December 26, 2003

German Beer Coasters
Hope everyone had a merry merry. I'm recovering from much gluttony and I hope you are doing the same. So much food. So. Much. Food.

One of my Christmas presents this year was the delivery of my fathers old German Beer Coaster collection. I've been enjoying the blackletter type and nice beer graphics. I scanned some in. Here is a small sampling.

December 21, 2003

Best Albums in 2003
Well now I can't let the end of the year pass me by without at least offering something in the way of a 'best in 2003' list. It just wouldn't be keeping to the spirit of the season now would it? So I'll do what I think is right and throw together a musical tribute to some of the bands and songs that kept the spirits high and my feet on the floor in the 2003.

Overall, it was a solid year for the guitar. My ornamental and acoustical bookends of Twenty-ought-three were forged in a smithy filled with dark and powerful metals. In between lay a collection of honest strumming and angular orchestrations. From that collection, here are my top ten picks. All of these albums were acquired this year. However, that does not mean they were actually made this year. It just means I got into in the '03. Ahem.

1. AFI - Sing The Sorrow
I got back into the idea of the album this year. I wanted it all: music, packaging, liner notes, good typography, etc, etc. I was sick of hearing one song I liked, then being suckered into buying the album just to find that the song I liked was the only good one on the record. I had heard one of the songs off this AFI (A Fire Inside) record on the radio and had heard other stuff by them in the past. When I saw the record for sale at Target for only $5.99, I knew that it was probably a shitty record and that it had only that one good song on it. I bought it anyway. Hot Damn. Sometimes that six dollar record you purchase on impulse becomes the album that holds exclusive reign over your Hi-Fi system for the rest of the year. Sing the Sorrow's award winning package design and incredible type treatment wrap up this record of perfectly executed rock. I would describe this record as flawless. All the songs are good and the arrangement of the tracks really make this a complete and perfect effort. Also, AFI are incredible live.

2. Spider John Koerner - Running, Jumping, Standing Still
Minnesota folk bluesman John Koerner recorded this with fellow northern native Willie Murphy in 1969 with the help of the stellar Mohawk production team (see also Dr. John's Gris Gris). Spider John's songs on this album are an incredible loose combination of blues, psychedelic folk, and drinking anthems. The songs easily stand side by side with anything The Beatles or The Stones were doing at the time and in my mind also bridge the gap in Minnesota blues music between Dylan and The Replacements. In fact, most of 'Running, Jumping, Standing Still' sounds like those early loose Replacements records. A real live and free vibe percolates throughout the album. There are some great 'breaks' on this record too for any and all aspiring hip hop deejays.

3. Mississippi John Hurt - Worried Blues
This record had been sitting in my collection for years but it wasn't till this year that I gave it a proper listen. To think of all the time lost that I could have been spending with Mississippi John Hurt. It's a shame. Recorded live at the Ontario Place Cafe in Washington D.C. in 1963 this recording is dramatically apocalyptic and beautiful. John Hurt has a blues voice that is very hushed and quiet which compliments his minimal dark fingerpicking perfectly. The track 'Sliding Delta' wanders around in a soft understated southern stroll while dripping with rich, hot textures. After discovering this record I spent the rest of 2003 finding anything and everything else he recorded.

4. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium
If Apple's iTunes software had the ability to take my entire album collection and output a brand new recording I think that album would sound something like 'Deloused in the Comatorium'. The Mars Volta have combined everything from the past to put out a record that sounds like music from the future. There's a strong prog-rock vibe that sits at the foundation to this record and on top of that I hear something that sounds like old Santana playing with Fugazi. Tons of real musical talent, angular arrangements, and catchy anthems combine to make a record that is as interesting as it is intense. It's a record that probably took at least ten listenings before I grocked its full power. More please.

5. Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
File under: Music to Read Tolkien or Asimov by. These kids are definitely influenced by big ideas and in 2003 it was an absolutely important time to think big. Think epic. 'In Keeping Secrets' is the second album from the HEED but is actually the third chapter in a conceptual opus of punk-prog-rock. The story of Coheed and Cambria, a married couple that "are on a mission to save the universe in a post-apocalyptic love story" is being conceptualized for a graphic novel to be put out by lead singer and heavy axeman, Claudio Sanchez. Did you get all that? Mythology aside, 'In Keeping Secrets' had me playing more air guitar in front of the hallway mirror than any other record this year. I await the further installments like others await the final episode of The Lord of the Rings.

