If you dont know....

me by now. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes on Soul Train, 1972.



also...check out these Afro-Americans, The Sylvers, from the same year on the same program

Read More......

X-Ray Saturday

....bummer there is a cool Bearclaw show the same night...

But come check out yer Reverse X-Rays @ Club 1808 , doors at 9

w / no mas bodas, the weird weeds, E*2, DJ Trailmix, DJ Dan the Man

should be good

Read More......

Oink verdict....

Not guilty!

Read More......

2009 Wrap-up II

Hey yall! A years worth of love!

What was my 2009 like?

Jan-March - I believe I was unemployed, but at this point I still had savings I could just eat up while I found a job. RXR was going strong thru SXSW. In Feb I got a job that wouldnt start for another 6 weeks (it was supposed to start like 3 weeks earlier than it did) working at Texas Legislative Services. We would cover what was going on in the Texas Leg. Lots of drawing time and reading time which was cool, and also it was fun being in the capitol building feeling like basically an imposter. But hey, those people work for US. We the PEOPLE. This was the legislature when the "tea-party" shit lead by Gen. of the Texas Army, King Seceed his-own-damn-self Rick Perry. That man loves being the Governor of the State of Texas. Seriously, he is following his passion, which happens to be $1000 boots with the state seal of Texas on it. Walk Hard, Rick. It was an interesting session, I learned how sausage (aka "legislation") gets made, got a free Obama T-shirt from the labor unions, alot of free BBQ lunches, a fair amount of sanctioned drinking margaritas on the job, had an awesome boss who was a bigtime baseball guy, started reading political blogs, and what else, oh yeah, started working real weird hours. I also made some new friends, and really enjoyed working the night shift with Katy my now temporary roommate, and Katy, the awesome chick who was a barista at Little City. I saw her on New Years and slapped her with a Jimmy Johns Sandwitch at Midnight. It was meant to be a gesture of the most loving kind, but I think she didn't really know how to take it at first. She did dance with me some afterwards so It must have at the very least been "apology accepted."

April I was still working the same job, but my whole life was backwards. Chris had left RXR (he is in Europe now, gaining valuable and varied world traveler life experience) and we were sort of in a tailspin. I started playing a lot of music with Red, which eventually (about 100 bottles of wine later) "didn't work out." We both learned lessons the hard way, but I'm happy to say we can now once again enjoy being in the same room together. One thing I heard from a politician back at my job was an old Italian saying which is "after the game all the pieces go back in the same box" which I think means some Mafia dude is going to end everyones life, but maybe means you gotta love the one your with.

I was still in semi tailspin mode coming out of that, it was the low point of my year for sure, I was all messed in the head like after a bad breakup. But I was planning a tour and knew once it came it would bail me out. Summer in Austin got insanely hot insanely early and that was sort of a story there in itself. Everyone I knew was like "WTF is going on???" Then it was time for "Tuffin' Up 2k9" with the motley crew of Me, Dann, and Eddy. We killed that shit and returned to the land of good vibes.

After tour was over for the 3 of us (in Boston Mass) I had a little solo adventure over to Toronto (gorgeous city, first time out of States in like 3 years maybe?) and thru Ohio, culminating in a (semi-) memorable 3 day drunk in Athens, OH with Brian of the band Spooktober. It was ridiculous. His friends are all biker gang guys with guns from 100 years ago, and also random art school kids and hillbillies. Pretty sweet, although I was worried about random hooligans putting a brick thru my windshield for no reason (I heard about 3 windows smashed for no reason while I was chilling on his porch). It was a great time, followed by a 11ish hour drive thru 6 states down to Athens GA where I would spend the next 5 weeks playing guitar, reading, and helping on home improvement projects all damn day. That town is amazing and it will truly go down as an amazing time in my life. I got to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains and have a weekend up there with friends at an awesome vacation house, saw a dickload of free shows, and had my first experience being a door guy (at The Go Bar, a charming place. There is an Of Montreal song that takes place there and can be found for free performed in their daytrotter session.) Number one thing you notice is really nice people. Everyone is super nice, and also super into music. The whole town thinks they are 22, and its just music music music. Its great. Great friends, I cant wait to see them again, and go back to Athens again. It was such a perfect time to be there, the end of summer in Athens. I wonder if i can take a train there, and not put the miles on my car...

So then I got back from Athens Sept 15thish, just in time for the High Holidays and leaving myself just enough financial cushion not to have to immediately move into my parents house and beg for any job that would come up. The next period was marked most clearly in my mind by where I was living with and with whom. Living with Willard was so nice, he mentored me so good into being a man. Seriously. He is my guru. I learned a lot about space from him, and concentrating and shit like that. I made biscotti for my grandma's birthday, and me Willard and Dan Krinslock had some really good times watching Melrose Place. Those chicks are so catty!!! But great show, seriously. Willard really was the one who got me into home improvement building stuff. That house had great vibes. Next, I moved in with Mike a couple blocks from Rancho, and that was truly a Spiked Punch golden age as we wrote the first reggae set and were practicing and playing music pretty constantly for 4-6 weeks, something like that. I managed to make my move to a more pleasant couch situation at Rancho. Me and those ladies and the other 2 punker dudes living there had a pretty nice constant party going, which was another novel environment for me in a way. That was a Rancho Golden Age...they were going scorched earth with it bigtime and in a way it came back to bite them in the ass (neighbor problems) but in a way, it all worked out. Had a great trip to Houston with a couple of those ladies, originally to see Thee Oh Sees (who cancelled that and their Austin show!!! illness...)

November we finally found a place, me Mike and Julian, with a special guest live-in situation from Abe for the first month. There was a bit of static with that, but it was my best living situation in 4 months, so I wasn't really the one getting bent out of shape about it, and everything ended up working out. Thanks to Abe for hooking us up with a gorgeous small home, great location, and loooow rent. More good vibes, and Spiked Punch team unity, but in December Mike moved out, only to be replaced by our good friend Katy. Happy to report levels of House Unity to start 2010 are at an all-time high. I really enjoy all the roommate activities we are getting in, and I think everyone is pretty serious about enjoying the time we have together. So that is my year! I don't think I released any music (outside a tour-only odds and ends compilation "take it out of our deposit" which proved an all too prophetic title) but i did get much better at making it, and in a way get 2 bands off the ground, so that is cool. Here's to 2010 being a more productive year in regards to releases, I think it will be. Keep your eyes peeled for some extremely limited vinyl runs.

Late in the year I also got a sweet* (*it actually sucks, but the flexible hours are nice) data entry job and started doing shows at Club 1808. The shows have been going well and in case you were wondering I'm just trying to approach it one night at a time, making sure each night is awesome, because things that are awesome in this particular way in my experience, you never know how long they are going to last. The only way to make them last is to have them always be awesome and appreciate them while they are going on, so cheers to that, I have already seen a very high hit rate of awesome shows there.

Also, doing this blog has been alot of fun, I know its dropped off a bit lately, as bloggers pursue real life interests, but I think its a fun record for us all, and now that things are settling down a bit, I can see myself getting more into it.

mucho gusto, 2009 was some bad and mostly good for me. It was the people who made it good, and maybe the fact that none of my friends can get jobs in this economy really is a blessing in disguise because it means I get to hang out with them more.

xoxoxoxx Ervin Berlin

Read More......

2009 Wrap-up

In hindsight 2009 was a very long year.

Last New Year's Eve seems like ages ago. I played in the First Night parade for the first show of the Minor Mishap Marching Band. I really wanted to play Fela Kuti songs though and they didn't want to stray from the Klezbah stuff, so we parted ways. After that parade we rung in the New Year at the 360 overlook then made my way to the Space Cave (RIP) for a freakish dance party.



The X-Rays were really picking up steam early in the year, culminating in 6 or 7 SXSW shows. Found this video posted on the youtubes by some guy named SpikedPunchEddy.



Can't forget about the Toughen Up 2k9 Tour with Spiked Punch. Look, I had a beard!



And oh yeah, I produced a hip-hop record. The follow-up is on the way shortly, but I wouldn't expect a show anytime soon. I was initially trying to sell the physical copies of this but I've give up so if you want one let me know, they're free as a bird.

Diamond Minds - Cavalier


There were some epic DJ nights here and there. Halloween on the Lamar Bridge and the afterparty and the super-secret Dobie Theatre blow-out are the two highlights to me. Airport Bar was also up there, so much fun while it lasted. There was one great night at Back Alley Social. The Shapes/Valentine/Schwausch b-day bash was also sweet. Shout-outs to Birds Barbershop for letting me hang out and drink lonestars every week, as well as Ranch 616 for feeding me so well and letting me wear out my disco-edits.

Live at Birds Mix


Oh, and let's not forget that this meager blog is now almost at 600 posts, even if the last 10 or so have been UT sport-related. Here's to another great year of Casavista blogosphere domination.

Read More......

Moonset

Had a quintessentially perfect night on the beach the other night. The kids have been having trouble getting out on the beach, but the night before we had teased it out of them and now they were ready. Likewise, the regular locals who cruise Kaanapali had been a bit standoffish the night before, but that too would come to an end. It was Christmas night and we had all the essentials: 2 guitars, 4 guitarists, some girls, plenty of beer and weed, the narc cart assigned to patrol the beach off for the holiday, and to top it off, it was the 3 zany Cooper bros last night in town. The guitars went around and around, the classics were played (beach standards = Hendrix, some Zepp, an ironic rendering of "Cat Scratch Fever" which on this night was tastefully only hinted at, etc). The night wore on, the locals mood was gradually elevated until they too were jamming along, and then Adam drew our attention to the moon, lined up square and low on the horizon flanked by the twin islands of Lanai and Molikai (i think). There it was, big, orange and steadily lowering towards the water, which it was reflecting orange off of. The sing-a-long turned to jamming which intensified to a fever pitch, as if we were concluding some sort of special Phish show. And then the moon crept underneath and about five minutes later everyone was in bed.

Oh also, that day I went to JAWS the famous big wave surf spot and saw dudes carve up 20 footers, it was fuckin' bad - ACE.

Read More......

The Reemerging Adventures of EMHU

Well, with Spiked Punch in full gear, I was pretty sure EMHU* (ethan master of the hawaiian ukulele) was dead forever. well guess what kids, the South will rise again, and by the south, I mean WAAAAAAY South, like, nearly Equatorial, bitches.

This year I have a few goals.
1. I am attempting Infinite Jest for the 3rd time. After day one (not counting night time reading) I am at page 41. I think I am going to lay off the Maui Wowee for the first week until some of my Hawaii buddies get into town in an attempt to keep my mind sharp and make headway on this goal.
2. I have a much improved recording setup, and a hankerin to get started on a ukulele based record. The big improvement this year is I rented this awesome mic from Rock and Roll Rentals that I would like to tell you about. It is a condenser mic, but in lieu of phantom power it can be powered by a 9V battery! The output signal I am getting vs whatever I used last year is so much better, I am actually centering the faders on 7.5 like you are supposed to and controlling the volume by taking the trim down, as opposed to last year when everything basically had to be at 10 and sounded like shit.

The vacay so far:

Lonngggg flight out of Dallas, close to 9 hours. Opted out of "Elf" in favor of trying to sleep, and then watched "Legally Blonde" which was actually really funny and a convincing fantasy as far as I'm concerned. Reese Witherspoon was great. Last night I was able to catch up on my trash TV (VH1 end of the year countdown, an surprisingly endearing episode of "Cougertown", an hour of "Robot Chicken" and an episode of "Real Sex" on HBO. Im counting it as a sign of maturity that it didn't give me a boner.) Today I woke up at 830ish with some hazy weird thoughts that were gone midway through my shower. I think i am going to keep a pen and paper at my bedside so I can record some of these weird thoughts and hopefully use them as lyrics. Then I ate some french toast my grandma bought at some place that was probably the best french toast Ive ever had, along with 2 pieces of regular toast and a bowl of fruit. Delicious!!! Then I went out by the beach. There is no one hear!!! Its fuckin awesome, the recession is my gain, because I love the empty beach. Oh yeah, but I recorded some stuff this morning, it sounds good. I'll post some demo highlights at somepoint after i get back perhaps

Read More......

Adventures in Autotune episode 1

REPLACE THESE STARS WITH HOMEPAGE SUMMARY<-->


REPLACE THESE STARS WITH FULL POST<-->
Earlier this spring I stumbled upon a deal at a pawn shop in Denton, TX - a (mostlye) working Antares ATR-1a for dirt dirt cheap; that's a real live hardware auto-tune folks.
Hooked it up to the turntables via a mixer send one night and just shuffled some algorithms around. Dig it feeding back on itself as we route the output back through the same effect send that goes to the unit.



I love you all

Read More......

More shit from the internet: Whats wrong with your VCR?

Below is a table which lists most VCR problems.
We have two columns, one for the problem
and the other for percentages.

Problem Percentage of failures

_
dirty heads..................24% |
idlers........................7% |
belts........................11% | These VCR problems can be
cassette carriage problems....8% |-------fixed without any soldering or
CPU lockups-pull the AC plug..3% | any knowledge of electronics.
capstan bearings..............6% | That's 66% of all problems!
roller guides.................6% |
foreign objects inside........3% _|
mode switch problems..........7%
antenna connector.............3%
tape end sensers..............3%
reel sensers..................2%
other simple problems........10%
other complex problems........7%

and we'll kick it back to sports, after these messages...

Read More......

Five Years Later: Giorgio Moroder Edition

Here's hoping this will become a recurring blog topic.

1974 - Philly before Moroder


1979 - Moroder


1984 - America learns from Moroder


1988/89 - Detroit forgets about Moroder

Read More......

we make it good volume 11: salem

salem mixes for fader
some trippy slowed down shit
the series

do y'all know about this band? some crazy crack-smoking motherfuckers out of nyc. i don't really care too much for their music but this mix is pretty cool.

Read More......

To be covered in a rocksteady style...

Or if you're more of a hip-hop head...



This song is also relevant if you're looking for a fly new T-shirt.

101 Apparel - - Turntablelab.com

Read More......

The Reggae

Hey there bloggermaniacs, it's been too long. While I was absent it looks like this blog has turned into Sportscenter without the funny commercials. Well without any further ado, I want to give you what you came for here in the first place... THE REGGAE.



I've been jamming Phyllis Dillion pretty hard lately. All of her recording was done between the ages of 19 and 23 or something like that. Totally hypnotizing music.




Alton Ellis is another guy that has been in heavy rotation. WikiP tells me he was known as the Godfather of Rocksteady, which is an unfuckwithable title.



And here's a variation of that Alton Ellis track, in the case that you're into a more self-depricating vibe.

Read More......

for edhuardho

Read More......

Coach Boom

This dude is gonna be the next head football coach for UT. He is the defensive coordinator right now ("Boom Motherfucker!").



BONUS VIDEO:
Mack Brown in 1982 (as LSU Offensive Coordinator)

Read More......