March 2010
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PaperBoy (NES)

YouTube – PaperBoy (NES) Music.

It has been a crazy week so I didn’t post anything the past two days.  I did make some additions to the site, though – mostly just more comics and a logo on the Random page.  I’m also working on getting my other blog, ideajarinc.com, to be hosted by Bluehost,  the same company that hosts this site.  They have been a great (and affordable!) company to work with so far.  Once the domain transfer and file uploads for that site are done, I’ll convert it from a Blogger to Wordpress blog (like this one) so we can arrange photos and videos on it much more easily than we can now.  Blogger is also about to quit supporting FTP blogging so it’s time to make that change.

Anyway, I am in the midst of updating my resume and it got me thinking about my past jobs.  My very first job was delivering the Albuquerque Tribune (the afternoon paper, which no longer exists in print).  My brother had the job before me, and he inherited it from my sister, so we kept it in the family for several years.  My mom, sister, brother, or neighbors would drive me each day to do the route after I got home from school and folded the papers, usually with my friend Chip.  I couldn’t go on any vacations without getting someone to do the route for me, and I often had to cover other routes in the area for other carriers who were not available.  I think I did it for two or three years – until I could get a real part time job.  I made about $80 a month, which was enough to buy skateboards and accessories and have a bit of spending cash.  It’s a job that is fast disappearing, and there are a lot of things I hated about it but I’m glad I did it.

I probably listened to this song a lot back then as I also bought a Nintendo Entertainment System with paper route money.  I eventually sold the NES at a pawn shop for $20 so I could buy a biography of The Cure.  How I wish I had the NES still, as many of my friends still do!

Anvil – School Love

YouTube – Anvil – School Love 1984.

From Chris:

I couldn’t resist posting this clip by Anvil. I watched the documentary on Anvil last night and it dovetailed nicely with last week’s Canadian content. This heavy metal band from Toronto has been playing together for 30 years and were poised for big success in the early 80s, only to miss the wave that Metallica and Slayer caught to big record sales. It wasn’t because of lack of talent or critical acclaim, they were just unlucky. They’re still together and rocking, the band has never broken up or taken a hiatus since they formed when they were teens.

Robyn Hitchcock – Madonna of the Wasps

YouTube – Robyn Hitchcock – Madonna of the wasps.

I used to video tape Friday Night Videos in early high school in the hopes that a Cure video would come on so I could watch it over and over the next day.  The video for this song came on one time when I viewed the tape the next day and I really liked this song.  I saw Robyn Hitchcock in Seattle at a record store acoustic show around 2002 and he was great.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy.

Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side

YouTube – A Walk On The Wild Side.

I never get sick of this song.

Today, I had the at first unpleasant and then sort of pleasant discovery that the new glasses I got yesterday are actually photo greys.  I’ve never owned a pair and don’t remember requesting these to be made that way.  I came back from the post office into my car and noticed how everything was a bit … tinted.  Then I looked in the rear view mirror and was shocked that I appeared to be wearing sunglasses.  At first I wanted to return my glasses and get regular lenses, but then I realized that I didn’t have to squint with all the UV while I was driving.  It’s hard for people like me who refuse to wear contact lenses to ever wear sunglasses.  So now I have the best of both worlds … perfect vision and shadez to boot.  And a definite 80’s ‘tude.

I added the Agua Mala page – so far only one badly recorded instrumental seven minute jam is on the page, but that song will soon take shape and more recordings will be added as we make them.

Black Flag – Nervous Breakdown EP

YouTube – Black Flag – 1978 – Nervous Breakdown EP.

I’m finally reading Our Band Could Be Your Life after a friend nicely lent it to me.  I have been wanting to read it for a while.  I’m a slow reader these days so it will probably take a while to read, but I’ll post songs from time to time referenced in the book that I never have listened to.

I never listened to Black Flag at all when I was younger, so this band’s music is brand new to me even though many friends loved them when I was in high school.  This is all 4 songs from their first EP (pre Henry Rollins), and I do like it, especially the last song (clocking in at 51 seconds), “Wasted”.

The Clientele – Reflections After Jane

YouTube – The Clientele – Reflections After Jane.

Thanks to everybody who blogged last week and allowed me to work on other parts of the site.  Now that the Olympics are over and the Canadians won an exciting hockey game last night, we can go back to a set 10 percent of Canadian Content, rather than 80 percent.

I went and saw the Clientele last Thursday night at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill.  It was sort of on a whim since I had other plans at first but when they were canceled I was happy to see the show was not sold out so I attended.  Vetiver opened up and were excellent, but the Clientele was quite a treat.  They opened for Spoon at another show I saw several years ago in Portland, but the sound was not very good that night.  It was good to see them again at a smaller show with  much better sound quality so I could hear the reverbed vocals and guitars, silky bass, and unassuming drums while nursing a couple of IPA’s right by the sound board.  It was a great concert.  It was also fun to see Mac and Laura, the owners of Merge Records and members of Superchunk, milling around to watch the band as the Clientele are on their label.

Kardinal Offishall – ‘We Gon Go’

YouTube – KARDINAL OFFISHALL ‘WE GON GO’ (Official Video – HD).

From Chris:

Kardinal Offishall, Canada’s hip hop star. Born and raised in Toronto Ontario. His parents are Jamaican immigrants. I like his style because he throws down a bit of dancehall reggae slang and rhythm into his rapping. This video (and song) is a bit slick and over-produced, but I can listen to this song like 5 times in a row and not get sick of it, its so fun to listen to. I like the clip in the video when he swaps out a NY Yankee cap for a Toronto Maple Leafs lid—Canada pride! He also name checks the big BBC Radio hip hop DJs Semtex and Tim Westwood.
Kyla don’t be sad, we can keep rolling Canadian while the Olympix are underway. Did you enjoy watching the Canadian women kill the US women’s team in hockey?

Plants and Animals – Bye Bye Bye

YouTube – Plants and Animals – Bye Bye Bye.

From Kyla:
The title is appropriate.
Bye bye bye Canadian Week.
But I love this song.
And you may as well face it, lo-budge: You, the dirge electronica lover

married a woman who loves the anthemic sing-a-long.
It’s crazy, but it works.
Just like this song.
Peace out.

Young & Sexy – Last Year’s Hopes

YouTube – Last Year’s Hopes.

From Kyla:

This is what we call a Triple Gold in Olympic speak:

1. It’s a video by Meesoo Lee, friend and most prolific/talented and underappreciated (even by himself) video artist in Canada

2.  It’s a song by friend/plaintive singer and pizza-maker extraordinaire Paul Pittman (and his ex-band Young & Sexy)

3:  It features ice skating, a sport on heavy rotation on the Olympics right now. Featuring American ice skater Nicole Bobek who is currently awaiting judgment on her summer 2009 arrest for alleged meth dealing. She may get 10 years in jail.

Also, could someone in figure skating please ban the following pieces of music:

1.  Anything from Phantom of the Opera

2.  Jazz era songs where the skater then does a faux-Charleston on skates

3.  Bluegrass-style in which you wear fake spandex overalls with one “strap” hanging loose to make it more authentic

From Sergio:

A bunch of comics have been added to the site and will continue to be added this week … about 100 more to go.

Zeus – Marching Through Your Head

YouTube – Zeus – Marching Through Your Head.

Kyla will be doing Canadian updates for the next three days:

Super power pop for the days when you’ve got to power through…the lack of an awkward “why is it there?” bridge is what I really appreciate -
oh, and of course, the handclaps!