The latics

Things on the soccer front are moving slowly, without Ryan's giant plasma t.v. and 1000 channels I haven't seen any kind of match since I got here. It ain't easy keeping up with teams over the internet and none of my 12 channels carry matches. I do know that my latics are at number 19 in their league so things are looking pretty grim(don't cry Luke).
I did find out that Chelsea(Vermont, the other Chelsea still sucks) has two men's teams. One won some championship last season, guess which one I'm looking into. G! and I have been invited to join the SoRo school team. As soon as the job situation is resolved I'll be able to(hopefully) commit to something.

Cover it: Bring On The Night

A couple of months ago I ripped my Police box set Message in a Box and put it all on my ipod. If your a Police fan this box set is where it's at. It contains every studio recording they ever did along with several live versions. It also has the last song they played together from their last show Don't Stand So Close To Me. Needless to say they have been popping up on the ipod quite a bit. The Police have a lot of great songs, many of them you won't find on their greatest hits cd. One of my favorite songs is Bring on the Night from Regatta da blanc. I think that Bring on the Night is an excellent tune that some of today's musicians should cover. The song is amazing. It kicks off with a little grooving entry before a lifting guitar pattern and stings still high voice come in. The fun is really in the reggaeish chorus with a bouncy bassline under it, one of those sections that should go one and on. You also get a bit of guitar wankery that wanders around Sting's vocals at the end. Now it's a tall order for a cover. The Police had a very distinct style and of course this is an early police song so Sting still has that amazingly strong high pitch. It would be hard to find a singer today who could hit those notes, I'm certain that sting himself couldn't do it today, so I'm proposing a complete reinterpretation of the song ala Sun Kil Moon. Here are some of my suggestions.
Mark Kozelek would be ideal, he's done it before with AC/DC and most recently Modest Mouse.
Iron&Wine has done some stunning covers and honestly I just want to here his take on it.
Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah have the energy and possibly the voice to do a version close to the original.
Bishop Allen would have a great take on the track and having a female voice in the mix could be really cool. (I'm still kicking myself for missing their Boston gig last week.)
Ok I have half a dozen more I could throw out but what do you think?

Download: Bring On the Night
Download: Don't Stand So Close to Me (the final performance)
Download: So Lonely

I've got to add that B Main, one of the greatest guys alive, bought me the box set for my high school graduation. Not only that but The Monkees box set also, imagine that, the man has diverse tastes.

Saturn vs. The National

I may be a bit behind the curve here(keep in mind that we didn't get cable until moving to Vermont) but I just saw a Saturn commercial featuring a song by The National. Anyone that I've made a mixtape for over the last year can attest to what a big fan I am of this band. Unfortunately the whole commercial thing sets off my sellout alarm, that having been said it's not ringing that loudly. The young hardcore cooler-than-thou me(really I'm better than I used to be) would have renounced all ties to them and equated them with Kelly Clarkson from that time into perpetuity. Oddly enough I'm happy for them. I know all about mortgages and doctor bills and back to school shopping and hope they each got a wheelbarrow full of cash for the use of their song.
The song: Secret Meeting
My favorite song on the album is Karen. Hopefully some company will want to use it for promotional purposes and will keep in the line "it's a common fetish /for a doting man /to ballerina round the coffee table cock in hand" I'm thinking possible Jergins hand lotion. That was wrong I apologize.
Download : Karen
If you are into the artsy black and white thing then check out the video for Daughters of the So Ho Riots here.
If you(like myself) like performance based pieces filmed in the band's own practice space then you can check out the video for Abel here. Both are on the Beggers Banquet site.

Or you can check out this guy playing drums along with "secret meeting" for some unexplained reason. As a drummer I can say that we all play along to our favorite songs but rarely do we film it and post it on YouTube.

Look at me

Hey check me out, I was mentioned on a real blog yesterday. I'm trying to be cool like Ryan Adams(when he's not freaking out on someone). False 45th did a little write up/welcome to Vermont of the site along with a Built to Spill post, nice. Needless to say False 45th is a site that you should check out. I've been dropping by there on a daily basis for quite some time(even before we thought we might move to Vermont) he does a great job of mixing music and soccer with the perfect amount of personality thrown in. Based in the metropolis of Montpelier his world cup coverage was fantastic(he actually went) but the greatest nonmusic post was the 4th of July parade. G! and I were in stitches. Stop by and check it out.

Flaming Lips reviews

Fellow Okies The Flaming Lips have two nice write ups complete with audio and video.
Culturebully has a write up, good photos and some great video clips.
More Cowbell has the same with a bonus interview.
Looks like the stage show is gearing up to promote the ever filming Christmas on Mars. In the videos you can see ranks of dancing space girls and santas. The Lips will be hitting Burlington, Vermont on 9-7 and then Oklahoma City on 9-15. Word is that the OKC show will debut a big space ship as part of the set and it may or may not move.

That answers that

Wow

Ok Go

I'm sure everyone has seen the OK Go video with the treadmills. It's even funnier and more impressive then the dancing video. ExitFare has it up right now. If you've forgotten the Million Ways dance here it is.

Sometimes life surprises

Driving from Oklahoma to Vermont twice this summer made me really appreciate the ipod. I could go on and on about how great it is but most of you already know. I did learn that my ipod and my wife don't always see eye to eye. Two songs in particular really annoy G! but my ipod plays them all the time and they are: Conventional Wisdom by Built to Spill. It ranks at number 24 on my most played list. G! really takes issue with the extended jam at the end of the song. But i think i have a solution, i found an old paste cd with an edited version of the song.
Download: Conventional Wisdom
The next problem song is Walking to Do by Ted Leo, a song i absolutely love. It ranks at number 21 on my most played list. I don't know what the problem with this song is specifiacally but it sounds great to me and my ipod.
Download: Walking to do

My Bad

Well somehow I managed to unknowingly set my comments to moderated so nothing was getting put up. I've fixed it and gone back and answers several of the comments, sorry.
My Old Kentucky Blog has a new song from the upcoming Lemonheads album. I really like it. It's Evan in his toned down mode. The Lemonheads are a big favorite of mine, if savefile was up I'd post some of my favorites. In 1994/95 G! and I almost died at a Lemonheads show(according to my vivid imagination) when a transformer right in front of the only entrance caught fire while the Archers of Loaf were playing. They never finished their set after the fire was put out and the power was restored but The Lemonheads came out and put on a great show. Oddly enough there was a mosh pit during the show. Remember kids, there was a time in the early nineties when people would mosh to anything. Anyway check out the new song.
p.s. Did Evan ever get with Juliana Hatfield? I remember caring about that back in the day.

A shoe post

I don't know if you've been to Scot's site lately but he has posted a couple of paintings from a Nike series that he is doing that are awesome. I mean great art and classic shoes, a match made in heaven. I really wish I lived anywhere near L.A. because I would love to see the upcoming shoe. Not only that but he also has a picture of Mr. T up right now. The job search isn't going so well. I'm just a few days away from applying for the counter job at the Chelsea general store. Among many other reasons to have a meaningful, interesting, decent paying job look at what's happening in Boston this weekend(I'm looking at you Scot), not only that but look at the concerts in the sidebar. If anyone runs across a job in Vermont let me know.
I posted about these awhile ago but now it looks like they will go into production. These are a mash up of the Jordan III,IV,V and VI. The elephant print is actually quotes from the Mars Blackman commercials. The projected price is almost affordable.

Sk8 or Die S. Royalton

We arrived for the law school BBQ a bit early so we decided to check out the little skate park that is right behind the college. We forgot the skateboards. Dylan thought the ramps were slides and that worked for him. Notice the mountains in the background.
LB is actually asleep here in the middle of the fun box. He also layed down while I was talking to his principal and fell asleep, and then fell asleep again while we were swinging on the school playground. I suspect that he gets up in the middle of the night and plays video games.
Who needs a board?
LB and D awake and enjoying the mini ramp.

This morning while I was driving G! to school the ipod played two tracks by the Streets, that one about his dad and "Fit but you know it".

One down

Someone's first day of law school was today(orientation anyway) congrats. I hope they feed us every day.

The mail

I know everyone loves to get real mail, not the crappy circulars or bills but real mail. Now imagine that the very first piece of mail you receive in your new home on the other side of the country is a package from the Nobles. I peed myself. The package was full of great stuff. For a moment I felt like Jeff Staple(sorry I'm a shoe nerd). Does anyone else remember me blogging about this piece a few months ago? It is now on my wall and it looks great. The stuff on the left is like collage on top of the paint, very textured and involved. I don't know if the word endure is meant to be an encouragement for G! but it is perfect.
You would think that a piece of quality, breathtaking art would be enough but look what else was in the box. That's right the new Igloo Tornado t-shirt and some fliers for the new show at the Black Maria gallery in L.A. This shirt is no cracker jack prize, it's quality, printed on an American apparel shirt(you know the really soft ones) it's amazing the detail you can get in a screen printing these days. The t-shirts will be on sale soon so keep checking the Igloo Tornado website.
Did I tell you that we bought a new car with AWD for the famed Vermont winters? It's a pacifica and it is awesome. It's basically a hopped up station wagon. Ohh look at the side of the house, you can see where they are updating the electrical box.

Oversite

How could i forget the Arcade Fire show at Stubb's in Austin? After opening with a Bob Dylan chestnut they later played Bowie's "5 Years". The picture below is from the show, pretend they are playing the right song. Thanks for jogging my decaying memory Lisa.

