Gang In Peru Killing People For Their Fat

LIMA, Peru — A gang in the remote Peruvian jungle has been killing people for their fat, police charged Thursday, draining it from their corpses and offering it on the black market for use in cosmetics. Medical experts expressed skepticism that a major market for fat might exist.

Three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat, said Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police. He said the suspects, two of whom were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat, told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon ($15,000 a liter).

Mejia said the suspects told police the fat was sold to intermediaries in Lima, the Peruvian capital. While police suspect the fat was sold to cosmetic companies in Europe, he could not confirm any sales.

Medical experts expressed doubt about an international black market for human fat, though it does have cosmetic applications. Yale University dermatology professor Dr. Lisa Donofrio speculated that a small market may exist for "human fat extracts" to keep skin supple, though scientifically such treatments are "pure baloney."

At a news conference, police showed reporters two bottles of fat recovered from the suspects and a photo of the rotting head of a 27-year-old male victim. Suspect Elmer Segundo Castillejos, 29, led police to the head, recovered in a coca-growing valley last month, Mejia said.

Mejia said Castillejos confessed that the gang would cut off its victims' heads, arms and legs, remove the organs, then suspend the torsos from hooks above candles that warmed the flesh as the fat dripped into tubs below.

Six members of the gang remain at large, Mejia said, adding that in addition to the five killings the suspects confessed to, the gang may be involved in dozens more. Castillejos told police that the band's fugitive leader, 56-year-old Hilario Cudena, has been killing to extract fat from victims for more than three decades.

At least 60 people are listed as missing in Huanuco province, where the gang allegedly operated, this year alone, though the province is also home to drug-trafficking leftist rebels.

Mejia said police received a tip four months ago that human fat from the jungle was being sold in Lima. In August, he said, police infiltrated the band and later obtained some of the amber fluid, which a police lab confirmed as human fat.

On Nov. 3, police arrested Serapio Marcos Veramendi and Enedina Estela in a Lima bus station with a quart (a liter) of human fat in a soda bottle. Their testimony led to the arrest of Castillejos three days later at the same bus station.

The three are charged with homicide, criminal conspiracy, illegal firearms possession and drug trafficking, according to a statement from Lima Superior Court. Police said they were searching for the alleged buyer.

Police named the band the "Pishtacos" after a Peruvian myth dating to pre-Columbian times of men who killed to extract human fat, quartering their victims with machetes.

Mejia said Castillejos claimed his was not the only gang engaged in such killings.

Medical authorities reached by The Associated Press said human fat is used in anti-wrinkle treatments – but is always extracted from the patient being treated, usually from the stomach or buttocks.

"There would be a risk of immunological reaction that could lead to life-threatening consequences" if fat from someone else were used, said Dr. Neil Sadick, a professor of dermatology at Cornell Weill Medical College in New York.

Dr. Adam Katz, a professor of plastic surgery at the University of Virginia medical school, was incredulous when told about the Peruvian ring.

"I can't see why there would be a black market for fat," he said. "It doesn't make any sense at all because in most countries we can get fat so readily and in such amounts from people who are willing and ready to donate that I don't see why there would ever be a black market for fat, of all tissues."

- source

Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 2 Promo Video

Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 2 promo video featuring "Infected" by Unum Machina (myspace.com/unummachina)

Volume Two will be available to download free on October 20th, 2009 with music by 40oz. Fist, A Break In The Storm, Unum Machina, Lucidity, Path, Seven Signs, Spectors Of Sin, Headwork, Skylines, Vintergrun, Fading Faith, Dirtknap and Meth Tooth.

www.wisconsinsickness.com

Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 1 Unleashed

The first volume of Wisconsin Sickness is here, ready to infect the world with our own special brand of Wisconsin psychosis. This compilation of underground Wisconsin bands features music from:

Put Her In The Trunk
The Killer Dolphin With Rabies
Meth Tooth
[the] Commuter Exit
Fall Out Fracture
Diemertus
Time To Kill
Burial Ritual
Failed The Fire Drill
A Pale Ghost
Dear Astronaut
Festerfuck
Corpse Donor

Help spread the infection. Download the sickness right here.

Also, hit up the Wisconsin Sickness myspace page for shitloads of crazy Wisconsin bands, and watch videos here.

Watch for more promo stuff to be available soon, as well as the website...hopefully.

In Vino Veritas

In Vino Veritas

Anything to do with wine always comes with a pretentious connotation. People pay hundred or thousands of dollars to let bottles collect dust. Counterfeits of vintage wines have sold for hundreds of thousands.

At tastings they examine the color, swirl it around in the glass, smell it, sip it, savor it. This is properly known as Wine Degustation. That doesn't make it sound much better.

Obviously, making wine is a delicate artform, but just like other works of art, most of the interest in it comes from the hefty price tag that makes it pretty much exclusive to the wealthy and prestigious. I think the Mona Lisa is fucking hideous, but still it sits untouched in a case full of electronics so sensitive it can detect swelling of the wood the ugly bitch is painted on at one eigth the width of a human hair.

So you can't enjoy wine without feeling a little self-loathing at the snobbishness of it all.

UNLESS...you follow these simple steps:

Get a cheap wine. It will make everything just as blurry and tingly as the expensive shit. I prefer wines from the psychoses-ladden soils of Wisconsin where I come from. Door county wine is good, and generally under twelve bucks. And the cork won't crumble and fall in. For something a little different try the cranberry. It's good shit.

Now all you have to do is chug it from the bottle. The moment you put it in a glass you're a pretentious little bitch. I am a strong believer in drinking booze right out of the bottle. Whiskeys, bottom-shelf vodkas, blackberry brandies...mixing them or transplanting them is just plain blasphemy.

Plus, the drunker you get the more challenging it is to not break the bottle. Keeps it interesting. Especially if the bottle does get broken and there are shards of glass in a room full of other drunk people. And the contents of the bottle have spilled out and you run around pissed off accusing every innocent bystander of drinking it.

Anyway, the bottle is equally as important and artistic as the wine, so why seperate them? Who gives a fuck if the wine is light, medium, or full-bodied? If that is what you're drinking it for then you need a new hobby.

Wine, just like every other liquor, was intended for running away from problems and getting laid. It is instrumental in making porn, accidental suicide, and anal sex. If you are using it for any other reason, you may have a problem. Don't worry, there is help out there. You are not alone.

Boy Hit By Meteorite

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

Read the article here.

Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 1 Release Date

Between the death of my computer, promotion of the new A Pale Ghost album, and setting up the new Mental Shed Records site, I have had very little time.

Due to set backs and the loss of the Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 1 website and promotional materials on my dead computer, the release was delayed far more than I wanted it to.

So, for better or worse, I'm just going to release it without the website.

The Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 1 compilation will be unleashed June 16th, 2009 on Mental Shed Records, featuring:

Put Her In The Trunk
The Killer Dolphin With Rabies
Meth Tooth
[the] Commuter Exit
Fall Out Fracture
Diemertus
Time To Kill
Burial Ritual
Failed The Fire Drill
A Pale Ghost
Dear Astronaut
Festerfuck
Corpse Donor



Mental Shed Records

A Pale Ghost Full-Length Album

The Slow Rise To Decline, A Pale Ghost's dark and haunting debut full-length album, is now available online as a free download.

Track List:

01. Suicide In Winter (live)
02. Your Eyes
03. Glow
04. A Chance
05. In Moving On
06. Never Seen Again
07. Go
08. What’s Forever
09. Into A Sunset
10. A Simple Soft Song
11. Washed Clean
12. Emma’s Song
13. Home Is A Feeling
14. A Chance (live)
15. Levels
16. Hurt Again
17. Western Sun
18. Day After Day

Download now or preview the album and get more info right here.

A Pale Ghost On AmieStreet.com

Check it out: A Pale Ghost

And here is They Make Great Ant Hills

A Pale Ghost Free EP Release

They Make Great Ant Hills is available for free online today. It is the experimental precursor to A Pale Ghost's debut full-length album available online next week.

Track List:

01. The Forest
02. Right Of Need
03. In Wait
04. So Low
05. Box Thief
06. Aliens In Kless’s Bedroom
07. 3rd Person
08. The Burn
09. Soulless

Download now or check out the release page with a preview of They Make Great Ant Hills right here.

The Slow Rise To Decline Release Date

Today a suspicious package arrived from a return address in Oregon. It contained the sad and sadistic eighteen track monster we have been waiting for since last November:

A Pale Ghost's debut full-length album The Slow Rise To Decline.

The release is set for May 12th.

It will be available as a free digital download.

Mark your calendars - the end is near.

A Pale Ghost links: Myspace - Youtube - Official Site

A Pale Ghost Live At Mulligan's Open Mic

A Pale Ghost performing "Away From My Heart (Emma's Song)" live from Mulligan's Open Mic:



More:

www.apaleghost.com

myspace.com/apaleghost

youtube.com/risetodecline

Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 1 Coming Soon

The infection is spreading...



13 of Wisconsin's sickest bands all in one free download:

Put Her In The Trunk
The Killer Dolphin With Rabies
Meth Tooth
[the] Commuter Exit
Fall Out Fracture
Diemertus
Time To Kill
Burial Ritual
Failed The Fire Drill
A Pale Ghost
Dear Astronaut
Festerfuck
Corpse Donor

This is the real Wisconsin death trip.

More places to find the sickness:

- wisconsinsickness.com

- youtube.com/sickwisconsin

- myspace.com/sickwisconsin

- twitter.com/SickWisconsin

The exact release date of the Wisconsin Sickness Vol. 1 comp has yet to be set, but you can hit Mental Shed Records and join the mailing list to be notified, or follow any of the above to stay up to date.

Mental Shed Records

Failed The Fire Drill - Short Of A Story Free Download

Failed The Fire Drill's "Short Of A Story" EP is now available to download for free from Mental Shed Records.



Tracklist:

01. The Last Minute
02. Fade
03. On A Wind's Whisper
04. Gone South
05. In Achille's Glory

Download now - CLICK HERE.

FAILED THE FIRE DRILL
myspace.com/howtofailthefiredrill

MENTAL SHED RECORDS
www.thementalshed.com

Wisconsin Sickness

The infection is spreading.

Watch for it here: www.wisconsinsickness.com

Sick Wisconsin Compilation Album

Mental Shed Records (www.thementalshed.com) is putting together the first volume of sick Wisconsin music as a free, downloadable album.

IMPORTANT

Most comp discs cost money to be included. This is a digital comp, and it is free to be included, and free to download. When it is released, participating bands could post a blog, bulletin, or link/banner for it, but no money is involved.

This is about the art.

WHAT YOUR BAND NEEDS

- Band name
- Name of members and instruments they play
- Web links (myspace, official website, etc.)
- Maybe a short bio
- Any other relevant info the band would like included
- 1 or 2 mp3s of listenable recording quality

Each band's info will be included in the download, embedded in the mp3 tags, and on the release page where the album will be downloaded from.

Any bands interested in having an mp3 included in this release should send me a message on myspace for questions or submission info.

Keep it sick,

Chuk
Mental Shed Records

How To Fail The Fire Drill

Failed The Fire Drill's new EP "Short Of A Story" is up - check it out here:


myspace.com/howtofailthefiredrill

Tracklist:

1. The Last Minute
2. Fade
3. On A Wind's Whisper
4. Replay
5. Gone South
6. In Achille's Glory

Short Of A Story will be available to download for free once the new Mental Shed Records site is finished.

Mental Shed Records
www.thementalshed.com

Anxiety EP

Fall Out Fracture's Anxiety EP is once again available to download free from www.falloutfracture.com

Fall Out Fracture is currently writing and recording a full-length release. There are a few previews of this album on the myspace page.

Also, check out the new 2009 profile design and bio here: myspace.com/fracture

Failed The Fire Drill In The Studio

Failed The Fire Drill recorded a six-song EP of live takes today in a cold, dingy basement beneath the noxious glow of dangling christmas lights. It was brilliantly engineered by Jesse Jensema and completed in about three hours.

Watch for the EP to go online soon here: myspace.com/howtofailthefiredrill and then eventually on the Mental Shed Records website for download when it is finished.

www.thementalshed.com

Failed The Fire Drill

Failed The Fire Drill played their first show last month. Here is a video from that night:

Failed The Fire Drill - On A Wind's Whisper
Live December 19th, 2008


Myspace: myspace.com/howtofailthefiredrill