http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html iWeb 1.1.2 http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog_files/droppedImage.png http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html 60 http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/D1F24181-91FE-421D-BE3A-2F8C97FFCBFE.html http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/D1F24181-91FE-421D-BE3A-2F8C97FFCBFE.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:15:08 -0700 I suppose we’re all a sucker for something. Raise your hand if you’re the type that buys clothes that never get the tag taken off and sit in your closet till they are no longer in style? Lining up t http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/B8B587C2-DDFC-4E73-BC82-4E8288E0A38D.html http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/B8B587C2-DDFC-4E73-BC82-4E8288E0A38D.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:37:10 -0700 Been down so long, being down don’t bother me. Gonna take all my troubles, drown ‘em in the deep blue sea. In college I majored in Law &amp; Society and minored in irresponsible behavior. In life I 00:00:38 Been down so long, being down don’t bother me. Gonna take all my troubles, drown ‘em in the deep blue sea. In college I majored in Law &amp; Society and minored in irresponsible behavior. In life I Been down so long, being down don’t bother me. Gonna take all my troubles, drown ‘em in the deep blue sea. In college I majored in Law &amp; Society and minored in irresponsible behavior. In life I major in Music Appreciation and minor in Sports Appreciation, with a sub-minor (is there such a thing?) in NBA semicolon Los Angeles Lakers. The day after the MLB All Star Game till the Hall Of Fame game (the first NFL exhibition game of the season), is the “agony of defeat” of Sports Fandom. It’s so bad this week, with only mid-season meaningless baseball, that my favorite television show on the air Pardon The Interruption is taking the entire week off. This for me is akin to the lord almighty deciding to take the week off from spinning the earth on its axis. I walk the dog every night to the PTI podcast; without it the over/under of pounds gained by Rigby and I is 6.5. Take the over. When your minor is on summer break, one has to turn to their major. Thus, Music, I still appreciate thee. As I’ve described previously, my car comes equipped with the ipod integrated system that allows me to listen to a nice chunk of my music library while on the go. Usually I listen to playlists on shuffle, my own little kschnd radio station which is permanently awesome. Recently however I have rediscovered the joys of the Album. Remember those- a collection of songs assembled in an order of intelligence and representing a portrait of an artist at a given time in their career?! Didn’t think so. I’m sure my readership has tossed and turned for many a night in anticipation of the column to the left, outlining my top 100 albums of all time. Who isn’t up at 4AM every night wondering which Zeppelin album is schnd’s favorite? What ranks higher, Murmur or Automatic For The People? And of course, where does Buckner &amp; Garcia’s Pac Man Fever rank?!?! I’ve pointed out previously that at the current rate of these entries I should be wrapping up the countdown sometime during the Chelsea Clinton presidential administration, which had more relevance about 9 months ago. Now by the time I get to #1, Obama will have gotten everyone a better paying job, cured the environment, and gotten the cost of gas down to $2/gallon and lattes at Starbucks down to $2/grande. The other reality is that a top 100 albums list is a fluid process. Albums jockey in and out of position, and I gotta make room for modern classics. From time to time I will adjust the list, and I am going to share some thoughts about certain albums from time to time. Hey it’s not much, but more interesting than the Dodger’s road trip to play the Colorado Rockies. 99. The Jayhawks - Tomorrow The Green Grass The post parental/college abode is such a key era of your life. Such a unique moment of personal lifestyle, adventurous hygene, lack of income, lack of responsibility, free livin L-I-V-I-n’ One of my significant stops on the Slacker Express is when I lived in a big square box of mid-century real estate in the Miracle Mile district AKA 5554 West 9th Street. Ah, the memories...New Years Eve, surrounded by close friends on illicit mindbenders; the time I passed out in my own dirt, drool y vomit (only the second time I have thrown up from alcohol in my illustrious career, the first being October 6, 1990), the time I almost fried my face off with a combustible duraflame log in the fireplace. Music, of course, serves as the soundtrack, the bookmark, the heart n’ soul if you will. Jeff Buckley’s Grace was a constant. Midnight purchase and listeni http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/315A0CF5-03E6-4529-A840-99D38D80CF4A.html http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/315A0CF5-03E6-4529-A840-99D38D80CF4A.html Wed, 9 Jul 2008 17:37:10 -0700 Not sure if you saw this but one of the big summer tours is a co-headline package of <a href="http://www.m5cc.net/">Maroon 5 and Counting Crows</a>. It’s sponsored by a website called <a href="http://nowwhat.com">nowwhat.com</a> which I know nothing about except they 00:00:38 Not sure if you saw this but one of the big summer tours is a co-headline package of Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. It’s sponsored by a website called nowwhat.com which I know nothing about except they Not sure if you saw this but one of the big summer tours is a co-headline package of Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. It’s sponsored by a website called nowwhat.com which I know nothing about except they must be courting people outside of the elusive 18-24 demographic who have no taste in music. I mean, I rocked August And Everything After like a motherfucker back in the day, and in fact it will probably find its way to the column on the left side of this website at some point. But surely your concert dollars can be put to better use. Apologies for calling you Shirley. From our home office in Sherman Oaks, CA, here are the Top 10 proposed names for the Maroon 5/Counting Crows Tour: 10) The "Take Me Out To The Ballpark, Take Me Out With A Shiv” Tour 9) The "I Cant Believe These Woosies Get Laid So Much" Tour 8) "Loozapalooza" 7) "Sex And The City- On Tour" 6) "No Vagina? No Dice! Tour" 5) The “Settling On Mediocrity Tour 2008, Sponsored by American Eagle” 4) "Bonnaloser" 3) The "Hey Honey It's Cool Of You Want To Fantasize That I'm Adam Levine, As Long As I Get A BJ Out Of It" Tour (aka what every dude who takes a date to this show is thinking) 2) "What, Was Matchbox 20 Busy?" 1) "My Dreads Are As Fake As Your Boobies Tour 2008" = As mentioned previously, summer TV is tough. During the non-summer months I rarely need to flip around since there's always a stockpile of TiVo-ed programs on reserve. No longer. The other night I was flipping through the movie channels and came across a movie starring a pre-fame Anne Hathaway as a prostitute getting the business from some Mexican gangbangers. What’s going on here?!- America’s sweetheart is getting screwed by Italian shysters and sleazy Mexicans, and we’re focusing all of our international diplomacy on IRAQ??! I am told the movie is called Havoc, undoubtedly waiting for recognition on AFI’s Top 100 Movies That Depict Stereotypical Latino Images List. A topless Anne Hathaway, that's about as unexpected as the Clippers becoming relevant by signing Baron Davis and re-signing Elton Brand. Whoops. To quote an obvious phrase, they were real, and they were spectacular. Just finished the book Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes, and Hustlers of the Warner Music Group. It chronicles the history of WMG from the insider’s perspective of Stan Cornyn. Interesting book, worth reading if you’re into music biz treatises like Hit Men, Mansion On The Hill. It was originally published in 2003, and the general gist is how for several decades Warner’s was successfully the “artist’s label”, all about the music and establishing a haven for an artist to express themselves without interference from the number crunchers. That all came crashing down in the late 90’s, details of which I won’t go into here, happy to loan you the book if you want to get the details. The thing that struck me most was how much has changed in the 5 years after the book was published. If you read this book in 2003 you would probably conclude, “wow, the music business has really hit rock bottom”, but in the ensuing years the record label business has sunk further than a Mini Cooper in a swimming pool. The music business still has life, but the majors, many of which had a brand identity as powerful as the artists that recorded for them, are struggling to have relevance and monetize their copyrights in the process. I remember when Napster was the main game changer for the business, with 30,000,000 users on that sucker every day. At the time a high profile music manager envisioned a time when recorded music would be merely a promotional http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/BBAA11E6-870A-4738-976C-AC53A45627B8.html http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/BBAA11E6-870A-4738-976C-AC53A45627B8.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:07:32 -0700 There, finally scrubbed off the last bit of grime accumulated from the musical mudpit of glory that is Bonnaroo. I sent some of you VIP schnd’s minders an ongoing eblast diary of all the antics; rath 00:00:38 There, finally scrubbed off the last bit of grime accumulated from the musical mudpit of glory that is Bonnaroo. I sent some of you VIP schnd’s minders an ongoing eblast diary of all the antics; rath There, finally scrubbed off the last bit of grime accumulated from the musical mudpit of glory that is Bonnaroo. I sent some of you VIP schnd’s minders an ongoing eblast diary of all the antics; rather than reiterating all of my ramblings here I will instead re-post my top 10/11 summary of the best moments of the weekend, both music and non-music related: BLOGaroo Epilogue Top 10 non-music related moments 10. Access: we rotated a couple all access passes throughout the weekend. Layers of VIPness is vital, even if dirt does not discriminate. 9. There are a lot of situations where you travel from one stage to another and have to step over people who, no matter the time or how loud it is on stage, are passed out on the ground. Jon took an inadvertent clod hopper to a poor girl's cabeza, sounded like a cantelope droping from a 5 story window. Ow. 8. Mitch sustained a foot injury and for about 8 seconds, contemplated using a broom as a crutch. Brush in armpit, one of many "you had to be there" moments. Meanwhile in the marketplace you can buy a skull topped scepter, would've been a good look for Milt. 7. Good/bad/ugly: we got all versions of weather- beautiful with a breeze, a hard rain a-gonna fall, searing heat, spectacular night, all of it meteorological adventure. 6. Chocolate milk-mud covering Tennessee crabgrass. Combine that with the smell of 60,000 people without proper showering techniques... 5. Speaking of hard rain, the water in an ice cold shower actually hurts. Now I know what prison must feel like. 4. Holiday Rambler, our untrustworthy RV. A power generator shakier than Kate Hepburn performing open heart surgery, close quarters for over 72 hours. Felt like the frat dudes who picked up Borat. 3. No number three- still waitng for Kanye to go on. 2. Women tend to have a knack for accentuating their best features. That tendency goes out the window at a multi-day summer concert festival, to the point that I even saw completely naked ladies with body paint that wouldve been better off with a cardigan. 1. It's really all about the music. Top 11 moments, music related 11. Triumphant entrance to the festival with the Raconteurs on the main stage. Whoa, there's a lotta people here. 10. Death Cab "No Sunlight", last performance I attended. Fitting finale to the trip. 9. Chris Rock, main stage Friday, biggest live comedy performance of all time by the funniest man alive! 8. Rilo Kiley "Breakin' Up" Friday. It feels good to be free. 7. Chromeo, Saturday. A step outside the norm, nothing sounds quite like a 808. 6. Kanye Sux! Same ol' hip hop bullshit, with the set moved from before midnight to 2:45am to...3:15 to...3:45 to...zzzzzzzzzzz... 5. My Morning Jacket's 3 hour opus at midnight Friday night/Sat morning. Make room at the table for these guys. 4. "Ophelia", Levon Helm, like watching rock n' roll history incarnate. 3. Pearl Jam, Saturday. The clear headliner of the weekend with what seemed like 60,000 people bearing witness to classic rock of the '90s. Bonus: two songs I've never seen in all the years I have been going to see PJ- "Who You Are" and "WMA". Robert Plant/Alison Krauss- "Battle For Evermore". Stunning combination, Krauss is the real deal, never estimate seeing a member of Led Zep on the main stage, perfect song to show off their harmonies. 1. I gotta call it like it is- this was the best weekend of musical enjoyment I've ever experienced. How could it not be- here's who I saw in the span of 3 days: The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Rilo Kiley, MIA, Chris Rock, My Morning Jacket, Donovon Frankenreiter, Sharn Jones, Cat Power, Levon Helm, Ivan Neville, Pearl Jam, Chromeo, Sigur Ros, Phil Lesh, Robert Randolph, Jakob Dylan, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, Death Cab For Cutie, and that's just who I remember offhand...even more than that, it's just a very well run, organized, well boo http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/81FF0C1D-450A-42F4-A83E-AE44C47E2FAA.html http://web.mac.com/schnd/iWeb/Site/Blog/81FF0C1D-450A-42F4-A83E-AE44C47E2FAA.html Wed, 4 Jun 2008 18:37:47 -0700 I have a confession to make. Not a “I like to sleep with my right index finger in my ass” or anything that compelling. I confess that after I’ve made my way through airport security (really, is taki 00:00:38 I have a confession to make. Not a “I like to sleep with my right index finger in my ass” or anything that compelling. I confess that after I’ve made my way through airport security (really, is taki I have a confession to make. Not a “I like to sleep with my right index finger in my ass” or anything that compelling. I confess that after I’ve made my way through airport security (really, is taking off my footwear necessary, that shoe bomb schmendrick notwithstanding?!), purchased a snow globe for my kids (my daughter dropped and shattered the one I bought for her a couple weeks ago), eaten a dodgy egg roll from the chinese cart (was that chicken, veggie, pig knuckle!?!) and have gotten on board, I get a giddy and irrational pleasure out of flying on a plane. I am currently multitasking like a motherfucker- by landing I will have watched two Lakers/Celtics Finals from the 80’s via the nifty TV feed on Virgin America, typed most of this entry on my laptop, wolfed down an $11 mayo soaked stale turkey wrap, plus twizzlers, chocolate, peanut M&amp;Ms, diet coke, heineken, and after all that consumption I took down the final 5 episodes from Season 2 of Weeds. I’m heading back from a super quick but productive trip to NYC for meetings, and it was a fantastic 48 hours. I stayed at my brother Erik’s place that serves as his second home, having moved from the city to Vegas over 10 years ago. Great one bedroom in arguably the coolest neighborhood in the coolest city in the world- 73rd and Amsterdam, Upper West Side, just north of where Amsterdam meets Broadway. For a very brief stint, I felt like a resident of New York City, a great feeling as it must be for one of its natives to plant their toes in the sand outside a beach house in Santa Monica. As the Lakers take care of business down the stretch at Boston, winning the championship on the parquet in 1985 (and 2008...??), let’s take care of business here. It wasn’t all work. I ventured out of my new residence, went downtown about twenty blocks to see Rilo Kiley at Terminal 5 with my associates. From the first moments of “Close Call”, it was apparent that frontwoman Jenny Lewis is the truth, and if you’re looking for a reason why this capable and talented quintet has made the jump to headline status as seamlessly as a Magic Johnson No Look Pass, you need look no further than this spitfire of a chanteuse. In truth it’s a no brainer, since it’s impossible to look past her, in all of her strawberry blonde statuesque glory and pure pipes. The entire band could be dressed up in minstrel costumes and it wouldn’t have registered with me. They’re still touring in support of last year’s excellent Under The Blacklight which goes down like hypodermic needle filled with nyquil and liquid pixie sticks, all syrupy and tangy. Some Rilo purists were put off by the album’s new wave sheen that belies hipster cred earned by those who worship Conor Oberst and Ryan Adams. However with old goldies sprinkled in between new slices, the difference in style wasn’t as apparent live. The kids wasted no time, going for “Moneymaker” right after the opener. Jenny danced in a spangled galaxy of camera flashes as she stood at the edge of stage left. The high point came three songs later with my personal fave “Breakin’ Up”. Some times you just gotta say fuck it, put your hands in the air and declare “Ooh, it feels good to be free!” with 3,000 of your fellow city dwellers. Of course I kept my hands to myself but nevertheless it was a cathartic experience. Here’s the complete set list: "Close Call" "The Moneymaker" "Dreamworld" "Capturing Moods" "Breakin' Up" "Does He Love You?" "Ripchord" "Absence of God" "With Arms Outstretched" "Hail to Whatever You Found in the Sunlight That Surrounds You" "It's A Hit" "15" "Silver Lining