Oh, The Wind and The Rain

Somewhere around early 2000 a friend hooked me up with a demo by this band Arcaro. They were from Hartford, CT - I think a couple members went to Yale. One of them being Joe Grimm (also of 33.3 and The Wind-Up Bird). The first thing that came to mind when I heard them was June of '44 (Slint inspired guitars, low-talking vocals mixed with some screams, occasional horn), in other words - I thought it was awesome. It came as no surprise to learn later that one of the singers was from Louisville. They only put out one seven inch, which I've posted here. It includes "Iterate" and "In Absence". As an added bonus I've included "Oh, The Wind and The Rain" which was from that demo I heard back in '00.

http://rapidshare.com/files/95983631/Arcaro.zip.html

Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of the United States

When the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox visited the White House, President Bush actually said "Manny Ramirez isn't here, I guess his grandmother died again". Read about it here. Really. He actually said something rather funny too about how Japanese pitcher Dick-K and him have something in common, a hard time answering questions in English. January can't come fast enough.

Slappy buys a car.

This is the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. It does zero to sixty in 4.3 seconds and has a top speed of 192. It's a 5 liter V-10. It's an Italian masterpiece but as Lamborghini is now made by Audi, it has a strong German sense of proportion as well as performance. The Gallardo has 510 hundred break power horse which is more than a hundred over the Ferrari 360. The handling is not unlike a Lotus Elise and the four wheel drive has virtually no understeer at all. It is with all these things in mind, that I recently bought a Ford Escape.

Have a 7&7, They're Good For Both of Yas

This isn't breaking any ground, but I wanted to re-introduce this scene to everyone. I think it's one of the greatest scene's of Scorsese's career, not to mention Bobby D and Keitel's. The 10 seconds or so when they are doing that "What's This?", Wha?", "This", "Wha?" Is amazing to say the least.

I love this scene because beyond the great dialog and acting, it is vintage Scorsese. You've got Deniro & Keitel, "Jumping Jack Flash", a tracking shot, and everything draped in red light.

Mean Streets is one of those movies that I say I love, and I do, but I don't watch it as often as "Goodfellas" or "Raging Bull" so I tend to forget why I love it. Then I watch it again and remember that it's probably because it's so freakin' cool.

Let's Shake Hands

Ok, here is the first of what I hope will be a well received series of posts featuring rare and out of print music.  We'll start off light and easy with an early release by The White Stripes.  As far as I know, not available on CD - the "Let's Shake Hands" 7 inch!  Please enjoy...

http://rapidshare.com/files/93585745/Letsshakehands.zip.html

This is How You do a YouTube Video

The last thing in the world you should do, is base your vote on a YouTube video. BUT IF YOU DID, Obama would win hands down. I'm not really sure what Scarlett Johansson is doing in the video, she seems to just be milling around. But anyways.  I think that this video, in comparison to the Hillary one, sums up exactly how I feel about the whole Democratic side of the election. One side feels forced, corporate, cold and calculated, while the other feels heart-felt, inspired and inspiring. And you have to get behind whoever Ed Kowalczyk from live likes. If Ed likes him, he's gotta be good.

Something to think about #1

This will be the first of an ongoing series where I basically complain about something that bugs me, pisses me off, or just generally rubs me the wrong way. Does anyone really care?....probably not, but what the hell, you know?

It's pronounced "as"phalt, not "ass"phalt. When you say ASSphalt you actually sound like an ass.

Who the Hell is this for?

Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY? Is this trying to be cool or hip or something? All this brings to mind is that scene from Austin Powers where Dr. Evil is dancing singing - "dirka dirka dirka dirka..."

This is offensive to young people, old people, smart people and uhm... someone else. 

I'd Like To Meet His Tailor

So I'm about halfway through reading "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", the biography of Warren Zevon that was written with his complete approval by his ex-wife Crystal. First of all, this guy was messed up. I've read the biographies of Cash, Dylan, Cobain, etc. Let me tell you, those eccentric wildmen were nothing compared to Zevon. My favorite story so far involves his .357 Magnum being hidden in Joni Mitchell's trunk during a Jackson Browne concert. But anyway.....

My reason for this post is that in the book Zevon and his manager were furious that Asylum wanted to release "Werewolves of London" as the single. It was written as a funny, quirky, little song that was never intended to be Warren's calling card. It made me think about hit singles, and how people always talk down about songs that are commercially viable and catchy as if they are less important than the "real" songs an artist writes. Sure "Lawyers, Guns, and Money", "Accidentally Like a Martyr" etc. are better songs, but in this case the record company was right. I want to hear a song about a werewolf who has a craving for beef chow mein. It's rediculous, and I love it. AHHHHHOOOOOO!!

Someone's Pants are on Fire

Its as simple as this: one of these men is a lier.

When you have a situation like this, I think the best way to look at it as who has the most to lose? Clemens has just about everything and McNamee has just about nothing. Why would McNamee lie? Would would be his motivation? He already named names and sold his soul. Why would he say he injected Clemens' "buttocks" if he did not? On the other hand there are a million and one reasons for Clemens to lie. First of those, I would like to believe, is proving Dan Duquette wrong about being in the "twilight of his career". The rest are about securing his place in the annals of baseball history and protecting the legitimacy his four post-1997 Cy Young Awards. Even his best buddy in the whole wide world, Andy Pettitte said he did steroids and HGH and yet Roger maintains he did not.

My only hope is that this does go to the Supreme Court and the threat of purgery forces Clemens and his enormously overgrown roid-head (and tiny roid-balls) to come clean about how that little insult by Duquette sent him into a ten year long relation ship with baseball's favorite hormone. 

So Far, So Good

Who knows if this is actually going to be any good or not but they did a hell of a job on the trailer. Complete with references to how extremely old Harrison Ford is and everything! Cate Blanchetts part looks really cool too. I have to say I am a little excited for this, but maybe its just all nostalgia. 

Hooray... I Guess.

Believe it or not, I am actually a little disappointed that the writers strike is over. I know! I can't believe it either. It all stems from the fact that on daily shows like, uh, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Late Night With Conan O'Brien, there was this sort of excitement about how the hell they were going to get through the show without any writer support. I made a point to tune in just about every night to see the fireworks and see if they would sink or swim when all they had was their own wit and ability to improv to get by on.

And swim they did in my humble opinion. They were forced to push themselves every night to come up with enough content and material to fill a show that had previously been totally mapped out for them when they had writers. They also had the added impediment of not being able to use any of the usual bits that had been created by writers before the strike. No "If They Mated" for Conan. No "The Word" for Colbert. None of the usual crutches they used to fill up another time slot with mediocre entertainment. It was genuinely fun to watch Steven Colbert bring the painting of himself to the Smithsonian in Washington to try and have them put it in their exhibit. Or Conan with all the ridiculous things he did to try and fill the first eight minutes of his show every night. Be it trying to beat his time record spinning his wedding ring or giving an audience member $300 to buy food for the whole audience.

But what it mostly comes down to for me is that these were THEIR ideas. You knew they came up with them and there is something kind of personal and cool about that. I like thinking of these guys in their offices all day thinking of ridiculous ways to burn a few minutes of air time. Or maybe its just about not knowing what you were going to get night to night. The excitement of uncertainty. In any event, I no longer feel the need to stay up and watch every night and might actually be able to get to sleep before 1 AM, so I guess I got that going for me.

I Was Born in the Wrong Country

This is what Japanese people watch all day long. This is also why they are so far ahead of us technologically.

Bush Has Turned America into a Lesbian.

Has this ever happened to you? You date some girl for a little while and then she leaves you, FOR ANOTHER WOMAN!!! Is there any bigger blow to the male ego? You forced her to go the other side! You were the straw that broke the camels back. Being with you made her so fed up with men that she went to the furthest thing away from men, women. I wonder if thats what George W. Bush is feeling about now.  With another big win yesterday, Barack Obama is now showing that Americans are really liking what he has to say, and furthermore, sick of what has come before.  Barack is a Black, democratic, Muslim named senator from Illinois. He believes in ending the war, saving the environment and making healthcare affordable for everyone. Can't get to much more different from what we have now, can you? We are so fed up with what has come before that we are going to the furthest thing possible, and I for one say its about time. This is the legacy that Bush SHOULD be remembered for: Making America so angry at what he has done that for the first time in its history, more Americans than ever are thinking about a REAL change. Completely switching sides and going with the complete polar opposite to what we had before. 

R.I.P. Santeri Ojala

Santeri Ojala was a rare form of genius. An innovator, if you will. He took video performances by famous guitarist and bands and put his own horrible soundtrack to it. Apparently he did this a little too well because he has been taken down from youtube because of too many copyright complainants. Wired has the full story here. They also have a bunch of his videos posted.  If you have a few minutes, it's totally worth it. I especially like the take on Malmsteem with a full orchestra.

Can't We All Just Get Along

Nintendo, Microsoft, Rare. I called you all together because you guys need to talk.  I don't care who said what in the past. I don't care who started it. All I care about is that this whole thing be resolved. We are all reasonable people here. And we only want what's best for all of us. Especially for little J.B.. Its not fair to put him in the middle of this while you guys fight like children. Let him grow and explore the brand new world you have kept from him. One of new controls, better graphics and sound. Its time you let your baby grow up... so Colin can shoot peoples hats off.

Happy Chinese New Year

Its the year of the rat which should bode well for me as I live in a city where the rats out number the people by as much as 12 to 1. Ewwwwww