We got a big dose this year of how the fine art community has been affected by what sells with “Exit Through The Gift Shop”. Add to that the flow of art dealers being appointed curators that started with Jeffrey Deitch and MOCA, and we see the community finely embracing the idea that “great” art is only great because someone wants it on their wall. Commercialism was always in fine art, no one ever wanted to admit it. You want proof? Every single one of “The Masters” made a very nice living painting commissioned pieces. They weren’t the ultimate “artisans” creating only from passion and for their own release. They created for purpose, for money, as a job.

It’s an interesting debate when you move the same discussion over to music. People who write music to be commercially successful rarely seem to be commercially successful, and if they admit such things would be labeled “sell-outs’. Musicians are somehow supposed to be “artists” who only make music to express their emotions. It’s one of the most popular defenses towards why people think they should be able to steal music.

Art however, IS commercial. Art has always BEEN commercial, and that is what has made it brilliant and gorgeous and life-affecting. Yes, life-affecting, exactly the same way a brilliant marketing campaign can be.

So how do we start accepting that music made for a specific commercially marketable purpose is okay? How do we even know it can turn out palatable? Easy. Cudi, Rostam (Vampire Weekend), and Bethany (Best Coast) went out and proved it can. “All Summer” only happened because of Converse.

Converse challenged these artists to make something that would make Converse seem cool across 3 fan-bases, and these artists gladly did so, and did so with so much dedication and focus that they turned it into one of the best Summer songs ever written. They could have half-assed the job, they could have taken some crappy throw away ideas and done just enough, but they did their job as creators with excellence and wound up adding even more buzz to their already peaking levels. Is Converse selling more shoes for footing the bill? I hope so, because it means more potentially spectacular marketing driven music.

Good for Converse. Good for music. Well done.

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Singles usually stand out from an album in a way in which a truly spectacular single (or two) can carry a mediocre album and make it good, or in some cases can make a great album seem mediocre by not living up to the best song. Either way there really can only be one pure ranking and that’s the single of this album of singles. See what I did there?

1. Jay-Z – Empire State Of Mind

In No Particular Order:
The Fray – You Found Me
Weezer – I Want You To
The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You
Lily Allen – The Fear
All Time Low – Weightless
Miley Cyrus – Party In The U.S.A
Good Girls Go Bad – Cobra Starship Feat. Leighton Meister
La Roux – Bulletproof
Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
Matt & Kim – Daylight

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Sherwood – Qu – iTunes
I’ve know the Sherwood guys for years, dating back to working on their first full length when they were on Sidecho. They write some ridiculously catchy songs with gorgeous harmonies (and even some gang vocals), and they are even better people than they are musicians.

The Summer Set – Love Like This – iTunes
The Summer Set was on The Militia Group for the release of their EP, and the potential of the band was immediately noticed. I’ve had the song Chelsea off “Love Like This” stuck in my head for like months, and finally I can try to get myself sick of it by listening to it on repeat all day. This album shows a realization of all that potential they showed on the EP, and gives you a promise for a pretty strong career in this whole thing.

What? You don’t like Summer? Or Pop music? Okay, I’ve got some wonderfully Americana feeling, fall enjoying, music for you also.
Andy Zipf – Our Voice Is A Weapon – iTunes
Another wonderfully simple, beautifully layered batch of songs from an artist on P is for Panda. Who knew Panda’s liked Americana so much? One of the best people in the world runs this label, so I think you can do your part to support good people/music by dropping 3 bucks on this.

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Some of the things you can actually go out and see right now (that at some point only lived on my computer) are MySpace layouts for Boys Like Girls and My Favorite Highway. Both these bands are amazing, and BLG have a new record out, that I’m sure you’ve heard a few songs on your radio from. MFH has a new video out, which you can see on said MySpace.

I’ve also been working on quite a few logos, print work and layouts that aren’t quite out in the public eye yet, and MySpace layouts for Andrew W.K. and The Bleach Works should be up next week. Recently I launched a website design I did for a film called The Road Less Traveled, it’s a pretty interesting concept and gives a whole new view of a part of the world we don’t all get to see.

I’d also like to bring back what may have been a feature of my blog and recommend some things, mainly because I think everyone could stand to hear some good music:
fun. – Aim & Ignite – This band has one of The Format guys in it, along with a cast of other talented musicians who all played in a few other bands and came together to create fun. I happen to think The Format’s debut was one of the most perfect complete albums ever, so at first I HATED fun., then I let it play and found that I couldn’t stop. I had to apologize to a couple good friends for ever trying to say that this record isn’t absolutely phenomenal, and even the songs I hated I now love. Lesson learned.

Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major – I never expected to be this addicted to a new 3eb record. Sure their catalogue is one that is constantly playing in my life, but did anyone really expect this resurgence? I wanted to feel this way about this record, for months now, but I knew I wouldn’t, yet here I am. I think my favourite track has to be Summer Town, it just gives you that feeling where you want to be inside, is full of classic 3eb lines, techniques, phrasing, etc that just make it the classic non-single 3eb fave. The pseudo ending is spectacular as well. If you have somehow missed everyone talking about 3eb again, you need to drive a few laps around town playing this album.

Ryan Adams – The other day I realised I haven’t listened to Ryan Adams in months, and then I proceeded to listen to it for 3 days straight. Perhaps it got me back to being a little too jaded, but I think it was exactly what my days needed. Next month will be filled with lots of Elliott Smith as well.

Hope everyone out there who still checks in on this nonsense of a website is well, I’d name you by name, but that would just get awkward.

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I know this will not be received well by many.

I’m not trying to say the guy isn’t a talented musician or songwriter, he surely is, and he surely captured a generation with his political stance and his unique mindset, but how did he wind up that way for multiple generations? To me, Dylan is the guy who wrote 4 songs that have a lasting power, the guy whose son wrote an entire album I like better than any of his fathers, the guy who has made continued his career by being the guy the “cool” people like “because he’s Dylan”.

How is this guys career so much more notable than a guy like Tom Petty or James Taylor?

Now let’s clear up a couple of facts here, it’s well known that I like “hits”. I don’t mean Top 40 songs necessarily, I mean songs with an epic hook, songs that as you walk down the street you curse having them stuck in your head (but give it another spin the second you can), HITS. Secondly, I was born in the seventies, raised in the eighties, and am living in the zeroes, Dylan hasn’t had a hit since I’ve been alive.

So why is Dylan so revered? Elvis has the same sort of fanatics, different in lots of ways, but still same kind of experience. Elvis sold records, had hit songs, was in films and was one of the first real celebrities of modern times. So Dylan is the anti-Elvis maybe? Out of the lime-light, political and all about the music and the art? Eh, I don’t think so, it might be his angle, and maybe part of why he appeals to people, but I don’t buy it, he needs to do something, not just not do something. It seems lately he does more of the not doing something, while still just writing/recording away.

Dylan was truly relevent when he wrote “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and it captured an entire aspect of the population who found a voice and mouth for all the things running through their head, but four decades later is he still? I recently “tweeted” in reply about Dylan, that Valens had 4 truly great songs on one record in an 8 month career, doing so not to compare the two, but to bring up this nugget: Is Dylan renowned because he’s simply alive and still cranking out records?

People love to play the card that Dylan isn’t Top 40, or that Top 40 hits don’t make a song or an artist “great”, and it’s all true. We all have those artists who will make 10 albums and never get radio play. I happen to love Sigur Ros and surely they will never be Top 40, but I’ll buy every record ever. Maybe that’s the key to it all, and that Dylan just clicks with some people and doesn’t with me. Maybe, but I have this vague feeling that to many, especially in my generation, liking Dylan is a lot like reading Kerouac; It’s a statement move towards the non-today, the counter culture, aimed at being a part of a generation you missed or trying to stand apart from your current one. Such as with any counter culture movement, it winds up as trendy and actually the majority, and perhaps that’s what I see today.

The truly interesting part of what I mention above is that Dylan wasn’t non-Top 40, he actually formed his career off hit songs, and at various points decided he didn’t want his records promoted certain ways or proper singles released by his label amongst other things, but his career was not consistently that. It was kind of a lot like Radiohead’s “release the music straight to the fans” move, where a band that already built up to a very successful level goes about a shift to be more “artistic”, strictly about the music, and through all of it bucking the system/process that created them. Dylan after being a mainstay “rock” act who was revered for his political and social commentary which brought him to a certain level, went country and stopped talking politics, and then even went Christian (and I have theories about all the hipster Christians I know who love Dylan too, don’t get me started).

I don’t understand how this guy managed to keep such a stable fan base through all of those changes, through very few (if any) recent songs a majority of the population can even name, to put out an album, that in the year 2009, charts at number one.

The only thing I can even come close to an explanation with is that Dylan is still there doing it. Elvis is dead, The Beatles broke up, Zeppelin disbanded, Michael Jackson went pedo, Garth Brooks retired, every other voice of a generation and/or successful career artist has either died or become too controversial or alienated themselves some other way. Dylan got less controversial, stayed alive, and over time had more and more people spreading the Dylan gospel, giving them no reason to dislike them and it being “counter”, then “different”, then “forgotten”, and at many times throughout those popular to like him. It really is quite a remarkable and impressive career.

All that to say, I’m still just waiting for someone to explain what makes Dylan so great. I’m ready for it to hit me, I’m ready to be wowed, I’m willing to listen to a record or three (but no more) with open ears and have my life changed… because after all… so many of you have been telling me, for years, that is who this man is.

P.S. I realise someone is going to tell me that just the fact he has been able to affect so many people over such a long period of time is the simple answer to the question I ask in this title, but that still doesn’t make me want to listen to him… go deeper.

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All that being said, that logo can be found on something rather awesome. A(n) USB drive bracelet. What? Yeah. Okay. See for yourself. Brilliant idea TRL team.

The Record Life has their EP out now on iTunes, if you like what you hear.

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So I’ve been busy, again. I got my tax extension turned in on time, so I’m doing better than some people, but it’s just an extension, so I’m doing worse than most. If you don’t appreciate the greatness of Twitter, and/or realise I don’t really say anything about what’s going on there anyway, and want to know what’s going on, this is your Huckleberry (I’mmm yuh Huhklebehhy).

I wrapped up a few MySpace re-designs for some great bands: My Favorite Highway (record was released yesterday, and you should own it), Green River Ordinance (FFO: The Fray, etc), The Urgency, and Young Love. I got up the website for a ska band from Boston called Westbound Train up, I’m not really into ska, and if you aren’t either realise these guys have much more of an old R&B sound to them. I also finally finished up the layout for a band I used to do a lot of work with called Parker Theory. I’ll get the cover up somewhere, sometime soon. I was also working a lot of sleepless nights on a secret logo project that I can’t really discuss yet, and don’t really know the outcome of, so you may never hear about it, but hey at least me writing this makes me appear “mysterious” right?

Other non-design things I have been up to include: Building an HD antenna with Kyle so we are one step closer to canceling cable, Finally fixing my Mail so that my Junk Mail will stay on the server (tip: don’t put periods in your account name), Got out to see the Ducks knock off the Sharks and fully reinvigorate my love for NHL playoff hockey, Bought more vinyl (still no turntable), and successfully got an external HD once deemed dead, back in the world of the living.

I’m off to get back into the work, nice seeing you again.

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It’s all very ironic to me when I see a band bringing these concerns. I understand why, I understand that even the supposed rebels making rock music feel threatened that people create successful songs and even sell out a room doing something “easier” than they do. Artists are supposed to be the ones pushing envelopes, artists are supposed to welcome change and innovation; so why are so many upset that people are finding new ways to make music that people like? In the end it’s all relative, sure you may not like a band like 3oh3! (not the band listed in the blog, but I see a lot of this type of response geared towards them from artists and fans), but people think they created (that’s the key word) a pretty catchy and fun couple of tunes. It doesn’t matter how, or the tools used, none of that crap actually makes any artist “cooler” than another (but some sure think it does).

It’s about creation, creating something, being far more unique than the boring old ways of a guitar and amp. Let me announce something, not everyone can program a hit song in a computer, just as not everyone can play the guitar like Hendrix. Sure, a lot of people try both, but a lot of people fail. The ones trying and failing doing it using a guitar are no more (or less) important than the ones trying and failing at programming a song in a computer. They are expressing themselves, they are creating, they are pushing boundaries. Maybe they are creating for commercial success you say? So what, so are plenty of bands.

What I really wonder, I wonder if these were the same things happening: when photography was invented, when they took classical instruments and created jazz, bluegrass, etc, when moving pictures were invented, when a broken amplifier accidentally invented the now standard distortion. You get it right? It’s innovation, and sometimes Rock N’ Roll seems a little old and dated with their mentality about the auditory realm.

Not all music is for everyone, but criticizing ANYONE trying, especially if the critic is a fellow creator, is a bit hypocritical (and can come off as jealousy). Just say it’s not for you and let the masses decide their final place in the scheme of things.

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Here is a lovely little example of the jewels this man is capable of cranking out, the entire post can be read here:

Bob Lefsetz

Love is a risk. If you’re not willing to get your heart broken, you’d better not play.

Then there are the heartbreakers, possessing some advantage the rest of us don’t, beauty or bucks, who flit from boy to boy or girl to girl, like a celebrity.

Then there are the self-conscious, who have to gin up their gumption to even speak with a member of the opposite sex.

If you want insight into the truth of this world, you’d be better off studying the imperfect, whose lives don’t follow a constant upward trajectory, their seemingly insignificant victories may seem minor to you, but they’re the tent poles of their lives.

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So Gene spoke, and it was like a commercial, and this guy Lefsetz didn’t like it. Bob Lefsetz is this guy who writes this letter (it’s a blog, let’s be honest) on the music industry. Somehow the entire industry thinks the guy is genius, but I don’t get it. He constantly thinks he has the solutions to save the music industry, criticizes others who actually act and try to do something different, and as far as I can find has never actually done anything to help save the industry. All that said, his RSS feed (which sucks by the way; who makes RSS feeds that you can only read 2 lines of? People who won’t be saving any industry, that’s who) is subscribed to and once in a while (when I find those 2 lines interesting enough) I read a full post.

You can go find the post on Gene if you want, but what you should do is give Gene your visit and see it and his answers over at Simmons Records website. They are amazing and great, and entertaining… everything we should be getting, and Gene wants to give us. My favourite exchange, because it’s absolutely more valid than 90% of the things Lefsetz says is as follows:

Bob Lefsetz

Just because you’re a big musical act, that doesn’t mean you’re a decent executive, that you can run a record company.

Gene Simmons

SAYS WHO. YOU? AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MAKE THESE ASSESSMENTS. WHAT’S YOUR QUALIFICATION, IN FACT, FOR SAYING ANYTHING…

I’d like to remind people who run the music industry of a few things that Gene seems to also feel; Just because you have been around the old music industry, doesn’t mean you can be succesful in the new music industry. Just because you ran a label or run a label or had success with an artist, doesn’t mean you will ever be successful again. Just because something worked once, doesn’t mean it is the pattern.

Artists should have people who believe in them as much as Gene believes in himself (and surely any band/artist he gets behind), and should also have people who are as brutally honest as Gene is and don’t give people ridiculous manipulative sells every time they have a conversation.

Gene Simmons is kind of refreshing.

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For those of you who don’t know, I’m out on tour with William Tell and Jimmy Robbins. I have to tell you guys Jimmy is one of the best new things in my life, and William is one of the best old. We are a pretty great band of travelers.

So we started out in Boston, Cambridge proper for 2 days (including a great stop at Drink), and then Greyhound’d down to NYC. We crashed in Williamsburg the first night, then mid-town at the Pod Hotel (bunkbeds, with Eames patterned bedspreads). The show in NYC was at the Highline, and it had a great turnout. From there we went to Hoboken, NJ. Now let me tell you, I have said a lot of bad things about NJ, and quite a few about Hoboken (I mean it does start with Hobo, and Eli Manning lives there), but I take it all back. After 2 days I’m a fan. It’s a great town where you can still grab a slice at random hours of the night, but escapes the complete craziness over the river.

Sometime after that we finally got a car, drove to Baltimore, stalked the “Ace Of Cakes” place, and wandered Fell’s Point. I wound up buying hat’s and old screens (screen printing screens), and we even cheered for the Buffalo Sabers (I can’t really explain). The next day I headed to the airport for a flight to Newark and then Orange County, only to be greeted by a delayed flight which would have made me miss my connection. So then I was on a Delta flight to Atlanta, then Orange County. Yeah, so then a ground stop in Atlanta kept me at BWI another 2 hours (I had already waited 3). Did iI mention I was flying back for my Father’s wedding the next day?

So I was a bit concerned I would be stuck forever in Maryland or Georgia, but eventually I made it back to California. The wedding was great, very musical oriented, and out in the Angeles National Forest. That evening I got on a plane for here, JFK. I promptly passed out, and that flight is now known as the Best Redeye Ever. Soon I will be heading to North Carolina to meet up with William and Jimmy, who played Philly and Raleigh while I was gone.

If you want to be involved in my insane travels, I will soon be in Charlotte, Wilmington, Delray Beach (Ft. Lauderdale), Orlando and Tampa. If you have ways to get me and 2 others into Disneyworld for free, you are especially encouraged to reach out. I really recommend you come out to a show if you are around one of these cities, it’s a great chance to see wonderful music in it’s barest form performed at levels the likes you may never see. At least stop by and familiarize yourself with William Tell and Jimmy Robbins. I’ll see you all soon.

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So I have been ridiculously busy in the last few weeks, and there are good reasons for that. I have a ton of work, and I will be over on the East Coast for a couple weeks. Why? Why not! I will be headed out to such cities as Boston, New York, Hoboken, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Wilmington, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, and Orlando. It’s quite a journey, and I will be on the road with my good friend William Tell and Jimmy Robbins. They will be playing perfect pop music, and I will be helping them in a multitude of ways, while still carrying on my normal load of design fun (though the past few weeks have made it so it will be a little lighter).

If you are on the lesser coast, and we are friends, we need to hang out. I’m really bad at calling people or writing them in advance, so just track me down and let’s get a drink. If you are one of my wonderful clients, fear not, I will have all the regular normal operations up and running, and you shouldn’t notice a thing.

See you soon. Miss your face.

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I ordered the Deluxe Edition of “Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust”, I got my download, I even got my physical, and then months went by. You sent me emails to let me know the LP was going out soon. I sent you an email to let you know my shipping info had changed, and if you could amend it, you replied that my order had been amended (I still have the email). I still am waiting, I still am wondering if I will ever get it, I still am a little bit annoyed that I have to be typing this.

Please contact me and let’s get this sorted out. I will invade Iceland if need be (mostly because it’s absolutely gorgeous, but if it helps this cause too, bonus).

Thank you.

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I have spent all morning listening to them, and demanding others do the same.

Jack’s Broken Heart (true story, i never realised the Fight Club reference until 2 months ago) was an amazing 4 piece. Their EP “Against Forgetting” was amazing, go buy it on iTunes. I saw this band play a ton, with Jimmy Eat World, Counterfeit, et al, and it was great. They won the 2001 San Diego Music Award for best Alternative, beating out The Album Leaf, Black Heart Procession and Tristeza (I told you SD had a developing scene at the time). I later had the privilege of becoming friends with their drummer David, who is now in a band called The Little Ones (with ex-Sunday’s Best) that you should also check out.

Dewey Defeats Truman is a band that I came to know about through my own lame attempts at rock stardom. I was in a band, I will never mention more than it’s mere existence, because it was horrible. So anyway I was over at the Guitar Center (old one over on El Cajon Blvd.) one day, doing something, or buying something, and had this random conversation with this guy who was the singer for DDT. He was a pretty interesting guy and super nice, so I went over to Music Trader and picked up whatever I could find. That was “B-Sides, Rarities, and Out-Takes” and it was a great pick up. I don’t think I have the physical disc of this anymore, but somehow it has managed to stay on my computer all those years. I don’t think you can find this album, but they released an EP later that is still up on Amazon.

Enjoy.

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Or go catch them on tour with some band nobody has ever heard of… Fall Out Boy.

Speaking of bands you should listen to, MySpace, me name dropping friends of mine in NYC, and what I’m listening to right now: Another wonderful friend Frank got me hooked on this band More Amor. Their track “Young Hollywood” will be stuck in my head for 3 weeks, at the least. I recommend buying the album off iTunes, because I did, and it would do you some good to be more like me.

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The man has musical performers on his show and doesn’t hold up the CD, he holds up vinyl. Gorgeous, circles of black, grooves of uncompressed, vinyl.
And it’s not just once in a while

It’s always.

It must be show policy. I wonder if a band is allowed to play if they can’t get the vinyl there? I wonder if he loves Squeeze’s “Singles” on vinyl as much as I do. Scotch & Squeeze, that’s all you need.

In related news, will someone sell me a record player. I’m sick of losing bids on ebay.

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My good friend Brandon Chamberlain works with an artist named Jeremy Larson who makes some pretty spectacular music himself, and will be sitting in with MuteMath on the keys tonight as they play Leno. If their other late night performances were a sign, this will be another can’t miss.

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Nice to see Yahoo! pushing it’s reach and offering up an amazingly useful webapp for free. Well done Y!.

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1. Queen Latifah.
2. The whole, “high five the people as you go to the mic” thing.
3. Kid Rock over Coldplay.
4. The constant “Obama won the election” references. Like the actors did anything.
5. Ellen over Letterman.
6. Robin Williams.
7. Two And A Half Men.
8. Everything else, except The Dark Knight.

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Best Songs of 2008
1. Third Eye Blind – Red Star
2. Mike Dunn And The Kings Of New England – The Edge Of America*
3. The Jealous Sound – Got Friends
4. The Summer Set – …In Color
5. Coldplay – Prospekt’s March

My only real commentary on this is that people should put out more EP’s. Start an EP label, something.

*This may have not come out in 2008, I may not care about silly facts like that.

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Best Songs of 2008
1. Augustana – Sweet And Low
2. Gavin Rossdale – Love Remains The Same
3. Mates Of State – The Re-Arranger
4. My Favorite Highway – Getaway Car
5. Jack’s Mannequin – The Resolution
6. Estelle (ft. Kanye West) – American Boy
7. Katy Perry – Hot N’ Cold
8. Kanye West – Heartless
9. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
10. All-American Rejects – Another Heart Calls

Running Commentary (with no care in the world for grammar) follows:
I still stand by the statement I made after my second listen of “Sweet And Low”, which was something along the lines of it being the best song the band has ever written, and for those of you that know me know how Augustana’s “Boston” affects me, so that is really saying something. Gavin Rossdale renewed my faith in him in one single, single. You probably haven’t heard the My Favorite Highway song, but you should, it should be huge if that album ever gets a proper push. I’m not sure how many times this year I was standing in a booth at a club singing “American Boy”, but it was a lot. The late pushes this year were made by Kanye’s second single, and a song that probably won’t be a single by AAR, but it’s gorgeous.

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Best Albums of 2008
1. Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
2. The New Frontiers – Mending
3. Katy Perry – One Of The Boys
4. My Favorite Highway – How To Call A Bluff
5. Augustana – Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt
6. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
7. Denison Witmer – Carry The Weight
8. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
9. Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
10. We The Kings – We The Kings

I know my list is full of lame pop albums, I know it’s not as cool as your list with Vampire Weekend, Kings of Leon and Bon Iver. I realise my lameness in full, it’s who I am, I love pop music. All those great indie bands write some brilliant songs, but rarely do I ever find myself with a hook stuck in the head that can only be cured by singing along to hits like I do these artists listed above. Forgive me, all the indie hits blend together into an un-craved mass of great music that lies un-played in my iTunes.

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Here is the wrap-up:
I was sick for a good solid 2 weeks, most of it came from breathing pure ash from some of the lovely fires in Southern California, I finally recovered the week of Thanksgiving, but was way behind on work (thank you to everyone whose project was delayed, your grace is wonderful).

I got back on the ball and wrapped a ton of stuff up the past 2 weeks, including a 3 day trek to San Diego to see family/friends whom I love, and a 2 day trek to AZ to ride along with Tell as he played ASU. It was all great, and we officially decided AZ may be the best food state ever. Think about it, they get the west coast (In-N-Out, Del Taco, etc) and the Middle America (Waffle House, Chick-Fil-A, Sonic) along with other random things from states far off. Put a White Castle out there and my vote is in.

I just wrapped up William Tell’s MySpace the other day, if you haven’t been by lately he has quite a few new songs up that you should listen to. This little project was a fun nightmare. Lots of work overwriting MySpace and figuring out stupid little one line code issues, but it’s only the first time that this will kill me.

Also not too long back I finally got up a semblance of a website for Department Three. I have been promising this for years, and now finally some of my recent work is up to view at the studios site.

I’m working on a ton of other things, filing away files, getting caught up on emails, do if you are wondering why I haven’t replied to something, be patient. In the works are a few websites, some branding work, and a few more MySpace re-designs.

In other news, my friends at Hozell are having a warehouse sale this weekend. It’s today and tomorrow, and it also includes WeSC another great brand I’m a huge fan of. Info is on the MySpace linked there (because they didn’t want to put it on their MySpace?), and i’ll be there in a few minutes. If you are in LA/OC you should head down and hang.

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Because of such celebratory events I am bringing you free music. From two different places.

Firstly, a lot of my time has been spent working on a few projects for William Tell, and part of that pile is up on the internet today. Right here, if you sign up you get a free song, and lot’s more to come. It’s a new marketing device that we have dubbed, “bribery”. The song is called “Gone Gone Gone” and it has some great Paul Simon moments in it.

Secondly, a lot of the rest of my time is spent talking to the one and only Chad Pearson. He has a record label, and they give you free music. He is currently living in a red state, but let’s look past that for a moment. FREE MUSIC! Okay, so yeah, his label sampler is now up for free on Amazon MP3. It features some great artists whom I truly love, and is just the right kind of mood for Fall days (Not that I know what Fall is like). A little more mature sound blasting from your windows, a little more proof you are cooler than people think.

So enjoy the music, and the new President, and if I could give away this for free I would.

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If you loved The Jealous Sound’s other 2 releases, you need this. If you loved Knapsack, you need this. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, start here, you need this. This may be the last we hear of them, or it may not.

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As a bonus to all of you who like good music. A new song, from the genius that is Gasoline Heart. You are all welcome.

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This is for you. Holiday Parade presents “Slam Crunk”, the newest in a bunch of white guys remixing through guitars and instruments to bring you a jewel of pop goodness. It’s free to download at PureVolume, so do it.

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I was recently listening to a few older records, and started remembering these amazingly vivid memories about where I was the first time I heard it, or the 3392382th time it spun through my CD player, and felt I would share. I think I may do this regularly, it’s quite fun.

These are the memories invoked by a collection of songs that hold a correlation of a specific trip or location.

The Get Up Kids – Something To Write Home About – Lake Havasu City, AZ

It was a random stop at a Music Trader before a trip to Havasu, and this album soon became the soundtrack of that trip, played over and over and over. TGUK had never terribly captured my ears until this album, and it was an album that was bought against the recommendation of a friend, going with pure instinct. Instinct was right.

No Use For A Name – More Betterness – Grossmont Ctr. Dr, La Mesa, CA

I purchased this the same day as TGUK – STWHA, it was a more obvious choice to me as No Use was a pretty common listen for me. This record was disliked by a lot of NUFAN fans, but it still is my favourite. The direction they took, the downright emo-ness of this record, was absolutely the perfect evolution for my musical tastes. It was poppy, it still had edge, it was smart, yet it was still punk. These were days of CD players in cars, and scratches getting the best of the most played. One day on the way to surf Abs (or maybe it was Subs) the unplayable-ness of this CD at the hands of it’s scratches caused me to fling it into the street. That was a horrible decision, and I regretted it 3 seconds after I had done it.

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Just thought I would fill you all in on some places my photos are appearing lately. Thanks to all the people who let me capture their souls on electronics.

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Well I decided to go ahead and fill everyone in on what I would be contributing to the show. I take a lot of pictures, it’s a big part of my life. However I’m not one of those people who shows up everywhere with my Canon and looking kind of weird trying to take pictures of everything I see in my life. I miss more good picture opportunities than I take good pictures, but for the first time I will be showing a few of these pictures. 5 images, 30″ x 20″, taken in Boston, MA, Los Angeles, CA and CBGB’s in NYC, NY.

Here they are:

I hope this event is a marvelous success, not for myself, but because the people involved in this, and the other artists contributing are some of the most amazing people I know on this planet. They constantly inspire me, challenge me, and humble me. I am so thrilled to be involved in anything they do.

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All the prints of my photographs will be 30×20, and I will post the day of the event the pieces that are there, maybe. I’m really excited for everything Chad is doing with Panda, I’m absolutely in love with the musicians he is working with, I’m thrilled to be a part of an art show where my work will be completely showed up by some of the most amazing artists out there today who I am also honoured to call my friends (therefore, such as.

If you are in the Atlanta area, you should make it out to this. I was trying to work out an appearance myself, but I think I will wait until the fall to fully experience the ATL.

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Mark Penxa, interviewed by Uni Watch about the “Stealing Signs” project. Mark and I worked together on a few projects back when I was with TMG, when I say worked together, I mean I took brilliance he did, and probably diluted it. However we had great fun, and still have some pretty amazing email conversations about life. Mark was kind enough to sell me some of the early versions of the “Stealing Signs” project, and they are absolutely moving in person.

Another fun thing to know about Mark and I is that I once tried to commission Mark to paint me a kind of 3 colour tribute to one of my ex-girlfriends. His complete panning of me and such a ridiculous idea proved more therapeutic than anything else had and has on said topic. Moral of that story is that Mark rules, nd I am valued to have him as a friend, and that I am a sap who fortunately has friends who don’t let him do utterly foolish things (most of the time).

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The first is that next week I will be rafting rivers, yes more than one. So if you also will be rafting any of California’s greatest rivers (the Tuolumne and Kings) let me know, and we can battle our way through rapids together. Something like that. Also if you are the kind of person who needs anything from me, you best start bugging me now, though I will be reachable by the tubes of inter (not innertubes, intertubes).

Second is that Hit The Lights album “Skip School, Start Fights” came out yesterday, and it’s a pretty great Summer pop record. You might need it in your life if you like such things.
RIYL: Cartel, The Starting Line, All-American Rejects

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Happy Hour, The Summer Gin, Superbad Scrabble, Ice Cream Sandwiches, Honey Wheat Pancakes, Realising Every Better Than Ezra Song Is Trying To Be Another Band, PBR, 21-1 Pool Volleyball Games, Beach Boys, Burgers, Fireworks, Cool Runnings, Betting On Olympic Trials, Falling Asleep On Couches, Gin & Tonics, Breakfast Burritos, Red Sox v. Yankees, Poolside Days, Some Of The Best iPod Playlists Ever, Mai Tai’s, Fajitas, Jacuzzi, More Olympic Trials, Falling Asleep On Couches, Being Horrible At Video Games, Leftovers, F1 Races That Look More Like Rally Racing, Falling Asleep On Couches.

Bryan Adams – Summer Of ’69

“Those were the best days of our lives.”

It’s pretty true, even in ’08.

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P.S. Jessie Poland is the real name of Charlotte Sometimes.

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JM Takeover Of Gizmodo Liveblog

Hey guys, John Mayer here. Are you guys excited? I’ve just commandeered the computer of my good friend, Jason Chen, who is also very very handsome. That means a lot coming from a guy like me. My other friend, Moby, is also here. Have you guys seen him? He’s really into technology. I love that guy. OK back to Jason.

For those of you not in the know; Jason Chen was liveblogging the Apple WWDC08 Keynote speech Steve Jobs made this morning. Anyone else find it funny that John Mayer (whose tour is presented by Blackberry, and got the “Bold” early) was once again at a Keynote that was entirely about the iPhone? I never had an issue like all the people giving JM flack for entering into a business arrangement with RIM/Blackberry, I am sure Apple was given a chance to and passed, as JM was never a paid endorser of Apple (he just knows what is good for him). However the RIM folk have to be a bit upset that he is still showing up around iPhone announcements.

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I can only describe it as a one man hip hop opera. One man on stage, the band/orchestra in the pit below, and one broken spaceship.

Kanye West just constantly impresses me with each and every thing he does, and it was one of those things in life that I honestly think will stay with me for years and years to come. If you have any way of catching the very few shows left of Glow In the Dark, do it, without any thought, go.

Special thanks to the lovely friends who helped make it an even more wonderful night, and the spectacular people who allowed us to share their suite with us for Mr. West’s performance.

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I also have an iPhone gallery set up where I will upload pictures straight from the iPhone. I guess that means I will no longer be utilising the Flickr account, but we shall see how that goes and if adding the iPhone gallery RSS to the live section actually works. I’m just not committed to Flickr, Apple and I have far too strong of a relationship for some floozy to come in and pull us apart.

I also, also have a selected gallery of Live Noise. It is, what you thought it was.

Special thanks to; Lindsay Strannigan and Kyle Davidson who each helped me whittle down the Portfolio, and a certain lady friend who used the word “floozy” so much that it is forever attached to her in my mind, for better or worse.

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Chip Kidd – The Learners
I finally finished this on my trip up North. It’s a powerful book, anyone who went to art school or designs will probably enjoy it, though I think you should read “The Cheese Monkeys” first.

Price Club (Costco)
We like to call it by it’s old name, but regardless, you need more Costco in your life.

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We never knew how that CD-R found it’s way to us that day, or why, but we never questioned that it was pure destiny. Y2Khai has since never left my iTunes, and after today it should never leave yours. I think I once even burned a copy for Dan Crittenden’s 21st birthday present, which I am sure was the best gift he ever got.

Recently I decided to see what “Y” was up to, and well it’s the same “sweet asian flow” on a seemingly recently made over website. If you haven’t, then you should. MP3′s can be downloaded at his site. Listen now, thank me later.

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There will be bands, Paul, other people, stuff and things. See you there, more info here.

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I believe what it does is take people’s Twitter’s from all over and randomly pulls in ones that use certain words in them. I still don’t know “what” Twitter is, but if I ever find out, I might think this is really amazing or something.

This might kill 2 minutes of your day, that you would otherwise spend thinking about some past love, some failed relationship, some bad decision, some moment lost. For that, you should thank me. Speaking of loves lost, the new Augustana is out today and contains a great song titled “I Still Ain’t OVer You”, if the whole me distracting you thing fails, just listen to this song and relish in your non-over-ness of said love.

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Tell just made all his new demos on his MySpace available for download, so you can drive down the 405 singing “Let’s Go To Bed” like the rest of us. Do it.

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Of course this is obviously based off their new “Live In Phoenix” CD/DVD art, which came out a few weeks back, and is surprisingly better than I thought it would be. Enjoy.

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Recently (read: last year, cause I’m apparently not on the VAST mailing list) Jon and VAST recorded “One More Day” for their latest album “April”.

I’m still partial to the “demo” version with Chauntelle singing, but both of them are absolute treasures. I tend to think this song would be the most romantic thing ever, if it weren’t so depressing.

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Check out the rest over at his MySpace as well as some great pop hits.

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Kyle, my flatmate, had the brilliant idea of a little drunken Rock Band’ing on a Tuesday night. He got this idea at Yard House Happy Hour, I obliged. I had a lot of catching up to do, so upon my arrival it was pretty much beer in hand for the rest of the night, on one occasion it was 2 beers in hand and being thankful for mic stands. So we began the rock, I believe the first song I sang I got a 67% on. Basically that means it was horrible, I have no recollection of what song it was. By 9PM we were both good and buzzed, and performing at a level unknown to most. 199% on Blink (it’s possible, when your guitarist fails at the outro of the first 100% run through of the song), 100% on Wonderwall, even >90% runs on Black Sabbath. We were legends, we were being considered for Hall of Fame status, and then it happened.

Kyle Davidson

“How cool would it be if James Van Der Beek just came over?”

There you have it Ladies and Gentleman, the strangest words ever uttered.

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Damion Suomi – Ghost

You might also want to consider that my Saturday night hijinks involved some Jameson on the rocks (along with a few Glenfiddich’s on the rocks to start things off) and way too much musical reflection and geek-ing out over Squeeze, photo poses of the modeling varietal and the “weird things you do at a bar” assortment, Ivy leagues, way too much use of the word “pensive” and some other amazing moments I don’t yet fully remember so drinking songs are definitely rocking the playlist right now. I will leave you with an amazing quote from Saturday.

Tell

“I just had the drunkest moment of my life. I just looked over at that shamrock sign on the wall, and it started talking to me.”

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The LAist recently ran a story about the renovation of the “Elliot Smith Wall”, which was of course the mural which is forever attached to Elliott due to it’s iconic presence alongside him on the cover of “Figure 8″. This mural is on Sunset, I drive by it now and again, and it was really in a sad state for a while. Solutions owner Stephon Lew even discusses some plans he has to further tribute Elliott.

Stephon Lew

These are my dreams: I plan to place an electronic object of importance….a 5 foot 7 inch tall monument (of Elliott’s size–with two loudspeakers at the base of the monument to represent his two big shoes) formed from crushed electronics parts —to play and to identify Elliott’s musical influences (Elliott’s hobby, I hear, was to experiment with electronics to make music tone)—to have the monument –emanate new energy and the many solutions that music can provide.

I am thrilled to know in future times as we all pass by we will see a familiar friend once again. It’s all kinda like a Figure 8.

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In psychology, emocentrism is defined as a) the incomplete attachment of the self to the emotions of songwriters, ignoring ones own actual emotions and thought and b) the tendency to perceive, understand and interpret the world through the emotional writings of others as they apply to the self. The term derives from the Greek emô, meaning “bangs over the eyes.” An emocentric person has no theory of emotional individuality, cannot help but “put himself in everybody else’s shoes,” and believes everyone feels what he and Chris Carrabba feels (or that what he understands about the music in some way exceeds what others understand.)

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You can check out the session over at Daytrotter and for those of you who are fans of Kevin Devine, his Daytrotter Session goes up friday and Andy returns the favour by joining him.

Now here is the part where you feel misled because I was talking about the Cloverfield monster again, you don’t think it’s fair (and it probably isn’t), but you should know I do this constantly in my real life as well. Just ask anyone who is taking pictures during our social outings for some photographic evidence, and you will see by the blurring that is me in the background that I am constantly bringing “Clover” into all aspects of my life. Do not fret fine blog reader, if you listen to the second song “Made Quite An Impressive Noise” and pay careful attention towards the end, this will all make a little more sense.

P.S. Who young or old enjoys having (the) desert?

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I attended the Hollywood, CA stop of the tour, and it was quite the show. My personal highlight was when Sherwood covered The Get Up Kids “Holiday” (One of my all time favourite songs) and some guy in the crowd responded by flipping off the stage for the entire song. Guess you aren’t allowed to play TGUK’s without checking with him. Also, The Matches put on quite a performance, I never seem to get into their records, but everytime I see them live it makes me wonder why I don’t.

You can check out the tour dates here.

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While you are getting ready, do yourself a favour and grab a pair of Stronger Shades (Okay they are sold out, you can find some on the bay though are back in stock).

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Peter Wentz

Drew Goddard, who we’re a big fan of, from buffy the vampire slayer and lost wrote this movie and based much of it on infinity on high- which i didn’t learn until after i’d seen the movie. now in retrospect he pointed to some of the lines specifically, mostly on “the takeover”. its interesting to see someone else’s interpretation of your songs. anyway, if you get a chance check out the movie (and keey your eyes open at the end).

Well this only makes my love for Cloverfield and FOB greater, but it turns out it was a little less Wizard Of Oz, a little more “inspiration”. Did you catch that clever little reference? Drew Goddard cleared it up with MTV today.

Drew Goddard

“To clarify … I was playing their album the whole time while writing ‘Cloverfield.’ I don’t want to undercut [the idea that the movie was inspired by FOB's album], but it was just that the album came out at the same time as I was writing the script, and the way I work, I need music on in the background, and I was playing it, so it was inspiring in that sense, so I told them it was inspiring,” Goddard said. “There may have been confusion as far as the movie being inspired by it — and I did mention the whole Pink Floyd/ ‘Wizard of Oz’ thing, because I bet you would see some crazy sh– there — but it certainly was not a track-by-track plan.”

Either way it’s refreshing to know the minds behind such a wonderful film enjoy some pop hits mixed in with all the the indie they slid into the film.

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For those interested in assembling your own MP3 version of a great party mix, Hypeful has done the work for you.

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Notable about this film is that a large portion of the music is by El Ten Eleven (with some The Album Leaf thrown in for good measure). El Ten Eleven is a band Kyle discovered a few years ago at some random show that is comprised of two men who loop guitars on the fly in unbelievable ways, and were the rhythm section of The Incredible Moses Leroy, whom I was quite fond of, whom were last performing as The Soft Lighties. Did you get all that?

David Carson also did the movie poster for the film, and guess what font he didn’t use? Helvetica of course, gotta admit that whole unpredictable thing is getting rather predictable. Anyway, you can now view the entire film right here, in this post. Go grab some popcorn, we will wait for you.

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Let’s travel back in time to highlight some finer moments at The Prospector; Kyle and Randall playing “bridge the table” with empty glasses, someone demanding we all do shots of Jager and me pouring mine on the floor (where all Jager belongs), Kyle and Randall throwing silverware at booths, an endless number of ridiculously amazing bands playing in a room that fits about 12 people legally, and hanging out with (insert Celebrity here). Now all this leads you to a theory we have about The Prospector; You can’t not get drunk. It’s pretty amazing really, and we have tested this theory dozens of times, and failed every last effort.

So last Friday, the 12th of January, was an evening much like any other at The Prosp’. I was constantly trying to convince Brandon that he needed to do “Jager Bahhhms” because they are “Wicked Retahhhded”, but that was really just to honour Craig (And if Craig should somehow find this blog, just know I hate you and your love affair with Tom Brady, at least for this week). The main purpose of this night was Karaoke, that’s latin I believe, and the main purpose of Karaoke is to bring it all, or just don’t bother. Now my regular Karaoke songs include “Wonderwall” and “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” with a few deviations thrown in now and then (Boys II Men on Valentines Day at Big Wangs, anyone?), however I wasn’t gonna disrespect Kyle by performing either of the regulars without the other half of the duo.

I was feeling risky tonight, so I asked Lindsay for a suggestion, she replied “You know what song I always say is a great Karaoke song, and no one ever agrees with me?”, and I was into it, whatever it was. I told her to write it down, put my name on it, turn it in and I’ll sing it, at some point in time she let me know it would be Garth Brooks stalwart hit “I’ve Got Friends In Low Places”. So the rest of the night in preparation I sang my heart out, you see I have sang “IGFILP” before, circa 2001 at Poway Bowl, after already Karaoking until 1AM at Sliders, and I know that this Garth gem requires some rasp and deepness in a voice you can only accomplish by almost losing your voice completely.

If you weren’t there, you missed out, we nailed it. People were screaming, old guys were telling me I was everything they ever wanted to grow up to be, Brandon still wouldn’t do a Jager Bomb, a pregnant woman decided to name her unborn child Garth Randall Whateverherlastnameis, and other things someone would probably make up in their blog to impress you, but are in fact my reality. It was simply one of those nights you will always look back on and wish you had 3232989 pictures of, thankfully due to people I know we do have 3232989 pictures, I will spare you though and merely share 2.

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His first two points are such utter genius I must reproduce them here:

Things you can learn from the music business (as it falls apart)

The first rule is so important, it’s rule 0:

0. The new thing is never as good as the old thing, at least right now.
Soon, the new thing will be better than the old thing will be. But if you wait until then, it’s going to be too late. Feel free to wax nostalgic about the old thing, but don’t fool yourself into believing it’s going to be here forever. It won’t.

1. Past performance is no guarantee of future success.
Every single industry changes and, eventually, fades. Just because you made money doing something a certain way yesterday, there’s no reason to believe you’ll succeed at it tomorrow.

Do yourself a favour and read the rest of the article, especially those of you in the music industry.

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They also claim:

It’s great for first dates, crappy houseparties, or to play in the backround while you google yourself again.

Im currently googling myself, and can tell you that it really does set quite the mood.

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Here are my addictions of 2007. Some I am speculating I will be, eventually, addicted, or I am addicted to the idea of liking it, or I like something about someone involved, or I almost knocked the author down a few weeks ago. I have really high standards for these sort of things.

Albums (Completely Consumed Me In A Wall Of Sound):

Songs (That Required Way To Much Use Of Repeat), Amongst Spectacular Albums:

Best Album Artwork/Packaging (I’m A Sucker For A Complete Package):

Books (You Can Buy All These Here):

Films (Not, Movies):

Television (Trendy People Say It Rots Your Brain, They Also Heard That Hanging Out All Day On The Internet):

Video Games (Warning: I Am NOT One Of Those Elitist Gamers Who Play Obscure Games And Everything That Comes Out, Sorry My List Is Wrong And Missing All The Good Games):

Technology Devices (That Made My Life Better):

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Doug Morris, Universal CEO

“There’s no one in the record industry that’s a technologist,” Morris explains. “That’s a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn’t. They just didn’t know what to do. It’s like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?”

“We didn’t know who to hire,” he says, becoming more agitated. “I wouldn’t be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me.”

The sad part about this is of course the affect it takes on our beloved music and artists, and how people like this are appointed CEO’s of huge corporations is beyond me. I stand by my patented “R. P. Jenkins Corporate CEO Fix-all”, where you replace all major executives with the top 5 graduates from Harvard Business School, and many other fine educational systems who look forward, and pay them millions a year less to make you millions a year more (while still paying them more than they would make at any other job).

Note: Ford Motors should also adopt said strategy.

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It was incredibly amazing to see Chad again and we always spend hours discussing the days of old, and how things used to be. It made me realise that we are both really happy to be where we are right now, no matter what trials come daily and what more is sure to come. I also have come to understand that Bank of America has way cooler ATM’s than WaMu. For those of you not in the know, Chad has a company called P is for Panda that is doing things different.

It is because of these earlier events that I announce my full fledged support for Vinyl, and eliminate buying cd’s if the vinyl comes with the digital downloads. I don’t know how I was missing out on this for so long, but I was. I’m addicted, and you should join me. Is Vinyl better for the environment or something? Maybe I can go green?

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Wednesday I made my way to the Roxy in Hollywoodville to see Holiday Parade play their first LA show ever. Kate Beckensale and her family were even out to see the band. Underworld 3 soundtrack? Maybe. The show was great, and being able to finally spend some time with these guys was even better. I cannot stress enough what amazing people these guys are, talented musicians and class acts through and through. If you are able, catch their path around the States that we call a tour, Scotty their merch guy will honestly make your life 500 times better on his own. I took the following picture on Wednesday, I do things like this on occasion.

The real entertainment came after the show when we headed over to the after party for The Format’s show. Brandon Chamberlain was aces as usual, and I told Chavez I expect to see him out at the next march. I gave these two scholars a ride back to Long Beach because Brandon lost his car… and Lindsay… who was in his car… passed out… and no one could find her… or the car… sorry Linny.

Thursday was back at it again with the HP guys, this time in Santa Ana. The venue seemed newer (read: it was interesting) but the kids there sure do support the bands, good to see. We got in some great conversation at various times in the evening, and _____ (name witheld to protect further damage to his ability to pull) definitely stole the show with his stories of romance. His absolute finest moment came when he told us a story about how he had an “encounter” with a young lady who later went on to tell her sorority sisters that he wasn’t good in bed. What did _____ do to rebuke such claims? Tell the sisters that he just couldn’t get it up, of course.

I will basically miss anyone who currently resides in Georgia for the rest of the weekend. Thank you all.

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So after shopping we were driving home and began discussing playing Dashboard Confessional for various reasons I cannot confirm nor deny. I agreed with the selection as long as it was “Vindicated”, and Kyle stated that if that was off the new album he didn’t have it. When I informed him it was off the Spiderman 2 Soundtrack, he affirmed he didn’t have that either. Of course, not one to miss a perfectly set up moment I yelled out “iPod Emergency”, and with a few rips of velcro we had “Vindicated” flowing through the speakers. Now how that lead into “Screaming Infidelities” being sung at the top of our lungs, well that I just really can’t put my finger on.

The moral of this story is either “One iPod is never enough” or “Don’t mess with Access-ories”.

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After the long journey, some interesting appetizer’s and a run of the land we headed off to revive our singing careers. If you have never been to Dimple’s, you are cheating yourself out of a good time, and potential fame. I’ve heard this place was where Record Industry A&R signed pop stars before American Idol existed. They even snap pictures and film you.

Edit: Kyle has a longer description of the evening, with less metaphors and more promise of our DVD and allusions to internet infamy (that’s right, Dimple’s has a live feed every night) on his blog.

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Cartel, Holiday Parade and The Dangerous Summer… one night only. I am sure more of these sort of events are bound to happen… maybe even a Randall Tour, who knows.

So if you are anywhere near Lynchburg, find a student and watch the hits spill from the stage.

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David Eggers, Author/Designer
taken from an interview conducted for “YSKOV(Sacrament)” release.

“You actually asked me the question: “Are you taking any steps to keep shit real?” I want you always to look back on this time as being a time when those words came out of your mouth.

Now, there was a time when such a question – albeit probably without the colloquial spin – would have originated from my own brain. Since I was thirteen, sitting in my orange-carpeted bedroom in ostensibly cutting-edge Lake Forest, Illinois, subscribing to the Village Voice and reading the earliest issues of Spin, I thought I had my ear to the railroad tracks of avant garde America. (Laurie Anderson, for example, had grown up only miles away!) I was always monitoring, with the most sensitive and well-calibrated apparatus, the degree of selloutitude exemplified by any given artist – musical, visual, theatrical, whatever. I was vigilant and merciless and knew it was my job to be so.

I bought R.E.M.’s first EP, Chronic Town, when it came out and thought I had found God. I loved Murmur, Reckoning, but then watched, with greater and greater dismay, as this obscure little band’s audience grew, grew beyond obsessed people like myself, grew to encompass casual fans, people who had heard a song on the radio and picked up Green and listened for the hits. Old people liked them, and stupid people, and my moron neighbor who had sex with truck drivers. I wanted these phony R.E.M.-lovers dead.

But it was the band’s fault, too. They played on Letterman. They switched record labels. Even their album covers seemed progressively more commercial. And when everyone I knew began liking them, I stopped. Had they changed, had their commitment to making art with integrity changed? I didn’t care, because for me, any sort of popularity had an inverse relationship with what you term the keeping ‘real’ of ‘shit.’ When the Smiths became slightly popular they were sellouts. Bob Dylan appeared on MTV and of course was a sellout. Recently, just at dinner tonight, after a huge, sold-out reading by David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell (both sellouts), I was sitting next to an acquaintance, a very smart acquaintance married to the singer-songwriter of a very well-known band. I mentioned that I had seen the Flaming Lips the night before. She rolled her eyes. “Oh I really liked them on 90210,” she sneered, assuming that this would put me and the band in our respective places.

However.

Was she aware that The Flaming Lips had composed an album requiring the simultaneous playing of four separate discs, on four separate CD players? Was she aware that the band had once, for a show at Lincoln Center, handed out to audience members something like 100 portable tape players, with 100 different tapes, and had them all played at the same time, creating a symphonic sort of effect, one which completely devastated everyone in attendance? I went on and on to her about the band’s accomplishments, their experiments. Was she convinced that they were more than their one appearance with Jason Priestly? She was.

Now, at that concert the night before, Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, had himself addressed this issue, and to great effect. After playing much of their new album, the band paused and he spoke to the audience. I will paraphrase what he said:

“Hi. Well, some people get all bitter when some song of theirs gets popular, and they refuse to play it. But we’re not like that. We’re happy that people like this song. So here it goes.”

Then they played the song. (You know the song.) “She Don’t Use Jelly” is the song, and it is a silly song, and it was their most popular song. But to highlight their enthusiasm for playing the song, the band released, from the stage and from the balconies, about 200 balloons. (Some of the balloons, it should be noted, were released by two grown men in bunny suits.) Then while playing the song, Wayne sang with a puppet on his hand, who also sang into the microphone. It was fun. It was good.

But was it a sellout? Probably. By some standards, yes. Can a good band play their hit song? Should we hate them for this? Probably, probably. First 90210, now they go playing the song every stupid night. Everyone knows that 90210 is not cutting edge, and that a cutting edge alternarock band should not appear on such a show. That rule is clearly stated in the obligatory engrained computer-chip sellout manual that we were all given when we hit adolescence.

But this sellout manual serves only the lazy and small. Those who bestow sellouthood upon their former heroes are driven to do so by, first and foremost, the unshakable need to reduce. The average one of us – a taker-in of various and constant media, is absolutely overwhelmed – as he or she should be – with the sheer volume of artistic output in every conceivable medium given to the world every day – it is simply too much to begin to process or comprehend – and so we are forced to try to sort, to reduce. We designate, we label, we diminish, we create hierarchies and categories.

Through largely received wisdom, we rule out Tom Waits’s new album because it’s the same old same old, and we save $15. U2 has lost it, Radiohead is too popular. Country music is bad, Puff Daddy is bad, the last Wallace book was bad because that one reviewer said so. We decide that TV is bad unless it’s the Sopranos. We liked Rick Moody and Jonathan Lethem and Jeffrey Eugenides until they allowed their books to become movies. And on and on. The point is that we do this and to a certain extent we must do this. We must create categories, and to an extent, hierarchies.

But you know what is easiest of all? When we dismiss.

Oh how gloriously comforting, to be able to write someone off. Thus, in the overcrowded pantheon of alternarock bands, at a certain juncture, it became necessary for a certain brand of person to write off The Flaming Lips, despite the fact that everyone knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their music was superb and groundbreaking and real. We could write them off because they shared a few minutes with Jason Priestley and that terrifying Tori Spelling person. Or we could write them off because too many magazines have talked about them. Or because it looked like the bassist was wearing too much gel in his hair.

One less thing to think about. Now, how to kill off the rest of our heroes, to better make room for new ones?

We liked Guided by Voices until they let Ric Ocasek produce their latest album, and everyone knows Ocasek is a sellout, having written those mushy Cars songs in the late 80s, and then – gasp! – produced Weezer’s album, and of course Weezer’s no good, because that Sweater song was on the radio, right, and dorky teenage girls were singing it and we cannot have that and so Weezer is bad and Ocasek is bad and Guided by Voices are bad, even if Spike Jonze did direct that one Weezer video, and we like Spike Jonze, don’t we?

Oh. No. We don’t. We don’t like him anymore because he’s married to Sofia Coppola, and she is not cool. Not cool. So bad in Godfather 3, such nepotism. So let’s check off Spike Jonze – leaving room in our brains for… who??

It’s exhausting.

The only thing worse than this sort of activity is when people, students and teachers alike, run around college campuses calling each other racists and anti-Semites. It’s born of boredom, lassitude. Too cowardly to address problems of substance where such problems actually are, we claw at those close to us. We point to our neighbor, in the khakis and sweater, and cry foul. It’s ridiculous. We find enemies among our peers because we know them better, and their proximity and familiarity means we don’t have to get off the couch to dismantle them.

And now, I am also a sellout. Here are my sins, many of which you may know about already:

First, I was a sellout because Might magazine took ads.
Then I was a sellout because our pages were color, and not stapled together at the Kinko’s.
Then I was a sellout because I went to work for Esquire.
Now I’m a sellout because my book has sold many copies.
And because I have done many interviews.
And because I have let people take my picture.
And because my goddamn picture has been in just about every fucking magazine and newspaper printed in America.

And now, as far as McSweeney’s is concerned, The Advocate interviewer wants to know if we’re losing also our edge, if the magazine is selling out, hitting the mainstream, if we’re still committed to publishing unknowns, and pieces killed by other magazines.

And the fact is, I don’t give a fuck. When we did the last issue, this was my thought process: I saw a box. So I decided we’d do a box. We were given stories by some of our favorite writers – George Saunders, Rick Moody (who is uncool, uncool!), Haruki Murakami, Lydia Davis, others – and so we published them. Did I wonder if people would think we were selling out, that we were not fulfilling the mission they had assumed we had committed ourselves to?

No. I did not. Nor will I ever. We just don’t care. We care about doing what we want to do creatively. We want to be interested in it. We want it to challenge us. We want it to be difficult. We want to reinvent the stupid thing every time. Would I ever think, before I did something, of how those with sellout monitors would respond to this or that move? I would not. The second I sense a thought like that trickling into my brain, I will put my head under the tires of a bus.

You want to know how big a sellout I am?

A few months ago I wrote an article for Time magazine and was paid $12,000 for it. I am about to write something, 1,000 words, 3 pages or so, for something called Forbes ASAP, and for that I will be paid $6,000 For two years, until five months ago, I was on the payroll of ESPN magazine, as a consultant and sometime contributor. I was paid handsomely for doing very little. Same with my stint at Esquire. One year I spent there, with little to no duties. I wore khakis every day. Another Might editor and I, for almost a year, contributed to Details magazine, under pseudonyms, and were paid $2000 each for what never amounted to more than 10 minutes work – honestly never more than that. People from Hollywood want to make my book into a movie, and I am probably going to let them do so, and they will likely pay me a great deal of money for the privilege.

Do I care about this money? I do. Will I keep this money? Very little of it. Within the year I will have given away almost a million dollars to about 100 charities and individuals, benefiting everything from hospice care to an artist who makes sculptures from Burger King bags. And the rest will be going into publishing books through McSweeney’s. Would I have been able to publish McSweeney’s if I had not worked at Esquire? Probably not. Where is the $6000 from Forbes going? To a guy named Joe Polevy, who wants to write a book about the effects of radiator noise on children in New England.

Now, what if I were keeping all the money? What if I were buying property in St. Kitt’s or blew it all on live-in prostitutes? What if, for example, I was, a few nights ago, sitting at a table in SoHo with a bunch of Hollywood slash celebrity acquaintances, one of whom I went to high school with, and one of whom was Puff Daddy? Would that make me a sellout? Would that mean I was a force of evil?

What if a few nights before that I was at the home of Julian Schnabel, at a party featuring Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, and at which Schnabel said we should get together to talk about him possibly directing my movie? And what if I said sure, let’s?

Would all that make me a sellout? Would I be uncool? Would it have been more cool to not go to this party, or to not have written that book, or done that interview, or to have refused millions from Hollywood?

The thing is, I really like saying yes. I like new things, projects, plans, getting people together and doing something, trying something, even when it’s corny or stupid. I am not good at saying no. And I do not get along with people who say no. When you die, and it really could be this afternoon, under the same bus wheels I’ll stick my head if need be, you will not be happy about having said no. You will be kicking your ass about all the no’s you’ve said. No to that opportunity, or no to that trip to Nova Scotia or no to that night out, or no to that project or no to that person who wants to be naked with you but you worry about what your friends will say.

No is for wimps. No is for pussies. No is to live small and embittered, cherishing the opportunities you missed because they might have sent the wrong message.

There is a point in one’s life when one cares about selling out and not selling out. One worries whether or not wearing a certain shirt means that they are behind the curve or ahead of it, or that having certain music in one’s collection means that they are impressive, or unimpressive.

Thankfully, for some, this all passes. I am here to tell you that I have, a few years ago, found my way out of that thicket of comparison and relentless suspicion and judgment. And it is a nice feeling. Because, in the end, no one will ever give a shit who has kept shit ‘real’ except the two or three people, sitting in their apartments, bitter and self-devouring, who take it upon themselves to wonder about such things. The keeping real of shit matters to some people, but it does not matter to me. It’s fashion, and I don’t like fashion, because fashion does not matter.

What matters is that you do good work. What matters is that you produce things that are true and will stand. What matters is that the Flaming Lips’s new album is ravishing and I’ve listened to it a thousand times already, sometimes for days on end, and it enriches me and makes me want to save people. What matters is that it will stand forever, long after any narrow-hearted curmudgeons have forgotten their appearance on goddamn 90210. What matters is not the perception, nor the fashion, not who’s up and who’s down, but what someone has done and if they meant it. What matters is that you want to see and make and do, on as grand a scale as you want, regardless of what the tiny voices of tiny people say. Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them. It is a fuckload of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes.

I say yes, and Wayne Coyne says yes, and if that makes us the enemy, then good, good, good. We are evil people because we want to live and do things. We are on the wrong side because we should be home, calculating which move would be the least damaging to our downtown reputations. But I say yes because I am curious. I want to see things. I say yes when my high school friend tells me to come out because he’s hanging with Puffy. A real story, that. I say yes when Hollywood says they’ll give me enough money to publish a hundred different books, or send twenty kids through college. Saying no is so fucking boring.

And if anyone wants to hurt me for that, or dismiss me for that, for saying yes, I say Oh do it, do it you motherfuckers, finally, finally, finally. “

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Today I learned a revolutionary force in the musical world is gone. Working with such amazing talents as Rick Rubin and Jello Biafra, and recording somewhere near 50 albums, no one has shown us such amazing will power as Wesley Willis. I will simply say I miss him, and Chicago is at a loss without him. True performers are always taken early because they give so much to this world, and sadly all we have left today are those gifts.

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A different town’s not much different when your there, it’s just how it feels to drive, clear phone calls when your friends call every one in the car’s cell phones, catch drug runners in action, spend hours making signs to hold out to no one, meet random people in random places saying random things to get them to hang out with you, never figuring out exactly what number she left on the voicemail after an hour and at least 70 numbers dialed, naked people hugging non-naked people, camera phones are a must, maybe we’ll take the 1 back, Avril Lavigne’s sweet sounds from the speaker of the car, whatever means is neccesary get to Krispy Kreme.

On the transition, seeing good friends in town, even if they were here 3 weeks ago, and seeing good people’s hard work paying off dull’s much of this world. We need more good people, but what do we do with the bad? Can we work out some sort of free trade agreement?

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