Priorities: I haz them!

Lately, this front has been quiet as I've been trying to push my life along in other areas. One of which has been searching out a new day job. My job now pays more than the mall and, as someone who's held down plenty of those jobs, I'm grateful. Still, even in this economy, I've had the feeling for a while now that I can find something a little more satisfactory.

It occurred to me tonight that, even though I was never offered the job, the most promising lead I got this year was one based on my writing. I wonder if that's supposed to mean anything...

RetroActive*: Cool'n Out with the Mighty Joe Strumm

*This piece was originally written and unleashed on the world on December 26, 2005. So it's safe to assume that I was probably plied with nothing but time, whiskey and records. Still, I had to go digging cause there was something in here that resonates for me still, to this day. Enjoy.

Steel yourself citizens, this just might be a little more myopic navel-gazing than you're used to. But, for whatever reason, this has been on my mind a lot in the last week or so. Maybe it's the notable dates of this month weighting heavily on my mind. Maybe it's a resurging interest in Jeff Buckley and soul music. Maybe it's just a need for the thirstfully honest music that only Joe Strummer could make. And while I'm not sure what brought this train of thought on, I know this much: I'm still bummed we didn't get more music out of Joe Strummer.

We never got a chance to get disillusioned with his post glory days output like say,... Johnny Rotten (that's Lydon to us), Rollins(yeah, I said it... but can anybody tell me what the album after Come In and Burn was?) or even Joe's Clash compatriot Mick Jones. True, Mr. Strummer released three albums on Hellcat Records before driving that great big cadillac in the sky, but i never felt disillusioned by them.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I believe it was about halfway through his sophomore effort, Global A Go-Go, that I realized the Clash were never coming back. And god forbid, if they did, they should've been making a reggae record. But still, once you got past the initial shock of Strummer sans Jones, these were good records. Truly global music as they incorporated his gutter folk music vibe with a little punk, a little hip-hop and whatever else his band could throw at the wall.

And then, there was that voice. I always joked with my friends that you knew who was singing for the Clash by how intelligible the words were. But underneath that, there was always this voice screaming for a little more humanity in the world. A voice that would threaten to hobble the hippies for, despite wanting the same goals, not being hard core enough. In a different time, it would have been interesting to see if Strummer would have been a Communist or a Socialist(i.e. guns vs. no guns).

Nonetheless, Strummer's Hellcat output featured an older, more somber and wise voice that at moments seemed to want to escape the weight of the Clash legend. At turns however, his voice still seemed to brilliantly rage with the intonation of "I AM Joe Strummer, dammit!" That uncontrollable fire- I think that's the sort of thing I miss the most. Strummer always held a gravitas that most others could only aspire to. Like Eddie Vedder. Does anybody else miss Mr. Vedder's wino antics?

I am saddened to think that I've only these three Hellcat records but happy at the same time that I've got them at all. It may just be time to move on to Bruce Springsteen. It could be argued that Strummer is what Springsteen would have been were he English. It could be argued that Springsteen is what Strummer would have been if you could understand his words. It could be argued... but I'm not sure I'm ready to understand the words.

If I Made the Magic 8-Ball...

You would shake it and it would say:

"All signs point to doing something brilliant, doing something stupid."

I probably wouldn't sell very many. Still...

*shakes magic 8-Ball*

More Than the Blur

Life has been pretty hectic lately. I've found myself spinning a lot more plates to their inevitable conclusion than I would have thought right now. But somewhere in that chaos, I can still remember to take the time to find the beauty in life. Cause it can go by pretty fast and I want to remember more than the blur.

So tonight, I'm sipping on a little Jamie and listening to new millenium music. New millenium music, eh? You betcha.

Every music magazine that has ever made a list of the 100 most essential albums tends to skew towards my father's record collection, not mine. Sure the Beatles and the Stones and the Beach Boys are all great. But when the Clash are the youngest act second to Nirvana (and sometimes Radiohead), its time to hit the refresh button.

Hence, new millenium music. Nothing with a release date before '00.

Hence, Modest Mouse. Blink 182. Franz Ferdinand. Regina Spektor. Even a little Black Eyed Peas. Maybe at some point soon, I'll actually sit down and write a list. But for now, I'm just as comfortable asking you what your new classics are. Drop me a line if it moves you.

How I Spent My Memorial Day Weekend

The Twilight Singers at the Clubhouse in Tempe.

I'll follow up with a few words soon. Then I can spare you all the the incessant Twilight Singery going on in my head lately.

Your Bitchin' Mixtape: the Twilight Singers

In celebration of our small road trip this weekend to see Greg Dulli and his Twilight Singers, I thought it best to come up with a new bitchin' mixtape. Here are your essential ingredients:

*2011's Dynamite Steps
#2006's A Stitch in Time (EP)
^2006's Powder Burns
+2004's She Loves You
~2003's Blackberry Belle

As usual, everything is sequenced to listen like the most killer of killer concerts you could hope to see. That means first act, long encore, small final encore. All restrained to the 80 minute confine of a CD. Tracks are sequenced for maximum flowability with the best songs weighted to the backend.


And now...
Your bitchin' Twilight Singers mixtape.

1.*Last Night in Town
2.~Teenage Wristband
3.^Forty Dollars
4.~Fat City (Slight Return)
5.+Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair
6.*Blackbird and the Fox
7.^Candy Cane Crawl
8.*Gunshots
9.^There's Been an Accident
10.^Bonnie Brae
11.*The Beginning of the End

12.+Feeling of Gaze
13.#Sublime
14.*Get Lucky
15.#The Lure Would Prove Too Much
16.~Number Nine

17.#Live With Me
18.^Underneath the Waves
19.~Follow Me Down

For best results, burn it onto a CD, pour yourself a nice scotch or irish blend and turn up the volume up. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

the hardest part

The hardest part is the admission to yourself that you somehow lost your nerve. That somehow, you are failing yourself. Again.

So stop worrying about the road not taken and just choose a road, any road. Too many people don't and the end result is the same. They never get anywhere.

For me, that means kicking open some of the doors I've worked really hard to get to. Now is not the time for losing nerve. Take your chances, make your mistakes and laugh about it later.

Because honestly, I've been so exhausted and stressed to the point of breaking over the last few months, I lost my nerve. It's as simple as that. And when you do that, you lose your ability to dream big.

So, it's time to get out of my own way and change my life for the better.

indie

What, in this day and age, does it mean to be indie?

First person to tell me that I wouldn't get it gets socked in the face with a can of PBR as I defile their sweatervest and skinny jeans.

Indie used to mean something. Even after Nirvana was poached by Geffen records. Even after R.E.M. left IRS for Warner Brothers.

But in this day and age, where books can be published on demand (a tool, mind you, that is completely underutilized by comic publishers), what does that mean for artists? More artistic autonomy. A larger slice of the pie. A smaller pie.

Technology is moving faster than we can keep up. So what does that mean for content distribution in both the digital and tactile realms? How capable will artists actually be in delivering their message independently of corporate interference?

So, legitimately, I'm asking: What does indie mean to you?

I'd ask Joe Strummer but he killed punk the day he signed to CBS.

Stories That We Share Without a Word

"It was a funny thing, it was a sad thing," she sighed, "about that thing that happened."

Nervously, I contemplated deep and heavy looks over the rim of my glass as I stared away from the direction of her voice. The rocks in my whiskey had melted down to pebblish icy flotsam congregating at the top.

She reached for the cigarettes between us. Cigarette lit, she blew smoky rings into the air above us as they dispersed into the jazzy air of the club around us.

"But ultimately, we all know the truth. About that thing. That happened."

I nodded half heartedly.

"She had some pretty strange relationships, y'know."

Again, I nodded. Let my silence be my complicity.

The Ronin is NOT Out.

But the Ronin has been busy working on a number of things. More business than pleasure, really, but new reviews for DeVotchKa, the Strokes and Radiohead are pending and due soon. Also on the horizon: a re-examination of the Pharcyde's first two records, a new bitchin' mixtape for the Hold Steady, for Gogol Bordello and more hijinx waiting to ensue.

Until then, I leave you with Chicken Jr!