Happy Pants!

December 6, 2009

Oh, “Happy Pants.” The little melody that could.

What began as a goofy little jingle I used to demonstrate my looping rig has become so much more – it was a highlight of my last full-band show, has become the bane of all my friends who hate musical earwigs (sometimes even Astley isn’t enough), and it has surpassed “Shoshana” as the most-requested song I’ve ever written.

In the spirit of holiday giving (though really, just for the fun of it), I thought I’d record a special version of the song and put it online for streaming/download.  The audio quality is far from professional (I made it the other day in my apartment), but it features just about every instrument I play, and hey, it’s… Happy Pants! It does not require professional-level audio. It’s embedded below, and you can also stream/download it here. Brace yourselves:

The above illustration was, awesomely, drawn especially for this post by my friend David Tracy. David is a supurb illustrator and all-around groovy dude, and also recently started the illustration blog “Drawing Attention.” His work is guaranteed to put a smile on your face/pants – head over there and give him some love!

(Speaking of smiling pants: David went through a few drafts; he said that initially, all of his pants had smiling crotches, so they were kinda pornographic. Exhibit A: this NSFW draft he emailed me, which prompted a solid afternoon’s worth of hearty laughter. “Happy” pants, indeed!)

I hope you enjoy the recording!  And in case you missed it, I do recommend checking out the video of the live-looping, full-band version we did in September.

2 Comments | music | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

Crabcore, Screamo, Dubstep (Also: Dopey, Happy, Sleepy)

December 1, 2009

Tastes like Crab, Looks like People.

My friend Katie recently shared this post by Lars Gotrich from NPR’s monitor mix blog, which details a host of new musical Sub-Genres, mostly from the worlds of rock and hip-hop. It contains very helpful definitions of a ton of of these SGs (though not as comprehensive as Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary) – sort of an Unhip Person’s Guide to New Music.

Which has me thinking a bit… some of these names are preposterous (“Shitgaze,” for example, is shoegaze music that is… played poorly), but I wonder to what extent they are all embraced by their various subcultures. Anyone who’s browsed the Musician-Wanted section of Craigslist will tell you that folks certainly use these terms to describe their sound – (i.e. “We are a little bit Shoegaze with some Iggy Pop and a touch of Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster”), but do the fans of this music really use these terms? I’m unsure. Like, really, I have no idea.

It does make me think about genres past, specifically all of the various Jazz genres of the latter half of the 20th century. After the rise of Bebop in the 40’s, the map from there to here followed this route:

Bebop–Cool Jazz–Hard Bop–Free Jazz–Electronic Jazz–Pop Jazz–Neo Hard Bop Revival….

But then it sort of peters out. I think this is ’cause it’s really hard to put labels on things as they’re happening, and this article sort of bears that out. In twenty years, is anyone really going to be talking about “Crabcore?” I’m doubtful.

But then, music is more fragmented and specific than ever before, and things are different than they were in the 60’s. Those who listen to music outside the corporate mainstream tend to define their tastes by an ever-growing lexicon of obscurity, where it sometimes feels as though the point is obscurity (I refer you again to “Crabcore.”). Just take a look at the ever-growing “Genre” tab in your iTunes library. I’m certain that, for example, the new-folk revival has at least as many SGs as are listed in Mr. Gotrich’s post, SGs which your average flannel-clad Mission resident could most likely recite without batting an eye.

Precedent says that eventually most of these SGs will fall by the wayside, replaced by more broad categorizations, but perhaps this won’t always be the case. It’s not as though we need to simplify things in the interest of space, anyway – the pages of Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary are limitless in their hunger for new marginalia and jargon.

Maybe it’s more likely that musical sub-genres will become as numerous and varied as bands themselves, and we will all come to identify the type of music we listen to by simply listing the names of artists we enjoy. Which, come to think of it, is how I describe my musical tastes, anyway.

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Posted by Kirk

I Implore You To Skip “New Moon”

November 30, 2009

"God, we are just so miserable right now."

I apologize in advance for the rant to come. Over Thanksgiving, I was taken to see “New Moon,” not entirely against my will, but certainly against my better judgment.  I had not read any of the books, nor seen the first film, though I hit the ‘pedia to confirm that what I thought I knew of the plot (Girl meets vampire, lots of pining, vampire sparkles, pining, baseball, sparkle, pine, fin) was indeed the sum of it.

I went in expecting, at the very least, a cheesy good time, some OTT high school romance histrionics, and some hot vampire on werewolf action. What I got was more than two hours (MORE THAN TWO HOURS) of the dullest, most joyless navel-gazing I’ve ever had to sit through.

I know I can get prone to hyperbole here, but in this post, my vitriol is entirely in proportion. Picture twenty minutes of the following conversation, punctuated by a thirty second snippet of action, followed by a shockingly immediate return to… more… stilted… talking. Rinse and repeat about fifteen times.

Edward: “… I need you so much.  I promise I will always protect you.”

Edward and Bella stare at one another

Bella: “I need you too.  So much. I always will”

more staring

Edward: “But I can’t anymore. I have to go. You’re not good for me, Bella.”

Edward and Bella stare (conspicuous lack of eye contact)

Bella: “…. Why? Why do you have to go?”

Continued staring

Edward: “You’re not good for me. I have to go.”

Staring. Cue Grizzly Bear song.

I mean, honestly. This is the great love story of our age? This is the movie that millions of screaming, lovestruck teens gave the biggest film opening in history? As Pajiba’s Dustin Rowles said in his scathing (and a bit girl-hating) review, “There’s never been a chasm so wide between the intensity of devotion to a film and what it actually deserves.” Salon’s Stephanie Zacharek puts it a bit more directly: “It’s a cheap, shoddy piece of work, one that banks on moviegoers’ anticipation without even bothering to craft a satisfying experience for them. Its pandering is an insult.”

There’s so much more that I could complain about. No one makes eye contact for the entire run of the movie. There is no narrative arc. The entire movie is shot in various shades of grey. New beasts are revealed, vendettas are pursued, and characters even die, and yet thanks to the editing, acting, and writing, it feels as though nothing happens. For a runtime, I might remind you, of more than two sodding hours.

If you're incapable of finding some camp value in THIS, maybe you should give up making movies.

Worst of all, the movie simply does not know how to have fun. The leads are ostensibly in love, and yet whenever they are together, they seem absolutely miserable. There is no campy winking, no sense of humor – even when Bella is having a normal conversation with a quartet of super beefcakey dudes who walk around shirtless all the time, it’s nothing but dour, drab, dull, dull, dull.  Not even a hint of the irony or joyfulness of True Blood, despite a suspicious number of similarities in character and story.  Just… nothing.

I’m convinced that the book is nowhere near as lame as the movie. Actually, I bet it’s pretty fun stuff, if you’re into angsty teen romance. The fault here lies elsewhere – The film’s director, Chris Weitz, ought to be ashamed of himself (he directed About a Boy, for crying out loud!). The editing team should’ve never signed off on it.  If I’d written a book that got turned into that movie, I’d be furious. Kristen Stewart (who, if you’ll recall, I thought was so very good in Adventureland), needs to go out herself and track down a decent screenwriter and director for the next film, lest she forever be associated with movies this bad.

As tired as I am reading broad, lazy, more-than-slightly-misogynistic rants about the Twilight fanbase (see the first few paragraphs of the aforelinked-to Mr. Rowles’ review), I’m pretty appalled that this lifeless, joyless dreck is what all the squealing is about. Sometimes it feels like every time I defend popular culture, it thanks me by taking a huge dump in my living room.

And to think, I could’ve seen Fantastic Mr. Fox instead. Good lord.

2 Comments | movies | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

All Will Be Carved

November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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Posted by Kirk

Five Reasons You Should Watch “Parks and Recreation”

November 25, 2009

With Mad Men off the air, the only shows I’m watching right now are comedies – but man, there are a lot of them! The Office and 30 Rock have become old standbys, but newcomers Community (absolutely hilarious) and Modern Family (Still funny, though not killing me like it was at first) are both great. And now comes yet another – “Parks and Recreation,” the new(ish) NBC comedy starring Amy Poehler. Thanks to Alan Sepinwall’s insistence that this show had really come into its own this season (actually, he called it “the best comedy airing on TV right now”), I started watching. Dudes, it is hilarious – below are five reasons to watch, in no particular order:

1. Amy Poehler

The main attraction for the show, Poehler plays Leslie Knope, a dithering but highly motivated city hall employee. She has some similarities to Liz Lemon, mostly in her sad personal life, and I don’t doubt that at some point Tina Fey will turn up on the show, but dang, Amy Poehler is just as good as Fey is on 30 Rock. Initially, she seemed like a bit of a Michael Scott clone, but as you get to know her, it becomes clear the character is quite a bit different. Mainly in that, as Sepinwall pointed out, while she may be a blundering dunderhead, she’s actually good. She has a stubborn willpower that gets stuff done, and she’s generally more driven than anyone else around her. Despite the fact that her last name is “Knope.”

2. Back Home Again

This one’s personal – Parks and Recreation is set in fictional Pawnee, a small town in central Indiana, and the show gets a lot of mileage out of that setting. Whether it’s the huge poster of Coach Knight that’s up in Ron Swanson’s office, or the hilarious episode “The Camel,” in which Donna puts together a “Last Supper”-style collage of famous people from Indiana (nailing, of course, the usual three people that everyone from Indiana always lists – Michael Jackson, Larry Bird, and John Mellencamp), it’s awesome to get to see so much Indiana-humor! And that’s not to mention the totally outstanding City of Pawnee Website that NBC has up – the section on Knife Safety is particularly great.

3. Aziz Ansari

Ansari plays Tom Haverford, a fratty, shallow, super cocky (with more than a hint of insecurity) city hall staffer, and the dude is hilarious. The recent episode “The Camel,” which is still on Hulu and is probably the funniest episode of the show so far, features a scene in which he stares at an abstract painting and is terrified to find that it’s having an emotional effect on him. It was a highlight, but Ansari has standout moments every episode. Kind of a rising star, I think.

4. The Murals in Pawnee City Hall

A running gag in Parks and Recreation is that the murals in the Pawnee City Hall all seem to depict incredibly offensive bits of Pawnee history. There was “The Trial of Chief Wamapo,” (a native American chief is tied to a tree and executed by cannon), “A Lively Fisting,” in which a settler man is brawling with a settler woman and punching her in the stomach, and “The Spirit of Pawnee,” which is a smorgasbord of offensiveness, featuring straw-hat-wearing Chinese and drunken Irish rail workers watching as a train runs over a group of Indians. (City official: “The city council has decided to replace “The Spirit of Pawnee” with something a little less… horrifying.”)

“The Trial of Chief Wamapo”

It’s funny cause it’s true – a ton of local Indiana history revolves around settlers and their interactions with the various indigenous tribes that dotted the area, and so the stories usually, you know, end in betrayal and genocide. I can tell that we’re going to see a lot more of these murals over the course of the show, and am really looking forward to what awfulness they come up with next.

 

5. The Theme Song

I think Parks and Recreation has my favorite opening credits music ever. From the first time I heard it, the trumpet came in, the tune modulated to minor, and I was sold. The show itself actually features diegetic music (there is no background music, ever, it only comes from in-show sources like stereos and car radios), so the main theme is really the only musical identity the show has. I’ve talked before about my admiration of Jeff Richmond’s music from 30 Rock, and I do think that the incidental music on that show is brilliant (and more evidently the work of a single artist), but the opening to Parks and Rec, intercut with all that Indiana imagery, tops it. I actually found an MP3 of it online, and though I’ve yet to find the composer (update- NBC’s site says it’s by Gaby Moreno and Vincent Jones. Props, guys!) I thought I’d post it here so that y’all could listen:

See? Way fun!

3 Comments | television | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

Regarding Adam Lambert’s New Album

November 23, 2009

American Idol Runner-Up Adam Lambert’s new album, For Your Entertainment, drops today. Actually, it already dropped, so it is now sitting there looking at us, post-drop. Considering how much I had to say about him during the last season of the show, I thought I’d write a bit about it.

Short version: I really liked it. No, seriously! Some of the songs are pretty fun, some are kinda lame, but a handful are fucking outstanding (My recommended tunes are listed at the end of this post). It also has, as you can see, the most hilariously uncool/totally awesome album cover I’ve seen in a while.

I first listened to the record last week (it’s been up for a while streaming on Lambert’s MySpace page), after being steered there by the whole Out Magazine-centric “Adam’s PR people are homophobic jerks” debate, which has been discussed online past the point at which I have anything new to add (though I certainly tried, with limited success, over at Low Resolution – thanks, Joe, for dealing with my long-ass comments). And that was before his AMA performance last night (short reaction: I thought the whole thing was an overcooked clusterfuck, and the singing was all over the place), and along with whatever scandalous (or, “scandalous”) thing he does next…it’s easy to forget that the dude has an actual album out, too.

For Your Entertainment is the first Idol-related album I’ve ever listened to all the way through, and though I’d heard about all of the great writers and producers who contributed, I still wasn’t sure what to expect going in.  I’ve never really been able to listen to an album that came from Idol – whatever magic it was that made the contestant stand out during the show is usually scrubbed clean in the production process, and we wind up with a bunch of generic-sounding pop songs that could have been sung by anyone.

(It’s worth noting that Clay Aiken’s album “Measure of a Man” might be the ultra-creepy, bizarre exception.  I never really listened to it, but this years-old TWoP “recap” of the album is so flipping awesome that I can’t not link to it.  It takes a couple pages to get to the album – seriously, read it, and be very afraid.)

Justin'll probably loan this outfit to Adam at some point.

For about the first twenty seconds of FYE’s opening track, a Justin Hawkins-penned stomper called “Music Again,” I kinda thought the same thing would be true of Lambert’s record.  And then, suddenly, in true Darkness-style, Adam’s voice jumped an octave and a half and the chorus kicked in, and I was like, hmm, okay, damn. I can get with this.

“You make me want to listen to music again” is a kick-ass sentiment, and the tune also contains hilariously Hawkins-y lyrical turns of phrase like, “I want your body, mind, soul, etc.” and a stretch of “Raison D’etre,” into an entire lyrical event.  Keeping in mind that this is a song by the guy who wrote “Friday Night,” aka “The song where they sing about badminton,” one realizes that “Music Again” sounds like a Darkness B-side, complete with a signature Justin Hawkins guitar solo halfway through.  I loved the Darkness, so that’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.

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Posted by Kirk

Mitch On Music

November 18, 2009

“I played in a death metal band. People either loved us or they hated us. Or they thought we were okay.

A lot of death metal bands have intense names, like ‘Rigormortis’ or ‘Mortuary’ or ‘Obituary.’ We weren’t that intense, we just went with… ‘Injured’.”

“I went to see a band in New York. The lead singer got on the microphone, and he said ‘How many of you people feel like human beings tonight?’

Then he said ‘How many of you feel like animals?’ And everyone cheered after the animals part. But the thing is, I cheered after the human being part because I did not know that there was a second part to the question.”

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Posted by Kirk

I Have Been To The Phishy Edge

November 13, 2009

festival8…and I lived to tell the tale.  As I mentioned last week, Dan A and I headed down to Indio over Halloween to partake in the massive Phish Festival 8, a four-day(!), eight-set extravaganza by the recently reunited jammy dudes from Vermont.  Verily, it was a phishstravaganza, a true phishsplosion.  Over the course of the festival, I was able to sample the full range and depth of the Phish fan experience.

A little background – I had never seen the band live until this festival, though I did on some level consider myself a fan of the band (I’m not sure I do anymore, though, more on why later). I’ve really enjoyed the band’s music since I was in high school, mostly just listening to their studio records in high school, and I own and know probably four of their eight or so studio records.

