Oh man… You see that photo up there? It may just look like any road anywhere on any given day, and yeah, it’s just a quick mobile photo I took today. Zzzz, right? Oh man… so wrong! That right there is the view from my bicycle when I was able to sneak out for a late lunch and do a quick 20 miles. That right there is over 60 degrees F! That is nary any wind or any cars, just me, a beautiful road, and my bicycle cruising at an average of 20 mph including stop signs & red lights & whatnots. That right there is perfection on a bike!!!
Well… almost perfect. My window was tight after a meeting ran really long and in my haste I forgot sunglasses and my water and yeah that made for a squinty & lip smacking ride, but fuck it. You sees your opportunities and you takes ‘em!!!
Speaking of opportunities, as a slight follow up to yesterday’s thought vomit on the annualness of us humans, got a funny email today from Pepsi. Apparently at SXSW they are hosting the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge where they pit two bands against each other in a “refresh challenge idea” contest (in this case, Metric & Broken Social Scene). Each has an idea then people vote on which idea (or band most likely) they like best. The winner gets $100,000 dollars to start their idea.
Is the slogan…
Strange, got mixed feelings. In one sense, woop, two bands I love get some promo-in’ and another awesome-O organization gets started, but at the same time, when I think about the 11.08 BILLION DOLLARS in revenue that Pepsi brought in last year, 1.72 billion of which were profits, I’m kinda in the mindset of why go through the silly rigmarole of “text voting” and whatnot and just do both? We can even change the slogan to:
FUCK THE VOTE, LET’S JUST CHANGE SHIT NOW!
Much better, eh? How do you vote over women for getting kids off the street and vice-versa? Can’t we just have a Pepsi and a smile & help both??? Oh wait, that’s Coke. Will you get the idea.
*shrug*
Funny how a good bike ride can kinda turn a “wtf” into a “shrug”. Oh well, was in my mind, now it’s in my post, and now I’m movin’ on… And what we are moving on to? Falling Down A Mountain by The Tindersticks, oh my.
Okay, this has been on my playa-player for a few weeks now and a song or two has made it’s way to a mixtape or two, but it’s only as of yesterday that I truly truly began to appreciate what this album is. I said it once, I’ll say it again, “oh my”. It’s an unusual album, it’s not really rock, doesn’t feel like pop, it’s just one beautiful melody & vocals & harmony & etc after another and another. Yet another band that I’m not that familiar with and that I will have to change ASAP. It’s got soul, it’s got R&B, it’s got pop & jazz, it’s got a little Quentin Tarantino-esque Tex-Mex country, and it’s got that voice by Stuart Staples that is super reminiscent of, oh man, who is it…. Aaron Nevlle sometimes? But maybe deeper, more baritone? I don’t know, something like that. It may take a spin or two to get used to, but once it dips into you, it ain’t gonna let go!
Good bike rides + good music = *happy*
- “Falling Down A Mountain”
- “Keep You Beautiful”
- “Harmony Around My Table”
- “Peanuts”
- “She Rode Me Down”
- “Hubbards Hills”
- “Black Smoke”
- “No Place So Alone”
- “Factory Girls”
- “Piano Music”
Some Tinderstick love: Myspace | Official | Label
Cheers,
Tsuru
