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He is risen!! In other words, glad to finally be posting in 2012. It's been a good year so far; I can't complain about much. For those on board with The Casual Geographer, we are going to record our sixth episode soon, once the three of us are able to get into the same room at the same time (that's the biggest challenge). I think Bret is circling some brewery in Oregon in his car right now, but he should be back in SoCal soon enough.

I'm glad that southpaw shredder Eddie Solis aka It's Casual finally published this video, because I needed something awesome enough to influence me to get off my ass...onto my ass, in front of my computer... and give some kind of update.

For those of you that know me, I'm a big proponent of public transportation. If I can't take public transit to school/work, then I ain't living there at this stage of my life. So, moving to Southern California, a region of the country quite possibly the most stigmatized in the universe for its shitty public transit access, was indeed more of a challenge than a bummer for me. After doing some in situ research, I've come to the conclusion that... well, I think that this song can say it, and express it, much more efficiently than I ever could here.



It doesn't hurt that It's Casual produced an album that probably sounds more like Los Angeles than anything produced this century so far, ferocity and all. From what I've gathered, Solis doesn't have a car, relying on those forms of transportation you see in the video to get himself around. No matter how abrasive (read: the good type) his voice or his chords may be, his message has clearly resonated, gaining shoutouts on the LA Times, Blogging LA, The Huffington Post, El Pasajero, and even a clearly sympathetic (in the tsk tsk NYC way) Generation Records in the Village. It is no surprise that Angelenos are equally pissed about how pervasive the "you needa carrrrr" ethos is in their urban dystopia (or pissed about how the auto industry turned it into a dystopia), and I'm glad that Solis' message is resonating. Yeah, public transportation does suck in LA, but that doesn't mean that Metro doesn't care. Also, that doesn't mean that anyone is too good to ride the train or the bus, which is especially pertinent considering how many 30-something Angelenos have never set foot on a bus or a metro train.  

Now to sit back and wait for "The Blue Line" remix for all of his boys out in Long Beach. I would lobby for "The Green Line," too, but nobody cares about that one. 

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Check it out. We're particularly proud of this one. By the way, DC people, I'm going to be performing at Saturday, 12/17 at the Capital City Showcase at the DC Arts Center with my friends Mike James and Brandon Wardell. Should be a great time, and you can get tickets here.

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It occurred to me that this is the first time in the site's 6-year history that I haven't posted anything sentimental or nostalgia-rooted in honor of Thanksgiving. Well, sorry. It isn't that I care any less about the holiday and what it means, but as anyone who checks this site regularly (anyone?) I have had pretty big fish to fry lately. In other words, there hasn't been much to go around here, though I have been writing a fair amount. Maybe my own taste is starting to pre-eliminate the type of stuff that I would 'publish' here? Who's to say? I would probably retire this site if it weren't for the hundreds (well, dozens, anyway) of podcasts and projects archived here for mass consumption. 

SPEAKING OF WHICH, the first three episodes of The Casual Geographer are now up and available at the blog (linked here or on the sidebar to the right). I'm really slow at things. I need to chalk that up as a New Years' Resolution to improve when 2012 arrives. For now, I'll try to keep the "entertainment" coming. And so will iTunes, which has seen fit to publish our XML feed. Subscribe to that here.

Be in touch. 

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One of the things we discussed on the premier episode of "The Casual Geographer" (which you can listen to here and subscribe to on itunes here) was how hindsight is always 20/20 when evaluating cultural eras. People who came of age in the 90's probably thought the 80's sucked, just as much as people who came of age in the 00's generally didn't look back at the 90's with any reverence.

I'm willing to argue, however, that the early 90's were an incredible time despite any matter of perspective. Two friends had an argument on facebook recently about how music was just as trite ten-twelve years ago (during the height of Total Request Live-mania), which shed light on this perennial Millenial vs. X argument. But what settles this once and for all, as far as I'm concerned, was that in the early 90's, MTV was still airing amazing shit like this:





Greg Dulli and Donal Logue screw around between videos, every band of which they play is somewhere between good and legendary. Dulli even talks about how Wool had the Staal brothers from Scream in it! I can't believe I didn't appreciate this show even more when I was ten. Like the writing on the wall (literally, see some of the comments on these videos) says, MTV doesn't devote a second to counterculture anymore. Ironic, I know, since Dulli's band The Afghan Whigs was already on a major label by this point, and Donal Logue was hardly an indie actor. Actually, most of the videos they introduce were by major-label artists. But regardless, I find it bothersome that this wedge is being driven deeper between those who care and those who are completely unaware. Correct me if I'm off base. 

Also, the Afghan Whigs still own it. 

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I'm posting mainly because I haven't posted anything in a few weeks and I want to post something. I've got a new podcast premiering very soon, but for now, this is all I have to say about it:



Explanations soon. Also, I just got into Chamberlain. I don't know why they're clumped in with the 90's emo-golden-age bands when they sound more like a dad rock band from the late 80's, except good. Maybe it's because David Moore sings like he dusted off some Bob Seger records once the band decided to change their name from Split Lip.  Anyway, they've got some spectacular songwriting, no matter where your ears come from. I've ended a lot of these sentences with prepositions. Talk to you all soon.