Saturday, August 7, 2004America's Most Wanted... condo.From the "Stuff that happens in Los Angeles" file. It looks like there's a 99% chance that they will be using our condo as a location to film a re-enactment of a crime for the television show America's Most Wanted. It seems that there are a few things about our place that match the description of the victims place. I'll keep you posted and maybe take some pictures while they're here. Filming takes place in a couple weeks. It's going to be a bit of an inconvenience as their day for filming can be up to twelve hours, but that's nothing a thousand dollar location fee won't help (this is considered a low location fee, but it sounds good to me). Let's hope our home owner's association doesn't want a cut. posted @ 06:20 PM PST [link] Thursday, August 5, 2004Nine Years and CountingNine years ago today, I went to a friend's birthday party and met a girl. We've been together ever since. I love you Shmoopy. posted @ 12:16 PM PST [link] Wednesday, August 4, 2004Random Thoughts1. JBL is keeping me very busy. 2. One of my Speedotron strobe power packs blew up and black goo seeped out. 3. My party is fast approaching. 4. My iPod is nearing full capacity. 5. I read in Wired that a baseball pitcher's shoulder rotation is so fast, that if it kept spinning it would rotate 20 times in one second. 6. Dave is coming over to give me an estimate on building a couple needed walls in my studio. 7. I never look at the little rear view mirror I have attached to the top of my monitor. 8. My answering machine has a message on it, but I haven't checked it yet. posted @ 02:56 PM PST [link] Monday, August 2, 2004Personal Top 10 Albums of All Time!I graduated High School in 1982. I was very much into the rock music of my youth, but it wasn’t until I graduated that music started to become a part of who I am. Much of who I am is defined by the music of the eighties and I can’t deny that everything that came before has just become nostalgia for me. It seems that every new list is going to make me think of other sublists that could be made. This particular list makes me think that it would be fun to do a “Top Ten Albums of My Youth” list. That would include all of the rock years (Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent) or even earlier (The Beatles, The Monkees, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Mammas and the Pappas). I loved this music growing up, but it wasn’t that important to me in the long haul. So with that I bring you MY personal best albums of all time. I'm sure it won't be long before one of my friends reminds me of something I've missed. To clarify, a "dud" is a song I might leave off if I were to re-burn a CD of the record. 10) Combat Rock - The Clash (1982) This might be what early Clash fans called a sellout, but I saw it as the record that showed that the Clash were deep in the musical influence department. Anyone can do a bunch of generic punk rock songs and call it an album (look at many of the so called punk bands of today), but the Clash mixed it up and did it well. Aside from the obvious hits like "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and "Rock The Casbah," this record is full of great songs. "Straight To Hell" and "Ghetto Defendant?" My god! No duds! 9) Kaleidoscope - Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980) This was a weird little album that was made when the band had no official guitar player and the first with Budgie on drums. He would come to be one of my all time favorite drummers. The songs were less punk than the previous records which I also loved. This record had a hit called "Christine" on it, but my favorite was "Red Light" which is still one of my favorite vaguely photo related songs. It was a Sgt. Pepper type turn for the band and some Siouxsie fanatics might say as important, but I would never over-blow things like that here. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then read the reviews of this one on Amazon. They say it better than I can. 8) Into the Labyrinth - Dead Can Dance (1993) Many of the records on this list I first bought on vinyl and I owned a few Dead Can Dance records before this CD came out. I like all of their early recordings, but something was special about this record to me. Maybe part of it was that, for once, other friends understood this one and I could share it with them. I never ran into a friend that didn't like this record and it was nice to turn them on to it. Brendan Perry sounds like Jim Morrison to me sometimes, especially on "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove." It's a wide mix of styles and the musicianship is incredible. Lisa Gerard has an amazing voice and it was nice to see her get a Oscar for her work on The Gladiator soundtrack years later. 7) Beaucoup Fish - Underworld (1999) Remember that eighties song Doot Doot by Freur? Well, many people would be surprised to find out that Underworld are the same guys. That isn't of any consequence here, but I thought it was a fun fact. Anyway, I don't think electronic music makes it on many all time album lists unless you're a hard core raver. I'm not, but this album is great. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know what the genre is capable of. No duds! 6) Wild Planet - The B-52s (1980) A silly romp of a record, but had a big impact on me anyway. It's their masterpiece, if a masterpiece can have a song about a poodle that wears designer jeans on it. "Give Me Back My Man" was one of those songs that I was obsessed with for a while. When I think of The B-52's I think of the first two records, and hate that people look at me with "Love Shack" on their minds. No duds! 5) Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - Dead Kennedys (1980) Am I the only one that thinks these guys should reunite to record "California Über Alles" with Arnold's name replacing Jerry Brown's? This was a record that stands as the most influential punk record of my life. No punk record comes close, not even The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bullocks. "Holiday Inn Cambodia" is an anti war song like no other. No duds! 4) Nothing’s Shocking - Jane’s Addiction (1988) Jane's Addiction is my Led Zeppelin. This record is my Zeppelin IV. "Summertime Rolls" is my "Stairway to Heaven." That might be stretching it a bit, but it sounds good. An epic record. This is the album that influenced a whole generation of bands that you may love today. It's a hard, hard rock record with a soft side, "Summertime Rolls" and the ever popular studio recording of "Jane Says." One of my all time concert memories was a beautiful performance of Summertime Rolls with Perry Farrell up front, lit only by a projection of a wind blown wheat field. At least that's how I remember it. Don't blow it for me if you were there and I was wrong. Amazon also has some great reviews of this record. It's hard to see this only at number four, but I had just as much trouble putting the next three records any lower. Greatest album cover of all time? We'll have to wait for that list. Certainly one of the most disturbing. 3) Nunsexmonkrock - Nina Hagen (1981) Truly a recording that still to this day gives me chills and makes me cringe at the same time. Songs of the cold war, UFOs and transcendental meditation from a girl from East Berlin. "Born in Xixax" and "Iki Maska" are strangely catchy tunes that will give some people nightmares. Back in the eighties, a group of female friends crashed their VW Bug down into a canyon on a winding road and were convinced that it was because this album was on in the car at the time. If there's a dud, it would be "Taitschi-Tarot," for me at least. 2) Mezzanine - Massive Attack (1998) This album would be on the list even if it only consisted of the first four songs. I used to call it the best album of 1998, but it's much better than that for me. I never seem to get tired of it and the songs are on almost all of my photo shoot playlists. 1) Weezer (blue album) - Weezer (1994) I have a feeling that this will be on more of our little blog groups lists than any other. What a complete collection of great songs. I'm not exactly sure what it is about this thing that has me so hooked, but I can put it on any day, any time and look like an air guitar dork for the entirety. This record doesn't really sound like anything else I love, which is why my undying love for it puzzles me so much. It's songs are obviously catchy, but so are lots of other records. There must be some sort of magic in there. Honorable Mentions (I could have easily done a top 25 list it seems) Nevermind - Nirvana (1991) I was there. I bought this as soon as I heard the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit," well before they were considered ground breaking and I still believe it's one of our generations most important records. I think it's off the top ten because of what has happened to music since. It seems to me that bands that were influenced by Nirvana, trivialized the genre instead of making it stronger like the punk bands of the early eighties did to the music of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Am I a total idiot? Anyway, the record is still important to me, but I don't have the same desire to listen to it beginning to end anymore. Upstairs at Eric's - Yazoo (1982) Yep, that's right I said Yazoo, NOT Yaz. If you listened to music in the early eighties, you know about this one. It's a classic. I wore out the vinyl. Anyway, all of the vinyl I have from this band says Yazoo on it because I refused to buy the domestic releases with the wrong band name on it. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1982) Hard to see this on the honorable mention list. No duds, and I know all of the words to this and the two following records to this day. It just sucks that some of the songs were played to death when it turned into a frat house favorite ten years after the fact. F*cking college people. Love - The Cult (1985) This record brought the rock back when "New Wave" rules the alt charts. I also liked the rougher sound of the two previous incarnations of the band, The Southern Death Cult, and Death Cult. Just like they cleaned up their name, they also cleaned up the music. I spent a lot of time with this record. Dud? Maybe "Brother Wolf Sister Moon." Under The Flag - Fad Gadget (1982) What an amazing record by a band that not too many people ever knew about. They weren't exactly radio friendly and it had nothing to do with explicit lyrics. Frank Tovey's voice was one of the era's best. It was a perfect fit for the dark and intense electronic music of Fad Gadget. Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven - Love and Rockets (1985) The first time I heard this I didn't know what to call it. I knew that the boys from Bauhaus minus Peter Murphy were involved, and that it was a slightly different lineup than Tones On Tail, but it had nothing to do with Bauhaus or Tones On Tail, with a possible exception of "SIlent Hedges" which might have been a sign of things to come. This record is one of those that seem like one long piece of music instead of a collection of songs, "Suadade" would be on my all time favorite instrumentals list (if we were to do one of those). Love Hysteria - Peter Murphy (1988) "Socrates, Pythagoras, yin and bloody yang, hatha yoga, Om, Bennett, Gurdjeff, Jesus, Old Testament and New. Libraries full of keys." - Socrates The Python. Are you kidding me? Brilliant! Peter Murphy was a goth god during his years with Bauhaus, but the solo records that followed showed him as a slightly less dark god. This album can be enjoyed by a far broader audience than any Bauhaus record. It'll End In Tears - This Mortal Coil (1984) A music collective dreamed up by Ivo Watts-Russel, This Mortal Coil was one of those projects that influenced my record collection a lot. I ended up buying almost anything I found from the 4AD label because of this record. Guest musicians and singers from Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, The Wolfgang Press and Colourbox were first heard here before I became fans of those bands. Check out some other list at these fine blogs: The Dune Shack Alien Fur Cheleblog i see monsters posted @ 09:21 AM PST [link] Sunday, August 1, 2004Wireless BloggingI know I'm no trail blazer here, but I'm writing my first blog post while I eat lunch at a local restaurant. I just finished shooting a job at Pacific Sun tanning salon and now I'm next door eating at Hot's Tacos hooked up to Pacific Sun's "hot spot." If you ever get the chance to eat at Hot's, do it. This taco I'm eating right now is killer in a good way. Tons of flavor! I've just been informed by the waitress that this is the first location so if you want to experience a killer taco, you'll have to come here. It's on the corner of Reseda and Devonshire in Northridge between Pacific Sun and LA Fitness. p.s. Personal Top 10 Albums of All Time coming soon! posted @ 03:36 PM PST [link] |
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