Rumble! Finals! Fri! Day! 9:30! PM!

So, we did it.

We're in the finals of the 2007 WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble.

Thanks in large part to the gigantic and raucous crowds that have accompanied us to our first two shows, we are now one show away from what would amount to a Miguel Tejada-like shot of vitamin B-12 in the form of cash and prizes, including tons and tons of recording time, which we need, since we're recording an EP and an album. But you already know this. What you don't know is when and where we play, which is why you should stop interrupting and look below:

WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble Finals
Friday, April 20
Harper's Ferry
158 Brighton Avenue
Allston MA 02134
18+, $15
doors 8:30pm, IA plays at 9:30pm

We have the early slot, so we need you to be in late-night form early on in the evening. I can't see why that would be a problem. We will have pre-sales on Wednesday that we'll be selling off for $12 each; there are only going to be 100 discount pre-sales available, so email us right away if you're interested. More pre-sales are available at the Harpers Ferry website (www.harpersferryboston.com).

Not a whole lot of reviews of Saturday's show, but the Herald treated us a little better this week, which is good. The dig didn't come back to try to reanimate the rotting corpse of a story they wrote about us last week, but we can only imagine that something even more nefarious is in the works.

We need you at this show. We're the only band pre-selling tickets to this show, and it's working. Your constant and enthusiastic presence has been integral so far in pushing an underdog act into the finals. One more night and we'll be laughing all the way to the bank...

Let's do it!

The Office episode - preview

I love The Office, and even though I'll be playing at the WBCN Rumble at Harper's Ferry on Thursday night when it returns from its 6-week hiatus, I'll still be at home, on my house, in my sweatpants, watching it in spirit. Here is what will happen:

Roy is going to start beating Jim up real bad and then Dwight is going to come to Jim’s defense and hit Roy with a stapler, knocking Roy out. The whole office is going to think Roy is dead, and Michael is going to decide that they need to hide Roy’s body and pretend nothing ever happened. Stanley and Ryan are going to start digging a shallow grave for Roy and Pam is going to completely freak out, at which point Karen is going to convince Michael that Pam, too, needs to die, in order to keep the secret. This point will be unbeknownst to Jim, who will be hopped up on painkillers while Andy, newly returned from anger management counseling, is stitching him up in the conference room, because if Jim were to go to the hospital it would raise suspicion about the deaths of Pam and Roy. Bob Vance, also, will die, for reasons unrelated to the circumstances above. How will Michael keep the plans for Pam’s murder away from Jim, and how will anyone stop Creed from detonating his doomsday device? Hilariously, that’s how! This week on The Office!

peace
Abe

"Hey, Bart! Remember Alf? He's back! In pog form!"

Words cannot express the emotions that I feel when watching this video.




Much thanks to the band's good friend Adam Wiatt for this foray into absurdity.

The Wide World of Rich, Paralyzed Iraqis, Part V

Sorry for the delay. I am re-learning the lesson that all things - even blogging - require patience and perseverance; you know, a little bit of the ole' elbow grease.

So, back to the story of Ms. Fareeza, a little old lady (or whatever) who herself had displayed quite the amount of dogged perseverance in the form of struggling mightily in her scheme to defraud me. Anyway, where were we?

Ah yes, there we were. My attempts at e-windtalking had utterly confused Ms. Fareeza and I was in jeopardy of losing her attention. I had once again been sent the horribly photoshopped "official document" and the picture of the box of money to "allay my fears." Ms. Fareeza was becoming short on patience. I admit I felt a bit of pressure; she undoubtedly had dozens of other potential clients, but for some reason she had chosen me. I needed to come through in the clutch.

So I sent this email:

Dear Fareeza

I have already received the documents and my fears are so super-allayed. However, I sent you clear instructions regarding the security of the situation and you did not follow those instructions. Now that you have failed to follow the instructions, I fear that the security of the transaction has been breached. I even suspect that you may be a government agent.

In order to allay these fears, I have send you a questionnaire. The answers to this questionnaire will be legally binding, and in the United States, two "friends" can freely exchange goods, services, and money without threat of prosecution. Please see my attachment and fill out the form. If you fill this out, I'll feel much better!

If you need help with any of the questions on the form, let me know!

Thanks!
Johnny

And I sent her this.

And she filled it out!

She actually filled the crap out!

I'm not sure that she actually understood anything on the form; she really just cut and pasted it into the body of an email and dropped some X's where she thought they should go. It's not really even worth it to post her reply.

Anyway, it was clear that I was becoming bored with Ms. Fareeza's bullheaded insistence that I engage in fraudulent transactions with her, so I decided to cut it off. How, pray tell, might I go about doing this?

Details to come in Part VI.

Happy Valentine's Day Newsletter!

Happy February!

What a hot, steaming mess of a world we live in.

In case you were sleeping under a rock, some extremely extreme stuff happened since my last e-communique, including:

the Mooninites attacking Boston,

Boston overreacting,

and Mayor Menino looking like a complete dong by encouraging Bostoninans to boycott the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.

Say what you want about the advertising campaign, the notable absence of decorum of the people who put up the ATHF ads, and/or the fraught-with-peril world of post-9/11 paranoia in which we live; Mayor Menino’s call to boycott the movie is a shining beacon of how out of touch he is with the 18-to-30 demographic. Perhaps it even illustrates the extent of our own political irrelevance.

Menino isn’t stupid. At least I hope he isn’t. Stupid or not, his choice to use this issue to erect a political grandstand in front of the monthly AARP meet-and-greet at the Old Country Buffet casts a blinding light on who fluffs his mayoral pillow. We might ask ourselves why he hasn’t addressed the under-30s (read: the people who think that this whole thing is a joke) at all on this issue. Is it because we’re a habitually disengaged set that would rather laugh at the irony of the situation than address its implications?

Yes, it is. That’s why.

This is a world that our generation is getting ready to inherit, whether we like it or not, and our elected officials are treating us like my parents did when The Simpsons first aired because they were afraid that Bart’s propensity to question authority would infect me with a serious case of sass-mouth.

So, loyal newsletter readers, let us come together as one and show the world we mean business by getting rip-roaringly mind-altered and watching pirated versions of the ATHF movie as soon as they are available on Bittorrent. Viva la revolucion!

THE OUTLINE

I. This Saturday @ The Middle East!
II. New Content on Da Blog
III. WBCN Rumble!
IV. Shows
V. Sponsorships
VI. Cool New Website to Track Bands
VII. Valentines
VIII. Adieu

I. This Saturday @ The Middle East!

Come rock out for our first Boston show in months this Saturday, February 17, Upstairs at The Middle East in Cambridge. The show is 18+ and tickets are $10. This is the first show that we have ever hosted without a promoter, so it’s a big deal for us. You can order tickets directly from The Middle East’s website, off of our myspace page (click on the ticket below our schedule), or directly from the band (email us). Doors open at 8:30, we’re on at 11, and the support acts are going to be fantastic.

II. New Content on Da Blog.

I told you that I would start writing again, and I have. For those of you who enjoy my verbose, disconnected musings, the homepage is http://www.indef-art.blogspot.com/. Most recently, I spent a few weeks messing with an internet scammer from Iraq. I’m still writing up the entire exchange, but you can read the first five parts by clicking these links. Click for parts, I, II, III, and IV.

Click here to read the newsletter on the blog, create a feedback loop on the internet, and make the e-niverse collapse on itself.

Next month, we’ll feature new selections from our YouTube account (username “theindefinitearticle“), through which we will share funny (read: drunk) clips from the road and grainy cell phone videos of our live performances.

III. WBCN Rumble!

It won't be rolled out to the press until February 25, so you heard it here first: we have been officially invited to participate in the WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble! This a battle-royale-of-the-bands is a premier launching pad for rising Boston acts (Dresden Dolls won in 2004) and is set up like Emergenza on amphetamines. Whereas we paid an entrance fee for Emergenza and it lasted roughly 6 years, the BCN Rumble treats bands like they actually know how to plug their cord-thingies into their own amplifying-machines and lasts a merciful 3 weeks. It's going to be a fun time.

The dates of the Rumble are from April 1 to April 20 (yes, April Fool’s Day to National Pink Floyd Awareness Day). We will play 3 rounds during this time. The first round will be some date between April 1 and April 7; the second round will be either April 13 or 14; and the finals will be on April 20. All shows will be at Harper’s Ferry in Allston.

Once we get ticket sale info, we will figure out a 3-shows-for-1 price break for you guys, because we love you.

We look forward to mopping the floor with the competition.

IV. Shows

Please read this. You have no idea how tedious it is for me to type all of these shows out. Our complete and updated schedule is always available at www.myspace.com/theindefinitearticle.

