Johnny’s More American Than Mom’s Apple Pie
Broadcast “Still Feels Like Tears” – taken from the excellent new Pendulum EP.
Jandek “Van Ness Mission” – see also: the Jandek On Corwood trailer.
Royal Trux “Stop” – see also: the brand new Barbelith Royal Trux thread.
Wildfang “More American Than Johnny Carson” – taken from Hyped2Death’s Homework 4 compilation.
Those Dummies Got Into The Yo-Yo Concept This Week
This is probably going to be the most peculiar MP3 that I will ever offer on this blog. It is taken from a show on WFMU from last summer called Aircheck, which was a showcase for clips and oddities from the history of radio. This particular clip is a four minute excerpt from a recording of an unknown DJ from the 70s going batshit insane on the air while wishing his listeners a happy weekend. It is funny at first when he’s just ranting nonsensically, but as it goes on, it becomes terrifying. There are points when he’s just speaking in tongues, as if he was possessed by demons. The part in which he pauses for a moment after the unintelligable screaming and says “…it’s starting to happen…it is beginning…” never fails to freak me out.
We Jocks Have A Saying…
There’s an excellent (and very funny) audio interview with Conan O’Brien on the New York Times website. There’s an interesting point in the interview in which Conan talks about when his show was technically cancelled, which I don’t believe has ever been common knowledge even though it was pretty well known that the show was in trouble back when they were renewing the show in quarterly increments.
It Ain’t Me, It Ain’t Me…
Only one MP3 goodie today, courtesy of Mr. Paul Cox. This live version of CCR’s “Fortunate Son” was recorded this past Friday in Nashville. It is being performed by Pearl Jam….with Sleater-Kinney….and Steve Earle. For real. It’s well worth hearing just for the novelty factor. As you can probably imagine, Corin Tucker and Eddie Vedder’s voices just sound peculiar and wrong when they sing together, but that’s mostly Corin’s fault.
Also worth checking out: the most recent Peel session by The Fall, which I found via Wisdom Goof.
The Gospel According To Ari Up
These are the words which have been repeating in my head since I woke up this morning:
“The only way of knowing God is rhythm! The only way of knowing God is rhythm!”
Crystal Blue Persuasion
It’s going to be a busy day for me today. Please enjoy these songs in the meantime.
Humankind Is Simply Color Operating On The 49th Vibration
I don’t have a lot to say today. As I type this, I’m taking a breather from watching the entire first season of Six Feet Under in the span of three days. So far, I’ve made it through the first five episodes, and I estimate that I should be done with it on Saturday morning. (I have plans for Friday, otherwise I would probably finish it then.)
If you go far back into this blog’s archive, you’ll find a very pissy post from sometime over last summer in which I rant about how much I disliked Six Feet Under at the time. I take it all back. When I saw episodes from season 2 (which in fairness, I’ve yet to revisit and could very well be just as awful as I remember them), I was lacking context and I was looking for reasons to dislike the show. I get it now. The first season is fantastic thus far, but still not quite as excellent as the current season is shaping up to be.
I saw A Mighty Wind yesterday too, which was hilarious and did not let me down in the least. I don’t feel as though I’m ready to write about that film just yet, I would like to see it again sometime in the next two or three weeks before I make any serious comments about it as a whole.
The ensemble cast is typically brilliant, very much exactly what you would expect from Christopher Guest after Waiting For Guffman and Best In Show; but Eugene Levy is the heart and soul of this film, and steals every scene that he appears in. The peculiar balance of suicidal despondency, detached flakiness, and painful earnestness that Levy conveys in his performance as Mitch Cohen is consistently funny and surprisingly endearing. For most of the film, I just wanted to give the guy a big hug, and then slowly back away without making eye contact.
Here are some songs for you:
Wire “Being Watched” (from the forthcoming album Send.)
The Slits “Newtown” (live from the In The Beginning compilation.)
By special request:
Guided By Voices “Back To Saturn X” (live from somewhere, 2001.)
Mice Have Germs. They Deserve To Die.
The most interesting couple on television. (Well, aside from Tony and Carmella…)
After some delay spring is upon us here in New York, and so I shall be offering some happy blue-skies ’90s indie pop to mark the occasion. Enjoy.
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci “Poodle Rockin'”
Imperial Drag “Boy Or A Girl” Not to be confused with Imperial Teen. This song was a minor alt-rock-radio hit back around 1996 or 1997. It’s really depressing to think about how this song could never get playlisted these days given how conservative/homophobic/misogynistic radio playlists have become in this Clear Channel world, and how it was only a few years ago that there were a few positive songs about queer sexuality getting some airplay. (Off the top of my head: “You’re One” by Imperial Teen, “I Kissed A Girl” by Jill Sobule, “Queer” by Garbage, several 90s-era R.E.M. songs…) It gives some perspective as to how far mainstream pop culture has jumped backwards since making some positive headway for a few years in the previous decade. This song isn’t even particularly racy or anything, but the notion of a song about gender-bending and confusion about sexual orientation seems verboten in pop culture nowadays unless it involves hot Maxim lesbian chicks and is strictly relegated to the subtext of the presentation, but not the songs themselves.
M.O.T.O. “It Takes Just Like A Milkshake”
Virgin Whore Complex “Four Alarm Fire On Lover’s Lane”
Feel free to comment on the songs. I appreciate getting feedback on the songs that I post, and I am always interested in knowing whether people enjoyed or hated whatever it is that I post here.
Help Me.
I am one question away from knowing the answers to all of the Malkmus trivia questions.
If anyone would be so kind as to write in and tell me what Mike Clark does for a living (I don’t think being a member of the No-No’s and The Maroons is what they’re going for…), I would be very grateful, and I would be happy to help you with the questions that stump you.
I don’t care about winning. I care about knowing.
The Walls Are Jagged And Expanding
Good news, Malkmus fans – there’s a brand new post-Pig Lib song in circulation, and you can download it right here. This recording of the “Untitled New Song” is taken from the Jicks’ 3/28/03 show in Rotterdam at the Motel Mozaique Festival. It’s a real winner if I do say so myself, and the sound quality is pretty high. In addition to the new song, you can also download their cover of “Never My Love” from the same show.
This incredibly beautiful version of “Old Jerry” is taken from the 3/21/03 Portland Jicks show.
You can download the complete, unedited concerts that these tracks were taken from at the Acid Casualties Jicks site, but be kind – they’ve been having all sorts of bandwidth problems. If you’ve got access to Soulseek or other decent p2p programs, you really ought to just download the show from there.
