The Right Angles

i googled myself recently & lots of things popped up. just a few minutes ago, i googled my high school band the Right Angles & nothing popped up. & that just seemed wrong. i am no one to have anything to google about, but the Right Angles were special, & i wish there was more evidence of their existence to be found. there are 5 people in the world, besides me, that own a copy of our self-recorded EP "What's Going On Here, Please?" Calvin Johnson is one of those people, along with my mother, my friends Tony & Billy, & a lovely musician friend who i was in love with during my whole high school career.

there really isn't enough time in the world to talk about the Right Angles in depth, but i want some photographic evidence of us to be shot out into the internet universe. all of these were taken pre-digital camera days, so they are pictures OF pictures, and thus really crappy, but they shall suffice. here we go...


early practices, circa 10th grade, spring of 2002, in our school uniforms






summer after 10th grade, playing @ Satori in Mobile, AL for "Nick Drake Night"


post-show in 11th grade, fall of 2002, at Picklefish, joined by my high school bf <3


cover of our EP, completed in Nov. 2002


one of many of our Christmas card photos, taken in downtown Fairhope, AL by my mother, in Dec. 2002


back-to-school show @ Satori in 12th grade, Sept. 2003


day-after-Halloween show @ Coffee Loft, Oct. 2003 (notice my sweet jack-o-lantern t)



if we'd made a full length album it would have been called "You Can Rely On The Right Angles" or "What, Who Died, Me?"
[i intend to release Right Angles recordings/videos on my record label. look out for things to come later in 2009 & 2010.]

after every show we played, we'd go to Picklefish with our families & friends & eat pizza & celebrate (we were so beautifully insanely wholesome- we didn't consume one illegal substance or drink ever in high school-- while still being completely crazy). every single time, as we were leaving, we'd say

"The Right Angles are leaving the building."

<3.

s.o.n.g.s.

there are 2 types of songs i've been thinking about lately.

the 1st is the song with spelling- you know, like when the singer spells out words. usually the name of the song, but not always. i love it when they do that.
here are the spelling songs i could think of:

"harborcoat" by r.e.m. ("r-e-a-c-t")
"i stand accused" by elvis costello ("s-t-a-n-d-a-c-c-u-s-e-d")
"the dark side of town" by grant mclennan ("l-o-v-e")
"feeling called love" by pulp ("f-e-e-l-i-n-g-c-a-double l-e-d-l-o-v-e")
"lana" by roy orbison ("l-a-n-a")
"rare breed" by the go-betweens ("r-a-r-e-b-r-e-e-d")

can you think of any others?

the 2nd type is the song that i hear in some random place, like the grocery store perhaps, and i don't know what it is, but i know i've heard it a lot in my life and i just immediately want to find out what it is and listen to it more. it's usually something old and slightly embarrassing, but extremely catchy.
or, this song might just appear in my head. a lyric might pop into by head, or a tune, and i have to find out what it is. usually it's not by a band i know well, but certainly a well known tune.

some of these songs are:

"who'll stop the rain" by creedence clearwater revival
"walk of life" by dire straits
"into your arms" by the lemonheads
"bad reputation" by freedy johnston
"summer in the city" by lovin spoonful
"amie" by pure prairie league
"fisherman's blues" by the waterboys


well then! that's all i've got!

Road Soda

i've been doing a lot of new things recently, due to my dire financial situation, and just because of life in general, & they are mostly good things! you know, we work with what we've got.

new things:

1. using my collection of vintage handkerchiefs to actually blow my nose because i don't want to spend money on kleenex. kind of old man-ish, but also kind of dainty!

2. wearing ripped up tights. i can't afford new ones, but they add a kind of nice subtle punky/grungy touch to my otherwise preppy outfits.


3. hanging out with lots of really really great & super cool people...

4. ...which kind of relates to the fact that i've only been going to shows that i can get on the guest list for. so i don't have to spend $$. it's pretty sweet knowing most of the people who you want to see play.

5. wearing this jean jacket i got like 10 years ago, when i was in middle school, at the Gap. i literally never wore it until a few weeks ago & now i can't stop, i totally love it!


6. eating subway sandwiches. i admit, i used to look down on subway, i thought i was just too good for them. but you get lots of vegetables, it's cheap, very easy, and it's really darn tasty. it's still sort of embarrassing though.

7. drinking coffee at work. i never used to, but um, free coffee? yes please. today i even made myself an iced one, with splenda & Silk soy creamer, oh my!

8. only being allowed ONE Diet Coke a day. this one is really sad actually. but i just can't afford drinking my usual, like, 4 a day. oh well, RESTRAINT is a good quality for me to practice.

9. not listening to much music. this is also not really a good thing. it's just too exhausting. i've been listening to um... Sex Clark Five & The Del Fuegos. um, yeah, what? weird. well anyhow, here's a video of Sex Clark Five's super terrific cover of a Clash song.


10. getting creative with decorations! i fashioned a table out of wood & books a while back, and now i've got some interesting things on my walls. i'm really into this little Stereolab 7" i got at work the other day that i put on my wall. i think it's so cute!


this isn't really new, but here's the view from my window, from where i am sitting right this second.

"life sucks, again"

I walked upstream
And I sat in the mud
Life sucks again
Watching trees decompose
And they talk to me
And they smiled at me
-Galaxie 500

...memories of happier times:

1. in high school, during one Good Friday we had off, my best friend & i were going to go to Goodwill and our favorite coffee shop. but instead of both riding our bikes like we usually did, i rode my bike & he rode his rollerblades alongside me. it was a disaster. he was skating across this big busy highway, and i was trying to maintain his slower speed, and we were falling and tripping all over each other. it was kind of scary and really hysterical.

2. it was one of the first warm weekends in the Spring of my second year of college and one of my best friends was having her birthday party at the radio station. we spent the night drinking wine and playing songs on the radio. also, i had a crush on this old guy who had an office near the station and i wrote a note telling his as much to stick under his door. my roommate & i rode our bikes, drunk, back home, which we quickly realized was very, very difficult.

3. last year at this time, i was finishing my Senior Project, staying up all hours of the night like a crazy person to work on it. one Friday night, i'd stayed in to write, and ended up not getting into bed until about 6 am. i had to wake up only 1 or 2 hours later to babysit. despite my only half-alive state, i remember feeling so blissful, sitting out in the kids' big back yard, it was warm, they were running around like mad and i was just sitting there, unable to move, but very happy.

4. in the Spring of my 10th grade year of high school, i heard Galaxie 500's Today for the first time & it changed my life, then and there. exactly 6 years later, as a Senior in college, i read Dean Wareham's memoir which chronicled in detail the history of Galaxie 500, & he changed my life again.


HAPPPEE, SEE: