Don’t ask me why I obsessively look to rock ’n’ roll bands for some kind of model for a better society. I guess it’s just that I glimpsed something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for prophecy have been seeking its fulfillment ever since.
- Lester Bangs
Lovers of quirky,hyper-literate country rock gold rejoice, Eef Barzelay and his band Clem Snide are back with a brand new record called 'The Meat Of Life.'
It totally caught me by surprise as I wasn't expceting the band to follow up their trimuphant return- 2009's 'Hungry Bird'- so quickly. But I am so glad they did, the record is fantastic.
It's been since November last year, and I keep thinking about you, and have found myself coming to that gas station looking for you several times...
I figured I have to take a chance or I'll never know what could be...
You know what kind of car you were driving, and you know what I was wearing, what I looked like. You know who you are....ok, and you caught my interest, making eye contact, acknowleding me...it was a good feeling, you made me smile, and it felt good.
You watched me from the time you were walking into pay for gas, and I watched you while I was on my phone..as I was pulling out I waved, as I got on Morse I watched you wave me back, I went up to Easton, and turned around and came back...but you were gone.
You didn't wait for me...if you reply, please tell me what kind of car you were driving, what you were wearing, what i was driving/wearing and what day/time it was.
******
This may in fact be the saddest missed connection in the history of sad missed connections...
As the occasional great movie finds it's way into my life, I will sometimes show some love to said film in blog form and set music to my ramblings. This is one of those times.
Thanks to the modern marvel that is my Xbox 360 I am able to stream netflix movies right into my living room on demand. This invention has been the death of boredom on many a Tuesday night here. Last night's late night feature was 'Gigantic' starring Paul Dano as an introspective bed salesman in NYC and Zooey Deschanel as his quirky,adorable muse.
I am not a writer nor am I a critic, so I will attempt to keep this brief...bear with me. It's basically that same old story. You know the one where the quiet, sweet guy who has spent an entire lifetime obsessing over adopting a Chinese baby FINALLY gets close to his ultimate goal of obtaining an actual Chinese baby, then accidentally meets the girl of his dreams and suddenly there is conflict. Obviously, that was a very trite plot summary, but the point being this is not like every other movie you have ever seen. And while it is by no means the greatest film of all time, it still does a way better than average job of documenting the dysfunction of families and relationships and trying to make them all fit into these, our so-called lives.
Well worth your 90 minutes....go see it, we must discuss.
After former Clem Snide front man Eef Barzelay stepped out and released two stellar solo albums over the past few years, I had resigned myself to a life without Clem Snide. But as I usually am in life, I was wrong.
Eef and the boys are back with their first new album since 2005 with their new record 'Hungry Bird.' The album is probably, for lack of a better word, the 'darkest' one in the Clem Snide catalog. The songs serve as a snapshot of the personal and professional turmoil that surrounded the band(the album was actually recorded in 2006, AFTER the 'official' band break up) and they play out beautifully...even if a little unsettling at times.
I steer clear of posting music news of any kind on here usually...there a billion places on the web that do that, and they ALL do it better than I could. But when said news item is about one of my all time favorite bands, I feel obligated to pass it along - complete with a brief soundtrack of course. So earlier today I was doing my monthly check in on my myspace page and while scanning through all of the bulletins I noticed that Eef Barzelay, frontman of Clem Snide, posted a blurb about their new album coming out in February and a tour to follow. And my day was made!
In honor of this momentous(in my little world) occasion, here are three of my all time favorite Clem songs...enjoy.
Craigslist personals: more loneliness and despair than a Kafka novel
Date: 2008-10-01, 7:27AM EDT
Oh, the humanity! I have been clicking around the various "personal" sections of this site for the past hour or so, and I must say: the level of collective angst, desperation, emotional need, and pain bubbling just beneath the surface is staggering. It's like a David Lynch movie, only without any midgets. I was in a decent mood before, but now I just want to blow my fucking head off. Speaking of which, if Kurt Cobain were alive today, I think he would be writing songs about the psychic torment of the Craigslist community. I haven't seen agony and despair like this since communist-era Russia. This site should have pop-up ads for Prozac and vodka.
My point... what was my point? Oh yes -- let me say, from the bottom of my heart:
To all the "young, great looking, well-hung" guys who just woke up horny and alone and thought that some hot random woman might want to drop by your apartment and fuck you: yeah right, go back to sleep. She ain't coming.
To the "hot, blonde, petite woman" who just "needs" a Brazilian guy over 6'1" with an 8-inch cock, a substantial income, and no "diseases or drama": well, honey, as long as you are so incredibly open-minded about it, I'm sure you will find true love...
To the "28yo, SWM nice guy" complaining that he can't get a date: join the fucking club, buddy. Neither can I.
To the "missed connection" guy who thought he "shared a moment" with that chick at Trader Joe's: bro, she was just there buying her soy milk. She probably didn't even see you.
To all the guys who claim to be into "tantric sex" and massage and just want a partner to "share" it with: guess what, you are not fooling anyone. Dressing it up in spiritual terms does nothing to disguise the fact that you just want to get laid. Again, join the club.
I realize that my advice is worthless, but I thought you might take comfort in the fact that I care.
I don't watch a lot of television, and tonight I was reminded of exactly why that is. I was flipping aimlessly through the channels and found myself actually watching that show Nashville Star for a second. I have no idea why...I can't stand pop country or reality TV...this was a whole lot of both. Anyway, I noticed Jewel was one of the judges and it reminded me in a round about way of exactly why it is that I love singer/songwriter Eef Barzelay so much.
The only time I was lucky enough to catch Eef's old band Clem Snide live was back in 2002 or 2003 I think(the years are REALLY starting to bleed together in my mind). I will never forget his wonderful introduction to the song in this post. He said it wrote it one night because he couldn't turn around and NOT see Jewel somewhere. I think this must have been when she was a fledgling nu-folk singer singing bad new folk songs....you know, before she become a bad pop singer, and way before she became a judge on a bad American Idol rip off. And right around the time she released that ATROCIOUS book of poetry. So basically he wrote the song from Jewel's perspective...just to mock her. Do you see why I love this man?
Listen along...close your eyes...and BE Jewel for five minutes...don''t worry, I promise you will turn back into the much more talented you the second the music stops.
Eef Barzelay,the front man for one of my very favorite bands, 'Clem Snide', is releasing a new record any time now. You can pick it up digitally at Itunes, and I think the hard copy comes out in early June...and I love it.
How could you not love a band who culled their name from a character in a William S. Burroughs book? Cool name or not though, I love the music of songwriter/singer Eef Barzelay and his band Clem Snide.
Wonderfully quirky lyrics that name names and name places, giving the songs an instant dose of credibility. So many great songs to pick from, it was hard to just pick two to share...but here are a couple of my favorites.
...or my email is anyway! Hey, it's me Blair...the Certain Songs staff of one. I just do this for the love of the music and am in no way trying to rip anybody off, so if you are an artist or a record label and you are not happy that I am promoting your music, or you want me to take a song down, just shoot me an email and I will most definitely oblige.
And please support the artists I post here in whatever way you can if you do download a song...go to a show, buy some merch, buy an album...these songs are the soundtrack to my life and I just love to share them. But I can only do that if the insanely talented artist responsible for said songs are able to eat.
I also love hearing new stuff...so any submissions can also be sent to my email, I will try my bestest to listen to everything and get back to you all...peace,love,rock n' roll.
csmusicblog@gmail.com
Monthly Mix Tape
Mission Statement
I guess you're old enough to know. Kids out on the east coast. Roughly twenty years old. Got coaxed out by a certain perfect ratio. Of warm beer to the summer smoke. And the meat loaf to the billy joel. Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls.
She goes low on the seats when she gets high in her car. She looks shallow but shes neck deep in the steamy dreams of the guys along the harbor bars. She's pulling out her shirttails and jacking up her socks. Stern and stoned and confident, coming up towards the jukebox. Born into the only songs that everybody finally sings along. B-1 is for the good girls. It's only the good die young. C-9 is for the making eyes. It's paradise by the dashboard light. D4 is for the lovers. B12 is for the speeders. And the hard drugs are for the bartenders and the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends. And they're playing it again. Ellen Foley gives us hope. Certain songs they get scratched into our souls.
I guess you're old enough to know. Kids out on the west coast are taking off their clothes. Screwing in the surf and going out to shows. They get high and ride around in gtos. I guess you're old enough to know. CERTAIN SONGS THEY GET SCRATCHED INTO OUR SOULS. - The Hold Steady
