Grunge Dies a New Death

Two Gallants play the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, Sept 19, 2007
Originally uploaded by Scott Butner.

And, it takes down a current generation down with it in it's wash. I'm speaking of the demise of the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. I'm not the 1st to write about this, but I may be to ask why a possible millionaire like Peter Buck (co-owner) is too broke to bail the club out. I mean if one of the guys from R.E.M. is broke, we're all in trouble.

The thing is, this place isn't some dinosaur, has-been flop-house. Bands like Deathcab for Cutie and the Decemberists (on the schedule for late Jan.) are connected to this institution of subculture. Not to mention it's about the only place that my friends play when they come from Chicago, New Mexico, etc.
(see Kelly Hogan, Grave of Nobody's Darling)

But, back to the ascendant rockstars that have passed through the doors. They can't show no love? Step up has-beens. Be cool to your school and help the new kids retain their rite of passage.

Step into the 21st

Pardon the re-post from Green Anarchy (mine is the only post on that Google group, hmm), but it illustrates my photos with good back-story:

My mower took a crap on me today, the nasty, noisy, death-belching thing....so I'm spending money that I don't have to put my wallet where my mouth is. I ordered a battery-powered mower online called the Neuton (I'm not linking them to keep this from getting too salesy). It sucks that I have to go into hock to go green, but the thing only uses about 10cents worth of electricity/use and emits no fumes and little noise (I saw the informational vid). I live in the boondocks by loggers and knuckle-draggers, but if any of you out there are by a collective of green minded people, it might be a good idea to go in on a similar model together and share it.
Support companies that are making the gradual change to eco-friendly products. If you have to keep up with the Joneses, do it with a clean conscience...at least until the bamboo takes over (my latest, slow-going effort). "...Operating a gas mower for one hour will produce the same pollution as driving a car 1300 miles." -http://www.greengrasscutters.com/

As you may be able to tell by the tone, I was a little put-out about the cash outlay. However, I find it hard to describe how good I feel using this device. While it's light, it doesn't feel like a toy. It uses no lubrication or petroleum products. There is not choking stench filling my mouth and nostrils. I feel better about doing something I see as pointless, yet feel obliged to do for the community (and certain health factors). By the time it got "tired", so was I. It can mow higher, so I don't kill the grass by taking it down too far.

And it is quiet enough for me to hear my music without blowing-out my eardrums. For fun, here's my playlist:

• Little House I Used to Live In - Mothers of Invention
• How Am I Different - Amy Mann
• The Qa'im Deliberation - Secret Chiefs 3
• Goin' Down Slow - Howlin' Wolf
• Metal Machine Music, Part III - Lou Reed
• Lover I Don't Have to Love - Bright Eyes
• Walking Away - Sugar
• Take me for a Little While - Vanilla Fudge
• Eva's Warning - Snake Finger
• One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula - Dengue Fever
• Gratitude - Beastie Boys
• Point Blank - Pig Face
  

The grass was pretty high, too; couple week's growth. This thing is no wimp...I could go on and on. But, I'll leave you with a shot of how damn cute this thing is. Those are geckos (or chameleons or something) stamped into the plastic of the wheel.

Free Association* Con Carne

abandcalledblower

^enlarge

When I put myself out to the world as a conduit for artists (in reference to iTunes), it turns out I didn't have to go far from home. In saying home, I speak metaphorically as I sit in Washington and my friend lives in Chicago. Said friend, let's call him Dan Worland (because that's his name), happened to read my blog and informed me that his band already had music on iTunes via CD Baby.

I used to hang out with this guy when I lived in Chicago, but have known him far longer from a chance meeting in an Indiana junior-high. I had a copy of Dragon magazine, usually a signal for cromag's to begin the beatings this became a quick bonding opportunity for a fellow geek...er, enthusiast.

It's this brand of devotion to the fringe that makes his band's music so informed. Oh, in case you hadn't gleaned this, the name is A Band Called Blower. Now I'm not saying that Dan is the only reason the music shines. Like-minds gravitate. Matt Fontaine and former-members Greg & Nathan all flesh out a sound so layered with eclectic influences that it's almost baroque.

I could drop names like i was tryin' to get outta jail, for instance:
Dead Language (that's the album featured at iTunes) takes you back to the days when garage meant just that and not daddy's million-dollar recording studio. It builds on the sounds of The Fall, Clinic, The Stooges and, others have remarked, Television with the benefit of hindsight and more than a little psychedelia...
- but rock criticism is useless and the proof is in the pudding.

One can go to iTunes and get a sampling if each song, or visit their site and pull-down some whole mp3's for free, or go to their Myspace profile and listen/add songs to one's own profile, or all of the above. I really hope you give these guys a go. They represent a chapter of the highly self-conscious turn-of-the-century rock progression that much of America missed while it was happening.

Dead Language tracks:

1. Absolute Zero
2. Trickbag
3. Check, Double Check
4. Hangnail
5. Domelite
6. Carpetbomb
7. Infinity Clue
8. Little Wire
9. Strange Kind of Luck
10. Tokyo Olympiad

Oh yeah, I also made a cheesy little video for track 9:

*purplemonkeydishwasher

Officially Evil

It's official. I have transgressed to the dark side. I am now (and have been for a couple of weeks) an Apple affiliate. That's for iTunes and their store. But hell, I won't try to plus-sell you or get you to buy "anti-virus" software that is, itself, a virus (like Norton; don't be a fool and buy things you can get for free that work better than consumer fodder).

But back to the item at hand. My original intentions for researching this avenue of revenue were entirely altruistic. I was asked by a colleague, a musician, about getting his work onto the iTunes catalog. But, as with many things Apple, it turned into an anal probe. I just wanted to get some uploader and some development software and they wanted my 1st-born.

Then I realized that most artists don't have the time, inclination or fortitude to go through this kind of beauracracy. I almost don't. I thought that if I could spare some poor bastard the process that they could get their work onto the world-stage where it gets the attention it deserves (rather than giving up after navigating 100 pages in Klingon business-ese). Of course, I'm incredibly broke, so getting 5% of sales on things found through my sites (out of the pocket of Apple, not the artist) was very tantalizing to me. I'm already doing 20 non-profit projects and my time has become rare.

So, I acquiesce to the title Sell-out but offer my new found channels to anyone, local or global, that would like to get their media on iTunes. I add that there are tons of free services and nice places out there (like GarageBand) and wish anyone that goes that way luck in their entrepreneurial journey. There's so much beauty in giving your art to the world for free. It's just some of us gotta eat, too.

Music Sucks

Not for me, but for some people it must.

I had to love this lady on the bus that turned around and stared at me like I had just peed on her favorite toaster-cozy. My MP3 player was going and I asked her if it was too loud. She nodded blankly and I complied by lowering the volume. This immediately mixed in the sounds of the bus that I was trying to drown.

Now I could understand if I was playing Anthrax or something heinously jarring that only I happen to enjoy, but the current selection was pretty tame. I didn't want to make any trouble because the bus driver let me board for only a dollar and a nickel (usually it's $1.25). I was on tenuous ground and didn't want to work up any more animosity against music enthusiasts that the general public seems to harbour.

Then some schmuck started talking on his cell-phone in the seat in front of the woman. I don't hate cells, but I try to spare people from the,
"Huh- what was that. You're cutting out, hold on,"
blahbitty-blah that goes on. I waited to see if she'd budge: nothing. I wanted to ask her what she was going to do about that noise. I wouldn't have been bothered if I had my volume up, my defense against the annoying outer-world.

New priorities are in order but short supply. Music and art deserve the leverage that business, vain distraction and topical dada have taken. Less war and more War, what is it good for...

Strangewaves Podcast Lives!

I wanna put a big smooch-a-roonie out there to whoever suggested my languishing podcast to Pod-Planet.com (exhibit A to your right; also my right). If you found it here and return, please put a comment on this post. If you found it at the original site, may all of your cows have 2 calves each.

I have been trying to do mobile casts through audioblogger.com, but they are reneging on their service and were rather shoddy in the first place. I have, however, signed up with a couple more services and will see where that goes.

Nonetheless, I pledge to bring more to your LAN-waves in the future. You are my hero. Thanks for salvaging a previously wrecked day/ego.

Drunken Revelry

The Melvins @ Neumo's

MELVINS at NEUMO'S
Originally uploaded by Dave Shanks.

Firstly, it's always good to see the Melvins...but it's been better. They had 2 drummers playing this particular show (at Neumo's in Seattle), but it was only apparent as to why at a couple of points in the performance.

It was more interesting to watch than to hear. The other drummer (that is, not Dale Crover, the best drummer in the multiverse) was heroically keeping pace with the complicated time changes & signatures. He was also left-handed, making the two sets look like mirror images. The latter was added to the bassist looking like Buzz Osbourne's nephew (similar afro, vocals & movement).

But! They didn't play my favorite songs, the set wasn't very dynamic or long and most of all, the drummers only branched out and traded off rythm & traps playing a couple of times. Being a drummer, I enjoy seeing traps playing (small, incidental percussion instruments) and backbone-rythm being interwoven artfully. Granted, it was amazing that the other, younger drummer could pull off the exact same beats as Crover, but that didn't seem to be enough.

However, I am a longtime Melvins fan and will definitely see them again. Their woste show is better than most band's best effort.