TAG SALE COSMOLOGY

The Vortex

So I was searching around for a photo of a cool spacey or futuristic bar and after perusing many cruiseship publicity photos, I finally struck gold at Light Energy Studio. Just one look at the homepage and you know you are in for a treat. I spent probably 15 minutes clicking around on all the awesome light fixtures and effects and viewed a demo of the lighted floor panels. Eventually I made my way to the highlight of the trip, the 3D Tour of an imaginary club called The Vortex. Watch it now or be forever deprived of your fantasy. Er…or mine.

There’s also a Palace Tour that’s pretty dope. You can click on glowing lights to go deeper into the scenery, though you have to buy the CD Rom to enter the mansion through the main doors. For now, a peek through the windows will have to do. For only $11.95, I’m seriously considering going all the way.

Collin + MAKE = HAPPYFUNCOOL

Collin recently took on a new role as the Flickr Curator on the MAKE blog and was just introduced to readers today. So if you are making cool stuff and have a Flickr account, join the MAKE pool and post your projects to it. Congratulations Collin!!

“Stains” by Flying

Check out the premiere of the new video for “Stains” by Flying. Sara Magenheimer (of Flying) and I shot this almost a year ago, and it’s finally being released in anticipation of their new album Faces of the Night due out February 19th on Menlo Park.

Check out the review on Pitchfork.

Bobby Conn Time Warp

Sharon sent me a link this morning to a Bobby Conn video (the first embedded below). At first we thought it was a new video done in the style of Chic-a-go-go, a Chicago public access show I also appeared on (see my performance HERE). We then discovered that the video was from his performance on the show in 1999. Poking around I found a bunch of other great Bobby Conn videos, including a new video that I initially thought was from the same period as the Chic-a-go-go clip. So it appears that he put out an album in 2007, is still cool, and has traveled through a sort of time warp from his days on public access. He’s still got the same sound and fun radical underpinnings. My fave youtube finds of his are posted below for your viewing convenience. Included are some awesome PSA-style rants and a wild performance as part of a Chic-a-go-go special Passover program.

Bobby Conn - Never Get Ahead (performed on Chic-a-go-go in 1999)

Bobby Conn - King for a Day (2007)

Bobby Conn on Our National Funk

Bobby Conn on Satanic Forces

Bobby Conn in “Passover in Puppettown” (chic-a-go-go 1999)

Fave Songs of 07 - Too Late?

I know I kinda missed the deadline for top 10 lists and such of 2007, but I figured I’d bung it up here regardless. I’m gonna go with Jen’s motto for the new year: “It’s not too late - 2008!”

And with that I offer my top ten of 07 - not top releases, as I think only one track listed here was released this year. Rather, these are the songs that I played obsessively and/or got stuck in my head, in no particular order. If you’ve been reading my blog, many of these will sound familiar…

The Kiss - Judee Sill
Makes me cry almost every time, especially if I sing along. Necessitates high volume and/or headphones. Good while driving too (except for the crying part).

Armour of the Shroud - Bobb Trimble
The best song from his 2 recently re-released albums, in my humble opinion.

Parallelograms - Linda Perhacs
First heard this song in one of the videos in Shana Moulton’s Whispering Pines series. I had no idea from whence it came but my friend Erika soon lent me her sole album, released in 1970. She’s a fave of Devendra Banhart and it’s rumored that she has been recording new material.

Unsolved Mysteries - Animal Collective
This should come as no surprise. Strawberry Jam = yum.

Alisa - Ariel Pink
Technically it wasn’t one song but two albums that I played repeatedly - The Doldrums and Haunted Graffiti. I really don’t understand why there are no longer any songs on his myspace page, but luckily you can listen to a few songs on the Paw Tracks site. Here’s a video from another song “Kate I Wait.”

Raider - Judy Henske and Jerry Yester
I can’t find the song online but on this page, you can hear another goodie from this album called “Three Ravens.” “Raider” is a very different kind of song - driving and rambling and bouncing and often sung in rounds. It inspired an image of me (as Metalmags) rolling along in my dune buggy, loving life.

Crystal Ladies - Blank Dogs
This is kind of a fib because I was slightly more into another of their songs that they have since taken down from myspace. I can’t remember the name of that song and so I give you my 2nd fave. I think the first was called “I Was Counting” or something like that. So far their recordings are available only on vinyl and my record played pooped the bed. So I’m sure you can imagine me sitting there on my computer hanging on their myspace page forevs.

Jolene - Darcy Clay
Clay was a songwriter from New Zealand who died young and before he recorded more than 2 EPs worth of tunes (one is live). Though the songs he has penned are amazing, his cover of Dolly Pardon’s Jolene just got totally lodged in my brain. It’s so swingin’ and drunken. Gotta love it, whether or not you love the original.

Stand Up - The Women of Greenham
Check out my post on the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp.

J’Attendrai - Frouky
Frouky lives in France and found me on myspace. They or at least one of them is also an illustrator. This song is infectious.

Interactive Music Video by MGMT

Check out this band’s site to see the cool interactive video they made for their song “Electric Feel.” That page shows you a preview of the video but if you click on the SMALL or LARGE links above it, your download will begin. I downloaded the large size and it was almost 340 MB. Once the folder has finished downloading, you can simply drag the .mov file into Quicktime and it’ll work. You can press the buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the foreground and background feeds. Fun, and a cool song to boot!

UFO Series

My friend and co-worker Frank just turned me on to UFO, a British TV series from 1970 by way of an extremely in-depth fan site. The main attraction is a set of galleries of beautiful full color (and b/w) stills, featuring dope silver space costumes, fake rocks, and an host of detailed miniature vehicles being prepped for action. In addition, you can check out music tracks, sound effects, cast info, movie clips (unfortch windows media player), fan art, viewmaster reels, an episode guide, and many other awesome and fanatical little tidbits. Check out the site here!

And yes, they do have the 8-disc series on Netflix.

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins - Leonard Nimoy

I find Leonard Nimoy’s foray into the recording industry more enjoyable than Shatner’s. Here’s a hot one: