You what the problem with people is? They're afraid. Ok, it's far too early in the morning to be making such grandiose statements. But that's just the feeling I get here in the little world I call the computer lab. All the little problems I have to help people with could be solved with a just a smidgen of effort. Not that I really mind helping them. I mean, that is my job afterall. And it's actually rare around here that I actually know what I'm doing. But some of this stuff is just plain old common sense. When the printer says "load letter," that's not just a suggestion or a random display of lights. It's a command. Something's wrong with the printer, and it's telling you what to do. And whenever people have trouble saving something, i go over, click "save", and then they look at me like I just turned water into wine. Or milk into applejuice. Anyway, I was thinking today about a summer job, and I really don't know how i'll handle a job where I actually have to work more than not working. i've never experienced that. How will I handle not being able to surf the web for 5 hours at a time, and not having a place to update my web projects? Poorly, I'm assuming.So I'm sitting here, listening once again to Built to Spill's There's Nothing Wrong With Love. A very fine album indeed. But you already knew that. "Distopian Dream Girl" is just too damn catchy. i was listening to it on the walk to the subway yesterday, while the snow was coming down. It's a nice little soundtrack to just about any situation. I highly recommend picking it up. I also brought the Modest Mouse cd to work. can't stop listening to the two.
I just checked some Built to Spill tour dates, and wouldn't you know it, Built to Spill is touring with Modest Mouse. Of course, they're touring in Europe through July. So that sucks. It'd be nice if they toured stateside together. I might actually go. Wait, now that I checked again, i think that was for last year. that makes me feel better.
So besides that, not much brewing. I saw Jed for a bit yesterday, and he ran down the intricacies and details of his recent (shoulda-been-but-wasn't-quite) romantic interlude. That guy, lemme tell ya. I just don't understand. I think the whole thing is just plain old wrong. not entirely, I mean I can understand. But from a strictly "does this make a fucking ounce of sense" perspective, the answer is "nein!"
I'm still trying to find a cheap flight to France. Iceland Air has a pretty good deal I think. Plus, I'd get to stop over in Reykjavik. and I've never been. I can't seem to find a direct flight to Paris though, which I find very odd. I'm not sure how I feel about Air Iceland though. Those Icelanders are tricky, you know. After all, Iceland is niether icy or land. well, it's land. but not much of it. They're tricky though, calling there nice balmy island, full of hot springs "Iceland," and calling that giant mass of frozen tundra "Greenland." I suppose I'd do the same though. As to where they got Reykjavik, you got me. Weirdos. That don't even look none lahk English!
By the way, I stole that "shake" effect. I find it particularly annoying, but I just wanted to see if it worked. The page should have shook when it first loaded.
Perhaps more after lunch.
Well, it's now 1:21. I haven't eaten yet. The mood just hasn't struck me. While perusing the homepage of the Knitting Factory, where I've seen a good show and considerably more bad shows, I noticed that the band Oneida is playing on February 11th. They're a particularly horrible band, and the deadfully ugly lead singer is prone to freak-out spaz attacks and obscence gestures and motions. The only reason I know about this band and the weirdo-freaks in it is because they were the band that played after Underpants Cowboy at the Tokyo Rose in Charlottesville, VA, in November of 1997. The lead singer at one point jumped off the stage, which was only about 6 inches high, and started freaking my girlfriend at the time, Liz, and Jed's little sister Anne, who were our groupies that night. Anyway, I wish I had some pictures of this particularly horrible band. After a quick internet search, I've discovered that Oneida is actually signed to a label. They're also recording for the Jagjaguwar label, which was started by a fellow by the name of Darius, who worked at the Tokyo Rose and recently moved to Indiana I thought. He's mentioned in The Musings of the Gus periodically, described as a "swarthy" fellow. The band the Curious Digit was on this label. i saw them a few times, once when they opened for Pavement at Trax in Charlottesville. That was probably the highlight of their career. Now I'm all nostalgic for shows in Charlottesville. All the bands on Jagjaguwar remind me of that place. I always thought "Union of a Man and a Woman" was a pretty stupid band name. But I suppose it ain't that bad. No, it's still bad.
Anyhow, that Tokyo Rose show in November of 1997 is one of my fondest memories ever. It was only about our 3 real show with all four people. And cheap sushi and beer helped too, especially since we didn't get paid that time. We got paid when we played there the second time, but the show was kind of bad in my opinion. But that first show, I've listened to that tape at least 500 times. I was really impressed with us. now i miss rocking out. But boy, did Oneida suck. The other band, Mao Tse Helen, was ok. They were loud, but the lead singer was a really nice dude. I think he was telling us about playing the Knitting Factory actually. I'd never heard of it at the time. So I guess it's kind of full-circle now, in a really circumspect way.
I just spoke with Jed, and told him about Oneida, and he reminded me that at one point the ugly saxaphone player guy and ugly keyboardist guy started making out. And at one point someone picked up a horn and said "This isn't going to be any of that Charlie Parker bullshit!" and proceeded to play what Jed called "a bunch of cacophonious bullshit." Jed was very disappointed to find out that they were signed to a record label, and the 'Pants were not. I can't believe someone would pay them to make that shit. On their record label page, there's a link to download MP3s. But get this, you have to pay 99 cents for them. I wouldn't give them the lint in my pocket for that shit. I really didn't mean to get on this rant, but Oneida has, in the last 8 minutes, come to stand for everything I hate about the music biz. And musicians in general I suppose. Too much shit. If I could get in to their show for free, and if it were right outside my apartment, I might go check them out just to remember exactly how horrible they were. and trusy me. They were horrible. And save a drastic overhauling of the entire band, it's safe to say that they still are horrible.
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