mitre

surfacing

2010-08-01T17:47:00.004-05:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? I hope you're well.

I had to turn off most of the commenting on this blog because it was getting overrun with spam. If you want to leave a comment, you can submit it for my personal approval.

I've been recording a lot of stuff lately. I've added three new songs to my ancient myspace page: "lunar flares," "shimmering wire," and "on the rim again." Check 'em out. "on the rim again" is a new recording of a thing I first recorded 10 (!) years ago. However, I've edited out all traces of the original piece. I've enabled downloading, so you can listen to them again and again, should you please.

More eventually...

new music

2010-04-22T18:09:00.002-05:00

I put a new "piece" up on myspace. It's called ";lentil22" for some reason.

mitre 2010

2010-01-14T20:19:00.001-06:00

I put some new tunes up on my myspace page.

I hereby pronounce myself ready to perform again. It's been 3 years since the last mitre show.

You've been warned.

welcome home, squeaky fromme

2009-08-14T13:06:00.002-05:00

in celebration of this momentous occasion, I have uploaded a new song to my long-dormant myspace account

it's an edited version of a much longer piece. enjoy!

and then what?

2009-04-20T18:37:00.002-05:00

been recording off and on for about a month. working on some new materials and whatnot. you know-"rockin' out" in general.

thinking about trying to get a show or two.

going to maine to visit family and friends (but most of them don't know it yet!)

enjoying the transition, finally to spring.

A Free Man

2009-01-15T07:42:00.005-06:00

Rest in peace, Number Six. You are now a free man.

Patrick McGoohan, 1928-2009

The Last Name In Home Defense

2008-11-30T18:19:00.003-06:00

saw this a few weeks ago:

which of course made me wonder what a burglar would think if faced with this:

Thought for the day

2008-11-18T20:07:00.000-06:00

Pirates stopped being cool when they stopped wearing eyepatches, wobbling around on peg-legs, and yelling "ARRR" at their parrots. Hijacking an oil tanker? Give me Spanish doubloons any day.

More classic advertising

2008-11-14T18:01:00.003-06:00

Okay, I lied. This blog IS just going to wind up being a bunch of crap I found on Youtube.

This commercial always used to run during The Simpsons while I was in college. I used to watch The Simpsons three times a day, so I saw this a LOT. While watching the show this evening, I was reminded of this bizarre-ass ad featuring Chicago radio celebrity Mancow, some chick's chichis, and...well, I'll leave the third character for you to discover for yourself.

value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zx8gT-_CBjA&hl=en&fs=1">

PSA

2008-11-04T07:00:00.003-06:00

VOTE

thoughts mid-debate

2008-10-15T21:06:00.001-05:00

have you been playing? I have.

it's gonna be a long day tomorrow.

Rules for this here debate

2008-10-15T19:58:00.003-05:00

I whipped this up this afternoon:

Take one drink if McCain:

Uses the word “maverick”
Uses the phrase “Main Street”
Says “reach across the aisle”
Says “my friends”
Says Obama “doesn’t understand”
Mentions or alludes to the fact that he’s a vet/was a POW
Ties himself to Petraeus

Take two drinks if McCain:

Makes obvious Jew-pandering remarks such as “second holocaust”
Makes references or weird allusions to Sarah Palin (“I wasn’t voted Miss Congeniality in the Senate” for example)
Brings up Ayers after Obama points out that he was only 8 when Ayers was active in the Weather Underground

Take three drinks if McCain:

Ties himself to Bush and distances himself from Bush within the same answer.
Accuses Obama of wanting to launch strikes into Pakistan, then says he’d launch strikes into Pakistan
Blames the media for the fact that his campaign is an utter failure

Take a shot if McCain, in a desperate plea for sympathy, mentions either Cheney or Nancy Reagan being hospitalized.

Take five shots if McCain snaps, starts babbling incoherently, and finally drops the n-word.

Good luck out there.

Classic advertising

2008-10-07T13:16:00.003-05:00

So, so classy. Should be titled "Do you swallow?"

The President Addresses The Nation

2008-09-25T08:10:00.002-05:00

Not pictured: John McCain, who has missed 412 of the last 643 Senate votes, including all but one since March, but suddenly decides that he's the only one who can save the country. Who does he think he is, Tom Cruise?

RIP

2008-09-18T17:51:00.002-05:00

Not to turn this blog into just a bunch of clips from Youtube, but in memory of Norman Whitfield, here's a great tribute to Motown (sort-of), and one of my favorite songs of all time, "Levi Stubbs' Tears" by Billy Bragg:

And in memory of Richard Wright:

Tina Fey FTW!

2008-09-14T10:12:00.000-05:00

Real Estate tip

2008-09-13T14:21:00.004-05:00

Here's a tip if you're considering buying a condo in Chicago from Absolute Builders.

1) Take all your money and put it in a big pile.

2) Cover it in gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, or another flammable liquid.

3) Toss a match.

4) Keep renting.

FUCK Absolute Builders. They should rename themselves "Absolute Pile-of-Shit Douchebag Hellhole Vendors"

We could pick any two random people off the street (conscious or otherwise) and they'd do a better job of fixing our roof than these assclowns. "Oh, we'll fix it right away!" BULLSHIT. Don't ever buy from these assholes.

Sorry, had to vent.

Brief political thought

2008-09-04T06:22:00.001-05:00

Sorry, I almost never post about politics here, but I felt like I needed to say something:

To the people who claim that John McCain's VP pick's teenage daughter's pregnancy is nobody's business, I pose the following question:

What, exactly, will it take you to see that abstinence-only education doesn't work? How blind can you possibly be that you're backing a policy that's so completely irrational that you can't even get it to work IN YOUR OWN HOME?

We return you now to your regularly-scheduled blog silence.

The ad that broke my brain

2008-08-25T13:57:00.001-05:00

I was looking up something on IMDB the other day, when I noticed this ad at the bottom of the page. I think it broke my brain.

Seriously, what's the thought process here? "do you eat popcorn once a month?" "do you often find yourself falling for the old 'cut the bottom out of the popcorn bag' trick?"

Please, if you've got any thoughts on this, let me know.

Political thought for the day

2008-08-07T06:29:00.002-05:00

George W. Bush criticizing China over its human rights record is like Keith Richards telling people not to do drugs.

misanthropy

2008-07-17T19:40:00.003-05:00

I've always been a misanthrope, even before I knew there was a word for it. Face it, folks, the majority of the populace just isn't worth your time. You know it's true. There's a lot of dumb folks out there. The 2000 election was a pretty good showing, but 2004 sealed the deal. And it's not just politics. The people I encounter on a daily basis, in my commute, at the grocery store, everywhere. But especially on the internet.

Cue rickety transition to the point of this post.

So I've made a resolution for the new year. Not the calendar year, obviously. It's July, it's a bit late for that. No, I'm talking about my birthday, which really snuck up on me this year. Anyhow, my resolution is that I'm no longer going to read the forums on the Chicago Tribune. I think it's endemic to the internet as a whole, but especially online forums that practically guarantee one's anonymity, that people are at their absolute worst. The word vile doesn't even begin to cut it. People are simply wretched to one another on the internet. This isn't even in response to a specific instance--it's not as though somebody out there hurt my feelings. Trust me, I don't care what some other anonymous asshole thinks of my idiotic opinions. No, it's a bigger problem than that. I rarely comment on their forums, but I often read them.

No longer.

I'm sick of people dragging politics in where it doesn't belong. I'm sick of people making wild accusations about stuff that isn't even remotely true. I'm sick of people believing their own stupid bullshit. The bullshit they repeat to themselves, convincing themselves it's true. We're talking about people who have their heads so far up their own asses that they get pissed off when someone commits suicide on the CTA tracks and forces them to be late for a meeting.

I just don't need it, and that's that.

On another, and totally unrelated topic: to whoever accidentally found my blog by googling the phrase "I hate mitre": dude, you made my day. Thanks!

Dead Asshole Alert!

2008-07-06T14:29:00.003-05:00

Have a nice slumber, douchebag. As Frank Zappa once said, "If there is a Hell, it waits for them, not us."

(thanks to The Onion for the image)

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T12:28:00.003-05:00

Two people on my mind this Memorial Day:

1) Paul Stevens, my mother's father, who passed away two years ago next month. He was a Tin Can Sailor (that's a Destroyer veteran for you landlubbers) in WWII and Korea. He was a kind, wonderful man, and is greatly missed.

2) Adrian Bonenberger, a college friend of mine serving with the Rangers in Afghanistan. I know Memorial Day is supposed to be for those who have died, but still, he's on my mind. Check out his blog--it's gripping, sometimes hilarious reading.

Random rules

2008-05-01T20:09:00.003-05:00

The Onion AV Club has a feature called "Random Rules" where they ask a celebrity to put their iPod on shuffle and they comment on the first 5 or so tracks that come up, not skipping anything, embarrassing guilty pleasures included. So I figured I'd try the same thing because hey, I love music. If it turns out well, I might just do it again, 'cause hell, I've got more than 15,000 songs on my iPod. Wish me luck:

1) The Afghan Whigs: "Going To Town" -- Black Love is the last great Afghan Whigs album. It's some kind of concept album or something, and it's got some shit-hot songs on it. I think "Going To Town" was a single. If it wasn't, it should have been--it's got that great soul feel that Dulli is so fond of and a really huge-sounding chorus with some really effective string overdubs on it.

2) Matthew Sweet: "Sick Of Myself" -- One of my co-workers who likes Matthew Sweet thinks 100% Fun is one of his worst albums, but I think it's pretty good ("Smog Moon" is one of my favorite Matthew Sweet songs). This, the first track, is a pretty pounding, angsty anthem. I saw him on this tour, and he was really good, despite the fact that he was playing in a gym to a bunch of idiots who were trying to mosh. This was at the point where people would have tried to (and probably did) mosh to Counting Crows.

3) King Crimson: "The Talking Drum" -- The mighty Crim. "The Talking Drum" never struck me as a standalone track--it's really just one big crescendo intro to "Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part Two." Of course, it features some abstract playing from Fripp. It's less ferocious, but no less fun, than live versions from the same period. It comes from the Larks' Tongues In Aspic album, which marks the beginning of KC's great period. This is the one studio album featuring the fabled Jamie Muir. Fortunately for fans, Fripp's record label, DGM, has released several live shows featuring Muir, the centerpieces of which are lengthy improvisations showcasing how well the band played together, playing off one another rather than simply "jamming" (noodling). I'm not as big into KC as I once was, but the period from late 72 to 75 still amazes me.

4) Eyvind Kang: "Doorway to the Sun" -- My friend Caleb turned me on to Eyvind Kang, a dizzyingly talented multi-instrumentalist and composer. He's done work with a number of other musicians including Bill Frisell and the incredible Sun City Girls. This track comes from Virginal Co-Ordinates and features Mike Patton on vocals. The album was mostly recorded live in an abandoned theater in Bologna, so there's a really huge, echoey, resonant quality to the music. The drums, in particular, sound like crashes of thunder. "Doorway to the Sun" is almost 20 minutes long, a spidery, complex web of themes and textures. It's really beautiful. This interview with Kang says more about it than I could. Some of his albums I don't like that much, but this one (along with The Story of Iceland and Live Low To The Earth, In The Iron Age) are highly, highly recommended.

5) Frank Zappa "Lil' Clanton Shuffle" -- Ah, finally it comes out. I'm a huge Zappa freak. If you know me, you know this. Hot Rats is one of my favorite Zappa albums, and this track is an outtake from those sessions released on an album called The Lost Episodes. It's a basic instrumental blues jam featuring some great violin playing by Don "Sugarcane" Harris, who I first took notice of through his fantastic playing on Hot Rats.

well, that's all for tonight. hope you enjoyed it.

thoughts on the last day of renting

2008-04-24T14:42:00.002-05:00

we move tomorrow. I feel really far behind. Had to spend the morning on the phone getting our address switched on our electric, gas, bank, credit card, student loan, and telephone accounts. there ought to be one form you can fill out and just mail it out to everyone saying "Hey guys, here's my new address." But no.

Also, don't ever get the "Philly cheesesteak" at Subway. It bears about as much resemblance to an actual Philly cheesesteak as a White Castle slider does to filet mignon.

And finally, I started listening to Oasis again. I listened to the first too albums WAY too much my first two years of college, and then they released "Be Here Now" which, let's be fair, has some major problems. And then the Brothers Gallagher kicked out most of the rest of the band. After they stopped sleeping on pillows full of cocaine, though, their music kind of improved. I'm not going to say that they're a great band, but their last few albums have been fairly entertaining. Seriously. I should stop while I'm ahead, shouldn't I?

ESL

2008-04-19T09:58:00.003-05:00

This is the fusebox in our new condo.

The foul anus of America

2008-03-06T19:26:00.002-06:00

I have seen the darkest orifice of this great nation, and it is Las Vegas. Everything the terrorists say about us is true in that city that makes sin less appealing than a root canal.

I'll back up. One of Kim's best friends got married in Vegas, so to play the good husband, I went along for the ride. The wedding was cool, all of the bride and groom's relatives are great, but that city is the antithesis of everything that's good. It's like a frat party in a shopping mall. It's where a huge chunk of our nation's social security checks go...and stay. It's a town full of machines that are just like ATM's in reverse--you put your money in and walk off. It sucks, sucks, sucks.

I can't put my loathing and distaste for Las Vegas into words, but if I could, it might read a bit like this, which ends with a fair summation of what Las Vegas is really like: " all the shitty shit from this country, piled up on top of each other, wrapped up with a bunch of flashing Christmas lights to distract you from the stench. "

yeah yeah yeah

2008-02-18T20:13:00.004-06:00

The shittiest excuse for a blog you've ever seen is back! My computer crapped out, so I had to buy a new hard drive for it. In the process, I lost my top-10 list of music for 2007 (it included the new Dinosaur Jr., "New Moon" by Elliott Smith, and "The Dub Room Special" by Frank Zappa, but the rest I can't recall off the top of my head) as well as some music I was working on. The lesson here?

Backup, kids.

So yeah, here I am.

I'm part of Amazon.com's Vine program, in which basically they send me free shit to review, which is pretty awesome. So far, the majority of the available stuff hasn't really appealed to me. However, I got a book recently that, frankly, is awesome. It's called A Fraction of the Whole by the Australian writer Steve Toltz. It's about a kid learning about his family's bizarre past, and carving out his own weird life in reaction. It's got famous criminals, criminally-overlooked criminal memoirists, misanthropic philosophers, artists, the Arabian mafia, and various people of unknown origins. It's hilarious, well-written, and touching. I'd been in a rut where I hadn't read anything great in quite a while, but this book has really rejuvenated me. So, everybody out there, buy this book, get it from your local library, do whatever, but you should definitely check it out.

In A Nutshell Movie Review: Dreamcatcher

2007-11-14T20:14:00.000-06:00

Inspired by this article from the Onion AV Club, I decided to watch Lawrence Kasdan's adaptation of the Stephen King book Dreamcatcher. My review:

Sure it's like someone put Clerks, Stand By Me, and Close Encounters into a blender, but it's got two great things going for it: product placement for Geary's and intergalactic butt weasels.

What's that you say? Two months, and all you get is intergalactic butt weasels? In response, I'll quote a line from Dreamcatcher, adapted for the screen by William Goldman, who also penned such butt-weasel-free films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A Bridge Too Far, and Heat:

Bite my bag.

mitre on DVD!

2007-09-06T21:29:00.000-05:00

well...not really. in fact, it's not mitre at all.

First things first: I'm a huge film nerd. There's an amazing company called The Criterion Collection that puts out a lot of foreign, arthouse, and indie movies on DVD. I've been a fan for years. In February, they announced that they were going to put out a special edition DVD of Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth, which I've always loved. They allowed people to email them with questions for Jarmusch, and he picked some and answered them for a feature on the disc. My copy arrived today, and much to my surprise, mine was one of the questions he answered!

So yeah. I'm a huge dork, but I think that's really cool.

mitre goes digital

2007-09-04T21:15:00.001-05:00

for quite some time, I've been getting frustrated with my 4-track. sure, it's probably just that I need to clean the heads to get rid of that annoying hiss, but it's still a pain to get the files to CD. so about a month ago I bought a Line 6 Toneport UX1:

in a word: awesome. I'm not using it to put all kinds of cheeseball synths on my stuff or anything; I'm basically just using it as a digital multitracker.

and now, I present a new song (given the unfortunate temporary title "untitled thingo") right here. as the guy who used to man the wrap station at my college dining hall used to say, enyoy.

totally hilarious commercial

2007-08-08T18:43:00.000-05:00

Generally I ignore commercials, and almost always mute them when they come on. I saw this one earlier this evening with the sound off, and almost died laughing. Watch it quick, before it gets yanked:

dude, you're killin' me

2007-08-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

I'm an editor. As such, I consider myself a connoisseur of language. The English language keeps me fed and puts a roof over my head. For that reason, the following conversation, which I overheard in the grocery store last night, pains me greatly:

Woman (holding up two lemons): Is this going to be enough?
Man: That'll be, like, way enough.

On the other hand, the following exchange, which took place between a co-worker and I as I passed her in the hall earlier today, struck me as particularly hilarious:

Her (upon seeing me): Dude.
Me: What?
Her: Nothin'.
Me: Cool.

That was the entire exchange. I don't think seeing it on a screen really gives it justice. Go get a friend and re-enact it. Trust me, it's funny.

Realization

2007-07-26T19:11:00.001-05:00

Best song about slutty nuns: "Sister Anne" by the MC5

Such truth, such beauty, such purity
She wears a halo around her head
She's got the Ten Commandments tattooed on her arm
If she died she'd rise up from the dead
She's every man saviour and Mama too
If you do it she said she'll save hell from you
She can I know she can
I know she can
She's my Sister Anne

French politics

2007-07-24T20:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, this has been on my mind for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to blogging about it. And really, isn't that what blogging is about--writing about the minutae that occupies one's every waking moment?

I digress.

I present to you, motion picture icon Jean-Paul Belmondo and French president Nicolas Sarkozy...but which one's which?

Diversify Yo' Bonds

2007-07-20T06:39:00.000-05:00

Saw GZA perform Liquid Swords in its entirety at this year's Pitchfork festival. The festival's sound sucked, and most of the people near the stage had camped out to see Sonic Youth and didn't give a damn about GZA, so the crowd's energy was pretty low. The show was excellent, though, and everyone really got into it when, as an encore, GZA led the crowd in "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" as a tribute to ODB.

How to get a free rental car

2007-06-11T08:09:00.001-05:00

A honeymoon anecdote:

Kim's grandmother lives in St. Augustine, and she was unable to come up to Chicago for our wedding. We went to Florida for our honeymoon, so on Thursday we rented a car to drive up to see her. The guy (who looked just like Sean Astin) from the rental place picked us up at our hotel and drove us to their office. We filled out the requisite paperwork, and he took us out to the car. He went over the exterior, cataloguing the minor bumps and scratches, then opened the car to take a quick peek inside. On the floor of the driver's side was a half-empty bottle of ephedrine (or some other over-the-counter speed alternative). He tried to brush it off, but when he discovered the empty condom wrapper under the driver's seat, we started to wonder just what had gone on in that car.

We drove to St. Augustine, had a great time with Kim's grandmother, her Uncle David, and cousin Stephanie, then drove back down to Orlando.

At some point during the drive, I opened the glove compartment only to discover an empty bottle of KY Jelly. It was empty not because whoever had used the car previously had had such a great time, but because they had neglected to put the cap on correctly and it had leaked all over the inside of the glovebox.

Ever seen Ghostbusters? You know the scene in the library where they're trying to collect the ectoplasm? It was like that.

When we took the car back, I said to the Sean Astin guy "I just want you to know, we didn't make the mess in the glovebox." His interest (and perhaps horror) was piqued, so he came out to take a look. It was hard to tell what the ratio of amusement to embarassment was, but it was clearly a little of both. Since we'd returned the car the same day, and hadn't even gone very far, and because we were subject to, shall we say, extreme circumstances, Mr. Astin was kind enough to tell us we didn't need to pay.

So, to recap. To get a free rental car, make sure the glovebox is full of personal lubricant.

it was a lovely wedding...

2007-06-05T06:19:00.001-05:00

gettin' hitched tommorow

2007-06-02T08:09:00.001-05:00

Goodbye, Virgin

2007-05-19T09:55:00.000-05:00

I work right down the street from the Virgin Megastore. I admit to having shopped at the corporate megagiant. It's been great for buying "classic" cd's during their weekly sales. Filling in my Pink Floyd collection was never so easy. I feel somewhat conflicted about the store's closing. On the one hand, it's a trend that's been going on in our fair city for more than a year (first Crow's Nest, then Tower, and now Virgin). I'm sure this will lead industry heads to herald the death of the retail music store, and use it as fodder for their anti-digital music positions. On the other hand, you'd think they'd figure out by now that charging $18 for a CD is utterly ridiculous, especially when the same CD can be bought cheaper over the internet. In addition, maybe if they spent less money supporting and marketing utterly disposable pap, and spent more on developing artists with something to say other than "baby baby baby," their sales wouldn't be flagging.

acid mothers day, again

2007-05-10T19:56:00.000-05:00

saw Acid Mothers Temple on their annual stateside tour. They were good (their new drummer, Shimura Koji, who also played on all the Cosmic Inferno albums, is phenomenal), and there was a new arrangement of La Novia that was a welcome treat. Unfortunately, Higashi was having some equipment problems and I was standing right in front of him, watching him grow increasingly frustrated at both his equipment and the sound guy, who never noticed that he was asking for the synthesizer to be turned down in his monitor. Aside from these things, a good show. The opening band, however, I thought was pretty rancid. They were from the crop of new sword-and-sorcery metal bands. They were wearing "robes" that were clearly old bedsheets safety-pinned together. The singer put reverb on his vocals and intoned (there's no other word for it) "We have traveled many miles to be here..." They have songs about dragons. Really. I saw a chick in a Rush t-shirt and another guy in a denim Iron Maiden coat. I couldn't tell if any of it was ironic or not, but it didn't really matter because it was all so soul-crushingly lame.

These people are listening to the same music that the guys who beat them up for their lunch money in grade school used to listen to.

mad phat gong hits

2007-04-21T19:55:00.000-05:00

Bridget, you totally rule.

sadness

2007-03-06T20:43:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to think of something to say about this since I heard, but I've been coming up pretty short. But here's what I got.

Charles Gocher of the Sun City Girls died of cancer. He was 54. Calling Charlie a "drummer" is like saying Stanley Kubrick made a movie or two. Charlie was extraordinarily creative, talented artist. Unfortunately, much of the Girls' recorded output is out of print or extraordinarily difficult to find. Some of Charlie's finest work can be found on the double-disc (triple-lp) set Dante's Disneyland Inferno. Seek it out.

This excellent blog has posted a ton of hard-to-find SCG mp3's.

I was fortunate enough to see the Girls twice. Probably the most memorable moment involved Charlie leaving the kit, grabbing a mic, scat singing, then leaping over his kit and landing on the downbeat to join back into the song. Words don't adequately describe how amazing he was. He'll be missed.

update

2007-02-01T21:39:00.000-06:00

went to Maine for a week. saw Big Blood twice. Played a gig (with Big Blood). Helped a friend of mine move into a new house. Celebrated my grandmother's 83rd birthday. Got engaged.

you know. same ol', same ol'.

better of 2006 list

2007-01-05T18:11:00.000-06:00

Here it is, the post you've all been waiting for. Anxiously.

Over the past week, I've been going back over the records that I bought that came out in 2006. It was actually kind of a disappointing experience. Sure, there were some totally, totally great records, but for the most part they were records by bands who, honestly, I expected more from. The new ones by TV On The Radio, The Evens, Drive-By Truckers, Eleventh Dream Day, Mudhoney, Pinebender, and the Minus 5 were all good records, but certainly not as good as some of their other stuff (though admittedly the Mudhoney album in particular was far better than I expected it to be). Robert Pollard's "From A Compound Eye" is quite good, as are the new Victory at Sea and Mogwai, but they just didn't totally blow me away (although admittedly the Mogwai album in particular was far better than I expected it to be). The new Mission of Burma was good, but not as good as "onOFFon" (no matter what the general consensus was). Incidentally, Mission of Burma get my "lyric of the year" award for the line "I'm haunted by the freakish size of Nancy Reagan's head."

However, I was able to select ten records this year that were head and shoulders above the rest. For me, anyway. As I did last year (I'm too lazy to figure out how to link to it, but it was on December 22, 2005), I'll present these in alphabetical order:

Acid Mothers Temple -- "Myth Of The Love Electrique" -- 4 songs of about 20 minutes each, featuring Kawabata Makoto's trademark freakout guitar, Tsuyama Atsushi's twisted genius (and thank god his bass is finally in the mix!), and a new singer.

Bardo Pond -- "Ticket Crystals" -- I saw them live just before this album came out and they started with a new song that totally killed. It turned out to be "Destroying Angel," the first song off this album. It drags a bit in the middle, but it's their best album in a while.

Neko Case -- "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" -- Hands-down my favorite album of the year. There are very few albums that I like every song on, and even fewer that I listen to start-to-finish every time I listen to them, but this is one. It's a bit on the short side, but every song on here is great. Case gets song of the year for "Hold On, Hold On" from this album.

The Decemberists -- "The Crane Wife" -- Sure it's kind of pretentious and Colin Meloy's voice gets annoying, but if you can get on board with that, it's pretty damn good. It's weirdly proggy, from the mud-in-a-bucket percussion at the beginning of "The Island" (from the beginning of "Easy Money" by King Crimson) to the Keith Emerson keyboards on the same song, but not in a way that detracts from its listenability.

Robyn Hitchcock -- "Olé Tarantula" -- With an all-star backing band (Scott "Young Fresh Fellows" McCaughey, Bill "Ministry" Rieflin, and Peter "some shitty garage band" Buck, all of whom are from the Minus 5), Hitchcock presents his best work since his last record. I can't believe he still writes great songs, but he does.

Motorpsycho -- "Black Hole/Blank Canvas" -- After the departure of longtime drummer Håkon "Geb" Gebhardt, I was concerened that the new Motorpsycho would be kind of cruddy. Especially after I learned that the two remaining band members had essentially recorded a double-album by themselves. The result, however, is easily Motorpsycho's best album since 1998's "Trust Us." Motorpsycho are probably the only band who shatter the "rule" that double-albums would be better off as single albums. They've done it, by my count, 4 times (Timothy's Monster, Blissard, Angels and Daemons At Play, Trust Us, and now Black Hole/Blank Canvas--I don't think Demon Box is that good).

Om -- "Conference of the Birds" -- Ah, Om. The two-man bass-and-drums stoner-doom duo who out-sludge just about everyone. Much better than their debut album, "Conference of the Birds" clocks in at 33 minutes, so it's really more of an EP. But what a great EP it is.

Phantom Buffalo -- "Killing's Not Okay" -- I've gone on and on about how great these guys are, and this EP is no exeption. Beautiful harmonies, surreal songwriting, excellent musicianship -- they've got it all. Available from Time-Lag.

Sun City Girls -- "Static From The Outside Set" -- For their first installment in their "Carnival Folklore Ressurection" series since 2004, the all-guy Girls chose to release a radio program they created for On The Wire. It encapsulates pretty much everything about the Sun City Girls, from virtuoso guitar excursions to spoken word bizzareness to an assortment of covers (I have to say, if anyone out there has any pull with the Girls, PLEASE tell them to release their cover of Love's "Alone Again Or"!), to things that honestly can't quite be described.

Neil Young -- "Living With War" -- Neil is a very impulse-driven guy. Sometimes it's to his benefit, sometimes not. In the case of "Living With War," he's put out his best record in a decade at least. My brother and I have talked about this before, and at this point in his career, it would be totally understandable if Neil never put out a truly great record again. He doesn't owe anything to anybody. And yet, he's still out there making great music. Sure, it's no "Ragged Glory" or "On The Beach," but it's great in its own way.

I also wanted to give special mention to several reissues and special editions that came out this year:

Boris -- "Pink" -- A number of places listed this on their best-of-2006 lists, but I'm putting it in this section because it originally came out in Japan in 2005. Ranging from free-floating ambience to shoegazey rock to head-pummelling thrash, this record's got it all.

Billy Bragg -- "Volume I" and "Volume II" -- Two box sets from the electric troubador, featuring double-disc special editions of all of his albums, including outtakes, demos, live songs, and video. There are some real dogs on here (a dance mix of "England, Half English"? WTF?), but some great revelations as well (solo versions of songs that became cluttered and cruddy on William Bloke).

Uncle Jim -- "Uncle Jim's Superstars of Greenwich Meantime" -- A CD issue of the 2005 LP. Totally, totally great stuff from everybody's favorite chain-smoking horror film fan.

Frank Zappa -- "MOFO" -- Available in 2-disc and 4-disc versions, MOFO (The Making of Freak Out!) is an audio documentary on the making of Frank Zappa's 1966 album Freak Out! featuring the original vinyl mix of the album, contemporary and later interviews on the making of the record, and dozens out outtakes. Purportedly the first in a series. I, for one, anxiously await the Making of Hot Rats.

So there you have it. The music that rocked my world in 2006. Who knows what goodies 2007 will bring?

Annual Book List

2006-12-31T13:02:00.000-06:00

At the end of every year, I create a list of the best books I read during that year, and this year is no different. Click here to view my 2006 list at Amazon.com.

In other developments, I saw Cains & Abels, Partisan, and Real Live Tigers on Friday night. So many friends on one bill--it was a great night.

I'll be in Maine at the end of January, and Caleb set me up with a gig at Strange Maine in Portland on January 20. Caleb and Colleen will be playing as Big Blood, and Visitations and Tim Feeney + Vic Rawlings will also be playing. Oh, and it's FREE (donations accepted).

Stay tuned (get it?) for my Best Music of 2006 list, which is delayed owing to the out-crappage of my iPod. I'm having to re-rip all of my CD's and re-load them to my iPod, at which point I can reassess the records that came out in 2006 and figure out which ones I think are the best (though I already know which one is number one).

err...

2006-12-21T06:43:00.000-06:00

so I've been remiss in my blogging duties. I didn't realize how many people anxiously await my every word (sorry Rudy!), and I apologize. Work has been ultra-hectic, but never fear, I will soon join the throngs of year-end posters. Because I know you're all curious: what did Scott think were the best records of 2006? What books did he read? Does he have a date for the prom? Is it true he once ate a whole elephant full of ice cream? The answers to these and many other questions: coming soon to a monitor near you.

bacon

2006-11-23T10:16:00.000-06:00

So, I was going to post about how bummed I was that Robert Altman died, and go into a brief summary of some of my favorite Altman films. Or about how great it was to see The Evens. Or about how excited I am that I'll be playing a show when I'm in Maine in January.

Instead, following a discussion I recently had with Kim, I'm posting this:

happy day, you turkeys.

Zappy Halloween!

2006-10-31T00:01:00.000-06:00

Buy My CD's

2006-10-05T18:40:00.000-05:00

Loki asked me to take a few minutes to tell you about two new CD's by the band "mitre." the first one is called fold your wings and it contains 8 tracks and is 44 minutes long. it contains a variety of textures, and the conclusion, "Until The Day Breaks And The Shadows Flee Away," is one of my favorite things I've ever done.

the other is titled in the middle of the night in a dark house somewhere in the world, and it contains 1 track and is 49 minutes long--it's kind of a meditative, lucid dream, nearly-asleep, almost-hallucinating, floating, flying, transcendent kind of deal. a relaxing, mellow, droney time.

oh, and they're ALL THE WAY FROM AUSTRALIA! in beautiful sleeves!

so if you're interested, contact me. I'm selling these bad boys for $7 apiece or $12 for both.

oh, and I played a gig at South Union Arts. It was a good gig--South Union Arts is a really beautiful place to play, and it has great acoustics.

live at the fireside bowl

2006-08-06T22:07:00.000-05:00

good show, though I only ended up playing for 15 minutes because I didn't bring a watch and had no idea how long I'd played for and didn't want to run over (though in retrospect, who would have cared?). Taylor had some equipment problems, and Black Apple got heckled, but for the most part my set was fine.

thanks to Kim for the photos, and to everyone who came out to see me play.

The bright side

2006-07-24T09:34:00.000-05:00

The guy tending bar looked EXACTLY like Rich Hall.

just like high school

2006-07-23T11:38:00.000-05:00

Due to a series of friend-of-a-friend referrals, I was asked to play a benefit for a local non-profit theatre. I was honored to be asked, so of course I agreed. Now, generally I don't have a problem playing to an empty room, but when the follow-up act is a DJ who shows up, places his turntable at my feet during my set, and asks "Are you really playing right now?", I just have to wonder whose time WASN'T being wasted.

However, I'm playing a show at the Fireside Bowl on August 4 with Octagon Island and Black Apple. Should be totally sweet.

ups and downs

2006-07-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

it's been a while. here's what I've been up to. In the past month, I:

*saw Bardo Pond at Schuba's

*saw Phantom Buffalo at some very small bar that apparently turns into a death-metal place after midnight

*saw my grandfather twice

*went to his funeral

*scheduled a show for August 4 at the Fireside Bowl with Octagon Island and Black Apple.

sad

2006-06-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

this is a photograph of me and my grandparents from about a year and a half ago. my grandfather is in the hospital with esophageal cancer and pneumonia. he will never go home. I've never felt so utterly unable to help.

make sure to tell the people you love that you love them.

windy & carl

2006-06-04T14:19:00.000-05:00

saw Windy & Carl last night at some weird "gallery" (read: big, mostly empty room with a couple of pieces of "art" on the walls). They headlined, playing after three thoroughly uninteresting laptop "performers." It was worth the wait, but the wait was pretty excrutiating. I got a lot of reading done, though. Anyway, W&C are excellent live, and last night was no exception. Lush, gorgeous drones. Man I love them.

Then this morning I decided that after 10 years, I would retire the strings of my acoustic guitar. I know, I know, I probably could have gotten another five or six years out of them, but I was feeling like splurging. I opened the package of strings and found that I only had five...one must have disappeared somewhere. Anyway, I had some trouble re-stringing the guitar, and the bridge really, really needs to be replaced. That didn't stop me, though—I recorded a couple of things. I don't know if they're any good or not, but I'll let 'em simmer.

Comedy

2006-06-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Kim and I had our housewarming party. The TV was on, and Bravo was showing their list of the top 100 comedies of all time. The list, as you can probably surmise, was a travesty. Apparently, "What About Bob" is a better movie than "Dr. Strangelove." Apparently, "Big" is better than "A Fish Called Wanda." Apparently, "Meet the Parents" is better than "Spinal Tap," "The Blues Brothers," and "Office Space." I could go on. So Kim and Annette told me I should make my own list. And I did. And it was good.

Now, several of the movies that were on my long list were also on Bravo's list, believe it or not. So I haven't included them here. That's why "The Big Lebowski," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," the movies mentioned above, and several others aren't here. But without further ado, here are 50 of my favorite comedies (in alphabetical, not preferential, order), along with a few words about why I like them.

American Psycho. Dark, dark comedy about 1980's greed. Christian Bale is excellent in this, and it's infinitely more palatable than the book.

Bad Santa. The ultimate feel-good Christmas movie.

The Bank Dick. W.C. Fields stars as Egbert Sousè (pronounced soo-SAY), a henpecked husband who hates his wife and his obnoxious daughter. He somehow becomes a security guard at a bank, foils a robbery, and makes a movie. Trust me, this movie is hilarious.

Better Off Dead. John Cusack vehicle from 1985 about a kid who keeps attempting suicide after his girlfriend breaks up with him. Features a fat kid who constantly snorts nasal spray, a French chick who knows more than she lets on, and an Asian guy who learned English from Howard Cosell. A staple of my high school years.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Not strictly speaking a comedy, but William Goldman's script is very, very funny. A true classic.

Cabin Boy. Strictly speaking, this is a terrible movie, but it's weirdly hilarious. Plus, it stars Chris Elliott, which can't be a bad thing.

Cannibal! The Musical. The first movie by Trey Parker & Matt Stone, who later did South Park. Really, the title says it all.

Clue. Another staple of my youth. A great ensemble cast, a hilarious screenplay, and it's actually a good movie.

Divorce Italian Style. Marcello Mastroianni stars as a man who falls in love with his cousin, and keeps dreaming elaborate deaths for his wife.

EuroTrip. Mark and Marnie called me while they were watching it, cackling like jackals, telling me I needed to see it. This movie is FAR funnier than it deserves to be.

Fierce Creatures. The same group who brought you A Fish Called Wanda made this film several years later. Almost as funny as Wanda, Fierce Creatures is thoroughly entertaining.

Fletch. While I'm not much of a Chevy Chase fan, I find Fletch hilarious. His deadpan delivery is great, and the screenplay is very tight.

Go. Kind of a teen-flick version of Pulp Fiction-by-way-of-Short Cuts, but far better than such a description lets on.

The Graduate. Again, not specifically a comedy, but I feel like there's enough comedic material in this movie to justify its inclusion on this list.

Grosse Pointe Blank. A hitman attends his 10-year high school reunion. Joan Cusack steals every scene she's in in this movie.

The Hebrew Hammer. Criminally underrated actor Adam Goldberg stars in this spoof of blaxsploitation movies.

High Fidelity. If you know me, it should be obvious why this movie is on my list.

The Horse's Mouth. Alec Guinness stars in Ronald Neame's adaptation of Joyce Cary's novel about a bum who's an artist.

The Hudsucker Proxy. The Coen Brothers' story of the man who gave the world the hula-hoop.

The Importance of Being Earnest. Michael Redgrave stars in Anthony Asquith's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play of mistaken identities. Hilarious.

The Italian Job. Oh, for the days when Michael Caine could do no wrong.

Josie and the Pussycats. No, I'm not kidding. Though it was marketed as a brainless teen flick, it's actually a pretty sharp satire on the music business and the business of selling culture to kids.

Jump Tomorrow. Wonderful indie romantic comedy about a man about to enter into an arranged marriage. Stars Tunde Adebimpe, who later went on to form the band TV On The Radio.

Kind Hearts and Coronets. Dennis Price sets about murdering an entire extended family (all played by Alec Guinness) to gain their fortune.

The Long Goodbye. Elliott Gould stars in Robert Altman's updating of Raymond Chandler's novel. Strange and brilliant, and featuring a fantastically gruff performance from Sterling Hayden.

Man Bites Dog. My token Belgian entry. Another suggestion from Mark, this one's about a documentary crew who follow, and eventually become accomplices to, a serial killer.

Mon Oncle. My favorite Jacques Tati movie. Monsieur Hulot visits his sister and her husband in their ultra-modern, and ultra-bizarre, home.

My Man Godfrey. Classic film about a bum who becomes a butler.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Coen Brothers' dust-bowl adaptation of the Odyssey.

The Odd Couple Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau star in the film of Neil Simon's play. Amazing, amazing movie.

One, Two, Three. James Cagney stars in this Billy Wilder movie about a Coca-Cola representative in West Berlin after WWII trying to keep track of his boss's daughter, who wants to marry a Communist from East Berlin.

The Player. Robert Altman's adaptation of Michael Tolkin's scathing attack on Hollywood.

Punch-Drunk Love. Adam Sandler stars in Paul Thomas Anderson's angst comedy. Whereas in your normal comedy you laugh at things, in this one you cringe. Lush direction, excellent music, a unique and wonderful film.

Real Genius. Val Klimer stars as a genius who doesn't want the laser he's working on to be used for evil. Weird, funny.

The Ref. Denis Leary stars as a criminal who takes a dysfunctional family hostage by accident in a Christmastime robbery.

Repo Man. I don't even know where to begin, so I'll just say this: Emilio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton, Tracey Walter, punk rock, aliens, televangelism, and car reposession.

Schizopolis. This aptly-titled Steven Soderbergh film stars...Steven Soderbergh as a man whose wife is cheating on him with...Steven Soderbergh...

Shaun of the Dead. Hilarious spoof of zombie movies.

Snatch. Great ensemble cast caper/comedy.

Spies Like Us. Another staple of my youth. Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd as spies so deep undercover they don't even know they're decoys.

State and Main. Great David Mamet comedy about Hollywood assholes making a movie in a small New England town.

Strange Brew. It's Hamlet with a LOT more beer-drinking.

Sullivan's Travels. Preston Sturges, Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake. A film director who wants to make a movie about the suffering of man who becomes a bum to find out what it's like.

Super Troopers. Ever wonder what New England state troopers do when they're bored?

Tapeheads. John Cusack and Tim Robbins star as night watchmen who long to become music video directors.

Weekend at Bernie's. Admittedly stupid, but a staple of my youth, and I will defend this movie as actually being funny.

Wet Hot American Summer. Ensemble cast parody of summer camp sexcapades movies. Very, very funny.

The Whole Nine Yards. Look. I don't like Matthew Perry at all. I don't really like Bruce Willis. I think Amanda Peet looks like a horse. I watched this movie with a friend on cable late one night and laughed my ass off. I figured it was because it was 2 AM. I saw it again later and realized that it was, in fact, a very, very funny movie.

Withnail & I. Two down-and-out actors go on vacation when they really should have stayed at home.

Acid Mothers Day

2006-05-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

Saturday night I saw Acid Mothers Temple. I've seen them twice before, and I always forget how thoroughly amazing they are live. It doesn't always show on their albums, but they're all totally amazing musicians. I stood right in front of bassist Tsuyama Atsushi and watched in awe as he unleashed some of the most thunderous bass work I've ever seen.

Not only is he a great bass player, he's also a truly amazing singer. He's an accomplished throat singer, as well as a forest ranger (it's true!) and a complete goofball. In honor of playing here in the Windy City, he led the band through a thoroughly insane version of "25 or 6 to 4." A thoroughly weird time. They played several concert mainstays as well, including "La Novia," "La Le Lo" (a ripped-up version compared to the album version--I really hope they record it like this), "Dark Star Blues", and a particularly extended version of their signature tune "Pink Lady Lemonade." They played for 2 1/2 hours and it was a great, great night. If you get a chance to see them live, by all means do so!

The only unfortunate thing about the evening was that I was on the opposite side of the stage from Kawabata, so I was unable to get any decent pictures of him. I did get this image of him from somewhere in "La Novia" (I think), when he unstrapped his guitar, held it up in the air, and flailed at it. Rock and roll, man. Rock and roll.

WARNING, POLITICAL CRUD ALERT

2006-04-28T09:03:00.000-05:00

As my parents have long suspected, I'm a Commie Pinko. Which is to say, I think this war is bullshit. I think our president is a complete fucktard and a thief. I think his advisors are the scariest bunch of maniacal puppet string-pullers ever assembled.

(In case you missed it, there weren't any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the September 11 terrorist attacks. Just sayin'.)

Anyhow.

Neil Young agrees with me. And he made a record about it. And he wants you to hear it. And sign a petition saying that Congress should only allocate the money Bush is requesting if he agrees to bring the troops home by the end of the year. To hear the new record and sign the petition, click here. (the player's a little buggy--I could only get it to play the first song, but I'm guessing they'll fix it)

for those of you who are going to say "Neil Young is Canadian, so he should just shut the fuck up" I say this: he's been a tax-paying, voting US citizen since the late 60's. And this war reaches far beyond the boundaries of US politics, wouldn't you say?

so yeah, dig it.

In a recent interview, Neil said "we don't all have to believe what our president believes to be patriotic." It thoroughly disgusted (and scared) me when, at the start of the war, I posted on an online forum "Am I the only one who thinks this isn't the best idea?" I was called a traitor, unpatriotic, a Commie, and it was recommended that I should move to Iraq. Because I disagreed with the choices of the president of the country and his handlers. Am I the only one who was required to study the Constitution in school? Did everyone miss the whole point of that document, and the reason why we HAVE this country?

I DO support the troops, people. THAT'S WHY I DON'T WANT THEM TO KEEP GETTING KILLED. Is this such a difficult idea to grasp?

I better stop before my blood boils. Seriously.

moving sucks

2006-04-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

but it's good to have a helper. more later.

Topic for discussion

2006-04-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

Following a discussion on a nerdy internet message board I frequent, I pose to you, my faithful readers, the following question:

Is Teenage Jesus and the Jerks the best band name ever?

I'm inclined to say yes.

I await your responses.

Big Black

2006-03-08T10:45:00.000-06:00

I was in high school when the first Shellac album came out. My brother came home from college, handed me a tape, and said "you have to hear this." And indeed I did. After that, I realized I had to track down everything Steve Albini had done. Well, the stuff he'd performed on, anyway. So I leafed through my trusty copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide and found out that he'd been in a band called Big Black. I hesitated, though, because there was no drummer. They used a drum machine. I HATE drum machines. To me, every band with a drum machine might as well be Wham. But I digress. I figured "maybe this Albini guy" could make me overlook the whole drum machine thing, and I went to my trusty local record store (few and far between in southern Maine, I assure you) and bought a copy of what Trouser Press argued was Big Black's finest album: their delicately-titled swan song, Songs About Fucking. About two seconds into the first song, I realized that this was an album of unprecedented power, horror, and greatness. Together, my friend Zach and I spent many hours listening to Albini's nails-on-a-chalkboard guitar and hoarse shouted vocals as we tried to get through each torturous day of school.

So last night, when my toilet blew up for the sixth? seventh time?, I knew right where to turn.

Musical tag

2006-03-03T08:02:00.000-06:00

Okay, so usually I take a pass on the whole chain letter/forward/internet tag thing, but as this one affords me the opportunity to opine about music, I figured I'd take a stab. Thanks Kim

the "rules"

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they are any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

So here we go. In no particular order.

The Boy Wonder Jinx "Justin Estes" -- after Dan mentioned this in a blog post a couple weeks ago, I've been listening to this song pretty frequently. "a floor and a heater is like heaven / with a heater"

Drive-By Truckers "Women Without Whiskey" -- Beautiful despair. "If I make it through this year, think I'm gonna put this bottle down"

TV On The Radio "Bomb Yourself" -- I first saw Tunde in the vastly underappreciated movie Jump Tomorrow and found him a fascinating actor. Turns out he's also a great musician. I've been listening to the whole album quite a bit this week. "It's not me, mom / It's what the TV said"

Uncle Jim "Flashback" -- Alan Bishop at his weirdest and most brilliant. "My doctor said to take two percocets every four hours, but I decided to take four percocets every two hours, guys"

The Maytals "Sweet and Dandy" -- Watching The Harder They Come made me realize what I'd been missing all these years by associating reggae with the idiotic white boy stoner wannabes I saw in high school and college. Totally, totally amazing songwriting and harmonies on this Maytals classic. "It's no wonder, it's a perfect pander /While they were dancing in that bar room last night"

Elliott Smith "Riot Coming" -- One of the many "unfinished" songs leaked after Elliott's death, "Riot Coming" is amazing, dark, and moving. It also seems finished, to me. "There's a riot coming / like a drug in the water"

Chris Brokaw "Move" -- Chris's albums just get better and better. This one's amazing. "the decision always looked good to me"

okay, so seven seems like a pretty random, and far too small, number. I could have easily done twice as many. but I suppose that's all part of the "game."

So I don't know seven other bloggers, but I'm sure that of Dan, Shannon, Zach, and Taylor, somebody will come through.

Dark Days

2006-02-28T08:44:00.000-06:00

As you may have heard, Don Knotts died last Friday. I grew up on his movies, from The Ghost And Mr. Chicken to The Apple Dumpling Gang to The Private Eyes. I always felt a connection to the man, as we shared a birthday.

Completing the celebrity death trifecta, I'd also like to bid adieu to Dennis Weaver and Darren McGavin.

Please join me in a moment of silence for these under-appreciated actors.

Live in Milwaukee

2006-02-22T09:32:00.000-06:00

Played Milwaukee's Bremen Cafe on Sunday, and it was excellent. Cool atmosphere, great people, very responsive and attentive (minimal chatter), great food...it has it all. If you're in the Milwaukee, check it out. I recorded my set (well, most of it), which was one 30-minute long improv, but I haven't listened to the tape yet. If it's any good, I might put some of it up on myspace. Cains & Abels and Partisan were excellent as per usual. I'll put up pictures of C&A and Partisan when I get them from my roadie/groupie/driver, to whom I am greatly indebted. All photos by Kim.

Kitty adventure

2006-02-17T08:34:00.000-06:00

February. Cold snap. 19°. I'm walking to the train to go to work, when this cat comes skittering out from the courtyard of an apartment complex. It was clearly very, very scared. It started following me, and it was clearly very disoriented. I decided I couldn't just leave it on Lawrence, a busy street, so I picked it up and carried it home. Mystery kitty's heart was pounding and it looked around wildly. I left it in my front room while I called in to work and told my boss I couldn't come in today. I put some cat litter in a cardboard box and then went to get the cat some food. Now, Loki loves his food. Any time I pick up a bowl, he gets excited. Any time I open my cupboard, he gets excited. When I get down the bag of food, he goes nuts. When I pour the food into a bowl, he gets ecstatic. However, when I carry the bowl out of the room, he's confused, and follows me. The mystery kitty had set up shop on a pair of pants I've been meaning to donate to the Salvation Army for a couple years.

Now, a number of years ago, Loki met another kitty. He bit that cat on the ass to show it who was boss. He's all street. The mystery kitty came bounding out of my front room when I opened the door to feed him, and Loki had followed me. Not good. The two started making these ungodly noises at each other. I tried to grab mystery kitty and load it back into my front room, but it wasn't having any of it. Loki trusts me more, so I picked him up and shut him in my bathroom. I went back into my bedroom to try to grab mystery kitty. However, at some point during the melee I had set the bowl of food on my bed. Mystery kitty jumped up on my bed and started inhaling the food. It was still totally freaked out from its encounter with Loki, and when I tried to pick it up (which had previously been a pretty easy feat), it hissed at me and put its paw in the bowl of food like "You're NOT taking this from me, pinky!" I grabbed a pair of pajama pants and scooped up the cat and tossed it into the front room. I then picked up the food bowl and slid it into the room, and the cat started inhaling the food.

I went and checked on it a while later and it had left some food in the bowl. This indicated to me that the cat was not a stray--Loki was a stray and he'll eat every scrap of food I put in front of him. He must have gotten out somehow. So now I'm going to make some posters and hang 'em up. Wish me luck.

Milwaukee

2006-02-15T13:47:00.000-06:00

Continuing on in my tradition of amazing things falling into my lap, I've been offered the opportunity to play a show in Milwaukee this coming Sunday (February 19). Special thanks to Partisan and Cains & Abels who invited me to play and are all around awesome people. So yeah. It's at the Bremen Café, conveniently located at 901 E. Clarke St. in Milwaukee. Bring your friends, your parents, your ex-husbands...whatever. According to Charlie, "Michael Cothroll, comic artist and illustrator, will be showing his art in the back room and accepting donations." Excellent. Be there.

March Madness

2006-02-15T11:16:00.000-06:00

Man oh man. I've started scanning the Reader again looking for decent upcoming shows, and there are more in March that I want to go to than there were in at least the last half of 2005. Mogwai and Growing. Billy Bragg. Death Vessel twice. Steve Wynn. The Minus 5. I can hardly stand it. I've been a Billy Bragg fan for about 15 years now and I've never gotten the opportunity to see him, so that's a no-brainer. The Minus 5, also a no-brainer. Steve Wynn and Mogwai I've seen before, but they're both great live. Death Vessel played here last month, but I ended up having to miss them. I'll probably wuss out on a couple of these, but regardless, it looks like some damn good music-goin' next month.

And I might play some, too. Stranger things have happened.

special hell

2006-02-13T13:17:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I've been really busy. Two brief barely music-related thoughts for today.

1) Check out Werner Herzog's excellent documentary The Great Ecstasy of Sculptor Steiner, about a carpenter-turned-champion ski jumper. Absolutely stunning photography, and a wonderful soundtrack from Popol Vuh.

2) Steve Albini once said "there's a special hell for people who bring babies on airplanes." I totally agree, and posit that there's also a special hell for people who stand on escalators.

more later.

brief recording session

2006-01-25T09:37:00.000-06:00

Not that anyone will ever hear it, but I recorded last night for the first time in a while. The deadline for the second installment of the group recording project Caleb is curating is nearing, and I hadn't recorded a damn thing for it. The instructions for the song, by Alex Lukashevsky, were confusing for me, and I've been sitting on the project since Caleb sent it to me in early November. Finally, last night, I blew the dust off my trusty 4-track and whipped up a batch of noise for him. It's totally unlike anything I've ever recorded before (in the spirit of the project, I feel) (and not just because most of my "usual" gear is still in Ken's basement)--bass guitar played with no amp (and not directly into the 4-track, just acoustically...and no, it's not an acoustic bass), this weird electric harmonium thing I picked up at a garage sale for $10 a couple years ago and never really used because the hum of the motor is louder than the actual tone of the instrument, and vocals overdriven into incoherence and recorded through my shirt. So yeah, weirdness.

However, I wanted to let you all know (all two of you who are out there--joking) that the mitre is still alive and well, and not entirely hibernating. So...what have YOU been up to?

Reading Project 2006

2006-01-21T17:35:00.000-06:00

I'm a bit of a literary masochist, if you hadn't noticed from perusing the "currently reading" section on here. I like reading long, complex novels. Experimental fiction, "postmodern" stuff mostly. I also enjoy all kinds of other stuff too. Anyway, I had this totally sick idea: in 2006, read ONLY really long books. 400+ pages apiece. Ouch. I eventually came to my senses and modified that "ONLY" to "predominantly" (the change from caps to lower case being the key ingredient in this plan, I think). That way, I could take the occasional breather.

So far, I've read Robert Coover's John's Wife (clocking in at just over 400 pages), and I'm about halfway through William H. Gass's masterwork The Tunnel (650 pages). I've got plenty of other stuff to read: plenty of Willam T. Vollmann, John Barth, Don DeLillo, John Steinbeck, Martin Amis...

Wish me luck!

Phantom Buffalo (again)

2006-01-10T09:11:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to mention that Phantom Buffalo's ShiShiMuMu was mentioned in Reader contributor Bob Mehr's 2005 best-of list, meaning, of course, that I'm not the only person in Chicago to have heard this record. Which is a good, good thing.

Now go buy it.

Bryan Harvey addendum

2006-01-10T08:27:00.000-06:00

Richmond police arrested two men for the brutal murders of Bryan Harvey, his wife, and their two children, as well as the killings of three members of another family in a seperate incident. As my brother said, it's too bad lethal injection is painless. Now, admittedly, I'm not entirely sure where I stand on the whole death penalty issue, but if you slit the throats of a 9-year-old and a 4-year-old, there's no amount of therapy that's going to correct whatever's wrong in your head, I'm sorry.

okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now.

Rest In Peace Bryan Harvey

2006-01-05T09:27:00.000-06:00

Bryan Harvey, songwriter/singer/guitarist of such critically-acclaimed but generally underappreciated bands as House of Freaks and Gutterball, was brutally murdered along with his wife and two daughters on New Year's Day. The details of the crime that have been released are thoroughly gruesome and I won't go into them here. My sincerest thoughts go out to the family and friends of the deceased.

Phantom Buffalo

2006-01-05T09:11:00.000-06:00

Okay, I've raved about Phantom Buffalo here before, but in the past 24 hours two things have happened to make me need to bring them up again. One was the arrival of their new EP "Killing's Not Okay" from Time Lag. Five songs, 23 minutes, all awesome. The third song, "Through The Grass And Pines" is totally, totally beautiful. More "produced" than the debut record, but not in a "that's a good thing" or "that's a bad thing" way. The debut record, "Shishimumu," is out in the states on Time Lag and in the UK on Rough Trade, a tiny label that has tiny bands you've never heard of, like The Decemberists, Belle & Sebastian, and The Strokes, and was once home to such flash-in-the-pan artists as The Cocteau Twins and The Pixies. Get the picture? So a co-worker told me this morning that "Shishimumu" was on the best-of-2005 list by a tiny magazine nobody's ever heard of called Mojo. Yeah. So I did a little web searching, and found a copy of the list, and there they are, sandwiched between Stevie Wonder and John Legend.

So yeah. Get on the Buffalo wagon, y'all. And sincerest congratulations to the dudes in the band.

Somewhere to start

2006-01-03T08:53:00.000-06:00

Okay, so every year I create a list on Amazon of the 25 best books I read the previous year, and this year is no different. If you're looking for something new to read, you could do worse than check out these books.

For further suggestions, here are my 2002 list, my 2003 list, and my 2004 list. Happy reading!

more bile

2005-12-30T12:46:00.000-06:00

I was going to rant and rave about reading again, after coming across an article on Yahoo News about the "best books of 2005." After saying "did anyone really read all the way through the novel that won the National Book Award?" in their introduction, in a snide reference to William T. Vollmann's Europe Central. The anonymous author submits said book as the "most overrated book of 2005," saying "Upon receiving the National Book Award for fiction, Vollmann said of his 800-page opus of intertwined stories about World War II: "I'm very happy it's over, and I don't have to think about it anymore." So are we (and we didn't get past page 200)." Sorry dipshit, but perhaps if you'd put a little effort into reading a novel that expects you to contribute something other than just showing up and running your eyes over the page and a little less time reading about 30-year-old women trying to find a sensitive man™ with a BIG WALLET, you'd be better off and be more qualified to critique literature. They did manage to choose Joan Didion's National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking as their book of the year, but it's about a woman suffering, so that's probably the attraction. I WAS going to rant about this, but then I realized the story was from USA Today and not a real news source, so it didn't really matter.

However, I find this problem indicative of the general anti-intellectual thinking that's currently running rampant in our society. Actually READ an 800-page novel about World War II? Puh-LEEZ. I don't want to have to put THOUGHT into what I'm reading. That's why I read People, USA Today, and the Red Eye.

Urge to kill...rising...

So anyway, how about this. In 2006, read a real book. Something artsy. Something real. Something with some depth and thought and craft and artistry in it. I know this sounds pretentious, but for the love of all that's holy, I'm sick of people being voluntarily stupid. Hey look, I read Stephen King and Harry Potter too, and I enjoy the hell out of them, but there's more to life than that. I'll be posting a list of really, truly great books here in the next week or so. Do yourself a favor and read one.

fuck audible.com

2005-12-27T09:49:00.000-06:00

Alright, I've been keeping my ranting and raving on here to a minimum, but I discovered something this morning that's got me seriously pissed off. Audible.com (which I refuse to link to) has started a lighthearted parody campaign of the American Library Association's "Read" posters. You know the ones--they feature celebrities endorsing not books, but the act of reading in and of itself. Audible.com has started a "Don't Read" series of advertisements, featuring people holding headphones. I realize that this is lighthearted and intended to be amusing, but what kind of bullshit message is "Don't Read"? I honestly don't care that two of their top-selling downloads are Brave New World and The Canterbury Tales. If you can't be bothered to actually read those books, then you haven't read them. "I listened to it." Screw you, pal. Is it really worth $100 to download some guy reading "ulysses" just so you can say you "read" it? If you really want to have the experience of that book, you really, really have to read it.

Hey, if you want to download the latest John Grisham formulaic piece of shit drivel, go right ahead. But if you can't be bothered to sit down and read, maybe you should re-organize your priorities. Turn off whatever bullshit "reality" television show you're watching, sit down, and read, for fuck's sake. What's really nauseating is people who argue that "listening is just the same as reading because you have to constantly pay attention." Bullshit. Reading is interactive. You imagine the setting, the characters, the voices. Listening is like a radio play, which, while cool in and of itself (The Shadow, anyone?), it's NOT reading. It's better than television, I suppose, but it's NOT reading.

I realize I'm taking this WAY too seriously and I should probably just relax, but I read for a living, I read for pleasure, I read to READ. I've never dabbled in audiobooks, and if Audible.com is going to tell people not to read, but to be a passive receptor of culture and genius (or, in the case of whatever flavor-of-the-month name-brand book-factory-author they're touting as the new whatever, drivel)? Screw 'em.

better of 2005 list

2005-12-22T18:52:00.000-06:00

my top 14 records of 2005 (in alphabetical order so as not to show favoritism):

Arco Flute Foundation--"Everything After Everything After The Bomb Is Sci-Fi"
Chris Brokaw--"Incredible Love"
Cerberus Shoal--"The Land We All Believe In"
The Evens--"The Evens"
Death Vessel--"Stay Close"
Growing--"His Return"
Landing--"Brocade"
Anders Parker--"The Wounded Astronaut"
Real Live Tigers--"There Is A Story That Sleeps Inside Us"
Micah Blue Smaldone--"Hither and Thither"
Sybris--"Sybris"
White Rainbow--"ZOME"
Windy & Carl--"The Dream House/Dedications to Flea"
Zapruder Point--"It's Always The Quiet Ones"

i can see for miles

2005-12-22T18:30:00.000-06:00

4 1/2-year-old glasses

new, super-awesome glasses

"are you trying to tell me that I can dodge bullets?"

So I have new glasses. Since I got them, I've felt like I'm looking through binoculars. awesome. they have magnetic stick-on sunglasses. totally, totally sweet.

house show went great. very well-received and the other bands were wonderful. sorry I haven't posted much lately, I've been incredibly busy.

they're here

2005-12-10T13:52:00.000-06:00

I hope to have copies sometime soon, and they'll be available through me as well as through Zac. I'm really excited for this. Zac's been a huge supporter of my stuff and never ceases to amaze me.

brief reminder: house show tonight with Cains&Abels, Real Live Tigers, and Milwaukee's Partisan. 8PM at the Spooky Graveyard (3049 W Fullerton). Bring fruit.

winter in the city

2005-12-07T09:29:00.000-06:00

the gag around here goes that the people who originally settled Chicago liked the crime and poverty of New York, but thought it just wasn't cold enough. that's certainly playing out this week, with single-digit temperatures. yee-haw. being of hearty Maine stock, it's not bothering me much, but that doesn't mean I can't still complain about it.

Saw Cains&Abels with Real Live Tigers over the weekend and somehow wrangled an opening spot for a house show featuring those two bands this coming Saturday. Weird. Most of my equipment is still in Ken's basement, but I have a few ideas...

Got a message on myspace from Zac saying things were almost ready to go with Fold Your Wings, but for some reason myspace didn't let me know I had the message for about three weeks. So, um, sorry 'bout that delayed response, Zac. The rest of you shouldn't have much longer to wait for some new mitronic transmissions, so rest easy.

Chris Brokaw

2005-11-19T11:21:00.000-06:00

Saw Chris Brokaw last night at this weird little place called Odum. Apparently it's a recording studio that almost never has shows. It had all the charm and atmosphere of a VFW basement, but the sound was great. There were two opening bands who were mostly unremarkable, but then Bottomless Pit hit the...erm...floor. Bottomless Pit is Tim and Andy of Silkworm with Chris from Seam, and they were really quite good. But then Chris Brokaw came on and rocked the house, as the kids say. I've seen him play in Come, and I've seen him play solo acoustic, but this might have been the best show I've seen him play. I don't think I've ever seen anyone play in a rock band using finger picks (like a banjo). It was pretty cool. The band was a three-piece with a drummer whose name I missed and a gentleman named Jeff Goddard (Jones Very, Karate) on bass. Jeff and I somehow managed to escape from a certain shithole that will remain unnamed, though a number of years apart. It was very cool to meet him.

The other cool thing was that I was standing right next to Doug McCombs and Bundy Brown (both of Eleventh Dream Day and Tortoise), and Bob Weston (Mission of Burma, Shellac) was about ten feet away. So much greatness in one room was overwhelming.

It was a great show at a cool little venue, but then getting home SUCKED. It took me an hour and a half of waiting for various buses in the freezing cold and not being able to squeeze into fully-packed, stupidly-delayed el trains. Overall, though, it was worth it.

sorry for the delay

2005-11-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

haha...I kill me. anyway, yes. Ken and I DID get together last week. Due to daylight savings time and the shortened day, it was pretty dark by the time we finished, and we were both pretty wiped. It was good to play again.

Then Kim and I went to see the mighty Rollins speak, which was amazing. He spoke for three straight hours, never once touching his water, and covering such topics as the Great American Miserable Failure, the new film about Wal Mart from Robert Greenwald (it must be good if Wal Mart is going around saying it's full of lies before having even seen it!), doing work for the USO, and all kinds of great stuff. A lot of people get caught up in Rollins' machismo bullshit, but fail to mention that any time he's all macho, he's also self-effacing about it. Anyway, I find him entertaining and thought-provoking.

oh, and check out Kim's blog for some awesome and graphic pictures of her colon! I'm not even kidding!

jinxed

2005-10-31T22:01:00.000-06:00

okay, so every time I say "Ken and I are getting together tomorrow," something comes up and we end up not getting together.

so.

Ken and I are NOT scheduled to get together.

NOT scheduled.

as you were.

wow

2005-10-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

okay, so last weekend. Cerberus Shoal twice. both times with the amazing Micah Blue Smaldone. Chriss dedicated "Junior" to me. they played "Train Car Nursery". on Saturday they opened with the a cappella "Viking Christmas". all in all a great, great weekend.

taking a break from "serious" literature after plowing headlong through William Vollmann's massive The Royal Family and Cormac McCarthy's horrendously violent Blood Meridian. So sue me.

Ken and I are getting together tomorrow to rock out. finally.

more soon?

house shows and whatnot

2005-10-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

Last week I attended my first-ever house show, courtesy of David Sampson (Cains&Abels, Loyal Dog). David played first, as Loyal Dog, singing and doing computer manipulations. A desktop show, if you will. Then Taylor ERE played, then a dude named Sam Rosen sang gospel and folk songs and was totally rad.

Last weekend I went to North Carolina to visit Mark and Marnie, and their friend Magnus the Swede was in town. Awesome. We drank beer and ate Mexican food.

This weekend I get to see Cerberus Shoal TWICE. I'm pretty excited about that.

the scariest thing I've ever seen

2005-10-12T08:01:00.000-05:00

a friend of mine sent me a link to this. Not for the faint of heart.

john peel / pink floyd

2005-10-06T08:51:00.000-05:00

okay, so John Peel is still dead. we know this. I got somewhat excited when I heard that the BBC was going to be putting out a two-disc compilation of unreleased material Peel recorded over his career. One of the bands mentioned was Pink Floyd. Great, I thought, maybe now Pink Floyd will finally start putting out official versions of their Peel Sessions. Some of the bootlegs floating around are alright, but some of 'em are pretty poor. Anyway, I discovered today (courtesy of Pitchfork) that the Pink floyd track on said compilation is going to be "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun."

Frankly, I'm kind of pissed.

Pink Floyd played a number of rare and obscure tracks, including a really nice 10-minute version of "The Embryo," as well as "The Narrow Way" and some other stuff not so well remembered. But no. They're releasing yet another version of "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun."

yawn. at least I still have my bootlegs.

the coolest thing ever in the world ever

2005-10-02T10:46:00.000-05:00

Check this out. It's a live streaming webcam (with SOUND!) from a watering hole in Africa. Right now I'm watching an elephant drink and bathe itself. Earlier I saw a pair of zebras frolicking. Now THIS is what the Internet is for.

it's that time of year again

2005-09-29T08:37:00.000-05:00

Yes folks, I woke up this morning and my heat was on. We all know what THAT means. In the next week, all the crap that's been sitting dormant in the pipes will get kicked out into the air and I'll come down with the coughingsneezingdeathsickness. Happens every damn year. It's currently only 46° (that's about 8° for my international readers). It's nice, 'cause it means the return of blankets and cats snuggling up to you when you sleep and spending the afternoons huddled on the couch with a good book and a cup of coffee, but it also means the aforementioned nasty diseasitude. Blech.

Couldn't get in touch with Ken yesterday, so again no practice. He's out of town for the next couple weeks. Dammit. We WILL rock again, I promise you.

how the hell did YOU get here?

2005-09-26T11:28:00.000-05:00

I read a story about Google-bombing this morning that made me wonder where this blog-o-goodness ranked among searches for "Mitre." I gave up around 200. "Mitre music""? First up: a Scottish brass sheet music store. The music isn't made of brass, it's for brass instruments. You probably knew that. Anyway, #18 was a review of "Sympathy For Agamemnon" that failed to load. Getting warmer, I suppose. At #82 I found another review (a very good one, at that). By 200, I'd found a few more reviews, but still not this blog. "Mitre drone"? no dice. "Mitre ambient"? nada.

So, for those of you who, according to my tracker, HAVE found this blog through a search engine...how the hell did you get here?

And for those more technologically astute than I, is there a way I can get this blog to show up on search engines? I mean, I'm at home with the fact that mitre isn't exactly a household name, but what do I need to do? If I make self-referential links (such as the ones in this post) will that help?

zapruder point / eric ziegenhagen

2005-09-23T07:56:00.000-05:00

saw the mighty Zapruder Point last night with their new setup--Dan on electric geetar, Casey on bass (not easy for a pregnant lady), and Tom on snare, cymbal, sleighbells, and suitcase. It was the second time this year I've seen a suitcase used as a bass drum--the other was Eels with strings. They sounded great, though their set was pretty short.

I'd never been to Sylvie's before. It's kind of a funky room with blacklights and darts.

anyway, then the incomparable Eric Ziegenhagen hit the stage. I'd never seen him play electric before--it really added a new depth to his music. If you ever get a chance to see Eric, do so. His shows are always intimate and entertaining, with plenty of between-song banter about his life, the origin of the song he's about to play, or the origin of life. Check out some of his songs here.

As it was a school night, I then bailed.

fragments

2005-09-22T08:01:00.000-05:00

Ken bailed on practice last night, but next week I swear we're going to rock the hizzouse, as the kids say. I picked up a new toy--I bought a replacement for my Ibanez delay unit that frotzed out off of Craigslist. Sweet. Can't wait to add that to the mix.

Zapruder Point tonight.

I had a dream last night that I was reading a Thomas Bernhard novel on the train and someone started talking to me about Bernhard. Weird. I've been meaning to read another one of his books--perhaps I should actually do it.

New taste sensation: take one (1) Wendy's Frosty. add Bailey's to taste. Enjoy. Great for those hot September nights.

been digging the new Rosebuds album, "Birds Make Good Neighbors." Sweet, sweet pop with heartfelt singersongwriter-y type lyrics and great male/female harmonies. ch-ch-ch-check 'em out.

Yar!

2005-09-19T09:19:00.000-05:00

Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, thanks to John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur and Mark "Cap'n Slappy" Summers. Read Dave Barry's column detailing the humble beginnings of this wonderful worldwide celebration.

Disney's version of Treasure Island has always been a favorite of mine. It was made in 1950, before Disney totally wussed out. A kid shoots a pirate in the face. Let me repeat that in case you missed it. A kid shoots a pirate in the face. One of my favorite Disney moments, along with the sequences in Swiss Family Robinson where the kids make hand grenades out of coconuts and the little kid digs a pit and lures a tiger into it so that the tiger can eat the invading pirates alive. Aladdin this ain't.

Oh, right, music. I wussed out on practice last week because I was exhausted. I wussed out on seeing Mono on Friday because I was exhausted. Tonight The Rosebuds are playing, but the weather sucks, the show starts pretty late, it's kind of a pain to get home from Subterranean, and it's raining. So yeah, my wuss-o-meter is peaking.

Looks like Fold Your Wings will be around by the end of the year.

Alasdair Gray

2005-09-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

I spent most of the weekend (it's Indian Summer now, so forget all that nostalgic autumn stuff I wrote last week) on the couch with Loki, drinking coffee and reading Alasdair Gray's masterpiece Lanark: A Life in Four Books. (obviously, I also figured out how to make a little side-link to what I'm reading...I'm so smrt.) Gray is a Scottish novelist/poet/playwright/illustrator/painter/screenwriter, and Lanark was his first novel. I've read several of his other novels (one of which, Poor Things, is excellent, though I found the others a bit lacking), and I've been meaning to read Lanark for quite a while now. Every time I see Caleb he asks me if I've read it yet. I finally started it last week and I've hardly been able to put it down. I can't really explain it so well...check out the reader reviews on Amazon. So yeah...relaxing.

On a completely unrelated note, Richard Roeper (of all people) wrote this scathing collection of quotes and commentary on the recent Katrina debacle, and features what is quite possibly the most depressing thing I've ever read:

"The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in a St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, 'Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' [starting to cry] And he said, 'Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday.' And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night." -- Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard, Sept. 4, on NBC's "Meet the Press," in one of the defining media moments of all the hurricane coverage.

I'm trying my damndest not to rant and rave about this whole situation, but it's difficult. It seems like such a monumental fustercluck on everybody's part...I don't understand how the hell it happened. I should stop before I start throwing objects around the office.

Sybris

2005-09-10T12:22:00.000-05:00

My friend and co-worker Tom Evans (not the same Tom as below) celebrates 2 years in the States today (he's from England). So last night Tom, his wife Paula, and I went to see local shoegaze heroes Sybris at Schuba's. I didn't quite know what to expect--one of my co-workers had nothing good to say about them, but Tom said they were good. Ah hell, it was for a good cause; couldn't let Tom celebrate alone. The opening band did nothing for me, and I left during the headliner, but Sybris totally brought the rock. They sounded kind of like Swervedriver or Ride fronted by Cat Power. Or something. Anyway, they play out a lot, so if you get a chance, check 'em out. Their self-titled debut album is out on Flameshovel records.

puppies and kitties and chinchillas and stuff

2005-09-09T10:32:00.000-05:00

okay, so today I was planning to write about Bob Dylan, as I've been digging the new Bootleg Series album (and am getting psyched for the Scorsese-directed documentary). however, I'm going to save that for another time.

I got to work this morning and I've been reading about all the homeless and abandoned animals in New Orleans and other areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. I'm totally depressed. The people who got killed...well, I don't want to sound callous, but there was ample warning, plus the city set up shelters. Humans knew what was coming and made decisions. I'm not going to go into the way the whole thing was (mis)managed...that's a rant for another time. My point is, the dogs and cats and parrots of New Orleans had no say in the matter. There are stories of dogs trapped on the roofs of burning buildings, cats hiding from people trying to rescue them, animals starving in the streets, drinking contaminated water, dying while watching over the corpses of their owners. And it breaks my heart. The idea of getting rescued from such a horrible situation only to be told that I couldn't bring Loki with me...I don't even want to think about it.

So please, if you've got some spare change, make a donation. There are several animal rescue charities out there. I donated to the Humane Society's Disaster Relief Fund. Loki and I thank you.

Yulia Tymoshenko

2005-09-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

politics generally want to make me drive a stake through my head, but I was saddened to hear the news this morning that Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko fired Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the most beautiful woman in politics.

oh well, she may no longer be Prime Minister of Ukraine, but she's still Prime Minister of my heart.

gears turning

2005-09-08T08:55:00.000-05:00

for most of practice yesterday I wasn't terribly happy with the way I was playing. at one point Ken and I were playing these interlocking patterns that worked pretty well, but I felt I could have done better. I was getting a little frustrated when we fell into this long, lush drone that sounded great.

gears are turning and things are falling into place for Fold Your Wings, which is nice. I'll post more info as soon as things are finalized (more or less).

the weather's cooling off and it's starting to become autumn here in Chicago. As a kid, summer was always my favorite season, due to the whole no school thing. Being (nominally) an adult and living in the city, summer is kind of a joke. I still have to go to work every day, plus it's oppressively hot and humid? Sign me right up! Plus there's the fact that you remember summer being great when you were a kid, but it's a giant letdown. Autumn, on the other hand, is great. The weather is cooler, but not the knock-down, drag-out freeze of a Chicago winter. The occasional smell of burning leaves. That three-day period when the leaves change and fall on the ground before they become a muddy pile of rotting filth that lays on the streets until the following spring. Really, it's better in New England, but I'll take what I can get.