Heart Stains to Fart Stains

So, I have a lot to update about, but in the meantime, please let this hold you over.

I have been thinking of scanning an old book of drawings I did in kindergarten, but now my friend Rob has blown my mind by sharing his childhood artwork with me.

He had been seriously holding out on me by not showing me this sooner. I really hate him for it.

I am also a big fan of the Devle series.

Falling behind on the blog again: A few things I did in the past week or so

• Last Saturday, I saw Lohio at the Brillobox. I somehow had never heard them before, and I had a decent time. I enjoyed their last song with the dude from The Harlan Twins, who I once had a class with. Jason and I did not really feel like being there, and I’m not sure exactly why we went. We even missed Mariage Blanc because we weren’t planning on going out. The opener Karate Coyote was surprisingly okay, only because of the low expectations set by their name…that is one serious case of Terrible Band Name. While we had fun afterwords, I think we both would have preferred to stay at my apartment watching funny videos on the internet.

• I really enjoyed the CP Remixed last Thursday, featuring Joy Ike, Meeting of Important People and Donora. I know they all have a lot of local success, but I found myself asking, “Why aren’t they famous?” out loud and to myself. Joy Ike has a mainstream but not boring appeal.

It was nice to see Meeting of Important People again, even if they suffer from a mild case of Terrible Band Name.

I had never heard Donora, but I understood what the hubbub was about. Here is a video of their cover of MIA’s “Paper Planes.”

More (and better) videos are on the City Paper’s website.

• My friend Julie from home mailed me these paintings of I commissioned of me and my friend Pete, inspired by La Planète Sauvage. I am endlessly jealous of how effortlessly she created them.

• Pete and I visited my family over the weekend. The trip largely consisted of us eating a lot of junk. We continued this on our way back by stopping at a magical place called Biscuit World (not to be confused with Biscuitville).

I think we were in West Virginia. We were anxious because it appeared not to be open. The woman inside said, “Did you think we were closed? I wish we were!” with a slight Southern accent. She botched up our order but was so pleasant. We shared these five amazing biscuit sandwiches.

Also on the way back, we admired this weird looking structure that made us feel like we were on LOST.

• I went to Karmic Yogurt yesterday just because. I ended up spending over $4 for a small, plain yogurt with granola and strawberries. I felt very stupid about this the entire time. The tiny shop is kind of weird and could probably benefit from like, one decoration of some kind. Two nice young girls were working and seemed to still be figuring stuff out. I guess I say go once to satiate your curiosity if you’ve never had it, but if you have any willpower and are smarter than me you will not spend nearly five dollars on a bowl of nothing.

• I recently watched Slap Shot and Breaking Away. I had written these movies off as “guy movies,” which was just plain dumb because I really liked them and had just let my prejudice against sports get in the way. Speaking of which, I have watched more hockey in the past week than I ever have in my life (which now only about three times). I shriek a lot and find it too nerve wracking. May God bless Fleury.

Sasquatch Music Festival 2009 – HALP!!

Surprisingly enough, I have never been to one of these music festivals. I’m turning to you, Internet, to find out if you have any sage wisdom for me, and also to find out your advice about who I should see. Below, the purple bands are ones that I am definitely going to see. In red are the bands/comedians I want to see but have timing issues. The other bands I have either not heard of or simply don’t care to see. Please look at them and tell me if I’m being a fool! Here is the actual schedule.

Saturday, May 23th

Kings of Leon / Yeah Yeah Yeahs / The Decemberists / Animal Collective / Bon Iver / Devotchka / M. Ward / Doves / Sun Kil Moon / The Gaslight Anthem / King Khan & The Shrines / Ra Ra Riot / Shearwater / Passion Pit / Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band / Vince Mira / Blind Pilot / AA Bondy / Owl City / Arthur & Yu / Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele / Death Vessel / People’s Republic of Komedy / James Pants / Todd Barry / Tim and Eric / Crystal Castles / Nick Thune / Mos Def / Maria Bamford / Champagne Champagne

Kings of Leon (10:00 p.m.) and Doves (2:20 p.m.) are the only two acts that I want to see that don’t conflict with anything else.

• M. Ward/Maria Bamford (3:25-4:10 vs. 3:30-4:15) I’m deadlocked. I’ve liked Maria Bamford for a long time, so am probably leaning towards her, actually.

• Devotchka/Todd Barry (4:30-5:15 vs. 4:45-5:30) I’ve never seen Todd Barry, which is so fucked, but I really like Devotchka…so I think they win.

• Animal Collective/Tim & Eric (5:40-6:40 vs. 6:00-7:00) I have no idea. I could potentially watch the beginning of Animal Collective’s set and let that make my decision for me.

