Shine on Lux, you will be missed.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
Got a new job today, and I know I shouldn't bitch about having a job.. but I will anyway.
It's at an oil refinery in Marcus Hook, PA.. morally I hate working for those assholes, I think anyone with common sense should know why.
I had to shave and take out my contact lenses to even step in, and remain clean shaven because if we need to wear our oxygen masks, we don't want interference around the seal of the thing or particles in the facial hair fucking up the clean air. No contacts because particles of shit in the air might get caught in between them and the eye.. another reason I hate working there, scary.
I did not want to shave because I hate the look of my bare face, it is not something that should be seen, and the contact thing is more than just cosmetic, I get bad headaches and very dizzy after a while of wearing the glasses, couple this with the fact that I have to wear a pair of safety glasses on top of them, and that doubles the effect. Oh by the way, I'm building scaffolds high in the air (more for the scary bin)
Even more for the scary bin (if you can't tell by now, I'm terrified of these places.. maybe it's just paranoia though) is the gasses and liquids. Nitrogen, Benzyne, all sorts of caustics and acids.. I know too many people that got gassed and now have diseases.
They also lie to you too! Two quick stories (since I'm not much of a storyteller, they'll probably be choppy and short):
A laborer once was told to go in a trench to dig out some soil with no protective equipment on. He said "No way man, there's acid in that hole!" They promptly kicked this man out of the refinery. A few weeks later another kid goes down into this hole to do some work, this time the kid is wearing a full "acid-proof" Tyvek suit, a personal breather, protective boots.. the whole she-bang. He manages to get a massive acid burn on his wrist, a part of his body that the suit was "protecting"
and
Okay, for every hole that is dug, the people working directly under the owner of the refinery (I work for a sub-contractor) "test" the hole. Well, they "test" this particular hole that has "water" on the bottom of it one day and say it's safe to go in. We say "What's that liquid in there?" They say "Oh that's just water, you could drink that stuff if you wanted to and be okay" We respond with "Then what the fuck are those rainbows in it?" Sure enough they test the hole again and there's oil mixed with a caustic agent in there.
The moral of those two stories is: they don't give a shit if you get hurt. They "test" these areas to cover their own ass and if you get hurt or even fucking killed after that, it's your own fault somehow, their ass is covered. (file this under "they don't care" for reason 3)
The fourth, final, and biggest reason I hate working there is because of what it does to my head. The previous reasons make me paranoid and angry and miserable enough all day, couple this with the fact that a lot of the time it's 12 and sometimes 16 hour days. It's not happening now, thank god.. but it will, it always does. When I (and this is just me personally, everyone is different) work that much, I get extremely depressed at the no social life I get. Honestly, I don't have much of one to begin with, take this little bit away and I get extremely depressed. That, in turn, makes me very angry that I'm depressed because "guys don't get depressed, they kick things" or some bullshit, but I don't kick things. So I become extremely miserable and snippy towards everyone, wind up pissing the people off that are nice enough to talk to me and get even more lonely. Then there are the stories from co-workers.. all about "my wife is cheating on me / leaving me / having someone elses kid" and the same with girlfriends and family in general. If I am in a relationship at this point I get scared and paranoid that the same will happen to me, and if I'm not in one, I fear I'll never get one. Working 12 hours a day, seven days a week will make that kind of stuff happen. Yes it's good money and tons of overtime, but we make good money anyway. Working that much when other people are out of work is just greedy. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway, deal with it) my head goes through some strange and scary phases in those places, and I don't like it one bit.
If anybody read this whole rant complaining about actually having a job, thank you and I'm sorry.
Here is a song:
"Desert Search For Techno Allah" by Mr. Bungle
Sorry again
It's at an oil refinery in Marcus Hook, PA.. morally I hate working for those assholes, I think anyone with common sense should know why.
I had to shave and take out my contact lenses to even step in, and remain clean shaven because if we need to wear our oxygen masks, we don't want interference around the seal of the thing or particles in the facial hair fucking up the clean air. No contacts because particles of shit in the air might get caught in between them and the eye.. another reason I hate working there, scary.
I did not want to shave because I hate the look of my bare face, it is not something that should be seen, and the contact thing is more than just cosmetic, I get bad headaches and very dizzy after a while of wearing the glasses, couple this with the fact that I have to wear a pair of safety glasses on top of them, and that doubles the effect. Oh by the way, I'm building scaffolds high in the air (more for the scary bin)
Even more for the scary bin (if you can't tell by now, I'm terrified of these places.. maybe it's just paranoia though) is the gasses and liquids. Nitrogen, Benzyne, all sorts of caustics and acids.. I know too many people that got gassed and now have diseases.
They also lie to you too! Two quick stories (since I'm not much of a storyteller, they'll probably be choppy and short):
A laborer once was told to go in a trench to dig out some soil with no protective equipment on. He said "No way man, there's acid in that hole!" They promptly kicked this man out of the refinery. A few weeks later another kid goes down into this hole to do some work, this time the kid is wearing a full "acid-proof" Tyvek suit, a personal breather, protective boots.. the whole she-bang. He manages to get a massive acid burn on his wrist, a part of his body that the suit was "protecting"
and
Okay, for every hole that is dug, the people working directly under the owner of the refinery (I work for a sub-contractor) "test" the hole. Well, they "test" this particular hole that has "water" on the bottom of it one day and say it's safe to go in. We say "What's that liquid in there?" They say "Oh that's just water, you could drink that stuff if you wanted to and be okay" We respond with "Then what the fuck are those rainbows in it?" Sure enough they test the hole again and there's oil mixed with a caustic agent in there.
The moral of those two stories is: they don't give a shit if you get hurt. They "test" these areas to cover their own ass and if you get hurt or even fucking killed after that, it's your own fault somehow, their ass is covered. (file this under "they don't care" for reason 3)
The fourth, final, and biggest reason I hate working there is because of what it does to my head. The previous reasons make me paranoid and angry and miserable enough all day, couple this with the fact that a lot of the time it's 12 and sometimes 16 hour days. It's not happening now, thank god.. but it will, it always does. When I (and this is just me personally, everyone is different) work that much, I get extremely depressed at the no social life I get. Honestly, I don't have much of one to begin with, take this little bit away and I get extremely depressed. That, in turn, makes me very angry that I'm depressed because "guys don't get depressed, they kick things" or some bullshit, but I don't kick things. So I become extremely miserable and snippy towards everyone, wind up pissing the people off that are nice enough to talk to me and get even more lonely. Then there are the stories from co-workers.. all about "my wife is cheating on me / leaving me / having someone elses kid" and the same with girlfriends and family in general. If I am in a relationship at this point I get scared and paranoid that the same will happen to me, and if I'm not in one, I fear I'll never get one. Working 12 hours a day, seven days a week will make that kind of stuff happen. Yes it's good money and tons of overtime, but we make good money anyway. Working that much when other people are out of work is just greedy. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway, deal with it) my head goes through some strange and scary phases in those places, and I don't like it one bit.
If anybody read this whole rant complaining about actually having a job, thank you and I'm sorry.
Here is a song:
"Desert Search For Techno Allah" by Mr. Bungle
Sorry again
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
Their style became known as the Prog Rock genre "Krautrock," but you can hear stuff in the music that has shades of protopunk, too. Like Prog with a 'Tude ("Progtitude," perhaps?).
Sadly, Klaus Dinger passed away earlier this year.
Anyway, check your email!
And, as always, let me know if the links I send work.
Here's some comments about the show I'm presenting to you for you to peruse while you await the downloads:
Broadcast on Bremen Radio in 1971 and labeled "K4" [SEIDR 026]
There isn't any extra information about this unofficial release either in the liner notes or on the webernet thing - however, as you listen it becomes obvious that this is indeed a recording of the rather short-lived lineup of Kraftwerk that includes Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger in its ranks! That's right - NEU! as part of Kraftwerk!!!
It's basically a whole CD of extended "side-long" jams in the style of the first Kraftwerk albums performed in front of a small but enthusiastic audience and broadcast on Bremen Radio in 1971. The members of NEU! really take a forward role here, with Rother's guitar driving things for most of the time and sounding quite rocking, with glimpses of his future soaring melodic sound in the extended jam passages. The guitar and drums are backed up by synth and I believe organ bass, with notable exceptions of flute taking the forefront on the great version of Ruckzack (from the first Kraftwerk LP) and . . . is it distorted electric violin on K4?
What do YOU think?
Maybe just Rother taking a violin bow to his guitar strings! Proto-Kraftwerk and proto-NEU! It's exciting stuff, and on top of that the sound quality is excellent - a professional radio recording.
How has this recording not become better known over the past 35 years since it was made?! I don't know. It appears to be a newly released CDR edition with good-quality (but privately printed) packaging. Maybe it has stayed in the Radio Bremen archives until now?
I was sceptical about the authenticity of it being a first generation recording from the radio station's Masters but my first listen convinced me . . .
. . . and hearing someone in the crowd shout "Michael!" in the last second of the recording is the icing on the cake.
This isn't the motorik, some might even say monotonous, electronic sound of Kraftwerk. Early Kraftwerk were more experimental with sounds and effects - not quite dance music.
I have listened to a substantial amount of Kraftwerk & NEU! and this is by FAR my most favouritest of them all. Maybe even more than favouritest. Like favouritest squared, or even cubed.