blue skies

The weather is really great today, for my day off. 80, sunny and no humidity. Just came in from a trip to a neighborhood festival, but the blazing sun did me in. It will certainly be nicer out there once the sun hits the (somewhat distant) treeline and buildings on the Ave facing west.
The Flat Tire taps they were tasty.

Best part of the trip was the exploratory zig-zag along the river front. Last years flooding kinda wiped out the the landscaping along the riverbank, but it's coming back and I see there are a few little trails forming. It's great having greenspace areas near the homestead.

Tonight looks to be a Mother Fools/Mickeys/Marquette triple M trifecta of live performances. Oboy. I'm seriously hoping to not have to plan for another RTQE tomorrow, tentative dinner and social plans await if not.

Patrick and Sam and drummingTom have made a commitment to stop spending as much time playing songs we know and concentrate on jelling our respective contributions into our own music. I have much hope that we will get there, maybe this year.

Also on Tom's playing out agenda is a gig downtown, 1st on a bill of three groupings. The thing is to be a duo with Lachmund and I for about 45" or so. I may completely pull out the stops and become more or less unhinged at this. Just so you know. It's

Saturday, August 8th
Capitol Lakes Grand Hall
333 W. Main, Madison
7PM (note the early time)
●Lachmund and Hamer duo
followed by, not necessarily in this order:
●Hannah Jon Taylor quartet
●JoAnne Pow!ers quartet with guests from Chicago and Philly

I should note that, once again, some of the best music at the place I work has been cover stuff, imagine that. Pete K and the crew were spot on with his group Shakey doing Neil Young's 'Harvest' yesterday. A superfine turnout of friendly patrons and the music of Neil Young played with heart and gusto. Good times! Can't say much for the late show, but I hung in there until bartime.
And then there's The Gomers and that Gomeroke. They make it a show. I have said, 'hey, if the singer sucks, just listen to the band!' and of course 'they can play anything'

Oh the drama at work, will it never subside? 'nuff said
Am I enjoying my day off? Most certainly.

listen:
Sonic Youth - The Eternal
Heartless Bastards - Stairs and Elevators
Thelonius Monk w/John Coltrane
Paul Simon - Hearts and Bones
Bill Monroe

wham wham wham

Tonight's late night club-sitting oeuvre was festooned with steel barrels as percussion. Old school industrial. I should know, about 1991 I was doing this too - blame it on Skinny Puppy...and Jamie Muir in King Crimson 1972. From him came the loops of heavy chain in each hand. Thrash, thrash. Ah, the good old days.

10.5 hours of door and 3+ of clean/setup this morning, that's all I've got.

listen:
(in between sets)
Dub Trio
Heartless Bastards
the bartenders played these, bless 'em
(this morning)
Richard Thompson - Amnesia
Dub Trio haha
(this afternoon)
múm
birds

I like it, I play it?

I've been thinking (overthinking?) about the criteria for my RTQE playlists, with another one coming up this Sun the 5th. Gregory states at the top of each program the description:

A program of electronic, experimental, ethnic, classical and improvised conduct for the discerning survivor of the 20th century

Greg has a mission which I admire, but have trouble fulfilling: to play music that is new and to some degree noteworthy, sometimes regardless of whether it might be something listened to 'recreationally'. Let's just say his degree of having an open mind is something I admire. I mainly play things I listen to purely for their enjoyment. I do try to include some artists I'm not familiar with, who have new releases which dropped in the last 6-9 months. It's all about the 'new' for some listeners, and certainly for the artists/labels who submit their work hoping for airplay.

So when I start to overthink this, which only muddies things up, remember: it's only recordings of music, after all. And everything's new to somebody.

listen:
múm - live 2007
Adrian Belew - Desire Caught by the Tail
Amon Tobin - The Foley Room
Oregon - live 1972

Sunday and gorgeousness

The front came thru WI last night, and now we have beautiful weatha. Yay!
Dispatched the clean and set-up of the club super early, so now I can get a nap in b4 Sam whisks us out to Stoughton and jammage, drumming, cavorting, dogs and nature.

listen:
björk - Voltaic
Richard and Linda Thompson
Dub Trio - New Heavy
Crim - The Power to Believe
Joni Mitchell - Hejira

read:
Nat'l Geo July
NY Times

welcome to Summer

to hell with it, AC in the window NOW.

listen:
XTC - Skylarking

coffee

Alison Jewer taught me how to do a better job of making coffee. I'll share:

Grind your beans of choice, I like Just Coffee Jenny St. Market blend, and more than you think.
The grounds don't like the super-hot boiling water, apparently it 'burns' the grounds.
Boil yer H20, take it off the burner for 10 seconds or so, pour just enough to soak the grounds.
After about a minute, add the rest of the very-hot-but-not-boiling water.
Enjoy yourself a cuppa caffeinated goodness. Trust me, it's smoother and you also get more strength in your decanter from the beans, unless you measured the amount of beans like a sleepy monkey.

listen:
Head Pump final show at Senior Scenester Potluck #Deux (Biff, Hannah Jon Taylor, bassist (whose name I forgot), Brian, Blunt)
the RTQE candidates for tomorrow night

arf, arf

The dog days of summer have arrived. Highs in the 80s and humid. Will I put the AC in the window this year? Not until I can afford the increased kilowatt hours anyway.

Last night's thunderstorm was so loud and bright from the lightning show I couldn't get to sleep. Or it could have been the effect of late afternoon iced coffee from Mother Fools (delicious!) on the way to Sam's for jammage. Steve totally spaced our plan to renew 'movie night' Thursdays and didn't return my call until it was too late to get it going. Thunderstorm in full progress and I had already started in on the chips and salsa for our snacking. Had a good chat anyway, much more civil than our exchanges at the bar where we are usually 1/2 in the bag, wore down and ready to vent frustration. Yesterday was a 'dry' day for me, in an ongoing struggle to stay out of the pit of alcoholism. I dance on the edge and tell myself "you don't really need a drink" often enough to convince my bad self.

This weekend is just jam-packed with exciting plans. Tonight it's Happyoke and The Detroit Cobras at the bar. Tomorrow afternoon Senior Scenester's Reunion Potluck Deux at the bar again. Sunday afternoon jammage in Stoughton and then subbing for Gregory on WORT from 9PM to 11PM. Today I'll whip up some Pasta Salad for Scenester's, begin picking the playlist for RTQE and get ready for another marathon shift 4:30PM to 3AM.

listen:
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
birdsong (supper's ready!)