Monthly Archives: August 2007

illinois state fair

Food Plus Time Equals Comedy

10 Comments

Ok, I warned you that I had one more Illiois State Fair post to go along with my State Fair recap post, and now here it is.

When I was a lad growing up in Springfield, my family would go to the Illinois State Fair every year. My dad would usually drag us to a particular building that displayed lots of different foods that had been submitted for judging. Farmers would submit fruits and vegetables, people would bake pies and cakes, breads, etc. You would submit your food, it would be judged, and if you won your category I’m guessing you would get some sort of monetary prize.

Now, the fair runs 8 or 9 days. The food goes up for display in a building at the start of the fair, and stays there until the fair is over. My dad would prefer going the second weekend of the fair, when all the cakes, vegetables, etc., were in less than stellar condition. To put it bluntly, the food was rotting. This is just his sense of humor, which for the most part was passed down to me intact.

Now, in my childhood this building was not air-conditioned. If it was 90 degrees outside, it was pretty much the same temperature in the building. These days the building is air-conditioned, but still the ravages of time work their magic over the week that the food sits out.

I took pictures the first weekend of the fair, and asked my brother (who is down there this weekend) to take some pictures the second weekend.

Here are the results. Enjoy!

Carrots and Lettuce, before:

And after. Note the carrots are somewhat dessicated, the lettuce mottled.

Peppers before

Peppers after

Eggplants before

Eggplants after

Barbecue Bites before

And after

Pies before

After

Alien cake before

And after (no change)

Apparently after I left the fair, they had some sort of Spam cooking contest. Here are some of the entries. I’m assuming that they looked more appetizing when first displayed, though I can’t verify this.

Spam Something

More Spam

One last picture of a delectable Illinois State Fair entry. Who wants dip?

Thanks again to my brother for braving the putrid stench of rotten food to get these lovely pictures.

gmmp

Green Monkey Music Project, Vol. 2 – Snotty-Ass Rock ‘N Roll

19 Comments

Hi!

Okay, Bigshoulders and Chris have graciously signed on to Volume 2.

chris has also noted he is going away on a little web hiatus. So, rather than have him go into the wild without knowing the mix he had gotten himself into, I am cutting short the enormous suspense regarding the theme of Volume 2 (plus, I think people might have been a little reluctant to sign on due to the picture of Johnny Cash flipping the bird).

The theme for this mix is snotty music. Snotty is a state of mind, and is entirely subjective. You’ll know it when you hear it. I want you to dig deep into your collections for your most cherished snotty, flipping-the-bird music.

Here are the snotty songs I dredged up:

01 – Mekons – Memphis, Egypt
02 – Public Enemy – 911 Is A Joke
03 – Devo – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
04 – Beck – Truckdrivin’ Neighbor Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)
05 – The Doors – Peace Frog
06 – The Dictators – Two Tub Man
07 – Modern Lovers – Pablo Picasso
08 – The Jesus And Mary Chain – I Hate Rock ‘N Roll

Though I’ve numbered them from 1 to 8, I’m planning on putting myself last on this particular mix ’cause I was first on Volume 1.

I also have another song that I am afraid of including in the mix due to its somewhat offensive nature, but it is the pièce de résistance of snottiness:

Butthole Surfers – 22 Going On 23

Maybe I’ll make it a bonus track or somethin’.

UPDATE!

We have our participants!

Bigshoulders!
Chris!
Bubs!
Flannery Alden!
Splotchy!

If it matters to the participants’ mixing sensibilities, their positions in Volume 2 will be ordered like the above (Bigshoulders first, Splotchy last).

So, again, the rules. Snotty Music. 5-8 songs per person. Just add your list of artist and song titles as a comment on this post. I’ll get the music from my magic jukebox. If I have a problem getting a song, I’ll let you know.

Some of my song selections have very colorful profanity. Profanity is not a requirement to this mix — I just wanted to let you know this mix might not be appropriate for the ears of the innocent.

gmmp

Green Monkey Mix Project, Volume 2 – A Call For Participants

2 Comments

Hi, encouraged by the response to the initial offering of the Green Monkey Mix Project (GMMP), I’m revving up for Volume 2, which promises to be more fun than the last.

bigshoulders and chris expressed an interest in participating in the next mix, so they can join in on this one if they have a hankering.

Here’s some guidelines and helpful info.

  1. This mix will have a total of five participants (including me). So, there are a total of four slots for fellow musically-minded bloggers to step into.

  2. For this mix, the participants can provide from 5 to 8 songs centered around the theme of the project. (40 songs feels like a nice number for a well-rounded mix)

  3. When I announce the theme for the project, I’ll also be posting my song choices. The other participants can just write a comment on the theme announcement post to provide their own song choices.

  4. You don’t need to give me the songs. Just give me the artist and song title and I’ll get it. If I am unable to get a song, I’ll ask you for it. You’ll be able to hear your song choices before the mix is published, so’s you can make sure I didn’t screw anything up. If you’re dead set on giving me the songs, that’s fine, too.

Now, assuming I haven’t scared you away with all the above funny business, here’s a hint of the theme of the next mix:

Uncategorized

How Do You Feel About…

15 Comments


On my other blog, for the current band I’m highlighting, Mr. Speed (a KISS tribute band), regular visitors Flannery Alden and Jess have politely abstained from voting.

They have been really supportive of my writing both here and on my new blog, for which I am eternally thankful. They have also both had some marvelous insights regarding band dynamics.

There are countless possible reasons why they chose to abstain, but I inferred my own reasons, and now I have a strange little thought rattling around in my head. Was the vote declined due to an underlying hostility to KISS?

Then it got me thinking. How do people in general feel about KISS? They were absolutely huge back when I was a kid. They have made a reasonably large splash in the pop culture pool.

I know how I feel about them, but I want to know how you feel about them.

So?

meme

Imagine Something Witty About The Number Four Here

5 Comments

I have been tagged by the effervescent SamuraiFrog with a series of questions.

Four jobs I’ve had or currently have in my life:

  1. I worked several summers as a dishwasher at a Shakey’s in Springfield, which I actually enjoyed a large part of the time. They tried to give me more responsibility, but I basically argued my way into remaining the dishwasher. For a brief, unhappy time I handled the chicken/fish friers, which I didn’t like for a variety of reasons (prepping chicken, getting burnt by grease spatters from water-filled giblets, and emptying the grease at the end of the night).

  2. One summer I thought I’d try get a different job, something un-Shakey. I tried getting a job at Blockbuster Video. I tried getting a job as a stocker at a supermarket. Nobody wanted me. I ended up getting hired at a Dairy Queen. This particular DQ also had a grill. After my first day of training, learning all about the secret curlicue technology DQ employs on their soft serve ice cream, a redneck faintly-mustached fella handed me a piece of metal that was used for shaking fries into the little fry sacks. I was very unhappy when I realized that once again I would be on fry detail. Redneck guy took my sour expression as uncertainty regarding how to use the fry shoehorn, so in his most encouraging voice he said, “You slide it in. It’s just like pussy.” I quit the next day and signed back up with Shakey’s.

  3. When I was in college, I worked at a video arcade. I was hired primarily because I was a musician. The manager assumed that musicians would be mechanically-minded, and would be more likely able to do minor maintenance on the machines when they broke down. He was quite wrong about me. One night I made the mistake of locking myself out of the back room. I ended up having to to take the door off of its hinges to get in. Classy, eh?

  4. Also in college I had a job making pizza dough at Godfather’s pizza. Excepting the manager, there were a lot of really nice people that worked there. At the restaurant they had a conveyor oven that people would put pizzas in on one side, they’d roll through, and by the time they would come out on the other side they would be cooked. Unless it was very busy, no one would be standing, waiting for the pizzas to come out. Still, you had to keep your eye on the oven, because food could get backed up and burn. It was customary to loudly say “Cut table!” when you saw food coming out of the oven and you yourself couldn’t make it over to get the food out. Someone who did have a free hand would hurry over to the oven, take the pizza out and cut it into slices. One day we closed for the day so we could do a thorough cleaning of the kitchen. We carried out all the items that weren’t too heavy or bolted down into the parking lot so we could spray them down with a high-powered hose. As a coworker and an assistant manager were carrying it out, I yelled “CUT TABLE!” and actually made the assistant manager involuntarily flinch. It was one of my finest employment moments.

Four countries I have been to:

  1. Canada

  2. Mexico

  3. Italy

  4. Austria

I talk about some of my travels to foreign lands here.


Four places I’d rather be right now:

  1. Living in a nice, big house on the north side of Chicago

  2. Living in a nice, big house on the north side of Chicago

  3. Living in a nice, big house on the north side of Chicago

  4. Living in a nice, big house on the north side of Chicago

Four foods I like to eat:

  1. Homemade mac ‘n cheese

  2. Chocolate cakey things

  3. Barbecue pork chops

  4. PB & J

Four personal heroes, past or present (or future):

  1. Noam Chomsky

  2. Bill Moyers

  3. Jim Henson

  4. Ralph Nader

Four books you’ve just read or are currently reading:
Ack. I have not been reading a lot lately.

  1. The last Harry Potter

  2. Interventions, by Noam Chomsky

  3. Assorted children’s books

I am not tagging anyone at this point, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t happening at some point.

gmmp

Splotchy’s Contribution To Total Absorption

12 Comments

Hi, here’s a little background on my choices for the recent Total Absorption mix.

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
I was a latecomer to The White Stripes. I could even go so far as to say I was willfully ignorant of them. I don’t know — I just get stubborn that way, especially when it comes to music that grabs the popular imagination. Something is popular and I get all pissy about it. I finally broke down and listened to De Stijl, then White Blood Cells and then Elephant. I now must admit their music is great, and insanely catchy. It’s this song in particular, the first off their album Elephant, where I just have to hear the whole thing every damn time.

Gang Of Four – Natural’s Not In It
Off the incredible album Entertainment. If you want to witness the sad spectacle of me doing air guitar, play this song.

Luna – La Poupee Qui Fait Non
Luna put out a lot of great music, but this cover of a Michel Polnareff song on Pop Romantique, a compilation of “alternative” bands covering French pop songs, has always been a favorite of mine.

Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Believe You
This isn’t my absolute favorite Magnetic Fields song, but I always have to hear it all the way through. Stephin Merritt’s lyrics are always great, and he often has a habit of having a big whammy lyric at the end that you gleefully anticipate. It doesn’t hurt that the line uses the word “ampersand”, one of my all-time favorite words. There are at least a couple versions of this song — there’s a single version that is more synth-pop and quicker, but I included the version from their album i because I like the cello part.

The Beta Band – She’s The One
An eight minute song? On a mix tape? Yes and yes! I know putting such a long song on a mix tape can be a little risky, but believe me, it’s warranted in this case. There are occasions when I hear a song, and I am basically mesmerized by it until it finishes. If you asked me how long this song was after hearing it, I’d say four minutes. This song just sweeps you away and doesn’t let go.

The Shins – New Slang
I first heard this song when I got a copy of it from Tim, who I *think* might have been hipped to it from the Garden State soundtrack. Just compiling this little post, it occurred to me that Tim has contributed some integral pieces to my musical makeup. It was Tim who, in my freshman year of college, gave me a cassette of what would become my most treasured music, The Feelies’ album The Good Earth. Thank you again, Tim! In addition to the Garden State soundtrack, “New Slang” can also be found on The Shins’ record Oh, Inverted World. It’s a really mellow, haunting song.

Robyn Hitchcock – The Speed Of Things
This song is off the uniformly wonderful album Moss Elixir. For some reason, this song really grabs me. It’s just Hitchcock singing over an electric guitar, but that’s all it needs. The lyrics especially affect me.

Here’s just a sample:

I fed you in your chair this morning
You made a mess of everything
By afternoon, you drove a sports car
You were driving at the speed of things

The 13th Floor Elevators – I Had To Tell You
If you aren’t hep to them, the 13th Floor Elevators were a fantabulous psychedlic band from Austin, Texas that were around in the late 60’s. The main creative force in the band was Roky Erickson. Roky Erickson is sort of like Neil Young. Both are capable of rocking out, but there’s this delicate fragility that runs through their work.

A lot of the songs in the 13th Floor Elevators repertoire have a freaky sounding instrument in it (called the “Electric Jug”), but this song doesn’t. It is a quieter, acoustic affair, and really beautiful.

Sam Cooke – Change Is Gonna Come
I knew a lot of the big hits by Sam Cooke back when I was a kid — “Wonderful World”, “Twistin’ The Night Away”, “Another Saturday Night”, etc. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I heard this song. It really displays Cooke’s gospel roots. It gets me every time, every single time.

Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets
I had to pick up the pace a little for the next person in the mix. Most of this song is instrumental, with some faraway singing and drumming fading in near the end. I don’t know exactly what it is about this song, but it’s got my name all over it.

gmmp

Presenting The Total Absorption Mix!

10 Comments

The first online edition of the Green Monkey Music Project has been completed, and is available for download!

I’ll probably write a little blurb later today on this here blog discussing my selections.

If the participants of this mix want to discuss their own selections, please feel free to do so! I’ll put a pointer on this post if you end up posting about it on your own blog (or you could always just add comments here, I suppose).

===================
TOTAL ABSORPTION
===================

The Rules

The Participants Discuss Their Selections:
Barbara!
Beth!
Monkey!
Splotchy!

The Songs:

Get the mix in chunks!
Zipped file of Songs 01-10 (All of Splotchy’s songs)
Zipped file of Songs 11-20 (All of Beth’s songs)
Zipped file of Songs 21-31 (All of Barbara’s songs)
Zipped file of Songs 32-38 (All of Monkey’s songs)

Track Listing
01 – The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army [splotchy]
02 – Gang Of Four – Natural’s Not In It [splotchy]
03 – Luna – La Poupee Qui Fait Non [splotchy]
04 – Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Believe You [splotchy]
05 – The Beta Band – She’s The One [splotchy]
06 – The Shins – New Slang [splotchy]
07 – Robyn Hitchcock – The Speed Of Things [splotchy]
08 – The 13th Floor Elevators – I Had To Tell You [splotchy]
09 – Sam Cooke – Change Is Gonna Come [splotchy]
10 – Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets [splotchy]
11 – R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe [beth]
12 – Lyle Lovett – Friend of the Devil [beth]
13 – Michael Stipe feat. Chris Martin – In the Sun [beth]
14 – Nina Simone – Feeling Good [beth]
15 – Oasis – Champagne Supernova [beth]
16 – Neil Young – Philadelphia [beth]
17 – Nanci Griffith – Morning Song for Sally [beth]
18 – Al Green – Love and Happiness [beth]
19 – The Replacements – I Will Dare [beth]
20 – Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter #23 [beth]
21 – James – Ring the Bells [barbara]
22 – Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1 [barbara]
23 – Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers Pt 2 and 3 [barbara]
24 – Joy Division – Transmission [barbara]
25 – Chad VanGaalen – Blood Machine [barbara]
26 – Pixies – Holiday Song [barbara]
27 – The Constantines – Young Lions [barbara]
28 – Ballboy – Avant Garde Music – [barbara]
29 – Belle and Sebastian – The Boy With the Arab Strap [barbara]
30 – Radiohead – Let Down [barbara]
31 – The Jesus and Mary Chain – Happy When It Rains [barbara]
32 – Johnny Cash – A Boy Named Sue [monkey]
33 – Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town [monkey]
34 – Rank and File – Post Office Wall [monkey]
35 – Kirsty MacColl – Titanic Days [monkey]
36 – Mediaeval Baebes – Kilmeny [monkey]
37 – Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill [monkey]
38 – Stiff Little Fingers – Who Died and Made You Elvis? [monkey]