Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 3

A man walks down the street 

He says, "Why am I soft in the middle now? 

Why am I soft in the middle? 

 The rest of my life is so hard."

Cover Art for Paul Simon's Graceland

As I get older I see more than the funny video with Chevy Chase for "You Can Call Me Al" that was made.  I always found this song on the funny side and the video even funnier, but now I see it closer to a man getting older and wondering what happened to him and his life and having to travel to figure it out.

Inner sleeve, so many lyrics, so many

Another great Gift from Ted and Donna this year.  Paul Simon's Graceland on 180 gram vinyl.  Again complete with free digital download, which again is more handy that a portable record player.  I do not think that there is a bad song on this record.  I'd like to know your thoughts.  included with this record was a giant Graceland artwork poster on thick nice stock paper(photo all the way to the bottom), I will put some serious thought into getting it framed (I already have about 6 other items that need framed so what would be one more, it is only money right?).


I think that getting soft in the middle is something that most people can relate to.  It is a literal getting old and doughy "Mr Beerbelly Beerbelly" and maybe it is a spiritual softness from growing soft in convictions.  I do not have the answers I did not write the song.  Then again maybe it is just a funny little story with a super catch hook... Who wouldn't want a bodyguard named Betty that can call you Al?

Back cover artwork and Thanks

Track listing
Side one    
No.
1.     "The Boy in the Bubble"
2.     "Graceland"
3.     "I Know What I Know"
4.     "Gumboots"
5.     "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"
Side two    
No.
6.     "You Can Call Me Al"
7.     "Under African Skies"
8.     "Homeless"
9.     "Crazy Love, Vol. II"
10. "That Was Your Mother"
11. "All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints"       Simon  
Additional tracks on the digital download
No.
12. "Homeless" (demo version)
13. "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (alternate version)
14. "All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints" (early version)

That inner sleeve speaks volumes to me.  So many words.  When I turn on the radio today there are seemingly only  2 lines of words repeated over and over and over and over.......  Now one tells a story, they just tell you It's Igggy Iz or something like that.  NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!

I am sure that there are better song writers and wordsmiths, but for my money Paul Simon is probably the best.  I will take his words over Dylan and McCartney any day.  But that is the beautiful thing about art and music, it is subjective and you don't always have to agree.  Please leave some of your favorites in the comment section below.  I am always on the look out for new stuff to try.

today's song of the day is a double live treat:
Paul Simon - "Graceland" and "You Can Call Me Al"

That is one big poster!

Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 2

Soon I will have to dig up my moutsche wax there is so much hipster in me.  This post is in the hipster vein of vinyl and was a Christmas gift from my parents Ted and Donna.

On 180 GRAM vinyl The Black Keys-thickfreakness is a limited edition release. And it came with a free digital download of the album. And that is way more convenient than taking a record player with you when you travel.

Album Cover

Album back "artwork"

Inner sleeve

I would agree that the grease on the cover is some fantastic "thickfreakness".  As is the sound that these two make.  The White Stripes, The Black Keys.... bands like these it is amazing the depth of sound that only a few can make to me.  Some can say it is dirty or sloppy but I think that is what makes it sound more real, like it came from an earlier time.  A time when there wasn't auto-tune and people recorded together and not onto laptops in their living rooms one layer at a time.  Maybe that is just me being a romantic, longing for less produced pop and more heartfelt rock.  But hey a guy can dream can't he?  It isn't that I don't

like POP I certainly do.  That is why it is pop, it is popular, but sometimes you want something a little more authentic.

Track listing
No.
1.     "Thickfreakness"
2.     "Hard Row"
3.     "Set You Free"
4.     "Midnight in Her Eyes"
5.     "Have Love Will Travel"
6.     "Hurt Like Mine"
7.     "Everywhere I Go"
8.     "No Trust"
9.     "If You See Me"
10. "Hold Me in Your Arms"
11. "I Cry Alone"



It is in the inner sleeve that we learn that "all songs recorded and mixed december 2002 by patrick carney in akron ohio at studio 45 using his patented recording technique called 'medium fidelity'[...]"
Digging more on the interwebs tells us it was recorded in Patrick Carney's basement using an early 1980s Tascam 388 8-track recorder resulting in an older sounding sound. And an older sound is exactly what draws me to this I do believe.

Plain black, thick-assed vinyl

Some albums have some really fun images or thing with the actual vinyl itself, not this one.  True to the theme of stripped down and in your face, the album itself is just standard black and I find that completely appropriate for what it is.  An unapologetic fantastic rock album.  While there a similar sound (think we can agree most band have this) I think it is more a result of all the songs coming from a single 14 hour recording session.  I think that is add to the honesty of the recording.  The song to pick will be:




""Hold Me in Your Arms" by (of course) The Black Keys

Hipster, Total Hipster pt. 1

I decided to go total hipster, and start getting vinyl records again.  It has been many a moon since I last bought "Slippery When Wet" and I think Madonna's "True Blue", but I got a membership at Third Man Records and then joined at Vinyl Me Please.  And those have been great, but for Christmas I asked for vinyl. I usually ask for nothing but this time I actually put some thought and made a list.  I think my next few posts will be on the awesomeness that is what I received.  Starting with Zac and Dani's gift of Juice Newton's "Juice".  At first glance a funny gag, but on closer inspection, this was a pretty monster album.  According to the Juice wiki page  Juice garnered Juice Newton two "Best Female Vocalist" Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country categories.And it has a large selection of hits:

Track listing
Side one    
No.    
1.     "Angel of the Morning"
2.     "Shot Full of Love"
3.     "Ride 'Em Cowboy" 
4.     "Queen of Hearts"
5.     "River of Love"  
Side two    
No.    
1.     "All I Have to Do Is Dream"      
2.     "Headin' for a Heartache"      
3.     "Country Comfort"      
4.     "Texas Heartache"      
5.     "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)"  

My biggest disappointment is that Juice has better hair than me:

Song of the "Angel of the Morning"

It gets cold in Texas too

Working from home as I do now seems to have 2 distinct advantages

1. I do not have to go outside anymore. meaning no weather, no hot no cold
2. I have really great toilet paper compared to any office I have ever been in.

I do like to "ice bath" as a form of cryotherapy, the ideal temp (in my opinion) is right around 51 degrees.  Unfortunately with the pool as large as it is and the temp at 40.4, I have not and will not get in until it warms up again.  46 was the lowest temp that I have sucked it up and climbed into and could only last 18 minutes at that temperature.  40 sounds unreasonable, unnecessary, not gunna not gunna get in it.


As an aside, if you have a pool or spa and would like a wireless way to know the temperature I have been really pleased with the model that we picked up from amazon.





Song of the day "Taxman" The Beatles

To rise from the Dead or Not

Giving it a real thought, bringing this back from the dead. Not sure that anyone really missed it but there is a lot to talk about in my head

• wine 
• beer
• leaving Iowa
• Dallas Texas
• vinyl records
• home repairs
• getting healthy
• getting older
• working from home
• the terrible Vikings
• the worse cyclones
• a few movies that I have seen
• a few creative things I want to create

like I said, I am thinking about bring this back from the dead(that is me thinking).....

Song of the day "High Ball Stepper" from the great Jack White

movie invite tonight (2-9)

Tonight will be "Chronicle".  7:45 at the Cobblestone, as always give a shout if you are coming and we will look out for you.

Looking forward to this one, because hey I am of the opinion that if you were to get "super powers" they probably would not be used for good.....





Song of the day Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye"

I-State Game Tonight

So I was invited over to Trent and Monica's last night to watch the Iowa State game, and this morning I went over and told Trent that Jamie Lou couldn't make it but I could.  This was the IM conversation that followed:

That's all I got, hey it made me laugh.