[kj] YEAR END POLL FOR `03

Alex Smith gathering@misera.net
Thu, 18 Dec 2003 14:47:16 -0500


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I too, must answer....


1) Your Name:   Alex in NYC

2) Your Age:    36 as of last October.

3) Are you married and have you any children?    Married with a child on the
way (April).

4) I live here:  Manhattan, New York City.

5) I've been a member of the Gathering since:  1998, or whenever I bought my
computer that is now sorely in need of an upgrade.

6) What do you want for X-mas?  For Mik to share his lottery winnings with
me. Seriously, I can't really think of anything specific. The Motorhead box
set would be nice.

7) Your biggest extravagance of the year?  Well, I just bought a print from
photographer Allen Tannenbaum of Devo's Halloween 1981 performance at Radio
City Music Hall, because it was the first concert I ever attended (I was
14), and that weren't cheap. I'm about to buy a new computer, but I'll be
able to write that off on my taxes as a work expense. My biggest
extravagance is invariably the baby, as the wife and I are now working out
that our financial situation is not what it should be.

8) Your biggest hopes for 2004?  For my wife and new baby to be happy and
healthy, more Killing Joke activity, a new job, for my wife's employers to
be a bit more flexible with her designs to work part-time and world peace.

9) What was the last album you bought,why, and how is it?:  THE ROUGH GUIDE
TO ASIAN UNDERGROUND, because I was hunting for the instrumental, "Streets
of Calcutta" by Ananda Shankar. The track itself is amazing....sort've a mix
of classic Bollywood multi-instrumentalism and paisley underground powerpop.
The rest of the compilation is sort've all over the place, but interesting
(though there's nothing as good as the Shankar track).

10) Not including the new Killing Joke album, what were your top five
favorite releases of the year? 
1. FEAST OF WIRE by Calexico
2. THE MAN ON THE BURNING TIGHTROPE by Firewater
3. ECHOES by the Rapture
4. ABSOLUTION by Muse
5. FEVER TO TELL by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

11) What live bands have you seen recently. Did they rate?  I saw Firewater
a couple of weeks back, and they kicked a man-sized platter of ass, as
always.  I saw Iron Maiden at the Garden several months back, and they put
on an energetic show as they're wont to do. I saw the White Stripes in a
relatively tiny club in Providence, RI and they sounded positively *METAL*.
I'm afraid I must echo the choirs of praise for that band. Sorry, haterz.
Oh, and I saw Killing Joke at Webster Hall, and though the performance was
brief, it was positively a religious experience.

12) Worst music you heard all year:  Some indie rock twerp named Scout
Niblett who apes the primitive/naive/spartan/childlike aesthetic to
mind-numbingly irritating degrees. Oh, nine-tenths of contemporary hip hop.

13) If I find out that the person I'm talking to is a big fan of ________, I
lose all interest in talking to them (note: your answer need not be
restricted to music):  Jay-Z, Jesus, George W. Bush, 50 Cent, Ronald Reagan,
Dave Matthews, Li'l Kim, Tupac Shakur, R. Kelly, Michael Jackson.

14) Band(s) most in need of reforming/touring/releasing new material: Devo,
Cocteau Twins, Cop $hoot Cop (they never will), The Wedding Present, Hugh
Cornwell back with the Stranglers.

15) Band(s) most in need of hanging it up and calling it a day: Kiss (and I
loved them, but please, please, please stop!!!)

16) Albums most in need of re-mastering and re-release deluxe stylee: Apart
from the entirety of the Killing Joke catalog, I'd say the debut album by
Belfegore (never released on compact disc, fer chrissakes) and HEADKICK
FACSIMILE by Cop Shoot Cop.

17) Most overrated music of the year:  50 Cent.

18) Most underrated music of the year:  Killing Joke (duh!)

19) Next to Killing Joke, my top five favorite bands/artists are: 
Firewater/Cop Shoot Cop, the Stranglers, Cocteau Twins, Julian Cope,
Skeleton Key. Loads more, by the way, like Buzzcocks, Motorhead, Siouxsie &
the Banshees, Devo, Iron Maiden, XTC, Echo & the Bunnymen, Gang of Four,
blah blah blah blah....

20) Express your views on Killing Joke's presence on the Internet: Honestly?
It's crap! Jester Joe's site is great, but he barely has the money/resources
to keep it as up to date as he'd like (and he does a great job, btw!) The
"official" site is a flash nightmare and so poorly maintained that it's
hardly worth bothering. AN IRRATIONAL DOMAIN is a joy, as was the late LAST
LAUGH site. But the fact that fan-run sites have more to offer than the
official site is a travesty. The `Net could've been a much more effective
place to market and promote the new album. Another opportunity squandered by
the whistleheads at Big Life.

22) Regarding the Joke, despite all the rumormongering, I'd really like the
following to happen:  I'd love to see that box set that Mike was talking
about, CHAOS FOR BREAKFAST, come to fruitiion. I'd love a new E.P. and live
album. A new studio album and ANOTHER TOUR. If the DVD ever sees the light
of day, please please please let it be compatible NTSC and not just PAL.

23) Did you get to see Killing Joke on this tour? If so, briefly explain
your reaction: It was truly a fantastic time, but I already wrote a huge
post about it, so no need to go over it again. It was magik.

24) What would you have rather seen on the album cover, other than the red
Krusty Clown?  On the front? A Coles design, of course. I'd really like to
see a Killing Joke 2003 Team Photo, complete with the inclusion of Raven
*AND* Youth, Grohl *AND* Parsons and Andy Gill in there as well. Suitable
for framing!

25) Favorite track on the new album: "Blood On Your Hands"

26) Least favorite track on the new album: "The House that Pain Built"

27) Were it up to you to have chosen the first single, it would have been: 
"Blood On Your Hands"

28) Have you managed to see "the Year of the Devil" as yet? Your thoughts?
Madani was lovely enough to send me a VHS copy of it, and it's actually
really good. Jaz is a hilarious presence throughout. Hunt it down! Well
worth a viewing.


29) Outside of Andy Gill, who would you like to see produce the next Killing
Joke record?
I know you can't turn back the clock, but bring back Chris Kimsey. And Mik
-- you *CAN* hear the difference when Youth's at the helm. Listen to how
busily muddled both PANDE and DEMOC sound, fer chrissakes! He is to Killing
Joke what Phil Spector was to the Beatles' LET IT BE. Strip off the
filligree, I say.


30) Killing Joke track that best sums up the world today:  Hell, too many to
choose from: "Wardance", "Complications", "Total Invasion", "Blood on Your
Hands" etc. etc. etc.

31) Have you bought anything from Malicious Damage yet? If not, WHAT THE
FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  Shirts, badges, posters and a big clock that
confuses all who look at it.

32) Goods you'd like to see made available on Mike Coles estimable site? 
I'd still like to see a shirt with the cover artwork from the "Eighties"
single on it. Beyond that, bring forth CHAOS FOR BREAKFAST!!!!!

33) Following the 2004 Elections, I'd like to see this man in the White
House:  I'm leaning towards John Kerry these days, or possibly Wes Clark.
But I'd rather see a fuckin' autistic orangutan in the White House than Bush
for another four years.

34) Do you feel 'safer' now that Saddam Hussein has been apprehended? Not at
all.

35) Now that he's in custody, I would handle Saddam this way:  The right
thing would be either an international tribunal or let the Iraqi people deal
with him in their own way.

36) Where is Osama Bin Laden:  Somewhere we don't expect. Laughing his beard
off.

37) Have we seen the last of terrorism courtesy of Islamists on the
homefront (US/UK/EUR)?  This is a stupid question, isn't it. Apologies. Of
course we haven't.

38) Do you feel prepared for another such instance?  How can one be,
honestly?

39) Do you think Iraq had anything to do with the events of September 11,
2001?  While I think Saddam probably giggled when it happened, I doubt they
had any hand in it. I have yet to see any evidence that credibly confirms as
much.

40) Where were you/what were you doing on that day?  I had the day off, and
was on my way back from midtown with my wife. We exited the subway station
at Astor Place and saw an implausibly huge column of smoke across the sky.
It went from there.

41) Were you the next American president, your first act in office would be:
 Re-concentrate all intelligence back on the hunt for Bin Laden and reduce
our presence in Iraq, supplanting U.S. troops with UN forces. 

42) Tony Blair is a: _________.  Bush's piss-boy, it seems.

43) They want replace Franklin Delano Roosevelt's face on the American Dime
with the face of Ronald Reagan. What is your reaction:  I'd save every dime
I came acroos, not spend them and melt them all down into a big, shiney
hammer and use it to bludgeon former Reagan speech-writer Peggy Noonan into
bloody, lifeless submission.

44) George W. Bush is an idiot: True or False. Explain your feeling why you
feel this way. Support your argument:  True, True and thrice True. Need
proof? Turn on the news. 

45) Under which American administration was the world/your own situation
better off: Bush's or Clinton's?  Inarguably Bill Clinton's.

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I too, must answer....<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<B>1) Your Name:</B> &nbsp;&nbsp;Alex in NYC<BR>
<BR>
<B>2) Your Age: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</B>36 as of last October.<BR>
<BR>
<B>3) Are you married and have you any children? </B>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Marr=
ied with a child on the way (April).<BR>
<BR>
<B>4) I live here:</B> &nbsp;Manhattan, New York City.<BR>
<BR>
<B>5) I've been a member of the Gathering since:</B> &nbsp;1998, or wheneve=
r I bought my computer that is now sorely in need of an upgrade.<BR>
<BR>
<B>6) What do you want for X-mas?</B> &nbsp;For Mik to share his lottery wi=
nnings with me. Seriously, I can't really think of anything specific. The Mo=
torhead box set would be nice.<BR>
<BR>
<B>7) Your biggest extravagance of the year?</B> &nbsp;Well, I just bought =
a print from photographer Allen Tannenbaum of Devo's Halloween 1981 performa=
nce at Radio City Music Hall, because it was the first concert I ever attend=
ed (I was 14), and that weren't cheap. I'm about to buy a new computer, but =
I'll be able to write that off on my taxes as a work expense. My biggest ext=
ravagance is invariably the baby, as the wife and I are now working out that=
 our financial situation is not what it should be.<BR>
<BR>
<B>8) Your biggest hopes for 2004? </B>&nbsp;For my wife and new baby to be=
 happy and healthy, more Killing Joke activity, a new job, for my wife's emp=
loyers to be a bit more flexible with her designs to work part-time and worl=
d peace.<BR>
<BR>
<B>9) What was the last album you bought,why, and how is it?:</B> &nbsp;THE=
 ROUGH GUIDE TO ASIAN UNDERGROUND, because I was hunting for the instrumenta=
l, &quot;Streets of Calcutta&quot; by Ananda Shankar. The track itself is am=
azing....sort've a mix of classic Bollywood multi-instrumentalism and paisle=
y underground powerpop. The rest of the compilation is sort've all over the =
place, but interesting (though there's nothing as good as the Shankar track)=
.<BR>
<BR>
<B>10) Not including the new Killing Joke album, what were your top five fa=
vorite releases of the year? <BR>
</B>1. FEAST OF WIRE by Calexico<BR>
2. THE MAN ON THE BURNING TIGHTROPE by Firewater<BR>
3. ECHOES by the Rapture<BR>
4. ABSOLUTION by Muse<BR>
5. FEVER TO TELL by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs<BR>
<BR>
<B>11) What live bands have you seen recently. Did they rate?</B> &nbsp;I s=
aw Firewater a couple of weeks back, and they kicked a man-sized platter of =
ass, as always. &nbsp;I saw Iron Maiden at the Garden several months back, a=
nd they put on an energetic show as they're wont to do. I saw the White Stri=
pes in a relatively tiny club in Providence, RI and they sounded positively =
*METAL*. I'm afraid I must echo the choirs of praise for that band. Sorry, h=
aterz. Oh, and I saw Killing Joke at Webster Hall, and though the performanc=
e was brief, it was positively a religious experience.<BR>
<BR>
<B>12) Worst music you heard all year:</B> &nbsp;Some indie rock twerp name=
