The Unemployment Pages

I swear; if I have to hear about "low carb lifestyles" one more time, I'm going to scream. Well, maybe I'll just roll my eyes and moan.

Anyway....

When I was in school I learned about something call the Food Pyramid. I was told to have a lot of carbs so that I'd have lots of energy. Now, some people want to put low carb diets in our schools. Thanks to the annoying parents who have jumped on this diet craze and are now demanding their children be on it too, the government is now reviewing the pyramid and may end up changing it.

The education I received in public school was poor at best; now people are saying that one of the few things I actually learned is wrong? What next?

// posted by Jason @ 11:59 AM

I’d like to take a few moments to point out a few things that have made my week a little brighter:

• Catching Maggie while she was dancing in the cheese isle at Dillon’s while Gladys Knight & The Pips “Midnight Train To Georgia” was playing over the store’s p.a. system.

• Finding out that John Vanderslice (everyone's favorite ADHD rocker) has posted one of his live shows on his website for free download. What’s more, there is a live version of “Up Above The Sea” which is a favorite around our house (John didn’t play it at any of the shows we went to though).

• Finding out that there is a place that makes burritos that are so good and so big that not even Devin can eat the entire thing in one day.

• Finally getting caught up on laundry (I found clothes that I forgot I owned).

• Maggie’s most recent post (7/27/04).

Album Of The Day:
“Live At Gabe's Oasis” – John Vanderslice

If you like both Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" and cute little bunny rabbits (and really, who doesn't?), this could make your day.

Song Of The Day:
"Stanley Kubrick" - Mogwai

It appears that U2 have had a rough-mix copy of their upcoming album stolen from a studio in France. It sounds a lot like what happened back in the early 90’s when someone stole all of the Achtung Baby session tapes out of their studio. Are people really so mean-spirited that they have to steal such important things? Granted, stealing a cdr isn’t as bad as stealing all of a band’s session tapes, but it’s still pretty low.

Never fear, French police are on the case, trying to track down a single cdr that may have the letter U and the numeral 2 written on it. France isn’t that big, right? I mean really, how many places could you hide a cd in Europe? I’m sure it’ll turn up.

Maybe they should beef up security around the studio.

You know, the band is getting older, maybe the cd wasn’t stolen; maybe they just forgot where they put it.

Song Of The Day:
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – U2

Years ago, when I was writing and recording music all of the time, I dreamed of making a living touring with my band, selling tons of cds and being a rock star. One day, my friend Zack showed me an article, written by super-producer/engineer/musician Steve Albini, and I woke up to the harsh reality of the music industry. Of course, the article didn’t crush all of my dreams of making a living in the music industry; I had to spend a lot of money and go to school for that. Please take a few minutes and read this article to see just how messed up the music industry can be.

“The Problem With Music” by Steve Albini

(In case you aren’t familiar with Steve Albini’s work, he’s been in Big Black and Shellac and has produced such acts as Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Pixies, Breeders, Helmet and The Wedding Present (to name just a few)).

Song Of The Day:
"L Dopa" - Big Black

If you’ve been following my medical progress you know that I’m waiting to see my neurosurgeon to find out if I need to have back surgery again (I was told to wait six weeks after my last caudal steroid injection before seeing my neurosurgeon). I called today to schedule an appointment and guess what I found out? My neurosurgeon is leaving the practice! I really have no idea what this means. Maybe he’s retiring and I’ll have to start all over with a new doctor. Maybe he’s starting his own practice, in which case, my insurance probably won’t cover him. I guess I have to wait and see what happens, but I get the feeling this is all going to be a big pain in my ass.

Song Of The Day:
"Del Toro" - The Rum Diary

Ok, one more thing about the new cure album and I'll stop talking about it…maybe.

The Cure’s most recent album has been released all over the world in different formats with different track listings. And guess what…the U.S. cd pressing has the fewest number of songs. If you were to purchase the British or the Japanese pressing of the cd, you would get one to four more tracks. The only way to get all of the songs in the U.S. is to pay top dollar for an import cd or purchase the U.S. vinyl pressing (which I have yet to see in stores).

To further complicate things, the U.S. single for “The End Of The World” will be released on both cd and 7” vinyl. The cd will have two of these tracks while the 7” will only have one of them. Maybe the other tracks will be released on future singles?

Well, I did find another way to get hold of these songs, without spending all of my money and without pulling my hair out (thank you Soul Seek), and let me tell you, they aren’t throwaway tracks; they are pretty damn good.

If you’re a Cure fan like me, and want to hear what "The Man" is keeping from you, check out these new tracks:

Truth Goodness And Beauty
Going Nowhere
This Morning
Fake

Earlier this week, I went to my local record store and purchased the Cure (The Cure) and Ministry (Houses Of The Molé). Both of these bands were in heavy rotation in high school and I thought it would be cool to see what the old guys were up to. Well, after a week of catching up with the guys, it turns out they’'re just old.

On the Cure’'s newest, there are some standout moments, but they are few and far between. Robert howls and squeals more than he has in a long time, and I am happy about that, but he also seems to be repeating past lyric ideas, especially when it comes to running out of ideas or throwing in the towel. The album was recorded live in the studio, so it has a bit more energy to it, but there isn'’t really much to make any song stand out. It doesn'’t help that they haven'’t filled their lead guitar position lately, making for a lot of rhythm guitar but none of the leads or solos that I am so fond of. I never thought I’'d say it, but the single “"The End Of The World"” may be the best track on this one.

I wrote off Ministry back in the mid-nineties but decided to give this new album a try after reading reviews about how political and anti-Bush it was. This album finds Al Jourgensen (vocals and guitar) and Mike Scaccia (guitar) to be the only members to survive the nineties (co-founder and bassist Paul Barker even left the band). It would seem that Paul Barker was responsible for the samples (I heard quite a few recycled samples from the Psalm 69 album) and the slower, more interesting numbers. The music on this album is sadly bland; it’ is speed metal played by a bunch of fifty year old junkies. The guitars are always chugging along as fast as they can go with a big guitar solo always near. There are no bass grooves at all to keep it interesting. To be honest, the guitar riffs aren’'t even that interesting. And as far as political lyrics, this is about as good as it gets:

“"Ask me why you're feeling screwed
And I'll give you the answer
There's a Colon, Dick & Bush
Justa hammerin' away”"

Sounds like some of my high school buddies grew with me while others just stayed the same and got old.