In your shoe, under the bed
So anyways, I'm sitting here on the computer, and I keep seeing these flashes go by the 2 inches of window that I can see through next to the blinds. Big black flashes. Kinda like
The Mothman Prophecies. Kinda strange. And the walls just creaked. But it's 3:23 in the afternoon and nothing scary happens at this time. I'm trying to get caught up on the reviews. Two today so far. So, I guess I have good news. I'm "working" for my dad. Kinda like a personal assistant. Part of it will be office work/data entry and part will be household cleaning and big projects. There's a lot going on at his work and he needs help with all kind of stuff. But I'll be an employee of Joe Mannone, Inc. At least for the time being until I can get something more permanent. At least this way I'm not scraping by on pennies and spending hours each day looking for jobs. I can kinda cool it on that front. Well that's about it for now, I have to go get some shit done.
#417 Lawrence Arms- Ghost Stories
Lawrence Arms. I wish they were better. It's not that they're not good. It's just that they're not as good as The Broadways, or Slapstick. Brendan Kelly does most of the singing on L.A. songs, but Chris someone does some. The Chris guy sounds like Drew Bixby kinda. Actually, most of his songs sound kinda like Faultlines. It's not that this record isn't good. Their first, A Guided Tour of Chicago, is really good. But this one isn't anything special. It sounds like unreleased Broadways and Lawrence Arms songs. I don't know why this is, but it just doesn't have any songs where I'm like "Damn." Brendan Kelly has the potential to write really lyrics, but he fails here. Not horrible, not good.
#314 Bruce Springsteen- The Ghost of Tom Joad
Really good. Mmm. The closest effort to Nebraska, which is my favorite of album from the Boss. I, like a lot of people, heard Rage do T.G.o.T.J. before I heard the Boss, but I like his version obviously too. It's a really good mellow record. Youngstown is far underrated. It's one of my favorite songs of his. Interesting tid-bit... The band on this record is not the E Street Band, as many people know they parted ways for a while. Overall, a really good record. You don't really have much of a reason to not have it. It's user-friendly Boss. But I guess most Springsteen stuff is user-friendly.
No jo-ob, no cry... no jo-ob, no cry
Haven't felt like publishing lately. Here's the cd's I've listened to
10/21 Ash "1977"
10/22 Counting Crows "Hard Candy"
10/23 Rufus Wainwright "Want One"
10/24 Nick Drake "Pink Moon"
10/25 Waterdeep "Sink or Swim"
10/26 Alkaline Trio/Hot Water Music "Split EP"
I don't really own any cds I don't like. Sweet.
I'm not disappearing...
Sorry I'm behind on my reviews... They're on their way. Here are the cd's that will be coming
Saturday 10/16 - Bruce Springsteen "The Ghost of Tom Joad"
Sunday 10/17 - The Lawrence Arms "Ghost Stories" (yeah two "ghost" cd's in a row)
Monday 10/18 - Aimee Mann "Bachelor No. 2 or the Last Remains of the Dodo"
Tuesday 10/19 - The Wallflowes "Bringing Down The Horse"
Wednesday 10/20 - Son Volt "Trace"
I'll get the reviews up here later tonite or tomorrow.
Everything else is going alright... No job yet. Boo.
Quit wasting my time...
Well Aldi's was a complete waste of time. The ad in the newspaper was totally misleading, plus there were at least 30 people there in line the whole time I was there. Half of them looked like they were on welfare, and the other half looked like stay at home moms. Ah well, back to square one. I wasn't really looking that forward to working in a grocery store, so it's no big thing.
I got the Thelonius Monk documentary, Straight No Chaser, yesterday and watched part of it. I definitely dig that guy. If any of you like documentaries or jazz at all, you should watch it. Or if you like huge black guys that are half insane from drug use. Sidenote: Benicio DelToro's character is the Usual Suspects mumbles a line during the move "I'll flip ya, I'll flip ya for real." That line is actually taken from Monk in Straight No Chaser. And it's said exactely the same way. I actually heard that Del Toro loosely based his character, or at least his characters speech on Thelonius Monk.
Almost time for the weekend, thank God. Which means that I don't have to drive to Winnebago and back twice a day anymore. Except maybe once more on Monday, but we'll see. It should be a good weekend. I'm hoping some of y'all will be around, it will be good to see people again.
Well, I'm off. Call me if your in town this weekend.
#340 Burning For Buddy- A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich
Well, this is one of the cds I own I've never listened to. It's a tribute cd to Big Band/Jazz drummer Buddy Rich. Um, what can I say about it... It's long. It's good I guess... Buddy was obviously a great drummer, and a very influential one. I tend to dig more of the Bebop Jazz than the Big Band stuff, but it's not horrible... All of the drummers on the record are well-known, in the drummer world. Simon Phillips, Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Matt Sorum (yeah from G'n'R), Steve Smith, Neil Peart, Manu Katche, Billy Cobham, Max Roach, Rod Morgenstein, Kenny Aronoff, Omar Hakim, Ed Shaughnessy, Joe Morello, Bill Bruford, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, and Steve Ferrone. My only problem with a lot of these guys is that the old jazz guys were so smooth... Not in their playing, they were smooth looking, smooth talking, they were damn good drummers to. But a lot of these drummers are too fusion (jazz/rock), to many fucking fast rolls, not the same feeling that the old guys had. It's probably gonna prove to be a good cd to practice along to. But somehow listening to it, you just get a feeling that most of these drummers are douchebags. This is probably why I never listened to it.
