Voice of Reason.

I'm not a fan of Facebook. I'm not anti-Facebook or whatever. I'm not that guy. But the same reasons that I could see it being really beneficial for someone else are the things that make me kind of... hate it. I do occasionally wipe the technological dust from my log-in page there to post links and random pictures, but usually just because I'm procrastinating.

I'm in the middle of writing a dissertation to Nick about why I love The Format, whom he introduced me to nearly three years ago.
(I'm supposed to be writing an album review on Bitte Orca, which I will do. But I like to write long emails to friends about bands and albums that I love. As a warm-up.)

I met Nate Ruess about three weeks ago. I was at his band's show with Manchester Orchestra here in Portland (which I requested tickets for primarily so I could see fun. play). The meeting was brief but giddiness immediately washed over me.
He is probably currently my favorite lyricist.
And he has a great voice:



Anyway. I'm digressing all over the place.
Facebook.
The Format.
Nate Ruess.
Focus.

I'm listening to Nate's former band, The Format, today because it's what I've been doing all week. His lyrics are a security blanket sometimes. And this week has been scripted for a soundtrack written by Nate Ruess.
Because I'm not interested in getting too intimate with my Blogger account, I'll just take it all out on my distaste for Facebook in the form of a lyric by The Format:

Old classmates please drop all your pens
don't write a word 'cause I wont reply,
and I'm not bitter,
no, its just I've passed that point in my life

Exactly.
Exactly.
Exactly.

I can't say it better, as is usually the case when it comes to his lyrics.
That is exactly where I am.

I just wrote out two long paragraphs explaining why I feel that way, but it really does just come down to: I'm not bitter, it's just I've passed that point in my life.

Dude's a lyrical genius.

Here and Gone

It's been taking me a lot to get motivated lately.
Usually it's just a lyric. Or a picture. Or a movie. Or an idea. Or a color. If you want to think I'm pretentious, that's OK. If you want to think I'm creative, thank you. I chalk it up to being very easily influenced by random shit.

I just now saw a picture of a chick from the '50s with super-elegant liquid eyeliner and pinstriped pants. I thought, "I should wear super-elegant liquid eyeliner and pinstriped pants."
Sometimes these urges fade.
Sometimes they stick around.

It seems that lately they sparkle and fade within the same millisecond, and I find myself always waiting for the next creativity train to roll in.

I've spent the past month tapping my foot, checking the clock.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Waiting.

It feels like something is beginning to come back, though. I don't blog here often, but I'm doing it now. That's something, right?

Anyway. Now that I'm here, I thought I'd direct your attention there again.
It'll be more music based.
I have a feeling that I'll spend more time there because music is all I ever seem to want to talk about these days anyway.
... I'm kind of a one-trick pony like that.

Fantastic Friday.

Super creative title, I know. But today counts as super-good (on a general scale of good-ness) and is thus blog-worthy.

I have a photographer for Portland, which is pretty fantastic, because now I have someone who is kind of contractually bound (minus the "contract" part) to me for every concert I attend that requires photographic evidence of my involvement.
Amazing.
I'm really excited because she's such an obvious choice. I didn't just need a Portland photographer, I needed a cool Portland photographer. Because we'd have to hang together during shows and stuff.

I wish I could pay everyone who contributes to AM.
I spend way too much time and effort trying to get to that point with the site. In the meantime, I'm still so super proud of it.

I am going to see Ice Palace (recommended track: "Trampolining") play with Cloud Cult and Say Hi on Sunday.
Ice Palace has really grown on me, so I demanded (politely requested) free tickets.
I also just found out that going to see Cloud Cult is so very indie-blogger-chic. I don't know how to feel about that, but I think I might like it.

Rather than writing news updates (which is a seriously daunting task when there is no news to report), I've spent most of today studying. What, exactly, I mean by that is of no consequence. But I sometimes feel like the website (which I am still refusing to refer to by name, so as to evade Google's radar) is getting bigger than my ability to deal with it.
So I read a lot about how to, like, run a business and shit.

In terms of the music stuff, 17 year old me would think 25 year old me is such a serious badass. In terms of sentences like So I read a lot about how to, like, run a business and shit, she would totally think I suck.

Anyway. Andy thinks we should go for a walk in the park. Literally.
I think we should go for a walk around Powell's. Again.
It's a habit I should probably try to break.
In the meantime, I'll be there tonight if anyone wants to stalk me. (Don't stalk me.)

Doppleganger.

I'm here, too: http://breeawn.tumblr.com/

Follow both? Because I'm a pain in the ass like that.

My Ode To Record Store Day

It's been a long time since I've had my world rocked by an album.
I think the last one was Pinkerton by Weezer. I think that was the last whole album to rock my world. Since then, it's been artists. Songs. Fragments. Which is probably par for the course, due to the state of the industry. iTunes has a way of dismembering albums. We have a way of buying into the system. Artists have a way of letting the system drive the art they create.

I recognize it. I know why things are the way they are. I'm not (really) shaking a fist at the industry because it's always been kind of set up to fail. And the fact that it's currently in shambles has allowed for this current state of affairs. The music industry, as a whole, is in this pretty amazing flux. Artists are building their own (legitimate!) careers and fan bases. Music blogs have become the new A&R guys. Print magazines don't really know what the fuck they're doing anymore (and neither do I. Don't think I am disillusioned enough to think I have this madness all figured out, either).
It's all pretty incredible, especially to see it in a firsthand(ish) sort of way.

Good or bad, the music industry has become a place that isn't all too kind to albums anymore. Rather than telling a whole story, it seems as if the artist is just trying to sell you five singles. The rest of the album is filled with the tracks you skip or just never buy.

Pinkerton is a whole album.
The biggest Weezer argument seems to be the Blue versus Pink album argument. Blue has some really strong singles, but if you want a full album, you're a Pink fan.
I'm a Pink fan. If a band can sell me on one entire album, I'm in. For life. Even if their follow-up efforts are really tragic. (I'll save my dignity by saving you from reading that list--some people would say Weezer is actually at the top of that list. Bastards.)

Because I was late, I didn't hear Pinkerton until 2005. Nine years after its release. (I got Make Believe and Pinkerton the same week.)
So it's been a long four years since I've played an entire album on repeat out of necessity and not because I simply didn't have anything else to listen to that week.



Bitte Orca. Dirty Projectors.
To tell you how I heard about them is embarrassing. Let's just say: it's really beneficial to, uh... pay attention.

The first time I heard "Stillness Is the Move," I thought it was weird, disjointed, thoughtless noise. I thought, "Really? This?!" But for some reason, I kept returning to it. And now every time I listen to it, I love it more.
David Longstreth knows how to make my mind explode. My brain gets knocked sideways every time the drums turn to fireworks in the chorus of "Temecula Sunrise."
"Stillness Is the Move" is no longer thoughtless noise but brilliant and textured.
And please don't even ask me to discuss the genius of "Useful Chamber" or the strange elegance of "No Intention."

Discussing this album is like having a Yale student read one of my articles--which maybe makes sense because Lonstreth is a Yale dropout. The album is bigger than my writing. I'm intimidated by it.

Like with most Weezer music (but to a much more severe extreme), I didn't like this album at all. It was too far from my comfort zone. It didn't make sense. But it kept me curious enough to keep coming back to it. And now I'm finding the intellect in its disjointed melodies and overall strangeness.
I feel like I have to earn it. I have to put an effort into hearing it and I have to find ways to force it to find its place in my mind.

You like the feeling of Saturday. You love the danger in the night.

Though I want everyone to listen to it Bitte Orca and love it in the way that I do, I know they probably won't, so I recommend the album by prefacing my recommendation with, "It's weird, but I love it." And if you listen only to the radio and are happy with that, I should've told you to stop reading before you even began.

This is the first music I've heard since the inception of the website that hasn't played by the rules just to get writers to say nice things about it. In other music, the intentions bleed through the art and the desperation is blatant and pathetic. "I'm exactly what you want me to be! I sound exactly like everything you love. I can change for you." It's really bad. This is the first album I've heard in years that doesn't seem to give a fuck. It was the first time an album has been honest enough to give me an option, either way. So I explored both extremes and the album got its way in the end: I love it.

Bitte Orca will be out June 9th.
Maybe by then I'll be able to discuss it in an intelligent and eloquent way.
(Advance copies are the shit.)

Happy Record Store Day.

Insomnia-ia-ia.

If I'm going to be online, this is the last thing I should be doing. Well, this and say, Bejeweled or some nonsense.
I have a ton of stuff to be writing. And I have to code two sections for the website, one of which broke the website into a million tiny pieces which I just spent the last five hours picking up and gluing back together.

Yeah.
Fuck that.

Just two things, though:

1. I can't quit.
In terms of vices, I don't have an addictive personality. But I can't walk away from a project. I can throw my hands up 12 times in just as many minutes and half-convince myself that I need to walk away, but I will sit at the computer for five very long fucking hours piecing a website back together when I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

Wordpress tutorials, I owe you my firstborn.


2. I made a list of everything that I need to think about, be aware of, and be careful to not forget about during the next month.
The list is two pages long. With notes in the margins. And that was just off the top of my head.

Emails, CDs, moving information, bill information, shit to write about, things to update, people to contact, travel plans, interview questions, names, dates...

It's a good sign. If I had to be this busy doing someone else's work and sitting in a cubicle all day, I'd crack down the middle.
But for some reason, the list made me kinda sad. Then that made me feel guilty.


I need to go to bed. While I'm crawling around in my head like a meth fiend, normal people are sleeping.
I should look into it.

I'm Like One of Those Ridiculous Parents Who Has Nothing Better To Talk About.

Bose headphones should not break.
I own these. After I tell you that, my argument gains and loses momentum with each statement, but try to empathize:

Those are some expensive headphones.
I did not pay $350 for them, though. They were a gift. A used gift. A gift that not cost the giver $350, thank god. I hope no one ever wastes $350 on headphones-- especially not headphones for me. But if someone does choose to waste that kind of money on a pair of headphones, I feel as if the headphones should be able to withstand some pretty serious damage. No parts should need to replaced. Not ever.
Because those are some expensive headphones.

That said, when I got them, there were some signs of previous ownership. They were definitely of the "new... to me" category. But they were amazing headphones. Music has never been so beautiful and clear. It's how recorded music is meant to be heard. I mean that.
Months later, one of the cords shorted out. Gave up on life.
Bullshit.
My "new... to me" $350 headphones (that weren't really $350) stopped working.
The replacement cord was really some phone attachment shit and would cost me $40.
No no no.

A few months later, bose.com decided to offer the cord I needed for just $15.
Fine.
I bought it and received my replacement. My headphones work again!
I'm happy once more, even if only begrudgingly.
I love Bose, even if I really hate them.

Being poor and yet still having nice things aside, I am making the official move to Portland in the coming weeks. I am moving my whole life to pursue my music journalism website. It's gotten too big to just fly here and there to do my interviews. That shit gets expensive once you have to do it more than once every few months.

People have asked about when I get paid because of what I do.
Honestly? I have no idea. I'd like to sell ad space eventually, but not before I know what I'm doing. Once money begins being exchanged, you have to know a lot more laws about copyrights, and paying taxes, and being a business owner.
Um, I signed up to be a writer, never a marketing major, or a financial adviser, or The Man. My knowledge of tax information begins and ends at the 1040EZ. When I make friends with someone in a three-piece suit or learn some vital information regarding how to avoid prison, I will deal with moneymaking.

So since I can't measure the website's legitimacy on its income, I will measure it in its awesomeness:



We beat out MySpace, AltPress.com, Vimeo, and Weezer.com for the opportunity to premiere some new Rivers stuff on the website.
That's intense. I've seen Weezer live more times than any other musician or band in existence.
Second place has never felt like a bigger win.