High Time

Playlist for tonight:

Candy's Room-Bruce Springsteen

Tears For Affairs-Camera Obscura

The Wind-Cat Stevens

La mer-Charles Trenet

No Ceiling-Eddie Vedder

Strangers In the Night-Frank Sinatra

High Time-Grateful Dead

Without Her-Harry Nilsson

Ocean In His Eyes-Jimmy Webb

Just This One Time-Glen Campbell

Gentle On My Mind-Glen Campbell

The Embassy-Mos Def

Country Feedback-REM

Imitation of Life-REM

Under Pressure-Queen & David Bowie

I wish I could write a song half as good as "Imitation of Life." The fact that I've heard it called "REM by the numbers" disgusts me. Also, "Under Pressure" is in the top five songs ever written.

Nevermind

So it looks like all my ideas for continuing the show will not work. I guess this means the end to the radio show. I'm kind of sad.

Sunday listening:

Stalk-Forrest Group-St. Cecilia

The Corin Tucker Band-1,000 Years

Lab Partners-Keep Quiet

Hospital Garden-S/T

The National-Boxer

Smashes, Crashes, and Near Misses

So, the computer that was used mainly for the radio show finally crashed a few weeks ago. I have not been able to add anything to the station as a result. This is rather unfortunate as I had just rebooted the station! Today, I finally sat down and worked out the issues on our other computer and it seems like we've got the station back on track. This amounts to basically a second reboot in six months, but I think it is worth it so that I can play Amon Duul and Minor Threat back to back.

Not much going on in the Perfectly Lethal Universe, though I have been busy transcribing Dr. Zoome's latest project untitled Dr. Zoome Presents. You see, someone thought it was a good idea for him to make mix tapes. Two weeks later there are 12 new tapes to listen to. And they all rule, of course. I may get track listings up in the future, though, by the time I catch up he will have 45 more made. Like Jordan before him, there is no stopping Zoome.

Staying Busy

Just got back from Vegas. Nice, relaxing vacation. Saw a Beatles tribute that was pretty cool. They played "Got To Get You Into My Life" and "A Day In the Life." Both fantastic songs. Listened to some Beatles, solo George, John, and Paul, a little Yoko Ono, Tom Petty, The Byrds, and Slayer on the trip. How is that for variety?

The station is going pretty strong since the reboot. Many more songs in the rotation now, some new promos, and a new feature called selected tracks where I talk about certain songs. Some nice thoughts about Pitchfork and a horrible joke about distortion can now be heard!

I am also in the slow process of making a collaborative mix. Basically I am going back and forth with a friend as we select tracks for a mix. It has worked really well so far. I may post the track list in the future if we ever finish.

And finally, Zoome dropped off his latest release that should be posted on his site next Sunday. It is his best work yet.

Station Reset

The radio station has undergone a drastic overhaul. It had basically been in limbo since early May. I have been thinking a lot about the direction I wanted to take with it, and I think the new set up is the best way to continue Perfectly Lethal. The big change is that I won't be doing the tags any longer. It was a long, time consuming process that I no longer really have time for. However, the new set up allows for even more songs to be played, and, since it is a radio station, I think this is a positive. Check it out and let me know what you think!

In other news, we got tickets to three of the upcoming Guided by Voices reunion shows. I am psyched. I am starting to practice yelling for "Pantherz" and "Wished I Was a Giant."

Albums, May 20-June 30

I'm back, bitches!!!!

I've been walking again, thanks to my wonderful, beautiful wife getting me a iPod Plus to add to my Nano that tracks my walking distance and lets me rock out to great tunes at the same time. So, I've walked over 180 miles so far. Here is a rundown of what I listened to from May 20 through the end of June. I'll add July when I finish this month.

Robert Pollard-Standard Gargoyle Decisions

Robert Pollard-Coast to Coast Carpet of Love

Husker Du-Everything Falls Apart & More

Husker Du-Metal Circus

Cosmic Jokers-Galactic Supermarket

Circus Devils-Five

Tobin Sprout-The Bluebirds of Happiness Landed on My Shoulder

Husker Du-New Day Rising

Husker Du-Flip Your Wig

Husker Du-Candy Apple Grey

Husker Du-Warehouse Songs and Stories

Sugar-Copper Blue

Husker Du-Eight Miles High

Husker Du-Makes No Sense At All

Sugar-Beaster

La Dusseldorf-Dusseldorf

Sugar-File Under Easy Listening

Sugar-Besides

Cheap Trick-Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick-In Color

Cheap Trick-Heaven Tonight

Cheap Trick-Dream Police

Cheap Trick-All Shook Up

Cheap Trick-One on One

Cheap Trick-Next Position Please

Cluster-Sowiesoso

Cluster-Zuckerzeit

Cluster-II

Bob Mould-Bob Mould

Robert Pollard-Moses On a Snail

Husker Du-Land Speed Record

Bob Mould-Workbook

Van Morrison-Astral Weeks

The Replacements-Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash

The Replacements-Stink

The Replacements-Hootenanny

The Replacements-Let It Be

The Replacements-Tim

And I have listened to Moses on a Snail about 30 times. Best present ever.

History Lesson-Part II

My wife got me a great gift. Years ago I had a shirt of the Minutemen album What Makes a Man Start Fires? Like most of my great shirts, it disappeared in one of the five or six times I moved since I got the shirt. My wife, probably tired of hearing about how much I miss the shirt, found a new one for me online and bought it for my birthday. She is a great wife.

So, I guess this all just goes to prove how much I love the Minutemen. I first heard of the band by picking up Mike Watt's first solo album Ballhog or Tugboat, an album that featured Eddie Vedder. I really dug the album, and it not only introduced me to Watt, but also Sonic Youth and "Maggot Brain." Pretty transitional album.

After reading in the Spin Alternative Record Guide that Double Nickels on the Dime was the widely believed classic of the Minutemen catalog, I picked it up. And I was confused as hell. I had already cut my teeth on Alien Lanes, so it wasn't the short songs that threw me off. I just wasn't sure what to make of this odd band. It didn't last long, though. A couple listens to the album and I was a big fan. It is one of the coolest albums out there, and if you haven't checked it out, do so as soon as possible.

"History Lesson-Part II" is the autobiographical hit from the album. I've always dug the song, but thought about 15 other songs were better on the album (this isn't a slight on the song; the album has forty some songs on it, all of which are good!). Then I saw the documentary We Jam Econo. The best scene of an extraordinary documentary features the band sitting down, running through this great number. I watched it over and over before finishing the movie. It captures everything that is so wonderful about this great band, and has made this song my favorite of an impressive catalog.

Double Albums on the Sunday

Sunday listening:

The Beatles-The Beatles
Robert Pollard-From a Compound Eye
The Who-Quadrophenia
Husker Du-Zen Arcade
Genesis-The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Minutemen-Double Nickels on the Dime

I also listened to Tommy the night before, which is what really started all this mayhem. Double albums are not for the weak.

Are We Not Men?

DEVO FEVER!!!

Last Fm tells me that this has been going on for nine days. I have been playing their first four albums on repeat and await Oh No! It's Devo in the mail. In fact, I will admit, I was pretty pissed off when it did not show up yesterday. It has been some time since I've gone through a band phase like this. This one hit hard and hasn't let up. So I enjoy my second big wave of Devo. I went through a big phase about four or five years ago when I first got into them. Man what a band.

In honor of this phase, here are my top Devo songs:

1. Joko Homo

2. Beautiful World

3. Uncontrollable Urge

4. The Day My Baby Gave My a Surprise

5. Freedom of Choice

6. Gates of Steel

7. Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy

8. Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA

9. Through With Being Cool

10. Space Junk

11. Girl U Want

12. Jerkin' Back and Forth

13. Red Eye Express

I watched my DVD copy of The Complete Truth About De-Evolution. My wife got this for me for Christmas a couple of years back. What a fantastic and unusual present! A couple weeks after my friend Swiss and I closed out a bar and then went home and watch this DVD as we continued to drink. I think I can speak for both of us that we were freaked out for at least a week.

I also read the H.G. Wells classic The Island of Doctor Moreau, which was a huge influence on the band. Tonight I will be watching Island of Lost Souls which is a 1933 movie based on the novel. It features Bela Lugosi as the Sayer of the Law, who, of course, has the lines that title this entry and serve as a big part to "Joko Homo."

Now excuse my nerdy ass while I go order an energy dome and Booji Boy mask online to wear around town.

Baba O'Riley

It seems ridiculous to even attempt to write about this song. Just seeing the two words in a row should make you nod your head and agree that it is probably the best song ever written. Sometimes I tire of it, but then, I will hear it. Simply put, every time this happens, everything in the world stops and I am totally in tune with it. There are no better five minutes in the history of recorded music.

But how did it come to this point? How does a song earn its automatic "Best Song Ever" tag? Only a time line could answer this question.

-As a young teen, "Even Flow" is played on both the local radio station and MTV on the hour, making my brother and me huge Pearl Jam fans. As my brother loves to point out (as he did this past weekend) that he was the bigger fan at the time. Being in the infant stages of record geekdom, this did not last long.

-A couple years down the line, I have become a huge Pearl Jam fan to the point that I am buying bootlegged material for insane prices at the local record store. One such recording contains a live cover of "Baba O'Riley." I am officially introduced.

-My dad, having no doubt heard the song blaring from my stereo speakers for months, gives me Who's Next for Christmas. The album quickly becomes my favorite record of all time.

-I devour everything I can get my hands on by The Who, making them one of my favorite bands.

-I see Pearl Jam in Cleveland on the Yield tour. Eddie Vedder points to my friend's Quadrophenia shirt and they play "Baba." It was the highlight of my year.

-Many, many, many magical nights end with my friends and I standing on tables singing "We're all wasted!" at the top of our lungs.

-Guided By Voices puts "Baba O'Riley" into their setlist, where it stays for many years. Over the next couple of years they out Who The Who with spirited renditions.

-I go with my dad to see The Who on tour. 20,000 fans scream along to the song. Pete fuckin' owns.

-Bringing things full circle, I get the Deluxe Edition of Who's Next for my dad for Father's Day. I tell him how much that one purchase means to me. It felt so wonderful to return the favor.

-And to start the loop again, I see Pearl Jam invite Bob Pollard on stage at US Bank Arena. The song? BABA O'RILEY.

Yeah, best song ever. I'm going to go listen to it now. You probably already have started.

Down By the River

I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse in 1997, the summer after I had graduated from high school. At the time I would say I was a fan of Neil's, but looking back, I only knew about 5% of his catalog. I picked up Mirror Ball because of his association with Pearl Jam when it came out, and had checked out a couple of his other current albums as they came out. I also picked up Decade from Trader Vics sometime in the fall of my senior year, but I had yet to fully appreciate it going into this concert.

The show remains in my top five concert experiences of all time. I was completely blown away. It is funny looking back, because in the biography Shakey author Jimmy McDonough writes off the shows of this time period. Maybe I saw a good night of the tour, but seeing the band rip into "Down By the River" left me in an absolute trance.

I have always thought that the song was a little skeletal, a minimalist song highlighted with Young and Danny Whitten's incredible guitar playing. The back and forth between the two on this song (and really, the whole album from which this song come, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere) is guitar interplay at it's finest. A fantastic acoustic version on Live at Massey Hall 1971 shows a great song to begin with. So in fact, it is a great song taken to exceptional heights by Young and Whitten's guitar treatment.

In the decade since seeing that wonderful performance, I have become somewhat of a Neil Young fanatic. Old Ways is the only album that I haven't purchased, and it too will someday will sit on my CD shelf with After the Goldrush and Landing On Water. It is only a matter of time. I imagine this will not be the last of his songs discussed in this project, but it remains my favorite.

30 Century Man

So I realized that there is no use in having a blog if you don't really write anything. I am going to try to make more of an effort (again?) to put this space to use. As I recently wrote about my experience of drinking and listening to a ton of great songs, I thought I might as well just write about some of the songs. What a novel idea!

"30 Century Man" is a song by the wonderful Scott Walker off his album Scott 3. It is the first Scott Walker song I ever heard. It was featured in the movie (and soundtrack) The Life Aquatic, a movie I love. I really like the song so I decided to check out some of his other stuff. Scott 3 was the first album I tracked down, finding it at Gem City Records one very cold January night. I was hooked very quickly shortly thereafter and began tracking down everything I could find by Mr. Walker. I remember talking about his brilliance for a solid two months to anyone who would listen.

The song is not very representative of Scott's other solo work. It is a short acoustic song that name checks Charles de Gaulle. It sticks out like a sore thumb on both the album and the rest of his work. Needless to say, I wasn't really prepared for the darker tones of his music. I remember listening to Scott 3 as we drove home and being both confused and in wonder of the great music we were listening to the first time. I remain a huge fan.

Wes Anderson movies have been gold mines for older songs that I had not heard and now love. I am sure he will be mentioned a few more times as I write about these songs.

The Dust Has Settled

I added 70 songs. If I had noticed that this was almost double what I set out to do, I probably would have stayed up and played some more. Luckily, I was in no state of mind to notice much of anything. Looking back, it kind of makes me sad that I was able to pick 74 songs at random that I knew every word to. Think of how much of my brain is dedicated to music. If I devoted that much brain power into more constructive areas, I could be a mathematician or something like like. But then, I wouldn't know every note of "Down By the River."

Fuck that.

Loved Tracks

So, I only had 4 loved tracks on my Last Fm page after having it for a couple of months. Fueled by Old Style and PBR, I am on a quest tonight to add at least thirty seven more songs. In a row. We will see how the dust settles.

There Hides the Cowboy

If you have caught the show in the past month you have no doubt figured out that I am in the middle of a huge Glen Campbell kick. I will not try to put in words how great he is because I will just end up embarrasing myself. The man just rules. Now there is news of his final album in which he will be doing another Paul Westerberg song (he did "Sadly Beautiful" on his last one), and "Hold On Hope."

Honestly, I am excited about this news. It is no secret that Bob Pollard is a huge Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell fan. In fact, I always thought that "Death of the Party" was Bob's attempt to write "Rosecrans Boulevard." That doesn't even begin to make since. Anyway, this must be a great honor to him. The song isn't my favorite in the GbV canon, but then, I never thought it was very bad either. Certainly not as bad as "The Flame."

The Rounds of the Drunk Table

The station continues to top the 100 hours listened/30 day mark. This makes me very happy. We are also coming up on another big milestone for the show, the 75th episode. For this wonderful occasion I brought back my buddies who helped out with the 50th show and recorded another round table. This time around I let them pick the topics to play/discuss. It was another great show and should be up in the near future.

The Dayton basketball season ended very fittingly by losing to X in the A-10 tournament. I am disappointed that RL lost his cool at the end of the game, but he wasn't the only guilty party in that situation. I dedicated a song in my latest show to X's extremely classy Tutu for being such a heads up player. Have fun being the next Dedrick Finn.

All of My Stops at the Top of My Game

So, for the first time ever, in a 30 day period, the station has gone over 100 hours listened. A couple of times in December we got close, but today was the first time this has ever happened. This is wonderful!! Thank you all who listen, and I hope you continue to enjoy the station.

Digging the Magnetic Fields new Realism and enjoying the sun for once. I cannot wait until spring.

What's Wrong With That?

There is an ancient joke that goes:

Q: When did Paul McCartney write "Silly Love Songs?"

A: 1962-Present

My Dad, though, likes to point out they he wrote it in 1976. I'll go on record as saying I dig the song. It is all in the bass line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK9QVN0bpa4

Happy red heart day!

A Plea

Please get out of my head "Dream Lover" by Bobby Darin. I am going to have to start charging you rent.

Don't Mess With the Who

It's been a very busy month, hence, no updates. Have no fear, though, plenty has been going on in the Perfectly Lethal Universe.

-We recorded a special round table show for the 50th edition of the Perfectly Lethal Radio Show. It is up now. It was a absolute blast to do, and I would love to do more in the future. Overall, the song choices were top notch, the discussions insightful, and the flow of the show turned out great. My only apologies go to the Who, one of my favorite bands, who got it on the chin a little. Believe me, I've paid for this.

-For show 54, I used a word generator to make the set list. The flow was a little off, and for the last song, I was forced to play a song I haven't listened to in about 15 years. There was also a lot of swearing in the song. I must say, I thought it was one of the better shows we've done!

-A new dog runs the halls of the Perfectly Lethal Studios, so if you hear any barking in the background of the shows, you know it is just our new dog showing approval for any David Cassidy solo songs we may be playing. Strangely, she will not be the first dog to appear on the show.

-The Ruetschle/Nick Kizirnis/Textbook Committee show at Canal St. last weekend was pretty good. Nothing like hearing a set that opens with "Finks."

So that pretty much brings us up to date. I am really looking forward to the new Spoon, Magnetic Fields, and Vampire Weekend albums to get on the show in the near future. Until then, though, enjoy more Murray Head songs.

It's Already Gone

Happy New Year!

Dr. Zoome & the Mad Scientists are celebrating the new year by dropping their second full length album It's Already Gone. The good Doctor is a haunted man. This six song collection continues his quest of exploring the ghosts and demons that exist just below our waking world. It's Already Gone contains the quintessential Zoome experience, the multi-suite "Korkarlen." Weaving through 21 minutes of nightmarish sound scape, Zoome retells the story of the fantastic 1921 Victor Sjostrom silent film of the same name. Multiple listens only begin to reveal the madness that Zoome and his cohorts, Veit Ignatius and Gustaf St. Gabriel, found while attempting to recreate this incredible experience.

www.myspace.com/drzoome