Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

Leveraging low-hanging synergies outside the vertical fruit box since 1999.

You Know How To Whistler, Don’t You?


in Heartwarming

Jason and I are packing up and getting ready to ship out to Dougie’s wedding at 5am tomorrow morning. I stopped by the dry cleaner’s on the way home to get my suit – only to find out that this afternoon’s North End explosions had rendered it evacuated. So either I’ll be buying a suit out in Whistler, or attending the nuptuals in my Big Country T-shirt. And you all know how much I’d like that.

I will likely check in and do some Kerouac-esque road-blogging from British Colombia, but until then I’ll leave you with a fun meme. Don’t hurt yourselves:

Name three people (famous or personal friends) and the custom ringtones you’ve either set for them on your phone, or would if you could.

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Grading The Goons.


in

You’ve all heard me mention GoonBlog several times over the last three months. It’s actually been live for a few weeks now, and Chris and I have been hard at work in our rare spare time finding our voice and putting some content together while the graphic design takes place in the background. I have a lot of faith in this project for a variety of reasons, so I decided to pony up some duckets for a professional design.

We didn’t want to ‘roll it out’ until it was 100% done – but I’ve just gotten the first mockup back from the graphic designer and I want some feedback before I give him another round of changes to make. Click here to go to the designer’s site, and then select GoonBlog from the dropdown menu on the right.

I almost really like it. The gloves as a background image in each post, the Stanley Cups beside the titles, the center ice design at the top – but I’m not ‘wowed yet’ and I desperately want to be. The designer is obviously talented, and followed my exploratory round of suggestions to the letter, but it needs a ‘little something’. Here are a few of my ideas, and I look forward to hearing some of yours, dear reader.

– Cartoon players are duking it out rather than checking.
– Post cell is shaded with a light grey instead of surrounded by a thin border.
– Less real estate used at the top of the screen for the graphics.
– “GoonBlog” is more condensed and both words are on the same line. Saves space and will allow us to repurpose it as a logo.
– Yank the crossed hockey sticks.

Those are some of my first impressions. Detroit and I look forward to some of yours. We didn’t want to ‘drop the curtain’ before we officially ‘dropped the gloves’, but we have – so rip into it and slug us with some feedback. And be sure to have a look at the current version of the site so you can get the big picture/bored to frozen tears.

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Wednesday Wadio: "Hearing Voices".


in Wednesday Wadio

‘Hearing Voices‘ ties with ‘Another Day’ for 1st place as my favorite Galaxie 500 songs of all time. Growing up just outside of Boston while this band was in its heyday in the late eighties, many of my close friends were into them and it was only a matter of time before I too blasted off. Like most Galaxie songs, a three year old with a head wound could learn how to play it in less time than it would take to a gnat to belch – but the melodic bass line and plodding guitar grab you in the first seconds and don’t let go. This is definitely the sort of hypnotic tune you could swerve off the highway at night to. But that doesn’t appear anywhere in the liner notes.

“I hear a jukebox, French fries and beer, And people are talkin somewhere…” Either the protagonist of this song lives above a bar, or he’s off his meds – take your pick. And he’s got superhero hearing if he’s picking up the french fries and the beer. If this song contains any hidden meaning, then my powers of explication honed during 4 years of an English B.A. are completely baffled. But I love it and it’s a good introduction to an extremely influential trio – see what you think by clicking on the radio to your left.

Jeff M. Writes: (He’s not versed in the comments yet, apparently…)

Hey Dave,

I saw your Galaxie 500 post and I thought I would brag and tell you that I have Naomi’s Bass amp that she used on all their records and tours. It has Galaxie 500 painted all over the road case and even has a handwrittten letter to her from the guy at Trace Elliot Amps with instructions on how to convert the voltage to 220 for their upcoming UK tour. I saw them open for Big Dipper at TT’s in 1988 and recorded the BD set, but not the G-500 set. Oh well…

Bastard. Please will that signed Pixies poster to Mike, who will subsequently will it to me, at which point I will subsequently have you both snuffed.

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A Deadly Anniversary.


in

I was driving in the “War Pig” (our ’88 Ford half ton truck) when upon the radio, which only got Oldies 103.3, I could faintly hear “Alabama Getaway” by the Grateful Dead. I thought it strange that the station know for 50’s and 60’s hits would be playing the Dead, but I dismissed it, and turned it up. After the tune was over the DJ says, “sad news from California, Dead frontman Jerry Garcia was found dead this morning.” I was in Carlisle on a windy road, and when I got the news I damn near drove off the road. Jerry is dead. The Long Strange Trip is over. Wow. Heavy words to be sure. I picked up the radio and buzzed JD. He hadn’t heard the news, and was just as stunned.

Upon my return home, I came in the house, and grabbed the mail. In the box was an envelope with the unmistakable Steal Your Face symbol. My Fall tickets for several shows at the Garden, and RFK had arrived. Thanks for kicking me while I am down. My phone rang constanly for the next couple of hours. “Did you Hear”, and “Jerry’s dead” was the common theme. Stories of shows past, and theories on what the rest of the band was going to do were the most common topics. We thought of driving North, as Bob Weir was playing the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom that evening, but instead, we went to the Razzi to comeserate over a couple of pints.

Henry was pissed. “Well, there goes the fucking fall tour” I think was his exact quote. We drank at the Razzi, and listened to the Dead. People that asked to have the music changed were met with a tirade of swears, and generally dirty looks from JD and I. Luckily we spent enough time and money in the joint we pretty much had the run of the place. When we had our fill, we walked home to sleep it off. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Jerry died. As the song says, the Music Never Stopped. RIP Jerry.

Submitted by Chris (aka Detroit Velvet Smooth).

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The Pixies Are My Girlfriend.


in Musical

Today started out pretty flipping rotten. The usual Sunday bout of insomnia stretched on until 4 a.m. – and a beeping hallway fire alarm battery compounded the problem. I awoke at 9 with little sleep and a lot less patience. When I got to work and discovered that our Exchange server was down, and we had no access to the internet or email, I looked a certain coworker up and down and wondered if his head would fit in the mail tube. Luckily it didn’t.

Then, in the midst of trying to ram a business card holder up my own nostril, I got an email from a friend confirming a rumor I’d heard a week ago and then completely forgotten about – The Pixies were playing a ‘secret’ gig at the tiny Paradise, and 300 tickets had already gone on sale that morning which subsequently sold out in seconds. It seems the band needed some extra footage for a live DVD which is in the works, and the show had been kept under wraps because space was even more limited than usual due to all the video equipment required. I briefly cruised Craig’s List looking for tickets/love and gave up when I saw absolutely zippy del nada. And anyway, I’ve seen the band 5 times in the last year and a half and figured I could sit this one out.

Then, around 3pm, I spoke to Moynihan who told me his brother Jeff was going down and I got the sultry damp Pixies itch (or Pixitch,) all over again. It was a special, mini-show with a small amount of civilians and the rest of the crowd made up of industry people and Pixies’ family members. I’d heard enough – and immediately my fanatical dormant fanboy alter-ego took the controls and I posted feverishly on CL proclaiming my willingness to pay a silly amount of cash for a ticket. I was on the phone with a fairweather fan named Matt less than an hour later. Money talks, and hipsters who wait in line overnight can walk/fuck right off.

I was only able to get one ticket, and as I sat in T’s pub by myself killing time before the show I felt very odd. But – it was what it was – and I knew I was lucky to be there at all. About 10 minutes after I sat down at the bar, David Lovering came in with a friend and stood right beside me. I met David on the street before I saw The Pixies at The Paradise in 1988 and it was as if things had suddenly come full circle. I approached him very calmly, shook his hand and wished him a great show. He was extremely nice and after speaking with him I walked over to the Paradise and headed inside. Albeit with the skippy fricking gait of a 12-year-old girl who’d just met Aaron Carter.

It was an incredibly cool scene inside – more like a TV show taping than a concert. I walked in and immediately located Jeff and his girlfriend. 10 minutes after I got there, the show started up and raged on unabated for almost 2 hours. I’ll go into more detail when I get the photos developed (I bought a disposable for the occasion). We were literally 7 feet from the stage with cameras on mechanical arms flying all around us and the house lights up full-tilt. I hadn’t been at such an intimate Pixies concert since 16 years prior when I stood in the exact same spot in the exact same building having the exact same hissy.

So I like the Pixies a whole hell of a lot, but it could be worse. Some folks substitute drugs, porn, prostitutes or a delightful mixture of all three in the absence of a signifigant other. If The Pixies are my substitute, that really ain’t so bad. The little tart has been putting out a lot lately.

See an ongoing discussion of the show here.

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