The Move(the short version)

Here it is, the new digs in fabulous Chelsea Vermont. Built in 1809 this little beauty is so aged that nothing in it is square, it has settled in two different directions making most of the doors unshutable.
Ahh the Penske, I hate that bitch. Probably the most stressful thing I've ever driven. I'm sure you noticed that it's parked with the semi's. The thing was so wide that you had to be thinking about where it was in the lane at all times. Needless to say we ran into construction every 10 miles. I loved seeing the "Lanes Narrow" signs. And don't forget the length. The storage are was 26 feet long and we were pulling the car on a trailer adding another 10 feet or so making it one bitch to turn or, lord forbid, back up.
Two things to notice in this out of order picture, the friends and the stress. Most of the people that read this were there helping so you all know how much work went into packing up and cleaning the house. I don't know how we could have done it without you all. Seeing our landlord packing up with the help of just one lame ass friend(she was eating every time I saw her) makes us appreciate our crew even more.
Look at these nerds. Our landlord wasn't out of the house as early as we had hoped(even after the trip up took a day longer than we had planned) so we got to do a little looking around while Sarah was with us. Here are the bitches at G!'s school. We also took in Ben & Jerry's and spent some time in Montpelier.
I skipped over a lot of stuff here are a few more highlights.
The truck shook so violently that it would frequently shake the ipod loose.
There are no hotel rooms available in new York(the state).
New York state doesn't believe in vacancy signs.
We hit the Nike outlet.
It's easy to develop a Waffle House habit.

Top Five Covers

Ok, i'm going to put these down even though i know i'm forgetting something.
5. La Cienega Just Smiled - Doveman (Ryan Adams cover)
4. Close to Me - The Get Up Kids (Cure cover)
3. Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine (Postal Service Cover)
2. Wonderwall - Ryan Adams (Oasis cover)
1. Thunder Road - Bonnie "Prince" Billy/Tortoise (Springsteen cover)

My favorite covers that i've seen/heard live have to be
2. Madonna Medley - Possom Dixon (This included snippets of early Madonna hits. It also included the lead singer writhing on the keyboard.)
1. She Don't Use Jelly - Ben Kweller (I caught this at a small club in OKC and the entire time i wondered if Wayne was present.)

Honerable mentions include:
Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis; 5 years - Seu Jorge; Landslide - Dixie Chicks(that's right); Straight Outta Compton - Nina Gordon; Morrissey EP - Colin Meloy; WhenDoves Cry - Damien Rice; One More Night - Nina Gordon; Against All Odds - Postal Service; Waiting for a Superman - Iron&Wine
If anyone wants me to post the mp3's for any of these other covers let me know.

Let's play

"You want me to make a top five what? No way, how about cover songs?"
I forgot to mention that Sarah has a new top five posted. This time she has thrown down her top five cover songs. She was at our going away party and Ryan and I both expressed our disappointment in the fact that we had nothing to write lists for. I know she's really busy with stuff so a big thanks to her for updating. I know we talked about cover songs for awhile but I was a bit too drunk to remember what was going to be on my list so I'm starting from scratch.
Her are hers
5. Killing me Softly - the Fugees
4. Live and Let Die - G N R
3. Gin and Juice - The Gourds
2. Hard to Handle - The Black Crowes
1. Higher Ground - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Nice list, tough choices. I'm still working on mine but I'm sure Wonderwall by Ryan Adams and Thunder Road by Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Tortoise will be on there.
I listened to my Ipod for hours while I packed yesterday. God I love that little contraption. Here are the next ten songs it wants to play for me.
1. The Mariner's Revenge Song - The Decemberists.
2. Transformer Man - Neil Young
3. Route - Son Volt
4. Girl, You have no faith in medicine - White Stripes
5. Reunite on Ice - Blood on the wall
6. Space Travel is Boring - Sun Kil Moon
7. Since K got over me - The Clientele
8. Scarborough Fair - Simon and Garfunkel
9. A Certain Romance - The Arctic Monkeys
10. Raising the Sparks - Akon Family/Angels of Light
That Ipod know what it's doing.
I've gotten a couple of new shirts from friends traveling abroad. Melissa bought me an FC Barcelona jersey while in Spain. It matches my zoom airs perfectly, I hope Vermonters appreciate shit like that. G!'s mom bought me an Italia World Cup Champs shirt, very nice. If I were prone to geeking out I'd tell you that it will look good with my Adidas Marathon ZX's.
I've been wearing my dunks almost exclusively for the last several days(everything else except for my running shoes are packed up) and I can't get over how awesome they look.

Days away

Things are heating up here, we are a couple of days away from the big move and we still have a ton of shit to do. I'll probably be internet free for several weeks since we have to figure out what works best in Vermont and then get the internet dude to hook it up and everything so don't be surprised if I don't post on a regular basis. If anyone knows of any good jobs in Vermont let me know, I need one.
I put up some new pictures even though G! says that everyone is sick of my Colorado posts. These pictures document the free in store appearance of Pete Yorn. He played June and a few songs off the new album. It was good stuff. The second picture was taken from outside while we waited in the rain for the missing Emily to show up so we could get tattoos... she was eating.
Our used car guy John John is trying to find us an all wheel drive Chrystler Pacifica or Ford Freestyle. We are going to need all wheel of four wheel drive this winter. The fact that we heed seating for six and don't want a big SUV really narrows our search. I'm kinda hoping for the pacifica. They look like a streamlined station wagon with a big ass.

Phil of the mountain

Like I've said before Phil really took care of us in Colorado, he led us around town and let us crash with him up at Eldora(thanks to Jeremy and Jeff also). You wouldn't believe what a great gig Phil and his friends have, the picture below is the view from their window. Check out those snow free ski runs. Eldora is about 5000 feet(around 10,000 above sea level) above Boulder. Phil and Jeff(a great guy) bomb down this wickedly steep road into town where they work at a really cool place called the Boulder Sports Recycler. It's a consignment/bike shop that handles all kinds of bikes, climbing and camping gear and clothing.
Jeff(the mastermind) and Phil gave my bike what mounted to a $45 tune up. Here Phil installs a sweet battery powered light. Moments latter my ratty ass saddle gets replaced.
Here I am at the feet of the master. Jeff is a great bike mechanic and I actually picked up some greattips from him, thanks again Jeff.
Here's Ryan on Phil's patio. Awesome view. Yes Ryan has finally changed his shirt(i believe that shirt was purchased at a thrift store in Fort Collins the previous day).

Another Colorado update

Good friends in a cool city. Phil was a wonderful host for our stay in Boulder. Phil met us in town at Urban Outfitters(I found a pair of $20 Levi's) and squired us about town.
This picture was taken mere moments before Ryan's heart stopped.
Here is my man Dashboard Jesus presiding over our trip over Monarch pass. Oddly enough the ipod(inspired by DJ), played "damn it feels good to be a gangster" on the way down, the same song it played while we traversed cottonwood pass.
At this point we realized that while Dashboard Jesus could perform miracles he didn't have the power to make Emily be quiet.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

It seems like a good day to post on Will Oldham aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy. You may have seen the "Thunder Road" cover I posted that he did with tortoise. I've been looking for the ep that that song came from and I finally found it in a cool little record shop in Boulder. "The Brave and the Bold" is a record by Oldham and the band tortoise that consists solely of covers. There is an awesome version of "Daniel" by Elton John but my favorite track is a song called Pancho.
Download "Pancho" here
The disc has very little information on it(damn Canadian import) so I don't know who sang it originally, anyone know?(Vosse I'm looking at you). Speaking of covers an aquarium drunkard has Johnny Cash's cover of Oldham's song "I see a Darkness" as well as an amazing song and video from Oldham's upcoming album. You really need to see the video. Let me say this, in it Will wrestles E.T.nuff said.
In other news, Scot has put up some fresh art on his site Losergoes1st. Check it out he has a cool and creepy new solo piece as well as some collaborative stuff with another artist that will blow you away. It's cool how he gives you a tiny bit of insight into where this stuff is coming from. I really dig it, stop by and show him some love. I'm also anxious to see the shirts he is putting together.

Another Colorado Post

I'm pretty sure that the burn ban in Colorado had already been called off before this Mountain Dew Can was filled with lighter fluid and placed on the grill.
In this picture someone is having a "moment". Yes that is a busy street in Crested Butte.

Besides the tattoo, probably the best purchase I made on the trip was a slingshot. We spent hours plating with them. Behind Ryan you can see the wagon that we repeatedly had to put in its place with a barrage of rocks.

Finally Colorado

I'm way behind on updating on my trip and my computer is giving me shit about the pictures I'm trying to upload. So this will be in several posts. I got Ryan a dashboard Jesus for the trip. He is a miracle worker, above him looms a big penis someone painted on Ryan's windshield. The trip out was alright, the ipod performed admirably. There was a wreck on Monarch pass so we had to drive to cottonwood adding three hours onto the 13 hour drive. On the way down the pass the ipod played "Damn it feels good to be a gangster".
Ahhh the cabin as seen from spring creek. Looks cool and inviting doesn't it? If you've never been here start sucking up to Ryan now so you'll get invited. The cabin is the only reason I'm friends with him. When we got here we had to book it to get it opened before dark.

Here we are at the pizza place in Crested Butte. In front of Ryan is my glass of fat tire. The two of us drank a pitcher a piece in just an hour or so.