Last Hurrah!!

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since we last blogged so our apologies. We are in our brand new space and are still in the process of moving in. Still, it is awesome to have skylights in the office and to explore our new surroundings and meet new neighbors.

This is actually my last week with Cravedog as I have decided to leave for a new adventure. I am bummed to be leaving a great team. Alex, Michael, Matt, and Todd are some of the coolest co-workers and boss that I have had the pleasure of working with. I learned many things while here at Cravedog, especially all the work that goes towards making a CD or a DVD and one thing for sure is that I will never look at a CD the same way ever again. I also learned more about the PDX music scene which has many talented and amazing artists including my co-workers. I was definitely introduced to some very cool music by my co-workers and I hope that they continue to do so via this blog.

I would like to thank the Cravedog Team for making me feel welcome and for their kindness. This was my first job here in Portland and I am grateful for the opportunity. Consider yourselves missed!

MC

Gremlins The Sequel

It seems like the gremlins have stopped bothering Matt and messed with Michael's computer and then made their way to my car. 

Our friend Carrie from New York came to visit us for the long weekend and we had an awesome time showing her around Portland. We went to Hood River and on an awesome hike near Multnomah Waterfalls which was breathtaking. If you ever find yourself in this part of Oregon, it is a must see.

However, today all the good cheer from the weekend ceased to exist as I know it and the gremlins found their way to our car. After dropping off Carrie at the airport at the butt crack of dawn, the car would not start and after a long while of trying to use my limited car knowledge to try and solve the problem, I called a tow truck and had the car towed to an auto body shop. As of now, I am still waiting to hear back on what exactly is wrong with the car and how much the damages will be. 

As we are moving this week to our new digs in St Johns, I just hope that the gremlins get lost and quit messing with our technology. They don't want mess around with Cravedog!!

Gremlins

I'm getting the sneaky suspicion that Gremlins are out to get me.  A bunch of machines I frequently use have all broken down within the last month.  As a musician and graphic designer, I have a rather intense relationship with my machines and I get intensely aggravated when my things don't work.  

It started a little over a month ago when my car sounded like it had laryngitis. It turned out to be a fractured catalytic converter.  Just a few weeks after that, we actually had a really warm day (rare in these parts in May) and I noticed that my cars power was drastically reduced when I turn on the AC button whose little green light was curiously flashing (never seen that before...) .  Consulting the user manual for the vehicle, it told me that my AC was out and I need to call the dealer.  So, I called the dudes who just fixed my car and they said they didn't do air conditioning.  They suggested a Napa Auto Care center.  So, I took it to those guys and they discovered that it was not my AC diminishing the power by that my whole timing mechanism was about to fall apart and I was lucky that I had not been stranded yet.  After all that, they tell me that my AC was, in fact, broken too.  The compressor unit that pumps the air is corroding and bits of it are clogging the air tubes.  After the whole timing belt thing, I couldn't afford to fix the AC as I originally intended.  Luckily, it is only really hot here in Portland 3 months a year.  

While all this car crap is going was going on, my amplifier that I use in Drats!!! took a big dump on itself too!  I was going up to rip a big rock guitar solo on this tune and I couldn't hear myself enough.  I turned up the volume from 5 to 7 and that didn't make much of a difference.  To hell with it... I turned to 10.  At that point, nothing was coming out.  I blew it up somehow.  I messed around with it and couldn't get it to squawk.  Luckily I still had my practice amp around and could continue with the rehearsal.  So, where playing the set a second time around and we get to the same song at the point were I go ballistic on the solo.  I step on my brand new Wah Wah pedal.  I notice it isn't going wah so much .  In fact it is cutting out all the high end frequency.  It was stuck!  I opened the thing and discovered that the whole potentiometer was jarred loose.  I returned it to the retailer the next day.  They fixed it on the spot.  That night, I was using it again and basically the same thing happens and it is broke again.  Today, I took it back again and asked for a new one.  Unfortunately, I bought the last one they had.  They took the potentiometer out and replaced it for me.  Tonight I'll find out if the gremlins are still abound...

Besides the cute 1984 movie, Gremlins and the odd-looking cars from the 70's, I wondered about the mythological roots of gremlins.  I was surprised that it is a fairly recent myth.  One of the earliest recorded utterance of these was from 1929.  It stems from British military airmen whose aircraft were plagued by mechanical problems.  Since World War II, the myth has perpetuated in pop-culture and in my own delusional life.

Blue-Eyed Soul

I've noticed a trend as of late: a resurgence of "blue-eyed soul."

Jamie Lidell (pictured left), Duffy (pictured right), Amy Winehouse, and Mark Ronson are the artists I've noticed. If anyone out there has any to add to the list, let me know. I'm into it. I'm into it because these artists take the sexiness, smokiness, and soulfulness of the genre and throw away the superficiality, name-dropping and super lewd lyrics of contemporary American r and b (T pain, anyone?).

At the same time, these artists are appropriating a typically American, heart-wrenching style for their benefit, making it super "fun," even fluffy (rhymes with Duffy...oooh, burn!) at times.  Are they sapping the authenticity out of this blues-based American tradition which has its not-so-distant roots in slave- and work-songs? There's always an argument there--is appropriation okay if you're really down with the meaning? Isn't music the universal language? Can't everyone relate to having the blues? I don't know, it feels weird that these artists should become so popular all at once. They're re-popularizing soul--except now it's mostly white British soul lite. But it's just so damn much better than most American radio r and b, in my humble opinion.

There are some American exceptions: Erykah Badu just dropped an awesome new disc of psychedelic soul entitled "New Amerykah"(best album title ever!), and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are finally getting their due. I'm still waiting for D'Angelo to release a follow-up to the ridiculously good "Voodoo." Jill Scott is awesome, in terms of a vocalist, but musically she doesn't bring it the way the British artists are right now. Again, any additions to this list are welcome. I want American socially conscious and musically creative soul--even if it's not political. Just not totally glossed-out to the point where it doesn't even sound like it was made by a human being. And Common doesn't count. Once he did the commercial for Coke, I lost faith.

Check out "Mercy" by Duffy (borrowed from the blogspot blog The Late Greats). Pretty good, eh? But slightly frustrating that it didn't come from my side of the pond.

Listening today:  Duffy, Dystopia, Band of Horses, Woxy Vintage radio station

AR

Hot Summer Shoe Fetish Throwdown!

OK, so it's like 100 degrees here in Portland today. It's even hotter in other parts of the Metro area, so says our Cravedog News Weather Correspondent above. Basically, it's really, really hot...

Speaking of hot; I've gathered a quick photo gallery of what the hot people of Cravedog and BDC wear on their feet around here when it's heatwavin' like this. Have a look below and guess who's feet belong to who. Go into our Comments section and let's see what you got. The first one to guess all 16 feet/people correctly wins an all expensive paid vacation to Hotshoefetishlandia.

Are you ready? Ok then, hit it James...

Is it:

A) Mario
B) Tom
C) Jennifer
D) Alex
E) Tony
F) Amanda
G) Nathan
H) Frank
I) Keith
J) Bill
K) Michael
L) Lauren
M) Mike C.
N) Jill
O) Matt
P) Scott
Q) Todd
R) Susan
S) Marco


SHOE #1

SHOE #2

SHOE #3

SHOE #4

SHOE #5

SHOE #6

SHOE #7

SHOE #8

SHOE #9

SHOE #10

SHOE #11

SHOE #12

SHOE #13

SHOE #14

SHOE #15

SHOE #16




How did you do? Small hint: there are more names than shoes.

What we were listening to in the office while we were wearing all of these shoes: Some "Hot" songs, of course. Like Beck's cover of Nelly's 'It's Getting Hot In Here,' a lot of Hot Chip, 'Hot Love' by T. Rex, Hot Hot Heat, 'Some Like It Hot' by Power Station and 'Hot In The City' by Billy Idol.

Until next time, stay cool out there Portlanders!

Cheers,
MF

Entertainment Junkie

It looks like Spring decided to take a vacation because Summer is expected to arrive in full force in Portland this week. Very exciting!

As I mentioned in my last blog, there are many things that I am looking forward to this summer, mainly movies, music and television. Yes, I am a slave to the media. Thank you for noticing.

Some of the movies I am excited about: Sex and the City, The Dark Knight, The Strangers, Indiana Jones. I was able to catch "Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay" this week and although it was not as funny as the first movie, it still has some good one liners and the return of Neil Patrick Harris (funny as always). 

Also as a television junkie, I get to catch up on all the shows I missed out on because of the writer's strike.  I have caught a few episodes of "Gossip Girl" and I can say that I am honestly intrigued. Having lived in New York, I am a sucker for any show that is set in New York with fabulous clothes and bitchy dialogue. Plus, they have a cool music soundtrack as I heard LCD Soundsystem and The Ting Tings playing in the background. This is the 90210 for this generation. Give it a chance!

Which leads me to the next topic.  90210 is making a comeback sans Shannen Doherty ( a personal favorite, I have a fondness for bitchy women) in the form of a spin-off. Yes, it is true!!  This show will also take place at West Beverly but will feature new kids. Jennie Garth who played Kelly Taylor is now a guidance counselor at the school and Tori Spelling (a bit of a gay icon now) is expected to drop by. Color me excited!!

As for music, I heard the new Portished is a must have. We are currently listening to some classic INXS, Tegan and Sara, M.I.A, Lily Allen, and I made bf Robert download Ice Cube's classic "It Was a Good Day" because for me it is a perfect summer anthem.

Also I finally got my mac and cheese. Robert used a recipe from Martha Stewart's book and it was like a little piece of heaven.  BTW, I am sure you recognize the image. If you don't know, it is by an artist named Anne Taintor. Check out her work,

Take care and enjoy the warm weather!

MC

PDX Film Fest and Shana Moulton

Hi there.

So Cravedog was a sponsor of last weekend's PDX Film Fest, presented by Peripheral Produce. Peripheral Produce is an experimental film and video distribution label. How cool is that? 

I attended the Fest last Friday and saw some awesome things. I started at the Hollywood Theater (awesome, old movie theater in the historic Hollywood District, which is also home to one of the coolest places in Portland--42nd St. Station. 42nd St. Station has a rad basement-level sprawling antique shop where everything is sold by private collectors on consignment. Also in the Station is a postal center and a cafe where, I believe, smoking is still permitted, sandwiches are still mostly made on smooshy white bread, and there is a full bar--pretty cool). 

 I attended "An Evening With Shana Moulton." Shana is an experimental filmmaker and sometimes-performance artist. It turns out she and my older sis went to grad school together at Carnegie Mellon, funnily. Shana's films star Cynthia, her alter ego, who desperately tries to transcend the banalities of her life with New Age ritual and paraphernalia. One of the things she contends with is the limitations of living in an often stressed or pained physical body. Even when relief is to be had, there is always the disappointment that inevitably follows brief moments of illumination and exhilaration. 

Her work is poignant, though at first glance, it doesn't seem even authentic. Her style is a visual pastiche of super-trippy and colorful ephemera, and it's intense, like eating  an entire box of Lucky Charms cereal. The images and items she uses in both the live-action and animated scenes are many, and are totally kitsch. It seems like she's making fun of it all at first. But in viewing several of her pieces one after another, a sweetness and sadness emerges that is very relatable, especially if you grew up in the last 80's and witnessed the New Age craze and know all the references. The New Age movement was and is no different than any other avenue tried by people who just want to find something to connect with, and it was so successful because it was so approachable. New Age stuff also happens to be super entertaining and fun, and sometimes funny. Shana's work certainly does not forget this aspect: her stuff is also fun and has a sense of humor.

I borrowed the image from Bellwether Gallery, a New York Gallery that exhibited Shana's work April of 07. Check out their website at www.bellwethergallery.com. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom, and all moms everywhere. And happy birthday today to my very good friend Sabra Choi.

Listening in the office: The Epochs, Fleet Foxes, Polly Scattergood, Cloud Cult, Final Fantasy.