The State of the Dylan Address

The full text of Dylan Todd's State of the Dylan Address, as transcribed by the Basement of the House He's Living In:

Good evening, Madame Internet, eavesdropping security organizations, Google web-crawling robots and distinguished blog followers. We are gathered together tonight to discuss the state of the Dylan, as our Constitution - which I just wrote here on this napkin and, I gotta be honest, it pretty good stuff - states we must do from time to time. See, in a week, I will be having another birthday. I'll be turning 33. Treinta y tres, mi amigos.

Which, I mean, think about that. That's almost starting to get old. I mean, I'm old enough that bands I loved in high school (The Pixies! Pavement!) are having reunion tours. I'm old enough that I remember when Dennis Miller was incisive and relevant. I remember when Weezer wasn't a cuss word. I'm old enough to look at the prices of things and tell whatever kid happens to be walking by that when I was a kid, comics cost 75 cents. It's enough to make a fella take stock of what he's accomplished, what he's got going on and what he's working toward.

Okay, sounds fair. Let's do this.

First off, the elephant in the room: I have no job. I have no job during the worst economic environment since the Great Depression. I'm living with (pronounced: "leeching off of") family, in a basement, while I look for work after moving my family, quite suddenly, cross-country. Yaaaay! That said, we're in surprisingly good spirits and I'm supremely confident I'll find something and soon. I mean, not to be all conceited, but I'm good at what I do and I know I'll find a job that will be creatively satisfying and also help me support my family. If not, there's always my first love, the forgotten trade of competitive scrimshawing.

And I have a lot of things to be thankful for/proud of. I've graduated from college with pretty good grades, played in a band, hunted the mighty Yeti, married a great woman who is awesome and, man, I have a beautiful family. Seriously, I'm not sure how I lucked out with the pretty girls I'm surrounded by every day, but I'm glad I did. The other day I caught myself singing, unironically and loudly, the theme song to Growing Pains. Okay, maybe it was a little ironic and maybe it was "incredibly loud," as opposed to just "loudly," but still.

There's a lot to look forward to for Dylan. For example - and you'll find this either pathetic or endearing - Lost is back on TV for its last season and it's just as mind-blowingly rad as it is inscrutable. And there's also the Star Wars roleplaying group we're starting up again which I gotta admit, I'm pretty excited about. And I might start a band. We'll see. We're getting a new computer soon, so that's exciting. Oh! And dudes! I have an Xbox 360! And in May, Candace and I will celebrate 10 years - A DECADE, MAN - of marriage. I'm like the king of the World, A.K.A., this dude.

So that's where Dylan is right now. As you can see, I am pleased to report that the state of the Dylan is strong. Strong like ox. Thank you. And good night.

The Man of Bronze & His Fabulous Five

I've posted links to this slideshow elsewhere, but I figured I'd share it here as well, just for kicks. It's my collection of Doc Savage paperbacks. Check them out:



I love Doc Savage. I'm not even sure why, but there's just something awesome about that dude that captivates me. He's a mixture of brains, brawn and bizarre. He's concentrated rad. Doc, along with his pulp hero brethren, are the bridge between stuff like H.G. Welles' sci-fi, Bram Sroker's horror and Arthur Conan Doyles' mysteries and the brightly-colored superheroes that would eventually put them out of business. (For some great meta-commentary on this, pick up Warren Ellis' fantastic Planetary series, which has recently wrapped up and is totally mega-cool. Also, for a look at an attempt to revitalize this type of hero, check out the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, which fills me with the same sense of excitement and giddiness when I think about it. Additionally, Philip Jose Farmer's Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life - a fictional biography - is a really great, fun ride. It's the start of his Wold Newton Universe, which manages to tie all of these strains of fantastic fiction together into a cohesive whole.)

And those covers! These books are worth the price I pay for them for the stories those covers conjure. Land of Always-Night? He Could Stop the World? Quest of the Spider? Daaaang. That's some heavy-duty stuff there. Plus the O.C.D. completist inside of me sees those numbers on the covers and wonders, "Can I get them all? I bet I can." I even made a chart in the back of my pocket notebook of which ones I have and which ones I need. I know, I know; I'm nuts. I have a sickness.

