Greetings and Peace,

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my section of the DK Collective web page.
I can only assume we have something in common since you have managed to actually locate these sparse lines of HTML code. I would love to hear from you, so drop me a line if you have the time.
I have also done some extensive rambling over here

names:
Sluggo

age:
28

plays:
anything within reach, but has achieved limited technical proficiency with the guitar

dragking history:
I really enjoy my collaboration with the DK music collective, and I feel priviledged to be able to work with such great folks as Jennifer, Stel, Guru Ted E., Wardo, Lazo, Mr. Duke Lee, and Nobu(all of whom are great musicians as well as great people). I founded the group DragKing with Stel a lifetime ago, after our first group together(with Guru Ted E!), the mighty SpeedScat disintegrated. I think I thought that DragKing would be a punk band, like my heroes at the time. I was drawn to Punk as a means of self-expression. But it has only been recently that I have begun to try to look at myself from an external perspective and guess at why I waste so much energy on a project for which I have no natural talent or ability.

When I was coming up in Providence, R.I., there was a thriving underground punk scene. I used to sneak into basement parties and loft concerts at night and jam all day with my younger brother(who actually took lessons on drums and was pretty good) and my high school friends in my mother's basement. The R.I.S.D. students and punk rock drop-outs seemed so fucking cool(for lack of a better term) from my perspective at that time. It seemed like they were living in a mysterious adult world like Diva or Eraserhead , two movies I watched over and over in high school. Specifically there was a kid a few years older than me who lived across the street who had a popular local band at the time called Coat of Arms, and I used to watch him and his friends practice in his parents' garage. They were everything I wanted to be. I think in some ways I wanted to be them . When I started DragKing with Stel I still thought that that was possible.

At the same time, I think I was originally motivated by the myth of fame and fortune. Everyone is familiar with the Horatio Alger stories of working class losers who transform themselves into rich and important artists by making great music(Elvis, The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Micheal Jackson, ad infinitum). Before I discovered punk rock(by hearing the Sex Pistols on WRIU while struggling with my Geometry homework), I was a huge Beatles fan. It was a long time before I was able to fully comprehend how much of an exception they really are, a product of a specific time and place. Now I realize that achieving fortune by making music is an oxymoron. I also realize that creating anything(art, music, etc.) which is meaningful to others requires intense devotion and focus. I don't know if I can achieve that focus. Simultaneously the idea of using one's creations merely to become famous(to justify one's own existence by becoming the focus of other people's attention) seems unjustifiable to me. Especially when I live in such a sick, unhealthy, pathologically violent and unjust society. I would perfer to create art which could challenge that status quo.

The ideal motivation for me would be the belief that I have something of value to offer my fellow humans. While I do believe that everyone, including myslef, has something to offer(in a kind of ideal, abstract way at least), I don't know if I am on the right track with this DK project. I am currently very interested in the work of the German artist Joseph Beuys. He once explained that he did "not want to take art into politics, but transform politics into art"(in Kandidat fuer die naechste Bundestagswahl Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger, 1976). I think that's a very interesting challenge, to transform political action into an artisitic performance. Within the context of punk that becomes an even bigger challenge, but still seems possible(the punk percussion protests against apartheid organized by Positive Force at the South African Embassy in D.C. in the 1980's come to mind as a possible prototype).

But, for better or worse I have played in punk bands for over ten years now. Shit.

influences:
As I said, Joseph Beuys is a big influence right now...
Other inspirations and influences would have to include,
Kwame Ture
Abby Hoffman
The Weather Underground
Jandek
The E.Z.L.N.
as far as musicians, I would have to give props to
Sun Ra and his Intergalatic Love Arkestra,
The mighty Boredoms
Bikini Kill
and of course Jandek

current listening material:(Thanks Zan!)
Cul de Sac's "China Gate"
Cobra Killer
Dj Shadow & Cut Chemist's "Brain Freeze"(extra thanks Zander!)
Fly Pan Am
Common's "Resurrection"
"Steal This Album" by the Coup
Peanut Butter Wolf's "My Vinyl Weighs a Ton"
and Sonic Youth stuff from this video Vlado gave me

fave books
the following books have been a big influence on me and consequently on my contributions to the DK Collective...

NightVision: Illuminating Class and War on the NeoColonial Terrain by Butch Lee and Red Rover
(available from Vagabond Press, 496A Hudsin St., Suite E14, NY, NY 10014)

A People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn

Gone to Croatan: Origins of North American Dropout Culture published by the amazing Autonomedia/Semiotext(e) folks

Beneath the Underdog by Charles Mingus

The Hearts of Men by Barbara Erenreich

Black Looks by bell hooks

The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground by Ron Jacobs

John Corbett's Extended Play: Sounding Off from John Cage to Dr. Funkenstein

Threat by Example, which is a great compendium of Punk thought, edited by Martin Sprouse

first record bought
Shaun Cassidy -"The Do Run Run", which came with a life-size fold-out poster

fave live show ever
Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Brown University, Providence, RI 1988

day job
computer support

dk body politic:
two left feet

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back to main DragKing page.