The Enthusiasts' Radio Hour

Questions for some big time comics geeks?

2012-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

I am proud to be one third of The Hour Cosmic (along with Matthew Meylikhov and Chad Bowers), a new comics podcast from Multiversity Comics and Tell Me Something dot org. Each episode, we will be soliciting questions from you, our (hopeful) listeners.

So, anything you want to know about comic books?

iTunes link coming soon.

All Caught Up With...Black Flag, Part I: Tangents

2012-01-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

So, a month has passed since I started this project, and I can say that I have come out on the other side of my experience with Black Flag. If that sounds particularly vague, you're right. I was thoroughly surprised by a lot of what i found. Before i get to my findings next week, a few tangents:

Tangent #1 - New Ideas > Old Ideas

I'm not breaking any new ground with this, but I think it is important to realize just how monumentally new all of this was when it was happening. "Nervous Breakdown" is a song that practically caused riots when it first debuted, and yet, 15 years later, this could've been a minor alternative radio hit.

Listening to a lot of the Black Flag stuff, i was shocked at how not shocked i was by it. This was punk rock, a little faster at times (a lot slower at times), but not all that different than the hundreds of punk bands i have encountered before. Again, i know this is because i grew up in a post-Black Flag world - i was 9 years old in 1991 - "The Year Punk Broke" - so most of my music-obsessed life came after you could see Nirvana videos during the day on MTV and hear "Blitzkrieg Bop" on classic rock radio.

So, a lot more time was spent lowering my expectations (of having my mind blown) and trying instead to judge the material based on merit alone.

Tangent #2 - Importance Does Not Equal Greatness

Black Flag are no doubt an important band, and would be even if they never released anything after Damaged. They were truly trailblazers in the DIY ethic - they formed their own label, booked their own tours, retrofitted their own instruments, made their own flyers, etc. Musically, they slowed punk down, let jazz influence seep in, weren't afraid to admit they loved metal (and, in Ginn's instance, the Grateful Dead).

But one of the impulses i fight against as a listener is equating importance with greatness. This is tough; on one hand, i want to celebrate pioneers justly. No one should think that Nickelback is doing anything important or new - they are just mining the worst parts of grunge and making more money than any of the bands they're aping did. On the other hand, there are many bands that aren't reinventing the wheel, but making incredibly great music. They shouldn't be penalized for not starting a new genre, they should be celebrated for making good music. And finally, there are bands who did important things without making life-changing musical contributions. Link Wray's "Rumble" is one of the first uses of distortion on an electric guitar. This is important. "Rumble" is a cool song. "Rumble" is not "Strawberry Fields Forever," or "My Girl" or even "Rise Above" - it is a cool song that influenced people by its sound, not its merit as a song. Link Wray is not a great artist, but an important one.

Tangent #3 - The Picture Frame Argument

The following two paragraphs are taking from Ben Sisario's Doolittle, a book about the seminal Pixies album that you really should buy. Thompson, mentioned below, is Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black aka Black Francis:

The plastic bag from our trip to the record store the day before lies crumpled beside him on the seat, and he holds up I’m Your Man, the Leonard Cohen CD he bought along with Doolittle. The cover design of I’m Your Man is ridiculously simple, just black on top with LEONARD COHEN in big, thin white letters, and a field of textureless gray on the bottom. In a passport-size black and white photo, Cohen stands in black shades, his left hand in his pocket and his right holding a half-eaten banana. Thompson looks at the cover and grins wide. “This album is sooo great,” he beams. Really? I say, embarrassingly ignorant of most of the Cohen catalog. He says something about how Cohen started off as a writer, a poet, and did some albums, and...He gives up and just sticks the CD in the machine, and it begins to play.

Released in 1988, it is a cold Eurosynth concoction, a prison made of neon. Cohen’s weary baritone sounds trapped there, the only sign of humanity. Thompson sees my puzzlement and smiles as though he’s letting me in on something. “Think of the production as just the frame around the picture,” he says, tracing a rectangle in the air. “And just look at the picture.”

To say that the Black Flag records sound like shit is an understatement. Now, granted, i heard them all digitally, so i don't know if the problem is the transfer from vinyl to digital, or if the problem is that they were poorly recorded. The comments of some seem to indicate the latter, but in many spots these are muddy messes or over-compressed/reverbed out. I'm trying to ignore the production/engineering and focus on the songs, but that isn't always so easy.

Tangent #4 - Separating art from artist

Henry Rollins is a guy i respect a lot, but reading Get in the Van has made me really, really dislike the way he wrote/thought during this time. He toggles between bullshit moral-relativism and self-hatred pretty much non-stop for 300 pages. You can see a real person peek out from underneath the ego every few pages, but much of what he is saying is just so boring and self-absorbed.

Similarly, Greg Ginn seems like a pretty insufferable guy as well - i mean, can anyone equal parts Dead Head and Dio fan be anything less than terrible to hang out with? The people in the band who seem the coolest are Dez Cadena (quit), Chuck Dukowski (kicked out), Bill Stephenson (quit after fighting with Ginn constantly), and Kira Roeseller (quit and pretty much verbally abused/sexually harassed by Rollins on the way out), also known as the people who no one really cares about. I think those people would tell a far more compelling version of the story than the two main guys, one of whom expresses his side of the story through masturbatory journals, and the other who keeps his comments terse and dismissive of the other members of the band.

So i am trying my damnedest to not let these grating personalities change the way i feel about the music they made as Black Flag. But it can't be helped when listening to Family Man and just wanting the two sides to stop being so boring separately and do something interesting together.

Come back next week for what I actually thought of their music.

Chuck Klosterman is stealing my thoughts

2012-01-24T06:50:00.000-08:00

I was planning on writing, basically, this article later on this week. Stop stealing my thoughts, Klosterman!

The Pitfalls of Indie Fame (from Grantland).

Extra Curricular, Part 2

2012-01-20T11:11:00.000-08:00

A round up of all the stuff i've written on other sites since when i last recapped, back in November. I'll try and do this every few months, for the .3 people who give a shit:

Podcasts:

The Hour Cosmic - a new comics podcast from Multiversity Comics that i'm a co-host on (with Chad Bowers and Matthew Meylikhov).

Music Writing:

The Waster Reviews: Big Wake - Big Wake

Comics Writing:

Features: James Robinson's Justice League of America, Multiversity 101: Out With the Old, In With The New? (with David Harper), Multiversity Lights the Menorah (Nights 4 and 8), Multiversity's Advent Calendar (Days 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24)

Reviews: The Shade #2, Justice League #4, My Greatest Adventure #3, Superboy #4, Supergirl #4, Batman Odyssey (Vol.2) #4, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (Vol. 2) #3, Batwoman #5, O.M.A.C. #5, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5, Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #4, Legion: Secret Origin #2, Red Lanterns #4

Mignolaversity (David Harper and I tackle all the new Mike Mignola-related releases): BPRD: Hell on Earth Russia #3, BPRD: Hell on Earth Russia #4/Dark Horse Presents #7, Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1

This is a Blackout - Don't Let it Go to Waste

2012-01-18T05:02:00.000-08:00

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5 Song Shuffle, Vol. 19: MLK Day Edition

2012-01-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

My iTunes library, as of January 16, 2012 , has 26,820 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the eighteenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Track #1 - "Bread and Wine" - Peter Gabriel

This is from Passion, Gabriel's soundtrack to Martin Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ. This is Gabriel in full-on world music mode, with very few hints of his prog-rock '70s or MTV '80s. Lots of pan-flute and not-so-great-in-2012-sounding synthesizers. The record works incredibly well with the film (which, if you haven't seen it, is great, despite Harvey Keitel being the most Brooklyn Israelite ever), but not every track works without the visuals, this one included.

Track #2 - "The Ugly Organist" - Cursive

This is why this feature can be frustrating - this is the first track on this fine album, also called The Ugly Organist, but this is just sound effects and a little organ setting the stage for the record. No substance here folks, move along.

Track #3 - "Leisurely Poison" - Stephen Malkmus

A B-side from, I think, his eponymous debut post-Pavement. The synths are way in front of the mix, there are some nonsensical lyrics, acoustic guitar and a drum machine beat and a fade out. An extremely minor song in the Malkmus catalog.

Track #4 - "The Christmas Song" - Arcade Fire

I haven't done my yearly de-checking of Christmas songs in my iTunes yet, and damn it, I have to listen to this trying to be funny version of Mel Torme's classic Christmas song. This is obnoxious. In fact, I'm going to delete this from my library right now, there is no need to ever hear this again. Ugh.

Track #5 - "Nothing Was Delivered (Take 1)" - Bob Dylan

This is from the A Tree With Roots fan-made compilation of the famous "basement tapes" Dylan made with the Band at his Woodstock home (aka Big Pink). The actually released Basement Tapes are shit on by "real" Dylan fans for not being authentic enough, and A Tree With Roots is the raw, unchanged catalog of that time. I like this version, but you can't beat the Byrds' version on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, especially the drum beat change in and out of the chorus.

Note: This might be the first time in doing this segment that all of these tracks were downloaded, and not a single one ripped from a CD. To be fair, I purchased all the tracks that are legally available to do so - the Dylan thing is a bootleg, and the Arcade Fire thing was a "gift" to fans. And I heard the Cursive album on CD when i was in college, but just purchased it a few years ago. Not that you care.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18

Playing Catch-Up With...

2012-01-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

When i recommitted to this blog last year, i promised a lot of regular features that have, frankly, fallen on their face. That is mainly because I have been writing music reviews for The Waster and comic reviews for Multiversity Comics, and not dedicating as much time as i would like to this blog. Well, a New Year is nothing if not an opportunity to make changes, and so i'm going to try to really bust my ass to do some more writing here. I have an interview tentatively set for this month with writer Ian Peel (author of The Unknown Paul McCartney) which will launch "McCartography," a look at all of Paul McCartney's solo albums/singles/weird one-offs, one or two at a time. I have a huge audio file of my chat with artist/musician David Heatley waiting to be turned into a two or three part conversation, and I plan on returning to the "You'd Be Surprised" and "Five Song Shuffle" series this week or next (don't quote me on that). But, last night i was inspired to start a new feature that i think will be fun for me and, hopefully, somewhat interesting for you guys.

So, i am pleased to announce the first of a new series called "Playing Catch-Up With..." - Playing Catch-Up with Black Flag.

In this feature, i will dive into a pop culture subject that i am not sufficiently knowledgeable in and take a month to really dig in deep and see what i've been missing. The first three i have planned are bands/artists, and then plan on taking three TV shows, then three film directors, and then three types of books, taking us through an entire year. Wonderful internet services like Netflix and Spotify make this much, much easier than before, as well as the wonderful public libraries in this great country. So, hopefully, this is something i can keep up with (ha!), and we'll all have fun. Or, i'll do it this month and that'll be it. Whatever, let's stay hopeful!

So, my first topic is Black Flag, the seminal hardcore band from Southern California. This month, i will:

(Finish) reading Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag by Stevie Chick
Re-read the Black Flag section in Michael Azerrad's wonderful Our Band Could Be Your Life.
Listen to every Black Flag release - studio, live, demos
Re-watch American Hardcore by Paul Rachman/Steven Blush
Watch Penelope Spheeris's The Decline of Western Civilization Part I
Read Henry Rollins's Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag
Watch Chuck Dukowski's appearance on Tomorrow
Do some selected listening from the key members' post-BF musical careers

At the end of the month, I will give a report of what i liked/didn't like, what i would recommend to a Flag neophyte (like i was mere weeks earlier), and if i felt it was worth my time.

So, if you see me violently lifting weights to get in Rollins shape, or talking about anarchy as a viable means of social change, or spray painting the four bars/flag logo, you know why.

Rise above,
Brian

Ten Records From Eleven Worth Twelve Bucks From Your Wallet

2012-01-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

I used to obsess over my year end list. This year, my other obsessions are taking up too much of my time to spend my usual time organizing and re-numbering and whatnot. So, instead, here are ten albums that I really love from this year that I feel are worth your time and money, a few pithy comments, plus one song to sample. This is not a definitive list, nor is it the best ten records released in 2011, or even necessarily my favorites from this past year - just ten records that I think should be heard. Be on the lookout for my 20-track "Best of 2011" mix to be posted here this week, possibly tomorrow.

Ten Records From Eleven Worth Twelve Bucks From Your Wallet

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

This album may have more ideas, instruments, and layers than the other nine albums combined, and those other nine albums are all brilliant. This is the fucking timpano of indie rock - everything you would expect, and more, is contained within. No record challenged my expectations or changed my opinion more over multiple listens than this one.

Wild Flag - Wild Flag

To call myself a fan of Sleater-Kinney would be fair, but i would never say that i was a superfan. However, i can say that i am becoming a superfan of Wild Flag, which features 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney. A record that nearly bursts at the seams from the enthusiasm, spirit, energy and melody contained within. I think it says a lot about how far i've come as a listener/feminist that it barely even registers that this is an all-female band. At one point, i'd have viewed that as novel, but i don't at all anymore. Just four great musicians making a devastatingly good album.

Danielson - Best of Gloucester County

This is the record on this list that will be the most decisive. Some people just can't get past Daniel Smith's voice. I'm not one of those people. To me, this is his best/most consistent record since Brother : Son (which is credited to Br. Danielson). And no, it isn't just here because it's a Jersey band.

John Vanderslice - White Wilderness

I am typically against records that feature a singer/songwriter and an orchestra - the idea is great, but the execution is never quite there. Except here; Vanderslice, a guy whose music many times i respect more than i like, nails this type of record - it still sounds like him, but it also uses the orchestra as more than just window dressing.

Yellow Ostrich - The Mistress

Always be weary of records that get a lot of hype before you hear them. I was set up to dislike this album because so many people seemed to really like it. But this is really, really good. The band uses their voices exceptionally well, and in unusual ways. This is the record i've spent the least amount of time with (despite having it for longer than many of the other albums on this list), and this has the potential to be a record that i forget about for years and years and rediscover at some point and kick myself for forgetting about it.

Mister Heavenly - Out of Love

This sounded too good to be true - Nick Diamonds from the Unicorns/Islands and Honus Honus from Man Man making a record together. When i heard the first song, i assumed i was right - however, move past that one song (and skip the reggae-ish one later on), and you have a fantastic record that harkens back to the late '50s/early '60s as easily as it does to the members' other bands. If only the album was also called Mister Heavenly, they could've had the rare band/album/song of the same name trifecta, Bad Company style.

TV Girl - Benny and the Jetts

I'm a sucker for great pop songs, and this EP is chock full of them. This is a band i can honestly say i have no idea how i found, but this EP has been one of the more constant records i've returned to this year when i just want to smile. In fact, the song below, from this EP, provided the theme music to the first episode of Expectations this summer...

The Roots - Undun

?uestlove can do no wrong in my book, and 2004 Brian would go apeshit if he knew that one day a Sufjan Stevens song would inspire a Roots record. The Roots keep getting better and better (which is almost unfair, as almost no peers try an eighth as hard as they do), and this concept album in reverse is stunning on listen #1 or #100.

Destroyer - Kaputt

When I first encountered Destroyer, I wrote the project off as a second rate Bowie wannabe. I was wrong. This album is by far my favorite by Dan Bejar (outside of his 2-3 songs per New Pornographers album, which, if collected, would probably be my favorite), and this is the definition of a "mature Brian" pick; if you had told me when i was 16 that i would love a record full of early-mid 80s cheesy synthesizers and saxophone, i'd have laughed in your face. But this set of songs really fits the style of production and is a really cohesive, great record.

Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

2011 was the year punk broke up (copyright some article i read about Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon splitting), but for me it was the year that i further dug my heels in the "punk" side of the field. This year i've refined my theory that everyone in the world is one of the three types of people: punk rockers, metal dudes or Deadheads. I'm a punk rocker, despite being totally not a punk rocker. What i mean is that i really value/love the sense of community, political awareness, DIY sensibility, and lack of fear that comes along with punk. And no record more so than David Comes to Life embodies all that is great about punk rock, nearly 40 years after it broke: this record is aggressive, intelligent, melodic, tells a story and doesn't let up. If i had to pick a best album of 2011, this would win.

Bonus Records/File Under "Full Disclosure:"

Unsung - The Paint

Steven Miller, aka Unsung, is a visual artist who makes music, and the sensibility of his painting bleeds through to his music in a way that makes it some of the most unique hip hop, or really any sort of pop music, that i know. Thought provoking, melodic, intricate, and unwilling to bend toward trends.

Reason it didn't make the main list - Steve is a friend, and i once tried to put out one of his records via my now-dead label.

Jeremy Dubs Presents Speak!

An album mostly made up of Harry Nilsson covers, produced using a vintage analog synthesizer. That alone should make your salivate and seek out this record. But the best song here is an original, and Dubs puts his own spin on each song to create this beautiful, dense, (almost) Christmas album.

Reason it didn't make the main list - i did some promotional work for this album via Dubs's label, The Bureau.

The Bishoffs - Head Caves In

Catchy as shit, completely un-self conscious, and simply fun, the Bishoffs debut EP pales only in comparison to their live show, the most fun i've had seeing a band in years. YEARS!

Reason it didn't make the main list - i interviewed David Heatley (guitar/vocals) earlier this year for a piece i still haven't finished/posted for this blog, and have since become friendly with him. NOTE: The video below is a Heatley solo joint, but is very similar in tone to the Bishoffs. Also, a Bergen County native!

Paley & Francis - Paley & Francis

It should surprise no one that a Black Francis release makes my list. However, his first collaborative album with, another Brian favorite, Reid Paley, finds him writing some of flat out great songs. But the best part of this album is that it, hopefully, serves as a bit of a coming out party for Reid Paley, one of the finest songwriters around. The songs that Paley takes the mic for here shine the brightest for me, and hopefully with having the Black Francis name attached to it, will get some more people to take notice of his three equally great solo records (and speed up the completion/release of his fourth record).

Reason it didn't make the main list - I've known/done some work for Mr. Francis for the past 6 years, and consider Mr. Paley a friend. NOTE: This is a live version, seek out the studio version as well - both are great in their own way.

Farewell, Sweet Prince

2011-12-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

It is official - the Miami Marlins have signed Jose Reyes to a six year, $106 million dollar deal. I have long threatened that while Erin is still in a "recovering from birthing a human" state, i will sign the birth certificate for our child, male or female, reading "Jose Reyes Salvatore." Well, those plans are out the window now (how does R.A. Dickey Salvatore sound to you guys?), and i have extremely mixed feelings about this whole business.

First of all, giving 6 years to a shortstop is sort of ridiculous - especially one who defensively has been trending downward over the past few years. In addition, Reyes has had a fair share of leg problems - not as bad as many would lead you to believe - but still more than i would feel comfortable with, when signing to that length of a contract.

And contracts like that are precisely why the Mets are in the position that they are in this morning. David Wright signed a very fair extension a few years ago, and has been worth the money spent on him. But, let's focus on the other big free agent contracts the Mets have given out lately:

4 years to Jason Bay
7 years to Johan Santana
4 years to Oliver Perez
4 years to Luis Castillo
3 years with a vesting option to K-Rod

Each one of those deals has come back to bite the Mets in the ass for one reason or another. And, invariably, each one is too long. That was the general plan for the Omar Minaya-led Mets - guarantee more years that the competition. And for Minaya, that sort of worked - especially since now it is his predecessor, Sandy Alderson, who has to deal with those problems.

So, i get why the Mets wanted to limit their years on Reyes. However, it is Jose Fucking Reyes - maybe the most exciting player i've ever had the privilege to watch play baseball. Reyes hitting a triple is one of the most beautiful sights in the world. If i live to one hundred, i may never see another player have as much fun on the field as Reyes does. He was not only one of my favorite Mets of all time, but one of my favorite players of all time (along with Ken Griffey Jr in his original Mariners years and Keith Hernandez pre-Indians).

If there was one player that i would be fine with eating 2 years or shit for, it is Reyes. And i think that is exactly what his six years are going to look like for Reyes - two years of dominance, two years of above-average production, and two years of a sad shell of his former self. 2014 is the year that a lot of Mets fans throw out as when the tide will turn in our favor, so when the Mets are hitting their stride, Reyes will be starting his decline. But instead of being able to pull for him in his declining years, i will now have to either root against him or, as the brilliant Patrick Flood put it, "wish Reyes well 144 times a season and nothing but bad hops the other 18." It used to be every day during the baseball season, i knew i'd be able to watch Reyes and, even when Mike Pelfrey was starting, that made the game worth watching.

And now, he will be wearing this every game:

Both the thought and the image make me want to puke.

Eddie Trunk and The Salvatore Scale

2011-11-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

One of the television shows i find myself watching a lot is That Metal Show on VH1 Classic. This is odd, because i have very little affinity for most of the music they feature on the show (not to say i don't respect it; i just rarely listen to those artists). However, what i enjoy about it is that the show is done by music fans for music fans; the discussions that take place on the show come from a place of passion and excitement, and it is one of the few shows on TV that is all about passion. It's funny, while the internet has become an institution dedicated to anyone being able to express their opinions, TV is still pretty much closed off in that regard. Movies, TV, music, all bring in literally billions of dollars a year for the same companies that own television stations, and yet there are very few shows dedicated to intelligent discussion of these types of media. That Metal Show is a place where people who are fans of hard rock/heavy metal can turn to hear people having an actual discussion about music. This is rare, and should be celebrated.

The host of the show is Eddie Trunk; as a fellow denizen of the Garden State, i have been familiar with Eddie via his radio show for 15+ years. One of Eddie's soapboxes is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - he feels that the Hall discriminates against heavy music and is run by (my words not his) snobs. He also makes a claim that selling a ton of records should factor in there somewhere.

Now, while i am sympathetic to Trunk's argument, i think we need to pull back a little and discuss what the Hall is, what it is supposed to be, and what can be done to improve it. Let me also say off the bat that i am not trying to bag on Eddie Trunk; he and i simply disagree on some of this stuff (we agree on a lot of it, too), and hearing him recently talk about this got me thinking about this issue.

From the official website, here is what appears to be their mission statement: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum exists to collect, preserve and interpret the impact rock has made on our world.

First of all, let's call bullshit on this statement. If that was truly the purpose of the institution, then it would be displays on the supposed connection between heavy metal and suicide, or the West Memphis Three, or other academic ideas. This is there to celebrate the landmark people in rock and roll.

Well, sort of.

My first change i would make to the RNRHOF is the name: it isn't just about rock and roll. It is also about funk, doo wop, heavy metal, bubblegum pop, disco, rap, and every other form of popular music invented since 1955. Let's face facts, the name is a misnomer. So, i suggest a new handle for the place:

The Museum of Popular Music, 1955-Present

Sure, it doesn't have the same ring as "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," but the only way to make people stop saying things like "Grandmaster Flash, yeah, HE'S really rock and roll!" is to change the name. The toothpaste is out of the tube, and we're not going to suddenly un-invite all the artists that don't meet the strict guidelines of what "rock and roll" should mean. Plus, those guidelines change on a whim to support arguments, so who gives a shit. Change the name.

Secondly, there needs to be something more concrete in terms of what it means to be inducted. Let's call this the Buffalo Springfield corollary:

Buffalo Springfield released two albums during its active lifespan, and a third shortly thereafter that was made up of mostly outtakes and doesn't feature the full band on any one song. They had one bona fide hit, "For What It's Worth," and their members went on to form other, more successful bands, as well as influence the growing movement of folk, country and rock music blending together. This whole process, from forming to break up, took less than 3 full years.

And yet, this band is in the RNRHOF, and went in in 1997.

Why are they there? It isn't because they were an unquestionably influential band. They had influential members, but the band itself isn't exactly the Beatles or the Stones. It isn't because they were so popular that they dominated the charts for years - they barely made a blip on the sales radar during their years active. It isn't because the band contained the best work of its members - many members went on to do better stuff afterwards.

No, they are in because they are an answer to a fun trivia question, and because some people are insufferable nostalgists who think they were so important because they exist in the cultural sweet spot of 1967.

But why should any band be in the RNRHOF? I can think of six good criteria, and any inductee needs to meet at least four of these. I present to you, the Salvatore Scale:

1) Their influence can be felt today in more than just a niche sector of the music world
2) They signaled, or were part of, a sea change in the music industry
3) Featured superb musicianship or songwriting ability
4) Well respected by a significant percentage of the critical intelligentsia
5) They were popular to the point of ubiquity
6) They had a career exceeding 5 albums/10 years

No matter what the criteria was, the Beatles and Chuck Berry were getting in (and, actually Buffalo Springfield would be a close call on my new criteria). But let's look at a band that isn't in, and pisses a lot of people off, including the aforementioned Eddie Trunk, and see if they'd get in based on my criteria; let's take a look at Deep Purple.

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) No
6) Yes

They're in.

Now, let's look at 2008 inductee John Melloncamp:

1) No
2) No
3) Arguable
4) Arguable
5) No
6) Yes

Melloncamp is out.

See, what this does is it neutralizes the two polar ends of the spectrum: the critic and the fan. If only critics picked who went in, the average person would be flummoxed at the prospect of visiting the John Fahey exhibit. If only fans picked, Bon Jovi would be in, and that may be worse. In fact, let's take those two artists and put them on the Salvatore Scale:

Fahey:
1) Arguable, leaning towards no
2) No
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) No
6) Yes

Bon Jovi:
1) No
2) Yes (albeit a terrible one, hair metal)
3) Arguable, leaning towards no
4) No
5) Yes
6) Yes

That's a no on both. And while i think John Fahey is an amazing, singular talent, he shouldn't be in the HOF. And neither should a band that had a few huge hits with zero substance and who critics loathe.

Now, where Trunk loses me is advocating for people like Bon Jovi or Journey - if these bands have influenced any real segment of the music making population, i don't hear it. They are both known by the general public for less than 5 songs. They are not my cup of meat, but they are fine bands if that's your thing (and Bon Jovi is my wife's thing, much to my chagrin). But i guarantee you, if i read the tracklist to Journey's Greatest Hits to a man on the street, he'd recognize just as many songs from Manfred Mann's Greatest Hits, and no one in their right mind is advocating for Manfred Mann to go in.

As for longevity, i put it last because it is probably tied with the ubiquitous popularity in terms of least important criterion. The Clash weren't a band for ten years, but they are supremely important (and have 5 truly great records). Guns N' Roses, eligible this year, have four full length original albums to their credit, an EP and a covers album. One of the four records came out 15 years after their peak, and only one of those albums is considered a "classic." They don't make the cut for me; if there was a category to induct albums, you'd be insane not to induct Appetite for Destruction. But i think you'd be more insane to put GNR up there as one of the most important bands of all time.

Just because someone sells a ton of records or records for 30 years doesn't mean they are great. To put this in baseball terms, this would be like Roger Marris being in the HOF - everyone knows him because of one stat, but he isn't a HOF caliber player, and it makes the Hall stronger to have him not in there. I would much rather have a Hall of Fame that is harder to get in to (but is fair) than to have Nickelback one day grace the Hall.

I also want to point out that i put songwriting and technical proficiency on the same bullet point, but that i weigh songwriting higher, and anyone who doesn't is a fool. This is why the Ramones are in the HOF and Steve Vai isn't, sans rubric or by the Salvatore scale.

The final point i want to make is that people who don't want to see pop or rap (or funk or whatever) groups go in need to think more broadly about this. I am 29 years old; i don't remember a time before rap music. Even if i wanted to not be influenced by hip hop culture, that would be impossible, it is part of the world in which i live. Run DMC changed music forever with both its original songs and its "Walk This Way" duet with Aerosmith. Madonna is a hugely important cultural figure. Their influence is felt in the "rock" world, like it or not.

And, much like interracial marriages, broad musical tastes produce the most beautiful children. There wouldn't be metal if Bill Ward didn't dig jazz, and Ozzy didn't idolize the Beatles, the Tony Iommi didn't play the blues. This is all part of the cultural soup we're floating in, and should be recognized as such. Sure, it is weird to see Madonna inducted alongside the Ventures, but tell me - who is more important to the music of the 20th century? If you say the Ventures, i'm going to kick you in the face, because you're a no good liar.

Most importantly, the Salvatore Scale gives a way to actually measure what a band has done, and judge it against a rubric. It protects against the snobs that Trunk has a problem with and the slobs that buy Miller Lite. It finds middle ground, and promotes the bands that really do matter. Next year, my favorite non-Beatles band of all time, the Pixies, are up for nomination. I doubt the Hall will recognize them, but let's see if the Salvatore scale vindicates them:

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) No
6) If you count Come on Pilgrim as an album (their debut EP), then they have five albums or if you include their reunion tour, they have more than ten years.

Regardless, they are in.

And so, yes, the RNRHOF needs a serious re-evaluation. But to do it based simply on record sales and/or longevity is a slippery slope to having Creed in there one day. And, to quote one of the original members of the Hall, that'll be the day that i die.

Sorry Jay (and the Jays), Verlander should be MVP

2011-11-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

My buddy, and rabid Blue Jays fan, Jay Kumar (@koomdogg), tweeted this yesterday:

"Good for Verlander, but I still feel Bautista was more valuable to his team."

The Verlander in question is Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers starting pitcher and both the 2011 American League Cy Young Award winner and the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player. The Bautista in question is Jose Bautista, a formerly meh player who has found his inner Reggie Jackson over the past two years since joining the Toronto Blue Jays.

A lot of people are feeling the way that Jay feels, although some are replacing Bautista with Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox*. Their argument seems to be (and i haven't discussed this with Jay) that Bautista plays every day in right field (or third base), whereas Verlander starts games once every 5 days. His 250 innings don't contribute nearly as much as Bautista's 513 at-bats, according to these folks.

However, i think Verlander is the deserving MVP of the American League, and i will hopefully convince you all that Justin is worthy.

The best way, in my opinion, to judge a position player against a pitcher is my personal favorite statistic, WAR, or Wins Above Replacement. What this means is that, let's say that Albert Pujols blows out his knee on Day 1 of the season, and is replaced by the Cardinals AAA first baseman - how many wins will the Cardinals miss out on because of Pujols's absence? This is done by aggregating all their individual stats and comparing them to the stats of an "average" player out of AAA. It is not a perfect stat, but is a good cross-position tool.

Verlander and Bautista were tied for the AL lead in WAR this year, with 8.5. So, if either were not playing this year, their teams would have lost 8 or 9 additional games (let's round up for this argument). Let's use that to determine the value to both teams:

The Blue Jays finished 81-81, for fourth place in the AL East. Without Bautista, they would have finished 72-90, still good for fourth place. Although Bautista made the team interesting to watch, even during a mediocre season, without him, the Jays would have had almost exactly the same season overall.

The Tigers finished 95-67, first place in the AL Central. If you subtract the 9 wins that Verlander would have brought, Detroit would have finished 84-76, still finishing first in their division.

So, neither player pushed their team into the playoffs. However, the Tigers did make it, and in Verlander's 4 post season starts, his team went 2-2, so he was a wash in the post season.

I think the real judgment here has to come from which player would be harder to replace if he went down. Right field, Bautista's primary position, is a relatively easy position to fill defensively. His offensive prowess would be much harder, but if a few other parts were swapped out, finding 9 wins via offense over the course of a season wouldn't be impossible (although would probably hurt the team defensively).

As for Verlander, premier starting pitcher is maybe the hardest thing to come by in all of baseball. Verlander is durable, strikes out a ton of batters, and doesn't walk very many. To make up 9 wins from the rotation, that is significantly tougher. Plus, if you lose Verlander, there is no guarantee that whoever replaces him will go as deep into games as he does, therefore taxing the bullpen more, which might lead to less wins from the bullpen.

When a starting pitcher gets the ball, he has more control over the game than anyone else on the team. When a starting pitcher is as dominant as Verlander, it is hard to argue that he isn't the most valuable player in the league this year. One way to help this situation is to establish a Willie Mays award - it can be for hitting what the Cy Young award is for pitching, and the MVP can be what it is supposed to be - the award for the player who helped their team the most this year. If that is the case, Bautista is the Willie Mays winner for 2011.

But Verlander is still the MVP.

Sorry Jay.

*Ellsbury may be more valuable to his team than Bautista because he plays a more premium position and adds the component of speed to his game. Although he lacks some of the plate discipline of Bautista. I'd take either on my team.

Round Up Of My Extra Curricular Activities

2011-11-18T15:53:00.001-08:00

I figured it was about time i started to collect my recent adventures in contributing to other sites/projects in 2011. So, here we go:

Podcasts:

Expectations (Erin and I are podcasting about our upcoming baby!): Expectations

The Bureau Presents: A new podcast for the Bureau Records that i'm hosting/producing. Episode #1

Completely Conspicuous - Episodes 161, 162, 201

Multiversity Comics: Interviewing Scott Snyder, Interviewing Joshua Hale Fialkov

Feature Articles:

The Waster - Talking Shop With an Improv Troubadour (Bruce Hornsby Interview), Paley & Francis: Ragged is Part of the Charm

Pop Matters - Drifting Together, Drifting Apart: Sibling Relationships on Six Feet Under

Multiversity Comics - Friday Recommendation: New Teen Titans - Games, Friday Recommendations: Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, The Walking Dead - Cherokee Rose (TV Review), This Month In Comics: September 2011

Music Reviews:

The Waster: Mister Heavenly - Out of Love, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic, St. Vincent - Strange Mercy, Wild Flag - Wild Flag, Mekons - Ancient and Modern: 1911-2011, Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire

Comic Book Reviews:

Multiversity Comics: Green Lantern - New Guardians #1, Swamp Thing #3, Animal Man #3, Green Lantern Corps #1, The Red Wing #4 (with Joshua Mocle), Batman #2, Legion: Secret Origin #1, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #3, Spaceman #1, Hellboy: House of the Living Dead (with David Harper), The Huntress #2, The Rinse #1, Batwing #1, Men of War #1, Mudman #1, Justice League #3, Wonder Woman #3, Action Comics #2, Resurrection Man #1, Mister Terrific #1, DC Universe Presents #1, Detective Comics #1, Stormwatch #2, The Shade #1, Justice League International #1, Nightwing #2/Red Hood and the Outlaws #2, Teen Titans #1

Holy cow, i've been doing a lot of stuff.

Heartbreaker and Brian Or, A Journey Towards Nashville

2011-10-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, I wrote a piece for The Waster about Ashes and Fire, the new Ryan Adams record. If you read the article, you'll see that i am a bit hung up on Heartbreaker, the first Adams solo record*. As i briefly mention in the article, i was a Freshmen in college when i first heard it, and it was one of the first pieces of "country" music that ever spoke to me. I had no room in my piece to go back and be reminiscent about my first encounters with it, so i decided to blog about it#.

So, let's travel to the future, all the way...to the Year 2000.

Heartbreaker was released approximately three weeks into my stay as a Freshmen at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, on September 5, 2000. However, i don't think i had heard anything about the album until at least a few weeks after its release. I remember walking downtown to a now forgotten shitty record store (this is before i found Dave's Music Mine or the Record Exchange on the South Side) to buy Hearbreaker. ^

That first semester was a tough one, initially, for me. My two best friends were my roommate Matt and his girlfriend, Lisa. They broke up approximately 5 minutes after i developed friendships with both of them, and therefore, ruined my friendship circle almost as quickly as they formed it. There were other, deeper issues too, but this a blog where i talk about nerdy shit, and no one needs to read about fragile, emo Brian. Let's sum it up as such: I spent a lot of time crying, listening to sad music. Hence, i loved Heartbreaker to death.%

The 2000/2001 school year opened the doors musically for me more so than any other year in my life. I first heard Bitches Brew by Miles Davis; i bought my first Pixies record; Napster was still around and my school had insanely fast internet. But one of the biggest steps i took musically was beginning to appreciate, in some capacity, country music. In fact, if you had asked me in 1999 what kind of music i like, i would have said "Everything but country."$

Now, let's get something straight: when i say country, i don't mean Garth Brooks or Travis Tritt. That is bad 70s pop with exaggerated accents. When i say country music, i mean Hank Williams; i mean Merle Haggard; i mean Patsy Cline; i mean Johnny Cash. But you see, growing up in the 90s in New Jersey, that kind of country music was rarely, if ever, heard. So to me, country meant color blocked shirts, CMT, and hillbillies.

Ryan Adams was the gateway drug to digging into an entire genre of music that i had previously alienated myself from. I heard an honesty in Adams's songs that reminded me of punk rock - they were simply adorned, well written and nothing fancy. I could dig this. Now, granted, this music was just as influenced by rock and roll and folk music as it was country; however the twang, the harmonies, the tempo, it all bleeds country music. Even if this didn't exactly sound like Nashville of 1962, it felt like it. And, at that time, that was close enough.

Sadly, Adams as country door opener is about the only role he has played in my life (and, country music still is not my favorite genre - not even in my top 5). Much to my friend Jeff Meyer's chagrin, nothing else Adams has done has ever spoken to me in the same way. And yet, i own at least 6 Adams records and, as my article states, puts out 4-5 great songs per album. They just haven't hit me in the same way that Heartbreaker did, and so i find myself not thinking much about Adams, except when i'm thinking about how many of his songs sound the same.

*Oddly, i have never reached back to his work with Whiskeytown, although i can almost guarantee i would enjoy it. Maybe next year...

#I've been a really bad blogger. I've been a good contributor to Multiversity Comics and to The Water, but a really bad blogger.

^Only three records bought at that store (and, oddly, all at different times, even after i found good stores): Heartbreaker, Hell Below/Stars Above by the Toadies, and Just Push Play by Aerosmith. Guess which record isn't still in my regular rotation?

%Other songs that i either convinced myself were sad, or elicited a melancholy feeling and therefore were in regular rotation: "Stay Forever" by Ween, "Butterfly" by Weezer, "I Stay Away" by Alice in Chains and "Aurora" by the Foo Fighters. So, for me at 18, sad = acoustic guitars.

$A few years earlier, i would have said "Everything but rap and country." Now, i'd say "everything but polka." Still waiting for a polka artist (non-Weird Al category) to blow my mind.

For further great reading on Ryan Adams, check out this post by the AV Club.

Movies I Should Have Seen By Now, Vol. 1: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

2011-08-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

I love things that attempt something new. This may sound silly, but let's consider for a second all the media that we get every day that attempts absolutely nothing:

Reality Television attempts to make money and attract viewers. Innovation is a tertiary, at best, motivation.

Pop Music - for all the praise that Lady Gaga gets, she is really making formulaic pop music. Her presentation might be edgy, but her music is boring as fuck.

Sequels are the most lucrative and most easily green-lit type of film. With the ultra-rare exception that pops up once a decade or so, sequels try and do the same thing as the originals.

I say all of this to say that It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Mad from here on out) is a pretty bad movie, but a movie that tried something.

At the time of its invention, television was beating the cinema in the battle for people's time and attention. Veteran director Stanley Kramer attempted to buck this trend by making "the ultimate comedy film," one that's scope (literally and figuratively) could never be attempted on television. For that, he succeeded.

A huge amount of top comedy talent was assembled for the film, from contemporary stars to "classic" comedians, and a huge, sprawling story was constructed around finding $350,000 buried under a "giant W."

Now, maybe at the time the comedy was cutting edge or didn't seem cliched, but to my eyes, this movie was nearly 3 hours (yes, 3 hours) full of hackiest comedy ever assembled. I expected the film to be bloated, but it was morbidly obese - every scene was just a bit too long, a bit too on the nose, and a bit too predictable.

Half of the fun for viewers during its initial run was missing for me, and that is the endless cameo spotting. Sure, i recognized Jimmy Durante and Andy Devine (and who could miss the Three Stooges?), but most of the other cast members were either totally lost on me or a case of "who is that guy?" syndrome that left me wondering what was so important about a guy driving a car that the camera wouldn't pan away for a second?

But watching the movie mad me realize that it has been a long time since a movie that was even this successful was made at such a large scale. In 2001, Rat Race was supposed to be the next Mad, but much of the talent was not A-list, and the film wasn't eagerly anticipated by fans of, well, anything. It was pitched as a family friendly film, and therefore couldn't go too blue, too weird, or, ultimately, too funny. That being said, there is a scene involving Jon Lovitz inadvertently channeling Hitler that is very, very funny.

Skip to 5:00 for the part that is actually funny.

But then i got to thinking: what would a grand-scale comedy made up of the Sid Ceasars, Milton Berles and Buddy Hacketts of today look like?

Would it be a Judd Apatow production? (Yay) Or would Happy Madison tackle it? (Boo) Who would star? Could it be anything less than a hard-R? Would you want to see it?

Let me know in the comments.

Two Random Film Related Thoughts

2011-08-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

I took today off, as i worked all weekend, and spent most of the day lying on the couch channel surfing. Two things made me pause today:

1) I watched 1/2 of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and was shocked to find out that it is two hours and forty five minutes long - that is longer than the theatrical release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had an intermission during its run in theaters. Look for a post about this movie later in the week.

2) Minnie Driver, then 27, played both a 28 year old and a 21 year old in 1997 (in Grosse Point Blank and Good Will Hunting, respectively). Obviously, 7 years isn't that big of a stretch, but it got me thinking: i wonder what the longest gap between two ages an actor/actress has played in the same year without the aid of makeup/wigs/prosthetics to seriously alter their appearance. I don't have an answer to this, but thought it was an interesting question.

12 Year Old Brian Vol. 1

2011-08-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

12 Year Old Brian is a column where i write about things from my childhood that i still sincerely, non-ironically love. This isn't just limited to past experiences, but also current versions of things once loved.

Vol. 1: The DC Comics "New 52"

The new Justice League

Earlier this summer, DC Comics announced that come September, they would be canceling all current series and re-launching 52 series from #1, including Detective Comics (where the DC in DC comes from) and Action Comics, both of which have been running since the 1930s uninterrupted (and both closing in on 1000 issues). Speculation was rampant as to whether or not all current versions of the characters would no longer be in continuity (more on that "c" word in a minute), or whether or not this was simply a marketing tool to get people buying comics again.

Well, it's sort of both.

But first, let's look at that "c" word again, continuity. What makes comic books different from almost all other media is continuity. In theory, from Action Comics #1 all the way through to the last issue of the original volume, a story has been told that continues to grow, adapt and shape the lives of the characters, month in and month out. I say "in theory," because on numerous occasions, the Superman story has been re-shaped, edited, changed, and generally made to suit whatever goal the writer of that particular issue has in mind.

Unlike, say, James Bond films, which people don't expect to tell a linear, point A (Dr. No) to point Z (Quantum of Solace), story. The James Bond played currently by Daniel Craig is NOT supposed to be an older Sean Connery. There is no consistent continuity between these films (at least not in the macro sense. Sure, all the Connery movies are supposed to lead into one another, but once Bonds kept getting younger and younger, the idea that the same dude battled Goldfinger and Goldeneye became ridiculous).

But in comics, there is. Sure, time is slowed down (or else Superman would be pushing 100 and Dick Grayson, the original Robin, would be nearly 70 [as opposed to the mid-30s he is in comics]), but generally the story began with the character's creation and has continued on until present day.

This is a roll of the dice for your favorite characters, because over the course of time various writers will take your favorites down different paths. One of the beauties of comic fandom is that your favorite character might die (mine did), get resurrected (mine did), have multiple versions of different characters with the same name (mine did) and still not be even close to the most confusing character in comics.

I have been, since i was probably 5 years old, a Green Lantern fan. When i say that, i mean a fan of Hal Jordan, the 2nd character to be known as Green Lantern, introducing during the "Silver Age" of Comics (approximately 1955-1970). There was a Green Lantern before him, Alan Scott, who really has no reason to be associated with Hal Jordan other than a name (although some creative writing or, as its detractors call it, retroactive continuity [retconning] has connected them in a relatively pleasing way). With Hal Jordan came the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic organization of crime fighters who, like Jordan and Scott, wielded power rings that could create any image the wearer imagined.

Eventually, Hal Jordan became Parallax, an evil villain who wiped out the Green Lantern Corps, and was eventually defeated by his successor, Kyle Rayner. Who, when absorbing the avatar of willpower, Ion, became so powerful that he resurrected the Green Lantern Corps (including certain popular Lanterns). Eventually, Hal Jordan was resurrected and now there are 4 Green Lanterns that all are from Earth. This doesn't even begin to take into account the other Lantern Corps, the Guardians of the Universe, the Oath, the impurity, or various other things that only me and my nerd brethren care about.

Which is why this relaunch sort of makes sense.

The idea, according to DC Comics, is to simply tell stories again, not stories with so much baggage attached. As i said before, Green Lantern is a relatively simple tale compared to some (you could write a thesis and develop an ulcer trying to trace Hawkman's legacy), and yet to tell you even the simplest version of the story from point A to point B is so mired in muck that i'm surprised you're still reading this. So, if we start Green Lantern over at #1, and just tell stories about the future, theoretically people who don't read comics could have a convenient jumping on point to get into the discussion.

But where does that leave my nearly 25 years of reading comics? Are all the stories i loved gone? Did they never happen? Are they non-canonical, like the Gnostic Gospels ? Have i wasted all of my time reading stories that don't matter?

When i say that the stories may not matter, this leads to two responses in the comics world. Some will say "Of course they matter - they matter to you. No one is going to come in and steal your old comics - you read them, they matter, even if they don't affect what is happening today." Others will say "I've invested x number of years into reading the history of a certain character, only to have it all washed away because sales were down. What gives?"

Personally, part of what i love about comics is that this train started a long time ago, and i'm just along for a part of the ride. There will, most likely, be Superman stories long after i die, and there were Superman stories long before i was born. This is great - if i wanted to, i could go back and read the entirety of a character's creative lifetime, enjoying them through every major event, every crappy arc, every lazy bit of retconning and STILL only be as far in the story as future creators want to take it.

Have you ever read a book you wish wouldn't end? Then read comics, friend.

Or, read Marvel comics now. Because DC is changing. Big time.

The full details are still not out yet, but basically DC felt that a good chunk (all non-Batman/Green Lantern books) of their titles were limping along, either due to poor creative decisions, bad marketing, or just featuring non-worthy characters. So, a big shake up is taking place. All new #1s, lots of canceled books, lots of new books, new characters, old characters returning, and day-and-date digital comics, which means you can buy a comic for your iPad at the same time you could buy it in a store. This doesn't sound like a huge deal, but again, we'll come back to this in a minute.

You may have heard via the main stream media certain changes: Superman and Lois Lane are no longer married and, actually, have never been married. Many of the characters have been de-aged, so instead of someone looking 35, they now look 25. Superheroes have only existed for 5 years* in the new DC universe (henceforth, the DCnU). More ethnic, sexual and gender diversity in the heroes. Yadda yadda.

So what does your resident nerd, and comic book reader since 1987, think about this?

I don't know.

Reason i do like it: More people reading comics is good for everyone. Day-and-date digital sales means that people will be downloading comics on the way to work and won't have to track down their increasingly hard to find/far away "local" comic book store. Certain characters (again, Hawkman) will benefit from a more streamlined approach.

What i don't like: Even if the general public hates a certain story, it is someone's favorite story. Even though certain events still "happened," many won't have happened. I don't like the idea that new fans are always more important than old fans. I don't like a lot of the art i've been seeing, which is very '90s looking (big muscles, big guns, stupid collars). I wish that digital comics were priced according to the digital music model (99 cents instead of the same as the print version $2.99, which is DC's current price).

Ultimately, the question has to be asked, why do you read comics? If the answer is for good stories and art, then hopefully this will be a good thing. If you read comics for nostalgia, then you're shit out of luck. If you're like me and read comics for both reasons, you're very confused.

I could write 40,000 words on this, but i'll end it here (for now). What do you think?

Note: I purposely didn't cover prior reboots or go too deep into retconning because it would bore you to tears. Crisis on Infinite Earths alone could give you an aneurysm.

*Even if they fudge the facts on Batman and say he had even ten years extra hiding in the shadows of Gotham City, there have been 4 Robins with extended careers are Robin, plus time in between each, and years before the first - how can you do that in 15 years?

Reason #68763930 why John Flansburgh is one of my heroes

2011-07-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

He perfectly describes the contradictory nature of pop music. From this interview from the AV Club:

AVC: We had a brief email exchange yesterday about the hugely positive reaction to your A.V. Undercover performance. You said, “It seems like a little bit of joy directly expressed can be quite resonant in this grey world.” In spite of all the songs you do about death and disaster and misery, that sounds like a TMBG mission statement.

JF: Yeah, that’s what art is, right? If you think about it, life is a one-way ticket. [Laughs.] But while we’re here, you got to make the most of it. Now I sound like the guy at the end of the bar. The “Tubthumping” thing is especially weird, because it’s a song you almost can’t like with your conscious mind. It’s all those things about a popular song that are kind of manipulative—or, not manipulative, they overwhelm you. It’s such a hooky song, it goes from hook to hook to hook. It’s such an earworm kind of a song. It’s like the Steven Spielberg of songs. You just feel like you’ve been lassoed and dragged into its presence. It’s overwhelming.

AVC: Is anything wrong with that?

JF: Well, if you like being lassoed. No, I don’t know. Did you walk out of E.T. feeling like, “That was normal”? Or did you feel like you were kind of… I feel like I have a love-hate relationship with the hooky, the impossible catchy song. I feel like the world has a love-hate relationship with that kind of thing. Because it’s relentless. I’ve been singing the song “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel for 20 years. And I don’t even particularly care for Billy Joel’s music. A good friend of mine is a huge Billy Joel fan. I love Elton John, but as far as those classic popmeisters go, I find Billy Joel very hard. I want my mind back from that. [Starts singing melody to “The Longest Time.”] I cannot tell you. Three times a day, I think about that song. It drives me crazy.

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Beyond excited to see They Might Be Giants tonight.

You'd Be Surprised Vol. 2

2011-07-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

"You'd Be Surprised" is a blog series where i write about songs (and maybe other things in the future) that i think would surprise many people that i truly love.

Volume 1: "Make Your Own Kind of Music" by Mama Cass Elliot

Like everyone, there are gaping holes in my musical knowledge. When i first heard Ornette Coleman, for instance, playing free jazz without a chordal instrument, i felt like i was hearing something entirely new and couldn't believe i've never heard it before. Other times, it is hearing a side-project or a one-off single by a band you thought you knew everything about. Or, like in the case of this song, you just flat out don't know a song that was a minor hit 15 or so years before you were born.

Sure, i know the Mamas and the Papas - "California Dreamin'," "Monday Monday," whatever the name of that "and everyone's getting fat 'cept Mama Cass" song is called, but i knew very little of the solo careers (if there were any) by any of the M&Ps. The most i knew was that lead Papa John Phillips had a weird and, supposedly, great solo album called John, The Wolf King of L.A. which i still want to hear for the name alone.

Then, I started to watch LOST.

And, for those of you who still haven't watched LOST, don't watch this scene. Really. It is one of the greatest scenes of the whole show, and if you haven't seen the series from the beginning, you don't want to see this scene. That being said, what the fuck is wrong with you for not watching LOST? Let the haters hate - the show is top notch (not perfect, but top notch).

This scene introduced me to this song:

Now, even without the song, that is an amazing scene. However, there is something so heartbreaking and sad about Desmond listening to a song about individuality when you learn that he has been doing the same task for YEARS, unable to live his own life at all, but just PUSH. THE. DAMN. BUTTON.

Now, Elliot didn't write the song (husband and wife songwriting team Mann/Weil did), but her strong, powerful voice really sells the words, as does the understated-as-much-as-a-pop-single-in-1969-could be. The Mamas and the Papas were still recording and playing live at this point, and the record wasn't a huge hit, peaking at only #36 on the Billboard Singles Chart.

For reasons altogether unknown to me, this song fuckin' moves me. The other day i was created a chord chart for it (i'm playing in a band for a party in September, and this is one of the songs our female vocalist chose), and i had to stop charting because of the tears falling down my face. Why? I have no idea. It just moves me.

Much like "Human," this song just shakes me to my core and makes me feel vulnerable, inspired and joyous all at once. It can't be the lyrics which, although are a great message, are a little hokey. It can't be the instrumentation, which is a little too Lawrence Welk for my taste. It is good despite itself.

And if it moves me, why do i have to investigate exactly why? Why can't i just let it be something i love and move on?

Because i'm stupid.

Which must also be the case for most musicians, as this song has no great cover versions. Get on it, Neko Case!

'Til next time,
Brian

Ten Years Ago, This Was It

2011-07-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Strokes' debut album, Is This It. Stereogum has marked this by putting together a tribute record, which you can hear here. Reading some of the quotes by the artists in the liner notes got me thinking about my relationship to the album which was, at the time, vitriolic and is now much, much more pleasant.

Why did i initially hate the Strokes?

When the album was released, i was 19 years old and entering my sophomore year of college. This was the apex of me thinking that i knew better than anyone else what made good music, and felt it was my duty to be the local bullshit detector for any record released. I hated the fact that many of my friends listened to, heavens forbid, pop music, and let them know how much i disapproved at every possible moment. I equally hated the rap/rock hybrids that seemed to be absolutely everywhere. As my good friend Matt Popovich said about some long-forgotten shitty aggro-band, "This music is only good for pro-wrestling montages."

And so when i started reading all the pre-release hype for Is This It, i was very excited for the album. "The most exciting album in 20 years" is a quote that particularly stands out for me. People i trusted, like David Fricke and Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone, or the pre-total-influence-on-the-entirety-of-the-internet Pitchfork staff, were on board with the record, and so i was eagerly anticipating its release.

In fact, i convinced a friend with only a passing interest in decent music (sorry, Ryan Schwoeble) to come with me to pick up the album the day it was released, and i remember very excitedly peeling off the shrink wrap and obnoxious sticker holding back the most exciting record i'd ever hear from my grasp and shoving it into Ryan's car's CD player and waiting to be blown away.

And what i got sounded, to me, like the worst Velvet Underground impression i had ever heard.

This was exciting? A record with zero dynamics was exciting?

To me, exciting was "Tame" by the Pixies, a song that fluctuated from whispers to blood-curling-shit-your-pants-scary screams in a matter of seconds. Exciting was an epic like Weezer's "Only in Dreams" that ran the gamut from solo bass to dueling guitar solo devastation. Exciting was an album where every song had a distinct sound that built something new together.

This is exciting music.

This was not that - this was like the Ramones if you took everything great about the Ramones and tossed it out the window. This sucked.

As the only sane person in a world of insanity, i tried to tell everyone i could about how lame the Strokes were. "The vocals are buried in the mix and distorted!" "The drums are too precise and rarely swing!" "The basslines are the only good part!" (Plus, their drummer was dating Drew Barrymore, so fuck that guy, right?)

Every few months, i would pull the record out and listen to it again, to make sure that i didn't miss something important that i had missed. If i could only find the decoder ring in my Ovaltine, i could crack the case of the overhyped buzz band...

Eventually, i forgot that the Strokes ever mattered (as did the rest of the world), and i moved on with my vitriol to more apparent topics (Creed, blink-182, boy bands). Occasionally, i'd hear "Last Night" or "Someday" on the radio and i wouldn't hate it as much as i remembered, eventually reasoning that the Strokes were a singles band that should never make an album. It was easy to love the songs one at a time, but a record was a mistake, like eating too many Twizzlers in a row.

And, as i got older, my tastes expanded. I heard things like Neu!, and their classic "Hallogallo," which features drums so sturdy and non-swingy that they appear to be played by a robot. I began to listen to more classical music, where melodies weren't as overtly out-front as i was used to. I also calmed down a lot, and saved my anger at things like Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the Mets or people who didn't recycle (which, i think we can all agree, are a little more important than whether you prefer the Olivia Tremor Control to Neutral Milk Hotel*).

Now, when my iTunes plucks out "Hard to Explain," i enjoy it and smile. I rarely, if ever, put Is This It on for a complete listen, but i respect and enjoy it much more than i did a decade ago. What is funny is that i'm pretty sure that most people have a converse relationship with this album - it was their jam for 4 months, and then they put it away and never really thought about it again and when they hear it now, they forget what all the fuss was about. Everyone, that is, except for Rolling Stone, which recently listed this as the second best album of the decade, which is the fucking craziest thing i've heard in a long time. Is This It is a good record with a couple of great songs (the title track, "Last Night"), but it was hardly the starting gun for the rock and roll revolution it was supposed to be.

The foreign, sexier cover

*Everyone picks NMH, but i'm an OTC man.

I know what the Senator wants - do you?

2011-07-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

The new single from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks is pretty great (listen to it below). However, because of a particular word, it will get zero air play. What can you do to fix this? Go to http://whatdoesthesenatorwant.com/ and help them find a suitable replacement.

I suggested botox.

5 Song Shuffle, Vol. 18: New Haircut Edition

2011-07-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of July 13,2011 , has 25, 540 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the seventeenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Dog Eat Dog" - Bill Frisell

I first encountered Bill Frisell's music after hearing a piece of it used interstitially on This American Life. I have since become a pretty big fan. What i especially love is that he is the rare guitar player who uses and arranges horns cleverly and who treats his guitar simply as another piece in the band - so many guitarists think of themselves as the meat and the band as the dressing. Bill doesn't do that. This is from This Land, which i had never heard until i read about it in a book of "100 Essential Jazz Albums" that is in my dad's bathroom. This piece is moody and languid and builds to a bit of a purposefully fumbling conclusion.

Song #2 - "China Pig" - Captain Beefheart

Perhaps the most straightforward and simple blues song on Trout Mask Replica, this shows what Beefheart might have sounded like in 1940. The simplicity of the song speaks for itself - i have very little to add - except for the fact that every person alive should seek out some Beefheart music and expand your ears a little. It may not go down easy at first, but medicine doesn't always taste good.

Song #3 - "Celebrity Death Match" - Peeping Tom (featuring Kid Koala)

A perfect example of a lazy Brian acquisition - this album was purchased from eMusic in 2006 because i dig Mike Patton, and i have never listened to it. I'm embarrassed by that, but i'm also rarely sitting around thinking, "What can i listen to that will be batshit insane, incorporate electronic elements, hip hop, Norah Jones and the daughter of a bossa nova legend under the direction of the lead singer of Mr. Bungle?" This is about what i would expect from this record (goofy, creepy, immaculately performed), and i hope to give it a proper listen soon.

Song #4 - "By the People" - Van Dyke Parks

Most famous for being a SMiLE-era Brian Wilson collaborator, this album (Song Cycle) is regarded as a really brilliant/odd collection of songs about a road trip. It is a fascinating listen, full of great arrangements (what VDP is most known for nowadays, most famously arranging Ys for Joanna Newsom [another album i own that i've never heard]) and oddball lyrics (his contribution to Beach Boys records) and the songs all go places you could never expect. That being said, it is a record you can't really put on at work, or exercising, or doing anything other than just listening to it, so it doesn't get a ton of listens in my life. But i can imagine few records better suited to a nap in a hammock*.

Song #5 - "Now That I Tell People I'm in College, My Social Status Has Nearly Tripled" - Kept Blue

My friend Steve Miller (aka Unsung, see my last post) gave me this record by a touring mate of his. I haven't listened to it in a long time, but i really enjoyed it when i last did. It is called Confessions of a Sexual Masterpiece, and this particular track is a short little glue-piece connecting two songs. It starts out orchestral in nature, and then morphs into a bouncing little pop piece with backwards vocals and then ends.

Boy, are you guys unlucky - the next song that shuffled is "Believe" by Cher - that would've made for an interesting pick, for sure.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

*This weekend i proclaimed that when i have a fire pit and a hammock i will be set. I stand by that statement.

New Album from Unsung

2011-07-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

I know that i may seem like i'm simply pimping work by a friend, but even if i didn't know Steve Miller, i would still be pimping this record. It's called The Paint, and it is a complex, beautiful piece of work. Steve is offering it on his Bandcamp page for whatever you choose to pay for it, from zero dollars on up. I proudly paid ten bucks for it, and i suggest you sample it below and then click here and do the same.

The Paint by Unsung

So I lied...three more blog topics...

2011-06-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

I just keep being inspired to write different articles, so i've added three more series to the regular rotation:

10. Disaster Records

Albums that flopped, were created in periods of tragedy, with different line-ups, side projects, solo records - things that don't work (or work in a way that shouldn't). Put differently, usually my favorite records by bands.

11. Mr. Met of NJ Local 07442

My Mets-based ramblings.

12. WANT

1000 words on an item that i feel i can't live without.

Final 3 Blog Series

2011-06-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

I promised these on Thursday, but i had some time today, so...

7. "Brian Makes a Record"

I'm going to commit to putting some of my long festering songs down on tape, and i will discuss what i'm doing that week and show and tell some of it. This part will be a video blog.

8. "Classic Erin"

My wife has a way with words that is unusual at best. Some of the best Classic Erin lines will be posted here for your enjoyment.

9. "The Rant"

My original foray into internetting was a weekly email list called "The Rant." I would send this to 50+ friends and i would rail about this and that, plus give weekly song picks and have a feedback section where people could email me in response to what i wrote. I'm bring that back as a monthly feature. You're welcome, Erin and Eileen.

Look for the first of one of these (I have a few in the works) on Friday!

More Blog Segments

2011-06-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

I promised to unveil some more regular segments on the blog, so here are three more:

4. "Movies I Should Have Seen By Now"

I review movies that are classics that i've never seen. Pretty self explanatory.

5. "I Cook, Therefore I Eat"

Where i review a meal i've made that month.

6. "12 Year Old Brian"

Where i discuss comic books, video games, and various other interests i've had since grade school.

Stay tuned for the last 3 on Thursday, and the first "official" posting on Friday!

Big Changes at ERH Headquarters

2011-06-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hello folks,

It's been awhile.

My b.

To make a long story short, i'm a really busy guy. That isn't a good excuse; it is simply true.

I've now been at my current job for 7 years, and i'm really starting to see the fruits of my labor. While that is great, it also means that i'm working more nights, thinking about work when i'm at home, and generally being under more (good) pressure to continue to deliver. Plus, i try to be a good husband/dog owner, and i've been catching up on Breaking Bad (2 seasons in 11 days). And, in that head space, podcasting has taken a backseat. I wish i had the stamina of my buddy Jay Kumar who manages to turn out an incredible podcast, a vital blog, hold down a day job, and be a husband and a father to boot.

Sadly, i don't have that stamina.

But i do have some ideas.

What i'm going to attempt starting in July is a more fully realized blog - 12-15 articles a month. Each month, i'm going to produce (hopefully) 9 articles that are part of various series (like the continuing "5 Song Shuffle" and [so far only once] "You'd Be Surprised" plus new series i've been thinking about for awhile now) and 3-5 random "what's Brian thinking?" articles, plus a few series may have more than one monthly entry.

In addition, i want to do 4 "micro-podcasts" a month. Basically, one segment of the old ERH a week. An interview here, a comedy bit there, some music now and then, and some new segments i'm still workshopping. Those will start in August.

I see this regimented style of activity to fit well into the way that i do things (i love to do lists), and the minimal time commitment to each small part should be easier to fit into my schedule.

So, thanks for listening/reading, and check back throughout the week for previews of the different blog series that'll be launching come July 1. The first 3 are described below.

With significantly longer hair,
Brian

1. "5 Song Shuffle"

I really enjoyed doing this series, and with the addition of more than 2000 pop hits into my iTunes*, this should get interesting quickly.

Previous Editions:

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

2. "You'd Be Surprised"

Songs i love that you'd never think i would. Click here to read my first entry, on the Killers' "Human."

3. "McCartography"

A haphazard look at the oeuvre of Paul McCartney outside the Beatles. George may be my favorite, and John written more classics in the '70s, but Paul McCartney has maybe the most fascinating discography of any artist ever. I'll be starting with 1980's McCartney II and jumping through decades to cover every studio album, live record, compilation, rarity and production job i can get my hands on. I'm actually going to do these twice a month - one for a full length album, and one for various bits of miscellany.

*My brother, on Memorial Day, dumped 10 gigs worth of music on my computer. A friend had given him the Top 100 songs on the Billboard Charts from 1975-2003. This is a wonderful, fascinating, at-times sad thing to have at your disposal.

Season 2, Episode 1: Rhyme Scheme

2011-04-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

Click here to download Unsung's I Looked Back At My House, White As A Washing Stone.

To download, right click here or subscribe in iTunes by searching "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour" or "Brian Salvatore.

Season 2 begins here! This episode we are joined by hip-hop musician Unsung, aka Steven Miller, to discuss his process of making music. We also get to hear a bunch of his songs, and as always, some comedy from Ken Beck.

Unsung: www.myspace.com/unsung

Ken Beck is part of CSO Comedy: http://www.csocomedy.com/

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

Click here to download Unsung's I Looked Back At My House, White As A Washing Stone.

Top Ten of Twenty Ten, Pt. 3

2011-01-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

My top ten records of the year are not ranked - these are just my favorites from the past year, ordered alphabetically by first letter of the artists’ name.

Dessa - A Badly Broken Code

2010 turned out to be a big hip hop year for me - i was not expecting this. Not that i like less rap music than i used to, or that i’ve been moving my tastes towards the esoteric. I think if anything, i am in a place where i more open to hip hop than i have been at any other point in my life, while also being more aware of my inherent biases towards so much of the lyrical content. But that being said, a lot of the hip hop i heard this year surprised me in how much it moved me. This record, in particular, really spoke to me.

Dessa is a female rapper from the Mid-West collective known as Doomtree - she is my first and, so far, only exposure to the collective. She, in addition to rapping, also sings quite a bit on the record, which gives her the ability to sing the hooks and rap the verses, which works really well for her. Sometimes, like on “Poor Atlas,” she lets her singing voice take the spotlight, but i prefer when she lets both exist on the same track. Her lyrics remind me of my friend Steve Miller, better known as Unsung, a Pittsburgh based rapper and visual artist. Saying she reminds me of Unsung is one of the highest complements i can pay her, because Steve’s lyrics are consistently brilliant while challenging the typical expectations of what hip hop can be. Dessa’s lyrics are just as impressive and varied - her lyrics talk about everything from being a female in a male dominated field (“The Bullpen”) to her little brother (“Children’s Work”), and her smooth delivery make lines that might seem too wordy flow easily.

I love this record because it overachieves in a genre that is all about overachieving, but it does it by being so personal and insular that it becomes easy to relate to, instead of shooting for the lowest common denomentor. There is still talk about relationships, but it isn’t framed by sex; there is still talk about herself as a rapper, but it isn’t in the context of bravado; there are still samples here to create the backbeats, but they don’t come from the same funk and soul sources that have been mined to death. This record is a breath of fresh air, and it will certainly lead to me checking out more of the Doomtree crew.

Tracks to seek out: "Dixon's Girl," "Children's Work"

Top Ten of Twenty Ten, Pt. 2

2010-12-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

My top ten records of the year are not ranked - these are just my favorites from the past year, ordered alphabetically by first letter of the artists’ name.

Black Francis - The Golem

This is by far my favorite Frank Black/Black Francis record is nearly a decade. Artists who are as prolific as he is* tend to develop cult-ish fan bases because the sheer quantity of the music released is off-putting to a casual fan. To those who feel that way, oh well - it is their loss.

Every year, the San Francisco International Film Festival invites a musician to score a silent film - they present the artist with a list, and the artist chooses which he/she would like to score. In 2008, Black Francis chose the 1920s German film Der Golem to score. He assembled a crack band of Eric Drew Feldman, Joe Pope, Ralph Carney, Duane Jarvis and Jason Carter - collectively, these guys have played with Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, PJ Harvey, Jonathan Richman, John Prine, Gene Clark and Pere Ubu, to name a few. And then he started writing.

What came out was a fully formed double album of REAL songs - not just musical cues here and there (although those are present too), and songs that are some of his best: moody, melodic, unusual, surprising music that fits the silent film really, really well. Maybe because of the narrative nature of the film, the songs make you part of the arc of the story, even if that arc is not totally apparent without the visuals. There are songs from the perspective of almost every character - and so that means love songs, angry songs, observational songs that drive the plot along, and songs that offer an abstract view of the action. Some of the lyrics may sound a little silly when disembodied from the film, but no more silly than 90% of the pop music on the radio. Francis’s penchant for wordplay is strong as ever, and it is probably best to listen with a dictionary and/or internet connection handy.

The vocals are powerful and direct - especially at the tail end of “The Conjuring,” which builds to a screamed finale. The band is killer - this turned out to be the final recording for the late Duane Jarvis, and his lead guitar parts are stunning and act as a strong connecting tissue between the more straight ahead rock songs and the atmospheric elements. Feldman is especially useful here as producer and keyboard player, using piano, organ, synthesizers, clavinet, harpsichord and more to tonally blend the songs in all sorts of subtle but significant ways. And Carney, a horn player unrivaled in the rock world, handles everything thrown at him, from Clarence Clemens-esque lead parts to harmonies to background squawks. Sadly, the full score is no longer available on CD - only 500 were made - but the DVD/single disc record are still available and are well worth the purchase.

Songs to seek out: “Bad News,” “Miriam and Florian”

*From 2000-2010: 8 full length albums, 2 double albums, 1 mini-LP, a best of, 3 b-sides compilations, various free tracks via his website, no less than 4 live albums, an album with his wife, touring for a good 2 solid years with the Pixies, contributions to a handful of compilations, and a few production gigs.

Top Ten of Twenty Ten, Pt. 1

2010-12-30T10:14:00.001-08:00

My top ten records of the year are not ranked - these are just my favorites from the past year, ordered alphabetically by first letter of the artist's name.

Best Coast - Crazy for You

When i first hear about this record, i was not super enthusiastic: Girl moves to New York from Southern California, hates the Big Apple, retreats back home, writes about smoking pot and her cat. Just about every bit of that sounds repulsive to me. However, when i gave Crazy for You a chance, i was pleasantly surprised by it.

First of all, Bethany Cosentino, the writing/singing/guitaring third of Best Coast, has an amazing voice - it has a strength and a playfulness to it that makes it stand out from both the music underneath it and most other music being made today. She writes for her voice very well too (this may sound silly, but lots of artists don’t. Listen to George Harrison’s Living in the Material World - there are some really great songs [like “Try Some, Buy Some”] that are just not in a key that flatters Georgie’s voice), and it helps elevate these deceptively simple pop songs into something really special. And those pop songs happen to be really, really good. I’ve heard rumblings that live the band gets a lot “grungier,” and that makes sense to me; Nirvana had great pop songs that became the standard bearer for grunge in the early 90’s, and these songs could easily be crunched and dirtied up without losing much of their impact.

The basic elements, at least on record, are 1960’s girl group melodies and rhythms, surf guitar, and a lo-fi haze. It is almost, to me, the perfect aural representation of Los Angeles. The production is the smog - something we have to look past to see what really lies underneath. The surf elements represent that ever present, but not really prominent, relics of ‘60s culture that somehow is still part of the allure/myth of Southern California. And the melodies are pure nostalgia/hope, those intertwined emotions that are bought and sold for a dime a dozen in the Hollywood/Television/Music Industry. The record sounds hopeful but sad - does that remind you of any place in particular?

Songs to seek out: “Crazy for You,” “Bratty B”

Episode 12: Diddy Invented the Recap

2010-12-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

To download, right click here or subscribe in iTunes by searching "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour" or "Brian Salvatore.

Brian and Ken look back at the year in music, and lots of friends call in to give their highlights of 2010/hopes for 2011.

Ken Beck is part of CSO Comedy: http://www.csocomedy.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

More Musings, But No Top Ten (Yet)

2010-12-21T06:51:00.001-08:00

So, after re-counting, re-searching my iTunes, and downloading the aforementioned Big Boi and Kanye West records, there are officially 40 albums in the category of "records Brian bought that were released in 2010." And, as i was afraid, the Kanye record is looming pretty large. I don't know if it would be so epic had it had been released in January, and had been stewing for the better part of a year, as opposed to smacking me in the face a few weeks before 2011. However, last night, as i finished Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, i listened back to back to Kanye and Big Boi. And as i was finishing up the Big Boi record (side note: both albums have titles too long to type casually), i started to reflect on how this year, there were a LOT of great hip hop albums made. Dessa, Tim Fite, Kanye, Big Boi, the Roots all made possibly their best records (well, probably not the Roots), as well as records that had hip hop as a dominant gene, such as Janelle Monae, Sleigh Bells, Gorillaz and Girl Talk all really blew me away.

But then i started thinking a little more: this year also had a lot of really great, relatively straight ahead rock records: Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus, the Gaslight Anthem (aka the Jersey trifecta), New Pornographers, the Hold Steady (their album is much-maligned but underrated), Harlem, Best Coast, the list goes on and on.

AND i started to think about all the really surprising albums that came out this year: Yeasayer going electro pop, the Books getting really funny, the Magnetic Fields going folk, Sufjan Stevens going back to electronic music (no one in the history of the record reviewing world seems to remember Enjoy Your Rabbit), etc.

Then it hit me: 2010 has just been a really great year for music. Even the albums that disappointed me from bands i like (Arcade Fire, Dr. Dog, Spoon) are all above-average, and in other years would clearly be on my year end list. This is a GREAT problem to have, and the last few weeks, where i've let podcasts pile up in my iTunes (never since i started listening have i had two Jordan, Jesse Go!s waiting for me), i've been constantly delighted at all the records i've gone back to. And i know that i didn't give some of these enough time (sorry Bad Plus and Grinderman!), but overall, i can hardly remember a year with this much great music released. Regardless of what ten albums i will actually write about, i'm very happy to be a music fan in 2010.

Add another entry to the annals of...

2010-12-20T07:07:00.001-08:00

Sentences I Never Thought I'd Write

Entry #1001923: "Because of Sleater Kinney, i just downloaded the new Kayne West album."

So, as loyal blog readers know, i've been compiling my best of 2010 list. I've been reading lots of other year end lists just to see how people i both respect and loathe think 2010 was musically. And on almost every list, Kanye has a place. Now, i expect this from Rolling Stone and Spin - but to see it from Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein? Not only on her list, but as her favorite record of the year? That intrigues me, and so i'm using half of my remaining eMusic credits for the month to check out this album. I'm debating using the other half for Big Boi's record, the other hip hop album that i've been waiting for eMusic to add, which they just did.

I never thought 2010 would be the year i listened to more hip hop than jazz, but here it is.

So, expect a few more albums to fall into the big list of 2010 releases that i need to re-evaluate. Speaking of which, i've give a listen now to all the albums on the big list, and isolated approximately 25 that i need to spend a little more time with to properly rank. So, again, don't expect this list anytime before next week.

R.I.P. Captain Beefheart

2010-12-18T04:58:00.000-08:00

Prepping For My Top Ten of 2010 List

2010-12-13T13:31:00.001-08:00

According to iTunes, from the albums i selected that were released in 2010, i have 1.1 days worth of music to listen to before properly analyzing the best music of the year. Some of this stuff i have heard lots, some i haven't heard at all. This is the long way of me saying that you shouldn't expect my best of 2010 until the last week of the year if not the first week of 2011. Also of note: i'm sure that only my friends (and only a small swath of them at that) read this blog/listen to my podcast, but be aware that i obviously live on a church worker's salary and obtain most of my music through eMusic, iTunes gift cards and thrift stores/used record stores. So, a lot of the buzzed about albums i simply haven't heard (like Kanye West's), or didn't pique my interest enough to invest some of my modest resources into procuring (like Deerhunter's) or some just haven't been bought yet (like Superchunk's). So, this is not the end all/be all best of 2010, this will simply be my favorite ten records that were released, and that i purchased, this year. And i'm sure it will change the second i post it.

The long list:

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The Bad Plus - Never Stop
The Baseball Project - Broadside Ballads
Best Coast - Crazy for You
Black Francis - The Golem
Black Francis - NonStopErotik
The Books - The Way Out
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Dessa - A Badly Broken Code
Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Firstful of Mercy - As I Call You Down
The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger - Acoustic Sessions
Girl Talk - All Day
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Harlem - Hippies
The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever
How to Destroy Angels - How to Destroy Angels
Jack Grace Band - Drinking Songs for Lovers
Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
The Magnetic Fields - Realism
Marah - Life is a Problem
Mavis Staples - You Are Not Alone
The New Pornographers - Together
Plants and Animals - La La Land
The Roots - How I Got Over
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Spoon - Transference
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Ted Leo/Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
Tim Fite - Under the Table Tennis
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Yeasayer - ODD BLOOD

Interesting side note - with the exception of the Black Francis records, i don't have physical copies of any of these. This is partly due to the lack of a good stereo in my house, but mostly due to my passing indifference with physical records. This vexes me greatly, since i love liner notes and album art. However, given the ease/cost of digital music, it is a sacrifice i am willing to make. Plus, the internet is one giant liner notes.

CONTEST TIME: If anyone can predict my Top 10 in the correct order, i'll owe you a Coke. Post 'em in the comments.

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 17 - The "Hey, There's a Christmas Tree in the Background!" Edition

2010-12-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

My iTunes library, as of December 11, 2010, has 21, 2154songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the seventeenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Ambling Alp" - Yeasayer

Embarrassed to say i got this from eMusic months ago and still haven't listened. I loved their first record, but heard that this one, ODD BLOOD, was quite different. So maybe out of fear i'd hate it, i've avoided it. But this is really fun. This sounds like if Yeasayer was covered by a synth-pop band, with some bizarre interludes. Parts of this remind me of Hall and Oates, and i mean that as a very big complement. This might be my cleaning the kitchen soundtrack later on today...

Song #2 - "Why Midnight Walked In But Didn't Ring Her Bell" - Liars

Less than a minute, just a transitional piece. From They Threw Us All In a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top.

Song #3 - "The Letter" - Andre 3000

A skit from The Love Below. Again, under a minute.

Song #4 - "Minute by Minute" - Girl Talk

I've been on a major Girl Talk kick lately. This is from Night Ripper, the first album of his i bought. It is funny that i enjoy his records so much because, for the most part, i don't know/recognize/like a lot of the hip hop on it. I like hip hop, but i'm not a big fan of the misogyny/violence that so much mainstream hip hop produces. But i guess having the sentiment disembodied from track makes it more digestible for me. It is hard to be offended by 2-3 lines over a Violent Femmes sample. I guess that is the lesson to be learned here. Plus, a Better Than Ezra sample is a thing of beauty.

Song #5 - "Breaking the Choke Hold" - Mike Watt

Watt is one of my heroes. An ethically upstanding member of the punk rock community who does whatever the fuck he sees fit, and plays some of the best bass this side of Paul McCartney. This is from his first rock opera, Contemplating the Engine Room, which compares his time in the Minutemen with his dad's time in the Navy. The record is so its own thing that it is almost hard to put it into context with the greater musical world. It also features beautiful guitar work from Nels Cline, late of Wilco. Do yourself a favor and take a listen - it is simultaneously melodic, daring, nautical, operatic (not in its vocals, but in its recurring motifs and themes), peaceful, fiery and beautiful.

'Til next time (and hopefully lighter on the interludes),
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 16 - The "I've Gotta Get Most Consistent With These" Edition

2010-12-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

My iTunes library, as of December 7, 2010, has 21, 218 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the sixteenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Temecula Sunrise" - The Dirty Projectors

I may have said this here already (i definitely said it somewhere), but the Dirty Projectors are pretty much the band i would have started had i a) more talent b) more ambition c) better skills of articulation d) friends who would be into it. It has hints of all good things - jazz, traditional rock and roll, odd time signatures, male/female vocal counterpoint, great percussion, a clear influence of Os Mutantes, and yet it remains melodic - difficult for sure, but melodic. Only a few friends listen to my podcast, but fewer friends would listen to my band if i was in the Dirty Projectors. I particularly dig this song, which i often get stuck in my head (although i'm not really sure how such a knotty/off-kilter melody can get stuck in my head alongside the simplistic melodies that usually occupy space there). From the best thing i downloaded from eMusic in 2009 (maybe), Bitte Orca.

Song#2 - "Listen" - Bill Frisell

An interesting follow up to the DPs song, this is from Frisell's The Intercontinentals record, which is a really pleasant record - sort of jazz mixed with really strong melodies and some Brazilian instrumentation. This track is a little too smooth for my tastes and tends to go on a bit too long. I only own two Frisell records (not counting guest appearances and/or his duet record with Petra Haden), and while this one is more consistent, i always turn to the Bill Frisell Quartet record because it is just much more exciting to me. Plus, that one has more tuba. And, as Jeff Meyer can attest, more tuba usually equals more awesome.

Song #3 - "Elmerson, Lincoln and Palmieri" - Tortoise

Back in 2006, i went solo to the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. And for some reason, one of only 3 or 4 records i bought on that trip was this box-set of rare/unreleased/remixed Tortoise stuff, A Lazarus Taxon. I mean, i owned one or two Tortoise records before i went, but i felt i NEEDED THIS SO FUCKING BAD, and i really don't know why. That being said, i dig this track a lot, but i know very little about it. Nice and short (2:40), too. I should use more of this stuff as sorbets on my mixes.. Oh, and i think the title may be a slight pun on Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but i don't know who Elmerson, Lincoln and Palmieri are...

Song #4 - "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" - The Velvet Underground

What a great song. If Moe Tucker played on this album it might be TOO good, so it is a good thing she got knocked up beforehand. This has been used in at least 2 movies i can think of (High Fidelity, after Rob finds out that Laura slept with Ian "What Fucking Ian Guy" Raymond [i think it is that scene, and not when Rob is walking in the rain after Laura's dad's funeral, i can't really remember], and a shitty cover of this by some band featuring Mike McCready from Pearl Jam in The Cable Guy). I particularly love the backing vocals and guitar solo. If you don't own this song, go spend less than a cup of coffee and get it on iTunes, you fool (sorry, in a harsh mood tonight i guess...). I have this on two albums in my iTunes, but this time it got shuffled from the High Fidelity soundtrack, which is good, but not as good as a soundtrack to a film about great music should be. Bought this senior year of high school, right after dragging a then-girlfriend to this movie, which she didn't like. Should've known then it would never work out (and it didn't).

Song # 5 - "Glad I'm Not in Russia" - Angst

A band i only know about because i've talked to Frank Black about them (he even wrote a song about them called, shockingly "Angst"). All their albums came out on SST Records and all are/were out of print. This is a weird song about Russians not being free. I don't know enough of the context of this band and their politics to see if this is meant tongue in cheek. I'd assume so, especially because of the faux-country vocals. This doesn't represent the band all that well. This is from Lite Life, which came out in 1985.

And with that, i bid you goodnight.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15

The Enthusiasts' Radio Hour Episode 11: A Novel Idea

2010-11-29T06:39:00.000-08:00

This episode is all about the novel - Brian chats with authors Isaac Adamson and Hillary DePiano, as well as Lindsey Grant, program director of NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month.

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or copy and paste this into iTunes under Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast:

http://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Or listen online at our host, Mevio:

http://enthuseyourself.mevio.com

Links:

The Books - http://thebooksmusic.com

Nomo - http://nomomusic.com

NaNoWriMo - http://nanowrimo.org

Hillary DePiano - http://hillarydepiano.com

Isaac Adamson - http://billychaka.com

Ken Beck is part of CSO Comedy: http://www.csocomedy.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

You'd Be Surprised Vol. 1

2010-11-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

"You'd Be Surprised" is a blog series where i write about songs (and maybe other things in the future) that i think would surprise many people that i truly love.

Volume 1: "Human" - The Killers

Some friends know how i feel about this song (mainly because i included it on one of my seasonal mixes), but i don't know if i've ever really expressed how much i really dig this song.

First, a little backstory: Like so many things in life, i first hated this song. I thought the chorus of "Are we human or are we dancer?" was ridiculous and dumb, not to mention the (seemingly) poor grammar, and i tend to instantly dismiss songs with such a dance-y beat (PS - i know that i'm stupid for doing this). But as i heard it more and more, it really started to grow on me.

And it continued to grow, like a weed. At this point, this ranks as one of my favorite songs of the last 5 years, and i still don't really know why besides the preposterously silly idea that it just is (in case you don't know me, i over-intellectualize everything). I mean, the melody is pretty great, and i've grown to absolutely love the lyrics. Apparently, the main lyric of the song was a twist on a Hunter S. Thompson quote about America raising a generation of dancers. That wins points in my book for an interesting place to begin writing a song. And from there, the song paints a picture of alienation/confusion that is sonically, somehow, set in a club. It is a great juxtaposition of an inner monologue and an outer dance party.

In addition to having interesting lyrics and a great melody, something about the song really moves me. Like, goosebumps and getting choked up, moves me. Why? No clue.

It isn't the music per se - there are songs that just from their sonics can make me cry (like "Sleepwalk" by Santo and Johnny or the opening/closing guitar sequence from Frank Black and the Catholics' "Dog in the Sand"), but this dance beat and synth swells aren't of that stripe. I don't think it is really the lyrics either - i mean, i've never pondered if i was human or dancer (because really, how would i know? I only know i'm human because i've always been told i am. Maybe i am dancer?), nor do i think any of the lyrics really were applicable to my life when i first heard "Human" in the Fall of 2008.

However, despite all the questions i posed here (Why do i like it? Why does it move me? How should i know if i'm human or dancer?), i do know one thing: i wish we had more pop music like this. I'm often envious of people who came of age in the 1980s - there was great indie rock AND great pop, and they weren't mutually exclusive genres. Take the Cure for example - "Friday I'm In Love" is one of many great pop songs that this interesting, brooding band put out that managed to bridge the gap between the Top 40 and the CMJ charts. "Human" strikes me as a type of song that could do that and, sorta did. I'm sure people called Robert Smith a sellout/poseur/etc many times over, but look at that white cake makeup and shitty hair - there is nothing corporate about that.

Tom Morello's pretty interesting cover:

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 15 - The "Look at My Bed Head" Edition

2010-11-14T06:02:00.000-08:00

My iTunes library, as of November 14, 2010, has 21, 056 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the fifteenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Got Nuffin" - Spoon

Spoon is a band that, for me, got old pretty quick. I LOVED their Girls Can Tell and Kill the Moonlight records, then didn't like Gimme Fiction, then dug the better songwriting/arranging of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and now this one, Transference, sounds like half-baked ideas performed exactly as you'd expect. It is still better than a lot of other music out there, but Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga showed that when they really try, they can be amazing. I mean, come on, "The Underdog?" Song of 2007. This is ok, but nothing special (in fact, this might be the best song on this record). I got this via eMusic. I once, with about 15 other people, saw Britt Daniel do a duet performance at the old Knitting Factory (the bottom room) with Spoon's then keyboard player. He ended with John Lennon's "Isolation" - just thinking of it gives me chills. More of that, Britt - less of the same drum pattern.

Song #2 - "Hello Morning" - Fugazi

The most ethical band on the planet. This is from the 3-song Furniture EP. The band, around this time, released The Argument, my favorite album of theirs, which was much moodier and not as in your face as their prior releases. And this EP is the accompanying piece to The Argument, where they rock just as hard as ever. I own this, specifically, because i once had a gift card to Sam Goody maybe (?) and needed to spend another 2-3 bucks, and there this was. Sung by Guy Piccolo, this song is pretty great - says all it needs to say in just over 2 minutes.

3. "Hackensack" - Pee Wee Russell

One of my favorite blogs is called Singer Saints, which posts obscure/out of print/rare records, many times of the jazz variety. I just got this a few weeks ago (the album is called Ask Me Now!), and haven't given it a good listen yet. However, this is really interesting - it is relatively straight forward jazz without a chordal instrument (like a guitar or piano) - this quartet is just Russell on clarinet, and then bass, drums and the fourth member alternating between bass trumpet and valve trombone (!). Russell was in his sixties when he made this - a rare Dixieland era guy who could still play and adapt his style 40 years later. A really catchy, fun tune - and hey, it is named after Hackensack, NJ. We all win!

4. "Live Wire" - Beastie Boys

A rare-ish track from their anthology The Sounds of Science. This has elements of sixties tremelo-guitar, nineties analog synths, and drone-y vocals. I like this a lot actually. I don't remember much about this song, but i've owned this compilation for ten + years. Wow. Got this album from my parents for Christmas one year.

5. "Say" - Thenewno2

This band is the brain child of Dhani Harrison, George Harrison's son. Dhani is a really talented singer and player, but this debut EP didn't really do it for me. I've heard bits of their album that seem much more in line with what he could do, but i still haven't picked that up yet. Not that this is bad - it just seems easy - not that these tunes are lazy, they just don't push far enough in my opinion. I did just pick up the album from Fistful of Mercy, Harrison's new band with Joseph Arthur and Ben Harper, and that seems a bit tossed off, unlike this. I think Harrison needs a producer with a vision (let's say, a Brian Salvatore type) to work with him and extract something unique and personal out of him. All you have to do is hear his work on his father's last album to know how talented he really is. I had special ordered this EP from the UK when it came out - it is self-titled.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Episode 10: The Funny Pages

2010-11-12T16:43:00.000-08:00

Brian takes you on a tour of the New York Comic Con and chats with Peter Tomasi, Chip Kidd, and Nick Sutton Bell. Plus, comedy from Ken Beck, music from Spoiler Alert, and a check in from the South Pole.

Spoiler Alert: http://corporaterecords.co.uk/artists/Spoiler+Alert!/

Chip Kidd: goodisdead.com

Nick Bell: illustratednick.blogspot.com

Ken Beck is part of CSO Comedy: http://www.csocomedy.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 14 - The "I Can't Sleep" Edition

2010-11-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of November 4, 2010, has 20,945 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the fourteenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Here She Comes Now" - The Velvet Underground

I'll probably be kicked out of the music snob club for this, but i'm not a huge fan of this song. Maybe my least favorite song on White Light White Heat? No, that's too harsh. A very same-y song of theirs. Meh. I got this as part of the Peel Slowly And See box i bought at Amoeba in Los Angeles.

Song #2 - "I'm An Animal" - Neko Case

This album, Middle Cyclone, has grown on me quite a bit. This track is very representative of what i didn't like about it at first - its slicker than her past stuff, but the songs are so strong (as are her vocals) that it makes up for the production - which, to be fair, isn't bad, i just like Neko rawer. Feel free to apply sexual innuendo to that last part.

Song #3 - "Take Care of My Children" - Tom Waits

From the "Bawlers" disc of his Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards three disc set. This is my least favorite disc of the set, but i love this song. Disc 2 (this one) is all ballads, so it doesn't work super great as a complete listen, but most of the tracks work well as part of a mix or a shuffle, so this is a delight. Nice horn on this - could it be my internet friend Ralph Carney? I'm too lazy to dig out the liner notes - let's say yes. This is one of the many Tom Waits songs that incorporates old spiritual elements.

Song #4 - "A World Away From This One" - Sean Watkins

From the Mark Mulcahy tribute disc, Ciao My Shining Star. Mark is a totally underrated songwriter, and this disc has some heavy hitters in the early tracks tackling his songs really nicely (Thom Yorke, Frank Black, Dinosaur Jr.), but as it goes on, the names get more and more unknown, and the performances start to sound a little same-y (second use of that tonight!). But this track makes really nice use of vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars, two things that if used improperly can shit-ify a song instantly. But this is really nice.

Song #5 - "Last Train to Clarksville" - The Monkees

I've said it before on this very blog - if you don't own The Best of the Monkees, you're a fool. This is a brilliant pop song. That is all.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13

Contrast Podcast...Again...

2010-11-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you guys know that, again, i'm a contributor to the Contrast Podcast this week. The theme is "Your First Download," and on it i tell my tale of using Napster to track down Foo Fighters rarities. Check it out here.

New ERH tomorrow night...

-B

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 13

2010-11-02T16:01:00.001-07:00

My iTunes library, as of November 2, 2010, has 20,937 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the thirteenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Call Back" - Morphine

This is from the posthumous collection At Your Service that i was given as a really nice surprise birthday gift from my cousin Beth this past June. Morphine is a band that i think you either totally get or think is obnoxious. I once played them for my Uncle Robert, who is a really open minded, musical dude, and he couldn't stand it. Me? I love 'em. Such a singular sound. Maybe it's a low-end register thing (as a guy who plays the bass, played the tuba and has a Bass 2 voice, i fall squarely in that category). I'm pretty sure i've written about them before here. This is one of the rare songs of theirs where you can really hear the slide bass - usually the bass doesn't sound particularly slide-y. Oh, Mark Sandman - why'd you have to have a bad heart?

Song #2 - "Christian For One Day" - Brian Ritchie

Ritchie is the former bass player for the Violent Femmes. The late, great blog The Blasting Concept (RIP) that posts lots of old SST/New Alliance records posted this a few years ago. I have never listened to it. This is not at all what i expected. The EP is called Sun Ra - Man From Outer Space, so i expected something free-jazzy. This is folky and quasi-preachy. I kind of dig it. It's about Christmas. This may go on this year's Christmas mix.

Song #3 - "Style" - The Lemonheads

"I don't wanna get stoned/But i don't wanna not get stoned" Oh, Evan Dando, you're the Wordsworth of the '90s. I tracked this album (Come on Feel the Lemonheads) down online a year or so ago - it's out of print (or at least was when i was looking for it), and i used to own it on cassette. The first two songs on the album are great, and it somewhat drags from there. I kind of dig this song. I prefer the later version on the album "Rick James Style" which is a slower, sadder version and, believe it or not, features Rick James on backing vocals.

Song #4 - "Three Mile Smile" - Aerosmith

I don't know if i've discussed it here, but i've been way into mid-late '70s Aerosmith lately. Post-"Dream On" - pre-80s reformation. This comes from Night in the Ruts (stay classy, Aerosmith), which is the album that Joe Perry quit half-way through. This song is a nice enough blues-rock number, but isn't one of the best tracks on the album. That being said, the guitar solo, by Perry-replacement Jimmy Crespo is pretty boss. I have a fantasy of starting a this-period Aerosmith cover band and being the Tom Hamilton of that band. Anyone want to be the Joey Kramer?

Song #5 - "High and Dry" - Radiohead

If you don't know this song, what the hell is wrong with you.

'Til next time,
Brian

PS - Congrats to my dad's favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, on winning the World Series.

PPS - I'm back to doing this regularly, i hope.

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 12

2010-10-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of October 13, 2010, has 20,784 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the twelfth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Calvary Scars II/Aux. Out" - Deerhunter

From their Weird Era Cont. record, this is 10 minutes of trippy. Not entirely unpleasant, but not really a lot to write about. I'll sort of "live-blog" this.

:57 - Heavy affected vocals sound nice.
2:23 - Picking up a little, there are now drums.
3:27 - Starting to lose interest
4:22 - Tempo change! I'm back in!
6:19 - Ok, this is losing me again.
7:45 - Breakdown to a slow, keyboards heavy section - sounds like Space Mountain music.
8:57 - Shouldn't a just-post-Saved By the Bell Mario Lopez be telling me to get ready for my trip already?
9:51 - Glad this is almost over.
10:04 - Weird sound effects close it out.

Song #2 - "Sweethearts" - Camper Van Beethoven

Just recently picked up Key Lime Pie for the first time in an used record store. I'm pretty happy with the record so far, but i find it a little stream-lined for my tastes. I prefer the more all-over-the-place nature of their indie records. I wish i had more to say about this song...

Song #3 - "Papa Gene's Blues" - The Monkees

I recently re-bought the first record i ever owned - The Best of the Monkees - and just about every single song is a winner. This one is a grade A country-rock jam courtesy of (i think) Mike Nesmith (i was right, i fact-checked myself). Less than 2 minutes, but just as long as it needs to be. People need to really re-evaluate the Monkees - yes, they were pre-fab and yes, they were mainly an excuse to sell commercial time on television, but they have 2 dozen or so killer songs, and that's more than i can say for most bands.

Song #4 - "Candyman" - The Grateful Dead

I bought this on eMusic simply to try and get to know what my buddy John knows that i don't about the Dead. This record has a handful of nice songs, this being one of them. The Dead might be the most overrated and underrated band of all time; underrated by everyone who dismisses them as hippie burn out shit, and overrated by hippie burn outs everywhere. This reminds me of Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds with worse harmonies and longer guitar solos. From American Beauty.

Song #5 - "Jump and Shout Vol. 1" - T.B. & the Germs

Not the Pat Smear/Darby Crash Germs, but an R&B band from the '60s. I've talked about this compilation, Jump and Shout, before on the blog - this isn't one of my favorites from the comp, mainly because this is a poor recording, but the energy is infectious and there isn't much else to say.

'Til next time,
Brian

PS - Congrats Texas on making the ALCS - beat them Bronx Bombers!

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11

Episode 9: Fun Size

2010-10-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

#1 of 4 October episodes,this week Brian talks dogs, Antarctica, and Pompton Lakes.

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or copy and paste this into iTunes under Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast:

http://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Or listen online at our host, Mevio:

http://enthuseyourself.mevio.com

Links:

So Percussion, Matmos
"Treasure" (mp3)
from "Treasure State"
(Cantaloupe Music)

Buy at Napster
Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

So Percussion: http://www.sopercussion.com/

Matmos: http://www.matadorrecords.com/matmos/

Ken Beck is part of CSO Comedy: http://www.csocomedy.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 11 (New Glasses and Crazy Hair Edition)

2010-10-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of October 7, 2010, has 20,758 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the eleventh in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Last Rites" - kNIFE & fORK

No, i didn't hit the "caps lock" button on my keyboard, this is how Eric Drew Feldman's band spells their name. A really spooky, atmospheric, wonderful album is, so far, all we have from this band, but EDF told me at a recent Pixies show that he finished the second album recently. I hope we hear it soon. This one is called Miserycord, and is a perfect rainy day drinking coffee or a late night drinking whiskey type of record. Beautiful vocals from Laurie Hall on the record - i wasn't personally familiar with Laurie before k&f, but her old band has a great, bizarre name: Ovarian Trolley! Trust me, track down this record. Probably still available on cdbaby.com (it is - and eMusic).

Song #2 - "Horrible Party" - Essential Logic

I reviewed this album for a website i was working on in college (or at least i was supposed to...) - this is a band that formed out of X-Ray Spex and features lots of cool saxophone in a punk way - similar, in saxophoniness to something like James Chance, but less Motown. I really adore most of disc 1 of this album, a compilation called Fanfare in the Garden, and this track is especially cool.

Song #3 - "Laura's Theme #5 (You Trust Me Now)" - Nathan Johnson

20 second interstitial piece from the Brick soundtrack. SOOO GOOD (both the movie and the soundtrack). Bought this at Amoeba Music in Los Angeles just minutes after seeing the film with my buddy Scott at the Arclight down the street.

Song #4 - "Walcott" - Vampire Weekend

Hipster backlash be damned, this is a really good band. And this is probably my favorite song from their first album, shockingly titled Vampire Weekend. My buddy Geoff Goodwin recently offered me a ticket to see these guys at Carnegie Hall, and i'm really glad i went. I was a bit bummed that they were playing to a backing track for some of the tracks that involved more instrumentation than they had on stage. To me, that is a great time to fuck with the arrangements and do something unique. So, that part felt like a cop-out to me, but aside from that, they played every single song i wanted to hear and did a really nice job with them. They closed the show with this one. If you haven't heard this band, where the fuck do you live? Got this via Amazon i think...

Song #5 - "Too Many People" - Paul and Linda McCartney

McCartney's most vehemently anti-Lennon song (characterized visually on the Ram back cover by a beetle screwing another beetle doggy [or beetle?] style) - "That was your big mistake/you took your lucky break and broke it in two." Not nearly as mean as Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?," and probably just a better song too. I love Ram like i love Twinkies, and i love McCartney even more. Those two, along with Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and Harrison's All Things Must Pass all came out within the same 13 month period, and they're all fucking epic. Better than anything any of them would ever do again. The Beatles are dead, long live the Beatles.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 10

2010-10-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of October 6, 2010, has 20,723 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the tenth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Crime News" - John Mulaney

Not really a song, but a minute or so of funny stand up from New York's John Mulaney's very worthwhile album The Top Part.

Song #2 - "Discipline" - Nine Inch Nails

Funny, i was just listening to The Fragile at work today, and here we are with another track from The Slip. This has a disco-y beat with some nice distorted guitar or keyboard on top of it. The fact that i'm not entirely certain is one of my favorite things about NIN; their samples never sound like samples, their guitars never quite sound like guitars, etc. Some nice vocals here by Mr. Reznor, as well - NIN are really way more of a dance band than people give them credit for - in the right situation, this could light up a dance floor.

Song #3 - "Tombstone Blues" - Richie Havens

Ah, iTunes, there you go again, playing another song from another album that has already been featured on 5 Song Shuffle. Richie Havens captures this Dylan song's atmosphere perfectly except that he seems totally in control here, where as in Dylan's original the song sounds like a train that's about to go off the tracks - Havens is seemingly a better conductor. This song has some of my favorite Dylan lyrics like, "The sun's not yellow; it's chicken." One of the better tracks from the I'm Not There soundtrack.

Song #4 -"Hear You Me" - Jimmy Eat World

I still tease my friend Dan about how whenever i'd see him for about 3 months in the summer of 2001, he'd start the conversation with "Have you heard the new Jimmy Eat World album? It's fucking awesome!" Well, he was right. I could take or leave anything they did before or since Bleed American, but i really do love this album. It's a really nice mix of uptempo songs and a few ballads like this one, which actually might be my least favorite song on the album, but that isn't saying too much. A very solid recording, but this is no "If You Don't, Don't."

Song #5 - "Sathington Willoby" - Primus

25 seconds of acoustic guitar and weird vocals from the best album Primus album, Frizzle Fry.

Let's go Texas Rangers,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9

Check it out...

2010-10-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Shazam! The Golden Age of the World's Mightiest Mortal

This is a beautiful new coffee table book of photographs of classic Captain Marvel memorabilia. My press copy was waiting for me when i got home today, and i absolutely adore this book. I'm interviewing its author, Chip Kidd, next week.

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 9

2010-10-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of October 2, 2010, has 20,723 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the ninth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" - Ramblin' Jack Elliot

This is from the soundtrack to I'm Not There, a movie i liked a lot, but a soundtrack that i find pretty disappointing. I was expecting more creative reinterpretations of the songs in the film, since the film itself reinterprets Dylan's life in such dramatic ways - however, most of the tracks are just blah - Rambllin' Jack does his best with this, but nothing about his version makes me not wish it was Dylan's version playing. Nice playing and all, just nothing special.

Song #2 - "Roadrunner" - Backbeat Band

Second track from the Backbeat soundtrack to get shuffled in here. I forget who's singing lead on this - maybe Mike Mills? (sound of Brian internetting) Yes, it is Mike Mills. One of my least favorite tracks from this album, but still lots of fun. You can almost hear Thurston Moore's weirdo-greatness trying to leak out the sides of his playing on these tracks. Also, why are a lot of '50s/early '60s rock songs roundabout stories about beating women?

Song #3 - "Marie Provost" - Nick Lowe

From the AMAZING reissue of Jesus of Cool that i got on eMusic in 2008. This album is so crazily ahead of its time and well written. I really should check out more of Lowe's stuff, but i really only know this album, his work with Elvis Costello and "Cruel to be Kind," one of the great pop songs of all time. This album drips intelligence and sarcasm and melody. Can't recommend this album highly enough.

Song #4 - "The Diaper" - Louis CK

Not a song per se, but a great bit of comedy about changing a diaper. Louis is the Elvis of comedy - let's hope he doesn't die on a toilet. From Chewed Up.

Song #5 - "Hats Off to Marriage, Baby" - the Wrens

From their album Seacaucus which, to be fair, i've never given much thought to. The Meadowlands is so different (and so amazing) that i've never looked back on their stuff with any real attention. I should - this song is fun. If you don't own The Meadowlands you probably have bad taste in everything. Why are we even friends? How many years must i rave about that album before you listen? Nice middle section of this song - maybe this song will be on my "Stuff to Listen to This Week" list this week. Yeah, i'm digging it.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 8

2010-09-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 30, 2010, has 20,723 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the eighth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Debra Kadabra" - Captain Beefheart/Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

If Zappa and Beefheart had a regular band, it might've been the greatest band ever. This comes from Bongo Fury, their joint album from 1975, but they worked together a lot - Zappa produced the infamous Trout Mask Replica for Beefheart, the Cap sang on "Willie the Pimp" on Zappa's Hot Rats. Zappa is dead, but Beefheart (or the actual guy, Don Van Vliet) is still alive, but has retired from music completely. Definitely not for the faint or heart or the unadventurous - but i love this.

Song #2 - "Heart Attack Man" - Beastie Boys

I think this song is pretty much the reason why people say that Ill Communication is full of fluff - the first half is a drunken recording, and the second is the lesser of the hardcore songs on the record. Most people slag on this Beasties album, but it was the first one i got, and i still love it very, very much. Bought this at Flipside Records in Closter in, i'm guessing, 1995. The end-ish of the song, when they drop the hardcore beat is the best part.

Song #3 - "Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco Twister" - Minus the Bear

Ah, rum and coke - that is what this song reminds me of. In 2002, my friend Jeff Cech and i were the two representatives from WdSR in Pittsburgh at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. This reminds me of our last night there. We went to a party thrown by some company i can't remember (but i do remember meeting my rep with that company, Liz, who was super cute and handing out drink tickets), and Minus the Bear was one of the bands playing, and the only one that really mattered to me. I was transfixed by the band, partly because of the large amounts of rum and coke i had ingested, but also because they're really good. Other memories from that trip: Jeff chasing a subway rat at 3am, he and i wanting to get "CMJ girlfriends" (basically girlfriends for the 4 days in NYC), only to both pick the same girl as our potential CMJ girlfriend and her not really care about either of us, seeing VHS or Beta our first night there, getting fake IDs, and i think staying at the Hotel Pennsylvania. I might be making that last part up - i know we stayed there the next year. When i got back to Pittsburgh, i begged the aforementioned Liz for two copies of the Minus the Bear record - one for the station, and one for me. I still have the station copy of Highly Refined Pirates, because she only sent one. Sorry, WdSR!

Song #4 - "Gratitude" - Beastie Boys

From Check Your Head, the Beasties album i listen to the least of the classic 4 (to me, the classic 4 are Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty - the rest i could live without), but one that features their best instrumental playing, probably because Money Mark plays keys all over this album. It's funny how the Beasties are such an NYC band, but this and Paul's Boutique were both recorded on the West Coast. This song is pretty great, but its video is pretty lame, which is rare for a Beasties video. 2 Beasties songs in this shuffle, eh?

Song #5 - "Is This What They Used to Call Love?" - The Magnetic Fields

My friend Dan D'Ippolito turned me onto the Magnetic Fields with their The Charm of the Highway Strip record, but that record has yet to win me over as much as everything they've done afterwards has. This is from i, their record of songs that all begin with the letter i. This is sort of the transitional album between 69 Love Songs and the two-sides of the same coin Distortion and Naturalism, and it is probably their most solid single disc. The highs aren't as high and the lows aren't as low, but it is a really pleasant 14 songs. Stephin Merritt is one of the best lyricists working today, and this song is a fine example of why. He's also a very underrated vocalist, as this track also shows.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Fall Mix 2010

2010-09-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Every season, i make a mix for friends/family to enjoy. This year's Fall Mix is called "The Only Thing on TV is the Good Morning News." It has 22 tracks, and i like it quite a bit. Let me know if you want one in the comments.

Brian

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 7

2010-09-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 29, 2010, has 20,723 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the seventh in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Go Get a Wig" - The Ideals

This is from a compilation called Jump and Shout that i got from donating to WFMU in 2005 - its a really great collection of late 50's/early 60's rock and soul stuff. Based on the title, you can guess what the song is about - needing to get a wig.

Song #2 - "It Ain't Easy" - David Bowie

Maybe my least favorite song from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, but even saying that, it is a pretty good song. I'm saying nothing new here, but Bowie is one of those artists that's quality fluctuates so extremely from project to project, and even from song to song sometimes. People always say that Madonna is always changing, but Bowie makes Madonna look stagnant.

Song #3 - "Shwingalocate" - De La Soul

Almost all of De La Soul's catalog, somehow, is out of print. So i had to track down this album, De La Soul is Dead, as well as Three Feet High and Rising, their two most acclaimed albums, online via some mp3 blogs.. I've heard so many good things about De La Soul from smart hip hop fans - yet, i'm not blown away by their stuff. I like it, and i see why in 1992 this would've been the coolest thing to play at a party, but it hasn't changed my life. I also fully admit that i haven't spent a ton of time with this record, and it probably deserves more of my attention than i give it. What's funny about hip hop, to me, is that the really good stuff is meant to sound improvised/tossed off, but requires a lot of time with it to really absorb it, whereas the super-slick produced FM radio hip hop sounds great the first few times you hear it, then becomes unbearably boring.

Song #4 - "Tales of the Exonerated Flea" - Horacee Arnold

This is the title track from this album, but out by Rock and Groove Records which, for a short time, was both a store and a reissue label. I have 2 of the 4 records they reissued (this one and Bell & Arc, another self-titled release) - this one is a jazz-fusion record with some of the best jazz flute this side of Ron Burgandy. I used one of the other songs on this on my Fall mix, which i will write about later today (i promise).

Song #5 -"Punahele" - Sonny Lin

With an iTunes gift card, the day after the 2004 Grammy Awards, i bought this compilation, Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 2. I was inspired by the open-tuning, finger picked stuff i had heard during the brief clip they played at the Grammys, so i took a chance on the album. It is a nice record, but one i rarely listen to. Very mellow - almost John Fahey-like in parts.

'Til next time,
Brian

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 6

2010-09-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 26, 2010, has 20,686 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the sixth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Wake Up Call" - They Might Be Giants

From their first album intended for children, No!, which Erin and i got at a bingo event at my work. A quasi-instrumental with a nice bass line from the always tasteful Danny Weinkauf. Not much to say - the track is less than 2 minutes long without a B section.

Song #2 - "Tight Black Rubber (solo)" - Black Francis

From the first of two (so far) live shows released on USB drive, Live at the Hotel Utah Saloon. This track starts with a nice little bit of stage banter about the Six Million Dollar Man. I like this version of the song quite a bit, possibly more than the studio version from Bluefinger. In fact, i think this may have been recorded before the studio version was even released - some real nice guitar playing on this version - i wouldn't think that singer + solo distorted electric guitar would be a combination i'd necessarily like, but BF makes it work.

Song #3 - "Humboldt County Massacre" - Frank Black and the Catholics

Again, a double up of Charles Thompson songs. I fucking love this song - a near-perfect 1:43. A song about exactly what the title says - a massacre of the Wiyot Indians by white people in Humboldt County, CA. There is a longer, mellower version that i like even more than this one, but this is such a trim, lean piece of songwriting, it makes my head spin. On the b-sides compilation One More Road for the Hit - the first full album i ever bought off iTunes.

Song #4 - "Demon Seed" - Nine Inch Nails

One of the tracks from The Slip, the free NIN album Trent Reznor put on his website in 2008. NIN is a band that i really respect but rarely play, yet whenever i hear their stuff i always wonder why i don't play it more. This track is no exception - brilliantly interlocking instruments with some near-whispered vocals. One of the few musicians that i'd put in the Prince category of genius - that is to say, he doesn't need anyone but himself to make a masterpiece. This track builds almost exclusively through the voice getting more and more pronounced, and then a distorted guitar/synth (i can't really tell how the sound originated, but i know it has a lot of distortion on it) - it also has a few nice sections where the tension releases, only to be built right back up. The middle/end of the track loses momentum for me a little bit with an extended breakdown that i don't think accomplishes what it sets out to. But the very end of the track (which also ends the album) closes things out nice and abruptly.

Track #5 - "La Puerta Negra" - Tigres de Norte

My friend Denis made a mix called "Soundtrack to Tacos" of traditional Mexican music. This is one of those songs. Not particularly my cup of tea, but it makes nice mood music on Cinco de Mayo. That being said, both Mexican and Italian music makes me want to take the accordion out of my closet and try and actually play it one of these days. I want to be one of those old men who breaks out the accordion at a family party and sings songs from the old country. Of course, by the time i'm an old man, the "old country" would be at least 150 years removed from my family. I don't care though, i'll be rocking out in my guinea-tee, blue jeans and fat guy hat.

'Til next time,
B

Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 5

2010-09-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 25, 2010, has 20,663 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the fifth in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Bo-Peep" - Hasidic New Wave

This is a really bizarre but great song from an equally bizarre but great album called From the Belly of Abraham. This album was given to me by Dan Bozek, bass player extraordinaire from Steubenville, OH. It combines a experimental jazz band that plays quasi-traditional Jewish klezmer music in its own inimitable way with (on this album only) a Senegalese percussion group. I love this song, and have put it on a many a mix for friends. The rhythm is a little tricky to tap your foot along with at times, but that is part of the charm. I've never sought out their other records, but have thought about it a few times.

Song #2 - "When I Go Deaf" - Low

This song is the penultimate song on the Fall 2010 Mix i just locked in last night (blog post about that on Monday). I truly love this song, even though i disagree vehemently with its central message ("When i go deaf/i won't even mind"). Going deaf is one of my biggest fears, and has made me into the guy who refuses to go to a loud show without ear plugs (a sensible idea, but not a very punk rock one). Although, to be fair, the song paints a pretty picture of being deaf, if that can be done, and is really a sweet quasi-love song. From the album The Great Destroyer.

Song #3 - "Lost and Lookin'" - Same Cooke

Just recently downloaded this out of print Sam Cooke album from the great music blog Saints and Singers. A few years ago my friend Dan D'Ippolito told me how into Sam Cooke he was, and since then i've wanted to investigate into his music more, but honestly, this is the first time i've heard this song since downloading the album. I like what i hear - obviously Cooke has an amazing voice, and it is pared with a very sparse arrangement. I will have to listen to all of Night Beat soon.

Song #4 - "Monkey Wrench" - Foo Fighters

The second track/first single from The Colour and the Shape, one of my all-time favorite albums. Its funny, the two bands that i was most into in high school were the Foo Fighters and Weezer, and both bands, in my eyes, lost sight of what made them great relatively early in their careers. I sometimes wonder if this is how some people felt when Rubber Soul came out - that the Beatles had simply lost their minds and were making this weirdo music now. Although both Weezer and the Foo Fighters didn't go the experimental, pushing farther direction, they did the opposite: they began to pander to the audience. But that doesn't make this song or album any less great - when i hear this song it still gets me pumped up and makes me want to drop my low-E string down to a D and play along. Plus that last verse has the really cook trick of sounding screamed without a breath - nice production, Gil Norton!

Song #5 - "Boat" - Marah

Marah is one of the best straight ahead bar-rock/classic rock/i don't know exactly how to describe them without sounding insulting bands in the world. All their songs sound like they were written to be played out of a jukebox, and that is a really cool attitude to making records. This sounds like it was recorded in a bar - i mean that in the best possible way. From their first record, Let's Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later On Tonight.

Til next time,
Brian

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4

Episode 8: Dancing About Architecture

2010-09-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

Brian and guests Glenn Page (of the Len Price 3) and writer Rob Sheffield discuss music from childhood to guilty pleasures to things that we absolutely can't live without. Also, comedy from Ken Beck and music from the Len Price 3.

Rob Sheffield: http://www.robsheffield.com

Ken Beck is part of CSO Comedy: http://www.csocomedy.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 4

2010-09-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 23, 2010, has 20,618 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the fourth in at least a 4,000 part series.

PS - Just upgraded to iTunes 10 and blech is it an ugly gray mess.

Song #1 -"51-7" - Camper Van Beethoven

The day i bought this album was a momentous day in my life. After years of long hair, i shaved my head on a Sunday afternoon in October 2004, and then headed out to see CVB at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck. It was a warm-up gig for their upcoming tour, and it was epic. They did a first set where they did most of this album, New Roman Times, and then did a second all-request set. An amazing show. I bought this CD that night, and still think it is one of the best post-reunion albums i can think of for any band. Granted, parts of it (like this song) sound more like Cracker songs than CVB songs, but there is plenty of Camper to go around. I'm not really sure what it means to be "51-7," but i do love this song.

Song 2 - "Old John Amos" - Frank Black

This is an old Arthur Alexander song, and it comes from an Alexander tribute record, Adios Amigo. Frank Black is my favorite non-Beatle musician, but the production on this song (courtesy of Jon Tiven) really drags it down - its just so flat sounding and uninspired - the performances are pretty solid, but the record sounds like it is sub-karaoke level, sonically. Bought the album for under $5 used on Amazon - i paid too much.

Song 3 - "Pacer" - the Amps

The first track off of the only Amps album, Pacer. The Amps = the mid/late 90s Breeders minus Kelley Deal who was in rehab at the time. I love this record a lot - inspired, brief, consistent and fun. I'm probably the only person who feels the Breeders peaked with Title TK in 2002, and i think this is probably my second favorite Kim Deal-led album. Got this for Christmas in the mid-00s after having a bootleg copy for years.

Song 4 - "Pure Denizen of the Citizen's Band (acoustic)" - Frank Black

I knew one of these (if not many) would be dominated by Frank Black/Pixies/Breeders stuff, and here we go. This is from an amazing acoustic gig at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica from 1996 - lots of great songs that are rarely still performed (and some that were rarely ever performed), well recorded, and FB is in a great mood on this recording. Sometimes in the solo acoustic format, he can stretch the songs a little too far, but here he stretches them just enough. A really great show, and pretty easy to track down online.

Song 5 - "She Cracked" - the Modern Lovers

Again, probably no one agrees with me, but i prefer Jonathan Richman for the first 5-10 years post-Modern Lovers. Not that i don't think this stuff (from The Modern Lovers) isn't great, because i'm not a moron. This is the missing link between the Stooges/Velvet Underground and punk, and more people should be aware of their only record. However, even more people should be aware of the first few Jojo albums post-this incarnation (Rock and Roll with the Modern Lovers and Back in Your Life especially). Richman is a fascinating dude and a really engaging performer. If you haven't seen him live, you're missing out. Who doesn't like songs in foreign languages, random dancing, a 2-man show (nylon string acoustic guitar and drums), and a speech pattern that is both child-like and Stallone-like? I have this song as part of a compilation, Home of the Hits! The Best of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.

New podcast coming later today, and then a Pavement show tonight.

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 3

2010-09-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 21, 2010, has 20,548 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the third in at least a 4,000 part series.

Brian's Note: Last time i forgot to talk about how i got the albums - i'll try and not make the same mistake again.

PS: I'm going to try and do this column thrice a week.

Song #1 - "Either Way" - Wilco

The first song off of their "back to basics" 2007 album, Sky Blue Sky, this is a pleasant if not super song. Although this does start the trend on this album of having really strong second-halves of songs, which has everything to do with guitarist Nels Cline, appearing on his first Wilco studio record. Cline, a jazz-rock guitarist by trade, has some truly stunning, fascinatingly constructed solos that let Jeff Tweedy make the ends of his songs really interesting and not the boring "one chorus/fade out" that so many songs do post-guitar solo. I pre-ordered this album through the aforementioned Rock and Groove Records in Bergenfield, NJ, and got the "deluxe" edition that came with a DVD featuring some live performances in a studio. A nice little DVD, but probably not worth the extra $4-5 bucks it cost me.

Song #2 - "Two of Us" - The Beatles

From the 2009 remastered Let It Be. I first heard Let it Be on vinyl via my parents' record collection, but i most associate it with a cassette version i got at the late, great Flipside records in Closter, NJ in first grade (i think). I remember thinking how intimate this song sounded, of course not using that word, as i had no idea what intimate meant, i just felt that this song sounded like it was telling a story that really happened to Lennon and McCartney, and it represented friendship for me, as silly as that sounds. And i loved the banter at the beginning and end. I used to think that wearing raincoats was cool because of this song. The remaster sounds great.

Song #3 - "Futuristic Rhythm" - Ralph Carney's Serious Jass Project

Sadly, most people know Ralph from his nephew, Patrick, who plays drums in the Black Keys. Ralph is the man - he has played many of the horn parts on Tom Waits albums that you know and love. He's also played with Black Francis, Jonathan Richman, They Might Be Giants, and smart people everywhere. This is from his standards album (called, shockingly, Ralph Carney's Serious Jass Project), and it is a damn fine album at that. A really fun cocktail party record. Downloaded from eMusic before interviewing him for the FrankBlack.net podcast - one of the best fact-checking purchases ever.

Song 4 - "Mash" - J Dilla

Ah, Dilla, sampling Frank Zappa. I downloaded Donuts from eMusic after seemingly every person i trust musically raved about it. I don't love it as much as they do, mainly because i wish it were more filled out, but the scraps are all really enjoyable, and if i was a more ambitious musician, i would use these as the base for something else.

Song 5 - "Slow Down" - Backbeat Band

Ah, the Backbeat band - Greg Dulli, Dave Grohl, Thurston Moore, Mike Mills, et al. Assembled to provide the soundtrack to the (early Beatles bassist, painter, and tragic figure) Stuart Sutcliffe biopic Backbeat, this crack band recorded 12 songs the Beatles covered in their early days (they couldn't get rights to the originals, and the covers better fit the time period). They do it relatively straight too, only occasionally showing their indie-rock ambitions (like at the beginning of the guitar solo here). If i'm not mistaken, this was another Flipside purchase - in fact, from birth until probably sophomore year of high school 90% of my music was purchased there.

That was fun!

Vol. 1
Vol. 2

Contributing to the Contrast Podcast/I Need Callers

2010-09-20T08:41:00.001-07:00

For the second episode in a row (check out the first one here), i'm a contributor to the Contrast Podcast. This is a show that has a weekly theme, and bloggers/podcasters send in submissions on that theme - so, for instance, on this week's episode, entitled Boiling and Steaming, i submitted Mike Watt's "Big Train," as i made the mental association between steam and a locomotive. Some submissions are very literal, others are more out there. I used to submit relatively frequently, but then took 2 years or so off from it, but i'm back, baby! Check it out here, and even if i'm not on an episode, it is one of the most entertaining podcasts out there.

Also, i need some callers for the next episode - this week's theme is music, and i'm specifically looking for people to call in with their favorite disposable pop song that time has forgotten. So come on fans of Snow, Ini Kamoze, and Nine Days - call in and leave a message (before Thursday) about your fandom! 206-222-2033.

B

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 2

2010-09-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 18, 2010, has 20,466 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the second in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Helen Butte" - Miles Davis

It is fitting that the first song this round is 16 minutes long, i started writing while my French Onion Soup is simmering on the stove, so this song will give me ample time to get it ready for consumption. This is from 1972's On The Corner record, which for my money is the best "Miles tries to do funk" record he made. (Good lord that soup turned out good!) Most unusual is the record's use of electric sitar throughout (for reals), as well as Miles playing his trumpet through a wah-wah pedal. A very enjoyable record (for me, more fun to listen to than the superior Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way and A Tribute to Jack Johnson - all those records have more depth than this, but for just a fun record, this wins for me). This track doesn't particularly stand out for me - the album is sort of same-sy throughout - but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Excellent tambourine playing, and that is a rare jazz compliment.

Song #2 - "Mod Lang" - Big Star

We shuffle forward 2 years for some good ol' Big Star. There is very little say about this band that hasn't already been said: influential, amazing power pop. The world is a lesser place since losing Alex Chilton earlier this year. I think that if people heard Big Star when they were 13 the way you year disposable pop music on the radio, we'd have a society of people with amazing taste. Alas, we have a society of people who buy snuggies for their dogs.

Song #3 - "Sie Liebt Dich" - The Beatles

The German-language version of "She Loves You" - need i say more?

Song #4 - "This is a Firedoor Never Leave Open" - The Weakerthans

One of the many great Canadian bands of the past decade (and the end of the nineties...) - amazing lyrics that elevate their songs to something much more than they would be instrumentally. Their vocalist, John K. Sampson, isn't the best singer or the most amazing melody writer, but they still remain one of my favorite bands. I'm usually a "lyrics are secondary" guy, but this band proves that wrong. This is from their Left and Leaving record, which i'm not as familiar with as i am the ones that followed, but it is a pleasant, intelligent song.

Song #5 - "Changing Partners" - Elvis Costello

Declan MacManus and i have a complicated relationship - as a songwriter, i think he's pretty great. As a vocalist (especially after 1982 or so), i grow tired of him very quickly. However, on last year's Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, i felt his voice so fit the old-timey country/string band style, that i didn't grow tired of it at all. Case in point is "Changing Partners," the last song on the record, which is a favorite of mine - the fact that i've even heard this song is a testament to his voice on this record (i don't think i've ever heard past track 6 or 7 on his When I Was Cruel record...). A short, sweet song.

'Til next time,
B

Vol. 1

High Praise From a Friend

2010-09-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

Jeff Meyer, co-host of the Vital Signs Podcast, multi-time guest on the Enthusiasts' Radio Hour, and a friend of mine for nearly 20 years, has a new video blog, or vlog, and on his second episode he name-checks the ERH and this blog's new segment, the 5 Song Shuffle.

Jeff is a super thoughtful guy - i mean that both in the sense that he is full of thoughts, and those thoughts are really unique and interesting, and he is also a very nice, giving person. In this vlog, he talks about a period where we didn't hang out/talk very much and blames himself. Well, i think that we could each blame ourselves for the dissolving of our friendship. However, we were going into our freshmen year of high school - so, basically, full of raging hormones, teen angst, and other various annoying tendencies of 9th graders everywhere. And even though we lost touch for a spell, i don't think hard feelings were ever really present - at least, not for me. And since reconnecting, his friendship has been one of the most satisfying in my life, and i'm super grateful for the opportunity to chat whenever we get the chance. So please, check out his stuff - you will be entertained and learn something.

Thanks again, Jeff.

5 Song Shuffle Vol. 1

2010-09-15T06:30:00.001-07:00

My iTunes library, as of September 15, 2010, has 20,343 songs in it. Some are novelty downloads, some i have because i'm a completionist, some i rarely (if have ever) listened to. So, in this new blog segment, i will let shuffle pick out random songs (without personal editing to hide embarrasing and/or lame songs), and i will write about what i think of them, plus any details i an give about how it was procured. At current rate (and if my iTunes never repeats a song...) this will be the first in at least a 4,000 part series.

Song #1 - "Sweet Samsara Pt. 1" - Miho Hatori

Miho Hatori was once a member of Cibo Matto, who i investigated due to their association with Sean Lennon, who i really dig. I enjoy just about everything associated with the band, and this is no exception. If memory serves, i bought this at the second, and final, location of Rock and Groove records, in Bergenfield, NJ. At this point, the store was a hidden, basement office turned into specialty shop. I believe i bought this from the $1 promo box. Totally worth it. Lots of cool percussion on this song, Hatori nails the vocal as well. Certainly an album that deserves me going back to and listening to in more detail. Oh, and yes, there is a Pt. 2.

Song #2 - "Good Golly, Miss Molly" - Little Richard

I had tweeted earlier this summer that Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis might be the two artists i've gotten into the most this year. LR just sounds so unbelievably raw and in the moment on this song - i'd be hard pressed to name a vocalist i'd rather hear sing anything (well, maybe Neko Case...) - whoever his backing band was at this time, bravo. Downloaded Little Richard's Greatest Hits earlier this year.

Song #3 - "Cohesion" - Minutemen

An instrumental, nylon-stringed guitar interlude from Double Nickels on the Dime. It is pleasant, and works really well in the context of the record, and would probably be a nice pallet-cleanser on a future mix of mine - just long enough at 1:57 - any more would get boring. Bought this album in college, although have gone back and downloaded various other versions to try and Frankenstein together a "complete" version, as the CD and vinyl have differing tracklistings.

Song #4 - "Room 13" - the Dirty Projectors

The short version: DP frontman Dave Longstreth hadn't heard Black Flag's Rise Above record in approximately 15 years, and decided to reimagine all of the songs from memory, without consulting the original record. So, this "song by song" cover record is missing a few songs, and sounds nothing at all like Black Flag. This is the record that got me into the Dirty Projectors, but after last year's amazing Bitte Orca, everything else they've done sounds like stepping stones to that. This song features lots of lovely harmonies and ethereal vocals, and then the distortion comes in. This band plays with rhythms better than almost anyone else this side of the Bad Plus, and the tail end of the song is disjointed rhythmically, but still works, that is until the synth strings come into play. One of many eMusic grabs.

Song #5 - "Yes" by Morphine

Morphine is a band that i've been slowly getting into for 15 years now, with last year probably being the height of my Morphine fandom. Many of my friends hate this band - i don't know what's not to like - amazing drums and sax, 2-string slide bass, and the magnetic Mark Sandman - one of the most distinctive alternative rock voices ever. Just barely over 2 minutes, it gets in and gets out before you can ever properly groove to this. Bought this album on CD in high school (i think from Soundtrack Records in Dumont).

Episode 7: Class Act

2010-09-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

This week, we discuss the start of the school year, while looking back at Brian's freshmen year in college - plus, music from Marnie Stern, comedy from Ken Beck, and more!

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or copy and paste this into iTunes under Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast:

http://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Or listen online at our host, Mevio:

http://enthuseyourself.mevio.com

Links:

Marnie Stern: http://www.killrockstars.com/artists/viewartist.php?aname=marnie%20stern

Ken Beck is part of the Casual Sex Offenders: http://www.csocomedy.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

Episode 6: Growing Pains

2010-08-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

Jay Kumar and Jeff Meyer join host Brian Salvatore to discuss various former obsessions musical, cinematic, and televised. We also have music from the Wrens, and two phone calls that fall very, very far from Brian's personal opinion tree.

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or copy and paste this into iTunes under Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast:

http://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Or listen online at our host, Mevio:

http://enthuseyourself.mevio.com

Links:

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

New Track from the Wrens...

2010-08-17T21:01:00.001-07:00

...and it is expectantly awesome:

Episode 5: The Road (With Apologies to Cormac McCarthy)

2010-08-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Enthusiasts' Radio Hour Episode 5: The Road (With Apologies to Cormac McCarthy)

On this exciting installment, Brian and Erin travel down Route-95 to Virginia, then East to the shores of Delaware and finally, back to the Garden State. Along the way, droll observations are called in. Interviews with Jeff Cech (re:mopeds) and Mark Salvatore (re: Antarctica), a game of "Who Knows Brian Better" between Mark and Dave Coleman (the aforementioned resident of Delaware), comedy from Ken Beck (with help from fellow Cresskill Cougar Eric Triveri) and Music from Asleep and the Wheel and Leon Raush (featuring Willie Nelson).

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or copy and paste this into iTunes under Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast:

http://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Or listen online at our host, Mevio:

http://enthuseyourself.mevio.com

Links:

Ken Beck is part of the Casual Sex Offenders: csocomedy.com.

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

Asleep at the Wheel:

Asleep at the Wheel, Leon Rausch
"Truck Driver's Blues (feat. Willie Nelson)" (mp3)
from "It's a Good Day"
(Bismeaux Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

Episode 4: Diamond Studded

2010-08-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Enthusiasts’ Radio Hour Episode 4: Diamond Studded

This show, I talk to Josh Levin of Slate.com and co-host of “Hang Up and Listen,” the finest sports podcast in the land, Thomas Wong from TheSundayBest.org, and buddies Ed Kelly and Jonathan Goldberg. The topics range from sports to fashion to the logical place where they meet: uniforms! Also, comedy from Ken Beck (with help from Marshall Stratton), a phone call from my friend Anthony Armando, and 2 tracks from the Baseball Project, the leading proprietors of America’s past-time-themed songs.

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or copy and paste this into iTunes under Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast:

http://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Or listen online at our host, Mevio:

http://enthuseyourself.mevio.com

Links:

Hang Up and Listen: Slate.com/Hangup

The Sunday Best: TheSundayBest.org

Thomas’s suggested website: Gilt.com

Ken Beck and Marshall Stratton are part of the Casual Sex Offenders: csocomedy.com

The Baseball Project: TheBaseballProject.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

Episode 3: PB and O

2010-07-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

(PS - Recipes from this episode will be posted on Monday)

To subscribe in iTunes, search for "Brian Salvatore" or "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour," or click here.

Or, to download directly, click here.

Show Notes:

Episode 3: PB and O

Show Rundown:

Intro/Beer Pouring and Donuts

Burrito Enthusiast: Sean Williamson

Recipes (Melissa Steiger/Ed Kelly)

Music: Real Estate - "Suburban Beverage"

Main Discussion: Anger Burger (Sunday Williams and Aaron Leva)

A Word From Our Sponsor: Northeastern Realty (Ken Beck)

Recipes (Dana Nieder/Kathleen Bradler)

Jaw Dropper/Teeth Clencher with Anger Burger

Baking Enthusiast: Danny Burau

Enthuse Yourself featuring Jackie Knight, Marshall Stratton, and Erin Averill

Recipe (Brian)

Closing Credits/Thank Yous

Links:

Anger Burger: angerburger.com

Dana Nieder's Uncommon Sense Blog: http://niederfamily.blogspot.com/

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

Searchable on iTunes!

2010-07-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

You can now search for the show on iTunes! Search "Enthusiasts' Radio Hour" or "Brian Salvatore" and enjoy!

Episode 2a: Boneheaded Bonus

2010-07-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.mevio.com/episode/238628/episode-2a-boneheaded-bonus

Show Notes:

Intro

Enthuse Yourself: Jay Kumar

Enthuse Yourself: Brian Salvatore

Closing Credits

Music: Reid Paley Trio - "Everything Is Going Wrong (And That's Alright)"

Info:

Jay Kumar: http://jzkumar.blogspot.com

Reid Paley Trio: http://www.reidpaley.com

Show blog: http://enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Hotline: 206-222-2033

Twitter: @BrianNeedsaNap

For Russell Anderson...

2010-07-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

...because apparently he couldn't find the big iTunes logo on the mevio page.

To subscribe in iTunes, open iTunes, click on "Advanced" and choose "subscribe to podcast" - then, copy and paste this:

itpc://mevio.com/feeds/enthuseyourself.xml

Done!

Brian

2010-07-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Please visit our Mevio page and subscribe in iTunes (link is on the right hand side)

http://enthuseyoursel.mevio.com

http://m.podshow.com/media/25621/episodes/238359/enthuseyourself-238359-07-01-2010.mp3

Show Notes:

Show #2: THE END (not really at all)

Show Rundown:

Intro/Memory

Music: Marah - Valley Farm Song

Space and Candy with Mark Salvatore

Chat with UGTV.org's Alan Home

A Word From Our Sponsor: The Summer Safety Council of Greater New York (Ken Beck)

Poetry Enthusiast Elizabeth Gladding

Jaw Dropper/Teeth Clencher

Enthuse Yourself! (Featuring Jay Kumar)

Credits

Links:

Alan - http://UGTV.org

Jay - http://jzkumar.blogspot.com and search iTunes for Completely Conspicuous.

Ken Beck - http://csocomedy.com/

Marah - http://Marah-usa.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap

Show #1

2010-06-09T10:57:00.001-07:00

Show Notes:

Title: Episode 1: The First Episode of the Rest of Your Life

Release Date: 6/17/10

Show Rundown:

Intro/Mission Statement (featuring Eileen Nagle)

Music: Tim Fite - Not Cov'red

Comic Book Enthusiasts Matt and Mocle

Main Discussion: Late Night Comedy with Ed Kelly and Jeff Meyer

A Word From Our Sponsor: Securit-EZ (Comedy by Ken Beck)

Puppy Enthusiast Erin Averill

Jaw Dropper/Teeth Clencher

Enthuse Yourself!

End Credits

Links:

Matt and Mocle - Multiversitycomics.com

Jeff Meyer - jeffmeyer.squarespace.com

Our Blog: enthuseyourself.blogspot.com

Our Email: enthuseyourself@gmail.com

Our Hotline: 206-222-2033

Brian's Twitter: @BrianNeedsANap