8tracks is a roll-your-own-mixtape sort of place, and having read about them earlier today, I thought I’d try taking the app out for a spin. So, I made this mix of music that seems kinda sorta vaguely Springish, or at the very least, the kind of thing I’d listen to around Springtime.
I finally got around to watching Moneyball the other day. It’s a really good movie (even if its portrayal of reality isn’t *always* strictly, uh, real), and when I was done watching, I realized that I’ve seen quite a few good baseball movies. Enough, in fact, to try to put together something of a list of my top ten favorite baseball movies.
Lately, making lists of things seems to be something of a thing for me. I don’t know why. I wish I did, but I don’t. I just keep popping open Notepad and writing down a few things: Books to read! Movies to see! Foods I need to make! Top concerts I’ve attended! Favorite opening tracks! Best bands that sound like 1975! Needless to say, I suspect I’ve lost my mind. But as long as I’ve got this blog that exists to be some sort of outlet for something or another, hell, I may as well post some of my lists here. Right? Place seems like it could use some content (hmm, did I go eight months without a post again?)
So, here goes: my top nine baseball movies*
*Sadly enough, that I’ve only ever seen nine. Working on rectifying this ASAP.
Do we really want to live in a society where we’ve grown too damned lazy to cook our own bacon? Where we are willing to sacrifice so much flavor and nuance for the sake of an extra ten minutes to waste on cat videos, tending virtual farms, and looking at photos of our friends partying? Is this what Western Civilization has come to? Paying 40% premiums for inferior, even more processed versions of food in the name of convenience and having even more time to waste? OH GOODNESS I’M BECOMING A HIPPIE
The other day, I was reading a few game reviews. In the comments section, I saw a glowing review for a game called Terraria, so I made a mental note to check it out. Unfortunately, it was approximately 12:30 am when I got around to giving it a spin. By the time I was ready to call it quits (and only because my eyes were getting to exhausted to continue), it was after 4 am. HOORAY FOR VIDEO GAME ADDICTIONS!
You start off in Terraria with nothing more than an axe for chopping down trees, a pickaxe for digging into the earth, and a vast world to explore. Whatever you do from there is up to you, but you’ll probably want to start by chopping down some trees and building yourself a dwelling to escape from the zombie hordes that will attack as soon as the sun goes down. Ah, and the evil flying eyeballs. From there, you’ll want to dig into the ground and track down stones and ores to create an ever-wider array of weapons and armor and potions and fancy stuffs for your homes. The biggest thing to be aware of going in is that it is a MASSIVE time suck–I started playing late Tuesday night, I’ve only played three or four times, and Steam tells me that I’ve logged nine hours…which is the most I’ve played a video game in about a year.
Now, it should be stated that I’ve (briefly) tried Minecraft before, and couldn’t really get into it. Having gotten myself somewhat hooked on Terraria, I suspect my problem with Minecraft was about the presentation, not the content. Apparently, a vital component of selling me on an open-ended, collect stuff and use it to make bigger and better stuff game structure is SNES-style graphics, complete with a customizable sprite to as your character. Another notable difference between the games is a wider array of enemies and even some bosses.
The game is both single and multi-player, and it can be purchased on Steam for 10 USD, or 30 USD for a 4-pack. It’s worth every penny.
Wow. What a show.
After a hiatus of some five years apparently spent getting married, playing assorted video games (Left 4 Dead 2 was mentioned) and drinking whiskey, Slobberbone is back in action. I’ve never seen them live before, but I can’t imagine that they’ve lost a step–last night’s concert at Off Broadway in Saint Louis had the feel of old friends (a few score of ‘em) getting together, having a few drinks, catching up, and having hours of eardrum-destroying fun.
Slobberbone came out swinging, starting with the slick rocker Springfield, IL., before moving on to the loud, angry, Replacements-inspired punk rockish anti-music label Placemat Blues (“We should kick your ass from here to Friday / And maybe you might one day see these things my way”). They carried on the high energy level with Lame and Barrel Chested, the latter being something of a prototypical sort of Slobberbone song, with the opening lines of “I’m broken down and barrel chested again / Some people try for all their lives but they never make a dent” suggesting the common themes of alt.country bands the world over: drunken losers, shaky relationships, and opportunities for a better life gone awry or pissed away.
The band slowed things down a bit for a cathartic murder song or two, including the slow-building I Can Tell Your Love is Waning, before hitting Gimme Back My Dog, one of the finest country-rock songs I’ve heard that’s catchy as hell in spite (or is it because?) of the title being sung a few hundred times in the space of five minutes. They worked in some good-sounding new material that struck me as a balance between the cleanness of the songs found on Slippage with the rougher edges of Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today. Apparently, there’s a new album in the works, to be released sometime in the next few months, followed by another tour to support it (HOORAY).
After hitting a few more classic songs about life stuck in neutral, another chilling Southern gothic murder ballad (as much as I love Billy Pritchard, it’s always weirded me out a bit), and a man who works a barbecue stand, they ditched the electric guitars for an acoustic and a banjo. While the lead guitarist worked on tuning the banjo, Best proceeded to discuss the suckitude of all banjos and attempted to shift the blame onto the poor instrument for Slobberbone’s period of inactivity. Once everything was set, they launched into Pinball Song, both a fan favorite and my personal high point for the show. An uncooperative harmonica gave Best the opportunity to bust out an under-appreciated instrument: the highly versatile mouth-substitute. I’ve always been a fan of shows that are a little loose, a bit on the rough side (Old 97′s Timebomb-live style), and when things weren’t working out too well with the real deal, the “ah, fuck it…mouth-harmonica time!” ethos was greatly appreciated. Lazy Guy, the Bones’ ode to being unemployed, unproductive, and “defer[ring] a life of labor to someone who needs it more”, also received the acoustic treatment.
Switching back to electric, they carried on mix in a couple more new songs in with old material, include I’ll Be Damned, which includes several of my favorite Slobberbone guitar solos, before ending the main set with Can’t Stay Sober, allowing every member of the band to show off their chops in turn with a solo (complete with the bassist wandering out into the crowd, holding his guitar behind his head, and going to town) before calling it quits for a few.
To start off the encore, Best walked out alone and played a song from an upcoming solo effort. The song was performed on an acoustic guitar, was solid, and gives me yet another upcoming record to look forward to. After that, the whole band came back on, took requests, decided to go with Whiskey Glass Eye, and then closed out the night hootenanny-style with a cover of Soul Asylum’s Cartoon (I think…) mixed in with/followed by a reprise of Can’t Stay Sober, which made for a rather countrified, absolutely enjoyable outro.
If I’m not mistaken, they played for roughly two hours, and I would’ve been more than happy to have hung around all night to hear more. I can only think of a few shows I’ve seen on the level of the 2011.05.19 Slobberbone one, and the intimate setting at Off Broadway combined with the performance of the band made for a world-class show in a house party setting.
Finally, music gods, if you’re listening: Slobberbone’s lead guitarist was wearing a Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit t-shirt and made remarks suggesting that he was playing one of Isbell’s guitars. So: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, opening for Slobberbone, somewhere in Missouri. GoM, that’s all I ask. MAKE IT SO.
Setlist*:
Encore:
*I don’t know the actual titles of the new songs. 15 may be a cover.
Pinball Song, performed live a few lifetimes ago:
