Who Goes There? was rad, and if you didn't already know that you're fucking up because their last show was Saturday July 23rd 2011 with Step Dads, and Stillborn Identity(me).
I knew these guys through their drummer Eric, we grew up skating together and when he found out I "rapped" he was totally down to put me on house shows they had. I was horrible back then, waaaay worse than I am now. I would just get whiskey drunk, stop my songs halfway through because I was slurring so bad, then just tell embarrassing anecdotes for the remainder of my set. And yet for some reason these dudes kept asking me to come play.
Cooler Than Dinosaurs was their last release. One of the reasons this cd is so rad is because of the packaging, the insert was a comic book of dinosaurs who like to party by Ben Harkins. I didn't even get my hands on a copy until a few months after they broke up. After a show I played with one of Eric's new bands we went back to one of his band mates houses to eat free pizza and swap dumpster diving locations and stories. Eric went inside and found a back pack full of his Who Goes There? unsold cds and distributed a copies to those of us who didn't have one yet. Free food. Free cd. Full day.
All the members of this band were super hospitable to touring bands. Offering their couches, floors, stolen food from shitty restaurant jobs, and mason jars full of alcohol without hesitation. They're good dudes, I don't know where or how you could go about buying this cd anymore but you should support some of the new groups that have sprout from the demise of Who Goes There?.
In hind sight I probably should have scanned this in, but whatever.
Proseed played a show a few nights ago at The Shadow Lounge and I totally missed it because I'm a scrub and decided to stay home and play with my dog instead. Luckily a there is a footage of the show online so anything I missed in person I get to catch up with online and talk about the show like I was actually there. Right? Or is the internet only used for watching monkey piss on themselves and women masturbate... Either way here is some footage of Proseed killing it with DJ Blacklisted(of Fortified PhonetX)
It's awesome to see Proseed getting such a warm introduction by one of Pittsburgh's most reputable emcees, Real Deal. Proseed has been killing it for years and deserves every bit of respect he gets and much more. He's one of the few emcees I've seen in Pittsburgh whose draw transcends one genre of hip hop. He'll rip every show he's put on weather the audience be backpackers, thugs, punks, deaf dogs, hipster hop heads, drunk yinzers, nerd rappers, crabby pregnant women, or anything and anyone you put in front of his stage. It's inspiring to see great his great lyrical ability will go above and beyond his standard Solid Ground Entertainment(SGE) realm that he's been dominating ever since I saw him open for Louis Logic and Z Man in 2005/2006.
In spite of missing his show the other night I decided to listen to all I have of his discography today while miserably wrenching on withered old Mustangs at my dads auto body shop. And in doing so I came to find out(again) that his even his 2007 first full length, Quintessential, is so much better than what people are doing 5 years later, although he considers it to be "a little premature."
When this came out I use to go to shows on a straight solo mission, dead sober, sitting at the bar by myself, ordering water, nervously looking around and pretending to check my cell phone that didn't have texting... it was awkward. I had tried to work up the courage to ask Derek for a copy of his cd, with $10 in my hand to make the transaction as fast and painless as possible, but that water on the rocks I was sipping didn't give my any extra confidence. So needless to say when I saw the release a few weeks later at The Record Exchange for a mere $10.70 I did not hesitate to pay the extra 70 cents not to have to talk to an artist that I respected. It doesn't make sense I know, but what can I say, I have horrible social skills, which is probably why I blog.
Years later when I watching one of his sets at The Smiling Moose he grabbed a few long lasting copies of Quintessential and set them on the floor in front of the stage and said that anyone who wanted one could have one. After that he looked at me, knowing I had bought it years prior and apologized that I had to pay full price for it. Then he added some dry humored comment like, "no refunds," and went on with his set. I didn't mind paying money to support artists that I respect, talking to them(while sober) is the tough part.
Pretty much from 10th or 11th grade until a few months ago I had been working at Head Board Shop, a skate shop in Pittsburgh. I must admit it was a pretty perfect job for a full time slacker like myself. Watch skate videos during the day shifts, drink beer during the night shifts, and although I'm not much of a smoker, smoke in the basement after I closed just because I could.
During the last winter I worked there business had been pretty slow. To the point where I decided to take the initiative upon myself to sort through the clutter of former employee's left behind cds, and promotional cds people had dropped off over the years and sell them to The Record Exchange to make a little bit of extra revenue for the store. I was carefully sifting out the promo cds where the bar codes had been punched out, when I stumbled across this gem, The Deadly Scribes release The Situation.
The cd had come out long before I had started getting my feet wet in the Pittsburgh rap scene, but I knew of the legacy Dos Noun and any of his work had left behind. So needless to say this cd didn't go to the the pile to sell, nor did it stay in the store copy pile, instead I nonchalantly slid it into my back pack, and totally forgot about the project I started. As I always did at the skate shop while trying to do a good deed.
A few weeks later I saw Dos at a show and in a drunken state of excitement I was able to walk directly up to him, interrupting the conversation he was having with his girlfriend, and told him about my find. He casually congratulated me on my discovery and told me, "...that cd and 5 bucks might get you a beer..." I'm still not certain what this expression meant. Especially considering I won't but a beer if it costs over $2.50(unless it's a 24 ounce). After all how could I afford to while working at a skate shop since 2004.