d Scout Niblett who apes the primitive/naive/spartan/childlike aesthetic to =
mind-numbingly irritating degrees. Oh, nine-tenths of contemporary hip hop.<=
BR>
<BR>
<B>13) If I find out that the person I'm talking to is a big fan of _______=
_, I lose all interest in talking to them (note: your answer need not be res=
tricted to music):</B> &nbsp;Jay-Z, Jesus, George W. Bush, 50 Cent, Ronald R=
eagan, Dave Matthews, Li'l Kim, Tupac Shakur, R. Kelly, Michael Jackson.<BR>
<BR>
<B>14) Band(s) most in need of reforming/touring/releasing new material:</B=
> Devo, Cocteau Twins, Cop $hoot Cop (they never will), The Wedding Present,=
 Hugh Cornwell back with the Stranglers.<BR>
<BR>
<B>15) Band(s) most in need of hanging it up and calling it a day:</B> Kiss=
 (and I loved them, but please, please, please stop!!!)<BR>
<BR>
<B>16) Albums most in need of re-mastering and re-release deluxe stylee:</B=
> Apart from the entirety of the Killing Joke catalog, I'd say the debut alb=
um by Belfegore (never released on compact disc, fer chrissakes) and HEADKIC=
K FACSIMILE by Cop Shoot Cop.<BR>
<BR>
<B>17) Most overrated music of the year:</B> &nbsp;50 Cent.<BR>
<BR>
<B>18) Most underrated music of the year:</B> &nbsp;Killing Joke (duh!)<BR>
<BR>
<B>19) Next to Killing Joke, my top five favorite bands/artists are:</B> &n=
bsp;Firewater/Cop Shoot Cop, the Stranglers, Cocteau Twins, Julian Cope, Ske=
leton Key. Loads more, by the way, like Buzzcocks, Motorhead, Siouxsie &amp;=
 the Banshees, Devo, Iron Maiden, XTC, Echo &amp; the Bunnymen, Gang of Four=
, blah blah blah blah....<BR>
<BR>
<B>20) Express your views on Killing Joke's presence on the Internet:</B> H=
onestly? It's crap! Jester Joe's site is great, but he barely has the money/=
resources to keep it as up to date as he'd like (and he does a great job, bt=
w!) The &quot;official&quot; site is a flash nightmare and so poorly maintai=
ned that it's hardly worth bothering. AN IRRATIONAL DOMAIN is a joy, as was =
the late LAST LAUGH site. But the fact that fan-run sites have more to offer=
 than the official site is a travesty. The `Net could've been a much more ef=
fective place to market and promote the new album. Another opportunity squan=
dered by the whistleheads at Big Life.<BR>
<BR>
<B>22) Regarding the Joke, despite all the rumormongering, I'd really like =
the following to happen: &nbsp;</B>I'd love to see that box set that Mike wa=
s talking about, CHAOS FOR BREAKFAST, come to fruitiion. I'd love a new E.P.=
 and live album. A new studio album and ANOTHER TOUR. If the DVD ever sees t=
he light of day, please please please let it be compatible NTSC and not just=
 PAL.<BR>
<BR>
<B>23) Did you get to see Killing Joke on this tour? If so, briefly explain=
 your reaction: </B>It was truly a fantastic time, but I already wrote a hug=
e post about it, so no need to go over it again. It was magik.<BR>
<BR>
<B>24) What would you have rather seen on the album cover, other than the r=
ed Krusty Clown?</B> &nbsp;On the front? A Coles design, of course. I'd real=
ly like to see a Killing Joke 2003 Team Photo, complete with the inclusion o=
f Raven *AND* Youth, Grohl *AND* Parsons and Andy Gill in there as well. Sui=
table for framing!<BR>
<BR>
<B>25) Favorite track on the new album:</B> &quot;Blood On Your Hands&quot;=
<BR>
<BR>
<B>26) Least favorite track on the new album: </B>&quot;The House that Pain=
 Built&quot;<BR>
<BR>
<B>27) Were it up to you to have chosen the first single, it would have bee=
n:</B> &nbsp;&quot;Blood On Your Hands&quot;<BR>
<BR>
<B>28) Have you managed to see &quot;the Year of the Devil&quot; as yet? Yo=
ur thoughts?<BR>
</B>Madani was lovely enough to send me a VHS copy of it, and it's actually=
 really good. Jaz is a hilarious presence throughout. Hunt it down! Well wor=
th a viewing.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<B>29) Outside of Andy Gill, who would you like to see produce the next Kil=
ling Joke record?<BR>
</B>I know you can't turn back the clock, but bring back Chris Kimsey. And =
Mik -- you *CAN* hear the difference when Youth's at the helm. Listen to how=
 busily muddled both PANDE and DEMOC sound, fer chrissakes! He is to Killing=
 Joke what Phil Spector was to the Beatles' LET IT BE. Strip off the filligr=
ee, I say.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<B>30) Killing Joke track that best sums up the world today:</B> &nbsp;Hell=
, too many to choose from: &quot;Wardance&quot;, &quot;Complications&quot;, =
&quot;Total Invasion&quot;, &quot;Blood on Your Hands&quot; etc. etc. etc.<B=
R>
<BR>
<B>31) Have you bought anything from Malicious Damage yet? If not, WHAT THE=
 FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?</B> &nbsp;Shirts, badges, posters and a big clock=
 that confuses all who look at it.<BR>
<BR>
<B>32) Goods you'd like to see made available on Mike Coles estimable site?=
 &nbsp;</B>I'd still like to see a shirt with the cover artwork from the &qu=
ot;Eighties&quot; single on it. Beyond that, bring forth CHAOS FOR BREAKFAST=
!!!!!<BR>
<BR>
<B>33) Following the 2004 Elections, I'd like to see this man in the White =
House:</B> &nbsp;I'm leaning towards John Kerry these days, or possibly Wes =
Clark. But I'd rather see a fuckin' autistic orangutan in the White House th=
an Bush for another four years.<BR>
<BR>
<B>34) Do you feel 'safer' now that Saddam Hussein has been apprehended?</B=
> Not at all.<BR>
<BR>
<B>35) Now that he's in custody, I would handle Saddam this way: &nbsp;</B>=
The right thing would be either an international tribunal or let the Iraqi p=
eople deal with him in their own way.<BR>
<BR>
<B>36) Where is Osama Bin Laden: </B>&nbsp;Somewhere we don't expect. Laugh=
ing his beard off.<BR>
<BR>
<B>37) Have we seen the last of terrorism courtesy of Islamists on the home=
front (US/UK/EUR)? </B>&nbsp;This is a stupid question, isn't it. Apologies.=
 Of course we haven't.<BR>
<BR>
<B>38) Do you feel prepared for another such instance? </B>&nbsp;How can on=
e be, honestly?<BR>
<BR>
<B>39) Do you think Iraq had anything to do with the events of September 11=
, 2001?</B> &nbsp;While I think Saddam probably giggled when it happened, I =
doubt they had any hand in it. I have yet to see any evidence that credibly =
confirms as much.<BR>
<BR>
<B>40) Where were you/what were you doing on that day? </B>&nbsp;I had the =
day off, and was on my way back from midtown with my wife. We exited the sub=
way station at Astor Place and saw an implausibly huge column of smoke acros=
s the sky. It went from there.<BR>
<BR>
<B>41) Were you the next American president, your first act in office would=
 be:</B> &nbsp;Re-concentrate all intelligence back on the hunt for Bin Lade=
n and reduce our presence in Iraq, supplanting U.S. troops with UN forces. <=
BR>
<BR>
<B>42) Tony Blair is a: _________.</B> &nbsp;Bush's piss-boy, it seems.<BR>
<BR>
<B>43) They want replace Franklin Delano Roosevelt's face on the American D=
ime with the face of Ronald Reagan. What is your reaction: </B>&nbsp;I'd sav=
e every dime I came acroos, not spend them and melt them all down into a big=
, shiney hammer and use it to bludgeon former Reagan speech-writer Peggy Noo=
nan into bloody, lifeless submission.<BR>
<BR>
<B>44) George W. Bush is an idiot: True or False. Explain your feeling why =
you feel this way. Support your argument: &nbsp;</B>True, True and thrice Tr=
ue. Need proof? Turn on the news. <BR>
<BR>
<B>45) Under which American administration was the world/your own situation=
 better off: Bush's or Clinton's?</B> &nbsp;Inarguably Bill Clinton's.<BR>
<BR>
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