An Interview with Mr. Unstable.

Mr. UNST@BL3 survives media circus, focuses on music career
‘Burger King bather’ to perform in Fairborn next week

By Parker Bowman
Staff Writer

XENIA — Xenia, perhaps, has never been given the chance to give a good impression on a national stage. The nation’s impression of the city has rested on a history of devastating tornadoes and the film “Gummo,” set in Xenia, though not filmed there, depicts the city and its citizens as eccentric oddballs (at best) and dysfunctional bumpkins (at worst). Last August saw another potential black mark on Xenia’s permanent record when young Timothy “Mr. UNST@BL3” Tackett decided to record himself taking a bath in a sink at the local Burger King for his MySpace page.

The clip found itself making rounds on the internet as well as appearing on Fox News, MSNBC, “Inside Edition,” “The Today Show,” “Most Shocking.” Jay Leno even mentioned the video on “The Tonight Show.” The video has since spawned copy-cats, as well. In December, three girls took a dip in a sink at a KFC in northern California.

The fast-food baths have caused controversy and uproar from citizens who got “grossed out,” though your reporter would predict an even larger, louder collective gross out, if these fast food chains’ meat processing methods were ever shown on the nightly news.

Tackett, a 25-year-old rapper from Wilmington, had been making a name for himself locally with his Mr. UNST@BL3 persona when the media blitzkrieg began. “The Burger King drama has helped me reach a whole new batch of ears that were not pointed my way,” Tackett said.

“Most of my (fans) are still with me — of course some people think I’m gross now and won’t show up at the shows,” Tackett jokes, adding, “I wish people would take the time to listen to my music and not judge me on my look or the Burger King bath.”

Although the media circus has given Tackett the kind of national exposure most local, unsigned musical groups usually don’t get close to in a hundred years of playing shows, Tackett says it wasn’t all lights, camera, action. “This whole thing ruined a lot of my friendships with local rappers and with some of my friends,” Tackett said. “It’s hard because they see you on TV all the time and think you are getting money. I am the brokest I’ve ever been. I only make enough money to keep my music going, and no one is giving me a job anytime soon.”

Tackett began his music career a few years ago, hopping from punk rock band to punk rock band. Tackett got tired, ironically, of the instability of the bands constantly breaking up “over girls and drugs.” He decided on rap as an artisitic means, despite not being a huge fan of the genre, because of the freedom that comes with not having to rely on others. He has released three solo albums, “Live Evil Love Evol” (2005), “High Tension” (2007), and “Show Me On The Doll” (2008).

“Ninety-seven percent of all local rappers steal their music from the internet and then do home recording in their bedrooms,” Tackett said. Mr.UNST@BL3, on the other hand, uses original music and only records in a studio.

His music is dark, raw, and lyrically complex. It’s a style that lends itself willingly to a niche of youth-fueled counter culture and has erned Mr. UNST@BL3 a die-hard fan base nearly cult-like in loyalty. One wonders why Tackett, during his local and national media tour chose to keep it real as opposed to wylin’ out on national, prime-time television to get more attention for himself and his music. Your reporter’s assumption, at the time, being that perhaps Burger King forced Tackett into apologetic submission in exchange for some type of leniency for himself or his co-workers, all of which working with Tackett that fateful shift, were fired.

It is, of course, much more likely that your reporter is a big business-fearing conspirary theorist.

“I was truly sorry for the other people that lost their jobs,” Tackett said. “I never wanted to hurt anybody and I didn’t want to use the BK bath to spread the word of my music. (It) may have been a silly move, but I didn’t want to just be a jackass.”

Tackett also just wanted to get past the media circus and return to dealing with a tragedy in his personal life. His sister, Stacey, died shortly before the media craziness. “I had that on my mind and still do,” Tackett says. “I kind of just wanted to be at home in my own little wolrd for a while.”

Tackett is now focusing all his energy into his music. He is planning a reunion with his former group, The Kare Bear Mafia. The group is, according to Tackett, his most well-known project. KBM is comprised of Mr. UNST@BL3 and partner M.C. Donaldz. “We like to tell painfull stories from our real lives and put a positive spin on it,” Tackett says. The duo’s upcoming album, tenatively titled “Tales from the Short Bus,” is due out sometime this year and they will be performing this summer. Another Tackett side project, 2 High Zeroz, will have an album, entitled “Anarchy for Freedom” out “soon.”

Mr. UNST@BL3’s recent Friday the 13th show at the Cavern in Xenia was recorded and will be released on DVD as part of a documentary called, appropriately enough, “Show me on the Documentary.” The disc will include music videos, live shows and interviews with family, friends and collaborators. There is no word on whether or not the DVD will feature any bath-time footage.

Tackett is also working on the next Mr. UNST@BL3 album, entited “Left Lane Ends” which will be released immediately after completion. “Once I have something finished that I am proud of, I can’t hold it back. I love the fans too much,” Tackett says, adding, “This is not some hobby for me. Music is my life.”

Mr. UNST@BL3 will be performing Feb. 27, at the Top Dog Saloon, 308 West Main Street in Fairborn. Other concert dates are available online at www.myspace.com/mrunstabl3.

Wait a minute! Maybe YOU are racist!

The New York Post recently, unwittingly, printed a rorschach test in its' Monday edition. A comic that in no way references Barack Obama or any other black person on Earth is being hailed as racist by Al Sharpton and others.

Now, if I were to look at a picture of a baby and I thought to myself, "Damn. That's sexy," then something is wrong with me. Period. No one will dispute that.

Yet, if you look at a picture of cops shooting a monkey and think "Damn. That's racist," then something MUST be wrong with whoever drew and, ultimately, published the picture.

Where's the logic in that?

This comic is not racist. It's merely a well-timed political satire. Observe:

Item One: Many politicians of varying race develop a "Stimulus plan" that 99% of all economists believe to be written by a insane, retarded monkey.

Item Two: The day before this "stimulus" gets signed into law, an insane, retarded monkey gets shot by cops in Connecticut.

Item Three: Perfectly crafted and timed political satire comic ensues.

And, of course, some people don't get the joke, see something entirely unintentional and feel bad that their brain made this grim connection. This guilt and disappointment in themselves gets masked by anger and the need to lash out at an artist that made them see their own ugly subconcious.

And, of course, some opportunistic scumbags (Sharpton) use the comic as a flimsy pretext to achieve publicity for themselves and their own agenda.



To review:

Not Racist:


Racist:

FriGAY the TURDteenth!

Friday the 13th remake, eh?

Let me get this straight. I do not find it to be a crime or sacrilegious to remake this film. I would much rather sit through 100 remakes of 100 classic horror films than sit through one new horror film from a "legendary" director. Gimme ten more "Night of the Living Dead" remakes before you give me any goddamn more "true sequels" from Romero like that "Diary of the Dead" or "Land of the Dead" bullshit. You'll see the "Hills Have Eyes" remake on my DVD shelf before you see anything Wes Craven has ever done since "Nightmare on Elm Street". "Shocker", "Cursed", "Vampire in Brooklyn" and most of his filmography is garbage and are atrocities of film.

The terrible films getting made by these influential directors should be treated like steroids in baseball. Sure Tobe Hooper made "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but every single film since then has been total crap. So maybe the Hall of Fame isnt the place for him. Maybe we should take away his MVP awards and retroactively give them to more deserving individuals.

Horror legends should have to apologize when they make bad films. A press conference should be held for John Carpenter. "Yes, I made 'Ghosts of Mars', I didn't think it would be a big deal at the time."

So, anyway. Remaking Friday the 13th is fine by me. I won't complain that things aren't exactly the same. I won't complain that there's not a single goddamn camp counselor in the film. I won't raise a ruckus that Jason is the killer in this film when he wasn't even in the original (mostly) and I definitely wont complain that Jason runs in this remake like the hordes of fanboys on the Web-a-Nets.

I won't complain about Jason running because that's a point where the filmmakers remained true to the source material. Don't believe me? Suck it.







I will complain about Jason's elaborate schemes, though. Jason has an underground lair full of traps and alarms and he figures out how to maintain a 30 year old generator. Which, of course, would probably prove difficult for anyone much less a retarded man-child. Jason is so retarded that he doesn't kill some girl based on the fact that she looks like his mom, yet he's smart enough to know to go into town to steal kerosine? And why would Jason be so into this girl "looking like his mom" when she's 20 and his mom was like 70 when she died? Jason would have never seen his mom at that age. Nothing about this adds up.

Also, Jason has a sweet lair in some mines buried deep beneath the summer camp. What? Who the fuck builds mines next to a lake and under a summer camp? I guess the miners and the counselors and kids all co-existed? Here's a photo of them co-existing, I guess. Also, why were the only entrances and exists to and from the mines located inside a cabin and an abandoned bus in the middle of the woods? Who says "Im glad we've built this mine. Where should we put the entrance? How about inside this bus we found in the woods?"

So, yeah. Jason lives in some underground tunnels. Which is similar to the Hills Have Eyes, The Descent, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Hills Have Eyes 2, From Dusk Till Dawn 3 and more. But very much unlike Friday the 13th.

Also, the college kids who all pack it up and go to this house (not a cabin) on Crystal Lake. The Fuck? The house is owned by richest, jerkiest, whitest kids' parents. The kid talks about "his boat" and he knows the place pretty well. Yet, he's never heard of Jason like the rest of the locals? Seriously?

And these locals: Some old lady warns the kids that Jason is out there, adding "he dont mess with us locals" and in the NEXT fucking scene, he kills some locals.

And he takes the hockey mask from this local's attic. MEANWHILE, later he kills some dude who is playing with a hockey stick. Wouldnt it make more sense for Jason to get the hockey mask from this kid with the sports equipment?

Both of these victims calmly talk to Jason while they die. "Yo, Bro. Don't be so harsh...." as they die. And most of the kills are SUPER WEAK. Most of them look like they were improvised.

Im pretty sure that this film was written by retarded monkeys that have never seen In fact, it was. It was written by the same dudes who wrote Freddy vs. Jason. And although this movie is fucking awesome, it was written by fucking retards. The whole movie is based on the idea that Jason is afraid of water and Freddy is afraid of fire. Really? The motherfuckers live in boiler rooms and in lakes!! If Jason was afraid of water, he'd probably move his ass to Vegas. Or would kill less skinny dippers by swimming into the water to get them.

ANYWAY - Also, the ending is kind of wack, too. And Derek Mears, though I love him for being on Acceptable.Tv, is a lame ass Jason.

Despite all these problems, this remake is vastly superior to the original. I hate the original. And it's also better than parts 5 and 8.. And its better than 100% of the Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequels.

I realize that if I can buy into (and ultimately love) the idea that Parts 1 and 5 didnt even involve Jason, Part 7 pitted Jason against Jean Grey from the X Men, Part 9 introduced a shit ton of backstory that involved the Necronomicon and demons and missing relatives and shit and the fact that Jason X was y'know... in space. Then I guess I shouldn't be so upset that Jason lives in an underground mine and , apparently, grows marijuana... for some reason...

But thats just it. You get to scrutinize this film because it's a remake of a beloved film that intends, by its very nature, to REPLACE that film. If this film was merely "Friday the 13th XII: Jason is Back or Something", then no one would give a crap about the innacuracies or the shitty writing or the fact that Jason looks stupid. Because that's par for the course.

Also, come the fuck on. It's 2009. Let's get some more horrific kills. Killing that chick with the antlers mounted on the wall? Come the fuck on.

Nine things in American history that are worse than what's happening today.

So, this dude Obama is on the new and shit today, right? This dude here, get this fuckin' guy. He  takes a private jet from D.C. to some shithole town in Pennsylvania to talk about how banks shouldn't use tax payer money to buy jets and shit!!

But, this blog is not dedicated to the largest, funniest hipocracy of all time.

It's about how Obama is fear-mongering talkin' about how if the "stimulus" doesn't happen soon then the recession will be "catastrophic" and "permanent" and that its the worst thing to happen to America ever.  Nothing's that bad. And nothing that bad is permanent. You can always make things better. Except being in a relationship with a slutty myspace whore. Thats catastrophic. Pray to God you get a stimulus package.

Well here's a list of things way worse than this recession that American got over.

1. Civil War.

Imagine you, sitting in your house right now and all of a sudden a bunch of dudes from Alabama start raiding your town and burning your shit.  Thats what the Civil War was about. It was shitty. Ol' Abe Lincoln had to deal with waging a war against his own citizens and then convincing those citizens to come back into the fold. 

2. Slavery.

Imagine that shit. Imagine living in a time where sometimes dudes were property.  You could trade a nice deck of Poke'mon cards for a dude, if you wanted.  I mean, shit. Imagine walking out to get some berries and all of a sudden some white dudes have you in a net talking about how you're gonna have to work for free. It would be like working in the news paper industry! Except slightly worse. 

3. The Dust Bowl.

During the 1930s, the government and some farmers fucked up real bad and the Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas looked like that picture up there for a few years. It was probably the shittiest, yet most metal thing to ever happen to the midwest.

4. The Great Depression.

Now THIS shit sucked. You think 7% unemployment is bad, try 25% of that shit!! This shit was so bad it went on for a full decade and was only getting worse before FDR accidentally found out that the only thing that could help the economy was to let almost half a million Americans fight and die in World War II. Imagine that shit. Y'all dudes hate on the Iraq War but only 3,500 Americans have died there compared to like 450,000. Thats like ... three times as much... or something.

5. Sept. 11


That shit was just awful.

6. Presidential Assasinations.

Four American Presidents have been killed in office and a lot more were attempted.  This hasn't happened in a while, but it used to be kinda common. Imagine how today's society would lose its shit if a President were killed.  I mean, right now America is up in arms that Rhianna's boyfriend beat her up. Jesus.

7. The British.

I hate the goddamn British. Look at this map. As much as I hate the boring assholes, the sun does never set on the Queen's empire. And America layeth the smacketh down on that candy ass to establish itself as a sovereign nation. A bunch of drunk dudes from Boston took out one of the greatest empires the world had ever seen. That shit must have taken a lot of work. There wasn't one stimulus plan involved. In fact, there wasn't even an income tax at the time.

8. The 70s.

We all take the evils of Richard Nixon, The Vietnam War and huge 70s bushes for granted, but then there was the oil crisis. You think 4 bucks a gallon was rough? Try waiting in line for an hour and then only being allowed to pump 2 gallons? Thats what this shit was about. Then we had the Iran hostage crisis.  And after that, bushes were still pretty big.

9. Mad Tv

14 laughless years later, America can finally begin to heal.

Lux Interior dies at 62.

In memory of Lux Interior's death, he's the article I wrote about his band, The Cramps, a long time ago for a news paper.

How to Interview a Monster
by tim death
Monday, October 11, 2004



They're a painful, violent affliction that's hard to get rid of. They're The Cramps.

The Cramps are one of those important New York punk bands from the late '70s. The legendary type of band that influences 15 year-old outcasts to stay out late and graffiti up a local middle school with the phrase "Sheena's in a Goth gang now!". They are a band that's so influential and great that it's pretty much a law that pseudo-poseur hipsters have to pretend to love them whenever a Ramone or member of The Clash dies. They're a band so famous, normal people have never heard of them.

When Akron, Ohio native Lux Interior met Ivy Rorschach while hitchhiking on the West Coast, the two clicked musically and decided to form a band. The duo did this despite not knowing how to play instruments. They moved to Akron to begin preparations and practice a rock influenced by their old '50s Rockabilly LPs and bands The Pretty Things, The Stooges and The New York Dolls.

"I think [North-East Ohio] is the strongest rock area in country. I mean, the first rock & roll show ever was in Cleveland. I think the fans appreciate rock in that area more than anywhere else," said singer Lux Interior unto me.

Eventually, Ivy learned to play guitar and the duo moved out to New York to get in on the emerging rock & roll scene. They made a name for themselves playing places like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City with Blondie, Suicide, The Ramones and The Dead Boys. Of the heels of the Ramones' induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and now there are rumors of the Dead Boys being honored, I wondered if those sort of accolades are on the minds of the Cramps.

Lux quickly told me what was what. "Fuck the music industry. They've never given a shit about us and we don't give a shit right back. I'm sure Britney Spears will get in and we'll be overlooked. They just judge the bands by how many records they've sold and to me, the more records you sell, generally, the more you suck."

During those shows in the '70s, the band coined the term "Psychobilly". The term and sound of the Cramps went on influence a movement in the UK with bands like The Meteors. Nowadays, a new breed of Psychobilly bands is in your face at Hot Topic, most of which seem to be trying harder to sell you clothes than records. Still, some of these newer bands like The HorrorPops, Tiger Army, The Nekromantix and the Reverend Horton Heat (Who'll be at Canal St. in December) are attracting fans and attention and even *gasp* radio play!

"I don't know of any bands that sound much like us. To me Rockabilly has a strong back beat and is sexy. A lot of these bands I hear now do it too fast. They're all Duduududdududduda", says Lux. "And, that's fine. I'm not saying you shouldn't like those bands, they're just not too Rockabilly."

Many of the new newer Psychobilly bands are on the slutty Epitaph Records, which the Cramps were on for one album: 1997's "Big Beat from Badsville".

"Most labels don't want our music, they just want us to be a figurehead on their label to bring in that coolness," said Lux. The Cramps didn't release anything again until 2003's "Fiends of Dope Island" on their own brand new label, the aptly named, Vengeance Records.

"There's always a long time between all of our albums, it seems. It's mostly because whenever we put out an album, the label goes broke or the owner OD's or something. We spend most of our time with lawyers trying to get out of record deals and onto new ones. That's why we started Vengeance. We just said 'We're not gonna play that anymore and if we have to then it'll be us that's going broke or OD-ing. Then it'll be okay cuz it'll be our own fault," said Lux.

Lux was very down to Earth with me, which was a breath of fresh air. Other interviews I've done, artists seem very tight lipped. I've even read interviews with local bands like this. "Yeah, our guitarist just left the band for reasons we can't talk about." It's like, I went to high school with your guitarist, I'll just call up now and ask him why he left. We used to enjoy Pizza Fridays together in the cafeteria. Stop being a rockstar. But, I digress…

With Vengeance Records the Cramps are trying to get the rights to their back catalogue to re-release on cd and colored vinyl. Most of which they've collected except for their early stuff the stingy A&M Records. To make up for this, the band has just released a 2 disc set of old demos, band practices and live shows at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City. The Max's show is their third ever. The album is entitled "How to Make a Monster".

"We had plans to put out a new album of all new stuff and our old drummer decided to become a professional alcoholic so we fired him. We knew we wanted to put out something but couldn't without a drummer. So we dug up all these old tracks and live shows" Lux told me.

The band is planning an all new record now that they have a new drummer (Buster Bateman of the Blaster). They fired the old drummer, see? "I don't wanna say too much about the new album, cuz it's still early on and that's always the kiss of death", Lux commented.

The band does have plans for a box set collection of their material and a new DVD. Their first DVD is a live concert from a '78 show in a mental institution. How rock and roll is that, playa?! The one now in conceptual stages will be mostly live stuff and a collection of their music videos.

Lux said: "We want to put all our videos on it. We spend a lot of time and work on the videos and no one's ever seen them except for the few people who stayed up and saw them the one time Mtv played them at 2 AM. Like I said, we don't get along with the music industry."

The band also expresses interest in signing other bands to Vengeance Records, which right now is only host to the Cramps.

"Eventually we want to evolve into a real label with other bands. But we're all on our own thing we tour all the time and make records so we don't wanna put out any other bands till we know that it'll be a good thing for them," said the front man.

The Cramps are currently on tour, which is reportedly going great and is very high energy still after almost 30 years. Will you be high energy after 30 years of rockin'? Who knows, but I suggest you check out the Cramps and see a slice of true Americana Punk Oldschool.

Every American will lose their job. Even the ones that don't exist.

Leader and Master of the Democrats, Nancy Pelosi says that if we don't pass this "stimulus" bill, 500 Million Americans will lose their jobs.

There are only about 300 Million Americans .

Apparently, Pelosi, with her fear-mongering wants us to know that EVERYONE will lose their jobs. Including about 200 Million Americans that don't exist.

Here are some of the Non-Existant Americans who will be hit hardest......

Big Foot. How's he gonna get paid to walk mysteriously and blurry without these stimulus bills?


The Boogeyman. With more and more families losing their houses, there will be no closets to lurk in for this guy.


The Muppets. Self explanatory.


99% of Canibus' fans.


Mario and Luigi will lose their plumbing jobs. Although, I suspect that they may not be citizens, anyway.


Ash will lose his job at S-Mart.



And, of course, The Superman. (Im using this one as a metaphor for Obama).