Whitney, Texas arrived from google.com on "goodbye wren" by searching for how to get rid of wrens taking over porch.
17:59:27 -- 5 hours 5 mins ago
--
Do you know what, Whitney, Texas? The best way to deal with this is to spread some seed and then go fuck off.
28 June 2009
25 June 2009
FREE BUCKET / FREE DVD (RIDGE WOOD)
Since having recently moved to Ridgewood myself, I feel fictions and nons colliding, blending some real things with some characters as I slowly myself become Hamdy Bey. I had some things to get rid of following my move.
new york craigslist > queens > free stuff
FREE BUCKET / FREE DVD (RIDGE WOOD)
Hell this is Hamdy Bey I have two item which I must get rid of ASAP!
I have a bucket which is quite deep. I don't know how many gallon. But it deep enough to drown a baby according to the picture. But the picture also says don't use it for that so I don't really know what it's good for.
I have a DVD of Unbreakable. It is deep enough to drown a baby, too. It might have a warning against that also in that FBI message in the beginning !
Email me and tell me when you want to take one or both. Try to take both if you want so I don't have to meet so much people in the same day !! You could put DVD in the bucket to make it easy to carrying. You can see a scale it is smaller than most of trees. (SEE PIX)
FREE BUCKET
FREE DVD OF UNBREAKABLE
CARLOS: Does this come with a free baby to drown or must I supply my own?
HAMDY BEY: you will have to find one or mores !!
PATRICK: So can I put water in this bucket? I also have pigeons. Can this bucket hold birdseed? What has this bucket had in it while in your possession?
HB: you could fill it with anything the options are endless !! no HOLES in the bucket. very new.it once held paste for a wallpaper design of a FOREST ! please to rinse it before you do something like eat a cereal from it?
P: Goood. Very good. I might wanna get this for my grandson. He loves animals, so he has all those pigeons and I wanna get them away from my house because they keep shitting all over my nice farmer’s porch. He wants me to get some cows soon. You think we could milk the cows into this bucket?
HB: you could put a lotta milk into it. i had a friend come visit from the army and he says it is almost worth 5 gallons! then get the cereal direct in it. do you want to pick it up ??
P: Well does it matter if the milk is pasteurized or not? Because like I said its for my grandson and I wanna make sure that it’s not gonna go to waste if I go pick it up for my Grandson Rusty. I am a real good pah, Rusty’s grampa… We have an oh kee pah.
HB: milk in any flavor is the best kind of it to have in a bucket. your worries are understandable but it will be a gift of love !
23 June 2009
Compendium of peculiarities, p2
Here are some weird things that I've seen or have had happen to me in the last couple of weeks.
- A guy on 42nd Street was sitting on the step of a building reading the novelization of the movie "The Astronaut's Wife"
- At 2:00 am for the last two nights, a motorcycle has pulled into the driveway of the house next to mine. After it gets turned off, a radio blares classic rock for hours. I looked out the window to see the culprit and there was a big junkyard dog sitting on the motorcycle, which leads me to believe we have a werewolf.
- A girl at the taco stand smiled admiringly at me as I walked by on Wyckoff Avenue, presumably because I was singing Coheed.
- A woman at K Mart asked the cashier very urgently what the return policy was. She was buying a matching set of underwear.
- I took a stool on the train so I could have something to stand on while I painted. Instead of carrying it around, I just sat down on it. Everyone who got on the train looked momentarily shocked that I was somehow sitting down, including, I think, Orhan Pamuk. He looked like him, and he got on at 110th Street which is around where he used to live.
- A Satmar Orthodox girl gazed longingly at the gold medal I was wearing, so I blew her a kiss. I won the medal for running in a marathon six years earlier. I only had it with me because I was packing up things from my parents' house and I had put it around my neck instead of into a box.
- A man was wearing a shirt with gentle designs of paisleys, spray paint cans, and dollar signs. It was at that moment I fully grasped the elements that make life worth living.
- In the Rockaways, a hipster girl wearing very skimpy gold shorts got catcalled by a dirty-looking local guy on a bike and they proceeded to argue very seriously about who was trashier. In this instance, I must side with Dirty Guy.
DIRTY GUY: Ey, nice ass!
HIPSTER GIRL: Yer trash!
DIRTY GUY: Nehhh, you ahh!
HIPSTER GUY: Dude. What the FUCK.
- The cashier at the deli commented that I have good taste in sandwiches.
- I saw 15 or so cop cars follow a crowd of cyclists down Bedford Avenue.
- Moments later at McCarren Park, an angry babushka sitting on a bench rambled talking to no one for as long as I was present. She didn't have a cell phone or bluetooth anywhere that I could see.
- I saw a guy wait a good 10 minutes at 168th Street A station, only to take it one stop down to 163rd Street. The only thing I can think of is that maybe he forget all of his babies at the McDonalds back at 168th, and got off as soon as he realized.
21 June 2009
The collapse of 493 Myrtle Avenue
So a building decided to collapse in Ft. Greene today! The address was 493 Myrtle Avenue, though it's also being reported as the empty lot at 495 Myrtle in error in a couple of places that I've seen.
Let's see what we've got here. A building housing the Vesper Bar as well some dwelling units came tumbling down. Apparently a few people got hurt but no one was killed. So in the hopes that our near-victims might check the internet and look up the place where they were almost crushed to death due to absurd negligence, here is some great evidence for you to use, straight from the official NYC Department of Buildings website. This kind of research was once my job, so you can go ahead and take me at least a little seriously. It is, however, just my interpretation of the information available to the public from the city so I make no guarantee to the perfection of my narrative.
What you should know is that an ECB Violation is an "Environmental Control Board" Violation. It doesn't have anything to do with the environment in green-speak, but rather with the physical environment of the city. It's distinct from a standard Department of Buildings violation in that it's handled by a different bureau, generally more severe (though you could just get an ECB for something like letting your building's alarm blast all night), it has a big fine associated, and it requires a court date to resolve. ECB Court is nothing like civil or criminal courts. You just sit down with a judge and discuss it with them directly or through your representative. Though the resolving of the problem may be tough, getting up and going to this court to do what is required of you is very, very easy. And if you don't do it you're likely to get slapped with further fines.
It's been a while since I've been working on a building that has gotten hit with an ECB while it was already under my care so I don't know exactly how they are delivered, but they're a big deal and they're not subtle about it. It's really unlikely that you could claim ignorance and say you didn't receive it. At the very least, it would be mailed to the owner. Plus in this case it came with a Stop Work Order for some nonsense they were doing in the backyard which is a big sticker prominently stuck on the front door or window of the building in question.
Here's our narrative.
Way back in 1988, the "Romanian Garden" (presumably the future site of the Vesper Bar) constructed exterior stairs from the first to third floor without getting a permit. Weird, but probably not too notable to this case, other than the disregard for regulations. It was 20 years ago though, and it was done under prior ownership. But it's worth at least mentioning.
The first report of complaints came in 9/23/1997, when a complaint of cracks from the 2nd to top floor was report along with a description of "shaking and vibrating." Inspector IWI, Badge Number 0427 inspected two days later and reported that there were no cracks, and the building was not shaking at the time of inspection.
Despite this report, the building ownership was served with an ECB Violation stating a hazardous condition with the brick parapet leaning. By the records, they never addressed the ECB violation, never paid the $800 fine, and never attended the court date.
Skip ahead 10 years, into the hands of the current ownership which states here that they bought the building in 2006. On 8/15/2008, they received another ECB Violation for having build a backyard patio that blocked fire egress. Silly! They didn't pay their $6,000 fine and ignored the court date again.
There was a big inspection on 5/01/09, prior to which they must have just said, "Alright, alright! You got us! We'll take care of the egress problem!" So they built a fire escape without getting a construction permit. Work Without a Permit is a big deal to the Dept. of Buildings and they put a Stop Work Order very visibly on your main door. There are huge fines associated with it (up to 11x the estimated cost of the work), and just more and more problems if you ignore it and do the work anyway.
When Inspector Number 2333 swung by to take a look at that fire escape issue, he also noticed the SERIOUS CRACK THROUGH THE BUILDING not just on the outside, but also on the inside wall!
Last but not least, as some articles have quoted people as saying workers had been patching the crack for weeks, there are ZERO jobs filed at this address for any reason, much less to address a major structural issue that probably would have required a Structural Engineer's oversight. A four-story crack in your building is definitely not in the range of the simple maintenance work allowable without a permit, especially given the history of the saggy parapet.
How cute: the building collapsed on 6/21/09 sheered right along that crack, and not that it would have mattered given the ownership's consistent failure to attend their court dates, but their time to address the problem was scheduled for 6/22/09, bright and early at 8:30 AM.
I hope this helps out anyone with interest in this case! If anyone is looking to hire someone for this sort of research within NYC's five boroughs, you can go ahead and send me an email. I've got years of experience and, as you can see, I can parse through this kind of data into a logical progression of events.
Let's see what we've got here. A building housing the Vesper Bar as well some dwelling units came tumbling down. Apparently a few people got hurt but no one was killed. So in the hopes that our near-victims might check the internet and look up the place where they were almost crushed to death due to absurd negligence, here is some great evidence for you to use, straight from the official NYC Department of Buildings website. This kind of research was once my job, so you can go ahead and take me at least a little seriously. It is, however, just my interpretation of the information available to the public from the city so I make no guarantee to the perfection of my narrative.
What you should know is that an ECB Violation is an "Environmental Control Board" Violation. It doesn't have anything to do with the environment in green-speak, but rather with the physical environment of the city. It's distinct from a standard Department of Buildings violation in that it's handled by a different bureau, generally more severe (though you could just get an ECB for something like letting your building's alarm blast all night), it has a big fine associated, and it requires a court date to resolve. ECB Court is nothing like civil or criminal courts. You just sit down with a judge and discuss it with them directly or through your representative. Though the resolving of the problem may be tough, getting up and going to this court to do what is required of you is very, very easy. And if you don't do it you're likely to get slapped with further fines.
It's been a while since I've been working on a building that has gotten hit with an ECB while it was already under my care so I don't know exactly how they are delivered, but they're a big deal and they're not subtle about it. It's really unlikely that you could claim ignorance and say you didn't receive it. At the very least, it would be mailed to the owner. Plus in this case it came with a Stop Work Order for some nonsense they were doing in the backyard which is a big sticker prominently stuck on the front door or window of the building in question.
Here's our narrative.
Way back in 1988, the "Romanian Garden" (presumably the future site of the Vesper Bar) constructed exterior stairs from the first to third floor without getting a permit. Weird, but probably not too notable to this case, other than the disregard for regulations. It was 20 years ago though, and it was done under prior ownership. But it's worth at least mentioning.
The first report of complaints came in 9/23/1997, when a complaint of cracks from the 2nd to top floor was report along with a description of "shaking and vibrating." Inspector IWI, Badge Number 0427 inspected two days later and reported that there were no cracks, and the building was not shaking at the time of inspection.
Despite this report, the building ownership was served with an ECB Violation stating a hazardous condition with the brick parapet leaning. By the records, they never addressed the ECB violation, never paid the $800 fine, and never attended the court date.
Skip ahead 10 years, into the hands of the current ownership which states here that they bought the building in 2006. On 8/15/2008, they received another ECB Violation for having build a backyard patio that blocked fire egress. Silly! They didn't pay their $6,000 fine and ignored the court date again.
There was a big inspection on 5/01/09, prior to which they must have just said, "Alright, alright! You got us! We'll take care of the egress problem!" So they built a fire escape without getting a construction permit. Work Without a Permit is a big deal to the Dept. of Buildings and they put a Stop Work Order very visibly on your main door. There are huge fines associated with it (up to 11x the estimated cost of the work), and just more and more problems if you ignore it and do the work anyway.
When Inspector Number 2333 swung by to take a look at that fire escape issue, he also noticed the SERIOUS CRACK THROUGH THE BUILDING not just on the outside, but also on the inside wall!
Last but not least, as some articles have quoted people as saying workers had been patching the crack for weeks, there are ZERO jobs filed at this address for any reason, much less to address a major structural issue that probably would have required a Structural Engineer's oversight. A four-story crack in your building is definitely not in the range of the simple maintenance work allowable without a permit, especially given the history of the saggy parapet.
How cute: the building collapsed on 6/21/09 sheered right along that crack, and not that it would have mattered given the ownership's consistent failure to attend their court dates, but their time to address the problem was scheduled for 6/22/09, bright and early at 8:30 AM.
I hope this helps out anyone with interest in this case! If anyone is looking to hire someone for this sort of research within NYC's five boroughs, you can go ahead and send me an email. I've got years of experience and, as you can see, I can parse through this kind of data into a logical progression of events.
18 June 2009
Shopping is hard!
This is how I feel any time I enter ANY store, but it's the first time my emotions towards shopping have manifested themselves corporeally before me.
15 June 2009
HOLLAND-PLAYLAND-SEASIDE: Todd P's was wonderful
Around 7:30 as the sun was going down over the dunes we gathered in a circle around a bunch of drums set up just a foot or so beyond where the waves were breaking. The Aa boys waved around old radios playing droning noise, and, after a few minutes, began beating a rhythm on drums which sank deeper into the sand with every strike. Out in the Rockaways, at the end of the A Train, past the local shuttle, two miles on the bus, and a walk past five oceanside jetties, I found a good two hundred people getting together to sing and welcome in the newest season.
