Played music; toured with a band.

Played my last show with a different band.

Recorded live basics and overdubs with that band.

Said goodbye to an inspired artist.

Did some mixing.

Left a corporate coffee job for a job in childcare.

Received a health care id days after my official resignation.

Fought to suppress urge to vomit, stuck in traffic to new job while listening to news on the BP disaster in the Gulf.

This is too bad considering how incredible the new job is.

Requested a transfer.

Helped screen t-shirts.

Almost quit smoking.

Split two pairs of expensive pants.

Bought more records.

Sent a guitar to repair only to find that the amp’s reverb no longer works.

Started drinking iced coffee.

Shortly wore earplugs to rehearsal.

Met and interacted with many incredible and fascinating people.

Deepened relationships with incredible and fascinating people that I already had met.

At some point came to accept the rain and even worse, Seattle as home.

Rub Paw Press, in hindsight, may have been a more of a thing to do while I didn’t have a job or any kind of musical life in the city.

I still feel like this is a good idea, and I’m happy that Keith is still contributing more or less on the regular.

I hear Keith is back from Tomsk.

I miss and love Philadelphia but at the same time understand that I cannot go back, not now.

Cleaned my room.

Allowed the cleanliness of my room to degrade to its current state.

Renewed my registration for Rub Paw Press.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

brian eno:
here come the warm jets @ 26

another green world @ 27

john lennon:
please please me @ 23 (wtf fml)

revolver @ 26


the white album @ 28

george harrison:
“something” @ 26

julian casablancas:
is this it @ 23 (fml wtf)

And also this:

arthur russell:
“is it all over my face” & “go bang” @ 29/30
calling out of context material @ 34 (approx.)

Moby:
Play @ 34

mick jagger:
the rolling stones UK (#1 in the UK) @ 21 (FML)
“satisfaction” @ 22 (fml)

“she’s a rainbow” @ 24

exile on main street @ 29

“beast of burden” @ 35

hajime tachibana:
bambi @ 40 (approx.)

robert smith:
“friday i’m in love” @ 33

A better video with embedding disabled.
charles mingus:
“goodbye pork pie hat” @ 37

r. kelly:
“real talk” @ 40

david byrne:
speaking in tongues @ 31

david bowie:
hunky dory @ 24

young americans @ 28

michael jackson:
“wanna be startin’ something” @ 24 (?!)

giorgio moroder:
“push it to the limit” @ 43

iggy pop:
the idiot @ 30

beck:
odelay @ 26

midnite vultures @ 29

publicly acknowledged as a scientologist @ 35
dieter moebius (of cluster):
zuckerzeit @ 30

damo suzuki (of can):
future days @ 23 (fml)…but:

michael karoli (of can) & holger czukay (of can) & irmin schmidt (of can) & jaki liebzeit:
future days @ 26 / 36 / 37 / 35 —- (Considerably Less FML)
graham massey (of 808 state):
90 @ 29

prince:
“raspberry beret” @ 27

bob dylan:
the times they are a-changin’ @ 23 (WTF)


blonde on blonde @ 25 (fml)


ariel pink:
the doldrums @ 21 (wtf)

bob marley:
“waiting in vain” @ 32

lenny kravitz:
“it ain’t over til it’s over” @ 27

Alex Chilton:
“The Letter” (w/ The Box Tops) @ 16 (WTF)

I remembered Thousands from a show my buddy AAron (who writes here as Omnibox); specifically that they made me want to quit music. I didn’t quit music, but I did choose this over a copy of Either/Or, of which I have a shitty digital copy.

My other roommate hated these guys because of how melodic they were or something, “like fucking Paul McCartney shit”. I told him to fuck off but giving the record a listen see what he means. There is something very ‘soft rock’ about Kristian’s delivery. Also, the digital image representing the album art in their website is much brighter / legible than the cover art on my record sleeve. That doesn’t really matter, however. And now I just finished the record; I’m at peace with the ‘soft rock’, or whatever.

Tofu Summer Roll

I ate this immediately upon coming home. It was alright. It was better with the included sauce. Then I ate a pastry (not pictured).

Fancy Water

A woman asked me if I wanted three different things and I said no and she said do you want water and held out two of these.

