Item Five: Television, Send Me A Show...

76ers
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

Before we get to today's very entertaining Item Five interview, I must pass along yet another impressive gaffe by the blind bats who edit The Boston Globe. Oh, I know, I know - nobody's perfect. I probably make grammatical errors every day. But it's just too fun not to point this one out.
Seems the Philadelphia 76'ers basketball team is having a very good season, ay?

In keeping with the theme of the Globe, over the past year or two I've really taken quite a liking to Matthew Gilbert's writing. Gilbert is the Boston Globe's TV critic whose writing style can be relied on week-in and week-out for a great mix of humor, pop culture references and dead-on analysis of what the oft-embarassing world of television has to offer.

Even his more serious pieces carry weight - Gilbert's recent piece on the business of Cable TV and why the business model of watching 15 stations but paying for 250 won't last in today's world generated many reader letters and responses.

So my appreciation for Gilbert's writing paired with the fact that our opinions on TV shows seem to mirror each other (and that I want his job) lends itself well for Item Five interview potential. As it turns out, Matthew has very good taste in music, too, and was quite a good sport about it all. The interview was, in my own humble opinion, one of my best yet. Just see for yourself:

1. You're out in a boat on the ocean and you come across Arrested Development, Scrubs, My Name Is Earl and House, all drowning at sea. You have one life preserver and can only save one of them. Discuss.

What is this, "Sophie's Choice During the Perfect Storm"? I love all my neglected kids, but right now I need a lot more of "Earl." I'm sorry to let the other three die a slow gruesome death from hypothermia, hunger and cold during the dark windy night, especially "Scrubs." But they've each had a decent run. I don't think even the greatest of shows needs to go on until it's limping.
Plus, once a show is legendarily under-acknowledged. I can use it (along
with "Freaks and Geeks") to berate viewers for years to come.

2. In preparation for this interview, I watched "Skating With Celebrities" recently. I'll say this: the professional skaters do a horrific job pretending they care. Fox must have thrown some heavyweight dollars around for this. Who would be your ultimate
celebrity skating pair? (for the record, mine would have to be Sanford & Son, just imagine the creativity Fred Sanford could put into an ice skating performance, naturally culminating in the "big one").

"In preparation for this interview?"
Oh Jeff, you don't need to make excuses with me of all people. I'm holding out for the smooth ice stylings of Pufnstuf and Witchiepoo.

3. I bet one of your favorite parts of the job are writing those excellent one-liners in Sidekick every
day, isn't it? Those are hilarious.

Thanks. They've saved me thousands on therapy bills.

4. Come to think of it, how does one get to be the TV critic for the Boston Globe? (translation: how did you get this gig? Other translation: I am jealous, damn you)

I'm so glad you're jealous. It makes me feel better. Basically, one watches so much TV one has no brain left. Then, one
shows up at the Globe and begs.

5. Do newspaper writers still get paid by the word? Do you do any other writing?

Paid by the word? I think the Times Company just vomited a little. Yeah, I write other things, but my Globe work is most important to me.

6. You and I seem to agree a whole lot on television shows and we both have great appreciation for Barney, who brings a very welcome edge to the show "How I Met Your Mother." In fact, I don't think that show survives without him. I love it when TV shows recycle
actors we all thought were washed up. What "washed-up" celebrity is ripe for the picking for the next great comeback?

Barney is great. I love that show. Hmmm. Maybe it's Butch Patrick's moment?

7. Do you listen to music? What do you like?

I listen all the time. I'm all over the place, from alternative to classic rock to folky stuff. Just about anything except opera. Top of my mind - Eels, Neil Young's classic stuff, PJ Harvey, Lucinda Williams, the Dead, the Stones, Beck, Aimee Mann, Etta James, Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt, and so on.

8. What was the last thing (other than a television show) you laughed really hard at?

My dog pooped pieces of a florescent ball this morning. You should have
been there.

9. Why don't you ask me a question?

[Matthew asks]: What is your biggest, most humiliating, most hidden secret ever?

[Jeff answer]: You are an evil, evil man, Gilbert. Which one do I choose? That I watched "The Notebook" and really loved it and almost cried at the end? Or how about that time in Canada when I.....nevermind.

10. What is your favorite television show of all time?

Oh you, you! No wonder your mother never loved you. Thing is, the minute I name "The Dick Van Dyke Show," I feel guilty
about "The Sopranos," "All in the Family," and "Seinfeld."

11. Off topic a little, but don't you think Jamie Foxx is starting to get into that annoying group of people you just can't seem to get away from? I can't go anywhere or do anything these days without him popping up on TV, singing songs, acting in 47 movies per year, etc. Enough already, huh?

By his 3rd or 4th acceptance speech last year for "Ray," I was tired of him.

12. Are you able to expense a plasma television?

Absolutely not. A plastic television, maybe.

Big thanks to Matthew Gilbert.....good times.

 

I Was Born In A Little Bitty Tar Hut, Part II

Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

It started one night with repeated fistfuls of Rolling Rocks and two years later it led to me sitting in a conference room in a tall NYC building, staring at a bunch of guys from a distribution arm of Warner Brothers Records. We had landed a deal for Warner to distribute Tar Hut Records! There was even a story about me and the label in the Boston Phoenix that week. I can't recall for sure, but something tells me I had extra beers that night.

For now, the beginning:

I spent much of 1995 exploring in so many different ways. My year started as a video production assistant at a gargantuan computer company, pulling in ok money - certainly enough to enjoy myself. But something was missing there. I was a 24 year old kid looking for a spark and I wasn't finding it in Boxborough, Massachusetts enclosed in a room with soundproofing and video cameras. So in March, a friend of mine from college and I both quit our corporate jobs, put all our cassettes in a plastic bag and started driving. Anywhere.

We stayed out there for nearly seven weeks, ending up largely driving a complete circle around the perimeter of the U.S., excluding Florida, of course. Nobody needs to go there. That circle will cost a car 11,000 miles total, in case you were wondering.

It was during that trip I decided that music would be my next step. I don't know what triggered it. Was it the repeated listenings of some lost early-1970s Bruce Springsteen demos, which provided the perfect soundtrack for long days on endless strips of white-lined pavement? Maybe. Was it the furious pace that we were both finding and consuming new music? Perhaps. All told, it was pure excitement and I thought the idea of working in the music industry was enthralling.

One month later my, ahem, "dream" came true. I found myself standing on the concrete floor of the warehouse at Rounder Records. Wage: $5 per hour. No shit! How I made it through that year is still something I ponder today. I only lasted in the warehouse for a couple of months, getting bumped up into promotions in "the offices" shortly after I started.

Anyway, most of my weekends that year were spent with various friends at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner in Worcester, MA, and it was there where I first saw and heard Angry Johnny & The Killbillies. The first time, a oppressively hot summer night, my friends and I stood in a small circle bullshitting and I would occasionally give the band a cursory glance and a brief listen, eyebrows up.

It was two or three shows later, on a late Friday night in October of 1995 when I really started paying attention. I stood front-and-center and watched that band sweat and pound their way through a set, absolutely full of piss and/or desperation. They were just roaring like a freight train rumbling back and forth on the tracks, barely holding on.

That was the night I decided I was going to start a record label and I already had my first band. I spent an hour after that show talking to the guys, who were truly caricatures whose personalities matched the onstage persona - blue collar, smart, suspicious, incredibly humorous and very much interested in a guy telling them he might just put out their record.

I would find out later just how much of the "real deal" the singer was. The story of Johnny, however, undoubtedly deserves its own blog post and arguably an entire book. Anyone reading this who knows him will certainly agree with that.

The band's music itself is, well, a complicated story. Some referred to it as "psycho country" or "county-punk." Some said it was jokey, a band of made-up names (true), cartoonish lyrics (not so true), a lead singer whose voice sounded like a cheap whiskey overdose (true) and a group of musicians who only knew C, D and G chords (not true - I think they knew E). That's a lot stacked up against you, but as I recall, bands like The Sex Pistols drew similar comments.

Ah, but there were two important things that band had on their side: passion and no bullshit. They may have written songs about dead animals, death by chainsaw, getting dumped, being in prison, drag racing the devil, or being leveled by alcohol, but those guys, particularly Johnny, backed it all up. He was as complicated, honest and fascinating a person as I have ever met. Johnny was writing about the things he was interested in. You're interested in cars? Johnny was interested in what goes through the mind of a serial killer. That was just him. He couldn't care less if people thought his music and lyrics weren't "true." But you know what? They were and he was as close to true as any human being out there. No agenda.

And for the most part, critics, even well-known publications like Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, The Village Voice, Stereo Review and Magnet all praised Johnny and the band for thier originality and intensity.

My favorite quote? Perhaps this one, from Entertainment Weekly: "Angry Johnny delivers the '90s equivalent of old Appalachian murder ballads. In 50 years, academics will ponder this stuff, drawing conclusions about the dark side of the American soul. Will Johnny snicker at their gullibility, or nod in assent? Only he knows."

That, my friends, is how it all started. That October night in Worcester, MA remains one of the best pure rock and roll shows I have ever seen. Not necessarily for the virtuoso performances or anything, either. It still sticks in my gut because that show was just a raging fire of energy, packed with passion, intensity and hunger. It was, truly, just the beginning.

Listen to "202" - a real love song - by clicking here. To save it, just right click and select "save." This was from Tar Hut's very first release. It sold enough to allow us to put out more records, too. Nice.

"202" - Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
I was driving my car down 202
I was trying really hard to forget about you
I had the radio on and the windows down
I was doing 75 I was covering ground
You see, I had a plan, but I lost my nerve
But then I lost control on a nasty curve
For a second it felt just like I could fly
But then a second is all that it takes
All that it takes to die...
bye bye.
Well, they scraped me off of that telephone pole
Threw my carcass in the hearse,
and we started to roll
I couldn’t feel no pain although
I was torn right in two
The only thing I could do was think about you
So tell me darling, what else is new?
Now I can see me lying in my plush new bed
I don’t remember dying but I sure do look dead
They gotta close the lid because I’m mangled
up so bad
I wish everyone around here wasn’t so sad
And I can see you standing with my dad and mom
You’re back together but I’m all gone
Before they give me to them graveyard guys
I want one last look into your eyes,
into those eyes
I was driving my car down 202
I was trying really hard to forget about you
I was driving my car down 202
I should have never left you
I should have never gone

 

More Things Nobody Will Care About In A Week

A couple of other tidbits that I hope somebody does care about in a week:

• I got a free razor in the mail the other day. I'm not quite sure how I got on Gilette's list, but I'd like to think it's because someone over there did a search for Scarlett Johansen and got to my site, then realized what a taste-maker I am and thought "I must get this man a razor immeadiately." Far-fetchedness aside, I am now the proud owner of a razor that has - get this - five blades on it. Five! I was secretly hoping that when the package came, it would be that razor that vibrates, because, well, it's over the top. A vibrating razor! I did get to see one and hold one this weekend because my dad has one. My interest is certainly piqued. But nonetheless, mine, sans vibration, has five tiny blades and a bonus blade, located on the back side for reasons I cannot imagine. Thanks for the free razor. Quick aside: my traffic has doubled since the mention of that certain actress. In checking the last 25 searches in the traffic logs, 24 of them got here by a query which mentioned her name. The other query was "progresso breadcrumbs and meatballs." I kid you not.
  

• I saw my first episode of "Love Monkey" tonight. I love the idea of this show - adventures of an A&R guy for an indie record label. Much like "High Fidelity," they get a lot of stuff right - particularly the background stuff - the posters have the right bands, the bumper stickers are applicable, the music is suitable enough and oh, man, when lead actor Tom Cavanaugh is talking with someone and they say something like "One way or another, I'll find out" and Cavanaugh says "song title!" - that's me. I do that all the time. Some of the actual music industry stuff is a little cliche, and probably rightly so if they want the show to succeed. I still really enjoyed it.
  

• The internet is truly amazing. A good friend of mine from college now lives in Taipei, Taiwan, where he teaches English to adults. He and I took 6 weeks and drove around the country back in March/April of 1995 and we've maintained contact for the most part since our school days. He's also a huge music fan, much like myself, and he introduced me to some life-changing music back in college. Well, through Grouper we are now able to share our music collections. I'm telling you, this Grouper thing is just a fantastic product. Here I am, sitting in Massachusetts, able to browse through my friend's hard drive in Taipei and grab some music from him. Think about that for a second.

• Speaking of which, my boycott of Itunes has begun. Oh, I'll still use it to listen to music, sure, but I will be buying as much music as I can from other sources now (hello, EMusic!) until ITunes smartens up and removes their utterly ridiculous copy protection technology from songs you purchase there. EMusic has got it right and I'm now a proud customer. If they don't have something, I'll find a place other than ITunes to buy it, even if it that means - gasp - actually going to a CD store again, something I haven't done since May of 2004.

• The Red Sox are officially a three-ring circus again.

 

The Scarlet Phenomenon

Unbelieveable. In one of my posts last week, I mentioned that I seemed to be getting a lot of traffic to my site from Google for the query "Scarlett Johansen breast size" or "Scarlett Johansen measurements," despite never having really mentioned her on my website previously. This was corrected in a comment from Fort Miley, who pointed out that I did, in fact, mention Scarlett briefly when I blogged the Oscars last February, but I certainly made no mention or reference to her breast size or measurements!

So isn't it funny that since my mention of the actress here on Friday, guess whose site ranks #1 for the queries Scarlett Johansen breast size and Scarlett Johansen measurements on Google? This site! The number one result! Through no fault of my own! All I was doing was simply pointing out that I had never spoken of the subject here on RustedRobot, and suddenly my site is being flooded with traffic from people who want to know more about her measurements! You search engines crack me up. Look at the bright side, I suppose, maybe I'll get some new readers? And who knows what'll happen now that I've mentioned it again.

Other anecdote: I didn't say anything to her, but I was secretly thrilled (thrilled, I tell you!) when I heard my wife singing along to Teenage Fanclub's "What You Do To Me" yesterday. The idea that I've made a fan out of even one person is accomplishment enough! I've been on a nastyTF bender lately. If you know what's good for you, you'll go and buy Songs From Northern Britain or Bandwagonesque, which, may I remind you, beat out Nirvana's "Nevermind" as the best record of 1991, according to Spin Magazine. If you're a fan of The Byrds or Big Star, I guarantee you'll love this band.

 

Listmania

Time for another installment of "what did people type into a search engine to get to rustedrobot.com?"

• scarlett johansen breast size measurements
• superstar sunday Dragonheart pics
• scarlet johansen pictures
• I'd rather hurt you honestly than mislead you with a lie 80's
• why can't i buy a day pass for google video
• chris harford tabs

These are truly a mystery to me, as I don't believe I have ever mention Scarlet Johansen, Dragonheart, or Chris Harford (a musician) on this site. The Google video thing I can understand, as I just mentioned that last week and I used "I'd rather hurt you honestly..." as a title for one of my posts. Search engines are wierd. Despite the fact that I've been employed by one for nearly five years now, I have no idea why this site would surface in search results for a search on Scarlet Johansen's breast size measurements.

