Quinnstorm

I've talked about him a couple times here on my little brog, but my High School friend and old partner in crime Quinn Donahue has a great job. He works for C3 Presents (ACL Fest, Lolla to name a couple), he books bands at Emo's and for the smaller, newer fests that company is building up. He has parlayed that sweet gig into another more journalistic endeavor via Quinnstorm.com, a blog that features an occasional interview with someone you should know about.

Quinn knows what he's talking about. Really, he does. And while his little blog isn't updated near as often as it should be (and what blog really is?), the times when it is, you're definitely going to enjoy the output.

He's just put up a vid from Philly's Dr. Dog, a band that snags a new fan with each play. I've casually shown these guys to about ten people to date now, and each time at about 3 songs of foot-tapping in, they ask, "Who are these guys? They're f***ing awesome."

And that's really the truth. Their latest album, Fate, was top 3 of '09 for me and the back catalogue ain't much less enjoyable.

Check out Quinn's interview with vocal/guitarist for the band, Scott McMicken, probably one of the best interviews I've seen/heard/read in a long time. (I'd post it here, but you really should go to his site and check out the rest of his stuff, I will put up a Dr. Dog track though, for enticements sake, my favorite off of 08's Fate.. "The Ark")

wow, two posts in one day? and both about interviews? i'm on a trip

Awesome Interview w/ Awesome Director

Rian Johnson's Brick was probably my favorite film of the past 4 or so years. And after having recently read The Maltese Falcon, revisiting the high school noir has been a tremendous amount of fun.

Johnson's follow-up is the con-man flick The Brothers Bloom, and it looks like 2 hours of joy. The con-man film, when done right, is such good entertainment and the fact that this one's got the cast it does (Brody, Ruffalo, Weisz), the writer/director it does (Johnson) and the locations it does (PRAGUE - fav city in the world, Romania) we're pretty much looking at a recipe for smiles.

If you've been following Johnson's Bloom blog you might be familiar with the troubles he's had with this studio. The good news is, this film is finally coming out, and we're finally going to get to have a good bit of fun in the process.

Today this showed up on the blog, an interview /Film has with Johnson. It's great. I wish I could write/direct films like this. Check it out. [you can download it there as well]

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Also:

~ LOST is destroying my life. I can't think about anything else hardly.
~ I want to put up a huge Music Monday playlist that combines every MM I've wanted to put up for the past two months, in celebration of Anton leaving the continent on a mission.
~ I've decided I hate these ~ things, whatever they're called.
~ Dave Eggers gets a lot of praise and a lot of shit, but I think his prose is dreamy.
~ Why am I still using these ~ ?
~ I want to put up the huge playlist by tomorrow, but I'm too busy hating the latest LOST happening. WHY FARADAY, WHY?

In Case You Don't Know, Trust Me

Mike Skinner, aka the Streets, has been posted almost three songs a week for the past couple of them. They're sounding awesome. Closer to Original Pirate Material - era stuff.

Pretty much, start following Skinner... via twitter @SkinnerMike .. that's where the links to the free downloads are.

Here's my favorite thus far... The Streets - Trust Me

DAMN YOU HAPPY VACATIONS

I might've just gotten duped... Happy my ass.

Oh Man Wow

So I haven't been writing about anything I usually do, nothing about music or mondays, or anything like that. This is mostly because... of this... well not really because I just found this thing [via Aint It Cool News]. It. Is. Awesome.... and really creepy. I mean, look at it!!

Go get one for yourself. It is so weird and awesome.

Kevin Drew Shows Off His Arts

[took down video because it's no longer available]

Long, silent, artsy, pretentious? Who cares, Feist is in it.

Careful this thing really is like 15 minutes long.

Found this via GvB & Pitchfork

Finding Old Notes For New Posts

A few days ago I finally made good on a note to myself written back in the summer of 2004. I had made my first trip over to Europe at the age of 21 and was loving every minute of wide-eyed intake. It was something wholly different from my world up until that point and I made note of nearly every detail in a small moleskin journal. There were many things that can be reminicsed about that summer, but this first one in particular gives me a nostalgic feeling for time enjoyed unlike any I've felt in the almost 5 years (unbelievable) since.

I was visiting the Louvre in Paris with my friend Clint, the day after seeing Paul McCartney live in the Stade de Paris, and had written down the names of a few paintings that had really caught my eye right away. One was by a man called Antonio Campi... "Les Mystéres de la Passion du Christ"

[unfortunately this is the best image I can find]

It amazed me at the time, and still does. The scope of this painting is massive. There are things going on at every point in this image. The thing that intrigues me most though, is Campi's vision of what I'm assuming is Heaven (in the top right corner). The skies opening upon a giant reflective golden orb. It is all at once beautiful, breathtaking and ominous.

I was again reminded of this painting when I recently saw Knowing, a film that at first starts off with a great sci-fi premise and in the end finds itself lost in an amalgamized realm of Creationism and Scientology. I won't say the film was terrible, I will just say that it fuels the Creationist fodder a little bit. But here is not the place to discuss matters of Religion and Nicholas Cage.

The second painting was by a man called Hubert Robert titled, "Le Pont du Gard". This is the painting that brings back joyous memories of brand newness and love and language and walking and art and beauty. There is nothing spectacular in the way of religious spectacle as in Campi's work or much in the way of flashiness at all, but I think that's why I've fallen in love with it. Before a few days ago, I hadn't seen this painting in almost 5 years (saying it twice doesn't make it any less weird), and now having finally seen it again, I am transported back to that exact day, sitting on a bench across from the pyramid entrance to the Louvre. The lovliness of that day sticks with me forever. It was the day after first seeing a Beatle live, the first day of seeing art that truly struck a personal chord with me, and the second time I'd seen the Olympic torch run by. What a strange and wonderful day.

Here's Robert's "Le Pont du Gard" (1787)...

[click for biggerness]

ps - I've jumped aboard Twitter -->

coffee = caffeine = elation

Well I've had a really relaxing day of work here for what feels like the first time in a while, and what do you know, it comes with the triumphant return of the afternoon trip to the coffeehouse.

This used to be an almost daily routine of mine when I lived just a couple blocks from the wonderful Cafe Medici here in town (the beautiful neighborhood of Clarksville, specifically), and turned out to be a useful and very productive time of the day for me. Besides, since I work from home, my laptop/phone/steno pad is my job, and being that these objects are very portable said trip to the coffeehouse seems like a no brainer.

I'd like to comment on the atmosphere of these places with regard to the stereotypes that associate themselves to the patrons. Maybe it's just me, but when I walk into these dens (and most places here in town do feel just that, a den, a nook, a homely place) I get the feeling that I'm being eyed. Now maybe it's just my own ego that can't help but feel eyes upon me when I walk into a room, and sometimes this is just the case, but oftentimes when I see these people I get the feeling that they're here just to be seen doing things. Reading, writing, studying, I mean how can you actually get anything done in a place where birds are chirping, feet are shuffling, trees rustling? The funny thing is that all this noise helps, and so does the caffeine. There's a reason coffeehouses have this old stereotype, where artists and writers go to have a moody time, where cigarettes are welcome and hip cats are bound to breakthrough the next barrier of their intellectual boundaries. This environment breeds thought and damn if it's not contagious the minute you step inside.

Sorry for the unnecessary rant, or verbal expulsion rather. It's just really motivating to burn through four hours of tedious work and be rewarded with another four hours of personally gratifying brain stimulation.

ps - start reading Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One. It is consuming my thoughts.