mooooose

just got back from a whirlwind holiday in texas. it was good to see everyone and good to be back home amongst the snow and large wild animals (photo from kitchen window)

beirut

with a heavy cultural patina in eastern europe, france and otherwise abroad beirut encapsulates something remarkable in two equally strong back to back albums. syrupy gypsy lyrics backed with a cacophony of strings, accordion, horns and Zach Condon's trumpet sound like what i can only imagine paris feels like.

available on:


for a sample you can check out live performances on KEXP:


And 2 songs off of the "song of the day" podcast:

lol

just watch.

animal collective

if they might be giants and some martians had a campfire sing-along this is what it might sound like. it might be art, it might be pop but either way its really good.

available on:

last ride...

sorry to say this weekend was probably the last ride of the year. and what a beauty it was - wish we had pictures to share, but i am sure we will do this one again...

View Larger Map

okkervil river - stage names

representing austin texas stage names (and predictably the dramatic, facetious opener "our life is not a movie but maybe") single bemoan the lack the the usual epic story-lines, plot twists and dramatic cinematography in daily routine of what will schreff calls his "mid-level band".

available on:

grog commute

key stats:

• 11 miles
• 15 minutes
  
• 1 stoplight
• 1 scenic highway
• 2 lanes
• 3 views of schweitzer ski resort
• 0 traffic (except the occasional deer, moose or tractor slow down)

start: driveway...













turning out of driveway: views of ski resort in distance...













riding the highway: lots of bugs













end: covered parking and private entrance

bright eyes - cassadaga

omaha’s connor oberst's latest attempt is pleasently confused, perhaps almost spiritual in an ecclectic-crystal-swinging kinda way with a gloss of indie-pop over muddy depths. not surprisingly inspired (in part or whole?) by the town of cassadaga florida.

available on:

who's house? grog house..

part 2... the crib

Ok these first pictures are from when we moved in back in march... still some snow on the ground back then. But no worries its been in the 80's and 90's for the last two months... I'll let mojo show you around...

This is my crib - my people bought it just for me. Come on inside.

This is the living room - its where my couch is...

...and the stairs to the bedroom where I sleep.

so you've seen my house and my couch... now you have to get out of here...

grog work

sorry been gone long - just got internet at home - dialup only but internet at least. Me divide my update up into a few parts....

Part 1 work...

Work good. never a dull moment. been working on too many things to mention or list here but grog favorites have been working on the creative direction for Spring, Summer and Fall 2008 and our Manhattan flagship store opening at 68th and 3rd (which is this week). me have pictures of the barricade that grog design for the store while it under construction - by far the largest project grog ever do - 20ft tall and 300 feet long... its freaking huge...

Overdue update...

Melissa is finally up here in North Idaho and settling in, she is a nanny this summer for a family who has an organic farm up the road from us. We are working on getting her own classroom together but progress has been slow so far. I am doing quite well at work and have been keeping busy working on the house and property. We have had a few visits at our new house, but always welcome more. It is really quite spectacular up here, in any season I have seen so far. This summer has been warm and dry – 80’s and 90’s, even some 100’s off and on but the lake, trees and the mountain rivers keep us cool.

Willie Nelson in his infinite wisdom decided to have his 4th of July Picnic out of Texas for the first time in 20 years or so... At the Gorge Amphitheater, not 3 hours from us in Washington. So of course we went and saw the man himself perform.

radio silence

grog no dead.
grog move into house.
grog get married.
grog no have internet access at home yet.

grog post later.

ghost rider - stop sucking

no. no. no. no. horrible. no. no. no. Spawn, Punisher, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Gigli. All works of cinematic genius compared to this pile of dog puke. It seems like they skipped the whole re-make process and just lifted the dialog and storyboard straight from the graphic novel. Needless to say apart from the printed page, they loose something, like their not-suckiness. The resulting cinematography, if you can call it that, is as awkward as a newborn fawn with bun-gee chords wrapped around its legs. And the dialog is as worthless as that last metaphor. Tim would even hate this movie.

I want to find who is responsible and do donuts on their lawn with my harley, kick over their mailbox and throw a dead shark through their window.

*g

ted leo and the pharmacists - shake the sheets

uncompromisingly pop and politically savvy. the bar stool politics and philosophy are crafted into a insidiously hook filled tightly produced sound. lots and lots of talent and caffeine involved in this album.

available on:

house

*gulp* grog no want jinx anything but it looks like close on house in march. 5 acres of aspen and old growth pine, good house just remodled. it terrifying.

grog simple caveman brain no understand 100 of the 4000 pages of document gorg read and sign so far, hope they not too important. no expect large charity donations (charles...) from grog for the next... um.... 30 or so years either. If you not bought house yet this may help understand grog terror. take car. take price. multiply by 10. scream.


*grog

blue scholars - the long march

this dynamic seattle duo fights top-40-hip-hop-mediocrity with super human rhymes and a utility belt full of beats. A free download of their remix of "Inkwell" with the Modest Mouse track "Float On" can be found here (isn't that nice of them...)
available on:

whirrled news tonight

Grog never watch network news. Soap operas have better reporting and closer to reality. Tonight was an exception: Two stories caught me.

1) Mooninites invades Boston. (and for sale on ebay)
2) Grogs alma mater does good.

(ok... so me tipped off to watch tonight...)

i just caught up on LOST... if only HBO and showtime would get on itunes i wouldn't need cable...

the hold steady - boys and girls in america

Bruce Springsteen isn't dead. But if he were Craig Finn (lead vocals/lyrics) would be his unfashionable, anachronistic reincarnation. This power-chord infused yet cognizant album is well worth getting into despite (or because of) its essence as the kind of music you can picture the teenage protagonists cranking up in the 6x9's in their Dodge POS and driving down Lake Washington Blvd.

brrrrrrr

this past weekend grog direct photo shoot, cold photo shoot, very cold photo shoot. The photographer and camera man were from LA and they froze almost as fast as their cameras.

*edit* im not just a newbie to the high was 8 and the low was -1...

*g-g-gg-gg-ggg-grrooog-gg-g-gg

junior boys - so this is goodbye

ok - its not my usual fare but i have to say this album is captivating. It's hard to describe the precise, lamenting, rhythmic pop that is almost disco - but without being icky... but i guess i just did.

available on:

mojo's photo-tour of sandpoint

this is my couch

here is me walking my human

sometimes we walk into town...

i like town - there are people and things to smell

here is me striking a pose on the trail

sometimes we go to the dog beach...

happy trails...

new years

i like snow
*mojo

roots - game theory

heard this today, fantastic. if you don't think there is good hip-hop out there you listen to the radio too much and mtv is not a good source for "new" music. this should cure you.
available on: