Crazy Talk!

music that calms the soul or people commonly misuse anxious for eager (miley)

as I wait quite impatiently for the effing California bar results (they have a goddamn countdown on the results page), i pondered the question, "what in gods name would calm me down right now?"  barring xanex or any generic anti-anxiety drug, the only thing that calms me right down like a kitten getting its neck scratched is playing/listening to music.  oddly, alot of music, if you are in a panicky state, can increase that panic to atmospheric levels (see aesop rock, elliott smith, at the drive in, mogwai, radiohead, bright eyes and so forth and so on).

so, my question for all of you is, when you are incredibly anxious and nervous, what do you listen to to calm you down?

my faves so far are:
greetings from michigan
abbey road
any iron and wine
patsy cline. 

the thing i noticed is that if i am feeling like a sad clown, my music choices are similar.  which leads to the even deeper question, is the feeling of anxiousness a similar bio-chemical reaction to that of sadness?  did i just blow your mind?

ken "all of my failures are just training grounds" blackwood

Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers

hello.  few things. 

first, classifying steely dan as smooth music is highly suspect and subject to a strict scrutiny analysis.  i have been trying to get people to listen to steely dan for a long time.  and by trying, i mean halfheartedly saying i like steely dan when anyone makes fun of them.

plus, for all you wilco fans, they covered "any major dude will tell you" for the me, myself, and irene soundtrack, which gives steely dan some element of cred. or it is an ironic cover, which takes away cred.  me, myself and irene is a funny movie, though. 

regardless, i like steely dan.

second, mike mcdonald can suck it though.  where the fuck does that man get off looking like kenny fucking rogers and sounding much worse. 

speaking of looking looking like kenny rogers, check this fucking site out

third, calexico's garden ruin may be the best album of the year that i have heard and i've heard over six albums.  it is absolutely amazing. 

ken lay

Worst Song Ever

CNN entertainment writer Todd Leopold wrote this article. It lead me to think..........

Crazytalkers, what is the worst song ever? We must follow Todd Leopold's rules: (1) the song had to have been a hit -- preferably the kind you hear on the radio so often you can't change the station fast enough -- and (2) it can't have been a song that wore out its welcome through repetition. A really bad song is one you hate from the word "go."

So, which is it? What is the worst song I have ever heard? It had to be from the late 90's cause there were the Backstreet Boys, 98 degrees, N'Sync, Rap Rawk, Britney, and Creed. But, it isn't the song about a person who did everything for the nookie, or a small Christian with an oiled chest whose arms are not closed, but open.

Nope, its Who Let the Dogs Out by the Baha Men. I like to sing along with my own lyrics, "Who put this song on, Who? Who? Who?"

Ken "I would not like any scrubs, because scrubs cannot get any love from me. It does not matter if they are hanging out the passenger side of their best friend's car, trying to shout at me. A scrub will not get any love from me" Blackwood

Tears of a Clown: Make a Clown Cry by Leaving Seattle

I am in a jovial mood as I passed the MPRE, which means I am one step closer to failing the California bar.  My joviality has led me to do something I have never done on crazytalk.  I am going to unapologetically gush about Seattle music. 

Since I am going to leave my beloved city of Seattle in a few months to the land of milk and honey and what Howie describes as a "pleasure tax" to live in SF, this is more than a review of music.  Its a testament to that  certain what the French call "je ne se quoi" or that certain what Americans call "Boy, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about" that Seattle has, but that most people readily dismiss in a cloud of rain and coffee. 

I love Seattle.  It is quite possibly the most beautiful city in the country (beg to differ, i beg of you) and it has that certain "Boy, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about" northwesty-ness that I can only describe in an anecdote......

I was picking my friend up in an not-so-nice area and I happen to drive over a 1-gallon milk container and it gets stuck under my car.  As it was making alot of noise, I decide to pull over and remove it from under the car. 

So when I pull over, the young folk enjoying the night find our idiot task of removing this stupid milk container rather amusing and start to rightly make fun of us, but also help us to get it out by directing us to where it is.  People were on their hands and knees yelling "NO LEFT NO NO RIGHT!!", people were laughing, people were honking and people were gawking at these two dumbass whiteboys trying to get a milk container out from under their car. 

When finally we do succeed in removing the bastard milk jug, basically, the whole street who had stopped to watch us started cheering.  When my friend takes the milk jug over to the trash can to throw away, two guys run up to him yelling "NO MUTHAFUCKA!!!!! NO!!!!!"  When they reach him, they angrily snatch the milk container out of his hand, give him a disgusted look and yell "MUTHAFUCKA YOU GOTS TO RECYCLE THIS SHIT!!!!!!!! DAMN!!!"  Then they walk off back to their group of friends clutching the milk container, like a baby, to recycle it.  It was at that moment I decided that Seattle has the most unique people anywhere. 

But I digress, Seattle music.   This place is just a petri dish for creativity and two artists, while wildly divergent in styles, personify this.

The first is the Blue Scholars. When you ask someone about local hip-hop, you will likely get one response, Blue Scholars.  No other hip hop act I have run across has the strain of independents that these two guys create.  Both EPs that they have released have been self-released and both have been top sellers in Seattle record stores.  They have put on so many local shows in the last few years that they may top contenders for the hardest working band in Seattle. 

They are about community building, have no qualms about being political (my two favorite lines... "I cant front/I give a fuck if Ronald Regan is dead/ He turned segments of populations into crack fiends/ and eradicated everything we gained in the 60s" and "These tough talking cowards aint hard/ they'll bounce on the squad when its time to go to war/like George Bush did to the National Guard"), and speak to the topics that plague America's youth of today in a voice that is intelligent, empathetic, and confident.  And I almost forgot to mention that the unique songs created by Sabzi are certain to get heads nodding.   But, don't take my word for it.  You can buy their CDs at their site or take a listen at myspace.

The next band, Band of Horses, has been mentioned here and elsewhere but I wanted to get my word in.  I first saw them when they opened for Iron and Wine awhile back at Neumos when they were just Horses, and I thought that they were the best opening band I had seen in quite sometime.  Their new CD, "Everything All the Time", is just as good, and, in fact, better than I remembered. 

CrazyTalker Miley said they sounded like Wilco doing My Morning Jacket songs, which makes it no wonder that he likes them.  It makes me think the exact same thing.  They have that lush reverby sound that makes any fan of MMJ's ears perk up in the Pavlovian style.  They also just write songs that get stuck in your head for the most unusual reasons.  I have been singing to myself "at every occasion I am ready for the funeral" for about two weeks now and its starting to weird me out.  Plus, some members were part of the band Carissa's Wierd, which I love.   

My last part of this ridiculously long post is a mention of the Sasquatch! Festival at the end of May.  I may go ahead and say that this three-day bonanza of indie beauty is the best music fest in the country.  A side note, I also think the cats in my alley are out to get me.  Some of the best musical acts are playing there.  The line up as of today, which includes the two above artists:

Friday - nine inch nails, bauhaus, him, and you will know us by the trail of the dead, wolfmother

Saturday - ben harper, the flaming lips, the shins, the tragically hip, neko case, iron and wine, sufjan stevens, gomez, rogue wave, sam roberts, constantines, architecture in helsinki, bedouin soundclash, band of horses, matt costa, tim seely, korby lenker, common market, slender means, david ford, elvis perkins, and more artists to be announced.

sunday - beck, death cab, queens of the stone age, matisyahu, decemberists, nada surf, pretty girls make graves, blue scholars, clap your hands and say yeah, artic monkes, we are scientists, chad vangallen, the heavenly states, rocky votolato, laura veirs, mercir, the village green, headphones, and more artists to be announced.

Just reading that makes me salivate.  Now screw Noise Pop, screw Coachella, screw Bonnaroo.  If you want to see the palest indie kids camping out one of the most beautiful venues in the US for the best line up since Woodstock 3, high tail it to Washington this Memorial Day weekend.  I'll put you up. 

