When the Sky is Full of 0’s and 1’s
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Soon I will be 27. Which is really no big deal, I hate all birthdays equally (all of mine that is, I love celebrating other ppls birthdays). Partly becuase I dont like being the center of any attention. This year is espically weird becuase I have been thinking about the age 27 for about the last 10 years. That is when i realized that a lot of great musicians passed on at the age of 27: Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain, Morrison. Ontop of that, these 4 were responsible for some the most challenging and historically significat music. The first 3 Hendrix albums both defined the electric guitar for generations to come and pushed the idea that psychedelic music can be emotional and lyrical. Cobains 3 albums set the world on fire. Then there are those that are still with us: by the age of 27, Sonic Youth had already but out Daydream Nation, Evol; Joe Strummer and the rest of the Clash had created the finest 3 punk albums and played something like 13 stratigh nights in NYC; Gang of Four, Mission of Burma…I could go on.

Well, the weekend plans are..i am not really sure. Going to see Palliard on saturday night, maybe a movie and lots of bike riding.

Well, I got bored with the way this was looking. Part of it was due to the fact that the theme I was using I had hacked up so bad that underneth it looked so bad that it buged me. Also the 3 column thing works great on this laptop, but I noticed viewing the page at work on a larger screeen with higher resolution that there was a lot of wasted space. This is a modified version of Simple-Green with colors that match the other pages on this box and a header picture that is choosen at random. For only spending a few minutes on modifiing the original I am pretty happy. Lets see what I think of it in a few weeks.

Last night Kirstie and I saw a few bands at The Beat Kitchen . Opening was Hunting Stories who hinted that they were only in partial form. 2 guitarists and a keyboard/trumpet player playing very layed back pop songs. The best parts were the harmonies and the melody lines on the trumpet that really propelled the a few of the choruses. Over all the songs could have used some morework, a drummer could have really locked the band together (and maybe that is the one missing member). SIANspheric was next and they played twinkling starry shoe gaze. While listening to them I recalled some other bands that we picked up a while ago like Pia Fraus, Paik, Ariel, Malory and other dream-pop bands in what appear like the continuation of late 80’s british shoegaze. I couldn’t be happier. SIANspheric had moments of wall of distortion ala MBV with lyrics you really couldn’t hear or understand. Which didn’t really matter because it was the ringing guitars and soft stepping bass/drums duo that you were really listening to. Lastly, A Northern Chorus played with 2 guitars, bass, drums, and cello. Simlar in style to SIANspheric but with much more concentration on lyrics and songs they still created a great blanket of sound that I got lost in many times. A great night of music, unfortunatly sparsly attended. Hopefully nex time around both bands get the crowds they deserve.

Well, for the second time in a row the glass washers here at work have droped my whole bin of glassware. What does this mean? Well that I will get a bin of random glassware to pick through to try and replace what was broken, and that I will have to get off my lazy but and order new stuff. Glassware? Yeah, I am a chemist and where I work they have a service where you send all your dirty dishes, and in theory they send them back clean and in the same general shape you sent them. I think the next batch I send I will slip a $20 to see if that helps any. Its not like the bin was particularily over full or that the glassware was very smelly (there are times when I do forget to bleach stuff…ooops). Oh well, only 4 more days till the weekend, and there is the beat kitchen show tommorrow to look forward to.

Well, I accidently unplugged the laptop that runs this site. Before doing so I had the longest up-time clocked for that box since turning it on. 170 days. Yeah not much, but it was a laptop, and a weak one at that. I wanted to move it from the top of the stereo cabinet to a shelf inside, so I wouldn’t have to look at it. I did learn though that I just cant start it and be done. Seems that I forgot to make things like starting apache, starting ssh, and connecting to my wireless network automatic. I really want to switch the website box to the AMD 1.2Ghz box that is in the porch, but I am to lazy to spend the time putting slackware on that and then moving all the databases and websites over. If it would rain here one weekend then I would probaly be more encouraged. And, well, if there weren’t so many good shows to go to.

