Road Weary

1. Brent Turner
2. Steven Scott
3. Aaron Burrows
4. Sam Johnson
5. Brian Canning



Sam Johnson is a music programmer and plays in bands.

5 Reasons

by C.H.H. Fleming

It's not that cool to be tall. Let me preface this - there are varying degrees of tallness, i.e. the taller-than-average group (6' - 6'2"), the noticeably-taller-than-everyone-in-the-group group (6'3"-6'5"), the freakishly-tall-let's-everybody-stare-at-him/her group (6'6"-6'8"), and the ogre group (6'9" and up); of which I fall into the let's-everybody-stare-at-him category. And trust me on this one: after extensive research I can promise that these groups, for whatever reason, are distinct. Now to the reasons...

1 - Common conversation starter: "Wow you're tall." How is this a good conversation starter? This is about the least interesting quality I find in myself. Furthermore, I have yet to figure out if this is a compliment, insult, or anything in between. It doesn't imply anything of physical attractiveness or otherwise, or that you're actually interested in talking to me. More importantly, I now don't want to talk to you.

2 - Sitting on airplanes. I love when the 4'-10" lady sits in the exit row - thanks a lot. Two things that make this experience even better... when the all-too-common 450 pounder sits next to you, leaving no place to put your knees, and when homeboy sitting in front of you decides to recline his chair.

3 - Doing dishes. Not that I don't love back spasms, but everyday appliances and architecture aren't meant for the tall crowd, particularly those of us above 6'5". Timing your stride so that you hit the bottom of your gait when you reach a doorway is not something the average Joe or Jane thinks about. And people rarely clean the top of refrigerators. Gross.

4 - Questions about size of genitalia. This goes both ways. Some assume that we must be hung like elephants, while others, out of some unknown symptom of Small Man's Disease, come to the "pinky" conclusion. If you're interested and things go right (or terribly wrong) you may find out for yourself.

5 - Numbness after an extended period on the toilet. Maybe this is a function of my procrastination in finishing up the deed, but Sporting News articles are often too interesting to put down. If I had a dollar for every time I nearly fell on my face after reading the latest on postmodern deconstructionism, I'd be a dozenairre.

If you're a hobbit and you're sitting next to one of the big folk, offer him the aisle seat, ok?

Cody Fleming is a Rocket Scientist (seriously.) He works for Northrup Grumman in Manhattan Beach, CA.

Bat For Lashes

by Sam Johnson

A friend of mine played me this incredible music vid.
It's blog worthy, and not necessary to watch before reading this.




The massive Phil Spector beat on Bat For Lashes' "What's A Girl To Do?" blew me away and I immediately bought the entire album "Fur And Gold" on Amazon.com without even giving it a listen. Again Amazon did not disappoint, carrying the entire album for $5.99. iTunes is carrying it in their DRM-free format at the same price- possibly a hint of a reasonable pricing in the future. Again Amazon beat iTunes in sound quality.

"Fur And Gold" strikes a balance between original influence and reminding us what Bjork and Cat Power sometimes leave to be desired. You probably have six bucks, so you probably should buy it. It's mood music. Listen to it at night while you drive drunk. I have a few friends who are psycho Cat Power fans including a former employer who hired her to play a 30 minute set at a Chanel party, paying her $35,000. This is probably supposed to be a secret, which it will mostly remain because only 13 people read this. The word around that particular office was that Cat Power is "Chanel's baby" and they fly her "all over the place" to play "all kinds of Chanel parties" for 30 minutes, making tens of thousands of dollars per show to do so. Not bad. Not bad. I too am a large, not massive nor psycho, Cat Power fan and was delighted to be standing in the doorway with the waiters to watch her play to a bunch of celebrities who talked at full party volume while they ate a tiny souffle prepared by Wolfgang Puck himself.

I played bass on tour with a band named Irving, who recently put out a covers E.P., which you can listen to on their page. I wasn't a part of the recording process, but did learn a lot about covering someone else's music- the most important fact being that half of what you earn for each song covered goes to the artist who wrote the song. As it should. (Interesting sidebar: both Irving and Bat For Lashes cover Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire.") A profit of fifty cents on the dollar is not a bad number to be pulling down, and with Cat Power now selling her SECOND full length covers album like crazy, she's making a whole lot of random people a whole lot of easy money.

Which leads me to believe that I really need to be writing songs for Cat Power to then cover. I mean her last original material record was when? 2002? 2003? People never stop writing good songs, so as far as I'm concerned she could put out 3 more solid cover albums. (Interesting sidebar: her cover records are good.) She needs to get up there and shake her cute little indie ass in those cute little indie jeans to the stripped down version of my unheard pop wonder, making Kate Beckinsale want to sit annoyingly higher on her boyfriends lap at the dinner table.

I won't mind if people talk during dessert.

Sam Johnson is a music programmer and plays in bands.