Reggie Variations

Reggie Variations, originally uploaded by G C Lee.

The Reggie Variations: Sandwich

Reggie Variations

Reggie Variations, originally uploaded by G C Lee.

The Reggie Variations: Naruto

Seeing Colors

Recently, I noticed that I own a substantial amount of colored vinyl records -- most of them 45s/singles/"seven inches" -- so I thought it would be neat to snap a photo of each one and have a visual record of them all. Today, I finished up with all the 7" records I currently own (with the odd 12" thrown in for variety), and hope to start on the larger platters some time soon.

Stay classy Portland

Stay classy Portland, originally uploaded by G C Lee.

Drinking With Strangers: addendum

Butch Walker -- "Cigarette Lighter Love Song"


When I try to explain exactly what this man's music means to me, I just want to show people this clip. This is from a show in 2003 at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, between Walker's first and second albums. The place was packed with fans, and I was one of them. I will never forget this night as long as I live.
The energy is the place was amazing; and every time I listen to this version of the song (in addition to the DVD of the show, he released some of the audio from the show on a live compilation some years back) I get goosebumps whenever the audience swoops in and takes over the chorus that first time through.

Drinking With Strangers

"If you've listened to FM radio any time in the last 15 years, you've probably heard a Butch Walker song -- though you probably didn't know it at the time. In 'Drinking With Strangers,' Walker recounts his days of being a Hair Metal nobody who became a Rock Star nobody who became a songwriter and producer working with Pink, Katy Perry, Tommy Lee, and some band named Weezer. Told with all of the candor, wit, and humor one would expect from one of the Greatest American Musicians No One Has Heard Of -- this memoir is the story of playing by your own rules and winning."

This was the brief little review I wrote to help sell some copies of this book at the book store where I work. And it's about as unbiased and un-hyperbolic I can get when talking about Butch Walker -- the dude's music has meant more to me over the years than I could ever attempt to describe. I discovered the Marvelous 3's breakthrough, Hey! Album, at a time when nearly every song was like a page out of my own life; and if one of the songs didn't speak to me at the time, it soon would. From then, I've followed his career pretty closely, and the man has yet to disappoint.
And it was much the same with this book. Though a lot of the Marvelous 3 and post-M3 stuff I knew about, it was nice to get to fill in all of the details. And it was nice to read about Walker's early days in hair metal band Southgang, as well as his transitional group Floyd's Funk Revival/the Floyds. (There isn't much out there from either of these bands other than some highly-marked-up shit on Ebay.)

I don't read much non-fiction -- and I especially don't read memoirs -- so I can't judge this book on the merits of such. But I can say, if you're a fan of the guy's music, you'll dig this book. If you don't know anything of Butch Walker, I'd still say give this one a shot. If nothing else, it will be a charming bedside read.


THINGS I LEARNED WHILE READING DRINKING WITH STRANGERS

~~ Butch is cousins with the former vocalist of Savatage/Trans Siberian Orchestra

~~ Rivers Cuomo was once in a hair metal band named Zoom, whose gimmick was wearing nothing but bath towels and roller skates

~~ Walker's hair metal band Southgang was one of two bands originally signed to an upstart Charisma Records. The other was a band named Jellyfish

~~ During his early days of becoming an in-demand record producer, Butch passed on the opportunity to produce the debut of an up-and-coming band named Creed



~~ Drinking with Strangers -- Butch Walker
~~ It's So Easy, and Other Lies -- Duff McKagen
~~ Things the Grandchildren Should Know -- Mark Oliver Everett
~~ Goodnight Jim Bob -- Jim Bob
~~ See a Little Light -- Bob Mould

Summer of 89, Winter of Rock Bio

Just a few days ago, Butch Walker's book/"memoir" Drinking with Strangers hit the shelves. Being a huge fan of all things Walker puts his name on, I shouldn't have to say that I'm pretty excited about this. I'm a few pages into it right now, and it's everything I expected it to be. And that's such a good thing.


But one thing struck me while starting this book -- I have a number of "rock bio" type books (auto-bios, actually) on my shelves that I've yet to read (including the promo copy of Duff McKagan's story, which should make a nice counterpoint here); so, I'm making it a point to spend most of these coming winter months making my way through these books and hopefully writing about them here. But that last part remains to be seen.

My list, so far:

~~ Drinking with Strangers -- Butch Walker
~~ It's So Easy, and Other Lies -- Duff McKagen
~~ Things the Grandchildren Should Know -- Mark Oliver Everett
~~ Goodnight Jim Bob -- Jim Bob

Voodoo Zombie Blaxploitation

Last night, the people (or person) behind the Grindhouse Film Festival series screened the relatively unknown blaxploitation-horror gem, Sugar Hill. Not being too well-versed in blaxploitation (just like most of Portland, it would seem, given how surprised Halstead was at the crowd that showed up), this movie was unknown to me. I'm aware of some of the other entries in the hybrid genre -- Blacula, Scream Blacula Scream, Dr Black and Mr Hyde -- but again, I've never seen any of them. But much like the kung-fu films I spent years blissfully ignoring during my years of near-constant VHS scouring, opting instead to make my way through the horror section of all the video rental stores in my area -- the Grindhouse series has been slowly exposing me to some great blaxploitation films; Sugar Hill being no exception.

Like so many films of that era, and especially those that fall under the "grindhouse" banner, Sugar Hill is not without its flaws -- in acting, in the plot, in its own logic; but also like so many of those grindhouse films, that's where a lot of the film's charm comes from. It's schlocky, it's silly, it's pandering, it's kinda stupid, but it's also entertaining and fun.

If you're a fan of some of the other genres that fall under the collective grindhouse umbrella, then I do recommend this one to you. Yes -- it falls short in some areas, but the voodoo approach to the (stale, even then) zombie movie is a nice change of pace.
If you're not a fan, you can probably skip this one. Overall, it's pretty basic fare.

DSC_5633

DSC_5633, originally uploaded by G C Lee.

No Dust Here

Last night was the opening for No Dust Here, a group art show I'm taking part in. For the show, a number of artists were given old record albums and asked to reinterpret the cover(s) however they saw fit, using whatever medium they wanted. As usual, my medium was photography. Here are side-by-side comparisons of the source material (album cover) and my final submitted image:









The show runs throughout the month of August, at the Basil Hallward gallery on the third floor of Powell's City of Books. If you can, go check out it. There's some really amazing work in the show.