Sunday, Feb. 24, 2002 - 12:03 p.m.
Didn't do much yesterday. Called my bank and yelled at them.
Listened to another disc of the Velvet Underground's Bootleg Series Vol. 1: the Quine Tapes. I really never liked "Sister Ray" before I sat through multiple 30+ minute renditions of it. I kind of feel bad about VU: their greatness has sort of been tarnished in our minds by the sheer number of bands that cite them as an influence. I can't really think of any bands that captured the full spirit of the band, though. There's bands who have certainly taken much from VU's pop asthetic (Luna, Slumber Party) and others who have captured their artistic spirit (Spacemen 3, Bevis Frond, My Bloody Valentine) but I can't really think of anyone who has really integrated these two sides. Anyway, back to the Quine Tapes: There's some performances here that are pretty middle-of-the-road, but there are some true gems here if you can tolerate the sound quality (all of this stuff was recorded to cassette with a microphone in the audience). There's a badass rendition of "Some Kinda Love", full of a dirty, bluesy grind that wasn't captured on the studio version. The versions of "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin" are pretty sweet, too. I've still got one more disc in the set to listen to, as well.
I killed the rest of yesterday watching TV. I tried to watch my DVD of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, but 10 minutes into it, I realized that I didn't have the attention span at the time to really enjoy it. Instead I watched 2 hours of Junkyard Wars on the Learning Channel. I got kind of pissed off because the team of engineers from Jaguar kept beating everyone. In each challenge, they would design something very precise and fragile (much like a Jaguar) and would prevail in spite of several breakdowns.
Right now I'm drinking coffee and contemplating doing some cleaning. I have to pick Heather up at the airport in Atlanta at six.
On shuffle in my CD Player right now:
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Belle & Sebastian - This is Just a Modern Rock Song EP
Belle & Sebastian - I'm Waking up to Us EP
New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Airport 5 - Tower in the Fountain of Sparks
Nice.
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