crackle and drag ( a hagiographic tribute)

i first heard paul westerberg on the "singles" soundtrack. shitty film.

(cameron crowe is not and nor will he ever be cool. why does he persist in trying to make cool films or films about cool things? although bless him for putting lester bangs in almost famous AND getting philip seympour hoffman to play him. that was genius. and his films do have good soundtracks and he recognized the genius of bob dylan way before i did (Last week) and to be perfectly honest i didnt mind "almost famous", but "singles" is a snoozer, whoa.)

anyway, back to westerberg.then i heard "all shook down", the mats last album. stinson was already dead, and basically the mats were just westerberg at this stage of the game. i loved his hair. he had cool hair. i wanted only one thing: to have hair like his at his age. his songs werent bad either.

the two singles he had on the "singles" soundtrack were pure pop mastery. they were moving, they were catchy, they were cool. he was shambolic, a drunk and gave off an air of hoplessness, like a real troubadour, or a vagabond, or something like that.

then i heard "sorry ma, forgot to take out the trash." pair that gem up with "let it be" and you've got vintage americana at its best. its like apple pie, or harley davidson motorcycles.

minneapolis is responsible for polar opposite genius' s, but both giants of their craft: Prince and paul westerberg.

i tip my cap to both.

i cant stop listening to "crackle and drag"

haute grunge

haute grunge?

what exactly is it?

the social pages of a certain sunday paper included a certain opening night that i went to last week and said: "Alarmed: the haute grunge dressing".

now forgive me my ignorance Miss Reines, or whoever, but the way i remember grunge fashion was nothing like what was going on at this opening night. nothing like it. nothing.

i asked my friend Mikael, an expert on music and fashion, with grunge, certainly, being his oevre, what "haute grunge dressing" is and he confirmed my suspicions: what i saw at this premiere was a very different beast to what "haute grunge dressing" actually is. His explanation of "haute grunge dressing" went like this:

"flannel shirt, pale blue jeans you have cut off at the knees, black converse high tops, stripey multicoloured socks, and (this is an Australian variant)a tumbleweed tee (free with the first 100 copies of 'sundial')under the flanny. Oh, and Asian bob with undercuts. On cold days you may also wear a long sleeved Mudhoney tee under the Tumbleweed short sleeve. Nirvana's 'negative creep' taped over and over on side A of your C-90 cassette tape, which is in your walkman at all times, on side B you have, of course, 'Nevermind' but you will never say to anyone that you actually like that 'sellout' album."

have to admit that i am inclined to agree,

didnt see anyone like that at the opening.

the grey tiger of oritz met with me on the steps of the ornithogical cathedral.

conclusion:

that art when stupefying and unreal and deliberately obtuse but nonsensical, as is this explanation of art, rambling and untrue, seems better.

to me any way.

Jindabyne should be called "somersault 2: heidi's back and this time shes a bloated corpse lying face down in a creek."

i had a great weekend.

with someone who i met up with for coffee on friday afternoon.

coffee turned into a beer, which turned into a party, more beer, vodka, weed and ice.

thats right, i smoked ice for the second time in as many weeks.

it makes you quite horny people.

quite horny indeed.

but its a rancid drug.

there was also a motherload of dancing at the party.

a motherload.

i was dj-ing.

not on turn tables or anything.

just on a regular old fashioned cd player.

i played guru josh "infinity"

c and c music factory

belinda carlisle.

astounding.

magic.

any way the coffee turned into a whole weekend.

it just ended this morning.

what got me about her was her extensive knowledge of indi rock.

we discussed the ear splitting beauty of J mascis' guitar solos (thankyou lo!) for hours.

she too grew up on smudge, the replacements, and fugazi.

and in my book thats ok.

fuck it, thats grounds for a relationship.