Theme Park Experience

Three things I have learned from watching movies: -The good guys have great aim while the bad guys have terrible aim. -When eating out, order a big meal, nibble on it and then leave. -When life gets rough or dramatic, music starts playing out of thin air. Three things I have learned from watching commercials: -There is an orgazmic kind of joy when you eat certain food, like buffalo wings and seafood. -A reality show is not a reality show unless "Oh my God!" is said. -Smiles and bright lighting equal happiness.

Heads in my song: "The Concept" by Teenage Fanclub "Everything Flows" by Teenage Fanclub Punknews.org pointed out this Billboard article on all sorts of Replacements/Paul Westerberg news. I'm not sure if I'll buy the first four Replacements albums again just because of bonus tracks. However, I'll definitely pick up the solo Westerberg anthology. Jim DeRogatis interviews Dann Gallucci of Modest Mouse. Nice look into the band from another member of the band. Compare your album covers: there is this and then there is this . They look similar to me, but I seriously doubt this was intentional (as with most things in life). I plan on seeing Saboteur tomorrow night. I have yet to see them play and I look forward to the show. They're playing with [DARYL] , so that's a good double bill. Yesterday I watched a documentary on this guy and I feel compelled to borrow all of his records from the housemate. I received Dogtown and the Z Boys in the mail f...

Songs in me heads: "Advice for the Young at Heart" by Tears for Fears "Serious" by [DARYL] "Nightdrive" by Jimmy Eat World Bill Cosby's impersonation of an Art Blakely drum solo This is funny but very noble. More proof that nu-metal was the hair metal of yesteryear. I received the new issue of Law of Inertia in the mail yesterday. Cedric and Omar from the Mars Volta are on the cover and their interview/story is well, very interesting. Certain things that I heard about At the Drive-In's final months are clarified, at least from their perspective. Travis Barker of blink-182 sheds more light on the band's "indefinite hiatus." Don't believe the hype , just enjoy the music.

Songs in my heads: "This Afternoon Malady" by Jejune Bill Cosby's impersonation of an Art Blakely drum solo Last night, I got to interview the last band I'm profiling in my book. The whole experience bore some resemblance to William Miller's first encounter with Stillwater in Almost Famous , but it was all for the good. Yes, there was a stonewall bouncer but overall, things went very well. I did my interview and watched the set from the side of the stage. Many thanks to this guy for hookin' a brother up. NME reports blink-182 is on "indefinite hiatus." Remember the last time we heard "indefinite hiatus" from a band ? I received the new Punk Planet issue in the mail yesterday. Slint is on the cover and there is an article on alt-country. Good stuff that I'll try and read later today. I'm curious as to what Slint has to say. I've heard about the band over the years (and seen the Spiderland cover many times) as a major influenc...

Songs in me head: "To Repel Ghosts" by Manic Street Preachers "Glasnost" by Manic Street Preachers "1985" by Manic Street Preachers "A to B" by the Futureheads Punknews.org reports that the Casket Lottery has broken up. I thought they broke up a while ago. They had some good stuff, especially their split EP collaboration with Small Brown Bike. Since Kev and I discussed this group/movie in a previous post, I found this quote from this article on Judas Priest very timely: "We're serious musicians, but we can still be Spinal Tap." The housemate and I watched the new New Order video, "Krafty," last night. I think the song is really good and the video is interesting in its own way. Chrome Waves posted the good word about what I was hoping for: The Life Aquatic DVD will have the Criterion treatment. More info is here . There is a local telephone provider that has a radio commercial featuring a guy singing a popular guitar ri...

Song in my heads: "Summer Away" by Aloha We're in the middle of warm spell (yes, in February) so, this is perfect weather for kickball. Most of the park was full yesterday so trying to find enough space for a kickball diamond was hard. We made our own diamond and enjoyed a rather strong wind from the west. Had an "aww, how cute" moment during the second game: Rhett batted and rounded the bases with Jason and Andrea's son, Asher, on his shoulders. Ain't it Cool News has a new, readable look. I watched Airplane! over the weekend. This movie still holds up as a great spoof. I think the reason why it holds up is because there are more visual jokes and play-on-words (ala Groucho Marx) than late-'70s inside jokes. I think I may listen to the commentary track tonight . . . Punkbands.com has a very good review of the forthcoming Mars Volta record, Frances the Mute . I think I may need to pace myself with listening to this record much like how I pace mysel...

Songs in my head: "I Live to Fall Asleep" by Manic Street Preachers "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" by the Four Tops "Mad World" (Tears for Fears cover) by Gary Jules I had another weird dream this morning. Here is what I remember: I find myself on a stage with a bass in my hand and I hear that I am trying out for Clint Black's backing band. To the side of me, there are two guitar players and another bass player, along with a drumkit manned by a dwarf. The next thing that happens: I'm directing my parents to a club in Addison that has valet parking. Next thing I know, I'm on stage, playing bass with Clint Black and his backing band (with the same two guitarists and the other bass player I tried out with - yes, the band's lineup was ala GvsB with two bassists). I have no idea what I'm playing but somehow, all my notes are in key. We're playing this country-rock song on a rather high stage and the crowd looks like an open-d...

Songs in my head: "Want" by Jawbreaker "Split" by Jawbreaker "Equalized" by Jawbreaker "Caroline" by Jawbreaker "Lovers Need Lawyers" by the Good Life Just read this headline and insert your own joke. The Ataris, now a seven-piece with a different sound? I sense impending backlash . . . I'm keeping to my word about not reading spoilers on Revenge of the Sith , but this is rather amusing. I'm still sticking to my word about the Donnie Darko: the Director's Cut commentary track after watching forty more minutes. Lots of great topics are brought up and they're very funny and right on. NME has a lot of info on the Tears. No, the Tears are not another early '80s post-punk-inspired band, but the band consists of Bernard Butler and Bret Anderson of Suede fame.

Songs in my head: "From Now to Never" by Sparta "Syncope" by Sparta Although I only reached the 23-minute mark, I think I'm safe to proclaim Richard Kelly's and Kevin's Smith's commentary track on the Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut DVD is one of the best commentary tracks I've ever heard. I didn't watch the whole movie because of my rather early bedtime, but I plan to watch the rest in the next few days. Anyway, what I heard was very funny and engaging. Kevin offers up some great insight while Richard keeps things on track with the talking about the changes from the theatrical cut. A rather massive book update is coming very soon. Watch this space on March 1st.

Songs in my head: "On the Table" by Carl Newman "Hotel California" (acoustic) by the Eagles "The Concept" by Teenage Fanclub "Black Star" by Radiohead "Black and White Town" by Doves Just because I'm curious about how many visitors this site has and because Kev has one, I now have a Site Meter . While I'm still hobbling around, I took Juliet for a walk last night. The weather was so good that I just couldn't pass the opportunity up. Lil' Jon tells MTV that his fans will never get tired of crunk. Sure, I think I could hear his songs (along with a lot of other rap/hip hop songs) played on an "oldies" radio station in the future. Since a lot of these kinds of songs are created with timeless melodies, understandable lyrics and universal messages, people will want hear these songs over and over again for many, many years. (I hope you sense the sarcasm) Isn't there a relatively smaller venue inside Madison Sq...

Songs in my head: "Silver" by Echo & the Bunnymen "Nocturnal" by Echo & the Bunnymen "Crystal Days" by Echo & the Bunnymen "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen This weekend was incredible. Even a splat on the pavement was great. Saturday morning, while walking Juliet, she high-tailed it when she saw a squirrel. I let her run as fast as possible, but then she crossed into my path. It was too late for me to stop and I fell forward onto the the sidewalk. I skinned my right knee and left elbow, so the rest of the walk was very slow. I'm still hobbling but I still had a really good weekend with my parents and relatives. Lots of birthday activities were held as this was a dual birthday celebration (my father's birthday is at the end of the month). I probably ate more than I would in a week, but I'm not worried. Our Anti-Valentine's Day party went very well. Lots of familiar faces were around as we "celebrated...

Songs in my head: "Daily Mutilation" by the Posies "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" by Joe Jackson The soundtrack to the Anti-Valentine's Day party is complete. Five discs of songs with lyrics about breaking up, discontent, unhappiness, regret and so on. Here are some of the other songs: "I'm Not Calling You" by Lifetime "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" by Morrissey "Via Chicago" by Wilco "Daily Mutilation" by the Posies "Explode and Make Up" by Sugar "Make It Easy on Yourself" by the Walker Brothers "Operator" by Jim Croce "The Brides Have Hit Glass" by Guided By Voices "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" by Eric Carmen "Another Saturday Night" by Sam Cooke "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan "Without You" by Nilsson "Sent You Up" by Knife in ...

Songs in my head: "1985" by Manic Street Preachers "Empty Souls" by Manic Street Preachers "I Live to Fall Asleep" by Manic Street Preachers "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" by Joe Jackson We're having a theme party/birthday party this Saturday night. I turn 26 on Sunday and at least thirteen of our friends are celebrating birthdays in February. So, that's the birthday angle. The theme is anti-Valentine's: no red clothing can be worn and black clothing is encouraged. Last night, I put together three mix CDs as a "soundtrack" for the party. Here are some of the songs I'm using: "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by the Smiths "Song for the Dumped" by Ben Folds Five "Memory Lame" by Jim O'Rourke "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" by Joe Jackson "Everything Reminds Me of Her" by Elliott Smith "Only Lie Worth Telling" by Paul Westerberg ...

Songs in my head: "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie "Whatever" by Oasis "Either Coast" by the Reputation "She's a Star" by James "We've Been Had" by the Walkmen "Better Than the Super Bowl" by Errortype:11 Friday night, we saw Fu Manchu - The Melodrama at Pocket Sandwich Theater . The play was intentionally over-the-top (acting-wise) and really funny. In other words, I really enjoyed it. The interesting thing is, popcorn is passed out to the audience and the audience members are encouraged to throw kernals at the actors. Odd way of showing that your appreciation, but interesting no less. The two Super Bowl commercials that stuck out for me: the Ameriquest one in the convenience store and the FBNA one with rugby players and Gladys Knight. I received Lifeblood by the Manics on Friday. My first impression: the production reminds me of New Order's Get Ready . Lots of piano lines with delay and more synt...

Blogging has been at a minimum due to rather restricted internet use. Hopefully I'll be back at it next week. Stay tuned.

Songs in my head: "Reelin' in the Years" by Steely Dan "Midnight Cruiser" by Steely Dan "Dirty Work" by Steely Dan I finished reading Fargo Rock City last night. Before I forget, I must stress many thanks to this guy for recommending it to me. Previously, I had seen the book in stores and picked it up and put it back a few times. It's a really great discussion on a style of music that is remembered mostly as a silly thing (hair metal). However, Chuck Klosterman does such a great job of writing about how we perceive, enjoy and live by the music we love. As I said yesterday, I find this book empowering because it tackles a subject matter that so many people write off as a silly. I found this article to be rather interesting. Who would have thought there would be a backlash for a band playing for the troops in Iraq? Maybe I'm just too jaded but I don't know how much of this is really true. This is probably the most amount o...

Songs in my head: "The Chemistry Between Us" by Suede "The Drowners" by Suede "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen "Blizzard of '77" by Nada Surf We attempted to finish the basic tracks for "Four Corners" last night. Due to various "technical difficulties," it didn't really work out. Jason did lay down a vocal track in (what I believed was) one take. Granted, we weren't in the same room that he cut it, but he came out about seven minutes after going in. Impressive. Ash is touring North America in March! Read all about it here . Here is some info about Edgar Wright's (of Shaun of the Dead fame) next project. MTV.com has a lengthy article on Peter Jackson's forthcoming King Kong remake. Thankfully, snow did not fall yesterday. There was a lot of rain, but it did not turn into a wintery mix. We're safe for now, maybe the whole rest of winter.

Songs in my head: "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" by the Four Tops "MacArthur Park Part II" by the Four Tops "Worlds Apart" by . . . and you will know us by the trail of dead "Afraid Not Scared" by Ryan Adams "To Whom Should I Write" by Mojave 3 Woke up a little earlier than normal this morning. The dog was barking like mad at nothing, which is very unusual for her. Whatever. I couldn't fall back to sleep after I got Steely Dan's "Dirty Work" stuck in my head. So I did some laundry and read more of Fargo Rock City . I just finished the chapter in which Chuck talks about his favorite metal records. This book is empowering. This has been around for a long time and I've read it many times. However, I still find it hilarious. Snow is expected on this first day of February. I'm all for snow but I'm not for freeway closures and icy sidewalks. The forecast says the snow will unlikely stick ...