Day Six/Seven

More Cheese Blintzes and hash browns for breakfast. Good times.

Serene went off to visit her Grandpa on Friday, and Joey needed to get some work done for his latest web client, so Emily and I went out to the University district to do some browsing and shopping. I finally found a new CD store (you’d think it would be easier here), and an all-used CD store, and picked up the new Sleater-Kinney (limited edition with DVD), Daedelus’ Exquisite Corpse, and Jawbox’s Jawbox and For Your Own Special Sweetheart. Also went over to the University District branch of Zanadu comics and snagged a copy of Penny Century #6 and a bunch of Palookaville comics.

University Street in Seattle is packed with little boutique clothing stores, and I could easily go broke shopping at them. Well, if I was the type to spend $62 on pants and $112 on a sweater. But it seems like there’s tons of outlets for small-run designer t-shirts in a variety of styles. One shop we stopped at even had a few Tokidoki shirts in stock. There are also some pretty cool used/vintage stores in the area, and I snagged a Duck Hunt T-shirt at the Buffalo Exchange.

Later in the evening, it was back to Blue C Sushi for another excellent meal. There was a bit of a wait for a table tonight, so we went upstairs for some cocktails first. I had a Kappatini, which is essentially a cucumber martini. Soooooo refreshing. And we chowed down on the seemingly endless supply of sushi and tempura and noodles and puff pastries, and more cocktails (of course) before picking up a couple bottles of champagne and heading back home.

Saturday was the Sasquatch festival in George, Washington, at the Gorge Ampitheatre. Basically, the Gorge is a large stage set against the backdrop of the Columbia River gorge, and incredible view of dropped into the middle of some flat, ugly badlands in central Washington. It’s a pretty amazing place to see a show. We ended up arriving at about 2 or 3, after the first few bands had started, but we got there in time to catch the Arcade Fire’s set. They were pretty cool. I hadn’t heard them before, and they’re probably not something I’d listen to on my own, but they were inventive and energetic (especially the guy running around banging a crash cymbal wildly). Wilco came on shortly after, and played a long set with lots of songs ending in prolonged washes of noise and feedback. It was weird to see them in such huge venue, but it worked pretty well.

There was a bit of a break between bands we wanted to see, but the next act was Joanna Newsom at 7:00. I was excited to see her, but I was afraid this venue wouldn’t do her justice at all. Fortunately, she was on one of the smaller side stages, where we could get up pretty close and the sound was nice and clear. She opened her set by walking to the front of the stage, past all the mics and monitors, and singing as loud as she could into the audience, making eye contact with a lot of the crowd and getting everybody to clap along for her. Then she sat at her harp and played “Bridges & Balloons,” to overwhelming response. She proceeded through most of her album, as well as a B-side (from the “Sprout & the Bean” single) and an amazing new song that seemed to go on forever. The crowd was great, and everytime she asked what we wanted to hear, there were all sorts of enthusiastic shouts from the crowd.

The final stretch of the evening was Modest Mouse and the Pixies. I missed about half of Modest Mouse’s set due to being stuck in a food line for about an hour, but I could still hear them from where I was standing. I was surprised to them as a 6-piece band when I finally got back to the green with my cheeseburger. Whatever happened the good ol’ power trio days? Although the added cello and 2nd drummer were kind of cool…

Amazingly enough, there was a bit of a mass exodus after Modest Mouse’s set. Philistines. The setup for the Pixies took forever, and I’m convinced the front-of-house engineer was just showing off by directing the mixing over the PA (”OK check….check…Uhhhhhhhh….We can take down 250 a bit in channel 9….and boost about 2db at 1200 on Kim’s monitor….”). It was worth it when they finally took the stage though, sprinting through a tight set with hardly any full stops between songs. The setlist was a Pixies fan’s wet dream, with all the big hits you would expect, and a few great oddball songs. Nothing too out there though.

The 2-hour drive back to Seattle at midnight was a little daunting, but we pulled it off, mostly with Serene behind the wheel. We staggered back home exhausted, dehydrated, and totally spent and collapsed on the floor.

Not sure what’s in store for today. Serene & I apparently slept in until 2, and Joey and Emily had taken off somewhere. Not sure what they’re up to, or when they’ll be back, but we’ll see what the day brings, I guess. Might go see John’s friend Kyle do a broadcast for KEXP sometime later. We shall see….

More later….

Day Four/Five

Day Four passed mostly in a blur of borderline heat exhaustion. We went a few blocks from Joey’s, to the Hi Point Cafe for a late breakfast, followed up with a trip to Verite Cafe for coffee and cupcakes. (I’m totally becoming the need-three-cups-before-noon type here). Reed had to leave for the airport early in the afternoon, so he departed and then the rest of us napped and lounged around the house for a few hours.