I almost forgot the best radio station in America as well - kexp.org  You will not find a better group of djs spinning better music anywhere, all without commercials. 

As you can tell, I love Seattle.  Sorry for the length of the post. 

Here's what I ask of you LocoHablarers - unapologetically gush about your music scene. 

Ken "rain rhymes with drain, which is where rain goes" blackwood

ps.  my SIKH songs are as follows - i cant think of people that you guys haven't heard cause you guys are too quick on hot tracks. 

1.  blue scholars - southside revival

2.  sera cahoone - couch song (also of carissa's wierd)

3.  dolorean - roll me over

4.  violent femmes - add it up (it came on shuffle and i havent heard it in years and i love it so.  i still have to yell when the counting comes on)

5.  feist - mushaboom

SXSWsters, Please See These Shows

I started the incredibly difficult task of looking through all the bands that were playing next week and quickly realized that there are shitloads of bands playing there.  so being the lazy man i am, i quickly gave up.  but, for those of you who are going, please go see a couple shows for me and tell me what you think.  (these are bands that i like or have names that warrant some sort of recognition)

1. the standard, wednesday at  nunos (see previous post)
2. band of horses, friday at 11 red eye fly (an amazing seattle band that takes alt-country and splices it with some weird, a dude with a reindeer on his guitar, and other such things .  the band is made up of reminants from carrissa's wierd, another amazing seattle band.  soon to be releasing a full length on subpop. they got a couple songs on their site)
3. clem snide, friday at 11 at habana calle 6 (no need to describe cause it alreadys beens described belows) this however creates a conflict with band of horses.  decisions. 
4. kris kristofferson, thursday at 12am at la zona rosa (you can see a living legend, rhodes scholar, helicopter pilot and the guy who wrote me ad bobby mcgee all at once)
5. palaxy tracks, thursday at 12am at latitude 30 (crazy chicago band that is spacey yet poppy and always entertaining. think doves, well, no dont think doves. this is for those that think kris kristofferson and michael mcdouglas are the same guy)
6. yuppie pricks, wednesday at redrum (no particular reason, though i dig the name)

needless to say, i wish all of you the best time there and i am so fucking jealous i cant fucking believe it. 

wish me luck as i am to fail the multi-state professional responsibility exam manana cause i am moving to san francisco in a few months and am trying to sandbag it.

ken "north by northwest" jealouswood

Top Ironically Named Cover Bands

as howard "i wish i could quit you" cockrill so eloquently put, ironically named cover bands are all over the place.  there is "pacemaker," the berkely heart cover band that is currently putting together their 35 minute rock opera "I'm so Crazy on You, Mr. B-B-B-B-B-Barracuda." 

so in order to lighten the mood (read i use humor as a defense mechanism against the fact that i know nothing about music), i would like to offer my top made up ironic cover bands and open the table to public comment on their top made up ironic cover bands.  this has nothing to do with anything really musical, but who gives a shit. 

also, there is a difference between tribute bands and cover bands.  cover bands "cover" songs and tribute bands offer "tribute" to bands.  also, tribute bands can only cover hairmetal bands.

1.  Ground Control to the Male Grace Jones, a mid 70s to early 80s Bowie cover band.
2.  Master of Muppets, Kermie and the Gang covers Metallica
3.  Two to the Chest, an Elliott Smith cover band (oh booooooooooooooooooo)
4.  Hearing Panther, a Def Leppard tribute band
5.  Scuba Tank, an Air Supply cover band
6.  Holy Shit, We Fucking Suck and Here is Why!!!!, a Limp Bizkit cover band
7.  The Bravery, a Joy Division/New Order and Smiths cover band
8.  The Wingless Quesadilla Cousins, a Flying Burrito Brothers cover band
9.  A Nice Little Saturday, a Black Sabbath cover band

so, there you go.  comment time is now.

dick "maybe all you need is a shot in the face" cheney

SAD, how to defeat.

now some say that its the season for seasonal affective disorder.  i do think it is prevalent in seattle and other sunless places where there is no sun. 

for you mathematicians, the theoretical formula is no sun = no creation of the sunlight vitamin = depressive and pale people. 

so for all of you SAD mofos (in the below cities) out there, i would recommend doing what i am going to do this wednesday, and go see stars.  they are canadian and they fucking rock.  the upcoming tour is as follows:

2/8/2006	Seattle, WA	Showbox
2/9/2006	Portland, OR	Aladdin Theater
2/10/2006	San Francisco, CA	The Fillmore
2/11/2006	Hollywood, CA	The Avalon
2/12/2006	San Diego, CA	The Casbah
2/14/2006	Boulder, CO	Fox Theatre
2/22/2006	Boston, MA	Paradise Rock Club
2/24/2006	Washington, DC	Black Cat

and for those of you who don't know them, here is a link to some of their music.  i hope you listen to this and go see them so they dont get mad at me for this possible copyright infringment. 

Your Ex Lover is Dead 

Set yourself on fire

Reunion  

here is their website

stars

go see em

ken

Semi-Semi Annual Ken Posting

as part of my disdain for studying for securities regulation and employment discrimination exams, i remembered that an easy way to distract oneself is by posting something on a blog.  then i remembered that part of the rules of posting on a blog is you got to explain that you have something better to do but you want to procrastinate and not do that.  so there you go.  i just did that. 

soon, the holidays will be upon us and crappy non-sensical holiday songs will be forced down our throat.  the thing i hate the most is duets.   duets of some dead person and his or her daughter and or friend and or spouse singing christmas songs, duets of rod stewart with old recordings of rod stewart, duets of elton john, duets with the female michael jackson, cher, duets with that asshole who looks like kenny rogers who is always on tv commercials...michael mcdoogal or some shit, duets with a member of whatever dipshit is american idol, and, of course, the statutory enforced duets with joe cocker (which carry treble fines of up to 300,000 if you do not duet with joe cocker.  i recommend up where we belong). 

now, this brings me to my point.  if you are a musician and you are asked to do a duet, do me a favor and dont DUET!!!  (get it?  do-it, du-et, do-it? no? fine).  the holidays can be stressful enough without having to hear "santa got ran over by a reindeer" by justin timberlake and ashlee simpson produced by the neptunes every 15 minutes. 

maybe this should be a general call for a total ban on holiday music in general.  i have worked in retail and listened to holiday classics spun a million ways to sunday and can never understand why the fuck the holidays aren't called "pop your ear drum with a q-tip until the beautiful silence comes-days"  the only song i have ever enjoyed in any context from holiday music is that one scene in home alone where kevin mccallister goes home and sets up the traps for the dimwitted joe pesci and that guy who was the narrator for the wonder years. 

i dont know why, but i really like home alone.   now, that being said, i do not like macaualy culkin.  he does drugs and i saw a commercial that said if you use drugs, you probably support terrorism. 

unless you take prescription drugs, then you are just supporting good old fashioned capitalism and should pat yourself on the back for being a good american. 

bottom line - i hate holiday music and all its lameness, macauly culkin is a terrorist, cher needs about two more plastic surgeries before she is beautiful again, and section 10(b)(5) of the securities act of 1934 should go fuck itself. 

my assignment to all you crazy talkers out there is this:  dig out your death cab for cutie cd transatlanticism, put on the song "The Sound of Settling"  and sing "BA BA, BA BA this is the sound of selling out." 

or go to a barnes and nobles (or what canadians oddly call "chapters" i think its french-canadian for chapters of a book) and pick up every holiday album you see and hide them.  if approached by security, just give them my email address, and ill talk to them.  im a 3 year law student, remember? 

ken "this is the sound of failing out" blackwood

The Standard or How to Spend $10 and See a Real Indie Band Rock

last night, at the behest of my cohort and bassist mackenzie, i attended the show of the kingsbury manx and the standard.  mackenzie had grown up with the bassist of the standard and had spoken their praises to me many of times.  regardless of that, the standard remained a band that came on shuffle on the ipod every few weeks and was listened to by me and was subsequently forgotten by me. 

and let me say, for the record, i am not one who sings the praises of bands after a show unless it was truly an experience (read some bad acid or a weird show in the attic of a bar).

but, the standard fucking rocked it.  i am not sure i can say they rocked in the rawked sense, simply because it was not rawking. 

what they did was indie-rocked it.  it reminded me of slint if they had taken lessons and became whizzes on thier instruments.  it had been quite some time since i had heard a band that had that "indie rock" thing.  on kexp, my local radio, music from all over the world can be heard.  but, being a slave to revenue, they still tout the brooklyn-hipster-my-jeans-are-$400-and-my-sneer-is-apathetic-shit band of the week.  and it was with that backdrop into new music that i heard the standard. 

it was different, it was driving, it was rocking, but it was never pretentious, it was never something that was written with top 40 in mind, it was never look at my meticiously maintained white-man's-afro and my post ironic jean jacket, and it was never dull. 

all i am saying is that if you want to see a real indie band, go see the standard. 

ken "i am an egotistical maniac who cares only about myself" blackwood

some relevant tour data

SA 11.19.05
Dante’s w/ The Kingsbury Manx, Heavenly States Portland, OR

TU 11.22.05
Bottom of the Hill w/ The Kingsbury Manx, Heavenly States San Francisco, CA

WE 11.23.05
Spaceland w/ The Kingsbury Manx, Heavenly States Los Angeles, CA

FR 11.25.05
Plush w/ The Kingsbury Manx, Heavenly States Tucson, AZ

SU 11.27.05
Gypsy Tea Room w/ The Kingsbury Manx, Heavenly States Dallas, TX

MO 11.28.05
Emo’s-Inside Stage w/ The Kingsbury Manx, Heavenly States Austin, TX

TH 12.01.05
Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ The Kingsbury Manx Little Rock, AR

the halcyon days of summer

not that any of you give a tinkle, but i apologize for not pulling my proverbial-blog weight here at crazy talk.  i decided to take a summer off and lounge by the cool waters of a federal agency and take in some recycled air conditioning while listening to the relaxing chirp of flourescent lights and fax machines. 

but now, i am back, and have a few things i feel obliged to discuss. 

1.  firstly, screw sufjan stevens for co-opting my state.  i have not really listened to the album, but when i did, my thoughts were "huh, it sounds like greetings from michigan with a bunch of coked-up recorder and xylophone players" and "did you know that john wayne gacy was a clown and chopped up kids and put them in his crawlspace?"  i dont think i will dislike it, but  he should stick to what he knows, like making an album called "I Want to Party with a Bunch Of Queens, from NY" or "Christ is Super and My Mother Liked to Wear Dresses, Greetings from Church"

2.  secondly, did anyone see charlie and the chocolate factory?  i thought it was okay, but for the love, what was with all the songs?  they made me physically and mentally uncomfortable with all those oompa-things dancing all about.  and did johnny depp have to be all michael jackson-ish?  i thought at any moment, he was going to invite the kids into his bed to sleep and it would be silly and beautiful.

3.  thirdly, i have bought about 10 cds and not listened to a single one.  for reasons unbeknownst to me, this summer, i would go to record stores, buy a couple cds, look at them, and say, i should put that on my ipod soon.  also, due to a glorious benefactor that will remain nameless, but lets call him Wiley for the sake of giving them a name, have a number of burned cds that i have yet to listen to. 

though i have tons of music to listen to, i dont listen to it.  through no one's fault but my own, i have grown complacent about music. 

this leads me to the main idea for this post (the other stuff was pleasantries, preface to a story, a how-do-you-do-nice-weather-type of thing). 

why the fuck am i so blasse about music?  i hear it and think "eh, whatever, its okay"  the only album that i can say that i have been really fired up about is the rilo kiley album that came out a long time ago.  i know that there is good shit out there and that i would like it.  but for some reason, i cant.  i do not think its some sort of psychiatric thing because i feel great.  maybe i need to feel bad for music to stick.  dunno. 

but usually summer is music's season.  you roll down the windows and crank up some songs and then sing as loud as you can.  what would the summer of 93 been without that fat girl in a bee suit and blind melon singing about puddles?   

is anyone else feeling this way?  or am i the only person who feels emotionally detached from every ounce of music that they come across?  any comments would be greatly appreciated. 

on an up-side, here is a picture of a person with my name

ken "moustache rides - 5 cents" blackwood

Myspace

so i had an idea.  seeing as how we are about shameless self-promotion, i was thinking that crazy talk starts a myspace profile.  that way we can get a bunch of friends to sign up for it.  and then other people see it and come here.  its a good way to get us heard.  we dont have to do much except set it up, link to crazy talk and then boom, its done. 

ken "shameless self-promoter" blackwood

if you are on myspace add me as a friend.  i am a social butterfly. 

Let's Dance

since dancing is a necessary offshoot of music, i thought this was more than appropriate.  cc and the factory would have been proud

Guns and Roses

you know, the older i get, the more i want new music.  there comes a point every few months where i look through my music and say "i have listened to all of this shit so freaking much i can't stand it."   

however, there are a few bands that will forever be so close to my heart that no matter how much i hear them, i love them.  yeah, there are the expected:  the oldies:  floyd, zeppelin, doors.  the newies: wilco, elliott smith, radiohead.  (side note:  i just had a internal pretension dialogue with myself writing those names.  i will spare you that.)  then there is G and Effin R.

guns and roses, people.  there is not a better hard rock band in the world.  i may venture to say that appettite is the best hard rock album ever recorded.  (for christ's sake, it shows cartoon boobs and them sitting around a keg in the liner notes!)  everything they did was completely the cliche and completely effing rocking.  i find myself whistling that whistle part from patience all the freaking time. and that video?  nothing says "i am a unabashed cliche ass kicking rock star" then creating a video in which you are in the studio supposedly recording your unabashedly rock star cliche acoustic song.  use your illusion I and II were amazing. novemeber rain?  hell yes!  you want over the top rock????  how about an overproduced, gaudy, ass kicking double album.  lies was effing awesome.  (that had boobs in the liner notes too). 

i dare anyone to listen to beating a dead horse or paradise city or welcome to the jungle or i used to lover and not want to rock out with their cock out.  its physically impossible to not rock out to one of those songs. 

i could go on for days about how much GnR rocks and how there has been eff ups (spaghetti incident, buckethead, axl's demise) but those just make the good stuff better. 

a few parting shots
1.  axl wore stars and stripes spandex
2.  they had the teminator in one of their videos and arnie saw axl and determined in his computer-like way  that axl was "not worth it"
3.  slash was the coolest mofo on the planet for a good 5 years.  top hat, cigarette, sunglasses, models, jack daniels, fro in the eyes. 
4.  every ubiquitous rock and roll cliche they did and made better.  beatles covers, axl playing a piano with a symphony in the background, the abovementioned recording studio video for the ubiquitous acoustic song (which metallica tried to recreate but failed). 
5.  dolphins

ken "if the sherman act applied to monoplozing rock, the FTC would have brought a antitrust violation againts GnR in the late 80's and early 90s"

p.s. crazytalkers, lets hear your embarrassing love for an embarrassing band to love.  it cannot be one on the side link thingy "crazy bands".  that is the rule.   tell me that you used to write ozzy on your fingers, tell me that you wore patchwork skirts and twirled like a hippie at dead shows.  i suggest someone step up to the plate and write about REO speedwagon cause if not, i will and trust me, i fucking love REO. 

if it wasn't for bad luck...

that's right, i wouldn't have any luck at all.  that line from born under a bad sign summarizes the recent search for jobs i have been subjecting myself too and that is my link to music for my posting (i think my schtick will be relating some aspect of music to my life so i can talk about it without actually saying anything about music).  while no one gives a shit about this, i am going to say it cause i find it to be too unbelievable to keep to myself. 

today, i got a pre-rejection letter.  not a rejection letter.  no, this letter came before i had applied.  i  applied to an externship position with a judge and got denied from that (i guess i am so useless i can't even pay someone to let me work for them).  its not that big of a deal cause i expected a rejection.   there was a glimmer of hope in the rejection letter; the letter stated that if you want to be considered for the fall extern program, let the judge know.  so, i send an email and say "i would like to be considered." 

in response, the judge's secretary says  "okay, but she already has alot of applications.  thanks anyway though."

is this a cruel joke?  will firms start sending me letters before i send them anything that read "dear ken, we understand that you may be thinking of applying to our firm.  thank you for your thoughts, but lets not get all uppity.  while your qualifications may have been impressive, we regret to inform you that we will not be able to reject you later, so we will pre-reject you.  we won't keep your resume on file, so don't even bother.  we have included a cyanide capsule, free of cost."

cream, in their pseudo-blues-psychedelic way, is right again.  the last time they right, i was quite wrong because tennis turned out to be quite nice. 

ken "optimisim is a stinky cologne, hapsburg" blackwood

Mountain Goats

on saturday, me and several other friends went to see the mountain goats at the crocodile.  a few observations. 

1. black mountain (the opener) was (or were? black mountain is one group, but consists of 6 members.  singular or plural....i am sticking with was.)  good.  i hadn't seen a stoned out rock band that looked like they were from the days of stoned out rock in years.  its a good thing i ate pot brownies too.  that made me like the 10 minute feedback solos. 
2. didn't see the second band.  drinking beer. 
3. after the second band got off, half the crowd left.  the remaining people were the weirdest group of hipsters i have seen.  these people were not your run of the mill hipsters, no they were the type of hipsters that dont leave their basement apartment for six months because they are trying to master some south american native instrument, like the bolivian snakerain bladderflute, that close their eyes and write feverishly into a small notebook while the mountain goats play, that get ph.d's in post-modern pedagogical kantian, derridian-quasi-pre-oepidan psychology with an emphasis on pottery, or that go to law school and escape reality by eating pot brownies and drinking lots of beer. 
4. mountain goats were okay to good for the first half.  the second half was awesome because a drummer and john vanderslice came out and they took it up about 8 octaves.   i am not the kinda guy who notes set lists, but they played some songs from the new-new album, the new album and the new-old album and a cover, in which, the crowd was made to sing the song and the refrain "rome wasn't built in a day."  oh, and there was a song about the best death metal band from denton.  i loved that one. 
5. the bar down the street from the crocodile looks like david hassellhof's basement lounge from 1983. 
6. i love hot dogs. 

well, that's it.  evidence is concluding and, from my limited amount of paying attention, there is a rule, 404 (b), that doesn't allow character evidence.  not sure about that though. 

bye all

ken "valentine's day should be called 'walking slowly and determinedly into ocean day'" blackwood

How I Know I am Old

This has nothing to do with music.  It could, I guess, in some contexts, but not today.  It has to do with how I woke up this morning and felt old.  I went to a restaurant with a couple of friends last night and, subsequently, had two of my favorite spirits.  I did not feel drunk.  But, lo and behold, this morning, I awoke with a mean hangover.  Two drinks and Ken not drunk = nasty headache and desire for salt and pizza.  I also kept waking up because I thought I was late for something, even though I have Fridays off.  Five years ago, I could have had something to do and I would have slept until 2pm.  Things have changed.  I've changed.

Well, this concludes my initial post to this wacky world of blogs.  I got to run to Ikea for some low-priced, high-quality Swedish furniture then I must law to the dickens. 

Moral of the story:  Do lots of cocaine. 

Activity for every one to do today (I will relate it to music):  Go to your favorite record store, locate the hippest-looking person in it, follow them around and everytime they pick up a CD, scoff really loudly and say "You're actually going to buy that?" and start laughing and pointing at them. 

Ken "the oldest 25 year-old I know" Blackwood