|
Archives
September 2008
August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 |
2005:12:29:15:49. Thursday. XXX-MAS. We went up to my dad's house in upper Michigan for Xmas, and spent the whole time basically snacking on party food and pounding cocktails. But by the time we got to the second round of martinis on Xmas night, Emily and I had killed nearly an entire liter of vodka -- there was just enough left for one drink. I can't stand gin, so I was about to switch to rum when we remembered a discovery we'd made a couple years ago. In the back of my dad's liquor cabinet, for reasons unknown, was an ancient bottle of 190 proof vodka that we figure my grandpa (on the other side) bought at least a couple decades back.
As far as I know, this kind of thing is now illegal in both Wisconsin and Michigan, and based on the label designs, we guessed it probably came from the mid 1970's or so. The back bore no distillery information, just these warnings:
Already pretty buzzed, I decided to take the plunge. We figured a gimlet would be the most drinkable option, and my dad made it super limey -- three parts lime juice to one part vodka, as opposed to the normal ratio of one to four. I chopped up an orange to further mask the taste after smelling the freshly opened bottle. You know how bottom-shelf vodka smells like paint thinner? This stuff smelled like paint. Can you guess which is mine?
The first thing I noticed was that the ice in my chiller (from my dad's new cubist martini set) was melting faster than everybody else's. When I took a small first sip, I found it surprisingly drinkable -- limey, but sweet, and with little bite from the booze. This is OK, I thought, and all of a sudden I could feel it in my eyes. That warming sensation you get down your esophagus from a strong drink was going both ways. So, it was a sipper.
I figured that at 190 proof, it was really just like two drinks at 95 proof, so I took my time with it while everyone else had another round. Every once in a while I took too big a sip and felt my tongue burning, but other than that it was a good buzz sustainer. It didn't even really get me all the way drunk, actually, and I did wind up switching to rum afterwards. Next time we're up there I'm going to try mixing some flavored shots with it.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:29:08:00. NO!: DIVIDE BY ZERO (#18, JAN 28 2005).
At my first Club 770 show of 2005, I left about ten minutes into the headlining act. It was a Spitalfield show, and I'd been moderately getting into them, but they were far overshadowed by both the first band up, Faultlines, and Chicago-based Divide By Zero, who got the kids going in a way that openers at 770 usually don't. Contrasted with Spitalfield and the dominant strains of modern "punk," DBZ's set burst with urgent legitimacy. Their use of complicated song structures was a big surprise, and they basically left me feeling good about the no-name openers of the indie rock world again. So sorry, Spitalfield, you've got some work to do.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:26:08:00. Monday. NO!: 8889 (#17, JAN 5 2005).
This was my very first attempt at capturing video of a full song, and at the time I thought it was a complete failure. For the first half of the year or so, I thought a lot of my clips were coming out too dark to be of use -- later on I found out that my processing application, AviSynth, handled the darkness quite well. I had totally forgotten about this clip by that point though, and just remembered I had it while archiving some of the other 2005 videos. 8889 released their debut EP at this show, and I went to it because a $5 local show (with free CD!) sounded like a good idea. I had never heard of them or their openers, but their midwestern power-pop was pretty pleasing. Another band on the bill, the Moon and Mars, really impressed me, but I haven't had a chance to see them again yet.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:22:08:00. Thursday. NO!: THE CONSTANTINES (#16, OCT 29 2005).
I have to admit, I don't get the attraction to the Constantines. Tons of people think they're amazing, but I really can't see anything special about them. I only saw them live, in fact, because they were on a bill with two other bands I like a lot. They were decent enough, but I wasn't swayed by their show. Solid, workmanlike, indie rock, I guess, but certainly nothing groundbreaking. I don't know. I recorded a song from their set because I figured other folks might really enjoy it, but I can still take or leave them.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:21:21:08. Wednesday. FEAR ITSELF. Digby and Maha articulate today what I haven't been able to. First, Digby:
[Late 20th century Republicans] won elections in the west and the south by swaggering around extolling the blessed Bill Of Rights and the need to keep the federal government at arms length because Real Men and Women don't need no Democrat sissy nanny state and her Big Brother taking away their rights.
9/11 changed everything. Suddenly the he-men of WalMart and the NRA leaped into Big Brother's arms and shrieked "save me, save me! Do what ever you have to do, they're trying to kill us all!" They now look to Daddy Government not to discipline the children, but to check under the bed for them every night, reassure them that the boogeyman won't hurt them and then read them a nice bedtime story about spreading freedom and democracy. It turns out that underneath all this swaggering bravado, the Republicans aren't the Daddy party --- they're the baby party. And Maha:
But what the hell does “confronting dangers with new resolve” mean? What has actually been asked of us? With the exception of the sacrifices made by our soldiers and Marines … nothing. We go on with our lives just as before. We are not buying liberty bonds, growing victory gardens, knitting socks or rolling bandages for the troops. As illustrated by the World War I-era posters, in past wars citizens were asked to at least give up some extravagances for the war. Today the president and the Republicans in Congress won’t even consider raising taxes to pay for their war. Instead, they’ll shift the burden to the future. Our children will thank them, Im sure.
So what is Bush asking of us, except to trust him? Is that what we’re supposed to be “resolved” about? All over the Right Blogosphere today the righties argue that Bush must be allowed unprecedented presidential powers because we are fighting terrorists. And terrorists are scary. They killed people on 9/11. They might kill more people, like me. I’ll gladly trade some civil liberties for safety. Honestly, what in the goddamn hell is wrong with these pantywaists? The swagger that Digby attributes to the Gingrich Republicans was really a brief phenomenon -- the pants-pissing fear that these people have experienced and expressed every minute of every day since 9/11™ destroyed their Gary Condit hard-ons is exactly the same as the fear that empowered McCarthy, Hoover, Nixon and the various Reagan underlings who were tasked with replacing "communist" with "terrorist" to create "new" talking points for the current Administration. Memo to those who can't submit to executive power fast enough: Grow up, you fucking babies. Some of us on the left like to cite federal policy decisions when explaining our rejection of national pride, but really it's the thought of being associated with pussies like you.
2005:12:20:17:34. Tuesday. PURGE. I've noticed that since starting the podcast, I've basically stopped writing about anything else. This may seem particularly odd to those who know me because, frankly, the American political system is crumbling through our fingers at the moment, and that's something that I sort of care about. But it's getting to the point that I just don't want to think about it anymore. This isn't "outrage fatigue," although I am pretty tired of all this outrageous shit, it's fatalism. The past five years have been such an assault on my principles and the principles that conceived this country that I've hit the point of physical effects. Reading things like this is like getting repeatedly kicked in the gut by the corpse of your dreams. George Bush has declared himself above the law and unaccountable. He's just straight up saying it, with no hint of subterfuge. Does anybody honestly think it's a sure thing that he'll voluntarily leave office in January, 2009, if a Democrat beats JEB! in 2008? But what turns this horrible perversion of American ideals from the challenge of a generation into a downward spiral of abomination with no end in sight is the utter lack of a cohesive opposing force. To wit, Marshall Whitman, the DLC's Republican-in-residence, has this to say:
What we do know is that we have not suffered another attack on the Homeland since 9/11. That is a miraculous fact. And President Bush should be applauded for protecting the country rather than excoriated, to say nothing of impeachment which is on the lips of some Democrats.
"Miraculous"? Putting aside for a moment the anthrax attacks, as Whitman and his fellow travelers always do, anyone who finds this to be honestly miraculous, even in the figurative sense, ought to be locked up. I'm serious. This is a simply mindless assessment of how Islamic terrorists operate, and having such mindless people in positions of any influence over American policy or Democratic strategy is too dangerous to tolerate. But for everything the Democrats do to make noise about these illegal wiretaps, they're not willing to muscle their party brethren the way the GOP does. This is the party, after all, that failed to rebuke Zell Miller even while he gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention. The first step to becoming a truly effective opposition party is becoming a truly effective party, and that means publicly and loudly cutting off agents provocateurs like Whitman and Joementum. They are not just sabotaging the Democratic party from within, they are accessories to a criminal organization for which the Nixon Administration was just the opening act.
2005:12:19:08:00. Monday. NO!: MATES OF STATE (#15, SEP 29 2005).
Emily and I met at a Rainer Maria show, with Mates of State opening; we've seen them three or four times since. (As a side note, they play Madison all the time, they're back again next spring.) Before their set, she watched the band setting up and asked me if she should go tell Kori -- the blonde, female, keyboardy half of the band -- how we met. I said sure; she did and asked if they would dedicate a song to us, and Kori was all, "Oh, that's so great, of course, etc, etc!" Emily asked for "Whiner's Bio," and I was all set to record it -- I got the intro where she mentioned us and pointed us out in the crowd. Then, though, she had us come up on stage and dance while they played it, so I had to stop shooting. Thus, I spliced the intro into my subsequent recording of "Along For the Ride," totally fooling all of you. Er, until spilling the beans right here. [BTW, I'm at my practical limit on web space, so I'll be taking older episodes offline and moving them to the NO! archive; if you want to get any of these archived episodes, contact me and I'll set something up.]
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:16:08:00. Friday. NO!: OF MONTREAL (#14, SEP 5 2005).
The show ended with a two-song medley of an encore -- a cover of Brian Eno's "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch" into the lead single from their last guitar album, "Jennifer Louise." They still had a lot of energy at that point, were still rocking the butterfly capoes, but Barnes had put his blouse thing back on, much to the consternation of the young ladies in the audience. It struck me at the time, and it still does now, that pairing this obscure Brian Eno track with a very accessible guitar pop tune was kind of strange; not sure what to make of that.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:14:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: OF MONTREAL (#13, SEP 5 2005).
When I record at shows, I don't try to get particular songs. Generally, I try to get two or three from the first half of the set, but it varies; the main downside to this is that I'm basically stuck with whatever songs I randomly happen to record. I got lucky this time, though. "Disconnect the Dots," the opening track from their breakthrough album, Satanic Panic in the Attic, is one of my favorites and I think it showcases their new sound really well.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:12:08:00. Monday. NO!: OF MONTREAL (#12, SEP 5 2005).
Kevin Barnes and his Of Montreal crew seem to be the only remaining survivors of Elephant 6, and the collective's end has raised their profile tremendously. Putting out two great records with a significantly changed sound doesn't hurt either, and so they're now able to bring out pretty sizable hipster crowds. This particular show was the reddest show of the year at Club 770, where red gels are all the lighting guy has. I think there was supposed to be some interesting color to the shirt Barnes took off early in the set, as well as some of the other stuff onstage, which was all totally washed out. RED! This is the first of three clips I'll be posting from this show, so keep your eyes peeled all week.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:10:14:34. Saturday. "EMBARRASSED [AND] DISAPPOINTED." We're going to the Saturday game of this year's Tech at Wisconsin series. So what happens in the Friday game?
The top-ranked Badgers had talked all week about avoiding a letdown. But talking isn’t playing and No. 1 Wisconsin was upset 4-2 by Michigan Tech in front of 12,718 at the Kohl Center Friday night.
UW started off on the wrong foot and never recovered as the Huskies used three special teams goals—including two short-handed tallies—and an empty-netter en route to the victory. “We lost the battle of human nature,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “It’s tough when people are patting you on the back. It happens at every level—it’s tough to battle human nature.” Just two minutes into the game Chris Conner, Tech’s sparkplug, jump-started the Huskies with a short-handed goal that knocked the wind out of the Badger crowd. Tech always plays way above themselves in Madison, though, so maybe they'll be able to get it done again tonight.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:10:09:34. BEAST FOOD; COOL. So, about a week after I finally started paying attention to del.icio.us, Yahoo bought it. This comes hot on the heels of Yahoo buying Flickr and Upcoming.org, and of eBay's rather odd purchase of Skype. It seems clear that Yahoo, at least, is looking to make an end-around run at Google, challenging it on the service periphery, while not really attacking at all Google's central stronghold -- the search engine. I'm skeptical about this strategy, to be honest, and I'm really curious to see what eBay and Amazon are going to do in 2006. Google's put themselves in a position of vulnerability by announcing so many projects that never seem to get out of beta (Google News -- GOOGLE FUCKING NEWS! -- is still in beta), but if they can start to complete and integrate some of these things better, Yahoo may be arming up for a conflict that never happens.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:09:08:00. Friday. NO!: MIKE DOUGHTY (#11, OCT 14 2005).
Doughty was probably the best showman I saw all year. He kept the banter up throughout the set, including his solo mini-set at the halfway point. As his band left the stage, he asked what people wanted to talk about -- many of them wanted to "talk about" various songs of his, but one guy wanted to talk about cookies.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:07:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MIKE DOUGHTY'S BAND (#10, OCT 14 2005).
Ah, aging hipsters. I was quite surprised to see Mike Doughty sell out the High Noon. His former band, Soul Coughing, was a big deal in college rock during the mid-90's, but their last album came out in 1998 and he's basically haunted Internet messageboards since then. I'm guessing the people who came out to see him mostly know him from the Soul Coughing days -- they were old, lots in their 30's, easy. A couple of them kept yelling for "Circles," one of Soul Coughing's minor mainstream hits; they all cheered the loudest for the cover of "Hungry Like the Wolf." I don't think they really got what he was doing. I think I did, though, and the set was great. Doughty's a showman and a half, and his new material is vibrant and true.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:05:08:00. Monday. NO!: ERIN MCKEOWN (#9, OCT 14 2005).
A special set this week -- three songs from the Mike Doughty show at the High Noon! First up, opening DiFranco-alike Erin McKeown, who was both sick and celebrating her birthday at this show. She's kind of a traditional singer/songwriter, playing solo onstage, even though her new record includes a fair amount of well-placed studio flourish. Her set was pretty good, despite everybody in the club talking the whole damn time. Honestly, you've paid $15 to get in, shut up and listen! The only times most people stopped talking were when she recruited us all for her too-complicated choruses, which her wracked voice couldn't handle. Later on, she came out to duet with Mike Doughty on "I Hear the Bells," which was pretty cool.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:12:01:08:00. Thursday. NO!: THE REPUTATION (#8, MAR 5 2005).
Of all the upper midwest indie rock bands that visit Madison regularly, the Reputation really should have the best reputation of all. The Chicago band drives up I-90 a couple times a year to play free shows on campus and are really crowd-friendly onstage and off. The only problem is -- and I don't know if they bring their own sound guy along or not -- their mix is always completely fucked up, usually leaving the vocals totally washed out. Literally every time I've seen them, a couple songs have had no audible vocals, and only half the set is mixed decently. It's too bad, because they put on a pretty tight, energetic show and a lot of it just gets lost.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |
