I’m amazed to discover that Jesus Jones is not only still a band, but that they put out an album in 1997, another one recently, and they’re about to tour the US! This was one of my favorite bands back in junior high. They made it big with one hit “Right Here, Right Now” from their second album “Doubt”. They put out a third album “Perverse” in 1993. By then they were fading from glory. I bought an autographed copy of it for $3 when I was in high school. (For the Seattle kids, I bought it at that “Top Cash” place on the Ave. That place rocks.)
The true glory of Jesus Jones, in my opinion, was their first album, “Liquidizer”. Bring-bring, bring, bring it on down. Oh yeah. That song made it into Rock and Roll High School Forever, staring Cory Feldman. Rent it tonight!

Today is a beautiful day (in terms of weather). Generally being a cold weather person, I’m dreading the hot summer months. Nevertheless, I do occasionally appreciate a “nice” day. I’d open my windows if Park Drive wasn’t so noisy.
I was listening to some of my drum & bass records today and thinking about the new style of drum & bass that seems to taking over. I haven’t been out to the clubs much lately, but I’ve been listening to Fabio and Grooverider (Friday nights on Radio 1 – 9pm EDT). I like either the mellow atmospheric sound or the darker, harder styles. I think this dancy, vocally stuff is too much of a step towards garage. Not that I don’t appreciate it. I just don’t like to see it take over the entire scene.

I went to see Ani DiFranco last night. I never really got into Ani, but a friend of mine is a big fan and had an extra ticket, so I went along.
The show was really good, I’m really glad I went. She read a poem about September 11th that was just incredible.
About halfway through the show I realized that I was dying to go to the bathroom. As we were on our way out I was trying to think whether it would be better to brave the crowd or try to find a place nearby. Generally, trying to get to a bathroom as crowd of thousands is filing out of a theatre is not a good idea. And one will generally have to wait awhile once one actually finds the bathroom. We were contemplating this when we realized: “Wait, we’re at an Ani DiFranco concert. This crowd is only 30% men.” We found our way to the bathroom – no line – just a giant room full of empty urinals. Alleluia! ‘Twas pretty funny.

A friend of mine told me about a very cool web site called dotcom-studio. It’s basically an online drum machine that you program via your browser, then download an audio file of your beat. There are several drum machines to choose from, including of course the TR-808 and TR-909. You could make a loop and download it into a sampler or sequencer, or just mess around with it for fun.

I was reading yesterday about a French Group called Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle (Workshop for Potential Literature) that has developed a technique for messing around with poems to achieve new results. The technique is called “n + 7”. You just take each substantial noun in a poem and replace it with whatever noun comes seven places later in the dictionary. I like the idea. It reminds me of sample-based electronic music and turntablism; making something new out of someone else’s creative work. I decided to give it a shot, but since I don’t really read much poetry, I’m going to use lyrics instead…

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Radiohead Subterranean Homesick Alien – Original –

The breath of the morning
I keep forgetting
The smell of the warm summer air

I live in a town
Where you can’t smell a thing
You watch your feet
For cracks in the pavement

Up above
Aliens hover
Making home movies
For the folks back home

Of all these weird creatures
Who lock up their spirits
Drill holes in themselves
And live for their secrets

They’re all uptight

I wish that they’d swoop down in a country lane
Late at night when I’m driving
Take me on board their beautiful ship
Show me the world as I’d love to see it

I’d tell all my friends
But they’d never believe
They’d think that I’d finally lost it completely
I’d show them the stars
And the meaning of life
They’d shut me away
But I’d be all right
All right

I’m just uptight

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Radiohead Subterranean Homesick Alien – n + 7 –

The breath of the Moro
I keep forgetting
The smell of the warm summer airburst

I live in a townie
Where you can’t smell a thinking cap
You watch your feist
For cracks in the pawnbroker

Up above
Alimentation hovers
Making home mozzarella
For the folkmoot back home

Of all these weird credibilities
Who lock up their spiritual bouquet
Drill holsters in themselves
And live for their secretors

They’re all uptight

I wish that they’d swoop down in a country langouste
Late at night when I’m driving
Take me on board their beautiful shipload
Show me the world premiere as I’d love to see it

I’d tell all my frights
But they’d never believe
They’d think that I’d finally lost it completely
I’d show them the stares
And the meaning of life insurance
They’d shut me away
But I’d be all right
All right

I’m just uptight
——————————————-
There is an article about n + 7 in this month’s Atlantic Monthly. You have to pay to download the article ($3).