Icebox Records » James Kochalka

dream last night

Jason Cooley — Tue, 11 Mar 2003 15:01:36 +0000

dream:
A guy who posts on the Kochalka website forum “Steveistops” turns out to be a writing editor for PLAYBOY. Somehow he hooks Kochalka up with this really hot playmate. They are going at it in my living room. She has nice red panties on. I leave and go to work. My bosses are thinking of making a complaint to the Muzak company. They feel that the musical choices that Muzak is providing lacks variety and that customers don’t even know it’s there. I think of people like Mark Arm working at the Muzak place to make ends meet and put forth the idea that if the customers don’t know the music is there, then the Muzak people are doing their job, the whole point of their existence is to provide music that doesn’t challenge the listener or disrupt his meal. If the customer notices the music, then there is a problem. I don’t remember how this went over. I leave to get coffee. Then I see my old roommate Ashley on the street and tell her I’m not really a detective. She says she knows and starts laughing and then I wake up.

the power of positive thinking

Jason Cooley — Tue, 11 Mar 2003 14:55:04 +0000

Today is Tuesday, which means I’m going over to Pure Pop Records to see what the new releases are. It’s a habit I’ve had since 1987, when I was anticipating Motley Crue’s “Girls Girls Girls” to come out. There’s a couple stupid rules I set for myself with this shit:

vinyl first, if possible, unless the vinyl is ridiculously expensive (I felt like a real chump paying $24 for that last Boards of Canada LP)
must buy the record upon first sight, meaning have the money for the record and be able to purchase it the very first time you see it available in the store. If you see it elsewhere first and don’t buy it, the record and your devotion to it are tainted.

Buying records on the exact dates they come out also helps me remember dates and times when things in my life and the world in general occurred. For instance:

GBV’s “Alien Lanes” and Pavement’s “Wowee Zowee” came out around the time of the Oklahoma City bombing. I was working at the Peking Duck House with Kochalka and playing bass in The Fags. Spring, 1995

Breeders’ “Last Splash” came out when I was in-between apartments, depressed about possibly having to live with my mother again, depressed at her choice of new live-in boyfriend, depressed that my friends were doing heroin, happy that I was working at a movie theater, happy there was a new Breeders CD since the Pixies had broken up 7 months earlier. September, 1993

Sonic Youth, “Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star”…got the vinyl a week before the official release date. Super-hot sunny day, living with a couple of burgeoning junkies I had recently met, record collection growing, getting into Half Japanese, Boredoms, Daniel Johnston, etc. Mildly disappointed with the new Sonic LP. Later that night our building burned to the ground. May, 1994

Sonic Youth, “Dirty”, Helmet, “Meantime”…fun, good summer…first “Real World” all over MTV as well as Pearl Jam and Nirvana. High school was over and this would be the last summer living at home with parents. A few weeks earlier I had gone to NYC for the first time, to see Sonic Youth preview their new album at a free July 4 concert in Central Park with Sun-Ra. I was in the front row (incidentally, Mr. Eric was also at this show, didn’t know him then) and caught a banana Thurston threw into the crowd. In my rock-star worship mode I stuck the banana in my pocket. After the show we saw actress Julie Hagerty on the street. A week later the show was on MTV news (SY getting promoted cuz these were Nirvana days) and you could see my little brown head bobbing to “100%”. A few more weeks after that I lost my virginity. July, 1992

Pavement, “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”…making a pathetic Valentine’s day card/mix tape for this girl I was in love with. Pretty stupid. Yeah, I’m one of those mixtape guys. I was living with a couple of morons I knew from high school…one tried to beat me up because he thought I was fucking his ex-girlfriend (my best friend was) and the other ripped me off for months rent and many utility bills. A few months later we’d be evicted. I was getting into CCR around this time. February, 1994

See how it works? I could go on forever. But I won’t.

6.4=Makeout

Jason Cooley — Sun, 23 Feb 2003 11:40:23 +0000

had fun partying down like a 15-year-old last night, but today I’m paying for it like an 85 year-old. Eric’s been working extremely hard on his 3″ CD, which sounds spectacular. I thought I worked hard on my CDs…he’s been recording and mixing non-stop, round the clock. ”Painless” was pretty much recorded live in one afternoon, so compared to Eric’s drive, I’m a total wuss. You’re all gonna be amazed at what he’s been putting together.

I’ve been itching to stick some MP3s up here…stuff like the kung fu music I did for Selene Colburn’s current exhibit at the Firehouse art gallery here in Burlington, the Daniel Johnston cover I recorded with James Kochalka, or the special ”Douchebag Love” slo-jam tune I made for Ashley (which she liked…made my Sunday)…maybe my next 3″ CD will be all slo-jams.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Gary Wilson lately, because he is the man. Everyone needs to hear ”6.4=Makeout” at least once before they die. I went to see him play at Other Music in NYC last May. He was great, as was his band. He had on a trenchcoat and 3-D glasses…at one point he disappeared into the back room and came back with flour all over his head…at another point during ”6.4=Makeout” he was rolling around on the floor embracing a naked female mannequin screaming ”SHE’S SO REAL!! SHE’S SO GOD DAMNED REAL!!!!” I waited for 2 hours in line outside Other Music to get in, across the street from a line outside Tower Records because Moby was doing a signing there. I’ll bet he was bummed he was missing Gary Wilson.