Monday, May 19, 2008

Dirty little badger

This little bugger and his buddies haunt our backyard, sleep under our house, eat our compost and lovely ripe tomatoes, and wake us up with pitter-patter across the roof at all hours of the night.




Cinco de Mayo

Our fifth annual Cinco de Mayo bash was a hit! Once again, Big and Little Wiens made themselves very photogenic:

Aside from my wife, Matt was about the best slow dance I've ever had.






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I've heard enough about The Bad Plus to give an official recommendation. "Giant" is pure musical imagination amazingly executed.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Taken by Trees ... and tomatoes!

It's about time to feature Victoria Bergsman. She is/was the magical, lilting voice of The Concretes, as well as the feature of Peter Bjorn and John's super-duper-catchy "Young Folks." But solo, she is Taken By Trees. Pick a song, any song. Let's say, "Lost and Found."

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Now just fifteen days ago I took a photo of the tomato plants in my front yard. And see how they've grown!



Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Death Cab for Cutie: Narrow Stairs

Ben Gibbard is getting old.

Defunct relationships, contemplations of death, dating women who have kids.....yeah, Ben's all grown up. It feels like he can finally say things he's wanted to for a long time. And for the first time he doesn't have to hide his ever-introspective poetry inside cute lyrics and splashy hooks just so we'll keep listening. This time we have to listen, because DCFC is big-time now. They've hit "long-awaited" status. And it's about time.

Expect some grey clouds, darker than usual. Death Cab even gets close to breaking into a little grungy guitar-bass jam not two minutes into the album. And the lyrics follow suit. It's not that DCFC albums haven't ever treated themes like human mortality and broken relationships before. But where Plans' "who's gonna watch you die?" seemed sung by a twenty-something-year-old about feeling lost amidst untimely death, this album's repeated overtures to death, lostness, and failure take on the solemnity of a writer going on forty and not being able to stomach the view in the mirror. We are led to believe that Gibbard's relationships always have and always will turn out cruelly wrong. All but forgotten is the carefree sweetness of nighttime drives through the country that I loved so much about Transatlanticism. Now those country drives are tainted by the smoke of wildfires. Indeed the first refreshing, if bitter, line in the album comes in the context of cleansing by fire: "I couldn't think of anywhere I would have rather been / To watch it all burn away." No kidding, that's the only sigh of relief I can think of in all eleven tracks.

I don't want to give the wrong impression. I really like it. At the end, I'm glad that musically the album delivers what I wanted it to. That melodies still sparkle and pop. That Ben Gibbard still writes the best slow songs ever. That amidst the greyness, the depressing resignation to less-than-ideal relationships as life goes on, the "pity and fear," the old clothes that don't fit like they used to, Death Cab still finds a voice and a way to be self-deprecating, to be a caged bird and at the same time remember how it feels to be alive. Given the content, it holds up remarkably well as a coherent body of songs. Lots of people are going to say it's such a downer. So be it. I say it's a fresh, and very necessary, ode to realism, where Plans and Transatlanticism had been so over-sprinkled with idealism. And on top of that, there's the fact that the band can still really jam.

Sure, most of me really does miss the younger, brighter stuff. Transatlanticism for me will still be quintessential Death Cab. That is, until Ben works the growing pains out of his system and gets back to writing about stuff like inaccurately named parts of cars, and why dating is cute, and different names for the same thing.

So thanks, Ben, for the reminders about real life. We hear you. We feel for you. Now plow through it. We'll be waiting on the other side.

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and tonight...with Anna and Matt....at Spike's, the best little beer joint in town:

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The letter at last

Arriving home late, overtired from so little sleep last night, sniveling from sinus congestion and raspy sore throat, I open the front door to Promising-White-Envelope-Hanging-From-Ceiling:

Bless my little wifie, she had found a letter (THE letter) from UHM in the mailbox and devised cleverly to surprise me.

In short, it says that I am accepted to the Master's program in Tropical Plants and Soils, that we will be moving to Hawaii in three very teeny-tiny months, that we hate(!) leaving all our lovely and most treasured friends here and will miss them tremendously and won't they please come with us.

Phone calls to parents, etc., etc.

We go out and celebrate. Sushi, naturally...

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

crystal castles and barns


Drivin down good ol' Highway 1

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Crystal Castles: some very good minimalistic, danceable electronica, but I predict I'd be very weirded out at one of their shows. Why? Okay, these are the "influences" they list on their MySpace: "murder, blank looks on girls, knives." That's it. That's it?

Nonetheless, two songs you should...nay must check out are "Courtship Dating" and "Magic Spells."

Monday, May 5, 2008

Not sure if I will have a garage this cool again EVER

tools
beer
drum set (thanks Wiens!)

how did I get so lucky?



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Nowegian samba, anyone? Yeah, this evening I was checking out The Royalties, today celebrating the release of their new album. Those background vocals on "Lady o' the silver wheel" just kill. Most appropriately, I was listening to "Music for Cooking with Gas" at precisely the moment I realized I was burning the veggies under the broiler!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Hey, check out this band!

If I was in a band, I think maybe I'd want it to be kinda like Elf Power. Just plain solid music. Okay, not terribly interesting music. But not boring music either. Just solid. Check out "Spiral Stairs" for instance.

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I wanted to make sure I hiked Reservoir Canyon at least one more time before I leave, and this morning I did. I think I like it because it shows off everything I like about the SLO-outdoors.



Thursday, May 1, 2008

Diagnosing your bug problems from 9-5 daily


Dee's rendering of evil parsley-chomping alien monster bug in her kitchen. Ummmm, sure, that's an aphid. (If I tell you what it really is, I'll have to kill you.)

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This guy
John Maus is gutsy! He only posts the bad reviews of his music. Nonetheless he made #2 on KCPR's most played list this week. Plus, and this is the best part, he TEACHES AT UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII. Have a listen to the weird/catchy "Loverboy."