The Official newWitch Blog

Wendy Rule (who graced the cover of newWitch #14) will be appearing with the Dragon Ritual Drummers (who will be appearing in an upcoming newWitch).   Performance details follow:

Sunday July 29, 2007
Robertson Hall
85 Church St. (just up the road form the Niagara Voodoo Shrine),
St. Catharines, L2R 3C7
Cost: $5/person
Doors open @ 5pm
Performance starts @ 6pm

Then, on July 31 and August 1, Wendy will be appearing at Charme-et-Sortilege in Montreal.

We’re always glad to hear that one of our favorite Australians is on this side of the globe; if you have a chance, why not catch her in your neck of the woods?

From today’s mail comes this gem from Rotting Corpse Records.

Elite Chicago Black Metal veterans Ezurate have inked a deal with Rotting Corpse Records for three forthcoming albums, anticipated to be released over a one-year period. Their 2000 debut “Infernal Dominatio”has been completely reproduced (re-recorded, remixed, remastered) using their current lineup and is expected to be made available in July.

“Holocausto and Ezurate are very proud to announce our signing withRotting Corpse Records, so we can finally get our elite pure armafuckingeddon, soul-raping black metal art and evilness out to the world! Now, we have arrived.”

Congratulations are in order to the band, particularly to Holocausto Inferni, who is responsible for “vocals and Impaler of Christianity.” We should also give props to the drummer, Sir Marbas Daemoneus Hellstorm: let us hope his career does not end with him exploding or choking on someone else’s vomit.

While it may not be the greatest television show of all time, the original Star Trek was certainly one of the most influential.  And now James Doohan (better known as Commander Scott, the faithful engineer of the Starship Enterprise)  will be going to the Final Frontier.   Doohan will be following in the footsteps of Gene Roddenberry, whose ashes were sent into orbit in 1997.

By all accounts, Doohan was a kind and gracious man who was happy to chat with fans.   He drew our attention to the stars; it is only fitting that they should be his final destination as he takes his place among the honored ancestors.

(Kudos to Livejournal user vgnwitch for bringing this to my attention!)

Michael Ford, a 55-year old furniture restorer and gardener, has always enjoyed making teas and infusions with the herbs he grows on his Berkshire allotment. But when he tried an infusion made with winter-flowering heather, he got an unexpected surprise. In his own words

The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street.

He brought this to the attention of scientists at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens, who discovered that winter-flowering heathers (Erica spp.) contain a chemical analogue of Viagra. When this hit the news, Britannia’s garden centres were soon mobbed with men looking for a little extra starch in their underwear. Says an official representative of Wyevale Garden Centres, a chain with 106 stores in the UK

At first, it was just a trickle of inquiries, but now stores are virtually being besieged each weekend. We have had men buying dozens of the plants and, at one store in Croydon, there were men old enough to know better fighting over the last remaining trays.

Before too long we can expect spam for “CHEEP \/\/in+3r F10w3ring H3@+h3r!!!!”

In Graham Greene’s The Third Man (and in the Orson Welles film it inspired), Harry Lime says:

In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. But they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo daVinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The Cuckoo clock.

Now, in an effort to prove Graham Greene wrong, Switzerland’s DJ Bobo gives us the power ballad  “Vampires Are Alive”.  If Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Michael Jackson’s Thriller were shoved into the teleportation device from The Fly, the end result might look something like this.

To be fair to our Swiss fans, I should note that Greene was exaggerating.  Switzerland is also the birthplace of Dada and the home of H.R. Giger.  This may explain why DJ Bobo has created a track which is both pointless and horrifying.

Simon Emmerson, the musician and visionary behind Afro-Celt Soundsystem, describes some of the spiritual influences on their “Fela Kuti jams with the Chieftans at a Rave” sound.

SE: Yeah, I’m from Hackney. As a kid I went to folk camp and the organization that ran the camp was called the Order of the Woodcut Chivalry and they were based and started in the 1930’s in the New Forest. And that’s when the whole WICCA revival happened.

PLH: Where’s the New Forest?

SE: It’s in Dorset. And basically if any WICCAN tells you that they are part of a tradition that’s 2000 years old, really it started with Geraldine Gardner and half a dozen other people at a place called Sandy Balls in the New Forest… So I would go to these camps and sit around campfires and learn about tree law.

While rumors persist about Gardner’s interest in bondage and spanking, this is the first we’ve heard of ol’ Gerald’s gender identity crisis.  Still, it must be true… after all, we heard it on the Internet!

Despite Emmerson’s dodgy grasp of Pagan history, the interview is actually well worth reading - and his band is, of course, fantastic.

Inspired by  Pagan Troop Support,  the Dragon Ritual Drummers have recorded and released a song called “Pagan Soldier.”  Why not check it out: it’s a free download and available on their website.  And after you’re done getting jiggy with Canada’s most rocking drum troupe, why not send Pagan Troop Support some ritual supplies?

During the Vietnam War, protesters frequently spat on returning vets and called them “baby-killers.”  Let’s not make that mistake again.  However you feel about this particular conflict, don’t turn your anger on the men and women who are living and dying on the front lines.   Save it instead for the people who got them (and us) into this mess.

For Manhattan writers Colin Beavan and Michelle Conlin, 2007 is the year of a “lifestyle experiment” which involves (among other things) producing no trash, using no paper, and eating only food grown within 250 miles of their home. 

Although New York Times  writer Penelope Green had difficulty with idea that someone could spend an entire year without balsamic vinegar and espresso, her article provides some interesting ideas for those who are looking to leave less trace.  Even if you’re not ready to trade in your compactor for a compost heap or exchange your Charmin for a corncob,  “The Year Without Toilet Paper” may encourage you to take some steps toward a more Gaia-friendly lifestyle. 

Writer, philosopher, and Pagan Elder Ivo Dominguez Jr. is profiled in today’s Wilmington News-Journal. If you’ve been wondering where to find a copy of newWitch in Delaware, get thee hence to Bell, Book and Candle. (And while you’re there be sure to get autographed copies of Ivo’s excellent Of Spirits: the Book of Rowan and Castings: the Creation of Sacred Space).

In response to the wave of headbanging interest sparked by Phil Brucato’s “Vikings from Hell” (newWitch #14), Rev. Shane Bugbee of the Church of Satan has released Club Satan: the Witches Sabbath - the world’s first Black Metal porn film. But wait! The folks at Karnal Films have ALSO released “the world’s first Black Metal porn film,” Phallusifer.

Tensions came to a head when the director of Phallusifer said “After we announced our film, a week later some american dude announced his first Satanic porn film trying to capitalize on our promotion.” This led to a heated response from Bugbee:

“It’s quite the contrary — that joke of a porn, ‘Phallusifer’, was rushed into production just to ride the coattails of ‘Club Satan: The Witches’ Sabbath’ — the first and BEST true Satanic metal porn….Even worse, the lack of effort put into ‘Phallusifer’ is obvious; their production quality is zero. That ‘Spinal Tap’ version of my film is an embarrassment to the true Satanic warriors who are dedicated to giving their fans the BEST BLASPHEMOUS PORN!”

At least they’re not arguing about whether or not Mrs. Clutterbuck actually existed…