77 Wars

frog eyes - strange and emotional, in a kind of arcade fire sort of way. but in it’s own kind of way. the album i checked out is called ‘tears of the valedictorian’. it’s consistently energetic and a selection i think might be a good way to stay awake and have fun driving in the car. well worth giving a listen to if you are not a dim-wit and like good music. out now on absolutely kosher records.

dr. dog - these guys rock. imagine that the beach boys went with eery keyboards at times, or with distorted guitars at others and got crazy, but then could be mellow and, well, perhaps i’ll update my review when i listen to it a couple more times, but it’s frikkin good. the album is ‘we all belong’ on park the van records. it’s good times, thoughtful and speaks lightly of pain sometimes, but with a smile. always with a smile.

calvin johnson and the sons of the soil - these guys are awesome. if you love singers that can’t really sing then this rock and roll album is for you. lou reed, steve malkmus, david berman… they can’t carry many notes, but they are some of my favorite singers and calvin johnson is right up there with them. think drunk and rock at a shitty bar that you love. like holly golighltly meets, uhh, never mind, screw some stupid music equation. just go buy this record. it’s the newest and self-titled album, on k records.

“When Tony Blair tells you something, as we say in Texas, you can take it to the bank. We’ve got a relationship such that we can have really good discussions — so I’ll miss him, he’s a remarkable person and I consider him a good friend,” bush said.

the quote is from an article on the reuters web site. it reminds me of how much i won’t miss tony blair.

this was written 31st january and 2nd february 2005. it’s all long gone.

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i said “i’m probably going to leave her.” i do need to speak with her tonight. see where we’re at. it felt, to me, like there would be no reconciliation. we are different enough to make it now seem impossible to be together.

of course meeting for drinks with her and  a friend didn’t lead to productive communication. the language we speak feels dead. didn’t really see each other for a week, but it didn’t feel so joyous to see one another. and now we haven’t talked via telephone for a couple of days in our new streak of absence.

earlier i saw a pigeon dying. twitching on the sidewalk. it kind of looked at me i think, but looked to be thinking about something else. bird shit streaked out from behind him. when i came back from the beach he had made his way to the street and was waiting patiently at that corner to be mercifully crushed under the wheels of something.

my second thought after i had seen him was to write about him for some reason and then i was pissed at myself for being so stupid. why the fuck do i have to write about all the dying pigeons i see? cause i’m an artist? a poet? some asshole.

so yeah. i saw a dying pigeon.

tonight at the echo in echo park my friends are having a dance party. it’s gonna be fun without a bunch of snootyness… tandemoro are nothing if not one of the most fun bands around these parts of town or anywhere for that matter. they’re good guys that really enjoy playing music. come on, when was the last time you saw a whole band smiling?

if you look up top, there are some links to our other pages. the archive page is more or less our site map and the about is pretty self-explanatory. The new feature is the photograph page, i’m putting up some images as thumbnails. you can click on these to get bigger images. as far as archives go, you can also page down to the bottom of the main page and there is a link to take you to the next 10 oldest posts (ten posts per page). check this stuff out… if you guys let us know what you like the most, we will probably post some more writing along those lines.

written in that darkest of hours for every waiter. this is from the old days of the brite spot graveyard. rest in peace ye night-crew of olde.

1. you are an idiot

2. your server has many more important things to do, but has taken a few precious moments of his time and wasted them talking to you. this means hurry up. hurry the fuck up and order.

3. do not ever complain

4. if your server is rude to you, you should tip him well. the next time he sees you, he may be less rude or even pleasant. if your server is still rude upon you next meeting, comtinue to increase the tip amount until your waiter is able to tolerate you.

5. NEVER mention your server’s lack of emotion, motivation, or enthusiasm.

6. do not tell him how you are doing unless he asks first.

7. do not make little jokes with your server unless he initiates it. remember, your jokes are not funny.

8. do not mention how expensive stuff is. primarily, your server does not care. also, your server did not set the prices. remember, your job is to not aggravate your server.

ok. so i only did two miles. i read about waking up and running on an empty stomach and it seemed to be the way to go because food should digest for at least an hour before running and the body has enough stored energy and water to do it IF you eat a good solid dinner and stay hydrated all day and drink a good amount of water before going to bed. consuming water during a workout can actually be counter-productive since the water will not be absorbed and used immediately, but may cause one of those side splitting cramps. if you drink during your workout, just make sure to take small sips. of course, this changes if the workout is longer than 30-40 minutes. all of this has proven true for me, but this morning i waited until 11 to go running and so i screwed up. i didn’t have it in me to go the extra miles.

on a very positive note, i bested the top time we have for running around the lake. it is about 0.9 miles around the echo park lake. the three top times so far are:

3. 8:57 - nick and andy - april 26
2. 8:44 - nick and stephen - april 24
1. 7:57 - nick - may 03

the first two weeks were great, but we’re screwing up and missing sessions. we didn’t run for three days because i worked three shifts in one day on saturday. that screwed me up for a couple days. though… i can only do three pull-ups in a row now instead of just two, the push-ups, sit-ups and squats are coming along just fine. not much better, but better. the other day stephen was out drinking and decided not to show up and as for our third partner, andy, he’s been missing in action all over the place… at work or staying up too late. i skipped doing anything on sunday and monday and right now i’m prcrastinating, but i am about to step out of the door and increase the run/walk up to 4.5 miles today without those guys. if we don’t keep improving we’re going to get to our first group training on may 19th way out of shape and weezing in the back of the pack with some bald fat guy. this training is somewhat of a pain in the ass, but i’m starting to feel good about it. i definitely couldn’t get up at 630 in the morning to run if we didn’t have a goal set. so i keep looking ahead and thinking how good it will feel to finish that marathon. now… off to the lake to run…

not what i expected. i was thinking this collaboration was going to end up sounding more abstract and much, much heavier. the first track starts out along the lines you may expect from these guys, but some of the softer, more melodic tracks caught me by surprise. it’s an awesome release on beautiful baby blue swirled vinyl. yeah you can buy it on cd, but why? you’ll miss out on the vinyl only track ‘her lips were wet with venom’… a 26 minute epic well worth your time. well, actually, that track is available on the limited edition cd, so if you’re gonna buy it, buy it now! of course it’s not for everyone… the vinyl is expensive, but is the most beautifully packaged in my collection. three discs and a full color insert of about 15 pictures and liner notes written by kim thayil. yeah, where has he been? well, for one, he’s on this record playing guitar on the track ‘blood swamp’. anyways… if you like droning metal or stoner rock kind of shit, check it out.

sunn o))) boris - altar

southern lord records

well, i’m trying to cover all the starting points since this site is fully up and running now. i haven’t written much about hockey recently because the regular season is over and, as usual, my team is not playing in the playoffs. as far as what’s going on now… i hate the san jose sharks and i hope that the recent turnaround in the series will continue and see them out of the playoffs by the middle of next week, go wings ( i am not truly a red wings fan, but i root for them in the playoffs for my friend ben, who is, for better or worse, from michigan). i especially hate the anaheim ducks and wish them all the worst a team can get. for the rest… i hope the devils can come back and beat ottawa, i don’t really know why, but i do not like the senators. as for the battle for new york… go rangers. buffalo? i don’t know… not a big fan, besides it’s good for a city of losers to stay losers.

anyways, my team is, has always been, and always will be the los angeles kings. which means i’m an idiot who will forever be in pain over the futility that is kings hockey.

ahh, the joy of staples center… if you’ve never gone, go see them play next year… they’ll probably lose, but it’ll be in one of the premier sports facilities of any league.