Lost in GroVont : a blog

Fighting physics to survive

Change is good, I guess. I'm in the process of adjusting to a new schedule and environment and my focus has been blurry lately. Transition is my word of the week.

Aberdeen City is playing at the Great American Music Hall tomorrow and I will be there.

Matador Records has posted an mp3 from the new Belle & Sebastian album, The Life Pursuit. My interest in B&S has been peeked lately because I'm still reading their biography. An iTunes exclusive release of a live taping of the entire If You're Feeling Sinister album is going to be released soon. The new album will be available on February 7th. In the meantime, you can listen to the "Another Sunny Day" mp3 via Matador.

In local music news, Live 105 is hosting a local band competition at Cafe du Nord on the 7th of December. Minipop is one of the bands competing. It's a $7 show on a Wednesday, what else are you doing?

Any advice for adapting to working from home is appreciated.

Not your mother's ski porn

For a brief period of time while living in Jackson Hole, I crashed in a small basement bedroom with a group of hippies and their dogs. The front door was never locked and weed was the dominating smell. It was an interesting experience for me. However, I did come to appreciate ski porn which were the only images displayed on the tiny tv in the living room. Ski porn is not what you might think. Ski porn is what the other members of the house would call ski and snowboarding footage with a techno or hip-hop soundtrack and it was incredible. (Most of the videos we watched were produced by Teton Gravity Research.) My interest in ski porn somewhat explains my excitement about the release of First Decent next week.

I spent my Sunday watching movies at the Metreon. I hate the Metreon. It is like a techno-mall with a movie theatre. Unfortunately, the Metreon is the best movie theatre in town as far as picture and sound quality are concerned and I had a gift certificate. I saw the new Harry Potter and Rent.

Of course, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was both great and disappointing. Yes, I've read all the books multiple times, so I expect the visuals in my head to be perfectly recreated on screen which is impossible. I hate watching movies based on books, especially books I love. But how can you not see the new Harry Potter movie?

Rent was also a movie I was hesitant to see since I had never seen the theatre production. Although an excellent movie, as I left the theatre I felt as I did after seeing Chicago: the live theatre production is probably much more impressive.

Off to meet the principal

Being from the central part of the country, spending Thanksgiving on the beach seems surreal. However, Thursday morning I found myself on the beach near San Luis Obispo where I was staying with friends of friends and consuming large quantities of food. Aside from post-tofurkey sickness, it was a fun holiday. We played many rounds of Cranium[1] proving many times that girls rule and boys drool before falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

On the Friday drive back to the city, we listened to NPR's This American Life which featured readings of blogs written by soldiers in Iraq. It was interesting and chilling. I recommend checking out Rebel Coyote's LiveJournal for a well-written and honest account. For a more blunt view, you can read Colby Buzzell's book, My War: Killing Time In Iraq, which was derived from his blog entries.

Last Sunday, I read 10:01 by Lance Olsen. It is a rare occasion that I read a book in one sitting[2]. Other than the fact that book is only 187 pages, the only reason I kept reading it was because I was waiting for something to happen. Eventually something happens, but it reads more like a character study and lacks a cohesive plot. Set in the Mall Of America, the book describes the consumer culture from various view points (cynical, exuberant, indifferent) giving you a sense of who goes to malls and why. The story is probably meant to be a statement but the ending wraps so abruptly, I didn't grasp the meaning of the climax right away.

Musically, I'm a little obsessed with Say Hi To Your Mom. There are nine songs available on the band website for your consumption followed by a reasonably priced shop from which to purchase swag.

[1] Scroll down to the "online Cranium!" link and you too can find out what the fun is all about!

[2] I still haven't finished Just A Modern Rock Story, and I stopped carrying around One Hundred Years of Solitude. Yeah, I know I need to read more too.

Angry about a letter he received from his friend

Scenestars is streaming Ryan Adams' third full length release of the year 29. I like Ryan Adams but my interest has waned over the years (post-Heartbreaker). As I listen to the stream though I'm thinking my love for Mr. Adams will be renewed.

Gosh!

Walking through Union Square today I had to avoid more than tourists. Security guards. Trailers. Catering vans. Wires. Will Smith has been filming a biopic in the city and the shoot literally blocked my path today. Pursuit of Happyness [sic] is also hiring extras locally.

However, you can't just hire anyone off the street to be in your movie.

A co-worker and I had a discussion on whether or not it was allowed to hire non-union actors for a movie. The gist of the SAG regulations say that a film production has to prove the non-SAG personal possess a unique skill that cannot be found in a union member. Ruling is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Update: Other reports indicate Tony Shalhoub's Monk has also been filming in the area recently.

I saw Jarhead last weekend. Go see it. There were some Donnie Darko moments with Jake Gyllenhaal looking directly into the camera.

My week has been pretty dull with work consuming all my time. I am getting better at playing dominoes while drinking though.

Next week Tina Majorino reappears on Veronica Mars. Office Space and Napoleon Dynamite are the oft quoted movies in my world right now. It almost makes me miss the days when my friends quoted Top Gun.

Tom Vek is playing Cafe du Nord on Monday.

French-Brooklynites

La Laque are from Brooklyn yet sing their songs in French. I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have even noticed "Le Secret" when it popped up on my iPod if the lyrics had been in English.

From their bio:

No one in the band is actually French. The girls in the band speak French but the boys do not.

I don't know any French but I think you should listen.

La Sirene dort.mp3 (4012.6K)

Le Week end.mp3 (2676.7K)

We exaggerate on the radio.

