Yesterday when I went to get coffee I noticed that there were some new mugs in the cupboard. They had some very high-quality artistic renderings of Star Wars characters on them, and despite a troubling absence of droids on said drinkware I was compelled to inquire where these mugs had come from.
"Secret Santa!" my mom happily replied, getting up from the couch with emphasis to tell me the story. I think she had been waiting for someone to ask.
She started off by saying "You remember that Raiders thing?" in reference to a plastic candy dispenser emblazoned with an Oakland Raiders logo that I nearly smashed upon sight when I came in the house and saw it on the cat-stairs the other night. (We call the architecture island that supports our staircase the cat-stairs because its shaped like huge stairs and the cats climb them.)
"That's for my coworker!" Mom had said in reply to my obvious disgust. That seemed like a very odd, insufficient reply to my disdain - this is a Chargers household after all - but I said fuckit. I'm not gonna get into a fight with my mom about football.
With this mug revelation in focus, she recounted that the reason for such treason was that the person she got in her job's secret santa draw was some kid younger than my youngest brother who works in the back unloading trucks and then loading other trucks and all she all really knows about him is that he likes The Raiders. They talked one time during break and he was nice and reminded her of Troy. Just, you know, a Raiders fan.
She said that after she gave the candy dispenser thing to him, another girl they both work with told her "that was a great gift. you made his day." etc as she was leaving her shift.
Earlier in the week, mom said, her manager - 'the one I like' - came up to her and casually asked, "So, do you know who your secret santa is?" Mom said she didn't, that she didn't like to participate in the store gossip, but that she did hope that she didn't get somebody crummy. They both had a nice chuckle at that one.
The manager lady continued on, "Yeah, the person I got, they mentioned something the other day and I don't even think they know they mentioned it, but it really helped me figure out my gift for them."
It should have been obvious to my mom at this point but it wasn't because she is as wondrously oblivious as I am, but that nice lady manager turned out to be her secret santa. The reason she chose the Star Wars mugs was because she had overheard my mom talking to a customer about how R2D2 is the real hero of the saga.
My robotic grinch heart grew tenfold upon hearing that last part.
I've been a humbug bastard about pretty much every aspect of "Christmas" since I was young, and that was amplified severely when I worked at TJ Maxx during the holidays a few years ago. The music...I hate Christmas music more than pretty much anything else. I don't like the forced cheer and merriment that's associated with this time of year, it makes me more depressed than I already am, and I work at an hourly job that doesn't do holiday pay so frankly I don't appreciate the missed hours either.
I do, however, enjoy the family dinner we have. I am fortunate enough to have really strong and positive relationships with my family members, but each one of us is kind-of reclusive/self-contained/not-to-be-bothered. Maybe we need this holiday bullshit to give us all a reason to come out of our shells and laugh together and talk about what's been up since we are all sooooo busy and don't have time for each other unless society kinda forces the interaction.
It's like Football Sunday.
For us, this holiday isn't about religion or anything like that; I guess we're an example of the kind of people who are such dangers to the future of Christmas. We see these few days off as a chance to be together and to show people in our life that we appreciate them for who they are. It doesn't matter if you're a Chargers fan or a Raiders fan; this is about Good Will towards mankind.
Happy Holidays Everybody.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Document Review: Second Page of the K-Mart Clipboard 12/24/13
I went to Kmart to get my family stupid shit for the holidays and as we were going through the toy section (despite the fact that no one in my group of friends had any children on their gift list; we just like to see what's new in the world of Ninja Turtle technology) we came across a clipboard that had been carelessly left there by some dimwitted store associate. I perused through the documents and was suddenly overtaken by my kleptomaniac urge to steal things with no actual value but that I find odd. I took the second page of the pile of clipped papers and shoved it in my pocket, thereby throwing a wrench into the clipboard beuarocracy that will surely take generations of floor managers to rectify.
Upon leaving the store I un-crumpled the document and this is the meat of its text:
Rod W Bentley, you are currently logged in
Reopen ticket
Category: Food and Consumables - Merchandise Opportunities
Brief Description: Not receiving items
Product Description: 4' Animal Wellness POG. 4 items.
Last received 8/23. Still at zero. No orders found.
Last received 3/14. Still at zero. No orders found.
Last received 8/23. Still at zero. No orders found.
Ratings Questions:
Did the resolution address the question or give the proper direction?
YES
NO
(Neither box is checked)
Dec 23 2013 - Karie A Timmerman
Ticket closed
Dec 23 2013 - Karie A Timmerman
Resolution: We have turned off these items for replenishment because of the high WOS it was creating in stores. Please expand with adjacent item on planogram.
Dec 17 2013 - Lisa D Vana
Ticket assigned to CAT OWNER - 490 - Karie A Timmerman. Assignment email successfully sent to Karie A Timmerman
Dec 16 2013 - Benjamin H Morales
Ticket approved and assigned to Corporate Category Owner
Dec 16 2013 - Benjamin H Morales
Ticket assigned to RS - 51200 - Benjamin H Morales and assignment email automatically send to RS - 51200 - Benjamin H Morales
Dec 16 2013 - Rod W Bentley
Ticket opened - Route to RS
It sure seems like a lot of people had to get involved in this particular ticket. Animal Wellness? Why is CAT OWNER in caps? What the hell kind of transaction was this? Why is Rod W Bentley still tracking this case when clearly its been re-assigned?
What's going on here?
After we left we stopped by BevMo so Spenny could get a bottle of wine for his dad and while there he got me a bottle of Oatmeal Stout.
I'm gonna get him some cigarettes.
Happy holidays everybody!
Upon leaving the store I un-crumpled the document and this is the meat of its text:
Rod W Bentley, you are currently logged in
Reopen ticket
Category: Food and Consumables - Merchandise Opportunities
Brief Description: Not receiving items
Product Description: 4' Animal Wellness POG. 4 items.
Last received 8/23. Still at zero. No orders found.
Last received 3/14. Still at zero. No orders found.
Last received 8/23. Still at zero. No orders found.
Ratings Questions:
Did the resolution address the question or give the proper direction?
YES
NO
(Neither box is checked)
Dec 23 2013 - Karie A Timmerman
Ticket closed
Dec 23 2013 - Karie A Timmerman
Resolution: We have turned off these items for replenishment because of the high WOS it was creating in stores. Please expand with adjacent item on planogram.
Dec 17 2013 - Lisa D Vana
Ticket assigned to CAT OWNER - 490 - Karie A Timmerman. Assignment email successfully sent to Karie A Timmerman
Dec 16 2013 - Benjamin H Morales
Ticket approved and assigned to Corporate Category Owner
Dec 16 2013 - Benjamin H Morales
Ticket assigned to RS - 51200 - Benjamin H Morales and assignment email automatically send to RS - 51200 - Benjamin H Morales
Dec 16 2013 - Rod W Bentley
Ticket opened - Route to RS
It sure seems like a lot of people had to get involved in this particular ticket. Animal Wellness? Why is CAT OWNER in caps? What the hell kind of transaction was this? Why is Rod W Bentley still tracking this case when clearly its been re-assigned?
What's going on here?
After we left we stopped by BevMo so Spenny could get a bottle of wine for his dad and while there he got me a bottle of Oatmeal Stout.
I'm gonna get him some cigarettes.
Happy holidays everybody!
Monday, December 23, 2013
Directions
Everything they said, it was correct.
I never meant this.
I've heard it all before,
But I won't learn anymore.
I know, you're trying to help;
But I can't get through to myself.
I don't have a reason; I just have an excuse.
I've gotten used to the abuse.
I don't wanna believe it when I hear the truth.
Tumbling through brick walls,
I never learned at all.
I have got a problem that I can't fix.
I am trying to find out which directions I can still go;
I just don't know.
I never meant this.
I've heard it all before,
But I won't learn anymore.
I know, you're trying to help;
But I can't get through to myself.
I don't have a reason; I just have an excuse.
I've gotten used to the abuse.
I don't wanna believe it when I hear the truth.
Tumbling through brick walls,
I never learned at all.
I have got a problem that I can't fix.
I am trying to find out which directions I can still go;
I just don't know.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Playlist for November 2013
This is a list of all the albums, EPs, demos, etc that I listened to in their entirety during this last month of November, along with a list of what I watched and read and saw live and my notes regarding all.
MUSIC:
11/1/13
Apathean - "Eve"
Bad American - "American Dream"
V/A - "Fat Music For Fat People"
Fleetwood Mac - S/T
11/2/13
Secret Fun Club - "Skull With Antlers"
Apathean - "Eve"
The Blessed - "Deep Frenzy" 7"
Tea For One - "Excelsior Lights" EP
The Manx - "Blood Chronicles" EP
Go For Gold - "Mixed Feelings" EP
Early Graves - "Goner"
11/3/13
Narrowed - "Thick Skull" EP
The Rebound -"It Never Rains In San Diego" EP
Tera Melos - "X'ed Out"
Narrows - "New Distances"
Sculpins - November 2012 Demo
Subhumans - "Time Flies...But Aeroplanes Crash" EP
The Rebound - "It Never Rains In San Diego" EP
The Reign Of Kindo - "Rhythm, Chord, and Melody"
11/4/13
Scale The Summit - "The Migration"
Grey Ghost - "Space Ambassador" digital single
Shake Before Us - S/T
Jurassic Shark - "The Beginning" demo
Hikes/GoldSpine - split EP
The Littlest Viking - "Labor & Love"
The Woggles - "Get Tough!"
Welcome To Now - "Know Who You Are" EP
Farabee - "Welcome to the Underground"
11/5/13
The Zermatts - "Audio Recordings"
Basement - "Songs About Weather" EP
Rexx - S/T EP
No Bueno - "PC Violence" EP
Unstrung - "Sucking Fun in the Fucking Sun" EP
Charlie Siren - "This Is Home"
11/6/13
PSO - "Into the Maze" 7"
V/A - Wire Hanger Records Sampler June 2013
Chango Rey y El Moreno - S/T
Stab City - "Tall Can" 7"
The Growlers - "Gay Thoughts"/"Feelin' Good" 7"
11/7/13
Slapshot - "Old Tyme Hardcore"
Between The Buried And Me - "The Silent Circus"
Walls That Talk - "St. Andrews" EP
The Coltranes - "The Man With The Hat" EP
11/8/13
Oceans - Winter 2010 demo
Soft Salad - "Parkway Periphery" EP
The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
11/9/13
The Coltranes - "Never Sleep Again" EP
end of the summer - "Second" EP
11/10/13
Flowers Taped To Pens/Nevasca/American Memories/DayCare - 4-way split
KRAMPVS - "Hangman's Noose" EP
Orphans/Swells - split EP
Desperate Living - "I Think I'm Losing Touch" EP
Erleen Nada - S/T
Goldroom - "Embrace"
White Murder - "Arteries Are Flexible"/"Shutter Speed" 7"
Death Hymn Number 9 - "Smokestack Frightening" EP
Freedom Club - "Starting a War" EP
Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School Of Medicine - "The Audacity Of Hype"
Autistic Youth - "Landmine Beach"
Neighborhood Brats - "No Sun, No Tan" EP
Power Trip - "Manifest Decimation"
Nicky Venus - "Little Runner" EP
11/11/13
Idyll Wild - "Mouth Amuser" 7"
The Deer Tracks - "Eggegrund" EP
Nimzo Indians - "Summer Blood" EP
Author & Punisher - "Ursus Americanus"
Joint Chiefs Of Math - "Word Alive" EP
The Body - "5 Songs" EP
The Moms - "Viva!" EP
Underpass - "Civilian Applications" EP
Dogs - "Heroin & Flu Shots" EP
11/12/13
Weed - "Deserve"
Gypsy Mamba - "I Keel You Owl" mixtape
Deaf Ears - 3-song demo
11/13/13
Dimlite - "Abscission"
Melt-Banana - "Cactuses Come In Flocks" EP
Zorch - "ZZORRCCHH"
11/14/13
Tera Melos - "Zoo Weather" EP
11/15/13
Silo The Avatar - "Test-Tube Nation" mixtape
S.N.O.T. - "Slaughterhouse" EP
The 4th International - "Nichijou Se No Hakai Wa Wareware No Gensou" EP
KDC - "Naive to the Bone" EP
Smashing Pumpkins - "Pisces Iscariot"
AFI - "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes"
11/16/13
First Benders - 3-song demo
Shipwrecks - "From Dusk to Dawn" digital single
Ocean Man - "iphone recordings" demo
Go For Fold - "This Life is Now, Not Never" EP
The Atolls - "Hair Machine" EP
This World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - "Whenever, If Ever"
The Great Electric Quest - "Chapter II" EP
65daysofstatic - "How I Fucked Off All My Friends" EP
Caspian - "Hymn for the Greatest Generation"
Follies & Vices - "Trash Can Full of Treasure is Still a Trash Can" EP
Olivias - S/T EP
Zissou - "The Quilted Room" EP
Left Astray - "Confines" EP
Colossal Wrecks - Fall 2012 demos
Coma Regalia/Marital Roles - split cassette
The Anniversary - "Designing for a Nervous Breakdown"
I.E. - "Most Importantly" EP
Bulletins - 2-song digital demo
BLOK - "Lair of the White Worm" digital single
The Foreign Resort - "Scattered and Buried"
11/17/13
clipping - "midcity"
The Gunshy - "Silent Songs"
Andrew Jackson Jihad - "Live at the Crescent Ballroom"
Here Comes The Kraken - "The Omen" EP
Ever Ending Kicks - "Weird Priorities"
Rioux - "Spirit Calling"/"Miniatures" digital single
Vildhjarta - "Omnislash"
AshTreJinkins - "The Worst" EP
end of the summer - "Second" EP
11/18/13
Northlane - "Singularity"
The-Drum - "Sense Not" EP
Plastic City Pariah - "PxCxPx" demo
James Rabbit - "Coloratura"
iji - "Unltd. Cool Drinks"
11/19/13
Joe Bucks - "Go Buck Yourself"
end of the summer - "Second" EP
11/20/13
Daedelus/Teebs - "Los Angeles 6" split EP
Little Bear - "I'd Let You Win" digital single
Structures - "Divided By"
11/21/13
Neighbors To The North - "Starfishes" EP
Bedlam Of Cacophony - "Neuroleptic"
The Mormons - "Forge Ahead" EP
The Black Rose Phantoms - "Beyond the Wall of Sleep"
Noel Jordan & The Slow Mutants - "No Stars At Night" digital single
Natives - S/T EP
Tropical Popsicle - "Ghost Beacons" EP
Octa#Grape - "Red UFO"
11/22/13
Rachel Birke - "When I Get Old, I Hope I'm Glad" EP
Reflex From Pain - "Black & White" EP
Neon Cough - S/T
11/24/13
Protest The Hero - "Volition"
Today I Caught The Plague - "Lore"
11/25/13
Architects - "Daybreaker"
Among Savages - "Start at the Beginning" EP
Shotty - 2012 EP
Bellhaunts - "Deathless" EP
Z-Berg - June 2013 demo
Tiny Hearts - "Stay" EP
11/26/13
We Are Sirens - "Every, Body, Panic."
The Shallow End - June 2011 demo
Kid Koala - "Some Of My Best Friends Are DJs"
Ned Flounders - "Songs To Give Birth To" EP
Laura Gravelle - "In Winter"
11/27/13
Yung Satan - "Out" digital single
Roddy Radiation & The Skabilly Rebels - "Live in Germany"
Kid Armor - "Better Days" EP
Reunion - 3-song demo
Safe And Sound - Rain Fest promo tape
Clear Plastic - "Tethered Body" digital single
Sainthood Reps/Weatherbox - split 7"
House Shoes - "Presents an Experimentation in Instrumentation"
Ancestral Awakening - September 2013 demo
Jeans Wilder - "Totally"
Ed Ghost Tucker - February 2013 demo
KYNG - "California Dreamin'" EP
Tiger Milk Imports - January 2013 demos
Reunion - 2012 demo
11/28/13
Safe And Sound - "Won't Turn Our Backs" EP
Western Settings - S/T EP
John Tejada - "Cleaning Sounds is a Filthy Business"
The Echo & The Sound - S/T EP
Espectro - "The Rapture"
Play Fight - "The Grasshopper and The Goose" EP
The Saline Solutions - "Soledad" EP
Death By Snoo Snoo - "Tasta Saat!"
Tulips - April 2013 demo
The Inspector Cluzo - "The French Bastards"
Blood Dancer - S/T
okay okay - January 2012 demos
11/29/13
Island Boy - S/T EP
Diamond Youth - "Orange" EP
Jackson Price - "Jackson"
Joshua Bitter - "Cult Folk" EP
The Frights - S/T
Struckout - "I'd Hate Me Too"
Texas In July - S/T
Melinda Mae - "A Brief Glimpse of a Moonless Sky" demo
File Island - "4 Covers" EP
The Ghost Inside - "Get What You Give"
The Phantoms - "Crazy Like A Wasp" EP
Citizen - "Young States" EP
The Beautiful View - "The Horseman" digital single
The Gravitys - "Unplugged at The Dial" EP
The Gravitys - May 2011 demo
11/30/13
Hail, Adventurer - S/T
Francie Moon - "Morning Red"EP
Matt Pless - "Short Tales and Tall Stories"
Suspect - S/T EP
Somali Pirates - "The Gold Collection"
Modern Life Is War - "Midnight in America"
Planet Vegeta - "2-Person Game" EP
MPG - 2013 Demo
Luum - March 2013 Demo
Subjection - "Shade" EP
Alexander The Grape - "Planet of the Grapes"
NOTES:
- I'm finally almost done with my Apathean review, 6 months after the initial request. Look for it next summer.
- "Fat Music For Fat People" is a damn classic
- Starting with that Tea For One EP I began doing cursory reviews of each and every thing I listened to on my alternate music-posting blog Smorgascore.Check it out.
- Some dude at Mark's birthday party told me about The Rebound like 4 times, increasingly drunk and each time completely forgetting that he had already told me about them; apparently there's a member of Griever in the band although they are more like NFG-style pop punk...The guy's name was Phil
- Damn the new Tera Melos is so good, I shouldn't have slept on it for so long
- I didn't think there was Subhumans music I hadn't heard back in middle school but I was wrong
- New Scale The Summit! New Protest The Hero! Both awesome!
- Worst of the month: Grey Ghost (wack); Chango Rey y el Moreno (fucking annoying); First Benders (weak); Follies & Vices (lame); Plastic City Pariah (stupid); Among Savages (completely forgettable); Shotty (also lame); We Are Sirens ("party rock"); Yung Satan (terrible); Jackson Price (insufferably lame); File Island (thin)
- GoldSpine is better live than on album
- Welcome To Now and Farabee are both well-intentioned and have good local followings and everything but they are just so shittily off-key and generic
- All the bands on Wire Hanger basically sound exactly the same and basically have the same members so they might as well just be like one band called the Wire Hangers or something; either way its solid stuff
- For years I foolishly thought Slapshot was a 90s band
- "The Silent Circus" is still as dope now as it was when I first heard it. Conversely, "Sgt Pepper's" has grown on me more and more over the years; When I was a kid I didn't like it much when compared with The White Album but now I'm not so sure
- Favorite new discoveries this month: Soft Salad, Author & Punisher, This World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Caspian, Colossal Wrecks, clipping, Vildhjarta, Northlane, The-Drum, Structures, Bedlam Of Cacophony, Octa#Grape, Z Berg, Laura Gravelle, Death By Snoo Snoo, Struckout, Hail Adventurer
- The new Desperate Living EP rips, as does the new Left Astray EP
- Author & Punisher is some evil shit
- The Underpass that I listened to is not the same Underpass that I played with a few days later
- Weed is tight. Weed is tight.
- "La Dolly Vita" was never one of my favorites before but it has been stuck in my head for like 2 weeks now...'cool as I scream'
- I listened to alot of music on the 16th I must have done absolutely nothing else but sit in front of that tablet changing Bandcamps
- clipping is the future of hip hop
- Alot of my friends are really into Andrew Jackson Jihad, and I like them okay, but I just don't get how people get sooo damn into them. I just don't get it.
- "Go Buck Yourself" is at once the stupidest album title and the only possible album title a man named Joe Bucks could ever have
- Holy shit Bedlam Of Cacophony is fucking AWESOME
- I probably would have been way into The Black Rose Phantoms back in my AFI/Tiger Army days but not so much currently
- Octa#Grape is like Coltranes/NSU weird-punk but with organs or something...Cool stuff
- Today I Caught The Plague is called The Kindred now and IMO both names suck
- How in the world did I sleep on Kid Koala for so long
- Between Rachel Birke, Z Berg, Laura Gravelle, and okay okay I have acquired several new music-chick crushes this month
- I typed this up at my telemarketing job and when I was typing "John Tejada" I got a call in my headset for a Tejada household...Spooky
- Speaking of which, between Grey Ghost, Erleen Nada, Goldroom, Author & Punisher, The Body, Gypsy Mamba, Dimlite, Daedelus, Teebs, 65daysofstatic, BLOK, clipping, Rioux, The-Drum, Kid Koala, House Shoes, John Tejada, and Subjection I listened to way more electronic music of various types this month than probably any other month this year
- That sucks that Kid Armor had to drop off the show they were gonna play at The Dial because they're dope; also, that was the show that Kevin Crisis asked me to tape Reunion's performance during but I flaked out and didn't even go -- I'm sorry Kevin
- Despite their stupid-ass "Futurama"-related name, Death By Snoo Snoo is one of the coolest damn punk rock bands I have heard in a long long time...Absolutely killer. That singer lady waaaaiils.
- Why some wacky quasi-lounge-rock band called The Inspector Cluzo would be opening up for Suicidal Tendencies, Terror, and Trash Talk is inexplicable
- Every single song The Frights play sounds the same but dammit if they aren't cool little ditties
- Struckout = quality 90's-style screamo
- Melinda Mae is actually the misleading moniker for an acoustic dude named Ian who does mainly short instrumental stuff...Enjoyable
- I don't remember listening to that Beautiful View song whatsoever but I wouldn't have written it down if I hadn't
- Jackson from Hail Adventurer can really play guitar very well
- Somehow that was the first time I ever listened to Modern Life Is War. For shame.
- Every band wants to be Lightning Bolt these days
LIVE:
11/6/13 - Hikes/GoldSpine @ The Dial
11/9/13 - Pilgrims/Unstrung/PSO @ The Dial
11/10/13 - Desperate Living/Swells/KRAMPVS/Deaf Ears/Flowers Taped To Pens @ The Dial
11/13/13 - The Coltranes/Weed/Crisis Arm/Underpass/Dogs/(The Gravitys) @ The Dial
11/30/13 - Matt Pless/Francie Moon/Nicholas Hull/Hail, Adventurer/Sarah Soltys/n8nothing @ The Dial
LIVE NOTES:
- Unstrung has a cool EP but they played for like 15 minutes and mobbed out when it was like, their damn show...Very lame
- The drummer for Deaf Ears is fucking nuts
- I didn't realize it until after their set but I used to know Alex from Underpass, who were on tour from Canada with Weed, when he lived in Temecula several years ago. Small world.
- That acoustic show at the end of the month was real fun; Matt and Francie are so sweet and they slept out in the warehouse while we celebrated Shauna's birthday in the lobby; nice times
MOVIES/DVDs:
11/1/13 - "Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Sixth Season" 3-Disc Set
11/12/13 - "The Lost Weekend"
11/14/13 - "Ted"
11/18/13 - "Tropic Thunder"
MOVIE/DVD NOTES:
- The Cryptkeeper is fucking hilarious
- Wow "The Lost Weekend" is a damn good film; I wish I didn't relate so closely
- How the fuck did Robert Downey Jr. get an Oscar nomination for "Tropic Thunder"
ZINES:
11/14/13 - "thistownsdrunk" #3
11/28/13 - Blood Orange Infoshop Manifesto
ZINE NOTES:
- "thistownsdrunk" is a bit too idealistic for my tastes
MUSIC:
11/1/13
Apathean - "Eve"
Bad American - "American Dream"
V/A - "Fat Music For Fat People"
Fleetwood Mac - S/T
11/2/13
Secret Fun Club - "Skull With Antlers"
Apathean - "Eve"
The Blessed - "Deep Frenzy" 7"
Tea For One - "Excelsior Lights" EP
The Manx - "Blood Chronicles" EP
Go For Gold - "Mixed Feelings" EP
Early Graves - "Goner"
11/3/13
Narrowed - "Thick Skull" EP
The Rebound -"It Never Rains In San Diego" EP
Tera Melos - "X'ed Out"
Narrows - "New Distances"
Sculpins - November 2012 Demo
Subhumans - "Time Flies...But Aeroplanes Crash" EP
The Rebound - "It Never Rains In San Diego" EP
The Reign Of Kindo - "Rhythm, Chord, and Melody"
11/4/13
Scale The Summit - "The Migration"
Grey Ghost - "Space Ambassador" digital single
Shake Before Us - S/T
Jurassic Shark - "The Beginning" demo
Hikes/GoldSpine - split EP
The Littlest Viking - "Labor & Love"
The Woggles - "Get Tough!"
Welcome To Now - "Know Who You Are" EP
Farabee - "Welcome to the Underground"
11/5/13
The Zermatts - "Audio Recordings"
Basement - "Songs About Weather" EP
Rexx - S/T EP
No Bueno - "PC Violence" EP
Unstrung - "Sucking Fun in the Fucking Sun" EP
Charlie Siren - "This Is Home"
11/6/13
PSO - "Into the Maze" 7"
V/A - Wire Hanger Records Sampler June 2013
Chango Rey y El Moreno - S/T
Stab City - "Tall Can" 7"
The Growlers - "Gay Thoughts"/"Feelin' Good" 7"
11/7/13
Slapshot - "Old Tyme Hardcore"
Between The Buried And Me - "The Silent Circus"
Walls That Talk - "St. Andrews" EP
The Coltranes - "The Man With The Hat" EP
11/8/13
Oceans - Winter 2010 demo
Soft Salad - "Parkway Periphery" EP
The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
11/9/13
The Coltranes - "Never Sleep Again" EP
end of the summer - "Second" EP
11/10/13
Flowers Taped To Pens/Nevasca/American Memories/DayCare - 4-way split
KRAMPVS - "Hangman's Noose" EP
Orphans/Swells - split EP
Desperate Living - "I Think I'm Losing Touch" EP
Erleen Nada - S/T
Goldroom - "Embrace"
White Murder - "Arteries Are Flexible"/"Shutter Speed" 7"
Death Hymn Number 9 - "Smokestack Frightening" EP
Freedom Club - "Starting a War" EP
Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School Of Medicine - "The Audacity Of Hype"
Autistic Youth - "Landmine Beach"
Neighborhood Brats - "No Sun, No Tan" EP
Power Trip - "Manifest Decimation"
Nicky Venus - "Little Runner" EP
11/11/13
Idyll Wild - "Mouth Amuser" 7"
The Deer Tracks - "Eggegrund" EP
Nimzo Indians - "Summer Blood" EP
Author & Punisher - "Ursus Americanus"
Joint Chiefs Of Math - "Word Alive" EP
The Body - "5 Songs" EP
The Moms - "Viva!" EP
Underpass - "Civilian Applications" EP
Dogs - "Heroin & Flu Shots" EP
11/12/13
Weed - "Deserve"
Gypsy Mamba - "I Keel You Owl" mixtape
Deaf Ears - 3-song demo
11/13/13
Dimlite - "Abscission"
Melt-Banana - "Cactuses Come In Flocks" EP
Zorch - "ZZORRCCHH"
11/14/13
Tera Melos - "Zoo Weather" EP
11/15/13
Silo The Avatar - "Test-Tube Nation" mixtape
S.N.O.T. - "Slaughterhouse" EP
The 4th International - "Nichijou Se No Hakai Wa Wareware No Gensou" EP
KDC - "Naive to the Bone" EP
Smashing Pumpkins - "Pisces Iscariot"
AFI - "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes"
11/16/13
First Benders - 3-song demo
Shipwrecks - "From Dusk to Dawn" digital single
Ocean Man - "iphone recordings" demo
Go For Fold - "This Life is Now, Not Never" EP
The Atolls - "Hair Machine" EP
This World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - "Whenever, If Ever"
The Great Electric Quest - "Chapter II" EP
65daysofstatic - "How I Fucked Off All My Friends" EP
Caspian - "Hymn for the Greatest Generation"
Follies & Vices - "Trash Can Full of Treasure is Still a Trash Can" EP
Olivias - S/T EP
Zissou - "The Quilted Room" EP
Left Astray - "Confines" EP
Colossal Wrecks - Fall 2012 demos
Coma Regalia/Marital Roles - split cassette
The Anniversary - "Designing for a Nervous Breakdown"
I.E. - "Most Importantly" EP
Bulletins - 2-song digital demo
BLOK - "Lair of the White Worm" digital single
The Foreign Resort - "Scattered and Buried"
11/17/13
clipping - "midcity"
The Gunshy - "Silent Songs"
Andrew Jackson Jihad - "Live at the Crescent Ballroom"
Here Comes The Kraken - "The Omen" EP
Ever Ending Kicks - "Weird Priorities"
Rioux - "Spirit Calling"/"Miniatures" digital single
Vildhjarta - "Omnislash"
AshTreJinkins - "The Worst" EP
end of the summer - "Second" EP
11/18/13
Northlane - "Singularity"
The-Drum - "Sense Not" EP
Plastic City Pariah - "PxCxPx" demo
James Rabbit - "Coloratura"
iji - "Unltd. Cool Drinks"
11/19/13
Joe Bucks - "Go Buck Yourself"
end of the summer - "Second" EP
11/20/13
Daedelus/Teebs - "Los Angeles 6" split EP
Little Bear - "I'd Let You Win" digital single
Structures - "Divided By"
11/21/13
Neighbors To The North - "Starfishes" EP
Bedlam Of Cacophony - "Neuroleptic"
The Mormons - "Forge Ahead" EP
The Black Rose Phantoms - "Beyond the Wall of Sleep"
Noel Jordan & The Slow Mutants - "No Stars At Night" digital single
Natives - S/T EP
Tropical Popsicle - "Ghost Beacons" EP
Octa#Grape - "Red UFO"
11/22/13
Rachel Birke - "When I Get Old, I Hope I'm Glad" EP
Reflex From Pain - "Black & White" EP
Neon Cough - S/T
11/24/13
Protest The Hero - "Volition"
Today I Caught The Plague - "Lore"
11/25/13
Architects - "Daybreaker"
Among Savages - "Start at the Beginning" EP
Shotty - 2012 EP
Bellhaunts - "Deathless" EP
Z-Berg - June 2013 demo
Tiny Hearts - "Stay" EP
11/26/13
We Are Sirens - "Every, Body, Panic."
The Shallow End - June 2011 demo
Kid Koala - "Some Of My Best Friends Are DJs"
Ned Flounders - "Songs To Give Birth To" EP
Laura Gravelle - "In Winter"
11/27/13
Yung Satan - "Out" digital single
Roddy Radiation & The Skabilly Rebels - "Live in Germany"
Kid Armor - "Better Days" EP
Reunion - 3-song demo
Safe And Sound - Rain Fest promo tape
Clear Plastic - "Tethered Body" digital single
Sainthood Reps/Weatherbox - split 7"
House Shoes - "Presents an Experimentation in Instrumentation"
Ancestral Awakening - September 2013 demo
Jeans Wilder - "Totally"
Ed Ghost Tucker - February 2013 demo
KYNG - "California Dreamin'" EP
Tiger Milk Imports - January 2013 demos
Reunion - 2012 demo
11/28/13
Safe And Sound - "Won't Turn Our Backs" EP
Western Settings - S/T EP
John Tejada - "Cleaning Sounds is a Filthy Business"
The Echo & The Sound - S/T EP
Espectro - "The Rapture"
Play Fight - "The Grasshopper and The Goose" EP
The Saline Solutions - "Soledad" EP
Death By Snoo Snoo - "Tasta Saat!"
Tulips - April 2013 demo
The Inspector Cluzo - "The French Bastards"
Blood Dancer - S/T
okay okay - January 2012 demos
11/29/13
Island Boy - S/T EP
Diamond Youth - "Orange" EP
Jackson Price - "Jackson"
Joshua Bitter - "Cult Folk" EP
The Frights - S/T
Struckout - "I'd Hate Me Too"
Texas In July - S/T
Melinda Mae - "A Brief Glimpse of a Moonless Sky" demo
File Island - "4 Covers" EP
The Ghost Inside - "Get What You Give"
The Phantoms - "Crazy Like A Wasp" EP
Citizen - "Young States" EP
The Beautiful View - "The Horseman" digital single
The Gravitys - "Unplugged at The Dial" EP
The Gravitys - May 2011 demo
11/30/13
Hail, Adventurer - S/T
Francie Moon - "Morning Red"EP
Matt Pless - "Short Tales and Tall Stories"
Suspect - S/T EP
Somali Pirates - "The Gold Collection"
Modern Life Is War - "Midnight in America"
Planet Vegeta - "2-Person Game" EP
MPG - 2013 Demo
Luum - March 2013 Demo
Subjection - "Shade" EP
Alexander The Grape - "Planet of the Grapes"
NOTES:
- I'm finally almost done with my Apathean review, 6 months after the initial request. Look for it next summer.
- "Fat Music For Fat People" is a damn classic
- Starting with that Tea For One EP I began doing cursory reviews of each and every thing I listened to on my alternate music-posting blog Smorgascore.Check it out.
- Some dude at Mark's birthday party told me about The Rebound like 4 times, increasingly drunk and each time completely forgetting that he had already told me about them; apparently there's a member of Griever in the band although they are more like NFG-style pop punk...The guy's name was Phil
- Damn the new Tera Melos is so good, I shouldn't have slept on it for so long
- I didn't think there was Subhumans music I hadn't heard back in middle school but I was wrong
- New Scale The Summit! New Protest The Hero! Both awesome!
- Worst of the month: Grey Ghost (wack); Chango Rey y el Moreno (fucking annoying); First Benders (weak); Follies & Vices (lame); Plastic City Pariah (stupid); Among Savages (completely forgettable); Shotty (also lame); We Are Sirens ("party rock"); Yung Satan (terrible); Jackson Price (insufferably lame); File Island (thin)
- GoldSpine is better live than on album
- Welcome To Now and Farabee are both well-intentioned and have good local followings and everything but they are just so shittily off-key and generic
- All the bands on Wire Hanger basically sound exactly the same and basically have the same members so they might as well just be like one band called the Wire Hangers or something; either way its solid stuff
- For years I foolishly thought Slapshot was a 90s band
- "The Silent Circus" is still as dope now as it was when I first heard it. Conversely, "Sgt Pepper's" has grown on me more and more over the years; When I was a kid I didn't like it much when compared with The White Album but now I'm not so sure
- Favorite new discoveries this month: Soft Salad, Author & Punisher, This World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Caspian, Colossal Wrecks, clipping, Vildhjarta, Northlane, The-Drum, Structures, Bedlam Of Cacophony, Octa#Grape, Z Berg, Laura Gravelle, Death By Snoo Snoo, Struckout, Hail Adventurer
- The new Desperate Living EP rips, as does the new Left Astray EP
- Author & Punisher is some evil shit
- The Underpass that I listened to is not the same Underpass that I played with a few days later
- Weed is tight. Weed is tight.
- "La Dolly Vita" was never one of my favorites before but it has been stuck in my head for like 2 weeks now...'cool as I scream'
- I listened to alot of music on the 16th I must have done absolutely nothing else but sit in front of that tablet changing Bandcamps
- clipping is the future of hip hop
- Alot of my friends are really into Andrew Jackson Jihad, and I like them okay, but I just don't get how people get sooo damn into them. I just don't get it.
- "Go Buck Yourself" is at once the stupidest album title and the only possible album title a man named Joe Bucks could ever have
- Holy shit Bedlam Of Cacophony is fucking AWESOME
- I probably would have been way into The Black Rose Phantoms back in my AFI/Tiger Army days but not so much currently
- Octa#Grape is like Coltranes/NSU weird-punk but with organs or something...Cool stuff
- Today I Caught The Plague is called The Kindred now and IMO both names suck
- How in the world did I sleep on Kid Koala for so long
- Between Rachel Birke, Z Berg, Laura Gravelle, and okay okay I have acquired several new music-chick crushes this month
- I typed this up at my telemarketing job and when I was typing "John Tejada" I got a call in my headset for a Tejada household...Spooky
- Speaking of which, between Grey Ghost, Erleen Nada, Goldroom, Author & Punisher, The Body, Gypsy Mamba, Dimlite, Daedelus, Teebs, 65daysofstatic, BLOK, clipping, Rioux, The-Drum, Kid Koala, House Shoes, John Tejada, and Subjection I listened to way more electronic music of various types this month than probably any other month this year
- That sucks that Kid Armor had to drop off the show they were gonna play at The Dial because they're dope; also, that was the show that Kevin Crisis asked me to tape Reunion's performance during but I flaked out and didn't even go -- I'm sorry Kevin
- Despite their stupid-ass "Futurama"-related name, Death By Snoo Snoo is one of the coolest damn punk rock bands I have heard in a long long time...Absolutely killer. That singer lady waaaaiils.
- Why some wacky quasi-lounge-rock band called The Inspector Cluzo would be opening up for Suicidal Tendencies, Terror, and Trash Talk is inexplicable
- Every single song The Frights play sounds the same but dammit if they aren't cool little ditties
- Struckout = quality 90's-style screamo
- Melinda Mae is actually the misleading moniker for an acoustic dude named Ian who does mainly short instrumental stuff...Enjoyable
- I don't remember listening to that Beautiful View song whatsoever but I wouldn't have written it down if I hadn't
- Jackson from Hail Adventurer can really play guitar very well
- Somehow that was the first time I ever listened to Modern Life Is War. For shame.
- Every band wants to be Lightning Bolt these days
LIVE:
11/6/13 - Hikes/GoldSpine @ The Dial
11/9/13 - Pilgrims/Unstrung/PSO @ The Dial
11/10/13 - Desperate Living/Swells/KRAMPVS/Deaf Ears/Flowers Taped To Pens @ The Dial
11/13/13 - The Coltranes/Weed/Crisis Arm/Underpass/Dogs/(The Gravitys) @ The Dial
11/30/13 - Matt Pless/Francie Moon/Nicholas Hull/Hail, Adventurer/Sarah Soltys/n8nothing @ The Dial
LIVE NOTES:
- Unstrung has a cool EP but they played for like 15 minutes and mobbed out when it was like, their damn show...Very lame
- The drummer for Deaf Ears is fucking nuts
- I didn't realize it until after their set but I used to know Alex from Underpass, who were on tour from Canada with Weed, when he lived in Temecula several years ago. Small world.
- That acoustic show at the end of the month was real fun; Matt and Francie are so sweet and they slept out in the warehouse while we celebrated Shauna's birthday in the lobby; nice times
MOVIES/DVDs:
11/1/13 - "Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Sixth Season" 3-Disc Set
11/12/13 - "The Lost Weekend"
11/14/13 - "Ted"
11/18/13 - "Tropic Thunder"
MOVIE/DVD NOTES:
- The Cryptkeeper is fucking hilarious
- Wow "The Lost Weekend" is a damn good film; I wish I didn't relate so closely
- How the fuck did Robert Downey Jr. get an Oscar nomination for "Tropic Thunder"
ZINES:
11/14/13 - "thistownsdrunk" #3
11/28/13 - Blood Orange Infoshop Manifesto
ZINE NOTES:
- "thistownsdrunk" is a bit too idealistic for my tastes
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