WD EXCLUSIVE! EARLY UNDERMINER RECORDINGS LEAKED!!1!

I may just be a pawn in a mass media blitz, but I've recieved access to some early Underminer stuff...This is the first time anyone beyond the walls of the Underminer compound have heard the band. The leaker describes the recordings as "a Ramones cover that we did for the first time that day. The rest are shitty quality recordings from about a month ago.."

To access the songs just follow the link posted below and scroll down past the advertisements.


http://www.sendspace.com/file/0yn2pv

UNDERMINER SET TO ROCK WORLD.

The latest addition to the All family shrub, Underminer, is set to unleash itself onto the world Monday night with a show in Fort Collins CO. The band, featuring Karl Alverez and board favorite Jeff Reese is a mix of southern rock, high tempo jazz, gangsta rap and retro ska that will have you skankin till the cows come home.{actually, I have yet to hear the band, although I have seen their T-shirt and it looks pretty killer for five bucks.}
As of post time I'm uncertain as to where the show will be played, I think it's at some joint called the Aggie which is owned by Wing and Mutty. I'll have to get back to y'all

TEN QUESTIONS WITH ALLBALDO.

1. An ALL reunion. whats the chances?

I'd say pretty good, though the word reunion doesn't really fit, as we never "broke up". The last tours we were doing were so poorly attended that we could barely cover the tour expenses, so it's just not realistic for us to pursue the band in that way. We can't afford to pay to go on tour. Gotta make a living somehow. That said, the door is always open to new music, and I expect we'll do more, just because we enjoy playing together. With me living in Tulsa, it's harder to organize. We've always practiced very heavily to make recordings, and we can't do that, so a new method of working is neccesary. That's the obstacle at this point. We've all got music to play, so that's not an issue. I'd love to see it happen.

2. What classic rock album would you love to remaster and why?

Though not considered classic rock, it's classic to me so.. I'd love to get my mitts on any of the early or middle period Black Flag records. My War, or Slip It In the most. My favorite would be to do a remix box set of everything they've played. Bill and I always wished we could do that.

3. Hows that project with Scott going?

Excellent! Were up to 13 songs in varying states, though I expect we'll record them all, then shitcan some clunkers. Originally, we were doing a mix of his songs, and my music with his lyrics, but we've sort of moved to doing it with just my music and his lyrics. Since we can't tour (my fault, not his), I think he'll use his songs in one of his other projects. I'm hoping we can be finished in early September. The music is done... though it's just in demo form, and he's about half done with the lyrics... the hard part. It's been a lot of fun for me, since I've had no musical outlet all this time. I do my little demo tunes, and that's it, so this is a big deal for me. I've always been the "jr partner" in the writing department, so to do this much music that I wrote is a big leap of faith for me. I've never had much confidence in the writing department, and a lot of the music I've written is among the worst recieved in ALL's catalog. Hopefully, it'll come out ok. I feel like I'm just starting to learn how to do it, where all of the other people I've played with have done it for years.

I don't know if we're going to do this with a label or not. It hardly seems worth it, considering how few sales there would probably be. Maybe iTunes or something of that ilk.

4. Are you into sushi?

Love it. Unagi in particular. We don't get to have it much... too expensive, but we do splurge once in a while.

5. Having played all over the world, where is the best place to play? {you can break down by state, country, club, whatever}.

I don't have a favorite, but a few that I've really enjoyed are: Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ. Just a fun small club with good sound and great food.

We've had a lot of really fun shows in Holland.. more good food, and the sound was always much better than similarly sized clubs in other places... especially the US. They actually give a shit about the arts there... Germany too.

As cities go, Philidelphia was always a great town to play in, as well as Detroit. They just seemed to "get it" in those towns. The audiences didn't need you to look the part, if you rocked hard enough. Just our cup of tea.


6. Do you like any rap music?

Not much. I do like Public Enemy.. do they count? Probably not. I do like the Beasties, though I KNOW they don't count. I'm just drawn to real instruments being played by real people. I guess I'm old fasioned in that way. I haven't given much of it a chance. There's probably some really good stuff out there I just haven't been exposed to.

7. Whats your dream vacation?

A month in NYC with Nat, and a big pile of $. Someday, I'd like to take my kids... one at a time.. around Europe. Just to show them a bit of the world. Nat and I went to Maine a couple of times, and I really loved it there. I love to be near the ocean.

8. In your view, who was the best band to ever come out of the DC scene?

Far and away, the Bad Brains. I like some of the Dischord stuff pretty well, and there were some great "non Dischord" DC bands, but the BB's just smoke.. uh wait.

I got to see their renunion show right after they had recorded I Against I. It was the first show they'd done in DC in a long time, and they were just astonishing. They were really commited to the band at that point, and they were absolutely on fire. A few months later I saw a 2 show record release party for I Against I in a small DC club. Both of these shows were fantastic. During the encore of one of the shows, the band brought a bunch of their rasta buddies on stage and they all smoked pot while Ian Makaye sang Day Tripper with them.

9. Do you ever walk into a guitar shop and just start shredding?

Never. I worked at the local Guitar Center for about a year while I was getting my studio up and running, and I would play a bit sometimes before the store would open, and that's about it. I'm not much of a guitarist outside of certain constructs.. Descendents/ALL and my own stuff. I can't just play random stuff, and I'm not well versed in other peoples music. I really see the guitar as part of a whole, and without the rest of the band, it's not that exciting.

10. What ALL/Dents song do you wish you could "take back"?

Impressions. Ugh. Sorry about that one folks.

NEW BOARD FAILS TO UPGRADE POSTING.

It's been a little over a week or so since the board moved to a new server, and while there are many improvements over the last version, these upgrades have failed to raise the overall quality of the posting that takes place on the forum. Already, topics as hard hitting as "lunch" and "fashion fag Friday" have taken center stage, and experts predict that it is only a matter of time until the first of dozens of "some kind of monster" threads rears it's ugly head. The bit accounts that have been attempted are nothing less than pedestrian, so much so that I can recall none of them at the moment. Even Chip and the CLA seem off their game since the move {and banning that proceeded it}. The blog has also suffered from the current void in outrage and defensiveness that are the hallmarks of the board. As of post time the thread titled "Do you feel old and if so, when did you start feeling old?" is the most popular topic on page one of the forum, a dark portent of things to come.

AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE.

A thread created by former Chef of the future member, chip, gloating over the rumored failing of the blog has prompted a virtual flood of PM's to it's most humble editor, and has caused widespread panic among the board collective. Rest assured kind reader, the blog is not in failure mode...yet. I figure updating it at least once every five to six days counts as a non-failure. But to be fair, it's not like the board is on fire as of late. Pick it up people! The news is you, and you are the news.

AMERICAN NINJA.

I'm doing a million things right now, but I felt I would be letting down the WD community if I did not address the latest in the on-going saga that is improvgate. Gurg dug up some old ALL profile thing and found a treasure trove of AB information. The most important find being the admission that AB once was very interested in improv {a claim he has long denied} saying: "My big thing now is taking improv comedy classes. I started going to shows at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade theater, and the bug bit me even though I have zero background in performing or even any kind of aspirations to act. But it’s a lot of fun." More damning was the ninja-chip photo that began to circulate on the thread {see above}.The photo has already seen use in various avatars and photoshop bits and experts contend that it will be a strong source of board fodder for years to come. As of post time, the still banned AB has yet to make a statement {via jaybird} on the matter. Unsurprisingly, CLAer theDomestic offered only a minor wall of defense for his bro, comparing the board collective to a bunch of schoolgirls or something.

DEVELOPING.

As it turns out, I have a life of sorts and for the next few weeks it will prevent me from posting on the board/blog...this is just a vacation. No lost password, no quitting.

I'll be watching. Keep it real.

TEN QUESTIONS WITH GURGLE.

1. so what is gurgle up to these days?
School and music. I have one year left of school, and I'm playing in a band that's really fun and actually makes money. Life is good.

2. the flat tax. good idea?
I don't know. I'm not really convinced by the notion that taxing rich people more is economically bad. It has some negative effect, but the big question is whether taxing the rich at higher rates brings in more cash, or if taxing them at a lower rate increases overall productivity, thus bringing in more cash than we'd have gotten if we had taxed them more. Considering how low the maximum tax rate currently is (35%), I'm inclined to think that the government could get more money by taxing the rich more. From an economic point of view I think you'd have to go over 50% to see real damage done. There are moralistic issues that go along with this, of course, like "is it fair to tax people more for being more successful?", but those don't really interest me. So for now I'm going with a tentative "No".

3. if you could be in any band that ever existed. what band would it be? why?

Initially I wanted to say XTC, but they wouldn't have been anywhere near as good if I had been playing instead of Colin Moulding. I think this is an impossible question because all the bands I love would be made worse if I took over on bass. But if there were some way around this conundrum, I'd go with XTC, cos they're the best band ever.

4. better movie: the godfather or goodfellas?
I haven't seen Goodfellas. I know I should, and I will. That said, I don't see how any mob movie could be better than The Godfather.

5. ever want to have kids?
Absolutely. Just not anytime soon.

6. if you had to give up one forever, pot or drink, which would it be?
Pot. I've already pretty much given it up. I smoke it occasionally by myself, but I'm socially useless when I'm high. Alcohol is far superior in that sense.

7. whats the last good book you read?
I hardly ever make it all the way through a book. Freakonomics was the last one I went straight through. It's really good. Just about all of my reading time goes to newspapers and magazines and The Dorkboard.

8. whats the most amount of guys you've been in a hot tub with at one time?
I'm not sure, probably three. I was in a hot tub, naked, with Mike Wing from local heroes Leghorn and Harvey Knuckles, and he thought it was really funny to walk directly over my head every time he got out of the hot tub. So while I can't remember exactly how many guys I've been in a hot tub with at once, I can tell you that I've been repeatedly teabagged in a hot tub by a guy. And he's not even into Turbonegro.

9. ever have any run-ins with the law?
Nothing significant. Got caught with pot when I was 19 and the cop just told us to leave the neighborhood.

10. the famous gurgle boner pic, is it just a trick of the lens or are you, you know...sprung?
No trick. You'll notice that there's a gorgeous girl draped over me, which is why I have the boner. At the time I was a virgin, so that may explain why it withstood my simultaneous amazing alcohol consumption.

BOARD SPLIT ON AB'S FATE.

A binding poll issued last night to determine the length of AB's banning proves, unsurprisingly, that the man is as divisive as ever. the results, thus far, are as follows:

chip should be banned....
for the rest of the week
9% [ 2 ]
for the rest of the month
0% [ 0 ]
for the rest of the year
0% [ 0 ]
forever!
14% [ 3 ]
till he uses a board related reference in a review.
33% [ 7 ]
till he comes clean about jadegate.
23% [ 5 ]
till darell says it's o.k to let him come back.
19% [ 4 ]

Total Votes : 21

It's worth noting that at least two respected posters {Gorder and Gurg} felt that the banning was an injustice in the first place and should have never happened. Outside of the the comments Jaybird posted from AB in regard to this matter, nothing else has been heard from the elusive critic, or from noted CLA members who have laid low since the banning took effect. But experts contend that if the current trend in this poll holds steady, and if it is indeed binding, AB will only be granted access to the board again after he uses a common board reference in a review. Which begs the question, "how can one work in the phrase failed blogger, or I'am not kidding into a review of the latest, brootal folk-doom album?"

WD HALL OF FAMER-PRESIDENT BUSH.

Even after most of America, including Republicans, have turned their backs on President Bush, the defeater of Kerry can still draw the ire of the board collective like no other. The man can even get usually level headed posters to offer a guarded yet contemptuous remark. One has to wonder if the President is not a board member {chipbot?} and if perhaps he pardoned "Scooter" Libby to cause a rubbersheet shortage in Fort Collins. Indeed the very fact that I'm calling him "President" Bush is enough to raise the blood pressure of the overwhelmingly left leaning forum.

Keep up the good work Mr. President! You might have failed almost completely as a leader, but you will always be an MVP in my book.

IT'S HAMMER TIME! BANNINGS FOLLOW MATANGS RETURN!

After weeks of speculation as to Matangs whereabouts, the wild rumors can finally be put to rest. Turns out he was just out of town. But if that news was anticlimactic, Mr. Tang's action were anything but pedestrian. He quickly banned AB, for what I'm unsure, it could have been many things...posting creepy porn comics, using foul language in thread titles, perhaps even being behind the rash of unfunny accounts that have plagued the board over the last few days!?! Matang spoke little on the subject, saying " i deleted the offending accounts, banned the ip, and stopped allowing new accounts for a few days." How long this banning will remain in effect is uncertain. In the meantime, Matang also announced that the board would be moving to a new server, which may interrupt posting sometime next weekend.

DEVELOPING.