a lot. Having automatic shotguns certainly helps :)

…and that’s one of her favorites too. If they just took out some of the oh-so-’80s Chapman Stick bass hits on that song, it would actually work very well as a Tortoise-style post-rock composition.

I have a hard time deciding whether “Head Over Heels” or “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” is my favorite TFF song. The former is my nominee for “The Quintessential ’80s Song” (the “nah nah-na naaah naaah” ending is like a “Hey Jude” for the 1980s), but the latter is just such a ridiculously well-written Brian Wilsonesque masterpiece. Listen to that track with a songwriter’s ear and you’ll just have to tip your cap: it has something like SEVEN DIFFERENT DISCRETE SECTIONS, all of them incredibly catchy yet nontrivial, and it packs all those melodic ideas into an awe-inspiring 4 1/2 pop song format. The best part? When Orzabal sings “read in the books in the crannies and the nooks, etc.” and then ends by shouting “CHORUS!” And then the chorus comes in, but nobody’s singing – it’s just a Beatlesque “For No One”-style French Horn solo playing the hook line. Clever AND catchy!

“Scarecrow People,” “King For A Day,” and “Poor Skeleton Steps Out.”

By the way, if you haven’t heard the BBC sessions they did for this album, you’re really missing out. FAR better than the muted, subdued album versions. And although it’s from a different album/session, the BBC version of “You’re The Wish You Are I Had” pretty much ascends to the top of the All Time XTC Heap. The original from The Big Express is TERRIBLE, and yet the BBC re-recording…my god, why didn’t they just do it that way in the first place?

The were really good, and really rather authentic in their own Irish way back before “Come On Eileen.” Oddly enough I gave them a shot, of all reasons, because Mark E. Smith kept constantly namechecking them in early ’80s Fall songs. I figured if someone like MES actually thought they had quality, then there must be something there. Because he hates pretty much everyone and everything.

Which is ironic given that it’s rather arty punk. Wire was frequently nicknamed “Punk Floyd” by the UK musical press back in the day, which gets at a certain truth about their intentions.

Chairs Missing remains the definitive Wire album, however. Even though their two single greatest moments came on 154 with “The 15th” and “Map Ref.”

but Klein has a lifetime warranty, so at least I get a replacement. The problem is that Klein doesn’t make road frames for the US market any more, so if I get lucky (bike shop’s words), Trek will have a few old Kleins kicking around their warehouse; if not I’ll get a “materially equivalent” Klein or Trek – which wouldn’t be bad because I think some of the older Madones were aluminum/carbon, and I could live with that – or a credit for the retail value that I can use on a new bike.

and this is the first one I’ve ever had fail.

I’ll probably end up doing the repairs because I can afford the deductable, the car is relatively new – 2005 Hyundai Elantra with ~33,000 miles, and I still have a few years left of payments on the loan. It is really frustrating because I don’t want to throw away a few hundred dollars that I was saving for regular repairs – like tires and brake pads.

The Tigard police were really nice about the situation, but because there were no witnesses and none of the cars that normally park where I was hit had obvious damage, they said there wasn’t much they could do.

I’m hoping my insurance company will give me a break because I’ve been with them for 6 or 7 years with only two glass claims and have only had 1 speeding ticket that happened over 10 years ago. They said it was a not at fault claim when I called them, but the policy I pay for doesn’t have a reduced deductable for that type of claim.

Yup. May 22 at the County Bowl in Santa Barbara, and May 24 at the Greek Theater. Details.

I saw them at the Sub Pop anniversary show last year and they were indeed awesome.

and upload you a bunch of FoTC. It’s fantastic stuff, and the best part is that it holds up to repeated listenings, unlike a few parody rock acts I could mention COUGHtenaciousDCOUGH.

because we have a conflict with the Portland date. I’ll let you know next week.

Zombies

that it’s all a PR exercise, that the dishes he designs will never see the light of day. Economy class might as well be the cargo hold of an Irish famine ship for all the airlines care – it’s the business/first class passengers they listen to.

“I’ll think about it.” That part rubs me the wrong way. If I get a call from Branson inviting me to go spelunking in a backwoods outhouse, I’m pretty much fucking there in minutes.

I’d buy the peanuts myself. Don’t get me wrong, I like kids – but I like relative quiet on airplanes.

who is a wonderful cook AND married into a Filipino family.