monday night

Today was a lot of school - two Japanese classes in a row and then lunch, then a class of Japanese culture. Which doesn't sound that bad, but two classes in a row is pretty rough for me - I get kinda tired after one!

Anyhow, after class we went to the station with a new Japanese friend, Shinya-san (no photos, sorry) who taught me how to read half-price, which is pretty important I guess. Turns out, a lot of bars are half-price around the time we get out of school, but not the one we've been frequenting... (which we call 'bar restaurant'). So thats a pretty important lesson, too bad it's in the last week. For the record, he also pointed out a few bars that are all you can drink for 90mins, for around 10-15 bucks. Yeehaw, desu.

After that, my host mother escorted me around the giant mall complex and took me to dinner, so I've got another photo of me eating. At least I'm not smiling look a goofy idiot in this one.. ha! The other photo is me in front of a giant float sorta thing, one of about 30 that high school kids made for a parade/festival in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I missed the actual parade (it was Friday night, while we were partying in Susukino) but Shige-san took me took the high school Sunday morning to check 'em out in the daylight, and they're pretty impressive.. I think the kids made them entirely themselves, and had to carry them by hand around the neighborhood. My high school was different.

I went ahead and posted a few pics of the night-time parade, even though I wasn't there, because it's pretty cool.

Sunday morning in Japan

whew.. sorry for the long delay, it has been pretty busy around here.

Here's a pic of me at the bath, and Yoshiyasu-san and I at a bar, and Shige-san and I ate a restaurant on a lake.

Our school work has really ramped up for the last week, leading up to a final exam and presentation (for group 3, at least). It's pretty scary stuff for me, because all of the vocabulary is new and presentation format is kinda specific.. so I'm spending every morning sorta rehearsing the lines of my 'script'. As well as all the other stuff for school that are unrelated to the presentation.

Anyways, life outside of school is pretty great! Friday night we went to Emily's host family's friend's bar, where we were treated awesomely, given a little private room with food and drinks, and even a guitar, haha! So we played a few songs (though we were a bit embarassed) and it was nice to be able to play a bit.. it's been 3 weeks or so, and thats tough. Afterwards Emily and I explored Susukino some more, looking for live music - which is surprisingly difficult. Eventually we found a tiny little jazz club, and I think they were more or less wrapping up as we walked in, but they went ahead and did another set, mostly for us (i think..)

Because we're so obviously foreigners, we get a lot of attention.. so at this cozy little club we got to talk with everyone there. Pretty cool.. most of them were musicians, and one of them loved doing card tricks, so we saw lots of neat sleight-of-hand stuff, and then played some Japanese bridge games (emily won once).

Saturday I went to another public bath with Yoshiyasu (one of my host brothers), this one was like a spa, i think (having never been to an American spa).. it had a lot of tubs with different temperatures, some outside, as well as these rooms that are like saunas, but without the steam.. just hot rooms. They were awesome, especially after a night of drinking.

I skipped over a whole week of stories (and photos).. I'm sorta bummed about the website stuff, and it sorta tempered my enthusiasm (unfortunately). Only a week left, so we'll try and do better..

Aaron

Just a few quick pictures before I go to bed, from our recent adventure to a surprisingly awesome park just outside of Sapporo, full of crazy statues of granite (i think) including a recreation of Stonehenge and those Easter Island heads, and a whole bunch of Buddhas spread throughout.. if you look closely, you can see Shigeyasu-san (one of my host brothers) and I in front of the Daibutsu.

Aaron

Just a quick one...

It is Saturday, about noon here.. After a pretty good night of partying in Sususkino (entertainment district of town) I've had a slow morning, breakfast and coffee and studying, not bad. Susukino was a crazy adventure, I think Emily has some pictures - we'll post those eventually.

Then I hopped on the computer to check my email, and the whole website has been taken down for some kinda malware/virus problem, and I can't figure out what to do! It's a bit of a problem, being in Japan and all.. and the email I got says I have 15 days before they delete everything!

If anyone knows how to get a hold of Wes Shirley, maybe he can help.. I'm not entirely sure what the problem is, but it affects both thenewmexicanrevolution.com and theleaningtowers.com, and if that stuff got deleted it might never get rebuilt, which would be a bummer.

thanks and love and such -

Aaron

I gotta run now, but hopefully Wes can hear about this somehow.. if not, I'll start figuring out international phone calls.

This is our most recent group activity, Kado - a traditional Japanese flower arranging art.

The whole PSU crew with our arrangements.






My work in progress.












Last night we attended an international student exchange barbeque. We played huge games of tug-o-war and tag -- very fun and cross-cultural! Aaron bought a 6-pack of Sapporo tallboys to share with our new friends, Ken-san, Naoya-san and Dai-san.








Last week we visited Okura Yama, site of the 1972 winter Olympics 90-meter ski jump. This is the view of Sapporo from the chair lift.



