**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #1 for 13 January 2000. Happy Gnu Year!
Wellity, wellity, wellity...how disappointed are we that we're not eating people's skin and eyeballs...guess that Y2K apocalypse thingy wasn't that big a deal, eh? Oh, well, there's always next year, when the REAL millennium hits us...
Things are heating up once again at PopCanon HQ--we're finally rested up after the release of our TWO new CDs, d'art and Pricksongs & Descants. If you have mysteriously not purchased either of these breakthrough albums, you can at least review their artwork and liner notes on our website here for d'art or here for Pricksongs and then go directly to BUY d'art from CDBaby (where, incidentally, PopCanon received 79 votes for Best Independent Album of the Year, which is not bad considering that the vote was for our 1997 debut The Kingdom of Idiot Rock--we have only this week gotten a large shipment of d'arts to CDBaby to sell. It's only $10 there, they take all major credit cards, and they ship within 24 hours with a very funny and charming email confirmation.)
The reviews for d'art
have begun to trickle in! One calls it an embarrassment of riches
and another finishes up with:
If you like accessible pop songs, buy d'art. If you like extremely proficient
technical playing, buy d'art. If you like faux-swing songs about faith versus
reason, buy d'art. If you have even heard of Richard Rorty, buy d'art. Hell,
if you like cool music at all, go out and buy PopCanon's new album d'art.
UPCOMING SHOWS
THIS FRIDAY 14 JANUARY
Brownstones, 510 Central Ave, Sarasota FL. $5.
Take I-75 south to exit 39 (SR780/Fruitville Rd)--head towards the beaches about
5 miles and turn right onto Central Avenue.
Early-ish show: we play around 10.30pm.
**MONDAY 24 JANUARY
Covered Dish, Gainesville FL
PopCanon & Blinder (astounding math-rock from NYC) will both open the show
with a game of Bezique, a musical game piece created by avant-garde composer
John Zorn (we cover two of his Naked City songs). About a dozen players sit
in a semi-circle and follow elaborate hand signals and game theories and make
some wild, fun, collectively improvised music together. Special guests have
been invited--come early and join in the freakout.
FRIDAY 29 JANUARY
Will's Pub, Orlando FL
PopCanon and Mohave (Bing Futch's new band).
HELP!!
Finally, we'd like to appeal to any of you in the northeast or with friends
in this area: PopCanon is planning a Spring Tour the first two weeks of March
up the eastern seaboard (probably playing some shows with Blinder and our old
pals Idiot Savant Garde from PA), and we need help with bookings and lodgings.
Please email us here at
Thanks for rocking with us into the '00s!
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #2 for 24 January 2000.
Hey, just a quick reminder about the show TONIGHT!
**PopCanon and Blinder at the Covered Dish, Gainesville FL.
PC plays last, around 11.30.
Blinder will play some stunning math-rock before that, and to kick the night
off PROMPTLY at 10pm will be a performance of avant-garde composer John Zorn's
musical game piece Bezique. About a dozen players sit in a semi-circle and follow
elaborate hand signals and game theories and make some wild, fun, collectively
improvised music together. Performers will include some of Gainesville's finest,
under the direction of Blinder's Mason Wendell (founder of NYC Zorn-tribute
band Prelapse). As the Dish's Bill Bryson says: 'Come early and find out what
it's all about.' Once again, Bezique will begin promptly at 10pm, and I promise
you it will be unlike most anything you've ever heard, and you--like us--will
be hearing it created for the first and last time.
UPCOMING SHOWS:
Saturday 29 January
Will's Pub, Orlando FL
1850 N. Mills Ave 407.898.5070
PC & Mohave (dulcimer rock!)
Friday 4 February
Sadie's Tavern, Winter Park FL
415 S. Orlando Ave 407.628.4562
PC & Sosumi (female trio with an 'island feel')
Finally, check out our newly-updated Music section at where we've reorganized all our song lyrics (60+!) and soundfiles into album order. It's fun, and fun for you.
Rock, etc.
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #3 for 27 January 2000.
Two shows in Orlando this week, after so many weeks with no shows in Orlando:
THIS SATURDAY
Will's Pub, Orlando FL -- 10pm, $3
1850 N. Mills Avenue 407.898.5070
PopCanon & Mohave (dulcimer rock!)
See us rock out with our old pal Bing Futch.
NEXT FRIDAY 4 February
Sadie's Tavern, Winter Park FL
415 S. Orlando Avenue 407.628.4562
PopCanon & Sosumi (female trio with an 'island feel')
RAVES:
Well, thanks to Steve & Tina Ware and the other few people who braved the
cold Monday night and came out to the Dish to see Blinder, PopCanon, Aaron of
the Chairs and Chris Weingarten of Honeygrind engage in an extended game of
John Zorn's Bezique... it was a little baffling to perform sometimes (and no
doubt a bit confusing to hear) but it was a whole lot of fun for us. So much
so that we're thinking of making it a monthly game somewhere and you can all
join in if you want to.
After Bezique, Blinder played a dense and powerful set, and we sure hope we can put some shows together with them during our Spring Tour of the East Coast, which is falling together as we speak. But if you live in S or N Carolina or the Virginias, please contact us immediately if you can help!
And speaking of Chris Weingarten, he recently dropped some science on us in the form of a twisted remix of our song ArtHole from d'art, incorporating putatively humorous samples from the movie 'Blankman'--the joke's on you, jack! And though the remix itself is not posted on our mp3.com page (due to our cadre of law-speaking guys suing the baggy pants off him for unauthorized reproduction of our intellectual property), by tomorrow we'll have two new songs uploaded there: the original version of ArtHole (known to 'the kids' as I'm An Artist and You're An Asshole) and Don's 'funk' song Ironica, a tribute to being Don. Go ahead--steal the mp3's: that's what they're there for.
And here's another reminder to check out our newly-updated Music section where we've reorganized all our song lyrics (60+!) and soundfiles into album order. It's fun, and fun for you.
QUALITY CONTROL SEMI-RANT:
It seems we've had a few problems with our intial batch of beautiful hand-screened
commemorative d'art tshirts, though we think we've got it under control now--however,
if YOU have experienced any bad juju from your shirt, please contact us at
'What's a diorama?'
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #4 for Valentine's Day 2000.
One show midweek and a bunch of news!
First off, however: although this is pretty unlikely, if you have NOT yet heard
the PopCanon smash hit 'Valentine's Day' (about the love between a boy, a girl,
and her brother, too) from our 1997 debut album The Kingdom of Idiot Rock, dispatch
yourself now and
get yourself some of that digital love. You'll thank us, trust me.
UPCOMING SHOWS
THIS Wednesday, 16 February
The Side Bar, Downtown Gainesville FL
PopCanon opens for All That (from New Orleans) --
Come early and receive a special World Wrestling Federation valentine...
*Friday 25 February
PopCanon at Barnstormer Pizza, Montevallo AL
Opening act: a philosopher of aesthetics from Rutgers U.
*Saturday 26 February
PopCanon and Couch at The Blue Room, Auburn AL
Our first shows in AL in the new year! With our pal Squeaky Steve filling in
on the drums for the indisposed Robby...thanks, Steve!
RAVES
Some good news on the PopAganda front:
Arthole, the flagship song from our new CD d'art, was picked for the
premiere playlist at ArtistLaunch.com, a web-based radio show. Here's the complete
playlist.
And our appearance on ArtistLaunch.com led to the following review of Arthole
from the site Mp3Reviews.com:
So you take youself seriously huh? Workin' on your latest masterpiece? Well
listen to this ditty about artist attitudes in this Psycho-Alt-Nightmare! Great
screwed up sax and trumpet solos over a cool beat with Cake-like vocals and
funny as hell lyrics. This will knock ya off yer chair!
Hooray for us, we say. Comparisons to Cake, and to CakeLike, are always appreciated.
AD: I Can't See Over The Accordian!
Some of you may recall last year seeing Robby & Ned playing drums and bass
behind Stuart McNair (of Pain) in the band Like A CreamDream at several
PopCanon shows ... well, Stuart has cashed his student loan and made a sparkling
CD of his best songs called I Can't See Over The Accordian. Robby &
Ned play on several tracks, and Stuart has told us that if we ever hope to get
paid for our work we should encourage people to buy an advance copy of the record
from him. SO! Go to his website
or e him at smcnair @ hotmail.com and help Robby & Ned earn their musician's
scale.
THE LITTLE BIG TOUR: Finally, an update on The IdiotPopSavantCanonGarde Tour
2K, aka the I95 North Tour:
These shows are confirmed:
Saturday 4 March at the Galaxy Hut, Arlington VA
Sunday 5 March at Pontiac Grill, Philadelphia PA
Tuesday 7 March at the Spiral Lounge, NYC
Wednesday 8 March at the Velvet Lounge, Washington DC
>>(Thursday 9 March--HELP US get a booking in N. Carolina!!)<<
Friday 10 March at Caledonia, Athens GA
Saturday 11 March at the Club, Duluth GA
Most of these shows will be with our pals Idiot Savant Garde from State College PA. In NYC we'll be joined by Blinder, and in Athens we'll be joined by Ceiling Fan. As you can see, we STILL NEED a show in North Carolina on Thursday 9 March, and also have not yet locked down a 'heading-out' show for FRIDAY 3 MARCH in, say, South Carolina. Anyone with any info about these missing gigs should immediately contact the proper authorities, i.e., us! WRITE US!!!
Whew! That's a lot of news. And it's mostly good. Hooray for us.
And how are YOU?
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #5 for 25 February 2000: All Hail Brak!
SHOWS THIS WEEKEND:
Friday 25 Feb. at Barnstormer Pizza, Montevallo AL 980 N. Main St. 205.665.1166
Opening acts: The redoubtable Stuart McNair and also, a philosopher of aesthetics
from Rutgers U. will do a dance. And it's the Guinness Toast, so 'Bloomsday'
WILL be played.
Saturday 26 Feb. at The Blue Room, Auburn AL 122 W. Magnolia Avenue 334.826.9998
With the freakishly powerful Auburn band Couch.
Mad props to our pal Squeaky Steve for filling the drum chair this trip as Robby is indisposed. Hello, Alabama!
THE I95North TOUR
We'll send out a final announcement next week, but right now things are looking
pretty good. Confirmed shows remain:
Saturday 4 March at the Galaxy Hut, Arlington VA *
Sunday 5 at Pontiac Grill, Philadelphia PA
Tuesday 7 at the Spiral Lounge, NYC **
Wednesday 8 at the Velvet Lounge, Washington DC *
>>Thursday 9 in either Wilmington NC or Asheville NC<<
Friday 10 at the Caledonia, Athens GA *
Saturday 11 at the Club, Duluth GA *
(* with Idiot Savant Garde ** with ISG and Blinder)
***If anyone would like to find us a show on our drive UP for FRIDAY 3 MARCH, by all means email us IMMEDIATELY!***
CONTEST!! Here's a special Rant&Rave-only assrocking giveaway for the Little Big Tour: Check out the tour schedule and, if you'd like to attend a specific show, reply to this email with your name, address, daytime phone #, eddress and name of show you wish to see. The first person to respond in each area will receive a FREE pair of tickets. If you are under 21, this offer may not work at all shows (we must abide by each club's rules), but we'll do something nice for you, we promise. Maybe we'll make you Honorary Roadie for that night or something...
Finally, a LAMENT:
Sadly, the day after we come back to Gainesville, our cherished local club the
Covered Dish will be closing its doors after many wonderful years. PopCanon
played more than two dozen shows from Sept. 1995-Jan. 2000, including our two
CD release parties. And we also did very special, weird, fun shows like the
97X Appreciation Night, and our various side projects London Calling, Shane
McGowan's Teeth, Jesus X Superstar and Martha Quinn's Posse. And that's not
to mention the dozens of shows we've all seen at the Dish featuring some of
the world's greatest bands. The Dish had a great room, great sound and some
great people working there. Bill Bryson & The Dish--adieu.
Not to end on a downer or anything, but hey--isn't that just like life?
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #6 for 2 March 2000: The Final Update for The I95North Tour!
All right, the calls have been made and made and made, the posters sent out, the media faxed, the van fixed and the bikini lines waxed--and even though we were picking up new shows as recently as YESTERDAY, the Tour is Ready! Here 'tis:
Friday 3 March (late addition!)
The Lazy I, Myrtle Beach SC 700 G Seaboard St 843.626.3740
with ExWife
Saturday 4
The Galaxy Hut, Arlington VA 2711 Wilson Blvd. 703.525.8646
with Idiot Savant Garde
Sunday 5
The Pontiac Grille, Philadelphia PA 304 S. Street 215.925.4053
with Prelapse
Tuesday 7
The Spiral Lounge, NYC 244 East Houston 212.353.1740
with ISG and Blinder -- we play first at 8pm SHARP!
Wednesday 8
The Velvet Lounge, Washington DC 915 U St 202.462.3213
with ISG and Quagmire
Thursday 9
The Rawbar, Wrightsville Beach (Wilmington) NC 13 E. Salisbury St 910.256.2974
with ISG
Friday 10
The Caledonia, Athens GA 256 W. Clayton Street 706.549.5577
with ISG and Ceiling Fan
Saturday 11
The Club, Duluth GA 4475 Shackleford Rd 770.972.2066
with ISG and others
Well, now, that turned out quite nicely, didn't it? As always, call before you haul -- any of these places might have been joking when they said 'Come on down and play!' but I guess that's a lesson we can only learn firsthand. Thanks again to all the people who helped us set these shows up (Greg Ceton and Mason & Megan Blinder) and to all the people on whose floors we'll be sleeping (you'll get thanked when we return, depending on the quality of floorspace!).
Man alive this was a lot of work to set up what's really a quite modest little tour--no wonder we only usually play Alabama one weekend a month...
And hey! only one person responded to last week's CONTEST, which is still running:
Check out the tour schedule and, if you'd like to attend a specific show, reply
to this email with your name, address, daytime phone #, eddress and name of
show you wish to see. The first person to respond in each area will receive
a FREE pair of tickets. If you are under 21, this offer may not work at all
shows (we must abide by each club's rules), but we'll do something nice for
you, we promise. Maybe we'll make you Honorary Roadie for that night or something
...
(Of course, maybe all of you beautiful people didn't respond because you WANT to pay the $4 cover charge to help us get paid by the clubs, and for that, we love you. Thanks!)
RAVES:
Also, thanks to Squeaky Steven Bottom for filling in on the drums last week--hey,
the new Squeaky CD is phenomenal! Also, love to all our Montevallo AL brethren
& sisteren who came out to Barnstormers and bought our new stuff, and love
to Clay and the rest o' Couch for turning the fratty Blue Room into a Rock Pit
last weekend. We actually made enough money to fix The Van up a little bit for
The Little Big Tour, and for that we're grateful. We were actually able to get
a seat for the driver, instead of those
unsightly milkcrates...thanks!
And thanks for supporting us all along--we hope to meet some of you for real (not just *virtually*) this week (Quail, Derek & Yazbek, we're looking in your direction...)
Are we there yet?
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #7 for 16 March 2000: Post-Tour Breakdown!
Well, not really a breakdown, but man, that was some hard work! We survived our very first Little Big Tour (The I95N Tour, aka The C-PIGS Tour [C-PIGS--an anagram for the initials for the band names PopCanon and Idiot Savant Garde: it was that kind of tour, and we're *those* kind of people, you know: anagramists...])-- whew! Even I got lost in all that punctuation. Let me start again.
Hey, we're back from our Tour of the East Coast, and we only lost $300 in expenses! And we only had to drive an average of 300 miles a day! And we only got one $100 ticket and only lost one wallet on the PA turnpike! And we only had one show cancelled because of a gas leak! And we only fled one crime scene--and then returned--AND we videotaped it, like those Really Dumb Criminals On TV! And we only had one show pay us $0 to play (average pay per gig: $17)! And we didn't kill each other! Though we may have seriously injured the van...
Soon, soon, it will all be in our Online Tour Diary, but we haven't finished that yet. In the meantime, however, you can look at some snazzy tour Polaroids that our boy Jason Fagone of the amazing Idiot Savant Garde (our partners in rock) took on the trip.
Much love, thanks and respect to Idiot Savant Garde & the Crochet Twins Rachel and Stef, Prelapse, Blinder and Ceiling Fan; plus DC's Greg Ceton & the Patsies; the Lazy I's Michael Wood; the swank abode of the family Cichan; the tri-state area's Koven, Janice and Pszyk; the Great Quail, Xian, Dave Russell and the Brothers Murphy; Ivan O., Eric Idiot & Dave Detweiler; Jess & Dave's floors in Athens; Bob; and Ed Sherrouse, who wisely avoided the gas leak. Thank you ALL for playing at, coming to, or letting us sleep at your house after The Shows. We couldn't have done it without you all.
UPCOMING SHOWS
*This Saturday 18 March*
Borders Books & Music Gainesville FL 352.331.2722 6837 Newberry Rd, next
to Gateway Country by I-75
We rock the night away (quietly, in the Children's Section) from 8-10pm. As
before, a reading list will be provided.
Friday 24 March
Florida Theatre Front Room, University Ave. Gainesville FL
with Squeaky and Cracked Actor!
Thursday 30 March
Blowhole/Purple Porpoise, University Ave. Gainesville FL
Rock 104 Semifinals, Battle o' the Bands
PC v. Big Horn 4 and Longwood.
One final note: we've picked up a couple of new reviews for d'art while we were
gone--check them out here
and feel free to write some yourself and send them to us.
Don't forget at 8.30pm (EST) on Cartoon Network: Brak Presents the Brak Special Starring Brak!
Bringing The Rock,
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #8 for 24 March 2000.
Hey, TWO shows this upcoming week:
Firstly, there's a SHOW TONIGHT! At the Florida Theatre Pub, University Avenue,
Gainesville FL
with Cracked Actor (10pm) PopCanon (11pm) Squeaky (midnight)!
ProMoe Rodriguez, Promoter Extraordinaire, tells us this show will be $5, but
if you pay *$8*, you can also go see Amanda Garrigues and the Damnations upstairs
at the High Note and move freely between all the shows all night. Plus there's
undoubtedly drink specials and other things to keep you safely within the confines
of the Florida Theatre for the whole night. Though you know you don't want to
miss any of our show, since PC, Squeaky & Cracked Actor are all pals and
you know we'll be all over each other's sets, guest-singing and dancing and
acting out the semaphore signals on the new Squeaky tshirt...
But here's the thing: we know you won't miss tonight's Volcano of Rock, and we love you for that, but we need all of you who are reading this to listen up and listen good! NEXT THURSDAY the 30th at the Blowhole/ Purple Porpoise PopCanon will be once again engaged in a life-or-death struggle with two other bands in the Rock104-sponsored Battle to win money and more free studio time at Mirror Image (the likes of which helped us finish d'art last year), so we NEED YOU TO COME TO THIS SHOW, and--possibly--be prepared to 'rumble' with the fans of the Big Horn 4 and Longwood, our opponents. I'm not saying we're going to start something, I'm just saying we need to be prepared to finish it, know what i'm sayin'? PizzopCanon represent!!
Next Thursday PopCanon will be playing FIRST out of the three bands, which means *10pm* SHARP!! You can be home by 11pm, we promise. And to make it even easier for you to be there and share the love, we're going to 'comp' (industry lingo for 'getting in free') the FIRST 10 people who respond to this email with TWO FREE TICKETS. Again:
1) Stop reading this R&R and hit 'reply'
2) Type this phrase at the top: 'Dude! I'm there!' (actual phrase may vary)
3) Type YOUR NAME and your GUEST'S NAME (If you don't have a guest, that's ok--we'll
give it to someone else until we fill 20 slots.)
4) Do it NOW -- show a Rocking Response Time! --We need to get the full list
together before next Thursday, and we'll publish the names in next week's R&R.
And to sweeten the pot *even* further, we'll be giving away some of the merch we made for The Tour but didn't sell--lousy tightfisted Northerners! And Ned will also be throwing in as a Trivia Game Prize a free DVD he received recently--anyone for the Harrison Ford/Anne Heche 'romance' Six Days, Seven Nights? (There's a reason it's free, folks.)
Speaking of The Tour, we're still working on the Online Tour Diary, but a few new pix have been added to snazzy tour Polaroids that our boy Jason Fagone of the amazing Idiot Savant Garde (our partners in rock) took on the trip.
A final note: we've picked up a couple more new reviews since last week: a new one for d'art (of course) and, oddly, an old old review of The Kingdom of Idiot Rock that has just been translated from its original Serbian, which ends: 'Then you wonder how does the Apocalypse look like?' Check them out here and feel free to write some yourself and send them to us, and please retranslate the Serbian one if you can.
Driving down Highway 40 in our big ol' pickup truck,
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #9 for 29 March 2000: Word from the PizzopCanon
Yo, just a quick shoutout to our homies who are coming to support us in the Rock104 Battle o' the Bands tomorrow night.
THIS THURSDAY 30 March
PopCanon at the Blowhole/Purple Porpoise 1728 W. University Ave, Gainesville
FL 352.376.1667
**We play FIRST from 10-10.45 sharp!**
Join us in this battle and help us put the smackdown on Longwood and the Big Horn 4. We'll be giving away merch and other things to bribe you. Remember: it's not how popular we are, it's how popular you make us *appear*...
Speaking of which, last week's contest drew the following winners who will all get in FREE tomorrow night. If you wrote to us please check this list to confirm, and if you can NOT make the show tomorrow, let us know immediately so we can give your spot to a struggling waif on the street who digs the 5/4:
Noel Berman, Aaron Mellick, Xina Bello, Frog, Angela DiPaulo, Manny Martinez & John Wiseheart, Hairy Monkhorst & Kristen Wanner, Steven Bottom & Amy Bug, Steve & Tina Ware, Mike Wojnowicz & Chris Way, Steven Parker & Rachel Masters, Eric Wisdahl & Mindy Miller, Chris Weingarten & Jessica Hardy, Chad Vance & Brooke Marcellino, Ken Sallot & Derek Hagler. Congratulations! Be sure to yell like you paid $5 to get in.
And if we win tomorrow and then take the Finals next month, we'll get some more free studio time, and you know how up in that we are.
All right, is that enough nonsense for today? Not quite--if you'd like to see what your nickname would be if you were in the WuTang Clan, go here.
Here are PopCanon's Wu Names:
Ned – Lesbian Pimp
Alyson – Th’ Ever Weary Assistant
Michael – Bellowing Rap Machine
David – Monolithic Fishmonger X
Don – Greasy Choirboy
Rob – Flailing Fanatical Killer
And if that's not quite your style, how about an acronym to describe what you
would be like as a CYBORG?
P.O.P. -- Person Optimized for Peacekeeping
C.A.N.O.N. -- Cybernetic Artificial Neohuman Optimized for Nullification
Peas out.
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #10 for 06 April 2000: 8/10ths! 8/10ths!!
Long story short:
We LOST last week's Battle o' the Bands to BigHorn4 by possibly 8/10ths of a
point--ouch!! So we will not be eligible for the free studio time or the other
perks of victory. However, we played a fine fast set that we were happy with
and we'd like to thank all of you for turning up for us. Congrats to Fred Buhl
for winning the coveted 'Six Days, Seven Nights' DVD by correctly identifying
Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' as the source of some of
the lyrics to the PC song Impossible. Now if ONLY we had played a cover of Van
Halen's Runnin' with the Devil (like BigHorn 4 did), maybe we could have won...oh,
well, nothing to do but say: dammit!
THREE shows this weekend!
*Friday 7 April @ Dante's Music Room, Orlando FL --1912 S. Orange Ave. (downtown)
407.839.0605
with the Pawn Rook Four (www.thepr4.com)
We play first at 10.30 after eating some delicious pizza.
*Saturday 8 April @ Ground Zero, Merritt Island FL --1450 N. Courteney Parkway
321.453.2577
We play second, then drive home, because:
*Sunday 9 April @ Campus Lodge Apartments, Gainesville -- 2800 SW Williston
Road, near Nationwide Insurance
A pool party from 1-5pm. (Thanks to John Youngman of Slack Season for hooking
us up with this last-minute fillin gig.)
Well, that's short and sweet. Rock on, if you're so inclined.
We'll just be here, reading The Onion...
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #11 for 13 April 2000: dot.comedy
All righty, just another short missive you can read & delete... We're slowing down the bookings a little as winter winds down, working on some new songs and some new projects. But first:
UPCOMING SHOWS
THIS Friday 14 April @ Borders Books & Music 600 Orlando Avenue, Winter
Park FL 407.647.3300
Continuing our domination of bookstores large and small. 8-10pm.
Saturday 15 April @ the Shamrock Irish Pub 1017 W. University Avenue, Gainesville
FL 352.374.2211
3 sets, including some dandy, dusted-off numbers from the Pogues, the Clash
and one by the Police.
Saturday 22 April @ Common Grounds Coffeehouse 919 W. University Avenue, Gainesville
352.372.7320
with Cracked Actor & Skullfucker
Fun for the whole family! Barring an act of 'god', Honeygrind has dropped out
of this show. But the multiband version of Brian Eno's 'Baby's On Fire' will
still happen.
REVIEWS:
There are a few new ones in our voluminous archive
-- and a shoutout to CrashPad's Brian, who wrote in Ink19:
For the uninitiated, PopCanon are the Gainesville avant-pop sextet whose
ability to mix odd time-signatures, wildly different styles, obscure literary
references and dadaist humor is pretty much unsurpassed.
Love that qualifying 'pretty much' there, Brian...
No one has taken us up on our request to retranslate our old Serbian review: Come on, people, it's 2000--global village and all that! Doesn't someone you know speak Serbian?
Have you paid your taxes yet? Have you considered a generous tax-deductible donation to your favorite struggling artrock band? Come on--we know there are dot.com millionaires lurking on this list!
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #12 for 21 April 2000: Help us save Zippy!
SHOW THIS SATURDAY
Common Grounds Coffeehouse 919 W. Univ. Ave, Gainesville 352.372.7320
with Cracked Actor and Skullfucker.
Mmm, smell the love.
This will be our last show for about a month--we're taking some time off to
work on new material and just relax a bit. Perhaps we'll get the C-PIGS Tour
Diary and the giant giant PC Photo Archive online: who can say?
Links aplenty follow:
HELP US SAVE ZIPPY!
Hey, you can help further the wacky PopCanon agenda to foment anarchy, confusion
and wackiness--if you dare! Bill Griffith's beloved, bizarre and brilliant comic
strip Zippy the Pinhead has been inexplicably chosen as a possible replacement
for Peanuts (good grief!), but it's a popularity contest! So we need you help--go
here to vote FOR Zippy!
As of 3pm on 'good' friday, the votes are running 78% to 22% *against*, and
that's with only 88 people voting. Now there are more than 400 people on this
R&R list, so if every one of you weighs in on this we can swing this thing!
Do it for America.
Speaking of beloved, bizarre and brilliant: R.I.P. Edward Gorey 1925-2000
Go here NOW!
And a belated farethewell to our glamrocking pals AllStar69...
what a world, what a world.
Well, you know what we say about 'good' friday around the old PC HQ, so go
see some amusing easter cards at the divine Onion
site.
X is for Xerxes, devoured by mice...
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #13 for 19 May 2000: Slonchwise show tonight!
Hey! There's a show tonight!! A PopCanon show!!!
SHAMROCK IRISH PUB 1017 W. University Avenue, Gainesville FL 352.374.6777
We play from 10pm-2am: it's all-request night! Though we plan on debuting THREE
new songs, in varying stages of readiness. You won't want to miss that. Or will
you?
Sorry for the late notice--as some of you may or may not know, the mighty server that handles all the PopCanon material (we call it Tongue) has been on and offline this week, so our email and everything is kinda screwy. Sorry if you've tried to look something up or contact us--it'll all be settled soon. And it'll be better, stronger, faster than before...AND it will have pictures! Glorious pictures! Finally, we've gotten our voluminous picture archive online. It still needs a little tweaking, but you can see dozens and dozens of pix of PC rocking on the great stages of the world, as well as our C-PIGS March 2000 Tourpix, idiotic pressphotos, 'candid' shots of Don's ass, the Jason Reid Memorial Toilet saga and so much more. Coming soon: the East Coast Tour Diary!
We've been laying low at PCHQ lately--working on the pix and the tour diary
and the new songs. But we've got some good bookings coming up, tentatively and
definitely:
A 3day rockathon with fantastic chykrawkers the Stimulants and Sosumi in Orlando,
Gainesvillle and Atlanta (8-10 June);
A 3day rockathon with likeminded maniac trio Ceiling Fan in Gainesville, Miami
and Tampa (15-17 June);
several gigs in July with our brothers Squeaky in the Panhandle and Merritt
Island FL; and
shows with our boy Stuart McNair (from Pain), Andy Wagner (from Idiot Savant
Garde), the Pawn Rook 4 and our new pals Handshake Squad from Tampa, an artrock
mindfuck band... it's quite a summer, i'll tell you what. (Links
to these bands)
Have you tried the Band-O-Matic? Did you know PopCanon was almost called Slonchwise?
Go here and amuse yourself:
http://www.joescafe.com/bands/
Rock!!!
Yer pals in PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #14 for 08 June 2000: C-PIGS!
HEY! Two shows this weekend, starting TONIGHT!
THURSDAY 8 JUNE @ Lost & Found 664 Highway 17/92, Longwood FL 407.830.5659
with the Stimulants (Atlanta) and Sosumi (Orlando)
PRINT OUT THIS E-MAIL AND PRESENT IT AT LOST & FOUND. GOOD FOR $1.00 OFF
ADMISSION!
FRIDAY 9 JUNE @ Common Grounds Coffeehouse 919 W. University Ave., Gainesville
FL 352.ERASE20
Again with the Stimulants & Sosumi -- a chyk rawkathon!
Yeehaw--we've finished our I95North
C-PIGS Tour '00 deluxe Tour Diary! It takes you through every day of our
jaunt up the eastern seaboard back in March, and it's got pictures, too, from
our also-just-finished new picture archive!
Updated the Reviews section too, this week:
*a new d'art review from Germany's Lord Litter ('ultra unique band...this is
true independence!!')
*two new translations of our old Serbian reviews of the Kingdom of Idiot Rock
(a shoutout to Michael [Big Fish Ensemble]'s mom for that!)
*an article about Alyson Carrel--Woman In Rock
*and a few fantastic, scathingly harsh denunciations
of our new album from some punkrawk ezines, with lines like 'I seriously don't
know why we get certain records' (from Buddyhead.com), 'Clearly this is self-released
for a reason' (from Lost At Sea Online) and my personal favorite 'If you're
a Beowulf scholar and you want to "get down," you'll probably eat
this up, but for the rest of us, hunt down these people in secondhand book stores
and throw first editions of Gertrude Stein's Stanzas in Meditation at them until
they know better' (from Signal Drench).
UPCOMING SHOWS
Thursday 15 June @ the SideBar, Gainesville FL
Friday 16 June in Miami (venue TBA)
Both shows with fantastic Athens trio Ceiling Fan.
Saturday 17 June @ the Orpheum Lounge, Tampa FL
with Ceiling Fan and Milk of Amnesia. Total freakity!
And several shows with Squeaky (during which *every* member of Squeaky will sit in on drums with us!), Stuart McNair, the Pawn Rook 4 and Handshake Squad. I guess the summer's not so quiet after all...
Finally, our old pal Howard 'Hyper X' Rosenfeld sent us this
diversion to waste time at work online.
Thanks for staying interested so long,
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #15 for 15 June 2000--Filth & Fury.
SHOW TONIGHT!! Thursday 15 June
The SideBar, 5 SW 2nd Street, Gainesville FL, 352.373.4454
We thoughtfully play first around 10.30pm, then the brilliant Ceiling
Fan (from Athens) close the show around midnight. It's Free Beer Night--come
early and stay drunk, and remember: musicians *like* it when drunks try to crawl
onstage and 'jam'...
(This Friday's show in Miami fell through, dammit!)
SATURDAY 17 JUNE
The Orpheum Lounge, Ybor City-Tampa, 813.248.9500 The club is on the corner
of 8th ave. and Republica de Cuba.
PopCanon plays last at midnight, preceeded by Ceiling
Fan and Milk of Amnesia, who are freakishly brilliant as well. Join in for
a multi-band version of 'There's something wrong with Nancy' from famed Tampa
band Handshake Squad.
Thanks to the Stimulants and Sosumi who came to the Common Grounds last Friday and rocked our lame asses. Gyrl pwr!! Chyks rawk!! Spelyng wyrd is kewl!!
Um, in other news, that guy who called d'art 'the most pretentious thing i've *ever* heard' has not yet replied to Ned's point-by-point deconstruction of his almost entirely erroneous review.
Our PopCanon XWord Puzzle is finally interactive; and the C-PIGS I95 North Tour Diary is still funny.
Hey, interested in purchasing a one-of-a-kind piece of PopCanon musical memorabilia? Alyson is selling her SuperBone, a combination slide/valve trombone that was way too valuable to ever bring to shows (though she did record with it). This is for real, and it's for sale at http://www.ebay.com/ Type in the word SuperBone and see. And then buy it and give it to that deranged SuperPCFan that we all know is out there somewhere....alternately, you could just give Alyson $1500.
Finally, for everyone in Gainesville (though this also applies to everyone reading this), why the hell have you not gone to the Butler Plaza Cinema and seen the unbelievably brilliant Sex Pistols documentary The Filth & The Fury?! Oh, man, it's fantastic. Anyone interested in music in the last 25 years NEEDS to go see this film TODAY after work! It probably won't be here after tomorrow. There is nothing--nothing--like seeing concert footage of flailing, bugeyed Johnny Rotten rhyming 'antichrist' with 'anarchist'...
OK, then, we'll see you tonight, after the movie.
PopCanon
**********
Supplementary Rant & Rave for 26 June 2000: Secret Show Tonight!
D'oh!! We forgot to mention last week that we have a SHOW TONIGHT, Monday
26 June!!
We're playing Durty Nelly's Irish Pub, 208 W. University Avenue, Gainesville
FL, 352.374.9567.
Opening up at 10.30pm will be Army of Ponch, which has Squeaky's Danny the Prodigy on drums--the same Danny who will be playing drums (along with every other member of Squeaky) for PopCanon this Saturday 1 July when Squeaky and PC play the JavaPit in Ft. Walton Beach. Coincidence? I think not.
For some non-Gainesville-specific news, I implore all of you to go see Chicken Run, the brandnew bit of claymation brilliance from the company that made the Wallace & Grommitt short films. If you did not heed my beseeching two weeks ago about the Sex Pistols' documentary The Filth & The Fury--and even if you did--go now and see Chicken Run, though it will certainly stay in theatres considerably longer than tF&tF did.
Rock on--more news to come later.
And have you checked out our C-PIGS
Tour Diary yet? yet?
We'll be glad you did.
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #16 for 30 June 2000: A Non-Secret Show!
Show tomorrow! A non-secret show!! With Squeaky!!!
SATURDAY 1 JULY
The JavaPit, Ft. Walton Beach, 210 Miracle Strip Parkway 850.664.6637
Tonight's show at Sluggo's in Pensacola was unfortunately cancelled by the club
last week, much to our sadness--and Stuart McNair will NOT be joining us at
the JavaPit tomorrow either, but we do still have a treat in store: Robby, PC
drummer extraordinaire, cannot play this show, so Squeaky--Danny, Steve, Hairy
& Karl--will ALL be playing drums with us tomorrow! It's going to rock in
the way that things which rock, rock--and it will rock in contradistinction
to the way in which things that DON'T rock, don't rock...see? Oh, just come
to the show, ok?
UPCOMING SHOWS
July is PopCanon Month in Gainesville, declares Mayor! [Note: Gainesville doesn't
have a Mayor, and July has not actually been designated PopCanon Month.] A freakishly
large number of intown shows for us are coming up this month, but all at very
different venues--why not make a game out of coming to each one in a disguise,
and we'll see if we can spot you...
7 July - PC/Squeaky @ Ground Zero in Merritt Island FL
The rock show.
8 July - PC @ Borders, Gainesville FL: we love Dale.
The family show, and it's free.
13 July - PC/Pawn Rook 4/Handshake Squad
@ the Blowhole, Gville FL. The artrock show.
14 July - PC/Hialeah Jorge @ the Downtown Plaza, Gville
Another family show, but it's free and outdoors.
21 July - PC @ Backstreets, St. Augustine FL
We've never played in St. Augustine before.
22 July - PC @ Broward Hall, UF Campus, Gville
A private show for smart highschool kids.
28 July - the MoeFest, Florida Theatre, Gville
Dozens of bands will be playing this weekend.
Hey, several good new reviews for d'art from ezines in America's heartland have been posted with remarks such as: 'puts a dent into the framework of today's pop nation', 'fresh, highly recommended stuff', 'a throwback swinging pop band with clever, off-center lyrics', and 'this is true independence!!' None of that is quite as funny as the guy who said 'this is the most pretentious thing I've EVER heard', but we all like some good news now and again.
And surely you've seen the Tour
Diary by now?
Finally, want to hear a funny story about local litigious punkrawkers Crash Pad and a major, playful media conglomerate? Write our pal Brian at afn52445@afn.org and say 'what the dillio, sillio?'
Why haven't you seen Chicken Run yet?
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #17 for 07 July 2000: Bring the Family!
A short note (for real!) about this week's shows.
TONIGHT, Friday 7 July, 10pm @ Ground Zero, Merritt Island FL, 1450 N. Courteney
Parkway 321.453.2577
PopCanon & Squeaky!
But Robby will actually play with us tonight.
TOMORROW, Saturday 8 July, 8-10pm @ Borders Books & Music, Gainesville
FL, 6837 Newberry Road 352.331.2722
Bring the family and watch us annoy the patrons of the cafe' in our hometown
Borders. We'll be singing about books, as usual.
NEXT WEEK:
Thursday 13 July @ the Blowhole, Gainesville FL with Handshake
Squad (insane artrockers from Tampa), the
Pawn Rook 4 (our hometown pals) and a special opening act: Andy
Wagner of C-PIGS Tour 2K partners Idiot Savant Garde will do a solo set
and play bass with PC.
Friday 14 July @ the Downtown Plaza, Gainesville FL. Bring the family and the nipple tape as PopCanon and Hialeah Jorge sing you songs of love, 8-10pm.
Also, apparently Ned was mistaken last week: Gainesville DOES have a mayor (Paula Delaney), and she actually DID declare July to be PopCanon Month! (Note: only half of that is true.)
Rock, etc.
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #18 for 13 July 2000: Tonight we're gonna rock you tonight!
A reminder: two shows this week, and good ones they are.
TONIGHT! @ the Blowhole, inside the Purple Porpoise, 1728 W University Ave Gainesville,
FL 352.376.1667
A bigass night of freaky mathy poppy artrock--PopCanon plays at 11pm,
but first up *at 9.30!* is our boy Andy
Wagner, late of C-PIGS touring partners Idiot Savant Garde, making a rare
solo appearance (and later joining PC on bass for a few songs--imagine, if you
will, a 3bass 'Snossage'!) Next up at 10pm are our new pals from Tampa, the
freakishly brilliant Handshake
Squad. For fuckssake, even if you've got other things to do, come at 10pm
and see Handshake Squad: they have at least SEVEN different songs all titled
'Alison'; they use the Stephen Hawking vocoder vocal on songs; they do an amazing
cover of 70's Rufus funk classic 'Tell Me Something Good' with screams and banjo;
and last month when we played with them in Tampa, they performed as Milk of
Amnesia, a Handshake Squad cover band, replete with fake names and gigantic
fake mustaches. Really, you NEED to be there.
Once again, PC follows Handshake Squad at 11, and our Who-loving buddies the
Pawn Rook Four close out the night at midnight--come check out Ty's sexy
dreadlocks. The first 50 people through the door also get free Rock104 Battle
o' the Bands CDs, which feature the coveted 'sucky and unmastered' mix of Things
About Which...
Then, TOMORROW NIGHT, Friday 14 July @ the Downtown Plaza, Gainesville FL.
PopCanon & Hialeah Jorge.
A free show--you know, for kids?--full of family values and such. HJ at 8pm
sharp, followed by PC at 9pm, flat.
UPCOMING SHOWS
We'll be doing some recording of a few new songs next week, and then be back
rocking on Friday 28 July during the MoeFest. We'll be playing in the Florida
Theatre Pub with dozens of other bands, but we'll tell you more about this as
it draws nigh. Then we're off until the end of August, and will be laying pretty
low for the rest of the summer after this idiotically busy July. Thanks as always
for keeping up with us. Someday we'll look back on all this and laugh...
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #19 for 27 July 2000:
We all knew this day would come...
Important news below!
First, the show news:
PopCanon @ the MoeFest, Friday 28 July -- Florida Theatre Stage II, *11.40pm-12.20am*
Robby's other band OneDrop plays the Fl. Theatre Main Stage at 10.00pm, and Don's other band Hialeah Jorge plays the Fl. Theatre High Note at 12.35am, so it's a PopCanon-esque extravaganza all night at the Fl. Theatre. Though honestly, we think the Common Grounds show Friday is the one to watch: touring partner/substitute drummer bench Squeaky is closing there at 1.10am after a bunch of great bands. But crikey, $5 will get you into ALL these shows, so by all means get out and rock out!
[Btb, PopCanon was offered a slot on the Warped Tour's Jacksonville date for this Friday, but we told them to fuck off, because we were playing the MoeFest! Really, it's true.]
OK, now, the weird news:
Maybe you've heard, maybe you've read the What's New! column on the website,
maybe you've sensed it ... but bassplayer extraordinaire / webmaster unparallelled
Michael Murphy has taken a lucrative computer job in California, effective immediately.
It's the right thing for him to do and we support him, but as you might imagine,
it will change the rocking dynamic of PopCanon. Michael still owns a house in
Gainesville and he'll commute often, and we WILL continue to play shows. However,
though we are still a band--we're even in the studio with Mike Rotolante this
very week recording new stuff--we'll be playing fewer shows, obviously, in the
future (so i guess that'll make them all the more special, huh?). And we've
still got plenty of brilliant CDs to sell, plus the webpage will continue to
thrive and grow ever-denser, too...and you'll NEVER stop getting these Rant
& Raves either!
Here's what one legendary Gville rocker e'd us recently about this situation:
'Jesus, what the HELL is PopCanon gonna do? I hate to say it, but he seems so
irreplaceable - what with that math rock and all. Wow. Geez.' We have no plans
to permanently replace him, but Michael himself thinks we should at least look
for a
temporary fill-in bassist for those times that he may not be able to make it
back for a show, and he has suggested we make the following announcement:
BASSIST NEEDED for omnipop artfuck band.
Must be creative, literate, a quick learner, have good
equipment and musical background, and the proper
ROCK LOOK!
Direct all inquiries to
Bet all y'all who read these announcements and keep saying to yourself 'Man, i've GOT to get to one of these shows soon!' are just kicking yourself now, eh?
Crying on the inside,
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #20 for 24 August 2000: About that 'mystery' show...
First off, about that 'mystery' show referenced in today's Detours section
of the Alligator:
Certainly, for anyone subscribed to the Rant & Rave, there's no mystery
at all. It's the show at Eddie C's new location, now at 1315 S. Main Street,
right next to ICM Printing's quonset hut across the street from Winn-Dixie.
It's the same show we've had on our webpage for months, but for arcane city
permitting reasons, the show is going unadvertised except in this personal
email to you. And prodigal bassist Michael Murphy will be flying in from the
coast to join us, in what will certainly be one of the few times this year
that all six of us will play together. So it's special! Once again:
*Friday 25 August, 10pm-1am. PC at the new Eddie C's, 1315 S. Main Street,
Gainesville FL*
(We have it on good authority that Robby will be dusting off his rendition
of the KISS Klassic 'Beth'...and we know you don't want to miss that!)
Speaking of Michael the Prodigal Bassplayer, not a single person responded
to his ad in the last R&R, but he thinks it was because we neglected to
add an age range:
BASSIST NEEDED for omnipop artfuck band.
Must be creative, literate, a quick learner, have good
equipment and musical background, and the proper
ROCK LOOK! Age range 25-35
Direct all inquiries to
So for that reason (among others), we'll not be playing very much in the coming
months, though there are two shows for next month that we've been looking forward
to for some time:
*Saturday 9 September at the Common Grounds, Gainesville FL with Handshake Squad,
Squeaky and some artfucky surprises, including members of Squeaky forming a
Bass Army...
*Saturday 23 September at the Italian Club Theater, Tampa FL with Handshake
Squad and many others, in a benefit
for the BONK New Music Festival.
There are a few other shows on the horizon, and recording a few new songs continues slowly albeit brilliantly with our man Mike Rotolante, but in general, it seems we're in a transitional phase. Let's see what happens together...
Like Missing Persons once asked--'What are words
for?':
Fluxing,
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #21 for 8 September 2000: Typing 'SQU' twice...
Yeehaw! Show tomorrow!
SATURDAY 9 SEPTEMBER
Common Grounds Coffeehouse, Gainesville FL
919 W. University Ave, 352.ERASE20
with Squeaky, Handshake
Squad, Avant-Bitch and a puppet
show...
This will be a wild night. Our multiple calls for a temporary fillin bassplayer have gone unheeded, so members of Squeaky (who close the show) will be stepping in for the Californicated Michael. And because that's not crazy enough, members of Squeaky will ALSO be filling in on drums for an absent Robby. Plus Dave sprained his arm last week in a drunken brawl with some West Coast rappers (EastSiiiiiide!!) so his guitar playing ability is impaired; doubtless Squeakyboys will be playing some guitar too... goddamn they're great Americans. I'm told that other bands cancel shows if one of their members is sick or something--I'm here to state that all *those* bands are weak and do not have the best interest of the FANS at heart, like your friendly neighborhood PopCanon does. It's all about the fans, mannnn.
SO, to sum up: the night begins PROMPTLY at 10pm with a puppet show from Frog
and Kathy Sohar (of Commander Foxy Pants, a band Alyson is in), then Tampa's
brilliant Handshake Squad (about which more below) will play. Avant-Bitch (another
Alyson project with Xina Bello, sometime PC videographer and originator of the
rap middle8 from 'Ironica') will do some performance art, then PC will play
in its new bionic form, and finally Squeaky will close the night
with some acoustic banjo versions of their greatest songs. So get your gas mask
(because CG has not yet put in their cigarette-cloud-removal fan--seriously,
when you guys have a benefit to buy that, we're there!) and settle in for a
full night of brilliant irritation and/or irritating brilliance.
Then, in two weeks, PopCanon will reunite with Handshake Squad on their home turf of Tampa and play a benefit for the BONK Festival of New Music. If you're in the area on Saturday 23 September, come to the Italian Club Theater at 1731 E. 7th Avenue in Ybor City at 8pm to see another full night of weird, noisy pazz & jop. It's $10 for 6 bands. Can you beat that? Not with a dead stick, you can't.
Once again, if you've not heeded our exhortations previously to see Handshake Squad, do so TOMORROW at the Common Grounds. They've thrice won the Weekly Planet's 'Best Experimental Band' award, all four members are Music Professors at USF in Applied Aleatory Theory, and I'm told that each member has also 'scored' with famed downtown artist Laurie Anderson (though the Squad's Robert C. Constable, Jr. would not explain which possible definition of 'scored' he meant)...anyway, they rock ass and brains and we cover one of their songs, so taken with them are we--that's as strong as our endorsements get.
Also today: Is there a God?
The Onion asks 52 celebrities this question and finally solves this philosophical
conundrum once and for all.
Joel Hodgson, Ben Stein and Neil Hamburger say Yes; Tenacious D, Steve Albini
and Milhouse are on the fence; and MC Paul Barman, Steven Soderberg, Momus and
George Carlin say No.
Finally, last night Squeaky Hairy reminded me that the lesser of two evils is still evil: http://www.votenader.org !
Now & Forever, Like 'Cats' except with a flat five,
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #22 for 22 September 2000: E = MC Hawking
Important news for Gainesville musicians and lots of random links this time, but first, the show news:
We're playing TOMORROW, Saturday 23 September, at The Italian Club, 1731 E.
7th Ave. Ybor City 813.248.3316
It's a benefit for BONK, Tampa's New Music Festival, and is organized by our
pals and heroes in Handshake
Squad. It starts at 8pm sharp, and admission is $10 for SIX bands (about
$1.65 per band!)--Handshake Squad starts at 9pm, and PopCanon plays at 11pm.
Michael will be flying in from California for this show, and much hijinkery
will be had.
SO: concerned about voting this year? Concerned that the lesser of two evils
is still evil? Why not vote for something truly important: helping PopCanon
win accolades?
It's time again for the Annual Hogtown
Music awards sponsored by Moon Magazine, Rock 100.5, and FDT.net.
Go to the voting page at and vote
for PopCanon in three categories: Favorite Rock Band, Favorite Pop Band and
Favorite Local CD Release of 2000 (for *d'art*).
Help us crush the Pawn Rook Four (our mortal enemies) in these categories. Or
you could vote your conscience, I suppose ... there's always http://www.votenader.org
*IMPORTANT GAINESVILLE MUSICIAN PSA!* Remembering the Hardback.
Jessica Mills is asking all Gainesville musicians and other interested (and
interesting) people to submit stories, photos, flyers, etc. about Gainesville
institution the Hardback Cafe' (1989-1999 RIP) which she will collect and publish
in a book. Many extraordinary shows took place at the Hardback in the past decade,
and all music lovers owe a debt to such a rocking and loving place. Contact
Jessica directly at hardback_stories@hotmail.com, and mail her your priceless
memorabilia (which she promises not to spill coffee on) to Jessica Mills, POB
12839, Gainesville FL 32604. Here's Alan
Bushnell's Hardback page and don't forget The
Gainesville Band Family Tree (to jog your memory).
And after you've gone to the Gainesville Band Family Tree to help you remember the name of that bassplayer from that band that wore that thing at that one show--and man, wasn't that wild?--you could also send your memories of the last decade over to Mike Podolsky, Publisher of Moon Magazine, (mike@moonmag.com), since Moon is also looking for more personal stories about the Gainesville Scene in the 90's. ('Gainesville isn't the next Athens or the next Seattle: it's the next Pompeii'--Rich Haggard, Mr. Whoreculture)
I pity the poor coffee tables staggering under the weight of these sure-to-be essential and voluminous books...
Finally, a few fun links to send you on your way. PC has received a few amusing accolades this week at our Testimonials page, and and we also show up touting the Jorge Luis Borges Commemorative 2peso coin (which Semantics drummer Blue Lang sent to Ned Davis recently) at our friend The Great Quail's site.
Lastly, two hilarious sites (which may well offend you if your name is Christopher
R. Weingarten, but which we think are brilliant):
MC Hawking's Crib, your ultimate resource
for information about Stephen Hawking the gangsta rapper, and the html paperdoll
fun fest of Dress
Up Jesus.
It's been a good week--thanks for rocking with us.
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3, #23 for 29 September 2000: Surprise!
Just a quick, short announcement today:
Hey, PopCanon (of sorts) is playing a surprise show this SATURDAY 30 SEPTEMBER
at the KIT KAT KLUB, 17 Wall St., Orlando (right near the Sapphire Supper Club
at 54 N. Orange Avenue) -- opening for Beat Science!
We're so excited about this because Beat Science's drummer and bassist are jazz
giant Sam Rivers' rhythm section, and they are brain-explodingly good players,
so we're looking forward to embarrassing ourselves in front of them...
But because this is so last minute, neither Michael nor Robby can make the show,
so Ned will fill in on bass and Mr. Christopher R. Weingarten will be filling
in on
drums. Crazy, truly crazy.
Things to remember from last week's R&R:
Vote for PopCanon as Favorite Rock Band, Favorite Pop Band and Favorite CD Release
at http://www.hogtownmusic.com
Send your stories and memories about the Hardback Cafe to Jessica Mills at hardback_stories@hotmail.com, and mail her your priceless memorabilia to POB 12839, Gainesville FL 32604.
The Gainesville Band Family Tree (to jog your memory): http://www.gator.net/~gbft/
This site was created by our own Don Undeen and Michael Murphy, and it's fantastic.
UPCOMING SHOW:
Friday 6 October -- MoeFest II
PC will be playing at the Common Grounds Friday night, right before the Usuals
(and also--spookily--right before Sam Rivers' RivBea Orchestra is playing over
at the
Florida Theatre...wheels within wheels, people).
And hey, Gainesvillians--the brilliant Sex Pistols documentary The Filth & the Fury is back in town. See it again with someone you love.
See what happens when you declare that your band is slowing down, and trying
not to play so much? The phone never stops ringing! What a world, what a world...
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3 #24 for 05 October 2000: Where's My Cake?
Another short and sweet missive today:
PopCanon (of sorts) will play MoeFest II
FRIDAY NIGHT 6 October at the
COMMON GROUNDS COFFEEHOUSE
in Midtown Gainesville at **MIDNIGHT**!
I believe $8 will buy you a ticket to see all 32 acts playing Friday at the
Common Grounds, the Shamrock, the Downtown Plaza (don't forget your Audience
Participation License!) and three stages at the Florida Theatre. Can you beat
that? Quit lying, you know you can't.
In other news, it seems the City Ordinance / Occupational License for Musicians
scare is on hold for now, thanks in large part to our own Alyson Carrel helping
to mobilize 150 people to attend an informational meeting about it last week
and scaring The Man into backing down (at least for now). As always, there's
a website
to check on news.
October is a special month for us here at PCHQ--we released our debut album The Kingdom of Idiot Rock in October 1997 and our EP PopCanon Covers It Up in October 1998. Good times, good times... October also hosts the birthdays of patron PC saints Thelonious Monk, Groucho Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Gore Vidal. And we see from checking the PopCanon CaliMariAchiAlendar 2K that on today's date in 1582, Pope Gregory annulled 14 days to bring the calendar back in line with the seasons--no cake for any of you unfortunate to have birthdays during those two weeks!
No other shows this month, so see you tomorrow, eh?
P to the C to the A-N-O-N
**********
(From 10 October 2000)
Hello, PCFans. This is a brief political announcement of breaking news for all Gainesvillians. Hairy Monkhorst has just sent us this bulletin, and we turn it over to him now:
Hey Everyone
Ralph Nader is scheduled to speak in Gainesville this Thursday at 3:30 at the
O'Connell Center. Even if Mr. Nader is not your candidate of choice, or if you
are unsure of whom you are supporting in the presidential election, you owe
it to yourself to hear Mr. Nader speak. He is a great American whose unwavering
battles on behalf of all Americans have made this country a better, safer place.
He deserves to be heard.
http://www.votenader.org
Tru dat. To this we can only add a brilliant bit of dialogue from 'Futurama',
of a debate between the two clone candidates John Jackson, Republican (dark
blue suit), and Jack Johnson, Democrat (dark blue suit)--remind you of anyone?
John Jackson: I say your 3 cent titanium tax goes too far!
Jack Johnson: And I say YOUR 3 cent titanium tax doesn't go too far enough!
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3 #25 for 03 November 2000: Neither Kang nor Kodos...
A long, chatty message today...
SHOW TOMORROW!
Hey, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon? If you like books, or if you like
reading magazines, drinking an iced coffee and eating a California Wrap while
a rock band natters on in front of you about grammar, art and bee attacks, why
don't you waltz on down to Borders Books & Music at 6837 Newberry Rd (next
to Gateway Country/Oaks Mall Plaza) 352.331.2722 SATURDAY AFTERNOON from **4-6pm**
and join PopCanon in an afternoon of quiet fun and frolic? Someone from the
website HardRoad.com will be reviewing the show, we're told, so come out and
make it look like we're, y'know, popular and stuff. It's free, it's fun and
it's frolic-y.
And it's Robby's birthday, to boot. **EARLY SHOW! 4-6pm**
We're playing early because we're in the studio tomorrow night with Mr. Rotolante to record tracks for a version of 'Synchronicity II' for a Police comp. that our pals in Blinder are putting out. Perhaps THIS time--unlike when we recorded songs for the Squeeze comp. and the Rocky Horror Picture Show comp.--the record will actually come out. Third time's the charm, no doubt.
Speaking of Lucky #3, this is third year in a row that PopCanon has been nominated for the Best Pop Band Hammy Award (sponsored by MOON Magazine and Rock 100.5)--thanks to everyone who voted for us. CrashPad and the Pawn Rook Four are our competition in this category, and I think we can write off CrashPad: they seem poised to win Best Punk Band, which they richly deserve. (Or at least Brian Krashpad should get the Local Irving G. Thalberg Lifetime Acheivement Award.) That means our only real competition is our sworn enemies the PR4--help us vanquish them however you can! If you see Ty Popick walking around, smack him in the back of the head; Jeremy too. Or you could just wait another month until their rhythm section quits yet again, and they start pushing the big rock up that hill again... Here's a line we don't understand from our Favorite Pop Act blurb in Moon: 'PC songs ... have been known to subject a philosopher or pop-culture icon to brutal ska-and-polka-flavored circus.'
We're also nominated in the coveted Best Local CD award category for d'art, which is certainly a thrill. However, we're up against Chad King's delightful disc, and also the Know How's record, so we doubt we'll survive the onslaught of votes that tKH's dedicated fans will send in--still, if PopCanon can get just 5% of the vote, we'll qualify for matching funds in the next election, and that's a worthy cause. Oh wait, that's Ralph Nader's Green Party...well, vote for him too. Remember: a vote for Chad King is a vote for the Know How...
Also, shoutouts to some of our sister band projects. Robby's hiphop ensemble OneDrop is up for Best Funk Band, and David Hornbuckle's country band The Exes got a nod for Best Acoustic Act, even though Dave plays his lovely hollowbody electric geetar in that band (not to mention that they've also broken up)...
Speaking of Dave, apparently he and his buddies (you know, the ones who hacked
into Microsoft's computers last month) busted into this very email Rant &
Rave list yesterday on behalf of his new band EuroToaster--this sort of e-terrorism
will not go unpunished! So come by Borders tomorrow and smack Dave in the back
of the head, or you could simply e him at
Finally, we just put up some
pix of us playing at BONKAid with Handshake Squad and Orange Stoole Chariot
in September--
Good times, good times...
See You Next Tuesday!
(at the polls, that is...)
PopCanon
**********
This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3 #26 for 29 November 2000: Moons Over My Hammy.
A very long and spry R&R today, starting with some quite fantastic news,
quite fantastic. Firstly:
PopCanon won TWO Hogtown
Music Awards last week! We won for Favorite Pop Act (our second non-consecutive
time) and d'art won Favorite Local CD--woohoo! Naturally, the first thing
we did was to demand a full, fair and accurate manual recount of the votes--but
then after we realized we had WON, we certified the tally and declared ourselves
President and Favorite Pop Band for Life. All Hail PopCanon!
Of course, copious thanks to all those who nominated and voted for us. We are actually quite thrilled and grateful to have won both these awards. While we continue to perform and record, things have indeed slowed down a bit in PopCandyLand, what with Michael working in California and Don dimpling chads in South Florida ... oh, hey, wait a minute: is this like when they take the really sick kid to Disney World one last time? Are these *sympathy* awards?! Oh, man, what have you heard? Umumum, keepittogether, keepittogether, keepittogether ... (deep breath) Whew, OK, I think we're fine now.
So quickly, as if we were still on stage doing our acceptance speech, we would like to thank Moon Magazine and all the sponsors of the Hammies, producer/shredder Mike Rotolante and those technical genii who helped us with recording (Ron Richter & Hairy Monkhorst), the Common Grounds, the Dish (RIP), Moe and of course, all of you on this list who nominated and voted for us...thank you all so much. Ned, who was out of town during the ceremony, greatly regrets that he was not able to get up and make the acceptance speech he's been preparing since he was 12 years old: 'Naturally I'd like to thank God for this award, but I can't, because that would be like thanking ... oh, I don't know, the Easter Bunny. Good night!' (dragged offstage) Anyroad, all the winners are listed here.
Doesn't this news make you want to come out and see not one but two Hammy
Award-winning artists playing live? Of course it does!
TOMORROW, Thursday night, 30 November, at the BlowHole, 1728 W. University Ave,
Gainesville FL 352.376.1667 --
*Squeaky, PopCanon and Kitchens of Soul.
Squeaky--Hammy Award winners for Favorite Rock Band, and certainly OUR Favorite
Rock Band--play first around 10.15. Then Steve, Hairy & Karl will all sit
in on bass for us. Gloating will be kept to a minimum, and Locals Only sponsor
Rock104 will be giving out Volume 2 of their Battle O' the Bands CD, on which
appears the not-suitable-for-airplay PC track ArtHole...
And hey, the good news just keeps on coming: if you're still not tired of voting,
and you'd like to see PopCanon's first-ever video, get thee to http://www.now.com
to see the web version of the 'Things About Which' video, featuring more of
those freaky Playmobil dolls whatfor we used in the d'art CD booklet. This website
is based in London, England, and apparently we are in some kind of battle with
a goth/hippie duo from New York -- we think the winners get flown out to London
to play on a
British MTV show, but it's all kind of confusing. Honestly, we were just looking
for an excuse to make a video, and then this came along...
SO! Their website is a bit difficult to navigate, but if you'd like to see the
world-premiere of PopCanon's 'Things About Which' video, and help us vanquish
a goth/hippie band from New York, AND you have a pretty fast Internet connection
(why not try it from work? It's the PC way!), then follow these simple steps:
1) Go to http://www.now.com
2) Click [enter] and wait for the small frame to load
3) Click 'mp3TV' from the top menubar, and wait for IT to load
4) Scroll down the frame to the '30 second pitch' part, where you will find
a rarely-seen publicity shot of PopCanon -- click it!
5) Then just browse through the PC pages, watching the videos along the way.
You can use either RealPlayer7 or Windows Media Player to watch the clips, but
you MUST stay within their freaky frames to make the video work!
6) Then, after you have enjoyed the video, simply hit the 'Vote Now' button
at the top of any frame and write a simple email about how much you loved it,
and how much you think we should win and get to fly over to England and show
those scurvy, limey cannibals how we rock over here in the land of the UnPresident....
And then as long as you're online, you can check out a concert review from
last month's Borders show at hardroad.com, or just check
here -- thanks, Denise!
We do have one more show this year, on Saturday 9 December at Borders Books
& Music in Gainesville. We'll send a little note about that next month,
and tell you the results voting, too.
Finally, if you want to see how voting for music REALLY works, check out the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th Century, as compiled by the people at NPR Online. It's completely amazing, and has selections from PC favorites Thelonious Monk, Carl Stalling, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Otis Redding, Bill Monroe, Steve Reich, Talking Heads, Miles Davis, and the complete brilliance of John Cage's 1952 masterpiece 4:33 -- plus 90 more. Go now! After voting for us at http://www.now.com !! And coming to the show tomorrow night!!! All Hail PopCanon--All Hail Brakkkkkkkk!!!!!
With a future so bright that we are all donning protective eyewear,
PopCanon
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This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3 #27 for 08 December 2000: The Hits Just Keep On Coming...
Whew! I hope you've finished reading last week's epic Rant & Rave by now. Did any of you make it all the way to the bottom where we revealed the Secret of Life? (If not, the answer is: 'Try not to die.')
On that cheery note, let us announce our
SHOW TOMORROW:
**Saturday 9 December -- 8-10pm!**
Borders Books & Music 6837 Newberry Rd, Gainesville FL
This is your last chance to catch us at Borders, doing our 'clean' act (you know, for kids?)...two big sets covering the history of PopCanon, but leaving out the fights, the tears, and the threats to rip out someone's intestines and wrap them around a telephone pole. Yep, nothing but good times, good times tomorrow. It's our last show of the (real) millenium, if you don't count the New Year's Eve show most of PC will be playing at the Common Grounds, as part of the Giant Human Jukebox. But more on that in a couple weeks.
On another positive note: WE WON! AGAIN! We won the British website NOW.com's
video contest last week. So thanks to all of you who managed to navigate the
baffling interface and vote for us. Update: they've just changed the website
completely, and it is now thrice as baffling as before! However, if you want
to try and
see the complete 'Things About Which' video, or the bizarre 'victory' interview
Ned did with the Sri Lankan VJ, try this:
and, assuming you're using your T1 line from work, maybe you'll be able to enjoy
it. If we can't pirate their pages and videos in the next few weeks, we'll slap
up our own version of them on our own website soon. (Remember, um, kids--stealing
is wrong.)
In other band news, there are several
new pieces in our Review section this week: a new
good d'art review from a guy who panned Kingdom of Idiot Rock two
years ago; a concert
diary excerpt from a John Travolta fan; and obsessively-detailed
chat about PC from some Berkeley Thomas Pynchon fanatics.
And, of course, for the holidays, don't forget the cheaptastic shopportunities
available at PopCanOnLine.
And finally, for laffs, check this out:
If poets wrote
poems whose titles were anagrams of their names
We especially like 'I Will Alarm Islamic Owls' by William Carlos Williams...
I'm Mister Heat Miser, I'm Mister Hundred and One...
PopCanon
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This is the PopCanon Rant & Rave v3 #28 for 29 December 2000 -- Finally, the REAL millennium!
Ah, the last Rant & Rave of the old millennium...exciting, innit?
Come celebrate with us at the New Year's Eve Blowout at the Common Grounds
Coffeehouse this Sunday:
SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER -- early! 9.30pm!
At the Common Grounds Coffeehouse, Midtown Gainesville
The Human Jukebox with PopCanon, Project Dingo and EuroToaster (yes, Hornbuckle
is in all three bands). All bands will be playing a variety of nutty cover songs
for everyone to get drunk and sing along with, by groups such as Abba, the Buzzcocks,
the Clash, U2, the Beatles, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, XTC,
Tenacious D, the Pogues, Cheap Trick, Squeeze, Thomas Dolby, the Smiths, John
Zorn... it's apparently a Human Jukebox that quit being serviced around 1986--
still, it will be supraslamtastically delicious!
James Lantz may or may not play an opening set at 9.30, but PopCanon WILL take the stage at 10.30 SHARP, followed by Project Dingo and EuroToaster.
Anyroad, not much to say in summary--you can always check the back issues of the Rant & Rave at popcanon.com to find the secret acrostic messages we've placed in every third paragraph. It was a pretty good year for PopCanon--we won two Hammy awards for Favorite Pop Band and Best Local CD (for d'art); we actually put out a fourth (!) CD and are still recording new songs; we lived through the two-week East Coast tour; played some great shows with some fantastic bands; and made a video for our 'hit' single Things About Which....and that's just the stuff we're not legally enjoined from talking about.
And, of course, it was all for you, the fans: thanks for listening.
As always,
PopCanon
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E-mail hate bombs and love letters to:
Check out PopCanOnLine: http://popcanon.com/
Back issues of the Rant & Rave are at http://popcanon.com/RnR/
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