Monday June 26, 2000

I haven't been to see a punk rock/indie rock/hardcore concert since last fall, so seeing the band Jets to Brazil (JTB) at the Middle East finally ended the embargo. I hadn't seen JTB since the begining of last spring or summer when they were touring for their first record (Orange Rhyming Dictionary). A couple of old friends play in the band whom I regret not seeing very often, so I try not to miss them when they are in Boston. This time out, JTB were still playing mostly off of their first record, but threw in a good amount of newer songs from their upcoming album "Four Cornered Night" due out in August. Some of their newer material had a much differant feel to it. It seems like JTB's earlier material was mostly written by Blake, where their newer stuff was obviously more of a team effort. With that said, I have the feeling a lot of people will not like the softer, almost adult contemporary rockish, sounds of some of their newer songs. They aren't *that* bad, they just are sounding less and less like their guitarrist Blake's former band (Jawbreaker).

When I first moved to Boston a little over two years ago, I did the rounds temping at first. Some of the agencies here were very helpful and some were not. One of the less than helpful ones was MacTemps (whom are now called Aquient). Fast forward a year and a half, to when I was looking for a new job this past winter. The newly named Aquient totally blew me off and wouldn't even give me an interview for any of their design/web design/photography oriented positions. Well, somehow in the past 6 months, they acquired my photography business's name (adamtanner Images) for their junk mailing list of business's they are trying to place temps with. Um, if you won't even give me an interview, why on earth would I want to deal with your company? buh bye.

Thanks to a barnes and noble gift certificate and an e coupon, I recently purchased "Fucked Up + Photocopied". This book is a great collection of flyers produced in the American punk scene between 1977 and 1985, with and award winning layout to boot. This book makes a nice compliment to the All Ages book that Revelation Records put out a few years ago that documented the punk/hardcore scene from the mid 80's to early 90's with a few interviews, flyers and photos.

Luckily, I finally got off my butt and purchased one of those wonderful Apex DVD players with the loophole menu's early last week before Ebay decided to ban auctions on them because DVD companies claimed that the item was violating their copyrights.

While searching for information about Corey Johnson, I found OutSports.com who describe themselves with this moniker "There is a myth out there that gay men don't like, or participate in, sports. We say that's dead wrong. Here is the site for gay sports fans and gay athletes."Corey Johnson is an out gay teen who just happened to be the captain of his football team and was featured just recently on the news show 20/20.

These two sister sites RealWorldBlows.com and SurvivorSucks.com have become recent favorite websites of mine. The Real World in New Orleans this season just seems like a set of perfect little pin up dolls. Unfortunaly now we get watch the major networks rush to cash in on the "reality show" trend. *joy*

The boyfriend finagled me into going to see the clay-mation movie Chicken Run this past friday on opening night. I have to say it was quite funny. Picture a bunch of chickens with brit accents trying to escape from a gestapo style chicken farm. It's the new movie by the creators of Wollace and Grommet.

So totally out of the blue, I get a call from a photo editor at Rolling Stone magazine who is looking for a photo of Blink 182 from their most recent show here in the Boston area. Um, I would love to have been able to help her, but unfortunatly they are on a major label, which doesn't usually give out photo passes to freelance photographers like myself without an assignment. So much for my big break... *sigh*

The boyfriend (Eric) and I also had an interesting time this past weekend kitten sitting for a friend of his. This hyper little ball of fur entitled Connor was a joy, except for the fact that I have been and still am allerigic to dander. I did pretty well until my eyes got all scratchy and my sinusus started swelling last night. I always said I was a *dog* person anyhow.

I'm sure that this link has made the rounds elsewhere, but its still funny, so here is the glam name generator.

Monday June 19, 2000

Well, I'm just starting to use blogger to update a12 now. (hence the much needed redesign that will be ongoing for a while). I needed a design that I could update through something like blogger without having FTP access (i.e. at work). This site will live once more.

Ebay is crack for junk collectors like me.
Its like an urban flea market with last minute buying adrenaline.

I've begun trying to collect some rock poster art (i.e. expensive flyers) lately shopping mostly on ebay. I've gotten some Morrissey and Radiohead screen printed posters. I've just been trying to find ones of artists that I actually like, which there aren't that many high quality posters of. Although I can say the whole Kozik/Coop school of poster art is great, I have a feeling I'll just end up getting Frank Kozik's books instead of paying absurd prices for posters of dead bands.

Ebay has also been fueling my hobby of collecting coffee table style photo books. I used to be able to pick them up in NYC on Broadway for half of their cover prices, but Boston just isn't a hop skip and a jump of a train ride from NY that CT was. Herb Ritts seems to be my mission for photo books recently. I'm currently on a quest to get his Men and Women books slipcase set. I just got his book "Notorious" that's been out of print for 5 years for half it's cover price. Bruce Weber's books are nice, but they are just like his abercrombie ads, just pictures of young men(and nooo he isn't gay.... um, whatever. Straight men looove to take photos of young men). They are collectable though. I picked up this Charles Peterson book "Screaming Life," that I've been hunting for in SanFran. Awesome blurry styled rock photos. Anton Corbijn, Albert Watson, and Greg Gorman are next on my list of photographer's books to get.

I keep seeing this hideous commercial on NBC for this show called MYOB (I think that's what its called). The only redeeming quality it has is that it has Colin from real world Hawaii on it. (I.e. it's gonna suck).

Speaking of the Real World, the New Orleans season has just begun. I've determined that I hate every male on the show this season(even if there is a homo and a straight edge kid on there). Give me drunken Melissa or the non-Mormon blond any day of the week. The Mormon girl is warming up her ho boots as we speak.

Insert gay dog joke here. A Florida man was convicted of animal cruelty for fatally beating his dog because he thought it was gay. (of course I got scooped by web queeries and slave on this.. but I saw in the Boston Globe first)

I am eagerly awaiting gay brit writer Mark Simpson's upcoming Saint Morrissey book.

At once Devil's Advocate and Counsel for Canonization, Mark Simpson offers the finest psychological profile to date of England's most intelligent, most misunderstood, most undervalued, most pernicious pop star.

a homo writing about Morrissey. Color me interested.

CBS's "reality show" Survivor is just a Real World for people over 30. It is so obvious who will be voted off the "remote island" (that just happens to have a host and hundreds of camera crew people) each week. First the old people, then they complainers. Even the token homosexual (Richard) on the show can't even make keep this fag interested.

I don't know why the press has been making a huge deal over AOL's recent password stealing binge by hackers. That crap has been happening for years, and been reported all the time, but never gets anything done in response until it's picked up by msnbc and the NY Times. I have a feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg of AOL's dirty little secrets that the press will be uncovering with the upcoming timewarner merger.

The boyfriend and I went to see the Boston performance of Paul Rudnick's "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" the other week. In short, it's a retelling of history through Adam and Steve, instead of Adam and Eve. Let's just say that I'm not a theater fag, and absolutely love the show. Is that a good enough review for you?

I can't be the only one banking on rapper Eminem being a huuuge closet case. I don't think I've ever heard a supposedly straight man talk so much about gay sex. Isn't there a study somewhere showing that the most homophobic are usually the ones with the biggest closets.

I had this big elaborate thing I wanted to write about how bad gay pride was here in Boston this year. To say that it was disappointing is an understatement. Having been involved on the pride committee in the past, I know how hard the people on the committee work to do things.. but doing the same thing year after year isn't working anymore. Gay Pride isn't the same as it was 10 years ago, so why have the same stupid traditional events that aren't well attended over and over again year after year. How many times can they try and pack people like rats into thin sidewalks on the Boston Common to shop for the same rainbow flags and cheap pride merchandise. It's no wonder why interesting events like the Dyke March keep growing and growing every year, while the pride parade and its crowds keeps getting smaller and smaller. Even corporate sponsorship can't save Pride when its money is thrown away on has-been entertainment and grand marshals. Does Wilson Cruz even still have a so called career? *sigh*

(Adam now steps off of his soapbox)

Referrer logs are still a wonderful thing. They lead me to wonderful sites that have linked to me at some point or another and they are usually great sites. This holds true with the Leatheregg website. A Bostonian web geek homo that does a weblog.... and then there were two.

A week from this Thursday, the boyfriend and I leave for Tuscany, Italy for 10 days. I feel like a giddy little kid. I can't wait to see all the art and architecture in person that I studied in art history. Hey, we may even make it down to Rome for World Gay Pride. Somehow I just don't think I'll be updating A12 while I'm there.

It is my conclusion that Mod Lang is the best record store in the world. They sell and abundance of indie pop/rock, Britpop, various electronic music styles *and* have this fabulous e-mail new release list. Now only if they had a Boston store.

My current infatuation with Travis keeps growing. I have to say that it does scare me to see the video for "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" on VH1 and hear the song on the Boston Adult Oriented Rock stations (98.5 for instance). I want my favorite bands to stay unknown dammit! I guess it's better than hearing more shatty 3rd Eye Vertical Matchboxes though.

In some really random news, this gal Samantha, who used to play drums in this really horrid NY hardcore band called Shift, just moved up from her gig playing drums for Hole to filling in for Motley Crue. How did *that* happen?

Thursday June 1, 2000

Well it's certainly been a while since I've logged onto here. A new job and a new boyfriend (Eric) will do that to you.

I just spent Memorial Day weekend in Provincetown. Had a blast, hitting the beach, walking up and down Commerical street, going out, wandering around. I forget how lucky us New Englanders are to have Ptown here.

A friend over at punkrock.net led me to the hilarously funny website straightacting.com. My rating was

LEVEL 6 -- MOSTLY FEMININE
People are starting to place bets that you are gay. You do a lot of things and have a lot of behaviors that are the stereotypical gay feminine traits. You enjoy exploring your feminine side. Most people just assume you are gay, and go on with it, which is just fine with you.

*sheesh* i'm not that much of a queen.

Another great site i found from punkrock.net is Explodingdog.com. I can't tell you how many times I've burst out laughing at work from these stickfigure drawings.

I knew there was a reason (well other than how hideously bad they are) to not like Eminem and the whole Dr Dre camp... taken from a GLAAD press release

On his new Marshall Masters LP, Eminem's lyrics are full of negative comments about lesbians and gay men. A sample of the lyrics include:

"You faggots keep egging me on 'Til I have you at knifepoint, then you beg me to stop"

"My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge That'll stab you in the head whether you're a fag or les Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-ves Pants or dress Hate fags? The answer's yes a"

"Hey, it's me, Versace Whoops, somebody shot me And I was out checking the mail Get it, checking the male?"

Please let Eminem know that he needs to be responsible for the messages his music sends out. He recently told MTV that he does not hate gays, but his lyrics speak for themselves. Let Eminem know how such disregard for others can lead to discrimination, physical abuse and even death.

Eminem can be reached through:
Christina Meloche, marketing, Interscope Records, 10900 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1230, Los Angeles, CA 90024; fax: 310-865-7906; e-mail: feedback@igamail.com
Paul Rosenberg is Eminem's Manager who can be reached at Shady Goliath Records, 270 Lafayette, Suite 805, New York, NY 10012; fax: 212-324-2415; no e-mail is available at this time.

I recently began writing for a new GLBT startup magazine here in Boston called Twelve magazine (how fitting, I know). It plans to serve the Boston, Providence and Provincetown communities. Although I like the other local GLBT papers, there is definatly room for some fresh ideas. I wrote a piece on Queer as Folk for their second issue.

So it seems that mp3.com is just becoming a tool for the major labels now after it lost its lawsuit. oh well. Perhaps the music industry will realize that they can't fight technology like napster, so they ought to start working with it. The idiotic musicians that are sueing napster are just alienating themselves and showing how much they are just tools of the music industry (and i had so much respect for Madonna before this). I have to admit that the Camp Chaos parody cartoons (metallica's and motley crue's) are quite funny.

So to tide me over while my Morrissey addiction subsides, I've grown quite fond of Travis. I saw them live here in Boston a few weeks ago, and it honestly was one of the BEST live shows I've ever seen (and I'm a jaded music man). Their latest release "The Man Who", which came out last year in England is wonderful pop music and they have a brand new single coming out next monday.

The boyfriend seems to love the new gap commericals with its west side story theme. their ad agency must be making a fortune.

Hopefully soon I will no longer be a FLEEt bank (stressing the FLEE) customer. I originally had BankBoston for my checking account and was happy with their online banking and the account in general. Then Fleet bought BankBoston, and decided that they needed to rape BankBoston's account structure with fees galore for checks and atms. What formerly was a $10 a month checking account with Direct Deposit, now would cost me upwardly of $30 with atm and checking fees. Thus Adam had moved his butt (and his checking account) over to the very gay friendly and less fee happy Wainwright Bank. They offer free checking and ATMs with direct deposit, and any day now will have online banking. I'm slowly weaning myself out of my Fleet account and hopefully will be done with them by the end of the month. Drama over.

I feel really boring music wise lately. The only music to keep my interest lately seems to be house music DJ compilations (by local boston DJ Danae Jacovidis), my recently acquired love for Belle and Sebastian, gay dad, Travis, the most recent Oasis album (who knows how long they will remain together now..) and the Braid "Movie Music" singles compilations / discographies.

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