Collected Thoughts 10-01-09

• I just got back from the Buzzbands anniversary show at The Echo.
  
  Web In Front would have booked the best scene darlings. LA-Underground would have booked bands you haven't heard of yet. I would have booked a bunch of noisy bands that none of my friends like. But Bronson booked bands that know how to sing, tune their guitars, and write songs with hooks. His show was more impressive than any other blogger night would have been. These weren't my favorite bands, but they were worth my time.
  
  K-Bronz packed the place pretty well. You know who wasn't there? A few hundred members of dozens of local bands who Kevin called significant attention to over the last three years. How much door money has Bronson made local bands over the years? I was really, really disappointed with the musician turnout. Show some gratitude, ya'll.
  

• Samuel Stewart: Totally Dave Stewart's son in a talented-by-virtue-of-DNA sense. Absolutely significant beyond being his father's son. Pitchforkies should love it, too.
  

• I really like The Eastern Conference Champions. I could only stay for three songs, but it broke my heart to leave. Give these guys a residency already.

• November 2nd: Shonen Knife and Mike Watt at The Echo. Fuck yes.

• To date, Mike Watt and the Missingmen's opening set at the Henry Clay People residency is my Best Show of 2009.
  

• Pitchfork's Albums of the Decade are unconscionable. I stopped taking the list seriously when they had Beck's Sea Change at #82. (Try top 10, kids.) More than any other Important List that The Fork has vomited into the poisoned minds of misguided music vampires, this list mistakes a willful lack of perspective and selected mainstream picks for critical balls.
  
  The list has no narrative. It doesn't take a stand on what music this decade should have been and why their selected albums meet that requirement. Save for a few P4K mainstays (Ted Leo, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs) their list seems to bashfully ignore their indie rock roots for the more recent slew of terrible bands.
  
  In its prime Rolling Stone was absolutely wrong on a number of bands and records now considered classics, but the magazine had a true editorial voice. Pitchfork's bloody collapse into absolute terrible music journalism hasn't much to do with the writers (who are, for the most part, pretty terrible) or the era music of music they're in (which, for the most part, is not great).
  
  Pitchfork sucks because the editors are awful.
  
  (Coming full circle: Kevin Bronson would turn that shit around. Pipe dream, I know.)

• The Mole People of Las Vegas. (!!!!)
  

• I've been thinking about the Roman Polanski thing a lot.
  
  Before I'm misunderstood, I personally think he ought to be prosecuted.
  
  In this particular case, I think it is pretty clear that a grown man deliberately loosened the will of a child so he could have sex with her. I don't believe in a statute of limitations for these kinds of things and though I think the justice system would be better served by more flexible, circumstance-based sentencing, I don't think 30+ years in "exile" under the protection of the European elite counts as "punishment enough". I don't think it matters whether or not the victim wants to prosecute; I'm a "big government" kind of guy and the needs of the state to prosecute justice are paramount here.
  
  But...
  
  There's a large segment of people ("tough on crime" men and nearly every mother) who have bothered me in their lack of thoughtfulness about the issue. I'm of course talking about the outrage -- OUTRAGE! -- at the "Hollywood liberals" for "defending a rapist and a child molester".
  
  I think there is a central truth to what people like Whoopi Goldberg are trying to articulate, something that most artists and liberals understand, something that often escapes the minds of "The Middle". That truth is that sexual encounters of any kind are wrought with gray areas. A sexual misunderstanding, a date rapist, a mentally-ill rapist, and a violent predator rapist are not all the same thing. Their motives and the events caused by them matter, especially if we want to reduce these occurrences. Furthermore, our society's fear of sex impedes our ability to implement a structurally sound justice system that intelligently makes these important distinctions.
  
  Roman Polanski, an 18 year-old guy having sex with a willing 16 year-old partner, and Christopher Webb are the same thing in the eyes of the law. That's also tragic. Saying so doesn't mean you're on the side of rapists. Righteous indignation is fucking worthless.

• There's also something grotesquely decadent about the crime. The location, the setting, the drugs, the alcohol, the parties involved... it was all so... like those fucks thought they were invincible because of who they were. I have a lot less sympathy for criminals who think they're invincible than criminals who are desperate.

Collected Thoughts 09-30-09

• Eagle Rock Music Festival set-times. More on CGT, probably tomorrow. You must go on Saturday, though. Best free event of the year.
  

• SOS has a Letting Up Despite Great Faults download. The new album is purty.
  

• I don't think I ever properly reviewed the Meat Puppets show at The El Rey. I know I tweeted the balls off it.
  
  The El Rey was, as most people predicted due to the large number of ticket giveaways, dead. I mean dead. The Meat Puppets were perfectly fine, but that room sucked-out any exciting energy they might have had. The songs sounded fine.

• After I ranted about the collapse of social networks and how I constantly run from one to the next, I saw this. That's interesting. I never noticed myspace becoming more "black" (whatever that means) myself, but even if race specifically plays no role, I think likening the loss of relevancy of social networking sites (R.I.P. Friendster) to suburban flight is absolutely apt.

• And just after I suggested the internet makes us sharper, not dumber, Salon runs an interview suggesting the same. I do think in the information age our brains have evolved from information keepers to information catalogers. "I know where to find the answer" has replaced "I know the answer". This is perfectly okay because as society has advanced we've accumulated far more knowledge than any one brain can old. It's a healthy evolution, no doubt.

• 80's toy ads are a guilty pleasure of mine. Who wants to play with toys whose chief function is to cry?!

• "Being in the military, he was used to seeing robots and to talking to them." (Robot helps end standoff)
  
  (The Singularity is near!)
  

• Researchers have made anti-WiFi paint.

• Lovely, cops. Lovely.

• The Colts' Freeney is out 2-3 weeks. Ugh, but if I were going to pick any stretch of the schedule for this to happen, this would be the exact stretch. Also, lest I get too excited about the Colts' prospects, Bob Kravitz has helped me re-live the heartbreak.
  
  God, that fucking AFC Champ game against the Steelers in '05 still stings. Idiot drunk kicker.

• Bummer that Colts-'Hawks goes down at the same time as Pats-Ravens, which is probably game of the week. But Saints v. Jets is the afternoon game, which should be outstanding.
  

• Yes.
  
  "The best America can do is to treat Iran the way it treated South Africa or Communist Eastern Europe, building an international consensus among democracies on isolating them while offering an olive branch to keep local populations yearning for change. Already, America's recent conciliatory stance on Iran, and Iran's aggressive responses, have put us in a stronger diplomatic position."

