the city on film daily

190: Cool Flyer

2008-06-04T09:55:00.000-05:00

189: Never-Ending Polaroid

2008-06-02T14:37:00.002-05:00

Well, this is pretty exciting! Due to some schedule conflicts, my Never-Ending Polaroid project is going up at the Threadless Gallery on FRIDAY! Opening party that night to coincide with the Art View in Lakeview event... and they'll be on display until July 8.

If I ran into you between 2001-2005, chances are you are in this thing! Threadless Chicago is at 3011 North Broadway Street.

Really hope you can make it. Eventually I'll be putting em online, too...

188: Currently Trying!

2008-05-20T13:01:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since i've seriously put effort into it, but i'm going to try and consolidate all of my dumb internet profiles into an easy to use, easy to enjoy, one-stop website. Maybe when I have some free time... lately that means never.

Just joined up with twitter and i'll get a feed going on the right so we'll see how that goes.

Got a show this weekend and the weekend after that. Best be practicing. Been awhile on that front as well.

Had a great talk this weekend with Anthony Green. New music project?

And like everyone else, i'm psyched to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Raiders Of The Lost Ark is one of my all time faves. I am the monarch of the sea.

187: Ruin My Life

2008-03-25T23:05:00.004-05:00

Ruin My Life from cshimala on Vimeo.

***

Now an official part of my job description!
Threadless Tee-V!

And I've been meaning to tell you to check out Todd's new blog:
Dust And Turpentine.
GO CATCH UP!

186: The Broad Majestic

2008-03-07T09:09:00.002-06:00

I saw The Pogues on Wednesday! Here's my review.

I was probably 10 or so when I first heard The Pogues. I was going through a UK magazine phase highlighted with such classy mags as Smash Hits whereupon I could be informed of Robert Smith’s favorite lipstick or perhaps the most recent late night shenanigans of Simon Le Bon. Every one of the new wave stars seemed to live such a glamorous and fashionable life. That is, except for Shane MacGowan. If his or his band’s name was featured on the cover, I dreaded every turn of the page expecting to come face to face with the pale hideous mess that sent every kid skyrocketing to the medicine cabinet for toothpaste and floss. The Pogues’ music I didn’t understand. It had no discernable dance groove to my naïve ears. It had no dizzying video accompaniment on MTV, and the only thing remotely closed to traditional Irish folk music I enjoyed was good ol Dexy’s “Come On Eileen,” which while brilliant, had all the edge of a dull butter knife. But kids just wouldn’t understand.

It was at least 9 years later when I decided to give Shane and the gang another chance. And this time, none of the soul, beauty, and rich storytelling was lost on me. The gloss of those magazines had long since been worn and scuffed by the shocking realities of the rock world in which I had plunged. Whereas I once shrank away from the unfamiliar tones and brutal photos, my friends and I now shed tears in our beers listening to the tales of star-crossed lovers on Christmas, sea shanties, and historical laments about working on the railway. I shit you not, we danced around my apartment to “Turkish Song of The Damned,” causing much commotion in the dwelling below. Much like Pixies, we were resigned to the fact that we would never see them play in person, long since broken up, and with their fearless songwriter sinking into an ever growing abyss of alcoholic malaise. We may have joked about doctors having to beat Shane MacGowan’s liver with a bat once his body had given up but the stark reality was we needed to see him before he died.

Even more tragic was the shocking “If I Should Fall From Grace” documentary where Nick Cave recalls MacGowan living in utter squalor. He asks Shane if he’s written any new songs lately. Shane mumbles that he has hundreds of fucking songs and points to a pile of garbage in a corner. Of course, what was there was brilliant songwriting but his body had deteriorated to the point where we could barely even sing or play them.

What’s this? A Pogues reunion? Tours? US tours?!

