Monday, January 05, 2004
As usual, Leyner is his own protagonist. Here he casts himself as a supremely precocious 13-year-old, obsessed with tetherball (particularly the professional variety played on the South Pacific island of Bougainville). His father is sentenced to execution by the state of New Jersey at any moment, but his most pressing problem is writing the screenplay due the following day. He is already expected to win a huge cash prize. Or, he's already the winner. It depends on the paragraph you read. Leyner effectively distorts cause and effect in several different instances in the book, making it read like an Escher drawing. It is the best and most original literary device Leyner has employed. The story line flows from the first person narrative, to the aforementioned screenplay that is ostensibly about the first person narrative and then makes a transition inside the screenplay to a review of the unmade film that the screenplay is about. As the writer, Leyner maintains the intensity throughout. For the reader, this may prove impossible. I found my attention lagging at points and my interest in deciphering the cacophony of word play and pop references waning. Even his ability to shock gets less effective through repetition. Also lacking was a truly engaging plot. It's clever enough, but when you have to read through the twists and turns it feels more like you're stuck in a hedge maze with a kid that won't shut up and let you figure out how to escape. I'm guessing this was not the intent. I imagine reading it should produce the sensations you might have peaking on ecstasy while strapped into a malfunctioning car careening off the tracks inside Magic Mountain. The story line serves as effective base for Leyner's style. It's consistently outrageous, but inconsistently hysterical. Funny, yes, but I didn't laugh out loud as much as I was hoping. But, these detractors are not fatal. Despite them, Leyner's prodigious talent never fails to provide the light and warmth of an unexpected supernova. When it does come together, it makes your brain feel good, which is why I read novels in the first place. The plot twist that emerges at the end redeems every one before it, if not every word and nuance. Relating it would spoil the best joke in the book. Let's just say you're all bigger tetherball fans than you realize. posted by Alex 1/05/2004 12:01:34 PM Link Raw photo feed from Spirit rover on the surface of Mars posted by Alex 1/05/2004 09:56:39 AM Link Sunday, January 04, 2004
I'm certain this was the show because I found the set list at this incredible comprehensive Husker's archive: http://world.std.com/~thirdave/hd.html I checked all the other Irving Plaza dates and this is definitely the one as I remember Eight Miles High and Recurring Dreams being played back-to-back. At about this point in the set, Bob Mould complained something to the effect of "Aww, c'mon guys, it's really late." It was 3 a.m. I think. The crowd energy was a palpable force, and the band could not stop playing until released from its grip. Husker Du only played two other times at Irving Plaza in the 1980s, once earlier that same evening and then later in April. Although I saw them a number of other times, this performance was as close to their peak as I witnessed. This show was both ecstatic and depressing at the same time, as only Husker Du was able to achieve. Here's the set list: Flip Your Wig Every Everything Makes No Sense At All The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill I Apologize If I Told You Folklore Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely I Don't Know For Sure Terms Of Psychic Warfare Powerline Books About UFOs Hardly Getting Over It Sorry Somehow Eiffel Tower High Green Eyes Celebrated Summer What's Going On? Eight Miles High Recurring Dreams Ticket To Ride Love Is All Around posted by Alex 1/04/2004 11:50:41 AM Link Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Tonight I'm going to the hippest, most exclusive party on the East Coast. If you see me, you know you're there. If you don't, well, there's always next year. posted by Alex 12/31/2003 02:15:41 PM Link Tuesday, December 30, 2003
What I do believe is that it is a healthy and constructive exercise in making sense of the onslaught of modern life. My laziness is really avoidance based in a fear of my own mediocrity and numbness spawned by the previously mentioned onslaught. So, fuck it. Here goes. Top 10 + All-Time Shows 1. Sonic Youth, CBGB Friday, June 24,1988 Daydream Nation debut material Knees pressed up against the low CB's stage, it was 75 minutes of perfection. This was the third or fourth time I saw SY. I was well obsessed with everything they had released. Standing mere feet from Lee Ranaldo's famous guitar cabinet with the target on the front. The sound was molten. I had chills. It was a ride. It was everything you could ever want a live rock show to be: personal, yet completely new, ecstatic, sublime. It was one of those moments where you knew you were right in the middle of it. This was birth. It was new. It was great. No one who wasn't experiencing it right then could know. It was brand new information. New sounds. New feelings. New heights. The band debuted the Daydream nation material, which I believe was written during the first part of 1988. I don't recall hearing any of it before that show. The amazing thing was that they played nothing but new material during this performance and it was so good and immediately connecting that you didn't need to be familiar with it to be taken in by it. Here's the set list from SonicYouth.com The Wonder Hyperstation Rain King Teen Age Riot 'Cross the Breeze Hey Joni Candle Kissability Eliminator Jr. Silver Rocket 2. The Ex with Tom Cora, Scrabbling at the Lock tour, Maxwell's, late 1989 or early 1990 A life changing performance. Devoid of cliche, The Ex and Tom Cora were able to prove that music can be a force for change. The performance was a clear demonstration of the role of creativity, music and art in a world outside of marketing and consumption. The Ex's European folk-tinged punk and smart bold anarchist message was a perfect marriage with Tom Cora's avant-jazz cello playing. The best recorded record of this, "Scrabbling at the Lock," is brilliant but still falls short of the power of their combined live performances. Through it all it was Cora's haunting cello playing tag with the didactic vocals of Jos/G.W. Sok. At times the drums took center stage with an almost narrative melodic line, contrapunto with Cora, while the guitars hammered out a percussive base. Almost beyond words. Drove me to paint the band's logo on my leather jacket. 3. The Jesus Lizard. Goat Tour, 2 consecutive nights Maxwell's, then CBGB, 1991 Steve Albini described them as "the world's greatest rock band" about this time. I would have to agree that at that moment they held the title. Nirvana was waiting in the wings, having only released Bleach. The Jesus Lizard were unquestionably masters of the small club performance in a way no one else has surpassed. David Yow looked like a broken, wasted imp off stage both before and after the show. But during it, he was alive in a way most of us can only dream about. At the show I remember, the band starts in, probably with Here Comes Dudley. Yow is off stage or crouching behind David Wm. Sims' bass cabinet. The drums and the bass are churning. Duane Denison's guitar line arcs in, a comet on an Earthbound collision course. Yow appears, shirtless, knees bent, legs wide. His body thin and defined from malnutrition and constant exercise--the true form of the rock god. Only Iggy looks better/worse. He is grinning. Both middle fingers come up, taunting the audience, taunting the music, taunting the expectations. He knows what's coming. The audience thinks it does, but is mistaken. "That woman's crayzzyyyyyyy," Yow howls into the hand-cupped mic, further distorting his tortured voice. At the same time he launches himself from the stage into the audience with such ferocity the people lurch back and away in a primal fear response. Yow hits the grimy Maxwell's floor and hooks himself around the leg of a girl, who is truly frightened. Yow is gross, dirty, and he won't let go. "She's the mistress of a man who's crazy too," Yow continues. The girl is the mistress, unwilling but trapped. And my name is Dudley. Yow hangs on for way too long, probably a full minute. He's pushed performance into assault territory. The girl's friends pull him off her leg. He staggers into them--and they are way more willing to engage in his tableau, allowing him to smear his now sweating form all over them. Yow retreats to the stage, not yet willing to push the edges of homoeroticism and rock audience interaction--a place he was more and more willing to go later in his career. He did expose himself during the set, pulling his scrotum and dick from his pants in a truly infantile display that would have been pathetic had it not been set to the gorgeous cacophony of the band. Every move he made, every guttural squawk from his throat, was elevated by the vibrant incantations of the band. Serrano's Piss Christ on stage. 4. The Cure, Pier 54 1986 Head on the Door tour This show was The Cure poised on the doorstep of mega-stardom. A huge show, with legions of fans, the band in top shape. The stage was backlit with the NY midtown skyline, lit windows and buildings etched against the darkening sky. A lighting scheme fit for Magritte. To the left of the stage was/is the USS Enterprise, her decks filled with naval warplanes strung with lights and shimmering, a psychedelic depiction of US military might. I don't know if it really was the first song, but I seem to remember the band opening with Shake Dog Shake. Killer. There was a huge sampling of songs from Pornography, The Top, and Faith/Seventeen seconds mixed in with possibly the entire Head On the Door collection. This show was also at the peak of my Cure fandom. The timing between my psyche and the Robert Smith zeitgeist was never better matched. 5. Radiohead, Liberty State Park, NJ, August 16th 2001 Outside. The stage back open to frame the Statue of Liberty. Less than a month before the September 11 attacks. The world seemed a different place, but it wasn't. Brilliant performance. Not flawless, but inspiring. Radiohead proving you can experiment with scale and still perform for an audience of thousands. You have to be good enough. At one point, Thom Yorke and bassist Colin Greenwood performed a new song with Greenwood stumbling along sight-reading music on a stand and Yorke's voice cracking as he played piano. But the fact they were willing to risk it in front of 10,000 made every point you can think of. They didn't care. They were comfortable. It's not about perfection. They suck like everyone at times. They're great in spite of themselves. They are willing to risk. 6. Fugazi, Rutgers Athletic Center, 1989 Pretty much Margin Walker defined. Bad crowd. Most didn't know what they were witnessing. But I got it, and a few others did too. Later everyone else did. Fugazi had well-distanced themselves from the stupid, bloated hardcore scene. But they were still new, and most people who hadn't heard were still connecting the state of hardcore at the end of the 80s with the vision of it's birth eight or nine years earlier. Ian MacKaye was in full effect. Commanding the audience with a word. Admonishing them into listening instead of slamming. Brilliant. Pure guitar tones. The sound was so new then. 7. Black Flag, City Gardens, Trenton, 1985 Shitty Gardens had already banned slamming and stage diving due to being sued by the parents of some jackass who threw himself off the stage and busted his collarbone on the floor. We spent three hours patiently waiting, not moving a muscle, through sets by three or four other hardcore acts. Probably Agent Orange or Adrenaline O.D. or both were there. No one moved. Frustrating the bands. When Black Flag came out and crashed into their first song the crowd erupted. T-shirted "security" thugs with too much beef waded into the middle to eject whoever they thought were the instigators. The crowd closed in around the thugs. The could not move. The band kept playing. The meatheads were forced to let go and retreat from the crowd. The band was not shut down--probably for fear of a riot, which would have surely ensued. The club would have been destroyed. As it was, everyone had a great time. Unreal heavy slamming. Which it was. No one said "mosh" yet. Though there was a "pit." Everyone was happy. Angry and happy. The only time I've ever seen anarchic theory work in practice. 8. Buzzcocks, The Ritz, 1989 The Buzzcocks hadn't played for nearly a decade. They hadn't been in the US except once before. This was the first night of their return. The first song, I don't remember what, sounded tentative. I thought, "Uh oh, it was a bad idea guys." But something happened at the end of the song or the start of the second--maybe it was just the sound engineering improving, but the group snapped into perfection and blazed through almost their entire catalog. Ecstatic. For 90 minutes it was 1980. 9. Glenn Branca, Symphonies #8 & #10, The Kitchen, 1995? 1996? Not his best work but this symphonic guitar performance is unmatched by anyone else. Live sound by Wharton Tiers. Terrifying. Compelled me to write about music like nothing else. Huge slabs of heavy thick-gauge strung guitars and pounding drums. Shrieks of soprano-strung guitars cutting over, defining the end of music. The death knell of the century. The best melding of classical form and pure industrial noise ever. 10. Bruce Springsteen, November 1978, Jadwin Gym, Princeton University The first concert I ever went to. With my friend Peter Spiro whose parents got him/us tickets for his birthday. I think this was the tour for "The River." I wasn't a big Springsteen fan then or after, but I sure got it that night. We stood the entire time. The show was incredible. It was the coolest spectacle I had ever seen. No doubt colored by my lack of experience, but there's no arguing with the man's talent. This show put the last paragraph in the first chapter of my life-long love with rock 'n' roll. From some kind of primal connection with the guitar as a toddler, through experiences in early grammer school with seeing people play guitars and hearing amplified music--at a performance of Godspell, hearing Beatles covers live at an Easter sunrise service--this concert marked my personal recognition that I had to be at the center of this feeling, this movement, this sound. posted by Alex 12/30/2003 11:17:25 AM Link
Top 10 is still in works. Have a snack. posted by Alex 12/30/2003 10:25:22 AM Link Tuesday, December 23, 2003
The Wizard of Oz recast from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West. I loved this. The fact that he's done the same thing to three other "fairy" tales makes me look somewhat askance on his talent for invention, but I'll probably read at least one other. Sometimes formulas really are worth repeating for reasons other than money. A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius - Dave Eggers OK, I discovered this later than the rest of you. It's still a great book. All Over Creation - Ruth Ozeki I liked My Year of Meats and l loved this more. She may make a vegetarian out of me yet. posted by Alex 12/23/2003 01:18:25 PM Link
Fimoculous Stay tuned for the Top 10 live shows of my life. At least that I can remember off the top of my head. It's actually kind of depressing to think about what I've missed. posted by Alex 12/23/2003 10:32:02 AM Link Monday, December 22, 2003
12/22/2003 09:21:08 AM Link Sunday, December 21, 2003
Ableton Live I'm still using Logic Platinum to record audio and do the more "live" instrument arrangments. But the more bent the sounds get, the more Ableton live is the choice. If it wasn't such a processor hog I'd probably use it for live audio recording as well, but I can't keep it from mangling the input tracks running it on my G4. Time for a ram upgrade. posted by Alex 12/21/2003 12:15:54 PM Link Wednesday, November 13, 2002
On the other hand, it's pretty hard to put all the responsibility on the Descendents. I doubt I could refuse the Ford ad people if they wanted to use one of my songs and offered a big payoff. It would be nice to be able to have a little financial breathing room so I could spend more time on other things I do that don't bring in much money, and even less on the thing I do that brings in some. But in the end, I wish we could seize the moral high ground and help each other to not sell out. Certainly, the Descendents deserve wider recognition. The current MTV playlist indicates tons of money can be made from the sound and attitude bands like Descendents pioneered, and for which they get only the slightest of nods. In fact, if they were getting renewed interest by the music industry, signed a major contract, released a video, I doubt I would be angry. It's because they allow the song to be used to sell me something that I resent it. Not that I'm going to be compelled to buy a Ford truck because it's got Descendents cool associated with it, or even think Ford trucks are cool because of the song (and I have owned a cool Ford truck), but now every time I hear the song I'm going to think, "Damn, I wish they hadn't sold that song." "I Don't Want To Grow Up" isn't simply some punk version of the Peter Pan theme, it's about being angry and afraid. It's not about kickin' it in a 4x4. Take the first verse: "If growing up means being like you/Then I don't want to be like you/Recycled trash/It's d�ja vu." This song is about the very thing it has become. The song's themes ARE timeless, which is exactly why the ad people for Ford wanted it; it appeals to people in their 30s and 20s who never even heard of The Descendents, but totally connect with the song now as a way to regain the excited feelings of youth which are fleeing them every day. Then they connect that with the truck. It's simplistic, but it works. Sure, some of the people who like the song in the commercial might have liked the Descendents in 1985, if they had heard them. But anyone who was there will remember what a minority we were. Mass culture HATED punk and hardcore. It was not popular. It was cool only to the people in it. We knew it was great because we actually had some vision, and we defined the ability to think for yourself and have some vision as cool. The very things ad people don't want you to really have. Most of today's truck buying audience was way more into Bon Jovi in the mid-1980s. Why don't the ad people license "Wanted Dead or Alive" which was released in 1986 and was a big hit? Now there's a song with an innocuous social context - and that's exactly why the ad people pick "I Don't Want To Grow Up" instead. That's really what makes me mad: the context that originally produced the song, which had nothing to do with being cool by driving a Ford Truck, is being smoothed over. It's becoming part of the advertising world's revisionist history. Even the people who discover the Descendents because of the commercial -- and those numbers will be infinitismal compared to the numbers who buy Ford trucks -- aren't likely to understand the real context of the song. The context has changed, and the ad people see an opportunity to make money. Money they're making at the expense of integrity. The Descendents do not bear full responsibility. They did not create the culture in which their sell out is possible. However, refusing to sell the song really is the first line of defense against further corruption. A line which, unfortunately, seems to be constantly in retreat. Descendents bass player Tony Lombardo, who wrote the lyrics, was talking about the great masses of people with corporate day jobs - people who worked to make payments on their brand new Ford trucks. In 1985, Ford was just starting to market trucks to young urban professionals in an attempt to expand the company's market beyond the usual working man truck buyer. So, a song that originally was part of a scene that railed against the commodification of culture is now being used to sell it. Verse two reads: "You're grown up, told what to do/Your suit can't hide the truth/You're a fool/And I refuse to be like you." The fact is, the Descendents were right in 1985. It's not that we grew up and realized that we were wrong. It's that we grew up and we got tired. It's tough to fight the machine. It's easier to give in. Well, I'd rather be Abbie Hoffman than Jerry Rubin. I'm tired of people selling out their music. It's not cool. It sucks. It lowers the bar, and it's disrespectful to the music, to the fans, and to the values the musicians themselves once paid lip service to. So while I think it would be difficult to refuse the offer from the advertisers, I think it's the right thing to do. Would I be able to? I don't know. I'd like to think so, but that's where the ambivalence comes in. I'm sure I have my price. More money would mean I could use that money for things that were constructive. But, in the case of "I Don't Want To Grow Up" would those things be more constructive than the original song was? Being part of that scene was a very good thing to be involved in. It extolled the virtues of individualism, thinking for yourself, and making tough choices in the face of overwhelming odds. (I know there were problems in the scene, too, but that's a different discussion.) We taught ourselves many valuable lessons when our school teachers had failed us. And even if the money brought in allowed more good works to be done, would they be constructive enough to offset the degradation of culture caused by the use of the song in the commercial? That's a tough call. This is what I hate the baby boomers for. They paid lip service to revolution and then sold out and learned how to market their cool to make money. And then they sold it to their children. We have become a nation of consumers. We mostly produce to consume, not to grow and learn. "Recycled trash/It's d�ja vu." Where's the recycled trash now? Maybe the important thing here is that I should be making music where I would feel offended if the ad people came knocking at my door. Or I should write some music specifically to sell trucks. For the record, I'm not partiuclary bothered by the repeated licensing of Moby's "Play." The context of the songs was never one that was in opposition to consumer culture. I'm far more bothered by the use of Iggy's "Lust For Life," and the context of that is nearly as vague. In the end, I should do things to change the culture that constantly sells itself back to itself to keep the economy moving. It's one giant economic circle jerk out there. Anyway, I hope The Descendents got paid more than 30 pieces of silver. They deserve recognition and compensation more than most. And one more thing: if you like a band BUY their CD. Especially if you use one of those free download services and you like a song -- go BUY they album. The more you buy the cd, the less likely it is that artists will turn to writing specifically for TV. Be it a commercial or Dawson's Creek. Thank God that's over. posted by Alex 11/13/2002 10:08:57 AM Link Thursday, November 07, 2002
Politically I'm left of center and a staunch independent. A democrat with a small "d." I regularly vote 3rd party candidates. But not usually the "No More Tolls Party" or the "Down With Lawyers Party." Though, I must admit, I sympathize with their causes. As a result of my political bent, I'm not instictively drawn to the conservative end of the web. This is not good for honing my debating skills and staying abreast of the zealots. So, if any of you know of a good conservative blog, let me know (use the comments feature to link it) and I'll check it out. I'm not looking for poorly crafted right wing dogma or the standard propaganda. I'd rather argue with William F. Buckley than Bill O'Reilly. Musically, I'm left of center and a staunch independent. I've seen Third Party play. The first rock 'n' roll record I had was The Beatles Abbey Road, which my father bought on cassette when it came out. He didn't like it all that much. (He's a depression kid, not a baby boomer.) I listened to it over and over on a portable Sears cassette player/recorder and it blew my 8-year-old mind. Since my father bought it, you could say the first taste was free. But I've been paying for it ever since. Hooked on sonics. The last CDs I purchased were by Richard Devine and Autechre. I listen to them in my recording studio. In between those events I have slated my jones with classic rock, punk, hardcore, speed metal and all manner of music independent and major. I still like it all, as long as it's good. All that aside, here's what and why I've linked in the right column here. If you think you know of better blogs and sites, please let me know, I bore easily so I'm always looking for something new. In music: Rockcritics.com - critics on critics. What a clusterfuck. Scene Bubble - Insiders' guide to Brooklyn and Manhattan rock clubs and related dirt. Intentionally hip, but accurate. Deviated Septum - Independent Music News and Opinion Tiny Mix Tapes - slightly more mainstream music news In Politics/Media: Chicago Metro Blog - The editors' blog for Metro News Service. Get a good idea of what's on the minds of newspaper editors as the stories are new. New Media Musings - A blog about on-line journalism and new media. Not as boring as the name. Next Draft - a blog of Dave Pell's e-newsletter. Cross-spectrum. Good writing. OJR - The Online Journalism Review. Incestuous, but lots of goodies for the obsessed. Rhetorica - Pompous, but interesting rhetorical analysis of the news. Snowdeal -A blog of politics, culture etc. Personal Blogs: Life in the Freezer - A blog from an Antarctic research station. Her life is more interesting than yours. pmx subspace communication station - Um, I also contribute here. Tends toward rants and intimate details of one band. Rabbit Blog - The first blog I was ever hooked on. Heather Havrilesky writes better than most. Shots on Goal - PK tells it like it is. He's out in front, pointing out to the rest of us why the obscure is relevant. Or maybe he's just a relevant obscurantist. Relative obfuscantist? Nope, that sounds more like me. Well, he is like me, in some ways. And I like him too. posted by Alex 11/07/2002 12:42:15 PM Link Saturday, November 02, 2002
It's devastating posted by Alex 11/02/2002 08:45:08 AM Link Friday, November 01, 2002
11/01/2002 01:08:57 AM Link Thursday, October 31, 2002
10/31/2002 01:37:51 AM Link
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