Gojira V. Portland, small horses, and a ramble across the Brooklin Bridge

Well other than a Godzilla sighting and Tracy and Casey’s new pad it’s been a quiet and lovely spring week in the neighborhoods.
Casey and company played a mighty album release show and the Majestic Theater last Saturday. The evening celebrated the release of Casey’s new record “Brooklyn Bridge”.
If you are reading this then I’m thinking that you will want to do yourself the favor of getting yourself a copy of Brooklyn Bridge for your very own. It took Casey 5 years to make the darn thing but it’s been proven to be worth the wait. It’s a fierce album in every way an album should be fierce. Fierce when it’s loud. Fierce when it’s quiet. A lovely journey. An album with intent, and an album all it’s own. So, when you get the record here’s the thing; don’t just download it from iTunes! Actually get an actual copy of the thing that you can hold in your hands! Be the one to tear off the shrink wrap. Feel the texture of the cardboard. Read the liner notes as the first song spins. Trip at the lovely cover art. Stare at the stereo speakers and listen. Really. Don’t just play the record, listen to it. It’s worth it. I’m beginning to think that iTunes is damaging the experience of music. iTunes is super great when you remember how much you love the song “Pretty In Pink” and don’t want to spend 12 or 15 dollars for the “Best Of The Psychedelic Furs”. iTunes rocks for that and you can’t beat the price. The German version of 99 Red Balloons is sooo worth the 99-cent download. It’s a super great resource for songs. iTunes however sucks for music. First, as MP3’s the songs don’t sound as good they might. For instance - if Casey takes ages to mix the songs for Brooklyn Bridge and all you get to hear is the compressed MP3 then you are missing out on a fair amount of the intended experience. Also, as intention goes albums (are supposed to) have a flow. The song order is part of the intention and weight behind the project. If you download just a couple of the songs then you miss the record. If you download the album but listen to it on random shuffle then you also miss the album. Don’t let this happen! Records are big monstrous creatures of their own. Or at least some of them are. Brooklyn Bridge is. Get it, spin it, and buy it again when it comes out on vinyl.



I had heard about this but never got to see it ‘til last Saturday. In areas of Portland the curb edge of the sidewalks still have iron rings from another time and world and it’s to these rings that if you lived back then that you would tie up your horse. What’s been happening is that in random stretches of curb small toy horses have been appearing overnight. I love this. Like I said I had heard that this was happening, but when I finally saw them they almost had a mythic quality. I took some pictures and haven’t seen any more since.