Vending Machines, No. 82

So Many Times

Does it matter at all
Who survives and who falls
When we live under darkness
And hide behind walls
--Stephen Stills

I love this Black Crowes cover of an old Stephen Stills tune:

The Black Crowes-So Many TimesAlt. Link
Maybe the best song I've heard this year.

Alice Russell-Let Us Be Loving

Last month I had a few words to say about the very excellent band Brownout, and about an email I received from their record company, Six Degrees Records. If you haven't already, I urge you to give Brownout a listen...

Anyway, this week I received another communication from the good folks at Six Degrees, with information, links, and whatnot, about another of their artists, Alice Russell...

Now before I continue, and in light of recent rulings regarding bloggers and disclosure, let me state clearly that I have never received a free iPod from Six Degrees Records. Nor have I ever received free all-expense paid tickets to concerts, free CDs, or even free album downloads. Not even a fucking t-shirt.

So you see, if I say good things about a Six Degrees artist, I must really mean it!

Umm... Oh yeah, Alice Russell. Honestly, I'd never heard of her before this week. Some quick research (being the highly trained blogging professional that I am), reveals she's from the UK and she's a soul/R&B singer with a somewhat retro sound that ranges anywhere from Dusty to Aretha. The few reviews I've read were very favorable.

I, of course, haven't heard a complete album yet (ahem!). Though if the tune in the video below is any indication at all, I suspect I'll be checking the rest of Alice Russell's stuff out pretty soon.

Great voice, great band, great slow-cookin' tune that takes off a bit near the end. Check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Oh yeah, there's a free remix of "Living the Life of a Dreamer" available for download here.

The t-shirt's in the mail, right...?

Water at Night

While some might say that this is a pretty crappy photo, I look at it as being more like the "suggestion" of a photo...


Actually it is a pretty crappy photo, but I like it anyway.

Self Portrait w/Sunset

Sanctuary

Dead Hearts

Last month I posted a couple of clips of Arthur Ganson's kinetic sculpture. Here's a stunning music video/short film (take your pick) featuring another of Ganson's creations, Machine with Wishbone.

I'm not a particularly artsy-fartsy guy, but I so get this... The entire piece is beautiful, but the horse at 4:50... Wow.

Music and direction by Dead Man's Bones, set direction by Jed Hathaway. Seriously, check this out.

Triangles

Vending Machines, No. 82

Espers III

The new Espers album is really quite good. Check this out:

Espers-SightingsAlt. Link
What, you think I only post heavy metal-type shit? You really don't know me, do you?

Night in the Park

A Comedy of Terrors

The biggest laugh I'm likely to have this week: 10 Horror Movies For Conservatives To Watch This Halloween:

Halloween is almost upon us and you're probably thinking, "Gee, wouldn't it be great to kick back on the couch and rent a few conservative horror flicks for the big night?"

Er, yeah... So what, exactly, counts as a "conservative" horror movie? Roger and Me? Reds? (And perhaps more importantly, is there a list of "liberal" horror movies anywhere?). Let's have a look at this treasure trove of conservative horrors, and see what insights into the conservative Id we can glean (and laugh at)...

Cloverfield apparently qualifies as a "conservative" horror movie because ordinary people reacted well and the military fought bravely. And it was scary and well done. Right. Moving along...

The Dead Zone is deemed a "conservative" horror movie because..., well, the writer doesn't actually say. I'd probably disqualify it, though, because there's a scene where the hero has sex with a married woman who isn't his wife. Sounds like a stinking liberal commie fascist to me...

Now this is funny: The Exorcist is a "conservative" horror movie because it features

self-sacrificing priests who are fighting spiritually against true evil. That's very rare for Hollywood, where members of the clergy are habitually treated as drunkards, hypocrites, perverts, and villains.

Somebody should tell these guys about art imitating life and all that stuff...

And while they're learning about mimesis, perhaps somebody could explain irony to them as well. Because apparently The Mist (2007), another "conservative" horror flick, is about "how quickly human beings can become primitive again when they're isolated, alone, and in danger." I tell ya, the jokes write themselves around here...

I won't go through the whole list, but here's a nice little gem: The Tripper (2006) will please "conservative" horror movie goers with the "sweet, sweet joy of watching a guy in a Ronald Reagan mask taking an ax to dirty, drug addled hippies throughout the movie." Take the whole family!

I'm certain that others must have thought of this before me, but it seems like the modern "conservative" is, in many ways, the ultimate post-modernist. I mean, with the way they politicize every fucking mundane detail in life, their penchant for ignoring primary texts and relying on interpretations of them, all that crap. They'd make Foucault and Derrida proud...

Fronds

Toilet at Night

I wasn't always this cynical...

Tree at Night

Working Late

Dark Hair

Vending Machines, No. 81

You Talkin' to Me?

Kinda goofy, I know, but that look...

Last Monday Evening