"So who truly is to blame for the death of my stupid neighbor? I blame independent record stores.”

Record store day, fucking riot man.

But me and Ryan made it out with what we were looking for.

Our own "Whats in the bag?" special I guess.

Me:

Flaming Lips/Stardeath White Dwarf - Dark Side of the Moon (Barely!)

Fucked Up - Daytrotter Sessions 7" EP (Spiral Scratch Cover)

DJ Ilya Monosov & the 21st Century Punks - New Music

Total Abuse - Sex Pig 7" EP

Ryan:

REM - Chronic Town 12" EP/Automatic for the People (CD)

Coheed & Cambria - Guns of Summer/Pearl of the Stars 7" (picture disc)

Avenged Sevenfold - All Excess

I knew it would be crowded, but that was ridiculous. At the same time it was fun, I do not get many opportunities to make big purchases at Amoeba.

Alas I did not check out Freakbeat this year. Out of money.

Post Script

I know record collecting, or just collecting can be fun in general. But when it takes records out of the hands of people that actually want to use them (and yes, that means through removing the shrink wrap) then it annoys me. While I was searching for the Flaming Lips record I overheard some gentlemen saying that they picked up a FEW copies of  record store day exclusive records to negotiate some deals with people, thankfully record store day protocol allocated ONE copy of each record to an individual but I didn't know this when I heard it. The same thing goes for instrument collecting. Lets face it, your making things unnavailable to people that cannot put down the now $50 going rate for the Flaming Lips record, for the $25 profit. I'm not going to make judgements on people for doing this, but if you are you have to know what your doing.

The "Daytrotter" EP from Fucked Up is a good example, limited to 1700 copies total, I see about 1697 of them on ebay. Going rate for that is $9.99, which is $4 profit, most likely from oversaturation, might as well had left it on the shelfs so a Fucked Up fan could actually listen to it.

I have the same tiff with instrument collectors, probably actually to a greater intensity, because old instruments used to be a source for budding musicians to get decent sounding equipment for a reasonable price, however now its not an option, and all that we have available to us is trashy-sounding assembly-line-from-Indonesia equipment. Me and Ryan have been able to manage getting a decent sounding rig for much cheaper than it would appear, but it took a lot of time, effort, and luck.

Guitars are for playing, they sound better the more you play them, it gives them character, and when someone takes a '72 fender and sticks it in some glass showcase it just takes it away from the hands of someone that can use it to make art.

And when someone sells a record for an unreasonable amount and makes people think twice about opening it to listen to, it ruins that experience.

I opened the Flaming Lips record, and I enjoyed it a lot, so there is now 4999 pristine copies at the most.

[Insert quote here]

Just got back from San Diego, spent Christmas there with my honey and her family.

Here's what I got for Christmas:
- The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs
- My Friend The Poet by Terrie Leigh Relf
- Incesticide, Nirvana
- An "F" in POLS 406 (A mistake, working it out in progress)
- $50 gift card (Going toward bills)
- Acoustic B200H [Head] and B410 [Cab] (A present to myself)

Pretty good, and I loved San Diego, I'll be putting up pictures soon enough documenting our adventure.

But its not like you care.

The dizzy epiphany discovered an artifact of my own, it's the little things that get us through life, I need a little escape.

Albums that have shaped the person I am.

No reason why, I just like lists.

[In no particular order]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
One of those first albums you remember hearing, this album is one of those for me. From a CD my dad bought sometime in the 80s when CDs were first introduced and now keep in my own collection. Reminds me of night-time road trips under a canopy of in obscured starlight in some location with no landmarks but darkness and the silhouettes of some mountainous region in the distance.

Elton John - The One
Yes, not one of those albums that Elton will be remembered for, but it’s one of my favorites, to me there is not a bad song on the record. Also one of those first records I remember listening, I found a CD version of it recently in the clearance bin of a record store near my house for $1, a steal in my opinion, and much needed since I only had the cassette version of it. It’s the first record after Elton's struggle with alcohol, drugs, and bulimia and features Eric Clapton, David Gilmore, Pino Palladino, and Olle Romo.

Pink Floyd - Pulse
Another road trip record and a record I would listen to when I was young. Pink Floyd were pretty heavy for me, but none of the elementary school kids would get it, typically they would pass on my suggestions for party music when I would bring up Pink Floyd, wasn't cool I guess.

Supertramp - Crime Of The Century
This band was pretty important in my childhood, prog-rock and an interesting band as well no doubt. All the covers that bands (Goo-Goo Dolls, and does Gym Class Heroes count?) though are annoying, you've probably heard many songs from this band and not even know it was them.

Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death
The first punk rock record I ever heard back in 7th grade at the behest of a friend of mine with a strange fascination for the Viet Cong and AK-47s, back when there was no punk rock kids or punk rock fashion, it was just punk rock. It was outrageous to me, "To Drunk To Fuck" completely blew my mind, it seemed like they didn't care about the singing or the playing, I could hear the mistakes clearly on the record but it spoke to me, this was around the time of 9/11 and I was starting to feel the animosity of racism for the first time.

Fugazi - Repeater + 3 Songs
This was the first record that expanded my idea of where punk rock can go musically. I first got into Pink Floyd, punk deconstructed that for me, but Fugazi was the first that I heard which brought the ideas of classic rock back into the music of punk rock, albeit in a different way. Fugazi wasn't about the speed or the mosh-pits, it was about the music again and that started my turn into the musical taste I have now. A huge influence on me, Joe Lally is a massive influence on the way I play bass.

Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime
In my opinion, pound-for-pound, the greatest album of all time. Yes Sergeant Pepper's was a great record which unlimitedly influenced all music to come after it, but if we disregard that and just look at the weight of the album in regard to songs themselves, Double Nickels is better. Its 40+ songs, (not a bad or even just okay song in the batch, all amazing) with half of the album written in only a couple weeks upon learning that Husker Du's upcoming record Zen Arcade was to be a double album, the greatest result of one-upsmanship I personally have ever heard ("Take that Huskers" in the linear notes). A huge influence in every way, Mike Watt is also one of those bassists that shaped the way I play today.

Crass - Stations Of The Crass
Another punk band that took my idea of punk and changed it. Poetic, biting, and weird sounding, they had a strange musical approach that was more influenced by classical music and David Bowie then anything "punk". Pete Wright completes the trifecta of bassists that influences the way I play.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
People might take me the wrong way, I'm not trying to copy the way Kurt Cobain sings, I try to copy the way Karen O sings, because I adore her. This band showed me that you can be artistic with a heavy underground and musical background and be a successful mainstream act as well. In my opinion, they are the most talented act out there right now, and are absolutely amazing in every way. I love all their records, but I had to choose this particular one because it was my first foray into their world.

No Age - Nouns
I tried these guys out, learning about them approximately 3 days before they hit MTV, and while I didn't know much about noise rock at the time I learned that I liked it. It was like an abstract painting, it was good to not have the implicit meaning thrown in my face and to just feel the expression in what sounded like distortion grinding against metal over poppy SST influenced punk rock. Oh and Randy Randall is just about the coolest guy, though I haven't seen No Age yet live, I had the priviledge of seeing Randy put a solo guitar performance in a DIY art gallery that I volunteer at, that was an experience, and there was only about 5 people there, I was expecting a bigger crowd but its their loss.

Nirvana - In Utero
All said Nirvana is still an influence on me; I would be lying if I said that they do not affect me musically in any way. Kurt Cobain speaks to me, yes it may now be the 21st century, but I still feel as crappy as everyone else did in the early 90s, so what if Green Day is the soundtrack to our times, they are not as musically daring as Nirvana was, a complete anomily of mainstream music that will probably not happen again.

Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
Finally something like this blew my way, it was about time someone took the idea of taking Poison Idea and Pink Floyd and putting them together. Damian is also a ridiculously cool guy, giving me 20 minutes of his time to just stand outside of the Smell and talk.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
It's not necessarily his guitar chops that I listen to, (while they are amazing, but that I do not need to say) its his expression with the guitar. He played it as more then a guitar, he painted with it and he was a goddamn great painter at that. Everything he did with it was incredible, the blues, the rock, the noise...I try to emulate that with bass (at only a minute fraction of anything that he ever did, but someday I hope that it can come close to a marginally decent proportion).

Notable Entries:

Mastodon - Leviathan
Thank you Mastodon, I took a complete dive on this record having not previously heard any of their material but thinking that the album artwork was too ridiculously good for the music to be bad, and my assumption was correct.

Depeche Mode - Songs Of Faith And Devotion
Although Depeche Mode never really stuck on me as intensily as Elton John or Pink Floyd as a child, this record along with Violator was still something that I heard a lot as a kid.

Civil Disobedience - In A Few Hours Of Madness
My favorite 7", its crust punk, but its strangly atmospheric, and unlike any other crust punk that I've heard.

The Lion King - Soundtrack
It won an academy award for a reason.

Jimmy Page And Robert Plant - No Quarter: Jimmy Page And Robert Plant Unledded
My first listening experience with Led Zepplin-esque material. This is the last entry I'm making for a album that I heard a lot as a kid, I swear.

Michael Jackson - Thriller
I'm aware of the sudden boom of interest in his music after his death, but really he deserves it, and I owe my existence to Michael, if it were not for Thriller my parents would have gotten divorced before I was even born (long story).

Be As The Trees

I spoke with the golden camel
And he told me to be as the trees
Take nothing from someone who has taken from me.


The first reference here is, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche which describes such themes as the "death of god", the Ubermensch, morality, etc, etc. The "golden camel" is Zoroaster, which his name roughly translates into golden camel. Furthermore this translation was picked to pay homage to "Gold Lion" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which is one of my personal favorite songs and of which had shamanic qualities that I wanted to emulate.
Trees throughout history have generally symbolized life, death, decay, and resurrection, however being as a tree means a few things in this context, first it refers to ancient beliefs and particularly Buddhist beliefs that trees can be a conduit from which demons and spirits can exist in. Taking in this case thus refers to the individuals making an atonement before cutting the tree to make sure that the tree does not take from the individual (such as wealth). The second reference here is a biblical one, from Ezekiel 15:6 which states that Jerusalem has become a vine among trees, and is thusly punished, with trees having many uses and vines not. The third reference is from the childhoods book The Giving Tree which tells of a selfless tree, which gives everything is has with no materialistic return from the taker. In essence being as the tree is to be unselfish, bringing one closer to the Ubermensch.


In the valley the thousand snake
Turned to bone and died
Your snake may be dead but mine is still alive.


Snakes too have heavy symbolist overtones. The thousand snake refers to the Yamata no Orochi, a massive 8-headed serpent said to be the size of a valley which has taken one daughter from the "Earthly Deities" for seven years and was then about to take the eighth before he is killed by the Japanese storm god Susanoo. The snake that is still alive is Mucalinda which protected the Buddha for 7 days from a storm as he meditated. Mucalinda is also used in Aldous Huxley's novel Island to represent the "communion of humans and nature." The snake that has died refers to snakes used in mythology in negative views, an example being the snake that tempted Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. Furthermore, there is a heavy relationship between trees and snakes in mythology, typically with the snake protecting or coiled around any given Tree of Life and such.


She's a death angel and your a god too
But even space has its limits
And you still could cross them, could you?

There is no implicit reference here, but a vague kind of meaning can be individuals thinking that they are of the high order of man, engaging in animalistic acts of rape and sexual harrassment, this passage serves to introduce corruption in this narrative.

So as you grow, let the roots take hold of you
Its the only thing that you can allow to happen
And it hurts to know, that our lives mean nothing
We are just termites compared to Doctor Manhattan
And its something that I could never reach
Even through my snake because god is dead
To this end, sons of Cain
Make it the trend
Or so the golden said.

This passage is one of realization, in that we are verily incapable of achieving the higher state, where the verse was declaring what would be wanted, this one admits that its not possible, even with the help of Mucalinda are we incapable of reaching a higher state of enlightenment as did Buddha. The roots here, referring to evil, states it as an inevitablity.
Dr. Manhattan, of course, is the character from the Watchmen comic books as an example of an Ubermensch, or 'Superman', with the line "we are just termites" a reference to the line from the comic in which Dr. Manhatten says to Ozymandias, "And this world's smartest man means no more to me than does its smartest termite." This serves as a conversation between Ubermensch and man. The sons of Cain is another biblical reference, to which Cain murders his brother Abel, and is thus cursed to wander the earth as all humans are, uncapable of achieving the next step as is done in Childhood's End where man is allowed to leave Earth upon reaching the next step in evolution.

Of course, this is just a interpretation, I wrote this to be vague for a reason, so that each person can fill in their own puzzle pieces, and I have heard a few different ones. I discourage individuals reading my interpretation and thinking that it is the be-all-end-all.