Green Monday

When I get to the club, I think the best way to honor Saint Patrick is to race the cheetah. For those that missed my first race with the cheetah, see here. Needless to say that as I'm taking these rips, my internal body temperature starts to skyrocket, I start to sweat, and I wonder if I can make it out alive with Joe going, "there's just one more hit in there." When I leave the club, I feel like my head is about to explode and somehow my body's up to 200 degrees. I spend the next thirty minutes trying to find some type of coherency without making a complete fool of myself.

I meet up with Za and McButter for a foray to a speaker at the SFJ. The speaker is Jennifer Baumgardner speaking about her book Look Both Ways, a book about bisexual politics. While I find her well spoken (despite her need to start every answer with, "Ya, um," I'm a bit disappointed in the discourse in general as the moderator of the event asks pretty repetitive questions with no real dialogue between them.

After that, we need to get our Green on, so we head to the Chieftan in the SOMA which provides a perfect atmosphere for the Patrick celebration. We have some black and tans and I amuse myself by picking out douchebags in stupid shirts (winner: Blow Me, I'm Irish). But c'mon, even if it is St. Patrick's day, that doesn't change the fact that it's Monday, which to the faithful out there means Skylarking!

We get over there, and I'm happy to say that it's in full swing. The problems of the last two weeks in terms of more subdued and hidden smoking isn't a problem this week as the holiday crowd has boxed the entire dancefloor with joints and blunts. The ashtrays are out, the mood is festive, and due to the fact that it's the DJ's birthday, the usual reggae of the evening is peppered with hip-hop and other dance music because the birthday boy feels like it.

After we leave, we make a failed attempt at some crepes (I hate it when that place is closed), before I drop off the two and head home. Love the green.

Adding On

One of the factors of my personality that I find most enjoyable, and is surely tiresome if not downright uncomfortable for others in long duration periods with me, is my constant desire to do more. When I look at a particularly busy day or week, rather than looking for ways to simplify, I look for opportunities to squeeze a few more things in. With each new activity, the question automatically becomes, "what else can I add on?" With that in mind, I introduce you to my weekend...

1:30 PM, Friday: I get off work and head to school to pick up the F/S team I coach and take them to CastroValley for an invitational. When we arrive, it begins to rain, and does so sporadically throughout the entirety of the meet. We've got about 17 13-15 year olds for the duration, and the meet, which begins at 4pm, somehow doesn't end until 11. Of course, the team doesn't want to just go home, they want to go out to eat. By the time we return to school to drop them off, it's 12 am.

12 AM, Saturday: At this point, any rational human being, having just spent 10.5 hours with a bunch of high schoolers, and looking at the weekend I was looking at, would pack it in and go to bed. I decide that going up to the city to hang out with Glass is a better way to spend my time.

1:40 AM, Saturday: After hanging out for a while, I start on my way home, ready for bed. Of course, in my car, on my way back, E calls me and wants me to stop at the I. At this point, I've already gone out when I shouldn't have, and am in the city anyways, so the "it's on my way home, and it's just one more thing," mentality kicks in and I meet up with him in the same old place. Now I was just going to have a relaxed evening in, some tv, whatever. Picture me now, in my house slippers, a pair of sweats, a hoodie and a baseball cap in the club 5 minutes before last call. I haven't been in one where they've turned the lights on, but that's what happens here and I'm back in the car and on my way home around 2:15.

3 AM, Saturday: By the time I've gotten into bed, I've been up for 20 hours. 3 hours and 15 minutes of sleep should do, right?

6:15 AM, Saturday: I'm up and in the shower after what feels like a cat nap. I've gotta be packed, dressed and ready to take the other half of the team, the Varsity athletes, back out to CastroValley for the Varsity portion of the meet. We meet at 6:45, getting out to the meet around 8 am.

3pm, Saturday: 12 hours after laying down in bed, we've finished the meet. Again, the athletes want to eat on the way home, so when we drop them off around 4:30, we've been with them a little over 9 hours.

4:30 pm, Saturday: After dropping the athletes back at school, I'm in my car and on my way to HMB to drop off some RE related documents that needed to be there before Monday. It's a small bit of work and a quick turnaround, but still requires driving, and still takes time off the front end of the nap I've been thinking about since 6 am.

6 pm, Saturday: I get home and get in bed, for three hours of sleep.

9 pm, Saturday: I get up, shower, dress, pre-party and head up to the city, where I meet up with Za, McButter, T, Ish, and others for Ish's serial killer themed house party. And spend the evening getting freaked out by Dahmer, Gacy, some creepy guy in a mask. The serial killer costumes are creepy enough, but the drinking Jenga that ensues is also on the creepy side with such dares as blowing a raspberry on someone's stomach (raspberries being one of the grossest things I can think of) and slow dancing with a broom. Lucky for all involved, they happen to have a broom handy.

After a bit, it's time to hit the crepe stand. As we get there, I order a nutella/strawberry/lemon and a nutella/banana/coconut, Za orders a savory. I only order two because McButter and Za can't decide what type they're going to have, so I get two that I know will be good and intend to share them. It's only once they arrive that I'm told that these two are on a "no sweets" bend right now, and won't break it for the crepe stand. They laugh at me as I sit there and demolish both crepes by myself. I start to wonder just how fat I'll end up if I eat two crepes everytime I'm out drunk.

After dropping them off, I return home, but, amped with all the energy circulating from the past day and a half (I don't use energy, I make more), I can't get to sleep until 5, even trying such tried and true artforms as the j coupled with bad TV.

5 am, Sunday: I finally get to bed and get 5.5 hours of sleep.

10:30 am, Sunday: I wake up and get ready for my open house.

1:30 pm, Sunday: I sit in my open house taking time to enjoy the sun, pace the room and try to ignore the desert that is steadily forming in my mouth. I pray for 4.

After the open house, I head home, eat a Bonne Sante, watch a movie and a few tv shows and entertain Gavroche and Jarles (though not at the same time)...when everyone leaves, I watch some tv until 1 am.

By the time I get to bed at 1 am on Sunday morning, the final weekend tally looks something like this:
Starting when I woke up at 7 am on Friday, and going to when I woke up at 7 am this morning, the total weekend was 72 hours. Of those 72 hours, I've gotten about 17.5 hours of sleep, and was either coaching, working, or drinking for the other 54.5, which means that I was active for approximately 76% of the weekend. I think that qualifies as making the most of it, and certainly proves Chaz's age old adage, "you can sleep when you're dead."

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

1) How long will it be before all of our electricity comes from shit?
2) How many soldiers in Afghanistan do you think find their jobs romantic? How many do you think would like a word in private with President Bush for saying so?
3) What's the most trouble you've gotten in in for hugging someone?
4) How would you go about cleaning up your facebook and myspace profiles if you were a prostitute?
5) How much are the record labels spying on you?
6) Wanna live in a spaceship?
7) Gotta love anyone willing to significantly tamper with design...
8) Why do we need to keep worrying about how corrupt the government is?
9) There's a few salvageable tracks on Snoop's new Ego Trippin'.
10) Would you want to be Paris Hilton's new best friend?

Seeing Ghosts

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}
When Radiohead released In Rainbows using the pay what you will download format, it was announced that Trent Reznor of NIN would be releasing something similar for his next album. And so he has, releasing the 36 track Ghosts I-IV album. While Radiohead went simple and released the tracks in a basic "name your price" style, with a physical CD following, Reznor has upped the ante with a multi-tiered release of his album last week. To date, he has realized $1.6 million in orders and over 780,000 transactions.

Ghosts I-IV is not just available as an MP3 download, nor is it, as Radiohead's was, available for free. What Reznor has done is to release various formats of the album for different prices. At the low range, you can get the first 9/36 tracks for free download. After that, it will only cost you a mere 5 dollars to get all 36 tracks in one of 3 of your choice downloads (Apple Lossless, MP3 or Flac Lossless). All these tracks are DRM free and come with a 40 page PDF booklet as well as various digital goodies like wallpaper. If 5 bucks is too cheap for you, you can bump to 10 and not only be given access to the 36 tracks immediately, but you will also receive a 2 disc hard copy sometime in early April.

To see the remainder of this post, go here.

The Face That Destroyed a Governor

I normally don't go in for kicking people when they're down, but when you're a New York Governor and get caught up in a prostitution scandal, you're asking for it. So here she is..."Kristen," Governor Spitzer's personal pink slip and $18,000 dollar drain on his bank account....which, depending on just how many dates he got, he might not consider such a bad deal.

RIP Cellar Door

At 11:51 am today, The Cellar Door passed away. It wasn't that it didn't work for me, because it did, for a long time. But it was time for a change. It died with 3,351 visits and 4,271 page views. I needed a title that more closely reflected me rather than an excellent thought from a movie. I needed something new. The Cellar Door and mugenscomplex.blogspot.com will always hold a special place in my heart, but here's the newness. For those that don't understand the title, you can find the meaning of it in "now's in between."

Here's a look at the Cellar Door on its final day, so we can always remember how it used to be. Welcome to my new name, new home and new look. Enjoy!

Dr. Feel Good

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

While a lot of the conversations around here center around evolving and mixmatching music, and the resulting sounds, an important aspect of the MixMatch culture centers around combinations of various media methods and the resulting entertainment. Down in Los Angeles, DJ Denkym (Denny Kim) has created just this type of event in his once (but soon to be twice) monthly event, Feel Good Fusion. A few months ago while I was down in LA, I met up with DJ Denkym, a former roommate and colleague from USC and KSCR, for his first Feel Good Fusion event. Denkym worked as Hip-Hop director while consistently honing his craft as a DJ. While a large portion of his influence is rooted in hip-hop, his love for numerous cultures and musical styles is a cornerstone of his mixing. The idea behind Feel Good Fusion is based in the notion of bringing together mixing, free-styling, painting, sculpture, dancing and other performance art into the same place to celebrate the combinations that are created when these cultures and mediums intertwine.

At the inaugural show, the turnout was great. Everyone in attendance was genuinely glad to be there, and the vibe was stellar. From outstanding turntable work to interesting MCs to the collaborative painting shown below, the connection between art and music was greatly pronounced, and everyone there was into the crafts. These two artists worked on separate canvases throughout the evenings, bringing their creation together at the end of the night.

For the rest of the article and more details on the upcoming Fusion, click here.

Immortal

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

When word of underground revolutionary rapper Immortal Technique's visit to the Fillmore in San Francisco reached me, I knew it had to be first on my list of concerts for the year. Having never seen live footage of him, I had no idea what to expect from a rapper that brings a huge variety of social, political, economic and musical issues to his songs. Considering the detail and complexity in his lyrics, I was a bit concerned with how it would translate to concert where numerous MCs have failed due to an unfamiliarity with their own lyrics, or a habit to truncate songs for a live setting. And I can say that while there are only a handful of artists that could share a stage with Immortal Technique based on their lyrical complexity and stage intensity, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replicate the tenacity and focus Tech brings to his issues. From opening song to his finale, Immortal Technique's show was a textbook demonstration of a rapper using an unreal level of energy, an extreme amount of intelligence coupled with social consciousness, and an uncompromising approach to his own music to put on a show that was incredible from start to finish.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the crowd at this show...IT is only slightly well known, even among people into underground hip-hop, but at the same time has built up a huge following from the grassroots level. His subject matter attacks various issues from several perspectives, and I was interested to see if there would be one overriding demographic to his live audience. There wasn't. The crowd was incredibly diverse both in ethnicity and style. It ranged from serious hip-hoppers wearing hoods to bikers with neck tattoos. It seems the social aspects of rap that Tech represents hit home and help to unify a large and disparate group of people.

When he arrives on stage he goes into an almost a cappella version of "The 4th Branch," and I can hear people all over the audience join him as he spits out, "Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the Qur'an/and bombed innocent people trying to murder Saddam when you gave them those chemical weapons to go to war with Iran." It's clear from this early point that not only does the crowd know his songs, but the anger and identification they share with him over views of the systems in place within our social infrastructure is what brought a good number of them out. Following this, he drops the cricket sounds of "Industrial Revolution" and at the first beat the crowd is already moving with the beat. Tech's delivery is crisp and clear. Unlike other live rappers, there aren't any muddled lyrics or incomprehensible words here, just viciously deployed sentences with a staccato tempo that makes it feel like every word and sentence is waiting to explode from him into the mic. And the energy is contagious throughout the crowd.

To continue this review, click here.

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

Just because I have to work all weekend doesn't mean that it doesn't feel like Friday. The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and I'm going a bit nutty with the chocolate binge at 9:30 in the morning. Here's a few thoughts you can use to procrastinate today...

1) What's your opinion...do things fall off of race cars?
2) Does the Dalai Lama really have an interest in sabotaging the Olympic games?
3) Just how much is too much for a CEO to make when the company is failing?
4) How are you going to mourn The Wire?
5) Would you rather be a drug mule or a sex slave?
6) This is disturbing...who uses a baby as a rope?
7) How can a man so funny be so retired?
8) Just how drunk do you like to get off your wine?
9) Were you aware that March and November start on the same day of the week?
10) Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Kit Kats?

Now it's 11 am, the chocolate is coursing through my veins, and I think, if I manage to breathe, I might just make it to the end of the day. Enjoy your Friday!

Say Uncle

It's official...my sister, Emmy Jo Bioloski, gave birth last night to what I can only imagine will be her first of many children. Arriving at about 7:30 PST, Brennan/Ryan/Gibson weighed in at 9 lbs., 4 oz. That's a big kid. In the years to come, this innocent child will be brought up the Mormon way, although how long that lasts after I get a chance to meet him is up for debate. I'll finally have my place in the sun as the black sheep Uncle that everyone warns the kids about.

While I drink lemon drops at family gatherings, he'll ask me why my words come out funny, and when I give him his first Ayn Rand book for Christmas, I'll have to explain to him how reading it isn't a sin. As he grows older, he will either come to admire me and wish to emulate my heathen ways (which will undoubtedly turn my sister against me), or he will come to despise my sin with a passion reserved for the staunchest clerics (which will no doubt make me laugh.) Either way, Uncle A will be a conundrum wrapped in a riddle and fed to him as an enigma.

My sister (shown here the weekend she announced she was pregnant with her husband) is living her dream, and is now a mother. Congratulations to you Em! Not only have you enriched the lives of those around you, but you've successfully brought one more human into this severely overcrowded world! Mazel Tov!

Live Amp

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving Music.}

AmpLive has been one of the most talented and diverse producer/DJs of the last ten years. His work as part of the Zion I duo has exemplified an ability to bring in a variety of musical styles and genres to the hip-hop world. In addition to this work, Amp has worked with or done remixes for Goapele, Akon and Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussy Cat Dolls. He has also produced music for ESPN's Sportscenter, So You Think You Can Dance?, America's Next Top Model, and MTV's shows Cribs and The Real World. On top of the musical creation, he has earned a Platinum Plaque for his Linkin Park remix as well as The Guardian's "Best Producer in the Bay," and San Francisco Weekly's "Best Hip Hop Group in the Bay" awards. AmpLive's recent release, Rainydayz Remixes, a remix album of the Radiohead album In Rainbows, has received considerable press, word of mouth, and excellent reviews. The mash-ups, utilizing and remixing pieces of the original album, received Radiohead's blessing to be distributed for free. Because of the MixMatch nature of this album and the various production, distribution and copyright issues associated with such an undertaking, we thought it was about time to catch up with Amp and talk to him about his musical history and future, his run at the Radiohead album, and the future of the music industry and distribution models in general. Below is the interview Amp granted to Evolving Music to talk about these issues. Insert gratitude and round of applause here...

AC: Your music and production, from Mind Over Matter to Heroes in the City of Dope, always exhibits a huge variety of sounds and influences from different genres that speaks to a diverse musical enjoyment. What genres catch your ear, what is the foundation of your personal musical enjoyment, and when starting out on songs, is it a conscious effort to bring these genres in, or are they embedded and just come out in your music?

Amp: Well, I grew up exposed to different types of music. I am from Texas, so I was surrounded by country music. I played the drums at my church, listened to hip hop, skate punk and techno in middle school, took piano lessons, and was forced to watch the local symphony at least twice a month. So I look at music as a big bubble. All genres catch my ear. I feel that you can find something good in everything. When I am creating songs, I generally go off the feeling that I have or the point I want to get across versus thinking of the genre that it would be in.

AC: Zion I, at various times, has brought in collaborating MCs and producers. For Heroes in the City of Dope, Grouch was brought on for the entire album. What process do you use when determining who you'd like to work with on upcoming tracks? When you do collaborate, is there a set formula you like to use for combining with another musician, or is it a more organic process? How have your collaborations contributed to your personal growth as an artist, and do you find yourself revisiting methods you picked up from people you've made music with in your own?

Amp: Collaborations and observation has definitely helped me grow as a producer. When I first started in the early 90s, Spearhead X, who was a producer for Dallas Austin, taught me how to tighten my drums. While L Rock, who now is a main producer in Lil Jon's camp, helped with musical arrangements and learning how to play. So as I evolved and started becoming a professional years later, I took these experiences and applied them to my music. So in doing the collaboration album, Heroes in the City of Dope, I wanted to make sure there was equal input from everyone. For that album Grouch and I gave approval on the beats and the songs as they were finished. So we both had our touches on the music, even if I produced the track.

For the rest of this interview, go here.

Chair Ride

All I manage to do Saturday is eat Nini’s and pass out. But this lack of any real activity means I’m ready when the evening comes around. This time I head up to start out with Topher where he, Foster and Morty are. We get in some Wii bowling and baseball before heading out around 11 to the bar. This is where we almost kill Topher. As we’re walking down the hill from his place on Vallejo, we find an office chair that someone has put out on the sidewalk to be thrown away. We believe that there is no better purpose for this chair than to put Topher on it and push him down the hill. I’ve often wondered, while watching any movie or show with jackass-like stunts, why they would do something like that. I now know that after a few drinks, when you find a chair on a hill in the city, there’s several things that normally wouldn’t seem like a good idea that you’ll probably go for.

As Topher gets on the chair, the wheels don’t seem to move too fast, so Morty grabs the back of the chair and gives Topher a running push start down the hill. The chair starts to fly. As it picks up speed, he attempts to steer/slow it down by putting his feet out, but it’s almost going too fast at this point for that to work. He hits a flat part of the sidewalk before it dips again, this time almost spinning the chair around so he’s heading down the hill backwards. He manages to avoid this, but I’m still quite concerned that he’s not going to be able to stop the chair before he flies off the sidewalk at the bottom of the hill.

Foster’s close to running after him, when a brief lull in the speed helps him get his feet under him and stop the chair. As he stands up, the wheels and legs separate from the main portion of the chair, further confirming that had the chair gone to pieces mid ride, Topher definitely could have spent the better part of his Saturday evening in a hospital. On the rest of our trek, we stop outside Matrix to pick up FSU and her contingent of friends, apparently not thrilled with the older yuppie crowd there. We head to City.

At the bar, Chris is tending and Morty pays for the first round before cutting out. Apparently his nerves are still a bit shot from watching Topher careen down the hill. I step outside to smoke, and get about 2 minutes into that before Chris sticks his head out the window and yells at me to move down the block. When I come back in, he explains how my preferred spot actually blows back a considerable amount of the kind smell back into the bar, and while he likes Reggae music, he doesn’t want the back bar at City smelling like an Amsterdam coffee shop. He yells at me for having told me this numerous times before, but I guess he doesn’t feel too badly about it as he buys me my next round.

As FSU and I follow Topher and Foster across the bar, we hear a group of girls expressing disappointment…apparently they thought the two were on the way over to talk to them, and really they were just picking a new bar position. The remarks from the girls are both let down and sarcastic, and I can’t tell which is getting the better of them. By the end of the night, Foster has moved on, and FSU, Topher, myself and the twins pass on the ridiculous line at Orgasmica and head back to bowl some more.

After bowling, as we’re walking back across town, I need something to eat and decide either Shell or Chevron will have something. We encounter a girl standing outside the Shell station, and she tells us that the guy at the Chevron station was ignoring her while he was on the phone. We approach the booth at the Shell station, and in an almost unbelievable moment, the attendant tells us that he can sell us cigarettes but no food or drinks, basically informing the three of us that killing ourselves with cancer sticks is totally fine, but he can’t help us sop up any of the alcohol in our stomach or prevent us from starving. We decide to go back across to the Chevron station where the attendant, still on the phone, lets us know he can sell us food. This girl is hilarious as her eyes light up. She thinks it’s Christmas as she gets some Mrs. Fields cookies and leaves contentedly. What she was doing out in the Marina, around 3:30 am, by herself, buying Mrs. Field’s cookies from a gas station is beyond me.

I have to settle for a knock off cupcake that is nothing like a Hostess.

Next up...Immortal Technique.

Biedrins!

Following a Warriors win on Friday night, and the finishing of the Bar exam for Gavroche, he and I head up to the city for some mayhem. Little do we know just how much mayhem is about to ensue. When we get up to the city it’s about drinking time and we head to Bus Stop to meet up with Topher and a few others. And there, in front of Bus Stop, is a “bouncer” with a rope across the doorway. Gavroche and I wait for a second, thinking he’ll let us in as the crowd inside the bar is sparse, but he just ignores us. After a few girls walk past us, he asks the guy, “Hey, is this a private party?” I start laughing, which the guy doesn't like. The doorman tells us that the place is being audited by ABC. He and I stand there for a minute trying to figure out what that stands for before deciding on Alcohol Beverage Committee or something like that (Alcohol Board of Control?) We step away from the door and start making calls, and he lets like four other people in. Gavroche is convinced that this is anti-semitism at work.

All of a sudden, Topher’s inside, we try our luck at the door again and get accepted. But I’ve already called Maurod, who’s on his way, so it’s a quick in and out. We step to the bar, it’s shots of vodka and Patron, and then Maurod’s there and we’re gone. Topher’s girlfriends give us quizzical looks as we say goodbye hastily to all the people we had just hastily said hello to. Maurod takes us to meet up with E at the I. E’s outside and in high spirits when we show up, and inside, I get to point out to Gavroche the “Eve”/whatever her name is girl who got in my face a weekend or two ago. Things are pretty standard for a Friday night until the music stops so everyone in the place can sing happy birthday to one of the girls. This prompts Gavroche to suggest that the name of this post be “A Stripper’s Birthday.” But the night is young yet.

Outside on the sidewalk, I’m looking over Gavroche’s shoulder at this girl who makes eye contact with me. She looks at me and says, “You’re _____.” My only response is, “you don’t know me” to which she replies, “You went to SM/HS.” Check and mate good chum, so she does know me. I stare blankly and she tells me she’s Alison Weil, a girl who ran cross country and was a year or two below me. She glares a bit before going to get in a cab, and before I can say, “hey! What’s going on? Long time no see!” Then Valla comes down the street, apparently out testing the Broadway waters on their own. Next thing I know, Topher has come over solo from the Marina to the I.

After two drinks there, it’s time to make a jump. But we run into a dilemma here…one of our options was PatS, who previously indicated an evening with girls out at Holy Cow. Another option was FSU, who indicated her opinion that the Holy Cow sucks, and was going to be at Rye with a group of girls. As we look for the new spot, it turns out that FSU got done in by happy hour and didn’t make it out to Rye at all, and PatS is with a crew of guys and is so plastered when I talk to him on the phone that he makes no coherent sense.

We decide on a third party, Berg, who’s over with a few other high school people we know at Ambassador. Big surprise though, when we get there, all of those friends are gone and Berg’s the only one left. Standing by the door, we’re talking about the club when in walks Andris Biedrins. With a 7 foot wingspan, expensive suit, crew of guys and gel spiked hair, he walks in and can’t possibly be anyone but Biedrins. Gavroche decides we need to seek him out, and when we do find him, he’s at the upstairs bar. Luckily for Gavroche, he paid attention to his parents, and as a result, can walk right up to Biedrins and start speaking Russian with him. The friends aren’t sure how to take this, and one of them, who Gavroche dubs a “Moscow asshole” basically tells him to get lost. The other one tells him not to worry about the first guy, and that Biedrins in chill. Chill or not, we get into a few shots, let Gavroche spin some more Russian for the man, and then make ourselves scarce. As I give him a handshake on my way out, I drunkenly mumble something about hoping he gets better soon.

And there you have our Friday night. It was much cooler than kicking it at a frat party with players from the college team like we did back at SC. It wasn't quite as cool as The Wire. But it was Biedrins! Just be sure that if you see him, you have someone to speak Russian.

February's Films of Fancy (11)

Even a leap February couldn't keep the movies on track. From the Super Bowl (atta way Giants!), to birthdays (cheers Hayley, Gavroche, Jean and Marc), random nights in the city, Skylark and a TMTS show at the Great American, movies just took their rightful backseat. Unfortunately, what I lacked in quantity, I did not manage to make up in quality. There were quite a few letdowns this month, which doesn't usually happen. Some obvious classics, but I'm not going to bother to link to the ones that let me down.

6: The Hunting Party
10: American Psycho
11: Moonstruck
12: Panic in Needle Park
16: The Kingdom
18: Flashdance
19: Gone Baby Gone
20: Trade
23: Gattaca
26: The Power of One
27: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Statue Thrown

{for all music related articles, see .Evolving. Music}
In their first return to the Bay since the Bimbo's 365 show, Throw Me the Statue performed at the Great American Music Hall last night as part of the week-long city-wise Noise Pop event. Sharing the stage with Birdmonster and Stellastarr*, TMTS put on a very solid show, despite the absence of their rhythm guitar player. Taking the stage around 9, they started out with a very tripped out version of "Written In Heart Signs, Faintly." While the album version of this song is very simple and melancholy, this new stage version has brought in other elements including a drum loop that amps up the energy, while still allowing an eerie feeling through Reitherman's words and Goldman's backup vocals. Following this, the crowd was applauding, but not sure what they were about to see. A good portion of the crowd had come for Stellastarr*, so this Throw Me the Statue stuff was new to them. And with that rendition, they weren't quite sure what this band was going to be about. For the rest of the concert review, click here.

The Proof

My evenings usually do pretty well when they start out with a trip to Beirut. So when Chaz suggests that we start playing at 6, I'm a little nervous, a little excited, and not at all drunk. Over the next three hours between myself, Hessica, one of her friends and Chaz, the nervous goes away, the excitement gets ramped up, and the idea of playing Beirut with mixed drinks in the cups instead of beer goes a long way towards getting me ready to go. At 9, Glace shows up from work to take the faded Chaz home to shower and clean up before we head to the city. At 10:30, I'm still waiting for them to come back.

Once I'm picked up, we head into the city for round 2 of Morty and JK's birthday celebration. This time it's bar style at 83 Proof in the SOMA. And if I thought Friday night was a high school reunion, I wasn't even close to prepared for Saturday...All of the same people from Friday make reappearances, added to that is Tara, who, I didn't know for the past two months since I've met her that she went to San Mateo as well, Chris Y, who I don't think I've seen since graduation, Seiff, Maurit, and more. At a little after 12ish I think it's time to do some dancing, I convince Jarles of the same and we head over to the Rickshaw on Van Ness and Fell.

We're moving there to meet up with Jacks, Za, McButter, Margo, Hayley and Ev. But when we get there, the bouncer wants a cover. It's almost 1 at this point and there's no way that I'm paying a cover for an hour of dancing. I call Za, tell her the story, and in two minutes she's out talking to the bouncer who nods and waves us in. Another vote for the "who you know" train of thought. Inside, it's packed, about 200 degrees and full of sweaty people dancing everywhere. Almost every drink I have is spilled on or around me, and after about 15 minutes of dancing, I'm drenched, literally drenched in sweat. I'm using my tshirt to wipe my forehead and the back of my shirt is soaked through. I make a mental note that I can't feel my toe.

As they're closing the club, I'm in the street with the rest burning. No troubles there, although I think just about everyone out there knows where it's coming from. It's at this moment that I remember my card and open tab, which I'm grateful and quite frankly stunned that I manage to do. It's now time for a Crepe stand run.

We're waiting on some crepes when two girls approach two other girls and a fight almost ensues. As their voices raise, the crepe guy looks out of his cart and snaps at them to move it along. One girl looks on the verge of tears while her friend tells the other two to fuck off. I think I'm going to see my second brawl of the month, but it settles and they move along. Then I get involved in my first brawl of the month.

As Chaz drives us home, Glace decides to ruthlessly attack me in the backseat, attempting to cause bodily harm and in the process steal my hat. I manage to subdue her, but the caged beast that she is, she starts biting and scratching and trying to take the hat. It takes some serious rib tickles and a good deal of wrist grabs to get her settled and back into the front seat. I wake up this morning with scratches and several sore spots that I wonder about the origin of until I remember this whole biting thing. Next time I'll just try knocking her unconscious.

Tequila Heights

Friday night is Morty's and JK's birthday dinner celebration. I get to Topher's around 7:30 to start playing Wii. Morty and his lady show up, ChengJ, Gies and Alli. Then comes Malia, who I haven't seen in ages. I need to leave the apartment several times as Topher has provided wine and cheese that smells like something died in his refrigerator. We realize we'll need a few cars so people start heading down to grab cabs while ChengJ and I wait for Maurod.

We get over to the site of the dinner at Tortilla Heights where it's a madhouse. Vision already impaired, I for some reason think that ChengJ and I doing a shot of Patron before we sit down to dinner sounds like a great idea. I feel like I'm in Cancun only it's raining outside and I've never actually been to Cancun. I think the moment I realized I could take shots of Patron at random was a very bad one. At the restaurant we're joined by JacZ, Morty's younger sister, Sutton and one of his friends. Determined to drink my way through dinner, I shun offers of food thrown my way. I adjourn from my rodka in order to go outside for some air. Outside, I hear passer bys with the obligatory, "it smells like..."

Midway through dinner, after JK gets a pomegranate margarita (hey, it's his birthday), I realize that I'd better eat something. I gnaw through a quesadilla before pounding my drink as fast as possible. This doesn't improve my situation. The group has gotten slightly rowdy at this point and what was a sit down dinner devolves into 20 or so drunk people playing musical chairs in the middle of a restaurant. I'm informed that we're leaving, but, being concerned about the direction the party is heading, I say my goodbyes and jump in a cab.

I head down to Double Dutch (or it might have been Beauty's or something, I'm not sure at this point) where Za, McButter, Xena and Windy are dancing. Xena's assaulted by some girl, but that's nothing that I don't see anytime she's out...failing to find food, I remember staggering down McButter's hallway for her to put me to bed in the other bedroom. I wake up in the morning, completely lost, jumping out of bed with my mind screaming, "how did you get this trashed and not know where you are on a weeknight? You're late for work! You didn't set an alarm." I'm halfway into my clothes before I realize where I am, that it's Saturday, and I'm not late for anything. I get back in bed, spark, and drift away again. After waking up, it's down to Nini's where another item on the gauntlet falls (Pasta Marinara this time). Up next, more Saturday city debauchery. Check out the picture of the 7 of us...that's a high school reunion!

Throw Me the Statue Take Away Shows

Odds are that if you noticed that I continue to pump Throw Me the Statue and longtime high school/MMM/Crystal Springs Uplands alum friend Scott Reitherman, you’ve probably come to the realization that I’m not going to stop now. As hinted at in “Fries with Your Take-Away?",” three Take-Away shows by TMTS and hosted by La Blogotheque were released yesterday. “Lolita,” the reigning choice for first single, “About to Walk,” and a Guided By Voices cover of “My Valuable Hunting Knife” were all released. I think the simplistic style worked both positively and negatively in these videos…it helped bring the persona of the band and the laid back attitude they carry to the masses, at the same time it’s a bit less polished in the performance. But what do you expect acoustically on a ferry crossing the Puget Sound? And they’ve all already blown up…close to 1,000 views of each video within 24 hours. Be on the lookout for Scott and TMTS at the Great American Music Hall next Thursday, the 28th, in San Francisco.

Throw Me the Statue - Lolita
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Throw Me The Statue - About to walk
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Top Model Time

It's alright...you can give me a hard time...I like ANTM. Doesn't bother me to say. And I won't go into details of why I like it like I did last year. I'll just tell you they're back and ready to take a run at another season of photo shoots, drama and Tyra playing a cross between a runway model, a judge and a sympathetic sister. This year it looks like we're going to have as contestants, among others, a mother who is drinking her own breast milk in order to keep herself lactating while away from her baby (she said it, not me), and an ex Mormon...As always, we have the first episode to thank for a variety of excellent sound bytes...

The Never Give-Up Award: "This is my 8th time auditioning, but with my determination, I'm not gonna give up." - Shalynda, 23, Washington, D.C. Good for you Shalynda...keep up that determination.

Most Improved Award: "Since last season, I've been working on myself, going to therapy every Tuesday." - Marvita, San Francisco. No sarcasm here, glad she's getting well...she had some serious issues.

Line Used by the Most Models: "I'm so happy to be here Tyra, you don't understand." I think, after 10 seasons of having 30 girls tell her this, Tyra probably gets it.

Most Naive Thing Said by a Contestant: "Do you want me to pose?" - Kim. No Kim, they want you to be America's Next Top Model without posing.

A is A...the Award for the most redundant statement: "I'm really happy about that because I studied fashion, I love fashion, and I like to create beauty because I'm beautiful." - Shaya, 18, Country Club Hills, IN That's good Shaya, you should see how many good Shaya things you can make, as you're busy being Shaya, making good things.

Most Confident Award: "I have the attitude, I have the spirit, you walk like you own the runway." - Dominique, 23, Columbus, OH

Fries With Your Take-Away?

{for complete music related posts, see Evolving Music}

One of the most satisfying (or least, depending on who and when you ask) aspect of listening to an artist is discovering how that artist sounds live in concert. The instrumentation, the lighting, the changes in the songs all brought out for live performances can usually significantly change the experience. But concert tickets are expensive, bands tour, but usually in limited locations and venues (or for folks living in places like Idaho, maybe never and nowhere), and even in an amphitheater, there's a certain feeling of disconnect from the band. In conjunction with this is the fact that it usually takes some sort of "unplugged" event to get an artist who would normally not be, to go acoustic. Mathieu Saura, a 27 year old from Paris who goes by the name Vincent Moon, has found the solution.

Fueled by passion for music and cinema, Saura launched Take-Away shows in 2006. A collection of now over 80 music videos, created by musicians, featuring them playing a song in a stripped down, improvised version as they walk through public places and streets, the Takeaway shows are now experiencing a wealth of attention from the media. Saura has managed to mix the music video form with the internationalist appeal of music to bring artists from all over the world and all different musical styles together. These impromptu videos, taken usually around the band's hometown or in the streets of Paris, offer a very real and low-tech look at a variety of artists, and provide a very different backdrop for the songs usually associated with CDs and radio airplay.
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Set to Jet

After all the hit and miss attempts on Friday night, Saturday went exactly as planned. After falling asleep during the slam dunk contest, I wake up around 9:30 realizing that I need to make something of myself before it becomes too late. A shave and shower does the trick and I'm on my way up shortly after 10, rodka in tow. First stop is with E at the I...feels like we've been missing each other consistently, so even though we're both close to stone sober on the first stop, it's good to see him.

A few weeks ago, I was out with him and a dancer came up to me. She asked me my name, and when I told her, she said, "My name is ____, but sometimes I go by Eve." Luckily, before I had to be mean or rude (I really don't want to talk, but feel like an ass saying so), E showed up and she shooed off. Well, she comes up to me again on Saturday night and asks me my name. I ask her hers, and when she tells me, I say, "but last time you told me it was Eve." This is my attempt at humor. It doesn't work. She actually gets offended, those last struggling braincells convinced that I've "confused her with someone else." I'm laughing the whole thing off until she snaps in my face and goes crazy about how I don't know her, I'm putting her down, etc, etc, etc. I tell her, "I apologize, I confused you with someone else." She glares at me. I tell her again, "I apologize, what more would you like?" At this point I put on the stone, "this is all you're going to get from me" face, and she finally leaves. I tell E when he returns that he's no longer allowed to leave me alone in there.

Now I'm two drinks deep, over the scene, and getting repeated texts from Za telling me to get down to Jet Setter at the Cat Club. I jump in my car and drive back that way, and upon showing up, it's Za and McButter, T and Tr, Margot, Lina from the Carol and someone I hadn't met before, Kramer. We immediately adjourn to the smoking alley. Kramer likes my cigarette case...then loves it when I get it opened. Twenty minutes later, after claiming to want to dance, we get inside, look around and find that Za and McButter are nowhere to be found. I get a text that they left, which they apparently did without telling anyone because they knew they would be heckled if they had. Kramer tells me, "c'mon, didn't you know that lesbian couples turn into pumpkins at 12:15?" The rest of us head to the hip-hop room. When I ask Kramer if she could use a drink, if she'd like a shot, and she says yes, her refusal to name what kind only ends with a shot of Patron. On the second round, I ask the bartender to pour two shots...1 of them split into two shot glasses. She hands us three full shots. Great.

Back in the alley, this woman keeps intimating that she's "down" with my smoking, telling me she's, "got my back," and then flipping out when a guy who works at the bar comes through the alley telling people it's time to finish the drinks and head home. I'm on water at this point, so it's no big deal, and I palm the rest of the j. She gives me a thumbs up sign. Kramer looks at me with a "who the fuck is this chick?" look on her face. I have no idea. We're kicked out at that point and I drop off T and Tr and Lina from the Carol before heading home. Up next...Skylark for some Monday mayhem!

Missed Connections Night

Friday night turns into a perfect storm of failed attempts to see people. Every try at meeting up with someone fell apart, but all of it ended in a good way. I get up to Topher's place where Wii bowling is turning into the replacement of Beirut. I view this as both good and bad for different reasons. I tended to drink more when playing Beirut. On the bad side of that, I tended to drink more. I also view Beirut as having a more head to head competitive element of skill and physical activity. After waxing me for two games straight, we go to Mauna Loa where we're supposed to meet up with ChengJ and two girls. ChengJ's there, but with girls who have guys with them. We decide to make a jump to meet E at the I, and I finally get the word that he's on the way.

Topher and I get going and get out of the cab in front. Bouncer tells me E isn't there, but to head on in. Dagmar gets drinks and Topher looks green in the face. I tell him to face the bar and chill out. Still no E. I hit him up and apparently, down at 7 Mi, some jackass has decided to confront him. For any of you that have met E, you know that he's harmless, right until you get him heated. 7 Mi is his home away from home (and the I of course), and the way he describes it to me, "this guy didn't know where the fuck he was. I was tempted to close the doors and take care of business."

As soon as we hear he's been permanently detained at the 7 Mi, we finish our drinks and decide to meet up with Damie at Gu's birthday at Horizon. Only, the minute we're in the door and find them, they're packing up to leave. I think for a second they're joking, but then, nope, they're serious. We leave there and head back to the apartment where we part ways.

So how do you follow up an evening where every time you attempt to meet up with someone, something goes wrong? You go out and randomly run into people you had no intention of seeing. You wake up and decide to head to Nini's by yourself and run into a guy who approaches and knows you from high school who you've completely forgotten, and English Stew with a few others sitting down to eat. Then you head to Bonne Sante on your way home and and run into PatS. Very odd.

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

We've made it. If you're like me, you've survived a potentially broken toe on Monday, a dinner with your Grandparents, a Wednesday night of Beirut and a pretty un-eventful Valentine's Day leading into today, when you're ready to tackle what's left of the work week and go full force into a three day weekend. All that being said, you're probably nothing like me in any of these regards, and have your own tales of the week you've been through. Maybe someday you can share those with me. For now, here are some things to think about on this beautiful Friday...

1) Think you'd enjoy needing to go to the bathroom, walking outside in the snow and using an outhouse?
2) Who would you rather have batting clean up: Barry Bonds or Bengie Molina?
3) Have you done yourself a favor and downloaded the new Raindayz Remixes of In Rainbows from AmpLive?
4) There are 28 missed connections today with the word "Valentine" in them.
5) How much is a dead pet from your past being brought back to life worth to you, in dollars?
6) What are you going to spend your tax refund on?
7) What percentage of the money you're paying in taxes this year is represented by your refund?
8) If you had a choice between the O'Neill's in San Mateo and the O'Neill's in San Francisco, where would you go and why?
9) Wonder what Dave Matthews and the Dalai Lama will have to say to each other. Wonder if Dave'll hand him a spliff...
10) If you could leave work, right now, and start your weekend, but you had to take 7 back to back shots of Patron to do so, would you?

Cheers people, enjoy the weekend!

At the End of the Rainbow

{for music related posts, see Evolving Music}

The mash-up world, following the release and enormous publicity of Danger Mouse's Grey Album, has erupted. Following the illegal mixing and matching of Jay-Z and The Beatles, artists coming together to mash has blossomed into a full industry. Jay-Z was one of the first to take advantage on a massive scale when he collaborated with Linkin Park for Collision Course. Now both the underground and commercial aspects of mash-ups have grown, and this new sub genre has invited a host of interesting questions regarding rights and distribution where two artists are involved. What makes the questions more interesting is, as in the case of Danger Mouse, when an artist goes out on their own to mash others' music. But what happens when the remixed music is free, and started out free? Somehow, it seems lately that whenever we write about distribution rights, marketing and new music models, Radiohead is omnipresent. This time, it wasn't Danger Mouse, and it wasn't using a collection of songs as heavily protected as the Beatles' library.

A few months ago, we talked about Radiohead releasing their newest album online in a "pay what you will" format. The discussions have been endless in terms of what this new model means for the record industry. The limits of Radiohead's generosity were tested recently when AmpLive, who most will know from his amazing work as one half of the Zion I duo out of Oakland, came out with a new mash-up. AmpLive, after listening to In Rainbows, decided that he had to have a crack at re-mixing the tracks and adding hip-hop artists like Charli 2na and Del of Hieroglyphics over Thom Yorke's lyrics. He started offering these mixes up under the title Rainydayz Remixes, and sure enough, Radiohead's major distributer, Warner, sent a cease and desist for unauthorized mixes.

That's when Radiohead, their take on the music industry and distribution rights, and their sensibilities as musicians stepped in to the discussion. Never one to do what the labels tell them, Radiohead has now sanctioned AmpLive's remixes, allowing him to distribute them as long as they are free (which was his intention initially), and apparently giving the musician stamp of approval to a mash-up album that carries Radiohead's distinctive sound while taking the music of the band into previously uncharted hip-hop territory. After four listens through the album last night, there's little wonder that it got the band's stamp of approval...it's phenomenal, unexpected, and a fantastic companion piece to the original.

Clocking in at a sparse 8 tracks and 25 minutes, what Rainydayz lacks in length it makes up for in depth. Following the 30 second intro, the remaining 7 songs are a lush assortment of sounds and moods. "Videotapez" is a slick chop of "Video Tape," with a solid hip-hop beat and an original Del verse. Amp uses the piano portion of the song as the loop, and Thom Yorke's scratched lyrics provide the chorus. "Nudez" takes on "Nude," using the airy vocals of the original and lacing them over a thumping bass line. The song takes on an original chorus and provides a Too Short verse before transitioning into a more laid back beat with Yorke on the fade out.

For the rest of this review, see Pot of Gold on Evolving Music.

This Little Piggy Got Whacked

We've all stubbed our toes. It's one of the most painful and infuriating things you can do. It makes you grab your foot and curse yourself for being a complete moron, all at the same time. Chaz caught me limping around last night and asked what I did. When I told him I stubbed my toe, he goes, "ouch, when?" When I tell him it was over 12 hours earlier, he's skeptical. But when I show him what happened, his response is, "that's the worst stubbed toe I've ever seen." I'll tell ya something...it doesn't feel nice.