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All Done!
It has been fun, but Shoes on Powerlines has come to an end. Comments are off. You can reach me at:
August 20, 2009
Comedy. I like to laugh.
I don’t laugh at a lot of things that other people find funny. That is what I like about my group of friends, we all find the same things funny. That’s what everyone sees in their friends, right?
To me, real comedy is stuff that isn’t supposed to be funny. I like things that make your squirm a bit, or things that are really really earnest.
Which is why I really like Andy Kaufman. I like comedy that takes things a little too far. These things crack me up! I’ve been spending a lot of free time at work looking up Jerry Lawler, the king of Memphis Wrestling! Don’t ask me why, I just have. I stumbled across some Andy Kaufman videos where he is taunting Jerry Lawler, and it cracks me up. The audience can’t take a joke – they don’t get it! And that’s what is hilarious about the entire thing.
“I want complete silence, then I will get in the ring!”
If you don’t know about the Jerry Lawler/Andy Kaufman wrestling feud, then you can read about it here. OR JUST READ A BOOK!
And as a bonus, here the famous Lawler/Kaufman fight on Letterman.
1 comment April 16, 2009
See you in 2009… maybe
“Internet is dead.”
“Oh, that’s very fascinating to me.”
8 comments December 15, 2008
Motorcycle Safety PSA #1
When driving your motorcycle, never transport bottles of red wine in your backpack. If you are unlucky enough to get into an accident, you could break the bottles causing red wine to spill out of your back.
One of following then might occur:
1. Rescuers focus on your back, thinking that all the blood must be coming from there.
2. They will smell the red wine and think you must have been drunk, thus you might receive a DUI!
3. Bums will wander over and attack your backpack for any wine remnants.
4. The attractive nurse at the hospital will look at your wine choice with disdain.
Please remember to only transport white wine on a motorcycle. If you absolutely have to transport red wine on a motorcycle, pack fine, soft cheeses and fruits around the bottle to cushion against any possible blow. Also, enjoy these fine cheeses when you arrive at your destination.
For Your Health!
2 comments December 7, 2008
Guided By Voices’ Wished I Was a Giant
November 26, 2008
The The’s “Dogs of Lust”
Dusk deals with a lot things internal – love, lust, loneliness. The three L’s. The whole album has a really amazing early 90’s sound that you only find on certain REM albums, or all the bands from the “My So Called Life” soundtrack.
The video can’t be embedded, so here is the YouTube link.
From Dusk:
Here they come! The dogs of lust.
Out of my mind, into my life.
Somebody should be here to hold me
Somebody should be here to show me, show me!When you’re lustful. When you’re lonely.
and the heat is rising slowly.I got it blue. I got it bad.
I got the sweetest sadness I ever had.
As the hours pass before my eyes.
As the hours pass before me.I keep reaching up
but they drag me back down
Wherever I try to hide
I will always be foundRising slowly
If you dig this, ask me for the album. Or check out Slow Emotion Replay. Pretty poignant lyrics for the times, even if the album came out 16 years ago:
“Everybody knows what’s going on with the world, I don’t even know what’s going on in myself.”
Plus, Johnny Marr plays on it. Listen to it. If you want a version without the lame talking in it, email me.
November 19, 2008
Fresh Roast American’t
“Get off the internet!”
I’m defeating all the Metroid games. People tell me I’m too cool, so I had to prove them wrong. I have 4 more to go.
Go buy the new “TV on the Radio,” because that album is blowing my mind right now (except track 3, which I have to skip).
A police officer (of the law) called me an idiot. No joke. At least he didn’t give me a ticket.
My place of employment is possibly the worst place on earth.
The end!
2 comments November 11, 2008
that’s the emptiest place in the circle
yeah!
I’m not dead, just playing the part. I’m toying with this idea of “1998 Luddite” where I haven’t been checking my email or keeping my cellphone with me. Wouldn’t it be interesting to take this idea to a further extent? Imagine living a month without internet, only a home phone, etc. Connection and disconnection in 2008 is an interesting topic.
