One Black Flag.

It seems like every article that has been written about Black Flag, or the other band, FLAG, states that there are "two versions of Black Flag" right now. While it is true that there are two bands going around with former members of Black Flag, playing Black Flag music, only one is Black Flag.
Black Flag, as the name would suggest, is Black Flag. They have the only consistent member, Greg Ginn. He is also the main driving force behind the band's sound. The fact that they have a new drummer and a new bass player should only be expected as Black Flag had six of each in their original run.
FLAG is some sort of revival/tribute band. It is true that four of the five of them were in Black Flag at one time, but they weren't all in the band together. They don't represent a particular line-up. They are not recording new music, and worst of all, they are not progressing the sound in any way. Progression is the trademark sound of Black Flag.
Don't get me wrong, if this seeing an odd grouping of ex-Black Flag members play early Black Flag songs without Greg Ginn is your thing, then go for it. The fact remains, however, that there is only one Black Flag.

1. Almost half of Black Flag's set is post-Damaged, while FLAG only plays a few post-Damaged songs.
2. Black Flag has progressed the sound. Even the old songs are played in a new way. FLAG sounds like they are trying to imitate the way they played in '79.
3. Black Flag is writing and recording new music. Real bands do this, revival and tribute bands typically just play old music, which is what FLAG is doing.
4. Greg Ginn is the one essential ingredient in Black Flag's original run. Sure, Keith formed the band. He also left in 1979, missing out on almost seven years of the band. Black Flag is more than Nervous Breakdown and Jealous Again. Black Flag is The Process of Weeding Out, Family Man, and In My Head.
5. Black Flag till plays instrumental songs. FLAG does not. Black Flag plays jam style songs, FLAG does not.

Black Flag was a hardcore punk band in 1979. They became so much more than that. They were experimental, improvisational, instrumental, and innovative. FLAG might do a good job of capturing 1979, but they stop there. FLAG does nothing to continue the legacy of Black Flag. Even if you don't like Rollins era Black Flag, or you don't like post-My War Black Flag, or you don't like instrumental jam band Black Flag, or you don't like 2013 Black Flag, it doesn't change the fact that there is one Black Flag.

RastaPhones.com

I really like the "rasta" color scheme. The green, yellow, and red. I have rasta colored socks, rasta stripes on my shoes, rasta colors on my backpack. I don't honestly care if it's trendy, or lame, or overused, or whatever. I like the green, yellow, and red.
when I started my first Zazzle store, Nice Try Lao Che,  I didn't really have a theme in mind. I just wanted to have fun making different products. It didn't take me long to start making things with rasta colors. As it turned out, rasta colored items are some of my biggest sellers. In the neighborhood of fifty percent of my sales involve rasta themed items. Pins, stickers, cell phone cases. Even pacifiers are selling decently.
Getting to the point, I've now started a new store, and website, called RastaPhones.com. While my first store, Nice Try Lao Che, is a mess of all kinds of different products, this new store, as the name implies, is all rasta themed cell phone cases, covers, and skins. I am hoping this new store will make it easier for people looking for simple green, yellow and red cell phone covers to find what they seek.


A selection of rasta products at Nice Try Lao Che:




Some of the products at RastaPhones.com

Ian MacKaye Spoken Word.

 Punk rock frontmen Jello Biafra and Henry Rollins are well known for their spoken word careers, but Ian MacKaye gets out there with some spoken word on occasion as well. Although he hasn't made albums like his contemporaries, I really like his style. Thanks to Youtube, we can hear many of his spoken word gigs.

Coming To Terms With Marijuana.

I have come to terms with being a pot head. Not the kind of pot head who gets high all day every day, although I have some dear friends like that and they are always fun to hang out with. You know the kind, the smoke a joint in the alley behind the club between bands while everyone else is a few feet away smoking cigarettes kind. That's not me, except when I hang out with them. I don't tend to do much of anything high. I'm more the smoke a joint at the end of the day and then eat too much while watching Logan's Run kind of pot head. I actually don't smoke too often, either. When I have a bag, I'll smoke daily, but I don't often buy weed. I'll go months or even years without weed sometimes. I love smoking it, smelling it, talking about it, and looking at it, but it's not a habit I actually get around to that much.
Maybe I'm a lazy pot head. Maybe I'm not a pot head at all. I know I really enjoy the occasional high.

Toke 'em if you got 'em!

Its Been Longer (In My Eyes)

It's been a while since I wrote anything here of substance. I wrote my first post here in 2007. I have continued writing posts here only on occasion. In six years I've only written just over 20 posts, many of which were quickies. In 2008 I wrote a post entitled Its Been While (Who Am I). It's now 2013 and I think it's time for an updated post.

I'm still in my mid-thirties, but am now closing in on the mid-to-late-thirties thing. I'm balder, to the point where I just keep my hair cropped short. No more colors or mohawks for me. I'm still overweight, a fat vegan. I do intend to loose weight though, if for no other reason than to fit a few shirts I like. I no longer like not having facial hair. I look funny without it. For the last year or so I've been wearing my beard with a little shaved strip on either side of my goatee area. I don't know what to call this beard style. Fuck it.

I'm still vegan and can not imagine being any other way. I know people that were ethical vegans years ago and seem to have given up the lifestyle. I cannot imagine doing that, but then again, I don't crave any animal products in the least. Being that I don't feel as though I am missing out on anything, veganism only effects my life where it interacts with normal society.  I understand the desire to fit in, to be normal, but I couldn't do it.

I no longer drink alcohol. It's been a few years now, and I don't miss it. I don't miss hangovers, and I don't miss getting shitfaced and ordering stupid shit on Ebay. I have a shit ton of drunken adventure stories, I don't need anymore. I really don't want to top the one where I passed out in a parking lot and got taken to the ER by the police. I still love beer though. Ocasionally I get on a kick of drinking N/A beer. Clausthaler and Buckler being my favorites, although cheap old Miller Sharp's will do in a pinch. I'm drinking a Sharp's right now in fact.

Politically, I am still into animal rights issues, as well as human rights issues, but I am getting more and more into pacifism and anarchism. I am absolutely anti-war. I can no longer vote for pro-war politicians, which excludes most of both major parties for me. Anarchism, for me, is more of an ideal, a philosophical goal. It has to do with real freedom, and really isn't the chaos that most people think about when they hear the word anarchy. I very much support marriage rights, and I don't really understand those that don't. I am becoming increasingly anti-corporate. The list of companies I won't support grows almost daily. You truly do vote with your dollar.

I still work in a factory. I've been doing factory work for fifteen years now, but I think I am done for good. I've never once been truly happy with factory life. Don't get me wrong, it's alright for some people. The routine, the stability, the easy work then retire blueprint. For me, I am really starting to see the toll factory life has had on my body, on my personal relationships, and on my happiness. My current employer, a multinational corporation, is following the typical maximize profit style that is becoming all too common in the workplace today. The idea is to save as much money at the bottom so as to pool that money at the top. Jobs are eliminated and combined, fewer employees are worked more hours, little things are taken away here and there. When you take into account benefits, it can be more cost effective to work one employee 80 hours a week than it is to work two employees 40 hours a week. This over working results in chronic pain injuries, high stress, accidents on the job, and a seemingly high divorce rate. Personally, I can't take it anymore. I see the problems other people have with their arms and shoulders and necks and knees, and I see the beginnings of these lifelong problems in myself. If I sacrifice my arms for this company, I give up playing guitar. If I sacrifice my knees, I give up skateboarding. If I sacrifice my marriage and my relationship with my kids, then what was the fucking point of all this work in the first place.

I guess I am at a crossroads right now. I am theoretically happy, although work has been keeping me from making that happiness a reality. I like the direction my life could take if I do manage to remove myself from factory life, from the traditional workforce in general. I am now doing many of things I want to spend my time doing, but I am just barely doing any of them. I want to perform, write and record music. I want to travel. I want to write books and articles and blog posts. I want to skateboard and go to arcades with my kids.

I apparently also like to ramble on and on.

There will be a next time...

Waiting at Sea: Empty Booth

Empty Booth by Waiting at Sea.
Words and music by Frank Lynch.
Waiting at Sea is Frank Lynch and Kristen VanLoon.

What Do Vegans Eat?

I made this shirt a while ago on Zazzle, available in both light and dark.

What Do Vegans Eat? Shirts by NiceTryLaoChe
Create one-of-a-kind custom t-shirts at Zazzle.

I then wrote an article about it at Triond. What Do Vegans Eat?

Recently I turned the design into a Youtube video.