Play 20 Questions with an A.I. Obviously the A.I. dosen't know me very well. Here's my results:

You were thinking of a robot. (duh!)

Does it break if dropped? You said Unknown, I say Yes.
Is it a common household object? You said Yes, I say No.
Is it found in a bathroom? You said Probably, I say No.
Is it straight? You said Irrelevant, I say No.
Is it comforting? You said Yes, I say No.
Can you open it? You said Doubtful, I say Probably.
Do you know any songs about it? You said Yes, I say Doubtful.
Can you buy it at a store? You said Probably, I say No.
Do you use it in your home? You said Yes, I say No.

Uncommon Knowledge about a robot: (assumptions by the A.I.)
Do you use it at night? I say No. (what a bore!)
Would you use it in the dark? I say No.
Is it pleasurable? I say No. (ahem)
Can you make sounds with it ? I say Doubtful.
Does it come in specific sizes? I say No.
Have you seen one in real life? I say No.
Do you use it in public? I say No.
Does it make music? I say No. (we all know better!)
Does it play music? I say No.
Does it go in your mouth? I say Probably. (oh behave!)

and finally...Do you love it? I say No.

Oh, the sad state of A.I.

Sorry about the brief site outage. Everything should be back to normal now.

It's no secret that I'm a huge Depeche Mode devotee from way back, and although the synth community might dismiss my comments this a blasphemous rumor, I'm here to proclaim that the German trio Camouflage, with their superb album Sensor, has surpassed anything the mode has released since the Violator-era.

Sensor oozes with superb production and charismatic vocals. It's a well-balanced electronic work of art, beautiful and warm, yet hauntingly melancholy. It's been three weeks since I put it in the CD changer and it seems to get better everytime I listen to it. If you're looking to step off the dancefloor, and enjoy some great "listening" music, check out Sensor.

Lots of fun to be had, getting closer my fellow robots. Here's just a sampling:

Human League - 8/19
Don't you want them? If the answer is yes, you'll have to drive to The Edge in Palo Alto to see the Human League, at their only San Francisco Bay Area appearance.

Soviet - 8/22
Catch electro sensation Soviet at what I believe is their first Bay Area appearance, at Club Fake.

Burning Man - 8/25 through 9/1
The party on the playa will be Beyond Belief. Will you be there?

Fischerspooner - 9/15 and 9/16
Casey, Warren, Lizzie and the rest of the gang return to the Fillmore for the 2nd leg of their US tour. Rumor has it that they'll be performing some of the new material from their upcoming new album.

Tommie Sunshine - Bouncing off Satellites
As mentioned previously, if you've got an XM satellite radio receiver then tune in to 'On The Move' at 10:00 pm EST to hear Tommie's new radio show, Tommie Sunshine's Revolution.

Ooh-la-la.

Design your own dreamy creation using the Pixel Punks dollmaker. Thanks to Allen for the link.

Forget about the Segway. I want one of these.

So while researching tomorrow's trip to Tokyo, I stumbled across this well executed kooky, fun site that captures the energy and general wackyness of navigating the streets of Shibuya and Harajuku with its unending seas of urban trendoids, fashion boys, hyper-cute schoolgirls clad in anime-animal graphics and your garden variety uber cool tokyo kids. It's a fun detour, check it out.

And even though I won't be there, you should head over to the oft-mentioned new Paradise lounge this Friday, July 25th for the cit-tay's newest party, "The Dirty Club". DJ's Solar, Fletcher, Jenny, Omar and others are kicking it off with a bang by presenting a live show by The Vanashing, plus lots of electro-luv spun on the tables. A measly $6 gets you all this and more. Take pictures for me!

Sucking my bandwidth, as usual is the world's best online radio station. That would be none other than The C-B-S by robotdjx broadcasting live from the VIEWLEXX Tower in the Netherlands. Highly, highly recommended!

Friday night plan part deux: well, due to unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances the festivities at stimulus have been canceled, but will re-emerge bigger and better at a later date. Don't fret though, there's still a fine night of electro-love in store for SF robots at Club Fake tonight. Straight from the frozen north, Swedish sensations The Sounds will switch roles for a night, from rock 'n' roll stars to DJs and rock the spot until you drop. Be sure to check it out!

Friday night plan: Get over to the plush new Paradise lounge (11th and Folsom) tonight for stimulus, Friday 7/18 for a wild time shaking your booty to the sounds of SF's very own electro-DJ Cuemark. He'll be spinning his very own brand of electro, italo disco, ebm, and pulsing beats, plus a very special set hand selected by yours truly from the BitBoy sound archives. It's a show that's not to be missed!

Robots in search of Friday night activity should look no further than the Tokyo Electric one year anniversary party. Treat yourself to a live performance by electrofunk duo Cybrid, plus more insanity. Cover is only 5 bucks, and it's at the plush, newly remodeled Paradise Lounge on 11th and Folsom.

Check out this four+ hour 57.7MB MP3 file, it's a killer archive of Magda's and Richie Hawtin's set at PS1 in New York on 7/5, for your listening pleasure. Link courtesy of Michael Doyle.

If you can, head down to a Clean Well-Lighted Place For Books (601 Van Ness Ave.) tonight at 7pm for a free reading by Dave Eggers elebrating the paperback release of his first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity.

Kraftwerk's new Tour De France video. Thanks to Karl Zeiss for the link.

Origami. The word is Japanese, literally meaning to fold (oru) paper (kami). Vancouver's Joseph Wu has evolved the ancient art to it's next stage and shares it with us on his well-designed website (link from Newstoday).

I'm just back from a super fun holiday in Germany, most of which was spent in Berlin. I had a great time, saw some incredible sights, met some fantastic people and had a chance to sample a little debauchery, Deutche-style. Once I sift through the photos I took, I'll post some here along with more trip details.

Check out my latest project for Sony. Just click here then click on "Interactive Demo" in the upper right corner. Thanks to Damon, Deanna, Lindsay, Awny, Andre, Josh, Kris and Gustavo for all your help! I couldn't have done it without you.

This just in: in honor of the Tour De France Centennial, robo-rock godfathers Kraftwerk have announced the release of "Tour De France 2003". The new single will feature one or more new versions of the 1983 classic which according to Kraftwerk's statements are much more than a remix. A faithful robot from Spain passed on this link to an MP3 where you can hear a preview of one of the mixes courtesy of a Spanish radio station.

Drool.

New sounds from the Hacker.

Following their run in the Top 10 most downloaded albums on the new Apple Music Store Fischerspooner have been confirmed to be part of the keynote presentation at this year's MacWorld Creative Pro Expo at the Jakob Javits Centre NYC on July 16th. More details as I get them.

Summer in Berlin
I'll be in Berlin over the fourth-of-July weekend, and I'm already overwhelmed trying to fit in as much art, architektur, kultur and musik as I can. I've never been to Berlin before, so I'm looking for suggestions. I'm already planning to spend plenty of time at the Bauhaus Museum of Design, and will probably go by the Vitra Design Museum as well. I'm also planning a tour of Daniel Liebeskind architecture. But I've got no clue about the bustling Berlin music scene. Any ideas how a traveling robot might best spend his evenings into the wee morning hours? E-mail me or use the comments link below.

The man behind the dark sunglasses, and one-man opening act on the Fischerspooner tour, DJ/producer Tommie Sunshine has left his native Chicago for the electro-epicenter of Brooklyn. Word on the street is he's going to bounce his signature beats into space and then back again this month as he starts his new new show on XM Satellite Radio - maybe a compelling reason to finally spring for one of those shiny contraptions.

Two shows to mark on your calendar, SF live electro-duo Cybrid will perfrom Live @ Punch Gallery (155 10th St.) on Saturday, June 21st, then again at CFDC Fashion Show on Saturday, July 12th. Check the Cybrid web site for more details.

If you weren't at Further Goes Electro last night, you missed a great night of music, dancing and general debauchery courtesy of DJ Unknown and John Selway (aka Memory Boy). As usual, Selway got the crowd pumped with a variety of obscure tracks and some great industrial floor pounders that elevated the temperature in the basement to what had to be at least 90-degrees. Thanks to Jenny and Omar and the Blasthaus crew for putting it all together.



In other news, if you've been putting off seeing the fantastic one-man show at theater Artaud, R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe, don't wait any longer! The show is in its final weeks of production. Ron Campbell does an amazing job of playing the brilliant scientist, inventor and humanist. It's an inspired piece of work that everyone should experience - well worth the price of admission! Get more information here.

If you missed Volsoc's amazing live performance, you can stream the full show here, or download it in its entirety as an 80.5MB 64kbps MP3 here.

Looking for some, er, 'live' music tonight? You can catch Larry Tee's NYC girlies of Avenue D performing their dirty, gritty, raw version of Electrosleaze. It's all happening at Robot, at San Francisco's *space550, if that's your bag. Presented by Beatbox events and NU Wave Hookers.

However, if you happen to be in NYC over the weekend, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT miss Ghostly International's Idol Tryouts release event at Pianos. You'll be able to catch some of electro's best acts including Dabyre, Kill Memory Crash, and More...(sigh, pout). Oh well, at least we have John Selway tomorrow.

As promised, here's the scoop on this Saturday night's big event.



Blasthaus and Jenny & Omar from Club Fake team up to bring you Further Goes Electro, a night with two of New York's finest electro DJs, John Selway (Memory Boy) and Fischerspooner's DJ Unknown.

If you don't know John Selway, he's been making waves globally with his unmatched knowledge and unique interpretations of electro, obscure 80's electronica, robot-disco, new-wave and Italo-disco. Combine this with an exclusive set by DJ Unknown, the official Fischerspooner DJ, and you've got a New York style electro event not to be missed! More event information can be found here.

I'm back with lots of exciting news, so let's get right to it, shall we? First off, mark your calendars next weekend (I believe it will be the 7th) for a mind-blowing evening with DJ Unknown, and superstar Ghostly International artist John Selway. More to follow as Jenny and Omar disseminate details.



Also, Depeche Mode fans should keep August 18th open as DM front man David Gahan makes his way through San Francisco with an evening at the Warfiled theater. More information can be found here, although tickets aren't on sale yet. A few interesting albums to note, Robots in search of fresh beats should check out the first release on Daniel Miller’s Credible Sexy Units label, Vic Twenty - a charming and slightly retro sounding EP of classic electro sounds, or as their press release states, "Vic Twenty draw us into a pastoral electronic world where the future has not yet turned to shit". Also, make sure to give a listen to Goldfrapp's new album Black Cherry. Fantastic hooks and great production value. And if you can find it, make sure to pick up Vive La Fete, Nuit Blanche for their unique brand of Belgian robo-love (thanks to Orac UK and Charles for the tips).



Last, in art news, if you have a chance, make sure to head over to the Castro Theater to catch one if not all of the CREMASTER films by all-American art star Matthew Barney (CREMASTER refers to the muscle that raises and lowers the male reproductive system). The films are a beautiful and complex bounty of images that are densely layered and cleverly interconnected - if you're looking for strong narrative, look elsewhere, but if you're hungry for a visual treat you'll leave feeling satisfied. More info can be found here.

Tomorrow night enjoy a rare live webcast of unreleased material and never to be released material by Volsoc. It's live from midnight to 3 a.m. here.

I’m still here, just on a short hiatus. Regularly scheduled updates will resume shortly. Until then, check out the beautiful new This is a Magazine Issue 9: The Revolver Issue. Oh so worthy.