utchmynitz

2008-04-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

A Toast

2008-01-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

To all the hatheads I've ever had. Here's to you guys!

Nazi claim may thwart Bukowski landmark

2007-11-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press Writer
39 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - The hard-drinking, foul-mouthed writer Charles Bukowski once described himself as a guy who wouldn't walk away from a brawl.

Now it's up to fans of the gutter poet to take up the fight to have his beaten-down bungalow turned into a civic monument over the objections of the property's owners, who claim he was a Nazi sympathizer.

Backers say the east Hollywood abode deserves recognition and the restoration that would go with it because it's where Bukowski banged out stories and poems that transformed him from a working stiff with a literary streak into an internationally celebrated author.

"The great books that really started him on his career — that all happened on De Longpre," said Neeli Cherkovski, author of "Bukowski: A Life" and a friend of the writer. "It was where Charles Bukowski became the voice of Los Angeles."

But the owners, who tried to sell the bungalow court as tear-down for $1.3 million, are poised to fight the proposal before a city commission Thursday based on allegations that Bukowski had Nazi leanings.

Co-owner Victoria Gureyeva refused to discuss the issue on her lawyer's advice, but previously said she would enlist local Jewish activists in her campaign against landmarking.

"This man loved Hitler," Gureyeva, who is Jewish, told the alternative newspaper LA Weekly. "This is my house, not Bukowski's. I will never allow the city of Los Angeles to turn it into a monument for this man."

The city's preservationist community is lining up behind the proposal, although some were bemused that a man known best for boozy excesses might have the place he once lived given the same landmark designation as City Hall and the Hollywood sign.

Bukowski, who died of leukemia in 1994 at 73, has a cultish following around the world and the esteem of critics and fellow literati. Sean Penn, Tom Waits and Bono have professed their admiration for the writer. The movies "Barfly" and "Factotum" were based on his books and his papers join manuscripts and rare volumes from Shakespeare and Chaucer at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

But he is as well known for his image as a down-at-the-heels drunk and for pronouncements like, "Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink."

The impulse to make Bukowski's home a monument comes from a feeling that he was a more accurate chronicler of the city than other writers, said David Fine, author of "Imagining Los Angeles: A City in Fiction."

Raymond Chandler, Aldous Huxley, Nathaniel West and F. Scott Fitzgerald are far brighter literary lights, along with others who came here to toil as screenwriters. But they tended to portray an apocalyptic landscape of crime noir and empty celebrity. Bukowski grew up here and saw it from a less cynical, more authentic down-to-earth vantage.

"He's writing about a city that people could recognize as a city of people — drifters and people that hang out at the library and on park benches," Fine said.

Bukowski, who moved into the bungalow in his 40s, lived in the adobe-colored one-story home on De Longpre Avenue from 1963 to 1972. The windows and doors are now boarded up, along with those of its neighboring bungalows, and a tall chain link fence keeps the curious out. A dirty camper van was parked outside on a recent night with its door open to the breeze and a shopping cart heaped with stuffed garbage bags beside it. A chorus of children could be heard crying in the apartment building next door.

The scene evoked images Bukowski described in the poem, "The Division": "I live in an old house where nothing/screams victory/reads history/where nothing/plants flowers."

"It just fit Bukowski, the kind of self-invented cool-slash-fall guy surrounded by the ruined landscape of Los Angeles," Cherkovski said of the house, where Bukowski wrote his semi-autobiographical first novel, "Post Office," and other works.

The effort to preserve the house began this summer when literary tour guide Richard Schave was scouting an excursion based on Bukowski's life and found the bungalow court vacant, boarded up and for sale. Schave posted a screen shot of an online sale ad on his blog, where it was spotted by preservationist Lauren Everett.

Everett's petition to have the ramshackle former rental declared a historic cultural monument gained the support of the Los Angeles Conservancy, which pushes for the preservation of significant properties, and city employees who advise the Cultural Heritage Commission.

A vote earlier this month was postponed after the property's owners said they hadn't been notified enough in advance to oppose the landmarking.

Attorney Joseph Trenk said their challenge includes the Nazi allegations, an issue raised by poet Ben Pleasants in the book "Visceral Bukowski: Inside the Sniper Landscape of L.A. Writers."

Pleasants, who has not been asked to appear at the landmarking hearing, said the author's sympathies toward Nazi Germany are crucial to understanding his writing.

"There are many examples of him making the bad guys Jewish," Pleasants said in an interview, citing a sneering reference to Jewish lawyers in the book "Ham on Rye." In his own book, Pleasants recounts a time he was interviewing Bukowski at a deli when the writer "gawked at the predominantly Jewish diners" and belted out "turn on the gas," a reference to concentration camp gas chambers.

But Gerald Locklin, author of the biography "Charles Bukowski: A Sure Bet," said he can't remember any evidence of anti-Semitism in Bukowski's work or correspondence he shared with the author.

Still, Locklin said he didn't see the point of landmarking the home.

"It seems to be kind of a nonissue," he said. "If I were to look around the place and say: 'Was there anything particularly remarkable about it?' No."

GOOD MORNING!

2007-11-25T08:33:00.001-08:00

2007-10-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

MaM on WLUW Radio One Tonight!

2007-10-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight! Thursday October 4...
WLUW-88.7 presents Radio One: Chicago
with Milk at Midnight performing live in studio + interview.
Hear new, unreleased songs from MaM's forthcoming as-yet-untitled
full-length!

Radio One: Chicago
Every Thursday 6-10pm
WLUW-88.7
www.myspace.com/radioonechicago
www.wluw.org

Thanks!
From your good friends, Milk at Midnight

www.myspace.com/milkatmidnight
www.milkatmidnight.com
www.virb.com/milkatmidnight

PS. MaM to perform as The Cure at the end of the month. More details to come.

BEWARE THE SPANISH WOOD DEMON

2007-09-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

10 times as ferocious as the Tiger Monkey, and they're coming. Mark my words. They're coming.

More Pics

2007-08-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Chicago; I'm Home

2007-08-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

You're slightly cooler than you were when I left you on Thursday and I welcome it. Spent the last 4 and half days in San Francisco and enjoyed her very much, but I'm forever your's Chicago. I'll certainly visit her again though. She showed me a wonderful time.

I'm tired and I have to head back out soon to pick up W from the airport, so for now I'll leave ya with a short story and a few favorite pics and maybe one or two from Lolla as well.

Friday while W was in meetings I sent out on a walking journey. Started out at Union Square, then north on Grant Ave. through Chinatown for Dim Sum and people watching, up through North Beach, and all the way to The Embarcadero. Pictures of Alcatraz, a walk through Fisherman's Wharf, and back southeast down Columbus Ave. to City Lights Book Store and couple pints next door at Vesuvio.

Early on my journey walking up Grant through Chinatown I walked towards a man staring me up and down. He was an older Humpty Dumpty looking man. He wore jean shorts pulled up high with a white t-shirt tucked in tight. Brown dress socks pulled all the way up and white sneakers. He wore glasses, had a thick mustache, and leaned on a cane. He looked me up and down as I walked past and when I was probably, in his opinion, far enough away he turned to the company he was with and said, with a strong Texas accent, "WELL AIN'T THAT A GOOFY LOOKING BASTARD!"

I almost never respond in these situations, but suddenly I found myself yelling back, perhaps from the irony of the situation, "HEY, SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, BUDDY!" I chuckled for many blocks after.

Now I leave you with a few favorite pics:

Notice the time on the clock.

And one from Lolla

777(3 numbers, 3 events, 1 day)

2007-07-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of celebration, and I'm not talking in any holy type of way, but a glorious day of celebration indeed.

I've had Seven for a few years now, and I don't actually know how old he is, or what day he was born.

So I declare today to be Seven's birthday. Happy Birthday, Seven! It's certainly been a pleasure having you around, buddy.

Below down there in the middle is Becki. She's one of my favorite people, and today she celebrates another year of being alive. 30 years of being alive.

Tonight we celebrate with her. Happy Birthday, Becki! Wayne Coyne style!!

Last, but certainly not at all least. It's been a year, and sometimes The W and I do want to bite each other sooooo hard!

But we haven't eaten each other yet, and after a year

We still like each other a WHOLE LOT.

So there you have it. 777. WHOOP!!!!!!!!!!!

And thank you.

Lunch

2007-06-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

It used to be that I could put away an entire steak burrito bowl from Chipotle with ease. These days I'm stuffed right at the halfway point. Thank you.

AHHH YES

2007-06-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Word of the Day for June 21 is:

estival \ESS-tuh-vul\ adjective

: of or relating to the summer

Example sentence:
On summer evenings, Carl would sit for hours on the porch enjoying the warmth of the estival breezes.

Love to Learn? Get the knowledge you need at Britannica. FREE Trial.
Did you know?
"Estival" and "festival" look so much alike that you might think they're very closely related, but that isn't the case. "Estival" traces back to "aestas," which is the Latin word for "summer" (and which also gave us "estivate," a verb for spending the summer in a torpid state — a sort of hot-weather equivalent of hibernation). "Festival" also comes from Latin, but it has a different and unrelated root. It derives from "festivus," a term that means "festive" or "merry." "Festivus" is also the ancestor of "festive" and "festivity" as well as the much rarer "festivous" (which also means "festive") and "infestive," meaning "not merry, mirthless."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

2007-06-20T20:32:00.001-07:00

Prize Beagle

2007-06-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Prize Beagle is where Milk At Midnight spent a good part of last weekend and will spend many summer hours working on a long overdue record. Pumped?

Fist pumping pumped!!

2007-06-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Two Days Away! Now with Cheap Beer!

Just a quick reminder ... we're celebrating our 3rd Anniversary with and 18 and over show at Subterranean this Thursday. We've lined up the musical talents of Milk At Midnight, Sweetish, and We Make Thunder to get your toes tapping with tunes catchier than a cross-continental tour of TB. And we've got The Hood Internet DJs STV SLV and ABX spinning until the wee hours of the morning. And we'll have the staff of Chicagoist there for you to pat on the back / argue with animatedly throughout the evening!
Also, with the help of Goose Island, we're bringing you $2.50 pints of Goose Island 312 all night long to limber you up, loosen your lips, and provide plenty of social lubrication.
So, we'll see you this Thursday! Doors are at 8:30 p.m. so get there early and to take full advantage of our generous drink special and general bonhomie.

Listen!!

2007-05-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

I smell like a bottle of booze and a chimney. I was an hour late for work and I'm dirty. I missed a conference call. I'm breathing fire and the boss is disgusted and pissed. I don't care. I'm smiling. I'd like to place my order now. One double of anything and 3 vikings. To go! Thank you.

"I’m not clean, I’m not washed up. This dream I don't ever give up."

2007-03-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

It's one thing when you go see a performance for the first time by an artist you've really admired and listened to for a while and walk out feeling fulfilled and high from the experience. It's a great feeling, but also you realise, of course it was good. It had to be good. I knew I wouldn't be disappointed, but I'm so glad they delivered. Yeah!!

It's a whole different story and even more rewarding when you go in blindly to a performance and walk out with your eyes wide open and seeing bright vivid colors for the first time and saying, "I had no idea!" That pretty much describes my experience last night.

Patty Griffin performed at The Vic Theatre. The Vic is one of my favorite venues for concerts. This show had assigned seating, which is not usually the case there, and we did not have tickets, but thanks to a very special favor from a good friend we found ourselves in the 6th row.

Now I say I went in blindly and that is the truth. W has put on cd's of her's while we were doing stuff around the house, or talking, or whatever, but it's been more like background music. So while I was familiar of who I was going to see and had an idea of what kind of show I was going to, I really knew nothing.

10 minutes after we take our seats the band walks out followed by a very tiny girl with red hair who immediately commanded attention from the very first notes sung. I was mesmerized. About 4 or 5 songs into the set she sits at the piano and tells a story of how she had been talking to a songwriter friend who said, "Ya know, between the 2 of us we don't have one happy song and that's just pathetic." Patty talks about how she decided to take a crack at it and "it's real easy if you just write about shoes and mom and stuff." She starts in on piano and then the band kicks into this beautiful powerful heavy song. 3/4's into it, almost teary eyed, I look at W and say, "This is supposed to be a happy song?" She too is almost speechless and in awe. This song is followed by 3 more very emotional songs sung just over an acoustic guitar and I'm thinking to myself, if the band doesn't come back out soon I'm going to lose my shit. I look around and there doesn't seem to be a dry eye around me. The band does come back out and it gets pretty rockin and before we know it the show is over and we're definitely left wanting more.

What a songwriter. What a voice. What a show! And the best part is I had no expectations. No idea I would leave so completely moved and inspired. I ran into someone I know in the line for the bathroom on the way out and told him the brief version of my experience and he said, "Yeah, she could sing the phone book and it would be amazing."

WADE THROUGH THE BOGGS

2007-03-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, people, and this is a Friday blog. This was meant to be done hours ago, but I've been busy and shit.

The pedal has been to the floor all week with some minor breaks for fuel and rest, but not much. I tell ya, I woke this morning from a real deep sleep and just stared at the clock trying to figure out what the hell it meant and what day it was and why I was suddenly awake. Is it the.....No, it's Friday. Wait, is it Friday? Yeah. What am I doing? Oh shit, I have to go to work!

So yeah, a few highlights. Had a St Patricks type day on Sunday instead. Much more pleasant I believe than Saturday night prolly was. Had the special treat of seeing Sebadoh twice. Shank Hall, as in Spinal Tap, (Yes, it's a real place. I had no idea.) in Milwaukee on Tuesday and Metro in Chicago Wednesday. Eric Gaffney, Lou Barlow, and a very skinny Jason Lowenstein. The original line up and in top form. 2 shows I should have seen 15 years ago and am forever greatful that I had a chance to this week. 2 mostly different sets. Very exciting, very inspiring. Here's what Lou has to say about the tour so far.

Tonight I'm going to hit some parties. Tomorrow the band and I will go to the CAN TV studio and play some tunes, and do some sketches, and I really don't know what the hell else. Sunday we'll be playing a benefit for the The Trap Door Theatre and here's more on that:

Sunday, Mar 25 - 6pm - $10
present
Dorian Taj
Penthouse Sweets
The Tennis Courts
Milk at Midnight
PLUS: DJ Tankboy

The Fourth Annual Trapdoor Benefit-The Trap Door Theatre has been invited to Romania with Matei Visniec's Old Clown Wanted in May 2007! The International Theatre Festivals of Arad, Sibiu and Bucharest have invited our production of Old Clown Wanted to perform this spring.

All proceeds will benefit The Trap Door Theatre's tour to Romania. If you are unable to attend but would like to still support us, please make your checks payable to Trap Door Productions, and send to: Trap Door Theatre 1655 W. Cortland Ave., Chicago, IL. 60622. All donations are tax deductible and every donation helps!

DORIAN TAJ has been around the Chicago scene for ten years and no matter what the venue they always put on a fantastic show. And when I say a fantastic show, I mean they not only play well, but also play to the crowd, use witty commentary. Lyrically, Dorian Taj’s work is intelligent and clever while not pretentiously cerebral and musically they rock. And when I say they rock, I’m not speaking of just plain old rock ‘n’ roll music, they manage to be both deceptively simple and complex at the same time. Their sound is unique and for lack of a better term almost scruffy. All of the musicians in the band are obviously very talented, but clean and pure is not the sound they are looking for, rather Dorian Taj has a slightly gritty feel. - Conci - bestchicagoneighborhoods.com

PENTHOUSE SWEETS:"Its a shame this local quartet is reduced to begging for a label on its myspace page ("please someone put our goddamn record out") - its second self released ep, see you in bed, is loads better than most of the label-approved indie schlock that swamps my desk. their songs have a touch of small faces, a dash of guided by voices, and more than a pinch of the replacements - nothing you havent heard before, but they sound rightfully proud of their glamourless glam rock, and there are startling guitar and organ bits to turn your head. somebody out there knows how to sell this stuff..." -- Monica Kendrick - Chicago Reader

MILK AT MIDNIGHT is Danny Doom on vocals and guitars, Nick Ritz on bass guitar, vocals, guitar and drums, and Eric Ander$in on drums and bass. The band occasionally includes a drum machine and a tiny clock radio that makes static voices, and sometimes invites guests on banjo and keyboards. But, essentially, they are a rock and roll trio that have corrupted the normal patterns of sound.

MILK AT MIDNIGHT have just released a new 6-song EP, “Letter Bombs and Holidays,” recorded in the last months of 2004.Milk at Midnight recorded a full-length album entitled "A Fit To End All Time," released independently in late 2003. “‘A Fit To End All Time’ has everything I love: melody, power, adventure, heart and the true feeling of three guys working towards the common goal of creating something unique.”

DJ TANKBOY resides in the body of some tall blonde guy and lives in Chicago with his girlfriend Photogal and her pets Lucy the Dog and Chloe the Cat. He himself owns a beagle named Betty who may actually be slightly more famous than most of the musicians slogging through the local scene. He's written about music for much longer than most bands you hear on the radio have even existed. He also swears that it wasn't him who did that and has learned that "deny everything" is a basic tenet of existence.

This show is at Martyr's and we play first. We've been working on a lot of new material and quite a bit will be in the set on Sunday. Exciting!

I guess that's all I have to talk about right now.

Good bye.

The weekend is upon us

2007-03-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

Have fun people, but not this much fun!

Damn, I was going to type a blog but looked at the time. Where did today go? Sheesh. Happy hour. See ya!

Slurp

2007-02-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

Monday I drank for caulk, Bukowski, and the Presidents. Sunday I drank in Chinatown for the Year of the Boar. I was born in a Year of the Boar. Saturday I drank for Flying Saucers, the sun, and shopping. Friday I drank for rock and roll. Cheers!

HAPPY HOUR!!

2007-02-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

Milk at Midnight
Early show! All ages!
Friday February 16 at The Beat Kitchen
http://www.beatkitchen.com
2100 W. Belmont

Milk at Midnight
opens up for The Trews
http://www.thetrewsmusic.com/news.php
also w/The Its!
http://www.theits.com/newsite/news.html

Doors at 5:30, Show at 6pm
$8
All Ages!

MaM is the middle band! (no later than 7pm!)

Thank you!

http://www.myspace.com/milkatmidnight
http://www.milkatmidnight.com

But in the meantime, some genuine South Beach Walking Blue Beans! Red, to the left there, protects herself the best she knows how. POW!!!!

And just as soon as Red thinks it's safe. VROOM!!!

Well, Red, at least we have booze, right? And music. You know where I'll be. Come join me in Chicago.

Grin and Bear it

2007-02-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

There's a fever in the air. I along with a large part of the city of Chicago have Super Bowl fever. I grew up watching The Bears. Been there for the good, the bad, and the very very ugly. So this is a big deal and a lot fans feel the same way.

With that being said I can understand how someone living in the city who is not a fan can find it annoying that there's been so much coverage, hype, blue and orange everywhere, and a whole lot of energy in Chicago. I can understand that, but I say grin and Bear it. That's right; I really did just say that. Grin and Bear it. It isn't like this happens very often. The last time was 21 years ago! It will be over before you know it though. And think of it this way, whenever a Chicago sports team does well the city just comes alive even more than it already is and it's even more exciting to be here. People just feed off the energy of a winner and themselves feel like winners. Everybody wants to feel like a winner.

Another way to look at it is that Super Bowl Sunday is kind of like a holiday. You don't even have to enjoy football to have fun on Super Bowl Sunday. Parties everywhere, good eats, good socializing, and an excuse to get loud. I'm always looking for a reason to yell. YEAH!!!

So, in ending my football talk I say, GO BEARS!! GO CHICAGO!! Join in the fun, people, because it will be gone real soon and you'll wish you had at least been a part of it.

OK, what else is up? The W and I have really missed Yellow Face. We've decided to hop on a plane next weekend and search for him. We hear he hangs down south a lot so we wil be spending 4 days and 3 nights in Miami. Too bad it's not this week, but hey.

We, as in Milk At Midnight, have been working on a handful of new tunes. Working on new music is a sure fire way of putting Utch in a good mood. I'll say that at least one but probably 2 songs will be unleashed on fresh ears at the next show. When is that show you ask? Why it's right here:

Friday, February 16th (Early Show)

THE TREWS myspace
MILK AT MIDNIGHT myspace
THE ITS! myspace
Doors @ 5:30 pm Show @ 6:00 pm
$8.00, All Ages

And it's here:

BEAT KITCHEN
(773) 281 - 44442100 W. Belmont Chicago, IL 60618

Well, I guess that's it for now. Be safe wherever you end up Sunday, cheer loud, and don't drive drunk. Thank you.

Baby $in!!!

2007-01-31T01:42:00.000-08:00

We met yesterday. She's adorable. Born at 8:29 AM.

2007-01-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-22T10:50:00.000-08:00