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at CDBaby.com
Salve EP (2003)
at Amazon.com
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Any Raw Flesh? (2001)
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| 12/21/2003 |
| Did I Mention He Was Despi-zed? |
Oh, .Blog, how hath I neglected thee. How you have pined these many dark days, despairing of further attentions - Oh, Cruel Fates!
Last week turned into a busy week when it was supposed to be fairly normal, which is the cause of my disappearance from around these parts. There are several things of note that I'll discuss today. Let's give each its own header, shall we?Case Of The Crash-ed Car: An Epilogue
The car is return-ed to me, forthwith from the Auto Body Shop, in "just like new" condition. The final damage tally ended up being a shade over $2,600, I paid my $500 deductible. While my baby was in the shop I drove a new Nissan Maxima, which while having oodles of "pep" was not really a good substitute vehicle for me. I'm always amazed at the weird design ideas you find in new vehicles these days, since one figures that, if there were no public demand for them, they wouldn't be there. The back window of that Maxima was really small, and was angled in such a way that the view out the rear of the vehicle was but a tiny sliver - the window barely filled 50% of the viewing area of the rearview mirror. How disconcerting I found this to be! And the rearview mirror itself, let's talk about that! It had this "auto-shading" functionality built into it - the brighter the headlights behind you, the darker the mirror got. I can't possibly understand the usefulness of this feature. Yes, headlights are brighter these days, and people don't need their brights on to blind you at times. But the thing would get so dark at times that I could no longer discern any details at all in it, beyond the floating (but dimmed!) white spots of light that were the headlights of the vehicles behind me. It's already DARK out, hello, so it's already hard to see behind me, with no additional automatic "assistance" from the rearview mirror! Sheesh!
So yeah, the car is back. The insurance claim will go to arbitration thanks to the Liar, and I suppose I won't hear anything else about it until a decision is made. Thus, I am done with it, and I am done thinking about it. I realize too that there's really nothing better to do than just forgive the Idiot Asshole Lying Douchebag, and so, yes, I'll do that, too. You are forgiven, you Stupid Lying Non-Looking-Backward-Before-Hurtling-Rearward Assclown. Ahhhh. You see? Forgiveness really does make the heart feel free.
Lying shit head.
"You shall live to see these days renewed."The last chapter of the Lord Of The Rings saga opened last week, and I had a ticket to a screening on Tuesday night at midnight. It is, of course, a fabulous movie. Unlike the other two films, I actually read the book this time, so I knew what was coming (I couldn't take the cliffhanger at the end of The Two Towers last year, so I just read The Return Of The King straightaway after finishing TTT). There are things I would love to see in the extended DVD (yep, there will be an even LONGER version!) next year that this cut doesn't really address. Little things, that add a lot to motivations, emotional responses, etc. But overall, it's another amazing achievement from Peter Jackson and his small army of crazy New Zealanders. Now that all three films are out there, I can say that these films are my favorite movies ever. They might not be the best films ever made, but things that are one's favorite need not be the best of their kind. All I can say is, these movies have evoked in me the kind of love and awe for the art form of film making that only the original two Star Wars films have done, and I am immensely grateful that they exist. These films are not perfect, but they were made with incredible passion that is evident in every single frame. They are classics for the ages, and I will revisit them far more often than I will many so-called "greater" works. The film versions of The Lord Of The Rings have been the single most inspiring creative endeavors of the last two years for me, in ANY art form. Even though they are three seperate chapters, it's really one long movie, and it's an incredible story, told as faithfully as the medium can allow.
And I am really, really, really sad that it's over. No new LOTR film to look forward to next year. If New Line can get the rights imbroglio over the film rights to The Hobbit sorted out, I hope they will have the good sense to open that movie at Christmastime as well. Better yet, make it at least two movies! There's a lot of narrative ground to cover in that little "kid's book!"Culture Makes Me SleepyBeta Girl had an idea this year: she had always wanted to attend a performance of Handel's Messiah during the holidays. It's apparently an annual event put on by the Seattle Symphony. She was getting tickets. She asked if I wanted to go. Sure, I said, what the hey. I knew that one part of that one thing, of that song in that section. Culture is good for you, and I hadn't yet heard the Seattle Symphony play in their new hall. The last time I'd seen them perform was in the old building, when Joel Thorne conducted them through a program of Zappa orchestra music.
So, this was Friday night we went to this. I kinda had to rush over there from work to make it on time. When I arrived, just in time for the beginning of the piece, I felt pretty out of place in my blue jeans, seeing as I was surrounded by many members of the Seattle glitterati all dolled up in their finest. I got news for those folks - the music sounds the same no matter what you're wearing.
So, Handel's Messiah. Well, I'm glad I went. I can say I've seen it. And the one time was enough for me, thengyouverramuch. We got to the Really Famous Part That Everyone Knows and the whole joint stood up, which is of course, the traditional thing to do. Have I mentioned to you lately how much I loooooove traditions? For whatever reason, it rankled me that I was expected to jump up like all the other sheep, but at that point we were a couple of hours in, and my ass was hurting, so it was good to get up. Sort of like a "7th-Inning Stretch" type of thing.
I hope Beta Girl doesn't get the wrong idea, like I'm mad I went or anything. It's not her fault the music was boring. I was kinda bummed that the actual "orchestra" that played was so small, like maybe 30 pieces, tops. Then there were the four vocal soloists, and then like a 10,000 piece choir. Classical music featuring vocals is my least favorite form of classical music, just in case you wondered. I would love to go back and hear the symphony when they've got the whole Kit N' Kaboodle up there, with no stupid singing. Do they ever play any Stravinsky? That would rock.
Embracing The iTunesI had dinner with my compadre and co-producer of my two albums Darin DiPietro last week, too. I haven't seen him much this year since the Big Layoff severly impacted my recording budget, so it was great to see him and hang out with him. As always, once we get going we get talking and talking for literally hours at a clip. I guess that's what happens when you get a couple of people who are passionate about a subject and let 'em get wound up. During the conversation Darin mentioned that he'd gotten an iPod and signed up for iTunes, and in his opinion the setup was the best thing ever. Darin actually said that as far as he's concerned, he's bought his last CD. He's completely happy with buying albums on iTunes and downloading them - happy with sound quality, happy with the convenience, everything. When I got home, I installed the iTunes software I'd downloaded several weeks ago, and never bothered to look at. I don't have an iPod, but I was real curious about the iTunes store, and also I was curious about the quality of the AAC format that the iPod uses. I used iTunes to encode a bunch of CD's of mine, and I went about comparing the quality of those AAC files to my MP3's I'd encoded at 192k. Much to my surprise, they sound virtually identical. So then I clicked to look at the iTunes Music Store, and that's when they got me.
I was impressed by just about everything about the iTunes store. I was impressed by the search functionality. I was impressed by the layout. I was impressed by how easy it was to preview a track before buying it. And then I bought my first iTunes track: "Hey Ya!" by OutKast. I'm not much of a hip/hop guy, but I know a great single when I hear one. I would probably never buy an OutKast CD in my life, but I was glad to pay $1 for that song. I later burned the track to CDR, and it sounds great.
At this point, I've bought maybe 20 songs total. In general, I'm still going to buy CD's while I can - I like album covers and artwork and stuff, and I also like the idea of having a backup copy of the songs on CD. But I think even these old reservations I have, a link back to the old, media-based paradigm of buying music, will eventually fall away. Right now, I'm buying songs that I love from albums that I wouldn't really want to buy. I bought "Diary Of A Madman" by Ozzy Osbourne, being that it's the one track of his featuring Randy Rhodes that's actually any good. I was reading a Salon story that mentioned Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son." I thought to myself, "Damn! That's a great tune!" About a minute later, I had purchased a copy of it for $1 on iTunes. I don't really like the Rolling Stones at all, but they do have several singles that I like, and iTunes will enable me to collect the ones I want for less than the price of one of their CD's. That is pretty freaking cool.
And that's the really big shift that's come: when you think of a song, or if you only hear about it's existence, you can have it now. You don't have to wait to track it down in some store. It won't be something that sells out, and you're out of luck.
My only current caveat is with the previewing of tracks: it's really cool that you can have a 30-second sample of every song on iTunes, but many songs don't lend themselves to previews of that short a length. Which 30 seconds do they put up of "Long Distance Runaround," or "La Villa Strangiato?" I was disappointed when I bought a copy of Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" and discovered that the cusswords where edited out. If they had an uncensored version, I would have wanted that one. There was no way to tell from the preview.
And lastly, the AAC files are smaller than MP3 files of similar quality. Which means they take up less harddrive space. Which means I might actually be able to get my entire CD collection on one of those 40 GB iPods. Hmmmmmmmmmm. How long will it take me to save up my allowance for one of those things? |
| 2:30:09 PM |
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| 12/11/2003 |
| Lying Liar |
Another chapter in the Tool Who Backed Into My Poor Car saga for you. Get this: now the guy is telling his insurance company that I rear-ended him.
I got a call from a nice lady at Allstate this morning, apparently they are the company that the Liar purchases his auto insurance from. She asked if she could record me giving a statement of the events of the evening the accident occurred. I said sure, she turned the tape recorder on, and I told her what I've already told you here on the .Blog. The guy hit me. He admitted fault. He wanted to pay out-of-pocket. I told her that since the incident, I have filed a police report, and that my car is currently in the body shop, the repairs being billed through my insurance. She turned off the recorder, and we talked some more. I could tell there was some reticence on her side. I told her how the Liar had called my roommate, and basically told her point blank that he could decide to change his story.
There was a pause. The lady sighed and said that she had just gotten off the phone with the Liar before talking to me to get his statement. He apparently described a very different version of the events. He claimed that I rear-ended him. I was stunned, but I just laughed. I told the lady that everything was fine, until he kept insisting that he pay out-of-pocket for the repairs. I told her that I didn't trust him to do that. Being that she was supposed to be representing the Liar's interests, she couldn't really say too much, but there was an understanding. She said, "I know what I want to do, but I can't." She told me how there would be some kind of arbitration process, but in the end I'd probably get all of my money back. She thanked me and hung up.
I figured I'd call my insurance company and update them on the details. My guy laughed when I told him the story. "We've got in our notes him saying to us that he wanted to pay damages when he talked to us," he said. "It's gonna look pretty suspicious that now he's changed his story. You've got a good case when it goes to arbitration." My guy realized that I had never given them a recorded statement, so once again the tape recorder was on, and I told the sad story one more time. This time, though, my guy asked me to recount my conversations with the Liar after the accident. The nice Allstate lady had only asked me for details specific to the incident. When I was done, my guy said he was going to call the Liar and get a statement from him, too - and that's a conversation I would loved to have eavesdropped on. I gotta wonder what kinda whoppers he's telling people.
In the end, my car will be fixed soon. My deductible is $500, which is a chunk of change that I really wish I didn't have to lay out this month. It's very likely I'll get it back, but it could drag out for months. What I just don't get is: what is the Liar thinking? What could he possibly be gaining from this? I think it's just become personal for him. He's pissed that I never called him back after I went for the estimate, and that I went to the insurance companies.
Well, Mr. Liar, sir - Instant Karma's gonna get you. Merry fucking Christmas. |
| 4:22:27 PM |
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| 12/9/2003 |
| Phooey On You, USA Today |
| Andre LaFosse posted a link to this story in the .Forum, a refutation of sorts of the story about albums dying out that appeared last week in USA Today. I figured I'd repost it over here for you .Blog readers who don't post at the .Forum (and you are legion - what's up with that?). I wish I shared the optimism of that writer. I agree that the idea of artists working on blocks of work at once won't go away; I just wish I knew where all these "kids" who actually listen to entire catalogs of great artists are. You know, the ones who know that in no way, shape, or form can Jack Black possibly come before Edward Van Halen in a Great Guitarists List. Are they really out there? |
| 12:15:49 AM |
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| 12/6/2003 |
| Wherefore Art Thou, Liner Notes |
| Fretting about the future of albums is now mainstream. I've done it, you've done it. I keep wondering how long I'll keep paying for the manufacture of shiny discs with my music on it, now that music is finally freed from it's dependence upon the media on which it is delivered and consumed. I think I'll keep doing it for a while, probably I'll start making tracks available for sale on an individual basis in the next year or so. I can't imagine abandoning the working concept of albums, working on chunks of material at a time. Perhaps in the future, albums will be mere suggestions from the creators; a suggested running sequence of tracks will be posted along with a group of brand-new songs, perhaps printable artwork. It's a brave new world out there, I suppose. Sadder, though. Albums were a cool thing. |
| 4:24:20 PM |
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| 12/5/2003 |
| Toilet Training |
From The "This Really Happened The Other Day At Work" Department: So, I'm taking a rest room break at work. As I approach the door of the men's room, I hear voices coming from inside. This isn't so atypical, there's a lot of people that work in this building, it's common to hear co-workers discussing something while washing their hands or whatever. I enter the room, and walk over to the urinals - noticing that, though I had heard voices on the way in, there's nobody in sight. Curious, I think to myself. I begin to do what I came into the room to do, and then - there's a voice! From a stall!
Then I realize: I'm only hearing half of this conversation. Something clicks: some guy is talking merrily on his cell phone, all the while having himself a healthy crap! I hear him get up, flush, wipe, all the while, he's still talking to somebody! You have to wonder if the person on the other end of the line was aware. And if they were as appalled as I was.
From The "It Happened Again" Department: Today. Same place. This time, a guy comes walking in, cellphone pressed to his ear, jabbering all the way, walks right into the stall, does his thing, talking the whole time.
When I growed up, my momma raised me with some manners. What is going on with these people? |
| 7:15:59 PM |
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| Powerless |
In Seattle we don't really get blizzards in the winter time. In fact, we hardly ever see snow, period, 'less you go driving up into the mountains. It just doesn't really happen. Instead, what we get regularly this time of year are wind storms. Don't laugh. Hey! Quit it! It's not funny! OK, it can be a little funny at times; for me it's the hysterical way the local news media parks an army of "field correspondents" next to each fallen tree they can find. These jokers stand outside by the big TV trucks, with their perfectly coiffed 'do's being battered about by what the SWOOSHING graphics on your screen refer to as SEATTLE WIND APOCALYPSE: 2003. They smile brightly as they engage in witty repartee with the studio anchors: "Let me tell you Steve and Charlene - it's a little breezy out here!" BWAH-HAW HAW HAW!
In Snoqualmie, up where I live, the wind storms usually start in November, sans coverage by the local media. Yeah, the media is pretty uninterested until the wind either A) gets all the way down to at least Bellevue, or B) knocks down some trees onto somebody's house, WHICH LOOKS GREAT ON TV. So the wind thing happens a lot more often than people who don't live here know. And a lot of times, it's pretty cool, aside from the large trees falling on houses thing. It's sort of how I remember thunderstorms back in the east: in Virginia, I thought it was so cool to be inside, dry, and snug in my bed while just out my window a perfect maelstrom of lightning, thunder, and rain was raging. I'd lay there and thrill to every flash and clap of thunder, doing that whole Poltergeist counting thing, trying to gauge whether the storm was going away, or just getting stronger. I loved that. So, we don't get thunderstorms here, either, but I will admit to generally enjoying the night-time wind events that happen in the winter in Snoqualmie. You lay there, warm and snug in your bed, listening to the house around you getting pounded by huge gusts. You're thinking: I wonder if this next one will be the one that... TEARS THE WHOLE ROOF OFF!
Well, we had us a good nor'easter the night before last. And it was crazy, the worst wind storm I can recall ever seeing out here. It wasn't like the typical one, where it's generally pretty windy, and every 10 minutes or so ONE REALLY POWERFUL BLAST comes along. No, it was pretty much constant, loud, gust after gust after gust. On the eastern side of the house, the wind was vibrating the windows so much they were making these loud, almost guttural moaning sounds. Constantly. We woke up to find a big chunk of our neighbor's fence in our back yard. Oh, and... the power was off.
Now, losing power can be one of those "fun" things that happens to you if you approach it the right way. You get out the candles and flashlights, you revel in how "this is just how it was in Ye Olden Tymes!" Whoopee! I realized last night that just about everything I do in my life requires electricity in some way. Hey let's watch Tivo! Oh... wait. I know, we can play with the XBox! Oh, yeah. Well, let's check the Web for infor... oh yeah. Well, I guess I'll work on a tune on the workstation! Oops. Well, I guess I'll play guitar! Well, sure, but it'll have to be unamplified. SIGH.
I woke up this morning: wind mostly gone, but power still gone, too. So it's been 24 hours. If this stretches into the weekend, it's going to stop being cute, and go straight to suck. I'd say that I'll keep you posted, but I'm only posting now because there's power where I work.
It's really DARK out in Snoqulamie when there is no power at all. It kinda looks like how I imagined neighborhoods would look in that first part of The Stand. Creepy. |
| 8:47:25 AM |
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| 12/2/2003 |
| Fly Little Starling |
So I woke up yesterday and it was December. I mean, yeah, December is what comes after Thanksgiving, every year, but wow, I don't know that I was ready for it this year. December shows up and I start thinking about The Year That Was. I start thinking about how I've got to do my taxes soon. On cloudy days in December here, it's dark at 4:30 PM. In December, the Thanksgiving leftovers run out. The Christmas tree usually goes up (fake, of course). We scramble around trying to figure out where the dogs will stay during holiday travel excursions. And, for the third year in a row, I get wildly excited as I wait for the new Lord Of The Rings movie. That's one tradition that will sadly end this year. Maybe Peter Jackson will give us The Hobbit one of these days. I'd like to see his version of Smaug.
Still trying to get used to the new working grind. In the back of my mind I realize that it being December, my new assignment is scheduled to last only two more months. I wonder what I'm going to be doing come February. Magic 8-Ball says: "Ask Again Later." Uh-huh. That's what I figured.
Hey, if you're a Seattle local, please come see our show at the Central on December 14. Yes, it's late, yes, I know you have to go to work the next day, you've got that meeting and everything. Come see us anyway. You're supposed to be in a giving mood for the holiday season (you can go back to your regularly scheduled Rat Bastard-ism on the 26th). Give us this gift this year, come see the Yogi & Half Zaftig show at the Central. It'll be fun. We rehearsed for it last night, the first time we'd played together, ALL together, in a room since mid-September. Mostly, we hadn't lost a step. I forgot a bunch of the words, though.
That's not so different than how I was in September, now that I think about it. |
| 8:55:13 AM |
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