i love the velvet underground. and i hope you do too. the side i just finished listening to:

candy says
what goes on
some kinda love
pale blue eyes
jesus

those are five absolutely fantastic songs. now on to side two.

current music: the velvet underground - "beginning to see the light"

worst song ever?

this is not an easy decision to make, and i no doubt believe that many songs could easily be considered "worst song ever." to make it onto the top five worst songs ever list, it has to truly suck. if there's lyrics, they have to blow major ass, and the singer's voice also has to be terrible. melody has to be corny, and if there's some sort of solo (guitar, keys, drums, etc.), it must be incredibly cheesy as well.

what made me think of this, you ask? here i am, minding my own business, reading daily news - protests in iran, a very serious, and scary, happening in the world right now (and i hope to comment about it later, as i have very strong opinions on what the iranian government is doing right now..) - when i hear this absolutely horrendous line in a song: she took the midnight train going anywhere. and i knew, oh, i knew. it was a line from my least favorite song ever..

journey sucks balls in general, but don't stop believing has to be the definition of what a shitty song is all about. the guy's voice makes me cringe. the lyrics are lame. the guitar solo in the middle of the song makes a pretty weak attempt at being badass, opting instead for the sucky, skill-lacking, standard rock ballad guitar solo i've grown to despise over the years. i hate this song so much. and it only got worse when i turned 21, when i was finally able to go out to the bars, and the song would come on around 1am, and all these dumb drunk girls and guys would sing this damn song at the top of their lungs. man, i'm getting annoyed just thinking about it...

so that's my vote for all time worst song. of course, it doesn't have to be everyone's - though it should - but i'm almost positive everyone has a laundry list of why such and such song is their least favorite.

now i'm curious. if you read this - i have no idea how many people read this - but if you do, let me know what your least favorite song is, and why. is it cheap trick's i want you to love me? paul mccartney and wings' band on the run? please let me know; i'm uber curious. i really hope your least favorite song isn't from an awesome band like led zeppelin, david bowie, or the talking heads. but if it is, so be it i guess. i'd prefer it be dashboard confessional or something. and if you think i'm crazy for not loving journey, you can let me know that, too. of course, i'll just tell you you're an idiot...

i'll try to round out the bottom five in a future post. band on the run is most likely making that list. maybe smooth, that santana song featuring the singer from matchbox 20. that song sucks.

current music: dave matthews band - "halloween"

all i have to say...

is suck it, red wings! way to lose game 7 on home ice. you suck. big time. congratulations. as an avs fan, i couldn't be happier. though honestly, i don't really like sidney crosby all that much- especially as i watched him keep his panties on and NOT play the 2nd and 3rd periods of GAME 7! what a pansy. but malkin's the sh*t..

so yeah. suck it, red wings!

current music: the beta band - "she's the one"

isn't it terrible when you think a song's lyrics go a certain way, and then you look them up, and it's actually saying something else? i guess sometimes it's a good thing (kerry always thought brick house went "she a brick, ow" - funny, but way off), but not always. case in point: "dreamboat" by hum. towards the end of the song, i thought he always said,

i know a girl who makes me shine
my dreamboat's leaving on a submarine
she packed a second set of tanks and her solar powered love for me

but that's not what he says! he doesn't say solar powered love; he says solar powered lung. that sucks. solar powered love is so much cooler, and so much more nerdy, which makes it that much better. still a super cool song, though...

but solar powered lung? damnit.

current music: hum - "dreamboat"

it's like crack, without the downside of rotted teeth and death..

the decemberists, plain and simple. i've been hooked big time since seeing them in concert tuesday. their new album, "the hazards of love," is so damn good. since thursday, i've listened to it probably five or six times from start to finish. that's pushing pathetic. but oh man, is it good.

and it's not like i haven't listened to anything else. i also listened to the mars volta's "de-loused in the comatorium" the other day, and forget cassettes as well. and pinback at work today. gotta love the ability to bring in your own music for work.

but still, listening to "the hazards of love" right now. what can i say? it's fantastic.

current music: the decemberists - "won't want for love (margaret in the taiga)"

traumatic experiences

it happened a while ago, but oh how it remains in the back of my mind.

i hit a tree snowboarding probably six or seven weeks ago. t'was not insignificant. a lighter colored tree trunk - trunk, not branch - blindsided me while i was boarding in the trees at copper with joe. it blindsided me hard enough to put a good sized dent in my helmet, in the area of my left temple. hard enough to leave a slight scar running under my left eye (i'm assuming from a connecting branch). hard enough to numb my face and hands for an hour. hard enough to think back upon that experience with a great deal of fortune that i had a helmet to wear, to think back and feel grateful i didn't die. hard enough for me to block all blackalicious songs from all my playlists, for that was the band playing on my ipod when i hit the tree. specifically i was listening to "paragraph president" on the blazing arrow album - an awesome album, and awesome song as well. *let me quickly state that although i do listen to music while boarding, i listen at a very low volume, and can hear everything/everyone around me.*

i cannot for the life of me listen to blackalicious. and it sucks, because i love those guys.

i tried to listen to them again the other day, but it didn't even last half a song. i immediately felt uncomfortable to the point i was nauseous, and had to change the song.

it's like a piece of me is missing. i just want to listen to "aural pleasure" and smile. but i can't.

bummer.

current music: the mountain goats - "the house that dripped blood"

my nuggets started their playoff run quite well yesterday, absolutely annihilating the hornets by 29. that's nice to see, considering melo had a really bad shooting night (though was good on the boards), and jr didn't start to heat up until the 4th.

in billups i trust..

i still have no full-time job, but interviewed for one last week. the interview went very very well, and i'm supposed to hear back by the end of the week. oh man i hope i get this job. it would be such a relief to not be burdened by the confines of money, or lack thereof. first thing i'm gonna do with my first paycheck? ummm i don't know. it'll either be a) buy a record; or b) do something nice for chantel. maybe get her some flowers or something, i don't know. oh and i'm gonna buy some new jeans. then i'll start saving up for another trip to china. i mean why not, right? if my parents still live there, i might as well go again. and it was soooo much fun last time. i just can't quit my job to go for 2 months again. though 2 months would be nice.

crossing my fingers for this job. and plus, then i can have money to move into a house with kris and josh. that way, we can play music all the time. it would be glorious! and speaking of music, my band, areopagitica, played the back room at the b.side lounge apr. 9 for yuri's night. it was epic! first performance at a venue, and we rocked it so hard! and the place was packed. i'd guess there were probably 150 people watching us. we played for about an hour and a half, barely stopping at all between songs. hopefully we can keep the momentum going, and do other shows in the near future. and also, with a job, we could afford to get into a studio and put down a demo. we have plenty of music - more than enough for an ep. we could probably do an entire album if we knew exactly how we wanted the songs ordered. but yeah, that area of my life is awesome right now. actually, aside from the job hunt, i'm pretty damn happy with my life.

good times, noodle salad. here's hoping it lasts!

current music: belle and sebastian - "mayfly"

gotta love st. patty's day. i'm not even sure if i'm going to the bars tonight to celebrate, but it doesn't matter. the coolest thing about this holiday is that it's non-exclusive. everybody's irish on st. patty's day. everybody wears green, everybody has a good time. everybody drinks nasty green beer. just don't drink too much; it looks nasty on the bathroom floor.

obama should temporarily change his name to o'bama. just for today. or forever, i don't care.

went to portland almost two weeks ago, for a week. aside from my clutch failing in eastern oregon and needing to be replaced for a tidy sum of $700, the trip was tickity tight. friends, ocean, waterfalls, wineries, breweries, lots of live music, and one sweet ass birthday party, and you've got a recipe for awesomeness. and chantel even made it out for a few days. she's terrific.. i don't know how else to describe her. she's really cute, and super nice. and she makes me happy. and that's what really counts. *sigh* wish she was here right now. oh well, good things come to those who wait. besides, i'm seeing her tomorrow.

job search is hopefully coming to a close soon. i interviewed for a job yesterday, and it went well. unfortunately this company, who is looking to hire multiple qa analyst such as myself, also is looking to hire a developer or two, has decided to hire a developer before a qa analyst, so the procedure has been put on hold for a week or two. i'm willing to be patient, but i also really really really want a job, and am getting super tired of watching my funds disappear slowly. especially with the clutch going out. i really don't want to ask my parents for some money, but i may be forced to do so if this job doesn't happen. but i think it will. they're looking to hire multiple analysts, and based on the job description, and skill set requirements for the job, i more than qualify. i'm crossing my fingers.

today is the first day since september that i've put on the air conditioner. it's ridiculously nice outside in colorado right now. i like it. i went hiking yesterday with dana, and it was fantastic. i almost forgot how awesome hiking up the flatirons from chatauqua park is. it's exquisite. i highly recommend it.

gonna make some soup, then see what people are doing tonight for the official party holiday. oh man, it's $2 pints at fox n' hound. mmm that sounds good, i think i might have to do that.

current music: boards of canada - "farewell fire"

playing music live is oh so sweet..

i am very excited. you could say almost giddy. because there's a party friday night in south boulder, and my band, areopagitica, is playing it. i haven't played in front of a crowd since (gulp) 2002, so i'm hoping not to get too nervous heading into it. but i think for the most part, since it's just going to be friends of ours, it won't be too nerve-wracking.

if you're curious, and don't mind listening to recorded music with poor sound quality, check out our page at myspace. here's the url:
http://www.myspace.com/areopagitica

current music: the beta band - "b + a"

i was contemplating my shower mechanics today. as i waited for the conditioner to work its magic, i had downtime. and then it hit me: i've been doing it all wrong for as long as i can remember. right now i use soap, then wash my hair. that's backwards. because conditioner's supposed to stick around for a minute or so, you really should wash your hair first. that way, while you're waiting for the conditioner, you can use your time wisely and use the soap. what have i been doing all these years? wasting water, and precious time.

wow, what a completely uninteresting blog. sorry.

current music: modest mouse - "perfect disguise"

le sigh

this has been a good week. i've got a crush for the first time in a while, and it's pretty cool. we've seen each other every day this week, culminating in me getting probably two hours of sleep last night. it was a good hardly any sleep. yeah i could definitely do that again. and wouldn't you know it? i'm not the only person in the world who has absolutely zero interest in reading harry potter, listening to country music, or dancing. of course, if i've been drinking, i'll totally want to dance... and look like an idiot while doing it. but i guess that goes without saying.

going to the cheeky monk tonight with joe to drink some belgian beer. i am very much looking forward to it.

why am i craving ramen? i don't know, but i'm gonna chow down.

current music: queen - "i want to break free"

screwed

i got screwed out of an interview for today. not even a job, but an interview. and not even an in person interview, but a phone interview. this guy writes me an email thursday afternoon, asking if i have time for a phone interview either friday or monday. i wanted time to prepare, so i told him let's plan on monday. i never hear back from him. so this morning i write him another email, making sure he got my first message, and asking if the interview is still on for 1pm. well it isn't. i immediately got back an email from this fucking guy saying they had already set their in person interview candidates.

didn't even give me an opportunity. so much bullshit. so unfair. i'm mad. if you've given me the opportunity to have the interview on monday, then fucking honor it. i'm gonna write him an email back letting him know how screwed i feel.

current music: the mars volta - "roulette dares (the haunt of)"

okay i'm going to play the "i'm so excited i got ahead of myself" card regarding my last post. inauguration day was today, not yesterday. uh, my bad. which makes complete sense, since i could find no coverage on it yesterday.

i liked the part in obama's inaugural speech where he said he would lend an open hand to anyone willing to unclench their first. i thought that was a good line.

today's been incredibly lazy. i watched daytime television for what seems like all day. it just might have been all day. so i'm gonna make up for it and either head up to boulder for the night, try to rendezvous with josh, or hit up stella's for some reading. i started reading thomas mann's doctor faustus again; such a difficult, but awesome, book.

...

just got off the phone with josh. a nice conversation, of course. don't think i've ever had a bad conversation with him. and at a mere 18 minutes, a very healthy length i might add when talking to him. i've had five hour conversations with him before, two hour conversations on the phone. we actually probably would have talked longer, but instead i'm going to head up to boulder. i'll bring my book, my journal, and my tunes. i hope to receive three good doses of all three by the end of the night.

current music: sigur ros - "svefn-g-englar"

inauguration day

today's the day! after eight horrible years, bush is finally out of office. i remember talking to tons of germans in 2003/2004 while studying abroad about how terrible he is as a president; i've been waiting for this day for quite a while, and the rest of the world has as well. i'm not being ignorant, and i'm not being anti-american. i love this country, absolutely, but life does not start and stop with the u.s.a. the sooner we realize that, the better. i recommend everyone to travel abroad, listen to what people say about politics, economics, efficiency, and acceptance. our egos are our own worst enemy.

i believe we can change. i have hope for the future. i do not know what the future will bring, but i believe it will be bright and beautiful. in obama i trust, and you should too.

current music: sigur ros - "hoppipolla"

i feel good today. real good. i woke up feeling great. had a ridiculous amount of dreams last night; melissa mitchell was in my dream, as was my band. we kept trying to play, but it was an open mic or something, and we could never get all of us on stage at the same time. and melissa was married with three kids. that's just weird; i haven't thought of her in ages. she was cute, really cute. i also more awkward pauses with her than anyone else i've ever encountered. i think travis could back me on that one.

but i feel fantastic. i got a couple new drumheads yesterday at rupp's - a 10" emperor coated head for my hi-tom, and a 14" ambassador coated head for my snare. the tom sounds fantastic; the snare head's going to have to stretch out a bit before the sound is really good quality. but my first jam with the new heads was a good one. hopefully it's a taste of things to come.

and tomorrow i begin my first babysitting job in probably ten years or more. only this time, i'm being paid to take care of my irish neighbor's kids for five days. wake them up, put them to bed, help them with homework, make dinner, and of course, hang out, play, and watch movies with them every other second. i'm actually very excited. we're gonna watch ace ventura. it's a movie every kid has to see, because it's completely ridiculous, and therefore totally awesome.

i just beat minesweeper on expert in 72 seconds.. not my record, but awesome nonetheless.

tried the oatmeal stout for the first time with hiner last night. the first one exploded in my hands, which means it wasn't cold enough. the second one was cold enough, and it was absolutely fuckin delicious. so now we need a name for it. suggestions? i was thinking perhaps percussive, or perhaps political. obama's inaugural oatmeal stout? it's a tough decision, for sure.

current music: the mountain goats - "oceanographer's choice"

...and life goes on

a good friend of mine from elementary school and middle school, a kid i played soccer with for multiple years, and unfortunately, a person i hadn't seen in quite a while, jordan berg, died saturday of a drug overdose. he was such a cool guy, really smart and really nice. i remember spending the night at his house and playing with legos; one time we made this awesome double decker raft (out of legos).

when i heard he had passed, i couldn't really believe it, and didn't know how to respond. i felt like i needed to tell someone, so i called charlie. as i told him, i could feel my emotions rushing to the forefront. luckily i was able to finish the conversation and hang up, but as soon as i got off, i lost it. i parked outside big bill's pizza, where i was dropping off a couple bombers of homemade porter for hiner and his coworkers to enjoy, and i just cried for about ten minutes. i only saw jordan once since going to college, but immediately i remembered all the reasons why i hung out with him back in the day, and it made me so sad that i never got in contact with him after high school. you don't think about saying goodbye to friends when you're young, because i guess you just assume you'll be seeing them again eventually. i don't know, maybe meet up for a beer or some pool, talk about old times, about how you used to hate playing the palmer divide falcons in soccer, about how their parents used to stay in their cars when it was cold, and honk when a goal was scored. i really wish i could tell him that he was a badass defender, that i used to look forward to hanging out with him and travis grothe on the weekends, play some street hockey, drink hawaiian punch. jordan, i never told travis you tried smoking in middle school.

i'm sorry i miss you now and not a week ago. if i had, maybe we would've hung out saturday night, and you wouldn't have taken that hit. maybe you'd be drinking a homebrew with me instead.

and as i returned home this afternoon, i stepped out of my car and realized that nothing else had changed. there's still crazy ridiculous colorado weather, junk mail in the mailbox, neighbors home from college, an ipa fermenting in the basement, and trash in my car. with one exception, that extra piece of trash, a napkin from the glove compartment, used to dry my eyes after getting off the phone with charlie. i wish you had been alive for this day - it was a good one.

i can't stop crying. this is ridiculous.

rest in peace, jordan. i'll miss you.

current music: ugly casanova - "smoke like ribbons"

today i'm driving up to boulder to hang out with matches and jeff, possibly josh as well, and possible even cain. i'm looking to go to trident, bart's records, and the boulder creek. and later tonight, i'm playing raquetball with hannah. i'll probably let her win, but that's not the point. while i might not have had any family around for the holidays, right now i'm surrounded by my favorite people, and for that i couldn't be happier.

so i've been thinking of some good music categories. i'll start with top 5 go to albums while driving.
blackalicious - blazing arrow
sigur ros - takk
mountain goats - tallahassee
underworld - 1992-2002
modest mouse - the moon and antarctica

honorable mention:
stereolab - switched on

try that out for size. gotta drive.

current music: people under the stairs - "the breakdown"

Follow me through a city of frost covered angels
I swear I have nothing to prove
I just want to dance in your tangles
To give me some reason to move
But to take on the world at all angles
Requires a strength I can't use
So I'll meet you up high in your anger
Of all that is hoping and waiting for you

i am jack's complete lack of surprise. sigh.

just wanted to give a quick shout out, wishing you all a very merry christmas. i stayed up to try and see santa, but the bastard never showed.

current music: neutral milk hotel - "gardenhead/leave me alone"

regensburg reunion

this evening was spent with nearly forgotten friends, the regensburg crew. well, the crew assembled was short a few key players, namely brett, jack, andrew, keith, and rachelle. but you take what's given to you, and i think i can speak for the whole group when i say we had a great time catching up. these are people i spent time every day with for an entire year while studying abroad in germany, and what was great about our little soiree tonight was that we barely missed a beat. diana's been in ukraine since september 2006, yet our conversations were as awesome as always. and then there was kristin, morgan, kristina, and mike, people i absolutely love hanging out with, but haven't since graduation. there's my main man geoff, finally back in colorado after a two year stint at grad school in illinois. he's a totally great friend; i've never met anyone with as much overall enthusiasm. he loves colorado football more than i love colorado football. he's the nicest guy you could meet, and probably the coolest guy as well. and of course there's katy. i love this girl, i truly do. she's real sweet, cute, has a great personality, loves hip-hop, has a few really nice tattoos.. yeah, she's awesome. i've also been by her side during some rather tumultuous events, which brought us incredibly close in a time when close friends were greatly needed.

so here i am, spending my days in littleton, and that's fine i guess. however, i've felt quite alone at times living down here, and while that doesn't really change after hanging out with this group of people, as nobody lives closer than 30 minutes to me, it does show that there are more than just a few friends colorado has to offer. and they're good friends, friends one would be willing to journey a bit for. diana lives closest to me, about 30 minutes away in downtown denver, with geoff living the farthest away, in fort collins. but these are people that i want to spend time with, people i've forgotten how great hanging out together is. holy shit, katy and i used to write poetry together. we were tight; she sent me a care package! that's the kind of friend you don't let go. and i can't wait to see them again.

i truly am blessed.

current music: radiohead - "airbag"

i don't find myself to be a cynical person. there are, however, some things that really irritate me, and sadly a few things definitely come out during the holiday season. is it just me, or is christmas music absolutely terrible? i can't say every christmas song sucks; i've always been a fan of the little drummer boy, and i had an awesome version of santa baby ft. snoop dogg, onyx, and other rappers on this lame christmas cd from about a decade ago. but that's about it. the king sings carols? terrible. amy grant sings her favorite holiday classics? i just puked in my mouth. i wish i didn't feel this way, because the christmas holiday's awesome. christmas lights are cool, giving gifts, putting a conifer tree in your house!! is totally awesome.

i've also determined i can't stand people that have accessories for the outside of their cars. best example i can give are those redneck conservative dicks who have to proove their masculinity by dangling balls on the back of their gigantic trucks. i know balls dangle - i have a pair - but i don't need to be reminded about it while driving in my car. one time i saw a guy that had balls on his truck, and a set of longhorns on the top of his cab. i don't know anything else about that guy, but i guarantee we would not get along. and today, in the spirit of the holidays and my disgust towards car accessories, i noticed a car with reindeer antlers coming out of the windows, and i couldn't help but mutter to myself, "you have got to be fucking kidding me." oh, a car that's a reindeer. i get it. very clever.

not to sound bitter during this entire blog, i must say i am excited about christmas coming up. i am sad i won't be with any family this year. that's never happened. i decided not to go to lubbock for christmas with my bro, and my parents have to stay in china for my dad's job. i do, however, have plans to spend christmas eve at the nelsen's, a cross hybrid holiday celebrating the awesomeness of catholic christmas and jewish hanukkah. we'll have lobster bisque, probably eat some pork loin or something else that is equally dank, and finish the night playing win, lose, or draw. and i'll be spending christmas night at my irish neighbor's house. naimh and noel are super cool, good cooks, and always have a good selection of beer and appertifs. and their kids, oisin, aoife, and eoin are also pretty cool too. i'm hoping to play some wii with oisin, maybe take him down in mario strikers or wii boxing. yeah that'd be fun.

i updated my ipod today. unfortunately my ipod (nano) is only 4gigs, so i'm not able to have all my music on it. so i have to pick and choose. gone is radiohead's amnesiac, justice's cross, daft punk's alive 2007, dave's before these crowded streets, two mogwai albums, two muse albums, white stripes' elephant, and brett's 80's mix vol. 1. that's a lot of really good music i took off, but sacrifices must be made. added is yeah yeah yeah's fever to tell, tom petty's wallflowers, beta band's 3 ep's, cunninlyguists' dirty acres, hendrix' are you experienced?, joanna newsom's ys, mars volta's frances the mute and tremulant, muse's showbiz, people under the stairs' o.s.t., blackalicious' blazing arrow, and modest mouse's the lonesom crowded west and the moon and antarctica. that's also a lot of really good music. man, i need a more spacious ipod. hmm, never thought i'd say that.

job searches suck with such a depressing economy. yeah, fuck job searching. i'm going to boulder, new music in hand.

hit you with the funk, it's like who cut the provolone.

current music: blackalicious - "paragraph president"

i was screwed by legos growing up

friday i went to toys r us to find a nerf gun for my 8 year old neighbor, oisin. he picked up my leaves while i was gone in asia, so i think i owe him something awesome. the biggest gun is always the prefered gun of choice to purchase, but there's a problem: it takes 6 - SIX!!! - 1.5v batteries to operate. that's fucked up, and who knows how long they'll last in a nerf gun that shoots out three darts a second! but i feel bad buying a nerf gun that requires a ridiculous amount of batteries, but aren't included of course, requiring in return this kid (or his parents) to buy batteries every time they go out. i think i'll get the second largest nerf gun; it's still kickass, and apparently shoots farther than any other nerf gun. also let me just say that nerf guns are awesome now, and i wished they had the cool ones now when i was a kid.

but that's not the only cool shit i saw at toys r us. actually, if you have time one of these days, i highly recommend going into that store; the nostalgia will almost choke you to death. lego owns the toy world. seriously, they have the coolest shit in that store. star wars legos.. you know i just missed the star wars period growing up. the first movies came out pretty much before i was born (definitely before i started playing with legos), and episode one didn't come out til my lego phase was over. but it kicks ass; they have ty fighter legos, and death star legos. haha i actually saw a darth vader mr. potato head. that shit was hilarious. but back to the legos... what legos has come out with these days makes me wish they did similar things when i was growing up. okay, example. they have limited edition sponge bob squarepants lego characters. tell me that's not awesome, and i'll call you crazy. i feel sponge bob is kinda in the same genre (though not quite as gross) as ren n' stimpy; legos could've created limited edition ren and stimpy lego characters! or powdered toast man, or the talking horse -- can't remember his name, the one from the rubber nipples episode. or even another show, like doug, or rocco's modern life. *sigh* oh well i guess, but it would've been really cool.

while reading the warnings on the gigantic nerf gun, it stated "do not aim nerf gun at the face," to which i laughed and said out loud, "yeah right, you have to aim for the face, otherwise what's the fun." this woman standing next to me promptly put the nerf gun package in her hands back, and left the aisle. priceless.

manic depression is touching my soul

in the 8th grade, i played in a band with travis lilley and andrew brown, and for the talent show we played purple haze by jimi hendrix. it was fantastic, and this is due to a couple reasons. playing good is not one of the reasons, because we honestly only played alright. first, playing music, specifically rock n' roll, in front of peers (girls) when you're 14 immediately makes you cool. we weren't playing trumpet, or alto sax, or the trombone, even though i think the trombone is a super cool instrument. nope. we were playing cool instruments, instruments that didn't require planning out breaths, instruments that were loud and in your face. second, we were playing purple haze, a super dope song that is disputedly about, well, a drug trip. the teachers were either a) shitting their pants hoping nobody understood what i was singing about-- that's right, i sang.. not too bad either -- because we were such innocent 14 year olds, or b) were smiling ear to ear loving the fact that we decided to play an incredibly popular song by arguably the greatest guitarist, and one of the best classic rock bands, in existence, instead of guns n' roses, stone temple pilots, or *gasp!* nirvana.

let me quickly say that any of those choices would've also been alright. nirvana would've been crazy cool, because nirvana were ridiculously popular then (cobain had only killed himself two years prior. quite sad, really). but we all loved hendrix more, probably because our parents beat it into our heads. and why not? jimi hendrix was an unbelievable guitarist, noel redding pumped out some seriously awesome grooves on the bass, and mitch mitchell, well, he just about did it for me. i remember listening to classic rock growing up; between the licks of mitchell, keith moon, and john bonham, it was at an early age when i decided i wanted to play the drums. purple haze was the first hendrix songs i learned, because it had probably the easiest beat. mitch mitchell is a freak when it comes to creating awesome beats. hey joe is a great beat; fire is fantastic; manic depression is absolutely fucking stellar, and probably my favorite beat of mitchell's. it was the perfect combination of oddities with a 3/4 time and triplet groove between the snare, hi tom, and bass drum. and of course the song itself grooved. truly magnificent.

mitch mitchell, the group's last surviving member, died this morning; he was found in a hotel room in portland, oregon. he was 61. i'm really sad right now. i've never been in the position where an influence in my life has passed. this is not to say a joke or two weren't influenced by mitch hedberg, or that my grandparents weren't a positive influence on me. what i mean is i've been playing percussion for 14 years, and the drums for almost 13. i started with jazz, and slowly incoporated rock/funk into my style; mitch mitchell constantly came out with awesome licks that meshed rock with jazz, and he opened my eyes to the limitless possibilities of using multiple styles to create beautiful drumbeat compositions. i mean, shit, my drumset is set up the same way his is.



rest in peace, mitch mitchell, and may your awesome drum style live on forever in those you influenced most. i for one am going down to my basement right now to groove on your manic depression and hey joe beats.

kerry and i broke up today. i'm sad; i wish it didn't have to end this way. but if your heart isn't into it, you can't lie to yourself, and you certainly can't lie to her. so i guess honesty prevails?

wow this is difficult. i feel like shit.

my marching fuzz folk hero

maybe just because i'm in the zone of listening to his music, but i feel like lots of things i'd like to say, he's already said better than i ever would have been able to. that's amazing, considering he's only had two albums to his name, and not one since '98. jeff mangum, the man, the voice, the guitar, the lyrics behind neutral milk hotel, creates amazing music, and stirs up fantastic feelings of happiness within me. if ever i were to write a movie script (ha), i would ask him to score it. it saddens me he hasn't come out with a follow up to in the aeroplane over the sea. but that's okay. because i love that album, and i'll listen to it for the rest of my life. i think it'll be the first vinyl i'll listen to when i get home. followed closely by the decembrists - the crane wife. or tool. ha.

as i prepare to go home after my extensive 8 1/2 week tour of the far east - and prepare to board an airplane for the 15th time (seriously) - i'd like to leave with a few lyrics from one of his songs, conveniently the title song of the album.

and one day we will die
and our ashes will fly
from the aeroplane over the sea
but for now we are young
let us lay in the sun
and count every beautiful thing we can see

what a beautiful face
i have found in this place
that is circling all 'round the sun
and when we meet on a cloud
i'll be laughing out loud
i'll be laughing with everyone i see

can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all

neutral milk hotel - in the aeroplane over the sea