL MUSIC PROJECT,  is a diary of my second turn on the dance floor with Cancy Wancy.  The final song on FOUR, titled XYZ, relates directly to the above enlightened quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. For me, issues of  survival and development are related not only to an acceptance of my personal situation but to meaningful aspects of personal growth. I would not wish my journey on anyone, nor would I trade it for anything.  Living and dying several times in this one lifetime has provided a unique and extrasensory perspective. Thanks for tuning in.

Doug Lewis
041412

FELL MUSIC – XYZ

XYZ

Been running on the high
Temperature side
Breaking out in wet chills and hot sweats
Skin burns silver, red – too hot to touch
Doctor comes in, light goes down says
You may have a year – What was that sound

When the night falls
You just have to look it in the eye
Like you’re staring down the barrel of a gun
Staring at the sun
And it’s buring you away

Headed through a nigh turn
Driving home, I’m alone and thinking
Trails of taillights snake and burn
Some freeway flashers blinking
Everybody lies – it’s true
But when there’s no one left to lie to
No one left to fool, no one left but you

What’s that sound
When the night falls 

You just have to take it for a ride
Down the center of the other side
Down the center of the middle
And it’s blowing you away

I need someone warm to stay with me
With a kind heart, the gentle touch of someone sweet
I’m alright, I know where the light is
I know the cost, I won’t get lost
I need someone warm to stay with me

What was that sound
You just have to make another start
Somewhere from the center of your heart
Like you’re staring down the barrel of a gun
And it’s blowing you away

DOUG LEWIS

FELL MUSIC

FORGET THE HATE – A Vietnam Veteran Comes Out Singing

Posted: April 5, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: ANNOUNCEMENTS, Doug Lewis | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

On my FB page this morning was a link to FORGET THE HATE, a song and video by Vietnam Veteran, Tom Mooney.  I listened and felt the short hairs rise. If you follow the VAC then you know how music and song with a focus on social commentary is a way of life around here.  VAC projects like the New White Trash (with uber-activist, Michael C. Ruppert), Fell Music, The Cheeters and the VAC Music Project all interject themselves with interpretative commentary relative to issues of social justice, equal rights and the essential elements of image-rich truth-telling.

TOM MOONEY earned the title of American Hero for his service as an Army soldier in Vietnam. Hesh Rephun at RAGING ARTIST details Mooney’s Vietnam experience and how the album containing ‘Forget The Hate’ came to be called, #10 GI. According to Mooney, “When my son, who’s a Marine, came home safe, I knew it was time to make this album. I’ve been writing this song for over 40 years.”

I’ve known Tom Mooney for 15 of those 40 years. His career in the commercial production/ad business is legendary. So is his charm and his whip-smart persona.  Our paths have crossed frequently, having worked together on international film projects from Los Angeles and New York to Paris and Prague. A minute into our very first meeting those many years ago, Tom said to me, without asking, “You’re a musician…”  I said I was, and he then told me about his early exploits in music, playing drums and guitar up and down the east coast.

That’s one reason why hearing Forget The Hate this morning left me feeling almost giddy. Mooney’s passion, his playing and singing, drives this song into territorial high ground, a place reserved for those who have seen and now have no choice but to speak out about what they have witnessed and what they know to be true. Listening and watching Forget The Hate is an enlightening experience. The energy in Forget The Hate is exactly what I would expect from Tom Mooney – fast, furious, unsinkable. This song, this music, this Tom Mooney is the real deal.

Read the full Raging Artist article by Hesh Rephun here. 100% of the profits from the single will go to support our troops and veterans.  Info will be posted on Tom Mooney’s Forget The Hate Facebook page. Right on Tom Mooney – You ROCK!

Doug Lewis
April 5, 2012

TOM MOONEY – ‘Forget The Hate’ – Song on Bandcamp

TOM MOONEY – ‘Forget The Hate’ / Video onYou Tube

TOM MOONEY

FAKE ENLIGHTENMENT – James Mathers and the VAC Music Project

Posted: March 28, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Doug Lewis, James Mathers, Jamie Cohen | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

*****

Venice Arts Club member JAMES MATHERS and VAC founder DOUG LEWIS collaborated on FAKE ENLIGHTENMENT with video/graphics editor CIA MAC. 66 illustrations for Fake Enlightenment were created by Mathers during the production and recording of the companion song. Fake Enlightenment appears on Volume 1 (of 8 volumes) of the Venice Arts Club Music project.  Album art for VAC v.1 by Jamie Cohen. Video below the lyrical fold.

Higher senses, other worlds
Hidden dimensions, flying squirrels
What are the qualities of the expanded state
And who said enlightenment is so fricking great

Fake Enlightenment, now only 6.66
Fake enlightenment

Who’s a slave, and who is free
And who don’t lose their crystal key
What’s your means or what’s your method
Hold your breath until you turn blue

How close can you get to the real fake thing
How close can you get to the real fake thing
Before it’s all too true

Throughout all time radiant beings have come
To show us how it’s done
Sometimes we kill them but that’s ok
Another one is born a hundred times a day

Who said enlightenment is so fricking great
Who said enlightenment is so fricking great

You may already be a winner…

FAKE ENLIGHTENMENT – VIDEO

JAMES MATHERS IN IRELAND – Conceived and cast bell for Maria Guinness

FAKE ENLIGHTENMENT – James Mathers storyboard images, oil chalk on black resolution paper

VENICE ARTS CLUB MUSIC PROJECT – Volume 1

PRODUCED BY VAC

CRUDLAND – Jamie Cohen Art and Fixture

Posted: March 28, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Doug Lewis, Fell Music, Jamie Cohen | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

CRUDLAND is a manifesto booklet created by Venice CA artist  JAMIE COHEN (1953-2008). In a series of stark collages, Cohen tells the story of a world gone mad with signage, branding, innuendo and immersion into a culture of advertising and excess.  The Crudland manifesto could be understood as Cohen’s ground of being in that all his later work in sculpture, painting, drawing, writing and song could be traced back to Crudland. The theme of Crudland also served as inspiration for the first release from the FELL MUSIC project, appropriately titled, Crudland.  In 1997, Cohen and Fell Music founder Doug Lewis collaborated with L.A. photographer Patricia De La Rosa on a series of photography portraits using the original Cohen sculpture series as the basis for what would become album art for the Fell Music/Crudland project. It is possible that the original Crudland manifesto booklet still exists.  What we do have are the original images taken by De La Rossa of the Jamie Cohen sculpture series known as Crudland.

JAMIE COHEN – Ball with Hat

JAMIE COHEN – Clown

JAMIE COHEN – Bulleted Heart

JAMIE COHEN – Finger This

JAMIE COHEN – Under Lock and Key

JAMIE COHEN – Dogscape

JAMIE COHEN – Colossus of Crudland

JAMIE COHEN – Crudland Man

JAMIE COHEN

DOUG LEWIS, JAMIE COHEN

FELL MUSIC COLLECTION

GOTH GIRL – Jamie Cohen and The Cheeters

Posted: March 27, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cheeters, Doug Lewis, Gunter Vile, Jamie Cohen | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

GOTH GIRL is from LIES IN HIGH FIDELITY, Volume 1 of THE CHEETERS (Dietrich Von Bone, Klaus Kertz, Gunter Vile).

Goth girl sports a new tattoo
Black ink from a painful tool
That girl chain drinks through her high-jinx
It’s the only thing that funk can do
Plays her upright bass in a parking space
While your car is broken into
And your heart is broken in two

What the funk does it matter

Goth girl jokes but it’s no laughing matter
Turns you on then turns on you

What the funk does it matter

  THE CHEETERS – Lies In High Fidelity

 GOTH GIRL

 THE CHEETERS – Klaus Kertz, Gunter Vile, Dietrich Von Bone

FIRST DAY ON THE JOB – Get Yourself A Coffee

Posted: March 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cheeters, Doug Lewis, Gunter Vile, Jamie Cohen | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

From LIES IN HIGH FIDELITY, the first of 3 volumes from THE CHEETERS, a rock & roll music project featuring Gunter Vile, Dietrich Von Bone (aka Jamie Cohen) and Klaus Kurtz (aka Andy Kravitz). FIRST DAY ON THE JOB tells the story of diving deep into the steno pool, working long hours, getting home after dark. Produced by The Cheeters and the VAC.

Features Dietrich Von Bone on vocals.

First day on the job, so what do you say
Must do it for love cause it can’t be the pay
Think you’re saving up for a rainy day?
Your nest egg may be golden but the sky is steel gray
Get yourself a coffee and put that umbrella away

First day on the job

The income is nil and the wages are cruel
You feel more helpless than when you were at school
Now you take a nosedive in the steno pool

No time for a lunch break
Join the rat race
Get home after dark

THE CHEETERS, V1, LIES IN HIGH FIDELITY

 THE CHEETERS
KLAUS KURTZ,DIETRICH VON BONE,GUNTER VILE

CHEETERS MUSIC

PUMPING OIL – By Degree with the VAC

Posted: March 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Doug Lewis, Kristen Vigard, Venice Arts Club Music | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

From Volume 3 of Venice Arts Club Music, BY DEGREE is a song about the lust for oil and how the center, soulfully speaking, cannot hold. Features Kristan Vigard/Doug Lewis. Produced by VAC.

BY DEGREE
Someone say the right thing
Tell these people we don’t mean no harm
We only want the oil
Only want what we’ve come here for

Someone do the right thing
We need a middleman, a go-between
To bargain for the riches
That’s what we’re looking for

Someone make sure everything’s alright
Someone make sure everything’s alright
Everything’s alright

Some bargain-basement for my soul
Some bargain-basement for my soul
No way this weight can hold
No way

PUMPING OIL – Jamie Cohen, pencil on 90 bright copy paper

VAC, VOLUME 3

KRISTAN VIGARD

 PUMPING OIL. Doug Lewis, photo by Knights Bridge for RefugeZine

MUSIC OF THE POST-PARADIGM: Running With the New White Trash

Posted: March 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cara Tompkins, Doug Lewis, James Mathers, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

From the Nightclub At The End Of The World, Michael C. Ruppert’s LIFEBOAT HOUR on PROGRESSIVE RADIO NETWORK, Sunday, March 25, 2012.

Each week on the Lifeboat Hour, host Michael C. Ruppert plays a song from a place known as the Nightclub At The End Of The World.  The song of the week for March 25, 2012 is RUNNING WITH THE NEW WHITE TRASH from DOUBLEWIDE, the 37 song, 2-CD debut release from the NEW WHITE TRASH, a Venice CA music project founded by Ruppert, Wade De Void, Andy Kravitz, Kristen Vigard and others. Since its January 11, 2011 release, Doublewide has attracted a worldwide audience, evident in album sales to nearly every corner of the globe – Australia, South Korea, Japan, Canada, India, Egypt, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, the countries of Africa and Europe, and throughout the Americas. The music of NWT is played at Occupy rallies, on the crumbling steps of city halls and on the angry streets of towns and cities across the USA.

From the NWT manifesto:

The New White Trash (NWT) demographic is the outcome of the former middle class being folded in with the working poor and, for good measure, the unemployed and uninsured.  The NWT defines and represents a majority of people whose common bond includes and exists beyond the demographics of age, race, location, education. The people of the NWT are the new ‘have-not’s', and by its nature and size, this vast swath of population (99%) is now squarely at odds with the 1% who own, operate and dispense our corporate universe, big pharma, big food, big oil, big defense and big government included. ‘By the people for the people’ is receding.

The Post-Paradigm Era describes the vacuum left by the sudden disappearance of the former American middle class.  It is in this vacuum we now find ourselves, tumbling in turmoil as home losses mount, bank balances shrink, and shelters are jammed with the likes of you and I. The good old days are done and dusted. That party is over. The coming chaos of the post-paradigm era will lead to a radical and immediate rethinking and remaking of America or it will lead us to complete devastation.

THE MUSIC OF THE NEW WHITE TRASH

As Woody Guthrie filled a musical vacuum by acknowledging the pain and the suffering of the Great Depression, the New White Trash fills a bigger and more insidious vacuum left by a rampant, programmed consumerism that serves only corporations and their shareholders. 

This is a new breed of American music in which the message is clear: You’re f**ked.  But now what?  

NWT portrays a post-paradigm, ‘less beautiful’ America, brought to life through music, media, theatre and message – those of, love,need and a desire for social justice. ’Drop it down’, ‘don’t dig too deep’, ‘we charge extra for this’, ‘take these’, ‘we can’t escape from’, all are the language of the NWT.  And for good reason.

If you got no credit and you got no cash, you’re NWT.  If you got more going out than you got coming in, you’re NWT. If your 401k is MIA, if you’ve filed for bankruptcy, if you find yourself living in a trailer or back with your parents, if your unemployment has run out, if your roads have holes and local schools are closing, if you lost your health insurance to a pre-existing condition, you are the NWT. If you bought the hype and borrowed on a dream,and now your house is gone and you’re selling your things, you’re the NWT. If you’re pissed off, yet you keep a sliver of love in your crossed heart and at least a post-ironic smile on your lips, you’re NWT. If what you had is gone – just like that – then you know you’re running with the New White Trash.

The NWT offers what popular music does not: it recognizes and acknowledges all those who are being marginalized and dropping off the radar screens of “official” life. It is not all depressing. In fact, the NWT celebrates the joys, simple pleasures and love that are often re-discovered only in the darkest times.

DOUBLEWIDE is available as a digital download, as a physical 2-disc package, and as a sponsorship edition. Produced by the VAC.

THE NEW WHITE TRASH – Running With The New White Trash

MUSIC OF THE POST-PARADIGM: American Spring 2012

Posted: March 24, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cheeters, Doug Lewis, Fell Music, Gunter Vile, Jamie Cohen, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Venice Arts Club Music, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

THE AMERICAN SPRING OF 2012

Liberty hangs in the balance at every moment, never still and always moving to maintain a footing. A nation at a crossroads has historically proven to be a less than pretty sight.  The 21st Century, arriving with the epic and viceral collapse known as 911, has continued a tidal wave of collapse trajectory through the first decade and now, in the year 2012, is taking hold. In America lines have been drawn and distinctions have been made.  Those few with most are drawing their battle plans, hording their riches and seeking to influence those who can change the law do change the law in favor of limitations that restrict democracy, freedom and liberty.  Meanwhile, the many with little have little.  But they do have a name.  They are the 99%.

We are the 99%.

We are men, women, children.  We are doctors, housewives, janitors, war veterans.  We are artists, poets and car mechanics.  We are ranchers, farmers and schoolteachers.  We are mothers, fathers and grandparents. We are journalists, watchkeepers. We are the anonymous and the known. We are everyone, everywhere. We are in America. We are in France and Spain and throughout Europe.  We are in all countries of Africa.  We are the people of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Israel. We are in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Hungary, the U.K. We are in every city of every state of every country and we are of every nation. We are the 99%.

The 99% understand how the concept of infinite growth has come and gone, the paradigm exhausted. One is reminded of the only graph used by Michael C. Ruppert in his speeches on Collapse to illustrate the dramatic spike in world population, a trajectory in line with its main and finite ingredient and catalyst, oil. Burn-off from the era of petroleum man is collapsing our ecosystem.

Now on the streets and in the neighborhoods and cities of America we are headed into spring followed by the long, hot days of summer. Crimes are being committed, liberties are being removed and there is a giant contraction taking place fueled by the greed, fear and the arrogance of the few.

Do not go back to sleep.

THE NIGHTCLUB AT THE END OF THE WORLD (NEW)

NEW is a space conceived by Michael C. Ruppert from the cabin of his Lifeboat Hour, a weekly radio show hosted by Ruppert and aired by Progressive Radio Network, Sunday at 9p Eastern. Ruppert points out how NEW and the Lifeboat Hour is not all bad news, that it is an original mix of music with madness, laughter with loss, skills with sorrow, community with calamity, love with grief, and joy in the moment.

Musically speaking, Ruppert is fond of playing cuts from a Venice, CA music project called the New White Trash (NWT), of which Ruppert is a founding member with Wade De Void, Andy Kravitz and others. The theme of the NWT is ‘Music of the Post-Paradigm’. The NWT manifesto reads like this:

Mining a new groove, and with a kind of rough grace, DOUBLEWIDE, the 37 song, 2 CD set from the NEW WHITE TRASH, chronicles the slide of the former American middle-class down a steep and slippery slope to the New White Trash, a place impartial to race, religion, creed or color.

The New White Trash (NWT) demographic is the outcome of the former middle class being folded in with the working poor and, for good measure, the unemployed and uninsured.  The NWT defines and represents a majority of people whose common bond includes and exists beyond the demographics of age, race, location, education. The people of the NWT are the new ‘have-not’s', and by its nature and size, this vast swath of population (99%) is now squarely at odds with the 1% who own, operate and dispense our corporate universe, big pharma, big food, big oil, big defense and big government included. ‘By the people for the people’ is receding.

The Post-Paradigm Era describes the vacuum left by the sudden disappearance of the former American middle class.  It is in this vacuum we now find ourselves, tumbling in turmoil as home losses mount, bank balances shrink, and shelters are jammed with the likes of you and I. The good old days are done and dusted. That party is over. The coming chaos of the post-paradigm era will lead to a radical and immediate rethinking and remaking of America or it will lead us to complete devastation.

As Woody Guthrie filled a musical vacuum by acknowledging the pain and the suffering of the Great Depression, the New White Trash fills a bigger and more insidious vacuum left by a rampant, programmed consumerism that serves only corporations and their shareholders. 

This is a new breed of American music in which the message is clear: You’re f**ked.  But now what?  

NWT portrays a post-paradigm, ‘less beautiful’ America, brought to life through music, media, theatre and message – those of, love,need and a desire for social justice. ’Drop it down’, ‘don’t dig too deep’, ‘we charge extra for this’, ‘take these’, ‘we can’t escape from’, all are the language of the NWT.  And for good reason.

If you got no credit and you got no cash, you’re NWT.  If you got more going out than you got coming in, you’re NWT. If your 401k is MIA, if you’ve filed for bankruptcy, if you find yourself living in a trailer or back with your parents, if your unemployment has run out, if your roads have holes and local schools are closing, if you lost your health insurance to a pre-existing condition, you are the NWT. If you bought the hype and borrowed on a dream,and now your house is gone and you’re selling your things, you’re the NWT. If you’re pissed off, yet you keep a sliver of love in your crossed heart and at least a post-ironic smile on your lips, you’re NWT. If what you had is gone – just like that – then you know you’re running with the New White Trash.

 The NWT offers what popular music does not: it recognizes and acknowledges all those who are being marginalized and dropping off the radar screens of “official” life. It is not all depressing. In fact, the NWT celebrates the joys, simple pleasures and love that are often re-discovered only in the darkest times.

NWT was produced by and at the Venice Arts Club. Other music produced by VAC promotes a similar tune and travels a road populated with the familiar themes of the Lifeboat Hour and the NEW. The VAC supports Ruppert’s effort for truth and social justice and gives a nod to his journey and his vision by presenting a gathering of relevant songs from our collection. Thanks for tuning in.

THE NEW WHITE TRASH – ‘It Would Be Strange’

NEW WHITE TRASH – ‘Running With The New White Trash’

FELL MUSIC – ‘Dangerous Ground

FELL MUSIC – ‘American Lite’

FELL MUSIC – ‘Somewhere South’

THE CHEETERS – ‘Bombshell Breakup’

BACK ROAD – Mike Ruppert and New White Trash at Venice Arts Club

Posted: March 20, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cara Tompkins, Doug Lewis, James Mathers, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Phil Maggini, Robit Hairman, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Mike Ruppert’s song of the week on the Lifeboat Hour for Sunday, March 18, 2012, is BACK ROAD from DOUBLEWIDE, the debut release from the NEW WHITE TRASH, a music project Ruppert founded with Wade De Void and Andy Kravitz.  Other members include Cara Tompkins, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, James Mathers, Michael Jost, Robit Hairman, Phil Maggini. The 37 song 2-CD collection was recorded at the VAC and mastered by Bob Rice. NWT producer Doug Lewis says this about Back Road: “I liked it immediately and was surprised by the strength of Mike’s performance and how he poured himself into the music. I kept thinking, ‘Meatloaf, Bat Out Of Hell’! And Back Road fit a theme of the NWT which is ‘where the heart is’ as opposed to the apparently more immediate themes of Meltdown, or Running With The New White Trash, or Realize The Lie of war. Back Road is a cousin song to Wherever There, One Good Reason and Trailer Light On, and maybe a couple more.”

In introducing the song Ruppert mentions how a musician friend, Jim Sullins, sent him a hummed hint of a melody over the piano track.  From that Ruppert fashioned Back Road.

MICHAEL RUPPERT @ VAC

NEW WHITE TRASH.com

NEW WHITE TRASH. music

REALIZE THE LIE – Music of the Post-Paradigm with the New White Trash

Posted: March 18, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cara Tompkins, Doug Lewis, James Mathers, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Phil Maggini, Robit Hairman, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

DOUBLEWIDE, the 37 song, 2-CD debut album from the New White Trash, chronicles the slide of the former American middle-class down a steep and slippery slope to the New White Trash, a place impartial to race, religion, creed or color. Dubbed, ‘music of the post-paradigm’, NWT members include Wade De Void, Michael C. Ruppert, Andy Kravitz, Kristen Vigard, Robit Hairman, Phil Maggini, Malia Luna, Cara Tompkins, Michele McVicar, Michael Jost.

About the New White Trash and the Post-Paradigm era:

“The New White Trash (NWT) demographic is the outcome of the former middle class being folded in with the working poor and, for good measure, the unemployed and uninsured.  The NWT defines and represents a majority of people whose common bond includes and exists beyond the demographics of age, race, location, education. The people of the NWT are the new ‘have-not’s', and by its nature and size, this vast swath of population (99%) is now squarely at odds with the 1% who own, operate and dispense our corporate universe, big pharma, big food, big oil, big defense and big government included. ‘By the people for the people’ is receding. The Post-Paradigm Era describes the vacuum left by the sudden disappearance of the former American middle class.  It is in this vacuum we now find ourselves, tumbling in turmoil as home losses mount, bank balances shrink, and shelters are jammed with the likes of you and I. The good old days are done and dusted. That party is over. The coming chaos of the post-paradigm era will lead to a radical and immediate rethinking and remaking of America or it will lead us to complete devastation.” (from NWT Manifesto/VAC.com)

The durge-like quality of REALIZE THE LIE underscores the message: Running with the dogs of war/We’ve run this race before/It’s rotten to the core/When only War can save you – Realize The Lie

Realize The Lie features Wade De Void, Michael Ruppert, Kristen Vigard, Cara Tompkins, Malia Luna, Michele McVicar. Produced by the VAC. Mastered by Bob Rice.

NEW WHITE TRASH, ‘MUSIC OF THE POST-PARADIGM’. Artwork/Cara Tompkins@EWC

NEW WHITE TRASH – DOUBLEWIDE. Artwork/Cara Tompkins@EWC

 NEW WHITE TRASH HEADQUARTERS, VENICE CA USA. Image/Cara Tompkins@EWC

THE NEW WHITE TRASH – From ‘Dangerous Ground’ to ‘Doublewide’

Posted: March 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cara Tompkins, Doug Lewis, Fell Music, James Mathers, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

In 1997, a decade before a fortuitous meeting between Michael C. Ruppert and Venice musician Doug Lewis in the spring of 2008, Lewis was busy recording his on-going Fell Music project. The meeting of Ruppert and Lewis would lead to the forming of the New White Trash and the making of their debut album, Doublewide, a 37 song double-disc set chronicling the slide of the former middle class down a ‘steep and slippery slope to the new white trash, a place and genre impartial to race, creed or color’. Doublewide was released January 11, 2011 and has since found a home with a worldwide audience of truth seekers investing in alternative and conscious voices to match the signs of the times. One song from Doublewide, titled ‘We Can’t Escape From‘ found its way onto the soundtrack of the DVD release of Collapse the Movie, directed by documentary filmmaker Chris Smith and featuring Michael Ruppert as the only character in the film. Roger Ebert said this of the film: “I don’t know when I’ve seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen. “Collapse” is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it. “

Some people meet over drinks; Ruppert and Lewis met at a dog park adjacent to the Santa Monica airport near Venice, CA. In an excerpt taken from the article ‘Grooving With The Archetypes‘, a piece about the VAC written by Bud Theisen, Lewis says, “Mike and I met at the local dog park, our dogs got on very well and so did we. I gave Mike a copy of the Cheeters first CD and he loved it. He gave me a copy of Crossing The Rubicon, which I devoured.”  Lewis, always on the prowl for new musical talent, took an interest in Ruppert’s desire to play and record music. “I made him work for it,” says Lewis. “I pushed him pretty hard and he didn’t fold. In fact, he blossomed. Mike is a great teacher about what he knows, and a terrific  student when it comes to learning new skills.”

For Ruppert, those new skills included learning how to work the microphone while developing a more ‘left brain’ approach to writing, away from the factual reporting of his day to day and into a more sublime world of the trans-poetic, lyrical experience.  In a word…storytelling. Fortunately for Ruppert, Lewis had been mining this ground for decades, with themes and songs of cautionary tales to do with protest, eternal war, with revealing commentary swiped against a background extending from Vietnam to the big bomb.

For Lewis and Ruppert, there were no issues in reaching common ground in the recording studio. With their two sensibilities cut from the same desire to formulate words into the action of social commentary by speaking out through popular song, Lewis and Ruppert, along with Andy Kravitz, Kristen Vigard, Cara Tompkins, James Mathers, Malia Luna, and a host of others, poured their time and energies into recording their collaborations for what would become Doublewide.

Could two people be more different?  Lewis – tall, lanky, whip-smart with movie-star looks (think Willem DeFoe meets Chet Baker) and more rock and roll attitude than most rock & rollers vs Ruppert – a former LAPD cop who looks like he could be Wilford Brimley’s kid brother. Yet, for Lewis, meeting and recording with Ruppert had a reassuring effect. “Mike and my sensibilities are perfectly aligned. I’d been working this ground a long time, steering each of my collaborative projects into a direction of relevance, refining the message, speaking out. Working with Mike was a breath of fresh air. Between us, we hit a groove and didn’t waver”

‘Dangerous Ground‘ from Lewis’ Fell Music project was recorded in 1997 at Arthur Barrow’s Lotek Studios in Mar Vista. The message is familiar, the imagery informed and the lineage apparent from the Dangerous Ground to Doublewide.

Mark Baer, President, Museum of Monterey and Managing Director of SmartChannel.TV
March 2012

DANGEROUS GROUND video from FELL MUSIC TWO
THE FELL MUSIC PROJECT
DOUBLEWIDE from THE NEW WHITE TRASH. Artwork/Cara Tompkins
THE NEW WHITE TRASH. Artwork/Cara Tompkins
MICHAEL C. RUPPERT and DOUG LEWIS. Image/Cara Tompkins
RUPPERT/LEWIS at the VENICE ARTS CLUB. Image/Cara Tompkins

JAMES MATHERS DECODED – Storyboard scenes from the animated short film, ‘The Parking Lot At The Center Of Time’

Posted: March 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Bailey Rye, Cara Tompkins, Derek DeVries, Doug Lewis, James Mathers, Malia Luna, Pablo Capra | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

No one would ever accuse VAC founding member James Mathers of spreading it on ‘too thin’. Everything he does is spread thick, especially his paint. Many of these oil-stick  drawing were completed here at the VAC.  During this period, the script for Parking Lot was refined then recorded with an ensemble cast including DJ Lyf, Malia Luna, Bailey Rye, Pablo Capra, Dead Dave, Doug Lewis, Cara Tompkins, Derek DeVries.

These drawings form the groundwork for the produced version of Parking Lot.  Approximately 80 drawings make up the storyboard for Parking Lot, here are a few choice selects.  The complete collection will be posted on this blog, coming soon.

JAMES MATHERS – STORYBOARD SCENES FOR ‘PARKING LOT AT THE CENTER OF TIME’

PARKING LOT AT THE CENTER OF TIME – YOU TUBE

K-MART SHOPPERS – James Mathers and the VAC Music Project

Posted: March 15, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Doug Lewis, James Mathers, Venice Arts Club Music | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

James Mathers makes numerous appearances throughout the 8 Volume Venice Arts Club Music project.  K-MART SHOPPERS is a song written by Mathers and VAC producer Doug Lewis.

From VENICE ARTS CLUB MUSIC, VOLUME 1

JAMES & LUNA MAGIC MATHERS

VENICE ARTS CLUB MUSIC PROJECT, VOLUME 1

DANCING WITH CANCER – The Waiting Room

Posted: March 14, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: DANCING WITH CANCER, Doug Lewis | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Leaving UCLA Cancer Clinic, I do what probably most people would do upon receiving very bad news. I sit down. Outside. I should say, we sit down, the cancer and I, me and Cancy Wancy.  The year is 2003.  We would meet again in June of 2006, but for now, with all options considered and after much research and opinion, the operation would go ahead on Valentines Day, 2003.

In any waiting room, there is the feeling of being immersed in an altered state. But the cancer wing is experienced on a different dimension – you are at once there and removed.  A feeling of empathy runs deep and goes out to all those waiting for their name to be called.

This is a self-portrait of me in the waiting room. Probably not one of my better days; hard to tell what’s going on behind the Persol’s.

Around this same time I created this piece of fridge-art. It became my mantra and gave me confidence to carry on.

ANOTHER KID WITH A GUN – Music & Social Commentary in the Post-Paradigm Era

Posted: March 13, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cheeters, Doug Lewis, Fell Music, Gunter Vile, Jamie Cohen, Kristen Vigard, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Phil Maggini, Robit Hairman, Venice Arts Club Music, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Music as narrative, social commentary, and as a voice and act of protest threads a particular path through the American cultural and political experience.  Venice Arts Club promotes recording artists who use music and song as tools of recognition, and who forge rebellion and revolution through song lyric, rhythm, and melody.

The tone of much of FELL MUSIC is apparent by song title, including War Eternal, More War Now, Dangerous Ground, American Lite, Big Bird Over Baghdad, Made In The USA, Frontline.

Likewise, THE CHEETERS, a rock and roll ‘art band’, covers similar ground with Lies In High Fidelity, Baton Rouge, Bombshell Breakup, and Bring Me The News.

The NEW WHITE TRASH, a music project produced by Venice Arts Club, and whose members include activist Michael C. Ruppert, musician Wade De Void, grammy-nominated Andy Kravitz, and recording artist Kristen Vigard, released DOUBLEWIDE, a 2-disc, 37 song collection of ‘music of the post-paradigm’. Tracks highlighting such a paradigm are Running With The New White Trash, Don’t Dig Too Deep, Meltdown, Running On Rumor, to name a few.

Likewise, the 8 volume Venice Arts Club Music Project includes By Degree, Appointment In Samarra, Liberty, Got Your Gun Yet, Paralyze Me, No Love In Haiti, and Another Kid With A Gun, a song featuring VAC regulars Michael Jost, Spring Groove, Malia Luna, Michael C. Ruppert, Doug Lewis.

Check out this video for Another Kid With A Gun:

THE CHEETERS – It’s Only Rock and Roll But You’ll Like It

Posted: March 12, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cheeters, Doug Lewis, Jamie Cohen | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

THE CHEETERS, DOUG LEWIS (aka Gunter Vile), JAMIE COHEN (Dietrich Von Bone) and ANDY KRAVITZ (Klaus Kurtz)are an art band – their music is an art project. The Cheeters were not built to last, they were about a go for broke moment – They went deep and deeper still – Buddha was in the back seat and Bacchus was at the wheel. The Cheeters are an urgent confession, an uncompromising creative explosion marked by intelligence in the tradition of Captain Beefheart, Rage Against the Machine, and Nick Cave. The music is solid, inspired but it is the subtle lyrics, the sophisticated imagery and the complex multi-textured sound mix that is the band’s trademark. There is humor and passion and the pure joy of invention in this music and the Cheeters always tell the truth and never pull their punches. This is music made by men, not boys, and the stories are of lived lives, not fantasies, told by guys that got laid, not guys wishing they got laid. What strikes one about listening to the Cheeters is how present they are, how in the zeitgeist, giving you the newest news, the latest edition. They embraced randomness and found objects. What does that mean? I get a call from Lewis, car noise, clanking beer cans, he’s somewhere in Santa Fe, “Hey man, we just met this chick in a 7-11 while stopping for cigarettes and she says she can sing. We’re headed back to the studio now.” There was no master plan. They were on a wild ride, totally dedicated to the realm of the magical and committed and it was all holy. It was dangerous, probably crazy and they were on a grand high, a high stakes transcendent journey reduced to a four box set. That is how the dust settles on angels with outstretched wings. Lewis and Cohen had a shared sensibility that went back over twenty five years. They wrote together and emerged as one voice. They knew how to tread in darkness, they knew how to mine the madness and they knew the poetry of lust and outrage. Doug Lewis is a master of the crooked phrase, a knowing wit and a musical sensibility informed by the bands of his psychedelic Marin County youth such as Tower of Power and the Sons of Champlin. Cohen was also a consummate wordsmith, steeped in the blues and in the dada-surrealist sensibility. Listen to the Cheeters and you will hear echoes of absurdist poet, Tristian Tzara, as well as Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht. Weil & Brecht. Lewis & Cohen. If they met they’d share respect. Andy Kravitz, a two time Grammy winning producer, mixer, writer, engineer, and drummer was their soul brother, the catalytic third element and the maestro of the secret sauce. The Cheeters are about love, beauty, the ambiguous ephemeral, life, death and sex. It’s not only rock and roll but you’ll like it.  M.D. Baer/July 4, 2009

SHIP OF DREAMS – Lyla

Posted: March 12, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Doug Lewis, Venice Arts Club Music | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Video From Venice Arts Club. Features LYLA singing SHIP OF DREAMS. From Volume 2, Venice Arts Club Music. PRODUCERS NOTE: What we know about this artist is her first name, LYLA, who was ushered into the VAC studio by a Londoner named ‘Pauly’, a caddish figure clad in eclectic bespoke who claimed the title of ‘Sir’ and knew a good thing when he heard it. One mic, one take. LYLA, if you hear this please contact us so we can give you proper credit. More info @ VeniceArtsClub.com

GUNTER VILE – Instrumental Music For Imagined Film

Posted: March 12, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: ANNOUNCEMENTS, Doug Lewis, Gunter Vile | 1 Comment »

POETRY IS RUINS from former Cheeters front man Gunter Vile is a 17 song collection of instrumental tracks.   Vile calls this work ‘instrumental music for imagined film’. Have a listen and click on the pic to view Vile’s Bandcamp page:

THE CHEETERS – Baton Rouge

Posted: March 10, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cheeters, Doug Lewis, Gunter Vile, Jamie Cohen | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

BATON ROUGE performed by THE CHEETERS - Gunter Vile (Doug Lewis), Dietrich Von Bone (Jamie Cohen), Klause Kertz (Andy Kravitz).

From the album LIES IN HIGH FIDELITY

CLICK ON IMAGES FOR VIDEO


SUNSET STRIPPED – Audio Novel by M.D. Baer

Posted: March 9, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: AT SUNSET, Doug Lewis, Jim Budman, Mark Baer, Mark Brooks | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Sunset Stripped is a cautionary tale concerning sexual obsession, blackmail, and murder. It’s the roaring ’80s, a time of greed, cocaine, and Iran-Contra. Narcissism is the fashion, AIDS is the new reality, and Ronald Reagan is snoozing at the wheel.

DESCRIPTION OF SUNSET STRIPPED :  Willie Talburt, a talented but down-and-out screenwriter, thinks his luck is changing when he snatches $300 off a drunk’s shoes at a legendary West Hollywood bistro and then meets exotic Veronica Blainewell. He would do anything to see his name on one of the giant billboards that loom high over the Sunset Strip, and she offers him the chance. But the deal and the dame don’t turn out to be as sweet as Willie’s dreams.

VENICE ARTS CLUB INTERVIEW WITH MARK BAER:

VAC: When where you writing Sunset Stripped?

M.D. BAER: Pretty much as it was happening.  During and after the dust settled.

VAC: Sounds chaotic, Los Angeles in the roaring 80′s.  Describe the setting?

M.D.BAER: For me, it began with Reagan and with Mr. Dougie (Doug Lewis) arriving in Los Angeles and meeting Jim Budman.  I was living with my wife at the time, jewelry designer Ezmarelda Gordon, at the estate of Bettina Bancroft in Bel Air, at 191 North Bentley. The estate belonged to Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner until she died. On a vacation to Tahiti, Bettina’s daughter, Elisabeth, met Mr. Dougie who at that time was working and living as a fisherman in Australia and the South Pacific. The two of them became an item, he became friends with the family and when he visited Elisabeth and her family in  L.A., he ended up moving in and staying a while. Even then, Bentley was quite a scene, anyone who was there would tell you, but after Mr. Dougie met Jim Budman, who along with Mark Brooks, Dan Millington, Adam Linter, Dana McDonald and Diane Bald launched AT SUNSET, everything went into overdrive, a real happening. AT Sunset became the place to be in L.A., it’s what people looked forward to, heading into Hollywood and going to AT Sunset, often until dawn. It was the rich, the famous, the unknown, young and old, gay and straight, a real mix, enough to make the head spin. For a writer, it was rich ground.

VAC: So, in the novel, the ‘Duck Club Crew’ is really based on the AT Sunset scene?

M.D. BAER: Loosely…we’re dealing with fiction here…

AT SUNSET 1982. L TO R: Dan Millington, Doug Lewis, Mark Baer, Mark Brooks, unknown.

LU LU LEMONS – Phil Maggini and the New White Trash

Posted: March 9, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Andy Kravitz, Cara Tompkins, Doug Lewis, Kristen Vigard, Michael C. Ruppert, New White Trash, Phil Maggini, Robit Hairman, Wade DeVoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

PHIL MAGGINI, bass player from Grammy winning Shadowfax, was in the VAC house for a New White Trash recording/party session and laid down his signature sound on LU LU LEMONS. Video and pics below.

AT THE VAC – New White Trash members Andy Kravitz, Phil Maggini, Robit Hairman

Bass player Phil Maggini playing the ’64 Precision.

New White Trash Headquarters at the VAC | Image/Cara Tompkins

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