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:: 5.18.2002 ::

(listening to: ...And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: Source Tags & Codes)

Spent the morning cleaning up at some thrift stores in the suburbs. Today may have been my most successful day of clothing shopping ever, I seriously found lots of stuff that I was looking for, and a stack of good t-shirts.

For those interested in getting to some Red House Painters stuff, this guy has MP3s of just about every album available on his website. Act fast and go crazy, ya'll. Time to eat some soup.


(2:49 PM) :: (link)


:: 5.17.2002 ::

(listening to: Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers: The Best Of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers)

Friday and payday again, getting ready to hit up the city for some Greek food and a couple drinks, and an all in all good time. The week's been full of practicing, playing live, and recording, so it feels nice to get a day off to just relax and take in the good weather before the rainclouds and wind set in this weekend. Tomorrow is the Frank Black & The Catholics show, and Sunday I'm bidding my brother adeu (before he heads off to Los Angeles for good) at the Giants game over in San Francisco.

The daily photo has been out of commision for a few days, seeing as I've spent minimal waking hours actually at home. We're back in action now with a live shot from the show on Wednesday. Word.


(6:15 PM) :: (link)


:: 5.16.2002 ::

(listening to: Various: 1-2-3-4! Punk & New Wave, 1976 - 1979)

The show last night was really, really weird. For one thing, the place was packed with people after the early SF Giants game, and the bar/restaurant was heavily understaffed and overworked. The bass player from the Red House Painters was our soundguy, but he was also the bartender and waiter, so there was basically no attention paid to the bands at all. That, and a bottle of High Life was the same price as a pint of Anchor Steam. What the hey? Overall, I was pretty dispapointed at how the new ownership treated all the bands the entire night.

We played a so-so set, I screwed up the first couple songs, including our cover of Superchunk's "Throwing Things," but I guess in the long run I couldn't have hoped for things to go much better. The weird thing is though, when you're playing a loud-ish rock show and people are talking in the audience, it's not all that big of a deal. But when you're playing more lo-fi acoustic stuff and people are *still* talking, it's near impossible to hear yourself over their chatty chatty ways.

After the set I watched most of Charmless, and then in a fit of yawning headed off to the van to take a nap while the final band played. With no jacket or blanket I curled up in the loft and tried to sleep, but probably just overanalyzed the evening too much. Loaded the van all groggy and made my way back across the bridge, confused more than anything as to how the night was spent.

Born To Run...for elected office!: I wish I lived in New Jersey so I could help elect Bruce Springsteen to the Senate. What a great country.


(3:58 PM) :: (link)


:: 5.15.2002 ::

(listening to: The Kinks: The Kinks)


Jimmie Rodgers

We watched the first part of the Beatles anthology last night, and it was cool to see all those old country/skiffle/rock & roll acts who influenced the group while they were young. I was particularly struck by the voice of Jimmie Rodgers. Although his career only lasted six years, many people say he was the beginning of country music. Now I have something else to buy this weekend after I get paid.

Those in the SF Bay Area should check out a special Amscray show tonight at the Hotel Utah. We'll be playing semi-acoustic, with some new songs, some re-worked old songs, and a couple covers. You can take your earplugs out for this one, kids. Oh, and since I won't be able to watch, everyone must will the San Jose Sharks to victory for me. Word.


(3:56 PM) :: (link)


:: 5.14.2002 ::

(listening to: The Kinks: The Kinks)

`"As earthquakes go, this one was pretty normal...the worst news of the day was that the Sharks lost.''

I didn't feel the earthquake, which means I've gone 25.66 years living in California without feeling so much as a minor tremor. My body must be strangely numb to moving ground or something. However, I *did* watch the tail end of the Sharks game, and their overtime loss was pretty bad news.


(9:02 AM) :: (link)


:: 5.13.2002 ::

(listening to: Boards Of Canada: Geogaddi)

Because it's fun to point out copy-editing errors, when did Portland become a state? This the first review of Sharpen Your Teeth I've seen, look for mine in one week's time.


(9:37 AM) :: (link)


:: 5.12.2002 ::

(listening to: Gram Parsons: Cosmic American Music)

MP3 of the week: This is probably my all time favorite song for singing in the car. When I got my first automobile at the age of sixteen, I had one tape that I played over, and over, and over again. Side A was Green Day's Kerplunk, which I labeled by tracing the cover of the record onto a piece of paper, then taping it to the cassette. On the other was Sugar's Copper Blue, to which I taped an empty McDonald's sugar packet that read "Pure Sugar." Damn right.

Early yesterday evening we heard some strange sounds while lounging around in our room. It sounded like meek thunder, kinda far off, but getting closer. I checked the weather reports, nope, clear skies. I checked the news radio and news websites, nothing. I started getting worried about falling bombs or exploding bridges or something, so Miss Rodeo America and I hopped in the car to investigate the matter. The sounds seemed to get louder, and we traced their origin for a few blocks until we turned a corner by the large school playground, and there, behind a gigantic palm tree, was the unmistakable cascading light from fireworks over the bay. Feeling better about the world and knowing that danger was not approaching, I poured a glass of wine, put on a Bill Monroe record, and watched the stars start to twinkle.


(5:40 PM) :: (link)