Waking Ear

There's the rub

2007-07-03T15:24:00.000-05:00

Hi. So I got a new job in January, and it's demanding enough of my time where (a) my exposure to music has been much more limited and (b) I don't have a lot of time to post things on a blog. Or rather, I'm not making enough time for either. But I'm still alive, thanks for stopping by to say hi. I'll update randomly if I, as planned, start working a little more music back into my life and get a new computer that isn't powered by a gerbil wheel.

Meanwhile Paul's back. Hi Paul!

"The Phoenix Suns Gorilla loves the smelly house bills."

2006-09-13T17:21:00.000-05:00

Bravo.

"We want our $18 back."

2006-08-02T10:26:00.000-05:00

"The Passion of the Jew," a particularly nutty 2004 South Park episode lampooning Mel Gibson's movie, turns out to be incredibly prescient.

You'd better tip well

2006-07-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

At Nellie's Sports Bar here in Dallas, bartender Justin "Burnz" Wilson shows how he earned his nickname.

("Nellie" is former Mavericks coach Don Nelson, of course. Here's the bar's Web site, apparently authored by someone who time-traveled to 2006 right after finishing a 1998 Web design class.)

Don't ask me. I didn't even know about Lance Bass.

2006-07-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

Google Ads sure are gossipy.

Hard work

2006-07-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

Have I ever spit something that you wanted to repeat, or have you ever quoted a line from one of my rhymes like you was talking in a casual fucking conversation? Give me a fucking break here. I be in that studio racking my brains to make two words rhyme together as well as say some shit in between those two words that make sense. And then, on top of that, transition between those two words to forming words into a sentence that has something to do with what I just fucking said. You know how much work go into that shit? And then to be understood over all that? You know how much work it take to do all that shit? That's why I'm like, yo, if you can't write no motherfucking rhymes, you shouldn't even be trying to tell me I can't bark. Saying he just doesn't make good songs; I'll go for that shit because a lot of dudes can rhyme they ass off, but they don't rhyme to make songs. But don't just outright say a dude can't spit. Because then it's like, oh, you not feeling where I'm coming from? Fuck you.

Tom Breihan interviews Method Man, who, it turns out, is still a genius. And is still pissed about the decline of The Jeffersons.

Debasing the Pixies

2006-06-01T18:06:00.000-05:00

Matthew does a pretty good Elvis impersonation, but he's really a Pixies fan. A big Pixies fan. So big that he recorded versions of Pixies songs in the style of other artists, including the King, Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix (who he absolutely nails). The Prince version of "Hey" doesn't work because it's really hard to do Prince, and Matthew could use some work on his Jamaican accent on the Bob Marley version of "Mr. Grieves." But overall this is really fun stuff, and it demonstrates just how successful Frank Black (with help from his friends) was as a pop songwriter. There is a reason these songs have stuck with us.

Sunkissed

2006-05-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

Neal Pollack picks the Suns in seven. That will be difficult to do, unless Kurt Thomas' recovery is very quick. Or unless the Suns are pulling a fast one by keeping on the playoff roster a certain third-year forward whose name rhymes with "God-emire."

I love the Mavericks, and they are primed for the Finals. This is their series to lose. But loyalties are loyalties, and my life as a basketball fan began in Phoenix. Go Suns.

Mr. Lova Lova

2006-04-25T12:54:00.000-05:00

A colleague asked me an interesting question today. Well, sort of interesting. Interesting enough for this blog.

Whatever happened to Shaggy, the "boombastic" pseudo-dancehall rapper? Turns out he had an album last year featuring G-Unit's Olivia, a Pussycat Dolls member and, um, will.i.am.

I told the colleague that she should just check out Sean Paul, who seems to be the modern-day equivalent, right? But then she started asking if Spanish-language rappers or black rappers have dirtier lyrics, so I don't know if she's really cut out for this stuff.

It's "Jon," duh

2006-04-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

Trackbacking fun: Somebody came to this here site looking for this. Here's hoping this poor soul eventually made his or her way here.

Swass

2006-04-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

I had no idea that "Don't Cha" was written by Cee-Lo. Thanks, Sasha.

(Also in that link, Sasha seems to make a connection between the Walkmen and Bob Dylan. Which is something Schmubb did a long time ago. Which obviously means that Schmubb should be writing a music column for the New Yorker.

The perfect fit

2006-01-20T18:35:00.000-06:00

It's kind of like Cinderella and her glass slipper.

Michael Jackson/"Liberian Girl"

2006-01-19T11:19:00.000-06:00

I was reading this story the other morning and this song off of Bad popped into my head. It's a slow jam with echo-y drumbeats and heavy, swelling background vocals. Not MJ's best work, of course, but I liked it when I was 11. At the time, it sounded exotic and sexy. (Yet, for some reason, la wifa didn't take kindly to me singing it over the morning paper.)

Reason No. 8,934 to move to Austin

2006-01-18T14:46:00.000-06:00

"Trapped in the Closet": the onstage reenactment. With props.

(Via.)

Mail bomb

2006-01-13T18:35:00.000-06:00

Don't fuck with the IRS.

Cat Power/"Love and Communication"

2006-01-04T16:53:00.000-06:00

Yeah, so I'm a total fanboy. But Cat Power's The Greatest, due later this month, is really really fantastic. I thought this song was a cover at first; it just sounded so classic, and it sent me Googling away for lyrics. The title track has that cool little "Moon River" moment in it with the strings. The Memphis session musicians play right into Chan Marshall's melancholy malaise on this stuff; it's her first truly Southern album since Moon Pix. She sounds more confident and weird than ever.

I'm comic gold

2005-12-15T18:00:00.000-06:00

If you personally know me or la wifa, you're going to want to bookmark this site. Columns are appearing intermittently -- every three weeks or so, I believe.

And seriously, we should've taken a picture of it. You don't get one of those very often.

One of those little reminders about appreciating people in your life

2005-12-12T14:37:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine was found dead this morning in his house in Louisville. Almost certainly natural causes -- he had long been in ill health, though he was only 51. He was a colleague here in Dallas before a big layoff, and we spent a lot of time talking during breaks, and he was warm and funny and cantankerous. I should've stayed in touch better when he left. Fuck.

Rest in peace, Johnny K. May heaven provide you with a never-ending supply of menthols.

Crime Mob/"Stilettos (Pumps)"

2005-12-09T14:56:00.000-06:00

Crime Mob rappers Princess and Diamond prepare to get crunk. Skeet skeet skeet all you want; I'll take the club bangers from Tennessee's Crime Mob any day. They're also responsible for "Knuck If You Buck," in which they tag team like "Saddam Hussein, Hitler and Osama bin Laden." Wild as the Taliban.

The universe tends to unfold as it should

2005-12-07T14:30:00.000-06:00

I am so ready for this.

El obelisko parte dos

2005-12-02T16:21:00.000-06:00

IMG_0157.JPG
Originally uploaded by phantroll.

Here's what it looked like when we were there, btw.

El obelisko

2005-12-02T09:42:00.000-06:00

We walked by this thing a ton of times during our honeymoon in Argentina. But it was going bareback at that point.

Here's to the day when we don't have to commemorate World AIDS Day.

All hell

2005-11-30T14:09:00.000-06:00

If you live in Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville or Louisville, Ky., you should go see this band. And tell me what you think. That's my dear friend Nicholas Falwell on vocals and guitar, among other instruments, I'm sure.

Britney Spears/"Toxic"

2005-11-29T15:17:00.000-06:00

Oh man did we get to watch a lot of TV over Thanksgiving weekend, including Prince's concert film Sign O' The Times. But "Toxic" is the one that stuck in my head, a song that just seems to get wilder and faster and bolder with time.

A while back, Perpetua posted a Hollertronix mash-up of "Toxic" and "Still Tippin'" that was absolutely insane, by the way.

Here it is, in black and white

2005-11-23T15:34:00.000-06:00

So my buddy Matt bought me the wakingear.com domain as a wedding present and told me to get blogging again. Well, I am blogging here, but I thought, what the heck. Nice gift, and I might as well do both. So this will be the personal, softer side of Phantroll, as opposed to the editor-processed version.

Not promising a tremendous amount of posts or anything, and I'm sure this'll just be one of those blogs you can check occasionally on your RSS reader to see if anything's up with me, but that's fine. Does serve a purpose. And, I mean, you can get here by typing in wakingear.com. So you really should find something when you get here.

So I decided to change my template for the first time. To preserve some level of tradition, I chose the ugliest template possible. And this is how it shall stay, unless someone comes up with a brilliant design for me. It would somehow have to involve a single ear. Otherwise, we're sticking with this for now.

Love and kisses, and everybody have just a wonderful awesome Thanksgiving. The missus and I will be in freezing Olympia. I plan on taking many naps.