I’m being social, by ignoring the people (and fountains) around me… so out of my way! Walking consists of two major components: moving your feet and looking ahead. If you don’t move your feet, you stay in one place. This is called standing, or, in New York, tourism. If you don’t look ahead, you run …
Month: January 2011
“All Vocals: Russell Mael” reads a credit on the booklet back of the twenty-first album by Sparks; and I don’t think anybody, not even the folks applauding this record, appreciates what a breathtaking accomplishment that is. Russell (the cute one) used this one-man choir approach on the last two albums and 2006’s “Hello Young Lovers” …
My employer and I parted ways last October. I wasn’t blind-sided or steamrolled by the layoff, but the hit really cleaned my clock and rung my bell. The incident was unfortunate, though inevitable. With the failing economy, the company wasn’t getting the job done on either side of the ball. They were in search of …
On the Thursday evening after it happened I sat at Charlie’s on Broadway meeting some new people. I said I couldn’t remember the last time four famous people died in one day. Which where the other two, everyone asked. Why, Sky Saxon and Johnny Hart, I said. I found only one man who knew of …
Just in case you didn’t see this today: JOHN LYDON’S TOP OF THE POPS ROOTS REGGAE PICKS: http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/john_lydons_top_of_the_pops_roots_reggae_picks/ It’s been interesting to read in the Keith Richards book how very deep into reggae he was/is too. Of course, I knew about Peter Tosh opening for The Stones, living in Keith’s house, and Keith’s pad in …
My world was shattered today regarding one of those small little truths we just wanted to believe so much. But, upon learning the truth, we must face the harsh realities of life with courage: Apparently Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were not named after the cop and taxi driver characters with the same names …
Fish (no relation to Phish), late of Marillion (though he wishes everyone would quit talking about that), always held his various broken hearts so close that they burned from body heat. So when life threw him a genuine own goal—he courts the female singer of a female progressive band, they engage, they set the date, …
Go here – “Canzano: Where the football meets the fish and chips.”
The New York Times has decided to have some fun at Portland’s expense in an article titled, “Can a City This Self-Serious Take a Joke?” which contains such big city literary observations as the following: “For years, many residents here have reacted with practiced apathy and amusement toward the national fascination with Portland. Outsiders and …
This electric, yet unplugged, version of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” is trending in Seattle this morning:
It’s all here at TMZ or, more traditionally, here at Reuters. Oprah’s half sister, Patricia, was put up for adoption at an early age and Oprah had never learned of her existence, until now. From Oprah.com – http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Breaking-News-Oprah-Reveals-a-Hidden-Family-Secret
Here’s the link to the BBC’s live text coverage of the Moscow Airport bombing, where 35 people were killed, 130 others injured: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/9372022.stm Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Here’s the link to Russia Today’s English Language Youtube Channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday Here is some witness video, taken moments after the …
You’ve got to be good to make art out of a muddy river, but that’s what these folks did. Here’s how the creators describe their vid on Youtube, “We drove around Zig Zag, Welches, and Brightwood to see all the flooding and finally arrived at Lolo Pass just as the road was about to wash …
For those of you who’ve never lived with a Swede, this is exactly how dinner was prepared every day at five PM at the ancestral home in Chicago, and how it’s still done to this day here in East Portland, including the feet.
Nick Millward and his fabulous Riffbrokers have been providing sweet, crunchy audio candy to the NW for over 10 years now, from power pop to Americana. Nick explores the power and magic of the hillbilly spiritual on a great new song, available for free download. http://riffbrokers.bandcamp.com/track/leaning-on-the-everlasting-arms – Steve Stav
This is Definitely my new favorite website. Sheba is six years old and there are two hug pugs now. They have their own Facebook page, as they should… http://www.hugpug.com This video shows, from the HugPug website, you just how social pugs are. They groom each other constantly. A pug can never be a solitary dog. …
East Portland Blog asked me to write about “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis, but my heart really wouldn’t be in it today knowing that this clip of Louis Prima and Keely Smith exists. Prima was a combination Zelig/Lord of Misrule of 20th century music, with a career stretching from Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans to the LA …
Another reminder that St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. St. Paddy’s day in Chicago is a huge deal. Offices may as well close for two days due to low productivity on the day itself and the hangover time wastage which inevitably follows the next day. I never thought I’d miss those wild March …
Corin Tucker, once the siren of Sleater-Kinney, has a new band, the Corin Tucker Band, a new album, “1000 Years,” and, most importantly, a new hat. (Click here for Ken Tucker’s review): Meanwhile, ex-bandmate Carrie Brownstein has a new TV show with SNL’s Fred Armisen.
One of the legacies of World War II, with its enlistment of young men from across the United States for military service in Europe and the Pacific, was the integration of Southern rural culture – both black and white – into mainstream American life. The South, which had been largely isolated from the rest of …
Critic’s Roundtable, Part 4 (This conversation has four parts.) Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 Behold! http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop Look carefully and you’ll see a ballot from yours truly. Almost nobody else voted for my picks, but I expected nothing less. A few observations: those rascally Posies finished at 190, beating out, …
When you answer “Beatles” to the question, “Beatles or Stones?” it shows that you don’t understand the question being asked, and if you don’t get it in 2011, you never will. – East Portland Blog Critic’s Roundtable, Part 3 (This conversation has four parts.) Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 …
Critic’s Roundtable, Part 2 (This conversation has four parts.) Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 Tom is, as usual, generous, judicious and fair in his evaluation, and that’s why he always would have made a better rock critic than some of us of stronger, more strident opinions. But there are …