Soy Milk + ‘Vitality Blend’

I asked if they had vegetarian options. The lady turned to a colleague and said, “we’ve got another one”. I went back to where the soy milks / vegetarian prepared foods were held.

Ciabatta Bread; Wheat Lentil Bread

There is never a shortage of bread at the food bank. These are in my freezer.

Potatoes; Hummus; Tofu Scramble; Pastries; Beans

I also got hummus, tofu scramble, pastries, and potatoes. I didn’t do the best job picking my six potatoes. I immediately ate something like a crumbled Danish from the pastry box, scooping the crumbs from the bag. It was pretty good, going will with the spring rolls. Later I ate the hummus which tasted the way food bank hummus tastes (alright). I fried the tofu scramble with some rice; it was alright. Later, I baked two frozen food bank creamed potatoes and mashed them with food bank ranch dip, food bank hummus, nutritional yeast, kim wa, and sriracha. It was very good but since I hadn’t given the pototoes enough time there was an icy spot in the mash which I of course bit into. I drank one of the mini bottles of San Pellegrino; this made me feel like my mother, who often drinks San Pellegrino.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, I guess you decided what you want to do.”

wtf does that mean?

HERE WE GO::::::

‘If it weren’t so cold, we’d probably have an epidemic’

This party in my apartment has been fossilized cuz
the bottles are still
all over the floor and table
the windowsill too
like an image I can’t think of but less trite than
memories
and I’m probably too lazy to throw them out.

You see, the other ones from
the old party are sitting under the table,
where I hid them from my landlady
cuz she’s got a prying eye
that I’m trying to avoid
like something more thoughtful than
the plague
the Russians have started wearing masks again

quiet chuckle,
laughing while I collect fossils.

Overall I think this is strong. I like your line break: “the bottles are still / all over the floor and table”. I like “the windowsill too / like an image…” but I feel that “an image less trite than / memories” might be a little heavy handed. Actually not heavy handed, more that the line break emphasize ‘memories’. ‘Memories’ as a word to me is a little vague, and this vagueness is emphasized (and begins to feel awkward) under the force of the line break. This force is compounded by the fact that ‘memories’ has the line to itself. I try to avoid abstraction or at least words that refer to abstract concepts because I think my work is to talk about those abstractions, or something. I’m not sure about your comma use in the second stanza. Seems like the line break would already be doing what the comma is trying to do. I enjoy “she’s got a prying eye / that I’m trying to avoid”. That’s another great use of line break. I see the parallel between “like an image…” and “like something more thoughtful than / the plague”, but again I’m not sure if I’m getting what I should get from ‘the plague’. Or, rather, seems that ‘the plague’ is something that has been invoked so much that it’s hard to do something interesting with it. Also really enjoy “quit chuckle, / laughing while I collect fossils”. You clearly have a good ear for the sound of the lines, as saying / hypothetically verbalizing those last two lines make me feel really happy. For some reason I like your comma use in this case.

Have you read any Robert Creely? This reminds me of him. I think that’s a good thing. Here is an example

Friend Says of Job

You get to see all kinds of life
like man chasing wife
in the driveway
with their car.

Mutual property!
They want to sell their houses?

~
Elsewise absences,
eyes a grey blue,
tawny Austrian

hair—the voice,
speaking, there.

~
Hermione, in the garden,
“weeping at grief?”

Stone-statued singly woman—
eyes alive.

~

Creely is more succinct. Oh also. Give your poem a title!!

Here is something I have for you:

from FIREWORKS

Trading sips, water
Tent blooms cloud
And blue
Powder and
Floodlight
Cars pass and stop sometimes
Somebody gets out maybe
With a kid

“These are buy one get one
“They all emit showers of sparks

This will stake your shadow
As he wanders off for another beer
He will not find the cooler
Which is all right—
So long as the beer stays cold

~

Gulp cigarettes in the burning car
Decide to go west
Or northwest, which is open early on Wednesdays

Is the color of the water
A runoff lagoon
Of emerald & dark algae
Because it lies under the slats of a wooden dock?

Lilies dissemble
Opine:

No, the water is no such or opalescent
Creek scum
Gone the colorless water

~

Drinking at noon again
I wait for a shipment
Before me, your shadow sits
Rearranges a value assortment
I know there is no ‘I’
In responsblty

Who stares at the hands
On a clock
Measures the length and ‘m going

It was a little more than year ago when I visited Seattle my friend Dan with the idea that I would write an article about it. The article didn’t get published. I decided to edit and post it, with added commentary from an older, wiser self currently residing in Seattle. It’s like I’m reviewing myself!

The Friends You Already Have at Home [Hah!]. (Or, Wasted in Seattle.) [accurate]

Dan and I figured that if nothing else, we were going to get wasted—at least we hoped we would. Well, we did that. According to my calculations, we were sober for about ten hours of the six days. I’ve pieced together a guide to Seattle. It is split into sections.

[I think that I sound pretty lame in the above paragraphs. I think the above needs something called a "lead". I learned that by wiki-ing "journalism style". What happened here is that I expected an interesting narrative to pop out at me after looking through notes. Then I started transcribing the notes and said "fuck it". This is a common problem for me. This is why I gravitate towards certain schools of contemporary poetry. This is why I've written < 2 somewhat successful prose pieces. ]

Getting Around

Seattleites are friendly [more like polite ] but they don’t seem to have any sense of direction [OMG so true]. Or at least the ones I asked for directions on my first night in the city. If you can at least figure out which bus to take, the driver will help you out. You’ve got no choice but the bus, since there’s no subway. Word is that they’re putting together an integrated light-rail system [this has since happened and it stops nowhere I want to be. Actually it might run up Capitol Hill which would be sorta sweet], whatever that means, sometime in the future. Be ready to get really fucking lost. Dan and I spent two hours trying to get to Capitol Hill (I think) to get to the first bar of our gay barhopping night (don’t ask)[I won't tell; it's really really really funny seeing places we visited on our lost ramble, now knowing where they lie in relation to the Hill]. Apparently “go up the hill” and “go down the hill”” do not work for finding your way in Seattle [This actually does work for certain hills].

Getting Going

We went to the Space Needle. We went about as far as a block away; it was raining so we were like, “ok we saw it, let’s have a beer”. I made a point to visit the central library. It’s huge, magnificent [that library scares the shit out of me. I do not think it was made for humans], and will probably make you very sad that here in Philadelphia the trend is to close libraries. [what am I, five?]

Golden Gardens is a long bus trip (from the Central District) and walk down a steep wooded path to a beach on Puget Sound [I visited this again with my family when they came out. Did not disappoint. I also had no clue that we had crossed water and ended up in Ballard]. People were burning old Christmas trees in a fire pit on the beach.

Pike Place Market is surprisingly not a waste of time [still true]. I wanted to do a number two but when I found the toilet it was smeared in number two so I decided I could hold it.

We visited what our guides call “Johnny Cash” beach. It’s not really called that, and I don’t know what body of water it faces [the name of the beach is Howell beach; it is a clothing-optional beach. This beach was better during the summer; I think it's on lake Union]. On the way back, we stalked around what our hosts told us was Kurt Cobain’s house.

Getting Wet

It rains in Seattle [fuck yes it does]! My flight into the city was cloudy with 90 percent chance of waiting half an hour for the bus with all my shit that got soaked in between the airplane and the airport [holy shit did I actually write that]. And then it rained more, flooding I-5 and cutting Seattle off from Olympia and Portland. Even native Seattleites [still unclear on this] commented (maybe for our benefit) that it was rainier than usual [Seattle is apparently on average rainier than it was in the last century or something like that. The municipal street drains can't handle it. My basement can't handle it. It blows]. The weather held out the rest of the week—we even saw sky! But only when dark out.

Getting Friends

Comparing Seattle to Philly, Greyson told me that Seattle people are more open; friendlier [HA; cf. Tao Lin, "Seattle Lies"]. On the other hand, she sees Seattleites as more similar to Philadelphians than Portlanders(?) [seems like Portlanders are the best.] or Olympians. Dan said that he liked hanging out with kids who had “a similar mindset”; that it was like hanging out with friends he already had. I think it was a bit like if a better dressed West Philly completely shut down and collectively decided to have drunken sledding party in response to snowed out roads (this actually happened the week before we arrived) [this is far from true. This may be a result of observer effect or whatever. The week we were in Seattle was an exception in terms of people's friskiness and general willingness to 'rage']. Where else would a night at the bar turn into an arm wrestling tournament? where Dan comes out as champion? [I wish I still had the pictures]

Getting Rid of Cash

We went to three record stores.

Getting Food

You can get meal for ten or less easy. That’s before beer [and 10% sales tax]. This is where we went: Glo’s Café, Pagliacci (pizza and draft beer!), 5 point (diner and beer!), some random spot in Golden Gardens, Meskel (Ethiopian), which happened to be down the Street from Greyson’s house. Ballet (Vietnamese) marked the end of an all-day collective hangover on Saturday [I ended up visiting Ballet again after walking it off from Belltown. Seems like this place was made for me.]. You can get beer at most restaurants here [DUH]. Bill’s off Broadway was the jumping off point for the night that ended in the all Saturday hangover. All of these places, excepting Meskel and 5 point [and the spot on Golden Gardens], are on Capitol Hill [actually, Pagliacchi was in the U-District].

[Funny story. Looking for a place to eat or drink Dan and I passed this place called "The Comet Tavern". We peeked in but decided that we would get our asses beat if we went into that bar. I don't know why we thought this.]

The Twilight Exit [since moved to 26th and Cherry], was our first stop after waiting for Dan to Greyson’s house. Nothing helps you beat jet lag like a frosty can of Olympia beer. Or seven. [wow. I should write for AAA, or maybe for Vice when their target audience hits 45]

Getting Your Face Melted

We went to a show in Beacon Hill [at Monstersorri] and saw Filth Mattress, members of which we had been getting drunk with for the past week. Pipsqueek opened; they were a folk-punk thing with acoustic guitar and cello/violin [wait. I fucking hate ________-punk.]; they’re from Olympia; they barely got there thanks to the flooding. I bought Grass Widow’s CD, because they are awesome [feel ahead on the curve on this one. Wish I could get 'mad cred' for this]. I fall in love with girl bands. I don’t remember the name of the last band.

Getting PARTY

One of my favorite surprises was going out for pizza and realizing that they had beer on tap—good, cheap beer on tap [why italics? I can't believe how blown away I was, but you know what? I was. However, I have since learned that Washington has the most insane liquor laws in the nation. Fuck. Seattle is a city where the bars call closing time at quarter after one and are shoving you our the door at half past.] What the fuck Philadelphia? There seems to be no minimum for using your credit card [except for the Cha Cha], which is awesome. You can get wine and beer at gas stations (I know you can do this just about anywhere that isn’t PA/Philly), and our hosts were shocked to hear that we couldn’t do the same here in Philly. What the fuck Philadelphia? Oh, and beer’s cheaper, consistently five bucks for a sixer of the PBR-line [depending on neighborhood]. $9-11 for a  six-pack of nicer beer at 7-11 [No malt liquor. Looking back, I feel like this lack of easily accessible malt liquor may have significantly improved my life].

There were several pictures; all of which were lost in the great ibook meltdown 0f 2009, which I will interpret with words from memory:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2009.01.08

4561 Yes, I watch Dan while he sleeps.

Dan asleep

Feet uncovered

Under a plaid patterned sleeping bag

He sleeps on mattress cushions

They have been removed and laid out on the floor

In the foreground there is a coffee table, surface unseen

4562 Dan wakes up, realizes I watch him while he sleeps.

He looks somewhat confused and maybe violated

He is still wearing his hat

4570 Greyson waits for Ezra and John to get homebrew stuff.

She hangs out of the open door of an econovan in black pants and beanie

She is stick thin

4571 Dan and Greyson wait in the van while I take shitty photos.

Outside is washed out and gray

4576 Waiting for the bus. The last one passed us without stopping!

Outside is washed out wet and gray

4586 This library is huge.

Large concrete wall

Microsoft auditorium

4601 Ok we saw it let’s go drink.

Space Needle is boring

4602 Ok we saw it let’s go drink.

Space Needle is still boring

4604 Miniburgers and ‘tots at 5 Point.

Recently, a friend of mine appeared in the Stranger

He was at the 5 Point anniversary

Mouth full of fries

2009.01.09

4626 Dan picked some tunes but I don’t think they ever got played

This is a jukebox

This is a jukebox

Twilight I miss the pool table

Ping Pong is cool I guess

4633 Dan versus Ezra

He is very strong

4634 Dan’s alter-ego, “BroDan”, is winning.

He knows and smiles

Like he is strong

4635 BroDan for the win!

He knows and thus he

Is proud like

He is strong

4639 Greyson took this one. Just about sums up the night.

Flash

Finger

Thumb

Fuck!

4642 Greyson and…I forget her name.

Her name is Ren—she gave me a job

Which I lost

4643 BroDan takes on the line cook at Twilight Exit

Backwards hat

For the win

Sorry Mom

4656 The sky was always like this. Surprise!

It is overcast

4662 Mountains!

Booyah

I can see Rainier from the street intersecting with the one upon which my house lies

Rainier [not pictured]

4666 Records! (Zion’s Gate)

Yes, you can buy records

Her you can buy

2009.01.10

4691 I CAN’T HEAR YOU (80’s Night at Neighbors)

Gays jus’ wanna have fun

Sometimes I stand outside Linda’s where everyone seems very concerned with having a good time

Or appearing to have a good time but not really making the cut and

From there, outside of Linda’s

I look up at R Place and see waving arms and a disco ball

Gay people party like this (torso and hip motion)

And straight people party like this (torso and hip motion)

Pony has strobe lights in Men’s bathroom

Wish I were gay

Maybe I can try

4702 Dan is a handsome man.

Yes he is

4762 They have this here fish on a string. They use it to scare the shit out of kids at Pike Place Market.

Avoid coke laced

With Levamisole

(Deworming.)

4770 Obligatory Picture of Street Art in McJawn Article (Nike Store)

A penis or something

Seemed clever at the time

4772 How did we get so drunk last night?

Alcohol

4281 I don’t know maybe it was my sweater.

No it was not

2009.01.11

4817 Kurt Cobain’s House

It was dark out

Did y’all watch Last Days?

Love you Kim Gordon

I guess

4828 John and Delicious Soup

Satay

Vomiting water, a day!

Way on the walk up remembered a jaeger bomb

(Sorry Mom)

Pho

Than Brothers is also good

4838 Dan vomits posters before show (Beacon Hill)

A revoir scene!

2009.01.12

4820 Hang In There!

Advice to Seattle from Dan:

Do go Kurt Cobain on me

I called shotgun

Which makes you

Kurt Cobain

Too soon?

4873 Water!

Water!

4876 Water!

More Water!

4884 This is where beer comes from.

Wondering what this is a picture of

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, after lying on my bed for two and some hours while the album streamed I decided that I liked it very much. I also thought it would be funny to sort of review the album (but in reality “poop out words“) while listening to the album in its entirety.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s listeners like you that make this possible”—Genius. I feel like this is the best way of saying “give us money”.

“Easy”—Easy, Easy. I think alot about this song because I’ve already streamed this a bunch of times and what have you. I’m already wondering if I’m going to be able to do it. Drums came in. What is the deal with the bass drums on this record? They are  very deep. I’ve lost the grasp of what this song is doing but that may be because I don’t really know what I’m talking about. I need to have a cigarette soon. I may smoke an illicit cigarette out of my window. Wait is this a piano song or a harp song? “Tell me your worries, I want to be told”. I should probably be doing something more useful like figuring out my possible identity theft sitch. This song is beautifully arranged. I guess that’s not surprising. It’s pretty sweet when the drums kick in. Damn this song is long . Wonder if I’m going be able to keep this blogging thing up when I start working or whatever. This music sounds very ‘American’, like ‘American Classical Composer’. Newsom went to college for composition I think. On facebook again I need to make an event or something. Sweet piano decay.

“Have One On Me”—Holy Harp! Don’t get the ‘daddy long legs thing’. In the night, in the night. Back. There’s a big black spinder hangin’ over my door, can’t go anywhere. Not really surprised. I already have a feeling that this is not going to go really well. Why am I doing this. More recordings should have oboe and bassoon. I played bassoon in high school. I should have gone for that. I was going to go outside today but I’m tired. Hearing Newsom’s overdubbed harmonies unnerves me; her vibrato is very very controlled. What else could I be doing today? How many listens willit take to have a grasp of these songs? I have trouble figuring out where I am in  general.

“”81″—I get confused because Newsom is “redefining pop”. This music comes from a different tradition, something more formal —it’s inflected by the blues or whatever but it’s not built on the blues, it has a different starting point (classical music, broadly writ?) but it’s being packaged as pop. Like, dig the Newsom’s press shot (below),

Seems like when Jewel got sexy or something like that.

“Good Intentions Paving Company”—Sweet song name! I think this is the song that was streaming from Drag City’s site in the week or so before Have On Me came out. Here come the multitracked vibrato’d out harmonies come in. She’s a little Diva Like here. When will Joanna Newsom appear on VH1. I think this is the song that made everyone think, “oh fuck what happened to her voice, it’s all normal now”. Read: concession to pop packaging maybe. Some people probably see this as selling out to an extent. When will Good Intentions Paving Company soundtrack a Chevy commercial? As I’ve gotten older I’ve lost my veneer of vague anarcho-leftist sympathies and now await the day when I can make an assload of money selling a song to British Petroleum or maybe Shell. It’s really too bad; what became of me. It’s hard to listen to a real artist. I wonder if Newsom has been approached for some kind of endorsement deal. Like, I bet she could get a sweet harp endorsement—but only if Yamaha can convince her to switch to their wood laminate composite harp product (with lasers!).

“No Provenance”—The bass drum sounds huge. It must be one of those really big ones that orchestras use. I just realized this. The turnaround in this song is great. Some winds interject and you find yourself in a totally different part. I would like to see what Newsom’s writing process is like. Oboe! Back to the head. And the turnaround turns you to a little new bit and back to the head. The horns are becoming more and more insistent; now there is less harp. I would really like to see this live. I wonder how they recorded this. I wonder of Newsom would assent to a click track. What would it have been like to be the shitty dude who Newsom dated in High School/College. No Provenance. I remember first hearing about her from a Chuck Klosterman article; he said something like, “Her voice is so awesome. I would be disappointed if she turned out to be attractive. I hope her face looks like melted cheese.” I guess he was hoping for a Susan Boyle.

“Baby Birch”—This song is big-upped on NPR:

I suggest trying the song “Baby Birch.” Texturally, it’s one of the most compelling tracks on a record with a lot of orchestral adventures. This song, however, has more textural counterpoint, with an edgy electric guitar appearing alongside Newsom’s harp. That electric guitar is performed by Ryan Francesconi, and he’s also playing acoustic guitar, Bulgarian tambura (long-necked lute) banjo, mandolin and soprano recorder — and that’s just on the one song. Francesconi did the arrangements and conducting on the record, though Newsom wrote her own harp and vocal arrangements.

My buddy was like, “she uses texture- like three times in the paragraph”

I suggest trying the song “Baby Birch.” Texturally, it’s one of the most compelling tracks on a record with a lot of orchestral adventures. This song, however, has more textural counterpoint, with an edgy electric guitar appearing alongside Newsom’s harp. That electric guitar is performed by Ryan Francesconi, and he’s also playing acoustic guitar, Bulgarian tambura (long-necked lute) banjo, mandolin and soprano recorder — and that’s just on the one song. Francesconi did the arrangements and conducting on the record, though Newsom wrote her own harp and vocal arrangements.

Notes: Ha! Edgy electric guitar! I’m not sure how the writer means ‘edgy’ but I agree in one sense. The guitar in the track is a lot of edge and no body; like it’s transparent. It cuts through the track but doesn’t overwhelm it. Not sure if it’s ‘edgy’ as in ‘hard core’.The paragraph moves on to impress reader with the overdubbing feats of Ryan

What the fuck the stream just stopped. Now listening track by track. Dammit.

Francesconi. I guess this is sort of like NPR explaining music to the masses. The tone of, “That electric guitar is performed by Ryan Francesconi, and he’s also playing acoustic guitar, Bulgarian tambura (long-necked lute) banjo, mandolin and soprano recorder — and that’s just on the one song”, just seems so terribly NPR and I don’t know why—what is it to be ‘so terribly NPR’? Condescension in the air. Let’s see when NPR said in their “First Listen” treatment of the Dirty Projectors’ most recent album, Bitte Orca.

The members of Dirty Projectors have a well-earned reputation for dismantling standard melodic forms and chord structures and rearranging the elements until they no longer resemble the kinds of songs most people are used to hearing. The result is idiosyncratic and complex, but it’s also the sort of musical thrill ride that some listeners won’t enjoy. Still, love it or hate it, it’s hard not to be impressed with what Dirty Projectors’ members have accomplished. Bitte Orca is awe-inspiringly executed and marked by sparkling imagination.

I’m using this quote because there was no paragraph in the Bitte Orca article serving the same function as the “Baby Birch” paragraph in the Have One On Me article—e.g. a song analysis with production notes. Both articles, however, do address the fact the albums are difficult/out there.

Actually, I’ll rephrase that: You must hear “Have One on Me” when you’re ready for a musical adventure. This isn’t casual listening, and while that’s usually code for “This record is hard to get through,” this isn’t a difficult record.

“On A Good Day”—Oh my that was a shorty.

“You and Me Bess”—Sometimes I think that part of the reward of listening to difficult music is that it makes you feel good about yourself for having listened to difficult music. I think it’s a status thing. It’s what separates us from the mouth breathers. The value of the music is not in the music. Well it sort of is. But I feel like we might be doing musicians a disservice, treating them like t-shirts or silly/non functional eyewear. Sometimes I wonder if I even like music. How do you like music? Is music cool because it’s good or good because it’s cool or both because ornaments your alternative or mainstream life?

“In California”—Sweet triplet bassline or whatever. Didn’t Vampire Weekend release a song about California? Vampire Weekend is a good example of the point sort of outlined above. But whatever. I hear it is douchey to defend Vampire Weekend but is it douchey to attack attacking Vampire Weekend because it’s 1) fashionable and 2) easy? Let the matter pass over in silence I guess. Every song on this album is very good to great.

“Jackrabbits”—Noticing that hi brow contemporary ‘pop’ (or ‘conceptual-core’?) tends to involve extended song forms and complex percussion. They tend to evince a sophisticated grasp of harmony/mastery of some stringed instrument as well as several other instruments. Some rely on electronics (Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Panda Bear) and  animal names while grounding them in some alternate -folk universe. Seems like most conceptual projects tend to employ synths, electronic drums, samplers. I get this feeling to the extent that I feel like picking up a guitar without plugging into at least 2 Line6 delays is a waste of time. I would group Newsom into the genre of ‘hi brow contemporary pop’ (or hbcp; or hubcap) but she clearly isn’t a pedal player.

“Go Long”—Starting to lose it. Newsom’s hubcap is probably borne out of her mix of formal music training and ‘pop sensibility’. I don’t like this song.

“Occident”—This song is much better than “Go Long”. Reading Street Boners and TV Carnage.

“Soft As Chalk”—This article is pretty extreme. Also gchatting about band practice tonight. Fuck. The piano songs are good. Sucked into the Google Reader hole.

“Esme”—The end is near. Damn near exhausted. Ok, back on task. It’s a beautiful town / with the rain comin’ down. I feel very calm now writing this though before I felt very anxious/afraid about doing this. This album is a good album for lazing, it’s controlled, it’s placid. My impressions may change with a lyrics sheet. I feel similarly to this album as I do Vashti Bunyan’s Just Another Diamond Day. That’s an easy/fashionable comparison but I’d like to compare them for their calming effects. When I was writing papers in Philadelphia in my room and it was very cold, Just Another Diamond Day was like a cup of hot cocoa. I also used to find Testbild’s Imagine A House incredibly calming. My then girlfriend bought it for me, and when I panicked after her leaving for school, Imagine A House was just about the only thing that allowed me to sleep. I was still at home and I didn’t hang out with anybody and I secretly smoked but didn’t drink.

“Autumn”—Something about this song tells me, “you are near the end of the album”.  “Autumn” reminds me of “Go Long” but with a better melody. Or something. No, fuck that – they are totally different songs. “Autumn” sounds ‘big’. I think it’s all the strings and maybe some more reverb overall. The word might be ‘epic’; ‘epic’ like seeing a full string section’s bowing arms playing all at the same time so the orchestra looks like unified organism.

“Ribbon Bows”—I think you ought to read a Great American Novel while listening to this album. Last time I listened to Have One On Me was lying down reading Sometimes A Great Notion. The minor turn in this song was very good. Would listen again. Also. I just checked my Bandcamp account, which offers a statistical break down of how many people listened to which songs and whether they listened to the whole song or not. I sort of like the feature but am afraid that I’m going to end up ‘focus grouping’ the songs.

“Kingfisher” “Does Not Suffice”—Second to last song. Wondering if I should embed the NPR stream here. Holy shit that sudden fade out of her voice before the fiddle solo rocks. Weird noise loop at the end? Sweet. Oh what the fuck. Clicking on “Kingfisher” and then “Does Not Suffice” on NPR’s player yield the same song. What the fuck is this? Really? “Kingfisher” seems to be missing.

What an ending! That’s all folks!

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I was looking for photos that may or may not have been lost in the great ibook meltdown of 2009. Specifically these pictures were taken by me a little more than a year ago when I first visited Seattle meaning to write an article about it, a travel narrative. That didn’t work out; the article didn’t get published, and somewhere along the line I forgot to put all the pictures on my external hard drive. Perhaps I had? I didn’t really know so I did some poking around. Using spotlight, I queried my antique external hard drive for ‘photo’, which yielded pictures of my ex I wish I didn’t still have. I tried ‘Seattle’ and got to a folder with notes I took during the trip. I tried ‘.jpg’ and found photos I had forgotten about and some I had never known to exist. The photos I was looking for are probably gone forever.

(from top to bottom)

Mercer Street, Fishtown, Philadelphia. The ‘NO NO PARKING’ sign makes more sense if you know that the sidewalk in front of that fence is sinking.

The Bell Tower, Temple University, Philadelphia. Every Friday this douche would come out to the Bell Tower and scream about Jesus while painting these pictures. I asked my ultra Catholic friend (he’s in seminary now!) what he thought of this guy. My friend said that some people are more concerned with showing off their faith than actually worshiping God.

The El, Kensington, Philadelphia. I waiting for the train, the sun was going down. I love Kensington.

Danger Danger Gallery. I went to see Blues Control because they were opening before Growing and my friend was really into Growing. I wanted to see Blues Control because I saw them listed on Kurt Vile’s myspace as an influence.

The Bathhouse, Hicks Street. My roommate was filming in the kitchen; filming in the kitchen involved placing high-wattage light underneath the green mystery fiber awning that spanned our ‘backyard’. Did not know the awning was translucent.

???. Upon looking at the file path for these two, I figured that they must be on the Adobe staff or something. But what are they on my computer?

???. I think this is in India.

Union Carbide (Dow) Factory, Bhopal, India. This is just inside the gates of the factory responsible for one of the worst industrial disasters ever. On December 3 1984, a shit ton of Toxic Fucking Gas escaped from the site, killing 8,000 outright. 25,000 have died ‘to date’ thanks to the long term poisoning of Bhopal’s water / nasty shit everywhere (via). The site hasn’t been cleaned up. The victims were the sort of people that would end up living close to a pesticides plant, e.g. they were / are ‘poor as fuck’. Perhaps it’s not a surprise, then that little to no action has been taken to punish those responsible for this incident or to help those still affected. Except for these guys. Or, rather, NGO / Activist intervention have been substituted for an actual corporate or government response. Also this:

I went to Bhopal trying to gain access to the factory. It didn’t really work out but there was this kid that followed me into the first set of gates (before the checkpoint / police men’s card club); I asked him if I could take his picture.

Some Hotel, Diu. Sarah got very, very sick multiple times during her stay in India.

Raj Mahal, Dhangadra. Sarah with dogs. This was the courtyard where we slept during the first weeks of our stay, when it was totally hot ass summer and not at all wet ass monsoon. The dogs were the palace’s resident strays.

Rah Mahal, Dhangadra. Leah and…totally forget his name. Damn. They are on a motorcycle.

Some city in India.

Fairmont (sort of), Philadelphia. Tiff decided to be me for Halloween. I took it as a testament to the strength of my personal brand.

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