Bm --> A

“There are many ways of describing the fiasco of suburbia, but these days I refer to it as the...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:43:00 -0400

“There are many ways of describing the fiasco of suburbia, but these days I refer to it as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.” James Kunstler

My car is messed up and now I’m not going to see Radiohead tonight. I don’t know what’s wrong with it, but I almost don’t want to bother fixing it.

New Blog: New Hobby

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:38:31 -0400

My new roomie Devon started a blog today. It’s called New Hobby, and basically what he plans to do is take up a different hobby each month and write about his progress.

His first quarry is reading tarot cards. He did my reading just now and it was pretty wild. The stuff he was reading from the book about my cards was eerily relatable to the concerns about my life that I had brought to the table.

So check out Devon’s blog, and good luck to Devon!

Brain May, the guitarist in Queen, recently completed his doctoral thesis in astrophysics. I want to...

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:59:00 -0400

Brain May, the guitarist in Queen, recently completed his doctoral thesis in astrophysics. I want to add my voice to the choir of praise for May, because this is really cool news.

It’s also kind of old news (he received the doctorate last year, but the book is coming out soon), but it reminds me of one of my favorite bits of trivia from rock ‘n’ roll history (from Wikipedia):

May and his father, Harold, built the original Red Special guitar themselves. They began to work on the guitar in August of 1963. Most of the wood came from an 18th century fireplace mantel that a friend of the family was about to throw away. The neck was hand-shaped until it reached the desired form, which was difficult due to the age and quality of the wood. According to May, there are two wormholes in the neck of the guitar.

What a heartwarming tale, eh? It makes sense that one of the most recognizable and iconic tones in history came out of an instrument built with such heart and such care.

AND if that wasn’t enough to prove that he’s a super cool guy, I’d like to remind you that he wrote “Fat Bottom Girls.”

Update!: Seconds after writing this, I saw the news that the Stooges’ gear was stolen, including Mike Watt’s personally modified bass. Sad news. Finding your perfect tone is one of the hardest thing for a musician. I had it, I think, twice: once about two years ago, the other like six years ago. Both of those amps lay in disrepair and I feel a little sadness every day. At least I have the hope that some day I’ll be able to fix one of them. Sorry, Mike.

Proper glassware makes being a beer nerd fun.

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:14:30 -0400

Proper glassware makes being a beer nerd fun.

I think I added comments. Now this is even MORE like writing an email to Carleton… he can...

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:07:35 -0400

I think I added comments. Now this is even MORE like writing an email to Carleton… he can write back!

My Shared Stuff On Google Reader

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:52:00 -0400

My Shared Stuff On Google Reader: For when I don’t want to bother with opening another tab to go on Tumblr. I chose the style “Sea.”

Beer Is Back!

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:22:31 -0400

Beer Is Back!: People are drinking beer more than wine again, after wine jumped ahead for the first time in recent memory in 2005. How much of this can be related to the work of C+C Brewing Factory (founded 2006, or thereabouts) is not mentioned… but watch out for THE NUDGE!

It’s about to be a beautiful day in Northwest...

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:57:00 -0400

It’s about to be a beautiful day in Northwest Arkansas…

The Big Picture is a blog at boston.com with tons of great...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:03:20 -0400

The Big Picture is a blog at boston.com with tons of great photographs. I like it very much.

I’m trying to do a little cleaning in my Google Reader. Brenda is at her knitting group, so...

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:35:54 -0400

I’m trying to do a little cleaning in my Google Reader. Brenda is at her knitting group, so I’m using her computer. I’m dumping a couple fun things here. (Here’s another! Tom Waits!) The big problem is that I have 122 things starred, and about 100 of them are articles/reviews/blog posts about bands I want to check out. They date back to August. I’ve promised myself regularly that once I get my computer situation back in order I’ll go through them in depth. What a delightful mess!

yes we can… MOVE THE ISLAND!

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:13:59 -0400

yes we can… MOVE THE ISLAND!

I coulda sworn you believed in me...

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:03:15 -0400

I coulda sworn you believed in me...

Connecticut Punk Rock Song

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:55:33 -0400

Connecticut Punk Rock Song

I’m listening to Tommy right now, on vinyl for the first time. It’s great listening to...

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:48:28 -0400

I’m listening to Tommy right now, on vinyl for the first time. It’s great listening to something so familiar with new ears, in a new context. The way records are broken up over sides is fascinating to me. Here, so far, each side begins and ends with a bang. Like, a real one. It goes BERRONNNGG!! Each side as it’s own little exploratory/psychedelic part and it’s pop song part and it’s bluesy/r&b part. I’m in the middle of “Underture” right now, which never felt so important on CD, but feels awesome here closing out the second side. I love the way the action of flipping a record refocuses the listener’s attention and gives a chance to think about where the record has been and where it’s going.

Being without a computer of my own has significantly changed my listening habits in a really good way. I was in a rut for a while, it was at it’s worst over the course of 2007, where I only got music from downloading albums off of album blogs other such probably-not-legal sources of mp3s. I would grab 4 or 5 albums every time I sat down, listen to them once or twice (if at all) while doing three other things. I was a lot less happy with my music and, by extension, my life. Now I’m back in the habit of taking the time to listen to things closely and repeatedly and boy howdy, I’m loving everything.

Acts who have released/will release things in 2008, that I have heard and love (in no order):

Vampire Weekend
Los Campesinos!
Destroyer
Islands
Constantines
She & Him
Robyn (this is obviously cheating, considering when it came out in Europe)
Panic at the Disco
Lil Wayne
Usher
Lil Mama
Weezer

I could probably go on, and I have wanted to blog about all of these acts and hopefully I will get around to it. Or not. Whatever, man!

The Constantines are probably among my top 5 currently active...

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:59:00 -0400

The Constantines are probably among my top 5 currently active acts. They have a quality that most of my favorite possess: they sound like what they’re doing is incredibly important without sounding desperate to please or to influence. If every band in indie rock had half the soul and energy of this band, we’d be in the great shape of the agriculture. This is their new single off of the upcoming album Kensington Heights, which I have a hunch is great (wink).

I think it’s awesome that, as they are Canadian, 12 of their 28 announced 2008 tour dates are in Canada, including 2 nights each in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Compare that to fellow canucks the Arcade Fire, who did 12 out of 47 last year, but stuck to the big cities. I’m a sucker for populism, I guess.

Want more? Here they are playing in a hail storm. “Neither wind nor sleet nor rain will stop rock ‘n’ roll!”

Schwarzenegger

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:24:38 -0400

Schwarzenegger: The carpool couldn’t drop me off at the door into work today. Apparently, it’s time to “terminate” climate change. Hardy har har.

Wii

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:17:00 -0400

When Brenda and I move in a few weeks, DTorr (aka Punchline) is going to sell me his Wii and all his Wii games for $20. Yes!

Radio Song

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:08:47 -0400

I’m going to be blogging about songs I hear on the radio a lot. I’m going to start with the elephant in this room that we can pop music, Usher. Like T.I. and Young Jeezy before him, Usher’s first song off the new album is slow-mo coronation music adorned with an appropriately regal and awesomely buzzy synth riff. I’ve read reviews calling it too safe, but I think they miss the point. Usher has been around long enough, and has been great long enough, that he doesn’t need to try to impress anyone. He can just let the song flow along slooow and spin off sweet little melodies, each nicer than the last. This is an artist comfortable in his talents, give you nothing but exactly what you need. Welcome back, Mr. Raymond.

On a side note, wtf the end of the video? When the Usher song ends, so does THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Everything About Lost in 4:24

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:34:51 -0400

Everything About Lost in 4:24: Because it’s awesome. Now non-watchers can become watchers and watchers can have a hearty chuckle at the quips.

http://carleton.muxtape.com

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:38:31 -0400

http://carleton.muxtape.com: Everyone go listen to “Helen Forsdale” because it’s seriously on my short list of favorite songs ever. I love the way it sustains the feeling that it’s going to fall apart without ever actually falling apart. The guitar sound is also really cool. And the drumming is spectacular in the way it is more of a riff than a drum pattern, if that makes sense. And the screaming is nuts. And the bass seems like it’s going to be normal but then it goes off in a million directions.