While I was at English L'Abri in the fall of 2006, my friend Rosanna and I took a weekend trip down to Brighton (map) to see her friends from a hostel she worked at in Ireland. While we were down there, we hung out with two members of the band Shearwater (the two dudes on the right) and then heard them play later on that night at this pub (I took the picture because I liked the dude's face on the side):
So, I'm looking up how much Coldplay tickets are for KC and I come to find out that Shearwater is opening for Coldplay for a couple dates in California. What!?
By the way, the drummer, the other guy in the picture, is actually named Thor - as in the Norse god of thunder. And he looks like it.
Pitchfork: "these wuss messiahs fattened up with X&Y, a startlingly bland affair that even forced eternally level-headed New York Times critic Jon Pareles to dub them "the most insufferable band of the decade."" - ("A Case Against Coldplay," June 2005)
" Ever self-deprecating, Martin offered his band's thesis to MTV a couple weeks ago: "We look at what other people are doing and try and steal all the good bits," he said. "We steal from so many different places that hopefully it becomes untraceable." That last bit is probably wishful thinking."
*pastiche - a work of art that is clearly derived from multiple styles
"The record's violent, revolution-themed artwork is misleading. Viva is more like a bloodless coup-- shrewd and inconspicuous in its progressive impulses."
"And while the experimentation makes this their most musically interesting album to date, its political messages are too vague to be heard amid its outsize hooks."
"the set reflects some of the diversity of the band's global fan base, which made 2005's X&Y a Number One record in countries as far-flung as Lebanon, Chile, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as in the U.S. and the U.K."
" Coldplay's desire to unite fans around the world with an entertainment they can all relate to is the band's strength, and a worthy goal. But on Viva la Vida, a record that wants to make strong statements, it's also a weakness. Sometimes, to say what needs to be said, you need to risk pissing people off."
"On our last album, we took a real beating from some people (see NY times article), and by the end we felt like no producer would really want to work with us, basically. We were bigger than we were good — we were very hungry to improve on a basic level. So I asked Brian Eno, "Do you know any producers who could help us to get better as a band?" And he said, "Well, I don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but I might be the man." He goes, "Your songs are too long. And you're too repetitive, and you use the same tricks too much, and big things aren't necessarily good things, and you use the same sounds too much, and your lyrics are not good enough." He broke it down."
What I think: - It always takes me a long time to warm up to a new Coldplay album. I really dig their stuff overall, and they're one of my favorite bands. - I'm very excited about their show this summer. I went to the X&Y show at Riverport in St. Louis and it was probably one of the most beautiful and artistic concert experiences I've had. They had these huge yellow transparent balloon/ball things that the crowd bounced around. It was awesome. - My favorite song off the album (my mom's, too) is "Viva la Vida," it's gorgeous. - I can hear a lot of U2 in this album, more than any other they've put out. And that's okay. - Final thought: bass player Guy Berryman is ridiculously hot.
sorry about the fan vids, just listen to the songs.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
near laguna beach, ca
While I was in LA this past weekend for my friend Dan's graduation from Biola, I met his rockin' friend Felicia. While we were in the car (45 min to get anywhere in LA from Biola) she was playing a band called City and Colour. I like them a lot, here's their myspace.
I heard about the Cool Kids off of Sasha Frere-Jones' blog. He does music reviews for The New Yorker. He has an imeem player with the best music ever on his site. Check it out.
Mojo's - I went to go hear Bon Iver perform, and he was wonderful. I wanted to slow dance to his music. Mojo's is a whole lot more hipster than I thought it was going to be, which is cool. I kind of wish I hung out there more through college. Also, they have a Jamaican Jerk Hut permanently stationed there, which is pretty cool as well.
G&D Pizza - not bad, quasi-St.Louis-style pizza. We got Gyro on our pizza, which was pretty exotic and cool.
I haven't been to Generic yet, hopefully soon.
BUT, next week, I'm going to my first sorority function of my life: a Crush Party. My friend Lauren nicely asked me to go, and I'm pumped about the theme: "Dazed and Confused" - I'm about to break out the cutoff jorts. Here's the trailer for inspiration: (youtube)
I couldn't really figure out how to write about this, in order to capture its full beauty. It's hard to blog about articles, I wish they had a button that would just transfer the whole thing, linked, to a post. They probably do. People are so smart.
Wired Magazine has been pretty consistently interesting lately, whatever I've had to look up. They're pretty witty. Ok - here's the article, also mostly for Julie.
'How to: Kill Someone with a Girl Scout Sash' A martial-arts expert is trying to hawk a "Cold Steel Sarong" as a martial-arts weapon: "Sarongs aren’t just isn’t ordinary items of clothing though, they’re blankets, sunshades, cloaks, backpacks, and a formidable self-defense tool as well." Watch the vid, it's worth it.
- in other news, I got the Vampire Weekend CD, I'm quite pleased.
I forgot that I can listen to music for free on MySpace, it seems like a temporary fix for my moral/ethical dilemma of downloading music. Here are some peeps I'm listening to:
I saw these kids on an SNL re-run last night. I'm really digging them. Their myspace has a couple full-length songs (here). They kind of remind me of Paul Simon (Rhythm of the Saints) and Peter Bjorn and John (Writer's Block - one of the only CDs I can keep on constant repeat in my car, the other being B'Day by Beyonce). Enjoy.
FYI - (I had to look it up) this is what a mansard roof looks like: (here)
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming around Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit restless and I dream of something wild Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit helpless and I'm lying like a child in your arms Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit angry and I know I've got to get out and cry Turnaround, Every now and then I get a little bit terrified but then I see the look in your eyes Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart
And I need you now tonight And I need you more than ever And if you'll only hold me tight We'll be holding on forever And we'll only be making it right Cause we'll never be wrong together We can take it to the end of the line Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks I really need you tonight Forever's gonna start tonight Forever's gonna start tonight
Once upon a time I was falling in love But now I'm only falling apart There's nothing I can do A total eclipse of the heart Once upon a time there was light in my life But now there's only love in the dark Nothing I can say A total eclipse of the heart
Turnaround bright eyes Turnaround bright eyes Turnaround, every now and then I know you'll never be the boy you always you wanted to be Turnaround, every now and then I know you'll always be the only boy who wanted me the way that I am Turnaround, every now and then I know there's no one in the universe as magical and wonderous as you Turnaround, every now and then I know there's nothing any better and there's nothing I just wouldn't do Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart
And I need you now tonight And I need you more than ever And if you'll only hold me tight We'll be holding on forever And we'll only be making it right Cause we'll never be wrong together We can take it to the end of the line Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks I really need you tonight Forever's gonna start tonight Forever's gonna start tonight
Once upon a time I was falling in love But now I'm only falling apart There's nothing I can do A total eclipse of the heart Once upon a time there was light in my life But now there's only love in the dark Nothing I can say A total eclipse of the heart
"Yet what reads as musical innovation in 2008 is blue-ribbon revivalism, a high-production-value version of the songbook logic driving current Broadway musicals. The sounds of yesteryear! Sung by today’s young people! (Who, in this case, enjoy ketamine and margaritas.) Winehouse’s music is reassuring to those old enough to remember the original and novel to those too young to know. And her music refers to rappers while simultaneously avoiding actual rapping and sounding just like the music that rappers first sampled decades ago. So many demographics united through the magic of consumption!" Sasha Frere-Jones (New Yorker Article)
What a great idea! 'Said the Gramophone,' a mp3 blog, started a contest for people to make videos for their favorite songs. It's great because (a) music videos usually suck and are usually of the artist themselves and (b) it's great for the artist to get a response from the fan, it makes it more of a relationship that way. From my limited knowledge of cool music, I only recognized Devendra Banhart's song from the finalists (here). But it's really beautiful and incredibly short and lovely (50 sec.) Here it is:
continuing on with David Richter's talk on music sharing/piracy: - Wilco made a movie: 'I am Trying to Break Your Heart' - I want to see it. - (my point) that we should "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" when it comes to the music industry. - But things are changing. The current file copyright laws are doomed to fail. - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's story: NPR Music article
Dick Keyes: "The Breadth of God's Lordship" - Paul (or someone) uses the same word for us being compelled to have sex with our spouses as we are compelled to pay taxes. - Martin Luther said this about his son: "...running about befouling the corners of the room, but I would not trade him for all the kingdoms of Europe" (I couldn't find the quote online - but it's wonderful anyways) - ingredients for a worldview: what exists, what is wrong, what is the solution
Denis Haack: "Humor (or something)" very cool poster from Charlie Chaplin's movie 'City Lights' - I want to see this: 'Being There', about a guy who just watches TV all of his life and then goes into the world and says pithy things he's heard on TV and everyone hails him as a wise leader. Peter Sellers!
