Lucky Dragons @ Berry UMC - AUG 31st

So - I've put together this show that is going to be pretty incredible. Since my exposure to their music at SXSW in March, I've been on a Lucky Dragons rampage. After the first performance that I saw, I called (literally) anyone that I would think of to tell them about this incredibly life-affirming experience. I felt so full of joy and love for humanity that I wanted to spread it around as quickly and furiously as possible! Please, if you do any one thing for yourself, be at this show.

I almost don't want to include this teaser video - stumbling in blind is definitely my preferred method of entry, but I also can't help myself! Mad scientist!



August 31st
Berry UMC (4754 N. Leavitt, Chicago IL)
7 PM 7 Dollars

Lucky Dragons
Hecuba
Nick Butcher
Younger

Both Nick and Younger (Ryan and I) will be playing 15 minute sets.

Should we do some sort of a back to school potluck celebration with this?

CATS, BAGS, AND PUPPIES

From the comments:

"I know I know, you're in a successful band and have families and friends and meals to eat but wayyy in the beginning of this blog, you said it was like your puppy and you'll feed it whatever. Now you are not even feeding it!

You're killing a puppy... And I pinky promise you don't want that on conscience."

No, no we don't.

This showed up in my inbox today. Interesting.

I've been thinking about it - this being our blog's one year anniversary (YES, THAT'S RIGHT) - and we've shared a lot, haven't we? This thing wouldn't be alive without You-Me-Go's steady caretakers... and for our second year, I hope to reign in my uneven tendencies. The pronounced comebacks, the puzzling disappearances. Matt and Dan do it right and this is me rejoining the team.



Okay, I give myself three weeks.

BUT! There will be some news coming soon (I'm sure you can guess), tours to announce, and we'll see if we can't come up with an awful photo shop contest or two.

Hey you all.

Tasty

PES' Western Spaghetti from ideals creatives on Vimeo.

The "Borrowed" Bianchi

One morning this weekend I pulled up to my apartment lookin' fierce on my lovingly dubbed, 'schWINNER.' Expecting to be greeted by the celestial rays of light reflecting off James' recently purchased - and spankin' new - Bianchi (not dissimilar to the one pictured above). I had seen it locked to the stop sign before I left, but now I found... nothing.

Oh wait - no... that's not true. The stop sign was still there, it was just clanging in the wind, loose in its hole. Hmm... think. Think HARD. After several minutes of intense confusion had passed, and an acknowledged lack of Columbo-worthy critical thinking skills were employed, I finally concluded the following: Someone stole James' bike by pulling the stop sign out of the ground and replacing it. To make a long story short, James sent out an email to friends lamenting his lost beauty, and immediately received an email back from someone, saying that his bike was on Craigslist!

MK - Theft 101: if you're going to steal a bike, it would be a good idea to...
a) post it the same day on Craigslist.
b) wait a while until the coast is clear, then post it on Craigslist.
c) hock it to a pedestrian as soon as possible, drop a smoke bomb, and quickly disappearing into an alley or gangway to count the cash

Obviously C, but whatevs... some people...

SOOOOooo, this friend arranged a time to "check out the bike and take it for a test ride." Meanwhile, the culprit's facebook page is found... turns out it's some 17 year old kid on a full-ride hockey scholarship to _____ university. Why is he flirting with a life of crime? James called the Police and has them meet him near the location of the "transaction." The police are - with a few exceptions - really helpful and even funny about the whole thing. They ask James what he wants to do. Should they arrest the kid? This is, after all, a felony.

It is agreed that they will just scare the **** out of him, and as long as he apologizes, no harm, no foal. Wait - that's not all. James realizes that since the crime is a felony, he has 5 years to press charges. Instead of letting the thief off the hook so easily, he devises an amazing plan: he gives the thief 4 years to finish his degree and graduate, during which James will keep a watchful eye on him through said facebook page. If he does not pull it off, James will press charges. Malevolence has no place in this sort of James Dunn Adapted Scandinavian Justice System. Maybe we should elect James Dunn to restructure our pointless, destructive prison system.

Hello, we are Younger than you are.

Tonight (Saturday) at 7 pm, Ryan and I will present our first performance as Younger.

facts about YOUNGER-
1. Things are in twos... two computers, two microphones, two usb cables, two souls, two children.
2. There are also some ones... one keyboard, one wii controller, one love.
3. We have only practiced 6 times.
4. Number 3 doesn't matter because we make completely improvised dance music. We have never heard our music before it occurs through the speakers.
5. Everything always involves risk. Everything could fall apart at any moment.

The show is at Berry and a number of our other gifted friends are playing. Jan asked us to play. It's a benefit to help defray the cost of her ticket to Oregon where she will be a counselor at the Rock N' Roll Camp for Girls, which is a SWEET organization!

Mmm k.

Arthur Russell (1952-1992)

The late, great, Arthur Russell.

After searching record stores far and wide for the one missing record in my Arthur Russell collection, I went down to Laurie's Planet of Sound in Lincoln Square. Though they didn't have Another Thought, they were able to order it from Europe as an import. I was so excited! It came last Tuesday, and the verdict is in... maybe the quest predicates my reaction, but it's definitely my favorite. It's the closest (in my opinion) that Arthur came to merging his techno-producing-ways with his avant-whatever-you-want-to-brand-it-as amazing cello intuitions and pre-Dirty Projectors vocal stylings. The lyrics really clearly recall the influence of his time spent in a Buddhist monastery... if you haven't heard this guy - check him out! Here's a clip from a documentary about his life called Wild Combination that is currently circling the globe:



It's sort of an artistic cliche to use the phrase "ahead of his time," but truly, this was the case with Arthur. Especially if you listen to World of Echo or Tower of Meaning, it becomes blatant that our favorite artists of today are somehow forever tied to a continuum that also previously included Arthur in the echo (literally) of influence.

If anyone can tell me the name of the composition that he's playing in the black and white clip @ The Kitchen, NYC, I will be forever grateful... it's so weird to hear a clip playing behind narration and nearly cry because of the power of the composition and performance.

NARCOLEPTIC DOGGIES

It's all pretty much in the title.

ANATHALLO at Midwest FEST

Athens, GA

Athen, GA:
Pop: 76,500

Click on the title of this post to watch a steaming film over at Pitchfork about the little city (and future home of Jeremiah Johnson) with a zen-like artistic community. Pretty fascinating.

Go Bulldogs!

Comparing Artistic Approach