VIDEOS FOR ALL

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:43:22 -0700

Let’s not waste any time here. I’ve embedded a bunch of HD videos for your viewing pleasure HERE and HERE. I wish they were all pretty QuickTimes or embedded Vimeo clips, but 500MB QuickTime files will break the internets and Vimeo wants me to pay to upload more than one clip a week... so YouTube HD is what we get. Anyway. It’s been a busy busy late Spring and early Summer. Mrs. Upto12 has made it rain with tickets to see Metric and the Tragically Hip for my birthday. And then last night we saw the Coldplays (TM - Kyality) to celebrate our 9th anniversary.

If I don’t suck too much, I’m planning a longer post about the Coldplay experience. Just know that I might be eating a large plate of humble pie. And, well, that’ll be fun, right? Nothing like an idealistic, wannabe hipster blowhard (me) having to take back his criticism and admit that one of the most mainstream bands of the decade actually knows how to rock. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Go watch those videos. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here in a little while, okay?

I STILL DON’T OWN THE NEW U2 ALBUM

Sat, 23 May 2009 07:47:40 -0700

So what’s wrong with me? I own every U2 album. I own their Best Of collections even though I already have the songs elsewhere. I think I own all but two of their concert DVDs. Achtung Baby easily cracks my Top 5 Most Listened To Albums and my Top 5 Favorite Albums of All-Time. The song One from that same album might be the only reason I survived high school in Taft, CA. But, for some reason, I haven’t purchased No Line on the Horizon. Haven’t even thought about it. Haven’t even seen the physical object.

Part of it is laziness in the digital age. I’ve almost stopped buying CDs completely. I either download music from eMusic or iTunes or I buy the vinyl and hope it comes with an mp3 download code. I never thought I’d arrive at this point... but, really, can’t we just admit that CDs are officially just a pain in the butt? They’re heavy. They take up a lot of space. And they’re not that cool. Yeah, vinyl is just as heavy and takes up much more space... but it’s so much cooler. And I’m all about cool. I’m the king of the hipsters. If only hipsters lived in suburban townhomes and drove green minivans...

Anyway, the second reason is this: I’m deathly afraid that the boys from Dublin have turned into the Rolling Stones. I’m afraid that in 20 years they’ll still be touring and releasing the occasional album that we all know is terrible. I’ve spent 10 years ripping the Rolling Stones for not contributing anything to the world of music since 1972. And I’m terrified that the same criticism could be applied to the band I’ve loved more than any other.

What I’m saying is this: I don’t want to know if the new U2 album is terrible. I just want to listen to the Joshua Tree. I want to put Achtung Baby on repeat. I want to watch Rattle and Hum. I want to put my head in the sand and believe that U2 still matters.

Am I crazy?

JUSTIFIED EXCITEMENT

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:44:50 -0700

I have a well-known flaw. I get too excited about things before they happen. I start celebrating a strike on the bowling alley while the ball is still 10 feet from impact. I dream about a hearty burger at 7am. Sometimes, such anticipation leads to a great payoff. Mostly, though, I end up disappointed. I only knock down 7 pins. I end up with a frozen burrito instead of a bacon cheeseburger.

So I’ve tried to temper my excitement for the new Metric album. When the band released an acoustic version of the lead track from Fantasies (Help, I’m Alive), I told myself that the real version couldn’t possibly be that good. I convinced myself that the rest of the album would be as hesitant and angular (and, frankly, as not-quite-awesome) as the previous Metric albums. All that self-talk was meaningless. Deep down, I knew the album was going to be stuck on repeat the second I got my hands on it.

And? I should’ve trusted my out-of-control anticipation. Fantasies is pure enjoyment. It’s vitamin-packed candy. It’s the superfood of musical nutrition. So, what I’m going to do is use this blahg to the depths of its capacity. Click on over to the LISTEN section to hear one of the album’s standout tracks. And then skedaddle back to the WATCH section to check out the trickery of the continuous-shot video for Gimme Sympathy. Then, get on over to the Metric website (or to eMusic) and pick up the album. I know you’ll love it. And sometimes I’m right about these things.

LET’S GET MIX-Y

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:24:01 -0700

Other than the fantastic AmpLive remixes of Radiohead’s In Rainbows, I’ve never been much of a mixtape fan. I don’t even much care for the mashups that seem to be all the rage among folks of all shapes and sizes these days. Are they clever? Sure. Are they entertaining? Of course. Do I ever want to listen to them more than once? No.

So, when I found myself waist-deep in two batches of mixtape/mash-up/remix goodness this week, I was just as surprised as anyone else.

If you haven’t seen them by now, the Tor/Sufjan Stevens remixes are certainly interesting and strangely fitting. Some of them don’t even sound like remixes. It’s as if Sufi’s compositions were made for hip-hop beats and fresh-from-the-street lyricists. As with most remix albums, I feel obligated to mention that these are not safe for listening in the minivan with the youngsters... but that why we also have the instrumental versions, right?

