Watch My Fat Face Sing To You

When someone sings his own praises, he always gets the tune too high. ~Mary H. Waldrip

The Best Unheard German Expressionist Soundtrack Yet...

Kilborough 17 was one of the only bands in the Fort Myers area (2000-2002) to innovatively mix elements of shoegaze and electronica into a digestable pop format.

Much of their subject matter focused on dark and brooding themes, which was rounded out by the heavy yet spacious use of delay and synth.

Kilborough 17 eventually disbanded due to being incredibly ahead of their time.

Jonothan Glover, a former member of Kilborough had this to say:

"Every moment of Kilborough seemed to be a moment of misery AND jubilation.

We had this really ambitious approach, using synths, drum machines, plus live drums, and guitars to try and meld a cinematic, almost symphonic kind of sound within the time constraints of conventional rock. As with all ambitious things, we rarely were able to actualize the concept."

Where Have All The All Age Venues Gone?

The concept of the all age venue has been around for a number of years.
For the uninitiated, all ages simply means: all who wish to see a show are allowed admittance.

So why aren't there any?

The sad truth is, when it comes to all age sales versus alcohol sales, the all age venue is doomed to live a relatively short life.The reason for this is, when a venue first opens, the overhead cost is usually high, due to any number of renovations that may have been done to it- anything from renovations, to bringing the building up to code.

The owner has to make money off of something. If not alcohol then what? Most of the all age venues I have seen or played in usually limit their fare to coffee, obscure records, or comics, which all belong to a rapidly dwindling market. Who needs to buy records when you can download them for free while sipping on a mocha from Starbucks?

Why don't they just make it a point to check I.D.'s at the door?

Because every kid who frequents a place that serves alcohol is just too much of a legal liability. Imagine an underage kid driving home drunk from a show and getting in a wreck or causing a fight. Youth is already unpredictable enough with insular hormones awash in melancholic confusion. Why throw alcohol in the mix?

What can be done?

This is a tough question and one I have been trying to answer for a while. House shows can be put on for certain bands,if they are folksy or acoustic. But any band not in that genre will probably catch the attention of the police.

Can this be remedied?

Is there a way to have a successful space that operates at low cost and attends to the needs of youth and touring bands in a safe and comfortable environment?

I don't know.

Thoughts anyone?

OT: The Power of Ideas.

I've often wondered about the power of an idea. How it can take shape and propel one to do something they wouldn't ever dream of doing normally. The past couple of years have seen a sweep of new age beliefs that mostly dwell in the realm of thought.
Of course this brand of championing thoughts as things is nothing new. The idea has been repackaged over and over again making it new for the contemporary audiences of the time.

The reading of such literature contains within it a certain running thread, that you can essentially do whatever you'd like to. And this is the main ethos behind much of punk rock music. In fact, punk pioneers Bad Brains might have never existed at all if it weren't for the singer, H.R., finding a copy of Think and Grow Rich on his father's desk.

The power of an idea is an intangible topic at best to try to discuss. But that is exactly what I have seen happen at shows before. People coming together and dancing,collectively taking part and creating the energy that is visible at shows; based on nothing more than people with ideas who picked up instruments...

Interview with Jon Glover of Ars Phoenix

The following interview is with Jon Glover of Ars Phoenix fame. His new album Engines of Progress is currently all the rave.


What inspired you to start playing music?
I'm not sure I can define a particular catalyst. I'd always been interested in music, I suppose for its emotive/aesthetic qualities. Of all the arts, music seems to, at least for me, have the most potential for eliciting a visceral emotional response. Expression, catharsis. If Spinoza was right about there being a third kind of knowledge--affect/affection/intuition/expression--music is the best way to engage it.

