Friday, February 3, 2012
Q+A / Weekend Mike Doughty comes clean about heroin addiction in new memoir
Posted by Alec Wooden on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 3:40 PM
Mike Doughty loves drugs. Now let's be clear: He doesn't do them anymore. Hasn't in years, and kicking his various habits was a long struggle — but he's the first to tell you he wouldn't trade a day of his past, winding through his stint with Soul Coughing to various new solo projects. His just-released memoir, "The Book of Drugs," pulls the curtain back on this enigmatic songwriting gem and reveals a Doughty many people may not recognize. It's an often uncomfortable though delightful read, in the sense of what you might expect from one’s detailing their own heavy drug use. Doughty is open about everything: his upbringing, his family, and his stinging accounts of his past and present hatred for Soul Coughing. “If somebody says they love Soul Coughing, I hear fuck you,” he writes. It's not a juicy, gossip-laden tell-all, but rather a simple account of one man's coming to terms with a perfectly imperfect life. That’s the Doughty way, as it stands now both in the book and accompanying live release, The Question Jar Show (in which Doughty answers fans questions dropped in a jar on stage): open, honest, comfortable and — perhaps the biggest change — content.
Mike Doughty (book reading and performance). $20-$23. 8 p.m. Sat., Feb 4. Eddie’s Attic, 515-B North McDonough St. 404-377-4976. www.eddiesattic.com.
So I guess the obvious question is, why now? Why was this the time to write “The Book of Drugs?”
MD: It wasn’t really pre-meditated. I was working with a manager who asked if I had ever thought about writing something, and it just kind of fell into place as it should.
Was there a particular story, or particular detail, that you found most challenging to write?
It was really hard writing about my parents and my younger brother, but it was something I couldn’t leave out. At some point, I had to decide ‘am I going to write this for real, or am I going to give it somewhat of a gloss?’ And what I’m best at is real. So that’s what I chose. It was super important to show myself as a flawed human being, because there’s so much stuff about other people that’s pretty harsh, so I felt this obligation to dig into my own things and take out the ugly ooze and put it on display.
Define addiction.
Addiction is something that’s fucking you up that you can’t stop doing. There’s some hint of pleasure in it, or maybe there’s a great quantity of pleasure in it (laughs). You’re sitting there going ‘I don’t want to get high,’ and suddenly you’re high. ‘I don’t wanna waste $10,000 at the casino,’ and so on and so forth (laughs). I guess there is such a thing as physical addiction, as in anybody can do a shit ton of cocaine and have a physical addiction to cocaine, but what it is to be an addict to me is a very, very deep element of your identity, and it’s something you struggle with in almost every behavior in life.
What about “will power?”
I don’t know, man (laughs). All I know is that it wasn’t will power that got me clean. It was shutting up and listening to the people [whose lives] I found I really attractive. It’s much more efficient to let go, in almost all things.
Is fame an addiction? And do you think your drug use in any way tied to wanting more fame, even if you didn’t know it at the time?
Last Night Photos: Anthrax at the Tabernacle
Posted by Joeff Davis on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 1:58 PM
Anthrax played the Tabernacle on Thursday night. Check out more photos.
Last Night Trying to remember what happened last night @therealjuicyj via my twitter feed
Posted by Wyatt Williams on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 12:10 PM
- SHITTY BLURRY IPHONE 3 PICTURE OF JUICY J COURTESY WYATT WILLIAMS
I had meant to cover Juicy J, Dom Kennedy, and Freddie Gibbs at the Quad in some capacity for Creative Loafing last night. When I arrived at the office this morning, I realized that I didn't really remember enough of the evening to write about it. Then I looked at my Twitter feed and was like, "Oh, right. That happened."
I was standing there at the club bored and figured I could tweet about it or whatever. I'd come to the show more or less straight from the office and met up with some dudes and started drinking and this was all way too early in the night. I think we did some shots at some point. I tweeted back and forth with some journalist dudes who weren't there. One of them said this:
Photo Gallery Photos: Behind the scenes with Atlanta's rap video directors
Posted by Dustin Chambers on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:03 AM
- Dustin Chambers
- Wocka Flocka gets a touchup in between takes at his shoot for "No Hands".
We went behind the scenes with several of the DIY video directors featured in this week's cover story, "Motion Family, Decatur Dan, and Phil the God Lead Rap's Viral Offensive." The shoots documented include Waka Flocka's "No Hands" (2010), Gucci Mane's "North Pole" (2012), Future and T.I.'s "Magic" remix (2011), and Pill's "It's All On Me" (2012).
Concert Picks Atlanta weekend music update (Feb. 3-5)
Posted by Chad Radford on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Friday, February 3
>> Open Improv / International Noise Conference! feat. Rat Bastard (Laundry Room Squelchers), Clang Quartet, Names Divine, Twilight Memories of the Three Suns, Balderdash, Gashy, Adam Babar, Nows, Pony Payroll Bones, Graham Moore, David Kirby, Lindsay Smith, Hopi Torval, Orichalcum, Shitty Bedford, the Subliminator, Stan Woodard, Le Bibliotheque, Curtis Stephens. Free (donations at the door). 9 p.m. @ The Goat Farm (Rodriguez Room)
>> Theophilus London, Phony Ppl, Venus X. $12-$14. 8:30 p.m. @ The Earl
>> Today The Moon Tomorrow The Sun, Sleepy Vikings, the Pauses. $7. 9 p.m. @ 529
>> Pillage and Plunder, the Violent, Absence of Ocean, Full Net. $5. 8 p.m. @ WonderRoot
>> North Trolls, Sound & Shape, Vipers & Adders. $5. 9 p.m. @ Highland Ballroom
From Exile, Lazer/Wulf, Brain. $7. 9 p.m. @ The Drunken Unicorn
>> Hollyfest IV: The music of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper performed by Caroline & the Ramblers, Sonoramic Commando, the Suicide Doors, Whiskey Belt, Junior, Dolan and Cash, Red Rocket Deluxe, Downer Brothers, Drop Dead Nasty, Grim Rooster, the Cogburns, Superpill, Rockbridge Heights and more. $10. 9 p.m. @ Star Bar
>> Suni MF Solomon, CMFTBLVN. $8. 9 p.m. @ The Music Room
Music news / randomania Tracklist: Letterman loves Lana Del Rey
Posted by Spencer Sloan on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 9:54 AM
>> (OFFICIAL) Music video for M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls" has BMWs on two wheels. BANGER.
>> (OFFICIAL) Music video for Neon Indian's "Fallout" has augmented Jem, zero holograms.
>> >> (OFFICIAL) Music video for the Magnetic Fields' "Andrew in Drag" has nudity.
>> (OFFICIAL) Music video for Adam Lambert's "Better Than I Know Myself" has Adam Lambert in two looks.
>> (OFFICIAL) Music video for Coldplay's "Charlie Brown" has a rave where Coldplay plays. At a rave. Where Coldplay plays.
>> (OFFICIAL?) Music video for Way Yes's "Singing" has creatures.
>> Willow Smith has a new look, y'all.
>> Eight reasons to get excited about Madonna’s Super Bowl show.
>> "Career saved" reads one of the first comments under Lana Del Rey's Letterman performance.
>> Bradford Deerhunter covers Leonard Cohen’s “Seems So Long Ago, Nancy.”
>> Why Michael at Cruftbox isn't going to SxSW this year
VIDEO VIDEO: 'Black Gold' by Esperanza Spalding and Algebra
Posted by Carlton Hargro on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 9:32 AM
Yesterday, we brought you the brand-new video from Atlanta soul singers Rhonda Thomas and Avery Sunshine. Today. we've got some more soul-cious goodness — in the form of a new video by Grammy-winning bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding and Atlanta-based singer Algebra Blessett.
The clip is for the song "Black Gold" and is the first single from Esperanza's new album Radio Music Society, which hits the street on March 20.
Enjoy:
Air Loaf Air Loaf: DIY music video directors
Posted by Bobby Feingold on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 9:00 AM
CL's Chante Lagon and Rodney Carmichael discuss Atlanta's new breed of music video directors. These directors on the rise are using accessible technology to turn the industry on its ear.
Download now or listen after the jump.
Subscribe to the Air Loaf feed to download each new episode automatically.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tonight You say no to drugs, Juicy J can't
Posted by Rodney Carmichael on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 6:33 PM
Last time Juicy J came to Atlanta, he made dicks of us all. I imagine tonight will be no different, minus the Halloween costumes.
Coincidentally, the month-old video to "Juicy J Can't" (above) was directed by Atlantan Figz!, who's spotlighted in this week's cover story on the local video director grind. His Juicy J video was one of the visuals that made me reach out to him — along with his 2010 Travis Porter joint, "Make It Rain" — mainly because it was so trippy.
We spent an hour in a recording studio off Spring St., where he does most of his editing, watching videos around 1 in the morning as he explained some of his editing techniques, like the seizure-effect (flashes timed to the lawn-sprinkler snares), kaleidoscope effect, keying out, mirror effect and slow mo. The more he talked about the songs and how much he's influenced by the producers behind some of them — like Virginia beatsmith Lex Luger, Atlanta's Mike Will Made It, and others — I realized his editing techniques are his visual interpretation of the music.
Like Lex Luger, who's known for producing hits in a matter of minutes, Figz can work fast behind the camera. When he shot Gucci Mane's "North Pole" in 40 minutes, even Gucci was stunned.
He makes an appearance about midway through the Juicy vid above when he turns the camera to himself while Juicy pauses in the middle of the shoot to holler at some chicks. They shot it in L.A. and Vegas, hence the Caesar's Palace-looking treatment. The outcome is appropriately hood, or to bring back an old term, sort of ghetto fab, considering it was just him and Juicy J running and gunning on the shoot. I'm going to pick a few of my favorite Figz videos, along with Motion Family, Decatur Dan, and Phil the God before the week is over, but for now, I just wanted to post this Juicy J joint to preview tonight's show.
Juicy J, Freddie Gibbs, Dom Kennedy. $20. Tonight (Thurs., Feb. 2). Quad/Spring 4th Complex, 714 Spring St. 404-870-0040. www.spring4th.com.
Photo Gallery King Khan and the Shrines at the Basement
Posted by Joeff Davis on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 6:12 PM
King Khan and the Shrines jammed at the Basement in East Atlanta on Tuesday night.
