Widget

I've got a widget. A brown furry widget that lives in a shoe. I downloaded him from Apple. He likes brown rice and potted meat and publishes posts to Blogger from my swanky widget thingie on OSX. I'm typing on my widget right now. Hold still widget. You can get your own brown fuzzy widget here... www.google.com/macwidgets/

Now I can drunk post even easier, not that I'm drunk now, I just saying, though my widget tells me to have a beer. I'm at work Widget, I tell him. But he doesn't care. He mocks me and has now crashed. So maybe my Widget isn't worth downloading. I'll give Widget another try.

World/Inferno Friendship Society playing in Asheville on Sunday

Don't forget that Sunday night, July 23rd is your chance to enjoy the cabaret/punk stylings of The World/Inferno Friendship Society at Joli Rouge. Here's what their Wikipedia entry says:

"A rotating cabaret of punk/klezmer/gospel featuring horns, piano, guitar, a number of percussionists, as well as a variety of other instruments, such as accordion, xylophone and orchestra bells. All of this adds up to a mayhem-inducing live presence.
The band has historically had over 30 members, including former members of Dexy's Midnight Runners. Usually one can expect to see about nine or ten members on-stage when they perform. The group is led by singer Jack Terricloth and drummer Benjamin Kotch, who have been the most constant members throughout the group's history.
Their annual Halloween show, Hallowmas, is usually their biggest show of the year and the group tries to make it a memorable event with such things as half the band and most of the audience marching down the street, pumpkins held aloft, during the last (and hallmark) song, Pumpkin Time, which references The Great Pumpkin of Peanuts fame. Pumpkin Time has also featured dangerous, home-made pyrotechnical displays, flying band members, enough candy corn to form a thick sludge under the dancing feet of the crowd, burned effigies, or terrifying, wall-sized singing apparitions."

You can also learn more at www.worldinferno.com

We're Seeking Writers

We're looking for writers. Funny writers. Politics, Local (Asheville N.C.) Humor, Features, Current Events, Inane Scribblings are all welcome, but must be funny. If you'd like to be published online, have no use for money, and can write things that make us laugh, then we would love to hear from you. Send submissions to captainspiffo@hotmail.com

New songs on the jukebox

Howdy folks, just letting you know that we've changed the songs over at the website. We've now got songs by cinemechanica, final fantasy, about and Candy Bars. You can find 'em here: http://www.ashevilledisclaimer.com/music/

Three more days to see The Devil and Daniel Johnston

I saw this at the Fine Arts Theater last night and it was fan-freaking-tastic. It will only be playing through Thursday here in Asheville so get thee to see it. If your unfamiliar with Johnston or the film then go here and be informed: http://www.sonyclassics.com/devilanddaniel/

Cracker is to play Belle Chere

I just got a tip from one of my contacts that David Lowry and company will be playing in Asheville on Saturday July 29th as part of the Belle Chere city festival thingy. This will be their only show in NC in support of the new album Greenland.

Album Review: Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds

Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
(2006, Tomlab)

When The Arcade Fire came through town a couple years ago, their string arranger and touring violinist Owen Pallett also served as opening act under the moniker of Final Fantasy. The crowd loved his geekishly sincere songs about romance, magic, myth and video games. Many of us eagerly bought copies of his album, ...Has a Good Home!!!!!!!!!!, but were a bit disappointed that the recording didn't capture the creativity and wonder of his live set. It was pretty good but seemed hastily recorded and had little variety although there were a couple stand out tracks. Now Pallett is back with a bigger budget and sharpened skills. From the opening bars of He Poos Clouds, it's clear that the ante is being uped.
There's more of everything on He Poos Clouds. More orchestration, a greater variety of instruments with highly nuanced arrangement, better production values, more creativity, more melody and generally more realized potential. Pallett's loveably absurd pretenses are also magnified, the recording itself is a concept album based on the 8 schools of magic in Dungeons & Dragons. The title is a sillified reference referrence to some mystical proverb or such.
As could be expected, the primary instruments are strings. This time he brings in an entire quartet as well as quite a bit of harpsichord, piano and percussion. Not so many effects pedals and tape loopings I'm afraid. Don't mislabel this as chamber-pop though. The instrumental choices may imply it and at times even sound it but each song creates it's own nitch with the sound without really adhering to any one genre. To say it another way, the writing style changes even if the instruments don't.
Whereas ...Has A Good Home!!!!! mostly sounds the same, things get a bit diversified here. Some tracks like "I'm Afraid of Japan" sound as if they're composed for quartet, others such as "Song Song Song" and "This Lamb Sells Condos" are more like pop songs that've been adapted. With different instruments a song like "Many Lives -> 49" would be a riff-heavy rocker.
Did I mention that the guy has an amazing voice yet? He does. It's youthful yet seasoned and endlessly emotive, swoonworthy even. It can deliver lines such as, "When his massive genitals refuse to co-operate no amount of therapy can hope to save him marriage.", with the utmost sincerity. With that emo hair and his gayness I'm suprised he isn't a bigger hit on the Myspace circuit.

Album Review: Cinemechanica - The Martial Arts

Cinemechanica - The Martial Arts
(2006, Hello Sir Records)

Much like Nashville, our friends to the south in Athens, Ga have been busy adding a new chapter to their town's already rich musical history. In the last year bands like Ham1 and Untied States have chipped away at the musical preconceptions most listeners have about Athens. A major player in the current musical scenery is Hello Sir Records, the owners of which perform in one of the labels finest bands, Cinemechanica.
I was wondering when the first of the summertime-road trip albums would get here. The ones you pop in on a long distance drive with friends exclaiming, "Holy Shit! You HAVE hear this!" Then Cinemechanica's debut, The Martial Arts, came along and I stopped wondering.
Embodying a veritable avalanche of energetic riffs and intense rhythms, Cinemechanica are usually filed into genres with the prefix "post". Dueling guitars intertwine, race along together and then unexpectedly diverge summoning order from chaos and then nimbly diving back into chaos. The guitars may be the stars of the show here but the rhythm section is there to underline and punctuate every step of the way. The drums produce a controlled frenzy of snare and cymbal that never drowns out the prominently powerful bass. As for the vocals, they are of the screamin', yellin', make my throat hurt if I try to sing along variety.
The running time may seem brief clocking in at just over 31 minutes, but there is so much energy exuberated in that time that you may need a nap afterward. Every second of The Martial Arts demands your attention. Every riff and abrupt change wants to be the one you remember. These are songs for folks who like their riffs to come fast and furious and seldom pause for a breath.
Cinemechanica's frantic gutar work and masterful execution of complex time changes often invites comparisons to bands like Drive Like Jehu, Q and Not U, Faraquet and Don Caballero. I'll leave the genre classification to you people, just know that Cinemechanica is loud, fast, complex and will kick your indie/emo ass. Also they have given us THE guitar album of summer 2006. So far at least.