Out On An Island

I feel like making a post, but have nothing really on my mind to write about, other than the fact that Cobra Skulls' Sitting Army totally fucking rules. So in lieu of posting anything witty, insightful, or even remotely interesting, here's assorted lists of things to have with me on a desert island. making these lists is kinda challenging, cuz picks your favorites is easy, but if your theoretically stuck on desert island, you want to get a good mix of differentmusic/books/movies what have you, as well as ones that you can analyze for extended periods of time (see Crass and Lord of the Rings). Oh well, here goes something

7 Albums
1. Against Me!-Crime As Forgiven By... (quality not quantity)
2. The Clash-London Calling
3. Dead Kennedys-Plastic Surgery Disasters
4. Jawbreaker-24 Hour Revenge Therapy
5. Crass-Yes Sir, I Will (learn to love each and every of the 43 minutes)
6. Billy Bragg-Back to Basics
7. Streetlight Manifesto-Everything Goes Numb

7 Books
1. Homage to Catalonia-George Orwell
2. Lord of the Rings (all 3 books in 1)
3. 1984-George Orwell
4. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater-Kurt Vonnegut
5. Frankenstein-Mary Shelley
6. A People's History of the United States-Howard Zinn
7. How To Survive On A Desert Island (with only 7 albums, 7 books, 7 movies, a record player, a dvd player, a tv, minimal food and water, a marijuana plant, 1 other person, and all the skills you learned in boy scouts)-must be written by someone, somewhere...

7 Movies
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Fight Club
3. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
5. Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead
6. Grandma's Boy
7. Star Wars (Original 3 pieced together into one disc of awesomeness)

1 Person
1. Julie Rutan

A Brief Yet Triumphant Post

So Tom Gabel released a new Against Me! demo song called "Graceful Confession." And as I have come to expect from him, its beautiful and honest. Leave it to him to write another song I can instantly relate to, and wish was my own. here is the song and the lyrics:

Graceful Confession

Your talent outshines all that I could ever do or say
and me and my jealousy, I stole your songs and passed them off as my own
As much as I would like for it not to show
you can smell the stink on my breath and in my clothes, it's so obvious
oh if I could only be half the things you write about in your songs
if I could only mean half as much to anyone

and in my arrogance I write pages of anger hate and spite
all of the reasons I have to trust... absolutely no one
today I heard you on my stereo and it shamed me,
yes it shamed me to think that I could be so unoriginal
oh if I could only be half the genius that you are
to feel such honest want, to show love
I would show you love
I would show you love
I would show you love
oh if I could only feel half as resolute in my beliefs,
if I could only sing with such bravery
I can not explain how much you mean to me
without your words, I would be lost.


fuck, that pretty much sums up how I feel about Against Me! I mean, they were the reason I decided to learn how to play guitar and write my own songs, even if I only ever played their songs to my friends. The countless times we have sung along to "Baby, I'm An Anarchist" or "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong," and me wishing I could write a song that would burst the whole room into chorus. No matter how often I learn to play other songs or write my own, I always go back to playing Against Me!'s songs or attempting to learn each new song that comes out.

So thank you, Tom Gabel and the rest of Against Me! for creating such awesome fucking music and being a constant source of inspiration to me, from the first time I heard the Crime EP out of my shitty stereo with one working speaker, to this second right now.

Whiskey Love

So its 1:11am and I'm getting drunk. Still have typing abilities though. Enough to form a few coherent sentences at least. I guess since I'm drinking whiskey, I'll make a short playlist inspired by the greatest liquor ever distilled.

Download Link

1. Dillinger Four-Doublewhiskeycokenoice
-from the album Midwestern Songs of the Americas (1998)
2. Flogging Molly-Swagger (live)
-from the album Alive Behind the Green Door (1997)
3. American Steel-Whiskey, Women, and Blackguarding (Ain't No Cure For A Broken Heart)
-from the album Rogue's March (1999)
4. Planes Mistaken For Stars-Hollowpoint and Whiskey (Live)
-from the album Look At Me Now Teachers!: Live at CBGB (2002)
5. Alkaline Trio-Take Lots With Alcohol
-from the album From Here to Infirmary (2002)
6. The Pogues-Whiskey You're the Devil
-from the album Red Roses For Me (1984)
7. Dropkick Murphys-Bastards On Parade
-from the album Blackout (2003)
8. The Lawrence Arms-Heaven Help Me
-from the album Ghost Stories (2000)
9. Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains-Whiskey Is My Kind of Lullaby
-from the album Love Songs for the Apocalypse (2005)
10. Woody Guthrie-Rye Whiskey
-from the album Library of Congress Recordings (Disc 1) (1940)

damn i really got sidetracked writing this, its now 3:17. happy drinking!

Walking Is Still Honest

So I drove my best friend's car back to her house after borrowing it for the weekend. I then made the 45 minute walk back to my house. Thank god it was a nice day, and not too hot. I was surprised at how long it took, considering its a 5 minute drive, and I'm notorious for walking way too fast. I would have taken my brother's bike, but it was rusted to the point of uselessness, and my bike is on the other side of the country. So I walked, and it was great. Its interesting to think about how dependent on driving I am whenever I come back to New Jersey. Back in Boulder, I can bike/walk/ride the bus (or a combination of the latter two) practically anywhere in town, and even down to Denver. To make matters worse, I've never had my own car, and thus have to drive my family's Suburban. In high school my girlfriend lived 5 minutes away, and I always drove to her house in a giant 8 passenger SUV, rather than simply riding a bike. In retrospect, it was incredibly stupid of me. I was probably still in the mindset of "bike's are uncool and I have to much dignity to be seen riding around on one" Hell my HS was a mile or so down the street, and I never once biked there. Now of course, my mindset has changed and I love riding my bike. But in NJ Im a slave to the gas guzzler, and Eatontown's public transportation is more or less useless unless I'm going up and down the main street. We who live in Boulder are privileged to have such an extensive bus and bike path system in our town. One of the few things the yuppies did right.

So here's a playlist not for driving a car to.

Download Link

1. The Measure [SA]-Hit the Ground Running
-from Off With Their Heads split 7" (2007)
2. Bomb the Music Industry!-Bike Test 123
-from the album Get Warmer (2007)
3. Bad Religion-A Walk
-from the album The Grey Race (1996)
4. 7 Seconds-Walk Together, Rock Together
-from the album Walk Together, Rock Together (1985)
5. Operation Ivy-One of These Days
-from the album Energy (1988)
6. Big D and the Kids Table-Shining On
-from the album Strictly Rude (2007)
7. Defiance, Ohio-Bikes and Bridges
-from the album Share What Ya Got (2004)
8. The Clash-Walking the Slidewalk
-from album The Vanilla Tapes (1979)
9. This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb-Murder Bike
-from the album Dance Party With...(2001)
10. Andrew Jackson Jihad-You Don't Want To Fuck With Me
-from the album Candy Cigarettes and Capguns (2005?)
11. Johnny Cash-I Walk the Line
-from the album With His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957)
12. Against Me!-Walking Is Still Honest
-from the EP Crime As Forgiven By...(2001)

So It Begins...

So its 3:30, i'm in bed, and for some silly reason i decided to create a blog. Why? I don't really know, maybe it will be "fun"

So currently I am listening to the man whose charming face is gracing this page. Woody Guthrie really was an amazing character. The guy has written hundreds of songs, most of them not even released, and most of them survive only in lyric form. Thankfully there are bands that appreciate him enough to put music to his lyrics. Anti-Flag did a good job (well the best Anti-Flag can do these days) with "Post War Breakout", I guess. They even titled one of their sings "This Machine Kills Fascists." Dropkick Murphys big hit single (ug) "Shipping Up to Boston" is actually a fantastic song, and most people don't even know that it is Woody Guthrie's. "Gonna Be A Blackout" is also a Guthrie tune, and they also did a great job on that. Ghost Mice covered "Prettyboy Floyd" on their split with Defiance, Ohio , which was great. Andrew Jackson payed homage to him in the middle of the song "Survival Song" by playing the chorus to "Do-Re-Mi." Billy Bragg and Wilco did that that whole 2 album of tribute covers to Guthrie too, which was a great thing, even if I don't like Wilco. Billy Bragg owns those clowns. That's all I can think of right now though

Of course everybody knows "This Land Is Your Land," everyone had to have sung it in some lame elementary school production at some point. Its one of those songs that most people don't even know the full meaning of, and its not their fault. As kids we only learn the first happy "yay america"-esque verses (or so are they interpreted), and not the rest of the song. So here are the lyrics

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me.

kinda changes the song a bit doesn't it?
Anyways, now go listen to some Guthrie and his pure honest working class music.

I'll post the Guthrie half of this album (its a good intro to both artists) tomorrow, I'm quite tired.

Download Link

1. This Land Is Your Land
2. Pastures of Plenty
3. House of the Rising Sun
4. Hard Travelin'
5. John Henry
6. Do-Re-Mi
7. Vigilante Man
8. Hard, Ain't It Hard?
9. Dust Bowl Blues
10. Talking Dust Bowl Blues
11. Pretty Boy Floyd
12. I Ain't Got No Home
13. Worried Man Blues
14. Cumberland Gap
15. Stackolee
16. Mule Skinner Blues
17. Babe O Mine
18. A Picture From Life's Other Side
19. Better World A-Coming
20. So Long, It's Been Good To Know You