Big Nothing, Indeed

I'm on vacation and doing nothing, which feels about perfect. One highlight: I've learned my first song on the guitar, Elliot Smith's "Ballad Of Big Nothing."

 

It's The Only Way To Live

My 2002 Toyota Camry, which I've owned since its birth, hit 50,000 miles today. I suspect my car is now entering the "teen" years - that period of time when it will probably start acting up and changing appearance. With any luck, Toyota's near-pristine reputation for performance and longevity will translate to minimal problems, but it's clear a threshold has been hit and I'm trying to be realistic about it.

Currently, the mileage stands at 50,031 after a trip to Best Buy to pick up a new cordless phone. For those of you scoring at home, since I purchased the car on June 1, 2002, that's an average of 39.3 miles per day and 1,191 miles per month. I'm recording this mundane fact for no other reason than someday I'll go back and read this post and say "ah, yes, I remember that Camry. That car was _______."

So, Johnny Damon has gone to the Yankees. Big whoop. Let's face it, Damon was a fan favorite largely because of his hair, not because he was amazing or anything. Above average? Certainly. The straw that stirs the drink? No.

While the Yankees will, in all likelihood, initially get solid production out of Damon (say, years 1 and possibly 2), the signs have already started bubbling up that Damon's already peaked. Check his post-AllStar Game stats the last few seasons - the guy wears down. This past season in particular, Damon was prone to nagging injuries and admitted himself he was ragged. It will certainly be interesting to see how things go down there, but this one doesn't move my needle much. I kind of feel like we got what we needed out of him. His numbers may not be replicated by the next Red Sox leadoff hitter, but with that lineup Boston has, you can easily plug someone in there who'll approach Damon's output. Watch.

Remember, we all thought Randy Johnson was going to put NY over the top last year. Gary Sheffield the year before that. Jason Giambi the year before that.......and so on.

 

Am I a mean, dressed-up coal miner?

Mean, dressed-up coal miner?
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

As evidenced by my fairly infrequent posting here lately, I have been involved a nearly month-long process for work that took up so much of my time and thoughts that it was simply overwhelming. I was dreaming about word documents, excel spreadsheets, presentations and anything else related to work. I barely did anything else, barely saw my wife, barely ate, barely everything. It ran the gamut of many emotions: excitement, frustration, impatience, exhaustion, satisfaction, exhilaration and finally, yesterday, the relief associated with closure. The project is over.

With that, I retreated to my hotel in NYC last night at about 11pm, placed the camera on top of my own head, set the timer and let 'er fly. The look on my face says it all. This morning I woke up and felt like I'd lost 100 lbs. And I did - figuratively.

 

2005. Some Real Good Records.

Teenage Fanclub - Man-Made (2005)
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

Sunday night, sitting in a hotel in NYC. No better time for this:

The following are the records I listened to the most during 2005, plus short descriptions on each. It is not ranked in any way, shape or form. I tried to think about how to do that, but quickly realized that "ranking" them is quite a ridiculous endeavor. You can't really have ONE album per year that you loved more than others. Well, maybe you can, but this is my blog.

My point: I listened to all these albums a hell of a lot and loved all of them equally. I will add this: this was a marvelous year for full-length albums. Dare I say that it reaffirmed my faith in the full-length album. In looking at last year's list and even 2003, I'm very comfortable saying that 2005 cleaned their clocks. Here goes:

Teenage Fanclub, Man-Made -- consider this my second-to-last entry for my favorite bands of the 1990's. This band means a LOT to me for reasons I'm not getting into here. It was great to get a new full-length from them in 2005 and it certainly didn't disappoint. While not nearly as biting as "Bandwagonesque" and not as beautiful as the stellar "Songs From Northern Britain," this work showcases a slighty more.....aged version of the band. The songs linger more, filled with richer instrumentaion, softer vocals and various other random noises - but the songs are equally as catchy as any they've done. "Cells" is one of the best songs they've ever penned.

Spoon, Gimme Fiction -- Spoon have taken the baton from Pavement ('90s) and are now my favorite indie-rock band of the decade. Gimme Fiction was par for the course for Spoon - they find a way to sound different from any other band when all they're really doing is playing great rock music. So what is it? Is it the dull, pounding drums that feel like they're doing the singing? Is it the methodical, unique voice of Britt Daneil? I don't know. It's something. I still get really excited when I play the beautiful "I Summon You."

Neil Diamond, 12 Songs -- Normal, mainstream music listeners see this and they think, "oh, Jeff's just trying to be hip by not being hip." This is not the case. As mentioned last week, I am a big, big fan of Neil Diamond's '60s-era output. I'm not quite sure what happened to him after, say, 1975, but when I heard that Rick Rubin took the helm as producer for "12 Songs," I knew it could be good. But it wasn't. It was great. Stipped down and showcasing only the bare essentials via voice and guitar (with some various instruments sprinkled in here and there), Rubin exposes Diamond for what he is - or was - a truly great songwriter. I would even make an arguement that this is Diamond's best pure album of his entire career. Oh sure, he's had his stunning moments on albums, but not entire albums. This thing, from front to back, is spectacular. I still can't believe I'm saying it.

Healthy White Baby, Healthy White Baby -- AllMusic says this is a "rocking garage punk stomp," but I disagree vehemently with that assertion. There is nothing garage about this band - they know exactly what they're doing and they're talented musicians, having been in two very good bands previously, The Blacks and Blue Mountain. Danny Black's voice, as it has historically, carries the work - he's Frank Sinatra trapped in the body of a very talented rock singer. This album burns.

Aimee Mann, The Forgotten Arm -- First off, I don't like anything Aimee Mann has ever done. Seriously. Nothing. You can't name a single song by Mann that I enjoy. So when my friend Dave told me I should give this a listen, I was all like "whatever, dude." A glutton for punishment, I downloaded it and when I heard the passion in "I Can't Help You Anymore" and the yearning of "Dear John" I nearly pooped myself. These are terrific songs and they do not feel at all like the typical bum-you-out Aimee Mann. This is a focused, tight, richly played concept album about a Vietnam veteran who's also a junkie/amatuer boxer. The vet returns home from the war a very different man, as sung from the perspective of his girlfriend. The album just oozes fire, rapture, resentment and sentiment. And it's really damn good. I still hate everything else she's done.

Son Volt, Okemah & The Melody Of Riot -- "Riot" is the key word here. The alt-country scare of the 1990s has had its ass swiftly (and finally) kicked out the moving car door. Jay Farrar and his new "gang of hungry" released Son Volt's first album since 1998 this year and there is not a fiddle or a banjo to be found (not that it was ever that prevalent in the first place), only straight-ahead, well-written, borderline angry songs. Relatively speaking. Their show back in October was so raucous and so good that the timeless "Windfall" felt like it didn't even belong in the set. That's how good the new Son Volt record is.

The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema -- Delicious and tasty! That's the only way to describe this sweetcake of an album. It's like having four bowls of Fruity Pebbles, man! Yeah, it helps that co-singer Neko Case is the girl that all the indie-rock boys want to marry, but she backs it up. The rest of the band provides equal sharpness. Just listening to the title track is enough to make the laziest son-of-a-bitch get off his ass and boogie. Yum.

Johnny Society, Coming To Get You -- This is a last minute insertion. For the past few months I've been self-lamenting the fact that I can't seem to find and/or get excited about any new bands lately. That maybe I'd even become jaded. So I'm paging through the new issue of Harp when I come across the review of this band Johnny Society and as I'm reading it, I'm thinking the review has got to be written by a band member's mom, because I've never seen such a rave review like this one!. Then I go to my old friend and trusted source, the All-Music Guide and they, too, are simply apeshit about this band. It's enough for me. I buy "Coming To Get You" from ITunes and ----- HOLY SHIT ALERT! ------HOLY SHIT ALERT! This is the best thing I've heard in some time. It's a band that makes rock music sound adventurous and fresh again. I could go on forever on this - versatile, powerful, dominating, whatever. This is what My Morning Jacket would probably sound like if they weren't so damned stoned all the time. These guys just have it. The best news: they have three other albums I've yet to hear, which, according to All-Music, are just as good. Damn baby! I've got a train to hitch onto. I'll let AllMusic make the final quote, though: "The New York City trio, simply put, is one of the most phenomenally talented rock & roll bands in the world."

Anders Parker, The Wounded Astronaut (EP) -- It's simple. This is my favorite artist of the decade thus far and the most criminally overlooked artist since Alex Chilton/Big Star. It truly is a crushing blow to my soul that more people don't know this artist who has more talent in his left foot than 90% of what you're hearing on the radio today. Oh, it's not like it's "different music" either. It's pretty straightforward stuff, people. He's just got something that others don't, namely a very distinct voice and a stunning (STUNNING) ability to.....take you there. This isn't a full-length album, just a six-song EP of tunes that didn't make 2004's "Tell It To The Dust" (one of my faves from last year). But all you need to do is hear the title track and you'll get it. It personifies Parker to a T - gentle, bruising, moving and great.

Other bands who made great albums who came really, really, really close to getting on my list:

Nada Surf - The Weight Is A Gift (just haven't listened to it enough yet)
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures (thanks Dan)
Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me ("Copied Keys" alone almost got this to the list)
Ruchard Buckner & Jon Langford: Sir Dark Invader vs. The Fanglord (bizarre combination, but really worked!)
Wilco - Kicking Television (live album, so it can't be on the list, but a really sharp recording)
Mark Miller - Mark Miller

I'm pretty sure I missed some. All in all, a very, very good year. Now I'm
going to dial up the Ipod and listen to one song from each of my faves before it's lights out and onto another week of non-stop keyboard-pounding.

 

This One's For You, Bruins Fans:

Quote of the day comes from Andrew Alberts, pro hockey player who was sent down to the minor leagues a few weeks ago and called back up to the big leagues this week:

"It is a little different down there than up here and it took the first couple of games to get used to," Alberts said. ''In Providence we were able to get a couple of W's."

Yes! That is the big difference! Down in Providence, they win. That certainly does take some getting used to when you play for the Bruins, doesn't it?

 

Really?

Really?
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

As a related addendum to my post below, it's quite amazing what CNN is up to these days, eh? Anything to drive clicks and extra ad revenue......I wonder how many people are falling for it? Sad.

 

Cue the Sanford & Son Theme Song

Because of my never-ending work schedule lately (which had me up rubbing my eyes and firing off emails at 1am this morning), I hadn't realized all the hubbub around the Stanley "Tookie" Williams thing. I had seen it in the paper, how he's been on death row now for 24 years after committing four atrocious murders in the late 1970s and how his time was almost up. In fact, it is up. He was put to death this morning, despite his attempt to prolong his appeal by......writing children's books. As one early-90s rapper sang: don't believe the hype.

Hell, that's 24 years those dead people will never get, right? But that's beside the point. What really matters is that 'Ol Tookie had the support of many celebrities, including Snoop Dogg and some guy from the old '70s sitcom MASH. I was waiting for Coolio, the entire cast of Barney Miller and the Captain & Tenielle to speak out, too. Never happened, because Governor Arnold effectively flipped the switch this morning.

This is a tough subject. I honestly don't know how I feel about the death penalty. My gut feeling has always been that I am against it. There certainly have been times in my life where I've read a certain story about a particular murderer and said to myself, "well, he should probably not be kept around," but for the most part I've always maintained opposition. I'd never be elected president, would I? How fast would the "flip-flopper" thing come out? Anyway, I don't want to be president - it pays badly and probably isn't as fun as being, say, Lindsey Lohan. Ok, bad example. She was good in "Mean Girls," though. What happened to her? I still think she's got some good movies in her, believe it or not, despite the pixy-sticks she's been delivering lately on the big screen - all sugar, no substance.

Anyway, back on point. The death penalty. Here's where I sit: the numbers seem to strongly support that the death penalty doesn't deter criminals. While many people will hold those numbers up as their only act of defiance in opposition to the death penalty, to me it's not nearly enough. It's the same as Wade Boggs hitting .350 every year. Science and numbers dictated he was a great hitter - one of the best. Life indicated he was a horse's ass and lacked leadership qualities to get his team where they needed to go. Get the point? Numbers only take you so far.

I think in the end, I view my opposition to the death penalty from the eyes of the criminal. While I'll never know what the mindset of a convicted murderer is, I think it may be safe to say that they're not valuing life the same way us non-murderers are. To take that one step further, I'm comfortable saying that they don't care if they live and many probably want to die if it means avoiding hearing the doors on cell block 12A slam every day at 7am and 7pm for the rest of their life - without parole. Why give them what they want? Let them sit in jail - to me that's more punishment than a needle prick or sticking their finger in a light socket.

There are probably a few of you worried now about your tax dollars at work, paying for these guys to be born again and writing children's books. That's a weak argument. If you're worried about that, take a drive down to Washington DC sometime and check out what your government is spending your money on. Useless bridges in Alaska, that's where. It doesn't matter what party is in office, either, if you're going to stand behind the tax dollar argument, you'd better be ready to stand behind the idea that for every $1 spent on death row, there's probably $500 going to something totally unbelieveable.

 

Then One Day You Find Ten Years Have Gotten.....

