THE UPTO12 SCREENING ROOM

WE’RE TRAGICALLY HIP

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:27:07 -0700

Thanks to one of the greatest friends of all time (a young man known as Milkus Maximus or Nilly or Nils or just plain Milk), I’ve spent the last 14 year in varying stages of Tragically Hip superfandom. One of my most epic concert stories involves the Hip (roadtrip to Denver, walking blindly into soundcheck, hanging out with the dudes, etc.). So when they made their way to P-Town, it didn’t matter that I’d be flying solo. Mrs. Upto12 delivered a ticket on my late-May birthday and I was set for the June 16 show.

I wish you all coulda been there. F’reals. So I grabbed a pile of video... it can’t replicate the experience. I mean you probably won’t sweat your brains out and think you might die from the 115° temps inside the Ballroom. But you will see that Gordon Downie is a maniac. And hopefully you’ll see how crazy and ultimately Canadian the rest of the Hip are.

METRIC LIVE

Thu, 9 Jul 2009 22:00:09 -0700

A while back (too long ago, really), Ms. Emily Haines and her merry band of Canadian dude rockers drove their tour buses right into downtown Portland. Mrs. Upto12 begged her sister to watch the li’l Upto12ers and we hit the eastside of the river for the show. Despite the packs of youngsters (I mean really really youngsters) making me feel like a grandfather of rock n’ roll, there was really no way I couldn’t enjoy myself. Ms. Haines was downright sexy and the dudes brought the heat.

And... thanks to a great win at last winter’s Struck holiday party, I captured plenty of the action with a Flip MinoHD. And, really, there’s no better place than here for all of the full-embedded HD goodness. Just keep scrolling and enjoy, okay?

I’D RATHER BE THE BEATLES

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:13:55 -0700

As Jim and Greg (my pretend friends) from Sound Opinions remarked on a recent podcast, it’s amazing that no one’s even written a song that asks such a directly rock-and-roll question as the one Emily Haines asks in this song. Who would you rather be? Be honest, now.

As far as this video is concerned, it’s directed by Frank Borin and it’s pretty awesome. I’ll let you decide if it’s a real continuous-shot clip or if there’s some trickery involved. If your brain gets twisted in knots, check out a split-screen, behind-the-scenes version that shows it all.

GET IT FOR FREE!!!

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:40:30 -0700

Remember when Dainon (the goodhearted Elvis Enthusiast) sent me the link for this video and I shared it with all of you? Remember how much you loved it? Remember how you watched it over and over and over? Remember how you left lots of comments thanking (him and) me? Well... even if you didn’t love it, only watched it once and didn’t leave a single comment... now is the perfect time to repent for your unfulfilled intentions! This very Peter Bjorn and John clip is this week’s FREE ITUNES MUSIC VIDEO!! GO GET IT!!!

A REAL DAY-MAKER

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 19:30:37 -0800

When I sent a link to this video to Kake the other day, it really only needed this introduction:

“Watch this. It’ll make your day.”

And it did. Of course it did. It’s so sad and it’s so pretty and it’s a little bit happy and it’s, well, perfect. On a related note, I find myself enjoying the last Death Cab for Cutie album more and more as the time passes. So that’s cool.

Track: Grapevine Fires (from Narrow Stairs)
Director: Walter Robot

DAINON LOVES IT, SO SHOULD YOU

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:35:01 -0800

There are really no words to express the sheer awesomeness of this clip. And it couldn’t be more appropriate that Dainon (the goodhearted Elvis Enthusiast) sent me the link. All credit to him—he practically demanded that this be my next video post.

So here it is, the video for the first single off Peter Bjorn & John’s new album. Track name: Nothing to Worry About. I’m still trying to figure out who directed it. If I find out, you’ll be the first to know.

THIS ONE’S FOR LUKE

Thu, 5 Feb 2009 21:11:50 -0800

I have a 6-year-old son. His name is Luke. And he is obsessed with Legos. So this is for him. I guess this clip would almost classify as an oldie... It’s from back in the days when Michel Gondry kept himself busy directing lots of trippy White Stripes videos. Anyway. That’s all. Enjoy, Luke.

UPDATE: Luke and Owen went absolutely berserk when we watched this. They cackled and giggled through the whole thing and pleaded with me to show them “more movies with music and Legos.” So... if you know of any... please clue me in. Please. I don’t wanna disappoint the Wilson brothers.

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:30:05 -0800

To coincide with the announcement that PB&J (that’s Peter Bjorn and John, you silly kids) have a new album dropping in a month or two, I’ve engaged my co-Struckers in an ages-old debate. Are we debating nature v. nurture? Creation v. evolution? Pepsi v. Coke? Oh, heavens no. We’ve spent our days trying to figure out if there’s ever been a bad whistling song. I firmly maintain that once a song prominently features a whistler, it’s just plain impossible for the result to be anything but blissful. Other folks (pun intended? maybe...) aren’t quite so sure. At this point, I’ve got the new Andrew Bird album spinning to help make my case.

So, yeah. Here’s a whistling video. I don’t even care that this song is sooo 2006 or whatever. I still love it. And this clip is top-notch. ‘Specially the drumming. Ah, the drumming.

MAJOR LABEL DEBUT

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:45:05 -0800

As I spend the evening mourning my procrastination—Broken Social Scene tickets sold out last week and I didn’t buy mine—I figured this is probably as close as I’m going to get to seeing the crazy Canadian troupe perform my favorite BSS song. This clip, directed by Sarah Haywood, is a pretty straightforward on-the-road/live-performance narrative. But, for some reason, it feels fresh and new and nothing like any other video I’ve seen that takes a similar approach.

I’m chalking it up to the song. And the fact that I’ll be kicking myself for weeks about missing BSS’s trip to P-Town. Last check on Craigslist shows about 18 entries requesting tickets (and offering up to $100 for a single) and 0 entries selling them. Probably ought to buy those Andrew Bird tix right about now, eh...

Coffee and TV

Mon, 5 Jan 2009 22:07:45 -0800

Some things just aren’t okay. At the top of that list is probably the fact that Blur is known as the band that sang the “Woo-hoo” song you heard approximately 14 times at your local football stadium. It’s not okay. In fact, my friend Emron (one of Idaho’s three greatest exports) is in Atlanta right now trying to convince someone to buy the first four Blur albums. I can feel it in my bones.

Coffee and TV might be one of my favorite Blur songs, ever. It’s a standout from the band’s sixth album, 13. I never knew it, but Wikipedia just taught me that guitarist Graham Coxon sings the verses while Damon Albarn takes over on the chorus. Anyway, enough about the audio... this video is the treat of the day. I dare you not to love the milk carton. I dare you.