the winner loses all

Here are three things i've been very interested in this week:

First is this George Jones song. Namely, this video and performance of this song. It's a really catchy tune that absolutely infects my brain. Apparently, it's done that to millions of people over the years...but I am one sucker that falls prey to it's trappings. Concerning the video, that make-up job on GJ makes him look like a corpse that crawled out of it's casket during his visitation because he forgot he had this one more tv appearance to do real quick. In a good way. I also really love his body language and the way he moves. Very unique and stylized. I'm also jealous of the drummer. Watch him go!


Second is this live bootleg of a Cass Mccombs show from sometime after "Prefection" came out. This show was recorded at the Hideout in Chicago. It had some pretty glaring phase issues when I originally obtained it, but i've fixed those best I could. There are also some interesting tuning defects, which actually adds quite a bit of character to these recordings at times. These versions of the songs are much more laid back and prettier than the originals. Not better, just different. Also, I'm totally into the intense vibrato he exercises on a couple of these performances. I don't know much about Cass Mccombs, which probably has a lot to do with why I still like his music. Musically speaking, I like the decisions he makes. Makes me want to make some decisions of my own.


Last, this song came up randomly in my headphones while I was half asleep on vacation with my family recently. At first, I had a hard time telling what language it was in (and what planet it was from). But, without waking up, the whole song started to get really clear. I was making out some of the lyrics and could begin to anticipate where the music was going. Then I fell asleep completely. I still remembered the experience in the morning, so I guessed it was worth remembering. The performance here is really awesome. Especially the diction and delivery of the lyrics. really cool.

I'm from Claypool, IN...

Where's that?

It's near extinction.





Roger Miller is one of my all-time favorites.

before this game is over, the savior's gonna call out your name

Elephant Micah - Ambiguous Instincts by mikeadams

i've written about elephant micah on here before, but really i can't get enough of this stuff lately. here's a bootleg recording i did of joe at his "welcome home" show a few weeks ago.

i'm interested lately in the relationship between authenticity, creativity, and value. really, it's all relative, but i'm interested in what those relationships mean to me at the moment and how they inform my decisions. somehow i feel like joe's music plays a part in that debate for me.

while you're dinking around on the internet, you should check out dark dark dark's cover of joe's "wild goose chase" over at daytrotter. it's really nice.

I did not create this body

Mike Adams at his honest weight.

I'm Not Worried by mikeadams

Bad Weather by mikeadams

Last year I spent about two weeks (over the course of a month or so) recording a new solo record. The idea was to write and record an album's worth of material in a short amount of time using some new ideas, as well as some old ideas I had lying around gathering dust. The other idea was "no acoustic guitar". And another idea was that I would play every instrument on the record. Then, another idea was that once I had arranged and recorded all of the songs, I'd wash my hands of it and give it to my friend Adam to do whatever the spirit led him to do as far as mixing the record went. It's taken a long time, since we had no budget and lives to tend to, but I'm happy with the results.

These two tracks are both from that record, which is coming out in the LP format sometime later this year on Flannelgraph Records.

tell it to me in Star Wars

i definitely prefer the double bass, but this is great nonetheless.

recently had the pleasure of working with Danny Grody on the Laminar Excursion Monthly project. really a talented dude!

3 Victims, One Merdict

The Victims by mikeadams

The Victim - AVB

Pug Life

Here's an example of two things I really like getting together; Joe Pug and Daytrotter.

I met Joe Pug sometime between 2006 and 7 when our mutual friend Jeremy invited him to play at the record shop i owned at the time in our hometown. I was pretty immediately taken with Joe, mostly because he was such a sincerely nice fellow. And when he played his songs at the show, they were also very good. A year or so after that, I tuned into WIUX on my way home from work and heard Joe doing a live session in the studio. I changed course when I heard him playing and headed for the radio station so i could say hello. After the broadcast, Joe and I, along with Joe's friend and tour manager Ian headed over to the waffle house for a bite to eat. It was a real nice dinner, and I had a great time time chatting with those guys. So, that's the biography of Me and Joe Pug.

There are a few things i like about Joe's music. For one, he's a great guitar player. I kind of image Joe playing the guitar kind of like my buddy Frank plays the guitar. Not that they're SRV or anything, but I get the feeling that both of these guys are crafty guitar players because they do it all the time. Like it's a tool they use everyday, so it's kind of a second nature, and I appreciate that. Joe's also a great lyricist. He's very poetic, but I also get the impression that he's using his words to squeeze out the things he's thinking and feeling. Because of that, it feels honest to me. And I think the combination of that, plus having spent some time with Joe and thinking he's a pretty honest dude, gives his music a real cathartic quality to me. Not that i'm even paying attention to the lyrics half the time, but once in a while a line he sings will jump out at me and stick to the wall. His songs are believable, his performance is enchanting and believable, and he's a super nice guy. I wish you would listen to his songs.

And pretty much all of the qualities I've listed here about Joe are the same things i feel about Daytrotter.com and all of the folks I've interacted with over there, namely Sean and Phil. I believe they're honest, and I really appreciate what they do.

this is just a blogpost about two things i like.

Also, my friend Kalah has a tattoo of her dog Gertie that says "Pug Life"