P.O.T.D.'s #6 and #7

By far my favorite apartment in the Old West End. Photos of things I miss: living in the OWE, my awesome green couch, Gatsby the cat, & my camera that took these.

Guitars, drums, please?

I really need to get back into the blogosphere and there's no better way to do it than by doing the obligatory favorite albums of 2009. As much as I do love some good electronic music and a beat to dance to, I still prefer actual instruments being played and a gritty sound. As my dear roommate Nikola says, "your roots are more in punk, Rochte, all you want are some guitars!". So here goes:

5. Bibio - "Ambivalence Avenue"

After that whole spiel I choose a mostly electronic album at #5. What can I say? Dude produces killer tracks that span from folk to indie to hip hop.

4. The XX - "The XX"

I was trying to describe this band to someone last week,

but all I could come up with was laid back, pretty

sounding indie rock. I don't know, I just really got into

this album.

3. Drummer - "Feel Good Together"

What happens when you take five different drummers from

various bands and bring them all together to play

different instruments? An awesome album? Check!

Well, technically they didn't all get to switch instruments...

one of them had to stay a drummer. Formed by Patrick

Carney of The Black Keys fame (he plays bass in this band),

this album was spot on and a lot of people still haven't

heard of them. Do yourself a favor, check it out & tell yr friends.

2. Blakroc - "Blackroc"

(Speaking of) The Black Keys + hip hop's finest = Blakroc. It's a

good mix, I promise.

1. Japandroids - "Post Nothing"

Honestly, nothing even comes close to this album for me.

I'm talking the past couple of years even. Just a drummer and a

guitarist playing the catchiest rock & roll accompanied by the best

(yet simplest) lyrics I've heard in a minute.

From "Young Hearts Spark Fire":

We used to dream

Now we worry about dying

I don't wanna worry about dying

I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls

This album makes me feel young & alive & excited when I listen to

it. It sounds cheesy, I get that. I like music I can relate to, yknow?

If you haven't heard them, this video isn't the best portrayal of

how the music sounds, but these dudes don't have a music video.

I wanted to post something live rather than something a random

person on youtube made. But yeah, check out the energy and

listen to the crowd.

So that's that. Good luck, 2010.

Happy Halloween!

via Enjoying Toledo

The kids of Toledo School for the Arts participating in a huge flash mob of sorts at the Franklin Park Mall. It gets pretty good near the middle of the video.

Burn it to the ground!

Some years ago I was introduced to the Burn to Shine DVD series. Brendan Canty of Fugazi fame started this project around 2003 and they have since released 4 volumes (though apparently they've filmed 6). It centers around the history of a house that is set to be demolished, the city in which it's located, and the bands that will play there. A different city is selected for each volume, and a different musician from said city is selected to curate the local bands who will play. Each band has an hour to set up, play a song, and tear down...no corrections, no re-dos. After all of the bands play, they burn the house down. This video is one of my favorites...

http://www.trixiedvd.com/bts/

P.O.T.D. #5

Awesome Dave on our Miami '07 trip. It was, quite literally, Spring Break.

Hopefully this is the beginning of me updating again.

Sugar dumpling, muffin baby...

Mikey sang this to me while I was incredibly sick this week and I've been obsessed ever since.

Because Carlos posted this months ago...

R.I.P MJ, you had some excellent hits. I did PYT shots all night for you.

I <3 Isopar

Monoprint/monotype's by Koichi Yamamoto.


Yamamoto is a printmaker and an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee. From what I understand, in the 2nd and 3rd images he would use isopar and a roller to re-create Japanese landscape type paintings. I'm unsure of his other process(es), but I really enjoy his work.

Koichi Yamamoto.

P.O.T.D. #4

Patriotic shots in Chicago with some friends from Toledo.
July 4, 2008

Another TFLN, FML type site.

http://www.sorry-mom.com

My kind of holiday...

Happy Record Store Day!
Today is the 2nd annual celebration of independent record stores. This pseudo holiday was started last year in Portland, ME and now over 1,000 record stores are celebrating! Acts such as Erykah Badu and Franz Ferdinand will be playing in-store sets in their hometown stores. For you Chicagoans, The Lawrence Arms are playing at one of the Reckless stores! I'm not sure which one, though. I know Music Saves and Blue Arrow (?) are holding some festivities in Cleveland, and Used Kids and Lost Weekend Records are partying down in Columbus, as well. As for Toledo, it's going to be a good day for sure:


Rama Lama is handing out goodies and freebies, plus Rob will offer a traditional Japanese bow if you buy stuff from his store.
3151 W Central Ave
Rama Lama Records


Culture Clash is giving away a bunch of free stuff, offering limited releases, and there will be performances by DJ Dangus, The Falling Spikes, Potentials w/ Steve A, and RAVEN.
4020 Secor Rd
Culture Clash Records


Shakin Street is offering free food, and if you say "Sammy Hagar Rules" you get 15% off your purchase. There will be acoustic in stores by Extra!Extra!, Ian from Sinker, and The Infernal Names.
1503 Adams St
Shakin Street Records

Attn Toledoans!

This weekend, it begins...


Artomatic419! 2009 TV Ad from Above the Shop Studios on Vimeo.

...and it's actually way cooler than this video makes it seem.

Artomatic 419

P.O.T.D. #3

via kellykorova

via THE BARS


This wins.

Tumbling along...

I happened upon this girl's tumblr site & was intrigued.  She pairs famous quotes with stills from your favorite (and not so favorite) TV shows.

http://slaughterhouse90210.tumblr.com/

If you wanna sing out, sing out...

I've been on a new music kick as of late... and last night at Frankie's Seth was playing an awesome album of an unknown band while everyone set up. My friend Solomon asked who they were and we found that they're called Titus Andronicus. They've been around since '05, but just put out a full length. This Saturday they will be playing with one of my favorite bands (Lucero) at the Majestic in Detroit. I just might have to call off and go to that show.



http://www.titusandronicus.net
http://www.myspace.com/titusandronicus

P.O.T.D. #2

My friend d.kine being unimpressed by people he knows in a city he's left.
@Orchard Inn, Summer 2008

Bridging Gaps

For those interested in European travel, I just learned of a lovely piece of architecture for if you're ever in the northern countries. It's called the Øresundsbron, or the Öresund Bridge. This bridge (and tunnel) is just a little under 5 miles long and connects Malmö, Sweden (the 3rd largest city in Sweden) and Copenhagen, Denmark crossing the Öresund strait. The bridge-tunnel is a combined rail system and four lane highway featuring an unpopulated artificial island named Peberholm being used as a biological experiment of sorts. And you don't even need a passport!

Malmö

Copenhagen

Seriously, once you get over there it seems like everything is within reach!

P.O.T.D. #1

and the Photo Of The Day series begins...

Sometimes you just have to post what comes to mind. And unfortunately, this happened.

Buttons, Xylophones, Drums

Dan Deacon released his new album Bromst last Tuesday and I've already gotten two e-mails raving about it. So far, I really like the song "Snookered". I don't know how to embed audio files, so this will have to do...





I like the way he executes a live show, too!

Dan Deacon's Myspace

Pet Peeve #15 -- Latte Art

Okay, after this post I will move away from beverage based pet peeves for a moment. While in Portland I learned that a girl I know had an interview at a neighborhood coffee shop. This girl has years of experience as a barista (as do I) and at the end of the interview the manager asked her "And can you do latte art?" and she said No. To this he replied something like "Wellllll we really need someone who can do that here, soooo..." ...yeah, you get the idea. My immediate response to this was obviously 'wtf is latte art?' and here it is folks:


Now, I'm not one to tell someone how to run a business, but whywhywhy is this necessary? You're just going to ruin it with the first drink. It wastes time and seems like, again, such a suburban mom/yuppie impresser. Who cares what's on the foam?! It's the caffeine (usually) that counts. To quote Tim Gunn, "I'm underwhelmed".

Disagree? Thoughts? Comments?

For those who are still a kid at heart...

via Matty

The "Where The Wild Things Are" trailer...finally!
I LOVED this book & can't wait for this! Seriously, almost brought me to tears.

Watch the best quality version here.

Or a crappy youtube one here:

Bay-bayyyyyy

South Park pwned The Jonas Brothers (or maybe moreso Disney) in their latest episode. It was only a matter of time, a few of us have been expecting this for awhile...

Rainy Day in 503.

So far, Portland is the best spring break (SPRING BREAAAKKKK!) I could've asked for. All of my favorite people that were transplanted here are showing me a great time & the city itself has a great feel to it. I've been non-stop, & while I brought 5 rolls of film, these are the only photos I've taken...

I have 10 Followers!

...how exciting!

Now if only I would just update...

David After Dentist

I caught this video on The Soup this week and can absolutely sympathize with little David. What does this remind you of? Come on.

PDX!

I've never been west of Chicago, so you can imagine my excitement at booking a plane ticket to Portland. I know I'll make it to Seattle, but I'm being hopeful to get to San Francisco as well. We'll have to see about the money situation. So, to those of you that have been there, what should I do? So far, I have the following planned:

A strip club I'm told I have to go to...


These Japanese Gardens...


The Art Museum (Carlos, have you been/heard anything?)


Seeing this band...


And possibly this band...


And, of course, seeing some lovely people.

Test methods to become a successful blogger.

In an effort to update more, I'm throwing around the idea of having a P.O.T.D. (Photo of the Day) section on my blog. It would be random photos I found around the internet or on my computer, accompanied with a brief description. Also, you would send me photos as well! It could be fun, maybe..

However, today I'm going to start with an annoyance of mine (I hope that this doesn't become a section as well). Here goes.

Pet Peeve #27 -- Chocolate Martinis


Dear god. I feel that since I tend bar I am justified in bitching about this. I HATE HATE HATE making the Chocolate Martini (and why did I feel I had to capitalize those words?).

1. I get that you're a self important Sylvania Mom, and you probably feel really classy ordering it, but the chocolate martini is overrated. Please people, this isn't 2006 or 7, why has the chocolate martini phenomenon not ended? Try something new!

2. Tacky. That's all.

3. Chocolate is delightful and vodka is excellent, but ordering them together pretty much just illustrates that you lack knowledge and/or appreciation of either. I think Anthony Bourdain said it best: "Anyone who requests this drink should also get a T-shirt that says " 'I am an asshole, please take my money.' "*

That's all.

**I do have close friends who enjoy this beverage, and to them I apologize. We can't all be perfect, right?

"White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code"

I got a kick out of this...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/us/politics/29whitehouse.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

I wish I had a digital.

There are certain things about winter that I haven't minded so much. Remember that ice storm? I loved the way the trees sounded in the wind, like they were all about to break apart and shatter. Oh, and wasting film. And friends. Always fun.