Archive for July, 2006
July 31, 2006 | BlogHer
Flying from the east coast to California is so easy.
Adjusting back to the eastern time zone is so hard.
I’ll post some more pictures tomorrow, but in the meantime here is a picture of The Kaiser. It should help you people tell him and Devra apart.
Or maybe not. Anyway, the caption contest was hilarious. I’m going to keep it open for a day or two. You guys were killing me in the comments. Devra was reading them to me in San Francisco airport (she has a Blackberry) and I was laughing so hard that I may have caused a scene. I was crying. We were both crying.
So to clear up any more confusion The Kaiser is the one with the beard and Devra is the one with the purse. Wait – no. Whatever. This is The Kaiser. Check my flickr account for more pictures.
(If you have any pictures from BlogHer on flickr add them to the BlogHer ‘06 group.)
Posted by Goon Squad Sarah @
7:33 pm |
July 29, 2006 | BlogHer
Posted by Goon Squad Sarah @
8:22 pm |
July 28, 2006 | Music
For my readers that don’t give a crap about BlogHer: 20 – 11.
You can see 100 – 91 here, 90 – 81 here , 80 – 71 here, 70 – 61 here, 60 – 51 here, 50 – 41 here, 40 – 31 here and 30 – 21 here.
20- Rancid – Rancid
Rancid. These guys take themselves way too seriously. That being said I love their music. Really, almost all of it. I even like most of Tim Armstrong, Lars Frederiksen and Matt Freeman’s side projects. This album is my favorite out of all their stuff.
19 – The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Maybe this should be higher. Everyone knows that this is groundbreaking, but does everyone know how good it is?
18 – Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power
One time I almost got caught in a pit during “Fucking Hostile”. That was a close one.
17 – The Clash – London Calling
For a while I didn’t get what the big deal was. Then I sat down and listened to this album three or four times. I was blown away. I got it. I get it.
16 – The Misfits – Walk Among Us
I’ve been teaching The Goon Squad to sing “20 Eyes” when they take baths. They do pretty well. Next up “Devil’s Whorehouse” “Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?” “Nike-a-Go-Go”.
15 – Nirvana – Bleach
“Bleach” is Nirvana’s best album. I acknowledge that I might have never heard it if it weren’t for “Nevermind” but I still like it better. It’s so gritty! I tend to really like the first albums of bands that are angry. Once they get money they lose some of the angst that really makes their music powerful.
14 – Metallica – Master of Puppets
Metallica before Cliff died. I’m not blaming Jason or Robert or anyone, I’m just saying that Metallica was a great band before Cliff died. I can still listen to this album and briefly forget “St. Anger” was written by the same people. (mostly)
13 – Soundgarden – Louder Than Love
Alison wrote me a letter (back in 1989 when people wrote letters) and told me about this album. I’d never heard of Soundgarden. I went out and bought the tape with my babysitting money. I loved this. The radio wasn’t playing anything like this at the time. The whole “grunge” explosion was still two years away. This was one of those tapes that I played until it warped and I had to buy it again. I remember joking with Alison that I would sing “I Awake” at her wedding. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this song, trust me when I say it isn’t really appropriate for a church wedding.
12 – The Sex Pistols – Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
They call The Queen a moron. Who does that? And these guys did it in 1977! I love this album.
11 – Alice In Chains – Facelift
I’ve been moving this album around on my list ever since I started this list. I really love this album. Alice in Chains when there was still a touch of glam metal in them. I could not possibly talk enough about how brilliant I think Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell were together. The harmonies blow me away. I realize that not everybody thinks about this, but they were completely groundbreaking when it came to harmonizing (using those really tight close chords and dissonance) in this type of music. Of course, no one was less surprised than I was when Layne died, but it’s still a shame.
Posted by Goon Squad Sarah @
5:08 pm |
I forgot that California has midget showers. The shower head is so low that if I aim it straight out it hits me in the neck.
By the time Devra and I got here last night the bar was closed.
Devra is aiming to be the shortest person here. At 4′ 10 3/4″ I think she has a good shot. (If you are shorter and you are here, please don’t tell her. She’ll be devestated.)
Posted by Goon Squad Sarah @
10:53 am |
July 27, 2006 | Music
I’m off to San Jose today (I’m a poet and I didn’t know it) to go to BlogHer. I don’t know if I’m more excited to meet everyone or to just get to sleep straight through the night. Either way – fear not, if there are snakes on my plane or if we crash in the Andes (which is not likely since I’m connecting in Detroit) my top 20 are ready and waiting and Gabe can publish them for me postmortem. I could be like 2-Pac. Well – as much as any suburban white mom who drives a minivan and likes shopping at Target can be like 2-Pac anyway.
But I digress – gaze upon my 30th – 21st favorite albums of all time.
You can see 100 – 91 here, 90 – 81 here , 80 – 71 here, 70 – 61 here, 60 – 51 here, 50 – 41 here and 40 – 31 here.
30 – Happyhead – Give Happyhead
I have no idea what happened to Happyhead. I think the only reason I ever even heard Happyhead was because I worked at Peaches and someone else pulled it out of the demo bin and really liked it. This is an upbeat, dancy album. It’s fun.
29 – Fugazi – 13 Songs
Even if this album was called “One Song” and the song was “Waiting Room” it would still be on my list.
28 – The Cult – Sonic Temple
I don’t think this will be a popular choice, but I really think this album rocks. Billy Duffy can really write a hook. “Edie (Ciao Baby)” cheesy, yes. Lovely, yes.
27 – Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff
I guess it’s really “Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles” but with old Sub Pop stuff you just take what you can get if you don’t own a record player. This album is full of greatness: “Touch me I’m Sick”, “In ‘N’ Out of Grace”, “You Got It” (Keep it Outta My Face), “Burn it Clean”, I could keep going.
26 – Operation Ivy – Energy
Before I met Gabe I had never even heard of Operation Ivy. He converted me. Now, I admit that technically this is a compilation album, but you can’t really just get these songs on CDs. This is such an upbeat record. It is bouncy and fun and it also has something to say. Remember, members of this band went on to form Rancid, Common Rider and The Transplants, so if you don’t own this you might want to go out an get it. (Who am I kidding, burn it off the internet).
25 – Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime
It is going to kill Gabe that I have this beating Operation Ivy by one. He hates Queensryche. I like Queensryche. I like love really like this album.
24 – The Front – The Front
I just learned that this album is out of print. What a shame. It’s really a good album. I saw these guys open up for Alice Cooper. They were a great live rock band.
23 – The Beatles – Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
When I was a kid, this was the only Beatles album that my parents had, but I still understood why The Beatles were The Beatles.
22 – Duran Duran – Duran Duran
Back in the days when I got my music by putting my tape recorder right up against my clock radio and pressing record/play I made a tape that was just the songs “Is There Something I Should Know” and “Our House” over and over. Now Madness is advertising for Maxwell House and I don’t even know how you would describe Duran Duran these days. My first real music crush was on either on Adam Ant or Simon LeBon. Later (6th grade) I became more of a John Taylor girl. I remember thinking that these lyrics were really deep – above my head. The older I get the more I am convinced that some of it is complete nonsense (especially on “Seven and the Ragged Tiger”). Either way, I love this album. I have it on vinyl, tape, CD and it’s burned onto our computer. I listened to this album so much in Jr. High that if I listen to it now I feel relaxed because all of my problems then were stupid, and now my Mom lets me stay out late and it would be impossible for me to attend a party where there weren’t any parents, because, you know, I am one.
21 – The Abyssinians – Satta Massagana
I just learned that this album was released back in 1976. It really holds up well. From what I understand, the song “Satta Massagana” is widely used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. My favorite song is “Leggo Beast”. Sometimes I think just hearing the laid back opening to that song could put me at ease.
Posted by Goon Squad Sarah @
10:27 am |
