Car of the Month: My Volvo

My Volvo died on me a few weeks ago, so I sold it. I'm now driving my VW full time, with a lot of Vespa action in between and during the overtime. The transmission went out and needed replacement, and I don't have the cash for it and didn't want a new automatic transmission anyway. This car got me across the United States. A moment of silence, please.

Kind of Like Spitting - “March 25th, 1998"

On Friday I was walking around town when I ran into Ben Barnett. Ben is the artist formerly known as the one man band Kind of Like Spitting. On my computer, the top two most frequently listened songs are Kind of Like Spitting ("You Got Served," "A Song for Annie's Harmonica") and so it really brightened my day to say hi to one of my favorite songwriters.

Ben told me he is getting training at Stumptown Coffee and has formed a new band that's looking for another guitarist. I forget the name of this new band, but I told him I would love to see them play when he gets it together. He told me to "myspace me" and then he and I both had to get back to work.

Here is my first favorite Kind of Like Spitting song:
Kind of Like Spitting - "March 25th, 1998"

What's your interpretation of the course of events that swings from a line on the outside of the fence. I got in a fight at the Team Dresh show and always fighting, me, it came off macho. And I am a lion roaring out loud. In my dreams I'm angry I never touch the ground. I feel like I'm flying somewhere underneath the sheets. I took your bracelet from the bathroom I've had it ever since we met. check your lipstick in the mirror, sway and swing your hips. Head out to the New Bad Things show at the end of Burnside at the oh hell used to be the x-ray, not all that familiar with the history of this town, only been here for a short while, but you knew it. Say your sick of all the narrow eyes and all the lies and the actors feeding on our hearts. We had this one drive, don't talk, don't lie. Everyone is on call for a job that they hate. Check the mirror, check the bathroom, check the toilet, filling up this room. Room that you made yourself from the hangers from the closet down, he was asking for it but you knew it.

Purchase the album "The Thrill of The Hunt" from Redder Records.

Apples of the Earth

Apples of the Earth played our first show on Friday at "Plastic Matt's House" in SE Portland.

Here are the songs we played:

Bluelights
Smile, Come With Me And (Castawaves cover)
Wait (Secret Stars cover)
Pearl Jam is not a very good band
Giraffe (instrumental)

Thanks to Hurah Hurah and The Clearing for playing a show with us! I should really write about those bands because they are both fantastic.

Rocket Punch broke up.

Sorry, fans. Rocket Punch broke up! Instead, Apples of the Earth, our new band, will be playing a house show this friday - March 16, 2006 - in SE PDX with Hurah Hurah and The Clearing.

Come to the show to hear the new hit "Pearl Jam is not a very good band" before it hits MTV Europe.

Car of the Month: Porsche 356

Here is a lovely Porsche 356 my girlfriend insisted we take a picture of when we saw it on the street the other night. It is kind of hard to believe these cars have a basic flat four 1600cc engine - the same as my Volkswagen Bus. The silver paint is nice, but the tomato interior really does it.

Jawbreaker – “Accident Prone" (live)

Last weekend I was in a minor car accident. Everyone is okay, though. No one was hurt. I was wearing my Jawbreaker shirt and so here is one of my favorite Jawbreaker songs.

The song isn't about a car accident, but here it is nonetheless.

Jawbreaker - Accident Prone (Live - April 30, 1996)

It's off their fantastic live album which is available from Blackball Records.

What's the furthest place from here?
It hasn't been my day for a couple years.
What's a couple more?
And if I go, don't forget the one good thing I almost did.
I learned your name without words.
I used my eyes, not my hands.
What's the closest you can come to an almost total wreck and still walk away,
All limbs intact?
And when I go, you'll be there crying out, begging me.
I won't hear.
I'll just go fast into this night on broken legs.
A near miss or a close call?
I keep a room at the hospital.
I scratch my accidents into the wall.
I couldn't wait to breathe your breath.
I cut in line,
I bled to death.
I got to you, there was nothing left.
What's the meanest you can be to the one you claim to love
And still smile to your new found friends?
In the same confusing breath,
You pull away and draw me in.
I wanted you. You wanted more.
I built this life and now it's mine.

PREEMPTIVE V DAY

Pre-empting Valentine's Day, here's one of my favorite Valentine's Day songs. It's off of an out of print compilation entitled "Ooh Do I Love You." I like this song because it's a ridiculous metaphor and also references the band singing the song ("the Plan has love for everyone!")

THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN - "THE LOVE WAR"

http://www.dismembermentplan.com/plan_audio/mpeg/dplan_the_love_war.mp3

Everybody here is a freak
And if you disagree you're even weirder
The world should disinherit the meek,
So let's go for broke and arm the gates of authority
It's what we allow,
And if we're better looking then victory is ours
To spin the bottle, baby, and how,
We've got a war to win, let's win it now

The love war was won with a single love bullet from a love gun
And the Plan has love for everyone!
Don't be left out when a love war breaks out Yeah, oh-wah-oh-wah-oh-oh
It's treason in this town to not be getting down
Yeah, oh-wah-oh-wah-oh-oh
And every day could be Valentine's Day (Oh, oh, oh, YEAH!)

Lovin' is a threat to The Man,
And if he had his way he'd squash it out right
Despising what he can't understand,
So arm yourself and defend your letter
Try to make a joke of it might
But the history of freedom will never be denied...
The carriers of liberty's lights: Oh, Jefferson, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Barry White!
The love war was waged by a million love soldiers in a love rage,
And the Plan is fighting every day!
Better pick a side when the love war arrived Yeah, oh-wah-oh-wah-oh-oh
Lives to be loved and the love war needs you all Yeah, oh-wah-oh-wah-oh-oh
It's treason in this town to not be getting down Yeah, oh-wah-oh-wah-oh-oh
And every day would be Valentine's Day
And everyone would love to choose to love in their own way
So do your part; the traitors are kissed at dawn, that's what they say
And every day could be Valentine's Day!

V90: We could do this the easy way or we could do it my way.

I do everything the hard way. I am sanding my project Vespa by hand with 220 grit sandpaper. I am almost done. I am spraypainting it later. Here is what I have so far.

Fun Deficit - "This Is The Dream of Evan and Chan"

I have a lot of posts on this blog that you don't see. I write them up and decide not to post them. I had the idea to post this song back in October, but didn't, and I haven't posted any exclusive music since then. So here's a song that I recorded. It's the song "This is the dream of Evan and Chan" by Dntel/Ben Gibbard aka The Postal Service. I recorded it back in 2002 in Geneseo, before I also realized I was in love with Cat Power. It's kind of whiny, so be warned. For the record, I recorded two discs of 'official' material as Fun Deficit. The first was the self titled ep: four songs released in 2002. I made copies of this and gave most of them to my friends and one to Bob Nanna. Then I recorded "When I Forgot What I Had Been Wishing For" which was so good that I never made any copies for anyone. It still might be too good. Anyway, enjoy this cover. If I were to bust into the same song right now, my roommate Greg would probably cover his end of the heat vent with a pillow.

Fun Deficit - "This Is The Dream of Evan and Chan"

In case you don't know: Evan, Chan
This song's entry on Wikipedia: LINK

It was familiar to me,
the smoke too thick to breathe.
The tile floors glistened;
I slowly stirred my drink.
And when you started to sing, you spoke with broken speech
That I could not understand,
and then you grabbed me tightly.

I won't let go, I won't let go.
Even if you say so, oh no.
I've tried and tried with no results.
I won't let go, I won't let go.

He then played every song from nineteen ninety three.
The crowd applauded as he curtsied bashfully.
Your eyelashes tickled my neck with every nervous blink,
And it was perfect until the telephone started
Ringing ringing ringing ringing ringing off...

Best Car Commercial Ever.

I drove my VW to Washington today. Here is my favorite VW commercial.

Vespa 90! progress!?

I have been working on building my 1964 Vespa 90 out of pieces, but the headset is chipped and I didn't know until now. I need to either find a new one to replace this one, or find someone to fix mine.

The Best Concerts I Saw in 2006

In 2005 i only saw 2 bands that weren't my friends. Those shows were Jason Anderson and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Granted, both were fantastic, and of course my friends bands were fantastic (Kalpana, Get Awesome Ninjas, Pink Cammies) but this year really was epic.

I saw a lot of great shows this year, and some I even went to with girls. This is a nice new trend that I would like to continue in 2007. Strangely, my top three shows are all ones I went to alone. It was a tough task to narrow it down to a top 5, but there were some real standouts that were just absolutely stellar. Some of the close ups include: Kind of Like Spitting, Jonathan Richman, Damien Jurado, Flipper, Japanther, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Jeffrey Lewis, and The Thermals.