I lucked out and found a used bookstore here in Vegas who had a cache of these and wiped them out over the last month or so, worried the whole time that somebody would get to them first because, you know, there's a market our there for decades-old pulp paperbacks? Man, I'm crazy. Hopefully this score should sate my appetite for the next little bit, but uh, if you stumble on any of them while you're out and about (they're usually racked with Sci-Fi, authored by Kenneth Robeson), well, let me know.

Anyway, that's Doc Savage and why I think he's cool.

Wished I Was A Giant

So our computer's still dead, which explains the lack of posting. At least that's my excuse. And I should probably be up front with you and let you know that, sadly, February's mix will be delayed until we get our new computer up and running. I promise you you'll get one though. Word is bond.

And just to set the record straight, as some of you expressed worry in my Rock & Roll Community College post, the monthly mixes are still a "go." I'm fully committed to them for the forseeable future.

Anyway, I'm alive. In the meantime, enjoy this video of Guided By Voices doing "Wished I Was A Giant" at a soundcheck.

Aw Yeah

Here's a jam for your day. It's Otis Redding protege Arthur Conley performing his smash hit "Sweet Soul Music," wherein he does a pretty thorough run-down of who's-who in soul. Just a great track, infused with even more energy in this live version. That's the Stax band/Booker T & the MG's backing him up. Ignore the crawl at the bottom of the screen and listen to these dudes roll.



The title is also shared with this book that I'm 3/4ths of the way through. It's a great look at the Atlantic/Stax/Goldwax/etc. period. Recommended if you want to put the era in context.

Rockrockrockrock Rock & Roll, uh, Community College

Dang man. So our computer's totally taking a dump. It might be dying, in fact. This sucks for reals though. Especially since I was working on some pretty epic stuff to start hitting here. Stuff that, had it been able to be posted, most likely would have blown your mind to pieces, so maybe it's for the best, as I would hate for you to explode your head all over your computer screen, thereby causing your computer to die as well. So yeah.

Okay, not really, but still.

But anyway, I guess I'll spoil my surprise and let you in on one of the things I was working on for the blog. See, you guys know I love me some music. I mean, it's on my mind a lot. It takes up a large part of my thoughts and time and, well, hard-drive space. I read books about it, I watch movies about it, I even read comics about it. (Which, by the way, you should totally read Gipi's Garage Band. It looks like being in a band feels.) I make a mixtape every month and if you give me a chance, I will talk your ear off about rock and roll in all it's variant strains.

And now I'm basically going to do just that, only, uh, electronically.

So the plan is this: once a week I'm going to talk about an album you should listen to. Not because I'm cooler than you or anything, but I mean, I got all this knowledge and I feel like I should share it with all y'all cuz that's the kind of guy I am. If you read something that sounds like something you'd be into, track it down. If not, at least I'm posting something here, right.

I was starting to compile my list of albums when our computer started to shuffle off to the digital afterlife, but it will encompass stuff you've probably already heard of - like the Beatles' Revolver or the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds - and some stuff you've probably never heard of - like Papas Fritas' Helioself or Caetano Veloso's self-titled 1969 album - and all points in-between. Think of it like a community college Rock & Roll History class taught by someone who is woefully unqualified to teach, and despite his obvious (and borderline creepy) enthusiasm you can't help but shake the feeling that he's making all of this up as he goes along and you heard a rumor that he's living out of his 1974 Honda Civic hatchback and he's wanted for smuggling exotic animals out of Turkmenistan or something equally weird.

Or basically, a community college Rock & Roll History class.

Or, to make even less sense, think of it like Oprah's Book Club only with records instead of books and a tall, pasty, red-headed dude instead of Oprah. Opie's Record Club, maybe?

So yeah, that's the plan. The start date is entirely dependent on our computer situation, but that's where we're headed here on Big Red Robot. I mean, there's other stuff that'll be going down, but this is a new thing that I'm feeling pretty psyched about. Let me know in the comments what you think. And if there's anything else you want or need more of here at BRR, let me know that, too. I'm always on the lookout for stuff to blog about.

Saturday Snapshot: Master

Vending machine at Smith's.

Quick Update

Hey, I wasn't totally in love with the previous cover, so I updated the cover art for The Year We Make Contact. Please replace the old cover with this sexier version:


That is all.

Diggin' the New

It's twenty-ten, people. It's the friggin' future. There is a science fiction movie with this year AS ITS TITLE. THE FUTURE!!! I'm ready. Are you?

I'm not sure I have any any real resolutions beyond getting a job, continuing to make cool stuff/be a good dad/husband/person and losing all this layoff weight. (For reals, I'm getting waaay too chubby. That's what happens when you're sort of depressed and live in close proximity to an In N' Out Burger.)

Sure, there's other stuff I'd like to do this year – stuff like starting a band or blogging more or going to Comic-con – but as far as tangible goals, I think I'll just focus on those three things. Oh, and fighting evil and injustice. Can't forget that. So I'll just focus on those four things. Keep it simple, you know?

Oh, but then there's my life-long goal of taming a narwhal. And I can't forget about exploring the essence within. And liberating Pajamastan. And break-dancing on the moon. Or writing the Great American Dyslexic Werewolf Novel. (That's right, Wolf-Were, the Dyslexic Werewolf I'm going to finally write you!) Or developing my latent psychic abilities. Or running for political office despite the fact that I'm 1/64th rhinoceros and have an untreated Doc Savage paperback addiction and am a documented Tron-unist. And learning to play the banjo should probably go on the list, too. Along with: growing a Yosemite Sam mustache, setting the land speed record in an Albertson's shopping cart while all hopped up on Pixie Stix and sarsaparilla and finally, throat-punching Dick Cheney.

Oh, and getting my turntable fixed. May as well add that to the list.

So yeah, I guess I have some work to do this year. How about you? what are you working on in 2010?

So This Is the New Year

Out with the old, in with the new. This mix was a little tough to pin down. I scrapped probably four mixes before finally just deciding to start the artwork to try and figure out what kind of mix I wanted to make. So this hot tranny mess is the responsible party if you don't end up loving this mix as much as I do:


I wanted a mix that sounded like putting the past to sleep while gettin' all Blade Runner up in this joint. Future soundz. Bleeding chrome bangin' robots and light trails across a neon skyline.

There are some jams on here, a few longer tracks, a couple weird things. It's a little spacey and silver. I had initially hoped to not reuse artists I'd used a lot on previous mixes, but the tracks from Hot Chip, the Zombies, Ganglians and the B-52's fit like astronaut gloves, so here they are. We've also got some Yeasayer, M83, Caribou, Washed Out, Stereolab, Tom Zé, Suburban Lawns, Os Mutantes, Cornelius, Akron/Family, Microphones, Beach House, Hum, Maps & Atlases, Gomez and Walkmen.

So sit back, put some headphones on and let's bury the decaying corpse of 2009. Bring on 2010. Let's make some 3/2/1 contact. Let's make this year our year.

Tracklist:

01. "Last year was a hard year, for such a long time."
02. "It’s a New Year, I’m glad to be here."
03. "Blue Christmas lights tell us stories about ourselves."
04. "Concentrate, don't make a sound. We'll psychokinetically pull one down."
05. "And when I pray it's all begun."
06. "Sold my soul to pay the rent."
07. "The music's loud in your room; turn it down."
08. "You will not catch your unknown."
09. "…"
10. "Who's gonna take it like this? No way."
11. "One chance to leave it all and swim down."
12. "I hear voices from the outside."
13. "I love computers and hot tamales."
14. "Via this paradox that space can be attained."
15. "All in the name of what we're not sure."
16. "…"
17. "And I walked aimlessly around with a flaming pumpkin head."
18. "I'd like your face gone and in its place the sun."
19. "Twenty-ten."
20. "All your worried days are gone. This will be our year."

*******

Download it here. I'm using a new service this time around. Let me know if you have problems with it. And as usual, feel free to share this with your friends, enemies, pets and house plants.

Cheers.

Tune For Tuesday

Here's a jam for you.



Jon Lucien's "Would You Believe in Me," from the 1973 album, Rashida. The whole album's like this, a smooth mix of tropicalia and soul. It's worth tracking down if you're into awesome stuff.