Yesterday I had the privilege of seeing Tom Toles speak at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. He seems like a nice enough guy. I got to kill two birds with one stone: I saw a political cartoonist who I'd been a fan of since I was ten (Can you be a fan of political cartoons at ten?) and I finally got around to visiting the Art Center before it moved to a new building next door. Ahh, the sense of accomplishment I felt just by standing there!
The standing-room-only crowd
Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan introduced Toles. Afterwards she stood next to me to catch her friend Toles' speech. "They have you speak," I whispered as I turned to her, "but they won't give you a chair?" She laughed. Now I'm in with the Buffalo Elite.
The picture quality sucks so you might have to enlarge this: Tom Toles describes how he draws George W. Bush. Get it? He's a right-wing-nut.
Toles also used the term "Mess O'Potamia" a full fifteen years before Jon Stewart.
A couple more by Toles. Why not? So Tom Toles took a job at the Washington Post but originally worked for the Buffalo News, but that job is now taken by a guy named Adam Zyglis, who used to draw for the Canisius College Griffin. This was around the time that I wrote for the Griffin (short-lived, don't ask), but especially around the time that roommate/Best Bud Dave wrote for them, who coincidentally did an internship in Washington for the Buffalo News. Someone at the talk even thought I was Zyglis (?). I also co-starred in the 1988 movie Criminal Law with--that's right--Kevin Bacon!
As required by law, here's another photograph of a Herd About Buffalo statue.
By the time you read this Home of the Hits will have closed forever. Today, on its last day open for business, I went in to see what was left over. Considering how it used to look--walls covered in tee-shirts and bins overflowing with CDs--the place had pretty much been picked clean. While some of the remnants were surprising (a couple good U2 albums on vinyl) most was useless (Dashboard Depressional). I and a dozen other crate-diggers worked through the remaining detritus. During the afternoon the owner was selling six used CDs for $10.
[I prefer syrup!]
Here is where I bought my first Pavement album for $1 (a radio promo with a messed up tracklisting, which I thought was mighty cool). When I started collecting Bikini Kill's discography, this was the only store in WNY that sold their albums. I once bought a Blur double-album import there for $20 off. Way back when I worked the 3AM DJ shift at WBNY, I decided to celebrate the end of the semester by picking up some Limited Edition pressing from a group I'd read about called Sleater-Kinney. That decision led to the loss of several hundred dollars, a weekend in Cleveland, and three days worth of lunches (from food poisoning) after fanatically following the band during a snowstorm in Fredonia.
[nearly bare]
But today I spent only six dollars: two for the Eyes Adrift album (members of Nirvana, Sublime, and the Meat Puppets that only sold 20,000 copies), two for DJ Hurricane's The Hurra (his first solo work outside of the Beastie Boys), and two for an extremely out-of-print copy of Heavens To Betsy's Complicated (there's that S-K link). I know you don't care.
[ancient Pepsi-Cola machine]
Since Home of the Hits is closing I think it's a good time to give up CDs. Sorry everybody. Ask anyone and they'll tell you of my notorious reputation when it comes to CD shopping. But now that it's 2007, what's the point? I have a hundred albums on my computer that I haven't heard yet. Portable .mp3 players make CDs seem like an inconvenience and Amazon and iTunes removed the thrill of the hunt. Aside from Radiohead's next release I can't see a reason to buy another disc ever again.
[Half of my 1600+ CD collection. I haven't yet counted the records in the next room.]
Kind of sad when you think about it. How much have I spent?
Mexican Cession hadn't played a show in five years. They put together one more album and had a reunion, CD release party, and final goodbye all in the same night. It was a resurrection of ska that F'n kicked A. The entire place turned into a mosh pit and I think my camera's busted.
It's either this or classwork. Until the Great Hard Drive Crash of '06 I used to post mix CDs on this blog and--believe it!--some people actually downloaded them. Here's another 80 minutes of music for you to despise. Try some and tell me what you think.
My favorite alt-xmas song of all time remains Beck's "Little Drum Machine Boy" ("Hannakuh Pimp!") but this is a good effort. Plus I can't get the image of those dogs eating Crisco out of my head. Mmm . . . Crisco.
Based on a real story about a wild animal that jumped a passenger train going into Portland, Oregon. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to find a new favorite band; Sleater-Kinney had to go and break up last year so now I'm wandering in the auditory desert.
The Apples are back! Their first album in about 5 years comes out this year and this song is on it. For the uninitiated, the Apples In Stereo have based their entire careers on copying the Beatles' Rubber Soul/Revolver period. Most of the time it works.
I know nothing about this band or whether they deserve a remix album, or anything about Scandinavian building techniques. But I drove 7 hours to Boston the other week and had this melody stuck in me for the first 5.
From a Live in London DVD someone ripped into MP3. This doesn't do the track justice outsite of the 90-minute show. Didn't Dan the Automator also record this song?
After searching for 6 years I finally have all the tracks from Blow It Out Your Ass, It's Veruca Salt. I don't think they had an album out before this, probably explaining the promo at the very end. The sing-a-long part in this song reminds me of a story I heard about Catherine that happened during a school trip to Australia, but my memory is sketchy. Hey, speaking of Australia . . .
. . . and speaking of new albums, this comes out in a couple of weeks. Somehow I've been sitting on a copy since October. Parts of the album are darker than earlier Shins releases but I find it a lot more enjoyable. Still, I was promised this band would change my life and I'm a bit disappointed.
Indie stuff just doesn't rock anymore. This Japanese band apes the Melvins but speeds it up a tad. (Anyone remember Tad?) If they weren't so into 60-minute drone symphonies they might have a chance at taking Sleater-Kinney's old job. I really like three songs per album by these guys. The rest is more of a dull headache.
Ever think to yourself "That's a cool song and/or video. I should really get that album" and years go by and you hear about that band again and think "Whatever happened to them? I should have picked up that album while I had the chance" and sometimes you're in the record store thinking "There was an album I was supposed to get. What was it?" and then twelve years go by, you download it off this new thing called the Internet and you listen to it and exclaim "Wow, the rest of this album is shit"? Thus endeth my Rentals odyssey.
The guy's not from Beirut or anywhere near it but he might have you fooled for a couple minutes. The album overdraws itself, especially in the song titles department, but you have to admire an indie project from Neutral Milk Hotel et al. that sticks to its guns. No guitars!
You can hear a ripped-off version of this in an Outback Steakhouse ad. I like the walking baseline. Sounds like it wants to do the Electric Slide. Or maybe the Bus Stop. One of those dances I had to do in elementary gym class.
Probably the best thing I got for Christmas was the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series 1-3. There are far better songs on there, but THIS is BOB DYLAN singing "HAVA NEGEILA," people. Meshuggah!
The whole album is great. Thanks, Clarence Public Library! You can also catch a VH1 special on the recording sessions. I was going to post an alternate version of "Cripple Creek" but I really like how the fiddle and piano sounds come out here. Pianos should sound like pianos, not like Casio Keyboard Instrument #1.
The keys on this song, however, are absolute cheese. Then again, so is the movie Snakes On A Plane, which I've watched four times now. Cobra Starship, you're forgiven. This time. You can tell they don't take themselves too seriously, either. "Why did the chorus just slow down and cut off? Oh well, keep it in, it sounds kinda cool."
Another subversive artist from Japan. Like Bright Eyes, this guy took his performance name from a Planet Of The Apes Character. I wish he had more of a following in the States. This is a fun headphone instrumental.
Sonic Youth changed their name to Ciccone Youth for one very weird album--weird even for Sonic Youth standards. Unlike Goodbye 20th Century, this one's actually quite catchy. Ciccone is Madonna's real last name and here is a cover of one of her early hits. Kim Gordon also sings a karaoke version of "Addicted To Love" if you have the stomach for it.
From a Daniel Johnston covers album. Daniel Johnston's recordings can have lousy quality but the songwriting always stands out. Plus, Sufjan Stevens is involved and he knows how to turn roughshod records into gold. If you like this, definitely check out Daniel Johnston in all his schizophrenic (literally) glory.
A possible New Favorite Band? Kasabian was a lot like Oasis in a trance during their first album, but now they're getting into rockin' "Hey Jude" territory. Very Nice! The first album was also riddled with a masochistic copy protection program, so I'm overjoyed to present this track without direct permission from the record company. (Note: please delete after 24 hours or your computer will asplode.)
Technically, all of Girl Talk's albums are illegal because he doesn't get permission to use samples. In fact, I first learned about him from Illegal Art's website. Anyhoo, I post this only because it's the world's first successful mashup of (among other things) Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch's "Good Vibrations" and the Golden Girls theme.
I don't get this. Can I post songs I don't actually like? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it . . . I guess. Nellie McKay is like 21 now, but she sounds better doing songs that could have been written 60 years ago. The album this comes from also has some attempts at hip-hop (???) Is she even in tune in this song? What's going on here? Reviewers wrote that McKay was the sound of some new breed of revolutionary, feminist singers. Kathleen Hanna, what? Oh . . . my head is spinning.
Prejudicially I was wary of the Scissor Sisters, who sounded like a one-hit Darkness sibling without the sense of humor. It ends up that the album is freakin' sweet, though its replay value may be low. Especially interesting is that while the music is upbeat (my dad's "Philadephia Feeling" 45 comes to mind), the album's lyrics are generally very depressing. So instead of being one of my favorite words, "derivative," it's one of my other favorite words, a "juxtaposition." This track comes from the Ultra Special Extra 8 Bucks Edition.
Overdramatic. Draining. It's great. My brother and I saw their "cabaret punk" concert/play just outside of Harvard last month and they can really pour it on. This is probably my favorite track of the 22 here because it's such a performance. Is she jaded or manipulative? You make the call.
Six people from four states combined forces on Wednesday night, activated our Wonder Twin powers and trekked to The Cheesecake Factory, a timeless land where seconds turn into hours and children magically morph into grandparents right before your very eyes. There are lines just to wait in other lines. There are lines just to wait for a person to tell you to wait for another person to tell you to wait in another line. There are waiting areas you wait in before you get to the real waiting area, but it's better just to wait outside. Ironically, the waiters keep quite busy and don't spend a lot of time in one place.
After THREE HOURS we were famished. Ed started sucking on his toes for nutrients.
The Shangri-La that is the Cheesecake Factory interior
Success. We were supposed to go ice skating, but by this point winter was over. Position 5 ate the Fish Taco.
...and one urinal
The night's highlight was Steinman, appearing out of nowhere as he does less than once per year. We think he comes from the future. The gang watched an IMAX film and he disappeared into the night.
I work hard, I play hard, and I'm not a fan of ambiguity. So when the opportunity arose to spend Christmas weekend in Boston, I conquered the city without hesitation. For some reason Hello isn't posting any of my 268 pictures tonight, but here's what I did in 48 hours:
--Saw the Dresden Dolls perform a show/avant-garde play at the Zero Arrow Theatre, front row, three feet from the drum set while the actors performed around us. You can see a slideshow here. I'll try to post music later. Had I only gone to Boston for this show it would have been worth it!
--An excellent dinner in Chinatown, though for some reason it was at a Vietnamese place
--Checking out the Christmas decorations and ice skaters at Boston Common
--Hanging out with Tim's roommates/catching up on Da Ali G show
--So that was Day 1. Day 2:
--Took the T to a special exhibit at the science museum: Dozens of human corpses skinned, disassembled or just plain pulled apart for their artistic and educational value. You can see a slideshow here and also see a movie clip.
--Once at an English Language camp in the Czech Republic, I woke up the campers to my own rendition of "One Foot In The Grave" (the harmonica part in that Beck performance) over the PA system. Yes, I play harmonica. No, quite badly, but I appreciate the interest.
--With all the work I did this month it's fantastic that I have a 3-day weekend coming up. By 3-day weekend I mean that I will wake up at 6 AM on Friday, teach and go to meetings, and then spend the rest of the weekend grading, writing tests, researching and writing lessons for the next week. That should only take 20 hours or so. Good thing I worked 40 hours by Thursday so I can enjoy this "break."
--Cover charges kind of suck, especially if you don't drink. That said, you miss out on some great conversation if you skip out.
--Blogger now says there's a "Scheduled outage at 8PM." This waste-of-precious-free-time post may well be a real waste of precious free time.
--When buying lunch at Wegmans today, the girl exclaimed "You must eat here every day!" and then, "I see you more than you see my brother!" Then I find out I work with her brother. I should start eating somewhere else before I get adopted.
--Speaking of adopted, my professor/boss is adopting a newborn at the end of December. Congrats! Since you hear horror stories about adoption and red tape, I asked her how she got a match so quickly (only two weeks to be assigned a domestic-born child). Her reply was that it's easy if you don't list "white" as a preference. Think about that for a second.
--Speaking of white people, a couple was Christmas shopping in my store and wanted to get a doll for their daughter. They requested I check the back for other dolls because the ones on the shelf were too "ethnic." At first I thought they wanted a doll that resembled their daughter, but when they waited 10 minutes for me to find a blonde doll but settled for a brunette instead (the ones on the shelf were hispanic and asian) I got pretty disgusted.
--Speaking of that store, my supervisor's wife just got pregnant. There must be something about knowing me that produces children.
--Speaking of giving birth, it doesn't really show but I lost 10 pounds this year. Thanks, stress & fatigue! Lose 10 more and I'll buy you some new pants.
--"Eventually, everyone's going to lie, everyone's going to cry, and everyone's going to take a painful sh*t." --the Bill Cosby of our generation
--Living at home is such a drag . . . but when you're living with just your father in a 3-bedroom apartment and it's only to sleep and shower, what's the use of moving out? I should keep saving my money and milk this for a few more months.
--Finally, something awesome for local history nerds straight from the Preservation Coalition: "The downtown cell phone tour will rollout this coming spring. Visitors and Buffalonians will be able to call a number and listen to explanations of over 50 sites around downtown. All it will cost will be air time minutes, and it will be available 24 hours a day, year round. This tour will have been two years in the making." Now you can take a tour of Buffalo's East Side all by yourself at 3 in the morning.
I only spend 1-2 waking hours at home lately, but I want to use some of that precious time to give out a word of thanks. Holly, thank you for exposing me to Marshmallow Candied Yams last week. The world will never taste quite the same.
One of the original principles behind this blog was to not post anything substantial or newsworthy. I have, with some exceptions, done an admirable job over the past 4+ years. But if it's good news, why not pass it along? The other day my good Canisius buddy Sarah G got engaged! She and Phil, her long-time boyfriend, have been dating since forever so it's about damn time! In honor of the occasion I scanned part of a letter she wrote me on September 10, 1999:
Yes, it's really taken that long. They're planning on next summer to tie the knot. If they wait just a little longer they can skip over the entire Bush Administration!
In other news, on the very same day I bumped into my first girlfriend, Beth. It was by no means a serious relationship--she lived an hour away and we were in middle school--meaning I felt more like I'd won the lottery than met an old flame. I had not seen or talked to this person in at least 12 years but always wondered what happened to her.
Fun facts about Beth:
--The second of triplets: Abby, Beth, and Cathy. Abby dated my younger brother for a long time.
--Right before becoming my girlfriend, Beth got four guys to pick me up by my arms and legs to throw me in a lake. Luckily they gave up on their plan because (1) I couldn't swim and (2) the lake was covered in algae. I probably should have seen the writing on the wall right there.
--She is currently studying elementary education at a two-year college. When I dated her she had graduated from elementary school just two years before.
--In her spare time, she races stock cars at speedways. No, really!
As long as we're on the subject, here's a picture my sister took of her, waaaaay back. We were probably around 13 at the time. If she sees that I posted this, will she find me and kill me?
(Simpler times, brighter colors. She's at the top of the pile)
The most enjoyable song on Beck's new album is only on the UK import. Check it out!
Meanwhile, someone ripped all 15 of the album's DVD videos and put them on YouTube. Click this link to grab them. They get repetitive, so pick "1000BPM" for the rapping bear and leather dude alone. (Hint: click that link using Firefox to download the new Shins album. It'll change your life.)
Finally, I've looked for clips of this episode of 120 Minutes for years:
Over the past two days we've had no internet connection and one of the most devastating storms in Western New York History. This guy lives uptown, but let's check out my house. . . . Front yard, tree #2
The tree behind the house is now partially on top of it. The garage roof Front yard, tree #3
Front yard Entrance to the backyard The dog's igloo Mr. Plow Next door, where the tree from the house over crushed their fence Across the street Our neighborhood. I took this from our driveway.
Mark "Madd Dogg" Miller is perhaps the greatest personality in all of Western New York. I've decided to film a documentary of him a la Wesley Willis. Here's some footage of him working outside of the Melvins/Big Business performance at Showplace Theater:
Sunday Night, 9 PM: Drive to job #3. Work until 2:30 AM. Drive home to take shower and arrive at job #1 by 4 AM. Only work until 7 AM because I have to be at job #2 by 8 AM. Work there until 10 AM and take the 45-minute drive to job #1 by 11 AM. Work there until 5 PM, then drive straight back to job #3. Stay there until 9 PM. Drive back home.
Tuesday Morning, 3 AM: Get up at 3 AM to arrive at job #1 by 4 AM. Stay until 2 PM, then drive to job #2 where I'll stay until 5 PM. Make the 90-minute drive to job #3 by 7 PM. Work until 9:30 PM and drive home.
Wednesday Morning: Well you get where this is heading. Most of the week is a blur but I did about 65 hours of work in four days. By Friday I had worked so much they made me go home after only three hours. So tired . . .
This site has moved to the old folks' home as of January 1, 2009. Sparse and sporadic updates will continue.
Another blog banned by the People's Republic of China
