I actually liked fast food!

a lot of 'em, but that one place, specifically.

like, okay, in time immemorial, back at the turn of the century, the deal with fast food was that sure this is terrible for you or whatever (like oxygen won't kill you given long enough) but it tasted pretty good--shut up, it did, no restuarant that made bad food over its entire history would have billions and billions served--and you can buy like 3 protein sandwiches and a fried potato with an hour of paid labor so fuck it, super-size me baby!

seemed a fair deal at the time.

didn't know the deal was "hey so also we're gonna feed this genocidal military for free, we can afford it since we made prices higher, portions smaller, and quality worse" until a few years ago, haven't partaken since.

...but I'd be lying if I said I don't keep Thousand Island dressing in the house to help fight the cravings. also the homophobic chicken place just soaks theirs in pickle juice beforehand, these are regular supermarket ingredients people.

wait, what did I open this email draft to type about again?

oh yeah, merch.

fuck capitalism as ever and always but if you're gonna participate in a system of commerce at all--a separate concept, people forget that--I feel like you gotta at least believe in your merch.

we've all seen the video of the CEO visibly recoiling from his own burger-type feed sandwich this week, and if ya haven't just check out that header image.

is that the face of a person enjoying his meal-style certified edible product?

as CEO--ugh, can't even do it ironically--as ringleader of the pleasant uprising, I feel extremely responsible for the quality of our products, both the music and the expanding line of fine consumer goods available at our merch table during demonstrations. [dry heave]

...listen, we pull down about $50 USD a week from our Friday gig and and the landlord doesn't accept swagger, vibes, and service to the revolution as payment at this time so...like...okay?

to our credit we do make pretty much everything with our own hands--we tie all the dye, we wrap the wire and friendship the bracelets, we smile every time we paint the logo on something...and besides, this way people look way cooler and nobody goes paying a grocery cart trying to achieve that effect.

we actually like the stuff we sell a lot, feel like that's the bare minimum.

hell if I could I would give most of the stuff I make to anyone appreciative enough (don't bring up the stickers around ZiZi) but you see if I don't move enough units eventually people with guns will appear at my home and force me onto the streets to die, there will even be paperwork saying it's fine. 

people always make the broke musician jokes--I know I have--and it's because by and large they are true, the percentage of bards, troubadours, and assorted performers that have even made enough money to eat with their talents is definitely less than a coin flip.

contrarily, the art they create is interwoven with every facet of our modern lives...look around your world and think about all the things that weren't aestheticized by someone along the way and your subtle disdain for them.

music specifically is ubiquitous, practically playing from cradle to grave around the world. people not only can't live without music, as "Danny Boy" famously demonstrates they can't even die without it...yet, still, fiddy bucks for everybody. 

funny, that.

so yeah the band tees are 420 pesos, half because, well, lol...and half because band tees have been around $20 since I was a smaller kid and I do have some respect for tradition. I even make them all unique because humans love making things harder for themselves in idiosyncratic little ways.

also thought about other stuff that we can't forge on the couch, although in this new era of uncertainty who even knows what the status of international delivery will be in 4-6 weeks but anyway we've thought about band logo lighters, that'd be pretty fn sick. have em all waving around and...

[daydreams]

started wearing an ICE whistle in my hair, might as well normalize that. maybe I'll even scratch the logo on there with a knife if ya want, very punk rock.

maybe we can obtain and redistribute a few more iridescent brass knuckles like the ones I started brandishing onstage lately...practical AND stylish, perfect for today's woman on the go check your local jurisdiction's laws on personal protection adult supervision suggested for musical use only.

probably never gonna get all that ambitious about merch--we ain't KISS--but can't lie seeing that pink power-P on stuff is always cool.

unfortunately these days, we gotta sell it to ya for the cause...this is the system we live under; its power seems inescapable.

but "so did the divine right of kings," to finish Ursula K. LeGuin's legendary bar.

...and so here's hoping for a 100 percent off sale storewide ASAP.

all power to The People.

--Flor!