Friday June 26–
Thee Plastic Crimewave Vision Celestial Guitarkestra will be happening at the Cake Shop 152 Ludlow St., New York, NY–with openers Prince Ruperts Drops, Samara Lubelski and the Bubble Electric, and Puffy Areolas (from Ohio–they rule and are on Siltbreeze now). Hope you are down with helping lift us to the sonic heavens –if you or someone you know wants to join in the ruckus, load-in is at 8pm (it’s a first come, first-serve/play sorta deal, as the space is small) and please bring a guitar/amp/powerstrip/extension cord (if possible) and get ready to drone out in “E”.
Special guests include members of Oneida, Charalambides, Espers, Metalux, Tower Recordings, Bunnybrains, White Hills, La Otracina, Vetiver and more!

Sunday June 28–
New York Night Train’s Tripped-Out Happening, Santo’s Party House, 96 Lafayette St Manhattan, NY–9pm-4am, $10 – DJs Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Plastic Crimewave (Plastic Crimewave Sound, GZD), Josh Styles (Smashed! Blocked!), Jonathan Toubin (New York Night Train) – live performances by Psychic Ills and Soft Circle (ex-Black Dice). Projections by Mighty Robot AV Squad, Spencer Bewley, and Larry 7…

http://www.newyorknighttrain.com/2009/06/22/4016/

here’s way too much info:
PSYCHIC ILLS, named “Best Psychedelic Rock Band” by the Village Voice Best Of NY Issue, since ascending into stratospheric global cult popularity with their canonical 2006 Social Registry LP Dins (the finest psych rock album since the 1970s. Hands down!), remain uncompromising in their artistry and continue to blaze new sonic trails every day of their relentless touring and recording schedule. Still one of the supreme mind-melting acts in the world!
SOFT CIRCLE is the ambient/tribal/electronic musical project of Black Dice’s Hisham Akira Bharoocha who releases records on the Eastern Developments and PPM labels. Hisham takes a seat behind the drums and proceeds to record and loop sounds in front of your eyes then adds layers of drums and singing to create a cyclical symphony of rhythm and sound. Soft Circle, regularly touring with Boredoms, No Age, High Places, and a number of other subcultural notables, is also the musical director for Boredom’s 77 BOADRUM and 88 Boadrum performances featuring 77 and 88 drummers respectively. Hisham’s exquisite soulful percussive mantras need to be seen and heard live to be believed
LARRY 7 has been a huge force in a variety NYC underground scenes and mediums for years. From his musical work with everyone from Jarboe to Tom Verlaine to Can’s Michael Carlioli and Malcolm Mooney to his visual work with Warhol’s Factory, Matthew Barney, etc., to his longstanding mobile multimedia +/- night and live performances at galleries, museums, and live events all over Canada and Europe, though he’s a secret treasure at home, Larry 7 is a household names in the international avant garde. Larry, whose performances are all distinct, always makes the nature of his live work a surprise (last time Einstuerzende Neubauten’s Alex Hacke turned up to join him!).
ANNA COPA CABANNA, the sexy Australian showgirl icon who performs her choreography, plays her xylophone, and roller-skates in venues around the world, is equally well-known as the official go go dancer of the New York rock and roll underground.
DJ’S: GIBBY HAYNES is of course the gargantuan cultural force and musical talent best known for leading innovative Texas acid-punks Butthole Surfers as they changed the way underground music was played and presented throughout the 1980s and 1990s and reunited to much acclaim last year. Outside of his thousands of noteworthy exploits with the Butthole Surfers, Gibby also sang on Ministry’s MTV mega-hit “Jesus Built My Hotrod,” played in a band with Johnny Depp, and acted in a number of major motion pictures. More importantly for our purposes tonight, Mr. Haynes has become a popular DJ and successful visual artist the last few years – spinning and exhibiting for a growing fanbase around the world.
PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE is the one-man empire of Chicago artist/musician/DJ Steve Krakow. Leader of hallucinogenic sonic adventurers Plastic Crimewave sound, author of Drag City’s incredible hand-drawn zine Galactic Zoo Dossier, and the DJ behind WGN radio’s Secret History of Chicago Music show, Krakow is an international psychedelic cult-of-personality.
MR JONATHAN TOUBIN, New York Night Train’s Conductor and Soul Proprietor, has shattered the face of nightlife in the wormy apple, and lately, around the world, w­ith his revolutionary parties and wild and wooly approach to his trademark 45rpm “maximum rock and soul” sets!
JOSH STYLES, Smashed! Blocked!’s DJ/conceptualist, who also moonlights as the drummer for Stalkers, is internationally celebrated as one of the world’s most prominent freakbeat DJs – throwing down the most choice 45s chock full o’ heavy duty beats, flipped-out guitar sounds, shimmering Hammonds, catchy riffs and choruses – plus loads of bounce and energy!
VISUALS: LARRY 7 (see above)
SPENCER BEWLEY, the English projectionist who has wowed crowds everywhere the last few years on the road with the likes of Death In Vegas, Warlocks, and A Place to Bury Strangers, manipulates found, purchased, and assembled loops on dueling 16mm projectors to blow peoples minds
MIGHTY ROBOT AV SQUAD, operating the multi-media visuals for years not only at their Mighty Robot and Secret Project Robot art spaces, discos, rock venues, museums, and other elsewhere on both sides of the Atlantic, employ an infinite overlapping juxtaposition of motion collages to form a kinetic visual feast! ambient, the symbolic, and the thematic!

and then running back to Chicago for this excitement……

Wed July 1–
Sandy Bull film screening at the Chopin Theatre–1543 W Division St, 8pm. Performing will be DRMWPN, 500MG (Mike Gibbons of Bardo Pond) and Ultimate Vag (Members of Kahoutek and To Live & Shave in LA), and Drag City DJ’s. Here’s a description of the film from the filmmaker:
“No Deposit No Return Blues” is a documentary K.C. Bull made about her father, psychedelic rock legend Sandy Bull. He played the role of the outsider, writing meditations on his instrument and bringing classical music to the cosmic happening. He was many things, but the way the film remembers him is through his instrument and how it connected him to the outside world. In the early sixties, before such six-string heroes as Ry Cooder, Leo Kottke and Richard Thompson impressed with their ability to hop among and fuse musical genres, Sandy Bull glided from classical and jazz to ethnic music and rock & roll with grace and verve. Incorporating elements of folk, jazz, Indian and Arabic-influenced dronish modes, Bull’s ethereal, psychedelic folk-rock recordings– which looked beyond American roots music for its inspiration–and performances, made him a cult-hero to a generation of musicians and adventurous audiences. In 2001 Bull died of lung cancer, but not before his daughter began to fashion a personal portrait of a gifted musician and moving ode to a father and daughter relationship.
The film is KC Bull’s understated way of saying, “Have you heard of my dad? No? Oh, you should.” I agree, you should.

A Lot of News!
—————
*At last my dream has been realized—we’re CLASSIC ROCK!!! Move over Rush or Kansas–or is it Hendrix and thee Doors? Toto anyone? Kyuss? sure….
http://classicrockmusicblog.com/cds-lps/plastic-crimewave-sound-plastic-crimewave-sound/

*The solo banjo/voice Sir Plastic Crimewave cassette, “Bait/Switch Banjo Raga/Rags” is out on As Above So Below tapes, featuring little ditties and extended modal jams. featuring full-color artwork too, they’re available at Reckless and Permanent Records, and I have a few copies for sale.

*The limited hand-painted Folk and Violence CDR, “Wolf Blues” is out on UK-based Apollolaan Recordings.
Featuring Little Howlin Wolf, PCW, Mark Lux, Chris Heightchew, Lawrence Peters (on metal chair), this long track features a killer set of blooz, drones and general cacophony played at Enemy in 2008.
For more info/ordering:
http://www.apollolaan.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/apollolaan

*Also finally available is the new T-shirt design i did for Permanent Records–very retrofuturistic Hawkwind-ish in inspiration–my fave is the metallic silver ink on black design (also gold and a blue version) but i’m very happy how they turned out overall….i guess they’re sellin’ like hotcakes so get ‘em before they’re gone at ol Permanent Records on Chicago ave.

*A lot of you folks have been asking me about the Sandy Bull film screening July 1 at the Chopin Theatre–here’s a description from the filmmaker:
“No Deposit No Return Blues” is a documentary K.C. Bull made about her father, psychedelic rock legend Sandy Bull. He played the role of the outsider, writing meditations on his instrument and bringing classical music to the cosmic happening. He was many things, but the way the film remembers him is through his instrument and how it connected him to the outside world. In the early sixties, before such six-string heroes as Ry Cooder, Leo Kottke and Richard Thompson impressed with their ability to hop among and fuse musical genres, Sandy Bull glided from classical and jazz to ethnic music and rock & roll with grace and verve. Incorporating elements of folk, jazz, Indian and Arabic-influenced dronish modes, Bull’s ethereal, psychedelic folk-rock recordings– which looked beyond American roots music for its inspiration–and performances, made him a cult-hero to a generation of musicians and adventurous audiences. In 2001 Bull died of lung cancer, but not before his daughter began to fashion a personal portrait of a gifted musician and moving ode to a father and daughter relationship.
The film is KC Bull’s understated way of saying, “Have you heard of my dad? No? Oh, you should.” I agree, you should.
Performing will be DRMWPN, 500MG and Ultimate Vag, and Drag City DJs.

*The full line-up is set for the NY Guitarkestra! Tell yer NY peeps to come out and rok:
Thee Plastic Crimewave Vision Celestial Guitarkestra will be happening at the Cakeshop June 26, with openers Prince Ruperts Drops, Samara Lubelski and the Bubble Electric, and Puffy Areolas (from Ohio–they rule). Hope you are down with helping lift us to the sonic heavens –if you or someone you know wants to join in the ruckus, load-in is at 8pm (it’s a first come, first-serve/play sorta deal, as the space is small) and please bring a guitar/amp/powerstrip/extension cord (if possible). Special guests include members of Oneida, Charalambides, Espers, Metalux, Tower Recordings, Bunnybrains, White Hills, La Otracina, Vetiver and more!!!

*Also a November 11 date has been set for the next GZDisk/Drag City vinyl reissue release, “Introducing Ryan Trevor”–a pop outsider somewhere in between Emitt Rhodes and R.Stevie Moore maybe…?

And this week…..
——————–
Wednesday June 4–
My first DJ gig at the Whistler, 2421 N. Milwaukee Ave. Logan Square–9:30pm-1:30am.
I’ll be spinning all 45s of acid rock, bubblegum, french pop, krautrock, fuzz funk, 70s one-hit wonders, astral folk, garage rock, sweaty soul, hard boogie, psych-pop and more… come on out!
http://www.whistlerchicago.com/

Saturday June 6–
We’ll let Lawence Peters’ description do the work here:
Plastic Crimewave Sound noises it out with Baltimore’s excellent Vincent Black Shadow at Chicago’s favorite car-repair-shed-turned-bar/venue Ronny’s (2101 N. California). The show starts at 9pm. Also on the bill are The Catburglars, Empty Heads, and The Conniption Fitts.

Sunday June 7–
the next official installment of the radio version of the ‘Secret History of Chicago Music’ will air at midnight central time on WGN 720AM on the Nick Digilio show.
This segment will feature th beginning of “Prog Awareness Month,” and will deal with froofy Champaign progsters Starcastle!
You outta-towners can catch the webcast/stream deal at:
http://wgnradio.com/listen/index.htm
and strips are archived on-line at:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/secrethistory
and at:
www.plasticcrimewave.com

Upcoming:
————
June 13– DJing Gainsbourgs in Seattle
June 18–DJing Rodan
June 26–PCWVCGuitarkestra at the Cake Shop in NY, with Prince Ruperts Drops and Puffy Areolas…and very special guests!
July 1–Sandy Bull film “No Deposit, No Return Blues,” with DRMWPN, 500MG, Ultimate Vag at the Chopin Theatre
July 9–Million Tongues at Empty Bottle with Ya Ho Wha 13, Ga’an, Singleman Affair, Daughters of the Sun, Great Society Mind Destroyers, Plastic Boner Band
July 21–Galactic Zoo Dossier #8 hits the stands!
Aug 1–Moonrises at the Mopery
Aug 24–DRMWPN free show at empty bottle with Chandeliers and Roommate

CONTACT PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE AT
plasticcw@hotmail.com