I bring this up because I have been rereading the “R. Crumb Handbook” that I bought a few years ago. (here is a good Terry Gross interview with Robert Crumb about the book). I’m not sure if you’ve been following this blog much, or know me, but I prefer older things to the hot new shit. Sure, I have an iPhone. But I also really enjoy records. I can’t find a modern motorcycle that gets me excited like bikes from 78 and earlier… even though they require a lot of work and I miss the hands off reliability of my Vespa LX. A lot of stuff I own is convenience vs. aesthetics, high-tech vs. low-tech. It is a fun wire to walk. I can enjoy a game on the Nintendo Wii while listening to some 45’s. (I just need to replace that needle).
I bring this up because a quote from the first paragraph of the first chapter of the “R. Crumb Handbook” sums up my conflicted idea of products and items today, so I will share it with you:
As a kid growing up in the 1950’s I became acutely aware of the changes taking place in American culture and I must say I didn’t much like it. I witnessed the debasement of architecture, and I could see a decline in the quality of things like comic books and toys, things made for kids. Old things seemed to have more life, more substance, more humanity to them.”
More humanity to them. I realize that’s what I feel about things that I own that are from a time before I was born. But I also realize that a lot of the things I own from my own lifetime have gained that humanity… that timeworn look that endears me to them. And a lot of stuff that is out today isn’t made to last that long – disposable and thin and not made to soak up those years of wear and use. Like IKEA. I have an IKEA desk. This thing is a piece of junk – easily bought for cheap and disposed of after I move. How many desks have I owned since I was a kid? Not one of them has lasted… I can’t look at the surface and see the ink stain that reminds me of a broken pen, or a ding in the leg that reminds me of moving. They are disposed of, cheap and functional, but they lack any sort of sturdiness to allow the blood and time we spend with them to mix in and endear us to their form. That humanity! I think you all can agree my red vinyl couch (which I will never get rid of) has a lot of personality.
Surrounding myself with particle board furniture and other impermanent things seems to add to an atmosphere of heartless living… if I can’t love my possessions enough to want to keep them around, then I usually replace them with one of two things: something quality or nothing at all. Purging insignificant items is always a cathartic activity! And it’s green, which is so hot right now.
Edit / Update: This post also reminds me of a piece of art in the liner notes from REM’s “Out of Time” that always struck me. The caption follows:
When, after 75 years of use, the marble steps leading into this lobby of this building become worn, they are not replaced or rebuilt, but covered for protection with plates of corrugated iron.
7 comments October 28, 2008
“Don’t elect an old dude President”
History can repeat itself.
Sit back, relax, click and view this amazing, amazing thing.
October 24, 2008
Circus Devils respond!
I posted a question on the Circus Devils’ website as I noticed that I liked their album “Sgt. Disco” much more outside of my current place of living. My question and their response:
Robert from Los Angeles, CA: Circus Devils makes me want to move. I want to pick up my things and move because I think Circus Devils’ albums sound better outside of Los Angeles. Can you explain or pontificate?
Dear Robert: Everything sounds better away from Los Angeles. If you want to enjoy music then just get out of there. I also heard that things look better away from LA too. Does having movie stars around make everyone else look ugly? I say move to Ohio. Here, the music sounds great all the time, and a normal, unattractive guy like you won’t feel so bad because nobody living here is in show business.
More hilarity and insight here.
10 comments October 11, 2008
Boston Spaceships’ Brown Submarine
The second song on the “Brown Submarine” is the album’s namesake. It is very similar in tone and lyric to one of my favorite Circus Devils’ songs, Nicky Highpockets (previously written about here).
I love her
She love me
We go down to the seaBringing earth
To the air
In our brown submarine
submarine
submarineHave you dreamed Carolinas
Or drawing a line further under
As the ghost of your notions
The sea crossing oceans
Do you love her?And the old men in boats
Are the ghosts of the sea
We’ve Nutella and toast
In our brown submarine
Some of my favorite songs from Pollard contain “ghosts.” The most poignant lyric from Tractor Rape Chain is “there’s a ghost in my room and he says I better run.” My favorite song from “Waved Out” is Wrinkled Ghost, which also talks about “setting sail.” Download the beautiful demo of Wrinkled Ghost here.
Wherein Guided by Voices always seemed to bring up their proximity to the Wright Brothers and the birth of flight, Robert Pollard loves to go the nautical route with a lot of his side projects. Fading Captain, anyone?
1 comment October 11, 2008