Normally work starts slowing down around this time of year, but this is the first time working for Ask Jeeves in the nearly five years I've been there that the pace has actually increased to "breakneck." I can't remember a time in my professional working life, in fact, when I've been this busy. No complaints (so far), just sayin.'

I was watching the news recently and came across a story about the latest psychiatric fad: internet addiction. It seems as if this new malady may be equally addicting to drugs. Now, truthfully I have no basis for comparison here as I've never been addicted to drugs, only ice cream. It also remains to be seen if the idea itself is a fad, generated by the psychiatric professionals to drum up business, the same way Hallmark invents holidays to sell more greeting cards or the way McAfee invents computer worms and viruses so they can sell more anti-virus software (am I paranoid about this?).

Am I addicted to the internet? If I am, it may very well be because it pays my bills.

I work for an internet company in a department that is very much focused on waxing and waning trends and trying to get in front of the next big thing before it (and our competitors) get in front of us. A lot of the time, I just don't have the bandwidth to sit in front of my computer at work(or home) and randomly surf the internet looking for that thing. So I typically do it on my own time, hoping to find something in there for myself to enjoy, all the while keeping an eye out for who pays me. It's an extremely gray line. My job is often an all-hours proposition which has me checking my email and my Treo constantly and looking around on the net at all times.

So am I addicted to the internet? Dunno. Maybe. I'm certainly passioniate about it (this blog is now four years old this month, so there's an indicator, ay?) but I doubt I'd spend as much time there if my job wasn't so focused on it.

Are you addicted to the internet?

 

You Are The Words, I Am The Tune....Play Me

Picture 006
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

As little boys, we were asked a countless number of times by adults what we wanted to be when we grew up. The answers were almost always typical of a young boy: president, a fireman, a policeman, a baseball player. Or an astronaut. Years later, the outcome of those statements rarely match the reality. Last night, though, my goal of being an astronaut was realized, as I truly visited another planet when we went to the Centrum in Worcester, MA to see Neil Diamond.

First off, if you're going to go see Neil Diamond, you have to do your best to go the distance. Via Craigslist, I secured 12th row center on the Centrum floor. Steph agreed to go along, too. She's probably not as big a fan as I am (more on that later), but she likes enough of his songs to check it out.

Instead of writing up a review of the show, I thought it might make some sense, based on the spectacle we witnessed last night, to simply list the pro's and con's of seeing Neil Diamond live. Here goes.....

Cons:

• "Love On The Rocks." I even felt a little embarrassed that roughly 1/20th of my ticket price was to see this song performed.
  

• The melodrama, the apex of which was "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," (another one of Diamond's songs for the "I hate" files). Diamond starts out extreme stage left, while the woman singer starts out extreme stage right. The only lights are the silver spotlights on the two. They sing, they stare longingly, they motion with their hands.....and with each verse, they come closer, until the very end of the song.....when they make out! Right there on stage! No lie! My goodness.
  

• "Johnathan Livingston Seagull," another atrocious offering, complete with video footage of seagulls soaring over beautiful cliffs and beachfronts. Gag.
  

• Only played two new songs of his really great new album.
  

• Perhaps the most baffling song of the night was "Red Red Wine." I've never liked this song, regardless of who's singing it, but he brought it to new depths of utter despair for me. Halfway through it turned into the reggae version, which even slightly veered into the most bizarre turn of the evening - Neil Diamond half-rapping, half-singing the lyrics. Completely puzzling.
  

• No "September Morn" or "Solitary Man."
  

• "Soolaimon" wasn't terrible, but for the entire band to don African garb for it? Bad taste.

• Seeing an old guy (that would be Diamond) with the slightest of pot belly in an all black suit, screaming things like "Yeah!" and "Let's go!" really loudly for two hours.

So, you would think with such an extensive list of terrible things abot this show thay maybe I didn't enjoy it. Well, think again! For each horrific, deer-in-the-headlights moment for me, there were two great things. So....the pros:

• "She Got To Me" positively ruled. I was shocked and psyched that he even played this, as it's not really a big hit of his and it stands out because it's one of his '60s rock songs.

• The roar for "Sweet Caroline" was deafening and he delivered a great live version of it, despite the fact that it's dreadfully overplayed in these parts because of the whole Red Sox thing.

• "Holly Holy," "Cherry Cherry" and "Shiloh" all made the set list, three of my favorites by Neil - and all were superbly done.
  

• He has a terrific 14-piece band, most of whom have been playing together for 30 years, according to Diamond. It's obvious that they know each other's tendencies inside and out. They were spit-polished, great showmen and extremely tight. Not a mistake within 30 miles of the place.
  

• Man, at 60-something, his voice is still as strong and crisp as those amazing early records from the 1960s.
  

• Two very good acoustic/solo songs from his mid-1960s days as a Greenwich Village troubadour.
  

• Even though there were only two songs from the new album, both were outstanding, the solo/acoustic "I'm On To You" and "We."
  

• The audience singing along word for word on nearly every song, particularly "Play Me" and "I Am....I Said," the latter of which was one of best performances of the night.
  

• Both "Thank The Lord For The Nighttime" and "Kentucky Woman" had FIRE to them when performed live. Really impressive.
  

There's so much more to this show, but that's all I can think of right now. It was as bombastic and melodramatic as you would imagine it to be. I truly felt like I was on another planet. Steph nailed it with a great comment, too: "I felt like I was on a cruise."

That said, I'm happy I can cross him off my list of artists I can't believe I haven't seen yet. It was totally worth it. Another great aspect was just looking around at the crowd - the older folks were obviously beyond psyched - I've never seen so many people my parents age dancing maniacally and shouting out lyrics - that was really neat. I was also shocked (shocked!!) at how many people were there who were our age and younger. They all were beside themselves. It was surreal. But when you can pack an arena with that kind of mix, you've done something right with your music career.

A few words on the new album, called 12 Songs. I never in my life envisioned that Neil Diamond would put out a new album of songs that interested me. Lo and behold, he did it. I would imagine the last must-have album he put out was sometime in the mid-1970s, so imagine my shock. It's a complete 180-degree turn for him. At this point, he's known mostly for over-the-top schmaltz. This album is 12 songs - nearly all of which are dark, acoustic offerings, produced by Rick Rubin, pioneer and producer of everything from the late-80s Beastie Boys work to Run-DMC to Johnny Cash, among many others. They worked together on this record for nearly two years, stipping down (and out) all the excessive instrumentation Diamond has previously been prone to and they came up with what I'm considering a top 10 album of 2005. It's that good. I can't even believe I'm saying it, either....

 

Washington Monument

Washington Monument
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

Well, my attempt to rescue the Panda down in DC was extremely unsuccessful, largely due to lack of effort and a little thing we humans call "work," which turned out to be more of an hour-sucker than anticpated. Of course, there's that thing about me kidding about the whole ordeal, too.

My plans for Friday night in D.C. went askew, so I ended up taking a walk from my fantastic hotel to a little Irish bar around the corner called The Dubliner. The fantastic cut of pork I had bears mentioning here, but the most notable anecdote of the night was the gathering of nearly fifteen people, all of whom were in their 70s and 80s, their white hair covered by Santa hats, their bodies draped in red Christmas clothing, with matching red faces (from the flowing Guinesss, no doubt).

A quick conversation with one of the folks next to me ensued and it seems this group of revelers had made the Dubliner thier home base for the past twenty years. Every year on the first Friday in Decmeber, they come from all corners (New York, California, England, etc) and gather at the Dubliner all day for food and (mostly) drink. How funny and somewhat inspiring to see a group of people at that age with the energy and gumption to don holiday clothes, stand on stools, shout joyously at each other and shoot pics with their digital cameras. I hope I'm there someday. Not the Dubliner, per se, but there.

After dinner, it was right back to the hotel for nearly three more hours of work. Not the ideal Friday night. The following morning I got up very early and went for a quick drive around the National Mall, which was just about two blocks from the hotel. Early morning is the way to go - there was literally nobody around, so I could simply stop the car right in the middle of the road, get out and snap some pictures like the one you see at the top of this post.

I did manage to park at a few spots (reserved for buses!) and get out and walk around a bit, taking stock of the new WWII Memorial unveiled this past summer, getting close to Lincoln, seeing the Vietnam memorial again (one of my favorites) and walking around the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

Your standard roll of touristy shots can be found here, including a couple of shots of my hotel from Thursday night in Reston, VA, one of the worst hotels I've ever stayed in. The contrast between my hotel in DC and the one in Reston (where I stayed on Thursday) is quite obvious, no?

 

Come On Down, Sweet Virginia

My vow to come down to the Mid-Atlantic region to run righteous interference on Tai Shan's inevitable path to a lifetime of drugs and debauchery is coming together. It's roughly 10:30 pm and I'm sitting in a hotel room in Reston, VA, mere miles from the National Zoo, and I'm plotting my approach to the young panda bear. How should I broach the topic with the young panda? That, my friends, remains to be seen.