There is a good reason for that.
The trip was part business, part pleasure. I needed to clear my head, get away from the album for a while, get away from every excuse I use to keep myself from working on it, from getting it all wrong. But most importantly, Fall Out Fracture has infected the city of sin, and it's only the beginning.
I spent a lot of time on the strip, in the highest temperatures Vegas has had since 1985. It was fucking hot. But at night, when the streets came alive, it made it all worth while.
I stayed in room 1221 at the Circus Circus hotel/casino, with it's contortionists, magicians, and other acts every half hour in the center of the midway, and the rotating carousel Horse-Around bar. There were mirrors, tarnished gold, and circus murals everywhere. The longer you've been awake, the stranger it becomes.
Beside Circus Circus the classic Stardust was just a huge empty lot and a pile of dirt. Down the strip it was the Frontier's last few weeks before it comes crashing down. The Luxor is an interesting place. Criss Angel's custom Viper sits just outside the entryway.
Also, there was a shooting at the New York, New York. A man stood out on a balcony and opened fire. Many of the hotel's customers flooded the building without looking back.
No one I spoke to who was employed in some way or another on the strip was actually a Vegas native. They had all just recently moved there because they fell in love with it. Despite my every effort to resist the temptation, even I began to consider it. There is plenty of work, especially in the city's seedy underbelly.
Maybe next time.
There are places in the desert where can park your car, put it in neutral, and it will roll uphill. These places became sacred religious spots where people made pilgrimages to experience the mysterious hand of God at work.
It was in one of the areas, just the dead, uninhabited expanse of desert on a long stretch of empty highway in the middle of the night, where the radio, cellphones, and GPS went dead. Creepy solitude, in a place completely broken off from the rest of the world. I call it Roam, a place where the mind can function free and clear of radio and television signals, electromagnetic interference. And there was a dead rattlesnake on the road.
Since returning, another new song is nearing completion, I've been working on something that sounds like spooky industrial blues folk something-or-other for no apparent reason, I wrote a short story about a fat guy who masturbates to a massive coronary to set his town free, and there is much more in the works.
Also, I'll be working on a new falloutfracture.com, as well as several projects, events, and releases in store for Mental Shed Records.
The new album takes priority, though, so these other things might come along a little slower than I would prefer.
Rather than spend excessive amount of time sorting through the thousands of photos and videos (come not postable on myspace) here are a few shitty ones:
Circus Circus - the biggest, brightest sign I've ever seen
The balancing/contortionist lady at Circus Circus
The Luxor
Criss Angel's custom Viper at the Luxor
Reserved parking space at some bar on the north end of the strip
Lights...so pretty...
Apocalypse in the parking lot
Fear and loathing at the Mirage
To stay updated on the progress of the new album and everything else Fracture-like go here and enter your email address to join the mailing list.
FALL OUT FRACTURE
myspace.com/fracture
