skulls across america

New recording: Kill or be killed

2012-01-17T21:58:00.000-04:00

Kill or be killed by skulls across america

This is one I had written, and demo-ed, a while back, but finally recorded properly last night. I did a bit of mixing on it, but went light on the effects. After all, it was 1:30am at the time.

The Divided Self: Hell to Pay

2011-12-22T23:19:00.002-04:00

Hell to Pay is another original by Adam. It's a few years old now, but it hasn't aged a day.

Hell to Pay by skulls across america

Direct: http://soundcloud.com/skulls-across-america/hell-to-pay

The Divided Self: A Very Merry Christmas!

2011-12-22T23:16:00.000-04:00

A Very Merry Christmas is an original Christmas song, recorded over a period of months in the dungeon, piece by new piece on an old Roland 8-track digital recorder. We hope you enjoy it!

A Very Merry Christmas by skulls across america

Direct link: http://soundcloud.com/skulls-across-america/a-very-merry-christmas

Things we did not lose in the fire

2011-08-14T22:21:00.002-04:00

Things we did not lose in the fire

- Our dignity
- Our self respect
- Our '84 Dodge conversion van, aka the "Rolling Office"
- Six cases of unopened Hostess Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pies
- Two identikits
- Crate of white mice, mostly dead (unrelated to fire)
- Collection of vintage animal husbandry manuals

New song: Kill or Be Killed

2011-06-28T22:06:00.000-04:00

New song - kill or be killed. Written, minus the first scraps of lyrics, and recorded this past Friday night. I like it, but I think I'll really like it with say, female vocalists singing close harmonies and tasteful mandolin playing throughout.

Kill or be killed by skulls across america
(direct link: kill or be killed )

Lyrics
We were walking through snow
in the fading light,
when the wind awoke
to chill our bones.

We smoked what we had,
I felt no better or worse.
We sat on the curb
beside on the hearse.

refrain
Brother, come back,
brother, come back.
So much left untold -
Richard, please come back.

The preacher said his words
while you laid there so still,
and all you ever knew
was to kill or be killed.

And I'll never let your child
grow up playing war.
I'll love him like my own.
What else are brothers for?

refrain

Thank you for your purchase of the MyStar Multi-wave Device.

2011-05-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

Thank you for your purchase of the MyStar Multi-wave Device.

Dear consumer,
We sincerely thank you for your purchase. Before you continue, please take note that by opening the packaging on your new MyStar home cell tower / Wi-Fi / My-Fi / restaurant grade microwave unit, you assume all risks and indemnities herein, and acknowledge that any text on said package touting the product as “100% effective,” “Fully safe for pregnant women, infants, and livestock,” or “Energy Star rated at just cents per day” were the result of poor translation at a Malaysian printing plant.

(This page intentionally left blank)

The text originally intended for the product packaging included the following statements, which per the introductory paragraph, you have conceded to regardless of whether or not you have read these warnings or have already skipped ahead to the quick setup guide:
“At times up to 32% functional!”
“Moderately safe for pregnant women.”
“Infants within 400 feet should be wrapped in 3 layers of tinfoil.”
“Livestock that are exposed to the MyStar must be immediately incinerated, whether alive or dead.”
“Energy star banned due to electric costs upward of four thousand dollars per minute, or even more when unit is switched from stand-by to warm-up mode.”

(This page left intentionally blank.

Please consider your hopes and dreams before continuing.)

This page left mostly blank, but not left completely intentionally blank. Please place this page within a 7 foot radius of the MyStar before operating the device. After the MyStar is placed in stand-by mode, you must closely monitor the status of this page. Should this page catch fire, you must:
1. Immediately flee the MyStar device.
2. Contact your power company. If the automated menu prompts you to enter an extension, press 666. If the automated menu prompts you to say why you are calling, calmly state “MyStar device has initiated phased hyper-volt mode.”
3. If your locality is serviced by a nuclear power plant, you must call the Department of Homeland Security. When prompted to state why you are calling, calmly state “MyStar supernova.” Wait seven seconds. Then yell “Red dwarf! Red dwarf!” They will know what this means.

(This page left intentionally blank. If nothing else, think of your loved ones.

While the MyStar may be non-refundable, can you really place a price tag on the rest of your life?

And if you could, wouldn’t that price tag read so much more than $18,999?)

Please note that when wrapping children under the age of 5 in tinfoil, special care must be taken to ensure that the child’s airways are kept clear. We recommend that you only wrap the child’s trunk and legs with tinfoil, and purchase the protective titanium child’s sized helmet from the MyStar e-store for approved, fully-ventilated cranial protection. Alternatively, simply send the child to its grandparents before operating the MyStar, provided they live no closer than 3 miles from the MyStar installation site.

(This page filled with heart-warming photographs of small children holding butterflies.)

MyStar Quick Setup Guide
1. Remove all packaging.
2. Take care not to remove the inner layer of molded HDPE plastic from the MyStar; this layer is labeled “Non-removable HDPE shell.”
3. Do ensure that you have removed the outer layer of molded HDPE, as there is a layer of bubble-wrap between it and the inner molded layer of HDPE that will catch fire and emit toxic fumes if not removed. Please note that due to a typo, the outer layer is also labeled “Non-removable HDPE shell.”
4. Open the 6 power-cable hatches which circle the bottom ring of the MyStar. Extend each retractable 220-volt plug from it’s port and connect to its own isolated 220-volt outlet.
5. Once you have donned protective gear and followed all applicable warnings from page 3 of these instructions, you may place the MyStar into stand-by mode.
6. When the status indicator light at the top of the MyStar begins flashing bright red pulses exactly .6 seconds apart, you may place the MyStar into warm-up mode. Placing the MyStar into warm-up mode too early will void all warranties.
7. If the status indicator light flashes red .7 seconds apart or faster, you must not place the MyStar into warm-up mode. You must wait for the MyStar to cycle through the remainder of it’s standby mode; the status indicator will reach .6 second intervals again in 10 to 28 hours. Placing the MyStar into warm-up mode after the status indicator light has begun flashing .7 seconds apart or faster will void your fertility and may have an adverse affect upon your genetic makeup.
8. Once the MyStar has been placed into warm-up mode, it will cycle through internal operations until it is able to be activated. When ready, it will emit a tone, approximately the F above middle C, at 240 decibels. Hearing protection is strongly encouraged.
9. If not mentioned earlier, please ensure that the MyStar is not operating within 25 miles of any airport or heliport.

(Dammit, for the love of all that is holy, are you not even reading these intentionally blank pages or what? We left them mostly blank to try and get your impending doom to sink in, not to make you feel proud for reading 12 pages in the blink of an eye! Well, have it your way. Don’t order the protective lead operator’s overcoat and titanium helmet, don’t wait the 4 to 12 days for the safety capsule to ship halfway around the world from our warehouse, and don’t arrange with your local codes inspector, fire marshal, and FBI regional bureau chief for the federally mandated installation review and buyer’s remorse counseling.

Just plug the damn thing in already.
You are clearly as oblivious to reason as our engineering, product testing, and legal departments.)

Congratulations again on becoming a proud owner of a MyStar home cell tower / Wi-Fi / My-Fi / restaurant grade microwave unit! Should your MyStar provide you with all four of those capabilities without causing you permanent injury or genetic mutation, you will have joined a very elite group of people! Friend them on Facebook at facebook.com/MyStarSurvivors.

(This page intentionally filled with blank lines

on which the authorities shall record the names of the dead.)

new song: she's a little girl

2011-05-27T08:04:00.000-04:00

New(ish) song - lyrics to come when I finally type them out from the two or three slightly different sets I have handwritten.

She's a little girl by skulls across america

Practice bootleg: cog in a wheel

2010-09-30T21:04:00.000-04:00

This is a somewhat-authorized practice bootleg, from last Wednesday in the living room.

The Divided Self - Only A Cog In A Wheel (9-22-2010)

This is The Divided Self, which is Adam and I. We hope to start playing out soon, trading off on each others songs and mixing up guitar, banjo, mandolin, harp, and lead and harmony vocals. It might seem as if I'm biased in the couple of things I post, as I won't be posting any of Adam's songs right away until he gets them copyrighted: he's not as comfortable with the hobo copyright method as I am.

new song demo: one thing left to live for

2010-09-18T20:22:00.002-04:00

This was from my first evening of multi-tracking with the Sonoma Wireworks 4-Track app for the iPhone. The app passed with flying colors, and the "tap to set tempo" on the metronome is fantastic.

One Thing Left To Live For

There's a big orange cat sitting on a post.
He watched me coming and he'll surely watch me go.
I reckon I'll be on the road before long,
I came to see my kid but the house is dark.
You sensed me coming and you took her in your ark.

Been living on caffeine and cigarettes,
been ninety hours since I last slept.
I try to figure where you might have gone.
She's probably sitting there on your pop's front lawn,
but he's a good shot and he's heavily armed.

I've only got one thing to live for,
and I don't want to die.

I'm sitting here with a cop on either side,
I try to crack a joke but neither one smiles.
They caught me coming down Six Mile Hill.
I just can't get to her on the strength of my own will,
but they can't kill my love, it's ever-growing still.

I've only got one thing to live for,
and I don't want to die.

oh the inanity

2010-07-15T21:19:00.002-04:00

So I signed up for twitter (@mjmst74) last week, to start keeping track of some bands and Conan O'Brien's tweets, mainly.

But I've also been trying to make one quality, thoughtful/witty/poignant/mildly redeemable tweet per day.

Today I responded with a bit of fun wordplay to one of Chad Clark's tweets (from The Beauty Pill) and he re-tweeted it, and that was pretty fun to see.

