Category Archives: Rags

Dear Owen Gleiberman,

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I’m reading your review of “Let the Right One In“, (published in Entertainment Weekly #1018) and wow, I can’t believe how WRONG you got this one. The dude who kills people and drains their blood? He’s neither an actual “serial killer” nor the vampire’s father*. He’s something like her butler, or her servant (or perhaps someone her vampire family entrusted to aid her). He goes out and kills people and drains their blood…TO FEED HER. So she doesn’t go out killing people vampire-style and get caught and say, perhaps, staked in the heart.
Seriously,
I know it was in Swedish, but it wasn’t that hard to understand,
CMS
*Certainly no one I saw it with thinks he’s her ‘father’ and most vampires would acknowledge their ‘father’ as being the one who turned them.

Recommending Random Sampler Singles

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For those three of you who are always asking me for new singles to check out…HERE YA GO.
Paste 39:

  • “Love During Wartime” The Main Drag
  • “Sweet to Mend” Heirloom Projector
  • “Ships” Tyler Ramsey”
  • “Fine Line” Little Big Town
  • “The Story of Benjamin Darling Part 1” State Radio
  • “Coat Check Dream Song” (Live version) Bright Eyes

Paste 40:
  • “California Girls” The Magnetic Fields (another song of theirs is also a favorite this summer)
  • “Gravedigger” Willie Nelson
  • “Shout” De Novo Dahl
  • “Angel” Joe Rathbone
  • “Hot Romance” Parlour Steps
  • “Sing Along” Virginia Coalition (I’ve been loving this song for awhile now)
  • “Ghosts of Goodbye” Ford Turrell
  • “Goodnight” Zox

Paste 41:
  • “The Silence Between Us” Bob Mould
  • “Strawberry Street” Lili Hadyn
  • “Bye Bye Bye” Plants and Animals
  • “Punches” by Collin Herring
  • “Meet Me by the River” Matthew Ryan vs. the Silver State
  • “I Got a Thing for You” Jim Bianco
  • “Changing Your Mind” Bob Schneider
  • “Goodnight Girl” The Nadas
  • “Old Song” AM

Paste 42:
  • “Sing Again” Chris Walla
  • “Buildings & Mountains” The Republic Tigers
  • “Nobody Knows” Keaton Simons
  • “Antarctica” The Weepies
  • “Rebel Side of Heaven” Langhorne Slim
  • “Shooting Star and the Ambulance” Pete Francis
  • “This Girl” Jordan Zevon
  • “I Keep Faith” Billy Bragg
  • “Better Things” South
  • “She Held My Hand” Steven Delopoulos

Paste 43:
  • “Graveyard Girl” M83
  • “Be With Me” Foy Vance
  • “My Only Offer” Mates of State
  • “Get on With It” Val Emmich
  • “Mystery” Ashleigh Flynn
  • “Late Last Night” Robby Hecht
  • “Standing Bird” Love Psychedelico
  • “Jessi Jane” The Whipsaws

And if you need reference points*, we’ve got:
“Right Hand on My Heart” The Whigs …sounds like… Springsteen! “Ghosts of Goodbye” Ford Turrell …sounds like… Ryan Adams! “Bye Bye Bye” Plants and Animals …sounds like… Arcade Fire! Or Ravens & Chimes! “I Got a Thing for You” Jim Bianco …sounds like… Joe Cocker! Or Tom Waits! “Old Song” AM …sounds like… Josh Rouse! “Nobody Knows” Keaton Simons …sounds SASSY like… Jason Mraz! “Open Fire” Sara Mac Band …sounds like… The Dixie Chicks! “Standing Bird” Love Psychedelico …sounds A BIT like… The Dixie Chicks as well! “Jessie Jane” The Whipsaws …sounds like… Lynyrd Skynrd!
* Note that …sounds like… is a very loose term that may mean actually SOUNDS LIKE or may mean rather mean “reminds me (and no one else) of”.

New (to me) Singles from Recent Paste Samplers

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From Paste 37, I’m diggin’:

  • “The National Side” Romantica
  • “I Love You, You Imbecile” Pelle Carlberg
  • “Silver Dreams” Blackie & The Rodeo Kings
  • “Luscious Life” Patrick Watson
  • “Devil May Dance” A.J. Roach
  • “New York Skyline” Giant Bear

If you like Regina Spektor and/or Ingrid Michaelson, try “Unmistakably Love” Stephanie’s ID.
If you like The Fray, try “Swim” Jeremy Larson.
(Old Friends also recommended: “Take Me to the Riot” Stars; “Gone Gone Gone” Robert Plant & Alison Krauss [I can’t listen to their album in one go, but I like it in individual songs].)
From Paste 38, I’m diggin’:
  • “Foundations” Kate Nash
  • “I’ll Follow You Tonight” Anna Terheim
  • “Have to Have Everything” Milton & The Devils Party
  • “The Cornflakes Song” (feat. Glen Phillips) Dick Prall
  • “Days” She Is So Beautiful/She Is So Blonde
  • “Brand New Love” Serena Ryder (minus the Jesus references)

I guess this one must’ve come out before Christmas since it ends with three Holiday songs. Doh. (I like “It Really Is (A Wonderful Life)” Mindy Smith.)
If you like The Fray and/or Five for Fighting, try “Do I Wake or Sleep?” Homer Hiccolm & The Rocketboys and “Wedding Crows” The Josh Davis Band.
If you like the Go-Gos, try “I Call on You” The TrolleyVox
(Old Friends also recommended: “100 Days, 100 Nights” Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings; “The Opposite of Hallelujah” Jens Lekman; “Second Chance” Liam Finn .)

Quoted / Slammed.

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Awesome “put them in their place” quotes from Nick Marino‘s piece on “Thriller”/Michael Jackson in Paste #40:
Not long ago I caught a concert by teenaged R&B star Chris Brown, who is sort of a less charismatic verson of Usher, who is himself a less charismatic version fo Michael Jackson.
Today we’re left with Chris Brown, Usher and Justin Timberlake, whose most famous stage move to date involved ripping the bodice of Michael Jackson’s sister.
[Underlines = emphasis de moi]

Fueling the Celebrity Obsession

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  • KC re-upped my subscription to US Weekly for the new year. (I have to keep track of my celebrity boyfriends somehow!)
  • Whatever you think of her and Tom Cruise’s marriage, the photos of Katie Holmes in the recent InStyle (you know, the one with her on the cover) are gorgeous. Her new hair has been photoed fugly elsewhere but it looks lovely as here, as well as the dresses they put her in.
  • And as for Julia Roberts in Vanity Fair, I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the pictures but I did really enjoy some of the things she said. Seems she’s really just hit a sweet spot where she’s happy and things are great and I loved some of the quotes and ideas she’s thinking about. “I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like.”
  • Julia talks for a moment about Natalie Portman, who herself recently did an InStyle cover/article, which gives a link to a great charity organization, Shoe 4 Africa. I’ll be shipping them my old tennies whenever I buy new ones (shipping info at the link) considering when I buy new ones because the old ones are “too worn out to wear to the gym anymore b/c the support is gone” they are still fine to be “worn” just not to the gym!

Selected Sampler Singles – Paste #36

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New (to me) Songs/Artists I’m Diggin:
“A Sunday Smile” Beirut (1)
“Goes Around” Rockfour
“The Ritz” Office
“Eyes Like a Levee” Johnny Irion (2)
“Snakebit” Mary Gauthier
“Rise” (acoustic) Will Dailey
“You’re a Wolf” Sea Wolf (3)
“Civil Twilight” the Weatherthans
New (4) Songs by Old Friends:
“Scar That Never Heals” Jeremy Fisher (5)
“One Crowded Hour” Augie March (6)
“Time Is a Lion” Joe Henry
from Paste #36.
1-Old news, right? People kept mentioning Beirut to me but I never got
around to checking him out.
2-Wow! Love it!
3-Rambles along, I like how it picks up toward the end.
4-Or new when the magazine came out…months ago! 🙂
5-Got this ages ago from Fuel/Friends. Love it.
6-Australians, picked up an older album of theirs on Mariko’s and my trip.

Self-fulfilling prophecies.

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“I used to write really shitty, gloomy songs about how everything sucked,” he says, “but I realized that everything sucked because I wrote those songs. My music controlled me much more than I controlled my music.”

–Jens Lekman, as interviewed by Austin L. Ray, in Paste #37.

Selected Sampler Singles – Paste #35

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New (to me) Songs/Artists I’m Diggin:
“None Shall Pass” Aesop Rock (1)
“Our Friends Appear Like the Dawn” Bodies of Water (4)
“Beloved” Minnie Driver (5)
“Bad Graces” Diego Sandrin (7)
“One Man” Eulogies
New (2) Songs by Old Friends:
“Car Crash” Matt Nathanson (3)
“Rumors” Josh Ritter (3)
“Trouble” Over the Rhine
“Black Out on White Nights” Sage Francis (6)
“Darlin’ Do Not Fear” Brett Dennen
“Hamoa Beach” (Live) Gomez
from Paste #35.
1-Hmm, I bought this album but not sure I ever listened to it.
2-Or new when the magazine came out…months ago! 🙂
3-I am diggin’ these two big time this year. Lots of great stuff by them out there.
4-Very Polyphonic-Spree feelin’.
5-This song is really kind of surprisingly beautiful.
6-Very atmospheric background. Unusual for rap.
7-Nice and sparse, simple seeming, but pretty unusual lyrics.

Selected Sampler Singles – Paste #34

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New (to me) Songs I’m Diggin:
“The Underdog” Spoon (not new today, but this sampler is where I first heard it)
“White Dove” John Vanderslice
“Put a Penny in the Slow” Fionn Regan (folksy, rolling guitar)
“Better People” Xavier Rudd (oh man this is so reminding me of something but I just can’t quite put my finger on it…)
“Parsons White” Phonograph
“Black Skies for the High & Mighty” Wrinkle Neck Mules (straight up country)
“Postcard from Kentucky” Rocky Votolato
“Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” Mike Farris (can I get a witness?)
“I Believe” Peter Searcy (anthemic)
“If You’re Gonna Leave” Emerson Hart (melancholy)
“Run” Renee Stahl (a little like Eliza Carthy)
Old Friends:
“Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe” Okkervil River
from Paste #34.