Transition

Dear readers (all three of you), I love and respect you. Which is why I'm informing you of my new blog, which is actually the same as this blog, but in a new location. So yeah, click here. Enjoy the unicorn...

Sixties But Eighties

Best Interview Ever (Vol 1.)

R.I.P. Blender

Perfection #2

Tiga: (Far From) Home
Director: Nagi Noda
Different, 2006

What I Did Last Month

I went back to LA last month for a wee bit. Hung out with some friends, saw a homeless man that looked a lot like Samuel L. Jackson, realized that the homeless man was in fact Samuel L. Jackson, got a parking ticket, got my rental car towed, ate tacos, drank too little, soaked up some smog, etc. I bought a bunch of old albums too. This was one of them...



This cover pales in comparison to Stevie Wonder's original, but since buying Wild Honey last month, I haven't stopped listening to it. I just can't figure out why. Maybe because it (like a lot of the songs on the album) feels so slapped together. Rough almost, like a demo. Don't go into any of The Beach Boys' post-Pet Sounds material expecting that same level of detail and studio polish. Ok, well, the polish is still there, but the studio acts as a whole different kind of instrument from 67' on. Still, that doesn't mean that there isn't a great deal of gems to discover. A lot of people tend to ignore the band's post-60's output; and that, in my opinion, is a sad mistake.

Things...

Pro: I bought two tickets to Sufjan Stevens' Dallas show (Presale sold out in ten mintues! Geez.).

Con: My cars won't start. That's right, both of them. I own two, but trust me, it's not as extravagant as it sounds.

Serge Gainsbourg:

Quote of the Day

"I didn't write any songs [in 2008] because you can't pour manure into an espresso machine and expect a cappuccino to come out." -Jens Lekman

Poop man, Night Falls Over Kortedala was my favorite album of 2007. Hands down. And 2007 was a hell of a year. I got to see Jens at the Echo last year, which was pretty sweet, but as far as new material, nope. Until this little nugget came along this week. Huzzah.

Super Hipster Dance Party!!!

Alright, so this dance party really isn't that super, but the bearded guy shimmying his way in front of the camera is hilarious.



Harlem performing "Someday Soon" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson, Arizona. March 6th, 2010 (before the sound strike apparently [not an endorsement]).

Another Day in Paradise

Sometimes you really want to update your blog, but it's noon, you just woke up, ate an orange and are about to leave for a 5 mile run so you can comeback and eat the pint of Caramel Kettle Crunch ice cream sitting in your freezer and maybe, just maybe, catch an episode of Law & Order: SVU before work, when you realize that you could post an old Ice-T video and your two or three readers would be completely content with your effort. Happy Wednesday!

*not for the kiddies


Ice-T: Midnight
Director: ?
Sire/Warner Bros. Records 1991

I've never been a fan of hardcore gangsta rap (by contrast, I was listening to Nirvana while my cousins were trying to write "Thug Life" on their abs in Sharpie). Typically, the violent lyrics are just way too silly; but give me good production and I'll listen to a track forever. The Led Zeppelin sample really does it for me.

Bloodsport

"If you're in top physical health, and if you can handle it, getting beat up isn't the worst thing in the world." -Dean Spunt

No Age talk beat downs, Cosby kids, and their upcoming LP Everything in Between with Pitchfork's Tom Breihan. The entire sentence you're reading right now also doubles as a link to said interview. Technology!

Also, I saw the trailer for The Expendables earlier this week, and now all I want to do is get some friends together and liberate a small South American village. Next weekend maybe.

Perfection #1

New Order: Confusion
Director: ?
Factory Records (Fac 93) 1983

Teenage Symphonies to God

Very few bands have been able to communicate teenage angst in the way The Beach Boys did. Love, infatuation, failed relationships, missed opportunities, growing up, worry about the future, all conveyed in a manner that reveals just how important these youthful feelings are. In fact, these emotions aren't reserved just for adolescence, they extend into adulthood, and it's that truth that makes Brian Wilson's little masterpieces that much more relevant. I listened to this song for the first time last week during a run, and I'm kinda ashamed that I hadn't heard it sooner (I've had the album for a long time). From 65's Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) LP.

New York Groove (the original 1975 Hello version, not the lame 1978 Ace Frehley cover)

My friend Josh and I are in New York City right now for the first time. It's been pretty freaking awesome. We've been staying with some friends in Yonkers, taking the train to Manhattan, completely losing our personal space on the subway through the Bronx, surrounded by hipsters in the East Village, looking at a life-sized deceased JFK in a casket at The New Museum, getting stuffed at Kebab Garden (please, go check this place out if you're in town.), falling in love with Florine Stettheimer at The Met, running into cute tourists, cramped record stores, and trying to figure out what language we were hearing from one minute to another. We even ended up meeting Scott Shriner hanging outside of a storefront in the village. Chill dude. He told us about Weezer's show in Jersey earlier in the week, and his wife's new memoir. The cover looks like this...

















He told us we should check it out if we're into memoirs. I said, "We are." Still, that's not a guarantee that I'll get around to reading it. Maybe you will...[insert author's url here]

Truths #1

"The beard is an ancient and proud tradition." - Commander William T. Riker, U.S.S. Enterprise, 2368

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I fully expect this film to do the following...

1. Reform health care
2. Fix the national debt
3. Broker peace between Israel and Palestine
4. Provide global renewable energy sources and sustainable agriculture
5. Bring Conan back to late night

This will be the best (and worse) hour and a half of my life.

Thank You Alex

Alex Chilton died Wednesday night from what is believed to have been a heart attack. He was 59. I still remember the first time I heard a Big Star song. "September Gurls" streaming from my cheap desktop speakers. I must've listened to that track hundreds of times during that summer. I was a fan of Chilton's ever since; and more importantly, I discovered what something heavily creative, simple, and heartfelt actually felt like. It's like discovering Pet Sounds for the first time and really engaging it with your whole person. Everything. That's what it felt like for me when I listened to #1 Record, Radio City, or Third/Sister Lovers; and I'll never understand why more people outside of the independent music world never latched onto Big Star. If you don't know much about Alex Chilton, you owe it to yourself to get educated. There's no doubt in my mind that your favorite band probably owes him a huge debt.

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!

God, I love T-Rex. I'm not even kidding. Yeah, there were tons of similar glitter covered glam rock bands in the 70's, but not one (except for Bowie anyway) could compare to Marc Bolan. And that's just the way it is kids.

Christmas in February

Like Little Pete Wrigley's dancing tattoo when I was 9, No Age's Dean and Randy have always had a certain appeal to me. Yeah, it's their music that got my attention in the first place, but it's their DIY aesthetic that keeps me interested. That kind of thinking as applied to music is nothing new when you look at so many different artists throughout the years, but when so many kids are filling their formative years with "Party At A Rich Dude's House", a three minute punk song never felt more important.

Brand new No Age songs from Monday's Daytrotter session. Thanks Santa.

Two Hats

I sleep on a couch in a small one bedroom apartment in south Tulsa. My younger sister gets the bedroom. It's a temporary situation, and I'm not complaining, but after a few months of couch-sleep, I'm beginning to think that my dreams are becoming affected by the couch itself.

Do you wake up with sore joints?
Yes, this has happened from time to time.

Has your epidermis or hair follicles been affected in any way?
Yes, I typically wake up with strands of lint and small balls of cotton hidden throughout my beard.

Could you give a description of your last dream?
Last night I dreamt I was wearing two hats. Each hat very different from the other. One hat was a Soviet Coca-Cola baseball cap I found at thrift store in town a few months ago, while the other was a hat so remarkable in both its size and design that I can't even remember how it looked like. I'm not sure what this means.

Hmmm.
Hmmm.

And you think this has something to do with sleeping on your couch these past few months?
I'm not sure, but I promised I would update. So here ya go...

New Years Update (2010 Edition)

I'm alive, and like a Phoenix rises from the ashes, I shall update...eventually.
For now, I'm going thrifting.