Snowmobile Update
Apparently it got towed last night
Filed under: Alaska | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alaska, Anchorage, snow
High Density Headache’s New Site
High Density Headache Recordings has a fancy shmancy new website that’s pretty much your one-stop shop for Middle Tennessee noise. Most of the catalog you can download for free, including a couple German Castro releases. One of them I’ve already uploaded and linked to on this here blog, and I’ve updated the link over there on the right to go directly to their site. The other is a split cassette we did with The Most Amazing Century of Science. Their side totally rips.
Filed under: Music, Tennessee | Leave a Comment
Tags: German Castro, High Density Headache, Most Amazing Century of Science
Snowmobile
This car has been sitting in front of the apartment unmoved since November. I was hoping to see it completely covered in snow by the end of winter, but now there’s an impound notice on it.
Filed under: Alaska | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alaska, Anchorage
Maybe I Meant Happy Marmot Day?
I didn’t even know this was a thing, but apparently last year some Alaskan legislation was passed that officially changed the state holiday on February 2nd from Groundhog Day to Marmot Day based on the scarcity of groundhogs in Alaska. According to this map, which shades the areas in which groundhogs are indigenous, California and maybe 7 other states have better reason to change the name.
(Map swiped from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History whose link I swiped from Elizabeth Smith)
Filed under: Alaska, Trivia Fodder | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alaska, Groundhog Day, Marmot Day
Happy Groundhog Day
I copied and pasted this table from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
| Year | Groundhog | Shadow | Prediction | Av Temp | Actual | Outcome |
| 1994 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 33.7 | late | right |
| 1995 | Punxsutawney Phil | no | early | 34.7 | late | wrong |
| 1996 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 32.4 | late | right |
| 1997 | Punxsutawney Phil | no | early | 37.8 | early | right |
| 1998 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 40.5 | early | wrong |
| 1999 | Punxsutawney Phil | no | early | 34.6 | late | wrong |
| 2000 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 40.7 | early | wrong |
| 2001 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 35.2 | late | right |
| 2002 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 38 | early | wrong |
| 2003 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 33.8 | late | right |
| 2004 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 37.2 | early | wrong |
| 2005 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 33.9 | late | right |
| 2006 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 34.3 | late | right |
| 2007 | Punxsutawney Phil | no | early | 32.1 | late | wrong |
| 2008 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 33.25 | late | right |
| 2009 | Punxsutawney Phil | yes | late | 35.6 | late | right |
| Average | Punxsutawney Phil | Sees Shadow 69% of the time | Predicts more winter 69% of the time | 35.5 | Late 62.5% of the time | 50% accuracy rate |
I’ve heard the explanation elsewhere that the reason he sees his shadow the majority of the time is that the cameras flashing make it hard for him not to see it.
Filed under: Trivia Fodder | Leave a Comment
Tags: Groundhog Day
Brown Wins
The Republicans won the vacant Senate seat in Massachusetts. I generally think the narrative that frames these elections as national referendums is garbage, and I think the fact that this race was even close in the first place has a lot to do with self-fulfilling prophecies as a result of that phony narrative. Still, the consequences this is probably going to have on the health care bill completely breaks my heart.
“I voted for Obama because I wanted change. … I thought he’d bring it to us, but I just don’t like the direction that he’s heading,” said John Triolo, 38, a registered independent who voted in Fitchburg.
He hasn’t even been in office a year yet, and you’ve probably derailed the greatest change he could have made. Mr. Triolo, you’ve voted for stalemate, not change.
Filed under: National, Politics | Leave a Comment
Tags: health care, Massachusetts, Scott Brown
2008 Interview with Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard died in his sleep at his home in Memphis last night. My former Protomen bandmate (and current Cheap Time drummer) Ryan Sweeney played drums for him on New Year’s Eve in Milwaukee, and I’m guessing that ended up being his last show. I interviewed him for this story in the Nashville Scene back in April of 2008 when he was on tour opening for the Black Keys. This is the interview in its entirety. In retrospect, I really dropped the ball in not working the stage banter tirade into the article.
Me: How’s the Black Keys tour going?
Reatard: Everything’s going pretty well. They’re in a bus and we’re in a van, so keeping up with the pace would be a problem for a lot of people. But it’s kinda like playing to a room full of people who don’t know who the fuck you are every night. That’s kinda fun. It kinda reminds me of when I first started playing punk shows and everybody hated what I was doing. It’s kind of a return back to that, but instead of 30 people who want you to shut up, it’s more like 3,000.
Me: This has been a big year for you. Seeing a lot of new places
Reatard:Same cities, different faces.
Me: You seem to have always kept a pretty hectic touring regiment. Do you have less time at home than you did before?
Reatard:Virtually none at home. We took a couple months off at the beginning of this year. From February to June, I don’t think we’ll go home. I think after that we’re gonna take it easy until next year ’cause I think next year is the year where we really have to hit it hard.
Me: What’s the weirdest place you’ve played?
Reatard:We played 7 stories up in this little weird, skinny haunted house in Switzerland in the attic. That was pretty strange I guess. We had to carry all of our gear up each story and each story was filled with promo shots from monster movies and war films from the 20’s and 30’s up til now. The whole walls were coated with them and fake decapitated hands and body parts nailed to the walls and fake blood dripping. It was really creepy, I dunno. Some total fucking weirdo put that place together. And we played on the sidewalk in Philadelphia, just illegally set up on the sidewalk and drew a crowd of about 400 people.
