mikl-em’s vox in a box

Stylin our way into 2008...

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:48:32 -0800

Happy 2008! We had an amazing night last night, hitting Bourbon and Branch's 20's-themed party. Everyone was dressed to the 9's. Danielle and I went with our friends William & Jen and Danielle's sister Nicole (visiting from NYC).

Here's a short video I shot between the Moroccan place we ate dinner and the bar:

MVI_3601

I'll have some pix up on flickr before long. Hope you had a great New Year's as well. Here's to 2008!

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1977 Punks @ 30 (first in a series): The Saints, punk down under

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:20:22 -0800

So 1977 is considered by me at least as the pinnacle of "Real Punk Rock". Whether it's "Never Mind the Bollocks" or "The Clash" in the UK or "Blank Generation", "Young Loud & Snotty" or "Marquee Moon" in the US, '77 was the year Punk exploded, with no apologies, no feelings, and with a genuineness that managed to grab attention away from the high budget Rock Elephants the likes of ELP and King Crimson. You may not like it. Or understand it. But you had to deal with it.

The Saints were a band from Australia that heard the call, as many did, from the early Ramones and Sex Pistols releases and sped their sound up to make a brilliant raucous ruckus. Here are two great songs by them.

They are both on one of the CDs that I would include on the short list of utter must-haves (for a punk or any other rock music collection, really), an incredibly consistent double CD Wild About You which collects all of their studio recordings from 1976-1978. This has apparently become incredibly rare since I picked it up a couple years ago. The only listings on Amazon have it for $54!! No sign on ebay. Don't know about itunes. But really, you should hear their stuff, it's amazing!

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2nage for Xmas

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 14:11:15 -0800

I've made my 4th annual compilation of Xmas tunes this year. Great mix of the weird, twisted and the classically wonderful. Great finds this year include a new hot album of Christmas tunes by Reverend Horton Heat, a couple tunes from Christmas Time Again by the 80's southern Alternative Pop greats the db's (and friends including indie godfather Alex Chilton singing Mel Torme's The Christmas Song below

Alex Chilton sings The Christmas Song

[note it is mislabeled as being sung by the db's, but there's no mistaking Chilton's voice on this]).

Lots more Xmas (and other music) in my audio section. I'll be adding several more holiday favorites, check 'em out.

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Happy Season Greeting Merry Birthday Baby Solstice

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 13:41:31 -0800

Hiya. It's Christmas Day in the morning, the afternoon, dusk, evening, midday into the late night. All day long Christmas. Let's call it that, it's on the calendar. It's a night when Jesus H Christ wasn't born in a manger any more than you or I was. It's a pagan party down that's been lashed to the Christian dogma with sticky tape of gifts and a nailgun purchaseable at yer lo-cal Sears store. Here's a popular web reference on that point, and may I particularly highlight the next generation, you could even call it the resurrection, of the Christian co-optive streak:

The current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes. This story is meant to be a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and modern day globalization, most notably the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.

DUDE!! Here's the specific link to that section. Christianity capitalizes on the Pagan Party and now piggybacks on Capitalistic Marketing Ubiquity. Next step, reclaim Valentine's Day for the Saints and turn "Administrative Professionals' Day" into a worshipable form.

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Videos and pix from our Marie Antoinette Excursion

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 01:25:24 -0800

strolling through Yerba Buena park

Danielle had a great inspiration to get a bunch of friends to dress up in period costume to go see Marie Antoinette, the new flick by Francis' daughter. Since we have a lot of friends with great taste and love of costumes, this was a brilliant plan!

Watch the video, and if you enjoy there are 3 more in the video section. And there's a set of pix on Flickr for your enjoyment as well.

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Video from our World Cup trip in June

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:49:27 -0700

CroatiaVSBrazil_1_WC2006

Finally putting up videos from our trip to Germany.
Well looks like it'll be easy and fun to put up the videos here on Vox. There are bunch you can enjoy. Look for 'em in the video section, I'll upload 'em little by little. Glad to be getting them off my laptop at last!

Danielle and I went for a little short of a month, toured all over Germany and saw several games. It was a really magical time to be there and we had a fanatastic time.

I have Photos up already on Flickr including shots of the museums to the football to the mania and marketing surrounding the football which was really everywhere and bizarre and wonderful.

England's Goal in middair

The most exciting picture that I took was the one to the right. I just put my finger on the button and when Beckham kicked, I clicked. And lo and behold I caught the ball in mid-air, on the way to being the only score of the match. It took England into the final 8 of the tournament and sent Ecuador home. But of course it would be the last high point for the Brits, who ended in Red Cards and injuries in the next game against Portugal.

But oh we had a lovely time that day in Stuttgart.

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Excellent 2nage: White Stripes cover Beefheart

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:54:10 -0700

Party of Special Things to Do

The White Stripes

This is not new, folks.

But I figured I'd check out Vox's media posting capabilities by putting up one of my world heavyweight favorite tunes: The White Stripes covering Captain Beefheart. This is a match made in hellvan. A match made in the shared DNA of Howling Wolf and other blues gravel greats of the past. Props to the Stripes for sensing the connection and having the taste. We can all enjoy the rightness of the Captain's sidewised-world vent, delivered by the non-twins from Detroit. From back in 2000 on a SubPop 3 track 7". Apparently the other two tracks are Beefheart covers as well, but I've never heard them. All I know is this one really r0x.

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Last weekend for Young Frankenstein

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 01:01:40 -0700

We are finishing up our run of "Young Frankenstein: the Play". It's been a riot. In a good way. I play the monster. The rest of the cast is incredible. We have such fun. Check out Scott Beale's great post about it and the pix he shot and put up on flickr. Great stuff. Long live The Dark Room.

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Hella whirled

nobody@vox.com(mikl-em) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:28:27 -0700

Bwaaaa-haaaa!!

more later. mkl.

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