Volume 3, Issue 10
May 10 - May 23, 2001

HOME SKANK HOME

We'd like to take this opportunity, with graduation season upon us, to salute the college apartment. Actually, it doesn't have to be college ... everyone's first space away from home has pretty much the same characteristics, whether the foundations are on a campus quad or a downtown intersection. Too far removed from those first days of filth and fury, when we emerged as adults from the primordial slime of a never-mopped bathroom floor? Let's recap....

First you've got your pizza boxes (yes, plural) littered about the living room like cardboard clams, little pearls of congealed cheese molding in their mouths. Then you've got the television set with numerous colored candles melted over the antenna (so that the only thing it picks up is FOX and the televangelist channel). Under the couch are pennies and nickels that have sat in dust so long, they need a haircut before the soda machine will take them.

Which brings us to the kitchen. The refrigerator contains only the obligatory box of baking soda, a finger of vodka, and one boxed food of your choice left over from the most recent family visit. Even though you've only used the stove twice, it's still managed to collect various multicolored drips of cracked sauce and yellowish boiled water stains that feel like sandpaper to the touch. A newspaper sits on one of the burners. The coup de grace is, of course, the kitchen sink, which contains every dish you own, a few of your neighbor's, and three plastic beer drinking cups. Each stratum of dirty dishes reveals a clue as to what each epoch of your miserable life has been like: the top is mostly liquor and coffee stained cups, with a few cheese-encrusted forks (used for eating microwave dinners) thrown in for good measure; the middle, after a little digging, reveals a set of Crate & Barrel dishes which were once white and now could be used as color swatches in a "Welcome Back Kotter" era wallpaper store; and down at the bottom, near the hopelessly clogged drain, lies your one pathetic little frying pan, still scarred from the ill-fated attempt to make chocolate chip pancakes which you were forced to abort and let the fire department resolve.

The bedroom contains a bed somewhere under the laundry ... yes, there's a small space carved out near the pillow for emergency sleep and/or unexpected sex. The floor resembles a papier-mâché sculpture of the Rocky Mountains, due to the flood of junk mail, pizza coupons, class handouts, glossy magazines, and term papers you've been saving for a rainy day. You might have a computer, but it's hard to say since the thing's covered in dust and more likely to be defined as an abacus it's so ancient (mental note: look on the Internet for copies of Microsoft Word on five-and-a-quarter floppy). The closet has two pressed shirts on hangers and a dumpster's worth of assorted clothing on the strip of floor beneath. You might even own a hamper. Who knows?

Now, to the bathroom, if you dare. Due to an unfortunate diet consisting mostly of preservatives and alcohol, your body's expellations have been, er, particularly strong in color (carrot orange and mud brown come to mind), which has left the inside of your toilet looking like a Jackson Pollock canvas left out in the rain. The shower curtain is only half up-- the little loops to hold it in place were ripped open when a drunken friend passed out near the toilet and tried to keep balance by clutching the curtain. The bathroom sink is grainy with toothpaste spillover and, somehow, pubic hair near the drain. Man, aren't you glad you don't live like that anymore? Right?

WHERE THE REAL DUB IS AT

Greetings,
I'm writing you this letter because I have a few things to get off my chest. First, the night at the Roxy known as Dubsessions is no longer in existence ... after a few short weeks, the DJs pulled out of the Roxy for various personal and business reasons. Second, although the night was called Dubsession, it was by no means affiliated with the dub sound, as they placed a little more emphasis on the drum and bass sound that we know of today. Thirdly, the actual dub sound that you're referring to, is by no means new, as it was pioneered by the late great King Tubby, during the '60s; granted, dub reggae has changed a lot since then, but it still has that unmistakable reggae rhythm and backbeat. Just take a look at some modern day dubbers, like the Japanese outfit Dry & Heavy, The Thievery Corporation, The Mad Professor and even the madcap Lee Scratch Perry. My final thoughts are this: a couple months ago, you had a small snippet in your "Get Out" section about some guys at the Snake Pit that show kung fu movies and play reggae music. By your suggestion, I went and checked it out, and as a true dubhead, I can assure you these guys play Dub and all facets of it, from the early dub masters to those of the modern day, they make sure that the walls of the Snake Pit are rumbling with the heavy bass sounds of real dub music. Thank you for reading my rant; hopefully, it will get the guys at the Snake Pit a little more support from those that are looking for dub music in Denver.
--Newt Green

Thanks for the heads up, Newt! That night at the Snake Pit is Friday night, and you can drink $2 tap beers while enjoying the Dub and the on-screen chop socky. If you're looking for other great club nights and dance music news, check out our newly re-tooled Beat Diet column on page 17. Correspondent Erin Marsh will dig up and spit out all the news for you every issue. Fans of orange peel moses don't fret ... the man in orange still has his own corner to rant and rave, now called, simply, the orange peel.

Oh, and there's still time to claim your free Blue Note CD. Only a few are left, so it's first-come first-serve for anyone who e-mails us their name, age, address, and the following: three things you like about Go-Go; three things you don't like about Go-Go; where you usually pick up your copy of Go-Go.

OUR DOWN UNDER DEMOGRAPHIC

Hello Go-Go
I will be moving to your lovely neck of the woods this summer and was doing a search on the Internet for happenings in Colorado. After finding your site I must say that I am impressed and very much look forward to reading Go-Go when I reside there. I am quite anxious to learn more about Stephanie Glenn ... she is a clever woman and I enjoyed reading her pieces ... I even went to several back issues and really had a good time. I also enjoy the information you have on theatre, and will utilize it. Thank You, --B G

Your e-mail address seemed to indicate you are from Australia, B G. If this is true, please make sure to bring some beer with you. We'll pay good money for real Australian beer. (By the way, Foster's isn't Australian for beer, it's Australian for Coors Light. The actual Australian word for beer sounds a lot like someone upchucking into a urinal trough at 3 am)

--Chris J. Magyar