Check out new tune Busted above, also a silly little video for Primordial.
I admit it. When it comes to music, I've been a little bit of a snob since we moved to Wichita. Nothing's good enough for the guy from Neeeewwww Yoooooork. I'm not a bad person,
just a victim of circumstance. But it does take a little while to get to know a new city, to discern where the "cool" kids hang out. Well, it may be Africa Hot outside right now, but COOL is on the rise in Wichita, mark my words. Yesterday was the first annual LIV Festival, an all day music shindig featuring some of the coolest sounds I've heard since we've been here. Held at Market Street, an industrial deadend by the highway overpass where they've turned a bunch of the warehouse buildings into art galleries, the fest included two stages set up at either end of the street along with the work of some local artists and grilled goodies a whole lot cheaper than festival food anywhere else. One stage featured local bands and the other was out of 
town acts and, encouragingly, I was more drawn to the local stage. Styles ranged from noisy indie
rock, electronic, hip hop and breakneck bluegrass. My new local favorite, Powerlifter, who make noisy dance/thrash electronica using Nintendo Gameboy consoles, put on a delightfully sarcastic very punk performance, technical difficulties and all. Turn-out wasn't bad for a first go, just enough to make two stages playing simultaneous acts not feel too barren. It was a good day, hot enough to cause delirium but isn't that a required component of all summer festivals?
Technically, Summer arrives tomorrow, but its been here for a few weeks at least, flirting with
100 degrees on a regular basis. I finished my first summer class (World Civ 2) and am ready to plunge into the
second one this coming week (Intro to Scripture). Sue taught a writing class first summer session but also took an anatomy class! She impressed some of her scientific colleagues who think that humanities folk are good for takin' up space and little more. Of course she got an A. I added a second raised bed to the backyard and hung a clothes line so we don't have to waste electricity using the machine. Besides, the hot Kansas sun dries clothes faster than the machine does anyway, and ya know something? My clothes smell delightful.
More on the cool music front: ska-punk-metal-funk-everything-else powerhouses Fishbone (!!!) came to Wichita a few weeks ago. They played at a little Mexican restaurant in the big catering room behind the place. The turn out was good and they kicked all kinds of A. I almost didn't go because I was a little tired, but good friend Julie convinced us to make it and we had a blast. The entire philosophy dept of Newman turned out for
the show as well, and you know philosophers can party.
Sue and I had a fun weekend last week as well when
we took a drive forty-five minutes northwest to Hutchinson (home of the state fair!). We were going to camp at a nearby lake but thunderstorms passed through the area so we wisely decided to skip it (lightning is scary when you're the tallest thing around). We stayed in a cheap motel in town and
visited the Cosmosphere space center, which has a surprisingly in-depth US and Soviet space program and Cold War exhibit. The Cosmosphere produced 80% of the props used in the Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13. They also have an IMAX and the classic
planetarium show. Then we visited the Underground Salt Mine Museum, an active salt mine 650 feet beneath the Kansas prairie. Interestingly, the mine,
because of the lack of moisture, is used by all the major movie studios to
store their reels, every state and even foreign governments or companies who want somewhere secure to keep valuable records or other stuff. The mine isn't cramped or scary like you might imagine (unless the lights go out), the interior spaces are huge and airy and always naturally 68 degrees. A cool experience and one of the many exciting things awaiting any persons who plan to visit our
humble home!
Anyway, check out the new half-video for Primordial and the new song Busted, at the top of the blog. Again, remember that we'll be in the Northeast last week of July to mid August. We'll be with Nan and Pop in
Pennsylvania, then to Boston and
Vermont and back to New York for the last week. Hope we can see at least some of you. Oh and happy Father's day to all the dads!
See you soon.