Recent ear candy via ITunes:

• "Can You Come Down With Us?" - The Olivia Tremor Control
• "All Day and All Of The Night" - The Kinks
• "Midnight to Six Man" - The Pretty Things
• "Little Bit 'O Soul" - The Music Explosion
• "Fifteen Keys" (live) - Uncle Tupelo
• "When My Baby's Beside Me" - Big Star
• "Lady Godiva and Me" - Grant Lee Buffalo
• "Love's Where Life Begins" - Arthur Alexander
• "Shiloh Town" - Mark Lanegan
• "Bye Bye Love" - The Cars
• "Hoochie Coochie" - Muddy Waters
• "New Partner" - Palace Brothers
• "18 Miles to Memphis" - Stray Cats

Finally, for those of you keeping score at home, the final list of my favorite bands of the 1990's (in no particular order):

• Teenage Fanclub
• Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Son Volt
• Pavement
• Faith No More
• Screaming Trees/Mark Lanegan
• U2
• Cracker
• Bottle Rockets
• Elliot Smith
• Grant Lee Buffalo

 

Renewable Energy Stock

Renewable Energy Stock
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

Back in October, I wrote about my fear and apprehension about getting into the stock market for the first time (other than my various 401K/company options, etc). Additionally, I was trying to invest in responsible companies that were, at least in part, operating with a focus on the greater good. The picture at the right is a summary of the performance of my investments since that day - a 40% ROI. Renewable energy does, in fact, seem to be a good place to put money these days!

 

I Was Born In A Little Bitty Tar Hut, Part 1

One thing I haven't really drilled deeply into on this blog are the years we spent trying to make a living running a record label. There is no need to get into a terrible amount of detail on the pains and pleasures behind the actual business - you can do plenty of reading on your own about the steep and treacherous cliffs one needs to climb in order to build a successful indie record label. The music business, in general, is not one that lends itself to happy endings and I saw my fair share of this while working with Rounder Records, one of the largest and most successful independant record labels in the world.

However, one M.O. I try to stay close to in life is to never get old and have to ask "what if?" I certainly won't have to do that regarding this period of my life. In retrospect, Tar Hut Records was an enormous risk which produced some of the finest memories of my life and some of the worst. As the years roll by, the finer moments stay with me and the more miserable ones fade away, so there are, perhaps, rose-colored glasses in play here. However, years after its necessary demise, I've finally gotten myself comfortable with one very key takeaway: I have no regrets whatsoever.

Over the next few weeks and months, I'll post an occasional story here about Tar Hut that I find amusing, informative or interesting enough to share. I'll also post a few MP3's of some of the music we released, starting today with Martin's Folly.

Martin's Folly were a Brooklyn-based quartet whom we became aware of through Eric Ambel, a friend of ours and a former member, believe it or not, of Joan Jett's Blackhearts. Eric has since gone on to play much more interesting music and is currently lead guitarist in Steve Earle's band. He gave us a copy of the first Martin's Folly album (self-titled) and it blew us away. They had a very warm and accessible sound, the same warmth that I felt when listening to something like The Band. They didn't sound like The Band, per say, but it just had that certain warmth. They had us from track one.

We still needed to see the band, though, so we set up a show at The Lizard Lounge up here in Boston on a cold Friday night and had them come in to play for myself and Leo and whomever else showed up that night, which turned out to be a pretty nice crowd. As soon as they broke into their first song, old Wurlitzer-style organ and all, we knew we were signing them. It was a very exciting night to see that band play like they did and to see the reaction they got from a crowd who had never heard them.

One of the things I remember most about Martin's Folly was a visit I paid to their lead singer sometime in '97 or so. He lived in a tiny apartment in pre-yuppie gentrification-era Williamsburg/Brooklyn - I think I drove down there for a show or something and I was going to crash on his couch. I don't know how it came up, but the topic of sheets ended up being discussed and it was this trip where I learned all about thread-counts. Seems our singer was obsessed about only sleeping on high-quality sheets to the point where he knew all there was to know about the topic. At the time, I was probably 26 or whatever and I had no idea about sheets. All I knew is that I barely made minimum wage and went to K-Mart in Allston, MA to get the cheapest ones (years later I became very aware of the luxury of high-thread counts, but that's another story). At the time, I remember thinking to myself "man, all musicians are absolutely not from this planet." Here's this guy who sings for a band, makes no money, but spends crazy dollars on high-thread count sheets. There was a rumor from other guys in the band that he even brought the sheets with him when the band toured, but I was never able to confirm it. Maybe they were kidding. I kinda hope so.

Sheets aside, we were very excited to be working with the band and Man, It's Cold, the sixth album released by Tar Hut, came out in late 1998 to some pretty nice reviews and, of course, pretty limited radio airplay. I can't remember if it was for this album, but I think they got a brief mention in Rolling Stone magazine. I'll get into more detail on our radio and publicity efforts at another time - those are some stories that I believe you'll find to be most interesting, believe me.

So, enough said for now. I'm sure my label partners Dave and Leo will chip in with some comments here and there and provide some nice color. For now, take a listen to a band whose singer loves expensive sheets. This song is the title track to the album and remember, you can download this by right-clicking the link and selecting "save as."

Listen to Man, It's Cold. A very applicable song for the last few days here in Massachusetts.

 

Back to Fig Newtons

After my post last week about the strangely similar nutrition tables for regular Fig Newtons and the new "100% Whole Grain" Fig Newtons, I noticed a lot of traffic coming to my site from something called the Junk Food Blog, who made reference to my post about the Newtons. Thanks for the referral, guys.

Now, you may think that the Junk Food Blog is a site dedicated to informing the unsuspecting masses about the dangers of junk food, right? Wrong! Instead, the site appears to simply point out the various new junk food products available to us in supermarket aisles, nothing more, nothing less. It's a site without an opinion. Like Switzerland, I suppose. Why bother? Why spend all that time publishing a blog when you have nothing to say? In checking the about page of the site, I did get a laugh out of this description of the blog:

"Look, eating a strict diet of "whole natural foods" might let you live an extra 20 years, but that only means having to eat that crap for another 20 years. Don't punish yourself!"

Heh. Unfortunately, that's the only good part of the site, really. I am certainly no expert on food, but I am remotely aware, as evidenced by last week's Fig Newton comparison, of the misleading nature of food labels today and I bet there's enough of it going on out there to make an interesting book or documentary.

Anyhoo, just out of sheer curiousity and the fact that I was out sick on Friday, I decided to write an email to Nabisco about the Fig Newton thing. The gist of my email was "why are you offering this product when they're virtually the same (and arguably worse) than the regular Fig Newtons?" I didn't really expect a response. I was thinking if I did get a response, it would be one of those horrific auto-reply emails telling me how much they value my opinion and encouraging me to continue visiting their website. A few days later, I did receive a response from a "person" at Nabisco and it went like this:

"It's important to consider your total diet when making food choices. We believe that balance, variety and moderation are the keys to proper nutrition. We offer a variety of foods with varying contents to meet individual nutritional needs. Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns, I will pass your comments on to our Nutrition department. If you haven't done so already, please add our site to your favorites and visit us again soon!

I don't think it occured to whomever copied-and-pasted that templated response that it doesn't even come close to answering my question, so now they've really thrown high-and-inside to me. I'll be writing back and posting each response from them here until someone at Nabisco answers my question. Good times!

 

Why Is Tom Hanks Up There? Twice.

I hope a lot of you saw The Office last night, because they aired the single best episode to date thus far - I must have laughed out loud ten times in 22 minutes.

 

Item Five: Where'd You Get The Scars & Bloody Blade?

NYC band Johnny Society
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

A few weeks back I posted my top albums of 2005, and a recent discovery made the list. I found Johnny Society via an absolute rave review in the latest Harp magazine and followed that up by checking the All-Music Guide profile of the band, which was even more of a rave. Enough said. I bought their latest album, called Coming To Get You and it's pretty much been playing non-stop since.

I love love love when I discover a new band that just totally kicks my ass. Johnny Society is a NYC-based quartet (sometimes a trio, apparantly) and there's nothing terribly inventive about what they do - it's simply how they do it. I haven't a band with this sense of adventure, versatility and just outright sharp and memorable music in quite a while. Suffice it to say I was very excited when I heard that "Coming to Get You" was one of five Johnny Society albums. I've already bought two more and they are bliss. What a find. File them under "criminally underappreciated."

All that said, being bowled over like that prompted me to dust off the old Item Five feature and do a little spit shining. Johnny Society's record label, Messenger Records, put me in touch with Kenny Siegal, the band's songwriter and lead singer, and that was that. While some of Kenny's answers are of the one-word variety, it's still great to be able to communicate with musicians that move the needle. Here goes:

1. What do you think you would be doing (besides music) if you weren't in one of the most underrated bands I've ever heard?

Cooking eggs

2. When you see, time and time again, overwhelmingly positive quotes about Johnny Society in People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and the New York Times, how does it make you feel?

Relieved

3. Are you the kind of musician who doesn't care one way or another about press? I mean, how can you not care about the All-Music Guide writing that "The New York City trio, simply put, is one of the most phenomenally talented rock & roll bands in the world." Or that Ray Davies (from the Kinks) likes the band? That's gotta stroke your ego a little, no?

You're leading the witness

4. Moreso, what about the idea of making a living from music? Seems more and more artists these days are falling more dramatically into two camps - those who will sell their music to TV commercials and shows like "The O.C." and those musicians who view such actions as abhorable. Do you have any problem with an artist making a buck like that if they have to?

Why shouldn't artists make a living?.... If you're an artist and people find your work to be of value than great for you!