Me: Do you still keep a full plate as far as side projects go or is solo stuff cutting into that?
Reatard:It pretty much has killed all the side project shit. I’ve just been concentrating on doing this now. With the pace of this solo thing, you know, there’s just no time. I interested in doing other things. It’d be rad to be able to experiment around with some different shit but I just haven’t been able to get time.
Me: I read on your blog that the Final Solutions may have played their last show last year? Has that proven to be true?
Reatard:Yeah, the dudes have asked me to play some more shows, and I’ve kinda turned it down
Me: What were some of your primary musical influences as a kid?
Reatard:The Monkees were the first band I really ever got into. I think that really appealed to kids. From there the Ramones—just basic shit. They kinda just inspired me to, like, not talk. These dudes would never say a word other than song titles, and that’s rad. As a teenager I really hated when people would get on stage and just talk. It’s just fucking arrogant as hell. You think anyone gives two shits about what comes out of your mouth? “I know all these people love my songs, but they’re just really gonna enjoy these anecdotes and stories.” No, shut up. You didn’t put that on your fucking record. “This song is about the time I went down with this girl to the river…” Who fucking cares? That inspired me in that. I guess from there The Wipers is kinda when I understood that you could make melodic punk rock without sounding like pop-punk. Those are probably my first big 3 influences.
Me: Where were you mostly getting exposed to this kind of stuff as kid?
Reatard:Surprisingly, just through mainstream media. Rolling Stone or Spin. I think I may have read in Spin about Maximum Rock ‘n Roll in ‘93 or ‘94 and started buying that magazine. The guys in the Oblivians played a big role in playing me records
Me: What sort of TN hard rock did you discuss with Lars Ulrich?
Reatard:It was really hilarious. He just going “Yeah, Memphis man. Metallica used to really dig on playing in Memphis, but, you know, Tennessee’s gotten really soft, Memphis specifically. The hard rock scene there really started dying in the early 90s. We enjoy playing places like Nashville and Chattanooga. They really know they’re hard rock there.” I was like, you gotta be fucking kidding me. Memphis is a total metal town. He’s just so misinformed, but he’s that dude so we just nodded and laughed
Me: Are you bumping into more people like that these days?
Reatard:I don’t know. I think at these Black Keys shows there’s definitely a lot of C-list celebrities back stage.
Me: I always forget how big they’ve gotten.
Reatard:I that it’s because it’s not been an overnight thing. They’ve just been touring and touring and touring for 6 or 7 or 8 years and it’s been really slow. Each time they go on tour they just quietly jump up in venue size and no one really takes notice. It’s not like its an overnight thing. I was completely blown away because 6 or 7 years ago they were opening up for a band I was in at some tiny bar. And they were the opening band so it’s pretty wild to see that. And now we’re playing in front of 2 or 3 thousand people each night.
Me: That doesn’t seem all that different from the trajectory you seem to be on in I guess the last handful of years.
Reatard:Yeah, I think it’s gotta be a slow thing, if not I just don’t know how much stability involved in it. I think the faster that things happen, the faster they can fall apart too. I think if you build shit slowly, by the time you’re descending from everything and reached your peak, you probably pulled more of a career out of it I guess. I think your fans are gonna be a lot more loyal that if your an overnight success.
Me: I listened to the track by your old black metal band. Do you still have an interest in that stuff?
Reatard:Oh definitely. I still listened to Darkthrone records in the van on tour. I went on the road for like a month with a true metal band and was, like, I can’t live this lifestyle
Me: Have you heard the Atlas Sound cover of Oh it’s a Shame?
Reatard:Yeah, I heard that. I think more of that was just like an exercise for Bradford cause we’re doing a split on the fourth matador single with Deerhunter. They’re doing that song and I’m doing one of their songs
Me: Is it weird to write a song in one context and hear someone else place it in another?
Reatard:No, i think its rad. Gives you perspective on your own shit. Sometimes I’ve had people cover songs that I thought were good songs but then, once they covered them and I listened back to them, I realized they were shit. It’s good to have that kind of perspective. It’s good to hear it with fresh ears, just listen to the song rather than getting caught up in your own voice or your own guitar playing.
Me: How many singles are going to be in the Matador series?
Reatard: Six singles every month or on a six week schedule.
Filed under: Music | Leave a Comment
Tags: Black Keys, Jay Reatard, Nashville Scene
Sarah Palin Joins Fox News
Maybe your political advisers can’t trust you to remember the last name of the person you’re debating, but luckily that doesn’t disqualify you from being a Fox News analyst.
For a network with an uncanny ability to control information, the timing of this announcement sure seems boneheaded. Game Change rips her apart.
Filed under: Politics | Leave a Comment
Tags: Fox News, Game Change, Sarah Palin
Chunklet Decade Review
From Chunklet’s end of the decade spiel:
In a cool city or happenin’ neighborhood? Okay, now go to your favorite watering hole on a nice crowed night. Have a drink or two. Now look to your left. Now look to your right. 50% of the guys you just saw have become “soul DJ’s” who “dig spinning rare 45’s”. Punch them.
Filed under: Distraction | Leave a Comment
Tags: Chunklet, "soul DJs", the aughts
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