House Rent Blues

So I still don't have all of my hearing back from being sick. It gets better hour by hour, but it's really not the sort of situation I'd prefer. I feel like that my hearing could return right now an I still wouldn't know it since it's been wonky for so long now. Or on the other side of things, I could retain permanent damage because I can't tell it everything came back alright. Man, ears suck.
One time I woke up with blood all over my pillow and a sensation not unlike having had several lower demons taking turns raping my eardrums. Anyways, I did the only thing I knew how and got on the bus for the hospital. It should be no surprise then that by the time I got there I was in excruciating pain.
I knew it was gonna be awhile yet before I saw a doctor. It always is. and it was understandable, considering how a guy who'd just lost a leg showed up not long after me. But still, the waiting wasn't fun. I tried to distract mysel from the pain, nothing was really working. An hour went by. Nothing. I'd go up to the desk, making sure they knew I was sill there, and that I could only bleed on my own clothes for so long until the carpet started taking a hit.
Somewhere around an hour and a half I started to make it interesting. There were all sorts of medical personnel going in and out of there, and I'd noticed a blue cooler with "University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: Marrow Retrieval Unit" printed across the side of it. I told myself that if I waited more than three hours total, I was going to steal the cooler. This wasn't the first time I'd rationalized stealing something in retribution for making me wait and/or pay too much. Already in my posession were a handbell and from the courthouse, two cones from the DMV, and a gross ogf pens from the registrar's office. Listen, I never said I wasn't petty.
So yeah, three and a half hours after I'd gotten there, I ran out of the hospital with the cooler in my hands. I didn't even open it until I got home. Its contents were less exciting than one would think. There were various chemicals (that my roommates and I decided immediately to throw out of our 8th story window) a few pairs of scissors and giant tweezers, and a giant bone chisel. I still have the last item, and it remains the deadliest thing I've ever owned, depending on how you feel about foothold traps.
Anyway, it was a stupid and grossly irresponsible act. I stole (probably) needed medical supplies so I could have a cool beer receptacle. Which I believe has sat on my back porch moving over a year ago. The point of this story, though, is not that stealing is wrong. We all know that, and my saying it isn't gonna sway you or anyone else I know from doing it if you weren't already. The point is that I'm terrible at waiting for things. Not really much payoff, is it?
So, here's some rather well known blues tracks. I had this post and writeups for other songs ready for last night, but I can't seem to access my hard drive from the box.net site. I have no idea what that even means, other than the fact that my music posts are gonna be more erratic than ever.
Anyways, I don't know if anyone else has been watching the ego trip white rapper show, but for some reason I have. There was this little white girl who was actually a pretty terrible rapper, but her hero was Vanilla Ice. No shit. Her hero was Vanilla Ice, and she carried around a picture of him, and she stuck to her guns through it. Now say what you will about her choice of hero, but I actually admired that*. I guess at some point he really helped her out of something, and she stood up for him because of that. Anyway, she got kicked off the other night. and deservedly so. But I was thinking about her refusal to budge on her love for Mr. Van Winkle. and it sorta dawned on me that white the Blues Brothers were essentially playing with one of the greatest R&B that ever existed, they were still two white men in suits aping black culture. I've discussed this before and I don't really want to get into it today, but it was a bit humbling, and I feel bad for mocking those kids, but seriously. I can get it if those idiots actually met with these kids and helped them sort something out, as Ice purportedly did, but to maintain an allegience to these guys because they do...whatever they do is just wrong.

John Lee Hooker was a bad old man, and he'd probably be the first one to tell you so. Even when he was young. That gutteral singing, and the way his guitar not so much accompanied but augmented his voice just made him so unique. It should be pointed out that the Blues Brothers movie first showed me the man, and It was something that fundamentally changed my opinion of music in general. To make things worse, this song (mixed with another one of Hooker's songs) was later covered -and charted- by George Thorogood as the first half of "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer". This version is a lot slower and drones a bit. I like if infinitely better, if only for Hooker saying "'everybody funny'. I said 'you funny, too'". Greatest suspicion ever.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Buddy Guy is fucking crazy. Just listen to the way his frustration comes out through his playing it's incredible. I want to talk a lot more about both of these artists, but not with these songs and not with this post, so I'll get back to them later. Lazy post, I know.

"House Rent Boogie" - John Lee Hooker
Buy House Rent Boogie here
"Stone Crazy" - Buddy Guy
Buy Buddy's Blues here for cheap as shit.

I'm working on another mix for y'all, but it's gonna be awhile, since I have to find the software I used for the last few somewhere.


*This is likely to be complete shit, since as recently as yesterday, I broke out laughing at two Insane Clown Posse fans. I'm not gonna speculate on whether or not they are worse than Vanilla Ice (probably), but the point is my admiration for this poor kid is fleeting at best.

I still feel sick. Rounding a corner, though. My sinuses are starting to clear up and my cough is all but gone, but I still can barely hear out of my right ear and am preparing to rip it off. Also, I've coughed up a veritable rainbow of foul matter. I've begun painting with it and will unveil my creations at the end of the month. ewww.

-Obama has joined John Edwards and Hillary in calling for universal healthcare. While hardly surprising, it's still big news, since the three top dem contenders are all on the same page with this. Sure, the elections are still way off in the distance and anything can happen before then, but at least for now it's an issue. Even Bush has made it in issue. So I guess we're gonna at least talk about it again.

-There's been an arrest in the murder of two black teenagers in 1964 Mississippi. I think the very grounds that the man was pretending to be dead should account for his guilt.

-Oh, and the pain ray has been officially announced. I mentioned this back in the fall, and it still scares the crap out of me. The specifics on the ray's effects seem to be contradictory and intentionally vague (how can something be "not painful" but make you "feel like you are on fire. you're on fire?). and I continue to harbor a sneaking suspicion that this is more likely to be used in the US than anywhere else. They say it's

-I've been playing the BBC Climate Challenge all day. Power is addictive.

-I don't know why I've been thinking about Bonnie Tyler recently. It might be hearing Arab Strap cover "It's a Heartache" the other day. It might be having dinner with my mother the other night, who played that album pretty much nonstop until I was seven. She's more or less a female Rod Stewart (it's uncanny at times, no?) and I can't hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" without thinking of that opening scene in Old School. Anyways, the latter has the meaty stench of Jim Steinman and always plays in my mind like a Flashdance number for suburban California moms in the mid 80s. Anyways, it was in my head all day yesterday. Now you get to chew on it for awhile.

"It's a Heartache" - Bonnie Tyler
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonie Tyler
Buy her greatest hits here.

Pink Nasty lives in Austin and sings about familiar stuff. Her brother is is a filth rapper and goes by the also ungoogle-able handle of Black Nasty. Families are funny.

"BTK Blues" - Pink Nasty

Buy Mold the Gold here

a long detailed story nobody needs to read

In college there was a girl I met my freshman year. she lived in my dorm, a smaller, out of the way building that mostly housed student athletes and science scholarships. Needless to say there wasn't a whole lot of smokers there. There was a group of about 10 that I would always see out on the porch. I was friendly with them, but not particularly close. I'm not even sure I knew all their names. But whatever, we were familiar with each other is the point.

About two years later I saw Michelle, who pretty much lived in our dorm with her boyfriend, at a house party somewhere. I never really knew her well or anything, but it was funny to see her and we struck up a conversation about who we knew in common at the party and what had become of the nighttime smoking crew. She caught me up on the whereabouts of most of them, and then told me she had broken up with Tom a few weeks before. She said it was friendly, and that they still hung out on occasion. I was impressed with this, since it was obvious that he had followed her there to school and seemed crazy about her. As the night went on we just kept having these great conversations and I was surprised that I hadn’t gotten along with her this well before. One thing led to another and before we realized it the party was out of beer and everyone was headed to the bar up the street. We ended up in the back of this caravan, and at some point she literally grabbed my by my belt and pulled me into an alleyway and started kissing me. I didn’t put up a fight. After a few minutes, she turned around and started opening the door behind her. This was her house.

We ended up in her room, which was on the first floor next to the kitchen, fooling around for awhile. At some point, I remember her asking me loudly to have sex with her. It was really awkward because I’m -to say the very least- shy about that sort of thing and also because I just didn’t really want to. To this day I couldn’t tell you why, because I was really attracted to her and there was nothing stopping me other than the antiquated notion that I at least should have bought her a drink or something. Chivalrous, I know. She settled for more fooling around and I fell asleep not long after. I woke up early the next morning and was dying of thirst so I crept out of her bed and opened the door to the kitchen. Sitting there facing the door was Tom, her serious boyfriend up until a few weeks prior, with a brooding look on his face. Wearing only a pair of pants and a look of sheer horror, I slammed the door shut before I had to say anything. This woke Michelle up.

“Jesus, why didn’t you tell me that you guys live together?” A thought flashed in my mind that I would rather climb out the window that endure the morning that seemed head of me.

“What? We broke up. Maybe now he’ll stop trying to sneak in my room at night.” I just collapsed back into bed and made myself fall asleep, hoping that everyone would be gone when I woke up so I could escape unsolicited. After another hour or so I woke up again and started looking around her room. Every wall was covered in Superchunk posters. They were a band I’d heard of, but never really listened to so I started asking Michelle about them (anything to avoid the topic of the earlier encounter) and she handed me a stack of CDs, swearing I’d like them. A few hours later I snuck out and made my way home.

And the thing is I really did like them. I sat there listening to them for hours wondering how I’d ignored everyone who had recommended them to me before. But I was a Pavement fan through and through, and had it in my head that I couldn’t be a fan of both. Much like Adidas and Puma fans, I guess. Anyway, despite the distinct feeling that I’d been used and an utter dislike of waking up in that house, I continued to call Michelle, and we’d hang out a couple times a week. Almost all of our nights would end up the same way the first, with her making obnoxiously loud requests in the bedroom and my quietly refusing them. I don’t think we ever met up outside of that party and her house, and I was desperate not to become that guy. After awhile Tom and I found ourselves sympathetic to one another. I don’t know if he found out that I was refusing to have sex with her or because he pitied me having to put up with her pushiness, but we would have quiet bowls of cereal together in the early morning, politely asking where the other hung out the night before.

We only lasted a few weeks before I found out that Michelle actually had another boyfriend, in addition to me and her ex that she lived with. It was all but over by then anyway, because I had gone through her entire Superchunk library and bought the CDs I liked for my own. I think that once that mystique was lost on me, it just seemed sort of pointless. She only wanted one thing from me and I only wanted one thing from her, and they were not the same. We drifted apart pretty quickly, and other than my occasionally bumping into Tom at the bar, I had no idea what she was up to.

A year or so later Superchunk actually played a free show down the road, and I went excitedly, despite the fact that I had little to no interest in any of their more recent albums. I kept expecting to see her there, but she didn’t show. I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t feeling it anymore. Maybe she knew I’d be there. Either way, they put on a great show that day.

I hadn't thought of that story in years, and I've certainly never told anyone all of it. I can assure you it's a lot more personal than I wanted it to get, but it's a good story that deserved telling. Maybe I'll start a series of "strange places Cotton has woken up" stories, because there's a lot of them, and most more entertaining than that.

These are from Superchunk's first singles compilation. They put out three of them total and the first two remain some of my favorite albums to listen to. The next one has a story to it as well, but I'll save that one for a rainy day. The first one is a cover song that has this great little stuttering drum beat that I never get over. The second might be the greatest admission of plagiarism ever committed to record, and the third has an all-time classic botched opening chord. Hope I didn't ruin them for you.

"Train from Kansas City" - Superchunk

"Cool" - Superchunk

"The Breadman" - Superchunk

But Tossing Seeds: Singles 1989-91 here for $13.

Regarding the picture, it's what happens when I google "red-faced." I don't know.

In looking something up for this story, I found the last thing I ever wrote for the college newspaper is still online. I wonder if I'm gonna have to live with this through my entire life.

New York Times did a nice interview with Bernie Sanders ("the first Socialist Senator since the 20s") here. It's a good read, and offers insight on what's going on in the northeast liberal movement as well as what faces any candidate that runs independant of the big 2 parties.

Woke up sick this morning. I've been dangerously close to getting sick lately, and I was just starting to get so proud of myself for avoiding the viruses that float around my home and office through judicious vitamin intake and impeccable personal hygiene. But that was shot down. So I'm reduced to a sniffling, coughing slob. Pathetic. You know what's crazy though? Until last year or so, I never got sick. I mean, outside of the hospital stays and the IV and whatever, but I never got the viruses that would go around, and I never was too sick to miss school or work. I missed plenty of both, mind you, I'm not Lou Gehrig, but still. I've gotten sick 3 times in the last year. I've also never shot blood out of my eyeballs. Here's to me not picking up that habit.
Ayways, I'm gonna go read in bed now so I can attempt to get some sleep tonight.
Something I wanted to address though before I go: I was told last night that this page is "one-sided" and "fails to tell the whole story". Yeah, that's a pretty fair assumption . The sides and opinions presented here are oviously mine and mine alone. I don't claim to be fair and I don't try to be balanced. The only reason I'm even adressing this right now is because I'm worried that I might be coming across more presumptuous than I'd like, and that is something I'm gonna try to work on, I promise. But other than that, let me know if I'm not making sense or coming off with an air of pretension, because that's the last thing I want. Other than scabies. or chiggers. or any other tiny insects that burrow in your skin.
Alright, off to bed. and death.

hearsay schmearsay

HOLEE SHIT. Are people even reading the news? This is fucking terrifying. I really don't know what to make of this. I mean, I assume the worst about the government on pretty much every possible angle, but even I didn't think that things were going to be taken this far. Wow.
I've been trying to find a clip of Lynn woolsey addressing the house the other night iregarding her bill to exit Iraq, becase I was certain that she was drunker than Paula Abdul. I ain't stupid, I know drunk talk when I see it!

Ruth Brown has such a great voice in the way she just wails out the words. Have you ever tried to sing like that? Guys can do that, too. It's okay. You can be comfortable with your manhood and still sing like a heavyset black lady. Truuuuust me. Anywho, I always think it's amazing that she isn't acknowledged as much as Etta James or Nina Simone or the like. She got pipes! Anyway, she died in the fall, so I guess this is better late then never. Expect my Ray Charles tribute in a few weeks. Anyways, here are some songs of hers.

"So Long" - Ruth Brown
"Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean" - Ruth Brown
"This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'" - Ruth Brown

Buy Miss Rhythm here.

Tonight Bill O'Reilly is gonna be on Colbert. Brace for disappointment.
and Kwame Brown, wha the fuck!!???

Snowball Cheney

This isn't a real post, but some things that just caught me eye.

-you have to be fucking kidding me.


oh, and if the alleged Bonnaroo lineup has any truth to it, I'm going to be pissed.

Bowel Disruptor!

Apologies for the disappearance. Since the last post I've been entertaining out of town guests and working my ass off. So there's that. I haven't even had much time to dck around on the internet, so I can't say I'm the most well informed of people at the moment. I can tell you a few things though:
-If you have a myspace page, for the love of god go here and tell them you want to see more Home Movies episodes. I broke a self-imposed exile from there just to do that. If you don't buy into that, go here and follow the instructions. Home Movies is one of my favorite TV shows ever, as evidenced here before, and I would throw up on a gravitron just to see some new episodes.
-Speaing of Myspace, I listened to a Bill Moyers lecture yesterday in which he referred to that site about 20 times in a row. You know how you can tell that something is no longer cool? When Bill Moyers is talking about it. Abandon ship. The good news, though, is that he's getting back on the teevee. I know that the tide of public sentiment has already begun to swing back towards the center, but Moyers is on about media ownership (hence the myspace) and corporate interests dominating the news. It's good to see him going back to journalism and not fake-running for president. Welcome back. Now make like Spider Jerusalem and speak the truth.
-Pitt beat UConn last night, giving me an immense amount of pleasure. It wasn't a particularly tough game or anything, I've just had beef with UConn since the days of Rip Hamilton and goddamned Khalid El-Amin, when my team missed beating the top-ranked team in the nation because of a shitty inbound pass. So yeah, I'm pleased as punch about that.
-Watch the State of the Union address next tuesday. Being the rhetoric nerd that I am, I tape this every year for study, but this one should be particlarly interesting since the new congress got there and Bush pretty much just gave them a big "fuck you". I told some people that the Dems should dip their middle fingers in blue ink just to be assholes. That, or start a slow, sarcastic clap at the end. Of course, Bush would think it was the end of Lucas and looking around for Cappy with his letter jacket*. In any case, it's gonna be worth watching.
-Dude from Smoke Signals is on SVU! I really liked him in that movie and hadn't seen him since. I was worried he'd be typecast in Sherman Alexie stories for the rest of his life. Which isn't a bad thing because he's a damned great writer, but I like the variety. Good for him.
-and on the very same SVU Kumar was a serial rapist. Curious turn of events.

The Bigger Lovers were a group from Philly that broke up a year or two ago. They run a bit poppier than my tastes, but they were capable of rocking me the fuck out at times. Their first (and in my opinion, best) album went through three or four labels and a lot of shit to be put out, so I'm posting all songs from that album today. In a sidenote, I replaced one of these guys in a job once. My demo tapes are available in the lobby.

"Catch & Release" - The Bigger Lovers
"Threadbare" - The Bigger Lovers
"Out of Site" - The Bigger Lovers

Buy How I Learned to Stop Worrying here

Jesus the Man Man show was fun but exhausting. It was like taking on an entire 5th grade wrestling team. My feet were crushed and my body is tired and I must go shower off lots of other people's sweat. I was just listening to this old Springsteen show and heard him introduce Clarence Clemons (after saying Miami Steve Van Zandt used to play with "Eddie and the What's-it-to-yas") as:

"Warden of the Cosmos, Master of the Universe (New Jersey Branch)".




I think that is fucking beautiful. Good night all.

Video Days

I never really mentioned the whole Saddam thing, did I? I meant to last week, but I guess it just sorta slipped past me. Oh well. A lot of people are pissed that there’s footage of Saddam being hanged, and I really can’t understand why. Sure, it’s not like kids should be viewing the footage, but other than that, I think people should be watching it. If we’ve got the balls to hand a man over to his death (and regardless of what Tony Snow is saying, we knew that we were doing exactly that), then I think it’s only fair that we should have to see it carried out. Do you think Texas would be so cavalier about sentencing 60 people to death a year if they had to watch them all? No, it sure as hell wouldn’t be family viewing, but being largely responsible for it,

This same principle applies to the war coverage, which is so whitewashed I suspect sometimes that these video reports are being filed from an A/V basement in Missoula instead of Baghdad. We’re waging wars. It’s no supposed to be pretty, but to gloss it over the way we have is reprehensible and totally reckless. Admittedly, it’s gotten a lot better, but for years it was painted like we were having an ice cream social over there. True journalism took a back seat to good news, which is an extremely dangerous situation. I know I say this once every two weeks, but it’s something I feel strongly about. The press in this country is an extremely powerful tool, and I just think it's time we actually used it with a conscious. Right? RIGHT?

Dolphins will totally fuck you up; Otaku no Kamisama; Axe attack date! The next great pet project for Cobra-La

and of course, the coolest video EVER

Jeanius was a Jean Grae album that she made with 9th Wonder a few years ago that still hasn't been released as far as I know. and I lost it for 18 months before finding it a few days ago. I feel like I didn't give this a proper enough listen the first time around so I've been hitting it pretty hard and I don't know how I wasn't totally enthralled by this. Anywho, I'm caught up on it now and here's some tracks from it.

"Don't Rush Me" - Jean Grae

"Stories" - Jean Grae

Buy some Jean Grae albums here

You're gonna eat lightnin'; you're gonna crap thunder

What a boring day. I mean it. Today was one of those days that is almost painless with boredom until the end, when you realize that you've got to get up tomorrow and do the whole shit again. Which isn't to say that every day is boring, but that I'm stuck in a particularly boring job at work, and the less I look at photos of orthopaedic surgery for the next 4 years, the better off I'll be. I could've started a tire fire out of boredom at the office today. But I digress.
At th Eagles' game the other night, like every home game, they play that classic scene from Rocky II where she tells him to win and Burgess Meredith, gets up and says "Well what are we waitin for?" and then, as you can imagine, everyone in the stands goes fucking crazy. It's the easiest thing in the world to do to a Philadelphia sports crowd and it even keeps them riled up for the first 8 minutes or so. Heartwarming, yes, but not what I wanted to talk about.
I haven't seen it in years, but I forgot how Meredith looks in that movie. He's scruffy, his hearing aids are clearly visible the entire time, and one might even be able to see his ear hair. You can see the his hat fraying, and the dinge on his glasses. I know that in describing it how gross that sounds and it sort of did, but it looked so fucking real. I can't remember the last time I saw someone in anything outside of a documentary that didn't look like they just got done up like a friggin' pig at the county fair. and seeing it on a jumbotron just made it that much more alarming. What happened to normal people appearing in movie and films? Are we that superficial that we can't construct an imaginary world that isn't inhabited solely by people that look like they're in a movie? I don't know.
I'm sure this wasn't the idea, that they didn't want him that dingy, but it's not. All sorts of movies from the mid '70s to the early '80s are filled with people like that, that you would pass on the street without a second thought, but up there, on the same screen you see these gorgeous people. I guess it's a good way to tell if you're in a movie or not.
Tap Tap has been kicking my ass lately. Good luck keeping that first song out of your head. They're British and indie-rock sounding, but more like the M's to me than the Arcade Fire. For what that's worth.

