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Friday, September
24, 2004 at 11:00:12 (EDT) |
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The city changed and grew without her
Last night was another fine Al
Duvall show at The
Back Room. He's got a new song about the dim prospects
of children born as wards of the state that totally kills.
His stuff is always mordant and funny, but never sounds like
something written any time in the last 70 years. I suppose
that milieu can feel limiting at times, but he produces really
great material by staying within its confines. Will Noise
Footprint be posting any photos of his set?
Up next was The Jug Addicts (what? no website?), whom I may
have seen at that big Jug band thing they had at Southpaw
a few weeks ago. But I would think I would have remembered
them. They slammed. They did a morose version of "Minnie
the Moocher" that is not to be missed. The downside was
the fact that there were more people onstage than in the audience.
Alas!
In
other news, my oldest friend James has just been offered an
executive position with his company, but the catch is he'd
have to move London for it. There's no bad part of the deal,
besides the fact he'd have to leave New York behind. But London
is pretty cool, too. I mean, it's not like they're sending
him to Akron. But is London cooler than New York? Is London
cooler than Tokyo, or Barcelona? I've spent a little time
in London and thought it rocked, but given the option of moving
there ... I dunno. I sure would hate to leave Brooklyn.
I told him to hold off deciding until November 3rd. Then
I may stow along in his luggage.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Thursday,
September 23, 2004 at 12:43:42 (EDT) |
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Katmandu I'll soon be seeing you
I haven't been posting stuff about politics lately, mostly because
if I dwell on any issue for too long these days, it just drives
me nuts. And I hate the way the term "political bloggers"
has been cropping up in every article I read, no matter if it
has to do with something political or not. While I do think
a blog is a viable form of political commentary, so far it seems
to me the only so-called political bloggers who get any attention
are the ones who whine the loudest and say the stupidest things.
Extremism is rarely worthwhile but paradoxically the only thing
that gets our attention. But then, why would anybody want to
read a carefully worded, well-researched blog essay? Bring on
the bad
plastic surgery!
That
said, is anyone else pissed off about Cat
stevens getting deported? Or Yusef Islam, or Steven Demeter
Georgiou or whatever he wants to call himself ("His momma
name him 'Clay,' I'm gone call him 'Clay'"). They say
he gave money to Hamas. Even if this is true, is he the only
American who supports them? I think not. Looks like another
high-profile move, a la Martha Stewart, to get some publicity
about how well we are being protected from terrorism. Yes!
We deported the guy who wrote fucking "Peace Train"!
Now, I don't know if he really did give money to Hamas (he
claims he gave only to humanitarian causes), but if they're
kicking him for that, then I know of at least one other guy
they should look up.
When I still lived in Ohio there was a guy I knew, let's
call him Seamus (sorry Buzz), who was born of Irish Catholic
stock. Some time during college he learned of Islam and decided
to convert. Hey, that's cool. Glad he found meaning in his
life. But Seamus got carried away with it. The more he let
himself get swept up in Islam, the more fundamentalist he
became. He wanted to move to Mecca, something his girlfriend
was not pleased about since she'd have to do the whole head-to-toe
hijab thing. Seamus
also commented loudly and often his desire to join Hamas and,
in his words "shoot Jews" to "free Palestine."
Thanks to my half-honky side, I usually pass for Whitebread
and get to hear such lovely comments first-hand. I never bothered
to correct him, that his beef, if any, should have been with
the Israeli government, and that his self-righteous rage smacked
a little of displacement. He had no other plan for his life,
this was the only thing he could think of. Join Hamas. Shoot
Jews. Have a Nice Day.
His girlfriend eventually broke up with him, and because
I was better friends with her (and didn't particularly want
to get shot), I never heard from him again. So, if he's still
in the country, don't you think he's a bigger threat than
Yusef Islam? I guess as long as he doesn't want to shoot American
Jews, he's okay then? Damn, this Patriot Act Stuff is hard.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Wednesday,
September 22, 2004 at 15:22:57 (EDT) |
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Look
at that caveman go
We
had a great show last night at Lit; a very nice counterpoint
to our last show there. I mean, the last show was also good,
but almost nobody showed up. This time we had a good-sized
crowd (although Pink
Sock took the prize for having the largest turnout, more
than all 3 other bands put together), and the sound guy was
way nicer than the last guy. Now, if I could only figure out
why I keep sweating so much.
Doug Keith's First Person to See an Elephant was incredible.
He's an amazing guitarist, making really complex finger work
seem simple. Every time I see a guitarist of that caliber
it make me feel like I'm beating my guitar with a large honeybaked
ham.
Our set was a lot of fun, but I managed to break two strings
in consecutive songs. And not just the strings I keep on there
just for show, like the high E, I broke a D and then an A
string. Grrr. I should have known, since I hadn't broken any
strings for a couple of weeks. Zack reminded me that I recently
purchased a set of strings that are supposed to break less,
but I haven't put them on yet as I'm too paranoid that they'll
break just as quickly.
After
us, Sxip and Adam Matta took the stage and proceeded to blow
everyone's mind. Adam does the Human Beatbox thing while Sxip
plays several harmonicas (and assorted other instruments)
through a slew of pedals with a sound I can only dub THE CRUSHINATOR.
He makes his harp sound like a cathedral pipe organ, but also
plays with enough clarity to follow the melody. All over Adam's
boombastic beat work. It was insane; I want to see them play
at Wembley Arena.
I didn't get any photos of Pink Sock, but they were pretty
entertaining. I didn't have the guts to ask them about the
source of their name, though.
So our first booked show went quite well. I like this idea
of getting bands together, I hope there is more of this in
Motico's future. We are working to expand our reach lately,
as we've begun recording other musicians in our basement "studio"
and renting it out as a practice space. Yes, the neighbors
love it, but they'll understand once they've heard my 20-minute
Powerpoint-based presentation entitled, "Motico: Growing
the B(r)and."
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Monday, September
20, 2004 at 11:28:29 (EDT) |
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I guess you're just what I needed
Wow, what a town! Philadelphia is a city I actually like, as
it turns out. Despite a rainy Saturday, it was a really fun
trip. I have to go into the office soon so I don't have time
to recap all of it. Here's a couple of pictures for now:
Adrian and his oldest (and probably tallest) friend Sammy.
We stayed with him in South Philadelphia.
There are many old and historically significant buildings,
but I dunno what any of them are
The weather was ideal ... eventually
We found time to see some band from Brooklyn
We had cheesesteaks with King Buzzo
We took in some Large Art and saw Sammy's band play
Oh, and we went to the Emmys!
I'll put a full photo gallery up soon, assuming they don't
arrest me at my building since it's been over a year since
I've actually been in there. I won't bring any nail clippers
with me.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Week of September 19-25, 2004
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