06/11/10

check out these Michael Nhat videos yo!

Michael Nhat – Here’s A Mop To Clean the Floor

Michael Nhat – Pay Me And I’ll Tell You

Theres been lots and lots of stuff going on in LA and since we are doing all this for the love of it, its been kinda hard catching up with everything but we try our very best to support each other, mostly through the music we play on the open Mind Dead Sound System and shows. If you have any ideas, suggestions and perhaps music that you’d want us to play, do not hesitate to send it to us at onlyfortheopenminded@gmail.com. Make sure to also download the podcasts from the archive sections which you will find on the opening page! and just for those who haven’t figured it out…YOU CAN DRAG THAT PART WHERE WE LIST THE SHOWS AND HAVE THAT ANIMATED BLINKING IMAGE…TRY CLICKING IT THEN DRAGGING IT SO THAT YOU CAN SEE WHATEVER IMAGE WE HAVE UP ON THE OPENING PAGE. Of course people give us shit and bitch about how we can make this site BETTER, EASIER, MORE PROFESSIONAL, BUT WHAT THE FUCK? WE HAVE LIVES TO LIVE…PERHAPS WHEN WE FIND THE TIME TO DO THAT in between everything else but then again…for what?  we believe that all you, kids are smart enough to figure shit out…we are not here to tell you what to do or how to think or shove shit down your throat..we are simply here to make sure that the greater creative energy keeps on flowing. THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE DOING INTERESTING THINGS IN LA, IN THE COUNTRY, ALL OVER THE WORLD! we are simply just one of them…all we are saying is that LET’S ALL MAKE SHIT AND BE CREATIVE and leave the judging to the judges! Some people feel their taste is beyond everyone elses, some people feel they know what is good or what is bad..and some people, well, some people do not care about those things, they just keeping making and creating becoz that is what they feel they need to do. Anyways, were pretty sure YOU HAVE THE INTERNET since YOU ARE READING THIS , so feel free to DIg and make up your own mind..and yes please do share…and dont forget to check out stuff at the distro..we ot some new stuff up there ..tapes from White Horses In Technicolor who will be on the Open Mind Dead Radio Show next week and we have some tapes and 45’s from Endometrium Cuntplow. Theres also new comix from John Isaacson of Feedback fame and also cool stuff from Brass Tacks Press. Anyways, we are also planning of doing a fundraiser soon just to be able to get more bandwidth becoz as you know, the more listeners we get right now, the lesser the quality becomes…Anyways, we hope you can make sense of all these words since i have been typing it all blindfolded…and also if you dont happen to be doing anything on the 19th, Pregnant and MAgick Orchids will be playing at the Smell with Religous Girls. Heres the cool flyer/poster/gif animation made with the collab of Champoy and Adam Roth:

THERES ALSO MANY OTHER COOL THINGS WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT…THOUGH WE CAN’T REALLY REMEMBER IT ALL, WE CAN LIST DOWN ALL THAT WE CAN THINK OF AT THE TOP OF OUR HEADZ:

-Luna Is Honey’s music video for “I Would Die 4 U” directed by Ryan Pardeiro of Kid Infinity
-Michael Nhats upcoming record “Swimming To Cambodia”
-Tetricide art show in Pehrspace
-Exquisite Corpse art show in Echo Curio
-The Health Club’s upcoming record “Photos Of The Sun”
-Halloween Swim Team’s upcoming record “Antennaaa”
-Andrew Felix’s upcoming tape release “Clean”
-Post-Care 2 (after the longest delay of all time…)
-Kill Kill Kill music video for “Bali Belly” by Champoy
-Kid Infinity’s 3D Live Show
-Season’s new record
-THE APOCALYPSE!

<sub>04/24/10

So theres been a lot of shit going ona nd sometimes we have a hard time keeping up with things. First of all maintaining this website takes some time effort and maybe a lil dough but we never make it an excuse not to do shit. However, its our excuse for not writing any reent News and Updates with everything going on around us. As you  can see,  a lot has happened since we started doing the distro and the radio shows. First and foremost, the fact that you are reading here means that youa re probably one of the few people that gravitate around the artists and events that we are lucky enough to find ourselves in and for that we just want to say that we appreciate and thank you for all your support in whatever way. We’ve been slowly adding new stuff everyday but haven’t been actively pursuing artists since we have focused our energies mostly in doing the web radio programs and live shows.Midnite Ryan does Monday nights with the usual gang of Bre, Kat, BJ and more with Party Parade right before</sub> Ah Yeah! _{by Freakstik and Re who operate straight from Brooklyn , NYC. Tuesdays will also have CInema Terroriste which is also based on NYC, by Micah Moses broadcasting from 7 -9Pm right before What Else You Gonna Do? Matt, Ian and John’s comedic takeover for 2 hours of pop culture dissection. Then on Wednesdayds, we have shows that Champ and Isaac do simply called O4OM Sound System featuring live sets from bands all over LA and sometimes beyond, but this show broadcast right before the newly added Curious Echoes, which is hosted by Grant Capes from Echo Curio, the show features live recordings from bands that have graced the DIY Echo Park venue. Then after O4OM at 10Pm, every other Wednesdays is Smon Quey! from 10PM -midnight, hosted by Simon Cardoza. Then on Thursday nights is Electro-Can-Dance from 8pm – 10pm with Duh and Murderthumb who spins the beats that makes us all want to grind and dance til we pass out. Fridays are usually drunken nights for us but every now so often, DJ Maimes graces us with some of her music or some guests to treat us with the delight of her musical tastes for The Garden Hour which happens at 10pm until midnight. Besides these shows and the random occasions in which we broadcast whenever we feel like, the webs tation is usually on dead-air ….but all that will be about the change soon! Hopefully, to the gracious and kind donation of a gratitous benefactor whom we will only refer to as BROOKLYN, we will soon be broadcasting 24 HOURS. Please be posted for more on this and keep tuning in every now and then.}

_{03/24/10
Hello kiddos! Here’s a Michael Nhat interview:}

_12/1/09

Hello! This is our latest newsletter. Click the link to check out what we’ve been up to with the new addition of  Open Mind Dead web radio, new releases of zines, music and more. If you’d like to receive more once a month updates from us, sign up your email at the top of our homepage!

_{10/21/09
Hey kids, have you noticed that the catalog can now be viewed alphabetically! Yeah! You can now go and browse through all the stuff in the distro without having to hurt your finger pressing the “BACK” button. Besides that we are gonna have a different image on the homepage every month juts to spice things up ya know…some visual stimulation…get things exciting around here.}

_{Anyways, if you haven’t heard yet, Railcars has been touring hardcore all across the states, so if you are reading this from somewhere else besides Los Angeles, make sure that you catch them when they come to your town. Also check out their new LP called “Cathedral With No Eyes” on Gold Robot Records. We also have copies of “Cities Vs. Submarines” which is an amazing EP they put out last year.}

_{Besides the Railcars stuff we got the first EP by  The Transmissions called “Green Arke” and the last one they put out before they went on hibernation called “Greater Imperfections” which is a brilliant testament of Christian Biel’s amazing guitar styles and lyrical poetry.}

_{There’s also new stuff by Pregnant (Sacramento, CA), an amazing LP called “Ike Wimin” on KDVS which features the best mutant mash pop that we’ve heard so far this year. Daniel Trudeau otherwise known as Pregnant is on to something, kidz -so you better start diggin’ this shit before it digs you!  Pregnant tapes are also available with the “Liquidation On Suns” EP on one side and a live performance from Luigi’s Garden on Side B. Pregnant will also be on tour soon and will be playing a show at Tribal Cafe on November 21, so make sure to check out the dates on his page.}

_{Speaking of tapes, theres also the Dylan Doren/Kurpow! split tape whic is available on very limited copies with handpainted cardboard covers. splattered with colors of paint that form different animal patterns depending on what kind of vitamins you’ve been taking.}

_{For those of you who haven’t heard what 1000 Apes In A Room sound like, maybe its time to take your ears for a little joyride. 1000 Apes In The Room is Michael Nhat and K The I?, old roommates and wordsmiths extraordinnaire and “Attack Of The Apes” is a testament of this meeting of minds. Check out their myspace and behold, sad to say they dont really play together anymore but be happy that you can get the epic “Attack Of The Apes” here. So make sure to check it out.}

_{Also Michael Nhat will be going on a tour up to Northern California at the end of the month so make sure you go check him out when he comes to your town. He is having a record release show at The Vermont House on the 24th of this month with Halloween Swim Team, Red Tape Blue Tape, Narwhal Party, Luna Is Honey, Voice On Tape and Redeemer (Chicago). Make sure to also get the new self-titled LP which we will have here soon. If you can’t wait you can also go pre-order at his webpage. You can check out the flyer for the show at the EVENTS page.}

_{Also happening on the same date is a show at L’keg Gallery with Magick Orchids, Tan Dollar, Jean Wilder, Wonder Wheel and Concett 9.}

_{Manhattan Murder Mystery is doing a residency this month at The Echo Curio so make sure to go check em out there every Friday on October.}

_{LUVER also just archived the Magick Orchids performance at Frank Moore’s Shamans Den last August. You can find it  here.}

_{How To Be  A Microwave also just put out a downloadable mini-compilation which you can get at their website. Its an interesting mixture of great music from bands that we all love which you will soon also love. Make sure to go and download it by clicking on the image.}

<sub>Anyways, thats it for now. More to cum soon!

09/30/09</sub>

_{In case you haven’t been paying attention, we actually changed up things around here a little bit. See, we just wanna make it easier for you, kids to browse through the distro and find stuff without having to click on the “BACK” button lots of times. We put the news and updates on its own page since we realized we really don’t intend to be covering too much of the “scene”-type of stuff. Most of the news and updates we will be doing here are about the distro and other related stuff. So if you wanna read about the local music scene and the bands’ news and updates, I guess you can check out the links to their myspace, blogs and websites which is usually all over this site. We also changed the ZINES page into PUBS since we wanted it to expand more into all kinds of independently published materials that’s not just limited to zines.}

_{And guess what? we got a box of Re/Search Publications (SF) books from V. Vale to distro. It pretty much has everything that Re/Search has published which we know will titillate your young eggshell minds. A lot, if not all of these amazing books you will not find at Barnes And Nobles because these are the kinds of information they try to keep away from people but we are sure they have it at selected places but hardly..so we are here to help make it available to you -just make sure your parents don’t know what you’ve been up to otherwise, you are in big trouble.  Make sure to check it out when we have our booths set-up in future events or if you feel like consuming, buy it here and blow your mind away from the turn of each page.}

_{Michael Nhat will also be releasing his new self-titled vinyl soon and having heard the test pressing of the album, we say its gonna make the ladies shake their lovely behinds. You can now pre-order the album from  How To Be a Microwave . It will be officially released on Oct. 24. Nhat will then be going on a short NorCal tour to promote the album which kicks off at The Vermont House on the release date.}

_{You can also read the LA RECORD review of the art show that Halloween Swim Team, Michael Nhat and Magick Orchids played in HERE. They will all be playing again on another art show this coming October 10. These guys sure are hitting the art scene hard which seems perfect for the kinds of music that they do.}

_{Manhattan Murder Mystery (LA) also just released their new EP entitled “Skull”. We don’t have enough word to tell you how much we dig these guys. They are so great in writing those  anthemic sing-alongs that keeps us in touch with the most basic factors that made rock music interesting. “Skull” is loaded with songs many are familiar with from their shows. If you haven’t been to one, its time you should or at least get the new EP from the distro  and know what the hell we are talking about.}

_{Railcars (SF/LA) will be embarking on their North American tour  in support of their new 12″ LP “Cathedral With No Eyes” this week and they will be playing shows around Southernn California. Magick Orchids will be playing with them in some of their Southern California dates. You can check the schedules on their myspace pages.}

_{Magick Orchids (LA) will be releasing two new recordings this winter. The first one will be a recording they did with Frank Moore (BERKELEY) at his Shaman’s Den show and its gonna be called”A Cloud Below And The Sea Above”. The other one is a live recording of a Malo Funhouse show. Both releases will feature the amazing illustration art of  Mikee Labash and Adam Roth. Magick Orchids will also do a split cassette with Blue Tape/Red Tape soon as well as an extended music video release called “Harsh Practices”.}

_{We also started carrying new music  from many different indie DIY labels all over the place like No Ambitions (IRVINE) , Nihil Underground (LBC), Inter-Relations (BERKELEY), Kimberley Dawn (MASS), Nailbait Records (NASHVILLE), Darbolistic Rex (IOWA), SweetStickySounds (PHILIPPINES) and many many more self-released albums. We hope you find the time to go through them and check them out.  We carry all these stuff because in some ways we believe in what they do and we mostly wanna share that with you.}

