Dear Emusic,
Thank you for your successful marketing strategies. I wanted to own Guided by Voices album Propeller, so I figured I might be able to find some free mp3s online. Instead, when I Googled propeller mp3s (not even mentioning the band), the first link was to Emusic.

As prolific as Bob is, it's not hard to get a grasp on GBV. In fact, tonight I was just filling in gaps into the eight or so albums I already own.

Even I don't have enough credits to get Hardcore UFOs, and I'm not sure I need it right now at the rate I'm going.

I started last weekend by putting the 1995 box set "box" on my computer. Then I set my Facebook status to "Guided by Voices or Sonic Youth? Discuss." and found my friends were, as I suspected, actually 50/50 on the subject, if they cared enough to weigh in.

Between getting distracted refiling records (a Runaways album signed by Kitty? Juicy by the Notorious B.I.G.?) and double checking my Emusic downloads (hmm, somehow Robert Pollard's Silverfish Trivia was downloaded once but it's not on this computer, and Slumber Party's Musik) it's like I've got a record store here where I'm always coming across new treasures.

I feel terribly terribly guilty that I am not someone who remembers song titles or lyrics, or even what albums are in her collection. Sometimes it's all a big blur, which makes GBV constantly amazing and amusing, and yet allows me to have big stretches of not listening to them because the many songs sound the same. Brilliant, but lacking in distinction.

Enough about GBV, except I rilly rilly want to take a pilgrimage to Dayton OH now. Especially since Athens Popfest isn't happening.

****

Nother reason I love the internet/Emusic:

Sometimes it really helps when I'm on a band's mailing list. For instance, I tried to download the My Teenage Stride January single when it came out but I had a computer fail. Thanks to their reminder, I got March's (but they offered no explanation as to what happened to February) and successfully redownloaded January (the very excellent "Cast Your Own Shadow"). MTS will be playing Cake Shop on Saturday with Knight School and Human Hearts (Franklin Bruno's new project).

I owe Mr. Bruno whiskey.

And speaking of friendly reminders, maybe you would like to read Jenny Jenkin's tour diary and go see her play in your town:

"Hi friends and family! You know I'm on tour right? It's going good. We
left on Feb 19th, we should be back around May 12th or so. Tour is
crazy, sometimes hard, but often amazing! So, my friend David, who I
am on tour with, is doing a blog of the tour. Thought you might want
to know the address:

www.jjdd09tour.blogspot.com

It's very nice and technological of him to do it - I am way too busy
still booking stuff you know? There's pictures and stuff. And you can
share it with others of my friends and family if you want. Hope you
like it!

And you know if you want you can also keep track of where I am
supposed to be by looking at my myspace page, at least when I manage
to update it. The address for that of course is:

myspace.com/jennyjenkinsrockstar

I love you and I miss you, but don't worry too much. Wish us luck!
Thanks! (And thanks to all the amazing friends and family who are
helping us on the road especially!)

Love, Jenny"

Evil fat worms got to my beautiful zucchinis so I'm only left with one plant on the other side of the garden. The corn is looking good. The tomatoes are a bit dried out so I'm trying to water more often, but there are tomatoes on each plant. The peppers are looking good, four plants with peppers on each. I'm not sure if they are bell peppers or long sweet peppers though, so I have to remember to ask my grandpa because some may be near ripe now. So far all I've gotten to eat is a few cherry tomatoes, sage (usually wrapped around chicken and broiled) and mint (mojitos! mint water that doesn't cost $2 a bottle!)

I'm excited to find the Siltbreeze catalog on eMusic as I sometimes have a hard time finding good stuff on there with 90 downloads a month. I got a Times New Viking album (Paisley Reich) and U.S. EZ's Sic Alps tonight. I'll have to load up the iPod and start using it again. I listened to the Melvin's Nude Boots when I was going to sleep the other night and I had to stay up and listen. Since the Melvins have started playing rock songs it's harder to block it out and have weird dreams like when I listen to Ozma.

Like my attempts at creating an indiepop zine, it soon digresses into other musical forms and random life experiences. There are plenty of music blogs out there. Find them. Or tell me about them.

I've taken it upon myself this summer to read War and Peace. Already I can tell you my brain isn't very good with stories with too many characters. It is a book to study though, and I wish I had a good old English class (or Russian Literature class) to help me along. Yet finding book resources IS something I can do guilt free at work, and if I figure out the story well enough to recommend it to one poor unsuspecting high school student then I'll be doing my job. I picked War and Peace because I was breezing through 200 page books every day, maybe every other day. This way I'll have a fair warning when I'm coming close to the end. I wish more literary fiction came in standard paperback size. Has anyone else been pretentious enough to read Infinite Jest? Che? That's not stuff that's fun to carry around the city with you.

I'm disappointed the Apples in Stereo/Earlimart/Poison Control Center show tomorrow night was canceled and they're honoring the tickets at the NJ show on Friday. Ridgewood NJ will be at least an hour away by train, and I hope I don't get stranded trying to get back. Actually, I do hope I get stranded and the band rescues me and I have to share a bed with ...... and go to the Philly show. I'll still get to see the Poison Control Center at Pianos tomorrow night so not all is lost. Still. Seeing the Apples in Brooklyn was going to be SO convenient, and I haven't seen them since last fall at the Housing Works Bookstore show in NYC and I was really looking forward to this for MONTHS. I bought my tickets the day they went on sale otherwise I might have said "ah, skip it, see em in Philly this weekend!"