EVERYDAYISDAYONE

Last night, I sat in a bar with jeans, a t-shirt and a scarf on. I was freezing cold, but I kept drinking beer in hopes that I would warm up. I didn’t, and instead I just got pretty tired. I was there because Olympics played a set, but I won’t talk about that. I will just say thank you to Dave Spiker and Auntie Mae’s for asking us to play, it was wonderful of you.

I love this time of year. I think most people do. It is the best season weather-wise, but mostly it is my favorite because it yields some of my best music listening sessions. This autumn, I have created a mix, the first of many to come from this site, and there is a new section on my music page where you can go look at the mix. I am going to update it until it is final each Wednesday, so keep checking back.  Since this is week one, I am going to start you off with not one but three songs.

Listen to “Dinosaur Act” by Low [From the LP Things We Lost in the Fire on Kranky Records]

Listen to “Stockholm Syndrome” by Yo La Tengo [From the LP I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One on Matador Records]

Listen to “Ricochet” by Detachment Kit [From the LP Of This Blood on French Kiss Records]

Last night Olympics played at The Jackpot Saloon, and it went pretty well.  It was a lot of fun for all of us, except for poor Krysten, who rode with us, and realized early on that she was actually pretty sick.  Waterfowl Habitat and Squareshow played well.  The show started late, so a lot of people had to go home, but the ones who stuck it out had a good time dancing.

Recently I came across some MP3’s of this 7″ by the band Antelope that I own.  I am always excited when I get the MP3 version of vinyl that I own, but this was especially exciting, because it is such a good 7″, and the MP3 versions of the song have been quite hard to track down.  However, I am not going to post a song from the 7″, I am posting a song from Antelope’s self-titled EP, released on Dischord Records.  If Antelope would record more than 8 songs, I could seriously consider them as my favorite band.  Paul Protocol introduced me to them, and I haven’t found anything as good since.  If you like this song, please go to Dischord’s site and order the EP or the 7″, they are only $8 and $4 respectively, with postage paid.

Listen to “Shapes” by Antelope [on the EP Antelope released on Dischord Records]

First and foremost, let me apologize for the delay of this post. As you may or may not know, my computer has been out of commission for sometime, and it isn’t coming back. So until I get a new one, I am relying on my wonderful roommate Krysten’s powerbook to update, so pardon any future delays.

This past Sunday, I was in Chicago, playing in Midwest Nest Fest. The venue was Fish + Fowl, which is an absolutely darling apartment in downtown Chicago, run by Emily Jane Powers, Adie Janci, and Carol. I didn’t meet Carol, but I assume that she is as nice as Emily and Adie were. At the show, they provided free Mimosas for anyone who wanted one, and anything else you wanted, I’m sure they would have made sure you had it. Alongside me, Erin Day, Heligoats, and Emily Jane Powers all played. Everyone did a swell job, but Emily was fabulous! And she is the featured artist of this post. However, please check out those other folks too!

Emily Jane Powers is from Chicago, via Ann Arbor, MI. She writes folk-pop songs that are decidedly lo-fi, but in a very nice, calculated manner. However, this is not your average lo-fi female acoustic folk artist. She plays the guitar, banjo, violin, percussion, bells, organ, and probably more on this album. She has a beautiful voice, too. This MP3 I am posting is from her album “Apple Blossom”, which overall is a brilliant album. If you like this song, you can buy the album from her website for a mere $5, and I assure you, it is worth far more than that.

Listen to “Fall Back” by Emily Jane Powers

Dear Google,

Please fix your spam filter for your otherwise fabulous Gmail. I don’t know why I have received so many spam messages with “CDPN CDPN CDPN…” in the body. Just look at this screenshot. Note the time those arrived in my inbox, also. Plus, I have already permanently deleted over 100 out of my spam folder in the past 3 days.

What can I do about this? The worst thing about it, is that it comes to my inbox, not spam folder. I keep reporting the spam as spam, and I keep getting more. Spam is a very, very, very strange thing to me. Why, spam? Why? I have never received a single e-mail of yours that seemed appealing. I see them, think “spam”, and trash it. Has anyone ever benefited from a spam mesage? Have you bought anything? Found a spouse? Google, I beg you, fix your spam filters. It used to be insanely accurate, and I love everything else about Gmail.

Last night, Olympics played at The Jackpot Saloon in Lawrence, KS. We had a pretty good time, but it was a learning experience, to say the least. For the next show:

1. Give Jon a microphone. The quietness on stage was unbearable at times.

2. Be in tune. I’m still not convinced that people saying they liked our atonal, Sonic Youth inspired songs is a good thing.

Now, that makes it out to be worse than it was (I hope). Our first four songs or so were in tune, and pretty okay. It mostly just makes me excited for our upcoming shows. More than anything, the show last night was more than a show. It was a gift. The basement of my house, which we practice in, flooded last night, and our equipment would have been completely ruined, which would have set us back quite a ways. I am very thankful that we left, and none of that got flooded.

After the show, we hung out with some of Jon’s friends, who were all very kind to us. At the Jackpot, we were generously given three pitchers of beer. That was nice. Then Matthew Peterworth gave us a few more beers. Thank you to him, and to Mr. F for driving us home. And to Cass and Shanti for inviting us. But most importantly, thank you to all of our friends who came to the show. It is really nice of you.

Now, here is a song from the upcoming Joan of Arc album Eventually, All at Once.

Listen to “Many Times I’ve Mistaken” by Joan of Arc

Then, you have to listen to this Make Believe song. They are so good, and creative, and Tim’s vocals in this song rule.

Listen to “Say What You Mean” by Make Believe

And for good measure,

This month, I am reverting back.

I have been listening to stuff I used to love in high school lately, like Braid and Sunny Day Real Estate. Every year, I seem to go through a month-or-so-long phase where I listen to old favorites. Usually “harder”, more “emotional” bands like the aforementioned, but I get over it eventually. Until then, I will enjoy Chris Broach and Jeremy Enigk’s vocals.

Tonight I was a bowling spectator, and unfortunately, or fortunately (however you’d like to look at it), it was as fun as participating. Wisconsin has the most bowling alleys per capita in the United States, so I grew up with it, but I don’t really consider myself experienced in bowling. Still, I enjoy it. My favorite bowling experience has me bowling a 200 - a Dutch 200 - at sports camp, when I was maybe 12 or 13. I went to Loras Sports camp at Loras College in Dubuque, IA every summer I can remember growing up, and I quickly learned after a couple of those summers that it is HOT, and the only indoor sport I wanted to participate in was bowling. The air conditioner was so nice, and, I learned how to bowl. However, I quickly forgot, and now I am cursed with the 70-130 games every average male gets. I suppose bowling isn’t really much to worry about, though.

Wednesday is Olympics‘ first show, and we are getting tighter as a band, which is good. I can’t wait to get it out of the way, so we can expand our current songs and make them better. We are also getting a good amount of shows lined up, thanks to help from a lot of different, nice people. If you aren’t busy Wednesday, you should come.

Fast-approaching is the Midwest Nest Fest in Chicago, Illinois, where I will be playing my last set as Aid for a long time, alongside so many other good, mostly unknown Midwest bands. My personal favorite of the bunch is a band from DeKalb, IL called Little Headhunter. Granted I have only heard five to seven of their songs, I still loved each one of them. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is playing, Drakkar Sauna, Brief Candles - if you are in or near Chicago August 18-20, you really should go. You can find more information at their website.

This past weekend I saw a small amount of footage from By Brakhage, of which I heard of at mattmat.com. Matt Fields really enjoys Stan Brakhage, and it was his DVD we were watching. I found it to be rather beautiful, and immensively impressive in just the amount of time and work he spends on each frame. If you are in the mood for a very visually appealing film, I highly suggest this (disclaimer - By Brakhage is actually a collection of his films, and since it is all I have seen, it is all I can recommend).

Right now, I am going to ask you a very generic question that is asked by bloggers everywhere, but I am in need of it right now. What band should I listen to that you don’t think I have heard? I am in a rut, and I could use a little help. Thank you.