Crime Blotter
A preliminary hearing was scheduled in the case of Omar Alaqqad, a California man accused of stabbing a man in the parking lot of Circus Circus in Las Vegas.
Before the attack, Alaqqad was seen taking his shirt off and standing on top of vehicles, pacing around the parking lot, before chasing and repeatedly striking a golf cart being driven by a Circus Circus employee with a shovel.
Two men in a Chevy Suburban who witnessed Alaqqad’s behavior told police they became especially concerned after they saw him take out a knife. One of the men grabbed a crowbar for safety and threw it at Alaqqad, which caused Alaqqad to chase him and stab him in the head. The stabbing victim was able to grab the crowbar and began hitting Alaqqad with it, knocking out two of his front teeth.
Bulgarian Puke
The People’s House of Humor and Satire was built by Todor Zhivkov’s daughter, Ludmilla
After eating three or four heaps of the decayed Nazi morphine powder, I felt behind me in the darkness for a handle or lever
The counter system to the counter system will show you both Great Systems in a mirror above the bathroom sink in Gabrovo, where I am washing my balls
PS: The Bogomils were right
Let us ponder the 1980s, geopolitically, economically, and thermodynamically. Ronald Reagan had called the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire” in 1983, though it was an empire so decayed, we would later discover, it barely appeared scary enough to justify another year’s increase to the defense budget. It was a time that would later be called “the height of the Cold War.”
The Soviets were bogged down in Afghanistan, the US was arming the Taliban, and Manhattan, where I lived and worked then, was awash in cocaine and disco. Artists went sour and turned on their patrons. It was the zeitgeist, they said. “I’d sell them shit if I could,” said Andy Warhol, whose gnostic snarl recalls us to the point: Soviet Russia and the Eastern Bloc nations were widely perceived as the great counter system to imperial capitalism, and as Uncle Sam’s rival for the hearts and minds of the third world.
This is all by way of …
Critic's Corner
Concert Review
In the past month, I admittedly did not see as much live music as I usually do. Attempts were made, but schedules didn’t really line up. January and February are mostly dead months for concert bookings anyhow. Which is why when I found this show at Pineapple, only a couple days before my deadline, I jumped on the opportunity. The lineup was stacked with five straight hours of smaller New York City indie musicians, two of whom I recognized. Navigating some troublesome winter weather, my friend and I managed to get on the train and made our way to the venue.
Pineapple New York turned out to be a small thrift store/music venue next to a Thai restaurant in Kips Bay. On the stairs there were a couple of people, maybe a few years older than us, rolling cigarettes and drinking from conspicuous brown paper bags. That's when I knew it was …
