by Black Bubblegum

Eagle Twin

As members of a secretive brotherhood, Freemasons are no strangers to conspiracy theories. They've heard it all before: that they're child-sacrificing cult members, or religious zealots plotting a New World Order with the Jews, or satanic anti-religious alien spies.

With Dan Brown's newest novel, "The Lost Symbol," hitting bookstores on Sept. 15--much of it rumored to center around Masonic myths--the Masons are in preemptive damage-control mode. [Religion News]

Now that Dan Brown wrote a book on the Masons, it's safe to say that mom, dad, grandma, and my 14 year old cousin will probably know a thing or two about the secret society. Thankfully, Southern Lord will cast a little darkness back upon the Brooklyn Masonic Temple when the label hosts an absolutely mind-bottling lineup of sunn O))), Earth, Pelican, and Eagle Twin on 9/22 as part of The Blackened Music Series. Tickets are still available, though if you're lucky, you can WIN A PAIR as well as a copy of sunn O)))'s Domkirke 2xLP! Just email us at BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with the subject line of "pronounced sunn not sunno" (include your first and last name).

The Blackened Music series is also responsible for Nadja and Mick Barr, which takes place on Saturday at Union Pool (9/19). Tickets are on sale.

Continue reading "sunn O))) coming soon to the Masonic Temple -- win tix"

whoah...

Ed Shrader & Dan Deacon @ Ridgewood Temple (April 17, 2008 (Jonny Leather)

....Moments before Deacon's exhilarating performance--which got someone as tightly wound as myself to dance--four Hispanic dudes entered the venue. Before that moment, I had felt like my companion and I were the ones who didn't fit in, but these guys in their expensive baggy clothes obviously weren't part of the intended clientele or demographic for this event.

Naturally, I was prejudiced against them, suspect of their motives for entering into this hipster Temple party. With the crowd, in tight, circled around Deacon, the party began, with everyone in the place dancing along. Even these "thugs" were dancing and seemed to be enjoying it.

Of course they were into it. We were easy prey. The geeky, scrawny white kids--many of which looked ridiculous--had their backs were turned, allowing these "thugs" to easily rummage through our bags that we naively expected to be safely stashed. My lady and I had let down our guards, in order to loosen up and have fun, but also because of our unwillingness to hold prejudiced feelings towards people based solely on how they looked. Though we were naïve enough to set down our bags, we kept a watchful eye on the culprits. Those watchful eyes watched those young assholes steal all of her cash (leaving her without a dime for food for the entire rest of the month) and a credit card. We acted just in time to grab our bags before they made with the big heist. The thief who had stolen my friend's money had his hand on my camera bag, while we plucked it away without confrontation.

We quickly made our way to security to warn of the theft that had been taking place. The culprits were fully aware that they had been caught, and quickly made their way to an escape. While the security staff could have easily taken action and saved a lot of kids from the disappointment of losing a lot of money and valuables, they decided to let the thieves pass by unquestioned..... [Jonny Leather - NY PRESS]

I missed all of that because I was at the Cloud Cult show at Union Hall instead. As far as I know, nothing was stolen from there, but I did overhear some stock tips that turned out bad, and I almost got hit in the toe with a bocce ball (just kidding).

Continue reading "Mastodon @ the Brooklyn Masonic Temple (video 1 of 4)"