Yay For Squire

Shouldn't we all be Mods?



and here are the lyrics if you get obsessed with this song as I did. Damn, those guys were really freaking good. Just bought l'album. How had I not heard of them? They even did a cover of September Gurls. Weird.

Squire
WALKING DOWN THE KINGS ROAD

Walking down the King's Road with some friends of mine
The streets are crowded, its a sign of the times
Walking down the King's Road with some friends of mine
The shops are busy, they've got Saturday on their mind

Well I was just thinking how it used to be...
I'm gonna take a look at Carnaby Street!

Well I was walking down the King's Road
Just about to turn around
Well I was walking down the King's Road
Just about to turn around

In The Chelsea Drugstore with some friends of mine
Saw Mr. Jimmy still standing in line
In The Chelsea Drugstore with some friends of mine
Mini skirts, dolly birds and Radio Caroline

Well I was just thinking how it used to be...
I'm gonna take a look at Carnaby Street!

Well I was walking down The King's Road
Just about to turn around

BTW, Chords are: A G for the verses and D E for the chorus-y bits

Dig Some Derf

Just finished Derf's Punk Rock and Trailer Parks which I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's Derf's website: derfcity.com. (Hey, kinda like Inadaville!). Thoroughly dig his Don Martin-inspired visual style. The writing is also top notch as is his musical taste. And finally. . . OHIO. Check out his weekly strip, The City.

Pop Muzak

I want music to lift me up into shimmering veils of electric Godhead so that I feel like a cross between Liberace and Thor. Some of my friends go in for a dark, heavy gothic trance, but not me. I'm already inclined to dank, moronic funks, so I don't really need that tendency reinforced by my music. So, when Third Eye Blind's hatefully popular Semi-Charmed Kind of Life came up on Pandora while Sam and I were listening, I had that, "Oh, hell yeah, turn it up" reaction. I then taught it to him on the guitar (3 chords!), and when we went to get the lyrics I had that, "Oh yeah, the song is entirely about getting all kinds of @#$%ed up on crystal meth and having all kinds of spectacular, explicitly described sex," reaction. So I did the, "yeah, I'm not really sure what that means. . . hmmm" and then we went back to "Swing Swing" by the All American Rejects. I know, I know, but Sam listens to Husker Du and the Ramones as well as 4th-generation bubble gum punk. I've always believed you can like The Beatles and The Monkees.

For kids music the way it actually should be done, check dis ultra-hip early 70's Sesame Street Roosevelt Franklin. I had this album as a young 'un, and darned if it didn't give me soul.



"A-B, you know I got that together." RF, y'all's just a stone-cold bad-ass.

God, What A Song

The whole lousy human condition crammed into a 7 minute song.

I do so miss the catharsis o' rock et roll.

Listless

Julie might be out of a job next year, along with many other improbably gifted and dedicated public school teachers. That's bleakness of a high order because these people are good at what they do, and what they do is good for this place.

Probably a good time to listen to some Billy Bragg. UPDATE: Here are the chords to It Says Here, if you want to bust it out.
It Says Here
Billy Bragg
Chords (as per Miles)

G C G D Intro
C G D Verse
G Em C G Bridge 1
D Em D Em Bridge 2
G F C Instrumental before finale

Back in the Day

Lordy. Getting a bit behind in life these days. Got an email out of the blue with a drawing of mine I haven't seen in 16-19 years. Wild. It's a drawing of my pal, Nick Oredson. Got to get the Arms and Ether for tomorrow goin'. Man. Also, got to finish screening animation for Ashland International Film Festival juryin'. Blah blah blagh.

On the up side, had a great time playing basketball with the fellas and then goofing around with Sam. We worked on Buddy Holly by Weezer, shot hoops at Walker School, then watched some George Gervin and Pistol Pete Marovich on YouTube. This evening the family got together to chill with 97 year-old Grandma out at the folks'. Fun stuff.

This ought to make you happy

Walk On The Wild Side by Young@Heart.
I'm thinking Lou Reed did not forsee this.

Just Wondering

Has anyone kicked as much melodic ass as Paul McCartney did with his bass on Sgt Pepper's? "With A Little Help From My Friends?" Damn, brother, you're killing me here. "Getting Better" -- for !@#$'s sake. I don't think there's been anything like it before of since. Maybe if you took some happy Austrian tuba player from the late 19th century, injected him with ecstasy, took away his hope and fear, gave him visions of the spirit world and turned him loose with the understanding that heaven and hell surround us here on earth you might get something like it. Maybe.

Everybody Digs Bill Evans

And I'm everybody. You should be too. Also, here's a nice article on Evans' playing by Chuck Israels (who's playing bass in the video). I enjoyed checking out Israel's site. I was pleased to see he was not only alive but looking damn good having survived the meat grinder of the 50's - 70's music world--unlike Evans. Tears. As a teacher, I enjoyed reading Israel's "Unpopular Perspective On Jazz Education" article. Israels makes a point of asking students who their favorite musician is. He then goes on to say it's far better to have a lousy answer to this question (such as Kenny G) than none at all. The lousy answer will provide a conduit to further development. Amen. I'm shocked at how insensitive teachers can be to this idea. Liking something, anything, shows you have some passion and connection with what you're studying. Behind any decent artist is some goofy lined paper drawing of Howard the Duck he did in 9th grade. So fess up, and start liking stuff.

Okay, time to listen to more Bill Evans and the rest of those brilliant, humbling dudes.

Arms and Ether Monday is upon us

So I'll get the strip together to post. Until then, here's a daily drawing for a gray Sunday. Cool, now the washing machine is leaking. The disco hot spots hold no charm for you. It is the heat of the moment.
UPDATE: Curses, I'm shut out of ftp'ing to stupid temporary arms site. This could be trouble for an on-time Monday comic post! The horror!!

A Bad Dude

R.I.P. Shigeo Fukuda, who designed the above poster. That's how you do it. Damn, brother, props to you. And Victory! That image is going straight into the Arms and Ether source file--and the tattoo file as well.

Just got done watching the inaugural which was surreal. Sam and I stayed home from school to check it out. Yes inspiring and all, but I wanted more. I wanted to hear that fatuous PA announcer saying, "And now, to depict in song the twisted complexities facing our great nation, is R Kelly, singing "Trapped In The Closet." Cue reaction shots and close ups, etc. Other notes:

1. I liked the awkward moments, Obama and Roberts cocking up the oath. Michelle Obama looking kind of ticked off for some reason. The gnarly Dick Cheney being wheeled around was pretty cool too.

2. Brokaw, please! Mistaking Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson, for Obama's assistant, Reggie Love, and then, claiming that Craig was sporting a Princeton scarf. Craig is coaching the orange and black Oregon State Beavers, dude. Give us timber-fed hicks some love.

3. The Obama girls were the cutest damn things. I felt like a total media sucker. Awwww, etc. But what can you do? My heart is not made of steel!

4. Also, I cannot resist that damn Simple Gifts hymn. @#$%in' Shakers. And Yo-Yo Ma, that was some majestic joy of music shiz you broke out on us, brother. They could have been playing that at a tractor pull and I'm wiping away the tears.

I am indeed, a political animal

Makin' Lists and Makin' Love (I loves me some Brad Neely)

As I write this post title, I think fondly of Brad Neely's life-changing animations and comics. I think in particular of his music video, Kenny Winker sings "Making Love" in which tri-corner hat-clad Kenny sings "There's a ton of shit we've got to do before we can make love." Admire. Gush. But alas, when I went to post the video for your viewing pleasure, I find it has vanished from the internets as a result of the economic downturn. Super Deluxe.com, the hosting site, is no more. Apparently, Neely is putting the videos up on his own site which will take some doing. Sigh. In the meantime, go check out his stuff, it will make you happier than you are now. I assure you. Soldier on, Brad Neely. Keep the tri-corner hat squarely in the public eye.

To tide us over, here's one of Neely's first animations that got all viral a while ago--Washington.

My list for the weekend:
1. Finish sixth Arms and Ether strip --starring Megaleos and Ginger Childe!
2. Fix Arms and Ether url issues.
3. Apply for promotion to "full" professor (college teaching guy who has eaten too many tacos in his time).
4. Make further allusions to "Taco Time," one of the planet's great restaurants.
5. Insulate The Shack.
6. Prepare Monday DMF lecture.
7. Prepare for other classes and review student blogz.
8. Keep fiddling with my online stuff. Cleaning up post labels--that kind of thing
9. Put together SOU Art Dept. Web material.

And then. . . only then. . .

Have a Beat Happening Christmas

sleepy.
lots of carbohydrates.
disoriented.
Had a perfectly nice christmas with the family. Yet, I still think of Beat Happening and their fabulous song, Christmas.

I didn't get no presents on Christmas
And I sure didn't get none today
Learned my lesson
Life is one long session of disappointment, heartache, pain

Disappointment
Heartache
Pain

...and despair

Anyhow, since there's no video for their Christmas song, I have an excuse to embed Beat Happening's Indian Summer video. Oh my, how I love this @#$%ing song. Listen and yearn for warm breezes and the infinite time frame of long-gone youth.

Rocketh and Rolleth Ye

Git yer bass out for the holidays--whatever your race, religion or creed!!

Generating Christmas

Here's this year's Christmas card to celebrate the economic downturn.

In other news, Sam rocked Walker School yesterday with a solo bass and vocal rendition of U2's Where the Streets Have No Name. Good God, try to listen to an 8 year old sing that and not burst into sobs. Go on, give it a go.

Terry Longshore, folks

If I ever start getting cynical about ye olde Higher Ed, I shamble over to the Music Department and get a load of what they're up to. Musicians are hard-core in their commitment to their calling, and there's just no place to hide when you're shakin' it up on stage. I like that. I wish we visual artists had more of that immediacy to keep us honest. So check out S.O.U. Percussion Professor Terry Longshore's site and get inspired. I'm looking forward to collaborating with Terry on an (as yet unnamed) animation project. Stay tuned for the mesmerizing details.

Picture from DMF demo

There's a right way to rock
And a wrong way to roll
You should just listen to your soul
Just remember that life is number one
You could be having so much fun.

From Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

The Best Song of All Time

Ever is Windy by The Association. Any dissenters? Good. Didn't think so. Play this at my funeral. Recorder solos rule.Guys brandishing mustaches and tambourines rule. Hawaiian Filipino singer/guitarists rule. Represent, Larry Ramos!

First Lazy Day of Summer?

Hanging out in my office with Super Sam today. Wow. We blast some music, and he draws awesome stuff (Jawa Cafe complete with OOTINI sign!). I half-assedly goof around with some QuickTime compression tests and pluck the geetar while Final Cut renders. A student or two drops by to talk and take care of loose ends. Of course Sam and I both sing when necessary. Who can resist I Apologize, Bittersweet Symphony, Sabotage, I'm the One (The Descendents!), In The Meantime, Baba O'Reilly or Time Bomb? Not us, that's for sure.

Two on Monday

Didn't write no blog this weekend. But did keep up the daily drawing regimen continuing the alien concept. Applause. The lighter one is actually a later version. As I post these images, I realize they look almost exactly the same. I've failed to follow the cardinal rule of working general to the specific. I've just been tickling this thing. Duh. It drives me crazy when my students do that. It's so much easier to tell people to do stuff than to do it myself. Speaking of which, time to go teach. @#$%, I need to get some work done.

80's music on in the Beanery. Some of it good. Much of it bad. I still hate Duran Duran as much as I did as a teenager.