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Archive for July, 2011

bye bye Jeep

Posted in life or something like it, tagged on July 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »


Today is the day I had to bring our leased Jeep back to the dealership.

I was not prepared for the emotional weight of the situation.  They should have have warned me when I signed the papers that I’d take on a love for my car.

Also you have to pay a bunch of money if you have any deferred maintenance.  Zoinks.  That said, the folks at Willie Dodge made it pretty easy and affordable.

Coral and I got this Jeep when we found out she was pregnant.  Before the Jeep I had a scooter and a Mazda Pickup Truck I got from my Aunt Brenda.

The pickup was pretty rad and Coral’s Mom drives it to this day!  Coral and I probably only had the pickup for like… a few months?  Three maybe?  Wow.  In that time we took some adventures.  I remember that we drove from Victoria to Port Hardy and back in a day.  That was pretty fun.  It rained a ton, we saw bears and Eagles, got a flat tire in Woss.  Good times like that.

Coral thought it would be best if we had a ride that had four doors and was a little more substantial for carting around soon-to-be-born Madelyn.

I love Jeeps, so Coral found a Jeep Patriot and that was a our car for the past 4 years.

Our car seat we got to match the interior.  We were so into that!


ta-da!  Coral did it all by herself.  And it totally matches!  Actually… it would match our new Honda too… you know, if we ever needed to bust this baby seat outta storage.

Go with yourself.

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It is what it is

Posted in music, tagged , , on July 28, 2011| 1 Comment »


Humility is not a virtue of Kanye West or Britpop bands… the latest floppy haired four piece and angular guitar stabbers is a group called Viva Brother.

The buzz machine is operating at 100% for the latest foray into the lad-rock arena.  Viva Brother are from an area of England called Slough… famous for being dreary and the home of the original British Office.

The boys began performing in barn they had purchased and honing their skills.  They played a show in London, and one month later they had a record deal.  They grow up fast in the UK!

If their Spin article is an indicator, they could be the re-incarnated Oasis?  or maybe just brash 20-somethings that have been told their “special” by their parents too much.

Will they be remembered as “(…)as important as the Clash” hmmm… not from this debut record, but damn, the singles are catchy and the style is fun.  Damn you Viva Brother… your personal style is such a turn off, but your musical is so fun!

Viva Brother began life as “Brother” but right after the buzz machine rumbled to life to crown these guys the “next big thing” a folk group from Australia said, “pardon me… our band is called ‘Brother.'”

For awhile you’d read them as “Brother (uk)” but I guess they settled on throwing up a “Viva” in front.

Their style is fun, simple and straight forward.  I think the machine calls it “Gritpop?”  Sure.  I like Lad rock.

Lots of genres… yessh, sounds like four white kids playing rock & roll to me.

Viva Brother – “Darling Buds of May“


Boss Man John really like track one, side one as a single for us here at the Zone.  Have a listen to this.

Viva Brother – “New Year’s Day“

I hope the Spin article was a misinterpretation of their style…. because I love the music.  Super fun guitar pop rock.

Go with yourself.

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Steam Powered German Trench Zombies

Posted in music, tagged , , , , on July 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »


Coral and I watched Sucker Punch last night.  What a strange little film.  A misogynistic geek film where a hot blond in a short skirt almost gets raped a bunch and fights German Trench zombies with a machine gun and samurai sword.

It was fun to look at and the music was great.  The story was bizarre and weak and I felt like my IQ dropped a few points trying to rationalize why its cool that a girl in a school girl outfit its fighting Orcs in a machine gun spraying orgy… well I mean I get that its cool. The movie is basically porn… but PG 13 Porn?  C’mon man, at this point just show tits, no one is buying that a male comic book nerd is trying to make a “point” about female empowerment.  You like school girl outfits, rape scenarios, strippers, machine guns and historical anachronisms.

Fun fact: I kinda also liked the historical anachronisms.  I dug the World War 1 Steam Powered German Trench Zombies and bi-planes.  The dragon bit was savage as well.

Coral and I both agreed that the music was fun and added to the film.  I loved the cover songs!

A song featured a ton was this jammer.

Emily Browning – “Sweet Dream (Are Made of This)”

Zach Snyder (god bless him) dreamed up this fantasy and according to Wikipedia said he was trying for an Alice in Wonderland with Machine Guns vibe.

So this next song makes a whole lotta sense!

Emiliana Torrini – “White Rabbit”

The final song that really stood out from the film is a cover of the Pixies.  Lyrically the song touches on a lot of the themes of the film and is used to effect in the film.

Yoav and Emily Browning – “Where is My Mind”

Emily Browning also plays the star, Baby Doll.  neat.

Go with yourself.

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Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks

Posted in music, tagged , on July 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »


I had a Tom Petty weekend.

Growing up, I loved Tom Petty.  I remember being in like grade 6 and going on the weekly Elementary ski trip up to Cypress (yeah I grew up in a well-to-do-middle-class-suburb) and on the bus ride home, “Free Falling” would come on and the whole bus of grade 6 and 7 kids would belt it out!

One of my favourite records is Tom Petty’s movie soundtrack for 1996’s RomCom She’s The One.

I must have bought that record at a young age, because to this day the song “Walls” gets jammed in my head.

I was feeling the vibe of this song during a rather hectic and stressful weekend and I found the song to be very soothing.  When I punched it up, I was surprised to find I remembered all the words and I sang along at the top of my lungs in the Jeep.

Tom Petty – “Walls”

Reading about the record, I thought it was neat that he also includes a cover of Beck’s “Asshole.”  Nice.

Tom Petty – “Asshole”

Go with yourself.

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I gotta phone

Posted in life or something like it on July 21, 2011| 1 Comment »


Yeah, so I totally got an iPhone the other day.  Now I can take pictures from a phone built in 2011 and filter them to look like it came from the 70s.

I don’t have a lot of apps or anything like that yet. But this Instagram is pretty fun.  And my ukulele tuner… well I don’t know where I’d be without that.

I got this iPhone because its so god damned pretty… but the first thing the guy in the phone store did is make me buy mucho $ worth of plastic to entomb it.  I only got to have unprotected text once!  Its much better.  The good news, my phone will be in mint condition when its obsolete next year.

I work 6 or 7 days a week… and to show for it, I have a pretty thing.  Neat.

Well a pretty thing I think, I haven’t actually seen the phone… but the Bell store guy told me its pretty and its somewhere buried under all that plastic.

Go with yourself.

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Stay Away

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , , on July 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »


Woke up and did some push-ups and sit-ups this morning… yessh, that is hard work.  Reminds me of bootcamp, which, come to think of it, I should try again!

Yesterday, the internets were all aflutter over the Spin Magazine’s Nirvana tribute record, Newermind.

So on over I headed to Spin’s Facebook page… liked, then really liked this jam.

Charles Bradley – “Stay Away”

Download MP3 >> 10 Stay Away

Its a pretty dramatic take on the Nirvana grunge classic.  I really enjoyed the James Brown-esque interpretation.

Charles Bradley’s story is bizarre and crazy too… if the internet is to be believed.  You should read about his life path. The dude did a James Brown lounge show… of course he did.

Neat, there is also a Jessica Lea Mayfield, Amanda Palmer and Surfer Blood cover on there.  Track one, side one… Meat Puppets.

Go with yourself.

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Blood into Wine into Rock

Posted in music, tagged , on July 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »


All Hands on deck and turn it up to 11…. new Puscifer.

The new song we’re going to listen to is called “Man Overboard” from a record out on October 18th, Conditions of my Parole.

Is this song the next “The Mission?”  Probably not… but its still a slinky Maynard jam.  A little sinister, spooky, nervous energy that breaks free at points to soar upward.  Have a listen to this… women and children first.

Puscifer – “Man Overboard”

Go with yourself.

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Sound Capital

Posted in music, tagged , , on July 13, 2011| 1 Comment »


As I was talking about yesterday, a bunch of new records from SubPop showed up on the Zone music desk.

One of those discs was former Lake Cowichan native Dan Boeckner’s band Handsome Furs.

Now that his previous band Wolf Parade is on the hiatus train, this husband/wife duo scratches that itch nicely.  Song 8, “Cheap Music” sounds just like a Wolf Parade cut to me.

Check out the NSFW music video for the single “What About Us?”  Trippy good.

Go with yourself.

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Some people kiss, some people makeout

Posted in music, tagged , , on July 12, 2011| 1 Comment »


I am a romantic.  I listen to way too much Rascal Flatts, more than any red-blooded male should ever admit to.

Coral is into texting and the W network… I wanna sit in the rain and makeout.  Fucking weird shit like that.

Its probably why I gravitated to chillwave.  Its just a genre dedicated to the makeout jam.

FYI (this Rascal Flatts video is so terrible.  Terribly great!)

I was excited yesterday when Dave opened the Zone’s music mail and out tumbled Washed Out’s Within and Without.

I already have and love the ep Life of Leisure.  Then I collected what remixes popped up on Pitchfork and now… debut full length!  Savage.

Lots of songs to love on this record and I’ve only listened once, quietly on a shitty Zone stereo in an office.  Can’t wait to punch it up in the car on a sunny day (or rainy).

First listen, I’ve already started to lean on a couple great songs.  I like song three “Amor Fati,” the cello flourishes of number five “Far Away,” and this jam that was hinted at before as a free download.

Washed Out – “You and I”

Download MP3 >> Washed Out – You and I [ft. Caroline Polachek]

This is a lazy weekend record, or the soundtrack to a night that will end with romance.

Go with yourself.

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the lady in red, is dancing with me… cheek to cheek

Posted in music, tagged , on July 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

wow….

Chris De Burgh – “The Lady in Red”

Wipe the tears away and listen to this… trolling Picker’s Consignment Store today for a Zone broadcast I discovered a treasure trove of 45s.  I ended up snagging 10 and one was Chris De Burgh’s 1986 number 1 hit… “The Lady in Red.”

Some people think De Burgh wrote the song as an homage to Expo Ernie, but that’s just ignorant.  This touching love song was kind of written for or about his own wife Diane.  The song was inspired by the time they were in a crowded nightclub and she was looking particularly striking in a red dress.  It reminded him that he was married to a hottie and that many people take their wives and longtime girlfriends for granted.

Pretty song and maybe an all-time classic?  Sure.

Go with yourself.

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