5. What was the last thing that made you laugh really hard?

Jared Whitham's songs 'Northport' and 'Virtual Reality Dog'

6. Who do you think are some of the most underrated bands/musicians out there?

Ed Pastorini, Blueberry, Weak, David Deporis, Dr. Snitch, Adam Cohen from The Mommyheads, John Dyer, Mr. Forky, Nervous Cabaret, Jen Turner, Inappropriatta, Rima Fand, Chris Rael, Brion Snyder, all names to look out for because they are all great musicians/ songwriters and are mostly unknown but hopefully not for long. (Also the late Chris Whitley- whose work was known, but not enough.)

7. Did it blow your mind that Garth Hudson (The Band) contributed to your most recent album? I mean, one day did you just stop and think to yourself "Garth Fucking Hudson played on my record!!!" That song "Find A Light" is really powerful. One of my favorite tracks on the album.

Yeah Garth Hudson blew us away ...we knew he would ....that performance on "Find The Light" was his first take.... he's a class A musician.....hopefully we'll do more work together.

8. Why don't you ask me a question?

Have you heard Johnny Society's other records?

Jeff answers: I've heard and own two others, "Clairvoyance" and "Life Behind The 21st Century Wall." Can't wait to hear the other two.

9. What's on tap for the band in 2006?

Some touring to promote "Coming To Get You" and then more recording..Hopefully we'll be playing in Europe as well.

10. If you could go back and change a decision you've made during your life, what would it be?

I wouldn't have eaten that burrito I ate for lunch .....

11. Which band would you have liked to have been in more: The Hollies, The Byrds or The Clash?

If I have to choose between these three I pick The Beatles.

Big thanks to Messenger Records and Kenny Siegal. Welcome back Item Five! I'll have another neat interview soon.

 

The Bad, The Bad and The Ugly

An interesting night last night to say the least. A friend of mine was gracious enough to offer me a free ticket to the Bruins game. This would be my first trip to the arena since it was renamed the TD BankNorth Garden and it also marked the return of Joe Thornton, one of the top players in the NHL, whom the Bruins traded away a month or so ago during a gazillion-game losing streak. It also would mark my initial live viewing of "the new NHL." So it's safe to say that due to the return of Thornton, there was added buzz last night around the local hockey team.

Part of a trip to see the Bruins these days requires a drive, too. From my home in Maynard, it's about 25 miles to the arena and to the surprise of nobody who knows me, I know several shortcuts through Cambridge and Somerville which keep me off busy slow-moving streets at that time of day. Part of that shortcut activity involves one major Cambridge intersection, where Route 2, Route 16 and the Alewife Brook Parkway meet. Anyone who's been in this area during rush hour knows it can be a painful experience, complete with police officers standing in the road directing traffic. I know a way around most of it, but still have to hit the hit a portion of it at the tail end.

So last night as I whirled into that tail end, the car in front of me stopped rather quickly and didn't move for about two minutes. Cars coming the other way were also stopped, so after waiting a bit I finally got out and asked somebody what was going on, since I couldn't see over the hulking Chevy Suburban in front of me. The guy simply says, "a man stopped, got out of his car and then just fell over in the middle of the road. I think he had a heart attack." Feeling a little bad that just minutes before I had felt inconvienenced and impatient, I tried to think about what I could do to help, but there was nothing. Someone had already called 911. The man, who I didn't look at, was unconscious and therefore inconsolable.

So I backed up, turned around and headed over to the cop who was directing traffic about 500 yards away and just let him know what was going on. His response was a serious: "you're kidding me," followed by a sprint over to the scene. With that, I moved on. Even though I purposefully never caught a glimpse of the man lying in the middle of the road, it still shook me a little, thinking about how quickly it can all just go away. I looked around in the newspaper this morning and on the news last night, but there was nothing. Admittedly, simple heart attacks in the middle of the road don't cut it these days to make the news. Death must be inventive and spectacular in order to make the Globe or TV news. I really hope the man is ok.

On a much lighter note - and speaking of near death experiences - the Bruins mailed in a true stinker last night, playing one of the worst games I have ever seen the team play. They lost 6-2. And the return of Joe Thornton? That lasted all of five minutes and 13 seconds, as he was giventhe boot for a hit-fron-behind. Oh, irony. How we love you.

You must read this story. Sweets in disguise? You have got to be kidding me. Men don't like to be seen eating sweets, so they make it look like fast food!? Japan is strange.

 

If Only It Looked Like Newark!

Newark, NJ
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

Taken from a recent Associated Press article about generating power through wind:

"If we could just find a way to make them [wind farms] invisible," Gray said, "we'd have something everybody could get behind."

Seriously? I mean, seriously? Like, you're ok with smokestacks, oil refineries or Newark? I mean, I am clearly in support of alternative energy, but that's not even the issue here. The issue is that this guy thinks we should keep relying on instable and arguably corrupt foreign sources of energy because wind farms are not visually attractive? Somebody take this guy to Texas. Flash poll: do you find wind turbines unseemly? [Note: I know the picture above probably has little to do with energy, but you do get the point, right?]

 

Day After Day I Get Up And I Say.....

The Consumer Electronics Show was held in Las Vegas this week and it brought an absolute flurry of news. No doubt anyone who tried to keep up with it all feels like they just went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson circa 1988. Jabs from Microsoft, body blows from Yahoo and uppercuts from Google. Wait - what did I just say? Isn't it funny how Yahoo and Google are now the main attractions at Consumer Electronics Shows? Ah, seems only two years ago when Google was so adamant about their focus on search, claiming things like (paraphrasing) "we'll never be a portal" or "we'll never clog our page with advertising." Well, young Sally has gone and grown up now, hasn't she? The serve-and-volley of this week (and the past year, really) finds Google getting into the business of selling videos now, along with their recent decision to promote AOL on Google pages, along with releasing an IM client, a sidebar, ride finders, blimps, roller skates, candy bars and super balls. All well and good. Really.

Where it all goes wrong in my eyes (and this is a shot at 'em all) is the whole issue of Digital Rights Management, otherwise known as basic copy protection. Apple's recent version of ITunes rolled out an utterly moronic DRM system which restricts the playing of music purchased on ITunes just about everywhere now except for the IPod. This is really tragic. You simply cannot get rid of the DRM on these songs. Fred Wilson, a VC in New York, says it well enough. The whole thing just sucks for consumers.

Seems everyone wants to have their own version of DRM now. With Google's recent video announcement, they too are in the DRM game and it honestly feels like the DRM thing might even be all about ego at this point. If you buy video from Google, you're restricted on playing most of it - you must watch it on the Google Video Player. What happened to the whole "free and open" world they touted? It flies in the face of what Google is all about, really. Sad.

I'm not calling out a specific company here, I'm calling out everyone. Can we just adopt one single format for music and video so people (like me) don't have to go crazy about what can be played where and how many times? At this point, the only thing keeping my music in the Apple format anymore is the fact that I cannot share music in the MP3 format on Grouper, one of my favorite internet inventions of all time. For those of us who are truly music geeks, having the ability to share music taken away from us is like a stick in the eye. Sharing music with others is what makes music dorks like me tick. Ask my poor friend Anthony, who a couple of years ago made the mistake of telling me he liked roots rock. A week later he had 9 CD's from me, filled with various artists in the genre. Why can't we do that online? Why can't I put together a playlist and just make it available to him? Sharing music has been done for 30 years for christ sake. They're taking that away from us. Hell, even your average music fan gets a kick out of sharing music with friends.

Can't we have a system where we can buy music from ITunes and play it on any device we want? It is ludicrous that I cannot listen to an Apple file on the Windows Media Player (and vice versa). It's not really all that much to ask, and Apple is, unbelieveably enough, falling right back into the same tarpits they fell into during the 1980's, when they walled up their computer garden. As if that wasn't lesson enough, the Google's and Microsoft's of the world are doing the exact same thing 20 years later! Eventually all this headspinning is going to lead to massive consumer backlash. Customers do not like being confused.

And Ask Jeeves? Oh yeah, we're focused on search. Still.

 

8 Inch Floppy Drive, Anyone?

I was driving home from work recently and a song I was listening to reminded me of old words and phrases we used to use while we were growing up. There was the obligatory "dork," which I believe many kids still use today. Things like "geek" and "awesome" probably still weave their way through the high school and elementary hallways, too. But digging deeper, I tried to think of some other words that definitely didn't make it past the early '90s.

For example, I don't think "airhead" or "ditz" get much play anymore, but back then it certainly did. I also remember using the word "bodacious" quite a bit to describe something or someone (see: girls) that was very, very good. An easy one to remember is "rad." I can't say I used that one so much, but there were definitely a group in school who did. Here's a good one: for a while in grade school (maybe 6th or 7th grade), we used the word "dipstick" a lot to describe someone who did something stupid. Origin: The Dukes of Hazzard. A few that I truly miss: spaz, poser, grody, dweeb and one of my all-time favorites: "ta-ta's." I probably don't need to go into that last one, but you can probably figure it out.

I don't ever remember a single time ever using any of the valley girl stuff like "gag me with a spoon"or stuff like "totally tubular" and I don't remember many other people using it, either.

Then, of course, there were the words we invented on our own. If you're not from Bolton, Lancaster or Stow, Massachusetts and you didn't go to high school in the 85-87 range, you have no idea what "rant" means. Based purely on hearsay, the word was invented by one Jon Shapiro, graduate of 1985, who also happened to live three doors down the street from me. He was gone by the time we were freshman, but his invention lived on with us, particularly during the 1985-1986 school year. It was initially used to describe a girl who, uh, got around. But after a while, the scope of the definition expanded and you could use "rant" to describe any woman for any reason. I mean, in retrospect not many freshman girls got around, but the word was so good that the definition just needed to expand.

