R.I.P. Scott Miller of Game Theory and The Loud Family

23 Apr


photo by Robert Toren

It is with great sadness that we report the death of singer/songwriter Scott Miller, founding member of Bay Area power-pop bands Game Theory and The Loud Family. According to his website, Miller passed on Monday, April 15th.

Game Theory were heralded as “the next R.E.M.” when they formed in 1981, and were associated with the west coast “Paisley Underground”-scene alongside contemporaries like The Dream Syndicate and Green on Red. While Game Theory received critical success, internal conflicts ended the band in 1989, and Miller went on to form The Loud Family. Sadly, Miller had planned to start recording a new Game Theory album this summer, titled Supercalifragile. It was said, he “was looking forward to getting back into the studio and reuniting with some of his former collaborators.”

Game Theory’s output is currently out-of-print, however, Sue Trowbridge, the webmaster for loudfamily.com, has made all of their back catalog available for free download. She states, “My main goal is to prevent people from trying to capitalize by selling these long out-of-print albums for lots of money. I want everybody who would like to hear these albums to be able to do so without paying outrageous prices.”

Miller is survived by his wife, Kristine, and their two daughters, Julianne Elizabeth and Valerie. A memorial fund has been established for his family.

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28 Jan

It seems like I only write here when I’m in a bad mood, and, well, tonight is no exception. I’ve been kinda under-the-weather all weekend, but tomorrow, I am committed to getting back to work and interacting with the world again.

five quick nice things:

• I was asked to be a part of Short Run!!! I can’t even express how excited I am about this. So, it sucked being sick, but it also gave me lots of downtime to redesign their website, which has been sooo satisfying! I love building websites. I think it uses a part of my brain that otherwise sits dormant. It’s such a rush when a page looks wonky, but I’m able to look at the code and figure out how to make it look better. I’m certainly no pro at this; it’s just something I really, really enjoy.

• And on that note, I also get to take over a friend’s band’s website soon! I feel very lucky!

• I really like the new Ducktails album, which comes out tomorrow. Ducktails is a solo project of Matt Mondanile, the guitarist from Real Estate, with help from the Slumberland Records band Big Troubles. One of the songs reminds me of Luna, with Matt singing about “making love to his alien wife.” It cracks me up.

• I’ve had some good thrift luck lately, and have been buying the most ridiculous things: a striped knit jumpsuit from the ’70s, some rainbow-stripe high-waisted corduroy flares, and a v-neck sweater with giraffe appliques where one of the giraffes looks like it’s looking at my boobs. Like I said, really ridiculous stuff.

• I can’t think of a number five. Um, the cashier at Trader Joe’s was really nice to me today. There.

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16 Jan

I’m having a completely crappy week.

One of my dearest co-workers, and most beloved people on the planet period, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The chemotherapy has weakened her immune system, and this past weekend, a lousy cold virus landed her in the hospital. It sounds like she’s gonna be released soon, if she didn’t get released today. But I was worried sick about her.

bunny

And then on Tuesday, my car broke down. Apparently, the alternator belt broke while I was driving to work, therefore my battery wasn’t getting charged during the day, and thus, the car wouldn’t start when I was trying to leave for a doctor’s appointment. The AAA guy told me this is fairly common, and easy to fix, but it was late in the afternoon, so the mechanic couldn’t get to it that day.

Which means I had to ride the bus home that evening. I’m not a good bus rider. I don’t like it. Plus, since I wasn’t expecting to have to ride a bus, I was wearing these:

shoes

Once I arrived at my stop, I still had to walk quite a few miles to get home… uphill. I thought I was going to pass out, and the cold night air was stinging my throat as I hyperventilated. And then I got lost. I was light-headed, discombobulated, and took a wrong turn, and then realized I had no idea where I was. I may have cried.

Okay, as I’m writing this, I realize how pathetic I sound, but hey, that’s why I’m writing it all out. But to try and cheer myself up, I will now attempt…

nice stuff about today:

• When I felt too cruddy to walk to the corner store, my wonderful co-worker Sharlese brought me not one, but two, Diet Cokes. She is the bestest-est-est, and I am so grateful I work with her.

• My job requires me to look up pictures of hedgehogs on the internet.

• My friends released a beautiful new album, and were on Jimmy Fallon last night.

• Even though it sucked to climb hills in them, my shoes are really cute.

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14 Jan

jennifer

concert #1:
jennifer o’connor & chris brokaw
the crocodile, seattle, wa
monday, january 7th

My first show of 2013 was also my first time to see Jennifer O’Connor play ever! And, good grief, it was just awesome. I don’t know how she managed to wake up early, fly cross-country, and still sound so crisp, and lovely, and perfect late that night.

Chris Brokaw opened the show, and he was also awesome. And he mentioned that the first Come album is going to be reissued this year!

chris brokaw

concert #2:
jennifer o’connor, chris brokaw, kimya dawson
timberland library, olympia, wa
tuesday, january 8th

The next day at work, I was kinda tired, but I also had Jennifer’s songs running through my head. As it got closer to quittin’-time, I kept checking a traffic app on my iPhone, thinking, “Should I? Should I?” Yes, I should, and did. I left right after work and headed to Olympia to see Jennifer and Chris play again!

