Rock Star Journalist

My copy of the Ergs! Ben Kweller EP repress showed up in the mail yesterday. I pre-ordered the sucker from Freedom School Records, and it ran me something like $15.

Now, like it says on the Ergs! website, “the vinyl record itself, whether it has 3 songs on it or 20, costs the same amount of money to make.” I don’t care about the actual cost. I do care about the fact that, in the age of Internet, vinyl should always - and I mean fucking always - come with a download card / coupon / slip / whatever. The guy who runs Seven Ten Twelve has a company called Transmit Vinyl, and they have “an introductory rate of $25 for 500 unique codes for 192K Mp3s.” That’s a goddamn nickel per record.

Now, I’ve got to get back to searching Shareminer for a decent download of a record for which I paid fifteen fucking dollars, and still can’t listen to on my iPod. Although - to be fair, I’m really frustrated because this is a seven-year-old record, and it’s flippin’ great. Plus, Thrash Compactor and their split with the Measure [sa] come out this year, and I’d really like to not have to run everything I buy on vinyl through my computer and Audacity.

Also, can “Pool Pass” be the summer jam for 2009 if it was released in 2002? Catchy as hell, about trying to get into the pool to meet a girl… is there anything more summer jam than that? The tune’s a little rougher than what I’m familiar with from Upstairs/Downstairs and Dorkrockcorkrod, but it’s not like the Ergs! have ever been polished. Case in point:

“Xerox Your Genitals, Not the Ramones”

Discovery Channel’s “How It’s Made” is one of those amazingly addictive television programs, wherein you can just sit there and watch episode after episode and never notice the time passing. The fact that they frequently place episodes back-to-back has resulted in quite a few lost hours here and there over the past couple of years. The segment below, where they show how they make a record (literally, the start-to-finish process of manufacturing a vinyl LP) is one of my favorites. Really, the only thing that comes close to being this cool is that segment from Sesame Street where they show how they make Crayons. It’s after the vinyl vid.

Over at Fuck the Mummies, there’s a great compilation assembled by the guy who runs the site. He compiled a list of the ultimate garage punk songs, put ‘em together as a comp, and it’s available for download via RS. The link’s in this post.

The list and comp are part of RateYourMusic’s Ultimate Box Set, which is “a 500 cd fanmade true history of music, covering every genre from every era, with contributions of each disk by users with the necessary expertise and understanding for each respective genres. 500 discs is just a target for the amount of discs on the “completed” project and may total more or less.” It’s pretty swank, and if you’re in the need for a compilation starting point, the lists provided are exhaustive. Most (if not all) are pretty subjective, but thorough.

The fact that he included songs from both the Spread Eagles and Fag Cop (bands local to here in Lawrence) speaks pretty highly of the bands included. The reliance on Goner-related bands and leans a little towards the past five or six years is a little frustrating (no Gas Huffer?), but it’s still a strong comp, and far better than the usual indulgent tripe you find online.

Fag Cop - “I’m Fucking Dead” (from I’m Fucking Dead)
Gas Huffer - “You Are Not Your Job” (from The Inhuman Ordeal Of Special Agent Gas Huffer)

Well, as you can see, things are looking a little different around here. My current plan is to have a bit of a re-launch on April 1. Nothing fancy, just a devotion to getting some content up on a regular basis. On the front end, you can see that I’ve switched to a new WordPress theme. It’s called Simplex, and it’s a damned attractive little thing. I might tweak the colors a bit, but I’m fairly happy with what I’ve got right now.

On the back end, I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.7.1, which means I’ve got a lot more functionality. The “add new post” console is similar to the one Blogger uses, but it’s considerably more flexible in terms of HTML and coding. I’ll have to play around with it a bit to see what gives me the best setup.

I also realized that I never re-added the code for Sitemeter, meaning it looks like nobody’s visited the page in the past couple of days. I got a little nervous there. Anyhow, keep coming back, tell your friends, and we’ll be kickin’ it hardcore on Wednesday.

Back from Texas. SXSW was a total blast. There are posts from me over at KJHK@SXSW, as well as the collected tweets on my Twitter page.

I came home with sunburn, great stories, and a ton of records and pictures. Enjoy the KJHK coverage from myself, Ian, Alison, and Sean - there’s still more to come over the next few days as we all recover.

Expect reviews of some of this new shit, too. It’s pretty bomb. Some of it might be a bit past its newness and have lost a little luster, but there are some damn good records you all should be buying.

Thank God the Hampton has free continental breakfast. Not for the food - for the coffee. I quite possibly would die during SXSW were it not for easy access to caffeine. There’s a place on 6th Street that hand-rolls cigars and sells espresso, and is quite possibly the greatest smelling store in the entire universe. Coffee’s good and cheap, too.

Last night, we went to Ms. Bea’s and saw a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of, although every single one of them was great. Ms. Bea’s is an odd joint - punk rock out back of a bar not much bigger than my living room. It’s essentially a shack that sells Bud, Bud Light, Lone Star, High Life, and Tecate. And soda. Ran by a Hispanic family… it’s certainly a fun little dichotomy. Great place to see a show, tho’. And White Denim was, by turns, amazing, baffling, noisy, and awesome. Dissonant, funky, and just the sort of thing you want to hear after spending 13 hours in a car.

I’m a-gonna watch me some teevee and chill until we finish with breakfast and head downtown. Today looks good: Psychedelic Horseshit, Thomas Function, King Khan, Roxy Epoxy, Luchagors (I am going to try and get an Amy “Lita” Dumas KJHK station ID), and God knows what else over the course of the day.

Yay. As always, follow the Twitter feed to see where I am.

White Denim’s Daytrotter session.

Not quite gone just yet - the KJHK crew leaves the safe MidWest and ventures into the belly of the beast that is the Republic of Tejas tomorrow at 5am. If last year’s journey serves as an example, we should be hitting 6th Street just around 7 tomorrow evening.

SXSW is a blast and a half, and I plan on trying to make my way down there with a slightly askew back (thank you, stereo in the trunk of my grandparents’ car and your seriously unwieldy box), come hell or high water. Look for regular Twitter updates, as well as content over at KJHK’s webpage.

MP3s below reflect the two greatest things ever to come out of Texas:

Buddy Holly - “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”
Bill Hicks - “Goodbye You Lizard Scum” (from Arizona Bay)

Due to an insanely busy school schedule and crazy shit with the radio station, I’ve been unable to really do much more than my radio show and sleep.

However, KJHK is sending me and three other individuals to to Austin for SXSW again. We’ll be updating the KJHK web site regularly with interviews, photos, and news about what’s going on. You can follow me on Twitter right here (”rockstarjournalist” was too long). I’ll be updating with my location and shows pretty regularly, so you can track me down to buy me drinks and give me records.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Anyhow, it OUGHT to herald a new era of Rock Star Journalist, which I hope to see hit pre-college levels of regular updates in the coming months. Let’s hope.