John Locke: Stages

It started with a ball point pen drawing. I scanned that and used GIMP to burn and dodge the contrast back into it. then I gave it a coat of semi translucent paint and then I added more shadows and highlight. Anyway, This is my tribute to John Locke and the actor who plays him, Terry O'Quinn. LOST was a game changer and a life changer, as lame as it may seem.

Molly Ultra Covers The Kills

The Kills provide endless amounts of inspiration to me. They are one of the greatest things to ever happen. This is my tribute to them; a recorded cover version of Gypsy Death and You from Keep On You Mean Side.



Here is a slide show of photos that I have taken at the Kills live shows over the years.Some of the images are stills from video, too. The focus is on Jamie mostly.



And here is video taken by me 2 years ago at The El Rey theatre in Los Angeles. They are performing a Captain Beefheart cover called Drop Out Boogie

Love Song for the Illusive Stranger (love of my life, life of the moment)

You are a man
You are not a silly thing
A man of non- fiction and action
If you feel I’m sane then you can believe in you by my attraction
If a man is measured by what he does
Then you have it marked
If a man is what you can see in him by standing back and looking through him
You have it
No one can call you anything but a king
You’re honesty may not be words
You are honest when you sing
Truthfully letting the sound come down
Leaving only passion and a gleam
I’ve never caught you looking at the camera
But you always look so good
In pictures you are standing strong
And pure as pure light shines through you
From pure electricity to pure electric sensation
Electric is the word sounding out your wail
Lights lights electric fire in your hair
Modern you man
You don’t want to go back to blues
But you’ll island hop in your modern shoes
Leave the explorers to search for the past
Back and backward
But you my matador push past the landlord
You go east and west and to some place now
And with others lusting forward
Now comes the truth the revelation I am embarrassed
I don’t know you and I love you
You are a man
And while other men are men as well
I claim you as my pick
Please don’t ask how I can tell
When has love ever been too quick?
If I were deciding I would send in the saints
When ever has love come in too quick
In a business meeting of monied men
When has it come too quick?
In a scary house of the struggle for control
When has love beat a beating's punch to the punch too quick?
Love at first sight is not about seeing
But vision over visibility
A vision of pure electric beauty comes and lasts for a second
You know it’s ephemeral, you are the art maker
Give yourself to me and I will never betray that risk, I will be your defender

Loose Song Ideas (Pills and Crowns Will Bring Us Down)

That machine couldn’t stand or understand my love for you
Getting in first place was always useless
If you’ve no scars to show, no harbored bruise

Our minds inside us are our fate
So we are given the patience to wait
For that thing called will
Leave out all those pills
We make it up that hill

While the ones who won’t wait are going in for the kill
But we don’t seek that thrill, we don’t seek the crown
Our hands kept clean from blood though our hands may be down

our hands are down but
Our hands are clean and
we come out of the woods to follow brighter gleams
Not the dull and crowded shamble hooks
Reflection from the light of a spook



We have to write the words to say
If we can’t think of words to say
We say the words to say
If our problems become non problems too fast
We forget forget how we got here in the first place

If we divide
Who makes our minds
Up and down
A subtle clown
Could have you laughing
If he does it right

To teach is a thing of beauty
And To learn if you wanna learn
If you don’t it’s okay
But get out of our way
And don’t try to bring us down

If we get the better part of the deal
We will share it

But please don’t deny trying a first new meal
If you can bear it.

The only thing worse than forgetting how we got here in the clear for now
Is not knowing or caring cause this life is worth sharing

We got ourselves a rocket ship
That we didn’t get by knowing it
You want to do it again
Sharing a strange mind
It bought us some time


And we’re all going the same way

Don’t force it down
Our souls are lost and quickly found
Don’t make it bad by turning around
We can make it in steps
Or we can do it in bounds
But the worst you could do is to crave a crown

Wanting Out

Watching the critics. At home, we the cynics
Forgetting what we are watching for a long minute
But it’s redeeming what it’s like to be alive
Feeling that we are far removed
And all while you sit in your living room,
Wanting to know why you’ve never been in love

And the song maker is guilty as all
Making judgments or singing the song
It’s hard to get through a sunny day
In such a lovely place
Without the animal pawing from the inside
Tearing all of your patience away

Calling everyone a tool as they ask silly questions
You are the smiling fool, the animal’s been let in
Heart flutter and a shaky draw
Pulling a spoon from the drawer
Eating a distraction
Waiting for anxiety to stop

I want out, I want out
But I can’t stand up for too long before sitting down
Give me strength, give me strength
Tell me how I got this sickness, how low have I sank
Send it in a letter to where I am right now
I left my home, I’m out and down

I’ve made a choice to let love in
His is a magic touch but for a human friend
It’s not any help to tell
Everyone with a crutch of their own
Can’t see it if you’re happy alone
You won’t ask for strength so it may be just as well

Reading your pain a hundred times
Keeping you company against the enemy lines
I was never smart enough to get you to care
I participated in fake nights
Encouraging the “sweet” life
So I wouldn’t call you hanging up on me unfair

By the end of this I have lost all original thought
Panicking my health away yet I nearly forgot
I guess me writing it all out helps
So lovely boy, When you get done
Pretending to have so much fun
Try and remember the loudest truth you’ve ever felt


I want out, I want out, I want out
But I can’t stand up long before I sit down
Give me strength, give me strength
Tell me how I got this sickness, how low I’ve sank
Send it in a letter to where I am today
I’ve left my home, I think I gave it away

Incapable

haven't felt this down in a while.
If i had to act out a lie it would be a smile.
Don't steal my blank expression as a device.
don't think I won't notice just because I am tired.
I can feel the way you're leading me on but that's just one day.
it all depends on how you feel at the time cause now your treating me bad and my ego is at bay.
I listen to you too well as I listen to you too often.
I pray to God and now my hard shell is begining to soften.
and all you've got is hurt to give off in a lonely hour.
It penetrates this chain mail that used to spit thing out when they got too sour

And then there is you, do you remember I used to call you a friend.
You've only put me out of you're mind but mine is a life that has no end.
I'm thanking you as you're betraying me
cause when else have I best used this voice to sing
I leave some trail marks to a house
If I was sure where it was I would let it out
but who's reminding me to leave
everyone need to be reminded these things

I have stayed to long and the seasons have come, they have gone

Thinking too grand
Filing thoughts across the sand
not counting on the wind yet we feel it on our young faces everyday
with only occasional rain to wash the dirt away

The Horrors - Primary Colours

Written in the Summer of 2009
Life Lessons: Never write anything off... even if you've given it multiple chances. Primary Colours by The Horrors is spectacular! I saw The Horrors 3 times this year, supporting The Kills, and they never made me feel anything too special. The first time was horrendous (no pun). At Coachella Ferris and company were pissed that they were on at the same time as MBV and sulked their way through a set that ended 20 minutes early. The second time was better but still lacked any potential to set my belly a'blaze. By the 3rd night, it was groovy and Ferris wasn't treating the crowd like a bunch of nob-headed American's that refused to worship him like an English crowd would do. Maybe I was blind in eager anticipation for the moment The Kills would grace the stage but I figured by the end of the 3rd time seeing them that they would never figure into my life significantly, or even, much less, my record rotation calendar.

Finally though, at the end of the summer, I listened to my copy of Primary Colours (just today in fact) and I immediately began to feel regret for not having uncovered it until after having seen them 3 times. Yeah, the record may sound a lot like Echo and the Bunnymen, but it is charming creep of a record and The Horrors have managed to grow beyond the pigeon-holds of making it too huge too fast (A monster problem that peers and predecessors would not be so fortunate to defeat), I don't even think any of The Horrors have a heroin addiction or anything. I’ve received the fire that I had been pinning for. Glorious. (Maybe I'll write a full review later)

Anyway; the moral of the story is, fine folks, that making up your mind too stubbornly can only lead to embarrassment and pain and in some cases denial... if, in fact, you want to save-face from aforementioned embarrassment. Therefore, I heed you: Be flexible, be happy, don’t give bad advice about music to friends because you are not smart enough to realize that you don’t know everything, “don't judge a book by its cover, don't judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover” and pick up a copy of Primary Colours.

Dead Weather - I Cut Like a Buffalo

I had to take the movies back after diner and watching Kings tonight. I get in my car and tune my radio to KCRW. "This is the newest track from the Dead Weather." I love when that happens! I was more thrilled as the song started and I realised that it was the song Cut Like a Buffalo, the SECOND single from The Dead Weather's up coming disc Horehound. Unlike the first Zepplin-like single, Hang You From the Heavens, this track finds Jack White and Alison Mosshart teaming up for the lead vocal under a heavy assault of lo-fi distortion reminescent of early demos by Alison's other band and first love, The Kills. But very different from either Jack or Alison's past projects this song also came with very heavy dub/reggae undertones. The stacato guitar part and the tripple echo on the steal drums made it very obvious where the inspiration was coming from yet they executed it with a subtlety that spared me from slapping my head in an, "Oh Brother..." moment of dissapointment.

With the popularity of the roots reggae rebel rivival looming (Popular Scottish band Franz Ferdinand releasing a dub version, titled Blood, of their last album Tonight) I was glad that Jack White took the bull by the horns and gave us a chance to have a popular rivivl that was more than a silly joke. Hopefully others will follow suit and employ the dub influences without overkill and unoriginallity.

It has been revealed in recent intervies that Alison's Kills band mate, Jamie Hince, has also taken quite a shine to old reggae and dub records. Hopefully, if The Kills decide to let that influence shine through in there next record, they will not find themselves in the same position as in 2001 when The Kills could not turn the corner without being compared to Jack White's first claim to fame, The White Stripes. If Jamie can't repair the hard drive of his water logged laptop that contained new Kills material (thrown into it's watery grave by Hince' girlfriend Kate Moss) then we might never know.

Either way all of this could be very exciting if it happens right. If it doesn't though, do not fret. There is a huge wealth of great ORIGINAL Roots Reggae and Dub that you can fill your ear holes with. Get ready to ride the lion to Zion, Board the black star liner, and praise Jah with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his "king of dub" compadre King Tubby. Take some time for The Originator; U-Roy and the bells of ambient style dub from Prince Far I. And you can't stop until you make sure to pick up copies of Big Youth's highly influential Screaming Targets and Culture's record Two Sevens Clash.
-Molly Ultra \V/_

Museful Muses and their Museings

My friends and family think I'm odd when it comes to one thing in particular; my fandom. I often recieve a good amount of flack for being obsessive. That is to say; when I get into something I tend to want to learn everything about that one thing. It becomes very time consuming, which is probably not a good thing when you should be spending at least some of your time learning about what you are going to be tested on in school.

My curiosity for the lives and work of others is a biproduct of me trying to figure myself out. It isn't just escapism. It's kind of the opposite... it's my way of unfiguring life. My current fascination, say, with Mr. Spock from Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek isn't superficial; I see his Vulcan predicament, however fictional it may be, and I sympathise. Now I sound completely daft, I know. (We can talk about the essence of Vulcan and logic v.s. emotion another day)

Maybe I should be less dependent on the reaffirmation that other people's philosophies give me. But, like another pointy eared hero of mine, Joe Strummer, I believe in humanism and true freedom and I am fascinated that we all happen to be alive all at the same time, at once. I am contenet with not living in utopia but I admire the people who try to unfigure the human condition. I aspire to add to that puzzle. I don't know if the destination is called God or not but whatever it's called it is that thing that is bigger than all of us. It's that thing that will tell us all to stop being afraid; Afraid of dying, afraid of not making enough money, afraid of not being attractive enough, afraid of love, afraid of walking around with the front of your face held perpindicular, and not parrallel, with the floor.

I digress:
I hope that I become a better formulator of my own thoughts. But until then I will mispell and ramble in the early hours of the morning after being up all night in hopes that no one really pays very much attention to what I'm saying. I don't want to talk about it when I see you next so don't ask. I'll stop here and be afraid... afraid that I am either not being understood at all or afraid that I am an idiot for wasting time writing about something that is such a universal problem that no one even bothers to write about it.

Perfectionist

I've been realizing a lot of things lately. I've been in a constant state of self reflection for the better part of a year now (when I say "constant" I do mean it) It is very frustrating and very confusing.

I have so many thoughts running through my head about myself, the world and how it works, my place in the world and how my mind works, about how I want to live and how much I want to live. I want to do something intellegent with all of these revelations but I'm, quit honestly, overwhelmed. I feel like all of my inspiration and ideas have the proper right to escape my brain and find someone else who is actually competent and artful or stay with me and die with my body, never to see the light of day.

My anxiety has reached some fever pitches in this time. A couple of people (very close to me) have told me that it's because I am a perfectionist. I may well be but I am the wrong type of perfectionist. I feel as though I am a strange breed of "perfectionist" who is stiffled by the possibility of failure. I stop myself in my tracks when I don't feel like I can do something to the best of my ability. If I can't find the right words for a lyric or the right color for the grass or the right melody for a song I often just don't want to begin.

Even now I feel like, when I am done with this, I will not have even cracked the surface of what I am trying to express. I'm forcing myself into this stream of consciousness and where I end up will probably be somewhere else entirely.

When I know I have to explain something somewhat complicated to someone I begin to stutter. I become flustered. I feel like I need to collect atleast a dozen pieces of proof just to make a statement. I need to make concrete patterns and line them in a tidy row in order to mold my daily philosophies. Deviation from my patterns is unfavorable. This, however, conflicts with my need for objectivity and flexibility of rules and my disdain for authority and people telling me what I have to do. I question everything yet I have these facist run thought processes.

I've done my favorite drawings in class when I am supposed to be taking notes. I've written the best songs when I should have been writting a paper about biology. I'll read all day if I stumble upon something good... but I've been planning to finish Crime and Punishment for a year now and it might not ever happen.

Although people compliment my "talents" I often forget about those and size myself up to everyone around me, especially people on television. I might be totally uninterested in their activities but I still wonder why "I never thought of that." I want to know how other people see this world. Although, I know that everyone is equally confused. I want to make a large mark on this world so that whoever seeks the answers to the same questions can use these disjointed thoughts if for nothing more than a scense of comfort. That is what my heros have done for me and that is my aspiration.

A conclusion to this is pretty much impossible. This is rambling. I was born for it just like Woody Guthrie. I hope no one reads this. This isn't all that I am but It's what's on my mind for the moment. This will end now because I've been distracted by an episode of Star Trek. I'll end on saying that life is difficult and even though I know that life is the journey and not the destination It's hard for me to fight myself all the time.

Posting this is dangerous because this is such a small fraction of the huge story. It may not even be true tomorrow. It may only be true again a week from now. That is what part of this is all about. How the hell are human beings ever supposed to remember these things enough to put them all together? I want my enlightenment.

She upsette my sweet cloud...

She is Liberty; She Comes to Rescue Me; Hope Faith & Vanity

really though, all poetry aside, I just got my first scanner

Review: Black Lips - 200MillionThousand

Black Lips 200MillionThousand is the follow up to, the critically acclaimed, Good Bad Not Evil. Black Lips return with more lo-fi, garage rock, rambunctiousness. The songs of 200MillionThousand hold high reverence for the raw rock n’ roll of the 60’s . The first track Take My Heart brings the Stones to mind and a guitar riff reminiscent of early Pete Townshend. The vocal performance on Trapped in a Basement is one of an old broken down blues man while Short Fuse takes a page from a more unabashed Fleetwood Mack style; the lengthy guitar solo at the end of this song, especially. Black Lips have taken the best bits of the past, the best bits of THEIR past and have ultimately delivered a more mature album than the last.
Highlights include the song Black Baby Jesus of Today which is dedicated to the much anticipated return of a messiah whom the boys in Black Lips imagine to be a mix of ODB, Jack Johnson, and Barack Obama!?
Tour Dates:
April
16 San Diego, CA – Casbah
30 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
May
01 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
02 Pomona, CA – The Glass House

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #1

#1 The Kills- Midnight Boom
I probably listened to this album everyday for 3 months straight. It’s got everything you need really; Fun, bitterness, dance tunes, low down feelings, encouragement, sex, drugs and rock n roll. Sedative and upper. Split personality. Play ground rhythms and poetry. Singer Allison Mosshart is smokey, not sexy, not cute, but smokey. Her counterpart Jamie Hince is a mad man and does guitar like no other. He uses and abuses the damn thing. He is not the kind of guitar guy that you’ll find on the cover of Guitar World magazines. He doesn’t play the guitar; he USES the guitar to make the sounds that he wants and that the songs need. If this album sounds “electronic” to you then look no further than Jaime’s guitar and his array of pedals. The song Last Day of Magic is my pick for single of the year. It’s kind of like a pop song except that it will kick your teeth in if you look at it the wrong way. URA Fever is an anthem for the outsider in all of us (some more than others), “U R A fever, U R A fever, you ain’t born typical.” Cheap and Cheerful is a dance song built around the playground clapping games that are featured in a 60’s documentary called Pizza Pizza Dadio! The lyrics, “I’m bored of cheap and cheerful, I want expensive sadness.” mean to be humorous and satirical underneath the deep dark guitar tones. I could go on and on about this one but I think it would be a lot easier if you just went out and bought the damn thing and listened to it for yourself.

Last Day of Magic:


URA Fever:


Cheap and Cheerful

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #2

#2 These New Puritans- Beat Pyramid
These New Puritans are one of the freshest bands to come out of 2008. TNPs are an English group that have learned a thing or two from groups like The Fall and Gang of Four. Highlights on Beat Pyramid include the song Swords of Truth and the aptly titled Elvis; a song where the verses sound like the future speeding between your ear and the chorus is a soaring hook that declares, “and if there is a God, Then let him take me up.” Ephemeral to ethereal in 3 seconds flat, and the transition between the two is as beautiful as any. The future bit bounces in your skull until it gets stuck in the part of your brain that wants to know the meaning of life. It’s like Science Fiction without having to read anything.

Elvis:

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #3

#3 Foals – Antidotes
The Foals are a group from Oxford England that take the sounds of American No-Wave and The Rough Trade sounds of England in the late 70’s and brings them to the contemporary with an originality that makes them far less dull than it may sound. On their debut album Antidotes there are familiar sounds yet fresh material. Not unlike its post-punk predecessors the guitar chimes instead of blares and takes on the role of a more beautiful/less kitschy steel drum. The drummer favors his high-hat in 16/4 time and a snare drum that resonates a metallic taste. The songs build a big hollow factory with paper thin windows that don’t allow for the steely noise to pitch too sharply. But like a factory you feel like if you have seen one that you have seen them all. Antidotes can sometimes feel redundant because of its distinct yet repetitive styles. The reprise comes with the melodies of the singer. In the songs Balloons and Cassius the vocal performance gives the album exciting and jagged shapes that are not present in the instrumentation (except maybe the saxophone parts, which are the best bits of saxophone that have been in a rock n roll song since James Chance and the Contortions.)

Balloons:

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #4

#4 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Dig Lazarus Dig
Every song is good. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are still brilliant!

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #5

#5 Hot Chip- Made in the Dark
No matter how I feel… Ready for the Floor makes me feel good on the inside. :)

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #6

#6 Sigur Ros- Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Could a group sound more beautiful? Gobbledygook is Godly!

Top 10 Albums of 2008: #7

#7 Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes (and the Sun Giant EP)
I listened to these songs executed live and outdoors right in front of the San Francisco Bay as the sun was setting. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Listen to White Winter Hymnal and English House. It’s worth feeling like a hippy for a couple minutes… I swear.