The Zen Arcade

Geekery and growers

There are some bands out there (as well as other genres, artists, writers, etc.) that I've always felt like I should be into, but I just don't know where to start.  I've always called it the Guided By Voices Problem.

Hearing my cries, the Onion's AV Club started an excellent feature a while back called Gateways to Geekery, in which they help the layman find his way into various geeky obsessions.  And this week, they in fact did Guided By Voices.  (Others I've enjoyed: Steampunk, West Coast G-Funk, David Foster Wallace.  And since I know several Stephen King obsessives read me on LJ, feel free to share your opinion with the world.)

The problem with GBV (and even moreso with Pollard's solo ventures) is that even the most forgiving fan admits that his oeuvre is a sea of shit with islands of brilliance.  And the brilliant moments take some time to reveal their brilliance.  As a friend pointed out in an email earlier this week, there's just too much music out there these days; I can't remember the last time I gave an album a chance to grow on me.

Wait, yes I can--it was the Hold Steady's Separation Sunday.  I listened to it here and there for months before it finally clicked with me, and as you've probably read, I've been obsessed ever since.  So maybe I need to make an effort to let some more growers grow.

Zen Arcade 7/21/09: The Playlist!

The Steps	Cold Floors
Drive-By Truckers	A Ghost to Most
Drive-By Truckers	Space City
Son Volt	Down to the Wire
Magnolia Electric Company	Josephine
Bibio	Ambivalence Avenue
Bibio	Lover's Carvings
Starlight Mints	Paralyzed
Lights	Heavy Drops
Bowerbirds	Northern Lights
Bowerbirds	Teeth
Wye Oak	Take It In
Wheat	HOTT
Wheat	Changes Is
The Skygreen Leopards	Dixie Cups in the Dead Grass
Oneida	I Will Haunt You
The Silent Years	Taking Drugs At The Amusement Park
Patterson Hood	Murdering Oscar
Patterson Hood	Pollyanna
Neko Case	People Got A Lotta Nerve
Neko Case	Middle Cyclone
Animal Collective	My Girls
Animal Collective	Summertime Clothes
Decemberists	The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid
Beastie Boys ft. Nas	Too Many Rappers
Moby	Shot in the Back of the Head
Moby	Study War
Tortoise	High Class Slim Came Floatin' In
Tortoise	Gigantes
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	Everything With You
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	Come Saturday
Grizzly Bear	Two Weeks
Wilco	Bull Black Nova
Phoenix	Lisztomania
Phoenix	1901
The Rural Alberta Advantage	In The Summertime

Grilled Salmon with Gremolata recipe from What's Cookin' Now!

Here's Jenny's recipe for Gremolata, from July's What's Cookin' Now!

Grilled Pizza recipe from What's Cookin' Now!

This was a little long to post as a note in the Facebook group, so I'm posting the recipe here for my Grilled Pizza from What's Cookin' Now!

Zen Arcade 7/21: A Midsummer Night's Rock

On the next Zen Arcade (7/21): new stuff from Tortoise, Son Volt, Moby, jj, and plenty of others.  Also, I'll take a look back at the Forecastle Festival that rocked downtown Louisville (and a bunch of unsuspecting Presbyterian ladies) last weekend.

7-10 PM
88.7 WMMT-FM, Whitesburg, KY
http://www.wmmtfm.org

Don't miss it!

The Eagle Has Landed

In honor of the 40th anniversary... (Warning: NSFW)

Randomness from Forecastle

• We all had the same sensation as we got packed for Forecastle: we had to keep reminding ourselves that we weren't camping.  We'd find ourselves thinking about sleeping bags and sun showers before remembering that we're staying at the Galt House.
• Also staying at the Galt House this weekend, along with the hippie drug orgy and the 8th Armored Division: the Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women.  It's fun to ride in the elevators, especially when you get a bunch of especially uptight church ladies on the same ride an especially pungent Wookiee or two.
• On the bright side, it's good that they scheduled the 8th Armored and the Presbyterian women at the same time--otherwise it could have been a real sausage fest for the over-60 crowd.  Now the old veterans have a shot.
• An interesting thing about Forecastle that I didn't notice until last night: there's no soda for sale anywhere.  Usually either Coke or Pepsi semi-sponsors these things, but I guess in keeping with the activist spirit they decided to forego it.  The best beverage I've had was at one of the natural food booths: watermelon sage iced tea.
• Tickets for the fest are $100, and VIP tickets are $200 (for the whole weekend).  The VIP area is pretty cool, and would probably be a good place to chill out if you weren't staying on the premesis.  There's a VIP viewing area that's covered up.  They also have a place selling beer and cocktails for $3 instead of $5 and $6 respectively, so if you drank 50 beers or 34 cocktails over the course of the weekend it would come out in your favor.
• I'm down the street having breakfast, but I just got a text from one of my peeps: apparently at 9AM someone set off a smoke bomb on the 22nd floor of the Galt House, and they had to clear the place.  Who the hell sets off a smoke bomb at 9AM?  3AM I could see--you're drunk, you're high, it seems like a good idea.  But 9AM?  I blame those 8th Armored Division guys.  "Fuck you, hippies!"
  

Hello from Forecastle!

I'm somewhere in the bowels of the Galt House, waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive.  No problems with registration, though they led me down the hall to a meeting that it took me far too long to figure out I wasn't supposed to be in.  (Long couple of weeks.  Brain not quite working.)

Next door to registration for the hippie festival is registration for some sort of reunion of the 8th Armored Division.  What could possibly go wrong?

Tonight: Cage the Elephant, Zappa Plays Zappa, and the Black Keys.

Stay tuned for updates and photos all weekend!

Zen Arcade 7/7/09: Forecastle!

Tonight (7/7) on The Zen Arcade: I'll preview this weekend's Forecastle Music Festival in Louisville, featuring Widespread Panic, the Black Crowes, the Black Keys, the Avett Brothers, and much much more! Also new stuff from Son Volt, the Bowerbirds, Patterson Hood, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Discovery, and whatever else I find between now and then.

7-10PM, 88.7 WMMT-FM.  Stream it at http://www.wmmtfm.org

New show: What's Cookin' Now!

Tune in to WMMT-FM on July 1 from 6-7PM for the triumphant return of What's Cookin' Now!

What's Cookin' Now! is the world's only LIVE radio cooking show (that we know of).  It was a long-running segment of WMMT's Mountain Talk, with a variety of hosts over the years. I was the host for two of the last episodes way back in 2006, but we've not been able to get it off the ground since then.

Joining me in the resurrection are two voices well-known to WMMT fans: Jenny Williams, who hosted WCN! in its earlier days, and Tricia Watts, better known as Loose Lucy from the Spaceship of Fools. Together we'll explore the world of food from the simple to the complex, and from the backyard garden to the other side of the world.

Coming up on Wednesday, July 1: we celebrate the summer by lighting a fire and cooking in the great outdoors! But we're not just doing burgers and dogs; Tricia will show us a delicious and easy Thai beef salad, Jenny will show us the secrets of grilled salmon, and I will demonstrate the ultimate in stunt grilling: grilled pizza.

Stream it from 6-7PM at http://www.wmmtfm.org