Wednesday, January 28, 2009

modest mouse!

I just found out that Modest Mouse is playing the Fox Theater in Visalia on Feb. 23rd. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. I will be poised and ready to double click my way to tickets...

Turns out Isaac Brock actually made an appearance with the estimable ensemble Broken Social Scene back in November. Apparently they played several Modest Mouse classics, including "The Good Times Are Killing Me" (a song that forever remind me of pedaling Jarred's beach cruiser around Newport Beach) and "The World at Large" featured here.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

About a Boy

On Friday at 5:22 pm, Bekah and I welcomed Micah James Glenn Townsend into the world at Clovis Community Hopsital. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long as of Friday. I'm convinced he's already grown bigger.

If you could bottle Joy, this would be it. More info and photos can be found at Micah's very own blog.

Friday, January 16, 2009

It’s Go Time, Baby One More

For the second time in our lives, we woke up early and arrived at the hospital for a scheduled induction…that’s pretty much how we roll. No shame in needing a little help to get the party started. We checked into Clovis Community this morning at 5:30 (well 5:38, had to stop at Starbucks on the way in). On the way in, guided by the twin lights of speedometer and GPS (totally unnecessary since getting here requires only a total of two turns), we were filled with excitement and mild apprehension since we remember the lengthy process that accompanied the wonderful journey of Amelia into the world.

Honestly, I can’t wait. Which reminds me of the song. “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements.

It’s only appropriate that we be armed with music for the occasion. In fact, Bekah is all about the maternity mixes.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

the hype machine top ten

So, the Hype Machine counted down all the way to 2009's album of the year. My votes, though submitted late, did make it into the results. It is, after all, an indie rock poll so deadlines come with some ambiguity.

I can see now why everyone is so into rocking the presidential vote, it creates a sense of ownership. Even though my album of the year only placed fourth (actually not the worst thing that could happen, I'm not the penultimate follower after all) three of my top ten made it in. Sigur Ros, Bon Iver and The Hold Steady.

Now, it's pretty clear to me that I need to look into Fleet Foxes and M83.


Saturday, January 10, 2009

top 50 hype machine, 50-41

I love the hype machine, I love end-of-year lists (of course I do) so imagine my delight at listening to end of the year hype machine radio!


Friday, January 9, 2009

from different angles :: orange county

I think that songs are an enduring art form. This can at least be partly attributed to the flexibility of songs and the ability to see a song in different light from many different angles. If you were to deconstruct a painting and then reconstitute in a different form, it would no longer be the same essential composition but take a song and deconstruct it .... and the song survives and in the best of scenarios, even thrives.

I figured that it wouldn't be terribly inappropriate to start a recurring feature off with a song I wrote, called "Orange County." Now, I am of course aware that the brilliant Pigeon John also has a song called Orange County, and there is also a movie starring the occasionally brilliant Jack Black. Both of those are great, but this songs has nothing to do with either. I did spend over four years living in O.C., so that was about the only title I could use for this song. I'm not in any way, implying that there is all that much to discover about this particular composition, only that it does serve as an example because I happen to have access to a bunch of versions, hehe.

So, that said, in the future I'll dig a little deeper but this is a relatively new song and I'll share three versions here, justin landis covers the song up a key.


I played the song live during a recording session (ostensibly to submit the song to the TV show Scrubs, as of now this recording has not been completed)


And finally, the overdubs play it live at club fred during our three guitar phase.


Of course, you can also check out the original version of the song, featuring banjo work by Paul Chesterton, from the album Here is Where We Are by downloading it from last.fm.

"Orange County" by The Overdubs


thanks for listening, see you next time.