IRT Magazine

Not to turn IRT into some kind of TMZ clone or anything, I just thought this was interesting considering the fact that I really did have a dream of getting a lapdance from her last night. Thank you. -Ed.

From TMZ:

TMZ has obtained the photograph in question, a headshot of Kat that reads, “Burn in hell Jewbag.” No one witnessed Kat write the message, but Chris Garver, another tattoo artist on “Miami Ink,” tells TMZ Kat personally handed him the photo.

When Ami, who is Jewish, received the photo, sources tell us he went to TLC and was rebuffed. We’re told after Ami had a lawyer intervene, TLC went to a handwriting analyst who concluded “there is a 99% probability that Kat Von D” wrote the message. In early July 2007, Avi’s lawyer went to TLC with the analysis. They simply sent him a letter back that acknowledged receiving the results and said, “We trust that this information will be kept strictly confidential.”

When contacted about the photo, Ami told TMZ he wasn’t as offended by the photo as he was by the indifference toward it, saying, “What is more devastating to me, and much more shameful is when people ignore something like this for the sake of the money or self-interest. That is the real ‘punch in the gut.’”

TLC gave TMZ this statement: “A publicity photo was brought to the network’s attention eight months ago that contained extraordinarily offensive language. A full investigation was immediately conducted to determine whether anyone associated with the network was involved. Kat vehemently denied authoring the text and after completing the investigation, it was determined that insufficient evidence existed to conclude that she had. Therefore, no disciplinary action was taken. The network always takes these matters seriously and follows what we believe to be an appropriate course of action as dictated by the circumstances and available information.”

Kat’s personal publicist issued this statement: “The recent accusation of a publicity photo of me with offensive and anti-semitic comments and graphics allegedly written by me is completely false and unfounded, and clearly a forgery. This was already proven many months ago to be 100 percent untrue. I always have been, and will continue to be an advocate for tolerance of all races, religions and ways of life.”

But Kat Von D is telling her fans the truth on her MySpace page. In part, her MySpace message says:

“I cannot begin to tell you how disgusted and disappointed i am with the recent rumors that started circulating around town, all of which are COMPLETELY FALSE.

Against the advice of my publicist, agent and others, I have decided to be completely open and honest about the following, because you guys deserve that.”

Apparently, Kat Von D believes that one of her photos (which for some time she gave out to anyone who requested one), got into the wrong hands, saying:

“For those of you that HAVE received signed 8×10’s from me in the past, you can CLEARLY see that this is a slanderous case of FORGERY, FRAUD, and attempt at getting attention.”

And this is likely the last we’ll hear from Kat Von D:

“I am in no way, planning on discussing this topic any further with press, and refuse to feed into this drama. this is what they want, attention. But I have always felt like my MySpace was a place where true fans go, and we can stay connected through my blogs and bulletins. This is why I feel this inclined to let you guys be aware of the truth.”

Story: Ron Hart

Sci-fi instrumentalists Zombi create some of the creepiest analog soundtracks to your worst nightmares since Wendy Carlos’ haunting work for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. However, on his solo debut for Relapse Records, entitled The Henge, keymaster Steve Moore has created a snythesized symphony more on par with Rebecca DeMornay’s hot train fuck scene in Risky Business than running into the scariest girls of all time in the hall of the Overlook Hotel. To celebrate this most excellent release, IRT recently asked this modern-day Vangelis for the doom-metal set to list his five favorite synth-based albums of all time, and here’s what he gave us:

Tangerine Dream Stratosfear

Best of Artist and Best of Genre, definitely. This was the first Tangerine Dream album I heard, and really the album that got me interested in Berlin School-style electronic composition in the first place. The combination of stark, minimal bass sequences against a wash of mellotron and blues-based guitar licks opened new worlds for me. Every time I listen to this album I get the same feeling I did when I first heard it.

Michael Hoenig Departure From The Northern Wasteland.

Hoenig’s propulsive sequencing and dramatic synth leads give this album a sense of urgency and motion that draws the listener in, whisking him or her away to far off, fabled lands. I probably didn’t need to include “her” in that last sentence.

John Carpenter Halloween III: Season of the Witch Soundtrack

Though the film’s worth has been debated for decades, the soundtrack is untouchable.

Frantic and lopsided sequences with gnarly, cross-modulated Prophet 5 stingers. There are very serene moments as well, giving this soundtrack a depth rarely achived in either horror film soundtracks or electronic albums. And for the record, I really did like this movie.

Klaus Schulze Moondawn

It is difficult to accept that a man made this album, and that it hasn’t always existed like the elements. This album is as spacey and droney and lush and dreamy and hypnotic as anything you could hope to ever imagine - only Schulze imagined and realized all of this over 30 years ago. For reference: “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee and “Silly Love Songs” by Wings were the top singles of that year.

Steve Roach The Magnificent Void

While it isn’t quite old enough to have achieved classic status (recorded in 1996), it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. The 20-minute-long closing track, “Altus,” is a dark and vast soundscape built around a simple, repetitive chord progression, but the result is so massive and climactic one might feel pangs of withdrawal when the track inevitably ends.

Just  another reason why Sean Penn is the man (of course beyond Jeff Spicoli):

Message from Sean Penn to October 2, 2006 to an emergency organizing meeting held for the Oct. 5 protests to drive out the Bush regime in NYC’s Cooper Union.  Message read by Mark Ruffalo.

Watch:  [wmv]  [mov]

Listen:  [mp3]

Transcript:

The arrogant, the misguided, the cowards would argue that an immediate pull-out of our troops from Iraq would inspire lack of confidence and the lost credibility of the United States.  President Bush and his functionaries indeed have lost enormous credibility for the perception of our country internationally.  Perhaps more damaging than that, they have created the greatest cultural, religious, and political divide domestically since our own Civil War.

We the people of the United States have a unique opportunity.  We can show each other and the world that what the Bush administration claims is their mission is not ours.  And, by leading our country as a citizenry and demanding of our government an immediate end to our own military and profit investments in Iraq, display for the entire world that democracy is a government of the people.  What more powerful message to send the world than that we ourselves can choose – in policy, in peace, and in humanitarian support.

In fascism, one serves the State.  Let’s show the world that with democracy, we can make the State do our bidding, and that such bids would not be the blind ones, given exclusively to the friends of power.  But rather, the domain of the people of freedom everywhere.  This is an administration that advocates torture, deceives the public, spends billions of dollars on a failed war.  This is an administration where in the year of Katrina, Exxon Mobil claimed the highest profit margin in the history of world business.  It is an administration that belittles, demeans, deceives, and indeed kills our brothers, our sisters, our sons, and our daughters.

At the U.S./Mexico border, we panic at the notion of illegal entry, without blinking an eye as our elderly line up every Saturday morning with wheelchairs, walkers, canes and joint pain, queued up in the desert heat to enter Mexico where they can purchase affordable medication.  In the human family, this President is indeed pushing his wheelchair-bound grandmother down the stairs with a smile on his face.  Everyone knows that these are true statements.  Everyone.  Some are ashamed of where they’ve put their support in the past, their passivity in the present, with the courage of their minds and hearts at bay.  What an exciting thing to reverse this as one America and show the world who wears the pants in this house.

Stand up as an American and join World Can’t Wait and those demonstrating this Thursday, October 5^th.

Out of Iraq.  And out with Bush.

SAYING GOODBYE TO A MUCH RESPECTED COMPETITOR IN OUR CITY’S FOYERS

By Ed.

In a letter from Laris Kreslins, former publisher of Arthur and my one-time co-worker at SHOUT Magazine here in New York, he stated the following:

02/25/2007
Dear Arthur Friends,

As of Friday, Feb. 23rd, Arthur Magazine is on indefinite hiatus. We at Lime Publishing, the current publisher, had been working toward transitioning operations to a new publisher since the start of the year. A breakdown this past week in negotiations for the future of the magazine led to an unfortunate and perplexing announcement that “Arthur is Dead.”

This poorly-timed message was sent out, against explicit wishes of Lime Publishing, to the public before the staff, advertisers or contributors were notified. It was disheartening to receive distressed phone calls from dedicated people in the Arthur community, who devoted their time and creative energy on the magazine.

The flood of calls and emails we’ve been receiving from friends and readers is heartwarming and reassuring, especially after what has been a difficult time. The support we’ve seen is tantamount to the strength of the Arthur community. Thank you to staff, contributors, distributors, readers and advertisers for all your dedication. We will post Thank You’s on the Arthur site to demonstrate just how many people have contributed in so many ways to Arthur and made it the celebrated paper it is.

The current hiatus may still lead to future opportunities for Arthur, but for the time being we are paring down operations. The website will be kept up as an online store for back issues and other merchandise. An archive of all our Arthur issues as PDFs will also be available for people to access.

Shortly we will be sending notifications to subscribers for options on cancelled subscriptions.

Please check back often for updates.

Sincerely,
Laris Kreslins
Lime Publishing
laris@arthurmag.com

It’s a shame when a fellow purveyor of truth and soul goes down. And as a music fan, I am truly sad for the loss of a great, original publication who believed in what they were doing to the point of physical and spiritual exhaustion.

There is no payday in what we do, and once you start thinking you’re gonna strike it rich in the business of trying to breathe true culture back into the lungs of this country, like my old friend Mr. Kreslins allegedly did, something is gonna give.

So with that said, I bid a modest thanks for keeping us on our toes, fellas. I’m gonna miss seeing you guys on the warpath.

Respect,

Ed.

I’ve always had the feeling that emo is a genre that completely exists and is created by and for the young. That it would never grow or survive longer then the current fans are young enough to appreciate it. Two albums have come out over the five months that have changed my mind. The first is My Chemical Romance’s “The Black Parade”. Beyond any weak “concept” involving a character called “The Patient”, this album works simply because of pure epic bravado. Singer Gerard Way has worshiped Freddy Mercury and Queen for the past few years and the influence of Fred and company could not be more blatant. No band in their right mind should make songs as bombastic and over the top as the songs on TBP. Simply put this band has balls and a penchant for catchy, epic pop tunes. You want to be an artist you’ve got to be wiling to let self consciousness fall by the wayside. MCR has done that with this record. The second record is Brand New’s “The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me”. It is obvious that between the last album and this album the members of Brand New have gone through some serious dark shit. There are songs about lost love, but mostly these songs deal with a deep disillusionment and a search for faith in a hostel world. For instance “Limousine” is a song written about a little girl who was decapitated in a car accident on Long Island. The music reminds me a bit of what the Afghan Whigs used to do. You can dismiss these bands because they are on the cover of Alternative Press, but you’re missin’ out.

Editor’s Note: This is the unpublished version of my Letter From The Editor I ran in the Winter 2007 issue of IRT. Initially, I had cut it on account of music editor Rob Harvilla’s kind albeit neutral mention of our humble publication in his CMJ blog as a sign of solidarity. But after reading the Pazz and Jop issue of the new Voice, which not only fails to thank any of the critics who have been submitting ballots for umpteen years (2006 being my 9th year, personally), but also completely eschews the original P & J poobahs’, Messrs. Chuck Eddy and Robert Christgau, kind gesture of posting all of the polling critics’ top ten lists and comments on their website. How’s that for a fine fuck you, huh? So just on principle, here is my original, uncut Letter From The Editor for Winter 2007, complete with my initial commentary on the newly diluted, New Times-ruined Village Voice: