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Saint Mediocretes of Pedestrium
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[06 Jul 2009|11:43am] |
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Project/Object #9 was great. More fun than ZPZ by a mile or three, and way more the price of admission. The 2nd set, in particular, may well be somewhere amongst the best of the 18 sets I've seen them play (not including encores and faux encores.. P/O encores as such are usually just one or two songs anyway) Set list, details, etc. to follow. I have a funny story about meeting Eric Slick. He knew me by name, but not from me introducing myself to him or anyone else in the band.
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[05 Jul 2009|02:14pm] |
On Friday night, I saw Zappa Plays Zappa for the third time, this time at House of Blues. It was a pretty good show. I will post setlist, etc. at some later point, but a few thoughts for now:
Dweezil is in some sense much too polite a guitar player to fill FZ's shoes, esp. in regards to his rhythmic approach whilst soloing. A lot of what he plays is pretty tidy on the beat. He doesn't do a lot of the stretching a phrase over some odd number of beats in a 4/4 vamp sort of thing. He starts a phrase or melodic idea on beat one and concludes it three or seven beats later. And when he throws in a crazy flurry of notes, it's very technique-y in a wheedly shred guitar sort of way. It doesn't feel or come across too wild and it's never sloppy. There isn't a feeling of risk or drama or adventure when he plays a solo, no matter how long it is. He's a very good player, technically speaking. But he's not FZ, and this was never more apparent to me than on Friday.
Dweezil apparently has no desire to do business with people who actually played with Frank. I read, at some point, a sentiment from him along the lines of "it was always my desire to eventually be able to do this without people who played with Frank, but a certain segement of the audience craves a sense of authenticity that comes along with having 'alumni' in the band." This is admirable in a way, and kind of puts a point on the fact that he doesn't want to live forever in the shadow of Frank and his bands (not like he has a fucking choice). But if you're gonna hit the road completely alumni-free, I think MOST people in the audience are going to want to see players and singers who are not only really, really talented, but can also give their performances a certain aroma that at least FEELS like they could have cut it in one of Frank's touring bands.
So, with Ray White having departed ZPZ, they found this cat name-a Ben Thomas to serve as lead vocalist on a number of selections (he doesn't play an instrument, at least not in concert.) He's a "good" singer in that way that "good" singers are "good", I just didn't find his performance very exciting for the most part. Something about his voice and stage demeanor has a very "white person with a sort of awkward and affected air of funkyness and / or soul-having" feeling about it.
I'm just saying, look, as far as this reporter is concerned, unless your name is Robert Martin from Philadelphia, Curtis Institute Graduate, 1971, you maybe shouldn't necessarily sing "Bamboozled By Love." Because this reporter first heard Ike Willis grunt out this little number around the age of 5 or so, and Ben Thomas is no Ike Willis (or Bobby Martin), having neither the soul, nor unaffected grit to pull off a song like that.
On a positive note, Scheila Gonzalez is a fucking ninja.
And Ben's interpretive dancing provided for "The Black Page #2" (and, later, "The Purple Lagoon") was, I would like to say, a delight.
===
A while back, I learned that Lines Across Lines, a band from the Cleveland area who I had previously seen open for Pattern is Movement and rock my socks in a way that is rare for "opening bands", was going to be playing their last show. As in, as a group, as in, ever. Then, uh oh, I noticed that said last show was on the same night I was going to see ZPZ. Shit. I held out some little germ of hope that I would, somehow or another, be able to see both bands on the same night.
For one, the LAL show at the Grog Shop was supposed to start around 9:00. And, of course, the Grog exists in a little customized micro time zone where 9:00 is more like 10:30. Plus also too, there were four bands playing, and I was assuming LAL would be playing last. So, yeah, I might have a decent chance of making it in time for their set after all!
I sent their guitar player, Nate, a message on facebook asking if he could, if possible, let me know what time they're actually supposed to go on stage, because I'm going to another show that night yadda yadda. He wrote back and said "Hey, I remember you! Give me your cell number, if you don't mind, and I'll send you a text and let you know what time we're going on." Lucky for me I actually just re-activated my stupid pre-paid cellphone so I could have it with in case I needed it for anything this weekend. I gave him the number, went to eat a bunch of food at Dave and Carla's, came back to Sharon's, got prepared and drove to Cle for ZPZ.
No more than a couple minutes after I leave House of Blues, my phone goes off. Nate sends me a message, "show was pushed back to 10, LAL should go on around 12?" I'm like yes, fucking yes, I can totally make it. I drive all the way down Euclid, stopping at what seemed like at least half of all the traffic lights at the beginning of the trip, then make it to the Grog with a decent amount of time to spare (the band before LAL, Stiletto, was still on and only played maybe two or three songs after I got there.)
So, for the first time I ever, I attempted and successfully managed to pull of the whole "two shows in one night" thing. Lines Across Lines were pretty good, and cost me literally eleven times less money to see than ZPZ did. I got to chat with Nate for a good bit after, as well as drummer Jeff, who remembered me from the PiM show, though not by name. When I went up to talk to him, I started saying "hey, I saw you guys when you played with Pattern..." and before I could really finish that sentence, Jeff was saying "dude! Husker Du shirt, Husker Du shirt! I saw you up front and I was like, oh shit, it's that dude. I'm terrible with names, but Husker Du shirt!" (all in reference to the shirt I was wearing at PiM show @ Beachland, and when I talked to the guys after their set, my conversation with Jeff began "hey, I like your shirt", "hey, thanks, I like your band." Precious memories.)
===
In about 3 hours, I'm going back to Cleveland to see Project/Object for the 9th time, @ Beachland as always (except for that one time they played the Agora for some reason, and I think they sort of hated it.) You can "look forward" (or not, because I assume you won't) to that setlist + commentary in a few days, I guess.
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| wow, hardee's. wow. |
[01 Jul 2009|03:50pm] |
this e-mail went out today from Hardee's e-newsletter thing. amusing.
Subj: We want you... to name our holes
Sweet Holes? Icy Balls? Biznuts?
Can you think of a better name? Hardee's is introducing a new breakfast item called Biscuit Holes. They're kinda like doughnut holes, but made from biscuits, rolled in cinnamon and sugar, and dipped in icing. So if you've got a better name than "Biscuit Holes", go to NameOurHoles.com, give us your brilliant suggestions and put yourself into our latest commercial. We'll even throw in a free six pack of Biscuit Holes when you order any breakfast combo at Hardee's. Unless you'd rather have a six pack of "Cinnanuts." Or perhaps "Goodyballs"?
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[04 Jun 2009|07:59pm] |
The one thing I miss about election season is the one guy's tiny yard up the street with the two big, handmade pro-Nader signs. They were just plywood painted white, with big, blocky handwritten messages on them. The best part was the sign on the right that said
RALPH NADER IS ON THE COMPUTER
THE LIBRARY HAS COMPUTERS
with a progressively more scrawled Nader website address squeezed in at the bottom.
FUCK, I wish I had gotten pictures of that shit.
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[21 May 2009|06:24am] |
Zappa.com is down. Word has it that "The Story of Ruben & the Jets" (cd release of the original mix, plus related bonus materials) is on the way soon. Perhaps when the website is back up, there will be some info and orderability. You heard it here first (probably.)
Our Band Could Be Your Life, Minutemen tribute album. Purchased at Square Records a few months ago. Listened to last night. Mostly just not that good. I'll grant it a handful of pretty good instrumental performances, but nowhere do any of the vocal performances hold up to the originals. Also, it's funny that Dos is on a Minutemen tribute, 50% of Dos being one-third of the Minutemen and all.
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[20 May 2009|04:59pm] |
Back in September, I saw this band Lines Across Lines open for Pattern is Movement @ Beachland Taven. I thought they were pretty rad. I got their cd and quite liked it. They only played like two more shows after that before taking a little break. I was wondering when they would play more shows in the future and, sadly, now I know the answer.
From their myspace:
The time has come to say goodbye to Lines Across Lines.
We have had some of the most amazing opportunities playing with this band and it has been a great learning experience for all of us.
We wanted to thank everyone who has come out to the shows and helped support us over the years. We feel that the band has run its course. The time feels right for us to let it go and move on to other things. We will probably finish recording the remainder songs we wrote together and release them sometime this year. We will be playing the Grog Shop July 3rd for our last show.
Last show. On the night I'm going to see Zappa Plays Zappa. Figures.
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[19 May 2009|08:35pm] |
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Now listening to the first disc / folder (out of 12!) of the 20 Years of Frank Zappa bootleg box set. The whole thing is a jumble of various things from various different eras, some of which I'm sure I've heard and some I haven't. Yes, I used my newly repaired cable internet connection to gank this via torrent.
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| EXPOSED: Elvis Costello's forearms! |
[15 May 2009|11:37am] |
A couple hours after my rant yesterday regarding Elvis Costello's years-long coverup of his forearms by means of a mysterious insistence on always being photographed and filmed in suit jackets and other long-sleeved apparel, I discovered these shocking and, no doubt, illicitly and possibly illegally obtained photographs of a short-sleeved (and even bare-footed!) Elvis Costello taken in a Hawaiian hotel in 1978.
( the horrifying true story behind the cut! )
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[09 May 2009|04:52pm] |
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Frank Zappa - The Black Page #2 |
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BTW, it's official. I'm on Roadrunner high-speed internet. The dude came by at like 12:20 and got things hooked up. Last speed test result from speakeasy.net:
Download Speed: 11972 kbps (1496.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 493 kbps (61.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Liberating! :)
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[09 May 2009|02:05pm] |
What the fuck happened to recordnerd.com? If you remember what it looked like before, look at my list and check it out now.
DO NOT WANT
Edit / Update: Ok, that was a little odd. I posted this entry at 7:28am, and just now (well, like 10 minutes ago), someone from recordnerd.com sent me an e-mail about their new site redesign and mentioned that he saw the entry. Was he just Googling his own website or something? I just thought that was funny. But at least they care enough to want feedback on the redesign.
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| it was something like, but not necessarily, Schindler's List |
[25 Apr 2009|03:09pm] |
I would say it's a few days overdue, but you never asked for it.
Flight of the Conchords
MAC Center @ Kent State University
April 19, 2009
Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor
The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room
Hurt Feelings
Ballad of Stana
Carol Brown
Jenny
I Told You I Was Freaky
I'm Not Crying
Mutha uckas
A Kiss is Not A Contract
Bus Driver's Song
Robots
Albi the Racist Dragon
We're Both in Love With A Sexy Lady / Sugarlumps
Demon Woman
Hiphoppopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous
Bowie
"Too Many Dicks" was the only song wherein they utilized synthesizers, and was performed in robot costumes and with lots of wacky dance club lighting. Most of the rest of the songs were just performed on acoustic guitar, but a few other instruments were employed. "Hurt Feelings" included toy piano, "Carol Brown" featured Jemaine playing Omnichord (wow), Bret played Rhodes in "I'm Not Crying", played drums whilst rapping in "Mutha uckas" and tiny Flying V in "Demon Woman", which also featured Jemaine playing bass drum and a marvelously akward and arhythmic drum solo. A couple of guys in one of the first few rows also dressed up in homemade robot suits and did some robo-boogie during "Robots" (because in the future, there are only two kinds of dances, The Robot and The Robo-Boogie), which was pretty funny. Naturally, there was humourous banter between many of the songs, as well, including the David Bowie / Tina Turner time tripping story. A cello player (Nigel, aka the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) was also onstange for most of the set.
I was glad for the two large video screens considering how far away I was sitting. You can look at this seating chart and imagine me in the very last row of section L, all the way on the right (and these sections on the left side aren't even seats, they're bleachers, which didn't make for the best sitting experience, but oh well. When it came time to get a ticket, I just took whatever I could get. I'm just glad I wasn't stuck even farther away in one of the upper sections, or all the way in the back.)
There's also info reported here (you know, more or less the stuff I just typed, but I didn't know it was there until after I typed it. Also, I guess there was some kind of meet and greet going on while I was proberly walking along the Esplanade looking for my keys which were never lost in the first place, as it turns out.)
Scene write-up here.
Kent News write-up here.
This was also pretty funny.
And yes, it was kind of sad that they didn't play "Business Time."
(I guess business hours are over, baby.)
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[20 Apr 2009|02:01pm] |
http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix
my second run at it: copy and paste this onto the field
82946,73988,1032,69776,16898,8324,67592,16384,69666,16452,67720,4368,74242,81988,82056,81922
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[17 Apr 2009|10:25pm] |
tylerpistol: didn't idy tell me there was a place in ohio called cluck you chicken?
Milhouse481: WHAT
Milhouse481: this would be news to me
Milhouse481: and also awesome
tylerpistol: http://www.cluckuchicken.com/
tylerpistol: oh, it's in jew jersey
tylerpistol: i mean NEW jersey
Milhouse481: there's a *new* jersey now?
tylerpistol: yes
tylerpistol: jew jersey is in new york city
Milhouse481: more like jew york city
Milhouse481: i'm clever
tylerpistol: that's where they make pace piquante sauce
Milhouse481: hahahahaha
tylerpistol: get a rope
Milhouse481: yes~
Milhouse481: also, you have to sign a waiver to get the 911 hot sauce at cluck-u chicken
tylerpistol: i saw that
tylerpistol: that's alarming
Milhouse481: i find the cluck-u sauce naming odd in the sense that you have to sign a waiver for the 911 hot sauce, but there's no warnings regarding leukemia and deformities for the nuclear sauce
tylerpistol: that joke needs a waiver of hilariousness
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[03 Mar 2009|06:04am] |
So, in about two weeks it will be one year since I purchased, recieved and set up my faithful and loveable Dell desktop computer. When, then, do you think I'll get around to getting rid of the 8.5 year old, 19GB hard drive Gateway computer I used for the four years prior that's still taking up space on my kitchen table?
I fell asleep wearing a shirt, but woke up with no shirt on. It's natural to assume I removed in during the night because I was too hot, but I have no memory of it. It's a reasonable thing to happen and thus not that confusing or mysterious when one might wake up minus an article or two of clothing, but it's still kind of funny. Does this happen to you?
If I have to do the same thing at work that I did yesterday, it's going to suck, and I'm going to do a terrible job of it. But oh well. You gotta row-oh-oh-oll with the punches (and get to what's real.)
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[22 Feb 2009|08:14pm] |
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) funkym3485 did this and I thought I would repost it. Reading answers is enjoyable to me (and that sounds sarcastic, but isn't.)
Instructions:
You're on my friends list! I wanna know you. I want to know 33 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, talk every day or already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine. I just want to know you.
1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you ?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of lj?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
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[06 Feb 2009|10:40pm] |
As I've mentioned, I saw Project/Object for the 8th time on Wednesday at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. The usual routine follows, with the setlist and assorted bits of commentary. At this point, I know there's only a couple people who are remotely interested in this stuff, so this is for their enjoyment and mine (and I admit at this point I'm somewhat just doing this out of a sense of tradition and obligation, and not all of it is really that interesting to me, either, but I sort of enjoy documenting it).
Project/Object on this occasion were:
Andre Chomondeley on guitar and vocals
Ike Willis on guitar and vocals
Ed Mann on vibes, gongs and electronic percussion pad
Robbie "Seahag" Mangano on bass and laptop
Don Preston on keyboards and some vocals
Eric Svalgard on mini-Moog, other keyboard thing and occasional theremin
Eric Slick on drums
first set
improv / guitar solo
Peaches en Regalia
Florentine Pogen
More Trouble Every Day *
T'Mershi Duween
The Idiot Bastard Son
Zoot Allures >
Motherly Love *
City of Tiny Lites
America Drinks *
Flakes >
Broken Hearts Are For Assholes
Big Swifty
second set
The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue *
Packard Goose
Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder *
Keep It Greasy >
Outside Now
Duke of Prunes *
Village of the Sun >
Echidna's Arf of You >
Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?
Zomby Woof (encore)
This is the first time I've seen them with Ed Mann, and the last time I saw them with Don Preston was, in fact, the first time I saw them back in 2003.
( Read more... )
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[30 Jan 2009|10:27am] |
The following CDs are stacked atop the CD shelf to my left, having been listened to in the recent past. Alphabetacized for your theoretical convenience and for potential maximum adjacent absurdity.
Black Flag - The First Four Years
Blue Oyster Cult - Blue Oyster Cult [+bonus tracks]
Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation [+bouns tracks]
Common Rider - Last Wave Rockers
Genesis - Foxtrot
Jets to Brazil - Four Cornered Night
The Jazz June - The Boom, the Motion and the Music ep
The Jazz June - They Love Those Who Make the Music
Just A Fire - Light Up
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Negativland - Escape From Noise
Pixies - At the BBC
Zero Boys - Vicious Circle
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