redpillbox

Despite the album title, there are some cool titles of different songs on the album. And remember Art of Almost & Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend should be pretty long songs.

"...opens with the seven-minute “Art of Almost” and concludes with the twelve-minute “One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend).” In between: 10 adventurous tunes (each clocking in at four minutes or less)..."

Reading this I've been alternating between real frustration at the writing and enthralling suspense...I suppose the final verdict will depend on the resolution.

UPDATE:

Finished it and wow was it bad. Avoid.

The A's fired Bob Geren today. Bob Melvin is the interim for the remainder of the season.

As a Mariners fan...God help you if you're an A's fan and Melvin is your team's long-term solution.

There was some discussion about the Seattle show a while back (stadiums v. arenas, ticket prices, etc.) Wondering what anyone/everyone who saw this show thought. Was it Auctioneer?

I got a good laugh at this one:

Robin Williams favorite joke from the Sept 18th, 2008 issue of Rolling Stone...

" Guy's having sex with his wife. All of a sudden he looks over, and there in the doorway is his son, about eight years old. Kid looks horrified, and the kid runs away. The guy says to his wife, 'Well, I'd better talk to Timmy.'

He puts on his clothes and goes to Timmy's room. He opens the door , and there's Timmy nailing Grandma. The father goes 'Oh, my God!' And the kid goes, 'Not so funny when it's your mom, is it?' "

"Philadelphia" Neil Young. Slays in the non-heavy metal sense.

 

I've never been a big Civil War buff but a few weeks ago my family and I were near Gettysburg and we swung through for a visit. Man, it was a pretty intense visit. I'm not ready to be a reenactor or anything but I feel like I definitely need to know and read more about it.

Love this book. One of my favorites.

What is the most successful (or 'best') song you've written that nobody's heard? You can imagine the follow-up questions...

Despite the lushness and harmonies of this album, I'm left cold with no connection to it. I also don't think the melodies are very strong at all. And the harmonies feel tacked on as a way to move each song along, rather than something organic and natural.

At this moment, I agree with you 100% on your points here, but keep wondering if it's just a grower. I saw them last night here in Seattle and felt the show was good, not great. Someone mentioned that they lacked assuredness on stage and I think that pretty much sums it up. The vocal harmonies were amazing to experience live, but I think you need more than that to elevate the performance and really connect to the audience in some of these bigger places that they are playing. They looked a bit uncomfortable up there.

Is it lame that I don't know what a "rickroll" is?

Whatever happened to Redpillbox? I liked that perspective between the first and second covers records.

 

I am liking the prospect of Marshall-penned songs again

Thanks for the shout-out Tinnitus...I'm here. I mostly lurk around.

Interesting that the vid's been pulled now and listed as "WMG" copyrighted material, which I'm assuming means Warner Music Group...would think that this new tune falls under the new label's copyright. Could be wrong.

Another vote for This American Life (which is the only one I never miss) but I also like Radiolab.

Yes and yes. Love This American Life (great sub-topic idea: favorite episodes).

Also would like to include the Ricky Gervais "Guide to..." Podcast series. Oh man, too good.

I also enjoy "NPR: This I Believe" and "New Yorker: Fiction" podcasts.

I'm going to try out the Hardcore History podcast. Thanks for the tip.

A few years ago I interviewed a Lincoln scholar and he mentioned he was working on a new Lincoln book, but he declined to talk about the book's angle. Turned out to be the "Lincoln might have been gay" book.

"Well, everybody knows that [Lincoln was a heterosexual]. What this book presupposes is...maybe [he wasn't]?"

I usually take ANY talk of a new U2 album with a huge "sure, I'll believe it when I see it," but this one seems a bit different. Most significant that it isn't coming from Bono:

"McGuinness Confirms May U2 Album Release, Title TBD

Posted: February 01, 2011

By: Matt McGee / @mattmcgee

U2 manager Paul McGuinness has reiterated that U2 is planning to have a new album out in May, in time for the North American leg of the U2 360 tour. Speaking during the Midem music conference in Cannes, McGuinness says the new album is "largely completed" and the band is working in its southern France studio to put the "finishing touch" on the record.

McGuinness says this album will be the one that Brian Burton, AKA Danger Mouse, is producing. But he says it's "unlikely" that the album will be called "Songs Of Ascent" -- the title that Bono originally used to refer to what was expected to be an album of songs leftover from the No Line On The Horizon sessions.

Again, we get this news from our friends at U2tour.de, who point to the report on German site MediaBiz. Here's the original in German, and here's a Google translation in English.

As we reported yesterday, a new U2 album is currently listed on Amazon Germany with a May 27 release date."

from atu2.com

I was always partial to Jeff Buckley's version of "Mama You've Been On My Mind".

4-Star review is new Rolling Stone. Short on specifics other than talking about the songs we've already heard.

Surprised this isn't out there yet. 2 weeks to go. Anyone heard it?

Just "finished" The Passage by Justin Cronin on audio-book. Very well read and captivating while commuting. 36 hours long. Around hour 35 I started to feel like there was no way he could satisfactorily wrap up the saga -- googled the title and it turns out it's a trilogy. I'll have to wait, until 2012 for part II and 2014 for the final book, but I'll be waiting. Good stuff.

Bad news: Bono's gone in for emergency surgery on his back. I can't imagine this won't lead to postponement of at least half of the US tour, if not the entire leg. That's not the type of thing you just bounce back from and they haven't completed rehearsals and they've already postponed the opening show in SLC.

www.atu2.com

'According to a statement on U2.com Bono “has today undergone emergency back surgery for an injury sustained during tour preparation training. He was admitted to a specialist neuro surgery unit in a Munich hospital, and is under the care of neuro surgeon Prof. Dr. Jorg Tonn and Dr Muller Wohlfahrt. Bono will spend the next few days there, before returning home to recuperate.

Once his condition has been assessed further, a statement will be made regarding the impact on forthcoming tour dates.”'

PYT - Michael Jackson

Ok...here it is...the #1 pet peeve and I'm sure you will all agree: The use of empty cups on TV and in the movies. I mean, the cup is clearly empty, I can tell by the way you hold it that it's empty. I'm not saying you have to put coffee in that coffee cup or even liquid, but at least weigh it down so it acts as if it has something in it. Totally breaks the suspension of disbelief for me.

1. The words "you should..."

2. Chewing sounds (usually with an open-mouth, but not necessarily)

3. Seattle drivers

If nothing else, I guess we've learned exactly how much Jeff doesn't want to play "Ashes" solo.

What happened? Did he say something about not wanting to play it solo?

Whenever this topic comes up in conversation I always mention the following:

...and I've yet to meet a person that says, "you know what...you're right!" People always lump it in with the whole 80's Hanks/Ryan thing, silly and frivolous because that's how they marketed it, but there is some depth to this movie. It's not really a comedy. But hey, what are you going to do? Other than a really ridiculous scene involving a fake shark, I think it's brilliant.