Discovery! and a Soundgarden song.

Today was my day off from work, so I decided to go downtown and get some stuff done. The first thing I did today was visit City Hall and get a street performer license. This is something I've talked about doing for a while, but haven't gotten around to. It's $100, which is a little steep if you ask me, but hopefully I can get that back in a few days if I'm diligent. Once I make a $100 we'll get one for Kimberly and Ragged Claws will be busking all over town like its our job. I guess it will be in a way. Keep a look out for some cowboy songs and melancholy folk tunes echoing through the subway or mingling with the sounds of cars and buses and electronic clicks of digital cameras. After I had my license in hand (which looked slightly craft-fairish after having laid down 100 bones for the damn thing) I felt strangely accomplished. 'I'll reward myself with a drink!' I thought. Well, I had some Canadian Club left over from last night's pizza party and went to 7 eleven for a mixer/chaser. Without thinking about the consequences I went with the iced coffee - a concoction which tastes somewhere between nesquik and yoohoo - and boy did I luck out. I should preface this by saying that I've always been a fan of Brass Monkeys (tm). The glorious mix of Old English* and orange juice (the poor man's mimosa as I like to call it) has resulted in many a great evening over the past few years - a drink to be enjoyed guilt-free (albeit shame-free) and a bit of class and refinement for the classless and unrefined. Well, my fellow brownbaggers and old style connossieurs, there is a new bum cocktail to rival the brass monkey and bring joy to those with refined tastes and shallow wallets. I give you the 'White Corsican' or the poor man's white russian. Go forth and be merry.
White Corsican:
2 1/2 shots Blended Whiskey
12 ounces of 7 eleven iced coffee (mocha flavor is preferred, but feel free to experiment with French Vanilla)

notes:It's preferred that you grab a spare cup and tuck it under the iced coffee at the time of purchase. when you find a secluded spot to sit and mix discreetly, poor the whiskey into the empty cup and transfer the contents from the other cup into the whiskey cup. This makes for a more homogenous mixture and thus ensures that your White Corsican will be good to the last drop.
PK

Black Hole Sun.mp3

Ragged Claws Daytrotter session

Check out our Daytrotter session that posted today. We're pretty pumped about it. Click Here! If you don't know, Daytrotter is a recording studio that has a music blog. There's tons of awesome recordings for free and they're all recorded live at the Daytrotter studio in Rock Island, IL. Personally I think the bonnie 'prince' billy session contains some of his best recordings. Download our songs (almost all of which we haven't recorded before) and then check out the rest of the site.

p.s. if you wandered over here for the first time be sure to download our free e.p. on Common Cloud Records right here: The Sleepwalker e.p.

Benefit Show this Friday, May 29th

This Friday we've got a benefit show we're playing at the Oasis in Grayslake, IL (151 N. Hawley St). We're playing as well as our friends Venna, Zach Petrini and the Broken Bones among others. There's art and jazz music going on at 4:00 p.m. so come by and peruse some art and meet some people. There are certain things in life that are simply too important for my usual bumbling irreverence. While the irony and the lack of meaning that seems to flow through much of the indie scene (like an air pocket swimming lethally through the blood stream) is great for a Saturday night it is often difficult to do something overtly serious and meaningful in the presence of such overwhelming light-heartedness (and its so coooool!). Haiti has been a kind of obsession for me ever since I went there in the summer of '06. I've taught music mainly at the Dessaix Baptiste School of music in Jacmel Haiti and a little bit at the Saint Trinity School in Port Au Prince. Haiti has not made me into an open hearted optimist, but somewhat of an embittered realist. I believe that the problems facing this country (compounded by a 200 year history of marginilization and injustice) are unimaginable to most people. Having spent a fair amount of time there, the depth of the problems there and the reality of their effects continue to move me and challenge my ways of thinking. That being said, the music schools that I've worked with are rays of light in a really dark place. Amidst all of the difficulties present in the lives of the students, they are given the opportunity to discover their artistic inclinations and their capability to create something beautiful. I won't delve too deep into my beleifs about music and the expansion of ones perception of beauty, but I assure you that I think music is incomparably powerful and yet understand its limitations. The School in Jacmel feeds a need that is less tangible than the social and economic needs of Haiti, but one that is nonetheless deprived and hungry. The call of the spirit, the endless pursuit of beauty that we in our country can mingle with and call upon as we wish (at least more easily). Kimberly and I are going there in July to work with Jean Marie, an artist who lives just outside Jacmel, and we'll be teaching at the School there. More on that as the time approaches. In the meantime, please come over to the Oasis this Friday. You'll be glad you came.

PK

p.s. It kinda sucks that I feel like we need to post music now to get you to read this. Is this true? Either way, here's another composition of mine. It's called Wood and Stone. It's kind of like a remix or something of the hymn "Great is thy Faithfulness." Musings on my religious education and the persistence of certain images and ideas throughout so many strange times. Lindsey Crabb is playing Cello and Megan Karls is Playing Violin.

wood and stone.mp3

Song: Down there by the train

We're back from New York. We had a real good time hanging out in Brooklyn. We spent some time catching up with friends and comparing Brooklyn to Logan Square. I said its too scummy, Kimberly enjoyed the scum. I think that's kind of why we're friends. Anyhow I figured I'd upload this song. It's another song recorded into the little mic on my laptop. Tom Waits recorded this song on his Orphans album and my former roommate Dylan showed it to me once. It's one of those very few songs that is so great and wonderful that I can listen to it over and over and it doesn't seem any less incredible. The image is one of this train takin' everyone to heaven and all the vagabonds (all the low-lifes from the drug-fiends and the whores to Judas Iscariot and John Wilkes Booth) know the one place where the train goes slow and they can all jump aboard. Guilt has always been a theme in my life having grown up in a christian household and dealing with a wide range of Christian people having a hand in my education. I didn't realize how much that feeling can still linger until I found myself listening to this song and getting choked up. (whatever, yeah okay sometimes I get choked up. so what, huh?)
Johnny Cash recorded a version of this song once and it suits him, having always been a voice for the rough-necks himself. I'm not as pretty as Scarlet Johansen, but I'm pretty sure I could drink her under the table.

PK

Down there by the train.mp3

Second City Risers (Off to New York)

The goal of this coming month was to go out on tour. This has been a bit of a disappointment as we attempted our first trek across the eastern seaboard and were unable to bring it all together. Nonetheless, we stand undaunted and will be taking a short vacation/trip to New York to play a show with two colleagues of mine. We're playing at the Stain Bar in Brooklyn with He Can Jog and Bryan Teoh and plan to do a little recording for a day or two with these dudes as well.

I met Erik Schoster and Bryan Teoh back at Lawrence University and the two of these guys introduced me to electronic music. I've dipped in and out of the world myself, and the great computer crash of '06 brought an abrubt end to anything I was hoping to accomplish with it. Looking back on it and seeing what these guys are doing now, I couldn't have had a better introduction into the whole world of computer music. I've recently stepped back from almost everything digital and/or electronic (though for better or worse I've been known to indulge in loops and gadgets in the past). This is not to say that I'm an acoustic purist or anything like that. I came to the realization that if I was to do anything really monumental with computers I would need a kind of dedication (obsession?) that I really wasn't capable of (needless to say I felt the same way about jazz). Bryan gave me a bunch of software only some of which I was able to make any sense of. He also made a beat to a Braille cover of Smashing Pumpkin's perfect. He was on the verge of world-wide superstardom with his 8 bit Betty among other things. Now he's started channeling his computer skills/aeshtetics into video art. Erik (aka He Can Jog) can turn endless lines of code toss in some discarded scratches and blips of tape hiss and create something that is musical and personal. Here's a track of his that I've always liked. It's minimal, raw, and it moves me. Do yourself a favor and download the albums he's got up for free. Do the world a favor and purchase his latest album. See you when we get back.

PK

09 michael frederick rathbun (nuevamente llego el invierno, y es dificil regresar del sur...).mp3

P.S. I don't want to leave Kimberly Hanging. My opinions regarding feminism and music are continually shaping and folding in on themselves and therefore my contributions to the discussion are usually questions. Specifically the question about the correct male response to these issues. I'm not sure what the correct response is (beyond being mindful and resisting ambivalence), though I put forth evidence that at the very best displays the awkwardness the often accompanies male musicians trying to be pro-feminist and at the very worst reinforces the stereotypes that perpetuate the problem. I give you the newly married Mrs. Ben Lee.

rant

speaking of the wild west, a lot of things have been making me mad lately. actually, the wild west doesn't make me that mad. it's the time and place where lawlessness allowed relative freedom and power for women-- along with the unfettered exploitation of women of course. like bad ass calamity jane on deadwood, or belle star. but yeah, actually, the unfettered exploitation and objectification, medicalization and capitalisation of women's bodies in the late nineteenth century does make me mad...a lot of things, man. specifically, "rock and roll"* has been making me mad lately. or rather the spectre of the phallus which pervades it. i am serious.

today i read about marnie stern's kissing booth, which reminded me of going to see marnie stern back in october. let me explain for a moment in case you are not familiar: marnie stern is the sickest, baddest, most rocking guitarist i have seen in a very long time. the only word is disgusting. she is also very pretty, but mostly just badass all yelling and sweating and shredding. in any case, at this concert in october, in between songs some douche bag yelled out "you're a babe!", which despite being true is beside the point. i couldn't help myself, and yelled "fuck you dude! you're a sick guitarist marnie!". my point being that one should not have to be a pretty woman to be a good musician, and one should not be admired for looking nice while playing, but rather for playing well. or incredibly disgusting, as the case may be. there is this amazing musician in front of you and you want to tell her how hot she is? really?

but then it struck me: what if a room full of mesmerized hipster boys (attending what is always a cockfest, on stage and in the audience), is actually the perfect (post)feminist fuck you to all those hysterical girls swooning over elvis and the beatles that made us all look so bad? so my question is: sexuality? or rather sexiness? that almost solely female space of cultural value, seen usually as objectifying and devaluing women, could its certain strategic deployment engender an appropriate and well earned power? could it be a good way to try and pay parking tickets? did that douche and those awkward fans too terrified to kiss her actually make us look better? and really, am i just a little bit jealous that she didn't have a kissing booth when i saw her play?

hugz

kz

*except yukon ho!. yukon ho! is amazing, listen to them right now.

Song: Yukon Ho! (by: Yukon Ho!)

I've been watching a lot of HBO's Deadwood lately and it's gotten me really pumped up about the wild west. More specifically it reminds me of my own experience as a prospector. Long ago I journeyd west with a dream. Armed with the bare essentials and an unwavering eye on the prize I, along with 4 other worthy men, took to the frontier with nothing but the furious beats pounding out our each step. It wasn't gold we were looking for, but the rock wherein the gold lay hidden. 5 worthy travelers equipped with guitars, drums, and a late model moog synth, we sought our treasure out west. That is, the west side of the Fox River where the booze poured late into the evening and the unfortified walls shook with unfettered post-teen angst. The band was Yukon Ho! and the music we made is fast becoming a forgotten dream. I occasionally get snippets of melodies in my head as I play and can't seem to place them. Then as if Jip the squirrel is reading my mind from outside my window, he begins to tap furiously on the wood of the porch and I'm swept up in a dusty whirlwind of wild dance beats and spastic guitar strums the likes of which I'm sure I will never hear again. Here's a taste of Yukon Ho! A battle cry if you will. Should you choose to uncover more of this epic journey of old, I hear there are still remnants of this great band of adventurers laying dorment in the forgotten corners of the new frontier.

PK

01 Yukon Ho!.mp3