album art

the grammy nominees were announced today and i was rather surprised by the nominations for best recording package. i've been a fan of the catergory since 1998 or so when skeleton key's "fantastic spikes through balloon" was (rightfully) on the list. though my favorites rarely win, it seems like this is one of the few categories that welcome good old-fashioned creativity and often include folks who (unfortunately) would never come within miles of a grammy (i'm rooting for menomena, or rather, artist craig thompson).

i was recently asked to contribute artwork for an album called "stunts" by my friends, and fellow fresnans, rademacher. tho the plan to print on digipack was sadly dismissed in favor of cost-effectiveness, the final product came out looking pretty hot. what do you think?







the music and the artwork are both very "fresno," which in this case is a good thing! listen for yourself. and if you like it, maybe you could do the right thing and give the band some money for it.

if any bands out there want to work with me to try and snag a grammy in '09, get in touch. ashod +at+ ashodsimonian +dot+ com

hometapes does it again

i've mentioned hometapes on this site an unprecedented three times, but danged if they don't keep releasing rad stuff. once again, and i can't stress how rare this is for me, i was drawn in by an album cover:



the album is neighbor singing by brad laner. as with the paul duncan album i wrote about last march i can't vouch for the music quite yet. brad used to be in medicine with my good friend jim who now fronts the radar brothers so i've got a good feeling, tho. and that paul duncan disc turned out alrite. and hometapes is slowly turning into one of those labels where every release is a must-have.

and that art! here's another piece i luv from josh keyes.

sedona, arizona

so this is it for the tour pics folks. i saved the best for last. the drive from flagstaff to phoenix to meet up with man man was so short we decided to take a scenic detour. we pulled off the hiway and were saddened to see that the road we were meant to take into sedona was a dirt road with a sign that read "4 wheel drive recommended." we decided that the road didn't look too bad and that since the 4 wheel drive wasn't "required" we would be fine. the first half was pretty mellow, thru forests and across babbling brooks. then we came to a vista and all of arizona was laid out before us. gorgeous! from there it was all downhill, figuratively as well as literally. we made our way down the cliff and subjected our minivan to some serious off-roading. it took us a couple hours of white-knuckling it to get back to tarmac. there were several moments where we thought we might roll off the cliff and die and several more where we felt like that minivan might just spend the rest of it's days rusting on the side of that mountain. luckily, we all escaped unscathed, but for all the beauty we were like, "f. this place, let's get the heck out of here."

the modern

in ft. worth, texas, sleeping states had the honor of playing the modern museum with st. vincent, peter and the wolf, mom, and some other rad bands. the place stayed open til midnite, the art was hot, the nite cool, the grass slightly damp, and the wine flowed freely...

italian rolling stone

my pal, stefano, sent me this little gem from the pages of the italian rolling stone. rad!

pattern is movement

tastemaking website, stereogum, just hopped aboard the pattern is movement bus. as noted a few posts down, we hopped on a few weeks ago and i sense this one is just going to keep gaining speed as the release date nears. i suggest you grab on before it leaves you in the dust. read stereogum's thoughts and grab a couple of mp3s...here!

the south (part two)

in the south they have:




tigers at truckstops,




swimming holes,




strange signs,




(lots of em),




strange weather,




shoney's,




cracker barrel,




and weirdest of all, cracker packs with only one cracker inside!!!

the south (part one)

i love the south. very much. however, this time the south was not very kind to us. still, it is a weird, wonderful world down there.



first of all, fuck murfreesboro. we got the heck out of there as quickly as possible and ended up here. unfortunately, there was no time to actually go into dollywood.




we were too busy driving FOREVER to get to this a-hole's house party. turns out it wasn't even his house. had we known we were only going to make seven dollars and not even get offered food or a floor to sleep on, we would've just rocked dollywood.




if it weren't for him, however, we never would have seen the majestic smoky mountains which were awe-inspiring.




things started to look up once we rolled into new orleans.




and after jello "shots," all the bad memories were washed away.




and replaced by good memories, like eating alligator on the bayou. apologies to markland who looks pretty goofy in this pic. i kind of luv it.

more pictures from tour

we stopped to pee in the rockies. it was AMAZING.




this is the place we played in chicago. we played with an AMAZING band called pattern is movement




in nyc, my friend richard took us out for AMAZING soup dumplings at a place called joe's in chinatown.




at chris garneau's house. notice the AMAZING artwork.




chris' AMAZING cats.

i feel like i should have more pictures but i don't. yet.

joshua tree

sleeping states had a couple of days off last week that we took advantage of by camping in the desert with some old friends. here's some pics.



me and dana and the desert.




giant jenga back at the camp.




watching the moonrise.




senon (radar bros/dengue fever) singing.




a mars bar banana that looked like the virgin mary.




um...yeah...

sleeping states american dates

i'm on the road again. come out and say hi if you can. i'll have books with me if you haven't picked one up yet. if you'd like to hear the beautiful sounds of sleeping states, go to: www.myspace.com/sleepingstates

Sat, Sep 22 Seattle Fremont Oktoberfest (AKA SPRINGBREAK !!!)
Sun, Sep 23 Portland Holocene (we’re playing first, don’t be late!)
Mon, Sep 24 San Francisco Bottom of the Hill w/papercuts and maps
Tue, Sep 25 Fresno Veni Vidi Vici (OH YES .)
Wed, Sep 26 Pomona The Glass House w/Voxtrot
Thu, Sep 27 Los Angeles Bordello w/Twilight Sleep!
Fri, Sep 28 Angeles Crest Campfire show for Jim Putnam’s 40th!
Sat, Sep 29 Drive
Sun, Sep 30 Still Driving
Mon, Oct 1 Denver Larimer Lounge w/Little Ones
Tue, Oct 2 Off / TBA Omaha??? Where you at?
Wed, Oct 3 Minneapolis Triple Rock Social Club w/Voxtrot
Thu, Oct 4 Chicago Metro w/Voxtrot
Fri, Oct 5 Chicago The Chapel (located at Lake Forest College)
Sat, Oct 6 Cleveland Beachland Tavern w/Helio Sequence
Sun, Oct 7 Philidelphia Johnny Brenda’s w/Helio Sequence
Mon, Oct 8 New York Mercury Lounge w/Helio Sequence
Tue, Oct 9 Cambridge Middle East Downstairs w/Helio Sequence
Wed, Oct 10 Washington Rock and Roll Hotel
Thu, Oct 11 TBA BALTIMORE SPEAK UP !!!
Fri, Oct 12 Norfolk The Boot
Sat, Oct 13 Murfreesboro! Boro Bar and Grill
Sun, Oct 14 TBA Um...
Mon, Oct 15 Atlanta Earl
Tue, Oct 16 TBA Who knows?
Wed, Oct 17 Austin Mohawk
Thu, Oct 18 Day Off in Austin? Hot Springs?!?
Fri, Oct 19 Ft. Worth The Modern (w/St.Vincent)
Sat, Oct 20 Lubbock!?! Jake's Sports Cafe!?!

end of the road

just finished up the stereo total tour and am leaving again on saturday - with sleeping states this time. i'll post dates soon but for now, enjoy some pics from the last month. no time to scan polaroids so these are all from the elph.

stereo total

towards the end of the book there's this great picture of francoise cactus, she of the amazing rock band stereo total, taking a dip in the atlantic ocean. it was the last nite and a perfect end to a tour that i managed for them a couple years back. after the show, one of those sweaty late-niters in some shady industrial neighborhood in miami, we donned our suits, grabbed some pabst, and wandered a few blocks over to the beach. the water was warm and wet, and warm and wet is as good as it gets. i have several amazing polaroids from that tour, but for some reason, that was the only one to make it into the book. on that jaunt, we visited a cheese factory in wisconsin, toured the rock-n-roll hall of fame in cleveland, attended the ship family's annual tri-b-q in los angeles, all while francoise strummed her ukelele and sang brigette bardot songs from the backseat. i can't wait to find out what this tour has in store. i hear she's bringing a trumpet! dates and a new mp3 (blatantly stolen from www.diskob.com) below. i'll be selling and signing books at all of these holes so stop by and get your mind blown by these freaks.

