skyrocket in flight

I woke up this morning in a great mood, and actually slept soundly for the first time in over a week. Which is probably a good thing because I think I’m gonna need whatever I can get in the next few days. I can’t put into words how excited I am to have 4 days in a row off. It’s pathetic, I was thinking about the last time I went 4 days in a row without working and it was Austin last summer. What the fuck? I think I’m due for a vacation, but sadly this won’t be it. Anyway, after I woke up I was trying to think of something to post on here (I can’t tell if I’m already running out of stuff to throw on here or if I’m just not being creative enough – or being too critical of the stuff I consider…huh) and I literally stumbled across a CD rack that I had completely forgotten was there. I immediately found 4 CDs that I had thrown a fit looking for just 3 months ago. So that was awesome. Pile that on to a short day and I’m all sorts of ready to party. Unfortunately, I’ve got the daunting task of crossing Pennsylvania to do so. The PA Turnpike and I have a rocky past. I’ve gotten about 10 speeding tickets on this road in the 60-odd times I’ve made that trip, and it truly is the most boring drive I’ve ever made. And sadly, being familiar with every inch of the trip does not make it any more enjoyable. Regardless, I’m still psyched to see some people I haven’t had a chance to spend time with in ages. So all in all, it should be a blast.

So I figured a nice little theme for the day could be road trips. Road trips can be absolutely horrendous or insanely fun; a large factor in determining which can be the soundtrack. It’s easy to get overambitious on a road trip and throw every song you like to sing and rock out with on a CD and roll, but it’s just not that easy. You get tired of that after awhile, especially at about the halfway point. You can’t throw on a bunch of slow songs because your ass’ll fall asleep and hit an RV with a Canadian family inside of it making smores and singing Cat Stevens songs. I always aim for something that will keep me interested enough to pay attention, but also something not so over the top that I don’t lose focus on the task at hand –namely, speeding- sprinkled with rock-jams to revive me. It should be sait that this is going to be mostly for night driving. Oh, there’s a difference in the mixes there, too. Night road trips are generally head-nodders. Day road trip mixes mostly focus on the jamz. Anyway that’s all for another day.

I’ve made 5 mixes for the drive, which should do us well enough for one way and the ipod for the way back. Plus, I’ll probably buy some stuff out there. Being that it’s Pittsburgh, though, I wanna throw some songs that make me think of there and appear on the mixes I just finished making. Now I gotta make 2 more for our gracious hosts. Damn. 2 of these tracks are kinda long so I had to YSI them again. Someday I’ll drop the $50 on upgrading my account with box.net.

The first song is from one of the CDs that I was so sure I’d lost, which pissed me off incredible because it’s of a really limited pressing and the only copies I had were on cassette. This is from a live show that they put on in Memphis that largely features funk, hip-hop, and a smattering of turntablism. This track is from Peanut Butter Wolf and will always make me think of driving around South Oakland. I don’t really know why but there you have it.

Dead End – Peanut Butter Wolf (YSI link)

I couldn't find this anywhere (so I'll probably post more of it later), but buy his first album here

In 2000, DJ Shadow released a full disc of recordings of high school funk and jazz bands. The result was Schoolhouse Funk and shocked everyone who thought they knew the limitations of high school bands. This song has an unusually long drum solo in it (something I normally abhor, but bear with me) but it totally comes back in full force and is forever in my mind associated with Scouring the streets between Craig and Bigelow for parking. Not the best association, but still it’s a great tune.

The Newborn Hippopotamus/Jazz Rock Machine – Schoolhouse Funk (YSI link)

Buy Schoolhouse Funk here

RJD2 is… good for long drives. And awesome. And he lives in Philly, so he’s super cool. This is a b-side from the “Horror” single.

“Bus Stop Bitties” – RJD2

Buy The Horror here

and here's a little Fourth of July treat for ya. buy it here. The pic above is what happens when you image google "afternoon delight" and I think it's awesome. Go to this guy's website for more like it.

phoning it in.

There really isn’t much I have to say today. “But Cotton” you’re saying, ”you took off yesterday so you could have something more interesting to say today. Also, you’re too handsome”. Listen, I’m really, really busy today and I’m trying to set up a 10 hour playlist for the drive to Pittsburgh and back this weekend on top of my work. As it stands, I can’t even write a lengthy intro right now, other than this;

This song is from the NBA live 2K6 soundtrack, and is the only one from the fame that didn’t annoy the shit out of me 15 minutes into playing the game. That said, I don’t own the game and if you do you’re probably sick to death of this one. But I like it, which is the only criteria I need right now.

“Milk Em” – Ghostface Killah

Buy 2K6 The Tracks here

The Dictators are a band that got shit on for playing loud, cartoonishly stupid songs about cars and girls on their first album. Then, 2 years later The Ramones did it and everyone went crazy. They’ve always gotten a bum rap (as the infamous Jayne County/Handsome Dick Manitoba fight proved), which might explain why Handsome Dick pulled an asshole move by suing one of my favorite artists, for no discernible reason whatsoever. Even still, this song is fucking awesome and packs a wallop. Apparently they’re still together or something, but I was pretty sure that Manitoba was singing for the reformed MC5, so now I don’t know what to believe.

“Two Tub Man” – The Dictators

Buy Go Girl Crazy here

I hate Rod Stewart. Seriously, I loathe the man. I would never bring his music within groin-kicking distance of anyone I knew and cared about withough really, really having a soft spot for it. Which I do for this song. Yes, it’s the most popular version the theme song for one of the most popular TV shows in British history, one that spawned an American version that went on to name this page you’re reading right now. And yes, it’s by one of my least favorite people ever. But he didn’t write it, and The Office is worth stealing from (again). That said, it’s still a song I never get tired of and if you haven’t noticed I’m trying to get some stuff done today.

"Handbags & Gladrags" - Rod Stewart

Buy The Rod Stewart Album here. (but seriously don't. he sucks).

on an entirely different note, almost at 700 views. Which is still terrible, but makes me feel good about doing this. i'm sure if I spent more time on it this would be going up even faster, but I'm a content man.

No Music Wednesday

Not much of a post today, I'm afrait, because I may have just won a free stay at the Marriot of my choosing (more on my disappointment in this fraud tomorrow) and I need to prep for this. No, I'm just trying to catch up on a bunch of music and news myself and In order to keep this blog the shining star of mediocrity that it is, I need to keep up to date. Anyways, more crazy dreams last night (this one about a neighbor I had as a kid and his dad, who openly hated me). I'm starting to think it has something to do with the weather. or waking up freezing cold, turning the fan off, then waking up all sweaty and waking up to turn the fan on, over and over and over. So whatever, I'm exhausted and still counting down the days until I get my damned weekend. Rediscovered this poem last night and was floored by it. Consider it the song of the day:

Steps

How funny you are today New York
like Ginger Rogers in Swingtime
and St. Bridget's steeple leaning a little to the left

here I have just jumped out of a bed full of V-days
(I got tired of D-days) and blue you there still
accepts me foolish and free
all I want is a room up there
and you in it
and even the traffic halt so thick is a way
for people to rub up against each other
and when their surgical appliances lock
they stay together
for the rest of the day (what a day)
I go by to check a slide and I say
that painting's not so blue

where's Lana Turner
she's out eating
and Garbo's backstage at the Met
everyone's taking their coat off
so they can show a rib-cage to the rib-watchers
and the park's full of dancers with their tights and shoes
in little bags
who are often mistaken for worker-outers at the West Side Y
why not
the Pittsburgh Pirates shout because they won
and in a sense we're all winning
we're alive

the apartment was vacated by a gay couple
who moved to the country for fun
they moved a day too soon
even the stabbings are helping the population explosion
though in the wrong country
and all those liars have left the UN
the Seagram Building's no longer rivaled in interest
not that we need liquor (we just like it)

and the little box is out on the sidewalk
next to the delicatessen
so the old man can sit on it and drink beer
and get knocked off it by his wife later in the day
while the sun is still shining

oh god it's wonderful
to get out of bed
and drink too much coffee
and smoke too many cigarettes
and love you so much

-Frank O-Hara (1961)

such a beautiful work, just bursting with life and the sort of thing that makes you wanna ry after reading something like:

"O'Hara died in an accident on Fire Island in 1966. He was run over by a dune buggy while on the beach late at night with friends. He is buried in Springs Cemetery on Long Island."

Sigh. Oh what the fuck, here's a Minutemen show from Philly in December of 1984. Because they were awesome and haunted my dreams 2 nights ago. It's completely incredible.

Strange dreams and burning rubble.

It’s still raining today. Nothing special about it, no storms, no giant drops of rain, just pissing on and off. It’s not altogether unpleasant, but I’d rather get something enjoyable out of it, you know? I had these wild, vivid dreams last night, which for once I actually remembered. I dreamt an old friend I haven’t seen in more than 10 years was playing drums with the Minutemen. That D. Boon was still alive, and George Hurley had died in his place. I had a dream that Sonic Youth was playing my high school chemistry class, and that the Raconteurs were opening up for them for some reason, and Jack White didn’t look like Michael Jackson anymore. I had a dream about Sherlock Holmes in pursuit of Irene Adler. I dreamt… a lot of things. When I woke up this morning, my cell phone was dead. No indication of anything that was wrong with it last night, it’s relatively new and the battery was fine. But it’s dead now and I was convinced upon waking up that my dreams had something to do with it.

I’m in a really shitty mood, shittier than I can remember. Did you ever see that Simpsons (don’t laugh. My brain is half made up of old scripts) where the Flanders house gets hit by a tornado and they’re all living in a temporary shelter when Marge runs up to Ned excitedly claiming “Ned, come quick, you’ll never never believe what happened”. And poor Ned, exasperated and his life in ruins, his children in old Butthole Surfers t-shirts, looks up and says “what, did the rubble burn down?”

Yeah, that’s pretty much how I’m feeling right now. Ugh. So rather than continue to subject you to this crap I’m just gonna throw some blues on here and get back to my shithole day.

On a bizarre side note, I came across this interesting story about a book entitled Futility about the wreck of a giant ocean liner called the Titan, which was the largest ship ever created at the time and was widely considered to be “unsinkable” until it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and was in dire straits because it was drastically understocked with lifeboats. This book was published in 1898, a full 14 years before the Titanic sank. Pretty fucked up, no? Well screw you I thought it was. Learn more about it here and read the whole book here.

Charley Patton was one of the first blues artists to ever be recorded (along with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake), and widely considered the first off the well-known Delta Blues guitarists. He had the voice of a bullfrog, despite being slightly smaller in stature than I am. He drank too much, chased women, snorted coke, and was a notorious braggart. Like many other blues artists, he was often the subject of scorn from jealous husbands and scornful ex-lovers alike, even getting his throat slit sometime between 1933 and 1938. You can here the difference in his voice on “Mind Reader Blues”, which he recorded with his wife at the time, Bertha Lee Jones, a few years after the incident. He was a guiding force for Son House, who in turn influenced everyone, from Robert Johnson to the Chicago electric blues that appeared in the late 40s. He led the life, and now nobody is even sure how he spelled his name. Anyway, he’s pretty reflective of my mood today, so here’s some notable stuff from him. If this stuff has any appeal to you whatsoever, you should head over to Honey, Where You Been So Long and check out that site. I find something new and totally amazing every time I’m over there. You can also download a bunch of free shit here at the Library of Congress. You paid for it, you might as well enjoy it.

Moving on, Some Charley Patton. Because these songs aren't the highest quality, I'll throw down four:

High Water Everywhere, Part One - Charley Patton

High Water Everywhere, Part Two - Charley Patton

I Shall Not Be Moved - Charley Patton

Mind Reader Blues - Charley Patton & Bertha Lee.

I'm pretty sure his work is in the public domain at this point, but if it isn't, you can always buy some stuff here. I should point out though that Charley Patton, like all blues, is really easy to find for super cheap and you should check your local CD store because you can find 3 disc collections for about $17 more often than not. that's all I got today. I really, really am looking forward to this 4 day weekend coming up. It is needed.

This angry, mustachioed asshole that represents us.

hey, by the way assholes, it's a genius move, to give the richest 1% of the population more money via tax breaks while while refusing to up minimum wage on the same day. It's only been a fucking decade, and inflation's as much of a myth as global warming, right? What the fuck? Do these people live in Saudi Arabia or something? Who are they representing? Is there some billionaire state that I don't know about that happens to have 200 congressmen? This is pathetic and makes my thorny, bleeding heart just sink. Fuck.



and John Bolton, YOU ARE RETARDED. Stop talking. You really want Guatemala on the security council? are you fucking high? Do you even pay attention to human rights anymore? We getit, you don't like Venezuela. That's fine. but you know who really likes Venezuela? VENEZUELANS. and pretty much the rest of South America. You want them to like us? Then stop fucking around with their governments and help them. Don't get pissed when after setting up countless brutal puppet regimes they don't like us anymore. Don't get mad when they elect someone who calls you on your bullshit. why the fuck is this so hard?

Werewolf-By-Day

What a beautifully dreary, shitstorm of a day. It was raining so hard when I woke up that I thought it was hail. It’s the hardest sort of day to get out of bed, because really all you wanna do is lie there and listen to it and dream. Managed to make it up and am sitting in the office now working on my fourth cup of coffee, wondering why I feep like such crap today. Maybe it was the dinner party last night. Yeah, let’s go with that.

