Lunch pail blues
Random thoughts that accumulated over my lunch hour, spent surfing the web at the office:
• Some wicked bad news from Insurgent Iraq, which continues to be a wellspring of chaos. I don't even know where to begin, so just read it. Money quote: "US-installed CIA asset Iyad Allawi, the 'prime minister,' said he was sure there had been no civilian casualties in Fallujah."
• My recent ramblings about Wilco on "the morning after" appear to be dead-on in retrospect. Like so many other bands, Wilco, possibly thinking of their concerts as a cathartic experience for both band and audience, has chosen to remain vocal post-election. An observer at the band's recent San Fran show found frontman Jeff Tweedy as witty as ever:
"Thanks for all the requests," [Tweedy] said to an electrified crowd after the band rocked through a couple opening numbers. "We'll probably play 73 percent of them. And that's not an exit poll. That's an exact count."
Wilco finished their two-hour-plus set with a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", set to a backdrop of a smirking Dubya.
• Pop Matter's Adrien Begrand enjoys a walk down memory lane with a lengthy review of Pavement's recently reissued masterpiece Crooked Rain Crooked Rain. Read the review here. The entire second disc of the reissue features unreleased songs, most alternate recordings and demos of songs from Crooked Rain, some of which feature original drummer Gary Young. The best thing about the reissue as far as I'm concerned is the inclusion of the "Gold Soundz" 7" b-side "Strings of Nashville". (My original vinyl copy skips a couple times.) "Nashville" is by far the weirdest song Pavement ever recorded—a mellow, druggy, country ballad. And there's even an additional instrumental version included here to boot!
While we're on the subject of Pavement reissues, if you havne't picked up Matador's reissue of Slanted and Enchanted, you most definitely should. Like the Crooked Rain reissue, Slanted's version features a ton of extra goodies including a brilliant version of "Here" from the band's first Peel Session. Malkmus thinks the band has more than enough material to do a similar reissue for Wowee Zowee when it hits its ten-year anniversary mark in 2005.
• As if the news of Condi Rice replacing Colin Powell isn't sad enough, Arab TV network Al Jazeera has received a video tape confirming the death of a hostage, believed to be British aid worker Margaret Hassan. Hassan had fallen out of the headlines as of late, with the U.S. elections and the Fallujah attacks; this news comes as a somber reminder of the civilian death toll of this war, which some sources place at over 100,000. Read more at the Times.
As for Al Jazeera, I'd recommend a screening of the documentary Control Room. Melissa and I watched it last weekend, and it truly paints a gloomy picture of the war in Iraq, the upstart Al Jazeera, America's poor, partisan media coverage, and Bush's attempts to enforce "mum's the word" on everyone carrying a tape recorder, video camera, pen and paper or megaphone.
• Check out the vibrant writing in Jon Wright's new blog, Unfinished Novellas. Those of you in the central Illinois area may remember Jon as the man who brought The Jesus Lizard, Fugazi, Man or Astro-Man?, Tortoise and countless other amazing bands to Peoria in the mid-'90s. Jon and his 7,000 LPs now reside in Denver, way too far away from this fellow Naked Bum. Jon and I go back a loooooong time, and could probably fill up a blog or two with our childhood tales. But I'm not sure the world wide web is ready to laugh its collective ass off just yet. Better save those stories—and the accompanying embarrassment—for some other time. But please check out his site. If you think I have obscure taste in music, you ain't seen nothing yet.
• Finally, Champaign faves The Blackouts, recent signees to Chicago's Minty Fresh label, are recording a live set for Jersey-NYC radio station WFMU. The set will be aired next Tuesday, Nov. 23 on the rock and roll variety show "Three Chord Monte". The show runs from 11am-2pm (central time), with the live band usually appearing during the final hour. Listen in on the web. The band is currently on tour with fellow C-U natives The Headlights. The pair will be opening for Arcade Fire in Urbana upon returning from tour on the 21st of November. I suggest you be there so as not to be square.
• Some wicked bad news from Insurgent Iraq, which continues to be a wellspring of chaos. I don't even know where to begin, so just read it. Money quote: "US-installed CIA asset Iyad Allawi, the 'prime minister,' said he was sure there had been no civilian casualties in Fallujah."
• My recent ramblings about Wilco on "the morning after" appear to be dead-on in retrospect. Like so many other bands, Wilco, possibly thinking of their concerts as a cathartic experience for both band and audience, has chosen to remain vocal post-election. An observer at the band's recent San Fran show found frontman Jeff Tweedy as witty as ever:
"Thanks for all the requests," [Tweedy] said to an electrified crowd after the band rocked through a couple opening numbers. "We'll probably play 73 percent of them. And that's not an exit poll. That's an exact count."
Wilco finished their two-hour-plus set with a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", set to a backdrop of a smirking Dubya.
• Pop Matter's Adrien Begrand enjoys a walk down memory lane with a lengthy review of Pavement's recently reissued masterpiece Crooked Rain Crooked Rain. Read the review here. The entire second disc of the reissue features unreleased songs, most alternate recordings and demos of songs from Crooked Rain, some of which feature original drummer Gary Young. The best thing about the reissue as far as I'm concerned is the inclusion of the "Gold Soundz" 7" b-side "Strings of Nashville". (My original vinyl copy skips a couple times.) "Nashville" is by far the weirdest song Pavement ever recorded—a mellow, druggy, country ballad. And there's even an additional instrumental version included here to boot!
While we're on the subject of Pavement reissues, if you havne't picked up Matador's reissue of Slanted and Enchanted, you most definitely should. Like the Crooked Rain reissue, Slanted's version features a ton of extra goodies including a brilliant version of "Here" from the band's first Peel Session. Malkmus thinks the band has more than enough material to do a similar reissue for Wowee Zowee when it hits its ten-year anniversary mark in 2005.
• As if the news of Condi Rice replacing Colin Powell isn't sad enough, Arab TV network Al Jazeera has received a video tape confirming the death of a hostage, believed to be British aid worker Margaret Hassan. Hassan had fallen out of the headlines as of late, with the U.S. elections and the Fallujah attacks; this news comes as a somber reminder of the civilian death toll of this war, which some sources place at over 100,000. Read more at the Times.
As for Al Jazeera, I'd recommend a screening of the documentary Control Room. Melissa and I watched it last weekend, and it truly paints a gloomy picture of the war in Iraq, the upstart Al Jazeera, America's poor, partisan media coverage, and Bush's attempts to enforce "mum's the word" on everyone carrying a tape recorder, video camera, pen and paper or megaphone.
• Check out the vibrant writing in Jon Wright's new blog, Unfinished Novellas. Those of you in the central Illinois area may remember Jon as the man who brought The Jesus Lizard, Fugazi, Man or Astro-Man?, Tortoise and countless other amazing bands to Peoria in the mid-'90s. Jon and his 7,000 LPs now reside in Denver, way too far away from this fellow Naked Bum. Jon and I go back a loooooong time, and could probably fill up a blog or two with our childhood tales. But I'm not sure the world wide web is ready to laugh its collective ass off just yet. Better save those stories—and the accompanying embarrassment—for some other time. But please check out his site. If you think I have obscure taste in music, you ain't seen nothing yet.
• Finally, Champaign faves The Blackouts, recent signees to Chicago's Minty Fresh label, are recording a live set for Jersey-NYC radio station WFMU. The set will be aired next Tuesday, Nov. 23 on the rock and roll variety show "Three Chord Monte". The show runs from 11am-2pm (central time), with the live band usually appearing during the final hour. Listen in on the web. The band is currently on tour with fellow C-U natives The Headlights. The pair will be opening for Arcade Fire in Urbana upon returning from tour on the 21st of November. I suggest you be there so as not to be square.
Dude, is Rick Springfield really THAT obscure?? :)
By 
Jonathan Wright, at 2:42 PM
http://72.3.131.10/gallery/1/
-Mary
By 
, at 10:26 PM
2:42 PMDude, is Rick Springfield really THAT obscure?? :)
10:26 PM
http://72.3.131.10/gallery/1/
-Mary