captain random's roundup of miscellanea...

I got a lot of items on in the hopper and not much time or energy, so I'm starting a new, semi-regular feature on this blog. Every so often I'll toss up a post with a whole mess of links on it.

Good news for me, I clear my Inbox of possible blog posts. Good news for you, I inundate you with quality reading.

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Monster By Mail

The artist who runs this site creates one-of-a-kind caricature type drawings of monsters based upon a seasonal theme. This summer's theme is zombies, and you know how I love zombies! I just ordered one... Once I get it I'll post a picture here and let you know what I think. It is also pretty cool that you can get a video of him creating your monster for an additional fee.

a zombie ophthalmologist: the eye is the quickest way to the brain

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Generation Chickenhawk

Max Blumenthal is a lefty writer and quasi-documentarian whose work has appeared in The Nation and the Huffington Post. You can check out his blog here.

This short movie was filmed when Blumenthal attended a College Republicans convention at a hotel (Moonie-0wned!) across the street from Arlington National Cemetery. All the folks he talks to are gung ho for the war in Iraq. But when he asks why they aren't over there fighting for their country the self-contradictions and hypocrisy kicks into high gear.

In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called “war on terror” as nothing less than the cause of their time.

Yet when I asked these College Republicans why they were not participating in this historical cause, they immediately went into contortions.

Check the disconcerting political hilarity:

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Johnny Depp to play Hunter S. Thompson Once Again

Say what you will about Terry Gilliam's 1998 release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny Depp did a hell of a job portraying one of the most important (in my opinion) figures in twentieth century journalism. Hunter S. Thompson's death was the first death of a celebrity that affected me as much as did the passing of Jerry Garcia.

From reading after-the-fact stories about the filming of Fear and Loathing I learnt that Depp lived in Thompson's basement for months in preparation for this role in order to be able to imitate to unmistakable Gonzo master. That's dedication...

the Gonzo One's Trademark

Depp will play a younger, slightly more sober Thompson in the Rum Diary (IMDB page here), due in theaters in 2009. For those of you who have never read it, a brief synopsis:

Depp will play Paul Kemp, a freelance journo writing for a rundown newspaper in 1950s Puerto Rico and surrounded by a bunch of lost souls bent on self-destruction. The journo was 22 when he wrote the autobiographical novel and had yet to develop his trademark gonzo style. It was written in 1959 but not published until 1998.

This is not my favorite H.S.T. book, but I'm excited to see Depp reprise the role.

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Symphonic Video Game Music

I'm a child of the video game generation. I'm also moved into a somewhat cultured phase of my life. So what better then world-renowned symphonies playing the tunes from videogames--Super Mario Brothers, the Legend of Zelda and others--that served as the soundtrack of my childhood?

National Public radio did a nice little story about the Video Games Live tour's recent stop in Washington D.C. I'd love to see this show and I hope it comes down to South Florida...

* * *

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy! Posting will be sporadic to non-existent the next few days as I will be in NYC for a little mini-vacation. I'm going to see the Beastie Boys in Central Park on Wednesday, which is only a warm up for the concert event of the summer... DAFT PUNK in Brooklyn on Thursday. I got a good crew of folks coming up from Florida and a bunch of people meting us in the city. On Friday, we are going to take my good friend BKNY's Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour and feed out faces before heading home on Friday night.

Hopefully, I'll have it together enough to review my trip this weekend.

Ubiquity Records makes some sweet tees...

...not sweet teas, for all y'all southerners who got excited.

Ubiquity Records is a west coast record label that is home to some innovative jazz and hip hop artists like Sa-Ra Creative Partners, the Breakestra and Gilles Peterson. but in addition to dropping funky fresh beats on the masses, the also print up some pretty sweet music-related t-shirts.

Here is one of their designs from the latest collection:

product page can be reached by clicking on the shirt

I don't play drums (except for air drums, and that doesn't count), but I seem to have an affinity for drumming t-shirts. I really like the text on this one, and it comes in a more earth toned color palette as well. $23.99 is a bit steep, but it is one nice design...

And here is one of their classics, with text courtesy of the late, great maestro of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti:

Classics Collection can be reached by clicking on the shirt

This same shirt--or an identical rip-off--has been sold by pop culture homogenizer Urban Outfitters (and possible t-shirt plaguerizer) for a while, but it was on a brown tee. I like silver shirts, but I got one long sleeve and one short sleeve and I'm trying to cut back on my t-shirt addiction.

One last thing: Ubiquity is having a t-shirt grab bag sale. Basically, you tell them what size you are and they'll send you three shirts. More details are available here. Unfortunately, they don't have my size, or I'd be all over this.

Only in america...

America is a pretty materialistic country, wouldn't you say?

But I never knew the extent that peopl,e would go to to get a coveted consumer item such as this:

If you don't know what this is you've been living under a rock this summer.

What would you do to get an iPhone?

Would you make a deal with the devil and sell your soul?

Would you sell you first born child?

What about selling your future children?

That's kinda what Mr. Johnson did. This man made the huge mistake of purchasing hte $600.00 phone without the permission of his (fiscally responsible) better half. When she found out that he had made the reckless purchase, she (as any demanding female would) made him return the phone immeadiately.

Except after bringing his new toy back to the store, Mr Johson fell into a depressive funk:

He was sad, non-talkative, down, depressed. You know, putting the Bambi Eyes and sighing at the sight of any Apple logo on display. The whole treatment. Noticing it, she broke the question:

— Honey, how badly you want the iPhone?

— Badly —he said, puppy eyes again, no doubt— very badly.

"Would you be willing to finally make that appointment for a vasectomy?" she replied.

Mr. Johnson absolutely loves his new 8GB iPhone

Only in America would a man trade his (symbolic) manhood for the latest piece of technology. Actually, maybe in Japan, too...

behind the 8-ball...

Ever have the feeling that you can't catch up? The feeling that no matter what you do the endless items on your To Do List never seem to get scratched off?

That's my life, right now. I'd update you, but after my computer was hit by lightning I had internet access issues. I bought a new computer (a super-sexy MacBook Pro, but more that later), but was still thwarted by a lack of access due to my modem also being electrocuted. I (hopefully) will have time to pick up a new modem today.

I was also out of town at a family reunion this weekend (details to come...), which meant that I could not keep up with my normal life; things like doing laundry and cleaning my apartment. Add to that the piles of miscellaneous computer detritus from my disassembled PC and my apartment looks like a bomb went off.

And I won't even get started on what I need to do for work (in the next 30 hours) or for school (in the next 4 days).

Suffice it to say that you may not be hearing to much from me in the next few days, but I'll be back with a vengeance once I get my ducks in a row... and shoot them.

Sunshine review (courtesy of Mr. Ethan Schwartz)

Thanks to Ethan for writing this review and saving me the time of doing so.

Sunshine tonight

So tonight I am going to a screening of Sunshine, the new Danny Boyle/Alex Garland colaboration. I remember seeing this trailer in the theater a while back and getting excited, so I hope this is a good one...

Here is the trailer for the flick. Expect a full report tomorrow.

computer problems...

...so yesterday when I got home from dinner at the parents my computer was off, which is quite unusual since it is usually running 24/7.

I tried to figure out what was wrong with it by plugging and unplugging things, but to no avail. I could not get the CPU to start.

I did a bit of researcdh to day and narrowed down my problem to be either a fried power supply (which is fixable) or a toasted mother board (in which case I am screwed).

I hope its the former.

So what I'm trying to say is that my internet and cmputer access is going to be less then normal for the next few days.

Harry Potter and the rainy weekend spent (mostly) reading...

Unless you've been living under a rock that doesn't have internet, TV, radio or any other method of communication for the last week or so you know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in J.K. Rowling's epic Harry Potter series, was released this past Saturday morning at 12:01 a.m. I'm a pretty big fan of the books (and the films based upon them). I remember going and buying the first one while at school in Montreal and starting to read it while waiting for the Metro... which stopped and left again without my poking my nose out of the ever-engrossing children's book I had just started to read. These books have a way of making time disappear.

You may not know this, but books released in Canada often have a different distributor and/or publisher then books released in the United States. This is the reason why the Canadian versions of the Harry Potter novels have different, more colorful (or, as a nod to the Canadian spelling, colourful) covers. As an example, take a look at the two versions of the new book:

The American cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Canadian cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Rather different, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, since the majority of the time that J.K. Rowling was cranking out stories overlapped with the time I spent in Canada, I had acquired Canadian versions of the first five books. I got a friend to buy and ship me the sixth book from Vancouver, since at the time Amazon.ca would not ship to a non-Canadian address. When the release date for the newest book hit the street, I checked and was to discover that this time around I would be able to purchase a Canadian edition online.

Unfortunately, there was no way that I was going to get the book the weekend it was released, so I had made peace with the fact that I would not be apart of the first wave of folks reading the book. I'd read the book when it showed up in my mailbox, which was alright by me.

The hardcore of the hardcore: these two girls are reading their copies of Harry Potter on the rail at Brooklyn's Siren Festival.

On Saturday morning I left my apartment early to meet with my project group from one of my classes at my school's library. We got our business out of the way and split up. I was heading out of the building with the other two males in my group when something sitting on the circulation desk. "I'll see you guys later," I said as I headed to the girl working the desk.

I picked up the massive tome that was sitting in on a small easel labeled "Book of the Day" and asked her "May I check this out?".

"Of course you may," she said with a smile. "I've been wondering how long it would sit here before someone grabbed it." She scanned my library card and opened the book's spin for the first time to place a green "Due On" card in the back. I skipped out of the library happy about my unexpected acquisition.

Even though it was difficult, I trudged my way through a bunch of schoolwork before heading home and directly onto my couch. I set myself up with some music, a glass of wine and 756 pages of fine adolescent literature. One of South Florida's infamous afternoon thunderstorms was getting under way outside my window (that's what I get for getting my car washed), so I was more then happy to be inside curled up in a fantasy world.

Five hours later I looked up and it was beginning to get dark. I was almost 500 pages in and I felt likeI had been reading for no time at all. Amazing how time seems to disappear when you're completely immersed in a good book.

False spoiler at the NYC release party

That evening I hid the book from my own view and went bowling with the crew. Many beers (and assorted strikes and gutters later) I passed out on the couch.

If you've ever passed out drunk on the couch, you know that it ain't easy to sleep through the night. I woke up at 6 and headed to my bed, but it wasn't long before the mental alarm clock that prevents me from sleeping late was clanging in my head, so I headed back to the couch to read some more. If I didn't have plans with the parents on Sunday afternoon I would have probably stayed in my underwear and devoured the rest of the book. But I left to spend some quality time with the family, knowing full well that I'd have a chance to finish the book that evening.

Which I did, at about 11:30 last night. The conclusion was surprisingly satisfying. Without spoiling anything, I can say that I felt Rowling did a good job tying up what seemed to be a million loose ends in the extremely complex mythology of her wizarding world. The characters have grew and changed dynamically, and even at the end some are revealed to be not what they seem. I am pretty sure that the Deathly Hallows will be the last book in the saga of Harry Potter. I can only hope that the author is planning her next project. Maybe it will be an adult one, as the last couple books of the Harry Potter series, especially this last one, are not really for children.

Unlike most movies, which leave me disappointed in the ending, I felt happy with this conclusion. Plus I didn't turn on my television the entire weekend, which is a feat I am quite proud of.

Best music video ever!

Remember when the Thriller video first came out? I do. I also remember that it was always the number one video of MTV's video countdowns. (Remember when MTV used to play videos? I do.)

This amatuer version blows the original away. Sure, it doesn't have special effects or makeup, but it makes up for those shortcomings by the sheer size of the production. Oh, did I mention that it was performed by the inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Phillipines.

I'm a big fan of the dude in drag playing the female role. These guys must have had some serious practice to do this so synchronized

Is this what really happens in thirdworld prisons? Song and dance numbers? Sure sounds better then what was portrayed in Brokedown Palace and Midnight Express.

Lighters yet again allowed on airplanes!

Smoker's rejoice! Starting August 4, you won't be forced to buy a lighter every single time you get off a plane just to get your nic fix. When I used to smoke cigarettes the first thing I did after getting off the plane was un out the door to huff a butt. Even though I quit a few years ago (best decision I ever made, by the way), this is good policy.

Especially when you read this article and hear the comments from Kip Hawley, assistant secretary for the Transportation Security Administration:

...the ban had done little to improve aviation security because small batteries could be used to set off a bomb...“Taking lighters away is security theater,” Mr. Hawley said. “It trivializes the security process.”

So he pretty much comes out and says that his agency has been wasting time searching passengers and their carry-on bags for lighters instead of looking for things that can cause real damage, like bombs.

But here is the kicker in the article, the one thing--hell, the one line--that really pisses me off:

Disposing of the seized lighters has cost about $4 million a year.

Four million dollars?!?! For a plan that is an admitted waste of time, money, energt and manpower? You have to be kidding me...

Here are some extremely interesting facts abourt the lighter ban, all of them taken directly from the TSA's page on new policies.

• The U.S. is the only country in the world to ban lighters – all other nations, including Israel and the U.K., do not.


• 22,000 lighters are confiscated by TSA staff every day.


• In 2006, 1,607,104 knives and blades were surrendered by passengers to TSA staff. There were 11,616,217 lighters surrendered

Also of note, a mother can now carry breast milk through security with or without her child present, though I don't know why a woman would be transporting breastmilk if a child is not there to drink it.

Supaspoida posts a Bays set a Day

The Bays are a group of electronic music producers from the U.K. who have never recorded an album, never have a setlist and have never played the same show twice. Each performance is a completely improvisational experience, both for the musicians and for the audience. They've never played the U.S. before.

In August they will make their first stateside appearance at the Disco Biscuits (almost) annual festival, Camp Bisco, which this year will take place in mid-August in Mariaville, NY. Many festival attendees (and poor schmucks like me who can't make it) consider the Bays' upcoming set to be one of the highlights of the festival.

One of these people has vowed to post a Bays set a day on his blog until the festival. That means that there is going to be a ton of their music available.

I'm surely going to be taking advantage of the situation.

Battles on VBS.tv

I've mentioned the band Battles here before, and my review of their show was a glowing one. They're playing a ton of dates this summer and don't look to be slowing down any time soon. It seems like all sorts of people (and media outlets) have the band on their brains these days.

One of these media outlets is VBS.tv. I recently got turned on to VBS.tv, the visual aspect of Vice Magazine's growing multimedia empire (Vice Records rounds out the audio portion). I started reading Vice Magazine back when it was printed on dirty newsprint and you could get it for free in its first home, the lovely city of Montreal. Now the only way I can get my dose of modern day gonzo journalism is by overpriced subscription (which I am happy to fork over my dough for).

The Vice crew profiled Battles on their short program Practice Space, and I found it to be a pretty interesting look at a very interesting band.

I hope you enjoy.

Take a look at some of the other stuff that VBS.tv has to offer; some of it is really funny (in an obnoxious and irreverent kinda way). Note that many of these clips are not safe for work.

the Crime of Fashion....

Ever see one of these, or something like it?

I don't really understand the proliferation of guns as pieces of fashion. I feel the same way about skulls. And ninjas. And pirates.

Though I'm not a big fan of the violent message that wearing weapons implies, I wouldn't think that we're a gun on your belt would be cause for the police to take action against you.

Police surrounded the Wells Fargo Bank branch on Camino Ruiz near Mira Mesa Boulevard in Mira Mesa at 11:42 a.m. after someone in the bank reported a man had what looked like a gun under his shirt.

The man, 24-year-old Jacob Johnson of Rancho Peñasquitos, was wearing a dress shirt, casual slacks and a belt with a gun-shaped bucklewhen he and his friend and neighbor, Jeffrey Russell, entered the bank.

Johnson said he sat and waited while Russell opened an account and cashed a check.

Several minutes later they walked out of the bank to see 10 to 15 police officers with their real guns pointing at them, Johnson said.

“They said 'Put your hands in the air,' ” he said.

Officers then handcuffed both men and put them in the back of separate police cars.

So maybe wearing replicas of dangerous items on your person when you go into a bank is not the best idea.

Lesson learned.

I just broke two of my fashion rules...

1. I bought a black t-shirt.

I almost never wear black t-shirts or white t-shirts. I'm a semi-slob, so the white t-shirts are a bad idea since I'm more then likely to stain it in the first wear.

2. It is an LRG t-shirt

LRG gear has proliferated and infiltrated many of the places I find myself on a regular basis. Usually their clothes are way too expensive for me, but I made an exception (read: I got a deal) for this one.

Here is the design:

The LRG Live @ the Fillmore T-Shirt in Black

Product page @ Karmaloop can be reached by clicking the design

Not that bad, right?

If you sign up for Karmaloop's newsletter you get $10 off your first order, which is the only thing that made this shirt affordable.

You know, I never thought that I would care at all about clothes and fashion...

Girl Talk gets crazy at the Montreal Jazz Fest

Girl Talk is the nom de laptop of Pittsburgh, PA's Girl Talk, one of the most bastardizing mash-up (or, depending on who you ask, rip-off) artists around. He takes two seemingly unconnectable songs from incredibly disparate genres and puts them together. Picture classic rock and hip hop carefully layered upon each other in a delectable mish-mash of of pop culture goodness.

When Girl Talk played Langerado, the promoter had the brilliant idea of having him play his next-to-the-last-set-of-the-fest set on a stage set up next to the soundboard while the next band set up on stage. Our crew had the heads up, so we were right there on the rail when he came out and started rippinig off his clothes and banging on his laptop.

Soon, he was dragging good looking girls onstage to dance with. Following the good looking girls were the slightly-to-extremely intoxicated jocks, who we promptly booed. By the end of the set security was seriously pissed and it took the promoter's intervention to keep Girl Talk from getting dragged off by the po-po. Apparently, festival staff had warned him specifically not to bring the bitches on stage to shake their groove things, and he had blatantly and intentionally ignored their direction.

That's the kind of guy that Girl Talk is. So it was no surprise to me when I saw the following video from his performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival a week or two ago. I used to live in Montreal, and the Jazz Fest is pretty much the best possible week on the face of the planet. There are free shows all day long on 5 stages, and then if you have the bucks, you can pay to see shows that rarely appear anywhere. I saw Tabla Beat Science in Montreal's Opera House and saw Medeski, Martin & Wood's annual throwdown with more special guests then you could shake a stick out. So I've seen a few crazy things there.

But no performance was as crazy as this video. To sum it up, here is an excerpt from a blog featured in the local (mainstream) newspaper:

[Girl Talk said] "You guys wanna party? Come this way!" And the huge crowd poured into the streets and over to the small vacant lot next door to Club Soda. Kids were hopping the fence, there was confetti in the air and glow sticks whirling about. And there, set up in the gravel was a generator, two giant speakers and a soundboard. It was mayhem! Girl Talk hijacked the jazz festival.

Sound good? Take a look!

Freakin' awesome, I tell you. It seems like one of those shows that you'll remember forever.

Wish I were there...

well, I sure feel D.U.M.B.er... (part 2)

Welcome back to the next installment of the thrilling, chilling tale of our crazy little weekend mini-tour!

(To read the first part of the story, head here.)

After we bailed on the latter part of the Umphrey's McGee we worked out way into the inside room of the club, known as Heaven. What a bad choice of a name! First of all, the entire place was painted black, and all of the staff were semi-freaky looking goth kids. It was only slightly cooler inside then it was outside, except there was a humidity level of about 99 percent; if you went into the restroom it got considerably worse. Luckily the bars were cash only or I'd still be hungover today; I drank some seriously stiff vodka/sodas up in that place.

Perpetual Groove needed to bring their A-game to this show, and they definitely delivered. I stopped by the merch table to chat with my favorite band manager/generally nice guy Ben (thanks for the t-shirt) who told me that they were ready for the Ruckus.

Perpetual Groove
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

When the band came out it was immediately evident that he was right. Over the PA a majestic fanfare played, and the quartet from Georgia came out and took their places on the small stage. Here's what went down:

I: Teakwood Betz, A Day the Way, TTFPJ*, Save for One, Suburban Speedball, Pepper**, Two Shores, Robot Waltz

Set II: Speed Queen, Diggin' in the Dirt, Occam's Blazer, Under Lock and Key, MOTA, Out Here> Space Paranoids

E: Crapshoot

*With Allen Aucoin on drums and Aron Magner on keys, Disco Biscuits
**With Joel Cummins of Umphrey's Mcgee on keys

The show started strong with Teakwood Betz, one of the group's major tunes that always pleases. Next up was A Day the Way, which is one of their newer songs and one that I have yet had the chance to fully appreciate, perhaps due to its late placement in the two shows I have seen it at. Plus, it is a tad on the slow side. But when they dropped into the funky dance party of TTFPJ the crowd returned to get down mode.

And that was before the special guests took the stage. Aron Magner and Allen Aucion, the keyboardist and drummer from the Disco Biscuits, respectively, joined the band for an extended electronic jam in the middle of the tune. Magner even gets to drop his "wish I was a gangster" line in the middle. There's so good stuff going on here, take a listen:

Perpetual Groove w/Aron Magner & Allen Aucoin - TTFPJ - 6-30-07

After the first guests left the stage pGroove played two of my favorites: the relatively new rocker Save For One and the hauntingly beautiful Suburban Speedball. Next up, they invited Joel Cummins, keyboardist of Umphrey's McGee, onstage for a rousing rendition of the Butthole Surfers' "Pepper". Two Shores followed up before a massive Robot Waltz closed the set.

Disco Biscuits' drummer Allen Aucoin fills the drummer's seat for a tune
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

I would have probably left at this point thinking that the show was over if the keyboardist's lovely wife didn't let me know that they were coming out for a second set. I'm pretty glad that the rest of the crowd did not receive this same heads up, as the crowd thinned out nicely during setbreak.

Bassist Adam Perry celebrates his birthday with some rock star moves
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

When they came back on they wasted no time dropping into the rocker Speed Queen. I could hear some faint teases of Peter Gabriel's "Diggin' in the Dirt", so I has happy when the played the song as their next tune. It happens to be one of my favorite covers that they play, and I haven't heard it for while, so I was happy. Next up was Occam's Blazer, another one of the group's instrumental monsters. Sometimes when the band locks into a good psychedelic groove I lose track of time, and this Occam's could have been 5 minutes long or a half an hour long as far as I could tell. Under Lock and Key is another new one I can't talk to much about, but it gave me a chance to catch my breath before MOTA--another trippy tune--started. Next up the band dropped into the fist-pumping ballad Out Here, which segued into the old school favorite Space Paranoids.

That sexy Matt McDonald
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

A quick Crapshoot encore, I said my hellos and goodbyes, and we were out the door. All in all, a great performance from Perpetual Groove, the late addition to the lineup who actually got the opportunity to play longer their either of the more popular bands on the bill. Food for you guys; it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of dudes.

I said a quick goodbye to my lovely lady before jumping in the back seat of the car for the ride back to South Florida. I'm not embarrassed to say that I slept nearly the whole way back.

Next time, the shocking conclusion of the story!

well, I sure feel D.U.M.B.er... (part 1)

Disco Biscuits' bassist Marc Brownstein

(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

...which, if you ask me, is to be expected. I mean, last weekend was a serious one. Serious in terms of partying and good times, not serious like morose and humorouslessness.

We started out on Thursday evening when we packed up a buddy's little Scion (sure is bigger on the inside then it looks from the outside) and set off on the first part of our journey. It didn't take long to make it to Ft. Pierce, where we were picking up our final traveling companion. We tossed him in the back seat and set off for Atlanta. Fast forward to 6 a.m. I've been driving the final shift for a couple of hours. We're so close to my lady's house that I can smell her dog keeping my place in the bed warm. And we hit Friday morning Atlanta rush hour. Although I was tired I was also a bit wired from the caffeine, and my right leg cramped out terribly and I bounced from gas to brake and back again. Finally, we overcame the bottleneck and finally arrived at our destination.

A few hours of sleep before we make breakfast and head out on a food shopping expedition. Normally, a trip to the supermarket does not excite me all that much, but I had been awaiting this trip for quite a while. It was my first opportunity to visit Trader Joe's. I had heard nothing but good things about the store and its' cheap prepared foods and even cheaper bottles of wine. The hype was much deserved, as I filled the cart with bottles of "Three Buck Chuck" and ogled the store's lines of sauces and homemade pastas. There are approximately 479 Trader Joe's locations in the state of California, and not a single one in Florida. Someone should do something about that...

Anyway, we took our groceries home to prepare for a big dinner. The lady and I made both a meat lasagna and a veggie lasagna--from scratch, thank you very much--and fed a full house of dinner guests. Much revelry commenced, and my hazy recollections seem to recall some time spent with Comcast's Karaoke-on-Demand. Good times.

Saturday. Game day. Show time. I had made plans to go to BBQ before the show. In hindsight, eating a sloppy plate of pulled pork with all the fixings prior to consuming large quantities of alcohol and partying really hard wasn't a really good idea. Add to that the fact that it was at least 100 degrees outside and that there was approximately 7-and-a-half square feet of shade at the venue and you'll understand why I felt like I was dancing with a lead weight in my stomach. The heat (and probably the pork, as well) made me thirsty, and next thing I knew I had spend $50 on bottled water. The water added to my stomach discomfort, but I only peed once the entire afternoon. The rest I sweated out my pores as the day went on.

On to the music.

The Disco Biscuits are a nighttime band. They play a dirty trance-rock hybrid that is well suited to dingy, smoke-filled nightclubs. In Atlanta, they were playing in the blazing sunlight in a park in the middle of the day. Not really the ideal local for a Disco Biscuits show, but they wrote an interesting setlist and played it pretty well.

Set I:
Digital Buddha> Crickets¹> Strobelights and Martinis> Mindless Dribble> Voices Insane> I-Man²> November Rain³, World Is Spinning, Save The Robots

¹ inverted
² with "Gamma Goblins" (Hallucinogen) tease
³ ending only; with Brenden Blayliss (Umphrey's McGee) on guitar

the Disco Biscuits
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

Buddha was a good way to kick things off, and Crickets is always nice to hear. It is worth noting that they didn't finish (or in the case of the inverted Crickets, began) either of the first two tunes. The segue into Strobelights and Martinis was a bit sloppy. Dribble gave me an opportunity to punch my boy D00K in the face a few times (one of the only times it is acceptable to do so is during the slamming intro to this tune), and the band kept the pace up by segueing solidly into Voices Insane, which smoothly transition into the meat of the show.

This version of I-Man is one of the best I've heard. It starts out as a rocking version before the jam starts; once it does it turns into a techno monster. Teases abound, including the mentioned Gamma Goblins and the unmentioned "Swingtown" by the Steve Miller Band, complete with audience melody sing-a-long.

Near the end of the tune, Biscuits' guitarist Jon Guttwillig gave his guitar to UM's Brendan Bayliss and picked up what looked like a Strat or Telecaster as Bayliss wailed away. They absolutely killed the > November Rain, with Bayliss taking the lead and tearing it up through out.

Brendan Bayliss (L) and Jon Gutwillig tear it up. Aren't they cute?
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

World is Spinning was throwaway, and Save the Robots was a great way to end a solid set.

I'd post some tunes, but the show has not yet been uploaded to archive...

I'd post Umphrey's McGee's setlist, but since I don't really know any of their songs it wouldn't really matter. It did seem like the majority of the crowd was there to see them, as it really started moving once the band unleashed its' shredding dual guitar frenzy. I had a good time at this set. UM teased Black Sabbath's "Crazy Train" what seemed like a million times, and they really can jam. We left early to try to secure a spot for Perpetual Groove's late night set at the terribly misnamed club Heaven on the inside portion of the venue.

Umphrey's McGee
(photo courtesy of Chris Hight)

It turns out we missed the Biscuits come out to perform an encore after UM had finished their set; they played Helicopters, which segued (with a band switch off) into UM's Miss Tinkle's Overture.

Tommorrow I'll continue with the late night Perpetual Groove throwdown, the drive home (I slept almost the entire way) and a rainy Sunday night in Pompano Beach.

make believe, not war...

Here is a nice new t-shirt design from No Star Clothing:

product page can be reached by clicking on the shirt

I really like it, but at $24, it is a little outside my price range.

If they ever have a sale, I'm all over it.

the zombie food pyramid...

...or, influences made apparent.

Here is t-shirt design that was recently submitted to t-shirt competition web site Threadless:

click on the shirt to get to the product page

And here is a the graphic from a story in the satirical newspaper the Onion from 2002 entitled "Zombie Nutritionist Recommends All-Brain Diet":

the Onion's Zombie Food Pyramid

Inspiration?

Rip off?

You decide...

forget about smoking weed...

...you should be worrying about whatever it is that is making you hallucinate so bad.

Seriously though, that dog freaks me out.

the Crime of Fashion....

Ever see one of these, or something like it?

I don't really understand the proliferation of guns as pieces of fashion. I feel the same way about skulls. And ninjas. And pirates.

Though I'm not a big fan of the violent message that wearing weapons implies, I wouldn't think that we're a gun on your belt would be cause for the police to take action against you.

recovery...

I guess that partying one's ass off is more difficult as one ages.

Those of you who hold an advantage (or disadvantage, depending on how you glance at the hourglass of time) on me in years may be laughing at me knowingly. Especially those of you that saw me this weekend. It was a celebration, so I got down without abandon. What can I say, I'm a hedonist.

And I sure paid for it over the last couple days.

But I'm feeling better and will post a review of the two D.U.M.B. shows I saw this weekend over the weekend. Right now, I'm getting ready for a big change: I'm about to start grad school, and that is going to begin occupying a large amount of my time. But this blog has been a nice little release for me, and it seems like I'm gonna need a therapeutic outpouring of meh on a pretty regular basis.

Wish me luck in my new endeavor.

getting a little bit D.U.M.B. this weekend

Last night, one of my favorite bands and a band that has gone from intolerable to one that I kinda like sometimes began a co-headlining tour which is plagued with the worst name ever:

the D.U.M.B. Tour.

The two bands playing are the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey's McGee; if you mix the four words up and form an acronym, you get D.U.M.B. Pretty dumb, don't you think?

Check the logo, which is a combination of UM's four-leaf clover and tDB's odd little circle logo:

To me, it looks like some brilliant promoter came up with a D.U.M.B. idea, and this is the result.

I kid. Seriously, I've been advocating these double bills for years as a way for small- to medium-sized bands to cross-pollinate their audiences. My first pick to do something like this was Brothers Past and Perpetual Groove. One northern band, one southern band, both with pretty fanatical (though small and virtually nonexistent outside their home territory) fanbases. Set an early start time, alternate headlining spots in clubs around the country, watch fanbase grow exponentially.

Well, it didn't quite happen like that.

Instead, let me tell you the tale of two bands that fell in love with each other so deeply that some of their respective fans got sick of the other group's music. I don't know when or where it happened (though I believe it was in Amsterdam for the first Jam in the 'Dam), but this is the situation with the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey's McGee.

Umphrey's McGee and the Disco Biscuits stumble around Amsterdam.

Thanks to PT's SleekLazy for hooking up the photo for me

Some people are sick of seeing the two bands packaged together: they are playing this five show southern tour and Trancegression, a co-headlining festival in mid-July in Colorado (a trip I had to unfortunately cancel). Together, they're also the main attractions for Caribbean Holidaze, a destination festival (that I am happy to be attending). Others know that creatively the musicians play off of each other rather well. Many (myself including) hope for a return of the Brain Damaged Eggmen, a hybridized band featuring members of both groups that plays Pink Floyd and Beatles' covers, exclusively.

Umphrey's McGee has grown on me since I first saw them. My opinion echoes the complaints of many others: technically, they are extremely talented musicians, but much of their music lacks soul. Also, I find that a majority of their jams sound like they were ripped straight out of a Phish setlist. But sometimes they rock pretty hard, and some of their podcasts featuring soundboard recordings of crispy material get regular playback on my work computer.

I really like the Disco Biscuits, and I kinda like UM. But that combination wasn't going to get me to drive to Atlanta on Saturday to see them. However, the D.U.M.B. promoter had a good idea: add a solid Georgia band to the lineup to play a late night show. The fact that the band is Perpetual Groove, one of my top three groups to see live, made the decision to collect the crew and trek to Georgia a no-brainer. Of course, the fact that I have a lovely lady whom I can't wait to see doesn't hurt, either.

What will hurt is leaving Perpetual Groove's late night show (starting at 10 p.m. and ending at 2 a.m.), getting in the car and driving right back down to South Florida in time for the hometown D.U.M.B. show at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre. Normally the ride back home after a show is brutal, especially if you leave immediately following an eight-hour rage-fest. I'm not saying that this one won't be brutal, but the fact that there is a show the next day is a bright light at the end of a long tunnel.

Tickets for all the D.U.M.B. Tour shows, including tonight's in Portsmouth, VA and tomorrow's in Raleigh, NC, are available here. Hope to see you out.

all shirts 10 bucks at Shirt Empire

Shirt Empire has all their shirts on sale for $10. Shipping is only $5.

Pretty cheap for some decent items. Almost all of their styles marry music and design, so they're the type of style I usually jump on.

This is the one I just bought:

product page can be reached by clicking on the shirt

What do you think?

new instrumental Trey Anastasio album to be released...

Good news from the Geigh 4 Trey camp; the former Phish guitarist, current ward of the New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives is coming out with a new, all-instrumental album which promises to revisit the Afro-Cuban big band sound that is so infectious, especially when compared with the lite-rock, easy listening crap that currently dominates his repetoire.

The line-up of musicians of the disc give me hope that it will be a good one:

The Horseshoe Curve was recorded with producer Bryce Goggin at The Barn, as well as Trout Recording in Brooklyn, NY. Alongside Anastasio, the band includes sax players Dave Grippo, Peter Apfelbaum and Russell Remington; trumpeter Jen Hartswick, trombonist Andy Moroz, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist Tony Markellis.

Now that's a lineup that I can get into. Fat Tony on bass and Russ Lawton on drums are the rhythm core of the original trio Trey played this music with when the guitarist began to feel that his Phish was getting a bit stale in 1999.

The horn section is a bit on the large size, but features two of the three O.G. Giant Country Horns (Remmington and Grippo), and some of Trey's more recent brass collaborators, including Jennifer Hartswick, who seems to be his muse in many ways. I don't really have an opinion on keyboardist Ray Paczkowski.

The last time I saw Trey live I walked out of the show. Granted, it was his festival set at Langerado, he was repeating a number of songs from the night before, and I had other things to do and see (like rush back to the club to see the Disco Biscuits crush the crowd until after 4 a.m.), but he underwhelmed the hell out of me. I had a good time the night before at his club show in Fort Lauderdale, but it was nothing that was that good. The man can still play guitar real well, and he (and his band... credit where credit is due) was responsible for many of the best nights of music I experienced.

This wasn't one of those nights, probably because he wasn't playing the songs that touched me so back when I spent every dime and all my free time on going to see Phish shows. The new tunes just don't do it for me in the same way. There were moments of improvisational brilliance—however short and fleeting—but they were few and far between. But there is no guitar tone like Trey's guitar tone.

I'm not going to go into the man's legal troubles and what I think of them here, except to say that I really hope that this album is the beginning of Trey Anasatasio's come back. He is way to talented to burn out and fade away, and I truly hope that he is albe to overcome the chemical demons that have been plaguing him the last few years.

And maybe, just maybe I'll get the chance to see another Phish show.

Here's hoping.

You can preorder Trey Anastasio's new album, The Horseshoe Curve, here.

Michael Jackson's Punch-Out!!

Yesterday's 8-bit video put me in a old skool mood, and then I see this in my Inbox this morning. It's a sign, people!

I used to love playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. I remember sitting in my buddy Matt Levy's bedroom when we were little kids and playing the bosses at the end of the game over and over and over and over again before we finally finished the game.

Funny, but I don't remember this level...

Was it just me or did the makers of the game intentionally make Mike Tyson way too difficult?

I wonder what they'd say about Iron Mike nowadays... I don't think they'd be making him the star of his own video game, that's for sure...

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I know that it seems like I'm on a bit of an unnecessary Daft Punk kick over here. Which of course I am. The beginning of last week's tour pumped me out so much for the show I'm going to see later this summer that I've been listening to the French robots quite a bit lately.

Another unintended side effect of the tour's recent kick-off is the reemergence of a considerable amount of Daft Punk-related material on the web.

Take these videos. None of them (except the last one) is officially sanctioned. They're all a video of the same song but they couldn't be more different. I like how art of one kind influences art of another, but there is no expectation of how the influence is going to manifest itself.

This first pick is entitled Daft Hands, and the creator of the video has claimed that he created this masterpiece in one take. Dunno if that is the case or if he is being a little dishonest, but regardless it's pretty incredible. I do not have the coordination to do something like this at all.

For a little more musical talent (though not digital talent, the last d00d had that in spades), here is an a cappella version from the Carleton College Singing Knights. They have a pretty interesting set of songs that they perform on a regular basis; videos of most of them can be found at YouTube. If you've ever tried to sing anything in harmony, you know how difficult what this group of guys is doing truly is.

Click here (damn Flash-based pages) for an uber 8-bit version. If anyone know what game this is from (I'm looking at you, Perc) please let me know.

If those Nintendo throwback graphics brought you back to the future, then this one will bring you back. I spend at least ten hours a week with my feet planted firmly in front of my television, standing with a plastic guitar in my hands. I'm super-anxious to get my hands on a modified Play Station 2 so that maybe I can play things like this (though no where near as well).

And here, finally, is Daft Punk's version from their animated film Interstella 5555

pro shot Daft Punk video!

Until now, if you wanted to see the epic audiovisual experience that is Daft Punk live in concert, you either had to see them play live yourself (which I strongly--and repeatedly--urge you to do) or watch grainy, compressed audience video shot by amatuers.

That all changes now.

These two videos capture the robotic duo playing live this past weekend at London's O2 Wireless Festival. These videos (which not only are pro shot but also utilize multiple camera angles and some pretty spiffy editing) were broadcast on UK Channel 4 (note to American broadcasters: there is an audience for this stuff and you should maybe think about giving the consumers what they want).

"One More Time" / "Aerodynamic"

If the setlists bear any resemblance to last year, this tune was played near the middle of the set. I think that the twilight conditions verify that. Funny, I never in a thousand years would have thought that Daft Punk would begin their set while it was still light out.

"Rollin' & Scratchin' / "Da Funk" / "Superheroes"

Last year, this was the encore. I wish i would have brought a container to put my brain into after it ended, since my mnd slowly but surely dripped out my ears during the set.

How long until Brooklyn?

girl's feet cut off on amusement park ride

I love amusement parks. I especially love roller coasters: the faster and twistier the better, as far as I'm concerned.

That's why this story made my stomach turn. I've been on rides like this a million times, and though they're not my favoirte, it is a pretty cool sensation toleave your stomach up top as you free fall.

The most disturbing part of the story? A quote from an unidentified witness at the scene:

"The people on the ride just came and hit the ground," she said. "When I got up there, the lady she was just sitting there, and she didn't have no legs. ... And she was just there, calm, probably in shock from everything."

So you don't go away sour on amusement parks (especially roller coasters!!), here is a video of my favorite thril ride, the Volcano at King's Dominion in Williamsburg, Va.

which t-shirt should I buy?

I've mentioned it before, but I have a problem with t-shirts. I just got a package in the mail from Threadless today (one for me and another for she), and at least a couple days a week I will find a shirt online that I'll come a click away from purchasing. I've curtailed my habit a bit recently, and have decided to wait a bit after seeing a design a like before purchasing it. Some shirts I've initially wanted to buy faded from my mind, and others sold out before I could get home to find a credit card.

These two shirts caught my eye a few weeks back, and I still thinking about them. That's a sign. I decided to buy one of the two.

Which t-shirt should I buy?

Shirt #1 - Think Globally - the Imaginary Foundation

product page can be reached by clicking on the shirt

The first comes from a company call the Imaginary Foundation. They are a Swiss design group with an interesting (and decidedly psychedelic) take on technology, the arts and the environment. I have a series of their posters framed and hung up on my walls, but I've never bought a tee from them because many of them were all-over prints, of which I am not a great fan. This shirt was almost never considered since on the web site it is shown in white, which I refuse to wear since I am a certifiable slob.

The shirt features a quote from Sierra Club founder David Brower, and I find the illustration to be fantastic in a fairy tale kinda way.

Shirt #2 - Instruments A-Comin' - Dirty Coast

product page can be reached by clicking on the shirt

The second shirt comes from Dirty Coast, a shop out of New Orleans. As you can probably tell, I like music almost as much as I like t-shirts, so when you put the two together I have a hard time resisting. (Exception: extremely overpriced concert tees.) I really like the electric blue and green on this one, and according to the sales pitch,

This shirt is a celebration of the Tipitina’s Foundation nonprofit that helps year after year to raise funds for music instruments for our city’s youth.

I don't know if any money from the purchase of the shirt actually goes to the Foundation, though.

Those are the two I like. Comment with your choice, if you care.

sometimes it really is hard to tell the difference...

This is just too funny not to share:

jam band fan or taliban

I only hope that this guy keeps up with posting photos. What with the proliferation of both Islamic jihadists and the growth in popularity of jambands (it seems like you can throw a rock from anywhere in the Continental United States and hit a music festival this summer), I bet he'll have quality material for a long time...

Jam Band fan or Taliban... you decide.

Battles crush my skull... in a good way.

Last night I volunteered to be designated driver and hopped in the car with a moderately-sized crew. We were heading down to Studio A in Miami, home to overpriced drinks, beautiful hipster-chicks and dudes in over-ironic t-shirts aching to be noticed (some crew members included).

Why would we head into the god-forsaken 305 on a Monday night? It had to be a good reason to get me off of my couch on a Monday; so it had to be a great reason to get me to drive down to Miami in the rain on a Monday, the night before my weekly longest day ever (I have HUGE meetings on almost every Tuesday).

This was a good reason, New York avant rock (or if you want to be genre-specific, math rock) group Battles' first show in South Florida, and I was gonna see it. I first heard of the group a few months back when they announced that their first full-length LP, Mirrored, was going to be released on Warp Records. I found some of their tunes online and was immediately floored. The intricate layering of manipulated sound left me wondering "how did they do that?" and the driving oh-so-hard drum beats rattled my brain and made my neck cramp in anticipation of some serious head-banging.

I did a little bit of research and discovered that Battles were a super group, of sorts. I could go into the detailed back story of the group and its' members, but I think that this video will do much better justice as an introduction:

Suffice it to say that all four members are virtuosos in their own right, both technically in how they play their instruments, but also creatively, in the type of music they write. I've listened to a lot of music, and I've never heard anything like Battles before.

Anyway, back to the review.

After taking some half-baked advice on getting to the venue and getting lost in the ghetto twice and spit back onto the highway once, we made it to the venue as the final opening band was setting up their gear on stage. They're called (according to the same person who gave me the above mentioned directions) John Hancock and the Founding Fathers, and 'id give you a link to their site but I can't find out anything about them. They were actually pretty good, with a sound ranging from ! ! ! -esque dance punk to a more 80s new wave/pop sound. Their outfits had an unexplained jungle theme to them, and they all wore face paint for no good reason. But they had a song with the refrain "My girl is part Italian and I am part Mongolian," and I was glad that I saw them.

After the set ended, they cleared the stage completely and the guys from Battles started setting up their gear on in the empty space. It was actually rather cool to watch as the took the black space and completely constructed their setup. The stage was bookended by two similar setups. On each side a table held a laptop computer (gloat, Madpercolator, it was a Mac) and more effects pedals then I could count. A guitar leaned against each table. In the middle of the stage was drummer John Stanier's unmistakable yellow drumkit, complete with the high hat symbol on a stand that was about six feet tall. Behind the kit their sat various stringed instruments that would be played by Dave Konopka when the show finally began.

They came out around midnight, and we were ready. I stood about three rows back looking directly at the afroed Tyondai Braxton. When the double bass drum kicked, I did what I did at most concerts: I started dancing and dancing hard. I looked around to survey the crowd and discovered that out of the relatively meager size showing for the venue (but relatively good for a rainy Monday night) there were exactly seven people exhibiting any kind of body motion at all, and that they had either ridden in my car to get there or we met there.

Why is it that people don't dance at hipster shows? I really want to know...

The band kicked ass during their hour-and-fifteen minute set. It was pretty impressive how they would take something as simple as a guitar riff and then loop and manipulate it until it was indistinguishable from its' original form. Add to that the ability to layer on top of layer on top of layer until it sounded as if their were sound coming from a dozen different players instead of the four onstage and the brutally punishing intensity of the drums and you can imagine how intense this show was.

Battles play loud, aggressive rock and roll that is obtuse and angular in its melodies and rhythms, but at the same time danceable (to those of us who do that kind of thing, anyway). It is definitely the kind of music that not everyone can get into, but if you're into it you understand how good this band is at playing it.

My buddy Billy-B took some photos last night that I'll post up when he has a chance to send them my way.

And here they are:

Battles in motion

drummer John Stanier reaches up to hit his high hat