5.
For fifth place, I would say the Mirah show was fantastic. This was the record release party for Mirah's new remix album entitled "Joyride." The album has great cover artwork of the Fremont bridge, which is quite close to my house, and the show was really close too - at the Here was what the flyer said: 8pm, $5 - Featuring performances, visuals and DJ styles by Mirah, Mt. Eerie, DJ Beyonda, screamclub, Bryce Panic, DJ Anna Oxygen, Pash".
I almost didn't go to this show because I was really getting into sanding my Vespa beforehand, but then Dan twisted my arm and we drove off in the rain even though it was super close. When we walked in Calvin Johnson was selling merch and Phil Elvrum was playing guitar and singing. There were tons of cute girls there and this one band had a song about being a pedestrian and how they love walking around. But I don't even know what band that was because all the acts were so pretentious that they didn't introduce themselves. However, Mirah was super cute and her songs are fantastic and I absolutely loved it.

4.
Earlier in the year, on June 8th at the Wonder Ballroom Joe and I saw The Streets and Lady Sovereign. I didn't really "get" lady sov, but the Streets were so great. They busted out all these songs I had forgotten about and it was really dancy. The crowd was super hip with lots of those tee shirts that have offset designs on the bottom and sides that I own none of. Mike Skinner poured brandy straight into peoples' mouths in the front and it was like a big party. It was fantastic. North Star Ballroom at 635 N. Killingsworth Court. This show took place on November 26, 2006.

3.
So the only reunion show on this list took place at the Roseland Theater on July 26. I have seen Weezer play three times and all three were really cool, but none of them were as rad as when I saw THE RENTALS this summer. Ozma, one of my old favorites opened and they weren't as great because they changed some members, but The Rentals were awesome. Matt Sharp came out dancing wearing an Ozma tee shirt and big glasses strapped on to his head. He bounced around and they played a ton of hits, up to and including "I Just Threw Out The Love of My Dreams" which is technically a Weezer song. The moog synths sounded great and the Matt's singing was top notch. The crowd there was kind of jockish, strangely and I went with a friend but after they played "Friends of P" and I left I called him on the phone and he was across town at some bar, so I consider this show to be one I went to solo.

2.
Okay so imagine you're driving cross country in the snow and by accident you stop in some weird town in the middle of nowhere and imagine the singer of your favorite band is playing an acoustic set at a crappy bar and no one is there but you and also imagine he played your favorite song by said band. This is what happened to me in February when I saw Bob Nanna play in Iowa at Gabe's Oasis.

1.
In an ironic showing of capitalism prevailing for a socialist singer, the best show I went to see this year was also the most expensive. I shelled out $27 to see BILLY BRAGG play at the Aladdin on October 2, 2006. It was so fantastic. I once again went by myself and sat IN THE FRONT ROW! Billy Bragg is so charming and his songs are so punk rock and, dare I say, emo. He had the best stage presence and banter of anyone I've ever seen play. I can't believe I almost didn't go to this show. I loved it!

new pic on top, ya dig?

Rattlecan my heart.

I have begun painting my Smallframe Vespa. For those keeping score at home, this will be my third rattlecan paint job, though my first on a Vespa. It looks good so far: the small bit i've done.

Boyracer - "I've got it and it's not worth having."

Have I mentioned lately that I'm obsessed with Sarah Records? I bought another one of their 7"s on ebay this week, but this one isn't it. This one might be next. It's the band Boyracer, from England, with a great song. Here's a video for it and the lyrics.



I can't even remember a summer day
so much wasted on movement.

Last night alone in your car,
unable to speak.
With every word uncovered.

I've got it and it's not worth having.

And I drink to forget.
Yet increase the distance
I'm trying so hard to be late
It's permanent
This has happened over you.
drink myself stupid and I'm feeling stupid over you.

I've got it and it's not worth having.

(awesome build up and solo)

I've got it and it's not worth having.
I've got it and it's not worth having.
I've got it and it's not worth having.
I've got it and it's not worth having.

===
I love Boyracer, especially this song because this might be where emo and indie pop and punk meet. The verses might be mistaken for Jawbreaker taken on their own. The sound is more midwest USA than midlands UK, and the song was covered by The Lucksmiths
for a Sarah tribute 7" on Matinee! This is fantastic and it reminds me
that one of my favorite blogs that covers all of this is called href="http://www.thesoundofindie.com/">The Sound of Indie

Also, Boyracer is on Yellow Mica Recordings along with my new band ROCKET PUNCH! So, we are labelmates pretty much, no?

Rocket Punch's song "Pink Cashmere" - I don't know why I didn't pick up on this before - is track ten on the "C06" compilation put together by Indie MP3 dot co dot UK! How great is that? Check it out here:
http://www.indie-mp3.co.uk/2006/07/c06.html

Relevant Wikipedia links:
Boyracer (phenomenon)
C86 (music)

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I have been working on other things lately including the Scoot.net FAQ. I
wrote a big bit about touring on a scooter: Scoot.net FAQ