SACK UP!!!

12.16.09
3:35pm

I'm going to try saying that a lot more often.
It's just so great to yell that in someone's face for little or no reason.
"Sack up!!"
Lovely.

Christmas is a' comin'!!!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

I have an audition tomorrow morning that requires me to be a pirate.
Not a Pirate of the Caribbean or a Butt Pirate or a Pirate of the Hershey Highway, just a regular pirate.
But that is fucking awesome.
On screen, baby.
This is going to be a shit load of fun.
They require "an excellent pirate accent".
Done and done.
Arrrrr.....

Last week, The Onion put out their "Best Music of 2009" issue with their top 20 albums of 2009...get it?
As I enjoy much of the Onion, I downloaded four selections: Andrew Bird's "Noble Beast" (haven't gotten too far into it, but I do enjoy his stuff), Neko Case's "Middle Cyclone" (although I like the album, I'm really only into her mucho when she's with The New Pornographers; yet, strangely, I really can't get into A.C. Newman's solo stuff), The Antlers' "Hospice" (a dark, thick concept album which would be better if I had the lyrics in front of me) and "Actor" by St. Vincent (which is excellent and has been on my headphones since I got it).
This woman, Annie Clark, was with Polyphonic Spree and some other band of that ilk and then put out her own album in 2007 called "Marry Me".
In 2009, she did "Actor".
I've been listening to her first one and it's all right, but not as solid as "Actor".
You should check her out.
She's kind of ethereal yet classic with really great instrumentation and programming.
The Onion mentioned Kate Bush in the write-up, but I don't like Kate Bush, so I suppose they were just commenting on the eccentric feel of St. Vincent.
I think I might stop checking out the older stuff from bands I get into.
Walkmen, Charlotte Gainsbourg and St. Vincent are just three of the host of bands whose earlier stuff is not as great as their latest or later work.
Or so think I.
And this album that everyone seems to be squirting over for best of the year, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" by Phoenix?
Man, I tried and I might try again, but I just don't get it.
Their voices are so whiny...

Also, somehow, the new Eels, "End Times", leaked a month early.
You know you're getting popular when your album leaks a fucking month before the release date.
I've only gone through it all at once one time, but I was mistaken about E pulling a fast one like he did with "Hombre Lobo".
See, before "Hombre Lobo" came out, he released "Fresh Blood" as a single.
It was the only song on the album that sounded ANYTHING like it, all programmed drums, synths, etc., the rest was very stripped down with seldom more than three other instruments, usually guitar, bass and drums and I thought that maybe E was going to do the same switcheroo thing by releasing "Little Bird", a SUPER stripped down song, as the first single from "End Times" and then surprise fans with a thick, rich, layered album to follow.
That is not the case.
It's not as stripped down as "Hombre Lobo", but it's no "Souljacker".
In the pre-release write-ups, some people have been saying that this is the new Electro-Shock Blues and some have been saying this is the "after" to Lobo's "before".
As far as the subject matter, it is absolutely the latter.
Musically, it's a lot more like "Daises of the Galaxy" then anything else E's ever done.
Sadly, there's not a whole lot of innovation in either the music or the depth of his lyrics, but it isn't horrible.
Daises wasn't my favorite when it came out, but now I enjoy just as much as his other stuff, so we'll see.
Even Lobo, which I didn't really dig, sounds better with time.
It'll be interesting to see of the general public suddenly like Eels now because of this album.
Guess we'll see in January....

And finally, I just got my first $100 haircut at a place on Ludlow called Pumps & Pinups.
Apparently, I need to add some sort of gelid muck to my hair to recreate the effect.
That's probably not going to happen.
I just may be the laziest actor I know.