Saturday, March 12, 2005

Last night my first band ever had our first show ever. We're called Clap Amp and I'm not sure what we sound like. I told my mom I play "weird noises" on the synthesizer, so she can call it "dancey weird noises music" (also, she doesn't think I can actually play keyboards and suggested I switch to tambourine ; emasculating). People who saw us tell me we sound like "Nice Nice but dancier" or "um, experimental but fun" or my personal favorite "halfway between something I wouldn't like and something I would like, and I liked it". These were all my friends, so of course they're going to be complimentary, but it was still cool to see their reactions, especially since they were the first I've ever heard from anyone, ever. Steve thinks we rule, and that's huge (unlike Steve who is really quite slight).

I myself had a fucking awesome time and freeked the fuck out. My girlfriend says I was making faces she's never seen me make before. I caught flack for wearing shorts and flip-flops and dancing around like a hippy, but fuck that noise. It felt so amazingly good to bang my fists down on the keyboard and yell in time with each hammer drop while Ryan worked out the 1-2 slam beat and Pat got nutz with the feedback pedal. I predict many more house shows this summer. Stoked!!!!!!!!!
7:39 PM , 0 comments

Friday, March 04, 2005

I know I've kind of left you all hanging out there wondering DID HE GET HIS FREE IPOD? PLEASE TELL ME! and I'm happy to report that... I haven't. YET.

BACKSTORY: A couple months ago I finally coerced my girlfriend and boyfriend into signing their lives away for my entertainment, which brought my grand total referrals up to the holy FIVE.

The next step after this is the "verification" process wherein the Gratis Network bigwigs dig down and try to figure out whether or not each of my referrals are actually unique, if their personal info has been sufficiently coopted, etc. These bigwigs came to the conclusion that Kristen was not a real person due to her having signed up using my computer. I filed a complaint and they, amazingly, gave her full credit. An order was placed = iPod gland secreting crystal-pure excitement and anticipation. Gross.

Fast forward a month or so and I finally receive a little package labeled FreeiPods.com. I open it lightning quick, anticipating the hours of pure geek bliss to follow. And it's a t-shirt. This one:


1:34 PM , 0 comments

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

I'm starting to get really excited about the Blitzen Trapper CD release show, taking place this Friday at good old Berbati's Pan. I booked the whole thing myself, which I don't usally do. I'm very stoked about how the lineup came together - varying degrees of "artsy" and "poppy" overlapping in nice ways. These are three of my favorite bands in town on one bill and it feels good to be a part of that. Check out the long-winded press release I wrote for it here.*

Here's my first ever MP3-bloggy link:


Here's the awesome poster, designed by the B.Trap:


Do get there early so you can catch the Graves, who never play out and are very talented in a low-key way. Just listened to their first album again this weekend, and yeah it's still very nice. The Kingdom are great too, and I'm not the only who thinks so - they just got signed to the only biggish label in town.

Steve and I (CUM LAZER) will be in full effect too, dropping poorly mixed heat between bands and afterwards. I'm hoping to instigate full-on dance party action before the night is out, which would would be a first for me in those vaunted Greek halls.

Sort of funny story: the wonderful lady who books Berbati's, Chantelle Hylton, took the liberty of putting us on the venue calendar as "special guest superstar deejay duo CUM LAZER!!". I thought that was cute. I also mentioned us in the press release for the show as CUM LAZER DJs - so as not to imply bandness. The end result? The "superstar" bit made it into all the calendar ads in the papers, and the Mercury listed us as CUM LAZER DJS (which sounds like the lazer coming back from the future to save the present). Thus my attempts to avoid confusion only create more weird ambiguity, which makes perfect sense. CUM LAZER: it's all in yr mind. TRIPPY!

Also, ramen actually smells really good after all the water in the pot has evaporated due to compulsive blogging whilst boiling noodles, some of which are now cemented to the bottom of said pot in an appealing brain-like pattern. They smell like mac 'n' cheese when you leave it in the stove longer than you're supposed to, which I do, because Grandma always made them that way. In short: I *heart* burnt noodles. Not sure about the band though (figure 18).


*(I don't think I've mentioned this yet on the ol' blog, but I do music-related publicity for my (meager) living, and one of the things I'm doing right now is promoting this album. I booked this show and sent out a press release, hoping that local music scribes might take the occasion to get PUMPED on the Trapper and inform the public, thereby causing all of Portland to realize the pop genius lurking in our midst. The cynical/smart among you will be reading $$$ into my enthusiasm, but trust me: I feel this band, LOTS. They are indeed wonderful and they deserve to be heard. This is my mission.)

2:09 AM , 2 comments

Monday, February 14, 2005

Very soon now TRMW will be moving over to Urban Honking (here), and I'm really really excited about it. UrHo, as they call it, is a local Portland blog community of sorts, which also includes a show calendar and message board. It's a very special thing, with lots of great creative stuff going on. There's talk of Team Tinnitus moving over there too eventually. My music will stay here on Metem, where it belongs, but this rambling all-about-me stuff will be gone. Stay tuned!

Just got around to reading this (it's been shortcutted on my desktop for weeks) and quite enjoyed it. That last sentence is me to a T - it's almost creepy. Probably the only blog that's really managed the YobNik stance would be this one, which sets it apart from pretty much every other music blog out there.

Stuff like this is why I like blogs (well, one of them); serious thought about music and how it relates to society, totally divorced from release dates and totally, wonderfully pretentious.


1:11 AM , 0 comments

And it don't stop:

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