Since I don’t have a window view from my desk, I’m stuck working dilligently (well, about as dilligently as usual, anyway) and keeping my ear cocked for the occasional thunder. On my way in from the car I stopped and jumped in a big puddle. I totally got caught by this older couple that were sitting there waiting for the dollar store next to my office to open. They just stared at me, probably thinking that Tom Hanks got his wish again, only this time he was turned into a half-baked adult who was only a few inches taller than before. Oh well, I’m still soaked but it was worth it I guess.

It’s since stopped raining hours ago, but it looks like it’ll be back right around when I decide to leave for the night.

I’m riddled with bug bites from this weekend. I’ve got like a sampler from the insect life of southeastern Pennsylvania on my arms and legs and back of my neck. The one on the back of my nect might just be infecting my brain. On second thought, I can’t entirely rule out that a bear snuck up and bite me in my sleep. Because I think I would’ve remembered if a goddamned bear What the shit is that about? I’m no bear-hating Stephen Colbert, but enough is enough.

but On top of that, I might have poison ivy on my foot. So yeah, I’m loving the outdoors right now, you can be sure. The cookout went well, though, and I have enough food to last me the next eleven months. Which is has a minor case of the suck and can be evidenced by the 4 lbs of sausage that I’m staring at on my desk right now. Seriously I can’t even bring myself to think about eating anymore. Maybe I'll suck the jujubes out of my glove compartment.

So Man Man is a band from Philly that sound more or less like Tom Waits started drinking again, joined the carnival he’s always loved so much, and befan truly enjoying himself. I’m not the biggest fan of their name, but both of their albums are truly magical in their nature. I tend to think of them as rainy day albums, though I couldn’t tell you why. I guess maybe because I don’t really think of sunshine when I’m listening to them. Or because my parents left me at a carnival when I was three to be raised by clowns and tricycle-riding bears. See, I told you I didn’t hate bears. How could I hate my adopted parents? Anyway two of these songs are from the first album, the third is from the most recent one. I had to use YSI for the first one because it’s a giant fucking file (about 7 minutes of the song is just tide and seagulls…but still that other 3 minutes makes it completely worthwhile.

“Werewolf (On the Hood of Yer Heartbreak)” – Man Man (YSI link)

“Gold Teeth” – Man Man

Buy The Man In a Blue Turban With a Face here

“Feathers” – Man Man

Buy Six Demon Bag here

There was something else that I wanted to get into today but I'm too pressed for time right now. Please done't let things bother you, though.

2X2L calling CQ... 2X2L calling CQ... 2X2L calling CQ... New York. Isn't there anyone on the air?

Well, it's a pretty busy day here in Cobra-La, so I don't have a huge amount of time. I'm not even gonna bitch about the whole estate tax hoopla. In far more awesome news, it appears that they're gonna bring Futurama back, though in 2008 I'm not even sure I'll still have a sense of humor (I'm assuming that by then I'll be eating cat food or drafted to fight the war in Iran or some such shit). In other completely awesome news, the writer and director of 28 Days Later (arguably my favorite movie of all time) have set a release date on the new movie they're working on together. Ther'es some clips and blogs and stuff over at the official site. I for one, can't fucking wait. It will invariably let me down, but fuck off I need something to be excited about as far as movies go, and right now the 2 Pirates of the Caribbean sequels aren't enough to hold me over. and I have no fucking clue what to expect from this. That's a shitload of linking right there. Don't ever say I don't work on this shit. I meant to take a half-hour lunch today and I've been typing here for 45. So I'm gonna move on. I'm still planning a BBQ for tomorrow, so if you like dodging lightning bolts (it's supposed to storm here all weekend. bad) and eating overcooked Italian sausage, you know where to head.

I was thinking about the X tracks I posted the other day and figured I'd get even more awesome by linking X (the band I posted about 2 days ago) with Stephen Malkmus (a guy who I posted a song from yesterday, a song with a screen legend intro, like I'm gonna post in a few minutes) in a song here. Holy shit, my head is swimming with cohesiveness. I CAN SEE THROUGH TIME. Here's Elastica with a guest shot from SM playing an X cover. It's from the SubUrbia soundtrack. The movie was a shitty production of a pretty great play, but the soundtrack was almost stellar, featuring contributions from Thurson Moore as well as Sonic Youth, Money Mark remixing U.N.K.L.E., Superchunk, the Flaming Lips, perennial favorites the Butthole Surfers, and the late, great Gene Pitney.

"The Unheard Music" - Elastica feat. Stephen Malkmus

But the SubUrbia soundtrack here.

Pinback is a band that seems to get far more love on the west coast than they do on the east. what's up with that? I guess they don't sound pissed enough, which might explain why the metal side project Goblin Cock (get it!!??? sigh.) did better over here. Anyway, they've got a nice mellow sound, and the guys can really harmonize when they want to. As promised, the first song (easily my favorite they've ever done) has an into that is ripped directly from the infamous radio broadcast of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds. These songs are both from 2001's Blue Screen Life, which I wouldn't classify as their best album, but it's still a great one. Maybe when I run out of stuff to post (mid-October), I'll go back and put some of their newer stuff up.

"Boo" - Pinback

""Offline P.K." - Pinback

Buy Blue Screen Life here

oh and what the hell. here's Cold War Kids' "We Used to Vacation"

buy the Up in Rags EP here

now screw you guys i'm off to start my weekend.

"I am just a nice, clean-cut Mongolian boy."

Well, with all that out of the way, I can get down to my usual cuss-filled crappy posting.

I shaved my head last night. Not BIC shaved, but it's short enough that it looks like I have blond hair again. I've already endured a raft of shit about this that could cross an ocean. It doesn't matter, because goddamnit it's fucking hot out, and I got sick of looking like a hippie. I pretty much go by the goat-shearing haircut method of shaving it back once a year at the beginning of the summer with a few trims here and there throughout the rest of the year. Anyway, it feels incredibly awesome and I'm excited to go swimming and not having that shit drip down my back for 45 minutes. Through a complete coincidence, I was listening to that first Stephen Malkmus solo album and came across the track that starts with Yul Brynner talking about how shaving his head worked so well for him and figured it was fate telling me to post a bunch of songs most of you have probably already heard today. So huzzah!

"Jo Jo's Jacket" - Stephen Malkmus

You thought I was I was gonna post "Cut Your Hair", didn't you? Well, I thought about it, but it seemed too easy, and that song still reminds me of that Brady Bunch Movie. Thank Gorilla Vs. Bear, though, because that blog is awesome. Incidentally, are a lot of people covering that song lately? I've heard Cassettes Won't Listen, Casey Dienel both play it, as well as someone else whom I can't remember the name of. But I digress.
It might be taken as heresy by some, but I don't really like much of Dylan's post-accoustic work. There's Highway 61 of course, and the stellar Basement Tapes, but most of it tends to ramble with me and not in a good way. Blood on the Tracks takes for fucking ever to listen to and Desire just never really had much to offer me. It wasn't until New Morning that I found an album that had what I was looking for from him. and yes, it was the Big Lebowski that made me seek out the record. Actually, I never bought it. There's a single copy of this album that's been passed around a group of my friends for years that somehow isn't scratched to shit by now, and it's from that copy that the following songs are taken. The first one might be my absolute favorite Dylan song ever, though I couldn't tell you why. It just has a nice feel to me. The second one, I just found out, was written about Elvis after Dylan met him early in his Vegas career. or so AMG says. They also dump on the song, which I think is strange since it's one of my favorites from the album. Well fuck it, I still think it's a classic, and presented here for your enjoyment.

"Day of the Locusts" - Bob Dylan

"Went to See the Gypsy" - Bob Dylan

and not entirely by accident, I'm gonna tie in the gypsy mention back into the shaved head motif by rounding this back to Yul Brynner. The man truly led one of the most interesting lives I've ever ever heard of, and was really an interesting guy who has appeared in some of my favorite movies of all time. This is a recording of him singing and playing guitar on a Tsigani Russian song accompanied by a friend. I found it on this page here, which the best I can tell is run by his son. It's really interesting and is definitely worth looking at.

"Okonchen Poot," by Yul Brynner and Aliosha Dimitrievitch


I've been planning such a motherfucking power date for tomorrow night I'll be totally excited if it doesn't explode halfway through the evening. I'm also trying to throw together a cookout for Saturday night as I'm putting together tomorrow's plans. Arranging a weekend all at once is tiring like a motherfucker! Anyways, I've already got a song picked out for tomorrow, a song with ANOTHER hollywood legend's voice being used to provide an intro. How's THAT for transition!!?? I was referred to as "reverse Samson" at work today because shaving my head seems to have made me smarter and more efficient at work. That's a load of shit, but I take what I can get y'know?

Well, I have to say the show was awesome. I really wan't expecting much, not that the album wasn't great, but the whole folk/bluegrass vibe doesn't always translate that well live. Especially when the crowd is expecting ronck songs and are gathered, well, at the stupid Tweeter center. But yeah, the band was great (featuring the horns from Conan O'Brien's band, oddly enough) and the crowd was really into it. It was the fifth or sixth time I've seen Bruce with my dad, and as usual that made it all the more important to me. For anyone who doesn't know, my Father was told by doctors a long time ago that he'd be lucky if he lived long enough to see me born. Since then, he's endured health problems that would shock and astound anyone, and through it all he's maintained one of the most positive and uplifting outlooks on life I've ever seen. He's always been a person I admire to a tremendous degree, and I've always treasured whatever time I've had with him. It was great to attend the other night with him and, after watching him limp and wince his way though the parking lot, turn into the giddiest of kids at a candy store and take off for his seats upon hearing the first note from the stage. The show was incredible, and I've read a lot of complaint that for a band playing the songs of Pete Seeger, they charge an atronomical amount of money for a ticket. I think the is totally right, and they did charge a hefty sum, but for the chance to see my dad dancing like that through another concert I'd gladly pay again with my own blood. Thanks, Bruce.

another post in a few minutes.

We set the trash on fire...

The development of this future society is something which I intend to go in detail, although not here. I want to avoid the sort of nuke-blighted future that has been a feature of Dark Knight, Watchmen, Ronin, and a log of other futures presented in comic books and other media, like the Road Warrior films and their ilk, because I feel that is becoming something of a cliché, and, while it’s gone some way towards serving its purpose and alerting people to the dangers of the present day by pointing out the possible effects waiting in the future, I personally feel that it’s all but outlived its usefulness as a motif in Twentieth Century function and would prefer to come up with a different kind of holocaust. What I want to show is a world which, having lived through the terrors of the Fifties through the early Nineties with overhanging terror of a nuclear Armageddon that seemed inevitable at the time, has found itself faced with the equally inconceivable and terrifying notion that there might not be an apocalypse. That mankind might actually have a future, and might thus be faced with the terrifying prospect of having to deal with it rather than allowing himself the indulgence of getting rid of that responsibility with a convenient mushroom cloud or nine hundred. Following the predictions made by Alvin Toffler and other eminent futurologists, I want to show a future in which everything from the family structure to the economy is decentralizing into an entirely new form, that, while it might ultimately be better suited to survival in the changed conditions of life in the Twenty-First Century, is in a constant an incomprehensible state of flux and hcaos for those living through it, caught in one of those violent historical niches where one mode of society changes to another, through an upheaval more abstract and bizarre but every bit as violent, and as their institutions crumble in the face of the wave of social change, they find themselves clinging to the various clans who represent their only anchor of stability in this rapidly altering world.
-Alan Moore, in his Twilight of the Superheroes proposal

There's nothing wholly new or original in the above passage, but as I came across it a few minutes ago, it just sorta clicked with me and what I was thinking about for this post today. Well, sort of, but I'm running late with this and I just found out I might be going to see Springsteen tonight so I gotta keep shit relevant, you know? I'm not feeling especially apocalyptic or anything today, but then as soon as they're talking about people having sex with robots (seriously), you never know what to think. Anyway, I never really thought much about an apocalypse in my lifetime when I was younger, in fact I'm pretty sure I worked pretty hard not to. When I was in college, though, I had a Rhetoric in Politics class that really had an impact on me. Actually, it might be the only class from which I truly retained any knowledge whatsoever. One day during the middle of the semester, the professor (who was a major speechwriter and political analyst for some cable news station) started telling us about the Bay of Pigs, and how utterly scared he and all of his friends were at this point. He told us how he lugged a mattress and a case of whiskey down into the basement of his apartment building and spent the next 3 days hiding out down there with the lights off, having sex with his girlfriend and getting drunk by candlelight. He seemed almost nostalgic when he was telling us this (I guess nothing makes one appreciate existence more than the sudden thread of losing it, right?) and when he was finished he looked at the 50 or so kids in front of him and said "we were convinced that nobody was going to survive that situation. And you kids have been in closer calls than that a hundred times in your life without even realizing it". I tell this story a lot.
But goddamn that's a creepy thing to hear. and thinking about it now, I'm sure he was right. That threat of total annihilation isn't as serious now without an opposing superpower, but I guess even that hope is dwindling by the day. There's too many serially incompetent people in control of these sort of weapons not to be concerned. But as long as we're safe from the terrorists it's all good. Wait, what the fuck would nuclear weapons do against terrorists? Eh, who fucking cares, if it happens, you're not gonna have time to worry about it.
X was probably the first band that I ever considered to be postmodern in that sort of apocalyptic sense. Not so much in a physical sense, but a cultural one. Their lyrics were dark and ridden with ennui and lawlessness. I always think of Steve Erickson's writing (specifically Amnesiascope) when I listen to these guys, though the logical choice would've been Bret Easton Ellis. How come the whole X theme was completely deleted from the movie version of Less Than Zero? Blame Rick Rubin.
Listening to X now, though, I wonder how I ever thought them to be removed from the Rock and roll band that they are. Billy Zoom plays rockabilly guitar, fer chrissakes, and John Doe is the man that every fucking hipster on the planet wishes they could be whether they realize it or not. D.J. Bonebrake is every bit the standard rock drummer, and Exene. Well, barring Joan Jett there isn't a more important figure to the female rock singer than Exene Cervenka. I truly believe this. She was smart and sexy, and embodied everything that was lovable about that band. I forget who referred to has as "this little girl in giant combat boots", but I always think of that line when considering her.
A few years ago they all got back together (Billy Zoom had taken off for awhile, and there were some other problems in the band) and they've been touring for a few years now, kicking the shit out ov venues all across the country. I highly recommend you see them if you get the chance (they're touring with the Rollings Band this summer. How L.A. is that?), they're one of the tightest bands I can ever recal seeing, and they haven't lost a step in their absence. These songs are from a live record they recorded in L.A. in 2004.