Here’s some more excellent psychedelia for you:
Mark Wirtz “(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman”
The Cryan’ Shames “Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David Smith, and Jones”
Little Gifts
It’s been a fairly glum week so, but I’ve just found out that the third issue of Jessica Abel’s La Perdida came out this week, so that lifts my spirits a bit. Too bad I won’t be getting to a comics shop for a few days, though.
Secret Origins, Part VI
I’m not finished with the Best Show interviews just yet. Here’s part two of the Andy Earles interview.
Matthew Perpetua: Have you done much live-on-stage comedy before?
Andy Earles: Actually, very very little. I have introduced some bands in a funny fashion. I was Nick Nolte for Halloween back in 1998. I put a pillow in my shirt, poured beer all over myself, wore a chopped up nasty blonde wig, put flour all over my face, aviator shades, and sung Black Sabbath songs in front of a (at the time) popular garage band. I stumbled over everything, I would just keep falling down.
MP: Would you like to do more performance in the future?
AE: Sure, but I’m a little squeamish with big crowds and cameras though.
MP: As far as movies go, who are you into?
AE: Directors? Sam Fuller. The 60’s weird noir stuff. Fuller is just a really interesting person, he had a crazy life. The Big Red One and White Dog are very interesting, those are the early 80’s ones that he did. I think that John Cassavetes is one of the most overrated directors in history, and Fuller should have gotten a lot of the “godfather of indie” credit that Cassavetes got.
MP: When Tom was talking about your comedy, he mentioned that he thinks you have a Cassavetes quality.
AE: Really?
MP: For real.
AE: I wonder what that means.
MP: I’m not so sure myself.
AE: Like, the grassroots, cheap angle?
MP: I’m not really up on Cassavetes. I’ve just seen bits and pieces here and there.
AE: Hmmmm…..Now, I do like some of his movies.
MP: I think he was trying to articulate something about the depressing nature of your characters.
AE: Okay. I really like The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie.
MP: Do you see a lot of films?
AE: Yes. I watch, rent, and pay to see a lot of movies. Too much, maybe. I don’t really have the time.
MP: How did you manage to get obsessed with Roadhouse, of all films? [Earles did a comedy bit based on the movie Roadhouse in which he visited the Best Show studios as Tanner Wildgrass, a person who was apparently the real-life basis for Patrick Swayze’s character in the film.]
AE: Have you seen it?
MP: I’ve seen some parts of it on cable.
AE: Watch it, alone, start to finish, and think about that question. You’ll be thinking….”I don’t know why this is mindblowing, but it is.” Mindblowing in it’s absurdity.
MP: Mindblowing is probably the best word for it. It is creative and absurd in ways I don’t think were intended to be that way.
AE: Right. I’ve seen it about 80 times.
MP: Jesus. 80 times! There’s a lot of shitty stuff from the late 80s that have a similar kind of “what the fuck?” thing happening.
AE: Check out “Malone” with Burt Reynolds.
MP: What’s the premise of Malone?
AE: It’s similar to Roadhouse. An evil landowner, an ex-cop with a history blows into town. The tagline for Malone was “Ex-cop, Ex-con, Explosive!”
MP: Before you did that Tanner Wildgrass thing, I think I was always confusing Roadhouse with that movie Stallone did with arm wrestling, Over The Top.
AE: Yeah, that movie is worth seeing, it is totally fucking ridiculous. I know that Arnold is a slow-moving target, but you should revisit “Commando” some time, it’s hilarious.
MP: You have a big thing for Charles Bronson too, right?
AE: Yeah, I wrote a thing on him. All of this boils down to me watching too much stupid shit.
MP: Were you familiar with the Best Show before Tom recruited you?
AE: Yeah. Have you ever heard Rock Rot and Rule?
MP: Yes, that’s how I found the show myself.
AE: I knew of Tom through Rock Rot and Rule and the label he ran before I knew him, 18 Wheeler. He did 20 or so releases and a zine.
MP: Tom said that the first time you were on, it was live in studio and he was sick, and it didn’t go over too well. How was it for you?
AE: I didn’t like the outcome. I had never done anything like that before.
MP: Were you nervous?
AE: I was a mess. I think Tom felt bad, cos you didn’t have the practice that he and Jon had.
MP: What was the first thing you did on the Best Show that you were happy with?
AE: I got a lot more comfortable with it as the bits went along, through the following months.
MP: What came next after that first Giles Palermo bit?
AE: The first thing after Giles Palermo was when Jeff Jensen and I bumrushed the producer of Bands On The Run and Beastie from Soulcracker. As far as the first ones that I was happy with, it was either The Very Depressed Office worker or The Angry Mr. Bungle Fan.
MP: Was that the only time Jeff has been on the show?
AE: He did one or two other short calls. He called in as WIll Oldham announcing an auction in Williamsburg, and the items would be Don Cabellero’s wallet chains and the racing jacket that Lee Renaldo wore in the Kool Thing video.
MP: So, from I gather, Tom doesn’t always know what to expect from you when you call, am I right?
AE: Exactly. It’s fun to try and make Tom lose it. He told me that he almost lost it with one of the Kevin calls.
MP: Which one?
AE: The one where he confessed everything to Tom, the REALLY depressing one.
MP: That’s my favorite Kevin call. Tom is very convincing in that one – he seems genuinely concerned and upset by Kevin.
AE: I laid on the floor, on my stomach during the whole call, to sound extra tired and depressed. Usually I pace the apartment during the calls, much to my roommate’s chagrin.
MP: That Kevin call with the breakdown sounds very convincing. I think most people wouldn’t be so sure if it was comedy if they just tuned in at the tail end.
AE: Good! That’s perfect.
Philosophy Itself Is Nonsense, Nonsense!
In cooperation with Todd over at Dilettantism who is posting about Komar & Melamid’s Most Wanted/Least Wanted painting project today, I am offering MP3s from their Most Wanted/Least Wanted song project.
The premise of the project is that Komar & Melamid do extensive polling to find out what people want or do not want in art, and then create art that corresponds to the polling results highest and lowest scores.
You can download a word file containing the lyrics to the Least Wanted Song and an artist’s statement from Komar & Melamid’s composer partner Dave Soldier here.
Trust Me When I Say I Know The Pathway To Your Heart
Nirvana “Everybody Loves The Clown” – No, not Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana, but the British psychedelic band from the ’60s. I think that the most amazing thing about this song is that it so perfectly captures the grotesque happiness and unintentional creepiness of clowns. It’s just a little too happy sounding, you know? The adult voice in the right speaker sounds sort of crazed, and the child’s voice sounds slightly detached, as if s/he were singing under duress. It’s a very unique combination of joyous pop and the mildly unnerving and vaguely sinister.
The Clique “Superman” – Yes, it’s the song that R.E.M. covered on Lifes Rich Pageant. This is the original recording of the deranged-stalker pop classic.
Secret Origins, Part V
Here’s part one of the Andy Earles interview.
Matthew Perpetua: How did you start off with comedy and writing? Tom told me he had found you through your Cimmaron Weekend zines.
Andy Earles: Yes, that’s how Tom found me. He wrote me an e-mail about the Cimarron Weekend, I happened to be planning a trip to New York, so we just agreed to do something in person on the show. That was the first bit that I did for the show, the Giles Palermo character, back in May of 2001. I was really unhappy with how it went, and thought it would be a one-shot, but Tom e-mailed me a few months later about calling up and messing with the producer for “Bands On The Run” and Beastie from Soulcracker. That was summer of 2001, and it just became regular from then on.
MP: When I was talking to Tom, we were both trying to find a way to describe your comedy, and I think the best thing either of us could come up with was that you highlight this horror of mundane modern life. It’s all in the depressing details.
AE: My surviving family is very mundane. My mother, bless her heart, is the picture of mediocrity. My rent-paying job is in an office setting, that is where I am sitting right now.
MP: What sort of office job?
AE: IT. It’s glorified desk help, what I do. But its days are numbered. Writing has become, at least time wise, the equivalent of a part time job.
MP: Did the Very Depressed Office Worker come out of that experience?
AE: That comes from a prank call idea that Jeff Jensen and I had. Jeff came to Memphis to record much of Just Farr A Laugh in the late summer of 2001, and we found this business card for a motivational speaker/stand-up comedian on a bulletin board at the hipster coffee shop/bakery around the corner. It turned out that this guy was some kind of lower level Def Jam/Kings Of Comedy style comedian that had actually appeared on BET in the past.
I had this idea of trying to hire this guy to come to my office and speak to my employees while weaving that fucked-up work situation out of the whole thing. I couldn’t get him on the phone though, only his wife. Shortly after that, I decided to move the whole idea into the context of Tom’s show. I don’t remember what happened with that call, to the wife, but while Jeff and I were recording new material for the next CD a couple of months ago, I made the same call to a Job Harrassment Hotline, and it is pretty crazy. I can say things in these calls that I can’t on Tom’s show, like “I went out to my Hyundai Sante Fe because I had to go pick my daughter up from school, and one of my employee’s had taken black shoe polish and wrote ‘Butt Fuck’ across my windshield.”
MP: That’s pretty horrific. How did the person react?
AE: The guy just kept going, “Wow, you have a really bad situation there. You need to get professional help, it’s not going to get better, it’s just going to get worse.”
MP: So it was genuine sympathy, they didn’t question it.
AE: I added that the building maintenance super, or head janitor, keeps coming into the office trying to sell drugs to my employees. He walks into our work space saying, “Doses and weed, who wants doses and weed?” Creekwood Banks is his name. Here’s the kicker – Jeff calls this guy RIGHT back as one of my employees in a totally scary redneck voice. “I jus’ hit redial on my boss’ phone, this some kind of a help line er somthin’? Don’t believe a word that pussy says, he’s always up in our shit tellin’ us to get back to work. Like ‘get to work, bitch.’ Sure, I buy some shit from Creekwood Banks, but I don’t dose in the office er nuthin’, gotta get that shit somewhere.”
MP: So is this going to be on the next cd?
AE: Yeah. We also do these completely fucked up pranks to businesses, then call back as a mystery shopper explaining that “that call” was a mystery call to test the employee’s reaction. We have also, for better or worse, invited some religious humor into the game.
MP: Really? I thought that was one of your taboos.
AE: Well, it is, but the I loved the idea behind these calls so much that they have to go on. Jeff’s character is this suburban party yuppie who only takes his family to church on Easter and Christmas.
MP: So, how closely do you work with Jeff Jensen? How did you two meet up?
AE: He contacted me years ago through The Cimarron Weekend. I used to work at a record store here in town for five or so years. It is one of the “hip” stores in Memphis, one out of three. You get the idea. Anyway, our relationship started by way of the magazine and him coming into the store on one of his jaunts. Jeff does a lot of travelling. Jeff is from Lawrence, KS, he moved to NY about ten years ago.
MP: What does Jeff do?
AE: Jeff is independently wealthy, he does not have to work. I am the exact opposite of the spectrum. I am independently unstable and I have what amounts to three jobs. This place, writing, and hustling records on eBay.
MP: So what does Jeff do with his time?
AE: Jeff was the bass player in a band called Smack Dab, a sleeper Homestead Records band in the early ’90s. He is the lead singer of a current band called Closet Case. Jeff organized a citywide, 500 person scavenger hunt once.
MP: Which city?
AE: NYC. Maybe it was closer to 300-400 people.
MP: Actually, you know, I think I remember hearing about this. When did he do that?
AE: ’98 or ’99.
MP: Yeah, I think that’s probably what I remember. I was in school in the city then, and I remember hearing people talk about it.
When did you start the Cimmaron Weekend?
AE: ’97. It was a staple job at first, no cover price. I brought on my close friend Dave Dunlap and we become co-editors/owners and the CW became a real publication with a cover price and such in early ’99. We folded it a few months ago, officially. Dave now lives in DC, writing for the City Paper and it is tough to do a publication long distance. It’s easier to do comedy that way.
Each of the issues were equally broken out into six sections. Meaning, Dave and I both had our own editorial, feature, and review section. We were writing about music and whatever pop-cultural nonsense we were into at the time.
MP: Did a lot of the success of the zine came from word of mouth? What was your distribution like?
AE: We had pretty good distro through Revolver and Tower, we never sold over 1,000 of any issue but we might have made our money back, maybe. I’m going to start my own journal, a perfect bound 6″ by 9″ or something.
MP: You mean, like a literary journal sort of thing?
AE: It might look like that, but it will be whatever I feel like writing about, and there will be reviews.
MP: Okay, so it will be like an ‘upscale’ zine, I guess?
AE: Yeah, exactly.
MP: Where did the Samson bit come from? That one is so great, this whole man’s depressing life compressed into six minutes on an answering machine.
AE: Another one from a ditched prank call. We called a restaurant trying to get the waitress to act like she knew the character, because he was on a first date and had lied to the girl, saying that this place was his favorite eatery. The only thing that carried over to Tom’s show was what Samson was wearing.
MP: There are tons of folks like Samson out there. I wish I could be as happy as them. I love that bit where he says that one of his interests are giant pretzels, especially the honey-mustard kind.
AE: Yeah, you make fun, but…..you are the one that thinks too much, you are the unhappy one.
MP: Do you intend for that sort of subtext to be in your comedy?
AE: No, it’s just the things that I think are good fertile ground for comedy.
MP: It’s all over your comedy, too.
AE: Right, well, i
t’s a style that came from my upbringing, I guess.
MP: What was your upbringing like?
AE: Boring and lower-middle class. We were ok until I was 15, then my father had a stroke and couldn’t work. My parents split, I lived with my Mom and we were pretty poor. I mean, we didn’t starve. We ate well.
MP: Right. But definitely lower-middle class.
AE: Yeah. Two-bedroom, post-war architecture apartment, sliding windows. I took a lot of drugs, I drank a lot, I hoarded a lot of music, I watched a lot of cable, I read a lot.
MP: What kind of music were you into?
AE: Before 14? Classic rock. I was a huge Led Zep fan. 14-16, I was into college rock bordering on loud indie rock. I was really into R.E.M., Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth. 16 – 19, I was into much more indie and obscure stuff. Touch and Go, AmRep stuff, and noise and free jazz. I’m into pop music more than any other type of music.
MP: By pop, you mean?
AE: Any type of pop. I’m a big pop person, and 60’s folk rock.
MP: I was just wondering if you were talking like an ILM born-again Top 40 type of person. “Indie Sux now, Justin Timberlake is the real art now” kind of stuff.
AE: No, I am not like that. That is simply reactionary. I hate that fake-ass outlook.
MP: I enjoy a lot of popular Top 40 pop stuff, but I agree that is a completely reactionary attitude. It’s all over the place now. It’s insidious.
FailedPilot: Yeah. So, I went through about every phase you can imagine. Every record geek phase, that is.
Secret Origins, Part IV
Here’s the second part of the Jon Wurster interview.
MP: What inspired you to start the Stereolaffs label and release Rock Rot And Rule? That seemed to open a lot of doors for you.
JW: We just made tapes of Rock Rot and Rule for bands to listen to in their vans. People started to find out about it and we just thought we should put it out before somebody else did. It did open a lot of doors. It’s crazy.
MP: A lot of the comedy that you do is about music, and music culture, in a way that’s a lot more specific than what is common in pop culture.
JW: Yeah, I don’t really know about much else!
MP: How long have you been involved in music?
JW: I started playing drums at age ten, so about twenty-some years. Man, that’s too long.
MP: So you’ve been in and out of bands since a teen, I guess?
JW: Yeah, my first band was called Hair Club For Men in the very early ’80s. I just saw the bass player last week for the first time since high school.
MP: A lot of your characters tend to follow similar arcs, a lot of them starting off relatively weird but benign…
JW: Yeah, they all want to kill Tom at the end.
MP: You’ve sort of mastered that switch – that moment when it all goes haywire.
JW: Yeah, that to me is funny. Tom and I have vague outline for a movie called “Unhinged” about a guy who is that to a tee. I don’t think it comes from me really. I mean, I have moments where I want to go nutzo but I never do. Maybe this is a way for me to do that.
MP: A lot of the best bits usually have a good vs. evil thing happening in them.
JW: Yeah, I’m usually the evil one, huh?
MP: The theory that I had about it is that you and Tom are both pretty decent guys, and the comedy seems to be about examining bad ethics and finding humor in absurdly bad people.
JW: That’s exactly what it is – if you ask me. Can we use that?
MP: Sure. I was going to say something to that effect in the article.
JW: Just don’t put that I hate kids, ok?
MP: No, I won’t put that in the article. Anyway, not all of the characters are violent and crazy – some of them are just scam artists and creeps
JW: Like the President?
MP: Yes, like the President. Oh man, I’ve got to ask – was that Bush song that Zachary sings written by you or Tom? That thing is genius. “H is for forgotten memories.”
JW: Man, I’m trying to rememeber. I think that was collaborative. I will say 60/40 in my favor.
MP: That song is so creepy now, a few years after the 2000 election debacle. It’s too prescient for its own good.
JW: We gotta get NRBQ to record it.
MP: You should get NRBQ to do a 7″ “The Bush Song” b/w “Freedom Bombs”
JW: I like it!
MP: Actually, “Freedom Bombs” is probably a better a-side.
JW: Yeah, it’s what America wants to hear.
MP: What characters are you most proud of?
JW: Um…I think Clontle is up there. Brimstead was good but I lost interest in it. I’m not sure if it’s funny anymore. I think Corey Harris from Mother 13 is good. Barry Dworkin. One of my favorites is one we can’t find. I called in as a guy leaving the most mundane message about ball bearings on a guy’s machine. I thought that was a top 10. I think Philly Boy Roy and Hot Rockin’ Ronny might be my best.
MP I don’t think I’ve heard the ball bearings thing. Are there any that you don’t think turned out very well, or could’ve been better?
JW: Yeah, I thought the Batter Butler was better than it was when I listened to it last week to see if it was worth putting on the next cd. We had a guy saying he was Peter Tork call in the middle of something (can’t remember what it was) and it just ruined it. It might have been the second Barry Dworkin call. Mike Jackyl was one that didn’t sound as funny as I recall it being. Augie Richards, that’s a perfect example of why I should listen to the first call before reprising a role. The voices aren’t at all similar.
MP: What calls are you considering for the next cd set?
JW: It’s still up in the air. I’ve been editing potential things down these last few weeks. One I think we both like is the Clash call. I don’t know if it’s appropriate to have that on there now -even if it was recorded 9 or so months before Joe Strummer’s death. I am a massive Clash fan and I really think he would have found that funny. I think Mother 13 will be on there and maybe Jarrett the weight-loss kid. It’ll be another double cd.
MP: I like that Clash call a lot too. I’m not sure about how appropriate it is. It’s not exactly inappropriate.
JW: Yeah, if only there was a way of letting people know when it was done and in what spirit.
MP: It seems kinda tricky, and it might get in the way of some people’s enjoyment of it. It might just bum some people out.
JW: I think my goal would be to put out the Hot Rockin’ Ronny and Philly Boy Roy box sets too. It’s always a plus for the calls to be shorter. It’s hard getting these things down below 25 minutes. I’ve got Barry Dworkin down to about 22 minutes and The Clash down to about 25.
MP: Wow. You edited a lot out of Dworkin. How much did you edit out of the Chain Fights, Beer Busts, and Service With A Grin calls?
JW: A fair amount. I took several calls out of the Gorch. They were funny at first but then they meandered. Radio Hut probably had about 10 minutes trimmed.
MP: Radio Hut is another big favorite of mine. It’s a slow burner. Very scary.
JW: Radio Hut is maybe my favorite too. But that’s the one nobody ever comments on.
MP: Radio Hut didn’t hit me right away. That one holds up to repeated listenings so well.
JW: “You matured.” That’s a line Jim from Chunk always says.
MP: There are jokes in that one that I didn’t even notice til the 5th or 6th listening. There’s that one part where you quietly mutter “…it’s got something called Fudge. I don’t know what that is.” I didn’t even notice it til my friend pointed it out to me. It has become an in-joke reference for me and a couple of my friends.
JW: That to me is what it’s all about. That is the ultimate compliment. That’s why I
don’t really go for stand-up. I love things that you can listen to over and over and find new things with each listen.
MP: What is it that appeals to you about the Radio Hut skit?
JW: Just how low-key the guy is. He’s an asshole but he’s not yelling.
MP: I think that’s exactly it. He’s the scariest psycho you’ve done exactly because of how quiet and intense he is.
JW: Let me say that I hope I’m not coming off right now as one of those “..and wasn’t it great when I did this?” kind of guys.
MP: Oh, no.
JW: Cool.
MP: I was hoping that I wasn’t coming off like that old Chris Farley character, “Remember when you did The Gorch? That was cooooool!”
Secret Origins, Part III
Here’s part two of the Tom Scharpling interview. I highly recommend checking out the archive of last night’s show, which was an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke in which Tom did the entire three hour show as a deadpan parody of a conservative talk radio program. It’s a non-stop longform sarcastic joke, with incredible attention to detail and nuance. It is played so dry that you just can’t blame the poor earnest suckers who call in to challenge “Thomas Sharp” for getting so angry at him. It’s a pretty amazing episode, definitely one of the most remarkable and convincing skits that Scharpling has pulled off to date.
MP: Who else besides yourself, Jon, and Andy contribute to the Best Show?
TS: There’s Jon Benjamin, who is a cartoon voice guy. He does a cartoon on the Adult Swim block of programming on the Cartoon Network called “Home Movies” that he does some voices on.
MP: Wait, is Benjamin “Petey?”
TS: No, no, Petey is a real child.
MP: Wow.
TS: Petey exists. I met Petey with my own eyes. Petey’s dad brought Petey to the studio.
MP: I was convinced that Petey was a character.
TS: That’s the beauty of it, though. Petey’s real. Petey is an actual child.
Anyway, the Rock, Rot And Rule cd was out at the time, and people knew what the show was supposed to be based on the cd, and Jon Benjamin knew the cd. Jon Benjamin does a lot of comedy in the city, he does Tinkle now, he used to do a lot of stuff at the Monday night comedy thing at the Luna Lounge called “Eating It”. He also does another show called Midnight Pajama Jam now, which is funny.
So, he heard the cd and I kinda got to know him and a bunch of people in the city’s comedy scene, and he said that he’d come on and do some stuff. He was on the third show that we did, he did Yankees Vs. Mets, it was insane. We realized what didn’t work on the show almost from doing this thing. It was just two hours of me moderating, this was when the Yankees and the Mets were in the World Series together, and Jon Benjamin was a Mets fan and Matt Walsh from the Upright Citizens Brigade was in as a Yankees fan, and the two of them were just doing their thing, going back and forth. That’s back when the show was just two hours long, because that’s all I wanted at that point, just two hours. The bit was about an hour too long.
That was the first appearance of Philly Boy Roy, that’s a character that we had. Jon Wurster’s from outside of Philadelphia. I think that character’s based on the outskirts of the suburbs there, the Philly people. “Aw yeah, nem nere Flyers, goin’ all the way…” So he’d be doing that on the phone, and we said, what if it’s Philly Boy Roy, and he’s just very pro-Philly, because Philadelphia’s a funny city. It’s so angry and tense. The people are so mad at everything. They’re mad that they’re not New York. They’re mad at New Jersey, they’re mad at New York, they’re mad at Baltimore, they’re mad at DC, they’re just mad at the entire eastern seaboard. They’re mad at Boston. If you look at the sports rivalries, it’s like “76ers Vs. Celtics”, “76ers Vs. Knicks”, “76ers Vs. Wizards”, and everyone else. Philly’s just a funny city.
We were just getting a feel for what we wanted the show to be, just kinda feeling our way through it, and people kinda gravitated toward it. Then Andy Earles came on board.
MP: How did you get Andy on the show?
TS: How did I start to know Andy….it was through this fanzine that he did called the Cimmaron Weekend, and he sent me a copy of it, and I thought it was really funny and hilarious and just smart. The music writing in it was just great, and it was actually on top of being funny was really just on the money. I think I emailed him. You know, he did a record called Just Farr A Laugh and I liked that, and I just wanted to say hi and tell him that I liked his fanzine. People try to get their own stupid industries going on in different pockets of the country, and it’s like, I think those people should find each other. And then he ended up on the show. The first thing he did was this guy who was like a record collector and was in the studio. He didn’t even have a chance to ease into the stuff over the phone first, and being in the studio that was so rough, when you’re trying to do the stuff in front of a live mic. And you know what, it wasn’t even him, I was so sick on that show we did. I could barely speak, my voice was shot. We had a WFMU record fair the weekend before, and I think I got violently ill the Wednesday morning after the show, I was sick for a week. But we got some really great stuff going with him as it has gone along. He really just delivers these sad, bitter guys.
MP: There’s a lot of difference between the characters that Jon Wurster and Andy do. Jon’s characters tend to be kind of sleazey and evil…
TS: Yeah, that’s the thing, they’re evil and they’re also very larger than life, and that’s what makes us laugh. There’s always an insane quality.
MP: And with Andy, his guys are very, very real and pathetic…
TS: He really grounds them in the mundane horror of life. They are so normal, and I don’t know, it’s like a John Cassavetes movie, how sad they are. Wurster’s end up being more from me also, I think I do the most hands-on collaboration with Wurster, we really kinda hash the stuff out. He’s the one I have the longest relationship with, that’s my partner.
MP: You work for the Onion, right?
TS: I do some freelance stuff for them.
MP: How does that work?
TS: I just hand in headlines. I’m so far behind, I haven’t done it in about four months. I just hand in headline ideas. I’ve had them made into the main article, I’ve had them just be sidebars, just whatever they think is funny they use however they want.
MP: How did you get involved with The Onion?
TS: It’s been going on for about a year and a half. Since when they got here in New York from Madison. What happened is, I know some guys who work up at Conan, and one of the guys went to school with the head writer over at The Onion and he knew I was interested in doing headlines. The guy knew the Rock Rot And Rule cd, so that got me in the door, and I sent some sample headlines and made the cut. They let me send them in every week if I want.
MP: It sounds like Rock Rot And Rule circulated quite a bit.
TS: Yeah, it got around. I guess we sold about a 1,000 copies, which is very good for an indie comedy release. That’s over a while. But still, we don’t really do that for money, we’re not going to get rich off of that stuff. We just want them to pay for the next one.
Secret Origins, Part II
Here’s the first part of the Jon Wurster interview. Enjoy!
Matthew Perpetua: How did you and Tom first meet?
Jon Wurster: I met Tom in Trenton, NJ one night when Superchunk played at City Gardens. Must have been ’94. We hit it off because we both were/are Chris Elliott fans. Tom used to call me from work a lot, h used to work in a music shop back in the mid-90s. He would do silly voices (“Jon, I represent Jon Moss, former drummer of Culture Club. He loves your playing and wants to start a band with you and one of the guys from the TV show Taxi…”) and we’d come up with stuff. The first thing we ever did for his show was the Rock, Rot and Rule call.
MP: Tom had mentioned that it came from something that Oprah Winfrey had said. How did it evolve into the Ronald Thomas Clontle character?
JW: Yeah, we were watching TV at the same time – this actually happens a lot, I’m sorry to report – and she was on. It was just after the verdict was read in her anti-Beef Council case. She was victorious and one of the first things she said was, “Freedom not only rules — it rocks!” That touched off a whole debate on what rocks, rules and sucks.
MP: How much of the character was planned out before you put it on the air?
JW: I just knew I had to be clueless yet set in my ways and views. The voice is somewhat inspired by a bit Sam Kinison did with Harry Shearer back in the early ’90s called “The Last Remaining Female Prisoner in Kuwait,” or something like that.
MP: So a lot of the judgements and comments are totally off the cuff, even before the callers start sparring with you?
JW: Yeah, most of those were. I did make a list of some artists who would fit into each category. The rest I made up.
MP: Do you use a similar method with the other characters?
JW: It depends. I’m not a good voice person. Sometimes I’ll get lucky, but for the most part I use something close to my own. I like to be fairly prepared when we do the stuff. I think Tom trusts me to not blow it. Lots of times now I don’t even send him too many notes. I think we both get a kick out of the other not knowing what’s coming next. I almost lost it the other night when I was reciting the lyrics to “Freedom Bombs.” I think that was the closest I’ve ever come to really dropping the ball.
MP: I’m surprised that you’re not happy with your voices. I think that you do a pretty good job, even though you have some characters which sound similar. The voices always suit the characters very well.
JW: Thanks. I guess it seems like most of the ones I’ve done lately have not been too out there like The Gorch or Maurice Kern.
MP: How did you come up with voices like the ones that you use for The Gorch, Philly Boy Roy, or Zachary Brimstead? Those are extremely odd.
JW: The Gorch was just something that came to me, I don’t know how really. Zachary Brimstead was the same thing. Someone brought up on that show that I sounded like Snaggelpuss, which I fully agree with. Philly Boy Roy is an amalgam of a lot of people I grew up with, believe it or not!
MP: Were you involved in comedy before the Best Show?
JW: Hmmm…not really. I was always a fan of comedy (SCTV, Get A Life, etc) but didn’t really create anything until I hooked up with Tom.
MP: Tom had mentioned that you’ve done a few things on Conan O’Brien’s show recently.
JW: Yeah, I’ve been on maybe four times over the last few years. The bits are usually drum-related. I got to sit in for Max once and he ended up shooting me. Actually, he shot me twice!
MP: Do you have any interest in doing other kinds of comedy outside of the Best Show?
JW: Yeah. I’m emceeing a night of this 10 year Chunklet Magazine spectacular next week. I’ve written a few funny commercials here and there. Did Tom tell you about the movie we got hired to write a few years ago? I’m in the middle of writing up a TV show idea he and I have been talking about for a few years. So, stuff like that.
MP: So you’d prefer to be a writer like Tom rather than a performer? Tom expressed deep reticence about being a performer outside of the radio.
JW: I don’t know. I like doing that stuff too. It’s funny in that we have, in a way, the best possible platform for doing comedy. For us, anyway. Neither of us has to be seen by anybody – I think we’re both a little shy- and we get to do exactly what we want with no guidelines. And people seem to find out about it.
Secret Origins
I’m currently working on putting together a feature article about The Best Show On WMFU, and so I’m going to be posting some excerpts from the interviews that I conducted with Tom Scharpling, Jon Wurster, and Andrew Earles over the course of the week. The article is being geared towards an audience who probably aren’t familiar with the show, but a lot of the questions that I asked in the interviews are mainly of interest to hardcore Best Show fans. I’d like for that sort of information to be available to those who would be interested.
I’m going to start at the beginning, with Tom Scharpling telling the story of how the Best Show started out.
Matthew Perpetua: How did the show start?
Tom Scharpling: I got involved with WFMU back in ’94 when I first started doing a show, and it was a straight music show at that point.
MP Late at night?
TS Yeah, everyone at the station kinda does the overnight first, so I did an overnight, and then I worked my way up to 11-2 AM, then I got to an 8-11 PM show, but it was still music. Then I starting talking a little more, and got comfortable with that. I was always kinda comfortable talking, but I started spreading the music out a little bit and talking about stuff and not feeling like I had to be chained to the music as much.
MP At that point, what were you talking about?
TS Oh, just kinda taking calls and random stuff, sorta like the more unstructured parts of the show now.
MP Open call Tuesday?
TS Yeah, stuff like that. I guess it would all dovetail at “Rock, Rot, and Rule.” I was friends with Jon Wurster of Superchunk. I was always friends with the band, I was friends with them before he was in the band. I remember meeting him at the first show they did in this area and we kinda hit it off. We were interested in similar things. And then we just decided to do something on the radio which would be this kinda fake show, a fake guest that was kinda based on something Oprah Winfrey said when she was getting sued by the cattle industry in 1997. When she won her case, she said “freedom doesn’t only rule, freedom rocks.” And it became this thing, rule and rock, and we started going back and forth on the phone, just goofing around. It’s the weirdest friendship in a way, because he’s got to be my best friend, and I’m here and he’s in North Carolina. I don’t think I ever really call him anymore, the conversations just start. We almost just go through twenty minutes of just running stuff when either one calls the other one. I’ll call him as a character, and that’ll often turn into something.
MP I’m curious what your characters are like, because you always play the straight man on the show.
TS That’s a funny thing because a lot of the time, with Jon Wurster, it’s a 50/50 thing. The characters half the time start with me starting them and doing them for him, and then he’ll become the character when it is time for the show. And we’ll take turns on who is the character on the calls. You’ve just got to keep it open for the ideas, the ideas are the most important part of it. You can tell when something’s building towards something that’s going to work.
So, with “Rock, Rot, and Rule,” we were just kicking this guy around, this rock critic. And we thought, “let’s just do it on the show,” and we did it on the show. Before I did it on the show, a couple people who I told what we were doing to do were just like “that’s not gonna work, that’s funny for two minutes, that’s going to be a disaster.” But then we started getting real calls, which we never could have counted on in a million years, getting really angry. We never could have counted on getting that kind of anger out of the audience. It was just like the biggest high ever, I just remember calling Jon as soon as the show was over, and it was like being on crack or something. It’s like a dream come true to just trick people. I don’t know about you, but all the stuff I like, that seems to be a component of it. Whether it’s like Andy Kaufman or Bob & Ray, you know, anything that plays with reality like that. Being able to fool a lot of people in one fell swoop, it was just the greatest feeling ever.
We did it one more time, we did another one, this conventions thing. It was called “Conventions Inc.”, about this guy who puts together conventions. We’re going to put it out soon, we’re going to do these limited edition cd-r things on the website. We’re doing a new Stereolaffs website, it’s going to be completely retooled. It’ll be new and improved and will actually make sense to people as opposed to the last site which made sense to about 14 people who were hooked on it and terrifying obsessed with this world we created.
Then I had a bunch of stuff going on in my life when I quit the station, and I wanted to get my career going a little bit. I had a retail job, and I was writing as a second job at night. I would go home from running this music store to writing at night knowing that I was trying to pave a way for the future. I was writing screenplays, I’ve written screenplays with a couple of other people, but nothing’s been made yet. We had one thing optioned a few times, it was just optioned again a few weeks ago. We got hired to write a studio job, and that crashed and burned.
MP How did you get into comedy writing?
TS It was just kinda like something that, I felt it was something I was meant to do. It’s like, I found this stuff I did when I was six, and it was just insane how the only difference is now, my penmanship is better. It’s the same path, it’s the path I was always on. I didn’t realize, but it’s the path I’m on. It’s kinda nice to be on the path that I guess you were kinda meant to be on.
I never thought I’d come back to WFMU, you know, I thought “I’m not gonna come back and do records,” it just wasn’t the most interesting thing to me, to come back and play records and talk a little bit. It was the fall of 2000 when the show started. One of the DJs said to me, “when are you gonna come back, when come back”, and I said that I didn’t know, and he said “you should just do the show you wanna do.” And that made sense all of a sudden. I was at the UCB Theatre, and just seeing them do their thing the way they want, their theatre was the way they wanted it to be. And I just thought, why can’t I just do a radio show that’s on my terms, and it’s the show that I want to show up and do every week? And then I ran it by Brian Turner, who is a great guy, the program director, and he got what it was going to be. It was like, we’re going to do “Rock, Rot And Rule” every night, that was the goal. That cd is the show now, with music there to give a breather for 15 minutes. We started the show, and Jon was completely on board, and by that point the cd had been released and it made the rounds, and a lot of people liked it.
Wicker Basket For Bread
The Malkmus media watch continues!
In the new issue of SPIN, there is a feature article in which ten celebrities are asked to create an online personal ad for Nerve.com just to see what kind of responses the ads would get. Stephen Malkmus was one of the celebrities who participated in this experiment, and here is his ad, along with a few responses.
Musician
Portland, Oregon
Profile nickname: stevie_stevie
age: 35
I am interested in: dating
Last great book I read: Independent People by Haldor Laxness
Favorite on-screen sex scene: Anything in Todd Solondz’s Happiness
Celebrity I most resemble: Richard Ashcroft
Best (or worst) lie I ever told: “You’re so normal.”
Music that puts me in th
e mood: “TV Party,” Black Flag
I can’t live without: Hormones, ice cream, wicker basket for bread, tonic water, stereo
In my bedroom you’ll find: bed, dresser, computer, homework
Why you should get to know me: I’ve got so much to give you
Who I’m looking for: The best of the rest
—-
To: stevie_stevie
From: chairmanmeowww
I Googled Richard Ashcroft and saw what he looked like. You don’t look like him at al. He seems like a cheeseball.
To: stevie_stevie
From: mediumbrow
Hot damn! I like your adorable haircut! But I’m a little nervous about your occupation. Most people who say they’re musicians actually work at Kinko’s and live in someone’s basement.
To: stevie_stevie
From: intotheswim
I wanted to tell you that you are the first person I have seen that had Happiness as their favorite sex scene! P.S.: Is that Steven with a “V” or Stephen with a “P-H”? I’m wary of the “V” kind. Please advise.
Malkmus Says: Props to these ladies for even responding at all. Sure, I’d date you all, but Elimidate style, so I can do it all in one night and on national TV. You can tell a lot about a person by how they act on national TV.
More Hail To The Thief Notes
* Is Thom Yorke chanting “it should be Reagan” on “The Gloaming”? If he isn’t, what the hell is he saying?
* I am genuinely puzzled by the inclusion of “I Will”. It’s such a dull neither-here-nor-there kind of song, and I can’t see what this song adds to the record. They rejected “Lift” and “Big Ideas” and “Big Boots” to revive this dud? Did they really feel that the album really needed one more lulling quiet song? I don’t get it. I’m blaming Ed O’Brien for this. I’m blaming all of the mediocre parts of this album on him. He’s been lobbying for this since 1997, after all.
Silence Is A Rhythm Too!
More MP3s for you:
“Bearings” – The “lost” Best Show skit! Tom takes a call from someone who thinks that they are a leaving a message on a co-worker’s answering machine.
James Brown “Cottage For Sale”
The Moving Sidewalks “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
The Slits “In The Beginning There Was Rhythm” – for Joe.
Can “Oh Yeah” – I wish that contemporary “jam bands” sounded more like this and less like Smooth Jazz Lite FM. I was listening to this late last night, and it never occured to me just how essential the keyboards are to this song. It’s the least obvious thing about the arrangement, particularly given the virtuoso performances by Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit on guitar and drums, but just try to imagine the song without Irmin Schmidt’s drones. It’s that extra bit that puts the song over the top, I think.
We Will Probably Crumble
Hail To The Thief is on Soulseek now. It’s way too early for me to say much about the record, but these are my early impressions:
1) Even though I knew the songs before hearing the recorded versions, I can’t help but feel vaguely let down by the more straight ahead “rocking out” parts of “2+2=5” and “Go To Sleep”. That said, they’re okay songs. I like the intro part of “2+2=5” quite a bit.
2) Though I’ve only heard it twice as of this writing, I’m pretty sure that “Backdrifts” is one of the best things Radiohead have ever recorded. I’m in awe of that song. I felt this great rush of euphoria hearing it for the first time, if just because it sounded so much like a song I think I’ve always wished I could listen to, but hadn’t found.
God Don’t Want No Part Time Soldiers
Since I’ve mentioned Radiohead, I may as well go ahead and scare off the rest of the snob audience by bringing up the fact that I saw Zwan on Friday night. I was very impressed, they were a lot tighter and had a lot more stage presence than I was anticipating. I’ve been meaning to see Billy Corgan play live for a decade now, so it was good to finally please the teenager inside of me. I’ve heard enough live recordings of the man playing on good and bad nights to be fairly confident that this was probably a pretty good night for the band.
