"Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." Voltaire

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." Albert Einstein (further evidence in Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way"...ask anyone who has done the program about "reading deprivation" week)

So when I started this blog I was hoping I'd want to write about politics and pop music. Nah. Starting next week my life is only going to have time for three things: libraries, baseball, and pop music. Actually, I should ONLY be thinking about librarianship...but this is my first year as a fantasy league manager.

Okay, back to the Belle and Sebastian story, so I only have to tell this once...

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Rose Melberg with Belle and Sebastian

I could write a novella of my stupid Softies stories...another one I tell was taping "Love You More" off of KAOS my freshman year. I was heartbroken, so I made a tape of it playing over and over and over again and sent it to my ex. I can't believe she still talks to me. I suppose this is a benefit to cd mixes, that no one will ever feel compelled to see how many times one song will fit on a cassette.
Add that to her giggling and saying "I'm glad you got a ticket!" during her set in Vancouver. The crowd talked through most of her set, and she sang songs with Larissa and Nick of P:ano which was lovely. Played a lot of new songs and "Me and the Bees". See, I should have written this down sooner as I'm already forgetting what she performed.

Snapshot memories from the B&S set:
Stuart climbed on the front monitors during "I'm a Cuckoo" and I started to wonder just what he posesses or is posessed by. What a glorious mix of so many pop icons, there is something wonderful about seeing a performer who has both the self-confidence and the faith of the fans to run around onstage and dance and perform with absolute joy. For all the "sincerity" afforded to indie rockers who come onstage sullen, miserable, and fucked up (um...did you ever see Elliott Smith on a bad night? I felt like I was going down with him.) I see everything right with enjoying the spotlight and the love the fans are giving.

The highlight of the show was their gentle America bashing (this must be part of the contract for playing in Vancouver) and a cover of Madonna's Borderline.

Also, as I elborate on the wonderfulness of the fans, the friend of an online friend that picked up my ticket for me turned out to be another Catholic library staff person getting her MLS. They must have a ridiculous number of librarian fans. I suppose they are second to Bloodhag in that respect, although most librarians I know just tolerate Bloodhag for getting teens in the library to have science fiction novels thrown at their heads.

Standing in the front row, everything seemed so real. Like listening to their albums is fiction and the live show is non-fiction.

Okay, I have an attention span of a flea. I'm going to watch a twee anime called Pom Poko, it's about racoons that transform into humans to try to "scare off the advancement of civilization". For some reason the springtime is always "anime month" for me, then I don't pay much attention the rest of the year. I suppose failing to be an otaku is a good thing.

Two more thoughts about the Portland show:

1. I highly approve of Stuart's NKOTB hat. He's wearing it in the Blues are Still Blue and Funny Little Frog video as well. I resisted telling him how Joey MacIntyre used to cut the top off of his so that he had a "topless hat", but after seeing the Funny Little Frog video, I'm wondering if it's not such a coincidence.

2. When I went to pick up my ticket from the lady I met on Craiglist she was listening to Lois. Is she some kind of guardian angel or what?

And, some final thoughts before sleep:

"We now believe in "coincidence," where we once called it "grace."
Julia Cameron- Some People Say That...God is No Laughing Matter-An Artist's Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path

"Life is a library owned by an author. It has few books which he wrote himself, but most were written for him." Harry Emerson Fosdick

Okay, I thought I may be able to make a "blog" but with a zinester heart I see there isn't much hope of me avoiding writing with "too much information" and an absolute lack of "professionalism"...which is probably why I love to write but I've never been able to get myself on track as a professional freelancer

Three nights of Belle and Sebastian. I'm still catching up on sleep, so I may have to write this in fragments to get the whole story out. If you desire such ridiculousness, please click on the link to my flickr account where you may piece together bits of my adventures.

Okay,
I heard "Your Cover's Blown" from the Books EP which I don't own. Despite what seems like fantatacism, there are times when I barely pay attention to the band and miss entire "important" happenings.

For the encore, Stuart asked the audience what songs they wanted to hear. An adorable girl in black knee high socks and a red schoolgirl skirt (as opposed to my white knee high socks and a purple schoolgirl skirt) requested Lazy Line Painter Jane. And then went onstage to sing with them! Okay, that does not do Amy justice, she has a beautiful voice and was thrilled to be "that girl".

After the show I found myself waiting by the backstage gate with a few other fans including Miss Amy. Despite my dirty dreams, I don't know why I really stand there sometimes. I like to hear the stories of the hardcore fans, the ones who traveled the furthest and have seen the band the most, or have the best stories to tell of their devotion. My obsession is probably 50% the fans, 30% the music, and 20% the band/mythology...then there is a whole other level I can only describe as "spiritual", like just now, I was looking at the tour poster illustration with the Bob Dylan print dress in the shop window and "To Ramona" by Bob Dylan came on the radio (as played by the Flying Burrito Brothers, who were friends with my groupie idol Pamela DesBarres, who also loves Dylan...well, I'm not sure what to read into it, but maybe I'm learning, but I need a teacher))...

Sam Coones and Janet Weiss from Quasi (or Sleater Kinney) and Corin Tucker tried to duck out of the backstage area, but at least one fan caught each for a photo. There is something hard for me to comprehend that SK are probably more famous than Belle and Sebastian in some ways, or some places.

Like how oodles of B&S fans had been to the Franz Ferdinand/Death Cab For Cutie show the night before...now, I like both bands, but I actually buy and listen to Death Cab albums. I don't have a TV so I don't know which band is on MTV or the WB more, and they both seem to get a fair number of magazine covers.

Anyway, there were jokes made that all of the above (DCFC, FF, SK/Q, B&S) went out for karaoke the night before.

After photos were taken and autographs signed, the little crowd broke up. I found myself in the awkward position of walking next to Stuart as my car was in the same direction he was heading. I made small talk, told him I'd be at the Vancouver show, and said goodnight.

I couldn't sleep. I ended up talking to my mother on the East Coast and having a very sweet conversation about whether or not she wants to meet her favorite singer, James Taylor. She's not much of a fan girl, except for a rather frightening Seinfield phase where I actually took issue with her "imaginary friends" because she would forget to tell me she was recounting funny things from a television show and didn't really know a wacky lady named Eileen that reminded her of me. I really hope she does meet James Taylor (she has a friend that works for him and can get backstage passes, it doesn't involve any wierdness or effort on her part). I can't imagine someone that successful wouldn't have a bad reputation if he deserved one (granted, maybe I should google some fan sights before I say that, she really doesn't want to be dissapointed if he's an asshole)

Later gators!

(reposted, as I was trying not to say Belle and Sebastian so much that I inadvertently wrote this without even mentioning what I was talking about)
Thursday- Portland, Oregon
Friday- Vancouver, British Columbia
Saturday- Seattle, Washington

Pop music and mania is like a chicken and an egg in my brain. Do I take on grandious adventures because I'm going through a manic episode, or does the promise of music, adventure, and romance induce such a state?

***
The Vancouver show involves the most risk. The show was sold out weeks before it was announced that Rose Melberg is the opening act. I had bought tickets for the Seattle show the morning they went on sale, but since I don't care for the New Pornographers, I wasn't planning on going out of my way to attend any of the other Northwest shows.

But after I won a ticket for the Vancouver show via eBay (yet still having anxieties about getting the ticket due to some PayPal wierdness) I thought fondly of my first Softies show...it was an instore in Swarthmore PA and I went home with a boy for vegan dinner because he was adorable and had a Lois badge on his sweater. He snuck us into the show at the college later, where I was honestly more interested in seeing Cold Cold Hearts. After the show we went back to his house and tried to watch a film, something French and he was probably trying to turn me onto Godard at an impressionable age, but I left in the middle of the night with my virginity intact because the whole fantasy of meeting an adorable pop boy, who ran an amazing label, and played me Elliot Smith songs on his guitar, well, it was too much...too much...

(new Stephen Merritt (evil S just reminded me that Morrissey and Merritt both require double consonants, as I simulatneously misspelled Stephen Merritt's name and caught the typo on the Morrissey ad on My Space...where you can listen to the whole "Ringleader of the Tormentors" album now by clicking on said misspelled ad), In China Said the Moon, on Oooooh! on KAOS...funny when I turned on the radio to see if it was Jenny or Domenica's week I heard the dancey bits and immediately knew it was Domenica...)

okay, more adventures to come

Too many shows this week, and the earplugs I bought for my New Years Resolution are still tacked up on the back of my door.

But I'll start off with an unconfirmed rumor from a good source...maybe someone with more of a Top 40 interest than me can confirm this...you can see all 3 members of Bratmobile in the audience of the Britney Spears Live in Las Vegas DVD.

I'm working on booking shows for Rose Melberg, Cynthia Nelson, Andrew Kaffer, and Rocketship in the next few months in Olympia. Yay.

Speaking of which, if you think you want to be a real life friend, you should e-mail me and come to the all building Martin Apartment Party next Friday.

Tuesday the 28th: Robert Pollard and Once For Kicks in Seattle at the Crocodile

Bob is old and drinks tequila. Tommy Keene's vocals were not turned up at all so I was dissapointed in the lack of harmonies. I somehow denied the fact that Robert plays fucking marathon sets and as much as I wanted to talk to Jon Wurster about a book he mentioned in an interview I read, I was too tired and headed home instead. In my obligatory monthly Tullycrafting, Jeff Fell was there and I think it was the first time in about a year I've seen him NOT wearing a GBV shirt. I have to make a personal note here about how much fun I had talking to D, A, J, and R or I'll forget their names by the next time I see them in Seattle.

Whoa, and I do want to get some sleep tonight, but Merge is nice enough to have the entire Robert Pollard "From a Compound Eye" album available in streaming audio.

Thursday the 2nd: David Rovics and Attila the Stockbroker in Lacey at St. Martin's University

I love David Rovics, but I think (and by his onstage admission) smoking Washington's wacky tabacky made him a little less gregarious than I was expecting. Attila the Stockbroker was a pleasant surprise, as I fear poets as much as my own poetry. Once upon a time the Manic Street Preachers even opened for him. Or maybe it's just my fetish for the English accent. Both performers are amazing poets that find ways to work with political words that I dreamed of but never could find, especially not so directly. Although David brought the house down with "I'm A Better Anarchist Than You" which really made me laugh. I want to support the anarchists, but the few I know that are out feeding the hungry and giving to the poor are far outnumbered by the ones who just manage to piss me off and act like that's the only important political act to participate in.

Friday the 3rd: Son and They Shoot Horses Don't They in Olympia at Le Voyeur
Son's cover of The Smith's Still Ill using the top 2 strings on his guitar for the chords and a loose bottom string for percussion was amazing. They Shoot Horses Don't They is a fun mix of Red Pony Clock and Old Time Relijun, now on Kill Rock Stars.

Saturday the 4th: Stereoearrings (Karl Blau), Ponies in the Surf, and Nire in Olympia at Le Voyeur

Nire were quiet and lovely and made me very happy I didn't spend all my money to go see Low in Seattle this week because they had the same effect on me. A beautiful, sleepy pretty effect.

I love Ponies in the Surf. They're a brother sister duo from New England, with bits of Columbian pop mixed in. I was thinking about how I didn't really like the Owl and the Pussycat too much when their album was released, but now I love the softest boy girl duos I can find. Alex croons, Camille harmonizes, and I just feel so charmed when I listen to them play, like I'm in some kind of plush lounge far away from the cement floors and bar noises I'm actually subjecting myself to when I've seen them.

Karl made noise with a radio and effects pedals. He cut his hair and wore sneakers and looked super cute. Really. I love him and knew I was being superficial of his hippieness, but I've had enough of boys in pigtails for one lifetime.

Afterwards I drove out to KAOS 89.3 with Nire and Ponies in the Surf so the Ponies could play a live set on Gimme Indie Rock. They sounded great and I intend to post the video soon.

Okay, sleepie time...really...I need to do this more often instead of trying to write it all up at the end of the week...

Okay, the greatest mystery in my pop canon...

Why is Jordan Knight from the NKOTB wearing a Bauhaus shirt in The Right Stuff video?" I mean, for at least ten years I have pondered this, and no one believes me, but now, ha, it's clearly visible in the shots of the band riding around in the convertable. And they end up chasing girls in a graveyard. Think about this, pre-Hot Topic, pre-punk revival....where the hell would a boy band member get a Bauhaus shirt? (fyi his admitted musical taste has always been of the Motown and pianist variety...The Stylistics, Elton John etc. I have never heard of Jordan name dropping post-punk bands in an interview)

Doubly confusing, but alas, invisible in the quality of the video I found, is Jonathan Knight wearing a Sugarcubes shirt under his orange shirt in the Hangin Tough video (or the extended, Hangin Tough live video). This is 1989! Again...was this some hipster working in the wardrobe department. (The NKOTB wardrobe manager/groupie recruiter Uncle Rob was an idiot pedophile...spare me from accusations of slander, I talked to the guy on the phone when I was 13 and he was an absolute pervert. If he was a record collector nerd things may have been quite different. Ewww, like I have to defend myself, here are is a note he wrote to me after I complied with his request to send some photos...)

I'm on YouTube. With treats from the Wedding Present, Tullycraft, Tender Forever, Harvey Danger, the Mae Shi, and more to come...okay, and some stupid videos of my friends and I screwing around or having innane conversations. Enjoy.

Of course, be aware that YouTube is addicting...things like a Comet Gain video from MTV's Alternative Nation, or Morrissey on the bus with a bunch of kids, or Magnetic Fields videos....

And, for those of us who believe Morrissey could never make too many records, now he's got one with the FBI as well.

I actually recognize four of artists in the Whitney Biennial this year...Daniel Johnston, Momus, Jim O'Rourke, and Martha Colburn...disturbing...its like an early nineties college radio music director gone art snob...

This is how rumors get started, thank you Mr. Stephen Cramer, now, I feel ethically icky about reposting someone else's entire story/post/article without their permission, but it's short and sweet:
on friday night, jeff griggs informed me of a masters of the hemisphere reuinion in april at the 40 watt during the annual twilight criterium bike race. "yeah, if you know any nerds who were into the masters, let em know." so, here i am, letting u know. show will be like $3 at the door.

The Masters of the Hemisphere were my introduction to Athens pop, they came through Olympia in 2000 and played live on my friend Karen's radio show.

However loveable the Masters were, Sean Rawl's Still Flyin is da bomb. It's all the name Dub Narcotic promised and never delivered...really spectacular for a bunch of indie kids....

What is more disturbing about the March 2006 of Playboy...a little interview with Stuart Murdoch or a fashion spread that begins "Whether you listen to hip-hop or indie pop, you want to dress like a rock star. Here's how"?

Summing up Stuart: he was "mystified" by Belle and Sebby being voted the best Scottish band of all time, the band has become "tougher and more rocking", and he has a "fondness for the Mets"

Good news-ish, no actual indiepopstrs were actually photographed for that fashion spread. Really, boys, keep on the argyle sweaters and ill fitting suit jackets, occasionally wear a pair of pants that are too tight, and that's all the fashion I care to see...

Valentines Day.
I figured having no one was better than having someone who always seemed to screw it up. Not that I don't screw it up. Every year I seem to accumulate another box of Hello Kitty cards I forget to give out.

But a small miracle happened that my other called to say he'd be passing through town tonight. I found myself speeding home from work, stopping to buy a box of condoms and feeling really sorry for the guy in front of me that was loaded down with a basket of candy and cards.

A quick fuck followed by a single cigarette, intimate conversation, and loneliness by midnight. Like all relationship decisions, I must verify this with the Radio 8 Ball..."Should I keep going with this?" Answer: Andy Dick and the Bitches of the Century, "Cock and Balls" (gist-I'd give up all the booze and drugs if I can keep my genitals...wierdly accurate.)

Tomorrow I plan no such romance, but an excuse to wear a ridiculous combination of pink and red and glitter to work, display erotic books and movies for our patrons, and eat lots of candy. Oh yeah, and the live version of Radio 8 Ball is on KAOS Radio tomorrow night. Honestly, not a lot of indie pop will be played, and after Cars Can Be Blue's in studio performance, I'm not sure if I'll ever be allowed to reccomend a band again, but the overall quality of the entertainment, the wonderous nature of the oracle, is something I am very enchanted by.

Congradulations to the Three Imaginary Girls for a SOLD OUT 69 Love Songs Pre-Valentine's Day bash at the Crocodile. As usual, I'm too tired to write detailed stuff, so J can harass me about not writing a show review, and then in a few days I may have more to say...but come on, but there is a certain band I would comment on every post if I didn't stop myself....for instance, how the lead singer was wearing a Bunnygrunt shirt last night and we all can say:

YAY for the East Coast Bunnygrunt tour this spring. It looks like Bunny Matt is just starting to book/plan the tour...hmmm...perhaps I need a vacation?

And for a bit of liberal guilt, watch Blue Vinyl. From the milk crate storage to the computer, from the lamp in the corner to the record collection. I'm shacked up with plastic products that release dioxin at various points in their consumer cycle (oh yeah, and those toys under the bed too). The film does reiterate that vinyl is most toxic when burned (ie if your house is on fire)...but firsthand I can say you can get a nasty respitory reaction from plain old stupidity like letting a vinyl office chair roll up against a gas heater for a half hour. Or when you get asked "what would you save if your house was on fire"- your record collection is actually a practical answer because left to burn it could very well be the most toxic part of your apartment.

Okay, and gossip today, although I'm hesitant to BELIEVE anything I read in the Onion, I want to believe that Johnny Marr is working with Modest Mouse. But I suppose I can suspend my disbelief, like pretending thatMorrissey is not gray

I will be attending the Three Imaginary Girls Pre-Valentines Day 69 Love Songs bash on Thursday in Seattle. I came across Sean Nelson and His Mortal Enemies's setlist in my investigations, although the Harvey Danger frontman goes on last, he's got dibs on "Busby Berkley Dreams", "Underwear", "The Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure", and one more...(again, only insignificant gossip can be posted here, because I'm sure I'm half wrong).

Other Magnetic Fields news...Stephen is working on a cd of songs to accompany the final book in Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Yes, book 13 will be the end of our adventures with the Baudelaire orphans, and the book and cd will hopefully be ready for an October 13th release. I think you can get a sneak peak of the album by finding the audio books of the Unfortunate Events, with songs from The Gothic Archies already released.

Ohhhh I just discovered Redd Kross podcasts hosted by Jeff McDonald. The amount of new music available online is only trumped by the random information on music you already listen to that you can spend time looking at.

Or freaking out that, Now back in the studio, Redd Kross are working on a new release for 2006."

I've spend more time looking at Evan Dando photos than Supercult porn recently, and I pay for that shit yo. Right after I paid, I realized I paid for a site that has no photos of hot boys.

Wandered further until I found myself re-reading Kathleen Hanna's zine, My Life With Evan Dando, Popstar. Ah...

"I put on my headphones,
And I tune out
I am devout
The girls are singing about my life
But they're not here, they've got the wild life

If you want to find out, find out
Youv'e got to look them in the eye
That's why my only choice
Is to find the face behind the voice...."
Belle and Sebastian
Act of the Apostle II

So I hope to find time to read
I'll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence soon. . I watched The Gospel According to Jesus this afternoon but fell asleep, slowly getting through Good Catholic Girls and Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality and I cracked openThe Confessions of St. Augustine this evening as well. I'm also still thinking about What God Wants.

Belle and Sebastian, Of Montreal, Evan Dando, David Bowie

I probably wouldn't have left the house tonight if the boy from the record store didn't call me to say my copy of Belle and Sebastian's The Life Pursuit was in. I was gifted a copy last Tuesday from a friend with superior computer skills, also breaking the traditional Death Cab for cutie album he usually gets me for my birthday.

I had a birthday gift certificate, so I also got a Marine Girls record, a Matty Pop Chart CD, a Jad Fair CD, and a Pete Seeger record.

I almost hate Sukie in the Graveyard. What is up with the photos of Tatu all over the liner notes? Granted this time the band also included tastefully moody monchromatic portraits of themselves. Where can I get a bootleg poster of giant close up shot of Stuart like I had of Evan Dando in 93? After twenty minutes of Dando oggling, I realized I'd rather have a poster of Stevie to gaze at.

So I didn't actually say how the Of Montreal show at Chop Suey on Tuesday was. Wow. First of all, there are a lot fewer hippies at their shows in Seattle than in Athens. So Chop Suey smelled better than the 40 Watt in August, but it was way too crowded to dance. And what the hell is the fun of seeing Of Montreal if you can't dance? They opened up with Rapture Rapes the Muses so I was spared the anticipation of hearing my favorite song. Kevin Barnes does glam so well. I love the glitter and the rhinestones and the blue eyeshadow and the whole lovely rock and roll icon worship. I felt like the crowd was packed so tight it was absorbing some of the sound. But the biggest difference between them as an experimental pop band and a glam pop band? I'm thinking "lip synching controversy" if they keep sounding this good live.

The opening acts were almost unmentionable.

I was hoping to find a copy of All Saints for S's birthday, but I think I did even better: an autographed copy of Angela Bowie's "Backstage Passes". I read this a few years after it came out, but I remember her going on Oprah and talking about the book and how she caught David in bed with Mick Jagger. Hotttttttttt! Seriously, at a time when I hadn't read much porn, reading about "the much fabled Lance of Love" sent me into a tizzy. Z and I used to watch Labyrinth and The Hunger for the same reason.

Truely Tweevil: K Records @ Evergreen and how to do interviews

I may backpost, may add photos, but for now, lets just look at the state of my indierockpoplife in Washington State. Or at least the last week of it. Actually, I'm tired after just writing about three events....soooo....

A week ago, Thursday January 26
Calvin Johnson/Mt. Eerie/Kimya Dawson
Evergreen Housing Community Center, Olympia WA
I drove out to Yelm to pick up S so we got there toward the end of Calvin's set. He's doing a wonderful country crooner kinda thing now. There was a period not too long ago where he was trying to experiment with his live performances, but since his tour with Tender Forever I've seen him play twice with just straight up singing and a bit of storytelling in between.
(paraphrased) Calvin said:
"I went to Evergreen in the early 90s and I see something here tonight that I never saw back then. Right there, someone is studying."

Second up was Mt. Eerie. Okay, I try. I've seen Phil play about once every six months for the past few years, and in 98-00 I think I saw him play almost once a month as the Microphones. Having seen basically the entire evolution of his career as a musician, and being completely in love with the early Microphones recordings, I still had to make the snarky comment to S that almost every song he plays as Mt. Eerie sounds like a soundcheck. He's deconstructing our notions of what songs are. He's singing about nature. The structure of verse chorus verse is completely gone. This makes me feel anxious. I never know if a song is ending or beginning. My hands freeze midair as I go to clap a the wrong moment. I just don't like it.

Now Kimya Dawson on the other hand, I find to be beautiful and graceful and wonderous. I'm a little uncomfortable tonight as she's just announced her pregnancy to the world and, well, I'm childfree and spend a lot of energy making fun of breeders. While she's working her merch booth during Calvin's set I smile at her, pat my stomach and give her the thumbs up anyway. But her set is a nice mix of just intriguing and insightful songs, sometimes punctuated by awkwardness at really personal stuff coming through like songs about babies and parenting.
But she told a cute story, and I paraphrase:
"I went to Evergreen. Mirah and I used to work here when it was the Greenery Cafe. After hours we would dance on the tables and sing DeLites "The Groove is in the Heart. She would say "You have such a cool voice, you should sing!" and I would say "No, you have such a cool voice, you should sing!" but neither of us were writing music back then."

January 31st
Of Montreal @ Chop Suey, Seattle WA
So I did a zine ages ago and people were always writing to me asking for advice on how to make a zine. My friend J and I had a perfect lesson at the Of Montreal show...so here is "How to interview awesome bands for your zine."
1. Come up with some questions, and a bunch of topics you're interested in and can have an intelligent conversation about (ie books, radio, recording equipment etc. are generally safe bets)
2. Make phone calls to management/record label etc. to set up an interview
3. If you can't set up an interview, or if things fall through at some step of the process, bring your recording equipment to the show anyway
4. At the show, find the tour manager. Assuming this is an indie rock thing, ask the person selling merch if s/he is touring with the band.
5. Okay, now, any of the above steps can and should be skipped if you can properly identify the person in the band you want to interview. When you see her/him, go up and say "I'm supposed to interview you for (whatever). Can we do it tonight?" See, the general chaos of a tour coupled with a desire for publicity and/or a general sense of niceness means you will very rarely get a "no" (I have NEVER heard a no, but being female may help) . If you must namedrop the people you talked to (ie the manager at my radio station, your tour manager, your label etc.) IF THEY EXIST (if you are really desperate, you don't even really need to have talked to these people, when I was younger, I bullshitted plenty of major labels by saying they had send me publicity materials for bands I liked...I loved it "did we send you a press kit?" "oh yes, that's where I got your number" bullshit I got the number by having multiple secretaries pass me along until I got to the important people.)
6. Once you sit down with your recorder, it's really hard to go wrong. Oh I could talk about interview etiquitte but you may as well read Writers Digest for that. You're going to act nervous and ramble on and interrupt your interview subject etc. but they know you're a college radio dj or zine writer and this isn't NPR or Harper's. Either they're in a well known band and have been through this before, or they're just starting out and are too excited to be interviewed that you have nothing to worry about. That said, the best interview technique I have ever learned is to shut up and wait for the interviewee to talk. Seriously. Don't fill in silences because they feel awkward, let the other person feel awkward and fill in those silences. Okay, now I should remind myself of this every day with every person I talk to, but it comes out when I'm giving expert advice that I can't really take.

Now, the best part about this ,and I don't want to get into a indie vs. non debate, the general idea is if the band only has a handful of screaming high school girls in the front row and you are not one of them, you can probably get an interview...then again, as a screaming high school girl, I got interviews from plenty of bands desperate for publicity either by showing up or via phone, which is a whole nother story.

February 1, after returning home from Damien Jurardo @ the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR
So I sent an e-mail to Teenbeat to update my e-mail address, but in an impulse I added: MARK ROBINSON PLEASE COME BACK TO OLYMPIA! (That is what I'm really thinking).

So I fell out of my chair last night when he wrote back and said maybe someday. Okay, I knew he's probably the only person who works there. Does anyone else remember getting Teenbeat records in the early-mid 90s with the catalog inserts that said they were always looking for help in the office? Sigh, or the time I thought my head would explode because Calvin did not kick me out of Dub Narcotic when I had no other reason to be there but to listen to him and Mark play back recordings so I could gloat while they worked on the finer points of production (honestly, I was wondering WHY he was recording at Dub Narcotic, because he gave such an awesome sound to everything he produced that I thought was far superior to the fidelity of D.N. studio....I mean, even Cold Cold Hearts sounded jangly when Mark Robinson was at the dials.)

I was full of melancholy at the show tonight. Maybe because French Toast cancelled and I was wanting to taste a bit of DC punk rock cred. Maybe because Le Ton Mite decided to do a puppet show instead of sing French children's songs, and I was really looking forward to French children's songs. Maybe because Calvin is so lovely, but he sings about graveyards and I sadly imagine the day he's no longer with us. Maybe because Tender Forever is the woman I am in my dreams, but definitely not in real life.

Aemulatio, I couldn't find a definition online but I first encountered it in the book
How Rembrandt Reveals Your Beautiful Imperfect Self. It's an Italian word, for the concept of "acknowledged emulation of greatness". Like my friend S who is plotting a blog entirely constructed of Morrissey lyrics. Or how I feel cursed by Lois Maffeo, who I once overheard tell two friends "well, if you don't know what you want to do after Evergreen you can always volunteer at the (Capitol) Theater and stuff singles at K until you figure it out." I'm still there, except I never got so lucky as to stuff singles at K, but shelving books at the library will suffice for the mindless minimum wage job. When I was 17 I had time, she didn't pick up a guitar til 23, but the birthdays came and went and now I'm staring down 27 knowing I can't die a rock star because I never even tried to become one. But whose greatness do I acknowledge? I got some kind of post-modern messsage out of punk rock that I had to be original, that I had to just be me, but who is that?

(another backpost to see how embarassed I am at writing this stuff down...Tullycraft asks "Who's gonna document these days?" so I step up to the challenge...I suppose you can Google all the people I'm too lazy to build links for...)

Saturday- Rode up to Seattle with my ex J and my un boyfriend S for the Twee Popfest. Did some drunken dialing to all three members of Manchester by the Sea including a birthday telegram from Math and Physics Club to William. I think he asked them to play the New England Popfest next year. Drank High Life with S in my car while he tried to enlighten me on the Christian rock connections of the Paradox. I was never into those Tooth and Nail bands, and I made fun of S for his MXPX jackets before we knew each other, but their influence on S comes up often as we spend a lot of time (re)defining ourselves as Christians while listening to "maybe I'm gay" pop (his Tullycraft button made me forget the old MXPX jackets, the way he speaks in Smiths lyrics won me over).

My paradox was that I did not feel bad drinking behind an all ages venue because I have never had the chance to get drunk at a Seattle Tullycraft show. I was kinda drunk, but not drunk enough to acknowledge it was a sloppy show. I was a bit relieved, I'd seen them play "tight" shows for the past year (maybe it has something to do with Cori?) and I missed Sean mocking his bandmates and Chris breaking strings every song (okay, so he broke one string on the last chord of the last song). Apparently the Athens show this year was sloppy, but the audience was too drunk and enthusiastic to notice.

But it is time to retire Pop Songs Yr New Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About. Most of the bands in the song have broken up and restructuring it so the one person in the audience who knows the words can't sing along is just cruel. Even if I did tape it off the radio in high school and remember my Weezer loving friend John just creaming his courdoroys and saying something along the lines of "that's the kind of music I want to play! Who is that? That song is awesome!" (I thought the rocker boys in high school didn't like me, but now I know they were just stoned all the time)

Sunday-ran into Rose Melberg downtown. She's finished recording a new album that should come out in March on Double Agent Records