The past week has been heavy with Japanese language classes, every morning I think.. with one day 2 in a row. So that has been a little intense, but also good. I (Aaron) somehow tested into the hardest of 3 levels, (I was aiming for level 2) so I'm in a little over my head sometimes, but my host family is super helpful - I'm sure I learn more Japanese at home than at school, but it's different stuff.

The BBQ thing was pretty fun, but it involved a lot of physical activity. An epic 4 team game of tug o' war (tsunahiki) that my team was destined to lose, and then a crazy form of tag (O Nagokko, i think) that lasted about an hour nearly killed me, I think. Luckily, I had that 6 pack of beer waiting for me, so I was able to persevere and make friends.

We're still having a hard time finding a good place to hang out and drink and relax (local dive bar, for example).. perhaps they're not the same here, every place we've been to has been a little stiff, or something. Tomorrow night we go to Susukino, an entertainment district of town.. I mentioned it to Shige-san, one of my host brothers, and I think he used the word erotic to describe it. Not sure though..

Also, this morning I found out Yoshiyasu-san, my other host brother, has the same birthday as me. That's pretty cool.

This morning we had a lecture on robotics, which was awesome. Hokudai has some fairly neat robotic stuff, although it seems real-world oriented, like controlling vibrations in machinery and buildings. At first I was a little disappointed, but then he started showing amazing videos of autonomous robots navigating hallways and playing soccer and such, and it kinda blew my mind. He also had a little robot dog-like thing, which was pre-programmed (not autonomous) but still pretty cute.

Tomorrow is Friday, no Japanese class.. probably won't have much to post until Monday, but we'll see.

Aaron

Kikkoman Factory Tour

It's Tuesday morning, a few hours before an organized field-trip to the coastal town of Otaru. Yesterday after Japanese class we went to the Kikkoman factory where we learned a bit about soy sauce, which I think I can share with you. 3 ingredients, Soy beans, Wheat, and Salt.. plus a microbe, which might be called Kikkoman Aspergillis, but I should get Emily to help me with that microbiology stuff. 6 months later, Soy Sauce! Apparently not a lot has changed over 350 years of constant manufacture, just more computers to help control temperature and oxygen. The manufacturing process wasn't terribly enthralling, but the employees were awesome. Super attentive and friendly and excited, I think they were all really proud of what they were doing, and that was more impressive than the bottling machinery or whatnot.

Afterwards, back in Sapporo, we wandered down to a local bar and had a drink, which is still a little bit of a problem.. we can't seem to find local dive bar-type establishments, and always end up in more expensive restaurant things, which are starting to get a little predictable, and aren't entirely comfortable. oh well.. we are a giant gaijin parade, i suppose. We'd probably ruin whatever comfortable bar atmosphere we found. Saaa..

Yesterday I couldn't get the camera, website, and computer to all work together in harmony at the same time, so no pictures yet.

Aaron

Just got back from an awesome adventure in the mountains outside of Sapporo, where my host family took me to a famous mineral spring (near the base of the moutain in the picture). Pretty amazing stuff, no doubt. Thats my host mother and I in front of the mountain on the drive up there.

At the spring we wandered around and drank the water, which some people collected by the kiloliter, using big plastic bottles and carts on wheels (we collected a single bottle). On the way back down to Sapporo, we stopped at another spring (a hot one) and dipped our feet for a bit (that's my host mother's daughter and husband). Near this hot spring was another Shinto shrine [edit: not Shinto, actually Buddhist], with an awesome cave full of statues of Buddhas and such.. pretty cool place, and I got a little fortune thing (O Mikubi) which was apparently the best one you could get, although I could only read a tiny bit of it.

Last night we went out to a buffet sort of restaurant, only with a grill built into the center of the table, so we cooked our own meat and vegetables. They also had all sorts of other stuff of course, sushi and ice cream and fruit and on and on and on.. fun stuff, and it was cool that we all had to kinda help each other cook while we ate, to keep stuff moving around. The picture is of me eating sushi, which my host family is still impressed by.. I tried to explain to them that I really like some sushi, but I don't think they believed me.

Before that, Emily and I went to the flower festival in the middle of Sapporo (Odori park, if you have a map) and wandered around the crazy shopping mall city nearby, where we ate some ramen for lunch before going to Emily's host mother's house for an informal tea ceremony lesson, which was pretty interesting.. including rare and expensive treats from the southern end of Honshu and family heirloom tea cups worth something like 20,000 dollars! wow.

We'll have time tomorrow (Monday) to post another blog entry and upload some more pictures, so I'll stop here.

Aaron

Taro-chan wa kawaii inu desu!

I think the dog, Taro, has been a great ice-breaker. I love dogs and Taro is very sweet. He can do some simple tricks like high-five and sit up tall and balance on his hind legs. During meals, he sits next to the table and begs with a funny-sounding voice. Okaasan is pretty strict about not feeding him from the table, but Otoosan is a softie!

When we go for a walk, Taro-chan can be left outside of a shop without being tied up -- Okaasan just tells him "matte" and he waits until we come back and doesn`t run away. When we get back from a walk, Okaasan carries him into the house, straight to the washroom, and washes his feet (because he doesn`t have shoes to take off.) She is pretty diligent about keeping outside ground/inside ground separate.

PS - Local time is 1:25 pm on Tuesday.
PSS - Happy Father`s Day, Dad! (Sorry no card)

Asagohan!

This is yesterday`s breakfast and the smallest meal my host mother has served so far!
Itadakimasu!

Homestay!

My host parent`s house and the park across the street.

tuesday!

emily & amanda woods on the streets of Sapporo, after successfully buying a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.





my room (2nd floor corner room) with a nice breeze and awesome windows. it has a little desk for my school work and closet for my clothes, so i'm practically back home.






this is just a quick one, before the day starts -

yesterday was the language placement test, which was a little bit nerve-wracking. i think i did alright on the written stuff (kanji is still a problem) but i feel like i really messed up in the interview, so that was disappointing.

on the other hand, some of the students on campus here have been really friendly and have allowed me to practice a lot of Japanese (some of them are English majors!), and we had a little welcome party last night with more conversation practice. at the end of the day (after biking home in the dark) i was pretty tired, so i pretty much went to bed right away.

we also went on a little adventure in the late afternoon, wandering around Sapporo where we found a little bar and had a few drinks, which is really great.. much appreciated break from the hectic worrying..

-

today is an easy day, no classes, just touring and sight-seeing, so we'll be able to post some pictures soon.

aaron

Father's Day, I think..

It is Sunday night here in Sapporo, the evening before our first day at school, and it has already been a whirlwind experience. I've spent the past 36 hours or so in a near constant low-level confusion, but my Japanese has gotten a lot better!

I've got an awesome homestay family, the Saito family, and they've been amazingly supportive and energetic (and understanding) towards my clumsy attempts to get situated and such. ..and I've eaten more food in a day in a half than I would in a week back home, I think.

So far, as a quick rundown since Emily's post -
After breakfast we met at the school (Hokkaido Univ) and milled about waiting for our hosts to arrive, which was surprisingly nerve-wracking. Needlessly, as the hosts and school administration has gone to great lengths to prepare everyone over here for us, and Emily's host family and mine took us to lunch together before we seperated. Since then, I've been around Sapporo on bike (they've got a bike for my school commute!) and been to the supermarket (disorienting), gone to Sato-land (a sort to cross between a park and amusement park, and another park with giant fountains and bike racing and little mountains. I had written in my introduction letter that I like hiking and biking, and they've been concerned that I wouldn't get a chance.. so I get quite a bit today.

..and so much food! I don't think I could detail/catalogue it all, but it's amazing. They really appreciate food around here, I think.. French, Chinese, Korean, and of course Japanese in abundance, as well as interesting versions of American food.. and lots of sweets. I think I've gained weight.

Tomorrow morning (Monday) is the first day of school, with a placement test first thing in the morning, and it'll be the first time I've seen Emily since yesterday morning.. which doesn't sound like a long time but it feels like a very very long time. So tomorrow is another big day, looking forward to it, blah blah..

Oh! It's also Father's Day in Japan, too. I watched some crazy show that seemed similar to 'kids say the darnedest things' or whatever, but it was all cute little kids saying things about their fathers (i think... umm..) anyhow, it's 3am or so where my dad is, so I'm gonna skip the phone call.

Happy Father's Day!

Christian Center

This is the sort of hostel-type place we stayed at the first night, before meeting our host families.

Breakfast spread.


Itadakimasu!

Poor big Mike . . . everything is so small for him, including the door frames

. . .and Arrival!

Clearly we were all a little less fresh-faced and bright-eyed after a day of traveling and crossing the date line, arriving *finally* at New Chitose airport in Sapporo on Friday night.

Wow! A cigarette machine. Neat.

Departure

Bright and early Thursday morning at PDX airport. . . Marina and Amanda were on our flight. The transit was long, but relatively smooth. I ate fast-food poutine at the Vancouver airport *shout out, Helen Hedberg!*

Everything about the Japanese flights was pretty adorable -- I tried to get a little video clip of the safety video, which was emceed and enacted by these little cartoon avatars who would make animaeish facial expressions when, say, the person in front of them put their seat back abruptly, or tripped over bags left in the aisle. Totemo kawaii desu nee! Also, the stewardesses were all very cute, with these puffy silken neck scarves and JAL aprons of cotton fabric enprinted with fantastical old-fashioned hot air balloon flight machines.

Aaron and I sat next to a sweet 6-year-old and her mother on the 10+ hour flight from Vancouver to Tokyo. The girl, whose name was Erika, goes to a French-immersion school in Vancouver, but is Japanese (she and her mom were flying to visit family) and also speaks English. Smart girl! She shared her Japanese snacks with us on the plane, and we played some video games on the in-flight entertainment screen.

day after tomorrow!

no photo for today, but wanted to keep up with maintaining the blog habit.
we just got home from our last camaro island practice before we leave. it was a pretty decent practice, i must say-- we just wrote a 2-hour set list and went for it. ed recorded the session, so maybe he can get rich some day in case we don't come back from japan (HA! and ~knockonwood~)

we got a lot of little errands done today. tomorrow: final load of laundry and cleaning, pay bills, and PACK! ohmygoshimasu!

haiku

whew! i finished this crosstitch just in time -- it is for Yoshida-sensei at Richmond to thank her for allowing me to infiltrate her classroom for the last half a year. i know haiku is sort of a complicated art, and i'm sure mine is naively elementary, but i think she'll appreciate the sentiment:

きょうしつに
きれえなうたが
ひびいてる
i hope this means something like:
"in this classroom, beautiful songs resound."

i discovered that the crosstitch medium is sort of difficult to work with for writing hiragana, but it's probably because i'm not even THAT comfortable writing it pencil-to-paper yet.

now to decide which yarn and knitting supplies to bring with me. . . .

Spring Festival

at Richmond Elementary.

Yoshida-sensei passionately directed the kindergarteners in the singing of several Japanese songs with gestures. She is a musical genius with the kids.

I was so tickled to meet Poncho from the Moshi Moshi program!

Richmond Elementary

Me with my kindergarten class at Richmond Japanese Immersion School. Totemo suki desu!

Atarashi zishyoo desu yo!

I can't believe I'm blogging! I'm attempting to prepare myself for the advent of a photo chroniclation of our impending trip to Japan. You know, because I lack the tech savvy.

This is a picture of me with my new dictionary. Nakanaka ii zishyoo desu nee. . .

study buddy

Last week, Indiana kept me company while I studied for the ACS Organic Chemistry exam. This week, I recycled about 30 pounds of O-chem related papers from the past year. I will miss that class, really.

Hangover Brunch

So we can feel human again.

Gifts for our host families!

Moonstruck chocolates and Stumptown coffee -- YUMM! The wrapped, rolled up things are beautiful peacock tapestries that my mom crocheted for the host families (I wish I had thought to take pictures of them before packaging). We haven't been told much, but here's what we know: Aaron's is the Saito family, a 91-year-old grandmother, 60-year-old mom, and two sons, ages 27 & 28. Mine is a mom and dad, ages 60 & 63, and a shihtzu, family name Koyama.

teething

teething

leaving for colorado first thing tomorrow, so a bit of cleaning and packing.. watching some tv and such. also i found a picture of wes and emily (and me) working on the new mexican revolution stuff at an old practice space.. a stinky little closet in NW portland, with no heat.. our new space is pretty much the opposite, i figure.

laundry also. need some clean socks.

grave song

grave song

we chose the key of Ab 'cause we have a little homemade music box instrument (you can hear it at the very end of the song) that uses that key, for some reason.. so we wrote a chord progression and a couple of changes, and started working on it.. it clearly has a lot of emily's input, what with all the big singing and stuff. i kinda wish we could do more of that, but i think we start laughing too much.

i think it was supposed to fade out at some point, also - oh well.. arty ending, ftw.

just another spider bite

just another spider bite

lodge party recovery day, spent most of it lounging around, working on this song and thinking about car commercials.. EAC practice tonite was good, came home and finished this.. just now getting done. just two more to go, i think - and then i'll be off in colorado for three weeks, with family. three weeks. crazy.

aaron

alientated times

alienated times

becker's annual lodge party is tonight.. year five, i think, and it's always a good time. ice sculptures, meat dishes, good liquor and such.. what could be better?

too bad the shitty beatles couldn't play, it would've been perfect. on the other hand, i think camaro island and the new mexican revolution will play.. so that's a lot of time playing at a party.

we're watching documentaries on giant squids.

floating ash

floating ash

F Dmin Bb C

when i turn around
i wanna see the whole thing burning down
nothing left but the sound
of floating ash
i'm gonna laugh
at all the things that couldn't last

they say i've got a streak
some kind of demon inside me
and while mostly he's asleep
i think everyone should be free
a single match is all i need

and i hope you've got one too
i need a pilot, soft and blue
for a mission on the truth
against the sky
no one survives
no one ever gets out alive

wilting roads

wilting roads

today was a pretty good day, if a bit cold.. it hasn't gotten above freezing here for a few days, which isn't much compared to the east half of the country, but it's a pretty big deal for portland. anyhow, emily and i spent most of the day bumming around the apartment, sorta working on music and reading and such.. it's nice to take it easy after all the school work.

patchwork

ha! it's cold in portland, and there's no shortage of jokes (intentional and not) on the local news tonight. in addition, some elementary kid stuck his tongue to a flagpole (funny) and the school called 911 (not funny) and got the fire department to 'save' him.. they poured warm water on his tongue and it came off.

of course it came off. i can't believe no one at the elementary school thought of it. wow.

luckily, they only teach children. ha!

anyhow, here's a song.

patchwork

how do you sing when there's not much to say
the sweater looks better on you anyway
you can do what you want, but i don't wanna be friends
i guess the patches are cute but it's proof that you're wearing thin

it never used to be like this, we were a team
we won by taking risks
but then you settled down, i hear you moved in with him
you guys looked great together - i hope i never see it again

you never believed and i did tell some lies
but you were just like me, you looked us straight in the eye
you said that you want to be free, but now you stick with your friends
crying 'bout the weather's gonna start turning soon and you wanna fit in

it didn't need to be like this
a stormcloud from an open wrist
so as the water comes up know that it's a revenge
i'm gonna laugh and hope all you assholes never learned how to swim

we got a guitar in the mail today (!) from emily's father.. so thanks John! it's a 12 string, which is pretty cool.. i've never spent any time with one before, so once we got it tuned up i got to work, using it on this song, just screwing around.. it's nice, kinda chimey, but i guess that's obvious. ha! we're both done with school now, so i hope to be able to spend some time with it, writing/recording/posting songs.. fingers crossed.

petalstain (花弁しみ)

so despite the lack of any activity on the interweb, i've actually been pretty busy and sorta productive on the musical front..

i was real lucky to work on music for some moving images (!) which is pretty awesome.. providence, i suppose - cause i was really hoping to find some way to doing something/anything in that direction. so i got asked to write a bunch of little major chord acoustic guitar bits for a short promo film for the MESD, and i churned out a lot of stuff trying to make sure i didn't screw up. almost all of it was background stuff, so when i listen to it now it seems a little bit directionless - almost unfinished or something.. it's odd to write 'instrumental background music', perhaps..

anyhow, some of the stuff i've been working on has spun itself into other directions.. stuff that would end up unsuitable for the project but sounds kinda cool, so here's one of 'em..

petalstain (花弁しみ)

this is actually two months old or so.. and only one of many things i've been up to, but i think it's the most suitable to share. for the MESD video, it was all acoustic guitars, real simple and pretty stuff.. once we were done with that, i started to tinker with it and introduce all the static-y guitars at the end and play around the electronica bits.. after the MESD gig, i was able to do music for another video project which had a different role to fill, and i think i'll post that one soon. similar and different stuff was involved. ha!

back in school, benkyoo shimashing the hell out my nihongo. lots of hard work, studying everyday for this PSU japanese program, which uses JSL core conversations and all.. blah blah, it's good and bad, sorta hard and unfamiliar, but i'm doing alright. it's nice to be on PSU campus, lots of hubbub. and it's cool 'cause emily and i are going together on the bus every morning , so we wake up together and stuff. sweet.

morning breath

here you go.

morning breath

bloodtest & trying=failing

bloodtest

trying=failing

emi-chan to aaron-kun wa futatsu atarashii uta o kakimashita

it's sorta butchered, but i think it gets the point across. and the verb is wrong, but i couldn't find "to write songs" anywhere.. so i just went with 'to write".

they're both cool little 'gem of a song' songs, kinda linear in fashion with some neat lyrics and such.
i'm a particular fan of bloodtest, which i had very little to do with.. the lyrics are super awesome, and i think emily might've performed all the bits herself! yee haw desu.

we're about to eat hangover pancakes, which sounds pretty pefect to me. school is going well, nihongo no kurasu wa tanoshii desu ga chotto muzukashii desu yo. emily got an 'A' and 'Oustanding!' on her midterm paper in environmental ethics! yoku dekimashita, emi-chan!

hangover pancake o tabemashoo!

The World Over There

another Thomas Pynchon Fakebook song today!

the world over there

this is a song i put together near the end of our time at the Willis house, maybe the last thing we did there.. it clearly benefits from the live drums and loud guitars. i'm pretty sure i did everything on this one, but as i was working on it i had this vague idea about the horns coming in over the second half, making this big triumphant thing (maybe like William the Arsonist).. but emily and i could never really figure out what to do, so it stands as a sorta noisy guitar celebration.

despite all that, i really like this song.. it reminds me of the early Flaming Lips stuff I fell in love with back in the day, ala Clouds Taste Metallic and such. and it has that neat moment where it's in a big slow six for most of the song and then changes into a punk rock two-feel, sorta.. tough to describe, but i like the effect.

moving on - here in Portland, OR the weather has really taken a turn for the better.. high pressure moving in just in time for the weekend, gonna last all week it seems. i'm pretty happy about all that, no doubt. hooray! emily's been working hard in the lab down at PSU all week, this'll be the end of her first week working full-time, so that's a reason to celebrate. and i've been doing work for Ben, actually making money, so that's good news as well. maybe this weekend we'll go out for dinner or something.. ha!

aaron

vulgar song

Over these last two terms (fall 2008 & spring 2009, i guess) Daniel Couch put together the Thomas Pynchon Fakebook, a project to set the lyrics in Gravity's Rainbow to song.. being a big fan of Pynchon, I agreed to help pretty quickly. i should find the address and set up the links, but i gotta go to work in a bit here.. but i wanted to post a little something before i left, blah blah..

anyhow, it was experimental on a few different levels - obviously working with somebody else's lyrics can be odd, but there was also some collaboration (almost all of it through the internet).. anyhow, emily and i put together 5 songs (i think), and contributed to a few more, neat stuff.

a lot of the lyrics in the book are setup in a jazzy singalong context, and they often have an innate rhythm and form to 'em, we basically just added the most obvious music in most cases.. it was an opportunity to do more show-tunes/jazzy stuff, but this may not be the best example.. on the other hand, it's got Danni doing a lot of funny laugh noises all over it, which is pretty funny.. and emily did a lot of vocal pitch shifting stuff. good times.

Vulgar Song

hmm.. i should also find the lyrics and maybe page numbers (ha!).. . but i gotta run.

oh yeah, and i kinda bombed my japanese quiz yesterday, which made me pretty sad. i guess i was just caught off guard, the quiz was pretty easy (despite the fact that i failed it). oh well.

Saddest Songs

another song from the Black Mesa Songs album.. sorta gets me all choked up, sometimes. gorgeous little song with some excellent words, i wish i had written this. oh well, at least i get to listen to it. ha!

while we were working on the album, there were a couple of songs that seemed like little gems - maybe we shouldn't clutter them up with accordions and trumpets and noisy guitar solos and such.. and while we ended up doing that to most songs, this one was too nice to mess up.

on other notes, emily and i started a japanese conversation class last night, which was pretty cool.. i've been studying japanese for a few terms now, at PCC, but it's sorta exciting to have emily as a conversation partner.

ja mata

Hunger For Thirst

hunger for thirst

The New Mexican Revolution finally released a new album, Black Mesa Songs, and I think it turned out pretty darn good. It's got the reliable mix of americana/country/songwriter-stuff, as well as some Tom Waits-style gypsy punk (ala Gogal Bordello). ha!

that sounds funny to read over, like some mutant press release. it's also pretty early in the morning, 'cause i gotta go to work.. which is awesome, 'cause i need money. i've been reading the Grapes of Wrath lately, on account of all the plane-traveling i've been doing, and it's a bit depressing. apparently you gotta have money. hmmm..

anyways, hunger for thirst might be my favorite song on the album, but it's a tough pick.. it's a country tune with neat poetic lyrics, and it's got a nice solo section and bridge. good stuff. on other parts of the album, their is more noise, more instrumentation, more experimentation, but this one is beautifully basic, i think.

I swore today I’d bite everything I said
Half words full of broken letters
I couldn’t explain away the reasons that I stay
Half sounds are for all the better

And you were at your best when I was at my worst
But I could never remember exactly which came first
Even benign smiles could seem so cursed
As I traded in my hunger for my thirst

Words are like leaves that are free, you can’t put them back on a tree
Each one a life of its own.
They might try to fly, or maybe just fall and die
Or wait like a seed to be sown

Sometimes words move like snow or they’ll settle like broken glass
Sometimes they lie in waiting for the moment to pass
So I try to bite down on them break them into pieces,
Let them settle where they will.

yuki geshou 雪化粧

yuki geshou 雪化粧

this is a little something i was thinking about doing in the big snow storm of portland 2008.. and hopefully it's closely related to an earlier piece called "snow day" on here.. a lot of the same things in the same key, spacey and instrumental and increasingly lethargic, almost.. i think this one could've been longer and more spaced out, especially up front. we'll save that for the live version.. ha!

also - wes shirley has a new blog that's pretty interesting - wes's album-a-day review blog!.. he doesn't seem to be held down by any genre or time period or relevance.. but it's all western pop music so far, i think. we shall see. neat0.

the white visitation

the white visitation

emily finally finished this term of school, which is pretty great news.. and i'm sure she got 100% in everything, so we're celebrating. ! and with that celebration we can post this little guy.. another instrumental experiment, which has a neat big modulation from Emaj to Amin.. and i think it worked out alright. it'd be nice to have a cello or something, but i don't.

now that emily has much less stuff to do all the time, maybe we can kick out some jams.

the lonely rocketman

uh huh.

the lonely rocketman

i'm pretty proud of this one.. it wasn't super hard or complicated or what-not.. but it was the most successful experiment of the past two weeks.

happy thanksgiving.

cloud or lion? part 2

here's a few more things i've been up to..

she left
bad dream / wake up
anti-venom

absolutely no luck on the job front.. it's terrible.

i've managed to stay busy, but not by making any money. sad face.

i found a way to control and trigger midi events in protools with this alesis keyboard. ha.

cloud or lion?

i found a dead bird..
bum
indoor pigeon
juggernaut

it's a leaning towers clearance!

these are all little instrumental pieces that we've been working on.. well, mostly instrumental - no lyrics but there are some voices. some of it was put together as sorta marketable tv commercial style experiments. some of it was just experimental, 'cause i gotta keep busy somehow. 'bum' dates all the way back to October Mountain.. and 'juggernaut' is pretty old too, but 'i found a dead bird' was mostly over this weekend.

in addition, i don't really like to crowd a single post with more than one 'song'.. so that part is also new. i'm very experimental, ha!

