There's this show called Fishing With John, in which John Lurie, the guy behind this band, takes various people he knows (Dennis Hopper, Tom Waits, et al) out fishing with him. The show is pretty absurd, using musical cues in an attempt to make you feel confused or filled with suspense in scenes that are otherwise unconfusing or unsuspenseful. It's some interesting stuff, and I suggest you watch it, especially if you like this album at all.

John Lurie started The Lounge Lizards as a "fake jazz" band, meaning that they'd take jazz and mix it with other things, like classical, punk, R&B, anything really. I know nothing of jazz, literally absolutely nothing, as I am a student of ROCK, but it's pretty telling how this album reminds me of other, more modern, more indie, bands that I listen to today. This whole album reminds me a bit of The Octopus Project's somewhat-homage to Philip Glass, "Hexadecagon", in that many of the songs build slowly by bringing in several looping parts until it's a full on reverie of sound swirling around you.

I like this album a lot. It makes for great background music during my pursuits of studying programming. It's unobtrusive while not being totally boring. It's an all around good time, especially with "Yak" down there at the end of the album. It's just a damn shame Lurie has taken to painting bears saluting couples having sex instead of making music. His Wikipedia article mentions that painting has helped him deal with a disease that "may be malaria" but he is "90% sure it's lyme disease" which means one thing: John Lurie is fucking insane. I think he's a wannabe Captain Beefheart, to be honest, but at least Beefheart was actually ill. Oh well.

Big Edit: I have been contacted by John Lurie, who assures me that he does indeed have lyme disease, it's very serious. I feel like a big jerk for claiming that he might be crazy and not actually ill based on the content of Wikipedia.

Dear Stuyvesant - I was looking for something else and stumbled on your blog. I don't know what it says on Wikipedia

I once wrote on Wikipedia - "John Lurie's head is made of cheese and scientists believe it is older than the Shroud of Turin."

This entry stayed for over a month.

I have Advanced Neurological Lyme Disease. I have a small library of medical records to prove this. I don't know why you would write something so ugly that I actually have to respond to it and defend the fact that I have this horrible illness.

Some amount of responsibility and compassion would be nice in the world.

I was forced to stop playing music in 2002. I was stuck in my apartment for 7 years. i learned how to paint. They have gotten pretty good. Johnlurieart.com

best, John Lurie

A little lesson to me, and to anyone who reads this, sometimes it is best to err on the side of caution. I apologize to John Lurie, and hope I don't forget this, though I wonder if I really will learn: I read something I assumed was factual, that he wasn't clear on what disease he may have, assumed he was being a hypochondriac in addition to being a shut-in, and... well, I was wrong! I still feel bad though.