My Maudlin Career

Wow, so why is it that I had gone a good bit of time without having much to babble on about and now the muse has arrived recently? Dunno, but this is a music post so for any of you who have seen this movie before and want to get off the train now’s your chance.

For all of us still on board I would like to share that I’ve come upon the first new album in awhile from one of my perennial favorites that has completely captured me. This is a great relief because in the past year I’ve seen almost nothing but mediocre offerings from some of my favorites. Let’s think, now…Weezer put out an album with a couple fine tunes and a lot that was confusing. Ben Folds (who I’m seeing next month, btw) put out arguably his worst album of his fine career. Travis put forth a collection of well enough material but very little that was over the top for me. Oasis released their third straight, “Ahhhhhh…it’s not great, fairly listenable, but I don’t know if anyone is going to care in a year” type of album. And then just a month ago The Decemberists put out an album (“The Hazards of Love”) that I thought would be completely in my wheelhouse (a sprawling whimsical narrative complete with multiple characters and a layered story) that still hasn’t caught on with me. Although I will say I did really like Conor Oberst’s (of Bright Eyes) solo debut last summer so I’m not a complete hater.

So where is this all leading? Well it lead to me throwing down a few dollars to get the new Camera Obscura album, “My Maudlin Career”, and I wasn’t prepared to hear an album that related so many themes that hit home to me done in their timeless style that is so refreshing these days. Now the slightly ironic thing is that when compared to the bands listed above, I know so many more of my friends and people in my periphery would immediately identify any or all of the aforementioned before some indie-pop band from Scotland but they’re the real deal folks and it kills me that I run into person after person in my life who have no idea that such musical loveliness exists. Oh and reason #2,258 why I’m still single; I use words like “loveliness” in conversation and in prose (oh and I use the word prose).

Anyway their singer/songwriter, Tracyanne Campbell, not only has a distinctive and strikingly delicate, honest, yet evocative vocal style but her lyrics touch upon things that really have always stirred familiarity in me, at least relationally. Now I’ve never met her, and who knows as I will be seeing them for the first time come this June, and I can’t say what she’s gone through in her love life (although she admits her material is largely personal and comes from experience) but time and again I find myself completely relating to the themes she brings up. The Pitchfork review of the album brought up a point that, even though was directed at her writing but squares with me as well, struck to my heart. They wrote, “On one hand, she's a hopeless romantic. On the other, she's very cautious, and somewhat pessimistic. These contrary impulses create the tragically beautiful situations in her songs.” So I don’t know, I suppose it’s good to find a musical kindred spirit.

Well I’m not going to give you a total rundown on the album track by track although I will say that the entire work, save for one slightly meandering tune, is pretty consistent with gems throughout. I was hooked in the first ten seconds of lead single, and opening track, “French Navy” and it has mostly nothing to do with the fact that a library is mentioned in the first line (these are my people). This, as well as the previous album (2006’s “Let’s Get Out Of This Country”), is a work that mostly comes from someone searching their soul (a bit of a “breakup” album, really) and touching upon certain universals that we all kind of go through but without being poppy schlock (Poppy Schlock playing at Coachella next year…sorry, I can’t help it). Instead it’s genuine, honest, heartfelt (heartbreaking at times), and oddly uplifting. Anyway, it’s little more pop than other artists in my collection but it’s the good kind of pop. Tracyanne has a penchant for writing timeless, classicist, pop music that could have been written in any decade of the last 50 years which also means this is lasting stuff.

As for the clips below, the first is a great little piece done on British TV last week and has host Paul Morley (a long respected British music journalist) really getting to the heart and essence of this group. It’s really the best synopsis I’ve seen about a band in awhile. So at least take a look at that as well as the video for “French Navy” right under to get a feel for the album. The other clips I would suggest you explore as well but only if I’ve piqued your interest. Anyway, they’ve been a long time favorite, and I’m still perplexed as to why they’re a relatively obscure (no pun intended) band in these parts but knowing me, I sometimes prefer it that way. My hope is that maybe I’ve made a fan or two of Tracyanne’s work as she’s a really fantastic singer and songwriter who should be heard by more. Until next time…

Camera Obscura: A band beginning with C


Camera Obscura: A band beginning with C from Iain & Jane on Vimeo.



French Navy




James




Honey in the Sun




You Told a Lie




ABC.com interview with Tracyanne

God, Bob Marley and Me

So back in the days of Josh’s blog 1.0, one of the sort of recurring post topics dealt with the concept of synchronicity (This is the point in the post where Alli rolls her eyes). You know those seeming coincidences that appear a little too coincidental. For me, they usually involve music, which makes sense as I’m tuned (no pun intended) into music in ways different from most people. Now, if I can sound like a crazy man for a moment, I think this is one of the ways God speaks to me and it makes a lot of sense. Consider that since God knows each and every one of us intimately, as he IS our creator, it should follow that he would have a keen awareness as to how to communicate in ways we, as unique individuals, could identify…or I’m just crazy. Anyway, I had another such moment the other day and I would like to share so here goes.

On Friday I dragged myself to work even though I woke up sick on Tuesday for Jury duty, took a half day on Wednesday and was on the shelf at home on Thursday. Oddly enough, when I’m gone from work nobody else does my job so things just pile up so even though I REALLY wanted to just call it a week and take another day and go into the weekend where I could totally rest up. However, I’m the guy who didn’t take a sick day at his present job until almost three years in so I’m usually there no matter what.

So I went in with this pesky bug as context but that wasn’t everything to my story heading in to the day. I’ve also been stressing about finding a new roommate as the search has yet to go to plan. Although, as usual, the “Great future Mrs. Moorman search” has been really REALLY bothering me as of late although I won’t get into too many details now. I will say I’m getting a little (yeah, lets go with “little”) frustrated that I’m well into year two in my post previous long term relationship life and I’ve been waiting for the carousel of contenders to stop. It’s been pretty maddening, actually.

Anyway, I made it through the day well enough and, instead of my usual “leaving right at 5:00” self, I stuck around for a bit talking with Mila, the full-time Circulation Supervisor for the library, and we were discussing the aforementioned issues. In the course of conversation I realized how despondent I was becoming and she caught this as well. It was a good conversation and she ended it by telling me that the Lord has a plan, that I wouldn’t worry and that everything will be alright (remember this last bit as it’s important).

With that, I left the library a little after 5:30 and started on the walk to the Red Line Station. I had just crossed over Highland, walking on Hollywood Blvd., and was in DEEP thought and was having an involved conversation with God. I vividly remember thinking, “God, I have no idea how I’m going to get through this. I don’t see your plan in situations that have gone far too long without an answer.” Just then, from this street vendor who always has music playing loudly, what do I hear playing that shook me from my thoughts? It’s Bob Marley singing very clearly, “Everything’s gonna be alright! Everything’s gonna be alright!” from, ironically, “No Woman No Cry” and it was like a bolt of lightening that made me feel like even though a lot seems up in the air right now, that God will see me through and everything will be alright even if I don’t see the road clearly at present. So I don’t know…was that God offering encouragement or showing that even though I don’t see it, and answer is coming? Who knows, but I do know it’s not the first time I’ve experienced such a thing and I always wonder about when is it that things stop being coincidental and start being part of the master plan? So that’s what I have for you today. As always, feedback is welcome. Anyway, I thought it appropriate to add the video below of Bob playing the song in question. Enjoy.

Jury Duty

So I’ve been waiting to have something truly blog worthy come into my life and then BAM…jury duty happened this week. Now it’s not as though I was surprised that it came, as I received the summons last month but still. So here’s a tale of my fun at becoming a prospective juror this past Tuesday.

Now to be honest, the adventure began the night before as I was all set to call to see if I was required to come in and…totally lost the summons. I tore up my room looking for the stupid thing and I couldn’t even call to talk to a real person and you get nowhere with the automated service because they need the specific numbers from the summons to do anything, so you see I had an issue. I also have to apologize to my friend Mae who unknowingly called in the middle of my panic. Sorry if I wasn’t at my best. Anyway I did remember that, thankfully, work had made a copy of the summons so I knew I could get it once in. So I was able to call the first morning and, as very lucky as this was, I wasn’t expected in because if I would have been I was going to get in almost two hours late and I think that would have gone very very badly. However come that night I made the call and it turned out I was needed the next day.

I spent the day down at the main courthouse in downtown L.A. right across the way from the Disney Concert Hall and in number 2,097,250 why I enjoy where I live I was able to take the Red Line from right by my house in the North Hollywood area right to the Civic Center, where the courthouse resides so the commute was fairly painless.

Now my previous jury duty experiences were a weird mixed bag and didn’t properly prepare me for this go around. My first go at it was a few years after high school and I spent two whole weeks at the Torrance courthouse reading books and listening to my walkman (HA! A walkman…). It was brutally boring and I wasn’t called once into a courtroom. The second time was while I was working at Concordia 6 or 7 years ago and I went in a couple days but I remember it being fairly painless.

So this leads me to Tuesday and I was ready with book and over 12 hours of podcasts to see me through the anticipated bore-fest. After orientation, they began calling random names to be assigned and it was comedy. First of all, I’m a stickler for listening to instructions and following through things so it bothered me just a bit to hear them explicitly state, “Please say ‘yes’ once you hear your name called” only to get half of everyone say “here” with a few people who didn’t know what to do when they were called-it was strange. And on that, I had a weird fascination with hearing how people were responding as a third of every respondent sounded incredibly perturbed/unhappy to hear their name and a number of us audibly laughed when one guy responded with, “Yeaaaaah IIIIIIIII’m here” as despondent as could be uttered. Oh and since I’m a “name” guy two did pop out at me. Maybe I misheard but I swear someone by the name of Golden Flower was called and then I saw that everyone does get called for jury duty as Jack le Bauer (his full name, I suppose) was there so when he’s not saving the country from terrorists he’s serving on juries.

After a few rounds, yours truly was called up the third floor with 35 of my closest friends. After being sworn in, the court went through the process of jury selection, which I found fascinating, actually. On one hand I love the diversity of the city I live in and to hear all the different things people have done and experienced was really cool. There were also a few contentious moments as a couple people tried to cite reasons to be excused that were not flying with the judge. You know how invariably someone will say, “Hey, I know how to get out of jury duty. Just do so and so.” Yeah, don’t try this in a real court because if the judge smells any BS you’re in for a verbal beat down…and that’s exactly what happened at one point as the judge did state, very sternly, in the middle of questioning “Are you TRYING to get out of jury duty!!” which was responded with befuddled whimpering (Befuddled Whimpering playing at Coachella next year, btw).

Now by going through the jury weeding process, the thing that really threw me off is that there were several people who were dismissed even though their background would seem to fit the case perfectly and on the other side, a few people got in who basically answered no questions. It’s as if the lawyers were picking people out of a hat. Now I know they’re under no obligation to give reasons as to why certain people are dismissed but it seemed so random. Could the lawyer reader of the blog (i.e. Alli) explain how all this works because I came away scratching my head.

Anyway, after the dust settled, I ended up in a select group of four who were not called to even answer questions so I felt like some kind of observer more than anything else. It got a little tense for us, as were started looking at each other very nervously as names were being called at the end. All I know is that I would have hated to have been called as an alternate juror. It was a trial that could have lasted 10 days and if I’m taking 10 Vacation days to sit on a jury, then I want to be a legit juror not an alternate (all apologies to the alternate juror readers of the blog).

Although having said all this, I actually would have been interested in being a juror for maybe a short three day case or something. Is there something wrong with me? It’s just one of those things I haven’t done that seemed like it would have cool to go through the process and see our legal system in action. Oh and “The People’s Court” does not count.

Alright, folks…that’s about all I have. Fun times and observations from a prospective juror. Until soon (maybe)…

Office Moments

So I had a weird “Office” (as in the TV show) moment a few weeks ago that I thought I would share with you, as it’s been far too long since I’ve posted or so it seems. Anyway, for any of you unfamiliar with the show, they will exaggerate aspects of office work environment sometimes to the point of absurdity to draw larger points and I think that’s where this story goes so here goes.

One of the directors was let go close to a month ago and the three of us who work full-time in the library area where talking about the situation in my office as it seemed somewhat out of the blue. I was then asked, “Wait what was his title” as if I would just give a quick answer and instead I paused and slowly turned to the phone list (which has not just extensions but also job titles) to try to find him on there and before I could even find his name, the ridiculousness of the situation was pointed out to me. We’re somewhat lamenting the loss of this guy and none of us even knew his job title. I think that was probably indicative.

Anyway, I just thought I would share as it’s come up a few times here followed with a few good chuckles so there you go.

This and That

So…here we are. I haven’t posted in awhile so here’s a “What I’ve been up to lately” post in no particular order.

I’m in the middle of yet another week 1 (they keep on happening…weird) here at school which means it’s high stress time with having about 27,250 to do all at once. At least I’m employed so I’m not complaining but sometimes I wish things would just slow down.

I’m mostly settled at the place although Stewie still will hardly get out from my room other than to eat and drink. He has surprised us a few times in the kitchen as one of us will turn around and say, “Whoa...look who’s here!” and then one of the other cats will walk up to him and he’ll freak out and run back. Good times. Other than that, I will be having a house warming party in the 18th so you’re invited if you want to come on by. Email me for details…

Oh and speaking of the place, a few of you commented on my Facebook page a little while ago when I shared that I was looking for another roommate so I thought I should explain that situation. When I moved in I knew one of the two roommates was only going to be there for another 3 months-ish so it wasn’t a surprise. We’ve seen several people but they keep on having pets and I’m not sure I want my home turning into a farm but we’ll see. I feel pretty good that something will turn here soon.

I have unexpectedly run into tickets for several upcoming shows in the next few months so that should be fun. These things usually come in bunches for me and I’m sure I’ll write little blurbs as they come. The one bummer I had on this front was that I had a ticket to see Travis this Saturday and they changed the venue (not a big deal) but then moved the day to this Friday…Good Friday. It seemed not the best call to skip Good Friday service to go to a concert but maybe that’s just me…

There’s also some stuff cooking this summer that I’ll be going into in a little bit, so details are forthcoming, but I’m pretty excited nonetheless. Sorry about being cryptic but not everything is quite ready for me to feel good about sharing. Good stuff, though…

Anyway, that’s about it. Until another three weeks when I remember I have a blog…Josh.