Journal Archive - March, 2008

just getting back from miami.
boy, things in miami do tend to go kind of, uh, late, huh.
ultra was fun, the carl cox tent reminded me of the original uk raves, especially
once the sun set.
and then later in the night i went out to white room and studio a and ended
up staying out way too late.
oof.
'last night' comes out today and tomorrow(except in uk, again, i apologize
to everyone in the uk for the delay).
oh, some other things possibly worth mentioning:

1-we're playing 'disco lies' on the conan o'brien show on monday night.
i'm not sure if it airs monday night or not. probably. but maybe not. i know nothing.

2-i'm doing an in-store signing at the virgin mega-store in union square(14th and broadway)
at 6:30 pm on tuesday, april 1st. come by if you can so that i can hopefully avoid a
spinal tap style in-store appearance(paul schaeffer's finest role).
and feel free to ignore the people who will probably tell you that you can only
have 2 things signed or whatever. bring lots of stuff, i'll sign whatever you want.

3-i guess that's it. oh, degenerates april 3rd with mehdi and tommy sunshine. but i mentioned
that before.

4-that's all i can think of for now.

ok, see you soon.
moby

I'm in miami and its warm.
Dj'ing later w/ carl cox at ultra.
Miami is nice, but all of the bronzed and sculpted people do tend to make me feel physically inadequate, what with my woody allen complexion, hair-line, and physique.
Maybe if I lurk in the shadows the bronzed and sculpted beach denizens will be less inclined to throw garbage at me.
Anywhoo(to quote homer), 'last night' is now up and streaming on my myspace page, and it comes out monday everywhere except north america, tuesday in north america, and may in the uk(don't ask, I don't understand record label machinations).
And we've made a bunch of changes to moby.com, the coolest of said changes being that we're streaming videos on the homepage.
Well, I think its a cool change. But maybe I'm biased, seeing as they're my videos. Hopefully you think its a cool change, too.
Ok, back to skulking in the shadows of miami. I hope you enjoy 'last night', and maybe see you later if you're in miami, or april 3rd in nyc at hiro w mehdi and tommy sunshine.
Thanks
Moby

i'm just leaving for miami and the winter music conference(nice, considering it's
cold and nasty and raining in nyc right now).
i'm dj'ing with at wmc with carl cox at ultra(early, 7pm), hopefully see you saturday.
oh, we've also put up the new album in its entirety on my myspace page(and it might be elsewhere
on myspace, i'm not sure).
and i'm seemingly addicted to parenthetical statements(this being one).
ok, have a good weekend and hopefully see you soon.
moby

http://www.myspace.com/moby

ew, ew, i feel like i just ate something disgusting.
blach(that's the sound of me spitting. i know, it's not a pretty sound. but read on).
i just read an interview with dick cheney.
he was talking about the now 4,000 u.s soldiers who've died in iraq.
and while he noted that this has placed a 'special burden' on the families
of the dead soldiers he went on to say, 'the president carries the biggest burden, obviously'.
ew, dick cheney is so fucking evil and slimey and repulsive.
the president carries a bigger burden than the families of the soldiers who've
died in iraq??
is cheney out of his mind?
gw bush, sitting in his comfy mansion eating peanuts and watching nascar is carrying a bigger
burden than poor families in the midwest who've just found out that their only son or daughter has
been killed in iraq?
i can't believe that anyone would think, let alone make, such a stupid and soul-less and utterly
wrong statement. and he's the vice-president of the united states?
i still can't get over that. the vice-president of the united states saying in public that the president
is bearing a bigger burden than the families of soldiers who've been killed in iraq.
ew. he's so fucking disgusting.
moby

an update on music stuff.
although 'stuff' sounds kind of demeaning.
so, an update on music things?
a musical update.
that doesn't sound right either.
but you get the point.
and, a list:

a-i was doing an interview recently and someone asked me
about 'last night' being a eulogy for dance music in nyc. i started
laughing and i realized that either i or someone had a moment
of dyslexia and somehow confused 'eulogy' for 'homage'. both are
weird words with soft g's, but different meanings. 'last night' is an homage
to dance music in nyc, not a eulogy, especially as dance music in nyc(and
elsewhere)is far from dead. it's not even sick, at least from my perspective.
so, to be clear, 'last night' is an homage, a love letter, a tribute, a paean to dance
music in nyc.

