She & Him Volume 2 Cd Review

In mid 2008 I happened to be lucky enough to catch a four sentence blurb in Rolling Stone about Zooey Deschanel and M. Wards new band She & Him. Ive always liked Zooey's(She) voice, she sings in every single movie she has ever been in, and M. Wards(Him) guitar driven raspy voiced indie tunes have always been at the top on my play list. I decided to pick up there first album Volume One: I fell in love. I recently scored a copy of there second release Volume Two. Contrary to Volume One's peppy almost overly enthusiastic love songs Volume Two is mostly comprised of angry, bordering on spit-full, break up songs. The display of emotion on this album allows much more connection between the band and the audience. Starting the album off is a throw back country music Raul Malo-ish song titled Thieves; which is about how someone stole her and her lovers love. You can really feel a lot of pain behind such songs as the simply comprised Gunna Get Along Without You Now and the sixty's doo woop styled Ridin' in My Car. However, they cover the sad-bastard lyrics with cute quirky happiness by using cheery melodies and Zooey's charming phrasing. Although I do really like Zooey's easy smooth vocals she seems to use less of the vibrato in her voice which what I fell in love with. I know Deschanel doesn't have a very powerful voice but the background vocals over power her quite a bit and she is flat on several of the songs. Zooey and Ward maintain some of the catchy Patsy Cline meets Aretha Franklin with a piano vibe from Volume One with the tracks Over It Over Again and Home. The delightful use of ukulele, slack key guitar and reverb on the guitar solos allowed the duo to turn over a new leaf portraying much more of a sleepy 1950's Hawaiian feel. Almost giving the album Wanda Jackson combined with The Beach Boys quality. The musical ability of Ward paired with the song writing skill of Deschanel has brought us another solid, fun, and chic album. Volume Two also delivers something that has been missing from mainstream music for a long time; BELIEVABILITY. Hopefully we will be getting more heartfelt music from She & Him very soon.

Anthony
Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly

Twilight Saga, I don't get it.

This idiotic series first came across my radar a couple years ago when a nerdy family member, who will go nameless because I believe she will read this and cut me in my sleep, was going on and on about how good the book series is, how real it feels and how much she loved Edward. My first thought was "Real? Didn't you just say the main charters are vampires and werewolves?" Like a retarded broken record she kept saying "no it's really a good love story". I eventually gave up the argument, chalking it up to her being a weirdo fantasy freak. After this very frustrating discussion I was blessed enough to completely forget about what I have recently been told is, THE SAGA. (We are ignoring the fact that the only saga is and will forever be Star Wars) One unsuspecting day I met a certain thirty-four year old punk rock drummer who to my shock and dismay actually read the series, left it out on his living room coffee table, and TRIED TO GET ME TO READ IT!! Since I happened to be raised in an overly macho family my first thought was, "Does your wife know you like dudes?" His argument, "No man it's really a good love story". Let me just say this, Im a big ole romantic comedy gay. Seriously anyone that knows me knows some of my favorite movies are romantic or romantic comedies. I can't help it, Im a sucker for it. So I read the back of a couple of the books and a few pages in each. From what I gathered from my read is; yes you could call it a romantic story but more accurately it's an overly dramatic high school puppy love story written by a women told through the eyes of a women. The story plays on the fears and hopes of the inner fifteen year old of every women and effeminate dude in my friend’s case. I applaud Stephanie Meyer(author of the book series) for this, it's very cleaver, not cleaver in a well written interesting love story kinda clever more of make a shit ton of money by playing on insecurities given to a gender by a overly critical society kinda clever. The story plays on a few basic human emotions but has no further depths. The characters and plot offer nothing that couldn't be found in your average episode of Boy Meets World or Wonder Years. (Don't judge I've been on a Savage family kick) Look at the main plot points (we are ignoring the supernatural aspect, supposedly this is about the story) and tell me Im wrong: 1st falling deeply madly uncontrollably in love with some older guy, you can't pretend majority of High School girls don't dream of this 2nd having two, count them two, hunky guys fighting over your love therein creating a freaky puppet master narcissistic love triangle 3rd someone (rival vampire) and something (society) trying to tear your love apart. After Meyers tugs on the readers heart strings a little, gets you by the emotional balls, the rest is filler. Less than half way through you aren't reading because it's good you are reading to make sure that the things you want to happen actually happen. You (the reader) have already made up your mind what is going to happen. It's not if the pasty white melodramatic two timing whore goes with team Edward or team Jacob. It's not if the anticlimactic teen gets her wish of being turned into a vampire and spending the rest of her life making shiny shiny love to her brooding wild eyed man candy. Or if the two sworn enemies become BFF's skipping threw the pacific northwestern forest sparkly cold hand in furry paw. At that point the story has to have the fairytale ending otherwise all the overly-theatrical people that get sucked into the books vortex of lameness would riot in the streets, kicking in plate glass windows screaming "AAAAHHHHH YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO END UP WITH EDWARD!!!!" If the reader can figure out what is going to happen next and each step for the rest of the approximately 2400 page series that is not good writing or a good story. I get why it would appeal to some people, mostly people that are emotionally damaged and should at least be on antidepressants, but to the general public this should be regarded as the sham it really is!!! The fact that this series is one of the best selling of our time boggles my mind. How could rational forward thinking people think such obviously terrible writing, which is being masqueraded as a love story, be any good at all? The movies are even worse and yes I have been bamboozled into seeing both that are out. The plots are boiled down even further; getting rid of everything that could have possible made the books remotely interesting. The acting is desperate to say the least. They are two movies made up entirely of brooding looks. Not even good brooding, porn-ish faux shyness with deadness behind the eyes that can only be attained with certain levels of shame and self loathing. The first movie, Twilight, I spent the entire movie waiting for a crappy 70's funk song to break out and all the main charters to start making out. The director tried to walk a line that one "family" of vampires are a primal tribe and normal people that exist in the "mortal" realm. It did not work because these are two elements that are to contradictory. No one at the school of the main character, Edward, attended noticed he stopped an out of control car with his bare hands? Really?? And as for New Moon I literally laughed out loud at what they called acting, this could have been caused by the coffee mug of whiskey I had for breakfast that day but none the less I have seen better acting on Days Of Our Lives. The kid that plays Jacob is pretty much a young tan shirtless Steven Seagal. The CGI of him turning into a werewolf is as advanced as the 1989 Disney comedy Honey I Shrunk the Kids. The love triangle between the main characters Bella, Edward, and Jacob emerges in the second movie; I could help like I had seen this already on The N's Degrassi. This is one of those things that will be on "I Love the 20-Teens" and you will all feel stupid for liking it. The entire series is laughable. But as one of my friends pointed out Twilight does do something good, it makes Lost Boys not the gayest vampire movie ever.