Collected Thoughts 09-28-09

• Andrew and JJ want on The Tonight Show. Why not? Make it so! (Also, just close the window once iPetitions asks for $. You don't have to donate to sign.)

• Rock Insider takes a break. I feel ya, Jax.
  

• Twitter and Facebook are corrupted with self-promotion. This is the fate of all social networking entities by virtue of what they are, but there is still a kind of tipping-point where promotion of one's self in a personal way is eclipsed by promotion of one's ambitions, and I declare that point to have been reached by two of the savvier social networking entitites.
  
  I used to use Myspace to interact with bands and Facebook to interact with friends. Slowly I gave way on Facebook as Myspace became more and more unviewable. I still won't become "fans" of bands on Facebook, save for a choice few. In general, I only accept friend requests from people I either know personally or actively follow online. Yet my Facebook experience is still polluted with excessive invites to shows, blog links, announcements... the kinds of things that are supposed to be trapped and contained in spammy email lists.
  
  Even worse, Twitters from the same friends are often word-for-word replicas of the Facebook feed posts. To boot, like any rational user of the internet, I already get linked to these things on my RSS feed -- the point of which so I can stay on-top of things without being prodded or harassed. This promotional redundancy doesn't serve to connect with those networked; on the contrary, it distances the two people with an obvious wall of artifice. I now scan and ignore 80% of my Facebook and Twitter feeds where I used to give every update serious, meaningful attention.
  
  I enjoy online social networking most when it is personal. Facebook and Twitter posts are most effective when they offer unique content. From a user's perspective the point of X-Person's Twitter is to give the user instant access to the thoughts of the person they follow as that person has the thought. Twitter and Facebook should be broadcasts, not ad listings.
  
  Of course the occasional "Please read this link" is fine. (I've done it.) It should only be 1 out of every 20 Tweets. It's hard. Everyone wants their internet presence to grow and there's barely any room for anyone to do so. Ultimately, how I envision social networking is probably not how the market will shape it. But Twitter and Facebook, which already have difficult economic models, are being killed by spam.
  
  So, what's the next networking fad? I'm ready for it. The old hats have holes in them.

• Dungeons and Dragons camp!

• Letters of Note

• DIY Penis Enlargement Goes Bad (Safe for work, but fellas, read at your own peril.

• Memories...

• Loved The Colts' vicious victory over the Super Bowl also-ran Arizona Cardinals. That was as dominating of a performance as any team has given all year. Manning had four TDs, Bethea intercepted Warner in the end zone, four QB sacks for the Colts' D, and best of all, Pierre Garcon and Donald Brown proved themselves to be very real weapons in the Colts' offense. The schedule is challenging, but not too tough, until Pats at home and at Baltimore in weeks 10 and 11.
  
  Indy is now 3-0 with the Jags and Texans next in the division at 1-2. Excellent position.
  

• Other football thoughts...
  
  • LOL STEELERS! They lost to the Bengals, who are now a fluke play away from being 3-0.
  • I don't care what anyone says, I still love Brett Favre. Did you see him win that game yesterday? How can you not love player that does that, showing just as much emotion as the fans?
  • The Jets are for real. Sanchez for rookie of the year. I love him.
  • I need 71 points out of Romo and Roy Williams to night. In essence, I need Romo to hit Williams for four 60 yard touchdowns. Yeesh.
    

SAVE THE DATE: Buzzbands.la anniversary show this Wednesday, September 30th

Several years ago I was sitting in a K-Town studio around 3am, starring at the internet. I decided to change my life and leave my shell. I'd remembered having seen a Silversun Pickups at a venue called The Echo and decided to google the band and the venue. I was determined to not merely reside in Los Angeles, but live in it. I would find People Like Me. That night of googling I discovered Radio Free Silverlake and the LA Times Buzz Bands blog. A month or so later, this blog was born.

Kevin Bronson covered music for the LA Times both on that blog and (more importantly) in print. It was the first line of offense for Los Angeles indie rock bands looking to take their music to the next level of exposure. If Kevin covered you in Buzzbands, you knew you were at least in the top 10-20% of the locals. Important people read Buzzzbands. Perhaps more important, normal folks read Buzzbands.

When the LA Times laid-off Bronson it was a serious blow to the music scene. Kevin is also older than other writers / bloggers / DJs in the scene (about my dad's age) and his sense of perspective was invaluable. The loss of that perspective was immediately felt. I remember being elated when Kevin Bronson finally launched Buzzbands.la as an independent venture.

That was one year ago.

This Wednesday at The Echo we celebrate not only the one year anniversary of Buzzbands.la, but also Bronson's collective contributions to Los Angeles indie rock. Personally, I read Buzzbands every day to challenge myself to be a less hyperbolic, more economical writer. (Mixed results, I suppose.)

Anyways, come to the show. Watch-out for the middle-aged guy pogoing when he thinks no one is looking.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009


Buzzbands.la One Year Anniversary Show
Eastern Conference Champions
Voxhaul Broadcast
Samuel Stewart
Radio Freq.


The Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd.
Echo Park, CA
$8 ($5 email list)
+18

Download Mouse on Demolisten!

Hey guys, thanks to everyone who listened and tweeted last night when I guest co-hosted Demolisten on 88.9 KXLU. I thought it'd just be a neat thing to do and ended-up having an absolute blast. Fred Kiko ended-up coming in after all, but he was kind enough to yield his seat to little ol' me.

There were a few great tracks sent to me that I didn't get around to playing (a really terrific one from Ready the Jet comes to mind), so I'll have those for next time.

Thanks once more to Octavius, Fred, and KXLU for having me, as well as to all the bands and singers who sent me stuff. DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST HERE.


Show setlist:

09.25.2009 Playlist

1. D Sticker Ensemble "Demolisten Theme"

2. Los Duggans "Rise up You Workers"

3. Dios "You'll Get Yours"

4. Those Young Lions "That Truthful Temper"

5. Moses Campbell "And It's Over 1"

Air Break

6. Final Spins "Down the Road"

7. Roman Candles "Show Me the Way to Go Home"

8. Insted "Vulnerable"

9. Nightmare Air "Shock of the New"

Air Break

10. The Ringers "13th Floor"

11. The Health Club "The 15th" (Wire cover)

12. The Happy Hollows "Faces"

Air Break

13. Double Dagger "Surrealist Composition with Your Face"

14. Human Host "Plastic Food"

15. The Meeting Places "Millions"

Air Break

16. The Underground Railroad to Candyland "Jimmy V"

17. Pom Pom "Fancy Dance"

18. Radars to the Sky "Selfish Kids"

Air Break

19. The Press Fire! "Hipster Crickets"

20. The Californian "Sea of Love"

The Cobalt Cranes play live!

21. Manicorn "Some Kind of Idiot"

22. Lanterns "Creation Myth"

Collected Thoughts 09-25-09 (Super-Mega Full-Week of Links Edition)

• One last reminder. Stream it here.

• First LA Record, now LA Weekly has a weed column, erm, blog. Jeff Weiss is only the most entertaining music writer in Los Angeles. I don't even smoke weed and I'm adding that thing to my RSS.

• The Thermals were on Dirty Laundry.

• The NYT "gets" the problem facing the social networking music revolution. (This phenomena is not limited to the misic industry, either.)
  

• Auto-tune Carl Sagan? YES.

• New Collected Thoughts feature: Nit-Twits, or Tweets that make you go "Huh?"
  
  • The Happy Hollows: a "Garage-pop-punk version of Jenny Lewis"
  • The Henry Clay People: "just bad Weezer" (In defense of this, I too once over-used Weezer comparisons. Weezer is a common band comparison people default to when they they mean "rock music that has drums, guitar, and lyrics")
    

• I've been thinking how I wish I could have seen The Airborne Toxic Event in Pomona last week. (Boy, this will win-over the KXLU crowd who visit CGT after my appearance on Demolisten.)
  
  I've seen Airborne more times than I can remember, but I would have liked to have seen and documented the expanded stage spectacle. I guess Darren is up on risers and they have big ol' video screens now. That seems like a sensible evolution for them. Airborne started as a club-playing indie rock band, but with every "big" show the epic catharsis aspect of their music swelled in importance to the band's identity. More U2-like spectacle makes sense to me.
  
  My unashamed love of The Airborne Toxic Event has cost me and this blog more indie cred deductions than any other opinion I've offered. In retrospect, I think I over-praised their album; some tracks are now skippers for me. But others ("Wishing Well" and "Missy" come to mind) still swell something in my chest when I hear them. And Airborne's fans truly love them. Few blog-reading indie nerds feel genuine emotional connections to Girls or Neon Indian or whatever Band of the Month is on their radars, but The Airborne Toxic Event's fans (many who are not indie nerds) really feel something through that band's music.
  
  No amount of snobbery or misperceptions about The Airborne Toxic Event trumps that. I still stand by it. Scanning fan tweets this week I found that Airborne is still greeting fans in line hours before shows. They don't have to.
  
  The Airborne Toxic Event are a contradiction; selling a spectacular show packed with literary lyrics, bombastic sounds, and preconceived artifice while still wearing their hearts on their sleeves and earnestly celebrating on stage. Mikel's experiences drive the songs, but Anna is the real heart and soul of that band; my strongest impressions of The Airborne Toxic Event are all memories of Anna banging her tambourine in rapture, or offering herself onto the finger-tips of an adoring crowd, eyes squeezed shut in overwhelming joy.

• I think by the end of the fall I'll be ready to do another Fiend Folio show. Putting-on shows is a lot of work and I don't love being emotionally invested in the financial performance of a night of music, but I'm starting to get the itch again. Might retool it as a considerably less noisy night. We'll see.
  

• CGT is mentioned in The Movies' wikipedia page, which is weird.

• After listening to the Skull EP a few more times I've decided that Manhattan Murder Mystery is the professional wrestling to The Movies' Greco-roman.

• Miss you, Ernest.

• TREASURE!

• Horrors of Horrors! KILL THEM WITH FIRE.

• The solution to all our consumption problems: shrink ourselves! If only!
  

• Folks often decry the internet as making us stupider. I disagree. By the way, literacy is going-up. Thanks to Facebook, myspace, blogger, and the ilk, more Americans are now writing than ever before.
  
  During dinner at GenCon my comrades were agast when I suggested that Tweeting makes people smarter, better writers. I mean it. Twitter is the first social networking phenomena that places limits on creativity, and we all know that self-imposed limits is what fuels great creative work. In essence, Twitter has taught a nation of babbling instant messagers how to self-edit. They only get 140 characters.
  

• I'll be seeing Surrogates this weekend. Don't laugh. It will be cyberpunkarific.

• (Speaking of cyberpunkarific, Neuromancer is coming true.)

• "The Surrogate" was one of my favorite Arrested Development gags.

• Ghost Rider 2? ("You might have mah soul, but yull never get mah spirit!") Uh, pass, David Goyer writing or no.

• Ed Norton is pushing for the Avengers movie to feature the rest of the Avengers taking down The Hulk. This is precisely what the movie should be.
  

• Here's a sweet Iron Man 2 set visit where Entertainment Tonight (where I was once employed) spends their interview asking the stars about... the other stars. That F1 race is going to be sweet. If you're sharp you'll catch Iron Man / Tony Stark chilling in the giant Randy's Doughnut down in Inglewood.

• Ong Bak 2 trailer. Oh yes I am there.

• Hobbit humor. Wait for the punchline.

• Water on the moon! Incredible!

• A judge has forced a convict to tweet every ten minutes as a parole condition. I certainly requested to follow.
  

• More augmented reality... this stuff is the future, kids.

• That Colts-Dolphins game on Monday is why American Football is not only the greatest sport, but the greatest pastime on earth. The human drama in football teaches us more about life, about the human experience, than the collective histories of music, drama, and fiction combined.
  
  It's blood, sweat, tears; devotion, victory, failure. Most of all, delayed gratification with no guarantee that gratification will come at all.
  
  Colts 2-0 with wins against a division team and a 2008 playoff team on the road. Not a bad start. They have a short week and have to travel to the other coast for a prime-time matchup against last year's Super Bowl also-ran. That won't be easy. They might not win another game if the defense plays as poorly as they played Monday night. But I like where we're at. Manning scored 14 points out of 44 seconds of game time, so there's always that ace in the hole.

• The Colts' offense had less than 15 minutes of possession time and won the ball game. Cripes!

• The NFL and political contributions explored.
  

• The NYT had an amazing article on gay kids coming out in middle school.
  
  

Action Figure Lot! - $83 OBO

Oh hey, I'm also selling-off my old toys. (No worries, I kept my very first Ninja Turtle fig [Raphael], the Cheapskate, and a super-rad die-cast Gobot.)

Original posting.




HUGE TOY LOT (mostly Ninja Turtles)

I’m selling-off my toy collection, the vast majority of which are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (80’s / early 90’s) but there’s also some really great 80’s childhood oddities in here.

All toys were frequently played with. Very few of the figures have all their accessories, though I’ve bagged the accessories with the correct figure where I could. None of the vehicles except for the Turtle Blimp are in good shape. A rare Maggie Simpson doll, Buddy L Corp Hershey Kisses truck trailer, a Machine Robo, and a rare variant TMNT Slash figure are the collection highlights.

I’m asking for $83. I calculated my asking price at $1 per object, regardless of size, condition, or rarity. I’ll take the best offer, though; I want to be rid of this stuff. Of course you may inspect the collection personally.



***ALIENS (movie)***
Bull Alien
Flying Queeen
Gorilla Alien


***ASSORTED***
Maggie Simpson doll (probably collectable)
Blurp Ball, Croaky Bugchuck
5 Hot Wheels
13 Micro-Machines, military
5 Monster in My Pockets
Super Bugs McDonalds toy (1991)
Anatosaurus Definitely Dinosaur (no caveman)
Pinsor’s battle beetle (Sectuars, no figure)
Commander Waspax’s insect (Sectaurs, no figure)
Radiation Ranger (Toxic Crusaders)
Roton (He-Man)


***GOBOTS (Machine Robo)***
Zeemon (Fairlady 280Z T-Bar Roof Red Ver.)
Sticks n’ Stones (Rock Lords series 1)
NarlieGator (Rock Lords)
NarlieHog (Rock Lords)


***TOYBIZ 1991***
Magneto
Green Goblin
Sabretooth
Wolverine


***TRANSFORMERS***
Hook (Constructicon)
Mixmaster (Constructicon)
Fangry (no wings)
Octopunch (little crab only)
Top Spin


***TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES***

VEHICLES
Foot Knucklehead
Mutant Module
Ninja News Cycle
Turtle Blimp
Turtle Van

FIGURES
Ace Duck
Antrax
Casey Jones
Donatello (soft head)
Don, open-shell
Don, army
Dirtbag
Foot Soldier
Foot Soldier (movie version)
Fugitoid
General Trag
Ghengis Frog
Groundchuck
Krang, large body
Krang, small bodys
Leatherneck
Leonardo (soft head)
Leo, Army
Metalhead
Michaelangelo (hard head)
Mike, surfing
Mike, wrestling
Mondo Gecko
Muckman
Mutagen Man
Napoleon Bonafrog
Raph, army
Raph, baseball
Raph, breakdancing
Raph, open-shell
Raph, movie version
Ray Filet
Razar
Panda Kahn
Pizzaface
Rat King
Rocksteady (soft head)
Scale Tail
Scumbug
Sgt. Bananas
Shredder (soft head)
Slash (rare purple belt variant)
Splinter
Tattoo
Tokka
Triceratron
Usagi Yojimbo
Usagi Yojimbo, space
Walk About
Wingnut
Wyrm

940 comic books for sale. $235 OBO

About a year and a half ago I drove one-way from Indiana to LA with a load of stuff. Part of that load was the first half of my comic book collection. It's taken me over a year to do what I knew must be done:

I'm selling-off 8 of my 9 short boxes of comics. Here's the Craigslist Listing:




I am selling-off my comic book collection. I need to move, I haven’t read a comic in years, and it is time for them to go.

All comics have been bagged and boarded for most of their existence. Most have only been read once; few have been read more than twice. Maybe 80 of them were subscribed, and maybe 10 of those came with some damage. In general though, I took good care of these.

This would be a great buy for a completist collector, a "reader," a comic store looking to expand their back catalog, or especially an entrepreneur. I don’t doubt that if someone took the time to break-up the collection and sell it on eBay they could make a really solid profit.


Collection History:

Maybe 100 of these comics were acquired by me in the early / mid 1990’s. The comics from that era and earlier are, on average, not in as good of shape as the newer comics. The oldest comics (old Superman, obscure old Marvel) were bought at a garage sale and not in good shape.

The rest of the comics are circa 2001 – 2008. In general, these are mostly in "Very Good" condition, "Good" at worst.


What’s In It:

*By my count there are 940 comics.
*I do have a complete inventory in an Excel sheet; email me for inventory
*1 short box of DC and other publishers. (The DC is mostly Batman)
*7 short boxes of Marvel comics (lots of Spider-Man, X-Men, and Ultimate continuity)


Highlights include…

*Avengers 500-503 + Finale (Disassembled)
*New Avengers 1-25 + Annual
*Batman 608-625, 627-631 (includes all of “Hush” and the following Azarello / Risso arc)
*Daredevil 410-421, 423-443, 445-470 (vast majority of the Bendis run)
*Ex Machina 1-24
*The Losers 1-4 (soon to be a major motion picture)
*New X-Men 114-156 (complete Grant Morrison run)
*Supreme Power (complete run)
*Supreme Power solos: Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum, Nighthawk (complete runs)
*Squadron Supreme 1-6
*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2-9 (Mirage 2002)
*Ultimates 1 and 2 + Annuals (complete runs)
*Ultimate… Six, War, Nightmare, Secret, Extinction (complete runs)
*Ultimate Fantastic Four 1-35 and + two Annuals
*X-Force #1s – old and new (old is in Fair condition)


$235 for the whole lot. I am not willing to break-up the collection; you must buy all of it. I’ve calculated my asking price at twenty-five cents an issue, which is fair. Email me for complete inventory. Of course you may come and inspect, located in Echo Park. EMAIL ME.

Collected Thoughts 09-20-09

• I've already collected some really cool demos for Demolisten on Friday. I'm excited because some of them are bands that I've not seen much written about and others are never-heard tracks from established LA acts. I don't want to toot my own flute, but I'm jazzed.

• Jack Kirby has summoned Galactus, Eater of Copyright. I suspect this will end in a settlement. There's too much money to be made.

• The Singularity Is Near!

• I'm not 42 yet, but this post on the Happy Times Blog really struck a chord with me. As a "creative type" who moved to LA from the Midwest, every day I live as I do is a day I've decided not be be a considerably successful, settled-down homeowner and family man. I have college buddies who have more in common with my parents than they have with me. Every night as I go to sleep I make sure this is what I want.

• Stanley Fish suggests western religion and curiosity are incompatible. I kind of agree. (As would most evangelicals, I wager.)
  
  In my world view, every day I encounter ten or so observations, thoughts, or truths that seem to plainly contradict or negate conventional religious thought, philosophy, or dogma. I've always felt that most folks simply ignore the contradictions. I feel that most self-described religion-guided people actually function as agnostics in their day-to-day thoughts and interactions; they only turn-on the "spiritual switch" in moments of crisis, fear, or uncertainty. In those moments the contradictions are irrelevant because they're operating in a threatening environment where only survival (emotional survival) matters.
  
  In essence, that intellectual curiosity cannot exist alongside dogmatic obedience has nothing to do with a family struggling to cope with a member dying of cancer. Spiritual insight has nothing to do with writing a term paper on australopithecus robustus. It's easy to live most of one's life without needing to contemplate the incongruences of knowledge and faith. (Though obviously if you're devoted to the discovery of knowedge then these incongruences must be sorted-through and defeated.)
  
  Of course, most folks would say contradictions are god's way of necessitating faith. When I was in college I should have told my professors that the wrong answers on my homework were to necessitate the professor's faith that I was actually a genius.
  

• This was a GLORIOUS Sunday of football. The following Evil Teams lost: The Patriots, The Steelers, The Chargers, The Titans, The Cowboys.
  
  The Pats' loss was wonderful because it took the wind out of the Tom Brady Media Hype sails. He was fucking horrible! No Brady touchdowns! Less than a 50% completion percentage! It was great! New England is still a dangerous team and I still pick them to win the AFC East, but at least we can talk about some other teams now. Brady had not lost a regular season game since December 10th, 2006. (Granted, he didn't play any last year.)
  
  The Cowboys loss was excellent because they were opening their brand-new $1.2 billion stadium. The Cowboys get to host a Super Bowl in their new stadium one year before Indy hosts one in Lucas Oil Stadium, even though The Luc opened first. This is a grievous social injustice and Jerry Jones has paid handsomely for his hubris.
  
  I might also add that while the Cowboys' new stadium has raditude in spades, its exterior is positively ghastly. Lucas Oil Stadium is much prettier to look at on the outside. The new Cowboys stadium is quintessential "Texas," though.
  

Mouse on Demolisten this Friday!

Ho there, Classical Geek Thespians!

Octavius the Wizened hath need of support and I've consented to lending him my axe in his virtuous campaign against the Los Angeles airwaves. I'll be going on Demolisten this Friday, September 25th, from 6pm - 8pm. KXLU 88.9 is the station, but you already knew that. Yes, it streams.

So, ah, I need some demos. Bands, email me your new stuff for consideration.

By the way, now is a lovely time to donate to KXLU. Sacrifice one night of beer money. Their operating budget is about $100,000. That's a totally frugal, managable budget to operate a station... but only with your help.

Collected Thoughts 09-19-09

• Give KXLU $$$

• The Boston Survival Guide did a two-part rundown of the Echo Park / Silverlake stand-out bands. (Part 1 and Part 2)
  
  The blogger says she got word of all these great bands through the ambassadorship of The Airborne Toxic Event. Just sayin'.
  

• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have made two of the best releases of the year. I was unimpressed by their live show, but the records sure are good.
  
  A year or so ago I wrote a big post on this blog basically stating that indiepop was a niche area of music not relevant to the contemporary world at large. I still believe that was true at the time I wrote it. I also think TPoBPaH, along with with the economic collapse, have since changed that. Now is a time for smart pop music.
  

• Love the new Yea Big + Kid Static video. Have you bought the record? It puts Pitchfork's notions of hip-hop to shame.
  

• Thursday night I took The Companion to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs show at The Greek Theatre for her birthday present.
  
  It was my first time at the Greek Theatre. We had great seats: front row of Section B, center. We had an unobstructed view of the stage, made perfect by my binoculars. Still, the show felt sterile. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a great outdoor festival band, but it just felt tame in front of a bunch of people assigned to a seat in an amphitheatre.

• That's not to say the band itself was bad. Karen O. is still, in my book, the best contemporary rock singer in the world right now. She captures what grunge rock destroyed and what aughty indie rock fails to replicate. Every movement, every gaping grin, every tear shed by Karen O. is a moment that the audience can project themselves onto. She's performing The Human Experience on stage in every song. I love her.

• I've never seen Kim Deal live before. She's still super-awesome. The Breeders were good, but they kind of just stand in place and play. With the last four songs they got into the heavier noise, showing for a moment a glimpse of what they were once regarded as: badass chicks.
  

• Yacht was fine. I like Gram Rabbit or The Polyamorous Affair better, though.

• Yes.

• Horror of horrors. KILL IT WITH 11-DIMENSIONAL FIRE!

• Robot jumps 25 foot fence.
  

• Yesterday was "Parking Day". I hate Parking Day. This kind of protest is like protest nudity, coat hanger earrings, and Obama = Hitler signs: 1) it's immature and 2) it doesn't motivate change; it only pats the participant on the back for his own beliefs.
  
  I just find Parking Day to be very non-serious. It would be much more badass if those 2,000 or however many who are squatting in parking spaces would all show-up to the LA City Council instead.
  

YOUR WEEKEND PLANS: Friday, September 18th @ The Troubadour: Everest, These United States, The Parson Redheads

Tomorrow (Friday night) Everest returns to LA to play The Troubadour, and they're being joined by The Parson Redheads and These United States. The show is presented by Locals Only.

Everest, you'll remember, is the LA Americana folkrock supergroup that took off into the stratosphere when Neil Young signed them to his label. These guys have good label support, a high-end booking agency, and a very, very good PR firm.

Despite the band's resources, singer / guitarist Russell Pollard still took the personal time to email me directly and ask if I'd mention the show on the blog. He still remembered the coverage I did on the site before they signed. I get scores of email blasts from people I've never met every day, and Pollard's extra effort really stood out. This personal touch is not an exception, it is all over their music.

And of course, The Parson Redheads are phenomenal. These United States are touring a new record. I'm was a fan of the last one. This is an amazing lineup for a recession-buster price.

Buy tickets $10 ADV, $12 DOS.

Collected Thoughts 09-15-09

• I appreciate the new SSPU video for "Substitution". With all the hot girls it is kind of a sell-out video. Good. I want more Silverlake and Echo Park bands to "sell-out" and get national recognition. (I also want a spy thriller music video for "The Royal We," complete with black helicopters and nighvision goggles.)

• That having been said, the girls are directed all wrong. You really needed to feel the life-or-death meaning behind the musical chairs game; it should have been more like that Spike Jonze video with Sofia Coppola as the gymnast. Also, there should have been a "reveal" for what the winner of the game won. Just a trophy? I kept expecting some kind of clever prize, like maybe the winner sings the last part of the song in place of Brian or something.

• I love the SSPU tour dates. Green Bay, Grand Rapids, Omaha, Lexington, Peoria, Little Rock... that's real America-type touring right there. Awesome.

• The major labels are idiots for not letting you embed their videos from YouTube.

• The Tape is proclaiming The Death of the DJ. I'm not so sure.
  
