Sunday morning points of interest… to me

It’s a gorgeous morning…  sun is shining, the temperature is mild and we are up and moving for the day.

I’ve been totally hooked and reeled in by Guided By Voices.  It’s pathetic how easily I crush on a band.  According to some early playcounts via my iScrobbler plug-in and my iTunes playcounts, I’ll be way over 400 plays in only 5 days.  Granted, GbV songs are short (routinely clocking in at under 3 minutes), but that’s insane.  And, yes, I’ve listened to  every one of them.  That doesn’t count the The Best Of Guided By Voices: Human Amusements At Hourly Rates CD I made for the car.

If you don’t already.  Get an Emusic account.  Don’t be silly.  DRM free music, gobs of indie  bands, and downloads you get to keep, no subscription crap.  I have the 90 songs per month deal.  $9.99.  How can you beat that?  That breaks down to $0.11 a song.

I’ll be back online a bit later with something else to babble about.  Enjoy your Sunday morning.  May it be joyous, complete with pancakes, bacon and your choice of coffee or tea. 

March 25th, 2007 Posted by John | General | no comments

What the hell?

Okay, someone needs to explain this to me.

I just read the book mentioned in the blog entry below. It was excellent, and I really enjoyed it. Because of the last few chapters of the book, I felt compelled to give Guided By Voices a listen.

On a lark, I browsed through my iTunes library, and noticed that I had the Earthquake Glue album. How did I never listen to this? I checked the play counts for all the tracks, and it became apparent that I listened to the whole album, straight through, once. That’s it. And that was over a year ago. I guess I was enraptured by another band or another genre at the time, because it totally escapes me why I didn’t stop dead in my tracks and have my jaw drop to the floor upon listening. It is that good.

It’s got the energy of punk… short, catchy high tempo songs. Ramones without Joey’s droning. Lots of harmony. Guitar hooks out the wazoo. Each song is excellent, and there’s fifteen. FIFTEEN songs, and not one sucks. FIFTEEN songs, and each one is really good. Apparently, Robert Pollard really is a genius.

Someone really needs to explain to me why this always happens to me. This happened with Portishead, too. Maybe I just wasn’t ready. Maybe it rubbed me the wrong way during my first listen. Maybe I was binging on something so different that I couldn’t fully grasp this album the first time through.

All those indie-rock know-it-alls were 100% correct. GBV rocks. And not in a subtle way, either. So, chalk up another belated crush on a band. They say it’s never too late.

So, now I’m off to Emusic to kill my monthly download allowance on everything GBV I can get my grubby hands on.

March 22nd, 2007 Posted by John | General | no comments

Perfect from now on… how indie rock saved my life, and how this book helped me pass the time. :)

Okay… time off from work has allowed me to do something I haven’t done in too long… read. I had a gift card for Barnes and Noble for $20. Not having to justify a purchase is a good thing, so using the gift card for an “impulse buy” felt like the right thing.

I spent nearly 45 minutes scanning around our local B&N. Did I mention that it sucks, the stock is always low, and the staff usually has no clue what is on the shelves, or how to look things up on their computers? That being said, it isn’t hard to surmise that finding something to read can be a hassle. That shelf with “Staff Favorites” or “Staff Suggestions” is almost always empty, and if there’s something there, it’s a NY Times Bestseller, so why bother?

Somehow, I stumbled on a “Pop Culture” table with a ton of books strewn about. A few seemed semi-interesting. Then I noticed “Perfect From Now On” and realized that was a album title I was familiar with (Built to Spill, anyone?). So, obviously my curiosity was piqued. The subtitle of the book roped me in: “How Indie Rock Saved My Life”. How could I not buy this book?

After thumbing through, I realized this author was like my evil twin. Okay, maybe not evil, and certainly not a twin, but we shared a similar obsessive passion for music. So I took it to the counter and produced my shiny gift card.

One week later, I’m done. After reading, and in some cases rereading, I can honestly say that I’ve lead a parallel life of musical appreciation.

Anyone that reads this should immediately go online, to their local bookstore or library and get it… People who are obsessive about music will immediately identify with the narrative. People who aren’t obsessive about music will get a unique look into the mind and soul of a man who’s life is possessed by the sounds of his favorite artists.

Can you see why I loved it?

March 20th, 2007 Posted by John | General | no comments

Okay… it’s been a while.

I haven’t updated this blog in an eternity. Mainly due to my weird work hours and excessive overtime, I hadn’t been able to do much outside of work, eat, sleep and spend the remaining time with my wife and son.

Well, that problem has been solved! I’m now unemployed, so I’ve got oodles of time to kill, and no money to use in the process. So, it works like this: work endlessly, have money you can’t spend; have no work, time to spend money, but no money to spend. Great stuff, isn’t it?

I’ll be adding content here more often, as time will allow. Enjoy.

March 6th, 2007 Posted by John | General | no comments