"Blue Spark" - X
"I'm Coming Over" - X
"The World's a Mess, It's in My Kiss" - X

Buy Live in Los Angeles here

Turns out I am going to this show tonight. Should be pretty great, I'll try to write a little something about it to post on Thursday.

Crapture (how fucking lazy is that?)

It's gonna be a lazy post today, because...shit I have not the slightest reason. I had such a supremely lazy weekend that I wanna fall back asleep thinking about it. In all honesty I just want to get back to reading the South Coast Diaries, which despite being four years old, still manages to crack me up. It's probably the most hilarious memoir-type writing I've ever read. In other news, if you're not watching Supergroup, you totally should be. From the Nuge being the ridiculous parody of himself to Sebastian Bach crying to Scott Ian being his own bad self, I can't believe how funny this has gotten. I seriously never, ever, ever expected to watch as much VH1 in my life. I'm completely embarrassed by it and should probably start shopping for minivans and Dockers in my quest for whitebreadedness.

Langhorne Slim opened up for Eugene Mirman and the Hold Steady the last time they were in town, and I can't rightly recall ever being more impressed with an opening act I'd never heard of. He's in that whole bluegrass/folk-ish area, and can really get you excited when he's ripping through a song. We ended up sharing a booth that night with a few people that had grown up with him in Langhorne (home of Sesame Place) before he moved to Brooklyn. These guys were hammered, and had never heard of the headliners that night, so our table turned into a gabfest on the merits and news of the evening's acts. and it turned out we were all right. He was a great performer, playing solo with a guitar and really getting a surly crowd into it. When I went out and bought his album the next day I was shocked at how much it sounded like his live show, despite being chock-full of instrumentation. There's banjos and organs and steel guitars abound. He's got a really nice sense of melody and the album is punctuated by these nice little instrumentals, which I always think are nice to set an atmosphere. I read a review once in Skyscraper that basically called the dude Ronald McDonald with a guitar, which is neither fair nor true, and also pretty fucking scary. Anyway, his album was one of my favorites of last year and I highly recommend it if the tracks do anything for you.

"Loretta Lee Jones" - Langhorne Slim

"In the Midnight" - Langhorne Slim

Buy When the Sun's Gone Down here

There's not much I can tell you about the new Sonic Youth record that you probably couldn't guess on your own. It sounds like a new Sonic Youth record, which means it's slightly redictably but still experiments in something entirely new. I heard Thurston on some talk show talking about hos this song in particular is about his frustration with religion's stranglehold on politics right now. It is entirely coincidence that it's my favorite song on the album. Anyways, it gets me thinking if I know anyone that believes in the rapture, which I'm reasonably sure I do. I don't get religion sometimes. Regardless, enjoy.

"Do You Believe in the Rapture" - Sonic Youth

Buy Rather Ripped here

oh, and Deadwood's gonna go out with 2 full length movies. kick ass.

Baseball sucks.

so I went to the Phillies game yesterday. They lost. I've probably been to well over a dozen Phillies games in my lifetime, and I honestly can't recall them EVER winning in my presence. Normally, I'd get weirded out by this and consider myself a bad luck charm, but since BASEBALL BORES THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME, I try to take it in stride. It's seriously a dull, dull game to me, and the steroids fiascos of late only make me distrust the game on top of my lazy indifference to it. For shame, baseball. Instead of the phrase "as American as Baseball and American Pie", we should change it to "as American as corporate greed and spring break roofies". or something. I didn't really think that last one out.
Anyway, while I was sitting in my seat trying not to get myself completely drunk in my malaise I came up with a few suggestions that could seriously make the game a lot more enjoyable to people like me. I know some asshole's saying "but Cotton, the game is a tradition, changing the rules would be ridiculous". Shut up. The game's been dead since Mark McGwire turned into an ape and started assaulting St. Louis police (probably). We might as well have fucking robots play the damned game. So here's my suggestions.
1) No shirtless people in the crowd. This goes for both sexes. Sorry, dudes, but the more likely the chances of getting some asshole's back sweat in my beer, the more I'm going to be concerned with that and not watching the game. Back sweat is back sweat. Too hot? Fuck off, you're outside. Suck it up like the rest of us. Oh, and if youre a guy with pierced nipples? are you fucking kidding me? Is that what you wanna expose at a ballgame? Is this how you try to pick up girls? You're retarded, get out of my face.
2) Bunts are fucking lame. It should be an official baseball rule that whenever a player bunts he has to let out a girlish squeal. eegh.
3) People who mouth along to the national anthem. What is this? Did I miss some sort of patriotism class where you have to get all solemn and muster fake tears while they play this? COME ON. Show respect, but we don't need to break down in hugs, okay? Also, if you're not fucking smart enough to remove your baseball hat while said song is playing you're double an asshole. It's been in my experience it's a lot harder to be disrespectful than the be a goddamn normal person like the rest of us.
4)Rain delays are for pussies. Seriously, is this the only sport that does that? I can't think of anything that makes a sport more enjoyable (except maybe stilts) than the wrath of nature. Suck it up and play. If lightning strikes, you can stop, but even that I think adds something to the game. Also, they should have car batteries hooked up to the bases to shock the players. Not badly, but enough to keep 'em hopping. Oh dom on don't tell me you wouldn't watch that.
5) The music sucks. Whatever happened to "Baby Elephant Walk"? "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"? Yesterday I heard such a bouillabaisse of suck that i wanted to cry. P.O.D.? Fuck that are they even a band anymore? That shit was terrible then, and it ain't wine. Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier"? It's not that bada song, but do these people even pay attention to the meaning of a song anymore? Why not play that Charles Manson song that Guns n' Roses covered? I should consider myself lucky I didn't have to sit through that fucking "proud to be an American" travesty. My GOD that sucks.
6)Keep your peanut shells out of my beer. You know what? Let's just generalize that to "keep anything of yours out of me beer". I just paid $8 for this piss, at least let me manage to drink it without finding some dude from the upper deck's fingernail clippings or something.
7) If you hit the guy with the ball, he is out. This is just common sense. Baseball, like every sport, should've been merged with Dodgeball a long, long time ago. I guess that's kickball. and I DARE you to tell me that baseball is more enjoyable than kickball. You'd be a fool to think so.
8) Everyone should flip off the Jumbotron. this is a lifelong dream of mine, to gradually pull my hand into the shot and slooooowly start raising the bird. the whole point would be to see how long it takes them to cut to someone else. You can't just dive into the finger, you have to tease them a little bit. and speaking of the jumbotron, when the hell did it become custome to flash your abs to the screen? Jesus, why don't you just spread your asshole to the camera? okay, that's gross, but it made me laugh a little bit more than that last impromptu joke.
9) Mic the players. Everyone else does it, and those guys are wearing mouthguards and shit. You know these guys talk shit the entire game, why keep that from us?
10) Players have to dive through a flaming hoop to slide into home. or make the baselines slip n' slides. Either way I'll be happy.

so how 'bout it? Somebody at the baseball commission head me out. I don't wanna have to start a new XLB and put you to shame with slutty cheerleaders and ex-felons.

I'm gonna be spending the weekend sitting by a pool and reading my new book, which sounds absolutely so mundane that I can't wait for it. It's gonna be awesome.

true story: I got my lunch from a little BBQ joint down the street where I go about onc of twice a month to get some mesquite sausage and potato salad. the guy there knows me, so I usually don't give my name when plafcing an order, but today there was a new girl on the phone, so I tried to tell her but she hung up before I could. when I got there, my buddy wasn't around but new girl saw me come in and said "sausage and potato salad?" I nodded, not really sure how she knew it was me. When I sat down at my desk to write this and eat my food I notices that the order tag stapled to my bag says "sounds white". How awesome is that?

I don't know much about Magneta Lane, other than they're an all-girl trio (and a cute one at that) from Toronto. They're on the same label as the Deadly Snakes new record and they just recently put out an ablum which I've heard 2 songs off and was slightly disappointed by. One of these songs id form their Constant Lover EP and the other one might have fallen from the sky for all I know. I don't remember where I got it and I can't find it anywhere. Anyways, here's 2 songs:

Cheap Linguistics - Magneta Lane

Their Party Days - Magneta Lane

But the Constant Lover EP halfway down the page here

This next song might be the greatest dis song in rap history. I'm not sure I can hold it over the classics by LL Cool J and KRS, but it's definitely up there. This is Fog's remix of it, which gives it the edge of having one of my favorite beats ever. This is from an EP of hip hop songs that he remixed under his real name, some of which are incredble, some very meh. Eithger way, this and the Kool G. Rap song are the cream of the crop in my opinion.

The Takeover - Jay-Z (Andre Broder's Modern Hits remix)

But the Modern Hits EPs here

Of all the At the Drive-In albums, Relationship of Command might be my least favorite. It's got some gems, sure, but overall it sounds like what was once a full frontal assault on your head trying to head in two places at once, which I guess is exactly what they endedup doing. It was a shame, we all cried at losing what might have been the best live band of the 90s, but we did get this song out of those sessions. How they chose to leave this song off the last album shocks and appalls me. It did manage to creep on to the Japanese import, though. This is what always pissed me off about Grand Royal; the loved Japanese people. For every fucking awesome album they put out, there was an even better Japanese import. Damnit Mike D, couldn't you spread the love here, too? We didn't want your damned country record. What the fuck was that about, anyway?

Extracurricular - At the Drive-In

I guess they reissued the last album with the track on it a little while ago. You can buy it here. or you can buy the original version here for $.8. ha ha ha ha

Worst. Flag Day. Ever.

Not really, my day has actually gone much better than the latter half of yesterday, but I swear to you I woke up this morning with a broken finger. Well, it’s more like a broken knuckle (pinky), but still, who the hell does that? Is it even possible? Am I sleepwalking? Sleep-punching? Did I have a son years ago in a sleepwalking fit, only to have my affliction return years later to offer up my unconscious custody of said son as collateral in a sleep-armwrestling tournament? Actually, that would be pretty goddamn cool. Either way, this hurts far more than a pinky finger should be capable of, and it’s not helping my typing proficiency, to say the least. Oh, and I haven’t gone running yetthis week because my foot was reduced to a bloody gash over the weekend. As you can imagine, I’m a picture of perfectly mediocre/failing health.

Woke up this morning to the sound of the news radio announcer running through that ode to the flag thing they do every year and it just made me want to crawl back into bed. It’s been generally accepted by now that the Betsy Ross story is fabricated, and it was likely that she had an affair with George Washington. So why are still going through this crap? There are people gathering at Betsy Ross’ house (hey, let’s make Paul Bunyan’s house a national monument, too!) to celebrate Flag Day. Are you fucking kidding me? Is this the best goddamn thing you can do with your time? For fuck’s sake, a 4 year old girl was shot in our streets this morning and they’re going to check out magicians. There was a great article in the news the other day about how fucking stupid we are with our gun laws and the state won’t let the existing laws be changed just for the city. What do you think would happen if dead kids started cropping up in the suburbs and rural areas? Well, obviously that will never happen, because the cities are where all the violent and barbaric people live. No, fucktard, it’s where the POOREST people live. Ugh, I’m too tired to get started on this.

It turns out yesterday was the 35^th anniversary of the publication of the Pentagon Papers, which was a much more valid topic than the crap I was going on about yesterday. In any case, the whole story of the Pentagon papers is worth knowing, since it’s apt right now and it more or less shows you that one man’s consience can turn the tide of an entire war if placed in the right hands. The people that know the things are well aware of this, and you’ll notice that more and more efforts are being made by the administration right now to silence any whistle blowers. Seriously, it doesn’t take paranoia or even effort to realize that there’s a lot of shit going on that we’re not supposed to know about. Watch Alberto Gonzalez for more than 15 minutes and it should be plain to a kitten. Anyway, Ellsberg wrote a nice little Op-Ed for the LA Times which is worth reading.

Anyways, I intended this post to be about the fictional heroes of 19^th Century French literature (no, really), but I’m outta time and have too much work to get done right now. As promised yesterday, though, here are some songs about sexy stuff. I know I specifically said “T&A” yesterday, but that would require using that Stones song that I don’t really like. And I wouldn’t do that to you people. Some of these are filthy, and some of these aren’t really about sex, but hey, at least it looks good on paper. Two of these are unreleased as far as I know.

“Shake Your Moneymaker” – Elmore James

Buy The Sky is Crying here

“Banging Camp” – The Hold Steady

But Separation Sunday here

“Stand Up” – Charli Baltimore and Ghostface Killah

unreleased

“Cocksucker Blues” – The Rolling Stones

unreleased

"Erected" - The Pink Mountaintops

Buy The Axis of Evol here

I''m finishing my post up today after receiving a massage (how bourgeois of me, I know, but after this weekend, I'm not opposed to getting free help on my crumbling body) and I can honestly say I should always write this thing after one, as evidenced bythe noticeable lack of curse words spewing from my brain. and if you're wondering why I'm putting up a whopping four songs today, it's because tomorrow I'm going to a baseball game, then my cousin's high school graduation, then dinner with my grandparents. How's THAT for American!??

Oh, and New Line is going to going to motherfucking remake Battle Royale. Normally, I’d be excited about this, but you just KNOW they’re going to fuck this up terribly. I'm already cringing.

Fell #1

I'm putting up a link where you can read the entire first issue of Fell, written by the genius Warren Ellis and illustrated by the brilliant Ben Templesmith. It sounds like I'm just hyping this up, but it really is a fantastic book and is my ultimate sort of justification for picking up graphic novels at my age. It reads almost like a noir story, is entirely self-contained, and costs a paltry $1.99. It's also dark as all hell, as evidenced by the first issue. Anyways, since Ellis put it up on his website, I can only assume he's cool with me linking to it here. So here you are, enjoy it. I'll be back tomorrow.

Long-ass depressing tirade.

Wow. so, my apologies for not updating yesterday, I was in a bit of a recovery mode (a long enough story I'm not gonna tell here - let's just say I can't run for a few days and wearing a tuxedo usually results in trouble for me). Needless to say, the wedding was spectacular and if was good to see some old friends and make plans with new ones. Anyways, I had a nice little day off, staying in and getting overdue stuff done around the house, finishing my book (it ended a little bit weaker than I'd have liked), and watching the sequel to one of my favorite movies of the decade, Battle Royale.
Battle Royale II: Requiem is a movie I've been meaning to catch for about 2 years aince I found out it existed. It might be a little bit more bloody than the first one, and definitely harbors a lot of (perceived) anti-American and adult behavior. Being both an American and (ostensibly) an adult, it probably gave me more to think about than it should've. It is a lot more peaceful than the first though, and offers many more meditative scenes in which you have these teenagers pondering their imminent death and how they choose to accept it.
It sort of coincided with a story I was reading about Japanese suicides and how in the 1930s, following a young schoolgirl's perilous leap, 1,207 people jumped into the molten crater of a volcano (Mount Mihara, pictured above) on the small island of Oshima. It got to be so bad that the train company ceased selling one-way tickets to the island, and later erected a fence to keep people from jumping. 1,207 people. That devastated me just thinking about it. Thinking of the parents, children, families and friends of that many people having to cope with the loss of a loved one, just absolutely terrified me. At first I thought it was just a cultural thing, recalling the Aokigahara "Black Forest" at the foot of Mt. Fuji, which has become a popular place for ritual suicide after being described as the "perfect place" in some retarded suicide manual that was published almost a decade ago. It is a beautiful place, judging by the photos I've seen, and the legends of mythical creatures, demons, and mineral ore that renders compasses useless (imagine Lost where they manage to find more fucking bodies) probably make it seem more attractive. But seriously, the thought of hiking through this gorgeous, supposedly enchanted forest only to be stopped every 30 feet or so by signs reminding you not to kill yourself is just depressing.
Oddly, it turns out that about 1200 people have jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge over time as well (there's a very interesting, albeit morbid article from the New Yorker here). Anyway, it's just astounding numbers that I woke up thinking about this morning (uplifting, right?). Suicide has touched my life in several ways, and none of them have been positive. I don't feel like any of my friends feel any differently about this, and I think anyone who's had any sort of experience with it can agree that it just makes those you love feel devastated and impotent. The reason I got to this was a scene in the movie yesterday (yes, I do sometimes take profound philosophical statements from Japanese action/gore movies). where they're showing amontage of children in Afghanistan, kids who've known nothing but shit blowing up and death in every corner of their short lives, and yet they're still smiling for the camera, waving and living their lives like children. It was heartwrenching. To compare that with the stuff that constitutes self-crisis here just makes you want to run a steak knife into your gums. ouch, that hurt me even to think up. The point is, quick fucking whining. You don't like your life, then do something about it. Believe it or not, you have that power. Unless, of course, you're one of the prisoners at Guantanamo, at which point I apologize. Those people have nothing they can do. and to the asshole State Department spokesperson who called their deaths a "PR stunt", fucking insensitive clod, what the fuck do you think that's going to accomplish? Some of these people have been held without charge since they were minors. Have some fucking dignity or, better yet, try to restore some to this country's word. FUCK.
Okay, I'm all deathed out for awhile, I promise. Again, I'm sorry to be going on about this for so long, it's just what happens when given 3 days to go on about it. So here's 3 songs about death that aren't nearly as depressing as the shit I just wrote. But at least we learned something, right? Well, I learned something. This rant was mostly brought onby the combinations of media I've been sitting through in the last few days (Nick Drake is on the radio right now. Thanks, XPN), and I've been thinking too much today not to address it.

The Deadly Snakes are a band from Toronto who have consistently rocked my shit for a couple of years now. Their album Ode to Joy is the sort of album you buy and listen to on end like 100 times in a row. It's basically got the same white-boy assault on soul music that the Delta 72 had, but with an earnest quality and sense of panic-stricken enjoyment that Gregg Foreman couldn't fake in a hundred years. Their live shows are supposed to be riotous fun, though unfortunately they rarely travel to my neck of the woods and the last time they were supposed to play they went and cancelled due to a snowstorm. What kind of Canadians blame snow? Anyways, this was the song that made me love this band.

"I Want to Die" - The Deadly Snakes
Buy Ode to Joy here
Here's "Gore Veil" from the latest album "Porcella" from their label's website, too.