Creeping Tokyo

Creeping Tokyo

this song has a kinda tricky harmonic structure.. it's got a Bb major, a Gmaj and Gmin, Cmaj and Cmin, and it's mostly in the key of F (as per the good time outro solo).. so i'm kinda proud of that stuff. it's not super complicated, but it is a little bit clever, i think. it's got some guitars weaving in and out playing single notes to build chords, along with the moog and the keyboard, so i had to be kinda careful about the orchestration.. or something. it's just a song.

and it has some funny words -

you're a whore and i would kill you if i could
i'd write a dangerous little tune
a creeping tokyo of doom

it's a war and i'm never calling truce
i've got little left to lose
and i'm not afraid of you

i cut tiny little holes and you'll never be the same again

you're a fake and i'll expose you to the world
show them all how much you're worth
i guess i've always hated girls

you're not safe and i'll crack you in the end
you'll get betrayed by all your friends
i'll never let you sleep again

i cut tiny little holes but you'll never be the same again

evidence, a pop song

evidence, a pop song

well, it seems like good news all around at the house - i've been working a little bit for ben, and i've got an interview scheduled at powell's books for wednesday.. and i'm pretty hopeful for that job. and leah had a great interview for OHSU med school, and the new mexican revolution had a pretty good show the other day, despite wes having two missed up arms from two seperate bicycle accidents (!)... i guess that last bit is both good and bad news. ha!

and emily and i found some time to finish a few more tunes.. this one i wrote mostly while watching a documentary on Thelonious Monk - neat stuff. it's also kinda inspired by the new Blitzen Trapper album, Furr.. which is pretty great.. a full half of the album blows my mind, makes me jealous, all that stuff.. i like it alot.

celebrate

this is.. umm.. day 8 of unemployment, i guess. sad face. i've filled a few applications and sent a resume, but no replies yet. sad face. i feel like i should accomplish more creatively, but i'm pretty bummed out and always feel like i need to be finding work.. which isn't doing much to cheer me up. ha! and then i have 'band practice' just about every night of the week, but it often feels like a waste of time, a luxury.. that's a new feeling. band practice used to be a responsibility, right up there with all the other big time things i have to do. oh well. blah blah. i have written a few bitter songs and what-not.. emily's been trying to help out with a couple of pretty good ones, so i've shelved those in favor of finishing this one..

celebrate

i also have a picture! i'm not sure who took it, but it was given to me by G. Tony Jacobs (the bass player in the picture) and i think it must've been taken by Dan or Colae.. i like it. that's the one Leaning Towers show we've played, for their wedding. for the record, we played two cover songs and Beautiful Creature, an original.. short set, hopefully we kept them wanting more.

rivers run downstream

day two of unemployment, not much to say... i've got band practice every night except thursday, when the king hen plays a show at the Tonic Lounge, so that's keeping my nights busy enough.. and during the day? songs.

i've got a few things that are kinda neat, including two pretty things that just need more lyrics.. yesterdays big effort, "evidence, a pop song" is coming along nicely, i think i can finish that pretty quickly, but for today:

Rivers Run Downstream

this has emily rocking out on the bass - thats always a treat.

mermaid babies

well, i lost my job yesterday at The Portland Mercury.. i'd worked there for a little over four years, first as a distribution driver with emily, and then as an advertising runner. they were always really cool to me, let me take time off for touring and always treated me well, and it allowed me to work just a few days a week and still make ends meet while working on music. fairly ideal situation, i think.. so it's sad that it has to come to a close..

and then, well i didn't want the last song we'd posted to be dayjob, so i figured i'd better finish something else and post it.. this one wasn't the first choice, but i spent so much time working on this other song and i couldn't quite finish it.. well, anyways, i wanted to post something, so here it is..

Mermaid Babies

i like the lead guitar and all the crazy drums on this one.. i kinda thought it was a little like Keith Moon at times.. with a big windmill guitar.. and i kept it short, 'cause i've always like the little short rock tunes.

Dayjob

Dayjob

i'm not sure what happened, but this was supposed to be posted a few days ago.. oh well.

this was all words and chords that i had for a few weeks after the wedding, but it didn't seem nearly substantial enough for a song.. two verses and a guitar solo is all i had.. so i dropped that big D minor change into it and got a little weird, i really like that.. the accordion comes in and the odd drum exchange, neat-o.

ichi ni san shi

ichi ni san shi

well, i finished two songs today, which is pretty cool.. they've both been sorta stalled out for at least a month, so i feel good about closing 'em out and posting them. this one here was one of the first things i did in the basement with drums, but it was difficult to bring together all the elements.. the keyboards and the hundred guitars and all the different parts.. on and on, it was a pain.. but as always, once i could get emily to stop studying and going to school all the time, she came down and recorded some more vocals and keyboards, and it made a lot more sense, sounded a lot better, and so we're gonna call it finished.

hmm.. that's quite a run on paragraph. oh well.

busy week here - last night we went out to see Deerhoof and Experimental Dental School (who are locals now?).. pretty great, inspiring stuff.. but we knew it would be, we've been fans of both bands for awhile now. tonight and tomorrow are band practices.. friday the King Hen has a show at towne lounge, and we haven't played out in awhile. lots of stuff going on..

Pillar of Autumn

pillar of autumn

i wrote/recorded this a few days ago.. with a few very specific ideas.. i wanted the first phrase (all the synth string bits) to be in an odd-time, with a bunch of 3's in it somehow.. so i started fooling around, weaving these little C minor bits in and out of each other, trying to be catchy and simple and odd.

and i also wanted to experiment with this "tense rising string" thing that seems to be everywhere these days.. it's on Lost a lot, and in There Will Be Blood.. i think it's a string section sliding up slowly while bowing, all at slightly different times. so i did that with a few electric guitars and the moog, but it wasn't quite right.. those frets can really get in the way sometimes. then all those guitars, after the climax of that rising action, just sorta of lie there and look pretty in soft relief. which is probably my favorite moment. just floating in space.

so it didnt' really satisfy my experiments exactly.. but it's odd and pretty.

lil pudding cake

lil pudding cake

we both woke up in ditches today
how'd we let things get so far away?
with our fingers dig deep in the mud
breathe life into clay
make worship the noises we've made.

we swarm out of the basement
never get away
twist up in your stomach
dried up and afraid
it's all for nothing lil pudding cake.

the swarm has lots of patience
it's never been afraid
eats off all your clothing
and no one looks away
it's all for nothing lil pudding cake.

today is saturday, and we have a knick knack poker game tonight at dan and colae's house.. i have collected a few knick knacks.. a leapord print snap bracelet, and a bonsai tree seed, some halloween music, and something else. i don't care much for poker, so i may not last long in the game.. which is just more time to hang out with samba, the dog.

as for this song, it's a crazy thing.. i wrote all the major seven chords and the rhythm in five awhile back, probably just as we moved into the house, and then the drums came next, turning it into a big rock out ending.. and then i came up with emily's verses, but i hated the way i sang them.. so i got emily to do all that pretty stuff she does.. and i spent awhile on the noise solo at the end, over and over and over.. some of the odd filter noises at the end are guitar solo bits fed into the moog, and then manipulated, which i love doing.

really i kinda wanted to finish this groovy little song called ichi ni san shi, but i'm still hung up on parts of that.. emily put down a good scratch bass guitar track, but the whole song needs more work than i thought.. oh well.

High As A Kite

High As A Kite

i shoulda said something
i shoulda just lied
like, "it got out through the skylight"
it flew up high as a kite
"and the sunlight was right in my eyes"
maybe she'll still find her way home

i shoulda done something
i shoulda tried
i know you don't feel good
but twenty bucks and a quick phone call
we'll be high as a kite
maybe meet up on the other side
we'll never be alone

i shoulda said something
i shoulda just lied
now i'm out on a tightrope, all alone
high as a kite
and it's gorgeous but i'm scared of heights
(still glad i let the bird go)

i was playing some songs with my father the other day, old dylan tunes (isis!) and whatnot, when i pulled out this song.. i wrote it awhile ago but never got too happy with it, and the words and the writer's block and the blah blah.. so i played it with my dad and it sounded really nice, and made me revisit the recording i'd worked on. if nothing else, it's a song, eh? or something.

of course, my dad was around 'cause of the recent marriage between emily and i.. so, you know, thanks for the support of our union and all that. and that goes for everyone else, also - the cosgroves and the spurlocks, the couchs and the kronsers and the chess'(s) - and all our friends who were around and wanted to hang out in a park and drink for love who didn't share a last name. love.

Fenced

Fenced

i made a list of the things that i sorta regret
it started off with last night's argument and it still hasn't ended,
but i guess that we're still friends.

a pretty song shouldn't suffer like this
sing that bit about the bicycle trip that seemed never ending
as we swore we'd never fight again

i got a list torn in two on the ground
the falling bombs make a whistling sound
just make a noise when the dogs come around
another kiss and i can go back to digging down
the world seems close to ending,
holding hands we can slip right through the fence.


not too much to say right this second.. emily's parents come into town tomorrow, the weather is nice outside.. i have another 3 or 4 songs that are pretty close, but i've got all sorts of problems writing lyrics.. so it's hard to say when they'll get finished, and in some cases, what they'll even be about. hmm.

and i'll likely be pretty busy for the next week at least.. so we'll see what we can accomplish.