Whitty

What band is Trey Anastasio in?

Whatever your prejudices are regarding "jambands" and such, I would recommend you find the studio version of the Phish song "Billy Breathes" and let your ears listen to one of the finest guitar solos ever committed to tape.

It's funny- I didn't put the Wilco guys on here, probably because I don't really think "guitar" right away when I think about Wilco's music. It's a lot more layered than that. They've got some of my favorite recent guitar lines- that warped solo of about 10 notes on "Hell is Chrome", the main riff to "Spiders", the bridge riff in "Theologians"... but Wilco is so democratic, I don't really think of Jeff and Nels as guitar gods or anything like that.

Same goes with Super Furry Animals and Talking Heads- tons of guitar work that I adore, but filled out so well by the other constituent parts that you don't necessarily think of the guitars first and foremost.

David Gilmour

Bill Frisell

Jerry Garcia

Mick Ronson

Doug Martsch

Robbie Robertson

Stephen Malkmus

Dean Ween

Trey Anastasio

Django Reinhardt

J Mascis

Neil Young

Dan Auerbach

George Harrison

Jimmy Page

John Scofield

Leo Nocentelli

Kurt Cobain

Willie Nelson

Jack White

I think perhaps you missed the point.

Or maybe I just blew your goddamn mind!!!

I kind of wish the Airwolf theme song would play everywhere I went.

Where's Wayne Coyne?

Air

Bowie, David

The Clash

Dylan, Bob

Explosions In The Sky

The Flaming Lips

Grateful Dead

Harrison, George

Iggy & The Stooges

James Brown (Yes, I'm cheating from my earlier use of last names. Deal with it)

The Kinks

Led Zeppelin

Miles Davis (More cheating!)

Nirvana

Outkast

Pavement

Queens of the Stone Age

The Rolling Stones

Super Furry Animals

Talking Heads

Uncle Tupelo

The Velvet Underground

Wilco

X (I don't know if people are leaving this blank, or really like the band X. In my case, I'm leaving it blank.)

Young, Neil

Zappa, Frank

B, D, and S were near impossible to narrow down. I have an incredible amount of B's in my collection now that I look at it. I feel like I've betrayed half of my favorite bands. Sorry fellas.

He lives just about a 20 minute drive from me.

And he still ties a fresh onion to his belt every day.

Sorry about that. Couldn't resist.

I think Spoon has been America's most consistent rock band of the last several years.

Gimme Fiction is probably still tops on my list. It's haunting, minimalist, whiskey-voiced punk-soul. I could listen to the bass line from "My Mathematical Mind", the chord progressions from "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine", the falsetto accents in "I Summon You", and countless other little details from that disc all day. I also don't think anyone has ever transformed A major and C major into a song as effortlessly cool and cocky as "I Turn My Camera On".

Boards of Canada

Malkmus never fails to make rock guitar interesting. He pulls some serious Thelonious Monk on RET- guitar riffs mimicking vocal melodies before gradually fracturing and swerving off the asphalt into interesting jaunts through sonic backroads. The fuzz and feedback are like ranch dressing on your french fries. Fatness upon fatness. SM likes writing about oddball characters that sound like they could live in a cult comic book, but then he'll crank out "We Can't Help You", which has some of the most honest, anti-rock god lyrics he's ever penned.

The Jicks are a damn fine band. I thought Face The Truth sounded too much like a laptop project. I like rock bands- even if I feel like SM is secretly ripping off my own band sometimes...

I just wanted to brag about our cool flyer...

I'm a whore.

I think it's always worth considering that people consume music differently than the other popular arts: film, literature, and visual art.

The other mediums are far more static by nature- they hit your senses in a discrete dose. Music gets more chances to work its way into your consciousness. It's portable and flexible in ways other arts are not. You can toss on Wilco in the car, at a party, at work, while reading, while housecleaning.... People don't bring Pynchon to a party and read excerpts. You don't skip ahead to track 3 of a Matisse painting, because it's the "dance number".

Poetry is the literary medium most associated with "movements" and varying critical interpretations of the artform. Music is basically poetry with noise added. Music lends itself well to pontificating and abstractions and freedom to decide just how we wish to interact with it and interpret it. You can intellectualize YHF as you break down the imagery and implied spiritual anxiety of "Jesus, Etc.". You can get a nice beer buzz going and sing along to "I'm The Man Who Loves You". Both sound valid to me.

So, let me get this straight: woman can give birth to the King of Kings, one-third of the Holy Trinity et cetera, but cannot call a foul?

Yep. Hopefully she won't drive, vote, show her hair, use contraceptives, or speak unless spoken to, either!

On a related note, Jesus is kind of a dick when he's on the court:

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd will re-create the band

I wrote this about a year or so ago, but I think the message still resonates (for the Republican candidates, at least)...

****

Y'know, I've been thinking about what this country needs during these unsettled times. We need vision, resolve, and true leadership to spur democracy ever onward and to meet new challenges presented by a complex world. We need Some Rich White Guy to step forward and say, "Yes America, I am the alpha male figurehead who will best provide the illusion of a solitary crusader looking out for your best interests amongst a legion of potential enemies!"

Who better than a rich guy to be our leader? Obviously, rich guys all have worked their way up from humble upbringings to achieve their wealth and successes. A rich guy knows exactly what it takes for not-so-rich people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make themselves rich. It would be like having a financial planner as President! Rich guys can empathize with the average American's pressing day-to-day concerns about capital-gains taxes, energy company subsidies, and rolling back those pesky environmental and labor laws. And rich guys can get rid of drugs once and for all in this country, seeing as how rich guys never use crack or weed or smack like those awful poor guys. Some Rich White Guy will make sure those drug-using people get the hard jail time they need to learn their lesson. Heck, those corporate tax loopholes that rich guys love so much would even let them create new jobs and hire some of those fully rehabilitated folks after their release. It's not like a rich guy would just hire his rich friend's son instead or anything.

Who better than a white guy to be our leader? They discovered America, and toiled in the fields themselves to build a stable agricultural base that helped fuel our 19th century industrial boom. White guys are the backbone of American culture- they wrote all the good books, they invented rock and roll, and they are the best athletes around! Don't believe me?

The DaVinci Code? White guy wrote it!

Elvis? White guy!

Who created basketball and ran the first four-minute mile? White guys!

White Protestant guys even have God on their side! White Catholic guys will do in a pinch, but we don't all need to feel guilty about eating a steak dinner on a Friday night, though. White Jewish guys... well, let's just take things slowly, shall we?

And who better than a guy to be our leader? Potent, intimidating genitalia. Delusions of being a cowboy despite being born in 20th century New England. Getting to wear cool suits and ties. Guys have it goin' on! Elect Some Woman and you never know when she's gonna be ovulating during a G-8 summit or lactating all over the Vice-President. Nope, it's guys who know how to keep their cool and never resort to hysterical over-reactions.

So are you gonna demand a bold new mandate in 2008? Are you prepared to step up to the plate, slather your car and yard with red, white, and blue paraphernalia and declare your support for Some Rich White Guy! I think America is ready!

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.

It doesn't quite ring with the poetic effervescence of "I want your heart, I want to eat your children", but overall not a bad effort on Ali's part.

Saw this earlier this morning. Most excellent. Wish I could've seen the Keys with Dinosaur Jr. this year...

I'm a fan of Carrie cake myself.

My friends and I like to set up a projector a few times every summer for an outdoor movie night. The Point was one of the selections this year. That soundtrack is a lot of fun.

"Me and my arrow..."

Pretty well smacked the computer around that time- 325 to 265. If you don't land at least one 50 point bonus, though, it's rough going.

This is fun.

It beat me by five points the second go-round. I'm using complete asshole-Scrabble-player words like QI, too. But that thing just instantly spits out Moonman words at me. What the fuck is ZA? I've seen that one twice now.

Here is the link for Scrabulous that you can play vs. the computer.

 

 

Scrabulous

 

 

 

Good luck though. The computer is rough.

Sweet. I beat that sumbitch 339-326. The tide turned when I played "ACTIONS" with the S completing "JOINTS" for a cool 78 points. That digital bastard was laying down shit like QAID, ANILE, TANKAS, and WIRRA, too. I countered with ADZE (I knew the anthropology minor would pay dividends!), CLADES (for a triple word score), and the always tricky BEY/JOEY combo.

You can shove your qaid right up your wirra, computer. You are no match for me.

Garam Masala makes a nice rub for grilled meats, too! It's good on popcorn and sprinkled on fresh sliced apples and pineapple.

Garam Masala + plain yogurt + pita chips = appetizer goodness

Considering I'm in a smallish city in rural Virginia, we are blessed with an excellent Northern Indian restaurant, as well as a convenient carry-out joint less than two miles from my place.