Talk host's towering rant: S.F. not worth saving.

"You know, if I'm the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium and I say, 'Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds,' " O'Reilly said Tuesday on his radio show as San Franciscans were approving the two measures. Perhaps, he didn't realize that he'd be speaking mostly to foreign tourists and suburbanites if he were standing in Union Square.

The article continues with O'Reilly encouraging terrorists to destroy Coit Tower which is a monument to firefighters.

A couple visiting Coit Tower commented on O'Reilly's remarks:

"The man is a sensationalist fool," said Paul Hickey, a 76-year-old visiting from Texas.
"He's irritating," said his wife, Judy Hickey, 67.

And they're from Texas.

Take a moment to scan the article for the political bickering which includes some humorous soundbites from both sides of the issue.

College Football

The week has been busy as usual with a splash of fun and a twist.

Rivers Cuomo, of Weezer, has a MySpace page where he blogs often about touring and his relationships. Always interesting, it reads like any angst filled blog with a rock-n-roll twist.

After hearing "Beverly Hills" last spring, I had no desire to pick up Weezer's latest disc but I consider myself a fan. I first saw Weezer in high school when they were doing a amphitheatre tour opening for No Doubt. One of 2 friends that made the journey with me to Kansas City had a fresh =W= tattoo above her ankle but that night was my first exposure to Rivers and co. It was hard to get a feel for the band being so far away from the inconspicuous four-piece. It wasn't until the green album was released that I really started listening to Weezer.

I don't listen to No Doubt now but I still play Pinkerton and the blue album frequently.

Related article: "Foos, Weezer Try MySpace"

If you haven't heard yet, more Elliott Smith demos are being released almost everyday. Elliott Smith B-Sides has the bulk of the songs available in one zip file or by individual tracks. And Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands has three more tracks.

After thinking about it for a few months, I gave two weeks notice at The Job. Not caring about the work I was doing was frustrating and left me disappointed in myself for not giving 100%. Since taking The Other Job in June, I was reminded what it was like to get paid to do interesting work while being motivated to learn and contribute at the same time. Wanting to be able to focus my attention on work I can appreciate, I made the choice to sacrifice the extra paycheck and leave The Job after two years.

No more two jobs for me, just The Other Job.

How much is the rent?

The Rentals recently launched a new website announcing the return of The Rentals again. In the works is the third album from the Matt Sharp lead group.

In 2004, Mr. Sharp released an okay solo album which sounded like an Elliott Smith or a Nick Drake, he played Moog on Tegan & Sara's well received third  (or fourth, depending how you look at it) album, and went on a little tour which stopped in San Francisco. (It was a cozy show with Goldenboy in the basement of an Academy of Art building which was once a church. All fifty of us sat on the floor.)

None of The Rentals/Matt Sharp releases are brilliant or original but it will be interesting to see if the band follows the current trends in indie rock especially with Mr. Sharp's skill on the Moog.

From Matt Sharp's self-titled solo album: Goodbye West Coast.mp3 (7549.3K)

From The Rentals' last album, Seven More Minutes: The Man With Two Brains.mp3 (6547.7K)

In other news, Merge Records is offering up a free digital download if you purchase the new Clientele record, Strange Geometry, on vinyl. Hopefully, Merge will make this offer available for releases by all their bands and other labels will notice so the iPod and the turntable can peacefully coexist.

Recently, I purchased vinyl copies of albums that I new would be easily available for download, including Merge artist Spoon's Gimme Fiction and Death Cab for Cutie's Plans.

 

The Februarys

If you take a chance on any band in the new year, I recommend you listen long and hard to The Februarys.

For almost a year, I've been listening to the five tracks that were available for download on their now defunct website and eagerly awaiting the release of a full-length disc. Well, the wait is over...kind of.

The cd, The Brighter Side of Things, was released independently and from what I can tell is only available at their live gigs. The Vancouver guys have yet to leave British Columbia. Hopefully, they've been paying attention to what Clap Your Hands Say Yeah accomplished with internet sales and will post a paypal link when their new website debuts.

Until then, you can download three tracks from their MySpace page and here is one of my favorite songs from the first round of mp3s they made available:

Download Plight of the Artist.mp3 (4595.6K)

RIYL: The Killers. Do you remember Better Than Ezra?

Remember to vote on Tuesday! I'm tired of getting recorded calls on my cell from "Mark Leno" and "Matt Gonzalez" telling me to vote one way or the other. And my mailbox, which I only check once or twice a week, was full of colorful, political fliers yesterday. Last week, the mayor made a deal with major supermarket chains to limit the amount of plastic grocery bags in circulation but you send me 20 pieces of unnecessary mail!?! (Yes, I recycled the mail. And I bring my own canvas bag to the grocery store.)

In San Francisco, the air is damp and cool today with Twin Peaks hidden by fog and I have finally recovered from Friday night.

You Made Me Forget My Dreams

I vaguely remember a dream about staying in a hotel last night which had recliners instead of beds. Fortunately I didn't work there.

Listening to Tigermilk while walking through the city this morning, I thought that it seems to be a Belle & Sebastian type day.

Chromewaves.net reports on the upcoming release dates of January 16th for a single and February 6th for The Life Pursuit LP. However, from my inbox today the band comments:

As there's generally not much to do January, we thought we'd come out and do some shows for you UK folk. It's safe to assume there will be an album and single around this time too, but the press reports are slightly ahead of themselves. Not saying they're wrong. Just saying they're a little previous in declaring it all done and dusted.

(Emphasis mine. The grammar is Scottish?)