Oh No! There Goes Tokyo

With Halloween come and gone, I'm giving you playlists for Halloween to fit classic rock and alt/indie tastes (those of you who listen to screaming death metal and that nu-metal shit seem to have trouble discerning between Halloween and all the damn time, so go away).

A Classick Rock Halloween

1. Welcome To My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
2. Season Of The Witch - Donovan
3. The Wizard - Black Sabbath
4. Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group
5. Daily Nightly - The Monkees
6. Space Invader - Pretenders
7. Hell's Bells - AC/DC
8. Fire - The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
9. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
10. Death Walks Behind You - Atomic Rooster
11. Tales Of Brave Ulysses - Cream
12. Mr. Roboto - Styx
13. Space Truckin' - Deep Purple
14. Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner - Warren Zevon
15. Witchy Woman - The Eagles
16. Grey Ghost - Henry Paul Band
17. Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix
18. Godzilla - Blue Oyster Cult
19. The Battle Of Evermore - Led Zeppelin
20. The Trees - Rush
21. Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
22. My Clone Sleeps Alone - Pat Benatar
23. It Came Out Of The Sky - Creedence Clearwater Revival
24. Robot Man - Scorpions
25. The Unknown Soldier - The Doors
26. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
27. Boris The Spider - The Who
28. Welcome To The Machine - Pink Floyd
29. The Sound Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
30. Fire On High - Electric Light Orchestra

Trick-Or Treating On All Saints' Day

1. Strange Times - The Black Keys
2. Monster Hospital - Metric
3. Roland - Interpol
4. It Came From Japan - Von Bondies
5. Young For Eternity - The Subways
6. Midnight Show - Killers
7. Witchcraft - Wolfmother
8. We Are Not Alive - The Flying Eyes
9. In Cairo - Hot Hot Heat
10. Is She Weird? - Pixies
11. Wrong Time Capsule - Deerhoof
12. Voodoo - Godsmack
13. Welcome Home - Coheed & Cambria
14. Nine Riders - Early Man
15. Knights Of Cydonia - Muse
16. Everybody Knows That You're Insane - Queens Of The Stone Age
17. I'm Your Villain - Franz Ferdinand
18. Demon - Sleigh Bells
19. Phenomena - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
20. Robot - Futureheads
21. See Through Head - The Hives
22. Last Caress - Misfits
23. Invincible - OK Go
24. Hypnotize - The White Stripes
25. Chainsaw - The Deathray Davies
26. Safari - Breeders
27. Pretend We're Dead - L7
28. Hardcore UFOs - Guided By Voices
29. Thinking Of A Dream I Had - The Walkmen
30. My Poor Brain - Foo Fighters

Hope you got a new needle for your record player.

Old Charlie Stole The Handle

I've blogged briefly at times about my Lego train hobby before, but I found a picture in a file on my computer that shows my collection at a very early stage. 

This was taken at my third apartment at Penn State; I've also previously blogged about my room's decor in this apartment. The components of set 4563 are visible; the red locomotive, red boxcar in back, yellow/black flatcar in front of the locomotive, and barely visible behind the steam locomotive and said flatcar is the blue gondola. Most of my reinterpretation of set 3225 is also visible; the aforementioned steam locomotive, the wooden gondola coupled behind, and the yellow/black/gray ballast dumper. I hadn't built the coach at the time. Also visible is the auto carrier from set 4544, coupled behind the locomotive.

I had been designing some cars since I discovered the LDraw software online a couple years prior to this picture. One of my more ingenious designs, sadly, is completely obscured by the High Life bottle - a tank car. However, at the time it was designed, I posted at least one picture of it on this blog. In the foreground are parts for the black/yellow boxcar I designed, and an incomplete green/white gondola as well.

Tell Santa Claus To Bring Me A Rock'N'Roll Guitar

Okay, I'm posting this both for my family's convenience and for your perusal. I'm too lazy to actually put together a separate Christmas list, so enjoy.

Movies:

• The Gods Must Be Crazy

Music:

• Wrecking Ball - Bruce Springsteen*
• Clockwork Angels - Rush*
• Dandelion Gum - Black Moth Super Rainbow
• Chulahoma: The Songs Of Junior Kimbrough - The Black Keys*
• Parrot Flies - Algernon Cadwallader
• Give You The Ghost - Polica*
• Up From Below - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes*
• Psychedelic Pill - Neil Young
• Port Of Morrow - The Shins*

*Vinyl release strongly preferred.

Lego Trains:

• 7938 Passenger Train
• 3677 Red Cargo Train

Shirts:

• Mount Rockmore Size: 2XL
• Demidog Size: XL
• Marten's TEH Shirt Size: XL
• Burnout Size: XL
• Stand Back I'm Going To Try Science Size: XL
• Pixel Skull Ringer Size: 2XL

Books:

Softcover is ok with me.

• Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government - Yaron Brook & Don Watkins
• Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy - Thomas Sowell* 
• Why Government Is the Problem (Essays in Public Policy) - Milton Friedman* 
• Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration - John Locke 
• Stuff Hipsters Hate: A Field Guide to the Passionate Opinions of the Indifferent - Brenna Ehrlich & Andrea Bartz 
• The Hipster Handbook - Robert Lanham

*Other titles by this author are acceptable.

Does The Wind In The Dark Sound Like Music To You?

A South Side photo interlude. 

Wait, what?

Light Up The Stove And The Coffee Cup Is Hot

I drink coffee again.

I miss going for coffee and a bagel at the Chat's Coffee kiosk in the Penn State student union building. It was a great way to start the day, and if I could find a way to do that again, I would. But 125 miles is a long way to walk for coffee.

So I've started looking for places to get a good cup.

The Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont serves a good cup. Plus, being a bakery, they can get you any kind of bagel you want. I'm partial to their sourdough bagels in particular. Also of note is the Nowalk Daily Grind, in Holiday Park. Another good cup, especially when you need to be awake to shop at the thrift store down the road. Haven't tried their bagels yet, but I do like that they're open 24 hours a day and have (or at least had) a small arcade.

McDonalds doesn't brew as good a cup as it did when I worked there. Perhaps management has changed (it's still the same guys, but it sounds like THEY changed since I left). Easytrip? Leave it. How long had that mud been sitting there? Gross. Sheetz has made a good cup in the past, but I'll only get that if we're leaving early on a railfan trip.

Still waiting for a chance to try the Beehive on the South Side, and the Coco Coffeehouse in Leechburg (yes, a serious coffeeshop in middle-of-nowhere Leechburg).

This Won't Be Played On Your Radio

A recent playlist, not that I own all of this stuff.

Beat On The Brat With A Baseball Bat

Sunday night (of all nights) I went to Altoona (of all places) to see a Ramones tribute band (of all things).

This wasn't just any Ramones tribute band, however. They're called Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg, and with very good reason - Marky himself is the drummer. It's an all-star lineup, with Michale Graves (Misfits) on vocals, Rome Ramirez (Sublime) on bass, and I don't know who was on guitar. Judging by what I've read online, the bass and guitar positions seem to have been pretty fluid in the past, and still may be. If anyone can confirm who was playing that night I would be grateful to know.

Marky was brilliant. The man can still rock, and if he was half as good in his heyday, it it would still have sounded awesome. He looks good, even after the turbulent years with the Ramones. To be honest, I'm still not totally sold on Graves as replacement for Joey; maybe I'm too used to Joey's deeper voice and warmer presence. But Graves shows why he's a good choice for a frontman; he's got the energy and the intensity someone like that needs and his voice is good too, which never hurts. I see why he brought back the Misifts, as well. The Show was loud, hard and fast. Isn't that what punk is all about? Anything else is just polish.

Plus, I should mention the three opening acts as well. First up was The Whatleys, a State College, PA-based band that I know I've heard of before and I can't remember where. Following them was Xs For Eyes, and last was the Railroad City Murder Machine, easily the loudest of the three. Rock on, guys.

All this took place at this tiny, tiny bar called Aldo's Place on North 4th avenue, not far from the turntable at the Norfolk Southern Juniata Shops. Neat little place. They had Duquesne - and on tap, too! Service seemed to be good from what I saw, even with the show crowd (I was driving so I couldn't have too much). And the crowd seemed to be a mix of post-college and older people.

The Hole I Dig Is Bottomless

Seriously, Wikimedia?

This is one of the pictures in the Wikipedia article for Guided By Voices. The caption, and I quote, is 'Bob Pollard performing with Guided By Voices'. As I understand, Pollard had a drinking problem well-known enough that it was referenced in a Questionable Content strip.

Not cool, Wikipedia. Not cool.