T- ShirtStern & I: @ WI Rapids' newest dance club. On the PA: Norwegian blastbeat gods NOXAGT. We win.
December 22, 2005
December 21, 2005
Spectra Sonic Sound
Ever since explaining to that guy that what he had there was indeed a perpetual motion machine, I have had the Nation of Ulysses' "Perpetual Motion Machine" on constant repeat in my head.
Karma at the Country Kitchen.
The last time Stern and I were together in Rapids, we wound up our night by crank-calling the local Country Kitchen from every pay phone in town.
Tonight CK had its revenge. Tonight, as we sat at our table trying to develop a map of the Rapids/Port Kid Diaspora, part of that diaspora came back to haunt us. A classmate of Stern's, who I vaguely recognized as a person who talked nothing but nonsense, invited himself over to our table and proceeded to hold forth on his plans to revolutionize the energy industry.
It did not help that he was ragingly drunk and, probably, stoned. It certainly did not help that his plan was a perpetual motion machine. The dealbreaker was the condescending way he soldiered on, trying to make us understand his beautiful plan in a dialect of drunkenese known only to those who failed highschool physics, when we pointed out to him why it would not work. It was like being trapped in the Timecube website brought to life.
Tonight CK had its revenge. Tonight, as we sat at our table trying to develop a map of the Rapids/Port Kid Diaspora, part of that diaspora came back to haunt us. A classmate of Stern's, who I vaguely recognized as a person who talked nothing but nonsense, invited himself over to our table and proceeded to hold forth on his plans to revolutionize the energy industry.
It did not help that he was ragingly drunk and, probably, stoned. It certainly did not help that his plan was a perpetual motion machine. The dealbreaker was the condescending way he soldiered on, trying to make us understand his beautiful plan in a dialect of drunkenese known only to those who failed highschool physics, when we pointed out to him why it would not work. It was like being trapped in the Timecube website brought to life.
December 20, 2005
December 15, 2005
LST Pt III.
Thx to internat'l podcasts I now know just how angry the world is w/ CIA ghost detainee rendition. Thx George.
December 14, 2005
Blogging on an empty street.
Lately the majority of my interpersonal communication takes place on the Internet; I have been coming to realize, although I knew it before, that most of the people with whom I interact have somewhat different internet schedules than I do. Because I connect from home and don't have a job, my Internet day is far less intense and far longer than theirs (or, since you're reading this, yours). Occasionally I am near a computer during the critical period during the greater North American workday that enables vigorous sustained participation in an AIM conversation or a comment-box conversation.
Usually though I have been out running errands and I hit the computer in earnest at around 10 PM as I am doing now. At this point it is incredibly unlikely that I can catch more than one or two of the usual suspects at the usual internet watering holes. Sure I leave comments as appropriate, but more often than not the smoke has long cleared from the witty-banter fest by the time I throw in my mixed metaphor.
And it's alright. It's the digital equivalent of one of my favorite situations: Sunday afternoon in Madison during a non-summer academic break. To get the full effect, stare at the above photo while listening to Cadallaca's "Winter Storm '98". It's Kars, not Madison, but let's not split hairs.
December 11, 2005
December 07, 2005
The Genius of Minus the Bear
My brother has a certain way of talking up the classic rock crap that he likes that makes their casual obsessions and craven lyrical kowtowing to the fanbase sound like inspired songwriting. Listen to his argument for Queen's "We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You", which basically boils down to it being a great song because it was written for fans to sing along to, and you are powerless to argue. Because it's a nonsequitur lawyer trick, which is unsurprising because it is his job.
His shill for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band is more insightful in its analysis of Bob's appeal, even if its conclusion, that "Night Moves" is listenable, is a fraud. Basically, every Bob Seger song is about the exact same thing. "Night Moves", "Turn The Page", "Old Time Rock and Roll", "Still The Same", "Against The Wind", "Rock And Roll Never Forgets" - I admit I don't know a lot about Bob Seger but I challenged my brother on this once and he's got lyrics to quote to back himself up on every Seger song I could find listed on the Internet. All Bob Seger songs are about getting older and looking back on your younger days, when you were quite the hellion capable of tearing shit up on a major scale, against whom all the forces of history and economics were arrayed. Now you are wiser and maybe a bit sadder, but damn it you know what it is to be young.
Minus The Bear are the Bob Seger for our era. Due to their indebtedness to the emo school of songwriting, in which 60% of your output has to be about a particular young woman with whom you broke up last year and for whom you will forever bear a combination of emotions the precise nature of which depend on whether or not your band has any mosh breakdowns, Minus The Bear's nostalgia-rock impulses are expressed most succinctly in their takes on the emo girl song.
Uniquely in the Minus the Bear girl song, the object of the singer's affection is always depicted as completely unreachable (which is not to say unattainable) because of the vagaries of time and distance. In songs such as "Let's Play Guitar In A Five Guitar Band", "This Ain't A Surfing Movie", or "Fulfill the Dream", whether or not the girl is ever gotten, the mood is regret, and the perspective, while not made explicit, is apparently some years after the fact. Most of Minus The Bear's songs are to some extent girl songs, but even those that aren't, such as "Hooray" or "Michio's Death Drive" push nostalgia to the forefront.
Returning for a moment to Bob Seger, I would like to challenge you to guess the release date of "Night Moves". Give? 1976.
Yes, Bob Seger's major-label debut was in 1976, a year largely dominated by music that doesn't sound a damn thing like Seger's. Bob Seger was basically aping Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band that had broken up four years before, and ruining their good name in the process. Similarly, Minus The Bear's debut album was released in 2002, three years after the breakup of Braid, and their resemblance to Braid is uncanny.
How uncanny? Well, when I went to see Minus the Bear some time ago, City on Film, Bob Nanna's new band, were opening. As we walked in CoF were just winding up and I was momentarily pissed off that I had just driven to Urbana to hear five seconds of Minus The Bear. With each successive album, though, MtB become more and more technically sophisticated, diversifying their field of influence to add, say, Firebird Band.
In fact, the piece of lame-o band math that most accurately suggests Minus the Bear is Braid as played by The Sea And Cake with electronics assistance from Tortoise. Ignoring the suspiciously Illinois-heavy influence list (no Slint, even), it's basically a compressed best-of late 90s indie rock. Like the Seger case, MtB's short-term nostalgia rock is composed of both lyrical and compositional elements.
And that is totally why Minus The Bear rock.
His shill for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band is more insightful in its analysis of Bob's appeal, even if its conclusion, that "Night Moves" is listenable, is a fraud. Basically, every Bob Seger song is about the exact same thing. "Night Moves", "Turn The Page", "Old Time Rock and Roll", "Still The Same", "Against The Wind", "Rock And Roll Never Forgets" - I admit I don't know a lot about Bob Seger but I challenged my brother on this once and he's got lyrics to quote to back himself up on every Seger song I could find listed on the Internet. All Bob Seger songs are about getting older and looking back on your younger days, when you were quite the hellion capable of tearing shit up on a major scale, against whom all the forces of history and economics were arrayed. Now you are wiser and maybe a bit sadder, but damn it you know what it is to be young.
Minus The Bear are the Bob Seger for our era. Due to their indebtedness to the emo school of songwriting, in which 60% of your output has to be about a particular young woman with whom you broke up last year and for whom you will forever bear a combination of emotions the precise nature of which depend on whether or not your band has any mosh breakdowns, Minus The Bear's nostalgia-rock impulses are expressed most succinctly in their takes on the emo girl song.
Uniquely in the Minus the Bear girl song, the object of the singer's affection is always depicted as completely unreachable (which is not to say unattainable) because of the vagaries of time and distance. In songs such as "Let's Play Guitar In A Five Guitar Band", "This Ain't A Surfing Movie", or "Fulfill the Dream", whether or not the girl is ever gotten, the mood is regret, and the perspective, while not made explicit, is apparently some years after the fact. Most of Minus The Bear's songs are to some extent girl songs, but even those that aren't, such as "Hooray" or "Michio's Death Drive" push nostalgia to the forefront.
Returning for a moment to Bob Seger, I would like to challenge you to guess the release date of "Night Moves". Give? 1976.
Yes, Bob Seger's major-label debut was in 1976, a year largely dominated by music that doesn't sound a damn thing like Seger's. Bob Seger was basically aping Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band that had broken up four years before, and ruining their good name in the process. Similarly, Minus The Bear's debut album was released in 2002, three years after the breakup of Braid, and their resemblance to Braid is uncanny.
How uncanny? Well, when I went to see Minus the Bear some time ago, City on Film, Bob Nanna's new band, were opening. As we walked in CoF were just winding up and I was momentarily pissed off that I had just driven to Urbana to hear five seconds of Minus The Bear. With each successive album, though, MtB become more and more technically sophisticated, diversifying their field of influence to add, say, Firebird Band.
In fact, the piece of lame-o band math that most accurately suggests Minus the Bear is Braid as played by The Sea And Cake with electronics assistance from Tortoise. Ignoring the suspiciously Illinois-heavy influence list (no Slint, even), it's basically a compressed best-of late 90s indie rock. Like the Seger case, MtB's short-term nostalgia rock is composed of both lyrical and compositional elements.
And that is totally why Minus The Bear rock.
Forgetful Jones, the Bracelets, the Hat Party & Colony of Watts @ Madison WI Slipper Club 3 Dec 2005
Yes this is the same as the below show.
Hah. Below show. That's lame. Anyway, this is also the show that MBIMOTMOG profiles here.
I started out this show a bit drunk and very garrulous. I really hope that I surprised the fuck out of everyone I talked to who doesn't know me well. The way I accomplished this was simple: First, I had about four brushes with death and one with an empty gas tank on the way up from Bloomington, where I was elated never to have to visit again. Second, I hung out in Genna's watching college hockey alone with strangers for like two hours for practice. And Old Style.
I honestly don't remember the Forgetful Jones show too well except for being made to face the crowd and pull a face. The Bracelets I remember a bit better. They sounded rather Braceletty, but don't really hold up as well as a two-piece as they do a three-piece. Whatever instruments are currently in use don't cover the absence of what isn't. Even the xylophone.
The Hat Party sucked. They sounded like Lee Atwater's backup band. They sounded like a cross between Skynyrd and the Goldwaters. No really. Actually the Hat Party continued to pull their musical chameleon act. I'm pretty sure that their sound is at the mercy of whoever's running the board - whatever that person's take is on what can delicately be called "the keyboard issue" has massive repercussions for the structure and texture of the songs. On the night in question, midway through the set they went from sounding like Swervedriver to sounding like Satisfact.
Immediately after the Hat Party finished I bailed in search of food, which I had not eaten in any significant quantity since the day before. So I missed pretty much the entire Colony of Watts set.
Hah. Below show. That's lame. Anyway, this is also the show that MBIMOTMOG profiles here.
I started out this show a bit drunk and very garrulous. I really hope that I surprised the fuck out of everyone I talked to who doesn't know me well. The way I accomplished this was simple: First, I had about four brushes with death and one with an empty gas tank on the way up from Bloomington, where I was elated never to have to visit again. Second, I hung out in Genna's watching college hockey alone with strangers for like two hours for practice. And Old Style.
I honestly don't remember the Forgetful Jones show too well except for being made to face the crowd and pull a face. The Bracelets I remember a bit better. They sounded rather Braceletty, but don't really hold up as well as a two-piece as they do a three-piece. Whatever instruments are currently in use don't cover the absence of what isn't. Even the xylophone.
The Hat Party sucked. They sounded like Lee Atwater's backup band. They sounded like a cross between Skynyrd and the Goldwaters. No really. Actually the Hat Party continued to pull their musical chameleon act. I'm pretty sure that their sound is at the mercy of whoever's running the board - whatever that person's take is on what can delicately be called "the keyboard issue" has massive repercussions for the structure and texture of the songs. On the night in question, midway through the set they went from sounding like Swervedriver to sounding like Satisfact.
Immediately after the Hat Party finished I bailed in search of food, which I had not eaten in any significant quantity since the day before. So I missed pretty much the entire Colony of Watts set.
Sitcom politics
Those of you who know me may know that I went to a Catholic high school. You may also know that as a non-Catholic, this did not always end well for me. What you might not realize is that until about two months ago I had never heard of the Catholic League. And I went to an unusually doctrinaire school. I'm sure they had publications, but those publications were not in the library to my knowledge.
And now all of a sudden this William Donohue fucker is everywhere. Can anyone explain to me why?
It appears to have something to do with this whole War on Christmas non-starter. A front on the culture war that is such total bullshit that I am not about to justify it with any attention whatsoever.
And now all of a sudden this William Donohue fucker is everywhere. Can anyone explain to me why?
It appears to have something to do with this whole War on Christmas non-starter. A front on the culture war that is such total bullshit that I am not about to justify it with any attention whatsoever.
December 05, 2005
December 03, 2005
Further adventures in I wish I had a digital camera.
On hwy. Just drove through a huge flock of starlings. Vv cool.
December 02, 2005
YU/8N
Yesterday I dropped my thesis off at the bindery. It is now officially their problem until the end.
Today I got transcripts from IU sent to everyplace I could conceivably apply except UW-Seattle, which I forgot about.
I got done doing that at about 3 PM, meaning that driving back to WI today was not really feasible. Some of you may have recieved a premature text about that today; I wasn't about to take back my good news over an hour's worth of bureaucracy.
That shouldn't have been a problem because supposedly there's some kind of mega-party going on today here in Bloomington. As square as I consider the idea, there's a "Punk Rock Prom" that's been merged with some peoples' birthdays.
And I feel like shit.
I am a new kind of ill. I'm not cold sick, and I'm definitely not flu sick either. The only things that I've experienced that are similar are:
But I haven't done any of those things for quite a while. The Internet says I've OD'd on crystal. I haven't done that lately either.
So now, instead of getting my "hey, you look vaguely familiar to me also I'm leaving town forever tomorrow*" on, I'm sitting here. I just watched "Nip/Tuck" for the first time ever. Wow does it suck.
____________
* Not to be confused with "getting my 'I'm leaving town forever tomorrow baby, how you doin'?' on". If I tried to get that on, there would be a surfeit of ladies getting their "whatever, Rick's Friend**, I got a man" on. And if there was one who wasn't getting that particular thing on, I would shortly have to be getting my "what exactly in the fuck do I think I'm doing" on.
** To the extent that I have a name to go with my face here, it is "Rick's Friend", or occasionally "Rick's Other Friend".
Today I got transcripts from IU sent to everyplace I could conceivably apply except UW-Seattle, which I forgot about.
I got done doing that at about 3 PM, meaning that driving back to WI today was not really feasible. Some of you may have recieved a premature text about that today; I wasn't about to take back my good news over an hour's worth of bureaucracy.
That shouldn't have been a problem because supposedly there's some kind of mega-party going on today here in Bloomington. As square as I consider the idea, there's a "Punk Rock Prom" that's been merged with some peoples' birthdays.
And I feel like shit.
I am a new kind of ill. I'm not cold sick, and I'm definitely not flu sick either. The only things that I've experienced that are similar are:
- Being six and taking too much Theophyll.
- Day Four of a raw-foods diet coupled with four-mile daily runs.
- You know how we were talking about Sebadoh on someone else's blog? You know the chorus to "S.Soup" off Bakesale? I've totally done that. Over the course of a week. Ask Chromeeyes if he ever gets back online, he might remember.
- Giving blood - I have a condition (like my grandfather and my mother) that makes me conk out when I have blood drawn in any quantity.
But I haven't done any of those things for quite a while. The Internet says I've OD'd on crystal. I haven't done that lately either.
So now, instead of getting my "hey, you look vaguely familiar to me also I'm leaving town forever tomorrow*" on, I'm sitting here. I just watched "Nip/Tuck" for the first time ever. Wow does it suck.
____________
* Not to be confused with "getting my 'I'm leaving town forever tomorrow baby, how you doin'?' on". If I tried to get that on, there would be a surfeit of ladies getting their "whatever, Rick's Friend**, I got a man" on. And if there was one who wasn't getting that particular thing on, I would shortly have to be getting my "what exactly in the fuck do I think I'm doing" on.
** To the extent that I have a name to go with my face here, it is "Rick's Friend", or occasionally "Rick's Other Friend".
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