Smoking by the dumpster in December.

The worst part about working at the mall this winter has been smoking outside. Every 15-minute-break, I have to go to the back and suit up in winter gear, and then ride the elevator down. I maneuver through racks of clothes, still getting "excuse me, do you work here?" at least once each pass. Even in a black hoodie. Even with a hat on.
When I get outside, I steel myself against the wind rolling in from across the vast, white lot. I always feel like a salty sailor (salty semen, if you will) standing on deck on some arctic expedition. There are also the customers outside; 1 in 5 will make some sort of face and/or a nasty comment about the smoke. And it's never directly TO me. It's always some passive aggressive phrase like "cover Kraden's face! Ew!" I sometimes stand right by the pretzle joint's dumptster as sort of a "hey - this is a designated stinking-area. Fuck you."

Nobody has sympathy for a working gal' any more.

Anyhow, so this mix has been in heavy winter rotation. I've learned that if I wear earbuds on break with the music cranked - I tune everything else out but the sacred moments of inhalation, hold, and exhalation. I haven't really gotten tired of this mix the last two shifts of work. Stream directly below or hit the download link at the bottom.



MediaMonkey Track List

# Artist Title Length Album Track # Year Genre Rating Bitrate Media
1. Pungent Judy Coffee Machine
2. Japanther Fuk Tha Prince A Pull Iz Dum
3. The Replacements Careless
4. Blank Dogs Falling Back
5. Dow Jones & The Industrials
6. Oneida The Winter Shaker
7. The Cure - 10.15 Saturday Night (home demo)
8. Afterlives - I Am the Heroic
9. Polvo - My Kimono
10. Cave In - Juggernaut
11. Swans - Half Life
12. T.N.T. Tribble - Half a Pint of Whiskey
Total Tracks: 12
Duration: 0h 37m 47s




I went to an awesome basement show last night. It was the first party-type thing I'd been to in a long time with teenagers. It got nice and rowdy but maintained a good vibe because all the bands were stellar and nice dudes. I ended up with whiskey and awesomeness ensued: little basement slamdancin, fell in the snow (don't remember), Rallys (also don't remember). I've got a pretty awesome boyfriend. He played a killer set with The Bashville Boys and managed to wrangle me away from a group of teen girls in somebody's kitchen.






Only got a couple pics courtesy of my phone and someone's facebook posts.

Hey Ladies.

The female voice is a fickle thing when it comes to some kinds of music. I always used to say that I didn't like most female vocalist fronted bands "oh, except for Sonic Youth, and wait! Bikini Kill! Oh Oh and Kim Deal in The Pixies...." and that seems to go on and on. Because the truth is - the older I've gotten, it seems - I really enjoy a lot of bands fronted with ladies. It just doesn't matter much to me anymore. As long as they sound nothing like Nelly Furtado or some shit like that. Well, there are some ladies that give it a stretch - girls-screaming-metal is almost never cute or brutal. I actually have trouble conjuring up the ballz to sing lyrics I write to some of my band's songs. I always here the singer from Pissed Jeans singing the song in my head. My voice is, sadly, far far from his.

A few nights ago a girl-buddy/bartender of my favorite place, Savages, asked me to help her come with more girl-fronted bands she could play at the bar while working. There is enough testosterone in that joint to fuel a tanker and a few songs with a feminine touch can do nothing but good. But the guys in there don't want to hear sap - so here is a mixtape I came up with. It's chalk-full of brutal femininity while not being a long, whining nag.

You can download it here or just stream it below.





Tracklist