Partisan Cookies Shack

This probably means nothing to you, but means everything to me. From Merge Records' blog:


While you're there, check out the new Music Tapes album Music for Clouds and Tornadoes. I've already pre-ordered the LP, because I'm obsessed.

The Walkmen's You and Me

I love the new album from The Walkmen so much. I'd try to write something intelligent about it, but that would take some effort. And no one reads this blog anyway. You can stream the whole album here.

a Roxbury sunset

Tonight's sunset from the roof. See all the photos here.

E turns 30

Photos from E's 30th birthday party are here. We had a lovely weekend with E's brother and his wife.

Weekend run down:

- Friday we did a highly recommended pub crawl: River Gods -- Miracle of Science -- T.C.'s -- our roof deck. On the way, we picked up some random musician, who crashed at our place.

- Saturday, we hit Carson Beach before the party (yeah, Boston beaches!).

- Sunday we walked the whole city, and E accidentally ordered $80 worth of crabs at the Barking Crab. His response to the mistake? "If I knew I was going to order an $80 entree, I would have worn pants."

And now I'm about to pass out from exhaustion.

Video: Psychedelic Furs, live in Spain (June 2008)

How awesome is this? And who knew the Psychedelic Furs did a bunch of shows in Spain last month? And they played some Love Spit Love covers! Here's "Am I Wrong:"



and "Ghost In You:"


And on a related note, Tim Butler's myspace page is one of my favorites--for really no good reason.

Doves to play first show in 3 (long) years

From Heavenly Records:

"Doves first gig in nearly 3 years, their first since recording their hugely anticipated 4th album (due out 2009):"

Friday 12th September
Royal Festival Hall - Doves / Very Special Guests / Cherry Ghost

LoRox BBQ

This past Saturday, we had our first bbq / jazz concert of the season at Frederick Douglass Peace Garden. See all the photos here.

Mark Knopfler's "Last Exit to Brooklyn"

Mark Knopfler was in town this past weekend, which inspired me to listen to the Last Exit to Brooklyn soundtrack--moving stuff. Here's "Finale:"



I still haven't finished the novel on which the film's based (haven't seen the film either). It dives so deeply into the depravity of man, that I can only read about ten pages at a time before I feel sick.

Speaking of morally thought-provoking and troubling works of art, The Dark Knight is incredible. We talked about it for an hour after the film ended. I'm still thinking about it. If you haven't seen it, be on the look out for John Ringhofer's father as an extra. And if you don't know who John Ringhofer is, well... you're missing out.

From Half-handed Cloud's myspace page:

I haven't told many of you but my father (also named John Ringhofer) acted as an extra in the brand-new Batman film "The Dark Knight." I haven't seen it yet, so I'm not sure that they used his shots (there's a chance they didn't). I don't think he has a speaking part, but he describes his scene this way:

"I'm the Captain of the tug boats evacuating people from Gotham City. I'm wearing a bright yellow/green plastic jacket and a black police type hat talking with three or four other guys about what to do with civilians and prisoners."

He once told me to look for his scene near one with a crowd of people pulling rolling-suitcases towards a ferry boat. Anyways, if any of you are going to the film, let me know if you find him? I'll probably try to go in the next week or so to see for myself. Pretty neat.

Thanks,
john

Fleet Foxes show review

Reviewed last week's Fleet Foxes show over here. Don't miss an opportunity to see them live.

I can't believe Robin Pecknold is only 21--makes me feel extremely unaccomplished at 28. And, yes, I did buy the vinyl.

Blonde Acid Cult's "Shake It Loose"

Just because it's Friday, and we all need a little pick-me-up.

a plethora of XANADU related news

In case you don't know what I'm talking about (for shame!), this clip pretty much says it all:



Xanada is on hulu!!!

And a special edition widescreen edition dvd was just released.

And the good folks who brought us the Buffy sing-along (yes, I've attended this, if you're wondering) will soon bring us a Xanadu sing-along.

I also heard that Olivia Newton-John just got married.

Wow, this has been quite the exciting week for Xanadu enthusiasts.

ESD#51: shahhhks

On a rather tedious road trip, I once read aloud to E Michael Crichton's short piece of non-fiction "Sharks" from the book Travels. Just to annoy E, each time I read the word "shark" I pronounced it with a thick Boston accent: "shahhhk."

I realize we do this kind of thing a lot, often when we're a little punchy from, say, a long road trip. Like this past weekend, while driving through Maine, E insisted that his favorite song on the ipod was Band of Horses' "No One's Gonna Love You," only because I think the song's stupid. He played it on repeat, sincerely closed his eyes while singing, did his dumb dance, hummed it in the parking lot of Market Basket. What a punk.

Low's coming to Boston!!!

via Brooklyn Vegan:

Low's playing the MFA in September! Yeehaw! Plus Sigur Ros the week before and the Dodos the week after that.

The Fall will be good for music, indeed.

ESD#50: blade runner

E and I saw Blade Runner last night at the Brattle. I had never seen it. Now I'm inspired to finally read a Philip Dick novel (since I aspire to be Jonathan Lethem). Afterwards we went to Shay's for a beer on the patio and were freaked out to see a little dove hanging from the tree next to us. It was as though Roy's soul had followed us from the theater to the bar. So I made E take a photo:

Roy and his dove / soul:

E and his dove / soul:

ESD#49: maine

E and I spent July 4th in Boothbay Harbor, Maine with my folks. Boothbay footbridge:


The town is a total tourist trap, but has cute things list rock skipping contests (note the benefits of participating include trophies, candy and FAME)...


...and bears...


...and community bands! Check out the kick ass percussion section:


Oh, you want video, too?

E dancing to the hot beats:


Finally got to use my camera's fireworks setting:


We stopped by Marshall Point, one of my favorite places in the world.


I took some glamor shots of E:


Then we managed to find a sandy beach in Pemaquid. Cute place!


See all my photos here.

Last Night's Concert: Frightened Rabbit

E and I went to another show, and I reviewed it here: Frightened Rabbit and Oxford Collapse at TT the Bear's. It was our first time at TT's. I thought the space was good, but the sound was pretty bad. E missed the entire Frightened Rabbit set, because he was picking up a friend from the airport.

I kind of hate it when people say you'll never be able to see so-and-so band at [insert small concert venue] again, because it sounds like they just want bragging rights. But I'm gonna say it. Frightened Rabbit's gonna blow up. Their new album's awesome.

I put one song from each band on my muxtape, too.

I made you a mix-tape #7

Anticipating some upcoming roof deck parties, I've made some summer mixes. I updated my muxtape with some of my favorite tracks from the mixes. I tried to keep it all new stuff from the past few months, but there are a couple 2007 tracks. Here's the track list:

The Dodos - Fools
Mobius Band - Friends Like These
Evangelicals - Skeleton Man
Frightened Rabbit - Head Rolls Off
Santogold - Creator
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
Oxford Collapse - Please Visit Your National Parks
Pomegranates - Thunder Meadow
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance
The Acorn - Low Gravity
Wheat - What Everyone Keeps Telling Me

Eddie Veddar solo show in Boston

The only time in my life that I've been star struck was when I saw Eddie Vedder perform solo at a 2000 Nader Rally (why does this story keep popping up on my blog)? Well, he's playing a solo show at the Opera House in Boston with Liam Finn. This is ridiculous. I can't wait.

P.S. If you google image search "eddie vedder msg nader rally" my face shows up from this blog. Hilarious and oh so meta.

Menomena's muxtape of b-sides

Just discovered that Menomena posted a muxtape with various b-sides and rarities. It's pretty awesome. That is, if you like Menomena.