I think I mentioned here that a guy bought the property next door and wants to buy ours so he can make a small development. Looks like it’s going forward. We’ve been looking for a new place and today We took our second visit to a house we are going to put an offer on. It’s VERY odd property in a totally charming small town a few miles outside of An Arbor. It has has a ginormous goofy looking garage, which is perfect for Jason’s car reviewing. It has an old front house and a newer back house, which are kind of smushed together. If we get it, we’re going to rent out the front house, which makes it affordable. [link]
We can walk to downtown Dexter, which looks like this [link]
It’s VERY odd property in a totally charming small town a few miles outside of An Arbor.
That sounds very intriguing!
J's taking a gap...series of years. I don't know if she'll ever go back.
I have faith that she'll get where she needs to go.
So, I need you to pretend you care about music nerd stuff for a minute because I want to share my excitement about something but I can't have it out on the wider interpipes.
The band Neutral Milk Hotel is the most famous group to come out of the Elephant 6 collective of musicians mostly centered in Athens, GA. (See also: April Ludgate's favorite band, and Stephen Colbert references, plus "where Flea used to live.")
My friend and co-editor, Kim Cooper did the 33 1/3 book on Neutral Milk Hotel which is really the only history of that scene, which has only gotten more influential through time. But there are dozens upon dozens of bands associated with Elephant 6 (Olivia Tremor Control, Apples in Stereo, of Montreal, Elf Power, Beulah et al.)
Anyway, I'm on an FB group dedicated to E6 bands (including many members of various groups) and one guy on there decided he wanted to do a documentary on the history of E6. He got on Patreon, rounded up money, went to Athens, interviewed everybody and made this documentary.
And then, because it was in the spirit of Elephant 6 (which was anti-commercial, and into lo-fi technology) instead of releasing the documentary, he made one VHS tape of it. And he sent it to the first person on the Patreon list. And they were supposed to send it back, and he would send it to the next person etc. Very Quixotic.
All the people who ponied up money went fucking nuts because this is not what they signed up for. And it got especially contentious because the people who actually still had functional VCRs and got to see the documentary said it was fantastic.
So much ill-feeling was generated that he withdrew the one VHS copy and now nobody can see it.
Except...one of the people who got the VHS tape made a digital copy of it and put it up on the interpipes and I just ganked it. I stumbled upon it on one of the great Interweb islands where all the digital Flotsam and Jetsam comes in with the tide. (And I trust all of you to know the distinction between flotsam and jetsam.)
And here's the kicker: It really is a fantastic documentary. One of the best I've ever seen on any rock scene. It's got tons of unseen archival footage, and contemporary interviews. It's beautifully edited and tells a moving and coherent story.
So even if you don't know the particulars of this moment in music history, imagine stumbling across some legendary lost film or production that's hugely important but impossible to see. That's this.
Wow, it's already been taken down.
But I got it!
More on it: [link]
This is how it was distributed. So crazy: [link]
Wacky: [link]
How exciting, Scrappy! That is a heck of a garage, so I can see how it would work with your DH’s job. And Dexter looks fun.
That sounds like a heck of a ride, Hec.
First, today we celebrate the birth of Javachik! May the year to come be filled with joy.
We can walk to downtown Dexter, which looks like this
How exciting! Many possibilities there.
It has has a ginormous goofy looking garage
DH would fall in love. Every time we look or real estate or even go for a drive he makes note of spacious garages. An 800 sq ft house with a 5000 sq ft garage would be ideal for him.
Wow, it's already been taken down.
Excellent timing and find!
David, that sounds like an extremely Athens story and documentary. I used to see Kevin Barnes of of Montreal in the hallways at our elementary school in Athens; he had a daughter the year below Casper.
We had a teenager adventure this morning - took kids to airport with boarding passes in hand, they were at the gate an hour early... and never noticed that the sign said Miami until after their plane (at another gate - they changed it) had already boarded and pushed back. Casper was able to handle the rebooking for tomorrow thanks to a kind gate agent and we picked them up and got donuts. Everyone feels pretty bad about the whole thing. Except the dog who is so glad everyone came back.
Except the dog who is so glad everyone came back.
Dogs are very forgiving that way.
The time between me finding and downloading the movie, and the link disappearing was about an hour.
I used to see Kevin Barnes of of Montreal in the hallways at our elementary school in Athens; he had a daughter the year below Casper.
Cool! I did love visiting you guys when you were in Athens.
Oh dear, flea. Best laid plans and all that. Donuts sounds like an appropriate response.
That’s unfortunate flea! But glad they were able to rebook? And now I want doughnuts.
(Actually what I want is for work to feel less overwhelming—I’m taking over a new project snd it’s in bad shape and I can’t fix it all right now right now but ahhh it needs to be fixed eventually and it’s So Much Stuff)
Also my lower back has been hurting a lot and it makes me feel incredibly old.