_{The Girl With Violent Arms will also have a new cassette tape out soon and we a re looking forward to hear it and have it available here. Other stuff we are looking forward to distro are new albums from Pregnant (SACRAMENTO), Shimomitsu (SF), and Future Underground (UK). We are also working on carrying releases by Seasons (LA), The Littlest Viking (WHITTIER), Kid Infinity (LA), BYODeath (LBC) and many many more.}

_{The best part about running the distro is that we get lots of cool stuff from creative people. We have been listening to the Sonia Fierce’s solo stuff. For those who do not know, Sonia plays bass in Bastidas who have recently renamed themselves, Fantastica Bastidas. They are total badasses on their own and her solo stuff reflects a lot of the sonic explorations  she has been doing in her Fierce Productions. We’ve also been listening to some Michael Nhat B-sides from The Prequel and some cool stuff from Alien Soundtracks (IE) and this band called Newtown (NZ) who does an interesting cover of “Darling Nikki” by Prince. We listen to so much stuff that we get and sometimes its too overwhelming. We are thinking of making a playlist or a weekly  show where we stream tall the music we have in our archives.}

_{And talking of live streaming, we just set-up the Open Mind Dead Sound System and did our first ever livecast on the Malo Funhouse show that we did last September 5 with Guppies,  Tan Dollar, Michael Nhat and Magick Orchids. Due to some technical problems we were not able to archive the show but we are working on figuring that all out as well as coordinating with Hollow Earth Radio for some future shows. And since we dont have anything streaming at all times make sure to add us on Twitter or to this site regularly to find out when we will be streaming live shows, music from our catalog, music we dig and perhaps DIY love/sex advice. To add us on Twitter just enter our email address: onlyfortheopenminded@gmail.com. We also post about updates on the catalog distro there New comix and zines are also on the works. The twisted but brilliant Petty Cash by Josh Crampton (of Luna Is Honey/magick orchids)  has now only limited copies. Make sure you get your hands on it before it runs out, we assure you that this one is pretty much so worth your lunch money. Josh is also working on a Petty Cash Number Two that comes with a supplement thats a riot all on its own. Make sure to watch out for that.Post-Care Number Two will also be coming out soon. This time we are trying to get more contributors so hopefully we can make it bigger and better than the first one. We are expecting to have that out by December on Open Minded Press. Lots O’ Crap Five will also be out soon and this time it comes with a free CD compilation. We are also trying to look for other zinesters and people that do comix so if you have something like that going on, hit us up. Whew! it seems like too much but that’s not even all of it! . And by the way, don’t forget to go check out shows at the EVENTS page, maybe we’ll bump into each other. MAYBE…}

So here’s a little rundown of all the new stuff we’ve recently added this month:
+LIGHTSLEEPER (LA) – Hi-Fi Morning (Sweet Sticky Sounds) – mp3 download album
+GIGANTIC BLONDE BOY (NASHVILLE)- Golden Real Magic/World Independence (Darbolistic Rex)-double album cassette tape
+A POET NAMED REVOLVER (NASHVILLE) – Meets Gruesome (Nailbait Records) – cassette tape
+HORSEHAIR EVERYWHERE – Nothing Happened (Kimberly Dawn Records) – micro CD
+TAN DOLLAR – self/titled (No Ambitions) – cassette tape
+MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY – Skull(E+P Concrete River Recordings) – CD-EP
+VARIOUS ARTISTS – Live @ Tribal Cafe (Nihil Underground) – live double-CD
+SUNKEN LANDSCAPES/MY CELLPHONE IS BETTER THAN YOUR CELLPHONE (Nihil Underground) – 7″ vinyl split

_08/25/09

<sub>We are finally back in Los Angeles after spending two weeks up in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest promoting the distro, playing shows, doing interviews and pimpin’ it out at the SF Zine Fest.

We have a lot of new stuff that we now carry and the Open Minded catalog is slowly growing in front of our eyes. We tried to make posts and do updates on the road but since we were always on the move and had only limited internet access it was kinda hard but here’s a breakdown of what’s up, what’s new and where we at…here ya go, kidz!</sub>

_{Frank Moore’s CHEROTIC REVOLUTIONARY Zines
Frank Moore is a performance artist, poet, musician, painter and an underground personality who has been doing a lot of experimental performances and rituals since the late 60’s and ran for US President on 2008. He was born with cerebral palsy and is unable to walk or talk yet he has written influential writings on performance, art and cultural subversion, some of which can be found in the pages of The Cherotic Revolutionary. We will distro back issues of this zine that he did around 1991-1999 and some more of his writings and music. Make sure to check out more of his work here.}

