Post by rihk on Apr 22, 2010 20:50:41 GMT -5
I haven't yet read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I know the story, just haven't yet been able to find a copy of the book.
I first heard of Unwoman when I found the Vernian Process myspace page when I was building a good friends list for the founding of the Honorable Society of Phoenix Anachrofuturists. I didn't actually HEAR her play til she came to town with Voltaire about a year ago though, in April of 2009. Due to disturbing and uncomfortable circumstances between a friend and I during the concert, I had to leave the crowd before the set was over to retain what little was left of my sanity. I had been enthralled and mesmerized by Erica's talent at my favorite instrument, while becoming disgusted with Voltaire's continuing buffoonery. I see the man more often than I see my family, and he is just getting worse and worse every year, a mad, drunken caricature of his former self. Anyway, I stopped at the merch booth to buy my wife a Voltaire key, and saw that there were Unwoman discs, but only 1 left each of Knowledge Scars and Wildness & Artifice. I noticed W&A was a two-disc case being sold for the price of one, and I am a sucker for getting the last item available as impulse buys.
I went home, listened to them, and immediately bought Blossoms and Trouble on CDbaby.com and made copies for my car so I didn't wear out and crack the discs in the AZ heat. I listened to those 4 discs for a couple months. In June of last year, on the first night of a weekend vacation getaway retreat in the New Mexico desert to celebrate our tenth anniversary together, my wife tells me she wants a divorce, that she never knew what love was til she met this other guy (homeless unemployed heroin addict/drug dealer with no car, and a kid he has to see all the time and etc), and that she never loved me, that I had always been just a friend to her and basically ran down the list of everything you can say to destroy a man who worships you. I had argued against getting married in the first place, but she convinced me with compelling arguments , but now it seems like I was nothing more than a shiny plaything to her the whole time. I had a job, a car, an education, and complete devotion to her.
So when the 5 day vacation was over, and I was driving us back while she slept, I was of course listening to the Blossoms and Trouble discs and really GETTING it now, the lyrics MEANT more to me, and during the trip, I saw that Unwoman was going to be playing at DNA lounge in SF that coming weekend. I texted my good friend Patrick who is also a big fan of hers, and he is from CA, and hadn't been to SF in awhile. He agreed to go with me in case I got lost or something. I paid for gas, and drove almost the entire way, and we got there like 8 hours early and had a blast trolling the town for bookstores (City Lights) and restaurants and tattoo shops and stuff.
I think she was kind of shocked that we would drive that far just to see a 20-25 minute set, but I needed to get out of the house I shared with my wife, out of the city, out of the state. I was already drunk by the time Erica even arrived at the club, haha. I did remember her mentioning an upcoming concert, though, so in a couple months, I got the extremely rare chance to see a house recital for family and friends IN PERSON, meet DocPop for a second time, meet the UnMom and all that jazz. It was exhilarating, even though I got a ticket for speeding that led to my revocation of driver's license (months later) on the way there and my battery died on me on the way home, a year after buying it. It was an ordeal, but I wouldn't change a thing. I'd do it all over again.
The Keys came out, and were delivered to my new address living with two Unwoman-blasting-friendly roommates, and that helped me get through that depression part of the grief hump, after denial and anger. I used the last paycheck of a job I was laid off from to donate the last chunk of money needed to finance the kickstarter for Casualties, oddly at nearly the same moment Erica was giving her 2 weeks notice at Moderati.
So there I was, without a car, without a job, moping all day, not able to love anyone, dead inside, and then Casualties comes out and lifts me up again, I realize how awesome I am on my own, and how I need to get off my ass to get what I need, it aint just gonna come to me without working for it, so now I'm happy again.
The webscasts are just frosting on the cake.
I first heard of Unwoman when I found the Vernian Process myspace page when I was building a good friends list for the founding of the Honorable Society of Phoenix Anachrofuturists. I didn't actually HEAR her play til she came to town with Voltaire about a year ago though, in April of 2009. Due to disturbing and uncomfortable circumstances between a friend and I during the concert, I had to leave the crowd before the set was over to retain what little was left of my sanity. I had been enthralled and mesmerized by Erica's talent at my favorite instrument, while becoming disgusted with Voltaire's continuing buffoonery. I see the man more often than I see my family, and he is just getting worse and worse every year, a mad, drunken caricature of his former self. Anyway, I stopped at the merch booth to buy my wife a Voltaire key, and saw that there were Unwoman discs, but only 1 left each of Knowledge Scars and Wildness & Artifice. I noticed W&A was a two-disc case being sold for the price of one, and I am a sucker for getting the last item available as impulse buys.
I went home, listened to them, and immediately bought Blossoms and Trouble on CDbaby.com and made copies for my car so I didn't wear out and crack the discs in the AZ heat. I listened to those 4 discs for a couple months. In June of last year, on the first night of a weekend vacation getaway retreat in the New Mexico desert to celebrate our tenth anniversary together, my wife tells me she wants a divorce, that she never knew what love was til she met this other guy (homeless unemployed heroin addict/drug dealer with no car, and a kid he has to see all the time and etc), and that she never loved me, that I had always been just a friend to her and basically ran down the list of everything you can say to destroy a man who worships you. I had argued against getting married in the first place, but she convinced me with compelling arguments , but now it seems like I was nothing more than a shiny plaything to her the whole time. I had a job, a car, an education, and complete devotion to her.
So when the 5 day vacation was over, and I was driving us back while she slept, I was of course listening to the Blossoms and Trouble discs and really GETTING it now, the lyrics MEANT more to me, and during the trip, I saw that Unwoman was going to be playing at DNA lounge in SF that coming weekend. I texted my good friend Patrick who is also a big fan of hers, and he is from CA, and hadn't been to SF in awhile. He agreed to go with me in case I got lost or something. I paid for gas, and drove almost the entire way, and we got there like 8 hours early and had a blast trolling the town for bookstores (City Lights) and restaurants and tattoo shops and stuff.
I think she was kind of shocked that we would drive that far just to see a 20-25 minute set, but I needed to get out of the house I shared with my wife, out of the city, out of the state. I was already drunk by the time Erica even arrived at the club, haha. I did remember her mentioning an upcoming concert, though, so in a couple months, I got the extremely rare chance to see a house recital for family and friends IN PERSON, meet DocPop for a second time, meet the UnMom and all that jazz. It was exhilarating, even though I got a ticket for speeding that led to my revocation of driver's license (months later) on the way there and my battery died on me on the way home, a year after buying it. It was an ordeal, but I wouldn't change a thing. I'd do it all over again.
The Keys came out, and were delivered to my new address living with two Unwoman-blasting-friendly roommates, and that helped me get through that depression part of the grief hump, after denial and anger. I used the last paycheck of a job I was laid off from to donate the last chunk of money needed to finance the kickstarter for Casualties, oddly at nearly the same moment Erica was giving her 2 weeks notice at Moderati.
So there I was, without a car, without a job, moping all day, not able to love anyone, dead inside, and then Casualties comes out and lifts me up again, I realize how awesome I am on my own, and how I need to get off my ass to get what I need, it aint just gonna come to me without working for it, so now I'm happy again.
The webscasts are just frosting on the cake.
