A Song Dedicated to Myself

Here's a little tropical number I wrote for a guy named Mike Dixon. It's called "Note to Self." Hit it, João.



"This Week's Champion"

Beautiful Waste

I took this picture while walking home from school one day. Not only does it look good, but it like means something, maaaaan.

Do you see that Milky Way mini in there? I almost grabbed it.

Frequently Used Words for Dismissing Disagreeable Music

Another thing about Mike Adams. One thing we often agree on is bands we don't like. Not that we're total haters, but I've noticed that we generally seem to share sensibilities when it comes to music that we find particularly disagreeable. Sometimes having a common negative interest can be fun!

On that note, here's a list of words and phrases that I use to swiftly dismiss the artists I don't like:

• Sucky
• Boring
• Boring to the max
• The emperor's new panties
• Overrated
• Pointless
• Embarrassing
• Okkervillian
• Ewww!
• Stop!
• mehhhh
• a bunch of Decemberistocrats
• what's the point?
• I guess I just don't "get it"
• Now, remind me, why do people go ga-ga for this again?
• There's only one possible explanation. They must be using The Secret.
• Bringin' back the sounds of _____!
• Record collector music
• (band name) is on (formerly respected record label)?!?
• it's basically adult contemporary
• (brand of shoe worn by some of the members) rock
• literate
• too Brooklyn
• too Pitchfork
• too vanilla
• too fixed-gear
  
• trying too hard
• fashion punk
• deliberately freaky
• they're basically a dance band
  
• Mates of State-y
• Dracula Weekday
  

Mike Adams: A Man Who Deserves His Own Blog Entry

Mike Adams. What a guy! Have you ever met someone and thought "This guy is the real deal?" That's what it's like with Mike.

He's a handsome fellow (I can say that because I'm so extremely hetero that it's kind of ridiculous), but he should be glad that he wasn't born with my glasses and my hat, like I was.



Something about it just doesn't work. Be glad you are you, Mike Adams. When you got it going on, you don't have to try to be someone else. I think that's the lesson we can all learn from this experiment. Be yourself, black is beautiful.

Somehow the picture I took of him didn't upload from my phone to Flickr, and then when I went about writing the entry before this, I somehow forgot that I even took one of him. Weird, I know. Naturally, public outrage ensued, so I'm in damage control mode now.

The Foggy Mirror Trick

Here's a song about being wonderfully overwhelmed by the richness and the frailty of life.

"The Foggy Mirror Trick"

DL

Thank you all for being a part of it.

A Seeing Man Sees How It Is

picture via

As promised, two David Grubbs-meets-Dos style songs. Playing the bass is fun. Now I know why Flea wears those stuffed animal pants.

"A Seeing Man Sees How It Is"

DL

"Pack a Harp, Pack a Horn"

DL

和歌山 Wakayama Is a Nice Name for a City

I really like the name Wakayama. 和歌山　It's a city near Osaka, and the kanji for its name means something like "peaceful song mountain." I mean really, who wouldn't want to hang out on a peaceful song mountain? That sounds so cool, so magical, like there are little dudes that lay on their sides and play ocarinas all day. I met a guy from Wakayama, and he seemed really chill, as though he had been living on a peaceful song mountain.

All cities in Japan have names that mean things, and as you learn kanji you also learn that there is added meaning that comes to the names of people and places you might already know. But nothing beats Wakayama. I like the way it sounds, I like the way the kanji look. Especially at 150 pt.:

Hamada Beach is Half Redundant

My roommate told me that the first part of this song sounds "Crispin Glover"y, meaning that it sounds like a circus. I guess I can see that. It more kind of reminds me of that circus-like song on Jeremy Enigk's solo record. I forget what it's called. There were some flutes, but I accidentally erased them, and by the time I noticed, it was like 12 undos ago. Oh well. I'll pute them back eventually, I just wish I could remember what the notes were. The circusiness It changes at about 1:49. The real triumph comes at about 3:00, when the "balls just go to the wall."

It's not entirely done, but I feel like it's enough to be mostly where it's going to be. I need a hi-hat stand. I've got the hi-hats. Anyone out there want to let me borrow a hi-hat stand? I know you do.



DL

You like that pitch correction? I have a cold!

"You Are So Much Bigger Than Me"

"Dude, you're so much bigger than me." Other men say that to me all the time... I believe this would be an appropriate time to insert the popular "LOLZ!" netspeak.

But seriously, I received this message today from my friend David, currently on a whirlwind jaunt through Europe promoting his new record.



You see, I played some bass/guitar/singing with him on his Daytrotter session, and the resultant artwork does sorta have my head about three times bigger than his, which I guess could be seen as a little strange seeing how it is kind of his thing, the artist name (DM Stith) sorta being his name and all. Plus I didn't even play or sing on one of the songs. Behold:



So yeah, check out MY band, DM Stith on Daytrotter. David, your humility will get you nowhere. But seriously, playing with a guy on a major label ;-) looks like it's going to be fun and full of exotic travels. I may make it to Australia before I'm 30 after all.

Important Announcement

I think amigo Tyler put it best when he called this video "Japan 101." It kind of covers it all.