Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Just as GR67 was wrapping, Eric asked me to make a playlist for Giant Robot’s humble restaurant on Sawtelle. His only stipulation was that the music be appropriate for dining. Of course, I said yes. I’ll do anything for GR, and this would be a fun task. The first thing I did was go into the shed in my backyard and start pulling CDs. The pile included bands that I’ve interviewed for GR (Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Enon, Abe Vigoda, RFTC, The Strange Boys, Carbon/Silicon, Pinback, Voxtrot, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down), been featured in GR (Hartfield, Faye Wong, Super Furry Animals), bands that I’ve reviewed for GR (The Romanes, Ty Segall, Brilliiant Colors, Monsters Are Waiting, Surfer Blood), friends (Seam, Damon & Naomi, Goh Nakamura, The Invisible Cities, Ray Barbee, ICU), bands that I grew up loving (The Clash, X, Buzzcocks, The Specials, The English Beat, The Three O’Clock), songs that have stuck with me since high school and college (by The Church, Roxy Music, Love & Rockets, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Replacements), and current favorites (Paul Weller, Ted Leo, Super Furry Animals). A lot of harder punk, some metal, classic hip-hop, and weirder stuff has been left out due to the restaurant setting, and I couldn’t figure out a way to blend in reggae, but these 100 songs add up to a pretty solid and hopefully fun 6 hours. Although no one except for Chef Nelson is going to listen from beginning to end, I still carefully arranged the songs and made a definite beginning and end. It isn’t meant to be heard on shuffle. So start compiling your version and enjoy, since nothing is super obscure. Or check it out at gr/eats. How many meals will it take to hear it all? Comments, criticisms, your personal list? A legal injunction to remove a song? Let me know! Hello Sunshine/Super Furry Animals Lovely One/Ty Segall Before I Start To Cry/Vivian Girls Young Adult Friction/The Pains of Being Pure at Heart You Can Make Me Feel Bad/Frankie Rose and the Outs 分裂/王菲 Daughter in the House of Fools/Enon Extra Man/The Fucking Champs ガールフレンド/The Romanes No Tears to Cry/Paul Weller I Searched/Brilliant Colors If I Can’t Change Your Mind (Solo mix)/Sugar Top of the World/Shonen Knife Music to Watch Girls By/Terry Hall Da-a-a-ance/The Lambrettas When Lightning Starts/The Three O’Clock I’ll See You Around/Silver Sun Saudade/Love & Rockets I Love You/Spacemen 3 Alone Again Or/The Damned Manifesto (Remake)/Roxy Music Integratron/Dengue Fever Aluet/ICU The Way I Feel Inside/Lois One Step Ladder/Three Mile Pilot Kanawha/Seam It’s So Hard To Fall in Love/Superchunk Brand New Love/Superchunk Isabel/Unrest Hawaiian Baby/The Spinanes Stars Never Fade/Damon & Naomi I Don’t Care If You Go/Velocity Girl Since U Been Gone/Ted Leo Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives/Voxtrot Somewhere/Goh Nakamura The Only Reason This Club Was Made/The Invisible Cities Girl Like You/Hartfield Sister Risk/The Phoenix Foundation You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory/Ronnie Spector I’ll Dry My Tears/The Casual Dots Change/Fishbone Tears of a...
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Photos from the Uglyverse. Fun times on Saturday on Sawtelle Blvd in West LA. Imagine having tons of rabid Uglydoll fans come through and hang out for the evening and night with Oxwho stood fast in the area. It began before 6:30 as usual, and while some folks loaded up on Babo’s Burgers at gr/eats (no, it’s not cannibalism!), some hung out and took a look at the many huge photos. They’re 30×40 inches and look great. David Horvath and Sun-min Kim signed a lot of everything. From Uglydoll bags to Uglydolls and even skatedecks, the flood gates were open and it was great to see fans smiling for entire night. It’s amazing who came through. It was a mix of adults, since this was a slightly more mature exhibition, and some kids too! I noticed more passerbys walking in because of Ox! At one point, I noticed tons of Asians from Asia inside!
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The Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O’Malley signing was first an honor to host, but also a behemoth of an event. Who knew the day would be so warm, and the crowd that came had to wait outdoors. We did buy water, but ultimately the strength of the youth came forward. In line, some played their own music. I saw a ukulele, and guitar, and people singing together. A love-in, in line? The line at first went straight down to Hide Sushi, then we snaked it around to fit in the gr/eats lot. Of course people were curious. Why so many people? Other shops were mad, the bar next door complained about a car parked wrong, but how many extra dollars did they earn from the hundreds of extra people around? We even had a couple of undercover officers who waited in line for a while and looked for people doing drugs or drinking beer. Of course, they said we were doing something wrong. But were we? Private lot, no blockage of the sidewalk, no extra noise, no beer, what’s the problem? Of course, they said we need a permit. But for what? That said, the event was packed. Bryan signed and signed and managed funny retorts to the many comments by everyone. He’s an incredible sport to handle so many people, all adoring fans, who love the comic and love the movie. The power of an indie graphic novel came forward and spoke volumes in West LA. This was only the beginning. The signing started at 5 and went longer until 7:30 and even then, it didn’t end. We had to cut some people off, but I told everyone to stick around. Bryan would be playing videogames and signing more.
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This actually is a test blog post for our new system. Since Blogger decided to do some switch, we had to do the same thing. It’s caused a lag in our posts, but this system should be better than ever. We’ll see!
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See this sign? It looks like something you could buy. But in the end, this was made by my dad. Imagine, he’s a semi retired contractor, but he can make just about anything. I know I’ve written about him before, but he strikes again. The cool thing about doing GR projects is asking him to make something. Check out the rest of these photos. Some of the little details are quite funny. See the wheel? When I saw the sign, I wondered why is there a wheel there?! I didn’t ask for a skateboard. I got the vinyl letters and put them on using a few credit cards to press them on. I was trying to get them on just right. Even the text was a collaboration by myself and Martin. It sort of tells it all. Where burgers, tacos, and udon meet. Healthy and fresh foods. That’s me lining up the vinyl lettering. Measure twice, cut once. Oh and see that leather handle? It’s a piece of one of my dad’s old belts! He cut up a belt to make a handle! wtf?! The bungee cord is so we can secure it on around a pole! That’s what the wheels are all about! You can fold this and roll it, so even the weakest weakling can move this around.
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