Peasant In The Big Shitty

Hi folks, not much to say, it's been a month, and we've been busy. Holeeeeeeee moleeey, have we been busy. I hope you enjoy the re-design (O.K. I just switched blogger templates!) I just saw one too many blogs with the old format I was using, and decided to make a switch.
We had a quick visit to the island of Ischia, and the city of Naples (Neapolis, the Latin name, which I like more.)
Naples, whoa! A city going on all burners, 25 hours a day, it was amazing to see scooters speeding downhill in the wrong direction, scooters cutting through the pedestrian zones, seeing live octopus being sold on the street, laptops and cell phones being sold on the street, and seeing 2000 year old pornography at the museum. An amazing chaotic city; Rome, London, L.A. Vienna, and N.Y., don't have a thing on Naples. Now, every city I have ever visited before seems like a tranquil hamlet. After a 100 meter walk from the train station to the bus station, I found that someone had opened my backpack's outside pocket, and I guess they didn't think my ink pens and pencil sharpener were worth stealing. (Good thing they didn't find my passport and ipod shuffle!) I guess I had gotten off with a slight warning. And yeah Mt. Vesuvius is always looming overhead, a city at the foot of an active volcano.

What a city, we only had two days, and I had a cold, but I eagerly want to return to Neapolis!

OK so now we're back laying low, and hiding out from the man.
Top Ten:
1. Alan Moore's Top Ten comic, I like it even more because the city is called Neopolis, and seems to be a cross between Naples and (Superman's) Metropolis.
2. The Stranglers' "The Raven" This might be their best record, great new wave, but it's really pretty punk. Great keyboards and cool guitar, fat bass, fucked up lyrics and everything you would expect from the dirty old men of punk.
3. Roy Loney solo records, I downloaded some great out of print stuff from a great website called Powerpop Lovers (too lazy to link) and I discovered the Flaming Groovies singer's solo records have some great songs.
4. The Flys, more good stuff from Powerpop lovers.
5. Lee Perry: Scratch The Upsetters Again, another great find from the Vienna Library.
6. Japanther! Live! More NYC/Rhode Island drum and bass noise rock, but with some good harmonies and great songs.
7. Raymond Pettibon doodling and autographing in my sketchbook!!! And the overwhelming Pettibon exhibition at the Vienna Kunsthalle.
8. Being able to read Roberto Calasso's "Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony." A really interesting approach to Greek mythology, it seems more rewarding than Edith Hamilton.
9. Slowly slogging through Brian Greene's " Fabric of the Cosmos" he gives the lowdown on space and time, it turns out OUR experience of reality isn't really reality.
10. EMPIRE "Expensive Sound" The guitarist from Generation X, did this little ol' punk band in 1981, turns out this very obscure record would be a huge influence on American underground music. Those DC hardcore kids ate it up and this record was a big influence on Embrace/Fugazi/Gray Matter/Soulside (And who knows who else?) . AND it turns out it was a favorite of a very young teenage guitarist in San Diego, back when he was starting his band Pitchfork. This record is finally available on CD with a bunch of x-tra nasty bonus cuts. I'm planning to do a full review of this when ever I get the time. Thanks to J. for turning me on to this.
Later Folks.