|
 |
|
w4.30.2003 |
|
|
 |
Life is good. We've had two beautiful days of weather and that makes everyone seem to feel good. You can just sense it - winter is over. Another good thing about life is my appreciation for the ridiculous. This appreciation probably doesn't make you feel any better, but hey, this is my weblog. Start your own if you want to. What I mean is that my appreciation for the ridiculousness probably doesn't affect your life in any way. I am rambling and now I will stop. Plus my new deodorant is making my armpits itchy. I must address that.
Anyway, look at this picture and tell me that life is not beautiful:
This picture makes me realize how great America is. Not because the guy is dressed up like a complete fool. It's because I can go to a wrestling show and forget about everything else for a couple of hours and just giggle. I mean, these guys go out there -and remember, this is large topless men, dressed in tights - and make complete fools of themselves! We eat it up and cheer, boo and yell to our hearts content and it is utterly ridiculous and it's great fun. That's America and I love it. The wrestler, by the way, is Hulk Hogan,and I must give props to my dad for taking the picture - a great shot in mid-pose.
On the drive home last night, I listened to The Byrds great album, calledFifth Dimension. I've been on a bit of a classic-rock kick as of late, and The Byrds are a woefully unappreciated band when speaking about the history of rock. "Eight Miles High" was, to me, a watershed song in rock music history and one of the best. I wish I were alive at the time to experience that for the first time on the radio and all the other amazing art that was coming out of music at the time.
Anyway, often thought of a song about being on drugs, "Eight Miles High" was banned from a lot of radio stations across the country. Not true. In fact, this was simply a song written about a thing that fascinated most members of The Byrds - flying in an airplane. In this case, they wrote the song about flying into England for the first time and how it was so different for them, being so young and all. Now, it could be argued that they actually wrote the song while on drugs - a good bet, I'd say - but it's not about drugs. Anyway, back to the flying thing. One of the more interesting aspects of The Byrds were thier tendencies to try and add odd sounds to songs - a terrific song on this great album was called "2-4-2 Fox Trot," and was all about flying, even incorporating the sounds of jets and pilot-speak. They did this recording on their own, by simply heading over to Los Angeles Airport and sitting just outside the fences, smoking pot, listening and recording the planes landing and taking off just above them. If I smoked pot, I might think about doing that - I also have a startling fascination with airplanes. Anyway, they then recorded the lyrics and some basic music, added the sounds of the airport, and whaa-lah - a song is born. A great song, in fact. Fifth Dimension isn't the best Byrds album, but it's right up there and I recommend it, uh, "highly."
Song now playing: The Handsome Family - "Arlene"
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.28.2003 |
|
|
|
I consider Buttercup to be another one of those bands that "shoulda made it." Their 1998 album called Love was easily one of my top 10 releases of that year. It was just one of those albums where you seemed to know all the songs by heart after one listen - filled with syrupy-sweet, upbeat pop songs and clever lyrics such as:
Think it over, what you've done
Confess to where your light is shining
And don't feel sorry because you suck
Say the uncomfortable farewell
That saddle suits you well.....
I'm really very curious to see how successful Apple will be in their newly minted quest to be the market leaders in legitimate music downloading. Personally, I believe there's a big difference between manufacturing music-listening devices like the IPod and navigating the murky, infested legal swamps of the music business these days. But we'll see - I've always respected Apple/Mac for getting the user-friendly thing right for so long, so I'm pulling for them.
Song now playing: The Bottle Rockets - "Trailer Mama"
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.25.2003 |
|
|
|
Howdy hey hey. Finally back from Atlanta. It felt like a quick trip. Tell you what, Atlanta's a much better town than I anticipated. The weather was perfect, my meetings went well and I kept busy. I also had a rental car, which I love. I just loves me the rental cars. I had an Oldsmobile Alero this time, and it was kinda stupid, because they have these ridiculous radios in them that self-adjust the volume depending on how fast you're going. Their theory is that the faster you're driving, the louder the "enviroment" sounds are. That's just so damn wrong. If I want to rock, I want to rock, dammit. Let me control the volume. If I want soft, I'll put Bread's "Baby I'm A Want You" in the player (I do love that song). But don't automatically turn down my Nada Surf!
Oh, check it out, I made my virgin voyage to Krispy Kreme and stuffed one warm, glazed doughut down my throat. I never eat doughnuts. I'm relatively careful about what I eat, in fact. However, everyone and their aunt always goes apeshit when they talk about Krispy Kreme, so I had to see what the shiznit was all about. It tasted like a warm doughnut. Pretty damn good, but nothing Earth-shattering.
Anyway, if you want to see what I did in Atlanta, go ahead and click your little mousey right about HERE and you're off and running. I didn't do that much, actually. Went to the hotel, had some meetings and I took a fantastic picture of Jim Edmonds at bat against Greg Maddux at Turner Field. Back on Tuesday, I flew into Atlanta kind of late and I was really tired, so I had to lay down for a while right in the airport. Luckily someone was nice enough to take a picture of me, in a very relaxed state, ahhhhhhh:
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.22.2003 |
|
|
|
Later on this afternoon, I'm off to Atlanta, Georgia for a work trip. This will be my first time setting foot in the state of Georgia. I'm ready. It will be the 39th state in U.S. that I've visited. My goal is set foot in all 50 states before I get too old to remember where I've been. While I'm not looking forward to having to go to Kansas or Nebraska to meet my goal, I am very much looking forward to getting towards my goal with trips to Alaska and Hawaii. Someday.
Anyway, I'll be attending tomorrow night's Atlanta Braves-St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, which will feature a marquee matchup of two of the best pitchers in the league: Matt Morris (STL) vs. Greg Maddux (ATL). That should be a great ballgame.
Song now playing: Grateful Dead - "Candyman"
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.19.2003 |
|
|
|
Stephanie and I were driving somewhere last night and my car hit a pothole. We ended up addressing the issue of potholes for a few minutes, and I went off on my usual ranting and bratty-ness which is fairly common for myself. I said that the state should pay for damaged tires, that it's not our fault when the road in such shitty condition, blah blah blah. I told her that I have a friend, Leo, who has lost three tires this winter because of potholes - why should he have to pay 3 different times for something completely out of his control? Stephanie's response was, "well, I don't know anyone personally who has lost a tire from a potholder." A potholder! A common slip of the tongue which was pretty hilarious. I will not let her ever forget it. By the way, my car emerged unscathed from said pothole.
So, I went to the Red Sox game on Thursday night. You can check out some excellent pictures of the adventure by clicking here. Normally my attendance at a Red Sox game isn't earth-shaking news, as I attend my fair share of games during any season, but this one was different because it was 28 degrees outside with 15 MPH winds blowing in. In a word: unbearable. Many of the players commented that it was the coldest conditions they've ever played in. I stayed the whole time, though, for a 6-0 Red Sox win. It was so cold, in fact, that I had to warm up my hands on several occasions by any means possible. By the look on this guy's face next to me, I'll let you determine where my hands were....I'm on the left, by the way:
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.18.2003 |
|
|
|
This is a very, very funny way to address a pretty serious topic. I'd love to see some video footage of this. Just imagine trying to explain it to a 5-year old kid or something. Makes me laugh.
I've had a full week now to digest the new Jayhawks album (that's really not good for the colon..), called Rainy Day Music and so far, it's pretty brilliant. Where Sound of Lies and Smile excelled in their polished, catchy pop, the new albums stuns with it's beautiful kind of sadness, much like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in their prime. Of course, Gary Louris' voice is far stronger than anyone in CSNY, but my comment is meant as a great compliment to The Jayhawks. A terrific listen.
In other news, uh.......what?
Song now playing: The Kinks "You Can't Stop The Music"
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.15.2003 |
|
|
|
A couple of news commentaries:
He's in the news again. When is Rodney King going to go away? Ever since the Los Angeles riots in 1992, it seems like we celebrate another Rodney King arrest or accident every year. Maybe this guy actually deserved a beating! Not by Los Angeles police officers, though, who were (are?) on equal footing with King on the moron scale. Just to be 100% crystal clear, color of skin means nothing to me in this statement, or any statement, for that matter.
The quote in the third paragraph of this news story really made me laugh. So, if they make murder legal, I wonder what he'd say?
Finally, since the U.S. is not exactly a soccer (football) powerhouse yet, does this mean that we have the unhealthiest hearts in the world? Furthermore, if this applies to ice hockey does Japan have the worst health in the world? I bet it works in reverse for some things, too: any country that has the WNBA probably has a higher death rate due to boredom.
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.12.2003 |
|
|
|
A few weeks ago in this space, I predicted this war would take 2-3 weeks. While it's not over just yet, it looks like my prediction was fairly accurate, not that it was very tough to predict. I'll tell you what, seeing that statue toppled over, while not as historic as the Berlin Wall coming down, was a moment in history. I was actually there, and snapped this picture......
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.9.2003 |
|
|
|
I'm in a New York City hotel room right now - a very cool one, actually, and I picked up a discarded Wall Street Journal today and was somewhat surprised to read about Clear Channel Entertainment announcing that they will no longer be dealing with independent radio promoters. I'm not sure how to react to this, but first let me give you a a quick history lesson
Clear Channel is a Republican-heavy conglomerate who owns a very large piece of the music business pie. Chances are they own and operate at least 4 major radio stations in the city you live in - and Clear Channel determines what gets played on those stations. Please don't think that local DJ's have one iota of input as to what gets played on your radio - all those DJ's do is hum-along to the music, broadcast from a local bar on Friday nights and point-and-click the mouse to the next song scheduled in the computer database. I'm generalizing, but believe it. Seriously. Now, Clear Channel also owns many music venues. You know that outdoor venue that has those great summer concerts you can watch from the lawn seats? Here in the Boston area, ours is called The Tweeter Center. You know why those tickets are $100 bucks and over now? Clear Channel. Some of the blame can be directed at artists here, but 80% of it is Clear Channel's heavy-handedness in the business backrooms.
Now, back in the '30s, '40s and '50s, record labels simply paid radio stations to play their records. That's just how music got played. The practice was actually legal or, I should say, there was no real, specific law against it until the great payola scandal in 1960 when Alan Freed, a DJ based in Cleveland, was indicted for accepting $2,500 to play certain music. Furthermore, the world's most annoying teenager, Dick Clark, who was also a local DJ at the time, was also heavily investigated, but for some odd reason he only received a slap on the wrist and he promised to never work with music-related businesses again, a promise he has somewhat honored when you stop and think about it. Harumph.
Now, fast-forward to the 1970s: the "independant music promoter" was a really genius idea for slimeballs - since the law specifically stated that record labels could not pay radio stations to play their music, why not become a broker? The law says nothing about the record label paying a third-party independant promoter, who then pays the radio station. The "currency" used was hard cash, hookers, drugs or a combination of all of these treats, which brought about the still oft-used music business cliche of "I'll do it for hookers and blow." By and large, with the exception of some governmental hand-wringing in the '80s, that's how it's been since - don't think for a second that 99% of what you hear on the radio isn't paid for. It is.
So it was with much amusement that I read this article in the Journal tonight. Clear Channel - the company that everyone just loves to hate, is trying to untarnish their image by going public with these type stories. Cursory glances at this bit of record business news will cause some people to think that Clear Channel is coming clean and really trying to clean up their act, as in "nice to see that they're finally putting an end to those snakes," but let's get real, shall we?
Payola will live on and it will be that way forever. Independant promoters may get squeezed but Clear Channel will continue to get that money in one way or another. Granted, these dolllars are a small piece of their pie and they may claim that losing that money is something they can deal with, but they'll get it. How, you ask? Well, the record labels, of course! Ever listen to the radio and hear about these great giveaways? "Enter now to win! You can fly to four different cities and see four different bands! We'll pay for everything!" Who do you think pays for those? Record labels. What about those "summer concert" series? Who pays for those? Hmmm.......record labels, you say? Yep. You'll see more and more and more of this. Just watch. It's why I'm not in the record business anymore - the music doesn't mean a damn thing - and I loved music too much to be a part of that. It took me a while to let the bitterness wear off, but I'm back, baby! Back to being a hardcore FAN. It's a great feeling. Clear Channel can go to hell - I find my own music and you should too. It's fun.
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
Oh - in case I wasn't entirely clear, you have to click on the comment link below, then you'll get a little window to enter your comment. Or maybe nobody's interested in commenting. Yeah, that could be it.
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.8.2003 |
|
|
|
Good god! New feature on rustedrobot! Check it out - below every posting now is a comment section where you can write about what a dork I am. It's all about keeping my reader(s) happy. So go ahead, throw a comment at me. Or not.
Song now playing: Built To Spill - "I Would Hurt A Fly" (my favorite Built to Spill song)
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.7.2003 |
|
|
|
Last night I made scallops for the first time. This is not big news. But they came out so well that I had to document it somewhere. You see, someday I'm going to have kids and maybe even grandchildren. I'd like them to be able to go through my archives 50 years from now and see what I was like on a daily basis. That's just really cool to think about. My English teacher told me in 9th grade that someday I would regret not keeping a journal. At the time, I thought keeping a journal was girly, insane and a waste of my time. Now I've come around - she was 140% correct. I so wish I had kept journals - especially during that time of my life. So while I may be able to go to the newly-created National Archives and see when my grandfather came to America, my kids and grandkids will be able to come to this site to know ME. That's one of the most powerful things about the internet. I would give anything to be able to read weblogs my parents and grandparents created back when they were younger. That would be amazing.
Anyway, I made a citrus-based marinade for the scollops, some lemon, lime and orange juice, all combined with a little bit of honey and some garlic. Throw in some onions and cilantro, and you have got yourself one hell of a scollop dinner. Damn! A shout-out on the scollops, by the way, to Trader Joe's one of the best grocery stores ever created.
Song now playing: Bread - "Truckin'"
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.4.2003 |
|
|
|
Along the lines of not being able to tell the difference between Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton, I truly cannot distinguish between any of the following bands:
Verical Horizon
Better Than Ezra
Matchbox 20
Three Doors Down
3rd Eye Blind
Our Lady Peace
Sister Hazel
Sugar Ray
Collective Soul
Seven Mary Three
Seriously. Can you tell the difference? All of these bands should tour together. Even better - send them to Iraq. They will be far more effective, as the "current regime" would surrender after just 2 or 3 sets by any of those bands. More importantly, the U.S. would rid themselves of anti-septic, mid-tempo, Gap-clothed mediocre music.
Okay, this makes me smile. How cute is that?
Song now playing: The Handsome Family - "Moving Furniture Around"
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w4.2.2003 |
|
|
|
Oh - I got so wrapped up in my essay about Google that I forgot to post my original thought - this morning after the gym I had a peach and blueberry smoothie. Yum! You just jam it all in the blender and it comes out a delicious and healthy drink. Feeling refreshed and fired up, I hopped in my car and started zooming off to work. For some reason - and I never do this - I looked at my teeth in the mirror and - HORROR - noticed that all kinds of little dark-blue blueberry particles were stuck in my teeth. I looked downright British. It was nasty! In a horrendous state of panic, I slapped the car in reverse, parked, went back in the house and flossed like a mutha. Any other morning and I wouldn't have noticed. I would have strutted in to work looking like my teeth were falling out. Damn.
Song now playing: AC/DC - "Jailbreak" (The Bon Scott era was 500 times better than the Brian Johnson era. I'll take anyone on in a debate on this)
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
I know that everyone and their mother uses Google. And it's a great search engine - no dispute. There's really no argument for great, relevant search results. I think the thing that sticks in my craw most about Google, though, is that everyone seems to think they can do no wrong; that they're this funky little company, filled to the brim with tech-geeks, energy and product-driven engineers. Probably true to an extent, but come on. I mean, how much Kool-Aid can people drink? Some of us know the potential for pitfalls and problems that are associated with"funky little companies" after a while (that link is an inside joke for a very select few). So it's with marginal disdain that I keep hearing about Google's new "revoloutionary" content-based advertising.
Of course, those of you who know me well enough are familiar with who puts food on my table. But aside from my loyalties - take a look for yourself at companies like Sprinks, who have been doing content-based advertising for over three years now. Admittedly, they're not the best quality, but they were there long before all these Google press releases went out. I suppose Sprinks' only problem is that they suck at PR and Google is batting a thousand at it. It's almost like the music business, actually - independant record labels have equal talent. It's all there on the same, small, round shiny disc. But because people have "heard of" Sony and Warner Brothers and they have the capital to pay record stores and radio stations to to put the stuff on their shelves and play it on the radio, most of the public is fooled into thinking it's legitimate or good or that Warner Brothers or Sony found the talent. In most cases, the truth is that independant labels are the ones who got up at 5am and farmed the crops. These big companies just swoop in the middle of the night and take the corn. Because they can. That's the way of the world and we're powerless to it. I can accept that, and sometimes I am a part of it.
You see what I am getting at, though? Google is good, yes. Good product, relevant search results. But other than buying a LOT of servers, let's not overwhelm ourselves with praise here. We're all waiting with baited breath for when they go public and open thier books. Then they have to deal with the scrutiny of shareholders and sharing their guts with the rest of the world every three months. I can't wait.
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
