Meanwhile, Someplace Else...

My favorite albums of 2008!!!!

2008-12-29T17:38:00.005-06:00

Favorites from 2008 in alphabetical order by artist:

Beach House - Devotion
I have a tendency to latch on to certain albums that inspire me to listen to them mostly at night sitting on the floor in the dark by myself. Devotion, like Nico's Desertshore and PJ Harvey's White Chalk, is one of those albums.

Highlights: "Wedding Bell," "Gila"

El Perro Del Mar - From the Valley to the Stars
I don't like this album as much as her first (which is not surprising considering the unabashed adoration I have for that album, 2006's El Perro Del Mar, would be hard for any album to match ever), but this is an impressive release as well. The songs are simultaneously uplifting and solemn. From the Valley to the Stars is secular church music that perfectly soundtracks life's glories, disappointments, and inconsistencies.

Highlights: "Glory to the World," "How Did We Forget," "Inner Island," "Some Day I'll Understand"

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Sometimes an album comes along out of the blue that knocks you over with its immense power. New Amerykah Part One is intense, confrontational, and incredibly groovy. I can neither stop moving nor thinking when listening to it. I can't wait for part two. If I were to have numerically ranked these albums, this would probably be number one or two.

Highlights: "Amerykahn Promise," "The Healer," "Soldier"

Frida Hyvonen - Silence is Wild
I think that Frida Hyvonen is perhaps one of the best songwriters out there right now. The first time I listened to this album, I sat in rapt attention following each turn of phrase and twist in the music. While listening, I actually laughed a lot and welled up with tears at one point. She covers a variety of topics from envy over a cousin's successes in marriage and motherhood (even though that's not what Frida wants), stereotypes about Scandinavian women, a childhood love, and a heartbreaking but matter-of-fact account of a visit to an abortion clinic.

Highlights: "Dirty Dancing," "London!" "Birds," "December"

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Initially, I was disappointed with this album. After the last three records, I was caught off guard by how, for lack of a better word, pastoral Seventh Tree is. I felt like it was almost--heaven-forbid--adult contemporary. But as with Swedish Fish candy, I kept desiring it even though I didn't think I liked it. Eventually (after a couple of weeks), the album clicked, and I realized: 1. how gorgeous it is 2. how hilarious a lot of the lyrics are and 3. that this is easily my favorite Goldfrapp album. So then it became my go-to album on lazy weekend mornings when I sat with a cup of coffee and sometimes a hangover.

Highlights: "Clowns," "Eat Yourself," "A&E"

Grace Jones - Hurricane
Grace Jones has been around for a long time. I got this album after being introduced to and blown away by her 1985 concept album Slave to the Rhythm. I saw that she had released an album this year (so far available only as an import in the States), and I decided to check it out. I think it's even better than Slave. I've listened to "This is Life" almost everyday since acquiring Hurricane.

Highlights: "This is Life," "William's Blood," "Sunset Sunrise"

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Even after listening to this album 37 million times, I get excited every time I hear any of the songs (but especially "Time Will" and "Blind"). It's epic disco plus it has Antony. How can you go wrong with that?

Highlights: "Time Will," "Blind," "You Belong"

Juana Molina - Un Día
Another unexpected album. I downloaded it from eMusic after reading an intriguing review. From the moment "Un Día" started to the last bit of "Dar (Qué Difícil)," a song which perpetually slides in and out of tune (to great effect), I was mesmerized. It's fifty minutes long, and it felt as if no time had passed at all.

Highlights: "Un Día," "Lo Dejamos," "Vive Solo," "Dar (Qué Difícil)"

Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Another Swede, Lykke Li is a pop star but on her own terms. The instrumentation is quirky and her songs are immediate favorites for most people I've played them for. My favorite tracks are the danceable ones, all of which should dominate a list of 2008's most perfect pop songs.

Highlights: "Dance Dance Dance," "I'm Good, I'm Gone," "Little Bit," "Let it Fall"

M83 - Saturdays=Youth
I'm really not sure what to say about this album other than it's one that I sat down to get lost in a lot after it was introduced to me by my friend Alan. It's so wonderfully atmospheric and makes me nostalgic for a period that I experienced (the 80s) but not like this.

Highlights: "Kim & Jessie," "Skin of the Night"

Nico Muhly - Mothertongue
Any album whose appeal is both intellectual and visceral is automatically a winner. Many of the albums on my list fall into that category, but none more than Mothertongue. As far as I'm concerned, Nico Muhly can do no wrong, whether it's in his solo work, his collaborations, or on his blog (an edutaining read every time).

Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements
While its songs are excellent individually, Entanglements is best approached as a whole. Treat it as you would a novel or a play. Owen Pallett, in his top ten list on the Pop Manifesto, says that this group (along with Simon Bookish and The Dirty Projectors) is reclaiming musical theatre from the "assholes" who "sullied" it. I couldn't have said it better myself, which is why I didn't try. Thanks Owen Pallett.

Highlights: "Four Words," "A Song for Ellie Greenwich," "GUT Symmetries"

Portishead - Third
I love both of Portishead's previous albums, but I never really expected them to release anything else, but as Kate Bush did with Aerial a few years ago, Portishead came out of the blue and released a fantastic album. It's dark and scary as hell, and I love it. Turn it up loud and prepare to be made uncomfortable.

Highlights: The 3-song sequence "We Carry On," "Deep Water," and "Machine Gun"

Santogold - Santogold
I saw her open for Björk at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and fell in love. This was one of those albums like those by Hercules & Love Affair, Lykke Li, and Cut Copy that I put on when I wanted to dance around the house. She plays with diverse styles but somehow it all feels cohesive and defiant. Hot damn.

Highlights: "L.E.S. Artistes," "Creator," "I'm A Lady," "Shove It"

The Sound of Arrows - Danger!
I usually exclude EP's from my end of the year lists (hence the absence of releases by Antony and the Johnsons and Final Fantasy, all of which are fantastic and have me excited for their upcoming 2009 full lengths), but I loved this one so much I couldn't leave it out. Remember that hypothetical list of perfect pop songs I referenced earlier? Well, while Lykke Li's singles would all appear on it, the song that would live at the top is "Danger!" where it would sit until usurped by 2009's "M.A.G.I.C." also by The Sound of Arrows or perhaps by "Catch the Breeze" by Stefan Storm (a member of TSoA --this song, which I don't think was ever officially released, was the song of my summer. It's perfect. Go listen to it at his page: http://www.myspace.com/stefanstorm ). My love for these songs is unabashed, and I've been playing them for my friends constantly since I've heard them. I think one of the reasons I love this group so much is because their music is almost antithetical to the songs that I write, which are usually dark or brooding. I have a tendency to want to suck all of the joy and fun out of a song, while TSoA inject even their sad songs with such beauty and energy that they're irresistible. Their full length is coming out in 2009, and I can't wait. And, they're totally nice guys to boot.

Plus, they've been my gateway drug to other acts I've fallen in love with this year: Cof Cof, Low Sea, The Bilinda Butchers, Name the Pet, Maskopet, Niklas Tafra, and Club 8, some of whom have albums, some of whom don't yet. All of them should be investigated.

Highlights: "Danger!," "A Very Sad Song," "Danger! - the Ice Cream Shout Version"

Albums you should also look into: These New Puritans' Beat Pyramid, Baby Dee's Safe Inside the Day, That Ghost's Young Fridays, and Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours.

So that's my list. Thanks for reading it. Forgive all of the adverbs, I know they're lazy. I hope I wasn't too longwinded. Now enjoy your day.

An Xmas update + a gift

2008-12-24T22:50:00.001-06:00

I'm about halfway through writing my annual "favorite albums of 2008" list, which I should have up in the next few days for anyone who is interested.

My friend gave me a book of philosophical writings by Simone de Beauvoir, which I have been reading, and in looking into it further, I'm excited to see that it's a part of "The Beauvoir Series" produced by the University of Illinois Press. The Series will be seven volumes (three are currently available) of newly translated works. What I've read so far has continued to lend credence to the current theory that, rather than Beauvoir deriving her ideas from Sartre, she was as much an influence on his philosophy as he was on hers (if not more). Whereas, for instance, it has long been held that her novel She Came to Stay (L'Invitée) was heavily inspired by Sartre's Being and Nothingness, new information has come to light demonstrating that he had read the second draft of her novel before he had really begun writing Being and Nothingness. Needless to say, I am extremely excited about this newly translated material (especially since I get to read "Pyrrhus and Cineas," which has finally been translated into English). Thank you Margaret A. Simons!!

Finally, I performed a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" at the Harper's Smallwoods Christmas show at Urban Standard on the 13th, which I recorded on Monday and thought I would share with you. If you'd like to download it, you can do so here: All I Want for Xmas. Fair warning: it might be kind of creepy.

Back and forth

2008-12-03T19:35:00.001-06:00

I realize it's been more than three months since I've written anything, and the last entry, thankfully, is no longer topical (for the time being at least). I've been a busy boy with a lot to write about and no time to write it. There have been loads of new developments, but as I sit here, I'm overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. So, I will, primarily out of laziness, resort to producing a brief list of important* events:

1. I went to New York. In New York, I saw old friends, explored, and shopped. I saw Antony and the Johnsons perform at the Apollo. It was an adventure, and I have loads of stories, which perhaps I'll tell via this forum at some point.

2. The night that Obama won the presidential race, I was at Bottletree with most of my friends and a lot of strangers. When his victory was announced, the two hundred or so of us there cheered so loudly that we made the front page of the paper the next day. Merrilee grabbed the cardboard cutout of Obama that someone had brought there and started a celebratory conga line that took us around the block. There were tears of joy, and I imagine we all had headaches the next morning. Victory headaches.

3. Andy's Tea Party played a couple of shows. They went well. I love performing. I love my bandmates. I wrote more songs.

4. I read several books. My favorites from the last three months: The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai and Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir. I began reading Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai after Nico Muhly's effusive recommendation on his blog, and though I have not yet completed it, I am already in awe. It has nothing to do with the film. I also read Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I'm embarrassed to say I had not yet done. I bought it for two dollars from a bookstand that was set up on the street in Brooklyn. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As an aside, this leads me to recall a choice quote from my stay in New York: "You know Seth, as the only known** gay living relative of Truman Capote, you sure have a lot to live up to." I guess I better start throwing some parties. [Mom, Dad, grandparents: should you stumble upon this entry, I don't drink enough and am far too vocal an advocate of kindness to ever complete the task of living up to his example. Worry not.]

5. I discovered Google Reader and increased my personal productivity. I'm not sure how this occurred.

6. I started and then quit writing a book about crazy Chicago facts. (This was a case of agreeing to a project before realizing that it would be impossible to complete in the amount of time I had available for it, especially as new circumstances presented themselves shortly after my agreement. Cryptic? Perhaps, but I might have some positive news soon--I hope. I guess I'm not ready to jump back into the freelance world quite yet.)

7. I had an excellent Thanksgiving with my family, and I got quite good at Rock Band after playing it with my nephew for two days straight.

There's a lot more to write about, but I want something to eat, so that's that. My next entry could pop up tomorrow, or it could pop up in June.

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*The word 'important' is used in jest here. I'm not deluded enough to think that any of this matters to most others out there.

**I'm sure there are more living gay relatives of Mr. Capote, but my friend doesn't know of any. Nor do I. Anyone able to help with that?

Sarah Palin scares the shit out of me; however:

2008-09-01T23:01:00.001-05:00

her daughter's pregnancy has nothing to do with it.

I'll admit that I made a few uninformed and thoughtless comments about this situation initially, but the more I've thought about it, the worse I've felt about having said anything.

Bristol Palin's pregnancy doesn't necessarily say anything about Sarah Palin's parenting. Kids do things they shouldn't, and they make mistakes despite their parents' guidance all the time. And sometimes those 'mistakes' are devastating, sometimes they have little impact, and sometimes, in retrospect, they end up being the best thing that could have ever happened.

I know nothing about Sarah Palin as a mother, and I don't really see how that has anything to do with her as a politician. A person's successes or failures in one of their roles in life doesn't necessarily say anything about their potential successes and failures in another. Sarah Palin may be a wonderful mother. She may not be. She appears to really love her children, and she and her husband appear to be supporting their daughter as she deals with the difficult situation with which she has been confronted.

There are, however, a lot of things about Sarah Palin that make me extremely uncomfortable (including but not limited to her belief that human beings have not impacted global warming, her opposition to listing the polar bear as an endangered species, her ties to the oil industry, her stance on drilling in ANWR, her apparent opposition to pay equity legislation, her support for overturning Roe v. Wade, her support of abstinence-only sex education, her stance on marriage equality, the investigations into her alleged abuse of power in the firing of three people while mayor of Wassila and governor of Alaska, her apparent ignorance of foreign policy, and her potential proximity to the role of President of the United States should the unfortunate event that the McCain/Palin ticket is victorious in November occur.)

I know my thoughts on this issue don't really matter, but since I'd made a few cracks earlier today, I felt like I needed to apologize for having said those things and explain a bit of my thought process in coming to my current frame of mind.

Thwip.

2008-06-03T21:06:00.007-05:00

I spent this past weekend in Atlanta with my roommate Jenny and our good friends Sara and Daniel. We had a great time goofing off and wandering around. We hadn't had a chance to all get together for an extended period of time in ages, so I really valued the trip. We had delicious beer that's unavailable in Alabama (Free the Hops!), ate at Vortex, made epic trips to Ikea and Zara, and played Rock Band and Mario Kart with our friend Matt.

While there, I also added to my record collection with the purchase of Nico's Marble Index, Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual, Patti Smith's Horses, Laurie Anderson's Strange Angels, and Björk's Volta, which came encased in an elaborate package: an outer shell wrapped around what is essentially an LP Russian doll, with five heavy-duty inner sleeves featuring photographs of Björk in a crocheted costume, which was constructed by the Icelandic Love Corporation. The record is impressive both sonically and aesthetically.

I think that's why I prefer vinyl and have for awhile. More and more over the past few years I've increased my record purchases and decreased my cd purchases to the point that I haven't bought a new cd in several months with the exception of The Sound of Arrows' "Danger" EP, which I ordered from Labrador in Sweden as it's not yet available in the States. I have to support those guys because I love their music, and they're incredibly nice to boot. I've written about them before, but check them out at their Myspace and order the EP from Labrador. It cost me about $9 including shipping, and it arrived from Sweden in three days.

That's enough rambling. I'm going to listen to some records.

Changing

2008-05-25T13:03:00.006-05:00

I am currently reading Liv Ullmann's first autobiography, Changing, which I found for a quarter at Greencup Books on Richard Arrington. It is beautifully written, and while reading today, I was struck by a passage that I feel compelled to share though it may lose it's impact when divorced from context.

"People whose lives have touched need to renew contact, even when they have gone in different directions. Even when their new lives are a part of what they now share.
No one owns anyone. Together, we have each other and nature and time.
It is as simple as that."

Letter to the Editor

2008-04-25T12:17:00.004-05:00

The Birmingham News printed my letter about Larry Langford's most recent publicity stunt. If you are unfamiliar with the day of prayer, burlap sack fiasco, I direct you to this article from The Birmingham Weekly: "Leapin' Larry's Prayer Proclamation".

My letter is in today's paper and online here.

I also encourage everyone to write Mr. Langford to complain. You can reach him at larry.langford@birminghamal.gov.

Accident & Emergency

2008-04-21T21:02:00.008-05:00

I'm not sure if I've written about this here yet, but I've been taking a class this term for fun. As a staff member, I'm able to take one class a semester for free. So I decided to take Postmodernism in Philosophy, and we've been studying Habermas, Lyotard, and Rorty. It's been a fascinating class, and I've thoroughly enjoyed diving deeper into some of the philosophers that I only briefly studied in college, but I'm a bit nervous because I have a paper proposal due on Wednesday for the first paper I've written in almost three years. The process is a bit daunting to say the least. I have a general idea of what I'm wanting to write the paper on, postmodern aesthetics (more or less), but I'm having a hard time writing my proposal. I think I just need to find my way back into that process. The problem is that I've already fallen into the habits of college in which I start some sort of large scale reorganization/restructuring/cleaning as a procrastination attempt. I've already reorganized my bookshelves and DVDs (according to subject and author for the books and genre and quality for the DVDs). It's pathetic.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been thoroughly enjoying the new Goldfrapp album, Seventh Tree which I was a bit disappointed with at first. It's a lot more subdued than the previous albums, but it's grown on me the more I've listened to it. It didn't hurt that it fit the somewhat morose/resigned mood I found myself in most of last week. My favorite tracks at the moment are 'Eat Yourself' and the first single 'A&E.' I've included the video for the latter below.

Something I found interesting: 'A&E' stands for accident and emergency. Patrick Wolf had a song on his last album, The Magic Position, entitled "Accident & Emergency," which I also am quite fond of. Here's the video for it:

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the "Accident & Emergency" department is the British name for the Emergency room. Good to know.

I kind of suck at this.

2008-04-20T22:04:00.008-05:00

Blogging, I mean. I'm glad that I wrote that post about the topical posts that I'm 'writing' on April Fool's Day because they may never happen. I haven't spent another second on either post. The atheism post will happen eventually in some form, but I'm going to reduce my post on Tiny Toons to the following statement: I think a large subset of our generation's sense of humor is derived from Tiny Toons and Animaniacs. I will offer no evidence to support this statement at this time, but if you watched those shows with the same fervor I did, I have a feeling you'd agree.

I've been kind of up and down lately. I had a date recently, which I think went really well, but having been on a date at all brought up all of these issues and concerns with which I haven't had to deal lately because I haven't been dating. It's so rare that I find someone that I'm actually legitimately interested in that I think I may get too excited. I also find the whole practice of dating somewhat foreign since I don't find myself doing it often. I'm of the mind that if you like someone, you're up front and say so and move on from there. This hasn't always worked well for me in the past as I think that sometimes people aren't used to that sort of directness. Of course, other times, I behave in the exact opposite manner, and I don't tell someone that I'm interested and then they end up dating someone else. I find this whole process incredibly interesting, and I see how people behave in this arena, and I'm confused, and then I see how I behave in this arena, and I'm even more confused, but it's an ever-evolving process that I just have to dive into and figure out as I go. A good friend who is older recently told me that you feel the same way when you're forty-five and navigating these waters as you do when you're twenty-four, so she said not to worry and just go for it. The not worrying thing I will probably have a problem with as I can get pretty anxious about things sometimes, but I'm certainly willing to try it out. I like this guy, but we've only been on one date. I hope to go on more. If it works out, that's wonderful. If not, then at least we had one kick-ass date, from which, like all life experiences, I can learn.

So as I was saying before I went off on a tangent, I've been kind of up and down recently. Part of this is because I'm nervous about my decision to explore the dating world again, but the biggest catalyst for my vacillating disposition is that I sent in my deferral form to the New School on the fifteenth, which finalized my decision to stay here another year. When I sent them the fax with my credit card information to pay the deferral deposit, my heart sank a bit, because even though I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in Birmingham, and I love my friends deeply, I'm still feeling a little stuck. I'm hoping some projects I'm about to start working on will help me feel differently, but I am feeling it now nonetheless. I keep asking myself, "Is it becoming stagnant, or is it just a brief pause?" 'It' has several referents.

In other news, I'm still fumbling my way through my attempts at learning Reason, which I'm hoping will help me in my songwriting and recording. I'm going to have to get through this learning curve first though.

Also, Friday night was the third Kids Got the Disco, and it was tons of fun. We had right around 200 people come again, and everyone was dancing and looked like they were having a great time. This event is becoming a highlight of my month, so if you haven't been, I highly recommend that you come to the next one on May 16th.

A pre-bed 'this and that'

2008-04-01T21:58:00.004-06:00

I'm working on what's turning into an essay on a theory that I have that an increasingly dominant subset of my generation's sense of humor is at least in part derived from the influence of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs (and to a lesser extent Freakazoid). Whether anyone ends up agreeing with it or not, I'm having fun writing it. I hope to have it posted at some point this week. I've also written a bit of the second part of my (hypothetical at this point) series on atheism, which of course is as irregular as anything I try to do on this blog has been (and, lets be honest, probably will be).

Life's going well at the moment. I was accepted to The New School for Social Research, though I am going to have to defer a year, as I am financially incapable of moving to New York at the moment. I'm hoping to save this coming year, reapply for financial aid next spring (and hopefully get more than I did this time around), and then go in Fall '09. I'm also planning on applying to a few other places in the interim, which is what I intended from the onset of this process. The New School's due date was significantly later than the due dates of the other schools to which I'm applying, and I wasn't ready to apply anywhere when the other applications were due. I'm certainly ready now, though I think I'll take the GRE again and actually allow myself time to properly study this time.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Other entries to come, but the editor in me won't let go of these topical entries, so I just keep hitting 'save now' and rewriting, never clicking 'publish post.'

And now I'm escaping as I'm teetering over the edge of making this a metablog (if it isn't already), and god knows we don't need one of those.

Maybe you're in danger, and you don't even know it.

2008-03-19T21:30:00.004-06:00

I can't get enough of this song at the moment (and once again, if you're on facebook, you have to go to the original blogger entry to listen to the song):

It's Danger! by The Sound of Arrows. They are a new Swedish duo who have just signed to Labrador Records, and I think we'll be hearing a lot about them in the future.

One of their members is Stefan Storm who has some excellent solo songs up on his Myspace that you should check out as well.

While we're on the subject of Swedish musicians, you should also watch this video of Lykke Li's song "Little Bit."

And that's all I've got for you for now.

A music post: Vampire Weekend and A Killer Ass

2008-03-10T22:32:00.001-06:00

So I just returned from seeing Vampire Weekend at the Bottletree. They played with the Walkmen, who I didn't stay for, not because I don't like them, but because this is the first ten minutes I've spent at home since 7:56 this morning.

Anyway, Vampire Weekend: They're good. I like the record a lot, but I was even more impressed with their live show. It's fun music that they obviously enjoy playing, grinning throughout, and they perform their songs with such ease that it comes off as effortless. Vampire Weekend is the musical equivalent of that person everyone knows and everyone likes because he or she is witty and easy to be around. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I didn't enjoy having someone's mystery beverage spilled on my shoes. The woman behind me decided to sneak a Solo cup filled with something clear (thankfully) into the show in her purse, danced, and then emptied its contents on me. I guess that's one of the hazards of live music.

Before you continue reading, here are two of my favorites from the Vampire Weekend record. (And if you are reading this on Facebook, you'll need to go to the original post on blogger in order to see the embedded songs.)

This first song, "Campus," according to the liner notes, was written by the keyboard player, Rostam Batmanglij, who I learned from Pitchfork is a Kate Bush fan, which always wins points in my book. Also,(and this is shallow, and I apologize) I want to nominate him for the cutest man in indie rock award, whoever it is that gives that out. Stereogum maybe.

This song, which you have probably heard, is another good one. "A-Punk." It has a Mellotron on the chorus, which I'm always a sucker for.

Finally, in personal music news, I have turned my room into a mini-DIY studio with my new M-Audio MIDI controller and equipment that I've borrowed from my roommate, Jenny, so I've been composing more on the computer, which is new for me. I'm hoping it will, along with the new instruments I've purchased in the past few months (an autoharp and an out-of-tune accordion), help me expand my songwriting abilities. As it is, I spent the majority of this weekend recording a new song in lieu of doing my taxes or reading the Lyotard I was supposed to. Anyway this song is the result. It's called "A Killer Ass Can Only Take You So Far." It's pretty self-explanatory. I think I need to work on the vocals some more, but this will do for now. Let me know what you think.

I would post the lyrics, but this post is already way too long, and I will be surprised if you made it this far.

Restless and Rambling

2008-03-03T21:32:00.004-06:00

I want to go on an adventure. I miss traveling. I miss being able to just hop on a night train and be somewhere new and exciting the next day. I do love Birmingham however. The time I spent abroad actually helped me appreciate my home that much more because I saw the things about it that I loved and took for granted, but I also saw the pride that my colleagues and friends took in their home, and I saw that they were just as interested in Birmingham as I was in Székesféhervár. As I discovered the things they loved about their homes, the villages they grew up in, Hungary as a whole, I shared the same things about my home: Alabama, Birmingham, the United States. Some of my foreign friends legitimately want to come visit Birmingham, and I would hope that if ever they did, I would be able to show them about my home what they showed me about theirs. Even other American friends, who live in other parts of the country, I hope will visit, so I can show them that there is something worthwhile about a city in Alabama, contrary to what a lot of people seem to think.

But back to the adventure. Despite my love for this city, I'm ready for something new. While I know I only have another year or so here, as graduate school is at the forefront of my mind, and I refuse to enter any later than Fall '09, I need something to break up the monotony. I'm a little bored sometimes, and I think a trip would satisfy that a bit. The problem is paying for said trip, especially when I think I'm going to be owing some taxes this year. I think I may try to visit Belinda and Hasi in New York late spring/early summer, but I'm also planning something bigger: Iceland Airwaves.

New songs from All That Fuss and Andy's Tea Party

2008-02-27T17:41:00.003-06:00

Most of the people who read my blog probably know that I'm in two bands: All That Fuss and Andy's Tea Party. Both bands have recently recorded songs, which I'm excited to share.

First, here is "20/20 Hindsight," All That Fuss' first single. It features Belinda Martin on lead vocals, Heather Consuegra on keys, Dani DeLuna on programming and production, and me on guitar and background vocals.

If you like it, you can download a free, high-quality mp3 here. If you are on a PC, it might ask you to update your Windows Media Player, but you can ignore that. Just click "download this file."

This song is "Satan on his Knees," which I wrote a few years ago but just recently recorded. I sang and played guitar and melodica on it, and Dani DeLuna programmed and produced. You can also download it at the ATP Myspace, which I linked to above.

Have a listen, and let me know what you think. A more substantive post is coming soon.

Also, the second monthly Kids Got the Disco dance party at Bottletree has a date! It will be Friday, March 21, and will again feature Nastique, Charles III, and the All That Fuss dance squad.

Thank God for Disinfectants!

2008-02-17T22:05:00.005-06:00

So far I have somewhat successfully eluded the various diseases that are floating around the Birmingham metro area. It seems everyone I know is sick, and I felt pretty shitty for a few days last week, but I think that a large part of that was probably psychosomatic. My dear roommate had a stomach virus, the kind of illness to which I am most susceptible, and I was convinced I was going to also get it. I feel badly, because while she was sick, I fear that I sacrificed compassion for militant disinfection. She says I behaved appropriately, so I hope that's the case. My assistance mostly consisted of occasionally shouting "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" as I sprayed Lysol down the hall or walked through the house, Clorox wipe in hand, while she lay in bed miserable. My clinging to cleaning supplies in times of sickness I inherited from my Mom, but it's most severe when the disease in question is stomach related. While my constitution is relatively strong, and I rarely suffer from a cold or the flu, whenever someone within 3 miles of me gets gastroenteritis, I inevitably end up pacing from the toilet to the bed for 24 hours or so. Somehow, this time, I've escaped, though just as soon as I post this, I'm sure I'll end up waking up ill in the middle of the night.

On a side note, I find it interesting how, even though I'm an atheist (and I'm quite sure I'm not the only atheist who does this), I still find myself saying "I swear to God" or "Thank the lord" or alluding to some kind of fate or superstition driven event as I did above. I guess all of those phrases are so deeply embedded into my bank of expressions, that I can't seem to escape them. I think I'm going to try tomorrow without saying anything of that sort. I'll let you know what happens. If I remember.

Finally, the inaugural Kids Got the Disco dance party last night at Bottletree was a success. Thanks to everyone who came. Nastique and Charles the III were killer as always, and the All That Fuss Dance Squad (Heather, Becca, Greg, and me) had a spectacular time dancing for and with you. I can't wait for the March installment. Hot shit.

This Saturday: Dance Party at Bottletree!!

2008-02-13T19:15:00.002-06:00

The inaugural Kids Got the Disco, a new monthly dance party at Bottletree, presented by Rock Paper Rock and hosted by Nastique, DJ Charles III, and the All That Fuss dancers (of which I'm one)!

On Atheism, Part One:

2008-02-07T17:26:00.000-06:00

One of the reasons I decided to be open about my atheism was further supported recently when, in a mostly pleasant conversation, I was told that I couldn’t possibly really be an atheist because I’m too nice. What seems to be a relatively common perception of what sorts of people are atheists is a distorted and false. I don’t take my atheism as carte blanche to do and say whatever I like all others be damned--neither do any of my atheistic friends. I consider myself a moral and ethical person who tries to live my life with care and concern for other people, which has nothing to do with my religious beliefs or lack thereof.

It is because of these misconceptions, that I felt I needed to ‘come out’ as an atheist just as I came out as gay. I have no grand intention or scheme to convert my Christian friends, nor do I hate all Christians. In fact, I have deep respect for a great deal of Christian friends, though it's not because of their Christianity, it's because of who they are as people. It’s just not something I can subscribe too. This has been a long process; one that started when I was ten and a Jehovah’s Witness, and I was told by an ‘elder’ that my best friend Andrea wouldn’t be in Paradise because she wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness. The ‘elder’ went on to tell me that she would be one of the bodies we climb as we ascend up to heaven to watch as God destroys the Earth if I don't 'save'her. I realize that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are an extra-kooky branch of Christianity--this is only where the thought process began. But this is another story for another time. I intend this entry to be the first part in a series discussing atheism. I'm not happy with the current title, but I can't be fussed to come up with anything better at the moment. Any suggestions?

For now, I need to get back to doing my taxes, so I can fill out my FAFSA. I certainly won’t be going to graduate school next year if I can’t get any funding.

Oh, and the Fiery Furnaces are playing tonight at the Bottletree. I’ll be there, and I hope you will too.

This Weekend in Birmingham

2008-02-01T13:07:00.001-06:00

Friday night, if you're into classical music, the Alabama Symphony has a "Beethoven's Fifths" program in which conductor Justin Brown will play Beethoven's Piano Concert No. 5 ("Emperor") and then conduct Symphony No. 5.

Saturday, Birmingham Art Music Alliance is putting on "Cinema Electronica" at Bottletree at 2:30 PM. I don't know much about it other than the fact that it will mix video, experimental music, poetry, and dance, but BAMA concerts are always interesting, so if you have some free time, I recommend checking it out. Plus, it's free. And Bottletree has started serving brunch, which I've yet to try, but I've heard it's delicious.

Saturday night, also at the Bottletree, is a hip-hop show featuring Sole and the Skyrider Band and Telephone Jim Jesus, neither of whom I'm familiar with, but people seem excited, and Bottletree tends to put on really good hip-hop shows.

Finally, Sunday night, Nina Nastasia is performing at Jonathan Benton Booksellers in Mountain Brook Village. Some members of the Birmingham Art Collective will have art on display. This one is highly recommended.

Sorry I haven't had an opportunity to write anything this week. I have a tendency to overbook myself, which I'm planning to work on. Last night was the only night I've had any substantial time at home, but most of it was taken up by autoharp repairs. Gluing felt back onto plastic bars takes a lot more time than one would think.

"You get me hotter than a stick of hot glue

2008-01-25T20:53:00.000-06:00

And I'm scrapbooking everything we do."

We are playing with Leslie and the Ly's on February 25th at the Bottletree, and I couldn't be more excited.

Enjoy:

I haven't had a chance to finish the more substantive entry I referenced yesterday, so check back for that this weekend.

My Other Blog is a Bicycle.

2008-01-24T17:15:00.000-06:00

On my drive home today, I was passed by an old Toyota Celica with a bumper sticker that read, "I had lung cancer and I still smoke!" They obviously care a great deal about their health. I had no idea that there was a movement strong enough for a bumper sticker like that to be produced. Or maybe they special-ordered it. Either way, I'm baffled. Perhaps it's a cry for help?

I can't say I'm generally a big fan of bumper stickers. This is primarily due to the same reason I'm not a fan of t-shirts that say "I'm a princess! Deal with it!!," "Republicans have more money," or one I saw on someone the other day that said "My other shirt is updating its blog." That said, I do have two bumper stickers on my car, both small squares. One is a Bright Blue Dot sticker and the other is for Equality Alabama. I was recently asked what they meant, and I replied, "This one means I'm a dirty liberal, and this one means I'm a faggot." I was in a bit of a bad mood, the reason for which I won't explain here. Luckily the person I was talking to is like-minded. I really need to work on my filter.

The primary reason for my resurgent blogging (sorry Adam, it's not you) is my need to flex my writing muscle a bit, as I'm afraid it's begun to atrophy. I once wrote regularly, whether for the Hilltop News, class, or just for myself, but I've been out of academia for enough time, that I need to work my way back into it. I write profiles for work sometimes, but it's dry, and I can't really count it. This all became glaringly obvious to me when I had a harder time composing my statement of purpose than I anticipated.

I'm working on an epic post in response to some questions I've been asked recently about my atheism, but it's taking me awhile, so check back for it perhaps later tonight, perhaps sometime tomorrow.

On grad school, blogging, online crushes, and books

2008-01-22T20:32:00.000-06:00

I've finished and submitted my application for the New School for Social Research. All that's left is the FAFSA once I get my W2s in from my old employers. Once that's submitted all I have to do is wait. I'm applying to the Liberal Studies program, which does not include a class on Wigs and Modernist Discourse or anything like that I promise. It's essentially a cultural studies program, and I will have the option, should I be accepted, of working with the anthropology faculty to tailor my Master's program to better equip me for a Ph.D. in anthropology, which is what I've decided I want to do. I was going to apply to UC Davis, going so far as to get recommendations and work on the application, until, after hearing back from current students, I decided that I was not ready for a seven-year, self-directed doctoral program. I think the Davis program would be great, but I think I need to build up more of a theoretical foundation before I apply. So, rather than applying directly to doctoral programs as was my original plan (a symptom of the 'I want to get on with my life' crisis I had back in October), I'm sticking to Master's programs, which will help me transition into a doctoral program in Cultural Anthropology. I want to go to the New School, it's my top-choice, but sometimes I feel pressure to apply to somewhere more 'prestigious,' which I'll probably do next year if I don't get in and get a good financial package to NSSR. Numerically/academically, I'm competitive for Duke or Columbia, but I decided against applying this year because I was concerned that I didn't research the programs enough and that I was applying based on the name only and not necessarily because I wanted to work with the professors there. I very well may want to, but because I hadn't done enough research, I didn't want to apply this time around. Also, I'm concerned that my desire to go to a big name school might be rooted in a desire to be important, and I'm not sure that that's healthy. I'm working on it. God, I probably sound pompous, so I should really stop this train of thought.

So one of the several impetuses to my renewed desire to blog has been my new online friend/crush who I've been talking to (read: annoying the shit out of) recently and whose blog I read in its entirety one cold weekend morning over coffee, essentially like a novel, and thoroughly enjoyed. It was strange reading three years of someone's life in one morning, almost sensory overload, but, like a good novel, a lot of what he wrote challenged me and my ideas and complimented thought processes/beliefs/opinions that I've held over the past couple of years. Anyway, he's a quite good and honest writer, and I've linked to his blog in my recommended reading section to the right. He may see this and be even more creeped out than he probably already is, but read his blog, and you'll probably form a cyber-crush on him and then blog about it too. It's in the G's.

I've been reading a lot in general, and barely watching any television, of which I'm glad. In the past month or so, I've read Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow, Bret Easton Ellis' Rules of Attraction, Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, Laurie Moore's Birds of America, and parts of The Portable Atheist. I can highly recommend each of the books in that list except for Rules of Attraction, which was okay, but don't rush out and get it immediately. I read it in a day and a half, and while it was engaging, it was tedious, and the characters were completely unsympathetic. I understand that was the point, the criticism of eighties' excess that it is, but it was frustrating, and I can't say that I liked it. I also can't say I hated it, but if the best it can wrest from me is ambivalence, then I probably could have spent that time with another book.

I'm currently reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and more of The Portable Atheist.

I have a lot more that I could update you (my two or so readers) with, but I'll save that for later. Maybe I'll continue blogging. I'll be more of an exhibitionist and not just a voyeur.

The view from my window

2008-01-19T10:48:00.001-06:00

I often regret having not begged my mother to buy an "I survived the Blizzard of '93" t-shirt from outside of Wal-Mart the year Alabama saw 3' of snow. Today is not going to inspire any apparel, but it's nice to look out the window and see a bit of snow accumulating on my porch. When in Hungary, it didn't take long to grow sick of it, especially since it quickly greyed. But it's been awhile, so I'm feeling that excitement again that we Southerners feel when we see even a dusting of snow.

A new fundraising opportunity

2008-01-14T16:35:00.000-06:00

You know how when a coworker gets pregnant, everyone in the office bets on what day the baby will be born? Well I think the citizens of Birmingham should get together and start a similar pool, only we'd be betting on what date Larry Langford is indicted. We'll give the money to the schools. I've got April 23rd.

We have an asshat for a mayor.

2007-12-17T17:45:00.000-06:00

Here's what Larry Langford had to say when explaining his reasons for wanting to demolish Legion Field (from today's Birmingham News):

As for Legion Field, Langford said people don't even know what a Legion is.

"It has historical significance? What is a Legion?" Langford asked.

He then cited a Bible verse, in Mark, where a man possessed by demons called himself Legion.

"My name is Legion: for we are many," the man says before Jesus exorcises him of evil spirits.

This is about as ridiculous as the time I saw Mr. T deliver a sermon on TBN in which he said that we're a nation full of devil worshippers because we yell "Go Devils!" at Duke basketball games, or the time that Kirk Cameron said that evolution can't be real because the ridges on bananas so perfectly fit the indentations created by our fingers that it's obvious that God created bananas to fit our hands.

Seriously.

My source: Some say Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford distorting city history to achieve goals

I liked music in 2007.

2007-12-16T14:15:00.000-06:00

Every year, a few friends and I share lists of our favorite albums. I inevitably end up posting my list on whatever blog I'm writing in at the time. Here you go. I may add more explanation later, but maybe not, so don't get too excited.

My top 13:
1. PJ Harvey - White Chalk
2. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
3. St. Vincent - Marry Me
4. M.I.A. - Kala
5. Feist - The Reminder
6. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
7. Björk - Volta
8. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
9. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
10. Justice - †
11. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
12. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?
13. Grizzly Bear - Friend EP

Others that I enjoyed: Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch, Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water, Carol Bui - Everyone Wore White, HEALTH - HEALTH, White Williams - Smoke, José González - In Our Nature, Los Campesinos! - Sticking Fingers Into Sockets, The New Pornographers - Challengers

I haven't really listened to Radiohead, Menomena, The National, or Animal Collective enough, but I like all of them based on early impressions, and they would probably find their way up into the main list later (though at the expense of what, I don't know. I would probably have to make it a top 17 at some point).

I was really disappointed by Tori Amos' American Doll Posse, going so far as to delete it off of my iTunes. I was also caught off guard by Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight, which I liked, but for reasons very different from the ones I have for loving their past releases. It was a great pop record, but the lyrics lacked the depth and nuance of Jenny Lewis' other work.