WHAT HOBOS LIKE US CAN DO

Let me break it down for you. Let me make it clear for you. Let me drop elucidatory gems on this shit as best I can. We do AWESOME when we table. Note: "Table" as a verb in this context means "sit behind a table repping Iron Rail, spreading subversive writing."

We could always table more. We could do operas, we could just cold table lunchtime at a college, we could table cultural events-- art openings, lectures, parades, anything where people are. Now, it would help if we had more handbills we could hand out while tabling, to bring people in to the space. We're working on that.

In the meantime, people-- you, me, everybody-- want answers to why modern existence is such a hideous nightmare. Those are answers our po-faced prescriptive 'zines and bajillions of Derrick Jensen books can provide.

Following, please find a list of December musical performances it would be cool to table. THANK YOU for keeping the Iron Rail alive.

12/09 - Zoroaster @ Hi Ho (METAL)
12/11 - Haste the Day @ Cypress (HARDCORE)
12/13 - Metrnome the City @ Circle Bar (INDIE)
12/13 - Zydepunks @ Saturn Bar (PUNK)
12/17 - Further Reasoning @ Howlin Wolf (PUNK)
12/18 - Ritual Killer @ The Bar (METAL)
12/19 - Benjy Davis @ Howlin Wolf (INDIE)
12/20 - Soul Rebels @ Dragon's Den
12/20 - Meadow Flow @ Dragon's Den (INDIE)
12/20 - Bywater Market @ Markey Park
12/20 - Mod Night @ Saturn Bar
12/23 - Meriwether @ Howlin Wolf (INDIE)
12/27 - Capitol Offense @ Dragon's Den (PUNK)
12/30 - Revolutionary Youth @ Neutral Ground (PUNK)

More information about these specific shows as well as a superabundant superabundance of other crap can be found superabundantly at noladiy.org. Also, the really good person to get ahold of if you're down to table any of these shows, or any other musical concert, is flyerstorm AT yahoo DOT com. He's got the hookups.

the islands

I do still sometimes think of you. When I'm listening to Diamond Head or Grim Reaper, the kind of shit nobody else except you ever really appreciated-- and it's night-time, and maybe I'm caffeinated, it's not so hard to drift back there: Driving the beat-to-hell (but still V6 balls-out) Camry, both of us drunk as lords, wheeling wildly among the glinting neon night-time surf shops and resort hotels of the islands. Always on the way to somewhere, and I can still see you in the passenger seat, bare feet on the dash, chugging Sparks Light, tossing the cans out the windows, arguing about something, complaining about something, hating something together-- didn't it sustain us? wallowing in the sea air, the repeating sidewalkless cul-de-sacs and Super-Mario-World hyperreal landscaping, everything framed against the massive, serene, dolphin-infested bathtub of the Gulf of Mexico.

Inter-island drawbridges, touristy "pirate" ships, squalid overpriced fish shacks where the staff all fucked each other, ten hundred food-service jobs, delivery, retail, photography, deckhand, covering ribbon cuttings and zoning disputes, 10 articles a week under silly fake names, scamming free meals for advertorial write-ups. Didn't we live large? Trashing one sublet after another, ruining acres of carpet with blenders of slushy day-glo, insane glittering-sun hangovers, blown deadlines and bold long-necked white birds, swerving back home across floodlit causeways after a night raising hell at the only cool bar that wouldn't card you, fighting about who flirted with whom, ferocious drunken sex that settled nothing, or waking up bleary facedown on the beach, or lawn, or condominium parking lot.

God how good it was, hunched over the iMac, so far gone I had to cover one eye to write, pounding out a profile of a senior-center inhabitant for Tuesday's edition while you were out fucking the girl from the tattoo shop, and the stereo so loud it shook the walls, so loud I couldn't hear the cops hammering on the door, and the money from the house sale steadily dwindling, emptying out the IRA, each condo smaller than the previous, then to apartments, then sharing a room in a converted garage that flooded, ruining your record collection. How broke we went! The gun shows, the palmettos all over our walls, the emerald lizards and noon-time downpours, hands shaking for hair of the dog, hustling short money out of leathery "swingers," Western Union from the exes, laughing with each other at our audacity.

Didn't we have fun? Horrible parties at your horrible co-workers' horrible apartments-- meth, bong hits, playstation 2 and Rap-Metal-- absolutely no control, landlord after landlord, employer after employer, and never my fault, never yours, always the hateful world's. What a team we were, darling, what an amazing team.

