The Oblivians - Bad Man
The Oblivians are playing a free reunion show in New York City next month. If for some reason you would like to see me act like a 14 year-old girl watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, or even if you just want to see one of the better American rock and roll bands of all time, you are encouraged to attend.
Above: My favorite moment from the aforementioned fast-moving beach-related video.
Need New Body - Beach
For some reason I forget about this video for about fifty weeks of the year, but whenever it starts to get really warm out I remember how funny it is.
I actually didn’t know this song was by Need New Body until just now, and while my opinions about this band remain mostly negative aside from the fact that the lower-voiced guy on some of their songs sounds exactly like my friend Chris from college, there is no doubt that this video is an all-time classic.
“Sometimes it feels as if we’re literally in the back seat of the car, auditing a fascinating conversation but unable to distinguish — over the noise of the traffic, the defogger, the wipers and R.E.M. on the radio — exactly what’s being said.”
– If the “W” in “wipers” were capitalized, I feel like this New York Times review of that new David Lipsky/David Foster Wallace interview transcript would make me drastically more inclined to actually purchase the book.
“Later Hopper would say blowing himself up was one of the craziest things he has ever done, and that it was weeks before he could hear again. At the moment, though, none of that mattered. He had been through the thunder, the light, and the heat, and he was still in one piece.
And when Dennis Hopper staggered out of that cloud of smoke his eyes were glazed with the thrill of victory and spinout.”
Right on, poorly-translated Zelda clone I only played because it’s apparently coded entirely in Javascript and HTML5.
Right on.
Today I was walking to get lunch and I realized that the verses of “Mess Me Up” by Nobunny and “Turn Me On” by mid-80’s North Carolinians The Riff Doctors are one and the same. The above audio is both of them, back to back.
Sam Cooke - Sad Mood
It’s strange, now, to listen to all the old songs that describe a relationship dynamic where the singer’s partner has just up and left for parts unknown, leaving the singer to just sort of sit around and hope they come back.
Gas is expensive and communication is everywhere, so I guess now it’s “maybe their phone is dead” instead of “maybe they hitchhiked somewhere” or “maybe I’ll never see them again.” Much is made about how this age of romance is gone forever, but it’s sort of easy to forget that being able to get mad at somebody via text message is actually pretty convenient, if sub-optimal for ironing out any issues. I guess advances in early-1900’s transportation technology moved the advantage to the ditcher, but recent communication technology has moved the advantage back to the ditched.
A girl I was friends with circa fifth grade found me online recently. We haven’t seen each other in close to fifteen years, but she sent me an unsolicited invitation to come visit, several hours away, and to stay on her couch. I wonder what Sam Cooke would make of that.
Created in the service of a forthcoming and unrelated project, here is the Troggs’ 1966 garage rock classic “Wild Thing” slowed down to the point of being just over ten minutes long. To these ears, it sort of sounds like “Wild Thing” as performed by really fat ghosts.
