Times like these I wish I were one of those mp3 bloggers who wrote about the weather outside. And then posted all twenty-seven mp3s in my iTunes with the word "Snow" in the title.

Times like these I wish I followed baseball or something. As a child I always loved sports statistics... probably my only affinity towards anything vaguely mathematical. I even had this simulator for my Atari 130XE where I could manage a baseball team... and watch them play games as stats compiled. Yes, that's right. Watch.

The NY Mets were my favourite squadron, and I did some great things with them one summer seventeen years ago (lord). I won the World Series, and there was much rejoicing; Darryl Strawberry wept tears of joy onto his mountain of cocaine.

Actually, I do recall that I created my own custom team based on Peanuts. Charlie Brown as pitcher, Rerun as slugger... even Charlotte Braun as a seagull Dave Winfield killed. But alas, I've said too much, though a pleasurable digression it was.

The Catherine Wheel - Heal

I didn't really want to write about The Catherine Wheel here. They remain so intensely personal to me, there's not much I can say, even though I'm so detached from those feelings.

I'm just trying very hard to distract myself, and the best way to do it (without intoxicating myself) is focusing on the ephemera that surface behind my eyes, like the answers in a magic 8-ball. Often these are snippets of pop-songs, and not always radio bullshit like the hook from that Collective Soul song. Which song? I don't know, they were all just hooks, weren't they?

The Catherine Wheel are a band that I can never forget, no matter how far buried they are in the canon of shoegaze (sub-Chapterhouse, even) or brit-alt-pop (lacking in mainstream-cred, somehow, maybe because they didn't go all Ashcroft on us... well, they still got a little boring come "Wishville", but not radio-friendly boring). For me, they always rise up exactly when I need that comfort and contemplation.

Oh, and the first few bars of many of their songs are more powerful than many bands' entire catalogues.

You should all buy The Catherine Wheel's "Happy Days", and not just because you must have "Eat My Dust, You Insensitive Fuck" in your libraries.

-kam

All these million little questions breed a billion little more; it makes much more sense once they have something small to believe in again. Yet still, I would be fine if that 'belief' died tonight, because that would be so very Six Feet Under.

Music:

Modern day hipsters, with their cute little hoodies, and careful beard configurations don't seem to allow themselves to respect Jane's Addiction, even though many of the few nineties bands they namedrop consider Perry & co. a huge influence. Jane's' unique brand of anthemic funk doesn't deserve the rug its been swept under.

While some (like Liz Phair) earned their depreciation of hipster cred, Jane's Addiction's mythology has been tainted only by an unnecessary reunion (see also The Pixies, and The Smashing Pumpkins circa 2009). And maybe that's the problem- hipsters (well, music fans in general- I actually like many hipsters I know, but I'm too fat to truly fit in) don't seem to appreciate "mythology" these days. Lyrics are too literal; no one's sitting in their bedrooms anymore trying to figure out who 'Xiola' is (or 'Sarah', as it were), or what that light that never goes out truly represents.

One cannot deny the opus that is "Three Days" and the screenplay I may rip off of it someday if I can ever get my shit together. So... I'll post it and say just that it has everything: the first kiss to the good sex to the bad sex to the messy breakup to the next first kiss & all with a mouthful of red wine.

Jane's Addiction - Three Days

I don't expect many of you to enjoy it, or even get through a third of it. Any of you conscious in 1990 who remember, please share... perhaps it's your older brother's song, but your older brother always has better stories than you, so... please share.

Please buy Jane's Addiction's "Ritual de lo Habitual" here.

-kam (i've got enough topical cream for everyone)