Eat lunch really quick then play hackey-sack.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 7: Morphine - “In Spite of Me”
*phew* I caught up. Alas, I’m certain to have to do this again. But I don’t mind and I hope, who ever is reading this, that you don’t either.
As one of the most sentimental and sad entries in this list, this song really stands out. I can go all “emo” on you and tell you why, but I’ll leave that for a more intimate time story over a coffee or a bottle of vino. Suffice to say, from the moment I first heard it, this song hit a place in my heart that I’d unfortunately never understood til then why it hurt so much.
The first time I heard Morphine was actually the first time I’d seen them live. I was listening to one of my favorite late night college radio shows and they put up tickets to see the Cranes in NYC for grabs, I called in and got them right away. Morphine opened and that was all I needed to see. Wow. Here was a soulful Jazz band played with a rock edge. The lineup was interesting, the only traditional rock band instrument being drums, the lead singer, Mark (who, I heard died in the late 90’s, very sad and unfortunate), played stand-up bass and had an amazing low sort of baritone voice, and the other instrument was a sax. No guitar on stage, yet they rocked. Oh it was amazing.
The next day, I went to Revolver Records on 8th St. and picked up the CD since I hadn’t the money with me at the show to buy it. It was their newest release, “Cure for Pain”. This song was on it, and it was a life changer. I’ll just say this went on many a mix tape, haha. Enjoy.
As one of the most sentimental and sad entries in this list, this song really stands out. I can go all “emo” on you and tell you why, but I’ll leave that for a more intimate time story over a coffee or a bottle of vino. Suffice to say, from the moment I first heard it, this song hit a place in my heart that I’d unfortunately never understood til then why it hurt so much.
The first time I heard Morphine was actually the first time I’d seen them live. I was listening to one of my favorite late night college radio shows and they put up tickets to see the Cranes in NYC for grabs, I called in and got them right away. Morphine opened and that was all I needed to see. Wow. Here was a soulful Jazz band played with a rock edge. The lineup was interesting, the only traditional rock band instrument being drums, the lead singer, Mark (who, I heard died in the late 90’s, very sad and unfortunate), played stand-up bass and had an amazing low sort of baritone voice, and the other instrument was a sax. No guitar on stage, yet they rocked. Oh it was amazing.
The next day, I went to Revolver Records on 8th St. and picked up the CD since I hadn’t the money with me at the show to buy it. It was their newest release, “Cure for Pain”. This song was on it, and it was a life changer. I’ll just say this went on many a mix tape, haha. Enjoy.
30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 6: Minus the Bear - “Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo”
Ah, Minus the Bear. Greatest new band to come out of the post grunge era.
Back in 2002/2003, right before I left LP to start working at Gamestop, I was listening to a lot of new music as I had a LOT of time to do so. I used to spend hours every week scouring newsgroups for new bands, downloading and listening downloading and listening, ect ect…
Under a header that said “New from Seattle!”, this band caught my eye by words alone. “Minus the Bear”. What kind of name is that? Well, certainly no stranger than “Barney Rubble and the Cunt Stubble”, but alas, it was different enough then the deluge of bands on the boards with every imaginable word preceded by “The” as their name. The album was called “Highly Refined Pirates”, okay…funny. The song titles, well, okay, they were all pretty good, but you know I had to check them out when I saw a song called “Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!”. I got the album and was very pleasantly surprised to find that they were nothing like I’d expected.
Their lyrics immediately hit home. Here were songs about living and experiencing life for the best of what it was and from a very honest and real perspective. It felt so much like the same experiences I’ve had and how I’d described them. The music, as well, had a wonderful feel to it, sort of bitter-sweet, playful, yet melancholy, just right for listening to no matter how you felt on a particular day.
To wrap it up, if you haven’t checked this band out, you really should. Ignore the hipster fame they’ve garnered in the past few years, they’re definitely worth it.
Back in 2002/2003, right before I left LP to start working at Gamestop, I was listening to a lot of new music as I had a LOT of time to do so. I used to spend hours every week scouring newsgroups for new bands, downloading and listening downloading and listening, ect ect…
Under a header that said “New from Seattle!”, this band caught my eye by words alone. “Minus the Bear”. What kind of name is that? Well, certainly no stranger than “Barney Rubble and the Cunt Stubble”, but alas, it was different enough then the deluge of bands on the boards with every imaginable word preceded by “The” as their name. The album was called “Highly Refined Pirates”, okay…funny. The song titles, well, okay, they were all pretty good, but you know I had to check them out when I saw a song called “Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!”. I got the album and was very pleasantly surprised to find that they were nothing like I’d expected.
Their lyrics immediately hit home. Here were songs about living and experiencing life for the best of what it was and from a very honest and real perspective. It felt so much like the same experiences I’ve had and how I’d described them. The music, as well, had a wonderful feel to it, sort of bitter-sweet, playful, yet melancholy, just right for listening to no matter how you felt on a particular day.
To wrap it up, if you haven’t checked this band out, you really should. Ignore the hipster fame they’ve garnered in the past few years, they’re definitely worth it.
30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 5: Ken Nordine - “Yellow”
Okay, I’ll be honest, I only picked “Yellow” over “Olive” because “Olive” is a harder track to find a video for and the “Yellow” track has J.R. “Bob” Dobbs. That being said, let’s move on.
Okay, just…listen to this guy’s voice. You’ve heard it before, but where, just can’t place it huh? That’s okay. It’s because his voice is EVERYWHERE. Ken Nordine has done more voice-over work than you’ve taken poos in your entire life. However, he also has a great taste for Jazz and has recorded several albums. The best of which came out in the late 60’s (that was a great time for creativity huh?) called “Colors”. In it, Nordine does a little playful spoken word album with each song being based on a color, what/who the color is, why it is, what it’s like, how it feels. The songs also follow a light paradigm about society as well, which you can either read into or just sit back, have a cocktail and enjoy.
Okay, just…listen to this guy’s voice. You’ve heard it before, but where, just can’t place it huh? That’s okay. It’s because his voice is EVERYWHERE. Ken Nordine has done more voice-over work than you’ve taken poos in your entire life. However, he also has a great taste for Jazz and has recorded several albums. The best of which came out in the late 60’s (that was a great time for creativity huh?) called “Colors”. In it, Nordine does a little playful spoken word album with each song being based on a color, what/who the color is, why it is, what it’s like, how it feels. The songs also follow a light paradigm about society as well, which you can either read into or just sit back, have a cocktail and enjoy.
30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 4: Butter 08 - “Butter of 69”
Grand Royal Records was fucking AWESOME. It’s a shame they didn’t last. But they left us a great catalog of music from which Butter 08 had sprung.
There used to be a magazine I’d bought throughout the early to late 90’s called CMJ. It was a music magazine focusing mostly on independent groups and artists or culled from a specific “feel” or genre, the kind of stuff you’d find on college radio or greenwich village record shops. Every issue came with a CD filled with new music. I still have STACKS of them, but this is how I discovered the wonder and magic that is/was Cibo Matto.
Cibo Matto was a “group” per se of two asian girls who had a knack for catchy tunes about random things (ie: food. I think the whole first album was food songs) with a very, VERY asian pop-culture sort of feel, broken english, quirky lyrics and themes, you get the picture, if not, just listen to them.
The girls from Cibo Matto did a one-shot, side project with members of the John Spencer Blues Explosion and a few others called ‘Butter-08’. This, in my opinion, was the first of a wave of niche feeling “combo-side-collaboration” bands to hit. Following this, and continuously including members of Cibo Matto I might add, such as Handsome Boy Modeling School and the Gorillaz (Miho was the first Noodles).
So, enough history, thanks for reading and enjoy my favorite track off the only album by this excellent collaboration effort.
There used to be a magazine I’d bought throughout the early to late 90’s called CMJ. It was a music magazine focusing mostly on independent groups and artists or culled from a specific “feel” or genre, the kind of stuff you’d find on college radio or greenwich village record shops. Every issue came with a CD filled with new music. I still have STACKS of them, but this is how I discovered the wonder and magic that is/was Cibo Matto.
Cibo Matto was a “group” per se of two asian girls who had a knack for catchy tunes about random things (ie: food. I think the whole first album was food songs) with a very, VERY asian pop-culture sort of feel, broken english, quirky lyrics and themes, you get the picture, if not, just listen to them.
The girls from Cibo Matto did a one-shot, side project with members of the John Spencer Blues Explosion and a few others called ‘Butter-08’. This, in my opinion, was the first of a wave of niche feeling “combo-side-collaboration” bands to hit. Following this, and continuously including members of Cibo Matto I might add, such as Handsome Boy Modeling School and the Gorillaz (Miho was the first Noodles).
So, enough history, thanks for reading and enjoy my favorite track off the only album by this excellent collaboration effort.
30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 3 - Outkast - B.O.B
Okay, it’s not remotely an unknown that I have eclectic tastes in music. I have long held a love for hip-hop and electronica although, to be fair, my tastes are decidedly picky when it comes to either. I do not remotely love it all, moreso, it could be said, that I like very little of it, but I do have my favorites and Outkast is one of them.
Unlike most, I was not introduced to the band by way of “I’m Sorry Miss Jackson” or “Hey ya”. This was the first song that really turned my head their way. I’d been a fan for sometime of high bpm electronica and groups of the ilk such as the Proppellerheads or Atari Teenage Riot, so the first time I heard this song, which was a sort of combination of that and a few verses of well put together fast rhymes, well..I was hooked. It was more of a pleasure, as they gained notoriety, to notice the breadth of talent in their group, and the pool of styles they picked from always keeping things fresh.
So there you go. I like this and now I sound like a snob, hahah.
Unlike most, I was not introduced to the band by way of “I’m Sorry Miss Jackson” or “Hey ya”. This was the first song that really turned my head their way. I’d been a fan for sometime of high bpm electronica and groups of the ilk such as the Proppellerheads or Atari Teenage Riot, so the first time I heard this song, which was a sort of combination of that and a few verses of well put together fast rhymes, well..I was hooked. It was more of a pleasure, as they gained notoriety, to notice the breadth of talent in their group, and the pool of styles they picked from always keeping things fresh.
So there you go. I like this and now I sound like a snob, hahah.
30 songs in 30 Days - a note
So…I’ve been lax. I’ve let a few slide, well, today’s the day to play catch up. Today I will post 5 songs for the days I’ve missed and today, complete with a little note on why I picked each. Horray for you!!! (all…what…5? maybe, people that are following this and less who care, haha)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
30 Songs in 30 days: Day 2- The Lemonheads - Half the Time
1990: The calm before the storm as it were. It was when I first started REALLY coming into myself so to speak. I was about a year or so into my discovery of college radio, which was in an interesting place as the burgeoning indie rock/alternative scene was building up for it's big boom. I went to bed every night listening. This was where I first started winning tickets to shows for bands like the Cranes, TMBG, Pavement, the first two Lollapaloozas, Morphine, ect. ect. good stuff. It was also around the time when I discovered how to get to the East Village, NYC on my own and found a vast plethora of wonderful record shops that had all the music I had been looking for and a whole lot I had yet to discover.
Anyway, enough exposition, to the point! And away!
One night while listening to one of my favorite DJs (whose voice I'd had a big crush on), she premiered a new song by a band from the burgeoning Cambridge, Mass. scene, the Lemonheads. The song was called "Half the Time" (duh, it's right here), and I loved it immediately. That weekend, I took my measely allowance and head into the city to buy the album (tape), but they didn't have it yet, said it was on order (it took me another month to get it). Instead I bought what they did have by the band, their previous album, "Lick" and the initial more punk entry, "Hate Your Friends" both just blew me away, I fell in love with the band and they have always travelled with me on tape, CD or MP3 since. So...enjoy!
Half The Time (Video Version) Video The Lemonheads Contactmusic.com
Anyway, enough exposition, to the point! And away!
One night while listening to one of my favorite DJs (whose voice I'd had a big crush on), she premiered a new song by a band from the burgeoning Cambridge, Mass. scene, the Lemonheads. The song was called "Half the Time" (duh, it's right here), and I loved it immediately. That weekend, I took my measely allowance and head into the city to buy the album (tape), but they didn't have it yet, said it was on order (it took me another month to get it). Instead I bought what they did have by the band, their previous album, "Lick" and the initial more punk entry, "Hate Your Friends" both just blew me away, I fell in love with the band and they have always travelled with me on tape, CD or MP3 since. So...enjoy!
Half The Time (Video Version) Video The Lemonheads Contactmusic.com
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
30 Songs in 30 Days: Day 1 - the Pixies "Make Believe"
30 Songs in 30 days?
I may be late to the game, but I think I can rock this. I’m gonna start with a repost, but man, do I love this song. It’s an oft-unheard Pixies B-Side made as kind of a joke about drummer David Lovering’s obsession with Debbie Gibson, as appropriate, Dave sings on this track as well. (personally, I think it reminds me a bit of Josh Carterer of the Smoking Popes..or vice versa since this came out first).
So, yeah, here’s the Pixies - Make Believe
I may be late to the game, but I think I can rock this. I’m gonna start with a repost, but man, do I love this song. It’s an oft-unheard Pixies B-Side made as kind of a joke about drummer David Lovering’s obsession with Debbie Gibson, as appropriate, Dave sings on this track as well. (personally, I think it reminds me a bit of Josh Carterer of the Smoking Popes..or vice versa since this came out first).
So, yeah, here’s the Pixies - Make Believe
Friday, April 15, 2011
What's the best gift you've ever given?
I hand-made/modified a 12" action figure in the likeness of my friend Ray including accessories I made out of sculpy as well as modding clothes for it to match his and a beard and hair to the figure..basically, I made a Ray action figure for him on his birthday.
Where would you like to spend your retirement?
In a beautiful house on a rocky cliff above the ocean with an amazing view of it from my front porch where I can wake up in the morning in a comfy sweater and enjoy a nice pipe with my coffee. Not too far from civilization though, because I still would want to go to Taco Bell for lunch.
What 3 things do you think will become obsolete in the next ten years?
Rotary telephones. Betamax players. 5 1/4" floppy disk drives. I mean, I know they're obsolete now, but I'm pretty sure they will still be in the next ten years.
Lifetime dream?
There are so many. I suppose they culminate in some sense of immortality in the respect of fame. I just hope that by the time I die I will have done something really worth doing. Something that will change the hearts and minds of people in my day and forevermore. It doesn't even have to be anything big. Maybe just an idea that I'd be recognized for. I suppose that's kind of like saying I'd like to start or restart a cultural revolution, hmm...it's a bit much to say to really get across the idea... Okay...Kerouac, he wrote a book that changed my life forever, gave me new and different perspectives. I'm sure his writings have done this for many, many others....that's close to what I mean.
formspring.me
Ask me anything http://formspring.me/groovieghoulie
Seriously...anything. Ask it anonymously...just ask me some freakin' questions people!!
Seriously...anything. Ask it anonymously...just ask me some freakin' questions people!!
Would you rather hang out with a small group of friends or a large group?
Depends on my mood. Sorry for the nebulous response.
Did you believe in Santa Claus when you were younger? If so, when and how did you find out that he does not exist? Sorry if I just broke it to you. It's true.
I did. I don't remember exactly when I realized it wasn't true. I don't think it was a "shock and awe" situation. I think I slowly came to it, like, noticing little things here and there that suddenly said, "There is no Santa".
However...I do like to tell myself otherwise. There's still a pretty big part of me that wants to believe magic is real. Perhaps that can attribute to my love of fiction and the fact that I read as much as I do, especially stories of the fantastical nature.
I also believe in Santa in the respect that there must have, at one time, been a real, flesh and blood Kris Kringle. A mysterious old man with a generous soul and a heart bigger than the world could handle.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
What's the biggest risk you've ever taken? Are you glad you took it or do you regret it?
Easy. It's the risk that ended up with a hospital stay for a bit. I don't regret it for some reason. I don't even regret the events leading up to it. I think it all added up to make me a better and stronger person.
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Me...lookin' smug
