Venus Beads >> Did you fall or were you pushed?

Venus Beads - "One Way Mirror"

(Emergo Records / Roadrunner Records, 1990)

Another song from the Beads' stunning Transfixed EP, which was included in its entirety as bonus tracks on CD pressings of their album Black Aspirin.  The mastering volume is quite low, so turn the volume and bass up.

Cover of my cassette bought on a whim in '07

As if you needed more proof that any band from any rainy country can, when needed, stop navelgazing and decide to rock way harder than those douches from Slayer, Converge, etc., this song provides it.  I think this may actually be the most intense song I've ever heard.  The speed is blinding, the precision is machinelike, the passion is unbridled.  I love how the singer uses both "Did you fall or were you pushed?" and "Were you pushed or did you fall?" in the lyrics, in order to fit into two rhyming schemes.  And probably also to show how some people tend towards having a victim's mentality ("I was pushed") while others have more of a self-blaming mentality ("I fell on my own").  I've been listening to Unwound's self-titled debut album a lot recently, and this is one of the few songs I can think of that can give the most savage ones on that album a run for their money.  Another anthemic song on Transfixed is "Wolf On A Chain", but "Reckless Hope" (from Black Aspirin) could've been a genuine hit song:

Marla Fury tangling with The Baroness, from the allegedly influential comic Miss Fury

The best basketball that I've ever owned, a black Baden Explosion, died of a puncture wound last week, so I set out to find another one online, as no stores seem to sell them anymore.

I found this mind-blowing 5-star review on Amazon by user Brockeim:

Perfect for Shooting Free Throws in a Park with a Lovely Woman  (June 21, 2010)


The Baden "Explosion" basketball didn't sit long after purchasing it. We bought it to use, and to labor we have put it. We brought it to a park just a ten minute walk away in early July.


Nancy and I shot for hours. I took ten shots; she took ten shots, neither of us gaining an advantage as we repeated this game throughout the late morning.


The Baden "Explosion" basketball bounced well as we tossed it between us. Perfectly balanced, it never went askew... always into her welcome hands as I made a pass.


Black, but almost navy blue, with orange lines, the ball rolled straight and true. With each revolution, the lines flickered like an old movie film. We stood mesmerized as we watched it settle in soft grass, ready to be shot again.


Whether the board deflected it, or points were scored, the game didn't matter. The shared smile, knowing we are shooting together, meant more than the tally.


A rain shower brushed by, but the composite leather basketball was unaffected. A few bounces, and a shot piercing the net was enough to shake off the dampness.


We have returned to that park a few times since, and will many times more. May your basketball bring you into the company with someone as beautiful as Nancy.

Though it has been used in commercials for everything from cars to athletic equipment to movies, the much-mocked/reviled genre known as dubstep officially jumped the shark today.  The opening full-cast dnce number on So You Think You Can Dance today was performed to a dubstep remix of Marilyn Manson's much-reviled "The Beautiful People."  And it was even worse than it sounds in theory.  The genre's main practitioner, a chap named Skrillex, earns around $100,000 (or $250,000, depending on the source) per 1-hour "performance."

Sun. July 15: Dropped off a mix CD and a best-of Bleach mix CD-R for Sam.  She wasn't there, and I found out this guy Mike (whom I had gotten into Sonic Youth years ago) had recently quit, possibly because the store was robbed at gunpoint a few weeks ago.  Also gave them a live S.Y. bootleg CD-R (Cleveland, '85) and an amazing Faith No More one (Phoenix Fest in England, '93).

Chicken nuggets: Made from pink goo - "...the goop is then disinfected, re-flavored and bleached back to the whitish color we all associate with cooked chicken breast.  According to McDonald’s, a four-piece serving of McNuggets contains 190 calories, 100 of which come from trans fat."

Planets with similar climates: Unwound - "Antifreeze" & "Rising Blood" (1992), Dub Sex - "Then And Now" (~1987), ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Prince With A Thousand Enemies" (1997) and "Blood Rites" & "Homage" (2001), Metallica - "Fight Fire With Fire" (1984), Band Of Susans - "Twist Of Fate" (1990), Hüsker Dü - "Deadly Skies" (1983), Polvo - "Crumbling Down" (1996), Nirvana - "Territorial Pissings" (1991).