Friday, December 15, 2006
some frivolous fluff for a friday morning. just returned from a surf. good celebrity sighting. fiona apple. living in la this is not so unusual. but that woman is an unusual talent. it amazes me that with our obsession with celebrity we have distilled celebrity to its essence. we are often no longer concerned with how our celebrities achieve their fame. we just want famous people. of course, paris hilton is our current poster child for this. we have a remarkable knack for seeing what we want to see; for projection. the work of shigeo fukuda comes to mind. his work is perspective specific. he makes objects that look like a pile of nonsense until you look at them from just the right direction. or in the case of one of my personal favorites, unless it is lit from a particular direction and the shadow cast reveals an order not obvious in the original object - a floating mess of eating utensils creating the shadow of a motorcycle.
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33 comments:
I'd rather see and talk to Fiona over Paris. No doubt.
The creation - - Lunch with a Helmut On - - by Shigeo Fukada is, in a word, amazing. Never seen anything like it. I wonder how much time it took to create. More than 800 pieces of cutlery!
A couple of preguntas:
At what age did you begin surfing?
(I'm originally a coastal Californian, yet - - embarrassed to admit - - never got into surfing. Only body surfing and body/boogie boarding. Strangely, I lived near a reputable surf spot: Rincon.)
How have you handled "celebrityhood"/fame over the years?
That is, assuming that people recognize you in public and approach you . . .
I wouldn't wish the lens of paparazzi on my nemeses.
Our fascination with "celebrity" has been a distraction for countless generations. In a country with no monarch and a secular (with the exception of w's theocracy) minded society the rich and beautiful, but rarely talented, have become our opiate distracting us from very worthy and sometimes needy human beings which commutes our collective status from the pathetic to the despicable. Please forgive the run on sentence and the grim mood; celebrity in 2006 is somewhat distressing to me.
Be well,
SR
btw, thanks for the links. They are wonderful.
SR
my brother surfed when we were growing up. i spent countless hours in the car watching him in the cold of winter. the waves are best in the winter where we grew up on the east coast. my job was to keep the car warm. i only tried getting up on a board once while on vacation. it didn't work out so well for me. maybe someday i will try again.
celebrities: there are so many hard working celebrity-worthy people in this world who will never get the acknowledgement that they could/should have. i agree with anonymous that said it is a distraction. a way for people to live vicariously through other people's lives. "the world is scary right now, let's just forget all about that and concentrate on who {insert person of the moment} is marrying/divorcing/dating/?" uggg.
i am assuming that your class is over (only because mine is). any more classes lined up? i am on to economics. i would much rather stick with biology.
thanks for the links.
chris (c.brian) - i began surfing age 13. surfed for a few years. then spent some years in less healthy pursuits. then surfed intermitently for some years and have rediscovered the love for the past five or so years. probably more specificity than you wanted.
i have not had much celebrity to deal with. back in the day i had little strategies like radically changing my hair and dressing down after touring/press cycles (astonishingly effective) to keep my human life sort of seperate. i was, thankfully, always aware of the damage that fame can cause. nowadays no one recognizes me. im just another old man in a line at starbucks playing chess on his phone.
sr- you need never apologize for grim moods on any blog of mine. they are only well understood and appreciated here.
healtopalm - hopefully the next class will be differential calculus. dont know yet. the pathetic fact of the matter is that i need to find out if i passed the last class. very poor outing.
good for you for even being on the path to differential equations. i cannot imagine. do you have a final academic goal, or are you just interested in the gaining knowledge?
Hey Eric,
growing up in NYC, I've never surfed, but it's something I've always wanted to try. It sounds like you are rediscovering (or have rediscoverd it's beauty, I'm glad to hear it)I like to scuba dive when i can, that's fun way to take part in the mother ocean. Do you scuba?
Celebrities...ah celebrities. Our society has pedastalized them for years and years and I think in it's recent past and present state it is sickening and by people worshipping them just feeds celebrities' narcisism till they are one big bloated fat ball of ego and me me me-ness. I agree a lot with Maynard from TOOL when he often says in his lyrics that he'd like to see this aspect of our soceity all go down and implode, that these insecure "drama queens" all aren't worth a pellet of poop from the The Dalai Lama's butt. (That latter analogy is mine). Sorry to rant.
That link to Shigeo Fukuda's work is very inspiring and incredible, thanks for that.
I have a playing related question if you wouldn't mind answering. Do you notice that there could be a stretch of time when whatever you practice or play just seems dry and boring? And then one day you wake up, grab the bass, and suddenly endless good riffs and great composition just comes flowing out of you for no explainable reason? Does this happen to you? It happens to me all the time. I'll go a week and play like crap, and then just this morning, while my son Avery was eating his breakfast, suddenly I'm like jaco. I don't get it. Talk later amigo, Matt
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the details on the Jane's box set. I was wondering whether you and and of the rest of the band get any say in what goes into compilation releases like the
"best of" album or this coming box set...and also the artwork, packaging etc.
I mean do they come up to you all and say 'hey we're thinking of doing this and that...what are your thoughts?'. If so then I wonder, given the ongoing 'tension' between certain band members, on how you could ever agree...since I doubt you all sit down in a room together.
Or is it a case that since the record company owns the rights to the sound recordings they say 'we're going to be releasing this and if you don't like it then tough luck'.
Thanks...Daniel
matt- do i have spells of dry and boring? absolutely. i get stuck in ruts where i am aware of playing only exactly how i always play. flea recommended to me once last year when i was having some struggles during garbage rehearsals, that i get a record by a great bassist and learn his basslines. someone very different stylistically. marvin gaye in this instance. that helped. it always does help to explore different styles. you are then made different by them.
i think artists of every ilk go through learning/inspiration plateaus. part of the job description.
daniel - we have all met at different times with the contact at the company. they are collecting bits from all of us and our friends. i dont think we would ever need to sit in a room together even if we all wanted to do that. we will all probably (i know that i will) see the packaging and content as we go. companies generally want the artist to be happy with the product; especially something like this and with a company like rhino.
Eric,
Thanks for the tip, that sounds like an excellent way of breaking out of a rut. And James Jamerson and his followers in Motown (I believe Bob Babbit was one of them)was and is still the king(s) of melodic and fresh sounding bass lines (according to little old me, that is). That's really cool that you chose a Marvin Gaye record. I love all the bass lines on the "What's Going On" record. Extremely inspirational. I'm going to learn a record by another great bassist of the Christmas holiday vaca...I'll let you know who it'll be! Take care and write soon, Matt
I will learn a great bassist's record "over" the Chrsitmas holiday vaca, not "of". Sorry, the caffeine has not kicked in yet and it's Monday!
Christmas. God, I'm a pathetic speller today.
ndcnot:most likely there would be absolutely nothing.... :)
Hi Eric,
I'm a first timer here so first of all, I feel I want to thank you for the great influence that your art has had on my musical journey. And second, I find your blog very interesting and genuine. Keep it going, dude! You know, I'd love to surf as well but the chances of that are quite slim cos I live in Finland. I did try it a couple of times when I lived in Santa Monica in the early 90's but nothing that great ever came out of it. However, we do get to enjoy the great sport of playing the bass (if you haven't got the built to play hockey) :) Therefore I'll save the question about your board to someone else and ask rather if you're still a Precision man, and if you're in the mood, maybe you'll let us in on your preference of amp as well. By the way, I totally agree on that playing various styles from time to time really does enhance one's playing, and also I gotta give it to you for the choice of going Gaye, it's just got that groove.
Pekka
Hi Eric, with all the talk of the upcoming Janes Boxset, you have the Janes fansites buzzing with requests. Here is what the diehards want. What do you think of this?:
12.19.06 Jane's Addiction Box Set request from the die hard fans:
1. ANY unreleased songs, that includes demos or outtakes of songs such as slow divers, kettle whistle, suffer some, my cat's name is maceo, everybody's friend, so what!, or any "original" line up stuff... as well as any songs that were later pfp or deconstruction songs...
2. significant alternate takes, such as ritual era songs recorded during "nothing's shocking" or any demo studio time... this should also includ the "three days" poem tracks raw audio.
3. cover songs, such as "whole lotta love" or any doors songs etc. done in studio or live...
4. one CD of the various B sides.
5. a video DVD with all music videos, trip away through true nature -- and including "don't call me nigger, whitey"
6. any live footage up until 1989 that was shot professionally, two DVD's at least...
7. the back of the box should have the complete transcript of the "three days" poem.
...would love to see a series of live disc released ala pearl jam -- clean out the vaults and let people hear jane's addiction at their best... reinvent them as the bad ass live band they were once.
Hey Eric, there is some timeline confusion as to when Psi Com broke up and when you and Perry first played live. Did you play any shows with Psi Com? did you even practice with the band or did you and Perry just decide to start a new project together when you met? When you and Perry played live together, was it always under the Janes name or did you ever use another name? I read somehting about you guys calling yourselves 'Illuminati' or something along those lines. Can you fill us Janes historians in on any of this? Thank you!
As long as the last guy is asking about historical Jane's questions... What is the song Obvious really about? I once read it was about something between you and Perry.
Thanks, love reading your blog!
ea-
"'from a previous thread: at the risk of disappointing, in the song suns gone, the words are: "with airplanes taking off like bits of city floating off.'"
dude, even cooler...i think my lame impression of fireflies was based on what i read the lyrics to be...like a visual of LA at night from space (remember the thing where they showed north korea at night from spy satellites and there was no light except for Pyongyang cause they have energy shortages)
pieces of city falling off...like the grid falling apart...fireflies
sorry, once tripped and looked at the sky and the stars swam around like fish in a pond and it left a lasting impression
sanwa bank building...Ozymandias?
kv
pekka- i think finland has a hockey per capita ratio of something like 1 in 7. i find myself pulling for your country when i see international competitions.
no precision anymore. fender jazz mostly for live work. been playing through an ashdown amp for the last few years. a rep of ampeg blew some smoke up my skirt which inspired some research in bass amps. ashdown impressed. less typical rock and more versatile. although at the end of the day, i generally believe that once you get to a certain equipment brand and quality level it becomes more about the writer than the pen.
anonymous- about the janes set, it all sounds good. the three days poem track raw audio especially. great idea. thank you and thanks to all who submitted for the input. consider it all considered.
anonymous- psi com. hmm? ok. i jammed with perry and the drummer from psi com which was my 'audition' for bass playership in psi com. thats where the groove for mountain song happened. there was no guitar player if i recall correctly. i dont think i ever played with the guitar player from psi com. but i did jam at a party with perry and the drummer. maybe psi com songs were involved. but that is all my foggy memory will give me. perry was restless and quickly wanted the two of us to start something new. i cant remember anything about the name illuminati; yes or no.
human-cannonball - im afraid i cant help you here. i dont remember anything about the story behind the lyrical content in 'obvious'.
kv - glad not to disappoint. thanks for the kind words.
Hi Eric, thanks for starting this blog and chatting with your fans. I think it's very cool of you to take the time to answer people's questions and to keep us up to date with what you're up to. I'm looking forward to hearing the new CD you've been working on. I think the Psi Com question you were asked by the anonymous person is the result of something we've been working on over at www.xiola.org Sonny, the owner of that site started a section there called "Chip Away". We're using it to create a accurate and complete as possible listing of all the shows Jane's Addiction ever played. We've uncovered several forgotten shows and rolled back the date of Jane's first known show from sometime in December of 1985 to October 24, 1985 at the Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA. If you get the time perhaps you could take a look at what we're doing over there and maybe enlighten us further. I met you once before though I doubt you will remember.
It was the morning of May 12, 1991. Jane's had played the night before at the James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron, OH. We passed getting on and off the elevator. You were with Perk and both of you were nice enough to say hello. Like I said I don't know if you'll remember but a few minutes latter you guys were all getting on your tour bus and me being the funny guy that I am decided it would be funny to moon you all. Does any of that ring a bell? Sorry for rambling. Thanks for all the great music over the years. :)
Latter Mike
Wow Eric, you know you've hit the big time when you get spam messages in your blog.
mike- roxy theatre. my friend chris played guitar for us at that point (the guy i wrote the polarbear song "flyer" about). he is dead now. he played that show in a pair of tighty-whiteys that perry was trying to pull down throughout the set. opened for gene loves jezebel. was that '85? fuck. im old.
sorry mike but i would describe being on tour as a series of connected hellos to strangers in elevators followed by being mooned in the tourbus. a day at the office.
Eric, thanks for answering my question. I also use a fender jazz as I find it's neck most suitable for my short fat fingaz. Actually made the choice after my friend lent me his 70's Jazz that I played a few gigs with and fell for it. Btw, he said he'd lent it to you as well sometime in early 90's. Didn't really buy it 'til I saw the worn Lollapalooza '91 vip stickers on the cover of the case and found your old headband inside :) Nice little detail. Would've wanted to go for a vintage one as well, but they cost about an arm and leg these days, so I just got a new one.
Got the Panic Channel's record today haven't had a chance to listen to it 'til just now, so I haven't really got a clear view of it as a whole. How about you, have you had a chance to hear it yet or have you even got any intention to?
I like the idea of the the Janes box set, especially the hardcore demands! Shows determination from the diehard's behalf.
Pekka
Eric, your reply to my comment made me laugh. I thank you for that. I'm sorry to hear that your friend Chris passed away. I never knew Flyer was about him. I'm going to pull that disc off the shelf and give it a listen with that in mind. I've had a few friends leave this earth far sooner than I thought fair.
I know you can't give us all the details on your upcoming release but maybe you can give us some hints as to which of your former bands if any it might remind us of?
I read on here some where that you've gotten back into surfing. It's something that I've always wanted to try. I imagine it to be somewhat similar to skateboarding. Am I right?
One more Jane's related question for you. What is Ed's last name? If it's something you've sworn not to tell then never mind. I'm just curious.
I hope it's not asking to much but I read there's a early demo of My Time. If it's at all possible can you please try to get it on the Box Set! It's one of my favorite Jane's songs and I'd love to hear it.
I hope you and your family have a Happy Christmas!
Latter Mike
Eric,
I wanted to wish you a Merry Holiday and a very Happy '07! (Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, an absolute Merry Christmas to you and your family! If not, a very Happy Holiday to you and yours!) My little Avery says hello. Hope the best for you in '07 and look forward to your new record! Talk soon amigo, Matt
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