The Vastater

• 1-Beck-Missing
• 2-Gomez-Hamoa Beach
• 3-Scissor Sisters-The Other Side
• 4-West Indian Girl-What Are You Afraid Of (Dert Remix)
• 5-Belle & Sebastian-Sukie In The Graveyard
• 6-Professor Frink-The Sound of Professor Frink Flinging a Microscope
• 7-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-In This Home On Ice
• 8-Built To Spill-The Plan
• 9-Say Hi To Your Mom-Blah Blah Blah
• 10-Bow Wow Wow-Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix)
• 11-The Radio Dept.-The Worst Taste In Music (Extended)
• 12-Cornelius-Chapter 8 - Seashore and Horizon
• 13-Caribou-Hello Hammerheads
• 14-The Polyphonic Spree-The Beginning Stages, Part 9 (Reach for the Sun)
• 15-America/Deepsky-Ventura Highway [Deepsky's Blizzard in L.A. Remix]
• 16-The Flaming Lips-The Sound of Failure
• 17-Ryuichi Sakamoto-War & Peace (Cornelius Remix)
• 18-Mathis from the Bronx-You gonna vastate me with those yankee tickets?
• 19-Nouvelle Vague-This Is Not A Love Song (Thievery Corporation Mix)

...and now you can download the mix as a zip file.

The War Room

This is me at work.

I turned my office into a war room.

More Cover Art

I took this picture on my way into work today. I was thinking that maybe the CD cover could have a bare winter tree with an overcast sky in the background as a cover.
I took three pictures, this is one of them.
The other two look pretty similar.
Alright. Now I need to do some work-style work.

Deciding on Cover Art

I need to decide on the cover art. I just designed two covers based on the concept I had. Here's the idea, or perhaps I should say, here was the idea. I wanted a picture where both my arms were up, my right hand forming a "V" and my left hand clutching a few CDs. The "V" would form the first letter of the word Vastater. The image of me would be warholized in some way, and my arms would go up either side of the hole on the CD. Like I said: that was the concept.

This weekend I was out on a balcony in midtown Manhattan with the whole city beneath me. It would have been a great background for the picture I wanted to get. The only problem was finding someone who could take the picture. I ended up with a lot of bad, blurry, or otherwise poor-looking photos. There was only one picture that I thought I could salvage.

Here's the original picture:

Graphics are the bane of my existance. I don't have any real graphic programs other than Picasa, Paint, a picture resizer and the CD cover maker program. I can't ever seem to do the things I want to do. Here's what I would have prefered to do with the picture below. I wanted to invert the background so that it's white instead of black, and distort my own colors so I look orange. I got the orange part to work, but not the rest. This cover is going to suck for a number of reasons: black backgrounds never come up good. Also, the Astron Boy font is too delicate to show up well on a CD label printed on an inkjet printer. But here's what it looks like.

I removed the "The" in "The Vastater" because I didn't like the way it looked near "The Mennu Method." Then I tried to invert the colors, but instead I got an embossed image.

Again, if I could figure out how to make the backgound white instead of grey, I'd be in much better shape. If I could find a font that would look more embossed it would be cooler. Wait, I think I have one. Let's have a look:

It still looks like crap but I need to do a little work on the mixing, and really, I just want to go to sleep. Maybe I can get another photo tomorrow. Maybe I should turn off the computer and watch the end of the football game.

Incidental Poetry

We'll take notes
to the place
where taking notes
is taking place 

The Making of a Mix

I wanted to have a new mix ready for “the holiday season.” I made my first CD mix in three years this past summer. It was very well received. In the three years between proper CD releases, I’ve handed out four hour archive mp3 CDs. While those CDs had limited distribution, the people who received them were always more than happy to sift though them and cut them down to a size and a composition more to their liking. I’ve also made some mixes that are available either as huge hour long .wma files, or even better, as web-only mixes. You can check many of those out at mennu.com/extras.

People like CD mixes and they make great gifts. There’s a lot that goes into a CD mix and I’m a perfectionist when it comes to these things. I don’t want to release it until I’m completely satisfied with it: which is almost never. But this time, I’m determined. I’m going to have the mix ready to roll in a week. I have some ideas for the cover art: it’s going to take a camera, someone to use it, some digital photo effects, CD envelopes (preferably blue), labels of various shapes and sizes and lots of printer ink.

In order to get the process started, I threw a bunch of the songs that I’ve been listening to into a playlist in some kind of order. Version 0.5 is the first version: I won’t go into the song selection in too much detail, but here’s a general idea:

Version 0.5

• 1-Pet Grief-The Radio Dept. (I discovered The Radio Dept. on the Marie Antoinette soundtrack which my nephew Yonadav sent me. I got hooked instantly and downloaded their album so I tried two tracks out on this proto-mix. I didn’t want to use anything from the soundtrack, since I was already going to use the Bow Wow Wow track.)
• 2-Missing-Beck (In 2005 Beck released two albums, Guero and it’s mutated brother Guerolito, the remix of the former. The remix version of this track was called Heaven Hammer and was done by Air, one of my all time favorites. I was infatuated by it, particularly in the summer of 05. This year, Beck released a new album called The Information, which my father (!) bought. I did a little revisit of the recent beck corpus and decided that I like this version of this song better than the remake.)
• 3-Hamoa Beach-Gomez
• 4-Oh Shoplifter-The Stills (A risk. I’m not really sure if this fits, but I like it.)
• 5-The Worst Taste In Music (Extended)-The Radio Dept.
• 6-Blah Blah Blah-Say Hi To Your Mom (When I tell a friend of mine that I’m putting Say Hi To Your Mom on my mix, he’s instantly disappointed that I’m not using Let’s Talk About Space Ships. I remind him that I’m ostensibly saving that for my Space Mix. This offers my friend no comfort since I’ve been working on the Space Mix for three years now. I just feel that for a topic that awesome, I need to make sure all the tracks are perfect. I also think this track goes well with the next one.)
• 7-In This Home On Ice-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• 8-The Other Side-Scissor Sisters (Been listening to a lot of Scissor Sisters: particularly their remake of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. This track has a smooth feel that, like a seedless grape, is hard to refuse.)
• 9-What Are you Afraid Of (Dert Remix)-West Indian Girl (The regular mix of this is pretty good too, but I like the upbeat feel of this one.)
• 10-Friendship Update-The Go! Team (Yes, I know I put this on the online playlist, but it’s so good!)
• 11-Chapter 8 - Seashore an-Cornelius (An acoustic sounding pop track by a Japanese DJ.)
• 12-Moonlight Feels Right-Starbuck (Dreaded Midnight Oldie. I remember hearing this song on the AM radio when I was a kid. What does that make me, 100? I’ve also been watching the new Battlestar Galactica on Netflix, and there’s a Starbuck, but she’s a woman.)
• 13-Joy-Apollo 100 (Heard this one in an underground grotto called Double Happiness in Chinatown. It made me crazy that I couldn’t quite spot the song even though it sounded so familiar. I sought out the DJ and when he told me who it was I wrote it down on a cocktail napkin. Turns out I had it on the Boogie Nights soundtrack. I’ve been told it was also used on the 40 Year Old Virgin soundtrack.)
• 14-The Wait-Built to Spill (Slow but good like carmel.)
• 15-The Sound of Failure-The Flaming Lips (I used The Flaming Lips on my Wednesday mix.)
• 16-Hello Hammerheads-Caribou (See #10)
• 17-Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix)-Bow Wow Wow
• 18-War & Peace (Cornelius Remix)-Ryuichi Sakamoto (Listen to this with headphones.)
• 19-This Is Not A Love Song (Thievery Corporation Mix)-Nouvelle Vague (Nouvelle Vague and Thievery? Like a peanut butter cup: two great tastes in one candy track.)

Before the above version could make it to CD it needed some changes. One of the Radio Dept. tracks had to go. I also added in some sound clips, which were, as in Belmar, taken from Patricia T. O’Connor’s monthly visit to The Leonard Lopate Show.

Version 0.8

• 1-Missing-Beck
• 2-Hamoa Beach-Gomez
• 3-The Other Side-Scissor Sisters
• 4-What Are you Afraid Of (Dert Remix)-West Indian Girl
• 5-to vastate-The Leonard Lopate Show
• 6-Blah Blah Blah-Say Hi To Your Mom
• 7-In This Home On Ice-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• 8-Oh Shoplifter-The Stills
• 9-The Worst Taste In Music (Extended)-The Radio Dept.
• 10-Friendship Update-The Go! Team
• 11-Chapter 8 - Seashore an-Cornelius
• 12-Joy-Apollo 100
• 13-Moonlight Feels Right-Starbuck
• 14-Hello Hammerheads-Caribou
• 15-Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix)-Bow Wow Wow
• 16-The Wait-Built to Spill
• 17-The Sound of Failure-The Flaming Lips
• 18-War & Peace (Cornelius Remix)-Ryuichi Sakamoto
• 19-You gonna vastate me with those yankee tickets?-The Leonard Lopate Show
• 20-This Is Not A Love Song (Thievery Corporation Mix)-Nouvelle Vague

I handed out a number of copies, and have asked for feedback by tomorrow. I only got a little quality feedback. I also made a few decisions about the order, flow and song selection. It’s always a shame when you have to remove a song because of some kind of skip in the track. It’s like putting your beloved pet down because you can’t afford the cure. That was the fate of The Go! Team. See more notes near the track listings.

Version 0.82

• 1-Missing-Beck
• 2-Hamoa Beach-Gomez
• 3-The Other Side-Scissor Sisters
• 4-What Are you Afraid Of (Dert Remix)-West Indian Girl
• 5-to vastate-The Leonard Lopate Show
• 6-Manitoba-Tapes 'N Tapes (I wanted to put another track, called Insistor on this mix, but it’s got too much oomph for this setlist. Manitoba starts gently and then works its way up.)
• 7-Sukie In The Graveyard-Belle & Sebastian (I can’t believe that this wasn’t on the previous versions. I sent myself an email from work to remind me to put this track on.)
• 8-the sound of frink flinging-professor frink (I needed something to ease the transitions between these two songs. This one second clip does that nicely.)
• 9-In This Home On Ice-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• 10-Oh Shoplifter-The Stills
• 11-The Wait-Built to Spill (Moved up.)
• 12-Blah Blah Blah-Say Hi To Your Mom (Now separated from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I may drop it entirely.)
• 13-Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix)-Bow Wow Wow
• 14-The Worst Taste In Music (Extended)-The Radio Dept.
• 15-Chapter 8 - Seashore an-Cornelius
• 16-Joy-Apollo 100
• 17-Hello Hammerheads-Caribou
• 18-The Beginning Stages, Part 9 (Reach for the Sun)-The Polyphonic Spree (Glad I could squeeze this one in. I was going to use The Beginning Stages, Part 7 (Hangin’ Around), but I decided on this one.
• 19-Ventura Highway [Deepsky's Blizzard in L.A. Remix]-America/Deepsky (Replaces Starbuck as the Dreaded Midnight Oldie, except this has more modern production in this remix version.)
• 20-The Sound of Failure-The Flaming Lips
• 21-War & Peace (Cornelius Remix)-Ryuichi Sakamoto
• 22-You gonna vastate me with those yankee tickets?-The Leonard Lopate Show
• 23-This Is Not A Love Song (Thievery Corporation Mix)-Nouvelle Vague

And I’ve been thinking about adding a track by The Decemberists. Cool bands have names that start with “The.” An 80’s band capitalized on this by naming themselves “The The.” Anyhow, I’ve been listening to the new Decemberists album called “The Crane Wife” and I can’t decide which track stands out on its own. It’s a concept album that I think sounds good as a straight listen-through. On the other hand, there’s a track called “On The Bus Mall” from their 2005 album, Picaresque. I think I can squeeze it onto this mix. But I also want to put on “Casimir Pulaski Day” by Sufjan Stevens. If I add those two tracks it would create a whole new mix. Maybe that one can have The Acid House Kings on it. I don’t know if I can make a whole acoustic sounding mix. I would definitely put on “Real Love” by Mike Doughty and “Getaway” by Danny Golub if I were to make an acoustic mix. But I fear that I would be picking up stuff that I should have put on a mix two years ago. Ah the deliberation! But this is why some mixes never get made and I end up with a huge 4 hour archive.

I’ll deal with these thoughts on another occasion. This mix has a definite deadline: it needs to be done in a week so I’ll have enough post-production time before Chanukah. So I’ll leave it for now.

The acoustic mix should also have Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins on it. But should it have Happy or Rabbit Fur Coat? (Oh, here I go again!)

Now I’m really leaving it.

(How about something from Thom Yorke’s album?)

Halfway There

I'm working on a new mix. I would like to have it done in the next week or so while I have a few free evenings. It's starting to take some kind of form. At this point I have about half an hour of music; about half of a mix. That's where making a mix starts getting difficult. I have some choices to make:

• keep it poppy?
• make it more rocking?
• be more spaced out?
• mellow?
• 80's redux sound?
• some slick 70's?

Well, whatever. I'm sure my desicion will be the right one, or at least I would prefer that it seems that way.

I reorganized my "extras" page. Now it has all my downloadable mixes in one place. Some are zipped folders of mp3s and others are wma files. I should probably clarify which is which on the page. Ach. Alright, here goes:

• Belmar (zip)
• Darkside of the Covers (zip)
• Under the Covers...(zip)
• Wednesday(zip)
• The Future (wma)
• Yonadude (wma)
• Taxday (wma)
• Nordic Invasion (wma)

So, enjoy the music, and stay tuned for my forthcoming half done mix.

I've Been Warholized

Gibberish!

So this morning I was thinking about an old Saturday Night Live sketch from 1976 with Dan Ackroyd and Eric Idle called "Plain Talk." I lost my videotape of it but still have it committed to memory. Since the web now has all things ever seen or spoken, I was able to find a transcript of it. The delivery of gibberish is priceless and has resulted in decades of smirks for myself and select group of python-minded geeks.

I suggested the link to a group of my friends who have been trying to develop an International Talk Like a Lunatic Day. Well, needless to say, the looney gibberish began to flow. But coming up with gibberish can sometimes be a chore. So here's what I found:

• The Corporate Gibberish Generator™ by Andrew Davidson: This handy site will create the kind of gibberish you see on company websites. It's a robust offering!
• Blippity Fling-Flang: This generator takes your actual words and turns them into cutesy sounding nonsense. You can run entire websites through it. See what it does to this blog.
• E-Learning Gibberish Generator: Not as hilarious as the others, it will create internet gibberish. I've included it here to be thorough. If anything I try to be thoroughly silly.
• The Generator Blog: Talk about robust, this thing is off the hook! It's a blog of generators. I made this cassette with it...

Open Claw Speaking

Yesterday I sat in a seminar for much of the day.

By the afternoon I had grown weary of the subject matter, and was instead fascinated by the gesticulations of the speaker.

I noted her techniques of "Open Claw Speaking," and made a list of her many styles:

• Open Claw Speaking giving way to Finger Mesh
• Claw Rotator
• Open Palm "Wax On"
• Two Finger Windshield Wiper
• Invisible Inverted Longhorn Outline
• Progressive Chop
• Orb Polisher
• Wafter
• Alternating Flipper

And then I wondered what would happen were she to battle Donald Rumsfeld with his 1000 Styles.

One can only wonder...

Panic!

Another mennu method wednesday at the loop lounge.Wednesday, September 27, 2006
11:00PM
In the front.
Be there.

Happy 5767

"...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

-Isaiah 2:4

May we all be inscribed in the book of life and good deeds.

Speaking of Revolutions

It cracks me up.

Just yesterday I was musing on peaceful revolutions with colors, fragrances, petals, etc.

And today, on my way to work I hear about a peaceful coup in Thailand.

Now all they need is a catchy name...

Revolutions

While listening to the news this morning, I heard about the current crisis going on in Hungary. There's a scandal over comments the Hungarian prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, made in a private address to his party. Here's the excerpt:

They can understand that it is worth being a politician here at the beginning of the 21st Century because we can create a different world. Only for this. Livelihood can be found in many other ways.

I know that this is easy for me to say. I know. Do not keep bringing it up against me. But this is the only reason it is worth doing it. I almost perished because I had to pretend for 18 months that we were governing.

Instead, we lied morning, noon and night. I do not want to carry on with this. Either we do it and have the personnel for it, or others will do it. I will never give an interview at the end of which we part with each other in argument. Never. I will never hurt the Hungarian left. Never.

I shouldn't pretend to understand anything about the situation there, but when the BBC broadcaster mentioned that it is the most significant event in Hungary since the end of communism, it made me think about revolutions.

I prefer my revolutions to be non-violent and brightly colored, otherwise I like them to have a nice soft feel and a pleasant aroma:

• The Rose Revolution of Georgia in 2003 to depose their corrupt government.*
• The Orange Revolution in the Ukraine in 2004 over election fraud.
• The Tulip Revolution of 2005 in Kyrgyzstan which deposed Askar Akayev. (Interesting note: In the early stages of the revolution, the media variously referred to the unrest as the "Pink," "Lemon", "Silk", "Daffodil", or "Sandpaper" Revolution. But it was "Tulip Revolution," a term that Akayev himself used in a speech warning that no such Color Revolution should happen in Kyrgyzstan, which stuck in the end. )
• The Cedar Revolution of 2005 in Lebanon to get rid of Syrian troops from that country.
• The Velvet Revolution of Czechoslovakia in 1989 to get rid of communism.
• The Singing Revolution of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania of 1988-1990 which led to those countries becoming independant from the Soviet Union.
• I think all of these can be personified in Prince.

*Many of the European revolutions were due to the efforts of George Soros.

September 11, 2006

Some people went to solemn assemblies on September 11. I stood up to the terrorists by continuing with my way of life. And that involves Monday Night Football. But I didn't want to miss the president's address. So I decided to put a splitter on my cable wire and hook up a second television. And then, just to gratuitously emulate Elvis, I hooked up a third.

So I had Bush speaking right in front of me, the football game on the right, and, Star Trek, why not, on the left.

I have an equal distaste for both Bush and Gowron.

Perpendicular Rediculousness

I'm always running out of hard drive space.

My 250 gigabyte hard drive is almost completely full of music. I know it's a lot of music, but I still need more space. How else will I be able to achieve my goal of collecting all the music of the 20th and 21st centuries? I've been waiting for the 500 gig drives to drop down to around $100. I figure that should happen by Presidents Day of 2007, if not sooner.

Hard drive manufacturers are working on ways to fit more data on a hard drive. Hitachi has been developing something called Perpendicular Recording which they explain in white paper entitled, and I'm not making this up, "Perpendicular Recording: A Boon For Consumer Electronics." As some of my readers may know, I'm a fan of the word "boon" and I try to use it whenever appropriate. Then again, I try to speak with as much pizzazz as I can. But I digress. Let me return to the subject at hand: perpendicular recording. To explain this new technology, the folks at Hitachi have made an utterly rediculous flash animation called "Get Perpendicular."

You can watch it by clicking here.

Anything Can Happen Day

As you may or may not know,
Wednesday is
"Anything Can Happen Day."

So I put together a mix today.

And figured I would put it online today.
Yes................................................TODAY!

I'm also going to put up a copy of
my Pink Floyd Covers Mix,
"Dark Side of the Covers."

And if I have time,
I'll also post
"under the covers with the mennu method."

No wait,
my computer can't keep up.

Alright, the other mix will go up tomorrow.
Or later tonight.

Did I say not today?
I meant TODAY!
Here's the covers mix:
"under the covers with the mennu method."

Modern Inventions Hinder the Development of Wisdom

Here's a complaint about a modern innovation which has become ubiquitous in our time:

The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.

I know what you're thinking. It's computers right?
Wrong.
It's Socrates complaining about his students use of writing.
You can read more about it in Plato's book Phaedrus.

Having Nothing to Say

Benjamin Disraeli said:

It is better to remain silent and have people say, "I wonder what he's thinking," than to speak up and have people say, "I wonder why he spoke."

Rabbi Yechiel Fishman, the fish

Click on the picture to go to the slide show which tells the tale, or should I say tail, or maybe the tale of the tail of Rabbi Yechiel Fishman, the fish. He was delicious for two days. I haven't figured out how to make the captions show automatically, so you need to leave your mouse over the slide show. Good luck. I'll post the recipe and the method soon. Although I think I've spent a little too much time on this fish already.

Last Night at the Loop

Last night I had a guest DJ spot at the Loop Lounge.
It's been my goal to DJ there for a while, and I'm very happy to have had the opportunity.
I also want to thank all my friends for coming out, particularly those who managed to get in from Manhattan.

Here's last night's playlist:

1-Let's Go Crazy-Prince & the Revolution
2-Action Figure Party-Action Figure Party
3-Rock the Casbah-The Clash
4-Three Pump Chump-Slunt
5-One More Time-Joe Jackson
6-Winter Wooskie-Belle & Sebastian
7-Rotating Head-English Beat
8-Chicharrons N Boogaloo-Chicharrons
9-Dance In My Blood-Men, Women & Children
10-Interesting Drug-Morrissey
11-Such Great Heights-The Postal Service
12-Maps-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
13-Ladyflash-The Go! Team
14-My My Metrocard-Le Tigre
15-Chauffeur-The Fitness
16-Autopilot-Golden Boy with Miss Kittin
17-Groove Is In The Heart-Deee-Lite

Under The Covers

I'm working on a new mix tentatively titled: "under the covers with the mennu method."

You can listen to it as one big hairy, but high quality .wma file. I've had problems downloading it with Internet Explorer, but no problems at all doing it with Firefox. Oh yeah, here's the file.

Otherwise you can read the playlist and hum the tunes to yourself...

1. Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins (Travelling Wilburys)
2. Lets Go To Bed - Ivy (The Cure)
3. Just Can't Get Enough - Nouvelle Vague (Depeche Mode)
4. Sympathy for the Devil - Bossa N' Stones (The Rolling Stones)
5. Stayin Alive - Ozzy Osbourne (The Bee Gees)
6. Faith - The Boy Least Likely To (George Michael)
7. Lost In The Supermarket - The Afghan Whigs (The Clash)
8. Rusty Cage - Johnny Cash (Soundgarden)
9. Hot for Teacher - Lounge Against The Machine (Van Halen)
10. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda (The Animals)
11. Common People - Pulp (William Shatner)
12. Jump Into The Fire - LCD Soundsystem (Harry Nilsson)
13. Paint It Black - U2 (The Rolling Stones)
14. How Soon Is Now? - t.A.T.u. (The Smiths)
15. Pop Life - Life Without Buildings (Prince)
16. Gin and Juice - The Gourds (Snoop Doggy Dog)
17. Boyz N The Hood - Dynamite Hack (N.W.A.)
18. Across the Universe - Rufus Wainwright (The Beatles)
19. Pink Moon - Beck (Nick Drake)
20. Wonderwall - Radiohead (Oasis)
21. Within You Without You - Alan Lorber Orchestra (The Beatles)
22. Private Eyes - Towa Tei (Hall & Oates)
    

Everyone Wants To Be Like Mennu

I need to have a talk with the Japanese Prime Minister. He needs to come up with his own sense of personal style.

Silver Jews - People

On my recent mix, Belmar, I included a track by Silver Jews. It's the oldest song on the mix (1998), but it's gotten a huge response from, well, People. People love this track. Here's a sample of the lyrics:

"I love to see a rainbow from a garden hose
lit up like the blood of a centerfold
I love the city and the city rain,
suburban kids with biblical names.

People ask people to watch their scotch.
People send people up to the moon.
When they return, well there isn't much.
People be careful not to crest too soon. "

You can read the rest of the lyrics here.

They're going to be performing in Tel Aviv on July 10-11. (The shows are sold out!)

Blathering on and on over instant messenger when I was asked a really simple question

T: what's your scene right about now?
mennu: right now right now I'm in my underwear contemplating going downstairs to get my shorts on and go to the quick check to get a cuppa coff, after which I'll return and do some job applications while waiting for a call from TD waterhouse which will then necessitate a trip to Paramus. Once out, of course, I could take a trip out to MetroWest and drop off my grades and graded final exams and talk to sue about next year, but at the moment I'm listening to "Cassettes Won't Listen - Lunch for Breakfast" which is apropo since I haven't had anything to eat today, and I'm also trying to get a rough draft of the coverart for the rough draft of the mix.

Greetings From Belmar, NJ

Click on this picture (or here) to check out my new mix called "Belmar."

The mix is currently going into the later stages of production and should be ready as a CD mix by July 4th weekend. That's right. A mix. On a CD. A CD-flavored CD. Like the kind you put into a CD player.

In the meantime, you can listen to it online as I gather together materials, and decide on the cover art and packaging.

Josh Cheslow: The Mayor of Marshmallows and a Puppety Oddball

Next in my series of ringtones, here's Josh Cheslow with his ringtone. Click on the image (or here) to launch the flash animation.
This best exemplifies what goes on in my mind when The Chezz calls. 

The Gratuitously Long Post Title Which Does Its Best To Emulate The Very Long Song Titles Listed on Wikipedia Under A Similar Heading

Check out this Wikipedia entry for Songs With Particularly Long Song Titles. It loooks like a solid competition between:

1. Sufjan Stevens (4)
2. Of Montreal (3)*
3. The Flaming Lips (2)

My Favorite Titles:

• The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them until They Are off Our Lands! By Sufjan Stevens (Illinois)
• Regretting What I Said to You When You Called Me At 11:00 On Friday Morning To Tell Me That 1:00 Friday Afternoon You Were Gonna Leave Your Office, Go Downstairs, Hail A Cab, To Go Out To The Airport, To Catch A Plane, To Go Skiing In The Alps For Two Weeks. Not That I Wanted To Go With You; I Wasn't Able To Leave Town, I'm Not A Very Good Skier, I Couldn't Expect You To Pay My Way, But After Going Out With You For Three Years, I Don't Like Surprises. (A Musical Apology) By Christine Lavin (Future Fossils)
• I Got My Heart Broken By A Girl On Myspace®, Tragedies Like This Have Left Me Wondering Where Exactly My Life Is Going and Made Me Consider Spending Less Time By The Computer. By Sever The Head of Potemkin.
• I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with my Honolulu Mama Doin’ Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-on-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues. By Hoagy Carmichael.
• Multi-Variational Stimuli of Sub-Turgid Foci Covering Cross Evaluative Techniques for Cognitive Analysis of Hypersignificant Graph Peaks Following Those Intersubjective Modules Having Biodegradable Seepage. By Man or Astroman (A Spectrum of Infinite Scale).
  

*Two of them are about Dustin Hoffman in one way or another.

Music at the Push of a Button

I'm working on a big mix for the summer. So I've spent a lot of time sifting through music, and my computer has not been holding up well. The computer regualrly overheats and has no more storage space. It takes the computer about 7 minutes to boot up, which is a pretty long time.

This morning I made a disc to listen to in the car while I go and get my coffee. I decided to shut the computer down, before I left so it would not overheat.

When I got home with my hot coffee, I had a number of very good ideas about what to put on and off the mix. I was excited to make the playlist updates on the computer. I nearly lost my enthusiasm when I thought about how long it would take to boot the computer up. As the computer began its long start-up sequence, I glanced at my clock-radio(pictured), and thought, "music at the push of a button! How novel!" I pushed the on button and was instantaneously able to enjoy mid-day jazz from Newark. The speed of delivery made my head spin.

Two Options:
1 - You could click here and listen to my local jazz station wherever you are.
2 - You could click here and listen to Clock Radio by Action Figure Party. 

Picture in Grayscale

I just downloaded Picasa from Google. It's easy to use: it took a minute to take my picture, make it grayscale and post it here.

Now I need more data storage for more music projects. I'll need a good 500 gigs, at least.

This summer's mix is on the way. Keep the suggestions to yourself and consider the following:

• Jenny Lewis and Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
• Theivery Corporation - Versions
• The Boy Least Likely To - The Best Party Ever
• There's more, but I don't' want to give too much away. Let's just say that there's going to be a lot of covers, some comedy, sound clips, and maybe even something original.
• Wait-n-see....
  
  

The Dude On Hell Day

Click on the picture above to get a page with the dude and his custom ringtone from my phone.
Making this was a complete and utter waste of time.
Just the latest from the Ministry of Silly Things.

Happy Hell Day

Prepare To Face The Consequences

The Consequences catch up with you again Wed night June 7th @Midway, 8:30 PM.

Club Midway (formerly Scenic/Guernica/Save-the-Robots)
25 Ave B
between 2nd & 3rd St.

$5 Cover
Tell the door staff you're there to see "The Consequences".

Goodbye Ironhead

Craig "Ironhead" Heyward died this week. He was a decent football player, and a total mess of a human being. He is probably best remembered for his commercial for Zest bodywash.

When I was in high school, my friends and I would meet for a football game on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We called the game "The Turkey Bowl" and we would play tackle, with no pads. Since it was a pickup game, anyone who was in the park could play if they wanted. I was a little late for Turkey Bowl 1982, and as I arrived, my friends came over and told me, in concerned tones, that Ironhead was playing for the other team.
"Who's Ironhead?"
"His name is Craig Heyward, he's, like, all-state or something at Passaic High."
"Well so what?"
"He's really good."
I was undaunted by my friends warnings and I told them that I would play quarterback if they were too scared. My friends agreed and I took my first snap, keeping an eye on Ironhead who was playing in a linebacker position opposite me. I dropped back to pass, and while looking for an open receiver, I saw Ironhead rush in on a delayed blitz. Right before he would have made contact with me, I pump faked and got out of his way. Ironhead breezed past me and I headed down the field. I was amazed at how easily I eluded him, and was concerned about two defenders converging toward me from opposite sides of the field. I sprinted as fast as I could, trying to thread the needle and get through the two defenders. Before I could reach that point, I was hit from behind by Craig's iron head. Not only did he manage to change directions and catch up with me downfield, he hit me with such force that the lenses popped out of my glasses. Mimicking my favorite football players, I popped up ready for the next play, while trying to mask my pain and the fact that I had the wind knocked out of me.

The strategy for the rest of the game was to keep the ball away from Ironhead.

Last night when I showered in Passaic, I gave a long sigh when I picked up my lather thingie.

Craig Heyward 1966-2006

schadenfreude

schadenfreude: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.
Etymology: German, from Schaden damage + Freude joy

Best exemplified by watching Jimmy Kimmel get bitten by a snake.

Bartok the Randomizer as Guru

Here's a great setlist from Bartok. He played it for me when I was having a rough morning. By the time I had arrived at my destination I felt as though I had attained enlightenment. All this bliss was achieved without using any kind of POD, but rather, by using the technology produced by the good folks over at Creative Labs.

Bartok's Enlightenment mix:

1. Gâyatrî Mantra (a prayer of praise that awakens the vital energies and gives liberation) - From the Rig Veda (2500BCE)
2. Israel 70 - Danny Ben Israel - Bullshit 3 ¼ (1970)
3. At Least We Were Together - Moby - 18 (2002)
4. Open the Door of Peace - Critters Buggin - Stampede (2005)
5. Capricorn Dance - The Platina - The Girl With The Flaxen Hair (1976)
6. Kafo Fite - The African Divas - The Rough Guide to Global Dance: World Beat Carnival - All Areas Access (2000)
7. Take Me Inside - Christophe Goze mix, with Afterlife/Dannii Minogue - Buddha-Bar, Vol. 7 (2005)
8. Natural Blues - Moby - Play (1999)
9. Lama Li Politika Achshav - Mashina - Ladies and Gentlemen... (1989)

Bartok the Randomizer

Bartok the Randomizer is truly amazing, but he is not long for this world.

The power recharger cord is frayed; the wires are exposed and don't charge Bartok any longer.

Bartok has been having other troubles. He seems to have lost sound on one side, so the music no longer plays in stereo. In fact, music with a high level of separation, like The Beatles, sounds really bad. You can either hear the lead vocals or the backups vocals, but rarely both. You get the picture.

So although it's a little too early to eulogize my trusty old friend, I will instead post playlists which have exemplified some of Bartok's brilliance. I have spent many mornings driving to work and wondering how Bartok was able to feel my mood and play the best songs for the moment. These are actual playlists, with Bartok set on "random." These mixes are his and not mine:

Mix #1

1. Put A Needle On The Record - Luscious Jackson - Natural Ingredients (1994)
2. Sangue Quente - Guilherme Vergueiro - Brazil Boogie (2002)
3. Bright Nights (feat. Yukimi Nagano) - Koop - Waltz for Koop (2002)
4. Love Cliche - Bran Van 3000 - Discosis (2001)
5. Ramblin Man - The Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters (1973)
6. Better Days - Lord Flimnap - Point of View (1986)
7. Late In The Evening - Paul Simon - One Trick Pony (1980)
8. If I Like It, I Do It - Jamiroquai - Emergency On Planet Earth (1993)
9. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) - Bruce Springsteen - Live 1975-1985 (1986)
10. Swoon Units - Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (1993)

Mix #2

1. Beast Simone - Exit Clov - Starfish - (2003)
2. Bug Powder Dust - Bomb The Bass - The K&D Sessions (1998)
3. Another Brick in the Wall Part II - Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
4. Stepchild - Bran Van 3000 - Discosis (2001)
5. Rainmaker - Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
6. Magic In The Air - Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000)
7. You Can't Turn Me Away - Sylvia Striplin - AnotherLateNight: Zero 7 (2005)
8. Something's Got To Give - The Beastie Boys - Check Your Head (1992)
9. I Love Every Little Thing About You - Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind (1972)
10. Trouble - Coldplay - bootleg (2001?)

New Stuff!

• Retro radio blog: July 26, 2002. An encore presentation of the mennu method streaming web station circa '02.
  
• Passover 2006 donation cup. Well, to be honest, the cash would help. They ain't giving out the imported wine for free!
  
• Still have that gig...So why not stop by?
  

Gig Alert

I'll be hosting another night of mennu method music on Sunday, April 2, at 7:00PM-12:00 at the mocca lounge. They have a decent menu, good atmosphere, an impressive variety of cocktails, and some of the best music you'll hear on a Sunday night.

When: Sunday, April 2, 2006 from 7:00PM till around midnight.
Where: Mocca Lounge (corner of Church and Reade Streets)
Cover: None!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I made a playlist to help all you get ready for St. Pats day, a day when we all feel Irish. To hear the music click here.

I am really hoping that I can make a pre-pre-shabbat scene at Fitzgerald's Harp and Bard in Clifton where my cousins John and Jon will be playing from noon to 6:00.

Yehuda Galantz: Go Daven Already

Hilarious video.

Another Winner!

Last night was fantastic! What a great time!
I want to thank the Richter Brothers, who are true champions. Another off the hook purim!
I want to thank all the people who came out.
I especially want to thank all the folks who hooted, hollered, gave me the "thumbs up," and danced all night. The late crowd rocks!
Last but not least, I want to thank the Dude for doing a great job of hoidling and hosting the after party. Rock on!

And by the way, I'll be spinning again this Sunday night at Mocca.
Come on by...

Preview the New Setlist

I'm still working on it...particularly the colors. They are really gross!
Playlist is shaping up though.

click here

the annual richter brothers purim bash

It's official. This year's purim party will be held on Monday, March 13, 2006, at Star: 246 Columbus Avenue (between 71st and 72nd), New York, NY.

Click here to see the full invite.

Time to work on the setlist...

Matisyahu and Basketball

I know I should have a post about my forthcoming Purim party.
Maybe a post explaining the blue and white mix.
I should change my playlist on the jukebox.
I should do lots of things. But this is too funny.
Hasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu shows off his wicked basketball skillz.

Check it out.

mennu method blue and white radio blog

I got a call today from someone looking for an Israeli DJ. It's hard to describe the type of Israeli music that I like because there's such a good range of it. So I made a radioblog like the one on the right over there. All the artist on the jukebox are Israeli, regardless of whether they sing in English or Hebrew. Some of it's instrumental. I'll write a more detailed description of it later.

Click here for the mennu method
blue and white radio blog

mennu method at mocca

Every other week I'll be hosting an Israeli evening at the mocca lounge:

• Dinner will be served "Israeli Steak House" style. Totally alla keffak.
• A vintage Israeli movie will be screened.
• A DJ set featuring some of the best Israeli music from the '60's until today.

Stay tuned for more details, or join my mailing list:
http://groups.google.com/group/mennumethod

#1: First Playlist

Here's a little bit about my first playlist. The biggest problem I had was the order of the songs. I hope to work it out soon.

1. Chaser - Blue Planet: One of my all time favorite songs. Sometimes I get fed up with this planet and think of leaving, and then something happens, or I'll see something and it makes me think that this planet isn't so bad after all. This song reminds me of this concept. Over the years I listened to it on the " Om Lounge 3" compilation, but this version is actually from the Fila Brazillia - " Brazillification" album.
2. The Go! Team - Friendship Update: The Go! Team's album " Thunder, Lightning, Strike" was recommended to me by An Elf. When I listen to their album, I feel like I'm in my own Kill Bill movie. It's got that retro cool sound made by people who listened to a lot of Run-DMC as kids.
3. Caribou - Hello Hammerheads: Another recommendation by An Elf. Their album, " The Milk of Human Kindness" is chock full of really interesting stuff.
4. Belle & Sebastian - Waiting for the Moon to Rise: Although they have a new album, I took this track off the excellently named album "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant.
5. Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better: Got this one off the Erlend Øye "DJ Kicks." The album features a lot of artists from the Astralwerks label, but often, Erlend sings along with the tune, usually imposing the lyrics of one song over another one. This track is a lot of fun.
6. Kings of Convenience - Leaning Against a Wall (Evil Tordevil Remix): from "Versus." The melancholy of the lyrics contrast with upbeat remix. A few years ago I downloaded almost all the tracks on this album. I finally rounded out the collection.
7. David Holmes - Gritty Shaker: from "Lets Get Killed." I love the talking he does in the beginning, but most of all, I think that the term "Gritty Shaker" is a good description of some of my friends. I wish I was able to control the order of the mix, because this song would have appeared at a different point and not in the middle of my Scandinavian mix.
8. Acid House Kings - Sunday Morning: I got turned onto this group recently and I can't get enough of them. Check them out: http://www.acidhousekings.com/
9. Mo' Horizons - Soho Vibes: From "Remember Tomorrow." Recently, while I was buying CDs in Israel, the shop keeper turned me on to a number of recent Israeli dub reggae albums, but he felt that it was necessary that I add this gem of a CD into my collection.
10. Sylk 130 - Funk Hut: From "This Is What Radio Should Sound Like," by King Britt. A very very funky track.
11. Super Furry Animals - Back on a Roll: From their new album called "Love Kraft." These guys are way too much fun. It's like straightforward rock and roll.
12. Pizzicato Five - Tout Va Bien (Towa Tai Mix): From "Expo 2001."

