August 4, 2008

What Would Don Draper Say?

A few days ago as I sat sweating miserably in the Hynes Convention Center T stop waiting for a C-line, I pondered the ad that hung across the tracks from my bench. Take a look:

I suppose what they want to say is that AirTran is ready to take you to a fun a place, but what I and probably most people will take away from this ad is that flying on an AirTran plane is like being on a rollercoaster. With planes getting more expensive, crowded, run-down, and more likely to have spontaneous holes blown out of the sides, wouldn't you want to steer clear of any images that would project a sense of danger to flying? What dumb ass thought showing an airplane seat on a rollercoaster would be effective marketing? The only logic could be that they're taking a brutally honest approach to their advertising. Everyone knows AirTran Airlines are crap and bounce around and make you want to puke, but let's remind people how fun and exciting that can be!

It's like the movie Crazy People with Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah. If you haven't seen it (and I can't imagine a whole lot of people have), it's about a guy who works in advertising and kind of snaps due to constantly lying to consumers and a bunch of his rejected "honest ads" get run accidentally. ("Forget France; The French can be annoying. Come to Greece, We're Nicer.") He gets sent to a mental hospital and starts an ad company comprised of all the crazy people who have a knack for honest advertising and the tactic is a huge public success. ("Buy Volvos. They're boxy but they're good.") I can envision this tagline replacing AirTran's current one on the above poster: "United, most of our passengers get there alive." I wish I could find the artwork that goes with the copy. Sadly, the tv spot for "AT&T: We're tired of taking your crap." isn't anywhere to be found on these interwebs, but fortunately, youtube comes through with the last clip from the movie, a brilliant Sony ad.

| By heidi | 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2008

albums you should own: life without buildings - any other city

i was in asheville a couple of weekends ago for my brother in law's birthday (read: raging kegger) party and naturally you never have to twist my arm to get me to a keg party. so i packed up the company car and at my sister's request i brought along the old portable hard drive to donate some more music to their fledgling library. and to tell the truth if there is anything that i love more than listening to music it would be sharing the music i love with the people that i love. so of course i was more than happy to oblige. and that saturday morning i spent a couple hours transferring some albums over to their computer. i could list off all the bands and/or albums that i dragged and dropped. but that would just be intimidating for some. i will say though that one of those albums was life without buildings any other city and i crossed my fingers and hoped they wouldn't hate it.

jump ahead to last night - my sister called me to ask me some i-pod related questions because she was going to buy her husband an i-pod for father's day. and wow. i really need to get married so i too can get really rad gifts in the middle of june. anyway, she thanked me for all the new music and mentioned life without buidings specifically and how much they liked that record in particular. and wanted to know more about the band. tears of joy.

because the truth is over the past few months i have started having conversations with myself centering around the argument that this record should really be put into consideration for the indisputable greatest albums of my lifetime list. a list that i hope to compose on my deathbed to ensure that nothing is overlooked. and then when friends and family gather to celebrate the spectacular waste that was my life they will remember me fondly as these records play in the background. so yes. this is kind of a big deal. i already had a loosely defined list floating around in my head for the last couple of years and hadn't really planned on any other contenders dropping their hats into the ring. and then i heard this strange and wonderful little record and - admittedly the first couple of times through i wasn't sure exactly what i was hearing but by my third listen i was convinced that this record was special and as such i started insisting that others get their hands on it. by any means possible.

that's the great thing about music though isn't it? you never know what you will find around the next corner. most of the time it's just alot of heartache and disposable disappointment but then you hear something life altering - which makes the whole thing worthwhile. this particular record grabbed my attention because it sounded so great. especially for a first (and last) album. these four college kids got together in 2002 captured magic in a bottle the first time out and then called it quits shortly thereafter. which is for the best i suppose. because that is the stuff that legends are made of. and instead of having to suffer through a shaky sophomore effort you can sit around with friends lamenting what might have been. imagining how spectacular it would be if these kids pulled a portishead and dropped another stellar album out of nowhere just because they could.

i guess i should say the thing i love about this album is how seemless it is. the songs are so fully realized. the musical arrangements are very compact. it's just bass, drums, and one guitar and then the singer, sue tompkins scattershot vocals float in and out filling in all of the spaces - sounding something like sugarcubes era bjork sitting down over a long weekend and singing along with a stripped down broken social scene. the standout tracks for me are the leanover and sorrow a perfect little lost love song set to a sweet jane esque chord progression. a gleaming gem custom made to round out any wistfully rendered break-up mix. in case you were wondering those songs have always been right up my alley. so that track is definitely a shoe-in if i ever get around to cobbling together tickle me st. elmo vol. 4.

you might have some difficulty finding any other city in your local record shoppe. but it can be found on the internets if you know where to look. there is also an album - live at the annandale hotel - that was released in 2007. it is available through i-tunes. and it features all of the songs from the album as well as a couple of other songs. plus you get all the brogue-y banter. which is never a bad thing. even thouse self-serving elitist bastards over at pitchfork raved about life without buildings. which is saying something these days...somtimes i think those kids don't even like music. i love music.

| By young_christopher | 3:43 PM | Comments (9)

June 7, 2008

you were always a heartbeat away

what's that old addage - if you love something set it free and if it comes back it's yours and if not it never belonged to you in the first place. i think i'm probably paraphrasing that but it's okay because it's a pretty cheesy sentiment. in fact on a scale of cheesiness that particular turn of phrase is right up there with the footprints poem and josh groban records. but still i'm not beyond the allure of the sentimental and the premise behind the saying - can be comforting to a bridge burner like myself.

it's been nearly six months now since i severed my relationship with coca-cola. which was a very difficult decision because the two of us together...well the only other pairing in the history of humanity that could possibly compare would be the captain and tenille. which is to say we had a really good thing going. from day one the chemistry was electric. we got each other. we shared the same tastes. we both had an eye for aesthetically pleasing ad design and under the cap twist off games where everyone was a loveable loser. just like us. i guess all good things must come to an end - or at the verly least take an extended - possibly indefinite break. but still how do you tell the love of your life that you've talked it over and have come to the conclusion that it is time to send them packing. well i'm always a big fan of depriving myself of things that i would really rather not deprive myself. so i decided that it should be me that ultimately did the breaking up.

this penchant of mine for self depracation probably has something to do with all that protestant guilt you hear people talking about. and because of said guilt i have this unending need to feel as though i'm challenging myself to grow as a person and improve upon my character. which is a silly notion because i think most people that know me would agree that i'm a fairly solid citizen with few character deficiencies that cannot be chalked up to being a child of divorce. and none of that is really my fault anyway. is it?

i know i wrote something awhile back about cutting back on the me and coca-cola thing - but it didn't take. probably because cutting back (ahem!) never works and also i was reducing my intake of alcohol while simultaneously trying to pry myself from the loving embrace of coca-cola and something had to give. suddenly i'm terrified that i might have an undiagnosed addictive personality and as much as i might want to deprive myself of one particular thing in order to be successful i have to find a suitable replacement vice. which would exlpain the sudden influx of collectible porcelain livestock that occupy every available countertop/mantlepiece here at 4808. hey - at least it's not a cat.

but the good news is that i have not had a single encounter with coca-cola. not even in a mixed drink. i will confess that i had a sprite on my flight home from vegas because the burrito i ate for lunch didn't really agree with my stomach. a stomach that was already unduly panicky that what happened in vegas might not actually stay there. needless to say. i'm not counting the sprite because it was medicinal and i really didn't enjoy it anyway.

and really the thing that we are depriving ourselves of is coca cola specifically. and i must say - i've been pretty surprised by how little i have missed it. at least on a conscious level. not that i don't stare at it longingly from time to time - as i pass by the soft glow of a vending machine - late at night and see that coca cola's light is still on. and then i start thinking that maybe coca cola would be okay with it if i just dropped in to say hello. and of course there would just be talking and nothing else. i definitely wouldn't stay over because then we would be right back in the same fantastic mess all over again. and really who needs that kind of heartache. no to mention the calories.

because this is the tree of trust i will confess here and now that i have on occasion been afflicted by som pretty lurid coca cola related dreams. and there is much frollicking and rejoindering just like the good old days. and then i wake up in a cold sweat with that distinctive taste in my mouth and i feel guilty for breaking my fast. but of course it was all just a fantastic if slightly dirty dream. i assure you i remain as pure as the driven snow. and i plan on remaining so at least until the year 2009 sees fit to visit himself or herself upon us. and then we'll see. we can sit down and have a nice chat - maybe with some old friends jack daniels and/or captain morgan in tow just to help with what will certainly be some awkard tension. i know that i'm still pretty crazy about coca-cola. we'll just have to see how coca-cola feels about returning to me since i was the one who did the letting go.

and in a completely unrelated note. i don't know how you feel about the music of the band weezer. they've done a pretty good job of disappointing me over the years but the new album is actually okay and i will readily admit that when it comes to ingenius music videos no one does it better.

| By young_christopher | 12:57 PM | Comments (4)

May 27, 2008

in a town so small there is no escape from you

i know we have been spending an awful lot of time talking about music around here lately - and alot of that is my fault because i tend to be a little bit obsessed with all things music related. and heidi rae has been known to love her sweet tunes as well. but i thought i would take a break from that particular medium if i could and talk about a little television show that has recently seen fit to induct me into its fan club. and in case you are worried that the show i want to talk about is medium starring that arquette girl (you know the one from true romance) i assure you that is not the case. not that i'm condemning that particular show - i just don't feel comfortable watching it because it deals with the spirit world and i know that mom would never approve.

no the show i want to talk about is friday night lights. i've been hearing whispers around the internets for awhile now that it is the best show no one watches or the best written drama based around teenagers portrayed by actors who aren't even close to being teenagers in the history of television - or what have you. and so i caught an episode here and there whenever i could find it on my television. which came to be sort of a challenge because nbc moved it around alot. which is what they tend to do with shows they keep threatening to cancel...but because the interactions were so sporadic i couldn't bring myself to commit to any kind of long term relationship.

but then over the holiday weekend i was wandering around target looking for some sort of visual or aural distraction as i've been sort of laid up with a tragic knee injury - a knee injury sustained by trying to slip 'n slide down the incline. backwards - and so i decided to pick up season one. it was $20.00 (a full $6 cheaper than best buy) for 22 episodes so i figured that made good fiscal sense. even if i wound up hating it i would have a hard time convincing myself that i had been ripped off.

in the interest of full disclosure it's only fair that i confess here and now that i famously hated dawson's creek and felicity and gilmore girls and that ilk during their respective heydeys. felicity had its moments but gilmore girls was just ridiculously overwritten like what juno must be like on steriods. and dawson's creek - well none of those kids were particularly easy to look at and that dawson guy was such a...i don't know...milquetoast maybe? is there a modern day colloquealism for milquetoast that is not completely profane? also am i spelling colloquealism correctly? because it doesn't look quite right to me. i guess it doesn't matter. i was worried that i would be dissappointed. that best case scenario friday night lights would be too much like those other shows i listed above. at worst it would be too much like varsity blues. and aside from being good for a few laughs the less said about that picture the better off we all will be.

anyway so i sat down on saturday evening and starting watching the first season of friday night lights and i must say it was ridiculously enjoyable. i finished it up in two days. with a box of tissues and a tub of ice cream by my side. the writing was good. the acting was good. the story arcs were fairly realistic - i can remember high school being alot like that. with the possible exception of the fact that no one looked like that in my high school. the "kids" at this particular high school are ridiculously and obscenely attractive. oh, and the music they use to punctuate meaningful moments - it's not that grey's anatomy carmel macchiatto crap. i own alot of those albums. i've used alot of those songs on cd mixes. a fact which i find is very life affirming. and any show that uses muzzle of bees and in a future age is okay in my book. i watched the entire first season over the weekend and i plan on picking up season two next time i happen by a target.

so if you aren't already watching you should give it a chance. put it in the netflix queue or drop by 4808 and watch it with me. because like all really great shows it's on the verge of being cancelled. i personally gaurantee that by episode three you'll be hooked. and you'll also be questioning your sexual orientation courtesy of one tim riggins.

_

| By young_christopher | 6:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 22, 2008

If only for today, I am unafraid

First of all, I have no idea how the hell the Pitchfork reviewer concluded that Plants and Animals sounds like a distant cousin of Blitzen Trapper. Totally poor comparison. But that's not what this is about.

Last Sunday night Jeff and I attended one of Plants and Animals' little shows in a wee Cambridge venue called TT The Bears Place. I had been stoked about this Sunday for a week. We had new members class at church after which we hopped right on the Red Line to Harvard Square in order to grab Mexican food and margaritas at Border Cafe. Jeff and I constantly crave greasy Mexican food because there is no good place for it in Boston (Cambridge is not Boston as its snooty alt-residents will tell you), so this meal alone was enough to make me giddy with anticipation. The margaritas are always good and strong and we had two each (the better to drink away the sadness at being unable to get a doggy bag for soggy midnight leftovers) and left feeling full and happy.

Dinner - fantastic. We bounced to Central Square to check out the line up and figure out how much time we should kill before the bands we cared about came on. Rock Plaza Central was playing before Plants and Animals and two bands played before them, so we grabbed some drinks at a nearby bar and learned that the Celtics won game seven. The night was going perfectly. We managed to arrive at the end of the first set (it must have gone way over) and the guy who sang next was fine enough, but one random guy and his guitar gets a little long. Finally Rock Plaza Central played and they were glorious. Sadly, their drummer was not there as well as another guy so the songs were stripped down a bit, but still a lot of fun. They finished with "Excellent Steel Horse," and all 30 of us in the audience went crazy.

When Plants and Animals came on, the mood was a little dampened when (totally hot) singer Warren Spicer revealed that he lost his voice in New York the night before (screw you NY!), but will give us all he's got. What he had was pretty much nothing. The mics on the instruments eventually got so cranked you could hardly hear any vocals, which Jeff and I decided was a deliberate move. As the show went on, it got frustrating rather than mildly disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the instrumentals were incredible, but I wanted vocals, dammit! He shouldn't have been singing. He should have canceled instead of risking his voice like that. How did he shred his voice so badly, anyway? It's not like Parc Avenue is some intense death metal scream fest. In fact Spicer's voice has a pretty soft, sexy thing going on most of the time, so...wha happen? My money's on hard partying. Regardless, Jeff and I had a blast together and it made me all the more excited for our next show.

Anyway, here's "Good Friend" - the second song they played. You can imagine how crapped out his voice got a few more songs in:


| By heidi | 3:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

April 26, 2008

this is just to say...

...if you ever get the opportunity to catch an avett brothers show anywhere within a 200 mile radius of your own particular city of orign i would encourage you to do so. by any means possible. i did just that last saturday nite as i journeyed into atlanta with micah seth and joel tunis. after eating our fill of fellini's pizza we strolled into the variety playhouse where the avetts did a pretty fandamtastic job of solidifying their status as one of my favourite new bands. and not just because they play that sort of punk infused country rawk that melts to the core of my heart in seconds flat...although i'm sure that's part of it. it's just that it's not very often that you can go to a show and have your face rocked off only to realize that at no point during the evening did an electric guitar ever make an appearance. scott avett played drums on two or three songs but for the remainder of the show it was just two acoustic guitars an upright bass and an asian man who may or may not have been yo yo ma wielding his cello as though it were a weapon. seriously - he did everything short of hoisting it on his shoulders and playing it behind his head.

from the opening strains of if i get murdered in the city to the closing coda of if it's the beaches it was a phenomenal show. and i was glad i had worn my lucky concert shirt. punches were thrown - babies were born - tears were shed and micah snagged an interview with a kid from spin magazine wherein he expressed regret because he thought that he had paid money to see the allman brothers. which explains why he was yelling out jessica at random intervals. it was a perfect ending to the now infamous ultimate - what do you mean neko's not with the band tonight - concert weekend. now if we could just convince okkervil river and the avett brothers to do a tour together. that would be something to behold.

| By young_christopher | 5:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)