Busy Busy Busy

The infrequent posting is due to me being so busy that I jet from work straight home to get things done. Lots of poster work coming our way - which is great. By the way, if you're in Chicago for the Intonation fest in June or Pitchfork festival in July, Mile44 will have a booth selling our posters and screenprinted goodies.

Picked up three albums today, and that was all I listened to:
Built to Spill "You in Reverse"
Ben Harper "Both Sides of the Gun"
The Streets "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living"

The Ben Harper album is fantastic. I haven't bought one of his albums since 'Burn to Shine." This may be a double disc, but it's not as lengthy as a double would normally be. Ben's playing is still part funk, part Hendrix - all amazing. He has a Chicago date at Northerly Island (formerly Miegs Field - the airport) in August ... I may try to squeeze a show in with all the other stuff the city offers this summer.

Even bad hockey is good hockey

Went to our third Chicago Blackhawks game on Tuesday night with our friends John and Olivia. It was the last game of the year, and needless to say, the Blackhawks were off for 'summer break' beginning the next day. A 2-2 tie meant overtime - hurray free hockey! A Blackhawks goal at the 2 minute mark turned into a season ending win. As long as they keep the $10 seats next year, we'll be back.

Thursday tunes:
Pearl Jam "Avacado or S/T"
Pedro the Lion "S/T"
Rachel Ries "For You Only"
Miss Alex White "Miss Alex White and the Red Orchestra"
Guided By Voices "Earthquake Glue"
My Morning Jacket "It Still Moves"
Neil Young "Everybody Knows this is Nowwhere"
The Polyphonic Spree "Together We're Heavy"

The new Pearl Jam isn't supposed to be out for two more weeks, but someone in my office got a hold of a copy. First listen, it was just OK. Second, third, fourth listen ... it's pretty solid all around. Three tracks stick out the most - "Marker in the Sand," "Parachutes" and "Unemplyable." We'll see how the album holds out in the longrun. I doubt it has the staying power of 'Vs' or 'Vitology'

-DJr.-

Rain! The weather's fine!

A boatload of rain fell last night. Our normal hour and a half drive from Lafayette to get home in the G.I. took two plus hours. The downpour sucked, and April wasn't feeling chatty so I blasted my Mountain Goats and Alkaline Trio albums I had in the car to get home.

Lot's of tune's today .. another super hectic day in the office:
Neil Young "Live Rust"
The Flaming Lips "In a Priest Driven Ambulance"
The Misfits "Three Hits from Hell"
Uncle Tupelo "May 1, 1994"
Miles Davis "Water Babies"
John Butler Trio "Sunrise over Sea"

The Misfits are a band I was scared of when I was a little kid. The creepy skull logo and the idea of creature punk rock gave me the heebie-jeebies. Until I listened to them in middle school ... dang I was blown away. So simple, and the lyrics are border line idiotic, yet fun. The box set is worth the price just for the cool coffin shaped case.

It's springtime for Hitler ... and the lakeshore too!

Ok, so maybe not for Hitler - that bastard - but spring is here. Our plants are coming up and looking pretty, storms are crazy and we've lost a ton of tree limbs, and last night we lost one of the shutters to our house.
I'm writing this on Friday morning instead of the evenning before since I was at work for 14 hours yesterday. The only good side to downsizing, is that I can empty out iTunes left behind on other Macs! Woohoo!

Thursday night shuffle:
Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs "Show Your Bones"
Yo La Tengo "A Smattering of Outtakes and Rarities"
Sun Kill Moon "Ghosts of the Great Highway"
Alkaline Trio "S/T"
The Arcade Fire "Funeral"
Hampton Hawes "Trio 2"
The Flaming Lips "At War With the Mystics"
The Rolling Stones "Exile on Main Street"

The new Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs album is a lot better than their previous effort "Fever to Tell." This album is less Karen O screeching the lyrics and has more return value. I listened to "Fever ..." a few times hoping it would show its worth .. but no. It ended up on eBay.

Another day, another delay ...

A quick 25 mile commute turns into a 45 minute drive everyday when people wreck on the Borman. The freeway heading westbound from Indiana into Illinois is always a crap shoot. And today, there was a big delay full of honking and impatient folks. Thank goodness I had an old Chicago Tribune to read and my new Hampton Hawes CD to cool my nerves.

A day of designing a page about Fall Out Boy made me thankful for good music while I worked ...
Sigur Ros "Takk"
The Shins "Oh, Inverted World"
Shout Out Louds "Please, Please, Please"
Pete Yorn "Music for the Morning After"
Neil Young "Prairie Wind"
Jane's Addiction "Nothing's Shocking"
Dinosaur Jr. "Ear-Bleeding Country"

Neil Young's new album doesn't really stick with me on the first listen. It's OK. I know he had a brain tumor and all that, but it's just OK so far. "When God Made Me" is a pretty solid tune though. Rumor is that another CSNY tour will be happening ... I hope it's affordable this year - yeah right!

-DJr.-

Peep show

The marshmallowy gooey treat 'Peeps' are back - and they're still gross. I'm not a fan of too many candies anyway, but these are among the lowest of the lows. Bring me a Kit-Kat, some chocolate covered espresso beans, or some yummy cashews and I'm happy.

It's been a few days since I listed my albums .. I've listened to a lot since then:
Friday:
Bill Withers "Live at Carnegie Hall"
Cold Mountain "Soundtrack"
Filled my afternoon with some yummy sushi - jeesh that stuff is addictive.

The weekend came and went, I printed again. Planted some grass seed - hurray! and watched my fantasy Nascar team plummet yet again in the standings.

Monday tunes were good:
Art Brut "Bang, Bang, Rock and Roll"
The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour"
Chin Up, Chin Up "We should Have Never Arrived Like We Were Skyscrapers"

Tuesday was full of headphones too. I had a hectic day and didn't want to be bothered ...
Calexico "Garden Ruins"
Charles Mingus "Blues and Roots"
Moxy Fruvous "10.10.98 - Live from Chicago"

Moxy Fruvous was a great band out of Canada that infused pop songs, acoustic, a capella, and Dr. Seuss into its live show. I saw them twice at Purdue and was really happy about it both times. Jerks had to break up .. or go on the infamous "hiatus."

In case of emergency, smack the lazy one

Someone elses' laziness threw me for a loop today causing my whole day to get outta whack. Pissiness ensued, followed by headaches and a near run-in with breaking my computer by throwing it at the lazy one.

Anyway, headphones were on extra long today ...

Matt Pond PA "Several Arrows Later"
Al Green "Greatest Hits"
Bright Eyes "Digital Ash in a Digital World"
Eels "Beautiful Freak"
John Coltrane "Blue Train"
Radiohead "OK Computer"
Go! Team "Thunder Lightning Strike"

I won $20 in the basekteball pool at work - hurray for second place! I was the only one with UCLA winning it all out of 25 people. Close, but no cigar. $20 bought gas and cat food. I love being responsible.

Nat packers?

Fans of Natalie Wood are called Nat Packers? Ok, no one can make fun of me anymore. I don't take brass polish to her star on the Walk of Fame to polish it while looking at the sun rise while saying "You were always the brightest star." Yikes.

Not filling our open designer position means my work almost doubles ... hurray!
Angy Dave need angry, loud music ...
My Bloody Valentine "Loveless"
Jane's Addiction "Nothings Shocking"
Husker Du "New Day Rising"
Face to Face "S/T"
... the angriness got old, so I switched to ...
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah "S/T"
Belle and Sebastian "Push Barman to Open Old Wounds"


I hated Clap Your Hands ... when I first listened. Put it back and two months late I gave it a second chance and I really dig it. The singers voice reminds me of early David Byrne.

The new Flaming Lips album is here! The new Flaming Lips album is here!

My reaction to picking up the Flaming Lips' "At War with the Mystics" album today was not that different from when Naven Johnson (ala Steve Martin in "The Jerk") picked up the phone book and discovered his name was published.
I am very excited, and for good reason. This is a great album. I've heard it twice before today on the bands streaming audio feed and once in an interrupted state at the office. Now, on my commute home I hope to get in a solid once through with no interruption except being cutoff by semis travelling 95 mph on the Borman and dolled up hoopties rolling through stop signs in Gary.

The list ...
The Flaming Lips "At War with the Mystics"
The Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers"
David Bowie "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"
The Ramones "Ramones"
The Dave Brubeck Quartet "Time Changes"

My Ramones kick continues ... where will it end? Probably here because I've exhausted my collection now.

Red in the face

I fogot to mention the smackdown the Cubs gave the Reds today.
In our house - we're a Cubs / Reds / Red Sox house.
All is fine unless one of the teams is playing each other. Today .. I got to rub it in to April's face that the boys in blue gave the Reds the beating they deserved.
-DJr-

Gabba, Gabba Hey!

Spent Saturday working in the yard, Sunday morning at the studio printing some more, and Sunday night playing Guitar Hero.
If you have a PS2 and have yet to see, play or own Guitar Hero .. it will change your life! Well, maybe not, but it's darn fun.
The controller looks like a Gibson SG guitar with five buttons on the neck, a strum mechanism and a whammy bar to boot.
It is highly addictive and makes me feel like a rock star.
One of the tunes in it is "Blitzkrieg Bop" by the Ramones and it's a lot of fun. My 13-year-old sister-in-law totally wails on this tune even though she's never heard the Ramones before. It's sad. Someday I'll correct that and start her off with a collection CD or maybe just jump right in with 'Ramones.'
After Guitar Hero, I watched "End of the Century." This Ramones documentary is a warts and all doc. with every member of the band saying something at some point. My friend George would always tell me about seeing them when he lived in New York in the 70s. George kicks ass ... and he got kicked out of a party hosted by Dee Snider once for being too rowdy.
Anyway .. I also remember watching "Rock n Roll Highschool" when I was eight years old. Dad rented it from the video store for my sister and I to watch. I had no idea who the Ramones were but I though thought it was cool.
Anyway, no Ramones in today's mix as I got my fix yesteday ...

Minus the Bear "Highly Refined Pirates"
Neil Young "Comes a Time"
Radiohead "The Bends"
Miles Davis "Autumn Leaves"

I searched the Web for info in the lineup in "Autumn Leaves" but couldn't find one. It's listed on Amazon as an import and that's all. Any help is appreciated.

-DJr-