“Born In A Bottlerocket No. 2″ by Me

Feeling a little random today, feeling a little “more extra” weird, you know, the kind where you look around at everyone else and wonder, “am I normal?”  I don’t know.  I know I’m odd, but am I ODD-odd?  What does even thinking about all this mean?  Don’t know, but I had a good moment this morning, one of those random acts of kindness that then spread to someone else like herpes at an LA scene (or is it “seen”) party.

At work, like most any other work, we’ve got your managers, associates, VPs, super-VPs, CEOs, assistants, and a million other titles for a million various job descriptions.  Then we have the hourly folk, the ones who work in the cafe, security, mailroom, etc, etc.  Now, this is not bragging or showing off, I swear, but being as that I was raised pretty broke by a divorced waitress, been homeless & sold off all my possessions more than once, and generally lived in either poverty or under massive debt in various points of my life, I always feel more akin to the hourly employees and always add an extra layer of friendly, always try to appreciate the work they do, etc, etc.  I think it’s important, even if you don’t believe in karma-type thingys, just be nice (far too many people aren’t).

So today, security, who stops traffic in the mornings to let people cross a busy private road, does just that, stops the traffic, I’m standing with another gentleman and as we cross, I say “thank you, have a great day man!”.  I hear the guy next to me kinda startle and then suddenly stammer out, “uh-thanks!”

Tiny tiny thing, pretty insignificant, and it may have meant nothing to the guy standing in the cold dealing with traffic, but it was kinda cool to see it spread, just like on TV.  I guess we can all learn a little something from Due South, eh?

Lesson here?  Be nice man.  Waitress being annoying?  Maybe she’s had a bad day?  Maybe her boss is an asshole?  Maybe she’s worried about paying rent?  Maybe she wishes she wasn’t busting her ass to give people food to cram in their mouths…  Mail room guy messed up and sent your package to Albuquerque, New Mexico?  Hey, we all fuck up, all the time.  Trust me, I know, I fuck up ALL THE TIME.

Little reminders like today, little things.  We all shit, we all wipe our asses, fart, burp, have bouts of diarrhea, have good days, have bad, your millionaire CEO to your bag boy at the grocery chain.  Everyone…  Well, except celebrities, they are perfect.

I’m sorry, but…. Ew.

Speaking of perfect, can we devote a few moments to talk about the GREATEST SONG TRILOGY OF ALL TIME????

Yeah?

Good.  This is not the first time we’ve thunked about this, probably even shared it a few times to boot.  But my go-to cathartic album (damn, used that word twice in two days?) and possibly one of the most amazing albums of all times, depending on who you ask, and I’d imagine probably one of the more over-blogged about albums is Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

This is nothing new.  But there is something special in a trilogy, De La Soul once remarked that “3″ is indeed the magic number, and I tend to agree.  What makes ITAOTS so special, besides that it is, in and of itself, well, special, is it finishes with what I think is the greatest song trilogy EVER.

Yep, that right.  Ever.

The end begins with “Ghost”,  a driving, building, beautiful song (that also contains my very favourite lyric of all time, “And she was born in a bottlerocket, 1929! ” which I plan on tattooing on myself at some point in the near future).  It grows and builds, noisily yet melodically, before slipping into the goosebump inducing and oddly rocking (seriously, I’ve pulled more neck muscles listening to this than anything “metal” could ever hope) “Untitled” which ends on a climax, that any other album wishes they could end their album, hell, their whole career on.  But Jeff ain’t done yet, because we have the finale, and it’s quite the opposite, the denouement, if you will.  Lonely & harsh, a bit sad.  It all ends with Jeff putting down the guitar, kinda for good, walking away, possibly

Neutral Milk Hotel – 09 Ghost
Neutral Milk Hotel – 10 Untitled
Neutral Milk Hotel – 11 Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two

I love my version.  Mine’s my vinyl rip of the album.  “Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two”, and really the “end of Neutral Milk Hotel” becomes even more poignant as the waves of noise from the record basically consume Jeff & the guitar, emphasizing the end.  The last noise is the needle picking up.  Gets me everytime.

But like I said, NMH has been blogged/discussed/etc about ad nauseum, right?  And it’s time to move forward & move on and today we’ve been listening to the sweet new gem from the folks at Rogue Wave, Permalight!

Honestly, this leaked too soon.  This is a Spring album, maybe even Summer, what’s it doing in my ears a day before another batch of snow comes our way, I have no clue.  But it’s fun, somewhat light, starting things off with an acoustic little ditty before dripping into something that I think Phoenix would be proud to claim.

The key to Rogue Wave is that voice, it’s higher pitched and kinda dreamy, always adding an element of ethereal to every song, even when it’s just your basic pop song.  A fun, diverse album, a nice counter to the weight of ITAOTS…  A palette cleanser, if you will.

Enjoy!

01 Solitary Gun
02 Good Morning
03 Sleepwalker
04 Stars and Stripes
05 Permalight
06 Fear Itself
07 Right With You
08 We Will Make A Song Destroy
09 I’ll Never Leave You
10 Per Anger
11 You Have Boarded
12 All That Remains

Some Rogue Wave Linkage and even some tour dates!

Myspace | Official | Shop

ROGUE WAVE TOUR DATES:
Mar 1                        Boston, MA                        Paradise Rock Club
Mar 2                        Brooklyn, NY                        Music Hall of Williamsburg
Mar 3                        New York, NY            Bowery Ballroom
Mar 4                        Philadelphia, PA            First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
Mar 5                        Washington, DC            9:30 Club
Mar 6                        Carrboro, NC                        Cat’s Cradle
Mar 8                        Atlanta, GA                        The Loft
Mar 9                        Nashville, TN                        Mercy Lounge
Mar 10                        Birmingham, AL            Bottletree
Mar 13                        Orlando, FL                        The Social
Mar 15                        New Orleans, LA            One Eyed Jacks
Mar 16                        Houston, TX                        Warehouse Live
Mar 17                        Dallas, TX                        The Loft
Apr 7                        Santa Cruz, CA            Rio Theatre
Apr 9                        Portland, OR                        Wonder Ballroom
Apr 10                        Seattle, WA                        Neumo’s
Apr 13                        Boulder, CO                        Fox Theatre
Apr 14                        Lawrence, KS                        The Bottleneck
Apr 15                        Minneapolis, MN            Fine Line Café
Apr 16                        Madison, WI                        High Noon Saloon
Apr 17                        Chicago, IL                        Lincoln Hall
Apr 20                        Columbia, MO            Mojo’s
Apr 21                        Tulsa OK                        Bobs at Cain’s
Apr 23                        Albuquerque, NM            Launchpad
Apr 24                        Tucson, AZ                        Club Congress
Apr 27                        Solana Beach, CA            Belly Up
Apr 29                        Los Angeles, CA            El Rey Theatre
Apr 30                        San Francisco, CA            Fillmore

Cheers,

Tsuru