I was fortunate enough to finally have one of my dreams come true last night, first of a two night stand at the Riviera, and the crowd was pumped at 8, once Ike Reilly wrapped up his set. The crowd was really going nuts at 8:30 when the set change music got good (The Clash’s “Magnificent Seven”). When 9 came and went, a fear ran through my head. Everyone who has seen the Pogues seems to have a Shane MacGowan story. Buckets for vomit, various levels of nudity, someone having to physically hammer nails into the base of the mic stand to keep him upright. Here it was. My story. “He’s not coming out,” I said to myself. At 9:30, finally, the house lights went down, a backdrop of a twisted metropolis descended, The Clash’s “Straight to Hell” started to blare as intro and this was it. But as Joe Strummer, already into the third verse, started to sing about the bamboo kid’s blood, I thought this was just another stall tactic. Thankfully, not long after, there they were, The Pogues, with a quick “Sorry, we’re late,” and from the opposite side of the stage, low and behold, it was him.

Looking very Chaplin-esque in a top hat and blazer and shuffling in with a gait that reminded me of the way newly upright children walk, as if always going downhill, he was escorted right up to the mic and they were off into “Streams of Whiskey.” The sheer volume of lyrics in MacGowan’s playbook have always astonished me and tongue twisting passages like “when questioned on his views on the crux of life’s philosophies” flying by at breakneck speed would be tough even for a fully lucid performer. Looking more like a ghost than a lucid performer, especially in that outfit, he performed admirably, admittedly slurring a great portion of the lyrics in the process. But what pushed his performance from heartbreaking to heartwarming was how expressive he was. For what he couldn’t vocally express, he used hand motions. The captain’s spyglass in “Greenland Whale Fisheries.” God in his heaven in “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn.” The doll’s head of “Fiesta.”

In stark contrast to MacGowan’s zombie like pathos, the band played ferociously well for a bunch of old men, especially James Fearnley, whose high flying accordion antics helped keep the energy at a peak level. Whistle player Spider Stacy took vocals for the Shaneless “Tuesday Morning” and “Love You Till The End,” but whereas the punk/traditional 80’s Pogues tunes are absolutely timeless, these sounded uncomfortably dated. It was no surprise that the crowd lit up when MacGowan would stumble back on stage for his turn at the mic. I couldn’t help but feel as if the band, especially Stacy, found MacGowan to be a kind of “necessary evil” in the grand scheme of things. As he lumbered back and forth offstage there were always borderline sarcastic comments to be heard from the rest of the band. “What light through yonder window breaks.” Stacy sighed once. Guitarist Philip Chevron took it a step further proclaiming Shane a “national treasure… of many nations” with a wink as he left the stage. Still, the most poignant moment during the set was Chevron’s singing of the MacGowan penned “Thousands Are Saling,” in an apparent effort to reclaim the poetic retelling of Irish immigrants coming to America from its actual author.

Throughout the show, it was evident that MacGowan was having a great time. Before “The Broad Majestic Shannon” he joked that the Shannon was not as big as the Mississippi but that they were working on it. He faux-conducted the band during “Turkish Song of the Damned” and helped out with some cymbal crashes on “Body of an American.” He even did a little dancing, holding out his top hat like a street performer. Through 3 encores, they endured, plowing through “Sally MacLennane,” “The Irish Rover,” “A Rainy Night in Soho,” and ending with the Mexican romp “Fiesta” featuring the percussive effect of Spider Stacy slamming a metal baking sheet against his head many times. They endured just as Shane MacGowan endures and surely as the music of The Pogues will endure. I’m glad I was there to actually see it in person.

***

And here's my minisong for this week: "The King And His Pieces"

185: Shake A Fist

2008-02-28T15:25:00.002-06:00

Check out this sweet xylophone I just got:

Sure it was only $1.50, but it was a good use of work expenses. I already used it in this minisong for this week: "Symbol or Signifier". That one's really out there. Sorry, I had to deal with the cards I was dealt. There is a meaning to that.

Less confusing is last week's minisong: "We Flock". Used the now-sent-away acoustic on that one. Woohoo!

184: In The Storm Of The Eye

2008-02-20T13:44:00.002-06:00

Strange times a-brewin. Turns out my pet scan revealed zero evidence of reoccurring lymphoma. Ditto for my orbital CT scan. This news, while somewhat a relief, does nothing to explain the pink fleshy mass hanging out in my left eye. (does the phrase "pink fleshy mass" make you as uncomfortable as it does me?) Hence, the recommended treatment = nothing. We play the waiting game. I go back in a month and we see how it all looks. And there you have it!

