let's hear that string part again, because i don't think they heard it all the way out in bushnell

saturday night's sufjan show at lincoln center: opens with casimir pulaski day, then goes heavy on the seven swans material. with a seven-piece string section. all my limbs fall off my body.

this is where it was:back when matt got the tickets for it, I'd assumed it would be the same as sufjan's bowery shows in august, in a classier setting. not so, idiot. those shows were like a really good party. this was like a really good movie. which I guess is only a good analogy if you really like parties but you like movies even more. pretend.

I'd say more about it but I'm tired and, I think, not as articulate about beeing flabbergasted as I was in my teens. all I can do is throw mp3s at you. it was a really moving show.

sufjan stevens - a good man is hard to find
this is from a performance on KCRW, but it's the same rendition of the song they played on saturday. just cue the strings in your mind.

anyway, yeah, so that was all well and good, but here's the better story: after the show I saw carl newman again! again, he was with his girlfriend, and again, no one around seemed to notice who he was except me. why is this, indie america?? why must you never recognize a.c. newman when he appears in public, and thus put me in the position of having to decide whether to say something?

well, I said nothing. I am ashamed. cripplingly. however, I make this pledge to you, reader: the next time I run into the lead singer of the new pornographers, I will say hi to him.

the new pornographers - the laws have changed
i really like this song and i really like this band.


oh, I almost forgot about bloc party girl!

freshman or sophomore year, my hall adopted a teenage girl via livejournal. she never knew about this, but we did, and we loved her, even though she was really into the juliana theory and stuff like that. anyway I don't know what happened to her, and I also forgot the point I was trying to make. bottom line, though, here is a teenage girl lip-syncing bloc party. awwwwww. she has tiny hands! you want her to be yours, don't you, in a totally non-creepy way.

finally, tonight I was looking for some more mashups, a search that was inspired by an old pitchfork essay that I read at work today. didn't find much that I'm not embarrassed to put up, but here's a solid one by Dunproofin (responsible for the phenomenal "janet jackson is playing at my house"):
Jackson 5 vs. Fatboy Slim - Booty of Choice

anyone got any other good ones? I'm in need.

in defense of the self

My old, dead ipod held 5 gigs, which meant that for the last 3 years or so I spent a lot of time listening to a fraction of my music. The best thing about my new one is turning out not to be the video feature, but my sudden reaquaintance with a lot of music I sort of forgot about.

Self was a band I started listening to some 5 or 6 years ago, and my love for them was large. By the middle of sophomore year of college they weren't anywhere in the 950 recently played songs, though, so they no longer fit on my ipod. Unfortunate, yeah, but it was a good way to force myself to get rid of dashboard confessional. Sort of a baby/bathwater thing. Sort of.

Here's the basic story with Self: they're only a band in the sense that Bright Eyes, or Cat Power, or Iron and Wine, or (guh) Nine Inch Nails are bands - get it? It's a "project". Really just a guy named Matt Mahaffey; he made an album in 1995, an EP in 1997, and two albums for Dreamworks in 1999 and 2000. He supposedly recorded another album, but it hasn't been released or heard, probably because Dreamworks no longer exists as a record company. Gizmodgery, the 2000 album, was made entirely with toy instruments, but (so?) Breakfast With Girls, from 1999, is his best.

Self - Uno Song

Self's lyrics are so-so, which is what makes it difficult for smart people to like. I tried for so long to understand the Uno metaphor, but it just doesn't make sense. His strength is as a producer. Listening to this song on your computer speakers is like looking at a thumbnail of a photo, and you have to ipod it to really get how fun it is. If I knew anything about the way music was produced, and I do not, I would have some insight into why I like this, but I do not.

Self - What Are You Thinking?

This is the centerpiece of Breakfast With Girls, which makes it maybe their best song. It isn't structured as simply as most of his other songs (versechorusverse), and its lyrics are almost really good. It's gotten better every time I've listened to it, which iTunes says is 10 times, but I know the truth is far more embarrassing. It's definitely a headphone song. And it has strings! If you don't like this, you probably don't like Self, which is okay, it just means you were probably not a teenage boy once.

in conclusion, isn't that an intense subject line?

five chapters no songs

The Last Two Weeks: A Five Parter

1) In Which My Family Vacates
we went hiking in a rainforest! it rained.

hey, the rainforest looks like summer camp if you adjust the white balance

on our flight home the whole plane played trivia against each other. I dominated because of my college education!

don't masquerade with a guy in shades, oh no
i can't believe it

2) In Which My Google Status Changes
Recently the top result for googling me became this. I didn't write any of it, although I think some of the text is loosely inspired by a text message I wrote to Katey Rich. I did actually jump that high when I was still in college, though. I wonder what this will say to prospective future employers/friends/lovers?

speaking of which, my #5 result is the illegal drug use and (at the time) underage drinking of new years 04. maybe I should get that off the internet.

3) In Which New Years Happens Again Right On Schedule
happy two thousand six anno domini, everyone!


More detail to come in video form.

4) In Which Miranda July And Jack Handey Have A Kid
Didn't really happen. Won't. But imagine it real!

Here's a radio piece by Miranda July that I caught completely by accident. It's streaming and it's not great quality, but it's nice.

This is Jack Handey's piece in this week's New Yorker. I didn't write it, and for that I am sorry.

5) In Which Teren Peck Sells JDate
Is that Teren Peck on the JDate billboard in times square??? Yes it is. Or is it!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, I think it is!

fake teren peck

real teren peck (courtesy of facebook)

Okay, I'm going to bed. But finally, some Italian guys emailed me a few weeks ago and asked me about my favorite albums of the year, and they factored my results into the huge list they complied at their blog. They link to me, so I figure I should do it back. That's the etiquette, right? Or should I say...NETIQUETTE!?!?!? I should, shouldn't I.