tumbloging at a server near you

Dear reader, I thought that I should let you know that I'm taking a vacation from Blogger over at Tumblr...feel free to follow my stream-of-consciousness there, at http://jmhtalley.tumblr.com/. 

I hope you're having a great summer wherever you're at! 

Cariños, 

Jason

Re: tape speed!

Here's a trailer (rated PG for language ;) for one of the films I'm doing sound for at the moment, The Mountain, the River and the Road:

My Ballard-dwelling friend Denise and a bunch of us closed out karaoke at The Sunset Tavern with some Night Ranger last night. Kirsten is still quite pleased with the cover of Ike and Tina's version of "Proud Mary" that I backed her up on (Denise's friend Evan was no slouch...we both sang the Ike parts). I sang on maybe four or five songs that night, the most karaoke I've ever done in an evening...

The rumor I hear is that Sunset Bowl will close for good Sunday, 4/13. The end of a personal era looms...I was never a great bowler here, and the days I'd close a bar like this on any sort of regular basis are long gone now. I will miss having one less opportunity to bowl and have a decent cheap drink with pals out in Ballard nonetheless. Ah, it was about time I switched up to the neighborhood lanes anyway (Imperial Lanes off of Rainier Ave South)...

The Loom Of Ruin: ANTI-WAR MARCH @ HOLLYWOOD & VINE

I was obsessed with Sam McPheeters' former record label Vermiform. Vermiform's "Fear of Smell" compilation is an old favorite punk-comp. These qualifying notes serve as a poor introduction to his thoughts on a recent anti-Iraq-War protest in Hollywood (http://loomofruin.blogspot.com/2008/03/anti-war-march-hollywood-vine.html), but there you are.

I haven't marched against the Iraq War...the most that Kirsten and I have done since 2003 is hang our "No Iraq War" sign form our window and tell our friends and family how ill-concieved we think the war is. It's nice to read Sam's take on it, covered as it is with references to "pop culture", a.k.a. our culture...

Barack Obama's speech on Race in America 2008

Dear reader: you may have seen this video already. You may have heard about it already...I don't know who you're voting for this November and you don't have to know yet, nor do you have to tell me. I offer a link to Senator Obama's speech on race and racism because it floored me, just as it floored Kirsten when I hooked a computer up to our aging television last night and showed it to her. This speech felt like significant US History taking place right in front of me.

Enough advertising...here's his speech for you. Let me know what you think if you like.

PS: Kirsten made some excellent comments about the speech on another board.

Jeff Healey, 1967-2008

I was a huge fan of Jeff Healey in '88-'89...his videos had been making the rounds on MTV and VH1 at that point. "Angel Eyes" was a ballad that had been doing well in video airplay but I was a bigger fan of "Confidence Man".
These were the kinds of tunes I was into at that age, right before my obsession with Tad, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth and Pixies...even after I gained those more atavistic obsessions I still enjoyed Healey's blues and his straightforward presentation: a guy who would sing and play the guitar. He didn't come off like an "act"; he came off like a blues player. It's a shame he died so young...41 seems young to me, anyway.