6. Parliament - Osmium & Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
I acquired both of these records within the same week and although they were recorded 22 years apart, they are basically interchangeable. They are both great rock records and both serve up a healthy helping of country funk. 'Osmium' finds Parlaiment at the height of experimentation and musical risk taking. The album as a whole is dense with dead-nut song-writing and harmony. It's a loose, fun record much like early Pharcyde records and the current output from Outkast. Put them all on at a party and your guests will think you got ahold of some Japanese import release of the Outkast record complete with a whole 'nother side of hits.

7. Color Humano - V1.0
Color Humano was the greatest discovery of 2003. They are the sonic masters of 1970's psychedelic Argentinean rock. They also served for me as an introduction into yet another sub-sub genre of amazing foreign music I had never explored before. Another glowing example that the output of incredible music from 1968 to 1973 was unmatched in the last century. This six year crescendo of music risk-taking produced a well of tunes that seems more bottomless with every new discovery. Already, 2004 flights to Argentina for record canvassing and archiving have been booked.

8. Papa M - One - Four
David Pajo, releasing records under the moniker 'Papa M' released four EP's this year. Each EP has three songs on it. David Pajo plays almost all the instruments on each song. The series of EP's, which according to Pajo may end up totaling 12, are a tour diary of sorts recorded in different cities mainly while on tour with Zwan. I really liked the idea of the individual EP's instead of one long-player mostly because it made me listen more closely to each of the songs. The spectrum of material on the EP's is incredibly diverse. Every song is a work of craftsmanship and there are no fillers to be found here. On one song Pajo might play just a simple folk song on an acoustic guitar with harmonica and then follow it with a tune that is layered with multiple instruments and eclectic arrangements. The end effect is that you really appreciate all the characteristics and tonal qualities that build on the story that Pajo is trying to tell. To think that the guy who brought us Slint would still be making such innovative and important music today brings a smile to my face. I read a review somewhere that said 'Pajo is the Johnny Cash for the 21st Century' and I think I would second that sentiment.

9. Black Flag - Live at First Avenue
The best live show I saw this year. At 42 years old, Henry Rollins ripped through a set of old Black Flag tunes and without pause or nostalgia showed everyone there that night where the bar for absolute rock is set. When I look at the current output of rock both on record and live being put out by kids half Rollin's age it's a pretty ugly thing to see. Where o where is the energy, honesty and conviction in the bands these days? A good wake up call.

10. Superchunk - Cup of Sand
Damn. Cup of Kick-ass Gold should have been the title of this collection of rarities and b-sides form these rockers. Not one but two CD's of foot stomping, pop-candy, that believe it or not at one point ended up on the cutting room floor. This one was stuck in the Hi-Fi player probably longer than any other Superchunk record ever has. Again the liner notes and album packaging added more sacks of gold to the rocking bounty. I'd bring this Cup of Sand to a deserted island just so I can say, 'yeah, this is the record I would take'.

December 20, 2003

Space Limo
Last night saw some serious big pimpin' in this here space limo. It was a treat. As I drank liberally from the complementary bottle of sparkling apple cider, I noticed that the pure corinthian leather felt smooth under my wool slakes . The Limo was courtesy of the fine folks at Catalyst Studios. It fit a comfortable 15 people and gave ample room for everyone to throw metal horns when Priest came on the Hi-Fi. The Hi-Fi was encased in a cool polished faux mahogany cabinet with translucent space trim that changed its inner fluorescent color to the beat of the tribal drums. The space limo drove a half hour out of the city so that we could dine on mustard foam and eggnog creme brulee. Coming home we decided to spark up the video fireplace to keep us all warm but the tracking was off on the VHS player so the fire didn't give out as much heat as we were hoping. The best part of the space limo, was the fiber-optic fireworks display that appeared continuously on the mirrored window at the back of the limo. We all stood in awe at its power and decided it was the perhaps the classiest piece of limo-technology on the planet. If I had to make just one prediction for the upcoming 2004, I would bet that everyone will have an animated fireworks mirror in their crib. It just has too much damn majesty.

December 19, 2003

Results Iowa
A website I built for the Governor of Iowa called Results Iowa launched this week. On a whole I think the site is a very progressive step in the field of e-democracy. Essentially, the Governor's office wanted to build a website that would indicate the key goals and benchmarks of their administration. By using easy to read numbers and graphs, constituents can then get a birds-eye view of the progress state government is making in achieving those goals. It's a pretty radical idea in that it gives the public a ton of information that was normally reserved for only department heads and government officials. I applaud the gutsiness that the governors office took in bringing this information to the surface and also in allowing the data to be presented in a design that wasn't steeped in the usual doldrums of governmental information design. See press on the website here.

December 17, 2003

Thingy and Legos
This site has made me rethink giving CD's as christmas presents this year. Instead I'm think about getting everyone I know a Funky Holographic Thingy.

Now showing at the downtown Minneapolis op-op exhibit: more Charles Anderson designs than you can digest.

The Brick Testament. Bible stories told through Legos.

Of all the soon to be classics listed on the San Francisco Chronicle's Best Books of 2003, I have only read one of them. From the Books I Did Not Read This Year list, I can safely say I have read none of those either.

I did however watch a few episodes of Law & Order this year but it wasn't the same with Angie Harmon out of the picture. Thankfully, some genius has created a Law & Order coloring book with a whole page given to Ms. Harmon.

Harpold has some excellent Christmas memories and other yuletide goodies.

The Sound of My Mind Laughing
I had a dream last night that I was at a party in a swank hipster flat somewhere in Tokyo. The flat was owned by DJ Qbert and Mixmaster Mike. I think it must have been some kind of a music industry party because the two deejays were sitting around ripping on people and generally acting kinda bored. I was waiting to be picked up by someone on a moped. Both Qbert and Mixmaster Mike were really cool guys and were being very nice to me (it was my dream after all). At some point I asked Mixmaster Mike what kinda stuff he was working on these days and he was like 'oh man let me show you'. So he, Qbert, and I all went into this other room and Mixmaster Mike revved up this console, an image that reminded me Han Solo powering up the the cockpit to the Millennium Falcon. Then he proceeded to rip into a crazy scratch routine with all types of intergalactic noises. He was pounding on all these colored buttons and sliding all these faders that weren't part of any soundboard I had ever seen. Very Terry Gilliam Brazil-like. I remember when he was done I questioned him about some technical stuff and about some of the sounds he was getting. Then I woke up.

My initial thought was, "Damn, dude you have some nerdy freakin' dreams." Where were the supermodels? Why wasn't Halle Barry at this party? Upon further reflection of the dream I am struck by the minds ability to get funky in a dream. Somewhere in the deep folds of my subconscious was this amazing scratch routine just waiting to bust out. How in the hell does my subconscious know how to put together an intricate routine such as the one that Mikemaster Mike put down in my sleep. I saw the whole thing. I heard every note. Where did it come from? Of course, everyone has dreams like this. You have dreams where you're reading whole pages of a book or a magazine. Just nuts. How is this possible? It's very frustrating to know what your mind is capable of in the subconscious and know that you'll never get close to that in the conscious. It's one big tease. Damn you brain! Why do you mock me?

December 16, 2003

Morning Wood
With apologies to the environment, and with utter disregard for household safety, I fully intend to run my fireplace all winter long. Non stop. 24/7. After this mornings haul and pleasing hours spent splitting timber, I am one step closer to Walden.

"Every man looks at his woodpile with a kind of affection. I loved to have mine before my window, and the more chips the better to remind me of my pleasing work." - H.D. Thoreau

...."he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside. If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the weekend in town astride a radiator." - Aldo Leopold

December 15, 2003

Choc-aid
I picked up this tasty medical product at the World Market yesterday. At first I thought the World Market was just the poor man's 'Pier 1' but then I discovered that they carry some decently weird edible treats like the one above. I also bought Heinz Ketchup in emergency size one ounce bottles.

I Hate Joe Leiberman
I woke up yesterday with the unfortunate knowledge that I was going to have to watch Joe Lieberman on NBC's 'Meet the Press'. My Sunday morning ritual involoves a pot of coffee, reading the sunday paper, frying up a cajan potato breakfast I call Spicy Russert Potato Surprise, and then watching Mr Russert do his thing on Meet the Press. It's a great warm-up before football starts. It usually gets me all fired up and I end up throwing sections of the newspaper at the Television. Sometimes, if Tim's guests are especially loathsome and if the Green Bay Packers fall behind in their game, the entire newspaper and everything else in the livingroom is amassed in a poorly built shrine at the bottom of the television set. Knowing that Lieberman was going to be Tim's guest put me in a terrible mood. The mess I was going to have to clean up later was going to be epic.

So, damn, you can imagine the great joy I felt when I turned on the lie-box and saw not Joe Lieberman's idiot head bobbing up and down but Nick Nolte's mug shot being shown with lot's of men shooting Ak-47's into the air. Oh damn, wait, that's not Nick Nolte, hell that's Saddam! Holy crap. They caught Saddam alive. Whoa. Time to make another pot of coffee.

