fragments in search of a post
This week has been very fragmentary. I started it in Wellington hanging out with a friend, seeing local sights, catching up on movies both in the theatre (BEOWULF 3-D, CLOVERFIELD with its soundtrack that sounds half-pilfered from my record collection - Spoon, Kings of Leon, Ratatat - at least until the monster shows up, and LUST CAUTION, easily the most underrated film of the year), going record shopping (big finds including a box set of Townes Van Zandt's first seven albums on four CDs and the Cinemechanica CD, not to mention the soundtrack for the year's best film, THERE WILL BE BLOOD), etc.
Then I hopped a plane to Nelson and drove to Takaka, in New Zealand's amazingly gorgeous Golden Bay. After five or six weeks of seeing people and giving basically no time to myself and wearing myself silly, I thought a few days by myself in one of my favorite places in the world would go well, and it didn't disappoint. In addition to getting some nice driving in checking out my new CD acquisitions, sleeping a crapload, and writing 25 pages of a screenplay I'm working on, I hiked, beached, swam, and kayaked, and drank homebrewed alcoholic cider at the Mussel Inn, then drove back to Nelson and managed to catch up with some friends before flying back to Auckland.
Upon return, I had a follow-up doctor's appointment, as I have wanted to get healthy and so had some blood taken before I left. In addition to high cholestorol (shocking absolutely no one who knows me) and the need to lose 10 kg, high liver enzymes were discovered - similar in levels to someone who has hepatitis. (I don't. They checked.) Anyway, I am now off of alcohol for a month, getting an ultrasound, and seeing if we can figure out what the problem is. I am confident it will be worked out, but I do wish I'd tapped into the bottle of Balvenie 18 that I'd bought at the duty free before discovering this.
Later that day, my friend and ex-KTRU manager Erik flew in from the States for a week in our country. Two days ago, I took him first to a beach with sea caves, then to my flatmate's band; the following day (yesterday), we did an epic caving trip in Waitomo Caves. To get some idea, we started with a 100-meter abseil, that looked something like this:
So that was fun.
--------------------
Anyway, here are some ideas for posts that I never fully developed, in part because I suspect the ideas were not enough to sustain a post.
1. In Wellington, I bought a bargain bin CD by Numbers. Over the subsequent 24 hours, I became increasingly nervous that I already had it. Now, the expense was minor (roughly $1.60 US) but I had been proud that in 20 years of CD collecting I'd never inadvertently bought a duplicate of something and had been able to master my own collection in my head. I felt like this was incontrovertible proof (like it was needed) of a wretched form of excess. Plus it was a mediocre CD and I wouldn't even feel like, oh, I'll just give it to someone who will appreciate it. I had several paragraphs written in my head about what all this meant.
Then I got back to Auckland and couldn't find another copy of it, so now I don't know why I thought I had it, or if it's lurking somewhere where I least expect it.
2. Being without alcohol for a month is going to get very interesting in two weeks, when I have three potentially great shows hitting in a week. On Feb 11, Explosions in the Sky are playing; Interpol breaks out the hits on Valentine's Day; and the following night, The Dead C. play a headlining show in preparation for their opening gig for Sonic Youth's museum show the following night. (Which is to say SY are playing Daydream Nation yet again; after being frustrated by their show in Barcelona, I procrastinated on getting tickets, only deciding I should go after several reassurances that their subsequent performances have been substantially better; however, the show was sold out by the time I decided.) Anyway, EITS and the Dead C. in particular would be ideal shows for several beers. But, grrrr. Stupid liver enzymes. Good thing the Beirut show is more than a month away.
3. I mentioned earlier this year that I was going to try an experiment where I listened to one band for a week. I got a sense of how hard that will be when driving up to Golden Bay listening to Townes Van Zandt while sleepy. After an album, driving through the rain, I realized that I couldn't sustain, and switched to the Duke Spirit. In general, the application of specific albums for different points in the road trip has proven very important; for instance, when Erik and I left at 7 AM yesterday morning to head to Waitomo, I decided Blackalicious would be the best substitute for coffee. A long post could be written on this topic, that would center around The Minutemen's DOUBLE NICKELS ON THE DIME (the 33 1/3 book on which I read this week), my favorite road album ever.
4. Per Kilian's post, I am feeling that classical is definitely an area of further study for me. I had the reflexively KTRUvian position that only early music or 20th century classical was interesting, but after discovering Bach's cello concertos this year and realizing that much of the music I admired in THERE WILL BE BLOOD wasn't actually by Jonny Greenwood but by guys like Brahms, I realized some rethinking of core assumptions gotta happen. I'm trying now to decide whether to start at the beginning and work forward, start at the late 19th century and work back til it gets boring, or just continuing to randomly sample. (Note: the third is, by far, the most likely outcome.)
5. A lot of lists have been circulating in my life this week, from SPIN's (#1: Against Me!) to the Village Voice's (#1: LCD Soundsystem). At one point, I thought of organizing a NAP poll. Then I decided it would be kind of silly, as I don't think there would be enough of an overlap to get any meaningful results. ("And, in a 29-way tie for fourth, with one vote each, are ..."). But I did have to submit under rushed circumstances a list for an e-mail music group I'm on that does a poll ever year. I don't consider this definitive (for instance, I picked up the new Charalambides very recently and hadn't given it a good listen before submitting, and it most definitely belongs on this list more than Feist), and making lists is kind of silly anyway for lots of reasons, but if you're curious, here it is:
ALBUMS
1 Modest Mouse, WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK
2 Editors, AN END HAS A START
3 Deerhoof, FRIEND OPPORTUNITY
4 HEALTH, HEALTH
5 Dinosaur jr., BEYOND
6 Bloc Party, A WEEKEND IN THE CITY
7 Nina Nastasia + Jim White, I FOLLOW YOU
8 Against Me!, NEW WAVE
9 Beirut, THE FLYING CUP CLUB
10 Pelican, CITY OF ECHOES
11 Arcade Fire, FUNERAL
12 John Vanderslice, EMERALD CITY
13 National, BOXER
14 Bowerbirds, HYMNS FOR A DARK HORSE
15 Explosions in the Sky, ALL OF A SUDDEN I MISS EVERYONE
16 Weakerthans, REUNION TOUR
17 Liars, LIARS
18 Hot Cross, RISK REVIVAL
19 Feist, THE REMINDER
20 Spoon, GA GA GA GA GA
Singles
1 "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors", Editors
2 "Thrash Unreal", Against Me!
3 "Almost Ready", Dinosaur Jr.
4 "Falling Slowly", Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
5 "Pull Shapes", The Pipettes
6 "Elephant Gun", Beirut
7 "Fake Empire", National
8 "I Still Remember", Bloc Party
9 "The Underdog", Spoon
10 "Spitting Venom", Modest Mouse
11 "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time", Jarvis Cocker
12 "The Perfect Me", Deerhoof
13 "John Allyn Smith Sails", Okkervil River
14 "White Dove", John Vanderslice
15 "House of Cards", Radiohead
16 "Conqueror", Jesu
17 "Intervention", Arcade Fire
18 "Hymn of the Medical Oddity", Weakerthans
19 "Turn On Me", The Shins
20 "Requiem For Dissent", Bad Religion
Sorry this turned out to be so long, I didn't have time for a shorter post. Maybe next week. Come Friday, I will be based in Auckland for the next few months and travelling only on weekends, so life will resume normalcy. Or, at least, be differently abnormal.
Then I hopped a plane to Nelson and drove to Takaka, in New Zealand's amazingly gorgeous Golden Bay. After five or six weeks of seeing people and giving basically no time to myself and wearing myself silly, I thought a few days by myself in one of my favorite places in the world would go well, and it didn't disappoint. In addition to getting some nice driving in checking out my new CD acquisitions, sleeping a crapload, and writing 25 pages of a screenplay I'm working on, I hiked, beached, swam, and kayaked, and drank homebrewed alcoholic cider at the Mussel Inn, then drove back to Nelson and managed to catch up with some friends before flying back to Auckland.
Upon return, I had a follow-up doctor's appointment, as I have wanted to get healthy and so had some blood taken before I left. In addition to high cholestorol (shocking absolutely no one who knows me) and the need to lose 10 kg, high liver enzymes were discovered - similar in levels to someone who has hepatitis. (I don't. They checked.) Anyway, I am now off of alcohol for a month, getting an ultrasound, and seeing if we can figure out what the problem is. I am confident it will be worked out, but I do wish I'd tapped into the bottle of Balvenie 18 that I'd bought at the duty free before discovering this.
Later that day, my friend and ex-KTRU manager Erik flew in from the States for a week in our country. Two days ago, I took him first to a beach with sea caves, then to my flatmate's band; the following day (yesterday), we did an epic caving trip in Waitomo Caves. To get some idea, we started with a 100-meter abseil, that looked something like this:
So that was fun.
--------------------
Anyway, here are some ideas for posts that I never fully developed, in part because I suspect the ideas were not enough to sustain a post.
1. In Wellington, I bought a bargain bin CD by Numbers. Over the subsequent 24 hours, I became increasingly nervous that I already had it. Now, the expense was minor (roughly $1.60 US) but I had been proud that in 20 years of CD collecting I'd never inadvertently bought a duplicate of something and had been able to master my own collection in my head. I felt like this was incontrovertible proof (like it was needed) of a wretched form of excess. Plus it was a mediocre CD and I wouldn't even feel like, oh, I'll just give it to someone who will appreciate it. I had several paragraphs written in my head about what all this meant.
Then I got back to Auckland and couldn't find another copy of it, so now I don't know why I thought I had it, or if it's lurking somewhere where I least expect it.
2. Being without alcohol for a month is going to get very interesting in two weeks, when I have three potentially great shows hitting in a week. On Feb 11, Explosions in the Sky are playing; Interpol breaks out the hits on Valentine's Day; and the following night, The Dead C. play a headlining show in preparation for their opening gig for Sonic Youth's museum show the following night. (Which is to say SY are playing Daydream Nation yet again; after being frustrated by their show in Barcelona, I procrastinated on getting tickets, only deciding I should go after several reassurances that their subsequent performances have been substantially better; however, the show was sold out by the time I decided.) Anyway, EITS and the Dead C. in particular would be ideal shows for several beers. But, grrrr. Stupid liver enzymes. Good thing the Beirut show is more than a month away.
3. I mentioned earlier this year that I was going to try an experiment where I listened to one band for a week. I got a sense of how hard that will be when driving up to Golden Bay listening to Townes Van Zandt while sleepy. After an album, driving through the rain, I realized that I couldn't sustain, and switched to the Duke Spirit. In general, the application of specific albums for different points in the road trip has proven very important; for instance, when Erik and I left at 7 AM yesterday morning to head to Waitomo, I decided Blackalicious would be the best substitute for coffee. A long post could be written on this topic, that would center around The Minutemen's DOUBLE NICKELS ON THE DIME (the 33 1/3 book on which I read this week), my favorite road album ever.
4. Per Kilian's post, I am feeling that classical is definitely an area of further study for me. I had the reflexively KTRUvian position that only early music or 20th century classical was interesting, but after discovering Bach's cello concertos this year and realizing that much of the music I admired in THERE WILL BE BLOOD wasn't actually by Jonny Greenwood but by guys like Brahms, I realized some rethinking of core assumptions gotta happen. I'm trying now to decide whether to start at the beginning and work forward, start at the late 19th century and work back til it gets boring, or just continuing to randomly sample. (Note: the third is, by far, the most likely outcome.)
5. A lot of lists have been circulating in my life this week, from SPIN's (#1: Against Me!) to the Village Voice's (#1: LCD Soundsystem). At one point, I thought of organizing a NAP poll. Then I decided it would be kind of silly, as I don't think there would be enough of an overlap to get any meaningful results. ("And, in a 29-way tie for fourth, with one vote each, are ..."). But I did have to submit under rushed circumstances a list for an e-mail music group I'm on that does a poll ever year. I don't consider this definitive (for instance, I picked up the new Charalambides very recently and hadn't given it a good listen before submitting, and it most definitely belongs on this list more than Feist), and making lists is kind of silly anyway for lots of reasons, but if you're curious, here it is:
ALBUMS
1 Modest Mouse, WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK
2 Editors, AN END HAS A START
3 Deerhoof, FRIEND OPPORTUNITY
4 HEALTH, HEALTH
5 Dinosaur jr., BEYOND
6 Bloc Party, A WEEKEND IN THE CITY
7 Nina Nastasia + Jim White, I FOLLOW YOU
8 Against Me!, NEW WAVE
9 Beirut, THE FLYING CUP CLUB
10 Pelican, CITY OF ECHOES
11 Arcade Fire, FUNERAL
12 John Vanderslice, EMERALD CITY
13 National, BOXER
14 Bowerbirds, HYMNS FOR A DARK HORSE
15 Explosions in the Sky, ALL OF A SUDDEN I MISS EVERYONE
16 Weakerthans, REUNION TOUR
17 Liars, LIARS
18 Hot Cross, RISK REVIVAL
19 Feist, THE REMINDER
20 Spoon, GA GA GA GA GA
Singles
1 "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors", Editors
2 "Thrash Unreal", Against Me!
3 "Almost Ready", Dinosaur Jr.
4 "Falling Slowly", Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
5 "Pull Shapes", The Pipettes
6 "Elephant Gun", Beirut
7 "Fake Empire", National
8 "I Still Remember", Bloc Party
9 "The Underdog", Spoon
10 "Spitting Venom", Modest Mouse
11 "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time", Jarvis Cocker
12 "The Perfect Me", Deerhoof
13 "John Allyn Smith Sails", Okkervil River
14 "White Dove", John Vanderslice
15 "House of Cards", Radiohead
16 "Conqueror", Jesu
17 "Intervention", Arcade Fire
18 "Hymn of the Medical Oddity", Weakerthans
19 "Turn On Me", The Shins
20 "Requiem For Dissent", Bad Religion
Sorry this turned out to be so long, I didn't have time for a shorter post. Maybe next week. Come Friday, I will be based in Auckland for the next few months and travelling only on weekends, so life will resume normalcy. Or, at least, be differently abnormal.
4 Comments:
ps my podcast submission this week, by Don Cherry, is an improvisation on stalagmites, chosen in honor of the caving experience.
I hiked, beached, swam, and kayaked, and drank homebrewed alcoholic cider at the Mussel Inn, then drove back to Nelson and managed to catch up with some friends before flying back to Auckland.
Good for you, you deserved it.
we started with a 100-meter abseil
Nice.
making lists is kind of silly anyway for lots of reasons, but if you're curious, here it is
Were you a music director or something in a former life, because this seems like a remnant of some kind of compulsive behavior? ;-)
I'm glad somebody besides me liked Emerald City.
That Cinemechanica record is pretty good too, but it was a poor preparation for seeing them live. They destroyed.
So DD, just in case you haven't read the comments in the napcast post, people are wondering where you got this Cherry song and how can they get the album. Enlightenment on this issue would be lovely.
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