This NY Life

Well, some people think that people die in threes, I suppose that’s kind of true, but people die everyday. I wonder why people don’t say “isn’t it funny how people dies in 4’s?”. Is it famous people who dies in threes?

Anyhow… we all lost three people within the last few days.

Courtesy sgoralnick's Flickr

Joe Ades was that guy who some have seen on the street corners of New York in various locations around the city selling vegetable peelers. I’ve seen Joe in many different places since I moved here in 1993, the Seaport, Union Square, Midtown and the World Trade Center. He was one of those people woven into our everyday lives who just add to the flavor (horrible vegetable pun) of this city.
Heres a post at Gothamist and Joe’s obit at the NY Times.

Hans Beck was the creator of Playmobil toys. When I was little, I never appreciated Playmobil, perhaps they were too expensive, perhaps not readily available. But since my son is of the age where he is playing with these type of things, I really appreciate the detail and simplicity of Playmobil toys and their incredible range.

Photo: Helle Nilsen

Lux Interior was the co-founder and leader of garage punk band The Cramps. I remember first hearing The Cramps about 1991 and thought the were really unlike anything I had heard before. I was into a lot of hardcore music like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, etc, but The Cramps were really something different and refreshing. Much like The Clash had major influences from Reggae,  The Cramps had major influences from 60’s surf music and rockabilly.Unfortunately I never got to see them live.

Thanks to Brian, I have recently acquired and amazing collection of Lux and Ivy mix CDs which contain an incredible mix of odd surf music gems and assorted other weirdness. Here is an great post on the series and another place to check it out yourself.

RIP to Joe, Hans and Lux.

I was originally going to name this post Random Death, but thought it sounded a bit too Black Metal.

Amazing that this song was written in 1931 and still holds relevance today.  I heard Tony Bennett sing this on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, which is such an incredible show. Even the guests who I didn’t think I would enjoy (Elton John), turned out the be really interesting. The show primarily focuses on the process of music with a heavy emphasis on influences of each of the guests.

Who Cares?

Let it rain and thunder,
Let a million firms go under.
I am not concerned with
Stocks and bonds that I’ve been burned with!

I love you and you love me
And that’s how it will always be
And nothing else can ever mean a thing

Who cares what the public chatters
Love’s the only thing that matters

Who cares if the sky cares to fall in the sea
Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers
Long as you’ve got a kiss that conquers?

Why should I care?
Life is one long jubilee,
So long as I care for you
And you care for me!

Who cares how history rates me
As long as your kiss intoxicates me?

Why should I care?
Life is one long jubilee,
So long as I care for you
And you care for me!

-George and Ira Gershwin

Yeah, when I was only 17,
I could hear the angels whispering
So I droned into the words and
wondered aimlessly about till
I heard my mother shouting through the fog
It turned out to be the howling of a dog
or a wolf to be exact.
The sound sent shivers down my back
but I was drawn into the pack.
And before long, they allowed me
to join in and sing their song.
So from the cliffs and highest hill, yeah
we would gladly get our fill,
howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn.
And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong.
For my flesh had turned to fur, yeah
And my thoughts, they surely were turned to
instinct and obedience to God.

You can wear your fur
like the river on fire.
But you better be sure
if your makin’ God a liar.
I’m a rattlesnake, babe,
I’m like fuel on fire.
So if you’re gonna’ get made,
don’t be afraid of what you’ve learned.

On the day that I turned 23,
I was curled up underneath a dogwood tree.
When suddenly a girl
with skin the color of a pearl,
she wandered aimlessly,
but she didn’t seem to see.
She was listenin’ for the angels just like me.
So I stood and looked about.
I brushed the leaves off of my snout.
And then I heard my mother shouting through the trees.
You should have seen that girl go shaky at the knees.
So I took her by the arm
we settled down upon a farm.
And raised our children up as
gently as you pleased.

And now my fur has turned to skin.
And I’ve been quickly ushered in
to a world that I confess I do not know.
But I still dream of running careless through the snow.
An’ through the howlin’ winds that blow,
across the ancient distant flow,
it fill our bodies up like water till we know.

You can wear your fur
like the river on fire.
But you better be sure
if your makin’ God a liar.
I’m a rattlesnake, babe,
I’m like fuel on fire.
So if you’re gonna’ get made,
don’t be afraid of what you’ve learned.

Furr - Blitzen Trapper

Been busy busy busy being sick sick sick… but thought I would post something, anything…

Oh sweet sweet hockey. The Rangers are winding down their season with about a month to go and sit firmly in 6th place in the Eastern conference. The top 8 teams make it to the playoffs. The next few weeks will be pretty intense as we play all Eastern teams with the majority of our games against divisional rivals. The way hockey seedings work is if you are top in your division, no matter the points you have, you are ranked 1-3 with the other two divisions in your conference. So, the Carolina Hurricanes are ranked 3 in the East because they lead their division with 79 points while the Rangers are 6th with 81 points. The Rangers are third in their division, but are closing fast on Pittsburgh (85) and New Jersey (86) with no regulation losses since February 7th. The Hurricanes are likely to be the only team in their division who will make the playoffs, sad considering the talent on a team like the Washington Capitals. NHL Standings.

Also, this is an exciting idea, thanks to my brother for the link.

The Wire ended last night, and it was excellent. I highly recommend watching the whole series from the beginning. There are a LOT of characters and a lot of story lines going on at the same time. When we watch it over again, we will spread out the episodes, instead of playing catch up like we did with Heroes and Lost where we’d watch 8 episodes in a row (with time out for child maintenance of course). I think with some shows theres a reason why, besides the obvious, that there is a week buffer between episodes. Next up to watch on HBO, John Adams.

Nine Inch Nails has released a new set of music called Ghosts. Brian wrote about it here.

Saturday Night Live has bee pretty funny. The SNL digital shorts have been great. While the Ellen Page episode wasn’t that great overall, the short film “The Mirror” that they did was great.

Wilco was on SNL two weeks ago and were amazing. I’d love to see them live again, but they don’t seem to be making their way around here anytime soon. The two songs they did were Walken and Hate It Here. The drum fills in Hate It Here are excellent and the lyrics are deceptively simple. The band is so tight and they really look like they are having fun doing what they do.

Hate It Here

I try to stay busy
I do the dishes, I mow the lawn
I try to keep myself occupied
Even though I know you’re not coming home

I try to keep the house nice and neat
I make my bed I change the sheets
I even learned how to use the washing machine
But keeping things clean doesn’t change anything

What am I gonna do when I run out of shirts to fold?
What am I gonna do when I run out of lawn to mow?
What am I gonna do if you never come home?
Tell me, what am I gonna do?

I hate it
I hate it here
When you’re gone

I caught myself thinking
I caught myself thinking once again
Have to try to keep my mind out of this
Try not to pretend

I’ll check the phone
I’ll check the mail
I’ll check the phone again and I call your mom
She says you’re not there and I should take care

I hate it here
When you’re gone
I hate it
I hate it here
When you’re gone

I try to stay busy
I take out the trash, I sweep the floor
Try to keep myself occupied
Cause I know you don’t live here anymore

And finally.. at times it seems like I am overrun with clippings of things I pull from magazines, anyone have any good solutions to this? I’ve thought about scanning so they are searchable, etc… I’ve also thought about putting them through the shredder.

The words above are from one of the stand out songs on, Say It Ain’t So on Weezer’s first album. A friend reminded me recently, in a round about way, that among all the music blog darlings like Bloc Party, She Wants Revenge, Sufjan Stevens, etc. that the back catalog of our collective memory is really what matters. While I think Weezer has certainly fallen off from their original sound, every time I start up the first Weezer album, it really takes me back to the first time I played it.

With standouts like In the Garage and Buddy Holly (the commercial hit), that crunchy guitar, Rivers Cuomo’s lyrics, it just makes for such good early 90s rock who kind of set themselves apart at the time. From the opening note of My Name Is Jonas, I remember thinking that is was definitely something different and it rocked in a different way than some other releases of 1994. If you don’t have “The Blue Album”, I recommend it.

Just a sample of some lyrics from Jamie, a B-side found on DCG Rarities #1, or the re-release of “The Blue Album”:

When I was down, you came to me
And promised youd always be
By my side, now youre gone
And Im waiting patiently

Fucking heartbreaking and beautiful (even though it’s about a lawyer).

Subsequent releases are good, Pinkerton notably, but it seems like they kind of got lumped into a “emo” thing, which is kind of lame. Don’t get me going on the song Beverly Hills, though there is definitely some humor based in that song. I HAVE to believe that there is or I couldn’t still listen to their older stuff.

As with much music and the way it recalls a specific time period, or something going on in my life, this album does none of that for me, just the way I felt when I heard it. I honestly can’t remember specifically where I was the first time I heard it but I still feel the same way today when I put it on. Sometimes it’s just about the moment and that’s OK with me.

One of the greatest bands in history, I think anyhow, has been covered many times but this may be the most bizarre.

Worth checking out for the Theremin usage on Levitate Me alone. Plus, who doesn't like to hear someone imitate Prince?

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