Venusians Go Home!

[vovat]

I've gotten to the point in my beginning book on guitar chords where it talks about the syncopated strum. It strikes me as awfully complicated. I'm really not very good at playing chords in general. It takes me too long to switch from one to the other, and my finger positioning could be much better. I do think the up-down strum is more fun than simply strumming down on each beat, though. I guess I'll get better if I keep practicing, but, while I try to practice every day, I don't always succeed.

I've been doing more casual research on mythological matters, especially the connection between the planets and the days of the week, and of the planet Venus to a fallen angel. It's well-known that "Lucifer," the Latin name for the morning star (i.e., Venus), is often used as another name for Satan, but I also found a mention that the Hebrew name for the planet was "Khazazel," a name closely resembling that of Azazel, a fallen angel mentioned in the Book of Enoch (which I read back when I was taking an Apocalyptic Literature course in college), and mentioned somewhere in the Torah in conjunction with sacrificing goats (the "azaz" part presumably means "goat"). A Google search for "Khazazel" results in so few results that I'm not sure how true that part is. I guess it requires more research.

According to this forum, Scott McCaughey, Carolyn Mark, and Jon Langford played some shows together in the Pacific Northwest recently. I know nothing about Langford, but it would be really cool to see both of those other people in the same night. I guess it's not too surprising that they know each other, since Scott mixed the Corn Sisters' record.

Comments

[revme.livejournal.com]

I had to miss these, because I was working. I've seen Jon Langford (he opened for Frank Black when I saw him), and he was actually really pretty good. It made me want to check out a Mekons record, but I never did. But yeah, I figure it was an awesome show, even though I don't know Carolyn Mark.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

bethje and I saw Neko Case, Carolyn Mark, and Kelly Hogan perform together in Philadelphia. We met Neko and Carolyn after the show, and Carolyn hugged us, which is probably the most physical contact I've ever made with a celebrity. The Corn Sisters, whom I mentioned in my entry, are Neko and Carolyn. And I just found out that Jon Langford is in the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, who did an album with Kelly. So I guess they're all connected.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I know a (very) little about Neko Case (isn't she in the New Pornographers or something as well?)... I think we got one of her albums in when I was working at my college station. I don't really remember much about it, though. That's pretty cool about getting hugged; when toddler_hiway and I saw the Apples in stereo, Robert Schneider hugged us, too, which was pretty awesome. He was incredibly happy and friendly. He was surprised we'd heard the new album already (it came out that day) and was glad we liked it. It was pretty awesome.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Neko is in the New Pornographers. She sings lead on "Letter From An Occupant," which is probably my favorite of their songs. I seem to recall seeing an interview with Scott, where he said he knew Neko, and would like to work with her at some point. That would be cool, I think.

Which was the new Apples in Stereo album when you saw them? I downloaded quite a few of their albums from eMusic, but I usually listen to my downloaded MP3s in random order, so, as a consequence, I know a lot of their songs, but rarely know which album a particular one is on.

[revme.livejournal.com]

At the time, it was Velocity of Sound (which is still their most recent, but apparently they're recording one now, so hooray for that!). It's their album that's a little bit of a new direction; more rockin'/harder. It's still the Apples, though, but there's lots more distortion and whatnot. I think "Discovery of a World inside a Moone" (the previous one) is still my favorite, but "Fun Trick Noisemaker" (their first) is great, too.