Do you think there is something to be said for going out on your own against what society as a whole wants for you, and striking out on your own?
Chasing down your own dreams or, as you put it, going out on your own IS the lesson. Success, in the corporative sense that we are so familiar with as Americans, reeks of hopelessness to me. I think the major lesson that playing music on our own terms teaches us is that there are always different ways to do things, different than the typical models always offered to us as the only options--major labels, living on the road, finding a "marketable" sound, finding a career instead "wasting time" on art.

Craziest thing you've ever done on stage. Most injuries sustained.

I was always the cautious one. In Failsafe (1995-1999) there was always an unsaid competition, I believe, between Leo, TJ, and myself for who could create the most chaos on stage. I did a fair amount of thrashing around on the stage floor, but nothing like Leo or TJ. Leo actually threw himself down a half pipe ramp that we were playing on at some skate park show once. That freaked me out. As far as injuries go, I was usually inflicting rather than sustaining them. The headstock of my bass drew blood from Leo's head on two occasions.

Do you feel a connection to something when you play?

"Feel" is the key word here. There is an abstract sort of sensation I get from playing music. Just sort of a harmony or resonance between myself and the sounds. I've been reading too much Spinoza, because I also am thinking of this from a Spinozistic perspective--when two "bodies" (in this case me and the music) are agreeable to one another--harmonize--their power, their ability to be affected, to FEEL is increased. This just might be an explanation for how music works period, but I definitely think it explains how it works for me.

Being from the "scene" do you feel that there ever was one in Fort Myers, and what construct made it up? What do you think tied the different personalities within the groups together?
Well, I was from the Naples scene, which strangely enough, was very distinct from the FM/Cape Coral scene, despite the many overlaps between all of them. I had been playing with bands in Naples since I was 15. It really wasn't until I was about 18, when Failsafe started playing more in FM, that I think I was really even aware of FM as a part of the same scene. Did Naples have an actual scene? Yes, I think so. But when FM and beyond get tacked on, that construct gets harder to articulate. Naples was basically a circle of friends who played in bands together.

The more things change, the more they stay the same? True or False?

Completely false! Really, this cliché is based on two assumptions--the stable/fixed/unchanging psychic core of the individual, and the stable/fixed/unchanging character of history. So many external factors affect how we as humans perceive ourselves and our societies that the act of comparison (between a current self and a past self, especially) is extremely tenuous. When we look back at ourselves 10, 15, years ago, do we truly recognize ourselves? Anyone who answers this question with too much confident affirmation should not be trusted.

That Strange and Distant Town To Our South (2)

Naples 1998

An influential band for the time and place,Failsafe was one of the only bands in the surrounding area to be playing what would later be popularly known as "screamo".


Where are they now?

Terrance Hannum,(the kid in the yellow) now teaches art at Columbia University in Chicago.

Jonathan Glover,(the bass player) is currently working on his masters and fronting Ars Phoenix.

Dave Miller, (the drummer) is a back up dancer for Redman.

And the singer, Leo Ashline is currently a vegan chef...

That Strange and Distant Town to Our South.

Naples is a strange place. Look hard and long enough past the ritz and the glitter and you will find quite the "scene". In fact, the music scene in Naples carries within it a large history of very good bands; bands that were at the forefront of many of the "new" popular genres today. What’s more is that in most places, once people reach a certain age, they simply move away never to be heard from again. Not so in Naples. If someone moves off they stay in touch, often collaborating with one another in future projects.

Maybe there's something in the water that rallies the people together, causing them to love and care about the bands...whatever it is Naples certainly seems to foster their own.

Click here to read about the magic that is the Naples music scene.

Owlphabet.

Owlphabet is a website run by a few musicians who high tailed it from Fort Myers to Athens Georgia.

The website is fairly comprehensive, and at times reads like a rare back catalog of defunct Fort Myers bands, such as A Soft Perversion, Dreams Die First, and The Strip Club Moms.

OT: Sex and drug rambles...Patrick Norris reflects and keeps reflecting.

The world of live music often acts as a convergence point for the build up and release of sexual energy between its participants. The performer carries within them a certain sexual potency or je ne sais quoi that is brought out on stage and an attraction develops. The reasons for this attraction are not important.

Perhaps the crowd sees the performer onstage creating something; and through this act of creation, a sense of familiarity is fostered, allowing the night to become rife with possibilities among consenting parties.

But I wouldn’t know a thing about that.

I have been tempted many a time over the years, and I have always said no, opting instead to return home alone to watch X-files and eat Oreos as my after show ritual.

Needless to say this behavior could be particularly alienating, especially when a lot of my musical peers viewed playing shows as nothing more than a mere blip preceding the night’s bacchanalian activities.

I myself have always approached playing shows with the eyes of a shining puritan. To me music always had less to do with the opposite sex and more to do with the exorcising of any internal demons that I felt were the symptoms of a larger whole connecting me to everyone in the room. I was also fortunate enough to be in a band with two other people who felt the same as I did. And I think a lot of the time we were viewed as odd because of our behavior. The rowdiest thing we ever did was amass several speeding tickets under the heady influence of sleep deprivation and Nyquil while singing to The Carpenters on tour.

I guess the greater issue I’m driving at is people are strange, myself included. And nowhere is this strageness more apparent than in a room full of people at a show, and that is something I will always find interesting.

Drawing Maps

This band first began under the name of Crimson Fetch in August of 2002.
After a few shows they quickly became local favorites due to their energetic live shows and ability to play far beyond their young years.

Eventually Crimson Fetch changed their name to the more cartographically themed Drawing Maps; trading their earlier verse chorus formula in for a darker more ambient sound.

"We were all pretty young, so when we started it was mainly to just play music with friends. When it turned into Drawing Maps we went through several member changes and after a while it just seemed time to put the whole thing away."

-Andrew Bernard,founding member of Drawing Maps.

Marc Davis reflects...

Marc Davis is the only person I know who can keep perfect time playing a drum solo while simultaneously biting into a can of soda.

Marc has been in numerous bands over the years and is one of the few remaining torch bearers for the local music scene.

When I asked Marc to contribute to this blog a far away look crept into his eyes as he remembered all the faces that have come and gone.


"When people bring up "the scene," I don't generally think of the years I played in The Anchorite Four. I think of the times I first got into it. I had always gone to Metallica and Primus concerts, paying 50 dollars a ticket for nosebleed seats, 30 dollars for a t shirt- drunk people everywhere. That’s just the way things were. If bands played in a bar, they were cover bands. I wasn't even aware of places in Fort Myers like the Draft House, 1 Fish 2 Fish or Offbeat Records. Finding out about them AND that they housed bands just as good as, if not better than the bands I grew up listening to was a shock.

At the time,(1995) downtown Fort Myers was teeming with punk rockers, rude boys,(true!) emo kids, hardcore kids, traditional skinheads, (true!) goths, and so much more. It was invigorating talking with these people about their love for music and art; to hear someone talk about liking something other than because it's what's placed in front of them. I started listening to ska, and then made my way into some punk and then down to hardcore and indie rock and much, much more. I learned of layers and layers of music that were right under my nose for years, but I had no clue.


It's important that indie music isn't sold off as some kind of hot commodity, which unfortunately is what’s happening now. People have to FIND indie music. It’s a lot harder now with the internet and major record labels scouring the independent scene for The Next Big Thing, but if you look hard enough there's still a world untouched. And the people who dig hard enough find it and few turn away. There’s just something so alive about a hardcore show in a cramped basement or a ska show in a small club with the horn section right in front of you. Talking to bands that would normally be so out of reach, it becomes so real. It becomes something anyone can do. And it is. And it's great to know that."

Live Blog: The Brentford Sound and Pop Pop at Yabbos.

For my live blog I chose to attend a show featuring The Brentford Sound and Pop Pop, who were playing at a restaurant called Yabbos.

9:30 P.M.-I arrive at Yabbos expecting a few people to be in attendance. To my surprise the entire parking lot is filled with people young and old. Unable to find a laptop to use for tonights event I instead walk around awkwardly clutching a notebook and a pen while saying hello to everyone.

9:45 P.M.- I snap a picture of The Brentford Sound before showtime. Maria,whom prior to this show only played trumpet for the band is now the new singer.

9:50 P.M.- Some girls ask me what is in the notebook I am holding. I sheepishly hand it over to them as their hands magically flit to some "poetry" I wrote. They both cackle as they read. I walk away, not really needing it as the show is running late anyways.


10:30 P.M.- Pop Pop, which is a three man band consisting of Marc Davis, Mike Cosden (also in numerous other bands and The Brentford Sound) and Doug Davison take the stage. Pop Pop can best be described as jangly indie pop.

10:42 P.M.- Twelve minutes into the set Doug says: "Y'know, Summer is just around the corner and so is that sweet sweet sauce. This song is called Bar-B-Que Days."

10:51 P.M.-Marc Davis drummer of Pop Pop messes up. It appears now that the drums are playing him.

10:56P.M.-Pop Pop play "Fisherboy" a heartfelt love song that include the lines:

This still water so very calm
like darvocets, like Vietnam.

Let's ride around all day
in your Mazda Protege.

I'll pay the bills
if you stop taking bills

and tell me why you frown
when we hang around.

If I can't be your fisherman
can I be your fisherboy?


11:00 P.M.- Pop Pop finish their set. The noise of chatter fills the air as The Brentford Sound set up.

11:30 P.M.- The Brentford Sound start their set. Maria looks around nervously and opens her mouth to sing.Her voice is better than expected.It is amazing honeycomb, soulful and sweet. The crowd cheers. We are on the road to somewhere.

11:47 P.M.-Let it be said now that holding a notebook in a room full of gyrating bodies makes one look stupid and foolishly self involved.Especially when one is in a room full of gyrating bodies appearing to be having the time of their lives.

11:56 P.M.-Michael Cosden messes up on guitar. I note the time and scribble this down happily,knowing he is far better than I on guitar. My hand bounds across the page rejoicing in this unexpected chance to be a chronicler of his mistakes.

12:15 A.M.- The Brentford Sound finish their set. The bartender in a fit of happiness declares all yager shots to be $2,"Drink em up!" he says.

12:16 A.M.- Goodnight.

Fo' Towns got a community.

Go here for all the latest show happenings and news about bands and any other cool thing going on that you'd like to know about.

Interview with John from The Brentford Sound

The following interview is with John Schiller, cupcake stealer and founding member of The Brentford Sound, one of the only local bands currently playing traditional Ska/Reggae/Soul.

What inspired you to start playing music?

From as early as I can remember, I always loved music. When I was a kid my parents used to quiz me on the songs on the radio; "Who's this Joe?" "The Rolling Stones!"

But when I was 15 I started going to local shows, and I was just blown away. I couldn't believe that kids, my own age or close to it, were forming bands, writing songs, playing shows, booking the shows and collecting the door. As a teenager, all of that was just so liberating to me, and I wanted to be a part of it.
And the people I met through my interest in SEEING music inspired me to want to MAKE music.

Do you think there is something to be said for going out on your own against what society as a whole wants for you, and striking out on your own?

Absolutely. The days when you could stow away on a ship and take off to new lands are long gone, man. Magellan's gone and he ain't coming back, there are no new lands to discover. So what's left?
There's no "new world" left, all that's left is you and your experience in this world. I don't want to tell the same stories everyone else tells. I don't want the good "old days" to be "Well, back before I was an investment banker, my friends and I would have quite rousing games of beer-pong!"

As far as hard work and dedication are concerned, I look at it this way: Life is hard man. The world isn't designed for you and me to succeed. So you're going to have to work hard at something if you’re going to get any satisfaction. And I choose to work at getting my dreams done.



A band moment that comes to mind of misery or jubilation…

Misery: Having to kick out our first singer, because we realized he just wasn't able to give us what we all needed him to give.

Do you feel a connection to something when you play? Do your thoughts quiet down?


Usually my thoughts run wild. What ever it takes to just NOT think about what my hands are doing, because that just makes me stiff.

I sometimes get wrapped up in the idea that a whole mess of complete strangers would take time out of their day and their lives to pay their hard earned money just to hear what I've been working on. I don't think there's anything more sincere and genuine that you can give to a person than your time. It's the single most valuable commodity in life, it's the only truly-limited resource. And I sometimes get a little emotional on stage thinking about how my time is being repaid by people who owe me absolutely nothing.

And sometimes my thoughts turn to the people that I love. Every time I play I think about the people who I have in my corner, and I'm either ecstatic that they are there with me to see me doing what I love, or I'm aching a little bit because they couldn't be there to share it with me. But that's just me. Like I said, what ever it takes to stop thinking about my hands.

Being from the "scene" do you feel that there ever was one in Fort Myers, and what construct made it up? What do you think tied the different personalities within the groups together?

A "scene" is a funny thing, because it has so many different connotations. I was definitely part of a scene, and the scene that I was a part of definitely seems to have died away.

On the surface, scenes are made up of bands and the people that like them. Bands and people are living things. Bands break up, and people lose interest, therefore "scenes" are like living things, constantly being born and growing and evolving and sometimes dying.

But deeper "scenes" are made up of singular individuals on their own. And those individuals might have a lot in common or they might not. But they are tied to each other by a passion for an idea,

To be specific, the scene I grew up in was a bunch of kids who didn't all particularly like each other, but who were all passionate about the idea of freedom through music. Some of them got into the scene because it was different from the norm in their high school, some people got in to it because they loved to play guitar and the "scene" was the place to get people to listen to it. Some people got in to it because they just wanted something to do. For some people, it seemed romantic, for some people it seemed organic. For some people it made them feel grown up.

But for all of us, the point was, music freed us from the rest of our lives.

And there's still a scene in Fort Myers, it just isn't the one that meant to much to me growing up. I'm sure there are still teenagers and even people my age gathering to share in a passion for music. I'm just not a part of it.

What are you trying to do with the lyrics in The Brentford Sound? What are some of the themes, and how have they changed or progressed?


The style of music we play doesn't allow for a lot of poetic license, at least not as much as a more modern sound would allow. To fit the music, the lyrics generally have to fit the traditional pop-song frame-work.

And Scotty, our drummer, takes pride in writing pop-style song lyrics with reality in them, with depth to them, and about non-traditional topics. Like Dear Susan, that's a pop song about a woman left behind by a lover going to war.



How did your youth inspire you? And when does the switch happen from all night drives to play for no one being ok, to all night drives not being ok because what's the use?

My youth inspired me only in the sense that I didn't know any better. I wasn't old yet. I didn't know how hard it was going to be. So my youth was my biggest asset.

Now, my youth inspires me like a tiger on my tail. I'm running towards my dreams because youth is fleeting.



What were your influences-literary-personal experience-records-people that shaped you or taught you a thing or two?

Literary: John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway

Experience: I just suck at working a 9-5.

Records: Countless. Let's start with the Beatles, Billy Joel, The Slackers, Hepcat, The Bouncing Souls.

Reflect on an insane band experience...

Maria will KILL me for telling this story, but!

We played a KILLER show in Gainesville with the Duppies, knocked everyone dead, and we actually got PAID enough to get to the next show with no money out of pocket. It was the first show that told me that this band really had something.

We drank free PBR all night, and came out of the venue to see that the van had been towed, with all our equiptment in it. I think we walked every inch of Gainesville that night trying to find the impound lot.

