July 28, 2012

TOMORROW NIGHT! Your Mother Should Know, with Charms, The Belmont Whips and Peterman at the Comet Tavern. $6 cheap! Doors open at 8, music starts at 9. We go on around midnight, so it'll be my birthday by then and I'll be up way past my bedtime. Should be a good show -- come out and celebrate with me.

And I Am the Riot
I wonder what came before the conjunction -- "You are the . . ." I like that it's not a riot, but the riot.


The Belmont Whips
This one gets in because I recognized the Castlevania reference all by myself.

Headless Pez
The repeated short e sound makes this trip off the tongue. The object itself is hilariously lame -- without the head, it's not worth anything as a collectible, and I'm not even sure it would work as a dispenser. Now I'm tasting Pez just by thinking about them.

Penguin Prison
Penguins behind bars -- now that's just sad. 

Spaceman Flu
I researched spacesickness for a science fiction novel. Early in the US space program, they didn't realize it existed and were very concerned when some of the astronauts would suddenly barf in the cockpit. I suppose they wondered if it was some weird spaceman flu.

July 21, 2012

I'm rested, refreshed and back online after three days on an island. We had beautiful sunshine and a big thunderstorm with torrential rain, all within 48 hours. I love Puget Sound in summer! When I got home, the club listings were soaking wet, so I had to wait to make my picks until the paper dried out.

3D Friends
Are people finally noticing that real life has been in 3D all along?


Disastroid
Anyone who wrote a story about a near-fatal catastrophe in the Asteroid Belt could not possibly pass this one up. I love how the two words flow together so naturally.

If Birds Could Fly
I try not to play favorites, but this one is a stand-out. What a wonderful world it would be . . .

Trombone Cake
Just a couple weeks late for Stu Dempster's 76th birthday, a significant number for a trombonist.

Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays
As a scientist friend pointed out, Earth's magnetosphere protects us from these things. Get very far out and you have to think about them. Easier to deal with in sci-fi (and, I hope, at the Funhouse) than in real space travel!

July 14, 2012

 So many good names this week! It was hard to choose just five, but I finally narrowed it down to these:

Bottlenose Koffins
Through a happy accident of sounds, we get this mash-up of the playful with the sinister.

Day Laborers and Petty Intellectuals
I like this one for its length and because I wouldn't necessarily put these two groups together -- but then again, why not? Especially in this economy.

Mutha Knows Best
Salute to our name-mates from Your Mother Should Know.

Prism Tats
Through the magic of near-homophones, the tough and gritty becomes bright and colorful. In the future, refracting tattoos will be all the rage.

Strap On Halo
Instant holiness? Holy kinkiness?

July 8, 2012

Once again, a day late! Yesterday was far too nice to spend indoors blogging, so we went instead to Mt. Rainier. Glorious. Weekends like this remind us why we want to live in Seattle. July is our reward for slogging through months like November and June. While the rest of the country is sweltering and/or on fire, we have a few perfect days. So it's kind of hard to imagine going indoors to hear bands, yet there are some tempting shows coming up:

Cattle Decapitations
It's graphic and gross, and seems to hint at an alien invasion or weird cult. But there's something about the word "decapitation" that I find oddly technical and antiseptic for something so blunt, bloody and final.

Golgothan Sunrise
This one startled me with the juxtaposition of the Place of the Skull with the dawn of a new day. But yeah -- the sun did rise on that hill once more, in spite of everything, and life returned against all odds. (If this were a cocktail, though, it would have to be a bitter drink).

Objects in Space
Sci-fi writer over here; always thinking about objects in space. Also the name of a terrific episode of the late, lamented Firefly.


Roll Acosta
Looks like a dude's name, sounds like a thrill ride. As always, I'm a sucker for a name that only reveals itself when spoken aloud.

Speed of Sound in Seawater
Scientific precision with alliteration! Does it get any better than this? 

Bonus -- Potential band names ripped from the headlines:

Silo of Sanity
Scorching Bartok

July 1, 2012

It was an extremely busy week, so this is a day late. The big news is Your Mother Should Know has two gigs coming up this summer: Sunday, July 29 at the Comet (it's the day before my birthday and we're headlining!) and Thursday, August 9 at Rat and Raven (the day before Neal's birthday). I can't think of a better way to end an old year and start a new one!

Eee ee
This name evokes the squealing of young Beatles fans, and probably all young female fans since. Except me, of course. I made a conscious effort never to squeal at a show, and now I'm way past the age where I could have gotten away with it. Love it as a band name, though.

Flying Cars
It's the future! I know because I have a tiny phone that fits in my pocket and flips open like a Star Trek communicator. I'm kind of glad we don't have flying cars, though. I've seen how people drive on roads, and that's bad enough. Better to leave it as a band name.

I Was Thinking of a Roadhouse Brawl
I have to like a name that's a complete sentence on such a rock & roll subject. It would be great to see this group on the same bill with I Can Lick Any SOB in the House.

Really Big Beard
Is there just one really big beard for the whole group, or is it a requirement for membership?

Skate Drunks
Nice play on skate punk. Probably just as bad an idea as flying cars.