YouChoob Music in all of its wisdom promised me a "Rock Mix - Focus" that contained Rllrbll, Eternal Tapestry, Pere Ubu, some other stuff that I could conceivably use to promote focus. I click on it and get this:
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I suppose throwing my speakers out the window when the Doors come on might result in a sort of focus?
Friend of Tape Mountain Chris P./The Minor Thirds has a new single/suite/epic/minepic, a five-in-one called Reckless. I always like when Chris goes a little dark and this is no exception.
Things I did in April and early May:
Went to Seaside on the beach. I'd never been into Seaside, thinking it a little declasse, but looking at it with fresh eyes, it's compact and fun, the sort of place that's fun to walk around for a long time with a kid. The kid got a stuffed octopus. I was very pleased that he has assigned the cephalopod they/them pronouns.
Bought wine at a yard sale. I take a particular forbidden pleasure in buying weird wine at yard sales. This wine was much less weird and old (and spoiled) than some of my previous finds but still pretty tasty.
Played Dragon Quest IX. So twee, so silly. Lots of opportunities to dress up little ciphers in silly outfits. Run around doing repetitive tasks while riding the exercise bike. And even by DQ localization standards, this one is bonkers. Any game that shamelessly spits out lines like this is A-OK by me:
Success! The Top-Flight Knight Fight Quest has been transgressed with finesse!
Hung out at L.L. Stub Stewart State Park and hiked with the family in early spring. So nice. Everything endlessly blooming and budding. Critters aplenty for JL to gawk at. Need to head back there.
Went to a PTA convention (!) Was delighted to see that the only other bicyclist at the convention was our old housemate (and JL's friend for decades) James.
For Guatemalan online middle school education. I like the CRT bump in the back!
I keep finding weird small-company logos and wanting to post them. Here's one:
From the awesome Frontera Collection Song of the Week
My old bass bow is in pretty sad shape, so a friend is having me audition a carbon-fiber model from her luthier. I'm never going to be an arco superstar, but I have to admit that having a functioning bow is great. Playing low drones is physically very satisfying.
The other day when my boy stepped outside after the rain had stopped, he said, in the world's best, most sincere voice, "What a beautiful world!"
Last Saturday I went to get my windshield replaced (pro tip: don't choose the people your insurance company recommends) and since it would be a wait, I decided to walk from industrial Clackamas to see what "Riverside Park" was all about. I walked a half hour past endless Safeway distribution centers and found a peaceful spot on the river. I heard the plop of people casting their lines, plus, naturally, speedboats, while I read a book.
Liz Gizzad!!!! Not to be confused with that King Quizzarth and the Glizzard Kuixarth, this was a band that put out a great 7" back in the day that was all about making a beat and a lot of over the top incomprehensible noise, sort of like a British version of certain bands I've been in. Music starts about 5 minutes in:
In honor of Catherine O'Hara and the immortal "fruit wine" gag on Schitt's Creek, we shared half a bottle of the 2024 Emergence blend from Art + Science NW. Muscat and quince, weird and wonderful. They are maniacs with a dream. If you are a cheapskate explorer like me, they are currently running a closeout case sale.
This week at work has involved a lot of squinting at fine-grained detail in numbers and punctuation, so to keep my brain alive I went on a musical rabbit hole journey. It started with this lovely makaaruyen number from Madrotter - hold on until the whistling starts:
Then I was listening to my library on shuffle and went down the Azerbaijani Gitara rabbit hole. Volume 2 in particular.
The boy (9 years old now) and I were looking at his car collection in a Hot Wheels game we checked out from the library, and I was talking to him in the voice of his duck puppet. As one does.
One of the cars was a vintage Packard. I dropped the dad/duck joke: Oh, ducks drive a Quackard. I thought that was pretty good as dad/duck jokes go.
His response: Oh, I thought you would say it's a Pochard.
I gave him a blank stare and then looked it up at m-w.com:
Pochard
: any of various rather heavy-bodied diving ducks (especially genus Aythya) with a large head and with feet and legs placed far back under the body
This kid!