I have to admit I was pretty excited about seeing Saddam being captured. It was a surreal, almost comic book moment, like Spiderman finally defeating Dr. Doom. I think I would have remained excited about it, were it not for everyone turning it into a decisive American political election moment. Everywhere I turned for news of the capture the chorus seemed to be the same: "Yeah!! We captured Saddam, Death to the Howard Dean Campaign!", "We found Saddam and Dean is a big fat weenie!!"

What gives? This rhetoric wasn't even coming from the republican pundits. They were just proud to have their one shinning victory. All the demo-robots: Kerry, Gephardt, Leiberman, were all out beating their chests and stopping only short of claiming Dean cleaned the rat poop out of Saddam's 'spider hole' in their screed against him. The Dean bashing was tagged to the end of almost every news report yesterday: "The Green Bay Packers beat the Chargers 38 to 21 and now they have their sights set on Howard Dean" -and- "Sandra Outscouts Lill to win Survivor Seven, 'The Pearl Islands'. And oh by the way, Howard Dean is a pussy. He wouldn't last a day on Survivor."

The gloves are definitely off in this here democratic primary. Should be pretty fun. I certainly would give all my money to a worthy charity just to see Dean punch Leiberman square in the jaw on live television.

December 10, 2003

Introducing the iShovel



There must have been a hefty contingent of Minnesotans on the iPod design team cause it's the perfect device for Minnesota winters. It transforms the task of shoveling your walk and your 95 year-old neighbors walk from arduous into a wondrous rock opera. Plug in. Download. Shovel.

We got dumped on pretty heavy yesterday. A ton more snow than the supposed 'Storm of the Century' that was to occur a few weeks ago. This storm of course was vastly underplayed by the weather people. They mentioned 'a polite dusting, a few inches at most'. I'm done watching the local weather forecasters. I could do a better job locked in my basement with blindfolds on.

One thing is certain, if this impossible snow fall continues all winter, my shits going to be buff, ripped, solid and stacked come spring.

My appreciation for Minnesota winters has increased 100 fold now that I don't have to commute in it. Saddly, while the misses is stuck in an hour-long coummute to work, I'm smoking cigarettes on the screened-in porch and enjoying the silence that comes from natures own acoustic cushion. I think if we were a more civilized people, no one would have to go to work when it snows more than an inch or two. There's no need for a Minnesota pride that stubbornly scoffs at a foot of snow. Give in to natures victory.

December 09, 2003

TheDeanShirt
Wow. That harsh smacking sound you heard yesterday was the slap across the face Al Gore gave Joe Lieberman yesterday when Al decided to back Howard Dean for the demo candidacy. I don't think Al's going to be getting a Holiday Card from the Lieberman's this year.

Speaking of the Deanster. Some of the Minnesota for Dean Meet-up folks wanted a t-shirt. They wanted a shirt that was a little more stylized and not so politically generic. I designed 'em one and then made a site for it to. Check it out at TheDeanShirt. They make great holiday gifts. Maybe Joe Lieberman will get one.

December 08, 2003

Nor' Easter
Brian's got some wicked photos of the Nor' Easter that fell on his front porch over the weekend. Check out the chair with the snow cone on it! That boy needs to get himself a snow thrower in the worst way. [Update: Yahoo photo]

December 06, 2003

Big Bad Movie Day
I don't know what's wrong with me. This winter, my usually aseptic immune system, has fallen on hard times. Only one month into this whole winter thing and I am battling something like my fifth cold already. Aachoo!! This is very puzzling to me as my home office has but one employee which affords me less contact with the feeble and feverish. I haven't set foot on a Hot-Germ-Tube (aka The Bus) in years and my personal hygiene habits are deluxe. This should be an equation for a clean bill but sadly it has produced negative effects. Unfortunately, I'm not one to give into a cold, but yesterday my head felt like a heavy Zeppelin balloon with Led Zeppelin IV blasting from the onboard speakers. Work became futile as did anything else that involved coherency or diction. So I left the house to park myself in front of various cinemas.

First up was Bubba Ho-Tep at the Uptown. I went to the movie with Ben-Chavez, Mass Distraction and Urth, who was celebrating his 30th birthday somewhat ambivalently. All were in agreement that this movie kicks much ass. The story of Bubba Ho-Tep comes from author Joe R. Lansdale. The screenplay adaptation pulls no punches. It will rip out your funny bone and gnaw on its marrow. Besides serving up a plate of smart comedy, The film plays effortlessly with issues of mortality, placing larger than life characters in the small depressing confines of your worst nursing home nightmare.

After Bubba Ho-Tep, I met up with the misses and we went down to the Walker for the 2003 British Television Advertising Awards. More good laughter all around. However, I didn't think this years crop was as innovative as last years selections. Overall though, American commercials pale when it comes to the dry wit and the risks british directors and their audiences appreciate. The whole thing made me want to run out immediately and rent 'The Office'.

