VIDEO: WHITE FENCE "STICKY FRUITMAN HAS FAITH"

It's been, oh, at least since the fall when Deerhunter's "Halcyon Digest" was released that I have been SO excited about a new album, which is "Is Growing Faith" by one-man multi-instru-bandi-musicalist Tim Presley, under the moniker White Fence. If you are, LIKE ME, a HUGE fan of low-fi/garage/psych/punk/'60s pop (and by huge I don't mean to comment on your size nor mine, comedians) this album is for YOU YOU YOU. Tim's got it all authentically down,...

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SPAM POEMS

Like anyone else with a blog, I get daily spam comments, which of course are never approved and published. They come from scambots all over the world, trying to get me and Popthomology readers to click on links for sex aids, illegal prescription drugs, cheaply-made designer bags, or How To Earn Millions Of Dollars Per Second By Stuffing Envelopes and Retire With Many Nigerian Bank Accounts. As I was deleting some today, I decided to make something...

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NEW FLEA MARKET, OLD COUNTRY LPs

Here are three types of shoppers: 1. Get In & Get Out ASAP: This is the person who just HATES shopping. Shopping is a horrible chore only done when absolutely necessary, and there is no browsing or meandering or overbuying. Go in for what you need, buy it, and flee. 2. Money Burnin' A Hole In Mah Pocket: This is the person who MUST SHOP. Shopping is exciting and satisfying. If there is a dollar in the bank, that dollar will be spent on SOMETHING,...

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MY FAVORITE FAN AT JAZZ ALLEY 2

Busy awl day long processing five BILLION photos from last night's SUPERB concert by WAR at Jazz Alley, which I shall post up with a lil' review very soon for the lovely and talented Back Beat Seattle. In the meantime, once again in the murky pixel shadows, I have found another Favorite Fan.Lordy almighty, go see WAR instead of reading blogs!WAR, "Low Rid...

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TWO BIRDS, THREE CAMERAS: MINI-PHOTO ESSAY

There are three very large windows right outside my office (which used to be a dining room before I co-opted it) and I often gaze out, thinking and daydreaming and procrastinating and such. I was performing said gazing a couple of days ago, regarding a pair of crows sitting on the power lines that cross the sky. "Crows," I thought, smartly, "There's some crows, alright." And then I thought, "Hmm. Look at that. It's kinda graphically interesting...hmmm...."...

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MUSIC: WE 3 B BRMC -- "FAULT LINE"

Today, the Internewts brought good things, instead of Nigerian bank scams from the very polite con artist "Mr. Colin Nbwewa" or comments from Russian spambots trying to hotlink sexual performance enhancements. DENIED. What was ACCEPTED, and most gratefully so, was a music performance Garage Band file from the extra-awesome dad-and-son combo of @_punkrawkboy and @Bitter_Hipster (Twitter handles, for the non-Twitterers). Mom @tuned2chords handily facilitated...

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TODAY'S SCHOOL CONVERSATIONS, INCLUDING FAIRIES & PAVEMENT

MissEight: Do you think the Tooth Fairy is real? Me: Hmm. Yeah, I think so. MissEight: Oh, I totally think so too. Who else would do that? Who would want a bunch of old teeth? It makes sense! Do you think Santa is real? Me: I do. MissEight: Yeah, for sure he's real. I like Santa. You know who's not real? Jack Frost. And griffins. Me: Nope. MissEight: What if Jack Frost and a griffin had a baby? What would it be? Me: Something with icy wings. MissEight:...

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TIGER MOM, HOUSECAT MOM, AND THE VALUE OF CHOICE

Parenting, to make the understatement of the ever, is a complicated venture. There are umpti-squillion books about how to be a better parent, how to raise a better child, how to take an unknown lump of baby human and form him or her into the superior. This is a profound change from the days when you had kids (whether you wanted to or not), and they were mainly expected to do and be as the parents, period. The last 20-30 years or so have brought...

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SCHOOL OF COOL

Love these kids from Seattle's School of Rock, playing very decent versions of the Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" and the Cure's "Why Can't I Be You" onstage at the Crocodile. Awesome. ...

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MY PESCATARIAN PRINCESS

And...MissEight decided she was in on the whole poem thing today, too...

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DRAIN

Drain, drain go away Don't come back another day I'm tired and sleepy and cranky as hell So all you readers get is this photo and poem --- oh, well...

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SATURDAY MUSIC REVIEW: ODDS N ENDS

The Day In Music began somewhere in the 5AM hour -- a particular cruelty on a Saturday morning -- when MissEight came into my bedroom to give me her freshly-drawn pictures. It's sort of hard to stay mad when you are looking at this. Nice people often pass on interesting music to me, which I greatly appreciate. There's so much out there, you can and do miss a lot. So I thank WN and Rob for the vids. Let us begin quietly, with a live string quartet...

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AND NOW...SOME WORDS OF WISDOM

CouchTeen: So, your daughter got into trouble at school for getting her classmates to watch her while she made fun of Justin Bieber videos on her iPod, while wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, and then saying that "a man said it was OK." I hope the beauty of this is not lost on her teachers...

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COUCH TEEN & COUGH MOM HIT THE PANCAKE HOUSE

~ring ring~ Me: Hello? CouchTeen: Uh, Mom? Me: Well, yeah. CouchTeen: Do you want to meet me for lunch downtown? I'm just about ready to catch the bus from school. Me: (pausing) Hmmm...well, I'd have to get showered and all. (another pause) Yeah, alright. I'll text you when I leave the house. CouchTeen: Aiight. ~beep~ Generally, I do not ever want to turn down a lunch invitation, even though it is dead certain that I would be picking up the...

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HOLIDAY IN WAIKIKI

After much hemming, hawing, debating, researching, and daydreaming it has been decided that we shall be going to HAWAII for vacation this year. The kids are stoked, as am I; I have been to Hawaii only once before, and that was in May of 1983. I went with a Wisconsin school pal on some package deal which was a flight from Chicago and 2 weeks hotel for like $530. I pulled some of the photos out today from that trip.Here is my friend in front of our...

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IF YOU WERE WONDERING WHAT TO HAVE FOR DESSERT...

Apparently there's been an update to MissEight's cookbook: "pent Butter Delux" 1. 2 cups of pent Butter and 3 scopes of whatever ciend of ice cream. and eat! <3 BONUS! These were found underneath CouchTeen's bedroom door this morning. The Art Fairy striketh....

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HOW DO YOU ASK FOR A THROAT LOZENGE IN JAPANESE?

Whatever language you speak, I believe everyone can enjoy this live music video just the same. Let's hold hands and sing along. 戸川純 パンク蛹化の女 ...

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KITE

"Oh, why don't you two go fly a kite!" I exclaimed to the bickering siblings. And so they did. ...

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