F Posterity, issue 1: Dave Van Ronk's "Sunday Street"

Since my main focus for producing music right now is the band (see link below), I'm offering to my friends on MySpace something totally unique: a weekly raw track, unproduced, unfettered by instrumentation / ornamentation, save me and my guitar.

The title of the collection will be, "F Posterity."


So each week, the bottom song on my profile playlist will rotate with something totally raw. Sometimes covers, sometimes demos, maybe sometimes a screamo angst piano ballad (on acoustic guitar).

They'll be free for download, so if you collect them all, you win!! But you don't win anything.

These are not polished. On the first track, available now, I play "Sunday Street", a song written by one of my heroes, Dave Van Ronk. You'll note I forgot the third verse (twice), which goes

My hands are shakin' and I ain't feeling well
From drinking king kong liquor and cheap muscatell
A little bit of bourbon and breakfast in bed
Six million dollars can raise the dead
Just me and the other elite
Raising high-class hell up on Sunday Street

I love Dave Van Ronk's music. He was a master of interpretation, to say nothing of being a prime mover in the folk scare of the sixties, as well as a self-proclaimed insufferable jazz snob. But he's known as a folk singer.

So enjoy these downloads. Personally, I can't get enough of the raw edge of a performer accompanying themselves with their instrument de choix, and it's probably why I love Van Ronk so much, and early Dylan. I'm more apt to buy an album of demos than the label release, by anyone from John Lennon to Roky Ericson. Now I've got to get that "Personal File" collection by the man in black. Man, that stuff's good.

If you're not into the unpolished stuff, you can check out my band below. We should have an album out sometime late summer.




Download mp3s below by right-clicking on the links.

F Posterity, 2006
52. F Posterity (Getzschman) - May 16, 2007
51. Crazy (Burton/Callaway/Reverberi/Reverberi) - May 9, 2007
50. Persistence of Regret (Getzschman/Ryan/Sahm) - May 2, 2007
49. Breakin' Plates (Getzschman/Ruthsatz) - April 26, 2007
48. Trio for Vocal, Metronome, Wurlitzer (Getzschman) - April 18, 2007
47. She Hates It When I'm Right (Getzschman) - April 11, 2007
46. Beat It (Jackson) - April 4, 2007
45. Mass Ave Strut (Getzschman) - March 28, 2007
44. Let's Fall Asleep Like This (Getzschman) - March 21, 2007
43. 2010 Ain't What They Said It Would Be (Getzschman) - March 14, 2007
42. Three Red Stars (Getzschman) - March 7, 2007
41. Birdhouse In Your Soul (Flansburgh/Linnell) - February 28, 2007
40. Everybody Thinks They're Self-Aware (Getzschman) - February 21, 2007
39. Hysterical Woman (Getzschman) - February 14, 2007
38. Hollaback Savior (Getzschman) - February 7, 2007
37. White Collar (old Philly dollar) (Getzschman) - January 31, 2007
36. Bottle of Blues (B. Hansen) - January 24, 2007
35. Ask Somebody (Getzschman) - January 17, 2007
34. All Time High Score (Getzschman) - January 10, 2007
33. Bury Me In My Jetpack (Getzschman) - January 3, 2007
32. Eggnogg Is The Liquor Of This Household (Getzschman) - December 27, 2006
31. Like Spinning Plates (T.Yorke/J.Greenwood) - December 20, 2006
30. Jack or Jesus (Getzschman/Peterson) - December 13, 2006
29. Runes (Getzschman) - December 6, 2006
28. We Leave Just Like We Come (Getzschman) - November 29, 2006
27. Shampoo! (Getzschman) - November 22, 2006
26. Tomorrow Is A Long Time (Dylan) - November 15, 2006
25. Was That Seriously Your Plan? (Getzschman) - November 8, 2006
24. Understated Explosions (Getzschman) - November 1, 2006
23. Everything Sounds Better On Vinyl (Getzschman) - October 25, 2006
22. Take Heart (Getzschman) - October 18, 2006
21. Pigs (L. Freese, S. Reyes, L. Muggerud) - October 11, 2006
20. Upstart Casualties (Getzschman) - October 4, 2006
19. Troubling (Getzschman) - Sept 27, 2006
18. Tales of Woe (Getzschman/Getzschman/Booth) - Sept 20, 2006
17. Manual Labor Pains (Getzschman) - Sept 13, 2006
16. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Gibbard/Tamborello) - September 6, 2006
15. Postmodern Burlesque Review (Getzschman) - August 30, 2006
14. Neverending Love Affair (Getzschman) - August 23, 2006
13. Living On Credit (Getzschman) - August 16, 2006
12. Broke As A Muhfuh (Getzschman) - August 9, 20006
11. Josie (Becker/Fagan) - August 2, 2006
10. Cold Day at the Races (Getzschman) - July 26, 2006
9. Calaveras (Getzschman) - July 19, 2006
8. Narcissist Blues (Getzschman) - July 12, 2006
7. Advice to a Young Jedi (Getzschman) - July 5, 2006
6. God Only Knows (Wilson/Asher) - June 28, 2006
5. Miracle Hubcap (Getzschman) - June 21, 2006
4. A Paycheck Is All I Ask (Getzschman) - June 14, 2006
3. Halfway (Getzschman) - June 7, 2006
2. Summer Crazy (Getzschman) - May 31, 2006
1. Sunday Street (Van Ronk) - May 26, 2006

I supported me some local art.

About a month ago, my friend Donia completed her move to Greece, trucking all her art overseas or putting it in storage. Before she did, I bought this:



I must say that seeing it on my wall daily brings me immense pleasure. With true fine art, the more you see, the more you get. This is definitely the case with this piece. Depending on the time of day, the angle of light or the state of mind, it always shows me something different.

This pastel, framed at 14x18", ran me $1200, and I believe Donia cut me a break as a close friend. It's a distinct pleasure to pay her for her work. It validates her as a working artist and me as a income-less master of the arts.

Now, budding collectors, do I have $1200? Certainly not. Do I have next month's rent in my bank account? Certainly not. Did I just make a mad batch of pasta to feed me for the week? I did. Nevertheless, I cut Donia a check for $200, and I'll be paying her in monthly installments until it's paid for. This is similar to arrangements I have with other friends like Chase Mastercard, the Student Loan Corporation, Citibank, and MBNA.

This blog is not about credit martyrdom, however, but supporting local culture. Since most of our daily expended monies go to multinational conglomerate corporations, I encourage you to find a way, any way, to support something you have direct contact with. Buy somebody's art. Buy somebody's music. Buy stuff out of the truck on the side of the highway - that stuff is the bomb.

If, for example, you wanted to buy my latest album, Hypocrisy in the Genius Room, you could go to iTunes or email me your address and I'll send you a "hard copy" for the low-low price of $10. I actually prefer hard copies because I like to pour over the linear notes as I listen to the album, and my album insert has all the lyrics, plus two drawings of monkeys by me and my brother (see below for one). Drawings of monkeys in the linear notes? I ought to being charging $1200.

But if I sell 120 copies, it'll pay for Donia's painting. With 79,670,960 in my extended network, I'm kind of banking on making this a reality.

O! Grad school: reflections on a $40,000 symbolic step

Sunday morning I was announced before about 6,000 people, and I crossed a stage in a funny gown and shook the hand of a man I'd never seen before. We shared a faux significant moment; the camera flashed. I stepped offstage and received a stainless steel business card tote, a token of affection from the only university established by an act of Congress: American University.

The back of the tote read "Made in China."

Grad school graduation carries none of the emotional significance of high school or college. The ceremony was good enough; the speaker, Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham, told a few rousing anecdotes, self-deprecated to a pleasant degree, and sent us off with a memorable message: at some point in your life, draft yourself into some scenario beyond your comfort zone. Peace Corps, Teach for America, cooking meth in a drug-free zone, etc.

The process of higher education has seemed a sort of filling in the gaps, which one could just as well achieve by going out and getting the right job, or a library card. Now these aren't easy to do, but neither is paying back $40,000 in federal student aid. Compared to sitting 20 months of 8-hour Saturdays in a classroom, I think I'd prefer the experiential/experimental route. The only benefit of the academic route is the fixed gestation period. And I'm done now.

I reckon I learned about $5-10,000 worth in grad school that I couldn't have taught myself. The balance of the tuition was paid to have an institution lord over me, sort of like joining the Reebok club to get in shape. But strangely enough, the degree does validate me in a way that only a certified piece of paper can. I'm a master of the arts. If I'd gotten my degree in the universe, I'd be He-Man.

An academic degree is a symbolic thing, carrying a different flavor of clout than, say, an Oscar, a Pulitzer, or being shot seven times. Having now achieved that degree, I feel a mix of genuine accomplishment and unapplied, book-larned wisdom. I feel different; I feel... sexier. Now I'm out validate myself based on the 40 grand I doled out to the university. Now I'm out to get shot seven times.

Below you'll find the symbolic achievement of my symbolic degree: the short film that validates my graduate education according to the standards of the institution. In a way, this film cost me 40 grand. If you really enjoy it, PayPal 40 grand to chillrob at hotmail.com, and I'll know it was worth it.

Taxes, filmmaking, moving, selling out stadium crowds.

There is a lot on my proverbial plate these days, and I believe I have reached a veritable* nirvana of procrastination. Having been out of town for most of March and the first week of April, I now face a healthy overwhelm of tabled issues. And they just won't stay down, despite my diplomatic efforts to please and appease each. It's like trying to use Robert's Rules with that game at Family Fun Center where you beat down the little gophers with a mallet as they pop up. You know, like looking for a motion and a seconding and then voting or tabling issues instead of just using the mallet.

Okay, that joke fell flat, but it's kind of funny if you take a few days to consider it in all its comic fullness. Or, if someone were to explain it to you. I find jokes are much more punchy after a vigorous academic discussion of them.

So on the agenda of immediate bloodletting importance are my 2005 taxes. Once again, I'm in the fetal position under a desk at H&R Block, wearing a dress with some Klinger-esque move to prove a mental unfitness for tax-paying. It's never worked before, but I kind of get off on the cross-dressing.

Following that, there's an urgent need to put my graduate program behind me, and to do that, I need to edit about 7 hours of raw footage down to 20 crisp, funny, professional-looking minutes for a May 6th screening before the Iraqi congress.**

And also, my landlord wants to sell after two years in this great big house in DC. By May, ideally.

Oh, and what else, my band has just got to be playing stadium crowds by, I don't know, September? So we're all chipping in, promoting, painting fences, whatever we can do to make it clear that Analog Jetpack is the real deal. We definitely pursued some hot leads last week in New York City. So much so that Dan, Robby and I are all (re) addicted to NYC and looking to move there.

The best thing about being inundated with work is that you can procrastinate on any one important task by doing any of the others! Like right now, I'm not doing taxes, film or moving because I'm MySpacing it. And that's okay, because this is my job, really. I'm promoting and whatnot to get my band onto a record label and tour of Japan by early May. Then when we get back, Bonnaroo will add us late in the game and Radiohead will be sorely impressed by our pluck and invite us on tour with them.***

Man, this is all gonna work out perfectly!

I'm kinda bored with blogging right now though, so I'm gonna browse the apartments on Craigslist and tally some 2005 expenses.


*Yes, and by veritable, I mean actual and literal. I am actually in a nirvana of procrastination.

**It's actually not the Iraqi congress, just my classmates. But man, that would be double-or-nothing, right?

***Radiohead or Aaron Neville. Either one.

The Velvet Wonderland weekend in DC

So Saturday night, at the Velvet Lounge in DC, Analog Jetpack kicks off with what is arguably our lightest (yet pleasing) song, Make It Plane, and the most uncanny of forces caused this mellow number to break the E-string on Dan's bass. Oh, snap.

Broken bass strings are the most rare of rock tragedies, in order with a club fire consuming Great White and crowd. But strangely enough, Dan was prepared. He had the odd intuition to bring extra strings that night.

In jumping on and off stage, however, he drove nearly 180 foot-pounds of force into a two-inch region of his skull by uniting it with the low-hanging speaker cabinet. As I stomped a harmonica field holler with Robby on the kick, Dan stumbled for a few moments and considered passing out. Robby and I move on to ragtime guitar over an impromptu electronica beat, unaware of Dan's plight.

As the bass-string change is dragging on unsuccessfully, Dan rips out the new string and tells Robby and I to just go on. He's just going to play the set with three strings and an octave pedal to hit the low notes.

And he does. The dude played the set flawlessly without an E-string. That's like playing a bassline without a left hand on the piano, or some really hard metaphor like that. I'm strapped for a comparison. Just consider the fact that he's transposing all the notes he usually plays on the E-string to the octaves on the other strings, and you have plainly that Dan Ryan is a genius.

This is fortunate, for it matches Robby Sahm's genius on drums, and my former title of Mac Genius at the Apple Store.

The gig was a trip, lots of energy and fire despite the technical/physiological difficulties. The next night we played at the Wonderland Bar in Columbia Heights, which is also a very cool place. This gig was more laid back, played acoustic with Dan on upright, Robby on kick/hihat/snare and me on jumbo Guild and harmonica. We rocked some alt-country mixed in with our Grammy-assaulting album set.

Mad love to Michael Jantz, who books the place and played before us, for telling us, "It doesn't matter how many people you bring! And you can play whatever you want! That's the best thing about this place - it doesn't f..cking matter!!"

Amen to that.

Keep listening, because our album is going to be awesome. I say that unreservedly.

The District does not sleep alone Saturday night.

Double-up!! "Make It Plane" review in DC City Paper

Pretty rad to get two major hits — the DCist (see previous blog) and now the City Paper — in the same day. Mad love to Ben Westhoff of the Riverfront Times for publishing in DC's weekly!

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/otm/2006/otm0210.html

First review for Analog Jetpack in the DCist

Just had our first review for Analog Jetpack posted in the DCist.com!! It's a great review, attentive, nuanced. The writer Jacques describes me as an odd man due to my profile pic here. Hmmm... perhaps the bewildered Suicide Girls homage doesn't resonate universally. I mean really, I'm no Pickle.

Anyway, we're pumped about the interview. Robby and I discovered it in the midst of laying drums at a friend's house in Gaithersburg for the upcoming album, which is going to be thaaiiieeeeeet, yo. (Like thai tea, yes.) Our release packaging will be a notable first. I'm heightening the tension with foreshadowing here... because I'm not going to tell you what it is. It's a secret. I could post it in one of those "The specific blog you're trying to read is set to private and only the owner is allowed to know the unknowable about it" blogs, but that doesn't allow me to use exaggerated phonetic poetic license with the word 'tight'.

We had a ton of fun Wednesday night, and we made some friends. Dig: http://www.dcist.com/archives/2006/02/10/analog_jetpack.php

How I Found My Analog Jetpack!!

Man, I almost forgot what an 8-hour workday was like. I started coloring this at 9 this morning and just finished at 8 pm. Show on Wednesday!!

The Microwavable Podcast

Okay faithful readers, I need you today to be faithful listeners. Because I was up til 8 am to finish this on a self-imposed deadline.

The older generations (the Greatest, Gen-X, etc.) are having trouble comprehending what a podcast is. But I know us kids of the digital generation learn and adapt quickly. This is new media. This is hott stufff. (Triple-f! Gush!)

As many of you know, a podcast is a broadcast you can put on your iPod. It's an mp3. Just longer and not typically a song.

With this new media in mind, The Frozen Food Section brings you what my brother J-Toth describes as "BBC on crack". News, opinions, interviews, and a spy fiction radio play.

From here, we intend to acquire Sony/BMG and fix their witless DRM problems. That's how much money we plan to make off this free download: we're not merging with them. We're buying them out.

And then News Corp. YOU HEAR ME MURDOCH?!! WE WILL ABSORB YOU!!

But we'll give Tom clemency, because he has 50 million friends.

Anyway, click here and you can download from the Frozen Food Section: