Archives for August 2008
sunday social #19 – in due time
31 August 2008 | house, life, music, sunday social | No Responses
So this past weekend was an interesting one. No getting out of control, no crazies nights, just very relaxed. I went back to Muskegon on friday and stayed until sunday. I saw the family, played a little golf and did not go tubing. Instead I opted for band practice which was long over due with a drummer. At this point I don’t think we will make the battle of the bands but the attempt for it was exactly what the band needed. We haven’t practiced as full band yet and don’t even have a name let alone a demo recorded. It OK, all in due time. I just like the fact the ball is finally beginning to roll on this one.
The other thing that made this weekend interesting was that I stayed away from the alcohol. Honestly it was a little tough being labor day weekend. Even though it was the perfect day for it, I am somewhat glad I didn’t go on that tube trip. The outcome probably wouldn’t have been good. But for now, its back to the grind at work. Well, and home. I have to finish cutting down the tree in my front yard. Unfortunately, I only have a couple days off until the end of the year, so fun certainly awaits.
eat the vinyl, bury the bits
30 August 2008 | music | No Responses
In all honesty, I love the lawrence arms. I discovered them about three years ago and have been hooked since. Yet, after reading this article, I can’t help but think this is a desperate attempt to sell more records. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to survive on making music these days. Especially on an independent label. I am just amazed at the resurgence of vinyl record versions lately. The underground music scene has been doing this since day one. And now its seems more successful than ever. Or maybe its more on the forefront because CDs are on their way out. I just wonder why the major labels haven’t caught on yet. Maybe there’s no market for vinyl versions of Madonna’s latest record? Sound logical.
Labels like Fat wreck chords and Suburban Home Records seems to be running with this. They’ve done things like releasing all of those Me first and the gimme gimme square dance record series and they sold out in a heartbeat. Along with the reprints of some of their first records. So is this the new business model for independent record labels? Not only vinyl but the special edition versions of previously released recordings? Its seem logical. You can’t download a vinyl LP or special-packaged CD. I personally love the idea of getting a digital download version with the purchase of the the vinyl. I wish every new record was available this way.
But it seems not everyone is jumping on this band wagon. Again, it appears to be the major labels. I read another article about how some artists aren’t even giving their music to iTunes and gambling on the future sales of CDs. I think that’s only a matter of time. ACDC will thrive for a while on their older fan base who don’t know how to use iTunes, or bit torrent, or a computer at all. Kid rock is another story. My theory is as soon as he writes hit of his own, he and his management will be singing another tune (pun totally intended).
sunday social #18 – joe's place
25 August 2008 | music, sunday social | No Responses
You ever dreamed about a thousand naked women woman screaming and throwing little pickles at you? I personally haven’t, but after watching real genius this past weekend, something makes me wish I did. The popcorn, the water slide. It all makes me wish I was a bit smarter that I actually am. It was probably my most memorable role of Val Kilmer. Absolutely classic.
In other news I am trying to detox my body from a wild weekend. I am also still trying to figure out this kegerator things. Something just isn’t working correctly. I got mad hiccups. Its OK though because I brought Dave on board to trouble shoot a few of these things I would never get around to doing on my own. He did do a number on the bar hot line though. Unfortunately because of this my front year still looks like a tornado went through it and something tells me my neighbors have something to great say about it but aren’t.
In even other news, I was a part of a semi-rock-and-roll practice this past weekend. If all goes well, we can be a part of a local rock bash. I really don’t know about some of the other music that will be involved, but I am sure it will suck.
itunies. a bit lunely ehh?
22 August 2008 | music | No Responses
Lately I have been downloading a lot of music from the itunes store. Its kind of ridiculous how convenient it is to able to download a record by clicking a button then syncing the ipod and away one goes. Its hard to believe how long it took me to realize this. My only gripe about the whole thing is that this damn music is all drm’ed and shit. I suppose I could head straight to the amazon music store buy it there drm free. Buts its one more step I have to take to get the thing on my ipod. I can’t believe its come to this. I sort of feel like a lazy shit.
Another thing this brings to my attention is that I’m not buying CD’s anymore. I can’t say that I will never buy another CD, I just haven’t bought that many in the last few years anyway. I used to take pride in my CD collection (yet the more I look through them I realized how many have left their cases). Now all I want to do is buy cheap vinyl records and build my collection back up that way. I suppose this is a bit material and totally not simplifying my life, but I have to have something to show for myself. Why not a shit ton of records that aren’t even worth the dollar I paid for them?
I guess I used to feel like I was selling my soul to the music devil when I purchase digital records. Yet I have no problem downloading them illegally. I guess if I am going to pay ten dollars, I want something physical to show for it. Take the mighty ducks for instance – “its not worth winning, if you can’t win big”
sunday social #17 – northern michigan
19 August 2008 | sunday social | 1 Response
So this past weekend I ventured into some land I haven’t been to since craig’s wedding. That’s right, I headed to the northern part of the great state of Michigan. This time though, was spent even northern than the asparagus land of Shelby. Bear Lake, MI is a great place and I kind of can’t wait until I can return.
The rain came and went, but we drank and swore like sailors. And sailing we did. If you call sitting on an aqua patio for hours at a time listening to classic rock sailing. If their is one thing I learned on this trip, it to always wear your sun screen. Oh and to always wear your helmet.
I will return northern Michigan. Oh yes, I will return.
Boyz in the hood are always hard
14 August 2008 | gang, google | No Responses
It appears that Boyz n the Hood has been on television the last couple of days and I happened to catch a little bit of it. I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do after watching a film like this one is catching up on as much trivia about it as I can. The best place I have found for this is the internet movie database. Unless of course its an eighties movie and I usually choose http://www.fast-rewind.com. Then if all else fails, I look to the wikipedia.
Moving on. So I was watching boyz in the hood last night and I found some interesting information. Apparently, a couple of the side kicks in the movie died a young death after the movie release. One actually went to prison for murder and got killed there. But another interesting fast was the filming location of it. As I mentioned before, I was on a mission. According to a post on imdb, its on Cimarron St. between 59th and 60th St. in Los Angeles. They say all of the actors lived on the during the shooting of the film. Interesting tibit I thought.
So on to the good stuff. I did a little looking around with google street view and I think I found what I was looking for.
The Styles’ residence:
Doughboy and Ricky’s house is across the street. Its a different color now and if you notice in the movie, when the kids are little, there is no fence in the yard. Latter years its there. And now its gone.
One question still remains – is Tre’s father’s name really Furious?
I am the lumber jack?
12 August 2008 | Uncategorized, dumb ass, house | No Responses
I’ve been slacking on my sunday socials lately. But I do have news from a couple sundays ago. I had a tree that was broken in my front yard and it was time for it to come down. Ron let me borrow a chainsaw that we could get working. So we brought in some reserves and got a little crazy.
Now I have to wait for the chainsaw to get fixed to clean things up. I got a feeling my neighbors are highly disliking me right now.