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august 29, 2002:

eat. stop.the completion of pinoisepop this past weekend was beyond incredible. thirty acts on two stages in three nights in a small black box theater defiantly situated in the seedy sixth street district of san francisco and run like clockwork by a hand full of dedicated unpaid, under-slept volunteers. the clarendon hills are in complete awe.
   femme fatale, miya (of the chinkees and asian man records fame) and all around good guy, pepito (of the lesser known clarendon hills) hosted pinoisepop on friday night. while the evening began slowly, the end of the night saw the duo decked out in full-on boxing gear with oversized gloves and clobbering kids willy nilly style in "the pit." later, rice eating and wasabi swallowing contests were held in between bands. the grand finale was miya and pepito wearing construction worker costumes and competing in a gross out drink chugging contest. ingredients included: sesame oil, pickle juice, red hot chilli sauce, chocolate syrup, baking soda, rice milk, and clam juice.

your new best friend. a few hours before pinoisepop, pepito was feverishly burning, designing and hand-producing the "clarendon hills world friendship society" starter kit which consists of 2 new recorded songs on a die-cut cd the size and shape of a library card, along with a handy dandy clarendon hills friendship compatibility quiz on the back. p hand-made 25 of them before getting tired. get them while you can!

this one goes out to mom and dad. elbert put the finishing touches on his homemade distortion pedal. he dubbed it "the Parental Unit" with knobs for "irritability" (fuzz/tone) and "expectations" (boost/volume). the stomp switch is lovingly labelled the "piss off" switch. based on the tweak-o circuit designed by joe davisson which is essentially, as elbert explains it, a simple one-transistor fuzz/boost that he further simplified by removing the diode loop and the 10K resistor, the Parental Unit is a one-step, dirty, mega-boost, sans fuzz. according to elbert, its not really an effects box-- more of an e-FUXX box that through a cheapo amp is reminiscent of that first mudhoney single, "touch me im sick."

* you must read the superb SF weekly feature article on the skyflakes and pinoisepop: HERE.
* then peruse the excellent SF weekly write-ups on the clarendon hills and a slew of other bands: HERE.
* finally, a quick personal recap of pinoisepop 7 can be found: HERE.

tidbits: christine finished sewing her first garment: an A-line, faux velour, avocado green, knee-length skirt. the clarendon hills were spotted at the oakland coliseum on thursday night watching an exhibition match between the NBA US team and china's national team for the upcoming world basketball championships. pepito's post-game analysis was that yao ming looked soft, no low post moves, and too easily fatigued. meanwhile, elbz is listening to the white stripes, the didjits, and the baseball furies. pep can't stop listening to the new records by the capricorns and the librarians. c-leb has the latest goldar 12" on constant rotation. the c-hills have not seen a decent movie in weeks. suggestions?

a few weekends ago at 924 gilman dillinger 4 and the lawrence arms show, pepito did not take photos of pat from D4 stripping naked and shoving the mic up his ass. instead p captured some pics of the amazing 10 minute show that went down in between bands in the girl's bathroom at gilman. allergic to bullshit, before the fall, and sexy played two frantic songs a piece.

the kids. before the fall. allergic to bullshit. allergic to bullshit. more kids.

inevitably. more shows. come say "hey. hi. hello.":

*** FRIDAY, AUGUST 30th @ cafe eclectica, 1309 solano avenue. all ages. 8pm. $4. ***
owen from casiotone for the painfully alone is returning from portland to play a show! better yet, he is bringing along some bands from his sadly disbanded label, cassingle USA, down to play too (cuspidor and the anchors!) this will be a dance party.

*** SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th @ the bear's lair, bancroft and telegraph. 18+. 9pm. $5. ***
with school back in full swing, its practically a show of former uc berkeley graduates! the clarendon hills are opening for dealership and fenway park at the newly renovated bear's lair. bring your fake ID. come get crunked.


august 8, 2002:
duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh... 1. the stealing kind
our friend, hellen, is putting the finishing touches on her first comic novella. we stole the cover of our first EP from the heavenly underground pages of love and rockets. in the same grand tradition, hellen, insouciantly swiped our song "hurting kind" from that very EP for the title of her first story. the appropriation and re-appropriation of comics and punk rock comes full circle-- a thing of beauty!
hellen's full comic will be available in winter 2002. but thank your lucky stars, preview "the hurting kind" right now: [HERE].
a suburb, a wine, an aristocrat, and a band. 2. whats it like being famous
"the doings" was the local newspaper that the c-hills, as youngsters, occasionally read for the local gossip, garage sales, and the police blotter. six years later, who would have thought they'd be reading about themselves in the latest issue? pepito is interviewed about the origin of "the clarendon hills". elbert is officially now known as "el-berto" while christine is formally recognized as "c-leb." pepito is still "pepito."
the full text of this fascinating piece of hard hitting historical suburban journalism can be found [HERE].
the skyflakes have a posse... 3. ready to rumble
muckrakin' pepito caught up with the skyflakes after their show last week at 21 grand with jenny choi and annie lin. charged with the task of interviewing them for the pinoisepop website, p came prepared with no questions and a shoddy micro-cassette recorder. and like a true professional, p discovered afterwards to his dismay that he had forgotten the critical task of hitting 'record.' fuck.
nonetheless, through the miracle of short term memory, said interview can be found [HERE].
chris from 4. the continuing self-commercialization
ripped from the fantastic, ink-splattered pages of "black hole" by charles burns comes the latest piece of c-hills fashion. screened on 100% cotton and always fashionable black, the shirt not only seems to irresponsibly glamorize underage smoking, but has the word "fuck" blithely written on it too. won't your parents be proud when they find this in the laundry? new pins and stickers? yup.
the clarendon hills material goods link can be found: [HERE].
zap. 5. when feeling sick means feeling good
encircled by a frenzied crush of kids, lightning bolt destroyed 924 gilman on sunday. stripped to the bare essentials of a single bass, a battered drum kit, and a towering monolith of speaker cabinets, lightning bolt is a "fuck you" to the excessive fetishization of turntables, keyboards, and synthesizers that dominate the dance scene. make no mistake, lightning bolt doesn't make dance music, they make fuck music. arab on radar and the locust were simply background noise.
tidbits: elbert is reading "american hardcore" by steven blush and "women" by bukowski. christine is learning how to sew and tending her backyard garden. pepito is watching the movies "shaolin soccer" and "the goonies."

we can't resist a good time. instead of wrapping up the new record, new shows are imminent:

*** SUNDAY, AUGUST 10th @ the rochdale student co-op, 2424 haste off telegraph. noon. ***
this is a free berkeley BBQ with rumored free beer. chris may perform kegstands if asked politely. also, we've heard whisperings of an inflated "bouncy castle" being there too. primitivo is playing too.

*** THURSDAY, AUGUST 14th @ edinburgh castle, 950 geary (between polk and larkin in SF). *** the c-hills usually avoid bars and the 21+ scene, but with the divine scrabbel playing too, exceptions can be made! continental is appearing as well. show starts at 9pm.

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