Boston: Mooninites Came, Conquered
Posted on February 1, 2007 at 2:59 pm | No Comments
As both a Boston resident and a longtime fan of Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force, how could I not comment on the multi-faceted mess that gripped our uptight little metropolis yesterday? I watched with both amusement and bemusement as the whole situation unfolded on the major news networks and ever-refreshing rss feeds in front of me. During a rare day at home, I was practically glued to the tube once I realized the “packages” that drove our city officials and talking heads into a tizzy were lit-up likenesses of the bitter little Mooninites known as “Err” and “Ignignokt”. On a day when the real ATF took on the fictional ATHF, it’s hard to say who came out on top. But our city’s already-buttoned-up image sure took a hit.
Every single time WCVB-TV’s Natalie Jacobson said the word “Mooninites”, or incorrectly referred to CN’s late-night block of animated shows as “Aqua Team” instead of “Adult Swim”, I got a tiny thrill inside (she honestly said “… looks like a little Pac Man kinda deal.”), but a few details started bugging me as the reports and news conferences piled up…
“Earlier this morning I received a call from Commisioner Davis of a suspicious bomb at Sullivan Square in Cambridge…“
and then…
“We have been working together investigating all calls we’ve received about suspicious bombs in Boston and in Somerville.”
And while haphazardly calling these things “bombs”, and amping up the fear, he made sure to say that…
“This is no time for anyone to panic, we believe we have the situation in hand…“.
Until finally, it dawned on him…
“The inidividuals who have placed these bombs, uhh, packages I should say, should be warned that there’s a heavy penalty: it’s imprisonment, two to five years for each one of them. This is about keeping a city on edge, it’s about public safety, and when it comes to public safety, we’re throwing everything at it.“
No time to panic, huh? His lack of self-awareness during this fairly important public moment could only have heightened the situation for casual viewers.
Two distinct sides have formed in the unavoidable Boston Aqua-gate ’07 blame game: Those who are pointing and laughing at our public officials (and the media machine they fuel) for what they consider an embarrassing overreaction VS. those who want Turner Broadcasting, Interference Inc. (the marketing company they hired), and both Peter Berdvosky & Sean Stevens (the two young guys who did the legwork) to pay dearly for a stunt that not only inconvenienced hundreds, but rung up a half-million dollar price-tag. And so far, the sides seem to be divided neatly between generations, or at least between those who keep a finger on modern media/technology vs. those who live in a paranoid pop-culture-free bubble.
It’s not hard to guess where I’m leaning, but I do think a very small amount of fault lies on the unfortunate placement of our Mooninite masters. While many of the signs were placed on businesses or random buildings, it was the ones under bridges and interstate overpasses that got this whole mess started. The one on Central Kitchen? Cool. Under this bridge? Minor mistake. On New England Comics in Allston? Nice. Over the Massachusetts Turnpike? Yikes.
But one late fact has thrown the whole thing into a new light, and if anything it makes Peter and Sean the victims of some extremely unfortunate timing. It appears there were two unrelated fake pipe bombs found in Boston yesterday. That’s what the originally-reported 1pm phone calls to the police were about, as opposed to the early morning report from an MBTA worker who spotted one of the lite-brite Mooninites near the Sullivan Square T station.
So an actual hoax and a harmless display of urban marketing art got rolled together into one big unwieldy mess, and two guerrilla artists (and their hair) are caught in the misdirected crosshairs of some angry authoritarians.
Here are a whole lot of relevant links I’ve collected over the past slightly surreal 24 hours…
Adult Swim’s full apology, which appeared as pre-cartoon “bumps” when their block of programming aired last night, is now the front page of their website. Peter Berdvosky’s personal website (Zebbler.com, which hosted video of the marketing “mission” as he called it) is now down, either on purpose or due to total bandwidth overload. You can still check out video of the installation on YouTube. There were also lots of pictures from their cross-town art project, and all were dated no later than a week ago, of course. It was just as amusing hearing Channel 5’s Jorge Quiroga say “Mooninites” as it was seeing some networks spend time digitally removing their middle fingers. Todd Vanderlin’s flickr images, where the early evidence of the Mooninites appearance can be found. Images dates? January 15th. He also let the world know that it was Interference Inc. (whose page disappeared yesterday afternoon) handling the ATHF marketing duties. And via Todd’s images, even the excellent Make Magazine was pulled into the early news bites. Yes, of course you can already buy t-shirts. Naturally the Adult Swim messageboards have gone into a frenzy. Was nice to see my neighborhood comic shop, Allston’s New England Comics (and their 50% off sale), get some free publicity out of the deal, what with one of the Mooninites resting peacefully next to their storefront sign until it was confiscated… Store employee Gwen (who also happens to be the daughter of comics/novel writer Peter David) and manager Ben even got a little tv face time…
Lots and lots of area coverage and commentary can be found in an infinite number of places, including Universal Hub, Bostonist, the Phoenix’s OTD, and Livejournal’s B0st0n community.
Mp3s: Sloan in Cambridge, MA
Posted on January 31, 2007 at 11:59 pm | No Comments
After a few hours of hardcore audio editing over the weekend, I sat down Monday morning all ready to write the intro to this new live set from Toronto’s Sloan. But a quick visit over to Chromewaves revealed that Frank had already done most of the work for me, nice guy that he is. Like him, it’s been over a decade since I’d first seen Sloan, way back when they played the Sub Pop Vermonstress fest in October ’92. I’d only heard their recorded debut, the excellent “Peppermint EP“, at that point, as the full-length “Smeared” had only been out a couple weeks when the festival hit. But between those two releases and their too-short live set that day, they’d found another fan.
In the nearly 15 years (!) since, I’ve been occasionally guilty of taking Sloan for granted. I’ve picked up most of their releases over time, and while they all have their highs and lows, those peaks and valleys have never been drastic enough to either get me overly-excited or totally turned-off. They are the aging, yet ever-dependable, utility player of the power-pop lineup. But with the recent release of the 30-song “Never Hear The End Of It” on Yep Roc, they’ve kicked off what could be their record season. In terms of overall hooks-per-minute, it’s leaps above anything they’ve put out in years. If forced to give one criticism, I’d only say what many other reviewers already have: “too much of a good thing”. As admirable an accomplishment such a solid collection is, sustaining interest for 30 songs is almost too much for any band to pull off (although in these days of shuffled playlists, that issue is easily avoided).
Their live appearance at Cambridge’s Middle East Downstairs a couple weeks back almost suffered from the same pure-pop overload, but I found myself sticking around and bobbing my head through the entire 30-song (‘natch) set. Like the album, the songs came fast and furiously, many of them blending together, with the only real breaks coming when the band members switched instruments. They’re able to balance the four songwriters and their multi-instrumental talents with ease, and the fact that they’ve lasted so long without a single lineup change is a testament to that.
Here’s the entire set, with many of the songs left conjoined for your listening pleasure. Be sure to check out the links below for a bunch of Sloan info, including details of Yep Roc’s new “30 Days of Sloan” promotion…
Live at The Middle East Downstairs
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
01. Flying High Again / Who Taught You To Live Like That?
02. Someone I Can Be True With / Ill Placed Trust
03. The Other Man
04. The Lines You Amend
05. Fading Into Obscurity
06. Golden Eyes / Love is All Around
07. Living with the Masses / HFXNSHC
08. Blackout
09. All Used Up
10. C’mon, C’mon
11. Everybody Wants You
12. I Understand / You Know What It’s About
13. Set in Motion
14. Money City Maniacs
15. I Can’t Sleep / I Know You
16. Something’s Wrong / I’ve Gotta Try
17. Can’t You Figure It Out
18. The Good in Everyone / Penpals
19. Everything You’ve Done Wrong
20. Another Way I Can Do It
encore…
21. Anyone Who’s Anyone / If It Feels Good Do It
Some Sloan-centric links…
Their official site, Yep Roc page, MySpace, and Wikipedia entry. Mp3s: “Can’t You Figure It Out?” and “Who Taught You To Live Like That?“. Stream: The entirety of their new album, “Never Hear The End Of It“. Here’s a bonus aural curio for ya: At that Vermonstress fest back in 1992, Sloan unveiled an early live version of the song “Ill-Placed Trust“, which, I believe, remained unrecorded until an entirely transformed version appeared on the new album (and in the live set above). Here’s that 15 year-old song, in its infancy… YouTube video: “Fading Into Obscurity” live, “Flying High Again” / “Who Taught You To Live Like That?” live, and a Sloan search for more. Sid at TooMuchRock was also at the Middle East show, and shares his own write-up, photos (of Sloan and both openers: Brendan Little and Spiral Beach), and a nice live video clip (10.4mb mp4) of the band performing “Another Way I Can Do It“. The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald both reported on the show as well. Check out some other comments on the same set at the official Sloan show page. In addition to that Toronto show report that Chromewaves posted a couple days back, here’s a link to Franks always-ace concert photos. Harmonium Music reviewed “Never Hear The End Of It”, and offered up a couple of other Mp3s from the album: “Fading Into Obscurity” and “Someone I Can Be True With”. Go here and scroll down for a listen. Starting this week, Yep Roc Records launched “30 Days of Sloan“, during which they’re sharing a new Sloan video clip every (business) day leading up to the band’s performance at a SXSW label showcase in mid-March. Each free behind-the-scenes vid will appear through both a YouTube group and an iTunes video podcast, and you can check Yep Roc’s site for those updated links as well. The first couple installments are up, and as it shows, we’re in for a fairly in-depth look into the making of “Never Hear The End Of It”. Remember, you can easily listen to all the music shared on the Almanac through the Hype Machine.
A postscript: Speaking of the Hype Machine, I had the pleasure of hanging with both H.M. creator Anthony Volodkin and fellow Boston music blogger Paul Irish of Aurgasm at this very show. Anthony was in town for Mashup Camp 3, where H.M. ended up winning “Best Mashup” for the way it brings together music, live concerts, and video content. It’s well deserved, and having met its creator, I’m even happier to send more traffic his way… he’s an open-minded music fan who seems to be in it for the right reasons. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Hype Machine grows, evolves, and hopefully sticks around for awhile.
the ever-loving fine print… If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (contact info in the ‘nac faq). Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Tracks are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.