#black bone

Introduction: Craig Harris is not just a jazz trombonist—he is a visionary who has used music as a medium for social change, cultural commentary, and boundary-breaking innovation. Since the late 1970s, Harris has been a vital force in the avant-garde and free jazz scenes, working alongside some of the most prominent and creative figures in music. From his early days with the legendary Sun Ra…

Helena Sykes, lead scientist at the Metro research facility in Southern Moon, has a peculiar condition. And you wouldn’t know by quick glance. Hidden under the folds of her lab coat sleeves are a series of black dots embedded within her skin. And every month, they grow into four inch quills. A Golden Report associate met with Sykes to learn more.

GE001 - Tell us, Helena. What exactly is your condition?

SYKES - They call it black bone, mostly for the quill’s bone white shaft and ash black tip. Starts with some speckling underneath the epidermal layer. Usually just my arms, but sometimes I catch one or two on the tops of my feet. From there, the spikes form about a week after. And I have to pluck them out with a tweezer.

GE001 - And that must hurt.

SYKES - Awfully. Not to mention how long it takes to clean up the blood. And then wrap a bandage around all those tiny holes.

GE001 - How fascinating. When were you diagnosed? Or rather, when did this begin for you?

SYKES - The kind of things we deal with - well, I could’ve caught some unholy, allergic reaction to any of them. Surprisingly, it wasn’t related to my physical work at all. I think it was around three years ago, a colleague of mine brought in a bowl of candy to - boost morale? A brand I’d never heard of before, started with a J or something. Well, it was going untouched for a long time and I felt bad, so I ate a sucker, banana raspberry flavored. And I tell you, the effects with immediate.

GE001 - Describe them.

SYKES - Full body chills. Headache. Nausea. Itching. And of course, the black specks. I remember checking myself into the local clinic down the street. Just couldn’t focus on my work. They told me to take a liquidine shot and go home. Felt numb for three days. But then the black specks grew and so obviously I went back. Had to be restrained to the table while they painstakingly removed each quill from my body. Learned that day I was allergic to blue deer blood, which I guess is an active ingredient in whatever candy I ate.

GE001 - And to think the Cave is still operational…hmm - anyways, how does this affect your day to day life?

SYKES - Well, I don’t eat candy anymore. Full stop. Don’t trust the chemicals they put in there, even those that HAVE an ingredients list. And my colleague doesn’t work at the lab anymore. Don’t ask me where he went. Secondly, this happens to me on a monthly basis, so I always have to make sure I’ve got my bandages, my gauze, and my tweezers on hand. I’m more or less used to the pain, but I also keep my syringe, just for the worse days. Can’t wear my lab coat while I quill - or any long sleeve for that matter.

GE001 - What do they feel like?

SYKES - Every movement, like I’m being stabbed by several needles all at one. So I can’t really work while I quill either. Certainly slows down the research, but we make do.

GE001 - And what are you researching?

SYKES - That’s classified.

GE001 - What about the garbled screaming we heard from the top of your lab’s satellite tower?

SYKES - It’s too hot in the summer time.

GE001 - Excuse me?

SYKES - Wait…uh, no. Do you have another question?

GE001 - Sure. Is there a cure?

SYKES - Nothing but daily management. Hold your stitches together.

GE001 - And how have you been changed?

SYKES - I am a wandering eye tracking the path of lightning.

GE001 - Go on.

SYKES - I am…aware of myself internally. The static grows thick like an afghan blanket…

GE001 - Last question, Helena. Who are you following?

SYKES - The void does not take requests...crossed out, blind...

HOUSE OF BROKEN PROMISES To Issue ‘Twisted’ EP Next Month; EU. Touring Trek With BLACK BONE Set

(By Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker, Lead Journalist/Writer, RiffRelevant.com) One of the truest desert rock acts going, Indio, California’s House Of Broken Promises, will release a new EP next month. “Twisted” will arrive on October 6th and will consist of 2 unreleased songs, 2 covers (one Black Sabbath and one Billy Squier), plus a bunch of outtakes and live songs for a running time of about 30 minutes of…