G O D C L U B

IT'S NORMALLY NOT my style to post entries of a personal nature here. But as it is currently, the DAILY REPORT readership consists mostly of acquaintances, friends, relatives, co-conspirators, inspirations and muses; all people that I, in a perfect world, would have no qualms with constantly updating on the current emotions, happenings and circumstances involving my personal and professional life. However, this is REAL LIFE, and I'm always kicking myself in the ass for those that I've fallen out of touch with... So let's consider this my open letter to YOU ALL (as well as the perfect strangers--I'm not too picky).

As you know, for YOURself and myself, Twenties are difficult. Personally, I've had my ups, my downs, and my suprisingly full share of those grey moments inbetween. Those moments of waiting, for whatever reason--waiting to grow up, waiting for more money, waiting for calm, waiting for love, etc. etc. etc., I'm sure YOU know what I'm talking about. It's uneasing yet AWESOME to feel proud of where certain parts of my life are going (my apolologies for my vagueness so as not to expose, more importantly jinx, specifics...). The first half of this decade of my life has built me into many facets of a human that I truthfully love being, while still leaving parts that I hope to cast aside with maturity. I'm thankful for what I've learned, accomplished and shared thus far, with buku anticipation for things to come.

Most importantly, I'm thankful to YOU. YOU, whether YOU realize it or not, have helped, hurt, shaped, chided, built and sculpted me into who I am, or rather, who I'm becoming. And this year, at this time, I can honestly say I'm in good standing with YOU. And myself.

THANKSSSSS.

Sincerely,

David S. Blunk, II

P.S. Return letters, replies, and compliments welcome. Here, or here.

There're a lot of reasons why I love the 90's: Riot grrrl, grunge (maybe not a lot of the music but the clothes), MTV, and raver dance bands. Like Shampoo. Um these videos are so rad.

Some picture previews from the pamphlet I'm working on about my butt (and big butts in general).


New pants!!!!!






Obama is just like us, he eats pizza too! (Happy's Pizza Tuesday Special! I know what I'm doing tonight!)

Thanks, Adriel.

**UPDATE**

Here's the mini-mix, as promised. Our full Radio Dethlab mix will post on Thursday, after we record it for WDET 101.9FM's HD2 Channel, Wednesday night, 9PM - midnight.

Radio Dethlab [2009, ~26 minutes, .mp3]

Part 1 - mixed by David S. Blunk, II (STEVIE)

Intro by STEVIE
Jittery Heritage (Egoexpress remix) by Einmusik
Breathe by Play Paul & Nicos Marcos
Xerrox Monophaser by Alva Noto
Epidemia (Sneak-Thief Paranoianoia remix) by Imiafan
Dancers (remixed by Lowfish) by Circlesquare

Part 2 - mixed by David S. Blunk, II (STEVIE)

Federschwarz by Andreas Henneberg (STEVIE darkk edit)
Right Hand Bob by Neo Filigrante
Letherbich 01 by Adriano Canzian (feat. David Caretta & Gigi Succes)
Party in my Head by Miss Kitten & the Hacker

EXTREME THANKS to all those that came out and danced for CLUB GOD 2: Thru the Eyes. It was a huge success! Nancy Gutierrez, I love my new huge vintage disco ball.

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Give me a call if you'd like to come but don't have the money -- I have just a few guest list spots left! -David 001.313.622.3985

!!TONITE!!

Friday 17 April 2009

CLUB GOD 2: THRU THE EYES
A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DAVID S. BLUNK, II (STEVIE FROM DEAD-LINE WEDNESDAYS)

BMG [OF ECTOMORPH] (INTERDIMENSIONAL TRANSMISSIONS
--SINISTER ELECTRO
DETHLAB (TOYBREAKER/BURNLAB/GOD CLUB)
--SATANIC TECHNO, NEO-INDUSTRIAL, BALLARDIAN THEATRICS
KELLY PINK-O (GC/FIERCE HOT MESS)
--NO/NEW/DON'T WAVE, POSTPUNK, AND DANCE GREATS
ISAAC ROYALE (GOD CLUB)
--DARK DANCE, SPASTIC PUNK, AND MORE
WILHELM K (D-VERSION)
--INTENSE, POUNDING 80S INDUSTRIAL AND DARK BATS
MIKE TROMBLEY (DISCO / SECRET)
--SLEAZY ITALIAN DISCO AND NEW WAVE UNCLASSICS

10PM UNTIL QUITE LATE |TWO ROOMS | 18 AND OVER | DRINK SPECIALS | $5 BEFORE TWO, $8 AFTER

@THE WORKS | 1846 MICHIGAN AVENUE | DETROIT, MI 48216

http://www.godclub.org

The new middle school craze, according to all the major news outlets, is smoking Smartees.



When I was in middle school, one boy always used to snort pixy stix in my art class. He would always try and get me to snort them with him, insisting that they got him high. He wasn't trying to fuck with me, he snorted them himself and I really do think he was convinced he was getting a buzz off of them, but everyone thought he was a total weirdo.

One day on my way to the park I stopped by the candy store and picked up this really expensive powdered candy that I would never normally buy. I felt dirty doing it, but somehow less dirty than pixy stix. Once I got into the park, I went into the playground and sat down on this bridge where no one could see me, and I proceeded to shove my nose into the opening of one of the bottles and inhale. I choked, and I got teary eyed and I coughed for a while and spit up nasty sour snot for like, ten minutes, but I also managed to convince myself that I WAS totally high and felt sneaky, and really cool for doing it. I didn't tell anyone about it for a while because directly after doing it I was totally embarrassed, but in retrospect I'm really glad I can talk about it now.

I've had a constant battle my whole life. Which I'm sure many ladies have had to go through. This being: finding pants that fit my huge ass.

Okay I understand my body isn't what it is supposed to look like or something and if I was thinner I would be happier and fit into more clothing. Well I think that's bullshit and I don't understand why companies don't just make stuff to fit people like me (meaning pear-shaped). I mean I want to spend money. I want to buy your cheap clothes, so make them fit me.

I hate American Apparel. I miss the days when my friends who are also beautiful curvy ladies worked there. I tried on a pair of their pants in a size that normally fits me at other places, and I couldn't even get them over my thighs. Their clothes fall apart and their ads are fucking stupid. No, I'm not offended by them, I just think they are really stupid and aren't that interesting. Wouldn't you rather see one with a lady with a huge ass eating a hamburger? I think that would be sexy.

So I am working on a pamphlet about being a bigger bottomed lady in America, and how the men love it and come running, but you can't fit into clothes. Also I am going to do a photo series with my covered in pizza and chips. FTW I love food.

I just recieved an email that Eve Sedgwick died on Sunday from a long battle with breast cancer. She was 58 years old. I am very emotional right now about it, which is sort of weird because I did not know her, but her writings were integral to the formation of my identity and also the foundation of my academic and political ideologies. I am saddened because it was my dream to work with her at CUNY. She was an amazing woman and groundbreaking writer.

For those of you unfamiliar with Sedgwick, here is a little synopsis or overview of her work and why she is important.

She is considered influential to gay and lesbian studies and is credited as one of the founders of queer theory. Her first book, written in 1985, was Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. Following this, in 1990, she wrote the canonical queer theory text Epistemology of the Closet. I wikipedia-ed a synopsis on the latter book, which is my favorite, in order to give a concise overview for all of you on what the book is about. Here it is:

In Epistemology of the Closet, Sedgwick argues that "virtually any aspect of modern Western culture, must be, not merely incomplete, but damaged in its central substance to the degree that it does not incorporate a critical analysis of modern homo/heterosexual definition." According to Sedgwick, homo/heterosexual definition has become so angrily argued over because of a lasting incoherence "between seeing homo/heterosexual definition on the one hand as an issue of active importance primarily for a small, distinct, relatively fixed homosexual minority... and seeing it on the other hand as an issue of continuing, determinative importance in the lives of people across the spectrum of sexualities." This contradiction between what Sedgwick refers to as a "minoritizing versus a universalizing" view of sexual definition is made even more angrily argued over by yet another set of incoherent definitional terms: that "between seeing same-sex object choice on the one hand as a matter of liminality or transitivity between genders, and seeing it on the other hand as reflecting an impulse of separatism — though by no means necessarily political separatism — within each gender." Sedgwick is not interested in judging which of the two poles of these contradictions should be considered more correct. Rather, she makes a compelling argument for the "centrality of these nominally marginal yet conceptually intractable set of definitional issues to the important knowledges and understandings of twentieth-century Western culture as a whole." (Epistemology 1-2).

To find out more about her, go to her wikipedia page.


Eve Sedgwick is incredibly important to me beyond words. I first read Epistemology of the Closet when I was in my first semester of sophomore year at Albion College. It was in my literary theory class and I distinctly remember falling in love with her after completion of the text. This book has informed all of my writing and analysis since and has affected the way I look at myself in relation to my gay identity and the heteronormative spaces I occupy. I can't believe she isn't here anymore. It was always a dream of mine to at least meet her one day and tell her how important her writings have been to me.

Wynne Greenwood has a new exhibit at The Behnke Center for Contemporary Performance in Seattle that sees her returning to live work for the first time since Tracy + The Plastics! There are some more updates on Greenwood's recent activity on the webiste's blog as well as a great audio interview.

If anyone reading this isn't familiar with Wynne Greenwood, or maybe even Tracy + The Plastics, I STRONGLY suggest purchasing any of the following:

and then going to tracyandtheplastics.com to read THIS article, and then finally to her new website (wynnegreenwood.com) to see what else she has done in the past 4 years since Tracy.

Tracy + The Plastics changed my life and acted as a sort of guide for how to balance the need for consciousness raising while avoiding the didactic positions that can result from not knowing how to share information. I have grown up with her work and gained a lot of creative inspiration and encouragement from seeing her performances, so this is kind of really exciting.

Probably because I am related to lesbian hippy urban farmers, and have some lesbian hippy urban farming tendencies myself, I find myself thinking a lot about local food. Specifically, where to get it and if I can afford it (depends on the week). But unfortunately, to misquote someone famous and dead, one cannot live on bread alone. So I think a lot about the ability to purchase other things locally. Or in the case of towels and other linens, the lack thereof.

Yeah, I could pop over to the bureau of urban living and pick up some Detroit made soap with a cute little map of Detroit on the bottom, but how come no one is buying fabric in bulk and making sheets and pillowcases with a huge map of the city on it? Or making raw organic cat food from rabbits that live on some urban farm in the Corridor?

If I'm going to spend 30 bucks on fancy cat food (not the raw stuff, I could very well make that at home), why not have it feed back into the city and state economy? I bet tons of the same hipster/ hippy/artie folks who go to the Russel Bazzar have pets that eat Iams. Where is Iams even packaged and produced at? It sure as hell isn't here.

There is a little fact floating around the web, " If every Michigan household spent $10 each week on Michigan made food products, then $37 million dollars would be put back into the local economy on a weekly basis."

I'm assuming the same principle applies to other goods and services, right? Or does this little fact simplify our current economic crisis by spinning too much personal responsibility? More so, is my slight feeling of guilt for not doing as much as I could to directly support the local economy that supports me, justified?

aka: is spending the extra 15 bucks at the Dearborn Music vs. amazon store worth it?

WE ALL KNOW March can be trying in Detroit. I usually spend the entire month wishing for April. WELL NOW IT'S HERE! So let's have some fun again!

Firstly, I've secured the dream deejay lineup for my birthday party, the second installment of our CLUB GOD ongoing party series. It will be taking place on Friday 17th April. Come dance the night away. Most importantly, come experience the extreme rarity of an ISAAC ROYALE deejay set. He's playing in the front room around Midnight.

In other news, Dethlab (my side-project with Michael Doyle and Bethany Shorb) are opening for FIXMER/McCARTHY (Terence Fixmer of French Gigolo fame and Douglas McCarthy of NITZER FUCKING EBB) in a few weeks at THC (pardon the obvious pun, Trowbridge House of Coffee) in Hamtramck! It's their first Detroit appearance on a small US tour, and they'll be playing quite a few Nitzer classics as well as new material. That will be completely insane.


Friday 17 April 2009

CLUB GOD 2: THRU THE EYES
A Birthday Celebration for David S. Blunk, II

Soundtrack provided by:

B M G [of Ectomorph] (Interdimensional Transmissions)
Dethlab (Toybreaker/Burnlab/God Club)
Kelly Pink-o (GC / Fierce Hot Mess)
Isaac Royale (God Club)
Wilhelm K (D-Version Records)
Mike Trombley (DISCO / SECRET)

10PM until quite late | two rooms | 18 and over | drink specials | $5 before two, $8 after

@the Works | 1846 Michigan Avenue, Detroit Michigan 48216


ALSO:


And finally, don't forget, DEAD-LINE is every Wednesday at the Works. STEVIE plays all your dark disco / synth pop / cold wave / punk / noise / weirdo guilty pleasures, with a miraculous $0.50 cocktail power hour from 10PM - 11PM. Come get goth!

Here's a F / M videoclip to tease:

Mickalene Thomas makes amazing paintings adorned with rhinestones, she also does photographs and installations in the same in the same vein. Ms. Thomas has work in the show up at MOCAD right now, "Black is, Black Ain't." If you have not had a chance to see her work in person, you should check out the show.

Also see her work at her web site:

mickalenethomas.com

Here is a monochromatic taste of pictures to come from the Construction/Constriction exhibit.



In Detroit news:

Besides the final four excitement of the weekend what with Fergie, Pussycat Dolls, and Gym Class Heros all playing for free this weekend, there are some interesting things going on.

An unnamed Detroit businessman wants to start "large-scale commercial farming" in Detroit. One of the places being scoped out are empty lots on Gratiot. And I say this could be one movement that could really help the city. How awesome would it be to have fresh foods grown in your city? I know there is small-scale farming already going on in Detroit like what you see at Eastern Market, and I hope that if commercial farming did happen it wouldn't affect them; But, it would be really awesome if empty, trash-filled lots were turned into farms. The obvious jobs would be created, it would help make Detroit look less like a landfill, and I would love to buy fresh foods grown close by.

The Tate Britain's Triennial show is up right now and the theme/title of the show is "AlterModern", featuring a manifesto headed: "POSTMODERNISM IS DEAD".

How does this differ from postmodernism, especially anything queer, poco or otherwise vaguely pomo homo? Postmodernism is totally boring and we can talk about something new, but can the people that have ALREADY MOVED ON or at least better written your text continue writing in the space that you want to name without paying royalties? How does this wry harnessing of branding escape the pitfalls of the postmodernism you've built your argument against? Are you going to sell personalized t-shirts, or translate them into 5 languages?

A second look around the space. An index featuring source material used in the exhibit as well as a LOT of photographs will be available very, very soon.

I'm actually surprised that there is only one song out there called "Zombie Ponies" .


For whatever reason, zombie ponies are not big, minus the occasional doctored My Little Pony and the odd craft project. Even that bastion of all things kitchy and irrelvent, etsy, is sourly lacking in zombie ponies.