Always socially minded, JC Street Real Estate’s Sharn invited her land-lubbing colleagues to join her on a beautiful sail around Melbourne’s bay from Docklands on the renowned Pelican1 vessel.

Pelican Expeditions run programmes such as the Hope Vale Project, which heads north every year to work with the Indigenous Community. This project is manged in close collaboration with Elders from Hope Vale and includes turtle and dugong research, seagrass monitoring, digital storytelling, weaving, dance and music workshops as well as sail training, visits to sea country and a recreation of the traditional voyages undertaken in dugout canoes to Lizard Island. Major sponsors includ the ANZ bank and the Indigenous Coordination Centre.

Pelican Expeditions also run the Two Bays Project supporting the unique living environments of Port Phillip Bay. The vessel is used as a plasform of scientific studies including underwater water quality monitoring, ecological studies and habitat mapping in Marine National Parks, bay exchange investigations and citizen science days.

To find out more about this extraordinary boat and the charity work that it undertakes visit the Pelican1 website.

We were invited aboard for an evening charity event to raise funds for this important part of our local environments’ science research – here are a few images of our expedition.

In case you missed it, some clown named Stewart Voegtlin wrote a super-douchey article in the Village Voice slamming Pelican, Baroness, Mastodon, and Torche for their “sketchy” metal. Metal Sucks covered it, followed by a hilarious and well-written response to the piece from a guy in a band I’ve never heard of; Jeanne Fury also posted a spot-on response on the Deciblog. Update: The Chicago Reader has a great response of their own. It’s probably best ignored, but this dude pissed me off and I have a few thoughts of my own.

I imagine Voegtlin looks like this.

A) I’m a big fan of all these bands (though I don’t really consider any of them aside from Mastodon to be metal), so I obviously disagree with Voegtlin’s critique of their “sketchy” metal.  It’s cool that he hates these bands, but his Scene Police act is fucking bush league. “Hipsters” and other non-metal-looking dudes have been hitting up metal-ish shows and wearing metal t-shirts for years now. He’s fighting the last war. It’s a genre of the people now; it’ll never be as underground and exclusive as it was in 1992. The good old days are gone forever. Whatever. Get over it.

B) I get the impression that Voegtlin holds his critical writing in equal regard to the music that he picks and pans. It’s as pretentious and bloated as he thinks Pelican’s music is, first of all. But pompous critics like this guy seem to forget that art criticism is a vulture artform–it simply wouldn’t exist without actual art to judge. Good criticism illuminates music, offering solid recommendations for new jams and at its best, helping us to hear music from a different, eye-opening perspective. Once in a while, some mook drops a misinformed, xenophobic piece like the Voice article that serves nobody. Yeah it stirs conversation, but from what I’ve seen so far, it’s dumb stuff like “I’m wicked tr00 and I love all these bands, fuck this guy!” or “Pelican sucks, go put on some skinny jeans you fuckin’ hipster.” Music is not a competition.

C) On that note, it’s tough for a writer to make a living these days, and Voegtlin certainly stirred up conversation about himself. He seems like he hates Decibel and the musical diversity that it stands for–I would guess because he’s butthurt that all of his query letters have been rejected. But if the commenter going by VOEGTLIN on the Deciblog post is actually him (and he’s not pulling stuff out of his ass like he did in his Voice article), it looks like Decibel will sign him on for an article in the near future. Good for him–he just had to be a dick to get there.

D) Voegtlin uses the word “milquetoast” far too often. I mean, he uses too many adjectives in general, but especially milquetoast. I’ve read three pieces by him, and he’s used that word in all three. Check out his website The Left Hand Path for more.

On that note, I’ll have your finest milksteak, and the jellybeans raw.

~ Liam

i was reading metal sucks today, and they had an interesting link to an article on the village voice, entitled pelican’s sketchy metal, by stewart voegtlin. he says:

“…a shameless glitz-and-tits approach to faux-anthemic blockbuster melodrama masquerading as elite-approved Art for Art’s Sake—plagues “metal” these days, as decidedly “un-metal” folks play “headbanger” by night in a host of dunderheaded critical darlings with banal commercialist tastes: Baroness, Mastodon, Torche, and especially Pelican.”

clearly someone stayed up til 4am furiously thumbing through a thesaurus as he smashed the living shit out of those bands. [i'm probably showing my ignorance here, but at one point, he says in reference to AC/DC and motörhead: 'But those bands radiate a feral authenticity, with orgiastic crowd-pleasers that double as dry-hump soundtracks and arguments against geometry.' what the FUCK is an 'argument against geometry?' is that perhaps a poetic way of saying they fucking rattle the walls with rock til they fall down? jesus christ, man.]

after reading the article, i think that i agree with him, for the most part. yep. except for torche, which i will touch upon in a second.

i never got into baroness. just saw pelican recently, and they blew. i saw mastodon recently, and they blew. why did they blow, you ask? i wasn’t engaged. i wasn’t into it. no energy from either band — just nothing. a band, particularly a metal band, has to have that certain something that grabs you by the throat and makes you bang your head ’til it fucking hurts. even earth-shatteringly loud, i couldn’t feel either mastodon or pelican force my toe to start tapping in that way that you can’t help. at it’s most elemental, metal is an extreme form of music and there is usually a strong emotion behind it, regardless of what it is. it’s visceral [god, how unoriginal is it to call metal 'visceral'?] and that’s why i love it so much.

i am no musician; i can’t appreciate the subtle nuances of guitar picking and boards full of pedals and i have absolutely no idea what makes a good drummer, so basically what makes me really like music is the way it makes me feel. neither pelican, mastodon, or baroness makes me feel anything. i’m not sure if it’s because the music is too smoothly produced or there’s just no raw emotion behind it. it’s boring, and i’m not interested.

voegtlin bashes torche by saying they  “…often sounds like Looney Tunes composer Carl Stallings tearing through Helmet’s late oeuvre in double-time.” the description is hilarious, but i think that torche is actually a lot of fun. in my opinion, i don’t think they try too hard and their live shows are amazing and really energetic. i think they know what they do, and they do it well, which is an honor that voegtlin seems only able to bestow upon bands like AC/DC and motörhead. i’m curious to see what metal bands he actually champions.

even though verboten voegtlin did so with utmost levels of pomposity, he voices an unpopular opinion, and for that i applaud him.

The morning after Thanksgiving I went out to a local boat launch to see if I could get any good photos of wildlife around the area.  It was freezing and the sun was just rising so I hurried up and readied the camera.  I had brought a tripod and a z-finder for video but I really just wanted to see how good the 7D was at taking photographs so I left them in the car.  I found out the 7D is great and it’s the photographer that needs to improve:)

A few photos from that morning…

No one knew about Bhindawas Bird Sanctuary. Wikipedia did not list it. My colleague mentioned about it during the course of a casual conversation. We googled the place up, found it interesting and off we went on a weekend, packing camera and binoculars. We never imagined getting there would be so arduous.

At the onset, locating the Gurgaon-Jhajjar state highway proved daunting in the complete absence of signage. There was a world of a difference between the map and the terrain. We had to frequently stop and ask for directions until we reached SH15A to Farrukhnagar. We were really annoyed by the time we stopped for breakfast at Rosy Pelican restaurant adjacent to Sultanpur Bird Santuary (see link below). However, hot Aloo Paranthas, cool air and bright sunshine soon restored our flagging spirits.

The haphazardly patch worked road offered a jerky ride. Tractors and motorcycles materialized without warning from side roads and kept us on the edge. Overtaking slow moving trucks on the single lane road also proved difficult. At Jhajjar we had a frustrating time finding the way to Bhindawas. After a lot of asking around and double checking we took the road to Chhuchhakwas and finally reached Bhindawas by midday. We could not locate the sanctuary gate anywhere and went along a desolate bund bordering a canal before getting stuck at a fork on the narrow road. In the end a helpful local guided us to the entrance.

We took the entry tickets and asked for a guide. The forest department could not spare one because there weren’t any. The sanctuary covering more than 1000 acres is bordered by a 12 km long motor able road along the embankment. We struck out on own and stopped the car at the first watch tower to look out over an expanse of Kikar at the far away lake. It immediately became apparent that unless we had a telephoto lens, any attempt to capture the birds on camera was futile. Water hyacinth infested large tracts of the lake. We spotted a few deer and Nilgai. A large number of birds flew around, hunted, preened and roosted on tree stumps and islets in the middle of the lake. Through binoculars we saw ducks, pelicans, storks and a variety of other birds we couldn’t distinguish. The lake was so vast that birds appeared as black specks to the naked eye.

The sanctuary also had a herbal garden already showing signs of going to seed. We spent some time looking over and identifying different plants and noting their names. From time to time forest department patrol jeeps went by in a trail of dust.

There were hardly any visitors besides us. An old rustic sat on his haunches as we stood watching birds near the edge where the main road skirted the sanctuary. We could see beautiful long legged green birds foraging the shallow waters for fish and insects. To our shock the old man offered to catch these birds and prepare a meal for us. We realized that for the locals, the sanctuary was nothing more than a source of water, food and firewood. They had little sympathy for what it represented and felt no pride. Bhindawas, unlike Bharatpur did not involve participation of the indigenous people nor offered them any kind of employment.

During the onward journey we were so obsessed with locating the sanctuary that we failed to notice the surrounding fields and hamlets. On the way back we stopped beside bright yellow-green mustard fields and paused to watch ponderous camel carts. At Jhajjar we took the NH71 Bypass to Rewari. The national highway though potholed and patch worked was double lane. There was a lot of truck traffic and at some spots the road deteriorated to little more than loose gravel. Once we negotiated the congested Rewari market, we quickly reached NH8 and touched Gurgaon by nightfall.

A kind soul has provided detailed instructions to reach Sultanpur bird sanctuary here:

http://toroid.org/ams/sultanpur

Rosy Pelican Restaurant – Tel: 0124 – 2375242

Photo Courtesy: Subha Varma/ V P Vinod

As the evening sun was setting, we tested the shyness of this pelican by gradually approaching his rocky Pt George post at Indented Head.  As this series of photos shows – he was quite relaxed.

Pelican returns to Indented Head for summer

Peican is cool about our approach

As a child, holidaying on the Bellarine peninsula, these graceful birds were a rare sight.  However in recent years, it is quite common to see them gliding overhead or paddling in the shallows.  Despite their growing numbers, they are still a majestic and pleasant sight.  I can’t help remembering the popular limerick -

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His beak can hold more than his belican.

He can take in his beak,

Enough food for a week –

I’m blowed if I know how the helican.

Pelican still calm

This pelican was the first to return to our shores for the approaching summer.  Perhaps it’s not surprising that he’s not that shy – he’s well used to getting close to humans.  Over the summer he will position himself on the shore and in the shallows as he seeks to maximise his bounty – the heads and entrails from the fishermen’s catches.

Phoenix

Thanksgiving. For years it’s brought people together to feast on turkey. In honor of this joyous American holiday, 20 Watts has decided to elucidate you, fine reader, on the many bands named after a variety of fowl. We bring you our very special Thanksgiving 20, based on artists named after a variety of avian creatures.

So what’s the very best of bird-themed music? 20 Watts’ STAFF has the answer in our tenth 20 installment. Watch for new 20s each Thursday, only on 20 Watts, and check out our previous 20s below!

I went up to the World Bird Sanctuary in Wildwood, MO this week and got these amazing shots of the birds they house there.

Enjoy and please do not download. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.

