dirtylibrarian

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This is my favorite song of the moment. Perfect for the New Year!

Does anyone actually think of themselves as a jogger anymore?  Is that passe?  Now everyone is a walker or a runner.  But lets face it, me, I'm old school...80s yuppie style, I jog.

When you are about to go jogging, think twice about putting a new song on your mp3 player.  Because maybe like me you will accidentally hit the"replace all with recently added" combination of buttons, and maybe there is only one song in recently added, and you might think it is odd that the new song comes up immediately when you start out, but you will be too far from home to turn back when the song is over, and starts again.  And again.  And again. ... ... ... ..................................................

Now Artsy by The Grouch is seriously ingrained in my head.  At least the lyrics were interesting for a while.  I think it is better without the video though.

Ok. So it wasn't a paid gig, or at a public venue...but a gig is a gig. My band, Kate Thulha played at a pot luck on Tuesday night. Not a ton of people there. Maybe a dozen even paying attention. But we performed! In front of strangers! And it was ok.

Set list:

Boogie on the Beach - Red Elvises
Going Out West - Tom Waits
Last Year (original lyrics, blues)
I'm a Little Airplane - Jonathan Richman
Masochism Tango - Tom Lehrer
After Hours - Velvet Underground
Red Lips Red Eyes Red Stockings - Red Elvises

I really need to figure out where to find time to focus on the drums a bit more. Get that drum lesson 101 under way again. A lady asked if she could play with my drums after the set, and she kicked my ass big time. Sigh. But it was fun overall, and that is what what counts, right?

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This is my favorite song right now. It just resonates so perfectly inside my ribcage. Even this relatively joyful street performance, still gets me choked up.

Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
And I'll gamble away my fright
And I'll gamble away my time
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile

Nobody raise your voices
Just another night to Nantes
Nobody raise their voices
Just another night to Nantes

You can hear the regular version here.

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Faith No More - This Guy's In Love With You (Live)

Thanks theda...I had never heard this particular cover!

From Geeks and Hip Hop Artists, Kindred Spirits?

The ultimate comic book geek is the “otaku”–a pejorative Japanese term for those obsessed with anime and manga–and now some are placing that label on Kanye West, of all people. West’s “Stronger” music video recreates scenes from the anime classic “Akira”, and he is reportedly working on a manga-style book with animator Bill Plympton.

An interesting article about some nice cross cultural connections going on. But what makes my head spin is the Kanye West and Bill Plympton combination. Eh? A quick search reveals Plympton did a video for him in 2005 I guess I missed that connection. Facinating.


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ps...I am enjoying Stronger way too much.

Today I woke up early, and thought about a conversation I had with a friend of a friend at a show the other night, where he basically made the case that if I am going to be driving as much as I am and really don't want to move to the boondocks I call my service area, I'm going to need to do all I can to make the drive pleasurable. I've already worked on this some, getting the AC fixed in my car, new speakers, and fancy-ass wiper blades. This morning it hit me that I could do something to make the days where I am unable to carpool on my long route something to look forward to, with ritual. And by this, I don't mean slaughter or such, but rather to make a plan for a pleasurable activity on such days...in my case, I've decided if I'm going to drive an hour, I'm going to carefully rediscover entire albums all the way through. This may not sound like much, but I've been finding I'm developing a tendency to fill up my wee iPod with my most favorite of songs, and there is no room for full albums. At home I multi-task too much to pay close attention, but in the car, I am all ears.

Today I listened to one of my all-time favorite straight thorough with much relish: Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.  Much singing along ensued, and some I'm-stuck-in-traffic-so-I-might-as-well-dance wiggling around, too.

Now the question is, what next?  Tell me your favorite albums...that is not just cds with a few songs you like, but ones that work extremely well as a complete whole.  Two of my other favorites that come to mind right now are Arcade Fire's Funeral and Jim White's Wrong-Eyed Jesus.  I have plenty to re-discover in my collection, but would love to check out some of your favorites, too.

I have a love-hate relationship with ads.  As I think I mentioned before, when I was in third grade I wanted to go into advertising, because it sounded like the perfect blend of my interests in art and psychology (both my parents were psych, majors in college).  My hippie dad squashed this interest by telling me I would need to sell people things they didn't need, which was bad.  I'm still fascinated and repulsed at the same time by commercials.  A kids book I read recently pointed out that music videos really are just ads for albums, but I like to think they are more of an art form, an extension of the music.  This ad for the BBC is probably one of the best I've ever seen, mixing music, celebrity, and great visuals.  And personally, I think if you are going to watch television, BBC really is one of the better options out there.  Plus, this is just a pleasure to watch.  

Found via warren_ellis

Had a good band practice tonight, though we totally killed Car. We hadn't played it in quite a while, and I think if we are going to try it, we will need to really re-invent it. I sang one of Colin's songs, and at the end of it realized I had played drums through the whole way without thinking about it! Though it is hard for us to see sometimes, progress is being made. And now Mars is moving into a party house that we could actually gig at, so hopefully we can do a show in May, as per our band goal.

Rock on Three Against One!

Here you can listen to Over the Counter Culture. I saw him open for somebody last year and really dig him. I'm not 100% into his thang, but find him fresh and funky.

And here is a video from the album, too:



Actually makes me rethink my camouflage bit and pieces :(

Good stuff.