Bands I’m Into Hating These Days & More

Cause I’m a cold, hateful bitch. This could be a lot longer I suppose, but my attention span is way too short for that. So here are a few things (records) that have been on my mind lately, for better or worse.

Fijian Scorecard

So much to the dismay of our credit cards, we decided to go gnarly and take our honeymoon in Fiji. And it was rad, of course (and actually, surprisingly cheap). While we were there I started typing up a journal, but then I got sick and lost interest in favor of sleeping and hanging out in the bathroom (maybe I’ll post it later). Here’s the condensed version:

It’s been a month, I should probably catch up.

So the wedding went down, and it was pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. [Shit! What if not everybody watches Curb Your Enthusiasm? Ridiculous, I know- but still possible. Therefore, a translation: "It was totally killer!"]

It looked great (thanks to Dawn and our family/friends), the ceremony was great (thanks to Justin), the food was great (thanks to Cahoots Catering), the music was great (thanks to me, the great de-facto DJ Brett, my musical pals Jason & Justin, and Gabe’s PA system), and the party was great (thanks to our guests). Dawn and I both agreed that the biggest bummer about it being over is not having all our friends in one place- which NEVER, EVER happens, and which we really enjoyed and appreciated. It also kind of seems like we didn’t get to hang out with all the guests enough, but that couldn’t really be avoided, I think.

• So yeah, good times. Here’s a sampling of some pictures the great Jeff Newsom took. SERIOUSLY impressive.
• And here’s our rehearsal dinner. Note that my brothers and I have a boy band called “Just 3 Broz.”
• And lastly, here’s my bachelor party- which was held at a cabin quite literally in the middle of nowhere. You would be surprised how well actors, musicians, scientists and salesmen can shoot- at least when they have grown up in Paso Robles CA.

When I’m Not Planning A Wedding

…I’ve been listening to music.

• Arctic Monkeys- Humbug: Ok, this is a pretty great record. I never liked this band before I heard “Crying Lighting,” and then I come to find out Josh Homme recorded it? Fucking great move, boys. A fucked up reverby desert carnival atmosphere was all this band needed to be able to tickle the balls of greatness. It’s kinda like is Morrissey was a teenager in the 90’s and met Josh and they formed the Arctic Monkeys instead of QOTSA and The Smiths.
• Drive Like Jehu: The more I listen to Jehu, the more I’m convinced they are one of the greatest bands of all time. When I was a sophomore in high school we used to have to do stupid ice breaker brain warm up exercises at the start of class. One was “Give yourself a foreign name and tell us what country you come from.” Having read about them in a magazine out of pure luck I said “I’m Jehu, from Israel.” The teacher made fun of me. Fuck him. Little did I know it would take another 5 or 6 years to again encounter Jehu’s greatness. Check out great live shit here: Do You Compute?
• Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: There are so many things one could hold against Phoenix- they’re French, the singer is Sophia Coppola’s boyfriend, they’re French… But if nothing else, I will go to my grave loving “Lizstomania” and “1901″ (and the rest of the record). Great songs and good novelty-European production (compressors sidechained to the kick drum- I’m looking at you). The record that I will always link with Summer 2009.
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Your Funeral…My Trial: The last of the recently reissued first 4 Bad Seeds records. I’m proud of myself for not buying them all at once and giving them each a chance to soak in. A good cross between piano balladry and noise. And the documentary special features on each cd are great, of course.

Lessons Learned on a Long Late Drive

This is a little late, but whatever.

We went to Megan & Morgan’s wedding about a week ago and, damn, was it fantastic. It’s cool to be a a wedding for once where you know (and are friends with) almost everyone. Their wedding was great and we love them and we can only hope they have as much fun at our as we did at theirs.

Since this was on a Sunday night in Paso Robles, I had to be mellow on the wine intake and bust out a 4 hour drive back home afterwards. “It’s just like when I used to go to shows in LA and get home super late before working the next day. No Problem,” I told Dawn. Well, to everyone’s disappointment, I am not entirely still my young, dashing self.
For some reason I/We thought a Taco Bell meal and some Frappuccinos would be beneficial to keeping me awake as long as possible. Luckily, we were right- but only because the combo of midnight-on-a-sunday Santa Maria Taco Bell and gas station bottled coffee drink was absolutely horrible. I mean, I didn’t drink them concurrently, but jeeeeeeesus… Disgusting. I have no idea how people can drink those Starbucks things. I couldn’t find one redeeming quality.

I was so happy to get some natural food in me the next day at lunch.

Oh, hey blog! What’s up?

Yeah, it’s been a while. Not much going on ’round these parts. Heatwaves, fires, power outages, humidity… typical Southern California late summertime action. I’m contemplating growing a pre-wedding beard, but A)I look like a child molester when I have even the slightest semblance of facial hair, and 2)Dawn might kick my ass. Either way, my hair will be pretty long in the weeks leading up to the wedding, as my haircut schedule doesn’t match up to my marriage schedule. I refuse to get 2 haircuts in less than a month.

Regarding: Pitchfork Top 500

Make no mistake- I think Pitchfork is the most pretentiously douchey (music) publication that has ever existed. But that doesn’t stop me from hate-reading it daily and, even occasionally agreeing with their opinions. This has been especially true over the last several months- Phoenix, Sunn O))), Dinosaur Jr., Mos Def, Isis, Japandroids, and Bat For Lashes have all received their “Best New Music” certification (admittedly, anyone should think these are excellent records, BECAUSE THEY ARE. So it’s not like I’m applauding Pitchfork’s ability to not avoid the fish filling it’s barrel to the brim).

Sometimes Things Can Be Very Easily Explained

I’ve always thought Rock Band/Guitar Hero were mildly entertaining, but I never put much stock into them- and I would most certainly never purchase one. I am after all, ahem, A Real Musician (that was slightly sarcastic, though I am a pretentious asshole as well). My feelings towards “fake music” games were further pushed into the gray with the announcement of The Beatles- Rock Band. Luckily we (actually “I”) have Kiri Brown, apparently the person with The Worlds Greatest Job* to explain one of the reasons I (and others, jeez) tend to act like such an asshole towards players of these games- and it’s actually pretty fascinating.

My Favorite Website Ever?

I can no longer doubt the validity of Tumblr.

I like this website so much I didn’t want to just twitter it: Fuck Yeah, T-Shirts

Hypertext Is For Linking, Of Course.

1. I’ve known Bryan since preschool, where we were in a gang together. That is not a joke.  I think we were called The Cobras and had customized camouflage t-shirts to back it up. I spent a lot of time at his house as a child- playing Excitebike, building Legos and practicing archery. Now he’s a globe-trotting creative, and I suggest you check out his burgeoning internet empire.
   Bryan’s Blog
   Bryan’s Tumblr
   Bryan’s FFFFound
   Bryan’s Flickr