Lasso
06/15/09 - 06/21/09

1. Northwestern Girls | Say Hi
   
2. A Manner To Act | Ra Ra Riot
   
3. Little Bribes | Death Cab For Cutie
   
4. S.A.D. Light | Glasvegas
   
5. Lasso | Phoenix
   
6. Comin Back | Citizen Cope
   
7. The Last Recluse | The Tragically Hip
   
8. The Great Defector | Bell X1
   
9. Hearts and Minds | matt pond PA
   
10. Anonanimal | Andrew Bird
    
11. Icicle Tusk | Fleet Foxes

Another gem: Lasso by Phoenix. Their new CD just came out and I'm already excited for the next one... though that will probably be a few years from now.

I quickly realized that night photography and boats aren't a winning combination (t least, not when I was on the boat).

The rest of the shots are posted on my flickr photostream.

Different Drums
06/08/09 - 06/14/09

1. Close To Me | The Get Up Kids
         (The Cure)
   
2. Different Drum | The Lemonheads
         (Mike Nesmith)
   
3. Waiting On A Friend | Luna
         (The Rolling Stones)
   
4. Crazy | Dashboard Confessional
         (The Afghan Whigs)
   
5. The Only One I Know | Mark Ronson Feat. Robbie Williams
         (The Charlatans U.K.)
   
6. World Shut Your Mouth | Death Cab For Cutie
         (Julian Cope)
   
7. Float On | Goldspot
         (Modest Mouse)
   
8. Running Up That Hill | Placebo
         (Kate Bush)
   
9. All Mixed Up | Red House Painters
         (The Cars)
   
10. High & Dry | Jamie Cullum
          (Radiohead)
    
11. Happiness Is A Warm Gun | The Breeders
          (The Beatles)

I wasn't exactly what you'd call a Breeders fan. Much of their music just sounded like noise to me... but when they were great, they were great. In fact, I thought their version of 'Happiness' was excellent. 19 years later, I still think so. (Wow, has it really been that long? Yep. Their debut album 'Pod' was released in 1990. Wow again).

Girls Just
06/01/09 - 06/07/09

1. Running To Stand Still | Elbow
         (U2)
   
2. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | Greg Laswell
         (Cindy Lauper)
   
3. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away | Eddie Vedder
         (The Beatles)
   
4. Up To My Neck In You | Mark Kozelek
         (AC/DC)
   
5. Eye In The Sky | Jonatha Brooke
         (Alan Parsons Project)
   
6. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight | Jonna Lee
         (The Postal Service)
   
7. Nothing Compares 2 U | Stereophonics
         (The Family)
   
8. Frank Mills | The Lemonheads
         (from "Hair")
   
9. White Wedding | The Harvey Girls
         (Billy Idol)
   
10. Blasphemous Rumours | Duncan Sheik
          (Depeche Mode)
    
11. Who Can It Be Now? | Colin Hay
          (Men At Work)

Does 'Who Can It Be Now' count as a cover being that Colin Hay was the lead singer from Men At Work? Eh, I don't know, nor do I care. It's a fun song to add to this playlist.

Want to be patriotic? Don't fly a flag. Nobody fought and died for a flag.

People fought and died... people gave their lives...

...for what that flag represents.

Want to do something patriotic today? Park your damn car and walk. Burning middle eastern oil is about as unpatriotic as it gets. You might as well celebrate Memorial Day by burning a flag if you're going to make burning oil part of your Memorial Day festivities.

Think about it.

Here's my birthday in a nutshell: A homemade breakfast, followed by stops at three brewpubs plus rides at the Waterfront Park Rose Festival carnival and roller skating at Oaks Park (which sounds ridiculous but is great fun. It's like being a kid all over again!). And I'm off for some hiking today. Whooo.... I'll be wiped out by the time Tuesday arrives. Hopefully your weekend was fun as well.

Not At All Stripmallesque
05/25/09 - 05/31/09

1. Stripmall Religion | Sam Roberts
   
2. Head Rolls Off | Frightened Rabbit
   
3. Here Goes Something | Nada Surf
   
4. Get Better | Mates Of State
   
5. Innocence | The Airborne Toxic Event
   
6. This Ain't A Surfin' Movie | Minus The Bear
   
7. I Think I'll Be a Good Ghost | Say Hi to Your Mom
   
8. Coffee Girl | The Tragically Hip
   
9. WWXII | The Damnwells
   
10. Airstream Driver | Gomez
    
11. That Green Gentlemen (Things Have Changed) | Panic! At The Disco

I really enjoy 'I Think I'll Be a Good Ghost' by Say Hi to Your Mom. I often find myself scoping out the old houses in NW Portland, wondering which one I should haunt when I die. There are so many great options over there.

On a completely unrelated note... if you haven't picked up a copy of the new Damnwells album yet, you really should... especially since they're giving it away free here.

Toledo
05/18/09 - 05/24/09

1. Side Of The Road | Ben Folds
   
2. Everything's Not Lost | Coldplay
   
3. Summer Skin | Death Cab for Cutie
   
4. It's All Understood | Jack Johnson
   
5. 123 | Josh Rouse
   
6. Ain't Gonna Lose You | Brett Dennen
   
7. Through Toledo | Greg Laswell
   
8. Blow Ins | Bell X1
   
9. When The Levee Breaks | A Perfect Circle
   
10. Are You Still Mad | Alanis Morissette
    
11. Oscillate Wildly | The Smiths

When The Levee Breaks is, as I'm sure you know, a cover. Most think it's originally by Led Zeppelin, but theirs was a cover as well. Thanks, Wikipedia!

...like this:

those horns in my head
05/11/09 - 05/17/09

1. You Are The Best Thing | Ray LaMontagne
   
2. Just | Mark Ronson F. Alex Greenwald
   
3. Give Me An Hour To Clear My Throat | Andrew Paul Woodworth
   
4. Kung Fu Grip Kiss | The Damnwells
   
5. The Curtains are Twitchin' | Bell X1
   
6. Monday | Wilco
   
7. Two Handed Handshake | The Hold Steady
   
8. Never There | Cake
   
9. While You Were Sleeping | Elvis Perkins
   
10. bigfoot | The Weakerthans
    
11. This Trumpet in My Head | Lykke Li
    
12. Bright Pink Bookmark | Frightened Rabbit

Speaking of Cake... when are they going to have a new CD? Answer via wikipedia: This Summer? I hope so.

I bought myself an Apogee Duet two months ago. The Duet is an amazing audio interface for Macs. It costs $500, which might sound like a lot for just a metal volume knob with a pair of inputs and outputs, but the sound you'll get from this thing easily outperforms anything else in its price range and rivals D/A converters costing more than three times as much.

The very first thing I noticed when I plugged in the Duet was that everything sounded... bigger, fuller, deeper, wider... better. Music was more fun to listen to, and I could hear things in the music I've owned for years that I'd never heard before.

Wow!

The second thing I noticed was... "What the heck is that?" It wasn't a hiss. It sounded more like a fax-machine or an old modem, maybe? It was a soft noise coming from my speakers, and it was there at a consistent volume regardless of how loud I turned up or down the volume on my Duet. It bugged me enough that I considered returning the Duet... but when I unplugged it and reverted back to my Mbox2, everything sounded flat, dull and lifeless by comparison. Sure, the noise was gone, but so was so much of the music.

"Awwwwwwe CRAP!"

An evening of Google searching proved that I'd tried just about everything everyone else had tried to fix this issue... and like everyone else, I was coming up empty. In the process of plugging and unplugging, wiring and rewiring, I'd made a mess.

Time to clean up.

And that's when it happened. I unplugged my monitor and the noise disappeared. "What the heck?" Plug it in... there's noise. Unplug it again... it's gone. "Hello ground loop!" Here's the $2 fix: I plugged my cheap computer monitor into a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter, and then into the beefy surge protector I'd previously had it plugged into.

Problem solved!

One last thing: if the Duet's breakout cables really bug you, there is an upgrade option. Check out The Duet Breakout Box.

The frames sat empty for a few weeks. In an effort to inspire myself to start taking photos to fill the frames, I decided to hang them as they are... empty. Ah, but they're not really empty. In each frame sits an advertisement featuring a large portrait of an Angelina Jolie wannabe. Surely, the desire to get three large photos of that bitch off my walls will get my creative juices flowing, right?

I went out for a walk to take pictures on Sunday, but I completely forgot that my frames are hung vertically.

Crap.

I'm declaring the day of my next photo-walk as "Vertical Day". Oh, sure, horizontal can be fun. Lots of fun, in fact... but I need to think vertical, otherwise, that bitch is never coming off of my wall.

I don't know how I decided that she is a bitch, but I have. And she is.

(...bitch.)

I heart flickr.

...that's a shot of the glass along the side of Portland's new Ladd Tower.

Ankle
05/04/09 - 05/10/09

1. Die | Iron & Wine
   
2. Red Right Ankle | The Decemberists
   
3. Down Through | Red House Painters
   
4. Anything (Acoustic) | Third Eye Blind
   
5. This Old Wound | Dashboard Confessional
   
6. January 14th | Gemma Hayes
   
7. Quiet | John Mayer
   
8. Are You The Trash | Mark Eitzel
   
9. All I Need | Audrye Sessions
   
10. Talking Bird (Demo) | Death Cab for Cutie
    
11. Saul Bellow | Sufjan Stevens

Isn't it interesting how Death Cab For Cutie's 'Talking Bird' becomes a different song when it's stripped down? I never really paid attention to the words before... and now that I have, I'm not sure what to think. It's a sweet song... and yet, I feel sorry for that poor bird.

Park Slope
04/27/09 - 05/03/09

1. Morning Moon | The Tragically Hip
   
2. First Light | Matt Pond PA
   
3. There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve... | A.C. Newman
   
4. My Mirror Speaks | Death Cab For Cutie
   
5. Patience | Virgil
   
6. Cry Uncle | Chris Kowanko
   
7. Win Park Slope / Bone Tired | Gomez
   
8. Words & Fire | Sam Roberts
   
9. Fitz & Dizzyspells | Andrew Bird
   
10. Buildings & Mountains | The Republic Tigers
    
11. #3 | Matt Pond PA

The latest release from Matt Pond PA is called The Freeep... because... well... it's a Free EP. That's the link to where you can download it from their site. I wouldn't bother downloading individual songs... just click the link at the bottom of their page to download the whole EP. I really enjoy it.

Dogs And Ponies
04/20/09 - 04/26/09

1. Dogs | Damien Rice
   
2. So Far From Me | Brett Dennen
   
3. Wasted | Angus & Julia Stone
   
4. Masterfade | Andrew Bird
   
5. Betting On Trains | Hem
   
6. Tell Me Again | Ron Sexsmith
   
7. Shade Of A Shadow | Teitur
   
8. Lay Me Down | A Frames
   
9. New Slang | The Shins
   
10. Bed Of Rice | Hank Dogs
    
11. Slow Pony Home | The Weepies

If my heart wasn't such a jungle
Maybe you wouldn't feel so alone
If your her heart wasn't such and ocean
I wouldn't sink like a stone

That's a quote from So Far From Me, by Brett Dennen. It's track #2 in this week's playlist. Definitely check it out. Ooh... and the Angus & Julia Stone song is superb as well. They're both recent finds on eMusic.

Her name is Susan Boyle, and she is the last person you'd expect to see on a reality TV show. YouTube won't allow embedding of this - so here's the link.

I know it's Tax Day... but still... if that doesn't make you smile, nothing will.