the frig blig

During a recent trip to Vancouver BC (no, I didn’t attend the winter Olympics) I saw posters for a concert by Canadian band Pointed Sticks. The blurb said they were an old punk rock band who had released a new recording in 2009 after a multi-year hiatus. I liked the album art and title — ‘Three Lefts Make a Right’.

Hard to find in the U.S., so I downloaded the MP3s from Amazon.

Long story short — don’t waste your time. I’d call it a cross between lukewarm Green Day and The Carpenters. These sticks are more like wet noodles.

While the musicianship is competent, the words are saccharine. If this band got a better songwriter perhaps they’d be more interesting.

You have been warned.

Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest…

De-gourded on the 31st, separated for drying on the mat.

Lovers Lookout is the new CD from local fellows Red Jacket Mine. Released just a couple of weeks ago, the timing is appropriate — autumn’s display of red gold and brown hues and shorter, darker days are a perfect compliment for RJM’s melancholy sound.

All the tunes are by songsmith and frontman Lincoln Barr, a moody bastard. His best songs are slow, arty, dark, and complex. Barr is a brooder, not a screamer. RJM’s music is like red wine rather than beer — to be savored. There’s a bit of a Ryan Adams feel, which Patrick Porter’s pedal steel helps along.

The love in this title is not ecstatic. But there is passion here — ironic, angry, disappointed passion. Even the rockers on this album, like opener Stay Golden, Childish Things and The Pose aren’t about having fun.

Stay Golden starts out upbeat but Barr can’t help himself — he ends up singing “You were so brave, but when they asked you to, you sold me out…”.

The Pose sounds a bit like The Posies…and since Ken Stringfellow helped with the production, who knows, maybe it’s alluding to that 90’s band, although it’s plainly expressive of the song’s meaning too. Can’t tell you, only the band knows for sure. Regardless, “Took a chance on an inside joke” is a great opening line.

The strongest tunes are soulful and anthemic, like Deseret News, Apricot Moon and So Long, Radiant Flower (which despite the bitterness has a sweetness too, as S points out).

Cozy in the metro 16 on my way to work this morn I gave a first listen to Dark Night of the Soul. Was tickled to hear a guy singing ‘Sucking on my angel’s heart,’ only to realize several choruses later he was really saying ‘plucking on my angel’s harp’.

Darn. If Frank had spent a little more time on that tune maybe he could have reached ’sucking on my angel’s heart’, obviously superior.

Which segs into all the creative lyric twistings we’ve known over the years. A couple I recall off the top of my head:

‘Every time she goes away, she takes a piece of meat with her.’

‘Got a Black Magic Marker’

Submit your favs please?

Thanks to the NY Times sunday magazine column The Medium by Virginia Heffernan for writing about thru-you.com, a mashup of YouTube videos by amateur musicians which is rather amazing. They were all made independently and Kutiman did a heck of a job mixing them together. Check it out.

S & I spent a long weekend in Chicago where we joined the B fam to celebrate M’s 85th birthday in style. A fab time was had by all (AFAIK) including, most importantly, the guest of honor.

We love the town but hate the weather.

Among other things we caught Travis Haddix at Rosa’s, attended a matinee performance at the 2nd City Improv comedy club, saw cool art at the Art Institute of Chicago, craned our necks at greystones on Logan Blvd, and ate lots of great food. And possibly the coolest thing, gawked and walked underneath the amazing mirror sculpture at Millennium Park.