Sunday, February 12

The Not-So Mysterious Procuring of Material Possessions

Today was another day of mass-spending, blowing nearly $100 on CDs. At Amoeba I got myself (Beware, Becky and anyone else who doesn't want to read CDs listed, you might want to skip down to the *) The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs boxed set ($28 used), an old Jayhawks album from 1997 ($5 used), Belle and Sebastian's new The Life Pursuit (which is amazing, I've had it downloaded but want to support the band), Andrew Bird's latest release The Mysterious Production of Eggs (new, unfortunately), and the Ghosty debut.

*The band Ghosty (who hail from Lawrence, KS and were enrolled as recently as 2003 at KU) didn't even have their own section, meaning there was no little placard that said "Ghosty" with Ghosty CDs behind it. I had to look under "Rock: Misc. G". And this wasn't at some provincial record store in Podunk, B.F.E.; this was at Amoeba in San Francisco, the self-proclaimed "largest indie record store in the country". I was looking for something even they didn't really know about.

God, I felt musically knowledgable (pretentious).

After splurging on the aforementioned CDs, I went over to American Apparel and promptly purchased two t-shirts, both in colors I didn't know they made for guys. Exciting (and potentially gay) stuff, yes--but before your imagination goes wild, let me say that I'm not brave enough to break those shirts out by themselves.

The lavender one is for use as an undershirt.

You think I'm joking, but you can't be sure.

The other shirt, a greenish-teal color, was cool, but looked a bit plain so I took it a custom screenprinted at this custom screenprinting place down the street. I should have been skeptical from the moment I saw the faux-punk rock tats and giant ear piercings guys working the counter, but I thought to myself, What the hay. It's San Francisco. Everyone dresses a little off.

After searching through their selection I found a palmetto tree, cresent moon, and kitschy-fonted South Carolina graphic that caught my eye. But I couldn't decide if I really wanted it or not, if I should get it. After nearly thirty minutes of indecision spent standing around outside the store (I can't think clearly while being waited on), I finally reasoned with myself that if I spent all that time and came up empty-handed, I would never forgive myself.

So I went back in.

"I want this one," I said to the guy. "Make it so."

And so he did. Slightly off-center and angled to the left.

Moron.

[sigh]

I hope they have a good return policy.

#


Above: Ghosty.

You heard it here first--these guys are going to be huge. They're catchy and interesting and great. And they're my age--which, of course, makes me infinitely jealous. Damn you, Ghosty, for being so good and so soon into life.

Here's a link to their song Clouds Solve It , featuring Wayne Cohen of The Flaming Lips(!)

8 comments:

Robb said...

Isn't it funny how do things, like wearing a palmetto/crescent shirt, once you've moved away from SC that you NEVER would have done when you lived there? I find myself doing all sorts of little things to align myself with the South now that I've moved away and lost any little scrap of drawl that I ever had, which wasn't much to begin with. I mean really, you should SEE the amount of Clemson and general South Carolina stuff in my office.

James said...

Dan, The Lips are totally playing here at the end of March and guess who totally got his ticket yesterday? You should go online and get one, and then, since you'll be in LA by then, come up for a ga--er, good time.

PS Ghosty is good aren't they? I was hooked after that song. They have more mp3's up on their site. My current fave is "I Know What's Best". Anyways, I'll be thinking about what album I want to trade you for the Ghosty rip. Maybe the new Ryan Adams? (I have no moral qualms with ripping his CDs, by the way, because he's supposed to be an asshole).

Robb, the difference between you and I and everyone else who wears Clemson Orange is that we live in places where less than 2% of the population actually knows what the fuck Clemson means. And of that 2%, maybe only 1% pronounce it correctly--not Clemzon with a "z" as Lee Corso from ESPN says it, but "Clempson" with a "p" as we all know it's really pronounced. I think we should both give each other a pat on the back for getting out of the south, yet visibly being proud of it. My southern accent's been gone since college when I realized southern accents made girls sound like Scarlett O'Hara, but guys sound like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel.

B, your new pic is hot. The one where you have a mustache and the Irish-person's cap; not the one where you have short hair. That one's just OK.

Q: Is he kidding or just being an ass?

A: You'll never know!

By the way, I love the song "She Don't Use Jelly". Ben Folds Five also did a version of that song that was quite good off the album Lounge-a-palooza.

<3 (to only exacerabate those pesky "James moved to San Francisco because he's a total flamer" rumors back East")

James

James said...

Just because you aren't Irish doesn't mean you can't wear the Irish-person's cap. I've seen black folk, even *gasp* yellow folk sporting it these days!

It took me a moment to get the <4, joke, but after three ginseng tablets and a brain massage from my manservent, I was able to decipher its meaning. You're funny!

And apologies about the word verification thing. I started getting too many commments saying, "Hi I found youre blog inquisitive. Click on my Blog About Donkey Porn. I think you'll find it useful."

Anonymous said...

heyyyy ghosty!

Trevor said...

James,

Picked up the new B&S, and it's totally awesome, I've had it on repeat for an entire day. I'm sure all the "Tigermilk" devotees will be pissed, but I happen to believe they're getting better with age. I love the early stuff, don't get me wrong. But the newer material is an excellent breath of fresh air.

Now then, what was that about donkey porn? ;-)

James said...

Dude (Dan), you are a jackass.

I've had it for seven.

And Trevor, glad to see you're enjoying it. I totally agree with you. The B&S is a nice breath of fresh air--although I had been slightly prepared for it with the "Your Cover's Blown" track off the Books EP.

Now about that donkey porn...

Anonymous said...

coyne, pup. not cohen.

hee.

now get dressed up, we're goin to walmart

James said...

Sam, that's an egregious error. Like spelling Stephen Malkmus with a "v".

Lose 10 street cred points, do not pass Go.

Wal-Mart: where shoes and shirt required--not just suggested.