This Guy's Balludos Don't Fit In the Room

Dear Chi-Chis,

Something you’ll learn about me: I love making lists. Just ask the girl I recently went on a blind date with – our pre-date emails were full of them. Although, I could make another list of why we didn’t have a second date. But don't get me started - hey, is this thing on?

Well, my point being that you’re getting a loving spoonful of lists right now. I’ll keep em short but semi-sweet.

List of dirty words/expressions I learned to say in Argentinean Spanish this weekend:

- What balls! (Balludos!)

- Tiny/medium/giant pussy (Actually I forget, but I did learn all those sizes)

- Crazy pussy (chi-chi loca)

Okay, so that’s really all the words I learned, but boy howdy, was it fun. I learnt them from a positively charming and sweet couple who know a couple of my friends. We spent the weekend on Long Beach Island. It was complètement fantastique. But the water was so cold, I could barely stay in for more than 2 minutes. Anyone who’s been to the beach with me knows how criminal that is. We chatted about all manner of subjects (other than vaginas), ate lots of grilled veggie treats, drank an Argentinean drink called a Fernando and generally horsed around and laughed. I’m a happy puppy dog today.

Plus, on my way home, I got to do something I haven’t done in weeks and that truly brings me a rare and inimitable feeling of joy: record shopping. It’s so relaxing and pleasant, I really don’t know why I’ve not gone in so long. Anyway, here is a list of awesome records I got. I’m so excited to dig in to them!

- Gram Parsons – Complete Reprise Sessions

- Triple disc, re-mastered, original artwork, bonus tracks, oh my!) Gram to me is like Johnny Cash fused with Elliott Smith, which is about as awesome as it gets. Kinda breaks your heart, but so damn good.

- Them – The Story of Them

- Van Morrison’s old band – no less than 50 tracks! Imagine Van the Man rocking out like Mick Jagger with an even bigger drinking problem. Now I can die happy.

- Steely Dan – Can’t Buy a Thrill

- I’m just now getting into these guys, but I love the song “Dirty Work.” From what I’ve heard, I’m sure I’ll love the whole thing.

- Awesome Color – s/t

- What’s in a name? They’ve got a dirty Detroit sound ala MC5 and the Stooges. Sounds good to me. This is new, so I’ll let you know.

- Thin Lizzy – Bad Reputation

- This record is totally badass and I don’t know why I never owned it before. Power pop with about 3,000 guitar riffs per song and some truly dudely lyrics.

- Terry Reid – Seed of Memory

- More awesome tunes from the dude who almost got to be Robert Plant. Really a wonderful songwriter in his own right, who seems to only recently be getting his propers. Look into him – he’s the stuff!

- Sleepy Jackson – Personality

- Holy crap I love this band. They’re so weird and off-beat. Yet extremely technical and perfect psych-pop songcrafters. Take some vitamin C, breath in a helium balloon and blast off to this oddball dreamworld.

- Thom Yorke – The Eraser

- A light, soft-sounding electronic album of twisted tunes from our pal Thom. It’s really lovely, in a kinda creepy way.

One last thing. I picked up a book (well, a ginormous zine really) today too. It’s called Penny-Ante and it’s pretty god damn rad. Two friends of mine, Alexandra K and Solveig, have some poetry in it and there are a million other artists, writers and musicians featured. You can get the book here, and I recommend that you do, chi-chis.

xo

me