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Razorcake sent me this with my first issue.

Maybe I should wear it on the first day of class, then people will know my interests. If our interests overlap, I can force a friendship that at first will be awkward but will soon be cemented by repeated listenings of Midwestern Songs of the Americas.

So apparently Thorns of Life is no more. And they are not releasing the album I so enthusiastically awaited. But there is hope on the horizon–Blake Schwarzenbach and Kevin Mahon (not McMahon, as I so frequently mistype–sorry, dude), along with bassist Caroline, have formed a new band called forgetters. So, you know, stoked.

This blog should be called “I Swear to God I Sometimes Talk About Things That Don’t Involve Members of Jawbreaker.”

In lieu of actually having stuff to post (plus it’s not like anyone gives a crap because I am the only person who reads this sad excuse for a blog), I’m posting the playlist for a CD I made for my friend Kara. I made it in June but I still haven’t sent it to her. Because I have no money. Not even a couple bucks to mail a tiny package. I also have to mail Amy’s birthday present.

Dead Flowers – Fay Wray

Oh Dear Me! – Shakey Bones

My Boyfriend’s Back – The Angels

One Click – The Max Levine Ensemble

I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night – Brenna Sahatjian

Anna Is a Stool Pigeon – Tom Gabel (Heart Burns sucks pretty bad but I actually like this song. I remember reading about this when it happened.)

Born & Raised – Fake Problems

Playing Politics – Fifth Hour Hero (I have never heard Discount, so I’m not sure if they do, in fact, sound similar. And I think it’s kind of weird that Allison from Discount is now like this hipster goddess. Like, she used to be this adorable kinda crusty girl from G-Ville & now she’s kicking it with Kate Moss.)

Nomad’s Revolt – Mischief Brew

Matching Overalls – Matty Pop Chart (I think we’ve already been over how I want to be BFFs with Matty. I want to put him in my pocket & carry him around with me.)

I Live in Hell – Dear Landlord

Kiss the Bottle – Lucero (Probably one of my favorite covers ever. They make this sound like a Lucero song, not like they’re just aping Jawbreaker.)

Pants – Lemuria

The Bangers Embrace – Propagandhi (A bit of humor from super-political Canadians.)

Call to the Comptroller’s Office – Bridge & Tunnel

New England – Billy Bragg

High School Stalker – Hello Saferide

We Are the Few – Streetlight Manifesto

You may not know this about me–you probably don’t, actually, it’s not a well-known fact–but I’m completely obsessed with classic country music. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Sr. I’ve had Patsy’s 12 Greatest Hits in my car’s (well, my mom’s car’s) CD player for about a week now.

I don’t know what it is that draws me to this. Maybe it’s the same things that draw me to punk rock–honesty, grit, overcoming obstacles. I’ve never had my heart broken but I’ll be damned if listening to Patsy sing about walkin’ after midnight doesn’t make me feel like it’s been ripped out of my chest.

Continuing in a similar vein are Hot Water Music side project Rumbleseat (they cover “Jackson,” originally by Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash), Chuck Ragan of HWM & Rumbleseat, Lucero…probably more that I can’t think of right now because I’m lazy…

On a side note, I look at the show playlists for Campfire Island on KAOS every week, and hot damn, whoever is responsible for them RULES.

So George Rebelo of Hot Water Music is the new drummer for Against Me! and I can’t help but be pretty stoked. I love Hot Water Music and I love Against Me! (Yes, even after the grave disappointment that was New Wave.) I’m a little concerned that this’ll prohibit Hot Water Music from getting back together in the future, but I think they could work it out by going on tour together and therefore making my life awesome. Actually, this kind of gives me hope for AM! Maybe their next record won’t SUCK SO EPICALLY.

I’m supposed to be packing all my stuff up right now, by the way.

You would not believe how much of a hold out I was on the Gogol Bordello bandwagon. All of a sudden, everyone was talking about this “gypsy punk” band and how amazing they were. These people were usually wearing head-to-toe American Apparel, so I dismissed the band as the new Animal Collective and rolled my eyes whenever anyone talked about them and never so much as looked them up on Wikipedia.

That was until I was hanging out with someone who asked if I liked them. I said I’d never listened to them, and from the look on his face, you’d think I said I liked to punch babies and old people. So he put a couple songs by the band on a truly epic CD. I listened, I liked it. I used my magic internet powers to find Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike and Super Taranta! (File-sharing, yo. It’s a Godsend for music-obsessed weirdos).

There’s just something bizarrely appealing about a mix of punk, dub, and folk sung by a gloriously mustachioed, heavily-accented Ukranian, backed by a large array of musicians. I hear their stage shows are wild, I would really love to see one.

So here I am, sitting in my room listening to a band I’d previously scorned. It just goes to show you that a) I can be totally a jerk about music and b) people can change! But I will never, ever listen to Animal Collective.

Dear Slingshot Dakota,

I saw you last night, playing in a tiny, cramped basement that smelled like beer & sweat. You were fantastic. I want to go to your house in the middle of the night and stand outside your window playing “In Your Eyes” from a boom box held over my head.

I just wanna say thanks for booking this entire tour as all-ages shows. And thanks for being so damn nice. Like, seriously, you guys? You’re so cute I want to vomit. I mean, have you seen the cover for your album, Their Dreams Are Dead, But Ours Is the Golden Ghost!?

So, yeah, anyways. You fell in love with Ohio! but I fell in love with you.

Love,
Madeline

P.S. You like Fugazi? And do a totally rad cover of “Waiting Room?” It’s love. In a big way.

A list of people who are stoked about Thorns of Life recording.

1. ME

Nothing Nice to Say

I was maybe 10 years old and I was camping with my father and my younger sister. My sister had gone to bed, and my dad and I were sitting on folding chairs around our campfire. We were singing, which is something we really should never do, because neither of us is particularly tuneful. At least the only living creatures around to hear us were the mountain lions. We’d already exhausted the supply of songs that we both knew (I had only been alive for 10 measley years, after all. Most of the songs I knew were by NSync). So he started singing songs he knew. He started slowly and sadly, “Sittin’ in the morning sun / I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes”. There was something eerie about the song, sung quietly and a cappella by the last coals of our campfire. He told me it was by a soul singer named Otis Redding.

I didn’t hear the song as sung by Otis until I was a freshman in high school. My religion teacher, Mr. McCullough, started every class period with a song. One day his selection was Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay. I went home and looked it up on Wikipedia. I read about the plane crash. He was only 26 when he died, and ”Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay” had been recorded days before his aircraft plummeted into Lake Monona, killing all aboard except backing singer Ben Cauley.

With this new knowledge, the song seemed even more spine-tingling. As I got more and more into Otis Redding’s music, I found that this song didn’t sound quite like his older work. But what really got to me is the fact that the song wasn’t finished. The whistling bit at the end was just a placeholder until Otis could write another verse. He had such a career, for a man who died so young. So yeah, just like D4 says, “I know he’s never gone.”

Photo by Max Varkudal

Remember a couple posts ago, when I was talking about songs that make me cry? Remember “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” by Against Me!?

I punched a dude in the kidneys to this song. It wasn’t a random act of violence–I was at an Against Me! show in Seattle back in October. Ever since the release of their latest album, New Wave, their fan base has grown exponentially and unfortunately it includes more than a few jerks. I had been shoved by hulking Cro-Magnons to the back of the pit and was separated from my friends, not to mention surrounded by huge jocky guys and their girlfriends, who more resembled child prostitutes than kids at a show. So I had to fight my way back to the front, elbows out and teeth gritted. After the show, Stephie said, “I hope some people piss blood tomorrow.”

I have this friend. Against Me! is her favorite band. When she was still at Evergreen, we’d sit around and sing along to our favorite songs. She’d pull out her guitar and begin to strum the familiar chord progression. I can never remember the words to songs, but “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” is one of the few I know all the words to. So it became my song. The one I always had to sing in my cracking, off-key voice.

And of course, there’s the emotional response. I’m often accused of being an emotional void. This is totally true, unfortunately. But this song manages to melt my cold, cold heart and I usually end up choking back tears because it’s so sad–”I swear to God that I’ll love you forever, Evelyn / I’m not coming home tonight”. It gets me every single time.