So they just found the alleged biggest as-yet-unexploded World War II-era bomb in Hong Kong. How does something like that lie around for so long in such a densely populated place? I feel like it is a new bomb pretending to be old. I have been watching lots of Raven, Mistress of Magic in Teen Titans cartoons online and I kind of want her to show up and begrudgingly save the day. What else. I’ve been loving Greek band Chaostar’s new video for the Japanese song “MA.” It features the legendary Butoh Dancer Sumako Koseki and will blow your mind into a spray of gold cloth sails. Let’s set forth with banners held to the wind! We have lots of Kingston Renaissance to applaud this week, pals. The plot thickens!
First up, Poughkeepsie’s mighty Meridian (great band name) has signed to Victory Records. Some great staff at Victory PR right now and I am glad a good local band will get to be working closely with them. If you are a fan of emotionally charged hardcore from the Hudson River, this is your cup of tea.
The band collectively comment, “We’re very excited to join the Victory roster. We’re honored to be share the same home as so many legendary bands. We are excited to get to work on our full length debut, which will be out later this year. We want to thank anyone who has come out to a show and supported us to get to this point. We couldn’t have done it without you. We also want to thank anyone who took the time to read this and we look forward to seeing you at shows in the future!”
K.J. Harris is a local blogger with Upstater.com, a great site you all will dig. “Upstater is the hub for Upstate New York real estate and culture, north of the ‘burbs, south of the Adirondacks, east of the Finger Lakes and west of the Connecticut border,” Harris explains.
Her favorite places in Kingston? “The Senate House area, the cool live/work spaces in Midtown just waiting to be discovered, the Rondout area, and the buffet on Saturdays at the Kingston Indian Restaurant on Wall Street,” Harris recites.
“I’ve lived in Saugerties for about 10 years, but I’ve spent a lot of time in Kingston, enough to say without hesitation that the Kingston renaissance is so welcome. I remember coming to Kingston for the first time about 15 years ago when I lived down in Cornwall and thought, ‘Wow, this is a really cool little city. Too bad nothing’s happening here.’ Definitely can’t say that now. It’s become a destination for music, food, arts of all kinds. Now, if only something could be done about the property taxes,” she says.
Space heaters and Goth valentines
OK, onward. I was talking to a girl I know who loves the Jamaican Bobsled Team as much as I do about the film Cool Runnings. It was Bob Marley’s birthday night. Just wanted to share that. Otherwise, I’ve been listening to a space heater whir while typing all hours in a small, solitary room with a lovely view of nature.
And so … Stockade Tavern and Compound Fracture Productions present My Bloody Valentine 80’s Goth Dance Party featuring DJ Grasshopper & DJ Dark and Stormy on Friday the 14th! Feast your eyes on delicious, bloody good love cocktails for happy or tragic endings/affairs. Love may indeed tear us apart, but this is a great chance to get together with like-minded children of the night. $3 with costume, $5 without. I might even let you inside.
Weerd Science, the local hip-hop side project of Josh Eppard of Coheed and Cambria fame, has released a new record, part two of The Illogy. Recorded at Applehead Studios in Woodstock, it’s getting a great online response. 2013 saw the release of Red Light Juliet, Part 1 of The Illogy, a triad of EPs that continues the tradition of thought-provoking, jaw-dropping and wildly entertaining music from one of the most talented MCs in hip-hop. Part 2, Steady Straight Lights; Sudden Dark Turns was released on Feb. 7, slightly after Midnight via weerdscience.bandcamp.com and will be followed up with special live shows in select markets. Ernie Falconer of Weerd Science’s camp posted a heartfelt message via Facebook that included, “Engineer Chris Bittner taught me everything I know about music and making it sound amazing. I always made beats but it was Chris who brought me to a whole new level of professionalism. Chris is not only my mentor but an unbelievable musician and engineer in every sense of the word and now him and I work together on everything, and have become an unstoppable team.”
Snow, the incubator
It is a great time for our area. Mother Falcon recently played BSP, a band with a profound respect for communion with the audience. The snow of the last few weeks is incubating us with internal turning creative gears as we build up momentum pre-Spring. Everyone around here involved in “the scene” has primarily kept buzzing along in some positive capacity. So far I haven’t had to go write about bum fights late at night in frozen shopping plazas to keep my column interesting, though I wish the mayor would ease up on the lack of properly sheltering impoverished folk in extreme cold around these parts.
One love, Kingston. May you all have some regenerative snowy moments getting in tune with facing Saturn’s energy and learning to grow. You should stay up all night and listen to Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark like me and drink black coffee all the time when women drive you into multiple-personality disordered late-night happy times. Lastly, my band Antidote 8 play The Chance in early March to benefit a guy with rods in his legs. We learned a pretty rad Awol Nation tune for the show. Rock ’n’ roll. Until we meet again, listen to Cynic’s new album Kindly Bent To Free Us.
Join the family! 