Friday, February 16
Bangkok Paradise
90 Washington Street, Salem MA
21+, free
IA plays 10pm-12:30am

Saturday, February 17
Middle East Upstairs
w/ Baldi and the Suburban Graffiti and The Alchemystics. Hosted by AVI.
492 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA
18+, $10 adv/doors
doors 8:30pm, IA plays 11:30-close

Thursday, February 22
Nectar’s
188 Main Street, Burlington VT
21+, free
IA plays 11pm-2am

Friday-Saturday, February 23-24
Sugarbush Mountain
Warren, VT
email band for details

Thursday, March 1
The Blackburn
2 Main Street, Gloucester MA
21+, free
IA plays 9:30-12:30

Friday, March 2
The Beachcomber
797 Quincy Shore Drive, Quincy MA
21+
IA plays 9:30-12:30

Saturday, March 3
Park Street Pub
40 Park Street, Andover MA
21+
IA plays 9:30-12:30

Friday, March 9
Maxwell’s
w/ Baldi and the Suburban Graffiti
1039 Washington Street, Hoboken NJ
all ages, door TBA
doors 8pm, IA plays 9pm

Saturday, March 10
The Santa Fe
w/ Lionize
4410 Knox Rd, College Park MD
info TBA

More shows:
Thu March 22 – The Blackburn, Gloucester MA
Fri March 23 – Tammany Hall, Worcester MA
Friday March 30 – Harbor House, Gloucester MA
April 1-20 – WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble
Thursday April 19 – Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME
Friday April 20 (tentative) – Bishop’s Lounge, Northampton MA
Friday May 4 – The Santa Fe, College Park MD

V. Sponsorships

As always, we would like to thank Rockstar for keeping Brandon wired at all times. Brandon without taurine is like a horse without a carriage; he may run free, but how else are we going to make money giving haunted hayrides if we don’t actually own a horse?

Take a minute to re-read the previous paragraph. Just let it sink in.

In January, Brandon and Rick went out to NAMM, a music industry trade show of some sort, and Brandon also picked up a sponsorship from Factory Metal Percussion. Here is a YouTube video of him playing their drumset, which looks like it came from the set of The Crow.

Brandon is also supported by Silverfox Percussion.

For just the price of a cup of coffee per day, you too can sponsor a young band on their way to certain poverty.

VI. Cool New Website to Track Bands

Check out tourfilter.com. It’s a really bare-bones website that scours the internet for your favorite bands’ tour schedules. You can even program it to send you an email when bands that you really like (this band, maybe?) are coming to town. It’s really simple, devoid of advertising, and kind of fun to play around with. We’re only tracked by a few people (one of whom is me ­– username fatherabraham), so the more people that track us, the better we’ll look, and then maybe the hot chick that sits in front of us in class will finally notice us.

VII. Valentines

From Abe:

Happy Valentine’s Day, Cassie. I love you. Thanks for your love and support and for your endurance of my odd obsession with this band.

From Rick:

Bortley,
You are my sunshine and you keep me happy while the skies are grey. You inspire me, and your cheeks stay plump. I'm looking forward to the day that I won't have to sneak you through the back door... until August 14th...
Love you Britt,
Rick

From Brandon

My darling Polish lover -Happy Valentines Day! You are fabulous and all my thanks goes to you for constant support and always being there for me. Everyone who reads this newsletter (hopefully atleast a few do) should know that Eva Baldyga is a fantastic human being in every possible way. I love you! Kocham Cie! And now back to the rantings about the band...

VIII. Adieu

Gezundheit.

Best,

Father Abraham and the band

If you would like to unsubscribe, please click this link and send us an email answering the following essay prompt:

Canada is a land of contrasts. Explain.

Boston Ruins Music

Read this.

Now answer this question:

Are you fucking kidding me?

For those of you who are too lazy to click the link, here is a short synopsis:

- all under 21 live shows in Boston proper must now end at 11 pm.
- we're fucked.

I really don't know what this solves. Isn't the under-21 crowd the crowd that, at least in theory, should be the easiest to control? If the bouncers are properly trained - that is to say, if they are screening IDs, checking for overly intoxicated patrons on their way through the doors, and enforcing the drinking laws, shouldn't all of the under-21 folks out in Boston be relatively innocuous?

That aside, what really worries me is the effect that this law is going to have on the local music economy. A solid four fifths of the high profile mid-level venues in the Boston area (the venues being Bill's Bar, The Middle East, Great Scott, Harper's Ferry, and The Paradise) will be affected by this law. The only venue that will be able to throw 18+ shows, which are easily more profitable and sensible bills for the bands involved, will be The Middle East. The competition to get 18+ weekend shows at The Middle East, which is already ferocious, will be more cutthroat than we can possible imagine now. The other four venues will attempt to put on 18+ shows with early start times until they realize that no one goes to shows at 7pm, at which point they will become almost exclusively 21+ venues.

But hey, at least people will be able to ride the T home.

Worst thing about all of this is that the music crowd didn't do this. The yah-dudes did it. The baseball cap-wearing, ironed-jeans having, buttoned-down shirt-rocking douchebags who cruise Lansdowne Street at 2 am looking for fights because they're disappointed that the hours they spent at the gym doing only bench presses and bicep curls didn't make them any more adept at talking to women and who just spent $100 of their parents' hard-earned money on shitty, watered down drinks in plastic cups and who are about to drive their cars home, drunk, to their $850-a-month Commonwealth Avenue apartments; those people, those horrifying shells of people, they are sexually frustrated, so they roll with their paltry crews of similar - nay, replicant - douchebags looking for fights, and they find one on the corner of some Mass. Ave and Boylston (note: I saw this happen after our CD release show at Bill's Bar), and the fight sucks because none of these overgrown children can throw a punch to save their lives, so they both go home, faces intact, congratulating themselves on winning, pretending to be men, and ready to do it again next weekend.

And who loses? Rock and roll loses.

Which leaves me with only one question for rock and roll:

Since when did we lose to these assholes?

The Wide World of Rich, Paralyzed Iraqis, Part IV

Dear Jonny,
Please send me your direct phone number,so we can talk.
Mrs Fareeza

Uh-oh.

This was odd. A bit scary.

Let's read it again.

Dear Jonny,
Please send me your direct phone number,so we can talk.
Mrs Fareeza

But what if I don't want to?

I consulted friends and co-workers about this and we decided that giving out a work number, even Thomas' work number, would be a bad idea. So I needed a plan....

...a plan.

Plan. A plan is a part of a larger project. A project. A project is something that someone does. Does. Conjugate of "do." To do something, one needs money. Money. One can procure money from an ATM. ATM. To get money from an ATM, one much punch in one's code. That's it!

A code!

So I wrote this email:

Mrs Fareeza

I can't do that. The CIA or the FBI could be listening to us at any time, and it would be dangerous to talk over the phone about matters involving money, especially money coming from Iraq. I am starting to believe that you are trustworthy, based on your perseverance and hard work to make this happen, so I think that we can finish this transaction via email.

We need to be very careful. I have made you a new account. The address is marthaaluvsitraw@yahoo.com and the password is "prisioneroespanol". Please sign in with this information. You will be Martha, and I will be sending you a list of things to get at the store. I will be your husband. I will then email you quickly from my new account, which the Feds won't know. The email will contain the subject line "things to buy at the store." That will be me. From that point on, we will have to speak in code. Here is the code:

dollars = pounds of roast beef
escrow service = cellophane wrap
account = lettuce
10 = 4
100 = 5
22.5 milliion = 7
car = truck
cat = dog
up = down
your bank = grocery store
my bank = freezer

For instance, I will say: "Martha, please go to the grocery store and get me those 7 pounds of roast beef for the party tonight with the Haverfields. Make sure that they wrap it in cellophane before you put it in the freezer. Oh, and go uptown to pick up the cat. And make sure that she doesn't start barking as soon as she gets home."

I will mean: "Fareeza, please go to the bank and get me those 22.5 million dollars. Have the escrow service deposit it in my bank. Oh, and go downtown to pick up the dog. And make sure that she doesn't start barking as soon as she gets home."

This way, the FBI will think that we are talking only about a routine trip to the supermarket. I will email you soon once I set up these two addresses.

Also, I will be throwing in other information to throw the Feds off of our scent. Just ignore it. Only pay attention to the code.

Over and out, fellow freedom fighter!
Johnny

Mrs. Fareeza was to be Martha Anderson, regular housewife, and I was to be Sam Anderson, heavyweight bodybuilder and star astronaut. I sent this email and another "coded" email from my "secret" account (bklynbridge2007@yahoo.com - is anyone grasping the significance of these addresses/passwords?) and waited. I'll spare you the details of the coded email; it doesn't make much sense anyway. Best thing is, I was able to access Mrs. Fareeza's "secret" account at the same time, because I had created it. About 12 hours after I sent her the email, I saw that she had accessed the account and read the code, yet I received no response. So I wrote her another email:

Fareeza

I see that you did not respond to my latest message. I am beginning to doubt your sincerity in this business transaction. Could this be an elaborate joke played on me? I hope not. I was willing to help, but now I am not so sure. I hope that you can convince me otherwise, so I can help another paralyzed person and her 15 year old son with hepatitis.

Yours,
Johnny

I finally did receive a response. Hilariously, it was an email from the Martha Anderson account that I had created for Mrs. Fareeza, to the Johnny Faux account. Mrs. Fareeza had breached security! Martha and Sam Anderson would have to be summarily executed.

At this point, the joke was falling apart, because Mrs. Fareeza was completely and utterly confused. In order to allay my fears, she sent me a picture of a box of money and this document:

Thanks!, I thought. I haven't seen this yet!

So here I was, back at square one, except that Mrs. Fareeza was as confused as ever, Martha and Sam were dead, I now had two sets of official documents, and I was getting kind of bored.

What's next? Stay tuned for part V!

The Wide World of Rich, Paralyzed Iraqis, Part III

This is where things get stupid and wildly inappropriate. As if we weren't there already.

Here is Mrs. Fareeza's reply, with one of her pictures included:

Dear Jonny,
I really enjoy jokes,I just hope we can be serious in this matter. When some of us who have opportunity decide to move money overseas through unknown agents,we are not fools,Its just that we can rely on fellow Iraqis because they are the ones that will probe you tomorrow when things don't get good again.

I am sending to you my picture in the hopital now and another pic of my husband and I, 7 years ago.

Please my good friend,I want to beg here that you do not take undue advantage of me in this circumstance, I am a widow and paralysed too, I am supposed to be in London now as doctor says I shall undergo a surgical operation he calls spinal decompression. If you show good example in this business, I will introduce you to many other business, here in Iraq. Please I shall also sent to you the information your require to contact the company so that they can deliver the consignment to you.
Get back to me.

Mrs Fareeza

I started to have my doubts at this point. Clearly there did exist, somewhere in the universe, an Iraqi woman with a husband (dead or alive? who knows?) who at one time was in the hospital, possibly paralyzed but maybe not. I was feeling pretty rotten about myself and was about to stop messing with this scammer, who him/herself could have been a poor Iraqi just trying to make a buck, when I got this email:

Dear Jonny,
I send these documents to allay your fears and understand the seriuosness of this issue.
The deposit certificate was issued to my husband in Iran last year,just before his death.
The picture of the money was also taken in Iran before repackaging the money.
The small box has already been taken care of,so my concern is the big box now in Europe.

Download the documents for better viewing.
in Iraq.

She then included some gibberish numbers and the name of a director that I could contact in Iraq after she stole my money.

Included, for my pleasure, were two obvsiously authentic documents: a terrribly fake money transfer agreement something-or-other, and a picture of a box of money. If you look closely to the Deposit Certificate, you'll notice some rather awesome details, including a line that reads "Security Check Report: Okay" (whew! Good thing the Security Check went through!) and a signature that was obviously done in Microsoft Paint or some other high-tech image doctoring program.


Having been previously racked with guilt over the prospect of sticking my own salt-covered fingers into the festering, US-created open wound that is Iraq, I was newly inspired to continue being a complete jackass. So I did.


Hi Fareeza

I'm sorry if you don't like the jokes, but it is my feeling that I really need to feel like I can connect with you before making this transfer. I am a chef by day and a comedian by night, and I have always found that those who appreciate my humor are the ones that I can trust most. So, if you want this to happen, we have to spend some time getting to know each other. I really want to help, but I have to be sure.

That said, how about this one?

A freedom fighter walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender says, "Hey, I think I know you. Where are you from, how did you get here?" The guy looks up from his beer and says "Iran and tanks." The bartender replies, "You're welcome, but you didn't tell me where you were from!"

So, did you like it? My audiences always like that joke.

Anyway, "tanks" for the picture (trying to stifle a chuckle there, sorry, I just can't concentrate sometimes). I have attached a picture of myself so you can get to know me. In a supreme coincidence that I totally forgot to mention, I am paralyzed, too. It sucks. This is a picture of me before my accident. I hope that you think that I'm attractive.

Don't worry, we will do this transfer soon. I hope that you understand that I just need to be completely sure about it. I understand that you want to move fast, but the moment needs to be just right for me.

How do they say goodbye in your language? Teach me.

Johnny

At this point, the discussion was getting pretty absurd, and I thought that Mrs. Fareeza would eventually leave me alone or try to send me a computer virus or something. Little did I know how far greed could drive a person. And little did I know how far some random crook's abject stupidity could push me. This is going to have like eight parts. I don't think I'll have enough Roman numerals for it. Stay tuned.

Of Mooninites and Morons

Taking a break from Ms. Fareeza for a second to weigh in on this morass.

Okay, so you probably already know what happened. Time Warner set up a ten city guerilla marketing campaign to promote the upcoming release of the full length movie based on the inimitable Aqua Teen Hunger Force TV series. The operative marketing tool was essentially a Lite Brite with a picture of a Mooninite on it.

Our fair city interpreted it as a terrorist attack.

And detonated the Lite Brites with a tactical bomb squad.

I want to cry.

First of all, I wanted one of those Lite Brites. Second of all, we live in the dumbest city in the world. Moving on:

Notwithstanding the idiocy of the furor over something that was the city's mistake (both Menino and Patrick are up in arms about how Time Warner should pay restitution or something for this - since when was the government never accountable for gross overreactions? Oh, yeah, sorry. Since 9/11), this situation shines a bright light (ha!) on the festering tar pit that is our culture. To wit:

- If we're detonating innocent advertising campaigns with abandon on uninformed hunches of terrorism, how many innocent people are we throwing in jail based on charges of the same non-information?

- In the same vein, how many innocent people are we detonating?

- If you were a terrorist, wouldn't you be laughing right now? I would be spewing guffaws of evil from my axis of laughter. Especially if I were a terrorist that watched ATHF. Honestly, how easy is it to paralyze this country in fear? Do we have any reason to believe that there are people in positions of power within our borders that use this their own advantage, and, at times, possibly also to the detriment of others?

- Menino is a tool. So is Patrick. Sorry, Massachusetts. As it turns out, the lesser or two evils is sometimes just plain dumb.

- Last but not least, no matter who picks up the tab for this, Time Warner and ATHF win. Remember that Simpsons Halloween special where the ads all came to life, and the only way to kill them was to not look at them? Yeah, well here's how the New York Times wrapped up their story on this event:

'''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of a block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.'

In conclusion, the world is full of stupid people, and there is a good chance that you're one of them.

For your enjoyment: a terrorist quote generator.

The Wide World of Rich, Paralyzed Iraqis, Part II

Before I continue with this thread, I would like to address a comment made on my previous post by a reader/visitor who identifies as "the friend." First,

"Iraqis, as a whole, probably speak/write better English than most Americans."

No. No they do not.

Second,

"Why don't you write something actually worth reading about the Iraqi conflict. Everyone who reads this blog knows you have the intelligence and writing ability. "

This is probably more accurate, although given the scammer's hilariously obvious attempts at deceiving me, we can hardly take his/her nationality as a cold, hard fact. Chances are the person was posing as an Iraqi in an attempt to find a soft spot in some idiot web neophyte who thinks that AOL is the internet. What I'm saying is that the Iraqiness of the person is incidental. Let's all just sit back for a moment, clear our heads, and realize that slipping tasteless puns and obnoxious jokes past non-native Enlglish speakers who are clearly engaged in acts of deception and thievery, while certainly sophomoric, is also kind of fun.

Whatever the case, whoever jumped to my defense could have been a little more polite.

On with the story:

She responded. And I was all,

O.
M.
G.

The response in itself was nothing special. It seemed to me to be a previously written response. It did, however, contain some serious gems:

"Thanks in appreciation of your desire to help me out of this situation, I am ready to accept any aggreement towards this project provided you do not betray me. However you have to assure me of your trusthworthiness as my situation here is critical, my son is just 15 years, not old enough to take decision, so ia relying in you."

Wait... you have a son?

"I think you have built confidence in me that I shall be glad to tell you that i paid the company for the transfer, if any money is to be paid, let me know. The said money is 100 dollar denomination,wraped with foils from Central Bank Badhdad in a 100 x 80 x 100 cm dark coloured formaica box (consignment) with diplomatic sticker attached to it. Toltal amount 22.5 million dollars."

Yes, over our long friendship of one spam email and two replies, we have certainly built confidence in one another. I agree. Let's send each other money!

Then she said some crap about having to move the money to Europe or something. This was probably where the whole transfer fee thing would come into play. There was no doubt about it - I was being expertly scammed.

So I replied:

Hello Fareeza

What a relief! I thought that you had died or something! That would have sucked big time, because I'm so goddamned eager to help!

How is the weather in Iraq? It's cold here, but the winter hasn't been quite as cold as it usually is. I think it's El Nino, but people around here are getting their panties all in a bunch about global warming. What do you think? Is it warmer than usual over there? Can you even tell? Haha if I were you I would use some of that money to get an aboveground pool. They're mad cheap. Once we safely execute this transfer (haha! execute! pun alert!) you should be able to afford that.

Also, I cannot be sure about this transaction unless I see a picture of you. I can tell a lot about a person by the way that they look. You had better be pretty! Haha just kidding but seriously don't be too fat.

I hope to hear from you soon. Peace in the Middle East (haha they used to say that in the 80s, it's kind of funny now, isn't it?)

Johnny

Next: Fareeza starts to get frustrated.

One last thing. How is the formatting for this? Is the text too small, or too gray? I'm trying desperately to distinguish the emails from my own commentary without hundreds of colors and such. Let me know.

The Wide World of Rich, Paralyzed Iraqis, Part I

The title sucks you in. I know it does.

A few weeks ago, our band account received an urgent email from one Ms. Fareeza Hayat, an Iraqi widow in dire need of help. "I feel sorry for bordering you at this time," Ms. Fareeza wrote, "since we have not met orknown each other before, but I beg you in the name of almighty allah, tohave patience and listen to me." I I did, in fact, listen closely to her email, and it turned out that Ms. Fareeza in fact needed very badly to transfer $22.5 million of United States Dollars into someone else's bank account. Could we, this poor hip-hop band from Boston, help her? Maybe, if we were willing to pay a small transfer fee.

She continued:

"Yes America and its allies have enthrone democracy in Iraq, but can wesustain it, the weakness of the Arabic leaderships is shameful and distressing. And they do not feel ashamed of themselves, with their negativity that insulted this nation's dignity, and led it to the lowest level. Anyway I am saying this thing for you to understand the feeling of an average Iraqi on the street and the reason most of us who have the opportunity are doing this kind of thing. Ask an Iraqi boy on the street are you Iraqi?He will say no, I am Sunni, Shi'ite orKurdish, he will not mention Iraq. Worst of this is the obnoxious kurdish tradition which strips the womam of all her husband's wealth and transfer it to the brothers of the man when the man dies, that is my situation here."

Needless to say, my heartstrings had been expertly tugged. However, me being the greedy bastard that I am, I decided that I would create a new email account and answer to this poor woman so as to keep all of the riches to myself. I decided to christen myself Johnny Faux and wrote her the following response:

OMG when I saw your email I was all OMG I need to help this woman. Anything I can do to help the plight of your people I must do. For realz. Don't worry, you weren't bordering me at all. In fact, you border Iran. HAHA! If you don't get it, don't worry, it was just a little English mistake that you made. Or a geography mistake. Nothing serious. I totally understood what you were trying to say, I think.

Anyway, yeah, I have like 4 Swiss bank accounts, so this should work out fine. Which one do you want tosend the money to? I can just give you the access number, or if you like, we can meet up somewhere and I can hand you an envelope full of money. Does that sound good?

I only ask one small favor in return. When I hand over the money to you, I want you to dress like a cheerleader and call me "coach."

Okay, hope to talk to you soon!

Thanks
Johnny

Would Ms. Fareeza reply? Was she all right? Did she or whomever sent out this email really, honestly think that this crap was going to work?

Stay tuned for Part II.

a letter to the weekly dig

I recently wrote a letter to the Weekly Dig in response to this article outlining the conflict over a white Boston-based promoter, Edu Leedz, putting on a Black History Month show at McGann's Pub in the North End. I got a response from a Dig staffer (hooray! I'm relevant!) but I'm not sure if they'll publish the letter on Wednesday, and I need material to get this blog going again, so here is my letter. Don't forget to read the story first.

I am writing this email In response to last week's article, "Devil in the Details," which described the controversy surrounding Edu Leedz' upcoming Black History Month hip-hop show at McGann's: First, full disclosure: I am a white rapper and the lead vocalist in a five piece live hip-hop band and worked with Leedz on a few separate occasions early in my career. We have not worked together on a show in over 18 months and may not ever cross paths again. That said, I consider him a hard worker and a hard-nosed businessperson who takes his responsibility to Boston and to hip-hop culture seriously. I do not know Mr. Crawford.

It seems to me that Mr. Crawford claims an ownership over Black history and culture that not only affords him the right to celebrate it, but the right to deny the act of celebration to others. However, this kind of action neither preserves nor promotes culture; rather, it slowly drowns it under a sea of avarice and provincialism. The reason that we celebrate culture - and the reason that it transcends all materialism and corporate co-opting - is that it cannot be owned. Culture and history are by nature shared objects, because the only way that we experience them is through the free flow of information. We have culture only because we share it. When we refuse to share our culture with others, it becomes a wretched, twisted caricature of itself.

Mr. Crawford's actions seem, at best, woefully misguided. At worst, they are a self-centered attempt to deny people access to aspects of his history that are relevant to all of us. Whether he likes it or not, Black history and Black culture are shared Amerian experiences. Historic figures like Malcolm X arise where cultues clash, not in petri dishes of isolated cultural hegemony. Malcolm X may indeed be Mr.Crawford's "hero," but Mr. Crawford's reverence for Malcolm X makes him no less available to Leedz, no matter how vehemently Mr. Crawford chooses to protest. In fact, the more Mr. Crawford endeavors to deny non-Blacks access to his culture - a culture that has been shaped by both Blacks and non-Blacks - the more he deprives us of the ability to examine who we are as a community.

New Year's Resolutions by The Indefinite Article

Happy 2007!

The year is only two days old and you’re already hearing from The Indefinite Article. Could that mean that big things are on the way? When have big things ever not been on the way? Come on!

Because it is a new year, and because the new year is a time for resolutions, and because we are on break and thus have no shows coming up in January, and because I’m a fool for old, hackneyed traditions, I’m going to give you a list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2007, which I have appropriately titled…

A List of New Year’s Resolutions for 2007
by The Indefinite Article

1. The Website. www.indef-art.com, will be up and running in full force at some goddamned point in the future, with audio, video, stuff, things, and merch. We swear.

2. The Blog. www.indef-art.blogspot.com, will be up and running starting now, with this newsletter. In addition to posting every monthly newsletter, I will resume posting both relevant and irrelevant information to this site at regular intervals. The posts will also be available on our myspace blog.

3. The Rest of the InterWeb. We will be making a full-scale run to have a presence in as many of the interconnected tubes of the interweb as we can. This includes: MySpace (of course), Facebook, YouTube, Google Video, PureVolume, and whatever other crap factories pop up their sloth-like, time-wasting heads this year.

4. The Album. We will write and record an album for you to have and cherish, releasing at least one single for you to behold during 2007.

5. The College Radio. This one is easy. Starting on February 5th, The Indefinite Article will team up with Planetary Group to do a 6-week college and non-commercial radio promotion campaign for The Grand Applause. Please be sure to hound your local college station to play our music starting on February 5th.

6. The Video. We will be teaming up with filmmaker Matt Rutherford to do a video of the song “You Might Wanna“ from our debut album, The Grand Applause.

7. The Kids These Days. We will start actively involving ourselves in playing all-ages shows, starting at Andover Town Hall, whenever Rick gets around to booking us an event there.

8. The Smacking Down of Punk-Ass Bitches. We will begin our master plan to systematically crush all those who hinder the juggernaut of forward progress that is The Indefinite Article. Masses of backward thinking, intellectually bereft clods will whimper in terror as they attempt to wrap their tiny little brains around the simple tautology that we have already processed and internalized: that it is impossible to stop us, for we are impossible to stop.

Okay, now it’s on to the outline. Let’s do it.

I. Indef on Boston Nocturnal!
II. February 2007 and Beyond!
III. Why such a short newsletter?

I. Indef on Boston Nocturnal!

Boston nightlife documentarians Boston Nocturnal dropped by our amazing December 15th show at Bill’s Bar to do a bit on the band. The current episode of the show can be seen here. If you are having trouble finding the episode that features us, it is also up on YouTube. Just click here. The video quality is better on Boston Nocturnal's own site, so try viewing it there first. We will be receiving a cut of the piece and will post the clip on our myspace as soon as we figure out exactly how to do so.

II. February 2007 and Beyond!

Yes, folks, we already do have a ton of gigs booked for our return to action in February. I’ll write you a short list right now. You’ll get the full details in the February newsletter. Here they are:

Thursday, February 1 – The Brick House, Dover, NH
Friday, February 2 – Kitty O’Shea’s, Beverly, MA
Thursday, February 8 – St. Anselm College, Manchester, NH
Saturday, February 10 – The Barley House, Concord, NH
Saturday, February 17 – Middle East Upstairs or Bill’s Bar, Cambridge or Boston, MA. Long Story.
Thursday, February 22 – Nectar’s, Burlington, VT
Friday, February 23 – TBA
Saturday, February 24 – Sugarbush Mountain, Warren, VT
Thursday, March 1 – The Blackburn, Gloucester, MA
Friday, March 9 – The Lion’s Den, New York, NY
Saturday, March 10 – The Santa Fe, College Park, MD
Thursday, March 22 – The Blackburn, Gloucester, MA
Thursday, March 29 – Tammany Hall, Worcester, MA
Friday, March 30 – Harbor House, Gloucester, MA
Thursday, April 19 – Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Thursday, May 4 – Santa Fe, College Park, MD

III. Why such a short newsletter?

Because I’m actually writing this on New Year’s Eve and I’m about to go get drunk.

Later
Abe
Also the rest of the band

If you would like to unsubscribe, email the.indefinite.article@gmail.com and try not to spread your pessimism and anger too heavily so soon. You’ll need it all year!