#367 Wallflowers- Breach
Another good record. I haven't listened to this lately, as I got kinda Wallflower-ed out in the past two years... But this is still a good record. A really good rock record. It's not the kind of record that you have to sit back and contemplate, but its not stupid rock either. It's well-crafted songs with great melodies, and great musicianship besides.
Standout songs: Hand Me Down- "Now look at you, with your worn out shoes, Living proof evolution is through, we're stuck with you, the revolution's doomed." Pretty spiteful in a really beautiful way. Jakob does have one of the most beautiful rock voices.
Funny tid-bit: Though under the "The Wallflowers:" heading Mario Calire is credited as the drummer, Matt Chamberlain played all the drums on this record, as well as Bringing Down The Horse, but I think Mario finally recorded on Red Letter Days, but I could be wrong.
Special guests of mention: Mike Campbell (From The Heartbreakers), produced by Michael Penn, guest vocals by Frank Black, Elvis Costello, and Gary Louris to name a few.
Anyways, its a solid record. My favorite of theirs, I think. The front half is really strong. Not that the rest isn't strong, just not as strong. I don't know if I'd call it a must-have, but theres no good reason not to have it. Its a good rock record, with some little surprises.
#257 Radiohead- Pablo Honey
The first day is easy. I love this record. It's the only Radiohead record I've actually bought. Not that the other stuff isn't good... It's just I never was in to them enough to think about it when I'm out buying records... There's a couple of great things that this record evokes for me...
#1 Sometime ago, Dan McMahon played in a band with Jared Cacciatore, Stan Valulus(?), and Aaron Biby I think... They played at first free and Jared sang "Creep" without the "fucking" obviously... He was pretty good at it.
#2 I remember seeing Radiohead on MTV a long ass time ago and they played "Anyone Can Play Guitar" and then Thom jumped into a pool, all "grunged out" with DocMartins, jeans, and I think a fleece on... It was funny.
Anyways, this record is great. Pretty much every song. I don't care what anyone says... Even if Creep is the only Radiohead song people know and it was overplayed and blah blah blah, it's a really damn good song. Sleeper hits... I don't know what would be considered sleepers on this record... It didn't really get much mainstream popularity except Creep and Anyone Can Play Guitar... Stop Whispering is really a pretty song that I don't think of automatically when I think about this record...
The artwork is pretty cool on this record... Thom Yorke was way ahead of everyone else, as the first picture of the band he's sporting some "bomber" sunglasses way back in 1993. Otherwise, they look pretty normal. The next picture of the band makes them look kinda like U2*, which is weird.
Funny tid-bit: On the back cover, there is a "nighttime street scene"... One of the adds on one of the buildings reads as follows...
"BIG ALL NEW LAUGHING REVUE
EARL CARROLL SKETCH BOOK
WITH MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRLS IN WORLD"
*I've never purchased, owned, or downloaded a U2 record, as I don't like them that much. I've never purchased, owned, or downloaded a VanHalen record either, just so you know.
Oh yeah, I'm a nerd
So I've made a decision. I'm a nerd, so I have a list of all the records I own... So I'm gonna listen to one record (at least) per day, completely
randomly
Then I'm gonna write a little review of them. Kinda like my "watch a different movie everyday for a year" thing I tried. Except this should be easier to do. I realized I own records I've never heard, and thats kinda sick. So I'm gonna update my list, then pick my record for the day. I'll be back later with a review...
Also, I might take a job at Aldi's. Full-time, benefits, $10.56/hr... Which is ridiculous... I know I said I wasn't gonna go bag groceries for 6.50/hr, but I'll be a cashier, making 10.56/hr... plus benefits... Redick. Actually, if I get the job, I'm gonna take real estate classes two nights a week for 8 weeks, and then maybe starting being a realtor. Kinda crazy. I don't think Aldi's could be that bad... Plus its damn good money, the hours are perfect, and it couldn't take much more intelligence than a squirrel has. As long as I can work at the one of East State and not like in Southeast Rockford behind bullet-proof glass.
Look out bitches, I'm back
Well Sarah and I are back in Rockford now. It's been good so far. She's been working 9-5 in WINNEBAGO training, which sucks. But theres only a week of that left, then her bank will be right by our place. Living with my parents has been okay, and since I've had shit for luck finding a job, it has to be. We'll get it figured out soon. But that's about it. Haven't really gone out much, it seems everytime I have energy and wanna do something, she's tired, and vise-versa.