Introducing the mennu method radio blog!

Holy schlamola, I can't believe it! I'm back on the air!

See that little player in the corner? I'll be changing the playlist once a week. It'll be like getting a new mix every single week. Wow. So durn easy to do on my end.

I'll be putting together a track list with links and explanations for this first playlist as soon as I have a spare hour or two.

For now, I have to get downtown to the mocca lounge to figure out what's gonna be next Monday night for my birthday. I think I need to DJ. I am itching to climb into the DJ booth like nobody's business.

We'll see...

For now, enjoy the tunes and please, please, please give me feedback on the player, playlist and the radio blog concept as a whole.

Again: Yay!

They Should Teach This In School

...but they don't.

So I learned something very important the other day. It's something that should be obvious to most people, I guess that's why they don't teach about this in school. Here it is.

Never put cooked sausages in your pocket for any reason.

You see, I was over at a friend's place and I guess I had a bit too much to drink. On my way to bed, I stopped off at the fridge. There were a few pieces of vegetarian sausage wrapped in seran. I thought they would make a tasty treat. But instead of eating them, I put them in my pocket. I suppose I figured I would eat them at a more opportune moment.

Anyhow, I changed into my pajamas and went to sleep. The next day, I kicked around the house in my pjs, and only showered and dressed later, when it was time for me to leave. That's when I found out about the sausage in my pocket. Needless to say, the seran leaked, and my pants ended up smelling of vegetarian sausage.

My friends had a lot of fun at my expense. We were flipping around on the television and a show about hot dogs was on. My friend turned it up so we could hear what they were saying. "I bet that woman is saying, 'sometimes people just like to put our hot dogs into thier pockets. There's one right there.'"

I think I need new pants or maybe to do some laundry.

The Consequences: Live! At CBGB

I'm a friend of the consequences. Above is a picture of them in the studio.
It's always a good scene.
They will be playing at CBGB This Monday, Feb.6th - 6:30PM
(Corner of Bowery Bleeker, $ 3.00 cover)

Gooten Morgan Freeman

Just saw the movie Batman Begins.
Great flick.
Want to see more Christian Bale as The Batman. He's even better than Michael Keaton, who is, as you know, the best Batman to date.
Michael Caine was really excellent.
But this post is all about the Gooten Morgan Freeman.

Put on a tie!

So I have a fancy dinner to go to tonight. It's for AIPAC.

I think my tie is appropriate for this kind of event.

What do you think?

More Glacial Profiling

So this dude in Illinoise has a blog devoted to Swedish mp3s. I love it. It's called Sweedes Please.

I've always been fascinated by Scandehoovia and all things Scandehoovian.

Maybe I can add a few locations to my global tour this year. We'll see.

Chuck Norris Day

I was reading the student paper here at Purchase. On the backpage someone wrote,

"If there's a Martin Luther King Day, theen there needs to be a Chuck Norris Day."

It's not such a bad idea. A couple of laughs, some roundhouse kicks, our troubles are over...

New Belle & Sebastian

Oh my goodness! Another Belle and Sebastian album!
I must run out and buy it!

Looks pretty sure...

I had a very good discussion with Motti over at the mocca lounge in Tribeca. It looks pretty sure that the mennu method mocca monday show will become a reality. I was thinking of calling it Euphoria: Israeli Psychedelia...

Still working on it.

Got a call from Chicago yesterday. They want to fly me out for a gig in April.

Then there's that spot in Tel Aviv that offered to let me play this summer.

Not to mention the radio station in Tel Aviv that offered to give me a guest spot.

So I guess the mennu method world tour 2006 is looking like a real possibility.

So how do I work New Orleans into this mix?

Return to the Exile

Alright. I got back on Tuesday night and am suffering the worst jetlag of my life. Goodness!

A few words about the trip:

• The birthright group was excellent. I look forward to seeing more of the local group over the next semester(s). As for the Iowans, I was a little choked up when we parted, because I knew it might well be the last time I see them.
• Guy, the guide is quite the guy. He is so much of a person that if you took away a person, you would still have a whole person left.
• Good to see King Joey ruling once again. Tel Aviv makes a better throne than Jerusalem for His Freakyness.
  
• Howard Glanzman still knows how to throw an excellent party, and as the old saying goes: it's better to drink with Howard Glanzman than to Howard Glanzman. Had I known the party was going to get broken up when it did, I would have done a lot more flirting.
• At the rate that I am visiting my family members, I should visit all my cousins by 2013. I urge them not to give up hope in the last scion of Menachem Oded.
  
• Steve Guns still lives, but I wonder what kind of a life it is for him anymore. My old friend is fading fast into a sinkhole of depression and oblivion.
  
• I have picked up another 20 discs or so. More mixes to come. Tops in the bunch? MC Karolina, Shy Nobleman, and Sympozion.
  
• My heart is broken that I am back here in the US. Each day I wonder why I don't live in Israel. Oh yeah, it's that crushing debt. Cut up your credit cards folks! Don't end up like me, pining for the promised land.
• I never did get to crash Kol haCampus while there. I guess I'll have to do it next time.
  

My welcome yesterday was typical. I blew a flat in bumper to bumper traffic on the approach to the Tappan Zee Bridge and had to pull over to the left in order the change my tire in a driving rainstorm. If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all.

I'm in Israel

Need to reach me?

From the US call:
011-972-52-609-2173

Also: stay away from the new years mix, it sounds terrible...