Numb

After several days, countless hours spent reading news and articles on-line, having on-line discussions, watching reports on T.V. ... I still can't wrap my head around the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I feel like I need to be there to help, but I know I can't. I wish I could fly a helicopter, but I can't. I wish I had more mony to donate, but I can't. I will donate what I can and I hope you will too. I have so many thoughts and emotions. Some are of complete disbelief at how people are behaving there, while I am angered that more substantial relief has not yet been organized by the Federal Government and reached those in need. I can only imagine that as the days go on, my thoughts and feelings of disbelief and anger won't change much. I hope I'm wrong.

GbV NYE DVD

The much anticipated DVD of Guided by Voices' final show is in the can and set to be released on November 15th. The trailier was released today (you'll need Quicktime).

So long Dial-Up!

Finally! I now have high speed internet access and REAL cable. I'm so excited...

New Music

The last few months has been sort of dry for music, for me anyway. I had to get my fix this week, though.

The new Black Rebel Motorcycle Club album is in the headphones right now. It's quite a departure from the first two albums, but an excellent record on it's own.

The New Pornographers Twin Cinema has got about a half-spin, so I can't give a full opinion on it. But from what I've heard, I get the feeling it's going to either really grow on me or collect some dust. We'll see.

The Greenhornes are another band to keep your ears open for. They've been consistently getting better and better over the last several years. Their latest EP, East Grand Blues, is an excellent primer for their next full length and V2 debut. EGB is streaming at their website, give it a listen.

Some other recent bargain bin purchases:
Yatsura - Slain by Yatsura
The Lemonheads - Lovey
Noise Addict - Meet The Real You
Silkworm - Firewater

The fourth quarter is shaping up to be pretty decent, with these albums up early on:
Sigur Ros - Takk (September 13)
The American Analog Set - Set Free (September 20)
Calla - Collisions (September 27)
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better (October 4)
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures (October 25)
Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir (October 25)

Good thing I get three paychecks in December.

Has it really been a week since the last post?

Wow. Let's see, what can I yap about...

I've either naturally passed or had forcibly removed no fewer than 8 kidney stones over the last 8 years. Somehow, my kidneys have managed to turn into stone quarries. Last Wednesday I was at work and felt a pain in the lower right side of my back. So I called the doctor to let them know. They always say to take pain killers if I have them and drink lots of water until they can get me in for an x-ray. I was at work, didn't have any meds and the earliest they could get me in was the following Monday. Yeah. So, I decided to sweat it out the rest of the day (only 3 hours or so) to see if the pain would progress or die down. Luckily it didn't get any worse. I got home, popped a pill and retreated to Vico-bliss on the couch for the rest of the night.

I had my x-ray Monday and haven't heard anything back yet. That experience in itself was excrutiating, not painful but torturous. See, I'm allergic to the IVP dye they put in your blood for the x-ray and I had to drink a half-gallon of apple-flavored barium that was the consistency of skim milk. It was afwul, one sip at a time. I finally got most of it down. So far though, no news is good news. I'll call tomorrow to follow up. I don't have any scans to post (yet), but I have this to share (KC!). Poor turtle! Ouchie!!

Enough about me. I want to talk about Shannon for a minute. All summer long she has been in an excellerated CDA class. She's had class once a week, but they have been cramming a 9-12 month course into less than 6. With 50+ hour work weeks, kids and our daily routines it's buisy enough. Throw the CDA class into the mix and we, especially her, don't have a lot of extra time in the day to do anything but work eat and sleep. She came home from her class this past Monday with her completion certificate/diploma in hand. She still has her final test to take to become officially certified, but now that she has her classwork out of the way, the majority of that stress is out of the way along with it. I could not be more proud of her.

I came across this t-shirt today. You can order it and other's from
Demockratees. I will be ordering one tomorrow.

A Kid's Eye View

Have I mentioned how creative Emma is? She's bossy when she plays with Aaron, but not in a mean way. It's more like she's giving instructions and directions on how to act, what to say, what facial expressions to make - all from a 4 year old mind. Of course, Aaron, being younger, goes right along with it and plays to her instructions. It's amazing to watch them interact. I keep saying that Emma's going to be a movie director one day.

Tonight, I stood outside their bedroom listening to them play. I heard them talking and acting like they were camping in the woods. Emma was telling Aaron to stay in his tent while she goes out to the lake to get some water. She told him that she's going to leave the room and come back acting like she saw a bear at the lake. Next thing I know, she comes around the corner and I was busted. I asked her where she was going and she said - "to the river to get some water". So, I said "go on, pretend I'm not here". She walked by me, went into the bathroom, then comes running out acting like she's seen a bear. Curious, I looked into the bathroom and this is what I see...



Emma says "It's a bear at the lake with a fish in his mouth"

A few new things to be excited about

The new Burn to Shine DVD should be available on August 23rd. Billboard has an article on it. This time around, it'll feature a house in Chicago with Wilco, Tortoise, Shellac and others turning in performances. The last one was pretty cool, with Bob Mould, The Evens and other D.C artists playing in the living room before the house was burned down.

The Lemonheads played a set at Benicassim. It's been almost 10 years since Car Button Cloth. evandando.com is under construction. Could the new Evan/Lemonheads record be on the horizon?

Looks like the Catherine Wheel won't be returning anytime soon. However, Rob Dickinson's first solo album comes out on on Sept 13th.

I don't care what anybody says, the girls in Heart (yes, Barracuda) still have it. Their more recent stuff has been rather bland, but Nancy Wilson can still rock out. I was watching them on PBS Soundstage the other night. I fell asleep on the couch right at the end, during one of the Led Zeppelin encores. I awoke a few hours later, right in the middle of a dream where Nancy Wilson, Neil Young, and John Paul Jones were playing a live show for an album they'd recorded. As usual, I didn't remember details of the dream and performance, but I do remember being excited about it.

Time for a change

I've got a lot of things I'm thinking about changing in my life. This is one of them. I was getting sick of looking at all of the black, green, blue and purple on the old format. I was looking at it today and it reminded me of a bruise. I messed around with some of the colors and stuff, but I realized it was the black background that needeed to be changed. It was just too dark. I tried the all white default background and it was too much in the other direction. This one looks like a happy medium. It may only be temporary, though, until I can find another one out in the ether that I like.

More fun in the sun planned for tomorrow.

Randomville.com re-launched today. One of my articles is up now, another one should follow by week's end.

Facts*

American troops reported dead in Iraq: 1822
Length of the invasion/occupation of Iraq: 869 days
Crawford vacation days of the Bush presidency: 319 days (20%)
Average days of annual paid vacation of the working American: 13
Days of annual leave for military personnel: 30

*courtesy lp.org

Where you been?

Ah, I've been around. There's just nothing much going on in psychicpilot-land. I did just get a swank new cell phone (or as Bitchboy calls it, "a modern cell phone")and I'm looking for some indie rock ringtones and wallpaper to mess around with. It's been so long since I've looked for stuff like that on-line and I have no clue where to go, so if you know of anywhere to look - let me know.

Keep an eye out for the relaunch of randomville.com in the next few days. I've got a couple of articles that'll be published in the relaunch. I'm hoping to be able to contribute more on a regular basis. Stay tuned...

Dinosaur recap

Holy crap. Lou walked on and said "We're gonna have fun tonight". Didn't I say that yesterday? We were both right. They played all old Lou-era Dinosaur Jr. stuff, including Freak Scene and Just Like Heaven (how could they not?). Around the time they played these two a relatively polite mosh-pit broke out. It was great to see J., Lou and Murph back on stage together after all this time. J. absolutely shredded my ears from the opening chords of their set to the last. There wasn't much talk between songs, which was fine by me. They all looked like they were having a good time, especially Murph, who worked his ass of. I almost didn't go because of budgetary constraints, but at the last minute I scored free tickets from someone who had won them from woxy.com. So, thanks to Ikyoto and woxy.com for the free ride.

Now if I can only find a way to get this fishbowl off my head.

My vacation finally came to an end today upon returning to work. I had 10 days at home. I stayed up way too late most nights and got caught up on much needed rest during the day while everyone was gone. I got to spend quality time with the kids hanging out with them, watching them play and get their teeth cleaned at the dentist. I let them sleep in every day, took them to school and picked 'em up early. Most days they wanted to stay home but go to daycare too, so it worked out for all of us. The only downside is that it rained everday that I was off, so I didn't get to hang out with them at the pool like I'd wanted to. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Bob Mould record is amazing. I've listened to it every day for the last week. I'm hoping I can make one of his shows, but it looks like Detroit is the closest.

Thanks to a fellow woxy.com listener, I'll be seeing Dinosaur Jr tonight in Covington. I'm super excited about it, especially since they've been getting great reviews and the band seems to be having a good time. Last I checked Jason Loewenstein was opening. Tonight should be a fun night.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow's FRIDAY!

New #1

Put the Spoon down, the Bloc Party's over. I have my top album for the year. I'm on my 3rd listen and I can't stop. This is an incredible album. More to come...

TheSonnyMemorial

Here's a picture that we took with Sonny in the studio two weeks ago. L-R: Jimi, Troy, Sonny, Dave Miller, Me.

Dennis, Doctors, Ringo and Bob Mould

I'm officially on vacation for the next 10 days. I was hoping for a week of sun and semi-relaxation, but thanks to Hurricane Dennis it doesn't look like that will be happening. Today was sort of sunny, mostly overcast and warm. The rest of the week looks to be rainy and 10-15 degrees cooler (I'm just to the right of the 'X', on the edge of the yellow area. Courtesy NOAA.). We definately need the rain, but I'd like some "me-time" by the pool, you know.

I went to the doctor today. A new doctor for me, as I'm sick (pun intended) of my old doctor's office. Everytime I go in there, I never see a doctor, it's always a different PA or MA, and it's just really frustrating to not get consistent opinions and help form an actual doctor. I'm seeing a new, actual doctor in a smaller practice to see if that will change. I'm on vacation and I've got the aches, a small cough, a runny nose with green drainage, sore throat and sneezes. Back to the Zyrtec-D and Z-Pack. Fun.

It appears that Ringo is not too pleased with Paul for giving him the cold shoulder at the Live 8 conerts. I think I'd be a little pissed, too. It was cool that Paul was singing with U2 as his backing band, but to have Larry Mullen playing drums next to Ringo in his Sgt. Peppers suit would have been incredible. Instead, Paul's notorious ego took over once again. And they failed to deliver with U2 wearing the Sgt. Peppers suits like they hyped up before the show. Wouldn't it have been great to have The Rutles play the Sgt. Pepper's part?

Finally, I'm patiently awaiting the new Bob Mould record Body of Song. It should arrive in the mail any day now, possibly tommorow. Here's a brief interview by Jack Rabid for Gallery of Sound. So far, the songs I've heard and all reviews I've read have been favorable. I'll give my opinion once I've heard it.

Picture time

One of my favorite things to do is take pictures of my kids. This one of Aaron speaks volumes about his personality. It was taken last weekend at our annual family camping trip. My brother took this picture.

Nightwaves Update v.2

The Nightwaves shows were excellent. Just like old times. I was a bit nervous at the start, but after the first break, it all came back. I wanted to mix up some old stuff, stuff that I played all the time on my regular shows as well as some new stuff that I've been digging lately. I think I accomplished that goal.

Although it was a reunion of sorts, I also didn't want it to be anything more than it was before. I had anticipated getting my old Saturday night partner Theron and another former Nightwaver, Erin Lindsay, on the air via phone, but that unfortunately didn't happen due to technical difficulties. The only thing that I had planned for sure was to play a few songs for Sonny Edrich, a former Nightwaver who sadly, passed away a few years ago. He was definately there in spirit. Thanks to his family, Sonny was able to physically participate as much as possible both nights by way of a life-sized cardboard cut-out of him that we had in the studio with us. As always, it was great to see him again. I just wish I could've had him on the air, too.

It was also great to see, hear and/or talk to Troy Turner, Dave Miller, Dave Bottoms, Steve Barton, Lori Creed, Brent Thole, Gary Horn, Jeff Kobberdahl, Michelle Sulka and Mike Boberg in the studio and on the air again. Thanks to the people that were able to listen locally and called in (even the guy that called and complained that the BBC was being pre-empted for "headbanging music". You don't know it, but "Seeing Red" was for you). Thanks to all of the Nightwavers that couldn't attend this weekend, but helped make Nightwaves a great program. My apologies to everyone outside of the area that wanted to listen on-line, stayed up to try and couldn't. The audio stream was aparently looped with an old-time radio broadcast for the weekend. Extra special thanks to Jimi Kirby for floating the idea for this weekend's shows to WVXU and his diligence in making it happen. Finally, thanks to WVXU for allowing me to be a part Nightwaves and for it to be an unforgettable part of my life.

Here's my playlist from Friday night:

Husker Du - Ice Cold Ice
*
Gang of Four - Ether
Flin Flon - Floods
Spoon - The Beast & Dragon, Adored
*
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
The Clash - London Calling
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Red Eyes and Tears
*
Acetone - Chills
Swervedriver - Last Train to Satansville
Luna - Buffalo Boots
*
Minor Threat - Seeing Red
Minutemen - Viet Nam
Lazy - Crush
Bloc Party - Price of Gas
*
Afghan Whigs - Debonair (for Sonny)
Ass Ponys - Under Cedars and Stars (for Sonny)
[station ID]
Soul Asylum - Cartoon
Sonic Youth - New Hampshire
*
Doug Gillard - Valpolicella
Guided by Voices - Little Lines
Lifeguards - Shorter Virgins
Pixies - Velouria
My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
*
Robyn Hitchcock - Alright, Yeah (Storefront Hitchcock version)

*me talking

T - Minus 11 hours

Tonight's the night. You can listen to the audio stream at WVXU or 91.7 FM in the Cincinnati area. I'll post a playlist sometime after the show. After that, I'm off camping for the rest of the long weekend.