collisionwork | Jan. 5th, 2007

Whoa, a week since I've posted. Between the trip to Canada (Niagara Falls is awesome, but the immediate area around it is a strange combo of Times Square, Reno, and Coney Island -- probably exactly what they're trying to turn Coney Island into now), coming home, being pretty much unable to post from home, and dropping in daily at The Brick to check in with Inverse Theater to make sure everything is going okay, I haven't been able to get to anything. So, here I am at The Brick, jammed uncomfortably in the cramped area behind the bar/box office, hunched over, making my Friday update. At least it's a lot cleaner and more organized here -- the whole place had to be overhauled top to bottom before Inverse's production of Kirk Wood Bromley's The Death of Griffin Hunter came in this past Tuesday. The seating risers have been broken down and stowed, and the place is wide open -- it looks about a third bigger. The Inverse show looks to be good.

Soon, I promise, more actual THEATRE blogging -- an overview/postmortum on 2006 and preview of 2007, such as it is -- as well as some thoughts on film and music. Right now, I'm also dealing with trying to get person, life, work, and psyche in some more semblance of order.

So today, a quick combined Random 10 and Cat Blogging. The Random 10 comes courtesy of the new Xmas 80 GB iPod -- now filled with 18,615 songs, 64 GB (thanks Dad, thanks Ivy!). I have no new cat photos, so I'll pick a couple of past favorites to repost. Somehow, my Flickr photostream has exploded with views recently, and I have no idea where -- no one's commenting or favoriting much. Any ideas?

Random 10 with briefer notes; I'm uncomfortable, and want to go home from here as soon as I can.

1. "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" - The Temptations - The Ultimate Collection

Classic. Menacing. Beautiful. Funky.

2. "The Phantom Surfer" - The Tornadoes - More Surf Legends (and Rumors)

Cool until the singing starts, then it's damned kitschy. Shut up, man. Good guitar under that silly guy crooning.

3. "Dinner with Drac, pt. 2" - Zacherle - downloaded from somewhere

Novelty single, but funny. The b-side, almost identical to the a-side, with one altered verse. Dad gave me his copy when I was small, and I lost it (though I think my great-grandmother may have "disappeared" it). Sorry, Dad.

4. "Car Cheese Commercial Intro" - Windy Craig - The Best of The National Lampoon Radio Hour

"Yes, all the family loves cheese, but one member just isn't getting enough: Your car! As we're about to hear right now . . ."

5. "Spanish Harlem" - Ben E. King - Atlantic Rhythm & Blues vol 4: 1957-1958

Too familiar. Good anyway. Lieber, Stoller, Spector. Is King too slick? Maybe. Maybe just here.

6. "Heroes and Villains (alternate version)" - The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys

The "cantina" version. "You're under arrest!" A favorite. My theme song for a few years.

7. "Battle of the Bands" - The Sprague Brothers - Let the Chicks Fall Where They Fall

Weird. Where the hell did I get this? Cool, attitudinal. Hard. Rocking.

8. "California Sun" - The Ramones - Leave Home

Loud fast hard lovely.

9. "Stop Look and Listen" - Devo - Hardcore Devo 1

Early demos. Sharp yet sloppy. Not formed yet. Still good to hear.

10. "Santa Dog ' 78" - The Residents - Santa Dog '88 EP

Perfect representation of their sound from this period. One of the first songs of theirs I knew, and it got me at once.

And favorite old cat shots: