Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Thanksgiving Eve image dump
Random crap I've not had time/impetus to use, handily dumped in one spot, like the White House will do on a Saturday night:
Play along at home:
While we paint the new house this weekend, here are the mix cd's I burnt for starters:House 1
PSB - "Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing"
Best Coast - "When I'm With You"
Bowie - "The Prettiest Star" (1969 version with Bolan, which I had no idea existed til last week!)
Beta Band - "Squares"
Cardigans - "For What It's Worth"
The Cribs - "Cheat on Me"
Brendan Benson - "Garbage Day"
Little Joy - "No One's Better Sake"
Men - "Big F-cker"
The Tears - "Refugees"
The Virgins - "She's Expensive"
The Who - "Christmas"
Jellyfish - "Baby's Coming Back"
Scissor Sisters - "Might Tell You Tonight"
Blur - "Sing"
Belle and Sebastian - "Funny Little Frog"
Ambulance Ltd. - "Anecdote"
Morrissey - "Yes, I Am Blind"
Matthew Sweet - "Sick of Myself"
Jesus and Mary Chain - "Taste of Cindy"
New Order - "True Faith"
House 2
Ash - "Girl from Mars"
Bowie - "All the Young Dudes"
Diamond Rings - "All Yr Songs"
Doves - "Black and White Songs"
Fiona Apple - "Criminal"
Veruca Salt - "Seether"
Beatles - "I'm Only Sleeping"
The Big Pink - "Dominoes"
GBV - "Color of My Blade"
Oasis - "Whatever"
["wildcattin'" bugout from Tenenbaums]
Nirvana - "Laundry Room"
Pet Shop Boys - "Flamboyant"
Pixies - "Debaser"
Prince and the Revolution - "Beautiful Ones"
Pulp - "This is Hardcore"
Tom Tom Club - "Genius of Love"
U2 - "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)"
Weezer - "Getchoo"
White Stripes - "My Doorbell"
XTC - "Earn Enough for Us"
So, yeah, make these for yourself and it will be like The Matrix (I suppose, I never saw it).
Found!
I pulled up to church and there it was, visible through the window of room 164.
I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and concern during my time of need. You're why we continue to do this.
Thank you.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Pray
I can't find my green corduroy jean jacket ANYWHERE, which is akin to losing a limb. I've had it for five years and it's GONE. I'm going by to see if I left in a church last Thursday, checking various lost and founds...but this is bad, y'all.
Will know later tonight.
This is like the weekend of the Cuban missile crisis, only IMPORTANT. Innit?
Keys
I have an amount of keys just short of that carried by an apartment building supervisor in Racine, Wisconsin, say. Was just looking and I seriously have no idea what some of them are. Apartment, new house, Volvo, truck, one has to be my parents', one to the bookcase at the club and one to my mother-in-law's. The rest...no clue.
Can I throw them away safely? I would guess so, if I haven't used them in years.
"I just really like having the one key. It's clean, you know?"
"With rocks and twigs for a toitie..." - Pilgrim's Progress
So, Griz is in for nearly a week, is eating, exploring and generally trying to burrow her way to freedom/China. She was not fond of cat litter, so New Dad dutifully went to her normal hideout and collected twigs/leaves/jetsam for her! And it works!
She seems to be living in some sort of tent, from the picture. Very The Road, Griz. Oscar bait!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Moratorium on "The Piano [anything]"
In the Times book review yesterday there was a review of a book called The Piano Teacher by someone called Janice YY Lee (she needs to have a band with ZZ Packer and CCH Pounder).
Enough!
There's The Piano, The Pianist, and even a movie already called The Piano Teacher from Europe. France? Anyway, enough with this title already.
Enough!
There's The Piano, The Pianist, and even a movie already called The Piano Teacher from Europe. France? Anyway, enough with this title already.
January Jones
Also, there was a waitress at the venue who was the Shitty January Jones.
Which reminds me to say (I've been forgetting this for a week, with all the other crapola happening), that January Jones likes the Grateful Dead, so, like, fuck her.
Look well to this day, part 5
Get to venue, check out the setlist, look over lyric sheets and sort them out to the best of my ability. Blasted through 20 songs or so having not practiced or even thought about it. It ripped, howevs. The Drunken Faithful seemed to be happy! Free pizza, which was pleasant, and thus I did not die.
Still, all in all, a day to be reckoned with!
Look well to this day, part 4
We had committed to have dinner post-closing with the Bride's mother. The Bride said "Ugh - Mom would probably like something like McCormick and Schmick's." So we called her and agreed to meet.
We-he-hell, traffic was backed up all the way on to the highway at the necessary exit. This because the Greene (our local made-to-look-like-an-old-downtown-lifestyle-mall/shithole) was having its Holiday Festival thingy, complete with terrified reindeer in a cage, dilhorn safety officers show-offedly tampering with traffic flow and all the cornpone dipshits one could ever hope for, marching dutifully through the grounds, smiling warmly, showing little Kaylie and Addison the lights. IT ISN'T EVEN THANKSGIVING. I just know someone was saying to their kids "This is what Christmas used to be like!" as they perused the crappy, crappy stores (of which there is not one decent one, barring Sephora and Banana Republic [if you count that, which I don't, really]). Yep, shit was always this tacky, Beavercreek Glenn Beck or whoever the fuck you were.
We called Mom-in-Law and told to avoid this emetic morass. Meet us at DiSalvo's, we said. It took us 25 minutes to even get out of this mall/thing! Russian missiles were sadly not forthcoming. Frig!
So. On to Eye-talian [as was no doubt being said by our friends back in Santa's bedpan], where there was an hour wait. The girls stayed, and I, committed to this cover band shenanigans, took my leave. I still have not eaten, mind!
Look well to this day, part 3
Now, prior to closing, Gabe called saying their singer at this GBV tribute show was both ill and had a faulty car in Athens. Which I heard as "he sensibly enough doesn't want to do it."
"Will you do it?"
Um, okay. I don't know the set list and while I know lots of useless Pollard ephemera, I don't really know the words by heart to much of any of it, particularly the beer-in-the-air hits. But, um, okay.
Look well to this day, part 2
We closed on our house at 4pm! Signed a bunch of crap. "The closing; and so I have at last bought a house." - Journals of John Cheever, pg 145, etc etc.
When we went and looked through the empty rooms with the late-afternoon sun streaming in, it felt like nothing so much as etc, etc...
Anyway, this was excellent. Bought all sorts of paint and crap yesterday as well as a mattress that slays. So, yes.
Also, my 82 year old mom says "Oh...I worry about the neighborhood." Which is typically awesome of her. Enjoy that fright, Mom! When I bring the Oldsters over to check it out, I'm going to pay neighborhood kids to throw stones at her!
Look well to this day, part 1
So, yes, let's cover this last Friday, shall we?
One - through a series of misunderstandings I ended up having no lunch.
A thought or three on Van Morrison
I should check out Astral Weeks for real some time, because some people I respect claim it's th' whip. And Lester Bangs wrote so movingly of it. But then, if I ever hear "Brown Eyed Girl" again, I will kill you. So there are the two opposite sides of my psyche re: the Dublin Fireplug. If he's from Dublin.
I do know he gave me the name for my sports bar when I open one:
T.B. Sheets
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Stupid Three Question Interview: Todd Bray
In the spirit of the old K-Composite zine, I'm going to start interviewing people I know. First off: my old buddy Todd "God" Bray, erstwhile D_____ punk icon of the late 80's and now fully-grown adult captain o' industry. Criteria for/workings of this New Thing are: I ask a person if they are there ("You there?"), then ambush them with the first three questions I think of. Let's go!
1. Do you and your dad ever bring up the time he broke a guitar over your head?
No, but we were recently sitting around drinking some Little Kings and as the Who came on the radio there was an uncomfortable "Pete Townsendish" gaze at each other.
2. What was the best movie of the 00's?
This one sort of stumped me, as I have spent the last four years watching
a.) The Wiggles
b.) Curious George
and c.) Thomas the Train [sic]
Do porn movies count? Seriously, I'm a fan of Seabiscuit. Why? I have no idea other than the little guy rules. He's the animal version of Rudy.
3. When he finds it in the stacks, how will you explain the cover of the Dwarves' Blood, Guts and P-ssy to your five year old son Cole?
Good question, but honestly...this is the one I worry about:
Thanks for being our inaugural interviewee, TB! May your fairways be wide and sandtraps be few/small!
[Todd photo courtesy of 1989 or an old issue of Thrasher or something]
GRIZ INDOORS!
Yes, the new parents managed to close the kitchen door and ensnare their wily furry daughter! This is also called "trapping."
So, yes, Griselda spent the night indoors and did not manage yet to extricate herself.
There are reports of "clawed grout" and "a [missing] chunk of closet door." But has the power grid gone down in Chicago? No? Well, then we're all going to be just fine.
A word to la Griz on her new life:
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is
proff against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a [cat] in
everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." -
Herbert Spencer
Subject to change
It has stuck in my craw that my friend Gabe and I were somewhere and someone asked us "What's your hands-down favorite song of all time?" and Gabe instantly spouted "'And Your Bird Can Sing'!" without even having to think.
I dithered and stammered and blushed (?), of course. But, okay, here: right now, this minute, I will say "True Faith."
That's my answer.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The sweet woe of Season Three
We soldier on watching Six Feet Under in its entirety. Even though Nate 'n' Brenda are the two most scream-at-the-screen annoying characters in the history of popular entertainment.
Plus, when Peter Krause's name pops up with the passing bird at the start of the credits, I say "Krause!" every time, thus leading the Bride to punch me. Being punched at my advanced age could lead to odd clotting or hemorraging, and I could die, which would like an episode of Six Feet Under! Wheels within wheels.
Neil and Chris-mas
I have all these tracks, barring the Coldplay cover. Which I had thought was joined up with "Se A Vida E" (not "Domino Dancing," as it is) to make "Viva la Vida Se A Vida E" which would have been hot. REGARDless, this will make for a nice thing to put on repeat whilst washing a holiday dish or three:
PLUS: I have still not heard a Lady Gaga song! Epic win!!
So, so close
If you were Griz, would you want to come in and be nice and warm and have limitless treats and affection - or would you rather sit outside on a flower pot?
Still, would-be dad sez:
I want her in by T-Day, or possibly, tonight. REALLY close.
Sorry, kids
And if the Bride and I happen to reproduce and the li'l uns end up playing a sport (heaven forfend), I pray to all that's holy that the kids will have the innate sense to understand not to cry or whine when I steadfastly refuse to put any of those retardo stickers with a ball and the kid's name and number on them on any vehicles. Like IMOGEN - 23 and a soccer ball. In fact, I hope the kids will have the sense to snort derisively at their peers whose parents do this. I suppose this will all be up to good parenting.
First month - FREE MELTED BUTTER!
Here's another scourge of modern life - why would an apartment complex management team think that one would want to move in because someone is standing out front on a street corner holdign a sign, dressed as a crustacean (or Mickey Mouse, Shrek's wife, etc/whomever)?
And who are these people, the ones suited up for this?
Someone should make a MOVIE!
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Berlin Wall Story
In my mind, I tend to put the fall of the Berlin Wall a couple of weeks earlier...I had a girlfriend at school who was from from Cleveland and on a three-day weekend when I was home, she happened past to have dinner with me and my parents. Like any good Amnesty International (remember them?) member, this sweet girl professed her vegetarianism, along with an admiration for Rattle and Hum. This did not stop my mother from serving a medium rare leg of lamb. No, it did not stop her at all. J_____ queasily but gamely had a few bites (does this make her a vegetarian, technically?). Somehow, I always associate these events with wall coming down, though, logically I know that the Night of the Rare Lamb had to be in October.
We broke up not long after this, though she was the frequent recipient of Drunk Dials ca. summer 1994, a particularly terrible time for me, in a Lester Bangs sense. Bless you, J_____, if you are out there, in some cyber-world of your own making!
So that is the Berlin Wall Story!
A favor you can do yourself:
It may take a couple of days, but go on YOUR favorite file-swiping site and get the track "Rat Catching" by Crispin Glover. Oh, the bizarrerie!
They just don't make them like that anymore, etc.
Finally!
I had a cassingle of "Kite/These Words" by Nick Heyward. 1993, right? It was FREE with purchase at Virgin Records in Chicago. Lincoln Park? Forget where. ANYway, I have owned the parent album any number of times in various formats (well, twice) and I have to admit I never listened the whole thing until this week. It's VERY good!
Nearly FIFTY years ago
I love the Beatles. Who doesn't (actually, people who dislike the Beatles are unfailingly assholes, in my experience. "Tom Waits, maaaan..."...that sort)? In fact, I am probably downloading a Beatles album right now.
BUT - and this is hard - in 2014 it will FIFTY years since the adorb Moptops arrived on these sordid shores. Fifty. That's half a century. BTW.
Maybe it's time to give the Beatles a rest.
Maybe this blog can act as an indemnifying (that's not the word I want, I want something like "bolstering" but it's 6:29 am est and I have a headache) influence and start a societal tsunami to have some other body of work be canonized for a while. Maybe Bowie records? Yes, Bowie records from Hunky Dory to Scary Monsters.
Help start this profound societal shift TO-DAY!
"Mysteries" [spoilers if you intend to read the book discussed, which, believe me, you don't]
Have been meaning to bitch - even though I like Simenon books, they're not mysteries in the whodunit sense. Like that Maigret and the Wine Merchant I mentioned. Someone killed the wine merchant, yes. Could it have been one of his hundreds of female conquests? His wife? A cuckold? Wait - maybe it's that lone shabby figure in a raincoat who keeps sort of following Maigret. The guy might as well just turn up at Maigret's apartment! Which he does. So the detective (charmingly fighting a head cold the whole time) doesn't really DO anything. "You killed him? Well, thanks for coming over and saving me a trip in this rain!"
These sort of books are a poppy seed under my partial. Not that everything has to hang on some found clue exactly, a la Agatha Christie, but even Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett...yes, yes, your writing is stylish, I get it.
I suppose the smart thing to do would be to stay away from these.
Is Facebook still around?
Do people still have Facebook? I remember when Myspace was the rage. I assume Facebook is passe now?
And what about TV?
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