After we were somewhat recovered and mobile, we headed downtown to the Honey Hole for dinner and a start to the drinks. The Honey Hole is an interesting, tiny little bar/grill type place with huge portions. I wasn’t feeling too hungry, so I stayed with the artichoke dip, and everyone else had garden burgers (two patties! Jesus!) and sandwiches of various sorts. From there it was over to Bar?a, a nice chill little lounge, sort of pseudo gothic, with huge pimped-out velvet booths, for a few drinks.

From there it was another exciting night of card and dice games and Hefeweizen at the homestead. Not too shabby for a low-key 26th birthday.

Today we went for a walk around the neighborhood for a while, ending up down at the Arboretum swingset. It was a pretty hellish walk back, due to the huge Seattle hills and California-summer-esque weather, but the heat has been a worthwhile tradeoff for how beautiful it’s been.

Joey and Emily went to see Star Wars this afternoon while Serene and I walked around Pike Street and the surrounding area (but not the eponymous market). I picked up a Ubiquity Records T-shirt reading “Music is the weapon of the Future” in a nice hand-drawn font, cream and brown, and some Forlorn Funnies comics down at Zanadu on 3rd. Went on a fruitless search for a CD store, with the goal of picking up the new Sleater-Kinney, and whatever else catches my eye of course, but we didn’t end up finding anything. So we just met Emily and Joey back at the car and picked up lasagna fixins’, which we are now preparing. Dinner tonight is gonna kick some fucking ass!

More later….

Day Three

Woke up yesterday, had a mammoth dose of coffee and finished off the hash browns, and cruised on over to a game shop at 85th and Greenwood. From there we cruised over to Fremont, just to take in the sights and have some food. We had an awesome lunch at Blue C Sushi, a Kaiten Sushi restaurant with a pricing system based on the Tokyo subway lines. We’re definitely planning on heading back there in the next couple of days.

Next, we cruised on back to Joey’s place, hung out for a while, and then headed out to look at a job site Reed had worked on a few blocks from Joey’s. It was a cool little house with super spacious rooms upstairs, in a pricey looking little neighborhood. Just down the street was a pretty unique house with windows up the entire front face, strangely angled sides, a spiral staircase, etc. More hanging out out at the house commenced, Joey worked on his new web project for a bit, and me and Reed played some games, read, etc.

At about 7:30, we cruised on down to Neumo’s for the Sam Prekop show. Doors were at 8, but the show didn’t start until 9:30, so we made our way up the hill to the Elysian Brewing Co., for some Mojitos, microbrews, and meals disguised as appetizers. It wasn’t the best Mojito I’d had (which was my first, at the Tradewinds), but it wasn’t too bad. It was more syrupy and sweet than light and minty.

Anyhow, back at Neumo’s, Pit er Pat opened the show with some quirky, sort of dancy, sort of spastic indie pop. The mix was a little weird for them, and you had to move around the room to get the full effect. Joel showed up after their set, and hung out with us for the rest of the evening (this brings my em411 real-life- meeting tally to 5).

Sam Prekop took the stage shortly and played a very crisp and mellow set of light, jazzy pop, back by Archer Prewitt on guitar and a tight rhythm section. The drummer was excellent, never overbearing and always with an inventive groove. He even played without sticks for one song.

So we rolled on back to the homestead around midnight, and started in on a slightly sloshed game of Fluxx, until Emily and Serene showed up, ready to raise hell. More drinking commenced, and lots of loud laughter, jokes, games, and fun followed until the wee small hours, when we all pretty much passed out.

Today starts with coffee and Greed. Breakfast follows soon, after the wait through 5 showers. Then….who knows?

More later….

Day Two

Got an early start this morning after a fitful night’s sleep on the couch. Mission one for the day was to track down a game that Reed was looking for, to keep us entertained tonight. This mission took us first to the University district, which was somewhat fruitless, due to everything opening later than we’d hoped. Also due to the fact that the game store we were looking for had apparently become an import trinkets shop. Strike one. So across the bridge we went, winding our way north-ish to the second game store on our list, only to find that it opened at “noonish” on Sunday and Monday. Strike Two.

Anyways, quick breakfast break for hash browns and cheese blintzes with blueberries and whipped cream. And more coffee. As a casual coffee drinker at best, I’m no longer accustomed to the swift ups and downs of heavy coffee consumption, so my energy levels were all over the place today.

Before we could make our final strike, we had to return the rental car, which was quick and painless. However, Joey’s van has a small issue that became progressively aggravating throughout the day. He’d had a small incident involving a large truck tearing off his front bumper, leaving part of the passenger side wheel well hanging in such a way that it made a terribly obnoxious grinding sound whenever the van was braking. So just about every pedestrian we passed gave us this look of abject horror as they saw and heard us roll by.

Anyways. We rolled on over to John and Steph’s house in West Seattle, and hung out in John’s studio for a bit, playing with the animals, the instruments, the gear, and so on. Good to meet them, and see where the magic happens.

Next stop was Pike Street market, and the surrounding areas for a lot of walking, a little shopping, and lots of gawking like yokel tourists. We made our final attempt at game shopping at the Downtown Barnes & Noble, to no avail. But we did find a neat little comics shop that helped me fill in a couple gaps in my Love & Rockets and Berlin collections. I might have to go back when we don’t have a parking deadline.

We cruised back to Joey’s for a few, then met up with John, Steph, Josh, Brad and Ty for pho and cream puffs at Than Bros. Josh hooked us up with some duct tape that we used to stop the horrid racket from the missing bumper, so we were relieved from our role as public spectacle on the way home.

A quiet evening playing dice brought the day to a close. Tomorrow is the Sam Prekop show, and most likely more shopping. Emily and Serene will be showing up later on (probably after the show), and of course, all hell will break loose from there.

More later…

Day One

Left Santa Rosa slightly later than planned this morning, due to an unplugged clock, and me and Reed took our sweet, posh little rental car and tore through California. The car was so easy to drive I caught myself easing over to 100 MPH once or twice.

Contrary to some assertions, we did hit Seattle in about 13 hours, including a leisurely one-hour lunch stop in Talent, Oregon, and a 15-minute wait outside a gas station bathroom, due to some ass taking his time shaving with a 3-person line waiting outside.

But, we are here. We are ready to take Seattle by storm.

And oh yes, I’m sporting a mohawk for the occasion. Pics soon, promise.

More later….

**UPDATE:**

As promised:

Playing Palace and Greed to while away the evening until the first actual day of adventure in Seattle. Talk to y’all tomorrow. Hugs and kisses.

Unmoved By Jazz

New Music up at EM411. An Airliner work in progress. Enjoy….

Mutant Pet Sounds

Hippocamp Ruins Pet Sounds, the new project from one of my favorite netlabels, Hippocamp, is finally out. Featuring 14 electronic artists from around the world deconstructing, reconstructing, remixing, reimagining, and just plain fucking up one track each from the legendary pop record. It ranges from dancy electro pop to glitched out funk, to minimalist soundscapes, to nrrdcore rapping, all tied in to the spirit of the original. Highly highly highly recommended, and a pretty definite slot on a top albums of the year list.

Parentheses on Parade

I’m finally settling into the new place, which is quickly become a swanky, if somewhat dorky, little bachelor pad. I got the bed situation figured out, with a rather awesome new futon (thanks, Mom!). I also got the fridge/freezer situation mostly sorted. The freezer is probably a little lower than it should be, ideally, but at least my milk doesn’t turn into dairy snow now. Mmmmmmm.

Phone and DSL service are back up (third time’s the charm, hmm SBC?), so now I’m free to waste hours on the internet again. I’ve already fallen back into that habit, alas. Still, being so close to everything, and being without the distraction of television (excepting my Arrested Development Season One DVD), I find that I have more time lately, a lot of which I’ve spent reading (currently: Revolting Youth, thanks Serene!) or taking short bike trips to the grocery and/or record store.

I’m putting the finishing touches on my remix project, with some direct feedback from a member of the band, which is a nice way to work. I’m feeling pretty good about how it ended up, and it’s nice to have someone giving me feedback on little technical fixes and arrangement ideas. Makes the project feel a little more collaborative.

As for remixes of my own stuff: I’ve got one remix back so far. Joey finished up a remix of an Apparel track (which I don’t have a final file for yet), and even sent a bonus remix of my old track “Pushpin Revolution”, which kicks so incredibly much ass. I’m gonna have to really beef up the original in order to not be shown up by him. Bastard! I’m not sure when I’ll release that, but the plan is to put out a remastered “Pushpin Revolution”, with a new B-side and Joey’s remix, as sort of a stopgap release while I’m working on my new project.

I’m kicking around ideas for another musical project, but I need to talk to the people I’d like to involve before saying anything about it…

Oh yes, and I’m trying not to panic about the apparently dead hard drive with all of my MP3s and digital photos. Grrr.

Anyhow. More later….

One Year From Today…

…the party will be at my place. I don’t know where that might happen to be, but you better be there.

In Brief…

Quick update. I moved. I am without DSL or phone service at home. I became everything I despise and bought myself a cell phone (If you need my number, e-mail me). I adopted a bike, which I’ve been riding daily. I’m busy unpacking and settling in, and trying to find the ideal setting on my combination fridge/freezer thing so that my ice cubes freeze but my milk doesn’t (This is a rather difficult process that i fear may cost me a fortune in milk).

Still remixing. Getting excited about working in my new music workspace (a sprawling, accessible area compared to my old setup). Getting excited about visiting Seattle at the end of the month.

Finally finished my months-long Salinger spree, completing Seymour: an Introduction the other night. Tearing through my DVDs of the first season of Arrested Development.

Need a bed. Preferably a futon. Preferably one that won’t destroy my back.