Copy of a copy of a copy...

Did you know Tainted Love by Soft Cell was done by Gloria Jones in 1964 and it was a flop until Soft Cell redid it in the late 70s?!

And the OG is so goood!

Just another eg of how everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Makes me realize that this idea of a completely OG idea is not only unattainable, but probably a Sisyphean task in itself. All we can hope for is to take those ideas that are already around us and inspirational imbibe them with soul of our own. And not that cheesy, Christian notion of a soul. I'm talkin' STAX recordings, R-E-S-P-E-C-T Soul!

some things

haaay girl, hope New O is good and like fried and stuff.

I searched for email addresses with "blink" in them in my work "database" just for fun, and found the following:

blink182theshiznit and blink182_girl5

then I searched "twilight" and found:

twilighter72 (for some reason thought this was funny, then realized it probably wasn't supposed to be)
twilightnight
mikki.twilightfan
alexis.twilightgirl
twilightlover7
twilightriot (personal fave)
twilightgoddess
twilightlover666 (will prollz be into ICP in 18 months)
twilightsash
twilight_elk


and there are like 8 more. Pretty hilarious. Tw33nz .

ALSO! Last night I saw an AWESOME show that's coming to a town near you... playing Austin 11/2, Le Loup from DC and Nurses from PDX!

you gotta check it out. Nurses are totally animal collectivey and Le Loup are just fuckin awesome. AnCo-ish also, but you can tell they're from DC cause there's definitely some hardcore lurking underneath. tons of energy, and they wail on the drums and it is siiiiiick. I promise you will not be dissapointed.

Of Jeff and Jules

One of the best parts of being a human is experiencing sensation to the extent that you transcend, however fleeting, the experience of the other 23.92 hours of your day. Lots of other living creatures can experience pleasure, so perhaps what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to blog about these sensations.

Anyway, every so often, if you're lucky, you experience a medium, whether human-created or a natural phenomenon, that enables a heightened sense of union with the moment in the world around you, and leaves you wishing you had more ears, or eyes, or hands. That's why we do things like listen to music, isn't it? Under these pretenses, I submit to you the act of experiencing the art of Jeff Lynne, and the not-yet-released solo debut of Julian Casablancas, of Strokes and Lower East Side fame.

Jeff Lynne could be deemed the godfather of modern synth-pop (as opposed to ancient synth-pop). I remember reading one critic's claim that Lynne had all the pop sensibilities of Lennon but "took it to outer space" or something. To the extent that it is true, as he's often associated with Xanadu, which he did the soundtrack for, and other Xanada-esque things of the early 1980s, it's only half-true. I like to think Lynne had "all the pop sensibilities of Lennon" (meaning he could write a decently structured song with a catchy enough hook) and brought it to the basement. As in basement party, with lots of earnest men in yellow plaid wool suits with mischievous glints in their beards, and the sweet-talking women who didn't take any shit, unselfconsciously wearing powder blue dresses they'd sewn themselves. Everyone's drinking the punch and there are drugs rolled, smoked and snorted behind that door over there, and that guy might sled down their stairs in his briefs, but everyone is just wading in that sweet sweet technicolored sea of ELO's combination of strings, Minimoog and beats heavy enough to move a train.

Given that Julian Casablancas is associated more with post-millennial urban ennui than "chill times" per se, he and Jeff "Synth Opera" Lynne may seem like strange conceptual bedfellows. Not so, I assure you. Jules (as he will be referred to henceforth) has a similar knack for carving an immaculate melody from plastic, while bringing it to life with a level of depth of insight and compassion perhaps surprising to those who dismiss Jules and his Strokey cohorts merely as being too preoccupied with "cool" and its leather jacketed conventions. Along those lines, J.C. seems pretty damn self/world aware for a kid who grew up in the midst of the moneyed elite of the Upper West Side.

Jules begins "11th Dimension", the lead single from "Phrazes For The Young":

I just nod, I've never been so good at shaking hands I live on the frozen surface of a fireball Where cities come together, to hate each other in the name of sport [ahem]

before further extrapolating on the nature of the human experience at this point on the post-apocalptic (?) time-space continuum:

No one really cares or wonders why anymore
Oh I got music, coming outta my hands and feet and kisses/
That is how it once was done
All the dreamers on the run



Perhaps what really places Jeff and Jules hand in hand in my mind is not just their love of heavy machinery, but the epiphanies of late youth they place carefully inside the beats and synths. Around age thirty, both come to zen-like, pacifist conclusions about the act of living:

"Your faith has got to be greater than your fear" and "Forgive them even if they are not sorry" from Jules' "11th Dimension" and


"I have fought in the holiest wars,
I have smashed, some of the holiest jaws.
Ive been jailed, been impaled, and been dragged through the world.
One thing, I have learned through these years,
Is that no man, should be stricken with fear.
It should be that he walks with no care in the world.
So my friends, who are gathered today,
Hear this clear, for Ill not further say.
That no man, shall cause me to take up arms again"

from ELO's "Boy Blue", 1976.


If that's not transcendence, I'll still be wishing I had more ears.

Update

Polanski UPDATE

Ever have one of those days...

Where you get NOTHING done but, yet, it still feels like the most productive day of your lyfe? That was my day today. Sunny. 75 degrees. Pink scooters. Tacos in the Mexican neighborhood. Shopping. Getting d on champagne at a fixed gear bike shop. all by 7pm. Come visit Austin!

J.C. of NY

Julian Casablancas will sing your salvation.
This is awesome. We were s000 right about the Strokes being tiiiiiiiiight.

you should go

to THIS!

looks like a l337 time!

GETS IT

from an interview of this guy on the street:

I don’t use a computer because I only handwrite people.

You don’t tweet?

Tweet? No, dude, I’m not that important. Who wants to hear about how I wiped my ass or how I had scrambled eggs for breakfast?

Iggy and Slash.

Actually I had pumpkin pancakes today. Every gift I give is handmade, because that’s what I do. I sit at home with a glue-stick under black light, Christmas lights, and a candle burning. That’s what I like because it keeps me warm and when I make things I have a ball.

The man is real but isn't REAL...

So I'm feeling conflicted. And need your help deciding how I should really feel about this situation. There is a small brewery in your lovely former state of Vermont that might be run out of business by Monster energy drink because they call their beer, Vermonster. I'm on this dude's side, obvs. I mean look at this.

And Monster energy drink blows a nut.

But here's where my internal conflict arises. Monster Energy Drink is owned by Hansens Corp. that makes Hansen's Natural Sodas. These sodas sustained me the summer I was on tour. So there's a soft spot for warm cherry vanilla Hansen's in my heart. Conflict #1. #2 is that obviously Monster is the Man. Obviously this guy in Vermont is more 'real' because he makes this beer in his basement. BUT. If I saw this beer in the fridge of my local shady corner store or on tap at the 'hip because its shady' bar I was hanging out in that weekend, I WOULDN'T buy it. It may taste okay, but I hate that fucking kokopelli shit. 'Rock Art Brewery' its called. And they picked the most generic fucking rock art shit that ever lived. AND its the kokopelli playing the horn, not the original one where he has this huge phallus and is holding it - which if Rock Art Brewery had used this as their logo, I'd no doubt drink their beer. But they use this shitty kokopelli that is the typographic equivalent of using papyrus. AND this shit kokopelli is playing a fucking flute because old school oppressive Spanish priests trying to convert Native Americans objected to this fertility god as obscene. Like a naked dude into bondage crosses hanging in every Catholic church in the world isn't fucking obscene. Or molesting small boys for that matter. Fuckin' A. I can't even find a good picture of an OG Kokopelli on the nets. We have a couple in books here at the office that I'll scan at a later date. The Catholic church obviously controls the netz. I found this one though:


But I digress. Seriously digress.
The point is MY conflict with this situation. To review. Fact: I would buy a Hansen's Natural Cherry Vanilla soda (even if its warm) over a Rock Art Brewery's Vermonster. What's more real? Hansen's natural makes no qualms about who they are, except maybe the whole 'natural soda' thing. But I really have a huge fucking problem with this dude's beer and his whole "I'm gonna fight the Man" crusade, when he picked this dumb ass image created by the original makers of the Crusades, to sell his beer. I kinda want to tell them both to go fuck themselves and brew my own basement beer. Except in my garage, cause Texas has no basements. Or at least Austin doesn't. No tornadoes or snowstorms. What do you think?

OH! AAAAND I found out thanks to the netz, that the Vermonster is also what Ben and Jerry's calls their giant ass sundaes they make at festivals or sumthin' with a bunch of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in it and fat people eat it as fast as they can and wear tshirts proclaiming how proud they are of their fat exploits. So even the name isn't OG. I dunno. It's all making me really tired. I think I'll just stick to PBRs and Diet Coke. Of course. Diet Coke is made by Coke who like ownz the planet. And I read this on PBRs wiki:

Marketing and Revival

The beer experienced a sales revival in the early 2000's, largely due to its increasing popularity among the 20-something demographic in cities like Portland, Oregon. Despite its website featuring art competitions and photos of young people dressed in alternative fashions, Pabst has not fully embraced the countercultural label or appeal to it arguably because the very same "authenticity" that made it popular would be challenged by over-marketing. Instead, the company has opted for subtlety, finding clever ways to target its growing niche through the surreptitious sponsorship of indie music concerts, local businesses, dive bars, and radio programming such as National Public Radio's All Things Considered. These techniques have proven effective and have been rewarded with remarkable growth in sales - the production of PBR has more than doubled since its revival in the early 2000s.

But that's just good marketing. Even Carles would approve of that.

This is Tommy Collins...

I'm listening to KOOP radio, the community run radio station here in Austin. Its country hour. But not like Miley Cyrus tevs busho country, real good ole boy- I live in the country type music. It makes me want to pick up an acoustic geetar or fiddle and make sing some toones about what I learned "Out Behind the Barn." Those people didn't know it but they were livin, experiencing something real. (haha the dj old timer just said "theres too many words in them letterz")

Which I've been thinking about alot. Yesterday I got up and came to work, worked the whole time, went to Hobby Lobby, went home and immediately starting crankin' out wedding hair pieces, then cranked out some design for my cuz, played about 30 minutes of disastrous Donkey Kong then passed out about 1:30am. Felt so good to like be productive. Put something into this world. Even menial. And I still had two beerz while I was making hair pieces, and still got to hang with some friends during my short but exciting venture into the world of video games. I guess what I'm realizing is I can still do those things I like and want to do (drink/hard sittin') but can be productive as well - and being productive always makes me feel like I'm experiencin something real. Because what else can you do except make shit that either you'll be remembered for makin' it, or will get left behind after you off yourself on the eve of your 30th birthday so people have to remember you? Its giving me some drive to make shit happen - if for no other reason than its the only way I know how to recreate the
feeling of that ole Tommy Collins song "You Oughta See Pickles Now" (Check it out!)

Also. I forgot to add into my schedule last night - I drove by my friend Liz's to give her the "I want beard burn" magnet. Did you scan that? I might have to get it back and scan it just because its sooo great. She really wants to make stickers of it, so I was thinking of scanning it anyway to get pirnt it as stickers. I think you can get sticker paper and pirnt it on my laser pirnter that I finally got workin' since Portland. If you ever see cheap stacks of label paper at Scrap let me know. Man I gotta find a Scrap equivalent here in Austin. There's bound to be one. If not, I'm starting it! Oh man that would go over so well. They probably don't make bank but I bet they make some dollars. Everyone is volunteers and all that shit is donated. That could be a really fun venture.

Also. I gotta get you a digi because I really want to try to get a pic of that painting at the bye and bye. I can't find this Juan character on the netz and my bro (literally) really wants a GIANT painting for his new condo and will pay. BIG. Like the painting will be at least 6ft by something tall. I may have to get you to help me. I'm trying to work out sketches now.

OK GOTTA GO! WORRRK

ack!

just saw via the fbook your car was vadalized! shit. that sucks. people are absolute idiots.

But this is cool, so i thought Id share with you, from the AV Club: Rauschenberg!

plans for something real.

check this out. we could do that.

we need to like set up a donation site... I rlly wanna walk across the country. that would be real. we would be a million interesting people and places and then we could write a badass book about... wanna do it in the next few years. It would take like 8 months maybe? It would take a lot of planning but I know we could do it. something to think about... start next April or so?

Just had to post this pic from HRO.

Happiness is a myth.....

...invented to make us buy things.

I read this book in college called 'Shantaram' and am thinking of re-reading it.The guy who wrote the novel based it on his own life experiences, and man, are they REAL. He escaped from an Australian prison, lived in the slums of Mumbai, and fought as a rebel in Afghanistan. And I'm pretty sure was in a semi-successful German rock band (but thats not in the book.)

Anyhow. There's a character named Karla in the book that I want to be. I hate that about books. Characters can be so cool and full of epic one line quotes that sum up life in profound ways. No one ever writes about characters that live at home with their parents and work a payless internship while trying to figure it all out... WAIT> WE SHOULD!!

Karla gems:

“Sometimes I think that’s what heaven is- a place where everybody’s happy because nobody loves anybody else, ever.”

“People always hurt us with their trust. The surest way to hurt someone you like, is to put all your trust in him.”

“I could never respect a man who didn’t have the good sense to be at least a little afraid of me.”

“I take everything personally- that’s what being a person is all about.”

"I’d only give you advice if I didn’t care what happens to you.”

Nez Perce Baby

I found this pic of a lil nez perce baby and it reminded me of those AWESOME papooses and other sweet Native arts we saw @ the PAM! Let's make things and grow food, k?

Juan Casas

Hey Mollz,

so last night was @ bye and bye consuming hot toddies per dr.'s orders and inquired re: artist of moto piece-- Juan Casas is the name. Went to bed excited about googling him, came to work to do so and don't if I'd had much luck. Apparently there's an artist named Juan Casas who was born in Spain and works in realistic portraits w. ballpoint pen. awesome stuff.
BUT the Juan Casas who did the moto piece WORKS at the Bye and Bye. And has done all the cool art in there, according to bartender with neck tats. So, thats all the news re: that piece. I will keep you up to date on more info as it comes along... will listen for Spanish accent while at the bar.