"Clip Your Wings" music video now online

As some of you know, I like making music. Well, as it turns out, my friend Andriy likes making videos. At some point, we figured out that a lot of people are kind of into something called "music videos," so we decided to make our own. How logical!

Make sure to check it out in HD:



Andriy Semenyuk filmed and edited the video in Bellingham this autumn. He is originally from Ukraine, but he came to the states to study. I met him in one of my journalism classes last year. We became fast friends and started working on a few visual projects, including this one. If you get a chance, check out his blog.

The song is the fourth track on my album, Mel's Hole. I wrote and recorded all of the songs for the album on Iron Street in Bellingham over the course of about a year. You can download the whole thing for free on my website.

This song is actually one I started writing several years ago but never finished. I went back to it last spring and reworked it for this album. Enjoy!

McRib: is it food?

The McRib is back! If you are like me, you probably didn't even know it was gone.

Well, apparently it's a big deal. McDonald's has only sporadically offered the sandwich at select locations over the past few decades, but now they are making it available everywhere for a limited time. Normally, I wouldn't care because I don't really like McDonald's, but the fact that there is a full-on cult following—which includes a website where McRib lovers can post McRib sightings—made me curious.

Naturally, after reading about the elusive sandwich and its mysterious pressed-pork patty molded to look like it has bones protruding from sides, I had to do the world a service and answer the question that I'm sure everyone is asking: Is it food?

The King Elephant's guide to the election: Whatcom County and Washington State

It’s finally time to vote! We’ve had the pleasure of spending the last nine months watching our favorite politicians drag each other through the mud, make outrageous campaign promises and generally make us want to vomit. Now is the moment when we finally get to indulge in our democratic right and vote in the best of the worst and kick out the cockroaches.

So you got your ballot in the mail, but you’re not sure who or what to vote for. Are we really voting on six initiatives? Good gravy! That voter’s pamphlet is almost as big as the eight phone books piled up on my porch! How am I supposed to pick a supreme court justice? I didn’t even know we had one of those! Voting here in Washington State can seem like a perilous, time-consuming headache. And it is! Fortunately, the good King Elephant has your back.

If you want the quick and dirty version without long explanations, click here. It’s printable for easy reference!

The Beatles remasters aren't as good as everybody says they are

It’s been more than a year since Apple Corps (not to be confused with Apple—as in iPhones) released an entirely remastered Beatles discography. I’m very, very late in reviewing this release, but I waited until now in the interest of my own personal safety because I, unlike most reviewers—including notoriously negative Pitchfork Media—was disappointed in this latest incarnation.

Let me preface this by saying that the 2009 remasters were far superior to the CD versions released in 1987. I don’t think there is any debate about that. The ‘80s versions were flat and boring and stupid compared to the vinyl versions and the versions that came out last year, which were supposed to recapture that vinyl sound. I should also note that I’m only referring to the stereo remasters. I’ve only heard the mono version of Sgt. Pepper, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to include it in this review.

Mostly, my disappointed stems from the fact that whoever remastered these tracks could have done a lot more to clean up the audio and make it sound amazing. 

Please hear me out on this one.

Bellingham Rock 'n Roll: D.Y.A., Queen Anne's Revenge and The Sunshine Bumpers make noise at the Cabin

I've been to embarrassingly few rock 'n roll concerts lately. With the exception of last month's Thermals show at the Wild Buffalo, my live music consumption has pretty much been limited to the standard farmers market-friendly folk/blue grass bands, schmaltzy barbershop quartets and the impromptu hippy jams that seemed to go on endlessly at my old house. It's every 20-something Bellinghamster's God-given right and occasional civic duty to walk home with ears ringing from distorted guitar sounds and incoherent warbling from crappy PAs at local dives, and frankly I've been suffering from noise deficiency.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to head down to the dive-turned-hipster-refuge known as the Cabin Tavern on Friday to watch three groups from right here in the 3-6-oh.

I like going to big shows now and then, but there is something about locals-only shows that remind me how cool it is to have a local music scene. They are the kind of gigs where you can run to the bar to get a fresh can of Rainier and still manage to get back to your spot in the front without having to worm your way through drunk high schoolers between songs. It almost makes you hope these guys never play big shows.

First up was punk/garage band D.Y.A., which stands for—well, visit their myspace page and you'll get about 30 ideas. I hold a soft spot in my heart for '90s punk rock, and this is a band that seems to understand how to channel that energy, add a splash of the Misfits and finish the whole thing off with a 21st-century kick from the rhythm section. And did I hear some ska upstrokes in there? Nice.

Mark told me they have a new album in the works, so keep an eye out!

Next up was straight-rock group Queen Anne's Revenge. Guitar-era licks and solos dominated the Queen Anne sound, and I have to say they pulled it off quite well. The thing I really like about these guys—and D.Y.A.—is the call-and-response singing between the guys in front. It's fun to watch bands when their members actually seem to be interacting with one another while they are playing, and both these bands looked like they were having a lot of fun.

It's refreshing to hear guitar-driven rock bands that don't sound cheesy or overly nostalgic.

The last act to take the stage was The Sunshine Bumpers.

The Rainiers I drank that night were definitely taking full effect by this point of the show, so my memory of this band's sound is admittedly hazy. The lead singer, Daisy, had quite a stage presence—owing as much to Karen O as Janis Joplin, in my opinion. Musically, they sounded to me much like they were trying a nod to '60s electric blues with a slightly sarcastic dive-bar blues idea in the back of their minds. But that might just be the Yakima Valley hops talking.