The changing of the seasons, both literal and figurative

Friends, today was the first day it truly felt like fall. It wasn't overwhelmingly hot and at 2pm, I felt like it was at least 430 and I needed a nap. The seemingly endless days are finally giving way to long nights. I can't decide what makes me feel this way, but in the fall (and more so in the winter), I get the sense of permanent midnight. This, of course, is not the same permanent midnight that Jerry Stahl experienced, however it is an overwhelming sense of darkness that envelops everything around you. Permanent midnight is cold, usually with dense fog.

The few years past (excluding last year) have all felt the same. I seem to stay up far too late into the night, seeing everything that happens in the middle of the night, be it marketing for Buzz Ballads, the lone security guard walking all over campus with his walkie talkie turned up loud so he doesn't feel alone or even the madness that is the internet in the middle of the night. I've written before that I feel overwhelmingly alone in the middle of the night, but this year something has felt different. Things certainly have changed in my life. Before, I would only sit and watch TV or go on the internet and felt increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, considering the rest of the people awake were either thousands of miles away or completely insane. Now, I generally find myself trying to be somewhat constructive at 3 or 4 in the morning, either cleaning something in the apartment, working on projects or cooking meals for the next day or two.

Overall, it doesn't sound that bad. Insomnia is a young man's game and I'm still young, however this opens me up to a whole bunch of other things that aren't particularly exciting. I get sick more often, I feel like the living dead and seriously, what the hell business do I have being up that late anyways?

Tonight was a strange night. It is the first time I actually feel tired and just want to go to bed without accomplishing anything. I've been reading Calvin and Hobbes all night, thinking about childhood and the seasons in our lives. This weekend, I had the privilege of seeing Ian Mackaye from Minor Threat/Fugazi/Dischord fame speak. He basically said that "living in phases" or "growing up" is a fallacy, because we don't have less capacity as children, we just give ourselves that excuse. While I agree with that theory, considering how many remarkable children I've met over the years, I still believe that there are seasons for everything in our lives and that things aren't meant to happen all at once.

Reflecting on that which Mackaye would refer to as my "salad days," I can see clearly that I've got some good days coming my way. If Calvin and Hobbes taught me anything, it's that all you need in life is good friends, deep conversations and hugs. Nothing else matters because if you've got those things, you can conquer the world.

ps.

Wanted: Kooky Asian American bass player from Orange County for post third-wave ska band that covers 80s hits.

Also totally sad that I missed this:

Mind blown

This is easily the best music video I've seen in a long time, maybe the best I've ever seen.

How do you explain?

The other night, Jennifer and I went to see Wire and it was awesome. They sounded great, even at over 50 years old. Page Hamilton came on stage for their second encore and played guitar, which was just as exciting for him as it was for the Helmet fans in the audience (probably me and two other dudes).

Anyways, Jennifer and I were having a discussion about the post punk bands that were reuniting and playing the Echo. Besides Wire, the other most influential post punk band, Mission of Burma, had just played a show at the Echo. I was a bit sad that I missed it and Jennifer told me that she had never really listened to them before. She then asked me what they sounded like, to which I responded, "post punk" and she asked me how they were different from Wire, to which I said, "God, I don't know. I guess they're more American because they're from Boston." It took me a few days to suss out exactly how to quantify that, and all I've got so far is that they have less dance beats and they owe less to Can and more to Black Flag. Also, they surfaced a few years after Wire and they have more hooks.

So the epic question of the day is "What is the difference between Wire and Mission of Burma?" I know it's like comparing apples and bloody philosophy term papers, but post punk is still narrow enough for this question to make some sense.

Mission of Burma - "That's When I Reach For My Revolver"


Wire - The 15th


bonus: REM covering Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song"


Minor Threat covering Wire's "12xu" (one of the greatest covers of any song ever)


ps. When will you do a Mission of Burma cover, Ted Leo?

I've come out of the other side of the tunnel, ladies and gents, and yet, here I am blogging at 540am on a Saturday morning.

Midterms have come and gone and I've slept probably less than the year Chris and I worked at the station. I feel like I am not very productive during the day and that the hours during the night just keep coming, one after the next, telling me I should stay up a little later because I haven't done enough work or I can't sleep or I should finish watching the episode of Real Time I started watching. In this morning's case, I slept hard between 3am and 5am, only to wake up to a very cranky mother who needed to be awoken at 730. This definitely sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm trying very hard not to.

Either way, the last few weeks seemed to present me with new lows at every corner, accompanied by the huge resulting upswing the next morning. If nothing else, the epic lack of sleep and weird moods have led to a varied soundtrack. Last night I took a huge nap, mostly because I wasn't feeling enough like myself. I listened to tons of Radiohead and felt great (not depressed) about it. I've been listening to tons of folk punk at four in the morning these last few weeks. I'll listen to the new Andrew Jackson Jihad EP or the Paul Baribeau/Ginger Alford tour CD and get stoked on how anthemic Springsteen covers can be. I've probably been listening to unhealthy amounts of a new band called Algernon Cadwallader lately, who sound EXACTLY like Cap'n Jazz in the best way possible. Sometimes, I'll sit and watch the second hour of American Morning on CNN without the sound and I will listen to Tom Waits and look out the living room window to see the fog rolling up the hill and over the ground. I've found myself trolling food blogs and foodie message boards at 530am and listening to Toys That Kill and Off With Their Heads. Sometimes I will listen to Lemuria and the Ergs! while sitting at my desk in my apartment or the new Good Luck album while sitting at my desk in the office and I will think about how much I would like to be posting about any of this, but I can't bring myself to log in, because what would I really write about anyways? How sad I am? Again? DUMB!

Any way you decide to unpack all of that, you can see that there are a few winners, especially the Ginger Alford related projects, the first of which is was a tour CD-R she recorded with Paul Baribeau for a tour they did together last year. The tour focused on playing Springsteen covers and even though a tour CD-R generally doesn't make up for missing a chance to shout "Bobby Jean" with a bunch of anarchist-lite bike punks, it's still a great remedy for late nights (download). The new Ginger Alford band features Matty Pop Chart and is called Good Luck. It's super positive pop-punk with the most amazing guitar playing that even Ted Leo would be envious of (download).

Now, I'm watching CBS' Early Show and John Popper is the guest. I guess that's what you get for airing at 623am.



I love you all and I hope that you're sleeping well.

ps. http://www.wthefilm.com/
it's going to be AWESOME, or at least I hope so.