[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1541258&w=425&h=350&fv=id%3D2372770%26ml%3Dfi%253D%2526fu%253D2452756]

Sunday morning, just barely 7:30 and I've put on "Lady & The Tramp" for my daughter to watch and the sky is still dark. I woke up an hour ago - and when I say woke up, I mean that I was shaken awake by my husband to get up with the kids so he could leave for work. I was up twice last night, so I'm tired. I'm very tired - I can feel it in my body, the way I'm moving a little slower, and I can feel it in my face, the way my eyes don't want to stay open. I can feel it in my head, how all I can think about is putting my head on a pillow and closing my eyes -- but I know that that would be a very bad idea. Two kids can quickly demolish a house when left unsupervised. Um, not that I know from experience.

It was a crazy week here - school started (finally), and daycare started (finally). For the youngest, two days in daycare was enough to have her coming down with a nice runny, snotty nose and a cough. Love it. Kids are such little germweasels - I'm actually not surprised she's sick, but thought maybe we could have a little bit longer before the first one hit. No such luck. She wakes up in the middle of the night, wanting something - a tissue, to be covered up with her blanket, a drink of water - then orders me away. Last night, I believe her words were, "Don't cuddle up with me!" Alrighty then. I'll just go back to that incredibly awesome thing I was doing before you yelled for me. Yeah, sleep. Mommy loves it.

This week I took my first guitar lesson and loved it - and though I'm not a prodigy (dammit!), it makes SENSE, so I'm pretty pleased about that. I've been practicing and it gets a bit easier every time. Of course, I'm still talking very basic-beginnery things, but that's all right. All I need is to see a little progress to feel I'm on the right path. I'm seeing it.

My dad is in town and I saw him for about an hour last night. Of course, he was an hour late (or so) in getting here, so I was really just trying to keep from getting pissed off and to turn off anything remotely resembling an emotion. He called earlier, telling my daughters he'd be here, so seeing them stand at the window waiting for him really REALLY didn't sit right with me. I had purposely not told them that he said he was coming - figured, why start another generation of people waiting for him to show up. I'm glad he did - my daughters had a lot of fun with their grandpa - they haven't seen him in nearly a year.

It's definitely been one of those weeks - so much good, really - and yet, so draining at the same time. I plan to go curl up in a ball on the couch and watch "Lady & The Tramp" with my kid and veg for a bit. Maybe fall asleep if I can manage it. Happy Sunday.

you listen to it, and you realize you are fine with listening without a reference point. it's more honest this way , you think. it allows the listener to meet halfway, they can conjure whatever images they want to without being hindered by a title. any emotion can be evoked, it doesn't have to correspond. it's free ,it's open.

for convenience of reference, you decide to title it 0709081142. 7 sep 08 1142am. the date and time of birth. or at least, time of saving. (whichever, shouldn't really matter. )

and you wonder if you should be giving some kind of background info . you realize there's nothing spectacular, nothing triggering, not like after some emotional experience. you remember you were a bit tired, having woken up pretty early, at around 4plus am. you went to buy breakfast and on your way back, you experienced the 'birds' affair, and i think you already blogged about them . is this song about the birds? how can you tell? you weren't even thinking about them. in your head there was only sound. for some reason, you find that you have to be really honest, and you decide to reveal that there was actually an improvisation that was about the birds, they were in your head when you were playing, but because there was a squeak too loud while your fingers were moving the fretboard, and also, the timbre of the song wasn't consistent because you also used the nails of your other fingers instead of only using your thumb's, you decide to scrap it. and after listening to another song you recorded yesterday and another one , which surprisingly had a title (you better talk about this one in another post) you recorded about 5 days ago, upon comparison, you decide to streamline your playing, more heart, more heart. understandably, you only got your current sound recently, that five days ago, so your improvisations were sort of still explorative and not consolidating enough for communication. so this time, you concentrate and 0709081142 was born.

[audio http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/72516/7%20sep%201142am.mp3]

download

after posting this, you decide to chill out by checking out 'pushing daisies'. is it good?

The Rip-Offs, originally uploaded by Dead Man!.

Awesome awesome awesome... what else can i say about this band??? nothing... they are utterly awesome... does it help that im in it? yes. but thats beside the point... go check them out you will be happy you did.

www.myspace.com/ripoffsthe

(please copy and paste it in to your brower address bar... i cant seem to get the hyperlink button to work)

- Matt

Ps. may i recommend listening to "Born without a Chin" or "Uga Vuga" First...

I haven't been too hungry. I had a Guinness and two oatmeal raisin cookies that I made. I had to test them out before taking them out to the BBQ tomorrow, right? It was probably in the eighties today so it was quite hot on the fourth floor where I'm at. Of course, there is no air conditioning so I opened all the windows and even the door to my apartment so I could get some cross breeze. The oven was running at 350F so that didn't help at all either. The cookies are good though so I'm happy about that.

Backing up several steps, after dropping off my shirt at the tailors and getting lunch, I went home and took a nap. I was just too tired from having gotten up early in the morning watching the drunks. I took about an hour nap and in that time had the video from our tennis match today processed.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8713032208328871668&hl=en]

The video above is from our match today. Tony is wearing the blue shorts and John is his partner. They are probably the best team that I have and they won their match very easily. Tony is the best player on our team.

After getting the video posted online, I downloaded Pandora, which is an application that allows you to play music on your computer or iPhone. It's a great service. You enter in a song, album or artist that you like and then they'll play music that fits that criteria i.e. genre. Very cool. Right now, I'm listening to some Jimi Hendrix (Hey Joe). I got there from searching for Grateful Dead. I put on my headphones and took a walk around the lake. I had to get ingredients for the cookies and I figured I could take the long way around to get some exercise. Also, I could stop by Trader Joe's and get some beer. They have some variety so I wanted to try something different even though Guinness is very difficult to beat.

After shopping, I started on the cookies. I'm still working on the cookies, actually. I'm going to make some chocolate chip, mint cookies. I've never tried these. Figured it's worth trying something else for the heck of it. I made 40 of the oatmeal cookies and there are going to be something like 25 people there. I doubt people will be eating too many cookies because there should be a lot of other foods out there. Left-overs shouldn't be a problem though.

So the other day, I was sitting around waiting for some samples to finish on the HPLC at work. Tom K. stopped by and we chatted for about a half an hour. He's a scientist at the lab and also a musician. He plays the guitar and drums so I told him that I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar but never really got myself moving on that forefront. Quite frankly, I don't really have much time to be learning how to play guitar right now but still, I think it'd be fun. He said he would show me how to play and would even go to the store with me to help pick-out a guitar. That's pretty nice of him because I know he's also quite busy with three young kids (eldest is seven). He told me that I should budget $350-$400 for a beginner guitar. They make guitars that cost like $150 but he said they weren't worth it because you can't get rid of them like you can better made guitars. I guess he assumes I won't pull a Jimi Hendrix on the guitar and set it afire. It's tempting to get one and I looked in the window of the local music store this afternoon. It's just the time and commitment thing that tough right now with tennis and work. I'd have to give something up like sleep to squeeze practice in. Ugh.

Holy Cow, myself, ( a late adopter) grabs RockBand Premium and 3 months later hears about RockBand 2 with some pretty cool new drums.

 Some of the features are Cymbals, and for premium restyled drum pads , bass pedal, and if you plug it up to your Pc, its an Electronic Drum.

The Microphone has been Restyled aswell, i belive this is it...

They have added a nice new wooden look to the new guitar too...

 The new opening of rockband2 is on G4tv.com, heres the link...

http://www.g4tv.com/trailers/videos/28203/Rock_Band_2_Intro_Cinematic.html

   So If thats not enough to make your pants tighter, Heres the new set list (excluding any DL songs).

1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960s
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000s

                              Its gonna be SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          ~ßrêtt~~ head of NBS~

Andrew Johnston
Andrew is also a contestant in Britain’s Got Talent Season 2. I saw his audition being featured on TV, and immediately looked him up in YouTube. He, like Paul, is absolutely amazing. Goosebumps and tears, yes, this video gives me those too. The difference between these 2 videos though, is that here, you won’t see the apprehension that the judges had when Paul said he was there to sing opera. Ah well, they both definitely surprised the judges and the audience.

Other videos you might want to check out:
Connie Talbot – the most adorable 6-year old singer
Sherman Pore – a man who lost his wife to cancer and dedicated an American Idol audition to her
Sungha Jung – an amazing young guitarist
David Elsewhere – just watch it

"Kenny Burrell that's the sound I'm looking for." - Jimi Hendrix

"There is no finer guitarist than Kenny Burrell" - George Benson

"Kenny Burrell is a great musician and his music has helped to make me what I am today." - Stevie Wonder

"Kenny Burrell is the grand master of jazz guitar." - Dizzy Gillespie

"Kenny Burrell is overall the greatest guitarist in the world and he's my favorite." - B.B. King

I strongly urge you to check out this jazz guitar legend. Here is an Anywhere.fm playlist of some great Kenny Burrell tracks.

16th Street Mall in front of a historic building built in 1906.

We’ve all been there, writer’s block isn’t exactly pandemic, but it does seem to hit you with some sort of regularity. Overcoming writer’s block is really just as easy as changing your environment. So often, we practice, play, and compose songs in the same places, our bedrooms, living rooms, and maybe even the garage. The problem with this is the same reason why you prefer to write songs here, you’re familiar with everything, and everyone. You can’t really force inspiration, often feeling much like a tornado, it seems to take you when it wants to, and drop you off in the middle of some random thought that could have been the next mega-hit. You can’t force inspiration, but you certainly can prod it in the right direction. Some of the best music I have composed, was when I was completely out of my environment, camping in Idyllwild, or on the flat-top roof of my sister’s house.

So why would I do so much better playing in a completely different environment? The answer is simple. If you play in a different environment, you will have new things to sense. Different sights, smells, and sounds, all which influence the current moment. So the next time you find yourself with a headache-sized case of writer’s block, try walking to the front porch, or better yet, the local park, and see just how much of a difference a change of environment can do!

LessonsThatRock.com

Items needed:
Large board
Plastic zip ties
Small screws
Small washers
Rubber feet
Velcro (optional)
Metal strapping (optional)

Tools needed:
Circular saw
Jigsaw (optional)
Drill
Screwdriver
Wirecutters or scissors for the zip ties

1. Start off with a large enough board to fit all your pedals, powerstrip, powersupply, and handle on. Make sure the board is thick enough so that it won't crack, and that it's not warped in any place.
2. Place your gear down, and mark drill holes for the plastic zip ties you'll use to keep everything in place. Make sure to leave plenty of room between pedals for cables.
3. Mark off where you're going to cut your handle at. You may want to cut it off- center if one side of the board is heavier than the other. This helps to balance it in your hand.
4. Zip tie all your pedals down loosely, making sure to have them all completely connected to each other. Make sure to tape all of your necessary power supplies to your surge protector BEFORE you zip tie it down, or you'll have to cut them off and do it over.
5. Use small screws with 1-3 small washers on them to act as sway stops for your pedals. This prevents them from moving side to side. The washers raise the screw up, as well as prevent it from puncturing the other side of a thin board. Screw these into the board pushing the washers tight up against the pedal.
6. Cut your handle, and if you wish, wrap around notches for any extra cable from the power surge unit. Make sure to place the handle at least 3/4 into the board. If you place it too close to the edge, it will just snap with all the weight.
7. If your board has fairly heavy items, or you just feel you should, cut small pieces of metal strapping to fit around the handle, screwing them down. This creates both a larger, more comfortable handle, as well as strengthens this section of the board in case you accidentally step on it.
8. Add rubber feet of some sort to prevent it from slipping on un-carpeted surfaces.
9. Finally, tighten down all of your zip ties, cut off the excess, and Velcro all of your excess cable. You're done!

LessonsThatRock.com

1. Warm-up. Enough cannot be said about this. Too often guitarists think a warm-up session is an unnecessary waste of time. Well, take it from someone who never used to warm-up before playing; you can develop tendonitis, and other repetitive motion injuries. It’s very important.

2. Stick to a Goal Each Practice Session. For example, a goal may be to nail a particular part down, memorize a chord, or even organizing your material. The idea is, every time you walk away from your guitar, you know you’ve accomplished something and can do things you couldn’t do before.

3. Try the 75/25 Method. Spend 75% of your practice time on new and developing material, while only practicing 25% of the time on material you already know and can do well. This means if you practice an average of an hour a day, you should be working about 45 minutes every day on developing material, and only 15 minutes on old stuff. This balance will help you maximize your time, as well as keep your confidence high.

Until next time, keep practicin’

LessonsThatRock.com

Tracklist:

Racer X

Shotgun

The Ugly American

Deep Six

Sleep!

The Big Payback

Notes: 12" EP from 1984  which was reissued by Homestead in 1987 and by Touch & Go in 1992.

"side one

the guy was just plain cool, see. he was rex, speed racer's brother, but nobody knew it. it was a big secret, really big. speed racer was a pansy-ass wimp next to racer-x. speed, spying, machinery, little beads of sweat--he had it all. he was hooked on the excitement. hooked on the speed. hooked.

gangster social intercourse is pretty simple. no delicate conversation, no allusions or euphemisms, just demands. all your average news stand owner has to worry about, for example, is some hirsute ape who wants to widen his asshole with a cut-down shotgun. almost romantic, that job.

europeans, and americans who want to sound like them, spend a lot of time attacking the ugly american for his lack of culture. this, from people who change their governments like we change our underwear, and whose societies force thousands into lives of begging submission and menial pandering to the very american culture they profess to hate. feh. as durango says, the middle class is the same everywhere, but won't admit it.

side two

spend five minutes with a truck driver, and your conversation will encompass the whole of man's experience. sex, hate, pain, money, liquor, food, pride, humility, ambition, weapons, waylon jennings, dick size--everything. deep six, deep seven--whatever it takes. this is all true.

fundamental question of human existence #1: what the fuck is death all about, anyway? is it the nap after a hard day's work? is it the reward for staying alive long enough to crave it? maybe the punchline to an over-long joke ("so, you've spent 40 years getting shit together, probably didn't count on this, did you, motherfucker? hahahaha!"). fundamental question of human existence #2: do we deserve the consequences of our actions, or are we fucked from day one? revenge is the motivator. the sleep is the payoff.

the big payback (james brown). okay, so we elaborated on the lyrics a little. sue us. the godfather was winging it most of the time anyway.

BIG BLACK:
astroboy albini: knife guitar, vocals
tobor (eight-man) durango: hammer guitar
gigantor pezzati: bass, vocals
mach v roland: roland (mach v)
aquaboy bohnen: surgical sexophone
kimba burgess: engineering
spectre man Shakespeare: tea boy, technical advisor, breakdancer
backing vocals on shotgun by the gordon tech boys choir and gloryhole society. produced by steve and iain in a mob stylee. three on 8 track, three on 24. you guess. gerard cosloy--one bad dude.

BIG BLACK'S address is (and always will be) post office box 442, evanston, illinois 60204 usa. we're friendly, but lethargic, so it may take a while to get an answer.

this is big black's third 12-inch ep. the first one, lungs is available (a few, anyway) for $4 from big black (po box 442 evanston, illinois 60204). the second, bulldozer is available for $4 from fever records (621 s 4th st. philadelphia, pennsylvania 19147). two songs, "hunters safety (tommy bartlett dies in pain)" and "big payback" (pre-mix) are on the h.i.d. compilation, the middle of america (h.i.d. po box 25 evanston, illinois, 60204). a live version of "texas" is on code blue, the last rites magazine compilation (1717 sunnyside beach, mchenry, illinois 60050). a live big black cassette was released, but is now out of print, it sucked anyway.

other great bands you ought to get familiar with: rifle sport, man-sized action, bloodsport, killdozer, breaking circus, nadsat rebel (hey, there's something in my oi!), squirrelbait, huge overcoat, circle seven (your check's in the mail), ashes of them, rights of the accused, naked raygun (world domination in '85), effigies (listen man, for a start...), savage beliefs, whole lotta loves, end result, pile of cows. hellos to jack rabid, terry and chris, liz phillip (but shteeeeev...), tesco vee, byron coley and his concubine jimmy, surfers of the butthole, sonic youth, corey rusk, jody kurrila, the minneapolis supper club, lyle "big guitar" preslar and all our respective bosses and squeezes. the next one's gonna make you shit yourself."

Tracklist:

Cables

Pigeon Kill

I'm A Mess

Texas

Seth

Jump The Climb

Notes: Was reissued on Touch & Go in 1992.

"side one

these guys in montana would go to the slaughterhouse after school and watch the cattle die for entertainment. they used to describe the prods, hammers, cables and hooks with a kind of hobbyist's fascination. sometimes they helped out.

in huntington, indiana, there is an annual event, the pigeon kill, during which the townspeople feed strychnine-laced corn to the town's pigeons. sometimes the children are given the responsibility of feeding the pigeons. they think of it as play.

people who live in trailer parks, mostly rednecks and truckers, get drunk and ramble, semi-coherently about their problems, moaning, "I'm a mess" and such self-pitying bullshit. sometimes they erupt in fits of violent aggression.

side two

i hate texas.

this guy trained his dog seth to attack black people. he was an asshole beyond that, but that's the sort of thing he'd do. he has a cornflakes box with his photo on the front. he's big in the democratic machine. he tried to beat up a girl tenant in an apartment building he had equipped with illegally-tapped gas and electricity. he bets on sports. the introductory message is from the america first committee telephone hotline.

this song is called jump the climb, which is a title it got before it had any words, so the title doesn't really mean much. this is the first recording made as big black, and the first song written with that intent.

the bulk of this record was recorded in september 1983 at an enormously-expensive 24-track studio in the doglands west of chicago. hedden west studio doesn't deserve a plug here, so don't consider this one. the gear sucked, the house engineer was a bozo and the monitors sounded like tin megaphones.

five hundred dollars please, thank you very much.

some ridiculous engineering by iain burgess (who does deserve a plug here) saved the tapes from steely dan.

thank you iain.

the first set of mixes was done at an even more enormously-expensive, hi-rise chrome and glass, hacienda villa-decor bathroom-equipped, cocaine-snuffer sort of studio, which proved absolutely useless. chicago recording company doesn't deserve a plug here either, so don't consider this one. we took revenge for the suede-couches-at-the-expense-of-sound-quality mentality by breaking into the candy machine for a party-size helping of planter's peanuts. if we're gonna pay a dollar-and-change a minute for some silk-shirt, mustache, jazz-fusion, gin and tonic, racquetball at the health club studio, we want free peanuts.

five hundred fifty dollars please, thank you very much.

the last set of mixes was done at a slightly-less-than-enormously-expensive studio whose employees were very polite and stayed completely out of the way while we overloaded their equipment.

six hundred seventy five dollars please, thank you very much.

sample production quotes: "iain, can you fuck up the snare a bit more?" "turn on the bass-ruining equipment." "this song needs more gear with lights." "more tape hiss, please."

anyway, it cost too much and took too long. nobody in the whole world could ever possibly need twenty four tracks to record on. even eight seems a little excessive.

the last song on this record, jump the climb, was written and reorded in april, 1981 in an apartment in chicago on sam fishkin's four-track. it didn't cost a cent.

a considerable chunk of the money for this record has been supplied by fever records, a Chicago label which is doing plenty of noteworthy things in its own right.

excuse me, do you have three grand you're not using? thank you fever records.

big black on this record consists of:
pat byrne (on loan from urge overkill): drums
jeff (on loan from naked raygun): bass, stairwell snare
santiago durango (on loan from the interceptors): smash guitar
steve albini: klang guitar, vocals
roland: roland
tank (on loan from the construction site): tank
iain burgess (on loan from her highness): ridiculous engineering

bobbie reichert took the badass photos for the last record, lungs, for which she never got proper recognition, the photo used on the poster in this record was taken by shawn spence for the marion, indiana, chronicle-tribune.

big black's address is:
post office box 442
evanston, illinois 60204

ruthless records' address is:
post office box 1458
evanston, illinois 60204

fever records' address is:
4901 s. woodlawn
chicago, illinois 60615

these bands also have records on the ruthless label: effigies, naked raygun, circle seven and the allied. these bands also have releases on the fever label: bonemen of barumba and book of lies."

Cables

"I got kicked out of my first band and that weekend I bought a guitar and immediately started recording the first Big Black record. It was pretty horrible because it was pretty self-obsessed....At that point I was just satifying my curiosity about what it was like to make records."

Steve Albini, NME 1992/11/07

Tracklist:

Steelworker

Live In A Hole

I Can Be Killed

The Crack

Rip

Notes: Debut EP by Big Black - more or less a solo project of Steve Albini at this point. Some copies had weird inserts, including razor blades, hair, Bazooka Joe comics and so on. It was reissued on Touch & Go in 1992.

Steelworker

hi can i make an appearance on your fretboard

hi do me a favor i am good at going from here to there

hi i am willing to work hard , i need to grow

click boom click boom click boom and very soon the door collapses...

after a while of handling the transaction between the player and the listener, and becoming good at it, he has more time on the spare. he starts hanging out with flow and inspiration and rejuvenation and all that gang and they edge him to go to the next level. they suggest that he should start treating life as his guitar.

and he did.

What started out as a tiny bedroom project for Steve Albini eventually turned into one of the most mesmerizing and violent rock bands of the 80s, if not the whole music history. If rock music was criticized by many parents for being tasteless and offensive, then Big Black certainly represented the worst nightmares of responsible mothers.

In the early 80s Albini made a name for himself as a journalist, writing for Chicago zine "Matter" as well as "Forced Exposure". At the same time, he recorded "Lungs" EP with the help of Roland TR-606, which was listed as an actual member of the band on all of Big Black records.

"Lungs" was recorded at Northwestern University and released by Ruthless Records in 1982. It included a variety of inserts, like condoms, dollar bills, bloody bandgages and razor blades, among others. Later, Steve Albini described it as an artistic regret.

Santiago Durango and Jeff Pezatti from Naked Raygun joined the band in 1983 and with this line-up they recorded two EPs. Afterwards, Pezatti was replaced with David Riley, a big-time funk fan, who was working in a studio frequented by the likes of George Clinton and Sly Stone.  However, even before he joined the band, Big Black did a cover of James Brown's "Big Payback", which also demonstrated their own interest in funk.

1987 "Atomizer" became one of their crowning achievements, although it also created confusion among the audience, due to controversial lyrics. Much of lyrical inspiration for an album came from teen years that Albini spent in Missoula, Montana.

Shortly before they broke up, they released one more album - "Songs About Fu*$ing", which brought even more recognition, but the band decided that it would be a good time to stop by then, due to Durango leaving the band to attend law school, as well as their lack of interest in success/career goals of any kind.

Discography:

Lungs 12" (1982)

Demos CS (1982)

Live Tape CS (1983)

Bulldozer 12" (1983)

Racer X 12" / CS (1984)

Rema-Rema 7" (1985)

Il Duce 7" (1985)

Atomizer LP (1986)

Live VHS (1986)

Hammer Party LP/CD (1986)

Big Money 12" (1986)

Sound Of Impact LP (1986)

Headache/Heartbeat 12" + 7" (1987)

Headache 12" / CS (1987)

Heartbeat 7" (1987)

He's A Whore / The Model 7" (1987)

Rich Man's Eight Track Tape CD (1987)

Songs About Fu%^ing LP / CD (1987)

Incredibly Whorish Interview Album 12" (1987)

Talk About Fu&*ing 12" (1987)

Last Blast VHS (unknown year)

Last Live LP / CD / VHS (1990)

Kerosene 12" (1992)

It's Toasted CD (1992)

Pig Pile LP / CD / VHS (1992)

Boxes Box (1992)

In My House 5" (1992)

However....Something good has happened.
In case y'all were wondering.
I'll get there later.

I got Google Chrome!
It's okay.  Nothing too mind-blowing, but it runs well.

I got to talk to Mike today.  Which is awesomeness.
He got a guitar yesterday, that matches his bass.  They are like twins, which he called them as such.  He said that he wanted to learn new songs, and then asked me to give him a song to learn.  So, I told him either "Creep" or "Big Empty" by STP or "Polly" by Nirvana.  He told me, later, that he was trying to learn "Big Empty" - which is a total kick ass song, for those of you who don't know the kick-assness of it.
Not a whole lot of talking today, though.  Nothing to talk about from me, and I guess nothing to talk about from him either.
Oh well, though.
However.......He had to leave like ten minutes ago.  Which is sad - but he gets to go see Monster Trucks, so that's a good reason. :P  AND THEN, like, right as he signed out, answered the question.
Which I think is cheating, because I really can't reply to it - MSN offline messages never work right.  But, that's okay.  At least I know now, right!?
Oh, and obviously, it wasn't the bad answer, it was the good one - you should be able to tell by the rest of the post (the fact that I'm not angry and such?  That one? Ya).

Either way......
That's exciting, right?
I sure think it is.
Now I just have to wait until he gets back.............:)

Big Black

Birthday Party

Black Flag

Butthole Surfers

Chrome

Fugazi

Husker Du

Killing Joke

MC5

Public Image Limited

Sonic Youth

Stooges

Swans

Throbbing Gristle

Tracklist:

Operation: Break Eve - Unknown

AmRep Equipped:

Lollipop - Whey They Face Down

Guzzard - Deaf Ears, Gamma Rays

Love 666 - Bummer

Unsane - Alleged

Cows - Mas-No Mas

Hammerhead - Mune

Chokebore - Popular Modern Themes

Lowercase - Ringbleeder

Servotron - Image Created

Gnomes of Zurich - Big Teeth, Skeletal Face

Feedtime - Billy

Today Is The Day - Realization

Supernova - Vitamins

Year of Release: 1997

Notes: Both compilations represent late 90s AmRep roster, but its unclear which tracks were included on "Operation: Break Eve".

Today Is The Day - Realization

]]> http://lifeintheupanddown.wordpress.com/?p=958 Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:31:28 +0000 aroundnaround http://lifeintheupanddown.wordpress.com/?p=958 Another quiet day here... nothing major to report.

Yay!

Managed to make it to the Farmer's market this morning.  The weather report had predicted some cooler temperatures, so it was nice that the sun was shining and the chill that had been predicted really didn't seem to materialize.  I suspect that we won't be doing the Farmer's market for too much longer... weather aside, I believe they only run through the month of September and pack it in until the following May.

The house is quiet... the kidlet is still sleeping and hubby has made a rare foray into the big wide world, volunteering some time at our local recreation market.

The rest of my day?  I'm praying for peace and quiet.  I don't want to do anything but will likely try to tidy my computer room which has once again turned into a disaster zone.

Bye for now.