Matthew Sweet-Girlfriend

 

In 1992 I quit my LAUSD teaching job in a huff, broke up with my girlfriend and moved in with a buddy in San Luis Obispo. I was 29, and going through an ‘angry young man’ stage of moderate self-sabotage, the chrysalis before my emergence to what I am now, 30-odd years later.

In the year I lived in SLO, I worked several odd jobs, juggled girls, and was the fill in guy at KOTR, a free form FM station where Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend was in heavy rotation. I think I was able to talk the station managers, Drew and Clam Chowder into scoring me a copy, which I played non-stop at home. It seemed to catch my mood perfectly. Guitars both jangly and jagged provided by Robert Quine, Richard Lloyd and Sweet himself, Sweet’s self-harmonizing, Lloyd Cole’s solid bass lines and Fred Maher’s inventive drumming and bright production all served what Sweet called his ‘break-up’ album, and though Sweet would have solid songs on all of his following albums, nothing matched the quality and variety of Girlfriend

The title track has everything, an acoustic guitar hard strumming, a crunching electric rhythm guitar with a lead guitar howling over both, drums and maracas playing, and then the instruments drop out and Sweet’s voice comes in with the opening line of:

I wanna love somebody/ I hear you need somebody to love.

It’s exactly what I was thinking, and exactly the way I wanted to say it.

Other tracks, like the opener Divine Intervention could have been singing right to me-“I don’t know where I’m gonna live/Don’t know if I’ll find a place,” summed up my SLO experience perfectly. The music behind the lyric, though, that was the clincher, an overdriven electric chugging through power chords in a medium tempo, an acoustic guitar matching it, with lots of sonic goodies underneath and Richard Lloyd’s guitar squealing over the top. The false fade of melodic noise also adds to this track. Some God issues, which I was also having, floated through this song and others (Evangeline, Holy War) on the album as well.

The Legacy edition includes the Goodfriends bonus disc, with two more versions (one with piano that's really good) of the title track, as well as demos and live versions of other tracks, which is almost as good, showing that even stripped down the songs hold up.

Sweet’s about my age, and, as is apparent on his “Under the Covers” series with Susana Hoffs, must have the same record collection I did. You can hear his influences-Neil Young’s lead guitar and Beatles-like harmony especially, and though it is definitely a band album, there’s a lot of things sonically happening in the mix. Songs starting as if the guys had been playing something else first and false fades are common, as well as the sound of guitars plugging in and odd percussion elements. The album rewards repeated listening with aural surprises and 30 years later Girlfriend is still my favorite.

And Tuesday Weld is beautiful.

Have I written about Matthew Sweet before? Yes I have, thanks for asking-check right here

Have I written about K-Otter before? Yep, done that too! Check here and here

Locals Only by the Surf Punks

 

   The Surf Punks’ Locals Only might well be the guiltiest of guilty pleasures on this list. It’s not deep or profound, the musicianship is basic, and the songs are simplistic and filled with junior high locker room humor.

    But in my JuCo days I thought it was hysterically funny and I played it all the time. Formed by producer/drummer/singer Dennis Dragon (The Captain of Captain and Tennille’s younger brother) and Drew Steele in Malibu, the surfers/musicians seemed to be hosting the beach party that I wanted to get into. Their first album, My Beach, had a couple of good songs and lots of pieces of other songs, but it was their second one, Locals Only, where it all seemed to come together. Unlike the first album, there was an actual band for the second album, and though most of the songs were written by Dragon/Steele, stand out contributions also came from Mark “the Shark” Miller’s sliding bar chord classic Shark Attack, and Scott “the Valley” Goddard’s I’m a Valley (he wrote Manny Moe and Jack with the Dickies as well as Cowpunk). The musicianship was all pretty basic, but there were a lot of audio surprises mixed into the songs, making the sound of the album far more interesting.

