"I know so many people who think they can do it alone.."

..They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zones"

"Now how can I come on
And tell them the way that they live could be better"
-The Beach Boys 'I Know There's An Answer"

Bill Callahan's favorite Beach Boys song. With good reason. A polemic against the death of youth and light. Certainly one of the most genuinely hopeful tunes from my sixties library. It exists in my mind as a kind of broad existential counterpoint to Radiohead's 'Let Down'. A song which also speaks to the broadly disaffected masses of people caught in cycles of depredation (who knows maybe I'm one of them) The difference of course between the two songs is in attitude. Wilson boldly and perhaps naively asserts that he knows (with almost religious fervor) that there is an answer to the apathy and unhappiness around him, Thom Yorke to contrast achieves catharsis through fantasy: "Someday I am going to grow wings, A chemical reaction" and commenting on the futility of this hope for escape "Hysterical and useless, hysterical and useless"

Another lyric from the song that always does me in: "They trip through there days, and waste all their thoughts at night" and certainly for A time as I have not been blogging or up late talking and actually connecting with the friends I have around me has seemed a damning indictment. But times are changing. The lyric reminds me also of the refrain from 'Put the book back on the shelf':

"you're always looking for a sign , but boy you blow it every time, you hear a voice begin to speak, you ignore it and go softly to sleep"
The kind of lyric that keeps you up late, burning your toes a little bit.

Comments on this show... A bit awkward in some of the selection at first. The pairing were not as ideal as I like to keep things. I've been meaning to to a more definitive and chronologically diverse Dream-pop set, and there are some sketches of it in the past few shows. There's a lot of just fun silly pop and rock tracks, which feel suited for summer. Look forward to more of that and a MIX CD WITH ART COLLABORATION FROM HONOLULU VISUAL ARTISTS in the coming weeks.

and tomorrow, a few album recommendations/reviews and cute videos. Stay tuned.

PLAYLIST FOR 7-2-08


Explosions In The Sky- Yasmin The Light
Radiohead- Backdrifting
Cut Copy- Hearts On Fire
Dirty On Purpose- Like Bees
Bjork- Coccoon
Concretes- Sugar
Beta Band- Human Being
Stone Roses- Sally Cinnamon
The Virgins- Rich Girls
Supergrass- Diamond Hoo Ha Man
----mistake----
Black Kids- I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
Futureheads- Hard To Bear
Morning Benders- Damnit Anna
Metric- Raw Sugar
Broadcast- Come On Let's Go
The Foals- Balloons
Stars- Elevator Love Letter
My Bloody Valentine- Sometimes
Slowdive- Some Velvet Morning
The Notwist- Good Lies
Softlightes- Microwave song
Helio Sequence- Broken Afternoon
Cat Power- Wild is the wind
Fleet Foxes- Blue Ridge Mountains
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci- Stood On Gold
Sondre Lerche- Don't Be Shallow
Camera Obscura- Red Red Rose
Destroyer- Painter In My Pocket
Pete and the Pirates- Moving
Clinic- Free Not Free
Stereolab- Three Women
The Ladybug Transistor- Echoes
Fleet Foxes- Quiet Houses
Circulatory System- Yesterday's World
Born Ruffians- Badonkadonkey
The Little Ones- Unlock the Door
Botticellis- The Reviewer
The Kinks- Startstruck
Beatles- Good Day Sunshine
Beach Boys- I Know There's An Answer
Francoise Hardy- La Fille Avec Toi
Minders- Golden Street
King of Prussia- Spain In The Summertime
Flaming Lips- She Don't Use Jelly
Gin Blossoms- Till I Hear It From You --Yikes
Exploding Hearts- Throwaway Style
Destroyer- Watercolors Into The Ocean

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"Can You Believe I'm alive after all that.."

..picking panties off the floor with my cold cold hands."

My hands have been very cold in the mornings. The air-conditioning at my place is very effective and bringing out a morning chill. As for the other part of the lyric, I'll leave you make your assumptions. NEXT DOOR is on a very temporary hiatus and all of my close friends have vanished to bold new futures of visionary excitement and self-redefinition, or at least to new girlfriends and work schedules that keep them pre-occupied. Such is the way with summers in Honolulu..

And far be it from me to be while away hours forlorn at the decimation of my inner circle of friends. I once sported T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "KILL YOUR FRIENDS, MAKE YOURSELF ANEW".. though joking at the high school friends I was leaving behind ot lives of idle misery and progressive alcohol and perscription drug dependencies. the slogan does have an uncomfortable truth to it.

Friends though marvelous in their supports and their abilities to invest even the most horrid and mundane tasks (cooking, eating food, sitting around, dancing at 80's night) with some semblance of joy and meaning, have a nasty habit. The habit of trying to make the person you are whne you hang out with them permanent. To hold you to being that one things that you are to them.

Sometimes, it is good to be allowed to be something fresh, something new.

That said, do call me up and harass me because in a scant few weeks I will not doubt be so cripped be desperate lonliness I will not be able to raise myself from bed. Except of course for the purpose of playing unbelievably sad music on the radio and making you all suffer through it with me.

;)

PLAYLIST FOR 6-25-08

Apples In Stereo- Pine Away
Fleet Foxes- Ragged Wood
Neko Case- Soulful Shade Of Blue
Oakley Hall- Rue the Blues
Silver Jews- Monsters
Band Of Horses- Great Salt Lake
Destroyer- My Favorite Year
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- Over and over
Born Ruffians- Badonkadonkey
Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin- Modern Mystery
Softlightes- A Town Named Blue
Saturday Looks Good To Me- Underwater Heartbeat
Botticellis- Old Home Movies
Ladybug Transistor- Perfect for Shattering
Concretes- Sunbeams
The Little Ones- Unlock The Door
Calexico- Alone Again /Or
King of Prussia- Terrarium
Fleet Foxes- He Doesn't Know Why
M. Ward- Outta My Head
Rogue Wave- Lake Michigan
Midlake- It Covers The Hillside
Camera Obscura- Anti-Western
All Girl Summer Fun Band- Ticking Time Bomb
Dressy Bessy- This May Hurt A Little
Imperial Teen- Yoo Hoo
Supergrass- Diamond Hoo Ha Man
Spoon- Rhythm and Soul
The Dandy Warhols- Cool Scene
Spacehog- Cruel To Be Kind
Pete and the Pirates- Mr. Understanding
MGMT- Electric Feel
Pulp- Party Hard
Cut Copy- Feel The Love
Shout Out Louds- Shut Your Eyes
Bella- Stay Here
Santogold- You'll Find A Way
T.Rex- Twentieth Century Boy
Tangiers- Thousand Hands
Supergrass- Rebel In You
Belle & Sebastian- We Are The Sleepyheads
Tapes N' Tapes- Lines
Fleet Foxes- Oliver James
Nick Drake- Time Has Told Me
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy- So Everyone
Clinic- Free Not Free
El Perro Del Mar- How Could We Forget
Stereolab- Anonymous Collective
Vampire Weekend- Bryn
Destroyer- Watercolors Into The Ocean

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"And when, when I picture you.. "

"..there upon your wall, forever in my view, ses monuments, all the places I will never go with you."

A warm sadness moved slightly in my stomach and then across my face as I looked at the vista splayed out from Sacre Coeur. A City stretched out glistening as a spring rain. The injustice of being there and without her... was striking. But exactly to whom injustice was done by this I have to admit was lost on me. Surely I must have felt cheated for her absence, and yet in no small part vindicated. I had made my way here and she had fallen by the wayside. An echo of a memory of a scratched up record. So I decided to build her from memory and place her there next to me. Her hair moving the way it had its tendency to. Her smirk and idle wit and condecension wreathed about my ersatz copine. Always to my right, always joking. When the time came to leave, she walked the other way.

So be it.. and so was the show. Friends recovering from surgery, friends preparing to leave, and at the center of it all of course my indomitable libido.

Summer Pop sets and and some more upbeat Alt Country will be fixtures all this summer. More guests and interviews. And the best indie show on KTUH. Stay tuned and welcome to the new blog.

PLAYLIST FOR 6/18/08

Belle & Sebastian- State I Am In
Fleet Foxes- Quiet Houses
The Doves- Black and White Town
Phoenix- It's Never Been Like That
Supergrass- Diamond Hoo Ha Man
The Girls- She's Hysterical
Guns of Detroit- Apocalypse Later
Black Keys- Strange Times
Futureheads- Radio Heart
Be Your Own Pet- Zombie Graveyard Party!
Pete and the Pirates- Dry Wing
Exploding Hearts- Sleeping Aides and Razor Blades
Dressy Bessy- Girl You Shout
Little Ones- Lovers Who Uncover (Bass Remix)
Born Ruffians- Hummingbird
Botticellis- The Reviewer
Kelly Stoltz- Morning Sun
Fleet Foxes- Ragged Wood
Ladybug Transistor- The Swimmer
M.Ward- Undertaker
Sondre Lerche- Track You Down
Iron & Wine- Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car
Sea Wolf- Ses Monuments
The Kinks- Do You Remember Walter?
Televion Personalities- The World of Pauline Lewis
The Bees- Who Cares What The Question Is?
Tapes N' Tapes- Headshock
My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges
Supergrass- Rebel In You
Orange Juice- Rip It Up
Bella- Give It A Night
The Golden Dogs- Run Outta Luck
MGMT- Electric Feel
M83- Kim And Jessie
Stereolab- Three Women
Broadcast- City In Progress
The Foals- Olympic Airways
The Caesars- Soulchaser
Pete and the Pirates- Come On Feet
New Pornographers- To Wild Homes
Helio Sequence- Hallelujah
The Stone Roses- I Wanna Be Adored
Fleet Foxes- White Winter Hymnal
The Broken West- So It Goes
Born Ruffians- Little Garcon
Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Jens Lekman- Postcard to Nina
Gene Pitney- A Town Without Pity
PAS/CAL- I Wanna Take You Out In Your Holiday Sweater
Destroyer- Watercolors into the Ocean

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW HERE!

Stood on gold

I'm going to write more here. Just give me a moment. I just tried and the rant was about a '7' and the inaugural post ought to be at least an '8.5'

soon then.