I've always been wary of Brooklyn parties (though this was Queens in spirit it of course was a Brooklyn thing), in my experiences they've left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I've seen a much touted festival degenerate into little more than cramped rooms of sweaty kids shouting at each other drunk on phony absinthe. I've seen impenetrable circles of men and women bouncing off each other so that you never see anyone's face because, no matter what, they are always turned away from you. And here I am again, back in the city I'd thought I'd left forever but ready to try and love it one more time.
My friends and I, last year, used to spend time in Prospect Park or in their home in The Red Room near Newkirk Ave., up until the morning hours with a guitar and banjo all singing together. I was in the midst of a dark time, but there when we were all together I had so much joy, the kind of joy that would carry on for days.
Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers
Todd P's was wonderful. Getting of the bus, the smell of the ocean air hit me right away. On the walk down the beach, people talked to the others walking along with them. And soon after I got to where I was going, I bumped into some friends who invited me to join them.
The music was at times difficult to hear, being unamplified and near the noisy water, but it brought us all in together closer to hear what was going on. It was like one of those nights in Prospect Park, with everyone there to sing. And even though most everyone there was new to me, it felt very inclusive. I think, too, that I've changed and have become ready to be more inclusive myself.
As the sun went down, we piled into the bus and went back to the train. At the station, my friends from earlier found me and invited me to join them at "this bar behind the gas station." We walked over, and as they said, right behind it there was a little place on the water. Others started showing up and our tables quickly joined together. The jukebox shifted from its default playlist of Third Eye Blind and Hootie & The Blowfish to MGMT, and we watched the lights go on across Jamaica Bay in Manhattan, so far away.
Todd P was right on this. It was a perfect day "in an amazing natural place, and a triumph for what a free country we live in!" And a great city with great people, the perfect end to a weekend which, against all odds for me, was the most fun I've had in a very long time.
At the turn of the season, it's time for a new start. This time I'm going to get it right. Let's enjoy the summer together.
--
P.S. - I'm really flattered by all of the traffic coming over from Todd P's website and Brooklyn Vegan and such! I spend most of my time observing things around me and writing about and photographing them. Most of it ends up here, so I'd love it if you subscribed to my RSS feed and came back sometime. <3, Jon.
I've always been wary of Brooklyn parties (though this was Queens in spirit it of course was a Brooklyn thing), in my experiences they've left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I've seen a much touted festival degenerate into little more than cramped rooms of sweaty kids shouting at each other drunk on phony absinthe. I've seen impenetrable circles of men and women bouncing off each other so that you never see anyone's face because, no matter what, they are always turned away from you. And here I am again, back in the city I'd thought I'd left forever but ready to try and love it one more time.
My friends and I, last year, used to spend time in Prospect Park or in their home in The Red Room near Newkirk Ave., up until the morning hours with a guitar and banjo all singing together. I was in the midst of a dark time, but there when we were all together I had so much joy, the kind of joy that would carry on for days.
Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers
Todd P's was wonderful. Getting of the bus, the smell of the ocean air hit me right away. On the walk down the beach, people talked to the others walking along with them. And soon after I got to where I was going, I bumped into some friends who invited me to join them.
The music was at times difficult to hear, being unamplified and near the noisy water, but it brought us all in together closer to hear what was going on. It was like one of those nights in Prospect Park, with everyone there to sing. And even though most everyone there was new to me, it felt very inclusive. I think, too, that I've changed and have become ready to be more inclusive myself.
As the sun went down, we piled into the bus and went back to the train. At the station, my friends from earlier found me and invited me to join them at "this bar behind the gas station." We walked over, and as they said, right behind it there was a little place on the water. Others started showing up and our tables quickly joined together. The jukebox shifted from its default playlist of Third Eye Blind and Hootie & The Blowfish to MGMT, and we watched the lights go on across Jamaica Bay in Manhattan, so far away.
Todd P was right on this. It was a perfect day "in an amazing natural place, and a triumph for what a free country we live in!" And a great city with great people, the perfect end to a weekend which, against all odds for me, was the most fun I've had in a very long time.
At the turn of the season, it's time for a new start. This time I'm going to get it right. Let's enjoy the summer together.
--
P.S. - I'm really flattered by all of the traffic coming over from Todd P's website and Brooklyn Vegan and such! I spend most of my time observing things around me and writing about and photographing them. Most of it ends up here, so I'd love it if you subscribed to my RSS feed and came back sometime. <3, Jon.
10 June 2009
A few things I saw
Sitting above an under-seat pile of bleached-white chicken bones, a middle-aged man rides the 1 train sometime in the 2am hour. It catches my eye as he removes from his bag a tall publication and takes off its plastic. As he flips through each of its pages, 3 or 4 per stop, it reveals itself to be the 2009 Hawaii swimsuit calendar. Ostensibly purchased in June, the month of the discount calendar. Other items in his bag: Sharp Cheddar spray cheese, one banana.
He gets off the train at 96th street, not making the transfer across the platform. I look back out the window after the doors close, he turns and stares at me.
Earlier, in a cab, on top of the driver's armrest is a red cardboard sleeve. It looks like a case to hold two CDs and it reads in Chinese, 龙道, Way of the Dragon. The stereo is paused at track 5.
Earlier, a Chinese restaurant named "U LIKE".
He gets off the train at 96th street, not making the transfer across the platform. I look back out the window after the doors close, he turns and stares at me.
Earlier, in a cab, on top of the driver's armrest is a red cardboard sleeve. It looks like a case to hold two CDs and it reads in Chinese, 龙道, Way of the Dragon. The stereo is paused at track 5.
Earlier, a Chinese restaurant named "U LIKE".
08 June 2009
Increased mileage from my "unsavory characters" tag
Outside of the apartment, a thug guy and thug lady are standing around with a large hunting hound.
THUG GUY: (Waving a bottle of Seagram's Ginger Ale in front of the dog's snout) YEAA! YOU WANT THAT.
HOUND: (aggressively and audibly snaps at the bottle of Seagram's Ginger Ale)
THUG GUY: COME ON! COME GET IT!
HOUND: SNAP SNAP SNAP.
THUG LADY: YO JUST GIVE IT TO HIM.
THUG GUY: (Waving a bottle of Seagram's Ginger Ale in front of the dog's snout) YEAA! YOU WANT THAT.
HOUND: (aggressively and audibly snaps at the bottle of Seagram's Ginger Ale)
THUG GUY: COME ON! COME GET IT!
HOUND: SNAP SNAP SNAP.
THUG LADY: YO JUST GIVE IT TO HIM.
07 June 2009
06 June 2009
While checking out at Whole Foods, I noticed the cashier girl had written out some extensive list next to the register. I didn't get a long look at it, I wish I could have, but I realized it was a list of goals or things to do that she wanted to achieve in her lifetime.
The two items I saw:
Travel to Egypt (checked off)
Touch a cow (not checked off)
The two items I saw:
Travel to Egypt (checked off)
Touch a cow (not checked off)
05 June 2009
Some music for the weekend train ride
Here's about an hour's worth of music that I've been listening to lately. Open the folder up and swap these tracks around to the order I've listed below to get the real mixtape effect.
Side A
1) Berlin, Alaska in Winter: While I was in Sweden, I learned that this band had put out another album. I couldn't get it there, even through legal means there was some absurd international licensing thing that kept me from getting it. One of my friends sent it to me though, and it was one of only a couple of albums I had to listen to for a while. I really like this song, and I hope Alaska in Winter continues to get punchier and punchier and gets away from some of the slow and lazy stuff they do once and a while. Starting you off with some hipster autotuned indie dance music probably doesn't make a good impression on my tastes, but I think you'll like this song, especially after the beat builds and starts opening up around 1:40.
2) Circulate, Young Jeezy: I love this guy. He's my favorite rapper right now. He's got some vices that he leans into on a lot of his records, but this one is free of most of them. It's his tightest flow, the live drums are way better sounding than programmed beats, the sample is classic.
3) Fucked For Life, Dirty Projectors: A great Daytrotter Session cut. I'd had The Getty Address for a while, and I sort of forced myself to listen to it because there was so much going on even if it wasn't really a "listenable" record. I got the Daytrotter version of this and saw how raw and good they could be. That opening harmony is piercing and makes you pay attention right from the start. Their new record coming out blends that rawness and the constructed-ness of Getty.
4) Flood Part 1, The Acorn: This is another Daytrotter cut. I downloaded everything on Daytrotter to try and discover some new music, and this is one of the bands that stuck out beyond all that damn country-western stuff bands seem to think is touching or intimate when they record there. I got the record after hearing this there. I would have loved it in High School. I still like it a lot, but it would have been a favorite in school. It's a little on the earthy side, the record is, but for the most part it works for them.
5) The Frozen Lake / The Symmetry, Circulatory System: I waited about 5 years from discovering Circulatory System to the new album being released. I think this is one of the most haunting cuts from the new album. The new record is a little more musique concrete and doesn't focus on melody as much as maybe I'd like it to, and it's better to hear as a whole, but I think this one stands on its own as a good introduction to the new album.
6) 21st Century Pop Song, Hymie's Basement: This is an anticon track, it's pretty much a Why? song. The rest of the album is disappointing (read: I'm not sure the rest of what's on there is actually music?), but this is a really solid track. A lot more electronic than Why?'s own records which are more jangle-pop / hip-hop, but it's real catchy and highlights his strengths. I still want him to get more abstract and go back to his cLOUDDEAD style stuff, but I think he's too creative to linger too long in the same genre.
7) Beautiful Lady, Demarco: Autotuned dancehall. Don't tell me this isn't catchy.
8) Hideway, Olivia Tremor Control: The source of the name of this site, "So Long Sekhu, Goodbye Ren." The song lyric is sourced from a Burroughs discussion of Egyptian mythology. "Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren the Secret name. This corresponds to my Director. He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in."
Side B
9) I Won't Be Found, The Tallest Man on Earth: My friend recently introduced me to these guys (along with Suckers down below). Such a big voice from such a saucy Swede. I've not seen many people with the stage presence this guy has.
10) Fifty Fourteeners, The Secret Life of Sofia: I saw them play at an art show a few years ago and I can't believe they're still more or less unnoticed. This guy's voice is beautiful and they do this really fulfilling, urgent, driven shoegaze pop. When this picks up around 1:40, I know I'm crazy about this band.
11) Carried Away, French Kicks: This band does a lot with very few elements. The whole Swimming record is great. Their other albums are okay or good, but this is a really great record. I love the cadence of the chorus.
12) Fetal Horses, John Vanderslice: This is one of the new tracks from JV's record, Romanian Names. He's managing to blend "really pretty" with "really dark" in such a sublime way. Those dissonant piano notes, total killers.
13) Death As a Man, Praveen & Benoit: There's another Benoit track a few from here, but this is a collaboration with his friend. It's really spacey, and I love the ghost-like production. The blips and clipping are great and moving unlike a lot of musique concrete inspired stuff, and then Benoit comes in with that voice that he, for some reason, refuses to put on display during his live show.
14) Easy Chairs, Suckers: This is a fantastic live band. There's so much energy and the crescendos really burst. Their progressions aren't what you expect, and I like that they can make these catchy tracks without falling into patterns or getting cliche. But really, see them live. Those harmonies get so big and full with the whole band involved. I'm not sure the production on the mp3 does it justice.
15) The Depths & The Seashore, Benoit Pioulard: I've been hooked on his music from the first I heard of it. It's dark, quiet, and really well-crafted. Yeah, a lot of it tends to sound the same, but I can put it on when I'm working and I don't tune it out like some things. It's always there, and there's always these bits that will get you in every song. When this one starts to swell and come together in the middle, it always pulls me in.
16) Revenants, My Hawk: This is a song of mine that I recorded the winter before last. I recorded an album, which was a song cycle about someone who disappears and returns in a dream as a bird. This was the last song I recorded and it brought together a lot of the elements I had been playing with. I can't sing and I have a very poor sense of rhythm, nor do I know how to play my instruments well. My friend, Will Hart (responsible for tracks 5 and 8 on this list), told me not to worry about that and use that lack of direct ability the basis for experimentation. The sudden vocal layering and subsequent dropout in the second verse, which you can really hear on headphones, is my favorite thing that I have ever recorded. You can download the album right here from mediafire, or from my website where I've got the lyrics all written out.
Side A
1) Berlin, Alaska in Winter: While I was in Sweden, I learned that this band had put out another album. I couldn't get it there, even through legal means there was some absurd international licensing thing that kept me from getting it. One of my friends sent it to me though, and it was one of only a couple of albums I had to listen to for a while. I really like this song, and I hope Alaska in Winter continues to get punchier and punchier and gets away from some of the slow and lazy stuff they do once and a while. Starting you off with some hipster autotuned indie dance music probably doesn't make a good impression on my tastes, but I think you'll like this song, especially after the beat builds and starts opening up around 1:40.
2) Circulate, Young Jeezy: I love this guy. He's my favorite rapper right now. He's got some vices that he leans into on a lot of his records, but this one is free of most of them. It's his tightest flow, the live drums are way better sounding than programmed beats, the sample is classic.
3) Fucked For Life, Dirty Projectors: A great Daytrotter Session cut. I'd had The Getty Address for a while, and I sort of forced myself to listen to it because there was so much going on even if it wasn't really a "listenable" record. I got the Daytrotter version of this and saw how raw and good they could be. That opening harmony is piercing and makes you pay attention right from the start. Their new record coming out blends that rawness and the constructed-ness of Getty.
4) Flood Part 1, The Acorn: This is another Daytrotter cut. I downloaded everything on Daytrotter to try and discover some new music, and this is one of the bands that stuck out beyond all that damn country-western stuff bands seem to think is touching or intimate when they record there. I got the record after hearing this there. I would have loved it in High School. I still like it a lot, but it would have been a favorite in school. It's a little on the earthy side, the record is, but for the most part it works for them.
5) The Frozen Lake / The Symmetry, Circulatory System: I waited about 5 years from discovering Circulatory System to the new album being released. I think this is one of the most haunting cuts from the new album. The new record is a little more musique concrete and doesn't focus on melody as much as maybe I'd like it to, and it's better to hear as a whole, but I think this one stands on its own as a good introduction to the new album.
6) 21st Century Pop Song, Hymie's Basement: This is an anticon track, it's pretty much a Why? song. The rest of the album is disappointing (read: I'm not sure the rest of what's on there is actually music?), but this is a really solid track. A lot more electronic than Why?'s own records which are more jangle-pop / hip-hop, but it's real catchy and highlights his strengths. I still want him to get more abstract and go back to his cLOUDDEAD style stuff, but I think he's too creative to linger too long in the same genre.
7) Beautiful Lady, Demarco: Autotuned dancehall. Don't tell me this isn't catchy.
8) Hideway, Olivia Tremor Control: The source of the name of this site, "So Long Sekhu, Goodbye Ren." The song lyric is sourced from a Burroughs discussion of Egyptian mythology. "Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren the Secret name. This corresponds to my Director. He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in."
Side B
9) I Won't Be Found, The Tallest Man on Earth: My friend recently introduced me to these guys (along with Suckers down below). Such a big voice from such a saucy Swede. I've not seen many people with the stage presence this guy has.
10) Fifty Fourteeners, The Secret Life of Sofia: I saw them play at an art show a few years ago and I can't believe they're still more or less unnoticed. This guy's voice is beautiful and they do this really fulfilling, urgent, driven shoegaze pop. When this picks up around 1:40, I know I'm crazy about this band.
11) Carried Away, French Kicks: This band does a lot with very few elements. The whole Swimming record is great. Their other albums are okay or good, but this is a really great record. I love the cadence of the chorus.
12) Fetal Horses, John Vanderslice: This is one of the new tracks from JV's record, Romanian Names. He's managing to blend "really pretty" with "really dark" in such a sublime way. Those dissonant piano notes, total killers.
13) Death As a Man, Praveen & Benoit: There's another Benoit track a few from here, but this is a collaboration with his friend. It's really spacey, and I love the ghost-like production. The blips and clipping are great and moving unlike a lot of musique concrete inspired stuff, and then Benoit comes in with that voice that he, for some reason, refuses to put on display during his live show.
14) Easy Chairs, Suckers: This is a fantastic live band. There's so much energy and the crescendos really burst. Their progressions aren't what you expect, and I like that they can make these catchy tracks without falling into patterns or getting cliche. But really, see them live. Those harmonies get so big and full with the whole band involved. I'm not sure the production on the mp3 does it justice.
15) The Depths & The Seashore, Benoit Pioulard: I've been hooked on his music from the first I heard of it. It's dark, quiet, and really well-crafted. Yeah, a lot of it tends to sound the same, but I can put it on when I'm working and I don't tune it out like some things. It's always there, and there's always these bits that will get you in every song. When this one starts to swell and come together in the middle, it always pulls me in.
16) Revenants, My Hawk: This is a song of mine that I recorded the winter before last. I recorded an album, which was a song cycle about someone who disappears and returns in a dream as a bird. This was the last song I recorded and it brought together a lot of the elements I had been playing with. I can't sing and I have a very poor sense of rhythm, nor do I know how to play my instruments well. My friend, Will Hart (responsible for tracks 5 and 8 on this list), told me not to worry about that and use that lack of direct ability the basis for experimentation. The sudden vocal layering and subsequent dropout in the second verse, which you can really hear on headphones, is my favorite thing that I have ever recorded. You can download the album right here from mediafire, or from my website where I've got the lyrics all written out.
Kids love the cat stack
As I just discovered, Hamdy Bey's "Help Capture Rogue" request was nominated for best of craigslist.
Thanks to my little widget down in the corner there, I saw what traffic was being directed to me and did a search on "Help Capture Rogue" (with the quotation marks intact) and came across some funny responses.
A video response:
My... uh... my own lolcat?
04 June 2009
Lady DaDa
In the elevator to the 1 Train.
BYSTANDER: Excuse me, ma'am. There's a snail on your backpack.
BOYFRIEND: Well look at that, there is.
GIRLFRIEND: That's not surprising, really.
BF: How is that not surprising? That's the most surprising thing possible.
GF: My bag has been sitting in a garden all morning.
BF: Do you want this? (He holds out the snail to her)
GF: Hold on to it until we get above ground.
BF: OK.
GF: I'll bet my coat is filled with ants, too!
BYSTANDER: Excuse me, ma'am. There's a snail on your backpack.
BOYFRIEND: Well look at that, there is.
GIRLFRIEND: That's not surprising, really.
BF: How is that not surprising? That's the most surprising thing possible.
GF: My bag has been sitting in a garden all morning.
BF: Do you want this? (He holds out the snail to her)
GF: Hold on to it until we get above ground.
BF: OK.
GF: I'll bet my coat is filled with ants, too!
03 June 2009
"Of My Little Heart"
The old man's home was one room in a large house in the citadel of Sighişoara, Transylvania. He ushered me inside from the cold, the crunch of my footsteps on the icy dirt road had somehow awakened him; he pulled me in from the alley.
Inside, a little bed pushed into the corner of the room was along one wall, an old desk on the other next to a oven presently boiling kettles of water on its two burners. He rustled in an old wooden box on a cluttered shelf by the bed and produced a handful of loose tea and photographs. He had been speaking this whole time, I had been at a loss for conversation until I heard, "...patrie...?"
"American! Sunt American. Iubesc Romania."
"America! Iubesc America! Iubesc Romania! Iubesc prieteni."
He opened his arms and hugged me, quickly, as he moved past me to the stove and poured hot water from the kettle and made two cups of tea. I sipped it as pushed the photographs into my hand. An old black and white portrait of a man in military cap, it was him, my prieten, my friend. The next picture, there he was again sitting on a beach.
"Firenze! Ahh, Firenze..," he sighed as he saw himself so many years younger. How he had been out and about in the world during the harsh Ceauşescu years, I don't know. Maybe there was an explanation to that hinted in his sigh.
On the desk, he picked up a musty old album, family pictures. "Mama! Ahh..," he said smiling. Boats, military ships, towns, villages, the occasional map. And in the next books, more similar. He picked up a laminated card from table and put it in my hand and clasped his around mine as he pushed it towards me. A prayer card showing a mounted soldier pushing a spear into the chest of an Ottoman warrior.
I finished my tea and handed the cup to him and looked around, the walls of the place covered in photographs and cards and ribbons of red, yellow, blue.
He looked at me and motioned with his hand, "Scrisoare. Prieten inimioara, scrisoare." Write, my dear friend, write.
I nodded and smiled, "Da, da!" as he jotted his address down and saw me to the door.
This is how I came to be friends with Vereş, the man near the foot of The Covered Staircase of Sighisoara, the neighbor of Vlad Ţepeş, née Dracula. Friends of the heart.
02 June 2009
Just for the articles
Out for tea recently, a friend brought three or four copies of some 1960s Playboy magazines that he had gotten from someone whose family was clearing out their attic. We passed them around, and they were really quite interesting. The quality of the writing was superb, and the nudity was really limited to a few pages and some cartoons, and nothing too revealing.
I picked one up and saw on the cover of this 1968 issue, "Sex and Psychedelics," which I thought would be an interesting piece given the era in which it was written. I checked the contents and saw it on page 107. Opened it up, flipped through, pages 105, 106, 109... wait, something is missing!
That article, of all of them, had been clipped out. At that point, I surmised I might have discovered an otherwise unrecorded fact about the history of circumstances of conception of a friend of a friend.
I picked one up and saw on the cover of this 1968 issue, "Sex and Psychedelics," which I thought would be an interesting piece given the era in which it was written. I checked the contents and saw it on page 107. Opened it up, flipped through, pages 105, 106, 109... wait, something is missing!
That article, of all of them, had been clipped out. At that point, I surmised I might have discovered an otherwise unrecorded fact about the history of circumstances of conception of a friend of a friend.
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