Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann - She Really Wants You
Aimee Mann is a phenominal song writter. flat out.

unsure what to call it

Doves - Sky Starts Falling
a couple weeks ago, i went to my friend Angela's wedding. it was hosted at the silent movie theater on fairfax and it was a little cramped. the ceremony itself was awkwardly agnostic. i never really met angela's husband or angelas family, so i really didn't know much of anyone. but the few people that i did know were all old friends from college. people i spent a lot of time with out of circumstance for the most part. took a lot of classes with, worked on a lot of projects with, slept with a couple, and haven't kept up with any. and i remember how after that initial excitement wore off, i was just as happy to put them all behind me and walk back to my car and get back to this life.

i don't know if it's that i'm too emotionally insulated, or i'm just shallow and don't really connect with other people easily. but i couldn't find a part of myself that cared. there was one exception to that, which is erik. erik i was truly and honestly friends with. we were close. he knew me. not just who i was - he knew ME. you know how certain people just get you? just understand what you're about? no matter how many years go by or what direction you're life takes, you are still you. and when somebody gets down to knowing THAT you, when they're friends with THAT piece of you're personality, you'll never fall apart.

there was a warmth that i felt when he looked at me. it was followed by a real hug. there was no uncertainty over the appropriate greeting - no strange handshake or imperceptible hesitation. no wondering "Jesus, who is this person now?" just the same big bear of a hug with that grin and his kind of sweet, low growl. to be known. to feel known. like there's just nothing to explain.

i don't know what exactly it is that's so special about it. it's more than the camaraderie that comes from shared experience - i had that with all of those people. maybe the sense that finally you've found permanence in a relationship with another human being? the comfort of being able to completely let down your guard and still feel safe? or simply that it is so rare. whatever it is that makes it precious, it's something that needs to be ... not protected - i've tried to "protect" it in the past and i've only gotten in the way ... but kept sacred.

7 and 7

i try to keep on topic but sometimes the people i know do silly shit like this, and it makes it's way around and before i know it i'm hooked into filling your ear with blabber you don't really need... so putting aside any additional preemptive excuses, here is some blabber you don't need.

1. Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
   
   1. buy a knock off of my own work
      
   2. get into and out of art school
      
   3. live someplace else. with someone else. in that way.
      
   4. have employees
      
   5. get out of my own way
      
   6. make a little fucking money at this
      
   7. save sombody's world, however small
      
   
   
2. Things I Cannot Do:
   
   1. math in my head
      
   2. stiff on a tip
      
   3. talk to my dad about some things
      
   4. stick to a bedtime
      
   5. give up self deprication
      
   6. take a hint
      
   7. get out of my own head
      
   
   
3. Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex:
   
   1. a little bit of mean. okay, a lot.
      
   2. more brains than me
      
   3. angles - physical and cretive
      
   4. having different kinds of laughs
      
   5. a new facial expression every day
      
   6. conviction. the moral kind. not the legal kind.
      
   7. the ability to get the best of and out of me
      
   
   
   
4. Things I Say Most Often:
   
   1. word
      
   2. track
      
   3. mixtape
      
   4. hot
      
   5. wet rag
      
   6. ball
      
   7. awesome
      
   
   
5. Celebrity Crushes:
   
   1. amy sedaris
      
   2. tegan AND sara
      
   3. joan jett
      
   4. wanda sykes
      
   5. phoebe cates or Jennifer Beals. talk about a Miss 1984 contest...
      
   6. does it count if i wanted to BE sean connery?
      
   
   
6. People I Want To Do This:
   
   1. amy sedaris
      
   2. whoever found my wallet last week and didn't return it where it was lost (update - turns out that was me. found it in my car a week later).
      
   3. whoever's wallet i found two weeks ago that i returned where it was lost (same place. no i didn't even look inside it).
      
   4. newman
      
   5. you
      
   6. me in 10 years
      
   7. you in 10 years
      
   
   
   

Is it really that hard?

Chicago - Hard To Say I'm Sorry
there's a handful of movies that i really only think of as visualized soundtracks. karate kid is one of them. footloose. say anything. most of cameron crowe's films for that matter (think tiny dancer sing-along in almost famous), and to a lesser extent stuff like back to the future.

that's why some music, and in this case almost ALL music by chicago, sounds like a movie to me. and i don't just mean a movie. i mean a movie that sort of IS a certain time. like how indiana jones was the family trip to phoenix. burning hands on seatbelt buckles, padddle boat rides, swiming in a hotel pool, racing from air conditioning to air conditioning. the first time i ever saw an NBA player up close (dan majerle). those are all indian jones. or how arachnaphobia equates to the first make-out with my first real girlfriend. some movies are times... some movies are songs. chicago sounds like those kinds of movies.

but is it hard to say "i'm sorry"? I don't think so... i mean, it can be hard to KNOW you're sorry. but to say it... to say it is easy. it's knowing you are, and knowing why that's the hard part.

now ... who's got some Huey Lewis records for me?

my favorite song

The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset

dirty old river
must you keep rolling
rolling into the night
people so busy
make me feel dizy
taxi lights shine so bright
but i don't need no friends
as long as i gaze on waterloo sunset i am in paradise

every day i look at the world from my window
chilly chilly is evening time
waterloo sunset's fine

terry meets julie
waterloo satation
every friday night
but i am so lazy
don't want to wander
i stay at home at night
but i don't feel afraid
as long i gaze on waterloo sunset i am in paradise.

every day i look at the world from my window
chilly chilly is evening time
waterloo sunset's fine

millions of people
swarming like flies round
waterloo underground
but terry and julie
cross over the river
where they feel safe and sound

and they don't need no friends
as long as they gaze on waterloo sunset
they are in paradise

but FYI, i still stand by the Lady Sov post below.

I Almost Only Wear Them

Lady Sovereign - Hoodie
first off - when shit gets too heavy you gotta remember ... in some parts of the world, 5 foot nothing 19 year old rappers are facing a crackdown on hoodies. i mean, when your right to wear a hoodie is being challenged, my problems kind of seem small in contrast.

secondly - i'm offering this up as the argument for Lady Sovereign being the selected activity on Dec 15. would scout like to present the arguement in favor of Xiu Xiu?

lastly - this is because some previous comments might have gotten a little out of hand.

so what are you doing december 15th?

Friday, Oct 28 @ Troubadour

If you're not at the Jens Lekman show, please consider:

Pretty Girls Make Graves
w. Bullet Train To Vegas
October 28 @ Troubadour
$12

Pretty Girls Make Graves - Bring It On Golden Pond
I don't have a whole lot to add to the Pretty Girls Make Graves discussion beyond some simple praise and admiration. The band is bitchen and loaded with pacific northwest cred. the troubadour is bitchen and loaded with la cred (i realize you may consider that a contradiction, but it is my birthright to tell all you bitches that la cred exists and if you don't know you don't have it. bitches.)

Bullet Train to Vegas - Cut The Party To Pieces
i wrote about these guys a while back... this track never inspired me to buy the record, but listening to it again i wonder why i haven't put this on a mix tape? anyway... like i said before:

i realize that cassette tape click and hiss intro is played the fuck out, but this track kicks into high gear right the fuck away to make up for it. if the blood brothers weren't so fucking annoying most of the time, they might sound something like this. i realize that NOT creaming my jeans over the blood brothers means i'm not cool or i'm too closed minded or my musical tastes have no art or whatever.... if you want to have a weird contest, i can get weird on you mofos, so let's just drop it.

it seems to me like there should be another minute worth of material here, instead of the slim minute-forty of song we get. the fade out seems to cut short a pretty good song before it can fully develop. but thinking a song is too short is probably a compliment.

Okkervil River @ The Echo

well before Okkervil River took the stage, before Will Sheff strode into Main Island Lovers, Band of Horses played a strong, strong set of stinging, tense alt country.

Band of Horses
Funeral
Bass Song
I was standing off to the side, firing off text message after text message when i couldn't help but be drawn in by the strength of the set. the combination of Niel Young, Silkworm, and Modest Mouse inspired rock demanding attention. this is a band that means business. that doesn't waste energy focusing on anything but the song at hand. almost as if they were trying to set an example for me. economical. direct. the material fell a bit short at moments, but the majority of the set was nothing short of excellent. this is a record i'll be looking to buy.

Okkervil River - Main Island Lovers
As for Okkervil River, shortly after finishing this, their first song, Will Sheff deliriously announced that after 22 consecutive days on the road in Europe without a day off followed by a two day break back in the states, he was forced to cancel the previous nights show due to a case of strep throat. He went to the doctor instead and was put on antibiotics and given a vocal steroid. He then declared that "i guess we'll find out just how much tonight's performance is enhanced by performance enhancing drugs!" this announcement was, if i recall correctly, followed immediately by the most throaty, scratched out version of Black.

This is the third time i've seen this band in the last few months, and while this set was not their cleanest, they have never ever fell short on performance energy. this is a band that loves to play for you. that much is always evident, strep throat or no, they are happy to see you.

After completing their set, the venue tried to clear us all out quickly. Will Sheff barged back onstage to try and play a couple more songs, but they shut off the PA system to, as he put it, "kick us all out to make way for a disco dance party". despite the lack of amplification, he stood forward on stage and played one last song that i couldn't make out at all. but the effort was there. the sentiment was not lost. even if i couldn't hear, i understood and was greatful.