tsururadio.

4 Days To Go Until Our Epic Bike Ride!!! Plus a Hair Lip update & I Learned The Hard Way by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings!!!

March 30, 2010

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES!!!!!! 4 DAYS TO GO UNTIL…

Are you gonna ride with us??? The weather is shaping up to look good, the port-a-potties are at the park for your poopin’ and peein’ pleasure, the bike path from Park of Roses north is in fine workin’ order… Things are looking JIIIIM DANDY! All that’s left to do now is print, print, print maps and then ride!!!! WHEEEEEEEE!!!!

* * DETAILS ARE HERE, SO GO HERE NOW * *

Okay…quick update on The Great Hair Lip Experiment Of 2010, today Week III Phase II:

As you can see, we are getting some decent length around the chin & lipal regions, but not the thickness you usually see on, say, a hirsute entrepreneur. The cheeks are staying in a unkempt trimmed state to build on the goatee effect.

I’m not sure how much longer the black caterpillar has though. My kissability has gone down at LEAST 3 points and I’m feeling more and more like a prepubescent boy trying to grow facial hair every single day. BUT…. this much I promise. Before I eventually shave this bad boy off, I will shave it down to only a moustache and surely photograph it for your mocking pleasure!

Well, it’s gonna be a busy one today, add on that the surprisingly super rough 30 mile bike ride making me feel like a nap is in order at 10am, I think we best be getting to the music, eh?

Yesterday we were treated to NPR’s streaming of I Learned The Hard Way by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings…

And then, of course, about 5 minutes later we had the leak all over the intern — thanks NPR! — like cake on the face of a boy turning one.

Yeah, that was me yesterday… And that will be me again when the LP I pre-ordered — with autograph & free 7″ & a donation to Doctors Without Borders? hot diggity!!! — because you just KNOW that’s how the good lard is intendin’ for you to listen to this gem!!!

That’s right, my friends, Sharon Jones is back and once again she’s dripping soul, ooooozing soul, emitting soul like the light that shown down upon us from heaven more than ever before! Yes, the “funk” seems to be fading a bit as Jones finds her groove more and more, and as much as I love her hard-hitting funkilicious fury, this is the Sharon Jones you pull close, hold tight, and make damn sure she knows she’s your only.

Damn sure.

The album’s lead-off track “The Game Gets Old” sets the tone for what you should expect. Just pure soul & R&B the way it was meant to be. Lyrically this is the wise Sharon, the strong Sharon, tired of her man messin’ with her heart, messin’ with her life, but then again, I guess by now we should know… that’s just Sharon.

The Dap-Kings sound as tight as ever, of course of course of course… but by now that should be a given.

Look… it’s Sharon Jones. It’s the Dap-Kings. Four albums in and really that’s all that needs to be said by now, don’t you think? Me too.

GO LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING HERE NOW!!!

1. The Game Gets Old
2. I Learned the Hard Way
3. Better Things
4. Give It Back
5. Money
6. The Reason
7. Window Shopping
8. She Ain’t a Child No More
9. I’ll Still Be True
10. Without a Heart
11. If You Call
12. Mama Don’t Like My Man

Some MS. Sharon Jones love: Myspace | Official | Label

Cheers,

Tsuru

The Great Hair Lip Experiment of 2010 & Pigeons by Here We Go Magic

March 18, 2010

By Tsuru

Photography by Audrey A.

Well my friends, it’s been about 1 week into The Great Hair Lip Experiment of 2010. What? No clue what I’m talking about, that’s understandable. You see, last week, I came to a conclusion that with the combination of A) moustaches somehow retaining their popularity, B) my curiosity to see just how horrible I look with a moustache, and C) that I’m only a few years away from turning (gulp) 40, that this may be the last opportunity I have to attempt to grow some lip hair…. Because, let’s be honest, once I’m “old” and especially once I’m old & the trend is quiet dead, I’m going to looking like a seriously pervy old man with a moustache and honestly, I rather just be a pervy old man when I’m that old.

SO. Starting last week, I’ve PUT DOWN the shackles of shaving and let my individually thick & black, but rather patchy in group form facial hair freak flag fly! The results of 1 week? Here you go, photo taken just moments ago while walking outside:

As you can see, and as expected, the cheeks are looking pretty pathetic, but the chin & lip are coming in quite nicely. For now, the plan is to just let it all go, making me look like I just got back from a 3 week long bender, until the lip and chin are long enough to build the half-douche aka the full-Depp.

Hot diggity there’s some serious photoshopping on his face there….. You see, Johnny Depp, like me, is not able to grow the connectors between the stache and the chin, aka, the full goatee or full-douche, thereby creating the half-douche or full-Depp. You following along or do you need your calculators?

Of course, not even the full-douche can compare the triple-whammy-douche-a-rama!

But for that, you’d need chest hair and sadly (or thankfully, according to Baby), I have 3, literally. I named them Bob, Billy, and Beaner.

Anywhosaldosal… That’s phase 2 (phase 1 is the “3 week bender” look). Phase 3, of course, is the moustache in all it’s glory. There are so many options to chose from, where does one begin?

Some are beyond my reach, such as the “gringo” and the “trucker”, my face just won’t do that (I’m not a hairy man). But I like the idea of all three on the left side, with the possible final goal of the “connoisseur”? My face hairs are very thick and course, so that bad boy’s going to require some serious wax.

Well, I’ll keep you abreast of the progress (hehehe…. “breast”), I’ll most like go nuts one day and shave it all off… Who knows, we’ll see!

Now, I’m not sure of their lip hair status, but I’ve definitely got my metaphorical “porn star” on with Pigeons by Here We Go Magic playing in my head!

Though, if you stare at the album cover long enough, I think you can see a “jihad jack” on one of the creepy faces.

What a delicious soup-strainer of an album this is! Just beautifully atmospheric music that ranges from rich old-school (I’m thinking early 80s maybe??) dance-ish pop of “Collector” to the near Pink Floyd-y “Land Of Feeling”!

Funny, now that I just wrote that, I’m suddenly getting an 80′s feel throughout this bad boy, no, not in the cheesy Top 40′s way, something certainly more full, rich, deep, and authentic. I’m having a helluva time tagging it all in my head — maybe the moustache is distracting me?

Well, regardless, it’s definitely pulling me back to a different time and certainly a different Tsuru. Huh. Now, that’s not to say this is some 80s re-hash, it’s not, there’s just a haze/vibe/aesthetic/light film coating that is pulling my brain back. For example… Listening to “Surprise” right now but visually my mind is on a very, very old memory of a very young me watching Billy Joel’s “Pressure” on a very young cable television over 20 years ago at my dad & stepmom’s house. They sound nothing alike, yet there I am suddenly remember people & places that I haven’t thought about in years. Funny how the brain works, eh?

Oh and hey, look at that, just saw on their tweeter twatters that P4K gave them a “awesome-O new track” rating for “Collector”! Congrats guys, may your mp3/m4a sales be bountiful!

Okay, enough jibber-jabber, time to go pick up some moustache wax and hell, maybe even a bit of Brylcreem!

You.. you just click play and enjoy!

1. Hibernation
2. Collector
3. Casual
4. Surprise
5. Bottom Feeder
6. Moon
7. Old World United
8. Father Figure
9. Land of Feeling
10. Vegetable or Native
11. Herbie I Love You, Now I Know

Some Magic lovins: Myspace | Official | Label

Cheers!

Tsuru