Well it’s currently 94ºF here in the windy city and dropping, at one point 100ºF. Kirstie and I decided to take a bike ride (crazy..yeah…oh well) to see the beat my heart skipped which was ok. About a father/son relationship that is reversed, where the son is a shady realitor who wants to follow in his deceased mom’s foot steps as a concert pianist. An interesting character study but with way to many loose ends to be coherent. Lots of tight angles and kwick camera pans in dark rooms and alleys, which kinda gave me a headache while also keeping me on edge.

Yesterday was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was very good. Made a stop at the new Evil Clown which is now in lincoln square. Pretty much the same lay out and size he had on halsted. Picked up the Fall complete Peel Sessions and a newier remastering of the complete Skip James, this one has 4 bonus tracks by Sun House. Had lunch at the Grind, and walked around after the film. Every time we go to that area I think “I could live here, lets move here next”. There are always ppl reading all over the place or carrying instruments (due to the proximity of the Old Town School). But, then I go “No, its to dam far away from the beach”. Guess we are doomed to live in the edgewater/rogers park area forever. Which isnt a bad thing, I really like our ‘hood.

Friday I had the department picnic for the afternoon, which ment 2 things: 1) free beer and 2) leaving early. Had some really nice conversations with some co-workers and their sig-others about films, and found out that our computer tech is taking a better job else were in the company and will no longer be our tech. Great for him, sad for us. He was not only really knowledgable but understood us, as scientists, and what we need. He will be missed. Got a ride home from my boss which is always nice. Not only does he live in the city (not far from me actually) but he is a really nice person to talk to on the hour or so ride in. Once home Kirstie and I went out for thai at our favorite place “Thai Lagoon” and then off to the Empty bottle to see The Pernice Brothers . The openers were The Royal Gun, coming all the way from england. They were ok, the first song was the best, while every other song should have ended about 2 minutes in. While I really didnt like them, I cant rip on them to much since not only did Pernice ask them to tour with them, 2/3rds of them made up the backing band. As seems to be a trend with me and the pernice brothers, I am an album behind. Not really knowing any of the new songs I was still able to enjoy the show. He did play a few favorites off The World Won’t End and Yours, Mine, Ours which really made the night. Overall, Joe’s voice live is bit more gruff and frayed around the edges then on the album, which adds some more rock-ness to the sugary pop songs.

NY times story
(free reg req…blah heres a chi times article). I dont know though…this kind of random unprovoked searching, thinking that anyone and everyone is a possible terror suspect is a bit frieghting. Errosion of rights is slow, like the the changing of the path of the Mississippi, so that over time you dont even realize how far you have moved.

The Meter 07/22/2005
According to this article in the reader atleast. I have always kinda liked teenage fan club, in bits and pieces. The only album I can listen to front to back is Songs from Northern Britian, the harmonies are beautiful and the clean guitars and folky ryhtyms complement the laid back songs. I picked up Thirteen because it was supposed to be really good as well, but it never really did the same for be as songs.. did. I will have to check out this new one though, if not only becuase of the chicago conection.

We wanted to see this before the movie left the large screen at The Music Box and seeing that tommorrow is friday a new movie might just push it to the smaller room. After securing a very lucky metered spot infront of the theater and walking down to Australia Chocolates and Ice cream for a few scoops of the best ice cream in the city we were ready. The movie is dam cute, and very informative. Warmest temp -58ºF, there are more females then males (although I had no idea which was was, they all looked the same), they go with out eating for months at time. Crazy. It seemed that there should be no reason for them to survive. The trek to the mating grounds is 70 miles from shore, to a place where the ice is very thick and they are safe from most preditors. After the egg is layed the males hold onto it while the females trek back and get food. After a month the females trek back and take the hatched chick and protect it while the men go back. There are birds that come and try to eat the babies, the males and or females can get killed while they are back at sea stocking up on food. It really amazing there are any penguins at all. Finally, after the young have grown enough to live on their own, the parents return to the sea, letting the young ones mature a bit more until they are strong enough to all start fishing and swimming, which they do without any teaching. Absolutly amazing. What else was neat was how human like the penguins motions and behaviors where (or how penguin like we are), fighting, playing, mourning, it was like watching ppl in black and white suits.

On the technical side, I would not have wanted to be filming that movie. They show some “behind the scenes” stuff during the credits, it looks like they had a good time, but with lots of hard work to get it all done. Definetly wotht seeing.

blogging from work you say! crazy…yeah…well I set up a couple of reactions and now I am having my coffee..I wanted to chime in on this …there are more reports on the bbc and guardian pages but it seems like little information is coming out. At first blush it looks smaller and less destructive then the bombing that happened a few weeks ago. I hope all involved are safe and that london police find out who did it and why. Since so little info is coming from the authorities I wonder what they dont want to tell us.

Well for the most part I agreed with what Kirstie said so I will only add some bits of difference. For starters I think I am hooked on the Hold Steady and The Thunderbirds are Now!. Both delieved great sets of power-pop/rock with an undertone of punk sneer. They would make the perfect duoble bill at the empty bottle. Andrew Bird was perfect, again with Kevin O’Donnel backing him up on drums and some keyboards/samples. His haunting whistle and soaring violin are best heard out side where he can really let his voice ring. Out Hud was ok, I liked the Four Tet set the previous day a bit more for the same music. But, they were a hoot to watch. Deerhoof was good but I think they had a hard time keeping as tight as they were in the Open End Gallery a few months back due to the outdoor setup. Even so, a lot of fun to hear “bunny bunny bunny” sung by a short japanese woman. Les Savy Fav is a weirdo, and if he didnt scream I would have enjoyed their set better. Closing with the Decemberist was great. There was a huge crowd of ppl there for them and they all were really into it. They have a much more delicate sound which didnt translate well outside but it still worked. A perfect way to close the weekend.

Now onto my thoughts about the whole she-bang. I have to give Pitchfork props, as much as I dont like their reviews, they set up one heck of a weekend. Even if you walked up off the street, 15 clams is cheap, one would pay that for some the acts alone at the metro. The weekend pass for 22 was a steal, I felt like looking for tip jar. This setiment was repeated with almost everyone I ran into over the 2 days. And that was great, the local support and local involvment. I saw members of my favorite local bands, record stores, ppl I have met at shows. They had the guy that own’s the hideout (his name slips my mind right now) introducing each band, Thax had a slew of poems throughout, WLUW had a record fair, Depart-ment set up some tables, Abbey had the curry fries. I saw Adam “rabid taper” in the soudn booth multiple times, parents with kids (one 3 year old who was a Death from Above 1979 fan). Problems were minor, ticket lines were not well labeled for when 100’s of ppl were qued up to get in (hint put these things above head hieght so that we can see them from a far) the free water fountain was not labeled at all and there needed to be more garbage cans throughout. The sound for an outdoor fest was the best I heard in a long time, almost all areas sounded well. Overall, the whole weekend really gave me a feel that chicago really had a great support for independent music. The ppl there were really into it, and those that just wanted to chill stayed out in the fringes enjoying the day and not ruining others. This was shocking, take a random night at the bottle and there will always gabbers, usally right behind me in the music room. Add to that the fact that multiple times bands got the crowd to clap, dance, sing, sit and not just like the few right up front, we are talking the whole freaking park. My friend Terry put it right when he said they should out law indoor shows in the summer, I didnt agree at first, but by the end of the weekend there wasnt anyplace I wanted to be but in that feild, Kirstie’s head on my lap, listening to The Decemberists, and feeling that cool lake breeze. I mean for most if not all of these bands, this was probably the largest crowd they have played infront of. I think any music fan gets in a rut where they think “there just isnt any good music anymore, not like back in (insert your favorite year here)”, then pitchfork comes along and asembles 2 days of music where I had an incredibly difficult time getting to the other perks because there wasnt a band I didnt want to see, even a little bit. And, for us Chicago-ians who see the press laud the praises of the music scenes on the coasts, its gratifying to see that Chicago should still be heard. We can get 20K+ ppl into a field on the west side for 2 days of music. This weekend made me not only proud of our “scene” so to speak, but for indie music in general. Something I dont say often but THANKS PITCHFORK I look forward to doing this again next year.

What a day, I woke up kinda late and I still wanted to get a hair cut so we missed the first 2 bands. It also didnt help that there was nothing labeled when we got off the L. So we stood in a line that did us no good for 20 minutes because we needed the line for will call which was over to the side more. This line was equally as long and we spent another 10 minutes in, but luckily by this time the line to get in was non-existant. I guess I should mention that during all of this we did get to hear Pelican who were ok, in a very chicago post-rock-metal sort of way. Once in we realized that the 2 stages listed on the map were so that while one was playing music the other was setting up for the next act. This made downtime between sets practically nil. A negative only because there was so much else there we wanted to see (depart-ment, the wluw record fair, the dj-tent) and because the lines for food were super long. The first band we watched was The M’s and they were great. Having not seen them in almost a year (i think since the wicker park fest last summer) I was glad to hear some new songs from them. The one guitarist wasnt loud enough, but even so they put on a heck a set to the relatively few ppl that showed up early. Making the first of many treks from one stage to the next, we decided to see A.C. Newman next. I have just started getting into his New Pornographers stuff, and I figured his solo materal would be much of the same. That was a good assumption, a great set of power-pop was delivered with Andrew Bird helping out by whissling one song. Magnolia Electric Co. was next and due to the time of day, and rumbling in our tummy’s, we only stuck around for half their set. But, we didnt leave before he made a dedication to some tough motherf***ers that chicago lost this past thurs . They played a good set, I have been meaning to check them out for some time. I never really got into Songs:Ohia but it seems Magnolia Electric Co. are bit more accessable. The songs were great when he sang/crooned, and while the mroe country-esque tunes were cool I couldnt really get into them. Next up was a fun set of laptop jockying with Four Tet . It was a lot of fun to hear music like this outside. He played a set using songs based off samples from the last 2 albums(_Rounds_, and Everything Ecstatic), but mixed it up enought to not sound like the albums exactly. Now up to this point the crowd was manageable, large but not very dense, so that you could snake your way up toward the stage durning the course of a bands set. Turning around for Broken Social Scene there was already a large amount of ppl cramed between the stage and sound booth. BSS were great though bring on stage with them Amy from the Stars and a horn section from Do Make Say Think. This was my first time seeing them and they were excellent. Next was a group from Briton called The Go! Team who didnt really do anything for me. Heavy beats, and much repeating of their name was all I remember. As the evening wore on Prefuse 73 took the stage and did a great job of translating music that is much better heard in smaller spaces. It was 2 drummers, a DJ, live bass player, and laptop. Heron would switch between the drums and laptop through out the set. The music was somewhere between dance and chill, nice to hear in the slowly setting chicago sun. Death from Above 1979 played a possessed set of heavy noise rock. For 2 guys they made a lot of noise, but the songs just kinda fell apart after a while. Closing this first evening was Tortoise which I felt was perfect on so many levels. They had a projector set up showing some interesting digital visuals and started off their set with some more guitar heavy numbers. We left beofre they were done playing but it was nice to hear songs from TNT and Millions now living will some day die as we sat on the L platform waiting for a train home.

intomap.jpg (JPEG Image, 612×792 pixels)
Very nice, a comical map renaming the areas for the upcoming intonation fest. Speaking of which, is only a few days away and it looks like the weather is going to be really hot. I am going to make sure to pack the sun screen and drink plenty of water and what not. The rain yesterday cooled things off a bit and made movies in the park very enjoyable. Having not seen citizen cane it was exciting on multiple levels. We got to hang out with Michelle and here banjo/busker buddy (who’s name slips my mind right now) and eat a wonderful array of vegetables and popcorn. The only problem with the night was those flying ladybug light beetles. They kept flying into my hair and under my shirt. It was very annoying.

Ahh..

AccuWeather.com - Local Hourly Weather - Chicago, IL Hour-By-Hour%u2122 Weather:
Sure it hasnt rained all summer, and so now that its the first day of the Out door Film Fest in Grant park its raining. Hoppefully the rain will let up by tonight. argh..

A quick note while I cool down. We just came back from a free show at the empty bottle, a night of noise and psych-rock. First up was White/Light a duo of bass and guitar dealing in pure atonal noise at maxium volume. It was comforting to hear and it took me away listening to the overtones and virbatations of the club with the sound. Gave me some ideas for the smaller works I have been toying with. Next was Odawas from Indiana, on jagjaguwar, a beautiful blend of pink floyd bombast and neil young folk. Only a three peice of guitar/keyboards/drums they delivered a wonderful set of acid drenched psych. Lasly was Zelienople, who were playing in support of a new limited edition jazz/drone record. Bass/guitar/sax/drums with occasional keyboards and/or second guitar that took the ideas of the first band and tried to move it somewhere through the course of 4 songs. The addition of drums and sparse vocals made it less like pure envoloping noise and more like free jazz. Very enjoyable evening, picked up records of the last 2 bands and got a limited (num 10/100) poster for zenlienople for free.

This weekend was jam packed with way to much stuff. Starting on Friday Kirstie and I saw The Chicago Tap Theater’s production called The Tell Tale Tap. This was a very ineteresting redition of 3 Edgar Allen Poe pieces told through tap. The first was “The Tell Tale Heart” and this was done using no words or music. The characters expressed their thoughts through their feet, the rhythm of the poem played out in the rhythm of their feet. The story revolves around clicks, the clock, the dead mans heart, and was therefor a perfect choice to start with. Next was “The Raven” which was a solo with Mark tapping and slam poetry creator Mark Kelley Smith reading, all with only a chair and one simple light as props. Smiths voice was great to hear, and Marks tapping accented different sections of the poem creating an overall tense and gripping rendition. After a short intermission the “Masque of the Red Death” would close out the evening. This was told in parts through contemporary (well mostly 80’s) music. Having not been familiar with that story I thought the songs, tap, and acting did a good job of framing the story. I found a copy of the story a few days later at a book store and read it. The chioces of songs and rewriting of characters (i.e the “prince” from the story was cast as one of the women in the club) was perfect. He mentioned some other performaces in the 2006 season that sound interesting, we will have to keep an eye out for them.

The evening was closed with a visit to Angels. We wanted to go one more time because rumor had it that their landlord was rasing the rent to unbelievable proportions and they might have to call it a day. During dinner we came to findout that the out pouring of community support helped and the landlord might change the rent to something more reasonable.

Saturday was a beautiful day to be out on our bikes. After a quick stop to Dr. Wax we went down to Lakeview and had lunch. Bumming around the neighborhood for a few hours before the film started with tried to find Evil Clown which has now moved to the lincoln sqaure area, so we got some coffee at Intelligensia and headed over to Landmark. The movie we saw was called Yes, and quickly I give it an 8/10. The dialog is all in iambic pentameter which added a sense of drama and poetry to the lines, but at times muddied up some of the scenes. To finish off the evening was Femi Kuti and his band of: 4 horns (2 trumpets, an alto and bass sax), 2 drumers (traditional kit and conga drums), 3 dancers/back-up singers, and a guitar/bass/kyeboards with Femi playing an occasional hammond or sax. Overall it was quite the show, somewhere close the the feeling I had the first Polyphonic spree show, this overwhelming sense of communal enjoyment. The show was 2+hrs, just amazing.

Sunday was really hot, but that didnt stop us from hanging out at the Folk and Roots Fest in Welles park. We went to support our friend Michelle who was in the old town school fiddle compition. She did well but only took 5th place. We stayed around for a bit to catch the Zincs, who were really good, and then we drove Michelle home. On the way we stoped at a gelato place in her neighborhood for some very creamy gelato. After some grocery shopping I was beat and we came home. I did a bit of recording, the fruits of which I hope to have out later this week.

Speaking of this week:
Mon: Zelienople @ empty bottle
Tues: movies in the park (citizen cane)
Weds: Pit Er Pat @ open end gallery
Thus: nothing
Fri: May Day/neva dinova/canasta @ schubas
SAT-SUN: intonation fest…

ahhh…summer in chicago