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This new band Horse Feathers has a certain panache. It is certainly a Red House Painters panache, but I am buying what they are selling. I like the strings and the instrumentation.

To add insult to injury, I think that is my dream Volvo Wagon in the background. A Silver Volvo SL 1990′s wagon! Put a Thule rack on it with a kayak stacker, and a bike stand, and call it good. I could play this tune between Kalamazoo and Santa Cruz for a two week kayak safari and be very happy.

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Stanley Kubrick once said that the last uncharted territory of human nature was marriage. What makes one work for a lifetime? So often because of proximity, domesticity breeds contempt in us as marital creatures. We often forget how much we wanted this from the outside. I often wonder if relationships would be better if we didn’t live in the same space all the time. Which is why a lot of folks end up divorced I guess. Maybe the long kayaking trips is what makes my marriage work? A break from the domesticity is often a good thing. The closeness to weakness, character faults, and uglier sides, (any side for me) sometimes makes it hard to respect the other person. Unless there is love. Without it you get nowhere.

Which is why this Songs:Ohia tune should be every married man’s mantra.

h3. Captain Badass

_departure and worry
still shakes me
resistance failed
and friendship failed
as lovers we did not fail
brown eyes your pulse is getting hotter
brown eyes your pulse is getting quicker
quote Captain Badass,
” I am setting your heart on fire
so when you leave me
i will burn on in your soul”.
you won’t have to think twice
if it’s love you will know
we get no second chance in this life
so a hot pulse is alright
so a quick pulse is alright
so a hot kiss is alright
so a long kiss is alright
so a long night is alright
and all night is alright
there ain’t no contest
against the final day
we’ll rise above us either way
we’re either greeted
by life or its reverse
then each day greeted
by fortune or its reverse
will you stand up for your one chance
will you stand up for love
we get no second chance in this life
you won’t have to think twice if its love
you will know_

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Jesca Hoop, will finally release her debut album KISMET. She is also on tour. Not sure if I can make her show at the Magic Stick in Detroit, but I would like I love to go. I first heard Jesca on Nic Harcourt’s Morning Becomes Eclectic Show. If you haven’t heard Morning Becomes eclectic it’s a great music show and well worth a listen. I know my trendy LA friends will scoff at me for even mentioning Nic Harcourt, but I think it’s a great show.

Check out her video Big Fish

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This song is about as perfect as they get for me and Mrs Wikle.
As I venture forth into the Great White North to have my arse eaten alive by mosquitoes and brave the frigid embrace of Mother Superior once again, have a good chuckle on Mr. Tweedy’s fine tune.
Keep in mind sometimes our better halves know what’s best for us better than we know ourselves.

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St. Vincent, and her demo of Paris is burning from the album, Marry Me.

I really like her voice and her sound. Been listening to this all day.

Otherworldly and distinct are hackeneyed ways of saying she’s got a good vibe going on. I can’t wait to hear the whole album.

Life has thrown some curve balls this week, Homer as always can put an heroic scale on every day problems. I just need some Greeks to help me take the topless tower of Ilium.

Also if the wind could blow, I’d be Muuuuuuuuccccccch happier.

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Ok everyone else makes lists,

top ten albums

# Sigur Ros-Takk- Best album for the drive to lake michigan or on the run in the snow.
# AC Newman- the slow wonder- best bubblegum pop ever. I can almost taste the bubble gum flavor, (is it a flavor)
# Decemberists- Picaresque-songs about vengeful mariners tend to get ranked higher around here. Never mind the literati rock star thing, this album rocks.
# Sufjan Stevens- illinoise- this falls second to Michigan in my book, but very very good still. His songwriting reminds me of what I want my short story writing to be, if I had the time.
# New Pornographers-Twin Cinemas- The best show i missed this year. I love my sister in law, but f%#king weddings kill my ability to see shows. This is a great energetic band. And also AC Newman is in it!
# Andrew Bird- and the Mysterious Production of Eggs- flat out, measuring cups and MX Missiles are two of the best songs ever. I love the imagery of someone trying to find out if love, or a woman is MX missile proof.
# Wolf Parade- Apologies to the Queen Mary-Just got this, but it is noisy, rocking good.
# Damien Rice (O)- the best in the soundtrack to your life. Every song sounds like a soundtrack credits closer where you imagine yourself crying because so and so left so and so, and that one guy’s mother died. Oh yeah that meant a lot to me…
# Stars-Set Yourself on fire- The tag line when there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire is pretty evocative. We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.
# Franz Ferdinand-Ok 80′s guitar rock can come back, some of the tunes wear. but jacquelyne pretty well rocks.

I think top 8 moments for this year are mostly paddling related.

# Getting new job in Kalamazoo was pretty high! I may bitch a lot about working 14 hour days, but it’s only because commuting to Detroit made me want to buy a pistol. I am back where I belong, con mia famiglia….
# The first time I got a flat spin on a 6 foot wave was also pretty sweet.
# Surfing in the dark on the day the edmund fitzgerald went down.
# Seeing Doug Van Doren on TITS 2! I felt like MY aims and ambitions were validated by having Justine attach a camera to Doug’s Valkyrie. Doug is undoubtedly one of THE best paddlers I’ve ever met, a terrific human being. To see him paddling the crystal blue in the manitou straits on my TV is straight up a win for the Great Lake state, so F!#$ You Florida!
# Running 7 Miles for the first time since June. An hour of bliss with a headlight on CR 374 with vineyards to the right and left, and harvest rain coming down.
# Gabriel Surfing for the first time! Seeing a boy instinctively low brace on a wave made my year.
# Isabella scoring 5 goals in one game. My little michael owen.
#. Laura quitting her job. Oddly enough has been pretty great.