Crib Notes

Judi Chicago – “Fun City” from Judi Chicago on Vimeo.

Fun City w/ Judi Chicago & Friends. Sat., Sept. 26. Free 9 p.m. The Glenn Hotel, 110 Marietta St.

Bookmark to:

The Coathangers have come a long way since releasing a self-titled debut in September 2007. Scramble, the sophomore album from Atlanta’s premier lady punk quartet (their first was released on Rob’s House) is full of the noisy, yappy, sometimes endearing, and sometimes squelching chatter that has made them such a divisive act. But there’s an air of confidence driving the sharper writing and visceral deliveries on such songs as “Toomerhead” and “Arthritus Sux.”

The slower tempo heard on the album’s stand-out cut, “Stop, Stomp, Stompin,’” and the piano and noise-laced chant of “Sonic You” channel the tension of the group’s chaotic beginnings into a more refined sound. Continue reading.

See how much their time in the trenches has honed their terse, punk rock anthems tonight when they headline a show at the Earl with Can Can and Judi Chicago.

$8. 8 p.m. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Rd. 404-522-3950.

The Coathangers “Stop, Stomp, Stompin” mp3

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark to:

Twin Tigers

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Judi Chicagos’ Ben Coleman breaks out in a hot sweat over James Brown’s 1967 LP Cold Sweat while performing at Criminal Records for Record Store Day on Sat., April 18.

(Photo by Joe Choy)

Bookmark to:

For the third installment of Judi Chicago’s Dancing residency at 529, Ben Coleman and Travis Thatcher are putting on an all-out rave. The cover charge is $5 but if you RSVP before March 28, you can get in free.

The Judies will play a live show and will be joined on the bill by Chief Acid Officer, who will lay down a deep, acid house set. Afterward the Judi Jukebox DJ set will fire up and close out the evening.

Judi Chicago will be performing live (hooray!), and the Judi Chicago Jukebox will be rocking the room until beddy-bos. The jukebox will serve you a vast range of tasty treats, from modern day electronics (Dubstep, Bassline, Fidget, Electro) to old skool classics (Acid House, Rave, Electro Funk, Disco, Hip Hop, Jungle) with a whole load of other shit thrown in (Dancehall, Grime, and even some of that good old New-Order-indie-kid-dance-music). IT’S FUN.

“Cold Cuts” mp3 from Judi Chicago’s second LP, Fun City due out this summer.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

This Saturday night (Jan. 24th) Judi Chicago will kick-off their new monthly residency at 529 called Dancing. The show will feature performances from local up-and-comer’s Sealions, as well as a live set by Judi Chicago, followed by a pretty intense DJ set that is said will involve “a mass of live electronics and toys that are synched-up to the tunes” they’re spinning.

If the description of their DJ set fills your head with images of something akin to a scene lifted straight out of the video for Herbie Hancock’s 1983 break dance-era classic “Rockit,” you’re probably on the right page.

Dancing will take place on the 4th Saturday night of every month at 529. Head over to the Atlanta Music Guide and you can check out a break down of the Judi’s favorite dance floor fillers.

… and yes, “Rockit” made their list.

$5. 9 p.m. 529 is located at 529 Flat Shoals Rd. (across the street from the Flat Iron). 404-228-6769.

Bookmark to:

Kevin Blechdom makes avant-garde music seriously fun and engaging while at the same time seriously disturbing. Blechdom, aka Kristen Erickson, melds electronic pop music shaped by heady academia and twists it into irreverent, Dada-esque weirdness and wide-eyed musings that are both beautiful and grotesque. Like the sound of deranged Muppets singing about heartbreak, self-discovery and nose jobs, Blechdom’s songs are not meant for the faint of heart. For her show tonight Irene Moon opens. Moon hones the sounds of insects to create buzzing, droning vignettes that are filled with drama and hidden dimensions of organic/industrial plod. The World Provider and Judi Chicago also perform. $6. 9 p.m. Drunken Unicorn, 736 Ponce de Leon Place.

(Photo by Crackerfarm)

Bookmark to:

It’s the last Saturday of the month again, which means it’s time for another installment of the Fringe Factory .

Fringe Factory returns to The Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge tonight to present the Reverberation DJs from Houston, Texas.

Come dance off your Thanksgiving leftovers with DJ Psychedelic Sex Panther and DJ Andrew Lee as well as your regular Fringe Factory hosts DJs Suzy Q and Vikki V for an ATL meets Tejas dance party extravaganza.

Local band electro/experimental rockers Recompas (featuring Travis Thatcher from Judi Chicago) will be performing as well.

Cover is $7 and things will get started around 9 p.m. The Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge.

Bookmark to:

Tomorrow night, Tues., Nov. 25th, the new club at 529 Flat Shoals Rd., simply called 529, will celebrate a soft opening and offer a first glimpse at the new digs of the spot that formerly housed the Village Sports Bar.

The pieces are all still falling into place, and as of today (Mon., Nov. 24th) the website isn’t active. But the schedule of bands booked to perform on the new stage throughout December and January is already starting to fill up.

Shows already confirmed include:

December
12/6 – the Gaye Blades
12/13 – Recompas, Chris Devoe
12/20 – Lyonnais
12/27 – Airoes

January
1/10 – All the Saints, Balkans
1/17 – Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause
1/24 – Judi Chicago (4th Saturday residency)
1/31 – Noot D’ Noot

Judi Chicago will be holding down a monthly happening called ‘Dancing’. A pop-art celebration of the rituals of movement to music, on the fourth Saturday of every month. According to Ben: “Judi Chicago will present a curated blend of live music and DJs playing kinetic sounds to move to. The format will be rhythmic: the full gamut from slamming house music, disco, funk, techno, ragga, hip-hop (the fun kind), electro, drum and bass… A dancehall buffet.

In true Judi Chicago-style, the hedonism will be augmented/sliced and diced with a deconstructionist’s scalpel. We’ll be exploring the art, science and psychology of body-moving. It will be a lot of fun.

We’ll be working on different experiments, events and themes to take place within the venue each month: penciled in our margins right now are such concepts as a genre-fisting ‘wheel o’ four-tunes’ that decides / re-decides the musical format every 30 minutes, an entire night of records being played backwards in an effort to invoke some form of demon or inspire a mass suicide, and a marathon set of Cannibal Corpse / Soulja Boy mash-ups (2 of these may actually happen).”

Karl Injex has Friday nights locked down with a wide array of DJ sets.
Saturdays are currently being booked by Tight Bros. Network.
Wednesdays are booked by Party Panda Productions.

Full disclosure: For the soft opening tomorrow night the club has invited me down to spin records starting around 8 or 9 p.m.

Bookmark to:

For the first installment of Crib Notes’ new Roll Call we call out Ben Coleman of the Atlanta electro duo Judi Chicago.

Who are you?
Ben. I’m in a band called Judi Chicago. Pleased to meet you.

Describe yourself in three words.
Mouthy Dancehall Immigrant.

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Robert Wyatt, Antonin Artaud, Terry Riley, Sylvester, James Brown, Syd Barrett, Lemmy, The Marx Brothers and Judy Chicago. Preferably all at once, over a good dinner.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, or any other cretinous faux-patriot bigot-gollum within reach.

What song do you wish you had written?
“Eat Yrself Fitter” by the Fall. “Wind It Up” by the Prodigy. “St. Elmo’s Fire” (the Brian Eno song or the John Parr song, you pick). Anything by Underworld. “Loose Booty” by Sly Stone. “Big Time” by Peter Gabriel.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Presley. Costello is a little bland for these buds. I’ll take Reg Presley over both if I have the choice.

LP, CD or MP3?
LP, if I have a choice, but I’m not making a big deal about it. It’s the music that counts, not the medium. However, vinyl remains the best sounding format, and I like big cover art.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Dancing in an unironic way to something more interesting than a mash-up or Soulja Boy.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Posing / sulking and just generally being an anally retentive know it all misery guts.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Girls Aloud, the best British girl group ever. Closer to home, the Coathangers, although I’m pretty sure they’ll beat me up for saying it.

Listen to Judy Chicago’s “Mad Ape.”

See Judi Chicago:
Nov. 8. — 8 p.m. ‘Underground’ at Eyebeam Studio NYC w. Roxy Cottontail. NYC.
Nov. 28 — 8 p.m. Beep Beep Gallery ATL.
Dec. 5 — 8 p.m. Lenny’s Bar – Acid House Party, Judi Chicago Live + D.J ATL.

(Photo by Zach Wolfe)

Bookmark to:

This Saturday, Oct. 11, Atlanta’s longest running, and totally volunteer-run nonprofit art and music gallery is celebrating 10 years of keeping Atlanta from completely falling prey to gentrification and big box strip malls.

Ten years is a solid run for Eyedrum that has seen comrade DIY and outsider strongholds, like IAG, ISP and Art Farm go the way of the Dodo. It is a time that also saw Eyedrum grow from being a handful of dedicated members giving it their all at the Trinity Ave. location, to a nationally respected Atlanta-based arts organization that boasts a board of over 20 members.

The celebration this Saturday, dubbed “A 10 Year Affair,” features performances from several local musical acts, including Judi Chicago, the Hotels, No Face and Matthew Proctor, along with DJs Zano and Chris Daresta. There is also an awards ceremony in which “Eddie Awards” are given out in recognition of Atlanta’s deserving but unheralded artists and venues.

There will also be a screening of the locally-produced documentary film, Eyedrum: The 10 Year Affair commemorative DVD.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, 8 p.m.-midnight.
WHERE: Eyedrum, 290 MLK Drive, Suite 8, Atlanta 30312
How Much: $10 for non-members, members asked to make a donation. Friend-level memberships will be available for $25, a $10 discount. Tickets available in advance through Criminal Records, Decatur CD, Ella Guru or online here. Also you can charge by phone at 1-877-725-8849.

Bookmark to:

Last August MINT Gallery in the Sampson St. lofts opened with a show that celebrated the relationship between music and visual arts via mixtapes, called MIXT.

This year the show returns as “reMIXT,” and will place an emphasis an Atlanta’s thriving and ever-changing local music scene. Artists featured in the show include members of Judi Chicago, Vera Fang, Sealions, and dozens of others contributing to the exhibit through visual art and mixtapes.

The show opens Saturday night (Aug. 23) at 8 p.m.

The Gallery made its own mixtape of some its favorite local music as a primer to the show and you can check it out here.

Bookmark to:

The illustrious and ill-named “Worming the Starhole” monthly summer pairings of Noot d’ Noot and Judi Chicago at Lenny’s are coming to an end this Saturday, Aug. 16.

Judi Chicago takes a low road into pomp and spectacle where costumes and stage antics are the stars of the show. The Atlanta duo gives plenty of nods to classic house music and pop culture while providing the perfect soundtrack and stage show for a Saturday night dance party at Lenny’s.

Noot d’ Noot follows a much more tolerable musical path of tricked-out grooves and rhythmic explorations (with a much bigger line-up).

Envision, if you will, a psychedelic middle ground that lies somewhere between Can in the 1970s and Tortoise in the ’90s and you’re somewhere in the right neighborhood.

Throughout the course of these summer residencies both Noot d’ Noot and Judi Chicago have been taking turns opening for each other. For this final Worming session the Noots go first.

Doors open at 9 p.m. and the show starts at 10 p.m. It’s $5 to get in if you’re there before 10 o’clock and $7 after. Chief Acid Officer and DJ DVA open the show.

Bookmark to:

Are you tired of corporate sponsorship interfering with your gay-friendly activities? Would you rather see a pirate flag behind the stage during an evening of “homo-hop” instead of some big-money logos? Do you spell Queer with a capital “Q”? If so, MondoHomo Dirty South might just be your bag.

This year the second annual festival takes place Memorial Day weekend, Friday-Monday, May 23-26. But first the folks in charge have put together a sneak peak of the indie and DIY artists scheduled to celebrate queer culture’s contributions to the mainstream.

Continue reading Show Preview.

(Photo by Zach Wolfe)

Bookmark to:

COLD SWEAT AND A WARM PBR: Judi Chicago gets loose at Criminal Records’ National Record Day celebration. See more photos below.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

“WE’RE GONNA GET NAKED/AND WATCH COPS”: Judi Chicago jacks your box. (photo by John Goetzinger)

CL favorite, Judi Chicago, is filming its first self-made video this weekend and opening the doors to the entire city — hoes included. If you’ve ever seen these guys perform, you already know you’re in for a maniacal time should you choose to accept the mission.

Here’s the open invitation from one-half of the group, Ben Coleman:

“We’re making a new video down at the Digital Arts Entertainment Lab in 5 points in the last weekend of March, and we’re looking to speak to anyone who would like to come and take part in the event. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
We’re booked to film all day Saturday and Sunday March 29-30. Send us a message if you’re interested, to let us know what you’d like to bring to the party.

We’re hoping it’s going to end up like a cross between ‘America’s got Talent’, ‘the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘Tron’ and ‘the Trip’…

Look forward to hearing from you, Atlanta!

—Judi Chicago
email: contactbencoleman@gmail.com

Bookmark to: