Puget Sound Sunset's Fine

I am often shuffling around an idea of my Top Ten Albums of All Time. Though it has morphed and changed over the years, there are a few constants, and The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society is always on there. Nearly every track is golden. Not on the record is one of their biggest hits, Waterloo Sunset.. its sometimes hard for me to hear that song with fresh ears, just because its been a radio standby since I was a kid. But the lyrics, oh man, I love them. And they particularly resonated with me last night, as I sat in the front room watching the moonrise over Kamilche:

As long as I gaze on/ Puget Sound sunset/ I am in paradise.

*photo by my neighbor, Jerry.

New Rules

These arrived in the mail! New stickers for the shop.. a low-cost version of the letterpress print that I crank out by hand. They'll be up on my Buyolympia page in a few days. 'Hey man, spontaneous music happens'. I SAY NO. 

Rosebud

8 1/2 years, going strong. The Lumberjackal, aka the most confusing feral beast I've ever met. I think, though not completely sure, that she might love me. But she's a cool customer.

I can't write at all when I'm super stressed, which is why I deleted the last post: it read like a eulogy for this animal who (obviously) is gonna live to 100. Long live the couch potato hound, she of the bum back leg. Big ears, Roman nose, pastrami lips. Love her.

Future Perfect

Haven't been updating this thing regularly, apologies! It comes in spurts and fits (my ability/discipline to write/document the day-to-day). New Years was nice.. quiet, a few good friends trekked out Kamilche, and we rang in 2013 with some dice-rolling and cheese-feasting. Today the skies are crisp and blue with the occasional adolescent bald eagle cruising by; Totten Inlet is calm, serene. Mason County life! Its a beautiful place.
There is something very, very exciting coming up in my life in 2013. I'm going to Africa! Kenya, to be specific, and Nairobi/Mombasa to be even more specific. Jt and I are traveling halfway around the world to visit old friends from Olympia that are living the dream in Africa. I'm most excited to see wildlife, and to taste crazy food, and to visit a continent that I have not step foot upon. What will swimming in the Indian Ocean feel like? I've missed the Southern Hemisphere, haven't been down that way since 2001! Wild.
So that's the gist of it. More art, hopefully more music, and definitely more traveling!

Shake Rats

Quick trip to the coast last week. Did you know there's a small town in Washington called Aloha? Right next to Pacific Beach. The cloud scene was stunning:

Took the dogs for some much needed running/seagull chasing. Such a regal snout:

And this coastal amanita was just sitting there, all giant and crazy looking, on the path to the beach. As big as a baby's head. Perfectly sized for an oceanic gnome to sit upon..

Cheating the weather; leaving just before the sky filled up with grey.

Back at home, something exciting showed up in the mail!

                                         

Live Leaves, a document of the final Unwound tour in 2001. Up for pre-order here. Letterpressed by yours truly at Community Print. Final note: Will someone please buy the Aloha Tavern? Its CHEAP.

'If You're Into Grunge'

You guys, I think I just found the best thing ever, right here on my way to bed. I'm not sure which weird vein of internet boredom and sleuthing led me to this; a review of a 7-inch I recorded in Calvin's basement and put out on K Records when I was 19. Behold: Plastique!

"The LP (ed. note: its actually a 3-song 7-inch) is pretty good... if you're into 90's grunge. The Plastique sound replicates a very stoned Nirvana with a girl lead. Their lyrics are yummy, the sound/quality of the sound sits just where it should, and the  only thing this album leaves me with is a thought of, "I want more." "De-Real" is almost non-existent and unimportant compared to "Xanax, baby" and "the K-I-L-L"... so why they named their album (ed. note: 7-inch!) after it is beyond me. But the songs make up for what "De-Real" lacks: catchy phrases, and upbeat music that makes you pretty sure this band needs some Zoloft."

                                           

Polaroid of the artists needing mind drugs? Lucky 7 basement, 1995. 

Perfect review! Yes, perhaps we did need mood help. Also: note to the reviewer.. I did go on to play a song called 'I Want More', so I hope your wishes are satisfied! I do what I can (paint things, play music), with what I have (skills in letterpress, making flyers, goofing around on guitar leads), where I am: Olympia, Washington! (Ok, technically I'm in Kamilche, or Shelton, or Mason County. No matter.)

And today I'll be jamming with two youngsters. Excited to see what happens. My guitar skills are.. rusty? Dormant. Volcano-style.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Because its never too late to be a high school goth kid:

'God! Stop taking my picture. I'm going dancing in Seattle. Whatever'.

Or a gnarly Sound Dude...

Gnarly Sound Dude knows how to party! Look at all of those laminates.

And sweet, dumb Olive is going as a potted cactus. Cat-cus! Happy Halloween!

Jazzy Enjoy

Well, well! Look what the internet brought me today.. I've made it onto Thurston's jazzmaster! Tae Won Yu, did you take this picture?

High honor.

Speaking of guitars, someone who likes me very much gave me a Nano Muff pedal for my birthday. It sounds sooooo gooooood with the SG and the Marshall 50Watt. 'Creamy' is one of my least favorite adjectives, particularly in relation to musical instruments, but yeah.. its quite smooth. Super sustain! Now I can really work on my Ron Asheton impersonation, or even 'Who's That Lady'-era Ernie Isley!

And now its off to work. I've pulled six shifts this week! I've muddled through god knows how many pounds of limes. I'm taking next week off: too much jobby-job and not enough art/music gives me a case of the sads. Oh! One more souvenir from this week - my contribution to our community's 40 Days of Kindness campaign for the staff and patrons of downtown Olympia's Planned Parenthood. They have to put up with the moping pro-lifers who park in front of their building w/ the mutilated fetus billboards, so we take turns showering the office with gifts. I made a last dash to the neighborhood flower farm for dahlias:

Thank you Planned Parenthood! Love, Olympia.

Hives of Scum and Villainy

Drove around town yesterday trying to track down old punk houses and photograph them before they're all gone/remodled. The infamous Lucky 7 house, where I saw a million great shows in high school and then moved into when I was 20, is boarded up and slated for demolition. Already gone are the Haunted House, House of Doom, and plenty of others. Here's what I've collected so far:

ABC House. Played my first show ever there, in a little band called Skylab. I was 18 or 19.

Lucky 7. This house holds the most memories for me. Shows, friends, craziness. Bangs played our first show in the basement. I think we played with Bikini Kill.. man, my memory is so terrible. 15 years ago!

Lucky 7 1/2, the punk house next door. Now, an empty lot.

Phoenix House. I tumbled down the basement stairs 11 years ago and (upon collecting myself) suggested to J-Tro that he kiss me. He fell for it!

Red House, recently remodeled and up for rent. $1500/month! Here's a pic Tim Green has of the real Red House, in its early-90's prime:

Tim and his brother on the porch, broken cars in the driveway.

Central House. This was a tough one to find.. I followed my old skateboarding path backwards from the Puget Pantry payphone (we had no phone) to the house. I can't believe this place is still standing! It even looks fancy compared to its state of disrepair in the 90's. I lived with six dudes. Plastique played our first show in the basement.

1611 4th Ave. house, still going strong. Best basement!

Ski Lodge house, probably the most stately of the whole bunch, and not just because its right next to the Capitol Building. I can still hear Mike Elvin on the porch shouting 'Hello, Senator!' to any man in a suit and tie who walked by.

I'll be taking more pictures as my friends help me track down addresses of places that are much more hazy in the recessed synapses of my youth. Bus Stop House, Glass House, Mill House, Taco Bell House...

I Don't Wanna Go

Been listening to this jam. Its a good one.