July 3, 2003

shifting georges dial

I think the really big bad crunch is finally over, and the mammoth piece I've been tweaking since the late Paleolithic is finally running in next week's Time Out. Whew. I treated the trip Lisa & I made tonight to the Dumpling House out in Flushing with Matt and (the nine-months-pregnant) Sigrid as a celebration of finally having it out of my hands (only to get a call from my editor as soon as I got home, asking for one last bit of information). Anyhow: their scrambled-egg-and-dill dumplings are exceptionally good. We stopped on the way back at the Lemon Ice King of Corona (the King himself oversees the joint from his chair at the back) and got ices and watched people play what I'm pretty sure was bocce.

Stopped off downtown today and bought Rough Trade's Post Punk Vol 01 compilation, noticing that the track listing started Gang of Four - Les Georges Leningrad - the Pop Group - LiLiPUT - the Rapture - Delta 5, and thinking "oh boy oh boy this has all sorts of stuff I'm sure I'm going to love!" What I'd neglected to notice was that, in fact, I already had most of the stuff on it--37 out of 44 songs, I believe. I mean, if I'd heard this thing when I was 17, it'd have changed my life, but I found myself thinking "what, 'Too Many Creeps' again?" (This says much more about my problem than Post Punk's problem. And it does include Family Fodder's "Debbie Harrry," so I'm not complaining.)

There was a nice surprise waiting for me at home, though: the self-titled album by Oedipus, due out from InPolySons soon. Oedipus is Alig Fodder (as "Johnny Kash") and Anne-Marte Rygh--the singles club put out their lovely "Hybrid Phase Yellow" some months ago--and the album is simple and exquisite, just the kind of record I'm very happy to hear Alig making. (I also recently scored a copy of Extra Weapons, the album by his mid-'80s band the Lo Yo Yo, and have been playing it every day. It's an Alig kind of week around here.)

Time to plan menus for this weekend, when I will be doing a whole lot of cooking.

Posted by Douglas at July 3, 2003 12:32 AM