Brian Turner (WFMU), Maria Tessa Sciarrino (WPRB), and Thanaton will be DJing at the East River Music Project benefit on July 18, 2008.

please come and visit us and support listener-supported radio’s support of listener-supported live music shows.

and as a reminder, the East River Music Project is a 501c3 organization. we work on a shoestring budget and none of us gets paid, which means your entire tax-deductible contribution will go toward the production of the shows.

even if you’re not in the NYC area, be a mensch and help us out a little. donations of $1 or $5 would be great. if you donate and then visit NYC, my friend and fellow ERMP board member Toby Carroll will buy you a beer.

there will be DJs, and drinks, and it will be a damn good time

add this event at: upcoming | going | facebook | last.fm

Brecht Forum

451 West Street
between Bank and Bethune
in New York f’ing City

The East River Music Project: Summer 2008 Season (our sixth season!) is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

The July 18 2008 benefit for the East River Music Project is underwritten by Heraty Law.

Friday, July 18, 2008 | 6-11 PM

there will be DJs, and drinks, and it will be a damn good time

add this event at: upcoming | going | facebook | last.fm

Brecht Forum
451 West Street
between Bank and Bethune
in New York f’ing City

The East River Music Project: Summer 2008 Season (our sixth season!) is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

The July 18 2008 benefit for the East River Music Project is underwritten by Heraty Law.

George Carlin, Splenetic Comedian, Dies at 71

By MEL WATKINS

Published: June 23, 2008

George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.

The cause of death was heart failure. Mr. Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, went into the hospital on Sunday afternoon after complaining of heart trouble. The comedian had worked last weekend at The Orleans in Las Vegas.

Recently, Mr. Carlin was named the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was to receive the award at the Kennedy Center in November. “In his lengthy career as a comedian, writer, and actor, George Carlin has not only made us laugh, but he makes us think,” said Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Kennedy Center chairman. “His influence on the next generation of comics has been far-reaching.”

Mr. Carlin began his standup comedy act in the late 1950s and made his first television solo guest appearance on “The Merv Griffin Show” in 1965. At that time, he was primarily known for his clever wordplay and reminiscences of his Irish working-class upbringing in New York.

But from the outset there were indications of an anti-establishment edge to his comedy. Initially, it surfaced in the witty patter of a host of offbeat characters like the wacky sportscaster Biff Barf and the hippy-dippy weatherman Al Sleet. “The weather was dominated by a large Canadian low, which is not to be confused with a Mexican high. Tonight’s forecast . . . dark, continued mostly dark tonight turning to widely scattered light in the morning.”

Mr. Carlin released his first comedy album, “Take-Offs and Put-Ons,” to rave reviews in 1967. He also dabbled in acting, winning a recurring part as Marlo Thomas’ theatrical agent in the sitcom “That Girl” (1966-67) and a supporting role in the movie “With Six You Get Egg-Roll,” released in 1968.

By the end of the decade, he was one of America’s best known comedians. He made more than 80 major television appearances during that time, including the Ed Sullivan Show and Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show; he was also regularly featured at major nightclubs in New York and Las Vegas.

That early success and celebrity, however, was as dinky and hollow as a gratuitous pratfall to Mr. Carlin. “I was entertaining the fathers and the mothers of the people I sympathized with, and in some cases associated with, and whose point of view I shared,” he recalled later, as quoted in the book “Going Too Far” by Tony Hendra, which was published in 1987. “I was a traitor, in so many words. I was living a lie.”

In 1970, Mr. Carlin discarded his suit, tie, and clean-cut image as well as the relatively conventional material that had catapulted him to the top. Mr. Carlin reinvented himself, emerging with a beard, long hair, jeans and a routine that, according to one critic, was steeped in “drugs and bawdy language.” There was an immediate backlash. The Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas terminated his three-year contract, and, months later, he was advised to leave town when an angry mob threatened him at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club. Afterward, he temporarily abandoned the nightclub circuit and began appearing at coffee houses, folk clubs and colleges where he found a younger, hipper audience that was more attuned to both his new image and his material.

By 1972, when he released his second album, “FM & AM,” his star was again on the rise. The album, which won a Grammy Award as best comedy recording, combined older material on the “AM” side with bolder, more acerbic routines on the “FM” side. Among the more controversial cuts was a routine euphemistically entitled “Shoot,” in which Mr. Carlin explored the etymology and common usage of the popular idiom for excrement. The bit was part of the comic’s longer routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” which appeared on his third album “Class Clown,” also released in 1972.

“There are some words you can say part of the time. Most of the time ‘ass’ is all right on television,” Mr. Carlin noted in his introduction to the then controversial monologue. “You can say, well, ‘You’ve made a perfect ass of yourself tonight.’ You can use ass in a religious sense, if you happen to be the redeemer riding into town on one - perfectly all right.”

The material seems innocuous by today’s standards, but it caused an uproar when broadcast on the New York radio station WBAI in the early ’70s. The station was censured and fined by the FCC. And in 1978, their ruling was supported by the Supreme Court, which Time magazine reported, “upheld an FCC ban on ‘offensive material’ during hours when children are in the audience.” Mr. Carlin refused to drop the bit and was arrested several times after reciting it on stage.

By the mid-’70s, like his comic predecessor Lenny Bruce and the fast-rising Richard Pryor, Mr. Carlin had emerged as a cultural renegade. In addition to his irreverent jests about religion and politics, he openly talked about the use of drugs, including acid and peyote, and said that he kicked cocaine not for moral or legal reasons but after he found “far more pain in the deal than pleasure.” But the edgier, more biting comedy he developed during this period, along with his candid admission of drug use, cemented his reputation as the “comic voice of the counterculture.”

Mr. Carlin released a half dozen comedy albums during the ’70s, including the million-record sellers “Class Clown,” “Occupation: Foole” (1973) and “An Evening With Wally Lando” (1975). He was chosen to host the first episode of the late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live” in 1975. And two years later, he found the perfect platform for his brand of acerbic, cerebral, sometimes off-color standup humor in the fledgling, less restricted world of cable television. By 1977, when his first HBO comedy special, “George Carlin at USC” was aired, he was recognized as one of the era’s most influential comedians. He also become a best-selling author of books that expanded on his comedy routines, including “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?,” which was published by Hyperion in 2004.

Pursuing a Dream

Mr. Carlin was born in New York City in 1937. “I grew up in New York wanting to be like those funny men in the movies and on the radio,” he said. “My grandfather, mother and father were gifted verbally, and my mother passed that along to me. She always made sure I was conscious of language and words.”

He quit high school to join the Air Force in the mid-’50s and, while stationed in Shreveport, La., worked as a radio disc jockey. Discharged in 1957, he set out to pursue his boyhood dream of becoming an actor and comic. He moved to Boston where he met and teamed up with Jack Burns, a newscaster and comedian. The team worked on radio stations in Boston, Fort Worth, and Los Angeles, and performed in clubs throughout the country during the late ’50s.

After attracting the attention of the comedian Mort Sahl, who dubbed them “a duo of hip wits,” they appeared as guests on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar. Still, the Carlin-Burns team was only moderately successful, and, in 1960, Mr. Carlin struck out on his own.

During a career that spanned five decades, he emerged as one of the most durable, productive and versatile comedians of his era. He evolved from Jerry Seinfeld-like whimsy and a buttoned-down decorum in the ’60s to counterculture icon in the ’70s. By the ’80s, he was known as a scathing social critic who could artfully wring laughs from a list of oxymorons that ranged from “jumbo shrimp” to “military intelligence.” And in the 1990s and into the 21st century the balding but still pony-tailed comic prowled the stage - eyes ablaze and bristling with intensity - as the circuit’s most splenetic curmudgeon.

During his live 1996 HBO special, “Back in Town,” he raged over the shallowness of the ’90s “me first” culture - mocking the infatuation with camcorders, hyphenated names, sneakers with lights on them, and lambasting white guys over 10 years old who wear their baseball hats backwards. Baby boomers, “who went from ‘do your thing’ to ‘just say no’ …from cocaine to Rogaine,” and pro life advocates (”How come when it’s us it’s an abortion, and when it’s a chicken it’s an omelet?”), were some of his prime targets. In the years following his 1977 cable debut, Mr. Carlin was nominated for a half dozen Grammy awards and received CableAces awards for best stand-up comedy special for “George Carlin: Doin’ It Again (1990) and “George Carlin: Jammin’ ” (1992). He also won his second Grammy for the album “Jammin” in 1994.

Personal Struggles

During the course of his career, Mr. Carlin overcame numerous personal trials. His early arrests for obscenity (all of which were dismissed) and struggle to overcome his self-described “heavy drug use” were the most publicized. But in the ’80s he also weathered serious tax problems, a heart attack and two open heart surgeries.

In December 2004 he entered a rehabilitation center to address his addictions to Vicodin and red wine. Mr. Carlin had a well-chronicled cocaine problem in his 30s, and though he was able to taper his cocaine use on his own, he said, he continued to abuse alcohol and also became addicted to Vicodin. He entered rehab at the end of that year, then took two months off before continuing his comedy tours.

“Standup is the centerpiece of my life, my business, my art, my survival and my way of being,” Mr. Carlin once told an interviewer. “This is my art, to interpret the world.” But, while it always took center stage in his career, Mr. Carlin did not restrict himself to the comedy stage. He frequently indulged his childhood fantasy of becoming a movie star. Among his later credits were supporting parts in “Car Wash” (1976), “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), “The Prince of Tides” (1991), and “Dogma” (1999).

His 1997 book, “Brain Droppings,” became an instant best seller. And among several continuing TV roles, he starred in the Fox sitcom “The George Carlin Show,” which aired for one season. “That was an experiment on my part to see if there might be a way I could fit into the corporate entertainment structure,” he said after the show was canceled in 1994. “And I don’t,” he added.

Despite the longevity of his career and his problematic personal life, Mr. Carlin remained one of the most original and productive comedians in show business. “It’s his lifelong affection for language and passion for truth that continue to fuel his performances,” a critic observed of the comedian when he was in his mid-60s. And Chris Albrecht, an HBO executive, said, “He is as prolific a comedian as I have witnessed.”

Mr. Carlin is survived by his wife, Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; son-in-law, Bob McCall, brother, Patrick Carlin and sister-in-law, Marlene Carlin. His first wife, Brenda Hosbrook, died in 1997.

Although some criticized parts of his later work as too contentious, Mr. Carlin defended the material, insisting that his comedy had always been driven by an intolerance for the shortcomings of humanity and society. “Scratch any cynic,” he said, “and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.”

Still, when pushed to explain the pessimism and overt spleen that had crept into his act, he quickly reaffirmed the zeal that inspired his lists of complaints and grievances. “I don’t have pet peeves,” he said, correcting the interviewer. And with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he added, “I have major, psychotic hatreds.”

The East River Music Project’s sixth season kicked off this past Saturday, June 7, with a show curated by Lucky Dragons.

The Village Voice was there. (Twice.) So was CMJ. I expect some footage will turn up on Punkcast before too long as well.

LVHRD had some kind words to say in anticipation of the show, as did Flavorpill and The Fader.

Diana Wong was also on hand to document the proceedings. All photos below are hers…

Animental:

Soiled Mattress and the Springs:

Lucky Dragons:

And more Lucky Dragons:

Lexie Mountain Boys @ Floristree Space 07/20/07 (thepiratehat)

UPDATE: The order for Saturday’s show, from first to last, will be as follows:David Horvitz

John Wiese

Lexie Mountain Boys

Lucky Dragons

Animental

Soiled Mattress and the Springs

East River Amphitheater (Cherry St. @ FDR Drive, NYC).

More free shows at East River Park this year are listed HERE.

Last updated May 29, 2008 4:42 p.m. PT

Logo Dispute: A whip forward

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Starbucks has comfortable, even cozy coffee houses. But was that a very sharp corporate elbow the globally grown giant threw at our local roller derby league?

Not quite a flying elbow, says Quinn Heraty, the New York attorney representing the Rat City Rollergirls. But for a time it looked like Starbucks was getting ready to send the women sprawling.

Starbucks received a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office extension to file in opposition to Rat City’s cool, black eye and attitude logo. As the Seattle P-I reported last week, Starbucks seemed to sense infringement on its logo from, well, the fact that both use concentric circles. Hmm, and there’s a woman and two stars in both logos?

This struck us and a lot of readers as somewhere between crazy and overboard. Fortunately, Starbucks seems to be pouring a cup of mellow.

Heraty said Thursday, “All of my interactions with Starbucks have been good and friendly.” Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum said the company shares Heraty’s positive feelings about progress in their discussions. She said corporate help in making slight design modifications might be a possibility.

Heraty said she hopes to “resolve this matter soon to everyone’s mutual benefit in a collaborative fashion.” Maybe the two colorful Seattle institutions can support each other with a point-scoring whip forward.

Heraty Law client Leven Rambin (along with James Cruickshank, Zak Williams, & Timo Weiland) will host Fingerpaint and a silent auction to benefit the Make It Right Foundation. MIRF builds green affordable housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Fingerpaint seeks to facilitate the exposure of talented young artists through ad hoc art events at high-end galleries in New York City. Each show will be followed by a silent auction.

The title ‘Fingerpaint’ evokes the do-it-yourself mentality often associated with youth culture, the childish impertinence of us ’sneaking in’ to these high-end galleries, and the firm belief that our passions can be harnessed to benefit the lives of future generations.

May 28th, 7-11PM
at the former DIA Gallery
548 w 22nd st
(on 22nd near 11th Ave)

Saturday, May 24, 2008
Last updated 12:20 a.m. PT

Rollergirls bump up against Starbucks

By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER

The Rat City Rollergirls of Seattle are this close to being preserved for time immemorial in a video game.

While the game developers do their thing, the all-female roller derby league has to trademark the logo that it has used since the league formed in 2004.

It seemed simple enough. But after the league filed its paperwork in Washington, it realized a challenge: There’s another entity in town sporting a round logo with two stars, sans-serif font and a babe in the middle.

Starbucks has asked the league to change its logo, said Quinn Heraty, a New York lawyer representing the Rat City Rollergirls and its national association, The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association.

“The issue is with the shape of the logo, including what they’re calling concentric circles,” she said. “They’re saying that the dimensions of the circles are too close to their own. … I mean, come on, circles and portraits? Big deal. Starbucks didn’t invent that.”

Seattle-based Starbucks has asked for extra time to possibly oppose the logo. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the company an extension, and the coffee chain has until July to issue a complaint.

“We haven’t opposed it - we have asked for more time to look at it,” Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum said. “There’s a lot of room for us to work together to find a mutually beneficial conclusion here.”

Around the world, Starbucks is known for aggressively defending its siren logo. The company has to prevent others from eroding its trademark, line by line, Krum said.

“There’s no kind of gray when it comes to trademark; it’s very much a yes or no situation,” she said.

Rat City’s lawyer, Heraty, asked Starbucks to support its hometown roller derby league, or compensate the team for the cost of changing the logo. Starbucks has not agreed to either option yet, she said.

“The Starbucks lawyer said that the girls on the roller derby team look scary, and she didn’t think, in her own personal opinion, (that) Starbucks would want to associate themselves with the scary characters of Rat City Rollergirls,” Heraty said. “I just thought it was funny.”

Starbucks is tough. But the Rollergirls are known for being tough, too - and sexy. The amateur league, ranked second in the nation, regularly sells out its monthly bouts where women on skates adopt sporty and sexy alter egos and knock down other women.

The local league has about 80 members, including some Starbucks employees. Its logo wasn’t created to mimic Starbucks, said Rollergirl Sue Schmitz, 38, who also goes by Darth Skater.

“It’s a great logo - personally I think it’s one of the better ones of all the leagues,” Schmitz said. “It’s kind of a shame that it’s come to this. I definitely feel that we can work something out in everybody’s best interest.”

In fact, both sides have stressed that they want to collaborate and not make adversaries of each other.

Without accusing Starbucks specifically, Heraty said that there’s a larger issue at stake. “Just because something is similar doesn’t mean it’s infringing,” she said.

“Let’s resolve the issue, but that doesn’t mean that Starbucks owns all of the concentric circles in the world,” Heraty said. “It’s not like the word Starbucks is even unique. They took that from ‘Moby Dick.’ ”

P-I reporters Joseph Tartakoff and Athima Chansanchai contributed to this report. P-I reporter Andrea James can be reached at 206-448-8124 or andreajames@seattlepi.com.

Heraty Law client WFTDA (Women’s Flat Track Derby Association), an association of 56 leagues and their roller derby skaters, is partnering with the punk rock video game developers at Frozen Codebase to bring the WFTDA’s revolutionary brand of roller derby to the world of video games.

About WFTDA
Founded in 2004, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association promotes and fosters the sport of women’s flat track roller derby by facilitating the development of athletic ability, sportswomanship,and goodwill among member leagues.
The governing philosophy of WFTDA is “by the skaters, for the skaters.” Skaters from the 56 member leagues are primary owners, managers, and operators of each member league and of the association.
WFTDA sets standards for rules, seasons, and safety, as well as guidelines for the national and international athletic competitions of member leagues. All member leagues have a voice in the decision-making process.

About Frozen Codebase LLC
Frozen Codebase is an independent video game studio focused on innovative ideas, original games, and non-stop compelling gameplay.
Founded by industry veteran Ben Geisler (Quake 4, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction), Frozen Codebase began Xbox 360 game production in 2006 with a staff of industry veterans.
Frozen Codebase has several production teams and includes ex-employees of Raven Software (Activision), Radical Entertainment (Vivendi) and GarageGames.
Frozen Codebase is a fully authorized developer for XBox 360, Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii, and they created Screwjumper on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and Elements of Destruction on the PC and Xbox 360 Live Arcade.
Publisher clients include THQ, Sierra Online (Vivendi) and GarageGames.

Feisty misses are looking for a hit on ‘ego trip’s Miss Rap Supreme’

by David Hinckley
Monday, April 14th 2008

ego trip’s MISS RAP SUPREME. Monday at 10 p.m., VH1

One of the contestants in VH1’s new competition for aspiring female rappers is named Nicky2States, presumably because she comes from New York and now lives in Alabama.

That’s fitting because the program itself could be called WeBe2Shows.

On the one side, “Miss Rap Supreme” is the funniest new “reality” show of 2008, a contest that is just serious enough to make 10 women work hard for a $100,000 prize, while smoothly mocking as many “reality” show clichés as it can squeeze in.

For starters, it boards the contestants in the “Fembassy,” a hotel that has all the superficial trappings of glamour, but whose pool is a painted blue square and has no water in it.

The outstanding rapper from the first challenge, meaning the one who best “represents,” is given the prized baseball cap that names her “Miss Representation.”

How can you not like it?

Yet at the same time, the show is also operating on a second front, which for want of a more polite term might be called “girlfights.”

Whether it’s spontaneous or not, several contestants spent a whole lot of time getting up in each other’s faces.

That includes Khia, whom rap fans may remember as an artist who had a hit record, and Miss Cherry, whose sneering reference to Khia as a “one-hit wonder” is about the only part of their exchange that can be printed in the newspaper.

Or aired on VH1, for that matter. “Miss Rap Supreme” is so packed with vulgarities, in the lyrics and in conversation, that sometimes it feels like “bleep-bleep-bleep-bleep” must be the show’s unofficial theme song.

So with the jokes, the language and the girlfights, there’s maybe a little something for everyone here.

Because every “reality” show needs challenges, hosts MC Serch and Yo-Yo break the 10 finalists into two competing groups. Their first task is hit the street and impress some “sisters,” which turns out to mean two small groups whose iPods probably don’t hold a whole lot of hip hop.

The first five rappers are sent into a beauty shop. The second must entertain white sorority sisters - one of whom says she’s just happy this tough-looking bunch “didn’t try to beat us up.”

By the way, don’t bet someone won’t take that idea and try to spin another “reality” show out of it: “Street Soldiers Vs. Suite Sisters.”

Anyhow, the 10 rappers are then sent to rap for some real sisters - nuns. Given the language in many rhymes, this presents a challenge on multiple levels.

Adding to the fun, the finalists are an unusually interesting bunch. Two are white. One was a heroin addict. Few are demure.

Nicky2States, who is 28, describes herself as a single mother of four who started rapping a year ago.

She has four young kids and she had time to take up rap on the side?

Now that’s hardcore.