Posts Tagged ‘Mike Doughty’

Apophenia

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Some things I’d like to think took inspiration from Timely Persuasion, but probably didn’t:

LOST – “Across The Sea”
The recent “Across the Sea” episode of LOST features two nameless main characters.  The only named character in TP is Nelson, the alleged bad guy. But is he really bad?  The only named character in this LOST episode is Jacob, the alleged good guy.  But is he really good?

Carter USM – The Drum Machine Years
On this live concert album by my favorite band, Jim Bob introduces the song “Spoilsports Personality of the Year” by saying “This song goes out to … a younger me.”  Messages from a future self are a recurring theme in TP.  Is Jim trying to reach his 30-something self?

Mike Doughty – Sad Man Happy Man
In the song “Pleasure on Credit” Doughty sings “I’ve got fun fun persuasion, smart girl not the crazy one.”  I have this image in my head of him sitting on his couch while riffing on possible lyrics and noticing his copy of TP lying unread on the coffee table, giving inspiration to these words.  Probably not true, but fun to imagine as a dramatization.

Delusions of reference aside, I do realize that these are all more than likely coincidences.  However, I also know that Damon Lindelof, Jim Bob, and Mike Doughty are all aware of TP — I just don’t know if they’ve actually read it.  So maybe… :)

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Of The Year – 2009

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

I’ve always wanted to “officially” track a best of the year music list, and figured here would be the most appropriate place to do it.

1. Sad Man Happy Man — Mike Doughty

I had huge expectations going in after an interview said this would sound like Skittish & Rockity Roll, and Doughty delivered in spades. My sister calls it “Soul Coughing Unplugged” which is a decent description. Just Doughty doing what he does best and knocking it out of the park.

2. Dark Night of The Soul — Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse

The Wilco-esque tale of an album that nearly wasn’t might give this bonus points, but regardless it’s still a masterpiece. Still a little odd when I get caught singing the song with my own name in it though…

3. Far — Regina Spektor

I’ve always kinda liked Regina, but now I love her. Heck of a live performance too.

4. Monsters of Folk — Monsters of Folk

Supergroups are tough. Always the best intentions, but hard to pull off. This one is greater than the sum of its parts. I especially loved the unexpected electronic feel to the lead track, defying expectations from the start and inviting a closer listen.

5. Up From Below — Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

A fun, whimsical, magical mystery ride. Much respect for an album that name-drops a Beatles song while really deserving it as a descriptor.

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Mike Doughty’s Hand(writing)

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Had a couple of recent questions about the font on the setlists in the paperback, which caused me to realize I never blogged about the origin of that in any detail. Could have sworn I did, but a quick scan of the archives proves otherwise. Here we go:

Once upon a time a designer named Chank Diesel put together something called the Rockstar Font Project. He basically took handwriting samples from musicians and turned them into fonts.  Participants included Mike Doughty from Soul Coughing, Kelley Deal from the Breeders, Steven Drozd from the Flaming Lips, Mark Sandman from Morphine, and Everlast from House of Pain.

Being a big Soul Coughing fan I downloaded the Mike Doughty “Wichita” font shortly after it came out, messed around with it for 10 minutes, and then forgot all about it since I didn’t really have a practical use for it. (Origin story in Chank’s own words is available at WBR.com)

Mike Doughty's Handwriting, Ghostwriting for Local Boy

Mike Doughty's Handwriting, Ghostwriting for Local Boy

Flashforward a decade. While working on the remastered layout of Timely Persuasion with Bryan Davidson we hit upon this idea of doing the Local Boy setlists in a handwriting font.  Originally we tried the Apple “Marker Felt” font, but it felt sort of cheesy and overplayed.  I suddenly remembered Wichita, and miraculously managed to copy it over each time I switched computers over the years.

I emailed Mr. Diesel regarding permissions and he was super cool about it, as was Mr. Doughty when I let him know of his inspiration.  And there you have it.

While we’re on the subject of Mike Doughty, check out his amazing new album Sad Man Happy Man.  I know this sounds odd coming on the heels of my Benji Hughes post, but this is another of those rare, expectation-defying albums I just can’t get enough of.  Beats out Dark Night of the Soul for my album of the year crown, and when the newness clears might even give Skittish a run for its money on the “best album ever” front.

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