    The live shows were where the Surf Punks stood out. They weren’t true punks like the rest of the LA scene. These were not pasty white guys screaming about how their parents didn’t love them enough and how tough their life was, wearing torn black clothes and safety pins. The Surf Punks were a little bit older, in surf trunks, day-glo tank tops and water polo caps, and instead of angst, they were singing songs showing the hedonistic pleasure of their beach lives. In the title track, their verses of trips to “Diego” ("those boys threw rocks at me!") and Ventura ("they not think we funny!"), end with the party that I wanted to be at: Now we have beach parties, naked girls will do the swim. I knew their naked girls would be big bosomed blonde beach babes and not the frightening looking goth chicks that were on the LA punk rock scene (Susana Hoffs and Jane Weidlin notwithstanding).

    I saw the Surf Punks twice, once in Hollywood and once in “the Valley” and both times they delivered. Drew rode in on his skate board guitar, Jerry Weber walked all over the stage with his keyboard around his neck, Andy the lifeguard came out of his tower-yes, there was a lifeguard tower on stage-to peel off some lead licks, bikini clad chicks coming out to dance to “Big Top” (when are those things gonna pop?) Mark the Shark wearing his fin, Scott the Valley singing his songs, and Dennis keeping a no-nonsense 4/4 beat. It appealed to me and my water polo playing buddys.

    Locals Only catches the wave of the Surf Punks party, and now, over 40 years later when I can go to Malibu anytime, I still want to find where the Spoiled Brats from Malibu hang out.

12 Favorite Albums/iMac Jukebox

What seems like a hundred years ago, I was visiting my in-laws, and I noticed that they had a fancy digital music storage system. They had stacks of cd's, all piled around a massive hard drive. I don't remember what brand it was, but I do remember looking it up and seeing it was pretty expensive.

Years after that, I was updating my home computer, and had an idea-why not store all of my cd's on a computer dedicated to only music. I was about to transfer my data from my old iMac to my new iMac, but the old one was still in reasonably good shape. I figured that if I took everything but iTunes off of it, and kept only iTunes and an external hard drive, it would be pretty much the same thing as my in-laws had, and with a good set of computer speakers, it would work for the living room. It wasn't set up to rattle the walls, but I don't listen to music that way much in the house-the car is a different story-so I didn't need that kind of volume.

So I set it up, and added a few features. The screen saver is set to show pictures of the family, so if the iMac isn't playing music, it's acting like a giant picture frame. Originally, I used an iMac G4 (which is still in the garage doing the same thing) and then switched to an iMac G5 from 2006 that I bought used in 2012 for around $100. I started with just uploading selected songs from the thousand or so cd's that I had, but when I was working on my Master's degree, I realized that it easier to just load the entire cd and then sort out what I wanted later. I would take a stack of cds and upload them whenever I needed to look up from whatever project I was working on.

What I didn't realize initially was that the Mac download was set to 192kbps instead of 320kbps, a sound quality loss that is noticeable with careful listening. I adjusted that about six years ago, and now generally only download things that are at that bit rate. At the end of the pandemic I decided to start taking selected cd's that I had loaded previously and reloading them at a higher bit rate, and it was going pretty well until my external hard drive crashed. The hard drive was old and had been making funny noises-it was the kind with the spinning disk-and then one day it just went belly-up. 

I took the hard drive all over town to see if someone could salvage the files. Many songs I'd picked up off the internet from websites that were only up for a while (Willard's Wormholes was a particular favorite, and I was never quite sure what surprises the WFMU blog would have), and weren't available anymore. But the hard drive truly was trashed.

I had backed up about 3/4s of what I had onto a newer hard drive, and I've been slowly hunting down other things. I think I'm still 4,000 songs short, but it's mostly obscure stuff that I hadn't really listened to, so I don't really know what's missing.

I'm also back to the project that I had originally started, upping the sound quality on the files, and taking a close listen to what I have. I can also see how often I've played something. I've decided to take another look at my favorites-which cd's I'd take with me if I was stuck on an island with an old Walkman, (Side note-I've been experimenting with upgrading a couple of old click wheel iPods-more on that later).

On the right I have a list that I made when I started this blog, and a few I'd still take with me. Girlfriend, Ragged Glory, Rain Dogs, Revolver and American Recordings all still stand the test of time. But I'm not so sure about The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines, Potatoes, and (gasp) Sinatra's Swingin' Sessions and More.

In my playing history, I'm more likely to pull out Cheap Trick's In Color, Donovan's The Classics Live, The Rolling Stones' Aftermath or Some Girls, or the Who's Sell Out. For reasons somewhat unclear to me, the Surf Punks' Locals Only had crept back into my rotation. I also have a soft spot for What's the Story, Morning Glory? and Social Distortion.

You probably noticed that nothing I've listed has been recorded in this century. I still listen to music, and things catch my ear that I enjoy. Wet Leg's Chaise Lounge and Wet Dream (I had to look up "Buffalo 66"), I find to be very sexy, but the album didn't really move me. I'll watch every video Youtube spits at me of Garfunkel and Oates, but I can't imagine just listening to them. Both Lil Nas X's Old Town Road and Cardi B's WAP are in rotation in my car, but I haven't picked up an album by either of them. The other day I was watching something and Battez Vous by the French artist Brigitte was playing and I downloaded it. I still buy new music when it's released by acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, X, The Rev. Horton Heat, Brian Setzer, Andy Prieboy and Southern Culture on the Skids, (again, all acts from the 80s and 90s) and I'm a big fan of new music compilations from Raiders of the Lost Hook and Ice Cream Man Power Pop and More! I also enjoy Little Steven's Underground Garage when I have access to Sirius XM.

I think I kept pretty up-to-date on music until my mid-thirties. Then I got married, had kids and didn't really have the time anymore. KROQ was my connection for new music, but it's hard to get here in Ventura. I'm not young anymore, but I still like a catchy, three minute song. I just don't relate to songs about girls and school and parties and such unless they remind me of a time when I did relate to girls and school and parties and such. Now it's women, work and retirement-not very rock and roll.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to try to thoughtfully write about my favorite albums. So again, here they are, in alphabetical order by artist:

1. The Beatles-Revolver
   
2. Johnny Cash-American Recordings
3. Cheap Trick-In Color
   
4. Donovan-Classics Live 
5. Oasis-What's the Story, Morning Glory?
   
6. The Rolling Stones-Some Girls
7. Social Distortion-Social Distortion 
   
8. Surf Punks-Locals Only
   
9. Matthew Sweet-Girlfriend
10. Tom Waits-Rain Dogs
11. The Who-A Quick One/Sell Out
    
12. Neil Young-Ragged Glory  

This is going to be writing practice for me, and I don't want to get bogged down on any one entry, so I'm going to keep my thoughts at no more than 500 (or so) words.

No More Watch Gang-the Vaer and Lucky Watch Repair

I've been reading about Vaer watches for some time now. I like their origin story, a couple of guys in Venice deciding to make an inexpensive quality watch here in the good ol' USA. I had my eye on their S5 watch, which I eventually bought for my son on his graduation.

It's a good, solid feeling watch, and I still may get one for myself.

I was at a watch show at Chelsea Market in New York last year, and I met some of the Vaer people. I told them about the watch I'd bought my son, and they gave me a bag, which was nice. They had a few watches for sale, but they didn't have the one that I wanted, the D5 USA Tropic. If they had had one, I'd have pulled the trigger.

It's an expensive watch for me, though, currently $595 on their website. I haven't ever spent that much money for a watch.

So for this last year, I've checked eBay on a somewhat regular basis to see if one pops up. Since I'm not part of Watch Gang anymore, I figured that if I could find one for about half, I'd pick it up.

And then I saw it. I still spent a little more than I had intended, but it had a second band along with this tan one, and came with it's original box and all of it's papers. It was originally purchased in March of 2021, and was in really great shape. I didn't care for the band color, but the band was actually pretty new, and it came with a khaki nylon strap as well. 

I found an Ottoody Strap on Amazon for about $20, and switched it for the tan band it had come with. The band is black leather, and with off-white stitching, matching the color scheme of the D5 Tropic better, I thought, and it looked really good on my arm. The watch has a 39mm face, which is probably the best size for my arm, and a really cool domed sapphire crystal, (pretty much the same size as my Wolbrook Skindiver), and it sits comfortably on my wrist. There are no sharp edges, and though it has some heft, it doesn't feel bulky.