• The Decemberists/Mos Def (7:05-8:05 vs. 7:15-8:15) This is kind of like, duh, Mos Def, but I will regret having to miss The Decemberists, I think.

• Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Bon Iver (8:30-9:30 vs. 8:45-9:45) I’m very curious to see both of these acts. Crap!

Sunday, May 24th

Jane’s Addiction / Nine Inch Nails / TV On The Radio / The Murder City Devils / of Montreal / The Avett Brothers / Calexico / M83 / The Airborne Toxic Event / The Walkmen / The Wrens / St. Vincent / The Dodos / John Vanderslice / The Submarines / Viva Voce / The Builders And The Butchers / Fences / Point Juncture, WA / The Red Wine Boys / Hockey / Zach Galifianakis / Deadmau5 / Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head / People’s Republic of Komedy / The Henry Clay People / Aziz Ansari / Mike Watt and The Missingmen / Mad Rad / Street Sweeper Social Club

These all work out fine: The Walkmen (2:05), The Avett Brothers (4:10-5:00), Aziz Ansari (4:45-5:30) and Of Montreal (8:45).

• My giant problem is Zach Galifianakis/TV on the Radio/M83 (6:00-7:00 vs. 6:35-7:35 vs. 7:15-8:15). This is made slightly easier by the fact that I just saw Zach Galifianakis a few weeks ago, but still – I want to see him again. TV on the Radio is playing a sold out show tonight in Pittsburgh and I would love to see them live – but M83! What to do?! The timing for all of these works out so I could see the beginning/end/middle of the sets. Should I just do that?

Monday, May 25th

Ben Harper and Relentless7 / Erykah Badu / Silversun Pickups / Fleet Foxes / Gogol Bordello / Santigold / Grizzly Bear / Explosions In The Sky / Girl Talk / Blitzen Trapper / The Knux / Monotonix / Bishop Allen / Black Moth Super Rainbow / Beach House / The Dutchess And The Duke / School Of Seven Bells / Horse Feathers / The Pica Beats / Loch Lomond / Other Lives / Amanda Blank / Natasha Leggero / The Whitest Kids U’ Know / People’s Republic of Komedy / Tobacco / Chromeo (DJ Set) / God’s Pottery / Deerhoof / BLK JKS / Heartless Bastards

I just heard Heartless Bastards (12:00) on the radio last night (I was listening to Nicole Atkins co-host a show in NJ) so that made up my mind for me. The other no-conflict bands are Deerhoof (12:55), Gogol Bordello (3:50), Fleet Foxes (4:45), Beach House (6:30) and Erykah Badu (7:30).

• In the case of Black Moth Super Rainbow/Grizzly Bear (1:40-2:25 vs. 1:50-2:35), I’m pretty positive that I will be seeing Grizzly Bear. It is my own fault that I didn’t see BMSR’s recent free show at CMU.

• As for Bishop Allen/Santigold (2:45-3:30 vs. 2:50-3:35), I don’t really know Bishop Allen and want to see if Santigold lives up to the hype, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing her.

• It seems relevant to point out that I have never seen Girltalk and he’s on from 7:15-8:15, which is right at the end of Beach House, but Erykah Badu starts at 7:30 and I think she quite obviously wins.

I’ll greatly appreciate any recommendations/warnings!

Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on, has read, or is about to read my previous entry. I really appreciate all of the feedback. As evidenced by the conversations I’ve had with several people recently about the topic, arguments about it can go in thousands of directions (kind of on different planes of a circle with more offshoots coming off of it…). While trying unsuccessfully to be brief, I was careful to try to speak only of my own experience – even though it appears to be representative of many others’ also (perhaps not that of women who do “like” it…which I believe just represents a different set of problems).  Man, is it complicated.

The post was about a specific kind of harassment – it was not about every man, it was not about men who are earnestly interested in getting to know you, it did not assume that any person who dares look at you is a letch. It is about those who think it is acceptable to forwardly judge every woman sexually, albeit in an attempt at complimenting the woman or, more often than not, in just a straight-up degrading manner, even when the recipient makes it clear they are offended or not interested in being spoken to. I can’t imagine that men would enjoy being forced into awkward, scary, or uncomfortable situations by strangers on a daily basis, even if it was not sexual. I am sure that most of these guys that behave this way don’t even understand why it is upsetting and wrong. Not everyone can be cursed with the same level of self-awareness that I suffer from.  The fact that this issue is so far ingrained in our culture as “how it is,” and has become so institutionalized is why I think we still need to talk about it, even if it does feel hopeless.

Again, thanks.