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August 23, 2007
R.I.P. Max Roach
Watch the master play a solo that puts the best of 'em to shame...on just the hi-hat.
August 21, 2007
A Little Dappled Ooo-Ya
My new favorite band...with cool videos to match their best tunes! Dappled Cities: "Fire Fire Fire" Dappled Cities: "Vision Bell" I'm a sucker for heavily Leslie'd vocals.
August 14, 2007
Colleen Wysocki-Niimi, 1998-2007
Former champion show dog and proud Hoosier, with pedigree papers and intercontinental medals; survived by son, Mo Wysocki-Niimi, of the Wysocki-Niimis, innumerable offspring, and distant relatives in the UK Midlands  Tonight was the saddest ending to a draining, sad week: Tami and I had to say goodbye to our beloved 9-year-old border terrier, Colleen. She'd been acting a little strange since undergoing a rather extreme grooming job a week ago. (Border terriers need to be hand-stripped, due to the unique makeup of their coat, and we'd found a professional who could handle the challenging task of paring down her David Coverdale-like canopy of fur. Or her "coverdale," as I just realized it should be called from now on.) We soon noticed that she wasn't her usual frisky, twinkly, licky self. She was expressing little to no interest in her usual pastimes, like snarfling around in the kitchen for crumbs, dry humping her son, Mo, or running around the house with her Kong. We finally decided to take Colleen to the emergency vet late Friday night after she refused her dinner and was becoming noticeably lethargic. The doctors discovered she had a staph infection on her skin, and put her on IV antibiotics, since she'd barfed a few times by then, and couldn't keep down the pill antibiotics the regular vet gave us earlier that day. We thought we might be able to bring her home on Saturday, but instead, she had grown more ill; the emergency vets had discovered she was also suffering from pancreatitis, and wanted to keep her another night to monitor her and do more tests. On Sunday morning, the vet called to tell us she hadn't improved; in fact, they'd discovered some other problems. She wasn't peeing, and needed a plasma transfusion. They were giving her pain medication. We picked up Colleen later that day and transferred her to an animal hospital in Berwyn, where she'd be able to receive 24-hour care. (The emergency vet is only open at night and on weekends.) Today the new doctor called with the results of some additional tests, and told us that her kidneys were beginning to fail, as well as her blood clotting system, which put her at risk for jauntice, and her liver. Her tummy was filled with fluid, and they'd given her a Fentanyl patch for pain. They said she was very lethargic and depressed. We had the hospital fax the lab results to our regular vet, so we could get her opinion about Colleen's outlook; she called us back, and told us that it was indeed really bad. So Tami and I talked it over for awhile, and ultimately decided that, given the very slim chances of her recovery, Colleen was probably suffering needlessly, at this point. We really tried not to ascribe too much importance to the fact that we'd accumulated close to four thousand dollars in medical bills over the past three days. We got in the car and drove out to Berwyn again. The doctor and an assistant brought Colleen into a small visiting room. At first I thought she looked fairly alert and lively, but when they set her down on the table, I heard her labored breathing, and saw the pain in her pinched eyes. We petted Colleen and talked to her while the doctor left to prepare some paperwork and the euthanizing shot. She was lying on the steel counter, breathing in a quick, gasping kind of way, her eyes half shut. I crouched down to be at eye level with her, and stroked the top of her head; she made a little gesture, like she was trying to crane her head up, so I leaned over and put my face next to hers, and she licked my cheek. We'd started calling her "Licky," because whenever we'd sit on the bed watching TV she'd suddenly scuttle over and start licking our faces enthusiastically. When she licked my cheek tonight, her tongue only poked out about a half an inch, and it felt strangely dry -- she hadn't had any water in several days on account of the pancreatitis. I said, in the closest approximation to my usual voice -- "COLLEENY!" -- and a twitch of recognition animated her face, for a brief moment. She very slowly rolled over on her side, in her customary tummy-rub position, and I stroked her pink belly (recently shaved for the ultrasound tests). She'd lost a lot of weight; the skin of her lower belly was wrinkled and sagging, and she had a number of lesions, from razor burn or the infection, or something else. When she rolled over there was a bad smell, like sweaty dog, but different. The doctor and his assistant came back into the room. We carefully picked up Colleen, and the blanket she lay on, and moved to the floor. Tami wanted to hold her on her lap while the doctor gave her the shot -- that's how she had done this in the past, with other pets. For me, this was a first. I wasn't sure what to expect. Colleen still had the IV tube in her leg. The doctor poked a large syringe of green fluid into it. She fussed a bit after he stuck the needle into the plastic valve, pulling her leg back, which was kind of surprising, as though she felt the needle, which of course wasn't possible. I watched her face. She just kind of relaxed and went limp, in one quick smooth moment. I watched her eyes, and they didn't seem to change; in fact, they remained open. Tami said, gently, as to a little kid, "That's it." (To Colleen? Me? Herself?) (don't kill her any more) I kept petting her head. She seemed alive, like she might slowly raise her head to look at me. (...The shot somehow cured her, amazing...) (Its deep authority over life is so magical and absolute as to include the opposite power, as well) (Why green?) But it was frustrating, and anticlimactic, like I'd blinked and missed closure. I lost it, sobbing. By our earlier request, the doctor made a impression of Colleen's right front paw for us to keep, carefully pressing it into a coaster-shaped section of clay. We sat there on the floor for a while longer, Tami still cradling Colleen's little body. I remember feeling how unfair it was, how unfair that everything about this was so fast and confusing. We had to leave, and it was hard because there was no way of knowing how. We have to move Colleen's cage down to the basement -- Mo keeps going in there, sniffing around, wondering where his Mom is, on some level, maybe. We've been letting Mo sleep with us in the people bed for the past few nights. His sweet, goofy spirit cheered us up tonight.
August 12, 2007
99c, no waiting
The best thing about being a hypomanic music freak with extremely forgiving tastes is that you can go to a decent record store and walk out with an armload of CDs...just from the dollar bin. Weird thing tonight was I looked through the proper CD racks for a long time, but couldn’t find shet that interested me. (I was looking at a copy of Dr. Feelgood’s Singled Out for awhile, but at $19.99, I ended up putting it back.) In my wallet was a store credit for $34.32, left over from a massive trade-in of shitty promos about a month ago. I ended up buying 26 CDs -- all from the 99c bins -- and with the couple of neato letterpress greeting cards I grabbed from the counter display at the last minute, the total came to $34.60. I threw some pocket change at the counter guy and was on my way to the Belmont bus. I let the door hit me in the ass on the way out. What follows is my abridged Dollar Bin Record Round-Up: Rogue Wave – 10:1 maxi single (Sub Pop, 2005) Loved their most recent album, Descended Like Vultures. One of the album’s best tracks, plus a few random nuggs. No Doctors – Hunting Season (GoJohnnyGo.com, 2003) Just wrote about these former Chicago-area nutjobs for SF Weekly. Their new LP, which showed up in the mail the other day, features some wicked original art by Tony Millionaire. Japan For Sale, Volume 4 (Tofu Records/Sony Japan, 2004) Looked interesting. Been thinking about wacky Jap-pop again recently, after having downloaded a bunch of EeL albums a couple weeks ago. Fork Ends comp (Audio Dregs, 2004) Big fan of post-rock/electronica imprint Audio Dregs. Just downloaded this comp a little while ago, oddly enough, and was sorta on the lookout for a copy. I was really psyched about finding this one. Trapist – Ballroom (Thrill Jockey, 2004) Don’t know anything about this. Seemed to have the same vibe of those earlier TJ releases that became part of my entry into electronica, just going by the graphics. Branches and Routes 2xCD comp (FatCat, 2003) Another label I like, and plenty of great acts here. The Wandering Stars – s/t (Nuf Sed, 1995) Vaguely remember this band/label from the heyday of Bananafish. Big Star – Extended Versions: The Encore Collection (BMG Special Products, 1993) Some kind of mass-market collection of live Big Star tracks. Joost Visser – Partners in Hair (Ajax, 1994) Former member of Bettie Serveert; Ajax released this around the time of Ashtray Boy’s third album – I think I remember the catalog numbers being consecutive. Strangulated Beatoffs – Reverse Child Psychology (Nihilist, 2001) Barely-listenable band of ex-Drunks With Guns dude. Mass Shivers – s/t EP (Sickroom, 2005) Just got the assignment to preview their upcoming show in the Reader this very afternoon – serendipitous timing. Funny related story: my wife and I went to drop off a bunch of stuff at the Salvation Army up on Clybourn a few weeks ago, and while we were there, we decided to look around a bit. I was looking through a bin of CDs all jumbled together, and wifely remarked about how depressing it must be to be in an ambitious young band and have your album end up in a thrift store. "Just so long as I don't find one of my bands' CDs in here," I said, and then found a CD by the former band of my editor at the Reader (who'd assigned me the Mass Shivers piece), also released by the above-mentioned Sickroom Records. I did end up mentioning the incident to him, but added that at least the album fell into appreciative hands. Les Georges Leningrad – Supa Doopa (Remix) (Troubleman Unlimited, 2005) It took me a while to figure out even the name of the band on this disc, and I’m still not too sure about the title. Which is generally a promising sign. The Wire Tapper 15 comp (The Wire, 2006) I collect these Wire magazine comps (I know: nerd.) I think I bought this particular volume on eBay a few months ago. And to eBay, and some other nerd's collection, shall this one go. Nice – Apple Pie (Feel Good All Over, 1993) Strange finding a copy of this long-lost album, considering that I recently marked the end of a reunion jaunt with Ashtray Boy, a band that originally rose from the ashes of Nice. (We’ve played a few songs off this album, including most recently, “My Perfect Fire”.) Criminally under-recognized band. Their drummer Jo has the most amazingly unique playing style in the world. (She taught me most of what little I know about drum tuning, back in '95, when both bands toured together in the U.S. She’s played in recent incarnations of Ashtray Boy's Aussie line-up.) The catalog number on this release – FGAO #69 – is totally bogus, like that of all Feel Good All Over releases: neither sequential nor chronological, picked completely at random. Anyway, I bought this just to have around as a spare. Need a copy? Drop me an e-mail. Saddle Creek 50 2xCD comp (Saddle Creek, 2003) Fiftieth release on the Omaha label of youngman Bright Eyes. Includes them and Conor Oberst’s other band, Desaparecidos, and a bunch of middling indie rock. Bought it to resell on eBay, at the least. Sparked some Old Memories pt. II, though. When the Ashtray Boy band played in Omaha in I think 1995, Simon Joyner set up the show (he set up a few shows for us over the years), and it was us, him, and this kid he was raving about, who performed as 'Bright Eyes'. The kid wanted to go first, though, because it was a weeknight, and he had to get up early for school the next day – Conor was, I think, 16 at the time. The girls were already swooning during his set. He was nice – gave me a copy of his first 7”, which I held onto for years before finally selling it on eBay last year to a Japanese collector for $130. Music of Chicago III comp (Simon Seng, 1996?) This enterprising dude got the idea to put out these compilations of local bands, where he’d solicit ads from local businesses for the booklet insert to cover the manufacturing costs, then give the CDs away for free in those businesses. Awesome idea – how come people don’t do this more often? I got wind of the project early on, and got my bands onto a couple of the releases, as well as some friends of mine. This volume has exclusive tracks from Ashtray Boy, Prichard (from a session I recorded on four-track in my living room), “Shiner, Shriner, & Shop” (an early incarnation of Andy Creighton’s band Das Sporten, which was an early incarnation of his excellent current band, The World Record; I recorded this song as well, in a cheap 16-track ADAT studio. Remember ADATs?), and also a crazy track by Anglophobe, my ongoing solo nom de plectrae. Marvin Gaye – Every Great Motown Hit (Motown, 1991) Scratched to shit, with sticky bits of mystery crap stuck to the business side of the disc, like someone was eating peanut brittle off it, but worth a shot for 99c. I beg to differ that this is every great Motown hit of his. Dig This: A Benefit Compilation for Doorika comp (Sweet Pea, 1995?) Whoa! Another weird blast from the past. (I wonder if someone I know traded in a bunch of these dollar-bin discs: there’s kind of a scary overlap with my own personal history, here.) Doorika (or Doorjka) was a theatre collective of some friends of mine. This fundraising comp actually has some great stuff on it. The Aluminum Group track is what first turned me on to their amazingness (and I think it might be their first album appearance ever). Also herein are Number One Cup, Dingle (aka Aden, who I recorded and played guitar with on tour), M.O.T.O., the Coctails, the Waco Brothers, the Scissor Girls, John Corbett & David Grubbs, the Pulsars (pals and former roommates/bandmates Dave & Harry Trumfio), the Sea and Cake, the Handsome Family…Damn, this IS solid, isn’t it? Easily one of the best “local” comps ever, come to think of it. Ashtray Boy has a track here, as well as Rover Fido Spot, whose song I liked so much I ended up joining the band. I could go on for pages with all the wonderful memories this disc conjures up for me. (Again, already own it -- want it?) Oval – Ovalcommers (Thrill Jockey, 2001) I love Oval. Electronic music for the nucleus accumbens as well as the prefrontal cortex. Boogybytes Vol.03 – Mixed by Modeselektor (Bpitch Control, 2007) Working on a review of the new Modeselektor for SPIN right now. Album-length mix on Ellen Allien’s label. We Ragazzi – Wolves With Pretty Lips (Suicide Squeeze, 2004) Loved the debut by this former Chicago band; reviewed this one for WHPK a while back, and remember not being too crazy about it. But for 99c, shure. Unrest – Fuck Pussy Galore (& All Her Friends) (Matador/TeenBeat, 1993) Score! Guess it was in the loser-bin because of the Sharpie radio station call letters on the booklet. HiM – New Features (Bubble Core, 2001) Dude who’s a sometime collaborator of Adam Pierce (aka the always-wonderful Mice Parade), on the latter’s label. Metallica – Garage Days Far Behind (Planet?, no release date; cat. no. MEGA 001) Metallica – Cliff’s Last Show 9/26/86 (no label, no release date; cat. no. CLFCDJPN92686/AP-4001) Coupla bootlegs (#1; #2), without inserts. Thought I’d try to sell them on eBay. Softlightes – Say No to Being Cool—Say Yes to Being Happy (Modular, 2007) Aw, man! Looks like this is the new project of Ron Fountenberry, aka The Incredible Moses Leroy. (His last album was called The Incredible Moses Leroy Become the Soft.Lightes.) Didn’t even know this existed. The only other person I know who’ll care about this is Travis. Free promo copy left out on store counter.
August 05, 2007
End of an Era
A recent column about the sale of the Chicago Reader, from the website of its new parent company's flagship paper, Creative Loafing. (CL also bought the Washington City Paper as well, and will be liquidating the production departments of both alt-weeklies, consolidating them at CL's Atlanta headquarters in order to cut costs.)
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