The second batch comes from a DJ named Adrian Champion and features the music of the White Stripes all twisted up with beats and rhymes from the likes of Tupac, Kanye, Common, Nas, Outkast and a bunch of other rappers I sometimes pretend to listen to in order to boost my hipster cred. As usual, it’s all free and you can download the tracks (instrumentals also available) here.

Does this mean I’m finally ready to embrace Girl Talk or the Hood Internet? There’s no telling. But if you’ve got something you think might spark my interest, don’t be stingy. Okay? Okay? Okay.

P.S. - FNL renewed through 2011!!!! It’s official!!

IT’S HERE.

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:09:31 -0700

I refuse to ruin this with any words.

CATCHING UP

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:20:27 -0700

It took a few weeks, but the UPTO12s finally caught up on this season of Friday Night Lights. If you’re watching the show, you already know why this season is flat-out fantastic. If you’re not watching, here are a few reasons you should:

1. “Let’s make some memories!” Remember that kid in high school who could get away with anything... including a) not showing up for school for days at a time, b) drinking beer while sitting on a tailgate in the high school parking lot immediately after a football game, c) sleeping with his (paralyzed) best friend’s girlfriend, and d) taking off his pants just because it’s hot? Remember that guy? Remember how you hated him? But what if you secretly liked him? What if you actually thought it’d be fun to be his best friend? Yeah, that’s Tim Riggins. Probably doesn’t hurt that the collective female population has deemed him “hotter than Dillon, Texas in July.” You can’t help but love him, even when you hate him.
2. The Taylors. Coach and Mrs. Taylor continue to be the coolest couple (real or fictional) on the planet. She’s smoking hot. He’s a molder of men. They fight like we all wish we could... with perspective and humor and stupidity. They make mistakes, they try to fix them and they move on. It’s ridiculous for me to like them as much as I do, but they make every other TV family look obscenely flat and transparent.
3. Matt Saracen. Kid can’t get a break. Grandma’s crazy. Dad’s in Iraq. Just got benched for a freshman phenom. So he settles for a little comfort in the fact that his deadbeat mom now wants to participate. I suppose his hooking up with Julie Taylor probably adds a little spring to his step (notwithstanding her dreadful appearances on 90210... not that I saw it or anything...).
4. Street gets out. He had to. He really did. And his parting “Texas Forever” with Riggins almost made it a little dusty in the UPTO12 household.
5. Smash. If Street getting out made things a little dusty, Smash brought a Sahara-sized sandstorm to the living room. Understated and super-emotional, his final exchange with Coach Taylor was probably one of the best-written scenes in the last five years of television.
6. And, apparently my enthusiasm for FNL will not go unrewarded. CHECK OUT PRETTY MUCH THE BEST NEWS EVER. SERIOUSLY.

THIS’LL KEEP ME BUSY FOR A WHILE

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 19:07:46 -0800

I’d heard about this a few weeks ago, but the reality of the situation didn’t fully rattle ‘round my noggin until it actually happened. In cooperation with Waterstone’s bookshops in the UK, Nick Hornby has given me (well, not just me, but you know...) the ultimate reading list. He’s compiled 40 titles that have influenced his life and writing and you can see the whole thing here. Really, it’s a hyper-condensed version of the columns he wrote for the Believer magazine and the resulting books (The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt, Shakespeare Wrote for Money). You can also read the thought process Mr. Hornby employed in making his picks—and his perfect description of the folly of most reading recommendations—on his blahg.

I don’t know that I’ll read them all. I don’t know that I’ll even try. But I can’t get enough of things like this... directors talking about the movies that made them pick up a camera, musicians talking about the first albums they truly loved. Anyway, to further prove my nerdness, I’ve made a super-simplified .pdf of the entire Hornby list. Click that little page over on the right to download it—but only if you’re as uncool as I am. And let me know if you can recommend anything on the list... I think I’ve only read one or two of Nick’s picks. So, yeah, I’ve got a long way to go.

ANDREW BIRD @ THE ROSELAND

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:13:43 -0800

Since a few of my Utah friends are seeing Andrew Bird tonight (at the lackluster In The Venue instead of the strangely intriguing Murray Theatre), I figured I should recap my own Bird experience. Last weekend, Mrs. Upto12 and I celebrated a belated Valentine’s Day with some delightful Chinese food and a jaunt down to the Roseland Theater.

I have a history with the Roseland. In fact, the Upto12s spent a mini-honeymoon in Portland (years and years ago) that included a night with Travis (the band, you gutterminders) at the Roseland. I’ve seen Wilco there. I’ve seen Ryan Adams there twice. I’ll see Bloc Party there in April. It’s a solid venue. Perfect size, reasonable sound, laidback crowds.

Saturday night was no exception. The crowd was fantastic and it’s taking me a bit to get used to the mellow Portland music fans again. They’re a big departure from the yaks, brutes and sweet bros that made their way into practically every SLC-area show I saw. In fact, they’re almost too cool (yeah, PDX suffers from a healthy dose of e. hipster-bola). I even felt rude for snapping a couple random phone pictures.

But enough of the background info. Here’s the scoop on the Bird: He’s fantastic. Worth every penny. He’s Kake’s dream being—lanky, charming, talented and appropriately cheeky. He didn’t wear shoes. He looped more sounds than should have been possible. He sang. He whistled (oh, did he whistle!). He violin-ed. He guitar-ed. He keyboard-ed. He pushed buttons that made these massive tuba tops in the background spin round and round. He did everything. And he sounded downright fantastic.

Andrew Bird’s sounds spin in circles, all wordplay and spiraling violin plucks. There are times that I can’t shake them from my mind, nights when my sleepless brain tosses the bits and pieces back and forth until I finally surrender to exhaustion. Saturday was one of those nights, only I didn’t mind the insomnia one bit. As long as the whistling continued, I never wanted to sleep.

A quick clip from a fan who didn’t feel as sheepish as I did about taking pictures and/or video:

GRAMMY QUICK HITS

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:10:10 -0800

Nothing quite proves the genius of the DVR like the Grammys. Tape it, blast through the commercials. Blast through the fluff. Watch a few performances. Call it a night. I think I made it through the whole broadcast in just over an hour. Still, two days after the fact, I’ve got a few sticky thoughts to share.

I love Thom Yorke. Nothing quite gets me fired up like his alien-meets-crackhead-meets-coolest-kid-in-the-room dance moves. I wanna be him, even if that means some un-cosmetic surgery.

I need a marching band.

Is everyone else freaked out by the Jonas Brothers? And am I the only one who realizes that the not-so-good-looking little brother is the one doing all the heavy lifting in that group? He plays the mean licks, he sings the hooks—while the pretty brothers play a few power chords and dance around the stage.

The Miley Cyrus / Taylor Swift duet proved exactly what I like about Ms. Swift and exactly what I can’t stand about Ms. Cyrus. Miley tries so hard to get us to like her. Taylor doesn’t have to try at all.

Even Kyality can’t defend the absolutely frightening appearance of MIA. On the master list of “things that just aren’t okay,” her ensemble occupies nos. 1 through 6.

Jay-Z runs the world, right?

No matter how hard I try, I don’t like the new U2 song. And that hurts. U2 got me through high school. U2 filled my college days with anthems. Achtung Baby falls solidly in my Top 5 Favorite albums of all time. I love Zooropa. I even like 2/3 of Pop. But How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb has not aged well in my collection. And I’m scared to death that this new album’s gonna be more of the same. I don’t want it to be this way. I want U2 to be relevant. I want to love them. Please don’t let me down, boys.

I’m starting to think that Chris Martin just can’t hit the notes in Viva La Vida. I’ve seen them perform that song at least four times over the last couple months and he’s just never sounded right. But what I wouldn’t give for the kettle drum / tympani / liberty bell setup that the drummer rocks on that track.

It’s official: Gwynnie is back! Not that I completely gave up on her... but, wow, she looks fantastic.

Robin Thicke is the son of Alan Thicke (MR. SEAVER!!!). And we’re cool with his status as an R&B lothario? Really? Okay... I do LOVE this old video of his.

Acts I just didn’t understand: Katy Perry, Sugarland / Adele, Kenny Chesney.

Dave Grohl :: drum kits as Shaquille O’Neal :: basketball standards. Seriously, I thought that kit was gonna explode under the fierce awesomeness of his sticks.

I can’t remember much else, so that’ll do for now. Anything I missed?

DRASTIC A-LINE!

Thu, 5 Feb 2009 20:09:35 -0800

Before I get into the awesomeness of the booking agents who run Portland’s music scene, I’ve first got to shout out to my old comrade and original Drastic A-Liner, Dainon Hawkeye Moody. Dianon (that’s no typo) won his rip-roaring Song Off with Heather from the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blahg (yeah, that’s one of Nick Hornby’s favorite websites). Also... D inspired me to dig back into the Tragically Hip the other day. And that led to this nugget in the UPTO12 Listening Station, which then led to my playing a whole lotta Hip on the big speakers in the Struck studio today. So, thanks, D. I needed that.

Now that we’ve cleared up D’s supremacy, lemme just say that I’m probably gonna have to get another job. After shelling out a few dollars for Andrew Bird tickets, I stumbled across the news that Bloc Party is hitting PDX in April. Finally! I had tix to see them up here a few years back but a collapsed lung (theirs, not mine) threw a wrench in the works. It’s hard to explain how much I’ve been looking forward to this. I can’t wait to see some drastic A-line haircuts. And the fact that they’re playing at a medium-sized club adds so much more anticipation to the situation. With any luck, I’ll catch Kele outside the back door and he’ll sing me a song just like this: