A Brief Cyber Hiatus

In the morning I am flying back to Syracuse, NY for the holidays. I wont actually get there til Monday the 19th at like 1am, thanks to a three hour layover in Atlanta...Stupid Georgia. That night I am playing at Downtown Manhattans, just like old times. Then it will just be about 15 days worth of seeing as many people as I can, and enjoying the crappy weather.

So I wont be online for awhile. I never thought I would care about that, but I do. With my music and all the writing I do on here, I have become quite comfortable around this world wide web of information. It is a great tool for everything. Keeping in touch with friends, getting music, promoting my own music, and really finding anything you need to know about anything.

Moving on, I hope all you readers have a great holiday...Even though there are only like 3 of you and I plan on seeing you all on or around Christmas. Ill be back in a few weeks with lots of stories to tell and hopefully a lot of new songs. Also when I get back here, the band is starting...We are in the market for a name, so any ideas will be taken into consideration...

And one other thing...If anyone wants to drive across the country with me, let me know...

Official News

Well I recieved a call from the Lead Guitarist of 'The Awks' today with the news that they had been discussing amongst themsleves all day. They have decided to lose the other lead singer and officially form a band with me as the front man. After the holiday break they want to start having more frequent practices and start to get some songs solid for performing.

So with the way I have been writing, a lot of my stuff will most likely be used. And I know they have a lot of originals too. Some of which are pretty good. A little different then my style of writing, but hopefully you will enjoy them if you hear them...and of course a lot of choice covers.

Either way this means a lot more music in my near future, and in you, the listeners future. Because I will obviously make it all available to you when and however I can.

Moving on, I also saw the Midnight show of 'King Kong' and my review can be found by clicking the link to 'My Reviews' on the right...Beware of Spoilers.

The San Francisco Treat

What a weekend, action packed and full of Neil adventures with a hint of McMahon.

So friday night, I headed to San Francisco to catch up with Neil who was at his friend Tony's apartment, since he had flown in for the weekend. Tony lives like 3 blocks from the world famous Fishermans Wharf, so that was pretty cool, and also gives me another friend pretty close by to hang out with.

Moving on, I arrived around 7ish and we immediately just grabbed a cab and headed to eat dinner at 'Betel Nut', which is a pretty famous Asian restaurant. The food is designed to be shared by everyone at the table, and you just order a shitload of rice, meat, and noodles and other whatnot...try a little bit of it all and wash it down with a 'Scorpion Bowl', which is a huge bowl of some fancy liquor drink that sits in the middle of the table with four large straws to drink from. It was an alcoholic hooka...persay. So we ate a pretty good meal, and at the same time got a pretty good buzz. We also saw an actress who plays a Nympho Maniac in 'Nip Tuck'. I have never seen the show, but everyone else knew who she was, and the waiter told us how he served Sharon Stone, and Sean Penn in the past. Remember when Sean Penn was cool, i.e. 'Falcon and the Snowman'.

So after dinner we headed to some bar that was a perfect atmosphere for college drunkeness. There were beer pong tables set up, so me and Neil got in on that. We lost though, cause neither one of us could hit the last cup...We sure could have used Dwight for that. So after our depressing loss - even though we got to drink more beer that way - we headed to the strip clubs. Obviously. We hit up the topless places first, since they served alcohol and eventually made our way to the full nudes for some glances at vagina that lasted til around 4 in the morning. McMahon showed up around 3 am and joined us in our discussions of which stripper had the best boobs...Basically the only thing I learned at the strip clubs was that Kathy is as dumb as the guys that think strippers like them. Every time a stripper would come shoot the shit with her, she would brag saying that they were best friends and the stripper was in love with her. Despite the fact that they immediately ran away as soon as Kathy would turn down offers for lap-dances. Of course, if I had a job, I would have paid to see that...

So we called it a night, because we still had the huge party the next night to attend.

So the next morning we all went to go get some breakfast, and then hung out while Tony took care of some cleaning and gathering of booze and whatnot for the party. People started arriving around 8 or 9 and Neil and I were well into it by then. The party eventually got really crowded and some dork in a pink tie kept turning the music up and playing the worst songs ever. Keep in mind this party was just a big hang out, and people were trying to hold conversations, so it was quite annoying. Neil countered by turning the music down as much as he could, and I did my part by playing 'The Jackson 5'. We spent the last half hour of the night scroungin all the leftover food and eating every scrap we could find. McMahon was up to his usual shenanigans, but you will have to ask me about that story...cause I cant do it justice here.

I also had Absinth for the first time. You may know it as the Green Fairy stuff from 'Euro Trip'. Man let me tell you, I have had some gross tasting liquor in my day, but this stuff strictly burns. Thats it - it tastes like burning. It immediately burns your throat on contact. Its disgusting, but if you wash it down with some Egg Nog it really does the trick.

So it was a great time, and we made some kickass new Northern California friends. So I will be spending more time in San Francisco after the holiday season is over. It was great to see Neil again, and catch up where we left off. However it was sad to see him go again, but I will get to see him again soon I hope. I am most likely going to do the cross country trip again in January, and will spend some time in Texas with Neil and Dwight. Does anyone want to come? I could sure use the company.

The Truth about Vacaville

I just got back from the midnight showing of "The Chronicles of Narnia" (My review can be found by clicking the link to the right labelled "My Reviews" - Beware of Spoilers) and I have to say, spending that much time in a theatre with a generally young vacavillian crowd has opened my eyes just to what this spanish translated "cow town" is all about.

It seems to me that they are much behind the times. I mean they were all fascinated with picture phones and kept showing each other the funny pictures that came up when so and so called. I mean Ive never even had a picture phone and I dont even find it interesting that its possible. There were also kids that dressed "punk" because it was cool, not because they were punk. How do I know...simple, I overheard one talking about how he works at MERVYN's which is a lesser known Wal-Mart. What kindof punk throws on a polo-shirt and goes to work as a corporate whore everyday. But after work, he is cool, cause he wears Chuck Taylors and dresses like the Ramones.

Not too mention they think that stupid things are funny. Of course this usually describes all of America in general. And the cheering at movie theatres is so "Star Wars Special Edition Release"...I mean get with the times people. Some kids were even yelling out "I cant wait to see Star Wars" in line and during the wait in the theatre, thinking it was hilarious. But that joke is so "Harry Potter"...Man vacavillians are lame.

I dont really know if I expected any better, especially because it was probably all high school kids who had nothing better to do, much like myself, who has been suffering from some major insomnia lately. Although does it count as Insomnia if you sleep during the day?...Probably not...

My biological clock is all fucked up, and its gonna be ridiculous when I am back in Eastern time for the holidays considering I never fall asleep til around 4 or 5am here...which translates to 7 or 8am there...Whoopee.

The Shape Im In...

So I just got done playing an Open Mic Night at a Bar called the G street Pub. I played with my guitarist friend Mike and another friend Ryan on bass (Ryan normally plays drums). We didnt really rehearse any of what we were going to play, but mostly just stemmed our setlist from drunken jam sessions where we play some fun covers. And I have to say its probably the most fun I have had on stage ever.

The best part about that is that I think they felt the same way. Which means a lot to me, since they are really good musicians, and the fact that they feel so comfortable with me on stage is important. There were even hints of dropping the other singer in their band, and just focusing with me.

After playing we did a lot of talking about what to do, and basically we had so much fun playing covers for drunk people, it became obvious what to do. Basically you have two different types of Open Mic Nights....You have the bar ones...where no one really wants to hear you play your new original that you wrote that day. Instead they are all full of pitchers of beer and whatnot, and they really only want to hear some songs they know, and can sing along too, or atleast rock out to a little. For example, we opened up with "I will Survive" which was an immediate hit...but at the same time we played "Get off This" by Cracker, and people loved it...Whether or not they knew what it was, it didnt matter, because its a rockin song, its catchy, and its easy to pick up on if you do want to sing a long. Of course in these situations its ok to throw in an original or two if you want to. I mean it doesnt hurt...especially if you keep playing the same one or two every week, people may start to remember it. But the bottom line is, that at these bar scenes, you need to rock the house a little, or people dont really care.

Then you have the Coffee Shop/Bookstore Open Mic Nights...where people are just hanging out and come to see people perform, or hear some talented musicianship. This is a much better atmosphere for kickin out your originals and trying to get people to see if what you have to say in your songs is worth listening to...Because these audiences are going to listen, whether they know the song or not. Its always a good thing to catch everyones eye with an opening cover song, that really grabs their attention. Thats what I use "Yoshimi" for (thanks Dwight).

So basically tonight went really well. And it made me kindof branch off in two different, but important directions. One where I play fun covers, go up on stage with no expectations with my friends and just rock the place. If people enjoy what they hear, its only a matter of time before the bar notices and wants you to play more. Cover bands are a good place to start. Especially because once you get a crowd base, you can slowly sneak your originals in there, and before the audience knows it they are fans of your songs as well. Especially if you choose covers that are suiting to your style of writing. Like you cant cover Metallica and then after getting a fanbase, start playing your classical originals...That wouldnt really make sense. Of course I am using extremes, but you get the idea.

Besides that direction, I will still continue to write and work on my originals, and pitch them in the other setting...When people are listening. Eventually the two will hopefully meld together and I will have the perfect situation...and the perfect mix of my own songs, and fun covers.

Either way, its going to be a fun ride, especially because every time I play with my friends, it just re-inforces the idea of me fronting the band, because of how much we all enjoy playing together and the comfort we all feel together on stage.

So we will see what happens...

Another Update

So as you know, I have quit my job and am strictly focusing on my writing, guitar playing, and showmanship. I have been writing a lot, meeting people in an attempt to network, recording, practicing the guitar, and just thinking about everything.

I realized tonight that my expectations are too high. I am hoping that things will move a lot faster then possible. I am expecting reactions and to be noticed. Not in a serious way or an infamous way. More like in the next step kindof way, where people enjoy my music, and other doors start to open. At the same time that has been happening and it is getting me excited about where that will lead. I mean by playing one open mic night a month ago, I met people who want me to sing in their band, and I have found two new places to play through them. I have also met a handful of other musicians doing the same thing I am doing. Some great, some average. I am learning more and more by the day about what I want to do, what I should do, and what I have to do...So its hard not to get too excited.

The bottom line is I just need to keep doing what I am doing. Writing and playing out every chance I get. Things will fall in place, as they always do. I just have to remember that.

After the New Year, I think I will get a bullshit job to pay for some studio time and will hopefully have enough material to finish my first demo album/EP...Who knows. I mean I have written 10 songs since November 4th and there are 4 or 5 of them that I love to play, and think are pretty solid songs. That is a good ratio to be working with. So we will see what the future brings.

Then There Were Two

Big Plans in the making here. I just heard from Neil Prakash, the sexiest and coolest person on the planet - Yes, even more so then the infamous Candid Bass Player - and he is back in the states. He arrived in Texas a couple days ago and has been going about the usual Army business that a highly respected officer like himself goes through. He has been answering emails from Senators and other officers and blah blah blah, he is the man.

Moving on, He is going back to Iraq, which sucks but at least he is going back on his terms and will get to be with his wife. So thats cool. But he also has until January and has a little vacation time around the holidays. So what does this mean. I will tell you.

Kathy needs her car driven from Maryland out here to California. So Neil and I are gonna drive it. Neil is planning on meeting me in Syracuse after the New Year, and we will leave sometime around the 3rd of January. It wont be an extended - lets see everything road trip - rather it will be somewhat rushed as Neil will have to be back within a weeks time. But nonetheless it is going to kickass. One last hoorah with Neil before he heads back, and becomes married Neil forever. There will be little time for Road Trips after all the little Neils start popping out of Mrs. Prakash.

Its still pending because Neil may have to leave mid-December, but after just talking to him today, odds are in our favor. Its not like he has to let me know immediately anyways. As long as he lets me know before January 3rd (when my flight leaves Syracuse) then we are golden. And he will know within the next couple weeks, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Man I sure am glad I dont have a job.

The Way We Was...

Well, Well, Well...I quit my job.

Hows that for news. I only worked a total of 6 days, and I quit. Some people might argue that I am an idiot, or that I should have stuck it out, but they are wrong. The job was boring for one thing. More boring then church. Second of all it was frustrating me and making me quite unhappy with my life. I felt the same way I did during the last two years at RIT when I wanted to quit school. The only difference is that I am somewhat glad I stuck that out, because I ended up with a degree I can always fall back on, even though it cost me a lot of money.

So I am jobless and I am just working on my music. After the christmas vacation to Syracuse that I have planned in about a month, I will get myself a bullshit job stocking shelves or something. Something that wont eat up my time, or energy. I just need enough cash to get by, and would rather focus my energies on something more important then a career. I will have plenty of time to establish myself in the working world later on. I mean afterall, I am only 25 years old.

So basically I did what I had to do, in order to maintain happiness and productivity in the areas of my life that are most important to me. I have been writing a lot and if you havent checked out my site, there is a link to the right that says, 'My Music'. So check it out.

The Musical Whimsies of Davis

For those of you who dont know, I have been playing Open Mic Nights again at a college town called Davis, CA. I play every sunday at a bar called the G Street Pub, and every first friday of the month at Borders Bookstore.

Davis is really receptive. Its quite refreshing. If you put on a good set, people will stop playing pool and darts to listen to you and cheer you on. So its a nice change of pace. And there are also less covers and more original material, so it has made me a lot more comfortable with putting my originals out there, because I know people are there to check out a little bit of new music. So its been fun. I get compliments after each time I play, from random people in the bar, and from other musicians, and have even made a few friends out of the whole ordeal.

After meeting a guitarist named Mike, who plays with this band called "the Awks", we started talking cause he really enjoyed "Yoshimi Battels the Pink Robots" - which is always a huge fan favorite (thanks Dwight) - He told me after he heard me play that song, he became obsessed with it and was listening to it non-stop. So I arranged for him to join me on stage to play it with me, and he obviously agreed that that would be fun. And it was. I love playin music with anyone, especially if they are good, but Mike really enjoyed it as well, which meant a lot because he was in a band with a lot of really good musicians.

So "the Awks" invited me to join them for a jam session every sunday night before open mic at the G Street, and I gave them my number and told them it was a grand idea. After one jam session and another set with Mike which consisted of "Yoshimi", "One Dollar Bill", and "Get off This", they invited me to join the band. They want me to play rhythym guitar and share the singing duties with their lead singer John, whom they describe as a ego-tistical maniac. John has a really good voice, but he is kindof a douchebag, and since they love me, they are hoping to slowly ween him out of the band. Mike also really enjoyed my original "One Dollar Bill" which we jammed on together a few times already and is excited about working with me. So I am ecstatic if you can imagine. I havent been part of a band yet, and I can only learn from it all. I have no expectations, other then to show up and have fun playing whatever it is we are playing. They are all cool guys too, and are always open to your song ideas and what not, so it will be a good forum to get feedback on my originals, and learn the songwriting process.

So basically I am in a band. Although we havent had a formal practice yet, Mike and I have formed somewhat of a duo already anyways. We dont practice much, because we are both busy with work and him with school, but he is good enough to follow me through the songs I normally play, and it sounds fantastic. People wanted an encore last night from us, but they wouldnt allow it because some hardcore band called "GLUG" was supposed to play.

That was the only negative part of the Open Mic. There were 5 artists playing that night, plus GLUG and the Kid Adam who runs it. After talking to Adam about time constraints he told me that GLUG had to be on from 11 - 11:45 and then Adam was to play his set the rest of the night. I was kindof upset by this situation and felt it defeat the purpose of the open mic night. If this band GLUG is supposed to be good enough to play gigs, then they should not be coming to open mic nights and preventing people like myself from more playing time...Maybe Im just being ridiculous because their music makes me want to murder puppies. But after being spoiled at Downtown Manhattans with a half hour set, it is hard to get my point across in three songs...

The Boring World That is Validation

Well Im back into things full swing, and Im hating every second of it. I forgot how truly boring Validation really really is. To make matters worse, I have slightly moved up the scale and am no longer working with young kids like myself, which makes me miss workin with Dwight and Pete even more. At least we made it a lot less boring by making fun of each other - well - mostly we made fun of Pete - its just not the same.

To top it all off, I dont really know what I am doing outside of Temperature Mapping and SIP studies. I mean all validation is the same and can be learned pretty quickly, its just a matter of becoming comfortable with your new companies formats, however they are kindof throwing me in the heat of things pretty fast here. There is a lot of temperature mapping that needs to be done, which is easy...but there are other things that are going to involve some research and talking with other departments. This isnt too bad, except not only did they not train me on their documentation format, but I havent been introduced to anyone. I havent even been given a phone list.

My contact is taking a 3 week vacation at the end of next week, and then I will be running the show for the most part until she gets back. So I dont know where to begin. So this could be disastrous, although I am probably overreacting as I usually do. Because in the end, I will realize just how easy validation is, and that you could train a monkey to do what we do. Ok fine, a really smart monkey. A really smart monkey that will be rich if he can figure it out.

The New Order of Things

Where to begin...

I got a new job now. I am working for Total Validation Services - although I am hired through Global Turn Key Services - and am contracted out to do Validation work to various companies. TVS is using GTKS as a trial hiring period for me, because I came off as a 'Transient' during the interviewing process. They wanted to be sure I was comfortable here before considering me for permanent hire. However, California sucks, so the jokes on them. In the long run I will probably choose to stay with GTKS since they contract workers out everywhere, whereas TVS is only focused on Northern California.

The job I am at now involves a 65 mile commute which doesnt seem that bad, considering its all highway, but its also 4 lanes of solid non-moving California traffic. It took me close to 2 hours to get home last night. This is a major setback and makes me want to quit already. I mentioned to my boss that my car is leased and the commute is killing me, and he said this job will only be til mid-january then I will be contracted out to a company in Vacaville. So it will be worth it in the long run, cause they are paying me well. So a couple months of long drives, and then I will be ten miles or less from my new place of employment.

This job is easy. There is only one warehouse that needs to be validated which includes like 7 refridgerators, a few air handling units, and the HVAC system. Its all equipment validation. For those of you who dont know what I am talking about, its BORING. Thats all the details you need. So its gonna be a long couple of months, but like I said, will be worth it since I should be able to save enough money in the next year or so to pay off most of my loans, if not all...

On a lighter note, I have begun home recording my own originals. I have only written two so far, and recorded one...It sounds ok, but there were some timing issues since I could only record one track at a time. I have started a web-page through myspace, and you can hear my song, and get all updates there. There is a link to the right - just click on 'My Music' - Last night I went out and bought a USB powered interface so I could record 2 tracks together which will solve my vocal timing problem. So I will be re-recording the first song, as well as a new one I wrote the other day. So keep your eyes peeled on that site for new songs, and better quality recording.

McMahon is coming to see me tomorrow night, and we will probably spend most of the weekend partying in San Francisco for my birthday. It should be interesting if anything.

Congratulate me for posting the most boring update ever...

Oh Cracker Where art Thou?

Fort Worth, Texas? Surprisingly yes. In the six day period that I am visiting this fair city to catch up with my pal Dwight, Cracker was playing here. Well actually it was only Dave Lowery and John Hickmann, advertised as Cracker Unplugged. So you can imagine my excitement when I found this information on their myspace webpage. It turns out this show wasnt advertised much anywhere else, it was somewhat off the radar.

The tickets were 20 dollars at the door, and the place was a shithole. It was a little venue called Aardvarks near TCU in Fort Worth. It was kindof like an old garage with a stage on one side and a bar on the other side. It was smaller then every venue I have ever seen Candid at, and the crowd was smaller then any Candid crowd I have ever seen. There were, at the most, 50 people there. This made the show even cooler.

Dwight and I arrived extremely early cause we had read the doors opened at 8 30. We got there around 8, bought our tickets and went to another bar down the street to have a beer. There we watched a cover band play some old Stones tunes and such. We actually ended up talking to the Bass player and his girlfriend at the Cracker show later on.

After we had a beer, we headed back to Aardvarks to settle in for the show. Little did we know that there were two opening bands, and Cracker didnt go on until around midnight. I suppose we should have seen that coming. Either way, we were just chilling with our beers and listening to some crappy no name openers. I could have got the crowd more into it with Wilco covers and whatnot, because it was a strictly Cracker fanatic crowd.

Eventually Hickmann took the stage and played a couple songs off of his new solo album, and then Dave come up for the rest. It was superb. They played a lot of fan favorites, and you could tell cause everyone would jump out of their seats when it was a song they recognized. "Low" got the biggest reaction, which was only because "Teen Angst" was a slowed down version. And of course who doesnt love "Eurotrash Girl". They combined these Cracker classics with Camper songs such as "All Her Favorite Fruit", "That Gum You Like is Back in Style", and even "Take the Skinheads Bowling"...It was a great show for me to have gone to, I couldnt have been more pleased with the song selection, not too mention the double encore.

I even got to "meet" David Lowery. Like I said it was a real intimate setting, small bar, and few people. So the opportunity was there. I didnt really want to be one of those annoying fans, especially because everyone in a cowboy hat was approaching him. And there were a lot of people in cowboy hats, I mean we were in Texas. And you could tell Lowery wasnt really interested in what anyone had to say, he just wanted to pack up his gear and do his next thing. But I couldnt just not do anything, so I approached him, shook his hand, and said "Im happy to finally meet someone who enjoys Pootie Tang as much as myself." He laughed and I told him he played a great set and I was on my way.

On a side note, one of the crazy cowboy hat wearing dudes was telling me how Cracker was the best band of our time. I didnt really have an argument for this, I mean he did tell me at the Urinals. I was caught off guard. Then he said "Although it would have been cool to see what Alice and Chains could have done". Which I responded with "Welp, that ends that discussion". But either way, I think Cracker would be pretty high up on my list of best bands since, say, the late eighties or early nineties. They are a great band, no arguments there.

A Long Overdue Update...

So the Dickey and Sparky connection is once again a thing of the past. And we are both left with our stories to tell and our seperate paths until they cross yet again in the future.

I have ended up in Vacaville, California where I got a job for Total Validation Services and will be contracted out to work for Genentech, a large pharmaceutical company based all over California. Now I havent officially been hired, or started working, but I have been informed that I should be hearing from them this week, and starting the first week of November. So its back to the ole Protocol writing and Validator 2000 training with me. Piece of cake...Piece of really boring cake. But its no big deal, because I should be able to save money quickly, thus making it easier for me to get back on the road and possibly meet up with Sparky. We have major plans for the next few years as far as travelling goes, but nothing is written in stone...such is life.

So in my freetime I have been reading and writing (link to my poetry on the right), creating and absorbing new music, and just kindof thinking. Its been great, but its been maddening at times. The things I want to do, and the things I have to do are clashing again but this is a problem that is easy to solve. Like Ive already said, a solution has already been found. Time is all it will take now...and we all have plenty of that.

Sparky is back in Costa Rica already, and Dwight is in Texas. I am leaving tomorrow for a week long visit with Dwight where we will tear up the city of Dallas with jokes about their beloved Emmitt Smith. Next I will return here to this hotel room in Cow-Ville and hopefully begin working. A month or so later I will be back in Syracuse for the Christmas holidays, and will hopefully be able to see everyone I want to, and maybe play a couple nights at Manhattan's again...I have missed that. Mcmahon will be joining me here the weekend of my birthday and we are going to head to the Bay area for some tomfoolery and whatnot...It will be fun, as crazy antics are always involved when Mcmahon is entered into the equation.

So thats it...I am just chillin. I havent become complacent in this room yet, and have been too full of thought to be bored, so I havent ventured much into the world Northern California has to offer yet. Although that will change soon, especially when I get some money in my pocket and start roaming the nearby cities for Open-Mic Nights...

Although I have been to the Sacramento Zoo, and they didnt even have any bears...

Jack Kerouac and the World as We Know It...

I recently finished reading "On the Road" for the first time. First of all I want to say I am glad I never read this book before now...I think I read it at the perfect time for myself. This book has sparked a huge desire for me to be back on the road, and to take full advantage of everything it has to offer, and meet every person possible on the way. Live life, I mean really experience everything. It just so happens that I am also in the perfect position for myself to make this all happen. Of course, it will take some time, at least a year or two...but I have found a pretty decent job, and being on the road two summers from now is more then feasible. The only problem is, I have to wait patiently and save some money.

Second of all, I thought this book was very interesting. It shows that even with how different America was back then, the ideals were pretty much the same. The people and experiences described in this book made me recap everyone I know, and have met, and everything I have done and compare the two. There are, suprisingly enough, a lot of similarities. There were the loud obnoxious frat boys, the artsy loners, the artsy loners that just rip old artists off, the people who settle down, the woman chaser, the mad, the happy, the poor, the sane, the insane, the judgemental, the doing, the dying, and so on. America hasnt changed muched. I mean little things have changed. Like people feel a lot less comfortable about things like hitch-hiking these days, whereas then it was a great means of company for a long trip. But the ideals and the generalities are not much different from today at all. Its like when Kerouac writes "I can go anywhere in America and get what I want because its the same in every corner..." This quote is so true. I have driven all around this fair land, and its all the same. Sure just like the 50's were slightly different then today, Seattle, WA is slightly different from Great Falls, MT but the generalities are the same. I dont know a better way to explain it, but I hope you get my point.

It made me think of everything I have thought about life, and the definition of living, and re-think the whole idea. Another quote "This is the American way...People are doing what they feel they're supposed to be doing"...can you think of a better description of the majority of America? Thats exactly what he was referring to...the majority...he certainly wasnt talking about himself and his mad group of "beat" friends...he certainly wasnt talking about Dean. We all have a time in our lives where we think, maybe im supposed to do this...or maybe im supposed to live like this...I for one, know that I have, and have learned thats not what lifes all about. There doesnt have to be supposed to's...There needs to be more going to's...

I dont know what else to say, except read this book...

We Know Funny...

Is there anyone out there as pissed off as I am at those TBS commercials where they have an office that people call and tell people whats funny?

I mean where do they get the nerve telling us what we can laugh at and what we cant. I can remember when this station was used for mainly old sitcoms and made for TV movies, and now because they show Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond we are supposed to hold them as kings of comedy...Or as they say..."We know funny".

Sure they show some great shows these days, like Seinfeld, and even Futurama...and of course there are some people out there that would argue Family Guy. (To avoid any chance of being called a hypocrite, I wont tell you my opinion on how un-funny Family Guy really is.) Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and in that respect, their own sense of humors. I for one have always had a different sense of humor then most people...and TBS is robbing us of our right to think whatever we want is funny. They are starting off slow with these lame commercials, but who know whats next. The idea has been planted.

But Im telling you I wont stand for it. No man/woman behind a desk can tell me how much to laugh at situations. I dont care if they dont think its funny, if society doesnt think its funny, or what...the bottom line is, if I think its funny, I am going to laugh. Cause if Reader's Digest has taught us anything its that Laughter is the best medicine.

The Life of Sam Rockwell...

Most everyone knows him as the brilliant con-man who got the best of the obsessive compulsive Nicolas Cage in "Matchstick Men"...Or perhaps, for those of us who saw this brilliant film, you know him as the quite mentally diseased Chuck Barris from "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Most recently he played that annoying two headed guy Zaphod from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

But I bet you didnt know that before he became a more serious actor, he was scared straight by Wayne Gretzky on steroids...who is of course better known as Casey Jones. When Casey and Danny were saving Splinter from the clutches of the Shredder, Sam was there, with the rest of the thugs, backing Master Tatsu himself.

After Master Tatsu was "driven" away by Casey himself, Sam was the one who wanted to stand up to Casey and teach him a lesson for fuckin with his "Father's" right-hand man. And I quote...

"We have a loyalty to the Shredder...we're a family."

So you see, Sam Rockwell wasnt always a renowned hollywood actor. He used to be a punk kid trying to work his way up in the footclan, who was scared straight by a washed-up hockey player with a golf club. It was a matter of minutes before he pointed the cops to the footclan's hideout and began his pursuit of an acting career. And look at him now.

I dont know what to do in this situation...Thank Casey Jones, or slap Sam Rockwell in the face and tell him what a pussy he is. I mean to be scared straight by Michealangelo, Donatello, Leonardo or Raphael would be one thing...but being scared straight by the man who fell for the "Ugly April" is worse then being talked into joining the good side by the Giant Rat version of Yoda...Danny!!!

No Direction Home...

I recently finished watching this documentary about the one and only Robert Zimmerman...Who is better known as Bob Dylan. Not only was this an extremely well done documentary (Martin Scorsese Directed), but it also made me think Dylan was that much cooler.

The entire music scene was completely different back then. There was so much more freedom and people always getting together and just playing and singing. Especially in the Folk scene. It was amazing to see. Stuff like that doesnt happen anymore...And a lot of the Musicians were out there to change the world, or do there part. Which we all know isnt very common place anymore. I dont remember who said it in the Movie, but it was some painter guy who was Dylans friend...and he talked about how art wasnt financially driven back then. People were rated by whether or not they had something to say.

Which was the ironic part about Dylan. Dylan had a lot to say as a musician, and even as a writer...I mean the stuff just poured out of him. But the world saw this as him having a lot to say about the world, and politics and whatnot. He became known as this topical songwriter. But in my opinion, alls he wanted to be was an entertainer, and you could tell how much he hated being labelled as otherwise.

Its like when he recieved some sort of Freedom award...Im not exactly sure what it was Id have to go back and check the movie sometime...But anyways, upon recieving the award his speech involved him telling the crowd that he was no political thinker, he was young, he liked being young, and politicians were old. It was a huge kick in the ass to the award, and the people who gave it to him. Which I thought was great. And he was constantly fucking with interviewers and the media and everything. He refused to be their dancing bear. There was one scene where a photographer was asking Bob to "suck on his glasses" for a photo...Bob just looked confused and was like "no...here you want to suck on my glasses?". I mean the guy was great. He did whatever he wanted in the studio, in front of the media, and on stage...he was a genius.

Like when he brought out the blues band to back him at the Newport folk festival and people booed him. It was amazing to see, and to think about. And this happened to him for a while, as he toured the US and eventually Europe with the guys who would later become "The Band". People would call him "Judas" and yell at him to get off the stage, or they would ask "whos side are you on?" or "where are the protest songs?"...And Bob would just shrug it off and say something like "this isnt British Music, its American Music"...and he would turn to the band behind him and say "Play fuckin loud". He loved every second of it. And in the interviews for the documentary he said "I dont think the boos had anything to do with what the people were hearing". Which I believe is true, because the music was great. People were just so upset about the ideology behind it. They felt Bob was bastardizing his brilliance. But he was merely just showcasing it in a new way...the way he wanted to, as an entertainer. Even the fellow musicians were upset about it. Pete Seeger (I believe from Peter, Paul and Mary) had to be subdued backstage at the Newport Folk Festival because he was going to cut the electrical chords. Thats how upset he was.

Dylan wrote some of the most important songs ever written. And what makes them so important is that most of them, if not all...can still be applied today. They dont mean the same thing as they did back then, but they continue to be passed down, cause they still have powerful meanings. He is by far the greatest, and most important songwriter who ever lived, and alls he wanted to do was be a song and dance man.

The Story Behind the Name...

It was somewhere in Idaho, or maybe Utah...Sparky and I had been driving for half the day already, and we would be on the road for another 8 hours, maybe more. I was behind the wheel, while Sparky was brushing up his Spanish using his recently purchased Spanish/English dictionary. He started telling me translations as if I really cared including that of "arriba", and it turns out all this time Speedy Gonzalez was yelling "up, up" or "above, above" before he took off in his speedy way...

Moving on...During one of his translations, he managed to emit a decent amount of spit from his mouth to my face. So I asked him if he could teach me to say "Say it, don't Spray it" in spanish...so that he would understand in two languages that he was spitting on me more then that Dinosaur that killed the fat guy from Jurassic Park who remarkably resembled Newman from Seinfeld.

After investigating, Sparky found that his Spanish/English dictionary did not contain the translation for "spray". But it did have the translation for Staple Remover. "Sacagrapas". At first I was astonished and a little pissed off that it was lacking in the "Spray" department, which I thought was a more useful term then "Staple Remover", while Sparky merely just pointed out what a cool nickname "Sacagrapas" would be.

Hence, my new stage name...Sacagrapas...

The Coexistance of Wiggers

After a recent visit to Great Falls, I have found out that wiggers still exist. I was under the impression that they went extinct after Eminem became famous, because then it was cool to be white again. Apparently some cities missed this memo.

I mean Ive seen a lot of gangsta white people, or Urban if you will...but this is very different then being a wigger. Wiggers are much bigger losers. They walk with much more of a limp, usually cause they still wear their pants around the bottom of their asses and have to hold them up while they walk. They also date white girls with really crimped hair that is practically glued to their head. These are usually female wiggers. And correct me if I am wrong, but black people hate wiggers just as much as everyone else.

I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of Albertsons (which is a grocery store) when I came in contact with these wiggers. They pulled their car up to the curb the wrong way and got out one at a time "limping" to the soda machine. Upon their exit one of them saw me laughing, and immediately assumed I was laughing at him. He of course was right, because I was. He got out of his car, which took a few minutes (I think because of the pants problem stated earlier) and came to my window. I rolled down my window to prevent getting it smashed in, considering these people are morons. I calmly said I didnt have a problem with him, and he responded with an 'I got a problem'. So I wished him luck with his problem. He then hit me through the open car window. Then alls I had to do was put my arm up while he kept swinging with no real affect on anything...cause wiggers hit like girls. Then I told him his girlfriend was fat, and he went back to his car and drove off...

Now why didnt I, or Sparky, do anything. First, we were in shock that wiggers still exist, cause I havent seen one in real life since high school...Second, there was still a whole car full of wiggers and wiggerettes who could have wanna be-guns, knifes or other type weapons, and with Jims wedding two days away, we didnt want anything bad to happen. Besides knocking their teeth out would be a favor, cause then they could get gold ones.

So everyone beware, they are still out there, and they still wanna-be...even more then ever.

The Road Trip

I dont have much motivation for writing this detail oriented post about what me and Sparky have been up to on this trip. Cause it isnt that funny. I mean sure its been hilarious and Sparky and I have had a lot of funny things happen to us, like that one time...remember that one Sparky? Man that was hilarious.

Anyways, my point is...if you want all the details, go to Sparky's blog which you can find a link to on the right. He has already finished describing most of what we have done and all the boring details as well as his own hilarious observations.

Here are my observations in no particular order.

If Dwight came with us to Tijuana for McMahons birthday, we probably would have been killed. And we definitely would have killed that whistle blowing, tequila hustling whore that charged us money for forcing tequila down our throats...and by down our throats I mean all over our faces. Dwight would have held her down while I shoved that whistle up her ass.

Seattle is a cool city, except when it rains. And Bumbershoot is a pretty sweet festival. Although not without its dissapointments, like the price of food. Also check out my review of the Trey show on my review page.

Log Frisbee is a great game. The second greatest frisbee game ever created next to Frisbee tennis, which incorporates violence, frisbee, and tennis all into one big bonanza of fun.

MT. Saint Helens sucks. I mean you have to pay fees to do anything...Including hiking on trails. And most of the trails were closed off due to volcanic activity. I mean why else would we come to MT. Saint Helens?...to not see volcanic activity? There are a million mountains we can do that at. I hope it erupts again without warning and kills everyone who kept me from walkin on volcanic ashes and the remains of a dead eco-system.

I shouldnt ever bring my guitar camping with me, especially since I am too obsessed with it to keep it in anything besides a hard case...which results in it being heavy and bulky, thus a royal pain in the ass to carry 1.5 miles uphill back to the car.

Sparky and I are the king of road trips...cause we dont care what happens and we fly by the seat of our pants. Which is what something like this is all about. I mean one night we will be sleepin in the middle of nowhere with the threat of bears eating our delicious Spaghetti-Os, and the next night we will go see a movie and go to Wal-Mart so Sparky can get some clean clothes. Or when it starts raining in Seattle, we just leave. That'll teach god to make it rain where we are.

Like Tango and Cash

This road trip marks the return of the Dickey and Sparky connection which has been absent for quite some time. So far the results have been tremendous and outrageous. Although I am sure all of you already know this thanks to Sparky's Blog, since he does a much better job of keeping it updated...

The day before I picked up Sparky I hung out at Miranda's place in Denver. It was a pretty chill night of drinking and Jamming with a bunch of her friends. By the end of the night it was her friend Tom and I chillin and playin phish songs together...It was a relaxing time.

The next day I made my way to the Denver International Airport to go find Sparky. I was happy to see the airport contained a Burger King so I indulged myself there and then waited...Soon enough Sparky came walking out of the gate with pubes all over his face and the stench of Monkey semen all over him...I could tell he was a dirty mexican...So the homoerotic friendship began almost immediately as we ventured out of the airport. We went back to Miranda's place where most of my stuff was, ordered a pizza, got ahold of Colin (Sparky's Friend) and headed to Fort Collins...Despite the name Fort Collins had no actual fortification, and it didnt even belong to Colin...So as you can tell I was quite pissed...almost as pissed as I got during our trip to Mt. Saint Helens which I will get to in future updating.

So we met up with Colin in the Parking Lot of a Wal-Mart and started our Fort Collins adventures which mostly involved watching Colin get hammered and laughing. And it also involved another chill night of shootin the shit and making music with friends. The thing I learned most from being in Colorado is that Colin is hilarious. Thats it...

More to come...

Cars, Trucks, Buses

Rest stops are interesting places. I have been thinking about it due to the fact that I have nothing better to do and I have come to the conclusion that rest stops would make being homeless easy.

I mean sure there are some stipulations. Like you would have to have a car which, depending on how comfortable you want to live, would require you to have a job as well. But a lot of big companies operate near major highways. Like Bristol Myers, or Lockheed to name a couple I am familiar with. The commute to a rest stop from Bristol Myers would probably have been very similar to the commute from my apartment, distance wise. Plus it may cost about a dollar a trip for tolls, at the most. So that’s about sixty bucks a month for “rent”. Plus you got fast food, gas, ATM machine, newspaper, and bathrooms right there.

As far as sleep, you will of course have to make some sacrifices. But this is where you car comes into play. You could get yourself one of those giant conversion vans and live in luxury, or you could get accustomed to sleeping in a bucket seat. If that is the case you may want to consolidate your life and keep as little necessities as possible, so you can at least recline.

Entertainment…that’s easy. If you’re me, you got the guitar…that’s always fun. Plus with all the adapters they have now you can power everything out of your car. Im typing this right now in a rest stop, and I got my cell phone charging at the same time. Not too mention with the Ipod revolution, I got all the music I will ever need, and I can fit it all in my pocket. And today I found out that a lot of rest stops are now including wireless internet…some for free…some for a small fee. It’s only a matter of time before they all have it available.

So as you can see I have thought this out quite a bit. Sure there are downsides, like showering. But once again depending on where you work, there are locker rooms where you can take care of all your hygiene needs.

So its about time we all became homeless and started living in rest stops…Moving from one to the other. Just think of how many people you can meet. Its gotta be better then the bar scene. Especially in Syracuse.

Coming Up Roses

So I have been eating a lot of Burger King on this trip. Not that that is much of a change, considering I was given an Employee discount card at the one in Shoppingtown mall cause I went there to eat so much. The sad part is, I went to the one by my house even more...So I think I have a problem...Where are all my friends with the intervention that is needed? I mean I drove all day starving cause I wouldnt stop til I found an exit that had a Burger King. And boy was it worth it.

Moving on, I am about an hour outside of Nebraska, which sucks. Nebraska is the most boring state to drive through since they legalized gambling in Nevada. Seriously I would rather play real life Oregon Trail and take a horse and buggy across the country if I got to skip Nebraska. You can only take so much Cornfields.

Only about 9 more hours of driving til I am in Denver. So I should be there tomorrow night at the latest. I am still planning on driving for a few more hours tonight, so who knows. I want to get to Denver as soon as possible so I can sleep on a couch. For those of you who dont know already, sleeping sitting up in a bucket seat sucks. A lot. There was one point last night where I backed my car up out of my parking spot a little and tried to sleep on a blanket in front of it, but the bugs liked that way too much. So I decided to take my chances with the lower back pain.

I think I saw Colin Farrell in the backseat of a beat up cavalier with a wierd old couple driving. He looked at me with this scared look on his face. I think he was kidnapped by those old people. Keep your eyes on the headlines.

The First Day of My Life

So the road trip has started. I am currently sitting in a rest stop an hour East of Toledo writing this entry, which you will probably read a lot later. I decided to call it a night for driving, considering I am already way ahead of schedule and don’t have to be in Denver for three more days. That gives me plenty of time.

This is technically my first stop along the way, and I am going to fill my tank for the first time since I left when I head out in the morning. I did stop in Rochester for a Garbage Plate filled dinner. And it was delicious as usual. I went to Henrietta Hots and decided that there macaroni salad needs work. Other then that they have great garbage, or “hot”, plates. I also met this really old Black Guy named Ebons at this particular establishment and I realized that he must have invented Ebonics…Given his name, and the fact that I had no idea what he was saying.

Other then that the road trip has been pretty uneventful so far…obviously. I mean Ive driven through Pennsylvania, where the first road after entering is Gay Road, and Most of Ohio. Talk about the boring part of the trip. I mean Im sure its more fun then Nebraska, but we will find out this time around.

So right now Im going to go get some shut eye, so I can get an early start in the morning…and hopefully get to Chicago at a good time for driving.

I can fit my life in my car.
With the exception of my 12-String Guitar.

Stu-Stu-Studio

So the other day I got to hang out in the studio with Candid for a little while. I didn’t get to see much cause I had shit to do, but I got to watch them play a couple of their new songs, including Termites, and I got to just sit around and bullshit with the band.

Something I found interesting was the setup JP had for himself. He had a long chord for his guitar so that he could sit outside at the switch board and play in front of the band. Perhaps it was for the sole purpose of watching Corey…I don’t really know…I just thought it was interesting.

I will be handing out Candid CDs on this road trip I am taking, or have already taken…depending on when I actually get to post this. I don’t have anyone in the car with me yet, so for now I cant make copies and hand them out. That will change once I get Brian in Denver. Which of course means I wont be able to hand out CDs til I get to the Mid-West and the West Coast. Which is fine, I mean doesn’t everyone just listen to Bluegrass in Oklahoma?

The Nature of the Beast...

Through recent late night conversation it has come to my attention how little my friends now about quantum physics and time travel, and other such practices and theories. Even if they are just theories...

After reading "Time Travel In Einsteins Universe" I began to think about "jins". A Jin is something, could be anything, that exists only in a cyclical path in the Time/Space Continuum. For example, lets say a man has a watch that he recieved from his mother when he was a small boy. Later when the man grows older, he travels back in time...(at this point it doesnt matter how, Im not writing this to argue the possibilities of time travel, perhaps another time)...so the man travels back in time and gives his mother the same watch. This watch then only exists in time and space from the moment the man enters the past to the moment he leaves the "present". This particular watch is a "jin".

Now that you have a general idea of what a "jin" is I propose my theory. The human race could be a "jin" in itself. Lets say that someday a very long time from now, the last human beings decide that in order to survive, or for whatever reason, they travel back in time. Far back in time, before man roamed the Earth. And they of course begin to start living again, pro-creating and whatnot...Thus creating the human race...Thus creating one hell of a "jin".

Now this theory in many ways implies Pre-destination to be a given. Which is in many, many peoples minds a hard thing to grasp, or accept. Which is fine, if we throw some sort of dimensional vector into the equation. Its like in Back to the Future part 2, when old Biff steals the Time Machine, travels back in time, and makes young Biff rich as hell. When he returns the Time Machine to the future when he stole it, its the same future he left...In other words, no rich Biff. That doesnt fit into the equation because of so many reasons. Like who would have created the time machine if Doc Brown was committed, and blah blah blah...I dont want to get into it...Its a movie. However it does provide a good example of how time can branch off into alternate universes or dimensions as we will call them. I know it sounds a little Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for some of us, but there are no Krangs, or Wart-Hog Men in my story. Though there may be a Dimension X.

So lets say the Human "jin" is set up like a giant elipse with a line down the center of it. The line down the center being representative of the time space line as a whole, and traveling across the elipse clockwise representing the path through time for mankind, or the Human "jin". It has the same beginning and same end point on either side of the elipse. Now we could have an infinite number of elipses inside or outside the first elipse. All these elipses would still have the same start point and finish point. At any point, during any decision making process you could branch off into a new elipse, but in the end you will always end up at the same end point in which you loop back around to the same beginning point. And just like that watch brought up earlier, mini elipses can form on the larger ones, causing a "jin" within a "jin". Its interesting to think about, and it opens up the door for endless amounts of further discussion.

Now why elipses?...I really am just using elipses as an illustrator, to make a simple model of the universe I am trying to present. I mean the paths could take any sort of "shape", from a diamond, to a rhombus, to an eratic blob solid, so long as the path intersects with our time space line at the same two spots...Given the fact that there are an infinite number of possibilites for this thing to play out, that would suggest an infinite number of possible dimensions...all with the same outcome, Human beings creating themselves...

I suppose it can still be argued that pre-destination is a factor, but much less of a factor when put this way. I for one am not a big fan of pre-destination which makes the entire concept of time travel back through time quite hard to comprehend with out the idea of multiple dimensions. And being a huge advocate of time travel myself, I am obviously gonna be rooting for the fact that its possible...So climb aboard the Technodrome for some inter-dimensional travel.

Now we wont get into the law of conservation of mass, cause that opens a whole new world of me pretending I know what Im talking about...Not to mention elipse has two l's...

My Take on Relationships

I am beginning to realize that if I wanted more people to read this blog and actually care what I have to say, I am going to have to start rambling about relationships. Dive into my old horror stories, and somtimes even good stories, but we all know the horror stories get the real attention. Of course Im not really going to do this...Im not going to turn my blog into www.wordsbyawordsmith.blogspot.com which was somewhat inspired by www.syracusesingle.blogspot.com. Not that there is anything wrong with that, its just not what my blog is intended for.

The recently popularity in my pal George's blog (words by a wordsmith) have made me start thinking about relationships myself. Not so much my relationships, I mean I suppose I think about those, or atleast deal with them everyday. Not too mention my brother was recently dumped and has confided in me for advice, cause he knows I have a colorful history with women. So its been on my mind...

It just cracks me up the way people love relationships...hearing about them, witnessing them being created and of course destroyed...Just look at the reality show boom, which was somewhat of an industrial revolution of TV drama. All these shows were created with one common theme. People are forced into relating with other people and drama ensues. And its great. And the ones with the most drama get the highest ratings...It boggles my mind that Temptation Island went off the air. That show was hilarious.

I mean even I love this crap. I recently got into the Real World cause I wanted to see Danny get his face busted in on the first episode...And BAM! I was sucked in for good.

Relationships are crazy...and addicting...I suppose they would have to be considering we deal with them everyday in every different way. But we sure do know how to exploit them.

God Bless America...

The Road Ahead

The road trip is lingering over my head and it certainly makes going to work everyday pretty boring and difficult. Sure I don’t actually do anything, but in essence that makes the day go by even longer.

There’s something about a road trip that’s so freeing and so exhilarating. Maybe it’s the cutting all ties and refreshing my life with a month break of doing nothing but driving around hanging out with my best friend Sparky.

Should I be afraid of change? Cause the thing I’m noticing most is the way people have done nothing but say they wish they could do what I was doing, and just pick up and leave. So why don’t they…I guess change is difficult for some people. And I am leaving a lot of comforts and taking a big risk myself, so I guess I can understand why people would be afraid to take a step forward (or backwards) like I am about to do.

I am extremely optimistic about the decision already, even though I am leaving my job (which is pretty high paying), my family, my friends, and my Monday night gig at Manhattans, which has made me feel like a pseudo-local celebrity. I have already become more excited about my guitar playing and my future musical endeavors. I have been playing a lot more, and feel a lot more comfortable just jamming by myself and am beginning to notice how much I have improved in the last year.

So I cannot wait for what another year will bring, especially at the confidence and comfort level I have already reached…

Has There Ever Been a Worse Time...

So the dates have been made official.

On August 22nd, I will be picking up my pal Sparky in the Colorado airport. From there we will head to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music Festival.(http://boxoffice.onereel.org/sites/bs05/tickets/)

I am especially excited about this since I have not been to a good show in a long time, and my hero Trey will be headlining one of the nights (Saturday night September 6th to be exact). Not too mention a four day pass to the festival only runs around $60. Which is pretty close to what I would have to pay to see most bands for one night. And of course Sparky knows millions of people everywhere, so finding a couch to stay on in Seattle will be as easy as making Tacos in Mexico.

After Bumbershoot we really have no set plans...Other then to be in Great Falls, Montana by the 14th of September in order for Sparky to prepare for his brother's Wedding on the 24th. We may end up camping in Riggins, Idaho again, or who knows what. And the 2 weeks or so in Montana will of course be a blast. Hitting up Open Mic nights again, and of course Jim's Wedding, which Dwight and Kathy will be flying in for.

So the bottom line is I cannot wait to quit my job, and begiin the next adventure of my life. Ive finally got through the boring chapter in my Choose your Own Adventure Book, and am faced with an easy choice of staying in this monotous job, or taking a risk and having some fun for a while. So it will be interesting to see where this chapter takes me. I am very optimistic about the whole thing.

So why is the title of this entry so negative...?

Check this out...http://www.martinguitar.com/artists/display_artist.php?d=319

Martin has released the Trey Signature Acoustic Guitar...The low end runs $5200. I have always anticipated the release of a Trey Signature Guitar, and looked forward to buying one someday. I guess I didnt expect it to happen so soon. Of course at this transitional time in my life, it would be a bad idea to blow $6000 on a guitar that I would be afraid to touch. Im pretty sure I would build a room lined in 3 feet of cotton, with a vigorous hand sanitization process, and possibly gowning required in order for myself to even touch it.

So I suppose thats one little gem that I will have to wait to have in my collection...

A Comforting Thought...

Well the long anticipated Candid website is up and running...

I just wanted to let everyone know. Its got it all, MP3 samples, tour dates, merchandise, and some nice little extras. There is a link to the webpage at the right of this post...

Sparky dont forget to register as "The Lobster" on their guestbook pages, before someone else tries to steal it.

Tweety with a "d"

I just read an article about Wilco in some weird hippie magazine that Miranda sent me in the mail ironically enough.

It was inspiring and informative. Jeff Tweedy discusses a lot of his views on his music, and music making in general in the article. A lot of the stuff he says, I found very easy to relate to. The major point of Jeff's discussion were his emphasis on how he is able to separate himself from his music once it has already been put out there...He separates what people think of his creations from his creations. He goes on to say that it doesnt matter what people think and it doesnt matter if you dont sound like Jimmy Page. He obviously uses Jimmy Page for specifics related to himself, but you get the idea.

Which brings me to myself. This is something I have always had a hard time accepting. The guitarist or musician that I am is not the guitarist or musician that I consider good, or noteworthy. But what I have to realize is that I have the skills to be making music. The only real skill I lack is from the lack of experience/practice with the songwriting process itself. This is due only to my intimidation of the whole thing. Basically I need to train myself to overcome this fear. The fear that nothing I can create can be good. I mean of course I am my worst critic and if I hate something, I certainly am not going to enjoy playing it. But this shouldnt stop me from trying to create and avoid the whole artistic process.

Ive never really been involved in an artistic process like this...Sure I have written a couple songs, all of which I cant say I am too fond of...but it is hard to know where to start. But looking back, I didnt know where to start when I first picked up the guitar 4 years ago. The only difference is that I refused to put it down, no matter what kindof shit came out of that beat up old classical with a giant hole in the back. This is the same attitude I have to take when writing. Practice. I need to learn from myself and develop my own styles, and eventually certain aspects will come easier for me and things will start to come together, just like in my guitar playing. Now alls I have to do is put these ideals into practice...literally.

Federal Dickey Administration

So the FDA finally showed up today for the big inspection that everyone has been dreading for months and months, and I didnt even know about until I was asked at a company party during a trivia game. And my attitude remains pretty much the same. I have done a lot of work since then, preparing for their arrival, but am in no way intimidated by the fact that they are here, like most everyone else. For me, this inspection week is going to be a slight break. There wont be too much for me to do...at least not at this moment. Rumor has it that the FDA can go ahead and ask us to execute studies immediately that would make some work for me...but time will tell.

On a different topic, I just got done playing my set at Downtown Manhattans, and it was alright. The funny part was that I forgot that I had given Corey the battery to my guitar last week, and didnt replace it. This resulted in the first two songs being played without any sound coming from my guitar over the PA. Hilarious.

I also noticed how annoying it must be for Corey and JP, and other musicians for that matter, to deal with fans. Everyone wants to be your friend if you are a "rock star" or any sort of star. Even if its a local thing. I mean, even I have noticed how people are so much more interested in myself since I started playing. And its very slight for me...I cant imagine what its like for Corey and them guys. Or even worse, for more famous people. It must suck diddly-uck...

Opportunities

Well its Monday, so that means I should probably pick up my guitar and see if I still know how to play it considering I havent since last monday. This could make for an interesting performance tonight. But either way, Dwight will laugh...So its all good.

So I talked to my old workin' buddy J-RO (Jon Roppel) who recently went to work for a seperate Validation company known as O'Brien and Geere. He got some sort of management position and when he left, told me how much he wants to convince them to let me come work for him. Which I immediately told him would definitely be an option.

So he came to see me today, cause his firm (or whatever you want to call it) got hired for some job on the Bristol Site doing Validation for building 73A, which honestly, I never even heard of...But he mentioned how he has been pushing really hard to convince them to let him hire someone, and he is even pushing for it to be a permanent position, rather then something temporary. He seemed optimistic. I of course, am not going to get my hopes up too much, but you know, I sent him a copy of my resume, and told him I was definitely interested. So I will weigh my options when the time comes I suppose.

The job he mentioned was located in Puerto Rico, which means I could convince Sparky to come live with me for awhile and be my interpreter so I dont end up eating Veggie Tacos...That would be hell. Oh and so I can find out where to get the best drugs. I love Drugs.

But like I said, we will see when the time comes.

Neil Suchin Prakash

I just got done chit-chatting through the amazing technology known as "Instant Messaging" with my best friend Neil, who is currently stationed in Germany, and he showed me some cool shit I would like to share with all you readers (theres gotta be atleast 2 by now).

First he sent me this video clip (http://treyjackson.typepad.com/junction/). You have to go to this site and click on the link to watch the MSNBC video. This is a video clip of some sort of interview that took place about Soldiers weblogs. The nerdy guy with glasses starts referencing and giving shout outs to individual blogs. Lastly he gets to Neil, and starts talking about how much his stands out, how great it is, and to top it all off how great Neil is, with several references to his silver star that he won. He even brings up one picture Neil has posted of him taking out a sniper with an RPG next to his tank. The nerdy guy continues by explaining to us that he emailed Neil himself to find out why he would get out of his tank to take out this sniper, expected a reply from Neil somewhere along the lines of "Civilians were in the area" or blah blah blah, technicalities. Neil replied with one sentence..."Because it was cool".

That sums everything up right there. Because it was cool. Thats the basis of my actions. I mean which one of us can honestly say when we are doing something, we arent thinking "Man Im cool"...I know there have been several things I have done (none even close to the things Neil has done) in which I have been thinking to myself, "man I cant wait to tell my friends about this one". Either because it was cool, or I knew it would make them laugh, or both.

But my real point here is that Neil is the man. And people besides the usually obsessed (Sparky and I) are finally starting to realize it. Everyone should read his blog. You will find a link to the right of my posts. Just click on Neil. He even has a literary agent right now pitching book ideas to publishers as we speak. So its only a matter of time before everyone realizes how damn cool this kid really is.

On that note, I am going to go wait for the next time I get to talk to Neil again, and even better the next time I get to hang out with him. In that time I will probably fantasize about his giant silver dollar nipples. Why?...Because its cool.

Termites

Its been quite the week, extremely busy thats for sure. 12 hour work days at the very least, and throw in the usual monday night festivities, two hockey games, and a candid show, and there isnt much time to do anything except sit around my new place watching Elimidate, and Star Wars late at night with Dwight.

Monday was pretty uneventful. I thought my singing was rather monotonous and overall my performance was lacking in enthusiasm. Dwight said I sounded good, so atleast there was some positive feedback...So on that note, we both got drunk and went to sleep, anticipating another long ass work day on tuesday.

The following two nights I had a couple hockey games, which involved a lot of goal scoring, and even a fight. Which makes it only the second time I have punched someone in the face...and the second time I was laughing while doing it.

Work has been busy as hell, for everyone. The North Suite got shut down yesterday because they found mold everywhere, which is hilarious. It also relieves a little of the work load for Dwight and his crew, but will most likely make even more work for all of us in the long run. In the meantime, I have been doing my usual validation of all the equipment they can throw at me, especially cause everyone seems to have chosen this week to go on vacation, l eaving me to fill in the gaps.

But enough of that boring work talk...

Last night we hit up the Candid show, which was a sweet way to "end" the week...Even though there really is no concept of weekends in our schedule these days. After work I hit up Michaels and bought some stuff to make T-shirts. I made two shirts for the Candid show. One for myself that read "Termites" which is the best song ever. And one for Mike Spadaro that said "Hottest Member"...and of course he wore it on stage. The other band members and their girlfriends were upset that they didnt win, but there was a vote, and Mike cleaned house 4-0 (Me, Dwight, Pete and Mike's Fiancee). I think Sean was the most upset about this ranking, and he very much wanted to know why he wasnt in the running. He even told me that he asked the light-guy to make sure to throw a couple spotlights on him during the show. To be quite honest, who the fuck is the drummer, does anyone even know. I mean to me he is the most underrated musician in the band, but he is just there. Nobody cares for him, like the way they care for the bass player, cause he is dreamy.

You should have heard the original ideas for Mikes T-shirt...my favorite was "I finger Dwight and Nick like my bass...With Both Hands". But that was deemed inappropriate, yet absolutely bonerific for Dwight and I to fantasize about.

With that I leave you with the opening verse to my new favorite song...

"The man at the hardware store
says termites are bound to eat this house
Its only natural, its really just a matter of time
Before it falls, these walls dont look like real wood
I hope my bedroom tastes good
They say its all for the best
I find it hard to digest

The things you miss when you're sleepin'
Hangin up on the wall
The Things you miss when you're sleepin
Never happen at all..."

---Corey Paige

Follow the links

Due to recent debates, mainly over the new Star Wars movie (refer to my livejournal), I have decided to start another blog which I will use for the sole purpose of reviewing movies and albums, whether good or bad.

There is a link to the page on this blog, and if you are interested in my personal opinions on everything, feel free to read it all. I am planning on writing a huge review of the entire Star Wars Saga because of all the thought and discussion I have been putting into it since I saw that "movie". So keep your eyes peeled for that.

In other news, I have finally moved in with Dwight. It is the dawning of a new era...the future begins now. The next thing you know, robots will be doing all the work, and we will have our own flying car. Dwight and I are just that damn efficient.

There goes the Neighborhood...

Well I just came from the premier of the much anticipated Star Wars Episode III, The Revenge of the Sith. First things first, I must warn all you readers that this post will contain information that you may not want to know if you havent already seen this. But then again, if you are looking forward to seeing this and dont already know what happens, then you are an idiot.

Second of all, I have to say this movie sucked.

Dont get me wrong, it wasnt nearly as bad as Episode I, or Episode II, but it made me lose all hope for Star Wars, and Darth Vader. This movie, in no way redeems the respect lost from Episode I and II. Not only that, but it destroys the fabric of Episodes IV, V, and VI cause I dont think I can ever look at the characters the same.

Let me break it down for you like this...George Lucas, as we already know, is the worst dialogue writer ever, but this was ridiculous. The one liners were ridiculous. Every time Anakin (Hayden Christianson) and Padme (Natalie Portman) were on the screen together I wanted to shove two pencils in my ears. Yet even without the loves scenes all the dialogue was undeveloped and so simple, you can guess whats going to happen in the rest of the saga without even knowing the stories that follow. Yoda really needs to work on his verbiage. I mean we all know that he speaks in broken sentences, but there were times when you couldnt decipher what he was saying cause his sentences came out like this "Trust in your apprentice misplaced must me be." What the fuck does that even mean. And this was a common occurence. Basically it was like a page by page childrens book with one sentence on each page, except the illustrations were done by some 3-D CG sci-fi nerd.

Moving on, I have decided that these movies shouldnt have been made after the original 3 were made in the late seventies, early eighties. It made George Lucas try too hard to tie everything together and to close everything up in this movie. Not in a subtle way, like when Obi-Wan picks up Anakins Light Sabre which he later gives to Luke in Episode IV, or like in the opening sequence when Anakin is flying what resembles the early stages of a TIE-fighter, but instead most things were just put out there in plain sentences a 2 year old could tie into the originals. Yoda saying goodbye to Chewbacca, the end discussion of what to do with the babies, Yoda talking about how he needs to go into exile, Obi-Wan mentioning how he will keep an eye on Luke in Tatooine, etc., etc...All this stuff is so obvious from seeing the movies, we certainly dont need it all explained to us. It is as if George is trying to close everything out in these three and leave everything resolved, but what he is forgetting is that there are still three more movies where all the questions are answered.

And on top of all of this, he has turned Darth Vader into a whiny bitch. Dont believe me, go see it...You will never look at Darth Vader the same again.

Overall this movie has destroyed any interest I had in the Star Wars saga. It was their last hope. Of course Episode IV, as we all know brings A New Hope. Maybe its time I visited the old classics.

The beginning of the end

I have joined the world of "blogging". Whatever that means.

I have recently joined the ever so growing age of technology by finally investing in a computer. I even managed to make it 5 years of college, three of which were spent on the most "wired" campus in America (Rochester Institute of Technology), without owning, or ever possessing a computer, or computer related device. Dont get me wrong, I use one all the time at work and in other past instances such as in computer labs at school and whatnot...but that still doesnt mean I know what the fuck a URL is.

I have passed the time somewhat exploring the internet and even have an extremely boring livejournal (www.livejournal.com/urbanjesus) mostly used for heckling my roomate and keeping myself entertained at work. Other then that the internet for me has only been a tool used to email my friends who live in various places all over the world, and as a source of musical resources.

So now due to the influences of the ever so sexy and talented Neil Suchin Prakash (www.avengerredsix.blogspot.com) and the multi-talented irish hippy Brian Patrick O'Rourke (www.sparkythenomad.blogspot.com), I have decided to start my own blog. One where I will attempt to explore the far reaches of the universe, and discuss my ideas about life, music, and ancient egyptian caligraphy...and who knows, maybe even invent time travel in the process, cause lord knows if anyones gonna do it, its gonna be someone with a weblog...