To make matters worse, we did the entire tour in a van that I'd JUST bought, and I spent every single dime I had on it, and didn't have the money to register it. So I was pretty anxious thinking that if the van had been towed, perhaps the police had scanned the tag and were going to impound it, leaving us stranded and unable to recover our gear.

ANYWAY. Maria had managed to get herself about as drunk as I'd ever seen anyone. We left a party behind to take care of her, and when an hour and $78 later, we showed up with the van, she was on her knees rubbing her face in the grass, because “the dewy bushes” just felt so good.

The more things change, the more they stay the same? True or False?

It's really both. In my experience, the more change you see, the more you refine what's important to you. It's like life erodes the insignificant stuff off you and leaves only what you're passionate about.

The Internet Changes Everything...

For any of you audiophiles who relish the smell of musty vinyl click here for an interesting article which talks about Silver Platter and record stores in general.

Against Me!

Against Me! originally hailed from Naples and often played shows here in Fort Myers under a different line up. As you can see, this flier is from a now extinct record store called Higher Learning Records.


For those of you in the know, Piebald also played there once upon a time as well, along with Blink-182.

Some really bad local band names.

While perusing the internet I'd thought I'd found some pretty awful band names.

But the longer I stare at them the cooler they sound.

I don't know, decide for yourself...

Down The Hatch

BopGun

Skunk Monkey

Screaming And Crying

Pound of Life

Cracker Blues

SmackDaddy

SoapyTuna

Hate Puppet

Piet N Willy

Galactic Burrito -which is actually kind of cool.

Wonderful Johnson

Violet Mack

Zombie Eats Kid

Susana Guthrie-relation to Woody?

Dots off of Atlantis

I Strangle Boston

Charles Schultz

Marcos Burns

Ulqfwkov-Say it quick and skip the q and it kind of sounds like...

Kandy Fry

Silver Platter "Cultural Hub of The Universe" Act 2 of 2

Turn off the lights, lock the doors, The Silver Platter is gone.

The pervading sentiment of tonight's show could best be summed up by a member of the band Rowdy Towdy who said "I really don't know where bands are going to go to play anymore...I don't know where I'm gonna go to buy a record anymore."

Hothouse which features all the old members of Jack Fendey opened up the show.





Rowdy Towdy played next.





The Riot Before( Richmond, Virginia) played shortly after.

And finally, Doug Davison and his band Pop-Pop closed down the shop.



Goodnight!

Silver Platter "Cultural Hub of The Universe" Act 1 of 2

Bob, owner of Silver Platter sits with Doug of Pop-Pop.

Tonight marked the beginning of the end for the last independently owned record store in Fort Myers.

The closing of this space is very important for several reasons. As a record store The Silver Platter has existed in several different locations along U.S.-41 for the past ten years.

Bob, the owner of Silver Platter has been an incredible boon to the local scene helping many a band along the way. To celebrate the closing of The Platter, two shows were put on featuring bands both local and touring.

Below are pictures from the first night:

Let's Go Exploring (formerly bears! formerly beards! formerly Tommy Lee and The Hydra)



Pegasus XL (Athens, Georgia)

For Documentation Only Recordings

For any of you interested (and you should be if you like local music) check out For Documentation Only Recordings. Naples very own record label. The owner Joe Merill is a one man band (literally) who has been releasing records from local talent and beyond for quite some time now.

If you find yourself curious about local indie music check this label out.

Being in a band is hard...

Being in a band is a lot of hard work.
Despite your best efforts something will always go wrong.
Below is a very old journal entry from a very old band.

"The first blow would come in the form of nothing more than simple numbers..."9:30". This is the time the show would start. It made everyone a bit saddened to know that there would be 13 bands playing and it would start at 9:30. With morale already low, our heroes take to the road. The day starts looking up. A short drive and we see our exit. Then the day quickly looks back down... almost to say that it's embarrassed it reared its ugly head in the first place. Lost. We become lost in a strange land in Miami, in what some may call a "ghetto."

A Soft Perversion

A Soft Perversion existed in one form or another from 2003-2007.

Some of the following I stole from the band's MySpace,which is fine considering I played in this band for a brief stint.

A Soft Perversion began in SW Florida in the summer of 2003,when Leo Ashline and Shaun Ringsmuth formed a group based upon the idea of creating short accessible pop songs that were intelligently crafted and tastefully layered. A handful of songs were written,and the group began performing regularly around SWFL.
Their first release was a seven inch titled Last Hoorah! Pressed on white vinyl, the record was heard by few due to the absence of a label, distribution, or a recording budget of any kind.

In 2004 the band relocated to Holyoke, MA, where they penned the songs that were later to be included on the two simultaneously released cd singles, "Holyoke" and "Year of the Strangler". Shortly afterwards, Ashline and Ringsmuth parted ways with ASP's original lineup and returned to Florida.

Upon returning to "the sunshine state", Ashline and Ringsmuth quickly regrouped with temporary assistance of a local power pop group (The Anchorite 4) and electronic artist Jonathon Glover (Ars Phoenix). They began working on "The Sensualists", which showcased ASP's most refined songwriting efforts to date.

In 2006 the founding members moved to Athens Ga where they continued on for a short while before disbanding.

Despite immense talent there are some bands that never seem to catch a break.
This band was one of them.

Interview with Jeremy from Jack Fendey

Jack Fendey played its first show on Dec 31, 1999 and it's last on Dec 29, 2002

What inspired you to start playing music?

The really big moment was when I found a bass guitar at school at the end of my freshman year of high school. I convinced my teacher to let me take the bass and an amp home for the summer under the condition that I would know how to read and play the sheet music for it well enough to be in the jazz band when school started back.

Do you think there is something to be said for striking out on your own?

Of course I think that it's important to do things in a way that makes you happy and not necessarily just the way you are told you should. I don't think this is always the way to success if that is what you are after. I also know some very successful people that are not very happy.

Do you ever feel as if there was/is/ a Fort Myers scene?

Yeah I do think that there is a ft Myers scene.
Although I don't really know what form it's in right now because I just moved back after being gone for a few years. When I first started going to shows I saw these people that were my own age playing music in whatever way they wanted. I had always wanted to be in a band and write songs but I didn't realize that there were these other people out there that did the same and took it to that level. And the fact that they were out there putting together DIY shows and such was kind of an eye opener. And they were good too. Failsafe just floored me back then. All I had known previously were concerts in Centennial Park or whatever was put on by radio stations. Looking back it was so inspiring.

What were you trying to do with your lyrics in Jack Fendey?

At that time I was just trying to make them not sound too terrible. I’ve always been a very slow lyric writer. As a result I would take lines from all different pages that I had written and piece them together in to something that kind of made sense. So anyone trying to read anything into any Jack Fendey song can forget it.

Bright Lights, Popped Corks and Tiny Lunches

Downtown has been undergoing some renovations for about the last six years. And with these renovations come changes that may not be for the better. Even if one is not a frequent clubber/ young up and coming cosmopolitan professional, and hasn’t been downtown in years, one can easily stroll down Hendry and First Street and see the buildings glitter in all their new architectural finery.
Now I’m not saying things were better the way they were before. Not yet at least…but as more drafting ink turns into concrete plans for even more Starbucks and various franchises to line the streets and flirt with the ever encroaching horizon line of waterfront condos- I cannot help but wonder who or what is leading the charge in this cultural vanguard of councilmen.

A quick internet search using words such as “Redevelopment” and “River District” brought up a city web page that reads more like an army manual than anything else. The below paragraph explains it’s motto concerning downtown:
“The Agency's motto, "New Direction - New Energy - New Life" aptly describes the desired outcome for the redevelopment program. The plan provides the "New Direction" for the future of the neighborhoods and commercial corridors. The "New Energy" is created by the extensive citizen and business involvement in creating the plan. The "New Life" is expressed in the viable commercial and residential neighborhoods which result from the implementation of the plan.”

