Don't Tell a Soul, Vol. 56: I find myself at 90 degrees to the rest of the world

Submitted for the approval of the Twin Ports Awesome Mix Tape Appreciation Society (wanna join?) ... the latest installment of "Don't Tell a Soul."

As always, to encourage the consumption of music that doesn't suck, I have provided -- wherever available -- links to free, artist-sanctioned MP3s of the songs.

Kawaba! Kawaba! Kawaba!
Matt

(Questions? Comments? Want one of your band's songs to be considered for an upcoming awesome mix tape? E-mail mperrine [at] duluthbudgeteer [dot] com.)

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1. Smashing Pumpkins - "Tarantula" (listen here)
I thought I'd give it a shot because, hey, this band's given me so many great memories over the years....

2. Rory Allen Phillips - "Faking a Feeling" (some downloads here)
The man with the golden ear -- he helped found, among other outfits, the Impossibles, the Stereo and slowreader -- recently struck out on his own, and the results are as satisfying as anything else in his illustrious career.

3. Pearl Jam - "Untitled" (from "Live on Two Legs")
What a beautiful, beautiful song -> I'm really glad this was able to find its way onto a record of some sort.

4. The Beta Band - "Round the Bend"
Oh, man, back in '99 this was my fucking anthem!

5. The Decemberists - "The Perfect Crime #2" (A Touch of Class remix) (listen here, download others)
I've never been too keen on the Decemberists' sound, but anything A Touch of Class touches comes straight from the heavens.

6. The Pixies - "The Happening"
Paging Gonzo Science.... (This was supposed to go on my UFO mix tape -- influenced by GS's Area 61 convention, I'm sure -- which, sadly, kind of went by the wayside.)

7. Statistics - "No Promises" (DL other Statistics MP3s here) (and here!)
I want to make a really bad joke about combining my two favorite things in life (glamorous indie rock 'n' roll and stats), but I just can't muster the strength. LOL

8. Voxtrot - "Kid Gloves"
You like Best Friends Forever and the Wedding Present? Then maybe you try on Voxtrot for size, "bruddah."

9. Goldrush - "Feel" (DL others here) (and here too)
This sounds a lot like modern-day Nada Surf. <- A good band to rip off if I ever did hear one.

10. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "I Won't Back Down"
After listening to Pearl Jam's cover of this song incessantly a couple months back, I just had to return to the source material. As tasty as ever. (Did anyone else out there listen to Brainerd's kickass "Power Loon" radio station throughout, like, their entire formative years?)

11. Big Star - "I'm in Love with a Girl"
A big cyber-hug (ha ha ha) to Briana Smith, for introducing me to these guys so many years ago. She knew I'd love Big Star -- she just knew it.

12. Badfinger - "Love is Easy"
Man, I was really in a classic rock mood when I drafted this mix tape. Nonetheless, the day I stop digging the Badfinger action is the day you have permission to brand me a soul-suckin' jerk (and/or pretentious asshole).

13. Supergrass - "It's Not Me"
Music to fall in love to. Sincerely.

14. J Church - "Anybody" (some hard-to-find MP3s here)
When they're on, they're on. Melodic punk never sounded sweeter.

15. Grickle-Grass - "Tractor Beam"
FYI: These guys jump out of your speakers just like the Plastic Constellations, so remember that when you're planning your next party mix.

16. Radiohead - "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
"In Rainbows" was, as a whole, overrated, I'll agree -- but you can't deny the immediate appeal of this mesmerizing track.

17. Pigeonhed feat. Jerry Cantrell - "Marry Me"
Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell is one of the most underrated guitarists (and songwriters, while we're at it) of all time, so it was with great pleasure that I stumbled across this Pigeonhed collaboration at the local Pawn America the other day.

18. Ed Harcourt - "Hanging with the Wrong Crowd"
I don't know where this guy came from (or where he's going), but everything he records is utterly beautiful. -> If I were a rich man, I would proposition him to record a this-is-so-gonna-pay-for-itself ballad for my lovely little lady.

19. Pedro the Lion - "Indian Summer" (some free MP3s available here) (here too!)
Man, these guys should've been HUGE!

20. The Webb Brothers - "All the Cocaine in the World"
A tender little ditty about *ahem* the white stuff. A-ha.

21. Miles - "Pretty Day"
Kind of poppy, but kind of infectious at the same time.

22. The Black Crowes - "Wiser Time"
I'm not even kidding when I say that this C&W-tinged anthem makes me want to move to Wyoming, buy a big ol' ranch and ... set up shop against an old, rickety wooden fence. I mean, I know I couldn't pull off one of those iconic cowboy poses, but it sure would be fun trying!

23. Sun Kil Moon - "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" (Modest Mouse cover)
It's weird, right, that Mark Kozelek recorded an entire album of Modest Mouse covers? ... Is Isaac Brock the next Dylan??

Stupid questions aside, this is one of the most beautiful tracks I have ever heard. A nice song to daydream to.

("Poster" credits: Original image courtesy of Dynamic Video Images of Ft. Lauderdale and/or Naples, Fla. -- digital manipulation by yours truly.)

Appendix to last week's This Week's Shameless Budgeteer Plug

Blame it all senseless, but I forgot to share with you my contributions to this season's Canal Park Times, which was printed alongside this weekend's edition of the Duluth Budgeteer News:

"Views from the Top" -- Frank Nichols, a retired bridge worker (and Crosby and/or Ironton, Minn., native!), explains what it's like to sit on top of the Aerial Lift Bridge and snap a few photographs.

"Discover Duluth: Canal Park" -- A few weeks ago I took my photo essay series down to Duluth's entertainment/tourism district, and these are the results. Hope you enjoy!

This Week's (Belated) Shameless Budgeteer Plug: Tony Bennett/Cars & Trucks, Clearwire's PC card and pics of 'Squirrel Man'

Oops! I musta been too busy enjoying the fruits (err...) of Black Friday to update this here blog. Anywho, here's what you'll find if you wander on over to DuluthBudgeteer.com this weekend:

"Speaking as a Child of the '70s" -- Tony Bennett is a bona fide Duluth Renaissance man, and the power pop-infused Cars & Trucks is just his latest sterling achievement.

"Clearwire: 'Fastest Card on the Market'" -- Clearwire takes on Sprint and Verizon in Duluth's wireless-Internet PC card arms race.

Finally, as a I promised, check out "Meet 'Stinky' -- Not Tall, But Definitely Dark and Handsome" to see my pics of a domesticated squirrel living in east Duluth. (Yeah, that's right!)

And now ... for a little taste of the silliness: "Only in Duluth..." -> Duluth merchant makes swimsuit-related funny.

Before you freak out on a store clerk tomorrow morning...

Please read the following, my account of working a "Black Friday" at Fargo's Best Buy a few years back. I've been there; it's not their fault! (p.s. I haven't read this since I wrote it last year, so hopefully it's not too offensive or anything....)

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Stuck inside of Best Buy with the day-after-Thanksgiving blues again
Matthew R. Perrine
Budgeteer News - 11/17/2006

When I think of Thanksgiving, I hear a song.

Not one of the myriad of Christmas songs coming up through my record needle 24/7 (thanks, wifey), but one from Milwaukee’s the Promise Ring.

“Get on the Floor” includes three stellar and potentially prophetic lines: “I feel paranoid / I get on the floor / And I just freak out.”

Now, this might not make a lot of sense until I let on to the fact that, at this time last year, I was working at Best Buy No. 13 (Fargo).

One of my responsibilities included a pre-dawn, day-after-Thanksgiving shift in the camera department. (Cue sinister theme music.)

Who better to tell “day-after” war stories than someone who has worn that dorky blue polo and lived to tell about it?

The weekend prior to Black Friday (as it’s known in “the biz”), Store 13’s army commenced for an early morning training session. The mission was simple: Prepare everyone for the day-after onslaught.

We’d all heard rumors, but how bad could it really be? As the hilarious accounts on BestBuySux.org’s forums were my only window into that madness, I was decidedly shocked when our store manager popped in a video from the previous year’s Black Friday.

The few that bumrushed the poor soul who had to open the doors (which were, by that time, busting at the seams) snowballed into an avalanche of rabid bargain hunters — all in a matter of seconds.

It had the look, the sound and, from what I gathered last year, the smell of a stampede.

These people were nuts. Not in the way bargain-store shoppers hover over your shoulders (you know, in case you somehow stumble upon the deal of the century ... otherwise known as “the one”), but in the sense that putting “blood” and “thirsty” together doesn’t even come close to cutting it.

It was complete and utter madness. At least a few of them had dollar signs glowing in their eyes where pupils used to sit.

Of course, now knowing what we were up against, a trial run was conducted. Leading the pack were senior team members who had “been there, done that.”

It was scary. Some coworkers I considered halfway normal became werewolfs, getting in my face and barking at me for this or that from all imaginable directions.

“Ha, good one,” I scoffed.

Little did I know that they were going easy on me. As I would soon find out, Black Friday bargain shoppers are freakin’ lunatics. If you don’t give them X amount of cameras in Y amount of time (a couple of seconds ... if you’re lucky) for Z amount of dollars, you will be in some sort of XYZ hurtbag.

I had never been so scared in my life. When the stampede reached my department (near the back of the store), it had been all of 2.2 seconds since the doors opened. (Not to be outdone by physics, the accompanying trail of saliva still attached to the corner of their seething mouths somehow reached us first.)

There wasn’t any time to think, let alone blink. My department supervisor would later admit that, from time to time, he’s had employees literally freeze up. No joke. They had to be taken to the break room to recoup. But it’s entirely understandable. Had half of Fargo’s television news media not been there recording every move, I could’ve fallen by the wayside.

Not me, though. I wore my “blues” proud that day. Sure, I kind of wished I had been born with more arms, but, after the initial rush, the legions of zealous shoppers were ushered into a checkout line that wrapped around the entire store.

The cattle had had their day. Now it was time for them to queue up. Moo?

But this triumphant feeling soon fizzled. Sure, I was free enough, standing in my own space, but then the glares hit me. I knew what they were thinking: “If only you had moved a little faster, I would’ve gotten that cheap digital camera or that cheap memory card or....”

They didn’t appreciate the fact that I had busted my butt. No, all they could imagine was just how fast I could’ve moved.

Their faces said, “Black Friday is your one day to transcend your human form, Matt. Channel that inner mutant.”

Mouthing “I tried my best” or “I’m just one man” or “Yes, I agree, my mother should have enjoyed some Morgan Park water back in ‘82” wasn’t going to cut it — and that’s exactly why I had to retire from the game.

Matthew R. Perrine is the Budgeteer’s news clerk/reporter. He can be reached at 723-1207 or mperrine@duluthbudgeteer.com.

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This concludes the first installment of my new series, THE RECYCLER: OLD STORIES MADE NEW AGAIN! (All hail the almighty Slate!)

Today's Moment of Zen: Swimsuit sale on Superior Street

Yes, this was shot today!

Just another reason to hate the Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are suing Showtime over the name of one of its latest shows, "Californication."

As you probably already know, that was the name given to the group's first foray into "suckitude," the 1999 album and single "Californication." (Let's face it; 1995's "One Hot Minute" was the lone decent release in the band's catalog -- but most of that credit should probably be directed at former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, who was only a member of RHCP for the one album.)

Even more shameless is RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis' statement on this whole matter: "'Californication' is the signature CD, video and song of the band's career, and for some TV show to come along and steal our identity is not right."

Cry me a river, sellout!

Full story here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/20/redhotchili.peppers.ap/index.html

Don't Tell a Soul, Vol. 55: THE OWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Submitted for the approval of the Twin Ports Awesome Mix Tape Appreciation Society (wanna join?) ... the latest installment of "Don't Tell a Soul."

As always, to encourage the consumption of music that doesn't suck, I have provided -- wherever available -- links to free, artist-sanctioned MP3s of the songs.

Snoqualmie!
Matt

(Questions? Comments? Want one of your band's songs to be considered for an upcoming awesome mix tape? E-mail mperrine [at] duluthbudgeteer [dot] com.)

*******

1. Eels - "Dog Faced Boy" ("Skywriting" available here)
True story: "E" knows how to rock it.

2. Mac Lethal - "Jihad!" (some great MP3s available at Lethalville.com)
As does Mac. -> Lazerbreak's sweetass trunk-fulla-amps production and crafty shout-outs to Mitch Hedberg certainly don't hurt, either. (More thoughts on this song here.)

3. Rebekah Higgs - "Mr. Weatherman" (other songs available here)
Wasn't the White Stripes/Holly Golightly collab "Well It's True That We Love One Another" just dandy? If you concur, then step ahead and join the "Rebekah Higgs is a lovely, lovely thing" party forming ever so rapidly.

4. Fin - "This is My Heart"
Guitar!!! Solo!!! Yes!!!

5. What Made Milwaukee Famous - "Sweet Lady" (listen here)
Easily one of the top 20 finest songs ever recorded ... what's not to love with WMMF's uncanny knack for irresistible bouncy anthems?

6. Burden Brothers - "Your Fault"
Although some aren't aware of this, the (first) dissolution of the Toadies was just the beginning of Vaden Todd Lewis long and illustrious career as Texas' leading gee-tar man.

7. Cinerama - "Apres Ski"
Songs don't get much prettier than those conceived by the genius mind of David Gedge (also of the Wedding Present).

8. The Clash - "Spanish Bombs"
I wonder what all the snot-nosed punks were thinking when this came out.... I wish I was alive in '79 to see their faces!

9. The Rentals - "Please Let That Be You" (video here)
Hey, remember when Moog was god?! Sometimes I miss '95.... But, hey, I just learned something cool today: This song is a reworking of a Weezer demo Matt Sharp wrote called "Mrs. Young."

10. Electric Light Orchestra - "Daybreaker"
I HEART ELO. AIN'T NONE HIGHER. NO JOKE. SO DON'T TAKE IT AS ONE.

11. The Who - "Do You Think it's Alright?" (live at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1970)
Though the Who is a close second (or third, after the Pixies ... you know, to be honest, I think I have a new favorite band every goddamn day!).

12. Rogue Wave - "Seasick on Land" (other classics here) (and here!)
Yes, Rogue Wave has also been known to be in my "top five." Snappy little tunes they produce, eh?

13. Ash - "There's a Star" (album vers.) (see video here)
Another true story: This gorgeous track appeared on one of the five lovely (yet still awesome) mix tapes I made for my wedding celebration. (Which was held in McGregor, Minn., of all places!)

14. Storyhill - "What was Wrong"
I really dig the lyric "You left the same station on / To static / All night long." So memorable, in fact, that it stood out during the duo's recent performance at Weber Music Hall on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth (aka one of the best concerts mine eyes have ever witnessed).

15. Saturday Looks Good to Me - "Make a Plan"
Do Quentin Tarantino soundtracks turn you on? Well, the music these guys kick up kind of sounds like all of them rolled into one: Classy, yet not without a slight edge.

16. Golden Dogs - "Dynamo" (listen here)
Indie rock at its finest, yet (there's that word again...) it could almost work on the next installment of "Guitar Hero." I'm always looking out for that sort of thing ... as if they'd actually let a stupidass blogger help them make those (kind of, sort of) tough decisions!

17. Liam Finn - "Second Chance"
Liam Finn = 1/3 Neal Peterson + 2/3 Cinerama. Intriguing stuff here -> must find more.

18. Hum - "Green to Me" (watch video and download a whole lot here)
I *sob* saw these guys on their *sob sob* farewell tour. *sob sob sob* (Seriously, will there ever be another band this freakin' cool? I haven't really followed the group members' respective solo careers, so perhaps there is one already out there. Do you think?)

19. Camper Van Beethoven - "Pictures of Matchstick Men" (Status Quo cover) (DL a few tracks here)
Stoner anthem meets "Brokeback Mountain" soundtrack (well before its time). Congrats, David Lowery, only you (or a member of the Pixies) could pull off something that surprising in 1989. p.s. Can you believe this was a No. 1 hit for CVB when it came out?

20. Scissor Sisters - "Music is the Victim"
I never thought the Scissor Sisters' brand of disco/rock fusion would ever appeal to me as much as it does, but consider me a convert: I love this shit!

21. Lookdown Moon - "Plastic Trumpet"
It was a very, very good year for the local scene. For fans of the Geraldine Fibbers (at least this one). BONUS! (SCORE!): An interview with Lookdown Moon's Ann Loop.

22. Angelo Badalamenti feat. Julee Cruise - "Falling" (hear a sample here)
Not to get too into the (true) holiday spirit or anything, but there needs to be only one item on your Christmas list: "Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition." If you can ignore the stupid cover design (a crappy homage to "The Wizard of Oz"?), you're in for 10 discs of unparalleled bliss.

23. The Amps - "First Revival" (live MP3 here)
I just love Kim Deal's original name for her post-Breeders group: Tammy and the Amps. (Cool, too, is the rumor is that Robert Pollard suggested it to her.)