  For the present time, it is impossible to "instantly play guitar" the way my 10 year-old summer school students could "instantly produce music" on Garageband, or how gamers will soon be able to "instantly scratch" on DJ Hero. I might argue -- in present time -- this merely proves that DJs are less essential than musicians.
  
  But in 50 years we'll be slotting skillsets directly into our brains; in fifty years anybody will be able to do anything with the right cyber-implant and a chip. At that point, will The Guitarist Have Died?
  
  Maybe. But I'd argue that DJ Hero actually liberates the medium from itself. When all people can perform the art proficiently it will be the individual's raw ideas for the medium, not her proficiency with it, that determines the elite. A nation of people with hidden musical ideas, if you will. When a rich suburban girl aged about 10 was making goth industrial disco jazz in my classroom, I saw life, not death.
  

• In twenty years the contemporary analog of Lady Gaga will be a digital construct. (Pop stars almost are already.) She's practically Angie Mitchell.

• Google's FastFlip is going to merge RSS feeds with magazine-style reading. I love it. This would be ideal for iPhone.

• Take your own photos of the Earth from space for about $150.

Collected Thoughts 09-14-09

• Don't forget I am giving away Meat Puppets tickets.

• Get the Pizza! discography while you still can.

• Bronson is pitch-perfect on the VMAs: "Please, people, do we need pop culture heroes this badly? Cringeworthy performances, fake hype, spittle-inducing celebrity worship, and the mainstream media breathlessly analyzing it like it’s high art instead of crass commerce. Shameful."
  
  Having worked in entertainment news for about two and a half years (and worked at all the award shows, some as many as three times), I totally agree. The legitimacy of awards shows varies from show-to-show. The Oscars are political, but honest. The Emmys, mostly so. The Golden Globes, a mix of politics and publicity. The VMAs, folks, are totally manufactured. They have no deeper pop cultural meaning because they are planned by script writers and publicity firms. It doesn't reflect what the people want, it reflects what the industry wants to sell.
  
  The VMAs are as "real" as The Hills. They're just reality television programming. And they aren't merely disposable pop culture, or mindless pop culture, they are harmful pop culture.

• In my mind Danny Trejo is the only correct casting option for the Lobo film. Mickey Rourke would work, but he's already the iconic Marv. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, though now the iconic Comedian, would be an acceptable consolation prize.
  

• The fucking Patriots.
  
  In Brady's first seven drives, five of them were scoreless. He made some terrible passes. Turnover on downs twice. If the Bills hadn't have committed so many ghastly turnovers on offense, the game would not have even been close at the end.
  
  Tom Brady played five minutes of good football, including the last 76 seconds of the game. This is why it is the greatest sport in the world. Football isn't fair, it's life. The assholes often win, often when they don't deserve to. The good guys can fail if they aren't perfect. If you don't win, you mean nothing.
  
  The Pats have some serious defensive concerns. Brady was as iffy as he's been in five years. They are also leading their division. November 15th, motherfuckers. It's on in The Luc.
  

• The MNF commentating was embarrassing. I understand the networks (and the league) are not objective entities, they are profitable corporations. Tom Brady makes them profitable. Still, the fanboyism and East Coast media elitism was fucking rampant. Biggest offense: the Pats turned over on downs, and then the next possession shanked a field goal. The broadcast goes to commercial with one of the announcers saying "The Patriots look good!" JFC.

• Patrick Swayze died. This is awkward for me because the last good movie he made was Red Dawn, in 1984. I feel this is the only proper way to celebrate his life:

• 
  

Meat Puppets Ticket Giveaway!

The Meat Puppets are arguably more responsible for influencing the best of 1990's alternative rock than any other band. The cowpunk sound they honed in the 80's fused the unpredictability of punk rock with the aesthetic of psychedelic and an earthy sensibility, setting the course for nearly a decade of grunge music and culture. All the best tracks on Nirvana Unplugged are Meat Puppets songs.

CGT is giving away a pair of tickets to see The Meat Puppets at The El Rey Theatre this Friday, September 18th. (Thanks to the swell folks at Goldenvoice!)

To win, EMAIL ME with "Meat Puppets" in the subject line and your FULL NAME in the body of the email. I will notify the winner on Wednesday, September 16th around 6pm PST.

This is going to be one of those shows from an old storied band that you might otherwise overlook, only to hear from one of your respected friends the next day that they went and it was transcendent. Just a hunch. Dead Confederate opens, so there's some bonus points, too.


Photo J. Cultice

Collected Thoughts 09-13-09

• On band linking: When I make a band's name a link, I always link to their myspace page. I do this because 1) it's consistent and 2) the first thing I want when I click on a band's name is to hear the music. As a web reader myself, I click on band name links when I want an instant reference point to their sound.
  
  The problem is that myspace is obnoxious and dying. Still, most band websites are insufficient, usually a pain to look at and to navigate. I'm not sure what to do about this. I want a new network to rise-up, one with identical, uncustomizable band pages that have photos, a player, tour dates, and contact info; sort of like a multimedia business card without the social networking and without the variety and incongruence of corporate or homespun websites.

• Robert Zemeckis wants to remake Yellow Submarine. This is not a disgrace or disservice to The Beatles legacy. It is perfectly appropriate for The Beatles Corporate Entity that millions of people around the world enjoy.
  

• After my Beatles ranting I should mention that I quite like Rubber Soul and Revolver. I just think John Lennon should be regarded as a rock star, not a spiritual leader, and especially not an intellectual thinker. I think The Beatles' influence on rock music, especially as attributed to unique talent, is over-stated, but not nonexistent. To spin-off a Facebook discussion I took part in, I think The Beatles have more in common with Elvis Presley than Chuck Berry. There's nothing wrong with that.

• The VMAs. Ugh.
  

• Jay-Z likes Grizzly Bear.

• Rivers Cuomo tweets: "I noticed that the new Weezer song is classified as ROCK instead of ALTERNATIVE by Itunes. I wonder what they mean by that."
  
  Uh, Rivers? It's because "alternative music" is now the music that is alternative to yours. Also, you have the Album Cover of the Year. =W=
  

• HORROR OF HORRORS.
  

• HORROR OF HORRORS #2. KILL THEM WITH FIRE.

• So, the South African runner is a mutant. This just goes to show that human biology is extremely flexible by nature (and ergo, hackable) and that our ideas about gender classification are not unlike our perception of the multi-dimensional physical world as being only three dimensions; there are nuances and layers to gender that our societal structures are simply not capable of perceiving and classifying. The Singularity will resolve this.

• (A friend of mine pointed out her name is Semenya. It's crude to lol, but how can you not?)
  

