Monday, December 29, 2008

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008

post 522. christmas day.


post 521. looks like its time to start stealing u2.

from rollingstone.com:

"U2 have revealed the five ways their new album No Line on the Horizon will be available on March 3rd. Besides compact disc and double vinyl, Horizon will also be offered as a $36 digipak featuring a 36-page booklet, a poster and a downloadable film directed by Anton Corbijn “featuring the music of U2.” $50 will get you the same package, except this time its housed in a “soft cover magazine-style book” with a 60-page booklet. Then there’s the Box Set version, which is pretty much the magazine version with a hardcover book, a second poster and a $96 price tag, according to Amazon. Hopefully the differences between the three deluxe packages will become more clear as we move closer to release date, as an additional $46 for hardcover may be a bit much with a recession going on. The track list has still not been announced, but “Crazy Tonight,” featuring Will.i.am, is expected to make the final cut."

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

post 513. my favorites of 2008.

nine inch nails, the slip. well, duh. when trent reznor was on the sauce (and…uh…everything else in the cabinet, so to speak) he would sit in the studio and tinker relentlessly with records. the new trent reznor, freed from both recreational pharmaceuticals and destructional record companies, likes to make shit and just give it away. for cheap (see: ghosts i-iv). and for free (you can still get it online). tighter than year zero, as techno-funky as  his best, the slip is a good promise of trent reznor to come.

metallica, death magnetic. if this record was the debut of some teeny-bop group of williamsburgers in tight jeans instead of the over-the-hill brazillionaires in armani, it’d be the greatest thing to hit metal since that mastodon craze of a few years back. how much do i like this record? i always skip tracks seven ("unforgiven iii?" really?), eight (a mess), and nine (*yawn*), and still think it sounds so good, it's almost ironic metal, which makes it even cooler. which would be ironic in itself, because it's metallica.

vampire weekend, self-titled. astonishingly simple, mind-numbingly catchy, and undeniably whistle-able. perhaps i’m still in a little afterglow of having seen them this past weekend, but you just can’t deny the attraction to this "upper west side soweto" shit. look at all these little kids, taking care of the music biz!

tv on the radio, dear science. perhaps i’m still in a little afterglow of having seen them buying coffee after me at the rabbithole a few months back, but you can’t deny the awesomeness of tv on the radio; of any hipster band out there, i can see tv on the radio having that kind of career where my kids ask, years from now, "you, our totally-uncool father, saw tv on the radio at a coffee shop?" and i will not only confirm that story, but lie and tell them that they asked me to play the zimbabotron with them for one week.

portishead, third. some bands go away, come back, have a lot of hype and glossy postcards to announce their return, and deliver a squishy turd. while portishead didn’t have to meet chinese democracy-level expectations, they still had two per-fek records to live up to. and they did.

living colour, live at cbgb’s. 2005 set of scorchin’ tracks at their home club; they still got it! 

rivers cuomo, alone ii. "my day is coming," "my day is coming," "my day is coming."

nine inch nails, ghosts. well, duh. it was just a regular sunday, like all the others, when suddenly there was a new nine inch nails record. for five bucks. a nice background to many different parts of your day, this 36-track instrumental record is suitable for reading the paper in the morning or walking through dark parts of brooklyn late at night.

colin meloy, sings live. mr. meloy is always charming and engaging in concert, and this one’s worth the price of admission just for “dracula’s daughter,” which mr. meloy maintains is the worst song he ever wrote.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

post 512. the curious world of 209 sand & gravel.





post 511. a new member of the family.

after having wanted a drum set for ever and for ever and a little couple days, i finally found myself in a position to buy one. have an apartment? not a lot of room? well, i figured i could buy one of these electronic puppies since you can't hear it unless it's plugged into an amp or headphones.

so jables and i went out to guitar center last night and i dropped some coin on the simmons sd7k. i did a little research (guitar center's web site) and thought it looked pretty good. bought a six of high life, and went to it.


jack tries his hand after the two hours i spend getting the damn thing together and positioned right.

i bought some headphones today and starting playing to the beatles, since i can plug my ipod into this fancy gizmo of drum-doodery and let ringo do all the teachin.'

Monday, December 08, 2008

Friday, December 05, 2008

Thursday, December 04, 2008

post 506. my musical endorsement of the day.

i've bought a few things over the past couple weeks that i think are worth supporting.

first off, the new living colour live record - recorded back in 2005 in support of the dying cbgb's - is second only to the much-lauded dread bootleg of many years ago in quality, vigor, and rock out-ness. living colour makes full use of the home field advantage (vernon reid points out that, for a while, the now-defunct rock club was the only place to hear the band), with scalding-hot versions of "type" and "ignorance is bliss."

aside from corey glover's laments about the band's age and one or two missteps (mr. glover, it is finally time to condense the beginning of "open letter to a landlord" to something less than four-and-a-quarter hours), it's prime-time living colour.

the decemberists have released the third portion of their always the bridesmaid series. i am behind this series one hundred percent, although i was too busy listening to the new rivers cuomo record to give the latest installment a thorough listening.

speaking of which, the mind-blower is rivers cuomo: he has released the second in what one would hope becomes a long series of alone: the home recordings. mr. cuomo's hobby tracks have always been a sort-of holy grail of weezer fans hoping that pinkerton ii would somehow be found in the recesses of shitty four-track recordings and seemingly disposed-of musical thoughts from the harvard nerd.

when one considers that this year's weezer record was supremely awesome for three songs, then dropped off the table into a pile of regrettable decisions and cockamamie schemes, it's frustrating to listen to the scope of amazing stuff mr. cuomo tinkers around with in his bedroom: space musicals, experiments into beach boys rhythms, and  the gorgeous "my day is coming." pretty friggin' awesome, and ten times better than the red album. it's a little scandalous to think about (especially when you think about drummer scott shriner's performance opposite ms. piggy in the "gone fishin'" video), but at this point, i'd rather forgo the weezer records and just listen to rivers cuomo.

now, the reason you should pick up the cd (i'm sure there's a digital booklet for itunes folks) is the liner notes. a fantastic read, and insight into one of pop's kookiest minds.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

post 501. i meet muzz skillings.

have i mentioned how much i love living in new york city? while on my way to meet up with cmar, i ran into living colour's first bass player, who now has a band called medicine stick. check it out.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

post 497. a review of "The view from here."

(l-r) scott c embler, me, sara towber, margaret dulaney (she wrote the play), lexi windsor, jennifer laine-williams.

"the view from here" opened last night, and we got reviewed...here. that is all.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Saturday, November 01, 2008

post 493. a small snippet of a project i call, "ten true-ish tales of nascar."

SCENE: The royal throne room of Hendrixius the Great, lying on a couch while bikinied women feed him grapes. His servant Diplodicus enters.

DIPLODICUS. [Kneels.] Your highness.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Yes, Diplodicus.

DIPLODICUS. Another chariot racer seeks entrance to the Royal Throne Room.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Yet another?

DIPLODICUS. Yes, my liege.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Oh, bother. Send him out with a fruit basket.

DIPLODICUS. I’m afraid I would counsel against such action in this case, oh noble sir.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Hm?

DIPLODICUS. The charioteer is none other than Similac, the eminent champion of the lesser leagues; with your patronage, he would race in the national chariot racer’s league.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Hm.

DIPLODICUS. He is also a plebian favorite, my liege. Quite popular. And again, champion of every league he has entered.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Every league?

DIPLODICUS. Yes, my liege.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. The Spartan League?

DIPLODICUS. Bested 300.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. The Philosopher’s League?

DIPLODICUS. Used the famed “Socratic Method” to pull out a stunning victory only last month.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. And what of…oh…Caesar’s race…thingy…what’s that league called?

DIPLODICUS. The Casaerian Section?

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. The other charioteers gave him a wide berth, oh great one.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Hm. [Pause as he thinks.] Well, The Oracle has spoken to me and I have made my choice of patronage. But…perhaps a multi-chariot team…

DIPLODICUS. Ahhh, my liege. It becomes ever so much more apparent how deep your lake of wisdom fathoms.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Certainly. [Diplodicus exits SR and reenters almost immediately. Announcing.] The famed chariot racer, Similac. [SIMILAC enters. He is a swaggering, gruff, pot-bellied redneck. He kneels.]

SIMILAC. [With discernible southern accent.] You are honored to find me kneeling at your revered feet, oh noble…yeah. So forth and such. [Stands, with a little difficulty.] Hiya, Hendrixius. What’s shakin’?

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Hm, Similac. Your southern accent – and manner – are quite prominent. You wish to race my chariots?

SIMILAC. Well, I would think you’d want me in one of your rides, Hendsy. With Hendrixius horse power underneath me, I can be the greatest champion of the kingdom. I’ve paid my dues: I’ve broken each arm once, my legs twice, my big tow thrice. And if you want, I can raise my eye patch and show you what Ben Hur did to me this past spring.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. Ben Hur?

SIMILAC. He’s a cur.

HENDRIXIUS THE GREAT. You’re sure?

SIMILAC. Caused quite a stir.

Friday, October 24, 2008