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Don, The Guppies, and Me

Sorry, this should really be called "Don, The Guppies, and Us," but it sounded more like some kind of idiotic children's book the first way.

A long time ago I had ambitions to become a movie critic. I liked watching movies, so it seemed like a good idea...until I started taking film criticism classes at school and realized I'd make a TERRIBLE critic. I always knew when I liked a movie, but I could never explain why: I'd just sort of stammer, "um, um, yeah, it was...really...good!" And that's not quite enough to fill a 30-page term paper on Nosferatu, unfortunately. So I never did become a Serious Cinema Critic, sad to say, but maybe that's a good thing because I think if I had to watch Battleship Potemkin just ONCE MORE TIME I might have fatally choked on my own bile.

This problem extends a certain amount to bands as well. It's easy for me to say "oh I saw this band the other night, they're really good!" And then someone says "oh what are they like?" and I reply: "they're like...good?"

So you'll have to just trust me and accept that the quintet Guppies, who we played with this past Sunday at The Cocaine, are just, like, really good. Okay okay okay...ummmm...I think they sound a bit post-punk to me, which I always like. And I hear a tiny bit of Syd Barrett in there, too. Very danceable, a bit of phaser on the guitars, which I don't hear much these days. They have some demos on their myspace but they're pretty low-fi, and they told me they're about to record some new material, which I'm very much looking forward to hearing.

And then there was Don. After Guppies played their set Don, owner of Don's Music in Eagle Rock, got up with his guitar and echo box to join them for a second set, which turned out to be one huge 15-minute Interstellar Overdrive extravaganza. I am not exactly sure but I believe Don went by the name of "Freakstick13" for the occasion. Anyway--in another 15 years when I have a long white pompadour I hope I am 1/10 as cool as Don.

Hi Don!


And, apropos of absolutely nothing, I went to visit my old friend Mr. Vending Machine up on campus the other day, and I saw that it had been stocked with Grandma's Cookies (you know, those overpriced, bland-tasting, chemically-deadly soft cookies that come two to a package for a dollar). Specifically it offered "Limited Edition" Grandma's Cookies. How on earth can you have a limited edition cookie? Do they think we're that stupid? Spare me, ye gods! Except...hmmm...they're chocolate cookies spiked with orange M&M's? Well. Okay, I bought them.






Yep, they were bland.

posted by Eli Monolator @ 3:50 PM