b-you can, if you so choose, pre-order last night on itunes and amazon
and all of the other nice places that allow you to pre-order music.
you can also pre-order the cd at your local independent record store.
again, if you so choose. or you can be offended at me schilling for my
own record. but then again, if you're
going to schill you might as well schill for your own record, no?
ok, schilling is over for now. i wonder what the etymology of 'schill' is?
it sounds vaguely yiddish, like schmaltz and shpilkes and schvitz. why
don't they have vegan schmaltz? this is a valid question.

c-march 26th with little death and rene risque and lady rizo at the box
is all sold out. sorry. maybe you can sneak in the back. i hear there's
a back door on freeman's alley. wear roadie clothes and pretend you're working.
maybe that'll work.

d-april 3rd at hiro with mehdi and tommy sunshine should be really fun.
hopefully see you there.

e-and maybe see you in miami next week with carl cox.

f-i guess that's it for now. i hope you had a nice weekend. see you soon.

-moby

today is the 5 year anniversary of the start of the war in iraq.
4,000 u.s soldiers have died so far, 40,000 u.s soldiers have been
badly wounded, 90,000 iraqii's have died, and it's cost u.s taxpayers
close to one trillion dollars.
all for a war that was started on falsehoods, for we all know that iraq
had no wmd's and iraq had no role with al qaeda or in 9-11.
as former secretary of state and u.n ambassador madeline albright said recently, 'the war in iraq is the biggest foreign
policy disaster in the history of the united states.'
it's all such a shame, and my heart breaks for the soldiers, their families, and the iraqii's who've
had their lives torn apart by this pointless war.
moby

at 6:30 pm on wednesday march 26(before the little death/rene risque show at the box)
i'm having a seminar/conversation with neuroscientist petr jenata at the rubin museum in nyc.
the rubin museum is at:

150 west 17th street

come down and talk about the brain with us.
mmm...brains...
moby

it's been a while, so it's time for another degenerates party.
this time with dj mehdi and tommie sunshine(look at the picture, we all look
like criminals, huh).
it's april 3rd and it'll be a record release party for 'last night'.
see you there,
moby

p.s-$5, as usual.

http://newyork.going.com/mobymehdi

i know, lists.
the last bastion of the lazy and unprepared and attention deficited.
but, anyway, a list.
and i don't know if 'deficited' is a word.
and just because it's appeared on the internet doesn't make it into oed common
usage, unfortunately.

a-just got home from south by southwest and i already find myself missing
it. it really was idyllic in lots of ways. ah well, til next year. i wish i'd sat in a hammock
while i was there. that's my one regret. pretty simple regret, really, and seemingly easily
remedied. except i don't have a hammock.

b-this weekend in acapulco i'll be dj'ing, not playing live. just want to make
that clear. same thing is true in miami. at some point in the next few months
i might play live again, but for now i'm happy to just be a bald beer drinking dj.

c-new york has a new governor and thus far(after one day. well a 1/2 day, actually)he seems great.
smart and funny and reasonable. well, here's hoping.

d-why hasn't hillary released her tax returns and financial records? isn't that kind
of weird? normally when a politician refrains from making something public it's
because they're hiding something(i'm a master at stating the obvious, by the way). i wonder what she's hiding? has she been
funding her campaign by investing in crystal meth sweatshops in macau? do they
have crystal meth sweatshops in macau? and how are we going to make funny
drug jokes when/if people stop smoking crack or snorting crystal meth? it's a valid
concern.

e-has anyone noticed an odd sort of pro-life agenda in a spate of recent
movies? i saw horton hears a who(i know, i'm high-brow)and it seemed almost
like a paid advertisement for the pro-life movement. same thing with juno and
knocked up. i can just see some nefarious right wing cabal...'how do we get
the young people to embrace our pro-life agenda?' 'i know! let's fund pro-life movies
with contemporary young person references such as cannabis "bongs", relaxed attitudes towards employment, television video games, and
independently produced rock and roll music such as is found in the silver lake
region of los angeles!' 'yeah! let's call the adolph coors clan and get some money!'

f-is for 'family guy' which i hadn't seen for a while but i watched the episode last night
where peter learns that he's an illegal immigrant. f is also for 'flawless'. and alliteration.
which i probably just spelled incorrectly. but as in: f is for flawless family guy. some people
read spinoza, i watch cartoons.

g-travelling around and sitting in hotel rooms and eating tex-mex food is making me
fat. please be kind when you see me and refrain from pointing out that i'm now morbidly
obese. am i wearing shoes or a belt? i have no idea. and i think i just found a squirrel sleeping
in one of my stomach folds. oops, not sure he was sleeping. pee-yew, dead squirrel.
don't exactly smell pretty. time to get the rag on a stick and do some cleanin'. maybe then
i'll watch my stories.

ok, see you soon.
moby

we're having a little death drunken soul review with rene risque and lady rizo
and her assettes on march 26th.
here are the details(even a ticket link, i believe).
-moby

The Cracked Society Revue
featuring:

The Little Death, nyc
(ike and tina turner meet bertolt brecht over a keg in a trailer park)

Rene Risque
(still standing after all of these years. by 'years' we mean 'drugs')

Lady Rizzo & the Assettes
(or 'how to corrupt the innocent, profit from the degenerate, and never quite reach sobriety')
& special guests

at

THE BOX, located at 189 Chrystie Street
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
Doors open at 8pm
Show starts prompty at 9pm

To purchase tickets, click here:
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/event/EventListings?orgId=22823

another list:

1-today i played 'walk on the wild side' with lou reed. for the second time in my life.
i'm an incredibly lucky musician and/or person. thanks, lou.

2-david paterson is now the governor of new york. good for him. when asked
if he'd ever had sex with a prostitute he answered: 'only lobbyists'. i think new york
might finally have a great governor. thanks eliot spitzer for enabling new york
to have it's first african-american governor.

3-tonight i dj'ed in between mgmt(who were great)and justice(who were great)and tommy
sunshine(who was great). i invited everyone on stage and played 'paradise city' and the plug
got pulled and it was flawless chaos. thanks, plug puller and everyone who danced on stage.
and chaos, on vacation from greece.

4-not to schill for sxsw, but sxsw is a remarkable music festival/conference/conclave/cabal.
it's warm. there are 18,000,000 venues. everythings within walking distance. the hotels
and venues are on top of each other. there are 2,000 bands. and everyone starts drinking at noon. thanks austin.

5-also, austin has the most flawless vegetarian texmex food on the planet. again, thanks austin.

6-over the last few weeks i've found hillary's campaign to be increasingly distasteful and obama's
campaign to be steady and dignified. hillary is behind in delegates and popular votes and number
of states won. she's run a slip-shod campaign. maybe it's time for her to throw in the towel
and support obama? i think that would be good. so, thanks in advance for conceding, hillary.

7-friday is our end of week vice crazy disco party in austin. with junkie xl and tommie sunshine
and lots of great dj's. i, too, will be dj'ing(representing the non-great dj demographic). come down
and drink and dance and be dumb with us. so, here's me being a populist: thanks to you for coming
out friday night in austin and drinking and dancing and being really dumb with us.

ok, goodnight.
moby

i had forgotten about this letter...
someone sent it to a nutty right-wing talk show host who claimed
that homosexuality was, according to the bible, an abomination.
this letter nicely puts it in o.t perspective.
and it's really funny.
which is good.
cos people like funny.
right.
moby

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states homosexuality to be an abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.
www-users.cs.york.ac.uk

hi, i'm here in austin and enjoying the fact that it's warm and i'm also checking the news and lo and behold i find this little gem:

AP - OKLAHOMA CITY – A Republican member of the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Sally Kern, stated recently that "the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation" and poses a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism or Islam.

"According to God's word that is not the right kind of lifestyle," Rep. Sally Kern of Oklahoma City said during an appearance before a group of Republicans.

Kern says in the recorded comments. "It is not a lifestyle that is good for this nation."

ok, where to begin...

how about this simple question: what did jesus(presumably sally kern's god)say about homosexuality? let's see...nothing? yup, nothing. dear sally kern: jesus never mentioned homosexuality. allow me to put it a different way, perhaps in question form...how many times did jesus mention homosexuality? oh(to be conversational), none? yup none. never. not once. zero. he did mention divorce(saying it was bad), and capitalism(ditto: bad), and judgementalism and intolerance(again: bad), and forgiveness(good). but homosexuality? never mentioned by jesus in the gospels. so why are the religious right in the u.s so utterly obsessed with homosexuality? and how is the homosexual agenda(whatever that might be)destroying the nation? i mean, if evangelicals call themselves christians shouldn't they sort of base their evangelical agenda on the things that christ actually said?

