Mar
Posted on 21st March 2009
While on tour in Japan, I bought a lot of not exactly necessary things. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but Gun O’Clock is definitely up there. As hinted at in the name, it’s a clock that involves a gun, specifically a gun you use to shoot a target when the alarm goes off. Actually, I can’t really explain it too well because my brain has pretty much stopped working due to jetlag, so check out the above video, which is just as bizarre and awesome as Gun O’Clock itself. Gun O’Clock is Reason #4,039 that Japan is so far ahead of the U.S. God I love that place.
Mar
Posted on 21st March 2009
Because I’m a whore and all, I am currently appearing in this video promoting Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. The video also features such folks as Janeane Garofalo, Christian Finnegan, Baron Vaughn, and Jordan Carlos among others. So I’m not alone! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it so much. Hurray for the Internet!
In other news, to balance the scales of something or another, today I offer two free Valley Lodge downloads for your listening pleasure or displeasure as the case may be. Here is some “classic” VL in the form of “All of My Loving.” And here is some new VL in the form of “Break Your Heart.” I hope you like both of them lots. That is a picture of me making time for some of our Japanese fans above. It’s nice to give something back.
Mar
Posted on 19th March 2009
I meant to mention this earlier, but in all the Japanese excitement forgot. Anyway, tonight at the Black Rabbit bar in Greenpoint, I will be hosting “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” my futuristic night of Smiths and Morrissey music and speed dating all in one. Come on out to listen to music, hang out, speed date, or all three. It is going to be so incredible I’m about to have a seizure.
Mar
Posted on 18th March 2009
Last week, when my hot rock band Valley Lodge played at KD Japon in Nagoya as part of our first-ever tour of Japan, I snapped a couple photos of this little Picachu thingy (still not sure what it does besides light up, though that alone is pretty awesome in itself. That big knob on its stomach must do something though I imagine. If I knew how to ask in Japanese, I would have). Tonight, in my severely jet-lagged spare time, I whipped up this unstoppable animated GIF with the pictures. Look into its eyes- the Picachu will change you.
In other news, here is a story about Valley Lodge’s visit to Gibson Japan the day after our Tokyo show. Gibson was nice enough to loan us some hot axes (a Les Paul, an SG, a Firebird, and a Jack Casady bass) for our tour, so we stopped by to say hello. It was a lot of fun and life-changing in ways that I can’t even get into right now.
Dave Hill
Mar
Posted on 17th March 2009
I saw this kitten in a pet store in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo on Monday night. For the uninitiated, Shinjuku is where the red light district of Tokyo is located. I’m not exactly sure why there was a pet store located amid all those smut shops and massage parlors. And in a rare moment of taking the high road, I will pass on the easy joke one could make here. Just before walking into the pet store where this kitten was, I was given the hard sell on a “massagey” from a woman I don’t think I would have accepted a massage from under any circumstances. It was nice to walk into the pet store immediately afterwards and be absolved of the whole thing by the innocence of this furry little thing. I’m allergic to cats, but this little fella (or girl, not sure) had me almost willing to put up with itchy eyes and sniffles for the next however many years cats live. Double adorbs!
Mar
Posted on 12th March 2009
Today I write from Osaka, Japan, where I am up too early as a result of some combination of jetlag, alcohol, and the approximately five hot coffees in a can that I have had pretty much every day since I got to Japan. We have been in Osaka for three days now and played our first show the night before last, which- as you can probably- was completely incredible. Tonight we rock Nagoya, which I am expecting to be even incredibler. Above is a photo of me and my friend Doug Gillard from Guided by Voices, who is rocking the bass with us on this tour, gearing up for the task at hand.
I will write a full and detailed report about the Valley Lodge Japan Invasion 2009 when I have more of a chance to sit and type a bunch, but so far I can say that this country is superior to the United States in pretty much every way one can think of, especially if you like Japanese food and Japanese stuff in general like I do. So far, I have been pretty fascinated with the toilets here among other things. They seem to have three kinds, the most of incredible of which is the one above. You can stand over it to pee or you can crouch down and do whatever else you might have planned. So far I haven’t had the opportunity to really swing for the fences with this kind but I am hoping things time up just right so I can tell you all about it really soon. A couple more hot coffees in a can and I should be in business.
Another kind of toilet they have over here is pretty much a standard toilet down low and then completely amazing up top. The water tank doubles as a sink so when you flush the toilet cold water comes out of the faucet so you can wash your hands. The excess water then goes back into the tank to be used for the next flushing. So the whole operation of going to the bathroom and washing your hands uses (I’m guessing) far less water than the primitive separate sink and toilet situation we have going on in the U.S. Every time I use one of these futuristic Japanese toilets, I am embarrassed to be an American and make a mental note to myself to apply for Japanese citizenship immediately. Between this awesome toilet and all the hot chicks, I pretty have no interest in coming home.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
The third kind of toilet I have encountered over here is a seemingly pretty standard toilet just like we have in the U.S. This is the kind I have in my hotel room. There is one difference with this one as far as I can tell though- the bowl itself is a bit shallower toward the front. Or maybe the water level is high. I’m not sure really, but it’s one of the two. My point is though, that twice when I have used this toilet for what some call “going #2,” I realized about halfway through the transaction- and much too late- that my privates were actually hanging down below sea level. As a result, each time I had to wash my junk afterwards because it had become, well, soiled. Look, I’m sorry, I just really needed to talk about this. I hope you might still find me attractive in some way. If we just have to be friends now, so be it. But you’re not perfect either!
Aside from having difficulty in the bathroom over here, it has been completely awesome so far. We play our second show in Nagoya tonight. We are gigantically popular over here (not really) and it is awesome. Every five feet or so I get stopped by some young girls who want to pose for a picture with me. I simply can’t get enough of it. The food is really good too. I will tell you all about it and also a whole bunch of other stuff soon.
Mar
Posted on 10th March 2009
Hi there. I am totally in Japan right now and am about to collapse. The first of four shows my hot rock band Valley Lodge is playing over here is in Osaka tomorrow night. It should be a scorcher. More updates coming soon. In the meantime, here is a cool poster from our tour over here:
Wild stuff.
Dave Hill
Mar
Posted on 8th March 2009
This past Friday, I went to see Pentagram, one of (if not THE) greatest American heavy metal bands of all-time, at Webster Hall. I missed the first opening band, Devil’s Blood, but caught some of Priestess from Montreal, who rocked it and had good facial hair (half the battle sometimes). As a side note, a while back I wrote “A Night Out With” piece on Priestess for the popular New York Times newspaper. You can read it right here. I mean, hey, why not? You’re already on the Internet.
Getting back to Pentagram, the band took the stage as “Sub Intro” from their awesome “Sub-Basement” album played over the house P.A. Pentagram mainman and lead singer Bobby Liebling is only original and/or old school member in the current lineup, though the guys playing with him brought the heat. My only complaints would be that the bass player should loose the doo-rag and just embrace his baldness (or whatever is going on under there) so he doesn’t look like some dude in a cover band playing on wing night somewhere. You’d think Bobby would have taken a sidebar with him on that one, but whatever. Also, the guitar player, while really great and all, was not bringing it hard enough in the shredding department. I would much rather have seen Pentagram alum Joe Hasselvander up there. To be fair though, I was kind of hammered by the time Pentagram went on so maybe it was just some weird mood I was in that made be start complaining in my brain about the guitar player. Don’t get me wrong- he could shred, just not enough for my taste. I am a man who demands full-on shredding. It’s just how I live my life. I mean, is there another way?
Despite my alcohol-induced complaints, Pentagram were awesome, especially Bobby Liebling, who seemed really coherent compared to what I was expecting and sang great. I’d heard all sorts of stories about him not showing up for gigs or just passing out before he could hit the stage, so it was nice to actually see him out there tearing it up. He’s got a lot of party miles on him, but he sure can sing. He and the band played a bunch of the classics plus one or two new songs that were rocking my head big time.
After the show, I bought a cool Pentagram shirt and wore it around for the next 24 hours like I was fifteen years old. It felt awesome. Pentagram rules, dude. In an alternate universe, they would be playing arenas and I would be right up front with my shirt off and just, you know, partying and stuff. I hope they come back and play again soon. I’ll be all over that shit like a motherfucker.
Mar
Posted on 6th March 2009
Yesterday, I went shopping for new wallpaper and found just the right stuff for the living room.
I picked out something really great for the bathroom too.
In other news, here is another sweet new rock jam from my hot rock band Valley Lodge. It’s called “When the Rain Comes.” It pretty much has everything.
Mar
Posted on 5th March 2009
Thursdays- am I right? Maybe. I’m really not sure. Anyway, yesterday I joined modern times and got myself an iPhone. I had purposefully been avoiding an iPhone or Blackberry-type thing for a while now to avoid constantly fiddling with my phone all day instead of, you know, living my life on earth and other things. But I’ve noticed in the last year or so (though it probably happened sooner and I just failed to notice), that it’s kinda, sorta not acceptable anymore to be completely unreachable via e-mail and stuff all day, you know, when doing “business” (not that I really do business of any sort. But I do pretend a whole lot). I feel kind of defeated by the whole thing. I might as well start wearing Dockers and golf shirts every weekday and belted khaki shorts (shirt tucked in) in the summertime. Then again, this thing seems pretty cool. And I needed a new iPod anyway, so now I guess I have one of those too. I am really loving life in the future. Now where are those thick steaks in pill form? I really thought they’d have that sorted out by now. The tight silver onesies I can make happen on my own. Seriously though, science community- get going on those meals in pill form. You promised.
I am listening to “The Kink Kontroversy” by the Kinks (as hinted at in the name) as I type this. It’s kind of distracting (I can’t write and listen to music very well. It’s a left brain/right brain thing. Also, I am mildly retarded), but mostly worth it as it’s such a great album. I wish I had a time machine and could go back and see the Kinks in London in about 1966 or so. After the show, I’d get really hammered and try to make some time with those birds down on Carnaby Street. It would happen just like that. And I’m pretty sure my hair and clothes would look awesome. When I finished with the birds, I’d jump back in the time machine and set it for Dickens-era London and get chased down the street by soot-faced hoodlums. I could use the workout.
In other news, just a few more days to go before I head to Japan. I’m getting excited and nervous. I’m also realizing I should probably clean my apartment really well so I have that good feeling of walking into a clean apartment when I get back. I remember my parents used to do that when we would go on trips when I was a kid. When we’d get home, the house would be all clean and smell nice and I would wonder who lived there now. Oh, and I just found out we’re going to see Hanoi Rocks in Tokyo while we’re there. They are Scandinavian but something tells me it will still be an awesomely Japanese experience. I wish I had a time machine for that show too though, set to about 1983. I’d stick to my hair and clothes from now for that show though.
