Moved into the new place today. Everything is looking and feeling a little better than I expected. When I arrived, two sets of parents and half a huge budget truck were strewn about the parking lot, wood furniture and office chairs mixed and cluttered on the pavement. Sweat.
So, the previous tenants had a dog (against the rules) that pissed all over the carpet (way against the rules). The Staff tried to clean it out before we parked the biggest moving truck imaginable outside our building, but it wasn't getting the stench out. Shame, really, that carpet really tied the room together.
The hours of 11 AM to about 6 PM were spent sitting out in the parking lot, sweating, moving heavy furniture to the third floor hallway, perspiring, watching two ruff-ians installing new, brown carpet, glowing, and shifting dozens of boxes and cartons around inside the new HeadQuarters.
In all reality, whatever the weathermen report, Summer '05 officially ended yesterday. As an overall rating that is not absolute, but relative, I would give this summer a big, honkin' B- for reasons I am too tired to delineate at this point in time.
Hats off to HQ (2), a.k.a. Tuscany Village Apt.s.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
The One-oh-Strummers
The 101ers — Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited
Astralwerks
Rating: B+
Before Joe Strummer gained international fame with The Clash, he was playing rock and roll standards and rhythm and blues originals with a pub rock group known as The 101ers. Never having released an album proper, The 101ers’ only output was the single “Keys to Your Heart,” which was released a month after their breakup, and Elgin Avenue Breakdown, a compilation of three recording sessions and several live tracks assembled by Strummer five years afterwards. Astralwerks’ Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited is a revamped collection of 101ers’ songs extended to twenty tracks from the original’s dozen with previously unreleased material and a detailed history of the band written by one of Strummer’s friends, Allan Jones. Jones relays (among other things) Strummer’s first description of the band: “They don’t have much money, he says, and … they’re not great musicians.” If that last part was ever true, it is thoroughly discredited from the searing guitar solos, soulful arrangements and clean, precise playing displayed throughout the recordings on this album.
Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited begins with the blistering “Letsagetabitarockin,” a two-minute burst of energy in the vein of Little Richard’s “Tootie Fruitie,” with Strummer spitting out the words like Chuck Berry on “Maybelline” (no wonder a cover of Berry’s classic turns up on the second half of the disc). One can almost sense the punk movement rising up through Strummer’s chugging rhythm guitar; turn up the distortion, simplify the walking bass line, and remove the slick R&B licks of the lead guitar, and the resulting mix would provide the breeding ground for The Clash’s self-titled debut.
Although The 101ers never greatly overstepped the bounds of pub rock, the mixture of songs on this album display a certain stylistic depth. With fast-paced numbers like “Motor Boys Motor” and “Sweety of the St. Moritz,” grooving, laid-back songs like “Surf City” or the glistening “Sweet Revenge,” and different shades of songs in between, Strummer shows his flair for writing with a quaint blend of styles early on in his musical career. “Keys to Your Heart,” for example, one of the catchiest songs here (included in two versions), is also one of the most diverse. Starting out as straightforward rock and roll, the song slowly progresses into a reggae feel with the help of a bouncy, melodic bass line, plucked guitar that begins to go into off-beats but then reconsiders, and Strummer’s trademark vocals, speak-singing some of the lines and bringing his whole soul into the delivery. Amazingly, as revealed by drummer Richard “snakehips” Dudanski’s liner notes, this is Strummer’s first self-penned song.
The second half of the album is a set of live tracks littered with covers, among them Van Morrison’s “Gloria,” the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time,” and the traditional tune “Junco Partner.” These tracks display Strummer’s burgeoning showmanship with his strong vocal delivery and even a bit of interesting banter. Although they’re not a very good quality, the live tracks will interest both fans of old time rock and roll and The Clash alike (especially considering one of the originals, “Lonely Mother’s Son,” contains the chorus of The Clash’s “Jail Guitar Doors”).
Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited will most likely be enjoyed by Clash enthusiasts as a welcomed addition to Joe Strummer’s catalog, but those unfamiliar with the group or the man might want to consider picking up London Calling first.
Astralwerks
Rating: B+
Before Joe Strummer gained international fame with The Clash, he was playing rock and roll standards and rhythm and blues originals with a pub rock group known as The 101ers. Never having released an album proper, The 101ers’ only output was the single “Keys to Your Heart,” which was released a month after their breakup, and Elgin Avenue Breakdown, a compilation of three recording sessions and several live tracks assembled by Strummer five years afterwards. Astralwerks’ Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited is a revamped collection of 101ers’ songs extended to twenty tracks from the original’s dozen with previously unreleased material and a detailed history of the band written by one of Strummer’s friends, Allan Jones. Jones relays (among other things) Strummer’s first description of the band: “They don’t have much money, he says, and … they’re not great musicians.” If that last part was ever true, it is thoroughly discredited from the searing guitar solos, soulful arrangements and clean, precise playing displayed throughout the recordings on this album.
Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited begins with the blistering “Letsagetabitarockin,” a two-minute burst of energy in the vein of Little Richard’s “Tootie Fruitie,” with Strummer spitting out the words like Chuck Berry on “Maybelline” (no wonder a cover of Berry’s classic turns up on the second half of the disc). One can almost sense the punk movement rising up through Strummer’s chugging rhythm guitar; turn up the distortion, simplify the walking bass line, and remove the slick R&B licks of the lead guitar, and the resulting mix would provide the breeding ground for The Clash’s self-titled debut.
Although The 101ers never greatly overstepped the bounds of pub rock, the mixture of songs on this album display a certain stylistic depth. With fast-paced numbers like “Motor Boys Motor” and “Sweety of the St. Moritz,” grooving, laid-back songs like “Surf City” or the glistening “Sweet Revenge,” and different shades of songs in between, Strummer shows his flair for writing with a quaint blend of styles early on in his musical career. “Keys to Your Heart,” for example, one of the catchiest songs here (included in two versions), is also one of the most diverse. Starting out as straightforward rock and roll, the song slowly progresses into a reggae feel with the help of a bouncy, melodic bass line, plucked guitar that begins to go into off-beats but then reconsiders, and Strummer’s trademark vocals, speak-singing some of the lines and bringing his whole soul into the delivery. Amazingly, as revealed by drummer Richard “snakehips” Dudanski’s liner notes, this is Strummer’s first self-penned song.
The second half of the album is a set of live tracks littered with covers, among them Van Morrison’s “Gloria,” the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time,” and the traditional tune “Junco Partner.” These tracks display Strummer’s burgeoning showmanship with his strong vocal delivery and even a bit of interesting banter. Although they’re not a very good quality, the live tracks will interest both fans of old time rock and roll and The Clash alike (especially considering one of the originals, “Lonely Mother’s Son,” contains the chorus of The Clash’s “Jail Guitar Doors”).
Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited will most likely be enjoyed by Clash enthusiasts as a welcomed addition to Joe Strummer’s catalog, but those unfamiliar with the group or the man might want to consider picking up London Calling first.
Techno Savvy
I've felt a bit technologically savvy lately. (Savvy is a cool word with a cool Latin etymology, I should use it more often.) I installed a CD player in my car since places were charging an exorbitant amount for installation/parts (I thought that was "inexorbitant" until I looked it up and realized that I just always used it with the indefinite article in front of it and "amount" after it). I did cut the FM antenna and had a bit of trouble mounting it with that plastic fitting kit, but fixed the antenna with dad's help and rigged the mounting to make it work. I just installed my CD-R drive into my sister's computer since mine won't recognize it and it turned out it works fine (was a bit of a beast though, with the small, compact HP tower I was putting it into...!). So now I've been burning mp3 CDs to use with the aforementioned car CD player (starting with the stash Brandon had on that computer...hmmm, . yeah, Toadies. yeah).
I'm reading this book, Something Happened, by Joseph Heller (his second novel) and he uses parentheses just about as much as periods (literally, almost). He'll open one in the middle of the sentence, going off on a tangent for a paragraph, or a page, or two pages, close the parentheses and go right back into the end of that sentence. What a badass. He also does weird stuff with the parentheses, like correct grammar. He'll write a sentence like:
It was a secret between him and I (me).
or
It was me (I, I know. Ha.) that was at fault.
And at random times, he'll just insert (ha)'s. Very strange. But very compelling. Most of the narrative is just the narrator talking about situations or characters or using some flashbacks. 200 pages and only half a day has gone by. I love it.
Anyway, so a friend of a friend is going off to Iraq (talked about making a will and stuff), I've got glass in my foot that I've tried to get out for about a month or so and will see a physician tomorrow about it, I've got my eye appointment tomorrow, I haven't packed for this week of vacation, nor my big move back to Tallahassee next weekend, and I've two articles to write in two days because I procrastinated super-bigtime even though I had all the time in the world (one of those days means within the next 8 hours, and I haven't started it yet), but hey, you know me, I can't complain.
I'm reading this book, Something Happened, by Joseph Heller (his second novel) and he uses parentheses just about as much as periods (literally, almost). He'll open one in the middle of the sentence, going off on a tangent for a paragraph, or a page, or two pages, close the parentheses and go right back into the end of that sentence. What a badass. He also does weird stuff with the parentheses, like correct grammar. He'll write a sentence like:
It was a secret between him and I (me).
or
It was me (I, I know. Ha.) that was at fault.
And at random times, he'll just insert (ha)'s. Very strange. But very compelling. Most of the narrative is just the narrator talking about situations or characters or using some flashbacks. 200 pages and only half a day has gone by. I love it.
Anyway, so a friend of a friend is going off to Iraq (talked about making a will and stuff), I've got glass in my foot that I've tried to get out for about a month or so and will see a physician tomorrow about it, I've got my eye appointment tomorrow, I haven't packed for this week of vacation, nor my big move back to Tallahassee next weekend, and I've two articles to write in two days because I procrastinated super-bigtime even though I had all the time in the world (one of those days means within the next 8 hours, and I haven't started it yet), but hey, you know me, I can't complain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)