aric with an a

Funny how solving an occasional problem ends up putting you in a better place than you were originally. For the past few months, I’ve wasted godknowshowlong on locating ‘missing’ songs in my iTunes. Finally fixed, I realized that one of the albums I had been going without was Hawksley Workman’s ‘For Him and The Girls’ - and was immediately ashamed that such a piece of mastery could go unnoticed for so long. He’s Canadian. He’s flamboyant. He’s simply breath-taking to listen to. Think Tom Waits meets Jeff Buckley on a Pete Yorn tip and you’re close. Poetic. Devastating. Weird. Amazing. This production reminded me a lot of ‘Real Gone‘ for some reason.

To pick a favorite track would be impossible, but one that I’ve kept on repeat for the past few days would have to be ‘Don’t Be Crushed’.

Have a listen. Prepare to be a fan.

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(Forgive it cutting off toward the end, couldn’t ftp the whole file for some reason)

For a electrorocky and very catchy, download ‘Striptease’.

For madeforradio pop, try ‘Hey Hey Hey (My Little Beauties)’.

For yodeling sounding good, ‘Maniacs’.

For Graham Parson’s sounding like Damien Rice, ‘You Are Too Beautiful’.

And for a blatant tribute to Pink Floyd’s ‘Fletcher Memorial Home’, listen to ‘You and The Candles’.

Photo by McFull

For those who have not yet treated themselves to Wes Anderson’s latest work, Darjeeling Unlimited, do so. Not since Bottle Rocket has he so colorfully celebrated the eccentricities that make up most families.

Watch it. If you can’t watch it, email me. I’ll mail a copy to you. Unless you’re one of those toffee’s who tries to make sense of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou…you’ll notice I didn’t link to that film.

I have mentioned in a few posts that my best pal/neighbor has been one of the biggest musical influences on me ever - before having met him, I thought disco sucked and Prince was, well…too soft. I was obviously wrong about both and thanks to our late-night sessions trading tracks back and forth, I’m now able to talk confidently about The Gap Band (had more than one song and from Tulsa), what Herbie Hancock’s ‘Headhunter’ did to musical history and why Areatha Franklin might be the biggest b*tch in the entire industry.

Having said that, it should come as no surprise that when he finally helped put together the ‘World’s Greatest Funk Band’ a few months back, they immediately became a city favorite - and a few weeks ago, we were lucky enough not only to film them, but capture a tiny Chinese girl who was, well, to say ‘f*cked-up on something’ doesn’t even seem to do her condition justice.

Pharaoh, from ‘Funk the Bund’, enjoy (Scott’s the bass player and the one drinking whilst performing).

Photo of the 1979 Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park

Who’s more thrilled that Lindsay Lohan posed nude for NYMag, ala Marilyn Monroe?

Click here for down-loadable full size shots…not that you’d want to do that.

Ew.

Granted, I’ve come a ways since 2 years ago where I was still trying to convince Shanghai friends that a handlebar mustache, overalls and a JD & Coke was the last word in Southern cool, but I still love sour mash - nothin’ like it (funny how unemployment, holiday and whiskey posts seem to coincide?), although, recently, I’ve matured in my jurassic mixes thanks to 2 drinks.

First one is a Manhattan, that up until I had one at (name withheld to prevent crowds), had scared me. Now it just makes me feel pretty.

Next one was introduced to me by a bartender in Chicago, after I told him I wanted a Jack and Cola, but wasn’t keen on staying awake all night. He made me a Presbyterian, what I’m currently holding and easy to construct. I strongly suggest it - especially when your Sunday’s aren’t tainted with the thought of work tomorrow.

1/3 bourbon

1/3 club soda

1/3 ginger ale

Mix all, add lemon/cherry.

Drink.

Be happy.

Are up here.

‘All good things must end’, ‘Therein lies the rub’ and countless other cliche phrases have been attributed to the down slide from what was once a promising incline. Fact of the matter is - I’m broke. Not like the broke I mentioned a few months ago which was me seeing the end of the funds, but this time, they’re officially all gone. Like…dodging landlord broke. BROKE broke.

My final payment of 37,000rmb ($5000+) is the last thing I have coming to me and this has been the major disappointment of the past few months. A large agency in town (as in LARGE) brought me on to produce2 shows, one was completed 2 1/2 months ago, the other was suspended at the beginning (they still asked us to submit work done up until that point, which we did) and this agency has been simply given me the runaround. To them, 5 large is nothing, they have it in their petty cash, yet for some reason, they’ve been dragging their feet. At the risk of sounding self-righteous, I have reached the point of damn-near begging them for the money, which shouldn’t ever happen…seeing how the last project I did for them received not only an award, but drew around 30% of the traffic to their site (HUGE company, name withheld for now). Sad thing is, I have hosts, producers and engineers to pay with that, so won’t be seeing much…at all.

And that’s it - the small column I write, which I love, only pays my mobile phone bill (increased now that I got my internet shut off and get email on my phone) and there are only so many more bands we can shoot in town meaning that little extra will be drying up soon as well.

I haven’t dealt with this in a long, long time - even when I first moved to Beijing, I was pulling in 5000rmb ($690) which, at least it was a constant.

This really sucks, I have people I owe and feel bad even emailing them.

So - the light at the end of my little tunnel of despondency:

1. A new friend offered to design my press kit for free (is it strange that in her hands are 7-8 articles on me and I’m broke?) which is one of the bigger blessings I’ve had these past few weeks.

2. I have a meeting tomorrow which could, if greenlit, make me a VJ of sorts…paid gig.

3. Another meeting on Monday for a few smaller projects which now seem lifesaving in retrospect.

4. While on holiday (that blog & pics to come) I decided that this year, I’ll stop f*cking around and get out the first draft of my book. I came home to find out to a good friend (and published author of 12 novels) is moving to Shanghai and offered to help me every step of the way.

5. I really only need 10,000rmb ($1400) a month to live if I need.

…I do feel the need to point out that I write this blog only for a select few in mind (mostly myself) and do not want this to be anything other than one entry in my ever-exciting life of change. ‘Poor me’ is not the intended emotion, more like ‘This should be interesting’.

Just wish me luck.