two.points.collapsing

it’s been a funny LA couple of nights. tuesday i went with joe and dan to a ‘master storytellers’ event at the arclight in hollywood… the empire strikes back on the big beautiful screen, with some Q and A with director irvin kershner. he had some funny stories about wrangling yoda and r2d2, and revealed what i didn’t even know (shame on me, i thought i was real fan) about the shooting. lucas wasn’t even there. kershner did it all then came back with a cut to show ol’ georgie. our immediate conclusion: no wonder the new ones suck. george doesn’t know shit about how to direct or instruct actors (right, we all could tell that, but this is the support!), just write fantasy epics and innovate technical stuff like sound design. damn, i hope that cool ass trailer (which they also showed) isn’t another prelude to a let down.

then last night i went out for a long overdue coffee and conversation with good old jen. we tried to roll up to insomnia, but literally every seat was taken, 90% of the people with laptops utilizing the free wifi. it was a creepy combination of a university library and a twilight zone episode, like we had stumbled into a place we were unwelcome — cut to a dozen faces eerily lit by the glow of their monitors snapping up to stare at us deciding not to order and just leaving. sorry for invading, weirdos. but it actually worked out because we went to starbucks where it was quiet and fine and a random girl stopped me to ask if my braid shirt was for “the band braid, like from chicago?” and i was really excited for her to be the first to ever ask me that question and respond positively. plus the cocoa is pretty good and jen is one person i never seem to run out of things to talk about with; we could go on forever and would have if the place didn’t close. i LOVE those kinds friends, they really are indispensable.

oh, and on the way to and from the car we walked past some salon party or something on beverly with a bunch of models crowding up the sidewalk being all blonde and shit and waiting for the valets to bring their cars around while on cell phones and wearing too much makeup. it was like wading through really hot underbrush to get back to where we parked, only without the machete, obviously.

the futureheads – [s/t] – 5 stars

futureheads live at the troubadour 11/20/2004 – 4 stars

thanks are due on this one, because i might not have given this band a shot if it weren’t for spencer, who told me months ago to check them out and made me listen to them. even if i didn’t take to them then, thinking them just a noisy mess in my half-hearted first listen, he planted the seed.

and thanks to josh, who had this cd playing in his car when we got burgers that day when i realized this cd wasn’t a loud jumble, i just wasn’t paying attention. it was actually a layered and intentionally thick mass of vocal and guitar hooks that built on eachother to deliver a harder punch. kinda like the clash meets a barbershop quartet at a hipster bar. interesting.

then thanks to joe, who gave me the heads up they were playing a month before the show where i probably wouldn’t have noticed or bothered otherwise, and prompted me to recall that day in the car, download a few sample tracks, and realize i was starting to get excited about seeing this band.

thanks especially to the futureheads, who stood on that stage and within 3 bars had me loving them. shooting high onto the list of bands who care so much less about looking like a rock band (using the stage as a display case) and so much more about playing enjoyable music for their fans, and visibly enjoying themselves (stage as a dance floor, trampoline, you name it…). the only problem being that since they’re a new band, they only have a small catalog to pull from, so they ended up playing some of the lesser tracks just to fill a set. another round of songs (new album in 2005? [fingers crossed]) and their setlist will be all-star quality, i can’t wait.

thanks, finally to my passenger seat, for being empty of anyone who might have to endure my singing loudly to this cd as its case sat on the cushion to and from work every day for a week, and i actually enjoyed this cd more every time instead of any kind of loss of novelty effect. the best songs are so full of harmony and bounce i just can’t stop, and i pick up more with each listen. three words for this album: pick it up.

and if you can’t be bothered, at least listen to the pay day song, meantime. doesn’t have the best examples of their cool multi-part backing vocals, but hot dog are those some great licks.

24 hours and i’ll be back in los angeles. i watched the USC football game on TV today and saw it was raining back home, but then the announcer talked about how the clouds broke up and there was a full moon, and i thought about moonlight over the city out my apartment window and got homesick. not for the parents’ house i was sitting in, but for the place i’ve made my home in the past five or so years. if the real test for deciding if you really do love something is how you feel when you’re separated from it, then i may soon have to admit the big L… for a place i used to say i couldn’t wait to leave, no less.

not to get mushy or anything. and definitely not to say i don’t enjoy getting to see the family — they get only love. but it’ll be good to get back in my element. hey, maybe one of these years i can convince them to come visit me? and ideally without even having to get married first.

flying out for thanksgiving and family and rest and all that in a few hours, which should be pretty great. can’t wait to see the family and eat dangerous amounts of pie.

before then though i have to offer up a contrarian movie review really quick just to get a little bit of opposition out there in the face of all the puzzlingly high praise for this one…

sideways – 1 star

why in the world does everyone love this movie? honestly, i am baffled. my only concession is that it may require i age 20 more years and experience failures and depression i cannot imagine at only a healthy 23 before i am able to relate to and therefore enjoy this movie, but even of that i am skeptical, and i will tell you why. the comedy didn’t make me laugh much. the drama didn’t make me care much. the characters didn’t make me route for them much. and the insight didn’t make me think much. let me ask you this: what reason do we have to believe that any woman would want paul giamatti’s character in this movie? he’s unattractive, bitter, and sad, and even at his best moments in the film he didn’t show any signs of being anything better than tolerable. so why should we care about this movie? and it’s no better for his friend, the pathologically womanizing friend, who seems like a bastard who is sad he’s a bastard only when he gets caught being a bastard and it threatens his future potential to be a bastard unscathed. again, why do i care? both characters could have failed or succeeded in the end and it still would have just been a sad and only marginally funny trip through a week with two somewhat pathetic aging men.

i will say this: i felt the exact same way about alexander payne’s last film, about schmidt — another case of just a bunch of sad characters i almost wanted to see end up miserable because i didn’t like them enough to want otherwise. so if in painting these character sketches the writer/director is looking to make films that are the most ‘real’ (i.e. as depressing and futile as life can seem), and has succeeded equally in both cases, i guess he deserves credit for accomplishing his goal and rubbing our faces in it. i read in one review complimenting his “illustrating the dilemma of modern mediocrity”, and i can’t disagree that sure, he did do that. but i’m sorry payne, it just makes a fucking terrible movie.

[side note: this film was boring and sad (not in a crying way, more in a ‘god that guy’s life sucks’ way) but giamatti is a great actor. can’t we ever see him in a role as a likeable character? i know i would get sick of being the really talented actor at making people believe how pathetic i was.]

to the (presumbaly 13-year male) person who visited looking for “weiner shaped guitar” i have two remarks. firstly, i’m sorry i didn’t have any help to offer on your search for musical comedy, but honestly you should be a little more mature than that. dick jokes are pretty low humor and you’re going to be a much better musician if you focus on playing the instrument, not a gimmick. secondly, if you do find one, please send me a picture of you playing it, because god that would be funny.

my weekend was full of goodness even if it may have been lacking one specific person i would have liked to see. but i did a good job of ranging from full-on guys night out on friday where fifty dollars turns so magically into beers and tacos and jukebox songs and games of pool before vanishing into the air (and a hangover), to a nice refined dinner party on sunday where we had to bring wine and not sit next to the person we came with to stimulate conversation. nevermind what it may have turned to once bottle #2 was opened. and between, the futureheads! but that i will save to talk about once i can form and opinion on the cd versus live show after a week of digestion. for now i’ll just say if the futureheads are coming to your town don’t be stupid and go see them play. oh man.

i think my social life changes like the seasons. there are times of plenty and times of harsh and barren cold. cycles of rain and draught. i’ve gone from having too much time to read and be bored and lonely to having to make definite, premeditated plans to arrange all the overlapping engagements. right now i’m in the monsoon season it seems like; i have so many plans every weekend or every night that there are people and hobbies getting left out and it’s damaging the crops.

not that i’m complaining about having so much to do, and definitely not that i’m anything but thrilled by the new friends i’ve been making — i’m loving that part. but i think i need to find my inner southern california, figuratively speaking. a social weather pattern where the extremes are lesser in each direction and there is more of a constant underlying pleasantness, to the point where i don’t even have to think about it one way or another. just look out the window every morning and be happy to be surrounded by palm trees.

a few overdue music notes from over the weekend. first off: guided by voices farewell tour friday night? out of control. i’ve never been a fanatic by any means, but most of what i’ve heard i’ve appreciated. however you don’t hear all the stories bordering on legend and not try to catch the last tour of a band like this. at least that’s what i thought when joe offered me a ticket. sweet lord was i glad i took it. not only were they terrific, drunken showmen with so many good songs to play there wasn’t a low point in the set, but they played for almost three hours without flinching. pollard even remarked late in the set (around 12:45am, when i normally would have left the venue, got a burger, and already been on my way home), “our encore is longer than most band’s entire set.” and he was right, it was 45 minutes. you could feel the enjoyment and energy they have in performing, and i left that room so glad i was there to see it before it was too late — no matter how sore my legs got or starving i was for skipping dinner to make it there on time. sure, i didn’t get to sit and eat until 1:15am after a 4 hour concert, but it’s much more fun to be able to say that the guided by voices farewell show almost killed me.

on another unrelated note, how about that pay day song. the week before at the ted leo show, i can’t say the opening acts really added much if anything to the experience (and who needs them to? this is ted leo we’re talking about). the lashes were weak, and lucero seemed out of left field with their drunken country rock, although at least in their case a few of the songs stood out for me despite the fact i couldn’t understand why they were on the bill. their song my best girl i particularly liked, maybe because i have a thing for songs dedicated to inanimate objects; piebald’s ‘king of the road’ about their tour van and the impossibles’ ‘frances’ about a teddy bear both have special places in my heart. so even if it’s a little silly to write a love song to your guitar, and this song is way out of step with what i usually get attached to, for some reason i can’t stop playing this song. maybe because i’ve never met that special stringed instrument of my own.

not to be entirely negative today, let us also reflect on some recent good fortunes and high points. for example, yesterday was a bounteous day of fringe benefits at work. i picked up some free video games (katamari damacy! and its polar opposite, killzone! what fun i’ll be having if i ever can put down GTA san andreas). then i picked up, for working on something hockey-related, an LA kings hockey puck signed by wayne gretzky. i can’t even start to understand how cool that is, although the certificate of authenticity helps somewhat — gasp! and then there was the drinking in a limosine last night touring LA checking out places our posters are mounted in cool night clubs. the only other time i had been in a limo before that was prom night, when i was wearing an awkward suit and not yet able to enjoy the minibar.

then today i was thoroughly enjoying the mountain goats recording diary, which gives me great musical shivers. i look forward to what could be an album of tallahassee-caliber greatness with much anticipation. when’s the release date, please? and on top of that, tomorrow night i see guided by voices live in hollywood. well done, second week of november, well done.

one of several tricks should you want to severely sink my opinion of you in seconds: the filler laugh. most common among the bland/blond former sorority girl types trying to make polite conversation when in fact they have nothing much to say (or offer in general, i’m afraid), this particular type of laugh seems to invariably occur when a thin topical thread reaches its end. an example might be the space following the standard ‘just relaxing’ response to the subject’s formulaic inquiry regarding a colleague’s weekend activities, in which the subject then offers a chipper ‘yeah….’ followed by vacant laughter.

the offense lies not in the laughter itself but in its use in such an unfunny context, betraying the subject’s lack of insight or wit combined with her desire to seem affable and fun with a minimum of creative effort. the sound of this type of laugh tends to start stronger than warranted as if trying to force humor into a flat conversation, and then trail off as the weak conversation clearly rejects the attempted transfusion. employed successfully by many when among others who resort to such tactics, those of us who know better can’t help but roll our eyes and sigh when overhearing this telltale symptom of what can only be at essence a very boring person.

found most often in dull coworkers or service industry professionals, this is one of a few surefire ways to ensure we won’t be talking very long or often, should you desire to dodge any future interactions.

can only be sad for so long about the state of the nation. as usual, when times are hard it’s the perfect time to turn to my old friend rock and roll.

ted leo & the pharmacists – shake the sheets – 5 stars

ted leo’s live show at the el rey last friday – 5 stars

the man is unstoppable and nearly unbeatable. sure, i won’t deny i’m slightly less excited about the new album than i wish i could be, but that’s only because i set my expectations impossibly high. shake the sheets is a little stripped down, which works great for the songs there, but i was a little sad to see a less full and fleshed out sound like the bigger-sounding hits from the past two albums (no strings at all on this album? why, ted? why?). i had an idea in my head of a new disc with a whole album worth of songs the calibur of my favorite ted leo tunes like ‘timorous me’ and ‘where have all the rude boys gone?’, but in reality this one is just as good as the past few i love. solid end to end, with at least 4 amazing tracks to add to the live set for maximum impact. ‘me and mia’, ‘little dawn’, ‘counting down the hours’? trust me, this stuff may be more straightforward but they belt out these songs with just as much energy as any of the old stuff, and you can hear that same energy on the album.

and another note on the live show: closing the encore with a furious cover of stiff little fingers’ suspect device was a brilliant move guys. i hadn’t even heard that song before — i’m not as punk as one might think — and your version floored me. wow. just wow.

(ps: if anyone finds a recording of this cover PLEASE send it to me. luckily the original is equally good.)

the black keys – rubber factory – 4 stars

on a ‘new band alert’ side, i had never heard of the black keys until about two months ago when i saw their video for 10am automatic online. i was instantly hooked on the reverb-bluesy goodness of that track and the rest of the album i found it on. i haven’t picked up anything else this year that has caused more volume-knob-cranking and steering-wheel-pounding on late night drives home than this, nor will i. rock this like crazy even if it’s just a simple two dudes with the blues and some honest lyrical confessions.

channels – open – 3 stars

channels live show at spaceland two weeks ago – 3 stars

and finally on the ‘new band of guy from favorite old band that hopefully will grow into themselves in their new form and be equally good, eventually’ side, we have channels. the show and the EP both left me with the same impression. this is a guy (j robbins if you weren’t following) whose older work i love. this is his new band that is trying something a little different and i’m still deciding if the problem is that it isn’t as good, i just wish it was more of the old band, or if the new band has equal potential but just hasn’t hit their stride yet. ‘chivareee’ is a killer song most reminiscent of burning airlines, and the rest are decent but may not have the impact or staying power of a ‘scissoring’ or a ‘savory’. nevertheless, i have their back and hope they keep at it.