December 04, 2003

Turn the Page
I rounded out my expanding 'New Civilized' program last night with a high-class tweed jacket event at the Ordway. The occasion was the celebration of Joel Wainwright's rising ascent amongst the ivy of academe. The man is now a full doctor. Please, when you see him, address him as such.

The performance was my first as a disguised guest of The Schubert Club. Its membership is an exclusive one, reserving their benefits for only the fine horsey set of the carriage trade. The rooms are dense with history. The music is accompanied by melodious, full-flavored Cuban rums which are served on a lattice work of Gustav Stickley originals. The gentle intermissions are enjoyed with smooth aged cigars.

Peter Serkin performed a daring set from Schubert's library last night. And while my language of appreciation for this civilized tone of music is still somewhat limited, I was impressed with the dynamics of mood and the strong virtuosity which Peter brought to the material. My favorite piece, a heavy tune called "flower-muscle", was a germanic testament to heaven's loud polyphony. Orpheus would be proud.

I was puzzled however by the role of the "page-turner", that person who sits off to the pianists left whose job it is to turn the pages of music, as the master, sitting to his right, rips through the score. A humble job to be sure. For the entire first half of the performance last night I watched with curiosity a man who looked not unlike Moby turn pages for Peter Serkin. Both Joel and I wondered if perhaps this Moby look alike belonged to some kind of weird fraternity of page-turners. Do they travel with the band so to speak, or is there a society of local folks who gleefully volunteer their skills when the masters come to town? I think perhaps someone needs to do a short documentary on the quiet life of the piano page-turner. For some reason I picture them all gathering at page-turner conferences, only to retire to the hotel bar to swap gossip and talk shit about all these great pianists, whose side they sit quietly by, and like Bob Seger, must turn the page.

December 02, 2003

Baghdad Express
I have so many literary weaknesses. Probably too many to list. From the top of that list however, I can tell you the top two. First would be, anything written about Mount Everest and the silly people who spend the month of May playing king of the big hill. It's intoxicating. A close second would be the war memoir. The later literary obsession started in high school, around the time of the first Gulf War, with The Things They Carried. After that it was a short journey to all things Hemmingway, and then on to Catch-22, Dispatches, etc, etc.

The latest war memoir I'm enjoying is Baghdad Express (site | amazon) by Joel Turnipseed. Turnipseed, like Tim O'Brian (author of The Things They Carried) is from Minnesota. That means two of the better war memoirs to come out in the last 15 years have been by Minnesota authors. Now if only Gabe Hudson was from Minnesota, then we would have ourselves a literary trifecta. More on Turnipseed from Neal Pollack and the Dallas Observer.

December 01, 2003

My Patriotism is Softer and More Cuddly Then Your Patriotism
A fine relaxing holiday weekend. Excellent brandy, fine cuban cigars, multiple feastings and fine woodworking rounded out the menu of my 'New Civilized' mantra. It's no Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but I am always thankful for the simplest of pleasures and the company of good people.

I spent a healthy part of the weekend building a high-class workbench in the basement. Equipped with a new saw from the Depot and other necessary hardware, I was able to fashion a modest stage from which a great Winston Churchill type desk will be created out of imported endangered mohagany wood. It will be a thick thing of beauty, with a removable top and built in humidor. Maybe even a leather-covered panel. Whoa. The work bench still needs a few vices and grips before it will be ready for that task. Oh and I still need to outline all my tools on the 'tool wall'. That shit will be more organized than a Montessori school.

I don't have my Churchill Desk designs complete yet so this weekend I fashioned some oak radiator covers. Ok they're really just radiator tops, but it's a start. Baby steps.

The misses got all excited about recovering the Ottoman, which meant that a trip to the fabric store was necessary. Basically, I loath fabric stores. Am I missing something? Are there hidden fabric stores around town that are actually cool (aka contemporary and modern) or are they all just miserable places that sell 100,000 different patterns, all of which look like they were stolen off the beds of a Motel 6? Honestly, does the world need four aisles devoted to patriotic themed 'American Pride' textiles? Can't there be one fabric that you would actually be excited to have in your home. Note: whoever is decorating their pillows and quilts with screaming American eagles, you need to just stop. Put away your sewing machine and go hire a decorator. Is this a Minnesota thing? The Fabric Store depresses me. Based on what I saw at the fabric store this weekend, everyone will be receiving some kinda ugly-ass patriotic fleece stocking from their grandmother this Christmas. So get ready!