After the glow, the scene, the stage, the set

I saw Pavement this past Thursday night in Pomona and it was definitely magical, that is until we were stranded on the side of a freeway, but I'll get to that later. Most important information on that evening is that they played five out of my top seven pavement songs:

1. Spit on a Stranger
2. Roll with the Wind
3. Shady Lane
4. Cut Your Hair
5. Range Life
6. Harness Your Hopes
7. Stereo

I'm pretty satisfied with that outcome, as the italicized ones are B-sides I probably should never have hoped them to play (but can we just all agree that Roll with the Wind is spectacular?).

So then my friend's car has some sort of issue, in which the car fills with smoke and loses power breaking capability. Let me tell you, that is some scary stuff. And then we stand, freezing, on the side of a freeway in the middle of the night waiting for a tow truck. I obviously did not envision this occasion in choosing to wear a dress that morning. It's a good thing everyone bought shirts at the show; wearing three shirts did help a little. This situation would probably have been less frightening had I not watched so many Law & Orders and or film noirs that include scenes similar to these.

All in all, however, it was a pretty successful Nochella weekend: Pavement, first day of new job, long shift at old job (money!), Record Store Day (including buying a Robyn Hitchcock album I somehow missed which has a song titled "Raymond Chandler Evening"--what could be more perfect?!), pizzza I hadn't had in 14 years, square dance, maybe the best donuts in L.A., and learning how to make bagels.

My wisdom was extracted on Tuesday.

Consequently, I've been bleeding and reading--and not eating. Plus, watching a lot of movies. A few notes:

• I finally finished alphabetizing all the 'rock-pop-soul' CDs at my internship. The Hives' Black and White Album really has fantastic album art. The font is spectacular. Looks like a great old movie. Unfortunately, I can't find a picture of the back where this great font is. So you'll just have to believe me.
• Also at my internship, I've been doing a bit of golf cart driving which is, I gotta say, quite fun. The silly thing about the lot, though, is that the limit lines for stopping are about three feet behind the intersections, and, thus, you can't actually see anything when you stop there. It is all very silly.
• I also interviewed James Franco again last week. I'll play it on my show as soon as I finish healing. Stay tuned!
• I watched Hitchcock's last movie, Family Plot, today. Didn't like it too much, unfortunately. There are two interesting likenesses though.
  
• 1. The villain looks remarkably like Zev Yaroslavsky!
• Bruce Dern in this film reminds me of Will Farrell. But kinda only in this movie. Weird.

floccinaucinihilipilification

My feelings exactly.

Mr. Hutchinson nicely described my silly useless internship today, a way I will never actually use.

Facilitated the transition to a digital system, specializing in the reduction of a dependence on physical capital for longevity, preservation, and efficiency gains.

I am just going to try and avoid being asked what I did--upload CDs for 8 hours a day twice a week for an entire summer.

On a side note, it is SUPER air-conditioned in these offices. And now, of course, another semi-relevant Chandler (not really, see previous post) quotation:

"It felt good after the hard desert heat, but it felt artificial too, like the soothing touch of an embalmer."

I am slow at getting drug references.

L-R, T-B:
1) Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: Heaven
2) Rod Stewart: Sing It Again, Rod
3) The Rolling Stones: Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
4) Piano Rags by Scott Joplin
5) Piano Rags by Scott Joplin volume 2
6) Sean Lennon: Friendly Fire

1) As already explained in one post or another, I like to patronize little record stores. This predilection is unfortunate when there really is nothing worth buying in a store. Well, not necessarily nothing worth buying but nothing worth buying at the store's prices. This store on the corner of a block of Melrose (I can't remember what it was called) had some okay records, mostly overpriced. This is just an EP or single; I can't really decide. I really do like Robyn Hitchcock, but the songs on this aren't too great. Overall, this purchase is regrettable. I shouldn't buy records if I'm not going to like them. heh. Maybe I'll get into this one day and be really happy I ended up buying it. Hopefully.

2) I've gotten into quite a few arguments with people over this record. I think it is a piece of masterful music. Others don't quite agree with me. First, however, you can't argue about the album art. The picture obscures the fact that this record is not rectangular -- wow! hehe. It is die-cut to look like a whiskey shot glass and depicts Rod's smiling face looking through it. And when you pull out the record, the inner sleeve has his face. It's just so great. I don't remember where I got this, possibly Rhino but also possibly MAMSROC. It has many gems, but the highlights for me are 1) his Street Fighting Man cover and 2)Reason to Believe. The only song on it that I could do without is his Pinball Wizard version. I also own this album on cd (found it for five dollars in Colorado last winter!).

3) This is one of my dad's old records. A 1966 collection.

4) & 5) Both are from Rhino. Both are solid. Who doesn't like Scott Joplin? These feel particularly American. Is ragtime particular American? I don't know.

6) I got this record when I interned at Capitol Records in the fall of 2006. I like the album art better than the music, but the music ain't bad, either.

Hodge Podge Mod Podge

1. Oh man, do you remember Mod Podge?!! That stuff is the best. 2. I saw Rhett Miller walking on the street last night. Didn't react in time to roll down the window of a super old car, though, to say hi.

3. Rilo Kiley was much better than I expected but still a little boring. Also, the audience was too much of a hipster relay for me.

4. Some things I learn as a file clerk: Suge Knight's real name is Marion, hole punching takes way too much strength, super fast multi-page scanners are awesome except when they jam every 45 seconds

5. Wattstax is way interesting.

6. I wanted to go to this, but there was way too long of a line.