While this Blog is slightly comatose, let's get you to where the action is.
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Bogus Slogan Poster #92 - Inside View
Opacity.us photographed these boats, losing their battle to stay on top of the water.
Bogus Slogan
Bogus Slogan Poster #91 - Inside View
Enjoying the fun of the Mott's New York Loft show, a couple years later, a somewhat similar sized Trenton, New Jersey gentleman's club was temporarily renamed Mr. Mott's Club of Distinction. Bogus Slogan had a crew rebuild the stage floor and a concert was scheduled.
By this time musical tastes had come back to hard rock. Straight 4/4. Clean and tight. It was also the last revival of tube amplification, with most of the gig's sound reinforcement amplifiers being vacuum tube based. Still used extensively in industrial installations, the large array of amp stacks and old style free magnetic speakers was like playing vinyl records of old.
The world would gravitate to photonnmagnetic for the transmission of sound. A simple question of effective cost. Photonmagnetic was nearly repair free. Because of its low cost of manufactuer, durable parts, minimal heat dissipation and outstanding fidelity reproduction, PhoMag™ was the technology that replaced analog and digital.
The tube revival thankfully lasted two years. The band used the equipment for a full world tour and a spring / summer tour of Mexico and North America / Canada. Costs were better amortized. Accountants were appeased. The amps and speakers were rebuilt into smaller cabinets and are still used in Bogus Slogan's acoustic recording sessions.
Being a gentlemen's club, the show at Mr. Mott's Club of Distinction. was adults only. But since no alcohol was served, the dancers were free to visually express themselves. Bogus Slogan went on 90 minutes late.
Mott's opacity.us's photo is a back flow control valve from an abandoned building. It's a big one. Lovely in rust - valves frozen shut. Now lost in time.
Bogus Slogan Poster #90 - Inside View
When Host Spittle was uncovered as Bogus Slogan's punk alter ego, there was demand for additional concerts. Several of these additional shows were back in the areas where BS played as HS. The band wanted this particular venue because of the opacity.us picture used in Bogus Slogan Poster #90.
Mott's New York Loft, was a gentlemen's club in Open City, Ohio. It had been redeveloped from a burlesque theater of the 1930's. Seats had been removed and stored. The open floor had been recontoured with large ramps which connected new seating and dancing areas. A bar ran the entire length of the stage front. Girls, in their costumes used the stage as a warm up area. Stretches and squats and twists. Being seen at the bar was a popular social calling.
At the band's concert, the girls danced. By personal choice, all tips went to charity. On the bill were The Isolationists. They had also been on the bill where Host Spittle's true identity had been disguised. They had complained about having to follow the headliners playing "before" them. They said they had been practicing and were ready for a rematch.
Mott's photo is a staircase with a wooden bannister and metal stanchions. A window on a lower floor accents the railing. Industrial plumbing adorns a lower wall. The dirt, rust and debris are the antithesis of the Mott's New York Loft. And while the public building in the photo is abandoned, the gentlemen's club was filled to capacity. 625 of the patrons took a Bogus Slogan Poster #90 home.
Host Spittle made a final EP, "Man Down!" A salute to the punk world. It sold quite well. The band will occasionally play a Host Spittle set at festivals. But the return to an evolving Bogus Slogan was always the plan.
ZPS Photo • Club First Series
Time marches on. All things must past. All good things come to an end.
And so does the ZenithPointStudio Photo • Club First Series. For the last couple of months your email inbox has been the source of photographic delights. From vintage signs of yesteryear to feline photoshoots. From the back streets of Los Angeles to the lost highway, Route 66. But Series One is done and finished.
Don't miss the Second Series coming this Fall. Stay in Contact. Stand by.
Don't leave your inbox unsupervised.™
Bogus Slogan Poster #89 - Inside View
Not all great photographers are mainstream. But to do the type of photography that Motts of Opacity.us does takes a wonderful sense of adventure. His favorite subject of choice are abandoned large scale buildings.
The passing of human activity is available in nearly every shot of the state hospitals, closed factories, forsaken boats. He visits no trespassing areas, but he, of all people, should be allowed visitation right for taking pictures.
Here the message board is long gone - leaving bare brick - splashed with white paint. A small radiator heats the hallway. Very inefficient. Try running an East coast hospital with inadequate heating. Try budgeting the cost of re-piping an entire state hospital made from concrete and cement. Better to let the building go unused.
Bogus Slogan earned its punk credentials by becoming another band. This parallel band released three singles before recognition became public sized. "Host Spittle" had put out 2 EPS, 2 more singles and 1 album by the time promoters began calling for gigs they knew they could sell. Bogus Slogan does not turn down revenue streams, so Host Spittle went into wardrobe.
The record industry were crazed when the tour combining Bogus Slogan and Host Spittle was announced. They claimed the two groups had nothing in common. Bogus Slogan was insane. The tour started in the Mid-West. Within 4 shows the secret was exposed. But the punk community did not reject the band. In fact, demand for more shows was the result. Host Spittle merged into Bogus Slogan.
Washes: Vectorology (2004)
Like being in Miami without the humidity.
or...
Seeing the Loch Ness sea monster chew up your favorite boyfriend.
Bogus Slogan Poster #88 - Inside View
Every band that lasts more than a few years, will finally succumb to a 'Cash Money Tour.' Take all the money they can get. Promote the merch until the no one likes the stuff. Squeeze the costs so that the profit margin, if public known, would catch an investor's interest. Promise everybody that there will be another tour, another record.
Underneath, behind the scenes, most bands will be just lucky enough to get a single done before resentment and hostilities resume. Management buys so much goodwill, the people who cover the music industry get suspicious. A 'best of...' album with two new tracks is released, tour booked and interviews with talking points are given.
Bogus Slogan decided to cut straight to the third act. The code name for their cash money tour was "Stand By For Crime." Only they did not clue in the media. Instead management and band members talked only of the monetary motives. Refusing to call it a farewell tour, the group continually told anyone who would listen to buy more records and t-shirts. It was the group's time to cash in.
Since the band was late getting the new record done, the tour was delayed to mid July. Industry flacks happily announced the group's demise. Opening date was on the riverboat, Maybelle's Bayou Queen docked at Natchez, Mississippi. For the next night's concert the Maybelle's cruised down to New Orleans. That's where the band picked up their private train, heading to East coast for the next set of shows.
When less than a year later, the band released new singles, new album, new tour; the entertainment media got all choked up inside their collective resentment. No one ever reads the fine print...
SysOps Notice 2007.07.01
It was a new day yesterday
But its an old day now.
But its an old day now.
McLean, Texas is more a shrine than a lost icon. At its apex there were 16 gasoline stations in less than a square mile, 
Most were 1940's style. Two pumps under an overhang (that was sometimes not) connected to the main building which housed a 2 car service bay and a small office for paperwork and the cash register. The original stations would have had one underground tank. One grade of gasoline. 
As I photographed each station, I thought about my home town's 1950's / 60's gas stations. For a population of 13,000 in about 4 square miles we had 7. A Mobil Flying "A." 2 Union 76. Phillips. Standard Oil. Texaco. 
And a Richfield, who's office was a beautiful circular building with wooden pane windows painted a dark blue. The Richfield sign rose from the top of the office roof. A long vertical fin of letters. Neon lit.
I shot 12 of the 14 stations that were still standing. I am guessing the lost two are vacant lots. #13 was the only operational station. Eight pumps in four rows. No island - no overhang. Quick mart / gas combination. 
#14 was Phillips Petroleum Company's first station (1928). It looks like a cottage and painted an orange like color. A tourist attraction to keep Route 66 alive in McLean. I could not push the shutter. 
The largest station was on the western edge of the town. Twin wing overhangs with a modest central office. 8 two pump stations. 
To handle the increase in traffic the town made Route 66 into a 2 lane Westbound only street. A parallel one way street supported Eastbound traffic. 
It must have been amazing to witness the opening of each station. Would this one finally be able to handle all the travelers?
And then the decline. The corporate meetings to decide whether to keep the station open. The last days of operation - the last day when the doors are locked and the station owner does not return.
Why so many? McLean is 185 miles West of Oklahoma City. 70 miles East of Amarillo. Only a few motels. I would guess that those going Route 66 would find McLean the perfect stop for lunch. Get some gas and go. 
In my home town, the Flying "A" and the Phillips stations were gone before I started to drive. The Richfield became Arco and then was gone. The Texaco was torn down and the site rebuilt as retail shops in the late 90's. Standard Oil sold to an independent. Only one of the Union 76 remain, but the owner of the land wants to build a 2 story office building.
PopWorks & Commercialization 16
INCLUDES:
Iron Curtain Restaurant • Dr. Science • Chatty Nelson • Jetsons
California Kid • Kill Cavanah • 2 Headed dog
POPWORKS 16a (mp3) (59MB) (52m) (160 kbps) (1986)
INCLUDES:
I Have the Touch • Rolling Stones • Find Your Way Back
Do a Whoa! • ComboCliner • Barracuda • Ice Cream Man
POPWORKS 16b (mp3) (59MB) (52m) (160 kbps) (1986)
REMEMBER: definitely ABSTRACT FIDELITY
LINK is good for at least 90 days
Bogus Slogan Poster #87 - Inside View
Bogus Slogan Poster #87's backdrop is a collage made from vidcaps from a documentary on organized Labor's growth in the United States of America. The poster combines political cartoons from the turn of the 20th Century.
Details shows a reveler's face in close up. He has a mug of beer, filled to the brim with a large head of foam. He is ecstatic. Behind him, crouching, is the mad bomber, anarchist. A primed ball of dynamite cradled softly in his arms. At the top of the collage, is the educator, unhappy with what he sees of this world, desiring to impose his thinking on the masses.
The Bogus Slogan, "Pick your Poison" is some poor attempt to say these are not good ways to live. In fact the message on the herald (join the Revolution Sociale) is a 4th choice that, like the others, probably ends in violence - blood and death.
Or you could go to the Bogus Slogan concert with The Shrinking Arch Fiends and The Crushed Teenagers. "Hey! 'The Crushed Teenagers!!!' I wanna hear them. I just love their feel for distortion. I wanna see if they can play their songs live..."
That fifth choice that might not be such a bad way to go. No blood and death -- Just a place to hang out and listen to some music for a couple of hours. Missed the Show? Ready to pick your poison? I hope you would have, like myself, chosen the reveler. Look at that grin.
Abstracts: Four Bears (Detail) (2004)
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Outside rumpus room,
Bright patriotic trees sway
Observe. Four bears dance.
Bright patriotic trees sway
Observe. Four bears dance.
Bogus Slogan Poster #86 - Inside View
In last week's poster (#85) we see a superb photo of T.S. Monk, his piano's keyboard reflecting in his sunglasses. Very symbolic of the complexity of his music.
Bogus Slogan Poster #86 shows Free Jazz pianist, Cecil Taylor, blazing in action. Sweat soaked stress lines across his shirt's back... Blurred hands spread to the ends of his instrument... A temporary instant of silence before his hands will reconnect.
Getting the concepts of Free Jazz into the rock idiom is quite a challenge. It is pretty easy to bang and make noise. Any one picking up an instrument for the first time qualifies. Getting a group of musicians outside their comfort zone and into new music worlds, well... Bringing an audience along, well...
But that is what Bogus Slogan and friends did over a long weekend in September at New York's Five Spot Jazz club.
Only took ...a lot of coffee and a lot of sweat.
Expressions: Classical Toy Mob (2004)
So which memories will you keep. Most drift away from neglect.
Many of your childhood thoughts will vaporize. Replaced by the importance of money, fame, career, love. Whatever.
If you need more room... If the new memories are piling up on the doorstep... Don't look at me, I don't remember talking to you.