Michael Jackson in "Scream"

Why do At the Drive-In scream so much? I think they might be one of my favorite bands if it wasn't for the lead singer's almost emo delivery. The music is great, the lyrics are more than decent, but the delivery...it kills me. I can't knock them though, they put out a lot of great music and spawned a pretty decent group after breaking up (some people have less respect for them than I do).

Before At the Drive-In, I listened to both of Ashlee Simpson's discs. Here producers are amazing, and the albums are poppy. I wouldn't claim they're necessary listening, or even recommended listening, except for the song "L.O.V.E." which can't be missed or forgotten. If you have no way to hear it, let me know and I'll make sure you have an opportunity.

Also from my playlist was Ass-End Offend. Awesome. When BMMS was playing on a regular basis we played with them on a regular basis. I think we might have even played together at Jay's Upstairs once. And at Area 5 more than once. I tried to look up Area 5 on google and came back with nothing...so here's a quick primer:

Area 5 was a venue in Missoula run by a crazy artist named Victor. Basically, it was his apartment/art venue and facilitated shows on an almost daily basis. Each show was BYOB and all-ages. It was virtually a creepier, beta version of the Raven, which I'll talk about later, when the time is right. At Area 5 you had to walk through Victor's living space to reach the only bathroom in the area. The venue itself was very similar to a garage with a few salvaged theatre seats on the walls. Oh, and there was an old barbar chair on one side of the room. Volumen, Oblio Joes, International Playboys, Montana Karl, Racetrack, Visqueen, Sex With Girls, Sasshole, and countless others all played there. We had a sort of residence there, since Victor thought we were "artsy" and edgy (notice the lack of quotes on the second adjective; saying we were edgy is a definate understatement). The fire cheif of Missoula ended up shutting down the venue due to a personal vendetta. There were a couple of reincarations downtown, but they didn't last more than a few months. Victor is said to have moved back to Los Angelos, where he moved to Missoula from.

This is what I'm drinking right now, and it is delicious. Olympia and Rainer are my new Pabst...I'm just saying...

The Cat Days of Summer

It's hot. Just ask my cat. He's almost melting off the table because it temperatures regularly reach 90 - 100 degrees in our apartment when the weather is like this. Plus he's covered in fur.

I listened to the single worst album as of yet in my alphabetical trek through my iTunes catalog. I've always claimed to like him more than his song stealing, egotistical bandmate but never again. I'm talking, of course, about Art Garfunkel. His album "Some Enchanted Evening" isn't even suited to be played as elevator music on a ride down to hell. To say that it was boring would be a compliment. It was offensive to every musical sensibility I have.

Luckily, the next album up was Asahi's "Head Above Water." There's more to like about Asahi than the fact they're named after my favorite Japanese beer. They played Jay's Upstairs in support of "Head Above Water," and my roomates and I were the only people there (aside from the regular Jay's patrons sitting at the bar not paying attention to the music). I'd just come back from Bellingham, WA and had met the guy who put out their album, so we chatted briefly after the show and all of us got free shirts and I picked up a copy of the album, which is great. It was one of my go-to sleep albums for two or three years. If you ever see it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. The lead singer/songwriter, Tomo Nakayama, has now moved on and started a new(ish) project called Grand Hallway, which is equally great.

In other news, Darcy and I have been hooked on a Wii game called Super Swing Golf. It's totally anime and lame, but fun. So that's been consuming a lot of our time. I'm not sure if I mentioned how awesome the Wii is. We've played the Wii at least twice as much in a month as we ever played our X-Box 360 during the 10 months we owned it. So much more fun. I just wish it supported DVD playback out of the box, that's a little frustrating.

Finally, it's starting to cool off a little bit. Time to get back to the fake golfin'.

Fair Weather Friends

Mmmmm. That's me eating a tater pig at this year's fair. The weather was actually perfect, it poured rain while we lost money playing bingo and that cooled everything down enough to enjoy the rest of the day. We had a great time riding the Ferris wheel, checking out all the exhibits (Including my friend Bess' best of show picture of Obama), and watching a hypnotist. Good times.

I've still been listening to my music alphabetically, don't fret. I'm just going slower than before. It's been a British invasion of Arctic Monkeys and Art Brut with some Arrested Development in between.

I remember proclaiming the Arctic Monkeys the next big thing when they released the I Bet You Look Good (On the Dancefloor) single a few years back. I think they've come into their own and now headline festivals all over Europe. I like their sound and the way they sort of rock out more than most.

Speaking of rocking out, Art Brut is a great band in small doses. The talk/singing gets a little annoying, but the band really gets me with their old-style, almost classic rock sound.

And Arrested Development gets all the credit in the world, they put out both "Tennessee" and "Mr. Wendal." Enough said.

Mini-Soda

I was in Minnesota for the past week, hence the lack of posting. Here's proof.



...and now back to your regularly scheduled programming.