Phantods, Mr.Gnome, Barn Owls - Ruby Tuesday- Columbus July 31st

.......the Cadillac was tearing down I-71 southbound as the clock ticked past 9pm, when the scheduled to start. I didn't think of this as a problem because I was only interested in catching Phantods and Mr. Gnome......and there was an opener so I figured I had time.

.......So it's about 9:47 when the GPS led us to Summit St. in Columbus and we found some convenient, if not conspicuous, parking.....almost immediately. Thinking that this might have been some kind of extremely hip version of the well known chain restaurant....I noticed a rather lively pub across the street to which the address must have been the 1978 Summit that we were looking for. Jack finished his cigarrette and we wandered in......

.........it was time to hit the bar. A line streamed out from the spot where the one bartender was serving people, rather quickly I might add...which is always nice. So I waited in line for my rum and coke and realized that the first band was starting......

.......and I can't remember their name....They looked like what would happen if DEVO wound up in the Matrix....only they sounded kind of like what would happen if DEVO wound up as the house band at an airport bar. Don't get me wrong....these guys were talented...i just wasn't interested.

.......up next I thought was Mr.Gnome.......but it turned out to be the very pleasant surprise that was Barn Owls. 2 guys took to the stage. A drummer and a guitarist.......as the guitarist unleashed a reverb drenched dose of psychedelia.......... I had to take note and leave my post at the bar. By the time I got up to the stage he put the guitar down and had what he was just playing continue to loop. He walked over and picked up a bass......and played away as the drums kept a swaggering time keeping role so far. This went on for quite awhile....and never lost my interest, which is definitely saying something about these guys.....or says something about how strong my rum and cokes were...... They were joined by a bassist after the opening improv/jam and the guitarist interjected some sparse and spaced out vocals over top of this starship of noise. Very fitting and melancholy. The highlight of their set was undoubtedly their stripped down and tripped out version of Hendrix's Machine Gun.

.......and Mr.Gnome took the stage. I don't know how I never managed to catch the Gnome in Cleveland....as that's where they originate, but I guess I can't be everywhere all the time. I'd seen them on youtube and was really looking forward to witnessing them for myself.

It was pitch black with only two red lanterns illuminating the stage. The crowd had packed up around the stage by now and there was a definite energy of anticipation going on now. They blasted into what I rememer being Pirates.....but by this point I'd had a couple rums in my system so I could be wrong. All I know is that the entire set was amazing. Extremely tight......

Sam beats the hell out of his drums.

Nicole is so dynamic as she goes from quiet and delicate to thrashing about like she was on fire. They really are a sight to behold.......the crowd forced them into graciously playing an obviously unplanned encore.....

I've seen Phantods 4 times now.....

I have to say....... that this is the single most talented and intriguing, unsigned band in Ohio. If they aren't on the brink of breaking big it's an outright tragedy. Each and every member of this group is phenomenal at their craft.......fronted by modern day renaissance woman/force of nature miss Gretchen King......the opening notes struck and everything was flawless from start to end. This band gives not one dull moment. Whether I was trying to wrap my head around Dan Hagquist's complex and twisting, genre defying fretboard work.........or attempting to follow along with the ever evolving bass/drum interaction that serves as the foundation for all of this......my focus undoubtedly fluctuated for the duration of the set. The songs from the new Revival EP were some of the strongest moments in the set and I highly recommend picking it up for the $5 of chump change.....as it's worth every cent.

All in all a very enjoyable night......capped off by some greasy pizza from Hounddogs on High St.......which you can't respectably be in Columbus and leave without hitting.........

..........the burns on the roof of my mouth will be with me as a reminder of these good times for the next week or so.

-J. Phobic

Where has it gone?

Where is it?


I don't know what brings this about....but it happens every so often. Maybe it's when i actually find the time to leave the house......when i go somewhere and things seem wrong.
Stale.Bland.Plastic.Heartless.

No message. No comprehension.
No question of absence of substance.

Where is the will to reject that i was surrounded by so authentically?.......

i have not seen it for years........at least not in full force. Now everything is a result of memetry. Just accepting the thoughts and unjustified logics of the world around them.

There are of course the obscure few who still retain the vitriolic mind full of dissent.......brimming with art and knoweledge of something greater than self. A purposeless purpose. A slackers jihad. Apathy's mecca. To discard what we are supposed to do and replace it with what we actually want to do. To think and learn and express our discontents and our.................etc.

But where is it? Where has it gone? Has the youth failed so blatantly to find substance? Is it all even more meaningless than even i had imagined?

I just miss it.
I miss when it meant more.
When MEANING was my own.....
and it was also yours
and yours
and yours
and yours.

Now it's all hollow and unimaginative and weak. A world of fashion whores with no great truth to be found.

Where has it gone?

Mission Statment

FUTUREPHOBIC:

Fear that the future will be worse than the present.

As evidenced by the decline in quality of EVERYTHING in the last decade, it's more than a just a fear. It's something commonplace.....and it has almost been accepted wholesale as WHAT WILL BE.....no questions asked.

In a time where originality is scarce and talent is even scarcer and everything is a worthless retread of something that has been done before, there are those who speak of the so called "good ol' days". But very few people putting forward any effort to set it right again.

This is my effort.