_{New mini-comix have also been added to the O4OM catalog, First, theres the strange and trippy OGNER STUMP (see image below) by Andrew Golfarb and two new interesting ones from Peter S. Conrad called ATTEMPTED NOT KNOWN 9, which is all about smoking and the somewhat autobiographical, PAPER DUMMY 2.
(image from www.ognerstump.com)}

_{We also now carry music by Letters (Olympia, Wa), W.H.I.T.E. (White Horses In Technicolor Everywhere), Andrew Felix, Hellomynameischad and the new cassette tape of Luna Is Honey’s latest album backed with some earlier recordings on the reverse side.}

_{Early on the trip, we got to see some great performances at a Santa Rosa house show by such amazing locals acts, namely The Girl With Violent Arms (whose album will be out soon on How To Be A Microwave and should be available here too!) and Missionary Exasperation. Universal Studios Florida and Alaskas, who were on tour from Seattle were also great and we interviewed them about booking their own tours and what considerations and sacrifices they make in deciding to do it themselves. We also interviewed some of the people there on camera about house shows and what their music scenes were like. We kinda kept doing these all throughout our trip especially since the camera we had really great resolution (thanks to Jamie for letting us borrow her videocam!). So thats how we got a lot of interview footage of different people from different cities about their different perspectives in the whole DIY ethos which we will probably post online soon. You can see pictures of the house show here.}

_{We brought copies of the Open Mind Dead Compilation to KSKQ 94.9 in Eugene, Oregon and to KWVA 88.1 FM, University of Oregon’s college radio. We got some airtime to talk about the distro and play some of the songs in the comp. We also dropped off some copies of the zines in our catalog to the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) and also to some record stores in Portland. We weren’t able to drop by KPSU 1450 AM due to our schedules but we told them that we will just send them a copy of the comp. We only had limited copies of the comp but we gave some to people we met who are active volunteers on their local college stations and to all the spots that we played at like The Blood Bank, The Voyeur, The Northern, The Josephine, Flux 53, Ghost Town Gallery and to some other ones where we didn’t even play.}

_{We also visited Hollow Earth Radio in Seattle. Founded by Garrett and Amber to “highlight the human experience with an emphasis on found sound and field recordings within American Culture”, they now have support from a cast of revolving volunteer DJs that play all kinds of underground stuff, livecasts of house shows, found sound recordings and in-house performances. Its hard to imagine from listening to them that they literally operate it from the attic of their house where Magick Orchids got to play a short set. It was so cool and inspiring to see them doing things because it is what they loved and believed in. We made sure to hook those guys up with the comp and some of the other music that we have here and talked about perhaps broadcasting some upcoming house shows at the Malo Funhouse soon. More pix of the whole experience here.}

<sub>Anyways, the San Francisco Zine Fest was such a blast! It was such a great experience meeting a lot of people that have been doing zines and comix for years. All the D.I.Y. zinesters/artists and small-press publishers we met have been really inspiring especially since this distro is still in diapers. We didn’t really know what to expect since this is our first time being part of a Zine Fest. We shared a table with Nico who does Another White Girl Who Makes Stuff and got a good spot right beside the podium where all the announcements are made We just had all the distro stuff in a suitcase and didn’t really think much of presentation since we have been so beat from driving and playing shows but we got a lot of people to check out the zines and comix we have and got to talk to many of them about what the Open Minded Distro is about. Many seem interested and we got a lot of contacts from all over the world. We also got to talk to a lot of zinesters and artists who might possibly have their stuff distributed by Open Mind Dead. Amongst all the stuff we had, Josh Crampton’s PETTY CASH and Champ’s VISUAL VOMIT were the ones that sold the most and we learned from another artist that it is always best to overproduce copies than to run out. We also launched the first issue of the POST-CARE mini comix with comix by different artists, we are accepting submissions from people who want to do one pager comix. Please write us for more info. We also did some interviews of some really interesting San Francisco locals who are doing some interesting distro stuff. They called themselves Secret Hour Of The Wolf (Club). One of them was Schemoel Recalde, who also does music as Shimomitsu whose records we hope to distro here in the future.

