Gambling, Punk Rock, Stoner Rap... and marriage!

So the marriage certificate arrived the other day. Alison and I are officially husband and wife. It'll take a while to get used to the ring, but it feels good. It feels right. More real, I guess, more official. We'd always said we didn't need to get married and that it wouldn't change things, but it definitely has, and all for the better. Life just feels more solid right now and I know we've done the right thing. I couldn't be happier, really. Sure, life can still be complicated and yeah my back is sore from working in the warehouse today and okay, fine, my credit card bills could be lower than they are but these are minor things, things I can't really be bothered to fret over. Not to say I intend to shirk responsibility in these matters, only to say that money's only money and my back will be fine after a good night's sleep.

But yeah, the wedding was perfect in pretty much every way. I've talked about it elsewhere and don't know that I need to repeat myself at this point but it went off even better than I think either of us imagined. Noland did a really great job on the ceremony, treating it all with the right amount of respect but never coming across as stuff or dulll, while Mr. Miller's guitar playing was entirely appropriate and beautiful in its own goofy way. Alison looked stunningly beautiful and she continues to remind me daily how lucky I am to have her. I'd have liked to have seen more family there from my side, but not everyone can afford to travel and some of those who can afford it just can't do it. Period. So obviously there are no hard feelings there, even if there is a tinge of sadness about it.

So after the wedding she and I went to Atlantic City to see Social Distortion. This was my seventh time seeing them, having been a fan since I was twelve or thirteen, and it was the best show I'd seen in quite some time from them. Mike Ness seems content to play in a rock and roll band now rather than a punk band, and while the merch booth was expensive and far too extensive, at least they didn't play Antifashion and make hypocrites of themselves. Mike's not getting any younger and at this point in the game I can't begrudge him making some money off of the name so long as he keeps putting out good music and putting on good shows and so far he has. Which is good, cause tattoos don't come off all that easily.

The morning after we decided to gamble $20 each and at the first slot I played I left with $965.50, at which point I decided to call it quits for the day. We had a nice dinner and wandered around and under the boardwalk, saw some sights, encountered a weird guy drinking Busch light and watched idiotic surfers catch mediocre waves in really cold temperatures. AC was neat. It's like Coney Island and Vegas rolled in to one. Just be careful where you go, cause parts of it are obviously tough.

A few days after the wedding Teenage Bottlerocket came into town with The Cobra Skulls supporting. It was an early show, I got there just as the Cobra Skulls were going on. Alison, sadly, missed them. They were great. High enegry, agreeable left leaning political rants, great guitar riffs and just a really solid bounciness to them. I talked to the guitar player and the vocalist briefly after the show simply because I wanted to tell them how much I appreciated their music lately. I also felt really old, the only guy over thirty pogoing up front in a see of teenagers. But whatever. Teenage Bottlerocket came on next and we opted to sit at the bar and watch from afar not because it was a rough crowd but because we were tired. They put on a solid show too, and ignored my hollaring at them to 'PLAY A LILLINGTONS SONG!' They did do a cover of Poison's 'Talk Dirty To Me' that was pretty funny, so I guess that counts for something.

Last week I won tickets from a radio station webstite to the Cypress Hill show in Times Square. I still get a kick out of them even if I'm not into weed and their glory days are behind them. We're going to go check it out, cause why not, it's free. If we're bombared with second hand smoke or don't like the environment we can always leave and not have to worry about having wasted money. I think it'll be fun.

Other than that, Halloween is on Sat. and Jackson Heights always has a good Halloween parade where all the kids dress up and cruise up and down the ave. our apt. building is on. It was fun last year and it'll probably be fun this year too, even if it is supposed to rain.

Three weeks and counting...

...till we're gonna done get hitched. Yee-haw.

We got the license the other day (I braved the Queens county clerk's office with a nasty cold). We're working on the vows. We've got some music selected (Dictators and Pogues, of course) and we've got the deposit down on the cake. The money is in place more or less and this is actually shaping up to be a pretty kick ass shindig if I do say so myself.

Weddings are generally boring and stuffy. Ours is going to be fun. Why shouldn't it be? Shouldn't it be a celebration? To Hell with pomp and circumstance, ours is going to be a party.

