short moves: execute

last night i had the pleasure of going to see some friends play a show. it was one of the all too rare occurrences where all the bands involved are friends, really talented, and most of all just thrilled to be there and watch their buddies play music they like. the lineup was as such:

norman - i’ve known and gone to school with these cats for a long time and they get better every time i see them. for reals. they also have a lap steel now which is sick.

the parson redheads - i wasn’t familiar with these gentlemen and ladies, but lindsay has been friends with the bass player since high school, both being from lovely springfield. they are from la so it was kinda bizarre that they were randomly playing a show with good buddies of mine. good stuff, kinda 60s pop psychadelia/brian jonestown massacre without the drunken brawling.

symmetry/symmetry - i can’t say enough about these kids. i love them dearly and each is a better musician than most bands put together. im sad danny never pulled off his grand heist.

im not sure im comfortable with how often hollywood thinks we need to go back and re-win vietnam. maybe i mention this now because there is a new rambo movie coming out and, while technically located in burma i think, c’mon we all know what this is about. i was indifferent, aw hell, ecstatic to watch chuck norris swing in singlehandedly high-panted in the 70s to go rescue pow’s still being held for no reason whatsoever somewhere deep in charlie’s backyard, but this is getting ridiculous. i mean if we’re gonna go all revisionist and shit, we might as well at least pick the most recent intractable quagmire clusterfuck of a war. well i guess vietnam was technically a ‘police action’. anyways, my point is, if hollywood is so tapped of ideas, and lets face it we’ve known that since shanghai knights, they could at least retread an action movie that matters. thats why, instead of a new rambo, they should make a new delta force. at least that shit takes place in the desert, chuck doesnt have anything better to do, and if we’re lucky enough, movie magic cgi trickery has advanced far enough that they can put lee marvin in it again

apparently my itunes shuffle mode’s mood today is bluegrass

so i saw the darjeeling limited last night and was pleased. after the comparative bungle that was life aquatic, its nice to see wes anderson back in form. i could write a whole lot or nothing, so because im sick and tired, i’ll choose the latter. instead i’ll just link it up to the pajiba review, which is pretty spot on like most of their material. i will say that the violent, direct blows to the head from the blunt hammer of symbolism at the end when the brothers are literally throwing away their father’s baggage could have been softened up a bit, but overall i give it a thumbs up.

lindsay got a chunk of pumpkin stuck down her shirt while carving a pumpkin version of rivers cuomo (i like to think its pinkerton-era rivers, not bullshit coors light commercial playboy mansion song rivers). i shall post pictures soon. my pumpkin will have a handlebar mustache. also, 28 weeks later was a SCARY movie

does anyone remember that bit they used to have on the daily show called ‘even stepvhen’? steve carell and stephen colbert were both correspondents on the show at the time and they would have mock debates about some such issue. colbert played the staunch conservative (hhmmm i wonder if he ever did anything with that character) and carell played his liberal counterpart. anyways, i liked that bit, but i cant find video of it. if anyone knows where to find it let me know. ill owe you a life debt or something

aaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddddd…………enjoy

having a piece of gum in my mouth, then drinking from a drinking fountain so the gum gets cold and hard, then chewing it some more so it gets soft and warm again and the flavor comes back

(prompt via eric) 

yesterday a friend of mine from back home called me because she had a dream where i was crying. she just called to ask if i was alright. i think this is a good instinct and people should do it more often, whether prompted by a dream or not.

from the wikipedia article on james jamerson…

“He is reported to have played on some 95% of Motown recordings between 1962 and 1968. He eventually performed on nearly 30 No. 1 pop hits — surpassing the record commonly attributed to The Beatles. On the R&B charts, nearly 70 of his performances went to the top….James Jamerson (as is the case with the other Funk Brothers) received little formal recognition for his lifetime contributions. In fact, it wasn’t until 1971, when he was acknowledged as “the incomparable James Jamerson” on the sleeve of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, that his name even showed up on a major Motown release.”

i got into a discussion with someone over the weekend about james jamerson, mostly cause we didnt really know each other, but we knew about james jamerson. he was one of the ‘funk brothers’ that acted as barry gordy’s personal honor guard of hitmakers throughout motown’s early days. the guy recorded my guy with the bass he used in his high school orchestra for chrissakes. anyways, i find the history of this particular group of musicians to be really incredible, especially since they have influenced now multiple generations of subsequent musicians, most of whom probably couldnt pick one of these guys out of a lineup. so i just wanted to shed some light on the history for those who dont know it. theres plenty of books and a few movies on the subject, most of which are referenced in the wiki article. more people in interviews need to say they are influenced by james jamerson.