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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Your Top Ten of 2006 (A Contest)

Friends,

While we're too busy being too lazy to make our own Top Ten of 2006 lists, I thought I'd give you, the loyal readers of BLOOD AMBITION 2006, a chance to post your favorite things of the year before we become BLOOD AMBITION 2007. Post your lists in the "COMMENTS" section, or email them to info@thebloodarm.com if you're shy.

This is a contest, and we will reward our favorite list handsomely. (We're just going to assume Lie Lover Lie is the unanimous #1, so be creative and use that slot for something else. Like your parents! Wouldn't that be novel!)

Post or email your lists by 2007! Do it!



I love you,

Ben Lee Handler

Also, check out Nathaniel's adorable speaking voice on this week's Cross the Pond podcast!

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Monday, December 18, 2006

Friday Show Photos; A Warning of Things to Come

So the show Friday was out of control. Also, fun!

I intended to photodocument the majority of it, but then got drunk and wound up taking pictures of all our friends "so my International lovers can see how beautiful my American ones are." The resulting images are dishearteningly Cobrasnake-esque, only plus a few years, minus the Atkins diet, and a little more EASTSIDE. (There are also a few from our dear friend Jeff's holiday party... Those are all holiday happiness and cheer, with love to spare.)

Check them out HERE.

Coming soon: A long-overdue feature on our beloved Greecian soundman Yannis, each of the Blood Arm posse's Top Things of 2006 lists, and a year-end CONTEST... Stay tuned!

I love you,

Blee

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Friday, December 15, 2006

The Blood Arm Phone Home

On the off-chance you didn't already know, Los Angeles is in trouble tonight. We've been out of town for far too long, and we've a score to settle.

The show is at the Echo. There are still a few tickets available here.

Get there by 9pm or so, as the Ettes are supporting, and they're not to be missed. (Also, we haven't seen you in more than two months, for Chrissakes.)

I've missed you,

Ben Lee Handler

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Love is a Many Splendored Thing; BALTHAZAR is a Way of Life

It is only fitting that the Best Tour Ever ended with the Best Plane Ride Ever, but I'm getting ahead of myself... we went to Paris first.

Paris is awesome. I swoon for just about every type of accent--especially that of our favorite Scouser Crazy Pete--but I fall down and die la petite mort just about every time a French person speaks to me in English. Be it basso, alto, or soprano, the accent has just the perfect balance of of sexy and approachability to fall in love with a thousand times over. Compound this with the fact that the worst meal in Paris is better than the best meal anywhere else, that their idea of water is wine, and that their idea of "hello" is kisses on both cheeks, and you'll understand why I was dying little deaths all over that great city. It's grand to be drunk and in love in gay Paris.

There was goodwill to be spread on the Blood Arm's side as well, and hopefully we succeeded in the form of acoustic radio sessions, interviews and a showcase at L'fleche d'or.





(A brief explanation of the photos above: The first is from the RTL2 radio session; the second is of Zebastian with his new law and life partner, Sebastian; the third is the painful au revoir with William, our ever-impeccably dressed driver.)

Of course, what the photos above do not accurately capture is how intoxicated we were by the time William dropped us off at the airport. We were lovedrunk with Paris to begin with, but then around six o'clock Tuesday morning Nathaniel and I invented the French Russian--which is French coffee mixed with French milk and Russian vodka--and the French Greyhound, which is French grapefruit juice mixed with Russian vodka and a French Russian. We drank all of these, then the rest of our Russian vodka on the way to the airport. So by the time we arrived for check-in at eight am, I had no idea how to answer the questions, "are you monsieur Handler?" And, "what is your country of residence?" Fortunately, Dyan had avoided all the earlier Franco-Russo hub-bub and stealthily guided us through security, expertly avoiding any possibility of a diplomatic crisis.

Usually the party ends by the time one boards an American Airlines flight--they charge for drinks and the entertainment options always feature Adam Sandler--but we were sitting by the superfun Ken, Sheran, Nancy, and the superhuman BALTHAZAR. (That's Ken and Sheran next to Zachary and I.)


Ken is a ex-SAS sniper who is currently teaching Frenchmen to be coal miners and alcoholics. He insisted on buying us drinks the entirety of the flight. He helped Zachary and I overcome our fear of military men, and we helped him overcome his fear of Jews.

Sheran was life coach to Jim Morrison (that one didn't turn out too well, whoops!) and Buddy Rich. She now parties with Bob Dylan and Tom Jones. She helped Zachary and I to set short and long term goals in our lives outside of partying on airplanes. (My short term goal: brushing teeth. Zach's long term: growing hair.)


Nancy is the superstar stewardess who continued to let Ken buy us drinks long after it was probably illegal. She helped us to realize that her aunt was the mean secretary at our high school.


BALTHAZAR is the craziest, realest motherfucker we have ever met. BALTHAZAR is less of a two year-old than a hurricane of happiness, honesty, and toy cars. BALTHAZAR refuses to sit down. BALTHAZAR knows that if a society says people can't run up to strangers, hug them and throw their toys at them, then that society deserves to be violently fucked in the ass. BALTHAZAR is zero pretence, all action, and packaged in the cutest red jumper I've ever seen. BALTHAZAR's name is twice as big as he is. We should all aspire to be more like BALTHAZAR.

I am going to get my hair cut like BALTHAZAR's because it is so fucking adorable.

Super-long plane flights should always be so full of awesome.

Now we are home, and had better see you at the show Friday.

I love you,

Ben Lee Handler

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Monday, December 11, 2006

Party Brut Learns to Pot Luck


First things first: Forgive me for the nonsensical gibberish on the previous post. I was drunk, and alcoholism is a tough burden to balance with Down's Sydrome. (I also suffer from that.)

Secondly, the show in Southampton was perhaps the best ever Blood Arm perfomance. There was Kabuki, nudity, and I shaved the fuck out of TBA loyalist Ross's head until he bled.



Southampton was also our last show with the phenomenal dance outfit Hey Willpower, and we will miss them sorely. (Outstanding local act Breaking the Girl also performed... They are highly reccommended by us.) Hey Willpower did, however, leave marks on Zachary and I assuring that we will never forget them, barring the sudden onset of blindness or torso scarring.


Then it was time to party. Zachary was obligated to drink four liters of milk, which he promptly did.


He was not obligated to purge the four liters, but he did that anyway. (This photo is actually from our archives, the real proof is much too vile for the Internet.)


London was next on our hitlist. We had the day off, so we threw a Pot Luck at the house of Keith Top of the Pops and Eddie Argos of Art Brut. A Pot Luck--for those of you unfamiliar with the term--is basically an orgy of food and drink, wherein everyone attending brings a dish to share, and then everyone makes out. Making out--for those of you unfamiliar with the term--is basically full body, multi-person lovemaking, without worry of emotional or physical repercussions.






Soon, Keith and Eddie took off to perform at the Part Brut show, which is three fifths of Art Brut playing Art Brut songs and Animals covers. (If you're interested in the latter, look no further than here.) We followed them, and it was awesome. After this, we zipped over to Canvas in time to destroy Pull Tiger Tail's equipment during their last song.Then we went back to Keith and Eddie's and drank until the wee hours of the morning.


Now it's Paris for one quick showcase before we head home.

Au Revoir!

Ben Lee

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Friday, December 08, 2006

The Blood Arm Get Married, and it is Brutiful


We had so much fun at our Wednesday show at London Kings College that we decided to keep it going. As far as I'm concerned, it's still Wednesday, and we're still at Kings College. (Also, I'm still drunk.)

The band debuted their first live cover of another band's song about our hometown in the encore, with a little help from our friends in Pull Tiger Tail, Hey Willpower, and the man who actually penned the song being covered, which I won't write out here so it will be a surprise for all if it's performed again.


Then Dyan, Zachary, Yannis, myself, and our dear friends Nathalie, Handsome Dan (who was wearing his fabulous leather trousers), Teri, Lex, Martin, Hugh and our eighteen year-old boyfriend Jamie headed over to the house Keith Top of the Pops and Eddie Argos so Yannis could do all our makeup and we could swap clothes. This is much better described in pictures--it is downwright horrifying--and I will post them as soon as Nathalie, Yannis, or Teri sends them to me.

When ten o'clock am rolled around and we found our way over to the BBC for a live session, they wouldn't let Zachary in the building. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.


Luckily, we had made honest women of the Tiger Tails the night before (with Hey Willpower filling our rolls with their best manship), and Davo was more than capable of taking over the Zachary pants for a few songs. Also, his drum parts.



More pictures of the evening's debauchery coming soon, see you in Southampton!

I love you,

Blee


Oh shit, I found a wallet at the merch booth Wednesday night... if you lost one, email your name and address (all this information is contained within the wallet, so I'll know if you're being sneaky) to info@thebloodarm.com and I'll mail it to you.

Also, special thanks to Kim and David for their badass Holiday cards.

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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Pulling Tiger Tail

Over the past week of our headlining tour we have found ourselves falling head-over-heels in love with our main support act, Pull Tiger Tail. It’s a little sickening, really. Like, literally. Every time guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Davo says my name I throw up, Dyan goes into convulsions when drummer/vocalist Jack mistakenly walks into our dressing room, and guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Marcus gave Zachary herpes. We’ve never felt this way about another band before, and as lovesick as we are, we never want to be apart from them ever again.

Don’t take my work for it, see for yourself how adorable they are:




Since Glasgow, we’ve gone on dates with them in Manchester, Sheffield, Belfast, Dublin, and Nottingham, so it’s getting pretty serious. There’s talk of marrying them tonight at King’s College in London, but I don’t want to spill the beans just yet.

Other things we’ve been up to:

-Drinking.

-Eating.

-Drinking.

-Driving. (Well, drinking in the back of the van while Chalkie drives.)

-Drinking.

One more funny story before I sign off: Yannis, our Greecian sound engineer who will have a blog entry entirely devoted to him as soon as I get around to it, loves milk. He drinks a liter in the morning when he wakes up, a liter over the course of the day, and another liter before he goes to bed. Zachary, the drummer, loves alcohol. He drinks a liter of beer in the morning when he wakes up, three liters over the course of the day, then switches to hard alcohol later on. Yannis and Zachary made a bet to see who could last the longest without his favorite poison. To make a long—well, thirteen hour—story short, Yannis won, and now Zachary has to drink four liters of milk in one sitting as punishment. Photo documentation coming soon…

I love you,

Ben Lee Handler


Oh, I contributed to Supersweet’s third group story, and my entry is up now. Check it out!

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