365-85: raise your cup and let’s propose a toast (contest winner!)

Day 85 of 365: a year in songs and photos
Song: Faith No More, Last Cup of Sorrow

I know I skipped the last two days, I’ll get back to them eventually. I’m all discombobulated now.

So it’s about time I announce a winner to the contest, eh?

I took a very surprising amount of photos. Surprising for me, at least. Most people, knowing my penchant for shooting anything and everything and for shooting in continuous mode, guessed upwards of 3,000. Myself, I would have guessed closer to 4,000.

But something interesting happened on this trip. At some point, photo taking became secondary to having fun. I was having such a good time that there were whole hours when I didn’t even take the camera out of the bag! I was so relaxed, so attuned to the stress and weariness being released from my body and mind that I just kicked back and let the pleasantness of being away overtake me. I stopped seeing everything as a potential photo op and instead just concentrated on enjoying the hell out of the vacation and the company.

All told, I took 1,228 photos (about 100 of which will go up on flickr). Which means, the winner of the above pictured Genuine, Authentic Sacramento Shot Glass Bought In Old Sacramento (liquor not included, hearts sold separately) goes to………

Wait….addendum here. I know I said “without going over” but being that we all (self included) overestimated my photo taking, I have to scratch that. So the shot glass goes to…

The Savvy Savorer, who guessed 1400.

Congratulations. I’ll be in contact about getting the shot glass to you.

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365-85: raise your cup and let’s propose a toast (contest winner!)

Day 85 of 365: a year in songs and photos
Song: Faith No More, Last Cup of Sorrow

I know I skipped the last two days, I’ll get back to them eventually. I’m all discombobulated now.

So it’s about time I announce a winner to the contest, eh?

I took a very surprising amount of photos. Surprising for me, at least. Most people, knowing my penchant for shooting anything and everything and for shooting in continuous mode, guessed upwards of 3,000. Myself, I would have guessed closer to 4,000.

But something interesting happened on this trip. At some point, photo taking became secondary to having fun. I was having such a good time that there were whole hours when I didn’t even take the camera out of the bag! I was so relaxed, so attuned to the stress and weariness being released from my body and mind that I just kicked back and let the pleasantness of being away overtake me. I stopped seeing everything as a potential photo op and instead just concentrated on enjoying the hell out of the vacation and the company.

All told, I took 1,228 photos (about 100 of which will go up on flickr). Which means, the winner of the above pictured Genuine, Authentic Sacramento Shot Glass Bought In Old Sacramento (liquor not included, hearts sold separately) goes to………

Wait….addendum here. I know I said “without going over” but being that we all (self included) overestimated my photo taking, I have to scratch that. So the shot glass goes to…

The Savvy Savorer, who guessed 1400.

Congratulations. I’ll be in contact about getting the shot glass to you.

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art every day – 11/10/107

Day 10 of art every day:

“Every leaf, every stone, every speck of dirt”

Inspired by Faith No More’s Helpless:

A garden is its own perfect world
Where everything has a place
Mmm, every leaf, every stone
Every speck of dirt
But wheres my place?
I never felt better, now

It’s the beginning of winter. Everything is starting to look gray and bleak. It’s freezing out, way before it’s usually freezing. Too many Christmas commercials already, too many people rushing into 2008, everything is moving too fast, but then I complain when life moves too slow.

Sometimes life, it moves too slow
Slows to a crawl,
And then the poetry is lost

I need to kick myself out of the doldrums that aggravating health problems have put me in. I need to be awake and alert, I need to be not constantly thinking about this, I need to feel steady on my feet again. I need to get out of the house to go somewhere besides the doctor. I need to start doing more color shots. I need a big, juicy steak with a heaping side of garlic mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions, a side salad and a huge glass of unsweetneed iced tea with lots of ice.

That was totally apropos of nothing. But I do need it. And I’m going to go out and get it.

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i used to love you, now i want to kill you

I was going to write yet another thing about Halloween and then offer up a download of the song Halloween by the Misfits, but they are just one of those bands that I never bothered ripping the discs of when I got the new hard drive. I don’t know what happened. I used to love them, then one day I put on Walk Among Us and realized that two minute, four-chord retelling of B-grade horror movies just didn’t do it for me anymore.

This got me to thinking about bands I loved that just faded from my playlist for one reason or another. Sometimes you just grow tired of certain music. Sometimes you outgrow it. And sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that make you delete every folder containing a certain band from your hard drive. Which is a shame. As much as I used to love Faith No More – I was obsessed with them for years – I have such a hard time listening to them now because they remind me of things I don’t want to be reminded of. Where their entire catalog used to be a source of musical pleasure for me, they now remind me of lies and anger and empty promises and every time I try to enjoy Angel Dust again, I’m left with a taste of bitterness that hangs on the entire day.

Yet there are bands I loved that went through tough times with me that I stuck with. Maybe the years have taken the edge off the memories. I can bring out the entire Husker Du catalog without thinking about that messy breakup. I can listen to Black Flag’s Damaged without experiencing the ensuing black hole of depression that used to follow it. I didn’t lose all my good music just because I associate bands and songs with emotions. Maybe I shove them on the back burner for a while, but they come back.

Then there are those bands you just had enough of. I went through my regressive emo stage and I can really live without Taking Back Sunday now. And then there are the bands you once adored and you try to listen to their music now and your reaction is “what the hell was I thinking?” Did I once really think The Doors were anything more than dime store poetry sung by a man with a grand self-perception rivaled only by Jesus? Did I really have the cover to Yes’s Fragile painted on the back of my Levi jacket?

Another band that falls into that category, like the Misfits, is the Ramones.

Yes, I said it. The Ramones. It feels almost blasphemous to write that. A New Yorker who grew up in the 70’s and was around for beginning of that band’s rise to fame is done with them? I hear a collective gasp from the die hard Ramones fans I know. I know the way they think. They’ll hear me say something like this and come after me with pitchforks and torches, crying about my lost punk roots and how my cred is completely shot. So be it. I really don’t like you “punk lived and died in the 70’s” people, anyhow. Just for good measure, I’m going to tell you that I no longer listen to the Clash, either. It’s not that I threw alway all my punk records and gave up on the genre. I just stuck with the ones that stood my test of time. I’d rather listen to the Circle Jerks or 7 Seconds or Minor Threat all day than listen to the same song, different words from the Ramones.

There are tons of bands and whole genres that came and went in my life. Lots of bands that don’t matter, bands I forgot about, albums I wish I never spent money on. Your life changes, you grow up, move on, your tastes change. I still listen to a hell of a lot of the music I loved in my misspent youth. I love me some good, old fashioned metal and I’ll never tire of Pink Floyd.

It doesn’t bother me so much that my Misfits and Ramones CDs are going to collect dust now. What bothers me is when my music is taken from me through circumstances. Sure, they are self-made circumstances. There’s a reason I won’t listen to Stabbing Westward’s Darkest Days anymore and it has nothing to do with anything but me and my tendency to be overwrought in my wallowing. I’m not going to blame anyone but myself that I can’t listen to Faith No More or Nick Cave with the enjoyment I used to. Hopefully, like with Husker Du, I’ll get that musical pleasure back some day. As for the Doors and most of the Led Zeppelin catalog and Lynyrd Skynyrd, those phases are long gone and I don’t want them back.

I was supposed to be writing a Halloween thing here. Just another example of how my mind works at 5am. I’ll do the Halloween thing later.

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reunited and it feels so good

I’m surprised at how completely uninterested I am in the Led Zeppelin reunion. Something about an almost 60 year old Robert Plant crooning “squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg” unnerves me.

That said, there are tons of bands I would like to see reunited. Faith No More, of course, even for just one show.

Ah yes, there’s a question of the day here!

What band would you like to see reunited – not on a permanent basis (there’s a reason bands break up), but for one show (which you attend, of course) AND death is not a barrier here. You may bring back John and George if you wish. But just for one day, then they have to go back to that great gig in the sky.

Oh, for a Pink Floyd reunion….

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300 bands, 300 songs – 61, because Faith No More deserves their own post

61. Faith No More – Helpless
Well, this had to get it’s own. Faith No More was my favorite band for a very long time until, for reasons all my own, I had to put their albums away for a while. I’ve finally reached a place where I can listen to them again without feeling all queasy about it, and I still have the same passion for their music -and the same cult-like worship of Mike Patton – I always did.

Like I did with QOTSA, I had to go over each (studio) album and pick out a song from each, then do an elimination tournament from there:

We Care A Lot – I’m really not into the pre-Patton stuff. Even though I liked the band before him, Chuck Mosely seems stale and contrived in retrospect. However, (and while I’m not dismissing the title song, it is what made me notice the band) As The Worm Turns is a phenomenal song.

Introduce Yourself – There’s a video for Anne’s Song in which, for god knows what reason, Chuck Mosely bothers me so much I want to reach through the tv and stab him in the face. I really like this song, too. I would probably love it if it weren’t for Chuck.

The Real Thing – This is the album a lot of people start and stop at when it comes to listening to FNM. I have spent many years preaching on the “Epic is not their only song” pulpit. In fact, it’s probably my least favorite FNM song. The rest of the album is good, but not as great as what was to come. Patton hadn’t yet reached the limits of what he could do with his voice. Edge of the World wins out here just because I feel like it’s more of the FNM that would be than what was. And it’s pretty on its face – a very deceiving kind of pretty.

Angel Dust – my favorite FNM album, most of the time. A big departure from The Real Thing in that there wasn’t anything on it that was radio or MTV friendly. It was dark and heavy and bizarre and probably scared off a lot of people who were looking for a hit follow up to Epic. They probably weren’t expecting Jizzlobber. It’s so hard to pick a song from this one. But I’m going with the obvious (to most of you) choice of A Small Victory.

The small victories
The cankers and medallions
The little nothings
They keep me thinking that someday
I might beat you
But I’ll just keep my mouth shut

It shouldn’t bother me
but it does

Patton’s voice. The change ups. The punctuated rhythm. The lyrics. The ending. And an epic video.

Album of the Year – Another departure. If there’s one thing to be said for FNM, it’s that their style was consistently inconsistent. Every album has a different texture, a different flavor. This one is, I think, their most mature, lyrically and musically, and the one where Patton’s penchant for lounge singing came into full effect (interestingly enough, the band hated this album). It’s beautiful music, a little sorrowful, a lot melancholy. Helpless is my easy pick here.

And just now at this second I decided that Helpless is my overall favorite Faith No More song. Lyrics below, just because you should read them. The song is so wistful, so full of loneliness and heartbreak and hope and restlessness…it’s so many emotions all played to understated music and as the whistling kicks in, you can almost see Patton walking listlessly through some city, half depressed, half determined, stopping at a fountain to toss in a dime and wish his life away.

The end of the song, where he goes from pleading “don’t want your help” to yelling “Help” makes you really feel this one in your gut. I’ve included a download because I like to share when I gush this much about a song.

The air is warm
I hear the wind and the trees
I know I’m there, but I’ll never be
The wind is soft tonight, the tide is low
And I know the way
(I never felt better now)

Sometimes life, it moves too slow
Slows to a crawl, and then the poetry is lost
And without speed, hope becomes certainty
And for once I’m certain
(I never felt better now)

A garden is it’s own perfect world
Where everything has a place
Every leaf, every stone, every speck of dirt
But where’s my place?
I even tried to get arrested today
But everyone looked the other way
I count the hours, and I count the days
But for once I’m certain

Don’t want your help
Don’t need your help
Don’t want your help
Don’t need your help
Helpless

You found a way to make me say
Help me please someone

The water’s clear
I see that it’s full of dimes
For every wish, I wonder why
Why all I want is something beautiful
A place to rest
(I never felt better now)

HELP

Faith No More – Helpless

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another list bites the dust: best cover songs

I said I would do my Best Cover Songs list, so here we go.

This is another list where I went and checked what RetroCrush had. I agree with a lot of their choices, but there are a few on there that would definitely be on my WORST list.

While reading that list, I realized that this has been done a million times before. I’m sure I’ve done it at least twice in various incarnations of my blogs. So this time around, I’m going to pick some covers that don’t often appear on other people’s lists. There are a few familiar ones in here, but most of them are ones that I might not have talked about before.

QOTSA – Never Say Never (Romeo Void)
Well, we all know my obsession with QOTSA. They do a lot of fine covers (The Kinks Next in Line, Turbonegro’s Dungaree High) but this one is sublime. They take the 80’s cheese right out of the song and add a layer of decadence to it.

Hellacopters – Working For MCA (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
I do love the original, but the Hellacopters give this more of a raw edge.

Vanilla Fudge – You Keep Me Hanging On (Supremes)
I talked about this one here.

Faith No More – This Guys’s In Love With You (Herb Alpert)
Most people who put a Faith No More song on their cover list pick Easy. While that’s a great cover, this is the one that blows me away. Mike Patton gets to live out his obvious dream of being a lounge singer here.

Goldfinger – Rio (Duran Duran)
Simply for the part at the end where he sings “His name is Dio….Ronnie James Dio….”

Anthrax – Got the Time (Joe Jackson)
Love the original, but Anthrax speeds this up enough so that you feel almost manic trying to sing it.

Richard Cheese – Down With The Sickness (Disturbed)
I’m a big fan of Mr. Cheese. Choosing a song by him for this list is kind of like choosing something by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (which I have a general rule against); all they do is covers. But I’ve let my rules go for this one. I do that sometimes. Of all the Richard Cheese covers I adore, this song is my favorite for the sincerity in which he lounge-sings the line you fucker get up, come on get down with the sickness. Also, the use of this tune in the remake of Dawn of the Dead was probably the best placement of a song in a movie, EVER.

NSFW

Gypsy Kings – Hotel California (Eagles)
Two words: Big Lebowski

Dead Kennedys – Viva Las Vegas (Elvis)
Jello doing Elvis is delicious.

Lovage – Sex (I’m A…) (Berlin)
If you have never heard the Lovage album Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, go buy it/download it NOW. I’m not one for having music on while gettin’ horizontal, but whenever someone asks that ubiquitous question “What’s the best music to fuck to?” I always answer with this album. Their rendition of “Sex” will leave you breathless.

Quicksand – How Soon is Now (The Smiths)
I think there are a million covers of this song. I used to collect them. This one is my favorite version. It’s got a metal feel to it, but they still keep the emo-drama of the original. Don’t even bring up that Snake River Conspiracy cover of this. I hate it.

Filter – One (Three Dog Night)
They manage to take a song that, as a kid, made me feel sad and lonely and make it even more morose and depressing. Good job.

Deftones – The Chauffeur (Duran Duran)
It’s sexy, it’s dark and I like it better than the original.

Rammstein – Stripped (Depeche Mode)
Talk about making a song your own. While they keep the music mostly intact, the German accent and deep voice gives this one a darkness and evilness that was not present in the DM version, yet at the same time, it comes out sounding almost absurd.. I love Rammstein.

Supersuckers – Get It On (Turbonegro)
Two great tastes together at last. If you don’t know either of these bands, try them out.

Slayer – Guilty of Being White/Filler/I Don’t Want to Hear It (Minor Threat)
Most Slayer fans hate the album Undisputed Attitude, in which they cover 80’s hardcore punk songs. I love Slayer and I love hardcore punk, so maybe that’s why I kind of enjoyed this album. And when one of your favorite bands covers another of you favorite bands, that makes it even better. Hearing Slayer do Minor Threat makes me smile.

And there you have it. All I have time for right now. Share your favorite cover songs and maybe I’ll come back later and give a list of more popular cover tunes that I like.

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