It wasn't just calmly uttering "rant," either. You had to pronounce it a certain way, always making it fairly loud and, of course, as obnoxious as possible. Often you'd simply leave out the "t" because the "RAN" part was enough if you stressed it. Sometimes you could just make a completely ridiculous noise that any human outside the high school would think you were just doing an impression of a farm animal and we'd know it was "rant." Just because. It was brilliant.

I'm sure I've left some out as it's coming up on 17 years since I graduated from high school. Did you make up any good words or can you remember any others?

 

You Keep Lying, When You Oughta Be Truthin'

fignewton
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

I was moving north and south in the grocery store earlier today when I came across Fig Newtons in the cookie section. Now, I've said it before and I will say it again - the Fig Newton is probably my favorite cookie in the whole wide world and while I can only shake my head in sad disapproval at the dizzying options of Newtons these days, I understand Nabisco's goal to expand a successful product. I remain skeptical (at best) that Apricot Newtons will be around years from now, but I digress. Eeck.

Anyway, I spy that Nabisco now offers a "100% Whole Grain" Fig Newton option. Dazzled by what I perceive may be a more healthy Fig Newton option, I anxiously picked up the package and examined the Nurition Facts, which I've generously provided you in the picture above - the new 100% Whole Grain Newton is in the table on the left.

Curious, I pick up the "regular" Fig Newton package (pictured on the right) and quickly realize that, hoo boy, I love America! There is virtually NO difference here, other than the extra 1 gram of dietary fiber in the Whole Grain version. In fact, the Whole Grain version actually has more saturated fat than the regular Newtons!

So remember, folks, just because food manufacturers dress up their boxes, add some earth-tone colors and finish it off with some messaging about "100% Whole Grains," it doesn't make it right to eat and it certainly doesn't mean it's any better for you. Good stuff.

So, I sit here tonight, entirely bummed out about the idea of returning to work tomorrow morning, but ever mindful and thankful that I have a job. And that we get the week between Christmas and New Years off. Tell you what, this couldn't have come at a better time. I kept my activity during the break to an absolute minimum - it was much needed. Aside, of course, from the fast pace of Christmas Eve and Christmas day, both of which brought some fine time spent with family, it was a very chill week-and-a-half. That said, some quick highights of the break:

1. Saw two movies: "The Family Stone" and "Rumor Has It." They were not the two movies we wanted to see this break, but we made the decision to go light. "Syriana" and "Munich" can wait. Lightning strike reviews:

- The Family Stone was solid. It doesn't hurt that my celebrity crush, Rachel McAdams was in the film, either. One thing, though: the movie seems to be advertised as a family-holiday-slapstick style comedy and while there are some amusing moments (often provided by Luke Wilson), it is most certainly not an upbeat comedy.

- Rumor Has It was much weaker. I'm starting to question some of the dreck Jennifer Aniston is signing up for these days - I feel like she's got some good movies in her, but she keeps proving me wrong. Time to fire her agent? Two grizzled veterans made the movie somewhat watchable, though. Shirley MacLaine was terrific and Kevin Costner has got the horny old man thing down-pat these days.

2. Visited Portland, Maine on New Years Eve. Some pictures are here, but they don't really do it justice. Portland is really quite awesome and my kind of town - very New England, i.e. old brick buildings and cobblestone streets. It's small enough to feel like you'd know everyone before the weekend is over, but large enough to keep you engaged, particularly when you're walking home, hand-in-hand with your wife after one of the best meals of your life and it's snowing lightly, providing a quiet, beautiful backdrop for a picturesque stroll through an old New England gem.

3. Acquired the ability to riff "Day Tripper" and "Crossroads" on the guitar.

4. Had ice cream in the freezer for the first time since probably September? It will also be the last ice cream I have until Erikson's opens in April. Trying to cut back.

5. Read the Mike Wallace book, called Between You & Me. I've become a huge fan of 60 Minutes over the past couple of years , so I was really excited when this came from Santa this year. So excited, in fact, that I had read the entire book by December 27th. It was quite good, too, although one would suspect that it took Wallace all of six hours to write it. So sure, some of it is very People magazine-like, but a reminder: my goal this week was for nothing heavy. Mission accomplished. Upon finishing that, it was onto Word Freak, a 400 page account of the history of Scrabble and the author's descent into the wacky world of competitive Scrabble, complete with Trekkie-like regulars on the Scrabble circuit. Pretty great read so far (and a good source for ridiculous words to try next time I play the game, myself).

6. Took my virgin voyage to Ikea (new location in Stoughton, Mass.). Goodness, what an alien place. Where else in the world can you buy light bulbs, outfit your entire house AND get a quality salmon dinner all under the same roof? Unreal. Word to the wise: only go to Ikea on weekday mornings. Trust me on this one.

Now it is on to 2006. I typically don't find myself reflecting all that much when the years turn over and I'm not much of a resoloution guy. Everything that happens happens for a reason, it doesn't necessarily matter on what day of the week things happen or what year it might be. Someday I vow to write a book. It might be this year. It might not. It will happen when it happens (and when I can come up with an idea for one, another issue entirely). Sam Allis really really nailed it reagrding new years in his great Sunday column in the Boston Globe this week. I'll leave you with that.