December 18, 2005

Robots!

There is a really cool display of robots made from all sorts of miscellaneous objects at the City Foundry on Atlantic Avenue. Cooler than cool. Robots made from fire alarm pull boxes, parking meters, scales, safety lights, car ornaments... all sorts of flosam and jetsum from everyday life lovingly reborn in compelling robot form. Check it out. If you love robots or even if you just like junk. Release your inner Fred Sanford.

December 13, 2005

Pigeons

Pigeons have roosted outside of my window. Well, all of my windows really; and I suppose I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't so damn loud. The incessant cooing. For god sake. And the sound increases exponentially as more pigeons gather together on the sill - gradually building into a cooing crescendo until I am frozen in Hitchcockian horror at the unimaginable din just outside my window.

My greatest fear is that I will push the shade aside and see the entire window pane filled with pigeons staring back at me. Accusing. Demanding entry. Or perhaps just one giant pigeon with fire red eyes fogging up the window glass with his hot bird breath.

For now I devote a few minutes each morning to tap on the window and send them scattering across to the other side of the street where they will become someone elses problem for a little while. But I know they'll come back after I leave. I am sure they are very familiar with my schedule by now. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a pigeon stationed above the subway entrance to give the high sign when I descend in the morning on the way into Manhattan. At that point they know that have a couple of hours of relief before I come back and start tapping on the window again.

December 04, 2005

Satanicide!

Kalika and I went to see Satanicide last night at the Mercury Lounge. The show did not start until after midnight, went on long after 1 AM and was a bit heavy on stage banter. Not that I mind the occasional stage banter, but there were several times when you couldn't seem to help but ask the question, "What are they waiting for?". And when they went word for word into a bit that is posted for download on their site, it quickly became a little annoying. Nevertheless, when they played it was great, and delivered in a thunderously confident and convincing 80's hair-metal style. The set included "Ride The Snake", "We Rock", "Jer-Z Nites", "Pussy and Ice Cream", "NYC 2 Nite", "20-Sided Die" and "Heather".

At the end of the night, as rumored, long-time Satanicide fan Moby (wearing a Republicans for Voldemort t-shirt) took to the stage to play guitar on two covers, "Whole Lotta Love" and "Rebel Yell". After a long introduction and a generous amount of rock-n-roll posturing, Moby also engaged in a guitar solo battle which he lost to Satanicide guitarist Aleister Cradley. And although it was difficult to determine the criteria for scoring a guitar solo battle, I would imagine that Moby lost significant points for not wearing any spandex.

December 02, 2005

Moosic

Ok. So I have decided to put up a few examples of what I came up with for NaSoAlMo. These are just instrumentals... a couple of them should have words I suppose, but I don't think I am going to do that just yet. I am going to hang onto those few shreds of dignity just a little bit longer. The second song here, Loose Change, was conceived as an instrumental from the start. It's less than a minute long and was intended as a little interlude between songs. The other two are more song like and perhaps I'll get around to reworking them someday because I kind of like them.

There are a few more that I would like to post up here as well, but I think that I may have to cut out the vocal tracks. Not particularly happy with the way they turned out. So anyway, here are the first three...

Afraid of Heights | Loose Change | Cross Your Path

December 01, 2005

GGRD

Hooray, my Gotham Girls 2006 Calendar arrived today and I am quite pleased that my two favorite Derby Girls (Rolletta Lynn and Suzy Hotrod) are featured on the October spread. October is, of course, my birth month, and I consider their appearance on that month's page to be a very auspicious sign. I am naturally anticipating a very good year.

NaSoAlMo FiNiShEd

So it's over and I did 'complete' my album. It's a little over 30 minutes and contains what I consider to be the germ of a few good ideas. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I had a good time doing it. I will stress - although it should be painfully obvious - this album is far from a masterpiece. Very far. Some of the music I think is pretty ok. And that's a glowing review as far as I'm concerned. The vocals are another story entirely - as are the lyrics. I was tempted to make the whole thing instrumental if I upload it... I may still do that. I should take a step back and listen again before I make any such decision.