Strange Pulse

Typical indie crap, I don’t know why I love them like I do, but I’m totally digging their stuff. They just make me happy for some reason.

Voxtrot. I picked up their two EPs in Seattle. Check ‘em out in the radio.blog.

So one of my favorite doom metal bands, Yob, broke up. I was really bummed when I heard this. However the singer/guitarist has a new band now called Middian. They played last night in LA, along with my favorite Japanese doom metal band, Eternal Elysium–for free!

Eternal Elysium were the first doom band I got into. They’re different than a lot of doom, being Japanese, they mix it up with weird changes in their songs. Very psychedelic, though, and the guitarist/singer is awesome. The guy standing next to me after a song or two whipped out his cell phone to call a friend. He didn’t even say hello, just “You have to get to the Mountain Bar RIGHT NOW.”

Middian are pretty much like Yob, except the songs aren’t as long. With Yob, Mike would introduce their set as follows: “Hello, we’re Yob. We’re going to do three songs for you tonight, and it’ll take 55 minutes.” I think they played about 5 songs last night.

They had another planned, but the venue cut them off and kicked everyone out, which really sucked. Since bands usually save their best song for last.

I took a lot of video clips because they don’t have any cds out yet. You can see all the pics I took and download the videoclips here:

Middian

I’m also going to upload them to youtube and will probably post one or two here later.

Even though it’s the most beautiful place on earth. The day I had time to, the mountains were covered by clouds. But I took a few around Port Angeles, which is the city next door.

It always trips me out when there’s a ship in port, because the town’s so small, and the ships are so huge:

I like how this sort of makes a face:

Gotta love this sign:

Here’s a view of downtown from the hillside above. You can walk down this pathway to the street below:

If you turn around from the spot the pic above was taken, this is what you see:

And this is the view off to the side:

P.A. is a cool old lumber town, but Sequim is better.

Man it’s hard to get back into the swing of things.

I didn’t expect vacation to throw me off so much! I guess it’s hard because our routine will be changing so much starting this week–the two oldest kids start school again on Wednesday. It was so nice just to have a week to relax and hang out with family and be in such a gorgeous place.

Here are some pics I took at our friend Andy’s place in Port Angeles, WA. He lives on 7 acres with his brother and his dad–they’re each building their own (very rustic) cabins. There’s a house on the property but it’s unliveable at this point—they’re just going to tear it down soon.

Daniel, Nathaniel and Andy in Andy’s cabin:

Cat on the front porch of Andy’s old house, holding some kittens:

Front door of Andy’s old house. The sign says something about making sure the door is closed and not letting the cats in:

Cat on porch 2:

Elijah playing drums in Andy’s old house (you can’t really see it, but the drums are on a skateboard ramp, in what used to be the living room):

Michael’s cabin:

Michael’s cabin:

Michael showing me his shower. He created a small woodstove, smaller than a mailbox, to heat it:

Andy’s window:

Door:

Old lawnmower in the yard (this may have been ours, I’m not sure):

They’ve built most of the cabins with salvaged wood and windows. I’m really impressed with these guys. They’re so resourceful.

These are some of the places we went.

Crescent Lake (Olympic Peninsula, WA):

Ballard (Seattle, WA):

Yes, that’s grass on the roof of a public library. Gotta love Seattle.

Magnusson Park (Lake Washington, Seattle, WA):

And we flew over Mt Rainier on the way home:

Lots more pics to come in the following days.

It’s nearly impossible. Right?

I took my son to LAX yesterday morning, he flew to San Fran for a couple days. We got there plenty early in case getting through security took forever. But it didn’t. I’d printed out a pass for him online that meant he could go directly to security without stopping anywhere else, and I had to get myself a pass as his escort to go to the gate. No problem, just took a sec.

Security made us take off our shoes, and everything we were carrying got x-rayed. No problem.

