fave song friday: "dignified dignitary"

[Photo credit: You Ain't No Picasso]

Last Friday, we saw Apples in Stereo, a founding ensemble of the Elephant 6 collective and one of the greatest indie pop acts ever, at a place called Cosmic Charlie's right here in Lex. Tickets were cheap and the venue was small and not an hour away (more if you count traffic)—all pluses in my book.

Lexington was the first stop on the Apples' tour to promote their new album, Travellers in Space and Time. Consequently, lots of talk on stage about time travel and being from the near-distant future. Robert Scheinder explained that unlike other bands that foretell of a world befallen by robot apocalypse, their vision of the future is a more happy, peaceful one where man rises above the challenges before him. When you combine all of these things with the lighting, artificial fog, and band members dressed up in crazy futuristic costumes, you know that you're in for a good time.

Interestingly enough, this was probably the most entertaining show I've attended since seeing The Flaming Lips and Beck share the same stage in Salt Lake City in 2002. Maybe I have a thing for bands that have a preoccupation with the future and the fall of man at the hands of robots.

The whole Apples set rocked and was so joyous and fun. One of my favorite moments was when the band brought out a trumpet and sax player to back them up for "Go!" As for the new songs, I think they sounded really great live—they had an extra spark that I can't quite pick up from the studio version. I also think the near-distant time travel theme is appropriate. The Apples in Stereo are probably best known for their bright and catchy 1960s pop/rock sound, and Travellers in Space and Time for the most part definitely beams them a few years forward into the realm of the 1970s and 80s.

They opened up their show with a song called "Dignified Dignitary," which might be my favorite song from the new album. It kind of sounds like something that the Beatles and Pavement would've collaborated on. And it talks about actuaries, something TJ knows a little about.

Dignified Dignitary - The Appl...

fave song friday: "stereo"

Earlier this month Pavement released a best-of collection. They are also back together and on tour for the first time in more than 10 years. Am I excited about this? CERTAINLY. I'm scheming to see them at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer.

I love the song "Stereo" for being my earliest memory of getting to know Pavement, for its great guitars, for its fantastic bass line, and of course, for these infamous lyrics:

What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How did it get so high
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy
(I know him, and he does!)

It never gets old.

Stereo - Pavement
from the album Brighten the Corners (1997)

fave song friday: "thirteen"

Music has always been an important part of my life and TJ's (we probably never would've met if it weren't for a shared affinity for certain bands), so I'd been thinking of starting a weekly music feature on this blog. The idea is that every Friday (or more likely, as many Fridays as we can manage), one of us will try to post and stream one of our favorite songs to share.

Alex Chilton died at the age of 59 on March 17, so I couldn't think of a better time or way to start this little experiment than by posting a Big Star song in his honor. He had a real gift for melody, and Big Star basically pioneered power pop in the 1970s but seems to be one those bands that have been long overlooked despite casting a long shadow over the landscape of rock music. Its influence—on bands like R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, Weezer, The Replacements, and Wilco, just to name a few—is pretty incredible.

"Thirteen" is an acoustic, perfectly sweet and melancholy ballad from the Big Star album #1 Record. It's been a long time since I first discovered this song, but even today I'm always struck by it when I hear it. It's just a perfect, honest portrait of youth and the feelings of nostalgia and loss.

Also, a bonus track: a cover of "Thirteen" that I love the most, by Elliott Smith.

Thirteen - Big Star
from the album #1 Record (1972)

Thirteen - Elliott Smith
from the album New Moon (2007)

this too shall pass

Attention OK Go: less music, more music videos!

built to spill at southgate house

On Friday night we drove to Newport, KY, to see Built to Spill at the Southgate House. Newport is right across from Cincinnati on the Ohio River. To get there, we had to cross a bridge into Ohio, then cross another bridge back into Kentucky. After living in the West for the past nine years, I kind of forgot how quickly you can cross state lines like that on this side of the country.

A little about the Southgate House: it's the former home of Richard Southgate, a lawyer, Kentucky state representative, senator, and silk manufacturer. The house was built in 1814 by British prisoners of war from the War of 1812. Before it became a live music venue, it hosted visitors like Abraham Lincoln and the volunteer company led by Captain Sidney Sherman, who went on to join Sam Houston and the Texas army to defeat Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. Also, the guy who invented the Thompson submachine gun, John T. Thompson, was born there in 1860.

Looks like Halloween came a little early this year, hmm? You wouldn’t think that this place was a music venue or nightclub just by looking it, but I’d say that the ballroom in the back of the house is similar in size to the main stage at Bricks (or whatever it’s called now) in Salt Lake City or the 9:30 Club in DC.

We got there early enough to grab a spot on the floor near the stage, but we’re a couple of old geezers who have done our fair share of rubbing up against the sweaty, head-bobbing masses during our college years, so we decided to park ourselves in a couple of chairs on the balcony.

Opening for Built to Spill was a band called Disco Doom. They are from Switzerland, a magical land filled with delicious chocolate, Roger Federer, and a functioning health care system. I like them a lot and they played a great set. Sort of reminds me of a hybrid of Pavement and Broken Social Scene, and their front woman totally rocked the omnichord! Their stuff is pretty hard to come by (we were lucky enough to purchase their full-length and EP at the show), but they do have a few songs up on their MySpace page—a couple of my favorites are "White Gun Cold Jet" and "The Great Disaster."

Just counting the past five years, we’ve seen Built to Spill twice in SLC, once in DC, twice in LA, once in Long Beach, and now once in Newport. Obviously, I think that seeing them in concert will never get old. It's still hard to believe that more people haven't heard of them considering the fact that they've been on a major label since 1997 and several commercially successful bands (Modest Mouse, The Shins, and Death Cab for Cutie, just to name a few) and tons of up-and-coming indies love to name drop them as a major influence. Maybe if they agree to do commercials for package delivery companies or salad dressing . . . yeah, it'll never happen.

Part of what I love about Built to Spill (besides Doug Martsch’s ability to grow an amazing beard) is that they dress like a bunch of unassuming factory workers and have zero interest in being flashy or pandering to the audience—no matching skinny suits, no pyrotechnics, no fancy light show, no talking about how their new album drops next week (I'll do it for them: There Is No Enemy, which can be streamed in its entirety on their MySpace, is out on October 6). Other than the occasional "thanks for coming out tonight" in between songs, they cut through all the crap and just play great music. At the Newport show, they played one song from their new album ("Hindsight"—awesome) and the rest was a fantastic mix of tracks from their previous albums, including "Carry the Zero," "In the Morning," "Joyride," "Strange," "Sidewalk," and "Traces." (Alas, no "Cortez the Killer.") Also, I think it’s hard for most bands to pull off two guitars, let alone three, without sounding messy—but Built to Spill probably has the most technically clean sound of just about any band I’ve heard live. And because they will never stop touring, ever, I bet that we’ll probably get a chance to see them again sometime next year.

long live the subjunctive

There’s a fantastic feature on the NYT’s Times Topics blog called After Deadline, which explores questions of grammar, usage, and style as encountered by NYT writers and editors.

Today’s topic happens to be one of my favorite: the subjunctive mood.

Corbett writes:

It’s confusing, it’s widely ignored and in most cases it’s indistinguishable from other verb forms. So should we give up on the subjunctive mood? I say, no!

Hear, hear! He then goes on to note a couple of recent missteps by the Times, including:

Google, the leader in Web search services and advertising, argues that if reading news online was closer to the experience of scanning through physical newspapers or magazines, people would read more.

Generally use the subjunctive for a hypothetical condition: “if reading news online were closer.” (Or make it all indicative: “If reading news online IS closer … people WILL read more.)

It seems that pop songs are among the worst offenders when it comes to subjunctive misuse. For instance, take “Don’t Cha” by the Pussycat Dolls. When they say “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me,” what they really mean to say is “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend were hot like me.” As if I needed another reason to hate this song.

The list of abuses goes on:

• What if God was one of us (Joan Osbourne, “One of Us”)
• I wish I was beautiful (Counting Crows, “Mr. Jones”)
• Damn, I wish I was your lover (Sophie B. Hawkins, “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”)
• I'd like to think if I was I would pass (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “The Impression That I Get”)
• I wish I was special (yes, even my beloved Radiohead, “Creep”)
• If only I was sure (The Cure, “Close to Me”)
• If I was to say to you girl we couldn't get much higher (The Doors, “Light My Fire”)

It's just like me to dwell on the negative. Can anyone name a song that actually uses the subjunctive correctly?

