1.1.11 - Loners TPB (comic) / 1.2.11 - The Fighter (movie)

1.1.11

Loners – CB Celbuski / Karl Moline (Marvel Comics 2008).

I have a total soft spot for ‘b-list’ superheroes. I always have. I honestly have no idea why that might be, but I do. So when ‘The Loners’ (originally called ‘Excelsior’) appeared in Runaways years ago I was hooked from the start. Darkhawk, Ricochet, a member of Power Pack? I’m there. This is a pretty decent miniseries that sadly left lots of room for a follow up series that will likely never happen due to poor sales. The overall theme of an ‘NA’ style group for former teen superheroes is an interesting concept that Celbuski nails. Most of the cast of the book had been a part of some of the biggest events in the Marvel Universe (Secret Wars I & II, Infinity Gauntlet, etc), but were overall laughable (the “good” Green Goblin) or forgettable (Turbo of New Warriors), so the idea of feeling somewhat disenchanted to no longer being a hero is really humanizing in some regards. The art took me some time to get used to, it’s a bit sketchy in parts and the colors are sometimes blotchy for lack of a better word, but as the second issue rolls along it seems to really fit. Overall I really enjoyed the book and it works as a nice sidestep to their appearance in Runaways & really left me wishing CB & Moline could have got a shot at another 6 issues with the characters.

3/5

1.2.11

The Fighter – Mark Wahlberg / Christian Bale – Dir. David O. Russell

As someone that grew up, sometimes against my will, on the “Rocky” franchise, the thought of a movie about boxing made me nervous. The cast set was great, the director has a great track record & the overall story of the movie is intriguing, but I was afraid of the “montage” heaviness that sports films have had since Sly made his classic fight film. My fears were gone within 20 minutes of the film. The acting is superb, especially Bale, whom we’ve come to expect nothing less from (ok, Terminator: Salvation was shitty) & even Wahlberg, who I think comes off really phony in a number of movies makes for some really moving scenes. He’s got great chemistry with Amy Adams, which adds to the scenes between them, but they don’t hammer in a romantic element into the film just for the hell of it. The only downside of the film, and please understand it’s very minor, is that at the end of the film is does kinda become a ‘boxing movie’. The fight scene at the end is really going to appeal to the people that set out for a boxing movie, but after 1 ½ hours of drama, it was somewhat of a letdown to lose the interactions of the stellar cast for a, well done, yet formulaic climactic fight scene.

4/5

From 365 to 1.

So anyways. No update since May. No new news on the putting out music front. Oh well, things happen and fall apart and change for reasons at times. I've relocated to Cleveland, changed professions & by doing so have a newfound sense of urgency to do 'something'. The final goal? To put out music I love & start doing more bookings of shows, now in Cleveland, under the FVC banner. This will all happen still, but no more"Soon" or "It's getting close". I just set myself up to let myself down by putting time frames on things. So when it happens, it'll happen. I'll be sure to let you all know via twitter or email or here or whatever.

Until that happens (and while it happens I'm sure) I plan to try and do 1 review a day. Of something. The review wills not be all that well written I'm sure, nor will they be all that lengthy, it's more or less a selfish thing I'm doing to feel a sense of accomplishment throughout 2011 & give myself a goal that I'm able to accomplish. I'm hoping to get some friends to throw some stuff my way as well, but it won't stop me from posting as well.

So 365 days, 365 reviews. Due to work/life I won't get to post the reviews daily, although that would be ideal. So there may be a few day lull between postings, but fear not True Believers, the reviews will be posted along with the date they correspond to.

Reviews will likely consist of mainly: comic books, movies, music, video games, beers, food, books & whatever else I can think of. I'll try to keep it fun, although I can't imagine I'll have anyone other than my own friends reading this, so they know who I am, what I like and what they can expect.

Ok, here's to 2k11.

Jacobe

FVC

Lemuria (buffalo) / Sexy Pig Divas (Kent) / Sound vs Summer (Youngstown) - June 14 @ Oakland in Youngstown

Join us on June 14 @ 7:00pm in downtown Youngstown at the Oakland Center for the Arts to see 3 great bands for only $5!

Lemuria (Buffalo) - Great indie rock/pop. Coming to town on an off day of a bigger tour! The band just signed to Bridge 9 Records & have released records on Asian Man, Art of the Underground, Vinyl Collective, Hex Records & Whoa Oh!

http://www.lemuriapop.com/

http://www.myspace.com/lemuria

Sexy Pig Divas (Kent / Youngstown) - No strangers to Youngstown's fine venues or the Oakland. Great 2-piece rock 'n roll!

http://www.myspace.com/sexypigdivas

Sound vs Summer (Youngstown) - the first/only performace (to date at least) of the combined efforts of Sound on Tape & These Midwest Summers. -

http://www.myspace.com/soundontape

http://www.myspace.com/cheerupbrian

The show will be ALL AGES & only $5 at the door. Please let us know if you have any questions at all!

