Converse with moose printed all over them are not a good choice in weather like this. I never thought I'd be a person who describes a day in the mid 20's as "beautiful weather".
I found the pictures from one of the Scoregasm matches and thought i'd share.
How awesomely beautiful is Natalie Merchant? She is way up there on the crush list. Word is that she lives in upstate New York. I do know that she was playing at the inauguration of New York's new governor in Albany on the day i picked G! and the kids up from the Albany airport. A part of me wanted them to be late so i could pop over to see Natalie while i waited. I'm hoping she has a new album in the works, it's been a long time. There are a bunch of her videos, solo and with 10,000 maniacs, on www.mtv.com.
Here is an excerpt from Spitzer's inauguration. Is that Dan Zane beside her?
I've been spending most of my time in these boots due to the ice and snow. Not super stylish but they are waterproof and plenty warm and being Columbia they are very comfy, Perfect for recess duty in the 12 degree weather(on warm days). My trusty old hiking boots aren't tall enough or warm enough for the Vermont winters.
But as soon as it warms up I'm going to put some miles on these Air Max I's. That's right, three different purples. They were wicked cheap and i couldn't pass them up. I don't know what it is about running shoe silhouettes. I may be on the hunt for some Air Max 90's while in L.A., any suggestions Scot?
Pete Maravich always makes me think of my brother. He had a borderline obsession with him back in his basketball playing years. Well this week I've been thinking about my brother a lot. A new book about Maravich came out this week, I've yet to read it but it's on my list. Get it here.
I also received the new Eastbay catalog this week and lo and behold Adidas is continuing its tribute to Pistol Pete with these great new shoes. You may remember that they came out with a Pistol Pete model last year that were pretty nice but nothing like these. I really like those hitops. Eastbay has the new shoes plus some of last years line, get them here.
For some reason I've been listening to Lazy Eye by the Silversun Pickups a lot lately. I'm secretly hoping they will be playing around L.A. when i visit in March. I know they're going to be in Montreal soon and am very tempted to go. I'm sure everyones tired of the Smashing Pumpkins comparison but it works dammit. Besides i would love to be in a band this good and sounding like the Pumpkins isn't a negative in my book.
Download - Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
G! and I listened to the new disc by The Shins(one of her favorites) yesterday on the way home from West Leb. Wincing the Night Away is a really good solid effort from the band that is due to drop this Tuesday. To my ear there isn't any big shift in what the band is doing on this new album. I can't imagine the pressure on the band with this release and I can see the logic in not switching up your style a great deal at this point in your career. That being said there are some really good songs on this disc.
Some things are just too strange for most people to truly appreciate. How about a room full of third graders singing along to the awesome 80's movie Labyrinth starring David Bowie. "Dance Magic Dance".
When we left school yesterday at 3:00 there was no snow on the ground. When i picked Chloe up from knitting club at 4:00 i took this picture. In the picture she is trying to catch a snow flake in her mouth or she is singing an opera aria.
G! goes back to Law School today. Having her home was soooo nice. One night she made fish cakes. They may have been tastier then they look, respect.
Download - Jason Collett - Pink Night
My album of the year is far and away Destroyer's Rubies by Dan Bejar of New Pornographers fame. Like a lot of the albums i love i really didn't like this one on first listen. It's hard to believe that this guy is in the New Pornographers because this album is nothing like anything the pornographers have put out. The album is very odd and beautiful at the same time. You have to respect the fact that the first song is this long(almost 10 minute) meandering piece. My wife instantly fell in love with the album so i ended up putting a couple of songs on a mix cd for the car and eventually realized that i liked those songs. Upon revisiting the album i came to the realization that this shit is genius!
Caleb's first game was this week, he was on the home team. You are reading the score correctly.
My brother getting his shop on.
My brother gives the best christmas presents.
Here is a performance of Intervention from KCRW. That bad ass pipe organ in the new version is a nice improvement.
False 45th and i have talked about the amazing fact that the most anticipated indie release in years has been leak free so far. I guess as soon as the record company gets involved the chances of something getting out will skyrocket but they've done a great job so far.
edit- For some reason i didn't post the song that i meant to put up with that creepy sculpture.
The booklet for the discs is really interesting, it basically runs down the story of John's rediscovery. Everyone thought he was dead because after recording a few sides in 1928 he just disappeared. 35 years later a group of folk blues enthusiast noticed that on the song Avalon Blues he sang "Avalon's my hometown". After consulting a map they discovered that there was an Avalon Mississippi. One of the group was headed to New Orleans and decided to stop in Avalon to check things out and within 10 minutes had found John. The next three and a half years saw the reemergence of Mississippi John Hurt.
Download - Rollins Band - Burned Beyond Recognition
But there is a lot of stuff on the web about Ryan Adams three night stand at Town Hall in NYC. I can't tell you how tempted i was to pack up the car and drive down there. Some of the best videos from the shows are on Stereogum.
To clense myself i watched the Minuteman cocumentary We Jam Econo when i got home. What an excellent movie. It probably only appeals to people that like music but it was right up my alley. I've never been a big Minuteman fan but Phil and i listened to Mike Watt's Ball Hog or TugBoat like mad in the early 90's.
My favorite altcountry genius just updated his web site with a shit load of new music. I usually try to keep my love for Ryan Adams in check but some of this stuff is superb(in a messy way). I really like the crazy stuff he's doing with breakbeats. I will say that the new stuff doesn't really mesh with his new claims of sobriety. Not a week goes by that i don't think about driving to NYC to stalk him for a few days.
I created this blog almost two years ago for the express purpose of talking about music and making fun of Ryan. Yesterday Ryan and his wife had their first child Abigail so congratulations to the new parents and good luck getting any sleep. This crappy picture is all I had to post even though his sister is a professional photographer.
I was introduced to the band Uncle Tupelo through the CD No Alternative, a benefit CD for some aids charity. I bought the album in the midst of my R.E.M. crazy because Pavement had contributed the track The Unseen Power of the Picket Fence, a song about R.E.M. The disc was packed with some of the biggest "college radio" bands of the time(was anyone using the term indie) like Mathew Sweet, Buffalo Tom, Soundgarden, American Music Club, Dinosaur Jr, Urge Overkill etc. It also contains what would become my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song of all time, Glynis. Anyway Uncle Tupelo has a great tune called Effigy on the compilation that became one of my favorite songs on the disc. Why i didn't immediately go out and buy every Uncle Tupelo album i could find is one of those things i can't quite remember. By the time i followed up on the sound that made Effigy so great i was fully aware that the band had broken up and so i ended up buying SonVolt's Trace and later Wilco's AM. I'm sure there is a musical moral to the story but I'll skip it and leave you with a couple of MP3's from it.
This would be a perfect gift for the soon to be birthday boy. Go here to see what the kit contains. I'll bet it even works on shoe polish.
Download - The Spinto Band - Did i tell you
