Video from the Rally.

This is a short video I took at the rally on Saturday. I kept it short because these guys were more or less playing a loop. I think they were from some organization called Bund.

Class trip to Berlin

I visited Berlin for the first time this weekend. One of my classes was doing research on behalf of Columbia University so we were given a University subsidized trip to Berlin. The whole experience was a real whirlwind. We left Konstanz around 6:30 Friday night and arrived in Berlin around 7 the next morning. It was my first time traveling such a great distance by train, and that was half the fun. We stayed in a sleeper car. My room was myself and 5 other guys from class. Lets just say we didn't get much sleep and that the cleaning service had quite a few bottles to pick up in the morning. We arrived in Berlin so early that we couldn't find anywhere to get breakfast, so we wandered around until about 9 when places started to serve. After which I got to explore the city until 2pm. The city is great, it is covered in the best graffiti I've ever seen.

The Rally itself was in relation to Climate Change. I was more interested in getting the research done and having free time to really pay much attention to the causes at hand. It was just nice following the rally and seeing the sights of Berlin.

That night I went out with a couple of friends to bars and clubs. Before coming to Europe I never went to clubs, but since I've been here I've been to clubs in Zürich and Berlin and I love them. They are nothing like I expected. I could go just to listen to the djs they are so talented, they actually play music and don't just spin records. One of the guys I was with is a bit of a mess. He is 24, balding, tends to look dirty and is always disheveled. The first club we went to refused to allow him in, which meant that the other guy and myself had to go with him, not because the club didn't want us, but because we couldn't leave a man behind. The next club we barely got into because of him. We figured we should just stay there and avoid risking this guys getting us denied in the future.

We didn't sleep. We got back to the hostel at 8am, and had to catch a 9:40 train home. The train ride lasted 10 hours. We covered almost the entire country. If you want to see what my route looked like get our your atlas and connect the cities: Berlin-> change in Hannover-> pauses in Frankfurt & Offenburg ->change in Baden-Baden ->Konstanz. It was hellish. It didn't help that Germany is just one gigantic plain. The country is beautiful but boring, the only true highlight is the Black Forest, but we got there at sunset and missed most of it. I'm flying next time.

It's True.

I always thought it was a stereotype, but it is in fact true. Americans are loud. I am loud. I am really loud. I could direct ships I'm so loud. And back home? Well I'm quite. In fact I'm so loud, I have trouble hearing Germans speak. They all look like they are just mouthing at me. I have no idea how they communicate. Anyway, I've been trying to not yell so much, but it is tough. Thats the way I talk.

Florida Authorities Set to Execut Good Samaritan.

Remind me to avoid helping the cops next time I'm in Florida. Finally someone from the Alligator community does something good for society, and they put him to death.

MIAMI -- A Florida man police said was breaking into cars at Miccosukee Resort and Gaming was attacked and killed by a 9-foot alligator while trying to run from police.
Investigators said officers responded to reports of car break-ins at a Miccosukee Indian Reservation parking lot located at 500 S.W. 177th Ave. in Miami.
One of the men was quickly captured by officers during the incident last week but the other robbery suspect tried to elude officer by jumping into a large pond behind the facility, according to a WJXT-TV report.During the swim, police said, an alligator attacked and killed the man. He was apparently bitten on the head several times.
The victim's body was recovered at the bottom of the pond about a day after the reported break-ins.
The men were not identified in the report.Meanwhile, an alligator believed responsible for attacking and then killing the man was captured and transported to All American Gator in Pembroke Park.
"Some alligators just have a nasty disposition and he was just a nasty gator," owner of All American Gator Brian Woods said. "He seemed to have no fear of people."
The alligator is being kept in storage until the medical examiner's office can inspect the reptile, a trapper said.
Miccosukee employees said the alligator was well-known on the reservation and was given the nickname "Poncho."
"Anytime an alligator digests or even kills a person, it is a state law through the Florida Fish and Game that the gator be destroyed," Woods said.

Via: WPLG

Pointless.

It is 1:50am, and I'm supposed to be writing a paper that is due tomorrow at 10am. But, I need to take a break, so here are some things about Germany that annoy the hell out of me.

-They LOVE the song "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams. I've heard this in nearly every bar, club and party I've been too. There are far too many dance remixes of this song for the universe to still be held together. At least I now know how to get a party started next time all my guests are German.

-Mullets are more popular here than in the American south and Canadian hinter lands combined. But, they are a bit fancier here. They are often times dyed a color contrasting the rest of the head.

-There is no such thing as spicy food. Nowhere. It doesn't matter what the sign/ menu tells you, your food will not be spicy. It might be spicy by German standards, but spicy by German standards is like being talented by Bryan Adams standards.

-The music stores here suck. I've been looking for the new Ryan Adams ep, and all I can find are Bryan Adams albums. Why do they love him so much? I also cannot find the new Sigur Rós DVD, and the new double ep costs me about $30USD.

-Stores are all closed on Sunday.

-Stores are usually closed between 6-8 every other day of the week.

-The buses stop running before the bars close (all the better to get out of there before they play "Summer of 69" one more time).

-Shampoo smells like ass.

-Beer is super cheap. No, thats a good thing, forget this.

-You cannot buy a steak anywhere, but you can get all the breaded and fried pork your heart could desire. And don't forget to put lemon juice on it!!! Lemon??

-Did I mentioned they LOOOVVVVEEEE Bryan Adams. I swear if he knew how much he was loved here, he could totally be the new Führer.

I miss you Red Sox.

I don't know what to think about this years World Series, probably because I didn't get to watch it. Not a single play. I haven't seen any baseball in over 8 weeks. I miss it. Baseball is the only sport I watch regularly. Sure I like watching football, but I've been able to watch that here. I missed last nights Patriots game, but I saw them play the Cowboys and Dolphins. I really feel for Baseball. The Red Sox are in my blood. And something doesn't feel right.

The Red Sox don't win two World Series in four years. They just don't. I know it happened, but how? This is a team for the poets in all of us. This is a team for the losers, and the outcasts. This is a team for people with a chip on their shoulder. This is not supposed to be a team with the leagues second highest payroll. And most certainly this is not supposed to be a team that wins.

At the same time I'm glad they won. I don't want to live the life my grandparents lived. I don't want to fight a world war, I don't want to live in fear of MAD, I don't want to watch the Red Sox become losers again. This team is no longer the team that we all hate as much as we love. This is a team for all of us to love. A team that did its time, and can now win with dominating results. This will be a good century. This will be a Red Sox century.

Good news from the music biz.

This week has seen, what I believe to be, two very important stories from the music biz. First there was the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, which came out on Wednesday at an unspecified price. Now there is national outrage over ticket brokers ripping off little girls all across America.

First Radiohead: if you haven't heard about this yet you haven't been paying attention. Radiohead have put out a new album. It is called In Rainbows. You can pay whatever price you want for it. Or not at all. Radiohead currently do not have a record deal, and decided that they would release their new album on their own over the Internet. I could have paid nothing, but I was generous and paid 20 pence. I've seen people on the Internet claiming to have paid in excess of $20USD, for low quality digital files. This is could be another step in tearing down the machine of major record labels.

Second Hannah Montana: she is touring right now, and no one can get tickets. I know my sisters would love to go see HM on tour, but my parents being the Luddite concert goers they are, never had a shot at getting tickets. I've been to enough concerts that I've been able to figure out how to get tickets without paying broker fees. Most people are not so fortunate, and they are now stuck paying hundreds of dollars to make their children happy, or they could just complain to the authorities. (Why didn't we think of this earlier? We're not angry moms, that's why!) According to CNN Missouri and Arkansas are suing ticket brokers over selling Hannah Montana tickets illegally. That combined with a lawsuit from Ticketmaster against ticket brokers could be good news for those of us that have come to live with ticket brokers.

Homesick

Psych!

I love this place. BUT, there are a few things I miss. Like the MFing Red Sox. They are int he ALCS and looking like they have a chance to go all the way. I truly miss baseball, and American football. Soccer is like hockey, it needs to be seen live to be enjoyed. I just cannot watch these sports on TV. Fortunatly the Rugby World Cup is currently in action and Rugby is great to watch on TV. I've managed to catch a few matches so far. As fun as it is to watch I would prefer to be watching the Pats destroy the NFL with their supreme awesomeness. If the Sox make the WS I may be headed down to Zürich to see if I can find a bar playing the games, which will be expensive, it costs 26CHF for a one way ticket.

Other than American sports ther isn't much I miss. Beer is cheap, coffee is delicious (I'll never enjoy Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks again), food is cheap, water is oddly expensive and always carbonated, and the people are all extremely nice.

Cargasm Weekend.

My dorm has the worst Internet connection I've ever experienced. It has failed to work at least half the time I've been here. That's close to 15 days of inactivity. I promise to try and update when my Internet works.

Tomorrow I'm taking a train up to Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes-Benz museum. I cannot wait, I came to Germany, more or less, to look at car pr0n every time I walk out the door. I'll be spending the night, and then on Friday I'll be checking out the Porsche museum. I'm not sure, but there maybe also be a factory tour involved with the Porsche museum, I'll let you know the next time my Internet works. I'm sure I'll be taking a boatload of photos there. I have two 2GB memory cards, if any museum could give me cause to fill these, it would be these museums.

As I've now told you twice, my Internet sucks. That isn't all that sucks around this place. I live in a place that is most often described as a prison, although Gulag and Soviet apartment block are thrown around almost as frequently. It is a 40ish year old concrete building with failing kitchens and bathrooms. The university had intended to raze the places a few years ago, but they haven't yet found a replacement plan that was economical. My shower constantly is emanating a scent more often associated with a septic tanks than showers. I share a kitchen with 11 other people, two of which happen to be African (Cameroon to be exact). And although they are really nice people, they cook constantly, and it stinks. Yesterday the kitchen smelled like someone had spilt around 3 gallons of sardine juices all over the place, and then defecated on it. The laundry room doesn't really work. The washing machines wash, but they don't rinse. After a 50 minutes wash cycle you have soaking wet, soapy clothes. Then it comes time to dry them, and the dryers don't work. Well, they work, just not properly. One of the dryers spins, but doesn't heat up. The other dryer heats up, but doesn't spin. Either way your clothes are f•cked. You can see the method I used for drying my clothes right here. Sonnenbühl OST Ghetto Laundry. There are two things that I love about my residence.
1: Is the Vag-ball; it is a piece of modern art that looks like a giant ball of metal vaginas. This picture isn't the greatest. It was taken from 7 stories up, I'll try to get a better photo for a future blog post.
2: Look at this view.
Those are the alps if you were wondering. I have more photos, some that are better, but I'm saving those for a possible dedicated post.

Despite the dismal living conditions I love it here in Konstanz. The city is beautiful, and full of history. If you do a quick query on wikipedia you can read all about the city for yourself.

After my Cargasmic trip to Stuttgart I hope to post more. Tschüß

Still Alive

I've been so busy here the last few weeks. I didn't get internet until last Thursday, and then it cut out on me over the weekend due to a fire. It was fixed on Tuesday, but keeps cutting out on me. Last Friday I went to the local Oktoberfest here in Konstanz. And, tomorrow I will be attending Oktoberfest in Munich. The weekend before last I went to a Weinfest (wine festival) across the lake in Meersburg.

I'll fill you in on more info when I get the time. I've been so busy and the internet is so slow here that I've been reluctant to upload any photos. I want to share where I live with the world, or at least the 3 people that read this blog.

Godspeed Me!

This is my last post from the US of A for a very long time. Next time I post, it will be from Germany. I've been going crazy getting ready for this trip, and right now it looks like I will be going just as crazy when I get there. If you don't here from me for a while, it is simply because I am busy beyond belief. I will try to post something about my new residence as soon as I possibly can. I've got a plane to catch in about 17hours, so I am going to finish packing.


I'll see you on the other side.

I'm sorry.

I leave for Germany on Sunday, so I've been very busy getting everything in order for my trip. I probably would still be leaving all my devoted reader(s?) waiting if it hadn't been for this.March sent me a link for the new MONO DVD, and what did I notice almost immediately? ME, and Gabriel in NYC!! Thats us in the red circle, I'm the dude running his hand through his hair, and she is the girl standing in front of me with a boys name.

I don't have time for a real post right now, but I'll let you be jealous in the mean time.

Busted

One of my many siblings broke the router for wireless internet a while back, which has prevented my updates until now.

I spent the weekend Rhode Island. Saturday and Sunday in the Westerly/ Watch Hill area, and then Monday in Newport. I was camping with my girlfriend and my family at Burlingame in down Westerly way, but spent my time with her. I noticed a few things while I was on vacation.

1. Lots of couples expecting children like to visit Newport. I cannot tell you how many young pregnant women I saw Monday alone. Of those that were pregnant I'd say a good 1/3 to 1/2 where Orthodox Jews from New York.

2. Rhode Islanders love expensive station wagons. I love cars that combine speed, utility, sleeper ability (ie: unnoticed by the five-O), and luxury. In that order. Although I didn't see any Audi RS4 Avants (they don't sell them here sadly), I did see Audi A6 wagons, BMWs 5 Series Wagons and Mercedes-Benz wagons of both the C & E class variety. The highlight of the
weekend was the über-rare Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG wagon. It wasn't the new E63, but it still rocks like no other station wagon does. This is a station wagon with 516ft pounds of torque, 469hp, 0-62 in 4.9 seconds and it was offered with an optional third row of rear facing seats.

D'oh

bring the rain

Taxes, Travel & Jury Duty.

Nothing pisses me off like the government wasting tax dollars on frivolous things, unless its me they're wasting money. And things get even better when they're not my tax dollars being wasted, but rather Dieter & Gunter's Euros being wasted on me. That's right, the oh so precise Germans are giving me free money. Yay. I'm getting 1500euro from the state Baden-Württemburg.

Speaking of Germany, I booked my flight yesterday and I will be departing on the evening of September 2nd. I won't be coming back until May, and then only for a 4 day weekend.

I had Jury Duty yesterday, and although I only was there 4 hours it was the most soul sucking experience in recent memory. As the bumper stickers say, "Never Again."

Why I love the Tour

This weekend the world's greatest sporting event that is not baseball began in London. Le Tour de France is something I look forward to watching every year, and I hope to watch in person next year. An incident today reminded me of one of the many things I love about the tour. In no other sport at this level of competition is the fan placed in such close quarters to theathlete . One of the riders was riding through his hometown, so he took a break to say hello to family and friends. You can't do that on a ball-field, or a hockey rink, or out the window of a stock car, but you can on a bike. LaurentLefevre rode out ahead of the peloton to meet with his family, and in respect to the great honor of riding through his home town the entire mass of competition slowed down to around 20mph and allowed him to catch up when the time came. Despite the constant barrage of doping allegation Cycling is still one of the most dignified sports around.

Hey Nerds. Go watch Transformers.

It's unfortunate, but I can almost guarantee you that these 7 Transformers were left out of the movie. Maybe they'll turn up in the sequel.

Man Skills Vol. 2

As you may recall I recently listed some my most embarrasing male deficiencies. I've set about to correct as many of those as possible. Now I'm not going to learn how to disassemble and reassemble a Chevy small block anytime soon, I did learn how to drive a stick today. It took me long enough, but now I can check that off my list.


Thursday I also mentioned seeing a guy pass-out, I figure I'll explain that little bit of awesomeness in more detail. I was at school for a meeting, and while walking down the hall I saw a kid sitting on the ground, looking really wan. The next thing I know his eyes rolled backwards and he slammed his forehead into the ground and then slid across the floor. I was surprised that his head did no bounce. I told someone in the nearest office to call 911, and then I went to my meeting. I probably should have stayed, but I was running late, and there were other people streaming out of offices and classrooms to help the kid.