P. 94  11/26/09

Some people refer to Thanksgiving as T-Day for short, or Turkey Day, to be clever. If I were these people though, I’d think twice about paying homage to the turkey. Like any other non-vegetarian Thanksgiving-goer, I like to eat my share of turkey. But one of the reasons I enjoy it so much is because I give thanks for this bird being dead.

The turkey is definitely one of the ugliest birds out there. So thank goodness it is dead and we are consuming it. I don’t need to see these birds living in the wilderness. They are ugly birds, so it is a good thing we decided to go with this selection to kill and eat on Thanksgiving.

While I’m on the subject of ugly birds, I will tell you that the turkey is not the only nasty-looking bird out there. Oh no, believe me, there are plenty of other disturbing birds out there. I don’t want to completely ruin your appetite today, so I will only provide you with a couple other examples.

Take the pelican. This prehistoric beast has the most intimidating mouth around (that’s what she said). Sure, this bird can seem graceful as it glides near the water looking for fish, but once it opens its mouth, you’ve got another creature you’re dealing with. This freak has an enormous mouth for fishing and you don’t want to get near one. (Check out this highly disturbing website for some truly gross pictures of the pelican’s disturbing beak.)

Last, but surely not least is the owl. For a while now, I have thought the owl is one of the scariest birds out there. Sure, owls have been made to be cute and a “cool, hip” symbol, but I tell you they are scary. Those big eyes staring you down, the curled, snappy beak, and that haunting pose of theirs where they basically just look like they are out to get you. And when they just happen to be ready to scare you they sure put on a display. (And by display, I mean terrifying freak show.) You are being forewarned, that you may want to hide your children and overt your eyes. What you are about to see, may give you nightmares…..

Sorry kids, I had to.

So on this holiday, when you sit down to chow on some turkey, don’t forget you are doing the world a wonderful service by ridding the land of such a foul foul. Nobody should have to look at such awful-looking birds. -Unless they are dead, on a plate, and covered in gravy and cranberry sauce, and stuffing. Then, by all means, forget these pictures and gobble away!

It’s always hard waiting for a new piece of kit to arrive. There is a lot of nervous anticipation and frequent checking of the mailroom until finally when the magic day arrives, you can scarcely believe that the package you were waiting for has actually materialized. At the same moment by some unknown method, the mischievous gods of unforeseen circumstances are made aware of your situation and manipulate the universe in such a way as to make you late for your current appointment and simultaneously send you an additional half-dozen pressing obstacles and miscellaneous life altering challenges to block your immediate inspection and enjoyment of the article you had been so impatiently waiting on…

Read the rest of the Pelican 1510 Review in our forum.

Just returned from a lovely mini-getaway in Lille, France. (just 1 hour and 15 minutes by Eurostar from London St. Pancras)  This city has everything you need for a short get away.  Lovely shops, beautiful buildings, museums, food markets, gorgeous food and even a zoo, all packed into this quaint little town called Lille.

Hotel Des Tours

I decided to book this holiday to celebrate my husband’s birthday.  We stayed at  Hotel des Tours , centrally located in the heart of Lille’s Old Town.  We had a lovely stay.  As with most European cities, hotel room size is small but it had everything we need – TV, mini bar, good comfy bed, bright and clean bathroom with modern hair dryer.  Hot breakfast was included every morning and check out time is 12pm.  The Concierge pleasant.  I requested a birthday cake delivery to our room prior to arrival and it was done with ease.

Minor set backs…

• The drain in the bathtub made a loud noise during the night
• there was smell of cigarettes in the hall that seeped into our room from neighbours who were smoking (even though this is supposed to be a smoke-free hotel).  However, it wasn’t worth complaining for a 2 nights’ stay.

Hotel de la Treille

I’ve stayed in Lille before (Aug 2009) at a different hotel (Hotel de la Treille) and it’s also centrally located and quite lovely.  No smoke of cigarettes.  The room size is decent with flat screen TV, minibar.

No safe in the room itself and the bathroom in our suite was rather dark but clean.  It also had a funny looking old-style hair dryer that I can’t help but post a photo here to share…

It does the job and dried my hair but if you’re looking for ultimate chic and modern, then this hotel is perhaps not for you. Breakfast was included (price per night is a little more expensive than Hotel des Tours) with fresh french bread, deli meats, cheese, mini croissants and lovely spread each morning.  The staff were professional and efficient and friendly.

Sights & Attractions

Make your way to the Grand’ Place and allow yourself to get just a little lost to discover the beautiful city of Lille.  Below are some highlights and fun attractions.

Cathedrale Notre Dame de la Treille – The foundation of this cathedral was laid in 1854.  Europe’s last cathedral to be built in the 19th century.

Palais des Beaux Arts (France’s 2nd national museum after the Louvre) – great works by Old Masters from across Europe.  There is a tearoom and shop in the atrium.

Marche de Wazemmes (Wazemmes Market) – flea market, flower market and food market, great for Sunday mornings.

Grand’ Place – The wide Flemish square that’s the hub of all life in Lille.

Parc Zoologique de Lille – The city zoo has big cats, zebras, monkeys, rhinos.  A must see and it’s FREE!

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/244906/bugatti_veyron_hits_lake.html

Saw this today, and I couldn’t help but laugh! Especially when I found out it was his own fault! A guy with a Bugatti Veyron, threw his car into a Lake after he swerved to avoid a Pelican that startled him while he was driving whilst on his mobile! Serves him right.

Gilbert Harrison - distracted by bird

A man who was rich/dumb/ignorant enough to purchase a car for $1 million proceeded to relieve it of its operating capabilities by crashing it into a Texas salt marsh two weeks later.

If being dumb enough to crash your car into a lake, he’s blaming it on the fact that a bird distracted him…and that, because of the bird, he dropped his cell phone and was leaning over to pick it up. During that process, he may have taken his eyes off the road, and drove the car into a salt marsh (don’t worry; it wasn’t deep, as shown by the picture above).

While the man does look like a beached walrus riding a sea-horse while sitting on his car waiting to be rescued, I beg the question: how did the pelican startle the man enough to cause him to not only drop his cell phone, but crash his car into a man-made lake in the middle of southern Texas?

Let’s check out the culprits.

1)      The Bird – This beautiful pelican was soaring through the crisp, America blue Texas sky, patrolling the salt marshes for fish that, most likely, were not there because of the excess salt in the water (Dead Sea anyone)? Upon seeing this beautiful creature, the man was so entranced by it, that he dropped his cell phone and, like a fly to a bug zapper, just drove his car towards the bird flying high into the air and nose diving for fish that, most likely, were not in a salt marsh.

2)     The cell phone – The cell phone, because of its constant usage – or maybe because of its own entrancement of the bird – began to heat up by over usage (or pure lust for the pelican beak), burning the man’s hand, causing him to drop the phone. In an attempt to cool it, he ripped his hand through the dash-board to get to the cold Freon running through his A/C. Sadly, in doing so, he broke the drive shaft, rendering the car unsteerable, and proceeded to coast into the salt marsh

3)     The man (most likely scenario) – The fat man, while on the cell phone with a McDonald’s franchise (as he wanted to buy it) and greaseball burger in his other hand, steering with his knees, blasting Denis Leary, was taunting a hungry pelican by holding the burger out the window. The pelican saw the bait and swooped in for it, actually putting the man’s hand in its beak, but the man was able to drop his cell phone and reach out the window to punch the bird in the throat to free his hand. Realizing that free fast food was being lost on the phone, he reached below his dashboard, – taking his eyes off of the road – and slightly turned towards the marsh. Returning to the sitting position, he realized he left his burger in full view of the damned bird, who was now playing chicken with his car. In fear of the bird damaging his million dollar car, he swerved to try to avoid God’s creature, crashing his money pit into a salt marsh.

 While what actually happened may never come to light, one question might never be know: How did a guy THAT fat fit into a car THAT small?

 The world may never know, but I bet he knows how many licks it takes to get to the center of s Tootsie Pop.

In what seems like an uncanny, unpossible chance of coincidence, there were some guys driving parallel to and videotaping the Bugatti when it crashed into the salty marsh.   From the video, it’s clear that the guys recognized the Veyron as being an exotic car, although they weren’t sure what kind it was.  As they were admiring the ulimate super car,  the Bugatti all of a sudden veers to the right and hits the drink!  The driver reported to the authorities that he swerved to miss a low-flying pelican, but I don’t see a pelican, do you?

But before we reserve judgment, lets review some freeze frames.  You can see there is a small white smudge in front of the Veyron, which could potentially be a Pelican.  However, the original report stated that the driver swerved to miss a low-flying Pelican… this smudge ain’t flying.  Even if the bird wasn’t flying, if a car came so close to it that the driver had to swerve to miss it, you would think that the bird would be startled enough to fly up in the air, at least a few feet, in an act of self preservation.  There are some strange details to the drivers story, but in a grassy-knoll kinda way, I’m not buying the idea that the white smudge is a pelican.

The sleuths over at AutoBlog did some digging around and discovered that the person driving the 16/4 was none other than Andy House, the owner-operator of Performance Auto Sales, the “leader in Exotic Salvage Restoration”.  So far, this doesn’t look good for Andy as it sounds like it was nothing more than a publicity stunt.  Although this notion is unconfirmed, but it is an unthinkable atrocity to crash an exotic car as rare as the Bugatti Veyron for some kind of business gain.  Sounds pretty bad, huh?

Here’s the crash video.  WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE, NSFW.

Now that I’ve sold out to get the kinky sex crowd, (’cause you just know that a whole new group of people will stumble on this blog because of the word ‘foursome’ and I can’t turn down readers) let’s get this party going.

“First of all I’d like to thank my connect,”-Jay-Z.

A heartfelt thank you to Geoff and the other staff at Bailey’s who’ve served me drinks. I’d mention them by name but I don’t wish to presume a familiarity upon them and I certainly don’t want to forget someone, which is always a danger at times like this. I took their time and certainly my share of space but they were all unfailingly helpful and pleasant. 

I’m drinking a flight of Terminal Gravity beers; two old ales, Festivals from 2008 and 2009, then two barleywines, Bucolic Plague from ‘02 and ‘06. As one might expect, the ‘09 old ale is smoother and fuller, more roasted and mature in flavor. I haven’t gotten to the barleywines yet. 

I’m in the back chamber again-it’s been redesigned since I sat here last. The table is this big chunk of wood-maybe even a former railroad tie- that’s been cleaned up and smoothed out. It’s shiny and dense and it feels like the kind of thing to put your beer on. It’s almost a place to stand at. You can lean on the wood, rest your drink in front, and enjoy…if you’re about six inches shorter than I am. Maybe four.

This area isn’t quite done yet, I’m told, but it’s going to be a hell of a space when it’s done I promise you that. The space is just wide enough for beers, so it encourages your hands being free; a bonus for someone like me who tends to gesticulate when he speaks. 

Sparky; this moment is for you. 

And now it’s done. (Sparky  had asked, months ago, to be mentioned in the final post and I said I would oblige him.)

Oh man. That 2002 Bucolic Plague is so good. Like alcoholic caramel, warm from a street vendor, with a buttery nose and a fierce heat to it, fighting the winter off with a battleaxe. I think this beer may be solely responsible for the unseasonable warmth of today. 

I have to confess, I’m looking forward to becoming a customer again. A regular customer, that is; someone who can sit at the bar and visit or just people watch without having to both internalize the situation and externalize it for readers. Don’t get me wrong; next week there will be another post, a new (if similar) theme and I look forward to doing that but our favorite spots are favored for a reason; they are shelters where we don’t have to present our external selves all the time. We can smile in crooked ways and people understand that our laughter is still straight. 

That isn’t to say I won’t ever blog from or about Bailey’s again; I undoubtedly will. But I’m part of the scenery here now and that changes things. I’m going to take some time to figure out what that means. I’m going to take some time to just enjoy the space I’m in.

I suppose if I’ve had a theme this year, time has been a key part of it. Or at least the idea that I ought to inhabit the space I’m in as much as I can, enjoy it, or at least be in the now, this has been a recurring idea. 

There’s been a shift change; I can tell because in the middle of Duran Duran’s Rio (which I like quite a bit) the music has cut out and shifted to a song I don’t immediately recognize. I almost think I should’ve asked if I could play my iPod tonight. It would be all Pelican, all the time. If my choices are Duran Duran, some kind of hip-hop and heavy fucking metal, then…
/short laughter

The 2006 Bucolic Plague is a bit different, a touch more sour than it’s older sister. Not quite as much body; an interesting brew but I think I would’ve preferred to finish with the ‘02. Ah well; that’s life.

I’ll see everyone next week, bad photos and all.

Texas   Police say a low-flying pelican distracted a driver in Texas, causing him to veer off a road and drive his million-dollar sports car into a salt marsh.   La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist says the man claimed he lost concentration while driving his French-built Bugatti Veyron on Wednesday because the bird swooped into sight. Gilchrist says the driver dropped his phone, reached down to pick it up and strayed into the brackish water in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.  Gilchrist does not know if the car can be salvaged but conceded that “salt water isn’t good for anything.”

Stepping up your tactics I see animals…bringing this fight to the skies?  Ok I wasn’t expecting this, but I’ll concede you won this opening skirmish…taking out one of our wealthiest guy’s sports cars is definitely sending a clear message, that you won’t go down without a fight.  But I prefer it that way, it’s no fun if you don’t fight back.  The only thing that you may have overlooked is that I was going to leave the birds out of this war, I had no beef with them, but you brought them into the mix so now they’re free game…roads are gonna be littered with those flying mother fuckers now, it’s gonna look like Bird Jonestown all over the world.  So enjoy this victory while it lasts, cuz you’re not going to like what’s next.

I listened to post-rock so much in college I can still feel my life adhering to a constant state of crescendo. I’ll be walking down the street and suddenly it’ll be like the beginning of the first 28 Days movie, a lone mind-guitar chiming in the background; others will join in, the tempo quickens and I end up running away from invisible, swelling orchestras. 

It sounds exciting but, more than anything, it’s scary. Bands like Mogwai, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Mono, Explosions In The Sky, Apse, Tristeza, Saxon Shore, Unwed Sailor … they’ll haunt … your dreams.

Finfangfoom, named for a reoccurring Marvel comic-book character – are what you would call a post-POST-rock band. Their guitar arpeggios, bass gallops and high-hat taps drain every ounce of drama from every measure, to be sure.

But there’s more to it than that; Virginia, we have vocals! Finfangfoom’s singer sounds a lot like Jake Snider from Minus The Bear, maybe with a deeper timbre. I can take ‘r leave the vocals, but they’re not near as annoying as those of Minus The Bear because the arrangements are fluid and consistently engaging.

Despite this quality, I don’t care for Foom’s breed of p-p-rock enough to recommend Monomyth with too much enthusiasm, especially when bands like Appleseed Cast, Isis, Pelican, Red Stars Theory (well, maybe not them) have done this before and done it just a lil’-bit better (save Two Conversations; yuck).

There are times, mostly during “Exploding Coast,” where F-f-foom show signs of breaking out of their shell. In the end though, tedium becomes a part-time companion Monomyth can’t shake.

I guess it doesn’t get plainer than that. As with groups like Anoice and many of the herd mentioned four paragraphs up, I respect what they’re doing but, respectfully, often reach for something else when it’s time to ROCK-circa-ROLL.

EVENT: Schneider Filter Tent Sale @ Filmtools, Burbank

WHEN: Saturday, November 14th, 2009 • 10am-5pm

WHERE: 1400 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, CA 91506 PARKING LOT

You are cordially invited to the Schneider Filter Tent Sale Event at Filmtools in Burbank.  For 1 Day Only take advantage of 10%, 20%, up to 50% Off Schneider Filters. Factory reps from Schneider Optics, TVLogic, Chrosziel, and J.L. Fisher will be on-site for Q&A and demonstrations.

Other sale items include: Books 10% off, Car Mounts 15% off, Flashlights 10% off, Leatherman 10% off, Lindcraft 20% off, Matthews 10% off, Pelican 10% off, Ripoffs 20% off, TV Logic 10% off, and Westcott 10% off. There will even be refreshments catered by Santoro’s.  And it’s all happening Saturday, November 14th from 10am – 5pm at Filmtools in Burbank ONLY!

How often does this happen – the Interior Department announced yesterday that they were removing the brown pelican from the endangered species list!

Learn about this reborn species here. The Los Angeles Times also featured the bird in yesterdays news.

Pelican 1740 and 1770 Cases

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** DULLES, VA. – November 11th, 2009

 Dulles Case Center introduces the new 1740 and 1770 Long Cases  by Pelican™ Products, Inc.  DULLES, VA – September 3, 2009 — To meet the demand for long, deep and versatile shipping cases, Pelican™ Products, Inc., has introduced the 1740 and 1770 Long Cases. For easy one-person transport, the 1740 comes standard with several mobile-friendly features including two rugged double-wide handles for easy steering and team lifting. Wide-track, polyurethane wheels (for stable mobility) with ball bearings and nylon hubs ensure extended towing durability. Designed to either be moved manually or stacked on pallets, the 1740 features four extra-deep base-to-lid locking cleats that ensure maximum stacking stability. Built for longer equipment and weapons such as .50 caliber guns and survey drill kits, the 1770 Long Case is Pelican’s longest case to date with a length of 54.58”. It features the same transit friendly attributes as the 1740. With more than 6,600 (1740) and 7,300 (1770) cubic inches of usable storage space and an infinite number of internal storage possibilities, both casesfeature an open cell core, polymer wall construction engineered to protect sensitive equipment from some of the harshest conditions on Earth. Additional standard features include a lid equipped with a polymer o-ring for a dust and water tight seal and six dual action latches that have been tested to withstand nearly 400 pounds of pulling force (but open with a light pull). Genuine Pelican Protector™ Cases can always be spotted by their distinctive, trademarked “Dual Band” design. Due to their large internal volumes both casesfeature dual integrated automatic pressure equalization valves that keep moisture out and prevent vacuum lock so they’re easy to open at any altitude. The 1740 Long Case (with manually customizable Pick N Pluck™ foam) has an MSRP of $499.95 and the 1770 Long Case (with manually customizable Pick N Pluck™ foam) has an MSRP of $579.95. Both cases are available in black and desert tan. OD Green is available by request. Both are backed by the Pelican Products legendary lifetime guarantee of excellence.

For more information or to order the Pelican 1740 and 1770 Cases, please contact:

Dan Littlefield, Sales
DULLES CASE CENTER
22977 Eaglewood Court, Suite 160
Dulles, Virginia 20166
703-689-4556 x-11 or by email at
dlittlefield@dullescasecenter.com

By the time I arrived, there was little heart
beating against the brittle scaffolding of ribs.

When I remember this years later, I hear wings
scalping the tarmac-grey sky, the rattle of lungs.

I know the way the final chord begins to shudder,
fierce heat rising into the skin of my own sensate palms;

that moment where you think the end will never come
and then, the moment when it does.