Tag: music

by jad

Almost Home (The Flaming Lips in Chelan County)

Oh, we’re almost home Oh, oh, almost home Oh, we’re almost home Home Oh, we’re almost home Oh, oh, almost home Oh, we’re almost home Home The Flaming Lips – Almost Home (Blisko Domu) x The thought soon becomes the word The word then becomes the deed If the deed is evil (evil) Blame the thought that is the seed Change the spark that makes the need Did your mind invent your mind? The Flaming Lips – Almost Home (Blisko Domu) x The insect crawls out on the leaf The leaf falls into the fire Burning up my fragile dream … Continue reading “Almost Home (The Flaming Lips in Chelan County)” →

by jad

Georgetown, Pleasure Spiked with Pain

We’ve been spending more time in Georgetown ever since Christine joined Side Rail, so I walked around to see what I can see. Much of this is stuff I’ve seen many times but never stopped to photograph. Some of it is new. I’ve been trying to train myself to “see” more clearly, even without the novelty of new places. x “During the past two hundred years Western philosophically-oriented, and later also socially-oriented thinking has been increasingly reflective and differentiated in its search for an understanding of the phenomenon of alienation. Marx saw also the moment near at hand to do … Continue reading “Georgetown, Pleasure Spiked with Pain” →

by jad

Altogether Ooky (Soap Kills and Songs of Grief)

Altogether ooky. x ليه زعلان ليه؟ أنا مش زعلانه ليه خيفان ليه؟ أنا مش خيفانه و ليه، وليه منك رجال و ليه؟ منك رجال و ليه؟ منك رجال و ليه؟ x Violent Are the streets in town And your words and your thoughts Hopelessly drown. (Soap Kills – Violence) x

by jad

May Day

Today was May Day. This was a sign left over from the massive rally and march that took place here during the day—I’m not sure how so many could take the day off work, but I’m glad. I, however, joined the after-hours crew for the 5 o’clock shift at a much smaller rally. I even got to use a bullhorn after all these years. Here’s a little from what I had to say today: Looking around, I want to cry out in the words of Alfred Hayes, who wrote: Into the streets May First!Into the roaring Square!Shake the midtown towers!Shatter … Continue reading “May Day” →

by jad

R.I.P. Velvet Q

I went to a funeral on Friday the 13th. It was the official end of Velvet Q, a local band we’ve loved and seen so many times over the years; this is Mallory writing the final set lists. I have two of those from concerts past. I didn’t take one of these. “While there are people still to miss me—I’m trying to die / I’m trying to say goodbye.” How much grieving is too much grieving? When are you allowed to become angry again? How does that song go again? Ah, yes. “I am a rock-bottom riser. And I owe … Continue reading “R.I.P. Velvet Q” →

by jad

I Brought My Dad With Me

We went to see @lpgiobbi at the @showbox last night and ended up standing right behind her parents for the first half of her set. The whole place seemed full of friends and family, greeting and hugging each other around the stage, purposefully designed to be “in the round” to add to that feeling of intimacy. In fact, Leah’s whole tour was designed to align with Thanksgiving, ending with a show in her hometown of Eugene. It’s the “Way Back Home” tour. There was something absolutely infectious about this sweet familial atmosphere; kisses were blown from across the decks, signs … Continue reading “I Brought My Dad With Me” →

by jad

So Much Love in Me

I heard a live recording of Depeche Mode’s So Much Love for the first time today that amplifies the level of menace to the lyrics that’s in the original version, though much less viscerally and in your face: I can’t runI have triedThere’s a thornIn my sideThere is somethingI can’t hide There is so much love in me. Dave’s voice sounds angry against the mechanical rum-pum-pum beat that’s a lot more spartan and martial than the original mix, giving the whole a charged air of protest. There is something so resonant in this for me. I have said this a … Continue reading “So Much Love in Me” →

by jad

At the Kraken

It’s been so long since I’ve felt motivated to go to a concert, let alone, do “concert photography” i.e. take a camera with me and hope for the best. This was Friday night at the “new” Kraken (which was the “old” Café Racer), and it was just the right level of low-key for me. The band was Bitch Slap, who are a lot of fun (and the drummer is my type of clown). The crowd was thin and mostly seated in a large crescent, so it felt awkward to stand in the middle and block people’s view. Plus, I haven’t … Continue reading “At the Kraken” →

by jad

Stuck on Repeat

I brought a bunch of my old CDs back with me from Lebanon, prioritizing the harder-to-find local releases I listened to in high school and undergrad, like Soap Kills, Scrambled Eggs, Zeid and the Wings, and the one and only major label release by the 90s rap group, Aks’ser. That album in particular is a weird trip back down memory lane, which is appropriate enough, given the transport metaphor in the group’s name (it can be read as both “going the wrong way down a one-way street” and “against the current”). It features several self-referential call-backs to earlier parts of … Continue reading “Stuck on Repeat” →

by jad

Asteroid City

“But you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep So go live your dreams and live them real deep. There is some countin’ money and there’s some countin’ sheep. Oh, you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep – If you don’t fall asleep.” (Jarvis Cocker) I watched ‘Asteroid City’ on the ten-hour flight to Frankfurt coming here, and I don’t think I was fully awake to fully grasp it, but I think it’s a movie about grief and purpose and the stories we let ourselves to find purpose in grief, or grief in purpose, etc. “Asteroid City … Continue reading “Asteroid City” →