At this moment...
06.28.05:
Just finished tracking some bass at Garret's studio. It's always a good time over there either recording music or talking music.
Sleep just descended upon me.
06.27.05:
--------->I'm waiting and looking forward to Fall and Winter<--------
Listening to:
My red guitar. I finally got it fixed, so I've been playing it all night. Now it's time to sleep since I'll be up at 5AM.
06.26.05:
Thanks to all who ventured out in the heat and humidity to see Zerostars at The Beat Kitchen. Even with the adjusted thirty minute set things went quite well. Thanks also to Mark for sitting in this one last time behind the drum kit. You will be missed.
Before the show I hit the record shop and picked up a few records and cds. I was able to find a copy of Robyn Hitchcock's Globe of Frogs on vinyl, and since I only have it on tape it seemed to make sense to buy it.
The Flaming Lips documentary Fearless Freaks is amazing, so go out and buy it, or at least rent it. I've always loved that band. Also, the first season of the Adventures of Pete and Pete has finally been released to DVD. Brilliant stuff. My VHS copies were starting to wear out. And, while I'm on the topic of DVDs, Mr. Show is now out of print, so I'd recommend if you haven't already bought all the seasons you really should because they will become increasingly difficult to find.
The Keren Ann show on Friday night was quite fantastic. I could watch her play guitar and sing every night.
I'm sleepy as all hell.
Listening to:
Les Oixeau - V/A Mix CD made by Kelly Kyle (Thanks Kelly)
Venice - Fennesz (Beautiful digital computerized drones that pulse with an amazing sense of life.)
Disintegration - The Cure (Quite possibly the only album that makes sense today.)
06.24.05:
12:35AM. I just returned from the Keren Ann show at Schubas, and it was incredible. Keren Ann is one of the most amazing, gorgeous, playful, and sexy musicians ever, and hands down one of the best songwriters of my generation. I'm sure I wrote the same thing when I saw her in March, but I need to repeat myself. I'm excited about seeing her again tomorrow night.
06.23.05:
finished reading Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. Quite good, and I'd recommend it to anyone intrigued with rats. I'm not a fan of rats (I think they're pretty dirty), but since I couldn't find a book on mice I figured this would do. Now I'm reading Steven Millhauser's Martin Dressler. A friend recommended reading an Iris Murdoch novel, but there's no point in reading that one if we can't sit around and talk about why it's such a brilliant novel.
Took today and tomorrow off. I need a break from work. I've been feeling mentally and creatively drained, along with totally stressed, from work. I really haven't had any proper time off since I went to Hawaii. I often wonder what I'd be like if I didn't run. Over the past few weeks I've had a few projects where I've had to be creative but I just haven't felt creative. I know that I could have done a hell of a lot better had my mind been in the right mode. Things turned out fine and all, but sometimes the perfectionist in me kicks in and I think I could have done even better.
Tonight and tomorrow it's Keren Ann. Then on Saturday Zerostars plays at The Beat Kitchen. A bit worried that I'll miss my Saturday and Sunday run, but maybe I won't be as exhausted as I think I'll be after such a busy weekend. Thankfully it's reduced week of running with my longest run at six miles. However, if I do make both runs I think it'll give me 100 miles for the month of June, which would make my first 100 mile month of the year.
Some brief lines from Wordsworth:
For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity
I'm sure I either ignored or dissed Wordsworth in college. Now, it all makes sense.
Listening to:
Tales From Turnpike House - Saint Etienne (I'm really liking this album a lot.)
The Golden Morning Breaks - Colleen (Abstract and minimal sounds that really make a lot of sense.)
Song:
Not Going Anywhere - Keren Ann
06.20.05:
Dinner (risotto) with Saint Etienne's Tales From Turnpike House.
Sometimes there is nothing better than the sound of a record needle hitting a fresh piece of 180 gram vinyl for the first time. There's that moment of anticipation between the first crackle and pop and the initial chord that takes you to a place totally new. It's a feeling that I don't get when I listen to a CD or when I download a song or album from iTunes.
Watch as the record spins (Quick Time required).
I wish I could play this much louder as it deserves to be listened to at top volume, but I know that my neighbor beneath me will cause a commotion. She needs to either lighten up a bit, or get laid.
The most uncharacteristic song on the album has to be Last Orders for Gary Stead, first track, side B. With the exception of the lyrics being very British, this song would sit very well on a Neil Young album. Oh, Milk Bottle Symphony totally steals the beat from Annie's Heartbeat. Then again, Annie stole that beat from countless classic Motown tracks. Then there's the chorus to Teenage Winter that floats atop a gorgeous set of descending chords. Fantastic album, like sitting down for a chat with an old friend.
06.17.05:
Today was one of those days where I had a million thoughts, but now, I'm unable to recall any of them.
Listening to:
The Blue Notebooks - Max Richter (Stunning minimalistic classical music with touches of electronics. Haunting and uplifting.)
06.14.05:
Songs:
Time Has Told Me - Nick Drake ("Time has told me / You're a rare, rare find...")
Pain - Catherine Wheel ( "I miss my best friend, a growing fear / A lot to sacrifice / Or draw to an end...")
Side Streets - Saint Etienne (First single from their latest album Tales From Turnpike House.)
That's all for today.
06.12.05:
Listening to:
Here Come The Tears - The Tears (The return of Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler. Anderson and Butler used to play in Suede, but a number of years back Butler quit. This album is quite good, and Refugees has the potential to be single of the year. Oh, and this is a total guitar album, the type that makes me have faith in the guitar again.)
06.11.05:
Happy birthday to my mom. Congratulations to my cousin on his marriage. I'm in Chicago while the parents are out in Maine attending a wedding. It would have been nice to spend a week in Maine, but I'm happy here.
This morning I woke way too early for a day off, 5:05 AM to be exact. I needed to get out of bed early before it became too hot to run. I'll be getting up early again tomorrow for a eight mile run.
After the run I read for a bit, then I finished up the cover for a mix CD.
Every so often Kelly and I make a theme mix CD for each other. The theme for this mix was Birds. Since Kelly and I haven't traded mixes yet I can't giveaway the track listing, but it's good. Eventually I'll put it up. However, I really liked the cover design, so I thought it would be okay to put it on the site. I've had a book sitting on my coffee table called Art Linkletter's Picture Encyclopedia for Boys and Girls for forever, so I scanned some of the strange illustrations into Photoshop and made a cover. Hopefully the John James Audubon Society won't come after me.
Listening to:
The John James Audubon Society Presents... Songs About Birds - V/A Comp.
So, in a really weird way I feel bad that I killed the mouse. I don't know how long he had been living underneath my stove in my apartment. Should I not feel some amount of guilt? Will the karma police come and get me?
While I didn't bother to buy the latest Coldplay album, I just wanted to say that they're crap. Yellow was a decent single and all but outside of that one song, I can't stand Coldplay and their brand of rock music. Therefore, go out and buy the latest Teenage Fanclub album since it's quite good.
06.07.05:
Last Friday, while doing some baking, I established that I had a mouse living underneath my stove. Earlier in the week I had heard some strange noises in the apartment, so I thought something might be up. After the oven had been on for a while I heard the same strange noises, and then, from underneath the oven a mouse appeared and ran across the kitchen and underneath the refrigerator. Not being thrilled with my new "pet" I walked over to the grocery store and bought some mouse traps and poison. I baited the traps with peanut butter, placed them strategically in the kitchen, and decided to take a wait and see what happens attitude.
For three days nothing happened. I noticed some of the mouse poison had been eaten, but none of the traps had gone off.
Last night, while I was in bed, trying to sleep I heard what I thought was one of the traps going off. Not wanting to check I fell asleep. Upon waking for a run this morning I went into the kitchen to check out the traps, and there it was, my poor little house guest was dead. Here's the proof:
[Scene of the crime #1]
[Scene of the crime #2]
Even though I've caught one I plan on leaving the traps out in case there are more.
Listening to:
Man-Made - Teenage Fanclub
06.06.05:
My official Chicago Marathon training program begins this week (See the schedule that I plan to follow). For the next 18 weeks I'll be in training. Not that I haven't been in training, it's just that I'll have to stick to a formal plan.
Yesterday I bought an air conditioner (1200 BTUs so it'll cool off the entire apartment. Plus it's an 'Energy Saver' so hopefully my electric bill won't be too outrageous). I hate the heat. I'd rather live in Alaska than anywhere close to the equator.
Why I need to be living in the UK...
Isle Of Wight music fest features the following bands:
Saint Etienne, Magic Numbers, Go Team, Super Furry Animals, British Sea Power, Royksopp... America depresses me.
06.04.05:
Worst run of the year. I struggled for seven miles. I partially blame the heat/humidity (at 9 AM it was 80 degrees), music selection (Matt Pond PA was just too slow to keep me motivated, and Rilo Kiley came too late), lack of sleep (I need an air conditioner), and lack of proper nutrition (low carb intake over the past two days). Thankfully I didn't have a 13 mile run planned or I would have collapsed.
Last night I made chocolate truffles and attempted to bake cupcakes. The cupcakes would have turned out great had I used cupcake papers instead of pouring the batter into the silicon molds. I'll attempt them again in a few minutes.
06.03.05:
I've been listening to Leave Me Alone (off of New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies) on repeat for the majority of the morning. There's this quaver in Bernard Sumer's voice, almost as if he's struggling to let his emotions escape from him:
On a thousand islands in the sea
I see a thousand people just like me
A hundred unions in the snow
I watch them walking, falling in a row
We live always underground
It's going to be so quiet in here tonight
A thousand islands in the sea
It's a shame...
And everything is so urgently restrained; a mounting tension that crescendos at the end with Sumner's guitar ringing out. Leave Me Alone destroys.
06.02.05:
For those that care, or even pay attention, yesterday I hit the 300 mile mark for the year in running. Good times. I love to run.
Tonight, it was three mile run and a nice dinner with family.
Song(s):
This - Brian Eno (From his upcoming album. First time Brian Eno has done a vocal album in 20 + years.)
Leave Me Alone - New Order (From their second album. You can hear them shedding Joy Division, but still, the ghost of Ian Curtis is all over this track. One of my all time favorite New Order tracks.)
Trying to Sit Out - Field Music (Pastoral bliss from this English trio. Lovely strings, and that kick during the chorus is spot on perfection.)
At Last I Am Free - Monade (Covering the Robert Wyatt classic. Elizabeth Frasier also covers this track on a Rough Trade comp.)
Album:
Howl Howl Guff Guff - Shout Out Louds (This has been on heavy rotation since it came out two weeks ago. I've probably listened to it every day since then. This is one of those albums that speaks to me. Fantastic stuff.)
06.01.05:
Today I was reminded of the fragility of life.
Listening to:
Careless Love - Madeleine Peyroux