"I got more records than the KGB"

"What the hell is that fat bastard writing about us this time?. I wish we could read."

This song is, in the parlance of the day, "so last year" but I can not stop playing it. It's an Adrock remix so a little different. The original version caught my ear because it's laid over top of one of my favorite Joe Strummer tunes, "Straight to Hell". That and the gunfire chorus.

M.I.A- Paper Planes (Remix for the Children by Adrock)

All the hipsters nod your heads and tap your feet. And at the end laugh cynically like college radio DJ's at UConn in the 90's mocking the non Fugazi fans. You get the picture.

Let's Dance to Joy Division-The Wombats

I love cover songs. This one goes out to The Dude. He abides.

"Friends of P"-Tokyo Police Club

"Let us read then, you and I..."

The unlikely mashup of T.S. Eliot and Portishead from The Elegant Variation.

To go along with the clip, Oprah's Magazine has a list of 5 Books Everyone Should Read At Least Once:

1) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

2) Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

3) The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century translated by Thomas Merton

4) Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

5) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

I would include Lolita for my Top 5 but the rest are fairly arbitrary which I suppose is the nature of lists. I might swap out Eliot with Whitman. Have to think about it some more. It depends on the list requirements and or qualifications too. Does there have to be a play? A poet? Non-fiction? Too many variables. Discuss amongst yourselves. Suggestions welcome. As our subject nouns.

The Wedding

Rainbow over Bushwood aka Fox Run C.C. in West Branch after the hail and thunderstorm.



The groom and his merry men.



Some of the ladies.



The usual suspects...



The sister and sister-in-law of the groom. (I was forced to retake this shot as they felt there was not enough cleavage in the first take.)



The Master making time.



The jacket is older than Ted. The women are decidedly not.

The rest of the pictures are online below.

Wedding

The Birth of Cool

Check this out from the library recently. Review here. And here.
New stamps this week celebrating two of the main influences in the above book.


I just got the most recent issue of Paste. My next new song of is from the cd sampler from a couple of issues back that I thought fits this mid century modern theme.

The Republic Tigers - Building & Mountains

The Boys of Summer

Peter Gammons "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Check out his label and charity, Hot Stove Cool Music. Also see Fenway Recordings compilations of Boston locals.

If it wasn't for the Boston Red Sox winning a couple of World Series in the past 4 years I would never have been able to read Bradley's book featured at right. If not for the two championships reading this book would be like slowing peeling off a scab had healed and been covered with larger injuries (I still don't think I could read anything about the Sox's 1986 loss to the Mets). That said the book is an excellent history of the season and history and how the teams ended up in a one game playoff after the end of regular season in 1978.

I was 11 years old and had been living in Connecticut for around a year and half. There were only two baseball teams. People rooted for the hated Yankees or the Red Sox and in our part of New England it was the Red Sox. Yankee fans were transplants or band wagoners from the 1977 season. The Greatest Game evokes this era of baseball before skyrocketing salaries and players changing teams like underwear due to free agency. It brings back all of the minor role players in the days where kids like us knew them all because we had their baseball cards. This book is similar to the format of the wonderful recent biography of Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy in which chapters alternate between description of the game and the background leading up to it. The first names say it it all: Reggie, Carlton, Billy, Catfish, Goose, Yaz, Thurman, etc...etc...etc...

Yesterday the music blog Aquarium Drunkard had a post about the recent release of the The Baseball Project from Yep Roc Records. Apparently this might be an extended project since its subtitled Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. I would never pass up an opportunity to listen at least once to a record that has the "Ted F*cking Williams" on it. That track and another are available at the end of the post I mentioned above. Anyway I am so ready to go see a major league game. Let's play two.

"The Door into Summer"

No Boat by Christoph Vandewiele

Wired has had several photo contests recently. This is one of their Top 10 summer photo ones as chosen by the editors (I assume it could be a group of monkeys for all I know). There was also a reader's poll version. They just started a new theme one about squares and are still taking submissions.

I had very good time at friend's wedding this weekend and I will upload some photos when I get a chance too. The title of this post is from a novel by Robert Heinlein in which the protagonist's cat makes his owner open up every door in the house during winter to try and find the door that leads into summer. For me the door into summer this year is this song:

Five Years Time-Noah and The Whale

Enjoy!

Purple Headed Womb Ferret

The last post was a bit of a downer so though I would go out having a laugh with a clip from the first episode of Extras with special guest star Kate Winslet.

High Water Mark Yet to Come

Flooding on the Iowa River at the Park Road bridge in Iowa City, Iowa, on June 12, 2008 (Press-citizen / Dan Williamson)

I just saw these numbers on the Press-Citizen's website.

Iowa River
• Current: 27.43 feet.
• Flood stage: 22 feet.
• Forecast: 33 feet by next week.

Have a safe weekend.

'You're nothing but a pack of cards!'

First viewed over at Hello Vegetables. The accompanying track for video was composed by 19-year-old South African artist Nick Bertke using sounds from the Disney film Alice In Wonderland.

The Iowa City wedding of the year is tomorrow as a close friend and favorite publican is finally getting married. Should be the social event of the season for those who are not flooded out of their homes or trapped behind closed bridges or washed out roads.

The Big Picture

South Korean protesters carrying candles are blocked by police buses during a rally against US beef imports in Seoul on June 1, 2008. (KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images)

This blog does not do the picture justice unless you click on it to blow it up. The Boston Globe has a fairly new site with some excellent news pictures. It's called The Big Picture.

I first heard of this over at Photojojo

"Of moving accidents by flood and field."

City Park, Iowa City. Photo from Iowa City Press Citizen.

This is the worst flood I have ever seen but I was not here in 1993 so I can't say how it compares to then. You can see the outdoor theater at the top of the picture surrounded by water which has forced a temporary relocation to City High for this summer's Shakespeare Festival. Thankfully our place is on higher ground.

UPDATE: Not to make light of other people's misfortune but it does remind me of the The Onion headline, "Johnny Cash Called in to Assess Flood." I could not find a link for that so how about this instead:

"...Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, Of cabbages and kings..."

My goal this weekend in addition to making a summer book reading post is to try and make this dish. That is only if I can find some decent cherry tomatoes at the Farmer's market although I fear it is too early in the season. I can always improvise. The Pesto Bread side is a must for soaking up the clam juices.

I know a ton of people have covered this song but I like the keyboards on this. Enjoy the weekend. My book post

Love Song- Death Cab for Cutie (Cure cover)

Shakedown Street

Are these worse than the Kurt Cobain Chucks? Perhaps not but it still feels like I threw up in my mouth a little bit. I have to admit I do own a couple of Jerry Garcia ties but at least the man was still alive and ostensibly designing them himself at the time. The new line of Converse reminds me of a line of sporting goods that were licensed in Ernest Hemingway's name including shotguns. Perhaps Remington can get in on this with a line of 20 gauges in Cobain's name.

Summer Reading Quick Hits

(Watch Hill, Rhode Island. One of my favorite places for summer reading.)

As I mentioned recently I was going to talk about summer books. Last Sunday the NY Times went ahead and put out there summer reading issues of its Book Review. This is just a brief attempt while I compose my masterpiece.

In an essay in this section Joe Queenan talks about reading the big ones in "Jumbo Lit" including one (Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities) that has haunted my shelf unread for several years and taunting me to conquer it.

David Sedaris has a new book of essays coming out this week. This has to jump to the top 10 of any summer reading list. I remember going camping with some friends and taking turns reading some of his pieces by the fire and attempting not to choke on a Smore or snort beer out your nose. There is an excerpt from his collection When You Are Engulfed in Flames at the publisher's website here.

UPDATES: Added some more links to Music and Words.