Man Skillls.

I was going to tell you about the guy I saw pass-out and smack his head into the ground yesterday, but then I read these two blog entries and decided to treat you to some hallway horror stories Friday instead.

I've recently come to the conclusion that I've lived a much too coddled life. I can't do so many of the typical "man" things. I can't fix cars. I've never even changed a flat tire (never had to, AAA). I don't know anything about electrical wiring. I remember being in elementary school with kid that would build their own radios from junk lying around the house. I can't do much as far as wood working goes. I have built a couple of bird houses, a cutting board, and some other junk, but nothing working writing home about. I have told my girlfriend recently that I want to build a bat box, you know for bats. I hate bugs, and I want as many bug eating bats in my back yard as possible. The thing I'm most ashamed of. I cannot drive a car with a manual transmission. I've never had to. My dad drove a VW GTI with a stick until I was about 12, but since then only my brother had owned a car with a stick shift. I could, and will, ask him to show me, but I haven't had the time.

All that is bad enough, but I don't dwell on it. I'm sure that I could go my whole life without needing many of those skills, but I'd rather not. I want to build things. That's where these blog entries come in.

The first one is about a guy that took a stuffed cat, and wired into this old Police Interceptor so that the lights he put in the cats eyes would single when he turns. Check it out here.

The second one is the same guy building a 92lbs boombox from old car parts he found at a junkyard. They've included a video to whet your appetite before you read the how-to on the blog entry.

Deftones, Lupo's, Providence Rhode Island, 6/6/07

If there are two things the Deftones do well it is write and record amazing albums, and play extremely disappointing concerts. This was the third time I've seen the band. It is also the last. I understand that the bands first two albums were very heavy affairs that did little to separate them from the pack of other nu-metalers. However, since then they have put out three excellent albums that sounds almost nothing like their early stuff, in a good way. The first hour of the show I recognized maybe 3 songs (and I have all 5 of their albums), even the songs I knew I didn't recognize until well into the song. I was ready to leave the show after the first 30 minutes. I stuck it out, and the second half of the show was marginally better than the first. If I hadn't driven almost 2 hours to get to Providence I would have left. Had the show been in New Haven or Hartford I would have gone home. I just want to band to play the songs they write. If they want to continue playing only the really heavy stuff, then they should go back to recording the really heavy stuff. Is it too much to ask for a band to play the music off the album they are supporting? I think they played 5 songs from Saturday Night Wrist. If I told you half the songs came from the first two albums, I don't think I'd be exaggerating. I will not pay more than $18 in the future to see this band. That's right, I won't even pay $20. Speaking of $20, for that amount of money you could buy a pre-signed copy of SNW.

New Metallica

I don't know what to think of this. It is a lot better than anything off of St. Anger, which is a pretty easy task if you ask me. I could write a better album that St. Anger. But, it doesn't really sound like Metallica. I know this song, and another have been floating around on the internet for a while, but this is my first listen.

Blog wants to show Lexus the difference between a car and porn

Lexus has sued two pornographers for running a porn site featuring a character called "Lexus Cash" for fear it dilutes their brand. The auto blog Jalopnik is starting a campaign to make certain people won't EVER get confused. ;)


I signed up for Digg a little while ago, and I've been wanting to try this "Blog It" feature for a while. This seemed like a good place to start.



read more | digg story

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Avalon Ballroom, Boston. 5/29/07

The best concert I’ve ever been too? No. The best club show I’ve ever been to, maybe. I love this band. This is the third time I’ve seen Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and each time is better than the last. This is a band that needs to be seen live to be appreciated. I had their first two albums, and I thought they were good, but nothing special. But, when I did see them live I was blown away. Robert Levon Bean is the most fun to watch bassist I’ve ever seen, and they rest of the band is just as talented. If you haven’t heard these guys it’s difficult to describe their sound. It’s equal parts folk, punk and shoegazer. That’s actually a really bad description, but I don’t care.

The last couple of times I’ve seen this band I’ve gotten there early, and the venues have been empty. Last time I saw them was in Northampton and I think it was a Sunday night. The venue was pretty damn empty. I think there may have been 80-120 people there. They were touring for Howl, which was an album that went a lot of different ways with fans, but I loved it. For that show I was right up front, close enough to smell the bass guitar. If you play guitar, especially a semi-hollow body, you know the scent. Tuesday night was different. The venue was packed. It may have been a sellout crowd, but I cannot confirm that. I didn’t get there as early as I wanted to, but I still ended up with a great spot to watch the show, behind a row of really tiny camera wielding Asian girls (I’ll get to this later). I was about 5-8 feet back from the center of the stage.

The band came on the stage at 9:05 and went straight into the lead track from Baby 81, “Took out a Loan.” They followed that with “Berlin” before moving onto some older tracks. The new album is to date my favorite album of the year. I’ve been listening to it non-stop. The only album that’s come close to getting as many listens has been the new Jarvis Cocker record. The band played a lot more tracks from B.R.M.C. than I had anticipated, but still managed to cover most of Baby 81. They only played four tracks from Howl, two of which were Peter Hayes on solo acoustic guitar. Some songs off the new album that just bled me away were “Lien on your dreams” “Windows” (although Peter botched the solo a bit it seemed), and “American X.” Remember those camera toting asian girls I mentioned before?, well this is where things get interesting. During “American X” Peter and Robert switched instruments, with Peter on bass and Robert on guitar. While Robert was singing and playing guitar the Asian girls went crazy taking pictures non-stop. They had been doing it the whole show, but with the members switching the side of the stage that they were on it got to Peter. During a lull in the song he reached out to try and snatch one of the girls cameras. She had the wrist strap on and was able to fight it from him, but you’d think he made his point. Nope. They kept taking pictures, eventually Peter walked back over to them and put his boot over one of the camera’s like he was going to stomp on it. They finally stopped. The song ended and Peter went up to them, and appeared to ask them to stop taking pictures, he was obviously angry at this time. He and Robert once again switched instruments and the band went into “All You Do Is Talk” which sounds like it could have been written by U2, or maybe Coldplay trying to sound like U2. I think it’s the best song they’ve ever written, from a pop-song point of view, at the least. If they could write entire albums like this the music critics would hate them and they’d be the biggest band since U2, or is that Coldplay again!?! This was the bands last song. They hadn’t done a proper encore, but what they had done was play their main set, then an acoustic set (with Peter doing 2 songs off of Howl, and Robert doing “Mercy” off of the Howl Sessions ep), then they came back out and did “American X” and “All You Do is Talk.”

I thought they were done. The house lights came up, and the PA started to play typical house music. But the audience didn’t stop, we kept clapping and cheering, and I could see the set list, there were no more songs listed. After what seemed like 5 minutes I saw a roadie run back stage and then the band came out. Peter’s guitar appeared to be packing stuff up, I saw him coiling cables and it looked like he was tearing down the gear. If this was all a put on, they did a great job making it seem like the real deal. If it wasn’t a put on, this was the first time in my life a band has ever come back on stage after the house lights came up and PA music started playing. The band did 4 more songs, all of which where requests. The first of which was “High/Low” an old b-side, and the remainder were all off of Take Them On, On Your Own. Before playing “High/Low” Robert commented on how they hadn’t played the song in years and he doubted his ability to remember the lyrics. He also had to consult with the band, Nick Jago and Peter if they remembered it. I was trying to request the song “Screaming Gun” which is probably my favorite BRMC song ever written. I know Robert heard me, because he told us to stop requesting such obscure tracks, and then asked Peter is they could play it, which they couldn’t. During the last three songs and dance pit type thing even opened up. It wasn’t a mosh pit, it was just a bunch of guys and a couple of girls jumping around rocking out to one of today’s best rock bands. Because that’s what these guys are, one of the best rock bands around. They’ve done their pseudo-shoegazer thing, they’ve made a folk record, they’ve made an almost punk record, and now they’ve made an angry rock record, which is exactly what a rock record should be.

Second Career.

Ever wonder what kind of money you could make performing the world's oldest profession? SexEc has a handy price indicator to tell you just what you can expect for your time... and body.

If I were to work out of NYC I would go for around $220 and hour, my national average would be down at bit, at $203 an hour.

Ricky Gervais, WaMu Theatre NYC. 5/19/07

Last week I mentioned a performance by AIR as part of David Bowie’s Highline Festival. Saturday night was the conclusion of the charity festival; it was also the highlight with the first North American performance by Ricky Gervais. If you don’t know who Ricky Gervais is yet, I feel sorry for you. He’s best known for The Office, which was a BBC smash, and is often considered the best comedy of the decade. The Office has been so successful that remakes have been made in the US, Quebec, France, and Germany, with a slightly less direct remake being aired in Norway. He is also known for Extras, which is currently in between seasons on HBO. Gervais is also one of three people behind the most successful podcast in the history of podcasting. Gervais has also written a number of children’s books as part of a series titled Flanimals. Enough about his history.

The show took place at what was formerly called The Theatre at MSG, but as of last week is now called WaMu Theatre. That name really rolls of the tongue. There wasn’t a full opener, but around 8 pm Gervais came over the PA and announced “Ladies and Gentlemen… David Bowie.” At which point Bowie came out to perform the song he performed* on the last season of Extras. The crowd loved it. Bowie left the stage and then introduced Ricky Gervais.

Ricky Gervais came out to perform for about 70 minutes. His topics included making fun of Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, victims of Pol Pot, Anne Frank, teenage cancer victims, bestiality, homosexual incest and others I cannot recall. The show was about as far from being politically correct as is humanly possible. I love every minute of it. Ricky has a very casual style of stand up. He would often mumble and interact with the audience. He definitely came across as an everyday asshole. I can only hope he returns to America for more performances in the future.

*

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: Kingston NY, May 16, 2007.

Have you ever been to a concert where the performer sat in the dark for the entire performance with a hood pulled tight over his head and sunglasses o? And I quite literally mean sat in the dark. Well I did Wednesday night. I saw Ryan Adams & The Cardinals in some shit hole of a town in the Hudson valley, and while the music was less than spectacular the venue and town were even worse. I understand it that when you are a musician and you have a new album coming out that you want to perform tracks from that album. What I don’t get is refusing to tell the crowd why you are not playing guitar (sprained wrist) or informing us which songs are new, and which aren’t. That last claim might seem odd, Ryan Adams is one of my favorite musicians, I have all of his albums, and I should recognize his songs. I didn’t. Because of his sprained wrist the band could only play songs that required one guitar, which mean they played acoustic. Ryan took his saddest, slowest and most maudlin songs, and then made them sadder, slower and more maudlin. After about fifty minutes I was on the verge of falling asleep. For the first time in my life I had my eyes closed and my head bobbing at a concert. Then he played “Down in a Hole” by Alice In Chains. And for some crazy reason that perked me up. I’m in the audience for one my all time favorite musicians, and bored to death when he plays a track by a band that I don’t even like that much and it turns out to be the highlight of the show. Then he left the stage, after less than an hour. He came back to play two songs from Cold Roses, which the band stretched out to last almost 20 minutes. I’m glad the show was as short as it was. I don’t think I could have taken more of his country music. I know he is an “alt-country” musician, but I prefer it more “alt” than “country” songs. The best thing about this show was that it wasn't a normal show. When I finally get around to seeing a normal Ryan Adams show I can look back at this one as something special.

Short List

I have this list of bands that I would love to see, but just haven't had a chance to do so. To be on my list the band must be either actively together, or on hiatus, no break-ups allowed. Every now and then I get to take one of those bands of the list for one of two reasons. Either I do get to see the band perform, as in the case of Air and Arcade Fire last week, or the band breaks up, as in the case of New Order last week.

According to a radio interview (and confirmed on his myspace page*) Peter Hook said last week that he and "Bernard [Sumner] aren't working together." This is terribly disappointing. New Order are one of my all time favorite bands. At least my list is shorter by three bands in one week.

More good news includes the fact that no one has been able to corroborate this statement. Maybe he's just talking out of his ass.

*Billboard article.

New Order live in New York 1981.

AIR, The Theatre @ MSG, NYC. 5/10/2007

Good week for “A” bands, first Arcade Fire, and now AIR. Like Arcade Fire, I had not seen AIR prior to last night. It was an excellent show. They had TV on the Radio open for them, which seemed odd. TVOTR (as I’ll abbreviate it), is very much a reggae rock band, which did not fit so well with AIR’s modernist interpretation of 70s electronica. I liked the guy’s voice, and that counts for something.

The show was part of the newly founded Highline Festival. The Highline was co-created by David Bowie, this years “curator.” From the press I’ve read there will be a different curator each year, and it is the curators job to chose the talent. In addition to AIR, Bowie has scheduled performances by Arcade Fire, Björk and Ricky Gervais, amongst others.

This concert was the first time I attended a show at the MSG Theatre, and I liked it. As awesome as old theatres are to look at, they are uncomfortable, hot, lacking concessions and feature inadequate restrooms. This theatre had none of those problems. Not only that, but I doubt there is a bad seat in the house; the whole place looks very well laid out.

On to the music.

I don’t know the names to many AIR songs. I know which songs I enjoy (most), and I could point them out if we were listening to a CD, otherwise I’m clueless. To fill in the gaps I’ll give a little background on AIR. AIR is an acronym for Amour, Imagination, Rêve, which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream. The band has two members, Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, each of whom are quite skilled on various instruments. Live Dunckel plays primarily keyboards and synths, while Godin plays guitar and bass. It is Godin’s bass playing that steals the show. His bass signal is processed and put through effects to make it sounds just as obtuse as Dunckel’s Moog.

Most of the songs played were drawn out beyond the length of their recorded counterparts, featuring both Dunckel and Godin improvising along with the rest of the band. They played for about 55 minutes before taking their encore break. They came back and played for another 15 minutes or so. The last song, whose title I do remember, was La Femme d'Argent which clocks in at around 7 minutes on the album Moon Safari came in at over 10 last night. The song was the highlight of the show, with Dunckel playing a very impressive synth solo. A majority of the songs played seem to have come from Moon Safari, which is interesting when you realize it was the groups first album, and they have released 4 more since then. One of my favorite parts of the show was that they played a set list for fans, not an LCD (least common denominator) set list that most bands will play. I was surprised by the fact that they played so few of the songs that you would thing of as being “hits,” not that they actually had any hits per se. It was a good surprise though. My one complaint was that $46 seemed a steep for a 75-minute concert (including encore break).

Arcade Fire: United Palace Theatre, NYC. 5/5/07

Monday night was not only the 1st time I’ve seen Arcade Fire, but it was the first time I’ve ventured into Harlem in at least a decade. There’s something I like about Harlem. It feels like a real city. I know it’s part of Manhattan, but it feels like another world when you compare it to the rest of the island. But, that’s not what I’m here to write about.

Opening for Arcade Fire was The National. I was attending the concert with my girlfriend and by the time we go to the venue (an amazing old theatre) we had missed the first song or two of their set. I had not heard of the band prior to the show, but I ended up enjoying the performance. I actually ended up picking up a copy of their last album, Alligator. That was the first time I’ve gone to a concert and purchased an album of an opened I’d never heard of prior to the show. With the new Björk album coming out on Tuesday I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. I’ll get to it. The band played about a 45-minute set, which was just right. The singer had a very Ian Curtis/ Paul Banks sound to his voice. It worked well with the music, which was your typical indie-rock offering.

Arcade Fire came on stage to what appeared to be a recording of a female preacher. The kind of preacher you don’t see up north, the kind that looks absolutely nuts on stage, running around and screaming and just giving Christians a bad name. I’m not pointing out denominations, but I think you get the picture. There was a whole religious theme to the stage, with a prop-organ, and some lit up bible silhouettes. It wouldn’t be a stretch to see the connection to Neon Bible.

Highlights of the show included:

No Cars Go: I absolutely love this song. I have the original Arcade Fire ep, and No Cars Go was easily my favorite song of that ep, or the first album. That fact they re-released it, and made it better just blows my mind. Live the song was even better than on record.

Ocean of Noise: I wasn’t crazy about this track as it was recorded on Neon Bible, but live this song really took off. With the tremolo on the guitar it had this great 50s/60s surf-guitar vibe to it.

The band ended the main set with: Keep The Car Running, (Antichrist Television Blues), Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), and Rebellion (Lies). It was amazing. They could have stopped right there. They didn’t need an encore. In fact there was no way for them to top it. They did come back with an encore, but it didn’t really live up to the last 4 songs played.

I really enjoyed the show. As I mentioned above I had not seem them before, although I had seen them on TV a few times, and was disappointed each time. The last four songs really did it for. I had terrible seats for this show. They were hands down the worst seats to any concert I’ve been to in probably 4 years. It didn’t really matter though. The band put on such a great show that I was up out of my seat doing my best not to dance (I must maintain my indie-credibility, and I would’ve embarrassed my gf). One last thing about the show. It was much easier to tell the weaker songs from the strong performed live. I think the new album is good, not as amazing as Funeral, but good enough to recommend to a friend. Of all the songs played from Funeral, they were spot on. They band had the energy, the crowd was providing more energy, they were just draw droppingly good songs. The songs from Neon Bible that were pretty good on record came out great live. But the songs that were a bit weaker, came across as flat. The band just didn’t have it for some of the songs. I don’t what happened. That’s it, here is a set list. Courtesy of Us Kids Know.


Black Mirror,
No Cars Go
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Haiti
Black Wave/Bad Vibration
Neon Bible
Windowsill
The Well And The Lighthouse
Ocean Of Noise
Keep The Car Running
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)

Encore:
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Intervention

I'll Say It Again.

I said it last year, and I'll say it again, Roger Clemens has no class. I'm not sure what was going through that block shaped head of his when he decided that playing for the Yankees was a good idea, but it sure as hell didn't have anything to do with his fans. I wish I knew what made this man tick. If he cared about something other than himself he would be playing for Boston Red Sox this season. Sure, the Sox don't actually need Clemens, but he would have been an excellent addition to the team. And it would have looked good to come back to the place he spent half of his career. I can't wait for his reaction when the Yanks miss the playoffs this year. I am ashamed to have been a fan of this man. He may be a great baseball player, but someone that shit on his fans the way "The Rocket" has, doesn't deserve to be looked up to by anyone. He is nothing more than another Aging Sell-Out.

I'm too disgusted to write anymore.

The Flaming Lips, Brown University, Providence RI: 4/21/07

Saturday The Flamings Lips played a show at Brown University, in Providence Rhode Island. Unlike some universities, Brown opened up tickets to the public, which is good if you got one. I didn't. My girlfriend had been in contact with the university for the last couple of weeks in an attempt to get us tickets, and we thought we would succeed. What we were told, was that more tickets would go on sale the morning of the show, and that we should get there early to purchase said tickets. What they didn't know was what time tickets would go on sale, and instructed us to contact them on Friday. Which we did, and they were already selling tickets. Apparently they decided to sell tickets a day early. They sold out Friday, a day I couldn't make it to Providence.

At this point my girlfriend and I were quite angry at being deceived out of tickets. But, being the go-getters we are, we decided to make our way to Brown on Saturday anyway, we were going to find a way into the concert. Which we did, go to Brown that is, we didn't get into the show. I didn't see anyone selling extra tickets, and security was tight enough to scare us off.

No Lips for us, but we did kick around Providence for a few hours. Up until Saturday I've never seen more of Providence than the highway to and from, and the inside of Lupo's. It's a nice city, I look forward to returning there June 6th for a Deftones concert. It's a Wednesday, but maybe I'll find a way to make a day of it.

In conclusion. Brown University sucks at keeping its word. Providence is a nice city. The Flamings Lips still rock.

TheGuinnessTooth in Germany

Today I received word that I, TheGuinnessTooth, will be moving to Germany for a 12 month stay. I'm not clear on all the details, but I'll be leaving either August 1st or September 1st, and I'll be in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The purpose of the trip is to learn the German language, and I'll be studying at a German University.

I'll bring forth more details as I figure them out, but barring some sort of catastrophic financial meltdown I'll be reporting from southern Germany in about 4-5 months.

My Condolences.

In wake of this weeks shootings at Virginia Tech I would like to send my condolences to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. They have had the soap box ripped from under their feet. It's sad that this shooting had to happen so close to their opportunistic attack on Don Imus, they barely had time to make America hate him as much as they would have liked to. I know Heavy Metal and Video Games are to blame for this. If the shooter hadn't spent so much time listening to death metal and playing Grand Theft Auto, he never would have gone on the shooting rampage to begin with, and then Al & Jesse would still be tearing Imus a new one. I'm sure Al & Jesse are praying for the day when they can once again monopolize America's airwaves, and convince white people that they are in fact the devil.

It's a Girl.

A couple in Sweden recently named their baby daughter Metallica. As far as I know it is her middle name, but still Metallica as a name? I knew the Scandinavians were a bunch of hard rockers, but who wants to date a girl named Metallica? Best part of this story? This isn't the first baby named Metallica in Sweden. Although, to be fair the first baby Metallica was spelled, "Mettalica." Apparently by doubling the "T" and halving the "L" the name was more appropriate for this couple's child. To each their own.

Mew: Paradise Rock Club; Boston: 3/23/07

Friday night I drove up to check out Mew in Boston. I'd never been to the Paradise Rock Club before, and I hadn't heard Mew up until about a month ago, but it was a good idea to go. The opening act was a group called Oh No Oh My, which didn't sit well with me. I just don't trust a band with a name like that, so I showed up late. We only got to the show about 15 minutes before Mew went on stage.

A little background on Mew. They are a Danish band. Umm, thats all I've got. I know they have at least 2 albums to date, but odds are there are more. OK, I just checked wikipedia, and they do in fact have 4 albums. Their latest album in titled "And The Glass Handed Kites."

The show itself was quite entertaining, save for one fact; they weren't touring for "And The Glass Handed Kites" they were touring for their previous albums. Which was just released in the US. I have never heard of a band touring for an old album, even if it was re-released. One of the things I love about the latest album is the way most of the songs don't sound like individual tracks, but just parts of a longer song with various movements. Fortunately they replicated this during the show, for the most part. I would have preferred it had they played more songs for the latest album, but I made due with what I got. I don't know enough about the band to give you and sort of a setlist, so I'll leave it at that.

The band was an odd group of people. The singer looked tremendously like Mark Hammel in profile, which freaked me out. It was like watching Luke Skywalker sing some of my favorite new songs. The keyboardist is a Dr., but they don't say what he is a doctor of. He had long ringlets, and if anything at university has told, physic and chemistry grad students tend to have the awesome-est beards and hair, so I'm guessing it is one of those. The bassist had an odd condor like swaying to the way he played bass. His arms were spread wide, and he just swung back and forth. I couldn't see the drummer, the guitarists monitor was in my way, but the guitarist was the most normal looking dude in the band. Except for the fact that he looks straight out of the 80s, with his trainer mullet and baby mustache.

If you get a chance, check out the latest album, And the Glass Handed Kites.

Hip Hop Pirates

Who would've thought Hip Hop and Pirates would have gone so well together? I know I didn't.

Explosions in the Sky: Webster Hall, NYC 3/20/07

Sorry for the delay, I've been swamped with work, and laid up in bed.

This is the first time I've seen Explosions in the Sky. I wanted to get tickets for the show in Cambridge, MA on the 21st, but those surprisingly sold out before the NYC show. Who knows?

Anyway, they were supported by Eluvium and (one of the worst openers I've ever heard) The Paper Chase. Eluvium is one guy that loops various parts of a song over and over, until it sounds like there are 30 guys one stage playing in perfect harmony. The Paper Chase has an excellent rhythm section, but the singer should find a different line of work. He wasn't a bad singer, he just wasn't a good rock singer. The Paper Chase is a great name for the band, what with being the name of a Broadway show, because the singer sounds like he should be doing musicals and not rock shows. Both openers played about 45 minute sets, which was very appropriate for the evening. Regarding the rhythm section; the bassist was pretty bad-ass, playing lots of chorded parts as opposed the typical single note lines, not to mention the fact that he had one of the coolest beards this side of Mecca.

Explosions in the Sky took the stage around 10:15pm, and were a very gracious act. Before they even played the first song one of the guitarist was at the mic thanking the crowd. Then the band started what would be about 70 minutes of floor shaking instrumental deliciousness. I'd love to give you run down of which songs they played, but, the songs are instrumental, they all ran together and the show was 3 days ago, and I've more or less forgotten the songs played by now. Not that it really makes a difference, EITS are one of those bands that could play any selection of songs off of any of their albums and it would still be an amazing show.

In case you are not familiar with the band let me give you a little bit of back story. It is a four person group. There is a drummer and three guitarists. Although one of the guitarists does play bass occasionally. As mentioned above they are an instrumental band, and play some pretty fucking amazing songs. They're touring for their latest album, All Of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone.

I really have no complaints about this band. I was glad I brought earplugs to this show (it was my first time doing so). They were loud. I mean really loud. Like, labor inducing loud. Like, I may have gone sterile from excessive scrotal vibrations. Really really fucking loud. I didn't wear the plugs for the whole show, but the last 20-25 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. I'm going to another concert Friday night (Mew in Cambridge), and I wanted to be able to hear it. Unlike the last concert I went to where I complained about a lack of encores, I really didn't think an encore would have been appropriate for Explosions in the Sky. The entire show was like a single piece or music with multiple movements, and an encore would have broken things up to the point of not making any sense.

After the show, the same guitarist came back out to thank the crowd and apologize for not playing an encore, say that's just the way they do things. If you get a chance go see the band, they are definitely worth the price of admission.
Also, if you go, pick up a copy of The Rescue ep the disc only costs $10 at the show, but routinely sells for $50+ on eBay.

Sparta; 3/10/07 New Haven, CT: Toads Place.

Toads Place is about 20 minutes from my house so I decided to skip the 2 opening bands. I think they were Aloha and meagainstyou. I did end up seeing the last 3 songs from meagainstyou, and I enjoyed it. One cool thing about them was that the singer handed out oranges, bottles of juice and some French bread to the audience. I'm not exactly sure if that's the best way to win over new fans, but I know I was jealous of the guy that got the juice. On to Sparta:

I saw Sparta about 5 years ago on tour supporting their first album, Wiretap Scars. They headlined a 5 band bill, and the ticket was only $5. It was a 5 bands for $5 gimmick. I missed them twice on the Porcelain tour, but luckily I made it this weekend. There really isn't much to say about the show. Nothing really impressed me. They've made line-up changes since then, and their most recent album is pretty weak. Fortunately about half their set was songs from the first album. One thing that really annoyed was their lack of an encore. Both times I've seen them they have not played encores. The first time I assumed it was because 4 other bands had already played, but Saturday night they just walked off stage. If anyone reading this has seen them before, is it common for them to not play encores. Aside from the lack of an encore they didn't play "Cut Your Ribbon" which is arguably their biggest hit. I'm not the kind of music fan that gets down of bands for playing a variety of songs, but hell no encore and no hit, that's kinda weak for a band that's not too big. It was probably the least eventful concert I've been to in years. It felt about an hour long, which means one of two things. 1) They did an excellent job of entertaining us and made the time fly by or 2) they played a really short set and left me wanting more. I think it was #2.

Trying to save money sucks...

Especially when you buy music like I did this week. I don't normally go crazy like I did this week, but I ended up with 3 eps, 4 full lengths & one 7". Here's a quick run-down of what I picked up.

Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible" This is a winner. I got the "deluxe edition" which came with a couple of flip books to play around with. Because I hate the annoying contrived "behind the scenes" DVD's that usually come with "deluxe editions" the flip books really impressed me. And the music blew me away. Too many excellent tracks to listed 'em all.

Air - "Pocket Symphony" I'm not crazy about this album. It's not as pop oriented as their last few albums. It feels like a throw back to earlier Air albums. One thing I can't fault them for is having Jarvis Cocker sing on a track. If I could have any singers voice it would be his.

Darkel - "Darkel" This is Jean Benoit Dunkel's (of Air) solo project. This did sound like the last 3 Air albums. If given a choice or this album or the new Air album, pick this one instead. If I had bought it when it came out last year, I probably would have dropped it into my 10 Favorite List.

New Order - "BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert" a lala trade, but worth it. You really can't go wrong with New Order.

Pelican - "March into the Sea" It may only be a two song ep, but it is so good I can understand why someone would want to name their blog after it. It's like post-rock meets metal; Post-Metal?

Mum - "Dusk Log" I accidentally bought this. I thought it was something else. But, it is still excellent. Only complaint is that the disc is a 3" disc, not a 5", which means I can't play it in my car or on my PowerBook. I'll have to copy it in another computer, and then put the copy on my PB.

The Flaming Lips - "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" I love this. There are 3 really good remixes on here, as well as 4 new tracks. Being "Yoshimi" era Flaming Lips, the best remix is the T.P.S. remix of "Do You Realize???"

Mogwai/ Magoo - Split 7" : The 45's from 1998, and features Mogwai performing Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," my all time favorite Sabbath track. I've never heard of Magoo, but their cover of "Black Sabbath" is pretty bad ass as well. My only complaint is the boys in Mogwai don't seem to take the singing very seriously.

Hopefully that'll hold me over for the time being. I don't think any new music comes out for at least a week or so. At which point I'll spend more money, and try and justify one way or another.

Respect.

I have got a whole 'nother level of respect for John Popper of Blues Traveler after today. He was busted in Washington state for driving a car 111mph, while in possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and, get this, 4 rifles, 9 handguns, a switchblade, a Taser and nigh vision goggles. Lets not forget the fact that his Mercedes has been tricked out with police lights, a siren and PA system.















I don't know what it is, but something about a formerly-obese-washed-up-90s-rock-star behaving in the above mentioned manner is absolutely the most rock n' roll thing I've heard it years.


Have we got ourselves another Nuge?

Thank You Hollywood!

I really don't care about the Academy Awards. I don't need someone to tell what is a good movie and what isn't a good movie. Just like I don't need the Grammys, well actually I might as well use the Grammys as a way to know what to avoid. God knows how bad the Grammys are at picking decent music. I digress. The Oscars were a total farce for one reason to me this year. Best Original Score went to Babel??? I hope someone that reads this blog has seen Babel, and will agree with me that it was a terrible film. Ok, maybe not as bad as The Fountain, but still pretty awful. The Fountain might be the worst movie I've actually paid to see, but it had the greatest Original Score I've ever heard. I'm sure there are other scores that are equally compelling, such as Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle, or Hlemmur, but I've yet to hear the first of those two.

Back to Babel. The part of the movie in So Cal and Mexico was good, but probably only because my favorite Mexican actor was featured, Gael Garcia Bernal. The rest of the movie was almost as pretentious as The Fountain. It was as if Brad Pitt wanted nothing more than to make the worst movie of his career. I know he's a great actor, but he should stick to what he does best...Kicking Ass. Come ON. How about another Fight Club, or another Guy Ritchie film, even a sequel to Mr. & Mrs. Smith would've been better than Babel.

The score to The Fountain, wasn't even nominated. Clint Mansel did an amazing job composing the score, and Mogwai with The Kronos Quartet did an even amazinger job of performing the score. I was really tempted to put the score on "My 10 Favorite Albums of 2006" list, but it missed the cut by one spot. However, if I were to make the list today I think it would make the top ten.

Arcade Fire Tonight on SNL.

Hey, I know SNL has been a bit week this season but don't miss tonight. Rainn Wilson from The Office will be on, as well as Arcade Fire. Hopefully Arcade Fire will only play 1 new song, and 1 old. I'd rather not hear too much of the new album before it comes out.

The Ruraw Juraw

30 Rock references aside, I had Jury Duty this morning. I've been dreading this for weeks, just the thought of not only being awake at 8am, but having to be dressed and in a court by that time made me sick. I went though, it is my civic duty to convict or not convict people. I even got all dressed up for the occasion. My father's a lawyer, and whenever he goes to court he wears a suit, when he doesn't go to court he looks like the poorest lawyer in CT. This was reason enough for me to get dressed up, if it's important enough Padre Fleece to wear a suit, I should at least wear a tie. Which I did, in conjuncting with a pair of shoes my friend called "Homo Black Man Shoes," and he's gay so he must know what he's talking about. Anyway the shoes are killing my feet.

So I drove down to the great city of New Haven, home of both the hamburger and George W. Bush, and went about my business. I didn't read any of the information they sent, so I brought along a book, my iPod and something to drink. As it turns out I was not allowed to bring in my iPod or my drink, yet I could buy a drink at the "snack bar" only 8 feet from the metal detector. Apparently their beverage policy is based upon that of a music venue's. So, I went through security, took the elevator upstaits, checked in, told them I was a student, and left. Apparently telling them you are a student is a get out of Jury Duty free pass. All in all I spent more time in the shower this morning than I did at Jury Duty. I was even able to make to my 9:35 class on 20th Century African Politics with time to spare.

I do have to go though. I'm scheduled to serve again towards the end of July. However, if things go as planned I won't be around starting in mid-August, which means they'll have to postpone me again.

You know what they say about jurors; Do you really want to be tried by people that were too stupid to get out of jury duty?

Updates

If you haven't noticed, or are new here, I've changed the layout of the blog. Unfortunately in doing so I lost nearly all my information. I'm hoping to take some time to put everything back together this week, and then I'd like to start up dating my blog more frequently. What I'll be discussing could see a dramatic change as well. No promises here, but I should be kicking things up a notch pretty soon.

If You Don't Know Me By Now!

With the recent conclusion of season two of Extras I thought I'd treat you with some David Brent music video action.

Dekotora

If this doesn't make you want to move to Japan and drive trucks, nothing will.

Fools. All of them foolish fools.

Apparently Boston authorities are pissed off about looking like total retards (I apologize to any actual retards for being lumped in with these shit-for-brains city officials). If you haven't seen it on the news yet, let me fill you in. The Adult Swim tv show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, was engaged in some guerrilla (don't worry it's nothing sinister) advertising campaign across the county. Part of this campaign was the installation of Lite-Brites (I love me some Lite-Brite action), in the shape of one of the show's recurring characters, around 10 different US cities.

Example:

As it seems that little Lite Brite, looks like a bomb to many people in Boston. In fact, one Boston official called the Lite Brite "sinister" looking. It's not often that governments wasting money on foolish mistakes offends, or angers me like this. BUT, the fact that they want to be reimbursed for their mistake, AND file criminal charges against the people that did this is just over the top. At this point they are just looking for a way to look less retarded (once again, sorry). They just need to let it go and admit they over reacted. In fact if anyone should be paying for this is, its the people who thought it was a bomb. I'm sure old people will disagree with me, but then again you probably belong in a nursing home.

Edit: I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts of the entire story. The two guys that were arrested, when asked about what had happened, would only answer question about haircuts in the '70s. I've got to get a transcript.

A Birthday Treat

As today is my birthday I'm going to treat myself to some Wesley Willis. How about a little "Rock & Roll McDonald's." Live no less.

Happy Birthday Elvis

Happy 71st Birthday King.

Lost in the Woods.

This past Christmas I got a GPS unit so I could partake in Geocaching. If you're too lazy to click the link to find out what Geocaching is, I'll tell you. You go to a web site, like the one above, you find a cache in you area, get the coordinates, input the coordinates into you GPS unit, and then find those coordinates. When you find the location you are headed out for, you look around until you can find the cache. It may be an ammo can, a plastic container, a film canister, you get the idea. In this container will typically be a log for you to write your name and the time of your find, also there may be some sort of goodies that you can take, and replace with something you brought along.

Now to my story. During Saturday's 70 degree weather I set out at a local park to find a cache with my girlfriend. The cache was on the back side of a ridge, which means I could have gone either way around it. After some debate and an excursion in the wrong direction we found the best path to the cache. This cache took me way out of the way from the populous part of the part. About 500 feet from the cache my girlfriend told me she didn't want to go on, so she was going to have a nice sit while I bushwacked it to the cache. After going off the trail to find the coordinates, I went back to find my girlfriend when I couldn't find the cache. Problem. She was gone. This was a little after 4:00pm, and sunset was 4:36, and we were about an hour from the trail-head. I needed to find her, and fast. I went up and down the trail for about ten minutes yelling her name. After I couldn't find her, I called 911, thinking I need help finding her if it was going to be dark soon. I had them on the phone for about 20 minutes, they were on their way to the park when my girlfriend showed up. I was freaking out before I found her. She is originally from Atlanta, and I was dreading the call to her mother telling that her daughter had disappeared into the wilderness. Apparently she had sat down for a few minutes, and then went to find me, but because I had left the trail to find the cache she hiked right on past where I was. From what she told me she was down in a dark part of the woods. I felt bad for leaving her behind, but I had faith in her ability to fend for herself (she watches enough Survivor Man). Anyway, that was my big scare for the weekend. One thing I know is that I won't be getting separated in the woods again.

My 10 Favorite Albums of 2006

2006 has come to an end which means it is time to run down what I liked and disliked this year in music. Today I’m going to grace you with my top ten favorite albums of 2006. Tomorrow, or the next day I’d like to list the most disappointing album for the year, and well as some other favorites from the year. Lets count down from 10.



10. How Strange, Innocence
Explosions in the Sky –
Putting this album on my list was a bit of a tormentor for me. The version of this album that is currently in my possession was in fact released this year, but it is a re-issue. The music on this album is 6 years old, but because it was never officially released I decided to list it. Why I like this album: It’s Explosions in the Sky, how do you not like this band? The songs are so well crafted in the way they grow, climax and then die. EITS are a band that knows how to do instrumental music well. Instrumental music as a whole will be a big part of this list. Including this album, 4 of the 10 have either no lyrics or very limited lyrics.
Standout Tracks: “Glittering Blackness” “A Song for our Fathers”



9. Palmless Prayer/ Mass Murder Refrain
MONO & World’s End Girlfriend –
As I just mention instrumental music meant a lot to me this year, and this was one of the year’s best. The album as a whole starts off very subdued and sounds like it could be a movie score. It isn’t until about half way through the third track that you notice MONO’s presence, and after that it is only again on the fifth and final track that you notice them again. The fifth track (no titles; all songs are names Trailer 1-5) however is one of the most beautiful tracks MONO has ever contributed. That one track is better than anything of their latest album. World’s End Girlfriend isn’t any slouch either. You can hear his (WEG is one guy) influence on MONO, the music is much more somber than previous MONO solo outings.
Standout Tracks: “Trailer 3” “Trailer 5”



8. First Impression of Earth
The Strokes –
I’ve got a feeling this is an album that will be left off many lists this year, if for no other reasons than the fact it was released so early in the year. The album came out a year ago tomorrow (January 3) in the US, but was actually released in 2005 in a few countries. I didn’t forget about it though. I think this album is excellent. After I heard the first Strokes album I told anyone that would listen “this band won’t last, they have one sound.” I was wrong. The band has completely reinvented themselves for this album. This album sounds less like the second album, than the second album sounded like the first. There have always been guitar solos in Strokes’ songs, but never like this, the band sounds like a real rock band, not some one hit garage group. Everyone in the band plays, and sounds, better than they did on any previous album. You may prefer the lo-fi sound of their earlier albums, but this is my favorite Strokes album.
Standout Tracks: “Ask me Anything” “Ize of the World”



7. Up Close and Personal* & Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars**
South
“Adventures…” is a studio album, and “Up Close…” is a compilation of tracks from the bands first three albums (including “Adventures”), live tracks and unreleased tracks. Both albums came out this year, and I don’t see one as being better than the other, but I couldn’t justify giving them two spots on the list. “Adventures…” is a great album, obviously one of my favorites from this year, but compared to the bands last album, “With The Tides,” this album is a giant turd. WTT is one of the best (and least appreciated) albums of the last 10 years, which will most likely make any future release by this band look weak in comparison. The studio album is too polished, and sounds like an attempt to keep up with Coldplay, Doves or Elbow … 4 years ago. “Up Close & Personal” features the band striped down and playing mostly live songs. The songs that I was forced to skip on the studio album, shine and demand to be repeated when performed live. Not only that, but perhaps the best New Order cover I’ve ever heard is included. Not only that, but as an added bonus a live DVD is included.
Standout Tracks: “Bizarre Love Triangle*” “Keep Close*” “A Place in Displacement**” “What Holds Us**”



6. St. Elsewhere
Gnarls Barkley –
If you haven’t heard at least one track of this album, you must be living in a cave, or maybe you’re deaf, in which case hopefully you’ve seen a video or two. “Crazy” was without a doubt the top 40 song of the summer, if not year, but there is more to this album than that one song. I bought this CD on a whim, aside from “No Way Out” by Puff Daddy & the Family, this is my first R&B or rap album, but it’s not. I was expecting an R&B album, but I got something much more diverse. There are a lot of guitar and bass driven rock songs. Not only is this one of my favorite albums of the year, but also this is one of the best rock albums of the year. I think the best part of this album is the oddball subject matter for the songs. This album features songs about the pleasures of Necrophilia and Feng Shui. I bought this album thinking I’d regret it, but the only thing I regret about this album is that I didn’t buy it sooner. PS: The last minute or so of the song “Just a Thought” is probably my favorite 60 seconds of music this year.
Standout Tracks: “Necromancer” “ Storm Coming” “Gone Daddy Gone” Transformer”



5. At War With the Mystics
The Flaming Lips –
The world’s greatest one hit wonder strikes again. Overall this album is weak by Flaming Lips standards, but is nonetheless a solid album. If I had purchased this album and the first two tracks had been left off, this album would probably be 2 spots higher on my list. I really don’t know what to say about this album. You either get The Flaming Lips, or you don’t. This album is on par with their last three albums, which were both awe inspiringly good. Steven Drozd sings lead vocals for the first time on a track off this album, “Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung.” This album also features what may be my all time favorite Flaming Lips song, “Mr. Ambulance Drive.”
Standout Tracks: “The Wizard Turns On…” “The W.A.N.D.”



4. Just Like the Fambly Cat
Grandaddy –
As you probably know this is the bands swan song. There is no more Grandaddy. That doesn’t mean you won’t be hearing their music anymore, it just won’t be by a band called Grandaddy. In case you didn’t know, Grandaddy is the creative offspring of one guy, Jason Lytle. Yes there are other band members, but Grandaddy is Jason Lytle. This album would end up on my list for no other reason than the fact it has my favorite album cover of the year. I’m not sure what it is supposed to mean or signify, but I like it. The music is typical Grandaddy. Odd and irreverent. The music is solid, and the lyrics are zany. In a previous post I paid my respects to Logan Whitehurst, a man who would have been the perfect opening act for Grandaddy. Sadly that will never happen. This is one of those albums that I just like, and I can’t really explain why that is.
Standout Tracks: “This Is How it Always Starts/ Shangri La [outro]” “Skateboarding Saves me Twice”



3. You Are There
MONO --
This album is amazing. Every year I make a list like this (this is the first year I’ve posted it online, however), and what I notice is that there is always an album of two that stick with me year after year, and this will be one of those albums. MONO is unique is the way they keep getting better. Yes, I know bands don’t always come out of the gate strong and then fizzle, but MONO came out of nowhere to blow us away, and then has repeated that feat again and again. I love every track on this album. Like EITS, MONO knows how to do instrumental, so well in fact they are probably the best instrumental band touring today. Up until about a month ago I would have told you this was the best album of the year, you see who changed my mind in a minute. The band truly explodes with this album. The band plays faster, slower, louder and quieter than ever before. If asked my favorite type of music I will say instrumental because of this band. There were other instrumental acts (GY!BE) that I enjoyed before I ever heard of MONO, but none of them pulled at me emotionally like MONO does. The members of MONO say more to me with pure music than any other musician could ever say with lyrics. The music is uncluttered and pure. There is no pretense, there is no wit, there is nothing but music stripped to its core.
Standout Tracks: “The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain” “A Heart has asked for the Pleasure” “Yearning” “Are You There?” “The Remains of the Day” “Moonlight” (all of them)



2. Saturday Night Wrist
Deftones –
My second favorite album cover of the year, and my second favorite Deftones album cover, the self titled was absolutely bitchin’. The Deftones hold themselves to a higher standard than most. They don’t settle for anything but the best, and that is what they produce. Their last three albums are the three best metal albums this century. While recording this album the band repeatedly stated this would be their heaviest album ever, which it is not. In fact it is probably the least heavy album they’ve put out, and I love it for that. I cannot stand the bands first two albums; they’re un-listenable because they’re too heavy (a sentiment I know will turn many a Deftones fan against me). This albums is more in line with White Pony than anything else they’ve done. My definition of a bad Deftones song is any song in which Chino decides it in necessary for him to scream the lyrics, by that standard this should be the bands best album. I think there might be 2 songs where Chino pulls that nu-metal crap on us, but it doesn’t suck on this album. I went back and listened to the last two albums, and yes I still hate when he screams on those albums, but it works this time. Do I want him to do more of it? No. Am I going to skip the tracks? No. The biggest problem I have with this album is the song “Pink Cellphone.” It isn’t really a song. Sure there is a beat and a melody, but there isn’t anything that would make it something you could listen to more than once or twice. It’d like the Radiohead track “Fitter Happier” but with the worst lyrics ever and an annoying hip hop beat. This isn’t only the worst Deftones song ever, but might be one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. If you don’t believe me go look up the lyrics on line and read the last verse aloud. Aside from that, it is an excellent album. It’s the first Deftones album I’ve tried to get non-metal fans to listen too.
Standout Tracks: “Cherry Waves” “Mein” “Xerces”



1. Mr. Beast
Mogwai –
I saw this band open for The Cure a little over two years ago. I’m pretty sure they had just put out “Happy Songs For Happy People” and I thought to myself that this is a band that is jaw dropping live, but sucks in the studio. This album changed that for me. This is Mogwai’s best album. This is the album I wanted the band to make that day I saw them. There isn’t a track to complain about on this album. It is solid from end to end. My problem with the bands earlier releases is they were too wussy. There was no meat to them. The were more ambient than instrumental (this is an album I’d consider instrumental even though there are vocals on a couple of tracks). This album is heavy even when it isn’t being loud. There is gravity to the songs. The vocals add an excellent touch. It is the vocals that are probably the biggest improvement on this album. You can finally understand Stuart Braithewaite (or is it Barry Burns?). His voice is clear and deep. When he’s sung in the past I couldn’t tell if it was English, gibberish or perhaps Gaelic he was using, but now I can not only tell it is English, but I can decipher the actual words being used. I didn’t want to buy this album originally. I’d been burnt by previous Mogwai releases, disappointed with each one, but this one is different. I don’t care that I bought it 6 months after it came out, I still love the album. I’m just glad I bought it in time to put it on this list. I’m done typing, time to go listen to this album,
Standout Tracks: “Friend of the Night” “Folk Death 95”