At the end of the first day, we interviewed V. Vale of Re/Search Publications, who has been one of our inspirations in setting up this distro. We had the chance to meet him before at the Small Press Expo at USC awhile back where he said some really great stuff that resonated within us and we were so happy to find out that he had a booth at the Zine Fest. He said a lot of very insightful things which we have on video. We’ll probably post those online as soon as we upload everything into the computer.We are also proud to announce that Open Mind Dead will start carrying some RE/SEARCH titles in the distro soon!</sub>

_{This is a great honor for us because if you are not aware of it yet, we are such big fans of the books he has published and the interviews he has done in all these years. We didn’t end up doing the second day of Zine Fest since we had a long drive ahead of us but we made sure to think about ways in which we can make the distro more accessible to a wider audience especially outside LA and hopefully in other continents. We are on it!}

_{Well, well, well! So this one is starting to feel like a novel already so I guess thats it for now, kidz. Check back soon for more new stuff. And yeah if you are going to spend money on stuff you don’t need, you might as well spend it on some of these amazing zines, books and music that will help their makers further their creative endeavors. Word!}

_{08/07/09
FINALLY! We got finished making several copies of the OPEN MIND DEAD compilation last night. We only made enough though to give out to college radio and web radio stations for now but we’ll definitely make more copies later on for venues and the artists involved (and to whoever wants one?) We are also planning to send copies to music bloggers that might wanna check out what we are about and what we are trying to do. If you are interested in acquiring a copy of OPEN MIND DEAD Vol. 1, don’t hesitate to write us at onlyfortheopenminded@gmail.com and we can arrange it. You can find the list of artists and the track titles of their songs here.}

_{We are also gonna try to document all-ages venues and art spaces on our trip up north just so a lot of local bands can have a more updated and more personal overview regarding some of these places. We just felt on doing what we thought is necessary based on our experiences trying to set-up/play shows at different cities. We will try to talk to some people that do set up the shows and are making shit happen in their towns and cities and get their perspective in how they do these things.}

_{The Health Club and Manhattan Murder Mystery are playing some shows in New York this week. We managed to send with them some copies of the compilation before they left so they can drop it too at college/web radio stations based over there. They will be staying mostly around Brooklyn, where they are being hosted by Don, of Don’s Music, who is originally from there.}

_{Also, the Malo Funhouse show tonite has been cancelled and rescheduled to a later date due to circumstances beyond our control. This was suppose to be the kickoff show for Magick Orchids‘ Northwest Tour. We apologize to everyone for the inconvenience especially the bands scheduled to play: Tan Dollar, Guppies and Michael Nhat. Its such a fucking bummer but I guess we all have to wait until September 4 which is when we are rescheduling it!}

_{Also, don’t forget to check out the EVENTS page for upcoming shows in LA this weekend and check back every now and then. Smile hard!}

_{08/05/09
We have some new comix available which is filed under the ZINES section. There’s one from Josh Crampton called “Petty Cash” which is the sickest comix we have seen in a while. Trust us! This is the kind that you don’t want your parents to know you have been reading. Champ also has the new “Visual Vomit” coming out this week which is more trippy than the last one. We will also be releasing POST-CARE comix Issue Numero Uno at the San Francisco Zine Fest. POST-CARE will also feature comix from both Josh and Champ and really interesting ones from Andrew Lush and Adam Villanueva (of Seasons) We are always on the look-out for comix submissions and are hopeful in making a comix community that is not concentrated in either manga or superheroes. Not that we’re against those but the title says everything about our position regarding those kinds of comix. The ONLY FOR OPEN-MINDED Zine No. 3 will also be coming out in the next few days. Do check back to our catalog every now and then for more new comix, zines and eventually, books. Yeah! Books! Remember? Ya know those things that are usually thick, without pictures, filled mostly with words. Yeah! Books! We have been so occupied getting everything ready in time for the SF Zine Fest where we’ll have a booth for Open-Minded Press. So, if you happen to be in the Bay Area, do come and check it out, say hello to us!}

_{In case you haven’t noticed we also added several albums this week to the distro. Besides the new Magick Orchids‘ cassette tape release “HEXXES“, we now carry Downtown/Union‘s “Aurora Ahorra” (self-released) , Halloween Swim Team’s “the End Of The Sky” (Modern Sleeze) and Narwhal Party’s “And Now For More Bad News” (Modern Sleeze) available on CD and Virginia Reed’s “She Is The Horse” (How To Be a Microwave) on 12″ vinyl. These are records you won’t regret having in your collection because these are the kinds of shit future classics are made of. So if you feel some kind of emptiness in your life that needs to filled by the next musical possession you acquire, then go for any of these or if you have the dough, all of it. It will sure fill that hole in your soul. We guarantee that or the next bacon wrapped hotdogs are on us!}

_{Besides that, we are finalizing the MP3 compilation we are putting together to drop at college radio stations, web radio shows, venues, and perhaps other places that would be able to help expand all the artists’ listening audiences especially outside Los Angeles.. We are doing it in MP3 format just so it can fit all the music and retain all the track info on different players. The compilation is going to come in a gold painted CD inside a black DVD case that we put together ourselves. We originally wanted to name the project “SALVATION” but after somediscussions with our legal advisors, we decided to call it OPEN MIND DEAD instead. The compilation includes tracks from Bastidas, deadART, Dwarf Pluto, Halloween Swim Team, Hellomynameischad, Kid Infinity, Lee Noble, Michael Nhat, The Littlest Viking, Luna Is Honey, Railcars, Seasons, Lightsleeper, The Transmissions and many many more. Also included will be unreleased new songs from The Health Club, Guppies, Die Rockers Die, Manhattan Murder Mystery and Tan Dollar, as well as a Bobb Bruno remix of howardAMB’s “Yorba Linda”. We will soon release a complete list of songs and artists once we have it all finalized and perhaps even have copies available for everyone to check out. Thanks so much to all the bands for wanting to be a part of this and helping us help each other out. We will be out of town on our tour for a while but we will try our best to update you about shit and stuff! Smile Hard!}

_{07/30/09
The prolific and self-acclaimed “LA’s greatest rapper”, Michael Nhat will be releasing a 12″vinyl release this October on How To Be A Microwave Records. The self-titled album will feature a lot of live favorites that many “Nhatheads” will be happy to hear on sweet motherfucking vinyl. Michael just recently released “The Prequel I” under November Black Records on CD which you can purchase here at the distro or at his website for a fair amount. He is also in a new band called Horror Movies with Gabie from Blue Tape Red Tape. Their first single, which you can listen to at their myspace page, will be included on an upcoming Open Mind Dead Compilation. Besides the upcoming vinyl record, he says he already has two more other albums ready for release. Go move your ass to Micheal Nhat’s performance tomorrow night at The Smell, Friday August 31st. with Former Ghosts, Quangztuh and Jogger.}

_{image by Lis Bomb}

_{07/28/09
The new cassette tape album, “HEXXES” by magick orchids is now available here. It is only limited to 50 copies which you can order now or get from their shows. Purchase of HEXXES will get you free stickers and you will help the funding of their upcoming 2009 Northwest Tour.}

_{We have also just added albums from The Transmissions. Their debut, Over Wires and their sophomore effort, Burning The Winner. Hopefully we can also post their most recent one, Greater Imperfections a bit later on. The band is currently on an indefinite haitus as members focus their energies on different projects. Christian is getting busy with Castle Asshole and Corey and Denise are both working on a new live dub project which we are looking forward to hear.}

_{We will also be adding more albums and zines to the catalog from time to time. Right now, its mostly people that gravitate around our orbit but we are slowly extending to other artists who are doing things themselves. We are dedicating this whole site to those who are rooted in the whole DIY spirit of doing things. That way, we do not limit ourselves to musical classifications or categorizations, just as long as what you do is exciting to us. We have also been working on ways to make it easier for all to browse and order from the site so please bear with us. If you tried to order something and encountered some kind of glitch, please contact us right away. We are just doing this on our own time and resources with the help of some talented individuals. If you feel that you have some exceptional skills and talent that you think could be helpful to the Open-Minded Distro, please do not hesitate to contact us at: onlyfortheopenminded@gmail.com. We could truly use all the help we can get.}

<sub>And don’t forget to check out the EVENTS page for some upcoming events that we strongly recommend you check out.

