Sunday, February 17, 2008

Great news and a new art project


Still reeling from the announcement of the retirement of Dr. David Thorpe, the cosmos has seen fit to balance the scales by delivering into my inbox a piece of very good news: my favorite band, The Wedding Present has recorded a new album, set to be released May 8th. Even better, the band has acquired the services once again of legendary producer (sorry, engineer) Steve Albini to record the album. Apparently, founding and only original remaining member David Gedge (front) has been living in L.A. for the last year getting in touch with his inner rock star. He seems a very un-L.A. sort of guy, but I guess this is his way of dealing with the mid-life crisis. In any case, this is fantastic news (for me, at least). Albini also produced their 1991 masterpiece, Seamonsters which has to go down as one of the most underrated albums of the 1990's. Expect lots of guitars. The album is apparently titled, El Ray which I believe is a nod to a music venue in L.A. It also features a song titled, "Spider-Man". My favorite band writing a song about my favorite super hero. Doesn't get much better than that. Unless of course it sounds like "Sucker", one of their weakest efforts.
But the last album was very good, so I have no reason to expect they've lost the touch. Seamonsters featured some of the coolest artwork of any album in my opinion, and even had two different variations of sleeve art (I've uploaded all the artwork from the US release for your consideration). One version released to the rest of the world on RCA, and a different version along the same theme released in the U.S. on the now sadly defunct First Warning label. I like this artwork so much, in fact, that I have long wanted to make it into a triptych art print to display at home. The artist, Hitch, seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth though as I couldn't find anything about him on the web.
Recently, however, I determined that he's now teaching at some university in England and has more or less retired from art. Furthermore, he does notown the artwork for any of the things he did for the band; they now belong to RCA. So any hope of getting camera-ready stuff directly from him is basically gone. Which means if I want to to do this project, I'm going to have to get creative. The US artwork (some of which is shown above) is only available in CD format (as opposed to the other version which, at least is available in larger LP format as well). So I'm going to have to get creative and find a way to clean up what I've got as well as find a company which will create the actual series of images for me to mount and/or frame.

If any of my legion of loyal readers can recommend a Boston-area company I could talk to about this project, I'd appreciate it. Now we wait for May 8th! If you are unfamiliar with the band, I recommend checking them out.














Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The End of and Era

OK, so my first blog that I didn't actually have to force because I'm fired up about this. My favorite internet blogger/music critc/curmudgeon (in other words, the only person I read on a regular basis), David Thorpe a.k.a. Dr. David Thorpe is, for reasons unknown, hanging up his spikes. A brief history:

I discovered his columns a few years back when he was Dr. David Thorpe, writing for the geek website
Something Awful
. A friend of mine who works in the music business (and knows far more about music than I could ever hope to (and I'm a pretty big music snob) sent me a link to one of series of columns, Your Band Sucks, and I was hooked. It came out every two weeks, and it was the most anticipated event on the internet for me to read one of his new columns. His Field Guide to North American Hipsters Vol. I, Readers Respond, and Vol. II are required reading, and his three part series "How to Fake It" Vol. I, Reader Advice (,maybe the best of the bunch, actually), and Vol. II are instant classics.

If you have any interest in music at all, you owe it to yourself to read these blogs. I cannot recommend anything written on the internet more highly.

When not writing specialty columns such as these, he'd pick a random sacred music cow to excoriate, and it was hilarious. Even if you liked said band.

A few times he invited readers to send in their demo tapes and CD's so he could rate them. None fared too well as you might expect. His annual year-end awards, "The World's Greatest Dad Awards" (so-named because "there needed to be pre-existing images bearing the name of the award so that I wouldn’t have to do any actual work.", were a roundup of anyone who had somehow been overlooked during the year or who he hadn't quite laid into enough. Sounds spiteful, and it was. But it was oh, so true and oh so funny.

So a little over a year ago, Dr. Thorpe announced he would be reducing the frequency of his columns as he had taken a job writing for Boston's The Weekly Dig. Great, I thought, I can pick it up in hard copy when I'm walking around town. So the columns on SA became less and less frequent until they stopped altogether about a year ago. Problem is, the archetypal music curmudgeon, lost his edge when he dropped the "Dr." title from his name. The columns (now called The Burn Unit) came out weekly now (Wednesdays), but were shorter, and just weren't as good.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, this week he announces that he's dying. Well, he's not REALLY dying, but has either decided to or been asked to terminate his column from The Dig. As far as I know I am the only one who ever wrote a comment on any of his blogs which indicates either general reader apathy for the paper (possible...this is the poor man's Boston Phoenix), or more probably, he didn't strike the same chord as he did at SA.

Either way, he left no forwarding address, so to speak, and I have no idea if he plans to write again, or if so, where he will re-appear. This, I have to say, is a dark day indeed for the internet.

So tip a 40 for Dr. David Thorpe, and lets hope he rises again and pops up somewhere else soon.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Football Catharsis



Now that the NFL playoffs are over, I find myself questioning my football loyalties. Growing up in the NFL no-man's land of Hartford there was no real compelling choice. As far as we were concerned, the Patriots may as well not have existed. Due to a combination of blackouts, distribution deals (or lack thereof), and other factors, they were rarely on TV in the area making getting to know the team in a family not exactly football crazed very difficult.




What we did get a heaping helping of every Sunday was the New York Football Giants. And there was NO way I was going to support a team from New York. So when I was in first grade, my dad went on a business trip to Washington DC, and happened to be eating one night in a restaurant which happened to be owned by one Joe Theisman, who happened to be there that night. My dad, recognizing him, went up to ask for his autograph for his young son (who at the time had no idea who Theisman was, incidentally).




"Of course," Joe said, and snapped his fingers (or at least that's how dad tells it), causing a waitress to appear out of nowhere with a cart of 8x10 black and white glossys of Joe, posed kneeling next to his helmet. Theisman dutifully signed the photo, making it out to me, and my dad returned from his trip with an unexpected souvenir for me.







"Of course," Joe said, and snapped his fingers...


From that point on, and through the better part of the next 15 years, my dad and I were Redskins fans. At least you knew you'd see them at least twice (when they played the Jints) on TV. And I have to say, that worked out pretty well for us with three superbowls won during that time.




Then came the late 90's and my faith wavered. The team became less likable, with punk players making stupid decisions (headbutting the stadium wall, for example), got a thoroughly unlikable owner, and I drifted into the Patriots camp almost without realizing it. Sure, I'd watch when they were on TV, but for the most part I followed the Pats because living in Boston, it's impossible not to since Bledsoe arrived.




I was always careful to point out to people that the Patriots were not REALLY my team, but as a New Englander I was happy to see them do well and certainly didn't DISlike them. But I never once called myself a fan because, as a die-hard Red Sox fan, I always resented the bandwagon fans who are everywhere nowadays. I was somehow afraid that true Patriots fans would find me out, as I always try to test Red Sox fans I talk to to see how long they've REALLY been following the team. "Who played third base for the Sox in 2004?" "What catch is Tom Brunansky famous for?" Because everyone likes a winner. Following a team when they're NOT winning is the true test of being a fan. Like not winning for 86 years.




So I now feel somewhat guilty, almost unfaithful that I've allowed myself to be sucked into turbine of the Patriots hype machine over the last several years. And I'm feeling more guilty that it took a LOSS to make me realize what has happened to me. I take team loyalty very seriously, and I don't honestly feel that I can claim to be a true fan of either team. So what am I to do now?
It's almost too late, but I think I need to return to my roots, and focus on the Redskins. Hopefully they'll have me back.