Air. Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. Sophia Coppola. Seriously what else am i going to tell you about these things. Seriously though, read the book. It makes a great movie seem shitty.

"Dead Bodies" - Air
Buy the Virgin Suicides Soundtrack here

Gary Floyd used to front a punk band called The Dicks for awhile, and outside of this incredible song from Trikont's Dead & Gone series (arguably my favorite compilations of all time, from artwork to song selection they are just so well put together) I can't find anything from his solo career (this was included on an album of his 3 years after it appeared here). This song is freakishly upbeat considering the lyrics, although the children singing has some sort of Children of the Corn vibe i can't put my finger on.

"Moving From the Dark Into the Light" - Gary Floyd
Buy Dead & Gone #2: Totenleider - Songs of Death here

Anyways, I hope everythings well on your end. I promise I'll be back with songs about T&A or something tomorrow.

Is this new file thingy working for everyone?

I can't tell, but it seems to be going smoothly. Someone let me know if they can't get something downloaded.

incidentally, this page has been viewed over 300 times now. Probably 250 of them are me trying to edit posts and get through to the dashboard to make new ones. Either way, huzzah.

It's a nice day to start again

So two of my oldest friends in the world are getting married tomorrow, and it’s something I’ve been anticipating for about 14 years or so. It’s going to be interesting, seeing people that I haven’t seen in decades and having drinks and dancing with them. This is truly a special one because I doubt I’ll ever have the opportunity to attend the wedding of two friends that I met independent of one another and knew separately. It’s gonna be interesting.

Weddings in general crack me up, and I’m thinking this one will be no exception. People you never expected to do so start dancing and, after a few drinks, start getting into it to a frightening degree. That’s truly one of my favorite things to observe on the planet. I was once in a wedding in Honduras and I swear to god I danced harder than I ever have in my entire life despite not knowing more than 12 people in the entire place. I think there’s still some videotape footage of that somewhere, though I’d never actively search it out.

On an unrelated note, I started Douglas Coupland’s new book jPod the other night and I’m loving it. He’s my favorite author of all time, and I felt like he was beginning to slip a bit with his last 2 or 3 books. Maybe he was getting better and I just was being a brat and wanted his old writing style back, who knows, but this book incorporates everything I liked about his third through sixth novels (i.e. hyperculture, quick dialogue and ideas I find myself ripping off later without realizing it) with what I enjoyed from his last few books (i.e. the monumentally weird, nice suburban moms in sex chatrooms and growing pot) into this nice little book that I’m reading now. I read 80 pages of it last night accident. Highly recommended summer read.

God, it just took me 10 minutes to sign into this account to post these songs. I must have 30 different passwords that I use for various stuff online, from credit card payments to car insurance to bulletin boards to email addresses. It’s driving me fucking crazy. Moving on…

DJ Brokenwindow gets shit on quite a lot (I remember one review saying something along the lines of “he does what Z-Trip does, only much, much shittier”, which is a ridiculous statement), but in my opinion he’s good at what he does. He’s essentially a mash-up artist (though he’s got like 5 other projects, and I’m sure that those aren’t as limited in scope), and he holds no illusions about what he does. He even tells you EXACTLY how to make the songs using the original records in his liner notes. So whatever, he makes me dance, so he’s gotta be doing something right. I don’t know much else about the guy (or gal, I guess), I’ve been told he’s from Portland, though I can neither confirm nor deny that (edit: he is. go see him here). Anyways, here’s some shit that I feel should totally be played at weddings:

“Hair, Nails, Percolator” – DJ Brokenwindow

“Canton Is Over Here” – DJ Brokenwindow

Buy both Parallel Universe CDs here

I’d post another bonus track or rant a little longer today, because I’ve had enough coffee to run a few sprints around the office, but I need to go pick up a tux. I bought a tux 3 years ago, and I remember thinking “it’s gonna be so nice to not have to rent these shits anymore”. Since then, I’ve work it 3 times and rented 4 tuxes. Fuck. Have a great weekend, everyone. I’m trying to figure out how to post pictures from my phone on here right now, so get ready for some hilarity.

Argle Bargle or Foofarella?

I have no ideas what's going on with this shitty post.

Apparently, they killed al-Zarqawi this morning. The guy was a disgrace to humanity, with this I have no dispute. But are we really supposed to believe that his death is going to have some major impact on the insurgency? Because the hardline insurgents don’t believe in revenge, right? I’m sure they’ll all wake up from their al-Zarqawi brainwashing, scratch their heads and go home? Now they have a martyr. So yeah, this isn’t gonna end, regardless of what the slight drop in oil prices might suggest. I think the most profound statement was that of Michael Berg, who all the news people approached for some sort of Git-R-Dun© resolute statement only to hear him say

"I think the news of the loss of any human being is a tragedy. I think al-Zarqawi's death is a double tragedy," he said. "His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."

Good for him.

So that new shot Dog Bites Man was on last night, which features not only Matt Walsh from Upright Citizen’s Brigade (and Daily Show) fame, but also the hilarity that is Zach Galifianakis. The show was pretty damned funny (it also featured the dishwasher from Wet Hot American Summer, which I just figured out as I was typing this). Anyways, it’s pretty much another version of Reno 911!, which I’m not complaining about. Afterwards, the Daily Show came on and since I hadn’t seen it in awhile I decided to watch it and decided that the audience on that show are a stack of braying asses. Cheering blindly for any side, even the one you believe in, is asinine. Sides are done. You are an army of one, an empire of self, and frankly I think we’re all getting a bit too old to be handed our views be TV shows and web sites, above rant included. Apologies to any fictional 11 year olds that are reading this, and umm…smokers are jokers. I’ve always wanted to say that to children with a straight face. And since I never could I might as well type it.

Yesterday I described Bobby Conn as "about as over the top as Freddie Mercury doing blow off of a radioactive banshee in a glitter and siren factory". and I pretty much stand by that. He's got some great songs though, and I've heard from many accounts that his live show is damned near unstoppable when he’s on. It sounds about right. These songs are filthy and riddled with grandeur and you really have to be in the right mood to enjoy them. That said, I’m in the right mood.

“Whores” – Bobby Conn

“You’ve Come a Long Way” – Bobby Conn (YSI link)

Buy The Golden Age here

Slowing it down a bunch, I don't know enough about Luke Temple other than he's a singer/songwriter type and KEXP sent me this song a few months ago. It's nice and quiet and melancholy. I Can't find the album that this is on, so I've linked to his most recent, which I've read is just as satisfying as this tune. Enjoy.

“So Long So Long” – Luke Temple

Buy Hold a Match For a Gasoline World here

Democracy Now did a piece on Father Daniel Berrigan’s birthday today. He’s probably one of the most admirable men I could ever think of, and should be celebrated as a national hero.