I've been busy and sick

I know I've been neglecting RJ Battles this month. There are a few reasons: Nobody reads this blog; I was sick last week, I've been working a lot this month.

But in June I'm going to be around more and I'm going to do big things.

You're probably wondering why I keep writing even though I have no readers. I believe that someday i will have readers. And when people do discover this blog there will be a lot of material for people to read.

People will find this blog, realize how awesome it is, and then they can dip into the archive and look at past posts.

It's not probable but it is possible.


Note: I like this photo; I found it on a friend's Facebook page- I guess he or a friend made it at work.

Throwing Muses

Over at KristinHersh.com there's news of a 4AD Throwing Muses anthology that's due to come out later this year. It's supposed to be one disc of "the best of", and another disc of B-sides plus rare songs, like University-era "Hillbilly".

I decided to come up with around 25 tracks that would best represent TM. I'm including B-sides, as so many of their best songs are B-sides.

If you don't know Throwing Muses you should download these songs and burn your own compilation.

The Best of Throwing Muses
1. Fish
2. Hate My Way
3. And a She- Wolf After the War
4. Mexican Women
5. Colder
6. Cry Baby Cry
7. Mania [Live]
8. Devil's Roof
9. Him Dancing [Remix]
10. Cottonmouth
11. Cry Baby Cry (Lennon/ McCartney)
12. Two Step
13. Honeychain
14. Carnival Wig
15. Rosetta Stone
16. Red Eyes
17. Crayon Sun
18. Snakeface
19. Surf Cowboy
20. Tar Kissers
21. Buzz
22. Half Blast
23. Speed and Sleep
24. Amazing Grace

The last TM album came out in 2003. Whenever I listened to it I'd always skip over the songs "Status Quo" and "Speed and Sleep". I had no idea what I was missing- "Speed and Sleep" is one of the best TM songs ever.

Rain

It's been raining non-stop since this weekend and it isn't supposed to end for a couple days. It's been raining hard, but it's a cold rain, not the cool, thunder and lightning kind.

It fucking sucks.

Anyway, yesterday I watched the re-make of Swept Away. I saw almost all of it. A coupe weeks ago I saw the last ten minutes. It's so sad. The crdeits start to roll and you're like, "Oh shit, that's not supposed to happen". Yesterday I was watching it hoping it would end differently, but it didn't. Same exact thing happend.

I've never seen any other Guy Richie movies. When Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels came out it looked like it was going to be a Pulp Fiction rip-off. Same with Snatch.

Swept Away was not as bad as everyone said. Actually, it wasn't bad at all. And Madonna did a pretty good job.

I wish I had more to say but I don't. This blog has been a little lifeless lately. I hope it's just lately. I hope this isn't usual. Anyway, things will get better soon. Probably not this month, maybe in June.

By the way, I can't believe it's almost June. This year has flown by. It's crazy. Why is time going by so fast? Is this what happens when you're in your 30s? I want time to slow down right now.

I'm going to bed. Good night.

Oh, by the way, soon I'll be posting my review of The Rules of Attraction. There's something to look forward to.

Local story

Here at RJ Battles I just write about record sleeves and things like that; it isn't current events.

But last night I was at this pizza shop in town, waiting for my onion rings, and reading the local paper.

There was a story about a 4 year old pre-schooler who rides to school on a smaller bus (I'm not talking about a "short bus"; I'm just saying, according to the story, it isn't full-size), and the other day he didn't get off at the pre-school because he fell asleep. The bus driver continued driving and parked at her house.

As the newspaper writer says, this is where the stories of the bus driver and the child begin to differ.

The bus driver says that once she arrived at her house she made a routine check of all the seats, as is required, and saw the sleeping boy. She woke him up, took him inside, and tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the school.

The boy ended up arriving at the school after 9am.

The boy says- or, according to the mother, the boy says- that he woke up alone on the bus, managed to open the bus door, and went up to the driver's house and knocked on the door.

The mother wants the police to press child endangerment charges and for the driver to be suspended while the investigation takes place (she's furious that the same driver was there to transport her son the next day. She said she plans to keep him home tomorrow).

The owner of the bus company said that all the busses are equipped with GPS so they know everywhere a bus goes and what time it's there. And further, all evidence they've seen backs up the driver's version of events.

There are some things I'm not sure of. I think it's possible that this boy simply dreamed that he woke up alone on the bus. Maybe he just wanted an interesting story to tell his parents- how he woke up trapped on the bus but managed to open the bus door and let himself out.

Or maybe he's telling the truth and the bus driver is lying to protect her job.

Either way, I'm 100% on the side of the bus driver. Why should she lose her job just because some kid fell asleep? And I don't care if he's 4- who falls asleep on the way to school? What, was he up till 3am studying for a test the night before?

So maybe she dropped off the students- the ones who managed to stay awake for 15 minutes- and then she drove home, parked the bus in her driveway, and went inside without walking through it. How many bus drivers really bother doing that? Because how often is there still a student on the bus?

This kid was in zero danger. Maybe he slept for 30 minutes in some driveway on a quiet street on a cool, sunny morning. He got to school eventually.

Before even reading the story, just based on the headline, where she's described as "irate", I already didn't like her. If there's ever been a situation where everyone involved should just laugh it off, this is it. Instead, she's trying to ruin the poor bus driver's life.

I hope the bus driver makes it through this, and I'm glad to see that the bus company is standing by her. Hopefully the mother will decide to pull out Sleepy McGee and home school him instead.

There are some people that I've come across and right away I can tell that they're assholes. It's like they have signs over their heads: Trouble flashing in neon lights. At work I'll see the glow and stand back and watch while someone else takes care of them and I watch it all unfold. Afterwards the co-worker will come up to me and say, "That guy was such a fucking dick".

I know that the mother is that type of person. I'm also thinking that she might be hoping to make some money off of this. I'm sure she's talked to a lawyer.

Anyway, this isn't the usual kind of RJ Battles post, but it is something that interests me so I guess it qualifies.

Clem

Clementine (plus Lovey)

More Greg

Here's my friend Greg and my friend Mark.

Greg

Here's my friend Greg at my house.

Amy and Tigre (Fatty)

Here's my friend Amy and my roommate's cat.

Lego Day

I'm planning another Lego Day sometime soon...

"Cherish" 3" CD single

Cherish 3 inch CD single

Storage

Tomorrow I might have to delete my harddrive- I'll be sorry to lose all the songs I've downloaded, plus all my journal entries since October, but that's the way it goes.

While I can, I want to save some of my favorite pictures. I should probably just start a flicker account but that takes time and I've gotta work early tomorrow morning.

Here are some Madonna "Cherish" sleeves-

It's official

I am a focused, driven, ambitious person- hungry for challenges and success, on a non-stop express train to my many goals.

I finally started a couple days ago. One of my new things is that I'm now shaving every day that I have to work. It used to be that I'd skip a few days and get a little scruffy. Nobody said to be more clean shaven. In fact, two of the managers said they like my "scuffy look", and the owner said I looked "very GQ". My skin gets irriated, but eventually I'd like to start shaving everyday, even my days off.

Something I've been doing for the past two days is cleaning my room. I want it to be organized and use the space better. All of my art supplies need to be at arm's reach and there's gotta be a place to work where I don't have to move shit around before I get started. That's important.

I've got library books that were supposed to go back at theend of march. I'm gonna return them this weekend.

Part of my new system is I'm not going to put things off anymore. That means there's a lot of catching up to do cause I've put off a lot of shit.

I've filled up an entire sheet of paper with money-making plans and schemes. Some things just won't happen, they're bad ideas that wouldn't work, but most of the things on the list are do-able. One example is window displays.

I live in a town with a very popular downtown. There are a lot of businesses on and around Main Street with small-to-medium-sized storefront windows and ever since I moved here I've wanted to design eye-catching visuals. I think I could do some great stuff, especially around Christmastime.

I'm going to choose a few stores that need help. Then I'm going to do some sketches, find the cheapest way to execute things, and then present the blueprints to the business owners.

I'm very excited because things are different now and I'm seeing opportunities everywhere.

Around New Years I cleaned out a pickle jar and put on a label that said Car Jar. At one point there was over $60 inside but I ended up needing the cash for something else. I'm starting over and everything goes in there from now on. Not everything, actually. I'm gonna check out some banks- sometimes they'll put $50 in your new account after the first 60 days. I also got, for Christmas, a change bank that has a digital display and counts your change as you insert it.

But the point is: you reap what you sow. I'm planting seeds (including some basil seeds- both of my original terrariums are back in business) for things to grow in the future.

Promo EC EPs

These EPs were released to promote the Elvis Costello LP All This Useless Beauty. They've got live tracks and EC covers by other artists and I think all of them include the song "Almost Ideal Eyes". I like the sleeves.

Long Long Long

Whether it's a book or a movie, if it's long it's gott ab eworth the length.

2001 is on right now. I've seen it before but I don't recognize any of the scenes I'm seeing now. I think that's because the first time I watched it I lost interest and started doing something else (like I'm doing now).

Every time I come across a written description of it I have to laugh when people call it "thrilling" and shit like that- it's boring as fuck. It's long, and there are so many scenes that just aren't needed. There's no point.

I'm not against long movies. Look at the first two Godfather movies- they're long, but there's so much in there. Try to find a wasted scene. Then there's Magnolia. Yes, it tells its stories at its own pace; there's nothing wrong with that. But watching it you too many scenes that go on too long. There's fat that should've been trimmed. I could've done without Tom Cruise's character altogether, but even with him, the scene of him delivering his speech goes on for too long. That goes double for his scene at Jason Robards's deathbed.

When you watch Casino, another long movie, if anything, you wish the scenes would go on longer.

The best exacmple of a book that's too long is Atlas Shrugged. The first time I read it I loved the clarity- every idea was explained very clearly. But over the years I've come to see it as needlessly long. 35% of the text could easily be cut away, maybe even more. Ideas aren't being made clear, they're beaten into the ground. They're over-explained.

I wrote a post here about Atlas Shrugged. I don't know how to post a link but you can easily find it by scrolling through all the content on this blog, RJ Battles.

My favorite songs of my lifetime

I was thinking today about all of the songs that I loved and was obsessed with when I was younger that I still think are good. To be on this list I A) had to love them in the past, and B) still think they're cool, and C) not be embarrassed to name them.

Note: I'm going to go in the order that I liked them- not the order in which they came out.

My first favorite song, and also the first record I ever owned, is "Summer Nights" from the Grease soundtrack. The ending has always gotten to me; I think the song really sets a mood. The first record I ever bought was "What A Feeling" by Irene Cara from the Flashdance soundtrack.

I think my first two choices need a little explanation: when I was younger I spent a lot of time with my two older cousins, Krissy and Shari, and it had a big impact on my musical tastes, probably permanent. These first two songs are a little girly, but I feel a sense of excitement when I hear them.

I loved Michael Jackson- pre-Bad- but I can't think of a favorite song, one that I was really obsessed with. On the other hand, my fascination with Prince came next and I've got a lot of favorites. Prince has been known for putting out excellent B-sides. The two Prince favorites come from that catagory. I couldn't get enough of "17 Days"- it's almost hypnotic. It has the coolest sound and the coolest lyrics. It made me want to smoke, though I wouldn't start until 8 years later.

"All I got/ Is 2 cigarettes/ And this broken heart of mine/ So let the rain come down"

"Another Lonely Christmas" is amazing, start to finish. When I first heard it I hadn't had a banana daquari, and I still haven't. I hadn't had a girlfriend, never mind a dead one, but still I felt like I could relate to this song. I was 8 years old, but I understood completely.

Of all the songs on this list, the one that most of you don't probably don't know, and probably never will, is also probably the best. For the We Are The World album, Tina Turner recorded a cover of The Motels's song "Total Control". It's an awesome song (I've heard the original, and while it's great, Turner tops it), the guitars are awesome, and it holds up very well for a song that came out right in the middle of the 1980s- a decade that has a very distinct, and very awful sound. I would bet that this song could be released today, in 2011, and be a big hit, and nobody would guess that it was recorded in 1985.

There are a lot of Cyndi Lauper songs that I could list. I'd like to put on "The Goonies R Good Enough" or even its B-side, "What A Thrill", but my favorite Lauper song, the one that I'm most obsessed with is "Heading For The Moon", the B-side to "True Colors". It is easily the most dated song on this list, but I believe that it was dated at the time, so it's canceled out. It's such an odd song, but it really stays with you.

Actually, I'm not done with Cyndi Lauper yet. I loved her A Night To Remember album, though it was really the start of the end of her career (I know, she's put out a bunch of albums since then and she still has a huge fanbase. But I mean this is when she started to become practically "alternative"). There are a ton of good songs on Night, but the one that I cherish is the closer, "I Don't Want To Be Your Friend" , the sweetest and catchiest bitter song ever.

Madonna's put out a lot of records, but aside from "Has To Be" from the "Ray Of Light" single, she's only had one real B-side: "Supernatural" from "Cherish". It was always instrumentals or lesser album tracks (though "True Blue" was back with "Ain't No Big Deal", the song that was originally meant to be her first single but ended up getting shelved and left off Madonna). But "Supernatural" was a Like A Prayer out-take and it really shares the sound and attitude of that album. How much better would that album be if "Supernatural" took the place of "Dear Jessie"? Number one, the LP would be 30% less gay. "Supernatural" is an awesome song, perfect pop with a Jimi Hendrix-style guitar intro (I wonder if it was Prince- he did play on "Love Song" and "Act of Contrition", though I'm not sure if he's on the song "Like A Prayer").

In the 1990s my interests turned more towards rock music. The song that led me in that direction was the Divinyls's "I Touch Myself". I love the intro- it still gives me a thrill. That summer I played the shit out of the Divinyls album and that fall I bought all their old LPs on tape and played the shit out of them too.

From there I moved on to "Kiss Them For Me" and The Sugarcubes's "Hit". Of those two songs "Kiss Them" has held up the best- the sound is so mysterious and I still think the video is beautiful.

The song that totally led me in a new direction is The Breeders's "Cannonball" . I still think it's a perfect song, I'm still amazed by it. But also, my interst in The Breeders brought me to try The Pixies- one night I just went to the record store and bought Doolittle and I was hooked. I loved the sleeve design and the weird song titles. I listened to the tape on the drive home and I was in love. Over the next few months I bought every single Pixies recording I could find.

I'd like to list a Pixies song here but there's really no way. I wouldn't even listen to a Pixies album today- I just played it all too much. Even the B-sides. Even the rare songs. I've played "Rock-A-My-Soul" as many times as "Debaser". It's all worn out.

The song "Feed The Tree" got me into Belly, Tanya Donelly, Throwing Muses, and Kristin Hersh, but here I'd have to list "Gepetto"[Remix]/"Slow Dog"[U.S. Radio Remix]. Those are the two tracks on the "Gepetto" cassette single that I played over and over in my first car. Nothing made me happier back then.

I'm not a big Whiney Houston fan, though I do own The Bodyguard soundtrack. Still, she sings one of my favorite songs of all time, "My Love Is Your Love". That's about as close as a song gets to perfection and nobody could do it better than she does. It wasn't a huge hit for her. It isn't "I Will Always Love You". It isn't even "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?", but I think that in the future it will be the song that Whitney Houston is remembered for.

Around 2003 or 2004 I finally saw Magnolia. I never liked Boogie Nights, and I don't even like Magnolia, but I was amazed by it and I became obsessed with Paul Thomas Anderson. But even more importantly, I heard Aimee Mann's "Save Me" and I fell in love with that song. I love the guitars, I love the drums, and her voice sounds perfect- so cool. Everything about the song is perfect and, of course, it should've won the Oscar for Best Song (I think Phil Collins won that year).

I was out driving one night a few years ago. Actually, I was driving by my old apartment, the one where I'd first watched Magnolia, and I heard this awesome song that I'd assumed was sung by Jewel. I didn't find out until about a month later that it was actually a band called Riley Kilo. The song is called "Silver Lining". I don't know what to say about it. If you've heard it, you know. If you haven't heard you should seek it out. Buy the album (Under The Blacklights), download it, look up the video on Youtube. You're going to love it.

There are a few more songs I could throw onto the list, but I think that's enough. Besides, my fingers hurt and we've both got other things to do.

Good night,
RJ Battles