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Tuesday, January
31, 2006 at 12:43:37 (EST) |
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Mucho work minus play
Hey folks! I just got a new job! Okay, it was really no surprise,
but man, did they ever drag this out! I guess it's a law that
forces companies to hold open interviews for positions even
if there's a strong internal candidate. Then again, I wasn't
officially an internal candidate, seeing as how I have always
worked as a 'contractor' (permatemp) through a 3rd party. Anyway,
they accepted something like 50 resumes, and a few people reportedly
made it to the final level of interviewing before their selection
was made. But was there ever really any contention? Nah.
The position I'm taking encompasses a lot of the wildly exciting
web management I've been doing for the past several years.
But they promised me there'd be more graphic design stuff
going on, including stuff requiring print production expertise.
Oh joy! My first design-related job was at an offset-press
shop. It would be cool if this new job allows me to actually
do something creative, I might not dread going to work every
day.
And yes, I'm going back into the office. I have to get some
more 'business casual' clothes and an unlimited Metrocard
(but for how
long?). They told me they'd find a cubicle for me, but
that it might not be right near the rest of the department,
due to lack of space. Sounds great to me, put me as far away
from the people who will want to bug me the most.
And the best part? I don't start for a month. I have to tie
up loose ends for the next several weeks with my old department.
I had asked for 2 weeks but they say it will be easier if
I start in March. So I have one more month left to work from
home. So I'm gonna go out as much as possible, and generally
squander the month of February in lieu of an actual vacation.
Which, by the way, I will finally get to take in the future.
In 5.5 years, I took maybe 2 weeks off total. Telecommuting
means never having to say you're off-duty.
There's a bunch of shows going on in the next month, I plan
to attend as many as possible. Who knows, maybe I'll even
do something that doesn't involve seeing a band or going to
a bar. Now all I've gotta do is get Motico a show this month!
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
January 25, 2006 at 12:29:03 (EST) |
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My new year's resolution is always
the same
 I
had better get this job. Not just because I had to put on
my one and only suit (now in its 10th year) on Monday and
traipse into the offices to have yet another interview. But
because when I was on an unrelated conference call yesterday,
everybody in the meeting seemed to know I was leaving my current
position. I'm not even sure who a lot of the people on the
call were, but they all seemed to have been briefed on the
fact that the job I do now will not last much longer. Now,
on the one hand, I could look at this as a sign that I'm definitely
getting the other job, that it's such a foregone conclusion
that everybody might as well start planning to live without
me in my previous context.
But of course, the way my brain works I choose to see it
in a more sinister light: If I'm not getting the job, the
rest of the company is preparing to not miss a beat when I'm
out on my ass. This possibility, however unlikely, keeps me
feeling displaced and feeling like I should hedge my bets.
So now I'm trying to entertain myself with what I will do
if I don't get the job.
 Force
my band
to quit their respective jobs and take our act on the road
until one of us dies of drug-related sleep apnea- Train these lazy-ass cats to do tricks à la the
Moscow
Cats Theatre and set up a theater on the site of former
bakery Sprinkles on Myrtle Ave
- Finish and produce my stirring one-man show entitled,
"My Life is Every Bit as Interesting as Somebody Who
Actually Accomplished Something"
- Set up an illegal cigarette importing business and become
to tobacco what Tony Montana was to cocaine (easier than
you might think!)
- Enlist some people in a mortgage brokerage firm and a
fake appraiser and start my own real
estate scam
- Burn some bridges
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Friday, January
20, 2006 at 14:26:43 (EST) |
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Hide thee deadly black tarantula
Whoa. I love that Alan
Arkin (Catch-22, Glengarry Glenn Ross,
Little Murders, etc), but who knew he co-wrote "The
Banana Boat Song" when he was with the music group The
Tarriers? That's the song commonly known as "Day-O"
and was made famous by Harry "Calypso King" Belafonte.
Alan Arkin kicks so much ass!
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Tuesday, January
17, 2006 at 14:14:14 (EST) |
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Everyone chooses sides
The Wrens
Just when you thought the cachet for hurricane benefits had
run out, here comes the
Act Local benefit. This was this all-day affair at the
Knitting
Factory this past Sunday, with bands playing from 2pm
to 2am. I didn't make it there until a little after 4, but
not many other people made it out so early either. I had intended
to see The
Choke, who were scheduled to go on at 4. But when we walked
in at 4:15 they were just finishing up. Turns out the bands
not playing the main space were all running a half-hour to
a 45 minutes ahead of schedule. I still can't figure that
one out. Nobody who sees live music in this town expects something
to go on before it's scheduled. Sure, we won't bat an eye
when a show starts several hours later than posted, but shows
starting early? Hey, Motico
tried that once, and we all know how that ended up.
Also it was kind of annoying that the bands in the Tap Room
and Old Office seemed to be playing super short sets. Each
band officially had one hour to perform, yet sets were ending
seemingly as soon as they had begun, which forced us to hotfoot
it over to the next room to see if we could catch other bands
to fill the gap. So we caught little moments of most of the
bands. In many cases, that was about as much as I could stand
of some artists.
I really wanted to see Parts
& Labor but was further distressed to find they had
cancelled their set (two of the three guys were there, drummer
Christopher was absent so maybe that's why). But Dan, the
redhead guy form the band, did a short solo set that was very
cool nonetheless. The other find of the day was Antonius
Block, who recently added Andrea, formerly of Deathpool,
on drums. There are so many reasons this band should NOT work,
yet they somehow skirt the pitfalls and really come up with
something interesting. It's just drums, and guitar and a singer
droning in broken English (the less said about the droog costume,
the better). It's a little reminiscent of the formless feel
of Deathpool, but groovier, kind of like early Jon Spencer
if he went to art school. The guitarist pulled a Thurston
Moore, shoving a drumstick under the strings, then dragging
it across the fretboard rhythmically, if not melodically.
Amazingly enough he broke no strings, and even more amazingly
it sounded really good. I gotta learn how to come up with
stuff like that to distract form the fact that my playing
is rather limited.
Other impressions:
Matt and Ira from Nada
Surf: I know NS has been around forever, but
I know nothing about them. This was a simple acoustic set
with minimal drums. Just nice little pop songs, well designed
and the guitar sounded incredible (more a comment on the guitar
itself than the playing of it).
Violator:
This all-female Depeche Mode cover band is like a novelty
song that forgot why it was novel in the first place. The
band can really play; why not do original material instead?
They sure don't look like they're having any fun playing nothing
but covers. In fact, they look bored. Or maybe they think
they're being 'sexy' or something, whatever it is, it's not
working. I do admit I am impressed by their musicianship,
they do a goo job of playing the synthy songs with regular
rock instruments. And the lead singer's voice is low enough
to approximate David Gahan. But even Martin Gore has more
fun onstage than these folks.
Langhorne
Slim: The NY Press is gonna regret never
running my show preview
for Langhorne last year. When he gets huge in a few months,
they'll want to say they were all on top of it when.
The guy has turned into not only a fantastic showman, he's
a really perceptive songwriter. If he ever gets tired of that
Elderly-Delta-Bluesman thing, I bet he could even give Elliot
Smith a run for his money.
Fresh
Kills: The band was getting over the flu (lead
singer Zack reportedly nearly threw up after the first song),
so I can cut them some slack if the show was not their most
energetic. They turned out the songs nicely, though the sound
guy didn't have Jonny's guitar nearly loud enough. That's
a first, but it meant we could finally hear Tim's guitar clearly.
He recently lost a beige Fender Jaguar with gold hardware.
If anyone sees one on craigslist or at a local pawn shop,
lemme know.
Hopewell:
This band was possibly cloned at record executive lab, but
I gotta admit they had some rousing numbers. Somewhere between
Cheap Trick and The Wonder Stuff. But god help them when they
start playing the power ballads. Yecccchh!
Breakup
Breakdown: If they spent as much time on their
music as they do changing their band name, they might be onto
something. The music's fine, actually, just not my cuppa tea.
Kinda retro-garage, but also with that early-80's thing everybody
suddenly thinks is cool again. Maybe they're trying to be
too all-encompassing or something. I think they recently got
signed, so maybe they'll only play really big clubs from now
on. Meanwhile, I'll be at Lit or something.
Soft
Explosions: This band looked like total cooler-than-thou
hipsters. Strike one. They were all wearing funny hats. Strike
two. But then they started playing and you know what? They
weren't half bad. Nothing new I guess, firmly in the world
of indie rock. Good guitarist, it's been a long time since
I've heard a wah wah pedal used without sounding cheesy and
unnecessary.
The
Wrens: My face is totally red. I had heard about
these guys a couple of years ago, listened to some samples
and written them off as twee hipsters. My impression of them
were as well-heeled Williamsburgers, making boring music for
boring people. And okay, some of their music doesn't move
me. But their show made me forget all about the $15+ paid
for the ticket, and the fact that they didn't go on until
1am, well into my 9th hour at KF. First of all, they've been
together since 1989. For most of that time, they've lived
together in a house in Seacaucus. These guys aren't spring
chickens. And they are so over the bullshit. For some reason
they didn't have their drummer with them, but that actually
made things even better. In fact, I'm starting to think music
like theirs shouldn't have much in the way of percussion,
as there's something about the songwriting that's almost orchestral.
Two guitars and a piano, with a bunch of effect pedals as
well, that's all. But they're so comfortable with their music,
and certainly not out to impress anybody with their good looks
or fashion sense. It's sad, but considering the state of music
today, it's a real plus not to be faced with glaring amount
of attitude from a band. Why can't more bands be like this,
just sort of humble, actually apologizing several times because
they flubbed a note here and there. Not that anybody noticed;
everybody's mouth was hanging open. I still dunno if I'd listen
to their recorded stuff, so much that was good about the show
had to do with the fact that it was live. Some stuff just
doesn't translate.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
January 11, 2006 at 12:37:44 (EST) |
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Don't tell me that my ship is coming
in
 I've
had a cold all week, nothing major, but it won't go away.
I gotta healthen up by Friday, as I have a second interview
in which I have to go into the office. This means I will have
to cut my floor-length hair to a business-appropriate style.
This will be difficult since my fingernails have gone uncut
for so long they extend and curl from my hands like the horns
of the mountain goat. Worse is the state of my wardrobe. Having
only worn this threadbare robe for the past years, I am unsure
what the current trends are in office attire. Are people still
wearing belts? Are trousers considered immodest for men, and
if so, what colors/patterns are hot for harem pants these
days?
In other news, Howard
Stern has made his shift to satellite radio, leaving his
old station with the ineffectual David Lee Roth to replace
him. The new Stern show has been amusing, mostly because they
convinced George
"Mr Sulu" Takei to sit in an announcer and color
commentator for the first week (his stay may be extended).
Talk about an untapped talent! He's still a little too gullible:
he had a very serious discussion with Arnold Schwarzenegger
about the governor's recent veto of a gay marriage bill, never
realizing that the guy he was talking to was just a celebrity
impersonator. You'd think he would have realized something
was up when the California governor kept saying stuff like
"All the Mexicans in California are illegals." He's
a good sport though, and to their credit the rest of the Howard
Stern cast seem to feel bad when they pull something over
on Takei. It'll be interesting to see where the show goes.
So far, they've done a good job at keeping the obscenity to
a minimum; in fact, they keep forgetting they can't swear
on air. There's apparently two full channels of Stern-related
stuff available on Sirius,
but who knows if it's any good (does Wendy the Retard really
need her own show?). They say they will soon offer an internet
stream of the live show, which would be a good move. If people
can purchase the show à la carte, more people will
probably listen.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
January 04, 2006 at 13:06:12 (EST) |
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It's dark as a dungeon
I
was totally surprised when I checked the news last night to
see that the West Virginia miners had nearly all been saved.
The prognosis had been so grim, what with the explosion and
the lethally high levels of carbon monoxide in the air. I
had feared the worst and here 12 of the miners had survived
through their own ingenuity. There were no sides to take,
nothing political to read into it. It was an all-around feel-good
story.
Then I woke up today to the news that the stories were false;
12 of the 13 miners are dead, the 13th unconscious and in
critical condition. They're not sure (or nobody's owning up
to it) how the news got so mangled in the telling, but they
think that after the first miner was found dead near the explosion
site, somehow somebody made the dubious leap that the others
must have fled to safety in some other part of the shaft.
There seems to be something in human nature that needs a happy
ending, to believe that people will triumph over adversity.
Despite our outward cynicism, we're always ready to buy it
that we were dead wrong about anything that seems to have
such a foregone conclusion. Except, of course, if we're talking
about celebrities. In that case, we just hope it gets worse.
I wonder why that is. Meanwhile, as for the miners' tragedy,
we can safely go back to turning this into another politically-charged,
Left vs. Right debate about how many safety violations the
mining company was carrying at the time, or how long it took
President Doofus to say anything about it. The story doesn't
have a happy ending, but I suppose this doesn't mean we won't
still keep hoping for the best in the future.
This doubly disappointing story only further makes the rest
of what I wanted post about seem insipid. But I shouldn't
let the tragedy spoil the fun of the past few weeks. There
were many parties, for Festivus,
Christmas,
New
Year's Eve. There was a cat
circus. And there was Cleveland, which however boring
was at least restorative. Here's hoping we won't get so cynical
as to completely obliterate our ability to imagine we can
do better.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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