All These Fallen Trees sounds a bit more post-rock than Shoegaze, but “God Created Earth, We Created Heaven” hits a sweet mellow spot between Midsummer and Explosions in the Sky.
Two Guys In a Pizza Parlor Nail Toto’s “Africa”
March 14th, 2014I saw this on John Skipp’s Facebook page, and it came up at the SDC, so despite it already having 3 million hits, here’s two guys in a pizza parlor doing the best cover of Toto’s “Africa” you’ll hear, well, probably ever.
Mike Massie seems to have done a lot of other impressive covers, like this one of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”:
Or this one of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”:
And even Genesis’ “Home By The Sea”:
Indeed, it’s hard to go through this guy’s YouTube list and not find a great cover version.
Want to feel old? “Africa” came out in 1982, or 32 years ago. Go back 32 years before “Africa” and “Rock Around the Clock” was still 5 years away…
That’s It? That’s Your Guest Lineup?
March 13th, 2014I haven’t gone to Aggiecon for about a quarter century for reasons too detailed and annoying to get into here. But I have watched from a distance as serial administrative blunders have reduced the con to a shadow of its former self.
With that in mind, I thought you might be interested to know that Aggiecon has announced its guest lineup this year.
That’s right, a convention that used to boast such guests as Jack Williamson, Fred Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Greg Bear, Joe R. Lansdale and George R. R. Martin now has a guest list of two: a guy who co-writes a podcast and an anime voice actor. I’ve had better guest lists in my living room. Hell, I’ve had better guest lists in my living room when it was just me and Howard Waldrop.
I think I’ll be missing it again this year…
Updated to add: Someone has alerted me that Aggiecon has announced more guests on their Facebook page. Still no names to conjure with, but at least there are more of them. It also suggests that they’re so organizationally dysfunctional they can’t update their own website less than a month before the con…
Library Additions: Two More Signed Ray Bradbury First Editions
March 12th, 2014My habit of picking up signed Ray Bradbury first editions when I see them cheap continues apace:
Library Additions: Centipede Press Limited Edition of Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates
March 10th, 2014I recently got in some imperfect copies the Centipede Press limited edition of The Anubis Gates, and it’s completely off the hook:
Powers, Tim. The Anubis Gates. Centipede Press, 2014. First edition hardback thus, a Fine copy save two flaws (the slipcase keyhole cutout is about 1/4″ misaligned between the two halves, and it lacks the signature page) bound in decorated red and black velvet with a lenticular image embedded in the front cover, in a Fine slipcase. The thing is ginormous, resting in a two-part red velvet slipcase which houses the book and an accordion portfolio of the color art plates in the book, and includes an appendix of deleted scenes from the original manuscript and a fold-out map of 1810 London.
The entire assemblage is only a hair thinner than the traycased edition of George R. R. Martin’s GRRM.
I didn’t think I needed another Anubis Gates, since I have the PBO, the UK first, the Ziesing hardback, and the facsimile manuscript included with the ultralimited edition of the Berlyene bibliography. Plus I’m not a big fan of post-first limiteds in general. But this edition is so over-the-top I couldn’t pass up a chance to pick up copies at a bargain price. In fact, I still have a couple left at $75 a pop (first come first serve), which is a hefty discount over the $295 offering price on pristine copies…
Shoegazer Sunday: Meeks’ Covering The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”
March 9th, 2014A Shoegaze cover of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”?
Yep.
Would you believe that Japan’s Meeks has done an entire album of Shoegaze Beatles covers called Beatless?
This Is Spinal Tap Turns 30
March 2nd, 2014Thirty years ago today, from the place eardrums go to die, the Greatest Mockumentary Ever Told premiered:
Here’s Siskel & Ebert’s original review:
And this is pretty much obligatory:
Sunday Shoegazer: The Dune’s “Post Office Rock”
March 2nd, 2014For your Sunday dose of Shoegaze, here’s Australian shoegaze band The Dunes (sometimes spelled TheDunes) with “Post Office Rock,” another entry in the “Damn, waltz-time Shoegaze sounds really good” sweepsteaks. (See also: Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” and Auburn Lull’s “Arc of an Outsider.”)
Yelp’s Top 100 Places To Eat Include Six from the Austin Area
March 1st, 2014So Yelp has release a Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. list. Their ratings, being based on actual diners, are very different than high-end restaurant critics, and include six places around Austin:
Quick thoughts:
By comparison, only one place made the cut in Houston, and none in Dallas…
(Cross-posted to The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)
Aaron Allston, RIP
February 28th, 2014I’m floored by the news that Aaron Allston just died from a heart attack at age 53. I knew he had health issues, but had no idea any were that serious. I used to run into him fairly regularly at Indian restaurants in north Austin, as well as at cons and parties. Aaron wrote mostly media tie-in work, but I enjoyed the stories of his I read.
I should probably finally get around to reading Doc Sidhe, his Doc Savage pastiche…