Houston, TX

Got to Houston kind of late. Now drinking beer. The TWolves are playing, I suppose I should go watch because it's better than sitting alone on the internet.

Damn

My Rick Astley trick worked against me as I just got that song stuck in my own head.

What a cruel, cruel joke this world is.

infopile Dec. 19

It's called a Pickelhaube!

Emergency Communities

"The site, formerly an off-track betting parlor, became recognizable by its large tents and geodesic dome."

Tall Buildings!

James got "Together Forever" by Rick Astley stuck in my head. I feel the need to pass it on to you, because I am a sadistic fuck.

Love,
Bryce

Synecdoche, NY

n/p Cinematic Orchestra – Man with the Movie Camera

Still getting over the frustrations of new-computerhood. Also Windows Vista has got to be the most enervating operating system I have ever used. I can’t figure out how the damn thing works. Finally got myself out to a coffee shop to write after watching the final episode of season II of Burn Notice which is apparently “GTA: Vice City: the TV show” not that that’s a bad thing, but…

I saw the new Charlie Kaufman movie, “Synecdoche, New York” (see what he did there?). Oh wait, you don’t see what he did there? According to my well informed father, synecdoche is the newest bon mot for the New Yorker crowd, I had never heard of it until he brought it up a while back. Synecdoche, according to the ever factual Wikipedia is: “a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing” as in, “All hands on deck” i.e. all sailors on deck, sailors have hands and are being referred to as such, if that makes sense.

ANyway, Kaufman makes his little play on words about Synecdoche, New York (which is pronounced sin-eck-do-kee) insofar as the main character, Caden Cotard (played bythe ever maudlin Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a malady ridden theater director living in Schenectady, NY (NOW you see? Schenectady, Synecdoche? Clever!)

Now, Monsieur Cotard, whom M. Kaufman named for the neuropsychiatric disorder in which the sufferer believes himself to be dead, believes himself to be dying. Kaufman’s films have always been about the malleable nature of subjectivity, for instance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman offers up the ability to physically erase memory and then sends Jim Carrey on a mishap –laden trip through his own memories. Cotard manifests all sorts of gruesome physical maladies, however it is not known whether or not these or any other part of the film are actually “real” and in fact Kaufman throughout this film questions the existence of and/or necessity of “reality” in fiction.

Long story short, Cotard’s life falls to pieces and then he is given a MacArthur grant (a magical MacArthur grant which apparently never runs out of money) buys a giant warehouse in NYC and stages a play about his daily life there. He builds city blocks, finds people to play him, finds people to play the people who play him, and continues on ad infinitum.

The original title he comes up with for his play is “Simulacrum” which I believe is referring not to the original philosophical designation of the word posited by Jameson, but the ever so more famous conjecture by Baudrillard that has fueled many a grad school thesis, the copy with no original. Broken down to the simplest parts, the simulacrum is reality, perverted by perception and language which then becomes the hyperreal which then becomes the simulacrum or an unreal reality. Baudrillard went on to say that in the present era we are living in the hyperreal in our daily interactions with everything as, all we have ever known has been detourned by language and subjectivity. Kaufman’s representation of this is his play within a play within a play which becomes the actual reality of all of the people involved.

An interesting watch to say the least. I believe it merits at least a few views before you can truly figure out what is going on, however well worth it especially if Baudrillardian postmodern thought is your bag.

Okey doke childrens, I am sitting outside and my fingers are falling off. Time to go!

P.S. this Cinematic Orchestra record is awesome for writing, I highly recommend.

Wearable Toy Piano

Imagine busking with one of these babies. Insane future busker!

Lion Eating Poet

Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den

Odetta RIP

Odetta Gordon passed away today.

French Heavy Metal

TRUST

Hmmm...

infopile Dec. 1

Ruin Value
Ruin value is the concept that a building be designed such that if it eventually collapsed, it would leave behind aesthetically pleasing ruins that would last far longer without any maintenance at all.

Archaeopteryx
The first bird!

Sound Unbound
Anyone can feel free to get this for me for Christmas.

The Apocalypse Can't Come Soon Enough

This band needs to burn in hell immediately. They are called "Brokencyde" and are from "Albucrazy" New Mexico. They are, to the best that I can fathom, an electro/screamo/crunk band. This makes me want to vomit.

Oh Hee Hee!

So I got a different screen for the time being and lo and behold it brought me one of the funniest things I've seen in a while:



Oh Hee Hee! Frabjous day; kaloo kalay!

Found Via: Boing Boing

AGH!

Well, my screen on my computer has bit the dust. I don't know what I am going to do. I will be incommunicado for a moment while I figure this out.

Avoid the Apocalypse

My good friend, Jeremiah Hammerling (who also helms Endless Eye Productions) just started a video blog (or vlog, as the kids call it) in which he brings up some interesting points on the impending Apocalypse.

Sleeveface

So I just found this via a new list at the AVClub. Rather amusing. Sleeveface.

A Great Tornado

Found via: FoundMagazine.com

Tourblog Pt. II

Before I kick off the second half of my whirlwind tour blog ( a week late I know ) I wanted to point out a couple of interesting things:

Warren Ellis who has long been one of my favorite writers gave me a little bump today on his blog which I thought was nice of him to do.

Also, LETRON gave me a nice little write up in her blog a few days ago, and if you havn't listened to her music you should check it out.

SO;

Onward:

Chicago, IL: We arrived in Chicago a few days early, visited one of my new favorite bars in the world: the Skylark which appears to have fallen out of a Raymond Chandler novel and subsequently hired a really fantastic chef. We played at the EP Theater which is managed in part by my good friend William Block. This was, in my opinion, one of the best shows we played on tour, the EP is set up perfectly for what we're doing. We played with a great band called All Things Lucid who reminded me of The Band quite a bit (also, I highly recommend going to their website and playing with the cars, endless hours of enjoyment). We went to a SOX game and saw them lose (awwww) and we also started an impromptu doo-wop group outside of the Empty Bottle.

Things get a bit tricky after Chicago, we drove to St. Charles, Missouri and picked up Mike Franklin, aka my Döppelganger. I knew I would like Mike and his friends almost immediately when we showed up, exhausted after driving all the way across Illinois and part of Missouri and were welcomed by a group of people sitting on a porch playing Bill Withers covers on banjos, accordions and bazoukis. So we picked Mike up, drove BACK to Illinois to Springfield where we played at a bar that was slightly smaller than a doublewide trailer, we were all running around, playing instruments with spoons and drinking Stag beer. I also tried to convince the guitarist of the other band that I was a spy or something...

We then returned to Missouri, hung out with the Franklins and friends (including Mike and Angela's two adorable children, one of whom referred to my chest hair as "dirty boobs") all was blissful and fun.

After St. Charles we stopped for a night in Columbia, MO and played at another bar the size of a doublewide, this one happened to be full of rednecks and we played, unamplified, right next to the bar. I was pretty convinced that we were going to get the shit kicked out of us by all the rednecks, however, we seem to have retained most of our shit, as we are, as you all know, still totally full of it...


Kansas City, MO: Jack and I wandered around KC for a day, had some beers with the ever lovely Tiffany Gammon, ate some great food at a place called YJs which I highly recommend if you are ever in the KCMO neighborhood. We played at a venue called the Pistol which is an old warehouse in the West Bottoms, creepy but cool! We played with a few really awesome bands, including a band from LA called Tweakbird who totally slayed.

Lincoln, NE: Why did we go from KCMO to Lincoln and then back down south? For a lot of reasons, not least of which is that Box Awesome is a rad little club and everyone in Lincoln is super nice. The day after the show we watched the Empire Strikes Back with one of the bands we played with and I realized, once again, that I am an unabashed Star Wars nerd.

Lawrence, KS: On our way out of Kansas City we visited the grave of Charlie Parker, had a nice little conversation and paid our respects to probably, in my personal life, one of the most influential musicians to ever grace this green earth. We rolled into Lawrence late, bummed around for a bit before deciding that we were totally broke and should probably try to scrounge up some money. We ended up trying to busk outside of a bar called the Replay. Busking didn't end up working out so I decided to buck up and go inside and see what I could see. We ended up playing on the indoor stage to a sizable group of people, totally spur of the moment. The people at the Replay were absolutely amazing and we had a fantastic time.

We then had a few days off and went to stay with Michael Cuddell who is an anarchist publisher in the middle of Kansas. This may seem like something that could potentially rip a hole in the time space continuum, but I assure you, Mike is out there. We hung out in his horse barn, drank coffee and talked politics for a few days. During this time we also made a stop down to Topeka where we played at a place called the Celtic Fox, they were all very nice.

After our stay with Cuddell we moved along to Wichita, KS where completely by chance I ran into a guy named Casey who used to play guitar for a band called RickeyFitts. Long story short we ended up knowing a lot of the same people, Casey made us food and we played at a bar called the Rack 'em Up which was fun. It was also the bartender's birthday.

Tulsa, OK: Spur of the moment show in Tulsa. Another doublewide sized bar called the Dragon's Lair full of old bikers. A knife got pulled, some dude stole another guy's truck and crashed it, the cops came and we played. Also, in Tulsa you can only get 3.2 beer.

Oklahoma City, OK: We played at a bar called the 51st Street Speakeasy which was pretty damn awesome. It's an old house converted to a bar, good food, cool people, good fun.

And OKC was pretty much our last show on the tour, we were supposed to play a show in Norman, OK but due to some miscommunication our show consisted of four people sitting on the porch of a house. The people who ran the house were very nice though and I read about half of Joe Strummer's biography while I was there.

And now here we are in Austin, Texas, surrounded by pretty girls, cheap beer and bands that are really into Gram Parsons (this makes me happy). Our friends Abby and Sabyre arrived a couple of days ago. Two nights ago we went to the Mohawk (which is quite a happening place) and saw Charlie Parr play. I have no hesitation in saying that Charlie is one of the most amazing musicians I have ever seen. I highly recommend anyone who doesn't know Charlie's work to go see him. Abby decided to hitch a ride home with Charlie and so now it is just Jack, Sabyre and myself.

Anyway, I have written enough for today, be good.

Current Music:
Caestles : We Have Built A New God EP

Random Playlist For The Evening:
Little Beaver - Funkadelic Sound
The Dismemberment Plan - Bra
Minus the Bear - Pachuca Sunrise
Grails - More Extinction
Uncle Tupelo - Fall Down Easy
Built to Spill - Israel's Song
Little Joy - With Strangers
Stevie Wonder - Visions

Welcome, Wilkommen, Bienvenue

Well, I was supposed to start this blog about a month ago at the beginning of my last tour with the illustrious, indefatigable guitar and harmonica impresario, one Mr. Jack Klatt, however 'twas not to be for various and sundry reasons into which I will not delve at present.

Here is the (extremely) abbreviated version of the tour:

Ames, IA: fun, small town, fun, small crowd, cheap beer!

Des Moines, IA: midterms precluded anyone from actually listening to us, but we got some sandwiches for free, also Jack and I were mistaken for gay hustlers as we tried to find a place to camp down by the river. Iowa has free wifi at all of their rest stops. We also met Smokestack and the Foothill Fury who was a swell fellow.

Davenport, IA: another small coffee shop, nobody there except for my ol' pal Meg and her husband, we played much Wii at their house, Mariokart!

Dubuque, IA: got into town late, our friend Sabyre made the trek from Minneapolis to meet us there and it was good. I had been informed by the booker at the venue that the bar tender played "weird independent movies" on Sunday nights and that we would be playing after the film. Well the film turned out to be "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" which is decidedly not a weird independent movie. And the crowd we inherited turned out to be two people who actually showed up for the music, Sabyre, and the bartender who was very nice. Then they bought us a pizza. It was good pizza. We then went camping and hung out in Dubuque for about a week.

(Interim: the Twins lost to the White Sox, I was sad, we played lots of pool and read books in diners.)

Dubuque, IA pt II: One place we went to read books was a coffeeshop called Monk's Kaffee Pub which is owned by a supremely kick-ass dude named Rick who invited us to come play. Long story short a bunch of people showed up, Rick gave us some good beer and let us stay at his house for a couple of days. He has a dog named Monk who is named after Thelonious and is one of the greatest dogs I, personally, have ever had the good fortune to meet.

Jack, Sabyre and I went hiking and camping for a few days and I lost my phone. I also contributed the voice to the magical cricket who lives in Jack's hat and dispenses wisdom whilst playing the fiddle and smoking a cigar. Dubuque is a beautiful little town and I shall write more about it later.

Peoria, IL: Sabyre departed back to Minneapolis and Jack and I continued on to Peoria, IL to Eamon Patrick's which is owned and operated by the magnificent and magnanimous Fahey family. We played with a band called the Creek Road Ramblers who were very good and much more talented than we and we stayed up far past our bedtimes.

Part Two of the Tour Diary will ensue tomorrow.


As for right now, we are in Austin, Texas which is a pretty amazing place, lots of very nice people and good music. We have been making our daily bread busking out on the street and people seem to like us so far. Right now we are at Sacred Acres which is a sustainable living/yoga house on the outskirts of Austin. Last night we had a feast replete with spring rolls and red wine. Jack and I played some songs for the crowd amassed which evolved into a drum jam going from "Old Dan Tucker" to "Hallelujah! I'm a Bum" to a blues song comprised entirely of quotes from "The Big Lebowski". I slept under the stars and awoke to a rooster crow this morning.

I also have been reading Ryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim which is freaking fantastic and probably even moreso to a huge music nerd such as myself, although probably still readily accessible to the masses a la the film "High Fidelity" or Kieron Gillen and Jaime McKelvie's Phonogram.

More later, sleep now.


Today's Essential Listens:
Air - Moon Safari
Neil Young - Harvest
Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly - Folkways
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs