Chris Cornell's Sins Somewhat Absolved By Emergence Of Tadgarden

I'm always on the lookout for anything Kim Thayil-related ever since the former Soundgarden guitarist went into hiding after that band's demise in April of 1997. Sure, he's appeared on a few albums (Probot, Pigeonhed, Sunn O)))/Boris), but the dude has only gotten up on stage to play just once (with Jello Biafra, Krist Novoselic and Gina Mainwal) in 1999 to protest the WTO Conference in Seattle, and then promptly returned into the ether.

Well, this past week he finally reemerged at a Tom Morello show at the Crocodille Cafe in Seattle with former Soundgarden members Ben Shepherd, Matt Cameron and another SubPop legend/human gordita, Tad Doyle. The band, coined Tadgarden, played a few old favorites and actually sounded pretty good (vocals excluded, sorry Tad).

You gotta wonder if this is at all related to Chris Cornell's recent questionable collaboration with Timbaland, Scream, which has gone a long way to tarnish Soundgarden's legacy in the rock pantheon. Maybe the rest of the band felt like they had to do this to keep old fans from throwing out their Badmotorfinger CD's in a fit of rage.

While hopes for a reunion are slim at this point, I'd be happy with just seeing their early albums remastered and rereleased.

Until then, here's some video from this week's performance:

Hunted Down (from the Screaming Life EP, 1987)


Nothing To Say (from the Screaming Life EP,1987)


Spoonman (from Superunknown, 1994)

High Definition

This man was arrested in Apollo Beach, Florida for attempting to strangle his wife and throwing her to the floor over an argument about drugs.

At the time of his arrest, Bradley Gellert was wearing a "I ♡ MY MARRIAGE" t-shirt.

Write a song about THAT, Alanis Morissette....

By the way, most of the things Alanis describes in the song are just unfortunate, and NOT ironic, circumstances.

Isn't THAT ironic?! Don't ya think...

Albums That You Should Own, But Perhaps Don't (And In That Case, You Soon Will): Wheat - Hope And Adams

Wheat - Hope And Adams

It's time to sing the praises of Wheat's 1999 album, Hope And Adams, since last week it was re-released as part of a 3-disc set (which also includes their first album, Medeiros, and a compilation of rarities called 30 Minute Theatrik.)

I bought Hope And Adams back in 2001, probably at Grimey's (back then it would have been in the cramped Bransford Ave. location around 100 Oaks Mall) and if I remember correctly, I purchased it solely based on its packaging. The three-fold digipack, printed on paper with a homemade recycled feel to it, really appealed to me. As a nice little bonus, the music inside also fit my aesthetic quite nicely.

For one, the Dave Fridmann production on Hope And Adams is stellar. The spare drumming and drone-y background sounds (hums, buzzes, various feedback) help cut into the sweet melodies, so it comes off more like an indie-pop album rather than sounding like a Marcy Playground outing (did I really just make a Marcy Playground reference?! I'm as shocked as you are that I even remember them...)

There's not a bad song in the bunch: "This Wheat", the instrumental track that opens the album channels a relaxed Mogwai (whose Come On Die Young album had just been produced by Fridmann); "Raised Ranch Revolution" and "Body Talk (Part 1)" could have been hits had they been released a few years earlier; "Body Talk (Part 2)" pays tribute to Paul Simon's "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard" by lifting and slowing down the titular melody; "Don't I Hold You" was featured prominently in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown; and finally, "More Than You'll Ever Know" does avant-garde, buzzed-out noise pop better than a stack of Pitchfork-approved Animal Collective albums.

All in all, Hope And Adams is a rewarding listening experience that I've revisited time and time again.

Enjoy:

See Also: ATYSOBPDAITCYSW: The Label!

Hacked Road Signs Update

Just to follow up on a previous post, road sign hackers are still wreaking havoc upon orange-coned streets all over America — hell, some are probably doing it right now, as we speak, just down your block.

And while some of the messages on these signs are not as imaginative as I'd like to see, they're still pretty funny and definitely worth sharing.

Here's a fresh batch of bumper to bumper comic relief:

I'm not sure the "LOL!!" part was really necessary. It sort of dilutes the message, which is a good message, by the way.

The truth is often devastating. In this case, the "HA HA!!" part adds injury to the torturous agony of impending tardiness.

The zombie attack —always a popular message. Incidentally, this sign is also the most likely to be used in real-life situations.

How existential.

That's just plain mean. You know someone had to pull over and break down crying at the wheel shortly after seeing that.

If these signs had been around during George W's college days, he totally would have been the culprit... oh, and he would have been high on cocaine. Like, REAAALLY HIGH on cocaine.

Again, very existential. Or just plain factual if the sign previously read "Volcanic Sinkhole Ahead. Stop By Any Means Necessary."


I'll keep you on the up-and-up as more signs appear on the interwebs. Until then, drive safely.

Note To Journalists

This is how you're supposed to do it:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Now grow a pair and get to work.

Mission Aborted — Writer's Block May Also Affect Fake Writers

This is the post I started to write earlier today before realizing that I was probably just talking out my ass:

The graph to the left (courtesy of Fortune) shows the span of time it took certain technologies to be adopted by 150 million users, with Facebook being the most recent to hit that mark. It reveals the increasingly accelerated rate to which the public embraces technological advancements.

While the cause of said acceleration cannot be reduced to a single phenomenon, it certainly would be nice if this collective hastening was part of a collective conscious acceptance to the benefits that new technologies can offer everyday life—a sort of mass awakening to the 21st Century.

After all, these advancements aim to make our lives more efficient, convenient, and ultimately fuller, and the fact that more people are willing to adopt them at a faster rate than ever can only mean good things—especially as it applies to a general acceptance and exposure to new ideas, which, at its core, is the key to achieving any significant progress.

I stopped writing after the third paragraph because I realized that I didn't know what the hell I was writing about anymore. I thought I did when I started, but it turns out I didn't... at all. This is an all too common occurrence as of late. I must've started at least five blogs in the last couple of weeks and have had to abandon all of them because of a lack of focus or failure to find a theme.

Writing blogs shouldn't have to be this hard. Especially in my case because I'm not really writing about hard subjects here—most of the time I'm just bull-shitting about mindless minutia.

Is it because I'm trying to write about things I may not particularly be passionate about? No. Maybe I'm just being lazy? I don't think so, I've been lazy since long before I had a blog and it's never stopped me before. Perhaps it's just writer's block, but I think you actually have to be a writer to get one of those and I went to friggin' business school, for chrissakes...

All I know is that I'm feeling rather uninspired lately.

Even the $1.19 I've netted in the last couple of weeks off my Google Ads doesn't entice me to write new content, and if such copious amounts of money fails to motivate me, what will?

Oh well, I'm gonna try and ride this out until I get inspired again. It'll happen. Until then, bear with me, my little ones. I'll try to make it worth your while.

And click on an ad or two once in while, will ya?!

Zooey Deschanel Makes Me Forget Where I've Seen Her Before

As I was catching up on the first couple of episodes of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Hulu today (it's not great yet, but shows promise), I was reminded of another Jimmy Fallon project, his 2002 album, The Bathroom Wall.

The only thing I could still recall from that album (besides the fact that there were several used copies sitting for months in the markdown section at the record store I worked) was the mildly amusing music video for the song "Idiot Boyfriend."

What I didn't remember was that a young, blond Zooey Deschanel played the girlfriend of the titular idiot in the video. Watch:



Turns out it wasn't even her first foray into the music video world. Check out this video from 1999 for The Offspring's "She's Got Issues":



Who knew that a few short years later she could star in her own damn video as part of She & Him. I tell you what, dreams DO come true: