How come?

How come when someone describes something as "modern" on craigslist they mean it looks like it's from 1991?

Soundtrack to a book?

Here's a question for my faithful readership: Have you ever been reading a book and listening to a record that seemed to match together perfectly, as if the music was somehow the soundtrack to the book? Respond by posting a comment.

I have two:
I was listening to Sun Kil Moon's "Ghosts of the Great Highway" a lot while I was devouring McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" and "The Crossing". The Mexican sounding flourishes of thirty-second note strums and lyrics about the Revolution and Pancho Villa fit those two books like a glove. The songs (including an instrumental or two) musically paint the landscape of the Mexican desert.











The other one has to do with a conversation I was having with Loretta the other day about a book we've both read called Geek Love. Pop fiction, best seller type. It's a story about a circus freak whose dad ran a travelling circus and bread little freaks of his own by feeding his wife poisons while pregnant. I remeber that while reading that book I was listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's classic "The Aeroplane Over the Sea". It's super psychadelic and has all kinds of freakish characters. He sings:"Two headed boy, all floating in glass, the sun it has passed, now it's blacker than black, I can hear as you tap on your jar." Tap on your jar? That's crazy! Great book. Classic, classic indie rock record. And they go so well together.










So the question is: Has there been a piece of music that has served as a soundtrack to a pice of literature you've read. Maybe you were reading and listening to them at the same point in your life. Or maybe the two just remind you of each other. Post a comment here!

In other news-only-Pete-cares-about......

....What is Mandy Moore doing on the cover of my indie rock magazine? I've said it before, but rock journalism is getting pretty sucky. It looks like the cover of Seventeen!

In other Cormac McCarthy news....

The Coen Brothers (makers of my favorite movie ever and the best movie ever made: The Big Lebowski) have made a film version of McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men". I've blogged about "No Country" before. It's a good modern day western about a serial killer and a regular guy who happens upon the serial killer's money. And I'm super excited about the film!

Here's a clip:

"The Road"

Finished "The Road" a few days ago. The only Cormac McCarthy book I've read that has a happy ending. I'll tell you the happy ending, so avert your eyes now if you don't want it spoiled for you.

There's been a nuclear holocaust. A father and son head out south on foot to try to go where it's warmer. They trek for 200 pages through ash and try to avoid being canabalized by the occasional passerby. In the last two pages the dad dies and a futuristic-super-cowboy appears out of nowhere and takes the boy to a safe commune rather than being left to the elements.

Really good book. Really made me feel like I could imagine the world he was creating.

Cormac is definately the toughest author on Oprah's book list.

Best Cover Art Ever!

On the Road

I tried to start reading this book a couple years ago. I think it was a gift from Keith. I never got very far. I think I was avoiding it because I was afraid that I'd find some kind of grand adventures that I missed out on.

Turns out I've pretty much done it all. I've been on the road with friends, with my band, my wife, and by myself. Heck we traveled a lot as a kid with my parents, which is pretty dorky, but I love those memories and they were just as adventurous. I've been all over this country in a car, van. I don't envy the adventures/experiences in this acount. I feel like maybe I've had more. Or at least more valuable ones.

I also really related to Sal Paradise's (main character) relationship with his friend, Dean Moriarty. The book simply uses "the road" as a setting in which to examine Sal's friendship with Dean. Dean is "one of the mad ones." Kerouac says he feels drawn to the the people who are "mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved." I feel like in my late teens and early 20s I felt the same need to be around people like that as well. And in sort of creative/artsy circles, this makes male relationships very interesting. I can definately say that I've known several Dean Moriartys in my time and been close to them. Men who move so fast and live for art and creativity or phylosophy or something. Shoot, maybe I've even seemed like a Dean Moriarty to someone else. And those times seemed fun and fast and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but- like in the book- they end weird and sad.

Anyway, on a less serious note, I had fun thinking of psuedonyms for some friends' names (a lot of famous writers and people have other names in this book that kinda sound like theirs) if I wrote an autobiography. I decided Keith's name would be Ken Kalloway. Scott Lehman would be Socrates Lansing. And so on. I think I would be James Stanton. The way I chose mine was because someone once told me a good way to make an alias is to put your middle name with the street you grew up on. The other two I just made up.

Imortant Note: Another book that explores the same type of relationship (a straight-laced guy paired up with a driven, fantastic man) is "What Makes Sammy Run" by Budd Schulberg. It's great. "On the Road" seemed like a 50s era updated version of that.

Listening to: Paul Simon, Six Parts Seven "Casually Smashed to Pieces", Cat Power, Cat Power, and more Cat Power.

Paul Simon- Career in Review

When you look at an artist who has real longevity, you'll notice a lot of the time that their albums go in twos. Jill and I are big Paul Simon fans. I might go so far as to say that he is the musical embodiment of the true American spirit. WHile we spend a lot of car time listening to his Garfunkel years and his early solo stuff, we have recently discovered his recent work. And his recent work definately goes in couples.












2000's "You're the One" and 2006's "Surprise" are what I'm tlaking about. We've recently been digging on them. Both are sonically similar.They continue to traverse (in sort of a boring, generic way) the multiculturalism of "world music" that earlier albums explored so innocently. Songs are held together by rhythm rather than an instrument or a melody or a chord progression. And he talks and scats (litterally) over the music. Most tackle the theme of being middle-aged and the things that [might] come with that: body image, blended families, having babies late in life, mature marriage, etc. The highlights tend to be on "Surprise", his newest album, and they are the first and last tracks. One is about his baby but there is this weird electronic munchkin voice that sings in the background and really takes the song down a notch.

I'm not dissing these two records. I like them a lot. I'm just saying that stuff to prove a point. If you are looking to buy an album of someone with a big long career, like that of Paul Simon, you have to realize that the albums probably go in twos and that you shouldn't look toward the beginning of the career, nor toward the end. After all, Simon's early Garfunkel years have records that contain mostly crap. Start buying their records they did like ....three fifths into their career.










I'm talking here about "Graceland" and "Rhythm oif the Saints". It's his most brilliant work. The former blends what you'd expect from Simon with South African music. The latter does the same with Brazillian music/rhythms. You can listen to either of those and never get tired of them. True genius.

Post Script
Now. If you're looking to buy something from a band that was around for like 4 years (or will be around for only 4 years) then definately buy their first one first. That's a rule.

Bob Boilen

I've seen celebrity auctions on Ebay like, "Have tea with Nelson Mandela!" and I like to make up my own twists on that. I think if they had an auction where the winner gets to "Cuddle with Bob Boilen" then I would bid.

Bob is great and his NPR program, All Songs Considered is wonderful. Boilen introduces the listener to music of all kinds in way that people from any musical background can understand, but he gets in-depth and technical and personal and real. I wait all week for the podcast to download.

His voice has a quality that is authentic, yet authoritative and somehow adorable all at the same time. Love ya, Bob. I'm a big fan.

All in my home, there's music in the air.

Reading 4 books at once...

I just finally finished "Full of Life" by John Fante, one of my favorite authors. It's a 1950's autobiographical piece on when his wife was pregnant. I thought I would feel the same connection and validation with this book as I did when I read his coming of age books (when I was coming of age [?]). But it was mostly just about his Catholic guilt and his issues with his own father. Selfish/self-indulgent. Very disappointed.

So, even though I am a super slow and non-committal reader, somehow I've ended up reading 4 books at once. I am reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy about a father and son walking across the US after a nuclear holocaust (sort of a futuristic western!!!). I've also loaded the audio version of "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac on my iPod. To my advisory class (a.k.a. 25 wasted minutes) I am using the time to read "Fahrenheit 451" by Bradbury to them. Lastly, I am reading "The Expectant Father" by Armin A. Brott. It's terrific, but it's chronological (with the development of the pregnancy) so I'm all caught up right now and haven't been reading it really.

Top 5 Neil Young Albums

I'm on a post-barbershop-visit high and got motivated to do a Neil Young blog.

1. Rust Never Sleeps
This is like "Neil Young: for dummies". It introduced me to, and got me hooked on Neil Young. The first half is just Neil by himself. The second half is all Crazy Horse! This remains one of my favorite records to date. Lyrically, it really helped me get through a time of lost friendship in my life. Thanks Neil!

2. Harvest
C'mon, it's got some radio classics like "Old Man", "Heart of Gold", great stuff. And he howls "Are you ready for the country? Because it's time to go!" Go where? I don't know, but I am ready and I wanna go wherever the 'country' is when you put it like that.

3. After the Gold Rush
Just great. Reminds me of Scott Lehman when I hear it. Especially when Neil sings, "When you dance... oooh, oooh, I can really love."



4. Live at Massey Hall 1971
Got it a couple weeks ago and I'm arready wearing it out. Great version of "Ohio"- way better than the Crosby ,Stills, and Nash (yech!) version. It's just a flawless performance. I told you before, I had to pull over the car the first time I heard it. Truly moved.

5. Trans
Neil's synthesizer album. Ballsy. Lost a lot of fans on this one, but not me, Neil. I get lost in this album in a weird psychadelic way. I remember working on the house late during cold nights listening to this and Jay Farrar's synthesizer album called "Sebastapol". Arright.

Danielson: a Familie Movie

DANIELSON is someone who I'd seen at shows and festivals like almost 10 years ago. Friends had their records. Yesterday, Jill and I watched a doc about them called Danielson: a Familie Movie. Great film.

You know... He's an artistic genius, much like Daniel Johnston, who I've posted about here (and who also appears on this film). He's crazy and savantish. Eccentric. Odd. A true artist. Danielson is this weird kind of christian commune-type kid who made all his redheaded siblings be in his band where he shouts and squeals about schitzophrenically Jesus-related things. And he made them dress up in nurses outfits!

Christians should watch this because there are some really interesting spiritual issues brought up.

Artists should watch this because there is great visual and audible art. Plus a lot of points about where spirituality and art should/shouldn't separate.

Sufjan Stevens fans (still don't know how to pronounce) should watch this film. People think "Soof" is the genius of the world. In this film, you get to see him being taught how to hit a tomtom drum by a 12 year old. Sufjan Stevens got his musical start in the Danielson Familie. And I think Sufjan fans will get gain some perspective on his origins through this film. I just think a lot of hip musical trends right now should be researched and what might seem totally original, like the Arcade Fire's shouting and "family" image or Sufjan Stevens' current bands' costumes (pictured at the right) can be traced to influences like Danielson.

WATCH THE TRAILER!!!!!!!


Watch a Music Video!!!!!!

You can't win?

OK. Arright, here's some CDs I've gotten recently. My reactions as well.
(by the way, the new gmail/google version or interface of Blogger really sucks.)

Dolorean "You Can't Win"
This is a band that Keith turned me on to. Countryish. Slowcore-ish. Layed back. Kinda like if John Denver was singing while Neil Young was pickin'. This disc starts of with a really droney piano song that has frontman, Al James singing, "You can't win." ad nausium. This has a uniquely coincidental parrallel to the new Son Volt album, which starts with a droney piano number with Jay Farrar (swooon!) singing, "Feels like drivin' 'round in a slow hearse" over and over and over. They just pummel you with a bummer. Really an interesting way to start off an album. He continues on in a similar tone.
I drink one bottle of wine each night. *****OR***** I feel myself descending
To help me get over you.**************************Like I often do.
I've become quite fond of what ********************I get the feeling there's no winning
One bottle can do. ********************************When I can't Afford to lose.
Pretty good, really. But not really good. Know what I mean, Vern?

Neil Young "Live at Massey Hall 1971"
I turned on KFOG while driving my dad's truck late at night a while ago and they were playing this entire album/show. I had to pull the truck over at one point, I was so moved. This is just a flawless performance. Every note just has magic in it. You know when you're doing something really well, like REALLY well, and you think, "Well, it's any second now that I'm gonna screw this up!" and you usually do. Like a tight rope. Running on a ballance beam. Frogger. But Neil never does throughout this entire Live show. Just him and a guitar. Or him and a piano.
"Afray-yay-yay-yaid! A man feels afraid!"
Bone chilling.......

Son Volt "The Search"
Fantastic. You know it. Love it more with each listen. Not really any mixtape-worthy tracks here. Just a fan pleaser. I'm not gonna bore you, faithful readership, with any more Son Volt loverants. It's just back to what I said in a previous post about what makes a truly great album: "If what you hated on the initial listen becomes what you love after some educated listens, it's just great." Or something like that. And lyrically, he captures the essence of dissolusion with a post 911, post Hussein, post VT America.

Wayne Everett "Kingsqueens"
Crap. This is crap. Man, I had high hopes. This is a rare disc from the frontman of a great band called the Lassie Foundation (one of my longtime favorites). He did a solo record a few years back and I have one track on a compilation and now I finally get the record and it's total poo. Maybe Dolorean's right....... ..............You can't win.

Marlon Brando, Pochahontas, and Me (SON VOLT show review)

What do you do when your favorite band plays your favorite Neil Young song?
a. Try not to pee yourself
b. Hoot and hollar
c. Sing along unabashedly
d. All of the above

Ever happen to you? OK, just me. Arright, so I thought I'd sit down and blog about the show the other night.

So I went to see Son Volt and Magnolia Electric Co. in Petaluma with my friend Peter Stanley and a friend of his on Saturday (the friend hated Son Volt! OMG!). Magnolia's set was forgetable- the band was missing members and lacked the energy of their shows (of course, the friend loved it).

When Son Volt came on, they crunched through almost their entire new album straight away, which was energetic and full and fresh. By the way, I've come to love the new album.

Their reworkings of old songs fell a little flat. You see, Son Volt's original members (the guys that did the first three albums) were multi-instrumentalists and there was lap steel, pedal steel, banjo, and violin when they played. This version of Son Volt is totally rocking and electric and they even turn the slow violin/acoustic songs into elaborate rockers with big flashy guitar solos and the like. I'm not so much into that.

But when they played "Drown", the song that made me fall in love with son Volt back in like 96, it was pretty dope! Then their encore was ah'ight, and I thought I might leave semi-disappointed, but then they started playing "Pochahontas" (by Neil Young- and that's the song that made me fall in love with Neil). I was floored and I probably embarassed myself with my behavior (ever see that footage of the crowd at the Ed Sullivan show where the Beatles played and the girls are like screaming and pulling their hair out and crying?)

So, not as good as when Jill and I saw 'em last year. But I've said this before: Even Jay Farrar's worst is still better than most peoples' best. And it wasn't his worst, it was just ah'ight.

Listening to: Mates of State "Bring it Back", Paul Simon "Surprise", This American Life, and a couple CDs that a co-worker lent me that I don't like so much.

Hella psyched

to see Son Volt on Saturday!

listening to: Wreckless Eric, Son Volt's new one, All Songs Considered podcast, ipod on random again.

Lost Marbles

Ever since we moved into our house, we have found and kept many keepsakes left over from the original owners. This started when we began finding bullets that the lady had taken to hiding in little places around the house , or saving and restoring original doors, re-using original bricks- things tlike that (we didn't keep the bullets).

But one of the most intruiging things has been the marbles. The previous owners had children that they would have raised in this house in the 50's or 60's. Two boys, I think. I've met one, now in his 60's. Since we moved in, we began finding little marbles anytime the earth in the back yard was disturbed and they seem to be marbles that these two kids must have played with in our back yard 50 years ago.

My current house project is building a brick patio in our back yard, which first requires me to dig out about 6 inches of hard clay off the top (double that depth after the soil has been tilled). I'm borrowing what is like a tractor without a seat from my father-in-law, and as I rototill the ground, I check for marbles. Yesterday I found 9 more!

I keep them in a jar and they are one of my favorite new things. It's strange, because I never played marbles (and I'm even sort of against them because it's like teaching little kids to gamble). But I think, for me, maybe why I'm so drawn to them is that they symbolize boyhood/childhood. And even more than that- since they are burried under several inches of dirt- they represent a lost childhood. Which is timely, due to the fact that, at the eve of my fatherhood, I find myself reflecting on my own childhood quite a bit.

I'm sort of putting someone else's childhood/history to rest while examining my own and while "paving" the way for my child's all at the same time. And that's very heavy for me.

Being a Son Volt fan is a full-time job.....

.....and I'm workin' overtime.

Got the record "The Search" on my lunch break at Rasputins last Tues. along with a promo limited-edition bonus EP. Got a second bonus EP at Best Buy later that week and some other itunes exclusive outtakes.
Been listening non-stop ever since. About 30 songs in all. Man!

I was listening to the album after work while helping students with HW, when a student insightfully said, "This is L.A. music." So I asked what she meant and she replied, "Because this is the kind of music I would listen to if I were driving all the way to L.A." She "gets" it.

I've gotta be honest. It's not their most accessible. In fact, this is probably their worst. But the fact is that Jay Farrar's worst beats anybody's best by miles. So it's still incredible to me.

A lot of different instrumentation: sitar, tape loops, keyboards/synths, piano, organ, female bgvs.

Lyrically, there's more anti-war/ anti-corporate/environmentalist lyrics. Along with a lot of schitzofrenically juxtaposed lyrics like this one:

He sings in falsetto while playing a lone piano...
"She said, 'I still love you, but I don't know if I wanna spend the rest of my time with you- the rest of my life with you.'"
...then the band kicks in and he sings...
"High on adrenaline, it's new day!"

What a funny pairing of lines. Although I am someone who has personally received that first line myself and someone who has woken up to a new morning optimistically, I have never experienced the two coinciding. But it's genius because it leaves you wondering and imagining.

Note to my faithful readership: if you are a Son Volt novice, check out their first record, "TRACE" first. It's much more listener-friendly. Plus it's a classic and should be in everyones' home.

Man, I can't deliver a full review right now. I'm still processing the whole thing. But I am just fully enjoying myself. I love Jay Farrar the way that my students love Hillary Duff or (Lil') Bow Wow. And I'm totally in touch with that part of it and I'm loving it!

demo finished

New songs from Peter Stanley are up at the Winter's Fall Myspace page. They're the rough mixes of a demo we finished last week right before Keith's wedding.

Can't Wait!!!!!!

I just wanted to remind the masses that the new Son Volt album comes out in less than a week. Most of you probably already know this and have been counting the days. It's understandable if you've been scouring the web for special deals/collecter CDs/give-aways/pre-order insentives. It's perfectly normal to check the "news" page on the bands website several times a day for new updates. It's OK to ride your bike to Ameoba records during your lunch break on Tuesday, March 6.

Personally, I haven't been doing any of those things. But if you have, then you're not weird or anything.