BOW TO SANTA'S BLEND

This has nothing to do with Santa's Blend, though while we're on the subject, isn't it delicious? Chocolatey, Pepperminty, Cockroachleggy, it's the special coffee with the dusty zing, the coffee that says "Iron Rail." God, even writing about it makes me crave a murky jarful.

But really, this post is about Iron Rail volunteers tabling popular music concerts. If you are remotely connected with the Iron Rail now or at any past point and disinclined to swindle us, please accept this cordial invitation to spend an evening or two staffing a table at a local music event. You can meet people and sell them things and tell them about the Iron Rail... many of our most valuable collective members first learned of the Rail's existence by just such means.

Following is a list of October shows it would be cool to Table. If you are interested in attending and shilling radical/anarchist books and 'zines at any of these shows-- specific shows, or just generally-- please send an e-mail to our Live Music coordinator, the Big Dawg of New Orleans punk: flyerstorm AT yahoo.com

OCTOBER
Thu 02 - Theresa Andersson | The City Life | Big Blue Marble @ Howlin Wolf
Thu 02 - Guitar Lightning Lee and His Thunder Band | The Young | Hollywood Blues | King Louie One Man Band @ Saturn Bar
Fri 03 - Rotary Downs | MyNameIsJohnMichael @ The Republic
Sat 04 - Antenna Inn | The Revivalists | The Other Planets @ One Eyed Jacks
Sat 04 - Start Select | Pumpkin | Party Time | Epic @ Parlays
Mon 06 - Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship? | Nick Jaina @ Dragons Den
Tue 07 - Sourvein | Zoroaster | Hellkontroll | Thou @ Hi Ho Lounge
Wed 08 - Elysium | Consumed | Sisera | Raum @ Hi Ho
Wed 08 - Saviours | Hawg Jaw | Thou @ One Eyed Jacks
Wed 08 - The Walkmen | The City Life @ Republic
Wed 08 - Helios Creed | MC Trachiotomy and th' Cone of Uncertainty | Rampede @ Saturn Bar
Thu 09 - My Graveyard Jaw | Deering + Down | Jamie Randolf @ Dragon's Den
Thu 09 - The Dead Science @ Hi Ho
Fri 10 - I, Octopus | Meadow Flow | Smiley With A Knife | Tony Italiano @ Dragons Den
Sat 11 - Spickle | Terranova @ Checkpoints
Sat 11 - The Pallbearers | Switchblade Combs | All Rise | Blanks 77 @ Hi Ho
Wed 15 - Sunburned Hand of the Man | Rob Cambre / Donald Miller duo @ Hi Ho
Thu 16 - Hail Seizures | Chin Up, Meriwether | A Collective of Dirt @ Ducbo
Fri 17 - Spider Bags | The Golden Boys | Die Rotzz | RomanGabrielTodd's Beast Rising Up Out of the Sea @ Saturn Bar
Sat 18 - Black Tusk | A Hanging @ Saturn Bar
Sun 19 - Ladyfest 2008 @ the Big Top
Sun 19 - Bridge and Tunnel | O Pioneers! @ Dragons Den
Sun 19 - Tim Green + Steve Masakowski + Larry Sieberth + Doug Belote @ Hi Ho
Tue 21 - Jack of Heart | Die Rotzz @ Saturn Bar
Sat 25 - Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship? | Japanther | Killer Dreamer | Turboslut @ Heavy Metal Parking Lot
Sat 25 - Fishbone @ Dragons Den
Sun 26 - Watain | Withered | Book of Black Earth | Ritual Killer @ Dragons Den
Tue 28 - The Matadors of Shame | Party Time @ 4722 Palmyra (house show)
Wed 29 - The Screaming Females | Pumpkin | Spring Break Shark Attack @ Zeitgeist
Thu 30 - Evil Army | A Hanging | Tirefire @ Heavy Metal Parking Lot
Fri 31 - Zydepunks (plus, early show with Angry Banana) @ Dragons Den

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE 'ZINE ARCHIVE ARE STRONG

COULD WE POSSIBLY SEE / THE KEEPER OF ALL THE KEYS

The Iron Rail will NOT be open today, Thursday, September 4th, due to ion beams.

We will however be open FRIDAY, as well as EVERY SINGLE DAY THEREAFTER!

Saturday Night's Alright

Two great events happening this Saturday, March 1st.

IRON RAIL BENEFIT:
Blair Gimma + Jon Crocker
7pm at Py's Makeout Club
1909 Jackson Ave. Apt A (middle door)
uptown New Orleans

CONSTANCE BOOK RELEASE PARTY:
7pm at Barrister's Gallery
2331 St. Claude Ave (at Spain St.)
bywater New Orleans

Blair Gimma - At the Halfmoon
Jon Crocker - State Route 17

dainty doo-dads for the despondent

Movie Nights
Tonight, as I'm writing this entry, the folks are over at Iron Rail for movie night enjoying Harlan County USA. If you've fucked up like I have and wish you could somehow redeem yourself from the great fuckup that is missing this week's Iron Rail movie night, be still, dear readers, your chance at redemption comes next week:
Tuesday, February 26, 2008: Iron Rail Movie Night presents Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance.

Iron Rail Shows.
March 1 - Blair Gimma & Jon Crocker blast your ears with sonic sounds rivaling the best coming out of tin pan alley.
March 10 - Madeline Adams & Nana Grizol turn those frowns upside down.
March 17 - Peter Young (recently released political prisoner) spoken word.
March 26 - Chris Clavin shall masquarade as Captain Chaos (with Eric Ayoyye and The Let Down).


Suggestion.
Spend your next birthday listening to Phil Ochs and reading Dostoevsky. Become Raskolnikov.
Phil Ochs - Love Me I'm a Liberal

<3-coach

solid waste aftertaste

Hey all!
Since most of the people reading this are people who just happen to open the internet at Iron Rail, let me let you know something. We Love You. Its true. We, the people who take the time out of our lives to open, staff, restock, take care of the books for, sweep the floors of and attend weekly meetings at Iron Rail love you and we love doing what we do for Iron Rail.

Please keep that in mind while you use the space.

Comments & Blog Use!
I've changed the blog's settings so anyone can comment. Even anonymously. So I think you should do that. Especially if you use the computers in the Library Space and want to contribute to the discussion. Its an easy way to let us know what you think without having to be confrontational or any awkward feeling. Sweet!
If you're a collective member or would like to contribute to to blog with your gmail account send me an email and I'll invite you or you can invite yourself. This way you'll never have to sign out of your gmail account!


Bubba Hotep!
We couldn't find a copy of The Dancing Outlaw to show on Tuesday so we'll be watching MY copy of Bubba Hotep, an awesome movie about Elvis' life in a West Texas old-folks home. The King teams up with John F. Kennedy and battles a Mummy bent on consuming the invalid souls of the residents.

Sounds sweet? It is. Bring a friend.

Random Music.
Here are a couple songs I've found in the past week and like.
The Polyphonic Spree - Lithium **Nirvana Cover**
Lil Wayne - Lightin' up my LALA

See ya around! Now why not comment on these issues!?
-Coach

Movies, Books, Music

Movies on Tuesdays at Iron Rail.
Last night a good sized crowd came and watched Mardi Gras made in China and learned about the factory where Mardi Gras beads are made.
Next week we're showing By Invitation Only, another local film documenting the exclusivity of the Old School, Uptown Mardi Gras crews. We're hoping for another large crowd and asking those who do come to please bring donations for the filmmaker.
Feb. 5 - No Movie [Mardi Gras]
Feb.12- Dancing Outlaw
Feb.19- Harlan Co. USA
Feb.26-Koyaanisquatsi

New Books At Iron Rail
A People's History of the US (Howard Zinn)
Expect Resistance (Crimethinc)
Coming Out The Door for the 9th ward
...and the rest of The Neighborhood Story Project series
Endgame (volumes I&II; Derrick Jensen)
Feminism is for Everybody (Bell Hooks)
Open Veins of Latin America (Eduardo Galeamo)
The Bonnot Gang (French anarcho criminalists)
Slingshot 2008 Organizers, Large and Small

New Records At Iron Rail
Fugazi LPs and 7"s (every release)
Chain of Strength, What Still Holds True LP
Youth of Today (both LPs)
Dillinger Four (all the LPs)
Earth Crisis (All Out War/Firestorm LP)
Pygmy Lush, Bitter River LP
Ghastly City Sleep, s/t LP
Braid, Lucky to Be Alive LPx2

Drop in!
-Coach