Tag Archives: Music

slick bass player moves

Posted on by
2

collegehumor.com had a great article today about all the slick moves bass players make on stage.

“Bass players are the most underappreciated members of any rock band. Next to their more theatrical bandmates, the bass player is often mistaken for boring or stiff. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Bass players have many exciting moves all their own, like…

The ‘Whoa, Did You Just See Me Slide Up the Fretboard?’

collegehumor.dd5c469968a16be32bf3f2ed92cc684e.jpg

Almost from nowhere the bassist will go from playing a progression in the lower register to playing a similar one a few octaves higher, by way of a long slide up the fretboard. It’s this kind of charismatic move that makes bass players beloved princes of the stage. Man, you guys eat this sh*t up. I can see from the stage how you’re like ‘whaaaaaat!’ when I bust this out.”

in addition to this move, i’ve also been known to do the “slow turn away from the amp to crowd” move. the audience eats this up!

bang bang shoot shoot

Posted on by
Reply

even though i havent yet seen ‘across the universe’ (it’s somewhere in the netflix q), i can easily say that joe anderson’s version of “happiness is a warm gun” is the gem of an otherwise so-so soundtrack.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

take a listen and tell me that this tune doesnt stand up nearly forty-years after it was written.

ryan likes jessica

Posted on by
Reply

i’ve always dug ryan adam’s because—like me—he’s a dramatic, emotional mess when it comes to women.

unlike me, ryan can write songs, play the guitar and get girls.

check out the latest courtesty of stereogum:

Word is Ryan and girlfriend Jessica Joffe, she who was credited as catalyst for Ry’s sobriety in that lengthy NYT piece last year, are over. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s handling things a little dramatically! And using the internet as a means for his public displays of contrition.

Things got started when someone calling himself Romantic Danzig sent Gawker a poem entitled “poem for Jessica Joffe because she blocked my email,” but since that wasn’t sufficiently personal (read: traceable) now he’s using that YouTube account we checked the other day to post the more succinctly titled piece called “Jessica.” It’s a freshly minted jangler about how he “ain’t no good,” the tune set to a map of the West Village (framed within a heart), a scrolling lover’s poem, a picture of Jessica gradually zoomed in upon until creepily pixelated, and a slow close-up of the letters “S-O-R-R-Y” written on a handful of white M&Ms (or, pills). What guilt trip?

it’s alright ma (i’m only bleeding)

Posted on by
Reply

my blog still has the dirty taste of janet jackson top 40 music in it’s throat.

let’s wash it down w/ some dylan. here’s “it’s alright ma (i’m only bleeding)”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

also, i insist on using the “title (parenthesis)” scheme for anything i do that’s creative b/c of this song.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred.

–Bob Dylan

puppy anorexia is a major political issue

Posted on by
1

today was crazy-busy-awesome…so how about an old-fashioned bullet-post-blog?

- i’ve got a digital bathroom scale that has been going through batteries like crazy. after some investigating, i’ve traced the problem back to buster the dog. i think the little guy’s got self-image issues b/c he walks into the bathroom at least 5 times a day and stands on the scale. i know this because of the familiar *beep* that it makes when he hops on. i keep assuring him that he’s a “healthy” weight and that he shouldnt compare himself to the tiny italian greyhounds that live next door.

- picked up “the swell season” album by glen hansard the other day and have been enjoying some heart-break-acoustic music ever since. of all the tracks, i think i like “leave” the best b/c it’s written in my favorite chord progression of all time: E – C#m – B – A

i cant tell you how many great songs that are written in that heart-wrenching key. love it.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

- watched the democratic debates tonight on CNN. despite an invitation to join my friends at the Kodak theatre, i was stuck watching from my bachelor-pleather-sofa. nonetheless, i was proud to be a liberal tonight and even more proud to get to vote for one of the democratic party’s fine candidates. personally, no politician has grabbed hold of my conscious and held on to it with a kung fu grip like Barack Obama. This weekend I’m going to volunteer at one of his SoCal campaign headquarters, in an attempt to put him over the top in CA on super tuesday.

- are you reading “yes is a world”? if you can put up w/ me rambling on-and-on about music, politics and the buster then you would love nic’s blog. go there now.

- now you too can own a liznelson original. liz has put up a lot of her most popular work as prints on imagekind. go here and check it out.

- last but not least, i wore the farting shoes today. what sucks is that i completely forgot that my grey chuck hightops make the aforementioned farting noise until i was in the NASA Radiobiology dept on campus. Need I say more?

nux vomica

Posted on by
Reply

photo.jpg
so has anyone else listened to the veils‘ album nux vomica?

the album was released back in 2006, but better late than never, eh?

i downloaded this diamond amongst the crap last week based on a suggestion by stereogum and i’ve been digging it…especially the track ‘jesus for the jugular (one at a time)’ and what the hell, give it a listen below if you’re curious.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

blowin’ the harp

Posted on by
Reply

for xmas, leanne & brandon bought me a set of blues harmonicas b/c sometimes a brother just aint right ’til he plays a harmonica. so it’s a really nice set that included all the important blues’ keys and even one of those neil-young-type-harmonica-holders that go over your neck so that your hands are free to strum the guitar.

needless to say i look like a stud decked out in so much musical metal. (NOTE: this is NOT me in this picture.)

HM24_frnt.jpg

so i’ve been learning the harmonica parts to “you dont know how it feels” by tom petty. the only snag to this whole gig is that after about 2-3 notes buster goes apeshit. as i play, he barks, runs around, barks, runs around, repeat.

at this point, the barks sound like the dog equivalent of “…what the ‘eff man! that hurts my big ol’ floppy ears!” but i’m hoping that soon he’ll just howl along in perfect harmony.

put a little something in our lemonade

Posted on by
1

dear 8lb 6oz newborn baby jesus,

please forgive me for waiting until 2008 to start listening to ‘the national‘.

to make up for it, i’m going to post ‘fake empire‘ on my blog for everyone to enjoy.

i’m not sure if that’s legal and stuff, but…i think that’s what you would do.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

amen.

echoes and silence, patience & grace

Posted on by
Reply

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

enjoy “home” from the latest foo fighter’s album. posting it just because.

“Wish I were with you, I couldn’t stay.
Every direction leads me away.
Pray for tomorrow, but for today all I want is to be home.”

i’ve got a plastic jesus

Posted on by
3

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

so i was browsing through my itunes library and found this random ‘jewel’ album amongst the cool music.

“why the hell do i have this album?” i asked myself.

scrolling through the tracklist, i found the song “down so long” and i remember exactly why i own this bland-radio-friendly album.

it was the summer of 2001 and my girl and i were in vegas for a vacation away from everything but each other.

we’ve never needed anything less than one another to have a good time. we had no need for expensive shows, risky craps tables or expensive alcohol; we had each other and we could keep each other high the entire time.

as was often the case, we found ourselves perusing the casinos (people watching was one of our favorite hobbies). a few hours spent in the mega-casinos convinced us that the vegas gods had synchronized their musak because over the course of 3 days we heard “down so long” at least two-dozen times.

by the end of our trip we had even worked out a dance to the overly-familiar tune. if i close my eyes and remember, i can hear the song playing in the elevator and feel a smile welling up from nowhere.

so tonight i stumbled over this track and consequently i’m enjoying the feeling of being in vegas with my best friend.

“…i’ve been down so long, that the end must be drawing near.”