Aug
25
2011

Please Come To See Me Play!

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!

(Add / View Comments) (0)Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 09:45:53 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
Well, Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers aren't a band I've thought about in a while. Though I happened to randomly stumble across a flier on Facebook, promoting an upcoming Vegas show, billed as "Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers with The Refreshments, featuring Roger Clyne and P.H Naffah".

But that can't be true, can it? Surely not? Though I never imagined that Clyne would share the same stage as Blush ever again, and I was proved wrong on that last year.

Indeed, it appears to be true...

Vegas!
Somehow the House of Blues already leaked that we’re going to play “Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy” in order and in it’s entirety. True. I was planning on announcing it at the Foundry show, but might as well fess up now; that rumor is true. The Labor Day show in Vegas will be another long show; another “evening with” Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. We’ve never played our seminal album top-to-bottom, even in The Refreshments. It’s going to be a fun trip. We hope you’ll come along. I’ll don a loud Hawaiian shirt and my red Converse on for the first set, and will pull on my trusty, dusty Mexican cowboy boots for the rest of the show.
If this doesn't speak volumes about how hard up Clyne is to get people to come to a show, I don't know what does. It's pretty sad when you start pandering to the absolute lowest common denominator.

And "...with The Refreshments..."? Seriously, are Buddy and Brian going to be there. I highly doubt it, especially given the "featuring Roger and P.H" thing. Given that they never let go of the Refreshments songs, and over the years there is probably nothing off Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy that they haven't played as The Peacemakers. So how this is anything other the "Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers with...err...Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers", I do not know.

Pretty sad on all accounts. Especially since from what I can see, most people who (rightly) abandoned the band are actually being into this cheap ploy and going. Wow.

The Refreshments breaking up was rough. But the silver lining that become apparent to me so many years after the fact (it took a while to see it), is that they went out on a high. While terribly unfortunate that they imploded, there's no way to look back on them with anything but fondness. They burnt out prematurely, but that also means that they're one band that isn't tainted with becoming half baked and lame. Years ago, there was certainly a sense of being robbed, but all this time later, in times like these, that's been replaced with a deep appreciation that the band was always, and will always be flat out awesome. So Roj, how about you leave us all with that, instead of screwing with the The Refreshments thing. Enough with the Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy shirts with the sun tattoo replace with a petroglyph (can a t-shirt get laser tattoo surgery? [wink] ), and being "The Refreshments" with P.H to try make a buck. You were part of something pretty awesome once. How about you leave it that way and go back to your candy ass no more beautiful world Peacemakers. Make some more moonshine and sing about whatever lame ass crap you sing about these days. Paper plates and stuff, or so I hear. Let us remember that cool former self, that has long since gone, as how it was.

Edit: I listened to the entire Refreshments discography today, which reinforced how this band broke up before anything became tainted. And particularly listening to European Swallow from Wheelie, I was left screaming "how did it all go so wrong?". [smile]
Aug
19
2011

Siesta. Rock. Siesta

(Add / View Comments) (0)Friday, August 19, 2011 - 11:59:07 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
The best time you can have at Yucca is with Strange Young Things. Always.

It was a weird night. Putzed around at home after work until we laid down around 8:30, in attempt to survive tonight better. We were both pretty tired, but I had no problem believing that at least I'd wake up in about an hour, leaving plenty of time to catch Los Guys. Though, I turned out to be a lot more tired from this week than I first thought. I actually did technically wake up in time to have seen Los Guys, but my waking words were "fuck Los Guys" before rolling over. Y'know, in the most affectionate way, but there wasd no way in hell at that stage I was going to even entertain the idea of dragging my ass out of bed and down to Yucca. [wink]

The next thing I knew it was close to midnight. And my attitude towards Strange Young Things wasn't that much different to that of Los Guys. [smile] I was still tired as hell, and the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed. But there is one band I would do it for, and it's these guys. [smile] Not that I didn't curse them while getting ready in a sleepy haze. Fuck Strange Young Things indeed! [wink] ha! I was still half asleep when we got to Yucca. But I knew that if anything had any hope of waking me up, it was these bastards. [smile] And I was right. Y'know, about 25 seconds into Bang The Dash I was awake. Wide awake. Such is the power of Strange Young Things. And kicked in was that adrenaline that confirms why you knew you had to suck it up and get down here.

Great show! It was Yucca, so of course it was. Really cool that they pulled out Dabble In The Mix and got PC up on stage for School. And a cool Bitch Has Got Problems circle, with Corey and Katie in the middle of it. Encore by popular demand. Everything you'd expect from a SYT at Yucca.

As quick as they woke me up, I realized how tired I was the moment they finished playing. It's back to bed for me.
Aug
17
2011

Zia Records Find

From Neyond The Back Burner

(Add / View Comments) (0)Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - 09:29:14 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
We found this weird copy of From Beyond The Back Burner at Zia tonight after work - pictured on the bottom.

Photobox Image

Same track listing, but with a different liners and CD. No reference to Atomic Pop on it at all, and a Uranus label on the back. I'd like to think this is some pre Atomic Pop pressing, though I have no idea if it actually is.
Aug
16
2011

Shut Up And Play A Song

(Add / View Comments) (0)Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - 10:33:08 pm
(Posted Under: Music Music)
For reasons that aren't really clear to me, Dave Pratt kicked off his mornings on X103.9 yesterday. I'd read something (which seems like it was a substantial amount of time ago) about him coming back to radio. I don't know much about him, other than that he is somewhat of a big deal in terms of Phoenix radio history.

But what I do know is that I don't want to wake up to some guy jabbering on at 6am in the morning. Hell, at 6am, I barely want to wake up at all. But although I make a lot of wise cracks about X103.9's morning mix, it works me. But the whole talk radio in the morning really doesn't. It was painful yesterday morning, and unbearable, to the point of turning it off, this morning.

Nice one X103. My iPod is going on the clock radio before I go to sleep tonight.
Aug
14
2011

New Blood

(Add / View Comments) (0)Sunday, August 14, 2011 - 11:45:32 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
Wow. It's the newest Strange Young Things song, and kicks some major ass. You had me at that dirty guitar riff.

We heard it for the first time a while back at The Sail Inn. And although I remember thinking it was cool at the time, I was a little to buzzed that night to have thought about it since. Or really to remember anything specific about the song. But we heard it again tonight at the Lexington pool party, and it may be my new favorite Strange Young Things song. It pains me that I don't have a recording of that one...yet. [wink]
Aug
12
2011

How Much Fun Can You Have At Teakwoods?

(Add / View Comments) (0)Friday, August 12, 2011 - 11:52:28 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live)
Well tonight was a hell of a lot of fun. Some nights at Teakwoods you expect to be something out of the ordinary, others just seem like it's going to be a usual night. I was pretty much expecting the latter. However, we showed up to find the place absolutely packed, with just the opener playing. I guess there were some birthdays going on. So we ended up pulling up at a table on the other side of the bar near the entrance. Definitely a different take on Teakwoods for us. Sara even came past and said "what the hell is going on tonight?!?".

When my nachos arrived, the plate seemed to me to be piled higher than it has ever been before. Katie didn't think that it was, but I'm not really sure. The plan tonight was to use my anniversary coupon, and as such we'd held out from eating until after 9pm tonight. Needless to say I was as hungry as well when we got to Teakwoods. But even then, I had some major doubts about being able to get through all the nachos! Which were fucking awesome btw, and so needed. And a plate of nachos that big takes a fair while to eat. Actually, I was working through them through Random Karma's opening set and just finishing up when Tramps started playing. I can report that I did make it all the way through the nachos - just. I view that as an accomplishment. [wink]

There were so many familar faces there tonight. Chatted about Toiys For Tots, which sounds like it's going to be a big one this year. And met Lee.

Typically around 10:30 or 11 there is some fall off at Teakwoods, but tonight, which was great to see. The ridiculous number of people there when we walked in remained for most of the night. Tramps put on a great show, which the floor in front of the stage packed the whole time. Even we were up there by Golden Tee due to lack of anywhere to sit. Plenty of dancing happening. Including us, when Emmeett insisted we danced during Call You Baby.

With a show this fun, we absolutely wanted to see it closed out with Ducks, Ages and Porcupine Jacket. We got Ages, after which there was pretty of tension in the air between us - was it going to go into that familiar Unfortunate Souls intro (that I could literally hear in my head at the end of Ages, or was it going to be something else. There was a pause, before Emmett announced that Ryan was player of the week, and Scott started playing the Porcupine riff. Yes! Now that's how you end a show. Towards the end of the song, Emmett jumped off stage to ask if I wanted to play the rest of it for him. Which I delcined, and pretty much regretted the moment after the words left my mouth! After they got finished, he berated me, because he wanted to go out for a smoke! ha! And then said he wants me to do it next week. Given my regret of saying "no" to the guitar, I'm glad that I may be able to redeem myself next week.

Great food, great music, great people. One hell of a fun night!

Tramps played an awesome set,
Aug
10
2011

Ghetto Cowgirl and Open Mic at Tempe Tavern

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosPhotosWednesday, August 10, 2011 - 11:55:23 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)
Photobox ImageGoing out on a school night is a lot harder with both of us working. However, we ventured out to catch both Ghetto Cowgirl and Lawrence's open mic night. Ironically we were late for Ghetto, and they were ironically on time, so we only caught about half of their show. Or shenanigans. [wink]

Photobox ImageWe couldn't get out of Long Wongs fast enough, and headed over to Tempe Tavern, where we'd parked. Pretty decent turn out, and a much nicer environment to be in. We like that place a lot, and it was cool hanging out on a Wednesday night. Some good music happening, including Joe Pena. We also got to see Page The Village Idiot. Definitely entertaining, that's for sure. At some point, Thomas, Chris and Curtis made their way over from Long Wongs. Right about the time we'd planned to leave, being a school night and all. The delima of it all. We stuck around a bit to see what happened, once we saw Thomas go out to get his guitar. By about 11, he, Lawrence, Jim and Curtis were up on stage and played 3 Persuaders tones acoustic. Sweet. Although we swore that we wouldn't stay out past 10pm, it was worth breaking that promise.
Aug
06
2011

iPhone Friendly

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, August 6, 2011 - 07:26:17 pm
(Posted Under: Web Development)
So what does it take to create motivation for making your website(s) iPhone friendly. Owning an iPhone for about a week apparently.

Best practice webdesign and coding to standards has been important to me for years. Optimizing sites for mobile devices really hasn't been. Although, a week into owning an iPhone, and sites that work poorly on a iPhone are already the bane of my existence. And y'know, Safari on the iPhone is pretty impressive in my opinion, so by "work poorly" I don't mean as much that they don't work / are broken as much as I mean have no thought given to mobile devices.

So I spent about an hour today; actually, no I spent about an hour before that trying to get a test page as usable as any of Google's sites. To the extent of fudging my user agent to that of the iPhone to see how Google was getting their pages to look so sexy on it. But reasonably quickly got frustrated with the attempts in vain and gave up.

Then I did some Googling, and quickly discovered the "viewport" metatag, and proceeded to find updating the site to play well on an iPhone pretty painless. That's the brilliance of coding with best practices in mind. Override a couple of styles that have specific widths defined, and there you go.
Aug
05
2011

The Persuaders @ Tempe Marketplace

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosFriday, August 5, 2011 - 11:28:25 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Live Shows, Music Music)
The Persuaders at Tempe Marketplace was a good way to end the working week. And given our whole plan to (finally) do as little as possible and get to bed at a reasonable time, the whole 7 - 10pm timeslot was very welcomed to both of that.

All week I'd thought it started at 8, until about 6:30 tonight, which presented the delima of whether to take our pizza with us or try to shove it down as fast as possible. We opted for the later, and hence didn't get down there until 8, however amazingly didn't seem to miss anything.

Photobox ImageWe showed up as Thomas was setting up Dani with his red guitar. Dani opened the show. Pretty amazing at age 13. She pulled out 3 songs (two originals and a cover of Dancing In The Dark) before her dad and the rest of The Persuaders took the stage.

Photobox ImageLawrence absolutely looked like he was born to be on a huge stage. And did a remarkable job of censoring himself for the family orientated crowd. Who knows what the hell Laufenberg was singing during Jesus Christ though. It probably wasn't the original lyric, but whatever it was, it didn't take much imagination to guess what the lyric actually is. [wink]

Photobox ImageDefinitely fun to see them on the outdoor stage. And it was quite the summer night for it. When we left, I checked the temperature - 100F, or 38C. Not bad for after 10pm!
Aug
02
2011

You'd Think I'd Be Used To The Heat By Now

But Maybe I Am

(Add / View Comments) (0)Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - 04:46:04 pm
(Posted Under: This Desert Life This Desert Life)
I'd like to say that I am used to the desert heat. And y'know, just when I think I can say that, I have a day when I am left feeling like a complete sook when it comes to the heat.

A day like today. Where being out in the world, is fine initially, but after a while it's like I'm going to die. You'd think that I'd be more used to it now, like I want to be able to say I am.

I looked at the weather app on my phone while on the bus. 111°F. I need to toughen up, maybe I will one day. But then I switched the app to celsius. Which is pretty convenient to do in this app. Virtually 44°C. So, hold the phone. Maybe I'm just being too hard on my self. Maybe I am used to the heat in the desert. I typically think of 110°F as being around the mid 35°C's. Considering that any time it was 44°C in Australia everyone freaked out, the sheer fact that I'm spending anytime outside when it is 111°F is really saying something.

So maybe it's not that I'm a pussy, but rather that it's just plain really fucking hot. That, and I'm probably more used to the heat than I am Fahrenheit!

Switch Styles

About Style Switching.

!Weblog Index

Jul August 2011 Sep
SU MO TU WE TH FR SA
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30

Categories

RSS FeedRSS Feed