21.08.2007 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
22.08.2007 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
23.08.2007 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore
24.08.2007 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
25.08.2007 Boston, MA - Middle East
26.08.2007 Ottawa, ON - Zaphod's
27.08.2007 Montreal, PQ - La Tulipe
28.08.2007 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
29.08.2007 Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Museum
30.08.2007 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
31.08.2007 Chicago, IL - Abbey Theater
01.09.2007 Minneapolis, MN - Entry
03.09.2007 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
04.09.2007 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
06.09.2007 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's
07.09.2007 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey

and here's that mp3 i mentioned: "patty hearst"

too much italian wine?

i don't know if you find these reviews from foreign lands as interesting and heartwarming as i do, but i will continue to post them here as long as they keep showing up in my inbox. i hope the authors don't mind. they really are poetic and perfect in so many ways...

"The Funeral is arrived today!
I mean..the Real Fun..ah!ah!
Great book & great cd..
Wow..I'm listening to the cd..I think that the persons involved are really Friends (in the big true beautiful meaning of the word) cause there are no bad songs..and it's the first time that I listen to a compilation with no ugly songs..there are bands I've never listened to and are so great..
I've really loved books that speak about a hystorical music period but they are always of about 40 years ago..a nostalgic period of great psychedelic music..(for me..the Music)..and (do you realize?) reading/looking your book it's like stop the time (giving a hystorical period) and find my memories, my closet life, my music, my far friends/people that I met in this years (many times totally drunk)..so I feel your book so near to my life much more than many other things of every day..cause I live for music and dreams and art like you!
Last night I made a concert on the beach in the same place where the night before played Howe Gelb with Convertino & Steve Wynn..It's 5 years that Howe comes in Italy with his great blonde family and I always go to see him (I think he hate me now cause I'm always drunk and when I speak with him I'm very confused..)
The music makes us feel human being in the same little world..
ciao
Stefano"

in other news, i love it when my friends become successful (in this case, nikki from silversun pickups):

picturebox

the dudes who published my book, picturebox, have a spiffy new website which also features an interview with yers truly. you may peep it at www.pictureboxinc.com

pitchfork fest

festivals always confuse me. i kind of don't get why you'd want to sit in the hot sun and dust and see bands in broad daylight that are better suited to tiny rooms and colorful lites. i also cannot stand port-a-potties. that said, we were able to snag artist passes and poo in peace. for the first time since maybe lollapalooza 1993, however, i spent more time communing with the kids rather than huddled 'round the beer tent in the back. the reason for this was i manned a booth for my publisher, picturebox.



me and my handlebars had a grand time and made lots of new friends. i barely got away to see any music, but somehow i didn't mind. the (somewhat surprising) highlite for me was catching brightblack morning light play everybody daylight. i caught about ten seconds of steve shelley tearing it up on the drums during the daydream nation set and the moving yoko encore featuring thurston moore and thousands of lighters waving in protest to the war and um, that's about it. i will say this, the festival did a fine job of hosting quality vendors - dang near every independent label was represented, lots of fine handmade crafts, and a collection of the best poster art in recent memory. that said, i am surprised more people didn't bring money. it was so sad to see people flip out over my book and not have the money to buy it (at a discounted price even). at least i know they weren't blowing their money on henna tattoos or something ridiculous like that. anyway, thanks to everybody who stopped by to say 'sup and hopefully i'll see you again soon.

more reviews

as the reviews come trickling in, there are two specific kinds that really floor me: those from friends who i have toured with and those from girls in france. i will give you an example of each.

1. this one comes from steven sather scott of the rock band irving. he called the other day and really slathered on the compliments, but then i stumbled upon this on the amazon site (it's all sic): "i've never written one of these things before but felt compelled to after receiving Ashod Simonians "real fun". the photos Ashod was able to capture are at least as interesting as the many famous and even more forgotten subjects of this cross section of independent musicians on the road. i've had the pleasure of being with Ashod on the road over the last few years, and his pictures bring to life all of the stories, all of the memories, just like they happend yesterday. the reason is, he was there too! he's not just some hired hand to take photos of bands that think they're cool. he has played on stage, and sold merch to no one, and to thousands, and driven the late shift through west texas. Ashod has been paid in beer too! if someone wants to know what it feels like to go on tour... this book is it. all through the glossy eyes of a glorious polaroid!!"

2. and then this! (also sic): "I just wanted to say that I've received your book yesterday and man, this is amazing! The photos are so alive, so funny and beautiful. Even if I don't know all of these people it makes me really wish that I had!
It is also so touching to see some of my favorite musicians just messing around and enjoying themselves (i'm thinking of Elliott and Grandady for example); Plus, for someone like me who've never been to the United States but who's read Kerouac and Agee and is obsessed with music, this is a very, very precious document· I wish one day I'll enjoy myself as much and have some Real Fun! What you've done is just beautiful. It's for unpretentious, spontaneous and passionate things of this kind that I care about living. The music is also amazing, I've been listening to the cd over and over again since yesterday. thank you, cheers from Pelissanne! (France)"

magazine reviews are so booooring next to this stuff. please don't hesitate to keep the words rolling in - aside from the obvious ego-pepping, it really is nice to hear what your experiences are like. i never would've made the kerouac connection, but how rad is that???

should any of you be in chicago next weekend, i will be slinging and signing books out of a little booth at the pitchfork music festival. let's hang out! xo. ashod.

the demise of the record store

while record stores have been disappearing the whole of my life (ragin records in fresno & visalia, no life in hollywood, rhino in westwood), the two that we are losing this week leave me especially sad.

ozone in portland,or was a regular tour stop back when it was across the street from powell's and since moving here, it's less-moddy offshoot on e. burnside was a common stop for new releases. i s'pose it wasn't terribly special, and we still have jackpot, but still...

sea level records, in echo park, on the other hand, was less like a record store and more like an extension of my house. a trip there was not unlike a trip to the livingroom. like the record store in the movies, this one, more than any other, was blood. i could walk behind the counter and flip through todd's endless piles of advances or help myself to a beer from the fridge. nites would often begin there and, often times, end there, too. fireworks from the roof, sweaty dance parties, the lotus parade, dodger games, bbqs, art shows, instores...oh man...the instores. the first time i ever saw dios was at sea level. we ate hot dogs. i burned my stache on a pipe when little wings played. radar bros. silversun pickups. pine marten. kaito. daaaang!

i played once. sat on an ice chest and was brought to tears the one and only time i played "the goodthings," a song i wrote for pikul after he died. so emo. roddy from imperial teen/faith no more was there. i was so embarrassed.

as recently as my last visit, a random afternoon not too far back, i ran into no less than five old friends in the course of half an hour. granted, one of them was cutting hair in her makeshift salon upstairs, but still, how cool is it you could get your hair cut upstairs???

the end was inevitable from the get-go. days after they signed the lease amoeba announced the opening of their hollywood store. and then came all that downloading. i s'pose five years is actually not a bad run. and now that i no longer live there i've had to find other ways to fight the lonliness from noon to nine. i'm so ecstatic that todd is going to get his life back, tho i guess i'm also fearful that he'll have no idea what to do with it now. that scene from shawshank redemption flashes thru my mind, but i think he'll fare better than that old man dangling from the rafters. sea level, the institution, however, is leaving us for good and i just wanted to take this space to say so long and thanks and i'm lucky to've had you.

r.i.p.

bright eyes

while in nyc i took the plunge and bought a digital camera, an elph. it is cute but i feel so bad not lugging my polaroid everywhere. the polaroid one-step that i prefer is near impossible to find as of just recently so i fear this may be the end of an era.

here's a digital photo of bright eyes watching themselves on david letterman the other nite, sans that nostalgic polaroid glow...