The highlights of the show defied my expectations – I’d been expecting to be bored by the longer jammy songs, but as it turned out, “Jesus, I/God’s Gonna Set This World On Fire”, “Mary Star of the Sea”, and “Spilled Milk” (or as I like to call it, “X.Y.2”) stood out as the most consistently engaging songs of the night. The “God’s Gonna Set This World On Fire” section of “Jesus, I” was fabulous, and sounded sort of like The Smashing Pumpkins born again as a sinister psychedelic gospel outfit. I was also surprised by the live versions of “Desire” and “Of A Broken Heart”, which both benefited greatly from starker arrangements and a decreased schmaltz factor.
Similarly, Jimmy Chamberlain’s drumming was a revelation. I had grown so used to hearing his performances buried under a wall of suffocating treble in his studio recordings with Corgan that hearing/feeling his drumming in a live setting made me understand what so many people have been raving about for years. The guy is powerful – he’s easily one of the hardest-hitting drummers that I’ve seen live.
I’m not so sure that the talents of Dave Pajo are being fully utilized in Zwan. It seemed to me that Pajo was mostly playing lead and effects parts while he played guitar, and he only switched to keyboard for a couple of songs. I don’t know what else the guy could do given the material, but I can’t help but feel that Corgan is missing an opportunity to capitalize on the fact that this guy is one of his sidemen. I don’t get that impression regarding Matt Sweeney or Paz Lenchantin’s roles in the band – they both play their supporting parts well, supply appealing backing vocals, and have a reasonable degree of second-banana charisma.
Here’s the setlist, for those who may be interested.
Jesus, I / God’s Gonna Set This World On Fire / Endless Summer / For Your Love / Lyric / El Sol / Honestly / Desire / Ride A Black Swan / Mary Star Of The Sea / Heartsong / Of A Broken Heart / Declarations of Faith / Settle Down // A New Poetry /// Spilled Milk
Unfortunately for me, “Baby Let’s Rock” was not performed, which probably would have been a lot more disappointing for me if I hadn’t already known that the likelihood of it being played was so low.
The Conspiracy Of Silence Ought To Revolutionize My Thought
Four songs for you. Have a nice weekend.
Magazine “The Light Pours Out Of Me” – Jack Fear, wrote this about the song on Barbelith: “Best bass hook ever: one note, over and over, with the accents moving around in incredibly driving manner—and a guitar line that reinvents Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part II” as something deeply sinister. It’s a great song—a masterpiece of tension and release… Pete Shelley has a co-writing credit on the tune. The great Buzzcocks song that never was, then.
Something To Look Forward To
From Fantagraphics:
We’re pleased to be able to report that United Artists has signed a first-look deal with GHOST WORLD production company Mr. Mudd for future films the company develops, and the first flick on the slate will reunite EIGHTBALL creator DANIEL CLOWES and GHOST WORLD director TERRY ZWIGOFF. Ghost World producer and actor JOHN MALKOVICH will star in ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, inspired by the acclaimed Clowes short story from Eightball #7. United Artists will release the film domestically, with Miramax Films co-financing the picture and handling foreign distribution. The black comedy takes a satirical look at the modern art world with the story of a young man who goes to art school with the intention of becoming the Greatest Artist in the World. Contrary to some inexplicable Hollywood reports, the protagonist is not a cop and Drew Barrymore is not attached to the film. Clowes is currently polishing the screenplay and with any luck, the movie will begin filming in 2003.
Malkmus In Low SAT Score Shocker!
Here’s another amusing Malkmus interview. This time, it’s SM being interviewed by Playboy while preparing a batch of brownies.
The best part:
PB: Do you bristle at your reputation for being one of the smartest people in music?
SM: Yeah, that doesn’t make you feel that good. It’s just like, Oh, he thinks he’s so smart. Or, he’s probably at trivia night, watching Jeopardy! right now. Or, he’s sitting around playing Scrabble thinking of clever things to put in his lyrics. You want the music to be more from the heart, and the mind is there, in a sort of dumb way, and it’s guiding things, but I don’t think our music is totally intellectual. It’s got more bottom-end than brain.
PB: Out of curiosity, have you ever had your own IQ measured?
SM: No. Never. It’s not that high. I didn’t do that well on the SATs. Almost everybody I know did way better. I’m not even going to tell you how bad my score was. It wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t one of those people who was like, “I got a 1400!” And my grades weren’t that good, so I’m really not that smart, I swear.
PB: All that testing is culturally biased, anyway.
SM: I feel like a politician. You can’t be that smart in order to win. Like George Bush. If you’re too clever, it’s bad. For Hollywood movie stars it’s true, too. The ones that are really clever, they’re never going to be like Julia Roberts, or J.Lo or Ben Affleck. People don’t want to support a complete hotshot know-it-all.
(thank you Tina)
Now You Know I’m Ready, Can’t You See I’m Ready?
Roooooooyaaaaaaalllllll Truuuuuuuux. I’ve been listening to Royal Trux constantly since Friday night. On one hand, I keep thinking “why haven’t I been listening to Royal Trux for all of this time?”, and on the other, I’m glad that I saved it til now. I’m ready for Royal Trux now. I needed a new body of work to obsess over, a new musical language to decipher. It’s exciting; I still feel like I’m figuring them out, which is always a fun feeling for me.
This morning “Yo Se!” clicked for me in a big way, which at least one person who may or may not be reading this blog might be very happy about, since she put it on so many tapes for me a few years ago. I never disliked the song, but I think in retrospect, I definitely needed more context for it than I had at the time.
Putting Up A Fight
R.E.M. weighs in on the war with “The Final Straw”. It’s certainly not their best work, but it is a reasonably good old-school folk protest song. If the Zack de la Rocha/DJ Shadow song captures the righteous rage of the opposition to the war and the Bush administration, this R.E.M. song articulates the empathy and humanity that informs that rage.
Personal Whiney Stuff
I just can’t catch a break lately. Stomach flu-like sickness late last week, a severe head cold now. I’m not a healthy boy. There’s too much fluid in my head, it’s interfering with basic thought processes, all of my thoughts feel sluggish and awkward.
In a related story, I’ve probably imbibed more Gatorade in the past seven days than I have cumulatively in my entire lifetime. Something that I’ve discovered: the pastel-colored Gatorade varieties tend to have a vaguely soapy flavor.
Also: Hail To The Thief is a very lame title for an album. I’m not too crazy about “The Gloaming” either. In my mind, that’s about one step away from naming a song “Goblinquest”.
