Monday, March 24, 2008

CORE A APPLE

Broke down and bought a Mac. Now begins the transfer of files from the HP.

And if Feist starts bounding about my living room while I'm trying to work, frankly I'm going to be a little pissed...

Friday, March 14, 2008

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL

Fun facts about Urban Voodoo Machine, who opened for the Pogues:

-It is the year 2008, and they call themselves "Urban Voodoo Machine." By choice, apparently.
-One of them used to be in Flesh for Lulu. Isn't that nice, like Miami Vice?
-They transgressed all rules of opening-band decorum by playing for about 12 hours. Tighten it up a bit lads, 'K?

We're spring breaking around here-- be back late next week.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

DEAD OLD TREES

Shane did not seem any more or less coherent than the last time around.

He again relied on the set list taped to the stage in an effort to follow along, and sometimes he needed Spider to correct his song announcements:

“This is Body of an American.”
“No Shane, we just did that.”

But then you hear the lyrics to Dark Streets of London (“And every time that I look on the first day of summer/Takes me back to the place where they gave ECT”), and you think a little harder about the journey from electroconvulsive therapy to this stage on this night...

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

TO HELL, WHICH IS CIRCULAR ALL AROUND

Different vibe at this Pogues show than there was back in 2006. I wouldn’t say it was subdued, but it was relatively laid back.

The crowd on the floor back in 2006 looked like white water—it rose and fell and chucked and sprayed.

This time around, the floor was marked by a few enthusiasts, but nothing too aggressive.

Telling quote, from Dude #1 to Dude #2, re Dude #3, directly in front of us upstairs: “I promised his wife I wouldn’t let him go down on the floor.”

Friday, March 07, 2008

WHERE THE RIVERS ALL RUN DRY

So brain coral and I are heading out to see The Pogues again.

I have to say, I don’t feel like we’re tempting fate. We got our grace last time, sitting like a big, fat whole note on the staff.

I am prepared now, I think, to have some good uncomplicated fun…

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

DETOX

During the course of work today, this phrase jumped out at me: “liver regeneration.”

I thought about how my mother willed my father’s body to science after he died at 46, so that further research could be done on his cirrhotic liver.

I thought about how my brother benefited from that research when he got his liver transplant 17 years later. Still, he didn't make it to 33.

Then I thought about Shane MacGowan, who just turned 50 this past Christmas day.

Liver regeneration.

Huh…

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

WON'T YOU LET ME TAKE YOU ON A SEA CRUISE?

Dear Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines,

Just an FYI that contrary to the information in the address field for all the mail you keep sending me, my name is not in fact “Dong Park.”

Close, but not quite.

However, if I do go through with my tentative plans to become a Korean porn star, it’s good to know that I have a nom de smut waiting for me.

Regards,
sliced tongue

Friday, February 29, 2008

I GUESS THAT I JUST DON'T KNOW

I kicked NyQuil last night after riding the horse for two straight days.

I'm sure you know the drill for coming down: night sweats, hallucinations. Real dark-night-of-the-soul kind of stuff.

Somewhere in the middle of all that I wrote this song.

Greek Versions of American Movies

Voiceover, voiceover, voiceover, voiceover
I want my voice to be heard
Over the explosions.

Voiceover, voiceover
In a thousand years
Show me your culture.

Voiceover, voiceover, voiceover

Thursday, February 28, 2008

GOOFBALLS

So I got hopped up on NyQuil and tried to write a song.

The song was called If I Were a Woodentop.

Problem is, the whole thing amounted to just repeating "If I were a Woodentop" about 65 times.

Damn you, cough/flu/cold medicine. Damn you to phlegmy hell...

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

OVER THE EDGE FOR YONKS

OK, we've all been sick around here for five or six days. Last night I just couldn't get any traction in bed, so after my second vividly weird dream, I headed downstairs. And I remember the vividly weird dreams better than anything that happened after that.

So tonight, I'm getting ready to ride the NyQuil train.

I just sucked down a capful fit for a 12-year old. Now I'm going to slip on some headphones and listen to Dark Side...

Thursday, February 21, 2008

FANTASTIC DAY

Of course, I’m not going to get too excited about Vampire Weekend.

Because there’s a very good chance that they’re basically Haircut 100 wrapped in hypertext.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. We all need some nice music to listen to while we’re folding our favorite shirts…

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

JEUX SANS FRONTIERES

These Vampire Weekend boys seem well aware of the Peter Gabriel dialectic (“This feels so unnatural/Peter Gabriel too”), which is essentially this: Peter Gabriel is great/Peter Gabriel sucks.

The fulcrum for this particular philosophical constant occurs somewhere around the time when he stopped naming all of his albums “Peter Gabriel.”

“So” then, is fully realized sucking. A grand achievement in sucking. It sucks like a vampire 40 days dry.

Thank you for choosing the great Peter Gabriel, boys...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

MORE CONFUSIONS, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS

My vampire three-day weekend:

Saturday
Watched The Doors, right up until the part where Jim and the boys visit the Factory. “Let's get out of here, man-- these people are vampires,” hisses Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, with disdain for the Warholites. Goddamn, does this movie... suck.

Sunday
Bought Vampire Weekend at Best Buy for $7.99. Haven't listened to it yet, but I'm already over the fact that they're a band of privileged boys biting African rhythms for a living. Because Christ, if I got worked up every time privilege had its way with its culture of choice, I'd never get out of flipping bed.

Monday
Discussed Bunnicula in Lana's reading group, the tale of a cat who is convinced that the new bunny in the family is a vampire.

All in all, it was an AB+ few days...

Friday, February 15, 2008

UNDYING LOVE

One service the crappy movie did was bring me back to Across the Universe the song. The naked version, specifically...

I find now that stripped of all the Spectorian strings I no longer care whether Lennon's reedy serenity signifies resignation or transcendence.

I am happy just to let it be...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

MOBY DEEP

I was making a disco mix for the kids the other day, and I put Everytime You Touch Me on after the 12” mix of I Feel Love.

And you know what? Moby deserves some real love. Because Everything is Wrong is a start to finish album. One of the best of the 90s.

I don't have much use for any of his other stuff, but man, that one is sublime...

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

THE NEW BLACK

Wonder how Rehab will sound when Amy Winehouse finally succumbs to her appetites.

More tuneful than Janis, at least...

Monday, February 11, 2008

I SAW A FILM TODAY, OH BOY

It is with no sense of undue reverance for The Beatles that I mention I wasted two hours of my life on Saturday watching Across the Universe.

I suppose it was well made, and as far as mushy-headed love stories built around Beatles' songs go, it was a damn sight better than Sgt. Pepper's.

I can even see it developing a moderate cult following.

But jesus, there's a prospective cult that needs to have the ever-loving hippie kicked out of it...

Monday, February 04, 2008

AND I WOULD POST 500 FILES...

Back when I hit post #200, I did a top 10 best of/worst of list for the blog.

Well, here we are at post #500.

So in celebration of the milestone, this week I'm going to link back to some of my favorite posts from #201 through #499.

Just to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive, is all...

June 19, 2006

July 12, 2006

July 28, 2006

August 25, 2006

September 12, 2006

September 14, 2006

September 15, 2006

September 25, 2006

September 29, 2006

October 19, 2006