Christopher Robin 7"

A long time ago a friend told me about a mix-tape competition he was having with a buddy of his. It wasn't just any mix-tape competition... it was an EMO mixtape competition. They had an point-scoring system, with points going towards cool old-school emo cliches like dueling male/female vocals, silk-screened record covers, poorly recorded, bands that could barely play their instruments, being able to list if people are ex-members of ____ band (usually from a straight edge hardcore band), or lyric inserts with over-explanation of song meanings. My friend told me that his A-card was when he pulled out his Christopher Robin 7". It's truly a good one - emo in the vein of Indian Summer or In/Humanity, not poppy stuff like Sunny Day Real Estate or Cap'n Jazz - chaotic but not formless, clearly full of passion but not saccharine or overdramatic (if you like that kind of emo, check out Bob Tilton), and yep it's poorly recorded.
I gotta say, I love this record. Christopher Robin was a Seattle band that played a bunch of house shows, and released only this 7" and one song on a compilation (Universal Choking Sign comp on Excursion Records).


enjoy, buddies.
download: http://www.mediafire.com/?izw0wn2yjid

J Church - Camels, Spilled Corona, and the Sound Of Mariachi Bands

So I decided to blog about some of my favorite albums, and put them up for download (or at least, the ones that are ridiculously hard to find, or are out of print)

The first album I want to write about is one of the first records I ever bought, and one of my favorites to this day.
In 1994 or 1995, I saw a east-side pop punk band whose bass player had a couple stickers on his bass, and one of those stickers was J Church. A little while later I went to Cellophane Square in Bellevue (way back when it was in the mall) and found a J Church record - a picture-disk version of Camels, Spilled Corona, and the Sound of Mariachi Bands. I also bought a Husker Du record (Candy Apple Gray), but I hardly ever listened to it because I couldn't bear to take the J Church record of the record player that I inherited from my grandma.

This record is a compilation of their early 7"s, though it feels as cohesive as any other album I own. All the songs could definitely be considered "pop punk" but stands apart from most others in that genre - there's no whiny vocals, the songs aren't lamentation about girls, it's not something that blathers on about pogo-ing, or getting drunk, or silly shit like bananas... rather the songs are as political as you might expect from any hardcore band of that era. In fact, singer/guitarist Lance Hahn had been a long time anarchist and vegan, and wrote incredibly catchy and thought-provoking songs for the entire 15 years of J Church's existence.

This is one of the few albums that I've memorized most of the lyrics to, and they periodically pop up in my head to this day. Just a few months ago I was hanging out in San Francisco, walking in the rain with soggy feet in the Mission district, and I start singing the song November: "As the rain falls hard it fills the cracks on Mission Street, There's a hole in my shoe and it’s letting water soak my feet."

The song Kathi especially influenced me over the years - a song about having a conversation with a friend about vegetarianism, specifically about hearing meat-eating friends' opinions and trying to listen and be respectful, but at the same time not compromising deeply held values and not being passive with your most important beliefs. And as a bonus, it has Blake Schwartzenbach from Jawbreaker singing backup vocals.

Kathi tells me that she doesn't care and its not as if she's dumb or unaware,
Kathi tells me there's no reason why but she doesn't feel that eating meat applies,
Kathi says she doesn't understand why I do not want to eat at Burger King

And I try (I try), I can see that it makes no sense,
'Cause I try (I try), I can see the difference,
And it's something that I felt in side that will remain there,
Something that I can't hide

Kathi tells me everything must die but I don't get what she implies,
I think about the things she has to say all the time, I don't see how she can close her eyes,
'Cause it makes me sick to think of every cage and it makes me sick to think of life wasting away

And I try (I try), I can see that it makes no sense,
'Cause I try (I try), I can see her innocence,
And it's something that I felt inside that will remain there,
Something that I can't hide

Kathi says a lot of things but it all has that familiar ring,
Kathi says a lot of things and it all has that familiar ring

Lance Hahn passed away in late 2007 of complications with kidney disease. Even though I've been such a big fan of J Church for all these years, I only got to see them once, when they played at Second Ave Pizza with Storm the Tower in 2003. They played some of my favorite songs from this album, and it was one of my top-10 shows of all time. When I talked to Lance, he was incredibly nice and had awesome and encouraging things to say. He'll be missed.





These mp3s are all ripped straight from my record. There might be a skip or two - but hey, it's an old copy that got a lot of wear. Adds character.
J Church - Camels, Spilled Corona, and the Sound of Mariachi Bands <- download! http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=999& <- buy!

new tattoo!

new tattoo!
Originally uploaded by heartmurmur

I got a new tattoo today. It's my first in like 2 years or something. I think this is the most impulsive tattoo I have. It's in reference to the old HXC slogan, "flex your head," which is a sentiment that I've always liked, but I think it falls a little short. We shouldn't just be smart, we should be compassionate.

So, I kinda hate alliteration - something about it bothers me. What's funny, though, is that while writing my papers for school I accidentally alliterate constantly.
Example:
"It then becomes incredibly important to look at intersecting identities, especially in the context of..."

Incredibly important to look at intersecting identities?
Sometimes I hate how I write.

I'm at a cafe working on my Poli-Sci final paper, and my friend Landon comes and says Hi. He has a Kool-Aid and a Ding-Dong. He bought then with his credit card.
Way to go, buddy.

It's snowing again. I'm totally tired of this crappy weather. I'm really looking forward to some more sun and more opportunities to go on long rides on my crappy old bike. Soon, hopefully. Soon.

Maybe this is a symptom of writing too many sociology and political science papers, but I can't write the word "society" without feeling like I'm being incredibly trite. Huh.

my route in seattle,

then on vashon.

Last night I went on an (somewhat) epic bike ride to Vashon Island. I left my house with Eli after 4pm, and rode around West Seattle via the Alki trail, which was gorgeous, especially as we got closer to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal and the sunset through the clouds made the puget sound look especially peaceful.
At the ferry we met up with another friend on bicycle, and by the time the ferry brought us to Vashon island it was night time. This made for an especially fun ride on the island, which starts with a long nearly-verticle climb, then leveling off into long stretches of dark desolate lonely highway. I stupidly forgot my front light, and during the ride I could only see via the light of a few stars and the flashing red blinking of Eli's back-light, except when blinded by the headlights of passing cars.
We rode from one side of Vashon Island to the other, barely knowing where we were going, and eventually we got to Chandler & Caitlin's. When we got there, the house was filled with shrieking little children playing with each other or chasing the cat, and their parents. After saying Hi to the birthday boy (Chandler), I had some kinda off-putting conversations with some opinionated Vashonites, then got some wine and me and Eli retreated to a back area where a couple men in their 60's were talking, well removed from the rest of the party.
I ended up talking to them and had a great time - one of them made the wine I was drinking, which was delicious, and the other has spend the past 30 years living by himself in a secluded cabin in the woods. We talked about radical politics in Seattle in the past, them remembering fondly the Black Panthers, and radical Natives who took over Ft Lawton. We talked a lot about bike touring, too, as the latter of the two has been regularly doing epic cross-country rides for the past thirty years, included four consecutive RAMROD trips in his 40's. He's 66 now, and still rides constantly.
It's funny how I've met a number people who are of "retirement age" who are more active than I am. I'm in my 20's, the prime of my life. It's encouraging, though, meeting these people, especially when they tell me that they didn't really get very active until they were in their late 30's or early 40's.
I ended up getting pretty drunk, and had a great time hanging out with friends there, eating pizza (vegan for me, of course) and talking about farm-life. In the morning they had crepes, and I made all of us spicey yam & potato vegan latkas. I took off shortly after breakfast, and the ride back was soggy, but pleasant.

It's rare that I go on long bike rides, or go to anywhere in rural areas. I think I'm going to do both of those things more often this year.

pizza, magic, ronald reagan

I'm really happy to be done with school. The weight of the world feels like it's off my shoulders, and I feel motivated to do practically anything. ANYTHING!

Tonight I did a little dumpstering in the snow by myself. The first time I ever went was in the snow in Seattle, 2001 or 2002. I rode in the back of Matt Leonard's truck. Allison in the cab with Matt. We had a snowball fight. It was awesome.

----

Here's maybe the best thing from my whole quarter in school:

pizza, ronald reagan, magic.

"With all my might I do this; It's a waste of my time to persue this."

I've been wanting to write a zine for a little while about songs that I've found either intellectually challenging or helped articulate an idea that I was having in a more powerful way. With school kicking my ass like it's been, though, who knows if I'll ever have time to do it.

In the spirit of procrastination, I'll offer up my first song that I want to write about. It's Might, by Archers of Loaf, from 1993. They were one of the first "indie rock" bands that I got into after I had a period where I rejected anything other than crust, grind, or straight edge hardcore (in the mid to late-90's). It speaks of eschewing art for the sake of gratifying ego, declaring that he'd instead rather play with passion in a basement, with little care for whether anyone hears it or not and not giving a shit about the possibility of "making-it".

This song pretty well sums up a lot of the ideas that led me to start seattlediy, as well as a lot of motivation for playing in Bow + Arrow. Me and Lucas were talking for a long time about covering this song, but we only got as far as playing 30 seconds of it at shows when we get bored and want to goof off.





With all of my might,
With all of my might I do this.
It's a waste of my time to pursue this.
I'm so full of self-indulgence to think that you'd like this song.

Jot it down and I stuck it in the basement,
Underneath the living room floor.
For some reason I don't think I'm gonna make it.
For some reason I don't think about it anymore.

Get so bored with the radio, bored with the video.
You've got to mock the power, just to let'em know.
(don't know what goes next)

With all of my might,
With all of my might I do this.
It's a waste of my time to pursue this.
I'm so fucked self-indulgent to think you'd like this song.


Maybe when school's over I'll write more about this song, and others.

birdie

birdie
Originally uploaded by farrellvegan

Our cat is handsome.

Now I have to get back to my homework.

cool runnings vs cool as ice

A couple days ago I had to do a presentation for my Sociology 316 (Class and Inequality) class. I was grossly unprepared, and had spent the previous couple days doing nothing but writing papers, not getting any sleep and existing in a constant state of stress.

During the presentation I had a freak-out. A panic attack. Anxiety to the max. I lost my shit, mumbled a bunch, started sweating, wanted to cry, and started edging towards the door to make a clean break (but didn't, thankfully - boy would that have been awkward!).

This was me, as played by the kid in the red shirt:




In contrast, I co-facilitated a workshop on dumpster diving yesterday as part of the "Confronting the Food Crisis: Cultivating Just Alternatives to the Corporate Food System" that the Community Alliance For Global Justice put on. It went incredibly well. About 40-50 people showed up - it was a fairly multi-generational group, somewhat diverse, and the discussion was lively and respectful. We talked about some oft-neglected topics that people who dumpster don't usually discuss, and we also went into some dumpster tactics. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I got paid too (which is nice, considering the time, labor, and costs I put into writing and making a dumpster-diving zine the day before). And you know what? No panic attack, no freak out, no nervousness or shakiness of my voice. Totally chill. Then again, I wasn't being graded for the conference, and I had a way better grasp of the content (you know, me being an expert and all, hah).

gleaning the cube

This Saturday I'll be co-facilitating a workshop on Dumpster Diving, Gleaning, and Food Banks at Seattle Central Community College as part of the event, Cultivating Food Justice. It should be pretty cool, and on top of how it's all generally pretty interesting, I'll also be getting paid!! Dope. I asked Kaelan if she wanted to help me, cuz she's broke too and she'll have some really really good stuff to say about poverty, privilege, and other oft-neglected criticisms and concerns about dumpstering. That shit gets ignored by the noble scavengers of our dear city. I'm putting together a zine to present at the workshop now, which is borrowing largely from a Etiquette + Tips thing I wrote a long time ago for SeattleDIY's old website.

It would be great if I were only able to show this film before the workshop:


See more on CitizenShift

Not as good is this crap story from CNN. Blegh:

papers papers papers

#1. Shoop.

I have a supreme excess of school work to do for SOCL301 and SOCL 316. I don't even want to think about if there's anything for HIST 231. School is indeed kicking my ass.

I'll be working on some of my papers with Becky, thankfully, which will help me procrastinate less.

In one of my papers I'll be using Goffman's Dramaturgy to analyze the creation and enforcement of roles in the community of radical anarchists, specifically in relation to how identity politics parses actors into often antagonistic roles, both within groups and between groups. I'm going to talk about some of the more hilarious jargon and silly pejorative phrases that people use, like "Manarchist," Macktivist," or "Subpoena Envy," in describing male ego-driven "dude/bro" radicals, or the use of slogans like "If You're Not Now You Never Were" in enforcing ideology. I'm also going to talk about both the fear of and the prevalence of discrepancy between front stage/back stage actions and ideology (ex, "Q: How many Straight-Edge kids does it take to drink a case of beer? A: One, if no one's looking." and similar jokes for vegans).
It should be a pretty interesting paper to write, but I'm a little concerned about my ability to do a thorough job, given the time constraints.

But mostly I'm just doing a terrible job thanks to all the procrastination I've been doing.

I end up looking up videos of old bands that I love, then scheming ways of emulating them:


"And this ship must sink, and we must sink this ship"


Or just videos of cats:


Or staying up late, watching bad old cartoons: