December 2011
1 post
i'm losing my hearing
i haven’t really been blogging, and i don’t have the energy for another long ‘top 20 concerts of the year’ post. but to make you squirm, here’s an alphabetical list of shows that i’ve seen fairly recently. i’m sure there’s more that i’ve forgotten.
the #1 of 2011 was soundgarden, by the way.
3, A Perfect Circle, Adrian Belew Power Trio, Al...
May 2011
1 post
hot karate : moonlight horchata
my new band is called HOT KARATE. we’ve just released our debut album. these were the first five songs we did together. it’s a free download. all instrumental - your chance to enjoy the music before we start releasing stuff with me howling all over it*.
i’d known the drummer, adam, for years. he invited me to see the band - then called “los raincoats”. they ended up...
April 2011
1 post
it's spring now. 2011 resolution check up
i wrote up a series of new years resolutions at 4am on the big night, on twitter, since i drink a lot and overshare. here are the big ones, with my progress on each.
#RESOLUTION : THIS YEAR I’M GONNA GET REALLY GOOD AT RUNNING…. ON ALL FOURS. EVEN IF THAT MEANS TREADMILL TRAINING AT THE GYM
i haven’t even tried this yet, but the internet has confirmed that this is...
January 2011
1 post
2010 in review: concert roundup
in trying to make the most of my life, i’ve made it my business to travel as far as i must, and spend whatever i can, to see my favorite music realized in concert. these shows, for me, represent the best and most sentimental of my year’s experiences. my life is made immeasurably better by music. theres nothing i could say which is more from the heart from that.
my schedule this year...
December 2010
2 posts
2010 in review: album roundup
it’s that time again! my vague reviews of the last year of new music. my followup to last year’s. favorites in nonstop rotation: 5. brian eno - small craft on a milk sea very cinematic. in fact, the material was directly inspired by the general sound of modern film scores, and several of the songs are actually rejects from eno’s work for the film “the lovely...
November 2010
9 posts
fuck weezer
weezer’s blue album show was last night. we drove 2 hours and paid $45 each for the shittiest seats in the building and muddy sound which was drowned out by the thousands of skanky LA girls, including nicole richie, singing along to every word of the new songs.
the set ran chronologically from newest to oldest, with a song or two from each album they’ve done except their first record,...
show me your teeth
i have the worst / most over the top root canal story ever.
it was an emergency situation as a result of a tooth basically exploding at the root while i was in the mountains outside osaka, japan. the pain was so bad and unpredictable, i thought my jaw was broken. the altitude of the mountain, as well as the flight back, made it worse. when i landed in san diego, my mom (a retired dentist) knew...
when the awesomeness of a single photo dictates...
among friends
today i was told that a friend of a friend had just killed himself. i worked with him while i was producing this record, which he played piano on. unconditionally friendly to me whenever i was around. he was extremely talented. it’s a disappointing loss.
i have very particular opinions about suicide and when it’s okay for the person to do. there are cases that justify and rationalize...
airport security
the primary screening method at most airports in the country now is a new machine which renders a 3d image of your naked body through your clothes. it’s being met with criticism for concerns over privacy and health alike. you have the option to opt out of being put through it, but the only alternative is a physical “pat down”. the procedure for this is described as follows:
...
nightmare fuel
there are four of me
“cyrus ghahremani” may seem like a one-in-a-million kind of name. in actuality, it’s four-in-six-billion.
i once received a weird generic customer service letter in the mail, which seemed to be to and from myself, from the toyota dealership i got my car from. i was certain it was just a glitch that put my name as both the recipient and author. turns out this doppelganger cyrus...
does a cyrus good
my weird interaction with roseanne
the other day, for some reason, i ended up reading roseanne barr’s blog.
she had posted about it sucking that the republicans took the midterm election. i replied in agreement, adding:
now that they have responsibility, they’ll be forced to actually cooperate and compromise, unlike the last two years, during which they have just blindly filibustered every liberal policy that comes...
October 2010
2 posts
echoing your voice just like the ringing in my...
i think this has been the craziest year for concerts i have ever had - maybe i’m just more aware because i’ve cataloged it thoroughly. i’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of bands in the past (particularly for when i worked at soma and house of blues 2004-2007) that i’ve lost track and don’t remember some of the shows until the band is brought up in conversation.
a...
facebook movie review
i couldn’t imagine saying this when i’d first heard about they were making a movie about facebook … but i just saw ‘the social network’ and it was phenomenal.
without any particular sort of fanfare, the movie opens up with zuckerberg in an argument. the dialogue is impeccably written - almost too good. and the speaking is errorless and rapid - almost too good. it...
August 2010
10 posts
a thousand words
where's your girlfriend?
shit
when leaving the apartment in san francisco one morning, a friend of a friend warned me about exploring the city: “watch out for human shit.” i thought this was hilarious and totally unnecessary advice, and fully intended to steal the line for future hilarity - but then a total stranger in passing said, “yeah, i saw two human shits on the way here this morning.” it became...
end of discussion
limbo, panto
life is crazy right now. i have five tickets on my windshield. just wrapped up what seems to be my last quarter of school ever. wednesday night i moved out of my old apartment (all night), and thursday morning i sleeplessly drove to san francisco with an amiga for outside lands. we saw a lot of stuff, but were mostly there for: electric six, pretty lights, gogol bordello, bassnectar, wild beasts,...
adios lo pan
the story is nearly over. it’s become so long and narrative at this point, it’s actually too exhausting to retell. the new apartment is pretty rad,
new years voicemail
“I awoke with this on my voicemail Cyrus Ghahremani, January 1st, 2010, 3:05am.” - brett morris
i screamed it for months, and after a break, this entire weekend. the media pouring in from the two recent chicago shows is just unreal. it’s a really good thing that this is happening and i can’t wait for more.
fake flowers for fake fellows
woke up at midnight or so. lazily complied with text messages asking me to show up at the local karaoke bar. i didn’t sing anything this time - not even my usual favorite. walked past a bachelorette party, who were clawing at the bedhead-upon-bedhead that was going on upstairs. i ignored them and sat with my invite and some other surprise guests. an amiga sketched the ceiling and i stamped...
turn the page
i don’t know anyone that reads more than my sisters and parents. i can’t even tell which of them reads the most individually. each time i see them they’ve burned through an entire actual stack of books, while i’m stuck saying some bullshit like “i have a lot i’d like to get to but i’m weighed down by the critique of pure reason for the rest of the...
cy, you haven't posted in a month
June 2010
4 posts
are we not men?
can’t stop listening to the new devo album. download it and give them your money later.
apparently the band recorded over 20 songs for this record and had their fan club and focus groups pick the best ones and influence the final mix. the result has all the analog weirdness that got me into them in the first place (for the record, my favorite song is speed racer from their fifth album)...
time takes a cigarette
just had a long, funny video chat with an ex-girlfriend of mine. hadn’t seen her since we were dating in 2005. it’s interesting, because i’ve always been the one to break up with the other, but i think with her and i it was kinda mutual, cause we were constantly fighting. i also seem to have a pattern of breaking it off with every girl i date without warning, obliterating their...
bs in philosophy (haha bs) (like, bullshit)
even if you rarely go to class (and drag your feet when you do), you can finish college.
i graduated last week from portland state university with a bachelors of science degree in philosophy. it has been fantastic intellectual practice, but i am going to make a paper airplane out of it and spend the rest of my life continuing my musical ventures (production, live performance, etc). my immediate...
richard dunn died today
i’d like to post some sort of motivational message about how life is short and sweet, but he was in his late 80s. sometimes it’s long and sweet. every single thing this guy did made me laugh. at least he spent his last few years laughing, too.
May 2010
2 posts
ronnie james dio died last weekend
it really sucks. i blogged about his cancer back when it was diagnosed and, given what seemed to be high spirits from himself and hospital staff alike, his death came as a surprise.
at 67, dio’s voice was absolutely magnificent. he’d just released new music with black sabbath. he definitely had more to give. thankfully, he left behind a lot - including much before heavy metal was even...
i have long hair
and newfound sympathy for women everywhere, because every time when i go out drinking now some dude thinks i’m a chick and tries to dance with me or get my attention. this weekend i was sitting in a booth with a friend, minding our own business, and some frat boy leans over and says “wanna have a threesome?” … as soon as he saw my face he looked like he’d seen a...
April 2010
2 posts
one more reason to never have kids
…it might turn out like this.
around 3:30 it gets too close to the camera. i actually backed away from my desk.
twentyten concerts
i like calling this year twentyten because it sounds more futuristic than twothousandandten.
anyway, putting together my 2009 concert review was a real treat and it seems like a lot of people enjoyed reading it. it was hard to remember and put together though, so i kinda want to list a few good shows i’ve seen so far this year
seen: 01/04 - allan holdsworth, terry bozzio, tony levin, pat...
March 2010
1 post
why i don't like horses
when i was 10 or so i went to an overnight summer camp in michigan, and one activity was for each cabin to take turns going to the horse stables, letting every kid pick a horse, then riding the horses as a group to some other campground and spending the night there. i’ve always been a shorter guy, and the situation kinda startled me enough as it was for whatever reason, so i picked the...
February 2010
1 post
i'm very happy to be single right now, but
i hate valentine’s day. it’s a nice gesture, but it has never really worked in my favor. if i recall correctly, i broke up with my first girlfriend on valentine’s day - and even then, we were only together because i felt bad about breaking up with her on her birthday the month before.
my friend gonzo pointed out to me that “it is impossible to not be a cliche today....
January 2010
1 post
still buzzing from my "twin peaks" addiction
uhhhhhh…
December 2009
5 posts
good lord, my eyes
this is one of the best music videos i’ve ever seen.
ten covers that should not exist
i love the occasional well-executed cover. a band can really make it their own - as gnr did with knockin on heavens door, urge overkill did with girl, you’ll be a woman soon, and a perfect circle did with the nurse who loved me. but it goes the other way, too. these are ten soul-crushing renditions of classics that will have you reaching for the arsenic. sincerely, i hope none of you reading...
2009 in review: concert roundup
my dad once asked always asks me why it’s so important that i see bands as they come through town (or within 150 miles, which many of these required). i suppose a large part of it is knowing that the art you see will only happen once. much of the motivation is the crowd, too - no matter what style of music, there is a sort of therapy involved in singing along, headbanging, or whatever, with...
2009 in review: album roundup
i will admit to an obscene amount of music piracy. apparently i’ve downloaded over 104gb of music since february. on one hand, this has instilled a sort of guilt in me, such that i’ll never be comfortable selling my own recordings in the future. but it’s also allowed me to check out tons of stuff i might not have even considered otherwise. what follows is a list of 70 new...
around the fur
i eat at this indian joint compulsively. it’s good enough to warrant putting up with the cacophony across the street - a mob of super weird animal rights activists, screaming at the top of their lungs in front of the last fur shop in town. sure, they give me bad looks for joining in the chants as i walk by in my faux-leather jacket - “forty dead animals! one fur coat!” etc (it...
November 2009
11 posts
diagnosis: rock
i just found out that ronnie james dio has stomach cancer. awful news. he is an absolutely iconic personality in the heavy metal world, and even at 67 fucking years old has one of the most intense voices i’ve ever heard live - an incredibly massive sound for such a tiny man. his influence in the business goes back so far that he’s credited for inventing (or at least popularizing)...
daily high school reunion
facebook keeps telling me to “reconnect with” people that i never “connected” with in the first place. it displays this alongside a list of suggested contacts (imbeciles and ex-girlfriends, not mutually exclusive) that i have intentionally avoided for years.
a few years ago, joe mathlete wrote:
facebook is like a creepy and pointless videogame where people collect every...
tilt-shift
believe it or not, this isn’t a thunderbirds/gumby esque creation, but a simple treatment done to long-distance photography/videography. how they were able to add in the hand, i have no idea - but there are other great examples of this optical trickery here here and here.
rather than splurging on pricy trick lenses, you can now generate your own tilt-shift photos rather easily online....
neo geo for sex offenders
a friend of mine came across this on the sonic youth message board. totally inappropriate and pornographic (don’t watch at work) but very interesting in its own right.
if you like the song, you can download it here.
and if you want to see more authentically 16-bit animated films and art, please check out paul robertson’s work. in particular, he’s done two shorts (pirate...
in the air tonight
for whatever reason, flight attendants are under the impression that having any electronics on during takeoff or landing (including non-transmitting devices) will make the plane explode. i’ve been woken up (or otherwise annoyed incessantly) just to make sure there was no music playing through my headphones - but countless times, i’ve gotten away with it unnoticed (earbuds / long hair),...
gil mantera's party dream
the synthpop spacegods in gil mantera’s party dream have consistently provided the soundtrack to my parties, dreams, and party dreams for the last three years. last saturday was my sixth or seventh time seeing them. sure, i’d jumped on stage in the past - but this will be hard to top. we flipcam’ed the events that preceded and followed the show, and thus i present to you, reason...
wet gold at the end of the super rainbow
the first concert i went to in portland was the octopus project. i’d never heard of them before - i just liked the name. turned out to be a fairly eye-opening experimental electronic performance, with analog synths galore and the only appropriate use of a theremin i’ve heard since “mysterons”. fun show. excellent group of multi-instrumentalists. (album / myspace / web /...