as soon as i figure out how to upload audio...

...i will. this is a podcast i recorded for a private intranet website. but, i liked the way it turned out so here it is, without the music. just pretend to insert them into the spaces marked ==.

ALBUM REVIEW: REAL EMOTIONAL TRASH by STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS
You may recognize the name Stephen Malkmus, for his work as the singer and guitarist of the trailblazing indie rock band, Pavement, from the 1990s. But after Pavement broke up, Malkmus continued to showcase his fertile mind and musical prowess in a few one-off projects, and most notably on solo releases both with and without his band, the Jicks.
Now based out of Portland, Oregon, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks have released a new album, called Real Emotional Trash. it’s the first release for Malkmus in a few years, and it’s his first album to share its name with one of its songs. Real Emotional Trash won’t be a disappointment to music fans who long to hear skilled guitar work, quirky lyrics, and an intelligent take on psychedelic low fidelity.
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Malkmus has played with The Jicks in some shape or form for years, and the current lineup includes bassist Joanna Bolme, keyboardist Mike Clark, and former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss. The quartet has a palpable chemistry, and succeeds in putting complex elements behind a noisy exterior for an all-around accessible sound.
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Real Emotional Trash officially has three sides. For LP collectors, this means it’s one side short of a double album. For others, this may mean an album that's too long. However, each song sounds as if it belongs, like each song is an essential contribution to the whole, and so, the length of the album isn’t excessive. Several of the songs have been described by Malkmus as “triple part saga, acid mind blowers”, and that’s as good a description as any.
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There are also shorter, more direct songs on the album, and some of them feature Malkmus’ remarkable ability to double his vocal parts with his guitar…or maybe he’s actually doubling his guitar with his vocals… Regardless, the result would be a fantastic thing to witness live, and on record, it is a moving, effective technique.
==
Various parts of the album were recorded in locations in Montana and Oregon with one engineer, T.J. Doherty, who recorded the last two Wilco albums. Then, after some recording equipment mishaps, the album was taken to be mixed in yet a different place, with a different producer, Nick Vernhes. In interviews, Stephen Malkmus describes Real Emotional Trash as a “great record (made) the very hard way”, but you don’t hear any of the trouble that went into the making of this great album. At least, once you give it a listen, you'll be grateful for every little bump in the road the Jicks had to endure.

what ever happened to....PART 2

in my teenage years, i had a large number of pen pals. i found/"met" a few of them through a magazine called Star Hits and then things grew from there. i had pretty intense friendships with these people for a while, and i wonder where they ended up. if you've heard of any of these people, please have them contact me!

• THOMAS KUFFEL: lived in Modesto, CA
• JORGE ________: from Columbia, went to SUNY, fantastic artist
• PHIL WEST/PHIL KEY: lived in Seattle, loved music, so funny and a writer?
• WILL __________: the king of XTC fans. he read a lot of books and worked in a bookstore.
• GEORGE KING: lived in Hollywood. we were actually pretty good friends for a while.
• TOZAR NORRIS: i met him through George King.

did i ever show you this?

i found a new fun website: http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/

WTF!? a CAFFEINATED SNICKERS BAR?!!

so, imagine my surprise to see an entire box of these sitting on the counter in the coffee room at the office... i'm going to let this fine entry from JUNK FOOD BLOG fill in the rest.

and YES, i took two, but NO, i haven't tried them yet.

Raves & Pharma

we got turned on to a new DJ/artist(producer), TIGERSKIN, saturday night at the ABSURD RECORDINGS party in downtown l.a. he had some really fat sounds, performing live with an 8 channel mixing desk, an 808 and i think a 303, plus his powerbook that was running serato, i think... tigerskin showed me once again why i love german techno so damn much. there was a portion of his set where he used the cool repeating man-voice from DHS' 'House of God' track, which was f*&^ing brilliant. and then he twisted up a piece of that stabby siren-sounding thing from Prodigy's 'Charly'... ah, memories!

and to top the night off into the morning was the legendary EVIL EDDIE RICHARDS. he played a great set as he always does, albeit a little slow, maybe? who knows, it was probably just my perception. in any case, we are so lucky to have him play out here a few times a year!

the location was more or less near alameda between staples centre and the 10 freeway. the temperature inside was good, even tho everyone seemed to be smoking cigarettes indoors...COUGH. but the sound was freaking excellent, as it always is at absurd parties. if you know me, you know how much i despise clubs and promoters who gather a bunch of people together to listen or dance to music and then have crap sound systems. the absurd parties never disappoint.

our friend JaHe was in town from las vegas, and he went with us. we all had a freaking GREAT time, except this bunch of 30 year olds dancing on concrete for hours came home with some leg and back pain. i'm so out of shape.

one last thing, i'm doing my own version of this fabulous article on SLATE.com from a while back. check back with me for details!

TOOK MY SHIRT OFF AT THE POLLING PLACE...

at MY polling place on St. Andrews Pl. in zip 90621, they asked me to remove my Barack Obama tshirt. i suppose that makes sense cos you're not supposed to 'campaign' within a certain number of feet of a polling place...at least that's what my friend WaDi told me.

however, at a polling place at San Dimas Sheriff's station, my 'decline-to-state' friend ChriCa asked for a democrat ballot, which she took and filled out a vote for Obama. she did not fill out any other votes at the time for the various propositions. upon turning it in, an alarm went off and the lady working asked "did you not vote for anything?" and my friend replied, "yes, but just for president". the lady told her "give it to me, i'll take care of it." but my friend had no guarantee that her vote was counted. on top of this, my friend later learned the polling place lady had neglected to tell her that she should have indicated 'democrat' on the ballot, even though she had asked for, and supposedly had been given, one. what's up with that??!!

A TV ADDICT'S TAKE ON THE WRITER'S STRIKE

if you know me, you know that i really, really love television. i refer to my TiVO as an animate object. i want to teach a graduate course on "television and its impact on ____" with my friend FraKa, complete with weekly podcast. i rewind an episode after i've watched it, just to see who the writer(s) was (were), and the directors, too (some of the time). tv is something i hold dear to my heart and i spend as much time watching tv as most people do watching films.

in any case, i noticed in the past few weeks that the quality of writing in television programmes has become, i don't know, better...or at the very least, different.

it's as if all the writers knew how imminent the strike was, and so they decided to go balls out, so to speak. it's as if the writers wanted us to realise that there is something to be said for shows that do not rely on the reality factour. it's as if the writers knew they didn't know when their stuff would get made next, so they decided to put their best foot forward and give us some tv that would make us, the true tv fanatic, miss their writing.

i've been rationing out my new television episode broadcasts (read: i've been hoarding on my TiVO) over the past month or so. i like how the networks have tried to make their new episodes/shows last over the duration of the season. but, the tap is running dry.

please, directors, actors, studios: negotiate with the writers! admit it, they've got what you need. television needs writers.

and god*@&^ it, KCRW fundraiser started today. S%^# !!!

THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

• GUI BORATTO is playing avaland this weekend. i am SO there. he's the greatest thing since i discovered tech-house.
• the drug dextromethorphan (street name DXM...who woulda guessed it?) can be abused...as portrayed on the latest episode of INTERVENTION. i guess that's what i was going for the one time i tried to recreationally use robitussin cough syrup.
• CARL KARCHER passed away! what a bummer. i met him once; he introduced himself to me inside the elevator at st. jude's hospital in fullerton, back when my mom was there and his wife, too. super nice guy. and even tho i hate all the condiments they've put on his stuff lately, i have such fond, fond memories of western bacon cheeseburgers from back in the day. yum. may he rest in peace.
• LOVE AND ROCKETS played a little show at the key club in hollywood in december. they're also playing COACHELLA this year, along with PORTISHEAD and the usual lineup of about a hundred acts. f*&$.

go, Obama! and other things.

i'm so thrilled to hear Obama won the Iowa caucus, even tho caucusing is a pretty lame thing. i remember what i learned about caucuses in school, but still had to consult a bunch of online sources to help me get a handle on them; i tried answers.com, several dictionaries, still doesn't make a lot of sense. still, slate.com has a pretty good EXPLAINER on the subject...

what else? oh yeah, please see my creepy photos of a fred thompson supporter who has donned AMERICAN FLAG CONTACT LENSES (check the 3 Jan. 08 entry)!

ok i guess that's it for now, at least until we get back from the Bay Area. we're flying Virgin America again...

absynthe antics

or is it spelt absinthe?

anyway, we bought a swiss bottle at bevmo. man, i should've paid less attention to the wormwood and more to the STAR ANISE thing! as our friend DeRa says, "(i'm) NOT a fan." man, i hate the taste of nyquil, good and plenty's, black vines or whatever the hell they're called and jägermeister.

in any case, for $60 a litre, we tried to do it right. we bought sugar cubes and 'spring water'. we maintained the 5:1 H20 to absinthe ratio. we got a glass and used a cocktail shaker strainer to hold the sugar cube, in place of the elusive 'absinthe spoon'. we carefully doused the sugar cube with a turkey baster full of water into the glass of absinthe.

verdict?

i am STILL NOT A FAN OF BLACK JELLYBEANS. it made us warm, though.

"When diluted with water and a pinch of sugar, the absinthe’s taste is strong and pleasant. And the buzz has an odd way of focusing the mind — I’ve rarely been so entranced by the swish of a basketball net. " ---Brandon I. Koerner, New York Times

"It's as if every black jellybean we've ever thrown out came back to haunt us." ---AlSto, husband of venus

EPILOGUE: KeKi, my younger brother, bade farewell to his best friend, JoKa, this past weekend. JoKa is apparently going to the land of the rising sun for some law school shenanigans. lucky guy. in any case, my brother, who is the total antithesis of myself in terms of illegal living, informed me that they, too, had acquired a bottle of absinthe, from which all these law-abiding types partook. granted, they drank the s^*& STRAIGHT (read: no water to dilute, and no sugar), which i could not imagine in my wildest dreams. fortunately, my brother told me "i like black licorice," which made me shudder, but nonetheless reassured me, my brother's got a little subversiveness in him.

POSTSCRIPT: please check the entries on EROWID.COM regarding the legalities of this fine beverage, or ask JoKa about it in about six months or so...