Anthony
Ps I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly

An interview I did for Submerge Magazine

Words by Anthony Giannotti
Brian Hanover is most well known for his years fronting the Sacramento-based street punk band Hanover Saints. After seven U.S. tours, two full-length records, four EPs and nearly 10 years playing together, Hanover Saints called it quits in 2005. Fast forward to 2010, Brian is about to release his second solo album, publish a book of his writings, continue running his own screen printing business and still finds time for his family. Brian’s mindset fully embodies the DIY lifestyle, going as far as to release his solo albums on his own record label Revolution Ink Records, casually saying “I work hard, it’s just what I do; I don’t know anything else”. This impressive work ethic has served him well in nearly two decades of playing music; Brian slyly smirks while saying “I’ll always play music because my mind won’t let me stop writing songs!” His easy going demeanor and friendly attitude makes it hard to not to like him. The story, depth, and honesty of his songs allow him to win over audiences with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica. Brian likes to involve the fans at his live performances by leaving a tambourine out for people to play. He laughs as he says, “You just hope whoever grabs it at least has a little rhythm.” He also does something a lot of older musician don’t do, “I want to stay relevant, I don’t want to be the crusty old guy that doesn’t know what the kids are listening to.” I had a chance to catch up with the 35-year-old punk rocker over a few pints of Guinness at one of my favorite Sacramento dive bars, The Press Club.

Thanks for meeting up with me here; I know you’re a busy guy
No problem, thank you. I’ve only been here a couple times. One of the first times I came to The Press Club was in the early ‘90s to see US Bombs, it was a crazy night I was over there behind Townhouse smoking and some kid got stabbed at the show!

So you’ve been around the Sacramento punk scene a longtime.
In 1984 I was skating a launch ramp with some friends, and someone down the street was blaring 7 Seconds Walk Together Rock Together. Later that day I made my mom drive me to the record store, back then there was Dimple, Record Factory and of course Tower. I got my first punk records that day, 7 Seconds’ The Crew, and Black Flag’s Damaged. I started going to local shows in the mid-‘80s. I even met my wife at a Suicidal Tendencies show back when Big Shots was still open.

SM: Yeah congratulations on the 10-year wedding anniversary, you just got back from a little trip?
BH: Thanks it’s been a good 10 years. We went up to wine country for the weekend

What’s it like trying to balance your own business, wife, kid and being a recording/tour musician?
[Laughs] There really is no balance; I think it’s priorities for sure. My wife knew what she was getting into, this is just what I do, and I was already in a band when we got together. One thing that really strengthens us as a couple is being able to do our own thing, it allows us to grow together, really surrounds us with love and grace, [laughs] a lot of grace.

Speaking of doing your own thing, I took a listen to the new release it’s very good, quite the departure from the Hanover Saints…
Yeah some of it is. For this album I wanted to strip most of the songs down so I really only used an acoustic guitar, tambourine, harmonica and on a few songs electric guitar. All accept the fourth track; it actually was a Hanover Saints song that never made it on an album. It was right toward the end of it, I had already been writing solo stuff, and I brought it to practice when we were playing as a three-piece with Chris from Killing the Dream on bass.

Some of the songs on here have a real Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan singer songwriter vibe jumping off them.
Each song is a little bit different from the other, they may have a common thread but I tried to get a large variety. Everything I sing about is all true stories, all personal experiences, kind of a Pete Seeger thing. I wanted to do this release differently because of all the different formats everything is coming out in. So the way I’m doing this release is in three volumes, every four months four more songs come out. The next volume is going to come out with a book I wrote and a coffee mug, because it all started with coffee and late night rants for me.

How did the book come about?
Like I said I was always at coffee shops writing. Some of the Hanover Saints lyrics I always really liked as standalone pieces. I had been cleaning out some old papers and I found old poetry, short stories and some other stuff I thought I’d like to publish it, I don’t know if it’s any good. Sometimes writers can think a little too much of themselves, think there a little bigger than life, but I went to a book store and picked up a book of poetry and one of the stanzas I turned to was literally 4 sentences. I thought, I can totally do this. It’s ridiculous.

Do you think it was the writing that attracted you to more of the acoustic style over staying in the punk rock genre?
Most of the Hanover Saints was written on acoustic or electric. It just depended on how I heard it in my head. One day I was playing the song “Bad Man” at home, Mike Ericson happened to be doing some work for me and heard it. He talked me into putting that song on Hanover Saints record Murdertown, which Pressure Point was producing. By the end of Hanover Saints I felt I had said everything that avenue would allow me to say. I really wanted to get that one on one connection with the audience. I definitely think there is a place for the loud thing. I’m always going to be into punk, and I’ll probably play it again, it’s just if you’ve said what you need to say for that part of your life I don’t feel the need to keep dragging that dead horse around.

Have you found that one on one connection?
I wanted to try getting up and doing a solo show but I was too afraid. Then in 2005 Kevin Seconds talked me in to being on a bill with him. I just fell in love with it. Being able to play coffee shops, small bars, garages, living rooms and really some sketchy places is an entirely different, incredible, personal experience for me. You can get to know the people and the city you are playing in instead of rushing through to the next gig like when you’re in a full band. I’ve made some great friends all over the country playing solo.

Anthony
Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly

Shoki Ramen House

I recently had my first experience at Shoki Ramen House in Curtis park. We are not talking about no 10 pack of ramen from Costco. This is hand made, fresh, and good enough to punch your own mother to get another bowl. I know this place has been reviewed several times but it is to distinct not to throw my two cents in. As I looked over the menu I couldn't help noticing how awesomely Japanese the entire place is. From the staff shouting "Irasshaimase!" when we entered to fact there was only about ten two-seater tables in the entire place, the place screams Japanese perfection in the small details. I really dug the soup-nazi vibe of the place, it's our way or the highway. Here are a few things you need to know when eating at Shoki: CASH ONLY, no hot soup to go(it ruins the noodles), vegetarian broth ONLY on request, last lunch order at 1:50, dinner at 8:50 exactly and there words not mine "Shoki will not be held responsible for errors". If you've never had ramen like this before it's all about the broth, at least according to me. They offer several different kinds of broth Shoyu Ramen (soy sauce-based), Shio Ramen (sea-salt based), Soy Milk Ramen (soy-sauce with soy milk) and my favorite Tan Tan Men (spice soy-sauce). All of the soups come in three sizes small, regular, large. Since I have a love affair with foods so spicy it will literally burn your face off I went with the Tan Tan Men. You can get your Tan Tan Men four levels of spiciness; mild, regular, extra spicy, and super spicy. I got extra spicy because, well I'll be honest, I pussed out at the last second. I vow to not disappoint you again dear reader. I also ordered an Asahi Dark beer, which is imported from Japan unlike the Asahi Dry(in the bottle) crap that is brewed by Miller brewing somewhere in the US. I read on the back of the menu that all of their of the ingredients in the soup are either imported directly from Japan or bought from local farms. This is a good sign. I also read that the broth is simmered fresh everyday for six hours. This could be a good sign. The only worry being that since it is a shoyu(soy-sauce) based broth they could simmer to much water out and raise the salt content to high. As I looked around at an entire restaurant of people quietly slurping soup I highly doubted they would make such a mistake. When I finally got my soup(actual wait time about 12 minutes)the ramen was topped with a three or four ounces of ground beef, spinach, bamboo shoots, and a good helping of chili sauce. The moment of truth, my first bite. I couldn't believe it I almost kicked over the table next to me it was so good. The broth; a perfect balance of shoyu, beef flavor, garlic, ginger and chili sauces while still maintaining a remarkable freshness. The noddles contained a certain quality all in to themselves, they were not over cooked, not dried, and they were crisp with an organic taste to them. I'll call them perfection in cooked dough form. I did not like the ground beef. I know it's local beef and all but it was so lean it tasted woody. But I can not recommend this place enough I truly cannot say enough good things. The bill for two bowls of Ramen and two beers was twenty-four bucks and some change, which this day in age is pretty reasonable. The staff while very rushed due to the high turn over of tables was still fairly friendly. I can tell you expect a wait, apparently they are crazy busy all the time. Seriously, go it is well worth the wait.

Anthony
Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly

Me vs. My lawn, it will not beat me!!!

Growing up here in the United States everyone has heard of "The American Dream". You know what I am talking about good job, house, nice car, and 2.784529 children. While those things are nice the leave it to beaver life isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Here is a story of how at times owning your own home can suck. This particular tale starts on my couch. My only ambition of this doomed day, stay on the couch. I laid quite comfortably on my couch(I love this couch so much because it folds out into a bed meaning; I don't have to get up off of it for days at a time) watching reruns of Keeping Up With the Kardashian's, don't judge me, when my crazy wife flung the curtains open. I believe she said something to the effect of "get off the couch you lazy jerk" this was over shadowed by me screaming "AAAHHH THE SUN IS EVIL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!" It took me a few moments of holding a pillow over my face to come to grips with the sun not going away. As I peered out into the mid-morning I came to the annoying realization, our yard had become that yard on the block. Awesome, so I guess the lawn isn't going to cut itself like I had been hoping. My hesitation to mow the lawn doesn't lie in a loathing of the actual act of cutting the lawn, I do enjoy it, but in the lawn mower itself. I hate it, I can not even describe my hatred for this particular piece of equipment. It is the bane of my lawn maintenance existence. Some how between each usage something new breaks on this POS. I get it working, mow the lawn, turn it off, and by the next time I need to use it something new is wrong. I have kicked and hit it with so many things by the laws of physics this devil machine should not work. But since this Snapper lawnmower was crafted by Satan himself sometime in the 60's it is built like a tank. I ponder over these facts of my life as I get dressed and finish my coffee. I expect the worse. I calmly cracked the door to the garage open, sun glances off the top of the faded red engine, I mumbled "One off us will win you piece of crap". I checked the gas tank, full enough. Like an old west showdown the moment of truth, I give the pull start a nice hard pull. My nemesis sputters a little, this is a good sign it means Im winning. I pumped the primmer three times, one more solid pull and oh yes sweet victory is mine Lucifer roared to life. I kinda strutted out to the lawn, maybe today won't be as terrible as I assumed. My front lawn is roughly fifteen feet by thirty five feet with a sidewalk running through the lower portion. I'd cut approximately ten square feet when the old snapper decided it was going to be a bitch. It just died. I thought out out loud, "maybe the bag is full". Oh what a silly fool I am. I emptied the bag started right up again, RAD, I took three steps and the beast died. We played this game three or four more times. I got a screw driver to adjust the carburetor, I know if I loose my temper the machine has won. We did the start up and die dance about twenty more times before all hell broke loose. I went retard strong picking up the mower and throwing it to another part of the lawn. Like a crazy person off my meds I kicked and cursed it (thankfully I had on my steel toed boots) until I realized people were watching. With the heat and furry of ten angry sun gods I stormed up to the house grabbed the keys and shouted "IM GOING TO HOME DEPOT, YOU COMING!!!". My wife having seen similar rage many times before calmly shrugged and said, "sure". With the lawnmower upside down in a half cut white trash lawn we set off for Home Depot. I strongly dislike Home Depot. My Dad is super Mr. Fix-it himself guy so as a kid we would spend HOURS in Home Base(different store same evil) while he figured out whatever part was the cheapest to fix whatever was wrong. There is only two good things about spending hours at hardware stores; the obligatory hot dog stand in front and playing dice in the parking lot with the day laborers. I came screeching into the parking lot like a bat outta hell. Im expecting the worse. The trip inside was far less scaring than previous visits. $220 later I had myself a brand new lawnmower. I grabbed a polish dog on my way out and put on a little Merle Haggard working man blues for the drive back home. I my delicious meaty treat seemed to help with the rage but I kept being plagued by the vision of an IKEA-ish experience of assembling my new toy. You know, it's so simple that it is the most complicated process in the world. When I got home I realized all I need to do was tighter four quick release bolts, add oil and gas. I peed a little I was so excited. I got it all put together. Now the moment of truth...I am plesed to say she fired on the fisrt try. It only took me twenty minutes to finish mowing the lawn and get back to my glorious couch. Im proud to say I own of my first brand new lawn mower. Im in the process of sending the old one back to whatever hell it came from.

Anthony
Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly