292 - Candy

Yesterday was Halloween.

Candy was everywhere.

All sorts of chocolate bars, candy corn, lollipops, jellies, and gum.

In the office, at church, at people's homes as well as ours.

My boys brought home way too much.

How many pieces did I eat yesterday?

None.

How many have I eaten today?

None.

Why?

Crazy - maybe.

or...

just to see if I could

and let they hype pass.

(...it's killing me, too!)

291

I had thought of something

the other day

that I was going to share with you

but

I forgot what that was

Oh well

290-Over the Rhine at the Grand Emporium

Finally!
Over the Rhine found their way back to Kansas City. It has been a while.

They played at the Grand Emporium again and the Grand Emporium has gotten quite a facelift since the last time I was at that venue. It is no longer a grimy blues bar, but now it a swank lounge-like club. They played the Grand Emporium on their Films for Radio tour in 2001. They were suppose to play the Grand Emporium on their Ohio tour, but that night was the night they cancelled their tour to rearrange some personal priorities, and thank goodness because that lead to the beautiful Drunkard's Prayer.

We got a babysitter, called some friends, and headed down to see the music. The club was standing room and seemed to be pretty full. I am always amazed to see who else listens to this band; this band that I first heard when I was 18 back in ’92 at Cornerstone Festival. I have grown through my 20’s (and into my 30’s) with this band and they have grown too! We are both not so young anymore, but I was surprised to see young fans along with older fans. Being that this band has put out amazing music and has a rabid fan base and has always been on the cusp of success, they have never become a household name and I think their fans like it that way.

The show started with the horns/woodwinds opening track of I Don’t Want to Waste Your Time as the band worked their way through the crowd and up onto the stage. You could tell from the very beginning that this was going to be a good show. The fans were into it – hootin’ and hollerin’ at Karin’s words and voice and you know that the band wants to return the favor.

They played quite a few songs from the new album with some older songs sprinkled in. The music was great and I was once again reminded why this is one of my favorite live bands. We were also treated to one of Linfords stories as he introduces The Trumpet Child. The story was something about being a young child, sister Grace’s pony tails, revival tent, the beautiful language of hymns like Softly and Tendlerly, When the Roll is Called on Yonder, the trumpet, rebirth, horn players, music on God’s ipod.

Very good time!

288 - What is alternative music?

Dust,
What is alternative music, you ask?
Yeah, I'm not good with labels and I am sure this is debatable, but my take on it is this:

Let's just generalize a decade, the 80's brought about a lot of bands that were post-punk from the late '70s punk movement. These band were not popular by mainstream radio standards.

Mainstream top 40 radio in the '80s and early '90s was all about pop and hair metal/glam rock. These post-punk band were many different styles of music ranging from witty smart to electronic dance rock to goth to dreampop to folk to grunge to jangle pop to americana. Many of the labels at the time that I heard for this kind of music were new wave, modern rock, college rock (because the college stations would play this music), progressive.

Where could one here these new sounds that were different from mainstream radio? Really cool friends with older siblings (in college) or MTV 120 minutes on Sunday nights from 10-midnight, or college rock stations, or public radio stations between the raggae hour and the latin music show, etc.

Sometime in the year of 1990 one of our pop stations (Q104) started a half hour show at 10:30 every night called Liquid Radio that was devoted to this music. Also, somewhere around this time Kennedy and MTV VJ had a nightly show called Alternative Nation. Soon the word "Alternative" was used to describe all these different styles of music that didn't fit into the pop music or hair metal category.

Then Nirvana released smells like teen spirit on video to MTV and the rest is history. Alternative became mainstream. Every Major record label wanted to sign the next Nirvana. Radio stations became Alternative Rock stations. The alternative rock sound is now the mainstream sound. The popularity of Alternative rock basically killed it. The quality of music went down due to the need to feed it quickly to its demanding listening audience.

What do people call it these days? I don't know and I don't think bands know either. Not that they ever wanted to label thier music. It is interesting to look at a bands myspace page. At the top their is an area for them to categorize their music. Their you will find words like "other/indie/electronic/minimal/etc."

287 - September Music

Amiina - Kurr
Listen here.

Another band from Iceland...These four ladies are properly a string quartet who opened for and are part of Sigur Ros's backing band, but they are not tied down to any instruments. They'll play the strings along with the saw, goblets, music boxes, electronics, guitars, the glocks, anything and everything from what I can gather. What they produce is a real sweet and delicate sound. The album is mostly instrumentals with a few vocal "awe's and oh's" scattered about. This is the perfect album to wake me up. I prefer coming to on my own verses the harshness of the alarm clock.


Joy Electric - Their Variables e.p.
Listen here.

This album is basically a remix album of The Otherly Opus with 2 new Joy Electric tracks. A different artist remixed each of the tracks for TOO. It's fun and interesting, but The Otherly Opus is such an amazing album that the remixes don't quite measure up to the original.

(not actual cover)

The Foxglove Hunt - Demo E.P.

Listen here.

This 2 song demo came free with my Joy Electric order. The Foxglove Hunt is comprised of Rob Withem (Fine China) and Ronnie Martin (Joy Electric.) Rob sings and writes the songs and Ronnie does all the programming. If these 2 songs are any indication, their full length album is gonna be great.

St. Vincent - Marry Me

Listen here.

Annie Clark writes all the songs and plays all the music. She opened for and played with Sufjan Steven's band. The music is innovative, weird, familiar yet original sounding. This album reminds me of Alternative music before '92 when Alternative became a label and mainstream at the same time.

286 - The Flaming Lips at the Uptown Theater

Looney and I went to see the Flaming Lips. The crowd seemed to be more of the hippie/granola jam band kind, which I don't see much of with the shows I usually see. But they were a little kooky and fun-loving. It's funny, the big time fans treated this show the same way tailgaters do at a Kansas City Chiefs game. Fans were early waiting in line. Fans wore costumes, because the whole show was like a party. Fans brought their own props and had traditions. (like balloons and stuff.)

Anyway here are some words to describe the show:
Richard Simmons, Aliens, Santas, Balloons, lots of Balloons, human inside a beach ball crowd surfing, Super Hero Roadies, Laser Pointers (they passed them out to everyone), confetti, fog machine smoke, megaphone, confetti/smoke cannons, streamers. That's all for now.

Here are some pictures that I took. Enjoy!

285 - Waterfire - 08sep2007

A couple weeks ago on a Saturday night, E1 and I drove down to the Plaza to check out an art installation event called 'Waterfire.' Basically, Brush Creek was set on fire and it was all sequenced to live music. Speaker boxes were placed all along the creek and the echoed out everything from classical to Gregorian Chant to opera to Spanish flavored tunes. It was very peaceful and quite hypnotic not to mention the wonderful smells coming from the burning logs that were floating on braziers along the river. A large crowd came out for this event. People were lined along the creek and standing on top of the bridges. People of all ages were out. Kids were rolling down hills and playing at their parents feet. Middle age couples were on blankets with wine and cheese. And everyone was strolling along the walk. The streets along the creek were closed for food booths and gypsy street performers were gathering crowds. It was a good time. They are going to have this event again in October.

284 - alpine rail

Over a year ago, blogger did not have the technology to upload videos. Now that it does...here is one for kicks. This video came from our trip to Colorado last summer.

This is the alpine rail slide in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It is more like a roller coaster ride than a luge track. You are in a single car and you have a lever in each hand that controls the speed of your vehicle by braking. Very fun.

283- August music

Starflyer 59 – Ghost of the Future (Issue # 1 and Issue #2 of 10)

The idea behind Ghost of the Future is that there will be (10) 7” vinyl records that will be released over 6 months. The “A” side contains a demo version of a song on the upcoming album and the “B” side contains a song specific to the Ghost series. So, I got an old record player and set it up in my art studio. This was actually a new experience for me ‘putting the needle on the record.’ The songs are fantastic. They have a lot more electronic elements along with Jason Martins signature guitar sound. The songs have a very New Order-ish feel to them. Good stuff.

By the way, the artwork is great. It seems to be some sort of hammerpress on heavy chipboard. I think all the albums will create a design or picture. The photos above are front and back.

This myspace page has a song from one of the upcoming releases:
starflyer 59


Eisley – Combinations
Listen here.

I must say that this is a very, very good album. I thought their first album was okay considering that they are all teenagers. The music was good and the lyrics were a little hokey. I didn’t listen to that album a lot. But this album is really good. The music and voice and lyric are very much improved and I am listening to Combinations quite a bit and haven’t grown tired of it. Good job guys. They are on tour with Mute Math. I might have to stop by.

Over the Rhine – The Trumpet Child
Listen to the whole album here.

Listen to myspace here.

I have been a fan of this band since the beginning. I first saw them live at Cornerstone ’92 and knew there was something special. As a true fan, I allow my artist to grow and explore new things and different styles. (What I mean is that a band doesn’t have to make the same album over and over again.) But I must admit I wasn’t sure about this album upon my first listen. In all fairness, my first listen was in the car with my boys going to the pool. All you get from those listens are impressions and my initial impression was that it was a bluesy southern sound. And I thought, oh, I don’t like that bluesy sound, I wish they would make another album like… But then I put the headphones on and the power and beauty hit me. It is a more lighthearted sounding album with a jazzy flair and some whimsical songs. Yes, there is one song that is a little bluesy, but it is growing on me. These are good songs, the kind that only get better and soak into your soul the longer they age. The opening line of the first song states, “I don’t want to waste your time, with music you don’t need…” No time wasted. I need this music.

Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight
Listen here.

I bought this album on a whim…It was on sale for $7.99…They sounded pretty good when they opened for Coldplay a few years ago…And I just read an article about the band in Paste magazine. It’s not bad and there are some real good songs. It has an ‘80’s pop feel to it. And I’ve read some publications making comparisons to Fleetwood Mac. But I don’t really know Fleetwood Mac.??? (but I do have a few of their records that I should put on the player.)

282 - chilled coffee and shoes

I kinda feel silly posting this after just reading Darwin's post, but I know he is a kindred spirit and has a thing for shoes. How are my feet?

Last week, I participated in a focus group. They wanted to know my opinion and they wanted to pay me $75 dollars for it.

I will honor the coffee company and not say their name, but a certain national coffee chain (not from Seattle, but maybe Colorado) that has a 4 legged animal with a rack of horns on it logo wanted to test their new add campaign for their new chilled coffee in an aluminum can. (Whoa, that is a long sentence.)

We got to look at eight billboard ads and listen to two radio commercials. Several of the billboard ads hit on the trend of "office" humor and the radio ads where making a point of their coffee being for the average Joe vs. the snooty coffee drinker. The radio ads were funny in the vein of "real men of genius."

I am real honest with my opinions, but part of me feels like a bit of sell-out...and I bet that is how all advertising and marketing is. I helping them come up with ideas or preferences that would help sell their product, when I know that I won't be buying it. Why won't I buy it. I try to live healthy and that involves making healthy choices. It is probably too expensive for me to consider. I have a bad Coke Zero addiction I am trying to break; I don't need another one.

The highlight was when they brought out the product for us to sample. Chilled cans of French Vanilla, Espresso, and Regular flavored goodness.

It is no secret that I have a thing for shoes (and jackets- maybe a future post sometime.) I have had my eye on this pair of shoes all summer and now thanks to a couple of hours of drinking coffee and giving my opinion (which I loved to do), I am $75 for the better and I ordered my shoes online.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you my new kicks - Keen Ventura

281 - Is that it???

Just one week of tempertures in upper 90's/lower 00's and gone? The past weekend and a few days before have been quite normal and actually sometimes a little cool. What's up with that? I don't want to go to the pool if the air is chilly and the water is cold. Is that the best summer has to offer? I hope we get at least another week of temperatures in 90's so that we can finish up the pool season on a high note. If not, I hope it stays in the 80's and 70's all september and october. I don't like going from summer to winter in the span of one month.

280 - whoops

Last Christmas, I had talked about redoing our master bathroom. Such thoughts included a new tile floor, new cabinet and countertop to replace our current sink, fix a couple spots on the ceiling, and figure out if there is a way to replace the shower with a tub and shower. It's not a large bathroom, so the tub thing might not work.

Now I have the chance to put those idle thoughts into action.

The other night, I was going to do a quick repair on the faucet. The water was not coming out quite right. The spray was not uniform. I was going to loosen the nozzle and clean it out. I ended up braking the nozzle off. Our sink and faucet is now out of comission. It would be easy to replace just the faucet and continue on as normal but...

now I have the opportunity to do the whole thing. The only problem is...

• can we wait?
• this isn't the best timing with the extra busyness of a new child.
• do we have the funds?
• and I sorta like to plan things out before I jump into something.
• can I do it? Sure. It shouldn't be that difficult. I can get help from my dad and there are how-to books and the internet. No problem.

Oh well, I guess I'll start exploring and pricing things out. Wish me luck.

279 - Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

I finished this book last week and it was probably the quickest I have ever read a book that size. Being off work and spending days at the pool helped quite a bit.

I think this is my favorite of the series. It is action packed and some scenes are pretty intense. I am not going to say anything about the plot for those who have not read it yet.

Good book.

Good series

It's over (or is it?)

278 - July's Music

Here are the albums I picked up this month:

Interpol - Our Love to Admire

Listen here.

Straight from the inside of Cabella's comes the new Interpol album...

Not a lot to say about this album. It is a good, strong album. It sounds like an Interpol album. Not a big departure in sound. Their song writing and music is better in my opinion than Antics. Antics bored me after a couple weeks, hopefully this will have a longer life.

Editors - An End has a Start

Listen here.

What a coincidence that Editors and Interpol release their new albums a week apart, since they are often compared. Mainly, because their vocalist sound like they are related and people like to compare their vocals back to Ian Curtis of Joy Division. Vocals are very important to me in music and you know how much I loathe the "man" voice and the growl: pearl jam, collective soul, creed, third day, hootie and the blowfish-yawwwlp...and to be honest I have always preferred New Order over Joy Division. What should I call this new vocal style trend - the post-punk, new wave goth voice??? I am referring to goth of the '80's. The "basement" voice. The basement voice is okay - not great - but I don't dislike it.

Musically, I like this album and I always thought their music was more diverse than Interpol. Maybe, I am just partial to music that uses electronics and wall of sound guitars. Good, strong album.

Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight

Listen here.

I am a sucker for the female voice and boy does she have a voice!!! I got this album because of the voice. This is a band of 2boys and 2girls (I think) and their is often the interplay of male/female voices (much like Stars, Viva Voce, etc.) but it is primarily female vocals.

The music is separated into their slow tempo, dreamy, vibey songs and their upbeat, smart, poppy beach songs. I think they are at their best with the grand, dreamy, vibey songs, but I understand that is where my taste lies.

277 - back again

Back to work today. Bummer.
I enjoyed my time off last week.
I was literally up at the pool every day with the boys.
And when they went to the sand pit to make castles and rivers, I got to read Harry Potter.
I am almost done; I got a few chapters left.
I know, how can I stop reading when I am almost there.
Work...in the morning.
Will finish tonight.
I literally stayed away from the computer last week.
Will try to catch up soon.
Will soon post on recent music.

276 - Forget the Lifeboat, let's play values classification on Southwest

This week, I had a quick trip down to Dallas for business. We flew on Southwest Airlines and I have never flown Southwest before, so forgive me if this been like (where have you been the past century?)

Southwest is like a bus in the air. There are no assigned seats. You can check in online 24 hours in advance and the earlier you check in, the better chance of getting that coveted 'A' boarding group. The boarding groups are 'A', 'B', and 'C' and each gate has a line-up area for each corresponding letter. My boarding pass was with group 'B' and the co-worker I was flying with was in group 'A.' He had obviously flown many more times than me and knew when to check in.

My co-work then gave me the low-down. The plane has one central aisle with 3 seats on each side. The first seats to go are usually the aisles and then the windows, which means the middle seats are last.

And then it hit me, the horrid realization that I might have to play the values classification game in picking a seat. Certain seating situations will lead to a more comfortable and enjoyable flight, but what can one infer about my choice that may or may not be true. Let's play out possible scenario's:

• A seat between two big guys with their elbows over hanging the armrest. This obviously would not be comfortable as I would be sitting with my arm tucked-in between my legs, but it might look like I have a prejudice against big people and that I think they are smelly.
• A seat between two attractive girls. Very comfortable choice as I would have plenty of room for myself and that they would probably smell good, but it seems like every guy's first obvious choice and one that a player would take.
• A seat between two guys about my age. They are hoping an attractive girl will choose their spot and will be wondering why I passed on the seat between the girls. There will be awkward moments when our arms make contact on the arm rest.
• A seat between to people of a different race. Nothing wrong with this choice, but if I pass it up will I look racist?
• A seat between a man and women with their laptops, blackberry's, briefcases spewing out of their seat as they talk loudly into their bluetooths. Actually, no one will fault you for passing this seat with way too much ego.
• A seat between a couple people who are engaged in a book and zoned out on their iPod. Stop right there. I found my perfect choice. I just want to read, listen to music, and zone out.

Luckily, since I got in the 'B' line early, I never had to choose a seat between two people.

*********

After we landed in Dallas, the flight attendant gave us the usual seat belt and mobile phone message and the burst into song singing:

We love you

You love us

We are faster than a bus

We hope you enjoyed our hospitality

Marry one of us and you can fly for free

**********

After returning my rental car, the shuttle bus driver (I was the only one on board) and I engaged in some small talk. He asked me where I was from and when I told him Kansas City, he grinned from ear to ear. Yes, I know that grin. And he said "Gates BBQ, have you been there? Arthur Bryant's! Yes, that is good stuff. Good BBQ." Mmmmmm! I'm hungry.

275 - My June Book

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling.

I have been reading these books slowly over these last 5-6 years. My pace has been to stay one step ahead of the movies. I guess I am two steps ahead of the movies now and the final book is about to be released. Can I wait for paperback?

I am glad to see that Harry Potter lost his whiney side that he had in the Order of the Phoenix. That was getting pretty painful to read.

I have some questions (Dash are you out there yet? I hope you have your internet connection set up at your new house and can soon join us. Dash is my resource for all thing HP.)

• The US versions of books 5, 6, and 7 are all monochrome (blue, green, yellow) compared to the earlier books. Is there a reason for this change compared to the earlier books?

• A lot of marketing for book 7 has been about Snape - good guy or bad guy. I thought book 6 cleared this up. Is there something I have missed? What are the theories out there?

I think that is all I have for right now. I got to get back to work.

274 - music in june

The National - Boxer

Listen here.

Wow! I bought only one new album this month, but if you were to buy only one album for a month make it this one. I have been listening to this non-stop and it is great for those late night warm summer walks. How to describe it? Hmm... haunting, beautiful melancholy, moody, layered, diversity of insturments/sounds. What I really love about this record is the 'sound' of it. The singer has a great baritone voice. I think the band is a five piece but I have seen pictures of them with six members. They do a really good job of not introducing to much to soon and to fast. These songs really build and there is always that moody distorted guitar just providing background texture. And Sufjan plans some piano on these songs.

After listening to this album, I sort of cringe when I think of the new Arcade Fire and I am a little fearful of the new Interpol. (Brian you need to get this.)

Other music related activies for June:

• Brian my 'concert buddy' now lives in Portland, but came back for a visit. The best show going at the time was Bloc Party, so we went to that. We were both unfamiliar with a majority of their work. They were okay and a bit more rock than what I was expecting. If he came a week later we could have seen Travis.
• Being a big fan, I decided to order the Starflyer 59 "Ghost of the Future" 7" box set record club thing, whatever it is. I'll post pictures once they start coming in the mail.
• I got a record player from my mother-in-law's basement and set it up in my art studio. I got out a bunch of old records from the 70's that we inherited and have been having a good time with it. I see the alure of vinyl. It is all about the process. Although, I don't care to much for '70's rock.

273 - Taz speaks

I meant to post this earlier.

Last Sunday was the holiday schedule at church, which means no morning classes, one combined service and no evening service. The do this because they take into account many people traveling and to give everyone else a break to spend time with family.

It would have been one of those perfect Sunday to skip or sleep in (what's that?), since I did not have the responsibility of teaching my class. Our pastor was in Mexico and you never know about that guest speaker.

I did go to church and our friend Taz who is a Chaplin in the Unites States Army was our guest speaker. I have never heard him speak from the pulpit. I have hear him many times over a cup of coffee. Taz was eloquent, funny, and he gave a great message that I think challenged a lot of believers. It was a simple message and I am not sure that I remember everything.

He related what it is that he does as a chaplin and what it is to live the Gospel or to live out the life of Christ. What it is to love somebody without an agenda. To listen and love without evangelizing or better yet following the Holy Spirits direction. He also spoke of unity amonst believers and respect of other faiths.

I have always been impressed by Taz. I've seen little things he does that is unselfish and loving to strangers - those things that I tend to struggle with. (Taz would probably tell you that he struggles with them too.)

I like that fact that Taz is sometimes frustrated with Christianity or the christian ghetto and his simple reaction is to be more like Christ, to love God and love others. If more of use would follow Christ's commandment...

Good bye and good luck, Taz. I hope our paths will cross again soon.

272 - I'm gonna try harder

It's no secret - I have been a bit bored with the whole blog thing for a while now.

I guess I felt embarrassed by it...like I am some teenage girl who feels that they have something to say and the world is collectively rolling their eyes.

So as you can tell, most of my post over the last year have been impersonal.

But a lot of my Homers have moved away:

Darwin is in Madrid.

Doc is in Wisconsin.

ActungBrian is in Portland.

Dash is in Indiana

Taz is in the Military going somewhere soon.

Our crew is down to Dust and me on Thursday nights...and we are looking at a rebuilding effort to keep things alive.

I am going to make an effort to try harder at this. Maybe give you a story every now and then. We started the whole blog thing when Darwin left our group in hopes that it would be a good way to keep in contact. And it has been successful.

I am saddened when I think of all the good friends that I have had in my life that I have let slip away. I blame it on being a guy, but maybe it is just laziness. I just don't keep up very well and when friends move away, the contact is gone and soon the relationship naturally ends.

Here is to a better future with this blog and hopefully maintaining contact with my friends.

(besides, it will be nice for Dust to have something to read considering all the work he puts into his.)