updates on activities, internet, writing, recording, raising a daughter

it's been a busy week followed by a busy weekend and now it's another week. if you enjoy nonsense like that last sentence then maybe you'll like my future contributions to ezine bohemian alien.

I'm saving all of my coherence for the article-to-be-published-in-early-may. On the overdubs front, we've got two shows in May, which is about all we can handle. I'm also working on a Michael Knott tribute ep in my spare time and will likely release some tracks via the overdubs podcast.

Like many of you, I wish I'd spent this past weekend at Coachella, watching Prince and many other artists, but youtube will have to suffice yet again. Somehow, Warped Tour in Fresno doesn't quite have the same appeal. See Prince below...

you, me, everyone

Thanks to Dave for introducing me to Mixwit, is it better than project playlist? Well, it's cooler for sure and you don't know what song is coming next, like a real mixtape. However, those of us who make these things know, that it's unlikely anyone in this day and age would have the patience to listen to fifteen songs, even great ones, consecutively, without skipping ahead. Enjoy, happy skipping ahead...future American taste-makers.

"the silent tsunami" world hunger crisis

"It's being called the "Silent Tsunami." In three years, prices for the basic staples that feed the world—wheat, rice and corn—have risen by a staggering 83%. For people in the developing world, affording enough food to eat is becoming a daily struggle for survival.

The New York Times is reporting that in Haiti, people are eating cakes made of mud mixed with a little sugar and oil to try and beat the hunger pangs. Without action to stop the upward spiral of food prices, 100 million people around the world will face deeper poverty and hunger, and hundreds of thousands will confront famine and starvation.

In the face of this suffering, we cannot be silent."

Celebrity activism has given activism a bad name. Greedy corporations have co-opted legitimate justice causes, like the caring for the environment, like the HIV/AIDS crisis in order to make more money. And yet, no matter what their motives, true help still brings hope and redemption. Political pressure on the G8 countries may not convert reluctant action into righteous action but it is still action and still VITAL. Please consider taking action on this important issue. I have seen first hand the crushing effects of poverty on people who spend everything on one meal per day and it will take regular people like you and me to create the kind of public will to influence leaders of these countries to take the kind of global action that is needed. Please consider taking action here.

Corporate America, Earth Day, the public good and private interests

So, it's Earth Day, happy Earth Day everyone, and hypocrisy is out in full force. I am hardly innocent in this matter, as Bob Willis, my boss, pointed out to me this morning. He said, "You are a hypocrite. You rode your bike on Earth Day but left the lights on in your office when you left for staff meeting."

Which brings me to, does anyone really believe that all these Multi National Corporations really care about being GREEN? This morning I got an email from Levis that said "Celebrate Earth Day with 10 percent off all ECO green line jeans." Bottom line, from Exxon-Mobil to Fox to NBC to GAP to Starbucks to Nike to your Aunt Susan's pretzel business, corporations do NOT have a social conscience. Sure, some are better than others but they are built for one thing: Profit. Therefore, when it comes to commitment to conservation, respect for nature and concern over climate change, businesses (esp MEGA businesses) are suddenly interested because BY APPEARING RESPONSIBLE AND CONSCIENTIOUS, THEY CAN MAKE MORE MONEY. Some MNCs are worse than others but mostly they range from uninformed and ignorant to blatantly evil when it comes to issues of justice. That's why the public must care about issues and not fall for some easy marketing opportunities once a year. The public good must be championed by...you guessed it, the public.

The best way to be green on Earth Day of course, would be to not watch tv, not eat at Chipotle and most of all, not waste precious energy resources on something as trivial as blogging.

no posts this week, whatever, Il Postino?

Sorry everyone for my poor stewardship of the tiny blog audience that I don't ever influence.

This is plagiarized from the wikipedia:

l Postino is a 1994 Italian language film directed by Michael Radford. The film was originally released in the U.S. as The Postman, a straight translation of the Italian title.^[1] However, since the release of Kevin Costner's film of the same name, the film has been released on DVD as Il Postino: The Postman, and English-language film critics often refer to the film by its Italian title alone.

The film tells a fictional story in which the real life Chilean poet Pablo Neruda forms a relationship with a simple postman who learns to love poetry. It stars Philippe Noiret, Massimo Troisi and Maria Grazia Cucinotta. The screenplay was adapted by Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli and Massimo Troisi from the novel El cartero de Neruda by Antonio Skármeta. Skármeta himself had previously adapted his novel for the screen in 1983 as Ardiente paciencia.

Writer/star Massimo Troisi postponed heart surgery so that he could complete the film. The day after filming was completed, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

The Myriad, i don't want my mtv, however, this is a good band

So, this morning was the first time in a long while that I watched a few videos on VH1, nothing too earth shaking but since I don't watch or listen to the radio, I did find that pop music is not as annoying when you've been removed for a while.

Unrelated to that, I did get ahold of a copy of The Myriad's new ep, which is a teaser for the forthcoming With Arrows, With Poise which is apparently coming out sometime soon, though the record has been delayed many times. Winner of some kind of mtv2's next big thing contest, this is definitely a band to be aware of. My friend Ginny from Davis turned me on to this band and the first record, You Can't Trust a Ladder was pretty decent. However, based on what I've heard of the Prelude to ARROWS ep, this new record has the potential to be phenomenal. Vaguely post-punk, vaguely british, vaguely new wave, all infectious and kind of what radiohead might sound like if they were younger and willing to make hit singles.

a swedish flyer; celebration c

This flyer is my homage to the film Be Kind Rewind...I basically SWEDED a wallpaper they used to promote the film. But more importantly, I hope some of you are already making plans to be there already...

Happy Wednesday,

Ryan.

indie rock in the information age; the overdubs

Post-modernism leaves many things up for interpretation...good band names are often in the eye of the domain owner. Two years ago when I embarked on the journey of choosing a band name for my solo project turned community musical chairs turned full-fledged band (hopefully), I largely evaluated names based on domain availability. Such is the reality of indie rock in the information age. theoverdubs.com was available and hence, the band ::: the overdubs ::: was born.

of course, the overdubs already existed, we were called girlfriend in a coma before that and we did own girlfriendinacoma.com, however people generally pre-judged us as a Smiths cover band and though I liked the Smiths a good deal (certainly enough to name the band after them) we weren't really about being a facsimile of someone else.

so, here is where we are. two years in, one album released. enough money made to cover the two year godaddy renewal and some dollars banked against the future. when you consider the travel, hosting costs and podcasting, we've probably only lost a few dollars. the future is now ... and it's happening slowly. the next two years should be fun, if nothing else. I still think we have a fine, fun album in us.

Here's a clip of the overdubs then: (gf in a coma style)

john thomas-guitar; travis goode-drums; brett rash-bass; bekah townsend-keys, vocals; ryan townsend

be kind rewind; sweded

lest I be mistaken for a corporate shill, let me begin by saying that last blog entry I name dropped emusic and now I'm going to mention New Line Cinema's Be Kind Rewind but ONLY because, a) emusic is the underdog of corporate indie music sites and b) Be Kind Rewind, though it comes from a major studio is quite funny and not likely to make billions of dollars.

I saw the film with my cousin on Saturday and while it's hardly a classic in the vein of Michel Gondry's best film Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, it is as enjoyable as his last film The Science of Sleep. Critics are rightly pointing out that the funniest parts of the movie are the "Sweded" remakes of Hollywood films but the Ghostbusters remake is easily worth the price of admission alone. Look for this word, sweded, to be in our/my vocabulary for a long time... I'm posting the film official trailer and then Gondry's own Sweded version.

Also if you visit the Internet via the official website, be ware it (The Internet) itself, has also been sweded.

the Giants WIN......one game

and I have Brian Wilson on my fantasy team ... even though I'll have to endure a bunch more Beach Boys jokes I would really appreciate it if he became the next Roberto Hernandez at least. Last night, btw, I finally slept thanks to combination of utter exhaustion, taking the pill early in the day, and cough syrup. now i need to sleep early and get up early tomorrow but 2-1 over the Dodgers is worth staying up too late for.

i'm listening to apostle of hustle's folkloric feel right now, courtesy of emusic, a fine service that gave me 75 downloads for rejoining and no, I don't work for them. anyhow, i owned this record once--courtesy of arts and crafts record company by way of the Daily Titan and promptly sold to Amoeba Records in Hollywood without giving it a chance. we all make mistakes mister. this is not just folky jam band music but rather indie rock folky jam music and I mean that in the best possible way.

good night.

listen here, read below

INSOMNIAC's playlist, songs not to sleep to, levaquin

For each of the last four nights, I've been suffering from insomnia. I have not slept more than two or three hours each night and the earliest I've managed to get to sleep has been 4:00 AM. The cause for this has been unknown to me until today and though I am no stranger to sleeplessness, I have typically eased into a cycle rather than been bludgeoned by a sudden inability to sleep.

Turns out I am suffering side effects from the very strong antibiotic Levaquin, which was prescribed to me after I developed a sinus infection immediately following a run of lesser antibiotics for my ear infection the week before. So I am both relieved and incredulous. Relieved to know that I am not going crazy laying there at night thinking about the San Francisco Giants, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and presidential politics. Incredulous that the happy people pictured on the www.levaquin.com website don't look like they are suffering at all, in fact, it looks like their lives have been enhanced by the "Powerful once a day bacterial killer." Thanks a lot, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

here are ten songs that are good for listening when you can't sleep:

"3 Speed" by Eels
a moving song that questions both faith and gender yet one that's also strangely comforting; both audacious and humble in a way that only E can deliver.

"Lump Sum" by Bon Iver
currently one of my favorite songs, gorgeous harmonies, understated beat, crazy good

"Transatlanticism" by Death Cab for Cutie
"I need you so much closer"

"In the Sun" by Joseph Arthur
Always a good choice

"Happy Birthday" by The Innocence Mission
Amelia's favorite band

"Heretics" by Andrew Bird
"All I Need is You" by United Live
"Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol
"All I Need" by Radiohead
"Come thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Sufjan Stevens