We need to talk about Mr. Bungle (aka Mike Patton is a genius, part one of several)

In 1989 or thereabouts, I became aware of a crossover band by the name of Faith No More. Like many who became aware of them at this time, it was through sight of a music video for a single called Epic. The video for Epic was (mostly) very simplistic in nature, with the majority of shots simply being the band in front of a very elaborate backdrop, playing their instruments. But one of the many details that stood out to me was a shirt worn by vocalist Mike Patton in at least one shot. That shirt noticeably featured the logo of the other band Patton was vocalist for at the time: Mr. Bungle.

I love Julie Christmas, take two

Before I say anything else, I just want to be clear about the fact that media of all kinds, whether it be written, audio-visual, visual, or audio, pretty much defines my whole view of life. If you have read previous posts, you know that how I define my view of myself tends to involve drawing comparisons to fictional characters, especially the way that they are represented in television or film. As I like to talk about the small fraction of good things in my experiences and consciousness, it is therefore worth taking a moment to talk about the New York-based vocalist who goes by the name of Julie Christmas.

A couple of years ago, Julie released a solo album called The Bad Wife. The cover art for which you see in the picture attached to this entry. At first, this was being thought of by some segments of the press as a stop-gap to tide us over before the next Made Out Of Babies album. Hopefully now it will be the first of many powerful solo albums.

In storytelling, writers who wish to give advice to others who want to break into the market will often tell people things reflective of their own writing style. One thing that tends to be true is that one should get their reader’s attention as thoroughly as possible, and as quickly as possible. But my corollary to that advice is that one should never let out their strongest salvo at the very beginning. In that sense, both storytelling and musical performances are like a fight. A fight consists of numerous stages, just like a story or a piece of music. You never open with your strongest attack because your opponent will be at his strongest at the beginning of the fight, and thus more easily able to absorb it.