VAGUE SPACE

Moyer, Moss, Myers, and JaMarcus

The Phillies won their 8th straight game attended by yours truly, following up a perfect record from last season with a win on Sunday in the first game I went to this year.  Jamie Moyer, former Mariner and current 58-year-old Phillies starter, threw a no-hitter through 6 2/3 innings against the Florida Marlins on a beautiful day at Citizens Bank Park, facing the minimum number of batters before Miguel Cabrera laced a liner over the leaping Abraham Nunez for a clean double.  Moyer ended up going 7 1/3, giving up 2 hits and 0 runs as the Phillies won 6-1, moving to 11-13 on the season (after a devastating 3-10 start).  Former starter and now reliever Brett Myers struck out two hitters with a 3-0 lead and two runners on in the 8th, enough to close the door and save the win.  Myers was inexplicably moved to a setup role after being the opening day starter - due to bullpen problems and an overflow of starters (at least one of whom - Adam Eaton - has been getting shelled every time out) - and has performed very well in the new role.  One wonders how long it will be before Myers is moved to the closer role, where 56-year-old Tom Gordon has been struggling, especially since they're paying Myers $26 million to pitch what seem to be (at least before today) mop-up innings. 

Nothing the Phillies do makes much sense (because they are run by morons), but when Gordon started warming up as the Phillies batted in the bottom of the 8th - meaning that after Myers mowed down the Marlins to get them out of a jam, throwing only 10 pitches - the crowd around me was getting noticeably agitated.  When the Phillies scored 3 in the bottom of the inning, Gordon sat back down and Alfonseca finished off the game, sparing Gordon and idiot manager Charlie "Homer Simpson" Manuel the indignity of being booed lustily after Moyer's great performance.  But good job, Phillies.  Maybe we'll have a season yet.  I'd prefer Myers goes back to the rotation and Eaton goes back to the unemployment line, but I'm not running this team.  We'll see.  Oh yeah, and Moyer also got two hits today too, pretty impressive for a guy in his 28th season in the league.

TGIF

• If I was young, I'd flee this town,
• I'd bury my dreams underground,
• As did I, we drink to die,
• We drink tonight.
• Far from home, elephant gun.
• Let's take them down one by one.
• We'll lay it down, it's not been found, it's not around.

• Let the seasons begin, it rolls right on
• Let the seasons begin, take the big king down

• And it rips through the silence of our camp at night
• And it rips through the night
• And it rips through the silence of our camp at night
• And it rips through the silence, all that is left is all that I hide.

Have you ever had one of those weeks?  Thank god it's Friday.

• Download Beirut - "Elephant Gun".mp3

Iraq

While we here in America sit safely behind our keyboards writing meaningless blog posts about Sanjaya or the latest injuries to befell our favorite sports teams, a war continues to rage on in the Mideast, with no hope for any kind of resolution while George Bush remains President.  The Democratic Congress has passed a bill tying dates for withdrawal to continued funding, but Bush has threatened to veto the bill once it leaves the conference committee.  This despite little evidence that his surge of troops to protect Baghdad - a mission that was in all ways exactly opposite what the American people wanted when they voted his colleagues out of office back in November - has had any success.  March 2007 was the deadliest month of the war to date.  And just last Wednesday, almost 300 Iraqis were killed by a suicide bomber in a heavily guarded area of Baghdad, or roughly 10 times as many people who were killed in the Virginia Tech tragedy.  That these people were Iraqis and not Americans makes them no less innocent.   And that this type of incident happens on a daily basis in Iraq makes the situation far, far more tragic. 

I happened to mistakenly flip on Fox News briefly during Brit Hume's show last night and the guest correspondents - who all of course support the war and the president - all came back to the same point in their continued emphasis on having our troops stay there indefinitely.  They want to know what will happen if we up and leave?  Will conditions actually worsen there?  Will the war spill over the borders into Syria or Iran?  American troops' lives may be saved, but will conditions in Iraq get worse?  It's hard to believe that they will, but it's certainly possible.  The truth of the matter is we just don't know what will happen.  Of course, neither do President Bush or his conservative nutjob defenders.  In fact, since they have been almost 100% wrong with every prediction throughout the run-up to and execution of this war, it's difficult not to think that things will improve in Iraq if we leave, just because they say things will worsen.  Anyway, the point is, our troops aren't helping the situation at this point, aren't going to be able to help the situation, aren't going to outlast the actual people who live there, and our policies - through no fault of the troops themselves - are only getting our soldiers killed unnecessarily, while doing nothing to stem the tide of Iraqi murders.  How anyone with half a brain can possibly suggest that we should still be there is beyond reason.  And the truth is, they don't have a good reason - besides the "it would get worse if we left" nugget.  Which I'm not buying anymore.  And neither is the vast majority of non-mouth-breathing Americans.

Music for Wednesday

Because I don't have the energy to put any thought into this post... here's some new tracks that I kind of sort of like from bands that I probably haven't blogged about before - that's enough of a theme, right?  Let's just move on...

• Cloud Cult has a very Flaming Lips meets - I don't know - Belle & Sebastien sort of vibe.  Kind of pop-based, but weird, in a good way.  "Chemicals Collide" is pretty awesome, but this track is making its way up my playlist...
  • Download Cloud Cult - "Pretty Voice".mp3
  • Buy The Meaning of 8 at Amazon

• Blonde Redhead's been around for a while now, but that doesn't necessarily mean I've ever listened to them.  I'm sure I have, but I guess they didn't make much of an impression.  All the blogs are going crazy about "23" and I have to admit it's a pretty great song.  But so is "Spring and By Summer Fall," which I was going to revolve a "spring's here" post around today, but alas, the lack of energy.  Something about spending all day Sunday on my knees weeding and gardening hasn't put me in the best of moods this week... oh and work, yeah.  But anyway, that has nothing to do with "23".  I don't know what the number means either.  Or why the chick in the picture has 4 legs.  But enjoy.
  
  • Download Blonde Redhead - "23".mp3
  • Buy 23 at Amazon

• Loney, Dear has hit it big in indie rock blog circles with the terribly catchy "I Am John," and I have to admit I've fallen victim.  In fact, it's my 5th most played song on iTunes this year so far, behind only "Murderer" by Low, "In Mind" by Do Make Say Think, "Dumb Luck" by Dntel, and "All my Friends" by LCD Soundsystem.  An odd collection of songs to say the least, all pretty much keyboard-based songs by mostly instrumentalists or close to it.  Which has nothing at all to do with Loney, Dear, but I know nothing about them except that I think they're Swedish.  And here's another track off of Loney, Noir.  Enjoy.
  
  • Download LoneyDear- "No One Can Win".mp3
  • Buy Loney, Noir at Amazon

• And last but not least, here's another track off the pretty great Stars remix album, Do You Trust Your Friends?  It's not quite as good as Metric's version of "He Lied About Death," but it's close.  And it's by another Canadian band, so that's always a bonus.  Not that I'm Canadian.  Or particularly fond of their flapping heads and beady eyes.  But they make pretty damn good music.  Apostle of Hustle below.

• • Download Apostle of Hustle - "One More Night (Stars)".mp3
  • Buy Do You Trust Your Friends? at Amazon

Proof of Something

This Pew Research poll tested a random sampling of the American public on their knowledge of important governmental facts and news (with 23 questions about topics such as the minimum wage debate, the party makeup of Congress, and what office Robert Gates currently holds).  Overall, the study found that despite the vast increase in media outlets and coverage (including the Internet), knowledge of these issues hasn't largely changed since 1989.  But perhaps that's because of the sources that the public is going to for their news. 

In a shock to really no one, the study found that viewers of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report (which require a depth of understanding about news topics in order to capture the humor in most of the sarcasm) had the highest knowledge of any of the respondents.  On the other hand, viewers of "Fox News" had among the lowest.  Is this a surprise?  I really don't think so.   Believe me, my IQ went up at least 10 points when I finally wised up and stopped listening to the misinformation they spewed on that supposed news outlet.  And I've watched The Daily Show regularly for a decade.  Imagine the people who only get their news from Fox.   Oy vey.  At least Rush viewers are fairly knowledgeable.  By the way, you can take a sampling of the news quiz on the Pew Research page.  I scored a 9 out of 9.  Nice.

Wolf Parade Extended

My Top 10 songs of the week, listed on the left side of this page, includes a very interesting Top 3, as the artists represented are all side projects for members of the band Wolf Parade, which pretty much has to be a first for the history of Vague Space.  Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown is at #1 with their cover of Xiu Xiu's "Apistat Commander," off the latter band's Remixed and Covered LP, while Dan Boeckner's Handsome Furs have the #2 and #3 songs from their soon-to-be-released full length debut Plague Park.  All of this is very impressive from a pair of guys I didn't hear of two years ago at this time.  Of course, it's not even remotely as impressive as the breadth of songs they have released in one of their combinations of bands in the past two years, such a long list that I felt like I needed to rank them.  So without further ado, here is the best of Spencer and Dan from their combined five bands, all songs released within the past two years.

1. Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything" (Spencer/Dan)
2. Sunset Rubdown - "Winged/Wicked Things" (Spencer)
3. Swan Lake - "Are You Swimming in Her Pools?" (Spencer)
4. Swan Lake - "All Fires" (Spencer)
5. Sunset Rubdown - "Shut Up I Am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings" (Spencer)
6. Wolf Parade - "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" (Spencer/Dan)
   • Download Wolf Parade - "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts".mp3
7. Sunset Rubdown - "Us Ones in Between" (Spencer)
8. Sunset Rubdown - "Stadiums and Shrines II" (Spencer)
9. Sunset Rubdown - "Apistat Commander" (Spencer)
10. Wolf Parade - "Shine a Light" (Spencer/Dan)
11. Wolf Parade - "This Heart's on Fire" (Dan/Spencer)
    
    • Download Wolf Parade - "This Heart's on Fire".mp3
12. Sunset Rubdown - "The Men are Called Horsemen There" (Spencer)
    • Download Sunset Rubdown - "The Men are Called Horsemen There".mp3
13. Swan Lake - "The Freedom" (Spencer)
14. Handsome Furs - "Dead + Rural" (Dan)
15. Wolf Parade - "Same Ghost Every Night" (Spencer/Dan)
16. Sunset Rubdown - "The Empty Threats of Little Lord" (Spencer)
    • Download Sunset Rubdown - "The Empty Threats of Little Lord".mp3
17. Wolf Parade - "You are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" (Spencer/Dan)
18. Handsome Furs - "Sing! Captain" (Dan)
    • Download Handsome Furs - "Sing! Captain".mp3
19. Sunset Rubdown - "They Took a Vote and Said No" (Spencer)
20. Frog Eyes - "Bushels" (Spencer)
21. Wolf Parade - "Killing Armies" (Spencer/Dan)
    • Download Wolf Parade - "Killing Armies".mp3
22. Swan Lake - "A Venue Called Rubella" (Spencer)
23. Sunset Rubdown - "Jason, Believe Me, You Can't Trust Your Dreams" (Spencer)
24. Wolf Parade - "Claxxon's Lament (w/Frog Eyes)" (Spencer/Dan)
25. Wolf Parade - "Middleclass Haunt (w/Subtle)" (Dan)
    • Download Wolf Parade - "Middleclass Haunt".mp3

In Cole We Trust

King Felix is hurt, although his injury is currently being diagnosed as merely a ligament sprain in his elbow -- not a tear -- and he is expected to only miss two or three starts.  He hasn't thrown a pitch since the incident, though, and despite the wisdom of caution, I for one am brimming with curiosity over the actual seriousness of the injury.  If you were someone with as disappointing a sports history as me, you might not question why I remain so pessimistic.  Ryan Howard is also hurt, although his knee sprain is only expected to keep him out for another game or so, which is good sign.  And injuries have decimated the near $200 million payroll Yankee starting rotation, which is relying on someone named Chase Wright tonight to stave off a sweep from the rival Red Sox against the supreme master of the gyroball and all pitching expertise, Daisake Matsusaka (aka Dice K).  Go Sox! 

But all of that is rather meaningless right now in comparison to the brilliance of one Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher and my personal lord and savior.  Mr. Hamels struck out 15 Reds last night in a complete game victory that left him 2-0 on the season with a 2.57 ERA and 33 Ks in 28 IP.  That was the most strikeouts by a Phillie since 1998 (Curt Schilling - go Sox!) and the 2nd most all-time by a Phillie lefthander (Steve Carlton had 16 in the '70s).  Hamels just turned 23 in December and was only making his 27th major league start, but he showed for certain that his ability is for real and when he is on like he was tonight, there's really no other young rising pitcher outside of King Felix quite as talented.  In a season in which the Phillies have started out 5-11 and in last place and the Mariners have dumped five in a row to fall into last themselves, King Felix and Cole Hamels are the only things worth watching.  Hopefully, if Felix's injury is not as serious as I fear, every couple days I have a reason to watch baseball again.  Other than rooting for the Mariano Rivera to blow yet another save or Derek Jeter to make yet another error, of course.  Go Sox!  And thank you, Cole.

Ugh

Sanjaya lost.  King Felix gave up 2 runs and left in the first inning with an apparent injury.  Is there anything I root for that doesn't turn to shit almost immediately after I start rooting?  Seriously, this was the first Felix start I was getting a chance to watch.  I hurried home from class, fought with the cable company to get the Extra Innings package working for 10 minutes, and then turn on the King only to see him give up leadoff singles to Luis Castillo and Jason Tyner (yes, Jason fucking Tyner!!), and then two runs later, walk off the mound in the middle of the count to the fifth batter of the inning and head straight for the dugout while the fat load of wasted space Mike Hargrove looked on dumbfounded.  Just great. 

