Nate "Igor" Smith

Your home away from home: Lake Hepatitis.

Happy Juggalo Day! That's at least what Insane Clown Posse and Psychopathic Records are calling today, February 17, 2012. Why? "Because we say it is!"

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photo by Allison Michael Orenstein; inset by Aliya Naumoff

"Tammy Rae Carland and Sleater-Kinney! Vivienne Dick and Insane Clown Posse!"

It's not the first place we'd expect to find Kathleen Hanna's name, but there it is, subtly tacked onto the credits for Neal Medlyn's Wicked Clown Love, a 2012 experimental work "built around the music and culture of hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse, their devoted fan base the Juggalos, and other forms of male bonding and ritual." Showing at the Kitchen next weekend, Wicked Clown Love's hammy event description on the venue Web site elaborates:

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Thing about Insane Clown Posse? Their grind is unstoppable. They've outlasted more novelty cycles than Spencer Gifts, completely independently, and with this sheer stubborn unwillingness to quit, they keep forging on, as cartoonishly corny and fastidiously "wig-splitting" as ever. So even when it seems like they've exhausted all the possible press they could, milked the weirdest collaborations for all they're worth, all the sudden, they reappear with another goofy greenscreen infomercial, advertising something new and "fresh" for the Juggalos. The newest and freshest development: a New Year's Eve Juggalo gala (?) in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Even more ridiculous? There's a party bus heading up there from New York earlier in the day, leaving from the Hammerstein Ballroom, and returning in the next morning's wee hours. Tickets are, ahem, $69.

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Juggalo well-wishes for Scott Olsen

It's been less than a week that the world has known Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old US Marine and Iraq veteran critically injured during last Tuesday night's Occupy Oakland debacle. A peaceful protestor hit in the head by police-fired teargas canister, the young Midwesterner has quickly become a rallying point for the global Occupy movement--even cited as the movement's possible Kent State moment. Though Olsen isn't currently able to speak, he's expected to make a full recovery and did offer a thumbs-up to all the well-wishes he's received. Like support from polarizing filmmaker Michael Moore, former Black Panther Angela Davis, and ScottOlsen.org sign-holders. But another group of Scott Olsen supporters who hasn't gotten as much notice? Juggalos.

Olsen has two Insane Clown Posse tattoos on his upper arms, his roommate Keith Shannon told the Associated Press. The AP, in turn, used the detail to illustrate how Olsen wasn't politically minded before his Iraq tours:

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photo by Nate "Igor" Smith

Twiztid's Madrox and Monoxide: "We're like the Padawans to their Jedis."

Twiztid, the Michigan-based horrorcore duo, occupy a peculiar spot in the annals of recorded music. As Insane Clown Posse's younger protégés, they have a hugely loyal fanbase, they've been signed to the same label for 12 years, they still earn revenue from actual records, but outside of Hot Topics and Juggalos, their existence has been so widely ignored, the duo frequently joke about being Psychopathic Records' "red-headed stepchild." That was, until Jamie "Madrox" Spaniolo and Paul "Monoxide" Methric were arrested on tour this past weekend, charged with marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession in Florida, along with fellow Psychopathic rapper Blaze Ya Dead Homie. All the sudden, they were on the frontpage of TMZ.

Tonight, Twiztid opens for Insane Clown Posse at the Hammerstein Ballroom. We spoke with Jamie and Paul before their arrest, about what it's been like to have the "Most Hated Band in the World" as a mentor.

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We genuinely recommend seeing Insane Clown Posse live, at least once before you die, unless you hate fun--they're terrifically entertaining, throwing Faygo, dancing with back-up clowns, bouncing around like horrorcore carnies. Tonight they're headlining the Hammerstein, a huge upgrade considering that New York bookers denied them for years; but when they headlined the Gramercy earlier this year, the sold-out show was bonkers. One of the last times ICP headlined there in 2000, speedpunk hillbillies Nashville Pussy opened and the redneck-hating Juggalo crowd sat on the floor, backs to stage, middle fingers extended. Tonight, recently arrested Psychopathic tourmates Twiztid and Blaze Ya Dead Homie will open, so there will be nothing but clown love, which is a sight to behold all on its own. Tickets to tonight's show are now only $20, $14 for ticket + $6 service fee, and available here. You really should go--unless, of course, you're worried you might actually like it?

American Juggalo: The scene with the smoking Juggalette

Commercial director Sean Dunne brought a six-man camera crew to this year's Gathering of the Juggalos, Insane Clown Posse's annual psycho-porn amusement park, and returned with footage of predictably lowbrow hedonism: Juggalos drinking, inhaling, whoop-whooping, hallucinogenic tripping, shooting fireworks, sucking on nitrous balloons; a green-haired Juggalette too messed up on Ecstasy and vodka to get out of a car; a pregnant Juggalette smoking. Naturally, the 23-minute web doc went viral--the biggest surprise about American Juggalo was that it took someone this long to make it.

Dunne admits that he was hesitant to be so late. "When I thought of this idea it was before the Gathering last year," the Greenpoint resident insists. "The shit hit the fan last year with Tila Tequila. And it made me be like, 'God, do I want to be this guy who goes in there and does this still?'" Since he decided to be that guy, we spoke with him about getting pulled over the cops outside the Gathering, why there may be an Illinois arrest warrant out there bearing his name, and why people should give Juggalos a break.

Tomorrow night, Insane Clown Posse headlines Hammerstein Ballroom. Tickets are still available here.

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Ass Dan, again

If you thought (or hoped, depending) that public fascination with Insane Clown Posse had run its course, you would be gravely mistaken. Nevermind that strangely coincidental timing of Lou Reed/Metallica Lulu monstrosity somehow made Jack White's collaboration with Insane Clown Posse far more palatable--at least the latter was meant to be funny--Saturday Night Live once again spoofed ICP's infamous infomercials this past weekend. This time, writers Michael O'Brien and Colin Jost invented the Columbus Day ASSBLAST, another Gathering of the Juggalos-like festival with "preformances" (Psychopathic's never been known for its excellent spelling) from fittingly named acts like Sploik, Baby Nutsack, MC Hammertoe. Planned activities include: Play Farmville with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed! "Show your little-ass boobs to an old guy"! And "get high and cry"!

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Don't be alarmed if you wear an ICP shirt to Union Pool and I punch you in the face.

Seems like a long time since a certain widely maligned, fundamentally ludicrous horrorcore duo and their earnestly intentioned family of facepainted, hatchet-swinging outcast fans were actually reviled. Now, they're kneejerk traffic bait, like cats or guidos or weird subway behavior. So after the viral-video genuises sold out the 600-capacity Gramercy Theater last April, Insane Clown Posse have been booked to headline the 3000-capacity Hammerstein Ballroom on their fall American Psycho tour this coming October. "Hell yeah," said Violent J yesterday about the size upgrade. "It's gonna be so dope."

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"We went to [Jack White's] mansion--his fresh, huge, gated mansion--I'm talking for real, man, a real-deal mansion, you know? An old colonial huge house. The whole thing, all fresh, was white and red. White house with a big, red chimney!"

Going to find as many excuses to use this picture as possible.

Yesterday, the Internet blew up when Third Man Records announced a Jack White collaboration with Insane Clown Posse on a Mozart song. "We knew it was a pairing of one of the most respected, loved, you know, hippest artists in the world, meets one of the most hated bands in the world," says Violent J today, the first time we've talked since we ran into him in the airport. "And I think that's what he set out to do. He knew what he was going for." We'll let him tell you the rest.

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