Away From The Numbers - The Jam - In The City - 1977

And so The Jam continues it's odd stranglehold on the "A's"...with a solid rocking number from their first album, when they were still a post-punk band. Though again, the preponderance of Jam songs in the first letter of the alphabet gives the impression that I'm a bigger Jam fan than I actually am. Still this is a good song.

So, I ran into a former co-worker on the street...and it just baffles me how some people's lives are just destined for drama. Granted, I occasionally have an interesting and exciting life, I live in NYC: I go out a bit and work at a somewhat unorthodox company...but most nights I go home and watch movies with my girlfriend, watch soccer with my boys, or play video games alone...but this girl...well, granted, she's 11 years younger than me and most would consider her a looker, but the amount of crazy things that happen to her do tend to leave me shaking my head.

On this particular occasion she informed me (I hadn't seen her since April or so) that she had recently gotten married. Though I'm used to her surprises, this one definitely caught me out of the blue, as last time I saw her she was complaining about the fact that she hadn't had a date in years. Additionally she was not wearing a ring. When I mentioned this fact to her, she just laughed and pointed out that she was marrying an old family friend so that he could get his papers and that she was being very well paid for it.

Now why doesn't this shit ever happen to me? Baffling.

Aunties and Uncles - The Jam - News of the World B-Side - 1978

Which brings us to the car...Now, I certainly haven't spent enough time around other Indians beyond the Singhs to know if this is some sort of Indian cultural thing...or just particular to this specific family, but my God are these fuckers useless without a GPS device. How did they drive before they were invented.

The Singhs had insisted we pay the extra $10 to rent a car with GPS, and in all fairness, it did come in quite handy the following day when we'd take back roads to get to the stadium...but on the drive up, the brothers had spent a solid ten minutes trying to program the address of the hotel into the GPS and then find a way to successfully mount it on the window or dashboard...instead of, you know, just driving to Boston, following the signs and then figuring it out.

So here we sat, wedged in the back seat of their turn-of-the-millennium luxury sedan, already late for dinner and waiting while a middle aged Indian couple programmed their GPS device. Now, what made this slightly more ridiculous was that, as the car was nearly 10 years old...it had a GPS built into the dashboard, but since this was an old and slow model, they had also purchased a newer, shinier GPS...and they were now trying to program both or either of them to tell them how to get to the restaurant. The restaurant was just on the other side of the Charles, in Cambridge...again, simply driving over there was, I guess, not an option. After 5 or so minutes of fiddling with it, they finally got one of them to work and we headed out.


Sometimes a band can put out material as a B-side that is every bit as strong as their A-Side material. The Beatles were, of course, masters of it (Daytripper, Penny Lane, Revolution). Radiohead, in their heyday certainly put out some amazing b-sides (Permenant Daylight, Trickster, Palo Alto, Pearly*), and I would say that in this instance The Jam have put out a song that stands with their best work. Solid rabble rousing, that's equal parts punk and Beatle-esque...it's everything Paul Weller does, done well.

Art School - The Jam - In the City - 1977

With our bellies full of schnitzel, we walked from Alexanderplatz back to Museum Island, enjoying (and photographing) of the city as we walked. By the time we reached the museums it was nearly 4PM and we realized that we only had so many hours of daylight left in Berlin and that we were rather enjoying walking around the city more than we'd enjoy spending the time inside of a building viewing old art. As such we made the decision to just do some walking.

Anand wanted to get a chance to photograph the Brandenburg gate during the daytime. Additionally it had occurred to me that we'd spent all of our time on the east side of Berlin without seeing the West at all. So off we went.

In the middle of Berlin there is a rather large park shaped like a sideways oval, The Brandenburg Gate/Reichstadt/Museum Island forms it's eastern border while the West Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenberg is the western border. As there is a palace from the time of Fredrich the Great in Charlottenberg this seemed like a good way to both check out some of West Berlin and to get in a good walk.

The park itself was really beautiful, and it was interesting to see Berliners in there day to day life. It probably took us 2 hours to walk the width of the park, during which time we saw the locals doing what they would do on a cold and snowy late afternoon Friday. Some were walking dogs, others jogging, a few young couples strode by holding gloved hands. As with everything in the city, there were tons of statues, monuments, sculptures, and bridges to beautify the already beautiful natural landscape. During the times in which we were in the woods to the point where we could not see the city, it was easy to imagine these woods in Roman times. Centurions marching through to put down the Germanic tribes, the first step towards a German national identity. The history dork in me smiled.

Finally, we emerged on the other side, with the last bit of sun setting in front of us and a new neighborhood to explore.

As I've stated before, The Jam is one of those bands that I find easier to admire than to enjoy. This song has abundant energy and attitude, and maybe even a little more melody than usual...but considering this is from their first album, it's hard not to view this as a simple Ramones copy cat song.

All Mod Cons - The Jam - All Mod Cons - 1978

I was riding the LIRR back from Shea Stadium on Sunday when I encountered one of my biggest frustrations with the city of NYC. So, my ladyfriend and I had just missed the train to Penn Station and had to wait 20 minutes to for the next one...not the end of the world. We stood our time on the platform and talked. The platform gradually filled up.

As the train pulled into the station, a trio of old women were standing next to us waiting as well. Like a good midwestern boy, I let them on the train first. There were two open benches at the the end of the car, a 3 person seater and a two person seater. Perfect, the women could take the three person seat and me and the lady could take the two person seat...No! Of course not, the old women proceed to sit 2 on the big bench and 1 on the little.

This is what infuriates me, one basic act of community minded courtesy is repaid with total selfishness. I had this string of thoughts quite a bit when I lived in Greenpoint (The closest that I think I come to out and out racism is the total scorched-earth hatred I have for the community of Greenpoint). Old women know that, due to the social contract I will not act aggressively towards them...like say, throwing them on the subway track. Basic decency and the fact that no court in the land (both legal and of public opinion) would acquit me for acting in such a manner ensure that I will be gracious. But seriously, if my generosity will be constantly repaid be utter thoughtless self-centeredness, then what's the point in not simply shoving Hazel into the path of an onrushing train and decreasing the surplus population?

Anyway, this is a minute and a half of the Jam doing there thing. Much like the Beatles, I find some of the Jam's rock n' roll credibility shot by their clear reliance on British Barrell Hall music. Underneath the purpulsive drumming, crunching guitars, and social message they still feel the need to do that pansy harmonzing (and I like harmony) at the end of the song. Why not just cover When I'm 64?

All Around The World - The Jam - All Around the World Single - 1977

Sorry to all five of my readers for the lack of updates. It's been a busy week.

Anyway, I was hanging out with one of my lady friends on Sunday playing video games (yes, I am exactly that cool) when I discovered that she gets the munchies like a 14 year old girl. We go on a simple beer run, and I buy one six pack and one bag of chips. She on the other hand bought an entire log of cookie dough, a pack of honey roasted nuts, and a bag of swedish fish.

I'm not sure if there is a fetish for watching tall, skinny vegan chicks eat an entire log of cookie dough, but if you want photos, I could probably arrange that.

Anyway, more of The Jam doing their thing.

Absolute Beginners - The Jam - Single - 1981

Now see, this is The Jam the way I like them...little bits of Motown inflection, strong melody, but still keeping that punk energy. Horn sections are dangerous things. They can ruin a song, they can overpower a song, they can take away a song's edge, but in this context the horns work perfectly.

"A" Bomb in Wardour Street - The Jam - All Mod Cons - 1978

Paul Weller definitely falls into that category of artists that I respect more than I actually enjoy. I was too young to catch The Jam when they were in their heyday, and then out of college before I was introduced to them, so I don't have the "older brother's record collection" reaction to them that I think a lot of my peers do.

I enjoy The Jam in small doses, which is what makes them a great iPod band. Purists throw all the tomatoes you want...too many of his songs sound the same. I like the sound, I like the energy, I like what it's about, and in a few cases...it's a home run...but his melodies just don't have enough variation for me. Count this among the garden variety Jam songs.