April 30, 2006
Make It Alright
Barhopping + dim sum + rockclimbing = a pretty great weekend.
The Exploding Hearts - Throwaway Style
April 28, 2006
Never Settle Down
"It was like watching 'Manimal,' except instead of turning into a panther, Josh Beckett turned into Jose Lima."
--Line of the day, from Dan.
Sloan - Take Good Care Of The Poor Boy
April 27, 2006
April 26, 2006
April 25, 2006
Lock Yourself In Your Hotel Room
Jonathan Fire*Eater - The Search For Cherry Red
April 24, 2006
Falk
It's Monday, time to get the Working Holiday thing rolling again. Here's an instrumental track that was Jawbox's contribution to the series.
Jawbox - Falk
April 22, 2006
Back To School
A little more Working Holiday for a rainy Saturday.
Crackerbash - Back To School
April 21, 2006
Bright In Our Decline
Sorry about the lack of Working Holiday songs yesterday. I was occupied, but I will resume posting songs this evening. Or this weekend. Soon.
April 19, 2006
ANG! U! LAR!
A drummer performing by the Stadium-Armory metro station.
After the completion of the Working Holiday series, the folks at Simple Machines had a weekend of shows at the Black Cat to celebrate the completion of the year-long series. Amongst the bands that played that weekend was the mighty Rodan of Louisville, KY. Jason Noble of Rodan served as the MC for the event and was apparently a bit enthusiastic in his introductions, which earned Rodan a pretty memorable introduction of their own. Dripping down like black strap molasses, folks!
Rodan - Big Things, Little Things
April 18, 2006
The Last Thing This Family Needs
Now that I'm back from this evening's class on cyberlaw* (A class where my professor used the term "meatspace" several times. I think my brain will fall apart if he ever says "mashup" in an unironic manner), we can move on with another selection from the Working Holiday series. Nothing Painted Blue was pretty famous back in the day for their perfect pop songs. Their entry in the Working Holiday series features some pretty classic lines about how "it's easy to insist that the method be rhythm/when your only son is carrying a metronome within him" and how everything "starts out in a Chevy and ends up in a chapel!" One of my favorite NPB recordings.
Nothing Painted Blue - Another Child Bride
*Let's just agree to forget that I said cyberlaw, OK?
April 17, 2006
Under The Ground
Telling You No Lie: Under The Ground by The Grifters is one of my favorite songs from the Working Holiday series, mainly because the ominous guitars and lo-fi production of the Grifters which match up perfectly with the dark, murderous story told by the narrator of the song. Working Holiday was put out over the course of a 1993, and like the earlier, eponymous Simple Machines collection, collected songs from a lot of my favorite indie rock bands of the day. I think I'll post a few more songs from it this week.
The Grifters - Under The Ground
A Tremor In The Workforce: Darth Vader works out at my company gym. He likes to ride the stationary bikes that are located towards the front of the room, but I can hear his breathing everywhere. While I'm over in the weight area or in back on one of the treadmills, all I hear is HHHOOOOOOOO HHHOOOOOOOOO. I'll tell you this though, despite being a master of evil who murdered countless younglings, I'll give the guy this: he has the most absurdly overdeveloped calf muscles I have ever seen.
April 16, 2006
Journey To The Stars
RFK on Saturday night.
Man or Astroman? - Journey To The Stars
April 14, 2006
Egg Roll $1.50
Spotlight On David Gergen: Attention, attention!
Candy Machine - Spotlight
April 13, 2006
RICE RICE, Baby
While attempting to flick a ball in today's game, I felt it. A tiny bit of pain in the medial area of my knee, right where I tore some cartilage (at the same time I tore my ACL) last year. At this point, I have no idea the extent of what happened, so all I can do is the old routine of rest, ice, compression and elevation.
April 12, 2006
Our Lady of Exxon, Again
The New Scottish Gentry: Franz Ferdinand was really good last night, Death Cab, not so much. I'm not a Death Cab fan, so that may have been the difference, although my brother agreed with me, and he was almost a blank slate when it came to both bands (aside from Take Me Out). My brother said Death Cab was "too emo" for him, which is kind of damning, since I know that in his case too emo means "too Dashboard Confessional" and not "too Rites of Spring." Ouch.
Franz Ferdinand - Shopping For Blood (live in Glastonbury)
April 10, 2006
Zombie, Citizen, Taxpayer
Filing From Beyond: I love that under "Any special situations?" there is a checkbox in Turbotax for "This person died before filing this return." The dead have risen and are filing the 1040EZ! And as V said to me after I noticed this, the dead are also referring to themselves as "this person."
The Dumbing Down of Lies:
Franz Ferdinand - Get Up and Use Me
April 09, 2006
April 06, 2006
Return To The Scene
Tonight, for the first time since my ACL surgery, I played soccer. A few things about it:
1. I scored a goal. Not a big deal in a pickup game, but it made my day.
2. I have no dribbling skills left. None. Nada. If you pass the ball to me, you better be ready to do a give and go, because I'm passing it right back.
3. The pickup game was on the exact same field where I tore my ACL 11 months ago. That field is so, so awful. I will be playing there every Thursday from now on.
4. I am going to be so sore in the morning. Seriously, I don't think I'm going to be able to walk.
If You Want To Get Up, Get Up:
The Delta 72 - I Feel Fine
April 05, 2006
April 04, 2006
Bet You Never Thought
Celebrate:
1. Another class down (A++ on my paper!) and 2 more to go in grad school.
2. Soccer on Thursday! I never thought I could be so happy about just having a chance to play again.
Sun Went Down On A Holiday:
Scream - Bet You Never Thought
April 03, 2006
Simple Things
Leaning out the window over Mount Pleasant Street.
A Case Of The Mondays:
I was a bit cranky after finishing off the today for the following reasons.
1. George Mason finally got dropped in the tournament, which actually upset me, much to my surprise.
2. With the second pick in my fantasy baseball draft I took Alex Rodriguez, which means I will kind of loathe myself all through the baseball season.
3. A virus infected my computer at some point over the weekend, dropping little trojan horses everywhere and keeping me up late on Sunday attempting to fix it. Still not sure if I got everything and I may end up wiping and reinstalling everything just to be sure.
4. Exhaustion from the weekend and lack of sleep, coupled with excess caffeine consumption, excess work leading to a full-on wired/tired state by 4 o'clock that left me seemingly incapable of concentrating on anything.
Somehow, a beer, a burrito and some quality time with my soccer ball made all that go away though.
You Are The Audience, You Are The Star:
Wire - Being Watched