I think this is a pretty rad idea. Have some hot local bands play a cheap ($5) show over the lunch hour at a chic downtown venue. Des Moines represent!

I haven't played in a band for a long while now, but I think that would generate a turnout on par with any 9 pm slot on a weeknight. In fact, I'd reckon you'd increase your chances of widening your audience because all kinds of people are downtown during the lunch hour. If you were to tell me that I'd have the chance to catch an even marginally good band instead of waiting in line at Bento Box for some over priced noodles, I'd be there in a heartbeat. 

I think that during the week, it's just smart to have early shows to begin with. I probably think that because I'm getting bitter in my old age. So an honest-to-goodness good show over the lunch hour is  that much more appealing. With all of the possibilities in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, I'd be surprised if concert series like this don't catch on here as well.

It's also funny to see my pal Steven Virgil dressed as a legit lumberjack. 

Parlours - Slowly From the Earth [Official Video] from Kate Jones on Vimeo.

Movie (Trailer) Review: That Awkward Moment

That Awkward Moment is one of those devastating realistic trailers that taps into an untold walk of life so accurately, we can hardly conceive of life without it. The artistic is achievement is overshadowed only by it’s cultural impact.

 The trailer tells the story of a handsome white guy who has a couple of roommates played by nerdy white guy and token black guy. Despite attracting the attention of a beautify, yet loose, blond babe, handsome white guy declares that if his token black friend - who has been recently dumped by his girlfriend for reasons unknown - was to be single, then all three roommates will remain single together in some sort of nonsensical bro-pact.

The most touching part of the trailer is when handsome white guy and nerdy white guy intervene in token black guy self-destructive habits by throwing his ice cream out the window. The two white friends suggest that instead of destroying his six-pack abs with empty calories, they all three go out and “drink like Keith Richards” at local watering hole. 

Just when you think the trailer is over, the trailer attempts to convince the viewing audience that some sort of drama will take place. The real mystery is what the hell is happening in the second half in the trailer. Who are these people and why should we care? Maybe we need to watch the movie to find out, but we never will.

Podcasterbating

One Generic Podcast is underway! We're still building the website, which means that episodes could be a little out of date by the time they get posted.

We recorded episode 2 while watching the first half of the Super Bowl. As Mike put it, "I'm glad that the game sucked so we could keep talking about Phillip Seymour Hoffman."

We've only been using one microphone to record so far; an AKG c214. It sounds decent enough, but I think everyone speaking should have their own microphone. I said "everyone speaking" because ideally, we'll get friends to come chat with us most episodes to generate interest and to avoid the inevitable boredom that will come from listening to Mike and I talking to ourselves all the time.

I’ve also started sending out feelers to gauge interest in the possibility of expanding to other, more content specific podcasts. I think Sarah’s website could be developed into an awesome podcast.

In the Last Six Months

Writing
Job
Resume
Job
Rock music
Job
Guitar riffs
Job
Plug-ins
How Stuff Works
Cooking
Mostly cooking
Resume
Camera
Not traveling
Speaking 
Podcast
Sickness
Old and busted 
Old clothes
Jump start
New jewelry 
Cancelled television programs
Poetry 
Darkness 
Binoculars 
Job
Endless crooked punctuation 

Home Address for Civil War

I haven't seen much of Adam since he put a cigarette out on my arm, but that's not because I hold anything against him. I'm happy that he's still doing music. I've always thought that he had one of the most amazing voices and it's also a lot more versatile than how he uses it. What's more is that he has the ability to willfully trim the fat so that even his most bombastic projects don't sound like something that has gotten out of control. 

Adam and his Sleeveless wife have been zipping around the country for the past couple of years playing music and wooing hearts. Even having a baby only slowed them down a little bit because they had to change it's diapers. Assembling a proper band, they call themselves Eros and the Eschaton, but I'll probably call them Adam and Katey's band because I think I know how to pronounce that easier. 

 Their songs range from delicate nu-indie synth charms like You know I Do all the way up to face melting feedback anthems and even the wonderful pop haven that rents space somewhere in between. 

 I'm looking forward to their album that drops August 17.

Band Names I Just Came Up With

I may have been drinking:*

The Benefit Concerts
The Nine Ten Does
Sushi Surprise
The Local Celebrities 
The Geographic Oddities 
Bed Knobs and Boom Sticks
Derrick Brown and His Ex-Girlfriends
Lazy River Jordans
Flat Tires
Spare Tires
The Other Spare Tires
Dog Ear and Camel Toe
Premature and The Ejaculations 
Firebirds
Priest Victim
Black Folks
Capitalist's Daughter
The Nether Regions
Hogwarts Remover
The Because I'm Whites
The Leftover Pizzas 
Circumcised Gentiles

Drunk Uncle's Niece
Native Americans Everywhere
Charm School
The Desmond Tattoos


*No, that wasn't one of the band names.

"Night Singers" Album Review

There are two main types of songs on Eric & Magill’s new album “Night Singers”. There’s the synthy dance anthem on one hand, and the melancholy acoustic anthem on the other. Despite this, and the fact that the album was written and recorded across continents and hemispheres, it’s impossible to say where the “Eric” ends and the “Magill” begins.

During the writing of “Night Singers”, Eric Osterman had move from the midwest to Brooklyn while Ryan Weber (Magill) and his wife Lussia were in Kenya volunteering working with the Peace Corps. The album reflects all of the emotional, physical, and interpersonal experiences involved with moving away from the familiar and into the new and the wild. 

The album opens with infectious guitar jangle and a rhythm that challenges the listener to refrain from head bobbing and ass shaking. Ten seconds into the album and we’re already excited for the adventure that we’re about to take, pumping our fists into the air in victory for taking that first step; ready for all of the wonder and marvels to come.

Yet by the third track, Calendars, Eric & Magill are painfully aware of the passage of time - both fast and slow. It could be that they are prisoners of their own situation asking how much longer do we have to be here. Or, just as easily, they could see the approaching end they don’t want to come, unable to slow the spinning earth.

It would be easy to assume that access to minimal equipment, and recording and mastering in places like a pickup truck or a hallway, might have a degrading effect on the quality of the recording, but that is not the case with “Night Singers”.  Even the sparsely arranged songs like Peaks and Valleys or the title track, still sound full and robust.

Lussia Weber’s haunting vocal contributions serve to add texture and depth - not just sonically, but lyrically as well - to the album, rather than just being a backing voice on any given track. 

“Night Singers” keeps the lush reverb and sing-along sugar of their first album, while fearlessly diving head first into new sonic territory. It’s a journey, it’s a roller coaster, it’s inspiring, and it’s heartbreaking. As the album closes it leaves us wanting more: not because it wasn’t satisfactory, but because it resonates so effectively that we want to savor that beautifully broken feeling of gratitude for just a little bit longer. 

Listen to and download the album here.

Wayne or Shine

Wayne Everett, who moved from Long Beach to NYC this year, is working on new music and says he hopes to have something out by the end of this year.

This could be a proper, albiet long-awaited, follow up to 2002's Kingsqueens.

Short Film

This is so good and reminds of my relationship with someone so much.  You try surprise them with something nice only to, well, you'll just have to see.

Totally Pro

Pro Guitar Shop makes the best gear demos around.  There are some exceptional ones out there, but these guys are always on top.  

Some other tops this week include BRONCHO on Thursday, Christian Home-Schooler's Science Fair on Saturday, and Jameson: every day in every way.

Recipe: Take 1

I've had several (3) requests to write up some recipes that I've made recently.  I'm nervous about writing a real, honest-to-goodness recipe, so I thought I'd start with something that didn't require cooking and only has a couple of ingredients.

1 Baguette
3T Olive oil
1T Balsamic vinegar
1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine olive oil and balsamic in a bowl, whisking with a fork.  Stir half the parmesan cheese, then mix in the rest.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slice baguette and dip pieces into mixture.  Enjoy as a tasty appetizer or midday snack.

Review Mirror

As the new Starflyer 59 album is getting ready to ship, I thought it'd be nice to look back at some concert footage from the band's early days. 

The music in this is so awesome, but the interview is so awkwardly sad.  It's curious to hear these tunes again as an old man because I remember hearing my friend's older brother play them all the time.  I only heard noise then, but now I'm stunned at how genius early SF59 tunes - especially coming from such a young guy.  I really dig how nonchalant Jason Martin is about his sound too.  "Oh, I really like surf music and cool heavy metal riffs and just try to put those two things together, man..." 

Heavenly Riffs Video Show - 59 from Heavenly Riffs Video Show on Vimeo.

What Steve Bergeron Knows

"While you were waiting to tell me the truth, I imagined your head was that dusty fish bowl you keep on your kitchen counter, and whatever you wanted to tell me was the dead goldfish that’s been looking at me the wrong way since Monday. We should have a proper funeral for this."

Oh!  That just about nails it.  You make the arrangements, I'll bring a deli tray.

Gandalf the Lame

Why Gandalf Is the Most Overrated Wizard Ever -- powered by Cracked.com

My story got published.

I gone and done got my self published like a boss.  

It's funny to compare the first draft of this story to the published version.  I can only self-edit so much before I decide something is finished.  At least, I'm only motivated to self-edit so much.  Until now, most everything I've written has ended up in the metaphorical waste basket.  I was fortunate enough to have input from a few gracious writers, who are better looking and more accomplished than myself, that pushed me to make the story better.  Being good readers, they offered suggestions and encouragement that eventually worked the story to it's present form.  Maybe it could stand one more solid rewrite, I don't know.  As it is, it is published.  And that's exciting enough for the moment.

I love the process of writing fiction, though I find it emotionally exhausting.  An idea for a story might come easily enough, but meaning is much more elusive; always dancing in flickering shadows, peripheral thoughts, and lazy imagination.  Then there is the editing, the editing, the editing to make it better,  make it longer, make it shorter, make it pop, make it more subtle, make it right.  Although the effectiveness might be questionable, I'm happy that this story was able to say what I wanted it to.  

Thanks Matt, John, Courtney, and the whole Paper Darts crew!  

My story is here.

Swing State

I've always liked Matt Pond's voice.  There is something about his reedy baritone that designates a strong sadness; the voice of a survivor that must go on living after the explosion, the wreck, after losing the thing that mattered most.  I wonder if the artist whose career stems from heartbreak and loss would trade their creative production, fame, and fortune to have their heart put back together as if it were never broken.

I suppose that, with each release, Matt Pond PA sounds more redundant and tired.  This has less to do with the subject matter than it does with the execution.  The newest Matt Pond PA album, doesn't explore any new musical territory than any previous album.

This does give the band a comfortable lived-in feeling; timeless pop music with sing-along words.  But you'd have to be a dedicated fan to really put up with them for more than two or three albums.  

Still, redundancy notwithstanding, there is always one or two gems on every new release.  

As Dead as an Old Flame

Happy Halloween, boys and ghouls.

The "Truth" Hurts

This ad is currently running in Iowa.  It echos a refrain of many Republican candidates all over the country, including Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan last night at the VP debate.  

Yet NPR reports:

FactCheck.org writes that "Ryan says Obama turned Medicare into a 'piggy bank.' Not so." It has previously written that "Republicans claim the president's $716 billion 'cuts' to Medicare hurt the program's finances. But the opposite is true. These cuts in the future growth of spending prolong the life of the Medicare trust fund, stretching the program's finances out longer than they would last otherwise."

Biden stated that the consulate in Libya didn't need more security before it was attacked on September 11.  

But The Washington Post's Fact Checker responded quickly to that assertion. It pointed out that that Biden's claim had already been "contradicted by State Department officials just the day before, in testimony before a congressional panel and in unclassified cables released by a congressional committee." (also from NPR)

This illustrates how politics can not only reframe facts to fit ideologies, but willfully and blatantly ignore them to further their agendas.  In normal, everyday life, people call this behavior lying. 

Whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or any other political party (or non-party), it's important to admonish these behaviors from our representatives and leaders.  It's easier, to be sure, to recognize the lies when they're coming from a politician you don't agree with.  However, no one can claim the moral high ground of an argument without, in good-faith, representing the facts to the best of their ability.  Therefore, it is in everybody's best interest to press their own political affiliates to represent the truth as best they can, and not just frame them in a way that advances our own ideology and bias.  

We allow our politicians to stretch, bend, exaggerate, or ignore the truth, in order to make short-term gains.  Yet, the long-term effects from accepting this behavior will only hurt all of us.

Defending definitions

In this New York Times article, Frank Schubert discusses his role as an opponent of gay marriage. Schubert is dangerously effective when he appeals to people's fear of coming off as a bigot if they oppose gay marriage.  Schubert helps move the argument away from the position that gay marriage is wrong, but that you can't call it "marriage" when two gay people decide to dedicate their lives to one another.  

The divorce rate in this country has been hovering around 50% for a while now, making the "defense of marriage" argument sound thin, presumably even to opponents of gay marriage.  One would suspect that if there was  any real interest in defending marriage, people would start attempting to regulate divorce.

Schubert has helped reframe the argument to appear more palatable to both supporters and opponents.  The New York Times article ran this quote:

'“Everyone has a right to love who they choose,” says an ad now running in Minnesota, “but nobody has a right to redefine marriage.”'

Of course, it's inaccurate to submit that someone doesn't have the right to redefine a word or the act that a word represents.  Your state might have reduced the legal limit of blood-alcohol content when you're operating your car from .10 to .08, effectively redefining "drunk driving".  

And if nobody as a right to redefine marriage, then somebody needs to call the definition police, because Merriam-Webster is in violation.  

It turns out that the definition of marriage has already been changed. So what are people actually going to be voting on this November?  In states that are directly voting to allow or reject gay marriage, regardless of their position, voters will be faced with a moral choice.  

I wonder and worry what it will say about our supposedly great country if couples are denied the right to marry each other.  I wonder what it will mean not only for my friends who are gay, but any of my friends that ever want to get married.  

Bilting an Army

When I was played in a band, I never gave too much thought to my gear.  I basically played a telecaster through a ProCo Rat and a Line 6 DL-4 into a Fender DeVille.  At the time, I thought I had all that I needed.  

After the band broke up, and I didn't immediately fall in with another group, and I stopped playing for over a year.  Don't ask me how it happened, but it did.  It might have something to do with moving to Minneapolis and trying too hard to have a girlfriend.  By the time I realized that I hadn't been playing, I had completely forgotten how to altogether.  

As I started relearning how to play, I also became more interested in the gear I was playing on.  I learned of the stark, yet technically subtle, differences between overdrive, distortion, and fuzz; as well as the universe of options among them.  

My interest in guitars, amps and effects waxes and wanes depending on how interesting I find a particular item.  For instance, I became obsessed with tracking down a Greenline Overdrive from Smart People Factory because the guitar player in one of my favorite bands played one on their last record.  The pedal was just modded TS-808, and I already had another, more versatile, TS clone.  But I had to have that pedal.  Once I obtained a Greenline, I wouldn't have to worry about another overdrive pedal for as long as I lived.  Yeah right...

I love the Telecaster, and I've owned three of them. I sold one to pay for repairs and modifications to another.  I sold my first telecaster because I didn't know how easily I could have repaired the parts I didn't like about it by myself.  

I've flirted with the Jaguar, but it's shortened scale continues to be too small for my clumsy hands.  I decided that I'd have to settle for a Jazzmaster, which was fine, I just preferred the look of the Jaguar.  

Again, through all of this gear hunting, I keep telling myself that I just needed ONE more thing, and then i'd be set.  I'd be able to start a band again.  I'd amazingly become a better player because I had that guitar, or that pedal, and I was playing through that amp.

I've really made an effort to focus on playing and not the gear I was playing with.  I'm not that serious of a player, and if I want to obsess about gear, I told myself that I had to play in a band.  That worked for a couple of months until I came across this company that makes guitars right in my hometown of Des Moines.

El Hombre Deluxe, Lake Pelham Blue from BilT Guitars on Vimeo.

That sound you heard was my jaw hitting the floor.  Me likey.