12/12/2009

LAST NIGHT:

White Fang
ugh...really? Has the Portland music scene really regressed this far???
It's like this band pulled together every big fad in popular white boy "indie" music and tried to mash it all together. Only they forgot the crucial element of adding something original to the mix. As it stands, this band reeks of nothing more than five guys in desperate need of attention.


Dirty Mittens
These guys (and ladies) were the surprise of the night. I've been reading a lot about this group for a while now, but had yet to see them play anywhere. They're pretty wonderful, and deserving of the praise they've been getting.





The Thermals
What else can I say? This was my fifth or sixth time seeing them, and they were in top form. They unveiled a number of new songs that have already been recorded for the next album(?!?), hit the highlights from the last two albums, and dug out some nice gems from the earlier albums. The older stuff was quite as manic or energetic as it once was, but it's still fun as hell and it holds up well.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


TODAY:

Trekked downtown for Tuba Christmas in Pioneer Square with Mike & Mark and some more of their people. It was interesting and fun, in spite of the 90+ year old conductor who had some long~winded story or another to tell between songs.

Lunch at Rock Bottom, and a jaunt around the Apple store afterwards.


Melt Banana is tonight.

10/16/2009

Apple Festival


Apple Festival, originally uploaded by iamthequarry.

Mike, Mark, Michael, T.J., Jay, and myself had a grand afternoon at the Portland Apple Festival at Portland Nursery; lunch at Laughing Planet; afterwards at Pied Cow.

A lovely day.

10/15/2009

critque



Alligator
Bridging the gap between '70s camp and '80s cheese, Alligator is 90 minutes of time well wasted. Words can not express the sheer ridiculousness of this "film."





Chained Heat
Real tits, full bush, and forced lesbianism, Chained Heat is 95 minutes of frumpy Linda Blair and bad frizzy hair. Words can not express the sheer ridiculousness of this "film."





Some Kind of Wonderful
Nothing more than Pretty in Pink with the characters' genders switched, Some Kind of Wonderful is 95 minutes of twenty-something-year-old "teenagers" and Lea Thompson refusing to emote. Words can not express how shitty and unecessary this "film" is.

Mash Tun


hidden, originally uploaded by iamthequarry.

Sunday, Vadim and I checked out the Mash Tun Brewpub on NE Alberta. It was decent, in my opinion: not awful, not wonderful. Their BLATO (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato, onion [and mayo]) sandwich was tasty; and I'm usually not much of a beer drinker, but I thought their Penfold Porter was pretty good. Though part of that could be rooted in my love for this guy.

If you're in the area, give it a shot; but I wouldn't make a special trip out to the place.

recent

Tuesday

~~ into town to kill some time before appointment with the podiatrist; realise I left all my insurance info at home; back home; back into town for appointment.

~~ per the podiatrist: all of my recent foot pain/problems stem from tight muscles and tendons which aren't giving much slack to each other. So, I have a twice~daily stretching regiment, heel elevations, orthopedic inserts, and a sleeptime brace to help ease the stress on one of the tendons of my left foot.

~~ late lunch with Mike at Kornblatt's. One day, we will catch them before the salt bagels are gone.

~~ *enormous* apple fritter from Voodoo Doughnut and quick visit with Vadim

~~ darkroom class at Newspace. Printed on fiber paper for the first time. Time consuming, but worth it.


Wednesday

~~ bus ride into SE for therapist appointment, only to be told my appointment is next week.

~~ work

~~ help out with Michael Chabon's reading/event.

~~ series of weird, random txts from some unknown number in Yakima, WA.

~~ guy at bus stop tried scamming me for/out of something; earbuds in and music playing, so didn't hear his speil or react; he walked away.

10/06/2009

all that glitters


Prince - Gold



For some reason, I've been listening to a lot of Prince recently. A lot of Prince.
Dirty Mind
Purple Rain
Around the World in a Day
The Gold Experience
Musicology
3121

over and over and over and over and over


An intervention may be needed.

pinhole pinhole spinning around...

The Pinhole Camera class yesterday was a blast! And the fact that my employer paid for it made it even better!

We spent a part of the day making the typical oatmeal-carton-pinhole.
We also had some of the instructors homemade wooden box pinholes to mess around with.


(they looked similar to this)

And then, he also brought along the bulk dry-food barrel that he had converted into a large-format (16" x 20" negs) pinhole. That was worth the price of admission alone.
But, I also pulled out a nice array of photos; most of which impressed a lot people in the class. So much so that a few of them tried to jack my style. Whatever.

As soon as I can get them scanned (well, the 4x5 images, at least; it'd probably cost a pretty penny to get the larger images scanned), I'll post'em.

Tuesday, my second round of darkroom class starts up.
Free darkroom access for a month! Yay!










* in case you missed the reference in the title, here you go

well hellooooooooooooooooo 21st Century!





If everything in the process goes through with no hitches, then this will be my new phone.
It's through AT&T, and I was able to find a deal of 450 minutes (+5000 night/weekend), 200 txts, and unlimited data (at first, I was opposed to getting a data plan, but figured I'd give it a go) for right about $60/month. Which is about $5~10 more than what I've been paying Qwest for a rather low~tier plan.

A co~worker of mine has one of these phones, and I like it a lot.

10/02/2009

the donut place




"We would love to sell you a doughnut if we happen to be open at that moment"







The first time I saw this, I thought it was the doughnut place out on Sandy Blvd.

SRSLY WANT!!!







"AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa on DVD on 12/8/09 (SRP $399, but it's available for pre-order on Amazon for just $299). This extraordinary set will come enclosed in a linen-bound box and will include an illustrated companion book. Released on the 100th anniversary of the legendary Japanese director's birth, the set will include 25 of his films on 25 DVDs - the most complete such set ever released in the U.S. - 4 of which have never been available on the DVD format in this country. Included will be:

The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Dodes'ka-den (1970), Drunken Angel (1948), The Hidden Fortress (1958), High and Low (1963), I Live in Fear (1955), The Idiot (1951), Ikiru (1952), Kagemusha (1980), The Lower Depths (1957), Madadayo (1993), The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945 - new to DVD), The Most Beautiful (1944 - new to DVD), No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), One Wonderful Sunday (1947), Rashomon (1951), Red Beard (1965), Sanjuro (1962), Sanshiro Sugata (1943 - new to DVD), Sanshiro Sugata, Part II (1944 - new to DVD), Scandal (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), Stray Dog (1949), Throne of Blood (1957) and Yojimbo (1961)

Each of these films is presented with a restored digital transfer, with audio in the original Japanese and English subtitles. The companion book features an introduction and notes on each of the films by Stephen Prince (The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa) and a remembrance by Donald Richie (The Films of Akira Kurosawa)."




If you loved me, you'd buy me this.

one wonderful movie





One Wonderful Sunday (Subarashiki Nichiyōbi)
An early, nearly unknown (in the US) film by Akira Kurosawa. One of the first post-war films of his career, and one of the first that wasn't nationalist pap churned out at the behest of the Japanese film studios. It tells the story of two young lovers spending their weekly Sunday together (the one day a week they get to see each other), with barely 35 yen between them. It's an incredibly simple tale and an incredibly simple movie with some incredibly complex characters and performances.
It's one of the best films I've seen in a number of years; and one of the only films in recent memory that has engaged me enough to make it through in one complete, uninterrupted sitting.

It's not really representative of what Kurosawa would go on to do, and go on to become, with his samurai epics and odd retellings of Shakespeare; but it's definitely a wonderful introduction to the man if you don't know him, and almost necessary viewing by fans and admirers.

a proper return



It's been out for nearly a year, but last night I finally got around to watching Return to Sleepaway Camp -- a direct sequel to the fantastic Sleepaway Camp, written & directed by series originator Robert Hiltzik. In his sequel, the events of the former sequels (Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland) never happened and Peter/Angela has been locked in an asylum for 20 years.
So...no Bruce Springsteen's sister, no murder-by-outhouse, no weird character name in-jokes. Just a straighforward sequel to a movie that was made nearly 30 years ago. And, surprisingly, it's not that bad. As could be expected from a low-budget, direct to DVD horror flick, it stumbles here and there; but all in all, it succeeds. Obviously, it couldn't capture the magic that's found in the original, but -- much like the sequels before it -- Return to Sleepaway Camp isn't trying to be the original. It's simply a welcome new entry in a franchise that's been dormant for far too long.




everybody's looking




This has been filling my ears for days now.

so pretty~heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...




This was the last song I listened to on my way to work this morning; so it follows that it's been stuck in my head for the past 8 hours.

F U Q

Dear Qwest wireless,

Did you really need to cut off my service just to make me call you just so that you could tell me that Qwest was discontinuing their wireless service at the end of October -- the same thing you've been sending me letters and email about since January?

9/24/2009

Criminally Underappreciated: 'Love is for Suckers'

twisted sister -Hot love




I've been listening to Love is for Suckers -- the ill-fated Twisted Sister swansong -- a lot these days. I've never quite understood why it's taken such a beating over the years.
Is it a good metal album? No.
Is it a metal album at all? No.
Is it a good pop album? Yes.
Is it a great pop album? Yes!
Considering that it was originally intended to be a Dee Snider solo album, recorded with studio musicians, it's really unfair to judge it as a Sister record. The style/sound is unlike anything they had released before, but that's because it was an entirely different band who recorded it. Supposedly the record company wanted it to be released as a Twisted Sister record, so the other band member's names and faces were placed in the liner notes and that was that. There was one single released that went nowhere.
A decent video made.
A brief tour to support it.
And that was it.

Well, until all the various reunions here and there, leading to the full-scale reunion a few years back. But that's another beast all together.

Filled

So much wrapped up in the past two days, it's ridiculous:

~~ Chris Onstad in quasi~Victorian garb and Tony Millionaire as God at Powell's Books: sipping on Budweiser, yelling at fans, and making everyone in their vicinity enjoy themselves and the experience. Regardless of what you might think of their individual work, they are incredibly nice, grounded, approachable guys with personality and wit for days.


Tony Millionaire is God



~~ Met/talked to Wally Lamb, of all people. He was in town as part of the Portland Arts & Lectures series and came in the store in the afternoon to sign some books. He's also an incredibly nice man.

~~ Yummy katsudon for lunch from Samurai Bento.

~~ Last Thursday on Alberta with Mike, and a brief cameo from Mark. Crowds, electronica DJ with a Spinner for a face, an incredible slice and a decent beer (coming from someone who doesn't really like beer) at Al Forno Ferruzza, PB&J thumbprint cookies from a couple of cigarette girls from the 1920s, this thing, untrained fire juggler losing control of his flaming nunchuks and hitting a girl in the crowd, etc.



Weekend, you're next!

9/22/2009

Computer Blue

Finally...

I now have a full (14 minute) version of "Computer Blue" ~~ a song Prince ultimately cut down to 4 minutes for the Purple Rain soundtrack.

I also have four other versions, of varying length from 7 minutes to 13 minutes, of the above song.
As well as 26 minute "remix" of "I Would Die 4 U."


9/21/2009

MFNW09

Day One

Wednesday night was fun, but kind of a bust.
It was my night to take care of the volunteer duties (I may very well have been the only volunteer that night...I was definitely the only one working the door. But there may have been some volunteer stagehands and whatnot); so at least I was able to get those out of the way up front, leaving me with the rest of the festival free and open in front of me.

Everyone I worked next to/around ~~ from both Wilamette Week and Berbati's (where the show was) ~~ was super cool. Some of the people coming through the door were a bit dickish, but nothing out of hand. All in all, it was an easy, breezy night.

I got to listen to the show in the background, but was usually having to focus on what was going on in front of me to pay much attention to the bands. I don't remember anything about Fences, so I guess they didn't impress me much. The Portland Cello Project sounded nice and interesting, and had the biggest draw of the night. I may check them out sometime, but no rush. Damian Jurado sounded lovely, as could be expected. And Will Sheff sounded alright, though a bit too country~fried for my taste at the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day Two

Thursday night was truly the first day of the Musicfest ~~ an incredible number of incredible bands spread throughout some incredible venues in an incredible city.

Some bands I missed:
Helio Sequence
Girltalk
Explosions in the Sky
Frightened Rabbit
the Dirty Three
Cymbals Eat Guitars

Bands I caught:

Ah Holly Fam'ly
I caught the last 1.5 songs of their set. They sounded fun, but a bit too hillbilly for me.

Tu Fawning
Husband and wife team Joe Haege and Corrina Repp (he of 31 Knots; she, a "maker of quiet music" according to wikipedia) make a rather astounding team. His musical and songwriting chops combined with her heartstopping voice are a perfect match. Add two more musicians to help beef up the sound and flesh out the corners, and you have the juggernaut that is Tu Fawning. I'm glad I was finally able to catch these folks' live show. I've been coveting their E.P. for months now.
Hopefully those outside of Portland will catch the fire soon because I seriously believe these people can go places I've never dreamed of. However, that's bound to take Haege away from 31 Knots, if only temporarily, which I wouldn't be too happy to see happen.

The Depreciation Guild
I got to the Doug Fir a bit earlier than expected, so ended up catching a set by these guys. It was a nice surprise, and encapsulated everything I love about something like Musicfest NW ~~ there's enough of a mix of "big" established acts and more obscure, up and coming bands. By going to check out the former, you're usually exposed to the latter. And occasionally, that can be wonderful.
The Depreciation Guild's sound harkens back to mid~career Cure (think "Friday I'm in Love" and such; or, more recently, something along the lines of Black Kids' Wizard of Aahhhhs EP), with a bit of My Bloody Valentine thrown in for good measure. There's also a number of bleeps and bloops programmed throughout to add some nice depth and variety to what could easily become a generic hipster throwoff.



The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Taking the blueprint laid down by Belle & Sebastian, and not so much reinventing it but simply remodeling it, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart are quickly making Twee "cool" again. And seeing as how Twee is one of my (many?) musical guilty pleasures, I'm certainly not complaining.
As a live band, they're solid. Very solid. So solid that they sound nearly identical to their studio output. However, in this case, that's quite alright.



I ended up having to cut this last set a bit short so I could catch the 12:45am bus back home, rather than running across the bridge after the show to try and catch the final bus out of downtown at 1:30am. Missing that one would have meant that I was royally screwed, so I didn't press my luck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day Three

After the previous two days of concerts, usually mixed with work or other engagements, I was bit worn down by Friday evening. And so, I decided to sit out on the Arctic Monkeys show, rest up a bit, and head into town a little later than originally planned.

First up, I had planned on catching Karl Blau at Backspace.
But unbeknownst to me, he decided to switch places with the other bands and went on at 8pm rather than the 10pm that was listed on the schedule. Which meant I had to suffer through No Kids set, the whole time wondering (yet again) why I go to shows at Backspace. It's not a live music venue, and the crowd that it normally pulls are mostly the borderline-Aspie kids who go out to one social function a year, and as such, have no idea how to properly function in such a setting. Case in point: last night, the first 50 ft. or so in front of the stage was completely wasted by people sitting on the floor, which caused everyone else to be crammed into the back of the club or crowded near the front, which made movement from one end to the other nearly impossible.

So, since I didn't get to catch Karl Blau, I headed over (for the third night in a row) to Berbati's where I caught most of Rocky Votolato's set. He's enjoyable and somewhat folky. He'd make a nice touring compliment to Steve Poltz.

After his set, I settled in for Viva Voce -- one of the bands I was most excited to see this weekend. It'd been quite some time since I'd last seen them, and this would be the first time seeing them perform after adding the two other members to the fold. Despite horrible sound (something kept causing horrible feedback throughout the set), they put on a great show. I've been a bit trepidatious about picking up their latest album, mostly due to the additions to the band. As a duo, they were capabale of making some absolutely fantastic music (The Heat Can Melt Your Brain continues to hold its ground as one of my favorite albums of the decade, if not of all time), so I was weary of what the "full band version" would sound like. If last night's set was any indication, I had nothing to worry about.

After their set was over, I had planned on sticking around for the Long Winters. But I was exhausted and my feet and back were aching, so I called it an early night and came home.







Some bands I missed on Friday night:
Mount Eerie
Sunny Day Real Estate
the Zeros
Mudhoney
Pink Moutaintops
the Prids
Bad Brains
Strength

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day Four

It's a good thing I didn't have plans to go out on Sunday night, because Saturday took nearly everything I had left.

Mariachi el Bronx
Meh.
If there could ever be such a thing as a vanity project for a hardcore band, Mariachi el Bronx is such a thing. Hitting the stage 35 minutes after the scheduled start time with a frontman who seemed visibly fucked up, Mariachi el Bronx played a decent, if underwhelming, set...of a bunch of SoCal white boys (and one Hispanic gal ~~ to add authenticity, I suppose) playing fairly traditional mariachi music. Only with English lyrics.

The Bronx
The regular day jobs of Mariachi el Bronx, minus the lady. Loud, fast, crazy, volatile insanity. Everything one could expect from such a band as the Bronx. Though, it was a bit too loud.
The Wonder Ballroom is a great venue with wonderful acoustics ~~ which means that a band doesn't need to play very loud to be heard. However, with a band such as the Bronx, the acoustics only increase the already amped up volume: making it loud enough to be indecipherable. Add to that a soundman who increases the already~too~loud volume and you're left with an experience that, while fun, is incredibly painful.

Fucked Up
Much like with the Bronx, Fucked Up's set was fun and insane and too damn loud to really process.
Randy made it up from visiting family in Salem, but forgot his wristband at home, so he was a bit late. He kept asking me if I wanted to get further up in the crowd (like most homos, he was obviously wanting a piece of Pink Eyes ~~ who, in wonderful form, spent quite a bit of time baiting the bear~friendly audience), but I was fine to stand in the back of the room, far from the maddening speakers.
Like last year's performance at Satyricon, Fucked Up put on a wonderful show. It's always nice to see a band who appreciates its fans as much as Fucked Up seems to. However, given the size of the Wonder Ballroom, and the fact that for a free all~ages show in the middle of the day the place wasn't even half~full, the level of energy and magic wasn't nearly as high as it was last time they were in town. But nonetheless, it was well worth it.


"Rub yourselves together 'til the magic comes out!"


Jealous Butcher Records showcase
Randy and I headed over to Slabtown after the Fucked Up show.
We were present for sets by both Jeff London and Arch Cape, but between games of pinball and plates of bar food, I don't think either of us were paying much attention. Both bands sounded good, but I can't really make a judgement call one way or the other.
Since he had to wake up far too early the next morning to take his sister to the airport, Randy decided to call it a night just as I settled in for a rollicking set by The Valiant Arms. Over the past year or so, the guys (and girl) have quickly become one of my favorite Portland bands. Not only because bass player Diane Rios is one of the sweetest people I know, but also because the band has a spirit that's contagious, and incredibly sound and solid songwriting chops. They fired through a great, short and sweet set that was definitely a highlight of the weekend.

I had planned on closing out the weekend with a performance by Portland metallers Red Fang, but between a severe headache, ears that were still ringing from the time at the Wonder Ballroom, and a steadily approaching 9am start time for work the next morning, I threw in the towel and called it a night, and a weekend.

Some other bands I missed:
Panther
John Vanderslice
Beach House
Black Francis
Riverboat Gamblers
Dillinger Four
Team Dresch
Trash Talk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I look forward to MFNW 2010.

9/14/2009

Soviet Pooh




Winnie the Pooh, that is.


I have a feeling this would be even more adorable if I could translate it.

MFNW09



MFNW volunteer tshirt? check!
MFNW wristband? check!
MFNW sampler CD? check!




CD tracklisting, for anyone interested


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Also, I've made a rough draft of my MFNW itinerary, in case anyone else is heading out that weekend.

Wednesday
Fences
Portland Cello Project
Damian Jurado
Will Sheff (of Okkervil River)
[I'm actually helping out at the door for this one, so I'll probably just be listening in from the front, but there is the slim possibility that I will be relieved during the night and just might be able to actually see Jurado's set.]

Thursday
Tu Fawning
the Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Friday
the Arctic Monkeys
Karl Blau
Viva Voce

Saturday
Mariachi el Bronx
the Bronx
Fucked Up (I'm so excited about seeing these guys [and girl] again)
the Valiant Arms
John Vanderslice
Red Fang

and Sunday night is just the Glacial Pace Records showcase/ Modest Mouse show, and I'm not really interested in that.


Again, this is just a draft. Some bands will probably get added to the list, and depending on crowds/locations, some of the above may get missed altogether.
If'n you're interested, the full schedule is here.

9/12/2009



Song: A+
Video: B-

flash cards



via toothpastefordinner.com

branded on the brain




via everythingisterrible.com

Saturday night

What I missed:





Pansy Division
w/ the Avengers, Paul Collins Beat
at Dante's

I think I could have managed a ticket for this show (I think it was $12 or so), but I knew if I went I'd easily blow my financial wad on merch at the show. And seeing as how I'm in the infancy of getting my finances wrangled up and in line, spending the money-that-I-need-to-stretch-through-the-week all in one place wouldn't have been the best decision.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






Cry Baby
at the Laurelhurst

This one's towards the bottom of the John Waters list for me, so I'm not too bummed about missing it. Still, it would have been fun. Maybe.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






Stone
at the Bagdad

Australian biker-sploitation film from the 70s. I'd never heard of this one until I saw the poster for it outside the Bagdad a few days ago. Sounds interesting, but probably more interesting to those more interested in biker culture than I am. Though, I guess it could have served as a great appetizer to this upcoming main course.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


What I did:





Dead Snow
at the Hollywood Theatre

An ode to Evil Dead (with a bit of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Friday the 13th, April Fool's Day, Halloween, Leprechaun....seriously, half of this film is for horror geeks to play 'Spot the Influence"), only replacing the demonic woodland spirits with a horde of Nazi Zombies. It's fun and silly and ridiculously gory. It's not gold by any means, but much like Black Sheep, it's a perfect way to shut your brain off for a few hours and watch people getting their intestines pulled out (usually for comedic effect).

9/09/2009

What? Me cultured???

Growing up in the culturally-void wasteland of Mobile, AL (which seems to be slowly changing, from what my mom tells me), I spent a good deal of the last ten years of my time there trying to seek out new and interesting things, and glean some sort of self curated education of culture.
Music seems to have come first: heading out to as much live, local music as I could; reading musician interviews and articles to find out about old bands that were then unheard of to me; trading music with people; taking more chance on unknown bands.
Then Literature: college mostly oversaw that one, though I did occasionally try to lose myself among the shelves at the local city library (which is how I chanced to stumble upon Murakami).
Then Film: working in multiple video stores; scouring all the Criterion editions from the library's DVD collection; heading out to every indie/artsy movie I was able to, no matter how tedious.

And now, it seems as if my brain has finally made it's way around to an interest in Art.
First, there was this book.
And then this one.*
And tonight, I picked up this one. I don't know why I got a bug up my ass about Impressionism all of a sudden, it just happened.
We'll see what comes next. Probably Theater.



*This is not accounting for my Mick Rock, Nicholas Zinner, or David Horovitz photography books. I file those under Music.

more comics, 'n' shit

Next on the list for the Graphic Novel Book Club is:




Transmetropolitan, vol 1 -- from Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. As far as I know, I've yet to read anything from Ellis, but Robertson is artist for The Boys which I've been reading pretty steadily in the trade collections.




The King -- Rich Koslowski. I don't know much about this one, either; other than it's about an Elvis impersonater in Las Vegas.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



In other such news, I recently picked up a copy of Yoshihiro Tatsumi's A Drifting Life. I'm really anxious to start this one, but I have a few novels and other comics that have been sitting around waiting for attention, so it will probably be a few weeks before I can dig in to this tome.


[Though...I'm still trying to figure out this picture...]