I couldn’t resist the location either: they were scheduled to play at a library! Books and music? How could I not go? I got there a little late, and Chris was already playing, so I quietly stepped to the back, lurking by the “holds” section. Little did I realize, sitting right in front of me was none other than Lois, my hero!

lois and jennifer

Here’s Jennifer, and the back of Lois’ head. By the end of Chris’ set, a leak had started dripping into a bucket, adding a charming Northwesterly percussion to Jennifer’s set.

I was so glad I made the effort to catch both shows, because they were so very different, from song selection to even instrumentation, with Chris playing acoustic instead of electric.

I was sad to leave before Kimya’s set began, but it was getting late, and I knew I had a 60-90 minute drive ahead of me. I’ll see her again sometime soon! Thank you to Jennifer for being so sweet and for playing my request!

Anyway, Jennifer and Chris’ tour continues down the West Coast, and I highly encourage you to catch them! Jennifer has a fear of flying, and it’s been four years since she’s made it over here. Don’t let another four years pass without seeing her — getting to hear her voice in person is the dreamiest.

• Wed Jan 16 Sacramento, CA Naked Coffee
• Thu Jan 17 Anderson, CA Woodside Grill
• Fri Jan 18 Red Bluff, CA Red Bluff Art Gallery
• Sat Jan 19 Eugene, OR Sam Bond’s Garage
• Sun Jan 20 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios

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3 Jan

richard ayoade + noel fielding = happy janice

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a few nice things, and that’s all

2 Jan

My chronic insomnia led me to bad food choices which led me to feeling super-gross this evening. So, just a quick list of nice things from today, and then I’m done.

nice stuff about today:

• My adorable neighbors who all came to my aid when my car door got frozen shut! And then my next-door neighbor stuck around to help me scrape the ice off my windows. I am so lucky to live near such nice people, and I hope I can someday help them the way they’ve all helped me.

• Kelly gave me a heads-up about the Nicole J. Georges signing at Elliott Bay Books later this month! Her Invincible Summer zine is one of my all-time faves, and I cannot wait to get my hands on her new memoir, Calling Dr. Laura!

• Jen sent me a link to this Chi’s Sweet Home desktop background which is just what my KEXP PC needed for the new year!

• Learning at work that the kid who formed the band Vegetarian Meat went on to work at Burger King.

• Finally earning enough Santa Coins to buy Santa’s Little Helper in that horribly-addictive Simpsons iPhone game.

happy new year and stuff:

1 Jan

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to try and write here more often, so here we go:

• Someone on Twitter pointed out that Copacetic, Velocity Girl‘s debut album (and the namesake of my zine), turns 20 this year. To celebrate, I’ll be spotlighting a different song from that album every month, starting with the album’s opening track:

• This evening, I had a weird desire to listen to the 1990 Echo & the Bunnymen album Reverberation, which doesn’t feature Ian McCulloch on vocals. I had the cassette as a pre-teen, and liked it, despite Ian’s absence. Re-listening to it tonight, it’s pretty weird:

nice stuff about today:
• New Year’s Day brunch with Mike at the Wayward Cafe, and being Table #13 on ’13.

• Finding this awesome Solex cover of “The Cutter” when I fell into my Echo-and-the-Bunnymen-YouTube-wormhole.

• The latest comic from Gabrielle Bell.

• Watching Richard Ayoade hosting “Never Mind the Buzzcocks” with Noel Fielding, thanks to Heather!

• Realizing there is something fun happening every weekend this month.

why i funded chickfactor 17

17 Nov

I wish I had written about this soon, because the chickfactor zine kickstarter ends in SIX FREAKIN’ HOURS.

But basically, copacetic zine would not exist if not for chickfactor. The Janice you know today would not exist if not for chickfactor.

I was in high school when I read my first issue of this now-legendary zine. I was living in Texas, and was the only person I knew listening to Heavenly, Small Factory, Unrest, and (hence the name of my own zine) Velocity Girl. Reading chickfactor transported the awkward-teenage-me to the glamorous big city. Gail’s gorgeous photography combined with the conversational-style interviews by her staff made me feel like I was right there with them, sipping cocktails and listening to 7″ records. By my senior year of high school, I had started copacetic, totally chomping on the lowercase title thing.

I can’t even begin to describe what an honor it is to be included in the upcoming 20th anniversary issue of chickfactor. Please consider pre-purchasing an issue today, so we can help Gail hit her goal, and help influence the next generation of pop music lovers. <3

susie ghahremani art show opening this friday!

5 Aug

One of my dearest pals is having an art show in Portland, and I am so excited!

Longtime friends of copacetic will immediately recognize Miss Susie Ghahremani for her Boygirlparty® line of artwork and products that we used to carry at copacetique.

Her solo exhibit “Clear Skies and Cloudy Days: Artwork and Explorations” will be on display at the Land Gallery in Portland, Oregon from August 10-September 2, 2012. There will be an opening reception on Friday, August 10th from 6pm to 9pm, and I can’t wait! See you there!

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10 Jun

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