Monthly Archives: October 2012

Sea And Cake

S & C at the Cat's Cradle, last night.


Nikon D90, 50mm

They had a replacement bassist, not sure why. But he did a fine job. I thought, "wow, Eric Claridge sure looks older in person. But he still zips around on the bass!" It wasn't him.


Nikon D90, 50mm

Very light turnout, sadly. There were 13 people when the opener started, and maybe 100 when it was all done. Gave me lots of room to roam around - first Cat's Cradle show where I could leave my front-center spot and return to it, whenever I wanted to.

I actually did hurt my hearing at that Feelies show last month (light, non-stop ringing). So, I had to wear earplugs the whole time last night. That sucked. I may be reaching the end of my small-club show career.


Nikon D90, 50mm

Song selection was mostly from their later five albums, with just a small handful from their first five. In my ideal world, this would be reversed. But, I must say: after hearing it live, I do appreciate the newer stuff more.


Nikon D90, 50mm

Singer Sam Prekop writes all his words on big pieces of heavy paper. I never really thought of it, but yes, he does pack a lot of words into his songs.

Good show. I got to meet a couple of the guys afterwards. Got to tell them how awesome they are, etc.. Dork.

Opener was Matthew Friedberger. He is the songwriting half of Fiery Furnaces.


Nikon D90, 50mm

It was him, a sequencer, a couple of keyboards and, sometimes, a bass. It's hard to say if he did one song or a few songs that ran together; I know nothing about his solo stuff. Mostly, the electronics played their pre-recorded dense, constantly-changing, song parts; and over that he sang/spoke a surreal and disjointed narrative about ... something. Sometimes he'd play a few chords on the keyboard, or a few bars of bass noodling. But mostly he just did his narration. So: just like the Fiery Furnaces, but without his sister singing.

I do not like the Fiery Furnaces. I wish I did. I just don't.

His set made me think of Captain Beefheart (Zappa, too) - that kind of free-spirited, rules-out-the-window, do it exactly like I want approach. But Beefheart had to work in the days before sequencers and samplers could play back every little idea that popped into your head, exactly, without complaint. So he had to find a band that could keep up with his imagination, and I'm sure that limited him in some ways. There are only so many rock musicians out there good enough and daring enough to put themselves in the hands of someone like that. These days, though, anyone can be their own Beefheart: just buy a laptop and get down to it. Still, I was most impressed that he was willing to get up there and essentially narrate his sequencer's performance. Takes something I ain't got.

See also, the interesting, and often very Beefhearty, U Can Unlearn Guitar.

House Management

Builder's foreman to Mrs: we'll probably be done first week of next month.

Builder's agent to Mrs: we'll probably be done first week of next month. But could you tell the foreman to hurry up? The builder needs him to get working on some other houses.

Us: WTF? Manage your own fucking employees.

But, we get to do a "pre-walk-through" this weekend. I think this is where we tell them to fix things that need to be fixed before we do the walk-through, which is where we tell them to fix things that need to be fixed, which is what we've been doing for months.


iPhone

Looking from the dining room into the kitchen.

Milk It

The last remaining shred of “alternative” culture—the long-antiquated notion established in the late ’80s that there exists a pure, outlying culture separate from the “mainstream,” a notion that immediately found a more useful purpose after being repackaged by said mainstream as a marketing strategy—finally disappeared today, with the news that Big Bang Theory writer Dave Goetsch has sold CBS the family sitcom Smells Like Teen Spirit. Once the title of the Nirvana “anthem” that ironically encapsulated the energy yet frustrated apathy that defined this “alternative” movement, Smells Like Teen Spirit now refers to a CBS show about “an 18-year-old budding entrepreneur” who forgoes his acceptance to Harvard and instead launches a multibillion-dollar Internet company from his family’s garage. He will do so while dealing with his “1990s indie-rock parents” whose “slacker” ideals will serve as a comical juxtaposition to this new, more productive generation.

I will have to watch this TV-friendly unit shifter while wearing my Kurt Cobain Signature Converse, and gently picking away on my Kurt Cobain Edition Fender Jaguar. Rape Me!