I shaved my beard last week and kept a mustache. It's been an interesting experience. Now I'm considering some new facial hair frontiers. Which one do you like? Top 2 or 3 are fine if you can't pick just one.
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On Friday night, I had the good fortune to see the French band Les Thugs play for free here in Seattle. The band got together for the first time in almost a decade to play at the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival this past weekend in Marymoor. While I didn't go to the fest, I'm sure the smaller club show (and longer set) was the best way to experience them. I almost didn't go because the band wasn't playing till midnight and I'm an old man who goes to bed early. But I knew I'd regret it for a long time if I didn't rally to see a band that I consider one of the most criminally underrated and unknown bands ever. I'm happy to say they exceeded my expectations.
Even though Neumo's wasn't close to packed (about 200 or so people were there), the band's performance was amazing, even more intense than other impressive examples of old guys getting back together (Mission of Burma, Gang of Four). They blazed through the shorter, faster punk songs, but it was the longer, more atmospheric stuff that really blew me away. During a couple songs ("Biking" and "Little Vera's Song") they were locked in so tight that you felt hypnotized and completely jacked on adrenaline at the the same time. Even my lady friend was blown away. She actually moved her body during the show, something I've very rarely seen her do.
Below's a live clip of the band playing "Biking" on July 4th in their hometown of Angers. While it doesn't match seeing and hearing it in person, if you check out the portion from about 2:50 on, you get an idea of how locked in and intense they were.
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It's fair to say that I'm more excited about NW Film Forum's four film Nikkatsu Action series than I am about the entirety of SIFF. I only wish we were getting all eight of the films that are available from Outcast Cinema.
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We're in the midst of SIFF and I'm not feeling the excitement of years past. Either I'm not seeing enough films or the thrill of fest-going has worn off for me. I've seen 5 films and no regrets as of yet. The one standout has been Heavy Metal in Baghdad.
I'm hoping things will pick up next week, when I see a couple Johnnie To films: Mad Detective and Sparrow. The trailer for Sparrow can be seen below and I'm not sure if it's gonna be the cheesiest piece of crap at the festival or a work of pure genius. You never know what you might get from To.
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My first SIFF film was a doc about HST. Overall, pretty good stuff despite director Alex Gibney's tendency to be either sloppy or heavy-handed with his images. An example of something that pissed me off: they're talking about HST's feelings about Vietnam and they show a split screen of images from Vietnam on one side and Iraq on the other. We get the connection without being spoonfed, dude. Even before the talking heads started saying how valuable a guy like Thompson would be with what's going on right now, I found myself thinking it. So I wish they would've just let the images and the man's own words lead us to conclusions instead of drawing them for us.
Another thing I could've done without is seeing Johnny Depp reading from Thompson's work. His narration was fine, but it seemed kind of gratuituous to show him a few times. Look, it's Johnny Depp!
I'll admit that my complaints are mostly nitpicking. It was a good documentary on an interesting subject and gave you stuff to think about after you left the theater. Well worth seeing if you have an interest in Thompson.
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This song from Something Else keeps coming up when I do shuffle play on my Ipod. Each time I hear it, the tune burrows deeper into my brain. It also makes me want a cigarette and I usually need two beers before I get that urge.
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I'm really looking forward to this one. Dunn and MacFadyen's first documentary, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, was good. This should be even better. Canada will get to see it first, with June screenings in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. I think SIFF really dropped the ball on this one. They have Heavy Metal in Baghdad and Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Why not have this film as well?
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I snoozed and lost again this year. The Kettle Chips People's Choice competition has come and gone. The 2008 crop of finalists did battle in the Fire-and-Spice Competition. The winner, Death Valley Chipotle, beat out Jalapeno Salsa Fresca, Mango Chili, Wicked Hot Sauce and Orange Ginger Wasabi. Wish I could've tried the other four. Next year I have to remember to go to the Kettle site and order the sampler.
The only reason I know about this year's winner is a chance encounter at Whole Paycheck today. I saw the Death Valley chips and had to get them. After gorging on several handfuls, I'd say they're better than last year's winner, Island Jerk, and may be right up there with my favorite, Spicy Thai. These chips have chipotle, cayenne, habanero and jalapeno in them. The combination of these peppers makes for a spicy chip with a smoky edge to it. They're really good and that smoke flavor makes me think they might go well with one of those liquid bacon beers.
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Almost seven months ago, we adopted Natty. She needed a home and we thought it would be cool for Lorcan to have a little buddy around. Unfortunately, things haven't worked out. The two of them just don't get along. He seems willing to accept her but she's not having it. She attacks him every chance she gets. We've tried every trick in the book and nothing has worked. On her own, Natty is a great cat. She's affectionate and very low maintenance. If she were the only cat in the house, she'd be almost ideal. So now we have to find her a new home. I know it'll be tough getting someone to take in an 8 year old cat when everyone wants kittens. And I'm probably going to be picky since I've become really attached to the little shit. I'm willing to do whatever it takes because taking her to a shelter is an absolute last resort.
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Heard about this thing called Muxtape yesterday. You upload up to 12 songs, put them in the order you want and people can stream it on the site. I'm thinking there's gonna be some kind of copyright issues since Muxtape only offers the disclaimer that "users may not upload multiple songs from the same album or artist, or songs they do not have permission to let Muxtape use." Basically, it's on the user to obtain permission for the songs they use and I doubt many people are doing that. True, you can't download songs from the site, but I bet some kind of controversy will come out of this.
Anyway, please listen to my muxtape. I came up with 12 songs I've been listening to lately. It's kind of a snapshot of what I've been into this week. I'll try and come up with a new one every week while it lasts. Some notes on the songs I chose:
Dirtbombs - "Fire in the Western World" (from We Have You Surrounded): The new Dirtbombs record is good. I'm not listening to it nonstop, but it's good. Funny that two of the best songs are covers. One is "Sherlock Holmes" by Sparks and the other is this one by Dead Moon. The Dirtbombs cover some interesting shit and they do it well and put their own spin on the songs.
No Hope For the Kids - "Secret Police" (b-side of the Das Reich 7"): Great contemporary Danish punk band who love the old school stuff. Should've been on the soundtrack to The Lives of Others. Okay, maybe not.
The Kinks - "Brainwashed" (from Arthur): I got this from the library yesterday. I'd never heard the record in its entirety and this was the first time I'd heard this song. Everyone always says you're either a Beatles guy or a Stones guy. Fuck that, I'll take the Kinks.
The Kent 3 - "Bellingham High" (from Spells): Thanks to Jay from Detailed Twang for bringing this band to my attention. Turns out my friend Martin was in a band with some of these guys pre-Kent 3. Don't know what they sounded like, but the Kent 3 is good stuff. Too bad they're no longer a band.
Torche - "In Return" (from In Return): Heavy music and almost melodic vocals that don't necessarily fit, but it works. Stuff like this is in some kind of musical sweet spot for me. Can't say why, but it really appeals to me.
J Church - "I Reach For Her Hand" (from One Mississippi): Lance Hahn was taken from us too soon at age 40. You may not like the way the guy sings, but he wrote a lot of good songs.
Steel Pole Bath Tub - "Myrna Loy" (from Tulip): I love this band and this record, but this isn't even one of the real songs on it. But it has Myrna Loy talking and it seemed like a good palate cleanser in the middle of the meal.
Fleshtones - "Shadow-Line" (from Roman Gods): A band I've heard of forever, but never really heard. From their first record, which is pretty good. They're still putting out stuff almost 30 years later.
Carbonas - "Phone Booth" (from Carbonas): Not a hell of a lot to say about this. They're from Atlanta and it's a simple, catchy punk song.
Love - "The Daily Planet" (from Forever Changes): Another library find and one that I went after because I heard the song "Seven & Seven Is" on the Nuggets box set and had to hear more. Nothing as high energy as "Seven" on this record and some of it is soft hippie/psychedelic stuff, but I keep going back to it. There's something about this song musically that reminds me of early Who stuff. Like it could've been on Sell Out.
The Mexican Blackbirds - "Did It Anyway" (from Just To Spite You): The singer of this Tacoma garage punk band, Chris "Trashcan" Miller, has been reading my beer blog and he's invited me down to Tacoma to his place, The Red Hot. Can't wait to get down there, have a few beers and meet the man. Corresponding with Chris made me bust this record out and remember how good it was.
Skeletonwitch - "Vengeance Will Be Mine" (from Beyond The Permafrost): Had to end it with some metal. This Ohio band mixes old school thrash with newer black and death metal sounds. Unlike a lot of metal bands, they keep their songs short (nothing over the 3-4 minute mark) and it works in their favor.
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I'm finding that YouTube is useful for posting songs on your blog without putting up an mp3 and dealing with copyright issues or whatever. A lot of people post songs on there with shitty blurred images in the background or just a picture of the album cover. Anyway, here's a great song from a band called Love from 1967 that I've listened to about 5 times in a row today. The album it comes from, Da Capo, is an odd listen. You've got this song and one other high energy one ("Stephanie Knows Who") then a handful of good, but odd slow psychedelic type songs and then a ridiculous 19 minute song.
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Not really a big hard rock dude these days, but I used to be into all that when I was around 12-14 years old. Van Halen, AC/DC, Kiss, etc. While you still can't go wrong with AC/DC, there's a lot of music from that era of my youth that I can't get behind. I haven't really tested the staying power of Van Halen, though. Then, in the course of two days, I see Diver Down on the shelf at the library and find out that someone's written a book about the band. Coincidence? I think not. I think I'm supposed to read the book and listen to the band's back catalog. Not the Van Hagar shit or the third incarnation, but all the Roth stuff I can find (the library has Van Halen, Van Halen II, Diver Down and 1984).
From what I've read about Everybody Wants Some, it's not as lurid as the Motley Crue book. It's a completely unauthorized bio, so the author didn't have access to the band members to get the juiciest of details. It may not be a real page-turner, but that doesn't mean it won't be worth reading.
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Remember Mclusky? It was a sad day when they called it quits. But 2/3rds of the band (Andy Falkous & Jack Egglestone) have been reborn as Future of the Left. And guess what? They're even better than Mclusky. Their debut record, Curses is stacked from top to bottom with great songs. They're the kind of songs where, each day, a line from a song gets stuck in your head and you find yourself walking around saying/singing shit like "violence she solves everything," "why put the body where the body don't wanna go" or "grow into your body happily."
The video above lets you pick your lyrical poison. Will you be singing "all he ever wanted was a detonator" or "Colin is a pussy, a very pretty pussy?"
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Came across this interesting rant about blogging. My knee-jerk reaction was "fuck this, I'm not blogging anymore." I don't want to be the guy crying out for self-validation, the guy who wants people to respect and/or admire him because he sees a a lot of movies, drinks a shit-ton of beer and knows a few obscure metal bands. Fuck, I really don't want to be that guy! And fuck, I am that guy! And...well...fuck that guy!
Later on, I calmed down and realized the irony of this guy putting down blogging in a blog post. Funny shit. I also realized that there is a self-indulgent, respect-craving aspect to this, but I also think it's a good way to connect with like-minded people and to share information with these people and turn each other on to shit. I've found bands, beers and films that I might otherwise never have come across if it weren't for blogging.
Keeping all this in mind, stay tuned for the self-indulgent, attention-seeking group film microblogging phenomenon knows as Wadpaw.
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Theme for Week of 02/04/08: Films produced by Val Lewton and directed by Mark Robson.
Why: Because TCM showed a documentary on Lewton a few weeks ago. It was produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese and it was fascinating. Mostly, it made me want to rewatch Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie. But it also made me want to see the Lewton films I've never seen. After Jacques Tourneur directed three films for Lewton (the two I just mentioned plus The Leopard Man), RKO split them up and Lewton moved Mark Robson up to the director's chair. Robson cut his teeth as an assistant editor for Orson Welles and then became the primary editor on Lewton's first three. He directed four films for Lewton and later moved on to bigger projects like Peyton Place and Inn of the Sixth Happiness, both of which garnered him Oscar nominations for Best Director.
Which films: I've seen Ghost Ship, so I'll be watching the other three in the Lewton-Robson partnership. They are: The Seventh Victim, Isle of the Dead and Bedlam.
I should have a post (or posts) on the three films by week's end.
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I used to have a film blog called Film Lovers Are Sick People. I only updated it regularly during the three week period of the Seattle International Film Festival. I scrapped it a few months back. I always felt out of my depth writing about film even though it's one of my main interests. So many other people do it so much better. I figured I should leave it to them. After all, I've got beer writing to do.
Well...thanks to Paul Clark (proprietor of Silly Hats Only), I still get to throw in my cinematic two cents from time to time. He asked me to participate in the second annual Muriel Awards and, unlike last year, I managed to finish my ballot on time. Be sure to check out his blog starting February 13th for the unveiling of the winners in each category. You can also check out the 2006 winners to get an idea of what it's all about. I think there are some additional categories this year.
During January, I crammed for the Muriels by watching as many 2007 releases as I could handle. It was fun until the last couple days or so. Now I want to keep my film enthusiasm going by having themes for what I watch. So I'm going to pick an actor, a director, a particular genre, a particular year...something that ties films together. I'll watch at least 3 films with the common theme over the course of the week. I'll also try to post about them here. I honestly hope to follow through with this, but I'm notorious for flaking on things.
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I'm hesitant to use this for a place to bitch and moan about shit, but fuck it. I'm an introvert with just a handful of close friends and a somewhat larger number of acquaintances that I keep at arm's length. I'm a cynical bastard who likes spending time alone yet occasionally craves the company of other people. This whole beer writing thing that I've been getting into has kind of forced me to be more social, to make contacts with people and put myself out there more than I usually do. For the most part, this has been a good thing. I've met some genuinely cool people through my beer enthusiasm. Some of them are people I hope I'll continue to get to know and maybe even become good friends with. And then there are nights like tonight where I have to deal with fucking douchebags that have a superior attitude and a dismissive way about them. It's been a long time since I've punched someone in the face, but I felt the urge tonight. I could even picture the satisfying aftermath of fucking clocking these two fuck-knobs. The feeling passed pretty quickly, but shit like this almost makes me want to say fuck it and just turn away from the whole idea of "beer journalism" or whatever. I realize part of it is that I kind of want people in this world I've gotten into to respect me. That's my first mistake. Bottom line is I guess there are douchebags in every walk of life and I just need to have a thicker skin. Fuck 'em...
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Clay Davis (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) from The Wire.
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I will start posting here again shortly. Got a lot of shit to talk about that's not beer-related. But hold up a minute. I can't believe I just saw this for the first time. Fucking classic. If you don't know why, you're either too young or you don't have the proper frame of reference.
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homucomestible's journal