"100,000 Thoughts" - Tap Tap
"To Our Continuing Friendship" - Tap Tap
Lanzafame is sold out, but keep an eye for it here.

Cherry Blossom magic (in a bad way)

I woke up on friday morning feeling like a frog died in my mouth while I was sleeping. I haven't really righted myself since. Didn't do anything but read & sleep until Sat. night, when we saw Children of Men, which fucking shocked me how much I liked it. I think Clive Owen has actually impressed me more and more with every movie I've seen him in.
Last night I took my nephew to the Eagles game. He got to see at least three people get arrested and one person get the shit beaten out of him. I think I was more jarred by this than he was. Anyway, while we were driving to the stadium we talked for awhile about driving.
"What's pumping gas like?" he said, looking at me with four Starburst in his mouth. I had to think a minute before answering. I don't think I can even remember not knowing how to pump gas. Like all of those other rites of age that seem so grown up at first and now just occupy the minutiae of my life. Think I do when I'm thinking about the important stuff. You know, like shaving or smoking.
"You've never pumped gas?" I knew he hadn't ever been allowed within twenty feet of a gas pump without supervision. I wasn't sure if he knew what gas smelled like*.
"No, my dad won't let me". He sounded disapointed.
"Well, don't worry about it. Hang around your great grandmother some more and she'll have you sick of it in a week." This is no joke. I pumped her gas from when I was like nine until her next grandchild was old enough to take over.
"Really?"
"Yeah, when I was a little bit older than you. But don't think your parents are gonna let you get in the car with her. The pump's safer". Shit, teaching him to smoke next to the pump is safer.

Not the best story, I know. Anyway, the fucking killer bees are back. And they're headed for New Orleans. Seriously, how bad does that suck? What they need next is an old fashioned blizzard.
-Terry Jones wrote an article for the Guardian. Glib, but amusing. Don't bother reading the comments.
-The most interesting thing I've ever read in the New York Post. Fascinating!

For anyone wondering, I took the picture above on Saturday night. I know it's a little blurred, but it's cherry blossoms. In January. This is seriously wrong. I like to think that in twenty years we're all gonnaget a good laugh out of our president saying that global warming doesn't exist. We'll laugh at how cute it was that he had his own scientists do these little tests and hold up a beaker in front of him and tell him that global warming doesn't exist... but no, that's probably not the case. Because I can only hope by then that we're all going to be fucking pissed. I should point out that I still haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth, and probably won't for awhile. Because I'm already depressed enough thinking about it, thanks. 2007 isn't gonna do much to help that, either. Great. I though last July sucked.

Anyway, I on't know how this Langhorne Slim EP slipped past me. I thought I was checking up on his stuff pretty regularly. I was a little cocerned about his signing to V2 (for no reason at all; i mean he's kind of a hard artist to change) but if this is any indication of what his upcoming album's gonna sound like, than I am so in. Brian Deck recorded it, and I'm seriously hoping he's doing the album as well, but I'll take what I can get. I was going to put up 2 songs, but that's half the EP. So I'm just gonna put one up and you'll get an old Silver Jews track as change. Anyway, "Honey Pie" is the rocker of the bunch, the others being slower and a lot more melodic. I was trying to search this for my last post about him, but my search window appears to be gone. I am starting to hate this site. Not this one, in particular, but the whole format because A) things keep changing once I get used to them and B)I'm an idiot. Anyways, I raved about Mr. Slim awhile ago. I dig his stuff and you should too. Go see him live if you get a chance, he impressed the hell out of me.
Maybe I'll post "Restless" when his album comes out or something though, because that song has been repeating throughout Cobra-La pretty much constantly for the past few days.

"Honey Pie" - Langhorne Slim
Buy the Engine EP here

"Tennesee" - Silver Jews
Buy the Tennesee EP here for way more than you should.

flag etiquette

The flags are still at half-mast here. More than likely, I thought to myself, it was due to the municipal workers were mowing one of the parks or something. So I looked it up. we're supposed to have that up for thirty days:

(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the President or a former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day. As used in this subsection—

(1) the term “half-staff” means the position of the flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;

(2) the term “executive or military department” means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; and

(3) the term “Member of Congress” means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

That's pretty fucking long, no? I mean, how long do you think Albert Einstein got the half-mast treatment? He was perhaps the most revered thinker or his time. He advanced our thinking so much, and still had the same guilt of diplomacy as one whose creation was used to kill hundreds of thousands. I bet he got nothing. Maybe in Princeton for a day. Yet we're gonna have our flags like tht for 30 days for Ford? That is balls, my friends.
and it's not that I'm opposed to the idea of the tradition. In fact, I think it's pretty cool. I mean, by the standard above, we'd probably only have a few days where it'd be at the peak. I think it's safe to say that politicians are the most despised people in this country at the moment. All of them. and when they die, we're gonna go out and lower our flag to half mast? Our towns and post offices and police stations are going to be asked to lower our flags when Dick Cheney dies and the giant barrier of iridescent goo that has encased this planet is shattered and he ages 700 years like that guy at the end of The Last Crusade and.... Its gonna go that way. When Howard Zinn or Bill Russell or Mel Brooks or Angela Davis or Paul Newman or shit, even Dick Winters should have more of our respect than Ted Stevens or Trent Lott's retarded ass? I want to salute people that made me proud to be an American. Oh hell no. And the President gets the final say in who we mourn for? Eff that he's already allowed to read our mail. I think we should decide as a nation who to salute with our flag placement.

"The Funeral" - Band of Horses
Buy it

Fighting off the sickness

Trying in desparation to avoid the raccoon flu that seems to be attacking everyone i know. As evident by the zinc & B-12 tablets.

Orange Juice Boner Thumb Man

Was just thinking for a minute about orange juice (the citrus extract, not the band) and how much of a sham that shit is. I was thinking to myself that they raised their prices when they started putting preservatives in it however many years back. and then, not long ago, they started charging us even more for taking them out again... it wasn't very well thought out. and upon further review I appear to be wrong on some of that. oh well.
In other news, the Philly newspapers are crumbling to pieces, the phone company will build a death star and check out John Edwards! I don't even know how universal health care is gonna play out, but that's moxie right there.
I don't know what to tell you about Young and Sexy other than they're Canadian, feature boy/girl vocals and their name has set off my spam filter twice at work. It kinda brings a wuss-rock feel to it, but it's nice late at night with a cup of tea. at least for me. Stop mocking my teeth.

I just found out I'm taking my nephew to the Eagles game this weekend, and it's going to be nuts.

"Your Enemy's Asleep" - Young and Sexy
"The Night Wears a Sombrero" - Young and Sexy
Buy Panic When You Find It here

2007: Year of the Red Pig

Yes, I am alive and well. I scraped through the holidays and my time of with a sloth-like intensity. Seriously, I got a lot of reading done, got to cook my meals, I haven't picked up a newspaper in 2 weeks... it's been nice. Which isn't to say I'm sorry I haven't been posting. I really meant to keep a pretty steady log of this time, but it would have tended to read off like I was spending my days reading Gustav Gilbert's Nuremberg Diary and researching Miller Huggins, the manager of the 1927 Yankees. Which I was doing for some reason. I also had lots of late nights and beery exhaustion.
and being stuck in a house all last weekend with 5 young kids. As the youngest of 5 kids, I know that I should be able to appreciate the situation. After all, I was a smaller pain in the ass once than I am now? Wasn't I reared in some similar fashion? Maybe, but these kids are all a lot closer in age than we were, and they were cousins who live far apart, so there's a lot more noise involved. and we can't forget that I grew up with at least half of the people that are raising these kids. So yeah it got a little frustrating. But I am back, and have a renewed vigor. Well, replace "renewed" with "present" and "vigor" with "interest in".
Sorry again for the absence, and to make that up to you, Mr. Bob Odenkirk. I can't say that these are the best of his comedy that I've heard, but he's still Bob fucking Odenkirk. Respect.

"The Happiest place on Earth" - Bob Odenkirk
"How's Your Late-Night TV Show?" - Bob Odenkirk

Buy The Un & Only here.

I don't know what I could say about Born Ruffians, other than they're a lot of fun and the singer's voice might drive you crazy either in a good way or a bad way. I like it good enough. Think of Hot Chip crossed with the Joggers or something.

"This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life" - Born Ruffians
"7th Son" - Born Ruffians

Buy Born Ruffians here 4 cheep!

Anyways, Happy New Year and all that great stuff. I 'll be back regular now, only in the evening due to resolution fulfilment. Cheers.