August 2010
46 posts
Gray is Leaving Massachusetts Forever (For Awhile)
Hey friends and family, kith and kin: I’m pulling up stakes, packing up his crap into his big red church van and hitting the road, destined for points west (San Fran). I’ll be setting up camp out there for the foreseeable future, and thus it’ll be my last chance to spend time with a lot of you guys, which certainly bums me out to no end.
With that in mind, I’m making this...
“I think the Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb....”
– John Mellencamp (via Reuters).
I love when the dinosaurs say things like this, it really makes me appreciate the fact that, as disconnected as I feel sometimes, I’m still young enough to not fear technology inherently.
So apparently the internet destroyed the music business? That means all...
Ke$ha is the Sasha Grey of Pop Music (How Gray...
I wrote an entire treatise on this. I spent 2 hours writing it. It was clever. My computer crashed and now it’s gone forever. It contained phrases like “salient value to the consumer.” Now, you must take the phrase above and extrapolate what I might have had to say on the subject.
I hope the sun explodes and engulfs the world in flames. I hope the atmosphere is the first to go,...
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Saw that the Organ Beats got a pretty prime write-up in the Phoenix this week. Good for them, they’re genuinely nice dudes who make fun music. For once, my relentless schadenfreude isn’t acting up. Congrats Organ Beats. I still think your singer is a babe.
Less enthused about the article on Amanda Palmer. Sort of confirmed that things about her that I dislike; the over-sharing,...
Scott Pilgrim vs the World thoughts: pt. 2
I was mentioning how I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim the other night among a group of friends and affiliated, when a kid I didn’t know said this:
“I’m not gonna see that. Michael Cera is a fag.”
I found this curious for several reasons.
Michael Cera, in reality, has probably slept with approximately 6 million girls. While I may not understand the attraction beyond celebrity or necessarily agree with...
Scott Pilgrim vs the World thoughts: pt. 1
I’m not usually one to call out critics on being raging ponces (seeing as though I am their king and idol) but Peter Keough’s review of Scott Pilgrim in the Pheonix is pretty off-the-rails in how stupid it is. While the central push of the article seems to be how annoying it is to watch Michael Cera give yet another translucent, wan performance (a fact I don’t quite disagree...
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Match by Match at the Gulu-Gulu on Thursday!
Hey folks, you remember that show we were supposed to have at the Gulu in Salem on Thursday? Well is going down THIS THURSDAY, the 18th, starting around 8:30. We have the whole night so we’ll be doing a few sets, throwing in some cool covers and generally having fun. It’s free and all ages, so cone out. The gulu-gulu in Salem.
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Marc Maron is a class act.
Seriously, what an awesome dude. I sent him this longwinded, borderline psychotic email about how his podcast, WTF, was really helping me through a bad time. I never expected him to respond to me in any way, I figured he probably got of letters from sad obsessives and frankly, had better things to do. With that in mind, I was surprised when I got this email:
“We’re going to be okay,...
Can’t sleep. You know how some handsome people are called heartthrobs? I’m having that sensation right now, only in a totally shitty way, apropos of nothing remotely sexy. Horrifying internet porn binge? Try writing? Listen to music? Something. I know it’s the sleepiness, but it doesn’t help knowing.
“You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now...”
Sometimes, when you find yourself nearly sunk, the universe provides you just what you need to keep going. How else is it going to get you to keep coming back for punishment?
Show went great, had a wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who came. Will probably have video later in the week.
Match by Match at Gulu-Gulu this Thursday! →
We got asked to play last minute and we’re quite excited. Come on down and check us out, free, all-ages.
Also, and bands who want to play that night, let us know.
Back in NYC: Day one
Got into NYC. Spent 45 minutes parking. Currently on the pull-out couch at my Grandma’s that is actually less comfortable when pulled out. Enjoying a lovely cranberry and tonic (now with quinine!).
Not really feeling pangs for NYC just yet, but I will say there are some really pretty girls down in these parts. Forgot about that whole thing.
“If he thinks he’s gonna find some Haitian fuckin’ vampires or some...”
– My manager at Papa Gino’s
Dispatchs from PG
My manager, an overweight Latino guy, decides he wants some “chinaman food,” and departs to pick up some “polk flied lice.” That is a quote.
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I think you’ve reached complete obsolescence when it no longer seems inappropriate to wear your own band’s shirt.
Zombies Are For Douchebags: Meditations on a... →
I contributed an article to Scars Magazine I’m pretty proud of, “Zombies Are For Douchebags.” Check it out, it’s free online. Also, SHOOTER JENNINGS READ IT AND LIKED IT!!!
The Roadtrip Cometh
1. Down to Durham, NC on the 28th to see the MOUNTAIN GOATS at the Music For Fences show. Probably leave a few days early. Hope to actually meet @jonwurster in person.
2. Out of MA (officially) on or around the 4th.
3. Hitting up Ann Arbor (obviously).
4. Albuquerque, NM. Cool place last time I was there, be fun to go back.
5. Spending a few days in Vegas. Hopefully I wont get blackout and...
“Delivering papers on coke. Good idea, or GREAT IDEA?”
– Me
I gave a departure date today. Leaving for the west coast. I choose it arbitrarily, but as soon as I said it, it felt like it had been there all along.
The jitters are setting in. Not really worried about failing or anything. More, I’m worried about people forgetting about me.
Please don’t forget me, guys. That’s all I ask.
Prop 8 goes down on flames and people have all... →
My favorite:
““Today’s decision by a federal district judge in San Francisco striking down state constitutional protections for marriage and inventing a spurious federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage is an example of extreme judicial activism. Moreover, it is an affront to the millions of California voters who approved Proposition 8 in 2008 after months of vigorous public...
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“Just woke up from a bad nightmare. I dreamed partying didn’t exist and so...”
– @AndrewWK
I really, truly would like to think this is sincere. I recognize AWK is less a man than the concept of partying incarnate, a totem or elemental. He’s more an idea than a being, more a persona than a person. I like the idea that the fundamental existential angst he suffers comes from...
Last minute show: I’ll be playing at Gulu-Gulu tonight around 7. Come by if you’re free!
Does anyone have a bus I can climb under and lay quietly until it starts moving and crushes me?
“The plot was reportedly inspired by a real-life event that happened to Tripp...”
– - The inspiration for the Hangover.
This sums up why I can’t get into this movie. To me, it sounds like the most boring story one of those overly tan, muscular sociopath douchebags might yell at a bar to seem interesting.
“DUDE, THIS ONE TIME, ME AND MY FRIENDS GOT, LIKE, SO...
Amazing. I actually have less of a song now that I started working o this demo. What in the FUCK.
Amp is buzzing in an annoying way. Hope that’s temporary.
Weird Deep, A tumblrtale
I wrote this little story a few years back and never did anything with it because I was never quite pleased with it. It wasn’t really a story, just sort a vivid fragment or interesting set-up, and I suppose it still is. I added a few things to it, but it still lacks a real plot or ending. Posted for your enjoyment.
It wasn’t long after the sun went out that the weird things started...
Trying hard to occupy myself. Should be re-recording the guitar on the new demo (wasn’t in love with guitar sound) but it feels too daunting at the moment. Will likely just watch Mad Men until I pass out. Might try writing again, but again, my industriousness isn’t quite where it should be. I think I might need things to be a bit more distressed before I feel adequately compelled to...
Up so damn early (for me). Going in to work at 9. My body isn’t functioning right. I feel like I’m rotting from the inside out.
The main question on my mind: WHO IN THE FUCK NEEDS PIZZAS AT 9 IN THE MORNING? WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLE AM I ACCOMMODATING (or worse, ENABLING)?