It is after the holiday, right?

Man, I suck at getting things accomplished usually, but today I've been pretty productive. Here's a quick update for those that may stumble upon the site.

- The These Midwest Summers - 'For Friends' EP are 100% sold out/gone. Thanks to all that picked one up. There's a slight chance of us doing another run of them at some point, but more likely some of those songs will end up on future releases with better recordings.

- I just put in an order for buttons & stickers and should have them in a few weeks time. The buttons are the 'Ohio Bars' logo, which you've likely seen on jackets/guitar straps/hats/etc of members of the FVC family. I've got 100 of the classic black on white and 100 white on black color inversion ones coming in. These are free, just ask me or those involved for one. I also ordered stickers that look like this:




I didn't get a whole bunch of these made, so after they are passed out to the core FVC they will be handed out to any/all that would like one. I also have a US copyright in the works for the logo so no one bogarts my idea (like I did with a little west coast band's logo...)

- Shirts are in the works as well, as soon as I have a place to work through getting them done at a good price I'll let everyone know. Man, this sounds more like a merch company than a music based outfit. The next Atticus or MADE maybe?

- I hope to have the second release firmed up by mid-next week. It will hopefully (likely?) be a split 7" from These Midwest Summers & Sound on Tape. 1 (maybe 2) songs each depending on time restraints on the artists and the 7" format. I plan on putting a CDR with each 7"/LP I release with all the songs (or more if possible) from the vinyl on it.

- I'm hopeing to get a release from EXTERMINATORS out at some point as well. Not much is known about the band, but I've got high hopes for them. Ok.

- I'm thinking of trying to put together some Sunday FVC bbq/get togethers over the summer in the car port behind my apartment building, just get some folks out to hang out, play and listen to some tunes, maybe enjoy a drink or 10 and just be social on a sunny Ohio summer day.

- That's it for now, hopefully I'll get it together and update at least once a month, even if it just ends up being pictures of my cat.

FVC #1 - These Midwest Summers - For Friends EP (limited to 20)

Tonight we are putting out our first release, 'For Friends' EP from These Midwest Summers.

It's limited to 20 copies, hand packed, hand stenciled CDRs, hand numbered.

It will be available tonight at the Oakland Theater in Downtown Youngstown at the Laughrica Benefit for a suggested donation of $5, although more would be great as we'll be giving every cent made to the benefit. Hopefully all copies will be sold tonight, but if not I'll post info on how you'll be able to purchase a copy should there be any leftovers....

Details on release #2 will probably be posted right after the holidays.

Attempt 4,815,162,342.....

It's never been a lack of desire to get this thing up and moving for me, it truly hasn't. It's motivation and commitment for the most part, these things, along with a healthy dose of bad luck have always been thorns in my side. Minor setbacks here and there have already put me back a bit in my original plan with FVC, but in some ways it was a blessing in disguise as I've come to realize I was trying to run before I could walk. I think my hopes for this have always put me in a 'run before I walk' situation and due to this I've feared failure because there was so much to lose, but I think I'm over it. Thanks in a large part to my brothers courage to play in front of a bunch of strangers and reading up on some of the labels I most respect, those like Plan-It-X, No Idea, It's Alive, etc has really helped to shape what I should come to expect out of both myself and this 'label'. So here is phase II (or IIthousand...). The Asleep record will hopefully still happen, not sure when or in what facet I'll be working with them, but I will for sure, when the stars align in the ways we all need.

Photo by Crystal Beiersdorfer



The first release will be out this month, I know, fast right? It's going to be a limited, either to 25-50, CDR EPs, with handmade covers and each will be #'d. It will be the first release from These Midwest Summers, a band/person/entity very close to my heart (and bloodline). The TWS EP, as yet untitled, will have 3-4 songs, one being a cover of his choosing, although there's one or two I'm pulling for. TWS is all that far removed from Bright Eyes, Elvis Costello & other singer/songwriters with a penchant for intelligent, sometimes self deprecating and sarcastic, lyrical content.

Brian/TWS will be doing all the artwork design himself and we will unleash this nugget of genius at the event listed below, with EVERY DOLLAR, not just 'profit', going to the cause the night is for. TWS will be performing in the gallery during intermission. The event is for a great cause, and a great friend of mine, so you should stop out not only to pick up the limited EP, but also to help out a genuine good person.



I'm excited to really get moving with this finally and I can't think of a better way to get things moving than with my brother being my first release. I've already got a few things lined up, one which includes and 'bootleg' of sort of a tape with Sound on Tape / These Midwest Summers demos from the 'Friday by 5' project we worked with earlier this year. I'm also going to attempt to get a recording at least some of the stand up being done at the benefit to release after the break of the new year. It's moving finally and with a little work, motivation and a number of drinks, it'll finally start to take shape in 2010. I've got a good feeling about the way things can/should move from this point onward with FVC. As soon as I let go I got a grip it would seem.


I'm planning on getting buttons/shirts done around the break of the new year, sweatshirts as well perhaps, who knows. Brian is going to be working on a new logo for me for the first round of shirts/pins/stickers. The Ohio/Black Flag logo will be a part of every logo/release I do, but I want to use it in different ways as often as possible. I'm pretty siked on the idea I have for the logo and I think Bri can pull it off pretty well. I'd also like to set up a distro on the site for releases/labels I love, admire and respect, but that's totally on the back burner currently and will likely take a while to come into play.

FVC Transmission 1.0

After multiple years and even more set backs I’ve finally got the ball rolling on doing something that has been a dream of mine since I was in my early teens, releasing music under the guise of a “record label”. I have no “business model’ or even much of a game plan for what I’d like to accomplish with this. Hell, if I can get 1 release out I’ll be thrilled and feel as though I’ve accomplished something with my dream, I think that’s more than most can say. This is a total new thing to me and I’m learning more and more with each step in the process, it’s amazing how little I DO know in comparison to how much I THOUGHT I knew went into potting out an audio release. Hopefully some of you out there will enjoy what the artists I work with, even if you don’t I appreciate each and everyone that even gives the label or acts a second look. I understand how much music is being forced into the ears of people thanks the overabundance of bands popping up these days, I can only hope that others will enjoy the releases I work as much as I do.


The name for the label is something I thought of years ago and I like the idea of it being a ‘club’ more than a ‘company’ or something like that. This is just a fun thing for me to do. I consider my apt (the office) to be the clubhouse, cheesy, right? The logo is something I came up with sometime back and is obvious an homage to the amazing Black Flag, with a nice Ohio twist. There’s at least 3 kids in this area with it tattooed on them, I don’t know these kids though, which makes me laugh. I’ve got buttons & stickers of the logo coming soon and will be giving them away with each order and selling them really cheaply to those interested. The logo will also be on shirts/sweatshirts at some point down the road as well, everything in due time.


I’ve got 2 releases in the works already, the first one is a 12” LP release from Asleep. I’ve been close friends with the guys in the band for years and have watched them continue to grow and change from release to release and expand upon an already eclectic mix of sounds that is almost indescribable. The band’s first release “All These Things We’ll Never Need’ set the band out as a pure rock force, and as they prepare to release their follow up LP they decided to bring to the forefront the softer, quieter side of their sound spectrum. “The Mass of Empty Spaces” is a self released EP recorded at Mind Rocket Studios that will cause those familiar with the band already to perhaps reassess their preconceived thoughts on the band as well as bring a whole new group into the fold of this amazing group. The CD version of the EP is currently available from the band at all shows as well as at Indie Wax Records in Boardman, Ohio and Buybacks in Niles, Ohio. The elements for the vinyl version of the release are almost all complete & will be being sent off to press very soon with hopes to get everything back in time for the bands upcoming touring schedule. The release will be limited to 500 copies and I’ll be thinking of neat packages/additional items for the release and I assure all we’ll be doing everything we can to get this record the attention it deserves.

Numerous songs from the EP, as well as previous and future releases, can be found on the bands Myspace found here: http://www.myspace.com/asleep

Here are the upcoming show dates for Asleep:

- August, 7 2009 08:00 PM - The Basement Columbus, Ohio
- August, 20 2009 08:00 PM - Musica Akron, Ohio
- August, 22 2009 08:00 PM - JB’s Kent, Ohio
- August, 23 2009 12:00 PM - VEX FEST 6 Youngstown, Ohio
- September, 11 2009 08:00 PM - Peabody’s Cleveland, Ohio
　
　
My second release is actually somewhat of a ‘bootleg’ release, so much so that the people involved actually have no idea it’s happening. I can’t spill anything on it right now except that it’s going to be a CASSETTE / CDR combo. Yeah, a cassette tape, kitschy, right? It’ll actually be being manufactured in Ohio which is kind of cool in my book. I sound much more pro-OH than I actually am. I’m really excited about it though, details will follow really soon. It’ll be limited to 100 copies and be really inexpensive.

Ok, first transmission is complete. I have a terrible history of lacking motivation and am hoping this project breaks that, so expect numerous updates as things move forward.
- FVC