I found this picture on the Sunset Strip. Besides being very cool and mysterious (what’s up with that black shoe on the left, why was this lying on the sidewalk, who still shoots film?) this pic got me all nostalgic for summer coming to an end. Which gets me all nostalgic for the year gone by. Here’s some of my favorite things so far…

1. Carla Bozulich at Amoeba 3/25/08.

I stumbled upon one of the best shows I’ve ever seen when I arrived for a job one night on Vancouver Island BC exactly two years ago and found this poster hanging from a telephone pole. Carla Bozulich (who’s got the spookiest and most unrelenting eye contact of any artist I’ve seen) opened and immediately haunted the place with her gorgeous caterwhauling and voodoo walk through the audience. When The Tra La La Band came on-stopped on a dime-then sang together as a CHOIR, I seriously levitated right up to the rafters. This poster is one my favorite relics of rock…this March I brought it to Amoeba and got to meet her after her show. I told her the story of my luck that night, she dug it, and that’s the meaning of her inscription. I still swoon every time I look at that heart she drew! And if you haven’t heard “Smooth Jazz” or “Truth Is Dark Like Outer Space” off of Hello, Voyager-then your summer ain’t over yet! I cribbed my mantra for this year from “Paper Kitten Claw”: Every time you see the word never, you must cross it out.

2. Warning Sticker on Ryoji Ikeda’s new album TEST PATTERN

I didn’t quite believe it so I did a careful test. About 2 1/2 minutes into the last track the word “OVER” started flashing in red on my receiver. The word “OVER”. In red! I’m not kidding: how ROCK is that!

3. Tara Jane O’Neil singing “The Poisoned Mine” live at Echo Curio 8/4/08

The 2nd most memorable cry I’ve ever had at a show. Number 1: Rainer Maria singing “Burn” at Cafe Du Nord about 9 months before Catastrophe Keeps Us Together came out. It was the first time I ever heard it. Buckets, I tell you!

4. The cowbell that gets the ROCK started on“Statement”

I restart the first ten seconds of that song at least a dozen times everytime I play it. Three words: Monsters_Of_Rock.