Science fiction

I recently got a new mobile phone. The last phone I had drew looks from some of my American friends when I was back home. When flipped open it looked like something ready to take a head off. It was a weapon of a phone, didn't drop calls but could drop a brother, easy. It was an Ericsson and it was outdated. After browsing the market I decided on a Nokia. Finnish. Tough. White (big plus, I've wanted a white cellie for a minute).

New phone! What ringtone should I choose?! I admit, I don't really mess with my phones enough to download songs or ringtones to them. For songs, iPod. For ringtones, a preset is enough for me. My last ringtone was "old phone." Brrrriiiiiiiing...Brrrrinnnng. I found a similar one on the Nokia called "telegraph." It sounds old and it's similar but with better old frequencies. This one might be at 256 kbps.

Today I was doing my usual browsing on Pitchfork and came across a quick interview with Thurston Moore in their Guest List column. The interview is insightful and I like Thurston as much as the next guy. It was a good way to spend a few minutes this afternoon in between TCB like a madman on the job. The last paragraph of that interview did that thing it does to me when I like something, draw an immediate connection to it and then start planning a blog about it. Let's get to that now...

Lou Barlow once sang, "crackin' jokes like a Thurston Moore, pedal hoppin' like a dinosaur" in one of Sebadoh's gleaming moments in the song Gimmie Indie Rock. There's your connection to Thurston and here's your connection to Dinosaur (besides the fact that this is Lou Barlow singing it)...

>> My Ringtone

You know, Kim gave me an iPhone for my birthday and they don't let you-- you can't download ringtones on there, which is a bummer. I'm trying to think of my previous cell phone's ringtone, which I really liked...I don't even remember what it is, so I can't even tell you. I think my ringtone is called "science fiction" [laughs]. Which is kind of cool because when you're playing a CD in a car and the science fiction ringtone goes off, it sounds good with every track. Sometimes it'll be going and I'm like, "Wow, that's so cool that they put that in their song," and I'm like, "Oh, it's my fucking phone." J Mascis has the best ringtone, he just put his phone on top of his drum and then he just like whacked the drum with a drumstick and he recorded it onto his phone, so when his phone, well...rings, it actually just goes, "BABABABABA!" [laughs]. -- Thurston Moore on Pitchfork's Guest List

I was at the 40 Watt Club playing a show once. I talked to this guy for a bit because when I was on tour I'd get into the habit of shooting the shit with the sound techs at these various clubs. I don' t know, I've always liked audio and studied for a bit to take it up as a profession. For various reasons it wasn't meant for me and I dropped it. But there's always been something about the job that seemed like something I'd like to do, or something that I was sort of close to doing. So I asked him who the hardest person was to soundcheck. Like, who made the most fuss up on stage about monitors not being loud enough, etc... He immediately said that it was J Mascis. I remember the sound tech saying that J's ears were so shot and he sang so soft that getting his vocals up enough in the monitors was nearly impossible. What's also nearly impossible is having a ringtone that is original or even good for that matter. Looks like someone figured out how to do that.

"Breakin' down the barriers like Sonic Youth. They got what they wanted, maybe I can get what I want to. C'MON INDIE ROCK"