Oh, the Phillies will probably lose as soon as I post this, after coming back to force extra innings against the Nationals, but I'm not waiting around to find out.  And for reasons that are only known to our stupid coach and his god, our #1 starting pitcher (the opening day starter for 2 years running) was moved to the bullpen semi-permanently to help in a setup role.  If there has ever been a more blatantly idiotic piece of team management than that in the history of sports - hell, in the history of mankind - please let me know.  Wow. 

From Rotoworld...
The Phillies have decided to make Brett Myers into a setup man to make room for Jon Lieber in the rotation. He'll work in the seventh and eighth, as well as close when Tom Gordon is not available.

Incredible. This is perhaps the biggest overreaction to a lousy start that we've ever witnessed. Myers earned the Opening Day start for the Phillies after back-to-back fine seasons and had a great spring. He was coming off back-to-back poor starts, but he had struck out 19 in 15 1/3 innings. Short of turning Ryan Howard into a shortstop and benching Jimmy Rollins, we can't think of anything else the Phillies could have done to better sabotage their chances for this year. Myers needs to be held on to in mixed leagues, as the Phillies might figure out in a couple of weeks just how bad of an idea this is.

Joanna Newsom EP

The wonderful and incredible Ms. Joanna Newsom is releasing a small, 3-song EP as her follow-up to the epic 2006 release Ys (which landed at #3 on the Vague Space albums of the year chart).  This EP will be released stateside on April 24th and is titled Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band EP.  Cute.  It features one new song, "Colleen" and a new version of Milk-Eyed Mender's classic "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" and Ys' "Cosmia."  And yeah, it's great.  And yeah, she's great.  Take a listen and buy.

• Download Joanna Newsom - "Cosmia (originial version)".mp3
• Download Joanna Newsom - "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie (original version)".mp3 
• Download Joanna Newsom - "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie (live in England Jan '07)".mp3
• Download Joanna Newsom - "Swansea".mp3
• Download Joanna Newsom - "Bridges and Balloons (live in England Jan '07)".mp3

UPDATE: MP3s Removed by Request. Sorry.

That means no
Where I come from.
I am cold, out waiting for the day to come.

I chew my lips, and I scratch my nose
It feels so good to be a rose.

Oh don't, don't you lift me up
Like I'm that shy, no no no no no, just give it up -
There are bats all dissolving in a row
Into the wishy-washy dark that cannot let go.
I cannot let go,
So I thank the lord,
And I thank his sword!
'Tho it be mincing up the morning, slightly bored.
O, morning without warning like a hole,
And I watch you go.

There are some mornings when the sky looks like a road.
There are some dragons who were built to have and hold.
And some machines are dropped from great heights lovingly.
And some great bellies ache with many bumblebees.
(and they sting so terribly).

Vote Sanjaya

I've posted here before about my utter disdain for the pathetic phenomenon that is American Idol, but as anyone who takes even a cursory glance at the music I post here can see, I'm not someone even remotely in the target audience for the program.  So I'm not very upset about the success of the show or that the alumni have dominated the pop music landscape for the past few years.  I don't like pop music anyway - hell, I pretty much hate it, and I couldn't judge whether Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken or Elliot Yamin (hi Robyn!) are better artists than Mariah Carey or Christina Aguilera or whoever else is on the pop charts.  They all sing horrible songs in my opinion, so watching wannabe superstar contestants get fawning reviews by 12-year-old girls is not something that interests me.  That being said, it is a bit difficult to live in America and not at least be aware of the annual phenomenon and wish that some of the people wasting their lives watching this show were instead wasting their lives watching something good like The Office or Amazing Race or the incredibly funny episode of Entourage this week.  So I can't help but be excited that Howard Stern has taken up the torch for this year's Vote for the Worst contestant, Sanjaya Malakar (is that his last name?  am I spelling it right?  I'm not going to look it up)... and I voted 25 times for Sanjaya last week, my first time ever voting on the program.  And I encourage all those who hate the show, or at least the fact that it has been so wildly popular, to join me and tune in at 8:55 pm tonight to catch the phone numbers of the contestants and vote for Sanjaya again and again (up to 25 times).  And no, I'm not loyal enough to Howard to actually suffer through watching this show, but I will waste my time trying to keep Sanjaya going.  Especially after perusing the VFTW website and reading through the hilarious emails from obsessive fans telling everyone who's voting for Sanjaya that they're going to hell or comparing voters' actions to terrorism (actually several young viewers call it "worse than terrorism," which would be scary if it wasn't so funny).  Read on - I've posted a bunch of them. 

And vote Sanjaya!  (By the way, I don't think Howard's fans have this much influence - I think the 12-year-old Indian girls are voting for him too.  Good for them.)