Which means what exactly?

What would Bono say?

Within any given town it seems impossible to avoid a certain distinction concerning musical styles: bands that have grown and matured under the independent banner, and bands that wish very much to coincide within the mainstream.
Although these two styles share certain similarities inside the industry such as music videos and social status, one style of music seems to be content with being itself while the other seems to adopt the customary routine of the stereotypical alpha male.

And by stereotypical alpha male, I mean exactly that, except here in Florida we have the southern version; which is the basic working man cowboy who loves rap and Winger.

I bring this up only because aside from seeing alpha male countless times, I had to see it again at a show at The Buddha Bar a few nights ago which featured an eclectic mix of bands. The first band was an “indie” type band, and weren’t really received well as they weren’t playing to their normal type of crowd- whatever, no big deal. But as soon as the next band took the stage, the entire vibe changed. There were shouted proclamations to “fuck shit up!” and to “drink some fucking beer!” complete with numerous pelvic thrusts and growls- even the people watching the band before who were silent and reserved seemed more animated.

So I began thinking about the relationship between performer and audience, and the responsibility that comes with it to perhaps not encourage violence, drinking, or negative action.
Thoughts on this?

Fort Myers/punk rock/1980

Legend has it that many years ago (1980) in the sleepy sun drenched town of Fort Myers, three men decided to form a punk rock band called Antler Joe and The Accidents.

Which may not seem like a big deal, but consider the time and the town.
Punk rock or what was known as punk rock was still in it's infancy.
M.T.V. wouldn't exist for another year- (Compact Discs 1982).

If one wanted a vinyl record, one had to drive down to the record store and pray said record into existence.Especially if said record was "punk rock". If the record was out of print, that was it- no Amazon.com, no E-Bay, end of story.

Years ago a friend relayed a story to me about an early Fort Myers punk rock band who had started a fight at a biker bar; by playing loud snotty music. The band had set up and began playing only to be covered in spit and oaths.

At the time I wasn't sure if I believed it, but as it turns out it was true.

Remember The Liquid Cafe?

Well it is currently being revamped into something entirely new. The good news? You can own it! Yes, for a paltry $40,000-$50,000 dollars.There is a wonderful flier covering the front window that is the picture of cosmopolitan elegance and splendor, colored in various hues of white and soft oak. A hand is outsretched performing some kind of inane useless action. But it is a good hand. And below it reads something like “Now you can own that little coffee shop you've always wanted." and by god, you can also compete with the Starbucks across the street.

Yes, Yes, but what is the point? I have no ties to The Liquid Cafe, and know nothing of its origin.
The point is The Liquid Café functioned as one of the city’s last cultural hubs; it was a place that helped to ease the monotony while serving superior coffee as well.

Even now I see the occasional person walk by the now vacant retail space and gaze into the main shop window looking for solace, looking for a sign, anything. But nothing greets them back from the darkened interior save for their own vacant stare reflected back at them. And I guess to understand, you just had to be there.

Tinnitus in Motion- I.F.B. SKatepark 2004

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Help is always on the way

The general aim of this blog has no aim; save for digging into this town’s musical history and wrenching various stories, and anecdotes from the people who were there.

Along the way, there will be stories of triumph and failure, of love gone wrong between musicians who would much rather chew glass than have to listen to another second of their band mate’s insufferable nasal whine.

Some of the people who will be appearing in future posts in either the form of audio or picture, have left town never to be heard from ever again.

Although the past will play a big part in this blog, it will touch on other subjects. In fact, the main problem I am running into already is I hate the word scene. The word denotes a certain insider status, requiring the right credentials to walk and talk with the right people. And a scene like that eats its own.