emily k(nits, watches, and writes)

I believe this is a 7″ that would be considered ‘self-titled,’ though there is something of a subject line underneath the band name on the record sleeve:

Oh and in case you couldn’t tell, this is a music post.

Ahem.

Step Forward Look West was a band out of the glorious DuPage Hardcore days, though towards the end of it. Well, at least the end of my time involved before I ran off to get numerous college degrees in other states (how dare I?!).

I seriously enjoy this record, still. I think it came out in 2002 at some point, and was recorded in November 2001. I know this because of the rockin’ silk-screened poster that came with buying the 7″. It’s seriously amazing, though too large for me to scan and share. Maybe I’ll take a horrible picture of it someday so you can see it in all its glory.

The names of the songs may very well be the best part of the record.

Now, prepare yourself for fast and loud. Explicit lyrics warning. And it’s probably worth saying that these tracks were ripped from a 7″ record using an ion usb turntable. And not ripped all that well, either. Well, that’s not true. They sound alright.

Side A-

1. a name on the board with three checks only means i can fuck up twice without getting in trouble.

2. you can’t spell “goonies” without the word “go!”

3. a disfunctional family is any family with two or more members.

4. one two three not it!

5. it’s open season on crybabies and you’re fucking next.

Side B-

1. i never thought i’d say the words “i hate you” and fucking mean it.

2. jesus, elvis, and the easter bunny walk into a bar.

3. alice don’t surf.

4. the tcri strikes again!

5. it’s like pissing in a shower with a slow drain and standing in a stagnating pool of your own urine.

Interesting how I believe I completely avoided using any profane words on this blog until this very post. And those profanities coming from just the titles of the songs.

Anyway, listen and enjoy.

Until next time.

I live in a house with a ridiculously huge backyard. The yard is fenced in, and even has a separate, fenced-off area that I’m pretty sure was used to keep animals of some kind. Well, ever since I’ve moved in those of us in the house have talked about planting a garden out back … and my newish housemates actually did it! Check it out!

I had absolutely nothing to do with this garden; it was all the housemates. But they did an amazing job and I can’t wait to have homegrown veggies to cook with!

As long as I’m here I have quite a bit of knitting to report on.

1. I finished my Napoleon vest:

I never got around to taking a picture other than that one, late at night in my room just after I finished putting it together. I’ve worn it a few times and I always get nice compliments. The Hillside Linen ended up being a nice choice; it’s light and breathable, and after a quick tumble in the dryer it softened up wonderfully. It’s a bit on the warm side, but not too much.

2. Soft Linen Shawl:

I really just wanted an excuse to knit this pattern, which I thought was gorgeous due to its simplicity. It knit up super quickly. I used the Classic Elite Soft Linen, which was amazing to knit with. This will be used as a birthday gift for a family member.

3. Grrr:

Knitty’s Grrr, a pattern for a co-worker at the yarn shop that is having a baby at some point in December. We had a baby shower last week with the ladies at the shop. It was nice to get out and spend time with them outside of the store! I used Mission Falls 1824 cotton, which really looks fantastic for this pattern. The texture of the cotton adds a lot of interest to the loops that make the mane.

4–6. Turn a Square:
I decided to make one for my dad for his upcoming birthday, but my gauge is always a bit on the tight side so it ended up too small.

It fits me perfectly but I think it’d be too snug for him. So I decided to keep it and make another one on bigger needles.

I kind of fell in love with this one. The blues and greens are fantastic. Alas, it heads off to Dad later this week. After making two I thought, what the hell, I’ll make another one! These first two are both made with Cascade 220 and the same skein of Noro Silk Garden.

For this last one I used Cascade 220 and some crappy acrylic stuff from JoAnn Fabrics. I actually kind of like it. The color changes are a bit too slow, though. I wish I would have made it back to the red at some point in the striping.

7. Quincy:

This is a hat from Jared Flood’s pattern booklet through Classic Elite. I used some Araucania Azapa, which is a fantastic yarn. The hat stretched out a bit too much while blocking, though … mostly due to my cat Ronnie getting a hold of it and dragging it around the house. SIGH. Stupid cats. I’ll probably make another one of these soon. I really love the twist (which you can’t really see in the picture unfortunately).

8. Zoe:

While I was test-knitting this pattern I made another version, half for the test-knitting and half to do some stash-busting. The yarn is a bit too busy for me, but I like the way the ruffle turned out this time around.

So there you have it. Lots of knitting and a pretty garden. Now if only school was as pleasant …
ek

p.s. Beatles Rockband is AMAZING.
p.p.s. Beatles Remastered Stereo Set is also amazing.
p.p.p.s. Futurama Complete Collection: i haz it. Nothing like a life-sized Bender head in my living room.

Happy 9 9 9!

The long-awaited Beatles Remastered albums are being released today, as well as The Beatles: Rock Band! Hot damn am I excited for both of these. I’ll be at Best Buy when the doors open to pick up my copies.

In honor of this momentous date in history, I am going to share one of my favorite Beatles songs ever, and one of my favorites Beatles covers ever. Check it.

“Rain” was the B-side of “Paperback Writer”, their 11th single released. The songs were written while the band was recording Revolver in 1966. Beyond it being a great song (with a tiny bit of social commentary), it carries the distinction of being one of the first pop songs to include tape manipulation. At the end of the song, Lennon took part of the group singing and played the tape backwards. This happens all the time now, but back in the 60s recording techniques of this nature were still being developed.

“Rain” by The Beatles

And here’s a fantastic cover (recorded live) by of Montreal:

And just for kicks, here are some more Beatles covers by of Montreal:

“Nowhere Man”

“Hey Bulldog”

“I Will” (Kevin Barnes)

Enjoy, and spread the Beatlemania.
ek

If you’re a Beatles aficionado like myself then you have definitely checked out Love. It’s this crazy CD where various Beatles songs are stripped down, mashed up, and blended together in crazy ways. A lot of the songs are totally trippy if you’re familiar with the majority of their catalog, and this one always gets me good when I listen.

Drive My Car The Word What You’re Doing

For those following along at home, it starts as “Drive My Car” (Rubber Soul, 1965) then goes to the into the main verse of “What You’re Doing” (Beatles For Sale, 1964). And then at the end it’s a free-for-all of with those two tracks mixed with the organ riff and chorus tag from “The Word” (Rubber Soul). It just blows my mind. The tempos weren’t altered. The pitch wasn’t raised or lowered. These three songs just fit together absolutely perfectly. I’m not sure if it’s a testament to the amazing song-writing abilities of Lennon/McCartney or aural proof that they had a specific formula for a percentage of their tracks. Either way it’s a fun listen.

ek

At some point while living in Ohio I went record store hopping with a friend of mine. We stopped at this rather large record store that reminded me a bit of Missing Link in Indianapolis (a store I miss sorely) and I rummaged through their old R&B/Rock section. I found a couple classic records, one of which being The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. Tracking down copies of this isn’t all that difficult, but they were only selling it for $3, and I think people on Amazon are trying to sell it in upwards of $100. I think I win that game.

I find that I gauge the value of bands more on their live performance than on their studio albums. And what has made me love The Beatles the way I do is how absolutely fantastic they were live, even with thousands of girls screeching at them the whole time. I can’t even imagine how hard it was for them to hear each other on stage.

The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl is a compilation of two live shows at the Hollywood Bowl (surprised?) on August 23rd, 1964, and August 30th, 1965.¹ It was their only official live record, which was an oddity for bands back in the 1960s. Bands of the time typically released quite a few live albums, but the screaming girls made live recordings a bit difficult to engineer.

Frankly, I was not in favor of taping their performance. I knew the quality of recording could not equal what we could do in the studio, but we thought we would try anyhow. Technically, the results were disappointing; the conditions for the engineers were arduous in the extreme. The chaos, I might say panic, that reigned at these concerts was unbelievable unless you were there. Only three track recording was possible; The Beatles had no “fold back” speakers,² so they could not hear what they were singing, and the eternal shriek from 17,000 healthy, young lungs made even a jet plane inaudible.
– George Martin, 1977

Martin went on to say, though, that the recordings Capitol Records made of these two Hollywood Bowl shows were something special. They captured the energy of the crowd and how The Beatles responded and fed off of it. The banter of the boys between songs is pretty entertaining, especially how they egg the crowd on. One track that really stood out to me was “Things We Said Today,” written and sung by George Harrison (who was always my favorite, to be honest). You can tell it was a new song, because he forgets how long the introduction is, comes in late, stumbles on words, and seems generally tentative when singing. When Paul pipes in for the bridge the girls go absolutely nuts, as to be expected. I probably would have too; the bridge of “Things We Said Today” is quite possibly my favorite bridge of any song. Ever.

Here is the recorded version from The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl:

And for comparison, here is the studio version from A Hard Day’s Night:

I may have to share more Beatles love in the near future. I can’t be the only one that feels it.³

<3 ek

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¹ As an aside, it’s interesting to note that Doctor Who was in its second broadcast season at this point, and it would be another 2/1 years before Star Trek would premiere (though it was already in production). Back to your regularly scheduled music post.
² I’m guessing that a “fold back” speaker is what we would call monitors now. Speakers on stage pointed towards the performers so that they can hear themselves and the other members of the band playing. Back to Mr. Martin.
³ And the footnote love. Who doesn’t love footnotes?