Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Ettes "No Home"
The Ettes are a San Francisco-based trio (originally from Nashville) that make what some call 'beat-punk.' Think Nancy Sinatra meets Mick Jagger & the Stones. It's primal, feisty, pounding, exciting rock music and they just keep building the buzz. From opening for Kings Of Leon this summer in Europe, to getting Dan Auerbach, of The Black Keys, to produce the first single off their third album. They are currently touring with Juliette Lewis and have a fan in Drew Barrymore, who has included them on the soundtrack to her girl-power movie "Whip It." I've seen them live a couple times now and they always deliver. The new CD is igniting at college and specialty radio and they'll be performing on Jimmy Fallon's show Friday! Here the aforementioned Dan Auerbach-produced single is for your listening pleasure. No Home - The Ettes
Posted by soft rock star at 10:35 PM
Friday, September 25, 2009
Goodbye Kmart
Over the years Kmart has understandably been closing stores and losing ground to Target and Walmart. It's easy to see why. They have no point of difference and they've made little attempt at updating their stores. Going into one can be an incredibly depressing experience. I hadn't been inside a Kmart in ages until this summer when we ducked into what I'm told was the nation's first 24-Hour Super Kmart in Brunswick. It apparently opened in 1991 with much fanfare and celebrity appearances. Well, it was clear walking through it that it had not been remodeled since. The Kmart nearest my house growing up was in Minnetonka and I knew it well. My mom was the bookkeeper there and both my sisters worked there at one point. We shopped there all the time. We visited Santa there. We loved the toy department and my mom bought plenty of hideous clothes for me. But it was the only game in town until Target opened a huge store across the street and nearby in the other direction as well.
Knowing it's closing now is bittersweet. It's certainly no surprise. No one really shops at Kmart anymore. But it's kinda sad knowing one more place my mom spent so much time at is going away. Places, people, pictures, smells... they all can spark memories of simpler, happy times. And it's especially nice to have them when they remind you of someone that isn't around anymore. I make it to Minnetonka so rarely these days. The grocery store I worked at is gone now too. The house I grew up in is a different color and is being substantially remodeled. I guess someday most of the memories you have are all just left to be remembered in your own mind.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:55 PM
Thursday, September 24, 2009
ABC, Ya Done Good
I had no strong desire to check out any of the new shows on TV this season. Caught the pilot for Melrose Place (it was passable but I can miss it) and Vampire Diaries (not too shabby but not blowing me away). I'm loving Glee but I knew I'd be watching that after seeing the premiere last spring. But after accidentally catching the last half of Cougar Town last night and trying out Modern Family on DVR tonight, I must say... I'm impressed! Both shows are smartly written, quirky, laugh-out-loud comedies and I'm gonna keep watching them. I love the casts. Courtney Cox is manic and hilarious and any show smart enough to cast Busy Phillips is immediately the better for it. And it's nice to see Christa Miller from Scrubs. I always liked her on there. Modern Family is oddball, vibrant and the characters all seem really well fleshed out. Even Ed O'Neill was entertaining, and after being subjected to far too many seasons of Married With Children, that is an accomplishment in and of itself. The show was packed with zingers. There are so few good comedies on TV (30 Rock, Curb, Family Guy, Glee... birds chirping after that). So this was a pleasant surprise. And, gasp!, they actually got solid ratings! Happiness.
Posted by soft rock star at 11:11 PM
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Babies Love Beyonce
This video made me laugh until I almost cried.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:05 PM
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Twins, How You Toy With Me!
Well, the Twins have eleven games left to play this season. I have to admit I wrote them off a while ago. They'd never been more than two games over .500 most of the year and haven't really shown any spark. Hasn't helped that three-fifths of the starting rotation spent a huge chunk of time on the disabled list (two out for he season) and Morneau and Crede are out for for the season as well. But suddenly, without a huge list of key players, the Twins are playing their best ball of the year. They've won 8 of 9 and climbed a season best five games over .500. They're 2 1/2 games behind Detroit with four games left against the Tigers so they do have a chance to control their destiny to some degree. Now I don't have any delusions that the Twins are gonna catch the Tigers. And even if they do they'd have to face the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs (and the Twins suck in no huger a way than when they play New York). But it's certainly a testament to the drive and determination of this team. They never give up. I just wish they didn't always have to scrap like this. Baseball needs a salary cap.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:37 PM
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Grilled Cheese, You Are A Prince Among Men
I can't believe I've had this blog since April and I've never extolled the virtues of a grilled cheese sandwich! They are one of this vegetarians most tried and true friends. Many a lunch or dinner out has been satisfied with my lactose-rich, gooey (yet crunchy) buddy. And I'm no purist either. Wanna add tomato? (tomato chutney even?) Go for it. Sunflower seeds? I'm game. Some sort of fancy cheese. Fine by me. Sourdough? Wheat? White? Rye? Makes no difference to me. 
Now it IS possible to make a crappy grilled cheese sandwich. If you're gonna use white bread you have to spruce things up a bit, or at least go heavy on the cheese. Sourdough bread IS the best... all fried up in butter. And then a generous helping of the cheese. And I really do love tomato. If it's made with love and respect for cheese it's gonna be a winner every time though. I have the utmost respect for vegans but I can't do without cheese. Sorry Bessy, you gotta at least give up the milk.
Posted by soft rock star at 11:01 AM
Saturday, September 19, 2009
9
I had seen the trailer for '9' in the theater multiple times this summer and although it looking visually interesting, I didn't have much interest in seeing it. But we went to see it today and I must say, I really enjoyed it. Visually it did not disappoint. The animation is impeccable. What I also enjoyed was the emotional depth of the characters, especially #5 & #9. You really felt for the characters... their desperate desire for the naive hope most of them had for a more normal existence and the sad reality of the situation they lived in. To say more would give things away. But I definitely think it's worth checking out.
Posted by soft rock star at 8:38 PM
Friday, September 18, 2009
White Lies "Death"
As immersed as I am in the music industry, sometimes a band or song slips past you. There really is no way to keep up on everything. So it's always nice to stumble upon a great song even if I am a little late on the ball here. The band is called White Lies and their album To Lose My Life debuted at #1 album on the UK Charts early this year. "Death" is catchy as hell... a chunky baseline, dark feel, and soaring chorus bring to mind Interpol or Longwave for me. Are they doing anything remarkably fresh or different? Nope. But I couldn't care less when the result is this good. Death - White Lies
Posted by soft rock star at 10:54 PM
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Zombieland
This.Looks.Good.
Posted by soft rock star at 8:42 PM
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Best Banana Bread Ever!
(disclaimer: This isn't banana bread made from this recipe... the recipe will be even better... aaaaaaahhhhh!!!!) So I have the receipe for the best banana bread you will ever eat. Make it now, thank me later.
Ingredients:
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Stick Of Butter (Soft)
2 Eggs
2 Ripe Bananas
1 ½ Cups Sugar
½ Tsp. Salt
½ Bag White Nestle Morsels
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sour cream and baking soda in small bowl.
Mash bananas in a separate large bowl and mix with all other ingredients.
Add in sour cream mixture and mix together.
Pour into two loaf pans.
Bake for one hour but check towards end to make sure not to over-bake.
Cool, add butter, devour, and try not to believe you’ve died and gone to heaven.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:48 PM
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
RIP Men In Your 50s
I wanted to note the passing of two men who have died in the last week that made an impression with me. The one most people would recognize is, of course, Patrick Swayze. From Outsiders and Dirty Dancing to Ghost and To Wong Foo, Swayze played some interesting roles and did a great job in them. I personally didn't understand his 'sex appeal' but he seemed like a really good guy. You don't find many people in Hollywood faithfully staying married to the same person for 34 years. And no one should have to suffer the way I'm sure he did at the end. Watching my mom die of cancer I know he must have been in a lot of pain at the end. It's sad to see someone who seemed to love life so much die decades before they should have. Swayze was 57. 
My more obscure mention goes to punk musician and poet Jim Carroll. He is best known for his journals chronicling his days as a hustler and heroin addict in The Basketball Diaries, which was adapted in a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He was also a pivotal player in the birth of the punk scene and that's how I knew him better. The single "People Who Died", from the Jim Carroll Band's 1980 debut album, Catholic Boy is definitely a favorite of mine. I've included it here. I guess Carroll can add himself to the list.
People Who Died ( LP Version ) - The Jim Carroll Band
Posted by soft rock star at 9:18 PM
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Kanye West Is A Collosal Dick
I've been meaning to do a post about Kanye West for some time now. I had assembled an array of some of his most ridiculous quotes over the years and was going to list some choice ones. It just never seemed the right time. There wasn't anything happening that made me care enough to post it. Until tonight I find West to be an embarrassingly pompous, arrogant, ugly (and I mean on the inside), insecure windbag. He's said and done some stupifying things: calling himself a modern day biblical figure, likening his music to medicine, claiming to be the voice of his generation... you know, basically the ramblings of a hack with a God complex. I'm sorry but if lines like "“…heard they'd do anything for a Klondike, well I'd do anything for a blonde dyke" is supposed to expose some sort of genius then the term genius is being used in the loosest way possible.
