Indie Music and Baseball

- We went to the Patterson's last week for Guinness Floats. Great friends and great beverages. Whilst there Ryan loaded me up with piles of new tunes, an indie music Christmas if you will. Now, I have avoided a lot of this music over the past year or so. I'm not sure why. Some times I feel like most of the new hipstery stuff is just that, hipstery. It's bands with super clever names, super fuzzed out guitars, super compressed drums, and super out of tune vocals, and most of the time that's about it. But having taken the time to listen to what Ryan so generously bestowed upon me, I must say I have come around, at least 90% of the way. It's good. It's basically a continuation of what I used to listen to. I don't know where I quit listening to indie music. Maybe when I ran out of money, and walked into record stores to just look around. Maybe when I got distracted by life, and therefore put my money elsewhere. Maybe when I started listening to country for free on the radio. Not sure. All that to say... it's good stuff (90% of it). I've been particularly enjoying the following: Animal Collective, Atlas Sound, Beach House, Black Mountain, Bon Iver, F*** Buttons, Health, Jens Lekman, Panda Bear, Stars of the Lid, Times New Viking, Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, among others.

- The Gloyd family, also very generous, included me on a trip to the L.A. Coliseum to celebrate the Dodgers 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. This was a great time. We were part of the largest baseball audience in history, along with 115,294 other fans. A good time indeed, though the home team lost.



New Modern Classic.

Escuela

I'm in the lab listening to Boris very loud. I'm not really working. I'm looking around at other students. There is a guy with baggy pants and a hat on backwards. The hat still has the sticker on it. He is looking at myspace when suddenly he shakes a little, then his head pops, spraying blood and brains on the wall and on the heavy set girl next to him. She just keeps working. Everyone does. His body slumps forward. His neck stub smears the computer screen. Seconds later a girl across the room jumps up to scream, but before she makes a squeak her head explodes. This time everyone looks up, surprised when, seconds apart like pop corn, everyone's heads blows apart and there body's fall slowly left and right. I sit still for a moment. While pink mist settles around me, on my face and arms, I pick up my bloody ipod and change it to Flower Travlin' Band. The dead bodies quiver, begin to move, then slither. Before long the bodies are on their feet doing the skeleton dance around me while I bounce up and down on the table playing air harmonica. I slip on a piece of skull on the keyboard and fall off the table. The bodies continue dancing. Some step on me. Then more, jumping on me until I die.

Concerts

While taking a break between homework and grocery store, I thought it would be fun to try and remember the shows I've been to in my life. This may be a bad idea, as it could take a long time but it's something I've been wanting to do. Let's see.

Early Days (mostly christian shows)
Joel Weldon (4 times)
Steve Mills (3)
DC Talk
Whiteheart (2)
PFR (Pray for Rain)
Gaurdian
Bryan Duncan
Phil Keaggy
Steve Camp
Newsboys
Audio Adrenaline
I want to say Violet Burning at Knotts Berry Farm (unsure)
Dakota Motor Company
Sixpence None the Richer
The Prayer Chain (2)
Plankeye (3)
Joy Electric (3 unfortunately)
Starflyer 59 (3, opened for 1 time, right Josh?)
MXPX (4)
Danielson Famile (currently on Secretly Canadian)
Project 86 (2)
The Supertones (3)
Dogwood (2, opened for 1)
Value Pac (4, opened for 2)
Five Iron Frenzy
Ninety Pound Wuss
Upside Down Room
Driver Eight
Fanmail
Ghoti Hook
Slick Shoes (3)
Havalina
Pedro the Lion

Middle Days
Bad Religion (2)
NOFX (2)
Rancid (2)
Reverend Horton Heat
Aquabats (2 in Big Bear)
Green Day (1 and 1/2, I tried to sneak into one)
Less Than Jake
Bouncing Souls
Pennywise
Blink 182 (2)
Deftones
Unwritten Law
Lagwagon
Suicidal Tendencies
Anti Flag
The Toasters
Face to Face
The Vandals (2)
Weezer
Jurassic 5 (2)
Eminem
Ice T
CKY
Flogging Molly
Papa Roach

Latter Days
Jimmy Eat World (6)
OneLineDrawing (Far)
The Anniversary
Thursday
Cursive (2)
Dashboard Confessional (unfortunately)
Elliott (2)
Further Seems Forever
Bright Eyes (3)
The Jealous Sound (2)
MeWithoutYou
Owen
Mock Orange (2)
No Knife
Yellowcard (retard-ed)
Pop Unknown (opened)
Hellogoodbye (opened)
The Promise Ring
Death Cab For Cutie (11)
The Postal Service
The Velvet Teen (2)
Dismemberment Plan

Now it's after class and a few beers with Andy.

Minus The Bear
The Walkmen
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Ian McCulloch (Echo and teh Bunnymen)
Ian Brown (The Stone Roses)
Tears For Fears
Billy Idol
Franz Ferdinand
Berlin
The Cure (2)
Eisley
The Flaming Lips (2)
Wilco (2)
Coldplay
Built To Spill (2)
Dinosaur Jr.
Interpol
Muse
Air
The Killers
Bow Wow Wow
Duran Duran
Hot Hot Heat
Violent Femmes (2)
Psychedelic Furs
General Public
Devo
Jason Mraz (Douche)
Liz Phair (A-Hole)
Neko Case
Modest Mouse
Sonic Youth
Foo Fighters
Trent Reznor
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper
Tony Bennett
Paul McCartney (this...)
Brian Wilson (and this are tied for all time greatest)
Dick Dale
Dave Matthews
Bill Cosby (does that count?)
Gillian Welch
Devendra Banhart
Neil Young (2)
Jon Brion (2)
The Darkness
Boris (2)
Comets on Fire
Jesu
Mammatus
Sunn 0)))
Acid Mothers Temple
No Age (2)
Liars
Belle and Sebastian
The Pixies (over the phone, doesn't count)
Radiohead
The Sword
Six Organs of Admittance
The Decemberists
Andrew Bird
Richard Swift
Band of Horses
Om

I'm forgetting a few, but I'm tired and I hate this idea (3/18).

Now it's 3/19 and I'm editing.
How about bands that I've been in or been friends with, thus played with and seen.

Been in
Warriors for Christ
Barefeet
Myrrh
Puppet Van
The Wet Willies
The Aardvarks
Norpain
Dal Madar
Songbird
Broken Red Vinyl
The Comfortable Low
Ann Lynn
Rio Bravo
slings

Amigos
UNI
Plan 9
3 Days Out
Overrated
Metaphor is Audio
The Colour
We Barbarians
Cold War Kids
Old War Shirt
Mouse and the Billionaire
Bodies of Water
DMH (Genius. I have yet to see live. Please.)
Jambo Land
The World Record

Who Else?

Yup Yup Yup

I simply can't wait.

New posts on Modern Classic and Good Tile. Check em out! I'm a dork!

Sandwich

I rode twelve miles today. Whilst doing so I conquered my fear of intersections. I became a vehicle, using turning lanes and the like. Whilst doing so I had a female yell from her window that she wanted to eat me, to which I almost crashed trying to flash the ring. Looking back, I was probably just flattering myself. I'll bet I really look like a sandwich today.

(Turn and face camera 2)
"In other news,"

School is mutha f-ing demanding.

(Back to camera 1)

The neighbors/landlords have just moved their daughter and two kids into the upstairs bedroom of their unit. The one thats right on top of us. To cover up the annoying romping around in the afternoons, I've taken to playing loud music. It reminds me of being younger. When did I stop listening to my music loud? It's so much better that way.

I might have a job. Cross them fangers.

And... if you have money, come see some live music. Rio Bravo double feature in Ventura on April 5th. If anything come max out on the beach with some guitars and ice cream. Just do it. I will also be joining some old friends at Spaceland on Thursday night. Seriously, do it.

Out... of..... shape.

I rode Centurion up to the Colorado Street Bridge and back today. About six miles. Which is about nothing, but by entire body almost exploded. This sensation was a bit frustrating and even saddening, however it was also inspiring. I'm 27 years old. I'm supposed to be in the best shape of my life, and it's quite the opposite. I tell you this... not anymore. Not any damn more. I vow to be on that, or any bike three times a week. Next ride will be to the Rose Bowl. Eight and a half miles. Then maybe Art Center. Eleven miles. And I will continue this, until the amount of miles I ride match up with the amount of pounds I weigh. And so on, until I am riding a hundred and eighty miles a day and I weigh six pounds.

An ode to Bath and Body Works

Oh Coconut Lime Verbena.
Oh Eucalyptus Spearmint.
Your scent meets my nostrils,
in a flash of reflection.
Carry me back to that island
of sex and macadamia nut pancakes,
of snorkel masks and rental cars,
of tube tops and flip flops.

Real Draft

Well, the real draft in the not-so-real, not-so-expensive, not-so-keeper league. I think I did ehh. The Little Buttercups, as of now, look something like:

C - Ivan Rodriguez - Det
1B - Travis Hafner - Cle
2B - Ian Kinsler - Tex, Dustin Pedroia - Bos, Tadahito Iguchi - SD
3B - David Wright - NYM, Kevin Kouzmanoff - SD
SS - Edgar Renteria - Det, Khalil Greene - SD
OF - Magglio Ordonez - Det, Hunter Pence - Hou, Brad Hawpe - Col, Gary Matthews Jr. - LAA
P - Jake Peavy - SD, Rich Hill - ChC, John Maine - NYM, Jeremy Bonderman - Det, Curt Schilling - Bos, Mark Buehrle - CWS
RP - Trevor Hoffman - SD, Takashi Saito - LAD

Should be good times.

I just got out of Arch 12A, Visual Communications. It is a cool class. We are currently going over Euclidean geometric constructions, and playing around with our new drafting tools. It's great to finally be a part of the architecture program, rather than the general education program. I made a friend who has a psychologist wife, like I do, a pearl export, like I do, is a christian, like I am, is working and going to school, like I am, and was a humongous Tooth and Nail fan back in the day, like I was. That makes things fun.

On a more serious note, we would like to honor, in whatever way possible (this being a lousy blog), Amber's Grandpa Lee. After a long struggle with parkinson's and alzheimer's, he has gone. I did not know him well, but what I did know I enjoyed completely. He was a very funny, very curious, and very accommodating man. He was always busy, always on his feet working on something, which I respected. He had this perfect "old man voice" that he was always pulling your leg with. He was a good man, so if you think to, say a prayer for the family, and for Grandma Rita.

Mock Draft

I'm doing a mock draft in about fifteen minutes. Why do the other people who do these suck? Their names suck and their comments suck. I will try not to suck.

First night of school was tonight. I'm looking forward to this semester. Assignments that excite me so far are reading Upton Sinclair and going to the Gene Autry museum. Sweet.

Also sweet, is this article, entitled Disney Will Go Back To The Future.

Goodnight.

Presidents Day

It's presidents day, and all I want is one that I can be proud of.
I just hung up with Matty. We miss them. We will travel to New York City this summer and do many things. It will be fantastic.
Pauly and his lovely wife Jen came through the other night. We rode bikes and ate sandwiches and drank wine and drank beer and talked of days gone by. It's so great to see old friends, and to be reminded that they are just as wonderful as they were. Paul temporarily left behind Centurion.

On it I will attempt to hone my fixed gear skills. I might die.
I was wrong, school starts tomorrow. I am thrilled. Seriously.
I will finish playing backgammon with my wife now. I will go apply for jobs. Then I will go record more drums. Then we will go to a birthday party.

Feliz Dia De San Valentin

I got up at five this morning to have pancakes with my wife before she was off to work. It was nice.
My truck got robbed a while back. I lost $300.00 in tools. I hate the people who thought that they could take my stuff. Their brains are small and their faces are probably stupid.
I had my first Geo Cache adventure with Mr. Sycz the other day. As dorky as it may seem, it is loads of fun. Who doesn't want to treasure hunt?
I recorded some drums.
I went to the docter.
I'm still looking for a job.
Feliz Dia De San Valentin.

From Room 505:

On Wednesday we got a phone call from Amber's brother, who told her that their dad had a heart attack, and was in the hospital. He called again to tell us that things were looking ok, and that he would go in for surgery. We were thankful for the news, and were making plans to head out for the weekend to be with him during his recovery. Amber then received another call that he had suffered another heart attack, and that things were not looking good, to which we hit the road, and pulled into a Vegas hospital around mid-night. Today is Friday, and we thank God that we can say everything is ok. Charlie is recovering well, and on his second life, as the nurse tells us. We are sitting next to his bed as I type, chit-chatting and catching up. The nurse just commented on Charlie's mustache, and called it a "handsome cowboy cookie duster". Now I want one.

We want to say THANK YOU to everyone who said a prayer. We have been feeling very blessed by you, our friends, and consider ourselves lucky to be among such thoughtful and considerate people.

In other news:
- We saw Citizen Kane in the theater, and it was great.
- I did another big remodel in Big Bear. While I was there Amber came up and we shredded the slopes for one run, on what was probably the worst day of the season.
- Tom Petty won the Superbowl.
- School starts on Monday.

LOST

matt just left to go to big bear. i am very sad.
he will be gone all week. this is sad to me for many reasons, one of them being that he will not be here to watch the season premiere of LOST. i am really excited to watch it but i need one of you nice friends to please invite me over to watch it with you. i promise not to talk during the whole thing or ask you what is going to happen or to scream or anything along those lines. i will bring a treat of your choosing. i will owe you. ok, enough begging. call me!

we are going to see citizen kane at the beverly cinema. it is showing tonight through saturday. we'll probably go either friday night or saturday afternoon. it's only six bucks! if you want to go then give me a call or let me know in the comments section. see ya!

I Love CA... sometimes.

I'm tired.

Further North

I'm up in the snow workin for a couple days. I'm building a wet bar in a cabin. It's pretty fun. I had CMT on in the background today and the old movie Pure Country with George Strait was playin. It made me want to go back to Nashville, or anywhere out in "country" country, you know? Someday, again.
Amber and I have spent most of the last few days watching Heroes. That show is gooooood. I have a big crush on my wife. I have a little one on Claire Bennet. Is that weird? Babe is that weird?
My dad and I went to a hockey game at the Honda Center. We had tickets to sit in Bob Iger's suite, and it was sweet. As you probably agree, hockey is no good on tv, but live it's pretty bitchen.
I've been pulling out my old sketch books in search of a little inspiration to start again. It's working a little bit. Now I just need to pull out some time.
We got our Disneyland passes the other day, and I puked a bit in my mouth with excitement. Walt is wearing a ring with Mickey on it at their statue in the hub. Check it next time. It's really fun.
At the moment I'm sonically digging Johnathan Rice, Levon Helm, Mel Tillis, Waylon, and mother flippin Om, who I will see with Ryan very soon.
I am going to drink rice wine with my brother.

2008

A good time was had rolling into the new one. I however regret that I rolled a little too hard into the new one, and as a result missed out on some of the later mentioned highlights. I find this funny as I would like to spend 2008 rolling just a little bit softer. There is still plenty of time. All that to say, it was great seeing the people that we got to see, and hearing from the people who were doing the same thing all around the world.

Some new Christmas times and New Year times on the flickr.

This weekend we do Anaheim, with some Ducks on Friday and some Disneyland on Sunday.

2007

Wow. We should be fired from the blogging community for this kind of behavior. Needless to say we've been busy. But who hasn't?

Highlights:

Being busy.
Our road trip to Portland.
Moving down to the big city.
Going back to school.
Owen discovering the drums.
Being re-introduced to the genius of country music.
Remaining happily hitched.

This coming year we look forward to:

Getting rich.
Getting smart.
Maybe getting pregnant.

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice."
- T.S. Eliot

Here's to 2008!

nobody knows me, by lyle lovett, might just be the most beautiful song i've ever heard.

What are you looking at?

"Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn, the clean cool chill of the holiday air, and an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer."