The Minor Thirds to become even more minor

got this note from Chris of Portland, OR's the Minor Thirds:

THURS, DECEMBER 6: The Minor Thirds (along with, uh, some other bands, not listed on the McMenamins website) at the WHITE EAGLE 836 N Russell St (suspiciously near a yellow MAX stop). Show starts at 8:30, costs $4, and we go on last (11ish?). Some of you have heard the rumors, and sadly they are all true: Barring the unforeseen and miraculous, this will be our final show as an ongoing full band. There will be more tM3 shows -- most just me, some with some subset of the tM3 line-up you've grown to become fanatically devoted to, some perhaps with me and new people (possibly you). But our current levels of awesomeness are unsustainable and wreaking havoc on our musicological ecosystem.
For the good of the community, and bypersonal request of Al Gore, we are playing one last show as a five-piece. If you don't come see us next Thursday, then you will not see the likes of us again. See you there.
Yrs,Chris,and Charlotte and Jake and Casey and Martin.

So there you have it. The band that pretty much invented Saskploitation (though I was the one who named the concept, and have since become the number one Saskploiter) is calling it half-quits. Here's their video for their chart-busting hit from the Saskatchewan EP, and if you follow the "Aquaman" tag at the bottom of this post, you'll find an mp3 of a song from their latest and last album, Nebraska From Afar. If you find yourself in Portland on Thursday, go bid adieu.



mp3: "The Thieves' Guild" by the Minor Thirds, from their album Dishwasher Thief

Prepare to be amazed.

I love songs about places. I love books about places. Movies about places? They also rate highly with me. Maybe...I just like places.
I like to hear/read/see about where people live, and how they live there. I like the ambiguity of hometowns. I'm lucky, I have two hometowns, Saskatoon and Regina.
Saskatoon is where I was a child, and in my dreams, that's usually where you'll find me. In my subconscious, downtown Saskatoon is massive and metropolitan, and usually wintry. It's like the Gotham City of the 70s (as seen by young me in used comics bought in a stripmall on 22nd); diamond shops and theatres line wide boulevards below, water towers and gargoyles haunt the skyline above. So Saskatoon's not a real place to me. Not in the way Regina is.
My relationship with Regina is...problematic. The less said the better. I've got a lot to say about it, but not here, not now. I'll always love Saskatchewan, both real and imagined, we just need some time apart.
This has all been a long way of getting around to saying that Cuff the Duke is in Vancouver tonight, playing at Richard's on Richard's. If you're not working, you should go. They're a terrific band, and even more terrific live. I've been listening to their brand new album, Sidelines of the City, for the last week. It's full of songs about places, so how could I resist?

MP3: "Rossland Square" by Cuff the Duke

The above image is inked artwork by Frank Espinosa from the upcoming second volume of his awesome Rocketo series. Rocketo is another example of a comic that doesn't have to be "good" to be great. Espinosa's art is beautiful, and his ideas are epic, but his storytelling skills.... Well, they're less than perfect, but throughout the 12 issues of the first series (collected in two trade paperbacks) the narrative definitely gets better and I'm expecting big things for part two. RIYL: Jules Verne, Tintin, Curious George, Aquaman, Darwyn Cooke

Aquaman in New York City

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I've been so sleepy lately. The Minor Thirds (tm3) are a band in Portland, Oregon. They make lo-fi folk music. They once made an entire album about Saskatchewan that you can download for free!
Their latest album is about the Saskatchewan of the South, and it's called Nebraska from Afar.

If you want to have your mind blown, check out this cover gallery of Aquaman comics from the 1960s. Even though the stories were as tame and toothless as you'd expect from DC stuff from that era, from '65 to '71, Nick Cardy pulled off some pretty righteous feats of layout and design.




Mp3: "Aquaman in New York City" by the Minor Thirds