Only one post a week so far this month? I’ll have to see what I can do about that… aided by a birthday present from Dad: He gave me his “old” Pentax *ist DL camera! My “price” for this boon is that Dad wants pics of his grandkids and June wants pics of the cats I live with. I didn’t have working batteries by the time Erica visited Saturday afternoon and my attempts to snapshot the kitties didn’t turn out so well, but I did get one semi-decent photograph yesterday while trying to get the hang of using a “real” camera again.
Meet Rusty. I picked him up a few months ago at one of the local knick-knack shops on NE Broadway. I’m not sure why someone decided to make a bunch of cast-iron “rubber ducks,” but who am I to complain? He’ll probably figure prominently in the upcoming photography project since he’s unlikely to get blown out of frame by an errant breeze…
(I should go back and see if the shop has more of them, ’cause I wouldn’t be surprised if Wonderduck wants one. Heh.)
(Also: Pay no mind to the layer of dust upon my desk. Ahem.)
Recently I Twittered (tweeted, whatever) about the sudden disappearance of the JamesBurkeFan collection of videos on YouTube containing the entirety of “Connections” (1, 2 and 3) as well as “The Day The Universe Changed,” my favorite educational series of all time. Turned out that YouTube pulled the videos at the request of the publisher of the upcoming new boxed set of “Universe Changed.”
Alan Carre, the man behind the JamesBurkeFan collection, stopped by a couple of days ago to let me know that he’s back on YouTube. Awfully nice for a guy to follow me back here from Twitter, I think! Check out his page, say something nice, and patronize the folks offering the boxed sets if you can. I particularly recommend the original “Connections” and, of course, “The Day The Universe Changed.”
Fourteen. This is it. Summer is at a close, and so is this silly little project.
I didn’t save a particular artist for last, but I sort of like the way things ended up. For all of the mindless pap you find before, during and after your average bit of anime, sometimes you get lucky and hear something from Yuki Kajiura. Her style definitely isn’t for everyone. This project hasn’t been about what everyone likes, though, has it?
Since we’re wrapping this up, and because your typical soundtrack cut is shorter than most regular songs, I threw in an extra track. I hope you enjoy “Key of the Twilight,” “Liar You Lie,” “Nowhere” and “Melody (Salva Nos version).”
Back when I possessed even less of a clue about life and love than I do today, I met a girl and she introduced me to her favorite band. To be fair, she introduced me to several of her favorite bands but most of them didn’t grab my attention. She was my first love, and I fell like a lead brick. Our relationship spanned two states, crossed the mighty Columbia, and lasted a couple of months.
I was a complete wreck for twice that long afterward. As I said: Clueless. Also: Wholly unprepared. I was replaced by a local jock on Christmas day, so some of it was justified. Let’s say, oh, two or three days’ worth. The rest of it? A total waste of energy. (Sorry, Dad. You had to put up with me. No jury in the world would have convicted you, when you get right down to it.)
While it lasted, we traded mixtapes on the handful of occasions when we could meet. I sent her an assortment of stuff, mostly Pet Shop Boys if I remember correctly. (PSB comes to mind because their excellent album, Behaviour, formed most of the soundtrack during my terribly “emo” recovery period.) In return I received a significant portion of her Depeche Mode library. Violator was one of the biggest albums around at the time, but I also received a well-rounded ‘cheMode education covering all of their studio work and some live material and some videos and so on.
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn, knowing all of this, that Depeche Mode is the only band from which I have more singles than the Pet Shop Boys. I’ve only picked up a couple of their albums post-Violator and they’re decidedly hit-or-miss, but I don’t regret having them take up so much space on my shelf. They suit a particular kind of mood that I suppose most people use NIN for. Too bad I can’t really get into NIN, eh?
I didn’t actually set out to select songs whose titles all begin with the letter ‘S’, but here you go anyway. Please enjoy “Stories of Old” from Some Great Reward, an outtake from Violator called “Sea of Sin” and Playing The Angel‘s “Suffer Well.”
We’re almost done, folks! I wonder if any of you can guess who’ll be closing out this little series…
Well, what do you know? This one really does go to eleven! (It’ll go a few more beyond that, actually…)
I came across this week’s band thanks to a fan-made music video combining the film “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind” with the song “Surefire.” (The video’s title? “Giant Armored Maggots.” Well, it does rather neatly sum up a significant element of the movie. Unfortunately I can’t find the video file anymore, which may be for the best considering it was a low-resolution RealMedia effort. One of these days I’m going to make my own rendition with high-quality footage…) Three CD purchases later and I’ve found that Econoline Crush neatly fills the need in my library for a particular kind of vaguely alternative-sounding harder-edged rock sound. There are other bands in the same realm among my collection, to be sure, but I figured most of you wouldn’t be as familiar with this one.
Let’s see what you think of their work. Please enjoy “Surefire,” “Blunt,” and “You Don’t Know What It’s Like.”
Next week we’ll check in with one of the iconic figures of rock ‘n’ roll. Join us, won’t you?
This week is just a silly throwback to those heady days of yore. Yes, the 1980s. For good old-fashioned pop/rock stylings with just the right amount of cheese, it’s hard to do better than Rick Springfield. Please enjoy Bop ‘Til You Drop, Dream In Color (from the album that ended his chart run in America, “Rock of Life”) and Stranger In The House (from my favorite album of his, “Tao”).
We’ll go with something rather more obscure and “alternative” next week…
