tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53229952011-04-21T15:09:48.248-04:00(under construction. indefinitely, i guess.)chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comBlogger831100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1107878463801916512005-02-08T10:02:00.000-05:002005-02-08T11:01:03.800-05:00

happy new year. it sounds like someone is detonating bucketloads of fireworks on a tin roof.

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1107360662240402062005-02-02T10:01:00.000-05:002005-02-02T11:16:41.246-05:00

a paper i never thought of writing (2): 2. lust (or whatever bugs bunny is displaying when he throws himself on a platter for humphrey bogart's unseen girlfriend "baby") is not a new thing in cartoons or comics -- in addition to tijuana bibles (i don't know the history, but they have been around for quite a while), you may also have seen the work of tex avery at your local video store. i don't

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1107355933612078722005-02-02T09:13:00.000-05:002005-02-02T11:15:53.763-05:00

a paper i never thought of writing (1): 1. when i was little, i watched a looney tunes cartoon featuring bugs bunny and elmer fudd. it's an older toon, i would guess from the 60s or maybe even the 50s, but back then, bugs and elmer cartoons still involved similar themes. i realized very recently, though, that this one involved elements that looney tunes would be unlikely to include today. the

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1107352626470536042005-02-02T07:47:00.000-05:002005-02-02T11:14:08.513-05:00

garbage truck: 1. last time i was here, my aunt was driving down a street in jhongli and we heard fur elise coming from somewhere outside, in the flat ringtones that you used to hear in those greeting cards that played music. she said, do you recognize that? i said sure, it's fur elise. fur elise is everywhere in asia. but it wasn't what she meant. she said, that's the sound of the garbage. when

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1094692302144267242004-09-08T21:02:00.000-04:002004-09-08T21:11:42.146-04:00

music i want to hear right now but can't because i'm in mainland china and didn't bring it and don't own a computer and if i did have it maybe i wouldn't be listening to it but i'd be glad to have it anyway: interpol - evil interpol - take you on a cruise bon savants - post rock defends the nation ted leo - set you free poster children - 0 for 1 pixies - bone machine radiohead - scatterbrain

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1090532188905138622004-07-22T17:18:00.000-04:002004-07-23T20:13:05.233-04:00

interpol: slow hands i was already half dancing when her knock on the door came like popcorn and made me jump anyway. i had a green highlighter in one hand and some kid's problem set in the other, and i still didn't know the song well enough to have any idea that the crashing post-punk freakout was going to start the moment i opened the door. i looked at her for less than a second before i

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1089136791096128302004-07-06T13:20:00.000-04:002004-07-06T14:56:43.550-04:00

julian coryell / aimee mann june 29 2004 avalon " if the people in the front could please refrain from pushing. people go under and this is not a fucking football match. ... please don't do that crowd surfing shit either. " --thom yorke, paraphrased from some magazine article i have now seen two shows at avalon. one of them was aimee mann, with special guest julian coryell, who's also her

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1087952750365498752004-06-22T20:55:00.000-04:002004-06-22T21:05:50.366-04:00

the beatings / oceansize / mclusky tt's june 21st 1. interactions with hecklers: heckler: YOUR DRUMMER IS BETTER THAN DEF LEPPARD'S DRUMMER!!! guy from mclusky: that's because he's got two arms. and as a tip, if you're going to heckle, try to stick with the shorter sentences. guy from mclusky: can i get some more bass on my monitor? other guy from mclusky: and can i get some more guitar on

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1087352592377187812004-06-15T21:45:00.000-04:002004-06-15T22:28:48.430-04:00

coldplay: everything's not lost not this actual song, but the hidden track that goes at the very end of parachutes. these things always seem to have names but they're obscure ones and difficult to find. a while ago i saw a kid singing this song quietly to a mannequin in the lower level of a store. no one was really around. i didn't want to interrupt. it's a kid who works there. i saw a

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1086565696782650692004-06-06T19:42:00.000-04:002004-06-07T00:41:41.196-04:00

A: are you auditioning for this thing or not? B: ... A: NOW. B: a coin. A: what? B: coin. get a coin. B: (A and B do not break eye contact) A: (produces coin) B: (says nothing, gestures impatiently) A: (flips coin. catches coin in a fist, arm outstretched toward B) A: (without any other movement, drops it out of closed fist, without looking, palm down, in front of B) B: what? A: (

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1085200697212122032004-05-22T00:37:00.000-04:002004-05-24T00:41:26.613-04:00

in lumine tuo videbimus lumen: may 18, 2004 i took this picture-- a skinny lady in black stands on a chair, foreground left -- the chair is not in the picture. she looks off, distressed, out of the frame, shading her eyes with a blue piece of paper; her other hand holds a phone to her ear. she's looking for someone -- maybe the person she is talking to. in the background are the massed

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1085193660478524362004-05-21T22:21:00.000-04:002004-05-22T00:30:12.133-04:00

red and black: a mixtape i feel, in the way that one "feels" things through an imagined collective consciousness, that most people who make mixtapes will eventually make something i'm choosing to call a 'red and black' tape. the sides of the tape are themed loosely. side one we can call the "you're so great, i'm so sucky" side. side two we can call the "you hate me, i hate myself, i'm going

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1083212514849182132004-04-29T00:21:00.000-04:002004-04-29T09:34:48.233-04:00

gillian welch: i dream a highway this song has no end. the words are slow, and few and their meanings seem too old even to be cryptic -- " sunday morning at the diner hollywood trembles on the verge of tears i watch the waitress for a thousand years saw a wheel inside a wheel heard a call within a call " -- and notes appear like trees blinking into view at the very edge of the horizon where

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-108299501563005342004-04-26T11:56:00.000-04:002004-04-29T09:31:56.966-04:00

the thermals / sleater-kinney april 25 2004 the roxy i'll be honest about something. i came to this show expecting to be able to throw up my hands and be carried away and saved. the last few shows i've been to have been overwhelmingly loud and it's just made me tired. the last sunday show i went to nearly put me to sleep by the end. i'd never been this close to stage at the roxy. the

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1080018719363090412004-03-23T00:11:00.000-05:002004-03-23T09:01:59.793-05:00

my bloody valentine: sometimes this was once one of my least favorite of the my bloody valentine songs i know, and now it's one of my favorites. about the only thing in the last four years to change the way i think about my bloody valentine, happened a few sundays ago. i watched lost in translation. all of the color in this movie is so clean, all the outdoor scenes awash with light, whether

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1079246215735919122004-03-14T01:36:00.000-05:002004-03-14T23:01:02.436-05:00

" i'll be moving out soon. i walked out yesterday because i knew you'd be coming home early and i can't face you like this anymore. i can't look at how much happier you are to see everyone else. it's the part of the year when all the winter snow has gone, sometimes replaced by rain -- almost spring, but the air is still cold and when you leave your hands out of their pockets they go numb. i

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1078590537410886762004-03-06T11:28:00.000-05:002004-03-06T11:32:26.840-05:00

street people (8) broadway: the first time i saw country ray was freshman year. i said hi to him because i thought he was a guy named mike, who i'd met the day i moved into my dorm. it had been dark that first time, and they were both wearing hats, and both had the same amount of stubble, and were standing in front of the same alleyway. i think. country ray is kind of a celebrity around

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1078145988312748842004-03-01T07:59:00.000-05:002004-03-06T10:51:48.310-05:00

my favorite: burning hearts i googled the word "hiroshima" last night and found that we have it as an event and not a place. who lives in hiroshima now, what's the population, what are they all doing, what are their exports, where are the good clubs? i didn't find this out last night, though i wasn't looking very long. does it matter, if the bomb not only destroyed the city but gave it a

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1074058473218555852004-01-14T00:34:00.000-05:002004-02-03T13:32:29.903-05:00

street people (7): new haven courthouse: at the rally they had for annette junior year, there was a guy who went up to the microphone they had on the steps of the courthouse, in front of the crowd -- he didn't have a police harassment story. he said, hey, this isn't a story about the police, but i just wanted to say, if you guys remember parminder singh. um, if you remember, parminder was

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1073880437193936652004-01-11T23:07:00.000-05:002004-02-03T13:31:16.763-05:00

street people (6): corner of elm and york: at the last harvard-yale game weekend, i was wandering in the street completely wasted, when i ran into annette, the flower lady. she seemed to be looking good, i don't remember if i bought a flower from her. i think i did. but i was really in bad shape at the time. i do remember that she remembered that i had graduated, and asked how things were

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1073483758113288902004-01-07T08:55:00.000-05:002004-02-03T13:30:07.623-05:00

street people (5): harvard square, in front of 7-eleven: -and he says, hey man get a job. and i say, get a JOB? i'll box you right here, motherfucker. i GOT a job. 4.

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1072368178037788502003-12-25T11:02:00.000-05:002004-01-13T23:44:53.640-05:00

wolf colonel / the autumn rhythm zeitgeist gallery august 10th, or something wolf colonel: in a quiet field at the end of august, we looked at mars, which was bright yellow as we watched it moving through the eye of this telescope owned by a friend of a friend. it was total darkness in the field, except for streetlights, far away. walking without really being able to see, neck craned, i

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1072123490408035672003-12-22T15:04:00.000-05:002003-12-25T10:53:29.543-05:00

finding nemo: what makes this movie really, really brilliant (as opposed to just really brilliant) are the little asides, the fact that they've not only covered every detail (the octopus characters soiling themselves with ink, the fact that fish have to hold their breath before putting their heads above water), they've added small, random things. a huge cluster of undersea mines is set off deep

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1071992567443281102003-12-21T02:42:00.000-05:002003-12-25T11:22:53.543-05:00

the magnetic fields: 69 love songs love is like 69 love songs. sometime ago, they started the performance of a john cage piece on an organ in a cathedral in europe somewhere. they played the first chord. or maybe the first note. the second chord will be played in five years, or twenty, or something. the piece lasts around 1000 years. you couldn't sit there for so long. you would die. this is

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1071551735605601482003-12-16T00:15:00.000-05:002003-12-16T22:15:03.123-05:00

liz phair: exile in guyville unlike many people, i listened to whitechocolatespacegg before i listened to this album, which is considered liz phair's masterpiece. i hear traces of future songs in these songs. supposedly liz phair has sold out. i haven't listened to her new album so i don't really know. i was expecting to be shocked by the lo-fi-ness of exile in guyville, the "sexual bravado"

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1071206615171728442003-12-12T00:23:00.000-05:002003-12-12T08:55:42.810-05:00

" the accelerator on the bus made a tearing, whining noise that eventually went away. but in the meantime i closed my eyes against my headache and listened to it come and go as the bus slowed and sped up. listened for changes in frequency. wondering whether the bus was suddenly going to lose an axle. thinking that maybe in another life someone was drilling holes in my head. when i woke up,

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1070925129282924822003-12-08T18:12:00.000-05:002003-12-08T18:13:11.200-05:00

background music for a sick day off from work: wilco - yankee hotel foxtrot outkast - the love below blur - parklife magnolia (soundtrack) spiritualized - ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space coldplay - parachutes aimee mann - i'm with stupid

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1070892465629858522003-12-08T09:07:00.000-05:002003-12-25T11:25:12.170-05:00

the imposters: " people are afraid of death... of war... of disease... never finding out who they are or what they want... dogs... but don't you see none of those things are real? you want to fear something real, then fear LOVE. love is real, and it's TERRIFYING. "

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1070164549724635892003-11-29T22:55:00.000-05:002003-11-30T11:38:11.170-05:00

radiohead: scatterbrain / a wolf at the door (ironically enough, this started as a review of hail to the thief but i just couldn't make it happen. i'm sorry, this could be something coherent later -- can you tell?) 1. in the reviews i've read, hail to the thief has been described variously as a holding pattern, as a greatest hits record, as a consolidation of previous gains, as a return from

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1069867827529479872003-11-26T12:30:00.000-05:002003-11-26T12:31:13.140-05:00

on the subway: the massachusetts bay transit association is about to institute a new set of guidelines for subway station performers. these were to go into effect december 1st, but have apparently been postponed until the 8th, for reasons i haven't read slowly or carefully enough to pick up. this heinous new regime involves things such as: requirement of immediate renewal of all subway

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1068442809783949302003-11-10T00:40:00.000-05:002003-11-10T00:43:21.500-05:00

i have been gone. needing to sort out a few things, needing to get on my feet, get my head together. but i'll be back. i promise.

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1066285473517060282003-10-16T02:24:00.000-04:002003-10-16T02:33:35.363-04:00

billy corgan: take me out to the ballgame zach clopton once said: watching baseball is a little like watching a soap opera. you start watching, you get to know the characters, and maybe you develop an interest, you find out which characters you like and don't like, and you pay attention to those. and new people come and others leave, and you watch the players you don't know interact with the

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1065743637995939132003-10-09T19:53:00.000-04:002003-10-09T19:53:57.450-04:00

cibo matto: sunday sunday pt 1: positively evil guitar fuzz groove runs into overlapping lines of rap and chanting so melodically contrary as to seem atonal. the words run in desperate circles. " the bomb in my heart is beating me a b note maybe my ear dirt is cheating on me yo missing you on a sunday morning it's something new it's sunday morning but i can't find it " sunday pt 2:

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1064882237656631822003-09-29T20:37:00.000-04:002003-09-29T23:09:12.823-04:00

discovery: if you're ever in quick, desperate need of a belt (i don't know, maybe you've lost weight over the course of a day and aren't wearing one, you may laugh but it happened to me today), remember this: belts decrease the circumference of the opening of your pants (trousers for those of you in the uk), but for the belt to go all the way around your waist is cosmetic. one only needs to

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1063749254994233302003-09-16T17:54:00.000-04:002003-09-16T18:00:15.606-04:00

johnny cash: johnny cash is dead at age 71. he died on friday. one time we were at disneyland, waiting in line to go on space mountain. lines at disneyland sometimes took an hour, even back then. half an hour was nothing out of the ordinary, if you went at a popular time. which, i still being young, was the only time i was ever there. i saw a guy in line, perhaps behind us and perhaps

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1063150137813239842003-09-09T19:28:00.001-04:002003-09-16T18:23:38.076-04:00

1997-1998 (the last year i listened to the radio) ----- just about the only thing i ever remember reading about a now defunct band from new york called lincoln (not to be confused with another band from the uk named lincoln, who are not defunct, and sound very different), was an article in the san diego union-tribune describing a show on their tour with marcy playground, sometime senior year of

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1062112675599818112003-08-28T19:17:00.000-04:002003-08-28T19:43:19.180-04:00

crisis / culture: - here is a new project by alex t at freakytrigger, looking at "recent cultural phenomena," and ... theodor adorno. it's nice, if a little crunchy. what struck me about this most recent entry is the link between "culture" and the idea of crisis. well, i can let you look at it yourself. i haven't read the paul morley article about the 'death of the single' that a lot of

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1062024913888777462003-08-27T18:55:00.000-04:002003-08-28T17:16:51.450-04:00

my vilification in cyberspace: a few months ago i witnessed a minor (?) blog skirmish between josh and brian leiter, who's a professor at university of texas. i didn't read all of the material they produced, but suffice it to say that there was a good deal of debate about the bush administration and philosopher leo strauss, and in the course of it, josh ended up dissing brian leiter -- not

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1061861421618641062003-08-25T21:30:00.000-04:002003-08-27T14:46:15.060-04:00

donnie darko: " i went to school and i was very nervous no one knew me no one knew me can you tell me teacher what's my lesson see right through me see right through me " (spoilers. if you haven't seen this movie, you probably want to go and see it at least once before reading this. or if you don't care, whatever. but you should. i'm serious) shortly before i watched donnie darko, it was

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1061151159401817232003-08-17T16:12:00.000-04:002003-08-17T16:14:36.130-04:00

michael chanan: repeated takes i have not finished this book. i may not finish it before having to give it back. but it's good - not only a summary of the history of recording (as its subtitle suggests) a consideration in light of certain schools of thought that are apparently becoming popular nowadays. by that i pretty much mean walter benjamin and other critics taught in german studies

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1060699177568416662003-08-12T10:39:00.000-04:002003-08-12T10:39:37.446-04:00

kendall square bells: (addendum) the three sound producing devices in kendall station are titled Pythagoras (the bells), Galileo (metal sheet that makes thunder noises when shaken) and Kepler (metal ring with a hammer). they are collectively called the Kendall Band. yet, i haven't seen them all played at the same time. kepler would be tough to bring in, since it can only be played when the

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1060669890631602282003-08-12T02:31:00.000-04:002003-08-12T10:12:25.190-04:00

kendall square bells: i'm pretty surprised that MIT doesn't have some kind of club devoted to the study of the public music-art pieces on display in kendall station. or if such a group exists, i've never seen them. it could be fun. organize concerts, offer public lessons. perhaps it's just that the students don't ride the t very often. a google search on either "kendall square bells" or "

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1060410977168676722003-08-09T02:36:00.000-04:002003-08-09T11:39:02.780-04:00

the flaming lips: feeling yourself disintegrate the premise of this song may seem a bit silly, but when you really think about it, it ceases being so, doesn't it? the qualitative properties of vision are produced by chemical activity in the brain. color, motion, light, darkness, they're all inside. an image enters the eye and is projected onto the brain. it's as if vision were a slideshow on

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1060011888694776892003-08-04T11:44:00.000-04:002004-01-11T21:13:40.860-05:00

street people (4) - newbury st: it was a while ago. we were walking to j p licks to get some ice cream. james was already in sort of a bad mood, having had to wait 15 minutes for a train earlier in the evening. sometimes it doesn't take much. a guy in a baseball cap asked us for change in the middle of the crosswalk. he had a paper cup from abp. i've been seeing more panhandlers with

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1059715009536369522003-08-01T01:16:00.000-04:002003-08-08T14:15:48.140-04:00

the usual suspects: it's been a while since i watched usual suspects. one day, though, i recognized something. in the introduction to Labyrinths, one of the better known collections of translated work by jorge luis borges, it is said: " [like the characters in Don Quixote, ] we are all readers of a great, vast Book, which we constantly write, and in which we are written. we see our works

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-105959814311605852003-07-30T16:49:00.000-04:002003-07-30T16:49:02.946-04:00

the fugue / whistle jacket / the mobius band / car crash show july 29 middle east upstairs (4) some notes on car crash show: -i was pretty tired by the time car crash show came on at around midnight. also, they were incredibly loud. maybe not as loud as the fugue, but they could have been if they wanted. loud enough to hurt, but quiet enough to sort of hear what was going on. -i realized

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1059596628900935902003-07-30T16:23:00.000-04:002003-08-08T14:34:29.010-04:00

the fugue / whistle jacket / the mobius band / car crash show july 29 middle east upstairs (3) some notes on the mobius band: -i'm almost certain that i was wrong last time about who's who. ben is the guitarist. peter is the bassist. the drummer is still noam. i was right about that. -it's been 3 months since i last saw them, and in the meantime, their live show has become quite a

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1059591121985308972003-07-30T14:52:00.000-04:002003-07-30T15:42:59.956-04:00

the fugue / whistle jacket / the mobius band / car crash show july 29 middle east upstairs (2) now this sounds really terrible, but bear with me. i've now seen whistle jacket twice, and i've noticed that at the beginning of their sets, i always feel really nervous, maybe even bordering on embarrassed. it's kind of a voyeuristic stage fright. here's what it is -- i know some of the guys in

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1059591042216359322003-07-30T14:50:00.000-04:002003-08-08T14:17:21.763-04:00

the fugue / whistle jacket / the mobius band / car crash show july 29 middle east upstairs (1) i will remember this night when i go deaf in 6 months. that's what i kind of wanted to tell the guy from the fugue. i didn't get the chance to talk to him though. if i had, i also would have pointed out that one of his earplugs was still on the stage. during the crushingly loud, aggressive first

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1058545215846265922003-07-18T12:20:00.000-04:002003-07-18T15:26:37.016-04:00

contemplation: i don't know quite how, but a few days ago, while idly websurfing, i ended up linking headlong through a series of music sites and finally ended up here. i've been looking around at different online music magazines, news outlets, record labels, and related things, since i am to some extent in or up to that sort of business (or whatever you want to call it) myself these days.

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1058243798766521962003-07-15T00:36:00.000-04:002003-08-05T12:43:24.540-04:00

blur: (self-titled) the story is, according to alex james, that when blur went in to record their self titled 1997 album, graham coxon "wanted to tune all the guitars once and that's it." it bothered stephen street, their longtime producer, to no end, and james suspects that street secretly went to the studio at night and tried to tune the guitars himself. all this from The Last Party, a very

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1058113528713336822003-07-13T12:25:00.000-04:002003-07-13T12:31:53.653-04:00

fly seville / broken social scene july 12 tt's to the extent that someone leads broken social scene, it's a stubbly, baby faced guy in a pink polo shirt with white horizontal stripes. it's a crowded night, with the air filling up slowly with smoke and evaporated sweat until somebody opens the door and some cool air comes in from outside. there's no air conditioning. -whoa, hold on a second,

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1058077667814946392003-07-13T02:27:00.000-04:002003-07-13T22:17:43.793-04:00

schneider tm / les savy fav / the faint may 11 the roxy a few songs in, tim harrington is concerned. he squints into the lights and keeps saying, yeah, can we get the flying unicorn? there's supposed to be a unicorn, a green laser unicorn. it goes over there. a huge projection screen stands behind him and the rest of les savy fav. the screen will later be used to great, blinding effect by

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1058026816587735172003-07-12T12:20:00.000-04:002003-07-12T13:45:58.103-04:00

the arcade fire / xiu xiu / devendra banhart july 10 zeitgeist gallery (continued) for anyone who hasn't been reading the press about xiu xiu, i believe they're from the bay area (??). i haven't actually heard any of their records, but from what i've read, they involve lots of really harsh, difficult stuff (see any number of reviews out there for their albums, Knife Play and A Promise). to

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057984506122087002003-07-12T00:35:00.000-04:002003-07-12T11:28:37.220-04:00

the arcade fire / xiu xiu / devendra banhart july 10 zeitgeist gallery i wasn't sure i wanted to go to this show -- i figured it would be packed, and zeitgeist is a small place, and xiu xiu are getting a lot of press, so it would probably be good, but also probably hot and crowded and perhaps not worth the trouble. i might not even get in. as it turned out, i did end up going, and some of my

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057636711819417752003-07-07T23:58:00.000-04:002003-08-12T02:46:16.313-04:00

street people (3): central square: i was on my way to buy some groceries, but i didn't have any money, so i stopped at a fleet atm. they put them in these big glass walled rooms just off the street, that you have to swipe into with your atm card. there was a guy in there asking for money. to tell you the truth, i'd been a little surprised that i'd never seen it done before. after all, you

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057601290738598462003-07-07T14:08:00.001-04:002003-08-27T14:50:02.220-04:00

mark hollis: (self-titled) the idea of a dead end implies that of a path that can end. to say something has reached a dead end seems to assume that it had to be going somewhere, continuing something that can now no longer be continued, at least not the same direction. i've been looking for mark hollis for a long time. about a year ago i found three mp3s on audiogalaxy, and by the time i had

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057601297869413932003-07-07T14:08:00.000-04:002003-07-08T00:14:45.166-04:00

mark hollis: (self-titled) (continued 2 of 2) this is not a jazz album, nor does it try to be. nor is it a "classical" album, though one is reminded of both of these. it just... is what it is. as far as i know there was no press hype about it, and it isn't going to inspire a million imitation groups. it doesn't have obvious lessons about a new way for music to sound. yet i think somewhere

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057546950530125352003-07-06T23:02:00.000-04:002003-07-06T23:02:30.500-04:00

jai alai savant: today i found out on the web that the guy (the frontman, i guess) from jai alai savant is named ralph. the first song they played at their middle east show on may 31st was called "jar jar binks gimme back my ten dollars." i was pleasantly surprised to hear punk rock with some cool new twists (or maybe old twists and i'm just ignorant). punk songs in 3/3! and funky -- not

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057125021154472862003-07-02T01:50:00.000-04:002003-07-02T01:50:21.126-04:00

radiohead: hail to the thief (continued) -chris's conclusion predicts that radiohead are going somewhere. where? we don't know exactly, but apparently we're not there yet. hail to the thief is an arrow pointing us in some direction. not a point or a snapshot, an arrow directing us somewhere. it has its place as a pretty album... a view from the bridge. but it also has its place as a step

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057124661127822502003-07-02T01:44:00.000-04:002003-07-06T17:08:15.526-04:00

radiohead: hail to the thief so rather than sit around and wait for the report on whether i will ever, ever see my post again (SO... ANGRY!!!!), and worry that now that i have this on my conscience i won't be able to do any of the things i wanted to do tonight, i'm going to bang this out borges style ("borges it," if you will) and just summarize an imaginary text. except this one is hopefully

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-1057103591813999932003-07-01T19:53:00.000-04:002003-07-02T01:43:50.130-04:00

so, so angry: i had a nice thing written all out about radiohead, the nascent institution of "music criticism" and how its conception applies to rock music. i finished it, was kind of proud of it, and then... the whole thing got eaten. i was SO... PISSED. not that i'm overly obsessed with writing for ths blog, but just the frustration that comes with your computer eating something you spent

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-957888172003-06-18T09:03:00.000-04:002003-06-18T09:03:50.380-04:00

oxford: (a note) i'm sitting in the holywell manor lodge computer room, and josh is typing away at his blog next to me, so now i feel the need to do so also. which makes me feel slightly obsessive but not too much. last night i was asked by lots of people oh, how do you like oxford so far? my two answers are first, that it's very nice, i'm especially struck by the fact that the buildings are

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-957040692003-06-16T00:17:00.000-04:002003-06-18T09:06:48.000-04:00

landing / the dirty projectors / the weeds / d+ / karl blau / mt. eerie hobart st. may 24 (cribbed tastelessly from my own email files. i'm assuming people who aren't on my mass email list read this. assuming perhaps wrongly.) 4. i'm at yale one day before class day, to see a microphones concert in dwight hall chapel. but i have no idea when the show is. there are no announcements anywhere

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-956705882003-06-14T18:20:00.000-04:002003-06-14T18:21:36.000-04:00

radiohead: paranoid android --> just in the wake of the release of Hail to the thief, i will be writing a real crapload of stuff about radiohead here. first, though, i will be headed to various places around europe, including, of all places, oxford. i will be back on the 30th, and may write something before that, but mostly it's a vacation. but before i launch into what will undoubtedly be a

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-954151982003-06-07T17:30:00.000-04:002003-06-09T01:27:37.000-04:00

radiohead: reviews are starting to pop up everywhere for hail to the thief, and most of them seem pretty good. the new york times had a front page article in sunday arts about radiohead. a review really. i haven't been reading too much radiohead press recently, but in what i have read, you get a lot of this: a while ago, radiohead decided they were going to be interesting, rather than

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-954140662003-06-07T16:40:00.000-04:002003-06-07T16:40:17.990-04:00

john szwed: " (Needless to say, this may be the worst time in modern history to get in the music business -- or so it seems to me. But would I do it? In a heartbeat.) See you in July. "

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-953713382003-06-06T10:33:00.000-04:002003-06-07T00:55:03.000-04:00

chumbawamba: tubthumping most radio stations ignored it, but at the beginning of this song, an echoing voice speaks: " i thought it mattered. i thought that music mattered. but does it bollocks? not compared to how people matter. " does music writing matter? i'm completely serious, though i don't know how stupid of a question i'm asking. seriously. in the world today, do music writers

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-951577662003-06-01T13:19:00.000-04:002003-06-01T13:20:28.000-04:00

jai alai savant / el guapo / ted leo and the pharmacists middle east downstairs may 31 interactions with hecklers: heckler: I CAN SEE YOUR BRACES!!! ted leo: ... likewise, my friend. heckler: SWEEEEEEET!!! heckler: GOOOO VEGAN!!! ted leo: what's a began? heckler: VEEEEEEEGAN!!! ted leo: someone who just eats bagels? heckler: BAAAAAGELS!!! ted leo: we're going to play a song that we haven't

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-950433832003-05-29T13:59:00.000-04:002003-05-30T16:45:30.000-04:00

the mobius band / knife in the water / the mendoza line tt the bear's place april 24 " i mean, at tt's you can always go hide behind the bar or play pool or something. but at the middle east it's like, if you don't like music, then get out. " --steve, drummer from lincoln conspiracy it's an interesting situation. tt's is located next door to the middle east, but the main stage at the middle

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-947708242003-05-23T00:24:00.000-04:002003-05-23T08:29:27.000-04:00

dismemberment plan: a life of possibilities this is the first song off their 1999 album Emergency & I. i feel comfortable saying that by all rules of logic it doesn't seem like this song should work at all. the main verse consists mostly of the same two notes, which travis morrison sings mostly over the same chord. the vocal melody and the jaunty major key guitar figure that plays between

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-943656902003-05-14T22:51:00.000-04:002003-05-15T10:46:47.000-04:00

blur: blue jeans it's not that i'm saying this is the best song blur have ever written. i just find it pretty much impossible to argue, in light of this song, that any OTHER song blur have ever written is the best song they've ever written. does that make any sense? i know parklife is a great achievement. i know blur have done some great work since then. there's a lot of great music on all

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-942612212003-05-13T08:47:00.000-04:002003-08-12T02:47:22.760-04:00

street people (2): broadway - when we got to new haven at the end of august, it scared the hell out of me, i should admit. the place that was going to give me my schooling. we stayed the first night at a holiday inn on whalley. the street wasn't very well lit, and across it was a popeye's fried chicken, which i would later refer to only as "popeye's fried chicken and heavy narcotics." that

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-941858472003-05-12T01:09:00.000-04:002003-05-12T01:18:59.000-04:00

street people: somewhere in new york - we were in the city the summer after 6th grade. my grandparents were there, staying in one of the nice hotels. my cousin was there, too, and knew it pretty well, so he took us around. it would have been in july or june of 1992. i happily played sonic the hedgehog on sega game gear, and later had my first encounter with matzoh balls. i remember that

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-941183872003-05-10T16:42:00.000-04:002003-05-10T20:37:32.000-04:00

the faint: danse macabre i was walking on mass ave. on my way to my apartment after crashing at the remes / markowitz residence in the north end (we watched red dwarf and doctor who. they gave me a toothbrush. the residents. not the tv programs). every time i pass cheapo records (or really any place that has used music) i feel the need to buy something. i think this is a general feeling

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-939672812003-05-07T23:15:00.000-04:002003-05-07T23:23:01.000-04:00

massive attack: angel (watch out! west wing spoilers) i just watched tonight's episode of the west wing. it's time for sweeps, and of course, something outrageous has to happen. president bartlett has had a terrorist leader assassinated, and the white house goes on threatcon bravo. the press is on to the assassination. the vice president is resigning. toby buys his ex-wife her dream house

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-937973862003-05-05T09:04:00.000-04:002003-05-08T23:47:05.000-04:00

blur: the great escape i was first introduced to blur in 1997, when i first started listening to alternative rock radio and heard song 2, the one with the churning distortion, strange riff, and everyone yelling wooo hoo! the dj introducing it said something to the effect of "okay, now i know some of you like blur, and some of you will be like, bluuuuuueah. But, here's a song by them." so i

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-937185622003-05-03T16:49:00.000-04:002003-05-03T16:49:58.326-04:00

glasses: i've started not wearing my glasses all the time. jim says that he stopped wearing his glasses and his eyes spontaneously got better. now he has about 20/20 vision. he started sailing one summer, and they told him that you can't wear glasses that are too thick when you're sailing, because you need your depth perception so you can measure some sailing thing and know when to do some

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-935806332003-05-01T02:19:00.000-04:002003-05-03T16:08:58.000-04:00

radiohead: (caveat) so josh, pretty much the only person to have looked at what i've written here (i kind of want to hold off on telling everyone i know for a little bit), made two comments to me on the thing about radiohead and record labels and all that -- one, that as far as he knows, radiohead don't support their local music scene, or at least not publicly. josh is studying at oxford for

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-934503322003-04-29T02:28:00.000-04:002003-04-29T02:39:15.000-04:00

radiohead: i'm sure someone who's paying attention to the radiohead message boards will know more about it, but as far as i can tell from looking constantly at greenplastic.com, in the anticipation building up to radiohead's sixth album (hail to the thief, now available in some form or another all over the internet, apparently) there hasn't been a lot of discussion of the fact that, if i

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-933859752003-04-28T03:20:00.000-04:002003-04-29T01:44:22.000-04:00

certainly, sir / cex / the postal service middle east downstairs april 20 " Oh man, Postal Service is playing in april. THe only fact that makes this any better is that Cex is opening for them. Oh man, that guy rules. I think I have probably described him before. He is 50% vanilla ice, 50% eminem. Watching him is so embarrassing. I hope he likes beardburns. " (the concept of beardburning will

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-932973472003-04-26T11:02:00.000-04:002003-04-26T11:03:32.000-04:00

i feel the need to give some kind of mission statement here, which is a little weird because you kind of need a mission to do that, and i'm not sure that i have one at the moment. i'd rather just go into writing whatever it was i was going to. but i guess it feels strange to just go straight into something with no introduction. i don't know what exactly i'm going to use this page for. a lot of

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5322995.post-932665662003-04-25T18:44:00.000-04:002003-04-25T18:47:57.000-04:00

hello. (blink) oh. ... wow.

chiansanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424269371759641366noreply@blogger.com