Lovekevins: Private Life of a Cat

Noah Takes A Photo...

I've always had a minor obsession with dark, melancholy piano music. It may have began with Beethoven's "Piano Sonata #14 in C Minor (Op. 27)," also known as "Moonlight." In Interview with the Vampire, there's a scene where Lestat (Tom Cruise) is sitting in a mansion in with his bright blue eyes and blond hair and dead white skin playing that dark sonata and it's beautiful and heartbreaking and just slightly creepy. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stir.

I recently stumbled across another, similar piece that is just as moving, if not more. The stunning revelation came when I discovered that no, this wasn't a Haydn or Beethoven, it was much, much more recent. The artist is not only still alive, she can't be too much older than I am. If she's older at all. And, there's a video that accompanies it, making the work of art touch more than one sense at a time. The video is titled "Noah Takes a Photo of Himself Every Day for 6 Years." The title explains it all, Noah Kalina did just that and sequenced the photos into a rapid succession video:



The video went viral and has now been viewed nearly 5 million times. It's an ongoing project that Kalina, a photographer, will likely never cease. As for the music, titled "Every Day" by Carly Comando, it unfortunately cannot be downloaded from the Carly Comando MySpace page. But it can be streamed.

I remember the first time I watched Interview with the Vampire back in the mid '90s. I had a similar reaction to the concept that Daniel Malloy (Christian Slater) has in the film; I was fascinated. What would it be like to view the world through the eyes of a fictional character like a vampire? For that matter, what would it be like to view the world through the eyes of a different non-fictional species? Like, for instance, a cat...

As human beings, we tend to be so focused on the past or on the future that we often seem to forget the now. Even when we're enjoying ourselves we're thinking about a different time. I tend to think man, I'm going to look back on this and say it was amazing, rather than think this is amazing! It's somewhat sad. Such a rarity it is, enjoying life for the moment.

Music often triggers nostalgia. I talk about this often in my reviews for FensePost. Yet, rarely do I mention how a song brings me into the present, making me enjoy life for the moment rather than think keenly re the past. And this is sad, because there is plenty of music out there that is so relaxing and heartwarming, bringing me close to shedding tears of joy. Music that is so good, you can't turn it up enough. Music that allows you relax at the end of a stressful day or provides you with a keener awareness of your surroundings.

"Private Life of a Cat" is one such song, removing the nostalgia and allowing me to enjoy the moment and the present for what it is. Why care about what it's like to see through the eyes of another? My eyes are fine, thank you!

Lovekevins: Private Life of a Cat (mp3)

The Postmarks: Goodbye

Destiny is something we invented because we can't stand the fact that everything that happens is accidental. That's what Annie Reed (aka Meg Ryan) said in Sleepless In Seattle. But, then again, what the hell does Meg Ryan know?

I used to ponder the concept of "destiny," wondering if there is such a thing. Sometimes I believe there is such as thing, as there have been countless times in my life where, left up to chance, I think I would have come out much worse. I won't go into the details here because they're tepid and I currently lack the stamina to entertain. I'm sure some will turn up in a future story/post.

I'm back at Cafe Verite and I think I just saw J. Tillman. How Bizarre, in the words of OMC and Raleigh St. Claire. Then again, I've been drinking tonight so things are a bit blurry as is.

Today was relaxing for the most part. I'm sad I'm missing out on Justin's party, which started, by my clock, precisely 24 minutes ago (the laptop clock just hit 8:24PM). I took a long, long bike ride this morning and early afternoon. Starting at my condo near the 15th and Market St. intersection in Ballard, I headed west and made my way past the Ballard Locks to the marina area before turning around and heading toward Fremont, which I passed and continued through the UW campus (Go Cougs!) on the Burke-Gillman trail. By the time I returned to Ballard, I was exhausted. Rather than walk my bike the last 10 blocks, I put it on the lowest gears so it wouldn't be such a chore to ride.

I lack the correct bike-riding attire, meaning I wear my old-man jeans and whatever top will hide my boxers in back when I lean forward. Today it was my Bears shirt and a black jacket, which didn't work too well. From the front I looked good, but from the back I have no clue what was showing.

I'm also not the skinniest of guys, meaning I tend to sweat a lot when I work out (which is a rarity). I'm also not the heaviest of guys, meaning I feel fairly confident about my looks when I ride my bike. Still, when I arrived back at the Ballard Place Condominiums, I had two nice patches of sweat--one staining my shirt underneath my jacket-concealed breasts and one on each buttock of my jeans. Thank you Jesus for making me one of the awkward types!

After I rested and digested three-fourths of a homemade pizza, I still felt sick. (I wonder why?) So I headed to the trendy part of Ballard known as Ballard Street. The street itself is made of brick and appears well maintained though I'm sure nothing has changed since the brick was laid. The sidewalk, on the other hand, is broken by tree roots and lumps where they shouldn't be. I tripped three times on my way to wherever I was heading.

I passed The People's Pub, my intended destination, without even realizing it. Rather than feeling the fool by turning around mid-stride, I kept on Ballard Street to Bop Street Records, a store that contains more than 600,000 LPs. Talk about a dream store! I could spend a full weekend in there and still have three rooms out of four to peruse!

Per my usual, I looked around for a good hour before asking the owner if they had any recent submissions of used Zombies and Smiths albums. They didn't. I asked if he had Take A Picture by Margo Guryan. He had no clue what I was talking about. I was surprised, as this guy knows his shit when it comes to music.

At 4:30PM, I returned to the People's Pub where I proceeded to down four decent German lagers, a free Jack 'n Coke, and a Bratwurst with fries, all over a three and one-half hour period.

Social skills have never been my thing. I initially sat at a table where I could relax, but almost immediately switched to the bar, which was nearly vacant due to the early hour. I sat there, reading "Me Talk Pretty Some Day" by David Sedaris, hoping an attractive woman would sit next to me and allow me an opportunity to use my near non-existent flirting skills. None did, so I read my book until I was too tipsy to comprehend, then I ate my bratwurst in silence and watched some show on extreme sports on the television to my left.

David Sedaris, if you have yet to experience, is quite the literary genius. One particular story nearly caused me to fall from my chair in fits of laughter. This would have been most unfortunate due to my small stature and lengthening age. I would have broken my hip.

I'm currently listening to the debut self-titled album by The Postmarks. To my knowledge, it has yet to be released. I obtained it through questionable means, but I feel justified doing so as I am a staunch promoter of independent music (thanks to FensePost) and the possibility of me buying it upon its release is a guaranteed 100 percent.

Understand, FCC, that I am not your typical downloader. In recent days I have only done this to two albums, this soon-to-be purchase being one. The other is the upcoming Sub Pop album by Loney, Dear, which Sub Pop was supposed to have sent me a few weeks ago to review for FensePost.

It is obvious that The Postmarks make more recent pop music. The style of orchestration, the guitar effects and the mixing in the vocals make that apparent. Yet the album has a timeless effect to it. It's strange to think that I knew of this band before I knew about Margo Guryan, a true pop artist from the 1960s. Yet since my introduction to Guryan, I see her influence arise in the least likely of places. Guryan's influence is inundated in today's pop, just like that of The Beatles and The Zombies.

I should really cease writing soon. This has become quite long and, I'm sure, makes little sense and is boring as hell. Here's the first single from The Postmarks to thank you for your time and make up for my waste of it:

The Postmarks: Goodbye (mp3)

Ghost: Caledonia

Verite Cafe & Cupcake Royale

I'm sitting in a little cafe in Ballard called Verite at the moment. The cafe also goes by the name Cupcake Royale for their specialty cupcakes.

It's a Sunny Saturday for once, and I've got my trusty Zune at my side. Right now it's on the lengthy second track off the latest album by Ghost, a band that, surprisingly, has been around in some form since 1984. The song is called "Hemicyclic Anthelion" and it chimes in at nearly 30 minutes; contrary to the rest of In Stormy Nights as it is a blend of experimental noise with likeness to a less grating Wolf Eyes. The rest of the album maintains more consistent beats and a more definable structure.

I'm seated comfortably against the scuffed eastern wall, hiding from the brightest of the sun's rays. Across the street can be seen obscure art reaching for the sky. The art sits atop wide poles. There's one that represents a mushroom but could also be mistaken for something quite phallic. Another represents a tree. They're located in a triangular block at an intersection with five points and Verite is across Market Street from the art.

I enjoy this location, but tend to frequent it more often in the evenings. Still, I am starting to relax in the mornings. I find that it helps me function better when I get to work.

Cupcake Royale cupcakes are delicious, thanks to interesting blends of frosting. I'm especially fond of the Mofro, which adds coffee to chocolate frosting and places it atop your choice of vanilla or chocolate cake. I always choose vanilla. Another favorite is the Red Menace, with red cake and a cream cheese frosting you'd expect more on carrot cake...

The rest of In Stormy Nights by Ghost has a more post rock, rather than purely experimental, sentiment. One particularly delightful feature is the inclusion of timpani, generally reserved for classical music.

This evening is Justin Ross's housewarming party in Portland. I'm still in Seattle because I have a proposal to complete for work. I was looking forward to seeing both AristeiA and Westfold play at his house party and it was rumored there would be plenty of booze as well. Jael, his girlfriend, bought him a pool table for his birthday. I'm missing out on quite a good time.

I don't mind remaining in Seattle. I love my job working for a small marketing agency and find the work fun, so, in other words, I'm living my dream to enjoy what I do. And I enjoy working for this company much more than I've enjoyed any other job in my time on this planet. So, when it comes down to it, staying in Seattle doesn't bother me one bit.

This entry has been a bit scattered and I will have no apologies for that. With this FensePost blog, I hope to ramble about music and life and culture; something I tend to do in my reviews for FensePost, but there I focus more on the music itself. Here I plan to divert to culture and life and reference music only in the form of an ongoing "mix tape" that will include an mp3 at the end.

Ghost: Caledonia (mp3)