holidays and salad days and days of moldy mayonnaise
Life gets in the way of blogging. You know how it is. But so does Facebook! Sweet Jesus, that site has been my internet crackpipe lately. I can't help it. It's like a scab I can't stop picking. Sorry, I went a little overboard with the metaphors.
But seriously, I find it so much easier to post YouTube links and periodically update my status than hunkering down and trying to come with a few witty paragraphs over here on the LJ. It's entirely possible that the distance I'm currently keeping from livejournal may become a semi-permanent thing. Who knows. I've said that before.
Stuff I've been into lately...
The Persuasions. Actually, I've known about them for years. Here's the deal: in the late 60's, they were a kick-ass a cappella doo-wop group without a record contract when Frank Zappa (a serious aficionado of the genre) heard them and signed them to his label. They made a series of stunning a cappella records throughout the 70s and beyond and even managed to (posthumously) give Frank a tip of the hat with Frankly A Cappella, a collection of Zappa covers. You haven't lived until you've heard "Electric Aunt Jemima" sung by a bunch of middle aged black guys. I even put their version on a mix disc I made for Liza way back when we first started dating. Perhaps as a way of letting her know what she was getting herself into. Recently I was talking to Dave H about them and he promptly loaned me three of their albums, Sincerely, We Came to Play and Chirpin'. The latter is definitely my favorite. I love the image of these guys entering a recording studio in 1977 - ground zero for disco and platform shoes - and singing Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson covers without the aid of a scrap of accompanying instrumentation.
And speaking of images, Chirpin' possesses one of the most beautiful album covers of all time:
Sorry about the low resolution.
I've also been into spending time with the family. Last Saturday, Liza and I hopped on the commuter rail and headed up to Danvers for a leisurely lunch/dinner thing at Dennis' austere high-rise apartment. Dennis, in case you haven't been keeping track, is the beau of my sister Julie. Karen (my other sister) and her husband Peter were also there. And Dennis' sister Noreen. Oh, it was a time! If only someone was taking pictures...
Here we see Dennis demonstrating a piece of medieval equipment that apparently has some sort of therapeutic value:
Stinky cheese! It's the way to my heart, you know...
My sisters are awesome:
But a gigantic piece of ham is awesome, too:
Dennis is a bit of a wine enthusiast.
The apartment is on the fourteenth floor, and there's a garbage chute, which brought out the teenage troublemaker in all of us. Whenever there was something noisy to throw out, we would venture out to the chute to listen to its glorious din:
Video also exists of this event. To be posted soon.
What else? Oh yeah: Liza and I are hip-deep in The Wire. We just started season four. Forget Facebook,this show is crack. Sometimes for real. Movies? Oh, most definitely. Oscar season is on, baby. Over the last few weeks we've seen Slumdog Millionaire (every bit as awesome as you've heard). Frost/Nixon (quite excellent, and why the hell didn't Michael Sheen get an Oscar nomination?), Revolutionary Road (well-made, rather depressing and definitely raised a few notches by Kate Winslet's performance), Milk (stunning - Penn is spectacular, as is the rest of the cast) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I found so incredibly engaging that I honestly wouldn't mind if it pulls a Best Picture upset on Oscar night (although Slumdog will probably win).
I think you're caught up. Oh, and Christian Bale is a pottymouth. But you already knew that.
But seriously, I find it so much easier to post YouTube links and periodically update my status than hunkering down and trying to come with a few witty paragraphs over here on the LJ. It's entirely possible that the distance I'm currently keeping from livejournal may become a semi-permanent thing. Who knows. I've said that before.
Stuff I've been into lately...
The Persuasions. Actually, I've known about them for years. Here's the deal: in the late 60's, they were a kick-ass a cappella doo-wop group without a record contract when Frank Zappa (a serious aficionado of the genre) heard them and signed them to his label. They made a series of stunning a cappella records throughout the 70s and beyond and even managed to (posthumously) give Frank a tip of the hat with Frankly A Cappella, a collection of Zappa covers. You haven't lived until you've heard "Electric Aunt Jemima" sung by a bunch of middle aged black guys. I even put their version on a mix disc I made for Liza way back when we first started dating. Perhaps as a way of letting her know what she was getting herself into. Recently I was talking to Dave H about them and he promptly loaned me three of their albums, Sincerely, We Came to Play and Chirpin'. The latter is definitely my favorite. I love the image of these guys entering a recording studio in 1977 - ground zero for disco and platform shoes - and singing Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson covers without the aid of a scrap of accompanying instrumentation.
And speaking of images, Chirpin' possesses one of the most beautiful album covers of all time:
Sorry about the low resolution.
I've also been into spending time with the family. Last Saturday, Liza and I hopped on the commuter rail and headed up to Danvers for a leisurely lunch/dinner thing at Dennis' austere high-rise apartment. Dennis, in case you haven't been keeping track, is the beau of my sister Julie. Karen (my other sister) and her husband Peter were also there. And Dennis' sister Noreen. Oh, it was a time! If only someone was taking pictures...
Here we see Dennis demonstrating a piece of medieval equipment that apparently has some sort of therapeutic value:
Stinky cheese! It's the way to my heart, you know...
My sisters are awesome:
But a gigantic piece of ham is awesome, too:
Dennis is a bit of a wine enthusiast.
The apartment is on the fourteenth floor, and there's a garbage chute, which brought out the teenage troublemaker in all of us. Whenever there was something noisy to throw out, we would venture out to the chute to listen to its glorious din:
Video also exists of this event. To be posted soon.
What else? Oh yeah: Liza and I are hip-deep in The Wire. We just started season four. Forget Facebook,this show is crack. Sometimes for real. Movies? Oh, most definitely. Oscar season is on, baby. Over the last few weeks we've seen Slumdog Millionaire (every bit as awesome as you've heard). Frost/Nixon (quite excellent, and why the hell didn't Michael Sheen get an Oscar nomination?), Revolutionary Road (well-made, rather depressing and definitely raised a few notches by Kate Winslet's performance), Milk (stunning - Penn is spectacular, as is the rest of the cast) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I found so incredibly engaging that I honestly wouldn't mind if it pulls a Best Picture upset on Oscar night (although Slumdog will probably win).
I think you're caught up. Oh, and Christian Bale is a pottymouth. But you already knew that.