Tag Archives: tuber

Down the hole.


Hey, can you hear me down there? Mitch? Tubey? Hellllooooooooo!!!!

Oh, yeah – he’s done it again. Our mad science advisor Mitch Macaphee is the “he” I mean, and he’s … well .. cracked like any good mad scientist would be. I told him a dozen times that building underground tunnels to other countries is just not a very good idea. I warned him that there would be perhaps dire consequences to attempting such a project. Why… just tell me, why do mad scientists NEVER LISTEN TO REASON? WHY MUST THEY DESTROY THEMSELVES AND ALL THAT THEY LOVE?

I guess it’s just part of the narrative of mad science. You’ve seen it a million times, on the late, late, late show. Science fiction always makes the evil pay, just like 50’s and 60’s television. Look at how superman made that clown pay! He asked for it, goddamnit. Um… but I digress. It seems as though Mitch has made the decision to build a separate tunnel to every nation on Earth. He started with Alabama (which he thinks is its own nation – don’t tell him it’s not!) and has since built tunnels to Bangladesh, Chad, and Madagascar (skipping a few ahead…. A.D.D., I suspect). So as we sit here conversing so pleasantly, Mitch Macaphee has taken it upon himself to turn the earth into a block of swiss cheese.

What is his motivation here? The most capitalistic of reasons, Colonel Austin. He wants to set up what he calls an underground “choo choo” and charge people for the privilege of riding down the hole and out the other side of this increasingly raggedy planet. Fantastic scheme, to be sure… except convincing people to ride on the freaking thing will take even more engineering prowess than actually constructing it. (You DON’T want to see the men’s room – it’s …well… substandard.) I know he means well (I think), that he’s trying to bring in some badly needed revenue at this critical juncture when yours truly is about to be ejected from the Cheney Hammer Mill by the department of health. (They take issue with all of the mongooses. What the hell – so do I! Thing is, so do the mongooses.) It’s just the method, Mitch, the method.

Speaking of methods, I have to get back to the studio. I believe I left the tape machine running. And at 30 IPS, it’s probably reached the other end of one of Mitch’s tunnels by now.

Fully confused.


I forget what I’m doing here. Do I live in this dump? What is the purpose of my presence here? WHO IS GOD, ANYWAY??

Oh, sorry, you all. (What, am I southern now?) I was just having one of my difficult moments. That’s a new pastime here at the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill. We each get all dramatic and difficult at least half a dozen times a day, preferably taking turns at it so that the ambient noise doesn’t upset the mongooses trying to sleep on the roof when the sun is hottest around midday. (Are you getting all this down?) Why would we take on such an endeavor? Well, as you know (and this is perhaps the reason why you love us), we are not tremendously successful as a band. No heap big contract. No honking piles of ready cash. No adoring fans dogging our every step. And times being what they are, we thought, well…. if we act like assholes, these things will come our way.

Well… we’ve been doing for a few weeks now, and so far… big fat nothing. Not a sausage. Maybe the magic doesn’t work after all. We had it on pretty good authority. Our cohort Anti-Lincoln hangs with some of the biggest names in the antimatter world entertainment industry – people like Anti-Frank Sinatra and Anti-Melvyn Douglas. (I meant to ask him about Anti-Ed Wood… is he … *gasp* … normal??) They apparently have mad temper tantrums all the time, and it only seems to increase their aura of stardom. It kind of creates a penumbra of mystery around the umbra of famousness. That’s the shit we need, friend – to be sure.

I’ve asked Marvin (my personal robot assistant) to man the parapet and watch for the moment when throngs of admirers begin approaching the gates of the Hammer Mill. He has been dispatching this duty with the usual mixture of doggedness and incompetence. Got to give him credit. With all the hassle those mongooses give him, he keeps up his vigil, no fear. Good man. Good cyborg.

Good grief, is that the time? I’ve got to get all melodramatic again. (I can hear the echoes of the man-sized tuber’s last tirade dying down, and I always go after him.) MITCH?! MITCH MACAPHEE?! WHERE’S MY GOAT CHEESE?!!

Making noises.

What was that sound I heard, coming from down below? Some kind of tectonic activity? A passing subway car? Or could it be…..  a tuber in distress?

Tubey and Marvin (my personal robot assistant) are still exploring the inner bowels of the Oit. I would post images they’ve sent via their cell phones, but you would hardly believe your own eyes if you saw them. Crikey, there’s a lot going on down there – much more than when we did that Jules Verne-like tour to the center of the Earth a few years ago. Amazing… but then, there’s a lot of space below us, if you think about it. (Even if you don’t think about it. ) So take my word for it. Don’t go there. Just don’t. It’s hot. It’s mean. It’s just plain dangerous.

So, what does this have to do with you? Well, not much. That’s the nature of the internets as we know them. A lot of random, stupid detail about people’s personal lives of interest to no one other than themselves. We are certainly guilty of that. Yeah, I know the standard jibe. Big Green is all yak and very little music, right? Well…. right enough.  Too much talking, not enough music – got it. And it’s been almost a year and a half since our last release, International House. So what the hell – time to get off our sorry butts and start strumming, pounding, screeching again.

Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, I’ve got some good news. (Well… let’s say some not bad news, anyway.) It so happens that we are working on a little project, way down yonder. We’ve got an enormous backlog of ludicrous songs that have yet to be properly recorded. So here’s the plan – record them AND play them live. And what the hell – let’s do a powerpoint, besides. Matt and I have been knocking our heads together, and we’ve started laying down some tracks with Marvin (when he’s available) recording reference drums until John White returns from his extended trip to Madagascar. (Where do you rent a gas car in Madagascar?) The virtual reels are rolling… that’s what that freaking noise is.

Oh well. Much to do (and less to say) around these parts.