178: We Got A Way We Like To Do Things

It's Thursday, so here's this week's mini-song!

"My Envy Day"

I was in a terrible mood when i recorded this yesterday. I had an eye doctor appointment in the morning and left largely blinded by the dilating drops they put in. So since i couldn't read anything on the computer screen, i picked up the guitar and tried to write the most relaxing Red-House-Paintersy song I could. Now i can see.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about Lost tonight. I admit it.

177: You Want Her, She Wants You

Way back when in 2003 before the wonderful world of Garageband entered my life, I recorded stuff onto this portable studio thing called a Zoom. I can't seem to find any evidence of it ever existing. Just as well. It was handy... while it lasted. It broke after a few months of heavy use. I just unearthed 4 random covers I recorded on the thing. No real rhyme or reason for these choices. I think maybe I was trying to brainstorm a good cover for Hey Mercedes to tackle. In the end, we settled on "Overkill" by Men at Work. And then we broke up. Man, that would have been fun.

Here's what I found. It's sort of embarrassing and the quality is subpar, but it was fun...

Francis Scott Key (menthol cover)

Giants Chair (shiner cover)

Impossible Figure (jawbox cover)

No One Is To Blame (howard jones cover)

Since i couldn't find a damn photo of that thing, here's an iphone photo i took of Cornelius last week. Soon my review of the show will be here. Soon.



I now enjoy the music of Van Morrison. Man, I'm getting old.

176: Hummingbird I Wanna Hug You The Most

It's Thursday and that means Threadless mini-song!

"The Big Big Shake"

Starts off nice enough but gets a little crazy at the end. Couldn't help it!

175: Beep It

Seeing Cornelius tonight and that's pretty gosh darn exciting. Please enjoy this photo from the last time...

174: I Feel Unsteady

I just finished an article for the February "sex" issue of UR Chicago. It's entitled Modern Mood Music: Gettin' Beyond Let's Get It On. I think it turned out great! We'll see what they say.

Hey, guess what?! I'm going to be an Uncle! My sister, pictured here on the right, is pregnant! My plan is to be the coolest Uncle ever. Much cooler than that Uncle on the left, my brother!

173: You Don't Know What I'm Going Through

I've consistently awakened this week with the song "The Opposite of Hallelujah" by Jens Lekman in my head. Ever heard it?

Have a big weekend ahead. Tonight I'm attending a birthday party... for a dog, and then a small show with the amazing William Elliot Whitmore. Tomorrow, after a visit to the eye doctor, i'm going to hang out with a bunch of bulldogs. Sunday, I'll watch Green Bay and San Diego win... I can't decide whether I want New England to win so that Green Bay can hand them their arse in the Super Bowl... I guess that would be more satisfying. Sheesh, it sure is strange to be rooting for the Packers. It's just the way it goes when you just start hating another team more...

Here's a picture of Chris Common & Mike Shumaker in a Salt Lake City hotel room while we were recording the "I'd Rather Be Wine Drunk" CD... Enjoy.

172: Jam Pack!

I usually post these mini-songs on Thursdays on Threadless, but I'm going to post it today here... just to see if anyone over there notices. Or even reads this. The powers that be sprung for a bunch of Garageband Jam Packs for me: Rhythm Section, World Music, and Voices. The first two I haven't explored but Voices... wow. Most of the samples are hilarious and TERRIBLE. Listen to this amazing bit by "Cody" : cody lyric 25. Lol, lol, lol. Oh Cody, we thankfully will never know thee.

Luckily I found an ok one to use in this song...

"In My Pix"

... This is a photo taken from the front porch of wherever Minus The Bear mixed Menos El Oso while I annoyed them and tried to record American Diary. Robert Lang! That's it. Enjoy.

171: Blow Out That Cherry Bomb

I got an iPhone for christmas, did i mention that? Hence, i'm pretty pleased with the new update today. Customizing the homepage is crucial because if I had to look one minute longer at the "stocks" button... argh. You know, it would be great if you put this blog onto your homescreen. You can use the following picture as your icon. Enjoying ale at the oldest pub in England. Please enjoy it.



I love this song.

170: We Ain't Superhuman

Just stopping by to post this picture of my favoritest restaurant in all of London. Well, it may not be the best but it sure hit the spot. Please enjoy this as much as i do.

169: Save Your Film and $15

A lot going on today. We were paid a visit by Johnny Kastl here today. Doug Murphy from Scrubs! Very cool guy and BIG Threadless fan. We even got him to take a product photo for next week...

As if that wasn't enough excitement, I also interviewed Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Surprisingly he did remember the few shows that At The Drive In played with Braid. Including a fest in Denton TX... at some guy's house. He remembers taking a photo of the 10+ vans in front of the house. Ah, those were the days. These days, he's a soothsayer and i blog about it.

Please enjoy this photo taken by Craig Shimala from the last Hey Mercedes show:

168: The Opposite of Hallelujah

Hey look, it's another Threadless mini-song. Everybody clap your hands to...

"Robbed In Rio"

And enjoy this picture of merch monkey...

167: Don't Think I Don't Know What Suits You Well

Can we talk about how great the Piebald We Are The Only Friends We Have album is? Specifically "The Stalker"?

Yeah, I kinda lose it every now and then. But this day has been really great so far. Feeling productive, proactive, and well... pro! By 5 I should have a Threadless song ready (to post tomorrow) and i'm also going to be doing a (kids) song for the lead shirt on the Threadless Kids site. Every. Friggin. Week! Yeah!

Speaking of losing it, please enjoy this picture of me, as Bret Michaels, enjoying some delicious Bacci pizza.



I am seriously considering a collaborative effort with musicians from Minneapolis and Detroit. Just gotta shut up and start it.

166: It's a Tough Time

It's a tough time right now and as usual we gonna work our way through it. Yes. No junk January is going swimmingly well. Am I the only person that is always carrying something for some reason?

I bought an Alesis Micron. Basically to use for this show in Singapore last September. And then I plugged it in while I was there and the power adaptor exploded in a blaze of glory. Please enjoy this photo of a family of bulldogs.



So yeah, it's been 4 months since Singapore and I finally decided to get the old Micron working again. Bought a new power adaptor and it works! Hooray! The problem is that at any given time there are too many things that can be done and that drives me crazy. There will never be enough time to get good and proficient at anything it seems. Procrastination is the fear of rejection. Starting something is just another path to a job half finished. Now that's the spirit.

Here's something i wrote a long time ago (i hope) but there's no date so who knows: "i missed you last night and i miss you now. is it safe to say that i've never felt this safe since that blue june balloon went and made the break? Day fourteen, if you know what i mean. so when i'm mean, i don't mean it. i'm just sick." I then go into some nonsense about getting in trouble for using the internet. This would lead me to believe this episode happened while i was supposed to be temping somewhere or other. Some crappy phone job or maybe some data entry. I like the last line, though: "I'll fly right through these fucking things." Don't know what i'm talking about. Probably better that way.

That.

ADDED:

Have you ever been listening to an amazing song and really getting into it when suddenly... your phone rings and you look at it and are like "nuh uh whoeveryouare, nothing's gonna stop Daryl Hall talking about his dreams comin' true!" ? Dammit, its been a rough one. The first truly awful day of the year.

165: I Drink Your Milkshake!

Saw There Will Be Blood last night. Wow, that's impressive. I left the theater thinking it was pretty good... woke up this morning thinking it was incredible. I guess it's one of those types of movies. A lot of people are mentioning the huge Kubrick influence and I agree 100%. The entire first sequence (even the music (think: monolith)) was a whole lot like 2001. And the whole set up of the last sequence (esp the establishing shot of the bowling alley) had Kubrick all over it. Daniel Day-Lewis is just amazing. And in the hands of Paul Thomas Anderson, you know you're in for something special. I could talk more about it and i probably will. Hell, maybe i'll see it again.

For now, please enjoy this picture of me in front of the little convenient store from Shaun of The Dead.



I am thrilled that the Chargers won yesterday. This means that Jacksonville takes on New England. Refer to the "underdog" line of Saturday's post to see which team i'll be a-rooting for.

164: No Junk January

I hereby proclaim No Junk January. The first of 12 steps, one per month, to help you (and me) get some organization into your lives. Personally, I've been cleaning all day.

I like the underdog. Go Washington. Go Jacksonville.

163: You'd Think That People Would Have Had Enough

I will soon begin the arduous and annoying process of digitizing all of my old tour photos / flyers / any dumb shit i want to keep for some reason. I'm also trying to find pictures of myself in every state. Merely for my own personal enjoyment and sense of accomplishment. Hardly even worth the mention.

For now, enjoy this picture I took a while ago... and try and figure out the location.



Bridge looks familiar, don't it?

The very first label that I was on now has a myspace page. The label is long long gone but it's cool to look back at where it all began for me as an impressionable lad of 14. I wouldn't be lying if I said the band Gauge was single handedly responsible for making me want to actually get on a stage (or whatever was available) and play music.

Please enjoy these two Gauge songs. Two of my personal faves.
Blunchlox
King Soon Swing

If someone wants to send me an mp3 of "San Andreas" by Portastatic, i'd love it.

162: Lessons We Haven't Learned Yet

So, Netflix must be reading this blog because Once finally showed up yesterday. It's been the most built up movie for me in most recent memory. I enjoyed it and I'm glad I saw it but... i dunno. It was charming for sure but it had its fair share of cheesiness pretty much condensed into the entire "recording session" sequence. Maybe I have too many bad memories... but it was tough to watch. Maybe I just hate recording.

Hey look, I recorded another song!
Who's Gonna Save My Life Tonight?

And please enjoy this picture of me in front of the Winchester from Shaun of The Dead.



I will now microwave a delicious box of bombay potatoes.

161: Is That Alright With You?

Wow. Braid must really be tearing it up on European TV because I just received a check for $118! It's all itemized by country and tv show... but i threw the stub out almost as fast as i raced to the bank to deposit it before I lost it. Came at a great time... as a bunch of forgotten about bills made their way to my increasingly-disturbingly-netflixless-mailbox. They can't send me Once, but an $80 bill from the chiropractor gets the VIP treatment.

This brings me to another interesting point, completely unrelated. I have this broken down jukebox, you see. It hasn't worked in about 15 years... so I tracked down the ancient manual online in a futile effort to fix the damn thing myself. My attempt lasted about 5 minutes. The electronics in that machine are from another world... not that electronics from our world would make any sense to me, either... So... i've come to the conclusion that since it's been sitting in my parents basement until I actually procure a home to put it in... and that day is not coming within the next 5 years... and after some research, my rusty old jukebox parts are not worth the buckling chipping wood that it's housed in. I'm getting rid of it. The whole thing can be yours for the low low price of $0 if you want to come pick it up. And you better start working out because this thing weighs a ton. I don't have an actual picture of it, so please enjoy this picture of what i wish it looked like.



Imagine the above juke but in an ugly orange color... and in pieces.

My next order of business is... what do i do with all of the 45's i amassed? And will the sale of said 45's be enough to finance a down payment on a place of my own. 32 and I want a place of my own?! I'm nuts.

160: Phascolarctos Cinereus

Happy new year, everybody!

Not sure if I mentioned this but the Owen / City On Film split 7" is alive, well, and for sale at the Polyvinyl Records web store. It was released by our good friend Charlie on his label Red Cars Go Faster out of Bergamo, Italy. And the artwork was done by the insanely talented Ross Zietz.

In celebration, please enjoy this photo actually taken at Charlie's house in Bergamo.



I have plans! But better to keep them under wraps, lest I falter.