07/23/09
The new single from The Health Club has just been made available for download here. Years after releasing their debut, Rarities And Outtakes, you finally get the new single you’ve always been waiting for! CHECK IT OUT!</sub>

_{07/22/09
Yay! So we have finally added a few new albums on the catalog last night and Deseret from Lots O’ Crap dropped several copies of the zine #4 too. So, we are so stoked about that!. We also added new categories on the LINKS page. There is now WORDZ, a link for interviews and feature articles that relate to anything regarding artists or bands that are on our catalog. We also added a new link called VIDEOZ which is where we’ll post videos made by us and the talented bands and people who gravitate around our orbit. Hopefully, when we get that link working, you will be able to check out the amazing shorts, feature or music videos that the kids are coming up with along with serious work by the pros that we love. And of course theres other stuff, which could possibly involve some kinky stuff or not! We are still waiting for people to send us naked pics. Seriously!}

_{07/19/09
We have been talking to a lot of bands regarding having their music available on the Open Minded Distro and we are so looking forward to that. We have also been getting inquiries online and stuff from other people in the mail regarding having their zines available here too. We will be adding artists and zines the catalog in the next few weeks. Newly added music will include new and old releases from Michael Nhat, Cardio Pulmonary, Luna Is Honey, Halloween Swim Team, Paranormals, Bastidas, Seasons, Family Tree Analog, Kid Infinity, and much much more. O4OM is also trying to put together a music compilation called “Salvation” which will include unreleased tracks from The Health Club, DRD and more which will be available soon. We will also start carrying No Moda and hopefully Lots-O-Crap zines and maybe some other new ones too. If you are an independent artist/band and you are doing things yourself and interested in having us distribute zines or music, dont hesitate to hit us up. Just make sure you check out what we are all about before sending us stuff so you dont waste your time and ours. Thank you!}

_07/18/09

_{Vote for our fabric!}

_{One of Champ’s designs has been selected in a contest among 5 other artists’ work. If our fabric gets the most votes, it will be available as a special edition print to be sold for 2 weeks plus we will get lots of free fabric for Rhea to sew sew sew with!}

_{Here is a photo of the design:}

_{It is called Blue Monday by Shared Madness and you can vote for it by clicking HERE….hurry because voting ends this Tuesday!}

_07/13/09

_{07/08/09
This weekend (July 11-12) will be the first ever Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fair at the 13th floor of the California Market Center. Open-Minded Press will set-up a small table there with zines from our mobile library and Rhea will also be doing a zine workshop at 4PM and get people there to do art and make zines. Free linoleum block-printing and needle felting workshops on both days.There are over 200 artists/studios participating from all over and they will be selling their handmade goodies, so make sure to check out all the interesting stuff. You can also bring used clothing to transform into one of a kind creations at the Swap-O-Rama Rama. DJ’s from KXLU will be spinning music at the event and jazz-punk mobile ensemble KILLSONIC will perform on Sundayat 3pm! There will be food and crafts galore so make sure you go check it out. The best part is THIS EVENT IS FREE AS A BIRD! Also, make sure to sign up for our mailing list at the top of our page to recieve future updates and other fun stuff. See u there!}

_{07/06/09
It was a great fun time last Friday night at The Malo Funhouse No Flag No Race No Rulers No Country Party. We are so happy that the cops did not give us any hassle especially since it was Independence Day. The bands started really late and the show ended at around 3AM but we managed to get through the night. All the bands got to play except for One Trick Pony. The bands that performed were The Health Club. Girl With Violent Arms, Luna Is Honey, howardAMB, Michael Nhat and magick orchids. There was a lot of great energy and the home brewed beer (thanks to Turtle) was a hit! We also got to talk to a lot of artists and bands regarding distributing their material on the website. Hopefully, it all comes into place. We are still just figuring these out. Seriously, we are just babies in doing this but we are looking forward to grow along with everyone else who is willing to help us out and be part of this. You can look at pics from the night here and our friend Lis Bomb has some aftermath pics here. If you have pix, please share it with us through email at onlyfortheopenminded@gmail.com.}

_{Michael Nhat photo by Deseret Rodriguez}

_{06/25/09
Yay!!! Open Minded Press is now officially registered in the San Francisco Zine Fest on August 22-23! We are so stoked about this. Like you have no idea. This summer is gonna be crazy for us. First we will be doing the LA Renegade Craft Fair on JULY 11-12. And magick orchids will be going on our first ever Northwest Tour from August 7-21 then we are going straight to the SF Zine Fest. The days are counting off so fast and we are so busy getting ready making all kinds of crazy shit happen.}

_{Also thanks to Oliver and Denise who have been helping us with this site. Its still in the works. Hopefully, everything gets to be in perfect working condition sooner or later.}

_{The best way to see what happens is to make it happen. Thats it for now. Come visit us again soon!}