Thought Sausage

Well true to their word, Positron Records dropped Callisto yesterday. And it is in fact a tasty dose of electronica goodness. One of my favorite things about Micronaut stuff is that unlike most electronic instrumental (trance, house, acid blah blah whatever the kids are calling it now) it is melodically structured like a musician wrote it (cos he did) verses a DJ. This is definitely a step up, and truth be told, Europa and Ganymede were quite good. So it certainly wasn't a simple task. As I understand it, Chris didn't use any soft-synths for this entire album. I don't know if this is the result, but things sound, I dunno fatter? The mix is incredible...even on my POS laptop speakers these tunes fill space. He got some hip hop guy to rap over a couple tracks. I haven't listened through 'em enough to decide if I like that or not...but I'm not thinking it is taking away. It certainly would be annoying as hell if that guy were on EVERY track, but as it is, he shows up on two. You can download the whole album (mp3 or FLAC, good work Positron!) for $10.00 and it is entirely worth that from what I've heard insofar. Let's face it, you need some solid ambient tracks in your life anyway. Go getcha some.

In other news, I got Paddy's bass over here on extended loan while he's off to Brazil, Ireland and France on business. So I'm beginning the process of replacing all my fake bass parts (courtesy of my trusty Digitech Whammy) with real bass parts. This will be cool and sorta strenuous since I haven't actually played bass in a recording capacity in about 4 years. Them there strings are big y'all! My fingers ain't hip to it.

50 bucks says this guy has been on Cops at least once. And I'm willing to bet another 10 he is a card carrying member of the Kiss Army and thinks the 1983 Firebird was the greatest thing in the history of things.

From the Killing Joke website:

October
02 - (UK) London, The Forum
03 - (UK) London, The Forum
09 - (US) Los Angeles, TBC
11 - (US) New York, TBC

The LA date makes more sense. I know of at least one person who will be there, and I could theoretically make a trip out to Death Valley while there and ride. Not that I 'like' LA or anything...but well...when comparing it to New York...

This has to be the single greatest idea in the history of comic strips

Thanks Sam

Somehow I totally missed that this was coming out (or perhaps Trent just dropped it outta nowhere). But last night, Ghosts (the mp3's at least) were released. I've been letting it cycle through all night. Basically what you get is 36 tracks that essentially is wannabe Berlin-Era-Bowie tunes. Sometimes that much is painfully (or embarassingly?) obvious. It's all instrumental. When I first heard of the sheer volume of tunes (36?!) and 'instrumental' my first hunch was that this was going to be nothing more than outtakes and unusable sequences that didn't fit on any of his recent outtings. After a couple times through each track...I don't think that's what we get. In fact, I'll go as far as to say its actually not half bad. I've caught a few instances where he's either quoting or straight up rehashing old Fragile tunes, but you'll have that I guess. It certainly doesn't measure up to Callisto whatsoever, but I don't know that was Trent's intention.

That said...now that Trent is 'out of his contract' I suppose this is what we're in for. Massive doses of output that he can put out whenever it suits his fancy (of course, all the people downloading these proceeded to crash his site..good job kids). I know what you're thinking: "dave, how on earth would the single most pretentious artist this side of Prince sleep knowing his output was merely in the form of mp3's?". Well true to form, you can buy this collection of instrumentals in various hardcopy versions...one of which is a $300 (really?!) "collectors edition" that includes vinyls (seriously?!) of all these tracks. I find that funny because I don't know of a single vinyl enthusiast (save for maybe a couple DJ's) that would give two shits and a rolling donut about a new NIN album on vinyl (much less anything post Fragile). There's a lot of analog synthy sounds that prolly do sound pretty fat on vinyl, but certainly not $300 fat.

that said, the $5 you spend to get all these is most certainly worth it. It's good background music...not to engaging, and nothing here that is going to win over any uninitiated (as I imagine anybody who is a fan of the Bowie/Eno stuff probably is well aware of what Trent's been doing the past 18 odd years).

This whole 'direct release' thing like what NIN, Radiohead and others are doing is proving to be an interesting situation. On one hand, this definitely makes it easier for Trent to get work out. On the other, not having a label in there acting as a filter between the end listener and the artist could be a bad thing. I don't care who the artist is, everybody has good work and shitty work. Labels have served to some extent as a quality control because they are only interested in music they can sell (for better or for worse I guess...but I've heard plenty of stories from artists who can't put an album out because the label 'doesn't hear a single'). Maybe that is kind of a good thing? Cos while I can't say for sure, I'm pretty sure Trent couldn't release an album with 36 instrumental tracks on Interscope. Not in the form he's doing it now. And of these 36, I'd say 15 of 'em sound like self-indulgent experiments. Basically they don't serve to benefit the overall output. I know with my own work, the first IK album could ahve been 4-5 songs thinner and thus, a way more effective album. But self releasing it as we did...we just put out everything we had committed to tape.

So...eh..if ya wanna hear Trent make a bunch of noises with some standouts here and there...this is definitely worth your 5 bucks (better pay up too cos now Trent's got a big old bandwidth bill haha)

Appearing on Conan O'Brien next Tuesday March 11. Set your Tivo, or stay the fuck up. Whatever ya gotta do. Be there or be incredibly fuckin' square.

My guess is a song off Brighter Than Creation's Dark. And probably just a song (no interview) cos I don't think NBC can quite handle the truth.

I'm sorry, but if Iggy Pop singing a fucking Madonna (post Erotica era) song to fucking Madonna isn't a sign of the impending apocolypse I don't know what is.

And would somebody please tell Iggy that it's okay to wear a shirt once in awhile? I mean, the cut punk rocker guy thing worked when you were in fact a cut up punk rocker dude. Now you've got saggy tits and you've tricked The Stooges into performing Madonna songs.

God and to think that guy sang on Funhouse, and co-wrote one of the greatest albums of all time.

Punk is deader than Elvis.

It's been awhile since I posted anything meaningful about what I've been doin on here. Been busy. Well by busy I mean life has basically been a massive party for the past 4 days (well yesterday was a recovery day). Man how the fuck did I do this when I was younger?

I guess it technically started with seeing The Pogues at the Riviera on Wednesday. Good show. Shane was stupidly drunk as expected. He even went on an hour late because (as rumor has it) he got drunk at the wrong venue (house of blues). So they had to track him down and cart him up to the proper one. Nice. All in all it was a good show though. How that guy can perform as wasted as he is is beyond me. Well better yet, how the fuck he hasn't died is beyond me.

Friday well into Monday morning saw various St. Patty's festivities based around the south side. My dumbass forgot about daylight savings and missed the trolley down there (good job you say?).

I'm actually going to be going to Waterloo/Cedar Falls this weekend (albeit on more somber circumstances...funeral/memorial on Friday). But I'll be around all weekend. Anything going on Saturday night I should know about? I'll probably get a hotel over by Main street just to play it safe (I've been told that city is insane about DUI's now).

The single biggest fucktard on youtube?

I think we have a champion (yes I know I'm late to the game on this chick...I was away from a computer the past three days)

UPDATE: Apparently that link isn't working. I couldn't deprive all y'all of this. Try here

Been awhile since I posted something that didn't somebody doing something really stupid.

Busy busy busy 'round here the past couple of weeks.

Google had their St. Patricks' party on Thursday. This year they really stepped up. The past few years have been at their office. Not that that's a bad thing (for those who haven't been, yes the Chicago office is exactly how you would envision Google to have an office). Before that, they rented out Fado's which was cool. This year they rented out the Park West theater and threw right the fuck down on drinks and food. Was a good time. Didn't hurt that this year I was with a very large work crew since the people I work with actually live in Chicago nowadays (they were here last year too, I just didn't know any of 'em). Good times had by all.

I was in Iowa this past weekend. First there was Josie's mom's funeral Friday. That was a somber event suffice to say. Jos and Stacey are holding up amazingly well...couple of strong kids there. Stronger than I would. I'm sure both her parents would be proud of them for getting through these situations as well as they have. Tough tough times, and I'll leave it at that.

Then we proceeded to party around main street later that night. Checked out the whole main street and saw how Vice President Darin Beck has pretty much taken over the city. Not that that's a bad thing persay. His decor does well for the city. But that whole "Cedar Falls snob" thing oozes throughout. I especially enjoyed the whole notion of having to take an elevator just to get up to Jokers. Perhaps its because I'm from Chicago and this whole thing seems rather silly to me since well, it's Cedar Fucking Falls and the money I'm spending on a 700sq ft condo here in my hood could buy me a 3000 square foot mansion there. Perhaps its because most everybody I know in that town is perfectly content to sit in a bar and drink booze (what no naked chicks with bodypaint? Where do you think we're at darin? Payless?). But that whole 'CF Snob" thing is quite comical and ever-so-prevelant when you step back and look at it as a big city guy looking in. Whateva

Proceeded to get kicked out of the Blackhawk Hotel around 3am...drunken loudness. These folks ain't hip to how we do things downtown i guess. So I crashed at Sam's and avoided spending the night in the pokey (well played!). No matter, as the Trails End Lodge was right behind it and not only was it half the price, but immediately available and even bigger rooms! (Note to self -Blackhawk out, Trails End in). Met up with a buddy of mine I hadn't seen forever during the day and caught up. Good times. Then the Tallywackers evidentally were in town so Bear and myself took to hangin with them all night. That went well...and we avoided getting kicked out of the Trails End (btw, WTF is up with no food deliveries after 2 in Cedar falls anymore? No really I'm not fucking around here, you go and pop everyone I know for DUI's and then businesses aren't delivering late? That's just fucking tragic folks). So we ate chips and drank beer until we collectively passed out.

Came back to Chicago...sweated out all the booze with a half-assed 10k around the west loop and was pretty much back in business. I decided this week I needed to get my diet on track for the race season so I'm holding around 1200 calories or so per day. Diet is mostly high protein (tuna, eggs, chicken breast), carbs (oatnut bread) 'n calcium/potassium (bananas and low fat string cheese). Seems to be working. Cut way back (if not out) on coffee too. The net result is a much lower heart rate.

This weekend I'm heading to the Quad Cities to hang with my folks and my bro who will be in town. Also going to go out with my dad for the first time on the mountain bike we got him for christmas. One good thing about the QC is their mountain biking. They've got a couple man made parks that just own the fuck out of anything here in Chicago. Assuming the weather cooperates, we're in for some good riding.

You and your weather controlling ways are fucking my mountain bike season all the hell up. Seriously dude, go fuck yourself, its March 20th for Christ's sake.

UPDATE: To see the conversation that prompted this entry, check out Travis's blog

Yesterday's post prompted me to investigate the actor that played Zues in No Holds Barred. Upon consulting his Wiki entry, what I found was a list of characters he has portrayed over the years that just gives me a fit of the giggles.

1st & Ten (1984) - Otis
Runaway Train (1985) - Jackson
Blue City (1986) - Tiny
Armed and Dangerous (1986) - Bruno
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) - Orvis
Extreme Prejudice (1987) - Monday
No Holds Barred (1989) - Zeus
Trespass (1992) - Cletus
Universal Soldier (1992) - GR55
Posse (1993) - Obobo
Men Of War - Jojob
Friday (1995) - Deebo
Phat Beach (1996)
The Fifth Element (1997) - President Lindberg
Jackie Brown (1997) - Winston
The Players Club (1998) - XL
Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999) - Prison Guard
Circus (2000) - Moose
Next Friday (2000) - Deebo
Little Nicky (2000) - Cassius
The Wash (2001) - Bear
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) - Prisoner #2
Full Clip (2004) - Boomiyay
Dracula 3000 (2004) - Humvee
My Baby's Daddy (2005) - Drive-By
Who Made The Potatoe Salad? (2006) - Mr. Monster
One Night with the King (2006) - Hagai
Forbidden Fruits (2006) - Jade
Saul of the Mole Men (2007) - John Henry
The 1 Second Film (2009) - Producer
36 Mafia's Choices 2-ex con
Miss B's Hair Salon- Mr Bigs

I love how his role as President Linberg was preceeded by his role as an uncredited character in Phat Beach and proceeded by a character simply named Winston (which is actually more refined than his previous roles as Obobo, Jojob and Deebo).

What I'm trying to say here, is that Tom Lister has had an illustrious career that is the absolute study of character diversity.

Back home after spending the weekend in Iowa. My brother had just gotten back from spring break and was hanging out at my parents' house in the Quad Cities. He also just turned 21 so I had my first beer with him when he was actually legal to do so. Good times. Got a couple good runs in too. Weird how much, I dunno, cleaner? Iowa air is. It was almost an overload of oxygen after running in the west loop all this time. Good things afoot though.

I am officially taking on the Alaskan race. Roly and I booked our flights for the second week of July to fly up to Anchorage. Still haven't sorted out how exactly the bikes will get there, but if Jet Blue can ship 'em to Long Beach, I don't see how the fuck Delta can't get 'em up to Alaska. A little leary of having connecting flights with those things in tow though. Guess we'll see I guess.

My fuckin' home laptop's power insert decided to loosen itself to the point to where I can't keep the plug in long enough to power up the internal battery long enough to get the fucker to come out of his sleep mode. So its basically in a coma. I brought my work laptop home to use for general internet stuff (The Rox box isn't, nor will it ever be connected to the interknot). So until James re solders or does whatever the fuck it is he has to do to make the thing come alive again, I'm stuck wtih this thing. That's somewhat inconvenient because I can't install anything on this computer, which includes my workout/diet/weight tracking program I use very regularly on the onset of a new season. So yeah...I need that shit fixed else I don't know what the fuck is goin on.

Lots of new projects afoot at work this week. We've got a couple new deliverables to roll out to the teams, new projects coming along, old clients trying on new ideas etc etc. All in all, it's enough to keep me on my toes and then some. I'm trying to get in a habit of having to-do lists that are so chock full that I need to prioritize. For the past few weeks everything has been cropping up so fast and furious I literally showed up to work and spent the entire day helping people with their projects and making sure the teams had what they needed. This went on for pretty much the whole year. Then I found myself on Friday without anybody coming to me and was like "whoa, what the hell do I do with myself?". It was an awkward situation because A.there's so much shit to do, to be in a situaiton like that is inexcusable and B. I had so many little tangents and things I could start, yet no priorities or plan for how to attack them. So, yeah, we're gonna eliminate that sorta shit in short order believe you me.

Random question...what was the mall used for the big shoot out scene in Commando? I watched that Saturday night and noticed, even 20+ years later, it looks curiously like the one by the airport in Long Beach....

So my regular laptop is in fact fixable according to James. He has to order a few parts which should be here in "3-5 days". Whateva...so like, 3-5 days and 100 bucks poorer later, at least the thing will be back in order. It's a Compaq (shut up), and apparently the layout of these machines isn't particularly well thought-out.

So this week I'm on my work Dell, which is certainly good for surfing the web and so forth, but, well, it's tiny and gay. Not that that's a bad thing in of itself, but well, I don't do well with tiny keyboards.

Began piecing some music things in sort of a half-time thing I had together awhile ago, but finally worked out a somewhat tangible arrangement for. Problem? It's almost 13 minutes long (which, if left unedited, would be the longest thing I've ever done). Will revisit tonight, but I suspect this won't be usable for anything in its current state.

That is all.

Finally got around to reading Michael Wallis's take on Billy the Kid. For those who don't know (and I'm guessing that'd be all of you since nobody else I know gives a shit), I'm a lifelong Billy the Kid buff. I've read just about every biography on him, I was a card carrying member of the Billy the Kid Historical Preservation Society until it went tits up (through no fault of my own) and follow a few boards pretty closely. So the fact this book has been out for a year and I haven't gotten around to reading it is somewhat pathetic.

That said, the general consensus in circles of folks who would know such things is that Wallis is actually pretty fair to the kid's reputation (which has been grossly over-exaggerated). A lot of people complain that he focuses too much on the historical context of the times (an entire chapter on PT Barnham for example) and not enough on the Kid himself. I think this actually is a good thing..especially for people who aren't initiated into the Billy the Kid lore. The backdrop of the post-civil war west, Native American forced migration, and the factions in Lincoln county are essential to understanding what engendered the culture at the time. This culture is critical if you are at all interested in learning how somebody like the kid can turn into such a big legend given the cast of characters in Lincoln county at the time. For the uninitiated, and people who only know Billy the Kid because of Young Guns, it's important to understand how the myths around him began (which is what I imagine Wallis's intent was in writing the book).

Does he succeed in this? I'd say yes. There were interviews and newspaper articles he uncovered that I hadn't seen before (everything is cited very well), and a lot of the recollections by various residents of Fort Sumner and/or Lincoln were pretty fascinating. I will say some of the information about the way the army treated native Americans during this time is pretty sick. That was one of the most profound things in the book and it wasn't even a primary focus (to me at least).

Wallis's writing style is casual and fairly down to earth, so it doesn't come across as pompous or overtly intellectual. And it doesn't have the trappings of any of the really old yellow journalism bullshit that came out immediately after the kid died. So you're spared that (btw, if you have read Pat Garrett's book and took what he wrote as gospel, you were duped).

So it's on Amazon...go forth if you need some worthwhile reading material