Matt Blank’s Neighborhood

BRETT ANDERSON
brettanderson.co.uk ♥ myspace.com

Those who follows our W♥M Podcast, you'll know that between Sally, Kristen, and I, that we really, really love our Britpop music. When Suede burst on the scene, with all their hype*, I was a bit, what's the word? Resistant.

I eventually got over it when I heard Metal Mickey, a nice rock n roll glammy track with aggressive Butler guitars and Anderson's unique voice. The songwriting duo of Anderson/Butler did not last for long, and Butler's replacement, Richard Oakes, seems only a pale copy of the original. I think everyone knew that, and eventually, Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson got over their differences and re-united - but not as Suede... they were then The Tears. I think everyone was confused on how to interpret it at first (personally I think it's like tears/crying, not ripped/tear).

The Tears didn't live for very long, and by 2007, Brett Anderson releases his inevitable solo self-titled album. I never bought his solo stuff, because I don't think his music post-Suede's Head Music** were ever re-release or re-marketed to the US audience, so the few promo downloads that he's made available for free, I wasn't so impressed with. I remember thinking his debut solo album was trying to be orchestral (based on what I've heard).

Imagine my surprise when I got a chance to listen to a few tracks from his latest album, Slow Attack, officially via We7.com. It was all very operatic, almost minimalistic in its approach of piano and percussions. I did like that it brings out Anderson's voice loud and clear, but it generally made all of his music to be on the sadder end of the scale.

While I think one or two slow songs would be OK for a full length, all of the tracks I sampled were in that very similar tone. Kind of ballady and depressing.  I kind of miss the old Suede stuff. The only redeeming value is that at least, his voice isn't altered/over-produced as with Suede's Head Music and Coming Up.

I suppose, Anderson's much older now, wow you can see his cheek bones sticking out of his face... such a difference of imagery, from a time when mean-spirited fans were calling him "fatty" (we all kind of knew it was the getting off the drugs that was causing the weight thing... allegedly).

Anyway, if you were looking for the glory rock days, don't bother looking into Slow Attack. If you're a hardcore fan, chances are you probably own the limited edition anyway. The album will probably not be released in the US, as were all his previous releases. Import costs are generally cheaper these days, but expect to pay about $20 for an import album (Amazon is listing $19).

Brett Anderson is touring in 2010, so if you live in the UK, you can relive your youth days. If he were touring the US, I might leave my hibernation to see him. As you know, I've met the band before at a special "after-party", I'm sure he'll have no idea who I am.

* "Best Band in Britain" before releasing their album? Really, Melody Maker, really??)
** Suede's last album, A New Morning was never released in the US.

TRUE NATURE
truenatureband.com ♥ myspace.com

As you know, I also run a website on artist George Perez, and it's rare when my music and comic website mix. How does True Nature and George Perez cross paths, you ask? The cover artwork for True Nature's EP, Feels Like Centuries, stars actress/model Tonya Kay (with some artwork and directions from Glen Wexler).

Perez, through his associations with Fetish Con, have actually drawn Tonya Kay as a print, for Fetish Con's "Who's the Best Bondage Super Heroine?" contest. The original artwork was auctioned off for charity.

So, there's the connection. As for True Nature's EP, Feels Like Centuries, based on the cover artwork, it looks like they're also marketing themselves as somewhat of a spiritual rock band. I reckon if you like classic American progressive-type rock, you might enjoy this EP. Despite having only five tracks, the EP is "centuries" long (so long that it felt like a chore to get through). It's not that I dislike singer/songwriter, Lou Barlow's vocals, it's just really not the type of music I enjoy.

Their best track is the opening song, "Truth I Have To Steel (Simple Heart)", which started off strong and remain steadily so throughout the song. You can sample the entire track on their official website.

You can pick up Feels Like Centuries at CD Baby or Amazon. Although, not really my thing, I'm glad that there was at least a common connection for me.

Happy Holidays to you, your family, friends and neighbors from all of us at Vox.
See you in 2010!

I start my new job on January 25th.  I am not very excited.  I am trying to be.  At least 5 day shift nurses are leaving the Hospital I am leaving.  The Director really has not spoken to me about this, but he does have to do an exit interview.  I do hear he has to somehow answer for why everyone is leaving the department, while thats nice to know, it doesn't help my situation!

I *AM* excited to be leaving East.  It has been a great place to make friend and work, but over time, they have allowed the mix of experienced nurses to new nurses to become lopsided, and for some reason they have decided to promote some of the newest nurses to "managing" roles.  No one really knows why.  Well, someone knows why, but they aren't really telling.  

I'm not really excited about going to a unknown length of time for night shift. 

Looking at the bright side:  I get a huge differential for working nights, so I will be making quite a bit more money.  I will be in a new environment, which hopefully will be a little more logical.  On occasion, doing the night thing has led to huge weight loss.  I've gained a few unintended pounds and have found it hard to work them off....so who knows.

and the brightest thing, I do have a job. 

                                                                                               My tendon, ankle thingy.  I just finished a prednisone pack on Monday.  My ankle is not completely healed up,but it does feel better.  I am able to tolerate walking for somewhat longer without major pain.  I'm encouraged by this.  I'm doing a lot of swimming (40-45 min daily) and am hoping that maybe by February I can start jogging a little.  I plan to actually use the Couch to 5K plan  as a way to get back into it.  It's a great plan for non runners to start running.  And by that time I'll be a true non runner!

Not being able to run has been very unusual.  I admit it has given me more time to socialize and indulge in my photography, and also to clean my home. 

Last weekend, I put up a small sign in the employee bathroom about dinner, then I put up an invite on Facebook, and wildly, 17 people showed up.  I had expected about 4.  It was really fun.

But I admit, I still rather miss running, so I am hopeful the ankle keeps improving.  It would also be nice to be able to walk for an hour with the dog without pain.

The Dog is doing great.

He seems to have received more CHristmas gifts than I did!

Here he is pictured with the peppermint scented Holiday "Lightbulb"  from LLBeans.  He loves it.  

He has continued to become a better behaved dog over the past few weeks. Maybe he knows about Santa.  Or maybe he is getting enough exercise.  I'm not sure.

I hope he will adjust to me being gone at night.  I have a feeling he won't care a bit either way, as long as he gets fed and walked periodically.

Family news: I finally convinced my Mom to agree to come to Florida for a Vacation!  I'm taking her to do some birding and photographing.  She is more talented than I am and can teach me some cool stuff!

Most importantly, I will get to spend some quality time with her doing something we both enjoy.  She isn't that old, but then again, she isn't that young either.  I'm trying to convince her to go to the Everglades, but she seems set on some smaller locations.  At any rate, I am really looking forward it! We'll be going the week before I start my new job!

I'm starting to think of New Year Resolutions.  But I'm not sure what they will be....

Hope you all have a nice Holiday.  I will be stuffing my face at work.

ELIZABETH & THE CATAPULT
elizabethandthecatapult.com ♥ myspace.com

The last time we mentioned Elizabeth and the Catapult, the song "Race You", went straight to the top ten on The Hype Machine. And it's easy to see why, the song is such a fun and cute pop song.

This Christmas song, "Christmas with the Jews", is also fun and cute (and not to mention quite short). But what you're thinking when you're listening to this song, is "er, aren't you forgetting Hanukkah?"

Maybe you can ask them if you see them live:

01/28/10 The Barn Clinton, New York
02/05/10 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
02/06/10 8x10 Baltimore, Maryland

THE JOY FORMIDABLE
myspace.com ♥ twitter.com

When I first heard of The Joy Formidable last year, I was impressed. I said I saw "lot of potential" in this band. Based on the free Christmas song, "My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder than a Hundred Dead Christmas Trees" (available at musicglue.com), I'm still loving the vocals by Ritzy.

Maybe there was a problem with my download, but the MP3 track is 4:56, where the last 30 seconds of the song is complete and utterly garbage... it sounds like it was encoded in error and not part of the song. I've edited out the crap part for you.

The tour information they sent me is as follows:

January 2010.
Fri 8 USA New York Terminal 5 w/Passion Pit.
Sat 9 USA New York Terminal 5 w/Passion Pit.
Mon 11 USA New York Union Hall.
Tue 12 USA New York Pianos.

February 2010.
Sun 21 Norway Oslo John Dee w/The Temper Trap.
Mon 22 Denmark Copenhagen Vega w/The Temper Trap.
Tue 23 Denmark Copenhagen Vega w/The Temper Trap.
Wed 24 Sweden Stockholm Debaser Slussen w/The Temper Trap.
Fri 26 Germany Hamburg Molotow w/The Temper Trap.
Sat 27 Germany Berlin Postbahnhof w/The Temper Trap.
Sun 28 Germany Cologne Gloria w/The Temper Trap.

March 2010.
Tue 2 Germany Munich Atomic Café w/The Temper Trap.
Wed 3 Germany Frankfurt Nachtelben w/ The Temper Trap.

THE MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
themanchesterorchestra.com ♥ myspace.com

We're on Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas, so hurry on over if you're a fan of the Manchester Orchestra. Each of these songs are acoustic live versions of their song. My only complaint is that you have to listen to these songs on the computer - so if you've got 30 minutes to spare, sit and listen away.

My favorite track is "One Hundred Dollar", you can simply hear the anger as singer Andy Hull asks to borrow $100. While the song is short and doesn't offer much explanation, you, as the audience makes up your own background to the song. Anyway, the song is from their latest album, Mean Everything to Nothing, they'll probably be playing loads of their new songs on tour:

01/29/10 Salt Palace Convention Center^{^} Salt Lake City, Utah
01/30/10 The Fillmore^{^} Denver, Colorado
01/31/10 The Black Sheep* Colorado Springs, Colorado
02/02/10 The Marquee* Tulsa, Oklahoma
02/03/10 Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom* Little Rock, Arkansas
02/04/10 New Daisy Theatre* Memphis, Tennessee

^ with Brand New
* with Harrison Hudson

SIA
siamusic.net ♥ myspace.com

Finally, we have Sia. This actually has nothing to do with Christmas, unless you count getting a new music video as a holiday gift. But just talking about the video for "You've Changed" isn't enough to warrant its own article, so I thought I might as well stuck her here.

Sia has always seem to me to be this child trapped in a grown-up's body. The latest video is wonderful, it features this weird stop-motion, "dress up" video-gamey feel to it. I don't know who's idea it was, I'll bet it's a combination of Sia's child-mind and director Dennis Liu of @radical.media, but it came together pretty great.

Be sure to watch the high-resolution video of it (you'll need it to read the song lyrics scrolling at the bottom).

Straitjacket Escape ♥ photo by Dave

Indie pop isn’t usually described as epic. Adorable, precious, and cloyingly cute? Yes. But epic? Not so much. Fanfarlo seems to be the exception, and they proved this point on Friday night, when they had a man suspended upside down from the rafters and escape from a straitjacket. This happened within the first five minutes of the show, during the orchestral behemoth that is “The Walls are Coming Down.” It was like a Bruce Willis movie, but with less explosions and more glockenspiel.

The straitjacket incident was obviously the most epic moment of the night, but the theatrics didn’t end there. There was interpretive dancing, rogue boomerangs, and a pretty intimidating box accordion. Throw in a picturesque stage setting and a watering can attached to the drum kit, and it wasn’t an average Webster Hall show. The band managed to take a spacious, relatively normal venue and shift the atmosphere to match that of the album: warm, enthusiastic, and frenzied.

Frontman, Simon Balthazar, led the charge in a bowtie and further proved my belief that Swedes are musical messiahs when it comes to penning a good pop song. Though he was the lead singer, the audience seemed to focus on the band as a whole as they constantly exchanged instruments and shared singing duties. The arsenal of instruments that night included a banjo, mandolin, violin, clarinet, and a brightly colored melodica – the required instrument for every chamber pop band out there. True, they occasionally succumbed to a few clichés (see: the rampart Arcade Fire comparisons), but their sincerity shone through. When you take away the fanfare, there’s still a pulse to their music that drives it past most conventions. Hence the epic-ness.

With only one album, they had a limited supply of songs to play. My personal favorite, “I’m a Pilot,” drew from the band’s most appealing quality: their infectious camaraderie. This was most apparent during the encore, when they had run out of songs to sing, so they resorted to the obligatory cover, Low’s “Just Like Christmas,” featuring opening band, Freelance Whales. Anything holiday-related is instantly a cheese-fest, but throw in a cavalcade of instruments and a dozen earnest musicians and it becomes easy to suspend any cynicism.

(I really wanted to end this review by writing, “...and by the end of the night, you could say that the entire audience had shed an emotional straitjacket – and put on a fringed vest of love.” But I won’t. Swearsies.)

Photos by Dave: 

The Refuge is incredible.  It is 140,000 acres sharing a boundary with the National Space Center.  It was originally set aside as a Buffer Zone for the Space Center in the 1950's. 

The terrain is not impressive, but the entire place is massive.

 Since that time It has been tinkered with in a variety of ways to make it more habitable for both wildlife and people.  I was really really impressed with the entire set up!   

Not only are there areas that are attractive to birds,it also contains an area of undeveloped beach which is popular with Loggerhead Turtles during breeding times, and the endangered West Indian Manatee.  There are several miles of hiking trails, as well as a Manatee observation area.  

In the winter the Wildlife Service allows the area to essentially "flood" the marsh areas.  The flooding allows 

for the growth of foods attractive to water birds and attracts many many water birds, big and small to the area.  During the other months, when birds are not hanging out so predominantly in warm, sunny Florida the waters are allowed to ebb and flow with the tides of the rivers, which I think reduces Mosquitos as well as is a more natural state I suppose for the area.

It was a very very windy day, making things rather chilly and sometimes blowing me around as I tried to hold the camera steady, you can see the feathers of this Great Blue Heron being upswept by the wind.

By far the most exciting thing I saw all day was the field of Roseate Spoonbills.  I knew of the bird, but had never seen it.

A lot of Florida tourists mistake these odd looking birds for Flamingos.  But, as Flamingo Dancer will tell you, a Flamingo has longer legs and a dark blackish heavy bill. Like the Flamingo, the Roseate Spoonbill gets it's pink color from the foods it eats. The Spoonbill mostly eats crustaceans.  The algae that the crustaceans eat gives the birds their wild pink coloration.

They use their shovel like Bill to sweep from side to side...there are actually odd little sensors in their bills allowing them to sense their dinner.

They are really funny looking birds, who are extra social, and seem to spend most of their time in huge groups, unlike the Great Egret , which can be seen all over Florida, usually alone.

The Spoonbills are so social, they will even hang out with any other wading birds.  They aren;t judgemental about others not being quite so pink and pretty!

 I caught these Ibises flaying out of a group of Spoonbills.

The White Ibis birds are very common in Florida, and hang out at pretty much every retention pond in my area.  I loved seeing them in a more natural atmosphere.  They are easily known by the very obvious curved beak.

Most of the birds pictured here  (with the exception I think of the Pelicans)  were at one time threatened or endangered due to Hat fashions of the Victorian Era.

Thankfully, these hats have gone 

rather out of fashion....and the birds have subsequently recovered. 

 All of the birds pictured here are considered "LC" or of the least concern these days.

And I am quite pleased to not have to wear such hats 

to stay in fashion!

So,  thanks to changes in fashion and sensibilities, we now have flocks and flocks of these impressive birds to challenge my photography skills.

I love this photo, If you look at it carefully, you will notice the bird, which was flying oddly solo, has the oddest little tilt to it's head.  This tilt made me laugh, it gives the image of an aviator trying to navigate.  

Most of the time, however, the Roseate Spoonbill in flight appears more graceful than the above photo.

This is the same spoonbill, with its head in a less cocked position.  As you can see, they really are very very pink,

but they are clearly not Flamingos!

As I said, I was really really impressed with the area of the Wildlife preserve I visited.  I was a bit concerned that I was going to prepare my camera, make a long drive, and find that the wildlife, being wildlife, would have retreated to areas that can't be accessed by humans, either on foot or in a vehicle!  Instead, most of the photos were taken right off of the "wildlife viewing drive".  The Drive is seven miles of gravel road, with 14 or so stops that are marked.  At several of the stops are short 1-2 mile looping trails that allow people to get out deeper into the habitat.  At stop nine (where the Spoonbill in flight pics were taken) is a 5 mile loop with an awesome observation deck).  I walked the 5 mile loop.  While the loop was fun...there were so many mosquitos, I actually eventually wanted to rip off my pants (which were being bitten through) and roll in the scratchy grass.  

I would really recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in birds and wildlife.  It's free, so you won't feel like you wasted a ton of cash on a short visit.  I regret that I didn't have binoculars!!!

And on that note.....

I'll share the view I had, as the light started to go.

I hope you enjoyed the photos!  (I'm a little overly proud of myself...)

I like love Samurai series like Lone Wolf and Cub and Hanzo the Razor (while Lone Wolf is all about bloody violence, Hanzo is all about sex & ultra-violence). I only mention Hanzo, because the "hero" is played by Shintaro Katsu, who also play one of Japan's most popular Samurai, Zatoichi. If you've never heard of Zatoichi, he's a blind swordsman, who wanders Japan in the Edo period as a masseur (although he seems to make most of his money at dice games).

The Zatoichi series ran 26 movies (1962-1982) and a television series ran for five years (1974-1979). Twenty years later, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano reinvented Zatoichi with his version of the character. This was easily one of my favorite movie at the time, I saw it at the independent theater twice in 2003 and ordered a region 3 release of the DVD as soon as it was available on import. Incidentally, to show support for the US market, I also bought the US edition of the DVD, which came with a bonus Sonatine movie (which was originally released in the states by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder productions).

Considering the movie did quite well, critically and (I'm assuming) in sales, I was hoping for a follow-up movie by Kitano, but unfortunately there's no such plan. However, interestingly enough, one of my all-time favorite Japanese director, Takashi Miike* directed a stage adaption of Zatoichi for live performances in 2007.

I'm happy to report that, I saw a very good re-imagined of the familiar character, reinvented as a female protagonist, called Ichi. I wish the producers had kept the brand of "Zatoichi", as people who hear "Ichi" does not always associate the name with the blind swordsman. To be fair, Ichi is the original character's name. The term "zato" means low-ranking blind person (low-ranking in the Todoza guild). Logically, they could've named this movie Gozeichi, because Goze refers to blind musician women of that time period.

Anyway, beside my gripe about the Ichi name as the movie title, I also didn't like the idea that a model (Ayase Haruka) is playing the part of the protagonist. All that was really not worth worrying, because the whole movie is quite entertaining and enjoyable, and there is only once where Haruka is seen 'dolled up' for a music performance (most of the movie, she's covered from head to toe in dirty rags). However, there are at times when the director Fumihiko Sori choose to stay too long on Haruka's beautiful unblemished face. We get it, she's cute.

The story is uncomplicated, Ichi wanders into some town with an inept sword-drawing samurai Toma (the name is close to a slang "tonma" for idiot or fool). The town is in trouble from the Banki gang, and in Zatoichi fashion, Ichi and Toma saves the town. During the course of the film, there are the tried-and-true Zatoichi moments like slashing out the lights and Ichi triumph in complete darkness, the use of sound to throw Ichi off, and, of course, the Cho-Han Bakuchi dice gambling.

What made the film interesting, at least to me, is that the soundtrack is by Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard! So throughout the movie, you do hear that ethereal vocals, similar to her efforts on Ridley Scott's Gladiator. I suspect she only wrote the vocals, the credit I have for composer is Michael Edwards, who previously worked with Gerrad on her solo material. The soundtrack was a bit of a surprise to me, generally these J-movies' music and production team are usually kept inhouse. Although, having said that, the one outro credit song is by Korean J-Pop singer SunMin.

Ichi the movie will be made available in the US market via Bluray and DVD in two days (December 22^nd), just in time for last-minute xmas shoppers. Hopefully those Best Buy tonmas will be smart and order some copies for their store (however, if it costs over $25, I'd rather order it online, or not own it at all - hey times are tough!).

* I love all three billion of his movies! Audition, City of Lost Souls, One Missed Call, Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Zebraman, Sukiyaki Western: Django, etc.