the realm of actually making things

Look at this happy tree! I hope I come off that cheery about things running their course.

Yesterday:
Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Blank Generation
The Gun Club, Fire of Love
Black Francis, The Golem
Wild Flag, Wild Flag


Today:
Jeff Mangum playing to the protesters at OccupyWallStreet via You Ain't No Picasso

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

Mastadon, The Hunter
A whole lot of Bobby Rush
Barn Owl, Lost in the Glare

• I biked over to the soft opening of The Radio Bar last night like a damned Portlander. I look ridiculous enough in my bike helmet, a little like Sgt. Schultz, but there is no place on the front of my bike to clip a light so I wear it on a little lanyard around my neck. The combo makes me look like I'm a missionary assigned to a rave. The opening was a poorly kept secret with everyone asking "How did you know about this?" The bar is sweet and the sound system is tied into the Apple Remote app so you can request tunes and then vote for them to get them bumped up. My friend and I did all we could to keep this Bob Dylan song from playing; nothing against Dylan, but nobody wants to hear that in a bar.
  


• Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum playing for the #OccupyWallStreet protesters is sweet as hell, and it's probably just as well that Radiohead didn't play - I like their shadow better than their picture nowadays - but imagine the mayhem that might have ensued if Mastadon had played instead. A million suddenly anti-capitalist hip kids doing air guitar atop the ashes of The Man. Ragnarok > Walden! Civil disobediate that shit!
  


• Speaking of unfettered capitalism, I just got the press catalog copy for my book and it sounds like a real book!
  


• RIP Steve Jobs and Bert Jansch. Thanks for making your deal all about making things that transcend what's necessary to get at little wonders.
  
  
  Bert Jansch, "Needle of Death"
  


• I usually don't let my programming life bleed over into this narrative, mostly because programming has lost some of its zest for me. So, it is notable that I highly recommend App Inventor for you tinkering types with Android gear. It is totally fun and revolutionary even in a couple ways. I'm doing a presentation on it tomorrow and hopefully getting my class excited about it, take talking about making things into the realm of actually making things.