After wearing the watch for a few days, I was taking it off to go swimming, and dropped it on a concrete locker room floor. The Vaer made a crunching sound when it hit the ground that I had never heard from a watch before, and I was sure that I'd cracked the crystal. But I picked it up, looked it over, and it looked fine. It was running, I didn't see any scratches or cracks, and I thought that I had gotten lucky. But an hour or so later, it stopped. 

I tried to get it started again, but it was a no go, and I realized that I'd spent a bunch of money on a watch that I broke in less than a week. I can count the amount of watches I've broken over the years on one hand, so this was a bit surprising.

Still, the movement is a Miyota 9039, a well known, well liked, common movement that can be bought online for around $100. I figured that if the whole movement had to be changed out, the watch would come up to the price of a brand new one-not really what I was looking for. I also thought that maybe the Vaer people would be able to help me out and get a new movement for less, if that's what was needed. So I emailed Vaer about my watch.

Surprisingly, since it was the second week of December, Evan-Austin at Vaer got right back to me, asking for more details. The eBay seller had sent me his receipt, so I gave the pertinent facts-that I totally understood that the warranty didn't apply on watches bought on eBay, that the person I bought it from sent me his receipt and order number, and that I dropped it on concrete. I asked if I should just take it to my guy and have him take a look.

More surprisingly, I got another response the next day. It was signed from Ryan Torres, one of the Vaer founders, and it said to take it to my guy for an estimate, then let the Vaer people know, and they'd tell me if they thought they could do it for less. In a follow-up email, Evan-Austin gave me the information if I wanted to send it back to them, but warned of a 3-4 week turnaround.

So I took my watch to Lucky Watch here in Ventura. I've had Paul, the owner replace several watch batteries over the years, but more importantly, he's replaced the quartz movement of an 80's era Seiko that my mom had bought me, and a got a 20 year old Seiko automatic dive watch running for me, with both repairs under $100 each. He won't fix everything-the Beltex of a few posts back comes to mind-but I thought he could handle this one.

Red Date

I took it to Lucky Watch on Monday. He opened it up and told me the problem, but Paul's accent is pretty thick and I'm not sure what he said-it could have been 'main spring,' or it could have been something else, and then said that he could have it back to me by Wednesday, and it would cost less than $100. That sounded good, so I told him okay. I figured there was no way the Vaer people were going to charge less, and the turnaround would be no where near as fast. Plus I'd have had to get the packaging to mail the watch to them. 

When I picked up the watch two days later, Paul's advice was, "Do not drop on concrete." It's been running great ever since. 

I do have one complaint about the watch, and it is a minor one. The date is in the 6 o'clock position, without any magnification on it. It's also a black dial with cream numbers, like the rest of the face-except every four days when the date is red. I'm not sure why it's every four days, and with the cream on black numbers, the date blends into the face. Vaer people, if you happen to read this, a magnification over the date would really make this watch pop. It's a minor quibble, and obviously not enough to prevent me from wearing the watch.

One more interesting side note-Vaer makes a D7 Tropic, which to my eye looks the same except for "Swiss Made" on the bottom of the dial instead of "American Assembly." Instead of the Miyota movement, it has a Sellita SW-200 movement. The specs of the movements are the same, but the Swiss watch is $200 more.

I'll stick with the USA assembled, Japanese movement.

The Beltex continued/Watch Gang 10 Carrero

It's a beautiful day here in Ventura, and I'm sitting in my backyard listening to People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938, something I picked up years ago and don't know if I've ever played. I do have a bit of a thing for murder ballads and western swing, affinities that I have always had though I know not why. My parents certainly didn't listen to this, and I was born a bit after the 'Cowboy Show' of the 50s.

I picked up my Beltex a few days ago, and it's beautiful. I've found a few more things about it. (There's one on Ebay right now, if you're interested). It's a Swiss made watch that likely dates from the 50's. There's not a lot of information on the brand, but it appears that by the 1950's Beltex was a 'fashion brand,' only making casings and not movements. According to the internet, the movement was made by Venus, and was used by several smaller Swiss brands. That is why you see similar faces on watches by Huer, Gallet, and many others. It is a good movement, and apparently parts are available.

At the end of the day, I probably overpaid for it all, but I smile when  I look at my wrist, and I know that the servicing is recent. Tom the 'Watch Doc' threw in a crystal since I was paying cash, and it looks really good on my wrist.

The Watch Doc, Toluca Lake

Which brings me to what will likely be my final Watch Gang watch. 

The Carrero

According to the tag attached to this watch, the MSRP is $1475. On the website, the Carrero CS17733MR is also listed at $1475. EBay gives you the true worth, though, and there are 50 Carrero watches ranging from $75 to $1400.

The first thing I noticed when I took it out of it's rather plain box is that it weighs a ton. It's also the first Watch Gang watch that I've opened that wasn't running when I opened the box. Even the automatics were wound and running when I got them. This had the plastic piece that keeps the watch from running down the battery still in place.  

According to the Carrero website, this is a stainless steel watch with a mineral crystal. It has a 44.5 mm face, and a Japanese Epson VR33 muscle movement. The three smaller dials represent the stop watch second hand and minute hand, as well as a 24 hour dial. Interestingly, for a watch at this supposed price point, I'd want the stop watch second hand to line up at zero, which it does not. The 24 hour dial doesn't quite line up either.

On my wrist, after removing a link, it still feels heavy. No sharp edges, though. The face appears to be a deep burgundy.

It's not an unattractive watch, and according to their website, 34 of these have been sold. I will say there's no way in hell that I'd pay $1475 for this watch-maybe $150-200. The movement, for what it's worth, can be purchased for $16.99.

I'm going to wear it tonight. Right now I've noticed that the clasp doesn't seem to stay closed, but that could just be me.

A few days later

I wore the Carrero for a couple of days, and my initial assessment stands-it is a heavy watch, and though the clasp isn't broken, I feel like I have to fight with it a bit more than I should in order to get it to close.

It does have a nice look on my wrist, but not so much that I'd have actually picked it up on my own. I think this will be the last Watch Gang watch for me. I'm going to take the money that I'm not spending on my monthly membership, and start looking for the two watches that have fascinated me for ages, the Hamilton Ventura and the Bulova Accutron Spaceview. Also, I'd love to find the Citizen Bullhead watch that Brad Pitt wore in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And if you'd like to toss me a Rolex or Omega, I'd take one.

Taco and Salsa Truck, Mills and Main

When I started this blog 10 years ago, I wanted to talk about tacos, surf shops and coffee. Since then, I've discussed guitars, ukuleles, watches and anything else that comes to mind. I realized that a few new taco trucks have popped up, and I haven't said anything about them.

I've also decided that tacos are pretty easy, and there isn't much to distinguish one from another. I've had tacos from this truck before, and at $2.75 each, they're on par with most other tacos in the area. If you need a taco, these are fine.

Reading their handwritten sign, I asked what a 'Quesabarba' was, and the guy at the counter said that it's a quesadilla with barbacoa meat. I asked how big it was, and he showed me an 8" corn tortilla. Another customer said it was good, and just order two. I did, but didn't ask the price, ready for a shock when I was wrung up. "$9," the counterman said, a price I was willing to pay.

In spite of my ethnicity, I don't really know much about barbacoa. The definition on the internet says it's slowly cooked and seasoned meat, usually goat or lamb, but also beef head or possibly pork. It's usually served with barbacoa dipping sauce. 

After a few minutes, I got my order. On the ride home, my car filled with the smell of barbacoa, and I was pretty excited.

Opening up the quesabarba, it was as advertised, a quesadilla filled with beef barbacoa.  A cup of barbacoa sauce came with it, which I dipped into before each bite. I caught some of the smokiness, onions, garlic, and cilantro in the sauce, which made the quesabarba tender for every bite. 

I had a Modello Dark here at home, which went perfect with the meal.

Again, I haven't had barbacoa that often, and don't really have much of a reference for it. The sauce was actually very similar to the birria sauce that they use at Pablito's Tacos over on the Avenues. 

I'd like to explore birria/barbacoa more, to mix up my taco diet.

As for Taco and Salsa, I'll be back.

Wolbrook, Lake & Sons and Watch Gang 9-Dufa,

In 2019 I saw a Kickstarter ad on Facebook for Wolbrook watches. I liked the design of the vintage dive watch, and the whole origin story of being Neil Armstrong's watch.

But I also did a bit of research. Neil Armstrong did have a Wolbrook watch, apparently from when he was a test pilot and he gave it to his brother (or father). On the moon, he, like the rest of the NASA astronauts, wore the Omega Speedmasters they were issued. 

I liked the look, especially the red bezel, and it seemed like a fun watch to own. It also reminded me of the skindiver watch my parents bought me in high school. It was supposed to arrive at the start Summer of 2020, and I justified the price as an early birthday present to myself.

Then Covid locked down the world.

The Wolbrook people regularly sent out emails talking about their supply chain issues, and I think I finally got the watch 4 months after their projection.

It's a great watch! They've got several watches now, but this one is a Skindiver WT, currently sold out on their website. It's got a Miyota movement and a sapphire crystal. I really like the magnification above the date, and it has a very bright lume. The band has broken in nicely as well, and it's very comfortable to wear. Initially, I was surprised by the size-it's a bit smaller then many of my watches, (especially the ones that have been sent to me by Watchgang), but it's very comfortable on my wrist.

This Lake & Sons I kind of tripped over. I had bought my son a Vaer S5 field watch for his college graduation, since he does not share my passion for watches. I figured the Vaer was a solid watch that was unique and not too expensive. Not everyone will have one, but it's still a basic watch that those in the know will be somewhat impressed with.

When I saw the watch, I thought it had a good look, but I wanted the A5, their automatic watch. While looking at that, I noticed the Bulova Hack watch and the Hamilton Khaki had a similar look, and all were at a similar price point. (A side note, I just saw that the Bulova is down around $200...). I started to Google hacking military style watches, and came across this one.

Lake & Sons is based in St. Paul, Minn., and sells men's gifts and accessories. This is the Pilot Watch, and it currently sold out. I had a discount, so I think I paid just a touch over $100 for it. It was limited to 500 pieces, this being 468, and has a Seiko movement and sapphire crystal. 

The band is a little flimsy, but I've had it for over a year and haven't felt compelled to change it. It's 40 mm, which is the same size as the Vaer and larger then the Bulova or Hamilton, but it's not a huge watch. My only complaint, if I have to have one, is that the lume is pretty much non-existent. You can see my review on their website-it's a great watch. 

Every few months I check the Lake & Sons site to see if they come up with another watch that I might want.

The DuFa

The DuFa arrived in a white box that said 'DUFA' and inside it came plastic wrapped on a grey pillow. It has clean lines, and interestingly, it is made in Germany. A quick glance at the DuFa website finds several German made watches, and several references to Bauhaus design. 'Bauhaus' is an art and design movement which is geometrically based and features no sentiment or emotion.

This particular watch is the 'Polar White' and retails for $386. It has a Seiko meca-quartz movement, though I don't understand why since it has only three hands, and measures out a 42mm. As always, I had to remove a few links from the bracelet, and wearing it now is comfortable. It's not too heavy and has no sharp edges.

Many watches are pictured on the website, ranging from $282 to $711, though many are labeled as 'coming soon,' and have no price listed. At one time, Germany made quality time pieces, almost on par with the Swiss, but the movements of all the watches I looked at are either Japanese or Swiss made. Not a bad thing, but not a big selling point either.

Interestingly, the lume is on only the hands and the 12 o'clock marker. It would appear that the hours would also have lume, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I've worn it several times since I've taken it out of the box. It's a little bigger than I like-I think my preferred watch face size is 40mm, but it's very comfortable to wear. I don't have any others like it, and unlike some of the odd colors I've gotten from Watchgang, the white face always goes with what I'm wearing. It's a casual watch that dresses up well. At first, I wasn't too sure what to make of it, but now I like it.