On tonight's VMA's (which were the best I've seen in years) Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech claiming Beyonce was more deserving. An eruption of well deserved boos rose from the audience. And every time his name was mentioned the rest of the night a chorus of boos could be heard. It was music to my ears. Beyonce was classy enough to call Swift back on the stage when she won for Video Of The Year and let her finish her speech.
Yes, Beyonce deserved to win the award Taylor did, but she didn't. And only someone as morally corrupt and tactfully empty as Kanye West would step up on stage and interrupt a sweet, innocent teenager's first VMA Award moment. Kanye West is pathetic. I want people to stop rewarding his bad behavior. And I'm hoping this will finally be the beginning.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:41 PM
Saturday, September 12, 2009
New Term Of The Week: Flash Mob
Regardless of your opinion of Oprah or the Black Eyed Peas (I'm personally not much of a fan of either), the Peas performance of "I Got Feeling" on her September 10th episode gave me chills. It has nothing to do with the band or the song. It was the crowd of 21,000 gathered on Michigan Avenue to see it that stole the show. So freakin' cool.Posted by soft rock star at 1:22 PM
Friday, September 11, 2009
Hypocrisy You Now Have A Face, Well Two Faces Actually...
I've seen a couple commercials lately that seemed to be head-scratchers as far as the spokesperson was concerned. First came a T-Mobile commercial starring self-proclaimed tech-phobe Whoopi Goldberg. She constantly talks on The View of her disdain for Twitter and Facebook, that she never uses email and, the real clincher... that she hates cell phones. But here she is, cell phone in hand, glasses on the tip of her nose, trademark know-it-all smirk on full display, holding T-Mobile's new myTouch cell phone. Odd choice. 
And then tonight, comes odd choice number two: What Not To Wear's Stacy London. Now, I really don't like Stacy London to begin with. I find her to be rude, pompous, and obnoxious. Her put-downs of people on her show are mean-spirited and hurtful and I just don't find it entertaining. Lately she has been raking in piles of endorsement cash on everything from Pantene to Woolite (and these make sense to me). But Lee Rider jeans? Lee... the ugliest, cheapest, least flattering jeans around? These are mom jeans. You want to look ten years older and desperately unfashionable? Get some Lee Jeans. So, what these two woman clearly have in common besides their unbridled smugness is their love for money. Reputation-be-damned... if you've got a product to promote, any product, doesn't matter what it is, and you are looking for a celebrity endorsement, these are your ladies! They'll paste a smile, put their bitter, smug attitudes on the back burner and claim your product is the second coming.
Posted by soft rock star at 8:04 PM
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sissy Wish
I first saw Bergen, Norway native Siri Wålberg (a.k.a. Sissy Wish) perform at SXSW in 2007. I was immediately taken with her sound. Quirky, electro-drenched, ridiculously catchy songs. Her third CD was released in Norway back in 2007. It's finally seeing a stateside release on Minneapolis-based Afternoon Records. The album got a stellar 8.0 Pitchfork review and for good reason: every song on the CD is good. Here's a snippet of the review that I think describes the album quite well: Beauties Never Die balances maturity and wonder as it takes a hard left turn away from the guitar-driven rock of the first two Sissy Wish albums. Instead, Ålberg and producer Jørgen Træn toy with computers, synths, and a few live instruments to animate these 10 inventive, diverse tracks...Bolstering her charming eccentricities is an eclecticism that makes Beauties wide-ranging yet surprisingly cohesive, as if its emphasis on electronics has allowed her simultaneously to indulge and to give shape to her every whim." Woot. Here's track 2: "Dwts."
Dwts - Sissy Wish
Posted by soft rock star at 9:27 PM
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Galleries, Cream Puffs Overpriced Knick Knacks & The 18th Floor.
Our friend Mary came to Columbus this weekend. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel downtown and spent the weekend lounging, eating, exploring, drinking, and taking in the annual Short North Gallery Hop. The Short North is especially exciting during events like this... such a diverse and interesting crowd; so many unique shops, tons of galleries, lots of live music. We enjoyed some favorites (such as the Northstar Cafe and Barleys) and discovered some new fun places like Level, Union & Flower Child. The North Market is an excellent place for a variety of food and the decor at the bars we went to, especially Level, was frankly far above what Minneapolis for the places we like to go. 
Saturday lounging at the hotel's rooftop pool was soooo relaxing; loved the whirlpool. And we ran into old friends too, me finally seeing Rae (who I hadn't seen in years) at the CD101 booth, where she was DJing and Jared caught up an old high school friend too at Union, who seemed really cool. It was nice to be able to stay downtown and get to soak up the atmosphere more completely. There really is so much charm to the Short North. Getting to explore it more thoroughly was good times.
Posted by soft rock star at 10:38 PM
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Bindi Irwin Must Be Stopped!
When crazed conservationalist and hopped-up animal lover Steve Irwin died I can't say I was destroyed. I mean, it's a young life ended, which is almost always a tragedy, don't get me wrong. And leaving behind a wife and two young children is most definitely awful. But to know the man who seemed to get his rocks off on giddily taunting alligators would not be appearing on TV anymore wasn't entirely unwelcome. What I didn't know... what I could never have imagined, is that his legacy would live on, in an even more annoying, pint-size package: his freakishly adult-acting, annoying little daughter Bindi. 
Now normally I don't make fun of children. They are generally cute, energetic and basically harmless little creatures (when they aren't crying or whining about something or doing something so repetitive it drives you utterly crazy). Where I start to have a problem is when they think they are, and act like, adults. Or so they think. The problem with children who think their experiences belie their age is that they are flat out wrong, not to mention highly annoying. That there are anti-Bindi Facebook groups such as 'Bindi Irwin Is Annoying As Hell' and 'Bindi Irwin Is The Antichrist' doesn't surprise me all that much. The girl is frightening energetic and mugs for the camera to such a overwhelming degree that you almost imagine her squealing with delight when her dad died so that she could begin her quest for world domination.
I've been able to pretty easily avoid little Bindi for the most part but her appearance on the Daytime Emmys (don't ask) was ridiculous. She came out with two other actors (I have no idea who they were) and the man started talking. Well Bindi, who was on a little stool to make her the same height at the other two, was absolutely bursting at the seems, her head turning in whiplash speed to the man and back to the monitor, her eyes filled with demented glee as she laid in wait, like a little animal, waiting to pounce on the dialogue she had no doubt practiced all day. When she finally got her moment she blurted the first line out and then paused as she had to catch the monitor again to remember the next one. It wasn't cute. I t wasn't adorable. It was, well, annoying as hell. Oh, and they also said "Bindi Irwin, star of Bindi: The Jungle Girl" before she came out. Holy smokes, I had no idea they gave her her own show! It drove me to an unimaginable thought...that somehow Steve Irwin was still alive and still had his little daughter under wraps (although I have a feeling she'd be angling for the camera just as passionately if he were still around.)
Posted by soft rock star at 8:18 PM
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Can Someone Mail Me A Straberry Milkshake, Please?
Being in Columbus for the summer means for the first time since I was born I will miss "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." Minnesota's State Fair is the second largest in the country (only the Texas fair is bigger). It actually has a higher daily attendance than any other state fair. 
Every year 1.7 million yuppies, suburbanites and country-folk pile through the gates in Falcon Heights, which lies midway between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, to stuff their faces with a countless array of fried foods (most on a stick), gaze upon busts of young ladies carved in butter, see the state's biggest pig, look at farm machinery, watch peddlers try and entice you to buy every possible knickknack and gizmo imaginable, and be 'entertained' by random musical acts of every genre. 
Ever since I was a baby, my parents would take us to the fair. We wake up at the crack of dawn, pile into the car and get to the fairgrounds super early so we could park inside the gates. We'd spend the whole day there (taking a break for lunch and a nap back at the car) and head home after the sun set, tired, dirty and getting our fix of fair food filled for another year. 
Over the years going to the fair became an event to do with friends. Suddenly looking at tractors with dad and riding the Giant Slide on a burlap sheet was replaced by rides at the Midway. And then after I got to 21, evenings in the beer garden. But certain traditions remain the same: A strawberry milkshake from the Diary Building and checking out the butter busts, cheese curds from the Food Building, seeing the cute doggies and the Pet Center, 
seeing the giant pig and the mother with her piglets at the Swine Barn, checking out the massive Clydesdales in the Horse Barn, walking through the Grandstand and seeing all the jimcrack people waste their money buying, flowers and apples in the Horticulture Building, getting an overflowing pile of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in a cup that isn't made to hold them, gazing upon a seemingly never-ending sea of people down the main drag, the artwork in the Fine Arts Building, watching people scream their brains out on the extreme rides, mini-donuts, and enjoying the absolute best people watching anywhere. 
It's hard to believe I'm missing the fair this year. I had expected to be back in time for it. It's not the most crushing thing to miss in the grand scheme of things. Ultimately it's the exact same thing every year. But I guess it's the tradition of it all. Knowing there are some things that always stay the same (relatively speaking). Little pieces of your childhood preserved and still relevant that make you remember simpler, less complicated times. And I'm sorry but fair food is a treat. I couldn't eat cheese curds every day but I sure do like them once a year. I'll miss ya state fair! But I know someday I'll enjoy you again. Don't you go changin' too much ya hear?
Posted by soft rock star at 10:17 PM
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Sound Of Arrows "Into The Clouds"
i like.
