Asking for seconds

Yesterday TRTL Soup played the student center at Suny Purchase. Health was the headliner, and probably were sweet, but I only stayed for the SOUP.

After getting to campus we (Little John and I) had to find this "student center." Once we stumbled upon it confusion set in. This place has old arcade games, some small skate ramps, pool tables, Q and Not U on the stereo, a sweet stage and the usual cluster-fuck of all various counter-culture socialites.

We had to wait around for a while, but the show was fun as always. A few of the usual suspects started dancing oddly by themselves to the music and eventually started examining a glowing paper ball item that Eric had. Two of them in seemed like moths drawn to the light in complete fascination. They just couldn't resist going closer to it and poking it like it was something from another planet.

After they finished there was a fairly decent amount of people standing around. Everyone kept asking Alex and the boys to play more, but they didn't. He said that was just their usual set. Regardless the Soup is awesome... people obviously fucking like them a lot, and that's pretty sweet. I really didn't expect random Purchase kids to be upset about the short set.

Coming soon : I explore my thoughts on I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell.

The Great Re-organization.

I own my fair share of cds… at least several hundred I guess. They reside on a cheap wood stand that bows on the highest level. The rest are scattered around in a mess. There once was a form of alphabetic order behind the madness…. Followed by greatest hits, live shows and bootlegs. Eps and singles were okay, but splits went at the end. (I mean where would my Bright Eyes/Neva Devona go? The B or the N section…) These problems might seem trivial but as a fairly compulsive individual it can be a nightmare. Not to mention my vinyls as well. It seems preposterous not to have some of the albums I only have on vinyl missing from my cd collection… The there is the old vinyls and new ones… it’s hard having Elliott Smith next to my mom’s old Carpenters vinyl with “Rosie” written on the inside cover… but it’s also hard to have The Velvets and Nico there as well…

Anyway, I started to reorganize my collection. Setting piles to re-evaluate and some to just donate to friends. I have a lot of shitty albums that I’ve collected over the years from working at WSBU. I have about 100 albums to re-visit and send to the cutting room floor or add back to my collection. This process will take a long time, but sooner or later I’m going to have it done. Hopefully….

So in the process I’ve noticed many inconsistencies between my computer collection and actual cds. I Then started the process of putting everything I own on my computer. I did this for one reason… I finally gave in and got an ipod. As much as I love my creative 1 gig… it was a complete pain in the ass to keep updating almost daily as my moods and musical infatuations changed. My tax return helped me out here. Living in NY but working in CT took a shit load of taxes every week. So I got a nice hefty return. Instead of saving it or putting to towards my loans, I blew it. I’m barely making enough to keep up with loans, gas and basic bills… so whatever, I can indulge once in a while.

I purchased a 80 gig version and am currently more then half full… and still copying CDs to it. I dubbed it Naomi after the Neutral Milk Hotel that seems to be haunting the stereo in my brain. Ultimately the thing that pushed me over the edge was now that I’m driving a lot lugging 2 huge CD cases, keeping them organized and protected became a nightmare. My CD deck has a 1/8 input on the front and the potential to run a cable from the back end to the i-pod while charging it. This is something I plan on picking up sooner or later. They also make a version where you can control it from the deck, but with my bootleg stand with my recycled fake leather case jury rigged into the dash.

So all and all I’m very satisfied with my purchase. It basically makes driving much more convenient. I doubt I’ll ever use the video feature, but it’s nice to have I guess. I put some of my photos on it, and pondered if it would be a way to show people my portfolio if I don’t have anything else with me. Hopefully mine wont break soon, I got the coverage for it. I was kind of disappointed when researching other mp3 players. There really are only the classic and the zune that have 80+ gigs without all the bells and whistles of a “media player” and the zune only works on Windows, while I do have it now sooner or later I might just get a mac.

I’ve also joined emusic as an alternative to itunes and compulsive music spending when I can’t find a cd or just really want to hear something again. It’s addicting, and satisfying. Basically I plan to keep up with more new music and also help get some back catalogue. … so some of my new finds.

I've also been enjoying stumbling on old classics like the Pumpkins that I so dearly loved with all my heart and weezer... ahh life was so much easier back then, and I kind of don't want to hear anything bands like that have put out recently. oh well... that is that and this is that... at least I have better headphones then the ones that came with it... the audio is a joke.. and I never really got the benefit of having white headphones, they get so fucking dirty... my creatives ones did from just keeping them in a bag when I'd sleep on someones floor and needed music to put my typically drunk mind to sleep (think about it, how often are you sleeping on someone's floor and not wasted?)

My obsession with Neutral Milk Hotel.

Note : This was written over a week ago. I'm finally just starting to post some of my collected thoughts.

I just finished reading a book about Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It was part of the 33 1/3 series. For myself personally, the album is one of my top favorites. A must own on vinyl as the cd/digital version just doesn’t do the recording style justice. Some of the most interesting parts of the book were the stories about the personalities of the members from Jeff’s unique personality to Roberts sound and production values that would have to be modified in order to suit the needs of Jeff’s less pristine vision. (I'm not going to go over this, borrow the book from me or buy it if you're really interested in the ideas.)

One of the best known NMH songs, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, has a cool story behind it. The Elephant Six gang was hanging out on a spring day in the backyard. They mention some of them being on MDMA at the time. Jeff went upstairs to his favorite practice space, the bathroom. This is something I found odd considering I’ve done the same. Whatever material that showers and tubs are made of, plus the smallness of space creates a excellent acoustic sound. The waves must bounce all over the walls. Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and Rob Crow (Pinback) both also have noted recording and practicing in the bathroom. So back to the original topic… after Jeff was finished he went back outside and played the song. They dubbed the song, "Beautiful Face" by his friends. Everyone else who isn’t cool enough to be part of E6 will have to stick to the album name.

I started listening to the album at almost obsessive level, as well as On Avery Island. As I drove to work today I got frustrated with Everything Is and went to the acoustic Jittery Joe’s performance. In the book they note some of the obvious differences between the songs lyrically and on Aeroplane. Fans would pick this up fairly fast, the one thing that really was interesting to me was that the sound of a baby crying was actually not a baby some punk-rock mother felt should see Jeff… it was actually a performance artist that the collective had done previous work with. Go figure.

The book is short and very easy to read. It gives a lot of insight into the band as well as the ascetics that shaped the album. It’s for fans who want more, but this book isn’t going to change your life… it just helps explain a record that just might have.

Intro

For someone with too much time and not enough drive, thoughts can tend to gather… then run wild in ones mind. My friends seem to at least humor me after a few beers when I start to ramble about this and that. Often times these go off on complete tangents that had no tie to the original subject or thought. This is ultimately a cheap way to organize my thoughts without having time lines or any suggestion of professionalism.