The title of my blog today is a line from "Wrote It Down", its the second track on the second record that my (now defunct) band Paging Raymond.  

Its loose rock and roll song with some achingly beautiful lyrics, penned by my co-frontman and co-founder of the band Aaron Adelsperger.  That track served as the announcement to our fans that we had plugged in, and was a real testament to the level of songwriting we had gotten to since our previous, mainly acoustic effort Please. Quiet. Recording.   

We really came together as a band during the recording sessions that went along with Wrote It Down.  We spent about a week at Mike Wanchic’s Bloomington studio, Echo Park.  I was honored to be able to play his orginal ’52 Fender "NoCaster" on a few tracks, as well as the acoustic that was used to track John Mellencamp’s iconic midwestern roots-rock anthem "Jack & Diane".  It all came together for us that week in that studio, collectively as songwriters, arrangers, producers and musicians and the 10 tracks on what would eventually become our second album Bridges Left to Burn, another lyric taken from the song that really embodies who were were as a band, Wrote It Down.

You can listen to that song, and all the Paging Raymond songs on my Smaller Indiana profile (or buy them all on Cdbaby.com or iTunes), and if you’re in Indianapolis tonight, March 29th you can see us perform a reunion show at my favorite Indy nightspot Radio Radio in Fountain Square.  (Its a non-smoking venue)

So put on your best dress baby, we’ve got bridges left to burn.

Do you ever get some sand in your shoes?  Its mildly annoying, but not really worthy of commentary.  You take off your shoe, shake out the sand, give yourself a good, tight re-tie and then you're off again.  Today's blog entry is like that sand clearing excercise.

Joaquin Phoenix is a handful of sand in my sneakers today.

Lets assume that he is completely lost without writers and the mispelling of his own name was just a lame attempt at humor, and not mention it any further here.

What we will mention is someone had still wrote this 'speech' that he gave whether it was spoken or not.  If you were truly speechless and actually wanted to make a stand, just sit there quietly.
Joaquin Phoenix.  'F' for the day.



Sorry for the lame post, kind of a slow day.
Carry on.

I'm calling for a moratorium on Mac vs. PC  commercials.  They were funny and interesting for a awhile.  They effectively clowned the PC/Mac stereotypes. But once we saw clamation representations of uptight PC guy, with slacker uber-hip Mac guy and Santa clause singing Christmas carols we had gone too far.

Instead of being clever and trendy, now we're following trends and being cloying.  Further evidenced by the newest batch of commercials which are being aired during the NFL playoffs and include a referee.

Time to turn out the lights on that white-out set and head back to brainstorming the next campaign.

Alright kids, lets fire this thing up again for 2007.  You should know the drill by know, once a year I loudly proclaim strong opinion on the state of popular music and declare the top ten winners of the year.  Close friends get the priviledge of my bloated opinion year-round but those of you who hide in the dark and dusty corners of my address book, or lurk on my blog only get this treat once a year.

What you have before you, dear reader, is Tim's Top Ten of 2007.  This year there is no super-huge, stand-out, must-have, couldn't-stop listening-to record for me.  Even with my fav. Josh Rouse releasing one this year.  The interesting thing about music for me this year, was that I have completely ditched the CD.  I get all my music now through iTunes, or Amazon's new DRM-free MP3 store.  I've also fallen in love with pop-radio again [gasp], or at least what I understand is being played on pop radio.  Every week or two I check the radioandrecords.com charts online and listen to the top 20 or so and there are some gems (there's also a buncha crap, but we're focused on the positive).

So without further ado, here is the list.

10-THE BROKEN WEST--I CAN'T GO ON I'LL GO ON
Formerly called "The Brokedown" I Can't Go On, I'll Go On is Los Angeles' renamed Broken West's first offering under their new name.  I came across this band and this record searching through eMusic.com trying to burn through my download credits one month and am glad I did.  The Broken West have a rootsy, almost dirty-Beach Boys vibe without sounding dated.  Bouncy piano, interesting, expressive vocals and tons of reverb.  This CD reminds me of a lot of what I loved about Being There-era Wilco.

9-ANDREW BIRD--ARMCHAIR APOCRYPHA
I 'procured' a copy of Andrew's previous effort "Weather Systems" and was bored to tears, so I wasn't terribly excited about this release.  Fortunately, I caught him open for Guster and decided to give him another shot.  Armchair Apocrypha is a beautifully performed and recorded album, and although there are certainly some sleeper tracks on this effort, there is enough excitement to warrant a listing here.  Andrew Bird plays violin, guitar and countless keyboards and samples to compliment his soothing, lullaby voice.  With the inclusion of some pretty hip beats (check out Imitosis) and otherwise interesting instrumentation this CD becomes the only barouque-pop record included in this list.

8-AMY WINEHOUSE--BACK TO BLACK
There is tons of evidence that Amy Winehouse is a trainwreck of a personality.  A quick search of YouTube (search for 'amy winehouse coke on stage') or a visit to www.whenwillamywinehousedie.com easily confirms that fact.  As such, I'm reluctant to add her to my top-ten list, but since I'm no saint or ever claimed to be, we'll add her here at number 8 without further prejudice.  I'm convinced though that she's here less for her contributions on Back to Black than producer Mark Ronson and his throwback soul production.  Don't get me wrong, girl is a very talented soul singer, just seems to come at a very public cost.

7-JOSH RITTER--THE HISTORICAL CONQUESTS OF JOSH RITTER
A familiar Tim's Top Ten story with Josh Ritter, I got one of Josh's earlier efforts "The Animal Years" and it was too much of a sleeper to get excited about or warrant many repeat plays, for that matter.  Too introspective, bleeding-heart singer-songwriter for my tastes.   Different story entirely with The Historical Conquests... this one sounds like a rock-n-roll party.  Like Josh finally got laid, got his heart broken, got drunk, hired a drummer, plugged in a guitar and hit record.  It still has the same intelligent and interesting lyrics of his previous stuff, its now just a lot more fun to listen to.  Check out "Rumors" for some fantastic lyrical imagery and "To The Dogs or Whoever"

6-RADIOHEAD--IN RAINBOWS
By now I'm sure you've heard about this record.  Much publicity about their 'name-your-own-price' for the download scheme.  I signed up and paid the standard iTunes price of $10.  In my world music has value, and as someone who makes a little money at it, and who'd like to make lots more, I'd like it to continue having value and gladly parted with some cash to make that statement.

As for the Radiohead recordings, they were filled with the standard Radiohead fare.  A little more organic and a bit more "real" sounding than the last few, less frenetic.  You can hear where one instrument ends and the next begins. With songs like "All I Need", In Rainbows is not nearly a return to typical pop form from the OK Computer/The Bends days, but lets say they glanced back at that history for a second this time around.

5-FOO FIGHTERS--ECHOES, SILENCE, PATIENCE, & GRACE
Its the Foo Fighters, not a whole lot that needs to be said about Dave Grohl and his fighters of foo.  This time out they've combined the slow tunes with the rockers on one CD. While ESPG isn't quite the classic as the Colour and the Shape or One By One it's still the Foo Fighters, rocking hard with all kinds of anger and energy delivered through beautiful melodies and clever lyrics Cheer Up, Boys (Your Makeup Is Running), for example.

4-MODEST MOUSE--WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK
This album opens with a curious, solo, and frantic harmonium melody. The band soon explodes onto the sonic landscape and is soon joined  by Isaac Brock's fragile, breathy and confident vocals.  MM's familiar indie-dance rock sound, and signature of their breakthrough single "Float On" is in full swing by the second track Dashboard.  There is a delightful amount of diversity between songs throughout, including my favorite track on this collection "Missed the Boat".

I'd mention the addition of former Smith Johnny Marr here in more detail if I knew anything more about him or what he brings to the table, but I still maintain that I wouldn't be able to point out a single Smiths song if it were playing in the background right now.

3-RYAN ADAMS--EASY TIGER
Somewhat of a return to form for my boy Ryan, Easy Tiger delivers simple alt-country songs sung with the beautifully versatile voice of Ryan Adams.  How the fourth track Halloweenhead made this album however,  I have no idea.  It doesn't fit.  I appreciate the rock he's dishin' out, but this track would be at home on 2003's Rock N Roll, not so much on 2007's Easy Tiger.  Maybe he's just flexing his carte blanche muscle with Lost Highway.  Who knows?  Who Cares?

SIDENOTE:Along with Spoon, and Amy Winehouse (an impulse buy at Nordstrom's of all places) one of the only actual CDs I bought this year.


2-WILCO--SKY BLUE SKY
Wilco returns with some simple, deconstructed arrangements, lots of reverb, vocal harmonies and Jeff Tweedy's unique lyrical perspective of the world.  Select songs can be heard in a Volkswagon commercial near you.

1-SPOON--GA GA GA GA GA
My love affair with Spoon as the sole proprietors of geek-rock-R&B continues here with Ga x5. My faith though is temporarily shaken on track two, the spikey, spacey, gross-out "The Ghost Of You Lingers"  But I'm right back in with Cherry Bomb and I'm preaching and cheering again by the time Jon Brion signs on to produce The Underdog.

Didn't make the album top ten, but check out these incredible singles...
1234-Feist (from the CD The Reminder) Also featured in the iPod commercial.
How Far We've Come-Matchbox Twenty
Baby Doll-Dan Wilson
Love Song-Sara Bareilles

There you have it.  See you again at the end of '08

I love stories. I love to tell them. On the stage, through song, or on the screen. I love hearing them too. I learn how to tell them better by hearing good ones.

The best ones are simple. Ridiculously simple. Ones that make me think, "I *could* have come up with that".

Didn't, which is key, but could have. No ground-breaking style or treatment of the telling, no crazy special effects, big name actors or directors.

In this case just twelve simple shots*, three short words of dialogue, and two quick lines of narration tell thirty-five years worth of story in thirty seconds.

Ebay's Toy Boat Commercial

Awesome.


*one of which is actually CGI, but its simple CGI. No fire-breathing dragons, or spacemonsters brought to life.

Why do we celebrate freaks like these. We've all become trainwreck watchers. Almost encouraging them.

This dude clearly has mental issues, yet is now in development for a new tv series.

At least he'll be surrounded by sane people that will actually produce and direct the show. Theoretically, anyway.



Pro-Britney blogger gets deal for show

September 20, 2007
Britney Spears' biggest defender might be getting his own show.
Chris Crocker, who posted on MySpace.com a passionate defense of the pop singer after her performance on MTV's Video Music Awards, has been signed to a development deal with 44 Blue Productions, Variety reports.

Even before the "Leave Britney Alone" posting, which scored nearly 8 million hits after it was posted on YouTube.com, the emotive video blogger had developed a MySpace following.

"Chris first got on our radar a year ago," 44 Blue co-founder Rasha Drachkovitch told Variety.

"It's going to pretty much be 'The Chris Crocker Experience,' " he said. "He's going to be a TV star."

Crocker, 19, lives with his grandparents in Tennessee.

I just got word that four of my songs have been licensed for inclusion in a music library that places songs for film and television.

The company that picked them up has clients that include: ABC, NBC, Disney, FX, Discovery Channel, TLC, HBO, Red House Pictures, Focus Features, USA Films, and Sundance Film Channel  among others.

This is a seed planted for more royalty checks.  Which is also good news.  Its also much needed inspiration to keep writing.

Its been a few years since I've been to the tennis pavillion at IUPUI.  I've only ever gone for one of the (unfortunately) best-kept secret sporting events in Indy, the ATP Indianapolis Tennis Championships.  We've got world class tennis happening downtown, and judging by last nights crowd, not many people know about it.

The last time I headed down it was because I was asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of the evenings festivities.  This year, an Indy Hub event got me down that way.

It was first round action, and it was a Tuesday but Roddick and Blake were scheduled to play back to back matches so I grabbed a couple cheap seats and Nancy and we headed downtown.


This was the first Indy Hub event I had been to, so after finding the all-but-hidden designated meeting place, saying hello to the Mollies and grabbing a six dollar beer we didn't have much time to meet new people. So we quickly took a seat at an empty table and scoped out the room to see who we would go introduce ourselves to.  We identified our targets, another couple that had also grabbed an equally empty table, then came up with our battle plan.  We'd head to the food table, pile a plastic plateful of pretzels, and casually stop by their table on the way back.  Its all about the motivation baby!

Our plan worked great, except that as we started heading towards their table, THEY got up and headed towards the food table.  We weren't quick enough on our feet to improvise a mid-room, mobile introduction, so we made quick work of the pretzels and headed off to the seats.
"We'll get here earlier next time" We noted aloud.

We found our seats in the bleachers on the West end of the court and settled in for some tennis.  Roddick, the number 1 seed in this tournament, was matched with Kozofsky (that's not his name, but its the best I can recall without googling), the last seed.  We thought Roddick would make quick work of him, but after a 6-4 first set in Roddicks favor, it was clear that he was at least going to put up a fight.



The second set was a different story though, Roddick quickly went up 4-0 and ended up sealing the deal 6-2.  Man that guy can play! One of his serves registered 148mph on the radar gun.

Blake and Johannsen were up next.  Blake won this entire tournament last year, is ranked 9th in the world and currently has a best selling autobiography on the market, so you could say he had his mojo working.  Johannsen is ranked 72nd in the world, so again we thought quick work would be applied. Not so.

Blake eaked out a 7-5 win in the first set, after a couple drawn-out deuce sessions, and some pretty great rallys.  After a strong start from Blake in the second set, it ended up 6-6 and these two pretty evenly matched players, who had been trading advantages all night started a tie-breaker.

I don't know much about tennis scoring but I think you play to 7 points and you have to win by two.  These guys kept trading points up to 8, then Blake finally got one step closer to defending his title by winning set two, 7-6.

I love the summer in Indianapolis, specifically for events like these.  The weather was too perfect, so much so that I felt the whispering threat of winter in my ear.  "Enjoy it, I'm coming" it said.

Roddick plays again tonight, and Blake again on Thursday.  I recommend not sitting in the bleachers (although they are the cheapest ticket) but rather sitting in either of the sections directly behind the playes where they have actual 'seats'.  The bleachers were a tad bit cramped, and not terribly comfortable.  But whether you sit in the bleachers, or the Heineken VIP suite, I recommend you go.  If for no other reason than supportting great events like this in our city.