Here are some resources for further reading:

Subjunctivitis
Subjunctive (from Garner's Modern American Usage)
Grammar Girl: Subjunctive Verbs

Also, the delightful animal alphabet poster up top comes from Lorena Siminovich at Petit Collage.

motorcycle helmets and southern rock

As we drove across New Mexico on our way to Lexington, I noticed a few bikers on the freeway riding without helmets. And since we've been in Lexington, we've seen many people riding motorcycles without helmets. Maybe I've just spent too much of my life in California, but this was quite a surprise to me. First, it seems really dumb to go 65 mph on a motorcycle with nothing protecting your head, and second, I didn't really consider that New Mexico and Kentucky wouldn't have laws requiring all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets. I knew that motorcycle helmet laws are fairly modern, but I kind of assumed it caught on nationwide like seat belt laws or raising the drinking age to 21. Can you guess how many states require all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets? Here's a map with the answer.

I also noticed that there's a heavy dose of Creedence Clearwater Revival (and Phil Collins for some reason) on Lexington radio stations. Lauren and I were talking about how that makes sense because CCR is a southern band, right? We couldn't remember exactly where they were from. Louisiana, or maybe Tennessee? So we looked it up when we got home today and it turns out that John Fogerty was not born anywhere near the Bayou but very close to the Bay.

Nevertheless, the South has produced many great bands, including:

Ben Folds Five (Chapel Hill, NC)
Big Star (Memphis, TN)
Elf Power (Athens, GA)
The Flaming Lips (Oklahoma City, OK)
Iron & Wine (Miami, FL/Columbia, SC)
My Morning Jacket (Louisville, KY)
Neutral Milk Hotel (Ruston, LA)
The Olivia Tremor Control (Athens, GA)
Of Montreal (Athens, GA)
Okkervil River (Austin, TX)
R.E.M. (Athens, GA)
Spoon (Austin, TX)
Tripping Daisy (Dallas, TX)

RIP MJ

A touching tribute from the Filipino prison famous for their synchronized dance to "Thriller."

countdown to oaxaca

In a few days we'll be taking off for the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, known for its colorful markets, colonial architecture, traditional folk art, social justice rallies, archaeological sites, and rich culinary traditions (I will probably try to hoard as much Oaxacan chocolate as I can in my backpack).

Coincidentally, Beirut just released a lovely double EP called March of the Zapotec/Holland. It's served as a nice soundtrack as we've prepared for our trip. The first half contains Mexican-influenced songs that Zach Condon recorded with a 19-piece church band in Teotitlán del Valle, a small village about 15 miles southeast of Oaxaca City.


This is a song from the EP called "La Llorona," which is based on a famous legend in Latino culture. There are many variations to the story, but it's basically about a woman who killed her children then herself after she was rejected by the man she loved. Consequently, her ghost is doomed to endlessly weep and wander in search of her niños.

Anyway, we are really excited about this trip. We've both been in dire need of a break from Santa Barbara (believe it, friends) and the daily grind.

22 love songs

Is it weird that I really like Valentine's Day? I may appear all emotionless and cynical on the outside, but I've always had a soft spot for Valentine's Day even though it seems like I should hate it for being a huge monument to commercialism and because I never had a date on that day.

But I have good memories of decorating shoe boxes with pink construction paper and red sparkly stickers in elementary school. The lids had slots where classmates could slip in valentines. And how can I not like the opportunity to make pink-frosted cupcakes or heart-shaped sugar cookies? I guess like most holidays, I'm mostly in it for the crafts and the food.

And the music! Naturally, I made a Valentine's Day mix for TJ and had some fun with Illustrator to make the artwork for it.


I really like this compilation. I think it turned out just the way I wanted: happy, funny, and a little wistful or sad. Let me comment on a couple that I thought were particularly appropriate to include for TJ:

Soltero - "Communist Love Song"
from Science Will Figure You Out

If you're ever less than certain
I will be your Iron Curtain
I will be your Berlin Wall
And I will never fall

Communism as an analogy for love? Obviously the perfect choice for a Valentine's Day mix for my favorite leftist.

The Submarines - "You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie"
from Honeysuckle Weeks

Plastic bottles, imported water
Cars we drive wherever we want to
Clothes we buy, it's sweatshop labor
Drugs from corporate enablers
We're not living the good life
Unless we're fighting the good fight
You and me just trying to get it right

Love can free us from all excess
from our deepest debt
'Cause when our hearts are full we need much less

Love is all you need, right? What's not to like about anti-consumerist sentiment wrapped up a bright, sugary pop song. . . that is being used in a commercial to sell iPhones. Oh, the irony.

I'll post the entire playlist in the comments for anyone interested in checking it out.

What song would you include in a mix for your one true love?

(almost) new year, new blog, new pornographers

I'd been thinking that it was about time that we:

a) changed the look of our blog.
b) posted something new.

So here it is. Also, for anyone who's ever wondered, the name "The Fake Headlines" comes from the title of a song by The New Pornographers, my most favorite Canadian band in the world.

boo

Presenting the annual posting of "Do They Know It's Halloween?" (featuring Beck, David Cross, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, members of the Arcade Fire, Islands, Wolf Parade, and more people we really like):



You can read the backstory on the song in this article from the New York Times. If there's one thing I love more than the elite media, it's the elite of indie rock.

Also, here's a scary story from Slate to keep you awake at night: a study by a group of forensic economists shows evidence that U.S.-led coups didn't just benefit multinational corporations like United Fruit Company in Guatemala, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Iran, or American Sugar in Cuba—they also lined the pockets of unidentified government insiders.

Which brings us to Halliburton, the latest corporate beneficiary of U.S. government intervention; when (or if) the decisions behind the Iraq war become public, it'll be interesting to see what happened to Halliburton's stock price in the weeks leading up to the invasion, especially on days when meetings inside the White House took place.

Happy halloween!

fire it up

Well, it's day four since the Gap Fire started and it shows no signs of letting up. The Santa Barbara Independent reported earlier this evening that the fire has spread to almost 6,000 acres, and orders for mandatory evacuation has expanded to include 1,700 homes. We live across the street from a high school that's serving as an evacuation center, and the parking lot definitely looks more full than it did a couple nights ago.

Besides the power outages we've had every night since then, we've been doing okay. It was pretty scary driving up the 101 on Wednesday night and seeing an amazingly huge stretch of mountains ablaze...and I got kind of worried on Thursday night that our house was going to go up in smoke (probably didn't help that our neighbor was being slightly hysterical and packing up her stuff to leave because she heard this and that, and the power was out so I couldn't connect to any source of real information). The worst thing is the air quality, though...I looked outside last night and the blanket of ash on the rooftops made it look like it had snowed here. We've also had to leave the windows shut to keep the smell of smoke out, so it's been extra warm and stuffy inside our apartment lately. I guess it's good that that's the worst thing we've had to deal with so far, though.

And just like every other notable holiday and/or special event in our lives, we made a mix dedicated to the Gap Fire of 2008:

1. "We Didn't Start the Fire" - Billy Joel
2. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" - The Arcade Fire
3. "Volcanoes" - Islands
4. "Trimmed and Burning" - Built to Spill
5. "El Scorcho" - Weezer
6. "Keep on Breathing" - Delgados
7. "Strawberryfire" - The Apples in Stereo
8. "Fiery Affair" - Figurines
9. "Cinder and Smoke" - Iron and Wine
10. "Natural Disaster" - Headphones
11. "This Heart's on Fire" - Wolf Parade
12. "Streets of Fire" - The New Pornographers
13. "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" - Modest Mouse
14. "Smoke" - Ben Folds Five
15. "Promise" - Pedro the Lion
16. "Ashes of American Flags" - Wilco
17. "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" - R.E.M.
18. "Freakin' Out" - Graham Coxon
19. "Waitin' For a Superman" - The Flaming Lips

Let us know if we can burn (heh) you a copy.

Oscar gets it right this time

It's hard to take the Academy Awards seriously when they do things like give Titanic the trophy for Best Picture and snub Elliott Smith in favor of Celine Dion. So imagine my excitement last night when they managed not to screw it up and awarded Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová the Oscar for Best Original Song. And then, when Markéta was cut off by the orchestra before she could even say "thank you," they managed not to screw it up again when they let her come back out for a second chance to give her acceptance speech. It was the best moment of the night. Way to go, Academy. And I really mean it this time.

Meh.

Did UCSB take over the Coachella lineup this year?

It's not good when huge letters spelling out "Jack Johnson" are the first thing you see on a poster for what's supposed to be the hippest mega-concert event of the year.

Seriously. Jack Johnson? And I thought the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the worst Coachella headliner ever.

Do You Know It's Halloween?

Monday randomness

First, some good stuff from the New York Times opinion page:

• Maureen Dowd turns her column over to Stephen Colbert
• Paul Krugman offers an explanation for the right-wing anti-Gore hysteria
• Thomas Friedman writes on how George W. Bush wasted his presidency

Came across this item in a Washington Times blog (via Pitchfork)—it looks like there's at least one Radiohead fan in the White House: deputy press secretary Tony Fratto, who said he plans to buy the new album. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe and deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel are at least aware the band exists (Stanzel called himself an "appreciator" of their music, while Johndroe is "90 percent sure" he has some Radiohead songs on his iPod...but definitely none from Hail to the Thief).

Then, there's press secretary Dana Perino: "I don't even know what that is . . . Is that a band?"

Seriously? The woman is 35 years old, which would've made her 21 when Pablo Honey came out in 1993. Meanwhile, I was an uncool 10-year-old whose limited exposure to music involved my parents' Beatles, Carpenters, and Beach Boys records, and even I had heard of Radiohead.

There's a new study out that says it's your fault if your kid's a picky eater. According to the NYT article, 78 percent is genetic and the other 22 percent is environmental.

Worst among the horror stories: parents who changed their vacation plans because they were afraid their 11-year old wouldn't like the food in Prague.

An editor at Bon Appétit magazine mentioned how his 3-year-old son will eat only "brown food," while his 6-year-old daughter is an "omnivore's dream child." It's interesting how it works that way. As a child, my favorite food was broccoli and I ate pretty much everything my parents put on my plate (although there was a month-long streak in first grade when I insisted on tuna salad sandwiches for lunch). My brother Daniel was the same way. And then came Timothy, who used to be the 3-year-old who would only eat brown food (and carbs and sugar) and is now the 15-year-old who will only eat brown food (and carbs and sugar) with the occasional lettuce leaf.

Finally—it seems like there have been a lot of pumpkin-related stories in the news (pumpkin chucking, growing giant pumpkins, 1,524-pound contest-winning pumpkin). Mmm, pumpkins. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread...I'm like the Bubba Gump of pumpkins. Can't forget pumpkin carving, either. When I was in college, I carved Conan O'Brien's face on a pumpkin...only to get it stolen right off our front porch. How dirty is that?

Do you ever think about it?

Anytime I see Built to Spill I'm always hoping that they play the Neil Young song "Cortez the Killer." When Built to Spill plays the song live, it turns into a 20 minute jam, which is about the best thing you can hope for in a live concert. Unfortunately they didn't play it at the show we went to on Friday—maybe because the guy behind us yelled "Cortez the Conquerer!"—but as always Built to Spill played a solid show. A good mix of old and new, and a few short jams in there.

Here's the setlist:

Velvet Waltz

In the Morning

Time Trap

Wherever You Go

Third Uncle (Brain Eno cover)

Car

You Were Right

Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss

Made up Dreams

Big Dipper

Mess With Time

Randy Described Eternity

Carry the Zero

Encore:

Conventional Wisdom

Notes:

The Delusions opened the night, and had a solid but short performance. Their bass drum had the message "Go f— yourself Mr. Cheney" on it.

Early on in the BTS set, the mic gave some unexpected feed back, and Doug appeared frustrated at the imperfection.

Right before Carry the Zero, Doug said, "Thanks for coming out, we know Dragon Wars came out today."

Birthday surprise

I came home after a long day's work to find a birthday package from Lynda hidden behind the kitchen shutters (that UPS guy is so smart). Here's what was inside:

I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favorite Bands.

How did she know?! I've had my eye on this book for a while now. It's my two favorite things (food and music) rolled into one.

Thanks, Lynda!

I read the news today...

Today is my little (not-so-little) brother's 15th birthday. You probably won't read this, but happy birthday anyway!

Today is also Sgt. Pepper's 40th birthday. There is really nothing else about the Beatles that hasn't been said already, but here's a fun op-ed from the Washington Post about the timelessness of their music: It Was 40 Years Ago Today.

And because the world apparently needs more Beatles covers, the BBC is celebrating the anniversary by recruiting a bunch of bands to re-record songs from the album using the original 4-track method. It airs on BBC Radio 2 tomorrow and features bands such as Oasis, Travis, the Kaiser Chiefs, and the Magic Numbers. Oh yeah, and the Killers, who will probably be confused when they encounter a real melody for the first time.

I'm not predicting anything amazing (this was already done in the 80s, and probably better, with the likes of Sonic Youth, Billy Bragg, and the Fall), but it might be worth a listen. And hey, at least there's no Avril Lavigne or Green Day involved.