Mew

They're from Denmark. They rocked the mccarran pool (mentioned at bottom of post) yesterday. Go listen to some songs - www.myspace.com/mew

Bloc Party were good too. Good to see them live finally.

The Secret Machines sounded a bit too much like Rush for me - it was the singing mostly. It made me chuckle.. and I don't think it was meant to amuse unless I am missing out on some joke - is that the 'secret'?

(short post: busy-at-work sunday)

MIA

Oops. Haven’t posted in a while. We had this major deadline where I work. One of our best and oldest customers needed a rush order filled ASAP. Oh no! I just outed myself… yes, I work at munitions factory.

Now before you white-collar types -- you pencil-necks sitting there surfing the tubes with your interenets when you should be pushing a pencil -- before you go and dismiss me as some joe-bag-o-doughnuts shit-stacker with a blog let me tell you something – I am an artist! My medium? Well, in layman’s terms, it's bombs. Which is why I am so incensed over this. How can they let these kids deface my art. I did not sign up for this! Totally not Ka-Blamo. My art is not some coloring book for a bunch of booger-eaters to scribble on. My art is about transcending the hum-drum everyday world where buildings, roads and airports remain intact and limbs stay attached to bodies and cruise ships are stuck in a rut carrying nothing but elderly tourists day after day. A central tenet of my artwork is you must destroy in order to create. If I can’t get some respect for my craft I’m going to have to go into some other field like advertising or telemarketing. Sure, I would still be helping to make the world a better place but somehow I think there would be an empty place in my heart. Peace. Out.

(psst. this was absurdist satire. i don't really work at a bomb factory)

veto

perhaps this song will cheer up the 80 percent of U.S. physicians who aren't fundie-freakazoids -

veto, veto, no-neato,
chai-tea, cheeto,
jackson five tito ...

alito!

or perhaps not.

[edit. fixed. perhaps now?]

Broken Mascis Scene

[added] Alternate post title - 'standing on the shoulders of slackers'

Oops. I never reported back about the BSS show in prospect park. Well, let me tell you - it rocked. Great show. Lots of clapping and switching of instuments and a little playing while blindfolded too. Fun was had by all. Well maybe not all. If they played five minutes more I think New York's finest would have locked them up for distubing the peace or something -- outdoor concerts very near expensive parkside residences tend to not go too late for some reason... Kevin Drew kept asking what time it was.

But, being late to the 'scene' scene, I just now learned myself something - apparently they've played a bunch of times ...well, at least once anyway (what do I know)... with J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) and now it all makes sense. At the show I saw a dude walking around in a Dinosaur Jr tee - which got my radar up since Dinosaur Jr is like *so* ten years ago (try fifteen) but I says to myself 'hey, dude likes Dinosaur Jr. and that's a damn good thing so more power to him'. But now... now I understand.

I wish I knew all this prior to the show but I don't like to study up on bands that I am just getting into.* Anyway, here's a youtube of BSS with J Mascis - link (sorry, kinda crappy quality).

Now, please excuse me while I dig out my old Green Mind cd.

* thanks again to my wife for buying the tickets and for buying me a clue.

ps. there's some youtubage of the prospect park show but the sound is for shite. trust me.

Update 7/14/2006 2:16 AM: Hey - look at this! a b00tl3g of the BSS BMS show! Let's check it out.... sounds good so far!

The internet is not a truck

...and the office where I work is not a truck.

But if it was a truck it would have busted air-conditioning. I guess I should be glad that the series of tubes that comprise the internets are functioning - can they overheat?

Here's some cool music that actually makes me feel *cooler*, as in less uncomfortably hot - if music could ever do such a thing (mind over matter and all that) - Beta Band (youtube, of course)

To cool off, I found a place for lunch with good A/C. I picked up an audiophile type magazine on the way so I could drool over the high-priced HiFi equipment* while I eat and cool down. Sometimes I find good music reviews too - The Absolute Sound (June/July) has a review of this and I might have to go get it.

* [added] Oops- I meant to say that I don't really know a lot about HiFi equipment, I just appreciate the way a great set up sounds (and looks). I don't think I could tell the difference between a super high end rig and something more affordable like my NAD C370 which I am quite pleased with (good power). I picked it up pretty cheap as a refurb at this cute little place. Someday I will educate myself about HiFi stuff but for now I am simply a smitten noob.

-- [added too] Oh, and it's really quite sad when the subway, the neglected C train especially, which was hotter than Hades back in the day I'm told, is cooler than your office. This is the one nice thing I will ever say about the C Train. Ever.

[7/13/2006 6:15 PM - edited for clarity. what can I say? it's too hot to think straight.]

Bobbing for Turd blossoms

Columnist Says Rove Was a Source - July 12, 2006

and

in Bob's own words:

However, on Jan. 12, two days before my meeting with Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor informed Hamilton that he would be bringing to the Swidler Berlin offices only two waivers. One was by my principal source in the Valerie Wilson column, a source whose name has not yet been revealed. The other was by presidential adviser Karl Rove, whom I interpret as confirming my primary source's information. In other words, the special prosecutor knew the names of my sources.

Bush Vows To Fire Leak Criminals - WASHINGTON, July 18, 2005:

(CBS/AP) President Bush said Monday that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA leak case, that person will "no longer work in my administration."

Hey Decider, fire the leaker like you said you would!

[added] mediamatters.org cuts through Bob's 'where there's smoke there might be a little fire, perhaps, but there sure isn't arson - nuh-uh no sir no way - and even if there was arson involved I would know nothing, I say NOTHING, about it' babble.

youtube wars: zero attrition?

So. In my non-expert-blogger opinion, we are into day three of the youtube wars*. This cuban youtuban missile crisis went from naval blockade to defcon 1, and beyond, in a matter of a few hours - so it should have ended just as quickly.

It hasn't.

I don't have anything in my arsenal that hasn't already been deployed and I'm not interested in adding to the destruction - so, in tribute to those who refuse to give up the fight, here's a youtube video of Jesus Lizard performing before and after the lead singer frontman David Yow** is struck in the head with a flying bottle. I found this during one of my recent youtube binges - I'm glad to be able to work into this blog. Again, this is not submitted as a flame - this is in tribute to those who look fear in the eye, then click play, and laugh.

link (bottle/head connection at 0:50 mark)

* via atrios.blogspot.com, thepoorman.net, sadlyno.com and other youtube pugilists.

** BTW - davidyow.blogspot.com is not what it sounds like.

Elvis, Elvis, Eire!

in light of this post (and because I couldn't find a video of Elvis Costello performing 'Accidents')* and in an effort to politely point out to someone that there's more than one Elvis in Rock and Roll, while overlooking the fact that only one of them had the name 'Elvis' at birth, here's Elvis Costello performing lip-synching (no mic) Oliver's Army - and here's a little wiki write-up if some of the lyrics wig you out or leave you scratching your head.

* I did find this though - Death Cab For Cutie doing a sound check. audio is bad and video is jerky. and it's only part of the song. and the cymbal ruins it IMHO. but, there it is.

also, for the record / disclaimer:

1) I am no expert on Elvis Costello's politics. I have one greatest hits album and that's about it.

2) I had a classmate in high school of Irish descent who talked a somewhat militant talk back in 1990 or so - sort of along these lines I suppose but I was not then nor am I now an expert on any part of that history - that craziness up to and including, at long last, the Good Friday Agreement.

2a) I did see this though. Good flick with some great acting by Daniel Day Lewis on par with his brillance in Scorsese's Gangs of New York - and apropos to the pathetically weak argument the Whitehouse is still trying to make about the so-called valuable intelligence they are supposedly getting from forced confessions literally coughed up by the permanently detained and occasionally water-boarded 'enemy combatants'.

Oh! and you have to see this too!

my sodding dog

here's a glamour shot of my dog (who hates me) taken memorial day weekend -


when our dog nearly became a memory.

Oh I just dont know where to begin*

[added] I look like Danny Glover and Elvis Costello? That's cool I guess.

So? Who do you look like? upload your face and find out...

And since I'm not big on bloating gloating I chose to leave out a photo of Mr. Fahrenheit 9/11 which was match number two or three. Besides, I heard he was fat (joke).

via pandagon.net and feministe.us/blog/ and gawker.com

* see 'Accidents Will Happen' by Elvis Costello

don't fire...

until you see whites of their eyes*

my wife likes broken social scene (youtube video for 'Stars and Sons' by Broken Social Scene) but she is asleep right now. I will show her this tomorrow (um, later today? in the morning). Also, Broken Social Scene will be performing thursday in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. We plan on going.**

I figure one drummer can set up over by grand army plaza and the other can set up down by park slope pavillion*** and the other two or three ga-jillion band members can just line up in between them. I think they have six guitarists or something - think squirrel nut zippers times two... but with hip, contemporary music and fewer brass, woodwind and kazoo-like instruments that nobody's ever heard of before or knows how to play because they were all re-purposed to help make crazy tuba-flute-kazoo-hooch in some backwoods distillery in the late 20's/early thirties.

I should go to bed now. I don't want my cold to come back.

* post title explained here if you take a moment to realize broken social scene is closer in size to some military unit than your typical lead, rhythm, bass and drums band set up. plus it's a quote from the revlutionary war so it's like patriotic and isht.

** I assume she got tickets already - otherwise we'll just stand near the concert I guess.

*** Update 7/1/2006 10:44 PM: via eefers.blogspot.com - I changed the park slope pavillion link from the lame newyork.cityserach.com page to a curbed.com post per my click-through from the comments at the face recognition post at gawker.com. ... umm... anyway, long story short - since I subscribe to netflix I share in the blame. I'm sorry Pavillion Movie Theater. I should have loved you more. I hereby resolve to read more curbed.com.****

****Update 7/1/2006 10:49 PM: never mind. false alarm (or false start at least).