We got to the gate and we were two hours early. So we wandered a bit, went to a store and bought a bottled water and some magazines/crosswords. When it came time for him to get on the plane, everyone was standing in a line, and the airline guy announced no liquids were allowed on the plane, so Nathaniel gave me his water. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a chapstick. I took that too.

I didn’t see them searching bags or anything before going down the ramp to the plane. Maybe they did it on the other end, but somehow I doubt it.

So why was he not allowed to take a bottled water on the flight that he’d purchased inside the secured area of the airport?

And why was he allowed to take a chapstick into the secured area of the airport, when they’re not allowed?

Because airport security is impossible.

I was listening to Gillian Welch’s Time the Revelator yesterday on my way home from work, and this song, “Everything is Free” came on. I had to put it on repeat a few times. I realized that it’s about music piracy—or at least, it can easily be interpreted that way. I don’t think Time is her best album, but I think it has two of her most wonderful songs on it–the title track, and this one.

The irony here is that I first heard Gillian Welch when a friend emailed me a couple of her songs. I then went to Napster (yes it was back in those days) and downloaded a bunch more. Then, I went to my local indie cd store and bought two of her albums.

I’ll post the song to the radio.blog.

And of course, there’s no good shows playing while I’ll be in town. Seattle was always feast or famine for shows—looks like it’ll be in famine mode.

LA, of course, is always feast, feast, feast. It kills me sometimes, all the shows I miss.

Shows coming up that I don’t want to miss:

9.19 - Deadboy & The Elephantmen - Troubadour ($12)
It’s a weeknight, but I don’t care. I’m dying to see Dax Riggs sing live.

9.25 - Pelican, Daughters, Saviours, Nachmystium - Chain Reaction ($12)
9.26 - Pelican, Daughters, Saviours, Nachmystium - Knitting Factory ($14)
I’m thinking of trying to hit both of these shows, even though they’re on weeknights. I’d probably have to take the day after them off to recuperate, but I’d be willing to do that.

9.29 - Mastodon, Converge - Henry Fonda
Yikes, I didn’t realize this is the same week as Pelican till just now. But I can’t miss Converge, they’re my favorite hardcore band. Mastodon rules (seen them before). At least this is on a Friday.

10.20 - Boris - EchoPLex (ArthurNIGHTS festival)
A Japanese doom-ish band (Japanese doom bands are always weird, so doom-ish fits). Sort of Melvins-y. They don’t play here all that often! And this is on a Friday.

Of course, there’s lots of other shows I’d love to see—Like Tool w/Isis!—but I can only do so many.

Anyway, we leave for Seattle this Friday and get back the next Saturday.

Or two.

My youngest son made himself a mix cd:

1. Master of Puppets (Metallica)
2. Raining Blood (Slayer)
3. Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
4. Painkiller (Judas Priest)
5. Deadly Sinners (3 Inches of Blood)
6. Symphony of Destruction (Megadeth)
7. Grand Conguration (Opeth)
8. Iron Man (Black Sabbath)

This morning as I drove my oldest son to the airport (he flew to San Fran to visit a friend for a couple days), he said, “I love this song!” and cranked up the stereo.

The song? “Human Cannonball” by the Butthole Surfers.

I don’t know why I love the Waterboys so much. Most people I know can’t stand them. Even I listen to them and think, this is so cheesy/overdramatic. Over-the-top.

A song can come on, like this one, “The Thrill is Gone,” and I think, “I’m really not in the mood for a slow, sad song,” but a few bars in and I’m completely into it.

THE THRILL IS GONE

I’m too tired to deceive you
We can’t pretend there’s nothing wrong
Who’ll be the first to say it -
that the thrill is gone
and we’ll never get it back

And when we talk of old acquaintance
and speak like two strangers all day long
the only four words that I hear
are the thrill is gone
and we’ll never get it back

And when evening drops magenta
and “goodbye” hangs on and on and on
I don’t need to go to sleep and dream to tell me
that the thrill is gone
and we’ll never get it back

—

And if you want to hear cheesy and over-the-top, nothing beats “Red Army Blues.” An epic song like “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” it’s about a young Russian soldier in WWII. Make fun of it all you want, this song never fails to suck me in.

RED ARMY BLUES

When I left my home and my family
my mother said to me
“Son, it’s how many Germans you kill that counts
It’s how many people you set free”
So I packed my bags and I brushed my cap
and I walked out into the world
Seventeen years old,
never kissed a girl

I took the train to Voronezh
- that was as far as it would go
Changed my sacks for a uniform,
bit my lip against the snow
I prayed for Mother Russia
in the summer of ‘43
and as we drove the Germans back
I really believed that God was listening to me

Then we howled into Berlin,
tore the smoking buildings down,
raised the Red Flag high,
burnt the Reichstag brown
I saw my first American
and he looked a lot like me
He had the same kind of farmer’s face,
said he come from some place called Hazard, Tennessee

When the war was over
my discharge papers came
Me and twenty hundred others
went to Stettiner for the train
“Kiev!” said the Commissar
“from there your own way home”
But I never got to Kiev
We never came back home
The train went north to the taiga
We were stripped and marched in file
up the Great Siberian road
for miles and miles and miles and miles
Dressed in stripes and tatters
in a Gulag left to die
all because Comrade Stalin was scared
that we’d become too westernized !

I used to love my country
I used to be so young
I used to believe that life
was the best song ever sung
I would have died for my country
in 1945
but now only one thing remains
- the brute will to survive

—

And then Mike Scott comes along with a song like “Fisherman’s Blues,” my favorite song of all time. I hear him sing “with light in my head, you in my arms,” and I think “This is the greatest songwriter of all time.”

FISHERMAN’S BLUES

I wish I was a fisherman
tumbling on the seas
far away from dry land
and its bitter memories
casting out my sweet line
with abandonment and love
no ceiling bearing down on me
save the starry sky above
with Light in my head
you in my arms

I wish I was the brakeman
on a hurtling, fevered train
crashing headlong into the heartland
like a cannon in the rain
with the beating of the sleepers
and the burning of the coal
counting the towns flashing by
in a night that’s full of soul
with Light in my head
you in my arms

I know I will be loosened
from bonds that hold me fast
that the chains all hung around me
will fall away at last
and on that fine and fateful day
I will take me in my hands
I will ride on the train
I will be the fisherman
with Light in my head
and you in my arms

—

And then he comes out with a song like “Is She Conscious,” one that whenever I think of it, I tell myself, “that song really sucks, you know.” And then I listen to it, and it almost makes me cry. It’s about Princess Di.

IS SHE CONSCIOUS ?

Is she conscious
Is she really wide awake
Is she conscious
of her beautiful mistake
Is she conscious
as she moves among the crowd

She’s got the world upon a piece of string
She’s got the world upon a piece of string, it’s so
He was ugly and she was beautiful
He was ugly and she was so….

Is she conscious
Is she asleep or just afloat
Is she conscious
of the letter that she wrote
Is she conscious
of the muzak in her ears

The Queen of Sheba could have shined her shoes
The Queen of Sheba could have shined her shoes, it’s so
He was ugly and she was beautiful
He was ugly and she was so….

Is she conscious
as she sways across the room
Is she conscious
of the weeping of the moon
Is she conscious
as she leaves the door ajar
Is she conscious
as she gets into the car

I don’t even want to say her name
I don’t even want to say her name, that’s all
I want to sing it from the toppest top
I want to sing it from the toppest top, that’s all
The Queen of Sheba could have shined her shoes
The Queen of Sheba could have shined her shoes, it’s so
He was ugly and she was beautiful
He was ugly and she was so….

Is she conscious
of the chauffeur as he drives
Is she conscious
as the ambulance arrives

—

Man I love the Waterboys. I’ll post one more, you might recognize it from the surf documentary, Riding Giants. All songs are in the radio.blog.