Yesterday I was working the slide, and I hear these girls from a camp, have to be ten years old or so. One's talking about how she weighs ninety pounds and is over-weight for her age.. I thought it was slightly ridiculous, how obsessive these girls were with their weight. I just wanted to tell them, that they were beautiful people.

Ridiculous.

Jenny Lewis is beautiful. Makes pretty music, too.

When has it gone too far? I love Iron & Wine, more specifically I love Sam Beam. I love that he writes his own music, and then directs the videos. I can't decide if it is good for Iron & Wine (Sam Beam specifically) that his tunes found their way into Twilight, but I can't say that I am happy that they did. I remember seeing him at Pitchfork two summers ago, and being blown away. I remember the first day I discovered his music and was lost in the beauty. I love that all of my friends listened to him before Twilight and we have all had the same general reaction of disappointment that his music appeared in Twilight. I can't say that I am completely bummed on it, because I understand. I just think his music can do better than Twilight. I think his music can do a lot better than Twilight. So I guess, yes, I am disappointed in Sam Beam. Doesn't mean I'll stop listening to his tunes though. Maybe I'll just keep to pre-Shepard's Dog and post-Shepard's Dog..


Okay, maybe I'm being unfair. My only disappointment is that Mr. Beam chose Twilight for his music to be in. I understand that he was a film major from UCLA aka why he has the best music videos EVER. But I think he (Iron & Wine) could've done much better than Twilight..

Seven simple rules of going into hiding: one, never trust a cop in a raincoat. Two, beware of enthusiasm and of love, both are temporary and quick to sway. Three, if asked if you care about the world's problems, look deep into the eyes of he who asks, he will never ask you again. Four, never give your real name. Five, if ever asked to look at yourself, don't. Six, never do anything the person standing in front of you cannot understand. And finlly seven, never create anything, it will be misinterpreted, it will chain you and follow you for the rest of your life.


... This is a repost, just because it is so so so good.

2008 really wasn't all to great of a year for music. There were however, a handful of albums that would be on my list of all time great albums. A few videos and descriptions:

Bon Iver- "Skinny Love" from the album: For Emma Forever Ago
This album was one of the few that I continue to come back to consistantly. It has a beautiful sound and touches the soul. It brings me to a place in which I am happy to be alone. Everytime it comes on, I want to be lost in the woods somewhere, just laying and listening to birds and watching clouds:



Fleet Foxes- "Blue Ridge Mountains" from the self titled album: Fleet Foxes
Just the singing. The harmonies. Beautiful. Another album that I have consistantly come back to listen to.



Coldplay- "Life in Technicolor II" from the album: Viva la Vida
This album reminds me of being in Ohio and driving through the country side/Columbus at two in the morning going to get coffee or bubble tea. If Bon Iver is for disappearing for a few days of soul searching, Coldplay is for living in a castle and being surrounded by beauty.

Story of my life:

Finding my niche in the world, somewhere between Sagatowa and Kalamazoo

I can't stand postmodernism.

How do you know anything by feeling it? If I know something, I would like to know it.

If everything is true
Then nothing is false
But if nothing is false
Nothing can be true either
_____________________________

why?

Floyd's on in the background, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" Nucleotides are primed, atoms are set. My eyes are on blue skies, and white clouds. My mind is off in some foreign place. My beard has gotten long, and it's off with that too. Don't want to be catching any birds tonight.


Oh yeah, it was Bob Dylan's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Bob

I wasn`t born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilight No, I was all horns and thorns, sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright So: enough of this terror We deserve to know light And grow evermore lighter and lighter You would have seen me through But I could not undo that desire



( Race to Incarcerate )

So, my Uncle Peter called today, from my father's side of the family. Generally, in our family, this is the division: McKenna side, and the Riermaiers are Cubs fans, then eveyone else is a Sox fan. Which, means we are fairly out numbered. Chicago, is always more important, so I guess in a sense I will root for the Cubs, but South Side comes first.

I had been talking with a few kids from Harper earlier this week, and we had gotten to discussing baseball, as per usual this time of the year. As we were sifting through records, and pitchers; who's hot, and who's not, we got to discussing the good ol' Chicago divide. Mark L. brought up a pretty fair point: a lot of Cubs fans, while good people, are pretty fair weather fans. I mean, I know there are the die-hard Cubs fans, just like how it works, in New York and Boston, but it seems more pertinent on the North Side to be paying attention when the going is good.

The only reason, I cheer for the White Sox, when it comes to the two Chicago teams, is because my family, all of my family are from the South Side. My Grandpa Kelley, would probably smack me around a little, if I told him I was a Cubs fan. We have agreed that, it is good to cheer for Chicago teams, all around. But when push comes to shove, we have also agreed, to side with the White Sox first.

On a personal level, I enjoy the White Sox business operations better. I like their farm program, and the push to reflect the economy. They have down-sized their roster, making their salary one of the cheapest in the MLB, as well as they have pushed towards a younger line-up. This is four years, after winning a World Series. They won the World Series, with a veteran core line-up, more money on the payroll, but still, they have decided to stick to their, plan. They are not just throwing money at players ala the North Side, Boston, New York, etc. Also, the front office is much more relative towards the tough times. Ticket prices have gone down, as well as their half priced mondays, I don't think that can be beat.

The White Sox may not win the Series this year. But the way they're playing in this first half, maybe they'll take the division. I'm much more impressed with, taking the Division in the American League than I ever will be, in the National Leauge. The difference, is pretty astonishing, and the competition is damn impressive.

Twenty to be exact:

1) Kings of Leon
2) The Killers
3) Beastie Boys
4) Lou Reed
5) Andrew Bird
6) Snoop Dogg
7) Vampire Weekend
8) The Decemberists
9) Neko Case
10) Animal Collective
11) Of Montreal
12) Ben Folds
13) Fleet Foxes
14) Bon Iver
15) Dan Auerbach
16) Cold War Kids
17) Peter Bjorn & John
18) Heartless Bastards
19) Gomez
20) Chairlift

1:05 onwards makes me want to see this film;

Reason why Pitchfork Music Festival is so much more amazing than Lolla:



Drum roll: The fourth annual Pitchfork Music Festival will take place in Chicago July 17-19. So cancel that "screw the recession" European vacation ASAP-- it's not worth it. The Pitchfork Music Festival, on the other hand, is definitely worth it. Not like we're biased or anything. The three-day fest will once again take place at Chicago's lovely Union Park, so get ready to gawk at the coolest sunglasses you've ever seen while soaking in the finest music known to man...on earth...and in space. It will be mega.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 13.

I know what you're thinking: "So which incredibly awesome bands are going to be there this year?" Slow down. We can't give everything away at once. Stay tuned to this space for a regular stream of festival updates in the coming weeks. While you're waiting, go ahead and check out Deerhunter's Bradford Cox performing with Spoon from last year's show or Girl Talk doing that thing he does with special guests Grizzly Bear at the '07 fest over at Pitchfork.tv.

But feel free to circle and/or highlight July 17, 18, and 19 on your cat-a-day calendar this very second.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/149445-pitchfork-music-festival-2009

I don't care how sketchy this movie is. And how poorly India looks down on it. It is a beautiful story, movie, everything about it.

Taxi cabs are slinking by,
people are preocupied
it is better than doing nothing. Chitter
chatter cell phone discrepancies
and business partners
mid breeze.
The dow jones did well today,
oh our flight
leaves in a hour.
Checking watches impatiently,
always jumping ahead
time travelers in our heads
never stopping, and breathing.
Smoking a cigarette waiting for a plane.
Cars honking
children wailing.
Coffee's and espresso's fuel for
a long day.
We're ten thousand feet high
passing ourselves just over the
next cloud.
An African is singing Ray Charles while
three white men get drunk
up the aisle.
Stewardess
goes through a routine she's
no longer saving lives
just a part of an act
but the bar's not open yet.
Land in a unfamiliar city,
I've grown to be an hour younger.
Festival in the middle of the city
cops are trying to find the source
but they're surrounded encased in the
walls of smoke. Dispersed, apparently
there are bigger things than the dreaming
hippies spending the weekend in a city
with no train station.