ok, back to sxsw in sunny austin.

moby

ok, list time:

a-i'm dj'ing thursday night in austin at 301 with justice and mgmt. that's in addition
to all of the other things i listed in the other sxsw post. this thursday night party
is apparently pretty tricky to get into, but it should be fun.

b-eliot spitzer and hookers? client 9? huh. how about that, hypocrisy among politicians.
what a surprise. i guess he's the first politician to ever have sex with a prostitute, huh.

c-and, really, clinton talking about obama as vp? what the hell is the clinton camp thinking? obama is ahead
in delegates and the popular vote. that means he's the frontrunner. and the clintons
are thinking of him as vp? that's like me asking coldplay to be my opening act on tour.
and why do the clintons mention obama's lack of experience? here are some thoughts:
1-obama has 200% more foreign policy experience than bill clinton did when he was elected.
2-i like hillary, but living in the white house just doesn't count as political experience. i mean, is
anyone talking about laura bush as a presidential contender?
3-doesn't the clinton camp know that people really like obama and find his campaign to be
well-run and inspiring? when they attack obama they're attacking his supporters, and that's
really bad politics.
(can you tell that i, and many others, are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the clinton
campaign? a part of me either wishes that she'd go back to being her wonky self or that she would
withdraw from the race and lend her support to obama.).
oh, 4-if the clintons try to 'turn' or 'change' delegates or try to win with superdelegates
they will incur the eternal wrath of almost every democrat i know. no one wants another
president or candidate who sneaks through via a shifty anachronistic loophole.

d-there's no snow in austin. and it's warm. after a few days in canada with the 4 snowmen
of the apocalypse i have to say i'm really enjoying the non-snow. i love canada, but i think
that i might have to restrict my canada-time to spring and summer and fall. i know, i'm a sissy.

e-oh, i'm also dj'ing in acapulco on either march 21st or 22nd(i know, i'm ignorant and i don't know the exact date, but it's one of those 2 dates...). i think that paul van dyk and simian mobile disco and a bunch of other people will also be there. i'm assuming it won't snow.

f-i'm also dj'ing with carl cox in miami for wmc on march 29th. which is a saturday. and i believe
i dj at 8pm or so(it's a daytime event). and...i don't know where the event actually is. please reference my hitherto stated 'i'm ignorant' caveat. and again, i'm working under the assumption that
miami will be snow-free(please, no charles aznavour jokes...).

g-hopefully see you soon(in one of the many aforementioned warm places).

-moby

p.s-oh, it might be obscure, but on tour 'charles aznavour' is slang for cocaine aka booger sugar aka bolivian marching powder aka 'we'll start a band and we'll make an amazing record and let me tell you about my childhood and we need to keep talking and let me tell you more about myself' and etc coke slang. charles aznavour is also a singer. but if you hear a roadie mention 'charles aznavour' on tour they're most likely not referring to the aforementioned singer. and i'm sure i spelled 'charles aznavour' incorrectly. so i apologize to charles aznavour and his fans and the uk roadies who love cocaine and it's many colloquialisms.

p.p.s-just for the record i have a gentle aversion to any drug that is made with kerosene and cut with baby laxative. i'll stick with sweet beautiful liquor, the cause and solution to all of life's problems(to quote homer).

oh, if you're in austin for south by southwest here are some events i'll be doing while there.
moby

TUESDAY 3/11
SXSW FILM CLOSING/MUSIC OPENING EVENT
Sponsored by Paste Magazine and OurStage
Stubb's Outdoor Amphitheater
Featuring: Moby (DJ set), London-based DJ duo Addictive TV, Kaki King, Sydney Wayser
Set Time: 8:45 PM

THURSDAY 3/13
THE GIBSON ROOM
SXSW DEBUT: LITTLE DEATH NYC Sponsored by Gibson Guitars
Maggie Mae's / 323 E. 6th Street
Set Time 4:15 PM

LOU REED TRIBUTE
204 E. 4th Street
Moby performs 2 Lou Reed songs w/ friends from Little Death NYC
Set Time: 5:15 PM

FRIDAY 3/14
OFFICIAL LAST NIGHT ALBUM RELEASE PARTY
W/ TOMMY SUNSHINE, JUNKIE XL & BLACK GHOSTS
Vice Lounge / 304 E Sixth Street (& San Jacinto)
Moby DJ set set Time: 12:00 AM

i'm also dj'ing one or two other places, but i don't have the details
for them.
see you soon,
moby

in montreal now.
and getting here was, uh, difficult.
we left toronto in a blizzard. originally we were supposed to fly from toronto to montreal
but all of the flights were cancelled.
so we took the train.
and the train trip from toronto to montreal is normally around 5 hours.
due to the snow the train trip ended up being almost 9 hours.
which is a long time to be sitting on a train.
but somehow we finally made it to the venue in montreal and i was able
to dj for an hour or so until the police shut us down.
i apologize on behalf of the snow and the train to everyone at the venue
who waited patiently until 3 a.m for me to start playing.
thanks.
now i need to go to sleep.
g'night
moby

i still believe that this is the most remarkable thing to ever appear on youtube.
maybe there's something wrong with me, but i go back to this clip every few weeks.

can you imagine what it would be like to be among the first people
to deconstruct an atom and create the worlds biggest ever conflagration?
we humans like structure. we like convention. we like precedent.
how does the human psyche respond to something for which there's absolutely
no precedent but upon which all existence is predicated?
the human psyche compartmentalizes.
i think that one of the reasons that i keep going back to this robert oppenheimer
clip is because he resisted the temptation to compartmentalize based on empirical
precedent and rather reached for a poetic ambiguity that somehow made sense to him.
from my perspective this is probably one of the most beautiful things every captured
on film(or, well, tape).
-moby

thanks to everyone in toronto who came out tonight.
sorry if that sounds anonymous and/or generic.
but really, tonight was fantastic and fun.
so, thanks.
hopefully the snow will abate and i'll be able to go to montreal
and dj on saturday.
if the planes don't fly we'll take the train.
if the train doesn't go we'll take the dogsled.
if the dogsled doesn't go we'll take the otters.
and so on.
moby

hi, i know, i've been lax as of late and i haven't written in a while.
mea culpa, i'm sorry.
and now i'm in canada.
i spent 7 hours in/at laguardia airport today waiting for my flight to leave.
there's no end to the fun you can have in laguardia if you have 7 hours to kill.
ok, i exaggerate. there's a definite limit to the fun you can have in laguardia
if you have 7 hours to kill.
in fact the fun runs out after about, oh, 48 seconds.
leaving you with 6 hours, 59 minutes, 12 seconds to kill in a fun-free environment.
and now i'm in toronto, which is nice because i like toronto(and canada in general).
you know a fun fact about canada that doesn't get reported too much in the media?
they have more natural resources than just about any other country on the planet.
it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out over time, especially as you have
china(1 billion people)and india(around 1 billion people)with almost no natural resources.
so, if you'll forgive my dilletantish lesson on the basics of supply and demand, canada
has a lot of natural resources at a time when the rest of the world needs natural resources.
this will probably lead to canada becoming one of the wealthiest countries on the planet(just
look at norway and their oil reserves and insanely high gdp), especially as the population of canada are healthy and relatively sane and well educated(well educated and healthy people tend
to be better at creating wealth than poorly educated and unhealthy people, just compare luxembourg
to haiti).
maybe the 21st century will end up being the pax canada century.
pax canada seems pretty appealing, actually, especially when compared
to the alternatives.
eh, i'm just rambling on after spending 7 hours in the laguardia airport/refugee camp.
in other news, i'm dj'ing in toronto on friday and montreal on saturday.
here's the information if you want to come down for disco party time yeah woo(yes, from the rudiments of supply and demand to disco party time yeah woo).

Toronto:
Friday 7th March
This Is London
364 Richmond Street West
www.thisislondonclub.com

Montreal:
Saturday 8th March
Society for Arts and Technology (SAT)
1195 Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
http://www.sat.qc.ca/

i've got some other dj dates coming up in austin for south-by-southwest(sxsw, for short)and
acapulco and miami(and yes, i'm looking forward to spending most of march in warm places).
i'll post that information as it's given to me.
and the album comes out march 31st in the wide world excluding north america, where
it comes out on april 1st.
and the album has glamorous ladies on the cover as opposed to un-glamorous me, because
i was looking at a bunch of roxy music album covers(as i have every roxy music record
on vinyl because i love roxy music and i'm a nerd and i even have a bunch of the japanese
vinyl pressings because japanese vinyl was always better than u.s vinyl)and i was inspired
to make an album cover that didn't involve me.
and that's it for now.
ok, bye.
moby