• Speaking of The Singularity, I realized today that the inevitable Hive Mind will probably include cyber-enhanced animals. When we're a collective conscious we will also be communicating with our pets. It will be cool to get their ideas on things like healthcare and the VMAs.
  

• The Colts beat the Jags, 14-12. It didn't feel like we deserved to win until the fourth quarter. On the plus side, the defense looks healthy and improved. I love the blitzing. On the downside, the offense looked out of sync. Gonzo had a freak injury and is going to miss some time, which makes Indy perilously shallow on receivers. (Hay dudes, give Marvin Harrison a call, plz.)
  
  Still, a win is a win. Everyone else in the division lost, and I'm happy to be one-up (and an effective two game lead) on the others.
  

• Other football thoughts:
  
  • EL OH EL BEARS! I guess it's not the QB, it's the mystical properties of the team's character. Only Chicago the city could turn Jay Cutler into an interception machine.
    
  • I can't believe the Chiefs put-up 24 points on the Ravens. I can't believe the Ravens put-up 38 points on anybody. This is crazyworld!
    
  • Uh-ohs, Texans.
  • Drew Brees is a Terminator.
    
  • The Skins are who they are. They do what they do. lol.
  • Mark Sanchez is the real deal. Good for the Jets.
  • I was 12-for-14 in my Pick 'Em this week so far!
    
  • Rooting for The Bills on Monday.
    

• MUST READ: Big Food vs. Big Insurance. After we tackle healthcare we're going to have to tackle agriculture and food distribution in this country. The lobbying weight of the health insurance industry will make that a much easier task.
  

Collected Thoughts 09-09-09

• The Eagle Rock Music Festival, the best music festival in Los Angeles, has announced its lineup.
  
  
  
  Big local scores with No Age and The Happy Hollows. (How about a No Age after-party, Pehrspace?) I'm pleased to see The Underground Railroad to Candyland on there. I am familiar with less bands this year than last year, and looking forward to spending most of my time in discovery mode.

• After a score of news pieces over the course of months, is it safe to say that "Hey! They're closing Sunset Blvd. for the music fest!" is no longer sufficient cause to write an article?

• Sean Carnage nights are back.

• More on this show later, but Save The Date.

• I saw Moses Campbell open for Ted Leo and was kind of impressed. They have a fun DIY music video.

• I have a weakness for botfly extraction videos on YouTube.

• Twitter has brought Teh Internets to the masses.
  
  Yes, The Normals have had The Internet for a decade, but they haven't had Teh Internets. For years geeks posted on forums like TheForce.net, SomethingAwful, 4Chan, etc; and they developed a unique style of writing and sense of humor. Internet humor, like the Japanese language, has a lot of implied subjects and adjectives. It skips a lot of jokes.
  
  The trending topics I see on Twitter remind me of the theme threads on TF.N ten years ago. Once again, the mainstream is pillaging the geek food stores. *Sigh*

• CJR has an interesting article about The Drudge Report. I used to know who was reading Drudge ("everybody") but now I'm not so sure. Even as a left-wing nutjob I had a certain kind of grudging (Drudging?) respect for the site; it determined the daily news narrative, afterall. Now the site's headlines are so far removed from obvious public sentiment that I can't really tell the difference between Matt Drudge and Glenn Beck. This has not always been the case, despite what many liberals like myself might say.

• I loved Obama's speech, except that I thought invoking Ted Kennedy was tacky. Anyways, the money quote:
  
  "Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick. And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies – because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives."
  
  The entire argument for reform is that paragraph.
  

Collected Thoughts 09-08-09

• I do not understand the Third Eye Blind resurgence. I've got to believe it is the publicity coup of the year; this thing has to be manufactured. At best Third Eye Blind was a mostly harmless radio band, at worst they were the exact moment that mainstream rock tripped and began its long, bloody fall down the basement stairs.

• Dave Dupuis and James Smith (both of Film School) have a new band, Nightmare Air. I really like the track "The Shock of the New" on their myspace page. Nightmare Air plays October 16th at Spaceland. Probably worth checking out...
  

• Leslie and the Badgers were great at The Echo on Monday night. I sort of snuck-in and snuck-out. I was really impressed by the vociferous crowd. It was a fun show and I can't stress enough the importance that you attend at least one Monday this month. Especially if you don't like country music.

• Rainn Wilson defends "Raditude".
  

• It's been a while since I said something really outrageous to alienate CGT readers, so here you go: I don't really like The Beatles.
  
  More specifically, I dislike John Lennon. He is the original hipster douchebag.
  
  Having not lived in the era and never feeling obliged to love certain rock gods just because you're supposed to, to me Lennon always comes off in interviews as a pompass twit way too into the notion of "being John Lennon" and his own legacy. McCartney "got it" and had no illusions about what The Beatles really were: a brilliant business enterprise. Lennon's self-absorbed delusions about his importance to the world seep-out of every interview he gave. I think the "bigger than Jesus" quote was always in its correct context after all.
  
  Lennon's take on international policy (particularly "peace") was not pragmatic and considerably naive. (He was, after all, not especially educated.) Actor Sean Penn is often ridiculed for his ultra-liberal stances, but you know, Sean Penn has actually traveled to Iraq and makes an effort to grasp real world issues using real-world knowledge.
  
  Lennon's take on the world was so much more shallow and theoretical. (Nutopia? Are you kidding me?) Like Thom Yorke, he'd prefer to be the guy on the sidelines making noise than actually do the dirty work to learn the details or make things better. He'd rather live a jet-setting, alcohol and drug-infused life between New York, London, Los Angeles, and Tokyo than spend his time and money on real world matters. The closest he ever came was supporting workers groups, though Lennon himself was anything other than a working class hero. He imagined his close affinity to them, if you will. (McCartney was also aware of the absurdity of "John Lennon, political figure".) Sit-ins and bed-ins didn't didn't offer policy solutions; they didn't do much, really, except get that one guy out of jail for selling a joint.
  
  Obviously you can't just ignore The Beatles; their role in pop music history is undeniable. They made Phil Spector a better producer, and that matters. Absolutely, John Lennon wrote some outstanding songs, with and without The Beatles.
  
  But I have never bought into the notion that The Beatles did anything that wouldn't have been stumbled upon anyway. Pop music existed before and after The Beatles, songs have always had political connotations, megamedia supergroups were a logical conclusion of western culture, world music influences were a logical conclusion of mass communication and air travel, and punk rock (something truly transformational) would have happened whether or not The Beatles ever existed.
  
  Sgt. Peppers is their most important, most unique contribution to rock music (for its influence on record production) and Brian Wilson was concurrently breaking the same ground on Pet Sounds anyway.
  
  Lennon's death was a tragedy, but Brian Wilson lived through all sorts of tragedies while he was making his music and though The Beach Boys are historically viewed as more artificial and The Beatles grittier, I can't help but hear the tangible experiences in Wilson's music. Lennon's music just sounds like a bunch of ideas he had while dreaming on beds of money.
  
  If John Lennon were alive today he'd either 1) had finally made some truly bad music and damaged his legacy or 2) be doing iPod commercials with M.I.A. and going on cable news to debate Bill O'Reilly. Nobody is invincible.
  

• LA Record had weed dispensary reviews this month. As someone who is very pro-legalization, that is kind of awesome. The mainstreaming of mostly harmless things like pot and gay sex is how we win.
  

• As someone who doesn't smoke weed (or anything else at all ever) I was struck by how obnoxious pot slang is to non-smokers. "Kush" is one of the most obnoxious words in the English language, for example.
  

• Also, pot smoking cultural imagery is weird to me. There's nothing about half-dead looking, sleepy-eyed models (or anthropomorphic bunny rabbits) leaking smoke from their mouths that appeals to normal people. Can you imagine if Miller sold their shitty beer using images of otherwise pretty girls with slacked mouths, bloodshot eyes, and drunken posture? "This is how stupid you'll look if you use our product!"

• LotR lawsuits settled.

• We humans have so poorly explored our home planet that we're still finding new ecosystems.

• Only on the internet can you find a site dedicated to Hot Chicks Picking Up Dog Shit.
  

• In a classic example of Belichick the Cold Hearted team management, The Pats sold Richard Seymour to the Raiders for a 1st round pick. It was a brilliant business move and Oakland got robbed. I also love that Richard Seymour was sent to hell by The Dark Lord of New England. All Patriots players deserve such a fate, but it is especially delicious to happen to one of their trademark leaders. Here's hoping Tom Brady ultimately ends his career as a Cincinnati Bengals backup.
  

Little Radio Septembercamp 09-06-09

I don't know how Little Radio does it. Without fail, even with hold-ups, snafus, often pricey doors / drinks, and late announcements, they always manage to put on outstanding events.

I won't bore you with too many details. The Happy Hollows' set was much looser and garage-ier than their record release show a couple nights earlier. The Henry Clay People basically played their standard drunken covers set. By my estimate I've seen them about 25 times now, and I would rate that show in the top five or so. And while I personally prefer to see them play a tightened set of their originals (a sentiment Duke shares), the way their covers set forces parties into existence by sheer will never ceases to astound me. They played for forty people as though they were four hundred, and every single soul hit the floor when the band demanded. To get the point across: I saw Travis Woods dancing, something I have never seen in my life before. There just isn't a better band in LA right now.

Septembercamp photos...


The Monolators








The Happy Hollows

Spells.

The Henry Clay People

There was a lot of this going on.

When the HCP tell you to get on the ground, you do it.

HCP chicken fight. I bet Jeff Koga has a better version of this shot.

Collected Thoughts 09-07-09

• Top three LA bands I miss these days: 1. The Mezzanine Owls, 2. Eskimohunter, 3. Film School (whose myspace page claims a resurgence this fall).

• Really, more than anything, my life could use a Mezzanine Owls show about now.

• The Spaceland Galaga machine is down again. Ugh.

• I got an email from one of the FYF Fest organizers regarding the line situation. He said the problem was due to legitimate fire marshal concerns that delayed the opening, plus an honest mistaken under-estimate on how many attendees would show for the early bands.
  
  It sounds like FYF Fest knows exactly what the problem was and have a handle on how to correct it next year. This would be the fundamental opposite of Sunset Junction.
  

• In this column (hat tip: Rawkblog) Nick Hornby makes an astute point: music blogs are filling the void that record stores are leaving when online sales put them out of business. Sure, a person could claim they "feel" something different when they walk into a brick-and-mortar store, but that thing they feel isn't the essential thing, and this point helps to show that technology doesn't really cause us to "lose something" so much as it reorders the priorities of certain things and where we find them.
  
  Absolutely blogs serve the same purpose as record store chat / recommendations, and absolutely they serve that purpose equally as well. If a person feels the online recommendation is lacking then they are probably just insufficiently equipped for online interaction. This is no different than the social gimp who can't hold a conversation with a record store employee they've never met. (*ahem*)

• A Congolese video arcade.

• By this time next week I should have a sample of a new Teh Internets Funneh project my friends and I cooked-up. Prepare to get Joxed.
  

Leslie and the Badgers feature article on Radio Free Silverlake

My first feature article for Radio Free Silverlake ran Friday evening. YOU CAN READ IT HERE.

It's on Leslie and the Badgers, a wonderful little band that you should know about. They play every Monday in September at The Echo for free, so you don't have much of an excuse not to check 'em out.

I want to thank RFS editor Joe Fielder for having me on board. He's courted me since RFS first went to a staff format and I hope to do the great RFS brand justice.

My goal then for these feature articles on Radio Free Silverlake is to write something that is enjoyable to read. I'm less interested in reporting the details of how a band got together or how the record was made and more interested in trying to tell a story that somehow gives the reader a reason to care about the subject. I'm looking to old Rolling Stone features for guidance here.

We're also trying to have exclusive photos for every piece. I think that matters. I want to try to transcend simple blogging with these; a feature article elevates. And exclusive photos help elevate. In my own small way I want to elevate both the local music and the writing about local music. We also want the features to be timely, generally centered on the release of a record or a residency or some such thing.

I'm considerably happy with how this first one turned out. Leslie and the Badgers were a real joy to interview. Every band member was extremely quotable. They also said some really intelligent, insightful things about technology and touring that were well-stated but just a little too dry for the piece. But as far as covering unsigned bands goes, they truly made my job easy.

I went with pretty colorful descriptions of the band members. The Badgers are a funnier bunch than the piece conveys, and I regret not getting that aspect of their personalities in there. I don't feel I perfectly captured the subjects this time, but I think they at least come to life. I took some minor liberties with sequence but every quote is still in its original context.

As for the writing... oof. There's some truly treacherous paragraph transitions in there, but I think 95% of all music writing is boring and I erred on the side of "keep the piece moving" vs. "classical style says do x".

On a personal note, it's strange seeing my words on RFS' font and layout.

I welcome feedback in the comments section. I scaled-down CGT in part due to burnout. I was running out of things to say and ways to write about local music. This feature poured out of me though; it was the most fun I've had writing in almost six months.

Anyways, go to their residency. It'll be worth your time.