from PITCHFORK MEDIA today
Impossible Shapes Side Projects Abound, Reissue Due
Matt Amis reports:
Many a hipster nerd should be well acquainted with the concept of impossible shapes, those crazy optical illusions the teachers handed out to expand your mind during gifted class. There were many variations, like the never-ending block, the Mobius card, and pretty much everything Salvador Dali ever did.
Those same hipster nerds are probably aware of the Impossible Shapes, the band. The Indiana quartet also comes in several incarnations, one of which is Normanoak, solo project of frontman Chris Barth. Barth is currently wrapping up work on his second album under the Normanoak name, due to come out mid-2006 on Secretly Canadian as a follow-up to 2004's Born a Black Diamond.
Normanoak began a fall tour last week along with another solo project, Lord Fyre, (not to be confused with Frye boots), who is Seth Mahern from John Wilkes Booze (a band which in itself contains three Impossible Shapes members). Is your brain teased yet? Dates are what the winter does:
11-29 Ft. Worth, TX - 1919 Hemphill *
11-30 Las Cruces, NM - The Bean*
12-01 Tucson, AZ - ITL Café *
12-02 Pasadena, CA - Occidental College *
12-03 Oakland, CA - Mama Buzz Café *
12-06 Portland, OR - TBA*
12-07 Olympia, WA - Phoenix House *
12-08 Missoula, MT - Crazy Daisy *
12-10 Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis *
12-11 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge *
12-12 Cedar Rapids, IA - The Irish Democrat *
12-13 Moline, IL - Lazer Mansion *
12-14 Indianapolis, IN - The Duplex *
12-16 Bloomington, IN - Green Fuzz Mansion *
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woo how exciting. if you want to come the show starts at 8 in Bird Studio this Friday.
in other news, life is continuing as always. sorry for the insane lack of updates this year. i'm not sure why, i guess LJ just started feeling old, even though i still read everyone elses so i guess that makes me somewhat of a hypocrit. oh well. 2 weeks and 2 days til winter break!!!! i'm so excited. i guess i've really been feeling the "sophmore slump" this year though things aren't entirely bad or anything. just a slump i suppose. i miss having tons of fun randomly and i feel like this year its just more subdued. things haven't been terrible though. i just got back from kentucky and it was actually really nice seeing my family, maybe i'm finally getting old enough to appreciate them? not that they aren't insane (and some quite rude and mean) but still haha. i guess that's how things are with old friends. i constantly am looking back at what i had in the past and seeing that i really should have appreciated it more, but that's the story of my life. i need to learn to live in the present more.
but yes, this year... well i dont really remember how much i've written so far. im living in stewie with genevieve which is so much nicer than braun last year. we have a couch, microwave, fridge and a pretty rug and our room just feels really really homey. i have my car (which im sure ive said) which makes me feel so much happier and freer (sp?). halloween i dressed up as daria and bryan dressed up as pedro from napoleon dynamite, because well, we both kind of look like those people already so it was fun :) genevieve and i went to pasadena the other night and got free 21 choices since it was their customer appreciation day. that was neat even though it was really cold for ice cream. bryan and i also went to the grove finally! ive been wanting to go there for a long time now, so im glad i went. we ate at this amazing greek restaurant that ive been thinking about ever since. yeah i think i like food too much. michelle and i have been watching un-aired (in the US) degrassi episodes for like a month now and it's so wonderous haha. oh degrassi. what will they think of next??? right now i think we're 4 episodes ahead of the US but the one tonight isn't going to be on until june! ha! okay yeah far too excited i know.
so i think im going to go to boston/(maybe) pa over spring break. i havent seen zane in like, fucking 3 years? thats way too long. over break im going to try to work at tower again and hopefully see LJCDS friends a lot because i miss them all. i know it's silly to live in the past ,but i feel like everyone else is making these amazing friends at college and drifting and that makes me sad, cause i liked the way friend groups (at least mine) were in HS (in CA at least) as opposed to college. ohh floundering, i dont like you. i guess im still just trying to find a place here and i feel like im in the middle of a bunch of different things and dont really have a place in any of them. hmm i guess ill figure it out.
Matt Amis reports:
Many a hipster nerd should be well acquainted with the concept of impossible shapes, those crazy optical illusions the teachers handed out to expand your mind during gifted class. There were many variations, like the never-ending block, the Mobius card, and pretty much everything Salvador Dali ever did.
Those same hipster nerds are probably aware of the Impossible Shapes, the band. The Indiana quartet also comes in several incarnations, one of which is Normanoak, solo project of frontman Chris Barth. Barth is currently wrapping up work on his second album under the Normanoak name, due to come out mid-2006 on Secretly Canadian as a follow-up to 2004's Born a Black Diamond.
Normanoak began a fall tour last week along with another solo project, Lord Fyre, (not to be confused with Frye boots), who is Seth Mahern from John Wilkes Booze (a band which in itself contains three Impossible Shapes members). Is your brain teased yet? Dates are what the winter does:
11-29 Ft. Worth, TX - 1919 Hemphill *
11-30 Las Cruces, NM - The Bean*
12-01 Tucson, AZ - ITL Café *
12-02 Pasadena, CA - Occidental College *
12-03 Oakland, CA - Mama Buzz Café *
12-06 Portland, OR - TBA*
12-07 Olympia, WA - Phoenix House *
12-08 Missoula, MT - Crazy Daisy *
12-10 Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis *
12-11 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge *
12-12 Cedar Rapids, IA - The Irish Democrat *
12-13 Moline, IL - Lazer Mansion *
12-14 Indianapolis, IN - The Duplex *
12-16 Bloomington, IN - Green Fuzz Mansion *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
woo how exciting. if you want to come the show starts at 8 in Bird Studio this Friday.
in other news, life is continuing as always. sorry for the insane lack of updates this year. i'm not sure why, i guess LJ just started feeling old, even though i still read everyone elses so i guess that makes me somewhat of a hypocrit. oh well. 2 weeks and 2 days til winter break!!!! i'm so excited. i guess i've really been feeling the "sophmore slump" this year though things aren't entirely bad or anything. just a slump i suppose. i miss having tons of fun randomly and i feel like this year its just more subdued. things haven't been terrible though. i just got back from kentucky and it was actually really nice seeing my family, maybe i'm finally getting old enough to appreciate them? not that they aren't insane (and some quite rude and mean) but still haha. i guess that's how things are with old friends. i constantly am looking back at what i had in the past and seeing that i really should have appreciated it more, but that's the story of my life. i need to learn to live in the present more.
but yes, this year... well i dont really remember how much i've written so far. im living in stewie with genevieve which is so much nicer than braun last year. we have a couch, microwave, fridge and a pretty rug and our room just feels really really homey. i have my car (which im sure ive said) which makes me feel so much happier and freer (sp?). halloween i dressed up as daria and bryan dressed up as pedro from napoleon dynamite, because well, we both kind of look like those people already so it was fun :) genevieve and i went to pasadena the other night and got free 21 choices since it was their customer appreciation day. that was neat even though it was really cold for ice cream. bryan and i also went to the grove finally! ive been wanting to go there for a long time now, so im glad i went. we ate at this amazing greek restaurant that ive been thinking about ever since. yeah i think i like food too much. michelle and i have been watching un-aired (in the US) degrassi episodes for like a month now and it's so wonderous haha. oh degrassi. what will they think of next??? right now i think we're 4 episodes ahead of the US but the one tonight isn't going to be on until june! ha! okay yeah far too excited i know.
so i think im going to go to boston/(maybe) pa over spring break. i havent seen zane in like, fucking 3 years? thats way too long. over break im going to try to work at tower again and hopefully see LJCDS friends a lot because i miss them all. i know it's silly to live in the past ,but i feel like everyone else is making these amazing friends at college and drifting and that makes me sad, cause i liked the way friend groups (at least mine) were in HS (in CA at least) as opposed to college. ohh floundering, i dont like you. i guess im still just trying to find a place here and i feel like im in the middle of a bunch of different things and dont really have a place in any of them. hmm i guess ill figure it out.