It's William Faulkner's Birthday today -- go read "Light In August".

Sportscasters I Loathe, Part 27

Add Trev Albert to my growing list of guys that make me grab for the remote. Joing Bob Trumpy and Cris Collinsworth in the hall of shame.

The restraint that Rece Davis showed from choking him was commendable... I tried to sit through College Gameday Final this morning, but kept flipping over to A&E to watch the great NRBQ show (side note -- Keith Richards has finally become a talking skull -- frightening).

I've got blisters on my fingers!

I did something tonight, I haven't done in six years: I went to band practice.

There's a Halloween gig coming up in Lakewood and I'm playing bass for a cover band -- playing all your alternative Halloween favorites, such as "Bela Lugosi's Dead", "Psycho Killer", "Every Day Is Halloween", "I Want Your Skull" and who knows, depending on just how much alcohol is involved -- "Monster Mash" (as re-imagined by Ministry).

My fingers will be hurting tomorrow...

On the drive to practice, the sun was setting behind a localized rainstorm which made it look as if it were behind a smoky orange gauze curtain, very ethereal and hypnotic looking. The only other time I'm seen a sky that color was on the way to the Smiths "The Queen Is Dead" tour at Public Hall going over the same bridge (Valley View)...

The Man In Black

Just passing this link along as nice tribute to Johnny Cash. It's down at the bottom of the page. While it's no Wall Of Voodoo, it's my second favorite cover version...

alternative to what?

Matt Welch (via the Columbia Journalism Review) casts his keen eye on the recent Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) convention in SF and finds the current batch of Alternative Weeklies somewhat lacking.

All the newspapers looked the same — same format, same fonts, same columns complaining about the local daily, same sex advice, same five-thousand-word hole for the cover story. The people were largely the same, too: all but maybe 2 percent of the city-slicker journalists in attendance were white; the vast majority were either Boomer hippies or Gen X slackers. Several asked me the exact same question with the same suspicious looks on their faces: "So . . . what's your alternative experience?"

Hello, Cleveland! If that's isn't hitting both targets (Free Times / Scene) with one missive...

While all the points contained in the piece won't be news to most bloggers, it is a strong overview of who is out there and what buttons they're pushing with Journalists (with a big J).

Richard Karpel (AAN Executive Director) responds:

Too bad he didn't read the papers instead of just looking at them. Because the notion that alternative newspapers are all "the same" is an absurdity that could only be uttered by someone who hasn't read any of them. Does anyone who has spent fifteen minutes with, for instance, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Chicago Reader, have any doubt that one is from Mars and other is from Venus? Is there a New Yorker aware of The Village Voice and New York Press who doesn't know they are vastly different in both substance and style? Are there residents of Seattle who can't tell the difference between Seattle Weekly and the Stranger? Or Cleveland Free Times and Cleveland Scene? Or, or,or .... (emphasis added)

Obviously he's never looked at the two side by side -- without looking the cover (especially if they're flipped over so the back page is showing) you'd be hard pressed to differentiate between them.

A little perspective from Douglas Coupland

If someone decides to be a musician now, it means because there is no hope of money at the end of it, it means they really want to be a musician. And if someone is writing now, there is no hope for money at the end of it. So they are writing because they really like writing. So there is this automatic winnowing. Anyone who is mercenary or in it to milk it, unless it is something like genre, which will happen until the sun goes supernova, then… I wouldn’t say it’s good but then it might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

uh, what he says...

Context Is Everything

Damn you, Batty -- as if the Ford commercial wasn't bad enough -- now this song will never leave my head.

Good News / Bad News

Can't have one without the other, pt. 27

Friday, while picking up supplies for the fourth tasting/food pairing on Saturday night, my car decides it's a good time to start making the dreaded "mystery" sound "RRRRRrrrRRRrrrRRRrrr" when I turn the wheel to the right. While this wouldn't be tragic if I were a NASCAR racer, it's difficult to navigate in the real world making only left hand turns. Call the repair place: they can't even look at the car until Tuesday (maybe). Thankfully, it's mostly left hand turns to get there.

Also on Friday, I received the news that I got a commercial gig, scoring :10/:15 spot(s) for a local jewelery store to be shot/edited in October. And it's just enough money that I might be able to pay for the car repair.

Ah well, easy come, easy go...

Update: yep, front brake rotors/pads, that'll be $500, do not pass go.

busy week for music

• Vol. 4 of the Devo comp, "Not Neccessarily Beautiful But Mutated" is out, and contains a cover of Devo's "Gates of Steel" with Chris Foldi handling vocal duties -- check out Spud Talk for more details.
  
• a track for the Klanghausen microsound project called "krell" (not available right now, but will be soon)
  
• a remix of Subliminal Self's "Gravel Roads" -- e-mail Patrick for a copy of his new demo.