Archive for September 2002

I love the new Flaming Lips record.  John bought the LP.  There’s a song on there that freaks me out because it sounds like I’m singing harmonies, but of course I’m not.  It’s the first song on side B, "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell." I mentioned it to John and Patrick one night, and it freaked both of them out too.  It’s really uncanny… it sounds like my voice, and it’s also exactly the same notes I would have sung if I’d been there.  So if they come to town and need a backup singer for that tune, well…!!!  :-)

You can hear the whole album on their website for free, btw.  I recommend it highly.

There are more comments on this blog (332) than there are actual entries (306, not including this one).  I think that’s pretty neato!!  Of course half the comments are my own, but still.  That even includes the discography entries, which shouldn’t even really count.  Oh, that reminds me I need to remove the "discography" link in the banner since it’s all down here now.

Looks like my iBook might be speeding it way back to me very soon.  Here’s what it says on their repair-status page; the most recent activity is on top…
    09/04/2002 09:55:00 PT Unit in Repair
    09/04/2002 09:42:00 PT Unit Received
    09/03/2002 08:20:00 PT Request Acknowledged
When it comes back I’m going to run circles around it, barking like a dog!!

Napster is officially dead and buried, courtesy of the RIAA and other heavyweights of the entertainment racket industry.  Check out their front page and the one link to the dead-kitty picture.  This makes me very sad.  Sure wish they could’ve made it work somehow… it was a brilliant idea that really did change the whole landscape of music.  For me, it was the introduction to a whole new way of finding old tunes and new friends.  It rejuvenated my love for music and got me into all kinds of bands I’d never heard of before.  And it led me to Audiogalaxy, which of course has also been severely hampered, if not killed, by the same evil forces that drove Napster to its grave.

Long live Napster!!!!!  Long live Audiogalaxy!!!!!  P2P for the masses!!!!

Couple-a new blogs to point out, over on your right-side menubar there.  Firstly we have my pal Chad Merritt, the charming leader of the band St. Mary’s.  I always owe him 25 e-mails and today is no exception especially since all my mail is stuck on my laptop which is in… Texas?  God knows.  Wherever they send those things to be fixed.

Secondly and lastly, we have young master Tim Ford, the drummer in John Whitney’s band, and lots of other bands too.  You may recall the last time I publically tore somebody a new asshole for not using the BCC field?  That was him. Thank god he had a sense of humor about it.  He even wrote about it in his blog, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.

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…has just been posted!  Sorry for the 11-hour delay.  I’m totally useless without my Mac, so please let me know if I screwed it up (again).

Last week’s song was "Trappelzakboogie" by Drie Kleine Kleuters.  I have no knowledge of what it is, where it came from, or even what it means; your guess is as good as mine!  I do know it’s weird, and funny, and pretty catchy.  I have a whole playlist of songs performed by psychotic rodents.

I have always admired Prince.  I respect him as a musician, as a composer and performer, and as a person of great insight and conviction on his opinions of the music industry.  Now he’s written a(nother) excellent commentary on the so-called piracy of music. Read it here if you’re interested.  He’s been bitching about the major labels for awhile now, eh?  And people used to laugh and call him names, but a lot of us fellow musicians knew he was right all along.

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Hello, I’m typing on my PC now.  I finally took my iBook in for service… went to the Apple store in Woodfield mall, it felt like deja vu.  I knew exactly where I was, the only thing missing was the crowd of 1500 geeks! I found the store, told them I was dropping off the laptop, and was marched back to their Genius Bar to speak to a Mac Genius.  That’s what they call their help desk people!  I remembered that from before, but it cracked me up anyway.  I refrained from asking the guy about his actual IQ but I really wanted to.  So, the Genius was another one of those Perfect Nordic Young Men.  Mmmm mmm mmm.  I got so upset about leaving my laptop, the guy had to wrestle me down to the floor and pry it from my hands as I cried mercy.  Just kidding!  I was cool, I left it with no fuss or tears.  I’ll have it back by Fedex next week at the latest, hopefully sooner.

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From Yahoo! News: Queen Victoria illegitimate?

A book to be published this week says that Queen Victoria may have been illegitimate, possibly undermining the whole Royal Family’s legitimacy <…>

Rian and Lisa came over for dinner tonight (last night I mean).  John grilled up some salmon steaks for the occasion.  It was cool.  I think it went okay… I mean, we don’t party like we used to but it was nice to sit around and talk, and play them some stuff.  We showed them Johnny Lingo, that Mormon video thing I talked about here last Wednesday.  That’s always a big hit, you can’t go wrong with that one.  I played them the Sigmatropic song-snippets I’d worked on, they liked that a lot. John played them some stuff he’d done, and we deejayed a bunch of other tunes while we sat around.  I hope it was at least slightly fun for them, and worth the trip up here.  I know every moment spent with friends is important even if it might seem a little ho-hum at times.  We’d probably all rather be alone at home messing with our toys (whatever the toys may be) but that’s not exactly what memories are made of, is it.  Shit!!  I forgot to take their picture!!

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