IRRATIONAL
There are some things that are simple and some that are suppose to be and aren't. Let's talk about the stupid cardboard milk or creamer cartons that we could never open when we were 5 and in our mid twenties still can't manage to crack. This happened at Rocket Cat today, while I was preparing my coffee and some dude next to me finished off the creamer and had to open a new container. I took my time putting the sweetener in my cup of Joe while he struggled with the creamer. Then there was nothing to do but watch. "I've almost got it, I just need a tool," he says and then fishes around for a device to actually pry and poke the creamer open. Clearly, I start blatantly laughing at this point. Why can't there just be a nice little spout?! Or a twist off cap like the cardboard orange juice boxes come with? I mean seriously, we're sitting here 4 hands deep trying to rape this box of creamer just so we can prep our coffee. The best part is, once it's open he literally throws a splash into his coffee and says, "Damn...all that work for just that." I felt like I should have shaken the jug up and started spraying it around the cafe in celebration! Of course, then we would have had to spend another half hour opening a new box of creamer.

HARD & FUN
It's hard. It's fun. It's out of control!! Jacci Stallone has one of the raddest blogs. I love it. I love her. And I love that she asked to do a feature interview on Shadowscene which was just posted today. I made fun of some stuff (as usual), made fun of myself (typical), and explained how it is that I've been having nonstop fun for the past 6+ years.
Speaking of fun...this past year has dominated. I've been trying to top the summer of 2005 for, well, fuck...five years now. And finally, I had to spend a summer in a different city on the opposite coast to do it, but I did it! Philly = top notch over the top wild ass fun. Seriously. Remember parties where people would dance all night? Where there were no holds barred and 'anything goes' was an understatement for the evening. Well yeah. It was like Oregon trail out here for while except this time we've headed East. Pickles has an ingrown claw, Penndelton is bald and I'm thirsty as fuck...but we made it. Let the dance party full music face melting blasts ensue. And mad props to Franki Chan for bringing back CYP2. Los Angeles just got a face-lift. Again.

FADE AWAY
So another Coachella has passed...and with it the ups and downs. There were a few tragedies but nothing that can hold us back or slow us down. There was a lot of hot tubbin' and a million fake wristbands that totally worked for the entire gang. Go team, go! Our entire adventure consisted predominantly of the actual festival, Anthem Lagoon, VICE Cougars, ACE Hotel party crashing and too much Sailor Jerry rum. Let's just say there were a lot of band-aids in use by Sunday morning.
I also decided I absolutely NEED an old Airstreamer RV. Need, need, want. Need. And futhermore, in my opinion it's now summer. Even though our entire world is 20 degrees colder than it should be and we now experience UK blackouts, alien invasions, volcanic eruptions and 7.2 earthquakes on a weekly basis. 2012?
In other news, the Philly | Los Angeles bi-coastal Shadowscene bash blast is really taking off. We've got new events in both cities popping up including School Night here in Los Angeles, Tiger Beats in Philly, and a RAWK Tuesdays on the LA Eastside. It's definitely time to change things up and spice up the sauces. We're cleaning out the closets so to speak. The past 6 months have been sort of stagnant and full of theoretical assumptions and guessing games. We're ready to get back to the good life and ditch the after school specials along with every moniker and bit that goes along with it. And...for those of you who actually read this shit, I've invited a few of the crew to contribute here an there. This means you'll be reading the dazed thoughts and fucked up opinions of other robot worthy folk starting today. Yep. Oxenfree...Pink Avenger...Goo Goo Fruit and more. Bookmark this muthafucka.

TAPS WRAPS & BEATS
There's too much going on; but what's new? Now that everyone is back in reality action after Thanksgiving boozin', schmoozin and food fuelin it's the hustle of getting everything wrapped for the holidays. Literally.
I spent a few amazing weeks in LA soakin' up the sunshine, DJing, doing some fashion shoots and learning how to cook some homemade soups. I got to enjoy Club Rhonda after missing it for nearly a year and can easily say it's one of the greatest parties in that city right now. I DJ'd Hang the DJs with Valida and was literally raising the roof...not to mention banging the walls in between and during tracks. Plus, LeCastlevania and I finally ran into each other which is a feat in itself since we both switch coasts on each other on a daily basis. And now I'm back on the east coast for a bit...enjoying the...rain? Just snow already!
On the Shadowscene front, there's a ton to be excited about. I'll be in NY this Thursday for the new Shadowscene weekly with Whit Fierce, LEWD Thursdays at Orchard Bar. Tonight I'm checking out TigerBeats indie dance party at The Barbary in Philly and Awesometown is still rocking twice a month in Los Angeles. Plus, our vintage collection is in full boom and you can check out new pieces each week in the store and I'll be releasing some select limited prints from the "Fragments & Figmentations" collection in the next week! Our buddies Finger on the Pulse had a kick-ass premiere for their new weekly show, Dinner with the Band on IFC. This week check out Final Fantasy and record that bizzle if you can't catch it every week. Speaking of music...KC and I have finally locked down some deadline dates for our recordings. Get pumped! And I'm stoked on what Diplo and Robyn are up to...lock in to Mad Decent for more updates.
Of course...I had to tap into some old Robyn anthems and here's a fave. It's very Pee-Wee'esque.
All it needs is a little Chairy the Chair and Meka High Meka Highney Ho.

WEIRD FU
Today has seriously been an exhausting, strange, yet exciting day. I'm all over the place, getting things done but still struggling to really focus. I ran around Philly, hit up Deli Mag, chilled at Rocket Cat and scoped out some premises. I even discovered a new bit for laughter; the FU Funnies as I have coined them. Little stick figure comics cracking jokes on the weird shit that pesters all of us. This one is definitely top five for me. The funniest part is I've always had shower doors but lately have been experiencing the shower curtain and why the hell does that steamy shower seem to devour the curtain!? Or more or less, why does that curtain feel the need to devour you when showering!? Gettin bored at the office...check out some more FU Funnies to enlighten your day.
The other bit of excitement was prepping for the launch of a Shadowscene weekly event in New York starting this week! I've teamed up with a good pal from Los Angeles and we'll be kicking off Lewd Thursdays at the Orchard Bar which, hooray, is re-opening! What's even more rad is we get to start off with Womanizer (the members of IAMSOUND's Telepathe) and Kap10Kurt. And yes, Philly, you are next in the big scheme of the party scene. I also jet back to Los Angeles next week, New York this weekend and maybe Miami for Art Basel next month! And tomorrow night is Islands in Philly...yarg! If you're not familiar with this Montreal act, definitely get into it. More bitty bits on this tomorrow.
For now, I'm sleepy. I'm too headwrapped up in design work and this entry is laggin on the humor. I'll be funnier when I wake up. Promise.
This is the end of my weird day. And if you don't like it, FU.

SMASHED BASHINGS
Welcome to the Shadowscene recap of this years CMJ. Okay, it's really not all that formal. I'm just going to lay it out and tell you what bands you need to be watching. Oh, and I might bitch a little bit about having my window smashed in. Let's start there.
Two weeks ago in Philly Carney told me to get my damn pennies out of the tray; because I may as well be asking for it. Pennies. Threw those things into a "give a penny, take a penny" jar and moved on. A week later in New York I park the Shadow-mobile in Brooklyn. Bresnitz helps me clear it out of anything remotely important (robots, cardigans, box of almonds) also enforcing the "smashed window shenanigans". 48 hours later I have a smashed window. And the typical thoughts ensue: wtf!? why!? and why didn't they bother to take anything?! I mean seriously. If you're gonna go the mile of busting in a window and causing all that mess, at least take something. Even the rearview mirror. An air freshner maybe? Make it worth my time. The loose pieces from the console were strewn about on the sidewalk and all we figured was they broke in because the shadow-mobile came with a stupid garmin sticker on it. Thanks pre-owner. Bresnitz and I decided to just cut that piece of the dashboard with the sticker on it right out and then half heartedly attempted to tape a garbage bag to the window...with tape that didn't want to stick. Naturally. After a year of the worse car luck ever, I may as well start leaving my keys in the ignition with the windows down. Maybe even a sign...take me, please.
Now take this. Moving on to the real point of CMJ...bashes with smashed people and music clangs. I hit up the IAM Sound showcase which was listed by Stereogum as the best showcase of CMJ, the High Rise PR fiesta with Via Tania and Midnight Juggernauts, Dovecote Records bash, Green Label Sound with Chromeo and a bunch of random running arounds including the Santos Party House, Fader Party and Brooklyn Bowl. I fortunately rolled a strike in my Dr Martens. I got drenched in the rain and was completely content with it since it was 78 degrees. I ate way too many pork chops thanks to Bobby Flay. I watched the mural for Dinner With the Band take up a wall in Brooklyn: step by step. Drank a shitty chai latte. Drank way too many screwdrivers.

After a week of nonstop music and car repair here are Shadowscene's picks for the top artists to watch based upon my galivanting: Restless People, Apache Beat, Suckers, The XX, Yacht, Duchess Says, Sleigh Bells, and Fools Gold.

But the best part is, I spent the week defrosting and ended it with a nice even thaw.

Check out this video from The XX:

KUNG FU CHICKEN
Even chickens are on the dancefloor. Moulinex and Xinobo introduced this video to me when we were all in Philly and I loved this shit so much I made the venue play it over the sound system. Cluck, Cluck!
3 days back in NY and Philly were amazing...sadly a lot of my friends are hit with the flu and cold so spent the weekend tucked under covers hugging buckets and tissues boxes. I'm back to LA for Mad Mondays tonight. And Metronomy will be back in town to play a last minute show put together with IHC...and it's free! Check Shadowscene for details.
Now check out this zesty little chicken. He's ridiculous cute.

WE GOT BORED
I finally made it home to LA for a couple of days this past weekend just for BLOW UP. This month's Blow Up seriously took the cake...that shit was off the wall happy slippy sloppy. Although being home, there was definitely minimal sleep being had. Even all the way up to the wee hours prior to my flight out of LA and back to the middle of the country. On a fun note, my friend RDUB has this crazy fun video series called "We Got Bored". I just spent my last few hours in LA this weekend bouncing around in a parking lot while he worked on the latest...check it out:



And in the meantime, I'm getting ill from all the nonstop plane hopping, city circling, party hop shooting, air mattress non snoozing. But it's worth it. When the hell else am I gonna rock out in the middle of Nebraska and Kansas...

** Party update: Philly still takes the cake on the most riotous midweek bash thus far. Philly you're golden.



And believe it or not...Omaha was pretty damn awesome as well! Yip Yip!!