Travis Scott: "Tattoos" - tattoos can be Ebenezers of Ink, a reminder of the Lord's provision during different times of our lives. - "your body is a temple - decorate!" - Sociologist Michael O'Hanlan about the Wahgi: the decorated appearance is to reveal rather than conceal (more on this later)
Rudolfo Souza: "Brazillian Culture" - this guy is trying to start a L'Abri in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I want to go. - the Assemblies of God church has been extremely successful in Brazil, and the reason is seen to be that the theology of the charismatic church is very similar to the existing Brazilian culture. The Assemblies of God church puts a lot of emphasis on Christ's return. Brazilian culture is quite passive and a lot of hope is put into revolutions and leaders to come in and change everything. Fascinating. - this very cool picture:
Instead of giving an outline for each talk I went to (10 total), I'm going to do it "what I'm learning in class" style and give the bullet points for the stuff that I thought was mind-blowing, confusing, or had to look up later. Oh, and most of these points are what I got from the talks, not necessarily what they were trying to put across (I had to put in the postmodern subjective justification on this, sorry)
Jerram Barrs: "Common Grace: the general kindness of God" - Gerard Manley Hopkins: "God's Grandeur" - common grace makes people even more inexcusable in their suppression of the truth about God. (whoa.) - human failure speaks to God's glory by contrast (interesting)
Richard Winter: "Sex: Agony and Ecstasy" - sex in the beginning is like learning to dance, you step all over each others toes at first - men and women: Vive la Différence! - Lisa McMinn: "Sexuality and Holy Longing: embracing intimacy in a broken world" - Proverbs 6:26 - "for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life." - we can treat each other like objects when having sex.
Hans Bayer: "Spirituality in Contemporary Culture" - definition of culture: what men and women value and deem 'good.' (fascinating) - I would like to do a study on the 'solutions' in movies, because I think this speaks to the culture at that time, what is accepted as a resolution to a problem? - the contemporary man has no cause to sacrifice his life for. - postmodern community is built around actions, not talk. talk leads to division, while action leads to a utopian society of progress and diversity. - there is transcendence through self-exposure in Facebook. Once it's all out there I will be able to figure it out. It's also navel-gazing (I love that term).
David Richter: "Modern Piracy: the ethics of file sharing" - there is a whole anti-DRM (digital rights management) movement out there (Defective by Design site) - the government and record companies are trying to get colleges to police file sharing: CNET news "Colleges must police copyright, or else" - which is extremely expensive and just not their job. - Spiral Frog - a new type of music website that requires a monthly renewal fee? and covers some of the cost for the music by ads and customer surveys. - THEY'RE THINKING ABOUT BUILDING A NEW INTERNET??? I'm still trying to figure this one out, but the NSF (national science foundation) - who invented the original internet (yeah, yours) for scientists to share info - are thinking about building a new internet with more safety regulations. Is it 1984 already? some articles: (BBC "Internet's future in 2020 debated", Wired "Old Hands Give Internet2 a Helping Hand", NSF - GENI, more to come...) It's pathetic that I haven't heard about this - all the articles I'm finding are from like 2005. - Wired and Jeff Tweedy from the talk "Music is not a loaf of bread"
I don't know too much about this Sondre Lerche character, but the 'Dan in Real Life' soundtrack is almost exclusively him, and it's amazing. Hooray for $1 movies at Mizzou!
"and the world's got me dizzy again you'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin and it only feels worse when I stay in one place so I'm always pacing around or walking away I keep drinking the ink from my pen and I'm balancing history books up on my head but it all boils down to one quotable phrase "If you love something give it away""
Gosh, I love the high schoolers that I work with at my church so much that it hurts sometimes. Augh. Well soon enough, I'll be back here for good. I'm just waiting for my allure to wear off, when they stop listening to what I have to say because I'm not a novelty anymore, and I'm not just visiting.
The Krew room got flooded (again) this morning so we couldn't have sunday school and a couple of us met at starbucks instead. A bunch of old New York Timeses were scattered on the tables and I picked up the first one that wasn't about sports or politics. "The French President's Lover" the headline read, with a shot of Sarkozy being very cozy with a woman too beautiful for him. Carla Bruni, is that you? As in Carla Bruni, the one with the voice? Check out her album - especially the songs "Quelqu'un m'a dit," "Raphaël," and "Le toi du moi"...they'll take your breath away.
My favorite line from the article was: "Can Indian officials invent protocol to accommodate a First Sleepover Pal?"
word to look up: polyandry - a marriage or relationship with one woman and multiple males.