So basically I'm almost totally assimilated now. Next week I'll probably get an iphone, start tweeting every 10 minutes, start signing up for those "take 42 surveys and get a free 1 GB USB Flash Drive loaded with cool viruses" things, and I'll probably proclaim that Lady in the Water and The Village were the best movies of the last 50 years.

Oh the inanity.

new song: al-qaeda in iraq

2010-06-15T23:07:00.003-04:00

Al-Qaeda in Iraq (from fb or buzz, you can click through to the blog post for an embedded mp3 player)

wake up thinking of the cell phone's ring
a cold sweat, brought on by the song it sings

nineteen bodies
buried in a shallow grave
nineteen bodies

buried in the valley of the shadow of death
forty k to see the sun again

nineteen bodies
buried in a shallow grave
nineteen bodies

taken from his home in broad daylight
unlit and barely fed, he shivers to the bone
in a makeshift cell, a well of endless sorrow
and nineteen bodies that wouldn't sell

new song: only a cog in a wheel

2010-06-07T23:04:00.001-04:00

This is a song that came to me last summer, sitting out on the sun porch and singing softly as it was quite late. It's probably the best song I've written, even if a couple of the lines are still in flux.

Only a Cog in a Wheel

Rolling through interstate lines in the night
I may not be true but I hope I'm right
It's just me and the engine racing the light
I'll break every law that I can to get there on time

I'm only a cog in a wheel
I ain't getting paid to think or feel

Sitting here watching the heat rolling in
The AC kicks on but I'm still sweating thin
Thinking 'bout hitting the strip and cashing it in
I may not break even but trying's no sin

I'm only a cog in a wheel
I ain't getting paid to think or feel
I don't need to understand all of the diagrams
I'm only a cog in a wheel

Bumming rides killing the soles on my shoes
Tried playing safe but what's the use?
The white dove is coming and she's still trailing my noose
But I wish her away as I cling to my excuse

I'm only a cog in a wheel
I ain't getting paid to think or feel
I don't need to understand all of the diagrams
I'm only a cog in a wheel

new song: the van is not expected to make it through the night (new recording)

2010-05-31T19:54:00.005-04:00

This is a proper recording of the new one from last week, from late Friday, now with 100% more vocals and a bit of my patented "hobo with a cigar-box and a gum band" lead guitar.

the van is not expected to make it through the night

just drive on by | don't turn around
that's just our hopes and dreams | run into the ground

when you call out | don't be alarmed
if no one answers | no one comes
there are so many | pressing affairs
what's one more van | on the berm in Delaware
nothing
just one more band
ain't going anywhere
anywhere at all

walk on foot | to the turnpike rest stop
collecting change | for the pay telephone

if you pick up | don't be alarmed
i'm all right | free from harm
what's a dream | just a useless affair
there's no grand scheme | on the berm in Delaware
nothing
just one more man
ain't going anywhere
anywhere at all

(if you're on fb or buzz, you can click through to the blog post if you'd like an embedded mp3 player gizmo)

the van is not expected to make it through the night (video demo)

2010-05-24T00:06:00.002-04:00

So instead of waiting the five minutes for all non-essential services to shut-down on the laptop so I could use Sonar, I recorded this on the webcam instead. Prepare for awesome sound quality.

Mainly I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget this between now and tomorrow night.

wayfaring stranger

2010-05-03T23:37:00.004-04:00

Enjoy our (striped maple hollow) take on the classic Wayfaring Stranger. This was one of our living room demos from last summer, soon to be pressed into service to get us back on track, living the the dream, and playing live music every month or two.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjyKlIwLScU&feature=player_embedded )

Thanks to archive.org for the moving pictures.

new song demo: Solomon Town

2010-05-01T12:54:00.001-04:00

New song from the past couple of weeks, reinforcing my tendency to have a good new song hit when I'm trying to bear down and finish and old one.

Solomon Town

the good Lord looked down / on Solomon town and he
made a list of his options

he saw no man righteous / within those stone walls
just the weak, and the timid, and cautious

don't forget us now
we need saved somehow
could you please at least
drag the last body out?

we traded our peace / in his presence above
for the seal of the ruler in office

he came for our women / and stared at our girls
with the zeal of a stud bull at auction

don't forget us now
we need saved somehow
could you please at least
drag the last body out?
and burn us all in a pile

new song demo: U.S. Grant

2010-04-28T00:12:00.003-04:00

Here's one I've been working on the past few months.

U.S. Grant

heaven and hell / are both a stone's throw away
you get your orders stamped / and you set off on your way

you can't stay in the station / it's not a permanent home
and you can't save anyone / if you die alone

so travel light, and fast / keep moving, night and day

cordwood like bodies / and bodies crouched below
our sword is hunger / and our shield is snow

a man won't last forever / once the hard tack has run out
and all he can consume / are his fears and his doubts
they will rot him through / like the devil in the ground

he may try to escape / but he may as soon lie down

i have seen my enemy / by the thousands killed
and at my hand / that destruction willed

tonight i share a roof / with men maimed by my hand
and i would not withhold from them / my very last dram
but eventually i must / ignore their cries

as i plan the increase / of the wounded and the dead.

wilco loves you baby (5th time's the charm)

2010-04-12T01:09:00.002-04:00

So after our last 2 Wilco gigs being kinda weird (saw them open for Neil Young in Philly, and then saw them at the really weird venue in Niagara), tonight's An Evening With Wilco at the Carnegie Music Hall was pure bliss. While I like every album, and everything they play, it was a blast to finally get to hear/see them play some songs from A.M., including Box Full of Letters and Passenger Side, two favorites.

—"The Price Is Right" theme music intro—
Wilco (the song)
Bull Black Nova
You Are My Face
IATTBYH>
One Wing
A Shot in the Arm
On and On and On :omg
Company In My Back
Deeper Down
Handshake Drugs
California Stars
Impossible Germany
I'll Fight
Poor Places>
----into acoustic set----
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
More Like The Moon :thumbup
Someday, Some Morning, Sometime>
Laminated Cat
When You Wake Up Feeling Old
Forget The Flowers
War on War
Passenger Side
----out of acoustic set----
Airline To Heaven
Via Chicago
Box Full of Letters
You Never Know
Jesus, etc. (crowd singalong)
Theologians
Heavy Metal Drummer
Candyfloss :thumbup
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Monday
Thank You Friends [Big Star]
----------------------
Casino Queen>
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
I'm A Wheel (rave version)

from forums.viachicago

overheard from Kyrgyzstan

2010-04-11T09:45:00.002-04:00

The people who did this are scum. They should be hung in the street. Let me hang them. I am a doctor, but I will gladly renounce my profession to hang them.

- from an NPR story on Wednesday's uprising in Kyrgyzstan.

The audio will be available at noon today, so I'll be able to see how closely I remembered this quote from the doctor that was interviewed.

What can we nationalize next?

2010-03-21T23:11:00.002-04:00

So, in the face of a new entitlement program and the seeming nationalization of another industry, I'm trying to figure out: what's nationalized health care going to mean for crazies, like me, who like the combination of a high-deductible "catastrophic" insurance plan and an untaxed health savings account? I had heard on NPR that the Obama administration does not consider "catastrophic" insurance plans to be insurance at all, since a family can have a high out of pocket deductible. If the insurance is relatively inexpensive, leaves normal operating costs to the consumer, and protects from bankruptcy if you incur catastrophic costs due to a health emergency: that's my definition of insurance. Paying five grand or more for "comprehensive insurance" and then expecting that to cover every nickel and dime expense is not insurance, it's a service plan, and I don't want service plans on my appliances, or my used cars, or my health.

I suppose I'm just tilting at the windmills of personal responsibility here.

On the plus side, perhaps someday my car insurance policy will, by official decree, have to cover oil changes, tire rotations, brake jobs, twice yearly detailing, etc, etc...

The Wishing Bone is now online!

2010-03-02T23:37:00.002-04:00

Our film from 2008, The Wishing Bone, is now online at blip.tv in all its 16mm B&W reversal glory! You can find out more about this award-winning short, and view more KRP films, at kidrenaissance.com.

The Wishing Bone was written & directed by my good friend Kev Stock. Interesting side note: the majority of the film was shot in our house, and it hasn't been the same since.

reboot

2010-02-27T18:03:00.002-04:00

Now that google.buzz exists, and facebook to boot, I think I'll start posting some things to this old blog every now and then.

Since facebook is a good place to post how much I'm enjoying whatever it is that I'm currently eating, and google buzz is a convenient way to let all my friends on gmail know what's up without sending a mass email, skulls across america dot blogspot is going to turn into a real time archive for my recordings. In the past I've just uploaded things to http://www.mjmst74.com/skulls-across-america/index.html, but I've got a batch of 15 (give or take) songs that I'm going to fashion into a proper album this spring, so as I post new (polished) demos and final mixes I'll also post here at the blog.

The impetus for some of this - becoming a new father and realizing that time is not standing still! And also wrapping up the headaches album that has been in suspended animation for the last 18 months - the (99% final) mixes are up at http://www.mjmst74.com/theheadaches/used_to_sound_like_this.html and should soon be up at the my idea of fun website as well.

hot post-snakes / post-rftc

2008-01-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

big news for the hot snakes / jehu / rftc fan: rick's new band, Obits, played their first show this past weekend; and john's new band, Night Marchers, are playing their first shows soon, and have an album scheduled for release March. Also in Night Marchers: Gar Wood on guitar and (YES!) Jason Kourkounis on drums.

obits - thoughts on their 1st show from 17 dots

punknews post on the night marchers

once again not quite dead yet

2008-01-10T22:27:00.000-04:00

If life were a Monty Python film, this blog would be getting carted around during the "bring out yer dead" sequence. But its not completely dead yet!

The Headaches are still motoring along. We've got a handful of new songs that I'm really excited about, hopefully we'll be playing two or maybe even three brand new songs at our next show on the 1st of February.

I've been recording with my friend Adam for the past year as The Divided Self. We're finishing up work on a new Christmas song he wrote, and its been fun - its the first time I've been part of a song with layers and layers of instrumentation and vocals. I'm hoping we can soon start on recording his other songs in sparse arrangements and getting them out there for people to hear.

And lastly Kev Stock assembled a group of musicians to record some of his songs. The moniker for the project (and rotating cast if we/they/he get together again to play and record) is The Fathomless Enigma Machine. Here are three of the five songs that we laid down in the basement:

The Fathomless Enigma Machine
Say a Prayer for Surfboy
In The Future

Favorite winter (Christmas) albums

2007-11-20T11:10:00.000-04:00

1. Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
2. Manhattan Strings - A Manhattan Strings Christmas
3. Guided By Voices - Propeller
4. Sufjan Stevens - Christmas EPs
5. Burl Ives - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

I haven't listened to Yank Crime in a while (bad call!) but now that the weather is turning its definitely required listening. Yank Crime, which is probably my favorite album of all time, is definitely my favorite driving-in-snow album of all time. Its the perfect album to listen to while driving down the highway at some odd hour (6 am, 1am) with snow whipping around in the wind.

Note to self: if we get to record more at 709 this winter, Yank Crime should be blasting while we setup and tear down.

checking in w/ the headaches

2007-11-07T11:12:00.000-04:00

I don't have a lot to contribute to the blogosphere these days as I'm really spending most of my previously "free music finding" time on The Headaches. We've played a handful of shows now and it feels good - a few more and I think we'll really know what we're doing.

We hope to start recording an album soon and I'll post updates here as we have them.

11 oct 2007 - dylan + costello

2007-10-12T19:45:00.000-04:00

Last night was a great night to be at the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh, as Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan brought their respective legacies to the stage and in the words of Grand Funk Railroad, they proceded to tear the whole place down.

Well, maybe that's a bit extreme, but they did put on a heck of a show. Costello was fantastic, and it seems like voice has hardly aged a year. He played a mix of old and new, and much to my surprise we got not one but three of the big hitters in Alison, Red Shoes, and What's so funny 'bout Peace Love and Understanding.

Dylan opened with Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, much to my surprise. However, the guy to my left called it before the show started. But he had a little more insight into things than I did, as it was his 100th time seeing Dylan, and only my fifth. Dylan and his band set the bar exceptionally high with the first six songs of their set, the highlight being Tangled Up in Blue in the fifth spot, done in a new arrangement from the past times I'd seen them play it. Gone was the clunky acoustic piece and corresponding emphasis from the band that over-powered the verses. Last night's version laid back in the verses and that made it stand out all the more as Dylan really sang out on the choruses. The sixth song began the more laid-back portion of the set as five of the next seven songs were from Modern Times- but in that sixth slot was Workingman's Blues #2, which I was thrilled to hear for the first time.

The next standouts were a rocking Highway 61, and then right before the encore, Ballad of a Thin Man.

The only low of the evening was the general malaise of the crowd, which was pretty shocking to me given how good Dylan and his band sounded. After the first song, the entire floor section sat but for a handful of folks, myself included (until about the eighth or ninth song in). Folks around me were getting crabby and complaining quite loudly about those of us standing... which would have been perfectly acceptable at a movie, but come on!!! It was Dylan and his cowboy band! If I'd had a couple of beers in me I definitely would have gotten myself into some kind of verbal altercation. As far as I'm concerned, its allright to sit if you're in the bleachers, or during a stretch of the new (mellow) songs, but that's it. The crowd in Fairfax last fall was rabid compared to last night... and its not like they played a much more rocking set that night - the second song was Senor! They did play a pretty long Modern Times block last night, but folks were sitting by the second song in.

Anyway, that aside, it was a great show. The 3rd row was fantastic - no need for the mini-binoculars at all.

94.9 - and some well thought out twinkies

2007-08-08T00:27:00.000-04:00

Out here in sunny southern california, enjoying some fish tacos and grocery stores that sell beer, and I've found the radio station of my dreams. I believe its 94.1. Here's a sampling of some of the stuff I've heard on this station, keep in mind I've been in the car like 90 minutes tops:

- first song i heard: a wild reggae/ska cover of Radiohead's Let Down
- spoon: the underdog
- cake: frank sinatra
- new feist song
- new silversun pickups song ( http://www.dangerbirdrecords.com/media/videos/silversun_pickups/SilversunPickups_WellThoughtOutTwinkles_high.mov ) - sweet fuzzed out song that, on 2nd/3rd listen, has some serious smashing pumpkin vibes... damn is this a catchy song

- nirvana - in the pines
- 2 new interpol songs
- raconteurs - steady as she goes (love this song)

If I hear hot snakes and dylan on this station in the next three days, I might not fly back on Friday morning!

...

correction - its 94.9... 94.1's last 10 played list included carrie underwood, madonna, and the goo goo dolls. No offense intended to ms. underwood, but that's definitely not my dream playlist. Based on their recommendations, clearly I've been listening to 94.9

top five or so

2007-08-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

That last post had me thinking, what does my list of favorite bands/artists look like right now?

Bob Dylan
Hot Snakes
Neil Young
Faraquet
Wilco
Drive Like Jehu

Near the top: Spoon, Mogwai, Miles Davis, Husker Du, Magnolia Electric Company, Rocket from the Crypt, The Beatles, Fugazi

Too soon to tell: Midlake, Beirut

Fading with time? ... Helmet (but I still love all their LPs), Primus (still love their first three LPs)

faraquet reforming

2007-08-01T07:46:00.000-04:00

I rarely make it, because it does shift as the seasons change, but when I do make it, my list of favorite bands almost always includes Faraquet, the short-lived DC trio that I was fortunate enough to see 3 or 4 times, the most memorable of which was in a State College basement on a double-bill with Q and not U. I just swung by dischord.com yesterday and the news is that Faraquet is re-forming for a handful of shows as they plan to release a compilation of their singles. I'm guessing the 4 songs from the split with Akarso would also make their way onto this new release.

If you've never heard them, you can check out Cut Self Not here, its the first track off of The View From This Tower, their sole LP.

In not so stellar news, Andrew Becker, the monstrous drummer from Devin and Chad's new band, Medications, has left that band. I never did get to see them proper- Gabe and I caught a pre-Medications lineup under the name of Heat Better Scream, but Chad wasn't on bass yet at that point.

Viewer's Choice

2007-07-20T11:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it was an "official selection" but in addition, The Donut Gun won the Viewer's Choice Award at the 2nd Annual Johnstown Film Fest. Heck, Kev even made it into the local newspaper. Not too shabby. Now we'll see how Double Date fares at a couple of film fests and move forward on new projects.

Kid Renaissance + film clips

2007-07-13T11:20:00.000-04:00

Well, we've got two films showing in the Johnstown Film Fest "winners circle", which in the parlance of fests could be referred to as "official selections." You can check out clips from each in this
new article on Kev & Dave & KRP Our Town Online.

We just shot last night at the Indiana Roller Rink... it was an ambitious shoot, but man was it nice to have a secure location and control over the entire environment! Excepting the ice machine- and the kid regulars who the rink folks called up when it became clear that our huge list of "yeah, i think i'm coming" extras materialized into about 12 people.

the headaches

2007-07-03T10:30:00.000-04:00

Our new band, The Headaches, is now somewhat internet-official, as we've posted our first song up at http://www.myspace.com/TheHeadachesPA. Its a demo from our practice this past Sunday; we tracked four other songs as well and hope to get at least one more of the demos up this week.

believers

2007-06-29T14:55:00.000-04:00

If you weren't a Wilco believer before seeing them in Columbia, MD last Thursday... you would be afterwards. If you were at the show, of course. Watching must-see-TV or listening to Son Volt records last Thursday would not have done anything for your Wilco-liking status. What a show. Six feet from the front of the house, just a foot or two to the right of Nels... now that's the spot to be in.

The Bob Dylan Show on Sunday was good. Jimmie Vaughan opened for him, which makes twice now that I've seen Jimmie's schtick. I think he played the exact same set as last summer in State College. Anyway, Dylan and his band played a good set, no standout "I can't believe he's playing this" moments but the last two shows really spoiled me in that regard, what with them playing Forever Young and then Senor; but I guess its hard to sneak some obscure numbers into the set when you're playing half your new album. Denny Freeman's solos seemed a lot more interesting than I remember from the last two shows, and both Like A Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower were much different takes than I've heard before- and much better as well!

If you're at a good book store, pick up the new issue of The Believer. Its their annual music issue, and there are some great songs on the mix CD. The I’m From Barcelona and Zach Condon songs are fantastic. Plus you can get introduced to Cleveland's lost musical genius, Bill Fox.

tonights the night

2007-06-21T09:52:00.000-04:00

Tonight, Wilco. Sunday, Dylan. Its a good week to be my ears.

the kill machine

2007-06-02T09:08:00.000-04:00

Well, a fairly boring week in Oklahoma City did at least lead me to a place called Vintage Stock, a store specializing in old gaming systems. I ~almost~ picked up an old Gameboy but couldn't pull the trigger on the $15 price tag. I did however pick up a fully functional copy of one of my favorite Atari games, Robot Tank. Up until now I've only played my malfunctioning copy of the game, which would cut out after a few minutes of play. Very sweet. I spent 3 bucks getting a copy of the M.A.S.H. game, and wow is it terrible. I was hoping to hear the entire "Suicide Is Painless" theme in 4-bit glory but alas they only play the first line of the song.

I did finally pick up a copy of Scotland, PA on DVD. Can't wait to watch it soon and fall in love with Bad Company all over again.

That Vintage Stock place had one thing that I probably should've bought... wireless Atari 2600 Joysticks! The wireless control box was big, like the size of a shoebox, and the joystick bodies were twice their normal depth, and they had walkie-talkie type antennas jutting straight out from them. Now that would have been a thing to have on the shelf.

the kill machine with the megaton mind

2007-05-07T21:46:00.000-04:00

While on a mini-spree at the "5 for $5" VHS sale at a video store nearby, I picked up this winner:

The box art & text make this seem like about the cheesiest movie ever... but the IMDB and Amazon comments make me think it might not be that terrible. Also in my finds were CQ, Husbands and Wives, A Mighty Wind, and a few others... but the real winners were Volumes 1 and 2 of Get A Life!! Don't get too excited... Rhinos "volumes" equated to two cherry-picked episodes per tape... but still, I haven't seen that show since it was on the air during its run, so its a blast to watch it again.

In other news, the new J. Tillman record is fantastic. And the artwork is killer. Check out When I Light Your Darkened Door if you haven't heard it yet.

And lastly, June 21st - front of the house General Admission tix for Wilco in MD. And June 24th, 4th row tickets for Dylan in Hershey. June will be a great month for the ears.

grindhouse

2007-04-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

In Grindhouse... Robert Rodriguez gets Jeff Fahey, and Quentin Tarantino gets Kurt Russell. I think that pretty much sums up the relative worth of their respective features in the double feature billing. And Planet Terror is terribly named. It should have been called "Small-town minimal fright, but mostly just repetitive zombie gore, in a small-town, that would have been awesome in the original Dawn of the Dead."

Death Proof is good. Just sneak into the theater 95 minutes into Grindhouse and you'll do yourself a favor.

electric guitar

2007-04-03T15:53:00.000-04:00

Just checked the first five setlists from Dylan's just-begun European tour... and he's playing electric guitar on the first four to seven songs each night! Now that's big Dylan news.

It must take a lot to get the chair these days

2007-03-22T17:16:00.000-04:00

Man admits torturing, killing roommate - but avoids death penalty via guilty plea. Seriously- what does it take to get the death penalty these days? If not this guy, who? If not for a crime this brutal and horrific, how brutal and horrific? Seriously... the only plea from this guy that should have been accepted would be his request for some A1 to garnish the salisbury steak he was having as his last meal.

A Butler County man who had been released from a mental hospital just months before he tortured and killed his mentally disabled roommate pleaded guilty today to first-degree murder.

Timothy James Caldwell, 30, will spend the rest of his life in prison plus 21 to 42 months for abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence, for the burning death of 30-year-old Jason Michael Ritzert.

Butler County District Attorney Randa Clark agreed to the plea, giving up her plan to seek the death penalty for Mr. Caldwell.

...

The case was one of Butler County's more horrific and had been described by the state police captain there, Robert Lizik, as "bizarre and brutal."

Mr. Caldwell had confessed to authorities that he had hit Mr. Ritzert and had burned his hands over a period of several weeks as "punishment" for stealing some pocket change. Then, one day in November 2005, he soaked Mr. Ritzert's shirt in lighter fluid, forced him into a bathtub, then set him afire.

It should be mentioned that the guilty parties, Caldwell and Melissa Adams, her of the soon-to-be-mentioned low IQ, then pulled Jason from the bathtub and let him lay for a week on his bed while his burn wounds oozed. He must have endured excruciating pain. And it just gets worse. They may have let him lay there forever, except Caldwell "became upset with himself and because he was upset he kicked Ritzert to the ribs as he laid on the floor." This kick must have initiated a tremendous realization for Caldwell- "Hey, you done forgot to kill that guy that you burned put near to death last week."

I didn't find much other than the original post-gazette article and thread from a message board. But a post on that board notes that one of Caldwell's co-defendants was seeking an insanity defense - because HER IQ IS BELOW AVERAGE! If you're smart enough to try that, you're smart enough to play with the big kids.

A follow-up article gives more background on the victim, Jason Michael Ritzert.

Best random CD match ever

2007-03-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

Wow. For the choir at church, Jayna needed to make a CD for a song that featured the song music on the right channel, and the men's vocal line on the left channel. She played our ancient Korg keyboard and we recorded onto my cassette 4-track. The song itself was split into 5 tracks on the audio CD, a common trick for CDs that choirs will practice with, as it allows the choir director to focus on one section at a time without having to fast-forward all the time (five 45 second tracks beats one 4 minute track).

So anyway, I dumped the tracks from the 4-track onto the computer and, using Audacity, stripped as much dead air from the beginning and end of each track as I could, so they'd play virtually like a regular 1 track song when played back to back. I didn't worry much about the beginning of track 1 or the end of track 5. I export to WAV and make a playlist in iTunes (I & II below)

So I burn this mess to CD... then I pop the CD back into the computer to make sure it will play. I open up Winamp (III below). Winamp, using the CDDB database, tries to match the CD to something in its database, based on number of tracks and track length... and it provides one recommendation...

What are the odds, right? What are the odds that this CD I burned for the church choir would happen to match, in the CDDB database, with perhaps the worst "blasphemous metal band" in the history of music? (IV)

thunder down under

2007-03-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

Great news! Swami records is back on emusic! Which means the albums above, that I've been too lazy to mail-order yet, will be on heavy rotation this week. And there was much rejoicing.

In other news, I'm writing songs like a madman, Georges Laraque is busting heads, and The Prestige is awesome and features a new Radiohead song over the end credits.

at the movies

2007-02-19T20:38:00.000-04:00

miami vice - 4/4
half nelson - 3/4
the boxer - 3/4
the great dictator (just a bit left to go) - 4/4
children of men - 4/4
heat (laserdisc) - 4/4
scarface (side 1 of 4 sides (laserdisc, eh)) - 2/4
the wire - seasons 1, 2, & 3 (2 & 3 thanks to netflix) - 4/4
duel - 3/4
idiocracy - 3/4
junebug - 2.5/4
the island - 3/4

I have no idea if I'm in the majority on this one, but I really enjoyed Miami Vice. I like how Mann just throws you into it in the recut DVD release. He banked on the familiarity from the TV show and didn't really spend one minute on exposition or introductions at the beginning. Heck, my only real beef is that the soundtrack was a bit too modern (ie not new wave enough) for a Michael Mann film!

dead yet?

2007-02-19T20:30:00.000-04:00

Not quite. In my twice yearly perusing of bands on myspace, I remembered good old Sam'>http://www.myspace.com/samchampion">Sam Champion - and they've got four songs up that I've never heard. Great band.

In other news, just plugging away here. Been writing a lot of music lately, perhaps for use in some sort of band setting, at the least I hope to record an album's worth of material before the sun sets on aught-seven.

rockin out the aught-seven

2007-01-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

The '07 has been an interesting one so far. The theme for the first few weeks could very well be "No Direction Forward." For once in my life, I need to keep to all those new year's resolutions and get some songs and stories written, not just sketched out and left in skeleton form.

the mysterious object in the sky

2006-12-18T07:36:00.000-04:00

I saw a strange thing in the sky while driving to work at 7am on Saturday morning. Joe Stevensonunraveled the mystery by watching the Pittsburgh news on Saturday evening.

It was pretty neat to see. Although I must say, I had my hopes up that it was a special comet that had imbued me with some sort of "super" power, like the ability to tune a guitar really good by ear, or a great overall improvement of my mechanical skills.

When I saw the thing, I could really relate to the chaos that comet sightings caused thousands of years ago. I really felt like primitive man- couldn't take my eyes off the thing (to the delight of any other drivers around me, I'm sure), and I couldn't get my mind of what I'd seen for a good hour or more once I got into the office.

its crazy

2006-12-15T15:31:00.000-04:00

Its crazy it is. Trying to keep my eyes open, pulled a lot of nights 2 or 4am the last few weeks and its catching up. Got myself a shiny bauble today over at the worst-staffed electronics store this side of a flea market, and hey, I'll admit it, as usual, I'm so far behind the curve that its almost laughable.

And secondly, Ronald Jenkees now has a website up, and he's posted what will hopefully be the first of many mp3s: Clutter.mp3.

songs of the year

2006-12-07T23:44:00.000-04:00

songs of the year

More of a service for myself (so I can look back in a couple months to remember what I really dug back on aught-six). And since I can't really rank music much more than "I really like this, I like this, or blah", I've split the list into two only mildly sorted categories. Let's start with the honorable mentions:

Burcak Tarlalarl - Mustafa Ozkent * @

the gulag orkestar - beirut

pale dog - metallic falcons @

(the making of...) make history - thunderbirds are now

dodging traffic - smallwire @

bottom of the world - tom waits

my favorite mutiny - the coup

the funeral - band of horses

The solid gold hits:

we do not f*ck around - viva voce @

cursed sleep - bonnie 'prince' billy

steady as she goes - the raconteurs

we used to vacation (orig. ep version) - cold war kids

painter in your pocket - destroyer

someone new - nicolai dunger @

high away - bob dylan (shot of love outtake) *

am i a good man - them two (Eccentric Soul, Vol. 7) * @

seven states across - j. tillman

And my favorite song of the year:

Roscoe - Midlake.

* = not something new
@ = if i find some cash lying in the street, these are the first things i buy

mellow oktober

2006-12-04T20:47:00.000-04:00

Was october really that mellow? I thought (quite incorrectly) I may have been laid off that month, if i can remember straight, I don't know if that qualifies as mellow or not. But mellow oktober == my first attempt at home brewing beer, and tonight I'm bottling the batch. No telling how it'll turn out, but the 1 oz. sample tasted good enough that I'm pretty sure I didn't spoil the batch in my cat-infested home-brewing environment.

Good news: YANP posts midlake tour dates! Gabe, doing anything on February 8th?

Other good news: An Aquarium Drunkard posts live NY soundboard recordings!

And in the last good news bit, everyone and their brother posts their top ten of '06 lists! Did I even buy 10 new albums in 2006? What am I thinking... what w/ emusic, I nearly picked up 10 albums per month. Of course, I don't think I can list Fela Kuti albums in the "best new releases of '06" category. Perhaps I'll post some favorite new releases, and "most listened to in '06". For the benefit of Mr. Kite.

nothing much

2006-12-01T22:23:00.000-04:00

live tom waits from '75:
haven't even listened to it since I got the tracks, but I have no fear.

secondly, new mos def: Not that I'm some harbinger of great hip-hop or anything, I just happen to dig this track, at least the sound of it.

swamped by work, barely writing, reading, picking, etc etc. keep on rockin in the free world.

dylan in fairfax

2006-11-20T13:28:00.000-04:00

Well, we didn't get Forever Young in Fairfax, or The Levee's Gonna Break, which was played the next night in Philly. What we got was a grade-A performance, and a fantastic set- in fact, the only four-song encore of the entire tour! I was very pleasantly surprised to hear Señor in the second slot, and I thought he really nailed the song. Bob's voice seemed strong all night, definitely the best of the three times I've seen him play- although to be fair, I was a true neophyte at the first show, and the sound was horrible.

Fairfax, Virginia
Patriot Center

November 17, 2006

1. Cat's In The Well
2. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
3. Rollin' And Tumblin'
4. Boots Of Spanish Leather
5. Cold Irons Bound
6. When The Deal Goes Down
7. High Water (For Charley Patton)
8. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
9. Masters Of War
10. Spirit On The Water
11. Tangled Up In Blue
12. Nettie Moore
13. Highway 61 Revisited

(encore)
14. Love Sick
15. Thunder On The Mountain
16. Like A Rolling Stone
17. All Along The Watchtower

The Raconteurs, the lure that put me over the edge as to whether or not to attend this show, played a good, if somewhat long, opening set. They covered It Ain't Easy and Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), and closed with Steady As She Goes arranged with a much louder intro.

friday the 17th

2006-11-16T23:52:00.000-04:00

Friday the 17th is nearly here. Jayna and I are heading down to Fairfax, Virginia, to see Dylan. After seeing him in State College this summer I determined not to miss him again when he's in the area, and this is the closest he's getting on this leg of the never-ending tour. To boot, The Raconteurs are opening, and that icing on the cake made it an easy call to attend this show. Now, on the one hand, its at the end of the current tour, so I was concerned about vocal fatigue. But, on the other hand, judging by some of the recent setlists (Nov 12th and Wednesday), I'm somewhat getting my hopes up that he'll pull out a couple of gems. Of course, after hearing them play Forever Young in State College, I really don't have any place expecting anything else- but I'm still pulling for Senor, Joey, or The Man In Me (if I had to pick any of the recently played non-standards).

In other news of the day, Big Murth failed in his bid to become Majority Leader of the House. I'm hopeful that his loss will weaken Pelosi's position; but for purely political reasons, I think Murtha would have hurt the Democrats more had he won the position. Politics aside, I think the country is better off not having Murtha as the Majority Leader, no matter how many percentage points that may or may not have swung this way or that in two years time.

the mogwai

2006-11-15T21:17:00.000-04:00

It appears that there's some new Mogwai- some kind of a score for a film ... available at emusic...

I think Zidane is a soccer player or something, maybe he's a drinking buddy of the Mogwai. First impression while I sit here paying bills and trying to do four things at once: good, first track feels like CODY and I hope its not the only one that does.

Their site also notes that they're on the score of The Fountain, a film I've been waiting months for, and have just learned that our local theater just decided not to bring it in. Gotta keep a room open for Van Wilder Deux or something, I guess.

I was going to post a live Mogwai mp3 or two, but can't find them where I thought I had them. Its tough keeping mp3's straight between two computers and the mp3 player, eh. So here's something else entirely- a live take of one of my all-time favorites.

introducing... redd jones

2006-11-09T09:02:00.000-04:00

It is my pleasure to introduce to the world the latest genre-smashing death-defying EP from Redd Jones, entitled Introducing... Redd Jones and the Diamondbacks. And I do mean death-defying: the man's 127 years old, born before horseless carriages and sandpaper was even invented! The daguerreotype above is from an earlier group, Redd Jones and Two Other Guys, but the two other guys on either side of Redd are long gone.

1. surfing

2. summer jam

3. 2006 (the year we discovered camp)

4. four

aways a strange brew

2006-11-08T08:22:00.000-04:00

Its always strange to spend a day listening to my fairly crappy mp3 demos as my 7 to 4 soundtrack. Over the past few years I've done a much better job of demo-ing the better-sounding things I come up with- but I've never done a good job of revisiting and doing anything with them. With big nature on again and starting from scratch, I think I'll try to reformulate a couple of the old ideas into big nature songs... once I relearn the parts.

Speaking of the 4-track, we had a pseudo-Vicars reunion last night as we recorded some music for potential use as the soundtrack to promotional videos for Sylvan Hills. Now I'll try to figure out how to get the stereo out into Audacity so I can do some semblance of mastering on the mix. As soon as I get it onto the computer, I'll post the mp3's (just for the heck of it).

doc jones & pony boy

2006-10-31T08:20:00.000-04:00

I'm pulling for the next Indiana Jones movie to be titled "The adventures of Doc Jones and Pony Boy," with Harrison Ford and Brian Atene starring. Indiana Jones, recently denied tenure yet again, embarks on a near-impossible mission to raid the Kubrick vaults- vaults defended by Brian Atene with Genghis Khan-like ferocity.

if only we had cable

2006-10-25T07:36:00.000-04:00

While I'm no fan of cable TV, man, are the Penguins making me wish that we had cable this winter. I've gotten used to seeing Steelers games all fuzzed out via rabbit ears, but rabbit ears can't tune in Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh. And to boot, I can't find the Pens on the radio. At least they've got great highlights up the next morning at penguins.com.

If you haven't seen it, Malkin's 4th (and most amazing to date) goal is near the end of this highlight reel:

It's not all bad, though- if we had cable, we would've watched the Pens last night instead of watching Crimes and Misdemeanors.

wilco - 10-20-2006

2006-10-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

photo: wilcobase on flickr

Finally saw Wilco on Friday night, at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. Specifically, at the gymnasium at St. Vincent College, which had me good and concerned, but at 8 rows back from the stage it turned out to be about the best sounding concert I can remember seeing. And one of the best performances. I'd never seen Wilco, and didn't really know what to expect, and I definitely didn't expect them to play as hard and loud as they did on many songs. I also had no idea just how great Nels Cline is and how much he adds.

I'll admit, I didn't pick up A Ghost is Born until Saturday evening- I have a history of getting into bands, loving their newest album, and then not getting their next album or two until years after they're released. Maybe psycho-analysis can get to the bottom of it. Anyway, on Friday night I wasn't familiar with a good half of the material they played, but the sound was crisp, and the songs were good, and I enjoyed it as much as if I'd known every song- none of that "when are they going to play something I know" boredom had a chance to creep in.

I also ran into an old friend at the show, and Shane hooked me up with his great recording of the Wednesday night show in Morgantown. I'll have to get a copy of the Latrobe show someday- but it'll have to be in person, as I doubt I'll ever become a bit torrent user.

Midlake -- The Trials of Van Occupanther

2006-10-18T08:49:00.000-04:00

So, of the four albums recently received, the jury is definitely still out. First impressions:

Homerun: Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther. Definitely outta the park.

Triple: Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards. I'm not completely sold on the re-recorded versions of some of my favorites; while the sound quality is much better, a couple of the new versions lack the edge of the originals from the EPs.

?: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go. It almost always takes me a while to warm up to a new Bonnie Billy album.

?: Band of Horses - Everything all the Time. Funeral- one of my favorite songs of the year. Ben Bridwell's voice for an entire album- something I'm still warming up to.

No great surprises so far, but The Trials of Van Occupanther reallt lives up to my expectations. Here's the song of the year, Roscoe, and the album's second track, Bandits. Bandits is a great song that would feel at home on Phil Keaggy's second album.

Midlake - Roscoe
Midlake - Bandits

30 rock... 8 hours early

2006-10-11T12:15:00.000-04:00

30 Rock - Premiere Episode

Makes a great lunchtime distraction- and it looks worlds more entertaining than Studio 60. And with this show premiering this month, and The Departed just opening, October 2006 is officially "Alec Baldwin Appreciation Month."

3D... Dark, Dangerous, Demanding

2006-10-06T07:34:00.000-04:00

Finally, I've done something that I meant to do for a long time. No, not make another post on here, that only had to wait for work to get to a level of sanity and for me to get back from Utah.

No, I finally hooked up the Atari on the porch. I now have a dual gaming center that also features a Super Nintendo. And I'll be trying to set some personal records at Beamrider, which is one of the few remotely 3D games that really rocked on the Atari.

In music news, finally made an order for some of the stuff I've been listening too this year, incl. the new Bonnie Prince Billy, Band of Horses, Midlake, and the new Cold War Kids album (coming out next week). I'm pretty sure they'll all meet or exceed expectations.

rock out the world!

2006-09-21T19:47:00.000-04:00

Tell you what, that Jenkees can play.

the bonnie prince

2006-09-21T15:33:00.000-04:00

i searched many years in the wood, and i'll tell you, i saw a darkness in that minor place. but like a wolf among jenkees, i found a new partner riding through the ether.

three things, with loud report

2006-09-14T19:48:00.000-04:00

Before I begin, let me get started.

An Aquarium Drunkard has recently posted two incredible sets of Dylan outtakes, from the Freewheelin' sessions and the Blonde on Blonde sessions. Incredible stuff. Between gorilla vs bear, you ain't no picasso, kwaya na kisser, my old kentucky blog, and an aquarium drunkard, its the Lost Album Series that puts An Aquarium Drunkard on top.

Freewheelin' Outtakes
Blonde on Blonde Outtakes - Part One

And lastly- hello Youtubes! I was just thinking about outfitting our house with these bulbs, and here comes Ronald Jenkees with confirmation. This video is basically Jenkees Greatest Hits, and much less disturbing than the "balderdash" video.

i thought it was such a thing revealed

2006-09-09T21:35:00.000-04:00

shameless self promotion? nothing better to do? tune in next week. this week, three new skulls across america songs up. I've been trying to write complete songs, not just music, as the music drifts out of my consciousness so quickly and doesn't have the weight to stick around in my memory like a song does. And I've been playing the acoustic exclusively lately, which lends itself much better, for me at least, to lyrics and melody. Not that I'm trying to get carried away, I'm the first to admit some Juno-like sections, particularly in we was in a band right now, where I can't figure out a melody over the guitar part so I just talk most of a line. I hope to have several more songs in demo form by October's end, including some work with some lyrics I was given and am trying to work out music/melodies for.

wrote some stories once
we was in a band
bleeding in the dead of winter

Secondly and of much greater import, an uncle of mine just passed away. Walt Mood, 90 years old. I hadn't seen him since my grandfather, his brother, passed away three years ago... I have a feeling that these three songs, particularly the first, will now forever be tied to the melancholy of the passing of an endeared but not often-seen relation. Walt was a good man, and I look forward to catching up with him in heaven, where I think our schedules won't be filled to bursting like they are here, and I won't be so selfish as to neglect family and friends for the sake of doin' stuff.

claws in the deep blue sea

2006-09-05T22:36:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chevron and its partners have successfully extracted oil from a test well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, an achievement that could be the biggest breakthrough in domestic oil supplies since the opening of the Alaskan pipeline.

from money.cnn.com

Well that's some good news. I've been holding to the party line on oil prices- yes, they're high, but the huge "profits" will go into more expensive exploration... but I guess in standard "expecting results yesterday" mode, I was starting to wonder.

Not sure if it relates, but here's a killer shipping news song from a show in 2001, courtesy of Transmission 3000
shipping news - 1 (live)

may God bless an keep you always

2006-09-04T19:32:00.000-04:00

What are the odds? They haven't been playing it much on this tour, in fact of the couple dozen setlists I checked out, I only saw it once, and that was only like a week ago, so I figured the odds were really slim that they'd play Forever Young last night.

And then, at the tail end of a set so good that I wasn't really concerned about what they'd play next, they started out a real mellow number, and after a few bars, Bob started singing- "May God bless and keep you always". I cheered pretty loudly right then, a solo cheer as it was (more folks cheered right before the chorus when he said the words "forever young").

It was a great show, great openers, the sound was crisp, the band sure seemed on, I was on the floor not even 20 rows back, and then they went and played that song... which vaulted the show up into my personal top five.
full setlist

have some pizza

2006-08-30T08:19:00.000-04:00

The Pizza consist(ed?) of Automatic Baber and Captain Party, and they made some pretty killer music on a small sampler. I know they used a small sampler because when they came through town on tour, they would always sample some of my crappy instruments on their sampler.

They self-released an LP a couple years back. Its real solid, so solid that I had trouble picking my favorite two or three songs. So here are three of the standouts, to be followed in a few days with three more standouts.

The Pizza - Track 2
The Pizza - Track 4
The Pizza - Track 9

Not sure if The Pizza will ever ride again, but you can check out Automatic Baber on purevolume and myspace.

Lastly, pick up the new Dylan. Its real sweet.

el mariachi

2006-08-28T11:48:00.000-04:00

Maybe i jumped the gun. Shoulda waited until the first Steelers game of the year, perhaps. But I just had to make some guacamole last night. Had to sell out on the garlic, though, and use some minced garlic, as it was already dark and since our garlic didn't really grow, it requires a lot of searching a digging to find a useable piece of garlic... and its hidden by the cucumbers, making it even harder to find at night. Maybe that's why the guacamole turned out bland.

Anyway, what better than some chicken tacos, guac (even if subpar), refried beans, Tostitos Yellow Gold chips, and a good film on VHS? A lot of things, sure, but it'll do in a pinch. I enjoyed El Mariachi more than I expected, I guess reading Rebel Without A Crew gave me the feeling that the film was going to be bad in addition to noticeably low budget, but I really enjoyed it. And its inspiring to see what Rodriguez was able to do for 8 grand, especially knowing that most of that money went into buying and developing film (if i'm remembering correctly).

lonesome valley

2006-08-26T14:38:00.000-04:00

Not sure why Jason Molina and company felt the need to join the ranks of bands with albums featuring naked girls on them with Fading Trails- perhaps they were rocking the first Queens of the Stone Age album on tour? Secretly Canadian has lonesome valley up, and emusic has the album available already. Good song. Good enough to get me to pick up yet another booster pack from emusic? Yep.

Started film school this week... in the form of the commentary on Seven Samurai. I could finish up my schooling if I'd ever get a remote control for the laserdisc player, so I could listen to the commentary on Taxi Driver.

Lastly, saw and really enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine. Its always nice to see Greg Kinnear in something better than Stuck on You.

'til their heads are on my desk

2006-08-15T23:08:00.000-04:00

favorite songs this year? Roscoe. We do not f*ck around. 7 states across. We used to vacation. And while it might be old, Bonnie Prince Billy & Tortoise playing Thunder Road. Wow. Looking forward to the new Bonnie Prince Billy album with great anticipation. Can't even speak in complete sentences...

Coming to a crossroads artistically. Playing another coffeehouse with Jayna. Getting ready to start helping with a Sunday evening praise service at church. Couple of open-ended musical endeavors might roll again in the next few months. And I'm sitting on piles of my own music in a couple diff't veins. And wrapping up filming on donut gun. And scribbling notes on a couple screenplays and stories.

If I had to guess... there's no time like the present to write a short screenplay to take advantage of my favorite film element- falling snow.

cursed sleep

2006-08-11T09:15:00.000-04:00

Beautiful song that I've been listening to for many moons now. Fantastic video as well- although it might be just as fair to call it a short film. Can't wait to hear the new album, and hopefully catch him on tour if he plays Pittsburgh or Baltimore/DC as he usually does.

I was supposed to see him once upon a time, in Pittsburgh, but the night before the show, our furnace stopped working... and the day of the show was one of the coldest I remember... and I felt way too guilty to leave Jayna in a freezing house while I traipsed off to Pittsburgh for a show.

only in dreams

2006-08-08T13:54:00.000-04:00

New Dylan album hits the streets end of the month. Amazon has a preorder Deluxe edition with bonus DVD, and to boot, at the link above, they've got a video of Dylan and the band performing Cold Irons Bound.

Getting ready to play some songs with Jayna at a coffeehouse this Saturday- I'm going to play guitar on about 12 or 17 or some large number of songs... been fairly nervous about my memory fogging up, but last night was able to get through the set pretty well. I just hope I don't blank and start playing my standard Johnny Cash strum.

Spent most of last week in Ambridge with family, having what amounted to a three day wake for my grandfather. It'll take a little time for me. But it was good seeing family, even under the circumstances.

No music to post, but Kwaya Na Kisser has half of a live set from Dylan, circa '98.

I've seen a thing or two,
only in dreams.
your crying eyes-
a cheating heart-
a vexed mind
grabbing for what was never meant to be,
allowing the subconscious
into meaningless daydreams,
whose gravity increases
more and more when repeated.

forver young

2006-08-01T12:46:00.000-04:00

Sometimes a song, or an album, becomes so inexplicably linked to a time and place that its impossible to hear the song and not be taken back... or to think about that time and not hear the song.

This song has been in my head for days. Yesterday, my grandfather passed away at age 82, at home, after a heart attack. We had just visited two weeks ago, and he seemed in about the same shape he's always been in. I think at some point in the visit, I remember thinking, "Its hard to think that in five or ten or twenty years time, he'll be gone."

May you stay forever young.

and the locusts sang

2006-07-27T09:04:00.000-04:00

They sang such a sweet melody indeed. Somehow listening to those Dylan studio sessions from the Saved/Shot of Love era, and (for the first time this year) harvesting the garden this morning, combined to get Day of the Locusts stuck in my head... a song I hadn't listened to for months!

But I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm adding it to the top of the list of songs I intend to learn, right after I relearn Love Minus Zero/No Limit.

On the garden side, picked a large bowl (probably 5 or 6 servings) of green beans, three heads of broccoli, and then after a search of the cucumbers, two six or seven inch cukes. Not a bad haul for the first day of picking.

gems new and old

2006-07-25T22:39:00.000-04:00

okay, leading off in the gems department, we have Mad Dog and Glory and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Okay, I guess since ex-girlfriend is in the theater its not really an obscure gem- but it did make me laugh, at least as much as tonight's episode of Last Comic Standing, and really, for a comedy, that's a good start. It was amusing seeing a Luke Wilson flick while You Me an Dupree played across the hall, their mugs on the poasters staring each other down. Wonder if Dupree clocked in with more than 3 people on a Tuesday at 7pm?

Anyway, thanks to a kind soul, I got a great introduction to the next era of Dylan on my journey through the past- the Saved/Shot of Love/Infidels era. And much to my surprise, I'm loving it. I must've listened to this particular track at least twenty times today:
Bob Dylan - High Away (get the whole bootleg here and here)

Hearing these tracks reminded me of just how much I enjoyed hearing the Black Crowes Sweet Pickle Salad boots, courtesy of An Aquarium Drunkard I'm not really a big Crowes fan but I love those four songs. If I had to pick...
Black Crowes - Clothes and Food

sheer brilliance

2006-07-19T00:30:00.000-04:00

Is there any excuse for taking so long to finally listen to Abbey Road all the way through? I mean, aside from the fact that the old vinyl copy I have skips about once per minute and I could never make it past, oh, Come Together? But anyway. Side two strikes me as the primary motivation for about the first six or eight GBV albums.

Well, aside from exposing what a true rube I am, let me also mention this killer new song from Thunderbirds are Now! that You Ain't No Picasso has up. I've heard the band name and liked it, glad to finally hear them. The exclamation point in the band name is a tricky line to walk, especially after that Volcano band on Polyvinyl, the one with the worst band name ever, went and ruined both long names and exclamation points with one fell swoop.

One more spin for I Want You... a little more java code... then sleep.

three things, with colorfast

2006-07-17T12:36:00.000-04:00

For the first time in a long time, I watched a newly purchased dvd within six months of purchase! And I'm glad I did. Short Cuts is incredible, and as a big fan of Carver and Altman, I can't believe it took me so long to get to it. It felt even more expansive than Nashville, but also more focused; instead of so many intersecting lives, Short Cuts is truly so many intersecting stories, and it really moves. The extras on disc two look great, we'll see if I get to them in the six-month window. Surprising trivia: Short Cuts, a sprawling 3 hour film, has no imdb trivia.

Secondly, Charlotte, NC, at least the downtown, is pretty sweet. I almost got used to being able to walk to work and dinner. Of course, we can walk to some parks and stores from our house, although the majority of the dining (w/in walking distance) from our house is fast food. New favorite for supper: bangers and mash.

Lastly, a track from the Overwhelming Colorfast.

This album, Moonlight and Castanets, was one of my favorite albums from about '97 through 2000. Hadn't listened to it for a while but it still sounds great- I'm trying to pick and post my five favorite tracks, but I'm having trouble whittling the list down past seven. So here's the first track. Trivia: Colorfast ended when its last incarnation was split by two chaps leaving to form a band called Oranger. As of about a year ago or so, Bob Reed, Colofast's frontman/driving force, has been playing with Oranger. And just today I see that Oranger's website lists a Colorfast show scheduled for August 10th.

overwhelming colorfast - starcrunch

hello youtubes pt. 2

2006-06-29T00:42:00.000-04:00

What we all need are plenty of reasons to go to the grocery store. And a way to get youtube videos into mpegs. But I digress.

Without further bs, i present, once again, warmly received after a hiatus that extended to almost five weeks, Ronald Jenkees!

yard saling for books.

2006-06-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

Between a used book store at the mall, and a community yard sale on Saturday, I picked up an impressive array of new books on the cheap. By on the cheap I mean for about three bucks total.

The finds, in order of impressiveness:
1. Documents of the Christian Church I've had this on my wishlist for a year now, and picking it up for a quarter beats even the lowest amazon used price.
2. Christianity through the ages Not the same as the link, but by the same fellow... my edition is from '65, perhaps it become the vol's 1 and 2 that are now in print.
3. The great documents of Western civilization
4. Cloud by Day: The Story of Coal and Coke and People A history of SW Pennsylvania. I'm really looking forward to this one. The hardback I picked up was printed around '75, it appears.
5. Youghiogheny: Appalachian River I lived by this river for a while, and while I've never been a river person in practice, I like 'em, and I like books about Appalachian waterways.
6. D.W. Griffith- The Years at Biograph
7. Touching the Void In hardback, circa '88.
8. Best America Short Storeies 1991
9. A tie between the rest, all socio-political books, certainly from someone's long-gone college days. 2 on the Vietnam conflict, 1 on the Middle East, 1 on the history of Chinese communism, and one on communism that presents opposing viewpoints on various aspects of communism.

And, for a buck, a still in the plastic (double album) copy of Who's Better Who's Best, and for another buck, a nice vinyl copy of one of the rock n roll albums I listened to as a small child: The Best of the Guess Who, and man does that album cover look better at 12x12 than it does on a CD booklet.

i won't return before i can settle the score

2006-06-20T12:19:00.000-04:00

the Taepodong 2 launch may portend Pyongyang’s determination to be able to inflict the single most devastating sort of attack on this country: detonating a nuclear weapon high in space over the United States in order to unleash an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP). Such a burst of immensely powerful energy would devastate our power grid and damage, if not destroy, all unshielded electronic devices coast-to-coast.

A blue-ribbon commission tasked by Congress with assessing this threat found in 2004 that it could have a “catastrophic” effect on this 21st Century superpower, possibly reducing it in the blink of an eye to a pre-industrial society (not unlike much of North Korea).

from Pyongyang Goes Ballistic

A heck of a thing to read, and wow, talk about timing, as I was just checking out the new Viva Voce song, we do not f*ck around while reading the article. At some point, somebody's gotta sing that song for real- let's hope its not a fascist madman with his thumb on the big red button.

makin' netflix rich, or, I'm sorry, Mr. Kurosawa

2006-06-19T11:06:00.000-04:00

Yes, that's me in the corner, that's me in the spot-light, keeping foreign films from netflix on top of the entertainment stand for six weeks.

Why? Well, there was the matter of a week's vacation early in the shelf-life of the movies (The Hidden Fortress and Wild Strawberries, if you're wondering), and some intense work weeks right before and after said vacation. After that, yes, a West Wing kick in which we watched all of Season Two in about three weeks. And lastly, that lingering doubt that creeps in when I get a more serious film, particularly one with subtitles- will I be in the mood to watch it, and more importantly, will Jayna be in the mood, after watching it, to let me live?

Almost always, both questions are unfounded. City of God, The Hidden Fortress, and A Prairie Home Companion remind me that a great film is worth the effort. The payoff, unless the subtitles give me a headache, is bound to beat whatever "new release genre hit" I was pondering as a safer bet for the evening.

Maybe its time to seriously start building my Kurosawa, and Criterion, libraries- then Netflix won't get the benefit of making 20 bucks off me for three movies.

rick froberg has kreative kontrol

2006-06-17T09:36:00.000-04:00

the best internet news in a long time came to me via the swami records phorum (one of the few forums on which i from time to time lurk without posting): rick froberg has a site up featuring his work.

this is killer news.

i'm as stoked as the night, on business travel, when i got hi-lites on mp3, from swami records, in advance of the audit in progress release. rick's lyrics and singing connect with me like few others, and his artwork is no different. hells bells, searching the net led me to put up an archive of hot snakes crap, so rick's art being readily available, from the horses' mouth so to speak, is fantastic.

in celebration, here's hi-lites. i remember sitting in the hotel room listening to it over and over- first listen or two, i didn't know what to make of it, but before i knew it, i was hypnotized.
hot snakes: hi-lites

a prairie home companion to recent film viewings

2006-06-13T07:16:00.000-04:00

After a long spell of no film viewing, its been quite the whirlwind. City of God last night, the 2nd half of Groundhog Day a few nights back, and the Temple of Doom before that. And Sunday night, A Prairie Home Companion.

Being an Altman fan, it was kind of special to finally see one of his films on its first run, in the theater, even if it was a Carmike "10 to 15 minutes of TV commercials before the previews, 99 cent surcharge to use a debit card (no credit cards accepted)" theater. And I'll admit, about the first ten minutes of the film had me concerned. As we jumped back and forth between the interesting backstage scenes, I wondered- was there going to be a narrative, a plot, or would this simply be a 2 hour display of interesting folks doing interesting things, as some reviews had suggested?

My concerns were unfounded. Perhaps some of the early scenes overdo it, play as too eccentric with folks we've just met, but the film very quickly finds propulsion, as the in-film performance of the last installment of A Prairie Home Companion kicks off. From there its a blast, as the cast really blows the lid off the place with their on-stage performances, intruige stalks the backstage, and various threads wind towards the last moments of the radio show. The film seemed focused for Altman, but that's probably because there's so little overlapping dialogue, and by so little, I'm comparing it to, say, Mash, Nashville, and California Split. All in all, a fantastic show- and also a great reminder of how funny Woody Harrelson can be.

a long way home

2006-06-10T20:32:00.000-04:00

work, play (if that word can be applied to much), lawn seeding, pool contemplating, work, and the mildest of mild depressive like leanings, gave me zero incentive to post anything. I've been meaning to post a few endless mike & the beagle club tunes, and will as soon as Ronald Jenkees gives me a reason to keep on chooglin'.

For the immediate moment, a random piece of poetry/lyrics from the moleskin.

"we got a failure to excommunicate,"
the bishop said to me.
"you keep coming back here
even though we warned you on the TV.
you been seen one too many times
with one hand on a knife
and the other leafing through the rites."

i said, "what's the meaning of these lies
you're laying on me?
the only men i ever killed were
the ones on the lists that you sent me."

the least relaxing 3-day weekend

2006-05-30T08:49:00.000-04:00

ever?

most likely, yes. it started off busy enough, and then on Monday I worked a good 10+ hours on the lawn reseeding effort. my enthusiasm for driving to Cleveland on Saturday to see Cold War Kids and Tapes n Tapes has slipped to 15%.

Its a real shame that Pittsburgh is such a lesser stop on the indie rock circuit than Cleveland and Baltimore/DC. In the next few months, about the only interesting shows in Pittsburgh are Calexico at the Rex Theatre, Norfolk and Western at the Club Cafe, and Built To Spill in late September. Maybe I'll try to make that Calexico show, and Built to Spill.

sam champion

2006-05-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

Call me late to the party, but I just heard Sam Champion for the first time today, and I'm impressed. I see that emusic has two offerings, the newest of which contains the great TV Fever- the band themselves have a fantastic video/homemade film up for this song and its great; the song and the video seem to blend contemporary sounds with some of my favorite elements of the "classic/dark rock n roll sound", like a similar vibe as Neil's ditch trilogy, or Wilco's A.M., or Ronald Jenkees' harmonica work.

Sam Champion - TV Fever

hello youtubes

2006-05-25T08:19:00.000-04:00

This morning brings great joy, as Ronald Jenkees has posted a new videoblog. The guy is setting a strong standard of at least one video blog per day.

And as this, skulls across america, is ostensibly a blog that posts music (despite my track record over the last six or so posts), this post on gorilla vs bear must be seen, and heard. The last mp3 posted, Am I A Good Man, is just incredible. I'll definitely be purchasing that Deep City Eccentric Soul comp.

on the beach? not quite.

2006-05-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

a tough week of work, and it ain't even half over. a tough week at home, and i still didn't get the lawn mowed- the half of the lawn that isn't roto-tilled in preparation for planting new grass (full disclosure: i'm only slightly assisting with said operation as our friend Frank is doing the lion's share of the work). and our new cat, Rocket, was neutered on Tuesday, and frankly, the thought of that should bring any man pause.

i might take a lawn chair out on the lawn, at 9:30pm in the dark, crack open one of these

and pretend i'm back on the beach at Edisto.

i might be able to slip back into that "on the beach" zone... although my pbr's don't have any chinese on them.

apologies to this guy for hijacking the img, but i'm sure he'll survive the traffic from my blog (by traffic, i mean, me, checking it to make sure its up).

you, me, and the rest of the world

2006-05-23T08:26:00.000-04:00

Since this is ostensibly a music blog, today I'll highlight this composition by Ronald Jenkees.

weirdly engaging, this Ronald Jenkees. He's a unique fellow, for sure, and there's something disarming about him. In most of his videos, he begins with an endearing "Hello YouTubes!" that is simply classic.

There are parts where I wonder, am I just laughing at this guy, or with him, or at the things he does with the intent of making me laugh? That's a lot to wonder, I know.

the old post office

2006-05-19T10:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a book to order as soon as we return home. We celebrated our anniversary with dinner at the Old Post Office last night, and like the three other times we've dined there, it did not dissappoint. The shrimp and scallop grits were excellent, and I made up my mind to try P.B.'s Ultimate Filet the next time we go, provided I can remember in a year that I made up my mind to do so. Surprisingly enough, we've done so well at eating almost all our meals at the condo that we could almost afford one more trip to the Old Post Office... almost.

In other news, I'm highly enjoying the Brothers Karamazov, although I haven't kept up the 220 pp per day pace that I set earlier in the week with Everything is Illuminated. Yesterday and the day before, at the bay, I think I was able to read almost three hours straight and read about 70 pages each day. Interestingly enough, that also means that for each day, 70pp/day breaks down to 20.33 pp/pbr.

on the beach

2006-05-17T17:15:00.000-04:00

On the beach at the bay, here on sleepy Edisto Island, SC. Kicking back in fine fashion, a set of brand new bocce balls at the ready, some cold PBRs in the cooler, and some light reading to pass the time. Delusions of grandeur, pretentious posturing, or just a yearning to be work for something? Some strange combination of the three drove me to pack the Brothers Karamazov for this trip, and again today to throw it in the bookbag.

Received a couple emails from Badabing records re: delays in shipping Beirut's album, due to delays in getting it repressed multiple times over. Pretty sweet for Beirut and Badabing! And just fine with me, as I was able to grab the album right before vacation, thanks to emusic.

Lastly, the picture above is from a set I put up back in the fall, after we returned from our September 05 trip to the Island, during which time Hurricane Rita was skirting up the coast and we flirted with a possible mandatory evacuation. In the end, though, we saw little more than wind- and also, day in and day out, incredible sunsets.

dayton disc golf

2006-05-11T12:01:00.000-04:00

first, in mp3 news, two new demos up at skulls across america - "the band", if you can call it a band. perhaps in the near future, some of the songs will find their way to a band setting. and perhaps I will learn how to record to a click track. the future really is wide open.

anyway, just back from business travel in dayton, ohio. in addition to being the home of the best bar in the universe, cold beer and cheeseburgers, where I can down the best burgers on the continent and enjoy fine beers like Chimay, Bass Ale, Someone or the other's oatmeal Stout, Straub, and Pabst, on this trip, Paul and I discovered that the Dayton area is home to four disc golf courses. We hit Belmont twice, the second time with our newly purchased disc golf discs (courtesy of the nearby head shop slash disc golf store).

beirut

2006-05-04T09:38:00.000-04:00

photo: from beirut's very own site

I unfortunately have absolutely nothing to add to the blogosphere re:Beirut. But I've had their songs stuck in my head for days, even after the mp3 player has been disconnected and the boombox in the van has been shut off. Jayna tells me that nobody says "boombox" anymore.

I'll say this- every other, maybe even two out of every three things that I read about Beirut seem to compare them to Neutral Milk Hotel. I suppose it makes me a lecherous outcast, but that comparison didn't give me any incentive to check out Beirut. Luckily, the album coming out next week is titled The Gulag Orkestar, and I think folks that know me will appreciate my instant admiration for an album title such as that.

anyway, here are the tracks haunting my waking hours:

Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar

Beirut - beluga

cold war kids

2006-05-02T07:34:00.000-04:00

photo: http://www.saveadog.org/success/bella2.asp

Interesting what things you find doing a google image search on "cold war kids." Another interesting fact: every new song of their's that I hear is as good as the last one.

Also of interest: they're on tour with tapes n tapes in June, hitting both Cleveland and Baltimore (both under 4-hour drives). Whereas I was a chump and didn't get tickets in time to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in Cleveland, and whereas seeing Magnolia Electric Co and Destroyer reminded me how much I like to see a good band bring the rock, therefore, I'd better hop to it.

Here are two tracks from their very own website.

Cold War Kids - left me in the morning

Cold War Kids - The Soloist In The Living Room

And definitely check out hang me up to dry and Hospital Beds, at least one of those is available on their own site and their myspace.

get down, in the dirt

2006-05-01T13:42:00.000-04:00

get down in the dirt was the first line of the chorus of the last song the old famous last words got down. a personal favorite of mine, wildly derivitave of the hot snakes i'm sure, but better them than Barry Manilow.

At some point, for no reason other than an exercise in learning how to record to hard-disk, I hope to get that song and about a dozen others recorded as clean as I can. Maybe I'll throw some of the old flw demos up in the meantime, if I can find the tapes in my library of tapes i've run through the old MT4X.

Anyway, I got down in the dirt on Saturday, as Jayna and I filled our three raised bed gardens with dirt. Lots of dirt. Two beds filled near the top, using approximately 3 tons of dirt. One bed left to finish this afternoon. And then on Sunday, I got down in the dirt as I attempted to golf for the first time in about two years. I hit a couple of stellar t-shots with the 3-wood (twice), and a 5-iron; hit one or two decent approach shots with the wedge and nine; and hit a couple good mid-range putts. Other than that, I pretty much botched every single shot that was between 30 and 100 yards out. Need to hit the range & the pitch and putt with nothing but a wedge and a nine iron... for the rest of the summer...

aquarium drunkard posted two Cold War Kids songs today, bringing my total CWKs collection up to four tracks. we'll see if my never-successful fiscal restraint can keep me from pulling the trigger on their shopping cart.

hey, are those my birds?

2006-04-28T09:59:00.000-04:00

while watching a great episode of The Office last night, I got to see this great American Express commercial. In the last shot, man, does Wes sound like Owen Wilson or what!

the silent press

2006-04-21T08:06:00.000-04:00

The Silent Press are a band from Roanoke, Virginia. Three of the gents made up three quarters of a band called the k word, and I was a big fan of that band. Wasn't sure how the new group was going to pan out- they were good the first few times I saw them, but the songs, particularly the recordings (admittedly demos) didn't seem to hit the same heights as the k word's output.

But then they put out their full length last year, and I realized they had left their former bands in the dust. We started a thunderstorm is a great album- the songs are catchy, the music isn't complicated for the sake of being complicated, and the album is interspersed with melodic instrumental passages that round out the songs and add, for me at least, a lot of depth to the listening experience. So here are the first two tracks of said album:

the silent press - 1 - swallow the fuse
the silent press - 2 - release form

time fades away

2006-04-19T09:21:00.000-04:00

img: tiny mix tapes

don't you know how time fades away?

don't you know how recording vinyl to wav (over cheap RCA cables) then converting to mp3 via Pyro is an imperfect science?

doesn't matter. Last Dance is a gem regardless of the sound quality, like the rest of this lost album. I'm really looking forward to covering Last Dance someday- maybe someday soon.

neil young - last dance

spring fever take 4

2006-04-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

spring fever continues to affect. played some 21 this week, even devising, w/ Jeremy, a form of 21 for one on one play. It was more fun than just playing a game of one on one- the basic changes to 21 are:
- max of three free throws in a row from the foul line. after three are made, posession changes and the other guy brings the ball in.
- on free throws, the defender must stand behind the foul line (this gives both players a chance to get to the rebound)
- play only stops for shooting fouls or fouls that result in a turnover; the fouled player brings the ball in from the top of the key.

Jeremy took all three games, but I can feel my shot coming back to me... hopefully. No golf as of yet, but I'm hoping to get some early morning saturday rounds in soon.

And lastly, a picture of the new cat (Rocket, the orange one) and the old cat, Lily. Coming soon: pictures and maybe even video of the two of them grappling- who needs cable when you can have a front-row seat at the fights every night?