Hey look, I'm selling an old acoustic guitar. It's the one i've had here at work to write minisongs etc. But i'm trying to dually liquidate and make more room in my room. More room for the room. My main guitar will then come here where it can sit in the corner of my (good) eye and tempt me.

I hate the Grammys. It's just the epitome of cheeseball I rarely agree with any of the nominees and i almost never agree with the winners. Some of the categories I don't even understand. Admittedly, i was one of those folks that resolved to never watch another Grammy show after Metallica lost to Jethro Tull... This is why I enjoyed Amy Winehouse's set (and acceptance speech) last week. Other than maybe Kanye, she's the one loose cannon, unpredictable and thus, exciting in such a stale saccharine ceremony... I've been listening to her a lot lately...

What kind of fuckery is this?

183: Deleted?

2008-02-19T11:58:00.001-06:00

I really don't know how all of this works but I guess Braid & Hey Mercedes are possibly in danger of being deleted from Wikipedia? That doesn't seem right, does it?

In other news, I have a doctors appt today at 4 to talk about my most recent scans.

182: Only Slightly Less Than I Used To

2008-02-13T13:53:00.003-06:00

I need to liven this place up a bit. Hang some colorful curtains or something.

In 6 minutes, I'm interviewing Headlights for UR Chicago.

Here's this week's mini-song: "Fine, I'll Go"

181: Ugh

2008-02-12T09:24:00.000-06:00

The absolute last thing I wanted to happen is a big fat pity party and that's why I mentioned it as more of an aside than a major news story. Lymphoma seems like a big scary word but thankfully for me it wasn't so bad to get through last time and this time even the opthalmologist wondered if it was even worth treating at the moment... I'll find out next Tuesday and then we'll know once and for all how long this will take. Not worth a batted eyelash. One mentions a word like "battling" and it implies i'm completely incapacitated, huddled up in a hospital hooked up to an arsenal of machines. Not at all. I feel as good as I did last week, last year, and at the beginning of 2006... Btw, I'm playing Feb 22 at the Courtyard Cafe in Champaign and then March 15 somewhere in Minneapolis with Somerset!

180: Second Time Around

2008-02-11T09:55:00.000-06:00

OK, a few bits of good/fun news first... Last week's minisong was called Look Up! Feel free to download and enjoy...

Also, I've participated in this great project started by my good friend David (formerly of Jet By Day and presently of Coyote Bones) called Telephono. It's basically the fun old game of Telephone but with pieces of music! He sent me a guitar riff, I built stuff around it and then i passed it to Owen. He worked it and passed it to a friend in Italy and so on and so forth. Listen to all of the songs here! Many many more to come on that front.

Last bit of good news... I am going to be actually buying a HOUSE with a partner. A two flat in Chicago with a basement (hopefully), yard, garage... the works. It's a huge investment mentally (gulp), physically (gulp gulp), and financially (gulp gulp gulp) but i'm fucking ready. I'm ready to finally care about something. See this blade of grass here? I love it and I will take care of it because it's mine... This also means that i WILL have a place to put that old rusty rotted out tin can of a jukebox. My collection has been saved for the time being! However you know how bills get... and this leads me to my one bit of bad news.

The lymphoma is back. Thankfully not with a vengeance. It's manifested itself in my left eye. So... it's back to the scanning board. Had two on Friday. An orbital CT scan and a PET scan. If it is indeed only in my eye, then i'm going to argue for a lesser treatment than last time. My side effects with Chemotherapy 2006 were almost non-existent but that's not to say that it didn't still totally suck. So there's that.

In a completely non-related story, I saw No Country For Old Men yesterday and i really loved it. I'm no spoiler so i'm not going to give you my interpretation of the events... until it wins Best Picture.

179: Cloudy

2008-02-04T15:26:00.000-06:00

It has been a terrible morning for about 10 different reasons. Blogs by nature are a vehicle for complaining but i don't want to complain so i won't. I will however say that "Friends and Family February" has begun. Not a moment too soon, my friends.

178: We Got A Way We Like To Do Things

2008-01-31T10:20:00.000-06:00

It's Thursday, so here's this week's mini-song!

"My Envy Day"

I was in a terrible mood when i recorded this yesterday. I had an eye doctor appointment in the morning and left largely blinded by the dilating drops they put in. So since i couldn't read anything on the computer screen, i picked up the guitar and tried to write the most relaxing Red-House-Paintersy song I could. Now i can see.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about Lost tonight. I admit it.

177: You Want Her, She Wants You

2008-01-28T14:38:00.000-06:00

Way back when in 2003 before the wonderful world of Garageband entered my life, I recorded stuff onto this portable studio thing called a Zoom. I can't seem to find any evidence of it ever existing. Just as well. It was handy... while it lasted. It broke after a few months of heavy use. I just unearthed 4 random covers I recorded on the thing. No real rhyme or reason for these choices. I think maybe I was trying to brainstorm a good cover for Hey Mercedes to tackle. In the end, we settled on "Overkill" by Men at Work. And then we broke up. Man, that would have been fun.

Here's what I found. It's sort of embarrassing and the quality is subpar, but it was fun...

Francis Scott Key (menthol cover)

Giants Chair (shiner cover)

Impossible Figure (jawbox cover)

No One Is To Blame (howard jones cover)

Since i couldn't find a damn photo of that thing, here's an iphone photo i took of Cornelius last week. Soon my review of the show will be here. Soon.

I now enjoy the music of Van Morrison. Man, I'm getting old.

176: Hummingbird I Wanna Hug You The Most

2008-01-24T16:27:00.000-06:00

It's Thursday and that means Threadless mini-song!

"The Big Big Shake"

Starts off nice enough but gets a little crazy at the end. Couldn't help it!

175: Beep It

2008-01-23T14:48:00.001-06:00

Seeing Cornelius tonight and that's pretty gosh darn exciting. Please enjoy this photo from the last time...

174: I Feel Unsteady

2008-01-21T22:40:00.000-06:00

I just finished an article for the February "sex" issue of UR Chicago. It's entitled Modern Mood Music: Gettin' Beyond Let's Get It On. I think it turned out great! We'll see what they say.

Hey, guess what?! I'm going to be an Uncle! My sister, pictured here on the right, is pregnant! My plan is to be the coolest Uncle ever. Much cooler than that Uncle on the left, my brother!

173: You Don't Know What I'm Going Through

2008-01-18T08:52:00.000-06:00

I've consistently awakened this week with the song "The Opposite of Hallelujah" by Jens Lekman in my head. Ever heard it?

Have a big weekend ahead. Tonight I'm attending a birthday party... for a dog, and then a small show with the amazing William Elliot Whitmore. Tomorrow, after a visit to the eye doctor, i'm going to hang out with a bunch of bulldogs. Sunday, I'll watch Green Bay and San Diego win... I can't decide whether I want New England to win so that Green Bay can hand them their arse in the Super Bowl... I guess that would be more satisfying. Sheesh, it sure is strange to be rooting for the Packers. It's just the way it goes when you just start hating another team more...

Here's a picture of Chris Common & Mike Shumaker in a Salt Lake City hotel room while we were recording the "I'd Rather Be Wine Drunk" CD... Enjoy.

172: Jam Pack!

2008-01-16T16:36:00.000-06:00

I usually post these mini-songs on Thursdays on Threadless, but I'm going to post it today here... just to see if anyone over there notices. Or even reads this. The powers that be sprung for a bunch of Garageband Jam Packs for me: Rhythm Section, World Music, and Voices. The first two I haven't explored but Voices... wow. Most of the samples are hilarious and TERRIBLE. Listen to this amazing bit by "Cody" : cody lyric 25. Lol, lol, lol. Oh Cody, we thankfully will never know thee.

Luckily I found an ok one to use in this song...

"In My Pix"

... This is a photo taken from the front porch of wherever Minus The Bear mixed Menos El Oso while I annoyed them and tried to record American Diary. Robert Lang! That's it. Enjoy.

171: Blow Out That Cherry Bomb

2008-01-15T16:50:00.000-06:00

I got an iPhone for christmas, did i mention that? Hence, i'm pretty pleased with the new update today. Customizing the homepage is crucial because if I had to look one minute longer at the "stocks" button... argh. You know, it would be great if you put this blog onto your homescreen. You can use the following picture as your icon. Enjoying ale at the oldest pub in England. Please enjoy it.

I love this song.

170: We Ain't Superhuman

2008-01-14T16:56:00.000-06:00

Just stopping by to post this picture of my favoritest restaurant in all of London. Well, it may not be the best but it sure hit the spot. Please enjoy this as much as i do.

169: Save Your Film and $15

2008-01-11T15:06:00.000-06:00

A lot going on today. We were paid a visit by Johnny Kastl here today. Doug Murphy from Scrubs! Very cool guy and BIG Threadless fan. We even got him to take a product photo for next week...

As if that wasn't enough excitement, I also interviewed Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Surprisingly he did remember the few shows that At The Drive In played with Braid. Including a fest in Denton TX... at some guy's house. He remembers taking a photo of the 10+ vans in front of the house. Ah, those were the days. These days, he's a soothsayer and i blog about it.

Please enjoy this photo taken by Craig Shimala from the last Hey Mercedes show:

168: The Opposite of Hallelujah

2008-01-10T21:01:00.000-06:00

Hey look, it's another Threadless mini-song. Everybody clap your hands to...

"Robbed In Rio"

And enjoy this picture of merch monkey...

167: Don't Think I Don't Know What Suits You Well

2008-01-09T10:37:00.000-06:00

Can we talk about how great the Piebald We Are The Only Friends We Have album is? Specifically "The Stalker"?

Yeah, I kinda lose it every now and then. But this day has been really great so far. Feeling productive, proactive, and well... pro! By 5 I should have a Threadless song ready (to post tomorrow) and i'm also going to be doing a (kids) song for the lead shirt on the Threadless Kids site. Every. Friggin. Week! Yeah!

Speaking of losing it, please enjoy this picture of me, as Bret Michaels, enjoying some delicious Bacci pizza.

I am seriously considering a collaborative effort with musicians from Minneapolis and Detroit. Just gotta shut up and start it.

166: It's a Tough Time

2008-01-08T14:36:00.000-06:00

It's a tough time right now and as usual we gonna work our way through it. Yes. No junk January is going swimmingly well. Am I the only person that is always carrying something for some reason?

I bought an Alesis Micron. Basically to use for this show in Singapore last September. And then I plugged it in while I was there and the power adaptor exploded in a blaze of glory. Please enjoy this photo of a family of bulldogs.

So yeah, it's been 4 months since Singapore and I finally decided to get the old Micron working again. Bought a new power adaptor and it works! Hooray! The problem is that at any given time there are too many things that can be done and that drives me crazy. There will never be enough time to get good and proficient at anything it seems. Procrastination is the fear of rejection. Starting something is just another path to a job half finished. Now that's the spirit.

Here's something i wrote a long time ago (i hope) but there's no date so who knows: "i missed you last night and i miss you now. is it safe to say that i've never felt this safe since that blue june balloon went and made the break? Day fourteen, if you know what i mean. so when i'm mean, i don't mean it. i'm just sick." I then go into some nonsense about getting in trouble for using the internet. This would lead me to believe this episode happened while i was supposed to be temping somewhere or other. Some crappy phone job or maybe some data entry. I like the last line, though: "I'll fly right through these fucking things." Don't know what i'm talking about. Probably better that way.

That.

ADDED:

Have you ever been listening to an amazing song and really getting into it when suddenly... your phone rings and you look at it and are like "nuh uh whoeveryouare, nothing's gonna stop Daryl Hall talking about his dreams comin' true!" ? Dammit, its been a rough one. The first truly awful day of the year.