087 Collections
I just wanted to stay asleep today. Seriously. Any important decisions, shows, thoughts... would have to be put on hold unless they could be executed from the comfort of my own bed... while asleep. But it wasn't meant to be. The annoying alarm goes off and it's purposely not within reaching distance. I have to actually sit up to bonk the snooze button. Once you've done that 4 or 5 times, it's pointless. You're already awake. And you're pissed.
I'm pretty sure it was a Jim Gaffigan bit where you're so mad that the alarm clock is ringing that you try and play mind games with it. RING! RING! RING! And you roll over and say, "I could get used to that. I'll just try and dream I'm in a techno club." Speaking of techno club, here is my cover of that classic Pink Floyd jam "Wish You Were Here." It took awhile, I know, but I had to get the beatz just right. It is number 47.
OK, let's get some other business out of the way. There are TWO City On Film releases coming down the wire in October! Wow. October 11 sees the release of the long awaited split 7" with Minus The Bear. We both contribute remixes by hot local knob twisters. My side contains the remix of a new song, "Pony's Last Trick," featuring some vocals and extra stuff I recorded in a parking garage in Birmingham, England. True. That can be pre-ordered at Polyvinyl Records. I think they are limited, but i'm not sure how limited, and don't quote me on that. All I know is I get my free stash tomorrow in Champaign so there!
The second October celebration is October 25, when Redder Records will be releasing the 6-song "American Diary" EP. You can pre-order it over at their website and download a track while you're at it. The tracklist is: 01 Mary I'm Ready. 02 Pony's Last Trick (original). 03 Astray! Astray! 04 You're Gonna Need That Patience Soon. 05 Well, It Goes Like This. 06 Conclusion... And it just so happens that Minus The Bear is all over this release as well, but that's all i'll say for now....
October starts tomorrow and i'm celebrating it with STYLE! When the clock strikes midnight I may be finishing up my set in Madison. When the clock strikes 9 am, a whole lotta stuff is going on sale in Riverview, MI, including some of my own junk, er, i mean quality merchandise. When the clock strikes 3 pm, I'll be starting a free set at Parasol Records. Immediately afterwards, they are having a 15% off sale everything in the warehouse including Roy Ewing's clothes. And... when the clock strikes 11:59, I'll be starting a set at Mike N Molly's, opening up for my old British tour buddy, Owen, as part of the Pygmalion Music Fest. That's some busy October 1st.
Thankfully, my month slides into a lower gear after that. But I do have to mention that I will be seeing Paul McCartney in Detroit on October 14. Oh yeah. I'm so sure that he won't play "Temporary Secretary," that i have made this pledge to others and now I make it to you. If Paul plays "Temporary Secretary" in its entirety, I will make a serious run for president of the United States in 2008. Please Paul. Keep it off the setlist.
Goshdarnit. So much said already and i haven't even touched upon the true subject of this particular post. Pardon me. Here I go.... I've been rebelling lately. Revolting. Taking a stand. And the enemy is... collections. Throughout my life I dabbled in the usual. Stamps, figures of various actiony kinds, posters, the usual media, records, dvds, cd... And I've even tried the markedly unusual, such as my fascination with Japanese gum brands or Brazillian soap. (Speaking of Brazillian soap, I sold a bag of it at one of my garage sales for a measly $2. Wow. I still own a hammock straight from the fucking streets of Rio de Janiero and if i step on it one more time when i'm trying to get a shirt out of my closet, it is going right up on ebay and hopefully back to Brazil. )
And this brings me to my point. As a full time musician with no true jobby job, every now and then you find yourself hurting for cash around bill collecting time. (If I could get in a time machine, go back to 1994, find the 19 year old Bob, beat the hell out of him and steal his credit cards, I would.) So the desperate eyes land upon the large shelf of records. The endless racks of CD's. Many of them still shrinkwrapped. Shrinkwrapped! As testament to the fact that they sit unplayed and collect dust waiting for the day that they can be viewed and appreciated. "Ooh. An unopened Bleed American CD. You and the other 200,000 people must be millionaires." I know I'm being crass and bitter but when tell me when does the madness end? If I can't let myself be happy now then when? If not now when?
So since my passion in life is and has always been to play music and not open any sort of museum, be it for banned / recalled records or Japanese gum... you know the rest. And my sick twisted justification is that, well, once the shippy ship comes in and the time comes when that big empty mantle looks sickly and bare without the unopened Bleed American CD, then i'll just buy it again on ebay. It can't be that hard to find. And really, when you think about it, tracking the damn thing down is 93% of the fun of collecting, right?
With that being said, there are certain loved and cherished items that i will never let go of. For instance, it will be a cold day in Rio de Janiero before I put my vinyl of Jeff Buckley's "Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk" with the extra track up on the auction block. Why? Well, because i listen to it. A lot. Same goes for McCartney II. Or The Wall for that matter... And even after my most recent purge, there are still 300-400 CDs left up on the racks, at least 100 of which will never leave my grubby hands. As a 75 year old codger, I will still have Allroy's Revenge, London Calling, and Here Comes Everyone in my collection. Did I just give equal weight and consideration to The Clash, All, and Aloha? Damn right. Now where's my medicine?
...one more thing... You can probably name 50 Clash covers and at least 10 All/Descendents covers but can you name any Aloha covers? Now you can. After you pre-order the American Diary EP, go check out the "What Matters Most" compilation at Welcome Home Records, also out October 25 and featuring yep, you know what, you know who.
I'm pretty sure it was a Jim Gaffigan bit where you're so mad that the alarm clock is ringing that you try and play mind games with it. RING! RING! RING! And you roll over and say, "I could get used to that. I'll just try and dream I'm in a techno club." Speaking of techno club, here is my cover of that classic Pink Floyd jam "Wish You Were Here." It took awhile, I know, but I had to get the beatz just right. It is number 47.
OK, let's get some other business out of the way. There are TWO City On Film releases coming down the wire in October! Wow. October 11 sees the release of the long awaited split 7" with Minus The Bear. We both contribute remixes by hot local knob twisters. My side contains the remix of a new song, "Pony's Last Trick," featuring some vocals and extra stuff I recorded in a parking garage in Birmingham, England. True. That can be pre-ordered at Polyvinyl Records. I think they are limited, but i'm not sure how limited, and don't quote me on that. All I know is I get my free stash tomorrow in Champaign so there!
The second October celebration is October 25, when Redder Records will be releasing the 6-song "American Diary" EP. You can pre-order it over at their website and download a track while you're at it. The tracklist is: 01 Mary I'm Ready. 02 Pony's Last Trick (original). 03 Astray! Astray! 04 You're Gonna Need That Patience Soon. 05 Well, It Goes Like This. 06 Conclusion... And it just so happens that Minus The Bear is all over this release as well, but that's all i'll say for now....
October starts tomorrow and i'm celebrating it with STYLE! When the clock strikes midnight I may be finishing up my set in Madison. When the clock strikes 9 am, a whole lotta stuff is going on sale in Riverview, MI, including some of my own junk, er, i mean quality merchandise. When the clock strikes 3 pm, I'll be starting a free set at Parasol Records. Immediately afterwards, they are having a 15% off sale everything in the warehouse including Roy Ewing's clothes. And... when the clock strikes 11:59, I'll be starting a set at Mike N Molly's, opening up for my old British tour buddy, Owen, as part of the Pygmalion Music Fest. That's some busy October 1st.
Thankfully, my month slides into a lower gear after that. But I do have to mention that I will be seeing Paul McCartney in Detroit on October 14. Oh yeah. I'm so sure that he won't play "Temporary Secretary," that i have made this pledge to others and now I make it to you. If Paul plays "Temporary Secretary" in its entirety, I will make a serious run for president of the United States in 2008. Please Paul. Keep it off the setlist.
Goshdarnit. So much said already and i haven't even touched upon the true subject of this particular post. Pardon me. Here I go.... I've been rebelling lately. Revolting. Taking a stand. And the enemy is... collections. Throughout my life I dabbled in the usual. Stamps, figures of various actiony kinds, posters, the usual media, records, dvds, cd... And I've even tried the markedly unusual, such as my fascination with Japanese gum brands or Brazillian soap. (Speaking of Brazillian soap, I sold a bag of it at one of my garage sales for a measly $2. Wow. I still own a hammock straight from the fucking streets of Rio de Janiero and if i step on it one more time when i'm trying to get a shirt out of my closet, it is going right up on ebay and hopefully back to Brazil. )
And this brings me to my point. As a full time musician with no true jobby job, every now and then you find yourself hurting for cash around bill collecting time. (If I could get in a time machine, go back to 1994, find the 19 year old Bob, beat the hell out of him and steal his credit cards, I would.) So the desperate eyes land upon the large shelf of records. The endless racks of CD's. Many of them still shrinkwrapped. Shrinkwrapped! As testament to the fact that they sit unplayed and collect dust waiting for the day that they can be viewed and appreciated. "Ooh. An unopened Bleed American CD. You and the other 200,000 people must be millionaires." I know I'm being crass and bitter but when tell me when does the madness end? If I can't let myself be happy now then when? If not now when?
So since my passion in life is and has always been to play music and not open any sort of museum, be it for banned / recalled records or Japanese gum... you know the rest. And my sick twisted justification is that, well, once the shippy ship comes in and the time comes when that big empty mantle looks sickly and bare without the unopened Bleed American CD, then i'll just buy it again on ebay. It can't be that hard to find. And really, when you think about it, tracking the damn thing down is 93% of the fun of collecting, right?
With that being said, there are certain loved and cherished items that i will never let go of. For instance, it will be a cold day in Rio de Janiero before I put my vinyl of Jeff Buckley's "Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk" with the extra track up on the auction block. Why? Well, because i listen to it. A lot. Same goes for McCartney II. Or The Wall for that matter... And even after my most recent purge, there are still 300-400 CDs left up on the racks, at least 100 of which will never leave my grubby hands. As a 75 year old codger, I will still have Allroy's Revenge, London Calling, and Here Comes Everyone in my collection. Did I just give equal weight and consideration to The Clash, All, and Aloha? Damn right. Now where's my medicine?
...one more thing... You can probably name 50 Clash covers and at least 10 All/Descendents covers but can you name any Aloha covers? Now you can. After you pre-order the American Diary EP, go check out the "What Matters Most" compilation at Welcome Home Records, also out October 25 and featuring yep, you know what, you know who.
posted by Robert at 11:20 AM
11 Comments:
Blimey, you got quite a bit said in that one. Have a good first of the month!
That 'Wish you were here' cover is great. It seemed to go into Bloc Party's 'Two more years' pretty well - complete iTunes accident.
I got an e-mail earlier saying the split with Minus the Bear was now in the post. Look forward to hearing it, and the Redder Records one got ordered the other day, but I assume that'll be a couple more weeks until it's shipped. Do you not get a test pressing from the vinyl when they first do it? I think record companies should auction off test pressings, you don't get the artwork, but they're so cool. I've got a RHCP one and a Scout one from Moo Cow and love them.
Anyway, enjoy your McCartney gig and the jumble. The toys look like they'll be able to help pass the time standing outside.
Bob, as a fellow collector and friend, I want to talk you out of this revolt of yours. Take it from me, someone who has equally non-valuable Jimmy Eat World rareties collecting dust (did you score a copy of the "Singles" CD with the back cover art misprint? No? Well, I've got two.)... This is all just a phase. You're lashing out against the collections when it's really just misdirected disappointment in yourself for not achieving the level of collector-nerdery of which you know you're capable. Trust me, I've been there. Didn't you know I was going to sell my Pog collection at the garage sale? I came to my senses.
dear bob, i downloaded pony's last trick and i can't stop listening to it. its amazing. i am preordering this cd right now.
wait wait wait... apples to apples is going in the garage sale? bob, are you sure you want to do that? it seems like a mistake, but feel free to throw up 25 words or less, i'll snatch that up before you can say "uh duh duh duh"
-Megan
ironically, the only thing i'm currently collecting are records. mostly of the 7" variety. so while you rant about collections, you continue to feed my addiction with splits with minus the bear, which i would be crazy to not buy.
if i were you, i'd just be sure to think twice about everything before letting it go for a buck apiece.
you can lose yourself in your courage.
Mr. Nanna, you sir rocked the hell out of Madtown last night. and by rocked i mean played a beautiful acoustic set since the whole band wasn't there. seriously, totally captivating. good work.
and so non-chalantly you let castle greyskull pass through your fingers.
I love ALL!
They're good remixes on that 7". I'm always suprised with indie band remixes because I never hold my hopes too high, but in this case they're both really enjoyable. Just wish I had a way to transfer my records onto CD.
Pink Floyd is my absolute favorite band, and you did them justice. I think they'd dig it. It's great that you were able to mimic the voice inflections, because I've always felt that that's where the passion of the song exists. Excellent.
You can always count on eBay, it's the sellers you've gotta worry about.
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