August 18, 2008 Hello. According to the Moon Gadget for iGoogle, the moon is currently 95% full in waning gibbous, as of 7:01pm CST. In other words, I am about three days late with posting my latest thoughts on music. Sorry, I know you've all been hanging on the edge of your seat since June 15th, barely breathing while chewing on your fingernails. But don't worry, because I am here to tell you all about... nothing much, really.

I've been doing some running lately. Not quite up to our dear friend Mr. Weber's level, but enough to work up a good sweat and get some fresh air in the middle of the day. I've found that it's much easier for me to run while - wait for it - listening to music. Surprised? I knew you would be. I've been helping a friend of mine train for a marathon, although I don't know how much help I've truly been to her while I struggle up hills and gasp for air. But I believe that it's good to do things that you haven't completely mastered every once in a while, even if you look slightly foolish. But now that I think about it, looking foolish is something that I've probably mastered years ago, so there you have it. Anyways, I like running to M79.

I've been thinking about how cool music videos seemed to be when I was a kid. It was a treat to hang out at Weber's house in the early 80's to watch the fledgling MTV. Weber lived a few blocks away in the "ultra-hip" neighborhood of Wauwatosa, which had managed to secure cable access years before Milwaukee did. So there were a number of years that Milwaukeeans, such as myself, were stuck with six lousy channels, none of which were MTV, while the rest of the world got down to Hungry Like The Wolf, Stand and Deliver, and I Want Candy.

So I recently saw a video for the song Eraser by a band called No Age. There was something about it that reminded me of the simple pleasures of completely mindless videos like the ones I'd linked above, in the days when MTV played nothing but mindless videos. Eraser itself is pretty interesting in that it starts out with a little guitar riff reminiscent of The Cure's 10:15 Saturday Night and then after three seemingly false starts it morphs into a hooky pop song under layers of distortion, somewhat sounding like Built To Spill without the prog-rock influence. I bought their CD (yes, I still buy CD's) a few weeks ago and I dig it. I'd tell you more about the rest of the disc but I don't really feel like it. I'll shorthand it this way - RIYL: lo-fi indie, Psychocandy-era JAMC, BTS, Superchunk, and SY.

Aside from that not much else is going on. I did become a homeowner at the end of June, so I guess that's news. Oh, the joys of listening to the water softener do its thing every few weeks. Seriously though, I do like my new place - it's definitely more than enough room for a single guy. I will leave you all with one last thing about music: this song sounds really good when you play it obnoxiously loud (aka "11" for you fans of Spinal Tap) in your car. Seriously.

Have a good evening. I need a dining room table.

STRAWBERRY MOON 2008 PB & J

FLOWER MOON 2008 The Helicopter

PINK MOON 2008 Hooks

WORM MOON 2008 iPod and I

SNOW MOON 2008 All Around Al's World of Sound 101

Return to log jam