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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
 Posted - 11/11/2003 : 07:55:55
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| Lay it on us.... |
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Coldheartofstone
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
2025 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 08:11:02
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I'll let you know when it does happen.
She was looking for some...place....to go.... |
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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 08:17:36
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You do that.....
__________________________________________
Do you wanna touch me THEY-ER, WHEY-ER, THEY-ER |
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Coldheartofstone
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
2025 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 08:21:00
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Up to now the only proud moment i can think of is when my 200 pound brother brags to his co-workers that little ol' me can drink him under the table...Ohh, excessive alcohol consumption...im so proud.:p
She was looking for some...place....to go.... |
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mun chien andalusia
= Quote Accumulator =
Italy
2139 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 15:10:33
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when i managed to draw a chess game with the russian grandmaster spassky (for those who don't know who spassky is:In 1972 American Bobby Fischer challenged Spassky for the title of World Champion which was held in Reykjavik, Iceland. This most publicized world championship in chess history took place during the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. As a consequence both players were under considerable pressure to win. When Fischer defeated Spassky, 35 years of Soviet domination of the world championship also ended. Spassky returned to his homeland in disgrace.)of course he was playing 40 games at one time,but it was cool the same since he won 37 drawed 2 and lost 1.
 join the cult of errol\and you can have a beer\without having to quit smoking
www.munchienandalusia.too.it
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Cheeseman1000
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
Iceland
8201 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 15:13:23
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My proudest moment was appearing on the Really Wild Show when I was eleven. Chris Packham is so cool.
 "I have joined the Cult Of Frank/And I have dearly paid"
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Danishboy
- FB Fan -
Denmark
175 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 15:20:23
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When i found that, i was the fastest kid on the block.
Man of steel |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 15:46:54
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A half of a sheet 10 years ago-
There are so many other good ones, but that'd be the proudest. |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:08:25
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getting to #7 in list of top posters..
(oh wait, did you say "proudest" moment?) |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:11:47
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Right now I am 23rd... most of which have come in the past 6 weeks...
I joined a week after it was built, I think defintely one of the 1st 100 members or posters or whatever, and that my people makes me cool; Not worth a whole lot, just cool. |
Edited by - Little Black Francis on 11/11/2003 16:12:16 |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:12:56
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quote:
the swimmer
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
USA
1235 Posts
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 07:55:55
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Lay it on us....
what about you swimmer, lay it on us?
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ain't it funny how the "don't fuck with me!" nooch |
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glacial906
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1738 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:19:38
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I can't believe that realmeanmotorscutor is ahead of me in posts and has only been a member since the beginning of October according to the member list. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing...
Hey LBF, or anyone else who knows, what was the "abstract plain" I've heard people mention from days of yore? |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:25:57
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it still exists, it's a yahoo club or group or whatever they call them now...
it's where everyone used to post before this masterpeice was created by dudes from there...
I think Dave still runs that site...
there were like or are like 4 or 5 fan sites Yahoo based...
fb.net kicks their ass I think. Those were the days when you had to get up to turn the channel on the TV. |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:27:29
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| since i'm #7, doesn't that mean that essentially i'm God? (of the forum) |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:29:15
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| God? or the cult leader? Either way we worship you. |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:31:52
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dude, LBF.. how fucking weird is it that, on THAT post, you reached 666?
by the way, don't respond.
i think you should stop posting at 666 and start a new handle (i wish i had done that) |
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glacial906
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1738 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:36:03
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| "LBF" would then fade into the oblivion of archived posts, eventually though. |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 16:49:21
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I reached 666 on Halloween, on the eastcoasters holla thread. Freaked me out, I'll have ya know.
 "I partied with the Cult of Frank / Bob ate all the dip" |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:13:26
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quote:
Originally posted by mun chien andalusia
when i managed to draw a chess game with the russian grandmaster spassky
mun chien, can I ask how this came about? I am extremely curious - very interesting!
"I partied with the Cult of Frank / Bob ate all the dip" |
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realmeanmotorscutor
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1764 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:30:39
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glaish, I've been a member since 10/3/02 not 2003 as you probably thought. I didn't post a hell of a lot until recently, just read. Soooo, you're probably still right about me being a loser and posting too much. AbstractPlain is a yahoo groups page dedicated to FB. I really can't stand yahoo groups even though I just created one; the format is terrible and when I first signed up I guess I didn't check off the "send me emails" box and so I still get emails for every GD post even though I changed my preferences. Read it but don't join it.
Mun, I'd also like to hear about this match. Now there's a story.
 "I joined the Cult of Popeye / The CoF required my good eye" |
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Average Black Frank
- FB Fan -
1 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:32:34
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I am back to one.
goodbye |
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realmeanmotorscutor
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1764 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:41:05
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wow, haha ballsy! Me likes. Are you gonna stay ABF? Your humility will grant you a place . . . well, at least not among the egoists in hell.
"I joined the Cult of Popeye / The CoF required my good eye" |
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mun chien andalusia
= Quote Accumulator =
Italy
2139 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:41:39
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quote:
Originally posted by apl4eris
quote:
Originally posted by mun chien andalusia
when i managed to draw a chess game with the russian grandmaster spassky
mun chien, can I ask how this came about? I am extremely curious - very interesting!
"I partied with the Cult of Frank / Bob ate all the dip"
years ago i was in a chess team (pretty nerdy huh?we actually considered chess as a sport) and spassky was invited in greece for a tournament.the day before we organized a simultanè (a game where one plays against multiple players,a thing great players use to do)and that's it.i was one of them.i must say that he is the most intelligent person i ever met (along with umberto eco).
join the cult of errol\and you can have a beer\without having to quit smoking
www.munchienandalusia.too.it
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:50:57
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| I said fuck it. |
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realmeanmotorscutor
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1764 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 17:55:39
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ah too bad LBF, but good to have you back.
I think my proudest moments were when, in high school, we would turn the chess board over and play guatemalan checkers.
"I joined the Cult of Popeye / The CoF required my good eye" |
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glacial906
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1738 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 18:48:27
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I think all my proudest moments haven't happened yet.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
Carl Sagan
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 18:58:30
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quote:
i must say that he is the most intelligent person i ever met (along with umberto eco).
You actually met Umberto Eco?! Holy cripes - you are such a lucky dog!! Foucault's Pendulum is one of my favorite books of all time. You could start a thread on just the people you've had the opportunity to meet...I'll not stray from the topic any longer and aske you how you accomplished this meeting :)
"I partied with the Cult of Frank / Bob ate all the dip" |
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mun chien andalusia
= Quote Accumulator =
Italy
2139 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 19:06:15
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quote:
Originally posted by apl4eris
quote:
i must say that he is the most intelligent person i ever met (along with umberto eco).
You actually met Umberto Eco?! Holy cripes - you are such a lucky dog!! Foucault's Pendulum is one of my favorite books of all time. You could start a thread on just the people you've had the opportunity to meet...I'll not stray from the topic any longer and aske you how you accomplished this meeting :)
"I partied with the Cult of Frank / Bob ate all the dip"
eco is a professor at the bologna university but comes often here at siena for lectures.pretty down to earth,always available for a chat and damn funny guy too.
join the cult of errol\and you can have a beer\without having to quit smoking
www.superabound.altervista.org |
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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 21:33:47
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Proudest moment: getting a song cut by someone with a real record on a real record label. Josh Rouse on Rykodisc by the way.
Getting my band in the best of Nashville issue of the Scene here (weekly alternative newspaper) that I started myself and wrote all the songs for for the first time in my life.
Getting married. |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2003 : 21:54:41
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hey swimmer, have you ever heard of the obscure badn:
Guy Smiley
from Nashville?
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ain't it funny how the "don't fuck with me!" nooch |
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rockathon
- FB Fan -
241 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2003 : 07:01:48
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| the day I learned to cry on command |
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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2003 : 07:21:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Little Black Francis
hey swimmer, have you ever heard of the obscure badn:
Guy Smiley
from Nashville?
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ain't it funny how the "don't fuck with me!" nooch
The Guy Smiley horn guys played on a record an old band of mine did and I was in The Obscure.
That last Obsure show was also one of my proudest moments. We gave Mike a guitar as a going away present. A Gibson SG.
This article about The Obscure was one of them too.
If only for today. The Obscure Make Good
"If only for today, I wish everyone would think I'm great..." Mike Gogola of the Obscure sings in “If Only,” a song that pre-dates the Obscure’s time in Nashville. His wish is about to come true… if it hasn't already. The Obscure are great. In the next week, the Obscure will go out at the top of their game. They'll hit the high note and say goodnight. On 26 August, Mike begins his new job in Houston, Texas, where his wife, Tracy, will begin her post-doctoral work in medical research.
The history of the Obscure follows Mike and Tracy’s education. They moved to Nashville in 1996 where both attended graduate school (Mike is an engineer at Vanderbilt; he builds robotic pants). Mike's old friend and bass player, Brian Wieck, also made the move to Nashville from Detroit. Mike and Brian quickly started their efforts to get the Obscure playing in Nashville with mixed results. Asked to name a bad gig, Brian says “every one until we got decent.” Mike suggests the show their first drummer in Nashville got them at Belmont University. There’s lots of musicians and bands there, they thought; this could be cool. The drummer never mentioned that the show was in the cafeteria... during dinner time.
Needless to say, for much of their tenure in Nashville, the Obscure labored in, well, obscurity. In 1999, things started to gel. Danny Sloan had been drumming with Mike and Brian for sometime and Doug Tewksbury, a student at Vanderbilt, had come in on second guitar. In December of ‘99, The Obscure made a solid 7-song record, The Politics of Person, with Brian Carter and the tide looked as if it had turned. The songs bounced from genre to jangly, fuzzy genre. There were the clean to dirty dynamics of “Paradox,” the pounding groove of “The Human Condition,” the metallic polka of “Those Commie Bastards” and the banging pop of “Forget about Jane.”
The album got good reviews; Farmclub.com came calling; shows were easier to come by. But Doug had gone to England. In his absence, the Obscure struggled on, but the momentum was difficult to sustain. Especially with their inconsistent live shows – the energy would be great, but the tempo would be a mess, or the sound would be terrible, or the four-track that played the sound clips during “Those Commie Bastards” would just be cranky, or they’d just get too tired from all their leaping around. The genre they were often lumped into – “garage rock” – was almost an insult. If they were “garage-y,” it was because they often sounded like they hadn’t gotten any better. “We were always so worried about trying to do something new that we never stopped to get what we were doing completely right,” says Mike.
During early 2000, Doug was replaced onstage occasionally by a lamp or a mannequin and even at one point, a real live person. Nothing seemed to work. Doug came back from England but was in and out of Nashville. In the fall, he returned to Nashville to school. The Obscure started to make some progress. Then in the summer of 2001, in the middle of recording their second real record, Doug announced he was moving to Boston. In two weeks. Doug’s back and forth fit in perfectly with a motif of the Obscure: “Everytime we just started getting it together, something would go wrong,” Mike explains.
Mike, Brian and Danny struggled for the remainder of 2001 to finish their second record with Brian Carter. Speaking with Mike during that period, one could sense that the desperation to get something right -- always apparent in their shows -- had now turned into the determination of the damned. Neither Mike nor Brian ever said as much, but hearing of their all night sessions in Brian Carter’s studio and the mounting bill for the recording, one sensed that Mike and Brian felt that if they couldn’t get this record together, then they would have completely failed. Hearing of their fatigued, early morning drives back from Murfreesboro to Nashville to catch a couple of hours of sleep before going to their day jobs, I knew they felt a huge pressure.
Ultimately, it was a pressure that paid off. Laugh Like a Whip, Look Like a Dagger is a complex, dense, melodic, mature record. The record’s songs ran through genres again – “Give Me Some Love Sometime” is garage in the good sense, “Dearborn” is sweet indie pop, “Telephone as Trigger” is a spacey groove. The textures of the new record matched the deeper, more personal lyrics and showed the Obscure had grown into their songs and sound. Much of the credit for record’s sound must go to Brian Carter who had helped the Obscure wrangle their energy into their crafty and intricate songs. But ultimately, it was The Obscure’s completely idiotic tenacity, the fact that they felt something was unfinished -- the idea that they could be great, if only for 53 minutes -- that created Laugh’s warm, layered sound. Those late nights between Nashville and Murfreesboro had given the band a selfish outlook. Nothing outside the band was going to go right, so they needed to change their focus.
With the completion of their second record, Mike felt his desire to make the band his livelihood disappear. “I had that album in my hand and it was like, who cares if anyone listens to it? I have it. I made it. . That was the time where I just said, phht, it’s all gone. I don’t have that ambition any more,” Mike says. “What are you trying to prove to yourself and to people? That your music is that great? You don’t need to show it to people. Maybe you wanna get it out to people, maybe you think that it changes the world or something, but I don’t think so, man. I think that’s more on an individual level. I think writing songs may change yourself and help you out.”
The change in focus spilled into their live show as well.
When time came to debut the album, the band knew they needed some instrumental help – the trio wasn’t going to cut it. Mike asked two friends to join them on guitar. Jason Phelan is the singer/guitarist/songwriter for The What Four. The recent departure of his drummer had left his band in limbo. Jason had always admired The Obscure’s songwriting. He and Mike had been friends for years and so he was a natural choice to join the Obscure. Andy Willhite is the guitarist with 27B Stroke 6. Mike met Andy through his work. When Andy told Mike one day that he loved his jam band but “I just want to rock,” Mike gave him The Obscure’s new CD.
The original plan was to have Jason and Andy each learn half of the songs, but their interest in the band and the fact that everything started sounding so damn good, changed the way the Obscure approached their music and especially their live shows. Both guitarists became permanent fixtures even adding harmony vocals and helping write new songs. For those of us who’ve followed them through the years – through the untrusty four-track experiments (remember the show punctuated by old beer commercials?) and freezing cold, shut-down-by-the-cops outdoor house parties -- the change is nothing short of spectacular. It’s night and day. Every gig since the album release has been better than the last. Andy and Jason play off each other with big round tones. Brian and Danny lock into the beat. So confident is he in his band, Mike goes guitar-less for most of the set. It has given the Obscure the release they always needed. The music, now grounded by great players, allows Mike to play to the crowd. He surges, collapses, painfully bucks around on the ground, and gives it 200%.
The question of why the Obscure didn't ever "make it" – conventionally -- quickly brings the discussion to the Nashville scene. Many people in this town may not realize, but in other cities, audiences usually stand during rock performances. In front of the stage, no less! In other cities, people come to shows just because.
So was it the crowd? Mike and Brian independently point out that the crowds in Detroit were much more supportive of local bands. “In Michigan you had people who wanted to do nothing but support a good band,” Brian says. Here, a band’s fans are usually other musicians the band has met. “In Nashville, those people are the people who care about music. They’re all in their own band,” Mike adds. The networking a band has to do in Nashville to ensure a crowd is enough to defeat the most committed. And though many superlatives fit the Obscure, “most committed” is probably not one of them.
The local indie music scene is fertile but not necessarily encouraging. Even in underground, Nashville produces many good players but few great bands. The Obscure are the exception to this rule. It's hard to imagine any of these five guys going on to be a star on his own, but in the Obscure, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The energy, the songs, and the heart are all there now. And Jason wonders, “Who’s going to do this when we’re gone?”
For much of their time in Nashville, the Obscure have been the consummate underdogs. In their last months, they've finally made something of themselves. This is what we'd always hoped for them but never really expected them to achieve -- which says less about our cynicism than it does about their passion. This is as important as rock music gets. Here's the Obscure, a band that so perfectly embodies our desperation to become something good, something great, something beyond ourselves. They've done it. At least for a couple of shows. That's all you need isn't it?
You'll never be left breathless after a Lambchop song, relieved that they pulled it off with such irregular grace. You may observe the deep bonds of friendship between the boys of Feable Weiner, but you'll never experience the tension in a grimace between band members when the drummer drops a beat. You can absorb and be impressed by the well-manicured sounds of Character but you'll never be startled by the introduction to one of their songs. You can dance to the Features’s songs, but can you spasm? And will they dance? On your lap? Surely, you've seen a guitar player grab a beer bottle and "improvise" a guitar slide out of it. But you'll likely never see one grab a full bottle too quickly, foaming the beer all over the guitar with the complete anti-prowess of the Obscure.
And you may have seen a long-side-burned, mustachioed, cigarette-dangling, wife-beater-wearing bass player smash his bass... But you've never seen him love it so much. The Obscure have accidentally become great. If only for today.
[The Obscure play their last show at the Springwater on Saturday, 17 August 2002.]
-- Todd Anderson
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Edited by - the swimmer on 11/12/2003 07:23:26 |
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Little Black Francis
> Teenager of the Year <
3648 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2003 : 09:51:07
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| Cool. I was just curious. A good friend of mine was in the band, his name is Grahm Spice. He played every instrument just about. He also bought their bus and a bunch of their shit and now is major debt, because their manager, who was girlfriend of one of the other guys, embezzled a shitload of their money. At least this is what I have been told. Grahm still lives in nashville with his mattress and his computer. |
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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2003 : 11:08:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Little Black Francis
Cool. I was just curious. A good friend of mine was in the band, his name is Grahm Spice. He played every instrument just about. He also bought their bus and a bunch of their shit and now is major debt, because their manager, who was girlfriend of one of the other guys, embezzled a shitload of their money. At least this is what I have been told. Grahm still lives in nashville with his mattress and his computer.
You are talking about Guy Smiley now right? Not the Obscure.
I knew that girl and went out with her....once........ |
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Bartholomew
= Cult of Ray =
USA
344 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2003 : 12:20:50
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| Congrats, Swimmer. That’s very cool. So far my proudest moment is getting one of my short stories published in a literary magazine (happened a month back). |
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the swimmer
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1602 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2003 : 12:25:38
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quote:
Originally posted by Bartholomew
Congrats, Swimmer. That’s very cool. So far my proudest moment is getting one of my short stories published in a literary magazine (happened a month back).
See, I think it's especially a proud moment when something that you made up in your head by your own little self gets some sort of public recognition by someone other than your family who have to like everything you do or your poor girlfriend/wife who says it's good just because she loves you. |
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