NYE 2010

Get ready Chicago, I'm going to...

...probably just have a few beers and listen to records with friends.

But it's going to be life-changing!

Whatever.

Guess What I've Been Listening to This Morning?

Great Things About Today:

1. Listening to Spiritualized.
2. The #becauseofhardcore trend on Twitter.
3. Coffee

"Think I can rock 'n roll
But probably just twisting
Think I want to tell the world
But probably ain't listening..."

Tops of Ten

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
No Age - Everything In Between
Crocodiles - Sleep Forever

Aston Villa v Man City tomorrow

Aston Villa play Manchester City tomorrow and I think we'll lose.

No optimism here. Realistically, I don't think Villa will go down; they have a little bit too much talent to be considering Championship football next year. However, it ain't lookin' good.

Here's hoping for a draw at least. Been eying teams like QPR and Millwall feeling that the squad would stand a better chance. Urgh.

Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan, Fabian Delph, Eric Lichaj, even Nathan Delfouneso...save us!

The City is So Cold...

Pat Kelly...

Man, he's such a scorcher.

Bid on a 7" of his on eBay, really hoping I win it. I lost the Ken Boothe auction. Drats.

All is Quiet on the Eastern Front..

Back in Chicago.

First time I've left this city since living here where I didn't want to come back. The snow is massive, piled up around the city and parked until the winter ends. Sixteen degrees as I left my apartment this morning.










Yesterday AVFC fell to Tottenham. I really was suspicious of Gerard Houllier when he arrived, but January's transfers should indicate how savvy he remains as a club manager. The game against Tottenham wasn't enough, though there were moments of quality and some great new blood getting to show their strength. Lichaj is a great midfielder, and as a Chicagoan (sorta) and an American, I'm excited to see him excel. Albrighton's goal was an accident. Villa really need more firepower.



Lastly, tons to do at work today and even bigger decisions to make in the coming days. Trying to be up for it and take on life with zeal instead of just kicking back.

Happy Xmas

I'm Coming Home...

Home for the holidays on Thursday. San Diego, I miss you. I've been listening to this tune everyday for the past week, and it's perfect. Pat Kelly-"I'm Coming Home," a Trojan Records single from 1970.

Probably my single favorite song right now:



Enjoy.

Football Factory

Rebuilding the football club is a term that gets thrown around all too regularly as the revolving door of managers seems to spit up teams and shit out new ones at every given opportunity.



When Gerard Houllier took over at Aston Villa, a bit of research told me that though he may have been a qualified candidate, he was going to need a different toolbox than the one that Martin O'Neill had put together, relying on a fairly one-dimensional style of play--though one that was often exciting and effective. Plus, you got to watch MON lose it on the touchline every single match, which was worth the time invested on its own.

Kevin MacDonald, who worked closely with O'Neill and managed the first team near the beginning of this season, seemed to know where to tweak the squad and where to go with what Martin O'Neill had left behind. Villa's 3-0 thrashing of West Ham on opening day was composed, collected, and the best football I'd seen them play in some time...I'll remember it well. Watching the team play confidently on the ball from the back up to the front was totally inspiring. I was shouting at my television with every pass and controlled possession.

I wasn't surprised that Kevin MacDonald stepped down, though the way it went down--waiting to announce that he wanted the job, announcing that he wanted the job, and then being turned down for it--caused me to feel a little surprised and skeptical of the new regime.

Houllier deserves his chance, but I can't say I fully back the methods. A new article from the Guardian, posted today, seems to suggest that Houllier wants to completely redevelop the transfer and scouting strategy to focus on younger, underdeveloped players. It seems a little silly to say that when Villa have one of the best reserve academies in the league, and the underlying message is undeniably clear: WE DON'T HAVE VERY MUCH MONEY. In that case: Thank God for young players that are showing how talented they are like Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan, and even American Eric Lichaj.

That becomes harder when looking at the amount of talent that Martin O'Neill was always able to bring in near the death of the transfer window. I think there was some serious soreness about letting an asset like Milner out of the team. Without him, we're starting to see how vital he was in the role that he began to occupy in the center. Everyone hated waiting to see if O'Neill was going to do the business, but without fail, season after season, some rare bargains would show up right before the window closed and Villa would have a handful of new names to stitch on the back of their shirts. Not totally dissimilar from Brian Clough's portrayal of signing new players in The Damned United: "Of course I bought him! He's an English International!" But I digress...

One player who excelled at his former club and a player who single-handedly rescued the Villa defense last season was Richard Dunne. He hasn't looked half the player he was under O'Neill since he left. It's disenchanting. Martin Laursen's absence was a huge hole to fill, and Dunne did it effortlessly last season after he was pushed out of City. He showed his class by scoring a goal against his former club and refusing to celebrate. O'Neill always seemed to get the best out of him for each match, and this season he's been as inconsistent as Chicago weather.

Warnock was someone who I was admittedly surprised to see come to Villa, but I always thought he was a breath of fresh air. He has made some mistakes at the back, but he has made overlapping runs, he puts in a good ball--even the occasional long ball across to the opposite flank with near pinpoint accuracy--and always looks like he's putting his all into every shift. He could stand to be a little faster sometimes, but I think on his day, he's a match for any wing in the league.



The Guardian reports that it is speculated Warnock will be moved on come January. I'm sad to see him go, if it's true. The biggest worry about this, is that the speculation came from The Guardian--while if it were printed in the Daily Mail, I would know it was exactly that--speculation, and nothing more. Frustrating times in the life of a Villa fan.

Houllier, the football factory is yours now. Here's to hoping you can get the cogs moving in the right direction.

Mourinho & Tevez?

I thought of a possibility regarding the emerging transfer window that I think is financially feasible, admittedly outlandish, and strangely enticing.

Tevez has been complaining that he no longer wants to stay at Man City, and after reading a bit about Mourinho's press conference and alleged desire for another striker, I figured Tevez may well become his latest mercenary. Mourinho knows how to play the media well, Tevez could link up with Ronaldo and DiMaria again, and garner a move to a Spanish-speaking country which may avert his alleged homesickness.



Am I totally out of line? It might happen.

The Magicians

Headshrinkin

now the news is out now...

This song has been stuck in my head for a bulk of the day.

Today was exceptionally poor. I have a small list of things to do this evening, and then I'm going to put on Hot Snakes records and write all night.

A House is Not a Home

Snowy in Chicago

The weather is miserable in Chicago today so I'm not doing band practice.

I wimped out. Bummer. About to go grocery shopping and then finish fixing up the house. Pics to come later.

Smiths

I listened to Morrissey all day yesterday and for the first part of this morning before putting on Louder Than Bombs.




Sheila, Take a Bow may equal my life at twenty-six.

Seasons Greetings.

Awesome busted umbrella in the trash can at the train station.

The aforementioned chocolate-chip vegan cheezecake.

No Thanx

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. The fact that the holiday season is already beginning completely took me by surprise.

I just went out and bought a bunch of Tofutti Cream Cheese and a Tofurky.

I'm stoked.

Worm Tamer

Picture I took of Grinderman at the Riviera last night using my BlackBerry.

Mrs. Magician

My good friends in Mrs. Magician just put out a great 7" and got a pretty good review by Buddyhead. It's really good. I'm planning to pick one up when in SD in December.

I'm super pumped on the cover:

SECOND city

I got back from Boston relatively recently (Tuesday). I went to Massachusetts for work recently and got to take a few days off to spend some time with my little brother in Boston/Somerville. It was fun.

I love Boston. I feel like the city moves at a bit of a different pace than that of Chicago. Chicago feels manic at times.

The Bruins were playing when I was in Boston, but I wasn't able to go. I was looking forward to seeing the Blackhawks play on TV when I was back in Chicago, and was baffled at how poor they looked last night against the Calgary Flames. Calgary is having a good season, but they outplayed and outpaced Chicago through and through. I'm hoping to get to a Hawks game this season.

Listened to a lot of Boston-centric music when I was there. Y'know how it goes.

life's a game,
let's not forget--
just one request:
please, press 'reset'
fuck.

Strangely Excited about this one

Apparently Damon Albarn is forming a new group with Flea and Tony Allen. You had me at Damon Albarn.

RIP Gregory Isaacs

Gregory Isaacs, another great reggae legend, passed away. Legend. Great tunes.

RIP Ari Up

I heard the news that Ari Up of the Slits passed away last night and it kind of bummed me out.

Listening to some of my favorite Slits tunes at work today.

Heaven Help My Mademoiselle

The Great MES

More on the Fall:

Listened to bits of Peel Sessions, Kurious Oranj, Nation's Saving Grace and the Wonderful & Frightening World and I'm really convinced they're the greatest group ever.

It's too too late

Woke up with Spiritualized and the Beatles stuck in my head on some sort of uncontrollable pop shuffle.

Stayed at work too late last night. Got home too late last night. Too too late. Below -- NY Dolls, Beatles from the movie Help!, and Spiritualized.

My Friend Jack

Allmusic.com's album of the day is once again a scorcher. The Smoke is an amazing early garage group. A friend put them on a mix for me and I remember it was so good that I was legitimately disappointed that it took me so long to hear it for the first time.



Check it out below.



Tons of work to do today--Fitness convention this week in Rosemont, IL.

Meh.

Mountain Energei

"To get a mortgage, you need an income lid...I thought it was free."

Mark E. Smith is an absolute legend. I have to say that my worries about money have made a lot of Fall songs feel more relevant to me. I'm trying desperately to get my funds in order. I'm reading the book The Fallen, which is a series of interviews with various ex-members of The Fall. The first chapter is a long interview with Mark E. Smith, and his vision of his music/art/livelihood is really head-turning. "It's like football--sometimes you have to go and replace the centre-forward." Crazy.

TONS of great music got acquired this week--AA Bondy, Deerhunter, Interpol, Grinderman, Women, Gentleman Jesse, Crystal Castles, Tom Waits, and much more. The new No Age was an awesome surprise. Great record.

This is all totally making me want to record more music. Excited.

AZ can't take the heat...

Just saw this via another blog.

Scotland on my mind...

VILLA Move to 5th with win over Wolves

Midlands derby day with Aston Villa at Wolves. I didn't get to catch the match as it wasn't on FSC, but saw the highlights. Great goal from Emile Heskey.

I'd like you to write Punk Rock Warlord...with Warlord being one word.

Interesting piece over at the NME suggesting that London's legendary 100 Club might be closing. There's a campaign in the works to save it, but overhead costs are becoming too high for the club to continue to operate the way it's been operating.

Mick Jones has even said that he would do what he can to help.

I remember seeing old flyers of the Clash with the venue listed as the 100 club, or a number of other punk bands (the Vibrators, Sex Pistols, Damned are the first that come to mind). When venues get shut down like this--much like CBGB's in New York--I always wish I would have had the opportunity to play a show there before it disappeared. Sad.

Flowers and Football Tops...

For those of you who saw, today saw a lot of interesting results in football/soccer.

EPL -- Tottenham lost to West Ham 1-0, West Bromwich Albion beat Arsenal, Liverpool drew with Sunderland, and Chelsea, who looked all but unstoppable, lost to Manchester City. In La Liga, Real Madrid were held goalless by a side who just got promoted from the Segunda. With as much money as Real Madrid has invested on the biggest players in the world, including new World Cup stars like Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil, it's incredible to me that they don't dominate with as much fluidity as a team like Barcelona (who won 3-0 without Lionel Messi). Manchester City's money-spending has got them a team of complete all stars, but it still seems like the only one they really needed is Carlos Tevez. He scored in between the legs of Ashley Cole today and it was fantastic. I felt like I could feel the goal building as soon as Tevez got the ball.

Anyway, my Saturday has been completely spent between soccer and music. I hung out with a few friends and played quite a few riffs/jams I've been trying to work on and I was super excited about the way everything sounded. Here's to hoping we're able to do it again some time soon. I'll post recordings here if I ever end up doing anything with them.



UPDATE: Here's a really great interview on Tevez being given the Captaincy at City.

Punk Shows and Firestorming.

Went to a show at a place called Albion House tonight. I got there late but was able to catch 2 1/2 bands -- Thought Crusade, Black & Blue, and Gryphyns. Gryphyns were like the "Safety Second, Body Last" Locust record without guitar having a seance with Neurosis and salted with City of Caterpillar--all informed with a certain rock swagger, a genuflection of je nais se quois. Thought Crusade and Black & Blue were fucking stompers.

After that I cruised to my friend's house for a High Life around a campfire. I remembered watching the Joe Strummer film by Julien Temple, The Future is Unwritten, where so much of it focused on Joe's affection for the campfire setting. Fantastic portrayal of a really talented communicator.

GIANT FISH

WHAT.

Album of the Day today...

The album of the day today over at allmusic.com was Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds with Your Funeral, My Trial.

I love that record. I used to talk about those lyrics with one of my professors and counting the references to Shakespeare in that album, of which there are many.

OTHER NEW RECORDS I NEED:
New Black Mountain album
New No Age

I'm tired. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Ice Cream

Why does this always make my day a little better?

There's No God

Mrs. Magician came out with this tune and I think it's great.

Latest tracks by mrsmagician

More Marr

Aglophilia has set in. More British music news:

Johnny Marr is releasing a single in a philanthropic move to end homelessness. The charity benefiting from the whole thing is a called Centrepoint, and you can read all about it here. The reason this is particularly of interest? I spent a good portion of my evening last night talking about how much I love The Smiths and Oasis, as per usual, and this video came up during the course of conversation. Check out Noel talking about Johnny Marr, it rules.

Glaswegian Legend Bobby Gillespie

After listening to the Jesus and Mary Chain nonstop this morning, I was doing a little research on my favorite Glasgow rockers and saw this article on Bobby Gillespie from the Guardian way back in 2008. Favorite quote has to be when he's asked if he supports Hamas, and he responds by saying "No, I support Celtic FC." Legend!

Of course, this bit of reading did move me directly from The Jesus and Mary Chain straight to Primal Scream today. Great band.

Link to the article: HERE.

Strange and possibly true

1 Bobby Gillespie named his second son Lux after Lux Interior, the singer of horror rockers the Cramps.

2 Gillespie attracted controversy during Primal Scream's set at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival for insulting the crowd with a Nazi salute. He later claimed he did it because a hippy stole his ale.

3 Though Gillespie once defaced a 'Make Poverty History' poster so that it read 'Make Israel History', he does not support Hamas. 'No,' he said in 2006, 'I support Celtic.'

4 He was a roadie for the Eighties band Altered Images and the drummer for the Jesus and Mary Chain before forming Primal Scream.

5 Gillespie owns a bow tie formerly owned by Johnny Thunders.

HESKEY SCORES AND VILLA WIN

Villa win 3-1 vs. Blackburn today in the Carling Cup Third Round.

I know it's a silly thing to be so excited about, but Heskey got one in the net and Ashley Young put in two in two minutes time.

It certainly brightened my day. I can't wait to see the highlights.

"I'm gettin' bugged drivin' up and down the same old strip / I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip..."

Houllier takes charge at AVFC today...

Gerard Houllier takes over at Aston Villa today during their League Cup clash against Blackburn Rovers. I'm massively interested to see his team selection, and I'm more excited about his evaluation on getting confidence restored at the club and changing the mentality.

"Villa is a club which is liked in Europe. It has an identity," Houllier said. "Aston Villa is known as [being like] Paris Saint‑Germain. This club is known to be a good club. I've not met anyone saying it's a bad club. What the club needs is more ambition, more biting teeth.

"When you are a good club everything is fine, the comfort is there. What we need to do is get out of this comfort zone a bit more and get the results. The passion is there [but] the ambition to win things could do well at this club. The image is that it's a nice club. We want to be a winning club. A nice, winning club."

Brilliant. Win some shit. Come on you villains.

Grinderman terrorize

New single out called Worm Tamer. Way too wild. Grinderman come to Chicago on November 22, San Diego on December 1. I have to be at one of those shows.

Insanely upset I haven't picked up the new record yet.

Running Out of Time

Always feel like I'm running out of time.

I picked up a lot of good new music lately and I'm really excited to start listening to more and more of it. I got a repress of the Spacemen 3 record Sound of Confusion, and it's incredible. It's strangely addicting--like everything else I want to listen to feels like a derivative of that record for whatever reason.

I have to stop by Hard Boiled Records soon in Chicago's Roscoe Village. The last time I was there I was waiting for my bike to be fixed, and someone had sold a huge collection--Jesus and Mary Chain, tons of Smiths records, tons of Moz singles, Echo & the Bunnymen, Pistols, Beatles, etc. Tons of good late '70s kinda post-punk stuff. Knowing that I shouldn't spend any more money, I only picked up two records -- The Fall's I am Kurious Oranj and a record by The Housemartins. I doubt much will be left but it's not too far.

My bike got stolen. Full bummer. I put like $500 into that thing before it disappeared.

hey blog, it's been a while

dude i don't know why i haven't written in ages.

records i'm excited about:

Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
Crocodiles - Sleep Forever
Darker My Love - Dear Author
Grinderman - Grinderman 2

...and in a weird way I want to pick up Alejandro Escovedo's Street Songs of Love.

Just had to share.

Rehabilitation Day...

I just returned from the Philadelphia MANIA event that's put on by my work each year and had my second physical therapy appointment today. The great thing about going to a conference like that is people who are professionals in therapy and rehab are actually willing to sit and consult with you since their expertise is what brought them to the conference in the first place. Being that my job brought me to the conference in the first place, it was what I'd like to call a fringe benefit.

I met a guy named Cassidy who owns a company called Trigger Point Therapy based out of Austin, TX. He explained to me a lot of the theory behind their therapy and it made way too much sense not to buy the kit that was designed for the foot/ankle. I'm putting the instructional/theoretical DVDs on my iPod so I can watch 'em while I'm on the train and get the most effective use of my time and hopefully complement my PT appointments.

Today I spent some time on the cycle and did a few leg presses assisted by a little machine. There was some soft tissue work too, which felt awesome. The bones are definitely less stiff after working those muscles, so it was well worth the time spent in therapy. I cannot wait to go back this Wednesday.

Tonight before I go to bed, I'm going to try to use a towel to move my ankle around. In case you can't tell, I'm super excited at the prospect of walking again.

In other news, I've been spending a lot of time revisiting early 2000s hardcore/punk music. It was my jam. I'm remembering why. Sometimes that's totally ok. Suicide File, Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, GUTG, Bane, Carry On, Terror...I love you.

I got home from Philly at 11p last night. I woke up at 5:30a. I left therapy at 7:30 and went straight to work. I just got home about 30 minutes ago. I'm going to have a beer, work on the ankle, and then c r a s h .

It's been quite a while...

It's been a minute since I've taken the time to update, but I thought the Sunday post would be a good time to round of the week.

I spent the weekend watching football. My Villa drew 0-0 with Tottenham, which means we took a point from each time we played 'Arry's Spurs this season. I think it's a testament to the fact that both teams probably have some work to do before they're playing Champions League football. I'd like to say otherwise, but it's true. Spurs look the part but need some work in the finishing third. With the exception of Defoe, it doesn't really seem like any of the attacking-minded players are regularly finding the net. Villa don't look nearly as dangerous as they once did from set pieces, which is strange as they have arguably better delivery. Ashley Young still puts in great balls when his confidence is high, Downing is proving to be a great signing with a great cross, and James Milner has made the cut of the top 5 Villa players of the last decade over at EPL Talk. Warnock puts in some great long range balls as well, Delph is promising and Dunne is a great, great signing and a solid defender.




For some reason, something isn't gelling. The confidence seems really hit or miss and the players aren't taking things in stride as they did in previous years. Here's to hoping the manager or the captain can snap them out of it.

Chelsea v. Arsenal just finished on Fox Soccer Channel. The game was a cracking game, really highlighting Chelsea's strengths in defense. With all that's been in the papers the past few days about John Terry's personal life, it was no surprise to see a spirited performance from the whole team. The single most physical game I've witnessed all year, without a doubt. I've been a big fan of Arshavin since his arrival at the club, and Fabregas is always fun to watch. Was a bit disappointed that neither of them ever found a reason to celebrate.



The evening should finish off with sports as well--I'm hoping to get to watch the Saints win the Super Bowl later this evening.

All that aside, I've been coming across some really sublime pieces of music, and decided to set up a proper music blog. Street Hassle AD will be located here, and really focus on great records, great bands, and great labels.

I want to use this blog as a more personal vantage point to catalog my rehab. I begin physical therapy for my broken ankle on Tuesday. I'm going to try to keep tabs on this just to really better understand the process. It doesn't help that I always feel like I'm losing my mind at work. I'm hoping this will be a good way to get some peace of mind.

Today, I have to finish a manual for the office, and get some paperwork together for insurance claims and the like. I'll also try to update the Street Hassle site to make sure all is in order.

PEACE.

Everyday is Like Sunday...

I haven't updated the blog nearly as often as I'd like. I looked up the site today and saw an advertisement for KFC, so I turned off the ads. What the hell was I thinking?

The weekend's been a whirlwind of excitement, with tons more going on for work. I've been feeling stress in abundance, but I think I've taken three things over the past few days that have really helped put things in perspective.

1. The new iMac rules. I've been pretty excited to do a lot more with my computer after I finally bought one that works. It's pretty exciting. It's helping me play music more often, write more often, watch more movies, and hopefully take better advantage of my time.

2. Planning your day around a sports game is rough in winter. The past week in sports has been verging on nightmarish, especially since the EPL and related tournaments have been in total havoc. Two Villa matches were canceled this week including a league game and the Carling Cup semi-final. They were both televised, so I was excited to see 'em. No football at all this weekend other than watching the Blues draw United at St. Andrew's. I caught a bit of the AC Milan v Juventus match, but didn't watch all of it. So football was canceled due to weather. And that doesn't even compare to the horror of the shooting on the Togo team bus at the Cup of Nations in Africa.

3. Punk music still rules. A few days ago, while riding the train home from work, I got the urge to put on Murder City Devils and listened to Thelema and In Name and Blood. When those were over, I made a point to listen to more of the music I missed--Fucked Up, Pissed Jeans, Converge, The Wipers, Coral Fang by The Distillers...I love punk music.

I have a big presentation for work tomorrow (and another application I'd like to hand in tonight), a few things to do around the house and a test to study for. In the meantime, I have to include three personal goals in the presentation for work. The final goal is releasing new music by the end of 2010. Punk rules.