DIY OR die IN ANTARCTICA

Jay Fox (from old DC band "United Mutation") is working in Antarctica as a support staff for contract scientists there. He’s gonna show DIY or DIE at the McMurdo Coffee House. McMurdo Station Antarctica. Nov 4th at 8pm. With music by the Psychotic Folk Explosion from 9-10

Get your tickets early, this will sell out! (it’s free actually. So if any of you are there, stop in. Tell Jay I said "hi".).

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Dana Schechter's in Berlin, she's gonna help me introduce the film there. She opens and closes the film….first and last interview in the movie proper.

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tobi the media roadie!

cool promoter at the villa.

friend i stayed with, Petra, in Frankfurt.

 

the French people I’m staying with have a sign in the living room that says, "Not all French people are like this". They hold it up when visiting bands take photos.

md.

last night in Strasburg, France. Great showing. 65 people in a cool art gallery.

The promoter didn’t pay me when we left the venue. I asked him about it when we got back to the house. He seemed put out, like maybe I was money grubbing or something. He said, "We always pay the bands when we get home, not at the show".

Like I’m supposed to know that?

First rule of putting on shows is PAY THE ARTIST BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE VENUE. And if you want to wait until you get home, tell them you’re gonna do that. Because otherwise, the artist is wondering, and you also put them in the very awkward position of having to ask. It’s embarrassing.

Every showing on this trip, the promoter handed me money as soon as we were done. And I never counted it. And it was always enough.

I’ve done over 700 performances in my life, and other than this night, there were only two times we had to ask, and one of those the promoter ripped us off. So yeah, it was something I noticed when he didn’t pay me right away.

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Regarding the Q&A I do after the movie, it’s cool and the questions are mostly good, and it fosters opening a dialogue, but I’m REALLY tired of being asked if I think so-and-so punker band sold out or not. I don’t care. It doesn’t affect me.

And don’t you think there’s more important things to worry about going on in the world than which punk band signed a sneaker endorsement? Jesus. I’m far more worried about the new governor of California. FAR.

 

 

 

me: "what do you do when people don't like you?"

rollins: "I roll up the windows on my BMW and blast Black Sabbath on my bitchin' stereo and laugh."

 

 

SRO showing tonight. beautiful people. last France show. now 14 shows in Germany.

I’m tired.

 

 

Got in an argument this morning in Germany because we were in a house where they told me to sit when I pee, to not make a mess on the floor. I told them I don’t pee on the floor, they told me it would splash. I got really fucking mad. You can’t tell me to pee differently. It’s fascistic. Especially in a fucking messy as hell bathroom with an already-filthy floor I ain’t gonna even splash on!!!!!

 

these are the worst designeds in the world. your poop doesn't go in water, it goes in the top part and you have to smell it. Germany is full of them.

People in Germany actually have signs by their toilets telling men to sit down when they pee. They're afraid we'll splash a little on the floor or something.

I can't do it.I'm a man, damnit.

 

 

10/15/2003

Trier, Germany.

Showing tonight at Ex-Haus, a huge, very well-run, government-funded punk rock youth center. They treat ya well, we have our own room, showers that work, good food, cool people etc. It’s on the shores of the River Mosel . Very pretty indeed. Oh, and of course they have high speed Internet access. Many places do.

The place we stayed last night has something I see a lot in Europe—four roommates sharing one DSL line with a router. They tell me that if they use intelligent routing (not sure if that’s hardware, software, or both) it is pretty much surfing as fast as if there were only one person on the line.

I’ve been on tour for over a month now. And it seems like more. But I’m having a good time and maintaining well.

I’m showing the film tonight here in Trier Germany. beautiful place, beautiful people. except the ugly American skate band playing downstairs. they're from Los Angeles. We ate dinner together. I didn't talk at all. Didn’t want to even let them know I speak English. Yuck. Americans in general, and rock bands in specific, tend to be idiots.

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it’s been really nice to hang out with Tobi and have him drive for a week in the middle of the tour. Probably kept me from going insane.

This is very difficult to do, this tour. I’ve got an insane amount of logistics to keep it going, make sure I have the equipment I need at each show, and get where I’m going, all without a car. I can only count on about five minutes a day online, and have about thirty minutes or more worth of work to do in that time. I got into a fight with a friend today because I told her not to forward me stuff on this trip. It’s worse than spam. Because spam I delete, but stuff that is from a friend and looks important or like it concerns me, I read.

Gotta keep focused. Gotta keep sane. It’s fucking hard. I’m really having to be selective about who and what I let into my brain. That’s probably a good idea for all life, not just life on tour.

----= wake up in another punker squat. Nice room. Warm, but people walking around talking loud, waking me up in three languages. Ah….life. and people blasting crust punk.

Someone called crust punk "dog cage music" today, because the singing sounds like dogs barking at you through a cage. I love that.

One of the main things I’ve noticed on this trip is how out of touch with new music I am. There are SO MANY FUCKING BANDS that I’ve never heard of. I hear them everywhere. Recordings heard ]in the car. At houses. At squats. Actual bands that play with my movie. So many. In every town, in every country. And some of them are quite popular. I am overwhelmed at the number of bands there are in the world.

And most of them sound like Fugazi……except the ones that sound like Minor Threat.

Fugazi….hmmmmm….I think it’s pretty fucking cool that the most popular independent rock band in the world is a bunch of 40-year old men who would rather calmly read books and discuss politics after the show than fuck groupies and snort coke. There may be hope for the world yet.

It’s odd….I’ve been staying with a lot of people who really want to smash the state. I mean seriously smash it. And they mostly live in hovels and some of them would rather eat out of garbage cans than work. I dunno….i love these people, they have good hearts, but somehow I think they’re missing something. ..missing the point. Barking up the wrong dumpster…..

 

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