A Moments Notice

Jonny Lang:
Funny that he was Kid Jonny Lang back when I was in high school. This album is really good and bad at the same time. Apparently his proximity to Paisley Park counts as this album sounds like something Prince may have produced if not written — from the modern day Sly and the Family Stone feel down to the Jesus songs midway through the album. Tricky bastards! Even still, I might buy the album and burn a listening copy without them included.

Andrew Bird:
I have been listening to a lot of Andrew Bird on recommendation of friends, old and new. His style is pretty folky and his voice has some elements of Rufus Wainright (sp?).

The Ashtray Hearts:
... is the band we saw this weekend at the 311 club in Minneaps. They are a good local alt-country band with a vocal style that sits somewhere in the realm of Counting Crows' and Matchbox 20's debut albums. But don't let that comparison stop you from checking them out. They would be a good smoky-bar band and I could imagine many a soul finding their music a fitting soundtrack to heartbreak and 8 shots of whiskey.

The "Picture" is Ike's Graduation picture. He was top in his class (of 2) and is well on his way to rolling over without my help.

The Place is the Fine Line where Emily took me to see Bob Schneider. The show was really good. He performed a solo acoustic show and like many bands these days recorded the show for purchase (only $15). The funny thing about Bob is that he has a pretty stong following here in the cities which sells his shows out each time he comes through. But really, no one knows who he is. Funny thing is, I thought that Emily and I knew a lot of his obscure tunes, but we were nothing compared to the crowd there that night. They were singing along with all sorts of newer tracks that I had written off before then as well as some that will never be on any studio recordings. So, yeah, I bought the live recording for study material for next time. His latest studio recording is pretty crap, but when he performs the better songs live, he convinces the audience of his original intent, before the overthought sessions in a recording booth.

I just finished reading the reading, "Factotum" by Charles Bukowski and must say that I was not all that into it. It is supposedly about Bukowski's moving from city-to-city and job-to-job drinking and molesting women, though it is written from the perspective of a character named Henry Chinaski. A sort of disclaimer-autobiography in which the author can always write off a part of his history if he wants. Given that this is so raw an account, I guess I can't accuse him of such, but the whole thing only served to remind me of shitty jobs I'd had and made me remember how shitty they were. All-in-all, not my kind of book.
... but this is coming from someone who enjoys fantasy, so...

this brings me to the Shire in Bend, Oregon, also linked above. I understand the desire to bring that sort of aesthetic to life but damn does it seem like a Tolkein Disneyland. The houses are all pretty ugly American versions of pastoral English cottages and is still smack dab in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. It simply makes me relate that much more strongly to Ruskin's views on truth in design. Anyway...

Finally, Ray Lamontagne is coming on tour here in November. We are going to get tickets with a pre-order as soon as we can, so if anyone is interested, let us know and we will try to get tickets for you as well.

And a late entry which I won't make a link for (it may poison the site):
The RNC is goiong to be in Saint Paul in 2008! Some might be angry, but I am going to be happy. What better a protest than a home-town protest! And it is going to bring a slight economic boost. All around a good thing.