I awoke this morning to find a new piece of music by Peter Larson, co-founder of the infamous Bulb Records, Professor of Mathematics and old, dorky friend. He and his label Bulb (co-founded with Jim Magas) are pretty much responsible for a large section the modern music scene in my opinion. He released, believed in and supported (to some extent) the late 90’s and early 00’s noise and weirdo music scene in the US and Japan releasing some of the  first albums by Wolf Eyes, Quintron, Andrew W.K., USA Is A Monster, King Brothers, Demolition Doll Rods and many, many other crazy artists. He was also a pretty good musician himself fronting the band 25 Suaves and some kick-ass solo projects. Though retired from the music scene and studying malaria in Africa currently, occasionally he puts out some new music….take a listen…..

https://soundcloud.com/peter-larson-1/girl-guts

I’m a big fan of schlocky pop music and for the last year Taylor Swift has been the center of my universe for it. This past weekend  I found a video of her Ryan Tedder produced song “Welcome to New York” that had been pitched-up so the Youtube authorities and Taylor Swift’s legal team wouldn’t get the song pulled. I have to admit that after a few listens to it I liked it more than the original. The pitched-up voice makes her sound even more like an alien than normal which really adds something to the song for me.

https://youtu.be/MWlRWoGjYC4

And, if you haven’t read it already then check out Psychology Today’s interview with Steve Albini here.

(11/04/2015 update: I noticed that the lizard people finally found this video and had it pulled down. Dam them, it was pretty cool.)

I was thinking about something an ex told me years ago. She was one semester away from finishing her law degree when she said, “You know, when I finish school my life isn’t going to be the same as it used to be anymore.”

“How is that?” I asked.

“Well, I’m going to be really busy. I just won’t have the time to go out and be social anymore because I’ll have an important job.” She replied.

It was that end part, the “…because I’ll have an important job.”  that I thought about last night.

Is any job more important than another?

I’ve heard this discussed in various ways for most of my life and I think it is not about whether one job is more important than another. I think it more reflects the speaker’s world view, their belief that we live in a hierarchical world and they are important in it.

It has nothing to do with a job or the authority granted by it or the respect commanded by the culture for that job but about the speaker’s own self-worth being attached to the dominant culture’s perception of work and class structure.

It’s like, “I’m important because society tells me I’m important!” which I think is total bullshit.

I’m important because I feel important. Not because anyone tells me I’m important or that things I do are important. All of that is some head trip you’re on.

Life is important because YOU make it important, whatever anyone else tells you is crap.

You don’t have to believe me though, I don’t have an important job or make a lot of money or have any ambitions beyond making it to the weekend….

My hometown of Tucson, Arizona really has a great music scene. I often miss it.

Right now one of my favorite new bands from that town is Burning Palms. Very much the desert rock goth thing which I’m not too big a fan of but their song “Pyramids” does it incredibly well.

I hadn’t expected to be so mesmerized and inspired by Jeff Koons’ ideas about art but I was and, added bonus, he’s interviewed by John Waters! (presented by the The Broad and the Los Angeles Public Library, both wonderful institutions)

Check out a preview of my interview in the upcoming issue of Truly Rejected magazine.

And here is a movie to recommend! A horror, comedy, romance film from India called Bhool Bhulaiyaa. The cinematography is really, really nice and, of course, the songs and dance numbers are really cool but best of all, it is staged in a palace!

https://youtu.be/oUD8jbLpk84

Played a show with CP-208 this week at the Mutiny Information Café and for the first time ever, we got asked to do an encore. In all of the bands I’ve played with over the years that has never happened. I felt very humbled by the experience.

And to top it off the rest of the show was fantastic.

Nerve Beats were great. Guitar, bass and stand-up drums with that early 90’s Dischord sound. Their singer and guitarist, Travis Wiggins walked into the crowd shouting his lyrics to the heavens. If you get a chance, go see them in your town! They’re touring the continental US all this month!

Local band, Mailman Land played a great set that night to. Reminded me of summer nights of my youth, hanging out at the Tucson Warehouse & Transfer company watching local bands battle it out.

Fun night! Special thanks to Ian for setting up the show and the owners of Mutiny for hosting such great shows at their bookstore!