In Utero

It's the 20th anniversary release. Here's an interview with Krist Novolesic and Dave Grohl talking about it.

In the suburbs,  Nirvana Unplugged was the album for a year. Every household on a Friday night. It was played much more than In Utero straight. Nobody ever complained.

Though I would drive down Sheridan Road late listening to "Black."

And now this album isn't so much nostalgia. But a wake-up call. A reminder. 

Can't wait to hear it fresh.

Tuesday Night

U.S.A beats Mexico handily to qualify for the World Cup. Watch the game at Big Wangs. Is it me or has happy hour become kind of gross? Maybe all these places are gross.  Rather than just lowering prices on their 'A' food, I think a lot of these places just bring out 'C' quality plates of what they normally serve. As always my problem in Los Angeles, I just need a neighborhood bar. And a porch.

A Moscow Mule is the victory drink. Towing not included.

Ukulele Songs

I never really paid Eddie Vedder's ukulele album much mind. But I saw that the song "Sleeping By Myself" is gonna be on the new Pearl Jam album. So I'm giving it a Sunday night quiet listen. And I've changed by not changing at all.

Middle-Aged Contentedness

What the fuck. The band I love would've stared down the photographer for suggesting such a staged pose. Stone is the coolest guy in the band.

NFL KICKOFF -- Week 1 -- Bears vs. Bengals

It's good to have Sunday's back. The Bengals are a good, solid NFL team. They looked better than the Bears, yet the Bears pulled off the victory 24-21. The Cutler/Marshall connection. And two interceptions by Tillman.

I think there are quite a few solid teams right now. 10-6 teams like the Bears and Bengals. Good and solid. But the 49ers have a dynamism that separates themselves from the pack. Aaron Rodgers put up a helluva fight. It's a testament to him that the Pack lost by 3. GB might be able to beat them at Lambeau.

I don't see how most teams the Niners play will be able to stay with them right now. They are certainly a 13-3 team. They will go 14-2, if not better, if they want.

The Moviegoers - Episode 16

Elysium, The Act of Killing, Blue Jasmine, Drinking Buddies, I'm So Excited...A good movie going month, but one good month does not change my mind of the state of American cinema.

Malibu

Mid-day sun. Bleached. Dum-Dum Girls. Pink delight. Housewife on mimosas and coke doing selfie videos. Construction workers cutting down trees in the background.

Bizarro land. Malibu'd.

Late Nights in Los Angeles

The darkness pulls in everything

And it is possible a great energy

                      is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

              

                    - Rainer Maria Rilke

                          You, Darkness

Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

1. Never open a book with weather. 
2. Avoid prologues. 
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. 
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely. 
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. 
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose." 
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. 
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. 
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things. 
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. 
"My most important rule is one that sums up the 10," he wrote. "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."



WRITERS ON WRITING: BY ELMORE LEONARD

Sojurner (Magnolia Electric Co.)

A review I came across of Nashville Moon:

He sings as if people are asking him if he's ok, if there's anything they can do and he's saying "no, it's fine, I'm fine, don't worry about me," and he smiles at them until they pay for their own drinks and bow out for the night.

Long Beach -- Busker Festival

Carly Ritter is no doubt the "princess of the prairie."

The Moviegoers -- The Way, Way Back

Episode 15. It don't worry me.

J.J. Cale (1938-2013)

The Man from Escondido. A lazy afternoon. Rocking in a hammock.
Pour a glass of mescal for the man and the music. Liquid coke for some liquid space-rock-funk.

Saw him at McCabe's a couple years back. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were his back-up band. Smooth. Travelin' Light.

Old Style

I'm reminded of the Sports Writers on T.V. as well.

Bobby Bare Jr.

On a summer Saturday night in Venice. Cradling a bottle of white wine like a baby.

An Evening with Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field (7.19.13)

Keep on rockin' in the free world, and don't forget to buy our limited edition setlist t-shirt for $35 on the way out.

"You're a consumer, you vote everyday." -- Pearl Jam, Soldier Field '95.

“Power to the people man…. The real people, the people that work, not the people that sit in their towers, and try to run the whole thing, thinking that we’re too stupid to notice what they’re doing! They get us in our little holes, and our boxes, and our cages and they show us American Idol and American Gladiators and American …. blowjob, buttfuck, whatever. And everyone watches with baited breath. Oh, who’s going to get a blowjob tonight? What American’s going to get a blowjob tonight? When in reality, you could be getting one yourself instead of watching the fucking TV, I don’t know. I digress. I’m going to get a guitar. But we were just talking in the back, and we were thinking that maybe uh, on the strength of a night like this, and uh, really, uh, so you understand how much we appreciate it, we were thinking that instead of uh, waiting 2 years or even, uh, after we finish the next record, maybe just next summer, we could come back and play, just a few places that we’ve been to and this would be one of them. And hopefully even in a year, the world will be a little more straightened out.” -- Pearl Jam, Alpine Valley '03.


Music is still relevant, and emotional. Ties people together. Dare I say transcends. But 'rock n roll' is a strictly part of the business and economy.

Happy Birthday Hunter S. Thompson

On unemployment circa 1958.