But I’d never seen them live, and without question, Phish is the kind of band where you’re  not a fan if you merely like the music – you must see them live. This band has superfans who follow it around the country, living in tye-dyed RVs and obsessively documenting their setlists.  Phish fans are without question one of the most easily and quickly mocked cliques in modern music, and I was more than a little intrigued by the prospect of walking among them.

For those of you who have never attended (or would never attend) a Phish show, I thought I’d make a list of outsider’s thoughts and observations.

1. As It Turns Out, I Know Nothing Of Phish

IMG_2129

There was totally a ferris wheel.

I didn’t realize just how out of the loop I would be upon getting there, but dang.  I know four albums’ worth of material, plus more than a few live tracks, cold.  I’ve heard them tons of times, know all the solos, the lyrics, to probably forty tunes.  But in the first three sets of music, I knew almost nothing.  A lot was new material, but most of it was stuff that the whole audience seemed to know, classic material that for whatever reason I was just unaware of.  The later sets dug deeper into the music I know (which must be their oldest stuff, from Junta and Rift and Hoist).

2. Speculation is the Phish Fan’s #1 activity

Most of the people at this festival, needless to say, were pretty hardcore.  And the #1 pastime of the hardcore is speculating about upcoming setlists. All anyone ever talked about during the first two days was “What do you think they’ll play?”  Non-stop discussions of past sets, and patterns laid out therein, recounting of the time they did Esther in 2001, or YEM opened a set in ‘98 – it’s almost like baseball cards.  The band seems to know this, and they build the entire experience around giving their fans something to talk about.  The second set on Halloween was a cover of another artist’s entire album, but the album was not revealed until the afternoon of the show, leaving everyone guessing among a handful of band-supplied finalists.  It was all anyone talked about, and a good deal of fun.

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2 Comments | music, other people's shows | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

“2012,” or, Attack of the 200-Foot Jesus

November 10, 2009

2012 - Attack of the 200 Foot Jesus

I’ve seen this poster on the MUNI stop by school for the past couple of weeks, and each time I see it, I gotta say… I wouldn’t be surprised if people who haven’t heard of the movie see this poster and come to the conclusion that it’s gonna be be a monster movie about a giant, marauding stone Jesus.

…which would be pretty sweet, actually.

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Posted by Kirk

Avatar: Please Explain

November 9, 2009

avatar-movie-posterHmm. I just don’t know.  I’m usually pretty in touch with pop-culture type stuff, especially when it comes to super-hyped stuff, but I just have no idea about the upcoming movie Avatar.  I mean, I know about it – it’s James Cameron’s huge vanity project, he’s been making it for years and years, it has graphics that are so sweet they’ll blow your mind and do your laundry, it’s going to change the way we watch films… etc… etc…

There also seems to be a massive fanboy contingent that has taken a huge interest in the movie, and every time there’s a new trailer, flame wars break out all over the internet.  But I still… just… don’t get it? I mean, it looks pretty cool I guess, and I think that Cameron does sympathetic aliens well – I love the Abyss – and I’m all for whiz-bang effects in films, but why, exactly, are we all so excited about this film in particular?

From what I’ve seen so far, from the underwhelming debut trailer to the more recent one that Joe R. rightly points out is pretty much… Fern Gully with better graphics, it just doesn’t seem that amazing.

None of the usual boxes on the fanboy checklist are filled in -  sure, it’s sci-fi, but it’s not based on some existing comic franchise, as far as I can tell, and it doesn’t star Nathan Fillion.  Joss Whedon has nothing to do with it, either. In fact, the whole thing seems pretty derivative. The video game tie-in looks pretty standard, even though it’s being touted as some kind of big deal – perhaps this is because the central conceit of the film (paraplegic is inserted into 10-foot alien via brain transfer) is videogamey enough to stir interest? I mean, the Far Cry 2 engine is sweet and everything, but the game just sort of looks like Gears of War.

So, what am I missing? Don’t get me wrong, it looks pretty cool, but why is this movie going to be so. effing. great?  Is it really just that it has rad special effects?  Is that even enough to carry a film anymore?

I dunno. I want more. Please illuminate me as to what I am missing.

3 Comments | games, movies | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

I’d Like To Cut Your Head Off, So I Can Weigh It

October 29, 2009

phish_logo_sticker…whaddya say?

This weekend, I will be partying like it’s 1997 – The Danimal and I will be heading down to Indio, CA for the three-day-long Phish Festival 8.  I am very, very stoked – Phish is a band that I have always really enjoyed, and I own many of their studio records, but I have yet to see them live.

I know, I know. The whole “Phish Experience” is about the live show – well, I guess never really got down with that experience.  Which is kinda a good thing, I think – I’m not not a Phish Head or whatever superfans call themselves… I never wore a pookah shell necklace or hackey sacked at a show, I don’t own any bootlegs or Phish merchandise, or {insert stereotype of Phish fan here}. However, I DO know the contents of Junta, Hoist, A Live One, The Story of the Ghost, and Rift inside out.  It’s weird.

So, when Dan (an avowed Phish fan) told me that they were doing their eighth giant festival (appropriately titled “Phish Festival 8″) down in Indio, I said Hell yeah.  The band has broken up, had a send-off show, had its members embark on solo tours (I saw Trey’s underwhelming performance at the Warfield a couple of years ago), and is now back together.  It feels like this might be my only chance to see them live, so why head to their ultimate performance venue?

From the look of things on the festival website, we’re in for a hell of a weekend.  Outside of the performances (including a complete-album surprise on Halloween and an acoustic set with doughnuts on Sunday), there looks to be a ton to do, with remixing stations, a mac bar, a farmer’s market (seriously?), and a Ferris Wheel. That’s right.  A Ferris Wheel.

So, I’m stoked.  Three days is a loooong time to go car camping, and three sets a lot of live music to watch, particularly all from one band, but hey.  I’ve never gone to something like this before, and I figured go big or go home, right?

phish3

Speaking of go big or go home...

Have a great weekend, catch y’all on the other side!

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Posted by Kirk

Published!

October 24, 2009

GuitCoverToday we enter a new chapter in the ongoing love affair between yours truly and the wonderful Acoustic Guitar Magazine. After doing a few smaller articles for them, I’ve gotten my first “30-minute lesson” published!

It’s a much more in-depth article than the previous “practicing” pieces I’ve written (which are here and here, if you’re interested). I even recorded several examples for the online version of the article – the whole thing is just very cool.

It’s always been fun to try to tailor my instructional style to fit a different instrument (the guitar) and a different kind of student (the adult hobbyist), while imparting some fairly advanced techniques.  In this article specifically, I’m trying to demonstrate how to take a lengthy passage and methodically break it down in order to learn it.

That sort of “how to practice” stuff is tough to teach, but is far easier to get across to adults than it is to the younger students I work with.  Slowing things down and approching them in a measured manner is something that requires maturity, and it’s much easier to convince adult students that it’s necessary.  So, hopefully the article will help some folks!

Last note: it is a bitch editing something that references so many “examples.”  It’s even harder when there are various “sections” of those examples that also need to be referenced.  One of the most difficult things about writing generalized instructional articles (in any field, really), seems to be getting all of the jargon mashed down to something manageable.  Dan Apczynski, (that’s right, the Dan Apczynski) was a fantastic editor, and also wrote the cover story for the issue – a really outstanding interview with Dave Matthews.

Check it out, it’s really good stuff!

30ML_Ex1_AG204

You, too, can learn how to play this.

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Posted by Kirk

Last Week’s Show @ Hotel Utah

October 15, 2009
Armelodica Detail

Armelodica, in effect.

…was totally great! I thought I’d share some thoughts and pictures.

I love the Utah so much, man – such a great vibe, cool stage, and you gotta love the split-level. Alex Kelly’s opening set was a mind-blower… I’ve worked with Alex for a long time, but hearing him do his solo cello thing for the first time was eye-opening.  This dude is GOOD.  At the CELLO.  Seriously.  I’m going to have to write some more challenging stuff for him to play the next time we play together.

But, even with the simple parts I had for him, it was so cool to have Alex come join us for my set, and the rest of the band was just amazing, too.  Joelle Jaffe was a champ and learned a bunch of vocal parts (and deceptively difficult tambourine parts) in only a few rehearsals and filled in for Lindsay amazingly.  The trio of Dans – Apczynski on vocals, Nervo on guitar, and Fabricant on bass, rocked the house as only Dans can.  Joel Behrman rocked the hell out of the trumpet (no shocker there), and my god, Margeurite Ostro!  On the Violin!  Everyone was raging about her after the show, and I gotta say, I agree – what a badass.  She plays in a couple of other bands around town – go see her!

The set was the usual tunes – “The Darkened Street” really came together with a full acoustic band behind  it, and sounded so much like something you’d hear on Prairie Home Companion that at the end of the song, I wanted to start talking about Powder Milk Biscuits.  “Sweet Revenge” came back, this time in acoustic form, and with a couple of much-needed modulations on the choruses, which gave the tune the extra zing that it needed.  We also played “Shoshana,” in its final performance before I add some new lyrics. The story behind that is deserving of its own post, so stay tuned. It’s gonna be pretty awesome.  Photos after the jump!

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Posted by Kirk

Increasingly Glee-Full

October 15, 2009

GleeHello!  Thought I’d return from that brief (very relaxing) break from posting with a little bit about Glee – the show that everyone loves, or at least loves to talk about.  I just read Joe R’s outstanding TWoP-style recap of last week’s episode (Oh, how I long for the days when I had time to read TWoP every day!), and it got me thinking about the show some more.

Back when the pilot aired in the Spring, I wasn’t entirely sold. To briefly recap my thoughts, I felt like the show was all over the place, and wasn’t clear in what it was going for – “Election”-style black humor, “Bring it On”-style wackiness, or full-on “High School Musical” melodrama and spontaneous singing?  What’s more, the pacing felt bananas and the writing was all over the place.

Well, now that we’re seven episodes in (though I haven’t yet seen this week’s episode), and I thought it’d be worth sharing that Glee has utterly won me over.  They’ve been steadily upping their game comedically, deciding on and evening out the show’s tone, and figuring out what, exactly, the show is about.  I’ve enjoyed each episode a little bit more than the last, and at this point, I find myself looking forward to wednesdays every week.  Hooray!

It’s still not perfect – there are still some clunker jokes in there, and the auto-tuning on the musical numbers can get pretty brutal (particularly during the girls’ Halo/Sunshine mash-up last week – Rachel’s last note sounded like a computer shrieking at me.  Angrily).

But I’m stoked that Jane Lynch is finally getting the props she deserves.  Honestly, I can’t keep track of how many times I’ve heard/read the phrase “The show is hit or miss for me, but I love Jane Lynch so much that I’ll watch regardless.”  Though now that the showrunners seem to be aware that she’s a standout,  I am a little worried that they’re going to overexpose her, you know?

Jane Lynch Sue Sylvester Treadmill Glee

I haven’t seen this week’s episode (when Sue comes in and co-leads the Glee club), so I can’t speak to it, but I’m hoping that they can begin to develop the character a bit. That’d be great, and I bet Lynch would rock it. I’m  not suggesting that the show add a sympathetic backstory or a developmentally-disabled nephew or something, but a little depth would go a long way. If the role is just going to be more takes on the “Terrifying, manly cougar who is hilariously confident” role that Lynch does so well, it could get stale.

Then again, who am I kidding?  I’d tune in just to watch her berate cheerleaders while on the treadmill.

So anyway, the show has totally got me.  It’s frequently hilarious, and aside from the way they make the vocals sound, the music is really great.  That Bon Jovi/Usher mashup was legit, man – super clever way to mix the tunes together.  I respect the choice to not go with Livin’ on a Prayer, too (even though it is the exact same song as “It’s My Life”), since the latter tune worked better with Finn’s theme and story.

And more than anything, Glee just has so many moments that crack me up, and jokes that hit home, seeing as how I do spend a good amount of time teaching music to teenagers.  Also, last week’s episode may have featured my favorite exchange in a while:

Glee Mash-Up Definition 1

WILL: "Here's the deal: Two teams, Boys vs. Girls. One week from today, you will each perform a 'mash-up' of your choice."

Glee Mash-Up Definition 2

PUCK: "What's a... Mash-up?"

Glee Mash-Up Definition 3

WILL: "A 'Mash-up' is when you take two songs and you mash them together to create an even richer Explosion of Musical Expression."

imagesfall-out-of-chair-small

KIRK: (Falls out of chair laughing)

3 Comments | music, teaching, television | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

Tonight! Tonight! Birthdays! Music!

October 8, 2009

Hotel UtahSo here we are, getting ready to do another large-ensemble show so soon after that last blowout, and with a completely different band, and all-new arrangements. And it’s going to be so much fun. We had a great rehearsal last night, and I can’t believe how burning the musicians in the band are! Dang!

Check it:  in addition to band regulars Dan Apczynski and Dan Nervo on vocals and guitar, I’ll be joined by my old buddy Daniel Fabricant on upright bass, the amazing Alex Kelly on cello, and Marguerite Ostro on violin.  And you guys.  Marguerite?  Is a shredder.  Woah!  She can, like, go toe to toe with Nervo, shred-wise.  She plays in a bunch of other bands around town, most notably the amazingly named Kugelplex, as well as Pickpocket Ensemble, and damn. Wait ’till you hear her.

And the hits just keep on coming -  Joel Behrman, fellow UM alum who plays ridiculous trombone and trumpet, will be playing the latter horn on the gig, and since Lindsay is on tour with Or, The Whale, the amazing Joelle Jaffe (of BLAMMOS) will be filling in on vocals and percussion.

My cousin Rose came up with an excellent way of describing turning 29. As she put it, “I’m in my 30th year.” Word to that – it feels good. And getting to play this music for everyone is pretty much the best way I can think of to spend my birthday; if you’re in San Francisco, I truly hope you can make it out!

Sweet Revenge Chart

On the menu. Now with more modulations!

3 Comments | movies, my shows | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

A Bear With Chainsaws Instead of Paws

October 1, 2009

Daily Show Democratic Supermajority Bear With Chainsaws Instead of Paws

…makes me think of a lot of things:

“Haaaaa” followed by “He’s looking at me, Ray,” then maybe “OMG RUN”

“Democratic Super Majority,” on the other hand? Doesn’t really come to mind.

Also: I hope no one tells Colbert that the bears are now arming themselves with chainsaws.

Geddit? ARMing?  Because the… arms… and paws… are…

…sigh.

(pic via)

Leave a Comment » | politics, television | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

As Tiiiiime Goes By…

September 29, 2009

handAck! No posts for a little while, and such is life. I’ve been getting ready for next week’s show at the Hotel Utah (Facebook event is here), which is going to be super fun, but has eaten up a ton of my time. We’re doing a totally different show this time around, with an acoustic band featuring cello, violin, upright bass, trumpet and trombone, and, of course, three vocalists. Because of that, I have… an entire set’s worth of music to chart out. Again. Hmm. Might not have thought this through.

The upside is that once we do this show, I’ll have a full set of charts for all the music for both full-on electric band and acoustic band, and I probably won’t have to do this sort of marathon chart-writing again.  The downside is… well.. marathon chart-writing.  Blurg.

Anyhow.  I have a few things I want to write about – some good local music, a fun thing I heard about last week’s Mad Men lawnmower incident, some great iPhone games to try, but I won’t be able to find the time until later this week.  Until then, thanks for stopping by, and mark your calendars for next Thursday!

Leave a Comment » | music, my shows | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

Rest In Peace

September 23, 2009

Here lies The Internets

Yesterday I heard a lady on a cell at Trader Joe’s say it, and she just sounded so pleased with herself…

Sigh. Let’s just accept it and move on. There will be time to grieve later.

4 Comments | politics, rando | Permalink
Posted by Kirk

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