On a completely unrelated note, see this movie:

Observe And Report

And the new Teenage Bottlerocket album is really good. Can't wait to see them play with the Cobra Skulls in Brooklyn on 10/23.

Some recent additions to the collection...

Check it out, Alison got me this for my birthday a few months back. It's an original video release poster for the one and only Rock N Roll Nightmare, a movie which not only a personal favorite but kind of a notch in my belt in that I helped out on the DVD and after doing so got to meet Thor a few times, even getting to get on stage with him where he wrapped a mic stand around my neck. How cool is this?

Despite the fact that we have no wall space nor money for proper framing, Alison and I continue to acquire all manner of great, oddball, old movie posters. Some day, when we win the lottery or some wealthy distant relative leaves us enough money to buy a house and build a proper movie room we'll get all this stuff on display, until then, they sit in storage, seen only on the internet of all places. Kinda sad when you think about it, I'm of the belief that a lot of this stuff should be on display like a sort of trash film museum, but what can you do.

Without further ado... this arrived last week. A surprise gift from a girlfriend/fiance who continues to win at being awesome. Aside from the fact that it's folded, this guy, an original U.S. theatrical one sheet, is in pretty much perfect condition and it pleases me to no end that I own this.

Turning thirty four had its plus points, one of which was receiving this Japanese theatrical poster for the 80s 'teens vs. commie bastards' classic, Red Dawn. If you don't like this movie I don't want to know you.

Toyboy gave this to Alison as just a sort of random gift for no apparant reason. I've never seen it and don't know if it's ever actually even received an English friendly video release and obviously never caught it during its theatrical run as it was made before I was born. Regardless, it's signed by Jess Franco and Lina Romay, which instantly makes it awesome. I love the artwork and the fact that the three people in that painting look nothing like Lina Romay, Robert Foster or Eva Palmer. I like the pseudo-classy art deco style used here. It's not in great shape, but matted and framed I bet it would look really good.

We picked up this European beauty at the recent Fangoria show in NYC held back in June. Jess Franco's Barbed Wire Dolls, one of my bride-to-be's personal favorites, which makes her an awesome choice for a wife above and beyond her more obvious qualities. It's looking like a Spanish piece to me, givne that it uses the Spanish title, but who knows. Either way, it's in very nice shape and it's a tough one to find, especially in this sort of condition.

The fact that for whatever eason this blog likes to crop the pictures annoys me. But I don't feel like reuploading thing. Sorry.

Poor Rusty, Neglected Blog.

I've been busy. It's a busy time right now, so yeah. But man, I haven't written anything in a while.

Wedding plans are going along really nicely. We've got the venue selected for the reception and the deposit put down on it. I think it's going to be the right spot. It's nice enough to work, but not in the least bit highbrow or pretentious. It's a bit of a pain in the ass to get to from Coney Island, but we'll figure that out. There should be enough cars there that it won't be a problem. If not, if people split cab fare it shouldn't be a big deal. We've also scored Social Distortion tickets for that night, meaning after the reception we're hoping in the Honda and driving to Atlantic City for the night to see one of our favorite bands play. It's definitely a cool coincidence that they're playing there that night!

So yeah, invites have gone out, RSVP's are coming in, and it's all coming up faster than I think either of us realized, but that's not a bad thing at all. It'll be nice to have it all taken care of.

In none wedding news, the Street Dogs are coming back and the opening acts are Vinnie Stigma followed by Roger Miret And The Disasters, so it's almost like seeing the SD's with Agnostic Front. Almost. Hopefully they'll team up and do a few AF classics. I'm sure the crowd would appreciate it. We took the train into Manhattan to get tickets at the box office rather than pay Live Nation's $9 rape fee. A $9 surcharge on a $16 ticket is insane. So we made a day out of the trip into Manhattan last weekend. Wandered around the village, hit a record store and got the new Cobra Skulls album, and snagged a copy of the new 2-disc special edition of Stunt Rock at Kim's a week early. These are important things to take care of. Then we feasted on frozen boozy treats and chicken wings before hitting the Fat Black Pussycat for a pint and heading back to the realitive coolness of our apartment. The heat wave has been kicking this city's ass for two weeks straight now. Hopefully the impending hurricance that's supposed to batter the east coast on Sat. breaks some of the humidity. I'd be grateful for the rain if it did that.

Alison's new job seems to be off to a really good start. She seems to like it there and I get the impression that this school will treat her better than the last one. She deserves it as she works really hard and actually cares about her job. You can't say that about a lot of teachers, at least not from my jaded educational experience, so on a personal level I think it's important to take care of the ones that do. The fact that she was let go from her last position based solely on the fact that she made more than other teachers (and had the qualifications to back that up, mind you) was a bit of a middle finger to her. Seeing her land a better paying position with more opportunity and in what looks to be a better and more professional environment makes me happy. Perfect timing too, as she started last week.

Other than that, I'm looking into hopefully heading back to Canada first weekend in October for my step brothers wedding. We'll have to see if the money is there as I'd need to fly to make it happen but it looks like it'll probably happen. It's both awesome and confusing that he and I are getting married so close to one another, but it's not like we planned it this way. Next weekend my mother and sister descend upon our pad for a night for Alison's wedding shower. Sandra's never been to NYC before and while it's a quick 'arrive Sat. and leave Sun' trip, I'm hopeful that Sat. night at least we'll be able to show her around a bit.

Oh, and the other day all the shelves fell off of the walls in my office. This is what I came into work and saw...

Hooray for pubs!

So last weekend after driving all over Queens and Brooklyn I think we found the right spot for the wedding reception. It'll require driving from the wedding spot but car pooling is a very realistic option right now so that's not that big a deal. The price is right (hey, we're funding this ourselves!) but more importantly the atmosphere is pretty much exactly what we're looking for. On top of that, they have good food and good beer. Two very important criteria if you ask me.

So yeah, wedding plans are going pretty smoothly. Everything is falling into place on schedule and kinda-sorta-close-enough on budget as well. Life is good.

We spent Sat. hanging out with Horace as kind of a belated birthday celebration for me. He let me raid a stash of old heavy metal CDs and DVDs he was getting rid of so I'm now the proud owner of the Japanese import versions of Manowar's Warriors of the World album (it's got a bonus track and nicer packaging) and Motley Crue's Too Fast For Love (it was an important part of my youth) among a ton of other stuff. From his place we went to the village for some DVD shopping and BBQ. Good times and the perfect weather for strolling around the lower part of Manhattan.

Aside from that, we had a good trip back to Canada earlier this month. It was great to see everyone as always and we found an alternate route that shaved a good hour off of the trip due to traffic flow. Hooray for that.

Oh and I chopped off all my hair. It was getting too hot so I took the clippers to it.

That's all for now.

Random Rock Reportings

The new Rancid album came out. These guys have been at it a while now and despite some odd diversions into ska a la The Clash in their later years, have stayed pretty true to their roots though with vocalist Tim Armstrong's Operation Ivy past, maybe he's staying true to his roots too. This new album is good, but what really impressed me is the packaging. For $11.99 I got the CD, a second CD including a surprisingly good acoustic version of many of the songs off of the album, and a DVD packaged inside a nice slipcase with a poster and some goofy collectible guitar picks. Maybe illegal downloads are a good thing after all in that at least they inspire the record companies to give those of us who do still buy records more bang for our buck.

I also picked up the remastered History of Melodie Nelson album from the man himself, Serge Gainsbourg. My Gainsbourg obsession has been growing at a pretty rapid pace over the years as I start to make the (some would say obvious) connections between his stuff and artists I hold near and dear like Pulp, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, and the like. The remastering job is fantastic. The production really shines through and you really get a chance to hear how layered this recording is. The liner's translate the lyrics into English from their native French and the saucy cover art featuring a topless Jane Birkin cuddling a big teddy bear is still inspiring. And I mean that in the literal sense, not at all in the 'hey a naked lady' kinda way, though it is remarkable that Gainsbourg got with her and with Bardot within the span of a couple of years. Just goes to show that 'cool' trumps 'handsome' any day of the week.

A co-worker loaned me some of the Neil Young Archives discs, Live At Massey Hall and Live At The Filmore. Both sound great, it's amazing that old live recordings like this can have such clarity decades later. I've been a Neil Young fan since early highschool (as a kid my dad had a copy of Harvest on vinyl when I was a kid that I couldn't get into until early 90s - better late than never) and while I'll admit his voice, like Dylan's or Springsteen's, is an acquired taste, he is in my opinion one of Canada's greatest living songwriters. He's still got a potency to his work that makes him more than just another aging hippy and like Cash in his later years and Kristofferson in his current phase, his music still means something to those of us willing to pay attention to the lyrics. His last two albums haven't wowed me the way his earlier stuff does, but they've got their merits and Living With War makes some good points in the same way that Cash's Heavenly Minded did. I also find that the older and greyer I get, the more I look like him, which is kind of weird.

Tomorrow night we're going to see Hank III play in Brooklyn. I haven't been to a live show in, wow, almost seven months so it's high time I got get my rock on, or in this case, my honky tonk on. There's some good shows coming up, too many in a sense: Agnostic Front, Jarvis Cocker, Naked Raygun, Motorhead with Rev. Horton Heat, Scott Biram, among others. I'd love to go to them all and really take advantage of the music scene here - but it's a matter of time and money and right now we've got a wedding to pay for - obviously that takes priority but I am going to see if we can scrounge together $20 for Scott because he delivers one of the best live shows around right now.

Look, ma, I'm on TV!

Well, sort of.

If you go here and watch the video I pop up for a quick second. This is a promo piece for Ratline, a movie made by our friends over at Wicked Pixel Cinema, St. Louis' finest group o' gorehounds and some of the nicest and most talented people you could hope to meet in the indy cinema scene. I'm in this promo video for about as long as I'm probably going to be in the finished movie - about two seconds - but it's kinda fun to see me giggling with a big fake bloody wound in my head.

So what else is new? Well the wedding plans are off to a kick ass start. We've got the contracts inked for just about the coolest venue we could possibly find for the ceremony and its even paid for up front. The bands arrived not too long ago and look even better in person than I figured they would. Things are falling into place nicely and while it's a bit of stress on the old pocket book, we'll find the money to pull it off.

Last weekend we had some friends - Matt, Todd and Paul - show up for the weekend. While Alison was battling the worst case of food poisoning I've ever seen anyone ever get (a night in the hospital hanging out with the IV drip did do her a world of good, thankfully) but was still gracious enough to let boys be boys even though I wish she could have been there for some of the stupidity. I was a karaoke superstar on my birthday night, spent at King Yum (a fun tioki joint not at all unlike The Alibi in Portland) - the old ladies love it when you bust out the Neil Diamond. Saturday we just went pub crawling and record shopping in the lower part of Manhattan but it was a good time drinking good beer and eating good food with good friends. Sunday we hit up the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors show where we got the stinkeye from Tom Savini for heckling Dario Argento, met some of the members of Gwar, and where I got freaked out seeing David Hess hug my fiance. David's a nice enough guy in person, but still, he's Krug, and Krug is a creep. Sometimes it's hard to seperate the art from the artist, you know? Alison actually knows David so it's not like he was just being weird, he was hugging a friend so it's all good... but still... he's Krug.... eek!

We had to leave early to get various people back to the airport but a friend was kind enough to stand in line and get Argento's signature on my Anchor Bay boxed set which is pretty neat. We also picked up a sweet one sheet for Barbed Wire Dolls. Speaking of one-sheets, I don't have any spare wall space but I'm going to find some for the Rock N Roll Nightmare art that Alison found for me. I've never actually seen a Rock N Roll Nightmare poster before, except for some jpegs online, so it's awesome to finally own it, especially considering how important that slice of classic Canadian cinema is to me.

So yeah, life is good. I got a solid raise at work to the point where, while I'm not rich, I'm at least able to survive off of what I make now and more importantly, I really enjoy what I'm doing and like the people I work for. It's a nice change after my last gig, which wasn't quite what I had hoped it would be when I took the position. Live and learn I guess.

Hank III is swinging through NYC in two weeks or so and we've got tickets for that and this weekend is the Austism Walk down at the seaport in Manhattan. Lots going on and not nearly enough time to rest, but I'll sleep when I'm dead. Right now I'm happy just being happy and loving life.