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Excerpts from Electric Degeneration, Degenerate Press' semi-weekly e-zine, free and ad-free. A full episode contains sections for music reviews, upcoming events, blasphemy, classifieds, and anything else we feel like saying. If you'd like to subscribe just contact us.

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10/30/2000

THAT 70'S PARTY
The closer we got to the party, the more we realized we had stiff competition. Lots of other parties, shows, concerts, conventions and the like happened this weekend so we knew it wouldn't be the largest Degenerate Press function ever.

"The great thing about a small party is all your friends get even drunker than they normally would at a regular party." Said my boss.
"I'm not sure my friends can GET any drunker than they normally would at a party." I replied.

The morning after the floor was sticky in every room downstairs, there's broken glass in the bathroom, the recycling bin is buried somewhere in the pile of bottles in the yard, and the flies are hovering over the spots where various folks couldn't hold their liquor. A complete success. I'd like to thank everyone that attended and applaud the impressive costumes. If I remember correctly, "Holly Hobby" took third place in the costume contest, Pimp Daddy Mike and Little Lyssa Ho took second, and Sid Vicious took first place (if you got there early enough to see the needle hanging out of his arm you know why he took the prize.) Honorable mention goes out to Lee Marvin and "the little missus."

In other Halloween related notes, for some scary Halloween reading check out some of Poe's best work, online thanks to Project Gutenburg: ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext00/poe2v10.txt

I did some informal unscientific drunken polling at the party and it looks like we are go for launch for the 2001 welcoming ceremony, AKA Degenerate Press New Year's Eve Blast! There will be alcohol, fireworks, alcohol, music, alcohol, more fireworks, and we'll wrap up with a few drinks. This will be held at the Cornelius Ranch and Party Barn about 45 minutes north of Atlanta. More details in December, but you can go ahead and book your flights, buy your explosives, and get that liver transplant lined up. You have been warned. If anyone is interested in merging their New Year's party with ours please contact us. This party is always a blast due to the eclectic collection of degenerates and lunatics from all walks of life that assemble for this night only, but we can always use a lot more. We'll provide (very cool) invites if you want 'em, there will be ample crash space, and enough alcohol and explosives to level a medium sized third world country!

I'M TAKIN' WHAT THEY'RE GIVIN' 'CAUSE I'M WORKIN' FOR THE WEEKEND
If you're looking for work, or considering moving to Atlanta, or just want to visit Atlanta, check out http://www.atlantasmartcity.com/iomcontest/detection.html There's a contest going on where you can win a trip to visit.

EAR PLUGS
Here's some news from Brian, the booking agent for the EARL and former member of Smoke and other local efforts:
Just wanted to let everyone know the new re-issues of Smoke's HEAVEN ON A POPSICLE STICK and ANOTHER REASON TO FAST and Opal Foxx Quartet's THE LOVE THAT WON'T SHUT UP arrived today and look fantastic. The new pics of Benjamin on the Heaven and Love cd's are beautiful, and Michael Ackerman's photo of Smoke at the Cooler on the inside of Heaven is the best picture ever taken of the band. So all of you who've been waiting for your orders (quite patiently i might add) will be glad to know it's been worth the wait. All orders will go out by the end of next week, either priority or 1st class. For anyone wanting to order all the info is avaialble at www.benjaminremembered.com (which is finally back up thanks to our friends at Railroad Earth) The credit card ordering will most likely switch over to www.cdbaby.com, unless someone has a better suggestion. They should be available there in about 2 weeks. Also, once we figure out all the bells and whistles on our new computer, many Opal Foxx Quartet and Smoke songs and performances will be available for streaming as well. Don't forget to check www.benjaminsmoke.com for Pete and Jem's film schedule. I heard a rumor from the Plaza that the date was set here in Atlanta for Nov. 17th, but haven't seen it on the site or confirmed it with anyone else yet. The poster is up, though! over and out Brian

And Liz, a local blues musician, sent us this note:
Alma Hall in Griffin, GA. A beautifully decorated hall originally built for music and has been bought and renovated by a musician. The stage is great and PA is good. A great place to hear live blues in Griffin, GA. Check it out!

BLASPHEMY
This would have been more timely if we hadn't been too hungover to send this Sunday, but such is a degenerate's life: It's that time again - daylight saving time. The time of year when the government forces the sun to go down before you've even gotten home from work Why? According to CNN online, "First suggested by Benjamin Franklin, daylight-saving time was not instituted until World War I, when the aim was to save energy used for lights." I knew Ben Franklin, a man I respect for most of his other ideas, had something to do with it.

"As a result, the use of daylight-saving (not "savings") time was made a local option after World War II. Changing time proved more popular in some areas than others. But the result was confusion, because time changed from state to state and even city to city. Broadcasters, railroads, airlines and others complained and the government established the Uniform Time Act of 1966 to institutionalize the time changes. Additional federal legislation in 1986 set daylight-saving time to begin at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and end at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. States and localities can still opt out, however, and some have. Arizona, Hawaii, the part of Indiana in the Eastern time zone, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa remain on standard time year-round."

And a poll on their web site says:
As I get ready to turn back my clock Sunday morning, I'm thinking: I am tired of springing forward and falling back. Let's do away with daylight-saving time: 41% I love those long summer days. Daylight-saving time is still a great idea: 59%

Well I'm here to tell you it's a fuckin' SHITTY idea. I'm not saving a thing on lighting cost. It's dark when I get up so I have to use the lights. It's dark when I get home, so I have to use the lights. The shift seems to be exactly backwards. Sure, it's lighter earlier. So when I'm sitting in my car on the way to my job inside the bowels of some glass cube it'll be light out. So that when I need it least, it's light out. But when I get home and I'd like to spend some time out and about, when I actually have time to SEE the sun, it's not there. I don't need the light in the morning. It's too cold to be out to see the sun. And I'm too sleepy to care if it's light or dark. Sure, my office has relatively flexible hours and I could come in an hour to make up the difference, but I think the government has it exactly backwards - we should be falling forward so there's some light out when we all get home and can enjoy it. Which means I'd have to get to work TWO hours early to get what I want. And I'll be damned if I'm getting up at 5 AM - I'd have to go to bed at 9, even if I thought I COULD function at 5. I've been told it also helps kids who are waiting on busses to get to school - we don't want them waiting out there in the dark. Well here's an idea - start school an hour later, instead of starting the rest of society an hour early! Besides, in the dead of winter I remember having to wait in darkness anyway. Then summer rolls around and it's not dark until 9 at night. What the hell? Drive in movies were killed by daylight saving, not by the megaplex at the mall. You can't take the kids to a movie that doesn't start until 9:30, and the second round of movies can't start until close to midnight! Nobody wants to go out drinking in daytime, for some strange reason, so shows and parties and such don't get doing until 11 PM, impossible to attend on a week night for us working folk. There is no summer TV season because the kids are in bed by the time the sun goes down. All this so we can "save energy used for lights"? I'm not saving a dime and it's costing me a social life! So this election send a message to those morning people in Washington. The presidential candidates are desperately looking for an issue in the upcoming neck and neck election. Tell 'em they'll get your vote if not rescind, but REVERSE DAYLIGHT SAVING.

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